If you don't want to add an editor just to make a few small changes (e.g., change the Tomcat configuration), you can just use:
docker cp <container>:/path/to/file.ext .
which copies it to your local machine (to your current directory). Then edit the file locally using your favorite editor, and then do a
docker cp file.ext <container>:/path/to/file.ext
to replace the old file.