Favorite Text Editor?

[IWantFroyo]

I recently made a Linux blog/website (http://www.guide2linux.org), and I used a really nice text editor called Kate for part of it. After my success with Kate, I wanted to know if there are any other text editors worth trying, especially since I'm going to have to write some content for it (none at this time).

What's your favorite editor?

[malspa]

Well, mine are gedit and kwrite. I don't really have a preference between the two, though. When I'm using Xfce or LXDE, I use one of those instead of mousepad or leafpad. In KDE or GNOME, I go with kwrite or gedit, respectively.

[sujoy]

This topic has been discussed to death already :P

But for me its emacs :)

[Bachstelze]

vim, what else?

[Primefalcon]

For me its gedit and vim

[haqking]

i used to hate vi/vim with a passion, as soon as i started it i felt like i was in the matrix with no way out.

I kept reading that it was one of the most used and best editors out there, especially for hard core *nixers.

I kept going back and forth to it and with no luck.

Then as always i read something which just hit the spot as it were http://acms.ucsd.edu/info/vi_tutorial.shtml

there are lots of explanations and manuals for VI, i mean it is not complicated after all.
However i read this and have since only used vi/vim

now i love it and i can see why it is so popular.

occasionally gedit and emacs but hardly ever.

vim it is ;-)

[FreeTheBee]

(g)Vim

[Random_Dude]

Vim.
BTW, Vim's surround plugin (http://vim.sourceforge.net/scripts/script.php?script_id=1697) is great for editing html.

It's hard to get used to, but once you start to get the hang of it, you start typing hjkl and :wq when you are using other stuff.

This will go to the recurring discussions in no time. xD

Cheers :cool:

[IWantFroyo]

Thanks guys, especially for the tutorials and plugins. I'm checking out Vim right now. Although I'm a total beginner with it, I'm still having fun pushing buttons :)

What about emacs? What features does it have that makes it so popular? I've heard about it, but I never found out much.

EDIT- Reading about emacs. The plugins sound pretty interesting.

[SoFl W]

Nano, but only because I had to use it and became familiar with it. VIm, if I used it enough.

But I really liked Qedit, an old DOS based text editor.

[Random_Dude]

Thanks guys, especially for the tutorials and plugins. I'm checking out Vim right now. Although I'm a total beginner with it, I'm still having fun pushing buttons :)


The best way to learn is by opening the terminal and type

vimtutorAlso, I found these screencasts which I find particularly enjoyable: http://www.derekwyatt.org/vim/vim-tutorial-videos/

I've learned some cool tricks by watching them.

Have fun. :)

Cheers :cool:

[Dustin2128]

Emacs, of course. What else is there worth using?

[SoFl W]

The best way to learn is by opening the terminal and type

vimtutor
Thank you, I didn't know about this (or forgot about it) I will have to check it out. I want to learn more about it, but never get the time.

I want to know what editor I used on that old UNIX mainframe. I knew that well enough at the time.

[Random_Dude]

Thank you, I didn't know about this (or forgot about it) I will have to check it out. I want to learn more about it, but never get the time.


You're welcome. ;)
vimtutor is supposed to take you 30 min to complete. It took me a little more, but I did it slowly.

Another thing that I noticed about vim is that in the first days you are always changing your .vimrc file (at least me), because you are constantly finding out new stuff. Mine is more stable now, but I've managed to get it to 167 lines.

Cheers :cool:

[danbuter]

I prefer gedit. I've played around with vim, and I think it's pretty cool, but I don't know it well enough to use it regularly. Emacs is also pretty awesome.

[IWantFroyo]

The best way to learn is by opening the terminal and type

vimtutorAlso, I found these screencasts which I find particularly enjoyable: http://www.derekwyatt.org/vim/vim-tutorial-videos/

I've learned some cool tricks by watching them.

Have fun. :)

Cheers :cool:

Thanks! Wow, Vim really is good. :)

[PC_load_letter]

A text editor and MUCH more: Geany (http://www.geany.org/)
I use it to write bash and Python scripts + it works with LaTeX like a charm. Gedit also gets some use.

