File Editing in Linux

The following post is a section of the book 'Just Enough Linux'.  The entire book can be downloaded in pdf format for free from Leanpub or you can read it online here.
Since this post is a snapshot in time. I recommend that you download a copy of the book which is updated frequently to improve and expand the content.

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Working in Linux is an exercise in understanding the concepts that Linux uses as its foundations such as ‘Everything is a file’ and the use of wildcards, pipes and the directory structure.

While working at the command line there will very quickly come the realisation that there is a need to know how to edit a file. Linux being what it is, there are many ways that files can be edited.

An outstanding illustration of this is via the excellent cartoon work of the xkcd comic strip (Buy his stuff, it’s awesome!).

Real Programmers (courtesy xkcd)

For a taste of the possible options available Wikipedia has got our back. Inevitably where there is choice there are preferences and where there are preferences there is bias. Everyone will have a preference towards a particular editor and don’t let a particular bias influence you to go down a particular direction without considering your options. Speaking from personal experience I was encouraged to use ‘vi’ as it represented the preference of the group I was in, but because I was a late starter to the command line I struggled for the longest time to try and become familiar with it. I know I should have tried harder, but I failed. For a while I wandered in the editor wilderness trying desperately to cling to the GUI where I could use ‘gedit’ or ‘geany’ and then one day I was introduced to ‘nano’.

This has become my preference and I am therefore biased towards it. Don’t take my word for it. Try alternatives. I’ll describe ‘nano’ below, but take that as a possible path and realise that whatever editor works for you will be the right one. The trick is simply to find one that works for you.

The nano Editor

The nano editor can be started from the command line using just the command and the /path/name of the file.

nano foo.txt

If the file requires administrator permissions it can be executed with ‘sudo`.

sudo nano foo.txt

When it opens it presents us with a working space and part of the file and some common shortcuts for use at the bottom of the console;

nano Interface

It includes some simple syntax highlighting for common file formats;

nano Syntax Highlighting

This can be improved if desired (cue Google).

There is a swag of shortcuts to make editing easier, but the simple ones are as follows;

• CTRL-x - Exit the editor. If we are in the middle of editing a file we will be asked if we want to save our work
• CTRL-r - Read a file into our current working file. This enables us to add text from another file while working from within a new file.
• CTRL-k - Cut text.
• CTRL-u - Uncut (or Paste) text.
• CTRL-o - Save file name and continue working.
• CTRL-t - Check the spelling of our text.
• CTRL-w - Search the text.
• CTRL-a - Go to the beginning of the current working line.
• CTRL-e - Go to the end of the current working line.
• CTRL-g - Get help with nano.

The post above (and heaps of other stuff) is in the book 'Just Enough Linux' that can be downloaded for free (or donate if you really want to :-)).