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Best Text Editor for Linux Mint 20.3 to View and Edit the Contents of a Configuration File

Configuration files are defined as the files that contain the most important settings of any software or application. They are there to help that software or application in operating effectively. Sometimes, you might wish to edit these configuration files to modify the behavior of a particular application or software as per your needs. 

Here at Ibmi Media, we shall look into the text editors that can be used to view and edit the contents of a configuration file on a Linux Mint 20.3 system.


1. The Nano Editor

The Nano editor is the default text editor of Linux Mint 20.3 i.e. you do not need to install it rather it is already present. It has a very simple interface and is extremely easy to use. You can know more about this text editor by visiting the following link: https://www.nano-editor.org/.

The Nano editor can be used very conveniently for viewing and editing the contents of a configuration file in Linux Mint 20.3. If you wish to access the Nano editor in Linux Mint 20.3, you will have to run the command given below in your system’s terminal:

$ nano

If you wish to view and edit any configuration file with the Nano editor in Linux Mint 20.3, then you will simply need to execute the command given above followed by the complete path to the configuration file that you want to access.


2. The Vim Editor

The Vim editor is extremely versatile in terms of the features that it offers. You can read more about this text editor by following the link mentioned over here: https://www.vim.org/. This text editor can also be used very easily for viewing and editing the contents of a configuration file using Linux Mint 20.3, however, this text editor is not installed by default on the said operating system. Therefore, if you wish to use this text editor for viewing and editing your configuration files, then, you will have to install it first on your system by running the following command:

$ sudo apt-get install vim

You can launch this text editor (once it is successfully installed on your system) by running the command:

$ vim

This command will display the interface of the Vim editor.

You can view and edit any configuration file of your choice in Linux Mint 20.3 by running the command mentioned above followed by the complete path of that configuration file.


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Conclusion

This article covers the best text editors that can be used to view and edit the contents of a configuration file on a Linux Mint 20.3 system. 

In Linux, there are two types of text editors:

  • Command-line text editors; A good example is Vim, which gives you the option of jumping into the editor from the command line. System admins will find this very useful when editing configuration files.
  • Graphical user interface (GUI) text editors; This type of text editor features a GUI but cannot be used from the command line.


More about Bluefish Text Editor ?

The bluefish text editor is aimed at making coding more accessible. It works on most platforms so that you can use it on Linux, Mac, or Windows.

To Install Bluefish by executing the following commands:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:klaus-vormweg/bluefish
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install bluefish