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Q&A

How to edit file from less

+3
−1

MWE

touch d
less d
# jump to editing d without leaving less

Question

Is there a way to edit a file from viewing it in less?

Jumping straight into Vim would be preferred, but an answer for emacs as well would be thorough.

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Did you read `man less`? (2 comments)

1 answer

+4
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You can edit the file you see in less by pressing v. From the man page:

       v      Invokes  an  editor  to edit the current file being viewed.  The
              editor is taken from the environment variable VISUAL if defined,
              or  EDITOR if VISUAL is not defined, or defaults to "vi" if nei‐
              ther VISUAL nor EDITOR is defined.  See also the  discussion  of
              LESSEDIT under the section on PROMPTS below.
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