In this article we are going to see how we can use Vim.

What is NANO?

Nano is one of the commandline editor pre installed mostly in debian based linux distribution.

installation

  • via apt(debian) sudo apt install -y nano
  • Via yum(CentOS/Fedora)yum install nano

Basic Commands

  • Open a file Syntax nano _fileName_. Example : nano readme.md.
  • Open a file with specific position by line number and column number nano +lineNo,columnNo _filename_.

Basic Commands on file open

  • Exit CTRL+X
  • Get Help CTRL+G
  • Write Out CTRL+O
  • Find letter/word CTRL+W
  • Cut Text CTRL+K
  • Justify CTRL+j
  • Cur Pos CTRL+C
  • Read File CTRL+R
  • Replace text CTRL+\
  • Uncut text CTRL+U
  • TO Liner CTRL+\
  • Go to line No CTRL+_
  • move forward one character: Ctrl+F (^F)
  • move back one character: Ctrl+B (^B)
  • move forward one word: Ctrl+Space (^Space)
  • move back one word: Alt+Space (M-Space)
  • move to the previous line: Ctrl+P (^P)
  • move to the next line: Ctrl+N (^N)
  • move to the next page: Ctrl+V (^V)
  • move to the previous page: Ctrl+Y (^Y)
  • move to the beginning of the line: Ctrl+A (^A)
  • move to the end of the line: Ctrl+E (^E)

All Keyboard shortcuts

After opening nano, if you press CTRL+G, you will get all shortcuts

^G    (F1)      Display this help text
^X    (F2)      Close the current file buffer / Exit from nano
^O    (F3)      Write the current file to disk
^R    (F5)      Insert another file into the current one

^W    (F6)      Search forward for a string or a regular expression
^\    (M-R)     Replace a string or a regular expression
^K    (F9)      Cut the current line and store it in the cutbuffer
^U    (F10)     Uncut from the cutbuffer into the current line

^J    (F4)      Justify the current paragraph
                Invoke the spell checker, if available
^T    (F12)     Invoke the linter, if available
                Invoke formatter, if available

^C    (F11)     Display the position of the cursor
^_    (M-G)     Go to line and column number

M-U             Undo the last operation
M-E             Redo the last undone operation

M-A   (^6)      Mark text starting from the cursor position
M-6   (M-^)     Copy the current line and store it in the cutbuffer

M-]             Go to the matching bracket

M-W   (F16)     Repeat the last search
M-▲             Search next occurrence backward
M-▼             Search next occurrence forward

^B    (◀)       Go back one character
^F    (▶)       Go forward one character
^◀    (M-Space) Go back one word
^▶    (^Space)  Go forward one word
^A    (Home)    Go to beginning of current line
^E    (End)     Go to end of current line

^P    (▲)       Go to previous line
^N    (▼)       Go to next line
M--   (M-_)     Scroll up one line without scrolling the cursor
M-+   (M-=)     Scroll down one line without scrolling the cursor

^▲    (M-7)     Go to previous block of text
^▼    (M-8)     Go to next block of text
M-(   (M-9)     Go to beginning of paragraph; then of previous paragraph
M-)   (M-0)     Go just beyond end of paragraph; then of next paragraph

M-◀   (M-<)     Switch to the previous file buffer
M-▶   (M->)     Switch to the next file buffer

^I    (Tab)     Insert a tab at the cursor position
^M    (Enter)   Insert a newline at the cursor position

^D    (Del)     Delete the character under the cursor
^H    (Bsp)     Delete the character to the left of the cursor
                Cut backward from cursor to word start
                Cut forward from cursor to next word start
M-T             Cut from the cursor position to the end of the file

M-J             Justify the entire file
M-D             Count the number of words, lines, and characters
M-V             Insert the next keystroke verbatim

^L              Refresh (redraw) the current screen
^Z              Suspend the editor (if suspension is enabled)

M-}   (Tab)     Indent the current line (or marked lines)
M-{   (Sh-Tab)  Unindent the current line (or marked lines)

M-3             Comment/uncomment the current line (or marked lines)
^]              Try and complete the current word

M-:             Start/stop recording a macro
M-;             Run the last recorded macro

^Q              Search backward for a string or a regular expression

^S              Save file without prompting

M-X             Help mode enable/disable
M-C             Constant cursor position display enable/disable
M-O             Use of one more line for editing enable/disable
M-S             Smooth scrolling enable/disable
M-$             Soft wrapping of overlong lines enable/disable
M-#             Line numbering enable/disable
M-P             Whitespace display enable/disable
M-Y             Color syntax highlighting enable/disable

M-H             Smart home key enable/disable
M-I             Auto indent enable/disable
M-K             Cut to end enable/disable
M-L             Hard wrapping of overlong lines enable/disable
M-Q             Conversion of typed tabs to spaces enable/disable

M-B             Backup files enable/disable
M-F             Reading file into separate buffer enable/disable
M-M             Mouse support enable/disable
M-N             No conversion from DOS/Mac format enable/disable
M-Z             Suspension enable/disable