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I am aware of MacVim, and while it's very nice I am constantly in the terminal. Why have two programs running when I could stay in one?

So the question is, how can I make VIM (run in iTerm2) the default text editor?

Matt Ryan
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4 Answers4

5

See my answer here, but use a Run AppleScript action in Automator instead and use the following AppleScript code:

on run {input, parameters}
    if (count of input) > 0 then
        tell application "System Events"
            set runs to false
            try
                set p to application process "iTerm"
                set runs to true
            end try
        end tell
        tell application "iTerm"
            activate
            if (count of terminals) = 0 then
                set t to (make new terminal)
            else    
                set t to current terminal
            end if
            tell t
                tell (make new session at the end of sessions)
                    exec command ("vim \"" & POSIX path of first item of input as text) & "\""
                end tell
                if not runs then
                    terminate first session
                end if
            end tell
        end tell
    end if
end run

This'll open a new iTerm window if there's none, otherwise a new tab, and open the file in there. Result:

enter image description here

Community
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Daniel Beck
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  • that's great, but how about a new tab instead? – Matt Ryan May 15 '11 at 14:22
  • @Matt See edited post. – Daniel Beck May 15 '11 at 14:41
  • @daniel that works great, but if the app is not already open it launches with two tabs. – Matt Ryan May 15 '11 at 15:16
  • @Matt It does what you want it to do. Nothing more, nothing less. Get your requirements in order. – Daniel Beck May 15 '11 at 15:59
  • @Matt Better now? – Daniel Beck May 15 '11 at 16:22
  • well you certainly answered the original question, and then went a step further. thanks. but it doesn't actually terminate the empty session. and actually, it makes more sense to use the first as opposed to starting a new one and then closing the first. don't worry about it though... technically best practices are not requirements. – Matt Ryan May 15 '11 at 17:45
  • @Matt I didn't find any indicator on whether a session/terminal is in use. I have the same problem in Terminal. I like erring on the side of too many tabs better than taking over a shell in use (and possibly failing to do that). – Daniel Beck May 15 '11 at 17:48
  • @DanielBeck It does not work on Monterey. It would be nice if you could modify it such that it also works on the latest macOS. – T_T Dec 19 '21 at 10:47
2

Following should work(it works for me):

write following two command in your ~/.bashrc if using bash shell OR in ~/.zshrc

export EDITOR=nano
export VISUAL="$EDITOR"

Ref: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/501862/how-can-i-set-the-default-editor-as-nano-on-my-mac

Sunil Kumar Singh
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This is a very simple way to open files in terminal vim from iterm command click. It also jumps to the line number if it is specified. You will need to download one of the nightly builds to get the coprocess feature.

Click on: Preferences -> Profiles -> Advanced

Under "Semantic History", choose "Run coprocess..". In the text field, put: echo vim \1 +\2

source: https://coderwall.com/p/5hp1yg

alexbhandari
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i dont know if still you are looking for this or not but here is a very easy way to set your default editor to Vi on macos

just do set -o vi

Muhammad Akram sharifi
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