Text Editors

So how do we make, edit, or even begin to visualize files?

We need a CLI text editor. Something similar on your computer might be Notepad, or TextEdit, which really is just a simplified Word program.

You have several text-editor options, like nano, emacs, and vi/vim. Personally, I prefer using vi/vim, since I learned this first, but feel free to explore what works best for you!

vi/vim

There are several levels to using vi/vim, but don’t get lost! For now, we only need to know:

vi/vim has 2 modes:

1. Command Mode

   • When you run vi filename to edit, vi/vim starts out in command mode. This means that all the alphanumeric keys are bound to commands, rather than inserting those characters.

2. Insert Mode

   • To enter the insert mode, type i (for “insert”, this is shown in the bottom right corner). You can type normally until you want to make a correction, save the file, or perform another operation that’s reserved for command mode or last-line mode. To get out of insert mode, hit the esp key.

How to Use vi/vim?

To make a new file:

vi filename

If filename exists, vi/vim will open it, and you start in Command Mode.

Save & Quit

To do this, you need to be in Command Mode. There are 4 options:

1. :w

   • Save the file

2. :wq

   • Save the file and quit (exit)

3. :q

   • Quit the file, but don’t exit

   • If changes were made, then you will not be able to exit, and must do option 4.

4. :q!

   • “Force quit” the file