[FreeTheBee]

I think Derek Wyatt has more tutorials for beginners, but I learned quite a few tricks from vimcasts as well,

http://vimcasts.org

[oldos2er]

Kate and nano.

[cgroza]

Emacs of course, the only existing text editor in the world.
Since I discovered it, I removed any other non command line editor from my computer. They do not deserve my megabytes.

[cgroza]

This topic has been discussed to death already :P

But for me its emacs :)
Well, I always enjoy reading this kind of threads.:D

[raja.genupula]

I am going to use Gedit . its fine to me .

[Erik1984]

A text editor and MUCH more: Geany (http://www.geany.org/)
I use it to write bash and Python scripts + it works with LaTeX like a charm. Gedit also gets some use.

Geany is a great tool indeed. I used it for FreeBasic, C and Bash. For LaTeX I prefer LaTeXila in Gnome and Kile in KDE. Kile might be a bit heavy (certainly compared to Geany) but has a very handy table of contents panel of the document to quickly navigate to sections.

[Dustin2128]

Oh right. I do use nano on occasion, but I prefer emacs for longer stuff.

[nmaster]

This topic has been discussed to death already :P

But for me its emacs :)
+1 though this is mostly just because it was the first command line editor i ever used.

i've noticed sometimes that it is good to know vi though. it is especially prevalent on embedded devices.

[nmaster]

A text editor and MUCH more: Geany (http://www.geany.org/)
I use it to write bash and Python scripts + it works with LaTeX like a charm. Gedit also gets some use.


oh yeah! Geany is pretty tight. its what i use when i want a GUI editor. there are tabs in gedit. i can have an embedded shell in emacs. but Geany has both ;)

[hhh]

No Mousepad or Leafpad love here? No one uses TextAdept so they can learn just one text editor and use it cross-platform?

[cgroza]

oh yeah! Geany is pretty tight. its what i use when i want a GUI editor. there are tabs in gedit. i can have an embedded shell in emacs. but Geany has both ;)
Geany/Gedit tabs don't even stand a chance in front of Emacs buffers. Really, tabs are crippled compared to Emacs buffers.

[benc1213]

Emacs or Vim?

[nmaster]

Geany/Gedit tabs don't even stand a chance in front of Emacs buffers. Really, tabs are crippled compared to Emacs buffers.

if i have more than a few buffers though, it becomes cluttered. C-x C-b opens yet another buffer so sometimes i long for tabs.

the great thing about buffers is putting them side-by-side (or in whatever configuration you want). i like doing this to have a shell at the bottom and my editing buffer(s) at the top.

[koleoptero]

I mostly use whatever comes with the DE I use since I don't need advanced features 99% of the time. In the terminal vim. But an editor that I liked a lot while using it is scribes.

[ojdon]

Gedit is perfect for me, lots of useful syntax highlighters etc. For people coming from Windows, I always recommend LXDE's default text editor, Leafpad. It's very similar to Notepad on Windows.

[cgroza]

if i have more than a few buffers though, it becomes cluttered. C-x C-b opens yet another buffer so sometimes i long for tabs.

the great thing about buffers is putting them side-by-side (or in whatever configuration you want). i like doing this to have a shell at the bottom and my editing buffer(s) at the top.
C-x C-b is for checking the list of opened buffers. To switch between them C-x b is the right way.
Or, if you don't like that one neither, you can write your own lisp extension. :D

I like having my IRC client at the top, split vertically to fit in my channels, and all the editing activity is on the bottom. Sometimes I switch to the terminal emulator for a command or 2.

[takisan]

It normally depends what language I'm writing in. There isn't PHP syntax highlighting in emacs, so I normally use emacs for CONF/INI, XML, and C++, and Gedit for PHP.

If Notepad ++ was available for Linux though, it'd be my first choice.

[Erik1984]

You're welcome. ;)
vimtutor is supposed to take you 30 min to complete. It took me a little more, but I did it slowly.

Another thing that I noticed about vim is that in the first days you are always changing your .vimrc file (at least me), because you are constantly finding out new stuff. Mine is more stable now, but I've managed to get it to 167 lines.

