NANO(1) General Commands Manual NANO(1) (NAME) nano - Pico (SYNOPSIS) nano [options] [[+line[,column]] file]... nano [options] [[+[crCR]{/|?}string] file]... (DESCRIPTION) nano . Pico Pico : / (undo/redo) (syntax coloring) (soft-wrapping). (+) . . +/ +? . c / r + / . : C / R. . : "Foo" : nano +c/Foo file : (-) nano . (NOTICES) 9.0 ( ) . --solo set solosidescroll nanorc . 9.0 M-< M-> scrollleft scrollright . 9.0 nanorc : bind M-< prevbuf main bind M-> nextbuf main 8.0 ^F ^B M-F M-B . 8.0 nanorc : bind ^F forward main bind ^B back main bind M-F formatter main bind M-B linter main (EDITING) : . Control (^) Alt Meta (M-) . ^K cutbuffer . ^K cutbuffer . ^K cutbuffer . ^U cutbuffer (paste) . ^6 ( ) ^K M-6 cutbuffer . ^O ^T^T . Shift . Ctrl Alt . Shift . (Unicode code point) M-V ( ) . ( ^J) M-V . (^G) . nanorc -- : nanorc(5). ^S^X nano . (OPTIONS) -A, --smarthome Home . Home ( ). . -B, --backup (~) . -C directory, --backupdir=directory -- (-B). directory . -D, --boldtext (bold) . titlecolor statuscolor promptcolor minicolor keycolor numbercolor / selectedcolor nanorc . nanorc(5) . -E, --tabstospaces -- . (: .) -F, --newbuffer . ( --multibuffer .) -G, --locking vim . -H, --historylog . -I, --ignorercfiles nanorc nanorc ( ). -J number, --guidestripe=number . ( set stripecolor nanorc .) -K, --rawsequences (escape sequences) ncurses . ( terminfo . ssh BSD .) nano . -L, --nonewlines (newline) . ( POSIX .) -M, --trimblanks . -N, --noconvert DOS . -O, --bookstyle (justifying) ( ). -P, --positionlog . . -Q "regex", --quotestr="regex" . "^([ \t]*([!#%:;>|}]|//))+" . ( \t Tab .) . -R, --restricted file ( ) . : . nanorc . -I (--ignorercfiles) . file . -o (--operatingdir) . nano 'r' ( rnano) . -S, --softwrap . ( --atblanks .) -T number, --tabsize=number () number . number 0 . 8 . -U, --quickblank . -c (--constantshow) . --minibar --zero --quickblank . . . -V, --version . -W, --wordbounds . -X "characters", --wordchars="characters" ( ) . -W (--wordbounds) . -Y name, --syntax=name nanorc . -Z, --zap Backspace Delete ( cutbuffer). -a, --atblanks . -b, --breaklonglines -r (--fill) . -r . ( -w (--nowrap) -- .) -c, --constantshow . -U (--quickblank) . -d, --rebinddelete Delete Backspace . Backspace Delete Delete Backspace . -e, --emptyline . -f file, --rcfile=file nanorc file nano . -g, --showcursor ( ) . . -h, --help . -i, --autoindent / ( ). -j, --jumpyscrolling . -k, --cutfromcursor 'Cut Text' ( ^K) . -l, --linenumbers . ( .) -m, --mouse ( ) . ( ) . X gpm . Shift . -n, --noread . nano : <<>> . nano gpg . -o directory, --operatingdir=directory directory . -p, --preserve XOFF XON (^S ^Q) ( ). -/ (--modernbindings) . -q, --indicator << >> . . -r number, --fill=number number . number . -8 . -s "program [argument ...]", --speller="program [argument ...]" hunspell(1) spell(1) . -t, --saveonexit ( ^X). -u, --unix . nano . ( --noconvert .) -v, --view : . --restricted . -w, --nowrap . . ( -b (--breaklonglines) -- .) -x, --nohelp . -y, --afterends Ctrl+Right Ctrl+Delete . -z, --listsyntaxes . -!, --magic libmagic . -@, --colonparsing . . . +1 . -%, --stateflags : I M L ( ) R S . (*) . -_, --minibar . << >> (mini bar) . ( : U+xxxx) --stateflags ( ) . . [i/n] . --constantshow M-C . --stateflags . -0, --zero ( ) . . . M-Z / . M-X . -1, --solosidescroll . . -- nano . -/, --modernbindings : ^X (cut) ^C (copy) ^V (paste) ^Z (undo) ^Y (redo) ^F ^G ^S ^O ^Q ( ) ^H . ^A ^B ^D ^R ^P ^T ^W ^E . -p (--preserve) . (TOGGLES) nano . M-L M-S M-N M-M M-I M-X . ^G . M-X : linter . . (FILES) --rcfile nano . nano : nanorc ( ) nanorc ( ) ~/.nanorc $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nano/nanorc ~/.config/nano/nanorc ( ). : nanorc(5) . /usr/share/nano/ /usr/share/nano/extra/ . (EXIT STATUS) 0 . 1 . 2 ( ^O^Q ^X^Q). (NOTES) ^T^Z . ( ^Z bind ^Z suspend main nanorc .) / ^Y "" (Yes) ^N "" (No) ^A "" (All) . ( ^Q " " .) (locale) . nano nanorc(5) . nanorc nano SPELL . nano . nano SIGHUP SIGTERM . nano.save ".save" . ".save" ( : ".save.1") . nano . Texinfo . info nano : https://nano-editor.org/dist/latest/nano.html. nano help-nano@gnu.org . (BUGS) (VT) . : https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=nano. nano (crash) .save . (backtrace) NANO_NOCATCH . (HOMEPAGE) https://nano-editor.org (SEE ALSO) nanorc(5) /usr/share/doc/nano/ ( ) GNU nano 9.2 July 2026 NANO(1)