Linux text editor command line

Top 6 awesome text editors for Linux and Unix command-line users/developers

Top 6 awesome text editors for Linux, macOS and Unix CLI users

The curated list for text editors is in alphabetical order.

1. emacs – GNU Emacs is the extensible self-documenting text editor

GNU Emacs is an acronym for Macros Macros. One of the most common text editors on Linux and Unix-like systems. Developers and programmers primarily use it. Emacs’ key selling points are its powerful Emacs Lisp, a built-in programming language that lets the user extend the editor’s capabilities. Emacs fans are often involved in an Internet turf war with vim/vi fans.

GNU Emacs running on my Ubuntu desktop

2. kakoune – Modal editor inspired by vim, especially keystrokes

Kakoune is a modal text editor. Vim is a significant inspiration for Kakoune existence, and it tries to improve the text editing workflow and fit better to the Unix philosophy. From the project home page:

Kakoune is a code editor that implements Vi’s “keystrokes as a text editing language” model. As it’s also a modal editor, it is somewhat similar to the Vim editor. Kakoune can operate in two modes, normal and insertion. In insertion mode, keys are directly inserted into the current buffer. In normal mode, keys are used to manipulate the current selection and to enter insertion mode. Kakoune has a strong focus on interactivity, most commands provide immediate and incremental results, while still being competitive (as in keystroke count) with Vim.

Kakoune in action

3. micro – A simple and easy to use text editor

Micro is a terminal-based text editor that aims to be easy to use and intuitive while also taking advantage of modern terminals’ full capabilities. From the project page:

micro aims to be somewhat of a successor to the nano editor by being easy to install and use in a pinch, but micro also aims to be enjoyable to use full time, whether you work in the terminal because you prefer it (like me), or because you need to (over ssh).

Features are as follows:

• Standard keybindings (Ctrl-s to save, Ctrl-z to undo, Ctrl-q to quit, etc.)
• Syntax highlighting for over 140 programming languages supported
• Full support for the mouse. It means you can click and drag to select the text, double click select by word, and triple-click to select by line
• Multiple cursors
• Configurable keybindings and settings (tab width, tabs vs. spaces, diff gutter, etc.)
• Built-in terminal emulator
• Splits and tabs
• Automatic linting and commenting via Lua plugins
• Plugin manager to download additional Lua plugins other users have made
• Terminal emulator
• And much more

micro text editor

4. nano – Nano’s ANOther text editor, inspired by Pico for new users/developers

GNU nano is a tiny text editor with a reputation for newbie-friendly. Nano was initially gain popularity due to Ubuntu and now default on many Linux distros. It mimics the look and feel of Pico text editor, although is free software, and implements several features that Pico lacks. For instance:

• Opening multiple files
• Scrolling per line
• Undo/redo
• Syntax coloring
• Line numbering
• Soft-wrapping overlong lines and much more.

GNU nano editing the /etc/resolv.conf on my Linux system

5. neovim – Vim fork focused on extensibility, usability, and backward comparability

Neovim is a fork of vim with additional features. The authors of Neovim wanted text editor features to improve Vim’s extensibility and maintainability. It is fully compatible with Vim’s editing model and the Vimscript language. With 30% less source-code than Vim, the vision of Neovim is to enable new applications without compromising Vim’s traditional roles. Since Neovim is a drop-in replacement for vim, the learning curve is easier for existing vim users. Feature includes:

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• Strong defaults
• Modern terminal features such as cursor styling, focus events, bracketed paste
• Built-in terminal emulator
• The plugin API
• LUA based scripting apart from Vimscript

6. vim – The most loved and memed text editor

Vim is an acronym for Vi IMproved. It is a clone, with an additional set of features to the original Bill Joy’s vi text editor for Unix. Vim’s author, Bram Moolenaar, based Vim on the source code for a port of the Stevie editor to the Amiga. At the time of its first release, the name “Vim” was an acronym for “Vi IMitation”, but this changed to “‘Vi IMproved” late in 1993.

Vim text editor running on Ubuntu

Meme about editor war: Let us start a flame fest over a text editor

How do I set up a screen-oriented text editor on Linux or Unix?

You need to set up a variable called $VISUAL (or in some cases $EDITOR) as follows:

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Best Linux Command Line Text Editors

Text editors are useful tools for any operating system to work with this. While working with the GUI-based operating system, you can find lots of text editors.

The Linux users and system administrators always prefer to use command line interface to work on it. In this guide, you will find some details of the most favorite and useful command line text editors.

Note: Fedora 22+ Users use DNF to install packages instead of yum.

#1. vi/vim – Text Editor

Vi (visual editor) or Vim is most commonley used text editor for the command line users. The minimum operating system installation may not have default installed it. Use the following command to install.

