{
    "mode": "man",
    "parameter": "NANORC",
    "section": "5",
    "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/NANORC/5/json",
    "generated": "2026-07-05T15:56:04Z",
    "sections": {
        "NAME": {
            "content": "nanorc - GNU nano's configuration file\n\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "DESCRIPTION": {
            "content": "The  nanorc files contain the default settings for nano, a small and friendly editor.  During\nstartup, if --rcfile is not given, nano will read two files: first the system-wide  settings,\nfrom  /etc/nanorc  (the exact path might be different on your system), and then the user-spe‐\ncific settings, either from ~/.nanorc or from $XDGCONFIGHOME/nano/nanorc  or  from  ~/.con‐\nfig/nano/nanorc,  whichever  is encountered first.  If --rcfile is given, nano will read just\nthe specified settings file.\n\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "NOTICE": {
            "content": "Since version 4.0, nano by default:\n\n• does not automatically hard-wrap lines that become overlong,\n• includes the line below the title bar in the editing area,\n• does linewise (smooth) scrolling.\n\nTo get the old, Pico behavior back, you can use set breaklonglines, set  emptyline,  and  set\njumpyscrolling.\n\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "OPTIONS": {
            "content": "The  configuration file accepts a series of set and unset commands, which can be used to con‐\nfigure nano on startup without using command-line options.  Additionally, there are some com‐\nmands  to  define  syntax highlighting and to rebind keys -- see the two separate sections on\nthose.  nano reads one command per line.  All commands and keywords should be written in low‐\nercase.\n\nOptions  in nanorc files take precedence over nano's defaults, and command-line options over‐\nride nanorc settings.  Also, options that do not take an argument are unset by  default.   So\nusing  the  unset  command  is only needed when wanting to override a setting of the system's\nnanorc file in your own nanorc.  Options that take an argument cannot be unset.\n\nQuotes inside the characters  parameters below should not be escaped.  The last double  quote\non the line will be seen as the closing quote.\n\nThe supported commands and arguments are:\n",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "set afterends",
                    "content": "Make Ctrl+Right and Ctrl+Delete stop at word ends instead of beginnings.\n\nset allowinsecurebackup\nWhen  backing  up  files,  allow  the  backup  to succeed even if its permissions can't be\n(re)set due to special OS considerations.  You should NOT enable this  option  unless  you\nare sure you need it.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set atblanks",
                    "content": "When  soft line wrapping is enabled, make it wrap lines at blank characters (tabs and spa‐\nces) instead of always at the edge of the screen.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set autoindent",
                    "content": "Automatically indent a newly created line to the same number of tabs and/or spaces as  the\nprevious line (or as the next line if the previous line is the beginning of a paragraph).\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set backup",
                    "content": "When saving a file, create a backup file by adding a tilde (~) to the file's name.\n\nset backupdir directory\nMake  and  keep  not just one backup file, but make and keep a uniquely numbered one every\ntime a file is saved -- when backups are enabled with set backup or --backup or  -B.   The\nuniquely numbered files are stored in the specified directory.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set boldtext",
                    "content": "Use  bold  instead  of  reverse  video for the title bar, status bar, key combos, function\ntags, line numbers, and selected text.  This can be overridden by setting the options  ti‐‐\ntlecolor, statuscolor, keycolor, functioncolor, numbercolor, and selectedcolor.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set bookstyle",
                    "content": "When  justifying,  treat  any line that starts with whitespace as the beginning of a para‐\ngraph (unless auto-indenting is on).\n\nset brackets \"characters\"\nSet the characters treated as closing brackets when justifying paragraphs.  This  may  not\ninclude  blank  characters.  Only closing punctuation (see set punct), optionally followed\nby the specified closing brackets, can end sentences.  The default value is \"\"')>]}\".\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set breaklonglines",
                    "content": "Automatically hard-wrap the current line when it becomes overlong.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set casesensitive",
                    "content": "Do case-sensitive searches by default.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set constantshow",
                    "content": "Constantly display the cursor position in the  status  bar.   This  overrides  the  option\nquickblank.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set cutfromcursor",
