Alternatives to GNU nano
Small terminal text editor with the shortcuts printed on screen. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
GNU nano
Small terminal text editor with the shortcuts printed on screen.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as GNU nano.
micro
A terminal editor with the keybindings you already know: Ctrl-S to save, Ctrl-C to copy, Ctrl-Z to undo.
micro uses common Ctrl-S and Ctrl-C keybindings and adds multiple cursors, splits, tabs, mouse support and plugins, shipped as one static binary.
Microsoft Edit
Edit text with a familiar interface inside your terminal.
Microsoft Edit is an MIT-licensed terminal editor with a familiar interface, also focused on basic text editing rather than code intelligence.
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 also on nearly every server and has decades of plugins, but its modal editing has a notoriously 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, tree-sitter and Lua plugins for code, but requires learning modal editing and configuring plugins.
Helix
A modal terminal editor with language servers and multiple selections built in, and no plugins to install.
Helix brings language servers and multiple selections without plugins, using modal selection-first keys shown through on-screen prompts.
GNU Emacs
An editor that is really a Lisp environment, extensible to the point where people run their email, calendar and shell inside it.
GNU Emacs runs in a terminal and is extensible in Lisp at runtime, with keybindings unlike any other editor and heavy configuration.
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.
Notepads
Use a lightweight Windows text editor with tabs and Markdown preview.
Geany
A small, fast IDE built on GTK that starts instantly and does not depend on a heavy desktop environment.
Serpl
A terminal interface for searching and replacing text across a whole project folder.
