from small one page howto to huge articles all in one place

search text in:




Other .linuxhowtos.org sites: www.linuxhowtos.org
toolsntoys.linuxhowtos.org



Last additions:
How to make X listen on port 6000

How to make X listen on port 6000

words:

34

views:

85473

userrating:

average rating: 1.2 (52 votes) (1=very good 6=terrible)


May, 25th 2007:
April, 26th 2007:
Apr, 10th. 2007:
Druckversion . pdf icon
You are here: Tutorials per portage category->app-editors->nano

Configuring the nano text editor


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 "goto line number".

Lets go ahead and configure it.

($:~)=> nano -w ~/.nanorc
# Use auto-indentation  
set autoindent

# Backup files to filename~
set backup

# Use cut to end of line with ^K by default
set cut

# Enable ~/.nano_history for saving and reading search/replace strings.
# set historylog

# Don't convert files from DOS/Mac format
set noconvert

# Don't follow symlinks when writing files
# set nofollow

# Don't display the help lists at the bottom of the screen
# set nohelp

# Don't wrap text at all
set nowrap

# Use smooth scrolling as the default
set smooth

# Use this spelling checker instead of the internal one. This option
# does not properly have a default value.
set speller "aspell -c"

# Allow nano to be suspended with ^Z
# set suspend

# Use this tab size instead of the default; it must be greater than 0
# set tabsize 8

# Save automatically on exit, don't prompt
# set tempfile

# Enable ~/.nano_history for saving and reading search/replace strings.
# set historylog

# Disallow file modification, why would you want this in an rc file? ;)
# set view

#Color Syntax Highlighting
syntax "c-file" "\.(c|h)$"
color red "\<[A-Z_]{2,}\>"
color green "\<(float|char|int|void|static|const|struct)\>"
color brightyellow "\<(if|while|do|else|case|switch)\>"
color brightcyan "^#( )*(define|include|ifn?def|endif|elif|else|if)"
color brightyellow "<[^= ]*>" ""(.|[^"])*""
color brightyellow start=""(\\.|[^\"])*\\( | )*$" end="^(\\.|[^\"])*""
color brightblue "//.*"
color brightblue start="/\*" end="\*/"

syntax "HTML" "\.html$"
color blue start="<" end=">"
color red "&[^; ]*;"

syntax "TeX" "\.tex$"
color green "\\.|\\[A-Za-z]*"
color magenta "[{}]"
color blue "%.*"

syntax "mutt"
color green "^>.*"

syntax "php" ".*/*.php$"
color brightwhite "\{|\}|\."
color red "('[^']*')"
color red "\"[^\"]*\""
color brightblue "(\$([[:alpha:]_]|->)*)"
color brightgreen "((\$(([[:alpha:]_0-9])+\->)+)[[:alpha:]_0-9]+\()"
color yellow " (if|else if|else|return|case|break)"
color yellow "\|\||\?|!|\||&&|=|;|\(|\)"
color red "false|true"
color brightwhite "[[:space:]]+debug|[[:space:]]+echo|\$this\->debug"
color cyan "//.*"
color cyan start="/\*" end="\*/"

syntax "groff" "\.ms$" "\.mm$" "\.me$" "\.tmac$" "^tmac." ".rof"
color cyan "^\.ds [^ ]*"
color cyan "^\.nr [^ ]*"
color brightmagenta "\\."
color brightmagenta "\\f."
color brightmagenta "\\f\(.."
color brightmagenta "\\s(\+|\-)?[0-9]"
color cyan "(\\|\\\\)n."
color cyan "(\\|\\\\)n\(.."
color cyan start="(\\|\\\\)n\[" end="]"
color brightgreen "^\. *[^ ]*"
color yellow "^\.\\\".*$"
color green "(\\|\\\\)\*."
color green "(\\|\\\\)\*\(.."
color green start="(\\|\\\\)\*\[" end="]"
color brightred "\\\(.."
color brightred start="\\\[" end="]"
color brightcyan "\\\\\$[1-9]"