                    "content": "Use cut-from-cursor-to-end-of-line by default, instead of cutting the whole line.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set emptyline",
                    "content": "Do not use the line below the title bar, leaving it entirely blank.\n\nset errorcolor [bold,][italic,]fgcolor,bgcolor\nUse this color combination for the status bar when an error message is displayed.  The de‐\nfault value is bold,white,red.  See set titlecolor for valid color names.\n\nset fill number\nSet the target width for justifying and automatic hard-wrapping at this number of columns.\nIf  the  value  is  0 or less, wrapping will occur at the width of the screen minus number\ncolumns, allowing the wrap point to vary along with the width of the screen if the  screen\nis resized.  The default value is -8.\n\nset functioncolor [bold,][italic,]fgcolor,bgcolor\nUse  this color combination for the concise function descriptions in the two help lines at\nthe bottom of the screen.  See set titlecolor for more details.\n\nset guidestripe number\nDraw a vertical stripe at the given column, to help judge the width  of  the  text.   (The\ncolor of the stripe can be changed with set stripecolor.)\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set historylog",
                    "content": "Save  the  last  hundred  search strings and replacement strings and executed commands, so\nthey can be easily reused in later sessions.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set indicator",
                    "content": "Display a \"scrollbar\" on the righthand side of the edit window.  It shows the position  of\nthe viewport in the buffer and how much of the buffer is covered by the viewport.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set jumpyscrolling",
                    "content": "Scroll the buffer contents per half-screen instead of per line.\n\nset keycolor [bold,][italic,]fgcolor,bgcolor\nUse this color combination for the shortcut key combos in the two help lines at the bottom\nof the screen.  See set titlecolor for more details.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set linenumbers",
                    "content": "Display line numbers to the left of the text area.  (Any line with an anchor  additionally\ngets a mark in the margin.)\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set locking",
                    "content": "Enable vim-style lock-files for when editing files.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set magic",
                    "content": "When  neither the file's name nor its first line give a clue, try using libmagic to deter‐\nmine the applicable syntax.  (Calling libmagic can be relatively time  consuming.   It  is\ntherefore not done by default.)\n\nset matchbrackets \"characters\"\nSpecify  the opening and closing brackets that can be found by bracket searches.  This may\nnot include blank characters.  The opening set must come before the closing set,  and  the\ntwo sets must be in the same order.  The default value is \"(<[{)>]}\".\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set minibar",
                    "content": "Suppress the title bar and instead show information about the current buffer at the bottom\nof the screen, in the space for the status bar.  In this \"minibar\" the filename  is  shown\non  the  left,  followed by an asterisk if the buffer has been modified.  On the right are\ndisplayed the current line and column number, the code of the character under  the  cursor\n(in Unicode format: U+xxxx), the same flags as are shown by set stateflags, and a percent‐\nage that expresses how far the cursor is into the file (linewise).  When a file is  loaded\nor  saved,  and  also when switching between buffers, the number of lines in the buffer is\ndisplayed after the filename.  This number is cleared upon the next keystroke, or replaced\nwith  an  [i/n]  counter when multiple buffers are open.  The line plus column numbers and\nthe character code are displayed only when set constantshow is used, and can be toggled on\nand off with M-C.  The state flags are displayed only when set stateflags is used.\n\nset minicolor [bold,][italic,]fgcolor,bgcolor\nUse  this color combination for the minibar.  (When this option is not specified, the col‐\nors of the title bar are used.)  See set titlecolor for more details.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set mouse",
                    "content": "Enable mouse support, if available for your system.  When enabled,  mouse  clicks  can  be\nused  to place the cursor, set the mark (with a double click), and execute shortcuts.  The\nmouse will work in the X Window System, and on the console when gpm is running.  Text  can\nstill be selected through dragging by holding down the Shift key.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set multibuffer",
                    "content": "When reading in a file with ^R, insert it into a new buffer by default.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set noconvert",
