gVim showing carriage return (^M) even when file mode is explicitly DOS

Question

I'm using gVim on Windows. My code shows ^M characters at the end of lines. I used :set ff=dos to no avail. The ^M characters remain for existing lines, but don't show up for newlines I enter. I've switched modes to mac (shows ^J characters) and unix (also shows ^M characters) and back to dos. Has anyone else seen this?

See http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/File_format for a comprehensive explanation of line endings in vim/gvim. This link also explains how to fix the problem. — axiopisty, Aug 14 '13 at 20:33
This question is _not_ a duplicate of any of the following three questions, but it deserves to be linked with them, I think. https://stackoverflow.com/q/5843495 ~ * ~ https://stackoverflow.com/q/811193 ~ * ~ https://stackoverflow.com/q/82726 — Henke, Oct 26 '22 at 18:34

score 144 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 31 '13 at 04:00

144

This happens when you have a mixture of Windows line endings and Unix ones. If you have 100 lines, 99 are \r\n and one is \n, you'll see 99 ^M characters. The fix is to find that one line and replace it. Or run dos2unix on the file. You can replace the Windows line endings with:

:%s/\r$\n$/\1/g

edited Aug 31 '13 at 04:00

laurent

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answered Apr 28 '09 at 19:12

richq

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I usually just whack 'em with `:%s/^M//` – TMN Jul 26 '11 at 14:43
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Should add to `:set ff=dos` if you want it to be dos when you're done, ala Evan's answer. – Merlyn Morgan-Graham Jul 10 '12 at 02:20
Excelent solution! To be more practial in next times add in the .vimrc file: `command AdjustEndOfLine execute '%s/\r$\n$/\1/g'` So, every time you need to sanitize the file, just use the `AdjustEndOfLine` command. – Tárcio Zemel May 03 '13 at 22:51
See also the section "Converting mixed files" in this comprehensive explanation of vim line endings http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/File_format – axiopisty Aug 14 '13 at 20:30

score 44 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 26 '13 at 13:52

44

You can also run:

:e ++ff=dos

To remove the ^M: See File format – Vim Tips Wiki.

edited Mar 26 '13 at 13:52

franzlorenzon

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answered Jul 26 '11 at 14:37

beckelmw

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This was what I was looking for, and is the actual correct answer. Thanks. – Jay Taylor Dec 09 '11 at 01:43

score 19 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

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I usually use the following to cleanup my line endings:

:g/^M$/s///

To get the ctrl-M I usually type ctrl-Q, then ctrl-M and it puts it in. (In some environments it may be ctrl-V then ctrl-M.) I don't know why, but I find that one easier to remember than rq's.

Don't forget to do :set ff=dos as well, or you'll end up saving with UNIX line endings still.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

Community

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answered Apr 29 '09 at 00:00

Evan

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Yeah, I normally use the ^M version with Ctrl-Q and all that. But it's tougher to explain ;-) and the group match version is copy paste friendly. – richq Apr 29 '09 at 06:07

score 15 · Answer 4 · answered May 28 '10 at 19:22

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I know this has already been answered, but a trick I use is

:%s/\r/\r/g

This replaces the unix carriage returns with the windows CRLF. Just added in case anyone else had issues.

answered May 28 '10 at 19:22

dsrekab

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score 6 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 24 '13 at 11:10

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You can ignore these chars!

put this into your vimrc

match Ignore /\r$/

answered Mar 24 '13 at 11:10

IvanM

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Good to know this is there, but is there a good use case for leaving mismatched line endings in a file? Seems like it's asking for trouble. – Jerph Mar 24 '13 at 13:44
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This is more what I needed (changing the file is not always advisable when it causes massive changes to a file that show up in some revision control systems) – RunHolt Mar 12 '14 at 10:51
Unfortunately this changes line endings as soon as you save the file. So it produces exactly these unwanted big changes in whitespace, only without showing you. At least for me. :( – peschü Mar 21 '17 at 05:07

score 4 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 02 '10 at 15:58

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Actually what worked for me (on 64-bit windows, gVIM: 7.2 ) was:

:set ffs=dos

not just: ff

answered Dec 02 '10 at 15:58

ra170

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score 4 · Answer 7 · answered May 31 '11 at 16:56

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Running Vim 7.3 on Windows 7. I used the following command:

:%s/^M/\r/g

To create the ^M I typed in CTRL+Q then CTRL+M.

answered May 31 '11 at 16:56

ddelrio1986

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score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 18 '13 at 14:20

This is probably a bit simple for many of you but on the off chance it's useful.

Based on richq's answer, I found these to be useful in my vimrc. Note, the second one is commented out normally because it makes dd a bit confusing since Vim will wait for another key stroke to work out if it's the mapped ex command.

function! D2u()
    execute '%s/\r\(\n\)/\1/g'
endfunction
"map d2u :%s/\r\(\n\)/\1/g

The first is run by typing call D2u() into ex and the second by pressing D2u in edit mode.

score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Jun 19 '13 at 11:31

These are extra CR line endings usually because of a using a file on mixed UNIX/DOS systems.

Possible the shortest answer to remove a single ^M from the end of each line, and what I use, is:

:%s/\r

which is equivalent to:

:%s/\r//

but the end slashes aren't required (they're assumed).

score 2 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 01 '17 at 13:32

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tried a lot of things but the following worked

:%s/\r/\r/g

note: use g if you want the effect on the whole file

answered Sep 01 '17 at 13:32

Atul Subhash

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gVim showing carriage return (^M) even when file mode is explicitly DOS

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