*nix text editor

[NogginBoink]

I'm new to the world of *nix and am looking for a text editor that's easy to use (you know... Notepad-like).

Any recommendations?

 

[DarkThinker]

What Desktop environment are you using Gnome or KDE?
If you have a GNOME environment, you should already have a very good text editor called gedit, otherwise you can install with your package manager.

If you are looking for a a notepad like editor gedit will do, and it has some nice features, such as syntax recognition for programming &scripting languages, tabbed open files browsing...etc

Personally though, I am almost never use anything besides VIM , but if you are not doing anything fancy I say stick to gedit.

 

[NogginBoink]

I'm not using a GUI; I'm using the bash shell. I'm setting up a server-only machine.

I suppose that's an important point that I should have included, huh?

 

[drag]

then try nano.

At the bottom of the screen you'll see various things like ^G or ^X

The ^ means controller key. So ^X would be ctrl-x combo.

I suggest taking a strong look at screen. This will allow you to multitask easily and save sessions between logins. It's a 'terminal multiplexer' and uses ctrl-a then a combos and such. For a list of commands run screen and hit ctrl-a then ? The ctrl-a is a sort of prompt so that "screen" knows the next key combo will be a command.


If your curious about trying vim some time there should be a program called vimtutor that will help you get the basic controls down. But if you want simple then nano is the way to go.

 

[NogginBoink]

Thanks, I think nano will do it for me!

 

[pravi333]

i use 'vi' editor

 

[cleverhandle]

Really, learn to use vi. It's on every UNIX machine out there and very efficient once you get the hang of it. Set aside an hour to run through vimtutor and you'll know enough to be pretty efficient with it. Past that, there are about a thousand little features you can explore if you really want to, but it doesn't take much to learn the basics.

 

[Chaotic42]

I like 'jed'.

 

[dukdukgoos]

if you're running a server environment, I'd suggest vim, which is like vi+. Nano is much easier to pick up and use though, if that's a big concern.

 

[her209]

vi or emacs

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: drag
then try nano.

At the bottom of the screen you'll see various things like ^G or ^X

The ^ means controller key. So ^X would be ctrl-x combo.

I suggest taking a strong look at screen. This will allow you to multitask easily and save sessions between logins. It's a 'terminal multiplexer' and uses ctrl-a then a combos and such. For a list of commands run screen and hit ctrl-a then ? The ctrl-a is a sort of prompt so that "screen" knows the next key combo will be a command.


If your curious about trying vim some time there should be a program called vimtutor that will help you get the basic controls down. But if you want simple then nano is the way to go.

i have to second the suggestion of using screen. its very useful for a number of things. especially if youre going to ssh in to a box

 

[GundamSonicZeroX]

Vi, emacs, or nano.

 

[d4mo]

nano for sure

 

[Brazen]

I learned vi and used it exclusively until I discovered nano. Nano is installed by default on Ubuntu and RHEL/CentOS (the only two distros I use anymore) and is much more "notepad-like". If you ever need to edit sudoers, though, you must use the 'visudo' command which usually opens vi by default. There is a way to have 'visudo' use nano, though I don't know what that is (it hasn't been a big enough issue for me to bother looking in to it). So in other words, my suggestion is nano, but you should at least be familiar with vi in case you ever get stuck using it.

As other's have said, using 'screen' is also a must on a command line system. That doesn't really have anything to do with text editors; it's just good advice. I wrote down a little cheat-sheet on the back of a business card for screen commands and kept it by my workstation until I memorized the most useful ones (which didn't take long at all). To see a list of screen commands, run screen, then at the command prompt hold-and-release ctrl and "a" then hit "?" (which is actually shift + "/" on U.S. keyboards).

 

[sourceninja]

I teach a *nix class at the college here. It covers basic admin stuff, installing a few different flavors of linux, and other fun stuff. We use ubuntu as the distro for the class (however this is possibly going to change into a solaris certification course). I force the students to learn vi. You can always be sure to have vi (at least I have not ran across a system without it). I show them emacs and nano, but they are quizzed on using vi.

 

[Net]

kwrite is good, a little more features.

gedit, kedit are more like notepad.

 

[Schadenfroh]

For nonGUI situations, I use emacs. When I have a GUI, I use gedit.

 

[nyker96]

another one for emacs, has very good features and caries over to say windows as well. been using this since college.

 

[Fallen Kell]

If he wants notepad like, just use nedit...

 

[Christobevii3]

Pico or nano!

 

[QuixoticOne]

I'd suggest checking out vim or the console version of emacs (or microemacs) just because it can be a lot
easier to have more advanced search / replace / etc. functions than you'd get with a notepad-like editor.

vi will pre-exist on most any installation you sit in front of, whereas a lot of the other options will be add-on packages,
so if you know at least a little ex/vi at least you can do basic sysadmin instantly without adding new software.

Unless you want a TUI / curses type menuing + mouse system, really, a notepad like editor is sort of useless
in that it is no easier to use than vim/emacs since you still will typically either just linearly type/erase/scroll, or
occasionally use a function key type mechanism to save/search/cut/paste. With no mouse you'd really be
at the mercy of function keys whatever editor you use, so it might as well be vi/vim/emacs/... in that case.

If you're SSHing in a lot of times your terminal settings won't be quite right in which case you'll have a lot of pain
trying to use anything beyond 'ex' if it is trying to scroll according to the incorrect size of your screen terminal window.

 

[Brazen]

All you really need is "cat," "sed," and "echo."

 

[PCTC2]

I personally use vim, but here you go! Link to any explanation you need

 

[Nitemare]

You can never go wrong with vi. I'll use kwrite within the gui if I will be copying and pasting alot though.

 

[degibson]

ed.
It is the standard text editor.
The standard.
http://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/ed.msg.html