schlitt.info - php, photography and private stuff
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:Author: 		Tobias Schlitt
:Date:			Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:29:46 +0100
:Revision: 		1
:Copyright:		CC by-nc-sa


==================================
WI - [W]riteable checker for v[I]m
==================================

:Description:
    Jakob Westhoff (one of my usergroup fellows) created a tiny but very
    efficient bash script to avoid a big annoyance: I'm using "sudo" on my
    work station to not have the need to completly switch to root for
    administrative tasks. Still I usually forget to type "sudo" when I intend
    to edit a file with is not writeable for my current user. I asume people
    with similar environments know that problem. WI ([W]riteable checker for
    v[I]m) wraps around VIM on startup and checks the file permissions. If you
    may not edit the file, WI asks you if you want to start VI through sudo or
    quit.

`Jakob Westhoff`__ (one of my `usergroup`__ fellows) created a tiny but very
efficient bash script to avoid a big annoyance: I'm using "sudo" on my work
station to not have the need to completly switch to root for administrative
tasks. Still I usually forget to type "sudo" when I intend to edit a file with
is not writeable for my current user. I asume people with similar environments
know that problem. WI ([W]riteable checker for v[I]m) wraps around `VIM`__ on
startup and checks the file permissions. If you may not edit the file, WI asks
you if you want to start VI through sudo or quit.

.. __: http://www.westhoffswelt.de/
.. __: http://www.phpugdo.de
.. __: http://vim.org

::

    
    #!/bin/sh
    VIM=/usr/bin/vim
    SUDO=/usr/bin/sudo
    
    if [ -e $1 ] && [ ! -w $1 ] 
    then
        read -er -p "The file $1 is not writable. Do you want to edit it as root? [yes/NO] " answer
        if [[ "$answer" =~ "y|yes|yeah|j|ja" ]]
        then
            $SUDO $VIM $*
        fi
    else
        $VIM $*
    fi

Really nice. **Thanks Jakob!**

P.S.: Don't forget to install `phpDocumentor for VIM`__! ;)

.. __: http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1355


..
   Local Variables:
   mode: rst
   fill-column: 79
   End: 
   vim: et syn=rst tw=79

Trackbacks
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Comments
========

- Aaron Wormus at Wed, 23 Nov 2005 16:21:50 +0100

  cool

- Pablo at Wed, 18 Jan 2006 01:06:52 +0100

  I tried using this script on OSX 10.4.4 and I get the following error upon
  trying to execute it

  <pre> /usr/bin/wi: line 8: conditional binary operator expected /usr/bin/wi:
  line 8: syntax error near `=~' /usr/bin/wi: line 8: `    if [[ "$answer" =~
  "y|yes|yeah|j|ja" ]]' </pre>

  I tried removing the '~' from after the equals sign and the code executes
  but does nothing after I select yes. Any idea why it might be doing that?
  I'm running GNU bash, version 2.05b.0(1)-release (powerpc-apple-darwin8.0)

- Toby at Wed, 18 Jan 2006 07:51:14 +0100

  I've no idea what is wrong there. The =~ indicates a regex match and the
  regex is quite correct. Which bash version are you using?

- Pablo at Wed, 18 Jan 2006 10:55:50 +0100

  I'm running GNU bash, version 2.05b.0(1)-release (powerpc-apple-darwin8.0)

- Toby at Wed, 18 Jan 2006 11:07:11 +0100

  That should usually work. At least, the script works fine for me, here. I
  have uploaded it to my website to ensure, that there is not something
  stripped from it by my blog software:

  http://schlitt.info/misc/wi.sh

  Please try out this version. If this still does not help, I have no clue
  what's going wrong. Sorry. :( Maybe you should try a place where more
  experienced shell-scripters hand around. 

  Would be nice, if you can inform me if and how you made it finally work!

- Pablo at Wed, 18 Jan 2006 11:58:50 +0100

  Well, I got it to work, what I had to do was remove the regexp entirely. I
  can only type 'y' for the script to execute properly but that shouldn't be a
  problem. Thanks for this script, very useful! Don't know why I didn't think
  of it before =) Here is what my script looks like now in case you are
  curious. I commented the lines that I changed from the original.

  <pre> #!/bin/bash
  ################################################################################
  # (w)ritable checker for v(i)m # (c) 2005 - Jakob Westhoff
  <jakob@westhoffswelt.de>
  ################################################################################

  VIM=/usr/bin/vim # This is where my vim binary is located
  SUDO=/usr/bin/sudo

  if [ -e $1 ] && [ ! -w $1 ] then read -er -p "The file $1 is not writable.
  Edit it as root? [yes/NO] " answer # This line was to long for my default
  terminal size, so I shortened it if [[ "$answer" = "y" ]] # had to remove
  regex and make it a static comp arison then $SUDO $VIM $* fi else $VIM $* fi
  </pre>

- Toby at Wed, 18 Jan 2006 12:56:54 +0100

  This is kinda wiered. I thought that regex support is an essencial part of
  the bash. Thanks for adding this hint here!