NANORC(5)		      File Formats Manual		     NANORC(5)



NAME
       nanorc - GNU nano's rcfile

DESCRIPTION
       The  nanorc  file  contains  the default settings for nano, a small and
       friendly editor.	 The file should be in Unix format, not in DOS or  Mac
       format.	During startup, nano will first read the system-wide settings,
       from /etc/nanorc (the exact path might  be  different),	and  then  the
       user-specific settings, from ~/.nanorc.


OPTIONS
       The  configuration  file	 accepts  a  series of set and unset 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 -- see the  two	separate  sections  on
       those.  nano reads one command per line.

       Options	in nanorc files take precedence over nano's defaults, and com-
       mand-line options override nanorc settings.  Also, options that do  not
       take  an	 argument are unset by default.	 So using the unset command is
       only needed when wanting to override a setting of the  system's	nanorc
       file  in	 your  own ~/.nanorc.  Options that take an argument cannot be
       unset.

       Below, the string parameters need to  be	 enclosed  in  double  quotes.
       Quotes  inside  these  string  parameters don't have to be escaped with
       backslashes.  The last double quote in the string will  be  treated  as
       its  end.  For example, for the brackets option, ""')>]}" will match ",
       ', ), >, ], and }.

       The supported commands and arguments are:


       set allow_insecure_backup
	  When backing up files, allow the backup to succeed even if its  per-
	  missions  can't  be  (re)set	due to special OS considerations.  You
	  should NOT enable this option unless you are sure you need it.

       set autoindent
	  Use auto-indentation.

       set backup
	  When saving a file, create a backup file by adding a	tilde  (~)  to
	  the file's name.

       set 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
	  with	set backup or --backup or -B.  The uniquely numbered files are
	  stored in the specified directory.

       set backwards
	  Do backwards searches by default.

       set boldtext
	  Use bold instead of reverse video for the titlebar,  statusbar,  key
	  combos,  and	selected  text.	  This can be overridden for the first
	  three by setting the options titlecolor, statuscolor, and keycolor.

       set brackets string
	  Set the characters treated as closing brackets when justifying para-
	  graphs.   This may not include blank characters.  Only closing punc-
	  tuation (see punct), optionally followed by  the  specified  closing
	  brackets, can end sentences.	The default value is ""')>]}".

       set casesensitive
	  Do case-sensitive searches by default.

       set constantshow
	  Constantly  display the cursor position in the status bar.  (The old
	  form of this option, 'set const', is deprecated.)

       set cut
	  Use cut-to-end-of-line by default,  instead  of  cutting  the	 whole
	  line.

       set fill number
	  Hard-wrap  lines  at	column number number.  If number is 0 or less,
	  the maximum line length will be the screen width  less  number  col-
	  umns.	 The default value is -8.

       set functioncolor fgcolor,bgcolor
	  Specify  the	color combination to use for the function descriptions
	  in the two help lines at the bottom of the screen.  See  set	title-
	  color for more details.

       set historylog
	  Enable  the  use  of	~/.nano/search_history	for saving and reading
	  search/replace strings.

       set justifytrim
	  When	justifying  text,  trailing  newlines  will  automatically  be
	  removed.

       set keycolor fgcolor,bgcolor
	  Specify  the color combination to use for the shortcut key combos in
	  the two help lines at the bottom of the screen.  See set  titlecolor
	  for more details.

       set locking
	  Enable vim-style lock-files for when editing files.

       set matchbrackets string
	  Set  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 "(<[{)>]}".

       set morespace
	  Use the blank line below the titlebar as extra editing space.

