Nano editor installation and usage guide

About nano

Nano editor is a command line text editor with a simple and easy-to-use interface and some basic functions.

Nano is small and friendly, and provides many additional features, such as interactive search and replace, positioning to specified rows and columns, automatic indentation, feature switching, internationalization support, file name tag completion, etc.

Nano was developed as a replacement for the closed-source Pico text editor, often included by default in Unix-like computing systems such as Raspberry Pi OS or Ubuntu. Nano is mainly used in UNIX-like systems (including Linux), and also provides binary installation packages for Windows systems.

Currently, the Nano editor has been integrated into most Linux distributions. If the Nano editor is not installed on the system, we can follow the steps below to install it:

Install Nano editor

To install Nano editor, follow these steps:

1. Open a terminal or command line interface.

2. Enter the following command to install Nano editor:

   • For Ubuntu or Debian systems:sudo apt-get install nano
   • For CentOS or Fedora systems:sudo dnf install nano
   • For Mac systems (using Homebrew):brew install nano
   • For Windows systems (using Chocolatey):choco install Nano

3. Wait for the installation to complete. The installation process may require you to enter the administrator password for confirmation.

4. Once the installation is complete, you can use the Nano editor. Just type "nano" into the terminal and hit enter to launch the editor.

To install the Chocolatey package manager in windows, you can check out the tutorial I posted before.
Install the chocolatey package manager in Windows 11.

View nano editor version

Once the installation is complete, you can verify that the nano editor was successfully installed by entering the following command:

nano --version

If the installation is successful, the version number of the nano editor will be displayed.

Using the Nano editor

open a file:

• To open an existing file: nano filename(replace "filename" with the actual file name).
• Create a new file: nano newfile(replace "newfile" with your desired filename).

save document:

• Press Ctrl + Oto save the file.
• Enter the file name and press Enterthe key.

Exit the editor:

• Press Ctrl + Xto exit the editor.
• If changes to the file have not been saved, you will be prompted whether to save the changes. Follow the prompts Y(Save and Exit) or N(Do Not Save and Exit).

Cursor movement:

• Use the arrow keys (up, down, left, right) to move the cursor.
• Use Ctrl + Fto move forward one page.
• Use Ctrl + Bto move back one page.
• Use to Ctrl + \quickly jump to a certain line in a file.

Copy, cut and paste:

• Move the cursor to the text you want to copy or cut, and press Ctrl + 6to start selecting text.
• Move the cursor to the end of the selection and press Ctrl + Kto cut the selected text.
• Move the cursor to the location where you want to paste, and press Ctrl + Uto paste the cut or copied text.

We can use nano -hto display help information for the nano text editor.

Nano function shortcut keys:

• Ctrl + G (F1) Show help menu
• Ctrl + X exit nano
• Ctrl + O save file
• Ctrl + R insert content from file
• Ctrl + W search content
• * Ctrl + * Find and replace content
• Ctrl + K cut current line
• Ctrl + U paste clipboard contents
• Ctrl + J align indent current line
• Ctrl + T toggle automatic indentation
• Ctrl + C displays the current cursor position
• Ctrl + _offset indent the current line
• Ctrl + P moves to the previous line
• Ctrl + N moves to next line
• Ctrl + F scroll forward
• Ctrl + B to scroll backward
• Ctrl + V page down
• Ctrl + Y page up

Nano editor tips and tricks:

1. To edit a file: Enter the command in the terminal nano, followed by the name of the file you want to edit.

2. Shortcut keys: In the help bar at the bottom, you can find commonly used shortcut keys. For example, Ctrl + O saves the file, Ctrl + X exits nano.

3. Mark text: Use Ctrl + ^ and then move the cursor to mark text. Once marked, you can use the Cut (Ctrl + K) or Copy (Alt + 6) commands.

4. Find and Replace: Use Ctrl + W to find a specific word or phrase. Use Ctrl + \ to perform the replacement operation.

5. Line number: Move the cursor to a certain line and press Ctrl + C to display the line number and character position information of this line.

6. Auto-indent: Use Ctrl + J to reformat the indentation of the current line and the next line.

7. Multi-tab: Use Ctrl + G to open and switch to other files.

8. Restore files: When launching nano, if a previously edited file crashes or closes unexpectedly, nano will prompt you to restore it.