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Which editor do you use when opening files like .bash_profile, etc?

Ben Halpern on May 25, 2019

And is it the same editor you use for the majority of your software development?

Mike Bifulco • May 25 '19

Confusingly, this is the only thing I use vim for. Everything else is in a different tool.

Ben Halpern • May 25 '19

I don't find this to be overly odd. I was actually specifically curious as to whether this was a thing.

Syed Faraaz Ahmad • May 25 '19

I think since some people (myself included) think of vim as an editor just for quick edits, we use it for just that

Ben Halpern • May 25 '19

What about the thought that stuff like vi is often the default way to do these things, it becomes your standard procedure, even if for code editing you've always used other types of editors?

I feel like this scenario could play out because folks may not switch off of the approximate default behavior.

Enno Rehling (恩諾) • May 26 '19

What if the situation in which we edit these files is one where we're on an ssh connection in a console window where vim is the most powerful choice that isn't a desktop application? And then that becomes default behavior for config files, like you suggest.

Phil Nash • May 26 '19

I used to do this in vim, I think because I thought it was quicker. Since I have VS Code open almost all of the time, especially if I'm doing something to .bash_profile, it's just as quick to open in Code and easier (well, more comfortable) to edit.

Also, I have tended to use the terminal from within VS Code more these days, so the whole open and edit process can happen in the same program and I like that.

Martin Huter • May 25 '19

For me it's the same. The only downside is that my vim skills don't evolve as fast as I want them to.

Molly Struve (she/her) • May 25 '19

SAME! I have never even considered opening it in Sublime which is my main editor of choice when I am coding

Prashant Chaudhari • May 26 '19

I do the same.. but i use nvim.

Mahesh Sunuwar • May 27 '19

I use the same, and never thought about other tool to edit it.

Thomas Bnt • May 25 '19

Nanoooo

Rob Foraker • May 27 '19 • Edited

100% nano, and if using a current release of nano, -lmx is nice °>°

Niko Heikkilä • May 25 '19

code -r /path/to/file

This opens the file with VS Code to the same workspace as rest of the files making it a really fast process. Then just save and close it like usual. I'm only using Vim when I'm working over SSH.

Alexandre Ramos dos Santos • May 25 '19

Cool. I don't know it

Ben Lovy • May 25 '19

nano -w

If you're just going in and out, why get fancy. You still get emacs-like keyboard nav at a fraction of the cost.

Camilo Martinez • May 25 '19

On Linux I like use more nano than vim

Angelika Jarosz • May 25 '19

Vim, but i also use vim as my regular editor.

Ben Halpern • May 25 '19

I feel like if you use a terminal editor, it's probably the obvious choice.

I'm curious if folks who use standalone editors choose terminal apps in these contexts.

Dian Fay • May 25 '19

It is (I do everything except Java in NeoVim); but also, if I'm just looking something up and don't mean to make changes, we've got other shell tools. I use less and grep/rg a lot with history files and so on.

Ben Halpern • May 25 '19

Makes sense

Sung M. Kim • May 25 '19

Nano.
but now I see many people using VS Code to open, I will give that a try too 😀

Jean Kaplansky • May 25 '19

Vi. It was the only editor in town other than emacs when I first learned to edit anything on the computer.

I still use Vim for CLI stuff and VS Code for other stuff. Don’t know why I don’t use Vim for writing anymore. Probably years of other options making their way into MY $PATH.

Edvin Dunaway • May 26 '19

Same

Ryan Palo • May 25 '19

Vim, and I’ll use that as my regular editor if it’s just a few files I’m throwing together to try something, or if it is on a less powerful computer. It works good but looking at multiple files and projects, I can’t be as productive. I know the shortcuts and the plugins. It just doesn’t work as well as vs code for me.

Vs code is definitely my high productivity, big brain space editor of choice. It is just generally a little slower if I’m just tweaking a few lines or doing a quick search and replace.

Although, vs code does have some amazing command line flags that make it ideal for git commit message editor, diff viewer, and more.

Arswaw • May 25 '19

Nano makes a lot of sense in its control scheme.

Boris Mann • May 29 '19

For the longest time, my answer was nano.

