


NANO(1)                                                   NANO(1)


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


SYNOPSIS
       nano [OPTIONS] [[+LINE,COLUMN] FILE]...


DESCRIPTION
       This manual page briefly documents the nano command.

       nano  is  a small, free and friendly editor which aims to replace Pico,
       the default editor included in the non-free Pine package.  Rather  than
       just  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".


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

       -?     Same as -h (--help).

       -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 to the
              current filename suffixed with a ~.

       -C dir (--backupdir=dir)
              Set the directory where nano puts unique backup  files  if  file
              backups are enabled.

       -D (--boldtext)
              Use bold text instead of reverse video text.

       -E (--tabstospaces)
              Convert typed tabs to spaces.

       -F (--multibuffer)
              Enable multiple file buffers, if available.

       -H (--historylog)
              Log  search  and replace strings to ~/.nano_history, so they can
              be retrieved in later sessions, if nanorc support is  available.




November 30, 2009         version 2.2.0                         1





NANO(1)                                                   NANO(1)


       -I (--ignorercfiles)
              Don't  look  at  /etc/nanorc  or ~/.nanorc, if nanorc support is
              available.

       -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.

       -Q str (--quotestr=str)
              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; read any nanorc files; allow suspending;
              allow a file to be appended to, prepended to, or saved  under  a
              different  name  if  it  already has one; or use backup files or
              spell checking.  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 cols (--tabsize=cols)
              Set the size (width) of a tab to cols  columns.   The  value  of
              cols 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 str (--syntax=str)
              Specify  a  specific syntax highlighting from the nanorc to use,
              if available.




November 30, 2009         version 2.2.0                         2





NANO(1)                                                   NANO(1)


       -c (--const)
              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 command line options and exit.

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

       -k (--cut)
              Enable cut from cursor to end of line.

       -l (--nofollow)
              If the file being edited is a symbolic link,  replace  the  link
              with a new file instead of following it.  Good for editing files
              in /tmp, perhaps?

       -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.

       -o dir (--operatingdir=dir)
              Set operating directory.  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  file  and  ask  them  to  be
              acknowledged by pressing Enter at startup.

       -r cols (--fill=cols)
              Wrap lines at column cols.  If this value is 0 or less, wrapping
              will occur at the width of the screen less cols columns,  allow-
              ing the wrap point to vary along with the width of the screen if
              the screen is resized.  The default value is -8.

       -s prog (--speller=prog)
              Enable alternative spell checker command.

       -t (--tempfile)
              Always save changed buffer without prompting.  Same as Pico's -t



November 30, 2009         version 2.2.0                         3





NANO(1)                                                   NANO(1)


              option.

       -u (--undo)
              Enable  experimental generic-purpose undo code.  By default, the
              undo and redo shortcuts are Meta-U and Meta-E, respectively.

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

       -w (--nowrap)
              Disable wrapping of long lines.

       -x (--nohelp)
              Disable help screen at bottom of editor.

       -z (--suspend)
              Enable suspend ability.

       -$ (--softwrap)
              Enable 'soft wrapping'.  nano will attempt to display the entire
              contents  of a line, even if it is longer than the screen width.
              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:
       /etc/nanorc, then ~/.nanorc.  Please see nanorc(5) and the example file
       nanorc.sample, both of which should be provided with nano.


NOTES
       If no alternative spell checker command is  specified  on  the  command
       line  or 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
       Please send any comments or bug reports to nano@nano-editor.org.




November 30, 2009         version 2.2.0                         4





NANO(1)                                                   NANO(1)


       The nano mailing list is available from nano-devel@gnu.org.

       To subscribe, email to nano-devel-request@gnu.org  with  a  subject  of
       "subscribe".


HOMEPAGE
       http://www.nano-editor.org/


SEE ALSO
       nanorc(5)

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).








































November 30, 2009         version 2.2.0                         5


