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@@ -18,12 +18,11 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) (See the OPTIONS section for alternate option syntax with long option names.) - [1mDESCRIPTION[0m - [4mLess[24m is a program similar to [4mmore[24m (1), but which allows backward move- + [4mLess[24m is a program similar to [4mmore[24m(1), but which allows backward move- ment in the file as well as forward movement. Also, [4mless[24m does not have to read the entire input file before starting, so with large input - files it starts up faster than text editors like [4mvi[24m (1). [4mLess[24m uses + files it starts up faster than text editors like [4mvi[24m(1). [4mLess[24m uses termcap (or terminfo on some systems), so it can run on a variety of terminals. There is even limited support for hardcopy terminals. (On a hardcopy terminal, lines which should be printed at the top of the @@ -33,20 +32,19 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) decimal number, called N in the descriptions below. The number is used by some commands, as indicated. - [1mCOMMANDS[0m In the following descriptions, ^X means control-X. ESC stands for the - ESCAPE key; for example ESC-v means the two character sequence - "ESCAPE", then "v". + ESCAPE key; for example ESC-v means the two character sequence "ES- + CAPE", then "v". h or H Help: display a summary of these commands. If you forget all the other commands, remember this one. SPACE or ^V or f or ^F - Scroll forward N lines, default one window (see option -z - below). If N is more than the screen size, only the final - screenful is displayed. Warning: some systems use ^V as a spe- - cial literalization character. + Scroll forward N lines, default one window (see option -z be- + low). If N is more than the screen size, only the final screen- + ful is displayed. Warning: some systems use ^V as a special + literalization character. z Like SPACE, but if N is specified, it becomes the new window size. @@ -65,9 +63,9 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) u commands. b or ^B or ESC-v - Scroll backward N lines, default one window (see option -z - below). If N is more than the screen size, only the final - screenful is displayed. + Scroll backward N lines, default one window (see option -z be- + low). If N is more than the screen size, only the final screen- + ful is displayed. w Like ESC-v, but if N is specified, it becomes the new window size. @@ -89,19 +87,18 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) ESC-) or RIGHTARROW Scroll horizontally right N characters, default half the screen - width (see the -# option). If a number N is specified, it - becomes the default for future RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW com- - mands. While the text is scrolled, it acts as though the -S - option (chop lines) were in effect. + width (see the -# option). If a number N is specified, it be- + comes the default for future RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW commands. + While the text is scrolled, it acts as though the -S option + (chop lines) were in effect. ESC-( or LEFTARROW Scroll horizontally left N characters, default half the screen - width (see the -# option). If a number N is specified, it - becomes the default for future RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW com- - mands. + width (see the -# option). If a number N is specified, it be- + comes the default for future RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW commands. ESC-} or ^RIGHTARROW - Scroll horizontally right to show the end of the longest dis- + Scroll horizontally right to show the end of the longest dis- played line. ESC-{ or ^LEFTARROW @@ -110,17 +107,17 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) r or ^R or ^L Repaint the screen. - R Repaint the screen, discarding any buffered input. Useful if + R Repaint the screen, discarding any buffered input. Useful if the file is changing while it is being viewed. - F Scroll forward, and keep trying to read when the end of file is - reached. Normally this command would be used when already at - the end of the file. It is a way to monitor the tail of a file - which is growing while it is being viewed. (The behavior is + F Scroll forward, and keep trying to read when the end of file is + reached. Normally this command would be used when already at + the end of the file. It is a way to monitor the tail of a file + which is growing while it is being viewed. (The behavior is similar to the "tail -f" command.) - ESC-F Like F, but as soon as a line is found which matches the last - search pattern, the terminal bell is rung and forward scrolling + ESC-F Like F, but as soon as a line is found which matches the last + search pattern, the terminal bell is rung and forward scrolling stops. g or < or ESC-< @@ -128,12 +125,12 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) ing: this may be slow if N is large.) G or > or ESC-> - Go to line N in the file, default the end of the file. (Warn- - ing: this may be slow if N is large, or if N is not specified + Go to line N in the file, default the end of the file. (Warn- + ing: this may be slow if N is large, or if N is not specified and standard input, rather than a file, is being read.) - ESC-G Same as G, except if no number N is specified and the input is - standard input, goes to the last line which is currently + ESC-G Same as G, except if no number N is specified and the input is + standard input, goes to the last line which is currently buffered. p or % Go to a position N percent into the file. N should be between 0 @@ -142,96 +139,96 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) P Go to the line containing byte offset N in the file. { If a left curly bracket appears in the top line displayed on the - screen, the { command will go to the matching right curly - bracket. The matching right curly bracket is positioned on the + screen, the { command will go to the matching right curly + bracket. The matching right curly bracket is positioned on the bottom line of the screen. If there is more than one left curly - bracket on the top line, a number N may be used to specify the + bracket on the top line, a number N may be used to specify the N-th bracket on the line. } If a right curly bracket appears in the bottom line displayed on - the screen, the } command will go to the matching left curly - bracket. The matching left curly bracket is positioned on the - top line of the screen. If there is more than one right curly - bracket on the top line, a number N may be used to specify the + the screen, the } command will go to the matching left curly + bracket. The matching left curly bracket is positioned on the + top line of the screen. If there is more than one right curly + bracket on the top line, a number N may be used to specify the N-th bracket on the line. ( Like {, but applies to parentheses rather than curly brackets. ) Like }, but applies to parentheses rather than curly brackets. - [ Like {, but applies to square brackets rather than curly brack- + [ Like {, but applies to square brackets rather than curly brack- ets. - ] Like }, but applies to square brackets rather than curly brack- + ] Like }, but applies to square brackets rather than curly brack- ets. - ESC-^F Followed by two characters, acts like {, but uses the two char- - acters as open and close brackets, respectively. For example, - "ESC ^F < >" could be used to go forward to the > which matches + ESC-^F Followed by two characters, acts like {, but uses the two char- + acters as open and close brackets, respectively. For example, + "ESC ^F < >" could be used to go forward to the > which matches the < in the top displayed line. - ESC-^B Followed by two characters, acts like }, but uses the two char- - acters as open and close brackets, respectively. For example, + ESC-^B Followed by two characters, acts like }, but uses the two char- + acters as open and close brackets, respectively. For example, "ESC ^B < >" could be used to go backward to the < which matches the > in the bottom displayed line. - m Followed by any lowercase or uppercase letter, marks the first - displayed line with that letter. If the status column is - enabled via the -J option, the status column shows the marked + m Followed by any lowercase or uppercase letter, marks the first + displayed line with that letter. If the status column is en- + abled via the -J option, the status column shows the marked line. - M Acts like m, except the last displayed line is marked rather + M Acts like m, except the last displayed line is marked rather than the first displayed line. - ' (Single quote.) Followed by any lowercase or uppercase letter, - returns to the position which was previously marked with that - letter. Followed by another single quote, returns to the posi- - tion at which the last "large" movement command was executed. - Followed by a ^ or $, jumps to the beginning or end of the file - respectively. Marks are preserved when a new file is examined, + ' (Single quote.) Followed by any lowercase or uppercase letter, + returns to the position which was previously marked with that + letter. Followed by another single quote, returns to the posi- + tion at which the last "large" movement command was executed. + Followed by a ^ or $, jumps to the beginning or end of the file + respectively. Marks are preserved when a new file is examined, so the ' command can be used to switch between input files. ^X^X Same as single quote. - ESC-m Followed by any lowercase or uppercase letter, clears the mark + ESC-m Followed by any lowercase or uppercase letter, clears the mark identified by that letter. /pattern Search forward in the file for the N-th line containing the pat- tern. N defaults to 1. The pattern is a regular expression, as - recognized by the regular expression library supplied by your - system. The search starts at the first line displayed (but see + recognized by the regular expression library supplied by your + system. The search starts at the first line displayed (but see the -a and -j options, which change this). - Certain characters are special if entered at the beginning of - the pattern; they modify the type of search rather than become + Certain characters are special if entered at the beginning of + the pattern; they modify the type of search rather than become part of the pattern: ^N or ! Search for lines which do NOT match the pattern. ^E or * - Search multiple files. That is, if the search reaches - the END of the current file without finding a match, the - search continues in the next file in the command line + Search multiple files. That is, if the search reaches + the END of the current file without finding a match, the + search continues in the next file in the command line list. ^F or @ - Begin the search at the first line of the FIRST file in - the command line list, regardless of what is currently - displayed on the screen or the settings of the -a or -j + Begin the search at the first line of the FIRST file in + the command line list, regardless of what is currently + displayed on the screen or the settings of the -a or -j options. - ^K Highlight any text which matches the pattern on the cur- + ^K Highlight any text which matches the pattern on the cur- rent screen, but don't move to the first match (KEEP cur- rent position). - ^R Don't interpret regular expression metacharacters; that + ^R Don't interpret regular expression metacharacters; that is, do a simple textual comparison. ?pattern - Search backward in the file for the N-th line containing the - pattern. The search starts at the last line displayed (but see + Search backward in the file for the N-th line containing the + pattern. The search starts at the last line displayed (but see the -a and -j options, which change this). Certain characters are special as in the / command: @@ -240,16 +237,16 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) Search for lines which do NOT match the pattern. ^E or * - Search multiple files. That is, if the search reaches - the beginning of the current file without finding a - match, the search continues in the previous file in the + Search multiple files. That is, if the search reaches + the beginning of the current file without finding a + match, the search continues in the previous file in the command line list. ^F or @ Begin the search at the last line of the last file in the - command line list, regardless of what is currently dis- - played on the screen or the settings of the -a or -j - options. + command line list, regardless of what is currently dis- + played on the screen or the settings of the -a or -j op- + tions. ^K As in forward searches. @@ -261,36 +258,36 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) ESC-?pattern Same as "?