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<h1 align="center">NANO</h1>
<a href="#NAME">NAME</a><br>
<a href="#SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a><br>
<a href="#DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a><br>
<a href="#EDITING">EDITING</a><br>
<a href="#OPTIONS">OPTIONS</a><br>
<a href="#TOGGLES">TOGGLES</a><br>
<a href="#INITIALIZATION FILE">INITIALIZATION FILE</a><br>
<a href="#NOTES">NOTES</a><br>
<a href="#BUGS">BUGS</a><br>
<a href="#HOMEPAGE">HOMEPAGE</a><br>
<a href="#SEE ALSO">SEE ALSO</a><br>
<a href="#AUTHOR">AUTHOR</a><br>
<hr>
<h2>NAME
<a name="NAME"></a>
</h2>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em">nano −
Nano’s ANOther editor, an enhanced free Pico clone</p>
<h2>SYNOPSIS
<a name="SYNOPSIS"></a>
</h2>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em"><b>nano</b>
[<i>options</i>]
[[+<i>line</i>[,<i>column</i>]] <i>file</i>]...</p>
<h2>DESCRIPTION
<a name="DESCRIPTION"></a>
</h2>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em"><b>nano</b> 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.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em">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
(<b>+</b>) before the filename, and even in a specific
column by adding it with a comma.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em">As a special
case: if instead of a filename a dash (<b>−</b>) is
given, <b>nano</b> will read data from standard input.</p>
<h2>EDITING
<a name="EDITING"></a>
</h2>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em">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 <b>^K</b> deletes the current line
and puts it in the cutbuffer. Consecutive <b>^K</b>s will
put all deleted lines together in the cutbuffer. Any cursor
movement or executing any other command will cause the next
<b>^K</b> to overwrite the cutbuffer. A <b>^U</b> will paste
the current contents of the cutbuffer at the current cursor
position.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em">When a more
precise piece of text needs to be cut or copied, one can
mark its start with <b>^6</b>, move the cursor to its end
(the marked text will be highlighted), and then use
<b>^K</b> to cut it, or <b>M−6</b> to copy it to the
cutbuffer. One can also save the marked text to a file with
<b>^O</b>, or spell check it with <b>^T</b>.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em">On some
terminals, text can be selected also by holding down Shift
while using the arrow keys. Holding down the Alt key too
will increase the stride. Any cursor movement without Shift
being held will cancel such a selection.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em">The two lines
at the bottom of the screen show some important commands;
the built-in help (<b>^G</b>) lists all the available ones.
The default key bindings can be changed via a <i>nanorc</i>
file -- see <b>nanorc</b>(5).</p>
<h2>OPTIONS
<a name="OPTIONS"></a>
</h2>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em"><b>−A</b>,
<b>−−smarthome</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">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.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−B</b>,
<b>−−backup</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">When saving a file, back up the
previous version of it, using the current filename suffixed
with a tilde (<b>~</b>).</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−C </b><i>directory</i>,
<b>−−backupdir=</b><i>directory</i></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">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>−B</b>). The uniquely numbered files are stored in
the specified <i>directory</i>.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−D</b>,
<b>−−boldtext</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Use bold text instead of
reverse video text.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−E</b>,
<b>−−tabstospaces</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Convert typed tabs to
spaces.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−F</b>,
<b>−−multibuffer</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Read a file into a new buffer
by default.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−G</b>,
<b>−−locking</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Use vim-style file locking when
editing files.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−H</b>,
<b>−−historylog</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Save the last hundred search
strings and replacement strings and executed commands, so
they can be easily reused in later sessions.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−I</b>,
<b>−−ignorercfiles</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Don’t look at the
system’s <i>nanorc</i> nor at the user’s
<i>nanorc</i>.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−K</b>,
<b>−−rebindkeypad</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">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.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−L</b>,
<b>−−nonewlines</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Don’t automatically add a
newline when a file does not end with one.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−M</b>,
<b>−−trimblanks</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Snip trailing whitespace from
the wrapped line when automatic hard-wrapping occurs or when
text is justified.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−N</b>,
