Edit text in the system default text editor (using Envrion vars if set)

editor.py

from __future__ import print_function
import os
import sys
from tempfile import mkstemp
from subprocess import call


def run_editor(txt):
    """ Edit the given text in the system default text editor. """
    
    # Create temp file
    fd, tmpfile = mkstemp()
    os.write(fd, txt or "")
    os.close(fd)

    # Set some basic default editors
    editor = "vi"
    if sys.platform == "win32":
        editor = "notepad"
    # Now check for Evironment variables
    if os.environ.has_key("VISUAL"):
        editor = os.getenv("VISUAL")
    elif os.environ.has_key("EDITOR"):
        editor = os.getenv("EDITOR")

    # Run the editor
    try:
        retcode = call("%s %s" % (editor, tmpfile), shell=True)
    except OSError, e:
        print("Execution failed:", e, file=sys.stderr)
        os.unlink(tmpfile)
    
    # Get contents and delete temp file
    contents = open(tmpfile).read()
    os.unlink(tmpfile)
    return contents

if __name__ == '__main__':
    out = run_editor('foo')
    if out:
        print(out)
    else:
        # a blank file returned by editor aborts.
        print("Aborted!")