Nano and I've actually started using Helix which I like a lot. It's keybinds make more sense to me than vim.
this post was submitted on 02 May 2026
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I use vim. I learned it because I started on a bunch of hosts where I couldn't install what I wanted. But unless you have a similar restriction, go ahead and install what you like.
It's a good idea to play around with others to see what they have to offer, but at the end of the day, you do you
nano
VIM Learnt it in my first semester and use it ever since.
Team vim! Learned it five or six years ago, and never looked back. I've also got vim motions enabled for my shell, in the browser (firefox with vimium), and in my window manager (sway).
Helix, it's a better vim
Nano is the easiest most straightforward to use, and it's what I always use. I have nvim setup and I really believe it is better but I have had 20 years using nano and I really struggle forcing myself to switch and get used to it as it's so completely different.
Whatever is installed i dont care tbh.
Once you configure nano with a ~/.nanorc file, it becomes a lot more like micro/helix without having to install anything on new systems. I just curl my config and I'm good. I have Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, 2 space tabs, mouse scrolling +selection, syntax highlighting, etc. There's a lot you can do in there, and that's not to mention plugins.
Nano because It happens to be what I learned first and I don't get enough of a chance to use my computer anymore to even try anything else
Emacs → Vim → Neovim → Helix
When I ran a trivia bot on irc back in the day, I used to use sed to edit question files. But mostly use nano now. I don’t do anything all day and COULD learn vim/emacs/something else. But I cbf
Was staunchly team vim for 15 years, but now I'm on helix. As another user stated below, its like if vim were re-designed today, and without needing any addons to be a code-aware editor.
Kate 👀
Neovim for terminal but often I use kate for gui because I still don't find vim commands more efficient
My first distro shipped with pico, so I often choose nano for an edit. Micro is fine, too, but I won't go out of my way to install it.
I challenged myself to write a couple of projects in neovim over a month or so. I finished my projects, but it still felt like the tool was getting in my way. Muscle memory is to break. Current job requires a bigger IDE, but I still do my commit messages with neovim.
I generally use micro on the terminal, kate or gedit in the GUI, depending. No hate towards the others, just what I've settled on over the years.