nano - Nano's ANOther editor, an enhanced free Pico clone
nano [options]
[[+line[,column]] file]...
nano is a small and friendly editor. It copies the look and
feel of Pico, but is free software, and implements several features that
Pico lacks, such as: opening multiple files, scrolling per line, undo/redo,
syntax coloring, line numbering, and soft-wrapping overlong lines.
When giving a filename on the command line, the cursor can be put
on a specific line by adding the line number with a plus sign (+)
before the filename, and even in a specific column by adding it with a
comma.
As a special case: if instead of a filename a dash (-) is
given, nano will read data from standard input.
Entering text and moving around in a file is straightforward:
typing the letters and using the normal cursor movement keys. Commands are
entered by using the Control (^) and the Alt or Meta (M-) keys. Typing
^K deletes the current line and puts it in the cutbuffer. Consecutive
^Ks will put all deleted lines together in the cutbuffer. Any cursor
movement or executing any other command will cause the next ^K to
overwrite the cutbuffer. A ^U will paste the current contents of the
cutbuffer at the current cursor position.
When a more precise piece of text needs to be cut or copied, one
can mark its start with ^6, move the cursor to its end (the marked
text will be highlighted), and then use ^K to cut it, or M-6
to copy it to the cutbuffer. One can also save the marked text to a file
with ^O, or spell check it with ^T.
On some terminals, text can be selected also by holding down Shift
while using the arrow keys. Holding down the Ctrl or Alt key too will
increase the stride. Any cursor movement without Shift being held will
cancel such a selection.
The two lines at the bottom of the screen show some important
commands; the built-in help (^G) lists all the available ones. The
default key bindings can be changed via a nanorc file -- see
nanorc(5).
- -A,
--smarthome
- Make the Home key smarter. When Home is pressed anywhere but at the very
beginning of non-whitespace characters on a line, the cursor will jump to
that beginning (either forwards or backwards). If the cursor is already at
that position, it will jump to the true beginning of the line.
- -B, --backup
- When saving a file, back up the previous version of it, using the current
filename suffixed with a tilde (~).
- -C directory,
--backupdir=directory
- Make and keep not just one backup file, but make and keep a uniquely
numbered one every time a file is saved -- when backups are enabled
(-B). The uniquely numbered files are stored in the specified
directory.
- -D,
--boldtext
- Use bold text instead of reverse video text.
- -E,
--tabstospaces
- Convert typed tabs to spaces.
- -F,
--multibuffer
- Read a file into a new buffer by default.
- -G, --locking
- Use vim-style file locking when editing files.
- -H,
--historylog
- Save the last hundred search strings and replacement strings and executed
commands, so they can be easily reused in later sessions.
- -I,
--ignorercfiles
- Don't look at the system's nanorc nor at the user's
nanorc.
- -K,
--rebindkeypad
- Interpret the numeric keypad keys so that they all work properly. You
should only need to use this option if they don't, as mouse support won't
work properly with this option enabled.
- -L,
--nonewlines
- Don't automatically add a newline when a file does not end with one.
- -M,
--trimblanks
- Snip trailing whitespace from the wrapped line when automatic
hard-wrapping occurs or when text is justified.
- -N,
--noconvert
- Disable automatic conversion of files from DOS/Mac format.
- -O,
--morespace
- Use the blank line below the title bar as extra editing space.
- -P,
--positionlog
- For the 200 most recent files, log the last position of the cursor, and
place it at that position again upon reopening such a file.
- -Q
"regex",
--quotestr="regex"
- Set the regular expression for matching the quoting part of a line. This
is used when justifying. The default value is
"^([ \t]*([#:>|}]|//))+". Note that \t
stands for an actual Tab.
- -R,
--restricted
- Restricted mode: don't read or write to any file not specified on the
command line. This means: don't read or write history files; don't allow
suspending; don't allow spell checking; don't allow a file to be appended
to, prepended to, or saved under a different name if it already has one;
and don't make backup files. Restricted mode can also be activated by
invoking nano with any name beginning with 'r' (e.g.
"rnano").
- -S, --smooth
- Use smooth scrolling: text will scroll line-by-line, instead of the usual
chunk-by-chunk behavior.
- -T number,
--tabsize=number
- Set the size (width) of a tab to number columns. The value of
number must be greater than 0. The default value is 8.
- -U,
--quickblank
- Do quick status-bar blanking: status-bar messages will disappear after 1
keystroke instead of 25. Note that option -c
(--constantshow) overrides this.
- -V, --version
- Show the current version number and exit.
- -W,
--wordbounds
- Detect word boundaries differently by treating punctuation characters as
part of a word.
- -X
"characters",
--wordchars="characters"
- Specify which other characters (besides the normal alphanumeric ones)
should be considered as part of a word. This overrides option -W
(--wordbounds).
- -Y name,
--syntax=name
- Specify the name of the syntax highlighting to use from among the ones
defined in the nanorc files.
- -Z, --zap
- Let an unmodified Backspace or Delete erase the marked region (instead of
a single character, and without affecting the cutbuffer).
- -a,
--atblanks
- When doing soft line wrapping, wrap lines at whitespace instead of always
at the edge of the screen.
