Provided by: nano_2.9.3-2_amd64 bug

NAME

       nanorc - GNU nano's configuration file

DESCRIPTION

       The  nanorc file contains the default settings for nano, a small and friendly editor.  The file should be
       in Unix format, not in DOS or Mac format.  During startup, nano will first read the system-wide settings,
       from /etc/nanorc (the exact path might be different on your system), and then the user-specific settings,
       either from ~/.nanorc or from $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nano/nanorc or from  ~/.config/nano/nanorc,  whichever  is
       encountered first.

OPTIONS

       The configuration file accepts a series of set and unset commands, which can be used to configure nano on
       startup without using command-line options.  Additionally, there  are  some  commands  to  define  syntax
       highlighting  and  to  rebind keys -- see the two separate sections on those.  nano reads one command per
       line.

       Options in nanorc files take precedence over nano's defaults, and command-line  options  override  nanorc
       settings.   Also,  options that do not take an argument are unset by default.  So using the unset command
       is only needed when wanting to override a setting of  the  system's  nanorc  file  in  your  own  nanorc.
       Options that take an argument cannot be unset.

       Below, the string parameters need to be enclosed in double quotes.  Quotes inside these string parameters
       don't have to be escaped with backslashes.  The last double quote in the string will be  treated  as  its
       end.  For example, for the brackets option, ""')>]}" will match ", ', ), >, ], and }.

       The supported commands and arguments are:

       set allow_insecure_backup
          When  backing  up  files,  allow the backup to succeed even if its permissions can't be (re)set due to
          special OS considerations.  You should NOT enable this option unless you are sure you need it.

       set atblanks
          When soft line wrapping is enabled, make it wrap lines at blank characters (tabs and  spaces)  instead
          of always at the edge of the screen.

       set autoindent
          Use auto-indentation.

       set backup
          When saving a file, create a backup file by adding a tilde (~) to the file's name.

       set 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 with set backup or --backup or -B.  The uniquely numbered files  are
          stored in the specified directory.

       set backwards
          Obsolete option.  Recognized but ignored.  ^Q is available to start a backward search.

       set boldtext
          Use  bold  instead  of  reverse  video  for the title bar, status bar, key combos, function tags, line
          numbers, and selected text.  This can be overridden by setting the  options  titlecolor,  statuscolor,
          keycolor, functioncolor, numbercolor, and selectedcolor.

       set brackets string
          Set the characters treated as closing brackets when justifying paragraphs.  This may not include blank
          characters.  Only closing punctuation (see  punct),  optionally  followed  by  the  specified  closing
          brackets, can end sentences.  The default value is ""')>]}".

       set casesensitive
          Do case-sensitive searches by default.

       set constantshow
          Constantly  display the cursor position in the status bar.  (The old form of this option, 'set const',
          is deprecated.)  This overrides the option quickblank.

       set cutfromcursor
          Use cut-from-cursor-to-end-of-line by default, instead of cutting the whole line.  (The  old  form  of
          this option, 'set cut', is deprecated.)

       set fill number
          Hard-wrap  lines at column number number.  If number is 0 or less, the maximum line length will be the
          screen width less number columns.  The default value is -8.  This option conflicts with nowrap --  the
          last one given takes effect.

       set functioncolor fgcolor,bgcolor
          Specify the color combination to use for the function descriptions in the two help lines at the bottom
          of the screen.  See set titlecolor for more details.

       set historylog
          Save the last hundred search strings and replacement strings and executed commands,  so  they  can  be
          easily reused in later sessions.

       set keycolor fgcolor,bgcolor
          Specify  the  color combination to use for the shortcut key combos in the two help lines at the bottom
          of the screen.  See set titlecolor for more details.

       set linenumbers
          Display line numbers to the left of the text area.

       set locking
          Enable vim-style lock-files for when editing files.

       set matchbrackets string
          Set the opening and closing brackets that can be found by bracket  searches.   This  may  not  include
          blank  characters.   The opening set must come before the closing set, and the two sets must be in the
          same order.  The default value is "(<[{)>]}".

       set morespace
          Use the blank line below the title bar as extra editing space.

       set 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.

