Solved Which text editor to use?
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Perhaps the text editor not recalled is vim. Vim is very widespread in linux and is a dedicated text editor. Most UNIX and UNIX-like systems have vi as a default installed text editor, and vim is a developed version of vi. When installed properly, vim comes with a tutor program called
vimtutor which is also the name of the command to use to open the tutor in a terminal to begin to learn vim. Otherwise, there are many user-friendly introductions to vim online. There's a longstanding contest between vim and emacs commonly referred to as the "editor wars". See here for some details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editor_war
CaffeineAddict
Well-Known Member
To view and edit config files I use nano in 100% of cases, this is enough, you don't need fancy features or editors.
To view or edit bash files, logs and similar scatered on file system I'd sometimes use VSCode.
To view or edit bash files, logs and similar scatered on file system I'd sometimes use VSCode.
rafales1959
New Member
CLI- nano
GUI-geany
GUI-geany
Microsoft Word
A suggestion made with your tongue firmly in your cheek
@f33dm3bits.It's worth noting the differences between word processors such as Microsoft Word, including word processors in linux such as libreoffice and abiword, compared with text editors.
The word processor formats text in all sort of ways with fonts, tables, colors, images, margins and all sorts of formatting which make a document look a certain way chosen by the user.
The text editor writes plain text in ascii and/or utf-8 without formatting. It's used more for taking notes, writing programming code and for writing and amending configuration files.
A word processor puts lots of codes into its file which a text editor doesn't do. So for example, writing in configuration files, the text editor writes clean text that the app can read whereas if a word processor was used, it would have lots of hidden codes that would be confusing for an app to read, so it's a mistake to write or amend configuration files with a word processor in linux.
The following is a partial list of text editors available in debian, usable in the console or terminal:
alpine-pico
e3
ed
edlin
efte
elvis-tiny
emacs
fte
jed
jedit
joe
jove
kilo
l3afpad
le
ledit
levee
mg
micro
mousepad
nano
nano-tiny
ne
nedit
neovim
notepadqq
pluma
retext
textedit.app
vi
vile
vim
zile
Some text editors which use a GUI in debian are these:
bluefish
chr
chr-tiny
gedit
geany
juffed
kate
kile
kwrite
xedit
xjed
yudit
Note that some a specialised in some way, for example, minimalistic, light weight etc. One can read about each text editor in debian with the
apt-cache show <text-editor> command. Other distros are sure to have similar ones available.Here are some other text editors which don't seem to appear in debian:
atom
brackets
elvis
eddie
featherpad
komodo
lapis
leafpad
leo
pulsar
sublime text
xed
zed
I have been a text editor junkie over the years and these lists are from my notes.
Thunderpants
Active Member
For simplicity in my case are Nano(CLI) and Mousepad(GUI).
For both CLI and GUI environments, I use epsilon programmer's editor from Lugaru Software Ltd.
Not FOSS, it's one of the very few software packages that I've ever actually paid money for and, for me, worth every penny of it.
Not FOSS, it's one of the very few software packages that I've ever actually paid money for and, for me, worth every penny of it.
wendy-lebaron
Well-Known Member
bluefish - i don't remember now but it was awful. i didn't try to use it. removed it from my system. so much for trying to find a replacement for geany. or finding something else that doesn't soft-scroll.
ms-dos edit - this was quite good when it was first introduced. also the qbasic interpreter. so good a mock-up with rust was invented a short time ago.
edlin - (put roflmao emoticon here) can't believe the old ms-dos program. was ported to gnu/linux. useful in a way. but pressing "ctrl+c" and "ctrl+z". and other such keys to get around was brutal. (saw "edlin" in a post above. which made me reply in this thread.)
featherpad - i have "anylinux" appimage. otherwise in at least one linux os installation i have. with lxqt desktop i don't use this. because it's otherwordly. once the search box is used. the program preferences has to be opened to hide it again. then the way it behaves when the replace widget is on the screen as well. cannot easily set the cursor to the end of the line. so don't do like me. compose documents like this post on a forum. that are long and have to be word-wrapped. use this strictly for c/c++ or python programming. because this only certainly responds to "home". treating the cursor like a frightened mouse inside a house. set cursor to end of whole line no matter how long it is. is not even thought about in pluma. just press "ctrl+pgdn". in geany press "end". could customize some keystrokes. so not everything is bad.
geany - i use this the most. but it has many annoyances. i don't think a lot has changed from 1.37 to 2.1. which is even more annoying. i used this on slackel. but triggering document properties crashed it. by pressing "shift+ctrl+v". i warned about it on salix forums. but they laughed at me.
