man > nano(1)

NANO(1)                                General Commands Manual                               NANO(1)

NAME
       nano - Nano's ANOther editor, inspired by Pico


SYNOPSIS
       nano [options] [[+line[,column]] file]...

       nano [options] [[+[crCR](/|?)string] file]...


DESCRIPTION
       nano  is a small and friendly editor.  It copies the look and feel of Pico, but is free soft‐
       ware, 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 col‐
       umn by adding it with a comma.  (Negative numbers count from the end of the  file  or  line.)
       The cursor can be put on the first or last occurrence of a specific string by specifying that
       string  after  +/  or  +?  before the filename.  The string can be made case sensitive and/or
       caused to be interpreted as a regular expression by inserting c and/or r after  the  +  sign.
       These  search  modes  can be explicitly disabled by using the uppercase variant of those let‐
       ters: C and/or R.  When the string contains spaces, it needs to be enclosed  in  quotes.   To
       give an example: to open a file at the first occurrence of the word "Foo", you would do:

           nano +c/Foo file

       As  a  special  case:  if instead of a filename a dash (-) is given, nano will read data from
       standard input.


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.  Consec‐
       utive ^Ks will put all deleted lines together in the cutbuffer.  Any cursor movement or  exe‐
       cuting  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, you 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.  You can also save the marked text to a file with ^O,  or
       spell check it with ^T^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.

       Any  valid  Unicode  code point can be inserted into the buffer by typing M-V followed by the
       hexadecimal digits of the code point (concluded with <Space> or <Enter>  when  it  are  fewer
       than  six digits).  A literal control code (except ^J) can be inserted by typing M-V followed
       by the pertinent keystroke.

       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).


OPTIONS
       -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
              For the interface, use bold instead of reverse video.  This will be overridden by set‐
              ting the options titlecolor, statuscolor, keycolor, functioncolor, numbercolor, and/or
              selectedcolor in your nanorc file.  See nanorc(5).

       -E, --tabstospaces
              Convert each typed tab to spaces -- to the number of spaces that a tab at  that  posi‐
              tion would take up.

       -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.

       -J number, --guidestripe=number
              Draw a vertical stripe at the given column, to help judge the width of the text.  (The
              color of the stripe can be changed with set stripecolor in your nanorc file.)

       -K, --rawsequences
              Interpret escape sequences directly, instead of asking ncurses to translate them.  (If
              you  need  this  option  to get some keys to work properly, it means that the terminfo
              terminal description that is used does not fully match the  actual  behavior  of  your
              terminal.   This can happen when you ssh into a BSD machine, for example.)  Using this
              option disables nano's mouse support.

       -L, --nonewlines
              Don't automatically add a newline when a text does not end with one.  (This can  cause
              you to save non-POSIX text files.)

       -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, --bookstyle
              When justifying, treat any line that starts with whitespace  as  the  beginning  of  a
              paragraph (unless auto-indenting is on).

       -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.  The default value
              is "^([ \t]*([!#%:;>|}]|//))+".  (Note that \t stands for an actual Tab.)  This  makes
              it  possible  to  rejustify  blocks of quoted text when composing email, and to rewrap
              blocks of line comments when writing source code.

       -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, --softwrap
              Display over multiple screen rows lines that exceed the screen's width.  (You can make
              this  soft-wrapping occur at whitespace instead of rudely at the screen's edge, by us‐
              ing also --atblanks.)  (The old short option, -$, is deprecated.)

       -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
              Make  status-bar  messages disappear after 1 keystroke instead of after 20.  Note that
              option -c (--constantshow) overrides this.  When option --minibar or --zero is in  ef‐
              fect,  --quickblank  makes  a message disappear after 0.8 seconds instead of after the
              default 1.5 seconds.

       -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 con‐
              sidered as part of a word.  When using this option,  you  probably  want  to  omit  -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.

       -b, --breaklonglines
              Automatically hard-wrap the current line when it becomes overlong.   (This  option  is
              the opposite of -w (--nowrap) -- the last one given takes effect.)

       -c, --constantshow
              Constantly  show  the cursor position on the status bar.  Note that this overrides op‐
              tion -U (--quickblank).

