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-rw-r--r--contrib/less/less.man1516
1 files changed, 791 insertions, 725 deletions
diff --git a/contrib/less/less.man b/contrib/less/less.man
index 0491773..e917d54 100644
--- a/contrib/less/less.man
+++ b/contrib/less/less.man
@@ -12,10 +12,10 @@ SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS
lleessss ----hheellpp
lleessss --VV
lleessss ----vveerrssiioonn
- lleessss [[--[[++]]aaBBccCCddeeEEffggGGiiIImmMMnnNNqqQQrrssSSuuUUVVwwXX]]
+ lleessss [[--[[++]]aaBBccCCddeeEEffFFggGGiiIIJJmmMMnnNNqqQQrrRRssSSuuUUVVwwWWXX]]
[[--bb _b_u_f_s]] [[--hh _l_i_n_e_s]] [[--jj _l_i_n_e]] [[--kk _k_e_y_f_i_l_e]]
[[--{{ooOO}} _l_o_g_f_i_l_e]] [[--pp _p_a_t_t_e_r_n]] [[--PP _p_r_o_m_p_t]] [[--tt _t_a_g]]
- [[--TT _t_a_g_s_f_i_l_e]] [[--xx _t_a_b]] [[--yy _l_i_n_e_s]] [[--[[zz]] _l_i_n_e_s]]
+ [[--TT _t_a_g_s_f_i_l_e]] [[--xx _t_a_b,,......]] [[--yy _l_i_n_e_s]] [[--[[zz]] _l_i_n_e_s]]
[[++[[++]]_c_m_d]] [[----]] [[_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e]]......
(See the OPTIONS section for alternate option syntax with
long option names.)
@@ -49,8 +49,8 @@ CCOOMMMMAANNDDSS
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. Warn-
- ing: some systems use ^V as a special literaliza-
+ size, only the final screenful is displayed. Warn­
+ ing: some systems use ^V as a special literaliza­
tion character.
z Like SPACE, but if N is specified, it becomes the
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ CCOOMMMMAANNDDSS
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 1
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 1
@@ -103,17 +103,17 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
ESC-) or RIGHTARROW
Scroll horizontally right N characters, default
- half the screen width (see the -# option). While
+ half the screen width (see the -# option). If a
+ number N is specified, it becomes 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. Note that if
- you wish to enter a number N, you must use ESC-),
- not RIGHTARROW, because the arrow is taken to be a
- line editing command (see the LINE EDITING sec-
- tion).
+ option (chop lines) were in effect.
ESC-( or LEFTARROW
Scroll horizontally left N characters, default half
- the screen width (see the -# option).
+ the screen width (see the -# option). If a number
+ N is specified, it becomes the default for future
+ RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW commands.
r or ^R or ^L
Repaint the screen.
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 2
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 2
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 3
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 3
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
^X^X Same as single quote.
/pattern
- Search forward in the file for the N-th line con-
+ Search forward in the file for the N-th line con­
taining the pattern. N defaults to 1. The pattern
is a regular expression, as recognized by _e_d_. The
search starts at the second line displayed (but see
@@ -233,19 +233,19 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
search rather than become part of the pattern:
^N or !
- Search for lines which do NOT match the pat-
+ Search for lines which do NOT match the pat­
tern.
^E or *
Search multiple files. That is, if the
search reaches the END of the current file
- without finding a match, the search contin-
+ without finding a match, the search contin­
ues 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, regard-
+ FIRST file in the command line list, regard­
less of what is currently displayed on the
screen or the settings of the -a or -j
options.
@@ -254,12 +254,12 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
on the current screen, but don't move to the
first match (KEEP current position).
- ^R Don't interpret regular expression metachar-
+ ^R Don't interpret regular expression metachar­
acters; that is, do a simple textual
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 4
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 4
@@ -271,26 +271,26 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
comparison.
?pattern
- Search backward in the file for the N-th line con-
+ Search backward in the file for the N-th line con­
taining the pattern. The search starts at the line
immediately before the top line displayed.
Certain characters are special as in the / command:
^N or !
- Search for lines which do NOT match the pat-
+ Search for lines which do NOT match the pat­
tern.
^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 com-
+ continues in the previous file in the com­
mand line list.
^F or @
Begin the search at the last line of the
- last file in the command line list, regard-
+ last file in the command line list, regard­
less of what is currently displayed on the
screen or the settings of the -a or -j
options.
@@ -306,7 +306,7 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
Same as "?*".
n Repeat previous search, for N-th line containing
- the last pattern. If the previous search was modi-
+ the last pattern. If the previous search was modi­
fied by ^N, the search is made for the N-th line
NOT containing the pattern. If the previous search
was modified by ^E, the search continues in the
@@ -316,16 +316,16 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
expressions. There is no effect if the previous
search was modified by ^F or ^K.
- N Repeat previous search, but in the reverse direc-
+ N Repeat previous search, but in the reverse direc­
tion.
- ESC-n Repeat previous search, but crossing file bound-
+ ESC-n Repeat previous search, but crossing file bound­
aries. The effect is as if the previous search
were modified by *.
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 5
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 5
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
LESS(1) LESS(1)
- ESC-N Repeat previous search, but in the reverse direc-
+ ESC-N Repeat previous search, but in the reverse direc­
tion and crossing file boundaries.
ESC-u Undo search highlighting. Turn off highlighting of
@@ -352,11 +352,11 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
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 pre-
+ pound sign (#) is replaced by the name of the pre­
viously 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. Simi-
+ that contains a percent sign in the name. Simi­
larly, 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
@@ -368,7 +368,7 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
double quotes (also see the -" option).
^X^V or E
- Same as :e. Warning: some systems use ^V as a spe-
+ Same as :e. Warning: some systems use ^V as a spe­
cial literalization character. On such systems,
you may not be able to use ^V.
@@ -386,12 +386,12 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
:d Remove the current file from the list of files.
- = or ^G or :f
- Prints some information about the file being
+ t Go to the next tag, if there were more than one
+ matches for the current tag. See the -t option for
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 6
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 6
@@ -400,75 +400,82 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
LESS(1) LESS(1)
- viewed, including its name and the line number and
+ more details about tags.
+
+ 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
+ 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 imme-
- diately 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 setting is printed and nothing is changed.
-
- -- Like the - command, but takes a long option name
- (see OPTIONS below) rather than a single option
- letter. You must press RETURN after typing the
- option name. A ^P immediately after the second
- dash suppresses printing of a message describing
+ - 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 imme­
+ diately 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 setting is printed and nothing is changed.
+
+ -- Like the - command, but takes a long option name
+ (see OPTIONS below) rather than a single option
+ letter. You must press 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 "-+_X" command does the same thing as "-+_X" on
- the command line.) This does not work for string-
+ -+ 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 "-+_X" command does the same thing as "-+_X" on
+ the command line.) This does not work for string-
valued options.
- --+ Like the -+ command, but takes a long option name
+ --+ 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 for numeric or
+ 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
+ --! Like the -! command, but takes a long option name
rather than a single option letter.
- _ (Underscore.) Followed by one of the command line
- option letters, this will print a message describ-
- ing the current setting of that option. The set-
- ting of the option is not changed.
+ _ (Underscore.) Followed by one of the command line
+ option letters, this will print a message describ­
+ ing the current setting of that option. The
- __ (Double underscore.) Like the _ (underscore) com-
- mand, but takes a long option name rather than a
- single option letter. You must press RETURN after
- typing the option name.
