LESS(1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 General Commands Manual\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 LESS(1)<\/p>\n
NAME<\/p>\n
less – opposite of more<\/p>\n
SYNOPSIS<\/p>\n
less -?
\nless –help
\nless -V
\nless –version
\nless [-[+]aABcCdeEfFgGiIJKLmMnNqQrRsSuUVwWX~]
\n[-b space] [-h lines] [-j line] [-k keyfile]
\n[-{oO} logfile] [-p pattern] [-P prompt] [-t tag]
\n[-T tagsfile] [-x tab,…] [-y lines] [-[z] lines]
\n[-# shift] [+[+]cmd] [–] [filename]…
\n(See the OPTIONS section for alternate option syntax with long option
\nnames.)<\/p>\n
DESCRIPTION<\/p>\n
Less is a program similar to more (1), but which allows backward
\nmovement in the file as well as forward movement.\u00a0 Also, less does
\nnot have to read the entire input file before starting, so with large
\ninput files it starts up faster than text editors like vi (1).\u00a0 Less
\nuses termcap (or terminfo on some systems), so it can run on a
\nvariety of terminals.\u00a0 There is even limited support for hardcopy
\nterminals.\u00a0 (On a hardcopy terminal, lines which should be printed at
\nthe top of the screen are prefixed with a caret.)<\/p>\n
Commands are based on both more and vi.\u00a0 Commands may be preceded by
\na decimal number, called N in the descriptions below.\u00a0 The number is
\nused by some commands, as indicated.<\/p>\n
COMMANDS<\/p>\n
In the following descriptions, ^X means control-X.\u00a0 ESC stands for
\nthe ESCAPE key; for example ESC-v means the two character sequence
\n“ESCAPE”, then “v”.<\/p>\n
h or H Help: display a summary of these commands.\u00a0 If you forget all
\nthe other commands, remember this one.<\/p>\n
SPACE or ^V or f or ^F
\nScroll forward N lines, default one window (see option -z
\nbelow).\u00a0 If N is more than the screen size, only the final
\nscreenful is displayed.\u00a0 Warning: some systems use ^V as a
\nspecial literalization character.<\/p>\n
z\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Like SPACE, but if N is specified, it becomes the new window
\nsize.<\/p>\n
ESC-SPACE
\nLike SPACE, but scrolls a full screenful, even if it reaches
\nend-of-file in the process.<\/p>\n
ENTER or RETURN or ^N or e or ^E or j or ^J
\nScroll forward N lines, default 1.\u00a0 The entire N lines are
\ndisplayed, even if N is more than the screen size.<\/p>\n
d or ^D
\nScroll forward N lines, default one half of the screen size.
\nIf N is specified, it becomes the new default for subsequent d
\nand u commands.<\/p>\n
b or ^B or ESC-v
\nScroll backward N lines, default one window (see option -z
\nbelow).\u00a0 If N is more than the screen size, only the final
\nscreenful is displayed.<\/p>\n
w\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Like ESC-v, but if N is specified, it becomes the new window
\nsize.<\/p>\n
y or ^Y or ^P or k or ^K
\nScroll backward N lines, default 1.\u00a0 The entire N lines are
\ndisplayed, even if N is more than the screen size.\u00a0 Warning:
\nsome systems use ^Y as a special job control character.<\/p>\n
u or ^U
\nScroll backward N lines, default one half of the screen size.
\nIf N is specified, it becomes the new default for subsequent d
\nand u commands.<\/p>\n
ESC-) or RIGHTARROW
\nScroll horizontally right N characters, default half the
\nscreen width (see the -# option).\u00a0 If a number N is specified,
\nit becomes the default for future RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW
\ncommands.\u00a0 While the text is scrolled, it acts as though the
\n-S option (chop lines) were in effect.<\/p>\n
ESC-( or LEFTARROW
\nScroll horizontally left N characters, default half the screen
\nwidth (see the -# option).\u00a0 If a number N is specified, it
\nbecomes the default for future RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW
\ncommands.<\/p>\n
r or ^R or ^L
\nRepaint the screen.<\/p>\n
R\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Repaint the screen, discarding any buffered input.\u00a0 Useful if
\nthe file is changing while it is being viewed.<\/p>\n
F\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Scroll forward, and keep trying to read when the end of file
\nis reached.\u00a0 Normally this command would be used when already
\nat the end of the file.\u00a0 It is a way to monitor the tail of a
\nfile which is growing while it is being viewed.\u00a0 (The behavior
\nis similar to the “tail -f” command.)<\/p>\n
ESC-F\u00a0 Like F, but as soon as a line is found which matches the last
\nsearch pattern, the terminal bell is rung and forward
\nscrolling stops.<\/p>\n
g or < or ESC-<
\nGo to line N in the file, default 1 (beginning of file).
\n(Warning: this may be slow if N is large.)<\/p>\n
G or > or ESC->
\nGo to line N in the file, default the end of the file.
\n(Warning: this may be slow if N is large, or if N is not
\nspecified and standard input, rather than a file, is being
\nread.)<\/p>\n
p or % Go to a position N percent into the file.\u00a0 N should be between
\n0 and 100, and may contain a decimal point.<\/p>\n
P\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Go to the line containing byte offset N in the file.<\/p>\n
{\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If a left curly bracket appears in the top line displayed on
\nthe screen, the { command will go to the matching right curly
\nbracket.\u00a0 The matching right curly bracket is positioned on
\nthe bottom line of the screen.\u00a0 If there is more than one left
\ncurly bracket on the top line, a number N may be used to
\nspecify the N-th bracket on the line.<\/p>\n
}\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If a right curly bracket appears in the bottom line displayed
\non the screen, the } command will go to the matching left
\ncurly bracket.\u00a0 The matching left curly bracket is positioned
\non the top line of the screen.\u00a0 If there is more than one
\nright curly bracket on the top line, a number N may be used to
\nspecify the N-th bracket on the line.<\/p>\n
(\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Like {, but applies to parentheses rather than curly brackets.<\/p>\n
)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Like }, but applies to parentheses rather than curly brackets.<\/p>\n
[\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Like {, but applies to square brackets rather than curly
\nbrackets.<\/p>\n
]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Like }, but applies to square brackets rather than curly
\nbrackets.<\/p>\n
ESC-^F Followed by two characters, acts like {, but uses the two
\ncharacters as open and close brackets, respectively.\u00a0 For
\nexample, “ESC ^F < >” could be used to go forward to the >
\nwhich matches the < in the top displayed line.<\/p>\n
ESC-^B Followed by two characters, acts like }, but uses the two
\ncharacters as open and close brackets, respectively.\u00a0 For
\nexample, “ESC ^B < >” could be used to go backward to the <
\nwhich matches the > in the bottom displayed line.<\/p>\n
m\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Followed by any lowercase letter, marks the current position
\nwith that letter.<\/p>\n
‘\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (Single quote.)\u00a0 Followed by any lowercase letter, returns to
\nthe position which was previously marked with that letter.
\nFollowed by another single quote, returns to the position at
\nwhich the last “large” movement command was executed.
\nFollowed by a ^ or $, jumps to the beginning or end of the
\nfile respectively.\u00a0 Marks are preserved when a new file is
\nexamined, so the ‘ command can be used to switch between input
\nfiles.<\/p>\n
^X^X\u00a0\u00a0 Same as single quote.<\/p>\n
\/pattern
\nSearch forward in the file for the N-th line containing the
\npattern.\u00a0 N defaults to 1.\u00a0 The pattern is a regular
\nexpression, as recognized by the regular expression library
\nsupplied by your system.\u00a0 The search starts at the first line
\ndisplayed (but see the -a and -j options, which change this).<\/p>\n
Certain characters are special if entered at the beginning of
\nthe pattern; they modify the type of search rather than become
\npart of the pattern:<\/p>\n
^N or !
\nSearch for lines which do NOT match the pattern.<\/p>\n
^E or *
\nSearch multiple files.\u00a0 That is, if the search reaches
\nthe END of the current file without finding a match,
\nthe search continues in the next file in the command
\nline list.<\/p>\n
^F or @
\nBegin the search at the first line of the FIRST file in
\nthe command line list, regardless of what is currently
\ndisplayed on the screen or the settings of the -a or -j
\noptions.<\/p>\n
^K\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Highlight any text which matches the pattern on the
\ncurrent screen, but don’t move to the first match (KEEP
\ncurrent position).<\/p>\n
^R\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Don’t interpret regular expression metacharacters; that
\nis, do a simple textual comparison.<\/p>\n
?pattern
\nSearch backward in the file for the N-th line containing the
\npattern.\u00a0 The search starts at the line immediately before the
\ntop line displayed.<\/p>\n
Certain characters are special as in the \/ command:<\/p>\n
^N or !
\nSearch for lines which do NOT match the pattern.<\/p>\n
^E or *
\nSearch multiple files.\u00a0 That is, if the search reaches
\nthe beginning of the current file without finding a
\nmatch, the search continues in the previous file in the
\ncommand line list.<\/p>\n
^F or @
\nBegin the search at the last line of the last file in
\nthe command line list, regardless of what is currently
\ndisplayed on the screen or the settings of the -a or -j
\noptions.<\/p>\n
^K\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As in forward searches.<\/p>\n
^R\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As in forward searches.<\/p>\n
ESC-\/pattern
\nSame as “\/*”.<\/p>\n
ESC-?pattern
\nSame as “?*”.<\/p>\n
n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Repeat previous search, for N-th line containing the last
\npattern.\u00a0 If the previous search was modified by ^N, the
\nsearch is made for the N-th line NOT containing the pattern.
