nano: Invoking
2 Invoking
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The usual way to invoke ‘nano’ is:
nano [FILE]
But it is also possible to specify one or more options (⇒
Command-line Options), and to edit several files in a row.
Additionally, the cursor can be put on a specific line of a file by
adding the line number with a plus sign before the filename, and even in
a specific column by adding it with a comma. (Negative numbers count
from the end of the file or line.) The cursor can also be put on the
first or last occurrence of a specific string by specifying that string
after ‘+/’ or ‘+?’ before the filename. The string can be made case
sensitive and/or caused to be interpreted as a regular expression by
inserting a ‘c’ and/or ‘r’ after the plus sign. These search modes can
be explicitly disabled by using the uppercase variant of those letters:
‘C’ and/or ‘R’. When the string contains spaces, it needs to be
enclosed in quotes. A more complete command synopsis thus is:
nano [OPTION]... [[+LINE[,COLUMN]|+[crCR](/|?)STRING] FILE]...
Normally, however, you set your preferred options in a ‘nanorc’ file
(⇒Nanorc Files). And when using ‘set positionlog’ (making ‘nano’
remember the cursor position when you close a file), you will rarely
need to specify a line number.
As a special case: when instead of a filename a dash is given, ‘nano’
will read data from standard input. This means you can pipe the output
of a command straight into a buffer, and then edit it.
Info Catalog
nano: Introduction
nano: Top
nano: Editor Basics