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 7
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 7
+LESS(1) LESS(1)
-LESS(1) LESS(1)
+ setting of the option is not changed.
+ __ (Double underscore.) Like the _ (underscore) com­
+ mand, but takes a long option name rather than a
+ single option letter. You must press RETURN after
+ typing the option name.
+cmd Causes the specified cmd to be executed each time a
- new file is examined. For example, +G causes _l_e_s_s
- to initially display each file starting at the end
+ new file is examined. For example, +G causes _l_e_s_s
+ to initially display each file starting at the end
rather than the beginning.
V Prints the version number of _l_e_s_s being run.
@@ -476,54 +483,47 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
q or Q or :q or :Q or ZZ
Exits _l_e_s_s_.
- The following four commands may or may not be valid,
+ 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 editor is taken from the environment
- variable VISUAL if defined, or EDITOR if VISUAL is
- not defined, or defaults to "vi" if neither VISUAL
- nor EDITOR is defined. See also the discussion of
+ 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 neither 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. A pound sign (#) is
- replaced by the name of the previously examined
- file. "!!" repeats the last shell command. "!"
- with no shell command simply invokes a shell. On
- Unix systems, the shell is taken from the environ-
- ment variable SHELL, or defaults to "sh". On MS-
- DOS and OS/2 systems, the shell is the normal com-
+ 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 examined
+ file. "!!" repeats the last shell command. "!"
+ with no shell command simply invokes a shell. On
+ Unix systems, the shell is taken from the environ­
+ ment variable SHELL, or defaults to "sh". On MS-
+ DOS and OS/2 systems, the shell is the normal com­
mand 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
- first line on the current screen and the position
- marked by the letter. <m> may also be ^ or $ to
+ the input file to the given shell command. The
+ section of the file to be piped is between the
+ first line on the current screen and the position
+ marked by the letter. <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
+ Save the input to a file. This only works if the
input is a pipe, not an ordinary file.
-OOPPTTIIOONNSS
- Command line options are described below. Most options
- may be changed while _l_e_s_s 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
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 8
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 8
@@ -532,17 +532,24 @@ OOPPTTIIOONNSS
LESS(1) LESS(1)
- abbreviated as long as the abbreviation is unambiguous.
- 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 letter capital-
- ized; the remainder of the name may be in either case.
+OOPPTTIIOONNSS
+ Command line options are described below. Most options
+ may be changed while _l_e_s_s 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 abbrevi­
+ ated as long as the abbreviation is unambiguous. 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 letter capital­
+ ized; 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 example, to avoid typing "less -options ..."
+ Options are also taken from the environment variable
+ "LESS". For example, to avoid typing "less -options ..."
each time _l_e_s_s is invoked, you might tell _c_s_h_:
setenv LESS "-options"
@@ -551,18 +558,18 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
LESS="-options"; export LESS
- On MS-DOS, you don't need the quotes, but you should
- replace any percent signs in the options string by double
+ On MS-DOS, you don't need the quotes, but you should
+ replace any percent 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 environ-
+ The environment variable is parsed before the command
+ line, so command line options override the LESS environ­
ment variable. If an option appears in the LESS variable,
- it can be reset to its default value on the command line
+ it can be reset to its default value on the command line
by beginning the command line option with "-+".
For options like -P or -D which take a following string, a
- dollar sign ($) must be used to signal the end of the
+ dollar sign ($) must be used to signal the end of the
string. For example, to set two -D options on MS-DOS, you
must have a dollar sign between them, like this:
@@ -570,26 +577,19 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
-? or --help
- This option displays a summary of the commands
- accepted by _l_e_s_s (the same as the h command).
- (Depending on how your shell interprets the ques-
- tion mark, it may be necessary to quote the ques-
+ This option displays a summary of the commands
+ accepted by _l_e_s_s (the same as the h command).
+ (Depending on how your shell interprets the ques­
+ tion mark, it may be necessary to quote the ques­
tion mark, thus: "-\?".)
-a or --search-skip-screen
- Causes searches to start after the last line dis-
- played on the screen, thus skipping all lines dis-
- played on the screen. By default, searches start
- at the second line on the screen (or after the last
- found line; see the -j option).
-
- -b_n or --buffers=_n
- Specifies the number of buffers _l_e_s_s will use for
- each file. Buffers are 1K, and by default 10
+ Causes searches to start after the last line dis­
+ played on the screen, thus skipping all lines
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 9
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 9
@@ -598,26 +598,33 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
LESS(1) LESS(1)
- buffers are used for each file (except if the file
- is a pipe; see the -B option). The number _n speci-
+ displayed on the screen. By default, searches
+ start at the second line on the screen (or after
+ the last found line; see the -j option).
+
+ -b_n or --buffers=_n
+ Specifies the number of buffers _l_e_s_s will use for
+ each file. Buffers are 1K, and by default 10
+ buffers are used for each file (except if the file
+ is a pipe; see the -B option). The number _n speci­
fies a different number of buffers to use.
-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 allocated.
+ 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 allocated.
The -B option disables this automatic allocation of
- buffers for pipes, so that only the number of
- buffers specified by the -b option are used. Warn-
- ing: use of -B can result in erroneous display,
- since only the most recently viewed part of the
+ buffers for pipes, so that only the number of
+ buffers specified by the -b option are used. Warn­
+ ing: use of -B can result in erroneous display,
+ since only the most recently viewed part of the
file 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 from the bottom of the
+ 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
@@ -626,102 +633,95 @@ LESS(1) 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, such as the ability to
+ displayed if 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 _l_e_s_s on a
dumb terminal).
-Dxx_c_o_l_o_r or --color=xx_c_o_l_o_r
[MS-DOS only] Sets the color of the text displayed.
- xx is a single character which selects the type of
- text whose color is being set: n=normal, s=stand-
- out, d=bold, u=underlined, k=blink. _c_o_l_o_r is a
- pair of numbers separated by a period. The first
- number selects the foreground color and the second
+ xx is a single character which selects the type of
+ text whose color is being set: n=normal, s=stand­
+ out, d=bold, u=underlined, k=blink. _c_o_l_o_r 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 _N is the same as _N_._0.
-e or --quit-at-eof
- Causes _l_e_s_s to automatically exit the second time
- it reaches end-of-file. By default, the only way
- to exit _l_e_s_s is via the "q" command.
-
- -E or --QUIT-AT-EOF
- Causes _l_e_s_s to automatically exit the first time it
- reaches end-of-file.
+ Causes _l_e_s_s to automatically exit the second time
+ it reaches end-of-file. By default, the only way
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 10
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 10
+LESS(1) LESS(1)
-LESS(1) LESS(1)
+ to exit _l_e_s_s is via the "q" command.
+ -E or --QUIT-AT-EOF
+ Causes _l_e_s_s to automatically exit the first time it
+ reaches end-of-file.
-f or --force
- Forces non-regular files to be opened. (A non-reg-
+ Forces non-regular files to be opened. (A non-reg­
ular file is a directory or a device special file.)
- Also suppresses the warning message when a binary
- file is opened. By default, _l_e_s_s will refuse to
+ Also suppresses the warning message when a binary
+ file is opened. By default, _l_e_s_s will refuse to
open non-regular files.
-F or --quit-if-one-screen
- Causes _l_e_s_s to automatically exit if the entire
+ Causes _l_e_s_s to automatically exit if the entire
file can be displayed on the first screen.
