1NANORC(5) File Formats Manual NANORC(5)
2
6 nanorc - GNU nano's configuration file
7
10 The nanorc file contains the default settings for nano, a small and
11 friendly editor. The file should be in Unix format, not in DOS or Mac
12 format. During startup, nano will first read the system-wide settings,
13 from /etc/nanorc (the exact path might be different on your system),
14 and then the user-specific settings, either from ~/.nanorc or from
15 $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nano/nanorc or from ~/.config/nano/nanorc, whichever
16 is encountered first.
17
20 The configuration file accepts a series of set and unset commands,
21 which can be used to configure nano on startup without using command-
22 line options. Additionally, there are some commands to define syntax
23 highlighting and to rebind keys -- see the two separate sections on
24 those. nano reads one command per line.
25 Options in nanorc files take precedence over nano's defaults, and com‐
27 mand-line options override nanorc settings. Also, options that do not
28 take an argument are unset by default. So using the unset command is
29 only needed when wanting to override a setting of the system's nanorc
30 file in your own nanorc. Options that take an argument cannot be
31 unset.
32 Below, the string parameters need to be enclosed in double quotes.
34 Quotes inside these string parameters don't have to be escaped with
35 backslashes. The last double quote in the string will be treated as
36 its end. For example, for the brackets option, ""')>]}" will match ",
37 ', ), >, ], and }.
38 The supported commands and arguments are:
40 set afterends
43 Make Ctrl+Right stop at word ends instead of beginnings.
44 set allow_insecure_backup
46 When backing up files, allow the backup to succeed even if its per‐
47 missions can't be (re)set due to special OS considerations. You
48 should NOT enable this option unless you are sure you need it.
49 set atblanks
51 When soft line wrapping is enabled, make it wrap lines at blank
52 characters (tabs and spaces) instead of always at the edge of the
53 screen.
54 set autoindent
56 Automatically indent a newly created line to the same number of tabs
57 and/or spaces as the previous line (or as the next line if the pre‐
58 vious line is the beginning of a paragraph).
59 set backup
61 When saving a file, create a backup file by adding a tilde (~) to
62 the file's name.
63 set backupdir directory
65 Make and keep not just one backup file, but make and keep a uniquely
66 numbered one every time a file is saved -- when backups are enabled
67 with set backup or --backup or -B. The uniquely numbered files are
68 stored in the specified directory.
69 set boldtext
71 Use bold instead of reverse video for the title bar, status bar, key
72 combos, function tags, line numbers, and selected text. This can be
73 overridden by setting the options titlecolor, statuscolor, keycolor,
74 functioncolor, numbercolor, and selectedcolor.
75 set brackets string
77 Set the characters treated as closing brackets when justifying para‐
78 graphs. This may not include blank characters. Only closing punc‐
79 tuation (see set punct), optionally followed by the specified clos‐
80 ing brackets, can end sentences. The default value is ""')>]}".
81 set casesensitive
83 Do case-sensitive searches by default.
84 set constantshow
86 Constantly display the cursor position in the status bar. This
87 overrides the option quickblank.
88 set cutfromcursor
90 Use cut-from-cursor-to-end-of-line by default, instead of cutting
91 the whole line. (The old form of this option, 'set cut', is depre‐
92 cated.)
93 set errorcolor fgcolor,bgcolor
95 Use this color combination for the status bar when an error message
96 is displayed. See set titlecolor for valid color names.
97 set fill number
99 Hard-wrap lines at column number number. If number is 0 or less,
100 the maximum line length will be the screen width less number col‐
101 umns. The default value is -8. This option conflicts with nowrap
102 -- the last one given takes effect.
103 set functioncolor fgcolor,bgcolor
105 Specify the color combination to use for the function descriptions
106 in the two help lines at the bottom of the screen. See set title‐
107 color for more details.
108 set historylog
110 Save the last hundred search strings and replacement strings and
111 executed commands, so they can be easily reused in later sessions.
112 set keycolor fgcolor,bgcolor
114 Specify the color combination to use for the shortcut key combos in
115 the two help lines at the bottom of the screen. See set titlecolor
116 for more details.
