nano/doc/texinfo/nano.texi

\input texinfo  @c -*-texinfo-*-
@c %**start of header
@setfilename nano.info
@settitle nano Command Manual
@c %**end of header

@c This file has the new style title page commands.
@c Run `makeinfo' rather than `texinfo-format-buffer'.
@smallbook
@set EDITION 0.1
@set VERSION 1.3.10
@set UPDATED 20 Apr 2006

@dircategory Editors
@direntry
* nano: (nano).                 Small and friendly text editor.
@end direntry

@c tex
@c \overfullrule=0pt
@c end tex

@titlepage
@title GNU @code{nano}
@subtitle a small and friendly text editor.
@subtitle version 1.3.10

@author Chris Allegretta
@page

This manual documents GNU @code{nano}, a small and friendly text
editor.

This manual is part of the GNU @code{nano} distribution.@*
@sp4
Copyright (C) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 by Chris
Allegretta.

This is free documentation, see the latest version of the GNU General
Public License for copying conditions.  There is NO warranty.

You may contact the author by
e-mail: @email{chrisa@@asty.org}@*
@end titlepage

@node Top, Introduction, (dir), (dir)

This manual documents GNU @code{nano}, a small and friendly text
editor.

@menu
* Introduction::
* Editor Basics::
* Online Help::
* Feature Toggles::
* The File Browser::
* Pico Compatibility::
* Building and Configure Options::
@end menu

@node Introduction, Editor Basics, Top, Top
@chapter Introduction

GNU @code{nano} is a small and friendly text editor.  Besides basic text
editing, @code{nano} offers many extra features like an interactive
search and replace, go to line number, auto-indentation, feature
toggles, internationalization support, and filename tab completion.

@menu
* Overview::
* Command Line Options::
@end menu

@node Overview, Command Line Options, Introduction, Introduction
@section Overview

@code{nano} +LINE,COLUMN [GNU long option] [option] [ @var{file ...} ]

The original goal for @code{nano} was a complete bug-for-bug compatible
emulation of Pico, but @code{nano}'s main goal is to be as compatible as
possible while offering a superset of Pico's functionality.  See
@xref{Pico Compatibility}, for more info.

Email bug reports to @email{nano@@nano-editor.org}.

@node Command Line Options, , Overview, Introduction
@section Command Line Options

@code{nano} takes the following options from the command line:

@table @code
@item +LINE,COLUMN
Start at line number LINE and column number COLUMN instead of the
default of line 1, column 1.

@item -?
Same as @code{-h, --help}.

@item -A, --smarthome
Make the Home key smarter.  When Home is pressed anywhere but at the
very beginning of non-whitespace characters on a line, the cursor will
jump to that beginning (either forwards or backwards).  If the cursor is
already at that position, it will jump to the true beginning of the
line.

@item -B, --backup
When saving a file, back up the previous version of it to the current
filename suffixed with a ~.

@item -C, --backupdir=[dir]
Set the directory where @code{nano} puts unique backup files if file
backups are enabled.

@item -D, --boldtext
Use bold text instead of reverse video text.

@item -E, --tabstospaces
Convert typed tabs to spaces.

@item -F, --multibuffer
Enable multiple file buffers, if available.

@item -I, --ignorercfiles
Don't look at SYSCONFDIR/nanorc or ~/.nanorc, if nanorc support is
available.

@item -K, --rebindkeypad
Interpret the numeric keypad keys so that they all work properly.  You
should only need to use this option if they don't, as mouse support
won't work properly with this option enabled.

@item -L, --nonewlines
Don't add newlines to the ends of files.

@item -N, --noconvert
Don't convert files from DOS/Mac format.

@item -Q [str], --quotestr [str]
Set the quoting string for justifying.  The default is

@quotation
@code{^([ \t]*[|>:@}#])+}
@end quotation

if extended regular expression support is available, or "> " otherwise.
Note that @code{\t} above stands for a literal Tab character.

@item -R, --restricted
Restricted mode: Don't read or write to any file not specified on the
command line; read any nanorc files; allow suspending; allow a file to
be appended to, prepended to, or saved under a different name if it
already has one; or use backup files or spell checking.  Also accessible
by invoking @code{nano} with any name beginning with 'r' (e.g. "rnano").

@item -S, --smooth
Enable smooth scrolling.

@item -T [num], --tabsize=[#cols]
Set the displayed tab length to #cols columns.  The value of #cols must
be greater than 0.  The default value is 8.