-g or --hilite-search
- Normally, _l_e_s_s will highlight ALL strings which
- match the last search command. The -g option
- changes this behavior to highlight only the partic-
- ular string which was found by the last search com-
- mand. This can cause _l_e_s_s to run somewhat faster
+ Normally, _l_e_s_s will highlight ALL strings which
+ match the last search command. The -g option
+ changes this behavior to highlight only the partic­
+ ular string which was found by the last search com­
+ mand. This can cause _l_e_s_s to run somewhat faster
than the default.
-G or --HILITE-SEARCH
- The -G option suppresses all highlighting of
+ The -G option suppresses all highlighting of
strings found by search commands.
-h_n or ---max-back-scroll=_n
- Specifies a maximum number of lines to scroll back-
- ward. If it is necessary to scroll backward more
- than _n lines, the screen is repainted in a forward
- direction instead. (If the terminal does not have
+ Specifies a maximum number of lines to scroll back­
+ ward. If it is necessary to scroll backward more
+ than _n 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 uppercase letters appear
+ Causes searches to ignore case; that is, uppercase
+ and lowercase are considered identical. This
+ option is ignored if any uppercase letters appear
in the search pattern; in other words, if a pattern
- contains uppercase letters, then that search does
+ contains uppercase letters, then that search does
not ignore case.
-I or --IGNORE-CASE
- Like -i, but searches ignore case even if the pat-
+ Like -i, but searches ignore case even if the pat­
tern contains uppercase letters.
-j_n or --jump-target=_n
- Specifies a line on the screen where the "target"
- line is to be positioned. A target line is the
+ Specifies a line on the screen where the "target"
+ line is to be positioned. A target line is the
object of a text search, tag search, jump to a line
- number, jump to a file percentage, or jump to a
+ number, jump to a file percentage, or jump to a
marked position. The screen line is specified 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 relative to the bottom of the
- screen: the bottom line on the screen is -1, the
- second to the bottom is -2, and so on. If the -j
- option is used, searches begin at the line
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 11
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 11
@@ -730,20 +730,27 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
LESS(1) LESS(1)
- immediately after the target line. For example, if
- "-j4" is used, the target line is the fourth line
- on the screen, so searches begin at the fifth line
- on the screen.
+ 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 relative to the bottom of the
+ screen: the bottom line on the screen is -1, the
+ second to the bottom is -2, and so on. If the -j
+ option is used, searches begin at the line immedi­
+ ately after the target line. For example, if "-j4"
+ is used, the target line is the fourth line on the
+ screen, so searches begin at the fifth line on the
+ screen.
-J or --status-column
- Displays a status column at the left edge of the
- screen. The status column is used only if the -w
- or -W option is in effect.
+ Displays a status column at the left edge of the
+ screen. The status column shows the lines that
+ matched the current search. The status column is
+ also used if the -w or -W option is in effect.
-k_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e or --lesskey-file=_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e
Causes _l_e_s_s to open and interpret the named file as
a _l_e_s_s_k_e_y (1) file. Multiple -k options may be
- specified. If the LESSKEY or LESSKEY_SYSTEM envi-
+ specified. If the LESSKEY or LESSKEY_SYSTEM envi­
ronment variable is set, or if a lesskey file is
found in a standard place (see KEY BINDINGS), it is
also used as a _l_e_s_s_k_e_y file.
@@ -769,7 +776,7 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
discussion of LESSEDIT in PROMPTS below).
-N or --LINE-NUMBERS
- Causes a line number to be displayed at the begin-
+ Causes a line number to be displayed at the begin­
ning of each line in the display.
-o_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e or --log-file=_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e
@@ -777,25 +784,25 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
it is being viewed. This applies only when the
input file is a pipe, not an ordinary file. If the
file already exists, _l_e_s_s will ask for confirmation
- before overwriting it.
- -O_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e or --LOG-FILE=_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e
- 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
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 12
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 12
+LESS(1) LESS(1)
-LESS(1) LESS(1)
+ before overwriting it.
+ -O_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e or --LOG-FILE=_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e
+ 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 _l_e_s_s to specify a
log file. Without a file name, they will simply
report the name of the log file. The "s" command
@@ -818,19 +825,20 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
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. All
- prompt strings consist of a sequence of letters and
- special escape sequences. See the section on
- PROMPTS for more details.
+ changes the message printed by the = command. -Pw
+ changes the message printed while waiting for data
+ (in the F command). 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 rung if an attempt is made to scroll
+ 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 is to ring the terminal bell in all
+ 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 is to ring the terminal bell in all
such cases.
-Q or --QUIET or --SILENT
@@ -838,22 +846,14 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
is never rung.
-r or --raw-control-chars
- Causes "raw" control characters to be displayed.
- The default is to display control characters using
+ 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: when the -r
- option is used, _l_e_s_s cannot keep track of the
- actual appearance of the screen (since this depends
- on how the screen responds to each type of control
- character). Thus, various display problems may
- result, such as long lines being split in the wrong
- place.
-
-
+ 001) is displayed as "^A". Warning: when the -r
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 13
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 13
@@ -862,85 +862,98 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
LESS(1) LESS(1)
+ option is used, _l_e_s_s cannot keep track of the
+ actual appearance of the screen (since this depends
+ on how the screen responds to each type of control
+ character). Thus, various display problems may
+ result, such as long lines being split in the wrong
+ place.
+
-R or --RAW-CONTROL-CHARS
- Like -r, but tries to keep track of the screen
- appearance where possible. This works only if the
- input consists of normal text and possibly some
- ANSI "color" escape sequences, which are sequences
+ Like -r, but tries to keep track of the screen
+ appearance where possible. This works only if the
+ input consists of normal text and possibly some
+ ANSI "color" escape sequences, which are sequences
of the form:
ESC [ ... m
- where the "..." is zero or more characters other
- than "m". For the purpose of keeping track of
- screen appearance, all control characters and all
+ where the "..." is zero or more characters other
+ than "m". For the purpose of keeping track of
+ screen appearance, all control characters and all
ANSI color escape sequences are assumed to not move
- the cursor. You can make _l_e_s_s think that charac-
- ters other than "m" can end ANSI color escape
- sequences by setting the environment variable
- LESSANSIENDCHARS to the list of characters which
+ the cursor. You can make _l_e_s_s think that charac­
+ ters 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.
-s or --squeeze-blank-lines
- Causes consecutive blank lines to be squeezed into
- a single blank line. This is useful when viewing
+ Causes consecutive blank lines to be squeezed into
+ a single blank line. This is useful when viewing
_n_r_o_f_f output.
-S or --chop-long-lines
- Causes lines longer than the screen width to be
+ Causes lines longer than the screen width to be
chopped rather than folded. That is, the remainder
of a long line is simply discarded. The default is
- to fold long lines; that is, display the remainder
+ to fold long lines; that is, display the remainder
on the next line.
-t_t_a_g or --tag=_t_a_g
- The -t option, followed immediately by a TAG, will
- edit the file containing that tag. For this to
- work, there must be a file called "tags" in the
- current directory, which was previously built by
- the _c_t_a_g_s (1) command. This option may also be
- specified from within _l_e_s_s (using the - command) as
- a way of examining a new file. The command ":t" is
- equivalent to specifying -t from within _l_e_s_s_.
+ 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 exam­
+ ple, there may be a file in the current directory
+ called "tags", which was previously built by _c_t_a_g_s
+ (1) or an equivalent command. If the environment
+ variable LESSGLOBALTAGS is set, it is taken to be
+ the name of a command compatible with _g_l_o_b_a_l (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
+ _l_e_s_s (using the - command) as a way of examining a
+ new file. The command ":t" is equivalent to speci­
+ fying -t from within _l_e_s_s_.