       set multibuffer
          When reading in a file with ^R, insert it into a new buffer by default.

       set noconvert
          Don't convert files from DOS/Mac format.

       set nohelp
          Don't display the two help lines at the bottom of the screen.

       set nonewlines
          Don't automatically add a newline to the ends of files.

       set nopauses
          Don't  pause  between  warnings  at  startup.  This means that only the last one will be visible (when
          there are multiple ones).

       set nowrap
          Don't hard-wrap text at all.  This option conflicts with fill -- the last one given takes effect.

       set numbercolor fgcolor,bgcolor
          Specify the color combination to use for line numbers.  See set titlecolor for more details.

       set operatingdir directory
          nano will only read and write files inside  directory  and  its  subdirectories.   Also,  the  current
          directory  is  changed  to here, so files are inserted from this directory.  By default, the operating
          directory feature is turned off.

       set positionlog
          Save the cursor position of files between editing sessions.  The cursor position is remembered for the
          200 most-recently edited files.  (The old form of this option, 'set poslog', is deprecated.)

       set preserve
          Preserve the XON and XOFF keys (^Q and ^S).

       set punct string
          Set  the  characters  treated as closing punctuation when justifying paragraphs.  This may not include
          blank characters.  Only the specfified closing punctuation, optionally followed  by  closing  brackets
          (see brackets), can end sentences.  The default value is "!.?".

       set quickblank
          Do quick status-bar blanking: status-bar messages will disappear after 1 keystroke instead of 25.  The
          option constantshow overrides this.

       set quiet
          Obsolete option.  Recognized but ignored.

       set quotestr string
          The email-quote string, used  to  justify  email-quoted  paragraphs.   This  is  an  extended  regular
          expression  if  your  system  supports  them,  otherwise  a  literal  string.   The  default  value is
          "^([ \t]*[#:>\|}])+" if you have extended regular expression support, and "> " otherwise.   Note  that
          '\t' stands for a literal Tab character.

       set 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.

       set 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.

       set regexp
          Do extended regular expression searches by default.

       set selectedcolor fgcolor,bgcolor
          Specify the color combination to use for selected text.  See set titlecolor for more details.

       set showcursor
          Put the cursor on the highlighted item in the file browser, to aid braille users.

       set 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.

       set smooth
          Use smooth scrolling by default.

       set softwrap
          Enable soft line wrapping for easier viewing of very long lines.

       set speller spellprog
          Use spelling checker spellprog instead of the built-in one, which calls spell.

       set statuscolor fgcolor,bgcolor
          Specify the color combination to use for the status bar.  See set titlecolor for more details.

       set suspend
          Allow nano to be suspended.

       set tabsize number
          Use  a  tab size of number columns.  The value of number must be greater than 0.  The default value is
          8.

       set tabstospaces
          Convert typed tabs to spaces.

       set tempfile
          Save automatically on exit, don't prompt.

       set titlecolor fgcolor,bgcolor
          Specify the color combination to use for the title bar.  Valid names for the foreground and background
          colors  are:  white,  black, blue, green, red, cyan, yellow,  and magenta.  The name of the foreground
          color may be prefixed with bright.  And either "fgcolor" or ",bgcolor" may be left out.

       set trimblanks
          Remove trailing whitespace from wrapped lines when automatic hard-wrapping  occurs  or  when  text  is
          justified.

       set 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 set noconvert.)

       set view
          Disallow file modification.

       set whitespace string
          Set the two characters used to indicate the presence of tabs and spaces.  They must  be  single-column
          characters.  The default pair for a UTF-8 locale is "»⋅", and for other locales ">.".

       set wordbounds
          Detect word boundaries differently by treating punctuation characters as parts of words.

       set wordchars string
          Specify which other characters (besides the normal alphanumeric ones) should be considered as parts of
          words.  This overrides the option wordbounds.

SYNTAX HIGHLIGHTING

       Coloring the different syntactic elements of a file is  done  via  regular  expressions  (see  the  color
       command  below).   This  is  inherently imperfect, because regular expressions are not powerful enough to
       fully parse a file.  Nevertheless, regular expressions can do a lot and are easy to make, so they  are  a
       good fit for a small editor like nano.