       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 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.

       set multibuffer
	  When reading in a file with ^R, insert  it  into  a  new  buffer  by
	  default.

       set noconvert
	  Don't convert files from DOS/Mac format.

       set nohelp
	  Don't display the two help lines at the bottom of the screen.

       set nonewlines
	  Don't automatically add a newline to the ends of files.

       set nowrap
	  Don't hard-wrap text at all.

       set operatingdir directory
	  nano	will only read and write files inside directory and its subdi-
	  rectories.  Also, the current directory is changed to here, so files
	  are  inserted from this directory.  By default, the operating direc-
	  tory feature is turned off.

       set positionlog
	  Save the cursor position of files  between  editing  sessions.   The
	  cursor  position  is	remembered  for	 the  200 most-recently edited
	  files.  (The old form of this option, 'set poslog', is deprecated.)

       set preserve
	  Preserve the XON and XOFF keys (^Q and ^S).

       set punct string
	  Set the characters treated as closing	 punctuation  when  justifying
	  paragraphs.	This may not include blank characters.	Only the spec-
	  fified closing punctuation, optionally followed by closing  brackets
	  (see brackets), can end sentences.  The default value is "!.?".

       set quickblank
	  Do  quick  statusbar	blanking.   Statusbar  messages will disappear
	  after 1 keystroke instead of 25.

       set quiet
	  nano will not report errors in the nanorc file nor ask  them	to  be
	  acknowledged	by  pressing  Enter  at	 startup.  If this is used, it
	  should be placed at the top of the file to be fully effective.

       set quotestr string
	  The email-quote string, used	to  justify  email-quoted  paragraphs.
	  This is an extended regular expression if your system supports them,
	  otherwise   a	  literal    string.	 The	default	   value    is
	  "^([ \t]*[#:>\|}])+"	if  you	 have extended regular expression sup-
	  port, and "> " otherwise.  Note that '\t' stands for a  literal  Tab
	  character.

       set 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.

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

       set regexp
	  Do extended regular expression searches by default.

       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
	  will	jump to that beginning (either forwards or backwards).	If the
	  cursor is already at that position, it will jump to the true	begin-
	  ning of the line.

       set smooth
	  Use smooth scrolling by default.

       set softwrap
	  Enable soft line wrapping for easier viewing of very long lines.

       set speller spellprog
	  Use  spelling	 checker  spellprog instead of the built-in one, which
	  calls spell.

       set statuscolor fgcolor,bgcolor
	  Specify the color combination to use for  the	 statusbar.   See  set
	  titlecolor for more details.

       set suspend
	  Allow nano to be suspended.

       set tabsize number
	  Use  a  tab  size  of	 number	 columns.  The value of number must be
	  greater than 0.  The default value is 8.

       set tabstospaces
	  Convert typed tabs to spaces.

       set tempfile
	  Save automatically on exit, don't prompt.

       set titlecolor fgcolor,bgcolor
	  Specify the color combination to use for the titlebar.  Valid	 color
	  names	      for	foreground	 and	  background	  are:
	  white, black, red, blue, green, yellow, magenta,  and	  cyan.	   And
	  either "fgcolor" or ",bgcolor" may be left out.

       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 set noconvert.)

       set view
	  Disallow file modification.

       set whitespace string
	  Set  the  two	 characters  used to indicate the presence of tabs and
	  spaces.  They must be single-column characters.

       set wordbounds
	  Detect word boundaries more accurately by treating punctuation char-
	  acters as parts of words.


SYNTAX HIGHLIGHTING
       Coloring the different syntactic elements of a file is done via regular
       expressions (see the color command below).  This is  inherently	imper-
       fect,  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 nano.

       A  separate syntax can be defined for each kind of file via the follow-
       ing commands:

       syntax "str" ["fileregex" ...]
	      Defines a syntax named  str  which  can  be  activated  via  the
	      -Y/--syntax  command-line option, or will be automatically acti-
	      vated if the  current  filename  matches	the  extended  regular
	      expression  fileregex.  All subsequent color, icolor, header and
	      other such statements will apply to this str syntax until a  new
	      syntax command is encountered.

