Text Editors

Overview

Text editors are one of the most important tools in Linux systems. This chapter introduces several commonly used command-line text editors: Vim, Nano, and others.

Vim Editor

Vim (Vi IMproved) is one of the most powerful text editors, an enhanced version of the Vi editor.

Why Learn Vim?

Pre-installed on almost all Linux systems
Efficient keyboard operations
Powerful text processing capabilities
Highly customizable
Programming support

Installing Vim

bash

# Debian/Ubuntu
$ sudo apt install vim

# Fedora
$ sudo dnf install vim

# Arch Linux
$ sudo pacman -S vim

Vim Modes

Vim is a modal editor with the following main modes:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                             │
│                     Normal Mode (Normal)                   │
│                      (Default mode)                             │
│                          │                                  │
│          ┌───────────────┼───────────────┐                  │
│          │               │               │                  │
│     i,a,o等         v,V,Ctrl+v          :                   │
│          │               │               │                  │
│          ▼               ▼               ▼                  │
│    ┌──────────┐   ┌──────────┐   ┌──────────┐              │
│    │ Insert    │   │ Visual    │   │ Command    │              │
│    │ (Insert) │   │ (Visual) │   │(Command) │              │
│    └──────────┘   └──────────┘   └──────────┘              │
│          │               │               │                  │
│         Esc            Esc            Enter/Esc             │
│          │               │               │                  │
│          └───────────────┴───────────────┘                  │
│                          │                                  │
│                          ▼                                  │
│                     Normal Mode                                 │
│                                                             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Starting and Exiting

bash

# Open file
$ vim filename.txt

# Open to specific line
$ vim +10 filename.txt

# Open and search
$ vim +/pattern filename.txt

# Open in read-only mode
$ vim -R filename.txt
$ view filename.txt

Exiting Vim

Command	Function
`:q`	Quit (unmodified)
`:q!`	Force quit (discard changes)
`:w`	Save
`:wq`	Save and quit
`:x`	Save and quit (same as :wq)
`ZZ`	Save and quit (normal mode)
`ZQ`	Force quit (normal mode)

Normal Mode Operations

Cursor Movement

Key	Function
`h`	Move left one character
`j`	Move down one line
`k`	Move up one line
`l`	Move right one character
`w`	Next word beginning
`b`	Previous word beginning
`e`	Current/next word ending
`0`	Line beginning
`^`	Line beginning (non-whitespace)
`$`	Line end
`gg`	File beginning
`G`	File end
`5G`	Jump to line 5
`Ctrl+f`	Next page
`Ctrl+b`	Previous page
`Ctrl+d`	Down half page
`Ctrl+u`	Up half page

Enter Insert Mode

Key	Function
`i`	Insert before cursor
`I`	Insert at line beginning
`a`	Append after cursor
`A`	Append at line end
`o`	Create new line below
`O`	Create new line above
`s`	Delete character and insert
`S`	Delete entire line and insert

Delete Operations

Key	Function
`x`	Delete character at cursor
`X`	Delete character before cursor
`dd`	Delete entire line
`dw`	Delete to word end
`d$` or `D`	Delete to line end
`d0`	Delete to line beginning
`dG`	Delete to file end
`dgg`	Delete to file beginning
`5dd`	Delete 5 lines

Copy and Paste

Key	Function
`yy`	Copy entire line
`yw`	Copy word
`y$`	Copy to line end
`5yy`	Copy 5 lines
`p`	Paste after cursor/next line
`P`	Paste before cursor/previous line

Undo and Redo

Key	Function
`u`	Undo
`U`	Undo entire line changes
`Ctrl+r`	Redo
`.`	Repeat last operation

Search and Replace

bash

# Search
/pattern      # Search forward
?pattern      # Search backward
n             # Next match
N             # Previous match
*             # Search word under cursor

# Replace (command mode)
:s/old/new/           # Replace first occurrence on current line
:s/old/new/g          # Replace all on current line
:%s/old/new/g         # Replace all in entire file
:%s/old/new/gc        # Replace all in entire file, confirm each
:5,10s/old/new/g      # Replace lines 5-10

Visual Mode

bash

v       # Character selection
V       # Line selection
Ctrl+v  # Block selection (rectangular)

# After selection, you can execute operations
d       # Delete selected content
y       # Copy selected content
>       # Indent right
<       # Indent left

Command Mode

bash

:w filename        # Save as
:r filename        # Read file content
:e filename        # Open another file
:!command          # Execute external command
:r !command        # Insert command output
:set number        # Show line numbers
:set nonumber      # Hide line numbers
:set hlsearch      # Highlight search results
:set nohlsearch    # Disable highlighting
:noh               # Temporarily disable highlighting

Multiple Window Operations

bash

:split filename    # Horizontal split
:vsplit filename   # Vertical split
:sp                # Horizontal split current file
:vsp               # Vertical split current file
Ctrl+w w           # Switch windows
Ctrl+w h/j/k/l     # Switch left/down/up/right
Ctrl+w c           # Close current window
Ctrl+w o           # Keep only current window

Multiple Tabs

bash

:tabnew filename   # Open file in new tab
:tabn              # Next tab
:tabp              # Previous tab
gt                 # Next tab
gT                 # Previous tab
:tabclose          # Close tab

Common Configuration

Edit ~/.vimrc:

vim

" Show line numbers
set number

" Syntax highlighting
syntax on

" Auto indent
set autoindent
set smartindent

" Tab settings
set tabstop=4
set shiftwidth=4
set expandtab

" Search settings
set hlsearch
set incsearch
set ignorecase
set smartcase

" Show cursor position
set ruler

" Highlight current line
set cursorline

" Show matching bracket
set showmatch

" Encoding settings
set encoding=utf-8

" Enable mouse
set mouse=a

" Theme
colorscheme desert

Nano Editor

Nano is a simple and easy-to-use text editor, suitable for beginners.

