My Problem With The Nano Text Editor (I Can't Use It!)

I keep getting asked why I hate the nano text editor. What is my problem with nano? Why do I talk negatively about it? Well...
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[@erics7004]

I can't use Nano, because I can't exit VIM.

[@jtfen86]

Have you tried pressing the reset button on your PC? 😂

[@evantaur]

Step 1: Hack the local electric company Step 2: Shut down the entire power grid Step 3: ??? Step 4: Profit

[@user-in2cs1vp6o]

I had the exact same problem. Now I use wine and notepad!!!

[@robotron1236]

:wq to save it :q to just quit; trust me dude, i stumble through Vim and Nano; I just use Kate, unless I absolutely have to use one of the terminal based editors. As a hacker in training, I probably should force myself to use Vim more, but I just hate it so much. Kate is basically an IDE when you install the LSP's for it. Kate is probably based off of Vim, but it's a text editor for human beings. Vim/Nano are just clunky and annoying.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

Forget Nano, you need to go back to Windows... or a "Speak 'n' Spell".

[@cherubin7th]

Nano is a good default, because it shows you the few most important options at the bottom and you can just type. If you want to use something better, then nothing is stopping the user to use vim or whatever. But if vim was the first editor a new user encounters, the user would think you need a phd and hours wasted learning a text editor to even just edit a small text file on Linux. For that purpose micro is also bad, because I couldn't figure out how to quit it within seconds, in nano it is written right there.

[@ChurchHatesTucker]

The only thing wrong with nano is its unique key bindings. Fortunately there are files out there that will change them to, e.g., vim keybindings. Now the newbies will learn something useful later on.

[@araarathisyomama787]

You got a point, but I'd argue that micro is the only frictionless option if you also use an IDE or a contemporary GUI editor regularly (and you don't use vim plugins). It's hard for me to find a scenario in my workflow when that isn't the case. The exit/save/copy/paste/find/replace shortcuts are the most default shortcuts you could think of if that would be your target demographic. In nano, I had to read them every single time.

[@samuelsurfboard9887]

Micro >>>>>>>>>

[@helloimatapir]

The stress from using Nano turned DT bald.

[@zeocamo]

LUL

[@bobgrimes8618]

He’s NOT BALD!

[@zeocamo]

@@bobgrimes8618 but it is, Bald is when you don't get hair, and not that he can't get hair.

[@littlepeon]

But he is. Bald can describe both a current state(and he is without hair, therefore he is bald) OR an ongoing condition (if he could not regrow hair he would be balding).

[@zeocamo]

@@littlepeon so he is bald but he is not balding ... sure

[@javabean9442]

i use nano for almost ALL of my text editing. i don't need the 30-quintillion plugins/keybinds/shortcuts/etc that are available on something like emacs or vim/vi/etc. just let me search for what i am looking for(ctrl+w) so i can edit it and then save and quit. that is all i need, a simple text editor, basically ALL the time.

[@flow5718]

As a syadmin and programmer, that's pretty much all I use nano for as well. I learned vim just to see what the hype was all about and while it's a good editor with a ton of customization and some awesome command chaining, I usually don't need those features. And forget the customization, I can't be putting my config files on customer servers anyway so I'm stuck with the defaults. And the defaults for nano works for me but not that of vim. For code editing I use VSCode, in a sense that's my main text editor.

[@halfsourlizard9319]

It's better ta have features that you don't need than to need features that you don't have. You might like Ed if you want an even-more-minimal editor.

[@MixedVictor]

This.

[@martin4787]

Ditto

[@slynt_]

You don't need any plugins for vim though. It's perfectly useful without them. Even just using 5-10 basic keyboard commands is all you really need to be more efficient than a standard text editor

[@kderah]

dt really got us good this time... a 2nd aprils fools day joke

[@zeocamo]

this is not a joke.... Nano is only good if your IQ is 70 or lower

[@user-hb8sy2eg7y]

Nano user: edits a text and presses ctrl+(s)ave and ctrl+(x) and is done. Vim user: reads a manual about Vim and has to learn a new scripting language called vimscript to configure and use the text editor properly. Three weeks later, the texts can be edited - or so they thought. but they had forgotten what the keybinding is to exit insert mode.

