NANO(1)                                                                NANO(1)



NAME
       nano - Nano`s ANOther editor, an enhanced free Pico clone


SYNOPSIS
       nano [+LINE] [options] [file]


DESCRIPTION
       This manual page documents briefly the nano command.

       nano  is  a small, free and friendly editor which aims to replace Pico,
       the default editor included in the non-free Pine package.  Rather  than
       just  copying  Pico`s  look and feel, nano also implements some missing
       (or disabled by default) features in Pico, such as "search and replace"
       and "go to line number".


OPTIONS
       +LINE  Places cursor at LINE on startup.

       -B (--backup)
              When  saving  a  file, back up the previous version of it to the
              current filename suffixed with a ~.

       -D (--dos)
              Write file in DOS format.

       -F (--multibuffer)
              Enable multiple file buffers, if available.

       -H (--historylog)
              Log search and replace strings to ~/.nano_history so they may be
              stored for later editing, if nanorc support is configured.

       -I (--ignorercfiles)
              Don`t look at $SYSCONFDIR/nanorc or ~/.nanorc, if nanorc support
              is available.

       -K (--keypad)
              Do not use the ncurses keypad() call unless necessary.  Try this
              flag  if  you  find that the arrow keys on the numeric keypad do
              not work for you under nano.

       -M (--mac)
              Write file in Mac format.

       -N (--noconvert)
              Disable automatic conversion of files from DOS/Mac format.

       -Q str (--quotestr=str)
              Set  the  quoting  string  for  justifying.   The   default   is
              "^([ \t]*[|):}#])+"  if regular expression support is available,
              or ") " otherwise.

       -R (--regexp)
              Enable regular expression matching for search strings,  as  well
              as  \n  subexpression replacement for replace strings, if avail-
              able.

       -S (--smooth)
              Enable smooth scrolling. Text will scroll line-by-line,  instead
              of the usual chunk-by-chunk behavior.

       -T num (--tabsize=num)
              Set the size (width) of a tab.

       -V (--version)
              Show the current version number and author.

       -Y str (--syntax=str)
              Specify  a specific syntax highlighting from the .nanorc to use,
              if available.

       -c (--const)
              Constantly show the cursor position.

       -h (--help)
              Display a summary of command line options.

       -i (--autoindent)
              Indent new lines to the previous line`s indentation. Useful when
              editing source code.

       -k (--cut)
              Enable cut from cursor to end of line with ^K.

       -l (--nofollow)
              If  the  file  being edited is a symbolic link, replace the link
              with a new file, do not follow it.  Good for  editing  files  in
              /tmp, perhaps?

       -m (--mouse)
              Enable mouse support (if available for your system).

       -o dir (--operatingdir=dir)
              Set  operating directory. Makes nano set up something similar to
              a chroot.

       -p (--preserve)
              Preserve the XON and XOFF sequences (^Q and ^S) so they will  be
              caught by the terminal.

       -r cols (--fill=cols)
              Wrap lines at column cols.  By default, this is the width of the
              screen, less eight.  If this value is  negative,  wrapping  will
              occur at cols columns from the right of the screen, allowing the
              wrap point to vary along with the screen width if resized.

       -s prog (--speller=prog)
              Enable alternative spell checker command.

       -t (--tempfile)
              Always save changed buffer without prompting.  Same as  Pico  -t
              option.

       -v (--view)
              View file (read only) mode.

       -w (--nowrap)
              Disable wrapping of long lines.

       -x (--nohelp)
              Disable help screen at bottom of editor.

       -z (--suspend)
              Enable suspend ability.

       -a, -b, -e, -f, -g, -j
              Ignored, for compatibility with Pico.


INITIALIZATION FILE
       nano   will   read   initialization   files  in  the  following  order:
       $SYSCONFDIR/nanorc, then ~/.nanorc.  Please see nanorc(5) and the exam-
       ple file nanorc.sample which should be provided with nano.


NOTES
       nano  will try to dump the buffer into an emergency file in some cases.
       Mainly, this will happen if nano receives a SIGHUP or SIGTERM  or  runs
       out  of  memory,  when  it  will  write  the  buffer  into a file named
       nano.save if the buffer didn`t have a  name  already,  or  will        add  a
       ".save"  suffix to the current filename. If an emergency file with that
       name already exists in the current  directory,  ".save"  and  a  number
       (e.g.  ".save.1")  will be suffixed to the current filename in order to
       make it unique. In multibuffer mode,  nano  will  write  all  the  open
       buffers to the respective emergency files.


BUGS
       Please send any comments or bug reports to nano@nano-editor.org.

       The nano mailing list is available from nano-devel@gnu.org.

       To  subscribe,  email  to  nano-devel-request@gnu.org with a subject of
       "subscribe".


HOMEPAGE
       http://www.nano-editor.org/


SEE ALSO
       nanorc(5)
       /usr/share/doc/nano/ (or equivalent on your system)

AUTHOR
       Chris Allegretta (chrisa@asty.org), et al (see AUTHORS and  THANKS  for
       details).  This  manual  page  was  originally written by Jordi Mallach
       (jordi@sindominio.net), for the Debian GNU system (but may be  used  by
       others).



                                 June 19, 2003                         NANO(1)