Ubuntu – How to change the default text editor

default-programs

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

Best Answer

Here is what worked in my case:

Right click on a text file.
Choose "Properties" (not "Open With...")
Click on the "Open With" tab.
Choose your new text editor.
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

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to make vim the default graphical text editor

OP fixed the problem here:

Ok, I have created vim.desktop in ~/.local/share/applications and modified defaults.list (in the same dir) to include
text/plain=vim.desktop
After that, sudo update-mime and its working! (I am not sure whether this step is require)

Clicking on a text file opens vim, not gvim, in terminal and :q closes the terminal too.

Ubuntu – Set emacs -nw as default editor

Create a script that starts emacs with -nw flag, e.g. /usr/local/bin/emacs-nw.

#!/bin/sh

emacs -nw "$@"

Install it with update-alternatives --install.

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/editor editor /usr/local/bin/emacs-nw 2

Configure editor to be your new script.

sudo update-alternatives --set editor /usr/local/bin/emacs-nw

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to make vim the default graphical text editor

Ubuntu – Set emacs -nw as default editor

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