Then, I’ve been trying to get better at using dotfiles across multiple operating systems — Mac, Chromebook, Linux servers.

This means I treat the files more like a program, so I use my usual editor, VSCode.

However, when I am editing on the command line, I’ve been using micro — think of it as an upgraded nano that also has mouse support and a bunch more features. Including that you just download the binary and don’t need admin access to use it.

Thomas H Jones II • May 30 '19

vi has been a tough habit to break. I use it pretty much anywhere I can (thank you Cygwin/Moba). And, when I can't use it, I pray that, at the very least, I can install a copy of Notepad++ (harder, these days, now that Windows 10+ more-easily affords enterprise-managed systems the ability to allow only the installation of whitelisted tools).

Bhupesh Varshney 👾 • May 25 '19

Sublime text
😁😁

Darren Vong • May 27 '19

Nano or VS Code, with using only VS Code looking likely going forward after seeing some of the comments here. Slightly controversial perhaps, but I never bothered to learn vim since I just want to open something that works and code away, rather than having to learn another language before I can do that 😂

Alec Brunelle • May 27 '19 • Edited

I swear by Micro. It has made editing in the command line a joy.

Features:

Common keybindings (ctrl-s, ctrl-c, ctrl-v, ctrl-z...)
Extremely good mouse support
Copy and paste with the system clipboard

Ali Murteza Yesil • May 28 '19

Nano : if I am on terminal
IntelliJ : for practicing Java
Gedit : writing diary, editing files launched from file manager and just about everything else

BONUS : echo $TEXT >> $FILE_PATH for just adding a line at the EOF

Anthony Casson • May 26 '19

I do some hefty customization with my bash_profile, so opening up in VS Code (along with everything else) is nice. I don't use vim and nano would fine if I had a smaller file. It's not much to do code ~/.bash_profile.

Vincent Grovestine • May 27 '19 • Edited

Bash scripts => nano (vi only if I'm absolutely stuck on a system that's not mine)

.htaccess files and quick HTML/CSS edits => xed (aka gedit)

Markdown => Remarkable

Everything else => VS Code

Mike Lee • May 25 '19

VIM, despite the fact I was a massive emacs fan back in the day.
Just because VIM is definitely going to be on every terminal I end up defaulting to it on the command line.

I don't use it anyway else, I'd prefer an IDE like InteliJ.

Martin Huter • May 26 '19

You can also use Emacs in vi mode 😄

Fred Heath • May 26 '19

I've recently switched to micro editor as my goto editor for everyday tasks, such as configuration editing, quick shell scripts, etc. It's brilliant.

However, I'm sticking with Sublime for any major development work, for the extra features and IDE-like convenience.

Heiker • May 25 '19

Vim.

I use Neovim/Sublime text for coding.

This is like the perfect use case for micro, it's a terminal based editor but it has the same keybindings that modern editors have like ctrl+s for save, ctrl+z for undo, ctrl+x for cut and it even has multiple cursor support. (If someone is getting it, download the nightly build)

🌌 Sébastien Feugère ☔ • May 25 '19 • Edited

I think it is important to use an editor that makes syntax colouring and apply rules of indentations and use of spaces/tabs coherent with the rest of the file. It even makes more sense if it is files like YAML for configuration.

By the way, I use Emacs for this. It is kind of the same than using Vim, except you can exit it.

Robert Bernstein • May 29 '19

VS Code for everything these days. I just started using the Insider Build so I could try out the Remote Development Extension Pack.

Swarup Kumar Mahapatra • May 25 '19

Well I use visual studio code for this too.
All i need to is >code ~/.bash_profile

However inside servers, there is no other choice but to use VIM.

pranay rauthu • May 25 '19

I feel any editor which can open quickly is fine. If the editor can be opened from terminal it becomes really easy for terminal users. I generally use vscode. editors like vscode, sublime have fast load times & also they can be accessed from terminal

Ali Spittel • May 25 '19

Nano or VS Code depending on how many edits I want to make!

Ben Halpern • May 25 '19

Makes sense, Nano for speed, Code for going bigger.

