nano/doc/nano.1

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.TH NANO 1 "version 8.1" "July 2024"

.SH NAME
nano \- Nano's ANOther text editor, inspired by Pico

.SH SYNOPSIS
.B nano
.RI [ options "] [[\fB+" line [\fB, column "]] " file ]...
.sp
.BR nano " [" \fIoptions "] [[" + [ crCR ]{ / | ? } \fIstring "] " \fIfile ]...

.SH NOTICE
Since version 8.0, to be newcomer friendly, \fB^F\fR starts a forward search,
\fB^B\fR starts a backward search, \fBM\-F\fR searches the next occurrence
forward, and \fBM\-B\fR searches the next occurrence backward.  If you want
those keystrokes to do what they did before version 8.0, add the following
lines at the end of your \fInanorc\fR file:
.sp
.RS 4
.B bind ^F forward main
.br
.B bind ^B back main
.br
.B bind M\-F formatter main
.br
.B bind M\-B linter main
.RE
.sp

.SH DESCRIPTION
\fBnano\fP is a small and friendly text 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.
.sp
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 (\fB+\fR) 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.
.sp
The cursor can be put on the first or last occurrence of a specific string
by specifying that string after \fB+/\fR or \fB+?\fR before the filename.
The string can be made case sensitive and/or caused to be interpreted as a
regular expression by inserting \fBc\fR and/or \fBr\fR after the \fB+\fR sign.
These search modes can be explicitly disabled by using the uppercase variant
of those letters: \fBC\fR and/or \fBR\fR.  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:
.sp
.RS 4
.BI "nano +c/Foo " file
.RE
.sp
As a special case: if instead of a filename a dash (\fB\-\fR) is given,
\fBnano\fR will read data from standard input.

.SH 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 \fB^K\fR deletes the current line and puts it in the cutbuffer.
Consecutive \fB^K\fRs put all deleted lines together in the cutbuffer.
Any cursor movement or executing any other command causes the next
\fB^K\fR to overwrite the cutbuffer.  A \fB^U\fR pastes the current
contents of the cutbuffer at the current cursor position.
.sp
When a more precise piece of text needs to be cut or copied, you can mark
its start with \fB^6\fR, move the cursor to its end (the marked text is
highlighted), and then use \fB^K\fR to cut it, or \fBM\-6\fR to copy it to
the cutbuffer.  You can also save the marked text to a file with \fB^O\fR,
or spell check it with \fB^T^T\fR.
.sp
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 increases
the stride.
Any cursor movement without Shift being held cancels such a selection.
.sp
Any valid Unicode code point can be inserted into the buffer by typing
\fBM\-V\fR followed by the hexadecimal digits of the code point (concluded
with \fB<Space>\fR or \fB<Enter>\fR when it are fewer than six digits).
A literal control code (except \fB^J\fR) can be inserted by typing
\fBM\-V\fR followed by the pertinent keystroke.
.sp
The two lines at the bottom of the screen show some important commands;
the built-in help (\fB^G\fR) lists all the available ones.
The default key bindings can be changed via a \fInanorc\fR file -- see
.BR nanorc (5).