[@geryz7549]

*i* to enter *i* nsert mode, *Esc* to *Esc* ape it, :wq (command *w* rite *q* uit) is the command to write and quit, what's the issue?

[@balsalmalberto8086]

New VIM user: *trapped in Vim purgatory.*

[@scottofcanes]

@@balsalmalberto8086 I was following an in-depth Arch install guide. Part of it was installing Vim and using it to allow the user account permissions. The absolute terror I felt when nothing worked the way I thought it would, haha. I did figure it out, but getting stuck inside a text editor, of all things, was memorable.

[@twiggy749]

I never understood the vim doctrine

[@n0tjak]

you are wrong, it's ctrl+o to save

[@theomacer3094]

DistroTube: "It's important to learn it" Also DistroTube: "I don't wanna learn it"

[@MinMyat-ik1hz]

but that doesn't mean you have to learn everything😅. Like we choose what we wanna learn right?

[@addygreen8919]

Nano is perfectly fine to change the sources list after your installation and install an actual text editor afterwards.

[@moistness482]

😂

[@laughingvampire7555]

not even for that

[@phyllobolus]

Internet Explorer of text editors.

[@addygreen8919]

@@phyllobolus to be fair: Nano is not bloated.

[@occultsupport]

I love linux users hypocrisy. They'll use doas instead of sudo to save 2mb but will preach emacs. Emacs is everything but a text editor. ITS BLOAT!!!

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

Let me know just before you post your next comment - I will bring along some cheeses to go with your whines.

[@ShadowManceri]

That argument has more nuance than the size. Sudo has a lot of features - that most people don't need. That also means it has a lot more possible things where it has bugs. And when that means possible permission escalation that can be really bad. But same time, sudo is maybe more battle tested than doas so it doesn't mean that more simple is directly the better either. Text editors don't really deal with the same issues so it's not same argument at all.

[@gaiusbaltar7122]

I never use doas

[@canoshizrocks]

I don't use Emacs

[@gaiusbaltar7122]

​@@canoshizrocks me neither by the way

[@Sharp931]

The learning curve of nano doesn't exist and that's a good thing.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

Sure, if you're the sort of person wishing to stay in their boring little safe zone for the rest of their life without ever learning new things and growing as an individual - I bet you're a millennial or genxer too, and as I reply I'll be accused of being a "gatekeeper" or "elitist" because, as usual, it will be my fault that you don't know much.

[@justaspeedrunner]

​@@terrydaktyllus1320As a gen Z person, and someone who now uses Emacs, I don't see why using nano has to be something that says that you're staying in a "boring little safe zone". It's a text editor, if all you need it quick config changes, write quick notes, or even writing full text documents, there is absolutely nothing wrong with using nano. And for me if I'm doing something quickly I'd much sooner open up nano, change a line or two, and close it again than I would open up emacs or vim. If you're going to be editing text, especially coding, for extended periods, yes vim and emacs are superior, and I would far beyond recommend those first before I would nano for anyone wanting to *work* in a terminal text editor, but for anyone who isn't going to spend most of their time in a terminal text editor, especially for linux noobs, nano is the best tool for the job, and usually the only one that people making quick changes will ever need. Not that they couldn't benefit from vim bindings, for example, but do they need to? 99% of the time the answer is no, and that doesn't automatically make them someone who "stays in their boring little safe zone." It makes them someone who doesn't buy an industrial set of tools when all they need is to hammer a few nails. tl;dr: nano is the best tool for the job for 99% of people, not everyone sits inside vim/emacs all day, and that doesn't make them someone who sits inside a safe zone. Why buy a $100k set of tools when all you need is to use a hammer one day out of the year?

[@blackbeard3449]

That's just incorrect . The keybindings nano uses are non standard. So, you still have to learn it. People joke about not being able to exit vim, but the only reason I am able to exit nano is because it displays the exit keybind in the lower corner. I still don't remember what the exit keybind is in nano. Micro, a successor to nano, atleast uses the same keybindings as sublime, vscode and other text editors. Though, at the end of the day I prefer vim, the learning curve comes with a more pleasant editing experience, atleast for me.

