🖋 editor - Open a text editor 🖋

editor opens the default text editor or your favorite editor to edit an existing file, a new file, or a tempfile, blocks while the user edits text, then returns the contents of the file.

You can pass a parameter editor= to specify an editor or leave it empty, in which case the editor is:

The contents of the environment variable VISUAL, if it's set, otherwise:
The the contents of the environment variable EDITOR, if it's set, otherwise:
The string 'Notepad', if the code is running on Windows, otherwise:
The string 'vim'

Example 1: Using a temporary file

If no filename is provided, a temporary file gets edited, and its contents returned.

import editor

comments = editor.editor(text='Comments here\n\n')
# Pop up the default editor with a tempfile containing "Comments here",
# then return the contents and delete the tempfile.

Example 2: Using a named file

If a filename is provided, then that file gets edited.

import os

FILE = 'file.txt'
assert not os.path.exists(FILE)

comments = editor.editor(text=MESSAGE, filename=FILE)
# Pop up an editor for a new FILE containing MESSAGE, user edits
# This file is saved when the user exits the editor.

assert os.path.exists(FILE)

# You can edit an existing file too, and select your own editor.
comments2 = editor.editor(filename=FILE, editor='emacs -nw')