- -T_t_a_g_s_f_i_l_e or --tag-file=_t_a_g_s_f_i_l_e
- Specifies a tags file to be used instead of "tags".
- -u or --underline-special
- Causes backspaces and carriage returns to be
- treated as printable characters; that is, they are
- sent to the terminal when they appear in the input.
- -U or --UNDERLINE-SPECIAL
- Causes backspaces, tabs and carriage returns to be
- treated as control characters; that is, they are
- handled as specified by the -r option.
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 14
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 14
+LESS(1) LESS(1)
+ -T_t_a_g_s_f_i_l_e or --tag-file=_t_a_g_s_f_i_l_e
+ Specifies a tags file to be used instead of "tags".
-LESS(1) LESS(1)
+ -u or --underline-special
+ Causes backspaces and carriage returns to be
+ treated as printable characters; that is, they are
+ sent to the terminal when they appear in the input.
+ -U or --UNDERLINE-SPECIAL
+ Causes backspaces, tabs and carriage returns to be
+ treated as control characters; 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 specially: the underlined
- text is displayed using the terminal's hardware
+ By default, if neither -u nor -U is given,
+ backspaces which appear 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 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 underlined can be searched
+ 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
@@ -948,135 +961,145 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
-w or --hilite-unread
Temporarily highlights the first "new" line after a
- forward movement of a full page. The first "new"
- line is the line immediately following the line
- previously at the bottom of the screen. Also high-
+ forward movement of a full page. The first "new"
+ line is the line immediately following the line
+ previously at the bottom of the screen. Also high­
lights the target line after a g or p command. The
- highlight is removed at the next command which
- causes movement. The entire line is highlighted,
- unless the -J option is in effect, in which case
+ highlight is removed at the next command which
+ causes movement. 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
- Like -w, but temporarily highlights the first new
+ Like -w, but temporarily highlights the first new
line after any forward movement command larger than
one line.
- -x_n or --tabs=_n
- Sets tab stops every _n positions. The default for
- _n is 8.
+ -x_n,... or --tabs=_n,...
+ Sets tab stops. If only one _n is specified, tab
+ stops are set at multiples of _n. If multiple val­
+ ues separated by commas are specified, tab stops
+ are set at those positions, and then continue with
+ the same spacing as the last two. For example,
+ _-_x_9_,_1_7 will set tabs at positions 9, 17, 25, 33,
- -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 clearing the
- screen.
- -y_n or --max-forw-scroll=_n
- Specifies a maximum number of lines to scroll for-
- ward. If it is necessary to scroll forward more
- than _n 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
- movement causes scrolling.
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 15
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 15
+LESS(1) LESS(1)
+ etc. The default for _n 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 clearing the
+ screen.
-LESS(1) LESS(1)
+ --no-keypad
+ Disables sending the keypad initialization and
+ deinitialization strings to the terminal. This is
+ sometimes useful if the keypad strings make the
+ numeric keypad behave in an undesirable manner.
+ -y_n or --max-forw-scroll=_n
+ Specifies a maximum number of lines to scroll for­
+ ward. If it is necessary to scroll forward more
+ than _n 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
+ movement causes scrolling.
-[z]_n or --window=_n
- Changes the default scrolling window size to _n
- 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 compatibility
- with _m_o_r_e_. If the number _n is negative, it indi-
- cates _n lines less than the current screen size.
- For example, if the screen is 24 lines, _-_z_-_4 sets
+ Changes the default scrolling window size to _n
+ 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 compatibility
+ with _m_o_r_e_. If the number _n is negative, it indi­
+ cates _n lines less than the current screen size.
+ For example, if the screen is 24 lines, _-_z_-_4 sets
the scrolling window to 20 lines. If the screen is
- resized to 40 lines, the scrolling window automati-
+ resized to 40 lines, the scrolling window automati­
cally changes to 36 lines.
-"_c_c or --quotes=_c_c
- Changes the filename quoting character. This may
+ Changes the filename quoting character. This may
be necessary if you are trying to name a file which
- contains both spaces and quote characters. Fol-
+ contains both spaces and quote characters. Fol­
lowed by a single character, this changes the quote
- character to that character. Filenames containing
+ 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 char-
+ rather than by double quotes. Followed by two
+ characters, changes the open quote to the first
+ character, and the close quote to the second char­
acter. Filenames containing a space should then be
- preceded by the open quote character and followed
+ 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 quote).
-~ or --tilde
Normally lines after end of file are displayed as a
- single tilde (~). This option causes lines after
- end of file to be displayed as blank lines.
+ single tilde (~). This option causes lines after
- -# or --shift
- Specifies the default number of positions to scroll
- horizontally in the RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW com-
- mands. If the number specified is zero, it sets
- the default number of positions to one half of the
- screen width.
- -- A command line argument of "--" marks the end of
- option arguments. Any arguments following this are
- interpreted as filenames. This can be useful when
- viewing a file whose name begins with a "-" or "+".
- + If a command line option begins with ++, the remain-
- der of that option is taken to be an initial com-
- mand to _l_e_s_s_. For example, +G tells _l_e_s_s to start
- at the end of the file rather than the beginning,
- and +/xyz tells it to start at the first occurrence
- of "xyz" in the file. As a special case, +<number>
- acts like +<number>g; that is, it starts the dis-
- play at the specified line number (however, see the
- caveat under the "g" command above). If the option
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 16
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 16
+LESS(1) LESS(1)
+ end of file to be displayed as blank lines.
-LESS(1) LESS(1)
+ -# or --shift
+ Specifies the default number of positions to scroll
+ horizontally in the RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW com­
+ mands. If the number specified is zero, it sets
+ the default number of positions to one half of the
+ screen width.
+ -- A command line argument of "--" marks the end of
+ option arguments. Any arguments following this are
+ interpreted as filenames. This can be useful when
+ viewing a file whose name begins with a "-" or "+".
- starts with ++, the initial command applies to
- every file being viewed, not just the first one.
+ + If a command line option begins with ++, the remain­
+ der of that option is taken to be an initial com­
+ mand to _l_e_s_s_. For example, +G tells _l_e_s_s to start
+ at the end of the file rather than the beginning,
+ and +/xyz tells it to start at the first occurrence
+ of "xyz" in the file. As a special case, +<number>
+ acts like +<number>g; that is, it starts the dis­
+ play 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 described previously may also be used
- to set (or change) an initial command for every
+ to set (or change) an initial command for every
file.
LLIINNEE EEDDIITTIINNGG
- When entering command line at the bottom of the screen
- (for example, a filename for the :e command, or the pat-
- tern for a search command), certain keys can be used to
- manipulate the command line. Most commands have an alter-
- nate form in [ brackets ] which can be used if a key does
- not exist on a particular keyboard. (The bracketed forms
- do not work in the MS-DOS version.) Any of these special
- keys may be entered literally by preceding it with the
- "literal" character, either ^V or ^A. A backslash itself
+ When entering command line at the bottom of the screen
+ (for example, a filename for the :e command, or the pat­
+ tern for a search command), certain keys can be used to
+ manipulate the command line. Most commands have an alter­
+ nate form in [ brackets ] which can be used if a key does
+ not exist on a particular keyboard. (The bracketed forms
+ do not work in the MS-DOS version.) Any of these special
+ keys may be entered literally by preceding it with the
+ "literal" character, either ^V or ^A. A backslash itself
may also be entered literally by entering two backslashes.
