A colleague edits a file with nano and asks what the entries at the bottom of the screen, such as `^O Write Out` and `^X Exit`, are telling them to press.
LPIC-1 Exam 101-500, objective 103. GNU and Unix commands easy
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How these questions are written — where each question comes from, what the verification ledger records, and what happens when one is found wrong.
The options
Correct Hold Ctrl and press the letter
Correct. The caret is the usual notation for a control character, so ^X means Ctrl-X. nano writes its shortcut bar this way and prints Meta keys as M- instead.
Not correct Hold Shift and press the letter
Wrong. Shifted keys are written as the capital letter alone; nano would show `X`, not `^X`.
Not correct Press Esc, then the letter
Wrong for the caret, though close to something real: nano lets Esc stand in for the Meta key, which its help bar writes as `M-`.
Not correct Press the function key of that number
Wrong. Function keys are written as F1, F2 and so on, and nano does bind several of them as alternatives — F2 also exits — but `^X` is caret notation for Control-X, not a function key.
Why
nano is modeless, so every command is a key combination rather than a mode change, and it lists the important ones in a two-line bar at the foot of the screen. In that notation `^` means Control and `M-` means Meta, which on most keyboards is Alt or the Esc prefix. That difference from vi is the point of the comparison: in vi you press `i` to start typing and `Esc` to stop, whereas in nano you just type and use Ctrl combinations for everything else.
Where this comes from
- Cited
- manual page nano(1)
Practise this
Reading one question is not practice. The trainer will draw a short set from objective 103 and space the ones you get wrong.
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