*". - n Repeat previous search, for N-th line containing the last pat- - tern. If the previous search was modified by ^N, the search is - made for the N-th line NOT containing the pattern. If the pre- - vious search was modified by ^E, the search continues in the - next (or previous) file if not satisfied in the current file. - If the previous search was modified by ^R, the search is done - without using regular expressions. There is no effect if the + n Repeat previous search, for N-th line containing the last pat- + tern. If the previous search was modified by ^N, the search is + made for the N-th line NOT containing the pattern. If the pre- + vious search was modified by ^E, the search continues in the + next (or previous) file if not satisfied in the current file. + If the previous search was modified by ^R, the search is done + without using regular expressions. There is no effect if the previous search was modified by ^F or ^K. N Repeat previous search, but in the reverse direction. - ESC-n Repeat previous search, but crossing file boundaries. The - effect is as if the previous search were modified by *. + ESC-n Repeat previous search, but crossing file boundaries. The ef- + fect is as if the previous search were modified by *. - ESC-N Repeat previous search, but in the reverse direction and cross- + ESC-N Repeat previous search, but in the reverse direction and cross- ing file boundaries. - ESC-u Undo search highlighting. Turn off highlighting of strings + ESC-u Undo search highlighting. Turn off highlighting of strings matching the current search pattern. If highlighting is already - off because of a previous ESC-u command, turn highlighting back - on. Any search command will also turn highlighting back on. + off because of a previous ESC-u command, turn highlighting back + on. Any search command will also turn highlighting back on. (Highlighting can also be disabled by toggling the -G option; in that case search commands do not turn highlighting back on.) &pattern - Display only lines which match the pattern; lines which do not - match the pattern are not displayed. If pattern is empty (if - you type & immediately followed by ENTER), any filtering is - turned off, and all lines are displayed. While filtering is in - effect, an ampersand is displayed at the beginning of the + Display only lines which match the pattern; lines which do not + match the pattern are not displayed. If pattern is empty (if + you type & immediately followed by ENTER), any filtering is + turned off, and all lines are displayed. While filtering is in + effect, an ampersand is displayed at the beginning of the prompt, as a reminder that some lines in the file may be hidden. Certain characters are special as in the / command: @@ -298,98 +295,98 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) ^N or ! Display only lines which do NOT match the pattern. - ^R Don't interpret regular expression metacharacters; that + ^R Don't interpret regular expression metacharacters; that is, do a simple textual comparison. :e [filename] - Examine a new file. If the filename is missing, the "current" - file (see the :n and :p commands below) from the list of files - in the command line is re-examined. A percent sign (%) in the - filename is replaced by the name of the current file. A pound - sign (#) is replaced by the name of the previously examined - file. However, two consecutive percent signs are simply - replaced with a single percent sign. This allows you to enter a - filename that contains a percent sign in the name. Similarly, - two consecutive pound signs are replaced with a single pound - sign. The filename is inserted into the command line list of - files so that it can be seen by subsequent :n and :p commands. + Examine a new file. If the filename is missing, the "current" + file (see the :n and :p commands below) from the list of files + in the command line is re-examined. A percent sign (%) in the + filename is replaced by the name of the current file. A pound + sign (#) is replaced by the name of the previously examined + file. However, two consecutive percent signs are simply re- + placed with a single percent sign. This allows you to enter a + filename that contains a percent sign in the name. Similarly, + two consecutive pound signs are replaced with a single pound + sign. The filename is inserted into the command line list of + files so that it can be seen by subsequent :n and :p commands. If the filename consists of several files, they are all inserted - into the list of files and the first one is examined. If the + into the list of files and the first one is examined. If the filename contains one or more spaces, the entire filename should be enclosed in double quotes (also see the -" option). ^X^V or E - Same as :e. Warning: some systems use ^V as a special literal- - ization character. On such systems, you may not be able to use + Same as :e. Warning: some systems use ^V as a special literal- + ization character. On such systems, you may not be able to use ^V. - :n Examine the next file (from the list of files given in the com- - mand line). If a number N is specified, the N-th next file is + :n Examine the next file (from the list of files given in the com- + mand line). If a number N is specified, the N-th next file is examined. :p Examine the previous file in the command line list. If a number N is specified, the N-th previous file is examined. - :x Examine the first file in the command line list. If a number N + :x Examine the first file in the command line list. If a number N is specified, the N-th file in the list is examined. :d Remove the current file from the list of files. - t Go to the next tag, if there were more than one matches for the + t Go to the next tag, if there were more than one matches for the current tag. See the -t option for more details about tags. - T Go to the previous tag, if there were more than one matches for + T Go to the previous tag, if there were more than one matches for the current tag. = or ^G or :f - Prints some information about the file being viewed, including - its name and the line number and byte offset of the bottom line - being displayed. If possible, it also prints the length of the - file, the number of lines in the file and the percent of the + Prints some information about the file being viewed, including + its name and the line number and byte offset of the bottom line + being displayed. If possible, it also prints the length of the + file, the number of lines in the file and the percent of the file above the last displayed line. - - Followed by one of the command line option letters (see OPTIONS - below), this will change the setting of that option and print a - message describing the new setting. If a ^P (CONTROL-P) is - entered immediately after the dash, the setting of the option is - changed but no message is printed. If the option letter has a - numeric value (such as -b or -h), or a string value (such as -P - or -t), a new value may be entered after the option letter. If - no new value is entered, a message describing the current set- + - Followed by one of the command line option letters (see OPTIONS + below), this will change the setting of that option and print a + message describing the new setting. If a ^P (CONTROL-P) is en- + tered immediately after the dash, the setting of the option is + changed but no message is printed. If the option letter has a + numeric value (such as -b or -h), or a string value (such as -P + or -t), a new value may be entered after the option letter. If + no new value is entered, a message describing the current set- ting is printed and nothing is changed. - -- Like the - command, but takes a long option name (see OPTIONS + -- Like the - command, but takes a long option name (see OPTIONS below) rather than a single option letter. You must press ENTER - or RETURN after typing the option name. A ^P immediately after - the second dash suppresses printing of a message describing the + or RETURN after typing the option name. A ^P immediately after + the second dash suppresses printing of a message describing the new setting, as in the - command. - -+ Followed by one of the command line option letters this will - reset the option to its default setting and print a message - describing the new setting. (The "-+[4mX[24m" command does the same - thing as "-+[4mX[24m" on the command line.) This does not work for + -+ Followed by one of the command line option letters this will re- + set the option to its default setting and print a message de- + scribing the new setting. (The "-+[4mX[24m" command does the same + thing as "-+[4mX[24m" on the command line.) This does not work for string-valued options. - --+ Like the -+ command, but takes a long option name rather than a + --+ Like the -+ command, but takes a long option name rather than a single option letter. - -! Followed by one of the command line option letters, this will - reset the option to the "opposite" of its default setting and - print a message describing the new setting. This does not work + -! Followed by one of the command line option letters, this will + reset the option to the "opposite" of its default setting and + print a message describing the new setting. This does not work for numeric or string-valued options. - --! Like the -! command, but takes a long option name rather than a + --! Like the -! command, but takes a long option name rather than a single option letter. - _ (Underscore.) Followed by one of the command line option let- - ters, this will print a message describing the current setting + _ (Underscore.) Followed by one of the command line option let- + ters, this will print a message describing the current setting of that option. The setting of the option is not changed. __ (Double underscore.) Like the _ (underscore) command, but takes a long option name rather than a single option letter. You must press ENTER or RETURN after typing the option name. - +cmd Causes the specified cmd to be executed each time a new file is + +cmd Causes the specified cmd to be executed each time a new file is examined. For example, +G causes [4mless[24m to initially display each file starting at the end rather than the beginning. @@ -398,51 +395,51 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) q or Q or :q or :Q or ZZ Exits [4mless[24m. - The following four commands may or may not be valid, depending on your + The following four commands may or may not be valid, depending on your particular installation. - v Invokes an editor to edit the current file being viewed. The + v Invokes an editor to edit the current file being viewed. The editor is taken from the environment variable VISUAL if defined, - or EDITOR if VISUAL is not defined, or defaults to "vi" if nei- - ther VISUAL nor EDITOR is defined. See also the discussion of + or EDITOR if VISUAL is not defined, or defaults to "vi" if nei- + ther VISUAL nor EDITOR is defined. See also the discussion of LESSEDIT under the section on PROMPTS below. ! shell-command - Invokes a shell to run the shell-command given. A percent sign - (%) in the command is replaced by the name of the current file. + Invokes a shell to run the shell-command given. A percent sign + (%) in the command is replaced by the name of the current file. A pound sign (#) is replaced by the name of the previously exam- - ined file. "!!" repeats the last shell command. "!" with no - shell command simply invokes a shell. On Unix systems, the - shell is taken from the environment variable SHELL, or defaults - to "sh". On MS-DOS and OS/2 systems, the shell is the normal + ined file. "!!" repeats the last shell command. "!" with no + shell command simply invokes a shell. On Unix systems, the + shell is taken from the environment variable SHELL, or defaults + to "sh". On MS-DOS and OS/2 systems, the shell is the normal command processor. | <m> shell-command - <m> represents any mark letter. Pipes a section of the input - file to the given shell command. The section of the file to be - piped is between the position marked by the letter and the cur- - rent screen. The entire current screen is included, regardless - of whether the marked position is before or after the current - screen. <m> may also be ^ or $ to indicate beginning or end of - file respectively. If <m> is . or newline, the current screen + <m> represents any mark letter. Pipes a section of the input + file to the given shell command. The section of the file to be + piped is between the position marked by