Search code examples
vimeditornano

Console editor: something between VIM and nano?


I used vim for a long time, but switched to Sublime Text last year for most of my programming work.

Now, every time I have to make use of a console editor (mostly over ssh), I feel extremely uncomfortable with vim. The shortcuts and commands have slowly left my memory, my once carefully curated vimrc is gathering dust, and I just can't use the editor effectively without re-learning everything.

On the other hand, nano is just dumb. Great for opening a file, adding a flag and closing it, but way too primitive for anything else.

Is there something in between I can use? I can settle for not-as-easy-as-nano-nor-as-powerful-as-vim.


Solution

  • You can use mcedit. It is much more user friendly than other editors - it even supports mouse over ssh (even in Putty console from Windows).

    Simply install package Midnight Commander as follows:

    • Ubuntu/Debian:

      sudo apt-get install mc
      
    • Fedora/Redhat:

      sudo yum install mc
      
    • MacOS:

      brew install mc
      

    and it will make mcedit available.

    In local console it even supports Shift+Del, Shift+Ins, Ctrl+Ins shortcuts that we use in Windows.

    It also has nice ability to copy blocks into arbitrary files, effectively giving you unlimited number of clipboards.