NANO
Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: version 2.4.2
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NAME
nano - Nano's ANOther editor, an enhanced free Pico clone
SYNOPSIS
nano
[options] [[+line,column] file]...
DESCRIPTION
nano is a small, free and friendly editor which aims to replace
Pico, the default editor included in the non-free Pine package. On
top of copying Pico's look and feel, nano also implements some
missing (or disabled by default) features in Pico, such as "search and
replace" and "go to line and column number".
EDITING
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.
The two lines at the bottom of the screen show the most important commands;
the built-in help (^G) lists all the available ones.
The default key bindings can be changed via the .nanorc file -- see
nanorc(5).
OPTIONS
- +line,column
-
Places the cursor on line number line and at column number column
(at least one of which must be specified) on startup, instead of the
default line 1, column 1.
- -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.
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
-
Enable multiple file buffers (if support for them has been compiled in).
- -G, --locking
-
Enable vim-style file locking when editing files.
- -H, --historylog
-
Log search and replace strings to ~/.nano/search_history, so they can be
retrieved in later sessions.
- -I, --ignorercfiles
-
Don't look at the system's nanorc nor at ~/.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 add newlines to the ends of files.
- -N, --noconvert
-
Disable automatic conversion of files from DOS/Mac format.
- -O, --morespace
-
Use the blank line below the titlebar as extra editing space.
- -P, --poslog
-
Log and later read back the location of the cursor and place it there
again.
- -Q "characters", --quotestr="characters"
-
Set the quoting string for justifying. The default is
"^([ \t]*[#:>\|}])+" if extended regular expression support is
available, or "> " otherwise. Note that \t stands for a
Tab.
- -R, --restricted
-
Restricted mode: don't read or write to any file not specified on the
command line; don't read any nanorc files nor history files;
don't allow suspending nor 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 use backup files.
This restricted mode is also accessible by invoking nano
with any name beginning with 'r' (e.g. "rnano").
- -S, --smooth
-
Enable 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 statusbar blanking. Statusbar messages will disappear after 1
keystroke instead of 25. Note that -c overrides this.
- -V, --version
-
Show the current version number and exit.
- -W, --wordbounds
-
Detect word boundaries more accurately by treating punctuation
characters as part of a word.
- -Y name, --syntax=name
-
Specify the name of the syntax highlighting to use from among the ones
defined in the nanorc files.
- -c, --const
-
Constantly show the cursor position. Note that this overrides -U.
- -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.
- -h, --help
-
Show a summary of the available command-line options and exit.
- -i, --autoindent
-
Indent new lines to the previous line's indentation. Useful when
editing source code.
- -k, --cut
-
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, --nofollow
-
If the file being edited is a symbolic link, replace the link with
a new file instead of following it. Good for editing files in
/tmp, perhaps?
- -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
-
Do not report errors in the nanorc files nor ask them to be
acknowledged by pressing Enter at startup.
- -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
-- the last one given takes effect.
- -s program, --speller=program
-
Use this alternative spell checker command.
- -t, --tempfile
-
Always save a changed buffer without prompting. Same as Pico's -t
option.
- -v, --view
-
View-file (read-only) mode.
- -w, --nowrap
-
Disable the hard-wrapping of long lines. This option conflicts with
-r
-- the last one given takes effect.
- -x, --nohelp
-
Don't show the two help lines at the bottom of the screen.
- -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$') or pass it
separately (e.g. 'nano -wS -$').
- -a, -b, -e, -f, -g, -j
-
Ignored, for compatibility with Pico.
INITIALIZATION FILE
nano will read initialization files in the following order:
the system's nanorc (if it exists), and then the user's
~/.nanorc (if it exists). Please see
nanorc(5)
for more information on the possible contents of those files.
NOTES
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.
BUGS
Please send any comments or bug reports to nano@nano-editor.org.
The nano mailing list is available from nano-devel@gnu.org.
To subscribe, email to nano-devel-request@gnu.org with a subject
of "subscribe".
HOMEPAGE
http://www.nano-editor.org/
SEE ALSO
- nanorc(5)
-
/usr/share/doc/nano/ (or equivalent on your system)
AUTHOR
Chris Allegretta <chrisa@asty.org>, et al (see the files AUTHORS and
THANKS for details). This manual page was originally written by
Jordi Mallach <jordi@gnu.org>, for the Debian system (but may be used by
others).
Index
- NAME
-
- SYNOPSIS
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- EDITING
-
- OPTIONS
-
- INITIALIZATION FILE
-
- NOTES
-
- BUGS
-
- HOMEPAGE
-
- SEE ALSO
-
- AUTHOR
-