Vincent Milum Jr • May 26 '19

The closest thing to that is my .cshrc file. I used to edit it via nano, now I edit it through GitHub. Yeah, my console profile is a git repo now!

All of my actual work though is done in Sublime. Because Sublime is BEST!

Enno Rehling (恩諾) • May 26 '19

It's either vim or jed, depending on what's installed.

For coding, I use IDEs with more language-specific support, either Visual Studio or PhpStorm. Never got into pimping out vim with plugins, or didn't find them to be as good when I tried.

James McPherson • May 25 '19

While my primary text editor is emacs (and I'm getting up to speed on VS Code), when I want to edit a config file I'm almost always going to use vim. It's minimal, I've frequently needed to do edits over trans-Pacific ssh connections and the edits I've needed to make are generally < 10 lines. I can also pretty much guarantee that vim or vi are available on the remote end, too.

Yaser Al-Najjar • May 25 '19

Notepad++ ❤

I feel like VSCode is a bit too much for such files.

Ben Halpern • May 25 '19

Do you think this feeling is a matter of practicality and productivity or more of a personal taste/aesthetic/feelings?

Yaser Al-Najjar • May 25 '19

Both actually 😁

VSCode has many extra features (side panel for git & file explorer).

But, notepad++ gives you just the text front of you so you can make changes or peek into the file as quick as possible... save & quit.

My thinking is generally like this: Do I need to open the whole folder and play with it?

Yes, open folder with VSCode
No, open that specific file with Notepad++.

mallen-jenz • May 25 '19 • Edited

Same here, using Moba term which gives a File Explorer like interface in ssh connections, opens file in Notepad++ on my PC then saves back to same opened from directory on the remote server

Juanjo Salvador • May 25 '19

I used to be a nano fan, but since I don't have nano at my company servers, I become a vim user. So, I'm gonna say vim.

Esc + :wq :P

Florian Rand • May 25 '19

:x (less typing 😂)

Steve Layton • May 25 '19 • Edited

Just like @irreverentmike for quick edits to text config files I almost always use vim. Most other text type files I'll use vscode.

Jonathan Speek • May 25 '19

If it's something quick, vim. If I'm doing a bunch of stuff, I'll use VS Code (my main editor).

Sundeep • May 25 '19

I don't have a usecase for IDE as of now

I use gvim (don't like vim on terminal) as my only editor. Even though I spent significant time learning many of its magic stuff, I've fallen off track since leaving my job. These days, I'm mostly using it for markdown files and short programs. No plugins.

Aman Mittal • May 25 '19

Vscode and nano for terminal.

Mirza • May 25 '19

for files like .bashrc, i use bash's nano editor.

Gabe Dunn • May 26 '19

I used to use nano for this, but more recently I've been using neovim. I've been using WebStorm for my main IDE, but I've been working to introduce neovim more often, and it is perfect for dotfiles. I also just saw someone in this thread mention micro, and that looks really cool as well.

Karl N. Redman • Jun 1 '19

vim with plugins

I don't edit anything outside of vim. It's just most efficient for me. I have no arguments about vim being good or bad for other people. I only know that I run circles around others when in group editing situations [even without plugins].

With that said, my first question to potential programming employees in the past has been "what editor do you you use?". I've never cared what the answer was beyond that there IS an answer.

Personally I hate mouse / cursor interaction. It's bothersome to me. But I'm not going to say that my method of interacting with clunky computers is better than others. The answer should always be, 'whatever works'.

Bruce Axtens • Jul 28 '19

Whatever's handy at the time: VSCode, Notepad++. Occasionally WEE. I use the first two interchangeably for software development.

Dave Follett • May 26 '19

vi or emacs

Stephanie Handsteiner • May 26 '19

Same. 😁

Justin Dorfman • May 25 '19

.bash_profile = nano
else
VS Code

Florian Rand • May 25 '19

I use only neovim (vi) for everything, but I guess is old habits. If I recall correctly, in last stack overflow surveys, vim is more common around sysadmins/devops, which in a way confirm your suspicions.

