^M at the end of every line in vim

When I am editing source files using vim and other editors sometimes at the end of the line I get these ^M characters at the end of each line. I think that it has something to do with editing a file in windows and then in linux. How can I remove all of these automatically?

As a command, type

:%s/^M$//

(To get ^M, press ^V ^M, where ^ is CTRL on most keyboards)

One easy way to strip out the DOS line endings is to use the ff option:

:set ff=unix
:wq

Now your file is back to the good-old-Unix-way.

If you want to add the DOS line-endings (to keep a printer happy, or transfer files with Windows friends who don't have nice tools) you can go the opposite direction easily:

:set ff=dos
:wq

You can do this:

:set fileformats=dos

It will hide the ^M's, without touching the file.

There's a program called dos2unix that should strip those for you. Windows uses different line-ending characters which is why that happens.

This worked for me in a file that had everything on one line:

First find all matches

:%s/^M//

(To get ^M, press ^V ^M, where ^ is Ctrl on most keyboards)

Then replace with newlines

:%s//\r/g

Combined command would be:

:%s/^M/\r/g

I tend to run afflicted files through fromdos before reopening them. fromdos is part of the http://www.thefreecountry.com/tofrodos/index.shtml"><strong>tofrodos</strong></a> package.

The origin of the problem may have been through an FTP transfer. When you FTP these files from one box to another, make sure to use ASCII transfers. Use the command "ASC."

" put this in your ~/.vimrc file and :source ~/.vimrc
" then you can do: Dos2Unix
" dos2unix ^M
fun! Dos2unixFunction()
	let _s=@/
	let l = line(".")
	let c = col(".")
	try
		set ff=unix
		w!
		"%s/\%x0d$//e
	catch /E32:/
		echo "Sorry, first save the file."
	endtry
	let @/=_s
	call cursor(l, c)
endfun
com! Dos2Unix keepjumps call Dos2unixFunction()

mcedit: shift+f2, set unix format (LF), ok