Repository: madnight/nano Branch: master Commit: 6f9f08306df9 Files: 141 Total size: 4.8 MB Directory structure: gitextract_34l9jbph/ ├── .github/ │ └── workflows/ │ └── fetch.yml ├── .gitignore ├── AUTHORS ├── COPYING ├── COPYING.DOC ├── ChangeLog ├── ChangeLog.1999-2006 ├── ChangeLog.2007-2015 ├── IMPROVEMENTS ├── Makefile.am ├── NEWS ├── README ├── README.hacking ├── THANKS ├── TODO ├── autogen.sh ├── configure.ac ├── doc/ │ ├── .gitignore │ ├── Makefile.am │ ├── cheatsheet.html │ ├── faq.html │ ├── nano.1 │ ├── nano.texi │ ├── nanorc.5 │ ├── rnano.1 │ └── sample.nanorc.in ├── m4/ │ ├── Makefile.am │ ├── ac_define_dir.m4 │ └── ax_check_compile_flag.m4 ├── nano-regress ├── po/ │ ├── .gitignore │ ├── LINGUAS │ ├── Makevars │ ├── POTFILES.in │ ├── ar.po │ ├── bg.po │ ├── ca.po │ ├── cs.po │ ├── da.po │ ├── de.po │ ├── eo.po │ ├── es.po │ ├── eu.po │ ├── fi.po │ ├── fr.po │ ├── ga.po │ ├── gl.po │ ├── hr.po │ ├── hu.po │ ├── id.po │ ├── is.po │ ├── it.po │ ├── ja.po │ ├── ka.po │ ├── kk.po │ ├── ko.po │ ├── ms.po │ ├── nano.pot │ ├── nb.po │ ├── nl.po │ ├── pl.po │ ├── pt.po │ ├── pt_BR.po │ ├── ro.po │ ├── ru.po │ ├── sk.po │ ├── sl.po │ ├── sq.po │ ├── sr.po │ ├── sv.po │ ├── tr.po │ ├── uk.po │ ├── update_linguas.sh │ ├── vi.po │ ├── zh_CN.po │ └── zh_TW.po ├── roll-a-release.sh ├── src/ │ ├── Makefile.am │ ├── browser.c │ ├── chars.c │ ├── color.c │ ├── cut.c │ ├── definitions.h │ ├── files.c │ ├── global.c │ ├── help.c │ ├── history.c │ ├── move.c │ ├── nano.c │ ├── prompt.c │ ├── prototypes.h │ ├── rcfile.c │ ├── search.c │ ├── text.c │ ├── utils.c │ └── winio.c └── syntax/ ├── Makefile.am ├── asm.nanorc ├── autoconf.nanorc ├── awk.nanorc ├── c.nanorc ├── changelog.nanorc ├── cmake.nanorc ├── css.nanorc ├── default.nanorc ├── email.nanorc ├── extra/ │ ├── ada.nanorc │ ├── fortran.nanorc │ ├── haskell.nanorc │ ├── povray.nanorc │ └── spec.nanorc ├── go.nanorc ├── groff.nanorc ├── guile.nanorc ├── html.nanorc ├── java.nanorc ├── javascript.nanorc ├── json.nanorc ├── lua.nanorc ├── makefile.nanorc ├── man.nanorc ├── markdown.nanorc ├── nanohelp.nanorc ├── nanorc.nanorc ├── nftables.nanorc ├── objc.nanorc ├── ocaml.nanorc ├── patch.nanorc ├── perl.nanorc ├── php.nanorc ├── po.nanorc ├── python.nanorc ├── ruby.nanorc ├── rust.nanorc ├── sh.nanorc ├── sql.nanorc ├── tcl.nanorc ├── tex.nanorc ├── texinfo.nanorc ├── xml.nanorc └── yaml.nanorc ================================================ FILE CONTENTS ================================================ ================================================ FILE: .github/workflows/fetch.yml ================================================ name: Fetch-upstream on: schedule: - cron: '0 0 * * 1' workflow_dispatch: jobs: fetch: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v2 with: fetch-depth: '5' - name: Fetch upstream (dirty hacks) run: | mv .github .github~ # hide it from git git reset --hard HEAD~3 git pull git://git.savannah.gnu.org/nano.git mv .github~ .github - name: Commit this script run: | git add . git -c user.email='mail@beuke.org' -c user.name='Fabian Beuke' commit \ -m 'Merge pull request #9 from davidhcefx/patch-3' git push --force ================================================ FILE: .gitignore ================================================ *~ *.bak *.o *.orig *.patch *.swp .deps .libs Makefile Makefile.in core .gdb_history .gdbinit /src/nano /src/revision.h /ABOUT-NLS /INSTALL /aclocal.m4 /ar-lib /autom4te.cache /compile /config.cache /config.guess /config.h /config.h.in /config.log /config.rpath /config.status /config.sub /configure /depcomp /install-sh /intl /missing /mkinstalldirs /stamp-h1 # Gettext m4 files: /m4/codeset.m4 /m4/extern-inline.m4 /m4/fcntl-o.m4 /m4/gettext.m4 /m4/glibc2.m4 /m4/glibc21.m4 /m4/host-cpu-c-abi.m4 /m4/iconv.m4 /m4/intdiv0.m4 /m4/intl.m4 /m4/intldir.m4 /m4/intlmacosx.m4 /m4/intmax.m4 /m4/inttypes-pri.m4 /m4/inttypes_h.m4 /m4/lcmessage.m4 /m4/lib-ld.m4 /m4/lib-link.m4 /m4/lib-prefix.m4 /m4/lock.m4 /m4/longlong.m4 /m4/nls.m4 /m4/po.m4 /m4/printf-posix.m4 /m4/progtest.m4 /m4/size_max.m4 /m4/stdint_h.m4 /m4/threadlib.m4 /m4/uintmax_t.m4 /m4/visibility.m4 /m4/wchar_t.m4 /m4/wint_t.m4 /m4/xsize.m4 # Gnulib stuff: /gnulib/ /lib/ /m4/.gitignore /m4/gnulib-cache.m4 /snippet/ ================================================ FILE: AUTHORS ================================================ This file lists people who have made significant contributions to the nano editor. Please see the ChangeLog for specific changes by author. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Chris Allegretta * Original program author and long-time maintainer. Benno Schulenberg * An array of small bug fixes, the cut-word and block-jump routines, text selection by holding Shift, macro recording and replay, extra key bindings, the --indicator, --minibar, and --zero options, and braced functions in string binds. Current maintainer. David Lawrence Ramsey * Multiple-buffer support, operating-dir option (-o), bug fixes for display routines, wrapping code, spelling fixes, parts of UTF-8 support, softwrap overhaul, constantshow mode, undoable indentations, undoable justifications, justifiable regions, and numerous other fixes. Former stable-series maintainer. Jordi Mallach * Debian package maintainer, fellow bug squasher, translator for Catalan. Former head of internationalization support. Adam Rogoyski * New write_file() function, read_file() optimization, mouse support, resize support, nohelp (-x) option, justify function, follow symlink option and bugfixes, and much more. Robert Siemborski * Miscellaneous cut, display, replace, and other bug fixes, original and new "magic line" code, read_line() function, new edit display routines. Rocco Corsi * Internal spelling code, many optimizations and bug fixes for findnextstr() and search-related functions, various display and file-handling fixes. David Benbennick * Wrap and justify bugfixes/enhancements, new color syntax code, memleak fixes, parts of the UTF-8 support, and other miscellaneous fixes. Mike Frysinger * Whitespace display mode, --enable-utf8/--disable-utf8 configure options for ncurses, many new color regexes and improvements to existing ones in syntax/*.nanorc, the move from svn to git, the conversion to gnulib, and miscellaneous bug fixes. Former Gentoo package maintainer. Mark Majeres * A functional undo/redo system, and coloring nano's interface. Mahyar Abbaspour * Improved handling of SIGWINCH. Mike Scalora * The comment/uncomment feature. Faissal Bensefia * Line numbers. Sumedh Pendurkar * The word-completion feature. Rishabh Dave * Searchable help. Marco Diego Aurélio Mesquita * Filtering text through an external command. * Placing anchors (bookmarks) and jumping to them. Brand Huntsman * The delayed parsing of syntax files. ================================================ FILE: COPYING ================================================ GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3, 29 June 2007 Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed. Preamble The GNU General Public License is a free, copyleft license for software and other kinds of works. 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The terms of this License will continue to apply to the part which is the covered work, but the special requirements of the GNU Affero General Public License, section 13, concerning interaction through a network will apply to the combination as such. 14. Revised Versions of this License. The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions of the GNU General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program specifies that a certain numbered version of the GNU General Public License "or any later version" applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that numbered version or of any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. 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Copyright (C) This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see . Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail. If the program does terminal interaction, make it output a short notice like this when it starts in an interactive mode: Copyright (C) This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'. This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions; type `show c' for details. The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the appropriate parts of the General Public License. Of course, your program's commands might be different; for a GUI interface, you would use an "about box". You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if necessary. For more information on this, and how to apply and follow the GNU GPL, see . The GNU General Public License does not permit incorporating your program into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Lesser General Public License instead of this License. But first, please read . ================================================ FILE: COPYING.DOC ================================================ GNU Free Documentation License Version 1.2, November 2002 Copyright (C) 2000,2001,2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed. 0. PREAMBLE The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and useful document "free" in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a way to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for modifications made by others. 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If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we recommend releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of free software license, such as the GNU General Public License, to permit their use in free software. ================================================ FILE: ChangeLog ================================================ Changes between v8.7 and v9.0: ------------------------------ Benno Schulenberg (92): bindings: assign M-< and M-> to the sideways-scrolling functions build: add move.c to the list of files that contain translatable strings build: avoid three warnings when compiling against glibc-2.43 build: exclude whole-window sideways scrolling from the tiny version bump version numbers and add a news item for the 9.0 release copyright: update the years for significantly changed files copyright: update the years for significantly changed files copyright: update the years for the FSF display: add extra variable, to avoid one-way toggling of SOLO_SIDESCROLL display: begin looking for new start matches at the correct place display: correct the previous commit -- the -1 is needed when going left display: draw the "<" marker only if part of the line is onscreen display: for narrow windows, fall back to single-line sidescrolling display: let option --jumpyscrolling affect also sideways scrolling display: put cursor at CUSHION columns from edge when scrolling sideways display: redraw the screen also when 'brink' is not what it should be display: store `brink` per buffer, to keep the viewport stable display: when scrolling sideways, refresh edit window only if mark is on docs: add an Exit Status section to the man page and the manual docs: add a notice about the changed sideways scrolling behavior docs: add a section about the recording and replaying of keyboard macros docs: add ^B among the list of keystrokes for --modernbindings docs: add notices about the reassignment of the M-< and M-> keystrokes docs: adjust the cheatsheet for the new functions and changed bindings docs: adjust the description of `scrollright` for the changed behavior docs: adjust the description of `scrollright` for the improved behavior docs: advise the use of --sysconfdir=/etc when configuring nano docs: copy the 8.7.1 news item from the release branch docs: document the new bindable `scrollleft` and `scrollright` functions docs: document the new --solosidescroll and 'set solosidescroll' options docs: explain what "overlong" means for --breaklonglines docs: in the cheatsheet, place Ctrl+L in the Special movement section docs: mention that M-Left, M-Right, M-Up, and M-Down are valid keynames docs: reshuffle the --solosidescroll option to match the order in --help docs: trim stuff that is more than four years old from the changelog docs: use rebindable names M-Up and M-Down instead of Alt+Up and Alt+Down feedback: prevent interpretation of %s and similar in a filename files: include also the slash when re-adding the filename to the path gnulib: update to a recent version, to allow compiling against glibc-2.43 gnulib: update to its current upstream state help: group the sideways scrolling keystrokes with the horizontal movers history: create the ~/.local directory with limited access rights input: allow `recordmacro` and `runmacro` to continue cuts and copies input: prevent also a string bind from breaking a chain of cuts or copies input: prevent most toggles from breaking a series of cuts or copies mouse: allow clicking before the answer to place cursor at its beginning moving: ignore `scrollleft` and `scrollright` when softwrapping moving: ignore `scrollleft` and `scrollright` with --solosidescroll too moving: make the minimum step for sideways scrolling two cells moving: stay in the viewport when stepping to a longer line moving: when scrolling sideways, search also upward for a longer line new default feature: smooth whole-window sideways scrolling new feature: bindable functions for scrolling a tabsize left or right new feature: clicking in the scrollbar jumps to the corresponding line options: accept --solosidescroll and 'set solosidescroll' rcfile: allow rebinding M-Left, M-Right, M-Up, and M-Down syntax: elisp: remove file -- something specific to Emacs is not for nano syntax: groff, man: colorize also \" tail comments and \# line comments syntax: guile: colorize more syntax words and procedure names syntax: nanorc: colorize M-Left, M-Right, M-Up, M-Down as valid keynames syntax: python: colorize also the `match` and `case` keywords syntax: python: require a blank after the keyword `match` syntaxes: add a license line to the files created by Mark Oteiza tweaks: add a comment for an unclear fragment of code tweaks: avoid having to restore the original click coordinates tweaks: condense the Python coloring rules, and reword a comment tweaks: condense two oververbose comments tweaks: correct a comment tweaks: correct and simplify the logic from the previous two commits tweaks: defend against hypothetical format specifiers tweaks: give the three "debugging" feedback messages a more unusual color tweaks: lowercase subsequent words in section titles, to be less pompous tweaks: move a function to a more logical place tweaks: no need to be overpolite when giving directions tweaks: normalize brace placement after the previous change tweaks: reduce the scope of two variables tweaks: refer to two renamed gnulib modules with their adjusted names tweaks: remove an unneeded parameter from get_mouseinput() tweaks: rename a type, away from a double abbreviation tweaks: rename a variable, away from a double abbreviation tweaks: rename a variable, for contrast, and to be more fitting tweaks: rename a variable, to be more fitting tweaks: rename a variable, to be more fitting and away from an abbrev tweaks: rename a variable whose function has changed over time tweaks: rename three functions, to be more accurate tweaks: rename two functions, reword some comments, rewrap a line tweaks: rename two variables, away from abbreviations tweaks: reorder a list of keys, starting with singles, ending with group tweaks: replace the three instances of impersonal "one" with direct "you" tweaks: reshuffle or transmute a few lines, to elide an 'if' tweaks: slightly adjust a wording tweaks: slightly improve three comments in the sample nanorc Charles Mirabile (1): macro: cancel the recording if nothing was entered between start and stop Changes between v8.6 and v8.7: ------------------------------ Benno Schulenberg (17): build: avoid a warning when configured with --disable-multibuffer bump version numbers and add a news item for the 8.7 release display: regenerate the screen after a resize during a spell check display: regenerate the screen only before and after waiting for input display: upon resize, redraw the subwindows only when fully initialized docs: add example of copy-to-clipboard-with-OSC52 to the sample nanorc docs: mention that `execute` can pipe buffer or region to the command gnulib: update to its current upstream state moving: prevent a negative relative jump from going beyond top of buffer new feature: execute a command without capturing the output startup: register the handler for SIGWINCH much earlier text: when blanking a line due to --autoindent, keep the mark in sync tweaks: improve a few comments, drop one, and unwrap some lines tweaks: improve the punctuation of one item in the sample nanorc tweaks: replace a remaining double dash with a true emdash tweaks: reshuffle some #ifdefs, and rename a function tweaks: unwrap three lines, for esthetics Changes between v8.5 and v8.6: ------------------------------ Benno Schulenberg (22): browser: let a refresh also reread the file list, like it used to browser: redo the layout only when an actual resize occurred browser: redo the layout when the window _might_ have resized bump version numbers and add a news item for the 8.6 release completion: don't stop looking for candidates one byte too early display: when resizing, redraw the bottom bars also when in file browser docs: document the ++/-- prefix feature for the `gotoline` function gnulib: update to its current upstream state history: do not forget anchors when line number is given on command line new feature: interpret a line number prefixed with ++ or -- as relative rcfile: accept also {}} in a string bind, for symmetry with {{} syntax: po: colorize also the %b and %B format specifiers tweaks: normalize the indentation after the previous change tweaks: put two related checks together, like they are elsewhere tweaks: remove a check for a symbol that never gets defined tweaks: rename a parameter, and invert its logic tweaks: reshuffle a condition to a better place, like it is elsewhere tweaks: reshuffle a few lines, for density and to elide an 'else' tweaks: reshuffle some lines, to group things better tweaks: split the goto function into an interactive and command-line one tweaks: swap two symbolic menu names, for giggles tweaks: use a direct parameter instead of an intermediary boolean Changes between v8.4 and v8.5: ------------------------------ Benno Schulenberg (44): anchor: change the aspect of any anchor to a dagger (†) bindings: always bind ^Q in the WriteOut menu, not only for --saveonexit bindings: do not list ^L twice (in main help text and help lines) bindings: let ^L just center the cursor, not cycle it -- let M-% cycle it bindings: lowercase an ASCII character in a locale-proof manner build: fix compilation for config with --enable-tiny --enable-histories build: fix compilation when configured with --disable-histories build: fix compilation when configured with --disable-utf8 build: swap two linker arguments, to enable compilation on Cygwin bump version numbers and add a news item for the 8.5 release docs: add a suggested key combo for wiping all anchors to sample nanorc docs: in cheatsheet, equalize the spacing in three consecutive blocks docs: mention that --positionlog also saves the positions of anchors docs: reword the descriptions of --operatingdir and 'set operatingdir' feedback: change the appearance of anchors when they will be saved feedback: change the level of a certain message, to show it is special feedback: report the setting and removing of an anchor just once feedback: show in mini bar the presence of an anchor on the cursor line feedback: suppress "Jumped to anchor" when line numbers are active feedback: suppress "Removed anchor" when the mini bar is hidden gnulib: pull in the fix for a cross-compilation failure gnulib: update to its current upstream state history: always save the last cursor position, also for line=1,column=1 history: always save the positions of any anchors history: reverse the order in the file-positions list, to latest first menus: reshuffle an item, to avoid truncating its help-line label moving: make cycling (M-%) independent from centering (^L) new feature: exit with an error status (2) for ^X^Q and ^O^Q new feature: save and restore anchors when the first line has an anchor options: accept --whitespacedisplay and 'set whitespacedisplay' syntax: default: show hard spaces with a lightgrey background syntaxes: add a license line to files that were created by Mike Frysinger syntaxes: use character classes instead of range expressions tweaks: avoid using toupper() and tolower() where easily possible tweaks: elide an auxiliary variable that is no longer needed tweaks: elide the unneeded passing around of three parameters tweaks: elide the unneeded use of an auxiliary function tweaks: in the browser, implement M-\ and M-/ in a slightly denser way tweaks: properly tag some keywords in texi doc, instead of using quotes tweaks: random unimportant edits here and there tweaks: rename 'use_utf8' to 'using_utf8', and make it a global variable tweaks: shorten a URL, and update it to use https tweaks: use reallocations, instead of new allocations plus frees tweaks: use the correct modifier, to avoid a warning on 32-bit machines Peter Michaux (1): build: add the 'm4/host-cpu-c-abi.m4' file to .gitignore Changes between v8.3 and v8.4: ------------------------------ Benno Schulenberg (40): bump version numbers and add a news item for the 8.4 release copyright: update the years for the FSF docs: add a suggestion to the FAQ on how to configure nano for git docs: change two interface colors in the sample nanorc docs: improve the description of the `constantshow` bindable function docs: in the FAQ, replace an old item with an item about Byte Order Marks docs: replace a word that is better not used in the plural docs: use proper emdashes instead of double hyphens: "--" => "\(em" execute: retain what the user typed before a tool was invoked feedback: warn when the cursor sits on a Byte Order Mark (BOM) gnulib: update to its current upstream state input: adjust file browser and help viewer for changed bracketed pastes input: implement bracketed pastes in a different manner input: make bracketed paste more robust against loss of closing sequence input: remove a special-case workaround input: remove single-keycode detection from the bracketed-paste routine input: robustness is good, but dropping a key code is not a good idea input: wait a bit for "~" when bracketed-paste sequence is incomplete prompt: accept tabs in an external paste as literal tabs prompt: beep when an external paste contains a command code syntax: groff: highlight the zeroeth macro argument too syntax: man: highlight some escapes, like \& and \(em, specially syntax: po: colorize also a 'msgctxt' line, and the 'c++-format' flag syntax: po: colorize also format specifiers like "%.6f" syntax: po: colorize also format specifiers like "%" syntax: po: colorize also Python's "%(name)x" format specifiers syntax: po: colorize also the %llu and %hhi format specifiers syntax: po: colorize also the Python-specific conversion specifier "%r" tweaks: add a translator hint for the three changed file-writing prompts tweaks: add missing closing quotes, as reported by `mandoc -T lint ...` tweaks: avoid running tolower() on an out-of-range value tweaks: change the man-page markup of options that take an argument tweaks: condense a fragment of code tweaks: consistently use "\fR" for switching back to normal, roman font tweaks: prevent some color keywords from getting hyphenated in man page tweaks: prevent some more keywords from getting hyphenated tweaks: remove an unwanted newline from a debugging message tweaks: remove three redundant pairs of parentheses from a nanorc regex tweaks: remove two commented-out lines and two unused variables tweaks: swap two fragments of code, to allow unwrapping a line Brand Huntsman (1): files: improve the wording of the normal file-writing prompts Changes between v8.2 and v8.3: ------------------------------ Benno Schulenberg (16): build: fix a compilation error with gcc-15 bump version numbers and add a news item for the 8.3 release docs: add Shift+PgUp/PgDown to the FAQ item about urxvt modified keys docs: clarify the possible effects of a misuse of braced function names docs: put a space after "|" and before "{enter}" in the sample nanorc gnulib: update to its current upstream state syntax: groff: correct the mistaken .rof extension to .roff syntax: groff: recognize also the .mom extension syntax: makefile: colorize also multiple targets syntax: markdown: accept also digit 0 in a list marker syntax: spec: colorize all canonical architecture names tweaks: add a small clarifying comment tweaks: add a translator hint tweaks: adjust another translator hint, and add two more tweaks: adjust a translator hint, and add another one tweaks: drop six unneeded casts LIU Hao (1): syntax: asm: add end-of-word anchors to the keywords Lukáš Zaoral (1): memory: avoid a leak when linter aborts after producing parsable output Changes between v8.1 and v8.2: ------------------------------ Benno Schulenberg (22): bindings: at a Yes-No-All prompt, accept also ^A for "All" bindings: let the central numpad key (with Ctrl) center the current line bump version numbers and add a news item for the 8.2 release docs: do not quote the argument of 'include' statements in sample nanorc docs: mention former maintainership last among an author's contributions docs: mention the availability of ^Y, ^N, and ^A at a Yes-No prompt docs: trim stuff that is more than four years old from the changelog gnulib: update to its current upstream state macro: insert it in keystroke buffer without discarding latter's contents moving: for Alt+Home/Alt+End, refresh the screen when the mark is on syntax: autoconf: colorize the keywords 'case', 'esac', and 'ifelse' too syntax: awk: add a missing "|" between "\?" and ":" syntax: awk: colorize escape sequences specially syntax: awk: rewrite a regex more densely, and add the missing ~ operator syntax: man: colorize also the .MT .ME .EX .EE .SY .OP and .YS macros syntax: nanorc: an unquoted argument of 'include' may not contain blanks tweaks: delete three redundant checks from the undo/redo code tweaks: improve or rewrap six comments, and add two missing ones tweaks: move a condition to the only place that needs it tweaks: rename a symbol, away from an obscure abbreviation tweaks: reshuffle a seldom-used function to the end of an if-else series tweaks: unwrap three lines that don't need to be wrapped Collin Funk (1): build: update a symbol that was renamed in gnulib Changes between v8.0 and v8.1: ------------------------------ Benno Schulenberg (56): bindings: let ^L put the cursor line at center, then top, then bottom build: check for the correct function in an #ifdef build: require version 0.20 of gettext for building nano from git build: use the standard `autoreconf` invocation bump version numbers and add a news item for the 8.1 release docs: add 'set colonparsing' to the sample nanorc docs: add the Alt+Home/Alt+End shortcuts to the cheatsheet docs: avert hyphenation of the technical words "ncurses" and "terminfo" docs: correct the description of --bold, as function tags are unaffected docs: document the new --listsyntaxes (-z) option docs: don't say any more that -z was removed, as it has been repurposed docs: explain the behavior of the new function `cycle` docs: explain the details of --colonparsing / -@ / 'set colonparsing' docs: extend the FAQ item about urxvt modified keys, with M-Home/M-End docs: properly escape a literal '@' in the texi document docs: remove the 'filename:linenumber' format from the synopsis files: avoid mistakenly setting the column number to a given line number files: look for digits and colons starting from the end of the filename files: when a filename with a colon and digits exists, open that file files: with --rectrict, prevent invoking the browser and toggling backups general: disable the type-ahead checking that ncurses normally does gnulib: update to its current upstream state help: regroup the `center` item, placing it with the new `cycle` help: show option -Y/--syntax in --help output also in restricted mode input: drop recognition of the urxvt escape sequences for M-Home/M-End input: make sure that a string-bind return value is non-negative input: provide for urxvt setting a high bit or sending an extra escape input: recognize the raw Xterm escape sequences for Alt+Home and Alt+End minibar: do not falsely report that a new, empty file is in Mac format moving: use edit_scroll() only when scrolling one row is enough new feature: add bindable function `cycle` that pushes cursor line around new feature: option -z lists the names of available syntaxes options: remove the deprecated synonym -$ of -S/--softwrap options: require --colonparsing/-@ to parse colon+number after a filename rcfile: remove old bindable function 'nowrap', alias of 'breaklonglines' startup: do not activate --modernbindings when name starts with "e" syntaxes: mention the original author of most of the syntax files syntax: man: colorize some of the things that manipulate hyphenation syntax: patch: recognize also the .rej extension text: do not check for + mark while getting input but in do_tab() tweaks: add a space after a '+', for consistent formatting tweaks: discard a bracketed paste in the help viewer with fewer beeps tweaks: drop two redundant conditions tweaks: elide unhelpful occurrences of the word "will" tweaks: exclude the colon-parsing code from the tiny version tweaks: extend the deprecation period of 'set nowrap' and prefix 'bright' tweaks: implement do_center() with a single call instead of three tweaks: in FAQ, use 'id' attribute instead of empty anchor with 'name' tweaks: make a comment more accurate, and unabbreviate a variable name tweaks: make the inclusion condition for do_center() more strict tweaks: remove the now unneeded special keycode INDENT_KEY tweaks: reshuffle a declaration, adjust a comment, normalize indentation tweaks: reshuffle some lines, to put vaguely related things together tweaks: rewrap some lines, for more even lengths tweaks: simplify a condition, to match the same condition five lines back tweaks: slightly reword a phrase in the explanation of --colonparsing Jaroslav Fowkes (1): syntax: fortran: fix a typo (a missing backslash) Changes between v7.2 and v8.0: ------------------------------ Andy Koppe (2): input: scroll on mousewheel events instead of moving the cursor rcfile: map the gray #rgb codes (#111 to #EEE) to the xterm grayscale Benjamin Valentin (1): new feature: interpret also : when opening a file Benno Schulenberg (155): bindings: allow speller and friends to be rebound also in restricted mode bindings: in the tiny version, bind M-6 only in main, not at the prompts bindings: let move the cursor to top/bottom of viewport bindings: let M-" place/remove an anchor, and let M-' jump to one bindings: let M-& show the ncurses version+patch, as a small Easter egg bindings: make ^F start a forward search by default bindings: make ^F start a forward search by default bindings: set up modern bindings also when binary's name starts with "e" bindings: show ^- instead of ^/ for 'flipgoto' when on a Linux console bindings: with --modern, do not let ^Q^Q quit nano without saving bindings: with --modern, use ^H for Help when the terminal allows it browser: report an error instead of crashing when the folder disappears browser: restore typing position at prompt after "^R name ^T ^F ^V ^C" bump version numbers and add a news item for the 8.0 release chars: add a helper function for stripping leading blanks from a string copyright: update the years for the FSF display: add a wnoutrefresh() call for NetBSD, to force a cursor update display: do not attempt to draw a line that is outside the viewport display: draw a new magic line rightaway when there are multiline regexes display: show the help lines down to the tiniest possible terminal size docs: add a caveat in the FAQ about bracketed pastes docs: add a clarifying note to the description of --tabstospaces docs: add an example binding for normalizing Unicode to the sample nanorc docs: add a reference to the 'help-nano' mailing list docs: add M-C and M-Z to the cheatsheet, and reshuffle for balance docs: add ^T^S (spell check) and M-S (softwrap) to the cheatsheet docs: add two examples of custom key bindings to the nanorc manpage docs: adjust an example help line in the README to the current state docs: adjust the cheatsheet for the changed meanings of ^F, ^B, M-F, M-B docs: clarify that a fileregex is matched against the absolute filename docs: delete a remark about libvte that is no longer relevant docs: describe nano more specifically as a text editor docs: document the : thing for cursor positioning docs: document the new bindable functions 'toprow' and 'bottomrow' docs: document the new --modernbindings option docs: fix a ten-year-old typo, reported by `correctmost` docs: improve the description of the 'flipexecute' bindable function docs: in a synopsis, use braces around a choice of required parts docs: in the sample nanorc, set the guidestripe to a soft grey docs: mention backreferences (for replacements with regular expressions) docs: mention how to get the old behavior of ^F, ^B, M-F, and M-B back docs: mention that a restricted nano does not access the history files docs: mention that 'light' background colors do not work on Linux console docs: mention that --modernbindings overrides --preserve docs: mention the changed meanings of ^F/^B and also in the texi manual docs: mention the missing two options that override --bold docs: say "mini bar", not "minibar", when referring to the actual bar docs: trim stuff that is more than five years old from the changelog docs: use a space after #, like everywhere else in the sample nanorc editing: adjust the mark before trimming redundant blanks execute: show "Older" and "Newer" in the help lines, to allow rebinding feedback: drop an unnecessary warning, to not bother the user feedback: lowercase a letter, as the phrase is not a full sentence feedback: raise the level of "Macro is empty", to match similar messages feedback: suppress filename and linecount when --zero is active feedback: suppress format-conversion messages for --zero and --mini files: do not allow M-U to remove text read from standard input files: run `chmod` and `chown` on the descriptor, not on the filename formatter: do not crash when the formatter command is empty general: include the Copy function (M-6 or ^C) into the tiny version general: let the constant-show toggle override the zero-interface mode gnulib: update to current upstream state, to make a fresh checkout work gnulib: update to its current upstream state help: give the "Replace with" prompt its own help text help: mention M-Home and M-End in the help text and help lines help: rebalance the help items when --preserve is used help: restore ^H and ^D as the primary shortcuts for Backspace and Delete help: show ^F/^B as primary shortcuts for search, not as secondary indicator: do not oversize the scroller when softwrapping input: avoid hanging after a 39-character paste on a VSCode terminal input: flush the keystroke buffer upon any kind of error condition input: for one bump of the mousewheel scroll two lines, not three input: intercept a spurious keycode and say what the actual problem is input: let the handler of string binds return a byte whenever possible input: neutralize two spurious keycodes from VTE terminals input: prevent 'macro_length' from underflowing when hammering M-: input: recognize certain escape sequences for F13 to F16 again input: snip the `recordmacro` and `runmacro` keystrokes in a better way input: store key codes in the macro buffer as they come in from ncurses input: store keystroke in macro buffer only when about to interpret it [reverted] justify: keep as much of the marked region onscreen as possible justify: keep the cursor at the original end of a marked region justify: recompute the multidata for paragraphs larger than the viewport justify: set the correct starting point also with --cutfromcursor justify: set `x = 0` for the undo item, for when using --cutfromcursor linter: do not mess up the input stream when the linter command is empty linter: use a format string, to deflect format-string attacks memory: prevent a leak by freeing a possibly already existing color combo minibar: mention the file format when it's DOS or Mac moving: preserve horizontal position when jumping to top or bottom row new feature: functions that jump to the top or bottom of the viewport new feature: option --modernbindings sets up more widespread key bindings options: make --modernbindings actually override --preserve rcfile: add bindable functions for moving the cursor to top or bottom row rcfile: avoid crashing on an include path that is way too long replacing: stash the string to be replaced while asking for replacement revert the previous commit -- forget about -? as a synonym for --help screen: recalculate the multidata when detecting the need for it search: avoid a crash after a nested search, reported by `correctmost` search: avoid crashing after searching a help text during a regex replace shutdown: ignore a modified buffer when in view mode softwrap: adjust start-of-screen when the 'edittop' line is hard-wrapped softwrap: realign start-of-screen when redoing an automatic hard-wrap softwrap: remember the actual breaking point when wrapping at blanks startup: use a format string, to deflect format-string attacks syntax: c: require a preceding blank when a line comment contains a quote syntax: javascript: recognize also the .mjs extension syntax: makefile: ensure that the key always produces a tab syntax: makefile, sh: recognize also a fresh Makefile and fresh .profile syntax: nanorc: colorize {toprow} and {bottomrow} for string binds syntax: sh: recognize more shells than `sh` on a shebang line for busybox tweaks: add a comment that refers to the VTE spurious-code issue tweaks: add a missing 'type' attribute to a

The GNU nano editor FAQ

Table of Contents

1. General

1.1. What is GNU nano?
1.2. What is the history behind nano?
1.3. Why the name change from TIP?
1.4. What is the current version of nano?
1.5. I want to read the manpage without having to download the program!

2. Where to get GNU nano.

2.1. FTP and WWW sites that carry nano.
2.2. RedHat and derivatives (.rpm) packages.
2.3. Debian (.deb) packages.
2.4. By git (for the brave).

3. Installation and Configuration

3.1. How do I install the RPM or DEB package?
3.2. Compiling from source: WHAT THE HECK DO I DO NOW?
3.3. Why does everything go into /usr/local?
3.4. nano should automatically run strip on the binary when installing it!
3.5. How can I make the executable smaller? This is too bloated!
3.6. Tell me more about this multibuffer stuff!
3.7. Tell me more about this verbatim input stuff!
3.8. How do I make a .nanorc file that nano will read when I start it?
3.9. Why does my self-compiled nano not read /etc/nanorc?

4. Running

4.1. Alt+Up does nothing on a Linux console. How can I make it scroll?
4.2. How can I make Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right select words on urxvt?
4.3. How do I remove an unwanted Byte Order Mark?
4.4. With what keystroke can I paste text from the clipboard into nano?
4.5. How do I select text for or paste text from the clipboard when nano's mouse support is turned on?
4.6. When I paste text into a document, each line gets indented further than the last. Why? And how can I stop this?
4.7. When I paste from Windows into a remote nano, nano rewraps the lines. What gives?
4.8. I've compiled nano with color support, but I don't see any color when I run it!
4.9. How do I make nano my default editor (in Pine, mutt, git, ...)?

5. Internationalization

5.1. There's no translation for my language!
5.2. I don't like the translation for <x> in my language. How can I fix it?
5.3. What is the status of Unicode support?

6. Advocacy and Licensing

6.1. Why should I use nano instead of Pico?
6.2. Why should I use Pico instead of nano?
6.3. What is so bad about the older Pine license?
6.4. Okay, well, what mail program should I use then?

7. Miscellaneous

7.1. Where can I ask questions or send suggestions?
7.2. How do I submit a bug report or patch?
7.3. I want to send the development team a big load of cash (or just a thank you).
7.4. How do I join the development team?
7.5. Can I have write access to the git tree?

1. General

1.1. What is GNU nano?

GNU nano was designed to be a free replacement for the Pico text editor, part of the Pine email suite from The University of Washington. It aimed to "emulate Pico as closely as is reasonable and then include extra functionality".

1.2. What is the history behind nano?

Funny you should ask!

In the beginning...

For years Pine was THE program used to read email on a Unix system. The Pico text editor is the portion of the program one would use to compose his or her mail messages. Many beginners to Unix flocked to Pico and Pine because of their well organized, easy to use interfaces. With the proliferation of GNU/Linux in the mid to late 90's, many University students became intimately familiar with the strengths (and weaknesses) of Pine and Pico.

Then came Debian...

The Debian GNU/Linux distribution, known for its strict standards in distributing truly "free" software (i.e. software with no restrictions on redistribution), would not include a binary package for Pine or Pico. Many people had a serious dilemma: they loved these programs, but the versions available at the time were not truly free software in the GNU sense of the word.

The event...

It was in late 1999 when Chris Allegretta (our hero) was yet again complaining to himself about the less-than-perfect license Pico was distributed under, the 1000 makefiles that came with it and how just a few small improvements could make it the Best Editor in the World (TM). Having been a convert from Slackware to Debian, he missed having a simple binary package that included Pine and Pico, and had grown tired of downloading them himself.

Finally something snapped inside and Chris coded and hacked like a madman for many hours straight one weekend to make a (barely usable) Pico clone, at the time called TIP (Tip Isn't Pico). The program could not be invoked without a filename, could not save files, had no help text display, spell checker, and so forth. But over time it improved, and with the help of a few great coders it matured to the (hopefully) stable state it is in today.

In February 2001, nano was declared an official GNU program by Richard Stallman. nano also reached its first production release on March 22, 2001.

1.3. Why the name change from TIP?

On January 10, 2000, TIP was officially renamed to nano because of a namespace conflict with another program called 'tip'. The original 'tip' program "establishes a full duplex terminal connection to a remote host", and was included with many older Unix systems (and newer ones like Solaris). The conflict was not noticed at first because there is no 'tip' utility included with most GNU/Linux distributions (where nano was developed).

1.4. What is the current version of nano?

The current version of nano should be 9.0. Of course, you should always check the nano homepage to see what the latest and greatest version is.

1.5. I want to read the man page without having to download the program!

Jeez, demanding, aren't we? Okay, look here.

2. Where to get GNU nano.

2.1. Web sites that carry nano.

The nano source tarballs can be downloaded from the following web sites:

2.2. RPM packages (RedHat, OpenSuse, and derivatives).

2.3. Deb packages (Debian and derivatives):

Debian users can check out the current nano packages for:

You can also have a look at the Package Pool to see all the available binary and source packages.

2.4. By git (for the brave).

For the "bleeding edge" current version of nano, you can use git to download the current source code. Note: believe it or not, by downloading code that has not yet stabilized into an official release, there could quite possibly be bugs, in fact the code may not even compile! Anyway, see the hacking document for info on getting and building nano from git.

3. Installation and Configuration

3.1. How do I install the RPM or DEB package?

It's simple really! As root, type rpm -Uvh nano-x.y-1*.rpm if you have a RedHat-ish system or dpkg -i nano_x.y-1*.deb if you have a Debian-ish system, where x.y is the version number of nano. There are other programs to install packages, and if you wish to use those, knock yourself out.

3.2. Compiling from source: WHAT THE HECK DO I DO NOW?

Okay, take a deep breath, this really isn't hard. Unpack the nano source with a command like:

tar -xvf nano-x.y.tar.gz

Then you need to run configure with any options you might want (if any).

The average case is this:

cd nano-x.y/
./configure
make
make install   #(as root, of course)

3.3. Why does everything go into /usr/local?

Well, that's what the configure script defaults to. If you wish to change this, simply do this:

./configure --prefix=/usr

This will put nano into /usr/bin when you run make install.

3.4. nano should automatically run strip on the binary when installing it!

It does when you use make install-strip. The default make install does not, and will not, run strip automatically.