the letter and the cur- + rent screen. The entire current screen is included, regardless + of whether the marked position is before or after the current + screen. <m> may also be ^ or $ to indicate beginning or end of + file respectively. If <m> is . or newline, the current screen is piped. s filename - Save the input to a file. This only works if the input is a + Save the input to a file. This only works if the input is a pipe, not an ordinary file. [1mOPTIONS[0m - Command line options are described below. Most options may be changed + Command line options are described below. Most options may be changed while [4mless[24m is running, via the "-" command. - Most options may be given in one of two forms: either a dash followed - by a single letter, or two dashes followed by a long option name. A - long option name may be abbreviated as long as the abbreviation is - unambiguous. For example, --quit-at-eof may be abbreviated --quit, but + Most options may be given in one of two forms: either a dash followed + by a single letter, or two dashes followed by a long option name. A + long option name may be abbreviated as long as the abbreviation is un- + ambiguous. For example, --quit-at-eof may be abbreviated --quit, but not --qui, since both --quit-at-eof and --quiet begin with --qui. Some - long option names are in uppercase, such as --QUIT-AT-EOF, as distinct - from --quit-at-eof. Such option names need only have their first let- - ter capitalized; the remainder of the name may be in either case. For + long option names are in uppercase, such as --QUIT-AT-EOF, as distinct + from --quit-at-eof. Such option names need only have their first let- + ter capitalized; the remainder of the name may be in either case. For example, --Quit-at-eof is equivalent to --QUIT-AT-EOF. Options are also taken from the environment variable "LESS". For exam- @@ -455,76 +452,76 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) LESS="-options"; export LESS - On MS-DOS, you don't need the quotes, but you should replace any per- + On MS-DOS, you don't need the quotes, but you should replace any per- cent signs in the options string by double percent signs. - The environment variable is parsed before the command line, so command - line options override the LESS environment variable. If an option - appears in the LESS variable, it can be reset to its default value on - the command line by beginning the command line option with "-+". + The environment variable is parsed before the command line, so command + line options override the LESS environment variable. If an option ap- + pears in the LESS variable, it can be reset to its default value on the + command line by beginning the command line option with "-+". - Some options like -k or -D require a string to follow the option let- - ter. The string for that option is considered to end when a dollar - sign ($) is found. For example, you can set two -D options on MS-DOS + Some options like -k or -D require a string to follow the option let- + ter. The string for that option is considered to end when a dollar + sign ($) is found. For example, you can set two -D options on MS-DOS like this: LESS="Dn9.1$Ds4.1" - If the --use-backslash option appears earlier in the options, then a - dollar sign or backslash may be included literally in an option string + If the --use-backslash option appears earlier in the options, then a + dollar sign or backslash may be included literally in an option string by preceding it with a backslash. If the --use-backslash option is not - in effect, then backslashes are not treated specially, and there is no + in effect, then backslashes are not treated specially, and there is no way to include a dollar sign in the option string. -? or --help - This option displays a summary of the commands accepted by [4mless[0m - (the same as the h command). (Depending on how your shell - interprets the question mark, it may be necessary to quote the + This option displays a summary of the commands accepted by [4mless[0m + (the same as the h command). (Depending on how your shell in- + terprets the question mark, it may be necessary to quote the question mark, thus: "-\?".) -a or --search-skip-screen - By default, forward searches start at the top of the displayed - screen and backwards searches start at the bottom of the dis- - played screen (except for repeated searches invoked by the n or - N commands, which start after or before the "target" line - respectively; see the -j option for more about the target line). - The -a option causes forward searches to instead start at the - bottom of the screen and backward searches to start at the top + By default, forward searches start at the top of the displayed + screen and backwards searches start at the bottom of the dis- + played screen (except for repeated searches invoked by the n or + N commands, which start after or before the "target" line re- + spectively; see the -j option for more about the target line). + The -a option causes forward searches to instead start at the + bottom of the screen and backward searches to start at the top of the screen, thus skipping all lines displayed on the screen. -A or --SEARCH-SKIP-SCREEN - Causes all forward searches (not just non-repeated searches) to - start just after the target line, and all backward searches to - start just before the target line. Thus, forward searches will + Causes all forward searches (not just non-repeated searches) to + start just after the target line, and all backward searches to + start just before the target line. Thus, forward searches will skip part of the displayed screen (from the first line up to and - including the target line). Similarly backwards searches will + including the target line). Similarly backwards searches will skip the displayed screen from the last line up to and including the target line. This was the default behavior in less versions prior to 441. -b[4mn[24m or --buffers=[4mn[0m - Specifies the amount of buffer space [4mless[24m will use for each - file, in units of kilobytes (1024 bytes). By default 64 K of - buffer space is used for each file (unless the file is a pipe; - see the -B option). The -b option specifies instead that [4mn[0m + Specifies the amount of buffer space [4mless[24m will use for each + file, in units of kilobytes (1024 bytes). By default 64 KB of + buffer space is used for each file (unless the file is a pipe; + see the -B option). The -b option specifies instead that [4mn[0m kilobytes of buffer space should be used for each file. If [4mn[24m is - -1, buffer space is unlimited; that is, the entire file can be + -1, buffer space is unlimited; that is, the entire file can be read into memory. -B or --auto-buffers By default, when data is read from a pipe, buffers are allocated automatically as needed. If a large amount of data is read from - the pipe, this can cause a large amount of memory to be allo- + the pipe, this can cause a large amount of memory to be allo- cated. The -B option disables this automatic allocation of buf- - fers for pipes, so that only 64 K (or the amount of space speci- - fied by the -b option) is used for the pipe. Warning: use of -B - can result in erroneous display, since only the most recently - viewed part of the piped data is kept in memory; any earlier + fers for pipes, so that only 64 KB (or the amount of space spec- + ified by the -b option) is used for the pipe. Warning: use of + -B can result in erroneous display, since only the most recently + viewed part of the piped data is kept in memory; any earlier data is lost. -c or --clear-screen - Causes full screen repaints to be painted from the top line - down. By default, full screen repaints are done by scrolling + Causes full screen repaints to be painted from the top line + down. By default, full screen repaints are done by scrolling from the bottom of the screen. -C or --CLEAR-SCREEN @@ -532,27 +529,26 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) -d or --dumb The -d option suppresses the error message normally displayed if - the terminal is dumb; that is, lacks some important capability, + the terminal is dumb; that is, lacks some important capability, such as the ability to clear the screen or scroll backward. The - -d option does not otherwise change the behavior of [4mless[24m on a + -d option does not otherwise change the behavior of [4mless[24m on a dumb terminal. -D[1mx[4m[22mcolor[24m or --color=[1mx[4m[22mcolor[0m [MS-DOS only] Sets the color of the text displayed. [1mx [22mis a sin- - gle character which selects the type of text whose color is - being set: n=normal, s=standout, d=bold, u=underlined, k=blink. - [4mcolor[24m is a pair of numbers separated by a period. The first - number selects the foreground color and the second selects the - background color of the text. A single number [4mN[24m is the same as - [4mN.M[24m, where [4mM[24m is the normal background color. The color may - start or end with [1mu [22mto use underline (with the normal color, if - by itself), if the system supports it (Windows only). [1mx [22mmay + gle character which selects the type of text whose color is be- + ing set: n=normal, s=standout, d=bold, u=underlined, k=blink. + [4mcolor[24m is a pair of numbers separated by a period. The first + number selects the foreground color and the second selects the + background color of the text. A single number [4mN[24m is the same as + [4mN.M[24m, where [4mM[24m is the normal background color. The color may + start or end with [1mu [22mto use underline (with the normal color, if + by itself), if the system supports it (Windows only). [1mx [22mmay also be [1ma [22mto toggle strict ANSI sequence rendering (SGR mode). - -e or --quit-at-eof - Causes [4mless[24m to automatically exit the second time it reaches - end-of-file. By default, the only way to exit [4mless[24m is via the + Causes [4mless[24m to automatically exit the second time it reaches + end-of-file. By default, the only way to exit [4mless[24m is via the "q" command. -E or --QUIT-AT-EOF @@ -561,7 +557,7 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) -f or --force Forces non-regular files to be opened. (A non-regular file is a - directory or a device special file.) Also suppresses the warn- + directory or a device special file.) Also suppresses the warn- ing message when a binary file is opened. By default, [4mless[24m will refuse to open non-regular files. Note that some operating sys- tems will not allow directories to be read, even if -f is set. @@ -571,244 +567,244 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) played on the first screen. -g or --hilite-search - Normally, [4mless[24m will highlight ALL strings which match the last - search command. The -g option changes this behavior to high- - light only the particular string which was found by the last + Normally, [4mless[24m will highlight ALL strings which match the last + search command. The -g option changes this behavior to high- + light only the particular string which was found by the last search command. This can cause [4mless[24m to run somewhat faster than the default. -G or --HILITE-SEARCH - The -G option suppresses all highlighting of strings found by + The -G option suppresses all highlighting of strings found by search commands. -h[4mn[24m or --max-back-scroll=[4mn[0m - Specifies a maximum number of lines to scroll backward. If it + Specifies a maximum number of lines to scroll backward. If it is necessary to scroll backward more than [4mn[24m lines, the screen is repainted in a forward direction instead. (If the terminal does not have the ability to scroll backward, -h0 is implied.) -i or --ignore-case Causes searches to ignore case; that is, uppercase and lowercase - are considered identical. This option is ignored if any upper- - case letters appear in the search pattern; in other words, if a - pattern contains uppercase letters, then that search does not + are considered identical. This option is ignored if any upper- + case letters appear in the search pattern; in other words, if a + pattern contains uppercase letters, then that search does not ignore case. -I or --IGNORE-CASE - Like -i, but searches ignore case even if the pattern contains + Like -i, but searches ignore case even if the pattern contains uppercase letters. -j[4mn[24m or --jump-target=[4mn[0m - Specifies a line on the screen where the "target" line is to be - positioned. The target line is the line specified by any com- - mand to search for a pattern, jump to a line number, jump to a + Specifies a line on the screen where the "target" line is to be + positioned. The target line is the line specified by any com- + mand to search