How to set a default text editor for PowerShell (e.g. Visual Studio Code)

Question

I am using the new windows terminal.
I just installed powershell v7.0.2 and starship to make it better.

I want to edit the starship config, so I ran this command:

> starship.exe config
----------------------
Error: editor "vi" was not found. Did you set your $EDITOR or $VISUAL environment variables correctly?
Full error: Os { code: 2, kind: NotFound, message: "The system cannot find the file specified." }

So I went ahead and edited my $PROFILE to set visual studio code as the default editor (code is in the path):

> code $PROFILE
---------------
$ENV:EDITOR = "code"
$ENV:VISUAL = "code"

Now I get the same error but with code instead of vi:

> starship.exe config
----------------------
Error: editor "code" was not found. Did you set your $EDITOR or $VISUAL environment variables correctly?
Full error: Os { code: 2, kind: NotFound, message: "The system cannot find the file specified." }

The reason I ended up running starship config is because after creating the $HOME\.starship\starship.toml config file, starship ignores it, although I've set the path in my profile:

> code $PROFILE
---------------
$ENV:STARSHIP_CONFIG = "$HOME\.starship"

So I ran starhip config to see which is the path that it expects the config file to be in.

I also tried to set the full path to visual studio code in $EDITOR, but it didn't help.

@NicklausBrain I came across that when I was searching, and It did not help me, how would you apply that solution to my problem? — codentary
– codentary, Commented Jul 11, 2020 at 11:23
Why not just open Explorer, right-click (SomeFileNmae.ps1, SomeFileName.txt, SomeFileName.log, SomeFileName.ini, SomeFileName.config, etc...) the file of the type you want, and change the app association to VSCode, then double-clicking the file will start VSCode with that file or typign what you did to get the same result. — postanote
– postanote, Commented Jul 12, 2020 at 2:15
@postanote as I explained above, the reason why I am doing this in the first place is because the starship.toml config file (which I created in the documented path) seams to be ignored by starship and I wanted to open in through the starship config command so I can see the actual filename and path that it expects to find the config in. — codentary
– codentary, Commented Jul 12, 2020 at 12:07

devnull · Accepted Answer · 2020-08-22 20:13:45Z

4

I had the exact same issue, and managed to solve it by setting the $EDITOR variable to the absolute path of your editor, so for Visual Studio Code, add this to your $PROFILE:

$ENV:EDITOR = "C:\Program Files\Microsoft VS Code\Code.exe"

answered Aug 22, 2020 at 20:13

devnull

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js2010 · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-11 23:06:53Z

0

I'm surprised code isn't in your path:

$env:path += ";C:\Users\$username\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\bin"

answered Jul 11, 2020 at 23:06

js2010

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1 Comment

codentary Over a year ago

code is already in my path. As you can see above, I invoke it from powershell and it works. The problem is when I run starship config having configured $end:editor = code, starship itself does not seam to be able to invoke code and it gives an error.

Pawel D · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-11 22:35:55Z

-1

Do you mean, default program to open ps1? If so it's a registry entry, HKLM and find extension...

answered Jul 11, 2020 at 22:35

Pawel D

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1 Comment

codentary Over a year ago

No, I mean the default text editor to be used by different tools which require you at some point to edit a file. In my case, it is starship config which should open the starship.toml config file with that default text editor. Other examples are: git config -e and git commit.

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