Nano Cheatsheet for Fellow Analytics Engineer: Covers 8 sections: opening, navigation, search/replace, editing, selection, buffers, saving, and a ready-to-paste `.nanorc` config tuned for Python/dbt/YAML/SQL workflows. The quick reference card at the bottom is designed to be readable even after you've internalized most shortcuts. One thing to ac…

nano_cheatsheet.md

Nano Cheatsheet — Fellow Analytics Engineer

Shortcuts use ^ for Ctrl and M- for Alt (Meta).
Run nano --version to confirm your build supports all features.

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Opening Files

Command	Action
nano file.py	Open file (create if absent)
nano +42 file.py	Open and jump to line 42
nano -l file.py	Open with line numbers enabled
nano -i file.py	Auto-indent mode
nano -A file.py	Smart home key (first non-whitespace char)
nano -E file.py	Convert tabs to spaces on save
nano -T 4 file.py	Set tab width to 4 spaces

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Navigation

Shortcut	Action
^F / ^B	Forward / backward one character
^N / ^P	Next / previous line
^A / ^E	Start / end of line
M-F / M-B	Forward / backward one word
^V / ^Y	Page down / page up
M-\ / M-/	Jump to first / last line of file
M-G or ^_	Go to specific line (and column): line,col
M-]	Jump to matching bracket () [] {}

Analytics tip: ^_ 42,1 jumps straight to line 42 — useful when a Python traceback or dbt compile error points to a line number.

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Search & Replace

Shortcut	Action
^W	Open search prompt
^W → Enter	Find next occurrence
M-W	Find next (repeat last search)
M-Q	Find previous
M-C	Toggle case-sensitive search
M-R	Toggle regex search mode
M-B	Toggle backward search direction
^\	Open search-and-replace prompt
At replace prompt → A	Replace all occurrences at once
^C	Cancel search / replace

Regex tip: With M-R active, patterns like \bref\b work — handy for finding all ref() calls in a dbt model without matching deref etc.

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Editing

Shortcut	Action
^D	Delete character under cursor
^H	Backspace (delete char before cursor)
M-D	Delete word forward
M-Backspace	Delete word backward
^K	Cut (kill) current line
M-6	Copy current line (without cutting)
^U	Paste (uncut)
M-T	Cut from cursor to end of file
^J	Justify (reflow) current paragraph
M-J	Justify entire file
M-U	Undo
M-E	Redo
^I	Insert a tab character
M-} / M-{	Indent / unindent selected block

Python/YAML tip: M-} and M-{ are your block indent controls — select a range first, then shift indentation without retyping.

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Selection (Mark)

Shortcut	Action
M-A or ^^	Set mark (start selection)
Navigate	Extend selection with any movement key
^K	Cut selected region
M-6	Copy selected region
^U	Paste at cursor position

Works like a manual visual-mode. Set mark, move to end of block, then cut or copy.

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Multiple Buffers & Files

Shortcut	Action
^R	Insert another file at cursor / open new buffer
^R then M-F	Open file in a new buffer (tab-like)
M-< / M->	Switch to previous / next buffer
^X	Close current buffer (prompts to save)

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Saving & Exiting

Shortcut	Action
^O	Save (write out) — keeps file open
^X	Exit (prompts to save if modified)
^O then M-D	Save as DOS format
^O then M-M	Save as Mac format
^O then M-A	Append to file instead of overwriting
^O then M-P	Prepend to file

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Miscellaneous

Shortcut	Action
^G	Open nano help
^C	Show current cursor position (line, col, %)
M-N	Toggle line numbers
M-P	Toggle whitespace display
M-X	Toggle help bar at bottom
M-C	Toggle cursor position display
^L	Refresh / redraw screen
M-Z	Suspend nano to shell (resume with fg)
^T	Run a spell check (if spell installed)

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.nanorc Config — Analytics Engineer Setup

Place this in ~/.nanorc (user) or /etc/nanorc (system-wide).

# === Display ===
set linenumbers          # Always show line numbers
set numbercolor cyan     # Line number colour
set titlecolor bold,white
set statuscolor bold,black,yellow

# === Editing behaviour ===
set tabsize 4            # Match Python / dbt / YAML convention
set tabstospaces         # Expand tabs to spaces on input
set autoindent           # Preserve indentation on new lines
set smarthome            # First keypress goes to first non-whitespace char
set softwrap             # Wrap long lines visually (no hard wrap)
set mouse                # Enable mouse click to reposition cursor

# === UX ===
set historylog           # Remember search history across sessions
set positionlog          # Remember cursor position per file
set zap                  # Backspace/Del over selected region deletes it
set afterends            # M-F/M-B stop at word ends (more Vim-like)
set atblanks             # Soft-wrap breaks at word boundaries

# === Syntax highlighting — include bundled definitions ===
include "/usr/share/nano/*.nanorc"          # Base set
# include "/usr/share/nano/extra/*.nanorc"  # Uncomment if available

# === Analytics-specific syntax files ===
# YAML (dbt profiles.yml, Airflow DAGs, GitHub Actions)
include "/usr/share/nano/yaml.nanorc"

# SQL (dbt models, ad-hoc queries)
include "/usr/share/nano/sql.nanorc"

# Python (pipelines, transforms, FastAPI)
include "/usr/share/nano/python.nanorc"

# TOML (pyproject.toml, dbt packages)
# Grab from: https://github.com/galenguyer/nano-syntax-highlighting
# include "~/.nano/toml.nanorc"

Bootstrapping tip: On Debian/Ubuntu sudo apt install nano ships *.nanorc files in /usr/share/nano/. On macOS via Homebrew: brew install nano puts them under $(brew --prefix)/share/nano/.

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Quick Reference Card

OPEN          nano +LINE file    SEARCH       ^W  / M-W (next) / M-Q (prev)
SAVE          ^O                 REPLACE      ^\
EXIT          ^X                 REGEX SRCH   ^W then M-R
UNDO/REDO     M-U / M-E          GO TO LINE   ^_ or M-G
CUT LINE      ^K                 MARK/SELECT  M-A then navigate
COPY LINE     M-6                INDENT BLK   M-} / M-{
PASTE         ^U                 MATCH BRACE  M-]
WORD LEFT/RT  M-B / M-F          NEXT BUFFER  M-> / M-<

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Last updated: 2026-04 | nano ≥ 5.x assumed