for a pattern, jump to a line number, jump to a file percentage or jump to a tag. The screen line may be speci- - fied by a number: the top line on the screen is 1, the next is + fied by a number: the top line on the screen is 1, the next is 2, and so on. The number may be negative to specify a line rel- ative to the bottom of the screen: the bottom line on the screen - is -1, the second to the bottom is -2, and so on. Alternately, - the screen line may be specified as a fraction of the height of - the screen, starting with a decimal point: .5 is in the middle - of the screen, .3 is three tenths down from the first line, and - so on. If the line is specified as a fraction, the actual line - number is recalculated if the terminal window is resized, so - that the target line remains at the specified fraction of the - screen height. If any form of the -j option is used, repeated - forward searches (invoked with "n" or "N") begin at the line - immediately after the target line, and repeated backward - searches begin at the target line, unless changed by -a or -A. - For example, if "-j4" is used, the target line is the fourth - line on the screen, so forward searches begin at the fifth line - on the screen. However nonrepeated searches (invoked with "/" - or "?") always begin at the start or end of the current screen - respectively. + is -1, the second to the bottom is -2, and so on. Alternately, + the screen line may be specified as a fraction of the height of + the screen, starting with a decimal point: .5 is in the middle + of the screen, .3 is three tenths down from the first line, and + so on. If the line is specified as a fraction, the actual line + number is recalculated if the terminal window is resized, so + that the target line remains at the specified fraction of the + screen height. If any form of the -j option is used, repeated + forward searches (invoked with "n" or "N") begin at the line im- + mediately after the target line, and repeated backward searches + begin at the target line, unless changed by -a or -A. For exam- + ple, if "-j4" is used, the target line is the fourth line on the + screen, so forward searches begin at the fifth line on the + screen. However nonrepeated searches (invoked with "/" or "?") + always begin at the start or end of the current screen respec- + tively. -J or --status-column - Displays a status column at the left edge of the screen. The - status column shows the lines that matched the current search, - and any lines that are marked (via the m or M command). The + Displays a status column at the left edge of the screen. The + status column shows the lines that matched the current search, + and any lines that are marked (via the m or M command). The status column is also used if the -w or -W option is in effect. -k[4mfilename[24m or --lesskey-file=[4mfilename[0m - Causes [4mless[24m to open and interpret the named file as a [4mlesskey[0m - (1) file. Multiple -k options may be specified. If the LESSKEY - or LESSKEY_SYSTEM environment variable is set, or if a lesskey - file is found in a standard place (see KEY BINDINGS), it is also - used as a [4mlesskey[24m file. + Causes [4mless[24m to open and interpret the named file as a [4mlesskey[24m(1) + file. Multiple -k options may be specified. If the LESSKEY or + LESSKEY_SYSTEM environment variable is set, or if a lesskey file + is found in a standard place (see KEY BINDINGS), it is also used + as a [4mlesskey[24m file. -K or --quit-on-intr - Causes [4mless[24m to exit immediately (with status 2) when an inter- - rupt character (usually ^C) is typed. Normally, an interrupt + Causes [4mless[24m to exit immediately (with status 2) when an inter- + rupt character (usually ^C) is typed. Normally, an interrupt character causes [4mless[24m to stop whatever it is doing and return to - its command prompt. Note that use of this option makes it - impossible to return to the command prompt from the "F" command. + its command prompt. Note that use of this option makes it im- + possible to return to the command prompt from the "F" command. -L or --no-lessopen - Ignore the LESSOPEN environment variable (see the INPUT PRE- - PROCESSOR section below). This option can be set from within - [4mless[24m, but it will apply only to files opened subsequently, not + Ignore the LESSOPEN environment variable (see the INPUT PRE- + PROCESSOR section below). This option can be set from within + [4mless[24m, but it will apply only to files opened subsequently, not to the file which is currently open. -m or --long-prompt - Causes [4mless[24m to prompt verbosely (like [4mmore[24m), with the percent + Causes [4mless[24m to prompt verbosely (like [4mmore[24m), with the percent into the file. By default, [4mless[24m prompts with a colon. -M or --LONG-PROMPT Causes [4mless[24m to prompt even more verbosely than [4mmore[24m. -n or --line-numbers - Suppresses line numbers. The default (to use line numbers) may - cause [4mless[24m to run more slowly in some cases, especially with a - very large input file. Suppressing line numbers with the -n - option will avoid this problem. Using line numbers means: the + Suppresses line numbers. The default (to use line numbers) may + cause [4mless[24m to run more slowly in some cases, especially with a + very large input file. Suppressing line numbers with the -n op- + tion will avoid this problem. Using line numbers means: the line number will be displayed in the verbose prompt and in the = - command, and the v command will pass the current line number to - the editor (see also the discussion of LESSEDIT in PROMPTS - below). + command, and the v command will pass the current line number to + the editor (see also the discussion of LESSEDIT in PROMPTS be- + low). -N or --LINE-NUMBERS - Causes a line number to be displayed at the beginning of each + Causes a line number to be displayed at the beginning of each line in the display. -o[4mfilename[24m or --log-file=[4mfilename[0m - Causes [4mless[24m to copy its input to the named file as it is being + Causes [4mless[24m to copy its input to the named file as it is being viewed. This applies only when the input file is a pipe, not an - ordinary file. If the file already exists, [4mless[24m will ask for + ordinary file. If the file already exists, [4mless[24m will ask for confirmation before overwriting it. -O[4mfilename[24m or --LOG-FILE=[4mfilename[0m The -O option is like -o, but it will overwrite an existing file without asking for confirmation. - If no log file has been specified, the -o and -O options can be - used from within [4mless[24m to specify a log file. Without a file + If no log file has been specified, the -o and -O options can be + used from within [4mless[24m to specify a log file. Without a file name, they will simply report the name of the log file. The "s" command is equivalent to specifying -o from within [4mless[24m. -p[4mpattern[24m or --pattern=[4mpattern[0m - The -p option on the command line is equivalent to specifying - +/[4mpattern[24m; that is, it tells [4mless[24m to start at the first occur- + The -p option on the command line is equivalent to specifying + +/[4mpattern[24m; that is, it tells [4mless[24m to start at the first occur- rence of [4mpattern[24m in the file. -P[4mprompt[24m or --prompt=[4mprompt[0m - Provides a way to tailor the three prompt styles to your own + Provides a way to tailor the three prompt styles to your own preference. This option would normally be put in the LESS envi- ronment variable, rather than being typed in with each [4mless[24m com- mand. Such an option must either be the last option in the LESS variable, or be terminated by a dollar sign. - -Ps followed by a string changes the default (short) prompt to + -Ps followed by a string changes the default (short) prompt to that string. -Pm changes the medium (-m) prompt. -PM changes the long (-M) prompt. -Ph changes the prompt for the help screen. -P= changes the message printed by the = command. - -Pw changes the message printed while waiting for data (in the + -Pw changes the message printed while waiting for data (in the F command). - All prompt strings consist of a sequence of letters and special + All prompt strings consist of a sequence of letters and special escape sequences. See the section on PROMPTS for more details. -q or --quiet or --silent - Causes moderately "quiet" operation: the terminal bell is not + Causes moderately "quiet" operation: the terminal bell is not rung if an attempt is made to scroll past the end of the file or before the beginning of the file. If the terminal has a "visual - bell", it is used instead. The bell will be rung on certain - other errors, such as typing an invalid character. The default + bell", it is used instead. The bell will be rung on certain + other errors, such as typing an invalid character. The default is to ring the terminal bell in all such cases. -Q or --QUIET or --SILENT - Causes totally "quiet" operation: the terminal bell is never - rung. If the terminal has a "visual bell", it is used in all + Causes totally "quiet" operation: the terminal bell is never + rung. If the terminal has a "visual bell", it is used in all cases where the terminal bell would have been rung. -r or --raw-control-chars Causes "raw" control characters to be displayed. The default is - to display control characters using the caret notation; for - example, a control-A (octal 001) is displayed as "^A". Warning: + to display control characters using the caret notation; for ex- + ample, a control-A (octal 001) is displayed as "^A". Warning: when the -r option is used, [4mless[24m cannot keep track of the actual - appearance of the screen (since this depends on how the screen + appearance of the screen (since this depends on how the screen responds to each type of control character). Thus, various dis- - play problems may result, such as long lines being split in the + play problems may result, such as long lines being split in the wrong place. -R or --RAW-CONTROL-CHARS - Like -r, but only ANSI "color" escape sequences are output in + Like -r, but only ANSI "color" escape sequences are output in "raw" form. Unlike -r, the screen appearance is maintained cor- - rectly in most cases. ANSI "color" escape sequences are - sequences of the form: + rectly in most cases. ANSI "color" escape sequences are se- + quences of the form: ESC [ ... m - where the "..." is zero or more color specification characters - For the purpose of keeping track of screen appearance, ANSI - color escape sequences are assumed to not move the cursor. You - can make [4mless[24m think that characters other than "m" can end ANSI - color escape sequences by setting the environment variable + where the "..." is zero or more color specification characters + For the purpose of keeping track of screen appearance, ANSI + color escape sequences are assumed to not move the cursor. You + can make [4mless[24m think that characters other than "m" can end ANSI + color escape sequences by setting the environment variable LESSANSIENDCHARS to the list of characters which can end a color - escape sequence. And you can make [4mless[24m think that characters - other than the standard ones may appear between the ESC and the - m by setting the environment variable LESSANSIMIDCHARS to the + escape sequence. And you can make [4mless[24m think that characters + other than the standard ones may appear between the ESC and the + m by setting the environment variable LESSANSIMIDCHARS to the list of characters which can appear. -s or --squeeze-blank-lines - Causes consecutive blank lines to be squeezed into a single + Causes consecutive blank lines to be squeezed into a single blank line. This is useful when viewing [4mnroff[24m output. -S or --chop-long-lines - Causes lines longer than the screen width to be chopped (trun- + Causes lines longer than the screen width to be chopped (trun- cated) rather than wrapped. That is, the portion of a long line - that does not fit in the screen width is not shown. The default - is to wrap long lines; that is, display the remainder on the - next line. + that does not fit in the screen width is not displayed until you + press RIGHT-ARROW. The default is to wrap long lines; that is, + display the remainder on the next line. -t[4mtag[24m or --tag=[4mtag[0m The -t option, followed immediately by a TAG, will edit the file - containing that tag. For this to work, tag information must be - available; for example, there may be a file in the current - directory called "tags", which was previously built by [4mctags[24m (1) - or an equivalent command. If the environment variable LESSGLOB- - ALTAGS is set, it is taken to be the