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<h1 align="center">NANORC</h1>

<a href="#NAME">NAME</a> 
<a href="#DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a> 
<a href="#OPTIONS">OPTIONS</a> 
<a href="#KEY BINDINGS">KEY BINDINGS</a> 
<a href="#FILES">FILES</a> 
<a href="#SEE ALSO">SEE ALSO</a> 
<a href="#AUTHOR">AUTHOR</a>

<hr>

nanorc &minus;
GNU nano&rsquo;s rcfile

<h2>DESCRIPTION
<a name="DESCRIPTION"></a>
</h2>

This manual
page briefly documents GNU nano&rsquo;s rcfile.

nano is
a small, free and friendly editor which aims to replace
Pico, the default editor included in the non-free Pine
package. Rather than just copying Pico&rsquo;s look and
feel, nano also implements some missing (or disabled
by default) features in Pico, such as &quot;search and
replace&quot; and &quot;go to line and column
number&quot;.

The
nanorc file contains the default settings for
nano. It should not be in DOS or Mac format. During
startup, nano will first read its system-wide
settings from SYSCONFDIR/nanorc, and then
user-specific settings from ~/.nanorc.

<h2>OPTIONS
<a name="OPTIONS"></a>
</h2>

The
configuration file accepts a series of set and
unset commands, which can be used to configure nano
on startup without using the command line options.
Additionally, the syntax, color, and
icolor keywords are used to define syntax
highlighting rules for different text patterns. nano
will read one command per line.

Options in
nanorc files take precedence over nano&rsquo;s
defaults, and command line options override nanorc
settings. Also, options are unset by default, except for
those that take arguments.

Quotes inside
string parameters don&rsquo;t have to be escaped with
backslashes. The last double quote in the string will be
treated as its end. For example, for the brackets
option, &quot;&quot;&rsquo;)&gt;]}&quot; will match
&quot;, &rsquo;, ), &gt;,
], and }.

The supported
commands and arguments are: 
set/unset allow_insecure_backup

When backing up files, allow
the backup to succeed even if its permissions can&rsquo;t be
(re)set due to special OS considerations. You should NOT
enable this option unless you are sure you need it.

set/unset autoindent

Use auto-indentation.

set/unset backup

Create backup files in
filename~.

set backupdir
directory

Set the directory where
nano puts unique backup files if file backups are
enabled.

set/unset backwards

Do backwards searches by
default.

set/unset boldtext

Use bold text instead of
reverse video text.

set brackets
string

Set the characters treated as
closing brackets when justifying paragraphs. They cannot
contain blank characters. Only closing punctuation,
optionally followed by closing brackets, can end sentences.
The default value is
&quot;&quot;&rsquo;)&gt;]}&quot;.

set/unset
casesensitive

Do case sensitive searches by
default.

set/unset const

Constantly display the cursor
position in the status bar.

set/unset cut

Use cut to end of line by
default.

set fill n

Wrap lines at column number
n. If n is 0 or less, the maximum line length
will be the screen width less n columns. The default
value is &minus;8.

set/unset historylog

Enable ~/.nano_history
for saving and reading search/replace strings.

set matchbrackets
string

Set the opening and closing
brackets that can be found by bracket searches. They cannot
contain blank characters. The former set must come before
the latter set, and both must be in the same order. The
default value is &quot;(&lt;[{)&gt;]}&quot;.

set/unset morespace

Use the blank line below the
titlebar as extra editing space.

set/unset mouse

Enable mouse support, if
available for your system. When enabled, mouse clicks can be
used to place the cursor, set the mark (with a double
click), and execute shortcuts. The mouse will work in the X
Window System, and on the console when gpm is running.

set/unset
multibuffer

Allow inserting files into
their own buffers.

set/unset noconvert

Don&rsquo;t convert files from
DOS/Mac format.

set/unset nofollow

Don&rsquo;t follow symlinks
when writing files.

set/unset nohelp

Don&rsquo;t display the help
lists at the bottom of the screen.

set/unset nonewlines

Don&rsquo;t add newlines to the
ends of files.

set/unset nowrap

Don&rsquo;t wrap text at
all.

set operatingdir
directory

nano will only read and
write files inside directory and its subdirectories.
Also, the current directory is changed to here, so files are
inserted from this directory. By default, the operating
directory feature is turned off.

set/unset preserve

Preserve the XON and XOFF keys
(^Q and ^S).

set punct
string

Set the characters treated as
closing punctuation when justifying paragraphs. They cannot
contain blank characters. Only closing punctuation,
optionally followed by closing brackets, can end sentences.
The default value is &quot;!.?&quot;.

set/unset quiet

nano will not report
errors in the nanorc file and ask them to be
acknowledged by pressing enter at startup. If this is used
it should be placed at the top of the file to be fully
effective.

set/unset quickblank

Do quick statusbar blanking.
Statusbar messages will disappear after 1 keystroke instead
of 25.

set quotestr
string

The email-quote string, used to
justify email-quoted paragraphs. This is an extended regular
expression if your system supports them, otherwise a literal
string. The default value is
&quot;^([&nbsp;\t]*[#:&gt;\|}])+&quot; if you have
extended regular expression support, or
&quot;&gt;&nbsp;&quot; otherwise. Note that
&rsquo;\t&rsquo; stands for a literal Tab character.

