Is there a way to tell emacs/vi/vim (from the command line) that I want to view the file in view-mode or read-only.
I know how to open a file as read only if emacs/vi/vim is already running.
-
Note: if you don't have the write permission to the file, Vim will by default open it in read-only mode. Actually, I think it is easier to control the file permission than to provide a "read-only" way.– Franklin YuAug 2, 2016 at 23:00
Add a comment
|
10 Answers
For emacs:
emacs FILE --eval '(setq buffer-read-only t)'
There's no startup option to force read only.
Edit:
If you put this small function in your shell startup script (.bashrc for example) you can open a file read-only by typing ev file_to_view
ev() {
emacs "$1" --eval '(setq buffer-read-only t)'
}
-
11
-
2To open more than one file, the "-eval ..." has to be repeated after every filename, otherwise only the last file in the list is opened read-only.– stafusaJul 19, 2020 at 0:09
-
1Quick n dirty hack to work with multiple files opened on the command line:
emacs --eval "(add-hook 'find-file-hook (defun make-read-only () (setq buffer-read-only t)))" file1 file2 ...– WinnyMar 1, 2021 at 15:22 -
3
vim -R filename
answered Oct 28, 2010 at 9:51
-
5Works great but I accepted Trey's answer because I prefer emacs over vim– NifleOct 29, 2010 at 6:35
-
33And all vim users take revenge by upvoting it to more than the "accepted answer" :D– XosofoxNov 11, 2015 at 9:33
-
1Note: some boxes seem to have 'view' command maybe aliases to 'vi -R'. Aug 10, 2017 at 19:31
view filename
Basically vim in read-only mode; simples!
As hinted by comment, in case view is linked to plain vi, here are bash commands to first inspect situation and then fix it:
# non-destructive inspection
which vim
which view
ls -l $(which view)
# overwrite current view with symlink to vim, requires root
ln -sfv $(which vim) $(which view)
-
1
-
7@Nifle: There shouldn't be any difference in syntax highlighting. If your
vimhas syntax highlighting but yourviewdoesn't, perhaps yourviewis a link to a minimal version ofvimthat doesn't have syntax highlighting compiled in. Compare the outputs of the:versioncommand.– garyjohnOct 28, 2010 at 15:33 -
1Reason why it "just works": Vim will actually read
argv[0]to decide its behavior. It's a common trick; AFAIK sometimes GCC and Bash does this as well. Aug 2, 2016 at 22:57
vim -R <file>
allows writing with :w!
vim -c ":set nomodifiable" <file>
Prevents the user from making any changes to the file in the buffer. But the user could make the buffer modifiable with :set modifiable
You could use
vim -c ":noremap q :q<cr>" -c ":map : <Esc>" -c ":set nomodifiable" <file>
to prevent the user from turning off the "nomodifiable", and allow the user to quit by pressing q. But, then the user can't enter command mode at all, which may or may not be what you want.
You could also open the file with the less command:
less <file>
To view the file in a vim-like environment but without the ability to change the file.
-
+1 for using
less, although as @nxdrvr points out you can press the v key to open the file in editiable mode inviJan 19, 2015 at 2:11
Small follow-up to the accepted answer: You can alias this in your shell to reduce it to a single command. For example in bash you can put the following in your .bashrc:
emacsro() {
emacs $1 --eval '(setq buffer-read-only t)'
}
(different shells will have different formats for doing this, but you get the idea)
I would have added this as a comment in reply to the accepted answer, but it didn't seem possible to have a multi-line "code" block in a comment, and (in bash anyway) the above code really does need to be on 3 separate lines.
For emacs you can also use the view-mode.
emacsclient --create-frame --eval '(view-file "/tmp/EXAMPLE")'
or alternative inside a terminal:
emacsclient --nw --eval '(view-file "/tmp/EXAMPLE")'
Or you can use my wrapper script
To just view file without ability to edit:
cat <file> | less
In less you can go to "edit file mode" by pressing the v key. But you cannot edit standard input, so piping the output of cat <file> to less, stops less from going to 'edit' mode on pressing 'v'.
For vim the same approach
cat <file> | vim -
-
4
-
2
-
@Sparkhawk,
<file> lesswould give an error, I'm assuming you meantless <file>, but as explained in the answer, when usinglessdirectly, the user could press v key and go into edit-mode. Pipingcattolessstops this from happening. Jan 19, 2015 at 2:30 -
@Sheharyar He meant output redirection. Maybe you are more familiar with
less < FILENAME, which gives you "Cannot edit standard input" when you press V. Similarly with Vim:vim - < FILENAME. Aug 2, 2016 at 22:45
In emacs you can do
emacs FILE -f view-mode
Syntax highlighting is applied. It doesn't just open the file as a read only buffer. Some commands, such as I-search, are accessible without the control key in this mode.
sending a file to std out, may be acceptable given the size of the file
cat <file> # dump whole file to stdout
head <file> # view the first few lines
tail <file> # view the last n lines
I am not going to discrad to anyone user answer here, but i would like to aadd some more info about Read-only Mode file. As per oreilly documentation Read-only Mode There will be times when you want to look at a file but want to protect that file from inadvertent keystrokes and changes. (You might want to call in a lengthy file to practice vi movements, or you might want to scroll through a command file or program). You can enter a file in read-only mode and use all the vi movement commands, but you won't be able to change the file.
To look at a file in read-only mode, enter either:
$ vi -R file
or:
$ view file
(The view command, like the vi command, can use any of the command-line options for advancing to a specific place in the file.) If you do decide to make some edits to the file, you can override read-only mode by adding an exclamation point to the write command:
:w!
or:
:wq!
If you have a problem writing out the file.
For further ref here