@item -U, --quickblank
Do quick statusbar blanking.  Statusbar messages will disappear after 1
keystroke instead of 25.  Note that -c cancels this out.

@item -V, --version
Print the version number and copyright and quit.

@item -W, --wordbounds
Detect word boundaries more accurately by treating punctuation
characters as part of a word.

@item -Y, --syntax=[str]
Specify a specific syntax highlighting from the nanorc to use, if
available.

@item -c, --const
Constantly display the cursor position and line number on the statusbar.
Note that this cancels out -U.

@item -d, --rebinddelete
Interpret the Delete key differently so that both Backspace and Delete
work properly.  You should only need to use this option if Backspace
acts like Delete on your system.

@item -h, --help
Print the usage and exit.

@item -i, --autoindent
Automatically indent new lines to the same number of spaces and tabs as
the previous line.

@item -k, --cut
Cut from the current cursor position to the end of the current line.

@item -l, --nofollow
When writing files, if the given file is a symbolic link, it is removed
and a new file is created.

@item -m, --mouse
Enables the use of the mouse to select text (currently only useful for
running under the X Window System).

@item -o [dir], --operatingdir=[dir]
Set operating directory.  Makes @code{nano} set up something similar to
a chroot.

@item -p, --preserve
Preserve the ^Q (XON) and ^S (XOFF) sequences so data being sent to the
editor can be can be stopped and started.

@item -r [#cols], --fill=[#cols].
Wrap lines at column #cols.  If this value is 0 or less, wrapping will
occur at #cols less the width of the screen, allowing it to vary along
with the width of the screen if the screen is resized.  The default
value is -8.

@item -s [prog], --speller=[prog]
Invoke [prog] as the spell checker.  By default, @code{nano} uses the
command specified in the SPELL environment variable, or, if SPELL is not
set, its own interactive spell checker that requires the @code{spell}
program to be installed on your system.

@item -t, --tempfile
Don't ask whether or not to save the current contents of the file when
exiting, assume yes.  This is most useful when using @code{nano} as the
composer of a mailer program.

@anchor{Expert Mode}
@item -x, --nohelp
In Expert Mode, the Shortcut Lists will not appear at the bottom of the
screen.  This affects the location of the statusbar as well, as in
Expert Mode it is located at the very bottom of the editor.

Note: When accessing the help system, Expert Mode is temporarily
disabled to display the help system navigation keys.

@item -v, --view
Don't allow the contents of the file to be altered.  Note that this
option should NOT be used in place of correct file permissions to
implement a read-only file.

@item -w, --nowrap
Don't wrap long lines at any length.  This option overrides any value
for -r.

@item -z, --suspend
Enable @code{nano}'s suspend ability using the system's suspend
keystroke (usually ^Z).

@item -a, -b, -e, -f, -g, -j
Ignored, for compatibility with Pico.
@end table

@node Editor Basics, Online Help, Introduction, Top
@chapter Editor Basics
@menu
* Entering Text::
* Special Functions::
* The Titlebar::
* The Statusbar::
* Shortcut Lists::
@end menu

@node Entering Text, Special Functions, Editor Basics, Editor Basics
@section Entering Text

All key sequences in @code{nano} are entered using the keyboard.
@code{nano} is a "modeless" editor.  All keys, with the exception of
Control and Meta key sequences, will enter text into the file being
edited.

@node Special Functions, The Titlebar, Entering Text, Editor Basics
@section Special Functions

Special functions use the Control (Ctrl) key, displayed in the help and
shortcut lists as ^; the Meta key, displayed as M; or the Escape (Esc)
key.

@itemize @bullet
@item
Control key sequences are entered by holding down the Ctrl key and
pressing the desired key, or by pressing the Esc key twice and pressing
the desired key.
@item
Pressing Esc twice and then typing a three-digit number from 000 to 255
will enter the character with the corresponding value.
@item
Meta key sequences can be entered in a number of possible ways: Pressing
the Esc key, then releasing it and pressing the desired key, or holding
down the Alt key while pressing the desired key.  This varies from
keyboard to keyboard, and certain commercial operating systems "swallow"
the Alt key so that it never reaches the application.  If your operating
system does this, you should use the Esc key to generate Meta key
sequences.
@end itemize

@node The Titlebar, The Statusbar, Special Functions, Editor Basics
@section The Titlebar

The titlebar is the line displayed at the top of the editor.  There are
three sections: left, center and right.  The section on the left
displays the version of @code{nano} being used.  The center section
displays the current file name, or "New Buffer" if the file has not yet
been named.  The section on the right will display "Modified" if the
file has been modified since it was last saved or opened.