gnome text editor 49 - i have "anylinux" appimage of this. it's nice but i want to get away from soft-scroll. they've never changed the lousiest search function tactic. i've often struggled with in "gedit" for ubuntu studio 32-bit.
gvim - ok program iff all its dependencies are installed. best in slackel and other slackware. (the following goes for "vim" as well.) but some of its commands are too weird. it doesn't always show the line one is editing. which was nerve-wracking for me.
joe - used this on slackware 32-bit. also grabbed the source code and compiled it for my preferred system. main thing is to know "wordstar" keystrokes. which are clunky. liked that only using turbo pascal 3 for ms-dos way back in junior high school.
kate/kwrite - this is better than geany imho but has other annoyances. such as beginning to type into the search box. then it jumps to the first occurrence. egad i want to turn that off so much. wait until i tell you. what if i want to start further down in the document? the one that comes with plasma 5.27. has an awful oversight. the "window division line" that cannot be disabled. i don't care about document splits. with one instance of a text editor. after plasma 5.20 these programs have become more bloated and slower. this is noticeable on "trixie" on my "outdated" equipment.
l3afpad - ok but on slackware. don't try to use the arrow keys too much. to scroll around in the document.
meld - not really a text editor. but i really should use this more often.
neovim - the author is married to lua 5.1. says later version/releases of the same interpreter. are a different programming language to him. i couldn't get this to work properly anyhow. also failed to compile it. because it seems to prefer qt.
mousepad - this probably would be the best "gedit clone." iff the soft scroll could be disabled. on "bullseye" this program does weird things with the display. while word-wrap is enabled.
notepad++ - would like to be out of all scintilla-based text editors. too bad this is only for windows. the "qq" version is very frustrating. the thing cannot be configured. not everybody knows how to deal with xml junk. which requires using the other one with wine. so why even bother with "notepadqq"? probably this has advanced but i don't care.
pluma - "gedit clone" i like the best. but on some installations. such as spirallinux with cinnamon desktop. where it comes preinstalled. it needs a library so it remembers recent files on "file" menu. otherwise i'm glad the "functionality" was removed. which was driving me nuts with gnome programs. first thing open file requester shows is "recent" list. this was a good thing for me only with l3afpad.
sci-te - this one was ok. until i discovered notepad++. for windows of course.
textadept - (had to look this up in ddg online search.) could be customized with lua. but i didn't like it. it needed a tutorial or something else. because even its configuration. was to be contained in a series of lua scripts.
vscodium - i have an old appimage of this. it's just too bloated and complex even for "hobbyist" programming. but it sure looks nice.
xed - bulky, probably the heaviest and slowest of "gedit clones." was one of the few problems. while i had endeavouros "artemis" with xfce desktop. back in 2022.
there's also a pretty good screen editor. written in qb64 by one of the members of the phoenix edition forum. the program is called "scrned". it could be created on linux. unfortunately it has a "win32 api" call. that causes it to fail to compile. moreover that forum doesn't permit anymore. accessing links to programs directly. unless someone is member of that site. otherwise i would recommend this program. it is somewhat like "nano." it might help someone learn programming concepts. not necessarily basic.
ms-dos edit - this was quite good when it was first introduced. also the qbasic interpreter. so good a mock-up with rust was invented a short time ago.
edlin - (put roflmao emoticon here) can't believe the old ms-dos program. was ported to gnu/linux. useful in a way. but pressing "ctrl+c" and "ctrl+z". and other such keys to get around was brutal. (saw "edlin" in a post above. which made me reply in this thread.)
featherpad - i have "anylinux" appimage. otherwise in at least one linux os installation i have. with lxqt desktop i don't use this. because it's otherwordly. once the search box is used. the program preferences has to be opened to hide it again. then the way it behaves when the replace widget is on the screen as well. cannot easily set the cursor to the end of the line. so don't do like me. compose documents like this post on a forum. that are long and have to be word-wrapped. use this strictly for c/c++ or python programming. because this only certainly responds to "home". treating the cursor like a frightened mouse inside a house. set cursor to end of whole line no matter how long it is. is not even thought about in pluma. just press "ctrl+pgdn". in geany press "end". could customize some keystrokes. so not everything is bad.
geany - i use this the most. but it has many annoyances. i don't think a lot has changed from 1.37 to 2.1. which is even more annoying. i used this on slackel. but triggering document properties crashed it. by pressing "shift+ctrl+v". i warned about it on salix forums. but they laughed at me.
gnome text editor 49 - i have "anylinux" appimage of this. it's nice but i want to get away from soft-scroll. they've never changed the lousiest search function tactic. i've often struggled with in "gedit" for ubuntu studio 32-bit.
gvim - ok program iff all its dependencies are installed. best in slackel and other slackware. (the following goes for "vim" as well.) but some of its commands are too weird. it doesn't always show the line one is editing. which was nerve-wracking for me.
joe - used this on slackware 32-bit. also grabbed the source code and compiled it for my preferred system. main thing is to know "wordstar" keystrokes. which are clunky. liked that only using turbo pascal 3 for ms-dos way back in junior high school.
kate/kwrite - this is better than geany imho but has other annoyances. such as beginning to type into the search box. then it jumps to the first occurrence. egad i want to turn that off so much. wait until i tell you. what if i want to start further down in the document? the one that comes with plasma 5.27. has an awful oversight. the "window division line" that cannot be disabled. i don't care about document splits. with one instance of a text editor. after plasma 5.20 these programs have become more bloated and slower. this is noticeable on "trixie" on my "outdated" equipment.
l3afpad - ok but on slackware. don't try to use the arrow keys too much. to scroll around in the document.
meld - not really a text editor. but i really should use this more often.
neovim - the author is married to lua 5.1. says later version/releases of the same interpreter. are a different programming language to him. i couldn't get this to work properly anyhow. also failed to compile it. because it seems to prefer qt.
mousepad - this probably would be the best "gedit clone." iff the soft scroll could be disabled. on "bullseye" this program does weird things with the display. while word-wrap is enabled.
notepad++ - would like to be out of all scintilla-based text editors. too bad this is only for windows. the "qq" version is very frustrating. the thing cannot be configured. not everybody knows how to deal with xml junk. which requires using the other one with wine. so why even bother with "notepadqq"? probably this has advanced but i don't care.
pluma - "gedit clone" i like the best. but on some installations. such as spirallinux with cinnamon desktop. where it comes preinstalled. it needs a library so it remembers recent files on "file" menu. otherwise i'm glad the "functionality" was removed. which was driving me nuts with gnome programs. first thing open file requester shows is "recent" list. this was a good thing for me only with l3afpad.
sci-te - this one was ok. until i discovered notepad++. for windows of course.
textadept - (had to look this up in ddg online search.) could be customized with lua. but i didn't like it. it needed a tutorial or something else. because even its configuration. was to be contained in a series of lua scripts.
vscodium - i have an old appimage of this. it's just too bloated and complex even for "hobbyist" programming. but it sure looks nice.
xed - bulky, probably the heaviest and slowest of "gedit clones." was one of the few problems. while i had endeavouros "artemis" with xfce desktop. back in 2022.
there's also a pretty good screen editor. written in qb64 by one of the members of the phoenix edition forum. the program is called "scrned". it could be created on linux. unfortunately it has a "win32 api" call. that causes it to fail to compile. moreover that forum doesn't permit anymore. accessing links to programs directly. unless someone is member of that site. otherwise i would recommend this program. it is somewhat like "nano." it might help someone learn programming concepts. not necessarily basic.
I like micro. It's more user-friendly than nano. I also use Kate, which can be called from the terminal and automatically prompts for a sudo password if necessary. It depends on what I'm editing and how complicated the edits may be. For simple edits micro is quick and easy, for longer edits which may require copy/cut/paste et al, Kate works better for me.
Wow. I had no idea there were so many text editors. Yesterday I did a search and learned it is possible to change colours on Nano. Right now Nano is too brash and almost blinding. I'll tinker with changing the colours and see how I like it.
That reminds me... At one stage in my life, I was fairly fluent in both Emacs and Vi. This was before VIM existed. As for Emacs, there's a bunch of chording available that will make your life easier.
These days, I mostly just use Nano in the terminal. I use Featherpad in the GUI. For a more dedicated writing area, I've been using ONLYOFFICE as of late. You can do things like add AI to do grammar and spelling checks. Well, you could do more with it than that, but that's all I use it for.
You can make your terminal dark and it will be easier on your eyes.
Open your terminal and go to:
Edit> Profile preferences> Background
I always set my terminals to green text on black background. That's all you got once upon a time, and I still like it. Monitors haven't always been full color. There was green, there was amber, and eventually white for text. I still prefer green, maybe because that's the color I had on my first real monitor.
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