diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/__init__.py b/lib/spack/spack/__init__.py
index 88375d02cd..6046663ea8 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/__init__.py
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@
 from spack.util.executable import Executable, which
 
 # User's editor from the environment
-editor = Executable(os.environ.get("EDITOR", ""))
+editor = Executable(os.environ.get("EDITOR", "vi"))
 
 # Curl tool for fetching files.
 curl = which("curl", required=True)