Alternatives to Microsoft Edit
Edit text with a familiar interface inside your terminal. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Microsoft Edit
Edit text with a familiar interface inside your terminal.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Microsoft Edit.
GNU nano
Small terminal text editor with the shortcuts printed on screen.
GNU nano is GPL-licensed, shows shortcuts on screen and is installed or one package away on practically every Unix system.
micro
A terminal editor with the keybindings you already know: Ctrl-S to save, Ctrl-C to copy, Ctrl-Z to undo.
micro keeps common Ctrl-key bindings and adds multiple cursors, splits, tabs, mouse support and a small plugin ecosystem.
Vim
The editor that is already on every server, with a graphical build for Windows and a licence that asks you to donate to Ugandan children.
Vim is installed on nearly every server and has decades of plugins, but it uses modal editing with a steep learning curve.
Neovim
A modern rewrite of Vim with a built-in language server client, Lua configuration and an embeddable API.
Neovim adds a built-in LSP client and Lua plugins for code work, at the cost of modal editing and setup effort.
Helix
A modal terminal editor with language servers and multiple selections built in, and no plugins to install.
Helix is a modal terminal editor with language servers and multiple selections built in, requiring new selection-first keybindings.
Also worth comparing
These listings name Microsoft Edit as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
Notepads
Use a lightweight Windows text editor with tabs and Markdown preview.
Microsoft Edit is an MIT-licensed terminal text editor with a familiar interface, running in a console rather than a Windows GUI.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Notepad++
The fast Windows text and source code editor that replaced Notepad for a generation of users.
GNU Emacs
An editor that is really a Lisp environment, extensible to the point where people run their email, calendar and shell inside it.
Serpl
A terminal interface for searching and replacing text across a whole project folder.