Installing Nano

bash

# Usually pre-installed, install if needed
$ sudo apt install nano

Basic Usage

bash

# Open file
$ nano filename.txt

# Open to specific line
$ nano +10 filename.txt

Common Shortcuts

Screen bottom shows common shortcuts, ^ represents Ctrl key.

Shortcut	Function
`Ctrl+O`	Save file
`Ctrl+X`	Exit
`Ctrl+K`	Cut entire line
`Ctrl+U`	Paste
`Ctrl+W`	Search
`Ctrl+\`	Search and replace
`Ctrl+G`	Show help
`Ctrl+C`	Show cursor position
`Ctrl+_`	Jump to specific line
`Alt+U`	Undo
`Alt+E`	Redo
`Ctrl+A`	Jump to line beginning
`Ctrl+E`	Jump to line end
`Alt+\`	Jump to file beginning
`Alt+/`	Jump to file end

Selection and Copy

bash

Alt+A           # Start selection
Move cursor      # Extend selection
Ctrl+K          # Cut selected content
Alt+6           # Copy selected content
Ctrl+U          # Paste

Nano Configuration

Edit ~/.nanorc:

bash

# Show line numbers
set linenumbers

# Auto indent
set autoindent

# Tab to spaces
set tabstospaces
set tabsize 4

# Smooth scrolling
set smooth

# Enable mouse
set mouse

# Syntax highlighting (usually enabled by default)
include "/usr/share/nano/*.nanorc"

Other Editors

Emacs

Powerful extensible editor, feature-rich.

bash

# Install
$ sudo apt install emacs

# Start
$ emacs filename.txt

# Terminal mode
$ emacs -nw filename.txt

Basic Operations

Ctrl+x Ctrl+s - Save
Ctrl+x Ctrl+c - Exit
Ctrl+g - Cancel command

Micro

Modern terminal editor, easy to use.

bash

# Install
$ sudo apt install micro

# Use
$ micro filename.txt

Features:

Conventional editor shortcuts (Ctrl+S save, Ctrl+Q quit)
Syntax highlighting
Mouse support
Plugin system

ne (Nice Editor)

Simple and easy-to-use editor.

bash

$ sudo apt install ne
$ ne filename.txt

Editor Selection Recommendations

Scenario	Recommended
Quick config file editing	Nano
Daily development work	Vim / VS Code
Remote server editing	Vim
System administration tasks	Vim / Nano
Learning Unix culture	Vim / Emacs

Vim Learning Tips

Use vimtutor
bash
```
$ vimtutor
```
Interactive tutorial, learn basics in 30 minutes.
Step by step
- Week 1: Learn movement and basic editing
- Week 2: Learn search and replace
- Week 3: Learn visual mode and windows
- Continue: Learn more advanced tips
Learn by practicing
- Force yourself to use Vim
- When you encounter repetitive operations, look for better methods

Summary

This chapter introduced commonly used Linux text editors:

Vim: Powerful, steep learning curve, but extremely efficient
Nano: Simple and easy to use, suitable for beginners and quick editing
Other options: Emacs, Micro, etc.

It's recommended to master basic operations of at least one command-line editor; Vim basics are particularly useful for system administration work.

Previous chapter: Pipes and Filters

Next chapter: Text Processing Tools

Text Editors ​

Overview ​

Vim Editor ​

Why Learn Vim? ​

Installing Vim ​

Vim Modes ​

Starting and Exiting ​

Normal Mode Operations ​

Cursor Movement ​

Enter Insert Mode ​

Delete Operations ​

Copy and Paste ​

Undo and Redo ​

Search and Replace ​

Visual Mode ​

Command Mode ​

Multiple Window Operations ​

Multiple Tabs ​

Common Configuration ​

Nano Editor ​

Installing Nano ​

Basic Usage ​

Common Shortcuts ​

Selection and Copy ​

Nano Configuration ​

Other Editors ​

Emacs ​

Micro ​

ne (Nice Editor) ​

Editor Selection Recommendations ​

Vim Learning Tips ​

Summary ​

Text Editors

Overview

Vim Editor

Why Learn Vim?

Installing Vim

Vim Modes

Starting and Exiting

Normal Mode Operations

Cursor Movement

Enter Insert Mode

Delete Operations

Copy and Paste

Undo and Redo

Search and Replace

Visual Mode

Command Mode

Multiple Window Operations

Multiple Tabs

Common Configuration

Nano Editor

Installing Nano

Basic Usage

Common Shortcuts

Selection and Copy

Nano Configuration

Other Editors

Emacs

Micro

ne (Nice Editor)

Editor Selection Recommendations

Vim Learning Tips

Summary