117 set linenumbers
119 Display line numbers to the left of the text area.
120 set locking
122 Enable vim-style lock-files for when editing files.
123 set matchbrackets string
125 Set the opening and closing brackets that can be found by bracket
126 searches. This may not include blank characters. The opening set
127 must come before the closing set, and the two sets must be in the
128 same order. The default value is "(<[{)>]}".
129 set morespace
131 Use the blank line below the title bar as extra editing space.
132 set mouse
134 Enable mouse support, if available for your system. When enabled,
135 mouse clicks can be used to place the cursor, set the mark (with a
136 double click), and execute shortcuts. The mouse will work in the X
137 Window System, and on the console when gpm is running. Text can
138 still be selected through dragging by holding down the Shift key.
139 set multibuffer
141 When reading in a file with ^R, insert it into a new buffer by
142 default.
143 set noconvert
145 Don't convert files from DOS/Mac format.
146 set nohelp
148 Don't display the two help lines at the bottom of the screen.
149 set nonewlines
151 When a file does not end with a newline, don't automatically add
152 one.
153 set nopauses
155 Don't pause between warnings at startup. This means that only the
156 last one will be visible (when there are multiple ones).
157 set nowrap
159 Don't hard-wrap text at all. This option conflicts with fill -- the
160 last one given takes effect.
161 set numbercolor fgcolor,bgcolor
163 Specify the color combination to use for line numbers. See set
164 titlecolor for more details.
165 set operatingdir directory
167 nano will only read and write files inside directory and its subdi‐
168 rectories. Also, the current directory is changed to here, so files
169 are inserted from this directory. By default, the operating direc‐
170 tory feature is turned off.
171 set positionlog
173 Save the cursor position of files between editing sessions. The
174 cursor position is remembered for the 200 most-recently edited
175 files.
176 set preserve
178 Preserve the XON and XOFF keys (^Q and ^S).
179 set punct string
181 Set the characters treated as closing punctuation when justifying
182 paragraphs. This may not include blank characters. Only the spec‐
183 fified closing punctuation, optionally followed by closing brackets
184 (see brackets), can end sentences. The default value is "!.?".
185 set quickblank
187 Do quick status-bar blanking: status-bar messages will disappear
188 after 1 keystroke instead of 25. The option constantshow overrides
189 this.
190 set quiet
192 Obsolete option. Recognized but ignored.
193 set quotestr regex
195 The email-quote string, used to justify email-quoted paragraphs.
196 This is an extended regular expression. The default value is
197 "^([ \t]*([#:>|}]|//))+". Note that \t stands for an actual Tab
198 character.
199 set rebinddelete
201 Interpret the Delete key differently so that both Backspace and
202 Delete work properly. You should only need to use this option if
203 Backspace acts like Delete on your system.
204 set rebindkeypad
206 Interpret the numeric keypad keys so that they all work properly.
207 You should only need to use this option if they don't, as mouse sup‐
208 port won't work properly with this option enabled.
209 set regexp
211 Do extended regular expression searches by default.
212 set selectedcolor fgcolor,bgcolor
214 Specify the color combination to use for selected text. See set
215 titlecolor for more details.
216 set showcursor
218 Put the cursor on the highlighted item in the file browser, to aid
219 braille users.
220 set smarthome
222 Make the Home key smarter. When Home is pressed anywhere but at the
223 very beginning of non-whitespace characters on a line, the cursor
224 will jump to that beginning (either forwards or backwards). If the
225 cursor is already at that position, it will jump to the true begin‐
226 ning of the line.
227 set smooth
229 Use smooth scrolling by default.
230 set softwrap
232 Enable soft line wrapping for easier viewing of very long lines.
233 set speller program
235 Use the given program to do spell checking and correcting, instead
236 of the built-in corrector that calls spell.
237 set statuscolor fgcolor,bgcolor
239 Specify the color combination to use for the status bar. See set
240 titlecolor for more details.
241 set suspend
243 Allow nano to be suspended.
244 set tabsize number
246 Use a tab size of number columns. The value of number must be
247 greater than 0. The default value is 8.
