---
name: "gedit"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "gedit"
version: "51.0-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/gedit"
---

# gedit(1)

a general-purpose text editor

## NAME

**gedit** - a general-purpose text editor

## SYNOPSIS

**gedit** \[*OPTION*...\] \[*FILE*...\] \[+*LINE*\[:*COLUMN*\]\]\
 **gedit** \[*OPTION*...\] -

## DESCRIPTION

**gedit** is an easy-to-use and general-purpose text editor. Its development started in 1998, at the beginnings of the GNOME project, with a good integration with that desktop environment.

You can use it to write simple notes and documents, or you can enable more advanced features that are useful for software development.

## OPTIONS

- **--encoding**

  Set the character encoding to be used for opening the files listed on the command line.

- **--list-encodings**

  Display list of possible values for the encoding option and exit.

- **--new-window**

  Create a new toplevel window in an existing instance of **gedit.**

- **--new-document**

  Create a new document in an existing instance of **gedit.**

- **-s, --standalone**

  Run **gedit** in standalone mode.

- **-w, --wait**

  Open files and block the **gedit** process.

- **--help**

  Prints the command line options.

- **--version**

  Output version information and exit.

- **FILE**

  Specifies the file to open when **gedit** starts. If this is not specified, **gedit** will load a blank file with an "Unsaved Document" label. Multiple files can be loaded if they are separated by spaces. **gedit** also supports handling of remote files. For example, you can pass the location of a webpage to **gedit** , like "http://www.gnome.org", or load a file from a FTP server, like "ftp://ftp.gnome.org/robots.txt".

- **-**

  **gedit will read from stdin**

- **+LINE**

  For the first file, go to the line specified by LINE (do not insert a space between the "+" sign and the number). If LINE is missing, go to the last line.

- **COLUMN**

  For the first file, go to the column specified by COLUMN. If COLUMN is missing, go to the first column.

## BUGS

If you find a bug, please report it at the GNOME bug tracker. See: https://gedit-text-editor.org/reporting-bugs.html

## AUTHORS

Sébastien Wilmet\
 Paolo Borelli\
 Ignacio Casal Quinteiro\
 Jesse van den Kieboom\
 Paolo Maggi\
 and many others.