	      The  none	 syntax is reserved; specifying it on the command line
	      is the same as not having a syntax at all.  The  default	syntax
	      is  special:  it	takes  no fileregex, and applies to files that
	      don't match any syntax's fileregex.

       linter program [arg ...]
	      Use the given program to run a syntax check on the current  file
	      (this overrides the speller function when defined).

       formatter program [arg ...]
	      Use the given program to automatically reformat text.  Useful in
	      certain programming languages (e.g. Go).

       header regex ...
	      Add one or more regexes which will be compared against the  very
	      first  line  of the file to be edited, to determine whether this
	      syntax should be used for that file.

       magic regex ...
	      Add one or more regexes  which  will  be	compared  against  the
	      result  of  querying  the	 magic	database  about the file to be
	      edited, to determine whether this syntax should be used for that
	      file.   This functionality only works when libmagic is installed
	      on the system and will be silently ignored otherwise.

       color fgcolor,bgcolor "regex" ...
	      Display all pieces of  text  that	 match	the  extended  regular
	      expression  regex	 with  foreground color fgcolor and background
	      color bgcolor, at least one of which must be  specified.	 Valid
	      colors  for  foreground  and  background are: white, black, red,
	      blue, green, yellow, magenta, and cyan.  You may use the	prefix
	      "bright"	to  get a stronger color highlight for the foreground.
	      If your terminal supports transparency, not specifying a bgcolor
	      tells nano to attempt to use a transparent background.

       icolor fgcolor,bgcolor "regex" ...
	      Same  as	above,	except that the text matching is case insensi-
	      tive.

       color fgcolor,bgcolor start="sr" end="er"
	      Display all pieces of text whose start matches extended  regular
	      expression  sr and whose end matches extended regular expression
	      er with foreground color fgcolor and background  color  bgcolor,
	      at least one of which must be specified.	This means that, after
	      an initial instance of sr, all text will	be  highlighted	 until
	      the  first  instance  of er.  This allows syntax highlighting to
	      span multiple lines.

       icolor fgcolor,bgcolor start="sr" end="er"
	      Same as above, except that the text matching  is	case  insensi-
	      tive.

       include "syntaxfile"
	      Read  in	self-contained	color  syntaxes from syntaxfile.  Note
	      that syntaxfile may contain only the above commands, from syntax
	      to icolor.

       extendsyntax str directive [arg ...]
	      Extend  the  syntax  previously  defined	as  str to include new
	      information.  This allows	 you  to  add  a  new  color,  icolor,
	      header,  magic,  linter,	or  formatter  directive to an already
	      defined syntax -- useful when you want  to  slightly  improve  a
	      syntax  defined  in one of the system-installed files (which are
	      normally not writable)

REBINDING KEYS
       Key bindings can be changed via the following two commands:

       bind key function menu
	      Rebinds the key key to a new function named function in the con-
	      text  of menu menu (or in all menus where the function exists by
	      using all).

       unbind key menu
	      Unbinds the key key from the menu named menu (or from all	 menus
	      where it exists by using all).


       The format of key should be one of:

	  ^  followed by an alpha character or the word "Space".  Example: ^C

	  M- followed  by a printable character or the word "Space".  Example:
	     M-C

	  F  followed by a numeric value from 1 to 16.	Example: F10


       Valid function names to be bound are:

	  help
	    Invokes the help viewer.

	  cancel
	    Cancels the current command.

	  exit
	    Exits from the program (or	from  the  help	 viewer	 or  the  file
	    browser).

	  writeout
	    Writes the current buffer to disk, asking for a name.

	  savefile
	    Writes the current file to disk without prompting or warning.

	  insert
	    Inserts  a	file  into  the	 current buffer (at the current cursor
	    position), or into a new buffer when option multibuffer is set.

	  whereis
	    Searches for text in the current buffer -- or for filenames match-
	    ing a string in the current list in the file browser.

	  searchagain
	    Repeats the last search command without prompting.

	  findprevious
	    As searchagain, but always in the backward direction.

	  findnext
	    As searchagain, but always in the forward direction.

