You can also double-click the Terminal icon in your list of Applications, or by clicking your Dash menu (if you’re using GNOME) and searching for terminal. Nano is a very easy-to-use text editor that comes preinstalled on all Ubuntu-based Linux distributions. [1] X Research source If you don’t have Nano, you can get it by running sudo apt install nano (Ubuntu and Debian) or sudo yum install nano (CentOS and Fedora). If you’ve ever used the Pico text editor, you’ll find that Nano is essentially identical. And unlike Vi and Vim, you don’t have to switch between command and input modes while using it.
To view all folders in the current directory (your home directory), type ls and press Enter. To go to a directory inside of your home directory, type cd directoryname and press Enter (replace directoryname’ with the directory’s name). If you want to create a new directory, run makedir directoryname (replace directoryname with the name you want to give your new directory. Then, use cd directoryname to enter that directory. You CAN create and edit files outside of your home directory, but you’ll need root access to do so.
To view all folders in the current directory (your home directory), type ls and press Enter. To go to a directory inside of your home directory, type cd directoryname and press Enter (replace directoryname’ with the directory’s name). If you want to create a new directory, run makedir directoryname (replace directoryname with the name you want to give your new directory. Then, use cd directoryname to enter that directory. You CAN create and edit files outside of your home directory, but you’ll need root access to do so.
For example, if you want to create a file called “testfile,” type nano testfile and press Enter. It may be helpful to add “. txt” to the end of your filename so you know it’s a text file. If your current directory has a file by the same name, this command will instead open that file.
The commands either start with a carat (^) or an M. The carat represents the Control key, while the M represents the Alt key. [2] X Research source For example, ^U is the command to paste. To paste something you’ve copied, you’d press Control + U. M-U is the command to undo the last action. To undo, you’d press Alt + U. To see all Nano commands, press Control + G.
For example, ^U is the command to paste. To paste something you’ve copied, you’d press Control + U. M-U is the command to undo the last action. To undo, you’d press Alt + U.
For example, ^U is the command to paste. To paste something you’ve copied, you’d press Control + U. M-U is the command to undo the last action. To undo, you’d press Alt + U.
You can use the mouse to highlight text that you want to copy and/or paste. To copy highlighted text, press Alt + 6. Then, use the arrow keys to move to another location in the file and press Control + U to paste. [3] X Research source
Avoid the temptation to press Control + S to save, as that will just freeze your terminal window!
Avoid the temptation to press Control + S to save, as that will just freeze your terminal window!
You can reopen the file you created in Nano by typing nano filename just as you did before.
You can also double-click the Terminal icon in your list of Applications, or by clicking your Dash menu (if you’re using GNOME) and searching for terminal. Vi is one of the oldest and most standardized Unix-based text editors. Vim stands for “Vi iMproved,” which means it’s like Vi but with more features. On most modern versions of Linux, running vi at the prompt will actually launch Vim instead. The basic commands are the same for both editors. Vi has more of a learning curve than Nano, but once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty easy to use.
To view all folders in the current directory (your home directory), type ls and press Enter. To go to a directory inside of your home directory, type cd directoryname and press Enter (replace directoryname’ with the directory’s name). If you want to create a new directory, run makedir directoryname (replace directoryname with the name you want to give your new directory. Then, use cd directoryname to enter that directory. You CAN create and edit files outside of your home directory, but you’ll need root access to do so.
To view all folders in the current directory (your home directory), type ls and press Enter. To go to a directory inside of your home directory, type cd directoryname and press Enter (replace directoryname’ with the directory’s name). If you want to create a new directory, run makedir directoryname (replace directoryname with the name you want to give your new directory. Then, use cd directoryname to enter that directory. You CAN create and edit files outside of your home directory, but you’ll need root access to do so.
For a file named “sample. text”, for example, you’d type vi sample. txt. If your current directory has a file by the same name, this command will instead open that file.
You should see – INSERT – pop up at the bottom of the window when you press the I key.
You should see – INSERT – pop up at the bottom of the window when you press the I key.
You can use the arrow keys to move around the document while you’re in Command mode in both Vi and Vim. Vim also lets you use the arrow keys to move in Insert mode. Return to Insert mode at any time by pressing the i key.
If you created a file without a name (or want to save the current edits to a new file), type :w filename instead, replacing filename with the name you want to give this file. To get help and learn more about Vi/Vim commands, type :help in Command mode and press Enter.
To reopen the file, just type vi filename or vim filename. You can also save and quit at the same time by typing :wq in Command mode.