3.5. How can I make the executable smaller? This is too bloated!

Actually, there are several parts of the editor that can be disabled. You can pass arguments to the configure script that disable certain features. Here's a brief list:

    --disable-browser       Disable the built-in file browser
    --disable-color         Disable color and syntax highlighting
    --disable-comment       Disable the comment/uncomment function
    --disable-extra         Disable the easter egg
    --disable-formatter     Disable the formatting tool
    --disable-help          Disable the built-in help texts
    --disable-histories     Disable the saving of search strings and cursor positions
    --disable-justify       Disable the justify/unjustify functions
    --disable-libmagic      Disable the use of libmagic for determining a file's syntax
    --disable-linenumbers   Disable line numbering
    --disable-linter        Disable the linting tool
    --disable-mouse         Disable mouse support
    --disable-multibuffer   Disable the opening of multiple file buffers
    --disable-nanorc        Disable the use of .nanorc files
    --disable-operatingdir  Disable the setting of an operating directory
    --disable-speller       Disable the spell-checking tool
    --disable-tabcomp       Disable the tab-completion functions
    --disable-wordcomp      Disable the word-completion function
    --disable-wrapping      Disable all hard-wrapping of text

There's also the --enable-tiny option which disables everything above, as well as some larger chunks of the program (like the undo/redo code and the code for selecting text). Also, if you know you don't need other languages, you can use --disable-nls to disable internationalization and save a few kilobytes. And finally, there's always good old strip to remove all unneeded symbols.

3.6. Tell me more about this multibuffer stuff!

To use multiple file buffers, you must not have configured nano with --disable-multibuffer nor with --enable-tiny (use nano -V to check the compilation options). Then when you want to insert a file into its own buffer instead of into the current file, just hit Meta-F after typing ^R. If you always want files to be loaded into their own buffers, use the -F or --multibuffer flag when you invoke nano, or add set multibuffer to your .nanorc file.

You can move between the buffers you have open with the Meta-< and Meta-> keys, or more easily without holding Shift: Meta-, and Meta-. (clear as mud, right? =-). When you have more than one buffer open, the ^X shortcut will say "Close", instead of "Exit".

3.7. Tell me more about this verbatim input stuff!

When you want to insert a literal character into the file you're editing, such as a control character that nano usually treats as a command, first press Meta-V (if you're not at a prompt, you'll get the message "Verbatim Input" on the status bar), then press the key(s) that generate the character you want.

Alternatively, if Unicode support is enabled (see section 5.3), you can press Meta-V and then type a six-digit hexadecimal code (from 000000 to 10FFFF, case-insensitive), and the character with the corresponding value will be inserted. The status bar will change to "Unicode Input: ......" when you do this.

3.8. How do I make a .nanorc file that will be read when I start nano?

It's not hard at all! Simply copy the sample.nanorc from the doc/ directory in the nano source package (or from /usr/doc/nano on your system) to .nanorc in your home directory, and then edit it. If you didn't get a sample nanorc, the syntax of the file is simple: features are turned on and off by using the words set and unset followed by the long option name of the feature (see man nanorc for the full list of options). For example, "set quickblank" or "set smarthome". Of course, for this to work, your nano must not have been compiled with --disable-nanorc.

3.9. Why does my self-compiled nano not read /etc/nanorc?

By default (see 3.3), nano gets installed into /usr/local. This also means that, at startup, nano reads /usr/local/etc/nanorc instead of /etc/nanorc. You can make a symlink from the former to the latter if you want your self-compiled nano to read the same nanorc as the system-installed nano. Or you can simply configure your nano with --sysconfdir=/etc.

4. Running

4.1. Alt+Up does nothing on a Linux console. How can I make it scroll?

On Debian and its derivatives, the Alt+Up keystroke on a Linux console produces by default a 'KeyboardSignal', which normally does absolutely nothing and is useless for the average user. To get the keystroke to do what it ought to do (scroll the viewport one row up), run this in a Linux console:

dumpkeys --full | sed s/KeyboardSignal/Up/ | sudo loadkeys -

You will need to run this command whenever you first switch to a Linux console.

Or you can (as root) execute the following little script just once:

for file in /etc/console-setup/cached*.kmap.gz; do
    gunzip $file;
    sed -i 's/KeyboardSignal/Up/' ${file%.gz};
    gzip ${file%.gz};
done

4.2. How can I make Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right select words on urxvt?

The urxvt terminal emulator produces non-standard escape sequences for the modified cursor keys. These deviant sequences are not listed in the terminfo database, which means that ncurses does not recognize them. The easiest way around this is to tell urxvt to produce xterm-compatible escape sequences for the relevant keystrokes. To achieve this, add the following lines to your ~/.Xresources file:

    URxvt.iso14755_52: False

    URxvt.keysym.C-S-Up: \033[1;6A
    URxvt.keysym.C-S-Down: \033[1;6B
    URxvt.keysym.C-S-Right: \033[1;6C
    URxvt.keysym.C-S-Left: \033[1;6D

    URxvt.keysym.M-Up: \033[1;3A
    URxvt.keysym.M-Down: \033[1;3B
    URxvt.keysym.M-Right: \033[1;3C
    URxvt.keysym.M-Left: \033[1;3D

    URxvt.keysym.M-Home: \033[1;3H
    URxvt.keysym.M-End: \033[1;3F

    URxvt.keysym.M-Insert: \033[2;3~
    URxvt.keysym.M-Delete: \033[3;3~

    URxvt.keysym.M-Page_Up: \033[5;3~
    URxvt.keysym.M-Page_Down: \033[6;3~
    URxvt.keysym.S-Page_Up: \033[5;2~
    URxvt.keysym.S-Page_Down: \033[6;2~

Then run xrdb ~/.Xresources and restart your urxvt terminal. Now Ctrl+Shift+Left and Ctrl+Shift+Right will select words, Alt+Up and Alt+Down will scroll the text without moving the cursor, and several such things more.

4.3. How do I remove an unwanted Byte Order Mark?

To check whether a file contains a Byte Order Mark (BOM), open the file and type Ctrl+Home. If there is a BOM, the status bar will tell you so. Now type Delete to remove the BOM, and ^S to save the file.

If you've accidentally deleted a Byte Order Mark from a file that needs it, and you want to restore it, then type: Ctrl+Home Alt+V feff Enter. Verify that the BOM is back with Ctrl+Home, and save the file with ^S. (Note that on Unix, files should not contain a BOM.)

4.4. With what keystroke can I paste text from the clipboard into nano?

In most desktop environments Shift+Insert pastes the contents of the clipboard.

4.5. How do I select text for or paste text from the clipboard when nano's mouse support is turned on?

Try holding down the Shift key and selecting or pasting the text as you normally would.

4.6. When I paste text into a document, each line gets indented further than the last. Why? And how can I stop this?

You have the autoindent feature turned on. Hit Meta-I to turn it off, paste your text, and then hit Meta-I again to turn it back on.

Update: Since version 4.8, nano suppresses auto-indentation during a paste (when your terminal understands bracketed pastes), so you no longer need to toggle it off and on manually.

4.7. When I paste from Windows into a remote nano, nano rewraps the lines. What gives?

When pasting from Windows, in some situations linefeeds are sent instead of carriage returns (Enters). And linefeeds are ^Js, which make nano justify (rewrap) the current paragraph. To prevent these linefeeds from causing these unwanted justifications, add this line to your .nanorc on the remote Linux box: unbind ^J main or bind ^J enter main, depending on whether the paste contains CR + LF or only LF.

Update: Since version 4.8, nano ignores linefeed characters in a paste (when your terminal understands bracketed pastes), so you no longer need the above workaround.

4.8. I've compiled nano with color support, but I don't see any color when I run it!

If you want nano to actually use color, you have to specify the color configurations you want it to use in your .nanorc. Several example configurations are in the syntax/ subdirectory of the nano source, which are normally installed to /usr/local/share/nano/. To enable all of them, uncomment the line # include "/usr/local/share/nano/*.nanorc" in your nanorc. See also section 3.9.

4.9. How do I make nano my default editor (in Pine, mutt, git, ...)?

You need to make nano your $EDITOR. If you want this to be saved, you should put a line like this in your .bashrc if you use bash (or .zshrc if you believe in zsh):

export EDITOR=/usr/local/bin/nano

Change /usr/local/bin/nano to wherever nano is installed on your system. Type "which nano" to find out. This will not take effect until the next time you log in. So log out and back in again.

Then, on top of that, if you use Pine, you must go into setup (type S at the main menu), and then configure (type C). Hit Enter on the lines that say:

[ ] enable-alternate-editor-cmd
[ ] enable-alternate-editor-implicitly

Then exit (E) and select Yes (Y).

If you're a mutt user, you should see an effect immediately the next time you log in. No further configuration is needed. However, if you want to let people know you use nano to compose your email messages, you can put a line like this in your .muttrc:

my_hdr X-Composer: nano-x.y

Again, replace x.y with the version of nano you use.

To use nano to edit your git commit messages, you can run:

git config --global core.editor "nano --guide=74 --nohelp +1"

Note the +1 at the end — it makes nano start always at the top of the edit window. The guidestripe helps you keep the text within a reasonable width.

5. Internationalization

5.1. There's no translation for my language!

In June 2001, GNU nano entered the Translation Project and since then, translations should be managed from there.

If there isn't a translation for your language, you could ask your language team to translate nano, or better still, join that team and do it yourself. Joining a team is easy. You just need to ask the team leader to add you, and then send a translation disclaimer to the FSF (this is necessary as nano is an official GNU package, but it does not mean that you transfer the rights of your work to the FSF, it's just so the FSF can legally manage them).

In any case, translating nano is easy. Just grab the latest nano.pot file listed on nano's page at the TP, and translate each msgid line into your native language on the msgstr line. When you're done, you should send it to the TP's central PO-file repository.

5.2. I don't like the translation for <x> in my language. How can I fix it?

The best way is to send an e-mail with your suggested corrections to the team's mailing list. The address is mentioned in the Language-Team: field in the relevant PO file. The team leader or the assigned translator can then make the changes reach the nano-devel list.

5.3. What is the status of Unicode support?

Unicode should be fully usable nowadays. When the encoding of your terminal is set to UTF-8, and your locale (mainly the LANG environment variable) is UTF-8 too, then you should be able to read, enter and save Unicode text.

6. Advocacy and Licensing

6.1. Why should I use nano instead of Pico?

If you want features like undo/redo, syntax highlighting, line numbers, soft-wrapping, opening multiple files at once, an interface localized to your language, or search and replace with support for regular expressions, then you want nano.

6.2. Why should I use Pico instead of nano?

If you use your editor only to write emails or other texts and have no need for the above-mentioned features, then Pico will do fine for you.

6.3. What is so bad about the older Pine license?

The U of W license for older versions of Pine and Pico is not considered truly Free Software according to both the Free Software Foundation and the Debian Free Software Guidelines. The main problem regards the limitations on distributing derived works: according to UW, you can distribute their software, and you can modify it, but you can not do both, i.e. distribute modified binaries.

6.4. Okay, well, what mail program should I use then?

If you are looking to use a Free Software program similar to Pine, and Emacs is not your thing, you should definitely take a look at mutt. It is a full-screen, console based mail program that actually has a lot more flexibility than Pine, but has a keymap included in the distribution that allows you to use the same keystrokes as Pine would to send and receive mail. It's also under the GNU General Public License, version 2.0.

Of course, due to the license change you can now use the Alpine distribution of PINE as it is now considered Free Software, but you would be sacrificing many of nano's features to do so.

7. Miscellaneous

7.1. Where can I ask questions or send suggestions?

There are three mailing lists for nano hosted at Savannah: info-nano, help-nano and nano-devel. info-nano is a very low traffic list where new versions of nano are announced (surprise!). help-nano is for getting help with the editor without needing to hear all of the development issues surrounding it. nano-devel is a normally low, sometimes high traffic list for discussing the present and future development of nano. Here are links to where you can sign up for a given list:

info-nano - https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/info-nano/
help-nano - https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-nano/
nano-devel - https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/nano-devel/

7.3. How do I submit a bug report or patch?

The best way to submit bugs is through the Savannah bug tracker, as you can check whether the bug you are reporting has already been submitted, and it makes it easier for the maintainers to keep track of them.

You can submit patches for nano via Savannah's patch manager.

7.3. I want to send the development team a big load of cash (or just a thank you).

That's fine. Send it our way! Better yet, fix a bug in the program or implement a cool feature and send us that instead (though cash is fine too).

7.4. How do I join the development team?

The easiest way is to consistently send in good patches that add some needed functionality, fix a bug or two, and/or make the program more optimized/efficient. Then ask nicely and you will probably be added to the Savannah development list and be given write access after a while. There is a lot of responsibility that goes along with being a team member, so don't think it's just something to add to your resume.

7.5. Can I have write access to the git tree?

Re-read section 7.4 and you should know the answer.

