Ubuntu 22.04 Nano

Nano Ubuntu

Getting Started

Open your terminal or command prompt.

Type nano followed by the name of the file you want to edit. For example, if you want to edit a file called myfile.txt, you would type nano myfile.txt.

Once Nano opens, you should see the contents of the file you're editing.

Navigating the File

Nano uses keyboard shortcuts for most commands. Here are some of the most useful navigation commands:

• Ctrl+F - Move forward one character
• Ctrl+B - Move backward one character
• Ctrl+N - Move to the next line
• Ctrl+P - Move to the previous line
• Ctrl+A - Move to the beginning of the current line
• Ctrl+E - Move to the end of the current line
• Ctrl+V - Move forward one page
• Ctrl+Y - Move backward one page

Editing Text

Here are some commands for editing text in Nano:

• Ctrl+K - Cut the current line or selected text
• Ctrl+U - Uncut (paste) the last cut text
• Ctrl+Shift+6 - Mark the beginning of a selection
• Ctrl+Shift+7 - Mark the end of a selection
• Ctrl+T - Transpose two characters
• Ctrl+O - Save the changes to the file
• Ctrl+X - Exit Nano without saving the changes

Wipe Entire File:

• Move the cursor to the beginning of the file by pressing Ctrl+Y repeatedly until you reach the top of the file.

• Press Ctrl+Shift+6 to set the beginning of the selection.

• Move the cursor to the end of the file by pressing Ctrl+V repeatedly until you reach the end of the file.

• Press Ctrl+K to cut the selected text.

• To paste the cut text, move the cursor to the desired location and press Ctrl+U.

To wipe a file in terminal you can also use > /path/to/file.txt to wipe the file.

• The > operator is used to redirect standard output to a file. If the file doesn't exist, it will be created; if it does exist, it will be overwritten.
• So, this command would effectively create an empty file at /path/to/file.txt if the file doesn't exist, or clear the contents of the file if it already exists.
• Be Careful when using this, as it becomes easier to nuke the wrong file.

Transpose:

The Ctrl+T command is used to transpose (swap) the characters at the current cursor position with the characters immediately before the cursor position.

Here's how to use the Ctrl+T command:

Move the cursor to the position between two characters that you want to swap.

Press Ctrl+T.

The two characters will be swapped, and the cursor will move to the right by one character.

For example, let's say you have the following line of text in Nano:

This is a test.
     ^ Cursor is here

If you want to swap the characters "s" and "i" in the word "is", you would do the following:

Move the cursor to the position between the "s" and the "i", like this:

This is a test.
      ^ Cursor is here

Press Ctrl+T.

The characters "s" and "i" will be swapped, like this:

This si a test.
      ^ Cursor moves here

The Ctrl+T command is a useful tool for quickly making small edits to text. I hope this explanation helps clarify its use. If you have any further questions or need any additional assistance, please don't hesitate to ask.

Searching for Text

To search for text in Nano, use the following commands:

• Ctrl+W - Search for a word or phrase in the current file
• Alt+W - Repeat the last search

Replacing Text

To replace text in Nano, use the following commands:

• Alt+R - Replace the current occurrence of a search term

Increasing and Decreasing Text Size

To increase or decrease the size of the text in Nano, use the following commands:

• Ctrl++ - Increase the size of the text
• Ctrl+- - Decrease the size of the text

Other Useful Commands

• Ctrl+G - Display the Nano help menu
• Ctrl+_ - Go to a specific line and column number
• Ctrl+Y - Scroll up one line at a time
• Ctrl+V - Scroll down one page at a time