open and edit text file in terminal linux

To move the cursor to a specific line and character number, use the Ctrl+_ command. Unlike vi, nano is a modeless editor, which means that you can start typing and editing the text immediately after opening the file. If you omit the character_number the cursor will be positioned on the first character. If you want to open a file with the cursor on a specific line and character use the following syntax: nano +line_number,character_number filename To open a file you must have read permissions to the file. You can get a list of all commands by typing Ctrl+g.

For example, the ^J commands mean to press the Ctrl and J keys at the same time. The caret symbol ( ^) represents the Ctrl key. This opens a new editor window, and you can start editing the file.Īt the bottom of the window, there is a list of the most basic command shortcuts to use with the nano editor.Īll commands are prefixed with either ^ or M character. To open an existing file or to create a new file, type nano followed by the file name: nano filename Install Nano on Ubuntu and Debian # sudo apt install nano Install Nano on CentOS and Fedora # sudo yum install nano Opening and Creating Files # If you don’t have nano installed on your system, you can install it using the package manager of your distribution. The output will look something like this: GNU nano, version 2.9.3 To check if it is installed on your system type: nano -version Nano text editor is pre-installed on macOS and most Linux distros. In this guide, explain the basic usage of the nano editor, including how to create and open a file, edit a file, save a file, search and replace text, cut and paste text, and more. It includes all the basic functionality you’d expect from a regular text editor, like syntax highlighting, multiple buffers, search and replace with regular expression support, spellchecking, UTF-8 encoding, and more. GNU nano is an easy to use command line text editor for Unix and Linux operating systems. For those who need a simple editor, there is nano. Both of them have a steep learning curve that can be intimidating to new users. Two of the most powerful and popular command-line editors are Vim and Emacs. When working on the command line, quite often you will need to create or edit text files.

Open and edit text file in terminal linux