Cheers :cool:

VImtutor is very informative, now at least I understand what people are talking about and how it could be benefinicial to productivity.

[Aquix]

Gedit is slower than a corpse but I end up using it since it scales documents so much better. I hate side bar scrolling.

[Dustin2128]

Gedit is slower than a corpse but I end up using it since it scales documents so much better. I hate side bar scrolling.
Slower than a corpse? On what? Runs just fine on my pentium 3.

[lykwydchykyn]

It normally depends what language I'm writing in. There isn't PHP syntax highlighting in emacs, so I normally use emacs for CONF/INI, XML, and C++, and Gedit for PHP.

Emacs will highlight PHP, just install php-elisp from the repos.

I do all my PHP dev in Emacs. I also use NXHTML and MuMaMo so that all the intertwined PHP/HTML/Javascript get properly highlighted when I'm writing poorly-separated code :D.

Any time you think Emacs isn't capable of doing some programming task, a bit of googling or searching the repos will usually turn up a solution. That's why I love it.

Still use vim for quick-edits to config files (when the edit will take less time than parsing my .emacs file, that is).

[benc1213]

I normally use gedit for quick text editing but I code in Java so eclipse is probably the best way to go.

[sujoy]

Emacs will highlight PHP, just install php-elisp from the repos.

I do all my PHP dev in Emacs. I also use NXHTML and MuMaMo so that all the intertwined PHP/HTML/Javascript get properly highlighted when I'm writing poorly-separated code :D.

Any time you think Emacs isn't capable of doing some programming task, a bit of googling or searching the repos will usually turn up a solution. That's why I love it.

Still use vim for quick-edits to config files (when the edit will take less time than parsing my .emacs file, that is).

which is why you start a emacs-server at boot and use emacsclient to connect to it and edit away :)

[dyltman]

vim and jedit but jedit is rather slow...

[ilovelinux33467]

nano and Kate

[neu5eeCh]

No Mousepad or Leafpad love here? No one uses TextAdept so they can learn just one text editor and use it cross-platform?

I love both, but especially Leafpad... maybe it's the name...

[keithpeter]

I love both, but especially Leafpad... maybe it's the name...

+1 leafpad

I like to use it to compose text with markdown syntax, and I use it with 18point text full screen with Alt-F11 (on xfce4). Who needs pyroom?

What I'd like is mousepad/leafpad with regular expression based search and replace.

[wafflesausage]

inb4 Parkinson's Law of Triviality ;)
And for me, anything that's based off of ex/vi will do.

[lykwydchykyn]

which is why you start a emacs-server at boot and use emacsclient to connect to it and edit away :)

Heh, true; I do that already, but somehow the rhythm isn't in my fingers yet. I need to alias vim to "emacsclient -t".

[Porcini M.]

Emacs, of course. What else is there worth using?

Emacs is a full-featured operating system which lacks a good text editor.

[matthew.ball]

Emacs is a full-featured operating system which lacks a good text editor.
What are you talking about?

http://i.imgur.com/wdyi4.png

[Porcini M.]

What are you talking about?

http://i.imgur.com/wdyi4.png

:lol: Well I stand corrected!

[wojox]

Gedit or vim. Both are good for editing and programming.

[cgroza]

:lol: Well I stand corrected!
Can your VIM run VIM or emacs?:P

[zer010]

For temporary notes I use whatever comes with the DE, mousepad currently. For quick edits, I use nano. For more extended editing I use vim.

[sffvba[e0rt]

nano


404

[BrokenKingpin]

I like Gedit a lot. It is great for editing config files and simple text and code files. I really like how you can open files up in different tabs, instead of new windows.

I also like Kate when I am running KDE. It has a lot of the same features as Gedit.

If I am on the command line VI all the way.

For programming larger projects I use the MonoDevelop IDE, which has a great feature rich text editor.

[reign1231]

Nothing else beats VIM. For me it's better than Emac once you get used to it.

[Simian Man]

I use kate and vim. Normally vim.


Can your VIM run VIM or emacs?:P

Of course. Enter !vim or !emacs in command mode.

