nano Command: Tutorial & Examples

Edit text files with the Nano editor

nano is a simple text editor for Linux and other Unix-based operating systems. It is a command-line based text editor that is easy to use and has a user-friendly interface. nano is often used as an alternative to other more complex text editors such as vi or emacs.

To open a file in nano, you can enter the command nano followed by the name of the file you want to edit. For example, to open a file called example.txt, you would enter nano example.txt in the terminal. If the file does not exist, nano will create it.

nano has a built-in help system that can be accessed by pressing Ctrl+G while inside the editor. This will display a help screen that lists the most important commands and how to use them. Some of the most useful commands in nano include:

Saving a file: Ctrl+O
Exiting nano: Ctrl+X
Copy: Ctrl-C
Cut: Ctrl+K
Paste: Ctrl+V
Undo: Ctrl+U
Redo: Ctrl+Y
Find: Ctrl+W
Go to line: Ctrl+_

nano is a popular editor because it is easy to use and it does not require any advanced knowledge of command-line text editors, it is also widely available across different Linux distributions.

nano also has a command-line option to enable syntax highlighting of different file types like nano -Y <syntax> <file>.

nano is a great choice for users who are new to Linux or prefer a simple text editor that is easy to navigate and use. It is also a good choice for users who need to make quick edits to text files or configuration files and don't want to use a more complex text editor.

nano Command: Tutorial & Examples

Further Reading