Tip #480: editing files on an ftp server listening on a non-standard port

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Rating 19/12, Viewed by 1178

created:		May 29, 2003 8:18		complexity:		basic
author:		George Harrison		as of Vim:		6.0

Vim will edit files on an FTP server with the command: e ftp://ftp.server/path/to/file/filename But if you are using a virtual FTP server as in Bricolage to edit templates, the FTP server is listening on a non-standard port (typically 2121, but it can be something different). In that case, the command would be e ftp://ftp.server\#2121/path/to/file/filename. Note the "\#". The standard syntax for specifying a port number is to append #2121 to the server name, where "2121" is the port to connect to. But Vim treats an unescaped "#2121" as an alternate file reference and fails with the message "No alternate file name to substitue for '#'". Escaping the "#" causes Vim to treat is an another character in the string, and the connection works. help edit and then search for "count" to find the syntax for editing alternate files This works on Red Hat and on WindowsNT.

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Additional Notes

[email protected], May 29, 2003 13:02

<netrw.vim> will accept a colon for ports with ftp, too: ftp://[user@]machine[[:#]port]/path/to/file

jaldri1 at gl dot umbc dot edu, June 6, 2003 10:04

Mind blowing! But, don't to add username@; vim treats it as part of the hostname (i.e. "Unknown host username@host"). {Tested on Win2k}

[email protected], June 13, 2003 7:18

Hmm, you're right, somewhere along the way the "user@" got disabled. I've uploaded v33 under http://www.erols.com/astronaut/index.html#vimlinks_scripts which fixes that problem.

dougvim at claar dot org, July 16, 2003 13:19

This script is great, but beware! It does not check to see if it really wrote your file! If, for example, you are using a source control system, and forget to check out the file before modifying it, you will lose your work. (Gee, I wonder how he knows that...) I sent a revised copy of the script to the author that checks status for the ftp case (since that's the only case I can use), but either he didn't get it, he's busy, he didn't like my changes, or he's working on making it work for other protocols...I hesitate to submit it without his blessing; it's the first vim script I've ever mucked with. It also checks to see if the read worked. I've put diffs from v33 below. I hope that works! ==Doug Claar D:\Vim\vim62\plugin>diff netrw.v33 netrw.vim 391a392,395 > " If non-blank, show error message > if getline(1) !~ "^$" > echoerr getline(1) > endif 433a438,442 > > " If non-blank, show error message > if getline(1) !~ "^$" > echoerr getline(1) > endif 625a635,636 > let l:mod=&mod; " Save the modification state of file > 723a735 > let l:mod=0 " Assume it worked 741a754,759 > if getline(1) =~ "^$" > let l:mod=0 " No message=>it worked > else > " Output the error message > echoerr getline(1) > endif 772a791,796 > if getline(1) =~ "^$" > let l:mod=0 " No message=>it worked > else > " Output the error message > echoerr getline(1) > endif 784a809 > let l:mod=0 " Assume it worked 818a844 > let l:mod=0 " Assume it worked 829a856 > let l:mod=0 " Assume it worked 842c869 < if a:firstline == 1 && a:lastline == line("$") --- > if a:firstline == 1 && a:lastline == line("$") && l:mod == 0 843a871,872 > else > set mod




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