#2. Nano

Nano is another favorite and commonley used text editors by the command line users. This also default installed on most of the Linux platforms. You can also use following command to install nano on your Linux system.

#3.Nice Editor (ne)

Nice (ne) editor is intended to provide an alternative to vi that will be more familiar to beginners. The ne text editor supports most of the common features in advanced text editors, such as syntax highlighting, regular expressions, key bindings, and auto-completes etc. Use the following command to install this on your system.

#4. EMACS

Emacs is an extensible, customizable and real time display editor. This is a GNU project application for command line lovers. Install Emacs on your system using the following commands.

#5. mc (Midnight Commander)

Midnight Commander provides an internal text editor, which can be invoked with mc -e or mcedit commands, featuring syntax highlighting, regexp searching and other features.

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My Favorite Command Line Editors for Linux – What’s Your Editor?

Knowing how to fast and effectively edit files via command line is vital for every Linux system administrator. File edits are performed on a daily basis, whether it’s a configuration file, user file, text document or whatever file you need to edit.

This is why it is good idea to pick a favourite command line text editor and master it. It’s good to know how to work with other text editors, but you should master at least one so you can perform more complex tasks when needed.

In this tutorial, we are going to show you the most common command line text editors in Linux and show you their pros and cons.

Note however that we will not cover a complete guide how to work with each one of them as this can be a complete other article with explanation.

1. Vi/Vim Editor

First in our list is the infamous Vi/Vim (Vim comes from Vi improved). This is a very flexible text editor that can perform many different operations on text.

Vi/Vim Linux Editor

For example you can use regular expressions to replace text snippets in a file using vim. This of course is not the only benefit. Vi(m) provides an easy way to navigate between lines, words paragraphs. It also includes text highlighting.

Vim may not be the most user friendly text editor, but it is often preferred by developers and Linux power users. If you want to install this command line text editor on your system, you can use the command associated with your OS:

Install Vi/Vim Editor in Linux

If you want to see our complete coverage of vi(m), please follow the links below:

2. Nano Editor

Nano is probably one of the most used command line text editors. The reason for this is it’s simplicity and the fact that it’s preinstalled in most of the Linux distributions.

Nano Editor for Linux

Nano doesn’t have vim’s flexibility, but it will definitely do the work if you need to edit a large file. Actually pico and nano are quite similar. Both have their command options displayed at the bottom so you can choose which one to run. Commands are completed with key combinations of Ctrl and a letter displayed at the bottom.

Nano has the following features that you can use out of the box:

1. Get Help
2. Write out
3. Justify
4. Read File
5. Where is (search)
6. Previous page
7. Next page
8. Cut Text
9. Uncut Text
10. Cur Pos (Current position)
11. Spell check

Install Nano Editor in Linux

You can check our complete guide for editing files with Nano editor on this link:

3. Emacs Editor

This is probably the most complex text editor in our list. It’s the oldest command line editor available for both Linux and UNIX based systems. Emacs can help you be more productive by providing an integrated environment for different kinds of tasks.

Emacs Editor for Linux

At first the user interface may look somehow confusing. The good thing is that emacs has a very detailed manual that will help you with file navigation, edits, customization, setting up commands. Emacs is the ultimate tool used by advanced *Nix users.

Here are some of the features that make it the preferred choice over the previous editors we mentioned:

1. Emacs server platform enables multiple hosts to connect to the same Emacs server and share the buffer list.
2. Powerful and extensible file manager.
3. Customization beyond a regular editor – as some say it’s an OS within the OS.
4. Commands customization.
5. Can change to Vi(m) like mode.

Emacs is a multi-platform editor and can be easily installed with the commands shown below:

Install Emacs Editor in Linux

Note: In Linux Mint 17 I had to run the following command to complete the installation:

Conclusion

There are other command line editors, but they barely even reach the functionality that the above 3 provide. Whether you are a Linux newbie or a Linux guru, you will most definitely need to learn at least one of the above mentioned editors. If we’ve missed any command-line editor in this article, please don’t forget to inform us via comments.

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23 Best Open Source Text Editors (GUI + CLI) in 2021

Text editors can be used for writing code, editing text files such as configuration files, creating user instruction files, and many more. In Linux, text editors are of two kinds that is the graphical user interface (GUI) and command-line text editors (console or terminal).

In this article, I am taking a look at some of the best 21 open-source commonly used text editors in Linux on both servers and desktops.

1. Vi/Vim Editor

Vim is a powerful command-line based text editor that has enhanced the functionalities of the old Unix Vi text editor. It is one the most popular and widely used text editors among System Administrators and programmers that is why many users often refer to it as a programmer’s editor. It enables syntax highlighting when writing code or editing configuration files.

You can install Vim editor in Linux systems using your default package manager as shown.

