Introduction
Nano is a text editor suited to working in UNIX.
It is not as powerful as PC window-based editors, as
it does not rely on the mouse, but still has many useful features.
GNU
nano is a simple terminal-based text editor. Though not as powerful as
Emacs or Vim, it is easy to learn and use. Nano is ideal for making
small changes to existing configuration files or for writing short plain
text files. It was originally created as a free replacement for the
non-free Pico editor. Pico is the terminal-based editor used in the Pine
email suite from the University of Washington.
Nano can be used in a
terminal window or at the
system console.
Installing Nano
Nano
is part of the standard Ubuntu installation, and should be on your
system already. If for some reason it's not, use your favorite package
manager to install it. The example below shows how to install the
package nano from the command line using the apt-get program. The text that you type is in bold.
|
jeffsch@mandela:~ sudo apt-get install nano
|
When prompted, type in your regular user password, the one you use to log onto Ubuntu with.
Most nano commands are invoked by holding down the
Ctrl key (that is, the control key), and
pressing one of the other keys. In this text, the control key is
referred to using
^. For example,
^X
means ``hold down the CTRL key and press the x key''. Most of the
important commands are listed at the bottom of your screen.
Starting nano
To edit a file called
filename, type
nano filename.
In nano, you can insert another file:
| ^R | read an existing file into nano (inserted at the current cursor position)
|
| ^T | opens
a browser that allows you to select a file name from a list of files and directories
|
Navigation
The usual mouse-based point-and-click method is not supported by nano.
Use the
arrow keys to move around
the page in nano.
Other navigation commands:
| ^A | move to beginning of line
|
| ^E | move to end of line
|
| ^Y | move down a page
|
| ^V | move up a page
|
| ^_ | move to a specific line (^_^V
moves to the top of the file, ^_^Y to the bottom)
|
| ^C | find out what line the cursor is currently on
|
| ^W | search for some text.
|
When searching, you will be prompted for the text to search for. It
searches from the current cursor position, wrapping back up to the top
if necessary.
Editing
Insert new text at the current cursor
position just by typing the text in.
Delete commands:
| ^D | delete character currently under the cursor
|
| BackSpace | delete character currently in front of the cursor
|
| ^K | delete entire line
|
| ^\ | search for (and replace) a string of characters
|
Cut and paste
^K does not delete lines permanently; the
most recent set of deletions are stored in a buffer. These lines may
be re-inserted at the current cursor location using
^U. This may be used to simulate
cut and paste:
-
Repeatedly use ^K until all of the text you want to move has been
deleted.
-
Move to the line that you want to insert the text at, and use ^U.
Note that pressing
^U more than once will cause multiple copies to
be inserted. This is particularly useful if you want to
copy text:
-
Repeatedly use ^K until all of the text you want
to copy has been deleted.
-
Press ^U immediately to put a copy
back in its original location.
-
Move to the line that you want to copy the text to, and use ^U.
Saving and Exiting
| ^O | save contents without exiting
(you will be prompted for a file to save to)
|
| ^X | exit nano (you will be prompted
to save your file if you haven't)
|
| ^T | when saving a file, opens
a browser that allows you to select a file name from a list of files and directories
|
Resources
Share:
No comments:
Post a Comment