Setting Nano as the default crontab commandline editor

There are lots of people that love using Vim in command line. I prefer Nano and this is a quick guide to changing your system to use Nano.

EDITOR=nano crontab -e

To save permanently you can run the following command to set Nano as the default editor.

export VISUAL=nano; crontab -e

To revert to Vim run the following if you prefer Vim is better.

export VISUAL=vim

Clive Walkden

Posted: 14 June 2016

Latest Articles

Magento 2 Releases Evolution - Features, Popularity & Issues

Magento 2 — 1 August 2025

A Comprehensive Guide to Major Releases of Magento 2

Explore the evolution of Magento 2 through its major releases, detailing features added, popularity metrics, and issues encountered.

Clive Walkden

Author

Linux — 30 October 2023

How to Install NordLayer VPN Client on Ubuntu 20.04 and Connect to a Virtual Network

A simple to follow installation guide for NordLayer VPN

Clive Walkden

Author

MySQL — 26 July 2023

Mastering MySQL Database Imports on Linux

Learn efficient ways to import MySQL databases on Linux using the mysql command-line client. Explore the --source option and < operator for seamless data migration. Master MySQL imports on Linux with our comprehensive guide.

Clive Walkden

Author