.\" Never hyphenate these:
.hw ncurses terminfo

.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.BR \-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 jumps
to that beginning (either forwards or backwards).  If the cursor is
already at that position, it jumps to the true beginning of the line.
.TP
.BR \-B ", " \-\-backup
When saving a file, back up the previous version of it, using the current
filename suffixed with a tilde (\fB~\fP).
.TP
.BR \-C\ \fIdirectory ", " \-\-backupdir= \fIdirectory
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 (\fB\-B\fR).
The uniquely numbered files are stored in the specified \fIdirectory\fR.
.TP
.BR \-D ", " \-\-boldtext
For the interface, use bold instead of reverse video.
This can be overridden for specific elements by setting the options
\fBtitlecolor\fP, \fBstatuscolor\fP, \fBpromptcolor\fP, \fBminicolor\fP,
\fBkeycolor\fP, \fBnumbercolor\fP, and/or \fBselectedcolor\fP in your
nanorc file.  See \fBnanorc\fR(5).
.TP
.BR \-E ", " \-\-tabstospaces
Convert each typed tab to spaces -- to the number of spaces
that a tab at that position would take up.
(Note: pasted tabs are not converted.)
.TP
.BR \-F ", " \-\-multibuffer
Read a file into a new buffer by default.
.TP
.BR \-G ", " \-\-locking
Use vim-style file locking when editing files.
.TP
.BR \-H ", " \-\-historylog
Save the last hundred search strings and replacement strings and
executed commands, so they can be easily reused in later sessions.
.TP
.BR \-I ", " \-\-ignorercfiles
Don't look at the system's \fInanorc\fR nor at the user's \fInanorc\fR.
.TP
.BR \-J\ \fInumber ", " \-\-guidestripe= \fInumber
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 \fBset stripecolor\fR
in your \fInanorc\fR file.)
.TP
.BR \-K ", " \-\-rawsequences
Interpret escape sequences directly, instead of asking \fBncurses\fR
to translate them.  (If you need this option to get some keys to work
properly, it means that the \fBterminfo\fR 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 \fBnano\fR's mouse support.
.TP
.BR \-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.)
.TP
.BR \-M ", " \-\-trimblanks
Snip trailing whitespace from the wrapped line when automatic
hard-wrapping occurs or when text is justified.
.TP
.BR \-N ", " \-\-noconvert
Disable automatic conversion of files from DOS/Mac format.
.TP
.BR \-O ", " \-\-bookstyle
When justifying, treat any line that starts with whitespace as the
beginning of a paragraph (unless auto-indenting is on).
.TP
.BR \-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.
.TP
.BR "\-Q ""\fIregex\fB""" ", " "\-\-quotestr=""" \fIregex """
Set the regular expression for matching the quoting part of a line.
The default value is "\fB^([\ \\t]*([!#%:;>|}]|//))+\fR".
(Note that \fB\\t\fP 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.
.TP
.BR \-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 \fBnano\fP
with any name beginning with 'r' (e.g. "rnano").
.TP
.BR \-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 \fB\-\-atblanks\fR.)
.TP
.BR \-T\ \fInumber ", " \-\-tabsize= \fInumber
Set the size (width) of a tab to \fInumber\fP columns.  The value of
\fInumber\fR must be greater than 0.  The default value is \fB8\fR.
.TP
.BR \-U ", " \-\-quickblank
Make status-bar messages disappear after 1 keystroke instead of after 20.
Note that option \fB\-c\fR (\fB\-\-constantshow\fR) overrides this.
When option \fB\-\-minibar\fR or \fB\-\-zero\fR is in effect,
\fB\-\-quickblank\fR makes a message disappear after
0.8 seconds instead of after the default 1.5 seconds.
.
.TP
.BR \-V ", " \-\-version
Show the current version number and exit.
.TP
.BR \-W ", " \-\-wordbounds
Detect word boundaries differently by treating punctuation
characters as part of a word.
.TP
.BR "\-X ""\fIcharacters\fB""" ", " "\-\-wordchars=""" \fIcharacters """
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 \fB\-W\fR (\fB\-\-wordbounds\fR).
.TP
.BR \-Y\ \fIname ", " \-\-syntax= \fIname
Specify the name of the syntax highlighting to use from among the ones
defined in the \fInanorc\fP files.
.TP
.BR \-Z ", " \-\-zap
Let an unmodified Backspace or Delete erase the marked region
(instead of a single character, and without affecting the cutbuffer).
.TP
.BR \-a ", " \-\-atblanks
When doing soft line wrapping, wrap lines at whitespace
instead of always at the edge of the screen.
.TP
.BR \-b ", " \-\-breaklonglines
Automatically hard-wrap the current line when it becomes overlong.
(This option is the opposite of \fB\-w\fR (\fB\-\-nowrap\fR) --
the last one given takes effect.)
.TP
.BR \-c ", " \-\-constantshow
Constantly show the cursor position on the status bar.
Note that this overrides option \fB\-U\fR (\fB\-\-quickblank\fR).
.TP
.BR \-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.
.TP
.BR \-e ", " \-\-emptyline
Do not use the line below the title bar, leaving it entirely blank.
.TP
.BR \-f\ \fIfile ", " \-\-rcfile= \fIfile
Read only this \fIfile\fR for setting nano's options, instead of reading
both the system-wide and the user's nanorc files.
.TP
.BR \-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.
.TP
.BR \-h ", " \-\-help
