• Technical difficulty: ★★☆☆☆

Oftentimes when running and configuring your own server, you will need to edit files. This can be done through SSH by using a text editor. The most common text editors are nano, vi or vim, and emacs.

Common Text Editors

Nano

Nano is the most beginner-friendly text editor available on most Unix-like systems. It's simple, intuitive, and displays keyboard shortcuts at the bottom of the screen.

Basic Nano Commands

• Open a file: nano filename
• Save: Ctrl + O
• Exit: Ctrl + X
• Cut text: Ctrl + K
• Paste text: Ctrl + U
• Search: Ctrl + W

Vim/Vi

Vim is a powerful, modal text editor with a steeper learning curve than Nano. It's extremely powerful once you learn it, and is available on virtually all Unix-like systems.

Basic Vim Commands

• Open a file: vim filename
• Enter insert mode: i
• Exit insert mode: Esc
• Save: :w (in normal mode)
• Exit: :q (in normal mode)
• Save and exit: :wq (in normal mode)
• Force exit without saving: :q! (in normal mode)

Emacs

Emacs is another powerful text editor with extensive customization options. It's not as universally available as Nano or Vim, but it's worth knowing about.

How to Choose a Text Editor

• For beginners: Start with Nano. It's straightforward and shows the commands at the bottom of the screen.
• For power users: Vim or Emacs offer more features and efficiency once you've learned them.
• For system administrators: Learning Vim is often beneficial as it's available on almost all systems by default.

Resources for Learning

Nano Resources

• Linuxize Nano tutorial
• Nano official documentation

Vi/Vim Resources

• Vim Hero - Interactive Vim tutorial
• FreeCodeCamp Vim tutorial
• Vim Adventures - Learn Vim while playing a game

Emacs Resources

• GNU Emacs Tutorial
• Emacs Wiki

Practical Example

Let's say you need to edit the SSH configuration file on your server. Here's how you would do it with Nano:

1. Connect to your server via SSH
2. Run: sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
3. Make your changes
4. Press Ctrl + O to save
5. Press Enter to confirm the filename
6. Press Ctrl + X to exit

The same task with Vim would look like:

1. Connect to your server via SSH
2. Run: sudo vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config
3. Press i to enter insert mode
4. Make your changes
5. Press Esc to exit insert mode
6. Type :wq and press Enter to save and exit

Remember that practice makes perfect. The more you use these text editors, the more comfortable you'll become with them.