LEFTARROW [ ESC-h ]
@@ -1086,11 +1109,23 @@ LLIINNEE EEDDIITTIINNGG
Move the cursor one space to the right.
^LEFTARROW [ ESC-b or ESC-LEFTARROW ]
- (That is, CONTROL and LEFTARROW simultaneously.)
+ (That is, CONTROL and LEFTARROW simultaneously.)
Move the cursor one word to the left.
^RIGHTARROW [ ESC-w or ESC-RIGHTARROW ]
- (That is, CONTROL and RIGHTARROW simultaneously.)
+ (That is, CONTROL and RIGHTARROW simultaneously.)
+
+
+
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 17
+
+
+
+
+
+LESS(1) LESS(1)
+
+
Move the cursor one word to the right.
HOME [ ESC-0 ]
@@ -1100,90 +1135,55 @@ LLIINNEE EEDDIITTIINNGG
Move the cursor to the end of the line.
BACKSPACE
- Delete the character to the left of the cursor, or
+ Delete the character to the left of the cursor, or
cancel the command if the command line is empty.
DELETE or [ ESC-x ]
Delete the character under the cursor.
^BACKSPACE [ ESC-BACKSPACE ]
- (That is, CONTROL and BACKSPACE simultaneously.)
+ (That is, CONTROL and BACKSPACE simultaneously.)
Delete the word to the left of the cursor.
^DELETE [ ESC-X or ESC-DELETE ]
- (That is, CONTROL and DELETE simultaneously.)
+ (That is, CONTROL and DELETE simultaneously.)
Delete the word under the cursor.
-
-
-
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 17
-
-
-
-
-
-LESS(1) LESS(1)
-
-
UPARROW [ ESC-k ]
Retrieve the previous command line.
DOWNARROW [ ESC-j ]
Retrieve the next command line.
- TAB Complete the partial filename to the left of the
- cursor. If it matches more than one filename, the
- first match is entered into the command line.
- Repeated TABs will cycle thru the other matching
- filenames. If the completed filename is a direc-
- tory, a "/" is appended to the filename. (On MS-
- DOS systems, a "\" is appended.) The environment
- variable LESSSEPARATOR can be used to specify a
- different character to append to a directory name.
+ TAB Complete the partial filename to the left of the
+ cursor. If it matches more than one filename, the
+ first match is entered into the command line.
+ Repeated TABs will cycle thru the other matching
+ filenames. If the completed filename is a direc­
+ tory, a "/" is appended to the filename. (On MS-
+ DOS systems, a "\" is appended.) The environment
+ variable LESSSEPARATOR can be used to specify a
+ different character to append to a directory name.
BACKTAB [ ESC-TAB ]
Like, TAB, but cycles in the reverse direction thru
the matching filenames.
- ^L Complete the partial filename to the left of the
- cursor. If it matches more than one filename, all
- matches are entered into the command line (if they
+ ^L Complete the partial filename to the left of the
+ cursor. If it matches more than one filename, all
+ matches are entered into the command line (if they
fit).
- ^U (Unix) or ESC (MS-DOS)
- Delete the entire command line, or cancel the com-
- mand if the command line is empty. If you have
- changed your line-kill character in Unix to some-
+ ^U (Unix and OS/2) or ESC (MS-DOS)
+ Delete the entire command line, or cancel the com­
+ mand if the command line is empty. If you have
+ changed your line-kill character in Unix to some­
thing other than ^U, that character is used instead
of ^U.
-KKEEYY BBIINNDDIINNGGSS
- You may define your own _l_e_s_s commands by using the program
- _l_e_s_s_k_e_y (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 _l_e_s_s_k_e_y to change the line-editing
- keys (see LINE EDITING), and to set environment variables.
- If the environment variable LESSKEY is set, _l_e_s_s uses that
- as the name of the lesskey file. Otherwise, _l_e_s_s looks in
- a standard place for the lesskey file: On Unix systems,
- _l_e_s_s looks for a lesskey file called "$HOME/.less". On
- MS-DOS and Windows systems, _l_e_s_s looks for a lesskey file
- called "$HOME/_less", and if it is not found there, then
- looks for a lesskey file called "_less" in any directory
- specified in the PATH environment variable. On OS/2 sys-
- tems, _l_e_s_s looks for a lesskey file called
- "$HOME/less.ini", and if it is not found, then looks for a
- lesskey file called "less.ini" in any directory specified
- in the INIT environment variable, and if it not found
- there, then looks for a lesskey file called "less.ini" in
- any directory specified in the PATH environment variable.
- See the _l_e_s_s_k_e_y manual page for more details.
-
-
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 18
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 18
@@ -1192,64 +1192,64 @@ KKEEYY BBIINNDDIINNGGSS
LESS(1) LESS(1)
- A system-wide lesskey file may also be set up to provide
+KKEEYY BBIINNDDIINNGGSS
+ You may define your own _l_e_s_s commands by using the program
+ _l_e_s_s_k_e_y (1) to create a lesskey file. This file specifies
+ a set of command keys and an action associated with each
+ key. You may also use _l_e_s_s_k_e_y to change the line-editing
+ keys (see LINE EDITING), and to set environment variables.
+ If the environment variable LESSKEY is set, _l_e_s_s uses that
+ as the name of the lesskey file. Otherwise, _l_e_s_s looks in
+ a standard place for the lesskey file: On Unix systems,
+ _l_e_s_s looks for a lesskey file called "$HOME/.less". On
+ MS-DOS and Windows systems, _l_e_s_s looks for a lesskey file
+ called "$HOME/_less", and if it is not found there, then
+ looks for a lesskey file called "_less" in any directory
+ specified in the PATH environment variable. On OS/2 sys­
+ tems, _l_e_s_s looks for a lesskey file called
+ "$HOME/less.ini", and if it is not found, then 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 _l_e_s_s_k_e_y manual page for more details.
+
+ 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 file, key bindings in the
- local file take precedence over those in the system-wide
- file. If the environment variable LESSKEY_SYSTEM is set,
- _l_e_s_s uses that as the name of the system-wide lesskey
- file. Otherwise, _l_e_s_s looks in a standard place for the
+ file and in the system-wide file, key bindings in the
+ local file take precedence over those in the system-wide
+ file. If the environment variable LESSKEY_SYSTEM is set,
+ _l_e_s_s uses that as the name of the system-wide lesskey
+ file. Otherwise, _l_e_s_s looks in a standard place for the
system-wide lesskey file: On Unix systems, the system-wide
- lesskey file is /usr/local/bin/.sysless. (However, if
- _l_e_s_s was built with a different binary directory than
- /usr/local/bin, that directory is where the .sysless file
+ lesskey file is /usr/local/etc/sysless. (However, if _l_e_s_s
+ was built with a different sysconf directory than
+ /usr/local/etc, that directory is where the sysless file
is found.) On MS-DOS and Windows systems, the system-wide
lesskey file is c:\_sysless. On OS/2 systems, the system-
wide lesskey file is c:\sysless.ini.