                    "content": "Don't convert files from DOS/Mac format.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set nohelp",
                    "content": "Don't display the two help lines at the bottom of the screen.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set nonewlines",
                    "content": "Don't  automatically add a newline when a text does not end with one.  (This can cause you\nto save non-POSIX text files.)\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set nowrap",
                    "content": "Deprecated option since it has become the default setting.  When needed, use unset  break‐‐\nlonglines instead.\n\nset numbercolor [bold,][italic,]fgcolor,bgcolor\nUse this color combination for line numbers.  See set titlecolor for more details.\n\nset operatingdir directory\nnano  will  only  read and write files inside directory and its subdirectories.  Also, the\ncurrent directory is changed to here, so files are inserted from this directory.   By  de‐\nfault, the operating directory feature is turned off.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set positionlog",
                    "content": "Save the cursor position of files between editing sessions.  The cursor position is remem‐\nbered for the 200 most-recently edited files.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set preserve",
                    "content": "Preserve the XON and XOFF keys (^Q and ^S).\n\nset promptcolor [bold,][italic,]fgcolor,bgcolor\nUse this color combination for the prompt bar.  (When this option is  not  specified,  the\ncolors of the title bar are used.)  See set titlecolor for more details.\n\nset punct \"characters\"\nSet  the  characters  treated as closing punctuation when justifying paragraphs.  This may\nnot include blank characters.  Only the specfified closing  punctuation,  optionally  fol‐\nlowed by closing brackets (see brackets), can end sentences.  The default value is \"!.?\".\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set quickblank",
                    "content": "Make  status-bar  messages disappear after 1 keystroke instead of after 20.  Note that op‐\ntion constantshow overrides this.  When option minibar or zero is  in  effect,  quickblank\nmakes a message disappear after 0.8 seconds instead of after the default 1.5 seconds.\n\nset quotestr \"regex\"\nSet  the regular expression for matching the quoting part of a line.  The default value is\n\"^([ \\t]*([!#%:;>|}]|//))+\".  (Note that \\t stands for an  actual  Tab  character.)   This\nmakes  it  possible to rejustify blocks of quoted text when composing email, and to rewrap\nblocks of line comments when writing source code.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set rawsequences",
                    "content": "Interpret escape sequences directly, instead of asking ncurses to translate them.  (If you\nneed  this  option  to get some keys to work properly, it means that the terminfo terminal\ndescription that is used does not fully match the actual behavior of your terminal.   This\ncan  happen  when  you  ssh  into a BSD machine, for example.)  Using this option disables\nnano's mouse support.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set rebinddelete",
                    "content": "Interpret the Delete and Backspace keys differently so that both Backspace and Delete work\nproperly.   You should only use this option when on your system either Backspace acts like\nDelete or Delete acts like Backspace.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set regexp",
                    "content": "Do regular-expression searches by default.  Regular expressions in nano  are  of  the  ex‐\ntended type (ERE).\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set saveonexit",
                    "content": "Save a changed buffer automatically on exit (^X); don't prompt.  (The old form of this op‐\ntion, set tempfile, is deprecated.)\n\nset scrollercolor fgcolor,bgcolor\nUse this color combination for the indicator alias \"scrollbar\".   (On  terminal  emulators\nthat link to a libvte older than version 0.55, using a background color here does not work\ncorrectly.)  See set titlecolor for more details.\n\nset selectedcolor [bold,][italic,]fgcolor,bgcolor\nUse this color combination for selected text.  See set titlecolor for more details.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set showcursor",
                    "content": "Put the cursor on the highlighted item in the file browser, and show  the  cursor  in  the\nhelp viewer, to aid braille users and people with poor vision.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set smarthome",
                    "content": "Make  the  Home  key  smarter.  When Home is pressed anywhere but at the very beginning of\nnon-whitespace characters on a line, the cursor will jump to that beginning  (either  for‐\nwards  or backwards).  If the cursor is already at that position, it will jump to the true\nbeginning of the line.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set softwrap",