================================================ FILE: doc/nano.1 ================================================ .\" Copyright (C) 1999-2011, 2013-2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. .\" .\" This document is dual-licensed. You may distribute and/or modify it .\" under the terms of either of the following licenses: .\" .\" * The GNU General Public License, as published by the Free Software .\" Foundation, version 3 or (at your option) any later version. You .\" should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License .\" along with this program. If not, see .\" . .\" .\" * The GNU Free Documentation License, as published by the Free .\" Software Foundation, version 1.2 or (at your option) any later .\" version, with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no .\" Back-Cover Texts. You should have received a copy of the GNU Free .\" Documentation License along with this program. If not, see .\" . .\" .TH NANO 1 "April 2026" "GNU nano 9.0" .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 NOTICES Since version 9.0, all lines are scrolled horizontally together (when the cursor approaches the edge), by just the amount needed, instead of scrolling only the current line by a large step. If you prefer the old behavior, you can use \fB\-\-solo\fR on the command line or \fBset \%solosidescroll\fR in your \fInanorc\fR. .sp Also since version 9.0, keystrokes \fBM\-<\fR and \fBM\->\fR have been reassigned to the \fBscrollleft\fR and \fBscrollright\fR functions. If you want those keystrokes to do what they did before version 9.0, add these two lines at the end of your \fInanorc\fR file: .sp .RS 4 .B bind M\-< prevbuf main .br .B bind M\-> nextbuf main .RE .sp 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 four 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\fR 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\fR or \fB\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 \[em] see .BR nanorc (5). .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\[ti]\fR). .TP .BI \-C " directory\fR, " \-\-backupdir= directory Make and keep not just one backup file, but make and keep a uniquely numbered one every time a file is saved \[em] 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 \fB\%titlecolor\fR, \fB\%statuscolor\fR, \fB\%promptcolor\fR, \fB\%minicolor\fR, \fB\%keycolor\fR, \fB\%numbercolor\fR, and/or \fB\%selectedcolor\fR in your \fInanorc\fR file. See \fBnanorc\fR(5). .TP .BR \-E ", " \-\-tabstospaces Convert each typed tab to spaces \[em] 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 .BI \-J " number\fR, " \-\-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 \fBset \%stripecolor\fR in your \fInanorc\fR file.) .TP .BR \-K ", " \-\-rawsequences Interpret escape sequences directly, instead of asking \fI\%ncurses\fR to translate them. (If you need this option to get some keys to work properly, it means that the \fI\%terminfo\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 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. Also save and restore the positions of any anchors. .TP .BI "\-Q """ regex\fB"\fR, " \-\-quotestr=""" regex """" Set the regular expression for matching the quoting part of a line. The default value is "\fB^([\ \\t]*([!#%:;>|}]|//))+\fR". (Note that \fB\\t\fR 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 Read and write only the \fIfile\fR (or files) specified on the command line. This means: don't read or write the history files; don't allow suspending; don't allow spell checking; don't allow executing any command in the shell; don't allow the current buffer to be saved under a different name; don't allow appending or prepending to any file; and don't make backup files. .sp As an exception, before the specified file or files, the \fInanorc\fR files are read, to allow customization. If customization should not be allowed, use option \fB\-I\fR (\fB\-\-ignorercfiles\fR) as well. .sp When no \fIfile\fR is specified on the command line, restricted mode allows you to save the contents that you type into the new buffer under any name, except that existing files may not be overwritten. If the places where this new file may be created should be limited, then use option \fB\-o\fR (\fB\-\-operatingdir\fR) as well. .sp Restricted mode can also be activated by invoking \fBnano\fR with a name beginning with 'r' (for example: \fBrnano\fR). .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 .BI \-T " number\fR, " \-\-tabsize= number Set the size (width) of a tab to \fInumber\fR 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 .BI "\-X """ characters\fB"\fR, " \-\-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 \fB\-W\fR (\fB\-\-wordbounds\fR). .TP .BI \-Y " name\fR, " \-\-syntax= name Specify the name of the syntax highlighting to use from among the ones defined in the \fInanorc\fR 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, that is: when it becomes wider than the value given with \fB\-r\fR (\fB\-\-fill\fR). The default value for \fB\-r\fR is the terminal's width minus eight. (This option is the opposite of \fB\-w\fR (\fB\-\-nowrap\fR) \[em] the last one given takes effect.) .TP .BR \-c ", " \-\-constantshow Constantly report 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 .BI \-f " file\fR, " \-\-rcfile= file Read only this \fIfile\fR for setting nano's options, instead of reading both the system-wide and the user's \fInanorc\fR 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 \[lq]file\[rq]. 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 .BI \-o " directory\fR, " \-\-operatingdir= directory Change to the given \fIdirectory\fR, and allow reading and writing files only in this directory and its subdirectories. .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 \[lq]scrollbar\[rq] 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 .BI \-r " number\fR, " \-\-fill= number 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) \[em] 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 \fI\%libmagic\fR 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 \[lq]mini bar\[rq] 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 \-1 ", " \-\-solosidescroll When the cursor approaches the right edge of the edit window, scroll only the current line sideways by a large amount, instead of scrolling all visible lines sideways by just the amount needed to keep the cursor in view. This latter whole-window smooth sideways scrolling is the new default behavior. The single-line jerky sideways scrolling enabled by this option was the old behavior \[em] the only behavior that \fBnano\fR knew. .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^B\fR searches backward, \fB^D\fR searches previous, \fB^R\fR makes replacements, \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 option 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\%\[ti]/.nanorc\fR or \fI\%$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/\:nano/\:nanorc\fR or \fI\%\[ti]/.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 EXIT STATUS .TP .B 0 The editor finished normally. .TP .B 1 An invalid option or option argument was given. .TP .B 2 The last open buffer was discarded (with \fB^O^Q\fR or \fB^X^Q\fR). .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 \fInanorc\fR.) .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". (And when exiting, \fB^Q\fR can be used for "Quit with error".) 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\fR files, \fBnano\fR checks the \fBSPELL\fR environment variable for one. .sp In some cases \fBnano\fR tries to dump the buffer into an emergency file. This happens mainly if \fBnano\fR receives a SIGHUP or SIGTERM or runs out of memory. It writes the buffer into a file named \fInano.save\fR 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 (for example: ".save.1") to the current filename in order to make it unique. In multibuffer mode, \fBnano\fR 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 \fI.save\fR 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/\fR (or equivalent on your system) ================================================ FILE: doc/nano.texi ================================================ \input texinfo @c %**start of header @setfilename nano.info @settitle The GNU nano text editor @c %**end of header @documentencoding UTF-8 @documentdescription The complete manual for the GNU nano text editor. @end documentdescription @smallbook @set EDITION 0.9 @set VERSION 9.0 @set UPDATED April 2026 @dircategory Editors @direntry * nano: (nano). Small and friendly text editor. @end direntry @comment Prevent the black square at the end of an overlong line. @finalout @titlepage @title GNU @command{nano} @subtitle a small and friendly text editor @subtitle version 9.0 @author Chris Allegretta @page This manual documents the GNU @command{nano} text editor. @sp 1 The contents of this manual are part of the GNU @command{nano} distribution. @sp 5 Copyright @copyright{} 1999-2009, 2014-2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. @sp 1 This document is dual-licensed. You may distribute and/or modify it under the terms of either of the following licenses: @sp 1 * The GNU General Public License, as published by the Free Software Foundation, version 3 or (at your option) any later version. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see @url{https://www.gnu.org/licenses/}. @sp 1 * The GNU Free Documentation License, as published by the Free Software Foundation, version 1.2 or (at your option) any later version, with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. You should have received a copy of the GNU Free Documentation License along with this program. If not, see @url{https://www.gnu.org/licenses/}. @sp 5 You may contact the original author by e-mail: @email{chrisa@@asty.org} Or contact the current maintainer: @email{bensberg@@coevern.nl} @sp 1 For suggesting improvements: @email{nano-devel@@gnu.org} @end titlepage @macro blankline @iftex @sp 1 @end iftex @end macro @ifnottex @node Top @top This manual documents GNU @command{nano}, version 9.0. @menu * Introduction:: * Invoking:: * Editor basics:: * The help viewer:: * The file browser:: * Command-line options:: * Feature toggles:: * Nanorc files:: * Pico compatibility:: * Building and its options:: @end menu @end ifnottex @node Introduction @chapter Introduction GNU @command{nano} is a small and friendly text editor. Besides basic text editing, @command{nano} offers features like undo/redo, syntax coloring, interactive search-and-replace, auto-indentation, line numbers, word completion, file locking, backup files, and internationalization support. The original goal for @command{nano} was to be a complete bug-for-bug emulation of Pico. But currently the goal is to be as compatible as is reasonable while offering a superset of Pico's functionality. @xref{Pico compatibility} for more details on how @command{nano} and Pico differ. @blankline Since version 4.0, @command{nano} no longer hard-wraps overlong lines by default. It also by default uses linewise scrolling, and by default includes the line below the title bar in the editing area. In case you want the old, Pico behavior back, you can use the following options: @option{--breaklonglines}, @option{--jumpyscrolling}, and @option{--emptyline} (or @option{-bje}). @blankline Since version 8.0, @kbd{^F} starts a forward search, @kbd{^B} starts a backward search, @kbd{M-F} searches the next occurrence forward, and @kbd{M-B} searches the next occurrence backward. If you want those keystrokes to do what they did before version 8.0, see the rebindings in the sample nanorc file. @blankline Since version 9.0, all lines are scrolled horizontally together (when the cursor approaches the edge), by just the amount needed, instead of scrolling only the current line by a large step. If you prefer the old behavior, you can use @code{--solo} on the command line or @code{set solosidescroll} in your nanorc. @blankline Also since version 9.0, keystrokes @kbd{M-<} and @kbd{M->} have been reassigned to the @code{scrollleft} and @code{scrollright} functions. If you want those keystrokes to do what they did before version 9.0, see the rebindings in the sample nanorc file. @blankline Please report bugs via @url{https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=nano}. @blankline Questions about using nano you can ask at @email{help-nano@@gnu.org}. @blankline For background information see @url{https://nano-editor.org/}. @node Invoking @chapter Invoking The usual way to invoke @command{nano} is: @blankline @example @code{nano [FILE]} @end example @blankline But it is also possible to specify one or more options (@pxref{Command-line options}), and to edit several files in a row. 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. 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 @code{+/} or @code{+?} before the filename. The string can be made case sensitive and/or caused to be interpreted as a regular expression by inserting a @code{c} and/or @code{r} after the plus sign. These search modes can be explicitly disabled by using the uppercase variant of those letters: @code{C} and/or @code{R}. When the string contains spaces, it needs to be enclosed in quotes. A more complete command synopsis thus is: @blankline @example @code{nano [OPTION]@dots{} [[+LINE[,COLUMN]|+[crCR]@{/|?@}STRING] FILE]@dots{}} @end example @blankline Normally, however, you set your preferred options in a @file{nanorc} file (@pxref{Nanorc files}). And when using @code{set positionlog} (making @command{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, @command{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. @node Editor basics @chapter Editor basics @menu * Screen layout:: * Entering text:: * Commands:: * The cutbuffer:: * The mark:: * Searching and replacing:: * Using the mouse:: * Anchors:: * Macros:: * Exit status:: @end menu @node Screen layout @section Screen layout The default screen of @command{nano} consists of four areas. From top to bottom these are: the title bar, 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 @command{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 appear on the status bar. Any questions that are asked of the user are asked on the status bar, and any user input (search strings, filenames, etc.) is 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. @node Entering text @section Entering text @command{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: @itemize @bullet @item For characters with a single-byte code, pressing the Esc key twice and then typing a three-digit decimal number (from @kbd{000} to @kbd{255}) makes @command{nano} behave as if you typed the key with that value. @item For any possible character, pressing @kbd{M-V} (Alt+V) and then typing a series of hexadecimal digits (at most six, or concluded with @kbd{Enter} or @kbd{Space}) enters the corresponding Unicode character into the buffer. @end itemize For example, typing @kbd{Esc Esc 2 3 4} enters the character "ê" --- useful when writing about a French party. Typing @kbd{M-V 0 0 2 2 c 4} enters the symbol "⋄", a little diamond. Typing @kbd{M-V} followed by anything other than a hexadecimal digit enters this keystroke verbatim into the buffer, allowing the user to insert literal control codes (except @code{^J}) or escape sequences. @node Commands @section Commands Commands are given by using the Control key (Ctrl, shown as @kbd{^}) or the Meta key (Alt or Cmd, shown as @kbd{M-}). @itemize @bullet @item A control-key sequence is entered by holding down the Ctrl key and pressing the desired key. @item A meta-key sequence is entered by holding down the Meta key (normally the Alt key) and pressing the desired key. @end itemize 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. @node The cutbuffer @section The cutbuffer Text can be cut from a file a whole line at a time with @kbd{^K}. The cut line is stored in the cutbuffer. Consecutive strokes of @kbd{^K} add each cut line to this buffer, but a @kbd{^K} after any other keystroke overwrites the entire cutbuffer. The contents of the cutbuffer can be pasted at the current cursor position with @kbd{^U}. A line of text can be copied into the cutbuffer (without cutting it) with @kbd{M-6}. @node The mark @section The mark Text can be selected by first 'setting the Mark' with @kbd{^6} or @kbd{M-A} and then moving the cursor to the other end of the portion to be selected. The selected portion of text is highlighted. This selection can now be cut or copied in its entirety with a single @kbd{^K} or @kbd{M-6}. Or the selection can be used to limit the scope of a search-and-replace (@kbd{^\}) or spell-checking session (@kbd{^T^T}). On some terminals, text can be selected also by holding down @kbd{Shift} while using the cursor keys. Holding down the @kbd{Ctrl} or @kbd{Alt} key too increases the stride. Such a selection is cancelled upon any cursor movement where @kbd{Shift} isn't held. Cutting or copying selected text toggles off the mark automatically. If needed, it can be toggled off manually with another @kbd{^6} or @kbd{M-A}. @node Searching and replacing @section Searching and replacing With the Search command (@kbd{^F} or @kbd{^W}) you can search the current buffer for the occurrence of any string. The default search mode is forward, case-insensitive, and for literal strings. But one can search backwards by toggling @kbd{M-B}, search case sensitively with @kbd{M-C}, and interpret regular expressions in the search string with @kbd{M-R}. With the Replace command (@kbd{M-R} or @kbd{^\}) you can replace a given string (or regular expression) with another string. When a regular expression contains fragments between parentheses, the replacement string can refer back to these fragments via @code{\1} to @code{\9}. For each occurrence of the search string you are asked whether to replace it. You can choose Yes (replace it), or No (skip this one), or All (replace all remaining occurrences without asking any more), or Cancel (stop with replacing, but replacements that have already been made will not be undone). If before a replacing session starts a region is marked, then only occurrences of the search string within the marked region will be replaced. A regular expression always covers just one line --- it cannot span multiple lines. And neither a search string nor a replacement string can contain a newline (LF). @node Using the mouse @section 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 two help lines 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 works in the X Window System, and on the console when gpm is running. @node Anchors @section Anchors With @kbd{M-Ins} you can place an anchor (a kind of bookmark) at the current line. With @kbd{M-PgUp} and @kbd{M-PgDn} you can jump to an anchor in the backward/forward direction. This jumping wraps around at the top and bottom. When an operation removes a line with an anchor, the new line with the cursor inherits the anchor. But after performing an operation on the entire buffer (like formatting it, piping it through a command, or doing an external spell check on it), any anchors that were present are gone. When @option{--positionlog} or @code{set positionlog} is active, anchors are saved when the file is closed, and restored when the file is reopened. Anchors are visualized in the left margin if line numbers are active, and are always visualized (on the right-hand side) in the mini bar. @node Macros @section Macros To record a series of keystrokes that you need to perform many times, start the recording with @kbd{M-:}, carefully type the series of keystrokes, and then stop the recording by using @kbd{M-:} again. The recorded result is called a keyboard macro. You can replay this macro with @kbd{M-;}, as many times as needed. When you type @kbd{M-:} (recordmacro) by mistake, then type @kbd{M-:} again right away, to cancel the recording. An existing macro is then not overwritten. Note: 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 cursor keys. @node Exit status @section Exit status The exit status is @code{0} when @command{nano} finished normally, @code{1} when an invalid option or option argument was given, and @code{2} when the last open buffer was discarded (with @kbd{^O^Q} or @kbd{^X^Q}). @node The help viewer @chapter The help viewer The built-in help in @command{nano} is available by pressing @kbd{^G}. It is fairly self-explanatory. It documents the various parts of the editor and the available keystrokes. Navigation is via the @kbd{^Y} (Page Up) and @kbd{^V} (Page Down) keys. @kbd{^X} exits from the help viewer. @node The file browser @chapter The file browser When in the Read-File (@kbd{^R}) or Write-Out menu (@kbd{^O}), pressing @kbd{^T} invokes the file browser. Here, you can navigate directories in a graphical manner in order to find the desired file. Basic movement in the file browser is accomplished with the arrow and other cursor-movement keys. More targeted movement is accomplished by searching, via @kbd{^W} or @kbd{w}, or by changing directory, via @kbd{^_} or @kbd{g}. The behavior of the @kbd{Enter} key (or @kbd{s}) varies by what is currently selected. If the currently selected object is a directory, the file browser enters and displays the contents of the directory. If the object is a file, this filename and path are copied to the status bar, and the file browser exits. @node Command-line options @chapter Command-line options @command{nano} accepts the following options from the command line: @table @option @item -A @itemx --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. @item -B @itemx --backup When saving a file, back up the previous version of it, using the current filename suffixed with a tilde (@code{~}). @item -C @var{directory} @itemx --backupdir=@var{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. @item -D @itemx --boldtext For the interface, use bold instead of reverse video. This can be overridden for specific elements by setting the options @code{titlecolor}, @code{statuscolor}, @code{promptcolor}, @code{minicolor}, @code{keycolor}, @code{numbercolor}, and/or @code{selectedcolor} in your nanorc file. @xref{@code{set keycolor}} for details. @item -E @itemx --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.) @item -F @itemx --multibuffer Read a file into a new buffer by default. @item -G @itemx --locking Enable vim-style file locking when editing files. @item -H @itemx --historylog Save the last hundred search strings and replacement strings and executed commands, so they can be easily reused in later sessions. @item -I @itemx --ignorercfiles Don't look at the system's nanorc file nor at the user's nanorc. @item -J @itemx --guidestripe 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 @code{set stripecolor} in your nanorc file.) @item -K @itemx --rawsequences Interpret escape sequences directly, instead of asking @code{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 @command{nano}'s mouse support. @item -L @itemx --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.) @item -M @itemx --trimblanks Snip trailing whitespace from the wrapped line when automatic hard-wrapping occurs or when text is justified. @item -N @itemx --noconvert Disable automatic conversion of files from DOS format. @item -O @itemx --bookstyle When justifying, treat any line that starts with whitespace as the beginning of a paragraph (unless auto-indenting is on). @item -P @itemx --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. Also save and restore the positions of any anchors. @item -Q "@var{regex}" @itemx --quotestr="@var{regex}" Set the regular expression for matching the quoting part of a line. The default value is "@t{^([@w{ }\t]*([!