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nix edit

open the Nix expression of a Nix package in $EDITOR

Warning
This program is experimental and its interface is subject to change.

nix edit [option…] installable

  • Open the Nix expression of the GNU Hello package:

# nix edit nixpkgs#hello
  • Get the filename and line number used by nix edit:

# nix eval --raw nixpkgs#hello.meta.position
/nix/store/fvafw0gvwayzdan642wrv84pzm5bgpmy-source/pkgs/applications/misc/hello/default.nix:15

This command opens the Nix expression of a derivation in an editor. The filename and line number of the derivation are taken from its meta.position attribute. Nixpkgs’ stdenv.mkDerivation sets this attribute to the location of the definition of the meta.description, version or name derivation attributes.

The editor to invoke is specified by the EDITOR environment variable. It defaults to cat. If the editor is emacs, nano, vim or kak, it is passed the line number of the derivation using the argument +<lineno>.

Pass the value expr as the argument name to Nix functions.
Pass the contents of file path as the argument name to Nix functions.
Pass the contents of stdin as the argument name to Nix functions.
Pass the string string as the argument name to Nix functions.
Start an interactive environment if evaluation fails.
The URL of the Nix store to use for evaluation, i.e. to store derivations (.drv files) and inputs referenced by them.
Allow access to mutable paths and repositories.
Add path to search path entries used to resolve lookup paths
This option may be given multiple times.
Paths added through -I take precedence over the nix-path configuration setting and the NIX_PATH environment variable.
Override the flake registries, redirecting original-ref to resolved-ref.
Commit changes to the flake’s lock file.
Use the inputs of the specified flake as registry entries.
Don’t allow lookups in the flake registries.
DEPRECATED
Use --no-use-registries instead.
Do not allow any updates to the flake’s lock file.
Do not write the flake’s newly generated lock file.
Write the given lock file instead of flake.lock within the top-level flake.
Override a specific flake input (e.g. dwarffs/nixpkgs). The input path must not be empty. This implies --no-write-lock-file.
Recreate the flake’s lock file from scratch.
DEPRECATED
Use nix flake update instead.
Read the given lock file instead of flake.lock within the top-level flake.
Update a specific flake input (ignoring its previous entry in the lock file).
DEPRECATED
Use nix flake update instead.
Set the logging verbosity level to ‘debug’.
Set the format of log output; one of raw, internal-json, bar or bar-with-logs.
Print full build logs on standard error.
Decrease the logging verbosity level.
Increase the logging verbosity level.

Show usage information.
Disable substituters and consider all previously downloaded files up-to-date.
Set the Nix configuration setting name to value (overriding nix.conf).
Consider all previously downloaded files out-of-date.
During evaluation, rewrite missing or corrupted files in the Nix store. During building, rebuild missing or corrupted store paths.
Show version information.

Interpret installables as attribute paths relative to the Nix expression expr.
Interpret installables as attribute paths relative to the Nix expression stored in file. If file is the character -, then a Nix expression is read from standard input. Implies --impure.

Note

See man nix.conf for overriding configuration settings with command line flags.