Save file after forgetting to open as root / sudo vi

Question

Possible Duplicate:
vim re-edit as root

I could have sworn I saw this question asked. But after looking though every search result for "vi" I'm stumped/lazy.

I've opened a file, made an edit and now I realize it's read only and I've opened it as non-root me.

Duplicate of http://serverfault.com/questions/22558/vim-re-edit-as-root — chmeee, Jun 30 '09 at 20:17

score 34 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 08 '13 at 15:47

34

I think you want something like this:

:w !sudo tee "%"

I first saw it on commandlinefu. The quotes are only necessary if the file path contains spaces.

edited Feb 08 '13 at 15:47

Community

answered Jun 30 '09 at 20:02

Anthony Lewis

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 12 '09 at 02:37

2

i do this occasionally, and if the changes i've made are trivial, i just exit and edit it again as root.

otherwise i save the file to /tmp, and mv/cp it as root to where it really belongs later. and use chown/chgrp/chmod to fix the ownership/perms.

answered Jul 12 '09 at 02:37

cas

1

Rather than cp/mv and chown etc., you could 'sudo cat tmpfile > realfile && rm -f tmpfile', to keep the ownership and perms of the original but give it new contents. – mlp Jul 12 '09 at 07:58

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 02 '15 at 04:02

1

consider adding this line to your vimrc:

" Remaps :SW to sudo save the current file and tell vim to reload it
command SW execute 'w !sudo tee % >/dev/null' | e! %

edited Oct 02 '15 at 04:02

Jenny D

answered Sep 26 '09 at 18:21

Alex Dergachev

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 27 '09 at 03:13

0

answered Dec 27 '09 at 03:13

4 Answers4