I think if you're new to the various *nix-type OSes in general, this is a valid question. I remember my first encounter with emacs about 10 years ago, and if I didn't have someone sitting in the same office as me who'd used it since the 80s I'm not sure how long it would have taken me to figure out wtf the ~ were for. I think it's good you sent this here instead of looking at google: as much as it's important to do your own homework, it's useful to have someone pass on some wisdom they gained form experience or another teacher. Here's mine: For the most part, every emacs install I've come across has defaulted to the file~ setup: If I open a terminal and type emacs foo.bar emacs sees that foo.bar already exists and moves it to foo.bar~ before letting me edit the new copy. I assume this is in case of disconnect, though I do find it useful when I screw up and over time have considered various schemes to expand on it for version control and typo protection of a sort. If gedit does the same thing, Marc, then you have your answer. the file with the ~ is the one previous to your last edit. Here's the wisdom bit, which I got from the same person who taught me probably 80% of what little I know: As you use unix you'll come across situations where only vi is installed. VI does not have the same habit emacs does, in fact the two seem to be designed to be each other's opposite. I recommend anyone who uses linux learn at least the basics of both emacs and vi (navigate, edit, exit, save, maybe search), you WILL come across one of them in a terminal window one day. >From my own experience: I recommend anyone who installs or maintains linux for others know these both very well, your users will be very partisan about them and will demand their favorite customizations. Emacs and vi are the original bsd vs. linux, you may as well get familiar with both. Jason Powers Marc M wrote: > Hi, > > Dumb question but nonetheless -- > > I have duplicate named files with tildes at the end. Example: > file1.txt and file1.txt~ > > Are they fragments or something left in RAM? What's the differrence > between them and the regular named file? I use gedit and always close > my files when I am done. Is the filesystem creating that? Other than > deleting them, what can I do to not have them? > > Any help is appreciated > > Thanks > Marc >
