lk/system/editors.md

title, tags

title	tags
Setting an EDITOR	system defaults

Programs expect a default 'line EDITOR' and 'VISUAL editor' so they know how you want to edit text.

Add these lines to automatically set the variables in bash:

echo 'export EDITOR=vim' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'export VISUAL=$EDITOR' >> ~/.bashrc

Make the change system-wide by adding them to /etc/profile.d/custom.sh instead, which is loaded at startup.

You can add a GUI editor as the $VISUAL editor:

VISUAL=gedit

To use a true line editor, as $EDITOR, see [ed][writing/ed.md].