       For each kind of file a separate syntax can be defined via the following commands:

       syntax "name" ["fileregex" ...]
              Start  the  definition  of  a syntax with this name.  All subsequent color and other such commands
              will be added to this syntax, until a new syntax command is encountered.

              When nano is run, this syntax will be automatically activated if the current filename matches  the
              extended  regular expression fileregex.  Or the syntax can be explicitly activated by using the -Y
              or --syntax command-line option followed by the name.

              The syntax "default" is special: it takes no fileregex, and applies to files that don't match  any
              syntax's regexes.  The syntax "none" is reserved; specifying it on the command line is the same as
              not having a syntax at all.

       header "regex" ...
              If from all defined syntaxes no fileregex matched, then compare this regex  (or  regexes)  against
              the first line of the current file, to determine whether this syntax should be used for it.

       magic "regex" ...
              If  no  fileregex matched and no header regex matched either, then compare this regex (or regexes)
              against the result of querying the magic database about the current  file,  to  determine  whether
              this  syntax  should be used for it.  (This functionality only works when libmagic is installed on
              the system and will be silently ignored otherwise.)

       linter program [arg ...]
              Use the given program to run a syntax check on the current  file.   (This  overrides  the  speller
              function.)

       formatter program [arg ...]
              Use  the given program to automatically reformat text -- useful in a programming language like Go.
              (This overrides the speller and linter functions.)

       comment "string"
              Use the given string for commenting and uncommenting lines.  If the string contains a vertical bar
              or pipe character (|), this designates bracket-style comments; for example, "/*|*/" for CSS files.
              The characters before the pipe are prepended to the line and the characters  after  the  pipe  are
              appended  at  the end of the line.  If no pipe character is present, the full string is prepended;
              for example, "#" for Python files.  If empty double quotes are  specified,  the  comment/uncomment
              function is disabled; for example, "" for JSON.  The default value is "#".

       color fgcolor,bgcolor "regex" ...
              Display  all pieces of text that match the extended regular expression regex with foreground color
              fgcolor and background color bgcolor, at least one of which must be specified.  Valid  colors  for
              foreground and background are: white, black, red, blue, green, yellow, magenta, and cyan.  You may
              use the prefix "bright" to get a stronger color highlight for the foreground.   If  your  terminal
              supports  transparency,  not  specifying  a  bgcolor  tells  nano  to attempt to use a transparent
              background.

       icolor fgcolor,bgcolor "regex" ...
              Same as above, except that the matching is case insensitive.

       color fgcolor,bgcolor start="fromrx" end="torx"
              Display all pieces of text whose start matches extended regular expression fromrx  and  whose  end
              matches  extended  regular  expression  torx  with  foreground  color fgcolor and background color
              bgcolor, at least one of which must be specified.  This means that, after an initial  instance  of
              fromrx,  all  text  until  the  first  instance  of  torx  will  be  colored.   This allows syntax
              highlighting to span multiple lines.

       icolor fgcolor,bgcolor start="fromrx" end="torx"
              Same as above, except that the matching is case insensitive.

       include "syntaxfile"
              Read in self-contained color syntaxes from syntaxfile.  Note that syntaxfile may contain only  the
              above commands, from syntax to icolor.

       extendsyntax name command [arg ...]
              Extend  the  syntax  previously  defined  as  name with another command.  This allows adding a new
              color, icolor, header, magic, comment, linter, or formatter command to an already  defined  syntax
              --  useful when you want to slightly improve a syntax defined in one of the system-installed files
              (which normally are not writable).

REBINDING KEYS

       Key bindings can be changed via the following two commands:

       bind key function menu
              Rebinds the key key to a new function named function in the context of menu menu (or in all  menus
              where the function exists by using all).

       unbind key menu
              Unbinds the key key from the menu named menu (or from all menus where it exists by using all).

