Syntax highlighting in nano on Mac OS

install nano.sh

# Last updated May, 2024 for Apple silicon Macs
# Install Homebrew if you don't already have it: https://brew.sh

# install nano from homebrew
brew install nano nanorc

# update your nanorc file
echo 'include "'"$(brew --cellar nano)"'/*/share/nano/*.nanorc"' >> ~/.nanorc

# close and re-open your terminal and you'll have syntax highlighting

+1 on @hacker1024 comment. single include with *.nanorc works for me as well.

Thanks this worked! Is there any reason why the syntax highlighting only applies to nano, not sudo nano though?

Thanks this worked! Is there any reason why the syntax highlighting only applies to nano, not sudo nano though?

In order to have it for sudo nano you have to edit the .nanorc for the root user

@lorthirk That makes sense. Thanks for the help!

Why does every file need to be listed? The following works for me:

brew install nano
echo 'include "/usr/local/share/nano/*.nanorc"' >> ~/.nanorc

This is nice! It works fine for me. Thank you!

Mac OSX Big Sur
nano version:5.8

brew install nano 

echo 'include "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/nano/5.8/share/nano/*.nanorc"'>> ~/.nanorc

Thanks @secfb (above), it worked beautifully on an M1 Mac running Monterery & zsh.
I ran:

brew install nano 
# Restart terminal
nano -V 
# Note the version number
echo 'include "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/nano/NANO_VERSION_NUMBER/share/nano/*.nanorc"'>> ~/.nanorc
# EG: echo 'include "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/nano/5.9/share/nano/*.nanorc"'>> ~/.nanorc

Brew creates symlink so you don't need set nano version number:
echo 'include "/usr/local/share/nano/*.nanorc"' >> ~/.nanorc

or for Apple Silicon: echo 'include "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/nano/*/share/nano/*.nanorc"' >> ~/.nanorc

Brew creates symlink so you don't need set nano version number: echo 'include "/usr/local/share/nano/*.nanorc"' >> ~/.nanorc

Thanks @tagplus5, updated the gist for Apple Silicon

or for Apple Silicon: echo 'include "/opt/homebrew/Cellar/nano//share/nano/.nanorc"' >> ~/.nanorc

Thanks! It's weird that you have to encode the wildcard for the version and you don't get a nice symlink like /usr/local/share/nano/ on Intel Macs. Hopefully there's only one version there at a time!

Brew creates symlink so you don't need set nano version number: echo 'include "/usr/local/share/nano/*.nanorc"' >> ~/.nanorc

Thanks @tagplus5, updated the gist for Apple Silicon

This worked for me, brew install nano and then this command. Thanks! (on M1 MBP)

for me what worked is

echo "include /opt/homebrew/Cellar/nano/6.3/share/nano/*.nanorc" >> ~/.nanorc

brew install nano
echo include "$(brew --prefix nano)/share/nano/*.nanorc" >> ~/.nanorc

or

brew install nano
brew install nanorc
echo include "$(brew --prefix nanorc)/share/nanorc/*.nanorc" >> ~/.nanorc

latest is:

echo "include /opt/homebrew/Cellar/nano/6.4/share/nano/*.nanorc" >> ~/.nanorc

For macOS Ventura:

brew install nano nanorc

echo "include /opt/homebrew/Cellar/nano/7.0/share/nano/*.nanorc" >> ~/.nanorc

Note you might want to take this opportunity to just start with a clean .nanorc if you've been upgrading nano and nanorc frequently.

mv ~/.nanorc ~/.nanorc.orig && echo "include /opt/homebrew/Cellar/nano/7.0/share/nano/*.nanorc" > ~/.nanorc

@x86txt: Replace the …/nano/7.0/share/… part with …/nano/*/share/… so you don't have to keep updating your .nanorc file every time nano updates to a newer version.

Worked for me:

brew install nano nanorc
echo 'include "/usr/local/Cellar/nano/*/share/nano/*.nanorc"' >> ~/.nanorc

Worked for me:

brew install nano nanorc
echo 'include "/opt/homebrew/share/nanorc/*.nanorc"' >> ~/.nanorc

macOS Ventura 13.2.1
Homebrew 4.0.13

Thanks, updated the gist @s-ota-66

Thanks all for the guide! Can confirm current version is working on 13.3.1

Better to use $(brew --prefix) to work with both Intel & ARM chips

brew install nano nanorc
echo "include \"$(brew --prefix)/share/nanorc/*.nanorc\"" >> ~/.nanorc

echo 'include "/usr/local/Cellar/nano/*/share/nano/*.nanorc"' >> ~/.nanorc

Works for Sonora

echo 'include "/usr/local/Cellar/nano/*/share/nano/*.nanorc"' >> ~/.nanorc

Probably it would be better to use

echo 'include "'"$(brew --cellar nano)"'/*/share/nano/*.nanorc"' >> ~/.nanorc

so in such case it will use the right path depends on if mac uses Intel or Apple Silicon

as of today, may 13th 2024, the following works without issues on sonoma 14.4.1 with and brew 4.2.21:

brew install nano
echo 'include "'"$(brew --cellar nano)"'/*/share/nano/*.nanorc"' >> ~/.nanorc

thanks everyone for keeping this going :)

Updated the gist thanks @tobsn

It took me way too long to notice that the /usr/bin/nano that comes with macOS is actually "UW PICO 5.09". GNU nano installed via homebrew immediately followed that .nanorc and applied syntax highlighting. 😄

as of today, may 13th 2024, the following works without issues on sonoma 14.4.1 with and brew 4.2.21:

brew install nano
echo 'include "'"$(brew --cellar nano)"'/*/share/nano/*.nanorc"' >> ~/.nanorc

thanks everyone for keeping this going :)

+1 thanks @tobsn

As of today, may 13th 2024, the following works without issues on macOS Sequoia 15.6 (24G84) and Homebrew 4.6.4:

brew install nano
echo 'include "'"$(brew --cellar nano)"'/*/share/nano/*.nanorc"' >> ~/.nanorc

Why does every file need to be listed? The following works for me:

brew install nano
echo 'include "/usr/local/share/nano/*.nanorc"' >> ~/.nanorc

The main difference between the two code snippets lies in how they handle the installation and configuration of nano and nanorc using Homebrew on macOS.

Key Differences:

• Installation of nanorc: The first snippet (@BlakeGardner) explicitly installs nanorc, while the second snippet (@lorthirk) does not. However, nano might still include syntax highlighting files that can be used without the separate nanorc formula.
• Path Dynamism: The first snippet dynamically finds the path to nano Cellar and includes syntax highlighting files from there. The second snippet uses a fixed path that assumes Homebrew's standard symlink behavior.
• Flexibility and Portability: The dynamic path approach in the first snippet might be more flexible and resilient to changes in Homebrew's directory structure or nano formula. The fixed path in the second snippet might break if Homebrew changes its symlink structure or if nano formula's installation path changes.

Choosing Between Them

• Use the first snippet if you want to ensure you're getting the syntax highlighting configurations specifically packaged with nano in a way that's dynamically linked to Homebrew's Cellar structure.
• Use the second snippet if you're relying on the standard Homebrew symlink structure and want a simpler configuration line, assuming nano includes necessary syntax highlighting files in /usr/local/share/nano/.

Given the current Homebrew structure and nano formula, both approaches should work, but the dynamic path might offer more future-proofing against changes in Homebrew or the formulae.