248 set tabstospaces
250 Convert typed tabs to spaces.
251 set tempfile
253 Save automatically on exit, don't prompt.
254 set titlecolor fgcolor,bgcolor
256 Specify the color combination to use for the title bar. Valid names
257 for the foreground and background colors are: white, black, blue,
258 green, red, cyan, yellow, magenta, and normal -- where normal means
259 the default foreground or background color. The name of the fore‐
260 ground color may be prefixed with bright. And either "fgcolor" or
261 ",bgcolor" may be left out.
262 set trimblanks
264 Remove trailing whitespace from wrapped lines when automatic hard-
265 wrapping occurs or when text is justified. (The old form of this
266 option, 'set justifytrim', is deprecated.)
267 set unix
269 Save a file by default in Unix format. This overrides nano's
270 default behavior of saving a file in the format that it had. (This
271 option has no effect when you also use set noconvert.)
272 set view
274 Disallow file modification.
275 set whitespace string
277 Set the two characters used to indicate the presence of tabs and
278 spaces. They must be single-column characters. The default pair
279 for a UTF-8 locale is "»⋅", and for other locales ">.".
280 set wordbounds
282 Detect word boundaries differently by treating punctuation charac‐
283 ters as parts of words.
284 set wordchars string
286 Specify which other characters (besides the normal alphanumeric
287 ones) should be considered as parts of words. This overrides the
288 option wordbounds.
289
292 Coloring the different syntactic elements of a file is done via regular
293 expressions (see the color command below). This is inherently imper‐
294 fect, because regular expressions are not powerful enough to fully
295 parse a file. Nevertheless, regular expressions can do a lot and are
296 easy to make, so they are a good fit for a small editor like nano.
297 For each kind of file a separate syntax can be defined via the follow‐
299 ing commands:
300 syntax name ["fileregex" ...]
302 Start the definition of a syntax with this name. All subsequent
303 color and other such commands will be added to this syntax,
304 until a new syntax command is encountered.
305 When nano is run, this syntax will be automatically activated if
307 the current filename matches the extended regular expression
308 fileregex. Or the syntax can be explicitly activated by using
309 the -Y or --syntax command-line option followed by the name.
310 The syntax default is special: it takes no fileregex, and
312 applies to files that don't match any syntax's regexes. The
313 syntax none is reserved; specifying it on the command line is
314 the same as not having a syntax at all.
315 header "regex" ...
317 If from all defined syntaxes no fileregex matched, then compare
318 this regex (or regexes) against the first line of the current
319 file, to determine whether this syntax should be used for it.
320 magic "regex" ...
322 If no fileregex matched and no header regex matched either, then
323 compare this regex (or regexes) against the result of querying
324 the magic database about the current file, to determine whether
325 this syntax should be used for it. (This functionality only
326 works when libmagic is installed on the system and will be
327 silently ignored otherwise.)
328 linter program [arg ...]
330 Use the given program to run a syntax check on the current buf‐
331 fer. (This overrides the speller function.)
332 comment "string"
334 Use the given string for commenting and uncommenting lines. If
335 the string contains a vertical bar or pipe character (|), this
336 designates bracket-style comments; for example, "/*|*/" for CSS
337 files. The characters before the pipe are prepended to the line
338 and the characters after the pipe are appended at the end of the
339 line. If no pipe character is present, the full string is
340 prepended; for example, "#" for Python files. If empty double
341 quotes are specified, the comment/uncomment function is dis‐
342 abled; for example, "" for JSON. The default value is "#".
343 color fgcolor,bgcolor "regex" ...
345 Display all pieces of text that match the extended regular
346 expression regex with foreground color fgcolor and background
347 color bgcolor, at least one of which must be specified. Valid
348 names for foreground and background colors are: white, black,
349 blue, green, red, cyan, yellow, magenta, and normal -- where
350 normal means the default foreground or background color. You
351 may use the prefix bright to get a stronger color highlight for
352 the foreground. If your terminal supports transparency, not
353 specifying a bgcolor tells nano to attempt to use a transparent
354 background.
355 icolor fgcolor,bgcolor "regex" ...
357 Same as above, except that the matching is case insensitive.
358 color fgcolor,bgcolor start="fromrx" end="torx"
360 Display all pieces of text whose start matches extended regular
361 expression fromrx and whose end matches extended regular expres‐
362 sion torx with foreground color fgcolor and background color
363 bgcolor, at least one of which must be specified. This means
364 that, after an initial instance of fromrx, all text until the
365 first instance of torx will be colored. This allows syntax
366 highlighting to span multiple lines.