       The format of key should be one of:

          ^  followed by an alpha character or the word "Space".  Example: ^C

          M- followed by a printable character or the word "Space".  Example: M-C

          F  followed by a numeric value from 1 to 16.  Example: F10

       Valid function names to be bound are:

          help
            Invokes the help viewer.

          cancel
            Cancels the current command.

          exit
            Exits from the program (or from the help viewer or the file browser).

          writeout
            Writes the current buffer to disk, asking for a name.

          savefile
            Writes the current file to disk without prompting.

          insert
            Inserts  a  file into the current buffer (at the current cursor position), or into a new buffer when
            option multibuffer is set.

          whereis
            Starts a forward search for text in the current buffer -- or for filenames matching a string in  the
            current list in the file browser.

          wherewas
            Starts a backward search for text in the current buffer.

          searchagain
            Repeats the last search command without prompting.  (The form 'research' is deprecated.)

          findprevious
            As searchagain, but always in the backward direction.

          findnext
            As searchagain, but always in the forward direction.

          replace
            Interactively replaces text within the current buffer.

          cut
            Cuts and stores the current line (or the marked region).

          copytext
            Copies the current line (or the marked region) without deleting it.

          uncut
            Copies the currently stored text into the current buffer at the current cursor position.

          mark
            Sets the mark at the current position, to start selecting text.

          cutwordleft
            Cuts from the cursor position to the beginning of the preceding word.

          cutwordright
            Cuts from the cursor position to the beginning of the next word.

          cutrestoffile
            Cuts all text from the cursor position till the end of the buffer.

          curpos
            Shows the current cursor position: the line, column, and character positions.  (The form 'cursorpos'
            is deprecated.)

          wordcount
            Counts the number of words, lines and characters in the current buffer.

          speller
            Invokes a spell-checking program (or a linting program, if the current syntax  highlighting  defines
            one).

          linter
            A synonym of speller (for when the speller has not been configured).

          justify
            Justifies the current paragraph.

          fulljustify
            Justifies the entire current buffer.

          indent
            Indents (shifts to the right) the currently marked text.

          unindent
            Unindents (shifts to the left) the currently marked text.

          comment
            Comments  or  uncomments  the current line or marked lines, using the comment style specified in the
            active syntax.

          complete
            Completes the fragment before the cursor to a full word found elsewhere in the current buffer.

          left
            Goes left one position (in the editor or browser).

          right
            Goes right one position (in the editor or browser).

          up
            Goes one line up (in the editor or browser).

          down
            Goes one line down (in the editor or browser).

          scrollup
            Scrolls up one line of text from the current position.

          scrolldown
            Scrolls down one line of text from the current position.

          prevword
            Moves the cursor to the beginning of the previous word.

          nextword
            Moves the cursor to the beginning of the next word.

          home
            Moves the cursor to the beginning of the current line.

          end
            Moves the cursor to the end of the current line.

          beginpara
            Moves the cursor to the beginning of the current paragraph.

          endpara
            Moves the cursor to the end of the current paragraph.

          prevblock
            Moves the cursor to the beginning of the current or preceding block of text.  (Blocks are  separated
            by one or more blank lines.)

          nextblock
            Moves the cursor to the beginning of the next block of text.

          pageup
            Goes up one screenful.

          pagedown
            Goes down one screenful.

          firstline
            Goes to the first line of the file.

          lastline
            Goes to the last line of the file.

          gotoline
            Goes  to a specific line (and column if specified).  Negative numbers count from the end of the file
            (and end of the line).

          gototext
            Switches from targeting a line number to searching for text.

          findbracket
            Moves the cursor to the bracket (brace, parenthesis, etc.) that matches (pairs) with the  one  under
            the cursor.

          prevbuf
            Switches to editing/viewing the previous buffer when multiple buffers are open.

          nextbuf
            Switches to editing/viewing the next buffer when multiple buffers are open.

          verbatim
            Inserts the next keystroke verbatim into the file.

          tab
            Inserts a tab at the current cursor location.

          enter
            Inserts a new line below the current one.

          delete
            Deletes the character under the cursor.

          backspace
            Deletes the character before the cursor.

          recordmacro
            Starts the recording of keystrokes -- the keystrokes are stored as a macro.  When already recording,
            the recording is stopped.

          runmacro
            Replays the keystrokes of the last recorded macro.

          undo
            Undoes the last performed text action (add text, delete text, etc).

          redo
            Redoes the last undone action (i.e., it undoes an undo).

          refresh
            Refreshes the screen.

