How to change file permission from within vi

Question

I sometimes open a read-only file in vi, forgetting to do chmod +w before opening it. Is there way to change the file from within vi?

Something like !r chmod +w [filename]?

Is there a shortcut to refer to the currently open file without spelling it's long name?

score 67 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 22 '09 at 11:44

67

Just use

:!chmod +w %

in command mode. % will be replaced by the current file name.

answered Oct 22 '09 at 11:44

David Larochette

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Thanks --- this was useful. A minor annoyance is that vim now warns about the need to reload the file (W16). Is there a way to stop it without setting autoread? – Rmano Mar 04 '14 at 20:31
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@Rmano I know it's an old post, but it's worth mentioning for posterity: You could use Tim Pope's Eunuch.vim and then use the `:Chmod` command. It does exactly what you're wanting. – evanthegrayt Oct 04 '21 at 14:00

score 38 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 22 '09 at 11:56

38

If you have the rights to write to the file, then you can just use exclamation mark to force it:

:w!

If you don't have the rights and need to change user, but still want to write to the file, sometimes you may go for something like

:w !sudo tee %

answered Oct 22 '09 at 11:56

Michael Krelin - hacker

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You don't want to write to file all the time either ;-) – Michael Krelin - hacker Oct 22 '09 at 12:02
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`:w !sudo tee %` sends the file input to `tee` which then forwards it to the current file `%`. – Lubo Kanev Apr 26 '20 at 08:08
@LuboKanev, that's right. As a side effect `tee` also writes the file to console, but that's not meant to accomplish anything ;-) – Michael Krelin - hacker Apr 26 '20 at 12:04

score 13 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 03 '17 at 14:18

I know this is an old post, but with Vim Version8 a function has been included with which you can change file permissions.

According to the version8.txt file:

setfperm() set the permissions of a file

This function can then be called via the "call" command in Vim.

This is done as follows:

:call setfperm("file name","permissions")

The structure of the "permissions" string takes the same form as described in the Vim documentation:

getfperm({fname}) getfperm() The result is a String, which is the read, write, and execute permissions of the given file {fname}. If {fname} does not exist or its directory cannot be read, an empty string is returned. The result is of the form "rwxrwxrwx", where each group of "rwx" flags represent, in turn, the permissions of the owner of the file, the group the file belongs to, and other users. If a user does not have a given permission the flag for this is replaced with the string "-". Example: :echo getfperm("/etc/passwd") This will hopefully (from a security point of view) display the string "rw-r--r--" or even "rw-------".

A minimal example:

:call setfperm("foo.txt","rwxrwxrwx")

This adds read, write and execute permissions to the "foo.txt" file in the current directory.

`setfperm()` is also present in Vim 7 (at least, 7.4 has it). `:call setfperm(expand("%"), "rwxr-xr-x")` is one way to set the mode for the current file to 0755, without needing to enter the file's name explicitly. — the paul, May 31 '18 at 20:36

score 7 · Answer 4 · edited Jan 15 '14 at 13:35

7

Have you tried

!chmod +w %

The % represents the current filename.

You could also map a key to this like Ctrl-W.

:map <C-w> :!chmod +w %<CR>

Note that you type Ctrl-V Ctrl-M to get the <CR>

edited Jan 15 '14 at 13:35

Michael Krelin - hacker

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answered Oct 22 '09 at 11:53

Michael Dillon

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score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 25 '17 at 09:31

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After editing your file with vim, press "esc" and then ":". Then type the following command:

w !sudo tee %

Then press "Enter". Then type

:q!

to successfully exit from the editor.

answered Oct 25 '17 at 09:31

Kasumi Gunasekara

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Thanks @Kasumi! This is what I was looking for - how to switch the user and write the file using it's owner (root in my case). – Беров Feb 15 '20 at 15:46

score 1 · Answer 6 · edited Oct 11 '13 at 21:27

1

:!chmod <perms> <file>

and if vi still doesn't want to write it,

:se cpo-=W

edited Oct 11 '13 at 21:27

Kevin Panko

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answered Oct 22 '09 at 11:42

JustJeff

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score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Aug 17 '19 at 19:28

As David pointed out, setfperm() is the way to do this within vim.

Here are the mappings I use to add write or execute permissions to the current file:

function! ChmodPlus(expr, pat)
    let file = expand('%')
    let oldperms = getfperm(file)
    let newperms = substitute(oldperms, a:expr, a:pat, '')
    if (oldperms != newperms)
        call setfperm(file, newperms)
    endif
    echom(printf('Permissions: %s', newperms))
endfunction

function! ChmodPlusX()
    call ChmodPlus('^\(..\).', '\1x')
endfunction

function! ChmodPlusW()
    call ChmodPlus('^\(.\).', '\1w')
endfunction

" Make current file writeable
noremap <silent> <Leader>W :call ChmodPlusW()<CR>

" Make current file executable
noremap <silent> <Leader>X :call ChmodPlusX()<CR>

chipfall · Answer 8 · 2022-02-17T17:15:00.973

0

You can also do this with the netrw module that comes with vim if your lazy, example :Texplore followed by scrolling to the file in normal mode and entering gp. Octal or symbolic at least work.

It's a little more intuitive with multiple files but per buffer-window without, use your colon command history to repeat commands.

edited Feb 17 '22 at 17:15

answered Feb 17 '22 at 17:03

chipfall

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How to change file permission from within vi

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