SET$EDITOR

Set $EDITOR

In FreeBSD and other Unix-like operating systems, the EDITOR environment variable specifies the default text editor for command-line operations.

To set EDITOR to the nano text editor, use: set EDITOR=nano This ensures that commands or programs needing a text editor, like git commit, will use nano by default.

Nano is appreciated for its simplicity and user-friendly interface, making it ideal for beginners.

Setting EDITOR to nano can be beneficial for:

• Users preferring nano over other editors like vi or emacs.
• Those new to Linux.

To make this setting persistent across sessions, add the command to your shell startup file:

• For Bash: ~/.bashrc
• For Zsh: ~/.zshrc

SH SHELL Checking, Setting, and Unsetting $EDITOR

• Check if EDITOR is already set:

echo $EDITOR

• Set the environment variable:

set EDITOR=nano

• Unset the variable:

unset EDITOR

Once set, you can use:
$EDITOR /home/$USER/somefile.txt
to open files with your chosen editor, in this case, nano.

BASH SHELL Checking, Setting, and Unsetting $EDITOR

- Check if EDITOR is already set:

 echo $EDITOR

- Set the environment variable:

 export EDITOR=nano

- Unset the variable:

 export EDITOR=

• will export/set EDITOR to empty string

Once set, you can use: $EDITOR /home/$USER/somefile.txt to open files with your chosen editor, in this case, nano.