[@javabean9442]

@@blackbeard3449 fun fact. micro and firefox and chromium and a bunch of other web browsers use the same keybind to quit a session. great fun when you are working with a proxmox or guacamole page in your browser. the whole displaying the keybindings thing is half the reason that i use nano so much, can you guess a major part of the other half?

[@araarathisyomama787]

@@blackbeard3449 If only distro maintainers could replace nano or just ship with micro. Nano is the default text editor, because nano is the default text editor. We can't exit this loop.

[@murray5566]

Hey WT, what the heck's a Nano?

[@ordinarryalien]

It's some nerd program for penguinOS nerds.

[@markwilson1377]

It's one millionth of a text editor

[@UltraZelda64]

I didn't know nano even had keybindings other than the ones it shows on the bottom of the screen like save, exit, etc. I would never use it for some crazy advanced editing, just basic stuff, and it is perfectly fine for that. No learning necessary to just make a few edits here and there.

[@andibensisva2155]

If you use Terminal, Tmux, or Emacs, they share same keybindings. So we feel right at home, except for some posers and hacker wannabe to feed their ego. It is fast, easy, and available everywhere.

[@balsalmalberto8086]

In this video: Vim user complaining about "non-standard" key commands in nano.

[@DestopLine]

Makes sense, Vim keybindings are pretty standard if you ask me.

[@DATLinux]

As Mork said. Nano nano.

[@polkaputo3226]

the key bindings you need are displayed at the bottom, there is no learning curve. the key bindings are also simple, idk why you think they’re so weird. the functionality of vim and emacs are overkill for 99% of people’s needs. with those programs, by the time you configure and get used to them you could have touched 100 files in nano

[@n0tjak]

but some of the keybindings make no sense, like C-o to save??

[@320k]

@@n0tjak ^o Write Out the tool tip says. I think of it as Overwrite, and it makes sense.

[@polkaputo3226]

@@n0tjak o = overwrite. it makes sense to me

[@n0tjak]

@@polkaputo3226 but it's not very obvious since it says 'write out'

[@polkaputo3226]

@@n0tjak tbf idk what else that could mean. ctrl-s is still normal save anyway

[@nichtgestalt]

Damn, that's a hell of a weird rant...

[@nagel1822]

reading the comments. .. whats wrong with nano? yeah its pretty basic, but if I need more than basic I use something that is not confined to the terminal to edit more advanced stuff...

[@JesseBusman1996]

I use micro when I must use a terminal. Copying, pasting, selecting, etc all work just like a 'normal' text editor. Never took the time to learn vim and don't see how it's gonna be worth it if I have micro and Code-OSS.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

Define "normal" in the context of text editors, please? You do realise that "vi" as the predecessor to "vim" began life in 1976, don't you? So it pre-dates just about every single other text editor out there, don't you? So it did "set the standard". Just because you find it too difficult to use doesn't make it bad or "abnormal".

[@JesseBusman1996]

@@terrydaktyllus1320 lol

[@paradoxx_4221]

@@terrydaktyllus1320don’t you?

[@mechy2k2000]

Lol nano is like notepad on windows lol. Can't really complain about it. its just a simple text editor

[@archrizla]

sneak diss XD

[@kjakobsen]

It does everything we need.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

It does everything YOU need but you can only see the contents of your own mind. Please allow others to express their own opinions without feeling they need you as their "unofficial spokesperson".

[@moetocafe]

Nano is completely fine for small txt or config file edits. Just as the simple version of vim (vim-tiny).

[@dannyboy42223]

I love and die by nano lol, but I respect others choices and the tools they use to get the job done. All I want to do is type some shell scripts and be done.

[@susanpinochet]

A small edit here and there *is* the primary use case for nano. All the keybindings needed for that are listed at the bottom of the screen. Easy peasy. It is a far better choice than vi and family for the new user who needs to make a small handful of configuration changes in a linux distro they've just installed. I have often had the argument thrown at me that all linux users should learn vi because it is always there. Nano does a good job of filling that niche without requiring the absorption of a whole 'nother editing paradigm. This argument that nano doesn't meet all your editing needs seems spurious. No one with emacs level editing needs is trying to meet those needs with nano. It's a red herring.

