How to Install Nano Text Editor in Linux

Nano is a simple, user-friendly command-line text editor for Linux. It is ideal for quick edits to configuration files and is much easier to use than vi/vim for beginners. This article covers installation and basic usage.

Installation

Debian / Ubuntu

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nano

CentOS / RHEL

sudo yum install nano

Fedora

sudo dnf install nano

Verify installation

nano --version

Opening a file

nano /path/to/file

To open a file and jump to a specific line number:

nano +42 /path/to/file

Basic keyboard shortcuts

nano uses keyboard shortcuts displayed at the bottom of the screen. ^ means Ctrl and M- means Alt.

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+O`	Save (Write Out)
`Ctrl+X`	Exit
`Ctrl+K`	Cut the current line
`Ctrl+U`	Paste (Uncut)
`Ctrl+W`	Search
`Ctrl+\`	Search and replace
`Ctrl+G`	Display help
`Ctrl+C`	Show cursor position
`Ctrl+_`	Go to line number
`Alt+U`	Undo
`Alt+E`	Redo

Saving a file

Press Ctrl+O, confirm the filename, then press Enter.

Exiting nano

Press Ctrl+X. If there are unsaved changes, nano will ask whether to save them.

Configuration file

nano's behaviour can be customised in ~/.nanorc (per-user) or /etc/nanorc (system-wide). Useful settings:

set tabsize 4
set autoindent
set linenumbers
set mouse

Enable syntax highlighting by including the default highlight files:

include "/usr/share/nano/*.nanorc"