#%:;>|@}]|//))+}". (Note that @code{\t} stands for a literal Tab character.) This makes it possible to rejustify blocks of quoted text when composing email, and to rewrap blocks of line comments when writing source code. @item -R @itemx --restricted Read and write only the file (or files) specified on the command line. This means: don't read or write the history files; don't allow suspending; don't allow spell checking; don't allow executing any command in the shell; don't allow the current buffer to be saved under a different name; don't allow appending or prepending to any file; and don't make backup files. As an exception, before the specified file or files, the nanorc files are read, to allow customization. If customization should not be allowed, use option @option{-I} (@option{--ignorercfiles}) as well. When no file is specified on the command line, restricted mode allows you to save the contents that you type into the new buffer under any name, except that existing files may not be overwritten. If the places where this new file may be created should be limited, then use option @option{-o} (@option{--operatingdir}) as well. Restricted mode can also be activated by invoking @command{nano} with a name beginning with @code{r} (for example: @command{rnano}). @item -S @itemx --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 @code{--atblanks}.) @item -T @var{number} @itemx --tabsize=@var{number} Set the displayed tab length to @var{number} columns. The value of @var{number} must be greater than 0. The default value is @t{8}. @item -U @itemx --quickblank Make status-bar messages disappear after 1 keystroke instead of after 20. Note that option @option{-c} (@option{--constantshow}) overrides this. When option @option{--minibar} or @option{--zero} is in effect, @option{--quickblank} makes a message disappear after 0.8 seconds instead of after the default 1.5 seconds. @item -V @itemx --version Show the current version number and exit. @item -W @itemx --wordbounds Detect word boundaries differently by treating punctuation characters as parts of words. @item -X "@var{characters}" @itemx --wordchars="@var{characters}" Specify which other characters (besides the normal alphanumeric ones) should be considered as parts of words. When using this option, you probably want to omit @option{-W} (@option{--wordbounds}). @item -Y @var{name} @itemx --syntax=@var{name} Specify the syntax to be used for highlighting. @xref{Syntax highlighting} for more info. @item -Z @itemx --zap Let an unmodified @kbd{Backspace} or @kbd{Delete} erase the marked region (instead of a single character, and without affecting the cutbuffer). @item -a @itemx --atblanks When doing soft line wrapping, wrap lines at whitespace instead of always at the edge of the screen. @item -b @itemx --breaklonglines Automatically hard-wrap the current line when it becomes overlong, that is: when the line becomes wider than the value given with @option{-r} (@option{--fill}). The default value for @option{-r} is the terminal's width minus eight. (This option is the opposite of @option{-w} (@option{--nowrap}) --- the last one given takes effect.) @item -c @itemx --constantshow Constantly report the cursor position (line number, column number, and character number) on the status bar. Note that this overrides option @option{-U} (@option{--quickblank}). @item -d @itemx --rebinddelete Interpret the @kbd{Delete} and @kbd{Backspace} keys differently so that both work properly. You should only use this option when on your system either @kbd{Backspace} acts like Delete or @kbd{Delete} acts like Backspace. @item -e @itemx --emptyline Do not use the line below the title bar, leaving it entirely blank. @item -f @var{file} @itemx --rcfile=@var{file} Read only this @var{file} for setting nano's options, instead of reading both the system-wide and the user's nanorc files. @item -g @itemx --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. @item -h @itemx --help Show a summary of command-line options and exit. @item -i @itemx --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). @item -j @itemx --jumpyscrolling Scroll the buffer contents per half-screen instead of per line. @item -k @itemx --cutfromcursor Make the 'Cut Text' command (normally @kbd{^K}) cut from the current cursor position to the end of the line, instead of cutting the entire line. @item -l @itemx --linenumbers Display line numbers to the left of the text area. (Any line with an anchor additionally gets a mark in the margin.) @item -m @itemx --mouse Enable mouse support, if available for your system. When enabled, mouse clicks can be used to place the cursor, set the mark (with two clicks), 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. @item -n @itemx --noread Treat any name given on the command line as a new file. This allows @command{nano} to write to named pipes: it starts with a blank buffer, and writes to the pipe when the user saves the “file”. This way @command{nano} can be used as an editor in combination with for instance @command{gpg} without having to write sensitive data to disk first. @item -o @var{directory} @itemx --operatingdir=@var{directory} Change to the given @var{directory}, and allow reading and writing files only in this directory and its subdirectories. @item -p @itemx --preserve Preserve the @kbd{^S} (XOFF) and @kbd{^Q} (XON) sequences so that data being sent to the terminal can be stopped and resumed. Note that option @option{-/} (@option{--modernbindings}) overrides this. @item -q @itemx --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. @item -r @var{number} @itemx --fill=@var{number} Set the target width for justifying and automatic hard-wrapping at this @var{number} of columns. If the value is 0 or less, wrapping occurs at the width of the screen minus @var{number} columns, allowing the wrap point to vary along with the width of the screen if the screen is resized. The default value is @t{-8}. @anchor{@option{--speller}} @item -s "@var{program} [@var{argument} @dots{}]" @itemx --speller="@var{program} [@var{argument} @dots{}]" Use the given program to do spell checking and correcting. By default, @command{nano} uses the command specified in the @env{SPELL} environment variable. If @env{SPELL} is not set, and @option{--speller} is not specified either, then @command{nano} uses its own interactive spell corrector, which requires either @command{hunspell} or GNU @command{spell} to be installed. @item -t @itemx --saveonexit Save a changed buffer without prompting (when exiting with @kbd{^X}). This can be handy when @command{nano} is used as the composer of an email program. @item -u @item --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 @option{--noconvert}.) @item -v @itemx --view Don't allow the contents of the file to be altered: read-only mode. This mode allows the user to open also other files for viewing, unless @option{--restricted} is given too. (Note that this option should NOT be used in place of correct file permissions to implement a read-only file.) @item -w @itemx --nowrap Do not automatically hard-wrap the current line when it becomes overlong. This is the default. (This option is the opposite of @option{-b} (@option{--breaklonglines}) --- the last one given takes effect.) @item -x @itemx --nohelp Expert mode: don't show the two help lines 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. @item -y @itemx --afterends Make @kbd{Ctrl+Right} and @kbd{Ctrl+Delete} stop at word ends instead of beginnings. @item -z @itemx --listsyntaxes List the names of the available syntaxes and exit. @item -! @itemx --magic When neither the file's name nor its first line give a clue, try using libmagic to determine the applicable syntax. @item -@@ @itemx --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 @code{+1} or similar before the relevant filename. @item -% @itemx --stateflags Use the top-right corner of the screen for showing some state flags: @code{I} when auto-indenting, @code{M} when the mark is on, @code{L} when hard-wrapping (breaking long lines), @code{R} when recording a macro, and @code{S} when soft-wrapping. When the buffer is modified, a star (@code{*}) is shown after the filename in the center of the title bar. @item -_ @itemx --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 @code{--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 @code{--constantshow} is used, and can be toggled on and off with @kbd{M-C}. The state flags are displayed only when @code{--stateflags} is used. @item -0 @itemx --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 @kbd{M-Z} the title bar plus status bar can be toggled. With @kbd{M-X} the help lines. @item -1 @itemx --solosidescroll When the cursor approaches the right edge of the edit window, scroll only the current line sideways by a large amount, instead of scrolling all visible lines sideways by just the amount needed to keep the cursor in view. This latter whole-window smooth sideways scrolling is the new default behavior. The single-line jerky sideways scrolling enabled by this option was the old behavior --- the only behavior that @command{nano} knew. @item -/ @itemx --modernbindings Use key bindings similar to the ones that most modern programs use: @kbd{^X} cuts, @kbd{^C} copies, @kbd{^V} pastes, @kbd{^Z} undoes, @kbd{^Y} redoes, @kbd{^F} searches forward, @kbd{^G} searches next, @kbd{^S} saves, @kbd{^O} opens a file, @kbd{^Q} quits, and (when the terminal permits) @kbd{^H} shows help. Furthermore, @kbd{^A} sets the mark, @kbd{^B} searches backward, @kbd{^D} searches previous, @kbd{^R} makes replacements, @kbd{^P} shows the position, @kbd{^T} goes to a line, @kbd{^W} writes out a file, and @kbd{^E} executes a command. Note that this option overrides option @option{-p} (@option{--preserve}). @end table @sp 1 Suspension is enabled by default, reachable via @kbd{^T^Z}. (If you want a plain @kbd{^Z} to suspend nano, add @code{bind ^Z suspend main} to your nanorc.) @node Feature toggles @chapter Feature toggles Toggles allow you to change certain aspects of the editor while you are editing, aspects that you would normally specify via command-line options or nanorc options. Each toggle can be flicked via a Meta-key combination --- the @kbd{Meta} key is normally the @kbd{Alt} key (@pxref{Commands} for more details). The following global toggles are available: @sp 1 @table @code @item Constant Cursor Position Display @kbd{M-C} toggles the @option{-c} (@option{--constantshow}) command-line option. @item Smart Home Key @kbd{M-H} toggles the @option{-A} (@option{--smarthome}) command-line option. @item Auto Indent @kbd{M-I} toggles the @option{-i} (@option{--autoindent}) command-line option. @item Cut From Cursor To End-of-Line @kbd{M-K} toggles the @option{-k} (@option{--cutfromcursor}) command-line option. @item Long-Line Wrapping @kbd{M-L} toggles the @option{-b} (@option{--breaklonglines}) command-line option. @item Mouse Support @kbd{M-M} toggles the @option{-m} (@option{--mouse}) command-line option. @item Line Numbers @kbd{M-N} toggles the @option{-l} (@option{--linenumbers}) command-line option. @item Tabs To Spaces @kbd{M-O} toggles the @option{-E} (@option{--tabstospaces}) command-line option. @item Whitespace Display @kbd{M-P} toggles the displaying of whitespace (@pxref{Whitespace}). @item Soft Wrapping @kbd{M-S} toggles the @option{-S} (@option{--softwrap}) command-line option. @item Expert @kbd{M-X} toggles the @option{-x} (@option{--nohelp}) command-line option. @item Syntax Coloring @kbd{M-Y} toggles syntax coloring, when your nanorc defines syntaxes (@pxref{Syntax highlighting}). @item Hidden Interface @kbd{M-Z} toggles the @option{-0} (@option{--zero}) command-line option, but without the @option{-x} (@option{--nohelp}) part. That is: it toggles just the title bar plus status bar (or the combined mini bar plus status bar), not the help lines. The latter are toggled with @kbd{M-X}. @end table @node Nanorc files @chapter Nanorc files Nanorc files can be used to configure @command{nano} to your liking without using command-line options. During startup @command{nano} normally reads two files: first the system-wide file, @file{/etc/nanorc} (the exact path may be different on your system), and then the user-specific file, either @file{~/.nanorc} or @file{$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nano/nanorc} or @file{.config/nano/nanorc}, whichever exists first. However, if @option{--rcfile} is given, @command{nano} skips the above files and reads just the specified settings file. A nanorc file can contain @command{set} and @command{unset} commands for various options (@pxref{Settings}). It can also contain commands that define syntax highlighting (@pxref{Syntax highlighting}) and commands that rebind keys (@ref{Rebinding keys}). Each command should be on a separate line, and all commands should be written in lowercase. Options that do not take an argument are unset by default. So using the @code{unset} command is only needed when wanting to override a setting from the system's nanorc file in your own nanorc. Options that take an argument cannot be unset, but can be assigned the empty string. Any command-line option overrides its nanorc setting, of course. Quotes inside the @var{characters} parameters below should not be escaped. The last double quote on the line will be seen as the closing quote. @menu * Settings:: * Syntax highlighting:: * Rebinding keys:: @end menu @node Settings @section Settings The supported settings in a nanorc file are: @table @code @item set afterends Make @kbd{Ctrl+Right} and @kbd{Ctrl+Delete} stop at word ends instead of beginnings. @item 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. @item 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. @item 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). @item set backup When saving a file, back up the previous version of it, using the current filename suffixed with a tilde (@code{~}). @item set backupdir "@var{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 @code{set backup} or @option{--backup} or @option{-B}. The uniquely numbered files are stored in the specified directory. @item set boldtext Use bold instead of reverse video for the title bar, status bar, prompt bar, mini bar, key combos, line numbers, and selected text. This can be overridden by setting the options @code{titlecolor}, @code{statuscolor}, @code{promptcolor}, @code{minicolor}, @code{keycolor}, @code{numbercolor}, and/or @code{selectedcolor}. @item set bookstyle When justifying, treat any line that starts with whitespace as the beginning of a paragraph (unless auto-indenting is on). @item set brackets "@var{characters}" Set the characters treated as closing brackets when justifying paragraphs. This may not include blank characters. Only closing punctuation (see @code{set punct}), optionally followed by the specified closing brackets, can end sentences. The default value is "@t{"')>]@}}". @item set breaklonglines Automatically hard-wrap the current line when it becomes overlong --- that is: when the line becomes wider than the value given with @code{set fill} (which defaults to the width of the terminal minus eight). @item set casesensitive Do case-sensitive searches by default. @item set 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 @code{+1} or similar before the relevant filename. @item set constantshow Constantly report the cursor position on the status bar. Note that this overrides @option{quickblank}. @item set cutfromcursor Use cut-from-cursor-to-end-of-line by default, instead of cutting the whole line. @item set emptyline Do not use the line below the title bar, leaving it entirely blank. @item set errorcolor [bold,][italic,]@var{fgcolor},@var{bgcolor} Use this color combination for the status bar when an error message is displayed. The default value is @t{bold,white,red}. @xref{@code{set keycolor}} for valid color names. @item set fill @var{number} Set the target width for justifying and automatic hard-wrapping at this @var{number} of columns. If the value is 0 or less, wrapping occurs at the width of the screen minus @var{number} columns, allowing the wrap point to vary along with the width of the screen if the screen is resized. The default value is @t{-8}. @item set functioncolor [bold,][italic,]@var{fgcolor},@var{bgcolor} Use this color combination for the concise function descriptions in the two help lines at the bottom of the screen. @xref{@code{set keycolor}} for valid color names. @item set guidestripe @var{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 @code{set stripecolor}.) @item set historylog Save the last hundred search strings and replacement strings and executed commands, so they can be easily reused in later sessions. @item set 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. @item set jumpyscrolling Scroll the buffer contents per half-screen instead of per line. @anchor{@code{set keycolor}} @item set keycolor [bold,][italic,]@var{fgcolor},@var{bgcolor} Use this color combination for the shortcut key combos in the two help lines at the bottom of the screen. Valid names for the foreground and background colors are: @code{red}, @code{green}, @code{blue}, @code{magenta}, @code{yellow}, @code{cyan}, @code{white}, and @code{black}. Each of these eight names may be prefixed with the word @code{light} to get a brighter version of that color. The word @code{grey} or @code{gray} may be used as a synonym for @code{lightblack}. On a Linux console, @code{light} does not have any effect for a background color. On terminal emulators that can do at least 256 colors, other valid (but unprefixable) color names are: @code{pink}, @code{purple}, @code{mauve}, @code{lagoon}, @code{mint}, @code{lime}, @code{peach}, @code{orange}, @code{latte}, @code{rosy}, @code{beet}, @code{plum}, @code{sea}, @code{sky}, @code{slate}, @code{teal}, @code{sage}, @code{brown}, @code{ocher}, @code{sand}, @code{tawny}, @code{brick}, @code{crimson}, and @code{normal} --- where @code{normal} means the default foreground or background color. On such emulators, the color may also be specified as a three-digit hexadecimal number prefixed with @code{#}, with the digits representing the amounts of red, green, and blue, respectively. This tells @command{nano} to select from the available palette the color that approximates the given values. Either @var{fgcolor} or ,@var{bgcolor} may be left out, and the pair may be preceded by @code{bold} and/or @code{italic} (separated by commas) to get a bold and/or slanting typeface, if your terminal can do those. @item set linenumbers Display line numbers to the left of the text area. (Any line with an anchor additionally gets a mark in the margin.) @item set locking Use vim-style lock-files when editing files. @item set magic When neither the file's name nor its first line give a clue, try using libmagic to determine the applicable syntax. (Calling libmagic can be relatively time consuming. It is therefore not done by default.) @anchor{@code{set matchbrackets}} @item set matchbrackets "@var{characters}" Specify 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 "@t{(<[@{)>]@}}". @item set 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 @code{set 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 @code{set constantshow} is used, and can be toggled on and off with @kbd{M-C}. The state flags are displayed only when @code{set stateflags} is used. @item set minicolor [bold,][italic,]@var{fgcolor},@var{bgcolor} Use this color combination for the mini bar. (When this option is not specified, the colors of the title bar are used.) @xref{@code{set keycolor}} for valid color names. @item set mouse Enable mouse support, so that mouse clicks can be used to place the cursor, set the mark (with two clicks), or execute shortcuts. @item set multibuffer When reading in a file with @kbd{^R}, insert it into a new buffer by default. @item set noconvert Don't convert files from DOS format. @item set nohelp Don't display the help lists at the bottom of the screen. @item set 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.) @item set nowrap Deprecated option since it has become the default setting. When needed, use @code{unset breaklonglines} instead. @item set numbercolor [bold,][italic,]@var{fgcolor},@var{bgcolor} Use this color combination for line numbers. @xref{@code{set keycolor}} for valid color names. @item set operatingdir "@var{directory}" At startup, make @command{nano} change to the given @var{directory}, and allow reading and writing files only in this directory and its subdirectories. @item set positionlog Save the positions of cursor and anchors between editing sessions. These positions are remembered for the 200 most-recently edited files. @item set preserve Preserve the XOFF and XON sequences (@kbd{^S} and @kbd{^Q}) so that they are caught by the terminal (stopping and resuming the output). @item set promptcolor [bold,][italic,]@var{fgcolor},@var{bgcolor} Use this color combination for the prompt bar. (When this option is not specified, the colors of the title bar are used.) @xref{@code{set keycolor}} for valid color names. @item set punct "@var{characters}" 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 @code{set brackets}), can end sentences. The default value is "@t{!.?}". @item set quickblank Make status-bar messages disappear after 1 keystroke instead of after 20. Note that option @option{constantshow} overrides this. When option @option{minibar} or @option{zero} is in effect, @option{quickblank} makes a message disappear after 0.8 seconds instead of after the default 1.5 seconds. @item set quotestr "@var{regex}" Set the regular expression for matching the quoting part of a line. The default value is "@t{^([@w{ }\t]*([!#%:;>|@}]|//))+}". (Note that @code{\t} stands for a literal Tab character.) This makes it possible to rejustify blocks of quoted text when composing email, and to rewrap blocks of line comments when writing source code. @item set rawsequences Interpret escape sequences directly, instead of asking @code{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 @command{nano}'s mouse support. @item set rebinddelete Interpret the @kbd{Delete} and @kbd{Backspace} keys differently so that both work properly. You should only use this option when on your system either @kbd{Backspace} acts like Delete or @kbd{Delete} acts like Backspace. @item set regexp Do regular-expression searches by default. Regular expressions in @command{nano} are of the extended type (ERE). @item set saveonexit Save a changed buffer automatically on exit (@kbd{^X}); don't prompt. @item set scrollercolor @var{fgcolor},@var{bgcolor} Use this color combination for the indicator alias “scrollbar”. @xref{@code{set keycolor}} for valid color names. @item set selectedcolor [bold,][italic,]@var{fgcolor},@var{bgcolor} Use this color combination for selected text. @xref{@code{set keycolor}} for valid color names. @item set showcursor Put the cursor on the highlighted item in the file browser, and show the cursor in the help viewer, to aid braille users and people with poor vision. @item 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 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. @item set softwrap Display lines that exceed the screen's width over multiple screen lines. (You can make this soft-wrapping occur at whitespace instead of rudely at the screen's edge, by using also @code{set atblanks}.) @item set solosidescroll When the cursor approaches the right edge of the edit window, scroll only the current line sideways by a large amount, instead of scrolling all visible lines sideways by just the amount needed to keep the cursor in view. This latter whole-window smooth sideways scrolling is the new default behavior. The single-line jerky sideways scrolling enabled by this option was the old behavior --- the only behavior that @command{nano} knew. @item set speller "@var{program} [@var{argument} @dots{}]" Use the given program to do spell checking and correcting. @xref{@option{--speller}} for details. @item set spotlightcolor [bold,][italic,]@var{fgcolor},@var{bgcolor} Use this color combination for highlighting a search match. The default value is @t{black,lightyellow}. @xref{@code{set keycolor}} for valid color names. @item set stateflags Use the top-right corner of the screen for showing some state flags: @code{I} when auto-indenting, @code{M} when the mark is on, @code{L} when hard-wrapping (breaking long lines), @code{R} when recording a macro, and @code{S} when soft-wrapping. When the buffer is modified, a star (@code{*}) is shown after the filename in the center of the title bar. @item set statuscolor [bold,][italic,]@var{fgcolor},@var{bgcolor} Use this color combination for the status bar. @xref{@code{set keycolor}} for valid color names. @item set stripecolor [bold,][italic,]@var{fgcolor},@var{bgcolor} Use this color combination for the vertical guiding stripe. @xref{@code{set keycolor}} for valid color names. @item set tabsize @var{number} Use a tab size of @var{number} columns. The value of @var{number} must be greater than 0. The default value is @t{8}. @item set 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.) @item set titlecolor [bold,][italic,]@var{fgcolor},@var{bgcolor} Use this color combination for the title bar. @xref{@code{set keycolor}} for valid color names. @item set trimblanks Remove trailing whitespace from wrapped lines when automatic hard-wrapping occurs or when text is justified. @item set 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 @code{set noconvert}.) @anchor{Whitespace} @item set whitespace "@var{characters}" Set the two characters used to indicate the presence of tabs and spaces. They must be single-column characters. The default pair for a UTF-8 locale is @t{"»·"}, and for other locales @t{">."