nanorc.5

.\" Hey, EMACS: -*- nroff -*-
.\" nanorc.5 is Copyright (C) 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 by the Free
.\" Software Foundation, Inc.
.\"
.\" This is free documentation, see the latest version of the GNU
.\" General Public License for copying conditions.  There is NO
.\" warranty.
.\"
.\" $Id$
.TH NANORC 5 "version 1.3.11" "April 5, 2006"
.\" Please adjust this date whenever revising the manpage.
.\"
.SH NAME
nanorc \- GNU nano's rcfile
.SH DESCRIPTION
This manual page documents GNU \fBnano\fP's rcfile.
.PP
\fBnano\fP is a small, free and friendly editor which aims to replace
Pico, the default editor included in the non-free Pine package.  Rather
than just copying Pico's look and feel, \fBnano\fP also implements some
missing (or disabled by default) features in Pico, such as "search and
replace" and "go to line number".
.PP
The \fInanorc\fP file contains the default settings for \fBnano\fP.
During startup, \fBnano\fP will first read its system-wide settings from
\fISYSCONFDIR/nanorc\fP, and then user-specific settings from
\fI~/.nanorc\fP.

.SH OPTIONS
The configuration file accepts a series of \fBset\fP and \fBunset\fP
commands, which can be used to configure nano on startup without using
the command line options.  Additionally, the \fBsyntax\fP, \fBcolor\fP,
and \fBicolor\fP keywords are used to define syntax highlighting rules
for different text patterns.  GNU nano will read one command per line.

Options in rcfiles take precedence over nano's defaults, and command
line options override rcfile settings.

Options are unset by default, except for options that take an argument.

Quotes inside string parameters don't have to be escaped with
backslashes.  The last double quote in the string will be treated as its
end.  For example, for the brackets option, "\fI"')>]}\fP" will match
\fI"\fP, \fI'\fP, \fI)\fP, \fI>\fP, \fI]\fP, and \fI}\fP.

The supported commands and arguments are:

.TP 3
.B set/unset autoindent
Use auto-indentation.
.TP
.B set/unset backup
Create backup files in \fIfilename~\fP.
.TP
.B set backupdir "\fIdirectory\fP"
Set the directory where \fBnano\fP puts unique backup files if file
backups are enabled.
.TP
.B set/unset backwards
Do backwards searches by default.
.TP
.B set brackets "\fIstring\fP"
Set the characters treated as closing brackets.  They cannot contain
blank characters.  Only closing punctuation, optionally followed by
closing brackets, can end sentences.  The default value is
"\fI"')>]}\fP".
.TP
.B set/unset casesensitive
Do case sensitive searches by default.
.TP
.B set/unset const
Constantly display the cursor position in the status bar.
.TP
.B set/unset cut
Use cut to end of line by default.
.TP
.B set fill \fIn\fP
Wrap lines at column number \fIn\fP.  If \fIn\fP is 0 or less, the
maximum line length will be the screen width less \fIn\fP columns.  The
default value is -8.
.TP
.B set/unset historylog
Enable \fI~/.nano_history\fP for saving and reading search/replace
strings.
.TP
.B set matchbrackets "\fIstring\fP"
Set the opening and closing brackets that can be found by bracket
searches.  They cannot contain blank characters.  The former set must
come before the latter set, and both must be in the same order.  The
default value is "\fI(<[{)>]}\fP".
.TP
.B set/unset morespace
Allow use of the blank line below the titlebar as extra editing space.
.TP
.B set/unset mouse
Enable mouse support, so that mouse clicks can be used to set the mark
and run shortcuts.
.TP
.B set/unset multibuffer
Allow inserting files into their own buffers.
.TP
.B set/unset noconvert
Don't convert files from DOS/Mac format.
.TP
.B set/unset nofollow
Don't follow symlinks when writing files.
.TP
.B set/unset nohelp
Don't display the help lists at the bottom of the screen.
.TP
.B set/unset nonewlines
Don't add newlines to the ends of files.
.TP
.B set/unset nowrap
Don't wrap text at all.
.TP
.B set operatingdir "\fIdirectory\fP"
\fBnano\fP will only read and write files inside \fIdirectory\fP and its
subdirectories.  Also, the current directory is changed to here, so
files are inserted from this dir.  By default the operating directory
feature is turned off.
.TP
.B set/unset preserve
Preserve the XON and XOFF keys (^Q and ^S).
.TP
.B set punct "\fIstring\fP"
Set the characters treated as closing punctuation.  They cannot contain
blank characters.  Only closing punctuation, optionally followed by
closing brackets, can end sentences.  The default value is "\fI!.?\fP".
.TP
.B set/unset quickblank
Do quick statusbar blanking.  Statusbar messages will disappear after 1
keystroke instead of 25.
.TP
.B set quotestr "\fIstring\fP"
The email-quote string, used to justify email-quoted paragraphs.  This
is an extended regular expression if your system supports them,
otherwise a literal string.  The default value is
"\fI^([\ \\t]*[#:>\\|}])+\fP" if you have extended regular expression
support, or "\fI>\ \fP" otherwise.  Note that '\\t' stands for a literal
Tab character.
.TP
.B set/unset rebinddelete
Interpret the Delete key differently so that both Backspace and Delete
work properly.  You should only need to use this option if Backspace
acts like Delete on your system.
.TP
.B set/unset rebindkeypad
Interpret the numeric keypad keys so that they all work properly.  You
should only need to use this option if they don't, as mouse support
won't work properly with this option enabled.
.TP
.B set/unset regexp
Do extended regular expression searches by default.
.TP
.B set/unset smarthome
Make the Home key smarter.  When Home is pressed anywhere but at the
very beginning of non-whitespace characters on a line, the cursor will
jump to that beginning (either forwards or backwards).  If the cursor is
already at that position, it will jump to the true beginning of the
line.
.TP
.B set/unset smooth
Use smooth scrolling by default.
.TP
.B set speller \fIspellprog\fP
Use spelling checker \fIspellprog\fP instead of the built-in one, which
calls \fIspell\fP.
.TP
.B set/unset suspend
Allow nano to be suspended.
.TP
.B set tabsize \fIn\fP
Use a tab size of \fIn\fP columns.  The value of \fIn\fP must be greater
than 0.  The default value is 8.  
.TP
.B set/unset tabstospaces
Convert typed tabs to spaces.
.TP
.B set/unset tempfile
Save automatically on exit, don't prompt.
.TP
.B set/unset view
Disallow file modification.
.TP
.B set whitespace "\fIstring\fP"
Set the two characters used to display the first characters of tabs and
spaces.  They must be single-column characters.
.TP
.B set/unset wordbounds
Detect word boundaries more accurately by treating punctuation
characters as part of a word.
.TP
.B syntax "\fIstr\fP" ["\fIfileregex\fP" ... ]
Defines a syntax named \fIstr\fP which can be activated via the \fB-Y\fP
flag, or will be automatically activated if the current filename matches
the extended regular expression \fIfileregex\fP.  All following
\fBcolor\fP and \fBicolor\fP statements will apply to \fIsyntax\fP until
a new syntax is defined.