set/unset
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.

set/unset
rebindkeypad

Interpret the numeric keypad
keys so that they all work properly. You should only need to
use this option if they don&rsquo;t, as mouse support
won&rsquo;t work properly with this option enabled.

set/unset regexp

Do extended regular expression
searches by default.

set/unset poslog

Save the cursor position of
files between editing sessions.

set/unset 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.

set/unset smooth

Use smooth scrolling by
default.

set/unset softwrap

Enable soft line wrapping for
easier viewing of very long lones.

set speller
spellprog

Use spelling checker
spellprog instead of the built-in one, which calls
spell.

set/unset suspend

Allow nano to be
suspended.

set tabsize n

Use a tab size of n
columns. The value of n must be greater than 0. The
default value is 8.

set/unset
tabstospaces

Convert typed tabs to
spaces.

set/unset tempfile

Save automatically on exit,
don&rsquo;t prompt.

set/unset undo

Enable experimental
generic-purpose undo code.

set/unset view

Disallow file modification.

set/unset softwrap

Enable soft line wrapping for
easier viewing of very long lones.

set whitespace
string

Set the two characters used to
display the first characters of tabs and spaces. They must
be single-column characters.

set/unset wordbounds

Detect word boundaries more
accurately by treating punctuation characters as parts of
words.

syntax str
[&quot;fileregex&quot; ... ]

Defines a syntax named
str which can be activated via the
&minus;Y/&minus;&minus;syntax command line option, or will
be automatically activated if the current filename matches
the extended regular expression fileregex. All
following color and icolor statements will
apply to syntax until a new syntax is defined.

The none
syntax is reserved; specifying it on the command line is the
same as not having a syntax at all. The default
syntax is special: it takes no fileregex, and applies
to files that don&rsquo;t match any other syntax&rsquo;s
fileregex.

magic
[&quot;regex&quot; ... ]

For the currently defined
syntax, add one or more regexes which will be compared
against the magic database when attempting to
determine which highlighting rules to use for a given file.
This functionality only works when libmagic is
installed on the system and will be silently ignored
otherwise.

color
fgcolor,bgcolor regex ...

For the currently defined
syntax, display all expressions matching the extended
regular expression regex with foreground color
fgcolor and background color bgcolor, at least
one of which must be specified. Legal colors for foreground
and background color are: white, black, red, blue, green,
yellow, magenta, and cyan. You may use the prefix
&quot;bright&quot; to force a stronger color highlight for
the foreground. If your terminal supports transparency, not
specifying a bgcolor tells nano to attempt to
use a transparent background.

icolor
fgcolor,bgcolor regex ...

Same as above, except that the
expression matching is case insensitive.

color
fgcolor,bgcolor
start=&quot;sr&quot;
end=&quot;er&quot;

Display expressions which start
with the extended regular expression sr and end with
the extended regular expression er with foreground
color fgcolor and background color bgcolor, at
least one of which must be specified. This allows syntax
highlighting to span multiple lines. Note that all
subsequent instances of sr after an initial sr
is found will be highlighted until the first instance of
er.

icolor
fgcolor,bgcolor
start=&quot;sr&quot;
end=&quot;er&quot;

Same as above, except that the
expression matching is case insensitive.

include
syntaxfile

Read in self-contained color
syntaxes from syntaxfile. Note that syntaxfile
can only contain syntax, color, and
icolor commands.

<h2>KEY BINDINGS
<a name="KEY BINDINGS"></a>
</h2>

Key bindings
may be reassigned via the following commands: 
bind key function menu

Rebinds the key key to a
new function named function in the context of menu
menu. The format of key should be one of:

^</td>
<td width="8%"></td>
<td width="78%">

followed by an alpha character or the word
&quot;Space&quot;. Example: ^C</td></tr>
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="11%"></td>
<td width="3%">

M-</td>
<td width="8%"></td>
<td width="78%">

followed by a printable character or the word
&quot;Space&quot;. Example: M-C</td></tr>
<tr valign="top" align="left">
<td width="11%"></td>
<td width="3%">

F</td>
<td width="8%"></td>
<td width="78%">

followed by a numeric value from 1 to 16. Example:
F10 </td></tr>
</table>

Valid function names to be
bound include: 
help

Invoke the help menu.

cancel

Cancel the current command.

exit

Exit from the program.

writeout

Write the current buffer to
disk.

justify

Justify the current text.

insert

Insert a file into the current
buffer (or into a new buffer when multibuffer is
enabled).

whereis

Search for text in the current
buffer.

searchagain

Repeat the last search
command.

up</td>
<td width="1%"></td>
<td width="51%">

Move up in the editor or browser.</td>
<td width="34%">
</td></tr>
</table>

down

Move down in the editor or
browser.

left

Move left in the editor or
browser.

right

Move right in the editor or
browser.

cut

Cut the current line of text
and store it.

uncut

Copy the currently stored text
into the current buffer position.

curpos

Show the current line, column,
word positions in the file.

