Vim is a powerful text editor and knowing how to use it is an important thing for any system administrator. Nevertheless, there are other text editors that are equally powerful and even easier to use.
This is the case with nano, which is installed by default in Ubuntu and CentOS and can be used right out of the box on both. The default editor is not set up in the .bashrc file by using the $EDITOR variable. However, in Ubuntu, you can check the default editor on your system by using the following command:
$ sudo update-alternatives --config editor
You can invoke the nano editor by using the nano command on both Ubuntu and CentOS. When you type the command, the nano editor will open, with a very straightforward interface.
If you encounter the below error:
nano: command not found
You may try installing the nano package as per your choice of distribution.
| Distribution | Command |
|---|---|
| OS X | brew install nano |
| Debian | apt-get install nano |
| Ubuntu | apt-get install nano |
| Alpine | apk add nano |
| Arch Linux | pacman -S nano |
| Kali Linux | apt-get install nano |
| CentOS | yum install nano |
| Fedora | dnf install nano |
| Raspbian | apt-get install nano |
nano Command Examples
1. Open a new file in nano:
# nano
2. Open a specific file:
# nano path/to/file
3. Open a specific file, positioning the cursor at the specified line and column:
# nano +line,column path/to/file
4. Open a specific file and enable soft wrapping:
# nano --softwrap path/to/file
5. Open a specific file and indent new lines to the previous lines’ indentation:
# nano --autoindent path/to/file
6. Open nano and create a backup file (`file~`) when saving edits:
# nano --backup path/to/file
nano Shortcuts
In GNU nano, the functions you use to work with text files and the editor itself are referred to as shortcuts. You activate most shortcuts by pressing the Ctrl key (represented as ^ in the editor) and then pressing the key that corresponds to the function you’re trying to perform.
The below table lists some of the common nano shortcuts.
| Shortcut | Used to |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+G | Open nano to help screen |
| Ctrl+X | Exit nano or close currrent buffer |
| Ctrl+O | Save currently open file |
| Ctrl+J | Justify current paragraph |
| Ctrl+R | Insert another file into the current one |
| Ctrl+W | Search the file |
| Ctrl+K | Cut the currently selected line |
| Ctrl+U | Paste the line that was cut |
| Ctrl+C | Dsiplay the cursor positions |
Navigation
Like other text editors, you can navigate in nano using the arrow keys, Page Up, Page Down, Home, etc. If you are missing these keys, nano also provides shortcuts for them, e.g., Ctrl+V to navigate to the next page and Ctrl+Y to navigate to the previous page.
Copying Text
Copying parts of the text on a line requires you to “mark” the text you want to copy with the Ctrl+^ shortcut. You then navigate your cursor to highlight the text you want to copy. Pressing Alt+^ copies the marked/highlighted text, and Ctrl+U pastes it.