| GNU nano upgrading information |
| ============================== |
| |
| Visible changes since 2.0 |
| ------------------------- |
| * Editor Features |
| - The ability to rebind (reassign) keys using the nanorc. |
| - The ability to read standard input like a pager ("nano -"). |
| - Color syntax highlighting can be set by the first line of a file. |
| - The ability to silence nanorc error messages (-q). |
| - Undo/redo operations (-u). |
| - Soft wrapping of text (-$). |
| |
| * File Handling |
| - Better handling of backup files: if nano can't write a backup file, |
| it won't try to write the original file afterward. |
| - Emergency savefiles retain ownerships and permissions when possible. |
| - Performance improvements in color syntax highlighting. |
| |
| Visible changes since 1.2 |
| ------------------------- |
| * Editor Features |
| - Support for UTF-8. |
| - Moving to a specified line and column of a file, instead of just a |
| line (+LINE,COLUMN). |
| - Smart home key (-A). |
| - Creation of unique backup files in a specified directory (-C <dir>). |
| - Insertion of spaces instead of a tab when Tab is pressed (-E). |
| - The long option for -K is now --rebindkeypad. |
| - Regular expression searching can now be toggled when nano is built |
| with --enable-tiny, so -R now means something else (see below). |
| - Restricted mode that provides more security than -o (-R). |
| - Blanking of the statusbar after 1 keystroke instead of 25 (-U). |
| - Word searches can optionally skip over punctuation (-W). |
| - Workaround for Delete's acting like Backspace (-d). |
| - Many more options are supported in the nanorc. |
| - Improvements to color syntax highlighting support: case insensitive |
| matching, the ability to include color syntaxes in separate files, |
| the ability to specify background colors without foreground colors, |
| etc. |
| - Insertion of single-byte characters via Esc Esc <000-255>. |
| - Insertion of all characters via "Verbatim Input" mode. |
| - Workaround for the "NumLock glitch". |
| - Meta-W now repeats the last search. Wrapping is now toggled via |
| Meta-L. |
| - Replacing and spell checking only selected text. |
| - Indenting lines with one keystroke. |
| - Copying text into the cutbuffer without cutting it. |
| - Scrolling the text up and down single lines without moving the |
| cursor. |
| - PageUp and PageDown work more smoothly when using -S. |
| - Scrolling the help text up and down single lines. |
| - Cutting all text from the current position to the end of the file |
| with one keystroke. |
| - Justifying the entire file with one keystroke. |
| - Justifying without removing spaces from the ends of lines. |
| - Unjustifying after justifying and immediately resizing. |
| - Going to the first or last line of the current paragraph. |
| - Going to the first or last line of the file without having to go to |
| the "Search" prompt. |
| - Searching for filenames in the file browser. |
| - Displaying spaces and tabs differently to make it easier to tell |
| them apart. |
| - Many more functions available at the statusbar prompt: moving to the |
| next or previous word, searching for matching brackets, "Verbatim |
| Input" mode, etc. |
| - The glibc 2.2.3 crashes involving extended regular expressions are |
| no longer worked around, as they can break anything using extended |
| regular expressions, and glibc 2.2.3 is old. You should upgrade to |
| at least glibc 2.2.4. |
| |
| * File Handling |
| - Automatic adding of newlines to the ends of files without them can |
| now be disabled (-L). |
| - Converting from and to DOS/Mac file format is now toggled only at |
| the "Write File" prompt, via Meta-D and Meta-M, and the default file |
| format to save in is now set depending on what format the file was |
| originally in. -D now makes nano use bold text instead of reverse |
| video text, and Meta-D at the edit window now does a |
| word/line/character count. -O now makes the unused second line of |
| the screen part of the edit window, and Meta-O at the edit window |
| now toggles this behavior. |
| - Converting files that contain a mix of DOS and Mac format lines. |
| - Automatic switching on of -N with binary files has been removed, as |
| it causes problems with UTF-8 support. |
| |
| Visible changes since 1.0 |
| ------------------------- |
| * Editor Features |
| - Complete Pico compatibility (--pico has been removed, and -p means |
| something else, see below). |
| - nanorc support (see nanorc.sample included in sources). |
| - Smooth scrolling (-S). |
| - Support for searching for matching braces, brackets, etc. |
| - Help for all editor features. |
| - Color syntax highlighting support. |
| - Quote string support, useful for mail agents, etc. (-Q). |
| - Insertion of output of external commands. |
| - Optional enabling of XON and XOFF control characters (-p). |
| - Tons of bugfixes/enhancements for already existing features. |
| |
| * File Handling |
| - Overwriting and appending or prepending to files. |
| - Writing marked text to separate files. |
| - Multiple file buffers (-F). |
| - Converting from and to DOS/Mac file format (-D/-M, -N to disable). |
| - Better control character handling. |
| - Creation of backup files (-B). |
| - Search/replace history (-H). |
| |
| See the GNU nano manual for detailed information on each feature. |