vi and emacs intro

Developers and administrators experienced in working on UNIX-like systems almost always use one of the two venerable editing options: vi and emacs. Both are present or easily available on all distributions and are completely compatible with the versions available on other operating systems.

Both vi and emacs have a basic purely text-based form that can run in a non-graphical environment. They also have one or more graphical interface forms with extended capabilities; these may be friendlier for a less experienced user. While vi and emacs can have significantly steep learning curves for new users, they are extremely efficient when one has learned how to use them.

You need to be aware that fights among seasoned users over which editor is better can be quite intense and are often best to try both and choice one you enjoin.