Nano CheatSheet - Tool.Yun

GNU nano is a small, modeless terminal editor: you start typing straight away, and every command is a control or meta chord shown along the bottom of the screen.

ℹ️ nano’s own help writes ^X for Ctrl+X and M-X for Alt+X (Meta). This sheet spells them out. On macOS, Alt is usually Esc pressed first, or Option with “Use Option as Meta” enabled.

🚀 Starting nano

# open a file (created on save if it does not exist)
nano <file>

# jump straight to a line, or a line and column
nano +42 <file>
nano +42,8 <file>

# show line numbers
nano -l <file>

# enable mouse support
nano -m <file>

# keep the indentation of the previous line
nano -i <file>

# convert typed tabs to spaces, 4 wide
nano -ET4 <file>

# do not wrap long lines
nano -w <file>

# keep a backup of the original as file~
nano -B <file>

# read-only view mode
nano -v <file>

# open at the position you left last time
nano -P <file>

💾 File Handling

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+S`	Save the current file
`Ctrl+O`	Write to a named file (“save as”)
`Ctrl+R`	Insert another file into this one
`Ctrl+X`	Close the buffer and leave nano
`Alt+<`	Switch to the previous buffer
`Alt+>`	Switch to the next buffer

✏️ Editing

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+K`	Cut the current line into the cutbuffer
`Alt+6`	Copy the current line into the cutbuffer
`Ctrl+U`	Paste the cutbuffer
`Alt+T`	Cut from the cursor to the end of the buffer
`Alt+U`	Undo the last action
`Alt+E`	Redo the last undone action
`Alt+3`	Comment or uncomment the line or selection
`Ctrl+]`	Complete the current word
`Alt+A`	Set the mark — move to select
`Tab` / `Shift+Tab`	Indent / unindent the selection

🔎 Search & Replace

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+W`	Search forward (“where is”)
`Ctrl+Q`	Search backward
`Alt+W`	Repeat the search forward
`Alt+Q`	Repeat the search backward
`Alt+R`	Search and replace

💡 At the search prompt, Alt+C toggles case sensitivity, Alt+R switches to regular expressions and Alt+B limits the search to the selection.

⌫ Deletion

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+H`	Delete the character to the left
`Ctrl+D`	Delete the character under the cursor
`Alt+Bksp`	Delete the word to the left
`Ctrl+Del`	Delete the word to the right
`Alt+Del`	Delete the whole line

🧭 Moving Around

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+B` / `Ctrl+F`	One character left / right
`Ctrl+←` / `Ctrl+→`	One word left / right
`Ctrl+A` / `Ctrl+E`	Start / end of the line
`Ctrl+P` / `Ctrl+N`	One line up / down
`Ctrl+↑` / `Ctrl+↓`	Previous / next block
`Ctrl+Y` / `Ctrl+V`	One page up / down
`Alt+\` / `Alt+/`	Top / bottom of the buffer
`Alt+G`	Go to a line number
`Alt+]`	Jump to the matching bracket
`Alt+↑` / `Alt+↓`	Scroll the view without moving the cursor

🔧 Operations

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+T`	Run a command, or pipe the buffer through it
`Ctrl+J`	Justify the paragraph or selection
`Alt+J`	Justify the whole buffer
`Alt+B`	Run a syntax check (linter)
`Alt+F`	Run a formatter
`Alt+:`	Start or stop recording a macro
`Alt+;`	Replay the macro

ℹ️ Information & Display

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+G`	Open the help text
`Ctrl+C`	Report the cursor position
`Alt+D`	Count lines, words and characters
`Alt+N`	Toggle line numbers
`Alt+P`	Toggle visible whitespace
`Alt+X`	Hide or show the shortcut bar
`Alt+V`	Insert the next keystroke verbatim
`Ctrl+L`	Redraw the screen

⚙️ Configuration

Persistent settings live in ~/.nanorc (system-wide: /etc/nanorc).

set linenumbers
set mouse
set tabsize 4
set tabstospaces
set autoindent
set constantshow
set softwrap
set positionlog

# syntax highlighting definitions shipped with nano
include /usr/share/nano/*.nanorc

📚 Resources

Official documentation
Manual page
Built-in help: Ctrl+G