Show a summary of the available command-line options and exit.
.TP
.BR \-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).
.TP
.BR \-j ", " \-\-jumpyscrolling
Scroll the buffer contents per half-screen instead of per line.
.TP
.BR \-k ", " \-\-cutfromcursor
Make the 'Cut Text' command (normally \fB^K\fR) cut from the current cursor
position to the end of the line, instead of cutting the entire line.
.TP
.BR \-l ", " \-\-linenumbers
Display line numbers to the left of the text area.
(Any line with an anchor additionally gets a mark in the margin.)
.TP
.BR \-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 works 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.
.TP
.BR \-n ", " \-\-noread
Treat any name given on the command line as a new file.  This allows
\fBnano\fR to write to named pipes: it starts with a blank buffer,
and writes to the pipe when the user saves the "file".  This way
\fBnano\fR can be used as an editor in combination with for instance
\fBgpg\fR without having to write sensitive data to disk first.
.TP
.BR \-o\ \fIdirectory ", " \-\-operatingdir= \fIdirectory
Set the operating directory.  This makes \fBnano\fP set up something
similar to a chroot.
.TP
.BR \-p ", " \-\-preserve
Preserve the XOFF and XON sequences (\fB^S\fR and \fB^Q\fR) so that
they are caught by the terminal (stopping and resuming the output).
Note that option \fB\-/\fR (\fB\-\-modernbindings\fR) overrides this.
.TP
.BR \-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.
.TP
.BR \-r\ \fInumber ", " \-\-fill= \fInumber
Set the target width for justifying and automatic hard-wrapping at this
\fInumber\fR of columns.  If the value is 0 or less, wrapping occurs
at the width of the screen minus \fInumber\fR columns, allowing the wrap
point to vary along with the width of the screen if the screen is resized.
The default value is \fB\-8\fR.
.TP
.B "\-s ""\fIprogram\fR [\fIargument \fR...]\fB""\fR, \fB\-\-speller=""\fIprogram\fR [\fIargument \fR...]\fB"""
Use this command to perform spell checking and correcting, instead of
using the built-in corrector that calls \fBhunspell\fR(1) or \fBspell\fR(1).
.TP
.BR \-t ", " \-\-saveonexit
Save a changed buffer without prompting (when exiting with \fB^X\fR).
.TP
.BR \-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 \fB\-\-noconvert\fR.)
.TP
.BR \-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 \fB\-\-restricted\fR is given too.
.TP
.BR \-w ", " \-\-nowrap
Do not automatically hard-wrap the current line when it becomes overlong.
This is the default.  (This option is the opposite of \fB\-b\fR
(\fB\-\-breaklonglines\fR) -- the last one given takes effect.)
.TP
.BR \-x ", " \-\-nohelp
Don't show the two help lines at the bottom of the screen.
.TP
.BR \-y ", " \-\-afterends
Make Ctrl+Right and Ctrl+Delete stop at word ends instead of beginnings.
.TP
.BR \-z ", " \-\-listsyntaxes
List the names of the available syntaxes and exit.
.TP
.BR \-! ", " \-\-magic
When neither the file's name nor its first line give a clue,
try using libmagic to determine the applicable syntax.
.TP
.BR \-@ ", " \-\-colonparsing
When a filename given on the command line ends in a colon plus digits
and this filename does not exist, then snip the colon plus digits and
understand the digits as a line number.  If the trimmed filename does
not exist either, then repeat the process and understand the obtained
two numbers as line and column number.  But if the doubly trimmed
filename does not exist either, then forget the trimming and accept
the original filename as is.  To disable this colon parsing for some
file, use \fB+1\fR or similar before the relevant filename.
.TP
.BR \-% ", " \-\-stateflags
Use the top-right corner of the screen for showing some state flags:
\fBI\fR when auto-indenting, \fBM\fR when the mark is on, \fBL\fR when
hard-wrapping (breaking long lines), \fBR\fR when recording a macro,
and \fBS\fR when soft-wrapping.
When the buffer is modified, a star (\fB*\fR) is shown after the
filename in the center of the title bar.
.TP
.BR \-_ ", " \-\-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 "mini bar" 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 \fB\-\-stateflags\fR, 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
\fB\-\-constantshow\fR is used, and can be toggled on and off with \fBM\-C\fR.
The state flags are displayed only when \fB\-\-stateflags\fR is used.
.TP
.BR \-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 \fBM\-Z\fR the title bar plus status bar can be toggled.
With \fBM\-X\fR the help lines.
.TP
.BR \-/ ", " \-\-modernbindings
Use key bindings similar to the ones that most modern programs use:
\fB^X\fR cuts, \fB^C\fR copies, \fB^V\fR pastes,
\fB^Z\fR undoes, \fB^Y\fR redoes,
\fB^F\fR searches forward, \fB^G\fR searches next,
\fB^S\fR saves, \fB^O\fR opens a file, \fB^Q\fR quits,
and (when the terminal permits) \fB^H\fR shows help.
Furthermore, \fB^A\fR sets the mark,
\fB^R\fR makes replacements, \fB^D\fR searches previous,
\fB^P\fR shows the position, \fB^T\fR goes to a line,
\fB^W\fR writes out a file, and \fB^E\fR executes a command.
Note that this overrides option \fB\-p\fR (\fB\-\-preserve\fR).

