How to open multiple files and switch between them in nano text editor?
Building off of the other answers, here's my take on it:
Switch between open buffers with alt+left arrow and alt+right arrow. Nano will tell you which buffer you are in (the name of the file and the buffer number).
To open multiple files when you're starting up nano, do exactly what activedecay said (type such as nano file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt). Note you can also do such as nano *.txt to open all the txt files that are in the current directory, each in its own buffer.
To open a new and empty buffer after nano is already open, follow these steps:
- Press ctrl+t
- Press alt+f
- Press enter
If you already have an open buffer, and want to open a file into a new buffer, do what Lenny's answer says:
- Press Ctrl+r
- Press alt+f (or press Esc and then press f)
- Type the name of a single file to open in a new buffer
- Press enter
As to how to how to open multiple buffers at once from already existing files when you're already in nano, I'm not sure, yet.
Ctrl+x closes the current buffer.
I tested these things on nano 5.5 in Termux 0.106 (and nano 6.3 on Termux 0.118.0) on Android 10, with a bluetooth keyboard. I mention the version because shortcuts in at least some previous versions, if not all of them, aren't the same.
Put "set multibuffer" into ~/.nanorc or start nano with -F. Toggle this inside nano with alt-F. You can now read files into their own buffer with ctrl-R.
Use alt-comma and alt-period to go forward and backward in the file list.
If you've already got nano open and you want to open a new file it's quite simple when you've figured out the keys...
- Ctrl+R to open the insert dialog
- EscF can be used to change the insert mode between current buffer and a new buffer
- Ctrl+X allows you to execute a command with the output going into the buffer
- Ctrl+T will open a simple browser to select a file
To switch between open files in nano
alt+. -- move forward one file
alt+, -- move back one file
Steps
Open as many files as you want by listing them as separate arguments to nano, like so:
nano file1.txt file2.log file3.c file4.js file5.py
The first file is opened, e.g. file1.txt. Use the keyboard shortcuts below to switch between the files.
alt+. -- move forward one file
alt+, -- move back one file
nano --version GNU nano, version 2.9.3