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Text Editors

1 - Introduction

Here is a quick comparison of the number of keypresses required to save and quit in various text editors.

2 - Description 

1- save
2- (unmodified) quit
3- (modified) quit with saving
4- (modified) quit without saving
5- (unknowingly modified) quit with saving
6- (unknowingly modified) quit without save
7- 5 (edits + saves) followed by a quit (not counting the editing itself)
8- Adding up all the numbers from above

3 - Textpad (wine) 

1- 2 (ctrl-s)
2- 2 (alt-f4)
3- 3 (alt-f4 y)
4- 3 (alt-f4 n)
5- 3 (alt-f4) + (y)
6- 3 (alt-f4) + (n)
7- 12
8- 28

4 - Bluefish (unix & linux) 

1- 2 (ctrl-s)
2- 2 (ctrl-q)
3- 3 (ctrl-q enter) or (ctrl-q space)
4- 4 (ctrl-q alt-n)
5- 3 (ctrl-q) + (enter) or (space)
6- 4 (ctrl-q) + (alt-n)
7- 12
8- 30

5 - Nano & Pico (unix & linux) 

1- 3 (ctrl-o enter)
2- 2 (ctrl-x)
3- 4 (ctrl-x y enter)
4- 3 (ctrl-x n)
5- 4 (ctrl-x) + (y enter)
6- 3 (ctrl-x) + (n)
7- 17
8- 36

6 - Edit (dos) 

1- 3 (alt-f s)
2- 3 (alt-f x)
3- 4 (alt-f x y)
4- 4 (alt-f x n)
5- 4 (alt-f x) + (y)
6- 4 (alt-f x) + (n)
7- 18
8- 40

7 - Emacs (unix & linux) 

1- 4 (ctrl-x-s)
2- 4 (ctrl-x-c)
3- 6 (ctrl-x-c y)
4- 8 (ctrl-x-c n y e s enter)
5- 6 (ctrl-x-c) + (y)
6- 8 (ctrl-x-c) + (n y e s enter)
7- 24
8- 60

There is a cryptic combination for number 4 with only 7 instead of 8 keypresses: (alt-x k i tab e enter)

8 - Vi (unix & linux) 

1- 6  (esc shift-: w enter i)
2- 5  (esc shift-: q enter)
3- 6  (esc shift-: w q enter)
4- 7  (esc shift-: q shift-! enter)
5- 10 (esc shift-: q enter) + (shift-: w q enter)
6- 11 (esc shift-: q enter) + (shift-: q shift-! enter)
7- 39 (This includes pressing 'i' 5 times to do your editing, and
        skipping the last 'esc' in the quit sequence)
8- 83

Vi requires 6 keypresses just to save what you're in the middle of editing. And these aren't like the 6 keypresses in typing a word like 'saveme', but a very difficult combination of keys.

9 - Summary from best to worst 

28 - Textpad     - 0000000000000000000000000000
30 - Bluefish    - 000000000000000000000000000000
36 - Nano & Pico - 000000000000000000000000000000000000
40 - Edit        - 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
60 - Emacs       - 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
83 - Vi          - 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Text Editors, by The Humanoid