Nano Editor in Linux: Save, Exit, Delete Lines and Shortcuts

Updated: 4 November 2026 · Applies to: GNU nano 5.6.1 to 8.7.1; tested on Debian 13 (nano 8.4), Ubuntu 24.04 (7.2) and 26.04 (8.7.1), AlmaLinux 9 (5.6.1) and 10 (8.1), Fedora 44 (8.7.1)

Nano is a small, easy text editor that runs in the terminal, so you can edit files on a server over SSH. To delete a line in nano, put the cursor on it and press Ctrl+K (the line goes to the cut buffer, so Ctrl+U brings it back). Save with Ctrl+O and Enter (or Ctrl+S), and exit with Ctrl+X.

Install and open nano

Nano is the default editor on Debian and Ubuntu. Minimal images and containers often leave it out (our Debian 13 and AlmaLinux 9 test images had no nano), so install it if the command is missing:

sudo apt install nano        # Debian, Ubuntu
sudo dnf install nano        # AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, RHEL, Fedora

nano file.txt                # open, or create if it does not exist
nano +25 file.txt            # open with the cursor on line 25
nano -l file.txt             # show line numbers
sudo nano /etc/hosts         # system files need root

The two bottom lines list the most used shortcuts. ^ means Ctrl and M- means Alt. According to nano’s built-in help, an M- key can also be typed with Esc (press Esc, then the letter), which helps on a Mac or in a browser console where Alt does not reach the server.

Save and exit

• Ctrl+O: write the file. Nano shows the file name (“File Name to Write:” in 7.2, “Write to File:” in 8.7.1); press Enter to keep it.
• Ctrl+S: save without the prompt.
• Ctrl+X: exit. With unsaved changes nano asks “Save modified buffer?”: Y saves (then Enter), N discards, Ctrl+C goes back to editing.
• Ctrl+G: the full help, including keys not shown at the bottom.

How to delete lines in nano

1. One line: move to the line and press Ctrl+K.
2. Several lines in a row: press Ctrl+K once per line. Lines cut one after another are kept together, so a single Ctrl+U pastes them all back.
3. A block: press Alt+A to set the mark at the start, move with the arrow keys to select, then Ctrl+K.
4. Delete without keeping a copy: Alt+Delete throws away the current line (or the marked text) and leaves the cut buffer as it was.
5. Everything from the cursor to the end of the file: Alt+T.
6. All text in the file: Alt+\ (first line), Alt+A (mark), Alt+/ (last line), then Ctrl+K.
7. Undo a mistake: Alt+U (redo with Alt+E).

Smaller deletes: Backspace and Delete remove one character; Ctrl+Delete deletes the next word and Alt+Backspace the previous one.

Lab test on Ubuntu 24.04 (nano 7.2): a five-line file, cursor on line 2, Ctrl+K, then Ctrl+S. The status bar showed the line count and the file was one line shorter:

$ printf 'line 1\nline 2\nline 3\nline 4\nline 5\n' > t.txt
$ nano +2 t.txt              # Ctrl+K, Ctrl+S, Ctrl+X
[ Wrote 4 lines ]
$ cat t.txt
line 1
line 3
line 4
line 5

The same steps gave the same results in nano 5.6.1, 8.1, 8.4 and 8.7.1: three Ctrl+K presses removed lines 2 to 4 (and one Ctrl+U at the end of the file put all three back), Alt+T on line 2 left only line 1, the select-all sequence saved an empty file (“Wrote 0 lines”), and after Ctrl+K on line 1 and Alt+Delete on the next line, Ctrl+U still pasted line 1.

Cut, copy, paste and move a line

• Ctrl+K: cut the line or the marked text.
• Alt+6: copy the line or the marked text (the cursor moves to the next line).
• Ctrl+U: paste at the cursor.
• To move a line: Ctrl+K, go to the new place, Ctrl+U. The pasted line lands above the cursor line.

Search, replace and go to a line

• Ctrl+W: search forward. It works in every version we tested. In nano 8.0 and later the bottom bar shows ^F Where Is instead, and Ctrl+W still works as the alternative key.
• Alt+W: find the next match; Alt+Q finds the previous one. Nano 8.x also accepts Alt+F and Alt+B for these (in 7.2 those two keys start the formatter and the linter instead).
• Ctrl+\ (or Alt+R): replace. Nano asks “Search (to replace)”, then “Replace with”, then “Replace this instance?”: press Y for this one or A for all. Replacing “line” with “row” in our test file reported “Replaced 5 occurrences”.
• Ctrl+/ (shown as ^_ in older versions) or Alt+G: go to a line. Type the number at “Enter line number, column number:” and press Enter.
• Alt+N: show or hide line numbers (nano 4.1 and later; very old guides say Alt+#).

Version differences to know

According to nano’s release notes, nano 8.0 changed two default keys: Ctrl+F now starts a forward search and Ctrl+B a backward search (in 7.2 and older they move the cursor one character). Nano 8.0 also added the option --modernbindings (-/), which makes Ctrl+Q quit, Ctrl+X cut, Ctrl+C copy, Ctrl+V paste and Ctrl+Z undo, for people used to desktop editors. Check your version with nano --version.

Settings in ~/.nanorc

Put your preferences in ~/.nanorc, for example:

set linenumbers
set autoindent
set tabsize 4
set tabstospaces
set mouse

Make nano the editor for commands such as crontab -e and visudo: sudo update-alternatives --config editor on Debian and Ubuntu (on our Debian 13 and Ubuntu 24.04 tests /bin/nano was already the selected editor), or select-editor on Ubuntu for your own user, or add export EDITOR=nano to ~/.bashrc.

Tip: before editing important configuration files, make a copy with cp -a file file.bak. Nano can also keep a backup automatically with set backup in ~/.nanorc.

Related: how to delete lines and text in Vim, connect to your server or VPS with PuTTY and basic Linux commands over SSH.

Official documentation: GNU nano manual.