Use Gedit as Remote File Editor via FTP and SSH (Ubuntu)

posted in Linux on  by Cuong 

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Migrating from Windows Vista to Ubuntu 8.04 and have been using it all the way to 9.10, I am now a complete Linux convert. As a web developer, I am frequently required to edit files on remote servers. Without some kind of mechanism to automate the upload process, it becomes laborious as number of files grows. On Windows system I use Notepad++ and itsFTP plugin to edit remote files, which work pretty well.

Now I am using Ubuntu, I have to find a similar editor to accomplish this. After some investigation, I found that the bundled text editor gedit is capable of doing remote file editing – but not without some tricks. In the rest of the article I am going to show you how to do this.

Table of Contents hide]

1. 1 Step 1: Connect to a Remote Server
2. 2 Step 2: Editing Remote File

Step 1: Connect to a Remote Server

• Go to Places→Connect to Server and connect to a remote server. Make sure that you check “Add bookmark” check box.
• Enter a name for this connection as you will use this to refer to the remote server in gedit.
• Click “Connect” to proceed.

If you are promoted to enter a password, enter it and choose a password option that fits your need. They are self-explanatory.

Step 2: Editing Remote File

• Once you are successfully connected to a server, fire up gedit.
• Go to view and check “Side Panel” or press F9.
• At bottom of side panel, click “File Browser” tab.
• On top of the side panel drop down menu, select “Bookmarks”.
• Expand the server you are connecting to.
• You now can edit remote files as they are local files.

Gedit is a very powerful text editor. In my option it is as feature-rich as Notepad++. Syntax highlighting, bracket matching, automatic indentation are the features I find the most useful to me. I use the following preferences to make gedit the programmer's perfect text editor:

Another tip is that you can narrow the file list in the side panel by applying filter. For example at bottom of the side panel, if you enter “*.php” in the “Match Filename” text box, the side panel now will only show PHP files.

Once again thanks for reading.