"Swap file xxx already exists" when editing apache configuration file in vim?

Question

Using vim I keep getting a message saying "Swap file xxx already exists" when I'm editing an apache config. However, I don't see it in the working directory on in tmp. How do I delete this?

Answer 1

Vim swap files are normally hidden (Unix hidden files begin with a .). In order to view hidden files as well as regular ones, you need to ls -A (mnemonic: A for All). That should show you whether a swap file is there or not.

Answer 2

This happens only when the file you were trying to edit is not saved completely on to the disk. Scenarios are :

1. You shut down your system improperly, when a file is still open in vi/vim.

2. when your file is being accessed concurrently via different/same consoles in vi.

vi/vim creates a .swp file whenever a file is opened in vi/vim. Everytime a file is opened in vi/vim, vi/vim checks for this file and if found this warning pops up

This is can be avoided in two ways

1. one by deleting the .swp file which is named as

"path/of/the/file/you/were/editing/.your_file_name.swp"

1. you can also opt for recover mode of vi/vim when opening the file and pressing recovery option .

I am just talking about the first scenario and it is safe for only that scenario. Scenario second is the different case.

Answer 3

In the message, you should see the full path to the file. You can rm it by copy-pasting the path as follows:

rm -f /path/to/the/file

Answer 4

If the file you're editing is called httpd.conf then the swap file will be called .httpd.conf.swp. It is hidden unless you add -a to your ls arguments.

ls -a /etc/httpd/conf/

Answer 5

To remove the swap file in Linux use this command

rm .filename.swp