GNU nano

Listed in Debian as nano

small, friendly text editor inspired by Pico

TerminalDevelopmentTerminal text editors

Not tested on a device yet. What that means

GNU nano in Breadstick

Breadstick note

nano runs in Breadstick's Terminal, and its Ctrl shortcuts are on the key bar above the on-screen keyboard: Ctrl is sticky there, so tap it, then the letter. With a physical keyboard, the keys reach nano as they do on a PC.

Breadstick runs Debian's own nano package for ARM64, the build a Debian 13 computer with an ARM processor installs, so GNU nano should look and behave as it does on a Linux PC. It is an interactive program that runs inside a terminal rather than in a window of its own: in Breadstick's Terminal, or in any terminal window on the Linux desktop, and it needs no Desktop or Floating session running.

Commands in the package

  • nano
  • rnano

Type one in Breadstick's Terminal to run it.

Terminal text editors run in Breadstick's Terminal. With a physical keyboard, keys such as Escape reach them as they do on a PC. More in the docs: The Terminal.

About GNU nano

From Debian's package description

GNU nano is an easy-to-use text editor originally designed as a replacement for Pico, the ncurses-based editor from the non-free mailer package Pine (itself now available under the Apache License as Alpine).

However, GNU nano also implements many features missing in Pico, including:

  • undo/redo
  • line numbering
  • syntax coloring
  • soft-wrapping of overlong lines
  • selecting text by holding Shift
  • interactive search and replace (with regular expression support)
  • a go-to line (and column) command
  • support for multiple file buffers
  • auto-indentation
  • tab completion of filenames and search terms
  • toggling features while running
  • and full internationalization support

From Debian's description of the nano package, under that package's license.

Related apps

All programs in Terminal text editors

Sources and licenses

  • Name: the name people know it by, chosen for this catalog; Debian's package is nano.
  • Summary: Debian's short description of the nano package, under that package's license.
  • Description: Debian's description of the nano package, under that package's license.
  • Versions and sizes: Debian's archive for ARM64, as on packages.debian.org.
  • Popularity: Debian Popularity Contest counts.

More in About the catalog.