I always used / preferred Nano over Vi(m) for its simplicity.

But fuck, just because of the simplicity for Vi to be able to find a string and replace it by another via ':%s/string1/string2', I'm feeling like installing Vi everywhere from now on...

++ for nano

Isn't vi installed on pretty much any unix-os by default.

@metamourge not when building Docker images, you have to install an editor yourself (and I install nano 100% of the time)

I don't get why some heretics are in favor of nano over vi.

@karasube well tbh the fear of never being able to exit vi (without :!q), and the fact that you have to do <esc> + :wq, sounds complex to a lot of people

In another hand, you can directly edit your file on nano, and just <ctrl> + X then Y to save a file 😅

@Drillan767 heretic.

@irene And then you just press u to revert all the changes.

@irene If you don't check what you have done before saving I would consider that user error, but vi can still cover your ass if you have a simple "set backup" in your config-file. This way vi always has a backup without the changes you just made.

@irene

No benefit other than preference? You're completely ignoring the unparalleled functionality and feature set of vi(m). Whenever I accidentally open nano (as it is the default editor on Debian-family distributions after initial install) it feels like I've been pulled back in time to the '90s, when I used pico to edit html files in my user's ~/public_html dir. It's basically notepad on the command line. WYSIWYG. No code folding, syntax highlighting, internal clipboards, or any of a thousand other brilliant features.

You're not making a reasoned argument. I can totally respect someone for choosing emacs over vi(m), but nano is a knife in a gun fight.

@irene

I didn't have to include it. It's in the OP.

I used to praise nano too, but holy crap have I fallen in love with it. I'm working a lot with docker, hence I spend a lot of time in config files. Takes a few days to get used to vim, but once you do, it's heaven on earth. All the shortcuts, clipboard, the fact that you can out a number before each shortcut, and it'll repeat the shortcut that amount of times. But the best of it all, I can mark and copy something, and I never have to touch the mouse. Admittedly I haven't researched it, but I haven't heard of nano being able to do that

When I need a standard editor, I learn ed. Ed is the standard editor (source?) And it works fine for smaller changes and linear editing (like: you start typing and write 10 paragraphs or so). I'm a vim user btw

No need to open vim:
$ sed s/string/substitution/[g]

But, congrats 👍. Spending an afternoon a week studying a different feature of vim is well worth the investment.

nano 4theWin!

ctrl + \

type the string to replace

type the new string

a + Enter

all done