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Edit files in Linux

This tutorial explains how you can edit files in Linux.

Approach 1. Using Linux command line tools.

In our environment, you can use command-line based text editors including nano and vi to edit something small. vi is briefly explained. nano is relative intuitive to learn and use.

You can type:

nano file.txt

to open or create a file. Edit it, and then follow the shortcut at the bottom of your screen for file operations, including

  • Ctrl+O: write out (i.e. Save)
  • Ctrl+X: exit Nano

If you are using Gitbash for this, you can use your mouse to select a block of text (which is automatically copied), and right click to paste.

Approach 2. Using Linux's Gedit tool

Open Virtualbox, click play to open a GUI on your running VM.

From the menu, go to Applications > Accessories > Gedit text editor

Then you can edit and save. Keep in mind that your user name and home directory is "cloudera".

Gedit is versatile; it can be used edit txt files and scripts (such as python)

Approach 3. Using Windows tools

You can take advantage of the fact that we have a shared folder between window host and the VM. This shared folder is at c:/vagrant on the windows side, and /vagrant on the Linux side. the files you put in this folder can be seen from both sides.

Use notepad++ to edit a text file or script file and save to c:/vagrant.

To ensure compatibility, it is best for you to save the text file with Linux line endings (by default it is windows line endings). To do that, go to Edit > EOL conversion > Unix (LF) to set it to use Linux line endings. See more about line ending conversion here.

Once you have the file in the vagrant folder, you can easily copy or move it to a new location in Linux. e.g.

cp myscript.py ~/training_materials/analyst/myscript.py

The same approach can also be used for moving data files between the two systems.