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<!-- CreationDate: Thu Jun 30 13:24:40 2005 -->
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<h1 align=center>NANO</h1>
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<a href="#NAME">NAME</a><br>
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<a href="#SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a><br>
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<a href="#DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a><br>
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<a href="#OPTIONS">OPTIONS</a><br>
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<a href="#INITIALIZATION FILE">INITIALIZATION FILE</a><br>
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<a href="#NOTES">NOTES</a><br>
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<a href="#BUGS">BUGS</a><br>
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<a href="#HOMEPAGE">HOMEPAGE</a><br>
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<a href="#SEE ALSO">SEE ALSO</a><br>
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<a href="#AUTHOR">AUTHOR</a><br>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<p>nano − Nano’s ANOther editor, an enhanced
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<a name="SYNOPSIS"></a>
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<i>[+LINE,COLUMN] [options] [file]</i></p>
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<a name="DESCRIPTION"></a>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<p>This manual page documents briefly the <b>nano</b>
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<p><b>nano</b> is a small, free and friendly editor which
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aims to replace Pico, the default editor included in the
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non-free Pine package. Rather than just copying Pico’s
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look and feel, <b>nano</b> also implements some missing (or
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disabled by default) features in Pico, such as "search
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and replace" and "go to line number".</p>
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<a name="OPTIONS"></a>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<p><b>+</b><i>LINE</i><b>,</b><i>COLUMN</i></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<p>Places cursor at line number <i>LINE</i> and column
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number <i>COLUMN</i> on startup, instead of the default of
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="5" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<p><b>−?</b></p>
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<p>Same as <b>-h (−−help)</b>.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−A (−−smarthome)</b></p></td>
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Make the Home key smarter. When Home is pressed anywhere
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but at the very beginning of non-whitespace characters on a
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line, the cursor will jump to that beginning (either
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forwards or backwards). If the cursor is already at that
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position, it will jump to the true beginning of the
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−B (−−backup)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>When saving a file, back up the previous version of it to
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the current filename suffixed with a ~.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−C</b> <i>dir</i>
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<b>(−−backupdir=</b><i>dir</i><b>)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Set the directory where <b>nano</b> puts unique backup
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files if file backups are enabled.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−E (−−tabstospaces)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Convert typed tabs to spaces.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−F (−−multibuffer)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Enable multiple file buffers, if available.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−H (−−historylog)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Log search and replace strings to <i>~/.nano_history</i>
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so they can be stored for later editing, if nanorc support
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−I (−−ignorercfiles)</b></p></td>
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Don’t look at <i>SYSCONFDIR/nanorc</i> or
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<i>~/.nanorc</i>, if nanorc support is available.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−N (−−noconvert)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Disable automatic conversion of files from DOS/Mac
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−O (−−morespace)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Use the blank line below the titlebar as extra editing
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−Q</b> <i>str</i>
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<b>(−−quotestr=</b><i>str</i><b>)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Set the quoting string for justifying. The default is
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"^([ \t]*[|>:}#])+" if regular expression
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support is available, or "> "
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−R (−−restricted)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Restricted mode: Don’t read or write to any file
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not specified on the command line, read any nanorc files,
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allow suspending, or allow a file to be appended to,
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prepended to, or saved under a different name if it already
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has one. Also accessible by invoking <b>nano</b> with any
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name beginning with ’r’ (e.g.
