Name

nix edit - open the Nix expression of a Nix package in $EDITOR

Synopsis

nix edit [option…] installable

Examples

•

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

Description

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>.

Options

Common evaluation options:

• --arg name expr
  Pass the value expr as the argument name to Nix functions.
• --argstr name string
  Pass the string string as the argument name to Nix functions.
• --eval-store store-url
  The Nix store to use for evaluations.
• --impure
  Allow access to mutable paths and repositories.
• --include / -I path
  Add path to the list of locations used to look up <...> file names.
• --override-flake original-ref resolved-ref
  Override the flake registries, redirecting original-ref to resolved-ref.

Common flake-related options:

• --commit-lock-file
  Commit changes to the flake’s lock file.
• --inputs-from flake-url
  Use the inputs of the specified flake as registry entries.
• --no-registries
  Don’t allow lookups in the flake registries. This option is deprecated; use --no-use-registries.
• --no-update-lock-file
  Do not allow any updates to the flake’s lock file.
• --no-write-lock-file
  Do not write the flake’s newly generated lock file.
• --override-input input-path flake-url
  Override a specific flake input (e.g. dwarffs/nixpkgs). This implies --no-write-lock-file.
• --recreate-lock-file
  Recreate the flake’s lock file from scratch.
• --update-input input-path
  Update a specific flake input (ignoring its previous entry in the lock file).

Options that change the interpretation of installables:

• --derivation
  Operate on the store derivation rather than its outputs.
• --expr expr
  Interpret installables as attribute paths relative to the Nix expression expr.
• --file / -f file
  Interpret installables as attribute paths relative to the Nix expression stored in file. If file is the character -, then a Nix expression will be read from standard input.