nano

File Handling

Editing

Search and Replace

Deletion

Operations & Macros

Moving Around (Navigation)

Special Movement & Buffers

Information & Various

Configuration

Configuration is typically stored in ~/.nanorc.

set linenumbers
set tabsize 4
set autoindent

Advanced Startup Flags

You can launch nano with these flags to change its behavior for a single session without editing your ~/.nanorc file.

Power-User Tricks

Regular Expression Search

1. Press Ctrl + W (Search).
2. Press Alt + R to toggle Regular Expressions on/off.
3. Type your regex and hit Enter.

Run External Commands & Insert Output

You can run a bash command (like ls or date) and paste its output directly into your text file:

1. Press Ctrl + T (Execute command).
2. Type the shell command (e.g., date or ls -la).
3. Press Enter to insert the output at your cursor's current position.

Soft Line Wrapping

By default, nano inserts hard line breaks if a line gets too long. To toggle "Soft Wrapping" (visually wrapping text to fit the window without adding actual line break characters):

• Press Alt + $ while in the editor.

Mouse Support

If you get tired of using arrow keys to navigate large files, you can enable your mouse:

• Press Alt + M to toggle mouse support. You can now click anywhere to move your cursor or use the scroll wheel.

Advanced Configuration (~/.nanorc)

To make nano behave more like a modern code editor (VS Code, Sublime), add these to your ~/.nanorc file:

# Enable line numbers by default
set linenumbers

# Set tab size to 4 spaces and convert tabs to spaces
set tabsize 4
set tabstospaces

# Enable mouse support by default
set mouse

# Enable soft line wrapping by default
set softwrap

# -----------------------------------------------------
# Enable Syntax Highlighting for all supported languages
# (Path may vary slightly depending on your OS/Distro)
# -----------------------------------------------------
include "/usr/share/nano/*.nanorc"