firstline

Move to the first line of the
file.

lastline

Move to the last line of the
file.

gotoline

Move to a specific line (and
column if specified).

replace

Interactively replace text
within the current buffer.

mark

Begin selecting text for
cutting or pasting at the current position.

copytext

Copy the currently marked text
without deleting it.

indent

Indent the currently marked
text (shift to the right).

unindent

Un-indent the currently marked
text (shift to the left).

nextword

Move the cursor to the
beginning of the next word.

prevword

Move the cursor to the
beginning of the previous word.

home

Move the cursor to the
beginning of the current line.

end

Move the cursor to the end of
the current line.

beginpara

Move the cursor to the
beginning of the current paragraph.

endpara

Move the cursor to the end of
the current paragraph.

findbracket

Move the cursor to the matching
bracket (brace, parenthesis, etc.) of the one under the
cursor.

scrollup

Scroll up one line of text from
the current position.

scrolldown

Scroll down one line of text
from the current position.

prevbuf

Switch to editing/viewing the
previous buffer when using multibuffer mode.

nextbuf

Switch to editing/viewing the
next buffer when using multibuffer mode.

verbatim

Insert the next character
verbatim into the file.

tab

Insert a tab at the current
cursor location.

enter

Insert a new line below the
current one.

delete

Delete the character under the
cursor.

fulljustify

Justify the entire current
file.

wordcount

Count the number of words in
the current buffer.

refresh

Refresh the screen.

undo

Undo the text action peformed
(add text, delete text, etc).

redo

Redo the last undone action
(i.e., undo an undo).

suspend

Suspend the editor (if the
suspend function is enabled, see the
&quot;suspendenable&quot; entry below).

casesens

Toggle case sensitivity in
searching (search/replace menus only).

regexp

Toggle whether
searching/replacing is based on literal strings or regular
expressions.

prevhistory

Show the previous history entry
in the prompt menus (e.g. search).

nexthistory

Show the next history entry in
the prompt menus (e.g. search).

dontreplace

Switch back to searching
instead of replacing.

gototext

Search for files matching a
string in the file browser (reading or writing files).

dosformat

When writing a file, switch to
writing a DOS format (CR/LF).

macformat

When writing a file, switch to
writing a Mac format.

append

When writing a file, append to
the end instead of overwriting.

prepend

When writing a file,
&rsquo;prepend&rsquo; (write at the beginning) instead of
overwriting.

backup

When writing a file, create a
backup of the current file.

firstfile

Move to the first file when
using the file browser (reading or writing files).

lastfile

Move to the last file when
using the file browser (reading or writing files).

nohelp

Toggle showing/hiding the
two-line list of key bindings at the bottom of the
screen.

constupdate

Constantly display the current
line, column, word positions.

morespace

Toggle showing/hiding the blank
line which &rsquo;separates&rsquo; the &rsquo;title&rsquo;
from the file text.

smoothscroll

Toggle smooth scrolling when
moving via the arrow keys.

whitespacedisplay

Toggle whether whitespace is
shown.

smarthome

Toggle whether the smart home
key function is enabled.

autoindent

Toggle whether new lines will
contain the same amount of whitespace as the line above.

cuttoend

Toggle whether cutting text
will cut the whole line or just from the current cursor
position to the end of the line.

nowrap

Toggle whether long lines will
be wrapped to the next line.

suspendenable

Toggle whether the suspend
sequence (normally ^Z) will suspend the editor window.

Valid menu
sections are: 
main

The main editor window where
text is entered.

search

The search menu (AKA
whereis).

replace

The &rsquo;search to
replace&rsquo; menu.

replacewith

The &rsquo;replace with&rsquo;
menu, which comes up after &rsquo;search to
replace&rsquo;.

gotoline

The &rsquo;goto line (and
column)&rsquo; menu.

writeout

The &rsquo;write file&rsquo;
menu.

insert

The &rsquo;insert file&rsquo;
menu.

extcmd

The menu for inserting output
from an external comman, reached from the insert menu.

help

The help menu.

spell

The interactive spell checker
Yes/no menu.

browser

The file browser for inserting
or writing a file.

whereisfile

The &rsquo;search for a
file&rsquo; menu in the file browser.

gotodir

The &rsquo;go to
directory&rsquo; menu.

all

A special name meaning: apply
to all menus where this function exists.

unbind key
menu

Unbind the key key from
the menu named menu or from all menus by using
all. Same key syntax as for binding. Rebinds the key
key to a new function named function in the
context of menu menu. The format of key should
be one of:

<h2>FILES
<a name="FILES"></a>
</h2>

SYSCONFDIR/nanorc

System-wide configuration
file

~/.nanorc

Per-user configuration file

nano(1)
 
/usr/share/doc/nano/examples/nanorc.sample (or
equivalent on your system)

<h2>AUTHOR
<a name="AUTHOR"></a>
</h2>

Chris Allegretta
&lt;chrisa@asty.org&gt;, et al (see AUTHORS and
THANKS for details). This manual page was originally
written by Jordi Mallach &lt;jordi@gnu.org&gt;, for the
Debian system (but may be used by others).
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