I am not sure I understood the request. On emacs built from emacs-25 branch (could not verify the same on 24.5), by doing, C-h i g (emacs) Backup Names I get a very good explanation of how the backup files are named. ===== When Emacs makes a backup file, its name is normally constructed by appending ‘~’ to the file name being edited; thus, the backup file for ‘eval.c’ would be ‘eval.c~’. If access control stops Emacs from writing backup files under the usual names, it writes the backup file as ‘~/.emacs.d/%backup%~’. Only one such file can exist, so only the most recently made such backup is available. Emacs can also make "numbered backup files". Numbered backup file names contain ‘.~’, the number, and another ‘~’ after the original file name. Thus, the backup files of ‘eval.c’ would be called ‘eval.c.~1~’, ‘eval.c.~2~’, and so on, all the way through names like ‘eval.c.~259~’ and beyond. [snip] ===== Should this bug be closed? -- Kaushal Modi