NANO(1)			    General Commands Manual		       NANO(1)



NAME
       nano - Nano's ANOther editor, an enhanced free Pico clone


SYNOPSIS
       nano [options] [[+line,column] file]...


DESCRIPTION
       nano  is	 a small, free and friendly editor which aims to replace Pico,
       the default editor included in the non-free Pine package.   On  top  of
       copying	Pico's	look  and  feel, nano also implements some missing (or
       disabled by default) features in Pico, such as "search and replace" and
       "go to line and column number".


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
       ^K deletes the current line and puts it in the cutbuffer.   Consecutive
       ^Ks  will  put all deleted lines together in the cutbuffer.  Any cursor
       movement or executing any other command will cause the next ^K to over-
       write  the cutbuffer.  A ^U will paste the current contents of the cut-
       buffer at the current cursor position.

       When a more precise piece of text needs to be cut or  copied,  one  can
       mark  its  start	 with  ^6, move the cursor to its end (the marked text
       will be highlighted), and then use ^K to cut it, or M-6 to copy	it  to
       the  cutbuffer. One can also save the marked text to a file with ^O, or
       spell check it with ^T.

       The two lines at the bottom of the screen show the most important  com-
       mands;  the  built-in  help  (^G)  lists	 all  the available ones.  The
       default key bindings can	 be  changed  via  the	.nanorc	 file  --  see
       nanorc(5).


OPTIONS
       +line,column
	      Places  the cursor on line number line and at column number col-
	      umn (at least one	 of  which  must  be  specified)  on  startup,
	      instead of the default line 1, column 1.

       -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, back up the previous version of it, using
	      the current filename suffixed with a tilde (~).

       -C directory, --backupdir=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.

       -D, --boldtext
	      Use bold text instead of reverse video text.

       -E, --tabstospaces
	      Convert typed tabs to spaces.

       -F, --multibuffer
	      Enable  multiple file buffers (if support for them has been com-
	      piled in).

       -G, --locking
	      Enable vim-style file locking when editing files.

       -H, --historylog
	      Log search and replace  strings  to  ~/.nano/search_history,  so
	      they can be retrieved in later sessions.

       -I, --ignorercfiles
	      Don't look at the system's nanorc nor at ~/.nanorc.

       -K, --rebindkeypad
	      Interpret	 the  numeric  keypad keys so that they all work prop-
	      erly.  You should only need to use this option if they don't, as
	      mouse support won't work properly with this option enabled.

       -L, --nonewlines
	      Don't add newlines to the ends of files.

       -N, --noconvert
	      Disable automatic conversion of files from DOS/Mac format.

       -O, --morespace
	      Use the blank line below the titlebar as extra editing space.

       -P, --positionlog
	      For the 200 most recent files, log the last position of the cur-
	      sor, and place it at that position again upon reopening  such  a
	      file.  (The old form of this option, --poslog, is deprecated.)

       -Q "characters", --quotestr="characters"
	      Set   the	  quoting  string  for	justifying.   The  default  is
	      "^([ \t]*[#:>\|}])+" if extended regular expression  support  is
	      available, or "> " otherwise.  Note that \t stands for a Tab.

       -R, --restricted
	      Restricted  mode:	 don't read or write to any file not specified
	      on the command line; don't read any  nanorc  files  nor  history
	      files;  don't allow suspending nor spell checking; don't allow a
	      file to be appended to, prepended to, or saved under a different
	      name  if	it  already has one; and don't use backup files.  This
	      restricted mode is also accessible by  invoking  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 number, --tabsize=number
	      Set the size (width) of a tab to number columns.	The  value  of
	      number 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 overrides this.

       -V, --version
	      Show the current version number and exit.

       -W, --wordbounds
	      Detect word boundaries more accurately by	 treating  punctuation
	      characters as part of a word.

       -Y name, --syntax=name
	      Specify  the  name  of the syntax highlighting to use from among
	      the ones defined in the nanorc files.

       -c, --constantshow
	      Constantly show the cursor position.  Note that  this  overrides
	      -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 Backspace acts like Delete on your system.

