Nano – Long Line Wrapping in Nano on Ubuntu

nanoUbuntu

When editing an authorised_keys file in Nano, I want to wrap long lines so that I can see the end of the lines (i.e tell whose key it is). Essentially I want it to look like the output of cat authorised_keys

So, I hit Esc + L which is the meta key for enabling long line wrapping on my platform and I see the message to say long line wrapping has been enabled but the lines do not wrap as I expect.

I'm using Terminal on OSX 10.8.5

Best Answer

To see the word wrapping style you described, use nano's "soft wrapping": Esc+$.

The Esc+L command you (and everyone) tried does "hard wrapping."

Note on keystroke notation - if you are new to Linux, the notation Esc+$ means press and release Esc and then press $. The full key press sequence then is Esc, Shift+4.

(It does not mean hold down escape while pressing $.)

Source: https://www.nano-editor.org/dist/v2.9/nano.html (search for --softwrap)

Note on softwrap and formatting mistakes - If you are new to nano, be a little careful of softwrap. If you are editing a configuration file or something else that is sensitive to newlines or indents, formatting mistakes can be made. Until you get comfortable with softwrap’s behaviors, I suggest doing a quick check with softwrap off (do the key sequence again) before saving.

Note on the goodness provided by others in their answers below - because different operating systems and different versions of nano do things a little differently:

  • If you like softwrap on all of the time, set it in your .nanorc, as described in x0a's answer below, as it is a bit more through than Prashant's.
  • If you have a Raspberry Pi, note chainsawmascara's answer about needing an extra keystroke for softwrap to go into effect.
  • If you have a Mac, like lodeOfCode's answer below, you can always update nano and here, and thus bask in the warm glow of softwrap!

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