This is nano.info, produced by makeinfo version 6.5 from nano.texi.

INFO-DIR-SECTION Editors

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* nano: (nano).                 Small and friendly text editor.

END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY

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File: nano.info,  Node: Top,  Next: Introduction,  Up: (dir)

nano

****

This manual documents the GNU ‘nano’ editor, version 2.9.8.

* Menu:

* Introduction::

* Invoking::

* Command-line Options::

* Editor Basics::

* Built-in Help::

* Feature Toggles::

* Nanorc Files::

* The File Browser::

* Pico Compatibility::

* Building and Configure Options::

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File: nano.info,  Node: Introduction,  Next: Invoking,  Prev: Top,  Up: Top

1 Introduction

**************

GNU ‘nano’ is a small and friendly text editor.  Besides basic text

editing, ‘nano’ offers many extra features, such as an interactive

search-and-replace, undo/redo, syntax coloring, smooth scrolling,

auto-indentation, go-to-line-and-column-number, feature toggles, file

locking, backup files, and internationalization support.

   The original goal for ‘nano’ was to be a complete bug-for-bug

emulation of Pico.  But currently the goal is to be as compatible as

possible while offering a superset of Pico’s functionality.  *Note Pico

Compatibility:: for more details on how ‘nano’ and Pico differ.

   Please report bugs via <https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=nano>.

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File: nano.info,  Node: Invoking,  Next: Command-line Options,  Prev: Introduction,  Up: Top

2 Invoking

**********

The usual way to invoke ‘nano’ is:

     nano [FILE]

   But it is also possible to specify one or more options (see the next

section), and to edit several files in a row.  Additionally, the cursor

can be put on a specific line of a file by adding the line number with a

plus sign before the filename, and even in a specific column by adding

it with a comma.  So a more complete command synopsis is:

     nano [OPTION]... [[+LINE[,COLUMN]|+,COLUMN] FILE]...

   Normally, however, you set your preferred options in a ‘nanorc’ file

(*note Nanorc Files::).  And when using ‘set positionlog’ (making ‘nano’

remember the cursor position when you close a file), you will rarely

need to specify a line number.

   As a special case: when instead of a filename a dash is given, ‘nano’

will read data from standard input.  This means you can pipe the output

of a command straight into a buffer, and then edit it.

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File: nano.info,  Node: Command-line Options,  Next: Editor Basics,  Prev: Invoking,  Up: Top

3 Command-line Options

**********************

‘nano’ takes the following options from the command line:

‘-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.  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’

     Enable 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 file 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 automatically add a newline when a file does not end with

     one.

‘-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.

‘-Q "REGEX"’

‘--quotestr="REGEX"’

     Set the regular expression for matching the quoting part of a line,

     used when justifying.  The default value is

     "^([ \t]*([#:>|}]|//))+".  Note that ‘\t’ stands for a literal Tab

     character.

‘-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’

     Enable smooth scrolling.  Text will scroll line-by-line, instead of

     the usual chunk-by-chunk behavior.

‘-T NUMBER’

‘--tabsize=NUMBER’

     Set the displayed tab length 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 parts of words.

‘-X "CHARACTERS"’

‘--wordchars="CHARACTERS"’

     Specify which other characters (besides the normal alphanumeric

     ones) should be considered as parts of words.  This overrides

     option ‘-W’ (‘--wordbounds’).

‘-Y NAME’

‘--syntax=NAME’

     Specify the syntax to be used for highlighting.  *Note Syntax

     Highlighting:: for more info.

‘-a’

‘--atblanks’

     When doing soft line wrapping, wrap lines at whitespace instead of

     always at the edge of the screen.

‘-c’

‘--constantshow’

     Constantly display the cursor position (line number, column number,

     and character number) 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 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).

‘-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 ‘^Q’ (XON) and ‘^S’ (XOFF) sequences so data being

     sent to the editor can be stopped and started.

‘-q’

‘--quiet’

     Obsolete option.  Recognized but ignored.

‘-r NUMBER’

‘--fill=NUMBER’

     Hard-wrap lines at column NUMBER (by inserting a newline

     character).  If the given value is 0 or less, wrapping will occur

     at the width of the screen minus the given amount, allowing the

     wrapping width to vary along with the width of the screen if and

     when it is resized.  The default value is -8.  This option

     conflicts with ‘-w’ (‘--nowrap’); the last one given takes effect.

