OS X Nano Syntax Highlighting

Here is How to Update OS X Nano and Enable OS X Nano Syntax Highlighting For Various Languages. Needed dot Files to Match With iTerm2 Has Been Supplied. Apple uses old version of Nano! Yes, it is 2.0 or something like that on OS X Yosemite – the funky OS update from Apple. Yosemite has targeted the mass, who will update Nano? An Operating System’s Text Editor does not get updated. We are using the Standard iTerm2-Homebrew-OhMyZSH setup. If you are thinking that, running brew upgrade nano will work, you are wrong!

Update OS X Nano For Syntax Highlighting

If you are using our way of iTerm2-Homebrew-OhMyZSH, you need not to care about anything much. Your profile file is .zshrc. Do not try to find .profile file unless you have created it before. Do not use homebrew dupe. First check your Nano’s condition by running this command :

nano -V

Version 2.0 or something, right? That will not take syntax highlighting. That is the basic reason to update OS X Nano for syntax highlighting. Vi is definitely powerful, but so much POWER, rarely required today unless you are developing software from command line. This is Nano’s Official Website :

http://nano-editor.org/download.php

At the time of writing this guide, latest Nano’s version is 2.2.6. Open Terminal not iTerm2. Run these commands :

Now, if you run which nano command, it should return this path – /usr/local/bin/nano. It will. Now close Terminal and open our nice looking iTerm2. Run nano -V and get this return :

So, your System’s Nano is at latest version. Homebrew needed? No. Open your .zshrc at ~ location (that is your $HOME) :

You will see that, this thing -> export PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH is already present there. If not, add it and run :

OS X Nano Syntax Highlighting

We will create a new file named .nanorc at sweet $HOME :

Copy paste this thing and hit ^ + O to write out and exit with ^ + X

OK, we only included, what were provided :

Let us see, how our Nano is working with syntax highlighting :

Getting some color? Good. Where is coffescript? This is the way to create :

You have to add this line within alphabetically C stuffs :

There are lot of such nanorc files in my GitHub repo.