Nano text editor

Nano is a lightweight, no-nonsense console text editor for Unix-like systems. Unlike Vim or Emacs, it doesn't require memorising arcane commands — if you can type and follow the on-screen prompts, you're good to go.

Installation

Nano comes pre-installed on most VPS and dedicated servers. On the rare occasion it's missing, install it with your distro's package manager:

Debian / Ubuntu:

apt-get install nano

CentOS:

yum install nano

Interface overview

When you open a file in Nano, you'll see four distinct areas:

1. Top bar — editor version, filename, and whether unsaved changes exist
2. Editing area — where you actually type
3. Status bar — informational messages from the editor
4. Bottom bar — shortcut hints for the most common actions

The ^ symbol means Ctrl. A double symbol (^^) means Esc.

Opening a file

nano filename

With additional options:

nano -option1 -option2 +line,column filename

To see all available options:

nano -h

Core keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl + G or F1	Open help
Ctrl + X or F2	Exit Nano
Ctrl + O or F3	Save the file
Ctrl + W or F6	Search within the file
Ctrl + K or F9	Cut the current line to buffer
Ctrl + U or F10	Paste from buffer
Ctrl + Y or F7	Page up
Ctrl + V or F8	Page down
Ctrl + C or F11	Show current cursor position
Ctrl + J or F4	Justify the current paragraph
Ctrl + R or F5	Insert contents of another file
Ctrl + T or F12	Spell check

Editing shortcuts

The Meta key (m) can be substituted with Esc or Alt depending on your terminal.

Shortcut	Action
Alt + A	Start text selection
Ctrl + K	Cut selected text
Alt + 6	Copy selected text
Ctrl + U	Paste from buffer
Alt + \	Jump to the first line of the file
Alt + /	Jump to the last line of the file
Ctrl + _ or Alt + G	Go to a specific line and column
Alt + W	Repeat last search
Alt + 6	Copy current line to buffer
Alt + { / Alt + }	Decrease / increase line indent
Home / End	Go to beginning / end of line
Alt + T	Cut from cursor to end of file
Alt + J	Justify all text
Alt + D	Count words, lines, and characters
Alt + Y	Toggle syntax highlighting

Useful launch options

Option	Description
-h, -?	Show help
+row,column	Open file at a specific line and column
-S	Enable smooth, line-by-line scrolling
-c	Constantly show cursor position
-i	Auto-indent new lines
-u	Enable undo / redo (Alt+U to undo, Alt+E to redo)
-v	View-only mode (no editing)
-w	Disable line wrapping
-x	Hide the shortcut hint bars at the bottom
-B	Keep backup copies of files when saving