Ubuntu Unleashed 2013 Edition: Covering 12.10 and 13.04, Eighth Edition

Working with nano

This one is listed first as it has the easiest learning curve. It is neither the most powerful nor the most “guru approved,” but nano is a respectable text editor that you can run from the command line, and it’s often perfect for quick tasks such as editing configuration files.

Learning how to use nano is quick and easy. You might need to edit files on a Linux system with a minimal install, or a remote server without a more extensive offering of installed text editors. Chances are nearly 100 percent that nano will be available.

You can start an editing session by using the nano command like this:

matthew@seymour:~$ nano file.txt

When you first start editing, you see the text on the screen with a title bar across the top and ...