<b>−−noconvert</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Disable automatic conversion of
files from DOS/Mac format.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−O</b>,
<b>−−morespace</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Use the blank line below the
title bar as extra editing space.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−P</b>,
<b>−−positionlog</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">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.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−Q
"</b><i>regex</i><b>"</b>,
<b>−−quotestr="</b><i>regex</i><b>"</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Set the regular expression for
matching the quoting part of a line. This is used when
justifying. The default value is
<b>"^([ \t]*([#:>|}]|//))+"</b>. Note that
<b>\t</b> stands for an actual Tab.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−R</b>,
<b>−−restricted</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Restricted mode: don’t
read or write to any file not specified on the command line;
don’t read any <i>nanorc</i> 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 <b>nano</b> with any name beginning with
’r’ (e.g. "rnano").</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−S</b>,
<b>−−smooth</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Use smooth scrolling: text will
scroll line-by-line, instead of the usual chunk-by-chunk
behavior.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−T </b><i>number</i>,
<b>−−tabsize=</b><i>number</i></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Set the size (width) of a tab
to <i>number</i> columns. The value of <i>number</i> must be
greater than 0. The default value is 8.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−U</b>,
<b>−−quickblank</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Do quick status-bar blanking:
status-bar messages will disappear after 1 keystroke instead
of 25. Note that option <b>−c</b>
(<b>−−constantshow</b>) overrides this.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−V</b>,
<b>−−version</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Show the current version number
and exit.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−W</b>,
<b>−−wordbounds</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Detect word boundaries
differently by treating punctuation characters as part of a
word.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−X
"</b><i>characters</i><b>"</b>,
<b>−−wordchars="</b><i>characters</i><b>"</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Specify which other characters
(besides the normal alphanumeric ones) should be considered
as part of a word. This overrides option <b>−W</b>
(<b>−−wordbounds</b>).</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−Y </b><i>name</i>,
<b>−−syntax=</b><i>name</i></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Specify the name of the syntax
highlighting to use from among the ones defined in the
<i>nanorc</i> files.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−a</b>,
<b>−−atblanks</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">When doing soft line wrapping,
wrap lines at whitespace instead of always at the edge of
the screen.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−c</b>,
<b>−−constantshow</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Constantly show the cursor
position on the status bar. Note that this overrides option
<b>−U</b> (<b>−−quickblank</b>).</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−d</b>,
<b>−−rebinddelete</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">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.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−g</b>,
<b>−−showcursor</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Make the cursor visible in the
file browser, putting it on the highlighted item. Useful for
braille users.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−h</b>,
<b>−−help</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Show a summary of the available
command-line options and exit.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−i</b>,
<b>−−autoindent</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">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).</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−k</b>,
<b>−−cutfromcursor</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Make the ’Cut Text’
command (normally <b>^K</b>) cut from the current cursor
position to the end of the line, instead of cutting the
entire line.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−l</b>,
<b>−−linenumbers</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Display line numbers to the
left of the text area.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−m</b>,
<b>−−mouse</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">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.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−n</b>,
<b>−−noread</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Treat any name given on the
command line as a new file. This allows <b>nano</b> 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 <b>nano</b> can be used as an editor in combination
with for instance <b>gpg</b> without having to write
sensitive data to disk first.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−o </b><i>directory</i>,
<b>−−operatingdir=</b><i>directory</i></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Set the operating directory.
