Install and Use Nano Editor on Ubuntu 20.04

Because of their widespread availability and simplicity of use, certain editors in the Linux distribution are more popular than others. VI, VIM, and Nano are some of the editors in this field.

Nano Editor's ability to edit and deal with files is one of the reasons it is so popular with other editors. As a result, after opening it in the Linux terminal, it provides you with a visual mode for text editing, which almost gives the illusion that you are working with a graphic user interface (GUI), making the process easier and faster.

Here at LinuxAPT, we shall look into the installation procedure of Nano Editor on your Ubuntu system.

With the Ctrl+G shortcut, you can see further features of the Nano Editor.

How to install Nano Editor on Ubuntu 20.04 ?

1. Update Your System

Update your packages with the following command:

$ sudo apt update

2. Install the Nano Editor

You can install the Nano Editor on Ubuntu via the following command:

$ sudo apt-get install nano

How to use Use Nano Editor ?

1. Open a New File

You can simply open a new file by typing nano in your terminal:

$ nano

You will see the GNU nano window as the output.

Here, You can see a lot of shortcuts for ease of use.

2. Save a New File

Once you have put the content into the new file, press Ctrl+O to save the changes and type Y to save the file.

Next, you will be prompted to name to the file you just created. Type the name and hit Enter.

3. Open an Existing File

To open an existing file, just append the name of a file to the nano command:

$ nano <filename>

4. Select a Text

You can select text by going to a specific position in the text and pressing Alt+6. You can then select text line by line using the up and down keys.

5. Cut and Paste a Text

You have to select the text you want to cut and then use the Ctrl+K shortcut to cut the text.

Now go to the position in the text you want to paste the cut / copied text to and use Ctrl+U to paste the text.

6. Search a Text

You can search for a certain word or phrase in the text by pressing Ctrl+W and typing the word you want to search for.

You will see the keyword in the text along with the notification.

7. Replace a Text

Once you have searched for the Nano Editor, you can replace that certain keyword using the Ctrl+R shortcut.

And type the replacement word and hit Enter.

8. Find the Cursor Position in a Text

Simply use Ctrl+C to know where your cursor is positioned.

You can see the exact position of the cursor.

9. Justify a Text

You can justify text in the Nano Editor using Ctrl+J.

10. Spell Check a Text

You can spell-check your text with the Nano Editor, but before that, you will need to install the spell package:

$ sudo apt install spell

Now, just press Ctrl+T to spell check your text.

Correct your errors one by one until you are done.

How to Uninstall the Nano Editor from your Ubuntu 20.04 Linux system ?

You can remove the Nano Editor from your system using the following command:

$ sudo apt-get remove nano

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