\nIf the previous search was modified by ^E, the search
\ncontinues in the next (or previous) file if not satisfied in
\nthe current file.\u00a0 If the previous search was modified by ^R,
\nthe search is done without using regular expressions.\u00a0 There
\nis no effect if the previous search was modified by ^F or ^K.<\/p>\n
N\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Repeat previous search, but in the reverse direction.<\/p>\n
ESC-n\u00a0 Repeat previous search, but crossing file boundaries.\u00a0 The
\neffect is as if the previous search were modified by *.<\/p>\n
ESC-N\u00a0 Repeat previous search, but in the reverse direction and
\ncrossing file boundaries.<\/p>\n
ESC-u\u00a0 Undo search highlighting.\u00a0 Turn off highlighting of strings
\nmatching the current search pattern.\u00a0 If highlighting is
\nalready off because of a previous ESC-u command, turn
\nhighlighting back on.\u00a0 Any search command will also turn
\nhighlighting back on.\u00a0 (Highlighting can also be disabled by
\ntoggling the -G option; in that case search commands do not
\nturn highlighting back on.)<\/p>\n
&pattern
\nDisplay only lines which match the pattern; lines which do not
\nmatch the pattern are not displayed.\u00a0 If pattern is empty (if
\nyou type & immediately followed by ENTER), any filtering is
\nturned off, and all lines are displayed.\u00a0 While filtering is
\nin effect, an ampersand is displayed at the beginning of the
\nprompt, as a reminder that some lines in the file may be
\nhidden.<\/p>\n
Certain characters are special as in the \/ command:<\/p>\n
^N or !
\nDisplay only lines which do NOT match the pattern.<\/p>\n
^R\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Don’t interpret regular expression metacharacters; that
\nis, do a simple textual comparison.<\/p>\n
:e [filename]
\nExamine a new file.\u00a0 If the filename is missing, the “current”
\nfile (see the :n and :p commands below) from the list of files
\nin the command line is re-examined.\u00a0 A percent sign (%) in the
\nfilename is replaced by the name of the current file.\u00a0 A pound
\nsign (#) is replaced by the name of the previously examined
\nfile.\u00a0 However, two consecutive percent signs are simply
\nreplaced with a single percent sign.\u00a0 This allows you to enter
\na filename that contains a percent sign in the name.
\nSimilarly, two consecutive pound signs are replaced with a
\nsingle pound sign.\u00a0 The filename is inserted into the command
\nline list of files so that it can be seen by subsequent :n and
\n:p commands.\u00a0 If the filename consists of several files, they
\nare all inserted into the list of files and the first one is
\nexamined.\u00a0 If the filename contains one or more spaces, the
\nentire filename should be enclosed in double quotes (also see
\nthe -” option).<\/p>\n
^X^V or E
\nSame as :e.\u00a0 Warning: some systems use ^V as a special
\nliteralization character.\u00a0 On such systems, you may not be
\nable to use ^V.<\/p>\n
:n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Examine the next file (from the list of files given in the
\ncommand line).\u00a0 If a number N is specified, the N-th next file
\nis examined.<\/p>\n
:p\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Examine the previous file in the command line list.\u00a0 If a
\nnumber N is specified, the N-th previous file is examined.<\/p>\n
\ud83d\ude21\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Examine the first file in the command line list.\u00a0 If a number
\nN is specified, the N-th file in the list is examined.<\/p>\n
:d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Remove the current file from the list of files.<\/p>\n
t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Go to the next tag, if there were more than one matches for
\nthe current tag.\u00a0 See the -t option for more details about
\ntags.<\/p>\n
T\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Go to the previous tag, if there were more than one matches
\nfor the current tag.<\/p>\n
= or ^G or :f
\nPrints some information about the file being viewed, including
\nits name and the line number and byte offset of the bottom
\nline being displayed.\u00a0 If possible, it also prints the length
\nof the file, the number of lines in the file and the percent
\nof the file above the last displayed line.<\/p>\n
–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Followed by one of the command line option letters (see
\nOPTIONS below), this will change the setting of that option
\nand print a message describing the new setting.\u00a0 If a ^P
\n(CONTROL-P) is entered immediately after the dash, the setting
\nof the option is changed but no message is printed.\u00a0 If the
\noption letter has a numeric value (such as -b or -h), or a
\nstring value (such as -P or -t), a new value may be entered
\nafter the option letter.\u00a0 If no new value is entered, a
\nmessage describing the current setting is printed and nothing
\nis changed.<\/p>\n
—\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Like the – command, but takes a long option name (see OPTIONS
\nbelow) rather than a single option letter.\u00a0 You must press
\nENTER or RETURN after typing the option name.\u00a0 A ^P
\nimmediately after the second dash suppresses printing of a
\nmessage describing the new setting, as in the – command.<\/p>\n
-+\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Followed by one of the command line option letters this will
\nreset the option to its default setting and print a message
\ndescribing the new setting.\u00a0 (The “-+X” command does the same
\nthing as “-+X” on the command line.)\u00a0 This does not work for
\nstring-valued options.<\/p>\n
–+\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Like the -+ command, but takes a long option name rather than
\na single option letter.<\/p>\n
-!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Followed by one of the command line option letters, this will
\nreset the option to the “opposite” of its default setting and
\nprint a message describing the new setting.\u00a0 This does not
\nwork for numeric or string-valued options.<\/p>\n
–!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Like the -! command, but takes a long option name rather than
\na single option letter.<\/p>\n
_\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (Underscore.)\u00a0 Followed by one of the command line option
\nletters, this will print a message describing the current
\nsetting of that option.\u00a0 The setting of the option is not
\nchanged.<\/p>\n
__\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (Double underscore.)\u00a0 Like the _ (underscore) command, but
\ntakes a long option name rather than a single option letter.
\nYou must press ENTER or RETURN after typing the option name.<\/p>\n
+cmd\u00a0\u00a0 Causes the specified cmd to be executed each time a new file
\nis examined.\u00a0 For example, +G causes less to initially display
\neach file starting at the end rather than the beginning.<\/p>\n
V\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Prints the version number of less being run.<\/p>\n
q or Q or :q or :Q or ZZ
\nExits less.<\/p>\n
The following four commands may or may not be valid, depending on
\nyour particular installation.<\/p>\n
v\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Invokes an editor to edit the current file being viewed.\u00a0 The
\neditor is taken from the environment variable VISUAL if
\ndefined, or EDITOR if VISUAL is not defined, or defaults to
\n“vi” if neither VISUAL nor EDITOR is defined.\u00a0 See also the
\ndiscussion of LESSEDIT under the section on PROMPTS below.<\/p>\n
! shell-command
\nInvokes a shell to run the shell-command given.\u00a0 A percent
\nsign (%) in the command is replaced by the name of the current
\nfile.\u00a0 A pound sign (#) is replaced by the name of the
\npreviously examined file.\u00a0 “!!” repeats the last shell
\ncommand.\u00a0 “!” with no shell command simply invokes a shell.
\nOn Unix systems, the shell is taken from the environment
\nvariable SHELL, or defaults to “sh”.\u00a0 On MS-DOS and OS\/2
\nsystems, the shell is the normal command processor.<\/p>\n
| <m> shell-command
\n<m> represents any mark letter.\u00a0 Pipes a section of the input
\nfile to the given shell command.\u00a0 The section of the file to
\nbe piped is between the first line on the current screen and
\nthe position marked by the letter.\u00a0 <m> may also be ^ or $ to
\nindicate beginning or end of file respectively.\u00a0 If <m> is .
\nor newline, the current screen is piped.<\/p>\n
s filename
\nSave the input to a file.\u00a0 This only works if the input is a
\npipe, not an ordinary file.<\/p>\n
OPTIONS<\/p>\n
Command line options are described below.\u00a0 Most options may be
\nchanged while less is running, via the “-” command.<\/p>\n
Most options may be given in one of two forms: either a dash followed
\nby a single letter, or two dashes followed by a long option name.\u00a0 A
\nlong option name may be abbreviated as long as the abbreviation is
\nunambiguous.\u00a0 For example, –quit-at-eof may be abbreviated –quit,
\nbut not –qui, since both –quit-at-eof and –quiet begin with –qui.