	  replace
	    Interactively replaces text within the current buffer.

	  cut
	    Cuts and stores the current line (or the marked region).

	  copytext
	    Copies  the	 current  line (or the marked region) without deleting
	    it.

	  uncut
	    Copies the currently stored text into the current  buffer  at  the
	    current cursor position.

	  mark
	    Sets the mark at the current position, to start selecting text.

	  cutwordleft
	    Cuts  from	the  cursor position to the beginning of the preceding
	    word.

	  cutwordright
	    Cuts from the cursor position to the beginning of the next word.

	  cutrestoffile
	    Cuts all text from the cursor position till the end of the buffer.

	  curpos
	    Shows the current cursor position: the line, column, and character
	    positions.

	  wordcount
	    Counts  the	 number	 of words, lines and characters in the current
	    buffer.

	  speller
	    Invokes a spell-checking program (or a  linting  program,  if  the
	    current syntax highlighting defines one).

	  linter
	    A  synonym	of  speller (for when the speller has not been config-
	    ured).

	  justify
	    Justifies the current paragraph.

	  fulljustify
	    Justifies the entire current buffer.

	  indent
	    Indents (shifts to the right) the currently marked text.

	  unindent
	    Unindents (shifts to the left) the currently marked text.

	  left
	    Goes left one position (in the editor or browser).

	  right
	    Goes right one position (in the editor or browser).

	  up
	    Goes one line up (in the editor or browser).

	  down
	    Goes one line down (in the editor or browser).

	  scrollup
	    Scrolls up one line of text from the current position.

	  scrolldown
	    Scrolls down one line of text from the current position.

	  prevword
	    Moves the cursor to the beginning of the previous word.

	  nextword
	    Moves the cursor to the beginning of the next word.

	  home
	    Moves the cursor to the beginning of the current line.

	  end
	    Moves the cursor to the end of the current line.

	  beginpara
	    Moves the cursor to the beginning of the current paragraph.

	  endpara
	    Moves the cursor to the end of the current paragraph.

	  prevpage
	    Goes up one screenful.

	  nextpage
	    Goes down one screenful.

	  firstline
	    Goes to the first line of the file.

	  lastline
	    Goes to the last line of the file.

	  gotoline
	    Goes to a specific line (and column if specified).

	  gototext
	    Switches from targeting a line number to searching for text.

	  findbracket
	    Moves the cursor to the bracket (brace,  parenthesis,  etc.)  that
	    matches (pairs) with the one under the cursor.

	  prevbuf
	    Switches to editing/viewing the previous buffer when multiple buf-
	    fers are open.

	  nextbuf
	    Switches to editing/viewing the next buffer when multiple  buffers
	    are open.

	  verbatim
	    Inserts the next character verbatim into the file.

	  tab
	    Inserts a tab at the current cursor location.

	  enter
	    Inserts a new line below the current one.

	  delete
	    Deletes the character under the cursor.

	  backspace
	    Deletes the character before the cursor.

	  undo
	    Undoes  the	 last  performed  text	action (add text, delete text,
	    etc).

	  redo
	    Redoes the last undone action (i.e., it undoes an undo).

	  refresh
	    Refreshes the screen.

	  suspend
	    Suspends the editor (if the suspending function  is	 enabled,  see
	    the "suspendenable" entry below).

	  casesens
	    Toggles case sensitivity in searching (search/replace menus only).

	  regexp
	    Toggles whether searching/replacing is based on literal strings or
	    regular expressions.

	  backwards
	    Toggles whether searching/replacing goes forward or backward.

	  prevhistory
	    Shows the  previous	 history  entry	 in  the  prompt  menus	 (e.g.
	    search).

	  nexthistory
	    Shows the next history entry in the prompt menus (e.g. search).

	  flipreplace
	    Toggles between searching for something and replacing something.

	  flipexecute
	    Toggles between inserting a file and executing a command.

