diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/new_editor_pager_opts.yml b/changelogs/fragments/new_editor_pager_opts.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5e52f5b9551
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/new_editor_pager_opts.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+minor_changes:
+  - allow user to set ansible specific env vars for selecting pager and editor, but still fall back to commonly used defaults.
diff --git a/lib/ansible/cli/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/cli/__init__.py
index 15ab5fe17ea..d59f450944d 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/cli/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/cli/__init__.py
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ except ImportError:
 class CLI(ABC):
     ''' code behind bin/ansible* programs '''
 
-    PAGER = 'less'
+    PAGER = C.config.get_config_value('PAGER')
 
     # -F (quit-if-one-screen) -R (allow raw ansi control chars)
     # -S (chop long lines) -X (disable termcap init and de-init)
@@ -494,11 +494,11 @@ class CLI(ABC):
         # this is a much simpler form of what is in pydoc.py
         if not sys.stdout.isatty():
             display.display(text, screen_only=True)
-        elif 'PAGER' in os.environ:
+        elif CLI.PAGER:
             if sys.platform == 'win32':
                 display.display(text, screen_only=True)
             else:
-                CLI.pager_pipe(text, os.environ['PAGER'])
+                CLI.pager_pipe(text)
         else:
             p = subprocess.Popen('less --version', shell=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
             p.communicate()
@@ -508,12 +508,12 @@ class CLI(ABC):
                 display.display(text, screen_only=True)
 
     @staticmethod
-    def pager_pipe(text, cmd):
+    def pager_pipe(text):
         ''' pipe text through a pager '''
-        if 'LESS' not in os.environ:
+        if 'less' in CLI.PAGER:
             os.environ['LESS'] = CLI.LESS_OPTS
         try:
-            cmd = subprocess.Popen(cmd, shell=True, stdin=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=sys.stdout)
+            cmd = subprocess.Popen(CLI.PAGER, shell=True, stdin=subprocess.PIPE, stdout=sys.stdout)
             cmd.communicate(input=to_bytes(text))
         except IOError:
             pass
diff --git a/lib/ansible/cli/config.py b/lib/ansible/cli/config.py
index 13c46f15641..165be732e8a 100755
--- a/lib/ansible/cli/config.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/cli/config.py
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ class ConfigCLI(CLI):
 
         # pylint: disable=unreachable
         try:
-            editor = shlex.split(os.environ.get('EDITOR', 'vi'))
+            editor = shlex.split(C.config.get_config_value('EDITOR'))
             editor.append(self.config_file)
             subprocess.call(editor)
         except Exception as e:
diff --git a/lib/ansible/config/base.yml b/lib/ansible/config/base.yml
index 92061402097..1901accf282 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/config/base.yml
+++ b/lib/ansible/config/base.yml
@@ -1003,6 +1003,19 @@ DEFAULT_STDOUT_CALLBACK:
   env: [{name: ANSIBLE_STDOUT_CALLBACK}]
   ini:
   - {key: stdout_callback, section: defaults}
+EDITOR:
+  name: editor application touse
+  default: vi
+  descrioption:
+    - for the cases in which Ansible needs to return a file within an editor, this chooses the application to use
+  ini:
+    - section: defaults
+      key: editor
+      version_added: '2.15'
+  env:
+    - name: ANSIBLE_EDITOR
+      version_added: '2.15'
+    - name: EDITOR
 ENABLE_TASK_DEBUGGER:
   name: Whether to enable the task debugger
   default: False
@@ -1739,6 +1752,19 @@ OLD_PLUGIN_CACHE_CLEARING:
   type: boolean
   default: False
   version_added: "2.8"
+PAGER:
+  name: pager application to use
+  default: less
+  descrioption:
+    - for the cases in which Ansible needs to return output in pageable fasion, this chooses the application to use
+  ini:
+    - section: defaults
+      key: pager
+      version_added: '2.15'
+  env:
+    - name: ANSIBLE_PAGER
+      version_added: '2.15'
+    - name: PAGER
 PARAMIKO_HOST_KEY_AUTO_ADD:
   # TODO: move to plugin
   default: False
diff --git a/lib/ansible/parsing/vault/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/parsing/vault/__init__.py
index 8ac22d4ca9f..5a06c63625a 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/parsing/vault/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/parsing/vault/__init__.py
@@ -1123,7 +1123,7 @@ class VaultEditor:
             os.chown(dest, prev.st_uid, prev.st_gid)
 
     def _editor_shell_command(self, filename):
-        env_editor = os.environ.get('EDITOR', 'vi')
+        env_editor = C.config.get_config_value('EDITOR')
         editor = shlex.split(env_editor)
         editor.append(filename)