VIM: Encryption key

Question

I'm having one doubt about the VIM ENCRYPTION key.

I having a text file, I encrypted that file using

:X

Now, where the encrypted key is stored (path).

Whether it stored in a separate file or the text file itself.

If I open a the file it asked Encryption key.

How it compare my key with the original key?

Answer 1

It doesn't store the key - it just encrypts or decrypts with the key you type.

Here's a hex dump of a 15-character file encrypted with a key ('elephant' - try it; the contents was not meaningful ('abcdededesdasd') before I encrypted it):

0x0000: 56 69 6D 43 72 79 70 74 7E 30 31 21 95 96 C7 F6   VimCrypt~01!....
0x0010: 75 C8 3B BF 1D BD BD 86 97 32 DA                  u.;......2.
0x001B:

It's 27 characters long; 'VimCrypt~01!' is 12 characters. If you decrypt it with the wrong key (say 'pinkpanther'), you get garbage. So, vim does no integrity checking on the encrypted file or decrypted file.