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"rnano").</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−S (−−smooth)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Enable smooth scrolling. Text will scroll line-by-line,
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instead of the usual chunk-by-chunk behavior.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−T</b> <i>cols</i>
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<b>(−−tabsize=</b><i>cols</i><b>)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Set the size (width) of a tab to <i>cols</i> columns. The
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value of <i>cols</i> must be greater than 0. The default
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−U (−−quickblank)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Do quick statusbar blanking. Statusbar messages will
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disappear after 1 keystroke instead of 25. Note that
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<b>-c</b> cancels this out.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−V (−−version)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Show the current version number and author.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−Y</b> <i>str</i>
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<b>(−−syntax=</b><i>str</i><b>)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Specify a specific syntax highlighting from the
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<i>nanorc</i> to use, if available.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−c (−−const)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Constantly show the cursor position. Note that this
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cancels out <b>-U</b>.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−d (−−rebinddelete)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Interpret the Delete key differently so that both
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Backspace and Delete work properly. You should only need to
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use this option if Backspace acts like Delete on your
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−h (−−help)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Display a summary of command line options.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−i (−−autoindent)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Indent new lines to the previous line’s
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indentation. Useful when editing source code.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−k (−−cut)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Enable cut from cursor to end of line.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−l (−−nofollow)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>If the file being edited is a symbolic link, replace the
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link with a new file instead of following it. Good for
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editing files in <i>/tmp</i>, perhaps?</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−m (−−mouse)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Enable mouse support (if available for your system).</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−o</b> <i>dir</i>
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<b>(−−operatingdir=</b><i>dir</i><b>)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Set operating directory. Makes nano set up something
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similar to a chroot.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−p (−−preserve)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Preserve the XON and XOFF sequences (^Q and ^S) so they
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will be caught by the terminal.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−r</b> <i>cols</i>
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<b>(−−fill=</b><i>cols</i><b>)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Wrap lines at column <i>cols</i>. If this value is 0 or
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less, wrapping will occur at the width of the screen less
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<i>cols</i> columns, allowing the wrap point to vary along
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with the width of the screen if the screen is resized. The
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default value is -8.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−s</b> <i>prog</i>
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<b>(−−speller=</b><i>prog</i><b>)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Enable alternative spell checker command.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−t (−−tempfile)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Always save changed buffer without prompting. Same as
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Pico’s <b>-t</b> option.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−v (−−view)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>View file (read only) mode.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−w (−−nowrap)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Disable wrapping of long lines.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−x (−−nohelp)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Disable help screen at bottom of editor.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−z (−−suspend)</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Enable suspend ability.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>−a, −b, −e, −f, −g,
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−j</b></p></td>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="22%"></td>
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<p>Ignored, for compatibility with Pico.</p>
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<a name="INITIALIZATION FILE"></a>
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<h2>INITIALIZATION FILE</h2>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<tr valign="top" align="left">
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<td width="11%"></td>
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<p><b>nano</b> will read initialization files in the
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following order: <i>SYSCONFDIR/nanorc</i>, then
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<i>~/.nanorc</i>. Please see <b>nanorc(5)</b> and the
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example file <b>nanorc.sample</b>, both of which should be
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provided with <b>nano</b>.</p>
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<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
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cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
738
<tr valign="top" align="left">
739
<td width="11%"></td>
741
<p>If no alternative spell checker command is specified on
742
the command line or in one of the nanorc files, <b>nano</b>
743
will check the <b>SPELL</b> environment variable for
746
<p><b>nano</b> will try to dump the buffer into an emergency
747
file in some cases. Mainly, this will happen if <b>nano</b>
748
receives a SIGHUP or SIGTERM or runs out of memory, when it
749
will write the buffer into a file named <i>nano.save</i> if
750
the buffer didn’t have a name already, or will add a
751
".save" suffix to the current filename. If an
752
emergency file with that name already exists in the current
753
directory, ".save" and a number (e.g.
754
".save.1") will be suffixed to the current
755
filename in order to make it unique. In multibuffer mode,
756
<b>nano</b> will write all the open buffers to their
757
respective emergency files.</p>
763
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
764
cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
765
<tr valign="top" align="left">
766
<td width="11%"></td>
768
<p>Please send any comments or bug reports to
769
<b>nano@nano-editor.org</b>.</p>
771
<p>The <b>nano</b> mailing list is available from
772
<b>nano-devel@gnu.org</b>.</p>
774
<p>To subscribe, email to <b>nano-devel-request@gnu.org</b>
775
with a subject of "subscribe".</p>
778
<a name="HOMEPAGE"></a>
781
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
782
cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
783
<tr valign="top" align="left">
784
<td width="11%"></td>
786
<p>http://www.nano-editor.org/</p>
789
<a name="SEE ALSO"></a>
792
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
793
cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
794
<tr valign="top" align="left">
795
<td width="11%"></td>
797
<p><b>nanorc</b>(5)</p></td>
800
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
801
cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
802
<tr valign="top" align="left">
803
<td width="11%"></td>
805
<p><i>/usr/share/doc/nano/</i> (or equivalent on your
809
<a name="AUTHOR"></a>
812
<table width="100%" border=0 rules="none" frame="void"
813
cols="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
814
<tr valign="top" align="left">
815
<td width="11%"></td>
817
<p>Chris Allegretta <chrisa@asty.org>, et al (see
818
<i>AUTHORS</i> and <i>THANKS</i> for details). This manual
819
page was originally written by Jordi Mallach
820
<jordi@sindominio.net>, for the Debian GNU system (but
821
may be used by others).</p>