\nSome long option names are in uppercase, such as –QUIT-AT-EOF, as
\ndistinct from –quit-at-eof.\u00a0 Such option names need only have their
\nfirst letter capitalized; the remainder of the name may be in either
\ncase.\u00a0 For example, –Quit-at-eof is equivalent to –QUIT-AT-EOF.<\/p>\n
Options are also taken from the environment variable “LESS”.\u00a0 For
\nexample, to avoid typing “less -options …” each time less is
\ninvoked, you might tell csh:<\/p>\n
setenv LESS “-options”<\/p>\n
or if you use sh:<\/p>\n
LESS=”-options”; export LESS<\/p>\n
On MS-DOS, you don’t need the quotes, but you should replace any
\npercent signs in the options string by double percent signs.<\/p>\n
The environment variable is parsed before the command line, so
\ncommand line options override the LESS environment variable.\u00a0 If an
\noption appears in the LESS variable, it can be reset to its default
\nvalue on the command line by beginning the command line option with
\n“-+”.<\/p>\n
Some options like -k or -D require a string to follow the option
\nletter.\u00a0 The string for that option is considered to end when a
\ndollar sign ($) is found.\u00a0 For example, you can set two -D options on
\nMS-DOS like this:<\/p>\n
LESS=”Dn9.1$Ds4.1″<\/p>\n
If the –use-backslash option appears earlier in the options, then a
\ndollar sign or backslash may be included literally in an option
\nstring by preceding it with a backslash.\u00a0 If the –use-backslash
\noption is not in effect, then backslashes are not treated specially,
\nand there is no way to include a dollar sign in the option string.<\/p>\n
-? or –help
\nThis option displays a summary of the commands accepted by
\nless (the same as the h command).\u00a0 (Depending on how your
\nshell interprets the question mark, it may be necessary to
\nquote the question mark, thus: “-\\?”.)<\/p>\n
-a or –search-skip-screen
\nBy default, forward searches start at the top of the displayed
\nscreen and backwards searches start at the bottom of the
\ndisplayed screen (except for repeated searches invoked by the
\nn or N commands, which start after or before the “target” line
\nrespectively; see the -j option for more about the target
\nline).\u00a0 The -a option causes forward searches to instead start
\nat the bottom of the screen and backward searches to start at
\nthe top of the screen, thus skipping all lines displayed on
\nthe screen.<\/p>\n
-A or –SEARCH-SKIP-SCREEN
\nCauses all forward searches (not just non-repeated searches)
\nto start just after the target line, and all backward searches
\nto start just before the target line.\u00a0 Thus, forward searches
\nwill skip part of the displayed screen (from the first line up
\nto and including the target line).\u00a0 Similarly backwards
\nsearches will skip the displayed screen from the last line up
\nto and including the target line.\u00a0 This was the default
\nbehavior in less versions prior to 441.<\/p>\n
-bn or –buffers=n
\nSpecifies the amount of buffer space less will use for each
\nfile, in units of kilobytes (1024 bytes).\u00a0 By default 64K of
\nbuffer space is used for each file (unless the file is a pipe;
\nsee the -B option).\u00a0 The -b option specifies instead that n
\nkilobytes of buffer space should be used for each file.\u00a0 If n
\nis -1, buffer space is unlimited; that is, the entire file can
\nbe read into memory.<\/p>\n
-B or –auto-buffers
\nBy default, when data is read from a pipe, buffers are
\nallocated automatically as needed.\u00a0 If a large amount of data
\nis read from the pipe, this can cause a large amount of memory
\nto be allocated.\u00a0 The -B option disables this automatic
\nallocation of buffers for pipes, so that only 64K (or the
\namount of space specified by the -b option) is used for the
\npipe.\u00a0 Warning: use of -B can result in erroneous display,
\nsince only the most recently viewed part of the piped data is
\nkept in memory; any earlier data is lost.<\/p>\n
-c or –clear-screen
\nCauses full screen repaints to be painted from the top line
\ndown.\u00a0 By default, full screen repaints are done by scrolling
\nfrom the bottom of the screen.<\/p>\n
-C or –CLEAR-SCREEN
\nSame as -c, for compatibility with older versions of less.<\/p>\n
-d or –dumb
\nThe -d option suppresses the error message normally displayed
\nif the terminal is dumb; that is, lacks some important
\ncapability, such as the ability to clear the screen or scroll
\nbackward.\u00a0 The -d option does not otherwise change the
\nbehavior of less on a dumb terminal.<\/p>\n
-Dxcolor or –color=xcolor
\n[MS-DOS only] Sets the color of the text displayed.\u00a0 x is a
\nsingle character which selects the type of text whose color is
\nbeing set: n=normal, s=standout, d=bold, u=underlined,
\nk=blink.\u00a0 color is a pair of numbers separated by a period.
\nThe first number selects the foreground color and the second
\nselects the background color of the text.\u00a0 A single number N
\nis the same as N.M, where M is the normal background color.<\/p>\n
-e or –quit-at-eof
\nCauses less to automatically exit the second time it reaches
\nend-of-file.\u00a0 By default, the only way to exit less is via the
\n“q” command.<\/p>\n
-E or –QUIT-AT-EOF
\nCauses less to automatically exit the first time it reaches
\nend-of-file.<\/p>\n
-f or –force
\nForces non-regular files to be opened.\u00a0 (A non-regular file is
\na directory or a device special file.)\u00a0 Also suppresses the
\nwarning message when a binary file is opened.\u00a0 By default,
\nless will refuse to open non-regular files.\u00a0 Note that some
\noperating systems will not allow directories to be read, even
\nif -f is set.<\/p>\n
-F or –quit-if-one-screen
\nCauses less to automatically exit if the entire file can be
\ndisplayed on the first screen.<\/p>\n
-g or –hilite-search
\nNormally, less will highlight ALL strings which match the last
\nsearch command.\u00a0 The -g option changes this behavior to
\nhighlight only the particular string which was found by the
\nlast search command.\u00a0 This can cause less to run somewhat
\nfaster than the default.<\/p>\n
-G or –HILITE-SEARCH
\nThe -G option suppresses all highlighting of strings found by
\nsearch commands.<\/p>\n
-hn or –max-back-scroll=n
\nSpecifies a maximum number of lines to scroll backward.\u00a0 If it
\nis necessary to scroll backward more than n lines, the screen
\nis repainted in a forward direction instead.\u00a0 (If the terminal
\ndoes not have the ability to scroll backward, -h0 is implied.)<\/p>\n
-i or –ignore-case
\nCauses searches to ignore case; that is, uppercase and
\nlowercase are considered identical.\u00a0 This option is ignored if
\nany uppercase letters appear in the search pattern; in other
\nwords, if a pattern contains uppercase letters, then that
\nsearch does not ignore case.<\/p>\n
-I or –IGNORE-CASE
\nLike -i, but searches ignore case even if the pattern contains
\nuppercase letters.<\/p>\n
-jn or –jump-target=n
\nSpecifies a line on the screen where the “target” line is to
\nbe positioned.\u00a0 The target line is the line specified by any
\ncommand to search for a pattern, jump to a line number, jump
\nto a file percentage or jump to a tag.\u00a0 The screen line may be
\nspecified by a number: the top line on the screen is 1, the
\nnext is 2, and so on.\u00a0 The number may be negative to specify a
\nline relative to the bottom of the screen: the bottom line on
\nthe screen is -1, the second to the bottom is -2, and so on.
\nAlternately, the screen line may be specified as a fraction of
\nthe height of the screen, starting with a decimal point: .5 is
\nin the middle of the screen, .3 is three tenths down from the
\nfirst line, and so on.\u00a0 If the line is specified as a
\nfraction, the actual line number is recalculated if the
\nterminal window is resized, so that the target line remains at
\nthe specified fraction of the screen height.\u00a0 If any form of
\nthe -j option is used, forward searches begin at the line
\nimmediately after the target line, and backward searches begin
\nat the target line, unless changed by -a or -A.\u00a0 For example,
\nif “-j4” is used, the target line is the fourth line on the
\nscreen, so forward searches begin at the fifth line on the
\nscreen.<\/p>\n
-J or –status-column
\nDisplays a status column at the left edge of the screen.\u00a0 The
\nstatus column shows the lines that matched the current search.
\nThe status column is also used if the -w or -W option is in
\neffect.<\/p>\n
-kfilename or –lesskey-file=filename
\nCauses less to open and interpret the named file as a lesskey
\n(1) file.\u00a0 Multiple -k options may be specified.\u00a0 If the
\nLESSKEY or LESSKEY_SYSTEM environment variable is set, or if a
\nlesskey file is found in a standard place (see KEY BINDINGS),
\nit is also used as a lesskey file.<\/p>\n
-K or –quit-on-intr
\nCauses less to exit immediately (with status 2) when an
\ninterrupt character (usually ^C) is typed.\u00a0 Normally, an
\ninterrupt character causes less to stop whatever it is doing
\nand return to its command prompt.\u00a0 Note that use of this
\noption makes it impossible to return to the command prompt
\nfrom the “F” command.<\/p>\n
-L or –no-lessopen
\nIgnore the LESSOPEN environment variable (see the INPUT
\nPREPROCESSOR section below).\u00a0 This option can be set from
\nwithin less, but it will apply only to files opened
\nsubsequently, not to the file which is currently open.<\/p>\n
-m or –long-prompt
\nCauses less to prompt verbosely (like more), with the percent
\ninto the file.\u00a0 By default, less prompts with a colon.<\/p>\n
-M or –LONG-PROMPT
\nCauses less to prompt even more verbosely than more.<\/p>\n
-n or –line-numbers
\nSuppresses line numbers.\u00a0 The default (to use line numbers)
\nmay cause less to run more slowly in some cases, especially
\nwith a very large input file.\u00a0 Suppressing line numbers with
\nthe -n option will avoid this problem.\u00a0 Using line numbers
\nmeans: the line number will be displayed in the verbose prompt
\nand in the = command, and the v command will pass the current
\nline number to the editor (see also the discussion of LESSEDIT
\nin PROMPTS below).<\/p>\n
-N or –LINE-NUMBERS
\nCauses a line number to be displayed at the beginning of each
\nline in the display.<\/p>\n
-ofilename or –log-file=filename
\nCauses less to copy its input to the named file as it is being
\nviewed.\u00a0 This applies only when the input file is a pipe, not
\nan ordinary file.\u00a0 If the file already exists, less will ask
\nfor confirmation before overwriting it.<\/p>\n
-Ofilename or –LOG-FILE=filename
\nThe -O option is like -o, but it will overwrite an existing
\nfile without asking for confirmation.<\/p>\n
If no log file has been specified, the -o and -O options can
\nbe used from within less to specify a log file.\u00a0 Without a
\nfile name, they will simply report the name of the log file.
