[SOLVED] Stray '$q q' inserted in files edited with vim by my user

cfr · 2017-08-25 23:57:22

Very recently (last few days), every time I edit a new file with vim

$q q

appears at the start of the file. This is true whether the file is started by

vim <new file name>

or by, for example, a subversion commit opening a file for creation of a commit message.

If I do

vim a

for example, and then immediately quit, vim quits without asking if I want to save and no file is created. That is, the characters appear in the file, but they don't seem to 'count'.

cat hi > a
vim a

Now I see

hi q

but there is something very odd about the 'hi' and the file cannot be edited normally. I cannot move past the 'i' - again, it is as if the ' a' is not 'really' there.

If I edit a file with vim as another user, there's no problem. Hence, I assume it is some change to my configuration. I have tried temporarily moving aside

~/.vim/
~/.vimrc
~/.viminfo

As far as I know, these are all the vim-related files present in my home directory, apart from a bunch of '.viminf[o-z].tmp'.

What else should I check or where else should I look? It is astonishing how fast something so trivial is driving me crazy. I have not even recently changed any of my shell or profile configuration files. The only things I've changed in the last week or so in terms of my command line config have been a couple of scripts in ~/bin and a sed snippet in ~/Llyfrgell/sed but, aside from the fact that I edited those files using vim, they have no connection with vim whatsoever.

I apologise for what I can only imagine is a truly dumb question.

Last edited by cfr (2017-08-26 02:07:55)

jasonwryan · 2017-08-26 00:02:25

What term? Does it happen in different ones? In the TTY? There is a thread on arch-general about this...

cfr · 2017-08-26 01:42:41

jasonwryan wrote:

What term? Does it happen in different ones? In the TTY? There is a thread on arch-general about this...

Konsole. (I'm using KDE.)

Eek ... it's term specific?!

If I edit in xterm, I don't get the characters.

So is it my Konsole configuration which is the problem?

But when I tested as another user, I just su'ed - I was still in the same tab of the same window of the same instance of Konsole ....

Last edited by cfr (2017-08-26 01:47:20)

cfr · 2017-08-26 01:59:25

So the arch-general list includes a solution at https://lists.archlinux.org/pipermail/a … 44174.html. However, I didn't do exactly this. I changed the setting in Konsole > Gosodiadau > Edit current profile ... > General > Environment : Edit

This caused the whole application to become extremely wraith like, so I quit and started it anew. Now it is much less sickly looking and initial tests suggest the problem is solved.

Admittedly, I now have a different problem as my config assumed xterm colours. But at least it is a different problem :-).

EDIT and easily solved, it seems.

Thanks very much for the pointer.

Last edited by cfr (2017-08-26 02:12:40)

direx · 2017-08-30 08:26:43

I have the same issue with vim and Konsole.

But changing the TERM variable results in other issues, such as the mouse mode (set mouse=a) not working any more in vim. This is super annoying. Any other ideas what could be causing the "$q q" thing?

seth · 2017-08-30 14:35:43

https://github.com/vim/vim/issues/2008# … -324829794

chris_l · 2017-08-31 00:06:18

Adding

set t_SH=

on the top of my .vimrc solved it for me.

berbae · 2017-08-31 10:10:15

The '$q q' characters are just shown, they are not written if a :w command is run just after start up.
They disappear with a clearing of the screen by the <ctrl-L> command of vim.
So as a workaround I added an auto command in my .vimrc file:

if has("autocmd")
...
  " Clear screen on vim start up
  autocmd VimEnter * normal ^L
...

endif " has("autocmd")

The ^L should be the code for <ctrl-L>, it is entered in vim editing with <ctrl-v><ctrl-L> sequence.

I didn't change the TERM variable which is set to 'xterm-256color', the value 'konsole-256color' is not satisfying for me either.

Arch Linux

#1 2017-08-25 23:57:22

[SOLVED] Stray '$q q' inserted in files edited with vim by my user

#2 2017-08-26 00:02:25

Re: [SOLVED] Stray '$q q' inserted in files edited with vim by my user

#3 2017-08-26 01:42:41

Re: [SOLVED] Stray '$q q' inserted in files edited with vim by my user

#4 2017-08-26 01:59:25

Re: [SOLVED] Stray '$q q' inserted in files edited with vim by my user

#5 2017-08-30 08:26:43

Re: [SOLVED] Stray '$q q' inserted in files edited with vim by my user

#6 2017-08-30 14:35:43

Re: [SOLVED] Stray '$q q' inserted in files edited with vim by my user

#7 2017-08-31 00:06:18

Re: [SOLVED] Stray '$q q' inserted in files edited with vim by my user

#8 2017-08-31 10:10:15

Re: [SOLVED] Stray '$q q' inserted in files edited with vim by my user

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