367 icolor fgcolor,bgcolor start="fromrx" end="torx"
369 Same as above, except that the matching is case insensitive.
370 include "syntaxfile"
372 Read in self-contained color syntaxes from syntaxfile. Note
373 that syntaxfile may contain only the above commands, from syntax
374 to icolor.
375 extendsyntax name command [arg ...]
377 Extend the syntax previously defined as name with another com‐
378 mand. This allows adding a new color, icolor, header, magic,
379 comment, or linter command to an already defined syntax -- use‐
380 ful when you want to slightly improve a syntax defined in one of
381 the system-installed files (which normally are not writable).
382 Note: the formatter command has been removed. It was superseded by a
385 more general mechanism: the filtering of buffer or marked text through
386 an external command. Such filtering is done by typing ^R^X and then
387 preceding your formatter command with the pipe symbol (|). It has the
388 added advantage that the operation can be undone.
389 If you use such a formatting command regularly, you could assign the
391 relevant series of keystrokes to a single key in your nanorc:
392 bind M-F "^R^X|yourformatcommand^M" main
394 (Note that the ^R, ^X, and ^M are each a single, literal control char‐
396 acter. You can enter them by preceding each with M-V.)
397
400 Key bindings can be changed via the following three commands:
401 bind key function menu
403 Rebinds the key key to a new function named function in the
404 context of menu menu (or in all menus where the function
405 exists by using all).
406 bind key "string" menu
408 Makes the given key produce the given string in the given
409 menu (or in all menus where the key exists when all is used).
410 The string can consist of text or commands or a mix of them.
411 (To enter a command into the string, precede its keystroke
412 with M-V.)
413 unbind key menu
416 Unbinds the key key from the menu named menu (or from all
417 menus where it exists by using all).
418 The format of key should be one of:
421 ^ followed by a Latin letter, by one of several ASCII characters
423 (@, ], \, ^, or _), or by the word "Space". Example: ^C.
424 M- followed by any ASCII character except [, or by the word "Space".
426 Example: M-C.
427 F followed by a numeric value from 1 to 16. Example: F10.
429 the word "Ins" or the word "Del".
431 Valid function names to be bound are:
434 help
436 Invokes the help viewer.
437 cancel
439 Cancels the current command.
440 exit
442 Exits from the program (or from the help viewer or the file
443 browser).
444 writeout
446 Writes the current buffer to disk, asking for a name.
447 savefile
449 Writes the current file to disk without prompting.
450 insert
452 Inserts a file into the current buffer (at the current cursor
453 position), or into a new buffer when option multibuffer is set.
454 whereis
456 Starts a forward search for text in the current buffer -- or for
457 filenames matching a string in the current list in the file
458 browser.
459 wherewas
461 Starts a backward search for text in the current buffer -- or for
462 filenames matching a string in the current list in the file
463 browser.
464 findprevious
466 Searches the next occurrence in the backward direction.
467 findnext
469 Searches the next occurrence in the forward direction.
470 replace
472 Interactively replaces text within the current buffer.
473 cut
475 Cuts and stores the current line (or the marked region).
476 copy
478 Copies the current line (or the marked region) without deleting
479 it. (The old form 'copytext' is deprecated.)
480 paste
482 Pastes the currently stored text into the current buffer at the
483 current cursor position. (The old form 'uncut' is deprecated.)
484 cutwordleft
486 Cuts from the cursor position to the beginning of the preceding
487 word. (This function is not bound by default. If your terminal
488 produces ^H for <Ctrl+Backspace>, you can make <Ctrl+Backspace>
489 delete the word to the left of the cursor by rebinding ^H to this
490 function.)
491 cutwordright
493 Cuts from the cursor position to the beginning of the next word.
494 (This function is bound by default to <Ctrl+Delete>.)
495 cutrestoffile
497 Cuts all text from the cursor position till the end of the buffer.
498 mark
500 Sets the mark at the current position, to start selecting text.
501 Or, when it is set, unsets the mark.
502 curpos
504 Shows the current cursor position: the line, column, and character
505 positions.