‘-s PROGRAM’

‘--speller=PROGRAM’

     Use the given program to do spell checking and correcting.  By

     default, ‘nano’ uses the command specified in the ‘SPELL’

     environment variable.  If ‘SPELL’ is not set, and ‘--speller’ is

     not specified either, then ‘nano’ uses its own interactive spell

     corrector, which requires the GNU ‘spell’ program to be installed.

‘-t’

‘--tempfile’

     Don’t ask whether to save a modified buffer when exiting with ‘^X’,

     but assume yes.  This option is useful when ‘nano’ is used as the

     composer of a mailer program.

‘-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’

     Don’t allow the contents of the file to be altered.  Note that this

     option should NOT be used in place of correct file permissions to

     implement a read-only file.

‘-w’

‘--nowrap’

     Don’t hard-wrap long lines at any length.  This option conflicts

     with ‘-r’ (‘--fill’); the last one given takes effect.

‘-x’

‘--nohelp’

     Expert Mode: don’t show the Shortcut List at the bottom of the

     screen.  This affects the location of the status bar as well, as in

     Expert Mode it is located at the very bottom of the editor.

     Note: When accessing the help system, Expert Mode is temporarily

     disabled to display the help-system navigation keys.

‘-y’

‘--afterends’

     Make Ctrl+Right stop at word ends instead of beginnings.

‘-z’

‘--suspend’

     Enable the ability to suspend ‘nano’ using the system’s suspend

     keystroke (usually ‘^Z’).

‘-$’

‘--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.

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File: nano.info,  Node: Editor Basics,  Next: Built-in Help,  Prev: Command-line Options,  Up: Top

4 Editor Basics

***************

* Menu:

* Entering Text::

* Commands::

* The Cutbuffer::

* The Mark::

* Screen Layout::

* Search and Replace::

* Using the Mouse::

* Limitations::

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File: nano.info,  Node: Entering Text,  Next: Commands,  Up: Editor Basics

4.1 Entering Text

=================

‘nano’ is a "modeless" editor.  This means that all keystrokes, with the

exception of Control and Meta sequences, enter text into the file being

edited.

   Characters not present on the keyboard can be entered in two ways:

   • For characters with a single-byte code, pressing the Esc key twice

     and then typing a three-digit decimal number (from ‘000’ to ‘255’)

     will make ‘nano’ behave as if you typed the key with that value.

   • For any possible character, pressing ‘M-V’ (Alt+V) and then typing

     a six-digit hexadecimal number (starting with ‘0’ or ‘1’) will

     enter the corresponding Unicode character into the buffer.

   For example, typing ‘Esc Esc 2 3 4’ will enter the character "ê" —

useful when writing about a French party.  Typing ‘M-V 0 0 2 2 c 4’ will

enter the symbol "⋄", a little diamond.

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File: nano.info,  Node: Commands,  Next: The Cutbuffer,  Prev: Entering Text,  Up: Editor Basics

4.2 Commands

============

Commands are given by using the Control key (Ctrl, shown as ‘^’) or the

Meta key (Alt or Cmd, shown as ‘M-’).

   • A control-key sequence is entered by holding down the Ctrl key and

     pressing the desired key.

   • A meta-key sequence is entered by holding down the Meta key

     (normally the Alt key) and pressing the desired key.

   If for some reason on your system the combinations with Ctrl or Alt

do not work, you can generate them by using the Esc key.  A control-key

sequence is generated by pressing the Esc key twice and then pressing

the desired key, and a meta-key sequence by pressing the Esc key once

and then pressing the desired key.

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File: nano.info,  Node: The Cutbuffer,  Next: The Mark,  Prev: Commands,  Up: Editor Basics

4.3 The Cutbuffer

=================

Text can be cut from a file, a whole line at a time, by using the ’Cut

Text’ command (default key binding: ‘^K’).  The cut line is stored in

the cutbuffer.  Consecutive strokes of ‘^K’ will add each cut line to

this buffer, but a ‘^K’ after any other keystroke will overwrite the

entire cutbuffer.

   The contents of the cutbuffer can be pasted back into the file with

the ’Uncut Text’ command (default key binding: ‘^U’).

   A line of text can be copied into the cutbuffer (without cutting it)

with the ’Copy Text’ command (default key binding: ‘M-6’).

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File: nano.info,  Node: The Mark,  Next: Screen Layout,  Prev: The Cutbuffer,  Up: Editor Basics

4.4 The Mark

============

Text can be selected by first ’setting the Mark’ (default key bindings:

‘^6’ and ‘M-A’) and then moving the cursor to the other end of the

portion to be selected.  The selected portion of text will be

highlighted.  This selection can now be cut or copied in its entirety

with a single ‘^K’ or ‘M-6’.  Or the selection can be used to limit the

scope of a search-and-replace (‘^\’) or spell-checking session (‘^T’).

