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Olivier Lalonde
Asked: 2010-11-16 19:11:49 +0800 CST

How do I change the default text editor?

  • 772

How can I change my default text editor from gedit to Emacs?

default-programs

12 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Here is what worked in my case:

    1. Right click on a text file.
    2. Choose "Properties" (not "Open With...")
    3. Click on the "Open With" tab.
    4. Choose your new text editor.
    5. Mark chosen text editor using a button "Set as default".

    This also works on 12.04 and 13.04.

    @ Edit: based on comments it does work on all distros until 20.04

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  2. To change default text editor across the file types, try updating gnome-text-editor configuration. 

    sudo update-alternatives --config gnome-text-editor

    In some cases:

    sudo update-alternatives --config editor
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  3. A more robust solution would be to replace the bindings in /usr/share/applications/defaults.list. 

    sed -i 's/gedit/emacs/' /usr/share/applications/defaults.list
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  4. Right click on a text file, point to "Open With" and it'll show other editors in a sub-menu. Click on "Other Application...". It'll show you a dialog with a list of applications, select Emacs and make sure the "Remember this application for "plain text document" file" option is checked. Click "Open".

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  5. I don't use a DE, but for my configurations the next command is the best:

    /usr/bin/select-editor
    • it selects your default sensible-editor from all installed editors
    • must run with current user
    • you must have more than one editor in your system

    Man pages select-editor

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  6. If you are working from the terminal then I would add the following to your .bashrc file (or the config file for your favorite shell):

    export EDITOR=emacs
export VISUAL=emacs
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  7. sed -i 's/gedit/emacs/g' /etc/gnome/defaults.list
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  8. You can set the default text editor for a specific user in # ~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list by:

    [Default Applications]
text/plain=gedit.desktop

    For global configuration for all users you have to modify the /etc/gnome/defaults.list

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  9. On Ubuntu 20, you need to change the gnome-text-editor alternatives link from gedit to the one you want. However, there usually is only one such editor detected so update-alternatives --config won't work; you'll have to add the editor you want.

    E.g. to add notepadqq:

    sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gnome-text-editor gnome-text-editor /usr/bin/notepadqq 50
sudo update-alternatives --config gnome-text-editor
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  10. If you would like to replace gedit with any other text editor for all file types, the easiest is to edit the defaults.list file located here:

    /usr/share/applications/defaults.list

    Just find and replace all gedit.desktop references with your own editor (in this case emacs.desktop). You need root permissions to edit the file. So, just do: 

    sudo -H gedit /usr/share/applications/defaults.list

    Save the file, close it and it's done.

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