- -c,
--constantshow
- Constantly show the cursor position on the status bar. Note that this
overrides option -U (--quickblank).
- -d,
--rebinddelete
- Interpret the Delete key differently so that both Backspace and Delete
work properly. You should only need to use this option if Backspace acts
like Delete on your system.
- -g,
--showcursor
- Make the cursor visible in the file browser (putting it on the highlighted
item) and in the help viewer. Useful for braille users and people with
poor vision.
- -h, --help
- Show a summary of the available command-line options and exit.
- -i,
--autoindent
- Automatically indent a newly created line to the same number of tabs
and/or spaces as the previous line (or as the next line if the previous
line is the beginning of a paragraph).
- -k,
--cutfromcursor
- Make the 'Cut Text' command (normally ^K) cut from the current
cursor position to the end of the line, instead of cutting the entire
line.
- -l,
--linenumbers
- Display line numbers to the left of the text area.
- -m, --mouse
- Enable mouse support, if available for your system. When enabled, mouse
clicks can be used to place the cursor, set the mark (with a double
click), and execute shortcuts. The mouse will work in the X Window System,
and on the console when gpm is running. Text can still be selected through
dragging by holding down the Shift key.
- -n, --noread
- Treat any name given on the command line as a new file. This allows
nano to write to named pipes: it will start with a blank buffer,
and will write to the pipe when the user saves the "file". This
way nano can be used as an editor in combination with for instance
gpg without having to write sensitive data to disk first.
- -o directory,
--operatingdir=directory
- Set the operating directory. This makes nano set up something
similar to a chroot.
- -p,
--preserve
- Preserve the XON and XOFF sequences (^Q and ^S) so they will be caught by
the terminal.
- -q, --quiet
- Obsolete option. Recognized but ignored.
- -r number,
--fill=number
- Hard-wrap lines at column number. If this value is 0 or less,
wrapping will occur at the width of the screen less number columns,
allowing the wrap point to vary along with the width of the screen if the
screen is resized. The default value is -8. This option conflicts with
-w (--nowrap) -- the last one given takes effect.
- -s program,
--speller=program
- Use this alternative spell checker command.
- -t,
--tempfile
- Save a changed buffer without prompting (when exiting with
^X).
- -u, --unix
- Save a file by default in Unix format. This overrides nano's default
behavior of saving a file in the format that it had. (This option has no
effect when you also use --noconvert.)
- -v, --view
- Just view the file and disallow editing: read-only mode. This mode allows
the user to open also other files for viewing, unless --restricted
is given too.
- -w, --nowrap
- Disable the hard-wrapping of long lines. This option conflicts with
-r (--fill) -- the last one given takes effect.
- -x, --nohelp
- Don't show the two help lines at the bottom of the screen.
- -y,
--afterends
- Make Ctrl+Right stop at word ends instead of beginnings.
- -z, --suspend
- Enable the suspend ability.
- -$, --softwrap
- Enable 'soft wrapping'. This will make nano attempt to display the
entire contents of any line, even if it is longer than the screen width,
by continuing it over multiple screen lines. Since '$' normally refers to
a variable in the Unix shell, you should specify this option last when
using other options (e.g. 'nano -wS$') or pass it separately (e.g. 'nano
-wS -$').
- -b, -e, -f,
-j
- Ignored, for compatibility with Pico.
Several of the above options can be switched on and off also while
nano is running. For example, M-L toggles the hard-wrapping of
long lines, M-$ toggles soft-wrapping, M-# toggles line
numbers, M-M toggles the mouse, M-I auto-indentation, and
M-X the help lines. See at the end of the ^G help text for a
complete list.
nano will read two configuration files: first the system's
nanorc (if it exists), and then the user's nanorc (if it
exists), either ~/.nanorc or
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nano/nanorc or ~/.config/nano/nanorc,
whichever is encountered first. See nanorc(5) for more information on
the possible contents of those files.
If no alternative spell checker command is specified on the
command line nor in one of the nanorc files, nano will check
the SPELL environment variable for one.
In some cases nano will try to dump the buffer into an
emergency file. This will happen mainly if nano receives a SIGHUP or
SIGTERM or runs out of memory. It will write the buffer into a file named
nano.save if the buffer didn't have a name already, or will add a
".save" suffix to the current filename. If an emergency file with
that name already exists in the current directory, it will add
".save" plus a number (e.g. ".save.1") to the current
filename in order to make it unique. In multibuffer mode, nano will
write all the open buffers to their respective emergency files.
Justifications (^J) are not yet covered by the general undo
system. So after a justification that is not immediately undone, earlier
edits cannot be undone any more. The workaround is, of course, to exit
without saving.
The recording and playback of keyboard macros works correctly only
on a terminal emulator, not on a Linux console (VT), because the latter does
not by default distinguish modified from unmodified arrow keys.
Please report any other bugs that you encounter via:
https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=nano.
When nano crashes, it will save any modified buffers to emergency
.save files. If you are able to reproduce the crash and you want to get a
backtrace, define the environment variable NANO_NOCATCH.
nanorc(5)
/usr/share/doc/nano/ (or equivalent on your system)
Chris Allegretta and others (see the files AUTHORS and
THANKS for details). This manual page was originally written by Jordi
Mallach for the Debian system (but may be used by others).