[@Lineageholder]

I love nano as it's easy to use, much easier than vim.

[@matthewrease2376]

Nah - at least use the micro editor

[@occultsupport]

why not use micro? Its better than nano and its has sensible defaults

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@occultsupport Because I already know and enjoy vim. Does that answer your question?

[@casualweekday-ytshadowbang2469]

Me too (or Pico); for basic edits. Vim for a bit more but just because I remember a few shortcuts. Geany if it’s available.

[@FreeTheUyghurs]

nano is easier to learn, vim is easier to use

[@emilyhelms-tippit4053]

as someone who bounces between hobbies every month or so, I don't have the time to really climb the learning curve of a modal editor like vim or Emacs. I just futz around with a few config files, and I don't need to half learn shortcuts I'll forget in the month I'm relearning guitar or running DnD. I love nano for its intuitive and simplistic design. If I was working on my Linux configs every day, I'd pick up vim in a heartbeat. For your purposes, nano is inefficient because of its lack of power. In my use case, Emacs is inefficient because of its learning curve. to be clear, I love that you pointed this out basically. It's not about nano being bad for everyone, it's about your use case being bad for nano. And mine for vim, though one day hopefully that'll change.

[@emilyhelms-tippit4053]

the keybindings do suck tho. At least they're listed on the bottom of the page by default.

[@PaulG.x]

I use Micro - it's bigger! It also uses standard application key bindings i.e. to save , etc

[@avertry9529]

Me too, but nano also has ctrl-s to save

[@MacroAcc]

vim virgins will never understand nano's supremacy

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

Go on then... explain it to me... in your own time...

[@suonsokha4119]

I use neovim btw

[@martinvandenbroek2532]

For quick edits I tend to use JOE and start it as JMACS because of the familiar Emacs key bindings that I also use on the Bash shell.

[@BWGPEI]

I hear you about personal choices. As an old Technical writer, I've used a lot of text editors. And no two of us in a 25-person department could agree what the best text editor was. Me, I got to like Intel AEdit, but that's long gone.

[@AndreaBorman]

I don't use the Sudo Nano command in the terminal to edit the files because it is difficult to do. So I just open the file as root and edit it in the text editor. It's much easier that way. Always copy the original file you edit and save it somewhere so you can restore it if anything goes wrong.

[@riley3269]

What text editor?

[@heheimtrahs]

@@riley3269 probably a built in text editor like xed or gedit

[@keenancarey7041]

Quick editing of config files and the like is the only thing I use a text Editor for so that point you made really hits home for me. I like that the few keybindings I need for that are listed at the bottom. I just recently started messing with a tiling window manager and system automation. I'm sure as I go deeper down that hole, something more advanced will probably be needed and then I'll open that door and go revisit all your videos on vim and emacs.

[@NeilHaskins]

I'm working on learning Vim a little bit at a time. But if I've got to edit a file, and I'm just not in the mood for it, I'll just use gedit. However, for if someone's stuck using a terminal based editor, I suppose the one advantage Nano unironically has over Vim is that it gives instructions at the bottom for how to save and close. So it makes sense to use it for an online tutorial, or such.

[@Zoloft_100_mg]

I accidentally read Nano as "Nato". I wondered why DT dislikes North Atlantic Treaty Organization and why it's related to Linux in any way. Better to read titles more carefully in the future. Also, alias nato='nano'

[@twiggy749]

😂

[@MrMrMrMattias]

awesome content as always DT, keep it up :D

[@Ju13n1s2e9]

The only real problem (for me) is that most short cuts involving the square brackets curly brackets and backslash is off limits - because of a non-English (Scandinavian) keyboard layout.

[@andynorton7529]

Thanks for this video. I used nano for a couple of years now, but mainly because I'm intimidated of nvim. Didn't now micro. After a quick look at micro, I chose to give nvim another try, did the first 3 lessons in the Tutorial and can already do the same things I've did in nano just with much more comfort and ease. Will dig in deeper soon.

[@charlesmiller4534]

When you log into a remote machine and find that nano, or emacs, or your favorite editor are not installed, VI(M) will be there. Everyone using any sort of UNIX-like OS needs to know the basic commands for VI(M).

