How to enter a Git commit message in this editor?

Question

I am trying to enter the Git commit message in the editor which looks like Vi, but none of commands like :wq, Esc etc. are working. Whenever I try to merge the master branch, this window pops up:

Merge branch 'master' into awesomebar

# Please enter a commit message to explain why this merge is necessary,
# especially if it merges an updated upstream into a topic branch.
#
# Lines starting with '#' will be ignored, and an empty message aborts
# the commit.



--**-Mg: MERGE_MSG                        (fundamental)----All-------------------

And the cursor stays right at the beginning of the sentence Merge branch 'master' into awesomebar. Neither can I move the cursor, neither can I exit. Typing Esc gives the following commands:

Merge branch 'master' into awesomebar

# Please enter a commit message to explain why this merge is necessary,
# especially if it merges an updated upstream into a topic branch.
#
# Lines starting with '#' will be ignored, and an empty message aborts
# the commit.



--**-Mg: MERGE_MSG                        (fundamental)----All-------------------
ESC-

And once I type something, I can't even delete it. How do I deal with this?

keyboard offcourse. but typing arrow keys give [c at the beggining — Udit Gogoi
– Udit Gogoi, Commented May 7, 2018 at 9:14
Try changing your default git editor to vim git config --global core.editor vim — Chris Aby Antony
– Chris Aby Antony, Commented May 7, 2018 at 9:17
I assume its Vi editor. Can we do something with the vi editor? — Udit Gogoi
– Udit Gogoi, Commented May 7, 2018 at 9:17

Arount · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-07 09:31:17Z

1

It looks like to be Joe

From what I know to save and exit you must type ^kx (where ^ is equal to CTRL).

If you want to change default Git's editor, just update the EDITOR variable, in your ~/.bashrc by example:

export EDITOR="vim"

edited May 7, 2018 at 9:31

answered May 7, 2018 at 9:19

Arount

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mkrieger1 · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-22 13:45:29Z

0

The (fundamental) line is a hint that this is some kind of Emacs: Fundamental mode is one of the Major Modes of Emacs.

This is the documentation for the basic usage of Emacs:

answered Jul 22, 2020 at 13:45

mkrieger1

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