Java meaning of .java~

Question

By typing jar -tf myJar.jar MyProject I get in the file list, besides the normal .java and .class files, also a .java~ file. I have read googling it around that it is due to some other incomplete version of the file.java. If so, How can I go ahead and remove those files? since in the real folder there are no other files than file.java and file.class.

Thanks in advance.

Could they be back up files of somekind ? – comanitza Feb 27 '13 at 14:02 — comanitza, Feb 27 '13 at 14:02

score 19 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 27 '13 at 14:00

They're almost certainly just backup files automatically created by whatever text editor you're using. You should be fine to remove them.

I'm sure they are in the real folder - it's possible your shell/explorer is hiding them from you. Just try using a command line to remove them by name, even if they don't show up on autocomplete.

(It's hard to be more specific when we don't know which editor you're using, which operating system, or how you're looking at the directory...)

Thanks a lot for the prompt response! – Rollerball Feb 27 '13 at 14:06 — Rollerball, Feb 27 '13 at 14:06

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 27 '13 at 14:03

2

Those are vim backup files. See here and here for some configuration options to avoid cluttering up your working directories.

answered Feb 27 '13 at 14:03

Brian Agnew

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It can also be emacs backup files. How to remove them : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/151945/how-do-i-control-how-emacs-makes-backup-files – Cyrille Ka Feb 27 '13 at 14:07
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Or backup files from a number of other editors. `gedit` for example does the same. I guess it's a common file name convention on Unix-like operating systems for backup files. – Jesper Feb 27 '13 at 14:17

Java meaning of .java~

2 Answers2