To check-out the file for editing, a request for a lock and a request for retrieval of a version can be made with:

$ co -l our_file.txt
RCS/our_file.txt,v  -->  our_file.txt
revision 1.1 (locked)
done

The checking-in, checking-out and locking of a file can be done with a single check-in. This is more efficient for actively editing and checking-in revisions of a file, and is used often. The single checking-in command is:

$ ci -l our_file.txt
RCS/our_file.txt,v  <--  our_file.txt
new revision: 1.2; previous revision: 1.1
enter log message, terminated with single '.' or end of file:
>> Added another question.
>> ^D
done