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Text Editors

It's often necessary to edit a text file containing a script, program, data, or configuration information. There are many text editors available.

Default Text Editors​

It is useful to learn how to use the text editor(s) provided by default with each operating system, because these editors will be available on almost any computer you use without installing any additional software. In other words, you'll be able to confidently walk up to any system, anywhere, and edit a file!

Linux Default Text Editor​

On Linux systems, most distributions (the organizations or companies responsible for maintaining and distributing the system) have standardized on the nano editor as the default CLI/TUI text editor (replacing the less-user-friendly but more-powerful vi editor, which was previously the default). To start nano, type nano and optionally provide a filename:

nano
nano file

Nano provides a help display at the bottom of the screen. The carat ^ symbol indicates the control key, so the help text "^X Exit" means that you would press Ctrl-X to exit from the editor.

Since Linux systems provide multiple desktop GUI environments, the default GUI text editor(s) will vary with the installed desktop GUI. For example, on Linux desktops using the Gnome environment, the default GUI text editor is Gedit or Gnome Text Editor; on Linux desktops using the KDE desktop, the default GUI text editor is a program called Kate.

Windows Default Text Editor​

Previous versions of Windows included a CLI/TUI text editor called Edit. This was removed a few years ago, and Windows technical users have been asking Microsoft to reinstate it ever since. The current beta (pre-release test versions) of Windows includes a new version of Edit, and it should reappear in the main Windows releases soon.

In the interim, you can run the GUI Notepad editor, either from the Start Menu, or from the command line (as long as you are not accessing the Windows system remotely through a non-graphical connection), optionally providing a filename to be edited:

notepad
notepad file

Other Text Editors​

There are many other text editors available for both platforms, and many editors are available that work on multiple operating systems. For example, nano and vi are available for Windows systems, and editors similar to notepad are available on Linux.

There are also several categories of software that are (arguably) a type of text editor, including:

  1. Basic text editors
  2. Code editors, for editing software and configuration files, with features such as tooltip help, syntax highlighting, bracket matching, and automatic indentation
  3. Word processors, for editing documents, with features such as spell checking, visual formatting, advanced layout features such as columns and tables

Software developers and system administrators have strong opinions about their tools, and particularly about their text editors. Things to consider when selecting any type of text editor include:

  • Interface: does the editor use a graphical user interface, a text user interface, or can it operate in both modes?
  • Tools: does the editor have useful tools such as syntax highlighting for common languages and configuration files? Does the list of supported languages include the ones you want to use?
  • Visual complexity: some users prefer an editor with on-screen controls (or help) for most or all of the actions they may perform so that they can access these features quickly. Others prefer a less-cluttered screen which dedicates maximum screen space to content and minimizes distractions.
  • Previews and integration with other tools: can the software provide visual previews, such as HTML and CSS display for web documents, LaTeX rendering, and accessibility assessments? Can you directly invoke publishing, content conversion, file transfer, or compilation processes from within the editor?
  • Feature control: can you easily turn features on and off? For example, can you disable spell checking or syntax highlighting if your file contains a section that is in a different language? Can you disable auto-correction when it is not relevant to the project at hand?

Most software developers and system administrators use multiple editors for different tasks - for example, they may choose one editor for quick cnfiguration changes, another editor (or IDE) for larger development tasks, and multiple editors for different types of documentation.

Note that features intended for one editing task can be a nuscience in another context. For example, a word processor will often convert double quote characters into "smart quotes" (look closely at the quotation characters in this line), where the opening and closing quote characters are distinct characters. While these look great and are good for general writing, they are problematic in code and in examples that may appear in documentation, because they will be rejected by some types of software which expect straight double-quotes (such as most shells).