bionic (1) nano.1.gz

Provided by: nano_2.9.3-2_amd64 bug

NAME

       nano - Nano's ANOther editor, an enhanced free Pico clone

SYNOPSIS

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

DESCRIPTION

       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.

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.

       Since  nano-2.7.0,  text can also be selected by holding Shift and moving the cursor with the arrow keys.
       Holding down the Alt key too will increase the stride.

       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
              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 add newlines to the ends of 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, --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.  (The old form of this option, --poslog, is deprecated.)

       -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
              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.

       -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.  Useful for
              braille users.

       -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, --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.

       -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.

       -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.

TOGGLES

       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.

INITIALIZATION FILE

       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.

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

       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 is a deficient terminal.

       Please report any other bugs that you encounter via:
       https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=nano.

HOMEPAGE

       https://nano-editor.org/

SEE ALSO

       nanorc(5)

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

AUTHOR

       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).