Unix: Not able to edit crontab file

You try to edit the crontab file using “crontab -e” and you see something like this:

# sudo crontab -e
1874
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve forgotten the resolution. Here it is:

By default you are using the “ed” editor. You need an environment variable to change to vi or the editor of your choice. The following entry works for me. (using bash shell)

EDITOR=/usr/bin/vi

If that doesn’t work then do this:

EDITOR=vi; export EDITOR