                    "content": "Display lines that exceed the screen's width over multiple screen lines.   (You  can  make\nthis  soft-wrapping  occur  at whitespace instead of rudely at the screen's edge, by using\nalso set atblanks.)\n\nset speller \"program [argument ...]\"\nUse the given program to do spell checking and correcting, instead of using  the  built-in\ncorrector that calls hunspell(1) or spell(1).\n\nset spotlightcolor [bold,][italic,]fgcolor,bgcolor\nUse  this  color  combination  for  highlighting  a  search  match.   The default value is\nblack,lightyellow.  See set titlecolor for valid color names.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set stateflags",
                    "content": "Use the top-right corner of the screen for showing some state flags: I  when  auto-indent‐\ning, M when the mark is on, L when hard-wrapping (breaking long lines), R when recording a\nmacro, and S when soft-wrapping.  When the buffer is modified, a star (*) is  shown  after\nthe filename in the center of the title bar.\n\nset statuscolor [bold,][italic,]fgcolor,bgcolor\nUse this color combination for the status bar.  See set titlecolor for more details.\n\nset stripecolor [bold,][italic,]fgcolor,bgcolor\nUse  this  color combination for the vertical guiding stripe.  See set titlecolor for more\ndetails.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set suspendable",
                    "content": "Obsolete option; ignored.  Suspension is enabled by default, reachable via ^T^Z.  (If  you\nwant a plain ^Z to suspend nano, add bind ^Z suspend main to your nanorc.)\n\nset tabsize number\nUse  a  tab  size of number columns.  The value of number must be greater than 0.  The de‐\nfault value is 8.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set tabstospaces",
                    "content": "Convert each typed tab to spaces -- to the number of spaces that a tab  at  that  position\nwould take up.\n\nset titlecolor [bold,][italic,]fgcolor,bgcolor\nUse  this  color  combination for the title bar.  Valid names for the foreground and back‐\nground colors are: red, green, blue, magenta, yellow, cyan, white,  and  black.   Each  of\nthese  eight  names  may be prefixed with the word light to get a brighter version of that\ncolor.  The word grey or gray may be used as a synonym for lightblack.  On terminal emula‐\ntors  that  can  do  at  least 256 colors, other valid (but unprefixable) color names are:\npink, purple, mauve, lagoon, mint, lime, peach, orange, latte, rosy, beet, plum, sea, sky,\nslate,  teal,  sage, brown, ocher, sand, tawny, brick, crimson, and normal -- where normal\nmeans the default foreground or background color.  On such emulators, the color  may  also\nbe  specified  as a three-digit hexadecimal number prefixed with #, with the digits repre‐\nsenting the amounts of red, green, and blue, respectively.  This tells nano to select from\nthe available palette the color that approximates the given values.\n\nEither  \"fgcolor\"  or  \",bgcolor\"  may  be  left out, and the pair may be preceded by bold\nand/or italic (separated by commas) to get a bold and/or slanting typeface, if your termi‐\nnal can do those.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set trimblanks",
                    "content": "Remove  trailing whitespace from wrapped lines when automatic hard-wrapping occurs or when\ntext is justified.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set unix",
                    "content": "Save a file by default in Unix format.  This overrides nano's default behavior of saving a\nfile  in  the format that it had.  (This option has no effect when you also use set nocon‐‐\nvert.)\n\nset whitespace \"characters\"\nSet the two characters used to indicate the presence of tabs and  spaces.   They  must  be\nsingle-column  characters.  The default pair for a UTF-8 locale is \"»»⋅⋅\", and for other lo‐\ncales \">.\".\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set wordbounds",
                    "content": "Detect word boundaries differently by treating punctuation characters as parts of words.\n\nset wordchars \"characters\"\nSpecify which other characters (besides the normal alphanumeric ones) should be considered\nas parts of words.  When using this option, you probably want to unset wordbounds.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set zap",
                    "content": "Let an unmodified Backspace or Delete erase the marked region (instead of a single charac‐\nter, and without affecting the cutbuffer).\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "set zero",
                    "content": "Hide all elements of the interface (title bar, status bar, and help  lines)  and  use  all\nrows  of the terminal for showing the contents of the buffer.  The status bar appears only\nwhen there is a significant message, and disappears after 1.5 seconds  or  upon  the  next\nkeystroke.   With  M-Z  the  title  bar plus status bar can be toggled.  With M-X the help\nlines.\n\n"
                }
            ]
        },
        "SYNTAX HIGHLIGHTING": {
