Considering how many linux users use Midnight Commander, I'm surprised to find that I'm the first to mention that I prefer to use "mcedit"...just hit the old F4 button. Reasons are....nice color syntaxing and when you are done editing, a quick press of the enter key runs the script. Plus the F3 key gives a built-in hex-editor for close examination of output. It also has "good enough" cut'n'paste abilities from console or xterm.