Which editor do you use when opening files like .bash_profile, etc?

Confusingly, this is the only thing I use vim for. Everything else is in a different tool.

Nanoooo

code -r /path/to/file

This opens the file with VS Code to the same workspace as rest of the files making it a really fast process. Then just save and close it like usual. I'm only using Vim when I'm working over SSH.

nano -w

If you're just going in and out, why get fancy. You still get emacs-like keyboard nav at a fraction of the cost.

Nano.
but now I see many people using VS Code to open, I will give that a try too 😀

Vim, but i also use vim as my regular editor.

Vi. It was the only editor in town other than emacs when I first learned to edit anything on the computer.

I still use Vim for CLI stuff and VS Code for other stuff. Don’t know why I don’t use Vim for writing anymore. Probably years of other options making their way into MY $PATH.

Vim, and I’ll use that as my regular editor if it’s just a few files I’m throwing together to try something, or if it is on a less powerful computer. It works good but looking at multiple files and projects, I can’t be as productive. I know the shortcuts and the plugins. It just doesn’t work as well as vs code for me.

Vs code is definitely my high productivity, big brain space editor of choice. It is just generally a little slower if I’m just tweaking a few lines or doing a quick search and replace.

Although, vs code does have some amazing command line flags that make it ideal for git commit message editor, diff viewer, and more.

I do some hefty customization with my bash_profile, so opening up in VS Code (along with everything else) is nice. I don't use vim and nano would fine if I had a smaller file. It's not much to do code ~/.bash_profile.

VIM, despite the fact I was a massive emacs fan back in the day.
Just because VIM is definitely going to be on every terminal I end up defaulting to it on the command line.

I don't use it anyway else, I'd prefer an IDE like InteliJ.

For the longest time, my answer was nano.

Then, I’ve been trying to get better at using dotfiles across multiple operating systems — Mac, Chromebook, Linux servers.

This means I treat the files more like a program, so I use my usual editor, VSCode.

However, when I am editing on the command line, I’ve been using micro — think of it as an upgraded nano that also has mouse support and a bunch more features. Including that you just download the binary and don’t need admin access to use it.

Nano : if I am on terminal
IntelliJ : for practicing Java
Gedit : writing diary, editing files launched from file manager and just about everything else

BONUS : echo $TEXT >> $FILE_PATH for just adding a line at the EOF

vi has been a tough habit to break. I use it pretty much anywhere I can (thank you Cygwin/Moba). And, when I can't use it, I pray that, at the very least, I can install a copy of Notepad++ (harder, these days, now that Windows 10+ more-easily affords enterprise-managed systems the ability to allow only the installation of whitelisted tools).

Sublime text
😁😁

Nano or VS Code, with using only VS Code looking likely going forward after seeing some of the comments here. Slightly controversial perhaps, but I never bothered to learn vim since I just want to open something that works and code away, rather than having to learn another language before I can do that 😂

Bash scripts => nano (vi only if I'm absolutely stuck on a system that's not mine)

.htaccess files and quick HTML/CSS edits => xed (aka gedit)

Markdown => Remarkable

Everything else => VS Code

I swear by Micro. It has made editing in the command line a joy.

Features:

• Common keybindings (ctrl-s, ctrl-c, ctrl-v, ctrl-z...)
• Extremely good mouse support
• Copy and paste with the system clipboard

Nano makes a lot of sense in its control scheme.

Well I use visual studio code for this too.
All i need to is >code ~/.bash_profile

However inside servers, there is no other choice but to use VIM.

The closest thing to that is my .cshrc file. I used to edit it via nano, now I edit it through GitHub. Yeah, my console profile is a git repo now!

All of my actual work though is done in Sublime. Because Sublime is BEST!

It's either vim or jed, depending on what's installed.

For coding, I use IDEs with more language-specific support, either Visual Studio or PhpStorm. Never got into pimping out vim with plugins, or didn't find them to be as good when I tried.

I think it is important to use an editor that makes syntax colouring and apply rules of indentations and use of spaces/tabs coherent with the rest of the file. It even makes more sense if it is files like YAML for configuration.

