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The nano editor is a simple, user-friendly, text-based editor commonly used in Linux and Unix systems. Below are the essential commands to navigate and work with nano:


Opening nano

  • Open a file with nano <filename> (e.g., nano myfile.txt).
  • If the file doesn’t exist, nano creates it.

Navigating Text

  • Arrow keys: Move the cursor up, down, left, or right.
  • Ctrl+A: Move to the beginning of the current line.
  • Ctrl+E: Move to the end of the current line.
  • Ctrl+Y: Scroll up one screen.
  • Ctrl+V: Scroll down one screen.
  • Ctrl+_: Jump to a specific line and column (enter line,column).

Editing Text

  • Backspace/Delete: Remove characters.
  • Ctrl+K: Cut the entire current line (can be pasted later).
  • Ctrl+U: Paste previously cut text.
  • Alt+6: Copy selected text (use arrow keys to highlight).
  • Ctrl+J: Justify the current paragraph.

Searching

  • Ctrl+W: Search for a string or text.
  • Alt+W: Repeat the last search.
  • Ctrl+\: Search and replace.

Saving and Exiting

  • Ctrl+O: Save changes (write to file).
    • Press Enter to confirm the file name.
  • Ctrl+X: Exit nano.
    • If unsaved changes exist, nano prompts you to save them.

Undo and Redo

  • Alt+U: Undo the last action.
  • Alt+E: Redo the last undone action.

File Management

  • Ctrl+R: Insert the content of another file into the current file.
  • Ctrl+T: Open the file browser to search for a file.

Help and Shortcuts

  • Ctrl+G: Display the help menu with all commands.
  • Ctrl+C: Show the current cursor position (line and column numbers).

Advanced Features

  • Ctrl+T: Spellcheck (if enabled on your system).
  • Ctrl+X: Exit nano after saving changes.

Nano displays shortcuts at the bottom of the screen.

  • ^ refers to the Ctrl key (e.g., ^X is Ctrl+X).
  • M- refers to the Alt key (e.g., M-U is Alt+U).

Mr. Arch Brooks, Software Engineer, Brooks Computing Systems, LLC authored this article.

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