Text Editors

Command Line Text Editors

If you spend any time on the command line, you’ll eventually need to edit text files. Configs, scripts, logs — they all come up sooner or later. Having a good text editor at your fingertips isn’t just handy, it’s essential.

Here are the usual suspects you’ll run into:

Nano 🍼

Super beginner-friendly. You can open a file and start typing — no weird key combos required.
Great for quick edits, but pretty limited compared to the big players.
Old-school sysadmins sometimes roll their eyes when they see someone using Nano (“rookie move!”).
Installed by default on basically every Linux distro, so it’s always there as a fallback.

Think of Nano as the training wheels of text editors — nothing wrong with it, but you’ll probably outgrow it.

Vi / Vim ⚡

The industry standard for editing files in Linux. If you’re serious about command line work, Vim is the one to know.
On most modern systems, typing vi actually launches vim (a supercharged version of the original vi).
Some older UNIX systems still use the plain vi, so it’s worth knowing the basics.
Always available — it’s installed on every Linux system by default.

Yes, Vim has a bit of a learning curve. Yes, you will forget how to quit at least once. But once you learn the ropes, it’s incredibly powerful and fast. (Your future self will thank you.)

Emacs 🧠

Another legendary editor, though not nearly as common in Enterprise Linux land.
Developers tend to love it more than sysadmins.
Learning curve? Steep. But the documentation is fantastic.
Usually not installed by default, so you’ll have to add it yourself if you want to give it a spin.

Emacs isn’t just an editor — some folks basically live inside it. (Email, calendar, games… you name it.) It’s a rabbit hole, but a fun one if you’re curious.

👉 Bottom Line

Nano is the quick and easy option.
Vim is the go-to tool every sysadmin is expected to know.
Emacs is powerful but niche, especially on enterprise systems.