nano M-A hotkey

Question

When using nano in the terminal, to do the "write file append" command, it lists the keystroke "M-A".

I am completely confused what this key command actually means. I read somewhere that it means Alt-A, which didn't work.

What am I supposed to use?

EDIT: I think the problem is because when I hit Alt-A, it opens my Xubuntu terminal windows Menu > Tabs menu item.

So by default the supplied xubuntu / xfce terminal has hotkeys that step on nano's hotkeys? Is this correct or have I modified them and forgot?

"didn't work" how exactly? Alt-A should be the right interpretation - the slightly confusing thing is that the keymapping only applies in the "write screen" (i.e. after you've hit Ctrl-O). In regular edit mode, M-A (Alt-A) sets a mark in the text. — steeldriver, Mar 18 '17 at 22:23

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 17 '22 at 20:16

5

M-A means ALT+A. But that does not directly appends the contents to the file selected.

ALT+A toggles the mode of modification of file between "write to file" and "append to file" as shown in the following images.

After you toggle to the desired command, press Enter.
This will append the contents to the file.

edited Mar 17 '22 at 20:16

Lorenz Keel

8,905

answered Nov 19 '18 at 20:17

Akash Pushkar

166

3

Why use "M" in the hints? Wouldn't be more logical to use "A"? – Gustavo Sep 21 '19 at 17:57

Doug Smythies · Answer 2 · 2017-03-19T00:24:58.353

A test example using the append write file output option.
Starting conditions:

doug@s15:~$ cat cccc
this is file cccc.
doug@s15:~$ cat bbbb
this is file bbbb.

Now, nano cccc, and then Ctrl+O, followed by CTRL+X, followed by Esc then A but change this:

File Name to Append to: cccc

To this:

File Name to Append to: bbbb

And then Enter followed by CTRL+X
See this:

doug@s15:~$ cat bbbb
this is file bbbb.
this is file cccc.

Note: There are other key combinations to achieve the same end result. See the help file within nano, a segment extracted below:

 The notation for shortcuts is as follows: Control-key sequences are
 notated with a caret (^) symbol and can be entered either by using the
 Control (Ctrl) key or pressing the Escape (Esc) key twice.  Escape-key
 sequences are notated with the Meta (M-) symbol and can be entered using
 either the Esc, Alt, or Meta key depending on your keyboard setup.

nano M-A hotkey

2 Answers2