GNU Nano 8.0 “Grus grus” debuts with enhanced features and modern bindings option

GNU nano, the renowned command-line text editor, has launched its latest version 8.0, also known as “Grus grus”. This new release brings an array of new features and enhancements.

In version 8.0, ^F is now bound to initiate a forward search by default, while ^B starts a backward search. M-F and M-B are set to repeat the search in the corresponding direction. The command-line option --modernbindings (-/) has been introduced to provide a set of new commands. These include ^Q for quit, ^X for cut, ^C for copy, ^V for paste, ^Z for undo, ^Y for redo, ^O for open a file, ^W for write a file, ^R for replace, ^G for find again, ^D for find again backwards, ^A for set the mark, ^T for jump to a line, ^P for show the position, and ^E for execute. These modern bindings are also activated when the name of nano's executable (or a symlink to it) starts with “e”.

Another new feature allows users to open a file at a specific line number using nano filename:number, in addition to the existing nano +number filename. The ** and ** commands now move the cursor to the first and last row in the viewport, while maintaining the horizontal position.

When an #RGB color code's three digits are identical, the code is mapped to the xterm gray scale, providing fourteen levels of gray instead of the previous four. For easier access, M-" is bound to place/remove an anchor, and M-' to jump to the next anchor.

In case of an error, the keystroke buffer is cleared to halt the execution of a macro or a string bind. And lastly, the mouse wheel now scrolls the viewport rather than moving the cursor.