[@SarcasticTofu]

Hey DT, please do a detailed deep dive for Micro text editor.. you will find how customizable or how easy it is.. this deserves more attention.

[@eliezerjose]

As a first-time user I didn't know I could use a terminal text editor, I always performed a 'sudo gedit', then I found nano, and started doing 'sudo nano', and I'm happy until now. PS.: I discovered it studying the main command parts and terminal utilitaries. There's more fun on learning other stuff than hitting against the wall on complicated software, I mean we aren't screenwriters in 1979.

[@aaaaanh]

Nano? Vim? Emacs? Me and (imaginary) my homies use sed and awk, with the brain as our own buffer.

[@spiderron1463]

nano is just another tool in our toolbox, good for quick edits in config files and such. For everything else Sublime and for advance coding VScodium. Emacs and Vim are too complicated for me right now. Once I get better with the keyboard maybe. I think, I'm quicker highlighting and Ctrl-C/X/P...ing some text then remember the key combination to jump to a line of code to execute another key combination. But like DT says, to each their own.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

"Sublime"??? You mean *PAY MONEY* for a text editor?

[@nailfarmer22]

A few days back I was wondering why you did not like nano. Great to see a video from you about this text editor!

[@FrankJonen]

I only use it for really large files. It's the only text editor that'll still work no matter how large the file is. I'm glad we have it but I'm also glad when I'm done working in it.

[@gaiusbaltar7122]

Ok! But what about Joe?

[@IuliusPsicofactum]

Hey, what do you think about AMP?

[@user-in2cs1vp6o]

linux fanboys cant admit when windows does it right. I run notepad with winetricks!!

[@ZacCrawforth]

I still miss dos's "edit" editor. That thing was gold. Could select by holding shift and cursoring, normal ctrl-x/ctrrl-v for cut/paste, and a nice menu for anything else. No, it wasn't extensible or programmable, but for editing config files it was perfect. vi is fine, I use it when I have to, but I prefer nano's ease, and if I want anything more then I just use VSCode or whatever.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

You can't run Notepad with winetricks - you run it with WINE. winetricks just helps you set up WINE. You're welcome, you can thank me later.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@ZacCrawforth I miss CygnusEd on the Commodore Amiga. Seriously, it was the Amiga's equivalent of what Notepad++ is today for Windows users into serious text editing.

[@BabiIak]

Gigachad

[@PaulG.x]

@@ZacCrawforthtry micro

[@dreamer8973]

i like nano cause its simple and i mostly just use it for quick edits and i found it easy to learn. but im not looking to spend time in cli text editing. evryone is different.

[@GeorgiMinkov]

Hey, DT, would you comment on the XZ Utils Backdoor?

[@synen]

You cant have a total newbie starting with VI this is why Nano exists.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

How about you let each newbie decide what they want to use, rather than you appointing yourself as their "unofficial spokesperson"? You can only see the contents of your own head, not anyone else's - so you're only qualified to share YOUR opinions, not what you think the opinions of others are.

[@ok-tr1nw]

​@@terrydaktyllus1320we didnt say that they cant choose for themselves They can, and always have been able to do What we are talking about are defaults Defaults should be as friendly as possible to use. And if a user wants to change them, they can

[@dragonsage6909]

..good point

[@canoshizrocks]

@@terrydaktyllus1320 Calm down, it's not that serious.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@canoshizrocks I don't take orders from strangers on the Internet. Run along now, anime weirdo.

[@Technopath47]

So I only recently started learning VIM, less out of wanting to actually use it but rather because its keys are a bit of a universal standard across apps. Stuff I'm moving my workflow to like Obsidian and Pop!_OS tiling / i3wm, or stuff I've been using forever like Firefox, can be made to operate with VIM's keys. If nothing else, it's kinda fun, and my move to markdown for my creative writing has greatly improved my efficiency.

[@SarcasticTofu]

I use Micro text editor, it's simple, it's customable (you can make it more like VIM or Emacs very easily) but it's default key bindings are easiest to use.. I frequently go back and forth between my Mac and Linux system and this is one of my best go to multiplatform FOSS tools to use.

