NANO(1) NANO(1)
NAME
nano - Nano's ANOther editor, an enhanced free Pico clone
SYNOPSIS
nano [+LINE,COLUMN] [options] [file(1,n)]
DESCRIPTION
This manual page documents briefly the nano command.
nano is a small, free and friendly editor which aims to replace Pico,
the default editor included in(1,8) the non-free Pine package. Rather than
just copying Pico's look(1,8,3 Search::Dict) and feel, nano also implements some missing
(or disabled by default) features in(1,8) Pico, such as "search and replace"
and "go to line number".
OPTIONS
+LINE,COLUMN
Places cursor at line number LINE and column number COLUMN on
startup, instead of the default of line 1, column 1.
-? Same as -h (--help).
-A (--smarthome)
Make the Home key smarter. When Home is pressed anywhere but at
the very beginning of non-whitespace characters on a line, the
cursor will jump to that beginning (either forwards or back-
wards). If the cursor is already at that position, it will jump
to the true beginning of the line.
-B (--backup)
When saving a file(1,n), back up the previous version(1,3,5) of it to the
current filename suffixed with a ~.
-C dir (--backupdir=dir)
Set the directory where nano puts(3,n) unique backup files if(3,n) file(1,n)
backups are enabled.
-E (--tabstospaces)
Convert typed tabs to spaces.
-F (--multibuffer)
Enable multiple file(1,n) buffers, if(3,n) available.
-H (--historylog)
Log search and replace strings to ~/.nano_history so they can be
stored for later editing, if(3,n) nanorc support is configured.
-I (--ignorercfiles)
Don't look(1,8,3 Search::Dict) at SYSCONFDIR/nanorc or ~/.nanorc, if(3,n) nanorc support
is available.
-N (--noconvert)
Disable automatic conversion of files from DOS/Mac format.
-O (--morespace)
Use the blank line below the titlebar as extra editing space.
-Q str (--quotestr=str)
Set the quoting string(3,n) for justifying. The default is
"^([ \t]*[|>:}#])+" if(3,n) regular expression support is available,
or "> " otherwise.
-R (--restricted)
Restricted mode: Don't read(2,n,1 builtins) or write(1,2) to any file(1,n) not specified
on the command line, read(2,n,1 builtins) any nanorc files, allow suspending, or
allow a file(1,n) to be appended to, prepended to, or saved under a
different name if(3,n) it already has one. Also accessible by invok-
ing nano with any name beginning with 'r' (e.g. "rnano").
-S (--smooth)
Enable smooth scrolling. Text will scroll line-by-line, instead
of the usual chunk-by-chunk behavior.
-T cols (--tabsize=cols)
Set the size (width) of a tab to cols columns. The value of
cols must be greater than 0. The default value is 8.
-U (--quickblank)
Do quick statusbar blanking. Statusbar messages will disappear
after 1 keystroke instead of 25. Note that -c cancels this out.
-V (--version)
Show the current version(1,3,5) number and author.
-Y str (--syntax=str)
Specify a specific syntax highlighting from the nanorc to use,
if(3,n) available.
-c (--const)
Constantly show the cursor position. Note that this cancels out
-U.
-d (--rebinddelete)
Interpret the Delete key differently so that both Backspace and
Delete work properly. You should only need to use this option
if(3,n) Backspace acts like Delete on your system.
-h (--help)
Display a summary of command line options.
-i (--autoindent)
Indent new lines to the previous line's indentation. Useful
when editing source code.
-k (--cut)
Enable cut from cursor to end of line.
-l (--nofollow)
If the file(1,n) being edited is a symbolic link(1,2), replace the link(1,2)
with a new file(1,n) instead of following it. Good for editing files
in(1,8) /tmp, perhaps?
-m (--mouse)
Enable mouse support (if(3,n) available for your system).
-o dir (--operatingdir=dir)
Set operating directory. Makes nano set(7,n,1 builtins) up something similar to
a chroot.
-p (--preserve)
Preserve the XON and XOFF sequences (^Q and ^S) so they will be
caught by the terminal.
-r cols (--fill=cols)
Wrap lines at column cols. If this value is 0 or less(1,3), wrapping
will occur at the width of the screen less(1,3) cols columns, allow-
ing the wrap point to vary along with the width of the screen if(3,n)
the screen is resized. The default value is -8.
-s prog (--speller=prog)
Enable alternative spell checker command.
-t (--tempfile)
Always save changed buffer without prompting. Same as Pico's -t
option.
-v (--view)
View file(1,n) (read(2,n,1 builtins) only) mode.
-w (--nowrap)
Disable wrapping of long lines.
-x (--nohelp)
Disable help screen at bottom of editor.
-z (--suspend)
Enable suspend ability.
-a, -b, -e, -f, -g, -j
Ignored, for compatibility with Pico.
INITIALIZATION FILE
nano will read(2,n,1 builtins) initialization files in(1,8) the following order:
SYSCONFDIR/nanorc, then ~/.nanorc. Please see nanorc(5) and the exam-
ple file(1,n) nanorc.sample, both of which should be provided with nano.
NOTES
If no alternative spell checker command is specified on the command
line or in(1,8) one of the nanorc files, nano will check the SPELL environ-
ment variable for one.
nano will try to dump the buffer into an emergency file(1,n) in(1,8) some cases.
Mainly, this will happen if(3,n) nano receives a SIGHUP or SIGTERM or runs
out of memory, when it will write(1,2) the buffer into a file(1,n) named(5,8)
nano.save if(3,n) the buffer didn't have a name already, or will add a
".save" suffix to the current filename. If an emergency file(1,n) with that
name already exists in(1,8) the current directory, ".save" and a number
(e.g. ".save.1") will be suffixed to the current filename in(1,8) order to
make it unique. In multibuffer mode, nano will write(1,2) all the open(2,3,n)
buffers to their respective emergency files.
BUGS
Please send(2,n) any comments or bug reports to nano@nano-editor.org.
The nano mailing list is available from nano-devel@gnu.org.
To subscribe, email to nano-devel-request@gnu.org with a subject of
"subscribe".
HOMEPAGE
http://www.nano-editor.org/
SEE ALSO
nanorc(5)
/usr/share/doc/nano/ (or equivalent on your system)
AUTHOR
Chris Allegretta <chrisa@asty.org>, et al (see AUTHORS and THANKS for
details). This manual page was originally written by Jordi Mallach
<jordi@sindominio.net>, for the Debian GNU system (but may be used by
others).
June 27, 2005 version(1,3,5) 1.3.8 NANO(1)