          suspend
            Suspends the editor (if the suspending function is enabled, see the "suspendenable" entry below).

          casesens
            Toggles case sensitivity in searching (search/replace menus only).

          regexp
            Toggles whether searching/replacing is based on literal strings or regular expressions.   (The  form
            'regex' is deprecated.)

          backwards
            Toggles whether searching/replacing goes forward or backward.

          prevhistory
            Shows the previous history entry in the prompt menus (e.g. search).

          nexthistory
            Shows the next history entry in the prompt menus (e.g. search).

          flipreplace
            Toggles  between  searching  for  something  and  replacing  something.   (The form 'dontreplace' is
            deprecated.)

          flipexecute
            Toggles between inserting a file and executing a command.

          flipnewbuffer
            Toggles between inserting into  the  current  buffer  and  into  a  new  empty  buffer.   (The  form
            'newbuffer' is deprecated.)

          dosformat
            When writing a file, switches to writing a DOS format (CR/LF).

          macformat
            When writing a file, switches to writing a Mac format.

          append
            When writing a file, appends to the end instead of overwriting.

          prepend
            When writing a file, 'prepends' (writes at the beginning) instead of overwriting.

          backup
            When writing a file, creates a backup of the current file.

          discardbuffer
            When  about  to write a file, discard the current buffer without saving.  (This function is bound by
            default only when option --tempfile is in effect.)

          browser
            Starts the file browser, allowing to select a file from a list.

          gotodir
            Goes to a directory to be specified, allowing to browse anywhere in the filesystem.

          firstfile
            Goes to the first file when using the file browser (reading or writing files).

          lastfile
            Goes to the last file when using the file browser (reading or writing files).

          nohelp
            Toggles the presence of the two-line list of key bindings at the bottom of the screen.

          constupdate
            Toggles the constant display of the current line, column, and character positions.

          morespace
            Toggles the presence of the blank line that 'separates' the title bar from the file text.

          smoothscroll
            Toggles smooth scrolling (when moving around with the arrow keys).

          softwrap
            Toggles the displaying of overlong lines on multiple screen lines.

          whitespacedisplay
            Toggles the showing of whitespace.

          nosyntax
            Toggles syntax highlighting.

          smarthome
            Toggles the smartness of the Home key.

          autoindent
            Toggles whether new lines will contain the same amount of whitespace as the preceding line.

          cuttoend
            Toggles whether cutting text will cut the whole line or just from the current cursor position to the
            end of the line.

          nowrap
            Toggles whether long lines will be hard-wrapped to the next line.

          tabstospaces
            Toggles whether typed tabs will be converted to spaces.

          backupfile
            Toggles whether a backup will be made of the file being edited.

          multibuffer
            Toggles whether a file is inserted into the current buffer or read into a new buffer.

          mouse
            Toggles mouse support.

          noconvert
            Toggles automatic conversion of files from DOS/Mac format.

          suspendenable
            Toggles whether the suspend sequence (normally ^Z) will suspend the editor window.

       Valid menu sections are:

          main
            The main editor window where text is entered and edited.

          search
            The search menu (AKA whereis).

          replace
            The 'search to replace' menu.

          replacewith
            The  'replace  with'  menu,  which  comes  up  after  'search  to replace'.  (The form 'replace2' is
            deprecated.)

          gotoline
            The 'goto line (and column)' menu.

          writeout
            The 'write file' menu.

          insert
            The 'insert file' menu.

          extcmd
            The menu for inserting output from an external command, reached from the insert menu.

          help
            The help-viewer menu.

          spell
            The interactive spell checker Yes/no menu.

          linter
            The linter menu.

          browser
            The file browser for inserting or writing a file.

          whereisfile
            The 'search for a file' menu in the file browser.

          gotodir
            The 'go to directory' menu in the file browser.

          all
            A special name that encompasses all menus.  For bind it means all menus where the specified function
            exists; for unbind it means all menus where the specified key exists.

FILES

       /etc/nanorc
              System-wide configuration file.

       ~/.nanorc or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nano/nanorc or ~/.config/nano/nanorc
              Per-user configuration file.

SEE ALSO

       nano(1)

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).