       -h, --help
	      Show a summary of the available command-line options and exit.

       -i, --autoindent
	      Indent  new  lines  to  the previous line's indentation.	Useful
	      when editing source code.

       -k, --cut
	      Make the 'Cut Text' command (normally ^K) cut from  the  current
	      cursor  position	to the end of the line, instead of cutting the
	      entire line.

       -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
	      will work in the X Window System, and on the console when gpm is
	      running.	Text can still be selected through dragging by holding
	      down the Shift key.

       -n, --noread
	      Treat  any  name	given on the command line as a new file.  This
	      allows nano to write to named pipes: it will start with a	 blank
	      buffer,  and  will  write	 to  the  pipe when the user saves the
	      "file".  This way nano can be used as an editor  in  combination
	      with  for instance gpg without having to write sensitive data to
	      disk first.

       -o directory, --operatingdir=directory
	      Set the operating directory.  This makes nano set	 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.

       -q, --quiet
	      Do not report errors in the nanorc files	nor  ask  them	to  be
	      acknowledged by pressing Enter at startup.

       -r number, --fill=number
	      Hard-wrap	 lines	at column number.  If this value is 0 or less,
	      wrapping will occur at the width of the screen less number  col-
	      umns,  allowing  the  wrap point to vary along with the width of
	      the screen if the screen is resized.  The default value  is  -8.
	      This  option  conflicts  with  -w	 --  the  last one given takes
	      effect.

       -s program, --speller=program
	      Use this alternative spell checker command.

       -t, --tempfile
	      Always save a changed buffer without prompting.  Same as	Pico's
	      -t option.

       -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 --noconvert.)

       -v, --view
	      View-file (read-only) mode.

       -w, --nowrap
	      Disable  the hard-wrapping of long lines.	 This option conflicts
	      with -r -- the last one given takes effect.

       -x, --nohelp
	      Don't show the two help lines at the bottom of the screen.

       -z, --suspend
	      Enable the suspend ability.

       -$, --softwrap
	      Enable 'soft wrapping'.  This will make nano attempt to  display
	      the  entire  contents of any line, even if it is longer than the
	      screen width, by	continuing  it	over  multiple	screen	lines.
	      Since  '$'  normally refers to a variable in the Unix shell, you
	      should specify this option last when using other	options	 (e.g.
	      'nano -wS$') or pass it separately (e.g. 'nano -wS -$').

       -a, -b, -e, -f, -g, -j
	      Ignored, for compatibility with Pico.


INITIALIZATION FILE
       nano  will  read	 initialization files in the following order: the sys-
       tem's nanorc (if it exists), and	 then  the  user's  ~/.nanorc  (if  it
       exists).	  Please  see  nanorc(5)  for more information on the possible
       contents of those files.


NOTES
       If no alternative spell checker command is  specified  on  the  command
       line nor in one of the nanorc files, nano will check the SPELL environ-
       ment variable for one.

       In some cases nano will try to dump the buffer into an emergency	 file.
       This  will  happen  mainly if nano receives a SIGHUP or SIGTERM or runs
       out of memory.  It will write the buffer into a file named nano.save if
       the  buffer didn't have a name already, or will add a ".save" suffix to
       the current filename.  If an emergency  file  with  that	 name  already
       exists  in  the	current	 directory,  it will add ".save" plus a number
       (e.g. ".save.1") to the current filename in order to  make  it  unique.
       In  multibuffer	mode,  nano  will  write all the open buffers to their
       respective emergency files.


BUGS
       Justifications (^J) and reindentations (M-{ and M-}) are not  yet  cov-
       ered  by the general undo system.  So after a justification that is not
       immediately undone, or after any reindentation, earlier edits cannot be
       undone any more.	 The workaround is, of course, to exit without saving.

       Please  report  any  other  bugs	 that you encounter via https://savan-
       nah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=nano.


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 the  files  AUTHORS  and
       THANKS  for details).  This manual page was originally written by Jordi
       Mallach <jordi@gnu.org>, for the Debian system (but may be used by oth-
       ers).



February 2016			 version 2.5.3			       NANO(1)