nano Editor in Linux: How to Open, Edit, and Save a File

Nano opens from the terminal, and the two rows of caret keys along its bottom are the only manual it ships with. The caret means Ctrl, the M- prefix means Alt, and the rest of what you need stays on screen while you type.

I ran each keystroke here in nano 7.2, the build Ubuntu 24.04 LTS installs, and captured the status lines rather than retyping them. The bindings have shifted between releases, which is the trap when a walkthrough from an older year does not match the editor in front of you.

What nano is, and how its screen is laid out

Every file you open in nano gets the same four regions, and each one answers a question you will ask at least once. Nothing sits behind a menu.

The title line names the version and the file, with a star that appears once the buffer differs from what is on disk.

That bar is sized to your window, so a narrow terminal prints five keys per row and a wide one prints a dozen.

I opened a new buffer to capture that state, so the status line reports an empty file rather than a line count.

Nano is one of several editors that work without leaving the shell, and editing files from the terminal covers the field. If you are weighing it against the alternatives, nano against vim puts the two side by side, and the vim tutorial covers the other one in depth.

Install nano, or find out which version you already have

Nano ships with the base install on nearly every distribution, so the first useful command reports the build instead of changing it.

nano --version

Debian and Ubuntu carry it as the package nano, and installing over an existing copy reports that the newest version is already in place.

sudo apt install nano

The number in that first line decides which keys work. Replace sits on Ctrl+backslash in 7.2 and on Alt+R in the cheatsheet for the current release, and the spell checker moved from F12 to a Ctrl then T sequence.

The keystrokes and status lines in this reference match that build. A rolling distribution or a source build can be a major version ahead, and the version line is the fastest way to find out.

Package names and installers differ across families, and package management on Linux collects the apt, dnf, and pacman forms.

Open a file, change a line, save it, and get back to the shell

The sequence is three keystrokes long, and the one in the middle is a confirmation that new users skip. Passing a filename opens that file, and leaving the filename out starts an empty buffer you can name at the first save.

Open or create the file

nano notes.txt

A line number on the command opens the same file with the cursor already parked there.

nano +3 notes.txt

The title line shows what you opened, which is how you confirm at a glance that the edit is landing in the intended file.

Write the change, then leave

Ctrl+O writes the buffer. Nano answers by asking where to write and prefilling the name you opened with, so the next key is Enter.

Skipping that Enter is where edits are lost. Ctrl+O followed straight by Ctrl+X leaves the buffer unwritten, and the exit prompt asks about saving all over again.

Ctrl+X closes the buffer, and when changes are pending it asks first, so N discards them and returns you to the shell.

Ctrl+S writes with no prompt at all, and the status line reports the line count when the write finishes.

Reading the file back is the plainest confirmation that the write landed, and cat prints it without an editor.

cat notes.txt

The cat and more commands cover the reading side, including the pager for files longer than a screen.

The shortcuts worth memorising, and the bar that lists them

In practice the bar names the keys that fit your window, which is why it reads as noise until the notation is decoded. Control-key sequences carry a caret, and the M- prefix means Alt, or Esc on a keyboard without one.

Press Ctrl+G and nano prints the full keystroke list for the build you are running, including everything the bar had no room for. The keys worth keeping in your head are grouped by job below.

A second cut adds to the cutbuffer instead of replacing what is already there, so the text survives until the next cut or copy.

Alt+U steps back one action and Alt+E steps forward again, which undoes an accidental cut without closing the file.

Search, replace, and jump to a line

Finding text and replacing it use different keys, and both prompts appear on the status line rather than in a window. The search prompt takes a term, and the replacing session takes a term and its replacement.

Find a string

Ctrl+W opens the search prompt, and Enter accepts the term.

I searched the same file for config, and Ctrl+C reported line 3 and column 15. That position line is the fastest way to confirm a match.

Replace one instance or all of them

Ctrl+backslash starts a replacing session: the term, the replacement, then a prompt for each match. Recent releases list Alt+R for the same job.

That prompt takes Y for the current match, N to skip it, and A to replace the rest of the file.

Jump to a line

A line number on the command opens a file at that row, and a search tool finds the number when you do not know it.

grep -n config notes.txt

The number in front of the match is the one nano +3 expects, so the two commands work as a pair.

Make nano behave: line numbers, soft wrap, colors, and the spell checker

The options you toggle by hand live in a configuration file you write once, and the toggles keep working for a single session.

A nanorc with the settings you keep reaching for

Your own file sits at ~/.nanorc, and /etc/nanorc supplies the defaults for every user on the machine. Each line enables one option.

set linenumbers
set softwrap
set tabsize 4
set autoindent
set mouse
set backup

Line numbers, soft wrap, and syntax colors also toggle for the current session on Alt+N, Alt+S, and Alt+Y, so you can try a setting before writing it down.

I ran nano with that file on the command line and the margin appeared on the first row.

A different file can be read instead of your own, which is how a project ships its conventions: nano –rcfile=./my.nanorc notes.txt. The option takes a full path, so that file can live in a repository beside the code it configures.

A spell checker that starts

F12 runs the checker, and nano calls hunspell or spell underneath, which means the key does nothing on a system without either one.

sudo apt install hunspell hunspell-en-us

I installed hunspell and pressed F12 on a line with a misspelled word. Nano highlighted the word and asked for a replacement with a suggestion filled in.

The checker walks the buffer word by word, and every misspelled word gets the same prompt until the pass ends. Cancel the pass with Ctrl+C when you want to stop partway.

Shell configuration follows the same idea, and the bashrc and bash profile files are the place to look when a setting will not stick.

When nano will not save your file

Each failure that costs work announces itself before the text is gone. Opening a root-owned file works because reading is permitted, and the write is where it stops.

A file your account cannot write

The status line reports Error writing locked.txt: Permission denied and the buffer stays open, so nothing you typed is lost yet.

There are two repairs: write the file with elevated rights, as in sudo nano /etc/hosts, or take ownership of it. The chmod and chown commands cover the first, and user and group permissions covers the model behind both.

The editor died with unsaved changes

When nano is killed by a hangup or a termination signal, it writes the buffer beside the original file with .save appended and prints where it went. In a session I ended with SIGTERM, nano reported the dump and left a save file holding the unwritten line.

Open that save file, then move the text back into place. It sits beside the original with .save appended, so nothing typed before the kill is lost.

A shortcut from an older tutorial does nothing

Keys moved between releases, and a walkthrough written for nano 4.8 can describe a bar your build no longer prints. The build in front of you answers for itself, since Ctrl+G lists its keys and the version line names it.

nano --version

Read the bar once, and the next release cannot surprise you

The two rows at the bottom are printed by the build in front of you, so they already account for every rename and every added key in your installation.

The habit is small: read those rows before reaching for a chart, and press Ctrl+G when a key you expected is missing. What the bar cannot carry between sessions is the shortlist of settings you keep toggling, so write that down once.

printf 'set linenumbers\nset softwrap\n' >> ~/.nanorc

Every file then opens with a numbered margin and wrapped lines, and the save key keeps working the way it did on the first file.

Frequently asked questions