How do I use the Pico editor from the Unix shell?
In Unix, to edit a file using the Pico editor,
enter:
pico filename
Replace filename with the name of the file you want to
edit; this can be an existing file or a new one that Pico will create
for you. Pico will open the file, and you can then edit it much as
you would a mail message in Pine or a document in a word processor.
If you are accustomed to using Pine, you will notice that Pico, like
Pine, has a menu at the bottom displaying important commands.
Note: The commands in Pico are not always the same as
those in Pine. For example, Ctrl-c will cancel a message
in Pine, but in Pico, it displays the cursor position in the document.
The caret ( ^ ) in front of the commands in the
menu indicates that you should hold down the Ctrl key and
press the corresponding letter. For example,
^A means you should hold down the
Ctrl key, then press a . (The
commands are listed on the screen in uppercase letters, but you type
them in lowercase.)
For more help, press Ctrl-g while editing in Pico, or at
the Unix prompt, enter:
man pico
At Indiana University, for personal or departmental Linux or Unix systems support, see At IU, how do I get support for Linux or Unix?
Last modified on August 22, 2008.
