Two and half months after its previous major 8.0 release, the beloved command-line text editor Nano launched version 8.1, intriguingly nicknamed “de dag van de bitterkoekjespudding,” bringing enhancements and new functionalities. Here they are.
The main feature of Nano 8.1 is the introduction of the --colonparsing option, which allows users to jump directly to a specific line in a file by appending the line number to the filename with a colon, e.g., nano filename:linenumber.
However, this functionality must be enabled explicitly to ensure compatibility with various user preferences and existing setups.
Further enhancing its usability, Nano now includes a new bindable function named cycle. This function innovatively manipulates the visibility of the text, centering the current line and then moving it to the top and bottom of the viewport consecutively, and by default, is bound to the “^L” key.
For those interested in syntax highlighting, the new --listsyntaxes or -z option provides a quick reference to all available syntaxes, a tool especially useful for programmers and writers who work with multiple languages.
Among the technical upgrades, Nano 8.1 requires version 0.20 of gettext for building from Git and advises using the standard autoreconf invocation for builds.
The documentation has also received a thorough update. New entries clarify the behavior of newly introduced features and options --colonparsing and cycle. Notably, the documentation now includes modified shortcuts like “Alt+Home” and “Alt+End,” catering to users of various terminal emulators.
Lastly, the update addresses several tweaks and bug fixes to improve the editor’s overall performance and stability. These include changes to how certain keystrokes are handled and preventing incorrect file format indications.
The release announcement provides more information about all changes in Nano 8.1. The full changelog can be found here, and downloads are available here.
