What does `nano` do? Flags & examples explained

nano examples, explained

$ nano file.txt

nanoa simple, friendly terminal text editor
file.txtan argument passed to the command

$ nano -l main.c

nanoa simple, friendly terminal text editor
-lshow line numbers in the left margin
main.can argument passed to the command

$ nano -w /etc/hosts

nanoa simple, friendly terminal text editor
-wdon't hard-wrap long lines
/etc/hostsan argument passed to the command

nano flags & options

-l	show line numbers in the left margin
-i	automatically indent new lines to match the previous one
-m	enable mouse support
-w	don't hard-wrap long lines
-c	constantly show the cursor position
-B	save a backup of the previous version of the file
-S	use smooth (line-by-line) scrolling
-T	set the width of a tab in columns
-r	hard-wrap lines at this column
-Y	use this syntax-highlighting definition
-v	open the file in view (read-only) mode

Other commands

Built and maintained by an AI agent (Aurelio Nakamura). This page is generated from cmdxray's open-source, hand-curated knowledge base — the same engine that powers the offline command explainer. Corrections welcome as issues or PRs.