            "content": "Coloring the different syntactic elements of a file is done via regular expressions (see  the\ncolor command below).  This is inherently imperfect, because regular expressions are not pow‐\nerful enough to fully parse a file.  Nevertheless, regular expressions can do a lot  and  are\neasy to make, so they are a good fit for a small editor like nano.\n\nAll  regular  expressions in nano are POSIX extended regular expressions.  This means that .,\n?, *, +, ^, $, and several other characters are special.  The period  .  matches  any  single\ncharacter,  ? means the preceding item is optional, * means the preceding item may be matched\nzero or more times, + means the preceding item must be matched one or more times,  ^  matches\nthe  beginning  of a line, and $ the end, \\< matches the start of a word, and \\> the end, and\n\\s matches a blank.  It also means that lookahead and lookbehind are not  possible.   A  com‐\nplete explanation can be found in the manual page of GNU grep: man grep.\n\nFor each kind of file a separate syntax can be defined via the following commands:\n\nsyntax name [\"fileregex\" ...]\nStart  the definition of a syntax with this name.  All subsequent color and other such\ncommands will be added to this syntax, until a new syntax command is encountered.\n\nWhen nano is run, this syntax will be automatically activated if the current  filename\nmatches  the  extended  regular expression fileregex.  Or the syntax can be explicitly\nactivated by using the -Y or --syntax command-line option followed by the name.\n\nThe syntax default is special: it takes no fileregex, and applies to files that  don't\nmatch any syntax's regexes.  The syntax none is reserved; specifying it on the command\nline is the same as not having a syntax at all.\n\nheader \"regex\" ...\nIf from all defined syntaxes  no  fileregex  matched,  then  compare  this  regex  (or\nregexes)  against the first line of the current file, to determine whether this syntax\nshould be used for it.\n\nmagic \"regex\" ...\nIf no fileregex matched and no header regex matched either, then  compare  this  regex\n(or regexes) against the result of querying the magic database about the current file,\nto determine whether this syntax should be used  for  it.   (This  functionality  only\nworks  when  libmagic  is  installed on the system and will be silently ignored other‐\nwise.)\n\nformatter program [argument ...]\nRun the given program on the full contents of the current buffer.  (The current buffer\nis  written  out to a temporary file, the program is run on it, and then the temporary\nfile is read back in, replacing the contents of the buffer.)\n\nlinter program [argument ...]\nUse the given program to run a syntax check on the current buffer.\n\ncomment \"string\"\nUse the given string for commenting and uncommenting lines.  If the string contains  a\nvertical  bar or pipe character (|), this designates bracket-style comments; for exam‐\nple, \"/*|*/\" for CSS files.  The characters before the pipe are prepended to the  line\nand  the  characters  after  the pipe are appended at the end of the line.  If no pipe\ncharacter is present, the full string is prepended; for example, \"#\" for Python files.\nIf  empty double quotes are specified, the comment/uncomment function is disabled; for\nexample, \"\" for JSON.  The default value is \"#\".\n\ntabgives \"string\"\nMake the <Tab> key produce the given string.  Useful for languages  like  Python  that\nwant  to  see  only  spaces  for  indentation.  This overrides the setting of the tab‐‐\nstospaces option.\n\ncolor [bold,][italic,]fgcolor,bgcolor \"regex\" ...\nPaint all pieces of text that match the extended regular  expression  regex  with  the\ngiven  foreground  and  background  colors,  at  least one of which must be specified.\nValid color names are: red, green, blue, magenta,  yellow,  cyan,  white,  and  black.\nEach  of  these eight names may be prefixed with the word light to get a brighter ver‐\nsion of that color.  The word grey or gray may be used as a  synonym  for  lightblack.\nOn  terminal emulators that can do at least 256 colors, other valid (but unprefixable)\ncolor names are: pink, purple, mauve, lagoon, mint, lime, peach, orange, latte,  rosy,\nbeet,  plum,  sea,  sky, slate, teal, sage, brown, ocher, sand, tawny, brick, crimson,\nand normal -- where normal means the default foreground or background color.  On  such\nemulators,  the  color  may also be specified as a three-digit hexadecimal number pre‐\nfixed with #, with the digits representing the amounts of red, green,  and  blue,  re‐\nspectively.   This  tells nano to select from the available palette the color that ap‐\nproximates the given values.\n\nThe color pair may be preceded by bold and/or italic (separated by commas)  to  get  a\nbold and/or slanting typeface, if your terminal can do those.\n\nAll  coloring  commands  are  applied  in the order in which they are specified, which\nmeans that later commands can recolor stuff that was colored earlier.\n\nicolor [bold,][italic,]fgcolor,bgcolor \"regex\" ...