This makes <b>nano</b> set up something similar to a
chroot.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−p</b>,
<b>−−preserve</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Preserve the XON and XOFF
sequences (^Q and ^S) so they will be caught by the
terminal.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−q</b>,
<b>−−quiet</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Obsolete option. Recognized but
ignored.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−r </b><i>number</i>,
<b>−−fill=</b><i>number</i></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Hard-wrap lines at column
<i>number</i>. If this value is 0 or less, wrapping will
occur at the width of the screen less <i>number</i> columns,
allowing the wrap point to vary along with the width of the
screen if the screen is resized. The default value is
−8. This option conflicts with <b>−w</b>
(<b>−−nowrap</b>) -- the last one given takes
effect.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−s </b><i>program</i>,
<b>−−speller=</b><i>program</i></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Use this alternative spell
checker command.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−t</b>,
<b>−−tempfile</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Save a changed buffer without
prompting (when exiting with <b>^X</b>).</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−u</b>,
<b>−−unix</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">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
<b>−−noconvert</b>.)</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−v</b>,
<b>−−view</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Just view the file and disallow
editing: read-only mode.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−w</b>,
<b>−−nowrap</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Disable the hard-wrapping of
long lines. This option conflicts with <b>−r</b>
(<b>−−fill</b>) -- the last one given takes
effect.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−x</b>,
<b>−−nohelp</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Don’t show the two help
lines at the bottom of the screen.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−y</b>,
<b>−−afterends</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Make Ctrl+Right stop at word
ends instead of beginnings.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−z</b>,
<b>−−suspend</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Enable the suspend ability.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−$</b>,
<b>−−softwrap</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Enable ’soft
wrapping’. This will make <b>nano</b> attempt to
display the entire contents of any line, even if it is
longer than the screen width, by continuing it over multiple
screen lines. Since ’$’ normally refers to a
variable in the Unix shell, you should specify this option
last when using other options (e.g. ’nano
−wS$’) or pass it separately (e.g. ’nano
−wS −$’).</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%;"><b>−b</b>,
<b>−e</b>, <b>−f</b>, <b>−j</b></p>
<p style="margin-left:22%;">Ignored, for compatibility with
Pico.</p>
<h2>TOGGLES
<a name="TOGGLES"></a>
</h2>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em">Several of the
above options can be switched on and off also while
<b>nano</b> is running. For example, <b>M−L</b>
toggles the hard-wrapping of long lines, <b>M−$</b>
toggles soft-wrapping, <b>M−#</b> toggles line
numbers, <b>M−M</b> toggles the mouse,
<b>M−I</b> auto-indentation, and <b>M−X</b> the
help lines. See at the end of the <b>^G</b> help text for a
complete list.</p>
<h2>INITIALIZATION FILE
<a name="INITIALIZATION FILE"></a>
</h2>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em"><b>nano</b>
will read two configuration files: first the system’s
<i>nanorc</i> (if it exists), and then the user’s
<i>nanorc</i> (if it exists), either <b>~/.nanorc</b> or
<i>$XDG_CONFIG_HOME</i><b>/nano/nanorc</b> or
<b>~/.config/nano/nanorc</b>, whichever is encountered
first. See <b>nanorc</b>(5) for more information on the
possible contents of those files.</p>
<h2>NOTES
<a name="NOTES"></a>
</h2>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em">If no
alternative spell checker command is specified on the
command line nor in one of the <i>nanorc</i> files,
<b>nano</b> will check the <b>SPELL</b> environment variable
for one.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em">In some cases
<b>nano</b> will try to dump the buffer into an emergency
file. This will happen mainly if <b>nano</b> receives a
SIGHUP or SIGTERM or runs out of memory. It will write the
buffer into a file named <i>nano.save</i> 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, <b>nano</b> will write
all the open buffers to their respective emergency
files.</p>
<h2>BUGS
<a name="BUGS"></a>
</h2>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em">Justifications
(<b>^J</b>) 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.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em">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.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em">Please report
any other bugs that you encounter via: <i><br>
https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=nano</i>.</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em">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
<b>NANO_NOCATCH</b>.</p>
<h2>HOMEPAGE
<a name="HOMEPAGE"></a>
</h2>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em"><i>https://nano-editor.org/</i></p>
<h2>SEE ALSO
<a name="SEE ALSO"></a>
</h2>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em"><i><b>nanorc</b></i>(5)</p>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em"><i>/usr/share/doc/nano/</i>
(or equivalent on your system)</p>
<h2>AUTHOR
<a name="AUTHOR"></a>
</h2>
<p style="margin-left:11%; margin-top: 1em">Chris
Allegretta and others (see the files <i>AUTHORS</i> and
<i>THANKS</i> for details). This manual page was originally
written by Jordi Mallach for the Debian system (but may be
used by others).</p>
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