[@JosephDickson]

Nano has the advantage of being installed by default in almost every web server. ;)

[@tenj00]

nano - 4 letter to type vi -2 letters to type nuff said

[@TheAyrrow]

When I first started using linux full time at Uni, I used to take my notes in nano on a bad netbook - a full office suite was too heavy for the poor thing. I wish I'd known about vim or emacs then.

[@RedOneMax]

Nano is way better than Vi, period! 😁

[@shant-o]

Nano: your school diary VIM: Columbus' Journal

[@linuxmench2118]

My first two years on Linux, I used Nano; however, once I learned Vim, I never went back. Now I find it hard to do simple things in Nano.

[@carstenschlegel6975]

I give Nano 1 minute to learn: Edit, Save, Exit. In VIM I give many hours: lua, config, plugins, lern keybindings, make keybindings, macros, regular expression, ... But I get the time for VIM back through efficiency. I only get the time for Nano back because I don't have to install anything for small config file changes. My favorite terminal editors: neovim, vim, vi, echo "text" >>file, nano ;-)

[@emeraldjay]

When I started my Linux journey, I used pico and emacs, then I dropped pico for joe, dropped (x)emacs for gedit, and now I use kwrite and nano.

[@foznoth]

The Linux philosophy is that an application should one thing and do it well. Of all the text editors out there, Nano is probably the closest to that goal. Vim & Emacs with all the add-ons and different capabilities make them the systemd of writing software. /s

[@slynt_]

vim is extremely minimal and the plugins are not at all necessary.

[@foznoth]

@@slynt_ it's a philosophy thing, proper software doesn't have settings. If you need to change stuff you change the code directly & recompile /s

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

"Editing any kind of text" is one job and vim does it very well - C++, Python, Bash Scripting which work well with syntax highlighting, for example. My philosophy is "use lowest common denominator" tools - you find BASH, grep, sed, awk, vim, etc. on every Linux machine there is, therefore I just "learn once, use anywhere". What happens if you need to edit a file on Linux machine that has vim but not nano? Are you going to start learning a *SECOND* text editor then? It's the same with all these "fashionable" shells and terminals like FISH and Alacritty - very nice on your own machine but probably not installed on someone else's machine you need to do work on.

[@foznoth]

Fair enough I'll turn off the sarcasm, which it all was. All the text editing tools mentioned are good in there own ways, I generally use Nano, but at most I'm just throwing together a quick script here or there. Emacs has been on my must learn list for a while now. I'm not keen on Vim's default navigation keys, as I don't use a Qwerty keyboard, so they would be all over the shop. But I know they could be changed in settings. Sorry for the overly dry humour, as you can tell from my spelling, I'm British, and we only talk in tea, gibberish & sarcasm.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@foznoth I am British too and we both know that written English is extremely bad at carrying nuance anyway - so sarcasm is probably "lost in non-translation". Whatever text editor works for you is not for me to say, I was simply responding to your "UNIX philosophy" point - editing text is a single task and how well text is edited for a specific user is subjective based on exactly what text editing they do. That's my point.

[@Hyperboid]

"You are not a text editor, you are a MERE text editor" - That one guy from ace attorney (i genuinely forgot his name but realized it's slightly funnier)

[@user-hc6uo5fp8n]

I start with nano now using micro as my text editor don't do a lot of coding so no point in learning vim.

[@p99chan99]

Agent 47 looks like he's ready to rip Nano into shreds holyyyyy 🔥🔥

[@roracle]

I use nano for editing configs. I don't need anything else. Ctrl+O to save, Ctrl+X to quit. And it's right there on the screen. Nothing to learn, simple and to the point. Also I can move the cursor around without a key combination first.

[@twospikes7387]

this video was uploaded 1 min ago, but the ending is very good

[@RadioTeal]

Hello DT: I think it is great to use VIM or EMACS, I used to be kind of a VIM elitist, but actually you got me interested in EMACS! I do however feel Nano has a place for the beginner and if I am in a rush to do an edit, but once you learn a higher level editor, Nano is to VIM as Notepad is to Notepad++ on the Windows platform. Just my $.02 , but yes, use what you like.