By the way, I use Emacs for this. It is kind of the same than using Vim, except you can exit it.

I used to use nano for this, but more recently I've been using neovim. I've been using WebStorm for my main IDE, but I've been working to introduce neovim more often, and it is perfect for dotfiles. I also just saw someone in this thread mention micro, and that looks really cool as well.

Just like @irreverentmike for quick edits to text config files I almost always use vim. Most other text type files I'll use vscode.

for files like .bashrc, i use bash's nano editor.

While my primary text editor is emacs (and I'm getting up to speed on VS Code), when I want to edit a config file I'm almost always going to use vim. It's minimal, I've frequently needed to do edits over trans-Pacific ssh connections and the edits I've needed to make are generally < 10 lines. I can also pretty much guarantee that vim or vi are available on the remote end, too.

Vim.

I use Neovim/Sublime text for coding.

This is like the perfect use case for micro, it's a terminal based editor but it has the same keybindings that modern editors have like ctrl+s for save, ctrl+z for undo, ctrl+x for cut and it even has multiple cursor support. (If someone is getting it, download the nightly build)

VS Code for everything these days. I just started using the Insider Build so I could try out the Remote Development Extension Pack.

Nano or VS Code depending on how many edits I want to make!

If it's something quick, vim. If I'm doing a bunch of stuff, I'll use VS Code (my main editor).

Notepad++ ❤

I feel like VSCode is a bit too much for such files.

I used to be a nano fan, but since I don't have nano at my company servers, I become a vim user. So, I'm gonna say vim.

Esc + :wq :P

I don't have a usecase for IDE as of now

I use gvim (don't like vim on terminal) as my only editor. Even though I spent significant time learning many of its magic stuff, I've fallen off track since leaving my job. These days, I'm mostly using it for markdown files and short programs. No plugins.

.bash_profile = nano
else
VS Code

Vscode and nano for terminal.

vim with plugins

I don't edit anything outside of vim. It's just most efficient for me. I have no arguments about vim being good or bad for other people. I only know that I run circles around others when in group editing situations [even without plugins].

With that said, my first question to potential programming employees in the past has been "what editor do you you use?". I've never cared what the answer was beyond that there IS an answer.

Personally I hate mouse / cursor interaction. It's bothersome to me. But I'm not going to say that my method of interacting with clunky computers is better than others. The answer should always be, 'whatever works'.

Whatever's handy at the time: VSCode, Notepad++. Occasionally WEE. I use the first two interchangeably for software development.

vi or emacs

I use only neovim (vi) for everything, but I guess is old habits. If I recall correctly, in last stack overflow surveys, vim is more common around sysadmins/devops, which in a way confirm your suspicions.

I've recently switched to micro editor as my goto editor for everyday tasks, such as configuration editing, quick shell scripts, etc. It's brilliant.

However, I'm sticking with Sublime for any major development work, for the extra features and IDE-like convenience.

I feel any editor which can open quickly is fine. If the editor can be opened from terminal it becomes really easy for terminal users. I generally use vscode. editors like vscode, sublime have fast load times & also they can be accessed from terminal

Vim, but I use VIM for everything though :)

vim before, but nowadays, I use VS Code for almost everything, including .bash_profile files

nano if I'm looking at something fast, Sublime Text is I will be using it for a while

I use Sublime for most of my development

If it's a regular file, then I'd use Sublime (via subl). It it requires sudo, then nano or now more and more micro (micro-editor.github.io/)

Vi and seldom do I use vsc (if it requires more than few lines of editing)

Update: Reading through commends I notice more people use vim than vi curious as to why?

I don't usually edit files like these, so on the rare occasions I do, I have to find them first. So, TextEdit from the Finder.

vim because it feels the most natural to open a path starting from the HK e directory

Although I guess I could use code ~/.zshrc I prefer vim ~/.zshrc

For quick edits, nano

When setting up some complex multiline function, VS Code.

Most of the time I use vim for config files like that. But if I'm making more involved edits I open them in VS Code via the code command.