Info Catalog elisp: Backups and Auto-Saving elisp: Auto-Saving

elisp: Backup Files

 
 25.1 Backup Files
 =================
 
 A “backup file” is a copy of the old contents of a file you are editing.
 Emacs makes a backup file the first time you save a buffer into its
 visited file.  Thus, normally, the backup file contains the contents of
 the file as it was before the current editing session.  The contents of
 the backup file normally remain unchanged once it exists.
 
    Backups are usually made by renaming the visited file to a new name.
 Optionally, you can specify that backup files should be made by copying
 the visited file.  This choice makes a difference for files with
 multiple names; it also can affect whether the edited file remains owned
 by the original owner or becomes owned by the user editing it.
 
    By default, Emacs makes a single backup file for each file edited.
 You can alternatively request numbered backups; then each new backup
 file gets a new name.  You can delete old numbered backups when you
 don’t want them any more, or Emacs can delete them automatically.
 

Menu

 
· Making Backups     How Emacs makes backup files, and when.
· Rename or Copy     Two alternatives: renaming the old file or copying it.
· Numbered Backups   Keeping multiple backups for each source file.
· Backup Names       How backup file names are computed; customization.
 

Info Catalog elisp: Backups and Auto-Saving elisp: Auto-Saving