Hey DT! As Louis Rossmann often sais: "You hate nothing, You just tend to dislike it!". Nano is minimalist ("nano" = 0,000000001) text editor, its purpose is to be there, when nothing else is available. Learning curve should be 0 - you have to be able to work with it with no learning whatsoever just out of the box.

[@csolisr]

I actually use Tilde as my main CLI text editor, because of Nano's inability to copy and paste text with more granularity than an entire line.

[@Hofer2304]

Read the documentation. The granularity of Nano ist one character.

[@johannesjung1903]

nano is fine at the beginning but as I got more familiar with vim/neovim I don't want to miss this amount of functionality (although I must admit, that I just use a fraction of it's power 😄). But yeah in the end, everyone should use the editor, which best suits his/her purpose.

[@meteor4716]

Personally, I just like Nano for easily editing system files on a new installation or an installation where I wouldn't want to install a full-fledged IDE.

[@zinsy23]

That makes sense. I switched to Vim a little over a year ago and using Nano is now nothing but pain for me by comparison (for me to use it, not others using it). I used to use Nano all the time, but I feel like I am living and breathing while using VIM. If I wanted to torture myself, using Nano would be very effective, especially since I often have a speed running mindset with Vim (Nano doesn't come close regarding that). I think Nano is great if you don't know Vim for very basic stuff, but once you know it, you can always use Vi worse case if Vim isn't available. Even though Vi is a pain compared to Vim, I'd still take that any day over Nano. Nano is great if you don't know Vim, but if you do, it is the worst basically. The ROI with the learning curve of Nano just doesn't check out compared to Vim in most cases if you're planning to get good with stuff over time. I think Nano would be a lot more tolerable if you could at least click where you want to edit text. That is what I believe makes it such a pain, but now being pretty good at Vim, just not having Vim is what makes it a pain.

[@Eyuphuro]

Show me simpler text editor and i'll switch to it; i use nano because is simple.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

Define "simple". Driving a car becomes "simple" for most people once they've learned how to drive - but driving is "difficult" when you first start learning.

[@Eyuphuro]

@@terrydaktyllus1320 Simple by design, not just for usability. I don't want IDE to just edit my config files.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@Eyuphuro Okay, but that "restriction" on your part still means you could use nano, pico, vim or any other console-based text editor. And you still haven't defined what you mean by "simple", you've answered a completely different point about "usability".

[@JusticeAlways]

How many times did he say nano?😅

[@laughingvampire7555]

I was a happy Gentoo user & Gentoo lost me the moment they switched from default editor in the stage tarballs from vim to nano. This obviously was long time ago, in 2006 or something.

[@skytale35]

I use nano for small quick edits like . . . fstab or a quick edit to bashrc. I have never bothered learning any but the most basic key commands, save and exit.

[@jacobwerner8533]

one thing i like about vim is the visudo command. it doesnt seem to bother me using vim in slackware but annoys me in debian for some reason.

[@koljasha_nafman]

If Nano use EvilMode, I would use it 😂 No, I like Vim

[@progste]

nano is a good newbie editor to have in a distro, someone who doesn't know VIM and maybe comes from windows text editor can just use nano without much trouble.

[@thej_]

I like micro over nano

[@DjBloodsaw]

What is your opinion on micro? Im just a gamer that enjoys using Linux. I dont write code or extensive documents, mainly i use a text editor for editing config files. Being someone who predominately used windows most of my life I am used to using microsoft's notepad.. micro has the same key bindings as microsoft's notepad so all of the muscle memory and key bindings make sense to me. If I truly need something extensive for editing text files i use notepadqq.

[@marlo_stanfield4410]

I like to write my scripts, playbooks and docs in Kate or VSC and copy it to the server via SFTP. On the server I use Nano to write or change config files and vim, when Nano is not installed but I prefer Nano

[@marekkedzierski8237]

Good think about Nano is tat, unlike Vim, you don't need to be a cyborg to use it - unlike vim nano's key binds are logical.

