How to switch the editor in mc (midnight commander) from nano to mcedit?

Question

Using ubuntu 10.10 the editor in mc (midnight commander) is nano. How can i switch to the internal mc editor (mcedit)?

Answer 1

Press the following keys in order, one at a time:

1. F9 or Alt + 9 Activates the top menu.
2. o Selects the Option menu.
3. c Opens the configuration dialog.
4. i Toggles the use internal edit option.
5. s Saves your preferences.

Answer 2

Run MC as usual. On the command line right above the bottom row of menu selections type select-editor. This should open a menu with a list of all of your installed editors. This is working for me on all my current linux machines.

Answer 3

You can also change the standard editor system-wide. Open a terminal and type this command:

sudo update-alternatives --config editor

You will get a list of the installed editors on your system, and you can choose your favorite.

Answer 4

If you want to leave mc and system settings as it is now, you may just run it like

$ EDITOR=mcedit mc

Answer 5

In user's home folder (/home/<user-name>/) there should be a file named .selected_editor. One can edit it and change it there to a desired editor.

# Generated by /usr/bin/select-editor
SELECTED_EDITOR="/path/to/mcedit"

Or remove this file to force MC to ask about default editor on first edit.

Answer 6

Open Midnight Commander, go to Options -> Configuration and check "use internal editor" Hit save and you are done.