Lucho Suarez • May 26 '19 • Edited

Vim, but I use VIM for everything though :)

Ido Shamun • May 25 '19

Nano!!

nano-c • May 25 '19

nano if I'm looking at something fast, Sublime Text is I will be using it for a while

I use Sublime for most of my development

Oleg Aleksandrov • May 25 '19

Nano and sublime text for huge files.

Robert Cooper • May 25 '19

I still use my main editor (VS Code for this).

I type change and it opens up my .zshrc file in VS Code.

Then I type update and it refreshes my terminal window with the newest .zshrc config.

Corey Alexander • May 25 '19

I use vim which is the same editor I use for all of my coding.

There are a few specific tasks I do still use a GUI editor for (multi cursor mode in Sublime for example). But they are getting rarer

Richik SC • May 26 '19

I use nano for them even though VSCode is my primary editor.

Jaime Perez • May 26 '19

I tend to use nvim for quick edits to one or two files. Anymore than that, I use VS Code.

Arit Developer • May 25 '19

VIM! All the way! 😃 😄

Dmitry Yakimenko • May 25 '19 • Edited

If it's a regular file, then I'd use Sublime (via subl). It it requires sudo, then nano or now more and more micro (micro-editor.github.io/)

Ben Sinclair • May 25 '19

It's vim, and yes it's the same editor I use for the majority of everything.
It feels straight-up weird to see configuration files in VSCode.

Ben Halpern • May 25 '19

I do agree on the weirdness of seeing config filed in VSCode, even though I do it (about half the time)

ItsASine (Kayla) • May 25 '19

Nano, since env files and simple bash scripts feel far more at home in Terminal. Otherwise, I use an IDE.

derk-wola • May 27 '19

vi and nano

Kyle Pollich • May 25 '19

Most of the time I use vim for config files like that. But if I'm making more involved edits I open them in VS Code via the code command.

Joe Hobot • May 28 '19 • Edited

Vi and seldom do I use vsc (if it requires more than few lines of editing)

Update: Reading through commends I notice more people use vim than vi curious as to why?

rhymes • May 25 '19

Emacs, nano or VSCode, there's no logic there :D

Ted Hagos • May 26 '19

vim before, but nowadays, I use VS Code for almost everything, including .bash_profile files

Sunny Singh • May 26 '19

For quick edits, nano

When setting up some complex multiline function, VS Code.

Sandor Dargo • May 25 '19

On my local Ubuntu, I use Sublime mostly. Oddly, even if I could use the same Sublime for remotes, I just use vim.

Hugo Di Francesco • May 26 '19

vim because it feels the most natural to open a path starting from the HK e directory

Although I guess I could use code ~/.zshrc I prefer vim ~/.zshrc

Brian Kephart • May 25 '19

I don't usually edit files like these, so on the rare occasions I do, I have to find them first. So, TextEdit from the Finder.

Ben Halpern • May 25 '19

This is close to how I am with these things, but I do think it pays to get in the habit of messing with these files when it's useful for your productivity in the long run.

Waylon Walker • Feb 19 '20

💯 vim, nano confuses the heck out of me.

Sebastian Weber • May 25 '19

vim because normally I have to do only minor changes. Therefore, my little vim knowledge is sufficient.

dotHTM • May 25 '19

I created both a shell script and a macro to open my bash config in Sublime Text.

I'm very proud of my modularized bashrc config: github.com/dotHTM/bash_hacks

David J Eddy • May 25 '19

vim

Ben Halpern • May 25 '19

Same or different from the rest of your coding?

Andrei L • May 25 '19

vim

Stephen Belovarich • May 25 '19

VSCode. Before that Vim.

code .bash_profile

Larizza Tueros • May 25 '19

If it's a complex modification vscode otherwise vim.

Vince • May 25 '19

Vim! Anything outside of project files really goes through vim.

Ben Halpern • May 25 '19

Can you articulate your reasoning for the choices?

Riccardo Bernardini • May 25 '19

emacs, always emacs (with 64 K of customization LISP source that I wrote myself... 😀). Occasionally gedit, for fast-and-dirty stuff

Mofiqul Islam • May 26 '19

Its always Vim but Vscode is my main code editor

Derek Rosenzweig • May 26 '19

nano, or if i happen to have an IDE open, i'll open it there

Nico Domino • May 26 '19

Vim!

