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JD Isaacks
Asked: 2011-06-08 09:48:53 +0800 CST

Any way to search for text within nano?

  • 772

Nano is the editor I use in command prompts.

When I open a large file I would like to search for some text (think Ctrl + F).

Is there a way to do this?

search

4 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Ctrl + W is the shortcut for searching. The same effect can be achieved by pressing the F6 key. After entering the search term, press Enter. To repeat the search, issue Alt + W, and to search the previous occurrence, press Alt + Q. In this menu, you can select earlier searches using the arrow up/ down keys.

    To toggle backwards searching, you need to press Alt + B in the search dialog.

    For more shortcuts, press F1

    • 380

  2. CTRL+W and find your text in nano

    Nano Basics Guide

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  3. ^W (F6) Search for a string or a regular expression

    1. Not in all system work F1 for help page. Try ^G.
    2. Not in all system nano has help page

    Yep, it's just help page below. For those who see this message [ Sorry, support for this function has been disabled ] instead of nano help page

    ^G (F1) Display this help text

    ^X (F2) Close the current file buffer / Exit from nano

    ^O (F3) Write the current file to disk

    ^J (F4) Justify the current paragraph

    ^R (F5) Insert another file into the current one

    ^W (F6) Search for a string or a regular expression

    ^Y (F7) Go to previous screen

    ^V (F8) Go to next screen

    ^K (F9) Cut the current line and store it in the cutbuffer

    ^U (F10) Uncut from the cutbuffer into the current line

    ^C (F11) Display the position of the cursor

    ^T (F12) Invoke the spell checker, if available

    M-\ (M-|) Go to the first line of the file

    M-/ (M-?) Go to the last line of the file

    ^_ (F13) (M-G) Go to line and column number

    ^\ (F14) (M-R) Replace a string or a regular expression

    ^^ (F15) (M-A) Mark text at the cursor position

    M-W (F16) Repeat last search

    M-^ (M-6) Copy the current line and store it in the cutbuffer

    M-} Indent the current line

    M-{ Unindent the current line

    ^F Go forward one character

    ^B Go back one character

    ^Space Go forward one word

    M-Space Go back one word

    ^P Go to previous line

    ^N Go to next line

    ^A Go to beginning of current line

    ^E Go to end of current line

    M-( (M-9) Go to beginning of paragraph; then of previous paragraph

    M-) (M-0) Go just beyond end of paragraph; then of next paragraph

    M-] Go to the matching bracket

    M-- (M-_) Scroll up one line without scrolling the cursor

    M-+ (M-=) Scroll down one line without scrolling the cursor

    M-< (M-,) Switch to the previous file buffer

    M-> (M-.) Switch to the next file buffer

    M-V Insert the next keystroke verbatim

    ^I Insert a tab at the cursor position

    ^M Insert a newline at the cursor position

    ^D Delete the character under the cursor

    ^H Delete the character to the left of the cursor

    M-T Cut from the cursor position to the end of the file

    M-J Justify the entire file

    M-D Count the number of words, lines, and characters

    ^L Refresh (redraw) the current screen

    ^Z Suspend the editor (if suspend is enabled)

    (M-X) Help mode enable/disable

    (M-C) Constant cursor position display enable/disable

    (M-O) Use of one more line for editing enable/disable

    (M-S) Smooth scrolling enable/disable

    (M-P) Whitespace display enable/disable

    (M-Y) Color syntax highlighting enable/disable

    (M-H) Smart home key enable/disable

    (M-I) Auto indent enable/disable

    (M-K) Cut to end enable/disable

    (M-L) Long line wrapping enable/disable

    (M-Q) Conversion of typed tabs to spaces enable/disable

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  4. You can search for text in nano using Ctrl W.

    Alt W (or Esc, W) will repeat the find. (Alternatively, leaving the box blank will default to the last text searched for.)

    Pressing Ctrl R while in the Find prompt will activate Replace mode.

    As of nano 2.8.2 (May 2017), searching also works in nano's Ctrl G help screen.

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