{"id":714,"date":"2019-11-21T04:47:35","date_gmt":"2019-11-21T04:47:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.hostinger.io\/hostinger-tutorials\/uncategorized\/how-to-install-and-use-nano-text-editor\/"},"modified":"2024-07-19T07:09:54","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T07:09:54","slug":"how-to-install-and-use-nano-text-editor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/ph\/tutorials\/how-to-install-and-use-nano-text-editor","title":{"rendered":"How to Install and Use Nano Text Editor: A Beginner’s Tutorial"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this tutorial, you will learn how to use and install Nano, a popular text editor of Unix and Linux operating systems. Nano comes with many powerful features and allows you to edit and create various files on your computer or server. So let’s get right to it.<\/p>

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How to Install Nano Text Editor<\/h2>

This process depends on the operating system you are using.  Some, like macOS or Linux distros<\/a>, may already come with the Nano text editor pre-installed.<\/p>

To check, simply use the following command:<\/p>

nano --version<\/pre>
If you see an output that tells you a version number, you can skip this section.<\/p>
Installing Nano on Debian\/Ubuntu<\/h3>
To install Nano text editor on Debian or Ubuntu machines, execute the following command:<\/p>
sudo apt-get install nano<\/pre>
Then, wait for the installation process to finish.<\/p>
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Important!<\/strong> The sudo<\/strong> part is meant for running this command as a root user. This means you may be prompted to enter a password in case you are currently not logged in as a root user.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/p>
Installing Nano on CentOS\/RHEL<\/h3>
We can run this command to install Nano text editor on CentOS or RHEL based platforms:<\/p>
yum install nano<\/pre>
That is it to install Nano. As soon as the setup ends, you can use it immediately.<\/p>
How to Use Nano Text Editor<\/h2>
In this part, you are going to learn how to open and close files. Also, how to search and replace text. Then, we’ll show you some editing tips and other basic commands that you can use in Nano text editor.<\/p>
How to Open and Close the Nano Editor<\/h3>
The main syntax to open Nano and to edit a certain file is:<\/p>
nano filename<\/pre>
Let’s say we want to open a file named demo.txt<\/strong>. The command would look like:<\/p>
nano demo.txt<\/pre>
You can open various file types, like .txt<\/strong>, .php<\/strong>, .html<\/strong>, and so on. Just keep in mind that if you want to open a specific file, you will need to be in the directory where the file is located.<\/p>
However, if you are in another folder, and you want to open a file (demo.txt<\/strong>) in \/path\/to\/directory<\/strong>, you can enter this line instead:<\/p>
nano \/path\/to\/directory\/demo.txt<\/pre>
If you enter a file name and that file is not present in the directory, Nano will create a new file. Meanwhile, if you only execute the nano command without specifying the file name, the Nano text editor will create an empty untitled file and ask for a name when you exit the editor.<\/p>
After running the nano<\/strong> command, a new window will pop up where you can freely edit the file. Below is what the interface of the Nano text editor looks like. Just use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move the cursor around the text.<\/p>
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At the bottom of the window, you can find some shortcuts to use with the Nano editor. The “^” (caret) means that you must press CTRL<\/strong> (Windows) or control<\/strong> (macOS) to use the chosen command. Here are a few examples.<\/p>