nano

Additional Notes

nano is a simple, easy-to-use terminal text editor. It is designed as a free replacement for the Pico editor (from the Pine email client) and is included by default in most Linux distributions. It provides on-screen shortcut hints, making it accessible for beginners who find vim or emacs intimidating.

Nano is ideal for quick configuration file edits, writing short notes, and general-purpose terminal editing. It supports syntax highlighting for many file types, search and replace, undo/redo, line numbers, and mouse support. While it lacks the power of vim or emacs for heavy development, its simplicity and zero-learning-curve startup make it the go-to editor for many system administration tasks.

Syntax

nano [options] [file...]

Parameters

• file: One or more files to open for editing.

Common Options

• -c, --constantshow: Show the cursor position constantly.
• -i, --autoindent: Auto-indent new lines to match the previous line.
• -l, --linenumbers: Show line numbers on the left side.
• -m, --mouse: Enable mouse support.
• -S, --softwrap: Soft-wrap long lines instead of truncating.
• -T n, --tabsize=n: Set tab width to n spaces.
• -u, --undo: Enable undo functionality.
• -v, --view: View-only mode (read-only).
• -w, --nowrap: Disable line wrapping.
• -x, --nohelp: Hide the help lines at the bottom.
• -Y name, --syntax=name: Specify the syntax highlighting to use.
• -E, --tabstospaces: Convert typed tabs to spaces.
• -F, --multibuffer: Read a file into a new buffer.
• -K, --rebinddelete: Fix keypad Delete key behavior.
• -b, --breaklonglines: Automatically break long lines.
• -d, --rebindkeypad: Fix numeric keypad key behavior.

Keyboard Shortcuts

File Operations

• Ctrl+O: Save (WriteOut) the file.
• Ctrl+S: Save file (modern nano).
• Ctrl+X: Exit nano. Prompts to save if unsaved changes exist.
• Ctrl+R: Insert a file into the current buffer.
• Ctrl+W: Search for text.

Navigation

• Ctrl+A: Go to beginning of line.
• Ctrl+E: Go to end of line.
• Ctrl+Y: Page up.
• Ctrl+V: Page down.
• Alt+\: Go to the first line.
• Alt+/: Go to the last line.
• Alt+G: Go to a specific line number.

Editing

• Ctrl+K: Cut the current line (or selected text).
• Ctrl+U: Paste (uncut) the cut text.
• Alt+6: Copy the current line (or selected text).
• Ctrl+J: Justify the current paragraph.
• Ctrl+D: Delete character under cursor.
• Ctrl+Shift+Minus: Undo (or Alt+U).
• Alt+E: Redo (or Alt+Shift+U).
• Ctrl+T: Run a spell checker (if available).

Selection

• Alt+A: Start/end selecting text.
• Ctrl+6: Same as Alt+A.
• Shift+Arrow: Select with arrow keys (modern nano).

Search and Replace

• Ctrl+W: Start a forward search.
• Alt+W: Repeat the last search.
• Ctrl+\: Search and replace.
• Alt+R: Search and replace (modern nano).

Info and Help

• Ctrl+G: Show help screen.
• Ctrl+C: Show cursor position.
• Ctrl+T: Invoke the spell checker.
• Alt+D: Show the word count.

Examples

nano notes.txt

Open notes.txt for editing. Creates the file if it does not exist.

nano -l -c notes.txt

Open with line numbers and cursor position display.

nano -w /etc/fstab

Edit /etc/fstab with line wrapping disabled (recommended for config files).

nano -m /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Edit with mouse support enabled.

nano -v /etc/passwd

Open /etc/passwd in read-only view mode.

nano -E -T 4 script.sh

Edit a shell script with tabs converted to spaces and tab width of 4.

Practical Notes

• The two-line shortcut bar at the bottom shows ^ for Ctrl and M- for Alt/Meta.
• nano -w disables line wrapping, which is essential when editing configuration files that should not be reformatted.
• Syntax highlighting configuration is stored in /etc/nano/ or ~/.nanorc.
• Use nano -l -c as a default by adding set linenumbers and set constantshow to ~/.nanorc.
• Nano saves backup files as filename~ when set backup is configured in ~/.nanorc.
• For development, consider vim or emacs; for quick edits, nano is the fastest option.