If you want to see our complete series on vi(m), please refer to the links below:

• Learn and Use Vi/Vim as a Full-Text Editor in Linux
• Learn ‘Vi/Vim’ Editor Tips and Tricks to Enhance Your Skills
• 8 Interesting ‘Vi/Vim’ Editor Tips and Tricks

Vi/Vim Linux Editor

2. Gedit

Gedit is a general-purpose GUI based text editor and is installed by default text editor on Gnome desktop environment. It is simple to use, highly pluggable and a powerful editor with the following features:

• Support for UTF-8
• Use of configurable font size and colors
• Highly customizable syntax highlighting
• Undo and redo functionalities
• Reverting of files
• Remote editing of files
• Search and replace text
• Clipboard support functionalities and many more

Gedit Editor

You can install Gedit editor in Linux systems using your default package manager as shown.

3. Nano Editor

Nano is an easy to use text editor, especially for both new and advanced Linux users. It enhances usability by providing customizable key binding.

Nano has the following features:

• Highly customizable key bindings
• Syntax highlighting
• Undo and redo options
• Full line display on the standard output
• Pager support to read from standard input

Nano Editor

You can install Nano editor in Linux systems using your default package manager as shown.

You can check our complete guide for editing files with Nano editor at:

4. GNU Emacs

Emacs is a highly extensible and customizable text editor that also offers an interpretation of the Lisp programming language at its core. Different extensions can be added to support text editing functionalities.

Emacs has the following features:

• User documentation and tutorials
• Syntax highlighting using colors even for plain text.
• Unicode supports many natural languages.
• Various extension including mail and news, debugger interface, calendar, and many more

Emacs Editor

You can install Emacs editor in Linux systems using your default package manager as shown.

5. Kate/Kwrite

Kate is a feature-rich and highly pluggable text editor that comes with KDesktop Environment (KDE). The Kate project aims at the development of two main products that are: KatePart and Kate.

KatePart is an advanced text editor component included in many KDE applications that may require users to edit text whereas Kate is a multiple document interface (MDI) text, editor.

The following are some of its general features:

• Extensible through scripting
• Encoding support such as Unicode mode
• Text rendering in bi-directional mode
• Line ending support with auto-detection functionalities

Also remote file editing and many other features including advanced editor features, applications features, programming features, text highlighting features, backup features, and search and replace features.

Kate Editor

You can install Kate editor in Linux systems using your default package manager as shown.

6. Sublime Text Editor

Sublime Text is a powerful cross-platform source code editor with a Python programming interface. It supports many programming languages and markup languages, and features can be added by users with plugins, mostly community-built and supported under free-software licenses.

Sublime Text Editor for Linux

You can install Sublime Text editor in Linux systems using your default package manager as shown.

7. Jed Editor

Jed is also another command-line editor with support for GUI like features such as dropdown menus. It is developed purposely for software development and one of its important features is the support of Unicode mode.

Jed Editor

You can install Jed editor in Linux systems using your default package manager as shown.

8. gVim Editor

It is a GUI version of the popular Vim editor and it has similar functionalities as the command line Vim.

Gvim Editor

You can install gVim editor in Linux systems using your default package manager as shown.

9. Geany Editor

Geany is a tiny and lightweight integrated development environment that offers basic IDE-like features with a focus on software development using the GTK+ toolkit.

It has some basic features as listed below:

• Syntax highlighting
• Pluggable interface
• Supports many file types
• Enables code folding and code navigation
• Symbol name and construct auto-completion
• Supports auto-closing of HTML and XML tags
• Elementary project management functionality plus many more

Geany Editor

You can install Geany editor in Linux systems using your default package manager as shown.

10. Leaf Pad

Leaf Pad is a GTK+ based, lightweight GUI based text editor which is also popular among Linux users today. It is easy to use by new Linux users.

It has the following features:

• Codeset option
• Allows auto-detection of codeset
• Options of undo and redo
• Display file line numbers
• Supports Drag and Drop options
• Printing support

Leafpad Editor

You can install Leaf Pad editor in Linux systems using snap package manager as shown.

11. Bluefish

Bluefish is an easy-to-install and advanced text editor targeting Linux programmers and web developers. It offers a wide set of features as listed below:

• Lightweight and fast
• Integrates external Linux programs such as lint, weblint, make, and many others and filters, piping such as sed, sort, awk, and many more
• Spelling check feature
• Supports working on multiple projects
• Remote file editing
• Search and replace support
• Undo and redo option
• Auto-recovery of modified files

Bluefish Editor

You can install Bluefish editor in Linux systems using your default package manager as shown.

12. Atom

Atom is a free and open-source cross-platform code editor developed by GitHub. It was built to be completely customizable using web technologies such as HTML and JavaScript and it has support for Node.js-based plugins and native Git control.

