NANORC(5)                 OpenBSD Programmer's Manual                NANORC(5)



NAME
       nanorc - GNU nano's rcfile

DESCRIPTION
       This manual page briefly documents GNU nano'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's look and feel, nano also implements some missing
       (or disabled by default) features in Pico, such as "search and replace"
       and "go to line and column number".

       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 /etc/nanorc, and then user-specific settings
       from ~/.nanorc.


OPTIONS
       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'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'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, ""')>]}" will match ",
       ', ), >, ], 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'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 ""')>]}".

       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 -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 "(<[{)>]}".

       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't convert files from DOS/Mac format.

       set/unset nofollow
          Don't follow symlinks when writing files.

       set/unset nohelp
          Don't display the help lists at the bottom of the screen.

       set/unset nonewlines
          Don't add newlines to the ends of files.

       set/unset nowrap
          Don'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 diractory.  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 "!.?".

       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
          "^([ \t]*[#:>\|}])+" if you have extended regular expression
          support, or "> " otherwise.  Note that '\t' 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't, as mouse
          support won't work properly with this option enabled.

       set/unset regexp
          Do extended regular expression searches by default.

       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'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 ["fileregex" ... ]
          Defines a syntax named str which can be activated via the
          -Y/--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't
          match any other syntax's fileregex.

       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 "bright" 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="sr" end="er"
          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="sr" end="er"
          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.

KEY BINDINGS
       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:

       ^      followed by an alpha character or the word "Space".  Example: ^C

       M-     followed by a printable character or the word "Space".  Example:
              M-C

       F      followed by a numeric value from 1 to 16.  Example: F10

       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 Move up in the editor or browser.

       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
          "suspendenable" 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, 'prepend' (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 'separates' the 'title'
          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 'search to replace' menu.

       replacewith
          The 'replace with' menu, which comes up after 'search to replace'.

       gotoline
          The 'goto line (and column)' menu.

       writeout
          The 'write file' menu.

       insert
          The 'insert file' 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 'search for a file' menu in the file browser.

       gotodir
          The 'go to directory' 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:

FILES
       /etc/nanorc
              System-wide configuration file

       ~/.nanorc
              Per-user configuration file

SEE ALSO
       nano(1)
       /usr/local/share/examples/nano/nanorc.sample
AUTHOR
       Chris Allegretta <chrisa@asty.org>, et al (see AUTHORS and THANKS for
       details).  This manual page was originally written by Jordi Mallach
       <jordi@gnu.org>, for the Debian system (but may be used by others).



August 23, 2007                  version 2.0.0                       NANORC(5)