\nThe “s” command is equivalent to specifying -o from within
\nless.<\/p>\n
-ppattern or –pattern=pattern
\nThe -p option on the command line is equivalent to specifying
\n+\/pattern; that is, it tells less to start at the first
\noccurrence of pattern in the file.<\/p>\n
-Pprompt or –prompt=prompt
\nProvides a way to tailor the three prompt styles to your own
\npreference.\u00a0 This option would normally be put in the LESS
\nenvironment variable, rather than being typed in with each
\nless command.\u00a0 Such an option must either be the last option
\nin the LESS variable, or be terminated by a dollar sign.\u00a0 -Ps
\nfollowed by a string changes the default (short) prompt to
\nthat string.\u00a0 -Pm changes the medium (-m) prompt.\u00a0 -PM changes
\nthe long (-M) prompt.\u00a0 -Ph changes the prompt for the help
\nscreen.\u00a0 -P= changes the message printed by the = command.
\n-Pw changes the message printed while waiting for data (in the
\nF command).\u00a0 All prompt strings consist of a sequence of
\nletters and special escape sequences.\u00a0 See the section on
\nPROMPTS for more details.<\/p>\n
-q or –quiet or –silent
\nCauses moderately “quiet” operation: the terminal bell is not
\nrung if an attempt is made to scroll past the end of the file
\nor before the beginning of the file.\u00a0 If the terminal has a
\n“visual bell”, it is used instead.\u00a0 The bell will be rung on
\ncertain other errors, such as typing an invalid character.
\nThe default is to ring the terminal bell in all such cases.<\/p>\n
-Q or –QUIET or –SILENT
\nCauses totally “quiet” operation: the terminal bell is never
\nrung.<\/p>\n
-r or –raw-control-chars
\nCauses “raw” control characters to be displayed.\u00a0 The default
\nis to display control characters using the caret notation; for
\nexample, a control-A (octal 001) is displayed as “^A”.
\nWarning: when the -r option is used, less cannot keep track of
\nthe actual appearance of the screen (since this depends on how
\nthe screen responds to each type of control character).\u00a0 Thus,
\nvarious display problems may result, such as long lines being
\nsplit in the wrong place.<\/p>\n
-R or –RAW-CONTROL-CHARS
\nLike -r, but only ANSI “color” escape sequences are output in
\n“raw” form.\u00a0 Unlike -r, the screen appearance is maintained
\ncorrectly in most cases.\u00a0 ANSI “color” escape sequences are
\nsequences of the form:<\/p>\n
ESC [ … m<\/p>\n
where the “…” is zero or more color specification characters
\nFor the purpose of keeping track of screen appearance, ANSI
\ncolor escape sequences are assumed to not move the cursor.
\nYou can make less think that characters other than “m” can end
\nANSI color escape sequences by setting the environment
\nvariable LESSANSIENDCHARS to the list of characters which can
\nend a color escape sequence.\u00a0 And you can make less think that
\ncharacters other than the standard ones may appear between the
\nESC and the m by setting the environment variable
\nLESSANSIMIDCHARS to the list of characters which can appear.<\/p>\n
-s or –squeeze-blank-lines
\nCauses consecutive blank lines to be squeezed into a single
\nblank line.\u00a0 This is useful when viewing nroff output.<\/p>\n
-S or –chop-long-lines
\nCauses lines longer than the screen width to be chopped
\n(truncated) rather than wrapped.\u00a0 That is, the portion of a
\nlong line that does not fit in the screen width is not shown.
\nThe default is to wrap long lines; that is, display the
\nremainder on the next line.<\/p>\n
-ttag or –tag=tag
\nThe -t option, followed immediately by a TAG, will edit the
\nfile containing that tag.\u00a0 For this to work, tag information
\nmust be available; for example, there may be a file in the
\ncurrent directory called “tags”, which was previously built by
\nctags (1) or an equivalent command.\u00a0 If the environment
\nvariable LESSGLOBALTAGS is set, it is taken to be the name of
\na command compatible with global (1), and that command is
\nexecuted to find the tag.\u00a0 (See
\nhttp:\/\/www.gnu.org\/software\/global\/global.html).\u00a0 The -t
\noption may also be specified from within less (using the –
\ncommand) as a way of examining a new file.\u00a0 The command “:t”
\nis equivalent to specifying -t from within less.<\/p>\n
-Ttagsfile or –tag-file=tagsfile
\nSpecifies a tags file to be used instead of “tags”.<\/p>\n
-u or –underline-special
\nCauses backspaces and carriage returns to be treated as
\nprintable characters; that is, they are sent to the terminal
\nwhen they appear in the input.<\/p>\n
-U or –UNDERLINE-SPECIAL
\nCauses backspaces, tabs and carriage returns to be treated as
\ncontrol characters; that is, they are handled as specified by
\nthe -r option.<\/p>\n
By default, if neither -u nor -U is given, backspaces which
\nappear adjacent to an underscore character are treated
\nspecially: the underlined text is displayed using the
\nterminal’s hardware underlining capability.\u00a0 Also, backspaces
\nwhich appear between two identical characters are treated
\nspecially: the overstruck text is printed using the terminal’s
\nhardware boldface capability.\u00a0 Other backspaces are deleted,
\nalong with the preceding character.\u00a0 Carriage returns
\nimmediately followed by a newline are deleted.\u00a0 Other carriage
\nreturns are handled as specified by the -r option.\u00a0 Text which
\nis overstruck or underlined can be searched for if neither -u
\nnor -U is in effect.<\/p>\n
-V or –version
\nDisplays the version number of less.<\/p>\n
-w or –hilite-unread
\nTemporarily highlights the first “new” line after a forward
\nmovement of a full page.\u00a0 The first “new” line is the line
\nimmediately following the line previously at the bottom of the
\nscreen.\u00a0 Also highlights the target line after a g or p
\ncommand.\u00a0 The highlight is removed at the next command which
\ncauses movement.\u00a0 The entire line is highlighted, unless the
\n-J option is in effect, in which case only the status column
\nis highlighted.<\/p>\n
-W or –HILITE-UNREAD
\nLike -w, but temporarily highlights the first new line after
\nany forward movement command larger than one line.<\/p>\n
-xn,… or –tabs=n,…
\nSets tab stops.\u00a0 If only one n is specified, tab stops are set
\nat multiples of n.\u00a0 If multiple values separated by commas are
\nspecified, tab stops are set at those positions, and then
\ncontinue with the same spacing as the last two.\u00a0 For example,
\n-x9,17 will set tabs at positions 9, 17, 25, 33, etc.\u00a0 The
\ndefault for n is 8.<\/p>\n
-X or –no-init
\nDisables sending the termcap initialization and
\ndeinitialization strings to the terminal.\u00a0 This is sometimes
\ndesirable if the deinitialization string does something
\nunnecessary, like clearing the screen.<\/p>\n
-yn or –max-forw-scroll=n
\nSpecifies a maximum number of lines to scroll forward.\u00a0 If it
\nis necessary to scroll forward more than n lines, the screen
\nis repainted instead.\u00a0 The -c or -C option may be used to
\nrepaint from the top of the screen if desired.\u00a0 By default,
\nany forward movement causes scrolling.<\/p>\n
-[z]n or –window=n
\nChanges the default scrolling window size to n lines.\u00a0 The
\ndefault is one screenful.\u00a0 The z and w commands can also be
\nused to change the window size.\u00a0 The “z” may be omitted for
\ncompatibility with some versions of more.\u00a0 If the number n is
\nnegative, it indicates n lines less than the current screen
\nsize.\u00a0 For example, if the screen is 24 lines, -z-4 sets the
\nscrolling window to 20 lines.\u00a0 If the screen is resized to 40
\nlines, the scrolling window automatically changes to 36 lines.<\/p>\n
-“cc or –quotes=cc
\nChanges the filename quoting character.\u00a0 This may be necessary
\nif you are trying to name a file which contains both spaces
\nand quote characters.\u00a0 Followed by a single character, this
\nchanges the quote character to that character.\u00a0 Filenames
\ncontaining a space should then be surrounded by that character
\nrather than by double quotes.\u00a0 Followed by two characters,
\nchanges the open quote to the first character, and the close
\nquote to the second character.\u00a0 Filenames containing a space
\nshould then be preceded by the open quote character and
\nfollowed by the close quote character.\u00a0 Note that even after
\nthe quote characters are changed, this option remains -” (a
\ndash followed by a double quote).<\/p>\n
-~ or –tilde
\nNormally lines after end of file are displayed as a single
\ntilde (~).\u00a0 This option causes lines after end of file to be
\ndisplayed as blank lines.<\/p>\n
-# or –shift
\nSpecifies the default number of positions to scroll
\nhorizontally in the RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW commands.\u00a0 If the
\nnumber specified is zero, it sets the default number of
\npositions to one half of the screen width.\u00a0 Alternately, the
\nnumber may be specified as a fraction of the width of the
\nscreen, starting with a decimal point: .5 is half of the
\nscreen width, .3 is three tenths of the screen width, and so
\non.\u00a0 If the number is specified as a fraction, the actual
\nnumber of scroll positions is recalculated if the terminal
\nwindow is resized, so that the actual scroll remains at the
\nspecified fraction of the screen width.<\/p>\n
–follow-name
\nNormally, if the input file is renamed while an F command is
\nexecuting, less will continue to display the contents of the
\noriginal file despite its name change.\u00a0 If –follow-name is
\nspecified, during an F command less will periodically attempt
\nto reopen the file by name.\u00a0 If the reopen succeeds and the
\nfile is a different file from the original (which means that a
