SWP File

Category: Misc Files

What is a SWP file?

SWP files were created by Vi text editor or one of its variants like vim (Vi improved and gVim). SWP files store recovery version of a file being edited in the program. The file serves as a lock file preventing any other V editing session from writing to the file concurrently.
Bill Joy, a co-founder of sun microsystems, developed the original Vi editor. Usually, the files are created when the Vi editing session is immediately started and saved to the same directory as the original file.
The file is located on computers’ hard drive and is used by the virtual memory component of a computer in increasing available memory. Text file with the name example.txt becomes example.txt.swp.
If a Vi session terminates abruptly because of program crash or kills, swp file remains. This allows users to recover data using R(recover option) when opening the original file. The file prevents you from losing content in case you encounter an editing glitch.

How to Open SWP Files

gVim

MacVim

Vim

Vim

How to Make SWP Files

Below are some software programs that can open SWP files. Download one to open your file now.