}. @item set wordbounds Detect word boundaries differently by treating punctuation characters as part of a word. @item set wordchars "@var{characters}" Specify which other characters (besides the normal alphanumeric ones) should be considered as parts of words. When using this option, you probably want to unset @code{wordbounds}. @item set zap Let an unmodified @kbd{Backspace} or @kbd{Delete} erase the marked region (instead of a single character, and without affecting the cutbuffer). @item set 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 @kbd{M-Z} the title bar plus status bar can be toggled. With @kbd{M-X} the help lines. @end table @node Syntax highlighting @section Syntax highlighting Coloring the different syntactic elements of a file is done via regular expressions (see the @code{color} command below). This is inherently imperfect, because regular expressions are not powerful enough to fully parse a file. Nevertheless, regular expressions can do a lot and are easy to make, so they are a good fit for a small editor like @command{nano}. See @file{/usr/share/nano/} and @file{/usr/share/nano/extra/} for the syntax-coloring definitions that are available out of the box. All regular expressions in @command{nano} are POSIX extended regular expressions (ERE). This means that @code{.}, @code{?}, @code{*}, @code{+}, @code{^}, @code{$}, and several other characters are special. The period @code{.} matches any single character, @code{?} means the preceding item is optional, @code{*} means the preceding item may be matched zero or more times, @code{+} means the preceding item must be matched one or more times, @code{^} matches the beginning of a line, and @code{$} the end, @code{\<} matches the start of a word, and @code{\>} the end, and @code{\s} matches a blank. It also means that lookahead and lookbehind are not possible. A complete explanation can be found in the manual of GNU grep: @code{info grep regular}. Each regular expression in a @file{nanorc} file should be wrapped in double quotes (@code{""}). Multiple regular expressions can follow each other on a line by separating them with blanks. This means that a regular expression cannot contain a double quote followed by a blank. When you need this combination inside a regular expression, then either the double quote or the blank should be put between square brackets (@code{[]}). A separate syntax can be defined for each kind of file via the following commands in a nanorc file: @table @code @item syntax @var{name} ["@var{fileregex}" @dots{}] Start the definition of a syntax with this @var{name}. All subsequent @code{color} and other such commands are added to this syntax, until a new @code{syntax} command is encountered. When @command{nano} is run, this syntax is automatically activated (for the relevant buffer) if the absolute filename matches the extended regular expression @var{fileregex}. Or the syntax can be explicitly activated (for all buffers) by using the @option{-Y} or @option{--syntax} command-line option followed by the @var{name}. The @code{default} syntax is special: it takes no @var{fileregex}, and applies to files that don't match any syntax's regexes. The @code{none} syntax is reserved; specifying it on the command line is the same as not having a syntax at all. @item header "@var{regex}" @dots{} If from all defined syntaxes no @var{fileregex} matched, then compare this @var{regex} (or regexes) against the first line of the current file, to determine whether this syntax should be used for it. @item magic "@var{regex}" @dots{} If no @var{fileregex} matched and no @code{header} regex matched either, then compare this @var{regex} (or regexes) against the result of querying the @code{magic} database about the current file, to determine whether this syntax should be used for it. (This querying is done only when @code{libmagic} is actually installed on the system and @option{--magic} or @code{set magic} was given.) @item formatter @var{program} [@var{argument} @dots{}] Run the given @var{program} on the full contents of the current buffer. @item linter @var{program} [@var{argument} @dots{}] Use the given @var{program} to do a syntax check on the current buffer. @item comment "@var{string}" Use the given string for commenting and uncommenting lines. If the string contains a vertical bar or pipe character (@t{|}), this designates bracket-style comments; for example, "@t{/*|*/}" for CSS files. The characters before the pipe are prepended to the line and the characters after the pipe are appended at the end of the line. If no pipe character is present, the full string is prepended; for example, "@t{#}" for Python files. If nothing is specified between the double quotes, then the comment/uncomment function is disabled; for example, "" for JSON. The default value is "@t{#}". @item tabgives "@var{string}" Make the key produce the given @var{string}. Useful for languages like Python that want to see only spaces for indentation. This overrides the setting of the @code{tabstospaces} option. @item color [bold,][italic,]@var{fgcolor},@var{bgcolor} "@var{regex}" @dots{} Paint all pieces of text that match the extended regular expression "regex" with the given foreground and background colors, at least one of which must be specified. Valid color names are: @code{red}, @code{green}, @code{blue}, @code{magenta}, @code{yellow}, @code{cyan}, @code{white}, and @code{black}. Each of these eight names may be prefixed with the word @code{light} to get a brighter version of that color. The word @code{grey} or @code{gray} may be used as a synonym for @code{lightblack}. On a Linux console, @code{light} does not have any effect for a background color. On terminal emulators that can do at least 256 colors, other valid (but unprefixable) color names are: @code{pink}, @code{purple}, @code{mauve}, @code{lagoon}, @code{mint}, @code{lime}, @code{peach}, @code{orange}, @code{latte}, @code{rosy}, @code{beet}, @code{plum}, @code{sea}, @code{sky}, @code{slate}, @code{teal}, @code{sage}, @code{brown}, @code{ocher}, @code{sand}, @code{tawny}, @code{brick}, @code{crimson}, and @code{normal} --- where @code{normal} means the default foreground or background color. On such emulators, the color may also be specified as a three-digit hexadecimal number prefixed with @code{#}, with the digits representing the amounts of red, green, and blue, respectively. This tells @command{nano} to select from the available palette the color that approximates the given values. The color pair may be preceded by @code{bold} and/or @code{italic} (separated by commas) to get a bold and/or slanting typeface, if your terminal can do those. All coloring commands are applied in the order in which they are specified, which means that later commands can recolor stuff that was colored earlier. @item icolor [bold,][italic,]@var{fgcolor},@var{bgcolor} "@var{regex}" @dots{} Same as above, except that the matching is case insensitive. @item color [bold,][italic,]@var{fgcolor},@var{bgcolor} start="@var{fromrx}" end="@var{torx}" Paint all pieces of text whose start matches extended regular expression @var{fromrx} and whose end matches extended regular expression @var{torx} with the given foreground and background colors, at least one of which must be specified. This means that, after an initial instance of @var{fromrx}, all text until the first instance of @var{torx} is colored. This allows syntax highlighting to span multiple lines. @item icolor [bold,][italic,]@var{fgcolor},@var{bgcolor} start="@var{fromrx}" end="@var{torx}" Same as above, except that the matching is case insensitive. @item include "@var{syntaxfile}" Read in self-contained color syntaxes from @var{syntaxfile}. Note that such a syntax file may contain only the above commands, from @code{syntax} to @code{icolor}. @item extendsyntax @var{name} @var{command} @var{argument} @dots{} Extend the syntax previously defined as "@var{name}" with another @var{command}. This allows you to add a new @code{color}, @code{icolor}, @code{header}, @code{magic}, @code{formatter}, @code{linter}, @code{comment}, or @code{tabgives} command to an already defined syntax --- useful when you want to slightly improve a syntax defined in one of the system-installed files (which normally are not writable). @end table @node Rebinding keys @section Rebinding keys Key bindings can be changed via the following three commands in a nanorc file: @table @code @item bind key function menu Rebinds @code{key} to @code{function} in the context of @code{menu} (or in all menus where the function exists when @code{all} is used). @item bind key "string" menu Makes @code{key} produce @code{string} in the context of @code{menu} (or in all menus where the key exists when @code{all} is used). Besides literal text and/or control codes, the @code{string} may contain function names between braces. These functions are invoked when the key is typed. To include a literal opening brace, use @code{@{@{@}}. @item unbind key menu Unbinds @code{key} from @code{menu} (or from all menus where the key exists when @code{all} is used). @end table Note that @code{bind key "@{function@}" menu} is equivalent to @code{bind key function menu}, except that for the latter form @command{nano} checks the availability of the @code{function} in the given @code{menu} at startup time (and reports an error if it does not exist there), whereas for the first form @command{nano} checks at execution time that the @code{function} exists but not whether it makes any sense in the current menu. The user has to take care that a function name between braces (or any sequence of them) is appropriate. Strange behavior or even a crash can result when the braced name is unfitting. @sp 1 The format of @code{key} should be one of: @indentedblock @table @asis @item @code{^@var{X}} where @var{X} is a Latin letter, or one of several ASCII characters (@@, ], \, ^, _), or the word "Space". Example: @code{^C}. @item @code{M-@var{X}} where @var{X} is any ASCII character (except [), or the word "Space", "Left", "Right", "Up", or "Down". Example: @code{M-8}. @item @code{Sh-M-@var{X}} where @var{X} is a Latin letter. Example: @code{Sh-M-U}. By default, each Meta+letter keystroke does the same as the corresponding Shift+Meta+letter. But when any Shift+Meta bind is made, that will no longer be the case, for all letters. @item @code{F@var{n}} where @var{n} is a numeric value from 1 to 24. Example: @code{F10}. (Often, @code{F13} to @code{F24} can be typed as @code{F1} to @code{F12} with Shift.) @item @code{Ins} or @code{Del} @end table @end indentedblock @sp 1 Rebinding @code{^M} (Enter) or @code{^I} (Tab) is probably not a good idea. Rebinding @code{^[} (Esc) is not possible, because its keycode is the starter byte of Meta keystrokes and escape sequences. Rebinding any of the dedicated cursor-moving keys (Home, End, PageUp, PageDown, and the arrows) is not possible. On some terminals it's not possible to rebind @code{^H} (unless @code{--raw} is used) because its keycode is identical to that of the Backspace key. @sp 1 Valid names for the @code{function} to be bound are: @table @code @item help Invokes the help viewer. @item cancel Cancels the current command. @item exit Exits from the program (or from the help viewer or file browser). @item writeout Writes the current buffer to disk, asking for a name. @item savefile Writes the current file to disk without prompting. @item insert Inserts a file into the current buffer (at the current cursor position), or into a new buffer when option @code{multibuffer} is set. @item whereis Starts a forward search for text in the current buffer --- or for filenames matching a string in the current list in the file browser. @item wherewas Starts a backward search for text in the current buffer --- or for filenames matching a string in the current list in the file browser. @item findprevious Searches the next occurrence in the backward direction. @item findnext Searches the next occurrence in the forward direction. @item replace Interactively replaces text within the current buffer. @item cut Cuts and stores the current line (or the marked region). @item copy Copies the current line (or the marked region) without deleting it. @item paste Pastes the currently stored text into the current buffer at the current cursor position. @item zap Throws away the current line (or the marked region). (This function is bound by default to @kbd{Alt+Delete}.) @item chopwordleft Deletes from the cursor position to the beginning of the preceding word. (This function is bound by default to @kbd{Shift+Ctrl+Delete}. If your terminal produces @code{^H} for @kbd{Ctrl+Backspace}, you can make @kbd{Ctrl+Backspace} delete the word to the left of the cursor by rebinding @kbd{^H} to this function.) @item chopwordright Deletes from the cursor position to the beginning of the next word. (This function is bound by default to @kbd{Ctrl+Delete}.) @item cutrestoffile Cuts all text from the cursor position till the end of the buffer. @item mark Sets the mark at the current position, to start selecting text. Or, when it is set, unsets the mark. @item location Reports the current position of the cursor in the buffer: the line, column, and character positions. @item wordcount Counts and reports on the status bar the number of lines, words, and characters in the current buffer (or in the marked region). @item execute Prompts for a program to execute. The program's output will be inserted into the current buffer --- or into a new buffer when @kbd{M-F} is toggled. When the program's name is preceded by a pipe symbol (@kbd{|}), then the current buffer (or the marked region) is piped to the program, and the output of the program replaces the buffer (or the marked region). @item speller Invokes a spell-checking program, either the default @command{hunspell} or GNU @command{spell}, or the one defined by @option{--speller} or @code{set speller}. @item formatter Invokes a full-buffer-processing program (if the active syntax defines one). (The current buffer is written out to a temporary file, the program is run on it, and then the temporary file is read back in, replacing the contents of the buffer.) @item linter Invokes a syntax-checking program (if the active syntax defines one). If this program produces lines of the form "filename:linenum:charnum: some message", then the cursor is put at the indicated position in the mentioned file while showing "some message" on the status bar. You can move from message to message with @kbd{PgUp} and @kbd{PgDn}, and leave linting mode with @kbd{^C} or @kbd{Enter}. @item justify Justifies the current paragraph (or the marked region). A paragraph is a group of contiguous lines that, apart from possibly the first line, all have the same indentation. The beginning of a paragraph is detected by either this lone line with a differing indentation or by a preceding blank line. @item fulljustify Justifies the entire current buffer (or the marked region). @item indent Indents (shifts to the right) the current line or the marked lines. @item unindent Unindents (shifts to the left) the current line or the marked lines. @item comment Comments or uncomments the current line or the marked lines, using the comment style specified in the active syntax. @item complete Completes (when possible) the fragment before the cursor to a full word found elsewhere in the current buffer. @item left Goes left one position (in the editor or browser). @item right Goes right one position (in the editor or browser). @item up Goes one line up (in the editor or browser). @item down Goes one line down (in the editor or browser). @item scrollleft Scrolls the viewport a tabsize to the left, when possible. (This function is bound by default to @kbd{M-<}.) @item scrollright Scrolls the viewport a tabsize to the right. When needed to keep the cursor visible, it is moved to a longer line in the viewport. If there is no sufficiently longer line, no scroll is made. (This function is bound by default to @kbd{M->}.) @item scrollup Scrolls the viewport up one row (meaning that the text slides down) while keeping the cursor in the same text position, if possible. (This function is bound by default to @kbd{M-Up}. If @kbd{Alt+Up} does nothing on your Linux console, see the FAQ: @url{https://nano-editor.org/dist/latest/faq.html#4.1}.) @item scrolldown Scrolls the viewport down one row (meaning that the text slides up) while keeping the cursor in the same text position, if possible. (This function is bound by default to @kbd{M-Down}.) @item center Scrolls the line with the cursor to the middle of the viewport. @item cycle Scrolls the line with the cursor first to the middle of the viewport, then to the top, then to the bottom. @item prevword Moves the cursor to the beginning of the previous word. @item nextword Moves the cursor to the beginning of the next word. @item home Moves the cursor to the beginning of the current line. @item end Moves the cursor to the end of the current line. @item beginpara Moves the cursor to the beginning of the current paragraph. @item endpara Moves the cursor to the end of the current paragraph. @item prevblock Moves the cursor to the beginning of the current or preceding block of text. (Blocks are separated by one or more blank lines.) @item nextblock Moves the cursor to the beginning of the next block of text. @item toprow Moves the cursor to the first row in the viewport. @item bottomrow Moves the cursor to the last row in the viewport. @item pageup Goes up one screenful. @item pagedown Goes down one screenful. @item firstline Goes to the first line of the file. @item lastline Goes to the last line of the file. @item gotoline Goes to a specific line (and column if given). A negative number counts from the end of the buffer (and end of the line). Putting @code{++} or @code{--} before the first number will jump the given number of lines forward or backward. @item findbracket Moves the cursor to the bracket (or brace or parenthesis, etc.) that matches (pairs) with the one under the cursor. @xref{@code{set matchbrackets}}. @item anchor Places an anchor at the current line, or removes it when already present. (An anchor is visible when line numbers are activated.) @item prevanchor Goes to the first anchor before the current line. @item nextanchor Goes to the first anchor after the current line. @item prevbuf Switches to editing/viewing the previous buffer when multiple buffers are open. @item nextbuf Switches to editing/viewing the next buffer when multiple buffers are open. @item verbatim Inserts the next keystroke verbatim into the file, or begins Unicode input when a hexadecimal digit is typed (@pxref{Entering text} for details). @item tab Inserts a tab at the current cursor location. @item enter Inserts a new line below the current one. @item delete Deletes the character under the cursor. @item backspace Deletes the character before the cursor. @item recordmacro Starts the recording of keystrokes --- the keystrokes are stored as a macro. When already recording, the recording is stopped. @item runmacro Replays the keystrokes of the last recorded macro. @item undo Undoes the last performed text action (add text, delete text, etc). @item redo Redoes the last undone action (that is: it undoes an undo). @item refresh Refreshes the screen. @item suspend Suspends the editor and returns control to the shell (until you tell the process to resume execution with @kbd{fg}). @item casesens Toggles whether searching/replacing ignores or respects the case of the given characters. @item regexp Toggles whether searching/replacing uses literal strings or regular expressions. @item backwards Toggles whether searching/replacing goes forward or backward. @item older Retrieves the previous (earlier) entry at a prompt. @item newer Retrieves the next (later) entry at a prompt. @item flipreplace Toggles between searching for something and replacing something. @item flipgoto Toggles between searching for text and targeting a line number. @item flipexecute Switches from inserting a file to executing a command. @item flippipe When executing a command, toggles whether the current buffer (or marked region) is piped to the command. @item flipnewbuffer Toggles between inserting into the current buffer and into a new empty buffer. @item flipconvert When reading in a file, toggles between converting and not converting it from DOS format. Converting is the default. @item dosformat When writing a file, switches to writing DOS format (CR+LF line endings). @item append When writing a file, appends to the end instead of overwriting. @item prepend When writing a file, “prepends” (writes at the beginning) instead of overwriting. @item backup When writing a file, creates a backup of the current file. @item discardbuffer Discards the current buffer without saving (when in the Write Out menu). When it was the last buffer, then @command{nano} exits with error status 2. @item browser Starts the file browser (in the Read File and Write Out menus), allowing to select a file from a list. @item gotodir Goes to a directory to be specified, allowing to browse anywhere in the filesystem. @item firstfile Goes to the first file in the list when using the file browser. @item lastfile Goes to the last file in the list when using the file browser. @item nohelp Toggles the presence of the two-line list of key bindings at the bottom of the screen. (This toggle is special: it is available in all menus except the help viewer and the linter. All further toggles are available in the main menu only.) @item zero Toggles the presence of title bar and status bar. @item constantshow Toggles the constant reporting (on the status bar) of the current line, column, and character positions. @item softwrap Toggles the displaying of overlong lines on multiple screen lines. @item linenumbers Toggles the display of line numbers in front of the text. @item whitespacedisplay Toggles the showing of whitespace. @item nosyntax Toggles syntax highlighting. @item smarthome Toggles the smartness of the Home key. @item autoindent Toggles whether a newly created line will contain the same amount of leading whitespace as the preceding line --- or as the next line if the preceding line is the beginning of a paragraph. @item cutfromcursor Toggles whether cutting text cuts the whole line or just from the current cursor position to the end of the line. @item breaklonglines Toggles whether the overlong part of a line is hard-wrapped to the next line. @item tabstospaces Toggles whether typed tabs are converted to spaces. @item mouse Toggles mouse support. @end table @sp 1 Valid names for @code{menu} are: @table @code @item main The main editor window where text is entered and edited. @item help The help-viewer menu. @item search The search menu (AKA whereis). @item replace The 'search to replace' menu. @item replacewith The 'replace with' menu, which comes up after 'search to replace'. @item yesno The 'yesno' menu, where the Yes/No/All/Cancel question is asked. @item gotoline The 'goto line (and column)' menu. @item writeout The 'write file' menu. @item insert The 'insert file' menu. @item browser The 'file browser' menu, for selecting a file to be opened or inserted or written to. @item whereisfile The 'search for a file' menu in the file browser. @item gotodir The 'go to directory' menu in the file browser. @item execute The menu for inserting the output from an external command, or for filtering the buffer (or the marked region) through an external command, or for executing one of several tools. @item spell The menu of the integrated spell checker where the user can edit a misspelled word. @item linter The linter menu, which allows jumping through the linting messages. @item all A special name that encompasses all menus. For @code{bind} it means all menus where the specified @code{function} exists; for @code{unbind} it means all menus where the specified @code{key} exists. @end table @node Pico compatibility @chapter Pico compatibility @command{nano} emulates Pico quite closely, but there are some differences between the two editors: @table @code @item Hard-Wrapping Unlike Pico, @command{nano} does not automatically hard-wrap the current line when it becomes overlong during typing. This hard-wrapping can be switched on with the @option{--breaklonglines} option. With that option, @command{nano} by default breaks lines at screen width minus eight columns, whereas Pico does it at screen width minus six columns. You can make @command{nano} do as Pico by using @option{--fill=-6}. @item Scrolling By default, @command{nano} scrolls just one line (instead of half a screen) when the cursor is moved to a line that is just out of view. And when paging up or down, @command{nano} keeps the cursor in the same screen position as much as possible, instead of always placing it on the first line of the viewport. The Pico-like behavior can be obtained with the @option{--jumpyscrolling} option. @item Edit Area Pico never uses the line directly below the title bar, leaving it always blank. @command{nano} includes this line in the editing area, in order to not waste space, and because in this way it is slightly clearer where the text starts. If you are accustomed to this line being empty, you can get it back with the @option{--emptyline} option. @item Interactive