       -d, --rebinddelete
              Interpret the Delete and Backspace keys differently so that both Backspace and  Delete
              work  properly.   You should only use this option when on your system either Backspace
              acts like Delete or Delete acts like Backspace.

       -e, --emptyline
              Do not use the line below the title bar, leaving it entirely blank.

       -f file, --rcfile=file
              Read only this file for setting nano's options, instead of reading  both  the  system-
              wide and the user's nanorc files.

       -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).

       -j, --jumpyscrolling
              Scroll the buffer contents per half-screen instead of per line.

       -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.  (Any line with an anchor addition‐
              ally gets a mark in the margin.)

       -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 termi‐
              nal.

       -q, --indicator
              Display a "scrollbar" on the righthand side of the edit window.  It shows the position
              of the viewport in the buffer and how much of the buffer is covered by the viewport.

       -r number, --fill=number
              Set the target width for justifying and automatic  hard-wrapping  at  this  number  of
              columns.   If  the  value is 0 or less, wrapping will occur at the width of the screen
              minus 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.

       -s "program [argument ...]", --speller="program [argument ...]"
              Use this command to perform spell checking and correcting, instead of using the built-
              in corrector that calls hunspell(1) or spell(1).

       -t, --saveonexit
              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 sav‐
              ing  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
              Do not automatically hard-wrap the current line when it becomes overlong.  This is the
              default.  (This option is the opposite of -b (--breaklonglines) -- 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 and Ctrl+Delete stop at word ends instead of beginnings.

       -!, --magic
              When neither the file's name nor its first line give a clue, try using libmagic to de‐
              termine the applicable syntax.

       -%, --stateflags
              Use  the  top-right corner of the screen for showing some state flags: I when auto-in‐
              denting, M when the mark is on, L when hard-wrapping (breaking  long  lines),  R  when
              recording  a macro, and S when soft-wrapping.  When the buffer is modified, a star (*)
              is shown after the filename in the center of the title bar.

       -_, --minibar
              Suppress the title bar and instead show information about the current  buffer  at  the
              bottom of the screen, in the space for the status bar.  In this "minibar" the filename
              is shown on the left, followed by an asterisk if the buffer has been modified.  On the
              right  are displayed the current line and column number, the code of the character un‐
              der the cursor (in Unicode format: U+xxxx), the same flags as are  shown  by  --state‐
              flags, and a percentage that expresses how far the cursor is into the file (linewise).
              When a file is loaded or saved, and also when switching between buffers, the number of
              lines  in the buffer is displayed after the filename.  This number is cleared upon the
              next keystroke, or replaced with an [i/n] counter when multiple buffers are open.  The
              line plus column numbers and the character code are displayed only when --constantshow
              is used, and can be toggled on and off with M-C.  The state flags are  displayed  only
              when --stateflags is used.

       -0, --zero
              Hide all elements of the interface (title bar, status bar, and help lines) and use all
              rows  of  the terminal for showing the contents of the buffer.  The status bar appears
              only when there is a significant message, and disappears after 1.5 seconds or upon the
              next keystroke.  With M-Z the title bar plus status bar can be toggled.  With M-X  the
              help lines.


TOGGLES
       Several  of the above options can be switched on and off also while nano is running.  For ex‐
       ample, M-L toggles the hard-wrapping of long lines, M-S toggles  soft-wrapping,  M-N  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.

       The M-X toggle is special: it works in all menus except the help viewer and the linter.   All
       other toggles work in the main menu only.


FILES
       When  --rcfile  is  given, nano will read just the specified file for setting its options and
       syntaxes and key bindings.  Without that option, 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.

       See /usr/share/nano/ and /usr/share/nano/extra/ for available syntax-coloring definitions.


NOTES
       Option  -z (--suspendable) has been removed.  Suspension is enabled by default, reachable via
       ^T^Z.  (If you want a plain ^Z to suspend nano, add bind ^Z suspend main to your nanorc.)

       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
       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.


HOMEPAGE
       https://nano-editor.org/


SEE ALSO
       nanorc(5)

       /usr/share/doc/nano/ (or equivalent on your system)

January 2023                                 version 7.2                                     NANO(1)