“30 Essential Linux Nano Commands for Beginners: Your Text Editing Survival Guide”

Basic Nano interface with key shortcuts displayed

What is Nano?

Nano is a beginner-friendly command-line text editor in Linux. Unlike complex editors like Vim, Nano shows common shortcuts at the bottom of the screen, making it perfect for newcomers. Here are 30 essential commands to master Nano:

🚀 Basic Operations

1. Open a file
   nano filename.txt
   Creates or opens existing file

2. Save changes
   Ctrl + O → Press Enter
   Write Out changes to disk

3. Exit Nano
   Ctrl + X
   Exits editor (prompts to save unsaved changes)

4. Save & Exit
   Ctrl + X → Y → Enter
   Fast save-and-quit combo

Saving confirmation prompt in Nano

✏️ Editing Commands

5. Undo action
   Alt + U
   Reverts last edit

6. Redo action
   Alt + E
   Re-applies undone edit

7. Cut entire line
   Ctrl + K
   Removes current line

8. Paste text
   Ctrl + U
   Inserts cut/copied content

9. Copy text
   Alt + ^ (Ctrl+6)
   First set mark with Ctrl + ^

10. Delete character
    Ctrl + D
    Deletes under cursor

🔍 Navigation Shortcuts

11. Move cursor
    Arrow keys
    Basic navigation

12. Jump to line
    Ctrl + _ → Type line number
    Go directly to specific line

13. Page up/down
    Ctrl + Y / Ctrl + V
    Scroll through document

14. Start of line
    Ctrl + A
    Moves to line beginning

15. End of line
    Ctrl + E
    Moves to line end

16. Start of file
    Alt + \
    Jump to first line

17. End of file
    Alt + /
    Jump to last line

🔎 Search & Replace

18. Find text
    Ctrl + W → Type search term
    Basic search

19. Find next occurrence
    Alt + W
    Repeats last search

20. Replace text
    Ctrl + \
    Search and replace mode

21. Case-sensitive search
    Alt + C to toggle
    Enable/disable case matching

🛠️ Advanced Functions

22. Insert file
    Ctrl + R → Filename
    Embed another file’s content

23. Spell check
    Ctrl + T
    Requires spell package installed

24. Auto-indent toggle
    Alt + M
    Enable/disable auto-indentation

25. Show cursor position
    Ctrl + C
    Displays line/column info

26. Multiple buffers
    Alt + , / Alt + .
    Switch between open files

Working with multiple files in Nano

💾 File Operations

27. Save as new name
    Ctrl + O → New name → Enter
    Creates copy with different filename

28. Insert backup file
    Ctrl + R → filename.save
    Recover from automatic backups

⚙️ Configuration Tips

29. Enable line numbers
    Alt + Shift + #
    Toggle line numbering

30. Syntax highlighting
    Install with:
    sudo apt install nano-syntax
    Enable in config:
    include /usr/share/nano/*.nanorc

Pro Tip:

Create ~/.nanorc file with these lines for permanent settings:

set autoindent
set tabsize 4
set linenumbers

> 💡 Did You Know? Nano automatically creates .save backup files when editing system files – your safety net against accidental changes!

Master these 30 commands and you’ll efficiently edit configuration files, scripts, and documents directly in the terminal. Happy editing! 🐧