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<div class="SECT1">
<h1 class="SECT1"><a id="VI-SAVING-FILES" name="VI-SAVING-FILES">16.4 Saving
Files</a></h1>

<p>There are several ways to save files in <tt class="COMMAND">vi</tt>. If you want to
save the current buffer to the file <tt class="FILENAME">randomness</tt>, you would
type:</p>

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<kbd class="USERINPUT">:w randomness</kbd>
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<p>Once you've saved the file once, saving it again is as simple as typing <b
class="KEYCAP">:w</b>. Any changes will be written out to the file. After you've saved
the file, you are dumped back into command mode. If you want to save the file and quit
<tt class="COMMAND">vi</tt> (a very common operation), you would type <b
class="KEYCAP">:wq</b>. That tells <tt class="COMMAND">vi</tt> to save the current file
and quit back to the shell.</p>

<p>On occasion, you want to save a file that is marked as read-only. You can do this by
adding an exclamation point after the write command, like so:</p>

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<kbd class="USERINPUT">:w!</kbd>
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<p>However, there will still be instances where you cannot write the file (for example,
you are attempting to edit a file that is owned by another user). When this happens, <tt
class="COMMAND">vi</tt> will tell you that it cannot save the file. If you really want to
edit the file, you'll have to come back and edit it as <tt class="USERNAME">root</tt> or
(preferably) the owner of that file.</p>
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