[RiceMonster]

edit.com

[nmaster]

C-x C-b is for checking the list of opened buffers. To switch between them C-x b is the right way.

that is the way to switch between them, but with many buffers open its not always easy to remember what they are named. you need to C-x C-b to check what it there before you can C-x b to get there. tabs always allow you to see what is open.

you're right about the lisp extension. this the ultimate strength of emacs, although i don't really use it.

[cgroza]

that is the way to switch between them, but with many buffers open its not always easy to remember what they are named. you need to C-x C-b to check what it there before you can C-x b to get there. tabs always allow you to see what is open.

you're right about the lisp extension. this the ultimate strength of emacs, although i don't really use it.
At least the buffer support is better than vim's.:)

[cgroza]

I use kate and vim. Normally vim.



Of course. Enter !vim or !emacs in command mode.
I tried it, the display in a bunch of garbage.
EDIT: it appears this only occurs with gvim, vim in the command line works ok.

[Random_Dude]

Can your VIM run VIM or emacs?:P

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_llopjru5zX1qht0sw.png

[Dustin2128]

Obligatory.http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/real_programmers.png

[cgroza]

@Dustin, that is so cool, where do you get those?

[danbuter]

xkcd. If you go to the page you will lose a few hours.

[matthew.ball]

that is the way to switch between them, but with many buffers open its not always easy to remember what they are named. you need to C-x C-b to check what it there before you can C-x b to get there. tabs always allow you to see what is open.

you're right about the lisp extension. this the ultimate strength of emacs, although i don't really use it.
There are a few "tab" modes for emacs - this one appears to be GTK specific: screenshot (http://old.nabble.com/attachment/28108550/0/tabs.png) (but there is also tabbar-mode) - which obviously makes the buffers appear as tabs. Alternatively, it sounds to me like you never discovered ido (with, or without, smex), since they add a whole lot of functionality to C-x b (there is also ibuffer mode which cleans up the buffer list page).

I find it slightly annoying that installing emacs doesn't come with some full-fledged config setup. Most new-comers use just the default vanilla emacs, and I can see quite easily how the vanilla setup does't appear that powerful (perhaps a bit archaic). With the extensions comes the power, but most people don't experience the extensions.

I think this screenshot (http://dev.pocoo.org/~gbrandl/emacs2.png) shows most things quite well (what it doesn't show is auto-complete, but this is also possible).

[rbishop]

I use nano when editing most of my files at home and on my laptop, however when I'm at work I typically use vi. Just what I got used to using while at the office...

Both have their merits and individual fan bases.

IMO they both do the job they were meant for without fail.

[nmaster]

There are a few "tab" modes for emacs - this one appears to be GTK specific: screenshot (http://old.nabble.com/attachment/28108550/0/tabs.png) (but there is also tabbar-mode) - which obviously makes the buffers appear as tabs. Alternatively, it sounds to me like you never discovered ido (with, or without, smex), since they add a whole lot of functionality to C-x b (there is also ibuffer mode which cleans up the buffer list page).

I find it slightly annoying that installing emacs doesn't come with some full-fledged config setup. Most new-comers use just the default vanilla emacs, and I can see quite easily how the vanilla setup does't appear that powerful (perhaps a bit archaic). With the extensions comes the power, but most people don't experience the extensions.

I think this screenshot (http://dev.pocoo.org/%7Egbrandl/emacs2.png) shows most things quite well (what it doesn't show is auto-complete, but this is also possible).

that does look very nice but i stick to the emacs-nox packages. i often keep my school projects on the school server and access them via ssh. this way i can be sure that they behave properly when graded. in addition to being limited by ssh, i like to know that my usual emacs set-up is available where ever emacs is available.

sometimes i think that is a bad use of emacs though... maybe i should switch sides to the vim crowd.... the only thing stopping me is sloth ;)

ps: i forget teh package or script or whatever, but you i've used autocomplete with my nox setup and it is slick :)

[matthew.ball]

that does look very nice but i stick to the emacs-nox packages. i often keep my school projects on the school server and access them via ssh. this way i can be sure that they behave properly when graded. in addition to being limited by ssh, i like to know that my usual emacs set-up is available where ever emacs is available.

sometimes i think that is a bad use of emacs though... maybe i should switch sides to the vim crowd.... the only thing stopping me is sloth ;)

ps: i forget teh package or script or whatever, but you i've used autocomplete with my nox setup and it is slick :)
Nah, that's how a few people do use emacs - in fact that is how I was using emacs for a while (about 4 years), I have only recently started using emacs-gtk (to get some extra functionality with org-mode actually).

