• The nano Text Editor
• Running nano
• nano Commands
• Editing Text in nano
• Searching in nano
• Save and Quit
• Colorizing nano
• Setting the Tab Size in nano

The nano Text Editor

• nano is a simple text editor
• It was created as part of the GNU project started by Richard Stallman
• Most Linux distributions contain the vi and/or vim editors
• These editors are often used by System Administrators
• And you can always download the emacs editor
• emacs is preferred by programmers
• But both of these editors take some time to learn
• nano does not have the full set of features of these editors
• But it is great for people who are just starting to work with Unix
• Or who want to create a file quickly with a minimum of fuss

Running nano

• To run nano you type nano followed by the name of the file

  nano FILENAME

• If the file does not yet exist it will be created for you
• So if I wanted to create a file named .bash_profile I would type

  nano .forward

• This will bring up a text window with the name of the file on the top line

• At the bottom of the text window appear a list of commands

nano Commands

• All command in nano are run with the help of the Control key
• Control key is labeled Cntrl on all machines except Macs
• In the list of commands the symbol ^ stands for the Control key
• To quit nano hold down the Control key and hit X
• The save command in nano is ^O WriteOut
• You might expect it to be ^S Save
• Unfortunately Control S has special meaning in Unix
• So it cannot be used for this purpose
• The same problem exists for Control Q
• So you have to use Control X to quit

Editing Text in nano

• To enter text in a file, simply type it in the window
• You can use the arrow keys to move around in the text window
• And the Backspace or Delete keys to delete a character
• You can move to the end of a line with Control E
• And the beginning of the line with Control A
• nano has a very simple cut and paste feature
• But it only works on the whole line of text
• You use the arrow keys to get to a line you want to move
• And cut it with Control K
• You can then move to another position in the file
• And use Control U to paste the line into this new position

Searching in nano

• nano has a very basic search feature
• If you hit Control W (for Where) a line will appear at the bottom of the screen

  Search:

• Type in your search text and hit Enter or Return
• The text entry point will move to the first line that has the text
• The search is not case sensitive

Save and Quit

• To save the file, hold down the Control key while pressing O
• When you do this, a line will appear at the bottom of the screen

  File Name to Write:

• This line is asking you to confirm the name of your file
• Hit Enter or Return to accept this filename
• To quit, hold down the Control key while pressing X

Colorizing nano

• You can make nano add color to certain elements of a script
• This is called colorizing
• To add colorization to nano go to your home directory
• There use nano to create the file .nanorc
• Add the following lines to this file

  include /usr/share/nano/sh.nanorc
  include /usr/share/nano/python.nanorc
  include /usr/share/nano/perl.nanorc
  include /usr/share/nano/php.nanorc
  include /usr/share/nano/html.nanorc

• Save and quit

Setting the Tab Size in nano

• By default, tab stops in nano are set at 8 spaces
• This is a very large tab size
• Fortunately the tab spacing in nano can be changed
• All you have to do is add the following line to .nanorc

  set tabsize 4