Special modes: When @code{nano} is in "File browser" mode, the center
section will display the current directory instead of the filename.  See
@xref{The File Browser}, for more info.

@node The Statusbar, Shortcut Lists, The Titlebar, Editor Basics
@section The Statusbar

The statusbar is located three lines from the bottom of the screen, or
the bottom line in Expert Mode.  See @xref{Expert Mode}, for more info.
It shows important and informational messages.  Any error messages that
occur from using the editor will appear on the statusbar.  Any questions
that are asked of the user will be asked on the statusbar, and any user
input (search strings, file names, etc.) will be input on the statusbar.

@node Shortcut Lists, , The Statusbar, Editor Basics
@section Shortcut Lists

The Shortcut Lists are the two lines at the bottom of the screen which
show some of the more commonly used functions in the editor.

@node Online Help, Feature Toggles, Editor Basics, Top
@chapter Online Help

The online help system in @code{nano} is available by pressing ^G.
It is fairly self explanatory, documenting the various parts of the
editor and available keystrokes.  Navigation is via the ^Y (Page Up)
and ^V (Page Down) keys.  ^X exits the help system.


@node Feature Toggles, The File Browser, Online Help, Top
@chapter Feature Toggles

Toggles allow you to change certain aspects of the editor that
would normally be done via command line options.  They are invoked via
certain Meta key sequences.  See @xref{Special Functions}, for more info.
The following global toggles are available:

@table @code

@item Backup Files Toggle (Meta-B)
toggles the -B (@code{--backup}) command line option.

@item Constant Cursor Position Display Toggle (Meta-C)
toggles the -c (@code{--const}) command line option.

@item Multiple File Buffers Toggle (Meta-F)
toggles the -F (@code{--multibuffer}) command line option.

@item Smart Home Key Toggle (Meta-H)
toggles the -A (@code{--smarthome}) command line option.

@item Auto Indent Toggle (Meta-I)
toggles the -i (@code{--autoindent}) command line option.

@item Cut To End Toggle (Meta-K)
toggles the -k (@code{--cut}) command line option.

@item Long Line Wrapping Toggle (Meta-L)
toggles the -w (@code{--nowrap}) command line option.

@item Mouse Support Toggle (Meta-M)
toggles the -m (@code{--mouse}) command line option.

@item No Conversion From DOS/Mac Format Toggle (Meta-N)
toggles the -N (@code{--noconvert}) command line option.

@item More Space For Editing Toggle (Meta-O)
toggles the -O (@code{--morespace}) command line option.

@item Whitespace Display Toggle (Meta-P)
toggles whitespace display mode if you have a "whitespace" option in
your nanorc.

@item Tabs to Spaces Toggle (Meta-Q)
toggles the -E (@code{--tabstospaces}) command line option.

@item Smooth Scrolling Toggle (Meta-S)
toggles the -S (@code{--smooth}) command line option.

@item Expert/No Help Toggle (Meta-X)
toggles the -x (@code{--nohelp}) command line option.

@item Color Syntax Highlighting Toggle (Meta-Y)
toggles color syntax highlighting if you have color syntaxes in your
nanorc.

@item Suspend Toggle (Meta-Z)
toggles the -z (@code{--suspend}) command line option.

@end table


@node The File Browser, Pico Compatibility, Feature Toggles, Top
@chapter The File Browser

When reading or writing files, pressing ^T will invoke the file browser.
Here, one can navigate directories in a graphical manner in order to
find the desired file.

Basic movement in the file browser is accomplished with the arrow keys,
page up, and page down.  More advanced movement is accomplished by
searching via ^W (or 'w') and changing directories via ^_ (or 'g').  The
behavior of the Enter (or 's') key varies by what is currently selected.
If the currently selected object is a directory, the file browser will
enter and display the contents of the directory.  If the object is a
file, this filename and path are copied to the statusbar, and the file
browser exits.

