Nano editor: Tips and commands!

The nano Editor is a small and popular text editor for Linux and the Raspberry Pi. It is usually included in the Ubuntu and Debian (+ Raspbian) installations and is a replacement for the vi Editor. To open a file with the nano editor, enter this command in the console:

nano my-file.txt

Or, to have super-user rights, type:

sudo nano my-file.txt

Important Nano commands

CTRL + O: Save file

CTRL + X: Close file

STRG + W: Search (or jump in the file)

CTRL + K: Cut current row

CTRL + U: Paste clipboard contents

CTRL + C: Display cursor position (row / column)

Move in a document and go to end:

Use the arrow keys to move the cursor left, right, up and down. When you reach the last line displayed, the screen scrolls one line forward. Especially with longer documents it takes a very long time to jump to a certain line or position, so there are special commands with which you can scroll up or down an entire screen or jump directly to the beginning or end of the file:

CTRL + A: Jump to the beginning of the current line

CTRL + E: Jump to end of line

CTRL + space: Jump one word forward

CTRL + V: Jump down one screen page

CTRL + Y: Jump up one screen page

CTRL + W: Find a text in the document

CTRL + W, then enter CTRL + V: Jump to end of file

CTRL + W, then enter CTRL + Y: Jump to the beginning of the file