   On some terminals, it is also possible to select text by holding down

‘Shift’ together with the cursor keys.  Such a selection is cancelled

upon any cursor movement where ‘Shift’ isn’t held.

   Cutting or copying selected text will toggle the mark off

automatically.  If necessary, it can be toggled off manually with

another ‘^6’ or ‘M-A’.

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File: nano.info,  Node: Screen Layout,  Next: Search and Replace,  Prev: The Mark,  Up: Editor Basics

4.5 Screen Layout

=================

The default screen of nano consists of five areas.  From top to bottom

these are: the title bar, a blank line, the edit window, the status bar,

and two help lines.

   The title bar consists of three sections: left, center and right.

The section on the left displays the version of ‘nano’ being used.  The

center section displays the current filename, or "New Buffer" if the

file has not yet been named.  The section on the right displays

"Modified" if the file has been modified since it was last saved or

opened.

   The status bar is the third line from the bottom of the screen.  It

shows important and informational messages.  Any error messages that

occur from using the editor will appear on the status bar.  Any

questions that are asked of the user will be asked on the status bar,

and any user input (search strings, filenames, etc.)  will be input on

the status bar.

   The two help lines at the bottom of the screen show some of the most

essential functions of the editor.  These two lines are called the

Shortcut List.

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File: nano.info,  Node: Search and Replace,  Next: Using the Mouse,  Prev: Screen Layout,  Up: Editor Basics

4.6 Search and Replace

======================

One can search the current buffer for the occurrence of any string with

the Search command (default key binding: ‘^W’).  The default search mode

is forward, case-insensitive, and for literal strings.  But one can

search backwards by pressing ‘M-B’, search case sensitively with ‘M-C’,

and interpret regular expressions in the search string with ‘M-R’.

   A regular expression in a search string always covers just one line;

it cannot span multiple lines.  And when replacing (with ‘^\’ or ‘M-R’)

the replacement string cannot contain a newline (LF).

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File: nano.info,  Node: Using the Mouse,  Next: Limitations,  Prev: Search and Replace,  Up: Editor Basics

4.7 Using the Mouse

===================

When mouse support has been configured and enabled, a single mouse click

places the cursor at the indicated position.  Clicking a second time in

the same position toggles the mark.  Clicking in the shortcut list

executes the selected shortcut.  To be able to select text with the left

button, or paste text with the middle button, hold down the Shift key

during those actions.

   The mouse will work in the X Window System, and on the console when

gpm is running.

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File: nano.info,  Node: Limitations,  Prev: Using the Mouse,  Up: Editor Basics

4.8 Limitations

===============

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

does not by default distinguish modified from unmodified arrow keys.

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File: nano.info,  Node: Built-in Help,  Next: Feature Toggles,  Prev: Editor Basics,  Up: Top

5 Built-in Help

***************

The built-in help system in ‘nano’ is available by pressing ‘^G’.  It is

fairly self-explanatory.  It documents the various parts of the editor

and the available keystrokes.  Navigation is via the ‘^Y’ (Page Up) and

‘^V’ (Page Down) keys.  ‘^X’ exits from the help system.

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File: nano.info,  Node: Feature Toggles,  Next: Nanorc Files,  Prev: Built-in Help,  Up: Top

6 Feature Toggles

*****************

Toggles allow you to change on-the-fly certain aspects of the editor

which would normally be specified via command-line options.  They are

invoked via Meta-key sequences (*note Commands:: for more info).  The

following global toggles are available:

‘Backup Files’

     ‘Meta-B’ toggles the ‘-B’ (‘--backup’) command-line option.

‘Constant Cursor Position Display’

     ‘Meta-C’ toggles the ‘-c’ (‘--constantshow’) command-line option.

‘Multiple File Buffers’

     ‘Meta-F’ toggles the ‘-F’ (‘--multibuffer’) command-line option.

‘Smart Home Key’

     ‘Meta-H’ toggles the ‘-A’ (‘--smarthome’) command-line option.

‘Auto Indent’

     ‘Meta-I’ toggles the ‘-i’ (‘--autoindent’) command-line option.

‘Cut From Cursor To End-of-Line’

     ‘Meta-K’ toggles the ‘-k’ (‘--cutfromcursor’) command-line option.

‘Long-Line Wrapping’

     ‘Meta-L’ toggles the ‘-w’ (‘--nowrap’) command-line option.

‘Mouse Support’

     ‘Meta-M’ toggles the ‘-m’ (‘--mouse’) command-line option.