506 wordcount
508 Counts the number of words, lines and characters in the current
509 buffer.
510 speller
512 Invokes a spell-checking program (or linting program, if the
513 active syntax defines such a thing).
514 linter
516 A synonym of speller (for when the speller has not been config‐
517 ured).
518 justify
520 Justifies the current paragraph. A paragraph is a group of con‐
521 tiguous lines that, apart from possibly the first line, all have
522 the same indentation. The beginning of a paragraph is detected by
523 either this lone line with a differing indentation or by a preced‐
524 ing blank line.
525 fulljustify
527 Justifies the entire current buffer.
528 indent
530 Indents (shifts to the right) the currently marked text.
531 unindent
533 Unindents (shifts to the left) the currently marked text.
534 comment
536 Comments or uncomments the current line or marked lines, using the
537 comment style specified in the active syntax.
538 complete
540 Completes the fragment before the cursor to a full word found
541 elsewhere in the current buffer.
542 left
544 Goes left one position (in the editor or browser).
545 right
547 Goes right one position (in the editor or browser).
548 up
550 Goes one line up (in the editor or browser).
551 down
553 Goes one line down (in the editor or browser).
554 scrollup
556 Scrolls the viewport up one row (meaning that the text slides
557 down) while keeping the cursor in the same text position, if pos‐
558 sible.
559 scrolldown
561 Scrolls the viewport down one row (meaning that the text slides
562 up) while keeping the cursor in the same text position, if possi‐
563 ble.
564 prevword
566 Moves the cursor to the beginning of the previous word.
567 nextword
569 Moves the cursor to the beginning of the next word.
570 home
572 Moves the cursor to the beginning of the current line.
573 end
575 Moves the cursor to the end of the current line.
576 beginpara
578 Moves the cursor to the beginning of the current paragraph.
579 endpara
581 Moves the cursor to the end of the current paragraph.
582 prevblock
584 Moves the cursor to the beginning of the current or preceding
585 block of text. (Blocks are separated by one or more blank lines.)
586 nextblock
588 Moves the cursor to the beginning of the next block of text.
589 pageup
591 Goes up one screenful.
592 pagedown
594 Goes down one screenful.
595 firstline
597 Goes to the first line of the file.
598 lastline
600 Goes to the last line of the file.
601 gotoline
603 Goes to a specific line (and column if specified). Negative num‐
604 bers count from the end of the file (and end of the line).
605 findbracket
607 Moves the cursor to the bracket (brace, parenthesis, etc.) that
608 matches (pairs) with the one under the cursor.
609 prevbuf
611 Switches to editing/viewing the previous buffer when multiple buf‐
612 fers are open.
613 nextbuf
615 Switches to editing/viewing the next buffer when multiple buffers
616 are open.
617 verbatim
619 Inserts the next keystroke verbatim into the file.
620 tab
622 Inserts a tab at the current cursor location.
623 enter
625 Inserts a new line below the current one.
626 delete
628 Deletes the character under the cursor.
629 backspace
631 Deletes the character before the cursor.
632 recordmacro
634 Starts the recording of keystrokes -- the keystrokes are stored as
635 a macro. When already recording, the recording is stopped.
636 runmacro
638 Replays the keystrokes of the last recorded macro.
639 undo
641 Undoes the last performed text action (add text, delete text,
642 etc).
643 redo
645 Redoes the last undone action (i.e., it undoes an undo).
646 refresh
648 Refreshes the screen.
649 suspend
651 Suspends the editor (if the suspending function is enabled, see
652 the "suspendenable" entry below).
653 casesens
655 Toggles whether searching/replacing ignores or respects the case
656 of the given characters.
657 regexp
659 Toggles whether searching/replacing uses literal strings or regu‐
660 lar expressions.
661 backwards
663 Toggles whether searching/replacing goes forward or backward.
664 prevhistory
666 Retrieves the previous (older) entry at a prompt.
667 nexthistory
669 Retrieves the next (newer) entry at a prompt.
670 flipreplace
672 Toggles between searching for something and replacing something.
673 flipgoto
675 Toggles between searching for text and targeting a line number.
676 (The form 'gototext' is deprecated.)