\nnew file has been created with the same name as the original
\n(now renamed) file), less will display the contents of that
\nnew file.<\/p>\n
–no-keypad
\nDisables sending the keypad initialization and
\ndeinitialization strings to the terminal.\u00a0 This is sometimes
\nuseful if the keypad strings make the numeric keypad behave in
\nan undesirable manner.<\/p>\n
–use-backslash
\nThis option changes the interpretations of options which
\nfollow this one.\u00a0 After the –use-backslash option, any
\nbackslash in an option string is removed and the following
\ncharacter is taken literally.\u00a0 This allows a dollar sign to be
\nincluded in option strings.<\/p>\n
—\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A command line argument of “–” marks the end of option
\narguments.\u00a0 Any arguments following this are interpreted as
\nfilenames.\u00a0 This can be useful when viewing a file whose name
\nbegins with a “-” or “+”.<\/p>\n
+\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If a command line option begins with +, the remainder of that
\noption is taken to be an initial command to less.\u00a0 For
\nexample, +G tells less to start at the end of the file rather
\nthan the beginning, and +\/xyz tells it to start at the first
\noccurrence of “xyz” in the file.\u00a0 As a special case, +<number>
\nacts like +<number>g; that is, it starts the display at the
\nspecified line number (however, see the caveat under the “g”
\ncommand above).\u00a0 If the option starts with ++, the initial
\ncommand applies to every file being viewed, not just the first
\none.\u00a0 The + command described previously may also be used to
\nset (or change) an initial command for every file.<\/p>\n
LINE EDITING<\/p>\n
When entering command line at the bottom of the screen (for example,
\na filename for the :e command, or the pattern for a search command),
\ncertain keys can be used to manipulate the command line.\u00a0 Most
\ncommands have an alternate form in [ brackets ] which can be used if
\na key does not exist on a particular keyboard.\u00a0 (Note that the forms
\nbeginning with ESC do not work in some MS-DOS and Windows systems
\nbecause ESC is the line erase character.)\u00a0 Any of these special keys
\nmay be entered literally by preceding it with the “literal”
\ncharacter, either ^V or ^A.\u00a0 A backslash itself may also be entered
\nliterally by entering two backslashes.<\/p>\n
LEFTARROW [ ESC-h ]
\nMove the cursor one space to the left.<\/p>\n
RIGHTARROW [ ESC-l ]
\nMove the cursor one space to the right.<\/p>\n
^LEFTARROW [ ESC-b or ESC-LEFTARROW ]
\n(That is, CONTROL and LEFTARROW simultaneously.)\u00a0 Move the
\ncursor one word to the left.<\/p>\n
^RIGHTARROW [ ESC-w or ESC-RIGHTARROW ]
\n(That is, CONTROL and RIGHTARROW simultaneously.)\u00a0 Move the
\ncursor one word to the right.<\/p>\n
HOME [ ESC-0 ]
\nMove the cursor to the beginning of the line.<\/p>\n
END [ ESC-$ ]
\nMove the cursor to the end of the line.<\/p>\n
BACKSPACE
\nDelete the character to the left of the cursor, or cancel the
\ncommand if the command line is empty.<\/p>\n
DELETE or [ ESC-x ]
\nDelete the character under the cursor.<\/p>\n
^BACKSPACE [ ESC-BACKSPACE ]
\n(That is, CONTROL and BACKSPACE simultaneously.)\u00a0 Delete the
\nword to the left of the cursor.<\/p>\n
^DELETE [ ESC-X or ESC-DELETE ]
\n(That is, CONTROL and DELETE simultaneously.)\u00a0 Delete the word
\nunder the cursor.<\/p>\n
UPARROW [ ESC-k ]
\nRetrieve the previous command line.\u00a0 If you first enter some
\ntext and then press UPARROW, it will retrieve the previous
\ncommand which begins with that text.<\/p>\n
DOWNARROW [ ESC-j ]
\nRetrieve the next command line.\u00a0 If you first enter some text
\nand then press DOWNARROW, it will retrieve the next command
\nwhich begins with that text.<\/p>\n
TAB\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Complete the partial filename to the left of the cursor.\u00a0 If
\nit matches more than one filename, the first match is entered
\ninto the command line.\u00a0 Repeated TABs will cycle thru the
\nother matching filenames.\u00a0 If the completed filename is a
\ndirectory, a “\/” is appended to the filename.\u00a0 (On MS-DOS
\nsystems, a “\\” is appended.)\u00a0 The environment variable
\nLESSSEPARATOR can be used to specify a different character to
\nappend to a directory name.<\/p>\n
BACKTAB [ ESC-TAB ]
\nLike, TAB, but cycles in the reverse direction thru the
\nmatching filenames.<\/p>\n
^L\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Complete the partial filename to the left of the cursor.\u00a0 If
\nit matches more than one filename, all matches are entered
\ninto the command line (if they fit).<\/p>\n
^U (Unix and OS\/2) or ESC (MS-DOS)
\nDelete the entire command line, or cancel the command if the
\ncommand line is empty.\u00a0 If you have changed your line-kill
\ncharacter in Unix to something other than ^U, that character
\nis used instead of ^U.<\/p>\n
^G\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Delete the entire command line and return to the main prompt.<\/p>\n
KEY BINDINGS<\/p>\n
You may define your own less commands by using the program lesskey
\n(1) to create a lesskey file.\u00a0 This file specifies a set of command
\nkeys and an action associated with each key.\u00a0 You may also use
\nlesskey to change the line-editing keys (see LINE EDITING), and to
\nset environment variables.\u00a0 If the environment variable LESSKEY is
\nset, less uses that as the name of the lesskey file.\u00a0 Otherwise, less
\nlooks in a standard place for the lesskey file: On Unix systems, less
\nlooks for a lesskey file called “$HOME\/.less”.\u00a0 On MS-DOS and Windows
\nsystems, less looks for a lesskey file called “$HOME\/_less”, and if
\nit is not found there, then looks for a lesskey file called “_less”
\nin any directory specified in the PATH environment variable.\u00a0 On OS\/2
\nsystems, less looks for a lesskey file called “$HOME\/less.ini”, and
\nif it is not found, then looks for a lesskey file called “less.ini”
\nin any directory specified in the INIT environment variable, and if
\nit not found there, then looks for a lesskey file called “less.ini”
\nin any directory specified in the PATH environment variable.\u00a0 See the
\nlesskey manual page for more details.<\/p>\n
A system-wide lesskey file may also be set up to provide key
\nbindings.\u00a0 If a key is defined in both a local lesskey file and in
\nthe system-wide file, key bindings in the local file take precedence
\nover those in the system-wide file.\u00a0 If the environment variable
\nLESSKEY_SYSTEM is set, less uses that as the name of the system-wide
\nlesskey file.\u00a0 Otherwise, less looks in a standard place for the
\nsystem-wide lesskey file: On Unix systems, the system-wide lesskey
\nfile is \/usr\/local\/etc\/sysless.\u00a0 (However, if less was built with a
\ndifferent sysconf directory than \/usr\/local\/etc, that directory is
\nwhere the sysless file is found.)\u00a0 On MS-DOS and Windows systems, the
\nsystem-wide lesskey file is c:\\_sysless.\u00a0 On OS\/2 systems, the
\nsystem-wide lesskey file is c:\\sysless.ini.<\/p>\n
INPUT PREPROCESSOR<\/p>\n
You may define an “input preprocessor” for less.\u00a0 Before less opens a
\nfile, it first gives your input preprocessor a chance to modify the
\nway the contents of the file are displayed.\u00a0 An input preprocessor is
\nsimply an executable program (or shell script), which writes the
\ncontents of the file to a different file, called the replacement
\nfile.\u00a0 The contents of the replacement file are then displayed in
\nplace of the contents of the original file.\u00a0 However, it will appear
\nto the user as if the original file is opened; that is, less will
\ndisplay the original filename as the name of the current file.<\/p>\n
An input preprocessor receives one command line argument, the
\noriginal filename, as entered by the user.\u00a0 It should create the
\nreplacement file, and when finished, print the name of the
\nreplacement file to its standard output.\u00a0 If the input preprocessor
\ndoes not output a replacement filename, less uses the original file,
\nas normal.\u00a0 The input preprocessor is not called when viewing
\nstandard input.\u00a0 To set up an input preprocessor, set the LESSOPEN
\nenvironment variable to a command line which will invoke your input
\npreprocessor.\u00a0 This command line should include one occurrence of the
\nstring “%s”, which will be replaced by the filename when the input
\npreprocessor command is invoked.<\/p>\n
When less closes a file opened in such a way, it will call another
\nprogram, called the input postprocessor, which may perform any
\ndesired clean-up action (such as deleting the replacement file
\ncreated by LESSOPEN).\u00a0 This program receives two command line
\narguments, the original filename as entered by the user, and the name
\nof the replacement file.\u00a0 To set up an input postprocessor, set the
\nLESSCLOSE environment variable to a command line which will invoke
\nyour input postprocessor.\u00a0 It may include two occurrences of the
\nstring “%s”; the first is replaced with the original name of the file
\nand the second with the name of the replacement file, which was
\noutput by LESSOPEN.<\/p>\n
For example, on many Unix systems, these two scripts will allow you
\nto keep files in compressed format, but still let less view them
\ndirectly:<\/p>\n
lessopen.sh:
\n#! \/bin\/sh
\ncase “$1″ in
\n*.Z) uncompress –
\nif [ -s \/tmp\/less.$$ ]; then
\necho \/tmp\/less.$$
\nelse
\nrm -f \/tmp\/less.$$
\nfi
\n;;
\nesac<\/p>\n
lessclose.sh:
\n#! \/bin\/sh
\nrm $2<\/p>\n
To use these scripts, put them both where they can be executed and
\nset LESSOPEN=”lessopen.sh %s”, and LESSCLOSE=”lessclose.sh %s %s”.
