How to distinguish between \r\n and \n in VIM

In VIM I can show all the hidden characters in a file via the command ":set invlist". However, end of line sequences are always displayed as $ whether it is a carriage return/line feed or just a line feed. How do I distinguish between the two types of line endings?

Justin Dearing

Posted 2009-08-07T16:33:40.553

Reputation: 2 704

Answers

refer to VIM change end-of-line format.

If you set the file to unix mode then the carriage return shows up as ^M and the linefeed displays as the end-of-line character.

Jeff Leonard

Posted 2009-08-07T16:33:40.553

Reputation: 1 061

I always fix to the unixmode and usually run dos2unix on text files from Windows. – nik – 2009-08-07T16:45:10.653

I did this, and it converts the file format in silently. However, I can test the line ending of the file effectively but awkwardly by setting one format and quitting then setting to the other format and quitting. Whichever sequence leads to a "you have unsaved changes" message is the format the line endings are not in. – Justin Dearing – 2009-08-07T19:19:46.790

Best answer at the moment, but I'll change the accepted answer if anyone comes up with a better one. – Justin Dearing – 2009-08-11T19:56:36.920

I know this is an older question, but I needed a similar answer and was able to find something a little better.

:set ff?

This will tell you what type of file vim thought it was when it loaded. Of course you have to have vim configured to recognize the line endings of the particular file. More details about VIM file formats here... VIM File Formats Blog Post

Bill Heller

Posted 2009-08-07T16:33:40.553

Reputation: 981