name of a command compati- - ble with [4mglobal[24m (1), and that command is executed to find the - tag. (See http://www.gnu.org/software/global/global.html). The - -t option may also be specified from within [4mless[24m (using the - - command) as a way of examining a new file. The command ":t" is + containing that tag. For this to work, tag information must be + available; for example, there may be a file in the current di- + rectory called "tags", which was previously built by [4mctags[24m(1) or + an equivalent command. If the environment variable LESSGLOBALT- + AGS is set, it is taken to be the name of a command compatible + with [4mglobal[24m(1), and that command is executed to find the tag. + (See http://www.gnu.org/software/global/global.html). The -t + option may also be specified from within [4mless[24m (using the - com- + mand) as a way of examining a new file. The command ":t" is equivalent to specifying -t from within [4mless[24m. -T[4mtagsfile[24m or --tag-file=[4mtagsfile[0m Specifies a tags file to be used instead of "tags". -u or --underline-special - Causes backspaces and carriage returns to be treated as print- - able characters; that is, they are sent to the terminal when + Causes backspaces and carriage returns to be treated as print- + able characters; that is, they are sent to the terminal when they appear in the input. -U or --UNDERLINE-SPECIAL - Causes backspaces, tabs, carriage returns and "formatting char- + Causes backspaces, tabs, carriage returns and "formatting char- acters" (as defined by Unicode) to be treated as control charac- ters; that is, they are handled as specified by the -r option. - By default, if neither -u nor -U is given, backspaces which - appear adjacent to an underscore character are treated spe- - cially: the underlined text is displayed using the terminal's - hardware underlining capability. Also, backspaces which appear - between two identical characters are treated specially: the - overstruck text is printed using the terminal's hardware bold- - face capability. Other backspaces are deleted, along with the - preceding character. Carriage returns immediately followed by a - newline are deleted. Other carriage returns are handled as - specified by the -r option. Text which is overstruck or under- - lined can be searched for if neither -u nor -U is in effect. + By default, if neither -u nor -U is given, backspaces which ap- + pear adjacent to an underscore character are treated specially: + the underlined text is displayed using the terminal's hardware + underlining capability. Also, backspaces which appear between + two identical characters are treated specially: the overstruck + text is printed using the terminal's hardware boldface capabil- + ity. Other backspaces are deleted, along with the preceding + character. Carriage returns immediately followed by a newline + are deleted. Other carriage returns are handled as specified by + the -r option. Text which is overstruck or underlined can be + searched for if neither -u nor -U is in effect. -V or --version Displays the version number of [4mless[24m. -w or --hilite-unread - Temporarily highlights the first "new" line after a forward + Temporarily highlights the first "new" line after a forward movement of a full page. The first "new" line is the line imme- - diately following the line previously at the bottom of the + diately following the line previously at the bottom of the screen. Also highlights the target line after a g or p command. - The highlight is removed at the next command which causes move- - ment. The entire line is highlighted, unless the -J option is + The highlight is removed at the next command which causes move- + ment. The entire line is highlighted, unless the -J option is in effect, in which case only the status column is highlighted. -W or --HILITE-UNREAD @@ -816,48 +812,48 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) forward movement command larger than one line. -x[4mn[24m,... or --tabs=[4mn[24m,... - Sets tab stops. If only one [4mn[24m is specified, tab stops are set - at multiples of [4mn[24m. If multiple values separated by commas are - specified, tab stops are set at those positions, and then con- - tinue with the same spacing as the last two. For example, - [4m-x9,17[24m will set tabs at positions 9, 17, 25, 33, etc. The - default for [4mn[24m is 8. + Sets tab stops. If only one [4mn[24m is specified, tab stops are set + at multiples of [4mn[24m. If multiple values separated by commas are + specified, tab stops are set at those positions, and then con- + tinue with the same spacing as the last two. For example, + [4m-x9,17[24m will set tabs at positions 9, 17, 25, 33, etc. The de- + fault for [4mn[24m is 8. -X or --no-init Disables sending the termcap initialization and deinitialization - strings to the terminal. This is sometimes desirable if the - deinitialization string does something unnecessary, like clear- + strings to the terminal. This is sometimes desirable if the + deinitialization string does something unnecessary, like clear- ing the screen. -y[4mn[24m or --max-forw-scroll=[4mn[0m Specifies a maximum number of lines to scroll forward. If it is - necessary to scroll forward more than [4mn[24m lines, the screen is - repainted instead. The -c or -C option may be used to repaint - from the top of the screen if desired. By default, any forward + necessary to scroll forward more than [4mn[24m lines, the screen is re- + painted instead. The -c or -C option may be used to repaint + from the top of the screen if desired. By default, any forward movement causes scrolling. -z[4mn[24m or --window=[4mn[24m or -[4mn[0m - Changes the default scrolling window size to [4mn[24m lines. The - default is one screenful. The z and w commands can also be used - to change the window size. The "z" may be omitted for compati- + Changes the default scrolling window size to [4mn[24m lines. The de- + fault is one screenful. The z and w commands can also be used + to change the window size. The "z" may be omitted for compati- bility with some versions of [4mmore[24m. If the number [4mn[24m is negative, - it indicates [4mn[24m lines less than the current screen size. For - example, if the screen is 24 lines, [4m-z-4[24m sets the scrolling win- - dow to 20 lines. If the screen is resized to 40 lines, the + it indicates [4mn[24m lines less than the current screen size. For ex- + ample, if the screen is 24 lines, [4m-z-4[24m sets the scrolling window + to 20 lines. If the screen is resized to 40 lines, the scrolling window automatically changes to 36 lines. -"[4mcc[24m or --quotes=[4mcc[0m - Changes the filename quoting character. This may be necessary - if you are trying to name a file which contains both spaces and - quote characters. Followed by a single character, this changes - the quote character to that character. Filenames containing a + Changes the filename quoting character. This may be necessary + if you are trying to name a file which contains both spaces and + quote characters. Followed by a single character, this changes + the quote character to that character. Filenames containing a space should then be surrounded by that character rather than by - double quotes. Followed by two characters, changes the open - quote to the first character, and the close quote to the second + double quotes. Followed by two characters, changes the open + quote to the first character, and the close quote to the second character. Filenames containing a space should then be preceded - by the open quote character and followed by the close quote - character. Note that even after the quote characters are - changed, this option remains -" (a dash followed by a double + by the open quote character and followed by the close quote + character. Note that even after the quote characters are + changed, this option remains -" (a dash followed by a double quote). -~ or --tilde @@ -867,26 +863,25 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) -# or --shift Specifies the default number of positions to scroll horizontally - in the RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW commands. If the number speci- - fied is zero, it sets the default number of positions to one + in the RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW commands. If the number speci- + fied is zero, it sets the default number of positions to one half of the screen width. Alternately, the number may be speci- - fied as a fraction of the width of the screen, starting with a - decimal point: .5 is half of the screen width, .3 is three - tenths of the screen width, and so on. If the number is speci- - fied as a fraction, the actual number of scroll positions is - recalculated if the terminal window is resized, so that the - actual scroll remains at the specified fraction of the screen - width. + fied as a fraction of the width of the screen, starting with a + decimal point: .5 is half of the screen width, .3 is three + tenths of the screen width, and so on. If the number is speci- + fied as a fraction, the actual number of scroll positions is re- + calculated if the terminal window is resized, so that the actual + scroll remains at the specified fraction of the screen width. --follow-name - Normally, if the input file is renamed while an F command is - executing, [4mless[24m will continue to display the contents of the - original file despite its name change. If --follow-name is - specified, during an F command [4mless[24m will periodically attempt to - reopen the file by name. If the reopen succeeds and the file is - a different file from the original (which means that a new file - has been created with the same name as the original (now - renamed) file), [4mless[24m will display the contents of that new file. + Normally, if the input file is renamed while an F command is ex- + ecuting, [4mless[24m will continue to display the contents of the orig- + inal file despite its name change. If --follow-name is speci- + fied, during an F command [4mless[24m will periodically attempt to re- + open the file by name. If the reopen succeeds and the file is a + different file from the original (which means that a new file + has been created with the same name as the original (now re- + named) file), [4mless[24m will display the contents of that new file. --mouse Enables mouse input: scrolling the mouse wheel down moves for- @@ -894,8 +889,8 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) in the file, and clicking the mouse sets the "#" mark to the line where the mouse is clicked. The number of lines to scroll when the wheel is moved can be set by the --wheel-lines option. - Mouse input works only on terminals which support X11 mouse - reporting, and on the Windows version of [4mless[24m. + Mouse input works only on terminals which support X11 mouse re- + porting, and on the Windows version of [4mless[24m. --MOUSE Like --mouse, except the direction scrolled on mouse wheel move- @@ -948,12 +943,11 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) of "xyz" in the file. As a special case, +<number> acts like +<number>g; that is, it starts the display at the specified line number (however, see the caveat under the "g" command above). - If the option starts with ++, the initial command applies to - every file being viewed, not just the first one. The + command + If the option starts with ++, the initial command applies to ev- + ery file being viewed, not just the first one. The + command described previously may also be used to set (or change) an ini- tial command for every file. - [1mLINE EDITING[0m When entering command line at the bottom of the screen (for example, a filename for the :e command, or the pattern for a search command), cer- @@ -1035,9 +1029,8 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) ^G Delete the entire command line and return to the main prompt. - [1mKEY BINDINGS[0m - You may define your own [4mless[24m commands by using the program [4mlesskey[24m (1) + You may define your own [4mless[24m commands by using the program [4mlesskey[24m(1) to create a lesskey file. This file specifies a set of command keys and an action associated with each key. You may also use [4mlesskey[24m to change the line-editing keys (see LINE EDITING), and to set environment @@ -1052,8 +1045,8 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) looks for a lesskey file called "less.ini" in any directory specified in the INIT environment variable, and if it not found there, then looks for a lesskey file called "less.ini" in any directory specified in the - PATH environment variable. See the [4mlesskey[24m manual page for more - details. + PATH environment variable. See