André Gtz • May 25 '19

vim

Rajesh Rajendran • May 27 '19

nvim and that's my default, still have to find an editor which is as fast and productive as vim. Atleast for me.

Johan • May 28 '19

Emacs for almost everything

Oliver Weiler • May 26 '19

vi(m).

Khoa Dien • May 25 '19

Nano. The GUI ones are typically too slow for this type of editing.
Still other specific IDEs for other development tasks though.

Areahints • May 25 '19

I use nano for this, I use vscode and mousepad for everything else, does anyone have recommendations for a mobile code editor?

wiz • May 25 '19

vim vim vim !!!!

Ravi Kumar Taneja • May 26 '19

I use gedit mostly but some time I use nano, but for projects it's phpstorm or vscode

Praful Dhabekar • May 26 '19

I use vim for opening files like .bash_profile and if I'm on windows I use notepad++.

Vicente G. Reyes • May 25 '19

I use VS Code. Sometimes I use Atom if I feel like using it.

Barry Robinson • May 25 '19 • Edited

Learn to use vi! Editors like vs code are great, but when you need to do something in a remote system where you don’t have access, vi will be there.

eLabFTW • May 25 '19

I use VIM for everything. Code, writing emails, commit messages, make coffee, showering. VIM is LIFE.

Mohamed Anwer • May 25 '19

Vim

Emanuele Bartolesi • May 25 '19

Visual Studio Code for everything. :)

Guy • May 25 '19

ed/vim

Fernando B 🚀 • May 25 '19

is either vim or nano lol depending on the day.

Sam Rose • May 25 '19

Hilariously, vim in a vscode integrated terminal. I don't know why.

Boris Jamot ✊ / • May 26 '19

I use neovim to modify such files and bat to just view them.
I try to use nvim as my favorite IDE but I have still so much things to learn to be able to replace Intellij..

William Antonelli • May 28 '19

Micro for editing files in the console. It's like nano, but better.

Philip Tellis • May 27 '19

vim, which is what I use to edit absolutely everything.

Brian Hanna • May 25 '19

Sublime for my .zshrc locally, but if I'm on a remote machine, vim

Rahil Wazir • May 25 '19

I've been using vi but now I'm using micro editor. github.com/zyedidia/micro

Jean-Michel Plourde • May 25 '19

No surprise: vim. It's just so easy.

Alexandre Ramos dos Santos • May 25 '19

I'm using vscode for my project of frontend but when I want code a one filer in So. In my case is Archlinux I use vim.

Ender Ahmet Yurt • May 26 '19

Sublime 3

Milad Nekofar • May 28 '19

When I'm working from the shell, most of the times vi and sometimes nano. Otherwise, it would be the VS Code.

Aswath KNM • May 31 '19

I use a tool called Micro(golang) for non sudo purposes. micro-editor.github.io/

Else nano or sublime

Donna Hogan • May 26 '19

VSC, for gratuitous luxury

⧉ infominer • May 27 '19

micro-editor.github.io/

Check this out^{^{^}}

Jonathan Apodaca • Jun 3 '19

Either VI (NeoVim) or VSCode

Sergey Kislyakov • May 27 '19

In most cases when I'm editing this kind of files, I'm in a terminal session already so vim (or neovim). But I use an IDE for anything else related to code (with Vi mode, though).

Andrea Pavoni • May 27 '19

I use VsCode for development sessions.

I use vim and other CLI tools for the remaining tasks (quick edits, git, etc).

Temuri Takalandze • May 27 '19

VIM

Daniel Albuschat • May 26 '19

I use Vim for everything, for about 15 years now.

Asyraf Hussin • May 26 '19

I prefer nano

Prathap Rathod • May 27 '19

Vim is best for editing files like .bas_profiles and it is very easy than nano editor.

Periklis Gkolias • May 25 '19

I am using vim. Having a UI editor for single digit changes is a bit overkill to me

Manuel Fernandez • May 25 '19 • Edited

Nano was my prefered option, until I realized I could open Sublime Text with the exact same amount of characters, so "sudo nano .bashrc" became "sudo subl .bashrc"