syntax "perl" "\.p[lm]$"
color red "\<(accept|alarm|atan2|bin(d|mode)|c(aller|h(dir|mod|op|own|root)|lose(dir)?|onnect|os|rypt)|d(bm(close|open)|efined|elete|ie|o
|ump)|e(ach|of|val|x(ec|ists|it|p))|f(cntl|ileno|lock|ork)|get(c|login|peername|pgrp|ppid|priority|pwnam|(host|net|proto|serv)byname|pwuid
|grgid|(host|net)byaddr|protobynumber|servbyport)|([gs]et|end)(pw|gr|host|net|proto|serv)ent|getsock(name|opt)|gmtime|goto|grep|hex|index|
int|ioctl|join|keys|kill|last|length|link|listen|local(time)?|log|lstat|m|mkdir|msg(ctl|get|snd|rcv)|next|oct|open(dir)?|ord|pack|pipe|pop
|printf?|push|q|qq|qx|rand|re(ad(dir|link)?|cv|do|name|quire|set|turn|verse|winddir)|rindex|rmdir|s|scalar|seek|seekdir|se(lect|mctl|mget|
mop|nd|tpgrp|tpriority|tsockopt)|shift|shm(ctl|get|read|write)|shutdown|sin|sleep|socket(pair)?|sort|spli(ce|t)|sprintf|sqrt|srand|stat|st
udy|substr|symlink|sys(call|read|tem|write)|tell(dir)?|time|tr|y|truncate|umask|un(def|link|pack|shift)|utime|values|vec|wait(pid)?|wantarray|warn|write)\>"
color magenta "\<(continue|else|elsif|do|for|foreach|if|unless|until|while|eq|ne|lt|gt|le|ge|cmp|x|my|sub|use|package|can|isa)\>"
color cyan start="[$@%]" end="( |\\W|-)"
color yellow "".*"|qq\|.*\|"
color white "[sm]/.*/"
color white start="(^use| = new)" end=";"
color green "#.*"
color yellow start="<< 'STOP'" end="STOP"

syntax "Java source" "\.java$"
color green "\<(boolean|byte|char|double|float|int|long|new|short|this|transient|void)\>"
color red "\<(break|case|catch|continue|default|do|else|finally|for|if|return|switch|throw|try|while)\>"
color cyan "\<(abstract|class|extends|final|implements|import|instanceof|interface|native|package|private|protected|public|static|strictfp|super|synchronized|throws|volatile)\>"
color red ""[^"]*""
color yellow "<(true|false|null)>"
color blue "//.*"
color blue start="/\*" end="\*/"
color brightblue start="/\*\*" end="\*/"
color brightgreen,brightgreen "[ ]+$"

syntax "nanorc" "[\.]*nanorc$"
color white "^ *(set|unset).*$"
color cyan "^ *(set|unset) (autoindent|backup|const|cut|fill|keypad|multibuffer|noconvert|nofollow|nohelp|nowrap|operatingdir|preserve|quotestr|regexp|smooth|speller|suspend|tabsize|tempfile|historylog|view)"
color brightwhite "^ *syntax [^ ]*"
color brightblue "^ *set\>" "^ *unset\>" "^ *syntax\>"
color white "^ *color\>.*"
color yellow "^ *color (bright)?(white|black|red|blue|green|yellow|magenta|cyan)\>"
color magenta "^ *color\>"
color green "^#.*$"

syntax "bash" "\.sh$"
color brightblack "#.*"
color brightyellow "\(" "\)" "\{" "\}"
color red "\<[A-Z_]{2,}\>"
color red "[\$\*\'\`\|\=]"
color brightblue "\[.*\]"
color green "\<-e\>" "\<-d\>" "\<-f\>" "\<-r\>" "\<-g\>" "\<-u\>" "\<-u\>" "\<-w\>" "\<-x\>" "\<-L\>"
color green "\<-eq\>" "\<-ne\>" "\<-gt\>" "\<-lt\>" "\<-ge\>" "\<-le\>" "\<-s\>" "\<-n\>" "\<-z\>"
color blue "\" "\" "\" "\" "\" "\" "\" "\" "\"
color blue "\" "\" "\" "\" "\"
color brightwhite "\.*"