Replace Instead of allowing you to replace either just one occurrence of a search string or all of them, @command{nano}'s replace function is interactive: it pauses at each found search string and asks whether to replace this instance. You can then choose Yes, or No (skip this one), or All (don't ask any more), or Cancel (stop with replacing). @item Search and Replace History When the option @option{-H} or @option{--historylog} is given (or set in a nanorc file), text entered as search or replace strings is stored. These strings can be accessed with the up/down arrow keys at their respective prompts, or you can type the first few characters and then use @kbd{Tab} to cycle through the matching strings. A retrieved string can subsequently be edited. @item Position History When the option @option{-P} or @option{--positionlog} is given (or set in a nanorc file), @command{nano} will store the position of the cursor when you close a file, and will place the cursor in that position again when you later reopen the file. @item Current Cursor Position The output of the "Display Cursor Position" command (@kbd{^C}) displays not only the current line and character position of the cursor, but also (between the two) the current column position. @item Spell Checking In the internal spell checker misspelled words are sorted alphabetically and trimmed for uniqueness, such that the strings 'Aplpe' and 'aplpe' will be offered for correction separately. @item Writing Selected Text to Files When using the Write-Out key (@kbd{^O}), text that has been selected using the marking key (@kbd{^^}) can not just be written out to a new (or existing) file, it can also be appended or prepended to an existing file. @item Reading Text from a Command When using the Read-File key (@kbd{^R}), @command{nano} can not just read a file, it can also read the output of a command to be run (@kbd{^X}). @item Reading from Working Directory By default, Pico reads files from the user's home directory (when using @kbd{^R}), but it writes files to the current working directory (when using @kbd{^O}). @command{nano} makes this symmetrical: always reading from and writing to the current working directory --- the directory that @command{nano} was started in. @item File Browser In the file browser, @command{nano} does not implement the Add, Copy, Rename, and Delete commands that Pico provides. In @command{nano} the browser is just a file browser, not a file manager. @item Toggles Many options which alter the functionality of the program can be "toggled" on or off using Meta key sequences, meaning the program does not have to be restarted to turn a particular feature on or off. @xref{Feature toggles} for a list of options that can be toggled. Or see the list at the end of the main internal help text (@kbd{^G}) instead. @end table @node Building and its options @chapter Building and its options Building @command{nano} from source is straightforward if you are familiar with compiling programs with autoconf support: @blankline @example tar -xf nano-x.y.tar.gz cd nano-x.y ./configure make make install @end example @blankline The possible options to @code{./configure} are: @table @code @item --disable-browser Exclude the file browser that can be called with @kbd{^T} when wanting to read or write a file. @item --disable-color Exclude support for syntax coloring. This also eliminates the @option{-Y} command-line option, which allows choosing a specific syntax. @item --disable-comment Exclude the single-keystroke comment/uncomment function (@w{@kbd{M-3}}). @item --disable-extra Exclude the Easter egg: a crawl of major contributors. @item --disable-formatter Exclude the code for calling a formatting tool. @item --disable-help Exclude the help texts (@kbd{^G}). This makes the binary much smaller, but also makes it difficult for new users to learn more than very basic things about using the editor. @item --disable-histories Exclude the code for handling the history files: the search and replace strings that were used, the commands that were executed, and the cursor position at which each file was closed. This also eliminates the @option{-H} and @option{-P} command-line options, which switch on the storing of search/replace strings, executed commands, and cursor positions. @item --disable-justify Exclude the text-justification functions (@kbd{^J} and @kbd{M-J}). @item --disable-libmagic Exclude the code for using the library of magic-number tests (for determining the file type and thus which syntax to use for coloring --- in most cases the regexes for filename and header line will be enough). @item --disable-linenumbers Exclude the ability to show line numbers. This also eliminates the @option{-l} command-line option, which turns line numbering on. @item --disable-linter Exclude the code for calling a linting tool. @item --disable-mouse Exclude all mouse functionality. This also eliminates the @option{-m} command-line option, which enables the mouse functionality. @item --disable-multibuffer Exclude support for opening multiple files at a time and switching between them. This also eliminates the @option{-F} command-line option, which causes a file to be read into a separate buffer by default. @item --disable-nanorc Exclude support for reading the nanorc files at startup. With such support, you can store custom settings in a system-wide and a per-user nanorc file rather than having to pass command-line options to get the desired behavior. @xref{Nanorc files} for more info. Disabling this also eliminates the @option{-I} command-line option, which inhibits the reading of nanorc files. @item --disable-operatingdir Exclude the code for setting an operating directory. This also eliminates the @option{-o} command-line option, which sets the operating directory. @item --disable-speller Exclude the code for spell checking. This also eliminates the @option{-s} command-line option, which allows specifying an alternate spell checker. @item --disable-tabcomp Exclude tab completion (when nano asks for a filename or search string or replace string or command to execute). @item --disable-wordcomp Exclude word completion (@kbd{^]}). @item --disable-wrapping Exclude all hard-wrapping of overlong lines. This also eliminates the @option{-b} and @option{-w} command-line options, which switch automatic long-line wrapping on and off, respectively. @item --enable-tiny This option implies all of the above. It also disables some other internals of the editor, like the function toggles, the marking of text, the undo/redo code, line anchors, the recording and playback of a macro, softwrapping, and the cut-to-end-of-line code. These things stay disabled also when using the enabling counterpart of the above options together with @option{--enable-tiny} to switch specific features back on. @item --enable-debug Include some code for runtime debugging output. This can get messy, so chances are you only want this feature when you're working on the nano source. @item --disable-nls Exclude Native Language support. This disables the use of any available GNU @command{nano} translations. @item --enable-utf8 Include support for handling and displaying Unicode files. This requires a "wide" version of the curses library. @item --disable-utf8 Exclude support for handling and displaying Unicode files. Normally the configure script auto-detects whether to enable UTF-8 support or not. You can use this or the previous option to override that detection. @item --enable-altrcname=@var{name} Use the file with the given @var{name} (in the user's home directory) as nano's settings file, instead of the default @code{.nanorc}. @end table @html
@end html @iftex @contents @end iftex @bye ================================================ FILE: doc/nanorc.5 ================================================ .\" Copyright (C) 2003-2011, 2013-2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. .\" .\" This document is dual-licensed. You may distribute and/or modify it .\" under the terms of either of the following licenses: .\" .\" * The GNU General Public License, as published by the Free Software .\" Foundation, version 3 or (at your option) any later version. You .\" should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License .\" along with this program. If not, see .\" . .\" .\" * The GNU Free Documentation License, as published by the Free .\" Software Foundation, version 1.2 or (at your option) any later .\" version, with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no .\" Back-Cover Texts. You should have received a copy of the GNU Free .\" Documentation License along with this program. If not, see .\" . .\" .TH NANORC 5 "April 2026" "GNU nano 9.0" .SH NAME nanorc \- GNU nano's configuration file .SH DESCRIPTION The \fInanorc\fR files contain the default settings for \fBnano\fR, a small and friendly text editor. During startup, if \fB\-\-rcfile\fR is not given, \fBnano\fR reads two files: first the system-wide settings, from \fI/etc/\:nanorc\fR (the exact path might be different on your system), and then the user-specific settings, either from \fI\[ti]/.nanorc\fR or from \fI\%$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/\:nano/\:nanorc\fR or from \fI\[ti]\%/.config/\:nano/\:nanorc\fR, whichever is encountered first. If \fB\-\-rcfile\fR is given, \fBnano\fR reads just the specified settings file. .SH NOTICES Since version 9.0, all lines are scrolled horizontally together (when the cursor approaches the edge), by just the amount needed, instead of scrolling only the current line by a large step. If you prefer the old behavior, you can use \fB\-\-solo\fR on the command line or \fBset \%solosidescroll\fR in your \fInanorc\fR. .sp Also since version 9.0, keystrokes \fBM\-<\fR and \fBM\->\fR have been reassigned to the \fBscrollleft\fR and \fBscrollright\fR functions. If you want those keystrokes to do what they did before version 9.0, add these two lines at the end of your \fInanorc\fR file: .sp .RS 4 .B bind M\-< prevbuf main .br .B bind M\-> nextbuf main .RE .sp 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 four 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 OPTIONS The configuration file accepts a series of \fBset\fR and \fBunset\fR 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 \[em] see the two separate sections on those. \fBnano\fR reads one command per line. All commands and keywords should be written in lowercase. .sp Options in \fInanorc\fR files take precedence over nano's defaults, and command-line options override \fInanorc\fR settings. Also, options that do not take an argument are unset by default. So using the \fBunset\fR command is only needed when wanting to override a setting of the system's \fInanorc\fR file in your own \fInanorc\fR. Options that take an argument cannot be unset. .sp Quotes inside the \fIcharacters\fR parameters below should not be escaped. The last double quote on the line will be seen as the closing quote. .sp The supported commands and arguments are: .TP 3 .B set afterends Make Ctrl+Right and Ctrl+Delete stop at word ends instead of beginnings. .TP .B 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. .TP .B 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. .TP .B 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). .TP .B set backup When saving a file, create a backup file by adding a tilde (\fB\[ti]\fR) to the file's name. .TP .B set backupdir \fIdirectory\fR Make and keep not just one backup file, but make and keep a uniquely numbered one every time a file is saved \[em] when backups are enabled with \fBset \%backup\fR or \fB\-\-backup\fR or \fB\-B\fR. The uniquely numbered files are stored in the specified \fIdirectory\fR. .TP .B set boldtext Use bold instead of reverse video for the title bar, status bar, prompt bar, mini bar, key combos, line numbers, and selected text. This can be overridden by setting the options \fB\%titlecolor\fR, \fB\%statuscolor\fR, \fB\%promptcolor\fR, \fB\%minicolor\fR, \fB\%keycolor\fR, \fB\%numbercolor\fR, and/or \fB\%selectedcolor\fR. .TP .B set bookstyle When justifying, treat any line that starts with whitespace as the beginning of a paragraph (unless auto-indenting is on). .TP .BI "set brackets """ characters """" Set the characters treated as closing brackets when justifying paragraphs. This may not include blank characters. Only closing punctuation (see \fBset punct\fR), optionally followed by the specified closing brackets, can end sentences. The default value is "\fB\[dq]')>]}\fR". .TP .B set breaklonglines Automatically hard-wrap the current line when it becomes overlong \[em] that is: when it becomes wider than the value given with \fBset fill\fR (which defaults to the width of the terminal minus eight). .TP .B set casesensitive Do case-sensitive searches by default. .TP .B set 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 .B set constantshow Constantly report the cursor position on the status bar. This overrides the option \fBquickblank\fR. .TP .B set cutfromcursor Use cut-from-cursor-to-end-of-line by default, instead of cutting the whole line. .TP .B set emptyline Do not use the line below the title bar, leaving it entirely blank. .TP .B set errorcolor \fR[\fBbold,\fR][\fBitalic,\fR]\fIfgcolor\fB,\fIbgcolor\fR Use this color combination for the status bar when an error message is displayed. The default value is \fBbold,white,red\fR. See \fBset \%titlecolor\fR for valid color names. .TP .B set fill \fInumber\fR 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 set functioncolor \fR[\fBbold,\fR][\fBitalic,\fR]\fIfgcolor\fB,\fIbgcolor\fR Use this color combination for the concise function descriptions in the two help lines at the bottom of the screen. See \fBset \%titlecolor\fR for more details. .TP .B set 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.) .TP .B set historylog Save the last hundred search strings and replacement strings and executed commands, so they can be easily reused in later sessions. .TP .B set indicator Display a \[lq]scrollbar\[rq] 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 .B set jumpyscrolling Scroll the buffer contents per half-screen instead of per line. .TP .B set keycolor \fR[\fBbold,\fR][\fBitalic,\fR]\fIfgcolor\fB,\fIbgcolor\fR Use this color combination for the shortcut key combos in the two help lines at the bottom of the screen. See \fBset \%titlecolor\fR for more details. .TP .B set linenumbers Display line numbers to the left of the text area. (Any line with an anchor additionally gets a mark in the margin.) .TP .B set locking Use vim-style lock-files when editing files. .TP .B set magic When neither the file's name nor its first line give a clue, try using \fI\%libmagic\fR to determine the applicable syntax. (Calling \fI\%libmagic\fR can be relatively time consuming. It is therefore not done by default.) .TP .BI "set matchbrackets """ characters """" Specify 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 "\fB(<[{)>]}\fR". .TP .B set 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 \[lq]mini bar\[rq] 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 \fBset \%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 \fBset \%constantshow\fR is used, and can be toggled on and off with \fBM\-C\fR. The state flags are displayed only when \fBset \%stateflags\fR is used. .TP .B set minicolor \fR[\fBbold,\fR][\fBitalic,\fR]\fIfgcolor\fB,\fIbgcolor\fR Use this color combination for the mini bar. (When this option is not specified, the colors of the title bar are used.) See \fBset \%titlecolor\fR for more details. .TP .B set mouse Enable mouse support, if available for your system. When enabled, mouse clicks can be used to place the cursor, set the mark (with two clicks), 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 .B set multibuffer When reading in a file with \fB^R\fR, insert it into a new buffer by default. .TP .B set noconvert Don't convert files from DOS format. .TP .B set nohelp Don't display the two help lines at the bottom of the screen. .TP .B set 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 .B set nowrap Deprecated option since it has become the default setting. When needed, use \fBunset \%breaklonglines\fR instead. .TP .B set numbercolor \fR[\fBbold,\fR][\fBitalic,\fR]\fIfgcolor\fB,\fIbgcolor\fR Use this color combination for line numbers. See \fBset \%titlecolor\fR for more details. .TP .B set operatingdir \fIdirectory\fR At startup, make \fBnano\fR change to the given \fIdirectory\fR, and allow reading and writing files only in this directory and its subdirectories. .TP .B set positionlog Save the positions of cursor and anchors between editing sessions. These positions are remembered for the 200 most-recently edited files. .TP .B set 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). .TP .B set promptcolor \fR[\fBbold,\fR][\fBitalic,\fR]\fIfgcolor\fB,\fIbgcolor\fR Use this color combination for the prompt bar. (When this option is not specified, the colors of the title bar are used.) See \fBset \%titlecolor\fR for more details. .TP .BI "set punct """ characters """" 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 \fBset \%brackets\fR), can end sentences. The default value is "\fB!.?\fR". .TP .B set quickblank Make status-bar messages disappear after 1 keystroke instead of after 20. Note that option \fBconstantshow\fR overrides this. When option \fBminibar\fR or \fBzero\fR is in effect, \fBquickblank\fR makes a message disappear after 0.8 seconds instead of after the default 1.5 seconds. .TP .BI "set quotestr """ regex """" Set the regular expression for matching the quoting part of a line. The default value is "\fB^([\ \et]*([!#%:;>|}]|//))+\fR". (Note that \fB\et\fR stands for an actual Tab character.) 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 .B set rawsequences Interpret escape sequences directly, instead of asking \fIn\%curses\fR to translate them. (If you need this option to get some keys to work properly, it means that the \fI\%terminfo\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 .B set 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 .B set regexp Do regular-expression searches by default. Regular expressions in \fBnano\fR are of the extended type (ERE). .TP .B set saveonexit Save a changed buffer automatically on exit (\fB^X\fR); don't prompt. .TP .B set scrollercolor \fIfgcolor\fB,\fIbgcolor\fR Use this color combination for the indicator alias \[lq]scrollbar\[rq]. See \fBset \%titlecolor\fR for more details. .TP .B set selectedcolor \fR[\fBbold,\fR][\fBitalic,\fR]\fIfgcolor\fB,\fIbgcolor\fR Use this color combination for selected text. See \fBset \%titlecolor\fR for more details. .TP .B set showcursor Put the cursor on the highlighted item in the file browser, and show the cursor in the help viewer, to aid braille users and people with poor vision. .TP .B 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 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 .B set softwrap Display lines that exceed the screen's width over multiple screen lines. (You can make this soft-wrapping occur at whitespace instead of rudely at the screen's edge, by using also \fBset \%atblanks\fR.) .TP .B set solosidescroll When the cursor approaches the right edge of the edit window, scroll only the current line sideways by a large amount, instead of scrolling all visible lines sideways by just the amount needed to keep the cursor in view. This latter whole-window smooth sideways scrolling is the new default behavior. The single-line jerky sideways scrolling enabled by this option was the old behavior \[em] the only behavior that \fBnano\fR knew. .TP .B set speller """\fIprogram\fR [\fIargument \fR...]\fB""" Use the given \fIprogram\fR to do spell checking and correcting, instead of using the built-in corrector that calls \fBhunspell\fR(1) or \fBspell\fR(1). .TP .B set spotlightcolor \fR[\fBbold,\fR][\fBitalic,\fR]\fIfgcolor\fB,\fIbgcolor\fR Use this color combination for highlighting a search match. The default value is \fBblack,\%lightyellow\fR. See \fBset \%titlecolor\fR for valid color names. .TP .B set 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 .B set statuscolor \fR[\fBbold,\fR][\fBitalic,\fR]\fIfgcolor\fB,\fIbgcolor\fR Use this color combination for the status bar. See \fBset \%titlecolor\fR for more details. .TP .B set stripecolor \fR[\fBbold,\fR][\fBitalic,\fR]\fIfgcolor\fB,\fIbgcolor\fR Use this color combination for the vertical guiding stripe. See \fBset \%titlecolor\fR for more details. .TP .B set tabsize \fInumber\fR Use a tab size of \fInumber\fR columns. The value of \fInumber\fR must be greater than 0. The default value is \fB8\fR. .TP .B set tabstospaces Convert each typed tab to spaces \[em] to the number of spaces that a tab at that position would take up. (Note: pasted tabs are not converted.) .TP .B set titlecolor \fR[\fBbold,\fR][\fBitalic,\fR]\fIfgcolor\fB,\fIbgcolor\fR Use this color combination for the title bar. Valid names for the foreground and background colors are: .BR red ", " green ", " blue ", " \%magenta ", " \%yellow ", " \%cyan , .BR white ", and " black . Each of these eight names may be prefixed with the word \fBlight\fR to get a brighter version of that color. The word \fBgrey\fR or \fBgray\fR may be used as a synonym for \fB\%lightblack\fR. On a Linux console, \fBlight\fR does not have any effect for a background color. On terminal emulators that can do at least 256 colors, other valid (but unprefixable) color names are: .BR pink ", " \%purple ", " mauve ", " \%lagoon ", " mint ", " lime ", " peach , .BR \%orange ", " \%latte ", " \%rosy ", " beet ", " plum ", " sea ", " sky , .BR slate ", " teal ", " sage ", " brown ", " \%ocher ", " sand ", " \%tawny , .BR brick ", " \%crimson ", and " \%normal \[em] where \fB\%normal\fR means the default foreground or background color. On such emulators, the color may also be specified as a three-digit hexadecimal number prefixed with \fB#\fR, with the digits representing the amounts of red, green, and blue, respectively. This tells \fBnano\fR to select from the available palette the color that approximates the given values. Either "\fIfgcolor\fR" or "\fB,\fIbgcolor\fR" may be left out, and the pair may be preceded by \fBbold\fR and/or \fB\%italic\fR (separated by commas) to get a bold and/or slanting typeface, if your terminal can do those. .TP .B set trimblanks Remove trailing whitespace from wrapped lines when automatic hard-wrapping occurs or when text is justified. .TP .B set 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 \fBset \%noconvert\fR.) .TP .BI "set whitespace """ characters """" Set the two characters used to indicate the presence of tabs and spaces. They must be single-column characters. The default pair for a UTF-8 locale is "\fB\[Fc]\[md]\fR", and for other locales "\fB>.\fR". .TP .B set wordbounds Detect word boundaries differently by treating punctuation characters as parts of words. .TP .BI "set wordchars """ characters """" Specify which other characters (besides the normal alphanumeric ones) should be considered as parts of words. When using this option, you probably want to unset \fBwordbounds\fR. .TP .B set zap Let an unmodified Backspace or Delete erase the marked region (instead of a single character, and without affecting the cutbuffer). .TP .B set 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. .SH SYNTAX HIGHLIGHTING Coloring the different syntactic elements of a file is done via regular expressions (see the \fBcolor\fR command below). This is inherently imperfect, because regular expressions are not powerful enough to fully parse a file. Nevertheless, regular expressions can do a lot and are easy to make, so they are a good fit for a small editor like \fBnano\fR. .sp All regular expressions in \fBnano\fR are POSIX extended regular expressions. This means that \fB.\fR, \fB?\fR, \fB*\fR, \fB+\fR, \fB^\fR, \fB$\fR, and several other characters are special. The period \fB.\fR matches any single character, \fB?