Unix and Linux → What editor should I use?

I'm thinking that it's time for a change of editor (I happen to have finished one project and am starting a new one, so I know nothing about anything, and one more thing I know nothing about will fit right in).

Currently I use emacs but think it's a fat pig of which I need just a tiny fraction.

I can use vi but don't like it mainly because of the 'insert mode' idiocy.

Needs to run under Linux.

I'll use it for programming, but about the only programmery features I need are:

1. Indent control - I'm fine with something that simply indents to the same level as the previous line (and then I will manually adjust as appropriate to next statement). In fact, that's better than having some language-specific mode that auto-indents, because it'll default to some stupid style and need configuring.

2. Tab-to-space conversion (I press tab, it inserts space to the next multiple of N, N = configurable or else set to 4)

3. Bracket matching: on demand, tell me where the matching bracket, parenthesis, brace, angle-bracket is.

Must work with plain X - either separate window or in an xterm. I use no Linux desktop, my desktop system is Windows with an X server. I am editing on one or more connected Linux systems.

Must have mouse support for positioning and selection.

Multiple buffer support is required; multiple window support (rather than split-window support highly desirable: I have plenty of display space.

So, what do you all think I should look at?

Hi dave ,

Well, you're right, emacs is a /big/ fat pig. But who cares? It's quite the tool! On my machine, it starts up super fast and while it chews about 20 MiB of RAM, is it that important? This is the X-version too. 20 MiB is chump change.

I say write some super cool elisp utility for this new project.

Signed,
A fellow emacs user

... btw, emacs works wonderfully well with lame CLI tools (like Oracle's SQL*Plus) which have no history control. I run sql*plus in a shell within emacs and voila, I have instant history control, I can nav up and down the history chain, cut and paste commands, snarf the output into another buffer/file ... awweeeeeeee ... and all for 20MiB.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought 8 GB of RAM for my son's machine: ~60.00 CAN. And we're talking about 20 MiB?

-p

I think nano has all of the features you specified.

Here are some relevant command line options which can also be specified in .nanorc:

-i, --autoindent

-E, --tabstospaces

-F, --multibuffer

A matching bracket can be found with Alt-].

Runs in an xterm, has mouse support. More documentation here: »www.nano-editor.org/dist ··· ano.html

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For another option, what about Joe? It has a mode that mimics emacs, called "jmacs," which might be interesting for you.
»joe-editor.sourceforge.net/

Cool; I'll give nano a try.

Now now... before you go on hatin'...

I fully recommend vi (or vim). That'd be my first choice(s).

However, nano is great too, I'll admit it. If you use Ubuntu on a lot of systems, nano blah blah and you're off and running, I do understand.

--

Just to throw it in here (I know you said Linux only) - but... if you ever happen upon a FreeBSD system (or any of the *BSD's) - mg, nano, ee (my fav after vi), and pico are super too.

I've been using vim about a couple of months ago and forget about nano due to accidentally closing a tab in either Firefox or Chrome.

Hint: Ctrl+W.

For most of my basic scripting on my Linux boxes I either use Kate in the GUI or Joe in the CLI. I like Joe. It's user friendly and uses Wordstar style commands.

I'm a longtime vi user. I guess I actually use mostly vim on most Linux systems, but I only use it as vi.

Back in my days as a WinNT application programmer on a UNIX back-end, I would ftp my files back and forth between UNIX and NT, using Notepad or something for editing. Like you, dave , I couldn't get my head around the mode changes. But then my job changed to pure UNIX work (Oracle server DBA), and an old guru told me I needed to learn a real editor, and I've loved vi ever since.

vi is a great editor and it can do a whole lot more things than meet the eye. Just my 2-cents worth.

Tim

I've been using FreeBSD and Unix with a little Linux for 20 years. I know of no one who doesn't use at least vi/vim. emacs takes a while to learn all it can do and there's a commitment to learn it.

vi(m) - force of habit, but it gets the job done everywhere.

I'm in the vi[m] camp but nano and joe are pretty good and easy to use. If you're in KDE I'd also give a nod to kate.

Just for the record, I'm not a newbie 'vi' hater. For the past 10 years, I've worked on certain dedicated network boxes where now and then I have to ssh in and edit something, and vi is the only option. So there's not going to be much chance that I'm suddenly going to change my mind about it.

(I probably first met vi around 1985 on 4.2BSD and learned to loathe it then. Though I suspect it might have changed a little since those days)

I don't hate vi either. It gets the job done when I'm logged in to a remote box that doesn't have emacs (`emacs -nw' works great for no X).

Depending on what I'm doing on the remote side, it may be easier for me to edit locally and rsync/scp the bits to the other side.

Cheers,
-pablo

notepad.exe ?

I've stuck with the following recommended text editors:

new to linux: Nano/Pico (nano is based on pico)
newer to linux, want to dive DEEP: vi/vim
comfortable with linux, deeper diving: emacs

Not sure why you would want to leave emacs once the learning curve is defeated. However, it is a resource hog.

Zile: light weight emacs clone
Acme: minimal text editor for programming that needs X
Geany is a text editor with a few IDE featrues, usually listed as an IDE

Maybe just general distaste for the "everything in one big bag" school of software design.

well, you certainly only need to load the modules you want/need. Anyway, I'm sure you know that ....

It's always fun to try new things anyway ... so good enough reason.

-pablo

Ha, indeed

Zile and Geany may be of interest, no harm in seeing what they are and removing with no remorse if boats and fancies lack buoyancy.

^ This. If you're just futzing around on your own local system you can play with whatever editor you want. But when you have to touch dozens of servers for a living, you can't count on <insert alternate editor here> being available.

Vi: Esc is your friend.

Of course it depends on what you're doing ... if it's a lengthy editing session, you can still scp the bits over to the remote end.

1,024 ways to skin a cat.

Thou shalt use vi.Emacs is even worse offender because it forces you to stay in insert mode forever. The idea behind vi is that you never use insert mode to type the same thing twice, so when you are coding, you barely use it at all

If you really want a lisp-free emacs with less features, try nano.

If you are looking for something even more spartan but with a GUI, there is SciTE - quite similar to Notepad++ from the Windos world.

Personally, I prefer "vi" for most editing. I use "kedit" occasionally, when I want the full GUI/mouse functionality. Typically "kedit" is for editing text that I will later copy/paste into an Internet forum (or similar). For programming, I would always use "vi".

I think there is also an "xvim" though I have never tried it.