Editors

There are several choices of editors available on most Unix systems. Which one you use is up to you. Here is a brief description of the main choices:

pico

This is a very simple editor. It does not have many features but it is extremely easy to use. If editing to you is simply entering text and moving the cursor around, this editor is for you. On metz it is the default editor that comes with the mailer programs pine and elm.

vi

This is the standard Unix editor, you will find it on any Unix system you login to. Some say it is hard to use but this is not really true. In fact, it is probably one of the fastest ways to edit text once you get the hang of the many cursor movement commands. It certainly is hard to learn, but once you know it, it is a very powerful editor.

emacs

Probably the most comprehensive editor you will ever want. Some shudder when it is merely called an editor. A closer description is probably `a lifestyle'. If you want to know about emacs, you'll need to do some reading.