Nano shows available shortcuts at the bottom of the screen. The ^ symbol means Ctrl, so ^X means Ctrl+X. Nano is designed to be simple and beginner-friendly.
[nano](/man/nano) textfile.txt
| Key | Description |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+G | Display help text |
| Ctrl+X | Exit nano (prompts to save if modified) |
Use arrow keys for basic movement, or these shortcuts for faster navigation.
| Key | Description |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+A | Move to beginning of line |
| Ctrl+E | Move to end of line |
| Ctrl+Y | Scroll up one page |
| Ctrl+V | Scroll down one page |
| Ctrl+_ | Go to a specific line (and column) number |
| Ctrl+C | Show current cursor position (line, column) |
Nano prompts for confirmation before overwriting files.
| Key | Description |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+O | Write out (save) the current file |
| Ctrl+R | Read (insert) another file into the current one |
Search is incremental — press the shortcut again to find the next match.
| Key | Description |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+W | Search for text |
| Ctrl+\ | Search and replace |
Cut and paste in nano works on whole lines by default. Use Ctrl+K to cut and Ctrl+U to paste.
| Key | Description |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+K | Cut the current line (or selected text) |
| Ctrl+U | Paste (uncut) the last cut text |
| Ctrl+J | Justify the current paragraph |
| Ctrl+T | Execute a command (or spell check in older versions) |
| Ctrl+D | Delete the character under the cursor |
| Backspace | Delete the character before the cursor |