<p>When working on the command line quite often you will need to create or edit text files. Two of the most powerful and popular used command line editors are Vim and Emacs. Both of them have a steep learning curve that can be intimidating to new users. For those who need a simple editor, there is nano.</p>



<p>GNU nano is an easy to use command line text editor for Unix and Linux operating systems. It includes all the basic functionality you’d expect from a regular text editor, like syntax highlighting, multiple buffers, search and replace with regular expression support, spellchecking, UTF-8 encoding, and more.</p>



<p>In this guide, we will cover the basics of using the nano editor including how to create and open a file, edit a file, save a file, search and replace text, cut and paste text, and more.</p>



<h2 id="installing-nano">Installing Nano</h2>



<p>Nano text editor is pre-installed on macOS and most Linux distros. To check if it is installed on your system type:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>$ nano --version</code></pre>



<p>The output will look something like this:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>Output:
GNU nano, version 2.9.3
(C) 1999-2011, 2013-2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
(C) 2014-2018 the contributors to nano
Email: nano@nano-editor.org	Web: https://nano-editor.org/</code></pre>



<p>If you don’t have nano installed on your system, you can install it using the package manager of your distribution.</p>



<h3 id="install-nano-on-ubuntu-and-debian">Install Nano on Ubuntu and Debian</h3>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>$ sudo apt install nano</code></pre>



<h3 id="install-nano-on-centos-and-fedora">Install Nano on CentOS and Fedora</h3>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>$ sudo yum install nano</code></pre>



<h2 id="opening-and-creating-files">Opening and Creating Files</h2>



<p>To open an existing file or to create a new file, type&nbsp;<code>nano</code>&nbsp;followed by the file name:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>$ nano filename</code></pre>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="http://ec2-13-127-91-65.ap-south-1.compute.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/nano-text-editor-screenshot-1024x554.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-427"/></figure>



<p>This opens a new editor window and you can start editing the file.</p>



<p>At the bottom of the window, there is a list of the most basic command shortcuts to use with the nano editor.</p>



<p>All commands are prefixed with either&nbsp;<code>^</code>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<code>M</code>&nbsp;character. The caret symbol (<code>^</code>) represents the&nbsp;<code>Ctrl</code>&nbsp;key. For example, the&nbsp;<code>^J</code>&nbsp;commands mean to press the&nbsp;<code>Ctrl</code>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<code>J</code>&nbsp;keys at the same time. The letter&nbsp;<code>M</code>&nbsp;represents the&nbsp;<code>Alt</code>&nbsp;key.</p>



<p>You can get a list of all commands by typing&nbsp;<code>Ctrl+g</code>.</p>



<p>To be able to open a file you must have read permissions to the file.</p>



<p>If you want to open a file with the cursor on a specific line and character use the following syntax:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>$ nano +line_number,character_number filename</code></pre>



<p>If you omit the&nbsp;<code>character_number</code>&nbsp;the cursor will be positioned on the first character.</p>



<h2 id="editing-files">Editing Files</h2>



<p>Unlike vi, nano is a modeless editor which means that you can start typing and editing the text immediately after opening the file.</p>



<p>To move the cursor to a specific line and character number, use the&nbsp;<code>Ctrl+_</code>command. The menu on the bottom of the screen will change. Enter the number(s) in the “Enter line number, column number:” field and hit&nbsp;<code>Enter</code>.</p>



<h3 id="searching-and-replacing">Searching and replacing</h3>



<p>To search for a text hit&nbsp;<code>Ctrl+w</code>, type in the search term, and press&nbsp;<code>Enter</code>. The cursor will move to the first match. To move to the next match, press&nbsp;<code>Alt+w</code>.</p>



<p>If you want to search and replace, press&nbsp;<code>Ctrl+\</code>. Enter the search term and the text to be replaced with. The editor will move to the first match and ask you whether to replace it. After hitting&nbsp;<code>Y</code>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<code>N</code>&nbsp;it will move to the next match. Pressing&nbsp;<code>A</code>&nbsp;will replace all matches.</p>