\nMore complex LESSOPEN and LESSCLOSE scripts may be written to accept
\nother types of compressed files, and so on.<\/p>\n
It is also possible to set up an input preprocessor to pipe the file
\ndata directly to less, rather than putting the data into a
\nreplacement file.\u00a0 This avoids the need to decompress the entire file
\nbefore starting to view it.\u00a0 An input preprocessor that works this
\nway is called an input pipe.\u00a0 An input pipe, instead of writing the
\nname of a replacement file on its standard output, writes the entire
\ncontents of the replacement file on its standard output.\u00a0 If the
\ninput pipe does not write any characters on its standard output, then
\nthere is no replacement file and less uses the original file, as
\nnormal.\u00a0 To use an input pipe, make the first character in the
\nLESSOPEN environment variable a vertical bar (|) to signify that the
\ninput preprocessor is an input pipe.<\/p>\n
For example, on many Unix systems, this script will work like the
\nprevious example scripts:<\/p>\n
lesspipe.sh:
\n#! \/bin\/sh
\ncase “$1″ in
\n*.Z) uncompress -c $1\u00a0 2>\/dev\/null
\n*)\u00a0\u00a0 exit 1
\n;;
\nesac
\nexit $?<\/p>\n
To use this script, put it where it can be executed and set
\nLESSOPEN=”|lesspipe.sh %s”.<\/p>\n
Note that a preprocessor cannot output an empty file, since that is
\ninterpreted as meaning there is no replacement, and the original file
\nis used.\u00a0 To avoid this, if LESSOPEN starts with two vertical bars,
\nthe exit status of the script becomes meaningful.\u00a0 If the exit status
\nis zero, the output is considered to be replacement text, even if it
\nempty.\u00a0 If the exit status is nonzero, any output is ignored and the
\noriginal file is used.\u00a0 For compatibility with previous versions of
\nless, if LESSOPEN starts with only one vertical bar, the exit status
\nof the preprocessor is ignored.<\/p>\n
When an input pipe is used, a LESSCLOSE postprocessor can be used,
\nbut it is usually not necessary since there is no replacement file to
\nclean up.\u00a0 In this case, the replacement file name passed to the
\nLESSCLOSE postprocessor is “-“.<\/p>\n
For compatibility with previous versions of less, the input
\npreprocessor or pipe is not used if less is viewing standard input.
\nHowever, if the first character of LESSOPEN is a dash (-), the input
\npreprocessor is used on standard input as well as other files.\u00a0 In
\nthis case, the dash is not considered to be part of the preprocessor
\ncommand.\u00a0 If standard input is being viewed, the input preprocessor
\nis passed a file name consisting of a single dash.\u00a0 Similarly, if the
\nfirst two characters of LESSOPEN are vertical bar and dash (|-) or
\ntwo vertical bars and a dash (||-), the input pipe is used on
\nstandard input as well as other files.\u00a0 Again, in this case the dash
\nis not considered to be part of the input pipe command.<\/p>\n
NATIONAL CHARACTER SETS<\/p>\n
There are three types of characters in the input file:<\/p>\n
normal characters
\ncan be displayed directly to the screen.<\/p>\n
control characters
\nshould not be displayed directly, but are expected to be found
\nin ordinary text files (such as backspace and tab).<\/p>\n
binary characters
\nshould not be displayed directly and are not expected to be
\nfound in text files.<\/p>\n
A “character set” is simply a description of which characters are to
\nbe considered normal, control, and binary.\u00a0 The LESSCHARSET
\nenvironment variable may be used to select a character set.\u00a0 Possible
\nvalues for LESSCHARSET are:<\/p>\n
ascii\u00a0 BS, TAB, NL, CR, and formfeed are control characters, all
\nchars with values between 32 and 126 are normal, and all
\nothers are binary.<\/p>\n
iso8859
\nSelects an ISO 8859 character set.\u00a0 This is the same as ASCII,
\nexcept characters between 160 and 255 are treated as normal
\ncharacters.<\/p>\n
latin1 Same as iso8859.<\/p>\n
latin9 Same as iso8859.<\/p>\n
dos\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Selects a character set appropriate for MS-DOS.<\/p>\n
ebcdic Selects an EBCDIC character set.<\/p>\n
IBM-1047
\nSelects an EBCDIC character set used by OS\/390 Unix Services.
\nThis is the EBCDIC analogue of latin1.\u00a0 You get similar
\nresults by setting either LESSCHARSET=IBM-1047 or
\nLC_CTYPE=en_US in your environment.<\/p>\n
koi8-r Selects a Russian character set.<\/p>\n
next\u00a0\u00a0 Selects a character set appropriate for NeXT computers.<\/p>\n
utf-8\u00a0 Selects the UTF-8 encoding of the ISO 10646 character set.
\nUTF-8 is special in that it supports multi-byte characters in
\nthe input file.\u00a0 It is the only character set that supports
\nmulti-byte characters.<\/p>\n
windows
\nSelects a character set appropriate for Microsoft Windows (cp
\n1251).<\/p>\n
In rare cases, it may be desired to tailor less to use a character
\nset other than the ones definable by LESSCHARSET.\u00a0 In this case, the
\nenvironment variable LESSCHARDEF can be used to define a character
\nset.\u00a0 It should be set to a string where each character in the string
\nrepresents one character in the character set.\u00a0 The character “.” is
\nused for a normal character, “c” for control, and “b” for binary.\u00a0 A
\ndecimal number may be used for repetition.\u00a0 For example, “bccc4b.”
\nwould mean character 0 is binary, 1, 2 and 3 are control, 4, 5, 6 and
\n7 are binary, and 8 is normal.\u00a0 All characters after the last are
\ntaken to be the same as the last, so characters 9 through 255 would
\nbe normal.\u00a0 (This is an example, and does not necessarily represent
\nany real character set.)<\/p>\n
This table shows the value of LESSCHARDEF which is equivalent to each
\nof the possible values for LESSCHARSET:<\/p>\n
ascii\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 8bcccbcc18b95.b
\ndos\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 8bcccbcc12bc5b95.b.
\nebcdic\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 5bc6bcc7bcc41b.9b7.9b5.b..8b6.10b6.b9.7b
\n9.8b8.17b3.3b9.7b9.8b8.6b10.b.b.b.
\nIBM-1047\u00a0 4cbcbc3b9cbccbccbb4c6bcc5b3cbbc4bc4bccbc
\n191.b
\niso8859\u00a0\u00a0 8bcccbcc18b95.33b.
\nkoi8-r\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 8bcccbcc18b95.b128.
\nlatin1\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 8bcccbcc18b95.33b.
\nnext\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 8bcccbcc18b95.bb125.bb<\/p>\n
If neither LESSCHARSET nor LESSCHARDEF is set, but any of the strings
\n“UTF-8”, “UTF8”, “utf-8” or “utf8” is found in the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE
\nor LANG environment variables, then the default character set is
\nutf-8.<\/p>\n
If that string is not found, but your system supports the setlocale
\ninterface, less will use setlocale to determine the character set.
\nsetlocale is controlled by setting the LANG or LC_CTYPE environment
\nvariables.<\/p>\n
Finally, if the setlocale interface is also not available, the
\ndefault character set is latin1.<\/p>\n
Control and binary characters are displayed in standout (reverse
\nvideo).\u00a0 Each such character is displayed in caret notation if
\npossible (e.g. ^A for control-A).\u00a0 Caret notation is used only if
\ninverting the 0100 bit results in a normal printable character.
\nOtherwise, the character is displayed as a hex number in angle
\nbrackets.\u00a0 This format can be changed by setting the LESSBINFMT
\nenvironment variable.\u00a0 LESSBINFMT may begin with a “*” and one
\ncharacter to select the display attribute: “*k” is blinking, “*d” is
\nbold, “*u” is underlined, “*s” is standout, and “*n” is normal.\u00a0 If
\nLESSBINFMT does not begin with a “*”, normal attribute is assumed.
