#Linux substitute for basic notepad how to#
#Linux substitute for basic notepad install#
#Linux substitute for basic notepad code#

Need to change your hostname to in a number of conf files? for file in conf/*ĭo (echo '%s// echo 'wq') |ex $file done On the other hand, I do use ex's versatility, for example to script editing configuration files. The above is what I use, and I know I am probably not a very 'efficient' vi user. I think there is a mark command as well, but I will admit I don't remember it. ':ya' is the ex equivalent of 'Y', and again, useful to apply to a line range. ':pu' does the same, but can be preceded by a line number. 'Y' yanks (copies) the current line, and 'P' pastes it back. 'x' deletes the character under the cursor, and 'D' deletes from the cursor to end of line. Always press escape when done typing text. 'I' inserts at the beginning, 'a' after the character under the cursor, and 'A' after the end of the current line. 'i' enters insert mode, which now inserts on characters instead of lines, and ends with pressing escape instead of '.¬'. Typing :999¬ goes to line 999, naturally, just like in ex mode. $ (regex again!) moves to the end of line. 0 moves to the first character and ^(think regex here!) to the first non-space character on the line. The arrow keys (if they work) move around, and if they don't, then hjkl do! h left, j down, k up and l right. In visual mode a : shows the : prompt from ex mode. You just get to look at the buffer all the time, and a few more commands. It looks like an editor, but it's still just an interactive programming shell. ! as a command filters the lines into a shell command.ĭon't be fooled. q! quits without writing, and in a similar vein, w! forces a write to a file if possible. It's good to know regular expressions! :q¬Į37: No write since last change (add ! to override) W writes all (or the chosen range of) lines to a file. Here is the remaining small subset of commands I use: :1i¬ A command consisting of just a line number goes to that line. +1,$-1 mean from the next line to the second-last line.

A range is written n,m and a number can be added or subtracted, so. $ means the last line, and a period means the current line. Each command may be preceded by a line number or range which the command should apply to. That was the print command, p, obviously. But it would be nice to see what is in the buffer: :%p¬ Type 'a¬', and type a line of text, then a period on a line by itself: :a¬

Type ex at the shell prompt (I will use ¬ to represent return): $ ex¬Įntering Ex mode. In the beginning 'vi' stood for VIsual mode, and vi has a nonvisual counterpart ex, which is a good place to start.

#Linux substitute for basic notepad how to#

Or in situations where the system is broken, so arrow keys are not interpreted correctly (bad terminfo settings for example.) So vi can be used to fix the configuration files leading to the problem, without being affected by the problem.Īnd here is how to learn a useful subset of vi:įirst: stop thinking of vi as an interactive, terminal-GUI 'editor', and see it as a programming language for manipulating text files. Here's first an argument for using vi: vi exists on all systems, uses very few resources, and may be usable over unstable and slow connections, where other editors may fail or be slow and unusable. (When I began using Unix the choice was either vi or emacs, so at the time I chose ed, ed being a very simple line editor, which I had learned already from reading early Unix textbooks.) I use vi daily, but I probably use only a very small subset of its features.

While I cannot deny that I too struggled with vi in the beginning, I think an argument can be made that vi is actually very simple to learn.

#Linux substitute for basic notepad install#

The Python3 source is on github, and you can install it more easily using: sudo apt install python3-pipĮxofrills: your text has been edited.but you are still hungry.ĭisclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with the exofrills project. Only one row of non-text editing space!.Beginner friendly - maybe you are new to words!.Regular expression matching and replacing!.

#Linux substitute for basic notepad code#

Less than 850 lines of code in a single file!.

It also has extremely simple and useful key combinations which can be readily and easily changed to your heart's content: It's a single Python 3 file, and it has good support for syntax highlighting through Pygments (although not perfect with non-Python): While we're advocating for our favourite lightweight text editors, let me recommend the eXcellent, tiny, and fast xo (exofrills). You wanted? Angered that you can’t remember. Have you ever been frustrated that your text editor wasn’t doing what