Install Nano Editor (with syntax highlighting) on MacOS without using Homebrew [updated Jan 2024]

install_nano_on_macos_without_homebrew.sh

#!/bin/bash

# Install Nano Editor (with syntax highlighting) on MacOS without using Homebrew
# You can get the latest version number from https://www.nano-editor.org

# Instructions:
# - First off, download this Bash script from the browser & make it executable:
#   $ chmod +x install_nano_on_macos_without_homebrew.sh
# - If you have "wget" installed (you most likely do), just run the script with:
#   $ ./install_nano_on_macos_without_homebrew.sh
#   ...and you're ready.
# - If you don't have "wget" installed, download the latest release of the Nano Editor in *.tar.gz
#   from https://www.nano-editor.org and make sure the version referenced in the *.tar.gz file is also
#   referenced in the VERSION specified after these comments & then run the script with:
#   $ ./install_nano_on_macos_without_homebrew.sh
#   ...which will use the file your downloaded for the Nano Editor to install it directly.

VERSION="7.2" # As of Jan 2024 - set the version number here

cd ~/Downloads

if [ ! -f "nano-${VERSION}.tar.gz" ]; then
    wget -O nano.tar.gz https://www.nano-editor.org/dist/latest/nano-${VERSION}.tar.gz
fi

tar -xvf nano.tar.gz
mv nano ~/.nano
cd ~/.nano
./configure
make
sudo make install

touch ~/.nanorc
cat > "~/.nanorc" <<EOF
## Some defaults
set autoindent
set historylog
set indicator
set linenumbers
set locking
set mouse
set softwrap
set stateflags
set tabsize 4
set tabstospaces

## Enable syntax highlighting in Nano
include ~/.nano/syntax/*.nanorc

EOF

exit

This script was written for the Bash shell. My guess is you're on Zsh (the new shell used in macOS).

In any case, since this guide was written some time ago, I would recommend installing Homebrew and then just do brew install nano and you're done.

Hi @fevangelou

I brew install nano then bash and even update to nano 4.0 but I still got that error. I switch from zsh to bash.