Quick tip: change default text editor on Linux shell

by Nish Vamadevan · Sep 2, 2009 · 1 min read

Doing visudo you get nano instead of your favorite text editor?
Mine is vim therefore I issue:

DEBIAN/UBUNTU way

# update-alternatives --config editor
There are 4 alternatives which provide `editor'.
  Selection    Alternative
-----------------------------------------------
          1    /usr/bin/vim.tiny
          2    /bin/ed
*+        3    /bin/nano
          4    /usr/bin/vim.basic
Press enter to keep the default[*], or type selection number:

Selecting 4 I’m ready to use my full syntax colors when I edit any file.

OTHER DISTROS
Edit your .bashrc file and add the following:

EDITOR=vim
export EDITOR

Next login you will have your VIM working.
If you want to have it immediately and only for this session just type

# export EDITOR=vim

and press Enter.