The Most Useful Nano Commands and Shortcuts

Within this Nano editor tutorial, you will find all of the Nano commands and shortcuts you will need to use.

Updated: 14 Dec, 21 by Antoniy Yushkevych 2 Min

The Most Useful Nano Commands and Shortcuts

List of content you will read in this article:

Nano is the most fundamental, command-line-based text editor for Linux. It has all common text editor features, including highlighting syntaxes, multiple buffers, scanning and replacing with regular expression support, type corrections, and UTF-8 encoding. So if you want to know more about nano commands, read this guide from start to end. We have collected and explained a complete list of nano shortcuts available.

How to Install Nano Text Editor

In most Linux distributions, nano is normally supported by default, but if it is not, use the next commands to install it.

In the Debian/Ubuntu system:

$sudo apt install nano

In the CentOS/Fedora system:

$yum install nano

Nano Important Shortcut Keys

Here is the list of all nano shortcuts available in Linux

Command	Action
Ctrl + O	Save A File
Alt + B	Create a Backup
Ctrl + X	Exit file, with prompt
Alt + U	Undo an action
Ctrl + G	Get Help
Ctrl + F	Single character forward shift
Ctrl + B	Single character backward shift
Ctrl + Space	Move one word forward
Alt + Space	Move one work backward
Ctrl + P	Move to the preceding line
Ctrl + N	Move to the succeeding line
Ctrl + V	Move to next page
Ctrl + Y	Return to the preceding page
Ctrl + A	Move to the Begin of the line
Ctrl + E	Move to Concluding line
Ctrl + W	To open Search prompt
Ctrl + T	To Search Line Number
Alt + W	Go to the Next result
Ctrl + R	Replace Searched Text
Alt + 6	Cut Text / Line
Ctrl + K	Copy Text / Line
Ctrl + U	Paste Copied Data
nano	To create a new file in the editor
nano filename.txt	To open a file in the editor

Conclusion

There are many shortcut keys that can be used to navigate and do the task in nano. The above keys mentioned are a few of the important shortcut keys used in nano. We have included all details in the simplest way possible to understand and use these shortcuts easily.

Category: Tutorials Server

Antoniy Yushkevych

Master of word when it comes to technology, internet and privacy. I'm also your usual guy that always aims for the best result and takes a skateboard to work. If you need me, you will find me at the office's Counter-Strike championships on Fridays or at a.yushkevych@monovm.com

Mrs. Iva Rau I

2024, Jun, 24

This guide is an absolute lifesaver for anyone using nano! The detailed list of shortcuts and commands is super helpful, especially for those who are new to the Nano text editor. I appreciate how everything is explained clearly, making it easy to follow along. Definitely bookmarking this for future reference! Thanks for putting this together.

Holden Effertz

2024, Jul, 24

This guide is super helpful for anyone new to Nano or looking to improve their efficiency with this text editor. The list of shortcuts is especially practical, making it easy to navigate and edit files without having to memorize everything. Thanks for breaking it down so clearly!