\nThe remainder of LESSBINFMT is a string which may include one printf-
\nstyle escape sequence (a % followed by x, X, o, d, etc.).\u00a0 For
\nexample, if LESSBINFMT is “*u[%x]”, binary characters are displayed
\nin underlined hexadecimal surrounded by brackets.\u00a0 The default if no
\nLESSBINFMT is specified is “*s<%02X>”.\u00a0 Warning: the result of
\nexpanding the character via LESSBINFMT must be less than 31
\ncharacters.<\/p>\n
When the character set is utf-8, the LESSUTFBINFMT environment
\nvariable acts similarly to LESSBINFMT but it applies to Unicode code
\npoints that were successfully decoded but are unsuitable for display
\n(e.g., unassigned code points).\u00a0 Its default value is “<U+%04lX>”.
\nNote that LESSUTFBINFMT and LESSBINFMT share their display attribute
\nsetting (“*x”) so specifying one will affect both; LESSUTFBINFMT is
\nread after LESSBINFMT so its setting, if any, will have priority.
\nProblematic octets in a UTF-8 file (octets of a truncated sequence,
\noctets of a complete but non-shortest form sequence, illegal octets,
\nand stray trailing octets) are displayed individually using
\nLESSBINFMT so as to facilitate diagnostic of how the UTF-8 file is
\nill-formed.<\/p>\n
PROMPTS<\/p>\n
The -P option allows you to tailor the prompt to your preference.
\nThe string given to the -P option replaces the specified prompt
\nstring.\u00a0 Certain characters in the string are interpreted specially.
\nThe prompt mechanism is rather complicated to provide flexibility,
\nbut the ordinary user need not understand the details of constructing
\npersonalized prompt strings.<\/p>\n
A percent sign followed by a single character is expanded according
\nto what the following character is:<\/p>\n
%bX\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Replaced by the byte offset into the current input file.\u00a0 The
\nb is followed by a single character (shown as X above) which
\nspecifies the line whose byte offset is to be used.\u00a0 If the
\ncharacter is a “t”, the byte offset of the top line in the
\ndisplay is used, an “m” means use the middle line, a “b” means
\nuse the bottom line, a “B” means use the line just after the
\nbottom line, and a “j” means use the “target” line, as
\nspecified by the -j option.<\/p>\n
%B\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Replaced by the size of the current input file.<\/p>\n
%c\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Replaced by the column number of the text appearing in the
\nfirst column of the screen.<\/p>\n
%dX\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Replaced by the page number of a line in the input file.\u00a0 The
\nline to be used is determined by the X, as with the %b option.<\/p>\n
%D\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Replaced by the number of pages in the input file, or
\nequivalently, the page number of the last line in the input
\nfile.<\/p>\n
%E\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Replaced by the name of the editor (from the VISUAL
\nenvironment variable, or the EDITOR environment variable if
\nVISUAL is not defined).\u00a0 See the discussion of the LESSEDIT
\nfeature below.<\/p>\n
%f\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Replaced by the name of the current input file.<\/p>\n
%F\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Replaced by the last component of the name of the current
\ninput file.<\/p>\n
%i\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Replaced by the index of the current file in the list of input
\nfiles.<\/p>\n
%lX\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Replaced by the line number of a line in the input file.\u00a0 The
\nline to be used is determined by the X, as with the %b option.<\/p>\n
%L\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Replaced by the line number of the last line in the input
\nfile.<\/p>\n
%m\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Replaced by the total number of input files.<\/p>\n
%pX\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Replaced by the percent into the current input file, based on
\nbyte offsets.\u00a0 The line used is determined by the X as with
\nthe %b option.<\/p>\n
%PX\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Replaced by the percent into the current input file, based on
\nline numbers.\u00a0 The line used is determined by the X as with
\nthe %b option.<\/p>\n
%s\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Same as %B.<\/p>\n
%t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Causes any trailing spaces to be removed.\u00a0 Usually used at the
\nend of the string, but may appear anywhere.<\/p>\n
%x\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Replaced by the name of the next input file in the list.<\/p>\n
If any item is unknown (for example, the file size if input is a
\npipe), a question mark is printed instead.<\/p>\n
The format of the prompt string can be changed depending on certain
\nconditions.\u00a0 A question mark followed by a single character acts like
\nan “IF”: depending on the following character, a condition is
\nevaluated.\u00a0 If the condition is true, any characters following the
\nquestion mark and condition character, up to a period, are included
\nin the prompt.\u00a0 If the condition is false, such characters are not
\nincluded.\u00a0 A colon appearing between the question mark and the period
\ncan be used to establish an “ELSE”: any characters between the colon
\nand the period are included in the string if and only if the IF
\ncondition is false.\u00a0 Condition characters (which follow a question
\nmark) may be:<\/p>\n
?a\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 True if any characters have been included in the prompt so
\nfar.<\/p>\n
?bX\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 True if the byte offset of the specified line is known.<\/p>\n
?B\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 True if the size of current input file is known.<\/p>\n
?c\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 True if the text is horizontally shifted (%c is not zero).<\/p>\n
?dX\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 True if the page number of the specified line is known.<\/p>\n
?e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 True if at end-of-file.<\/p>\n
?f\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 True if there is an input filename (that is, if input is not a
\npipe).<\/p>\n
?lX\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 True if the line number of the specified line is known.<\/p>\n
?L\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 True if the line number of the last line in the file is known.<\/p>\n
?m\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 True if there is more than one input file.<\/p>\n
?n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 True if this is the first prompt in a new input file.<\/p>\n
?pX\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 True if the percent into the current input file, based on byte
\noffsets, of the specified line is known.<\/p>\n
?PX\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 True if the percent into the current input file, based on line
\nnumbers, of the specified line is known.<\/p>\n
?s\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Same as “?B”.<\/p>\n
?x\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 True if there is a next input file (that is, if the current
\ninput file is not the last one).<\/p>\n
Any characters other than the special ones (question mark, colon,
\nperiod, percent, and backslash) become literally part of the prompt.
\nAny of the special characters may be included in the prompt literally
\nby preceding it with a backslash.<\/p>\n
Some examples:<\/p>\n
?f%f:Standard input.<\/p>\n
This prompt prints the filename, if known; otherwise the string
\n“Standard input”.<\/p>\n
?f%f .?ltLine %lt:?pt%pt\\%:?btByte %bt:-…<\/p>\n
This prompt would print the filename, if known.\u00a0 The filename is
\nfollowed by the line number, if known, otherwise the percent if
\nknown, otherwise the byte offset if known.\u00a0 Otherwise, a dash is
\nprinted.\u00a0 Notice how each question mark has a matching period, and
\nhow the % after the %pt is included literally by escaping it with a
\nbackslash.<\/p>\n
?n?f%f .?m(file %i of %m) ..?e(END) ?x- Next\\: %x..%t<\/p>\n
This prints the filename if this is the first prompt in a file,
\nfollowed by the “file N of N” message if there is more than one input
\nfile.\u00a0 Then, if we are at end-of-file, the string “(END)” is printed
\nfollowed by the name of the next file, if there is one.\u00a0 Finally, any
\ntrailing spaces are truncated.\u00a0 This is the default prompt.\u00a0 For
\nreference, here are the defaults for the other two prompts (-m and -M
\nrespectively).\u00a0 Each is broken into two lines here for readability
\nonly.<\/p>\n
?n?f%f .?m(file %i of %m) ..?e(END) ?x- Next\\: %x.:
\n?pB%pB\\%:byte %bB?s\/%s…%t<\/p>\n
?f%f .?n?m(file %i of %m) ..?ltlines %lt-%lb?L\/%L. :
\nbyte %bB?s\/%s. .?e(END) ?x- Next\\: %x.:?pB%pB\\%..%t<\/p>\n
And here is the default message produced by the = command:<\/p>\n
?f%f .?m(file %i of %m) .?ltlines %lt-%lb?L\/%L. .
\nbyte %bB?s\/%s. ?e(END) :?pB%pB\\%..%t<\/p>\n
The prompt expansion features are also used for another purpose: if
\nan environment variable LESSEDIT is defined, it is used as the
\ncommand to be executed when the v command is invoked.\u00a0 The LESSEDIT
\nstring is expanded in the same way as the prompt strings.\u00a0 The
\ndefault value for LESSEDIT is:<\/p>\n
%E ?lm+%lm. %f<\/p>\n
Note that this expands to the editor name, followed by a + and the
\nline number, followed by the file name.\u00a0 If your editor does not
\naccept the “+linenumber” syntax, or has other differences in
\ninvocation syntax, the LESSEDIT variable can be changed to modify
\nthis default.<\/p>\n
SECURITY<\/p>\n
When the environment variable LESSSECURE is set to 1, less runs in a
\n“secure” mode.\u00a0 This means these features are disabled:<\/p>\n
!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the shell command<\/p>\n
|\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the pipe command<\/p>\n
:e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the examine command.<\/p>\n
v\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the editing command<\/p>\n
s\u00a0 -o\u00a0 log files<\/p>\n
-k\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 use of lesskey files<\/p>\n
-t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 use of tags files<\/p>\n
metacharacters in filenames, such as *<\/p>\n
filename completion (TAB, ^L)<\/p>\n
Less can also be compiled to be permanently in “secure” mode.<\/p>\n
COMPATIBILITY WITH MORE<\/p>\n
If the environment variable LESS_IS_MORE is set to 1, or if the
\nprogram is invoked via a file link named “more”, less behaves
\n(mostly) in conformance with the POSIX “more” command specification.