IINNPPUUTT PPRREEPPRROOCCEESSSSOORR
- You may define an "input preprocessor" for _l_e_s_s_. Before
- _l_e_s_s opens a file, it first gives your input preprocessor
- a chance to modify the way the contents of the file are
- displayed. An input preprocessor is simply an executable
- program (or shell script), which writes the contents of
+ You may define an "input preprocessor" for _l_e_s_s_. Before
+ _l_e_s_s opens a file, it first gives your input preprocessor
+ a chance to modify the way the contents of the file are
+ displayed. An input preprocessor is simply an executable
+ program (or shell script), which writes the contents of
the file to a different file, called the replacement file.
The contents of the replacement file are then displayed in
- place of the contents of the original file. However, it
+ place of the contents of the original file. However, it
will appear to the user as if the original file is opened;
- that is, _l_e_s_s will display the original filename as the
+ that is, _l_e_s_s will display the original filename as the
name of the current file.
- An input preprocessor receives one command line argument,
- the original filename, as entered by the user. It should
- create the replacement file, and when finished, print the
- name of the replacement file to its standard output. If
- the input preprocessor does not output a replacement file-
- name, _l_e_s_s uses the original file, as normal. The input
- preprocessor is not called when viewing standard input.
- To set up an input preprocessor, set the LESSOPEN environ-
- ment 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.
-
- When _l_e_s_s closes a file opened in such a way, it will call
- another program, 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 original 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 origi-
- nal name of the file and the second with the name of the
+ An input preprocessor receives one command line argument,
+ the original filename, as entered by the user. It should
+ create the replacement file, and when finished, print the
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 19
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 19
@@ -1258,10 +1258,32 @@ IINNPPUUTT PPRREEPPRROOCCEESSSSOORR
LESS(1) LESS(1)
+ name of the replacement file to its standard output. If
+ the input preprocessor does not output a replacement file­
+ name, _l_e_s_s uses the original file, as normal. The input
+ preprocessor is not called when viewing standard input.
+ To set up an input preprocessor, set the LESSOPEN environ­
+ ment 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.
+
+ When _l_e_s_s closes a file opened in such a way, it will call
+ another program, 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 original 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 origi­
+ nal 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
+ For example, on many Unix systems, these two scripts will
+ allow you to keep files in compressed format, but still
let _l_e_s_s view them directly:
lessopen.sh:
@@ -1280,54 +1302,54 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
#! /bin/sh
rm $2
- To use these scripts, put them both where they can be exe-
- cuted and set LESSOPEN="lessopen.sh %s", and
+ To use these scripts, put them both where they can be exe­
+ cuted and set LESSOPEN="lessopen.sh %s", and
LESSCLOSE="lessclose.sh %s %s". More complex LESSOPEN and
- LESSCLOSE scripts may be written to accept other types of
+ 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 _l_e_s_s_, rather than putting
+ It is also possible to set up an input preprocessor to
+ pipe the file data directly to _l_e_s_s_, rather than putting
the data into a replacement file. This avoids the need to
decompress the entire file before starting 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
- replacement 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 replacement file and
- _l_e_s_s 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 pre-
- processor is an input pipe.
- For example, on many Unix systems, this script will work
- like the previous example scripts:
- lesspipe.sh:
- #! /bin/sh
- case "$1" in
- *.Z) uncompress -c $1 2>/dev/null
- ;;
- esac
- To use this script, put it where it can be executed and
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 20
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 20
+LESS(1) LESS(1)
+ input preprocessor that works this way is called an input
+ pipe. An input pipe, instead of writing the name of a
+ replacement 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 replacement file and
+ _l_e_s_s 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 pre­
+ processor is an input pipe.
-LESS(1) LESS(1)
+ For example, on many Unix systems, this script will work
+ like the previous example scripts:
+ lesspipe.sh:
+ #! /bin/sh
+ case "$1" in
+ *.Z) uncompress -c $1 2>/dev/null
+ ;;
+ esac
- set LESSOPEN="|lesspipe.sh %s". 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
+ To use this script, put it where it can be executed and
+ set LESSOPEN="|lesspipe.sh %s". 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 postprocessor is "-".
@@ -1338,7 +1360,7 @@ NNAATTIIOONNAALL CCHHAARRAACCTTEERR SSEETTSS
can be displayed directly to the screen.
control characters
- should not be displayed directly, but are expected
+ should not be displayed directly, but are expected
to be found in ordinary text files (such as
backspace and tab).
@@ -1346,135 +1368,160 @@ NNAATTIIOONNAALL CCHHAARRAACCTTEERR SSEETTSS
should not be displayed directly and are not
expected to be found in text files.
- A "character set" is simply a description of which charac-
- ters are to be considered normal, control, and binary.
+ A "character set" is simply a description of which charac­
+ ters are to be 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 charac-
- ters, all chars with values between 32 and 126 are
+ ascii BS, TAB, NL, CR, and formfeed are control charac­
+ ters, 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 characters.
- latin1 Same as iso8859.
- dos Selects a character set appropriate for MS-DOS.
- ebcdic Selects an EBCDIC character set.
- koi8-r Selects a Russian character set.
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 21
+
+
- next Selects a character set appropriate for NeXT com-
- puters.
- utf-8 Selects the UTF-8 encoding of the ISO 10646 charac-
- ter set.
- If the LESSCHARSET environment variable is not set, the
- default character set is latin1. However, if the string
- "UTF-8" is found in the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE or LANG environ-
- ment variables, then the default character set is utf-8
+LESS(1) LESS(1)
+ iso8859
+ Selects an ISO 8859 character set. This is the
+ same as ASCII, except characters between 160 and
+ 255 are treated as normal characters.
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 21
+ latin1 Same as iso8859.
+ latin9 Same as iso8859.
+ dos Selects a character set appropriate for MS-DOS.
+ 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 by setting either LESS­
+ CHARSET=IBM-1047 or LC_CTYPE=en_US in your environ­
+ ment.
-LESS(1) LESS(1)
+ koi8-r Selects a Russian character set.
+ next Selects a character set appropriate for NeXT com­
+ puters.
- instead.
+ utf-8 Selects the UTF-8 encoding of the ISO 10646 charac­
+ ter set.
- In special cases, it may be desired to tailor _l_e_s_s to use
- a character set other than the ones definable by LESS-
- CHARSET. In this case, the environment variable LESS-
- CHARDEF can be used to define a character set. It should
- be set to a string where each character in the string rep-
+ In special cases, it may be desired to tailor _l_e_s_s to use
+ a character set other than the ones definable by LESS­
+ CHARSET. In this case, the environment variable LESS­
+ CHARDEF can be used to define a character set. It should
+ be set to a string where each character in the string rep­
resents one character in the character set. The character
- "." is used for a normal character, "c" for control, and
- "b" for binary. A decimal number may be used for repeti-
- tion. 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 neces-
+ "." is used for a normal character, "c" for control, and
+ "b" for binary. A decimal number may be used for repeti­
+ tion. 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 neces­
sarily represent any real character set.)
- This table shows the value of LESSCHARDEF which is equiva-
+ This table shows the value of LESSCHARDEF which is equiva­
lent 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.
+
+
+
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 22
+
+
+
+
+
+LESS(1) LESS(1)
+
+
latin1 8bcccbcc18b95.33b.
next 8bcccbcc18b95.bb125.bb
- If neither LESSCHARSET nor LESSCHARDEF is set, but your
- system supports the _s_e_t_l_o_c_a_l_e interface, _l_e_s_s will use
- setlocale to determine the character set. setlocale is
- controlled by setting the LANG or LC_CTYPE environment
- variables.
+ If neither LESSCHARSET nor LESSCHARDEF is set, but the
+ string "UTF-8" is found in the LC_ALL, LC_TYPE or LANG
+ environment variables, then the default character set is
+ utf-8.