\nSame as above, except that the matching is case insensitive.\n\ncolor [bold,][italic,]fgcolor,bgcolor start=\"fromrx\" end=\"torx\"\nPaint all pieces of text whose start matches extended regular  expression  fromrx  and\nwhose end matches extended regular expression torx with the given foreground and back‐\nground colors, at least one of which must be specified.  This  means  that,  after  an\ninitial instance of fromrx, all text until the first instance of torx will be colored.\nThis allows syntax highlighting to span multiple lines.\n\nicolor [bold,][italic,]fgcolor,bgcolor start=\"fromrx\" end=\"torx\"\nSame as above, except that the matching is case insensitive.\n\ninclude \"syntaxfile\"\nRead in self-contained color syntaxes from syntaxfile.  Note that syntaxfile may  con‐\ntain only the above commands, from syntax to icolor.\n\nextendsyntax name command argument ...\nExtend the syntax previously defined as name with another command.  This allows adding\na new color, icolor, header, magic, formatter, linter, comment, or tabgives command to\nan already defined syntax -- useful when you want to slightly improve a syntax defined\nin one of the system-installed files (which normally are not writable).\n\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "REBINDING KEYS": {
            "content": "Key bindings can be changed via the following three commands:\n\nbind key function menu\nRebinds the given key to the given function in the given  menu  (or  in  all  menus\nwhere the function exists when all is used).\n\nbind key \"string\" menu\nMakes  the  given  key  produce the given string in the given menu (or in all menus\nwhere the key exists when all is used).  The string can consist of text or commands\nor  a mix of them.  (To enter a command into the string, precede its keystroke with\nM-V.)\n\nunbind key menu\nUnbinds the given key from the given menu (or from all menus where the  key  exists\nwhen all is used).\n\n\nThe format of key should be one of:\n\n^X     where  X  is a Latin letter, or one of several ASCII characters (@, ], \\, ^, ), or\nthe word \"Space\".  Example: ^C.\n\nM-X    where X is any ASCII character except [, or the word \"Space\".  Example: M-8.\n\nSh-M-X where X is a Latin letter.  Example: Sh-M-U.  By  default,  each  Meta+letter  key‐\nstroke  does  the  same  as  the  corresponding  Shift+Meta+letter.   But  when any\nShift+Meta bind is made, that will no longer be the case, for all letters.\n\nFN     where N is a numeric value from 1 to 24.  Example: F10.  (Often, F13 to F24 can  be\ntyped as F1 to F12 with Shift.)\n\nIns or Del.\n\nRebinding ^M (Enter) or ^I (Tab) is probably not a good idea.  Rebinding ^[ (Esc) is not pos‐\nsible, because its keycode is the starter byte of Meta keystrokes and escape sequences.   Re‐\nbinding  any of the dedicated cursor-moving keys (the arrows, Home, End, PageUp and PageDown)\nis not possible.  On some terminals it's not possible to rebind ^H (unless --raw is used) be‐\ncause its keycode is identical to that of the Backspace key.\n\n\nValid function names to be bound are:\n\nhelp\nInvokes the help viewer.\n\ncancel\nCancels the current command.\n\nexit\nExits from the program (or from the help viewer or file browser).\n\nwriteout\nWrites the current buffer to disk, asking for a name.\n\nsavefile\nWrites the current file to disk without prompting.\n\ninsert\nInserts  a  file into the current buffer (at the current cursor position), or into a new\nbuffer when option multibuffer is set.\n\nwhereis\nStarts a forward search for text in the current buffer -- or for  filenames  matching  a\nstring in the current list in the file browser.\n\nwherewas\nStarts  a  backward search for text in the current buffer -- or for filenames matching a\nstring in the current list in the file browser.\n\nfindprevious\nSearches the next occurrence in the backward direction.\n\nfindnext\nSearches the next occurrence in the forward direction.\n\nreplace\nInteractively replaces text within the current buffer.\n\ncut\nCuts and stores the current line (or the marked region).\n\ncopy\nCopies the current line (or the marked region) without deleting it.\n\npaste\nPastes the currently stored text into the current buffer at the current cursor position.\n\nzap\nThrows away the current line (or the marked region).  (This function is bound by default\nto <Meta+Delete>.)\n\nchopwordleft\nDeletes from the cursor position to the beginning of the preceding word.  (This function\nis  bound  by  default  to  <Shift+Ctrl+Delete>.   If  your  terminal  produces  ^H  for\n<Ctrl+Backspace>,  you can make <Ctrl+Backspace> delete the word to the left of the cur‐\nsor by rebinding ^H to this function.)\n\nchopwordright\nDeletes from the cursor position to the beginning of the next word.  (This  function  is\nbound by default to <Ctrl+Delete>.)\n\ncutrestoffile\nCuts all text from the cursor position till the end of the buffer.\n\nmark\nSets the mark at the current position, to start selecting text.  Or, when it is set, un‐\nsets the mark.\n\nlocation\nReports the current position of the cursor in the buffer: the line, column, and  charac‐\nter positions.  (The old name of this function, 'curpos', is deprecated.)\n\nwordcount\nCounts  and  reports on the status bar the number of lines, words, and characters in the\ncurrent buffer (or in the marked region).\n\nexecute\nPrompts for a program to execute.  The program's output will be inserted into  the  cur‐\nrent buffer (or into a new buffer when M-F is toggled).\n\nspeller\nInvokes a spell-checking program, either the default hunspell(1) or GNU spell(1), or the\none defined by --speller or set speller.\n\nformatter\nInvokes a full-buffer-processing program (if the active syntax defines one).\n\nlinter\nInvokes a syntax-checking program (if the active syntax defines one).\n\njustify\nJustifies the current paragraph (or the marked region).  A paragraph is a group of  con‐\ntiguous  lines  that, apart from possibly the first line, all have the same indentation.\nThe beginning of a paragraph is detected by either this lone line with a  differing  in‐\ndentation or by a preceding blank line.\n\nfulljustify\nJustifies the entire current buffer (or the marked region).\n\nindent\nIndents (shifts to the right) the current line or the marked lines.\n\nunindent\nUnindents (shifts to the left) the current line or the marked lines.\n\ncomment\nComments  or  uncomments  the  current line or the marked lines, using the comment style\nspecified in the active syntax.\n\ncomplete\nCompletes (when possible) the fragment before the cursor to a full word found  elsewhere\nin the current buffer.\n\nleft\nGoes left one position (in the editor or browser).\n\nright\nGoes right one position (in the editor or browser).\n\nup\nGoes one line up (in the editor or browser).\n\ndown\nGoes one line down (in the editor or browser).\n\nscrollup\nScrolls  the  viewport  up one row (meaning that the text slides down) while keeping the\ncursor in the same text position, if possible.  (This function is bound  by  default  to\n<Alt+Up>.    If   <Alt+Up>   does   nothing   on   your  Linux  console,  see  the  FAQ:\n⟨https://nano-editor.org/dist/latest/faq.html#4.1⟩.)\n\nscrolldown\nScrolls the viewport down one row (meaning that the text slides up)  while  keeping  the\ncursor  in  the  same text position, if possible.  (This function is bound by default to\n<Alt+Down>.)\n\ncenter\nScrolls the line with the cursor to the middle of the screen.\n\nprevword\nMoves the cursor to the beginning of the previous word.\n\nnextword\nMoves the cursor to the beginning of the next word.\n\nhome\nMoves the cursor to the beginning of the current line.\n\nend\nMoves the cursor to the end of the current line.\n\nbeginpara\nMoves the cursor to the beginning of the current paragraph.\n\nendpara\nMoves the cursor to the end of the current paragraph.\n\nprevblock\nMoves the cursor to the beginning of the current or preceding block  of  text.   (Blocks\nare separated by one or more blank lines.)\n\nnextblock\nMoves the cursor to the beginning of the next block of text.\n\npageup\nGoes up one screenful.\n\npagedown\nGoes down one screenful.\n\nfirstline\nGoes to the first line of the file.\n\nlastline\nGoes to the last line of the file.\n\ngotoline\nGoes  to a specific line (and column if specified).  Negative numbers count from the end\nof the file (and end of the line).\n\nfindbracket\nMoves the cursor to the bracket (or brace or parenthesis,  etc.)  that  matches  (pairs)\nwith the one under the cursor.  See set matchbrackets.\n\nanchor\nPlaces an anchor at the current line, or removes it when already present.  (An anchor is\nvisible when line numbers are activated.)\n\nprevanchor\nGoes to the first anchor before the current line.\n\nnextanchor\nGoes to the first anchor after the current line.\n\nprevbuf\nSwitches to editing/viewing the previous buffer when multiple buffers are open.\n\nnextbuf\nSwitches to editing/viewing the next buffer when multiple buffers are open.\n\nverbatim\nInserts the next keystroke verbatim into the file.\n\ntab\nInserts a tab at the current cursor location.\n\nenter\nInserts a new line below the current one.\n\ndelete\nDeletes the character under the cursor.\n\nbackspace\nDeletes the character before the cursor.\n\nrecordmacro\nStarts the recording of keystrokes -- the keystrokes are stored as a  macro.   When  al‐\nready recording, the recording is stopped.\n\nrunmacro\nReplays the keystrokes of the last recorded macro.\n\nundo\nUndoes the last performed text action (add text, delete text, etc).\n\nredo\nRedoes the last undone action (i.e., it undoes an undo).\n\nrefresh\nRefreshes the screen.\n\nsuspend\nSuspends  the editor and returns control to the shell (until you tell the process to re‐\nsume execution with fg).\n\ncasesens\nToggles whether searching/replacing ignores or respects the case of  the  given  charac‐\nters.\n\nregexp\nToggles whether searching/replacing uses literal strings or regular expressions.\n\nbackwards\nToggles whether searching/replacing goes forward or backward.\n\nolder\nRetrieves the previous (earlier) entry at a prompt.\n\nnewer\nRetrieves the next (later) entry at a prompt.