nano

GNU nano
(or nano) is a text editor which aims to introduce a simple interface and intuitive command options to console based text editing.
nano
supports features including colorized syntax highlighting, DOS/Mac file type conversions, spellchecking and
UTF-8
encoding.
nano
opened with an empty buffer typically occupies a few MiB of resident memory.
Installation
Install
the
nano
package.
Configuration
The look, feel, and function of nano is typically controlled by way of either command-line arguments, or configuration commands within the file
~/.config/nano/nanorc
.
A sample configuration file is installed upon program installation and is located at
/etc/nanorc
. To customize your nano configuration, first create a local copy at
~/.config/nano/nanorc
:
$ mkdir ~/.config/nano
$ cp /etc/nanorc ~/.config/nano/nanorc
Proceed to establish the nano console environment by setting and/or unsetting commands within
~/.config/nano/nanorc
file.
Tip
nanorc(5)
details the complete list configuration commands available for nano.
Syntax highlighting
Nano ships with predefined
syntax highlighting
rules, defined in
/usr/share/nano/*.nanorc
and
/usr/share/nano/extra/*.nanorc
. To enable them, add the following line to your
~/.config/nano/nanorc
or to
/etc/nanorc
:
include "/usr/share/nano/*.nanorc"
include "/usr/share/nano/extra/*.nanorc"
For syntax highlighting enhancements which replace and expand the defaults,
install
nano-syntax-highlighting
or
nano-syntax-highlighting-git
AUR
and, additionally to the above setting, also add:
include "/usr/share/nano-syntax-highlighting/*.nanorc"
Forth
See
https://paste.xinu.at/wc17YG/
for
Forth
highlighting.
PKGBUILD
Save
https://paste.xinu.at/4ss/
(similar to Arch's old svntogit server) to
/etc/nano/pkgbuild.nanorc
and include it:
include "/etc/nano/pkgbuild.nanorc"
Tip
nano-syntax-highlighting
has an alternative version.
Suspension
Suspending (i.e. sending nano to the background) is enabled by default, however the default keybind is changed from
Ctrl+z
to
Ctrl+t
Ctrl+z
and it must be changed if the old behavior is desired. This can be done by checking the
Key bindings
section.
Usage
Shortcuts can be viewed from inside
nano
. See the nano online help files via
Ctrl+g
within nano and the
nano Command Manual
for complete descriptions and additional support.
See also the
cheatsheet for nano
.
Special functions
Keyboard shortcuts representing commonly used functions are listed along the bottom two lines of the nano screen.
They can be toggled by:
Ctrl
for
^
based shortcuts
Meta
(typically
Alt
) or
Esc
for
M-
based shortcuts
Tip
Feature Toggles
lists the global toggles available for nano.
Tips and tricks
Replacing vi with nano
To replace vi with nano as the default text editor for commands such as
visudo
, set the
VISUAL
and
EDITOR
environment variables
, for example:
export VISUAL=nano
export EDITOR=nano
Troubleshooting
Hijacked keybindings
Some window managers have keybindings that conflict with nano, for example
Alt+Enter
. Remove or remap them to e.g
Super
(with
dconf
for
mutter
,
muffin
and
marco
) and restart the window manager.
See also
nano (text editor)
- Wikipedia Entry
GNU nano Homepage
- Official Site
GNU nano Bugs
- Bug Reporting
Improved Nano Syntax Highlighting Files