If you take a look at the online help in nano (Ctrl+G) you'll be presented with a list of the commands available. For your convenience, I've duplicated that list below; the ones I think are most important are marked with three asterisks. If you would like to read a short tutorial on how to use the nano editor, be sure to visit the nano tutorial page!
Many of you will probably be aware of pico, the lightweight text-editor that comes with OS X. While there are very powerful text editors available, such as emacs and vi, pico still remains a great editor for simple text editing and beginning programmers, due to its intuitive interface. In the Terminal app on your Mac, invoke a command-line editor by typing the name of the editor, followed by a space and then the name of the file you want to open. If you want to create a new file, type the editor name, followed by a space and the pathname of the file. Here’s an example of using nano to open a new file named “myFile.conf” in your Documents folder.
Notepad Notepad is a free source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several. Nov 19, 2019.
NOTE: Any command prefixed with a caret symbol (^) means to use the Ctrl key (e.g., ^G means to press the Ctrl+G keys at the same time). Any command prefixed with the letter M means to press the Alt key (e.g., M-R means to press the Alt+R keys together).
Most Helpful! | Ctrl Key Combination | Function Key | Alt Key Combination | Description |
*** | ^G | F1 | Display the help text | |
*** | ^X | F2 | Close the current file buffer / Exit from nano | |
*** | ^O | F3 | Write the current file to disk | |
^J | F4 | Justify the current paragraph | ||
^R | F5 | Insert another file into the current one | ||
*** | ^W | F6 | Search for a string or a regular expression | |
*** | ^Y | F7 | Move to the previous screen | |
*** | ^V | F8 | Move to the next screen | |
*** | ^K | F9 | Cut the current line and store it in the cutbuffer | |
*** | ^U | F10 | Uncut from the cutbuffer into the current line | |
*** | ^C | F11 | Display the position of the cursor | |
^T | F12 | Invoke the spell checker, if available | ||
*** | ^_ | F13 | M-G | Go to line and column number |
*** | ^ | F14 | M-R | Replace a string or a regular expression |
^^ | F15 | M-A | Mark text at the cursor position | |
*** | F16 | M-W | Repeat last search | |
*** | M-^ or M-6 | Copy the current line and store it in the cutbuffer | ||
M-} | Indent the current line | |||
M-{ | Unindent the current line | |||
^F | Move forward one character | |||
^B | Move back one character | |||
^Space | Move forward one word | |||
M-Space | Move back one word | |||
*** | ^P | Move to the previous line | ||
*** | ^N | Move to the next line | ||
*** | ^A | Move to the beginning of the current line | ||
*** | ^E | Move to the end of the current line | ||
M-( or M-9 | Move to the beginning of the current paragraph | |||
M-) or M-0 | Move to the end of the current paragraph | |||
M- or M-| | Move to the first line of the file | |||
M-/ or M-? | Move to the last line of the file | |||
*** | M-] | Move to the matching bracket | ||
M-- or M-_ | Scroll up one line without scrolling the cursor | |||
M-+ or M-= | Scroll down one line without scrolling the cursor | |||
*** | M-< or M-, | Switch to the previous file buffer | ||
*** | M-> or M-. | Switch to the next file buffer | ||
M-V | Insert the next keystroke verbatim | |||
^I | Insert a tab at the cursor position | |||
^M | Insert a newline at the cursor position | |||
^D | Delete the character under the cursor | |||
^H | Delete the character to the left of the cursor | |||
M-T | Cut from the cursor position to the end of the file | |||
M-J | Justify the entire file | |||
M-D | Count the number of words, lines, and characters | |||
*** | ^L | Refresh (redraw) the current screen | ||
M-X | Help mode enable/disable | |||
*** | M-C | Constant cursor position display enable/disable | ||
M-O | Use of one more line for editing enable/disable | |||
M-S | Smooth scrolling enable/disable | |||
M-P | Whitespace display enable/disable | |||
M-Y | Color syntax highlighting enable/disable | |||
M-H | Smart home key enable/disable | |||
*** | M-I | Auto indent enable/disable | ||
M-K | Cut to end enable/disable | |||
M-L | Long line wrapping enable/disable | |||
M-Q | Conversion of typed tabs to spaces enable/disable | |||
M-B | Backup files enable/disable | |||
M-F | Multiple file buffers enable/disable | |||
M-M | Mouse support enable/disable | |||
M-N | No conversion from DOS/Mac format enable/disable | |||
M-Z | Suspension enable/disable |