\nIn this mode, less behaves differently in these ways:<\/p>\n
The -e option works differently.\u00a0 If the -e option is not set, less
\nbehaves as if the -E option were set.\u00a0 If the -e option is set, less
\nbehaves as if the -e and -F options were set.<\/p>\n
The -m option works differently.\u00a0 If the -m option is not set, the
\nmedium prompt is used, and it is prefixed with the string “–More–“.
\nIf the -m option is set, the short prompt is used.<\/p>\n
The -n option acts like the -z option.\u00a0 The normal behavior of the -n
\noption is unavailable in this mode.<\/p>\n
The parameter to the -p option is taken to be a less command rather
\nthan a search pattern.<\/p>\n
The LESS environment variable is ignored, and the MORE environment
\nvariable is used in its place.<\/p>\n
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES<\/p>\n
Environment variables may be specified either in the system
\nenvironment as usual, or in a lesskey (1) file.\u00a0 If environment
\nvariables are defined in more than one place, variables defined in a
\nlocal lesskey file take precedence over variables defined in the
\nsystem environment, which take precedence over variables defined in
\nthe system-wide lesskey file.<\/p>\n
COLUMNS
\nSets the number of columns on the screen.\u00a0 Takes precedence
\nover the number of columns specified by the TERM variable.
\n(But if you have a windowing system which supports TIOCGWINSZ
\nor WIOCGETD, the window system’s idea of the screen size takes
\nprecedence over the LINES and COLUMNS environment variables.)<\/p>\n
EDITOR The name of the editor (used for the v command).<\/p>\n
HOME\u00a0\u00a0 Name of the user’s home directory (used to find a lesskey file
\non Unix and OS\/2 systems).<\/p>\n
HOMEDRIVE, HOMEPATH
\nConcatenation of the HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH environment
\nvariables is the name of the user’s home directory if the HOME
\nvariable is not set (only in the Windows version).<\/p>\n
INIT\u00a0\u00a0 Name of the user’s init directory (used to find a lesskey file
\non OS\/2 systems).<\/p>\n
LANG\u00a0\u00a0 Language for determining the character set.<\/p>\n
LC_CTYPE
\nLanguage for determining the character set.<\/p>\n
LESS\u00a0\u00a0 Options which are passed to less automatically.<\/p>\n
LESSANSIENDCHARS
\nCharacters which may end an ANSI color escape sequence
\n(default “m”).<\/p>\n
LESSANSIMIDCHARS
\nCharacters which may appear between the ESC character and the
\nend character in an ANSI color escape sequence (default
\n“0123456789;[?!”‘#%()*+ “.<\/p>\n
LESSBINFMT
\nFormat for displaying non-printable, non-control characters.<\/p>\n
LESSCHARDEF
\nDefines a character set.<\/p>\n
LESSCHARSET
\nSelects a predefined character set.<\/p>\n
LESSCLOSE
\nCommand line to invoke the (optional) input-postprocessor.<\/p>\n
LESSECHO
\nName of the lessecho program (default “lessecho”).\u00a0 The
\nlessecho program is needed to expand metacharacters, such as *
\nand ?, in filenames on Unix systems.<\/p>\n
LESSEDIT
\nEditor prototype string (used for the v command).\u00a0 See
\ndiscussion under PROMPTS.<\/p>\n
LESSGLOBALTAGS
\nName of the command used by the -t option to find global tags.
\nNormally should be set to “global” if your system has the
\nglobal (1) command.\u00a0 If not set, global tags are not used.<\/p>\n
LESSHISTFILE
\nName of the history file used to remember search commands and
\nshell commands between invocations of less.\u00a0 If set to “-” or
\n“\/dev\/null”, a history file is not used.\u00a0 The default is
\n“$HOME\/.lesshst” on Unix systems, “$HOME\/_lesshst” on DOS and
\nWindows systems, or “$HOME\/lesshst.ini” or “$INIT\/lesshst.ini”
\non OS\/2 systems.<\/p>\n
LESSHISTSIZE
\nThe maximum number of commands to save in the history file.
\nThe default is 100.<\/p>\n
LESSKEY
\nName of the default lesskey(1) file.<\/p>\n
LESSKEY_SYSTEM
\nName of the default system-wide lesskey(1) file.<\/p>\n
LESSMETACHARS
\nList of characters which are considered “metacharacters” by
\nthe shell.<\/p>\n
LESSMETAESCAPE
\nPrefix which less will add before each metacharacter in a
\ncommand sent to the shell.\u00a0 If LESSMETAESCAPE is an empty
\nstring, commands containing metacharacters will not be passed
\nto the shell.<\/p>\n
LESSOPEN
\nCommand line to invoke the (optional) input-preprocessor.<\/p>\n
LESSSECURE
\nRuns less in “secure” mode.\u00a0 See discussion under SECURITY.<\/p>\n
LESSSEPARATOR
\nString to be appended to a directory name in filename
\ncompletion.<\/p>\n
LESSUTFBINFMT
\nFormat for displaying non-printable Unicode code points.<\/p>\n
LESS_IS_MORE
\nEmulate the more (1) command.<\/p>\n
LINES\u00a0 Sets the number of lines on the screen.\u00a0 Takes precedence over
\nthe number of lines specified by the TERM variable.\u00a0 (But if
\nyou have a windowing system which supports TIOCGWINSZ or
\nWIOCGETD, the window system’s idea of the screen size takes
\nprecedence over the LINES and COLUMNS environment variables.)<\/p>\n
MORE\u00a0\u00a0 Options which are passed to less automatically when running in
\nmore compatible mode.<\/p>\n
PATH\u00a0\u00a0 User’s search path (used to find a lesskey file on MS-DOS and
\nOS\/2 systems).<\/p>\n
SHELL\u00a0 The shell used to execute the ! command, as well as to expand
\nfilenames.<\/p>\n
TERM\u00a0\u00a0 The type of terminal on which less is being run.<\/p>\n
VISUAL The name of the editor (used for the v command).<\/p>\n
SEE ALSO<\/p>\n
lesskey(1)<\/p>\n
COPYRIGHT<\/p>\n
Copyright (C) 1984-2012\u00a0 Mark Nudelman<\/p>\n
less is part of the GNU project and is free software.\u00a0 You can
\nredistribute it and\/or modify it under the terms of either (1) the
\nGNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
\nFoundation; or (2) the Less License.\u00a0 See the file README in the less
\ndistribution for more details regarding redistribution.\u00a0 You should
\nhave received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with the
\nsource for less; see the file COPYING.\u00a0 If not, write to the Free
\nSoftware Foundation, 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA
\n02111-1307, USA.\u00a0 You should also have received a copy of the Less
\nLicense; see the file LICENSE.<\/p>\n
less is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
\nANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
\nFITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.\u00a0 See the GNU General Public License
\nfor more details.<\/p>\n
AUTHOR<\/p>\n
Mark Nudelman
\nSend bug reports or comments to <bug-less@gnu.org>
\nSee http:\/\/www.greenwoodsoftware.com\/less\/bugs.html for the latest
\nlist of known bugs in less.
\nFor more information, see the less homepage at
\nhttp:\/\/www.greenwoodsoftware.com\/less.<\/p>\n
COLOPHON<\/p>\n
This page is part of the less (A file pager) project.\u00a0 Information
\nabout the project can be found at
\n\u27e8http:\/\/www.greenwoodsoftware.com\/less\/\u27e9.\u00a0 If you have a bug report
\nfor this manual page, see
\n\u27e8http:\/\/www.greenwoodsoftware.com\/less\/faq.html#bugs\u27e9.\u00a0 This page was
\nobtained from the tarball less-458.tar.gz fetched from
\n\u27e8http:\/\/www.greenwoodsoftware.com\/less\/download.html\u27e9 on 2014-12-30.
\nIf you discover any rendering problems in this HTML version of the
\npage, or you believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for
\nthe page, or you have corrections or improvements to the information
\nin this COLOPHON (which is not part of the original manual page),
\nsend a mail to\u00a0man-pages@man7.org<\/p>\n
Version 458: 04 Apr 2013\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 LESS(1)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LESS(1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 General Commands Manual\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 LESS(1) NAME less – opposite of more SYNOPSIS less -? less –help less -V less –version less [-[+]aABcCdeEfFgGiIJKLmMnNqQrRsSuUVwWX~] [-b space] [-h lines] [-j line] [-k keyfile] [-{oO} logfile] [-p pattern] [-P prompt] [-t tag] [-T tagsfile] [-x tab,…] [-y lines] [-[z] lines] [-# shift] [+[+]cmd] [–] [filename]… (See the OPTIONS section […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shell"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":false,"total_views":0,"today_views":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.linuxboxen.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.linuxboxen.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.linuxboxen.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.linuxboxen.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.linuxboxen.dk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.linuxboxen.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.linuxboxen.dk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.linuxboxen.dk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.linuxboxen.dk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}