A look at the useful Nano text editor for Linux

Welcome back to another tutorial from our Alpine Linux explorations tutorial series.

This time we are going to take a look at the useful Nano text editor for Linux.

Nano is a cross-platform text editor designed to run on various operating systems. It is primarily targeted at Unix-like systems, but it can also be used on other platforms.?

It is widely available on Linux distributions and is often included as a default text editor. It can be used on popular distributions like Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, CentOS, and others.

Nano is supported on BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution) variants, including FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD. It can be installed through the package management systems provided by these operating systems.

It can also run on other Unix-like systems, including Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, and others. It is often available through the package management system specific to each operating system.

While Nano is primarily designed for Unix-like systems, it is also possible to use Nano on Windows systems with the help of Cygwin, MSYS, or WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux). These environments provide a Unix-like environment on Windows, allowing the installation and usage of Nano.

Let us begin:

1. Once our Alpine Linux virtual machine execution environment has fully booted we are ready to begin the process – system ready.

2. We need to open the Linux Terminal.

3. We need to switch to the root user to run the necessary commands.

4. To launch the Nano text editor we run the command 'nano'.

5. The main Nano text editor interface.

6. The main help section.

7. The main help section.

8. The main help section.

9. The main help section.

10. We can open the main help section using the key combination 'Ctrl + G'.

11. We can save the text contents using the key combination 'Ctrl + O' (save file).

12. The function Cut is self-explanatory, we use the key combination 'Ctrl + K'.

13. We can search the text contents for a particular string using the key combination 'Ctrl + W' (Find in file).

14. The function Location will display the location of the cursor within the text, we can use it with the key combination 'Ctrl + C'.

15. The function Undo is self-explanatory, we can use it with the key combination 'Alt + U'.

16. The function Set Mark allows us to mark the text from our current position. We use the key combination 'Alt + A'.

17. The function Read File allows us to insert the text from another file, we use the key combination 'Ctrl + R'.

18. The function replace allows us to replace text within our file, we use the key combination 'Ctrl + \'.

19. The function Paste is self-explanatory, we use the key combination 'Ctrl + U'.

20. The function Justify is used on the text to add space, we use the key combination 'Ctrl + J'.

21. The function Go to Line is used to jump to a particular line, we use the key combination 'Ctrl + /'.

22. The function Redo is the opposite of Undo, we use the key combination 'Alt + E'.

23. The function Copy is self-explanatory, we use the key combination 'Alt + 6'.

24. Editing text with the Nano text editor for Linux.

25. Now we can save the text file using the key combination 'Ctrl + O'.

26. We can exit the Nano text editor using the key combination 'Ctrl + X', here we can see the text file we created within Nano.

27. We mainly use Nano to edit the configuration files.

28. Here we can change the contents of the package manager configuration file.

29. Now we can safely shut down our Alpine Linux system by executing the command 'poweroff'.

Well, that was most enjoyable. See you in the next tutorial! #linux