Linux – Understanding modifiable in Vim

linuxvim

During a OS upgrade (Linux), Vim or some part of it has been updated as well.

Now it happens that sometimes when I save a file (the file is not saved) I get this error:

E21: Cannot make changes, 'modifiable' is off

I did :help E21 and the manual says:

        {not in Vi}     *E21*
When off the buffer contents cannot be changed.  The 'fileformat' and
'fileencoding' options also can't be changed.
Can be reset with the |-M| command line argument.

It's not clear to me what it means. I use and start the editor the usual way, nothing is changed. The workflow is the same, too. I open different windows with CTLR-W N, then load and edit files there and switch between windows, etc.

I'd like to know how to disable this behavior and about side effects.

Best Answer

You can use :verbose set modifiable? to find out if a plugin is setting the option. If the option has been modified by a plugin, it will show Last set from /path/to/plugin/file (in addition to showing the value).

Maybe you are using the Netrw plugin. It comes bundled with Vim and handles “editing” local directories (listing the contents, picking files to view/edit) and remote file/directory access. I know it twiddles modifiable (and some other options). There may be a bug in the version bundled with your updated Vim. You can check the version number of the active installation of Netrw with :echo g:loaded_netrwPlugin.

If the problem seems to be related to Netrw, you might try installing another released version, or maybe a development version.

Related Solutions

Vim sudo hack auto reload

I solved this issue by adding this to my vimrc file.

cnoremap w!! call SudoSaveFile()

function! SudoSaveFile() abort
  execute (has('gui_running') ? '' : 'silent') 'write !env SUDO_EDITOR=tee sudo -e % >/dev/null'
  let &modified = v:shell_error
endfunction

Vim – How to Invoke Vim Editor and Pipe Output to Bash

vipe is a program for editing pipelines:

command1 | vipe | command2

You get an editor with the complete output of command1, and when you exit, the contents are passed on to command2 via the pipe.

In this case, there's no command1. So, you could do:

: | vipe | pandoc -o foo.pdf

Or:

vipe <&- | pandoc -o foo.pdf

vipe picks up on the EDITOR and VISUAL variables, so you can use those to get it to open Vim.

If you've not got it installed, vipe is available in the moreutils package; sudo apt-get install moreutils, or whatever your flavour's equivalent is.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Vim sudo hack auto reload

Vim – How to Invoke Vim Editor and Pipe Output to Bash

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