Nano

Introduction

Nano (or nano) is a text editor which aims to introduce a simple interface and intuitive command options to console based text editing. nano is the default console editor in distributions such as Ubuntu and supports features including colorized syntax highlighting, DOS/Mac file type conversions, spellchecking and UTF-8 encoding. nano Screenshot.

Package Installation

nano is part of the official Arch Linux (core) repositories.

$ pacman -Si nano

Repository     : core
Name           : nano
Version        : 2.0.9-1
URL            : http://www.nano-editor.org
Licenses       : GPL  
Groups         : base  
Provides       : None
Depends On     : glibc  ncurses  texinfo  
Optional Deps  : None
Conflicts With : None
Replaces       : None
Download Size  : 391.35 K
Installed Size : 1144.00 K
Packager       : Andreas Radke <andyrtr@archlinux.org>
Architecture   : i686
Build Date     : Mon 22 Sep 2008 10:20:00 AM PDT
MD5 Sum        : fa5017796de45d0e7baed3ba019dc6dd
Description    : Pico editor clone with enhancements

Install the latest version of nano:

# pacman -Sy nano

Configuration

Creating ~/.nanorc

The look, feel and function of nano is typically controlled by way of either command-line arguments, or configuration commands within the file ~/.nanorc.
A sample configuration file is installed upon program installation and is located at /etc/nanorc.The file ~/.nanorc must be first created by the user:

$ cd ~
$ touch .nanorc

or

$ cp /etc/nanorc ~/.nanorc

Proceed to establish the nano console environment by setting and/or unsetting commands within .nanorc file.

Tip: NANORC details the complete list configuration commands available for nano.

Note: Command-line arguments override and take precedence over the configuration commands established in .nanorc

nano Usage

Special Functions

• Ctrl key modified shortcuts (^) respresenting commonly used functions are listed along the bottom two lines of the nano screen.
• Additional functions can be interactively toggled by way of Meta (typically Alt) and/or Esc key modified sequences.

Shortcut Lists Overview

• ^G Get Help (F1)

Displays the online help files within the session window. A suggested read for nano users of all levels

• ^O WriteOut (F3)

Save the contents of the current file buffer to a file on the disk

• ^R Read File (F5)

Inserts another file into the current one at the cursor location

• ^Y Prev Page (F7)

Display the previous buffered screen

• ^K Cut Text (F9)

Cut and store the current line from the beginning of the line to the end of the line

• ^C Cur Pos (F11)

Display line, column and character position information at the current location of the cursor

• ^X Exit (F2)

Close and exit nano

• ^J Justify (F4)

Aligns text according to the geometry of the console window

• ^W Where (F6)

Perform a case-insensitive string, or regular expression search

• ^V Next Page (F8)

Display the next buffered screen

• ^U UnCut Text (F10)

Paste the contents of the cut buffer to the current cursor location

• ^T To Spell (F12)

Spellcheck the contents of the buffer with the built-in spell, if available

Tip: See the nano online help files via Ctrl+g within nano and the nano Command Manual for complete descriptions and additional support.

Selected Toggle Functions

• Meta+c (or Esc+c)

Toggles support for line, column and character position information.

• Meta+i (or Esc+i)

Toggles support for the auto indentation of lines

• Meta+k (or Esc+k)

Toggles support for cutting text from the current cursor position to the end of the line

• Meta+m (or Esc+m)

Toggles mouse support for cursor placement, marking and shortcut execution

• Meta+x (or Esc+x)

Toggles the display of the shortcut list at the bottom of the nano screen for additional screen space

Tip: Feature Toggles lists the global toggles available for nano.

Tips & Tricks

Replacing vi with nano

Casual users may prefer the use of nano over vi for its simplicity and ease of use and may opt to replace vi with nano as the default text editor for commands such as visudo.

Method One

sudo from the core repository is compiled with --with-env-editor by default and honors the use of the VISUAL and EDITOR variables. To establish nano as the visudo editor for the duration of the current shell session, set and export the EDITOR variable before calling visudo

export EDITOR=nano 

Warning: From man 8 visudo: Note that this can be a security hole since it allows the user to execute any program they wish simply by setting VISUAL or EDITOR.

Example Usage

 export EDITOR=nano && sudo visudo

Method Two

The EDITOR variable can also be set within the following files for persistent use:

• ~/.bash_profile (login shell)
• ~/.bashrc (interactive, non-login shell)
• /etc/profile (global settings for all system users except root)

Warning: From man 8 visudo: Note that this can be a security hole since it allows the user to execute any program they wish simply by setting VISUAL or EDITOR.

Example .bash_profile

. $HOME/.bashrc

export EDITOR=nano
export GREP_COLOR="1;33"

if [[ -z "$DISPLAY" ]] && [[ $(tty) = /dev/vc/1 ]]; then
  startx
  logout
fi

Method Three

Note: This method can be considered draconian and may not be suitable for all users. Nonetheless, the following procedure exists as a viable example solution.

Symbolic Linking

As root, or with su -

mv /usr/bin/vi /usr/bin/vi.old
ln -s /usr/bin/nano /usr/bin/vi

Assuming sudo is installed and properly configured

sudo mv /usr/bin/vi /usr/bin/vi.old
sudo ln -s /usr/bin/nano /usr/bin/vi

Overview of Commands

mv /usr/bin/vi /usr/bin/vi.old

• Rename the vi executable to vi.old for ease of restoration

ln -s /usr/bin/nano /usr/bin/vi

• Create a symbolic link from /usr/bin/nano to /usr/bin/vi

Restoration of vi

unlink /usr/bin/vi

• Remove the /usr/bin/vi symbolic link

mv /usr/bin/vi.old /usr/bin/vi

• Rename the vi.old executable back to vi

Method Four

Note: This method can be considered draconian and may not be suitable for all users. Nonetheless, the following procedure exists as a viable example solution.

Removal & Symbolic Linking

pacman -Rns vi
ln -s /usr/bin/nano /usr/bin/vi

Overview of Commands

pacman -Rns vi

• Use pacman to remove the vi package, its configuration, and all unneeded dependencies

ln -s /usr/bin/nano /usr/bin/vi

• Create a symbolic link from /usr/bin/nano to /usr/bin/vi

Restoration of vi

unlink /usr/bin/vi

• Remove the /usr/bin/vi symbolic link

pacman -S vi 

• Use pacman to install the previously deinstallled vi package

Package Removal

To remove the nano package while retaining its configuration files and dependencies:

# pacman -R nano

To remove the nano package and its configuration files while retaining its dependencies:

# pacman -Rn nano

To remove the nano package and dependencies not required by any other packages while retaining its configuration files:

# pacman -Rs nano

To remove the nano package, its configuration files and dependencies not required by any other packages:

# pacman -Rns nano

Additional Resources

• nano (text editor) - Wikipedia Entry
• GNU nano Homepage - Official Site
• GNU nano Bugs Bug Reporting