- Control and binary characters are displayed in standout
- (reverse video). Each such character is displayed in
+ If that string is not found, but your system supports the
+ _s_e_t_l_o_c_a_l_e interface, _l_e_s_s will use setlocale to determine
+ the character set. setlocale is controlled by setting the
+ LANG or LC_CTYPE environment variables.
+
+ Finally, if the _s_e_t_l_o_c_a_l_e interface is also not available,
+ the default character set is latin1.
+
+ 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 0100 bit results in
a normal printable character. Otherwise, the character is
- displayed as a hex number in angle brackets. This format
- can be changed by setting the LESSBINFMT environment vari-
- able. LESSBINFMT may begin with a "*" and one character
+ displayed as a hex number in angle brackets. This format
+ can be changed by setting the LESSBINFMT environment vari­
+ able. 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 LESS-
- BINFMT is "*u[%x]", binary characters are displayed in
- underlined hexadecimal surrounded by brackets. The
+ 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 LESS­
+ BINFMT is "*u[%x]", binary characters are displayed in
+ underlined hexadecimal surrounded by brackets. The
default if no LESSBINFMT is specified is "*s<%X>".
+PPRROOMMPPTTSS
+ 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 prompt strings.
+ A percent sign followed by a single character is expanded
+ according to what the following character is:
+ %b_X Replaced by the byte offset into the current input
+ file. The b is followed by a single character
+ (shown as _X above) which specifies the line whose
+ byte offset is to be used. If the character 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 bottom line, a "B" means use the line
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 22
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 23
-LESS(1) LESS(1)
-PPRROOMMPPTTSS
- 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 prompt strings.
+LESS(1) LESS(1)
- A percent sign followed by a single character is expanded
- according to what the following character is:
- %b_X Replaced by the byte offset into the current input
- file. The b is followed by a single character
- (shown as _X above) which specifies the line whose
- byte offset is to be used. If the character 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 bottom 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.
@@ -1483,26 +1530,26 @@ PPRROOMMPPTTSS
%c Replaced by the column number of the text appearing
in the first column of the screen.
- %d_X Replaced by the page number of a line in the input
- file. The line to be used is determined by the _X,
+ %d_X Replaced by the page number of a line in the input
+ file. The line to be used is determined by the _X,
as with the %b option.
- %D Replaced by the number of pages in the input file,
- or equivalently, the page number of the last line
+ %D Replaced by the number of pages in the input file,
+ or equivalently, 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 defined). See the dis-
+ environment variable, or the EDITOR environment
+ variable if VISUAL is not defined). See the dis­
cussion of the LESSEDIT feature below.
%f Replaced by the name of the current input file.
- %i Replaced by the index of the current file in the
+ %i Replaced by the index of the current file in the
list of input files.
- %l_X Replaced by the line number of a line in the input
- file. The line to be used is determined by the _X,
+ %l_X Replaced by the line number of a line in the input
+ file. The line to be used is determined by the _X,
as with the %b option.
%L Replaced by the line number of the last line in the
@@ -1510,56 +1557,55 @@ PPRROOMMPPTTSS
%m Replaced by the total number of input files.
+ %p_X Replaced by the percent into the current input
+ file, based on byte offsets. The line used is
+ determined by the _X as with the %b option.
+ %P_X Replaced by the percent into the current input
+ file, based on line numbers. The line used is
+ determined by the _X as with the %b option.
+ %s Same as %B.
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 23
+ %t Causes any trailing spaces to be removed. Usually
+ used at the end of the string, but may appear any­
+ where.
+ %x Replaced by the name of the next input file in the
+ list.
+ If any item is unknown (for example, the file size if
+ input is a pipe), a question mark is printed instead.
-LESS(1) LESS(1)
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 24
- %p_X Replaced by the percent into the current input
- file, based on byte offsets. The line used is
- determined by the _X as with the %b option.
- %P_X Replaced by the percent into the current input
- file, based on line numbers. The line used is
- determined by the _X as with the %b option.
- %s Same as %B.
- %t Causes any trailing spaces to be removed. Usually
- used at the end of the string, but may appear any-
- where.
-
- %x Replaced by the name of the next input file in the
- list.
+LESS(1) 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 sin-
- gle character acts like an "IF": depending on the follow-
+ The format of the prompt string can be changed depending
+ on certain conditions. A question mark followed by a sin­
+ gle character acts like an "IF": depending on the follow­
ing character, a condition is evaluated. 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
+ 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.
- Condition characters (which follow a question mark) may
+ 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.
+ Condition characters (which follow a question mark) may
be:
- ?a True if any characters have been included in the
+ ?a True if any characters have been included in the
prompt so far.
- ?b_X True if the byte offset of the specified line is
+ ?b_X True if the byte offset of the specified line is
known.
?B True if the size of current input file is known.
@@ -1567,94 +1613,82 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
?c True if the text is horizontally shifted (%c is not
zero).
- ?d_X True if the page number of the specified line is
+ ?d_X True if the page number of the specified line is
known.
?e True if at end-of-file.
- ?f True if there is an input filename (that is, if
+ ?f True if there is an input filename (that is, if
input is not a pipe).
- ?l_X True if the line number of the specified line is
+ ?l_X True if the line number of the specified line is
+ known.
+ ?L True if the line number of the last line in the
+ file is known.
+ ?m True if there is more than one input file.
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 24
+ ?n True if this is the first prompt in a new input
+ file.
+ ?p_X True if the percent into the current input file,
+ based on byte offsets, of the specified line is
+ known.
+ ?P_X True if the percent into the current input file,
+ based on line numbers, of the specified line is
+ known.
+ ?s Same as "?B".
-LESS(1) LESS(1)
- known.
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 25
- ?L True if the line number of the last line in the
- file is known.
- ?m True if there is more than one input file.
- ?n True if this is the first prompt in a new input
- file.
- ?p_X True if the percent into the current input file,
- based on byte offsets, of the specified line is
- known.
- ?P_X True if the percent into the current input file,
- based on line numbers, of the specified line is
- known.
+LESS(1) LESS(1)
- ?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).
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
+ 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.
Some examples:
?f%f:Standard input.
- This prompt prints the filename, if known; otherwise the
+ This prompt prints the filename, if known; otherwise the
string "Standard input".
?f%f .?ltLine %lt:?pt%pt\%:?btByte %bt:-...
- This prompt would print the filename, if known. The file-
- name is followed 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
+ This prompt would print the filename, if known. The file­
+ name is followed 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.
?n?f%f .?m(file %i of %m) ..?e(END) ?x- Next\: %x..%t
- This prints the filename if this is the first prompt in a
- file, followed by the "file N of N" message if there is
+ This prints the filename if this is the first prompt in a
+ file, followed 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
-
-
-
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 25
-
-
-
-
-
-LESS(1) LESS(1)
-
-
- and -M respectively). Each is broken into two lines here
+ 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.
?n?f%f .?m(file %i of %m) ..?e(END) ?x- Next\: %x.:
@@ -1668,25 +1702,36 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
?f%f .?m(file %i of %m) .?ltlines %lt-%lb?L/%L. .