[@benjamindepaz8429]

7:47 “if you’re worried about what other people are doing, you’ve got issues”. Coming from the guy who made a whole “Windows Tube” video sarcastically mocking people for wanting to spend money on commercial software from Adobe and Microsoft, and using Windows. That being said, I can’t stand Nano either. When I do a Gentoo install, or FreeBSD, the very first thing I do is get vim installed as soon as possible. But the statement about not worrying about what software others are using is perfectly valid. Let people use what they want to use. Just because YOU don’t want to use it, or because you have a problem with commercial software, doesn’t mean other people have to feel the same way. There’s another KZbin Creator (I won’t say his name but I think we all know who it is) who thinks Windows is just amazing and Mac and Linux are all just dumb. He doesn’t hide that he’s extremely biased against Linux and Apple software (although I’ve seen him with an Apple Watch on). In any event, they’re just machines, equipment, devices. No need to take things so personally or get defensive.

[@chrissaltmarsh6777]

For me the learning curve has been vi -> vim -> neovim. So a fairly long learning curve - around 40 years.

[@geoffreyvanwyk4588]

Literally the first time I used vim I could not escape. I had to close the terminal.

[@Rbourk252]

I use Nano helps prevent the onset of dementia.

[@RarefiedError]

TLDR he only and always needs an IDE not a text editor

[@pjcarmen]

I use Nano like 2 or 3 times a month, it gets the job done just fine. I have zero interest in wasting time joining the VIM/EMACS cult.

[@noam65]

If it does the job for you, and your typing is light duty, by all means, stick to what works for you. If you write for a living, a more powerful editor might be desired, especially if you tend to make a lot of edits. Also application coders would use one of the other 2. In my case, I was, once upon a time, a Unix system administrator, and vi came at the prom level, so you could install and configure a disk drive or other hardware, and change bare metal bootup parameters. It was required learning for me.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

But you're clearly wasting time getting angry accusing those of us who use vim as being a "cult"... so which is it because you've contradicted yourself in one sentence?

[@riley3269]

This comment is underrated. I’ve used vim for years and tbh if you aren’t editing code or something editor heavy nano is great.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@riley3269 So you're saying it's better to "half use" both then, rather than just use one? If nano works for a lot of people then I am very happy for them - but now I am very proficient at using vim, why would I go back and use nano that does less and needs a completely different set of shortcuts? I see no logic in your comment above.

[@pjcarmen]

@@terrydaktyllus1320 No

[@hamdi-kadri]

Have you tried micro ? it's basically nano with windows-like keyboard shortcuts :)

[@vandorlokronika9581]

I replaced for a while vim with nano for a while. For basic text editing nano is great. Vim is need to be learned properly to be seen it much more than just outdated texteditor.

[@Yoslizzle]

Its foss. Easy to use and edits text files. Lol. This is hilarious.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

Can we have the punchline first? Then I'll tell you if it's hilarious or not.

[@ordinarryalien]

Hey DT, that's a, uh, strange video. Is this the 2nd April's Fool video?

[@GajendraMahat]

I can't use NANO because I know how to exit VIM.

[@RaviRJoshi]

You're a brave man. You even tried.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

When you "hate" you are expressing anger at being locked into a situation you can't get out of - a toddler "hates" a parent when throwing a tantrum for not getting them the toy they want, someone is an abusive relationship "hates" their partner for trapping them, etc. etc. Software does not justify "hate" because with software you are very rarely trapped into using one thing - with Open Source software, you always have a choice. I don't use Windows, I rid myself of my Microsoft abuser when support for Windows 7 ended, though I started using Linux back in 1996. I therefore have no reason to "hate" Windows because it has no relevance in my existence - I can simply be "meh" to it, shrug my shoulders and leave it doing what it does. To me, "hating" is an admission that one has lost self control and it's entirely overused as a word.

[@BunnyKhatri-pd8zm]

I think "I don't like" is the correct way to say

[@davebassi7340]

DT: Nano has no festures worth learning. Me: Yet Notepad in Windows is enough to edit scripts. Anyways, thumbs up for the video as always

[@nolan412]

Try jmacs for a small editor that's not a full OS, which zile turned into.

[@dragonsage6909]

I keep trying to use Vim commands in Nano.. lol :)

[@Adam-yf2ux]

@DistroTube When video about xz backdoor? You gotta talk about it.

[@corrosionoc69]

When I want a basic, plain text editor I will use a plain basic text editor. If I want an IDE I will use an IDE