\n\nflipreplace\nToggles between searching for something and replacing something.\n\nflipgoto\nToggles between searching for text and targeting a line number.\n\nflipexecute\nToggles between inserting a file and executing a command.\n\nflippipe\nWhen executing a command, toggles whether the current buffer (or marked region) is piped\nto the command.\n\nflipnewbuffer\nToggles between inserting into the current buffer and into a new empty buffer.\n\nflipconvert\nWhen reading in a file, toggles between converting and not converting  it  from  DOS/Mac\nformat.  Converting is the default.\n\ndosformat\nWhen writing a file, switches to writing a DOS format (CR/LF).\n\nmacformat\nWhen writing a file, switches to writing a Mac format.\n\nappend\nWhen writing a file, appends to the end instead of overwriting.\n\nprepend\nWhen writing a file, 'prepends' (writes at the beginning) instead of overwriting.\n\nbackup\nWhen writing a file, creates a backup of the current file.\n\ndiscardbuffer\nWhen  about  to write a file, discard the current buffer without saving.  (This function\nis bound by default only when option --saveonexit is in effect.)\n\nbrowser\nStarts the file browser (in the Read File and Write Out menus),  allowing  to  select  a\nfile from a list.\n\ngotodir\nGoes to a directory to be specified, allowing to browse anywhere in the filesystem.\n\nfirstfile\nGoes to the first file in the list when using the file browser.\n\nlastfile\nGoes to the last file in the list when using the file browser.\n\nnohelp\nToggles  the  presence of the two-line list of key bindings at the bottom of the screen.\n(This toggle is special: it is available in all menus except the  help  viewer  and  the\nlinter.  All further toggles are available in the main menu only.)\n\nzero\nToggles the presence of title bar and status bar.\n\nconstantshow\nToggles the constant display of the current line, column, and character positions.\n\nsoftwrap\nToggles the displaying of overlong lines on multiple screen lines.\n\nlinenumbers\nToggles the display of line numbers in front of the text.\n\nwhitespacedisplay\nToggles the showing of whitespace.\n\nnosyntax\nToggles syntax highlighting.\n\nsmarthome\nToggles the smartness of the Home key.\n\nautoindent\nToggles  whether a newly created line will contain the same amount of leading whitespace\nas the preceding line -- or as the next line if the preceding line is the beginning of a\nparagraph.\n\ncutfromcursor\nToggles whether cutting text will cut the whole line or just from the current cursor po‐\nsition to the end of the line.\n\nbreaklonglines\nToggles whether long lines will be hard-wrapped to the next line.  (The old name of this\nfunction, 'nowrap', is deprecated.)\n\ntabstospaces\nToggles whether typed tabs will be converted to spaces.\n\nmouse\nToggles mouse support.\n\n\nValid menu sections are:\n\nmain\nThe main editor window where text is entered and edited.\n\nhelp\nThe help-viewer menu.\n\nsearch\nThe search menu (AKA whereis).\n\nreplace\nThe 'search to replace' menu.\n\nreplacewith\nThe 'replace with' menu, which comes up after 'search to replace'.\n\nyesno\nThe 'yesno' menu, where the Yes/No/All/Cancel question is asked.\n\ngotoline\nThe 'goto line (and column)' menu.\n\nwriteout\nThe 'write file' menu.\n\ninsert\nThe 'insert file' menu.\n\nbrowser\nThe 'file browser' menu, for selecting a file to be opened or inserted or written to.\n\nwhereisfile\nThe 'search for a file' menu in the file browser.\n\ngotodir\nThe 'go to directory' menu in the file browser.\n\nexecute\nThe  menu for inserting the output from an external command, or for filtering the buffer\n(or the marked region) through an external command, or  for  executing  one  of  several\ntools.  (The old form of this menu name, 'extcmd', is deprecated.)\n\nspell\nThe menu of the integrated spell checker where the user can edit a misspelled word.\n\nlinter\nThe linter menu, which allows jumping through the linting messages.\n\nall\nA special name that encompasses all menus.  For bind it means all menus where the speci‐\nfied function exists; for unbind it means all menus where the specified key exists.\n\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "FILES": {
            "content": "/etc/nanorc\nSystem-wide configuration file.\n\n~/.nanorc or $XDGCONFIGHOME/nano/nanorc or ~/.config/nano/nanorc\nPer-user configuration file.\n\n/usr/share/nano/*\nSyntax definitions for the syntax coloring of common file types (and for  less  common\nfile types in the extra/ subdirectory).\n\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SEE ALSO": {
            "content": "nano(1)\n\nhttps://nano-editor.org/cheatsheet.html\nAn overview of the default key bindings.\n\n\n\nFebruary 2022                                version 6.2                                   NANORC(5)",
            "subsections": []
        }
    },
    "summary": "nanorc - GNU nano's configuration file",
    "flags": [],
    "examples": [],
    "see_also": [
        {
            "name": "nano",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/nano/1/json"
        }
    ]
}