Alternatively, you can press SHIFT and hit ZZ to quickly save the file and exit.Type wq and press ENTER on your keyboard so that the command looks like :wq.Press the colon (: ) key on your keyboard (you may need to hold the shift key).You will need to switch out of INSERT mode by pressing the ESC key before you can close or save the file it should now no longer show - INSERT.Once you're done editing a file, you'll need to save the changes you have made. Before you can begin editing the text, you'll need to press the i key to switch to INSERT mode, displayed at the bottom of the screen, as shown below.You should be greeted with an interface similar to the following.On your server's console, type the vi command followed by the name of the text file, then press ENTER.Create or Edit a File in viĮditing a file in vi is a fairly straightforward process.

However, once you learn a few common commands, you won't find them too difficult to use.

Vi is an older text editor and the most widely installed. If you've made any unsaved changes, it will ask you if you'd like to continue without saving. Just press ENTER if this is still the file name you wish to edit or CTRL-C to cancel or CTRL-X to exit.Ĭlose: CTRL-X This will close the nano program. Save: CTRL-O This will save the contents to the file you opened. Then press the CTRL key and the X key to exit.When you're satisfied with the filename, press the ENTER key.You'll be prompted for the name of the file to Save As.You'll see an interface similar to the following screenshot, and you can begin editing the file now.On your server's console, type the nano command followed by the name of the text file, then press ENTER.nano's most commonly used shortcut keys are shown at the bottom of the page with the ^ symbol representing the CTRL key followed by a lowercase letter. This text editor is a growing favorite among Linux users due to its overall ease of use and default on most modern Linux distributions. If you're not sure how to do this, you may refer to the following guide, which covers Connecting to Your Server via SSH. You'll need to be logged into your server via SSH before beginning.

But fear not, we will cover two of the most popular console-based text editors, nano and vi, in this article. Editing text-based files in Linux can be confusing if you are unfamiliar with using the command-line as there is no graphical user interface to help guide you.

Edit text file in terminal windows