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 com-
- mand is invoked. The LESSEDIT string is expanded in the
- same way as the prompt strings. The default value for
+ 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 com­
+ mand is invoked. The LESSEDIT string is expanded in the
+ same way as the prompt strings. The default value for
LESSEDIT is:
+
+
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 26
+
+
+
+
+
+LESS(1) LESS(1)
+
+
%E ?lm+%lm. %f
Note that this expands to the editor name, followed by a +
- and the line number, followed by the file name. If your
- editor does not accept the "+linenumber" syntax, or has
- other differences in invocation syntax, the LESSEDIT vari-
+ and the line number, followed by the file name. If your
+ editor does not accept the "+linenumber" syntax, or has
+ other differences in invocation syntax, the LESSEDIT vari­
able can be changed to modify this default.
SSEECCUURRIITTYY
When the environment variable LESSSECURE is set to 1, _l_e_s_s
- runs in a "secure" mode. This means these features are
+ runs in a "secure" mode. This means these features are
disabled:
! the shell command
@@ -1707,52 +1752,52 @@ SSEECCUURRIITTYY
filename completion (TAB, ^L)
- Less can also be compiled to be permanently in "secure"
+ Less can also be compiled to be permanently in "secure"
+ mode.
+EENNVVIIRROONNMMEENNTT VVAARRIIAABBLLEESS
+ Environment variables may be specified either in the sys­
+ tem environment as usual, or in a _l_e_s_s_k_e_y (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.
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 26
+ COLUMNS
+ Sets the number of columns on the screen. Takes
+ precedence over 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
+ precedence over the LINES and COLUMNS environment
+ variables.)
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 27
-LESS(1) LESS(1)
- mode.
-EENNVVIIRROONNMMEENNTT VVAARRIIAABBLLEESS
- Environment variables may be specified either in the sys-
- tem environment as usual, or in a _l_e_s_s_k_e_y (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.
+LESS(1) LESS(1)
- COLUMNS
- Sets the number of columns on the screen. Takes
- precedence over 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
- 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 on Unix systems).
+ 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 envi-
- ronment variables is the name of the user's home
- directory if the HOME variable is not set (only in
+ Concatenation of the HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH envi­
+ ronment variables is the name of the user's home
+ directory if the HOME variable is not set (only in
the Windows version).
- INIT Name of the user's init directory (used to find a
+ 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.
@@ -1763,45 +1808,49 @@ EENNVVIIRROONNMMEENNTT VVAARRIIAABBLLEESS
LESS Options which are passed to _l_e_s_s automatically.
LESSANSIENDCHARS
- Characters which are assumed to end an ANSI color
+ Characters which are assumed to end an ANSI color
escape sequence (default "m").
LESSBINFMT
- Format for displaying non-printable, non-control
+ Format for displaying non-printable, non-control
characters.
LESSCHARDEF
Defines a character set.
+ LESSCHARSET
+ Selects a predefined character set.
+ LESSCLOSE
+ Command line to invoke the (optional) input-post­
+ processor.
+ LESSECHO
+ Name of the lessecho program (default "lessecho").
+ The lessecho program is needed to expand metachar­
+ acters, such as * and ?, in filenames on Unix sys­
+ tems.
+ LESSEDIT
+ Editor prototype string (used for the v command).
+ See discussion under PROMPTS.
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 27
+ 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 _g_l_o_b_a_l (1) command. If not
+ set, global tags are not used.
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 28
-LESS(1) LESS(1)
- LESSCHARSET
- Selects a predefined character set.
- LESSCLOSE
- Command line to invoke the (optional) input-post-
- processor.
+LESS(1) LESS(1)
- LESSECHO
- Name of the lessecho program (default "lessecho").
- The lessecho program is needed to expand metachar-
- acters, such as * and ?, in filenames on Unix sys-
- tems.
-
- LESSEDIT
- Editor prototype string (used for the v command).
- See discussion under PROMPTS.
LESSKEY
Name of the default lesskey(1) file.
@@ -1810,17 +1859,17 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
Name of the default system-wide lesskey(1) file.
LESSMETACHARS
- List of characters which are considered "metachar-
+ List of characters which are considered "metachar­
acters" by the shell.
LESSMETAESCAPE
- Prefix which less will add before each metacharac-
- ter in a command sent to the shell. If LESS-
+ Prefix which less will add before each metacharac­
+ ter in a command sent to the shell. If LESS­
METAESCAPE is an empty string, commands containing
metacharacters will not be passed to the shell.
LESSOPEN
- Command line to invoke the (optional) input-prepro-
+ Command line to invoke the (optional) input-prepro­
cessor.
LESSSECURE
@@ -1828,7 +1877,7 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
SECURITY.
LESSSEPARATOR
- String to be appended to a directory name in file-
+ String to be appended to a directory name in file­
name completion.
LINES Sets the number of lines on the screen. Takes
@@ -1840,18 +1889,6 @@ LESS(1) LESS(1)
variables.)
PATH User's search path (used to find a lesskey file on
-
-
-
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 28
-
-
-
-
-
-LESS(1) LESS(1)
-
-
MS-DOS and OS/2 systems).
SHELL The shell used to execute the ! command, as well as
@@ -1869,6 +1906,18 @@ SSEEEE AALLSSOO
WWAARRNNIINNGGSS
The = command and prompts (unless changed by -P) report
the line numbers of the lines at the top and bottom of the
+
+
+
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 29
+
+
+
+
+
+LESS(1) LESS(1)
+
+
screen, but the byte and percent of the line after the one
at the bottom of the screen.
@@ -1878,7 +1927,7 @@ WWAARRNNIINNGGSS
On certain older terminals (the so-called "magic cookie"
terminals), search highlighting will cause an erroneous
- display. On such terminals, search highlighting is dis-
+ display. On such terminals, search highlighting is dis­
abled by default to avoid possible problems.
In certain cases, when search highlighting is enabled and
@@ -1887,29 +1936,46 @@ WWAARRNNIINNGGSS
not occur when less is compiled to use the POSIX regular
expression package.)
+ When viewing text containing ANSI color escape sequences
+ using the -R option, searching will not find text contain­
+ ing an embedded escape sequence. Also, search highlight­
+ ing may change the color of some of the text which follows
+ the highlighted text.
+
On some systems, _s_e_t_l_o_c_a_l_e claims that ASCII characters 0
- thru 31 are control characters rather than binary charac-
+ thru 31 are control characters rather than binary charac­
ters. This causes _l_e_s_s to treat some binary files as
ordinary, non-binary files. To workaround this problem,
set the environment variable LESSCHARSET to "ascii" (or
whatever character set is appropriate).
- See http://www.flash.net/~marknu/less for the latest list
- of known bugs in this version of less.
+ See http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less for the latest
+ list of known bugs in this version of less.
CCOOPPYYRRIIGGHHTT
- Copyright (C) 2000 Mark Nudelman
+ Copyright (C) 2001 Mark Nudelman
less is part of the GNU project and is free software. You
can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of
either (1) the GNU General 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
+ 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 war­
+ ranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 29
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 30
@@ -1918,25 +1984,25 @@ CCOOPPYYRRIIGGHHTT
LESS(1) LESS(1)
- 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
- 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 war-
- ranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PUR-
- POSE. See the GNU General Public License for more
+ PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more
details.
AAUUTTHHOORR
- Mark Nudelman <marknu@flash.net>
+ Mark Nudelman <markn@greenwoodsoftware.com>
Send bug reports or comments to the above address or to
bug-less@gnu.org.
+ For more information, see the less homepage at
+ http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
@@ -1975,6 +2041,6 @@ AAUUTTHHOORR
- Version 358: 08 Jul 2000 30
+ Version 371: 26 Dec 2001 31
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