Advertisement
ad placeholder
Open on desktop for the interactive terminal. The learning content is still readable here.
GNU nano 7.2hello.txt
Hello, World!
This is a sample file you can edit freely in the simulator.
Learn nano with us!
About this editor
GNU nano is a small, friendly text editor for the terminal. It ships with
almost every Linux distribution and macOS, so when you SSH into a remote
server it is usually already there waiting for you.
Why people like it
Unlike vim or emacs, nano shows its most useful shortcuts right at the
bottom of the screen. You do not have to memorize cryptic commands to get
started: open a file, type, and save. That low barrier is exactly why so
many tutorials tell beginners to reach for nano first.
Practice paragraph
Try moving around this file with the arrow keys, then jump to the start of
a line with Ctrl+A and the end with Ctrl+E. Cut this whole line with Ctrl+K
and paste it back with Ctrl+U. Nothing here is permanent, so experiment as
much as you want.
Searching and replacing
Press Ctrl+W to search for a word like 'nano' or 'editor'. Press Ctrl+\ to
replace text. The same word appears several times in this file on purpose so
you can watch the search jump from match to match.
line 1, col 1
^GHelp^XExit^OWrite^WSearch
^KCut^UPaste^\Replace^_Go To Line
Cheatsheet
Navigation
| Ctrl+A / Ctrl+E | Start / end of line |
| Ctrl+Home / Ctrl+End | Start / end of file |
| Ctrl+Y / Ctrl+V | Page up / down |
| Ctrl+_ | Jump to line number |
| Ctrl+Space / Alt+Space | Next / previous word |
Editing
| Ctrl+K | Cut line |
| Ctrl+U | Paste |
| Ctrl+^ | Mark |
| Alt+^ | Copy selection |
| Alt+U / Alt+E | Undo / Redo |
File & Search
| Ctrl+O | Save (WriteOut) |
| Ctrl+X | Exit |
| Ctrl+W | Search |
| Alt+W | Next result |
| Ctrl+\ | Replace |
Display
| Alt+N | Toggle line numbers |
| Alt+L | Toggle soft wrap |