‘No Conversion From DOS/Mac Format’

     ‘Meta-N’ toggles the ‘-N’ (‘--noconvert’) command-line option.

‘More Space For Editing’

     ‘Meta-O’ toggles the ‘-O’ (‘--morespace’) command-line option.

‘Whitespace Display’

     ‘Meta-P’ toggles the displaying of whitespace (*note Whitespace::).

‘Tabs To Spaces’

     ‘Meta-Q’ toggles the ‘-E’ (‘--tabstospaces’) command-line option.

‘Smooth Scrolling’

     ‘Meta-S’ toggles the ‘-S’ (‘--smooth’) command-line option.

‘Expert/No Help’

     ‘Meta-X’ toggles the ‘-x’ (‘--nohelp’) command-line option.

‘Color Syntax Highlighting’

     ‘Meta-Y’ toggles color syntax highlighting (if your nanorc defines

     syntaxes — *note Syntax Highlighting::).

‘Suspension’

     ‘Meta-Z’ toggles the ‘-z’ (‘--suspend’) command-line option.

‘Line Numbers’

     ‘Meta-#’ toggles the ‘-l’ (‘--linenumbers’) command-line option.

‘Soft Wrapping’

     ‘Meta-$’ toggles the ‘-$’ (‘--softwrap’) command-line option.

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File: nano.info,  Node: Nanorc Files,  Next: The File Browser,  Prev: Feature Toggles,  Up: Top

7 Nanorc Files

**************

The nanorc files contain the default settings for ‘nano’.  They 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), and then the user-specific settings, either

from ‘~/.nanorc’ or from ‘$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nano/nanorc’ or from

‘.config/nano/nanorc’, whichever exists first.

   A nanorc 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 — *note Syntax Highlighting:: and *note

Rebinding Keys::.  ‘nano’ will read 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.

   Quotes inside 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 ‘}’.

* Menu:

* Settings::

* Syntax Highlighting::

* Rebinding Keys::

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File: nano.info,  Node: Settings,  Next: Syntax Highlighting,  Up: Nanorc Files

7.1 Settings

============

The supported settings in a nanorc file are:

‘set afterends’

     Make Ctrl+Right stop at word ends instead of beginnings.

‘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’

     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).

‘set backup’

     When saving a file, back up the previous version of it, using the

     current filename suffixed with a tilde (‘~’).

‘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 ‘set 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 on the status bar.  Note

     that this overrides ‘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 errorcolor FGCOLOR,BGCOLOR’

     Use this color combination for the status bar when an error message

     is displayed.  *Note set functioncolor:: for valid color names.

‘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’

     Use this color combination for the concise function descriptions in

     the two help lines at the bottom of the screen.  Valid names for

     foreground and background color are: ‘white’, ‘black’, ‘blue’,

     ‘green’, ‘red’, ‘cyan’, ‘yellow’, ‘magenta’, and ‘normal’ — where

     ‘normal’ means the default foreground or background color.  The

     name of the foreground color may be prefixed with ‘bright’.  And

     either FGCOLOR or ,BGCOLOR may be left out.

‘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’

     Use this color combination for the shortcut key combos in the two

     help lines at the bottom of the screen.  *Note set functioncolor::

     for valid color names.

‘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, so that mouse clicks can be used to place the

     cursor, set the mark (with a double click), or execute shortcuts.

‘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 help lists at the bottom of the screen.

‘set nonewlines’

     When a file does not end with a newline, don’t automatically add

     one.

‘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’

     Use this color combination for line numbers.  *Note set

     functioncolor:: for valid color names.

‘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.

‘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

     specified closing punctuation, optionally followed by closing

     brackets (see ‘set 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.  Note that ‘constantshow’

     overrides this.

‘set quiet’

     Obsolete option.  Recognized but ignored.

‘set quotestr "REGEX"’

     The email-quote string, used to justify email-quoted paragraphs.

     This is an extended regular expression.  The default value is

     "^([ \t]*([#:>|}]|//))+".  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’

     Use this color combination for selected text.  *Note set

     functioncolor:: for valid color names.

‘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 "PROGRAM"’

     Use the given program to do spell checking and correcting.  *Note

     --speller:: for details.

‘set statuscolor FGCOLOR,BGCOLOR’

     Use this color combination for the status bar.  *Note set

     functioncolor:: for valid color names.

‘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’

     Use this color combination for the title bar.  *Note set

     functioncolor:: for valid color names.

‘set trimblanks’

     Remove trailing whitespace from wrapped lines when automatic

     hard-wrapping occurs or when text is justified.  (The old form of