Vim undo: undo changes after file write

Question

In my code on vim, I did a lot of changes and then did a ZZ (save and exit). But then I realized I didn't need those changes. Is there a way I can get back to the state before doing those changes using from some buffer where that data still might be stored. I haven't made any changes after the save & exit.

@choroba , precisely, that's what I need to know, how do I do that? — brokenfoot, Jul 30 '13 at 00:10
Do you have persistent undo turned on? (Most likely not but its on option worth looking into for future use) Take a look at `:h persistent-undo` — FDinoff, Jul 30 '13 at 00:12
@FDinoff : I didn't had that ON, just now added the following in my .vimrc: `set undofile` `set undodir=/home//.vimundo/` — brokenfoot, Jul 30 '13 at 00:16
If you don't see a filename~ previous version of the file in the directory, your .vimrc may have bdir or backupdir set to something like ~/.vimbackup — stevesliva, Feb 27 '15 at 21:46

score 60 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 01 '23 at 17:52

60

There's persistent undo option in vim, :h persistent-undo
Note: It was introduced in VIM 7.3 version, so for earlier versions, it will not work.

It can be turned on by placing the following text in your .vimrc:

if has('persistent_undo')      "check if your vim version supports it
  set undofile                 "turn on the feature  
  set undodir=$HOME/.vim/undo  "directory where the undo files will be stored
endif

Note: Before enabling this option, whatever was lost, remains lost.
After enabling the option, you will be able to do subsequent undo/redo on whatever was added/deleted after enabling the option.

edited Aug 01 '23 at 17:52

gerrard00

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answered Jul 30 '13 at 00:24

brokenfoot

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Notice that you have to make sure the directory exists to make it work. – Searene Jun 22 '17 at 00:08
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I'm not sure why this answer was accepted. I have the same situation as asked in the question, but I still don't understand how it solves the problem. The setting seems to work only for new files/changes. – ka3ak Sep 05 '18 at 15:07
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You can make sure the directory exists by adding a statement `silent !mkdir -p ~/.vim/undo` inside the if-block. This solution assumes you have write permissions to create the directory `~/.vim/undo`. – Miron Veryanskiy Apr 03 '19 at 21:24

Vim undo: undo changes after file write

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