the [4mlesskey[24m manual page for more de- + tails. A system-wide lesskey file may also be set up to provide key bindings. If a key is defined in both a local lesskey file and in the system-wide @@ -1067,7 +1060,6 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) MS-DOS and Windows systems, the system-wide lesskey file is c:\_sys- less. On OS/2 systems, the system-wide lesskey file is c:\sysless.ini. - [1mINPUT PREPROCESSOR[0m You may define an "input preprocessor" for [4mless[24m. Before [4mless[24m opens a file, it first gives your input preprocessor a chance to modify the way @@ -1084,25 +1076,24 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) file, and when finished, print the name of the replacement file to its standard output. If the input preprocessor does not output a replace- ment filename, [4mless[24m uses the original file, as normal. The input pre- - processor is not called when viewing standard input. To set up an - input preprocessor, set the LESSOPEN environment variable to a command + processor is not called when viewing standard input. To set up an in- + put preprocessor, set the LESSOPEN environment variable to a command line which will invoke your input preprocessor. This command line - should include one occurrence of the string "%s", which will be - replaced by the filename when the input preprocessor command is - invoked. + should include one occurrence of the string "%s", which will be re- + placed by the filename when the input preprocessor command is invoked. When [4mless[24m closes a file opened in such a way, it will call another pro- - gram, called the input postprocessor, which may perform any desired - clean-up action (such as deleting the replacement file created by + gram, called the input postprocessor, which may perform any desired + clean-up action (such as deleting the replacement file created by LESSOPEN). This program receives two command line arguments, the orig- - inal filename as entered by the user, and the name of the replacement - file. To set up an input postprocessor, set the LESSCLOSE environment - variable to a command line which will invoke your input postprocessor. - It may include two occurrences of the string "%s"; the first is - replaced with the original name of the file and the second with the - name of the replacement file, which was output by LESSOPEN. - - For example, on many Unix systems, these two scripts will allow you to + inal filename as entered by the user, and the name of the replacement + file. To set up an input postprocessor, set the LESSCLOSE environment + variable to a command line which will invoke your input postprocessor. + It may include two occurrences of the string "%s"; the first is re- + placed with the original name of the file and the second with the name + of the replacement file, which was output by LESSOPEN. + + For example, on many Unix systems, these two scripts will allow you to keep files in compressed format, but still let [4mless[24m view them directly: lessopen.sh: @@ -1122,27 +1113,27 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) #! /bin/sh rm $2 - To use these scripts, put them both where they can be executed and set + To use these scripts, put them both where they can be executed and set LESSOPEN="lessopen.sh %s", and LESSCLOSE="lessclose.sh %s %s". More - complex LESSOPEN and LESSCLOSE scripts may be written to accept other + complex LESSOPEN and LESSCLOSE scripts may be written to accept other types of compressed files, and so on. - It is also possible to set up an input preprocessor to pipe the file - data directly to [4mless[24m, rather than putting the data into a replacement + It is also possible to set up an input preprocessor to pipe the file + data directly to [4mless[24m, rather than putting the data into a replacement file. This avoids the need to decompress the entire file before start- ing to view it. An input preprocessor that works this way is called an - input pipe. An input pipe, instead of writing the name of a replace- - ment file on its standard output, writes the entire contents of the - replacement file on its standard output. If the input pipe does not - write any characters on its standard output, then there is no replace- - ment file and [4mless[24m uses the original file, as normal. To use an input - pipe, make the first character in the LESSOPEN environment variable a - vertical bar (|) to signify that the input preprocessor is an input - pipe. As with non-pipe input preprocessors, the command string must - contain one occurrence of %s, which is replaced with the filename of + input pipe. An input pipe, instead of writing the name of a replace- + ment file on its standard output, writes the entire contents of the re- + placement file on its standard output. If the input pipe does not + write any characters on its standard output, then there is no replace- + ment file and [4mless[24m uses the original file, as normal. To use an input + pipe, make the first character in the LESSOPEN environment variable a + vertical bar (|) to signify that the input preprocessor is an input + pipe. As with non-pipe input preprocessors, the command string must + contain one occurrence of %s, which is replaced with the filename of the input file. - For example, on many Unix systems, this script will work like the pre- + For example, on many Unix systems, this script will work like the pre- vious example scripts: lesspipe.sh: @@ -1158,34 +1149,33 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) To use this script, put it where it can be executed and set LESSOPEN="|lesspipe.sh %s". - Note that a preprocessor cannot output an empty file, since that is - interpreted as meaning there is no replacement, and the original file - is used. To avoid this, if LESSOPEN starts with two vertical bars, the - exit status of the script becomes meaningful. If the exit status is - zero, the output is considered to be replacement text, even if it is - empty. If the exit status is nonzero, any output is ignored and the - original file is used. For compatibility with previous versions of + Note that a preprocessor cannot output an empty file, since that is in- + terpreted as meaning there is no replacement, and the original file is + used. To avoid this, if LESSOPEN starts with two vertical bars, the + exit status of the script becomes meaningful. If the exit status is + zero, the output is considered to be replacement text, even if it is + empty. If the exit status is nonzero, any output is ignored and the + original file is used. For compatibility with previous versions of [4mless[24m, if LESSOPEN starts with only one vertical bar, the exit status of the preprocessor is ignored. - When an input pipe is used, a LESSCLOSE postprocessor can be used, but + When an input pipe is used, a LESSCLOSE postprocessor can be used, but it is usually not necessary since there is no replacement file to clean - up. In this case, the replacement file name passed to the LESSCLOSE + up. In this case, the replacement file name passed to the LESSCLOSE postprocessor is "-". - For compatibility with previous versions of [4mless[24m, the input preproces- + For compatibility with previous versions of [4mless[24m, the input preproces- sor or pipe is not used if [4mless[24m is viewing standard input. However, if - the first character of LESSOPEN is a dash (-), the input preprocessor - is used on standard input as well as other files. In this case, the - dash is not considered to be part of the preprocessor command. If + the first character of LESSOPEN is a dash (-), the input preprocessor + is used on standard input as well as other files. In this case, the + dash is not considered to be part of the preprocessor command. If standard input is being viewed, the input preprocessor is passed a file - name consisting of a single dash. Similarly, if the first two charac- - ters of LESSOPEN are vertical bar and dash (|-) or two vertical bars - and a dash (||-), the input pipe is used on standard input as well as + name consisting of a single dash. Similarly, if the first two charac- + ters of LESSOPEN are vertical bar and dash (|-) or two vertical bars + and a dash (||-), the input pipe is used on standard input as well as other files. Again, in this case the dash is not considered to be part of the input pipe command. - [1mNATIONAL CHARACTER SETS[0m There are three types of characters in the input file: @@ -1193,25 +1183,25 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) can be displayed directly to the screen. control characters - should not be displayed directly, but are expected to be found + should not be displayed directly, but are expected to be found in ordinary text files (such as backspace and tab). binary characters - should not be displayed directly and are not expected to be + should not be displayed directly and are not expected to be found in text files. A "character set" is simply a description of which characters are to be - considered normal, control, and binary. The LESSCHARSET environment - variable may be used to select a character set. Possible values for + considered normal, control, and binary. The LESSCHARSET environment + variable may be used to select a character set. Possible values for LESSCHARSET are: - ascii BS, TAB, NL, CR, and formfeed are control characters, all chars - with values between 32 and 126 are normal, and all others are + ascii BS, TAB, NL, CR, and formfeed are control characters, all chars + with values between 32 and 126 are normal, and all others are binary. iso8859 - Selects an ISO 8859 character set. This is the same as ASCII, - except characters between 160 and 255 are treated as normal + Selects an ISO 8859 character set. This is the same as ASCII, + except characters between 160 and 255 are treated as normal characters. latin1 Same as iso8859. @@ -1223,8 +1213,8 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) ebcdic Selects an EBCDIC character set. IBM-1047 - Selects an EBCDIC character set used by OS/390 Unix Services. - This is the EBCDIC analogue of latin1. You get similar results + Selects an EBCDIC character set used by OS/390 Unix Services. + This is the EBCDIC analogue of latin1. You get similar results by setting either LESSCHARSET=IBM-1047 or LC_CTYPE=en_US in your environment. @@ -1232,102 +1222,101 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) next Selects a character set appropriate for NeXT computers. - utf-8 Selects the UTF-8 encoding of the ISO 10646 character set. - UTF-8 is special in that it supports multi-byte characters in - the input file. It is the only character set that supports + utf-8 Selects the UTF-8 encoding of the ISO 10646 character set. + UTF-8 is special in that it supports multi-byte characters in + the input file. It is the only character set that supports multi-byte characters. windows - Selects a character set appropriate for Microsoft Windows (cp + Selects a character set appropriate for Microsoft Windows (cp 1251). - In rare cases, it may be desired to tailor [4mless[24m to use a character set - other than the ones definable by LESSCHARSET. In this case, the envi- + In rare cases, it may be desired to tailor [4mless[24m to use a character set + other than the ones definable by LESSCHARSET. In this case, the envi- ronment variable LESSCHARDEF can be used to define a character set. It should be set to a string where each character in the string represents - one character in the character set. The character "." is used for a - normal character, "c" for control, and "b" for binary. A decimal num- - ber may be used for repetition. For example, "bccc4b." would mean - character 0 is binary, 1, 2 and 3 are control, 4, 5, 6 and 7 are - binary, and 8 is normal. All characters after the last are taken to be - the same as the last, so characters 9 through 255 would be normal. - (This is an example, and does not necessarily represent any real char- + one character in the character set. The character "." is used for a + normal character, "c" for control, and "b" for binary. A decimal num- + ber may be used for repetition. For example, "bccc4b." would mean + character 0 is binary, 1, 2 and 3 are control, 4, 5, 6 and 7 are bi- + nary, and 8 is normal. All characters after the last are taken to be + the same as the last, so characters 9 through 255 would be normal. + (This is an example, and does not necessarily represent any real char- acter set.) - This table shows the value of LESSCHARDEF which is equivalent to each + This table shows the value of LESSCHARDEF which is equivalent to each of the possible values for LESSCHARSET: - ascii 8bcccbcc18b95.b - dos 8bcccbcc12bc5b95.b. - ebcdic 