Editing in the Terminal
vim and nano survival: open, edit, save, and (the part everyone fears) quit, without losing your work or your SSH session.
- Why edit in the terminal at all On servers and over SSH there's often no desktop and no mouse — the only way to change a file is a terminal editor. nano is the gentle default that shows its shortcuts on screen; vim is everywhere and worth respecting.
- nano: the gentle default nano works the way your instincts expect: type to insert, arrow keys to move, and a menu of shortcuts at the bottom of the screen the whole time. Ctrl+O saves, Ctrl+X quits — and it never hides the exit.
- vim: the mode that traps everyone, and the way out vim's one big idea is modes: normal mode (keys are commands) and insert mode (keys are text). Press Esc to get to normal, then :wq to save and quit or :q! to quit and throw everything away. That's the escape.