Ubuntu Unleashed 2013 Edition: Covering 12.10 and 13.04, Eighth Edition

Using Common Text Editors

Linux distributions include a number of applications known as text editors that you can use to create text files or edit system configuration files. Text editors are similar to word processing programs but generally have fewer features, work only with text files, and might or might not support spell checking or formatting. Text editors range in features and ease of use and are found on nearly every Linux distribution. The number of editors installed on your system depends on what software packages you’ve installed on the system.

The more popular console-based text editors include the following:

• emacs—The comprehensive GNU emacs editing environment, which is much more than an editor; see the section “Working with ...