Editing Files With Nano

Nano is a simple text editing application that runs in the terminal. It is commonly installed in most Linux distributions. Nano is one of the easiest ways to quickly make changes to text files.

Learning Objectives

You should be able to:

• Launch nano
• Edit a new file with nano
• Edit an existing file with nano
• Save nano files
• Exit nano
• Use the cat command to print the contents of files

Video Walkthrough

Use this video to follow along with the steps in this lab.

Prerequisites

This lab requires a Linux virtual machine. You should already know:

• How to navigate directories using cd
• How to check your current working directory with pwd
• How to create files with touch

Editing Existing Files with Nano

• Open a terminal window. Navigate to your home directory with the following command.

cd ~

• Make a directory called poetry and change working directories to the new directory.

mkdir poetry
cd poetry

• Create a text file called haiku.txt with the touch command.

touch haiku.txt

• Launch the nano editor with haiku.txt ready for editing using the following command.

nano haiku.txt

• Nano will take over the entire terminal window until you exit.
• Note the various interface elements.

• Just start typing to add text. This might seem obvious, but other Linux text editors are less intuitive.
• Write a haiku. As a reminder, a haiku has 3 lines. The first line has 5 syllables, the second line has 7 syllables, and the last line has 5 syllables. Your worth as a human being depends heavily on the quality of the haiku that you write in this exercise. Below is a sample.

• Note that the asterisk next to haiku.txt now appears. The asterisk indicates that the file has unsaved changes.
• Having a "save" command option would be too obvious, so the makers of nano decided to call this feature "write out."

• The write out command is used by pressing the control key and "o" at the same time.
• Nano will give you a chance to save the file as a new name. Here, simply press the enter key to accept the suggested name.

• Nano should indicate that the write was written (i.e., saved). The asterisk next to the file name will disappear indicating that there are no unsaved changes.
• Press control + "x" to exit nano. Nano will close and you will be back in the normal terminal interface.

Editing New Named Files with Nano

Once you know how to edit existing files with nano, creating and editing new files is not rocket surgery. Next, you will create a file that has no file extension. In the Linux world, file extensions are not required. Many Linux system files have file names without extensions.

• Run the following command to start editing a new file called limerick (with no file extension).

nano limerick

• Note that the proposed file name is in the header. This file does not exist, yet. Again, the asterisk indicates unsaved changes.
• Use control+o to save the file.
• Accept the file name--it will be the same name you entered in the terminal after the nano command.
• Use contrl+x to exit.
• Run ls to show the files. The files haiku.txt and limerick should exist.

Editing New Unnamed Files with Nano

You can launch nano and start editing files before you know the file name.

• Run the following command from the terminal.

nano

• Nano will launch and you can start typing text.
• Write an acrostic. In an acrostic, the first letter of each line forms a secret message. Below is an example.

• Notice that where the file name would be we see "New Buffer."
• Press control+o to save the file. Name the file acrostic.txt. Notice that once saved, "New Buffer" will be replaced with acrostic.txt.
• Press control+x to exit.

Use Cat to Print File Contents

The cat command can be used to display file contents in the terminal.

• Run the following commands to display the poems.

cat haiku.txt

• Run the following command to print the limerick.

cat limerick

Notice that cat does not care about the file extension.

Practice

• Create a new file for a poem.
• Add text to the file with nano.
• Save the file and exit nano.
• Display the contents of the file with the cat command.
• Create a new directory called "poems."
• Move all of your poems into the poems directory.
• List the files in the poems directory.

Reflection

• How does nano compare to other text editors you have used.
• In what ways are plain text files better or worse than Word documents?
• How much better would Bill Shakespeare's work have been if he had access to nano?

Key Terms

• Text File: A file that contains plain text without any special formatting or binary data. Text files are typically used for storing readable content such as code, configuration settings, and documentation. They can be created and edited using simple text editors and are often saved with extensions like .txt, .md, or .log.
• nano: A simple, user-friendly text editor for Unix-like operating systems. It operates in the terminal and provides basic text editing capabilities, making it easy to create and modify text files. Nano is known for its ease of use, with on-screen prompts and keyboard shortcuts for common actions.