5bc6bcc7bcc41b.9b7.9b5.b..8b6.10b6.b9.7b - 9.8b8.17b3.3b9.7b9.8b8.6b10.b.b.b. - IBM-1047 4cbcbc3b9cbccbccbb4c6bcc5b3cbbc4bc4bccbc - 191.b - iso8859 8bcccbcc18b95.33b. - koi8-r 8bcccbcc18b95.b128. - latin1 8bcccbcc18b95.33b. - next 8bcccbcc18b95.bb125.bb - - If neither LESSCHARSET nor LESSCHARDEF is set, but any of the strings - "UTF-8", "UTF8", "utf-8" or "utf8" is found in the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE or + ascii 8bcccbcc18b95.b + dos 8bcccbcc12bc5b95.b. + ebcdic 5bc6bcc7bcc41b.9b7.9b5.b..8b6.10b6.b9.7b + 9.8b8.17b3.3b9.7b9.8b8.6b10.b.b.b. + IBM-1047 4cbcbc3b9cbccbccbb4c6bcc5b3cbbc4bc4bccbc + 191.b + iso8859 8bcccbcc18b95.33b. + koi8-r 8bcccbcc18b95.b128. + latin1 8bcccbcc18b95.33b. + next 8bcccbcc18b95.bb125.bb + + If neither LESSCHARSET nor LESSCHARDEF is set, but any of the strings + "UTF-8", "UTF8", "utf-8" or "utf8" is found in the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE or LANG environment variables, then the default character set is utf-8. - If that string is not found, but your system supports the [4msetlocale[0m - interface, [4mless[24m will use setlocale to determine the character set. - setlocale is controlled by setting the LANG or LC_CTYPE environment - variables. + If that string is not found, but your system supports the [4msetlocale[24m in- + terface, [4mless[24m will use setlocale to determine the character set. set- + locale is controlled by setting the LANG or LC_CTYPE environment vari- + ables. - Finally, if the [4msetlocale[24m interface is also not available, the default + Finally, if the [4msetlocale[24m interface is also not available, the default character set is latin1. - Control and binary characters are displayed in standout (reverse + Control and binary characters are displayed in standout (reverse video). Each such character is displayed in caret notation if possible - (e.g. ^A for control-A). Caret notation is used only if inverting the + (e.g. ^A for control-A). Caret notation is used only if inverting the 0100 bit results in a normal printable character. Otherwise, the char- - acter is displayed as a hex number in angle brackets. This format can - be changed by setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable. LESSBINFMT + acter is displayed as a hex number in angle brackets. This format can + be changed by setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable. LESSBINFMT may begin with a "*" and one character to select the display attribute: - "*k" is blinking, "*d" is bold, "*u" is underlined, "*s" is standout, - and "*n" is normal. If LESSBINFMT does not begin with a "*", normal - attribute is assumed. The remainder of LESSBINFMT is a string which - may include one printf-style escape sequence (a % followed by x, X, o, - d, etc.). For example, if LESSBINFMT is "*u[%x]", binary characters - are displayed in underlined hexadecimal surrounded by brackets. The - default if no LESSBINFMT is specified is "*s<%02X>". Warning: the - result of expanding the character via LESSBINFMT must be less than 31 + "*k" is blinking, "*d" is bold, "*u" is underlined, "*s" is standout, + and "*n" is normal. If LESSBINFMT does not begin with a "*", normal + attribute is assumed. The remainder of LESSBINFMT is a string which + may include one printf-style escape sequence (a % followed by x, X, o, + d, etc.). For example, if LESSBINFMT is "*u[%x]", binary characters + are displayed in underlined hexadecimal surrounded by brackets. The + default if no LESSBINFMT is specified is "*s<%02X>". Warning: the re- + sult of expanding the character via LESSBINFMT must be less than 31 characters. When the character set is utf-8, the LESSUTFBINFMT environment variable acts similarly to LESSBINFMT but it applies to Unicode code points that - were successfully decoded but are unsuitable for display (e.g., unas- - signed code points). Its default value is "<U+%04lX>". Note that - LESSUTFBINFMT and LESSBINFMT share their display attribute setting - ("*x") so specifying one will affect both; LESSUTFBINFMT is read after - LESSBINFMT so its setting, if any, will have priority. Problematic - octets in a UTF-8 file (octets of a truncated sequence, octets of a - complete but non-shortest form sequence, illegal octets, and stray - trailing octets) are displayed individually using LESSBINFMT so as to + were successfully decoded but are unsuitable for display (e.g., unas- + signed code points). Its default value is "<U+%04lX>". Note that + LESSUTFBINFMT and LESSBINFMT share their display attribute setting + ("*x") so specifying one will affect both; LESSUTFBINFMT is read after + LESSBINFMT so its setting, if any, will have priority. Problematic + octets in a UTF-8 file (octets of a truncated sequence, octets of a + complete but non-shortest form sequence, invalid octets, and stray + trailing octets) are displayed individually using LESSBINFMT so as to facilitate diagnostic of how the UTF-8 file is ill-formed. - [1mPROMPTS[0m - The -P option allows you to tailor the prompt to your preference. The - string given to the -P option replaces the specified prompt string. + The -P option allows you to tailor the prompt to your preference. The + string given to the -P option replaces the specified prompt string. Certain characters in the string are interpreted specially. The prompt - mechanism is rather complicated to provide flexibility, but the ordi- - nary user need not understand the details of constructing personalized + mechanism is rather complicated to provide flexibility, but the ordi- + nary user need not understand the details of constructing personalized prompt strings. - A percent sign followed by a single character is expanded according to + A percent sign followed by a single character is expanded according to what the following character is: - %b[4mX[24m Replaced by the byte offset into the current input file. The b + %b[4mX[24m Replaced by the byte offset into the current input file. The b is followed by a single character (shown as [4mX[24m above) which spec- - ifies the line whose byte offset is to be used. If the charac- - ter is a "t", the byte offset of the top line in the display is + ifies the line whose byte offset is to be used. If the charac- + ter is a "t", the byte offset of the top line in the display is used, an "m" means use the middle line, a "b" means use the bot- - tom line, a "B" means use the line just after the bottom line, - and a "j" means use the "target" line, as specified by the -j + tom line, a "B" means use the line just after the bottom line, + and a "j" means use the "target" line, as specified by the -j option. %B Replaced by the size of the current input file. @@ -1335,50 +1324,50 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) %c Replaced by the column number of the text appearing in the first column of the screen. - %d[4mX[24m Replaced by the page number of a line in the input file. The + %d[4mX[24m Replaced by the page number of a line in the input file. The line to be used is determined by the [4mX[24m, as with the %b option. - %D Replaced by the number of pages in the input file, or equiva- + %D Replaced by the number of pages in the input file, or equiva- lently, the page number of the last line in the input file. - %E Replaced by the name of the editor (from the VISUAL environment - variable, or the EDITOR environment variable if VISUAL is not + %E Replaced by the name of the editor (from the VISUAL environment + variable, or the EDITOR environment variable if VISUAL is not defined). See the discussion of the LESSEDIT feature below. %f Replaced by the name of the current input file. - %F Replaced by the last component of the name of the current input + %F Replaced by the last component of the name of the current input file. - %g Replaced by the shell-escaped name of the current input file. - This is useful when the expanded string will be used in a shell + %g Replaced by the shell-escaped name of the current input file. + This is useful when the expanded string will be used in a shell command, such as in LESSEDIT. - %i Replaced by the index of the current file in the list of input + %i Replaced by the index of the current file in the list of input files. - %l[4mX[24m Replaced by the line number of a line in the input file. The + %l[4mX[24m Replaced by the line number of a line in the input file. The line to be used is determined by the [4mX[24m, as with the %b option. %L Replaced by the line number of the last line in the input file. %m Replaced by the total number of input files. - %p[4mX[24m Replaced by the percent into the current input file, based on - byte offsets. The line used is determined by the [4mX[24m as with the + %p[4mX[24m Replaced by the percent into the current input file, based on + byte offsets. The line used is determined by the [4mX[24m as with the %b option. - %P[4mX[24m Replaced by the percent into the current input file, based on - line numbers. The line used is determined by the [4mX[24m as with the + %P[4mX[24m Replaced by the percent into the current input file, based on + line numbers. The line used is determined by the [4mX[24m as with the %b option. %s Same as %B. - %t Causes any trailing spaces to be removed. Usually used at the + %t Causes any trailing spaces to be removed. Usually used at the end of the string, but may appear anywhere. - %T Normally expands to the word "file". However if viewing files - via a tags list using the -t option, it expands to the word + %T Normally expands to the word "file". However if viewing files + via a tags list using the -t option, it expands to the word "tag". %x Replaced by the name of the next input file in the list. @@ -1386,15 +1375,15 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) If any item is unknown (for example, the file size if input is a pipe), a question mark is printed instead. - The format of the prompt string can be changed depending on certain - conditions. A question mark followed by a single character acts like - an "IF": depending on the following character, a condition is evalu- - ated. If the condition is true, any characters following the question - mark and condition character, up to a period, are included in the - prompt. If the condition is false, such characters are not included. - A colon appearing between the question mark and the period can be used + The format of the prompt string can be changed depending on certain + conditions. A question mark followed by a single character acts like + an "IF": depending on the following character, a condition is evalu- + ated. If the condition is true, any characters following the question + mark and condition character, up to a period, are included in the + prompt. If the condition is false, such characters are not included. + A colon appearing between the question mark and the period can be used to establish an "ELSE": any characters between the colon and the period - are included in the string if and only if the IF condition is false. + are included in the string if and only if the IF condition is false. Condition characters (which follow a question mark) may be: ?a True if any characters have been included in the prompt so far. @@ -1409,7 +1398,7 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) ?e True if at end-of-file. - ?f True if there is an input filename (that is, if input is not a + ?f True if there is an input filename (that is, if input is not a pipe). ?l[4mX[24m True if the line number of the specified line is known. @@ -1420,73 +1409,71 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) ?n True if this is the first prompt in a new input file. - ?p[4mX[24m True if the percent into the current input file, based on byte + ?p[4mX[24m True if the percent into the current input file, based on byte offsets, of the specified line is known. - ?P[4mX[24m True if the percent into the current input file, based on line + ?P[4mX[24m True if the percent into the current input file, based on line numbers, of the specified line is known. ?s Same as "?B". - ?x True if there is a next input file (that is, if the current - input file is not the last one). + ?x True if there is a next input file (that is, if the current in- + put file is not the last one). - Any characters other than the special ones (question mark, colon, - period, percent, and backslash) become literally part of the prompt. - Any of the special characters may be included in the prompt literally - by preceding it with a backslash. + Any characters other than the special ones (question mark, colon, pe- + riod, percent, and backslash) become literally part of the prompt. Any + of the special characters may be included in the prompt literally by + preceding it with a backslash. Some examples: ?f%f:Standard input. - This prompt prints the filename, if known; otherwise the string "Stan- + This prompt prints the filename, if known; otherwise the string "Stan- dard input". ?f%f .?ltLine %lt:?pt%pt\%:?btByte %bt:-... - This prompt would print the filename, if known. The filename is fol- - lowed by the line number, if known, otherwise the percent if known, - otherwise the byte offset if known. Otherwise, a dash is printed. - Notice how each question mark has a matching period, and how the % - after the %pt is included literally by escaping it with a backslash. + This prompt would print the filename, if known. The filename is fol- + lowed by the line number, if known, otherwise the percent if known, + otherwise the byte offset if known. Otherwise, a dash is printed. No- + tice how each question mark has a matching period, and how the % after + the %pt is included literally by escaping it with a backslash. ?n?f%f .?m(%T %i of %m) ..?e(END) ?x- Next\: %x..