The \fInone\fP syntax is reserved; specifying it on the command line is
the same as not having a syntax at all.  The \fIdefault\fP syntax is
special: it takes no \fIfileregex\fP, and applies to files that don't
match any other syntax's \fIfileregex\fP.
.TP
.B color \fIfgcolor\fP,\fIbgcolor\fP "\fIregex\fP" ...
For the currently defined syntax, display all expressions matching
the extended regular expression \fIregex\fP with foreground color
\fIfgcolor\fP and background color \fIbgcolor\fP, at least one of which
must be specified.  Legal colors for foreground and background color
are: white, black, red, blue, green, yellow, magenta, and cyan.  You may
use the prefix "bright" to force a stronger color highlight for the
foreground.  If your terminal supports transparency, not specifying a
\fIbgcolor\fP tells \fBnano\fP to attempt to use a transparent
background.
.TP
.B icolor \fIfgcolor\fP,\fIbgcolor\fP "\fIregex\fP" ...
Same as above, except that the expression matching is case insensitive.
.TP
.B color \fIfgcolor\fP,\fIbgcolor\fP start="\fIsr\fP" end="\fIer\fP"
Display expressions which start with the extended regular expression
\fIsr\fP and end with the extended regular expression \fIer\fP with
foreground color \fIfgcolor\fP and background color \fIbgcolor\fP,
at least one of which must be specified.  This allows syntax
highlighting to span multiple lines.  Note that all subsequent instances
of \fIsr\fP after an initial \fIsr\fP is found will be highlighted until
the first instance of \fIer\fP.
.TP
.B icolor \fIfgcolor\fP,\fIbgcolor\fP start="\fIsr\fP" end="\fIer\fP"
Same as above, except that the expression matching is case insensitive.

.SH FILES
.TP
.I SYSCONFDIR/nanorc
System-wide configuration file
.TP
.I ~/.nanorc
Per-user configuration file
.SH SEE ALSO
.PD 0
.TP
\fBnano\fP(1)
.PP
\fI/usr/share/doc/nano/examples/nanorc.sample\fP (or equivalent on your
system)
.SH AUTHOR
Chris Allegretta <chrisa@asty.org>, et al (see \fIAUTHORS\fP and
\fITHANKS\fP for details).  This manual page was written by Jordi
Mallach <jordi@gnu.org>.