	  flipnewbuffer
	    Toggles  between  inserting into the current buffer and into a new
	    empty buffer.

	  dosformat
	    When writing a file, switches to writing a DOS format (CR/LF).

	  macformat
	    When writing a file, switches to writing a Mac format.

	  append
	    When writing a file, appends to the end instead of overwriting.

	  prepend
	    When writing a file, 'prepends' (writes at the beginning)  instead
	    of overwriting.

	  backup
	    When writing a file, creates a backup of the current file.

	  discardbuffer
	    When  about	 to  write  a file, discard the current buffer without
	    saving.  (This function is	bound  by  default  only  when	option
	    --tempfile is in effect.)

	  tofiles
	    Starts the file browser, allowing to select a file from a list.

	  gotodir
	    Goes  to  a directory to be specified, allowing to browse anywhere
	    in the filesystem.

	  firstfile
	    Goes to the first file when using the  file	 browser  (reading  or
	    writing files).

	  lastfile
	    Goes  to  the  last	 file  when using the file browser (reading or
	    writing files).

	  nohelp
	    Toggles the presence of the two-line list of key bindings  at  the
	    bottom of the screen.

	  constupdate
	    Toggles  the  constant  display  of	 the current line, column, and
	    character positions.

	  morespace
	    Toggles the presence of  the  blank	 line  which  'separates'  the
	    titlebar from the file text.

	  smoothscroll
	    Toggles smooth scrolling (when moving around with the arrow keys).

	  softwrap
	    Toggles the displaying of overlong lines on multiple screen lines.

	  whitespacedisplay
	    Toggles the showing of whitespace.

	  nosyntax
	    Toggles syntax highlighting.

	  smarthome
	    Toggles the smartness of the Home key.

	  autoindent
	    Toggles  whether  new lines will contain the same amount of white-
	    space as the preceding line.

	  cuttoend
	    Toggles whether cutting text will cut the whole line or just  from
	    the current cursor position to the end of the line.

	  nowrap
	    Toggles whether long lines will be hard-wrapped to the next line.

	  tabstospaces
	    Toggles whether typed tabs will be converted to spaces.

	  backupfile
	    Toggles whether a backup will be made of the file being edited.

	  multibuffer
	    Toggles whether a file is inserted into the current buffer or read
	    into a new buffer.

	  mouse
	    Toggles mouse support.

	  noconvert
	    Toggles automatic conversion of files from DOS/Mac format.

	  suspendenable
	    Toggles whether the suspend sequence (normally  ^Z)	 will  suspend
	    the editor window.


       Valid menu sections are:

	  main
	    The main editor window where text is entered and edited.

	  search
	    The search menu (AKA whereis).

	  replace
	    The 'search to replace' menu.

	  replacewith
	    The 'replace with' menu, which comes up after 'search to replace'.

	  gotoline
	    The 'goto line (and column)' menu.

	  writeout
	    The 'write file' menu.

	  insert
	    The 'insert file' menu.

	  extcmd
	    The	 menu  for  inserting output from an external command, reached
	    from the insert menu.

	  help
	    The help-viewer menu.

	  spell
	    The interactive spell checker Yes/no menu.

	  linter
	    The linter menu.

	  browser
	    The file browser for inserting or writing a file.

	  whereisfile
	    The 'search for a file' menu in the file browser.

	  gotodir
	    The 'go to directory' menu in the file browser.

	  all
	    A special name that encompasses all menus.	For bind it means  all
	    menus where the specified function exists; for unbind it means all
	    menus where the specified key exists.


FILES
       /etc/nanorc
	      System-wide configuration file.

       ~/.nanorc
	      Per-user configuration file.

SEE ALSO
       nano(1)

       /usr/share/doc/nano/examples/nanorc.sample (or equivalent on your  sys-
       tem)

AUTHOR
       Chris  Allegretta  <chrisa@asty.org>, et al (see 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 others).



February 2016			 version 2.5.3			     NANORC(5)