677 flipexecute
679 Toggles between inserting a file and executing a command.
680 flippipe
682 When executing a command, toggles whether the current buffer (or
683 marked region) is piped to the command.
684 flipnewbuffer
686 Toggles between inserting into the current buffer and into a new
687 empty buffer.
688 flipconvert
690 When reading in a file, toggles between converting and not con‐
691 verting it from DOS/Mac format. Converting is the default.
692 dosformat
694 When writing a file, switches to writing a DOS format (CR/LF).
695 macformat
697 When writing a file, switches to writing a Mac format.
698 append
700 When writing a file, appends to the end instead of overwriting.
701 prepend
703 When writing a file, 'prepends' (writes at the beginning) instead
704 of overwriting.
705 backup
707 When writing a file, creates a backup of the current file.
708 discardbuffer
710 When about to write a file, discard the current buffer without
711 saving. (This function is bound by default only when option
712 --tempfile is in effect.)
713 browser
715 Starts the file browser, allowing to select a file from a list.
716 gotodir
718 Goes to a directory to be specified, allowing to browse anywhere
719 in the filesystem.
720 firstfile
722 Goes to the first file when using the file browser (reading or
723 writing files).
724 lastfile
726 Goes to the last file when using the file browser (reading or
727 writing files).
728 nohelp
730 Toggles the presence of the two-line list of key bindings at the
731 bottom of the screen.
732 constantshow
734 Toggles the constant display of the current line, column, and
735 character positions. (The form 'constupdate' is deprecated.)
736 smoothscroll
738 Toggles smooth scrolling (when moving around with the arrow keys).
739 softwrap
741 Toggles the displaying of overlong lines on multiple screen lines.
742 linenumbers
744 Toggles the display of line numbers in front of the text.
745 whitespacedisplay
747 Toggles the showing of whitespace.
748 nosyntax
750 Toggles syntax highlighting.
751 smarthome
753 Toggles the smartness of the Home key.
754 autoindent
756 Toggles whether a newly created line will contain the same amount
757 of leading whitespace as the preceding line -- or as the next line
758 if the preceding line is the beginning of a paragraph.
759 cutfromcursor
761 Toggles whether cutting text will cut the whole line or just from
762 the current cursor position to the end of the line. (The form
763 'cuttoend' is deprecated.)
764 nowrap
766 Toggles whether long lines will be hard-wrapped to the next line.
767 tabstospaces
769 Toggles whether typed tabs will be converted to spaces.
770 mouse
772 Toggles mouse support.
773 suspendenable
775 Toggles whether the suspend sequence (normally ^Z) will suspend
776 the editor window.
777 Valid menu sections are:
780 main
782 The main editor window where text is entered and edited.
783 search
785 The search menu (AKA whereis).
786 replace
788 The 'search to replace' menu.
789 replacewith
791 The 'replace with' menu, which comes up after 'search to replace'.
792 yesno
794 The 'yesno' menu, where the Yes/No/All/Cancel question is asked.
795 gotoline
797 The 'goto line (and column)' menu.
798 writeout
800 The 'write file' menu.
801 insert
803 The 'insert file' menu.
804 extcmd
806 The menu for inserting output from an external command, reached
807 from the insert menu.
808 help
810 The help-viewer menu.
811 spell
813 The interactive spell checker Yes/no menu.
814 linter
816 The linter menu.
817 browser
819 The file browser for inserting or writing a file.
820 whereisfile
822 The 'search for a file' menu in the file browser.
823 gotodir
825 The 'go to directory' menu in the file browser.
826 all
828 A special name that encompasses all menus. For bind it means all
829 menus where the specified function exists; for unbind it means all
830 menus where the specified key exists.
831
834 /etc/nanorc
835 System-wide configuration file.
836 ~/.nanorc or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nano/nanorc or ~/.config/nano/nanorc
838 Per-user configuration file.
839
842 nano(1)
843
846 Chris Allegretta and others (see the files AUTHORS and THANKS for
847 details). This manual page was originally written by Jordi Mallach for
848 the Debian system (but may be used by others).
849September 2018 version 3.0 NANORC(5)