\fR means the preceding item is optional, \fB*\fR means the preceding item may be matched zero or more times, \fB+\fR means the preceding item must be matched one or more times, \fB^\fR matches the beginning of a line, and \fB$\fR the end, \fB\e<\fR matches the start of a word, and \fB\e>\fR the end, and \fB\es\fR matches a blank. It also means that lookahead and lookbehind are not possible. A complete explanation can be found in the manual page of GNU grep: \fBman grep\fR. .sp Each regular expression in a \fInanorc\fR file should be wrapped in double quotes (\fB""\fR). Multiple regular expressions can follow each other on a line by separating them with blanks. This means that a regular expression cannot contain a double quote followed by a blank. When you need this combination inside a regular expression, then either the double quote or the blank should be put between square brackets (\fB[]\fR). .sp For each kind of file a separate syntax can be defined via the following commands: .TP .BI syntax " name \fR[" """" fileregex """ " \fR...] Start the definition of a syntax with this \fIname\fR. All subsequent \fBcolor\fR and other such commands are added to this syntax, until a new \fBsyntax\fR command is encountered. .sp When \fBnano\fR is run, this syntax is automatically activated (for the relevant buffer) if the absolute filename matches the extended regular expression \fIfileregex\fR. Or the syntax can be explicitly activated (for all buffers) by using the \fB\-Y\fR or \fB\-\-syntax\fR command-line option followed by the \fIname\fR. .sp The syntax \fBdefault\fR is special: it takes no \fIfileregex\fR, and applies to files that don't match any syntax's regexes. The syntax \fBnone\fR is reserved; specifying it on the command line is the same as not having a syntax at all. .TP .BI "header """ regex """ " \fR... If from all defined syntaxes no \fIfileregex\fR matched, then compare this \fIregex\fR (or regexes) against the first line of the current file, to determine whether this syntax should be used for it. .TP .BI "magic """ regex """ " \fR... If no \fIfileregex\fR matched and no \fBheader\fR regex matched either, then compare this \fIregex\fR (or regexes) against the result of querying the \fImagic\fR database about the current file, to determine whether this syntax should be used for it. (This querying is done only when \fI\%libmagic\fR is actually installed on the system and \fB\-\-magic\fR or \fBset \%magic\fR was given.) .TP .BI formatter " program " \fR[ "argument " \fR...] Run the given \fIprogram\fR on the full contents of the current buffer. .TP .BI linter " program " \fR[ "argument " \fR...] Use the given \fIprogram\fR to run a syntax check on the current buffer. .TP .BI "comment """ string """" Use the given \fIstring\fR for commenting and uncommenting lines. If the string contains a vertical bar or pipe character (\fB|\fR), this designates bracket-style comments; for example, "\fB/*|*/\fR" for CSS files. The characters before the pipe are prepended to the line and the characters after the pipe are appended at the end of the line. If no pipe character is present, the full string is prepended; for example, "\fB#\fR" for Python files. If nothing is specified between the double quotes, then the comment/uncomment function is disabled; for example, "" for JSON. The default value is "\fB#\fR". .TP .BI "tabgives """ string """" Make the key produce the given \fIstring\fR. Useful for languages like Python that want to see only spaces for indentation. This overrides the setting of the \fBtabstospaces\fR option. .TP .BI "color \fR[\fBbold,\fR][\fBitalic,\fR]" fgcolor , bgcolor " """ regex """ " \fR... Paint all pieces of text that match the extended regular expression \fIregex\fR with the given foreground and background colors, at least one of which must be specified. Valid color names are: .BR red ", " green ", " blue ", " \%magenta ", " \%yellow ", " \%cyan , .BR white ", and " black . Each of these eight names may be prefixed with the word \fBlight\fR to get a brighter version of that color. The word \fBgrey\fR or \fBgray\fR may be used as a synonym for \fB\%lightblack\fR. On a Linux console, \fBlight\fR does not have any effect for a background color. On terminal emulators that can do at least 256 colors, other valid (but unprefixable) color names are: .BR pink ", " \%purple ", " mauve ", " \%lagoon ", " mint ", " lime ", " peach , .BR \%orange ", " \%latte ", " \%rosy ", " beet ", " plum ", " sea ", " sky , .BR slate ", " teal ", " sage ", " brown ", " \%ocher ", " sand ", " \%tawny , .BR brick ", " \%crimson ", and " \%normal \[em] where \fB\%normal\fR means the default foreground or background color. On such emulators, the color may also be specified as a three-digit hexadecimal number prefixed with \fB#\fR, with the digits representing the amounts of red, green, and blue, respectively. This tells \fBnano\fR to select from the available palette the color that approximates the given values. The color pair may be preceded by \fBbold\fR and/or \fB\%italic\fR (separated by commas) to get a bold and/or slanting typeface, if your terminal can do those. .sp All coloring commands are applied in the order in which they are specified, which means that later commands can recolor stuff that was colored earlier. .TP .BI "icolor \fR[\fBbold,\fR][\fBitalic,\fR]" fgcolor , bgcolor " """ regex """ " \fR... Same as above, except that the matching is case insensitive. .TP .BI "color \fR[\fBbold,\fR][\fBitalic,\fR]" fgcolor , bgcolor " start=""" fromrx """ end=""" torx """" Paint all pieces of text whose start matches extended regular expression \fIfromrx\fR and whose end matches extended regular expression \fItorx\fR with the given foreground and background colors, at least one of which must be specified. This means that, after an initial instance of \fIfromrx\fR, all text until the first instance of \fItorx\fR is colored. This allows syntax highlighting to span multiple lines. .TP .BI "icolor \fR[\fBbold,\fR][\fBitalic,\fR]" fgcolor , bgcolor " start=""" fromrx """ end=""" torx """" Same as above, except that the matching is case insensitive. .TP .BI "include """ syntaxfile """" Read in self-contained color syntaxes from \fIsyntaxfile\fR. Note that \fIsyntaxfile\fR may contain only the above commands, from \fBsyntax\fR to \fBicolor\fR. .TP .BI extendsyntax " name command argument " \fR... Extend the syntax previously defined as \fIname\fR with another \fI\%command\fR. This allows adding a new \fB\%color\fR, \fB\%icolor\fR, \fB\%header\fR, \fB\%magic\fR, \fB\%formatter\fR, \fB\%linter\fR, \fB\%comment\fR, or \fB\%tabgives\fR command to an already defined syntax \[em] useful when you want to slightly improve a syntax defined in one of the system-installed files (which normally are not writable). .SH REBINDING KEYS Key bindings can be changed via the following three commands: .RS 3 .TP .BI bind " key function menu" Rebinds the given \fIkey\fR to the given \fIfunction\fR in the given \fImenu\fR (or in all menus where the function exists when \fBall\fR is used). .TP .BI bind " key " """" string """" " menu" Makes the given \fIkey\fR produce the given \fIstring\fR in the given \fImenu\fR (or in all menus where the key exists when \fBall\fR is used). Besides literal text and/or control codes, the \fIstring\fR may contain function names between braces. These functions are invoked when the key is typed. To include a literal opening brace, use \fB{{}\fR. .TP .BI unbind " key menu" Unbinds the given \fIkey\fR from the given \fImenu\fR (or from all menus where the key exists when \fBall\fR is used). .RE .sp Note that \fBbind \fIkey\fR \fB"{\fIfunction\fB}"\fR \fImenu\fR is equivalent to \fBbind \fIkey\fR \fIfunction\fR \fImenu\fR, except that for the latter form \fBnano\fR checks the availability of the \fIfunction\fR in the given \fImenu\fR at startup time (and reports an error if it does not exist there), whereas for the first form \fBnano\fR checks at execution time that the \fIfunction\fR exists but not whether it makes any sense in the current menu. The user has to take care that a function name between braces (or any sequence of them) is appropriate. Strange behavior or even a crash can result when the braced name is unfitting. .TP The format of \fIkey\fR should be one of: .RS 3 .TP 7 .BI ^ X where \fIX\fR is a Latin letter, or one of several ASCII characters (@, ], \e, ^, _), or the word "Space". Example: ^C. .TP .BI M\- X where \fIX\fR is any ASCII character (except [), or the word "Space", "Left", "Right", "Up", or "Down". Example: M\-8. .TP .BI Sh\-M\- X where \fIX\fR is a Latin letter. Example: Sh\-M\-U. By default, each Meta+letter keystroke does the same as the corresponding Shift+Meta+letter. But when any Shift+Meta bind is made, that will no longer be the case, for all letters. .TP .BI F N where \fIN\fR is a numeric value from 1 to 24. Example: F10. (Often, \fBF13\fR to \fBF24\fR can be typed as \fBF1\fR to \fBF12\fR with Shift.) .TP .BR Ins " or " Del . .RE .sp Rebinding \fB^M\fR (Enter) or \fB^I\fR (Tab) is probably not a good idea. Rebinding \fB^[\fR (Esc) is not possible, because its keycode is the starter byte of Meta keystrokes and escape sequences. Rebinding any of the dedicated cursor-moving keys (the arrows, Home, End, PageUp and PageDown) is not possible. On some terminals it's not possible to rebind \fB^H\fR (unless \fB\-\-raw\fR is used) because its keycode is identical to that of the Backspace key. .TP Valid \fIfunction\fR names to be bound are: .RS 3 .TP 2 .B help Invokes the help viewer. .TP .B cancel Cancels the current command. .TP .B exit Exits from the program (or from the help viewer or file browser). .TP .B writeout Writes the current buffer to disk, asking for a name. .TP .B savefile Writes the current file to disk without prompting. .TP .B insert Inserts a file into the current buffer (at the current cursor position), or into a new buffer when option \fBmultibuffer\fR is set. .TP .B whereis Starts a forward search for text in the current buffer \[em] or for filenames matching a string in the current list in the file browser. .TP .B wherewas Starts a backward search for text in the current buffer \[em] or for filenames matching a string in the current list in the file browser. .TP .B findprevious Searches the next occurrence in the backward direction. .TP .B findnext Searches the next occurrence in the forward direction. .TP .B replace Interactively replaces text within the current buffer. .TP .B cut Cuts and stores the current line (or the marked region). .TP .B copy Copies the current line (or the marked region) without deleting it. .TP .B paste Pastes the currently stored text into the current buffer at the current cursor position. .TP .B zap Throws away the current line (or the marked region). (This function is bound by default to .) .TP .B chopwordleft Deletes from the cursor position to the beginning of the preceding word. (This function is bound by default to . If your terminal produces \fB^H\fR for , you can make delete the word to the left of the cursor by rebinding \fB^H\fR to this function.) .TP .B chopwordright Deletes from the cursor position to the beginning of the next word. (This function is bound by default to .) .TP .B cutrestoffile Cuts all text from the cursor position till the end of the buffer. .TP .B mark Sets the mark at the current position, to start selecting text. Or, when it is set, unsets the mark. .TP .B location Reports the current position of the cursor in the buffer: the line, column, and character positions. .TP .B wordcount Counts and reports on the status bar the number of lines, words, and characters in the current buffer (or in the marked region). .TP .B execute Prompts for a program to execute. The program's output is inserted into the current buffer \[em] or into a new buffer when \fBM\-F\fR is toggled. When the program's name is preceded by a pipe symbol (\fB|\fR), then the current buffer (or the marked region) is piped to the program, and the output of the program replaces the buffer (or the marked region). .TP .B speller Invokes a spell-checking program, either the default \fBhunspell\fR(1) or GNU \fBspell\fR(1), or the one defined by \fB\-\-speller\fR or \fBset \%speller\fR. .TP .B formatter Invokes a full-buffer-processing program (if the active syntax defines one). (The current buffer is written out to a temporary file, the program is run on it, and then the temporary file is read back in, replacing the contents of the buffer.) .TP .B linter Invokes a syntax-checking program (if the active syntax defines one). If this program produces lines of the form "filename:linenum:charnum: some message", then the cursor is put at the indicated position in the mentioned file while showing "some message" on the status bar. You can move from message to message with and , and leave linting mode with \fB^C\fR or . .TP .B justify Justifies the current paragraph (or the marked region). A paragraph is a group of contiguous lines that, apart from possibly the first line, all have the same indentation. The beginning of a paragraph is detected by either this lone line with a differing indentation or by a preceding blank line. .TP .B fulljustify Justifies the entire current buffer (or the marked region). .TP .B indent Indents (shifts to the right) the current line or the marked lines. .TP .B unindent Unindents (shifts to the left) the current line or the marked lines. .TP .B comment Comments or uncomments the current line or the marked lines, using the comment style specified in the active syntax. .TP .B complete Completes (when possible) the fragment before the cursor to a full word found elsewhere in the current buffer. .TP .B left Goes left one position (in the editor or browser). .TP .B right Goes right one position (in the editor or browser). .TP .B up Goes one line up (in the editor or browser). .TP .B down Goes one line down (in the editor or browser). .TP .B scrollleft Scrolls the viewport a tabsize to the left, when possible. (This function is bound by default to \fBM\-<\fR.) .TP .B scrollright Scrolls the viewport a tabsize to the right. When needed to keep the cursor visible, it is moved to a longer line in the viewport. If there is no sufficiently longer line, no scroll is made. (This function is bound by default to \fBM\->\fR.) .TP .B scrollup Scrolls the viewport up one row (meaning that the text slides down) while keeping the cursor in the same text position, if possible. (This function is bound by default to \fBM\-Up\fR. If \fBM\-Up\fR does nothing on your Linux console, see the FAQ: .UR https://nano\-editor.org/dist/latest/faq.html#4.1 .UE .) .TP .B scrolldown Scrolls the viewport down one row (meaning that the text slides up) while keeping the cursor in the same text position, if possible. (This function is bound by default to \fBM\-Down\fR.) .TP .B center Scrolls the line with the cursor to the middle of the viewport. .TP .B cycle Scrolls the line with the cursor first to the middle of the viewport, then to the top, then to the bottom. .TP .B prevword Moves the cursor to the beginning of the previous word. .TP .B nextword Moves the cursor to the beginning of the next word. .TP .B home Moves the cursor to the beginning of the current line. .TP .B end Moves the cursor to the end of the current line. .TP .B beginpara Moves the cursor to the beginning of the current paragraph. .TP .B endpara Moves the cursor to the end of the current paragraph. .TP .B prevblock Moves the cursor to the beginning of the current or preceding block of text. (Blocks are separated by one or more blank lines.) .TP .B nextblock Moves the cursor to the beginning of the next block of text. .TP .B toprow Moves the cursor to the first row in the viewport. .TP .B bottomrow Moves the cursor to the last row in the viewport. .TP .B pageup Goes up one screenful. .TP .B pagedown Goes down one screenful. .TP .B firstline Goes to the first line of the file. .TP .B lastline Goes to the last line of the file. .TP .B gotoline Goes to a specific line (and column if given). A negative number counts from the end of the buffer (and end of the line). Putting \fB++\fR or \fB\-\-\fR before the first number will jump the given number of lines forward or backward. .TP .B findbracket Moves the cursor to the bracket (or brace or parenthesis, etc.\&) that matches (pairs) with the one under the cursor. See \fBset \%matchbrackets\fR. .TP .B anchor Places an anchor at the current line, or removes it when already present. (An anchor is visible when line numbers are activated.) .TP .B prevanchor Goes to the first anchor before the current line. .TP .B nextanchor Goes to the first anchor after the current line. .TP .B prevbuf Switches to editing/viewing the previous buffer when multiple buffers are open. .TP .B nextbuf Switches to editing/viewing the next buffer when multiple buffers are open. .TP .B verbatim Inserts the next keystroke verbatim into the file, or begins Unicode input when a hexadecimal digit is typed. .TP .B tab Inserts a tab at the current cursor location. .TP .B enter Inserts a new line below the current one. .TP .B delete Deletes the character under the cursor. .TP .B backspace Deletes the character before the cursor. .TP .B recordmacro Starts the recording of keystrokes \[em] the keystrokes are stored as a macro. When already recording, the recording is stopped. .TP .B runmacro Replays the keystrokes of the last recorded macro. .TP .B undo Undoes the last performed text action (add text, delete text, etc). .TP .B redo Redoes the last undone action (that is: it undoes an undo). .TP .B refresh Refreshes the screen. .TP .B suspend Suspends the editor and returns control to the shell (until you tell the process to resume execution with \fBfg\fR). .TP .B casesens Toggles whether searching/replacing ignores or respects the case of the given characters. .TP .B regexp Toggles whether searching/replacing uses literal strings or regular expressions. .TP .B backwards Toggles whether searching/replacing goes forward or backward. .TP .B older Retrieves the previous (earlier) entry at a prompt. .TP .B newer Retrieves the next (later) entry at a prompt. .TP .B flipreplace Toggles between searching for something and replacing something. .TP .B flipgoto Toggles between searching for text and targeting a line number. .TP .B flipexecute Switches from inserting a file to executing a command. .TP .B flippipe When executing a command, toggles whether the current buffer (or marked region) is piped to the command. .TP .B flipnewbuffer Toggles between inserting into the current buffer and into a new empty buffer. .TP .B flipconvert When reading in a file, toggles between converting and not converting it from DOS format. Converting is the default. .TP .B dosformat When writing a file, switches to writing DOS format (CR+LF line endings). .TP .B append When writing a file, appends to the end instead of overwriting. .TP .B prepend When writing a file, \[lq]prepends\[rq] (writes at the beginning) instead of overwriting. .TP .B backup When writing a file, creates a backup of the current file. .TP .B discardbuffer Discards the current buffer without saving (when in the Write Out menu). When it was the last buffer, then \fBnano\fR exits with error status 2. .TP .B browser Starts the file browser (in the Read File and Write Out menus), allowing to select a file from a list. .TP .B gotodir Goes to a directory to be specified, allowing to browse anywhere in the filesystem. .TP .B firstfile Goes to the first file in the list when using the file browser. .TP .B lastfile Goes to the last file in the list when using the file browser. .TP .B nohelp Toggles the presence of the two-line list of key bindings at the bottom of the screen. (This toggle is special: it is available in all menus except the help viewer and the linter. All further toggles are available in the main menu only.) .TP .B zero Toggles the presence of title bar and status bar. .TP .B constantshow Toggles the constant reporting (on the status bar) of the current line, column, and character positions. .TP .B softwrap Toggles the displaying of overlong lines on multiple screen lines. .TP .B linenumbers Toggles the display of line numbers in front of the text. .TP .B whitespacedisplay Toggles the showing of whitespace. .TP .B nosyntax Toggles syntax highlighting. .TP .B smarthome Toggles the smartness of the Home key. .TP .B autoindent Toggles whether a newly created line will contain the same amount of leading whitespace as the preceding line \[em] or as the next line if the preceding line is the beginning of a paragraph. .TP .B cutfromcursor Toggles whether cutting text cuts the whole line or just from the current cursor position to the end of the line. .TP .B breaklonglines Toggles whether the overlong part of a line is hard-wrapped to the next line. .TP .B tabstospaces Toggles whether typed tabs are converted to spaces. .TP .B mouse Toggles mouse support. .RE .TP Valid \fImenu\fR sections are: .RS 3 .TP 2 .B main The main editor window where text is entered and edited. .TP .B help The help-viewer menu. .TP .B search The search menu (AKA whereis). .TP .B replace The \&'search to replace' menu. .TP .B replacewith The \&'replace with' menu, which comes up after \&'search to replace'. .TP .B yesno The \&'yesno' menu, where the Yes/No/All/Cancel question is asked. .TP .B gotoline The \&'goto line (and column)' menu. .TP .B writeout The \&'write file' menu. .TP .B insert The \&'insert file' menu. .TP .B browser The \&'file browser' menu, for selecting a file to be opened or inserted or written to. .TP .B whereisfile The \&'search for a file' menu in the file browser. .TP .B gotodir The \&'go to directory' menu in the file browser. .TP .B execute The menu for inserting the output from an external command, or for filtering the buffer (or the marked region) through an external command, or for executing one of several tools. .TP .B spell The menu of the integrated spell checker where the user can edit a misspelled word. .TP .B linter The linter menu, which allows jumping through the linting messages. .TP .B all A special name that encompasses all menus. For \fBbind\fR it means all menus where the specified \fIfunction\fR exists; for \fBunbind\fR it means all menus where the specified \fIkey\fR exists. .RE .SH EXAMPLES To make \fBCtrl+Z\fR suspend nano: .sp .RS .B bind ^Z suspend main .RE .sp To make \fBShift+Alt+C\fR copy the marked region to the system's clipboard: .sp .RS .B bind Sh\-M\-C """{execute}| xsel \-ib {enter}{undo}""" main .RE .sp .SH FILES .TP .I /etc/nanorc System-wide configuration file. .TP .IR \[ti]/.nanorc " or " $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nano/nanorc " or " \[ti]/.config/nano/nanorc Per-user configuration file. .TP .I /usr/share/nano/* Syntax definitions for the syntax coloring of common file types (and for less common file types in the \fIextra/\fR subdirectory). .SH SEE ALSO .BR nano (1) .TP .I https://nano\-editor.org/cheatsheet.html An overview of the default key bindings. ================================================ FILE: doc/rnano.1 ================================================ .\" Copyright (C) 2002-2007, 2014-2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. .\" .\" This document is dual-licensed. You may distribute and/or modify it .\" under the terms of either of the following licenses: .\" .\" * The GNU General Public License, as published by the Free Software .\" Foundation, version 3 or (at your option) any later version. You .\" should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License .\" along with this program. If not, see .\" . .\" .\" * The GNU Free Documentation License, as published by the Free .\" Software Foundation, version 1.2 or (at your option) any later .\" version, with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no .\" Back-Cover Texts. You should have received a copy of the GNU Free .\" Documentation License along with this program. If not, see .\" . .\" .TH RNANO 1 "April 2026" "GNU nano 9.0" .SH NAME rnano \- a restricted nano .SH SYNOPSIS .B rnano .RI [ options "] [[\fB+" line [\fB, column "]] " file ]... .SH DESCRIPTION \fBrnano\fR runs the \fBnano\fR editor in restricted mode. This allows editing only the \fIfile\fR (or files) specified on the command line. .sp In restricted mode, \fBnano\fR will: .RS 4 .IP \[bu] 2 not make backups; .IP \[bu] not read nor write the history files; .IP \[bu] not allow suspending; .IP \[bu] not allow spell checking; .IP \[bu] not allow running any command in the shell; .IP \[bu] not allow saving the current buffer under a different name; .IP \[bu] not allow inserting another file or opening a new buffer; .IP \[bu] not allow appending or prepending to any file. .RE .sp As an exception, before the specified file or files, the nanorc files are read, to allow customization. If customization should not be allowed, use option \fB\-I\fR (\fB\-\-ignorercfiles\fR) as well. .sp When no \fIfile\fR is specified on the command line, the user may save the contents that they type into the new buffer under any name, except that existing files may not be overwritten. If the places where this new file may be created should be limited, then additionally use the option \fB\-o\fR (\fB\-\-operatingdir\fR). .SH OPTIONS .TP .BR \-h ", " \-\-help Show the available command-line options and exit. .P For all existing options, see the \fBnano\fR(1) man page. .SH BUGS Please report bugs via .IR https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=nano . .SH HOMEPAGE .I https://nano-editor.org/ .SH SEE ALSO .BR nano (1) ================================================ FILE: doc/sample.nanorc.in ================================================ ## Sample initialization file for GNU nano. ## ## For the options that take parameters, the default value is shown. ## Other options are unset by default. To make sure that an option ## is disabled, you can use "unset