%t"; - This prints the filename if this is the first prompt in a file, fol- - lowed by the "file N of N" message if there is more than one input - file. Then, if we are at end-of-file, the string "(END)" is printed - followed by the name of the next file, if there is one. Finally, any + This prints the filename if this is the first prompt in a file, fol- + lowed by the "file N of N" message if there is more than one input + file. Then, if we are at end-of-file, the string "(END)" is printed + followed by the name of the next file, if there is one. Finally, any trailing spaces are truncated. This is the default prompt. For refer- - ence, here are the defaults for the other two prompts (-m and -M - respectively). Each is broken into two lines here for readability - only. + ence, here are the defaults for the other two prompts (-m and -M re- + spectively). Each is broken into two lines here for readability only. ?n?f%f .?m(%T %i of %m) ..?e(END) ?x- Next\: %x.: - ?pB%pB\%:byte %bB?s/%s...%t + ?pB%pB\%:byte %bB?s/%s...%t ?f%f .?n?m(%T %i of %m) ..?ltlines %lt-%lb?L/%L. : - byte %bB?s/%s. .?e(END) ?x- Next\: %x.:?pB%pB\%..%t + byte %bB?s/%s. .?e(END) ?x- Next\: %x.:?pB%pB\%..%t And here is the default message produced by the = command: ?f%f .?m(%T %i of %m) .?ltlines %lt-%lb?L/%L. . - byte %bB?s/%s. ?e(END) :?pB%pB\%..%t + byte %bB?s/%s. ?e(END) :?pB%pB\%..%t The prompt expansion features are also used for another purpose: if an environment variable LESSEDIT is defined, it is used as the command to - be executed when the v command is invoked. The LESSEDIT string is - expanded in the same way as the prompt strings. The default value for + be executed when the v command is invoked. The LESSEDIT string is ex- + panded in the same way as the prompt strings. The default value for LESSEDIT is: - %E ?lm+%lm. %g + %E ?lm+%lm. %g Note that this expands to the editor name, followed by a + and the line number, followed by the shell-escaped file name. If your editor does not accept the "+linenumber" syntax, or has other differences in invo- - cation syntax, the LESSEDIT variable can be changed to modify this - default. - + cation syntax, the LESSEDIT variable can be changed to modify this de- + fault. [1mSECURITY[0m When the environment variable LESSSECURE is set to 1, [4mless[24m runs in a @@ -1512,16 +1499,15 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) Less can also be compiled to be permanently in "secure" mode. - [1mCOMPATIBILITY WITH MORE[0m If the environment variable LESS_IS_MORE is set to 1, or if the program is invoked via a file link named "more", [4mless[24m behaves (mostly) in con- formance with the POSIX "more" command specification. In this mode, less behaves differently in these ways: - The -e option works differently. If the -e option is not set, [4mless[0m - behaves as if the -e option were set. If the -e option is set, [4mless[0m - behaves as if the -E option were set. + The -e option works differently. If the -e option is not set, [4mless[24m be- + haves as if the -e option were set. If the -e option is set, [4mless[24m be- + haves as if the -E option were set. The -m option works differently. If the -m option is not set, the medium prompt is used, and it is prefixed with the string "--More--". @@ -1536,33 +1522,31 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) The LESS environment variable is ignored, and the MORE environment variable is used in its place. - [1mENVIRONMENT VARIABLES[0m Environment variables may be specified either in the system environment - as usual, or in a [4mlesskey[24m (1) file. If environment variables are - defined in more than one place, variables defined in a local lesskey - file take precedence over variables defined in the system environment, - which take precedence over variables defined in the system-wide lesskey - file. + as usual, or in a [4mlesskey[24m(1) file. If environment variables are de- + fined in more than one place, variables defined in a local lesskey file + take precedence over variables defined in the system environment, which + take precedence over variables defined in the system-wide lesskey file. COLUMNS Sets the number of columns on the screen. Takes precedence over - the number of columns specified by the TERM variable. (But if + the number of columns specified by the TERM variable. (But if you have a windowing system which supports TIOCGWINSZ or - WIOCGETD, the window system's idea of the screen size takes + WIOCGETD, the window system's idea of the screen size takes precedence over the LINES and COLUMNS environment variables.) EDITOR The name of the editor (used for the v command). - HOME Name of the user's home directory (used to find a lesskey file + HOME Name of the user's home directory (used to find a lesskey file on Unix and OS/2 systems). HOMEDRIVE, HOMEPATH - Concatenation of the HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH environment vari- + Concatenation of the HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH environment vari- ables is the name of the user's home directory if the HOME vari- able is not set (only in the Windows version). - INIT Name of the user's init directory (used to find a lesskey file + INIT Name of the user's init directory (used to find a lesskey file on OS/2 systems). LANG Language for determining the character set. @@ -1573,12 +1557,12 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) LESS Options which are passed to [4mless[24m automatically. LESSANSIENDCHARS - Characters which may end an ANSI color escape sequence (default + Characters which may end an ANSI color escape sequence (default "m"). LESSANSIMIDCHARS - Characters which may appear between the ESC character and the - end character in an ANSI color escape sequence (default + Characters which may appear between the ESC character and the + end character in an ANSI color escape sequence (default "0123456789:;[?!"'#%()*+ ". LESSBINFMT @@ -1595,24 +1579,24 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) LESSECHO Name of the lessecho program (default "lessecho"). The lessecho - program is needed to expand metacharacters, such as * and ?, in + program is needed to expand metacharacters, such as * and ?, in filenames on Unix systems. LESSEDIT - Editor prototype string (used for the v command). See discus- + Editor prototype string (used for the v command). See discus- sion under PROMPTS. LESSGLOBALTAGS - Name of the command used by the -t option to find global tags. - Normally should be set to "global" if your system has the [4mglobal[0m - (1) command. If not set, global tags are not used. + Name of the command used by the -t option to find global tags. + Normally should be set to "global" if your system has the + [4mglobal[24m(1) command. If not set, global tags are not used. LESSHISTFILE - Name of the history file used to remember search commands and - shell commands between invocations of [4mless[24m. If set to "-" or - "/dev/null", a history file is not used. The default is - "$HOME/.lesshst" on Unix systems, "$HOME/_lesshst" on DOS and - Windows systems, or "$HOME/lesshst.ini" or "$INIT/lesshst.ini" + Name of the history file used to remember search commands and + shell commands between invocations of [4mless[24m. If set to "-" or + "/dev/null", a history file is not used. The default is + "$HOME/.lesshst" on Unix systems, "$HOME/_lesshst" on DOS and + Windows systems, or "$HOME/lesshst.ini" or "$INIT/lesshst.ini" on OS/2 systems. LESSHISTSIZE @@ -1620,19 +1604,19 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) default is 100. LESSKEY - Name of the default lesskey(1) file. + Name of the default [4mlesskey[24m(1) file. LESSKEY_SYSTEM - Name of the default system-wide lesskey(1) file. + Name of the default system-wide [4mlesskey[24m(1) file. LESSMETACHARS - List of characters which are considered "metacharacters" by the + List of characters which are considered "metacharacters" by the shell. LESSMETAESCAPE - Prefix which less will add before each metacharacter in a com- - mand sent to the shell. If LESSMETAESCAPE is an empty string, - commands containing metacharacters will not be passed to the + Prefix which less will add before each metacharacter in a com- + mand sent to the shell. If LESSMETAESCAPE is an empty string, + commands containing metacharacters will not be passed to the shell. LESSOPEN @@ -1642,58 +1626,55 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) Runs less in "secure" mode. See discussion under SECURITY. LESSSEPARATOR - String to be appended to a directory name in filename comple- + String to be appended to a directory name in filename comple- tion. LESSUTFBINFMT Format for displaying non-printable Unicode code points. LESS_IS_MORE - Emulate the [4mmore[24m (1) command. + Emulate the [4mmore[24m(1) command. - LINES Sets the number of lines on the screen. Takes precedence over + LINES Sets the number of lines on the screen. Takes precedence over the number of lines specified by the TERM variable. (But if you - have a windowing system which supports TIOCGWINSZ or WIOCGETD, - the window system's idea of the screen size takes precedence + have a windowing system which supports TIOCGWINSZ or WIOCGETD, + the window system's idea of the screen size takes precedence over the LINES and COLUMNS environment variables.) - MORE Options which are passed to [4mless[24m automatically when running in + MORE Options which are passed to [4mless[24m automatically when running in [4mmore[24m compatible mode. - PATH User's search path (used to find a lesskey file on MS-DOS and + PATH User's search path (used to find a lesskey file on MS-DOS and OS/2 systems). - SHELL The shell used to execute the ! command, as well as to expand + SHELL The shell used to execute the ! command, as well as to expand filenames. TERM The type of terminal on which [4mless[24m is being run. VISUAL The name of the editor (used for the v command). - [1mSEE ALSO[0m - lesskey(1) - + [1mlesskey[22m(1) [1mCOPYRIGHT[0m - Copyright (C) 1984-2019 Mark Nudelman + Copyright (C) 1984-2020 Mark Nudelman - less is part of the GNU project and is free software. You can redis- - tribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either (1) the GNU Gen- - eral Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; or + less is part of the GNU project and is free software. You can redis- + tribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either (1) the GNU Gen- + eral Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; or (2) the Less License. See the file README in the less distribution for more details regarding redistribution. You should have received a copy - of the GNU General Public License along with the source for less; see - the file COPYING. If not, write to the Free Software Foundation, 59 - Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. You should also + of the GNU General Public License along with the source for less; see + the file COPYING. If not, write to the Free Software Foundation, 59 + Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. You should also have received a copy of the Less License; see the file LICENSE. less is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY - WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FIT- - NESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for + WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FIT- + NESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. - [1mAUTHOR[0m Mark Nudelman Report bugs at https://github.com/gwsw/less/issues. @@ -1702,4 +1683,4 @@ LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) - Version 551: 11 Jun 2019 LESS(1) + Version 563: 13 Jun 2020 LESS(1) |