Error reading lock file /etc/.rc.local.swp: Not enough data read

Question

I was able to access rc.local just a little bit ago and now it wont let me. I cant even delete the swp file due to permission issues. Im not sure where to go from here, the error i get when opening the rc.local file is

Error reading lock file /etc/.rc.local.swp: Not enough data read.

When i try to delete the swp file i get

rm /etc/.rc.local.swp

rm: remove write-protected regular empty file '/etc/.rc.local.swp'? y

rm: cannot remove '/etc/.rc.local.swp': Permission denied

Answer 1

.*.swp files are created by the vi editor to log changes so that the undo command can work.

They are created with the same permissions as the file they are logging in the same directory. Because the name starts with a period they are hidden.

If you've used sudo vi /etc/rc.local and created /etc/.rc.local.swp you'll need to use sudo rm /etc/.rc.local.swp to remove it.