GNU Nano 8.1 has been released following close on the recent release of version 8.0. GNU Nano is a command line text editor for Unix and Linux that aims to be simple and easy to use.

Nano was originally named Tip and was a free replacement for the Pico text editor, part of the Pine email suite that at the time was the most widely used email package on Unix. Nano is popular as an alternative to Vi and Emacs, and while few developers use it as their major editor, it offers a small, resource friendly editor for tasks such as editing batch files.

Nano 8 already modernized many of Nano's traditional keyboard shortcuts, in addition to other improvements. The new key bindings were redefined to streamline common tasks and make navigation more intuitive. The most obvious examples of this were the addition of ^F for searching forwards, and ^B for searching backwards. The previous options

The developers assure those accustomed to the previous bindings that they can easily revert to the old settings by consulting the updated documentation.

A significant addition is the --modernbindings (-/) command-line option, which modifies several key bindings to align with more commonly used shortcuts in other software. This includes "^Q" for quit, "^X" for cut, "^C" for copy, and "^V" for paste. Other tasks like undo "^Z," redo "^Y," and opening files "^O" are also covered under this new setup.

Further enhancing its usability, Nano 8.0 now supports opening files directly at a specified line number through the syntax nano filename:number, in addition to the existing method.

Additional improvements include new shortcuts for easier text marking and navigation within the text. The "Alt+Home" and "Alt+End" keys have been programmed to jump to the file's first and last visible row, respectively, while preserving the horizontal cursor position.

Nano 8.1 is available for download now. 

More Information

Nano website

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