Atom’s feature highlights include:

• 100% open source
• Modern, customizable layout
• Themes
• Embedded Git support
• Real-time collaboration with Telesync
• Smart auto-complete and IntelliSense
• Built-in package manager

Atom Text Editor

You can install Atom editor in Linux systems using the following commands.

13. VSCode

VSCode is a robust free and open-source modern text editor built by Microsoft for Linux, Mac, and Windows computers.

It offers tons of powerful features including:

• Full debugging capability with an interactive console, breakpoints, call stacks, etc.
• Built-in Git support with Git commands
• IntelliSense
• 100% customizability
• Support for tons of languages straight out of the box
• Toggable layouts
• Built-in terminal

Visual Studio Code

You can install VSCode for your Linux distribution by downloading the .deb or .rpm package from the VSCode download page.

14. Light Table

Light Table is a powerful, clutter-free cross-platform text editor built to be customizable enough to be used in any that its user chooses.

Light Table’s features include:

• Inline evaluation
• Real-time watches
• Free and open source
• Plugin manager
• Powerful editing

Light Table Code Editor

You can install Light Table on Ubuntu and its derivatives using the following PPA.

15. Medit Text Editor

medit is a lightweight open-source text editor for Mac, Linux, and Windows. It originally started as a simple built-in component of the GGAP editor and is now its own stand-alone text editor.

medit’s features include:

• Customizable syntax highlighting
• Support for plugins written in Python, C, or Lua
• Support for regular expressions
• Configurable keyboard accelerators

Media Text Editor

You can download and install medit from the mooedit.sourceforge.net page.

16. Neovim – Vim-based Text Editor

Neovim is a hyperextensible vim-based text editor with a focus on usability and function extensibility. It was forked from the popular Vim editor in order to aggressively refactor its functionality and usability with modern GUIs, asynchronous job control, etc.

Neovim’s feature highlights include:

• Free and open-source license
• Support for XDG base directories
• Compatibility with most Vim plugins
• An embedded, configurable terminal emulator

Neovim – Vim-based Text Editor

You can install Neovim editor in Linux systems using your default package manager as shown.

17. Notepad++

Notepad++ is a customizable text editor built with a focus on speed and minimal program size for Windows platforms. It is developed based on Scintilla text editor and can have its functionality extended with tons of plugins.

Its features include:

• Tabbed editing
• Code folding
• Bookmark support
• Document map
• Perl Compatible Regular Expression

Notepad++ Source Code Editor

You can install Notepad++ editor in Linux systems using snap package manage as shown.

18. Kakoune Code Editor

Kakoune is a free and open-source Vim-based modal text editor with an editing model that implements Vi’s keystrokes as a text editing language.

It has several features among which are:

• Auto-indentation
• Case manipulation
• Piping each selection to an external filter
• Hooks
• Syntax highlighting
• Customization
• Multiple selections

Kakoune Code Editor

You can install the Kakoune editor in Linux systems using your default package manager as shown.

19. Micro – Terminal-based Text Editor

Micro is a command line-based text editor built to be easy and intuitive enough for users to take advantage of the features in other terminal-based text editors without the steep learning curve.

Micro’s feature highlights include:

• Mouse support
• Multiple cursors
• Terminal emulation
• High customizability
• Plugin system
• Static library with no dependencies

Micro Terminal Text Editor

You can easily install micro in your Linux distribution by running the following installation script.

20. Brackets Text Editor

Brackets is a modern free and open-source code editor created by Adobe with a focus on web development. It is written in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to offer web developers a rich code editing experience with the ability to extend its native features using several free extensions.

Brackets features include:

• A beautiful User Interface
• Preprocessor support for SCSS and LESS
• Inline editors
• Live preview
• Multiple tabbed editing
• PHP support
• Supports Language Server Protocol
• Support for plugin extensions

Brackets Text Editor

You can install Brackets editor in Linux systems using snap package manager as shown.

21. Lite Editor

Lite is a new text editor mostly developed in the Lua language, that aims to offer something practical, pleasing, tiny and fast, created as simply as possible; easy to alter and expand, or to use without doing either.

Lite Text Editor

22. Ash Editor

ash is a plain and clean command line-based text editor, that designed to be easy to use with modern key-bindings and it is efficient enough to manage a large number of files simultaneously and has a broad array of modern features.

Ash – Modern Terminal Text Editor

23. CudaText

CudaText is a new clean open-source and cross-platform text editor that comes with tons of features which include:

• Syntax highlight for a lot of languages.
• Find/Replace with regular expressions.
• Command palette, with fuzzy matching.
• Binary/Hex viewer for files of unlimited size.
• Support for many encodings.

CudaText – cross-platform text editor

Concluding

I believe the list is more than what we have looked at, therefore if you have used other free and open-source text editors, let us know by posting a comment. Thanks for reading and always stay connected to Tecmint.

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