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

Posted on April 2, 2010
Filed Under Linux | 4 Comments


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 its FTP 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.

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.

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4 Comments so far
  1. if April 21, 2010 8:12 am

    but lots of file edit must in sudo.
    so this aticle won't fit most situation

  2. Cuong April 29, 2010 12:43 pm

    I use this mostly to edit websites which do not require super user privilege. If I need to edit system files remotely, I would just SSH and use vi for the job. So as a web developer, I use this method 99% of the time.

  3. Gadget Newz May 3, 2010 4:49 am

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

  4. maxzec May 18, 2010 6:30 am

    Thanks a lot. That's what I was looking for. And really Gedit can be trasformed in a complete IDE with its plugins.
    If you're interested, you can read this post (in italian):
    http://www.tuxjournal.net/?p=1967

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