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).