Git on Mac: How to set Nano as the default text editor?

Question

When I'm using Git on Mac and need to do a rebase, the Vim editor kicks in by default. I would prefer Nano – could someone please explain how to reconfigure Git to make it use Nano for rebase?

I prefer nano too, I am no masochist. – Rolf Sep 22 '17 at 10:31 — Rolf, Sep 22 '17 at 10:31

score 248 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 01 '21 at 19:12

248

git config --global core.editor "nano"

More information here:

https://git-scm.com/book/en/Customizing-Git-Git-Configuration

edited Nov 01 '21 at 19:12

Toto

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answered Nov 08 '12 at 23:18

sunnyrjuneja

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This is manna from cli heaven – gdibble May 25 '21 at 19:25

score 36 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 12 '12 at 11:42

36

If you want to use nano as your editor for all things command line, add this to your bash_profile:

export EDITOR=/usr/bin/nano

This is assuming you're using the system nano. If not, edit to suit where your nano lives (e.g. /usr/local/bin, /opt/local/bin)

Remember to source your bash_profile after setting this or open a new terminal window for the settings to work...

answered Nov 12 '12 at 11:42

phildobbin

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That's assuming you use Bash B) – Jorge Orpinel Pérez Mar 25 '16 at 23:09
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You should be able to use simply `export EDITOR=nano`. – Resigned June 2023 Oct 18 '16 at 03:20
Opening a new terminal window might not be enough to reload ``.bash_profile``. – Scott - Слава Україні Jul 25 '19 at 04:40

agm1984 · Answer 3 · 2023-06-01T17:15:30.173

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I just learned a moment ago that there (on OSX anyway) is a file at /Users/<USER_NAME>/.gitconfig

$ nano /Users/bob/.gitconfig

Then you should see something like this:

[user]
    email = bob@sandwich.net
    name = Bob Sandwich
[core]
    editor = nano
[merge]
    tool = vscode
[mergetool "vscode"]
    cmd = "code --wait "
[diff]
    tool = vscode
[difftool "vscode"]
    cmd = "code --wait --diff  "

After seeing that structure, you can intuitively understand something like (ie: core.editor):

git config --global core.editor "nano"

edited Jun 01 '23 at 17:15

answered Oct 26 '19 at 05:35

agm1984

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Love the detail here, ty – gdibble May 25 '21 at 19:27
WTF are you doing there? "sudo nano "? And only for reading a file? To which you've got access anyway? How about... "cat "? – Alexander Skwar Jun 18 '21 at 07:33
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If you use `sudo nano .gitconfig,` on the chance that the file doesn't exist and is created, it will be owned by root. Since it is unnecessary, drop the `sudo`. – le3th4x0rbot May 30 '23 at 16:44
@AlexanderSkwar How would `cat .gitconfig` help someone edit the file? – le3th4x0rbot May 30 '23 at 16:44
In my experience `cat file` causes an 'undesirable' scroll event when the file is larger than the viewport, but I think you should use your preferred method of inspecting; using `cat` guarantees inability to edit while observing--part of a well balanced immutability diet. (also I removed the sudo; thanks) – agm1984 Jun 01 '23 at 17:15

Git on Mac: How to set Nano as the default text editor?

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