created by

Ingo Karkat

script type

utility

description

DESCRIPTION This is a poor man's revision control system, a primitive alternative to CVS, RCS, Subversion, etc., which works with no additional software and almost any file system. The :WriteBackup command writes subsequent backups of the current file with a 'current date + counter' file extension (format '.YYYYMMDD[a-z]'). The first backup of a day has letter 'a' appended, the next 'b', and so on. (So that a file can be backed up up to 26 times on any given day.) By default, backups are created in the same directory as the original file, but they can also be placed in a directory relative to the original file, or in one common backup directory for all files (similar to Vim's 'backupdir' option), or even in a file-specific location that is determined via a user-provided callback function. RELATED WORKS - The writebackupVersionControl.vim plugin (vimscript #1829) complements   this script with additional commands and enhances the :WriteBackup command   with more checks, but is not required. - The writebackupToAdjacentDir.vim plugin (vimscript #3107) implements a   WriteBackup-dynamic-backupdir configuration that puts the backup files in   an adjacent backup directory if one exists. This helps where the backups   cannot be placed into the same directory. - The writebackupAutomator.vim plugin (vimscript #3940) automatically writes   a backup on a day's first write of a file that was backed up in the past,   but not yet today. It can be your safety net when you forget to make a   backup. USAGE :WriteBackup[!]                         Write the whole current buffer to the next available                         backup file with a '.YYYYMMDD[a-z]' file extension.                         If the last backup is identical with the current                         buffer contents, no (redundant) backup is written.                         With [!], creation of a new backup file is forced:                         - even if the last backup is identical                         - even when no more backup versions (for this day) are                           available (the last '.YYYYMMDDz' backup gets                           overwritten, even if it is readonly) PS: In addition to this Vim plugin, I also provide the basic writebackup functionality outside of Vim as VBScript and Bash Shell script versions at http://ingo-karkat.de/downloads/tools/writebackup/index.html

install details

INSTALLATION This script is packaged as a vimball. If you have the "gunzip" decompressor in your PATH, simply edit the *.vba.gz package in Vim; otherwise, decompress the archive first, e.g. using WinZip. Inside Vim, install by sourcing the vimball or via the :UseVimball command.     vim writebackup.vba.gz     :so % To uninstall, use the :RmVimball command. DEPENDENCIES - Requires Vim 7.0 or higher. - The writebackupVersionControl plugin (vimscript #1829) complements this   script with addtional commands and enhances the :WriteBackup command with   additional checks, but is not required. CONFIGURATION For a permanent configuration, put the following commands into your vimrc file (see :help vimrc). Note: With version 1.30, the variable was renamed from g:writebackup_BackupDir. Please update your configuration! To put backups into another directory, specify a backup directory via     let g:WriteBackup_BackupDir = 'D:\backups' A directory starting with './' or '../' (or the backslashed-variants '.' for MS-DOS et al.) puts the backup file relative to where the backed-up file is. The leading '.' is replaced with the path name of the current file:     let g:WriteBackup_BackupDir = './backups' If you want to automatically create a non-existing backup directory, dynamically determine the backup directory based on the current filespec or any other changing circumstances, you can set a custom callback function:     function MyResolveBackupDir(originalFilespec, isQueryOnly) ...     let g:WriteBackup_BackupDir = function('MyResolveBackupDir') You can override this global setting for specific buffers via a buffer-scoped variable, which can be set by an autocmd, ftplugin, or manually:     let b:WriteBackup_BackupDir = 'X:\special\backup\folder' If the writebackupVersionControl plugin is installed, no backup is written if there is an identical predecessor, so you don't need to remember whether you've already backed up the current file; no redundant backups will be created. If you don't like this check, turn it off via:     let g:WriteBackup_AvoidIdenticalBackups = 0 It occasionally happens that an identical backup is kept lying around, e.g. when reverting to the backup without removing it. Since that backup would misleadingly date the next change much earlier than it actually happened, writebackup automatically renames the earlier backup if it would be identical to the first backup created today. If you don't want such an automatic rename and instead get the "is already backed up" error, turn off redate via:     let g:WriteBackup_AvoidIdenticalBackups = 1 This reinstates the old behavior of writebackup versions < 3.00.   In case you already have other custom Vim commands starting with W, you can define a shorter command alias ':W' in your vimrc to save some keystrokes. I like the parallelism between ':w' for a normal write and ':W' for a backup write.     command -bar -bang W :WriteBackup<bang>

Click on the package to download.

package	script version	date	Vim version	user	release notes
writebackup.vba.gz	3.00	2012-02-16	7.0	Ingo Karkat	- ENH: New default "redate" for g:WriteBackup_AvoidIdenticalBackups that renames an identical backup from an earlier date to be the first backup of today. - Using :keepalt instead of a temporary :set cpo-=A.
writebackup.vba.gz	2.10	2009-05-28	7.0	Ingo Karkat	Replaced simple filespec escaping with built-in fnameescape() function (or emulation for Vim 7.0 / 7.1) via escapings.vim wrapper.
writebackup.vba.gz	2.00	2009-02-26	7.0	Ingo Karkat	- Using separate autoload script to help speed up VIM startup. This is an   incompatible change that also requires the corresponding   writebackupVersionControl plugin version. *** PLEASE UPDATE   writebackupVersionControl (vimscript #1829), too, if you're using it *** - ENH: Disallowing backup of backup file if the writebackupVersionControl   plugin is installed. - ENH: No backup is written if there is an identical previous backup. This   requires the writebackupVersionControl plugin and can be configured via   g:WriteBackup_AvoidIdenticalBackups.
writebackup.vba.gz	1.31.013	2009-02-16	7.0	Ingo Karkat	Split off documentation into separate help file. Now packaging as VimBall.
writebackup.vim	1.30.011	2009-02-11	7.0	Ingo Karkat	ENH: The backup directory can now be determined dynamically through a callback function. Renamed configuration variable from g:writebackup_BackupDir to g:WriteBackup_BackupDir. *** PLEASE UPDATE YOUR CONFIGURATION *** BF: Now also allowing relative backup dir in an upper directory (i.e. g:WriteBackup_BackupDir starting with '../'. BF: Unnamed buffers were backed up as '.YYYYMMDDa'. Now setting v:errmsg on errors and using ErrorMsg instead of Error highlight group.
writebackup.vim	1.20.006	2008-06-23	7.0	Ingo Karkat	Minor change: Added -bar to :WriteBackup, so that commands can be chained together.
writebackup.vim	1.20.005	2007-09-18	7.0	Ingo Karkat	ENH: Added support for writing backup files into a different directory (either one static backup dir or relative to the original file) via g:writebackup_BackupDir configuration, as suggested by Vincent DiCarlo. Now requiring VIM 7.0 or later, because it's using lists. BF: Special ex command characters ' \%#' must be escaped for ':w' command.
writebackup.vim	1.00.004	2007-03-16	6.0	Ingo Karkat	Initial upload

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