Why does VIM create a X~ file for every X?

Question

What is the purpose of the X~ files? And if its unnecessary, is there a way to prevent Vim from creating one?

Answer 1

This is a backup file that contains a copy of the previous revision of the file.

You can change this behavior by adding a line to the end of your .vimrc file:

set nobackup

Answer 2

its a backup file, every time you save while modifying something it will create one. There's an option to turn it off.

See here from the vim faq

Answer 3

Turn it off using

:se nobackup

You can also tell it to put the backup file in a different location by using:

:se directory=c:\temp

Answer 4

They are backup files. Maybe :set nowritebackup will turn off this feature.

Answer 5

Vim is creating backup files automatically. To turn it off you have to add the following line to your .vimrc config file:

set nobackup

Answer 6

What I personally do is that I create a folder $HOME/.vim/backupfiles that will contain all my backup files, instead of leaving them all scattered around.

My .vimrc contains the following:

set backupdir=~/.vim/backupfiles,~/tmp,.

This way you have the protection of backup files but avoid the littering of your folders with *~ files.