And thats it. You may want to read the /usr/share/doc/nano/nanorc.sample file for any other options you may want or change the color highlighting a bit.
rate this article:
current rating: average rating: 1.4 (58 votes) (1=very good 6=terrible)
Your rating:
Very good (1) Good (2) ok (3) average (4) bad (5) terrible (6)

back



Support us on Content Nation

New Packages

- as rdf newsfeed
- as rss newsfeed
- as Atom newsfeed
2026-06-01
fastapi - 0.136.3
Ebuild name:

dev-python/fastapi-0.136.3

Description

High performance framework, easy to learn, fast to code, ready for produ

Added to portage

2026-06-01

gentoo-kernel-modprep - 7.0.10_p1
Ebuild name:

sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-modprep-7.0.10_p1

Description

Minimal subset of gentoo-kernel-bin for building modules

Added to portage

2026-06-01

gentoolkit - 0.7.4
Ebuild name:

app-portage/gentoolkit-0.7.4

Description

Collection of administration scripts for Gentoo

Added to portage

2026-06-01

glances - 4.5.4
Ebuild name:

sys-process/glances-4.5.4

Description

CLI curses based monitoring tool

Added to portage

2026-06-01

gokrazy-rsync - 0.3.3
Ebuild name:

net-misc/gokrazy-rsync-0.3.3

Description

rsync in Go

Added to portage

2026-06-01

less - 702
Ebuild name:

sys-apps/less-702

Description

Excellent text file viewer

Added to portage

2026-06-01

libsearpc - 3.3.0-r5
Ebuild name:

net-libs/libsearpc-3.3.0-r5

Description

Simple C language RPC framework

Added to portage

2026-06-01

linux-sources - 3-r9
Ebuild name:

virtual/linux-sources-3-r9

Description

Virtual for Linux kernel sources

Added to portage

2026-06-01

modus-themes - 5.1.0
Ebuild name:

app-emacs/modus-themes-5.1.0

Description

Highly accessible themes for GNU Emacs

Added to portage

2026-06-01

modus-themes - 5.2.0
Ebuild name:

app-emacs/modus-themes-5.2.0

Description

Highly accessible themes for GNU Emacs

Added to portage

2026-06-01

portage - 3.0.79-r1
Ebuild name:

sys-apps/portage-3.0.79-r1

Description

The package management and distribution system for Gentoo

Added to portage

2026-06-01

pyaudio - 0.2.14-r1
Ebuild name:

dev-python/pyaudio-0.2.14-r1

Description

Python bindings for PortAudio

Added to portage

2026-06-01

qgis - 4.0.2
Ebuild name:

sci-geosciences/qgis-4.0.2

Description

User friendly Geographic Information System

Added to portage

2026-06-01

seafile - 9.0.18
Ebuild name:

net-misc/seafile-9.0.18

Description

File syncing and sharing software with file encryption and group sharing

Added to portage

2026-06-01

seafile-client - 9.0.18
Ebuild name:

net-misc/seafile-client-9.0.18

Description

Seafile desktop client

Added to portage

2026-06-01

valkey - 0
Ebuild name:

acct-group/valkey-0

Description

Valkey program group

Added to portage

2026-06-01

valkey - 0
Ebuild name:

acct-user/valkey-0

Description

Valkey program user

Added to portage

2026-06-01

valkey - 9.1.0
Ebuild name:

dev-db/valkey-9.1.0

Description

Persistent key-value store, fork of dev-db/redis

Added to portage

2026-06-01

zfs - 2.3.7
Ebuild name:

sys-fs/zfs-2.3.7

Description

Userland utilities for ZFS Linux kernel module

Added to portage

2026-06-01

zfs - 2.4.2
Ebuild name:

sys-fs/zfs-2.4.2

Description

Linux kernel module and userland utilities for ZFS

Added to portage

2026-06-01

zfs-kmod - 2.3.7
Ebuild name:

sys-fs/zfs-kmod-2.3.7

Description

Linux ZFS kernel module for sys-fs/zfs

Added to portage

2026-06-01

2026-05-31
ebuild-mode - 1.83
Ebuild name:

app-xemacs/ebuild-mode-1.83

Description

Emacs modes for editing ebuilds and other Gentoo specific files

Added to portage

2026-05-31

esptool - 5.2.0
Ebuild name:

dev-embedded/esptool-5.2.0

Description

Serial utility for flashing and interacting with Espressif ESP8266 and E

Added to portage

2026-05-31

gcc - 16.1.1_p20260530
Ebuild name:

sys-devel/gcc-16.1.1_p20260530

Description

The GNU Compiler Collection

Added to portage

2026-05-31

getuto - 2.0
Ebuild name:

