When you see shortcuts that read C-h or M-x, C stands for the control key and M stands for the Alt key (or Escape, depending on your system). That’s not to say Vi and its derivatives aren’t for all-day use, but the multiple sessions and kitchen-sink-style expandability of Emacs seem to be part of the main draw for its devotees.Įmacs commands are accessed through keyboard combinations of CTRL or ALT and another keystroke. Thanks to “buffers,” those plugins, and the way Emacs treats “windows,” it’s the editor you might use if you spend all day in an editor and don’t want to be inconvenienced or distracted by having to switch applications. ![]() I found that starting Emacs was relatively simple, but the more I learn, the more there is to learn. Emacs has so many available features like a terminal, calculator, calendar, email client, web browser, and Tetris, it’s often spoken of as an operating system itself. That’s a lot of time to develop such necessary plugins as Helm, Autocomplete, and Org-mode. EmacsĮmacs has been in development since 1976. I’ll walk you through getting started and once you’ve settled into basic use and committed to an editor, you’ll gain mastery through use. But expert users of either seem to make their editor of choice perform magic, often without even leaving their keyboard’s home row.ĭon’t start out feeling like you need to be an expert right away. Emacs and ViĪccording to Slate, Emacs and Vi are “Among the longest-lived applications of all time.” The Wikipedia entry on the differences between Emacs and Vi describes the Holy War between the two applications which has raged since the late-1970s.īoth editors require learning their respective commands, which means you won’t be able to open them and get right to work. Press CTRL+ X to exit, then follow the prompts at the bottom of the screen. For example, to find something in your file, hold CTRL and press W, tell it what you’re searching for, and press Enter. Commands are listed across the bottom and are triggered with the Control ( CTRL) key. If the file doesn’t already exist, it will once you save it. How to Nano:įrom your terminal, enter ` nano` and the filename you want to edit. Don’t let anyone bother you, use it with pride. But if you’re not spending the day in a terminal-based text editor, you’re probably fine with Nano. Compared to more advanced editors in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing, some tasks are cumbersome and non-customizable. ![]() You’re new to the terminal, or you just need to get into a file for a quick change. It’s usually already contained in the distro, doesn’t take any learning or getting used to, and all its commands and prompts are displayed at the bottom. Nano is the built-in basic text editor for many popular distros. Should you use Vim or Emacs? Is it okay to use Nano? What’s Neovim? Or should you use another text editor entirely?Įmacs versus Vim is a conversation known to strain relationships, but we’ll try to break down some of the differences and steer you in the right direction without losing too many of your developer friends. You’ve read the Introduction to Linux Concepts and Getting Started guides, and now you’re ready to set your hostname. This is "just" a text editor with a few key features that are easy and quick to access.You’ve provisioned a Linode and booted it up with a cool-sounding distro. This is not an editor with lots of obscure keyboard shortcuts or multiple levels of menus. In other words, all of the basic and obvious features of FeatherPad are exactly what you see when you launch the application. Line, character, and word counts are close at hand, too. Syntax highlighting is auto-detected by the extension of the file you load. Turning the search bar into a find-and-replace panel is as easy as a click of a button in the toolbar. This is, to me, indicative of FeatherPad’s main strength-its developers have anticipated the things many people want most often when writing.Ī search function, at least for some people, is a frequent activity, so having a search bar close at hand just makes sense. There’s a tab bar to flip between open documents, a toolbar and a menubar at the top, and a status bar and a search bar at the bottom. ![]() When you launch FeatherPad for the first time, it has a pretty typical text entry field that lets you type into it just as you’d expect from a text editor and several toolbars both at the top and bottom of the window. Free online course: RHEL Technical Overview.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |