Linux is renowned for the plethora of powerful text editors available, catering to every user’s needs. From Vim and Nano, to Emacs, numerous well-known terminal-based editors come to mind. However, there exist lesser-known alternatives that can elevate your workflow, providing welcome changes to your productivity.

In this article, we’ll be looking at obscure text editors available for Linux, discussing their features and how they could benefit you.

1. JOE – Joe’s Own Editor:

JOE is a terminal-based, lightweight, and easy-to-use text editor with a lot of features that make it a valuable tool for developers who prioritize speed and efficiency. Like any text editor worthy of mention, JOE has syntax highlighting, making it a joy to edit code, and also supports macros, spell check dictionaries, mouse functionality, and file indexing.

2. MCE – Midnight Commander Editor:

MCE, also known as the built-in editor in Midnight Commander, is a lightweight and straightforward editor designed for fast and efficient editing, making it an excellent choice for experienced Linux users seeking speed and convenience. It features block editing, syntax highlighting, macros, and undo/redo capabilities.

3. NANO:

Nano is an accessible, beginner-friendly editor that comes pre-installed on most Linux distributions. It’s a straightforward text editor designed with simplicity in mind, making it ideal for beginners. Nano supports syntax highlighting, line numbering, word wrapping, and some typical editing functionality found in other text editors.

4. MPED:

MPED is a lightweight and fast console text editor with a small learning curve, making it relatively easy to use for those with minimal experience. It has extensive block and macro editing capabilities, syntax highlighting, undo/redo functionality, and the ability to edit multiple files at once, all contributing to improving your productivity.

5. VILE:

VILE is a fast, lightweight, and powerful text editor that is compatible with both Emacs and Vi commands. VILE is designed to provide advanced functionalities, adding improved block-editing capabilities, macros, spell check, regular expressions, and syntax highlighting, with a particular emphasis on C and C++ programming languages.

Conclusion:

The market of Linux text editors is vast, and choosing the right tool for the job can be daunting. However, choosing from the lesser-known options mentioned above might just be what you need to boost your productivity. Each editor has its unique features and pros that can move the needle and make things more comfortable in your workflow. So, give them a spin and see what works for you.