How To Create A File With Nano On Linux For Beginners

by Ahmad
18 November 2025

Quick, copy-friendly instructions and examples for creating and saving files using the nano text editor.

1. Open Nano And Create A New File

Run nano followed by the filename. If the file doesn't exist, nano will create it when you save.

nano filename.txt

If the file doesn't exist, nano will create it automatically when you save.
If the file already exists, nano will open it for editing.

Example :

nano my-notes.txt

2. Start typing

Once nano opens, simply type your content. Navigation keys (arrow keys, Home, End, PageUp, PageDown) work normally.

3. Save The file

Press the write-out shortcut :

CTRL + O

Then press Enter to confirm the filename shown at the bottom.

4. Exit Nano

To close nano after saving (or if you want to exit) :

CTRL + X

If you try to exit without saving, nano will ask whether you want to save changes-press Y (yes) or N (no).

5. Verify the file exists

Back in your shell, list files to confirm :

ls -l filename.txt

Example :

$ ls -l my-notes.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 user user 123 Apr 15 12:34 my-notes.txt

Common examples

Create a shell script file : nano script.sh (then save and make it executable with chmod +x script.sh).
Create a config file in a directory (may need sudo) : sudo nano /etc/myconf.conf.
Create a simple HTML file : nano index.html and paste your HTML.

Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat-Sheet

CTRL + O - Save (Write Out)
CTRL + X - Exit
CTRL + K - Cut current line
CTRL + U - Paste
CTRL + W - Search (Where Is)
CTRL + G - Help (shows full list)

Ahmad

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