Warning
This program is experimental and its interface is subject to change.
Name
nix edit - open the Nix expression of a Nix package in $EDITOR
Synopsis
nix edit [option...] installable
Note: this command's interface is based heavily around installables, which you may want to read about first (nix --help).
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:
-
--argname expr Pass the value expr as the argument name to Nix functions. -
--argstrname string Pass the string string as the argument name to Nix functions. -
--debuggerStart an interactive environment if evaluation fails. -
--eval-storestore-url The URL of the Nix store to use for evaluation, i.e. to store derivations (.drvfiles) and inputs referenced by them. -
--impureAllow access to mutable paths and repositories. -
--include/-Ipath Add path to the Nix search path. The Nix search path is initialized from the colon-separatedNIX_PATHenvironment variable, and is used to look up the location of Nix expressions using paths enclosed in angle brackets (i.e.,<nixpkgs>).For instance, passing
-I /home/eelco/Dev -I /etc/nixoswill cause Lix to look for paths relative to
/home/eelco/Devand/etc/nixos, in that order. This is equivalent to setting theNIX_PATHenvironment variable to/home/eelco/Dev:/etc/nixosIt is also possible to match paths against a prefix. For example, passing
-I nixpkgs=/home/eelco/Dev/nixpkgs-branch -I /etc/nixoswill cause Lix to search for
<nixpkgs/path>in/home/eelco/Dev/nixpkgs-branch/pathand/etc/nixos/nixpkgs/path.If a path in the Nix search path starts with
http://orhttps://, it is interpreted as the URL of a tarball that will be downloaded and unpacked to a temporary location. The tarball must consist of a single top-level directory. For example, passing-I nixpkgs=https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/master.tar.gztells Lix to download and use the current contents of the
masterbranch in thenixpkgsrepository.The URLs of the tarballs from the official
nixos.orgchannels (see the manual page fornix-channel) can be abbreviated aschannel:<channel-name>. For instance, the following two flags are equivalent:-I nixpkgs=channel:nixos-21.05 -I nixpkgs=https://nixos.org/channels/nixos-21.05/nixexprs.tar.xzYou can also fetch source trees using flake URLs and add them to the search path. For instance,
-I nixpkgs=flake:nixpkgsspecifies that the prefix
nixpkgsshall refer to the source tree downloaded from thenixpkgsentry in the flake registry. Similarly,-I nixpkgs=flake:github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-22.05makes
<nixpkgs>refer to a particular branch of theNixOS/nixpkgsrepository on GitHub. -
--override-flakeoriginal-ref resolved-ref Override the flake registries, redirecting original-ref to resolved-ref.
Common flake-related options:
-
--commit-lock-fileCommit changes to the flake's lock file. -
--inputs-fromflake-url Use the inputs of the specified flake as registry entries. -
--no-registriesDon't allow lookups in the flake registries. This option is deprecated; use--no-use-registries. -
--no-update-lock-fileDo not allow any updates to the flake's lock file. -
--no-write-lock-fileDo not write the flake's newly generated lock file. -
--output-lock-fileflake-lock-path Write the given lock file instead offlake.lockwithin the top-level flake. -
--override-inputinput-path flake-url Override a specific flake input (e.g.dwarffs/nixpkgs). This implies--no-write-lock-file. -
--reference-lock-fileflake-lock-path Read the given lock file instead offlake.lockwithin the top-level flake.
Logging-related options:
-
--debugSet the logging verbosity level to 'debug'. -
--log-formatformat Set the format of log output; one ofraw,internal-json,bar,bar-with-logs,multilineormultiline-with-logs. -
--print-build-logs/-LPrint full build logs on standard error. -
--quietDecrease the logging verbosity level. -
--verbose/-vIncrease the logging verbosity level.
Miscellaneous global options:
-
--helpShow usage information. -
--offlineDisable substituters and consider all previously downloaded files up-to-date. -
--optionname value Set the Lix configuration setting name to value (overridingnix.conf). -
--refreshConsider all previously downloaded files out-of-date. -
--repairDuring evaluation, rewrite missing or corrupted files in the Nix store. During building, rebuild missing or corrupted store paths. -
--versionShow version information.
Options that change the interpretation of installables:
-
--expr/-Eexpr Interpret installables as attribute paths relative to the Nix expression expr. -
--file/-ffile 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. Implies--impure.
Note
See
man nix.conffor overriding configuration settings with command line flags.