Provided by: nano_7.2-2ubuntu0.1_amd64 bug

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 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.
       (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  letters: 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.  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, 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  setting  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 position 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  using  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 effect, --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 considered 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 option -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 additionally  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 terminal.

       -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 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.  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 determine the
              applicable syntax.

       -%, --stateflags
              Use the top-right corner of the screen for showing some state flags: I when auto-indenting, 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 under the cursor (in  Unicode  format:  U+xxxx),
              the same flags as are shown by --stateflags, 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  example,  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)