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”.
Opening a file in nano editor :
nano filename
NOTE: ^ stands for Ctrl and M stands for meta (Esc) key.
Example:^X is ctrl+x and M-X is Esc+X
^X (F2) Close the current file buffer / Exit from nano
^O (F3) Write the current file to disk
^J (F4) Justify the current paragraph
^R (F5) Insert another file into the current one
^W (F6) Search for a string or a regular expression
^Y (F7) Go to previous screen
^V (F8) Go to next screen
^K (F9) Cut the current line and store it in the cutbuffer
^U (F10) Uncut from the cutbuffer into the current line
^C (F11) Display the position of the cursor
^T (F12) Invoke the spell checker, if available
M-\ (M-|) Go to the first line of the file
M-/ (M-?) Go to the last line of the file
^_ (M-G) Go to line and column number
^\ (M-R) Replace a string or a regular expression
^^ (M-A) Mark text at the cursor position
M-W Repeat last search
M-^ (M-6) Copy the current line and store it in the cutbuffer
M-} Indent the current line
M-{ Unindent the current line
^F Go forward one character
^B Go back one character
^Space Go forward one word
M-Space Go back one word
^P Go to previous line
^N Go to next line
^A Go to beginning of current line
^E Go to end of current line
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-] Go to the matching bracket
M-- (M-_) Scroll up one line without scrolling the cursor
M-+ (M-=) Scroll down one line without scrolling the cursor
M-< (M-,) Switch to the previous file buffer
M-> (M-.) Switch to the next file buffer
M-V Insert the next keystroke verbatim
^I Insert a tab at the cursor position
^M Insert a newline at the cursor position
^D Delete the character under the cursor
^H Delete the character to the left of the cursor
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
^L Refresh (redraw) the current screen
^Z Suspend the editor (if suspend is enabled)
(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-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) Long line wrapping enable/disable
(M-Q) Conversion of typed tabs to spaces enable/disable
(M-B) Backup files enable/disable
(M-F) Multiple file buffers enable/disable
(M-M) Mouse support enable/disable
(M-N) No conversion from DOS/Mac format enable/disable
(M-Z) Suspension enable/disable
(M-$) Soft line wrapping enable/disable