<h3 id="copping-cutting-and-pasting">Copping, cutting, and pasting</h3>



<p>To select text move the cursor to the beginning of the text and press&nbsp;<code>Alt+a</code>. This will set a selection mark. Move the cursor to the end of the text you want to select using the arrow keys. The selected text will be highlighted. If you want to cancel the selection press&nbsp;<code>Ctrl+6</code></p>



<p>Copy the selected text to the clipboard using the&nbsp;<code>Alt+6</code>&nbsp;command.&nbsp;<code>Ctrl+k</code>&nbsp;will cut the selected text.</p>



<p>If you want to cut whole lines simply move the cursor to the line and press&nbsp;<code>Ctrl+k</code>. You can cut multiple lines by hitting&nbsp;<code>Ctrl+k</code>&nbsp;several times.</p>



<p>To paste the text move the cursor to where you want to put the text and press&nbsp;<code>Ctrl+u</code>.</p>



<h2 id="saving-and-exiting">Saving and Exiting</h2>



<p>To save the changes you’ve made to the file, press&nbsp;<code>Ctrl+o</code>. If the file doesn’t already exist, it will be created once you save it.</p>



<p>If you want to exit nano press&nbsp;<code>Ctrl+x</code>. If there are unsaved changes you’ll be asked whether you want to save the changes.</p>



<p>To save the file you must have at write permissions to the file. If you are <strong>creating a new file</strong> you need to have write permission to the directory where the file will be created.</p>



<h2 id="customizing-nano-nanorc">Customizing Nano (nanorc)</h2>



<p>When nano is launched it reads its configuration parameters from the system-wide configuration file&nbsp;<code>/etc/nanorc</code>&nbsp;and from the user-specific files&nbsp;<code>~/.config/nano/nanorc</code>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<code>~/.nanorc</code>&nbsp;if the files are present.</p>



<p>Options specified in the user file take precedence over the global options.</p>



<p>Visit the <strong>nanorc</strong> page for a complete list of all available option.</p>



<h3 id="syntax-highlighting">Syntax Highlighting</h3>



<p>Nano ships with syntax highlighting rules for most popular file types. On most Linux systems the syntax files are stored in the&nbsp;<code>/usr/share/nano</code>&nbsp;directory and included by default in the&nbsp;<code>/etc/nanorc</code>&nbsp;configuration file.<br></p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>include "/usr/share/nano/*.nanorc"</code></pre>



<p>The easiest option to enable highlighting for a new file type, is to add the syntax highlighting rules file to the&nbsp;<code>/usr/share/nano</code>&nbsp;directory.</p>



<h2 id="set-nano-as-the-default-text-editor">Set Nano as the Default Text Editor</h2>



<p>By default on most Linux systems, the default text editor for commands such as <code>visudo</code> and <a href="https://linuxize.com/post/scheduling-cron-jobs-with-crontab/"><code>crontab</code></a> is set to vi. To use nano as the default text editor you need to change the <code>VISUAL</code> and <code>EDITOR</code> <strong>environment variables.</strong></p>



<p>Bash users can export the variables in the&nbsp;<code>~/.bashrc</code>&nbsp;file:</p>



<pre class="wp-block-code"><code>export VISUAL=nano
export EDITOR="$VISUAL"</code></pre>



<h2 id="basic-nano-usage">Basic Nano Usage</h2>



<p>Below are the most basic steps for getting started with nano:</p>



<ol><li>On the command prompt, type&nbsp;<code>nano</code>&nbsp;followed by the filename.</li><li>Edit the file as required.</li><li>Use the&nbsp;<code>Ctrl-x</code>&nbsp;command to save and exit the text editor.</li></ol>



<h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>



<p>In this tutorial, we have shown you how to use Gnu nano text editor. It is a popular text editor among Linux users and has a small learning curve.</p>



<p>For more information about Gnu Nano visit the official <a href="https://www.nano-editor.org/docs.php" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)">nano documentation</a>page.</p>

When working on the command line quite often you will need to create or edit text files. Two of the most powerful and popular used command line e...

How to Use Nano, the Command Line Text Editor in Linux