app-portage/getuto-2.0

Description

Standalone Gentoo gpg trust anchor generation tool for binpkgs

Added to portage

2026-05-31

gnome-shell - 49.7
Ebuild name:

gnome-base/gnome-shell-49.7

Description

Provides core UI functions for the GNOME desktop

Added to portage

2026-05-31

gnome-user-docs - 49.7
Ebuild name:

gnome-extra/gnome-user-docs-49.7

Description

GNOME end user documentation

Added to portage

2026-05-31

grass - 8.5.0-r1
Ebuild name:

sci-geosciences/grass-8.5.0-r1

Description

Free GIS with raster and vector functionality, as well as 3D vizuali

Added to portage

2026-05-31

libadwaita - 1.8.6
Ebuild name:

gui-libs/libadwaita-1.8.6

Description

Building blocks for modern GNOME applications

Added to portage

2026-05-31

libcdada - 0.6.4
Ebuild name:

dev-libs/libcdada-0.6.4

Description

Basic data structures in C

Added to portage

2026-05-31

mit-krb5 - 1.22.2
Ebuild name:

app-crypt/mit-krb5-1.22.2

Description

MIT Kerberos V

Added to portage

2026-05-31

mit-krb5 - 1.22.2-r1
Ebuild name:

app-crypt/mit-krb5-1.22.2-r1

Description

MIT Kerberos V

Added to portage

2026-05-31

mit-krb5 - 1.22.2-r2
Ebuild name:

app-crypt/mit-krb5-1.22.2-r2

Description

MIT Kerberos V

Added to portage

2026-05-31

octave-kernel - 1.0.4
Ebuild name:

dev-python/octave-kernel-1.0.4

Description

Jupyter kernel for octave

Added to portage

2026-05-31

pdf-tools - 1.3.0-r1
Ebuild name:

app-emacs/pdf-tools-1.3.0-r1

Description

Emacs Lisp support library for PDF documents

Added to portage

2026-05-31

pycargoebuild - 0.15.2
Ebuild name:

app-portage/pycargoebuild-0.15.2

Description

A generator for Rust/Cargo ebuilds written in Python

Added to portage

2026-05-31

raspberrypi-utils - 0_p20260527
Ebuild name:

dev-embedded/raspberrypi-utils-0_p20260527

Description

Raspberry Pi userspace utilities

Added to portage

2026-05-31

roundcube - 1.6.16
Ebuild name:

mail-client/roundcube-1.6.16

Description

Browser-based multilingual IMAP client with an application-like user i

Added to portage

2026-05-31

serpent - 1.43
Ebuild name:

dev-python/serpent-1.43

Description

A simple serialization library based on ast.literal_eval

Added to portage

2026-05-31

service-identity - 26.1.0
Ebuild name:

dev-python/service-identity-26.1.0

Description

Service identity verification for pyOpenSSL

Added to portage

2026-05-31

shell-maker - 0.89.2-r1
Ebuild name:

app-emacs/shell-maker-0.89.2-r1

Description

Interaction mode for making comint shells for GNU Emacs

Added to portage

2026-05-31

shell-maker - 0.90.1-r1
Ebuild name:

app-emacs/shell-maker-0.90.1-r1

Description

Interaction mode for making comint shells for GNU Emacs

Added to portage

2026-05-31

shell-maker - 0.91.2-r1
Ebuild name:

app-emacs/shell-maker-0.91.2-r1

Description

Interaction mode for making comint shells for GNU Emacs

Added to portage

2026-05-31

starlette - 1.2.1
Ebuild name:

dev-python/starlette-1.2.1

Description

The little ASGI framework that shines

Added to portage

2026-05-31

typer - 0.26.4
Ebuild name:

dev-python/typer-0.26.4

Description

Build great CLIs. Easy to code. Based on Python type hints

Added to portage

2026-05-31

wine-staging - 11.10
Ebuild name:

app-emulation/wine-staging-11.10

Description

Free implementation of Windows(tm) on Unix, with Wine-Staging patc

Added to portage

2026-05-31

rdf newsfeed | rss newsfeed | Atom newsfeed
Copyright 2004-2025 Sascha Nitsch Unternehmensberatung GmbH
- Copyright and legal notices -
Time to create this page: 65.9 ms