.SH TOGGLES
Several of the above options can be switched on and off also while
\fBnano\fR is running.  For example, \fBM\-L\fR toggles the
hard-wrapping of long lines, \fBM\-S\fR toggles soft-wrapping,
\fBM\-N\fR toggles line numbers, \fBM\-M\fR toggles the mouse,
\fBM\-I\fR auto-indentation, and \fBM\-X\fR the help lines.
See at the end of the \fB^G\fR help text for a complete list.
.sp
The \fBM\-X\fR toggle is special: it works in all menus except
the help viewer and the linter.  All other toggles work in
the main menu only.

.SH FILES
When \fB\-\-rcfile\fR is given, \fBnano\fR reads just the specified file
for setting its options and syntaxes and key bindings.  Without that
option, \fBnano\fR reads two configuration files: first the system's
\fInanorc\fR (if it exists), and then the user's \fInanorc\fR (if it
exists), either \fI~/.nanorc\fR or \fI$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nano/nanorc\fR
or \fI~/.config/nano/nanorc\fR, whichever is encountered first.  See
.BR nanorc (5)
for more information on the possible contents of those files.
.sp
See \fI/usr/share/nano/\fR and \fI/usr/share/nano/extra/\fR
for available syntax-coloring definitions.

.SH NOTES
Suspension is enabled by default, reachable via \fB^T^Z\fR.
(If you want a plain \fB^Z\fR to suspend nano, add
\fBbind ^Z suspend main\fR to your nanorc.)
.sp
At a Yes-No prompt, \fB^Y\fR can be used for "Yes", \fB^N\fR for "No",
and \fB^A\fR for "All".  These unlisted bindings work in any locale.
.sp
When you want to copy marked text from \fBnano\fR to the system's clipboard,
see one of the examples in the \fBnanorc\fR(5) man page.
.sp
If no alternative spell checker command is specified on the command
line nor in one of the \fInanorc\fP files, \fBnano\fP checks the
\fBSPELL\fP environment variable for one.
.sp
In some cases \fBnano\fP tries to dump the buffer into an emergency file.
This happens mainly if \fBnano\fP receives a SIGHUP or SIGTERM or runs out
of memory.  It writes the buffer into a file named \fInano.save\fP if the
buffer didn't have a name already, or adds a ".save" suffix to the current
filename.  If an emergency file with that name already exists in the
current directory, it adds ".save" plus a number (e.g.\& ".save.1") to
the current filename in order to make it unique.  In multibuffer mode,
\fBnano\fP writes all open buffers to their respective emergency files.
.sp
If you have any question about how to use \fBnano\fR in some specific
situation, you can ask on \fIhelp-nano@gnu.org\fR.

.SH 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.
.sp
Please report any other bugs that you encounter via:
.br
.IR https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=nano .
.sp
When nano crashes, it saves 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 \fBNANO_NOCATCH\fR.

.SH HOMEPAGE
.I https://nano\-editor.org/

.SH SEE ALSO
.BR nanorc (5)
.sp
\fI/usr/share/doc/nano/\fP (or equivalent on your system)