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.

Answer 1

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...)

Answer 2

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