Red HatThis forum is for the discussion of Red Hat Linux.
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
When you want to know how a command works, your best bet is to try the manual page. This is straight from "man crontab":
The -e option is used to edit the current crontab using the editor
specified by the VISUAL or EDITOR environment variables. After you
exit from the editor, the modified crontab will be installed automati-
cally. If neither of the environment variables is defined, then the
default editor /usr/bin/editor is used.
In theory this could be different on your system, so you should still check it.
When you want to know how a command works, your best bet is to try the manual page. This is straight from "man crontab":
The -e option is used to edit the current crontab using the editor
specified by the VISUAL or EDITOR environment variables. After you
exit from the editor, the modified crontab will be installed automati-
cally. If neither of the environment variables is defined, then the
default editor /usr/bin/editor is used.
In theory this could be different on your system, so you should still check it.
Very interesting, I suppose my question should have been "which file do I go to permanently change the Visual or EDITOR enviornment variable?"
I found the answer here -> blog.breuls.org/2005/11/26/default-crontab-editor/
I was looking for the same information. I had done before but forgot how and I am adding this reply since it was one of my Google search options, at the top really.
There is a site that deals with cron howto, from command line type:
export VISUAL='pico -w'
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.