Default Linux Editor

September 17, 2023

When you complete a linux installation, you will observe that you have editor defaults based on the distribution. You can change this default using different methods. This post is geared at shedding some light on them.

Using select-editor

To use select-editor, type that command on your terminal. You should see the below:

Select an editor.  To change later, run 'select-editor'.
  1. /bin/nano        <---- easiest
  2. /usr/bin/vim.basic
  3. /usr/bin/vim.tiny
  4. /usr/bin/code

Choose 1-4 [1]: 

Type the number you want. In my case, vim.

Update Environment Variables

You can also change the environment variable to reflect what you want

export VISUAL=vim
export EDITOR="$VISUAL"

You can use the relative or absolute path.