@node Pico Compatibility, Building and Configure Options, The File Browser, Top
@chapter Pico Compatibility

@code{nano} attempts to emulate Pico as closely as possible, but there
are certain differences between the editors:

@table @code
@item Search and Replace History
As of version 1.1.99pre1 of @code{nano}, text entered as search or
replace strings will be stored and can be accessed with the up/down
arrow keys.  Previously, @code{nano} offered a more consistent, but
incompatible with Pico, method for entering search and replace strings.
In the old method, previous entries would be displayed by default as
editable text in front of the cursor, as opposed to being bracketed and
uneditable as it is in Pico.  The old behavior could be made compatible
with Pico via the @code{-p} option, but recent versions of Pico use the
@code{-p} option to preserve the XON and XOFF sequences within the
editor.  Since, with the new method, search and replace strings can
still be edited by simply hitting the up arrow key once, the old method
was removed completely.


@item Writing, Appending, or Prepending Selected Text to Files
Text selected using the marking key (^^) can be written out, appended,
or prepended to a new or existing file using the WriteOut key (^O).

@item Toggles
Many options which alter the functionality of the program can be
"toggled" on or off using Meta key sequences, meaning the program does
not have to be restarted to turn a particular feature of the editor on
or off.  Please see the internal help function (^G) for a list of what
functions can be toggled for a particular version of @code{nano}.  See
@xref{Feature Toggles}, for more info.

@item Cursor Position Display
The output of the "Display Cursor Position" in @code{nano} displays
the given column position, as well as the row and total character
position of the cursor.

@item Interactive Replace and Spell Checker
It is worth noting that the @code{nano} replace function is interactive,
i.e, it does not stop after one search string is found and automatically
replace it.  The @code{nano} implementation will stop at each search
string found and query whether to replace this instance or not.  The
internal spell checker operates similarly.  Note that these is no way to
force these functions to behave in the Pico fashion.  As of version
1.1.99pre1, misspelled words are sorted and trimmed for uniqueness in
the internal spell checker such that the words 'apple' and 'Apple' will
be prompted for correction separately.
@end table

@node Building and Configure Options, , Pico Compatibility, Top
@chapter Building and Configure Options

Building @code{nano} from source is fairly straightforward if you are
familiar with compiling programs with autoconf support:

@itemize @bullet
@item tar xvfz nano-x.y.z.tar.gz (where x.y.z is the version of
@code{nano})
@item cd nano-x.y.z/
@item ./configure
@item make
@item make install
@end itemize

@table @code


@item --disable-browser
Disable the mini file browser when reading or writing files.

@item --disable-help
Disable the help function.  Doing this makes the binary much smaller,
but makes it difficult for new users to learn more than very basic
things about using the editor.

@item --disable-justify
Disable the justify and unjustify functions.

@item --disable-mouse
Disable all mouse functionality.  This also disables the -m command line
option, which enables the mouse functionality.

@item --disable-operatingdir
Disable setting the operating directory.  This also disables the -o
command line option, which sets the operating directory.

@item --disable-speller
Disable use of the spell checker.  This also disables the -s command
line option, which allows specifying an alternate spell checker.

@item --disable-tabcomp
Disable the tab completion code when reading or writing files.

@item --disable-wrapping
Disable all long line wrapping.  This also eliminates the -w command
line option, which enables long line wrapping.

@item --enable-tiny
This option disables all the above.  It also disables some of the larger
internals of the editor, like the marking code and the cut to line code.
It also disables the function toggles.

@item --enable-debug
Enable support for runtime debug output.  This can get pretty messy, so
chances are you only want this feature to work on the nano source.

@item --enable-extra
Enable extra features.  At the moment, this is just easter egg-type
stuff.

@item --enable-color
Enable support for syntax coloring of files.  See the nanorc
documentation for more details.  The nanorc feature will also be
enabled.

@item --enable-multibuffer
Enable support for opening multiple files at a time and switching
between them on the fly.

@item --enable-nanorc
Enable support for reading the nanorc file at startup.  You can store
custom settings in the nanorc file rather than having to pass command
line options to get desired behavior.

@item --enable-all
Shortcut for enabling the above four features (extra, color,
multibuffer, and nanorc).

@item --disable-nls
Disables Native Language support.  This will disable use of the
available GNU @code{nano} translations.

@item --disable-wrapping-as-root
Disable long line wrapping by default when nano is run as root.

@item --enable-utf8
Enable support for reading and writing Unicode files.  This will require
either the wide version of ncurses, or a UTF-8-enabled version of Slang.

@item --disable-utf8
Disable support for reading and writing Unicode files.

@item --with-slang
Compiling @code{nano} with Slang is supported, and will make the binary
notably smaller than if compiled with ncurses or other curses libraries.

@end table

@contents
@bye