commit bc40dd645acd791693b59485c90413f929b89d97
parent e02c8aeb20d649faee72d4418325d4d650ca0a05
Author: Benno Schulenberg <bensberg@telfort.nl>
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2019 10:48:08 +0100
docs: adjust and extend the Pico-compatibility section in the manual
Diffstat:
1 file changed, 30 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
diff --git a/doc/nano.texi b/doc/nano.texi
@@ -1562,11 +1562,40 @@ browser exits.
@node Pico Compatibility
@chapter Pico Compatibility
-@command{nano} emulates Pico as closely as is reasonable, but there
+@command{nano} emulates Pico quite closely, but there
are some differences between the two editors:
@table @code
+@item Hard-Wrapping
+Unlike Pico, @command{nano} does not automatically hard-wrap the current
+line when it becomes overlong during typing. This hard-wrapping can be
+switched on with the @option{--breaklonglines} option. With that option,
+@command{nano} by default breaks lines at screen width minus eight columns,
+whereas Pico does it at screen width minus six columns. You can make
+@command{nano} do as Pico by using @option{--fill=-6}.
+
+@item Magic Newline
+Pico ensures that any text always ends with a newline character.
+Nano does not do this by default: the user is left in full control
+of the formatting. You can get the automatic newline by using the
+@option{--finalnewline} option.
+
+@item Scrolling
+By default, @command{nano} will scroll just one line (instead of half
+a screen) when the cursor is moved to a line that is just out of view.
+And when paging up or down, @command{nano} keeps the cursor in the same
+screen position as much as possible, instead always placing it on the
+first line of the viewport. The Pico-like behavior can be obtained
+with the @option{--jumpyscrolling} option.
+
+@item Edit Area
+Pico never uses the line directly below the title bar, leaving it always
+blank. @command{nano} includes this line in the editing area, in order
+to not waste space, and because in this way it is slightly clearer where
+the text starts. If you are accustomed to this line being empty, you can
+get it back with the @option{--emptyline} option.
+
@item Interactive Replace
Instead of allowing you to replace either just one occurrence of a search
string or all of them, @command{nano}'s replace function is interactive: it
@@ -1592,11 +1621,6 @@ The output of the "Display Cursor Position" command (@kbd{^C}) displays
not only the current line and character position of the cursor,
but also (between the two) the current column position.
-@item Hard-Wrapping
-By default, @command{nano} hard-wraps lines at screen width minus eight
-columns, whereas Pico does it at screen width minus six columns. You can
-make @command{nano} do the same as Pico by using @option{--fill=-6}.
-
@item Spell Checking
In the internal spell checker misspelled words are sorted alphabetically
and trimmed for uniqueness, such that the words 'apple' and 'Apple' will
