What is the "~" after the last line in Vim?

Duglas · 09-07-2015, 11:08 AM

What is the "~" for, after the last line in Vim?
I have written some Bash scripts in Vim, and in some of them, the "~" after the last line has been changed to an "@".
I am able to fix the issue by copying the old file over to a new file.
However I would like an explanation on what the "~" is for, and why it got changed.

TobiSGD · 09-07-2015, 11:25 AM

The ~ after the last line is not part of the text file and merely there to indicate where the file ends. I have never seen this switched to an @ character, though.

chrism01 · 09-10-2015, 02:04 AM

I agree with TobiSGD re '~'.
I can generate this

Code:

by simply ensuring that the "last line" is longer than will fit in entirely into the current terminal size of the vim session.
In actual fact, its just a long bunch of 'a' chars.

If you setup a longish line, then resize the height of the session using drag/drop on the bottom of the window, you'll see what I mean.

HTH