You can use tramp-mode to access files remotely (it's a bit of a pain if you have a shaky Internet connection, but it's perfect otherwise).

You can code your .emacs so that anything which is window-specific won't be run in a non-windowed environment (and vise-versa) - making your .emacs (and thus emacs session) portable.

I have actually fixed up the tab command, so that it indents when it should, or runs auto-complete when it can. Pretty useful (and makes tab function more like a modern IDE), I can give you the lisp code if you're interested (and explain how to set it up, if you need).

[cgroza]

that does look very nice but i stick to the emacs-nox packages. i often keep my school projects on the school server and access them via ssh. this way i can be sure that they behave properly when graded. in addition to being limited by ssh, i like to know that my usual emacs set-up is available where ever emacs is available.

sometimes i think that is a bad use of emacs though... maybe i should switch sides to the vim crowd.... the only thing stopping me is sloth ;)

ps: i forget teh package or script or whatever, but you i've used autocomplete with my nox setup and it is slick :)
Tabs and buffers on the other side are even worse.:P

[nmaster]

Tabs and buffers on the other side are even worse.:P
i think its more common to use vi/vim with screen and based on this ubuntu help site, it would actually probably be as good as what i do now, but more universal (vi at least, not screen). i've already run into situations, especially on embedded devices, where i don't have access to emacs.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Screen

[lykwydchykyn]

I find it slightly annoying that installing emacs doesn't come with some full-fledged config setup. Most new-comers use just the default vanilla emacs, and I can see quite easily how the vanilla setup does't appear that powerful (perhaps a bit archaic). With the extensions comes the power, but most people don't experience the extensions.


That's a good point, but I like the fact that it ships small and simple. I like simple tools that can be extended as needed, and with a variety of options, rather than a big everything-and-the-kitchen-sink tool that has no alternative tools because everything is built-in.

Plus, it's kind of fun to find new things to add to Emacs. Whenever I notice something that's frustrating or non-ergonomic, I go searching about and can usually find some bit of elisp or hidden feature that fixes the problem. Leaves me with a good vibe about the environment.

[DangerOnTheRanger]

There are some places X servers don't exist. For everything else, there's GEdit.

On computers where X servers really don't exist (like SSH and my local command line), I use Nano.

[matthew.ball]

That's a good point, but I like the fact that it ships small and simple. I like simple tools that can be extended as needed, and with a variety of options, rather than a big everything-and-the-kitchen-sink tool that has no alternative tools because everything is built-in.

Plus, it's kind of fun to find new things to add to Emacs. Whenever I notice something that's frustrating or non-ergonomic, I go searching about and can usually find some bit of elisp or hidden feature that fixes the problem. Leaves me with a good vibe about the environment.
A lot of the useful extensions already come bundled with emacs - things like ido, iBuffer, linum, uniquify and recentf. These just add new functionality to emacs, which a lot of people would want (they're just not turned on).

There is the emacs-starter-kit (http://eschulte.github.com/emacs-starter-kit/) which looks excellent, but I doubt most people who are new to emacs would understand why you would want 40k lines of extensions.

[GSF1200S]

Geany

[FQ`9]

Kate, Gedit and Nano (kwrite as well)

[mali2297]

JED (http://www.jedsoft.org/jed/). It emulates Emacs but is far lighter and launches quicker.

[cgroza]

JED (http://www.jedsoft.org/jed/). It emulates Emacs but is far lighter and launches quicker.
As if it makes a difference on modern computers... The start up time is so '80s.

[matthew.ball]

Alternatively - if you do have a large config - just start the daemon on load and the only start-up time is the time it takes to launch a new frame.

[Stephaans]

gedit