less
- Roopika Yuvaraj (Deactivated)
Name
less - opposite of more
Restrictions in NIOS Expert Mode
less can only be used after the pipe ( | ) symbol. –k is not allowed due to the “no file” access policy. If you are not connected through ssh, use the “set term” command to set the correct terminal type for less to function properly.
Synopsis
less -?
less --help
less -V
less --version
less [-[+]aBcCdeEfFgGiIJKLmMnNqQrRsSuUVwWX~]
[-b space] [-h lines] [-j line]
[-{oO} logfile] [-p pattern] [-P prompt]
[-T tagsfile] [-x tab,...] [-y lines] [-[z] lines]
[-# shift] [+[+]cmd] [--] [filename]...
(See the OPTIONS section for alternate option syntax with long option names.)
Description
Less is a program similar to more (1), but which allows backward movement in the file as well as forward movement. Also, less does not have to read the entire input file before starting, so with large input files, it starts up faster than text editors like vi (1). Less uses termcap (or terminfo on some systems), so it can run on a variety of terminals. There is even limited support for hard copy terminals. (On a hard copy terminal, lines which should be printed at the top of the screen are prefixed with a caret.)
Commands are based on both more and vi. Commands may be preceded by a decimal number, called N in the descriptions below. The number is used by some commands, as indicated.
Commands
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".
- 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) 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 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 single option letter.
&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 prompt, as a reminder that some lines in the file may be hidden.
Certain characters are special as in the / command:
^N
Display only lines which do NOT match the pattern.
^R
Don’t interpret regular expression meta characters; that is, do a simple textual comparison.
( Like {, but applies to parentheses rather than curly brackets.
) Like }, but applies to parentheses rather than curly brackets
/pattern
Search forward in the file for the N-th line containing the pattern. 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 second 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 part of the pattern:
^N
Search for lines which do NOT match the pattern.
^E
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 options.
^K
Highlight any text which matches the pattern on the current screen, but don’t move to the first match (KEEP current position).
^R
Don’t interpret regular expression meta characters; that is, do a simple textual comparison.
:d Remove the current file from the list of files.
:n Examine the next file (from the list of files given in the command 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 is specified, the N-th file in the list is examined.
?pattern
Search backward in the file for the N-th line containing the pattern.The search starts at the line immediately before the top line displayed.
Certain characters are special as in the / command:
^N
Search for lines which do NOT match the pattern.
^E
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 displayed on the screen or the settings of the -a or -j
options.
^K
As in forward searches.
^R
As in forward searches.
[ Like {, but applies to square brackets rather than curly brackets.
] Like }, but applies to square brackets rather than curly brackets.
^X^V or E
Warning: Some systems use ^V as a special literalization character. On such systems, you may not be able to use ^V.
^X^X Same as single quote.
_ (Underscore.) Followed by one of the command line option letters, 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 RETURN after typing the option name.
{ 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 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 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 N-th bracket on the line.
’ (Single quote.) Followed by any lowercase letter, returns to the position which was previously marked with that letter. Followed by another single quote, returns to the position 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.
-+ 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 rather than a single option letter.
+cmd Causes the specified cmd to be executed each time a new file is examined. For example, +G causes less to initially display each file starting at the end rather than the beginning.
= 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 file above the last displayed line.
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.
d or ^D
Scroll forward N lines, default one half of the screen size. If N is specified, it becomes the new default for subsequent d and u commands.
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 commands.
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 commands. While the text is scrolled, it acts as though the -S option (chop lines) were in effect.
ESC-/pattern
Same as "/*".
ESC-?pattern
Same as "?*".
ESC-^F
Followed by two characters, acts like {, but uses the two characters 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 characters 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.
ESC-n
Repeat previous search ,but crossing file boundaries.
ESC-N
Repeat previous search, but in the reverse direction and crossing file boundaries.
ESC-SPACE
Like SPACE, but scrolls a full screenful, even if it reaches end-of-file in the process.
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. Highlighting can also be disabled by toggling the -G option; in that case search commands do not turn highlighting back on.)
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.)
g or < or ESC-<
Go to line N in the file, default 1 (beginning of file). (Warning: 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.(Warning: This may be slow if N is large, or if N is not specified and standard input, rather than a file, is being read.)
h or H Help
display a summary of these commands. If you forget all the other commands, remember this one.
m
Followed by any lowercase letter, marks the current position with that letter.
N
Repeat previous search, but in the reverse direction.
n
Repeat previous search, for N-th line containing the last pattern. If the previous search was modified 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 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.
P
Go to the line containing byte offset N in the file.
p or %
Go to a position N percent into the file. N should be between 0 and 100, and may contain a decimal point.
q or Q or :q or :Q or ZZ
Exits less.
R
Repaint the screen, discarding any buffered input. Useful if the file is changing while it is being viewed.
r or ^R
Repaint the screen.
RETURN or ^N or e or ^E or j or ^J
Scroll forward N lines, default 1. The entire N lines are displayed, even if N is more than the screen size.
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 special literalization character.
t
Go to the next tag, if there were more than one matches for the current tag.
T
Go to the previous tag, if there were more than one matches for the current tag.
u or ^U
Scroll backward N lines, default one half of the screen size. If N is specified, it becomes the new default for subsequent d and u commands.
V
Prints the version number of less being run.
w
Like ESC-v, but if N is specified, it becomes the new window size.
y or ^Y or ^P or k or ^K
Scroll backward N lines, default 1. The entire N lines are displayed, even if N is more than the screen size. Warning: Some systems use ^Y as a special job control character.
z
Like SPACE, but if N is specified, it becomes the new window size.
Options
Command line options are described below. Most options may be changed while less 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 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 capitalized; the remainder of the name may be in either case. For example, --Quit-at-eof is equivalent to --QUIT-AT-EOF.
To avoid typing "less -options ..." each time less is invoked, you might tell csh: setenv LESS "-options"
or if you use sh: 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 percent signs.
For options like -P or -D which take a following string, a 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:
LESS="-Dn9.1$-Ds4.1"
-? or --help
This option displays a summary of the commands accepted by less (the same as the h command). (Depending on how your shell interprets the question mark, it may be necessary to quote the question mark, thus: "-\?".)
-a or --search-skip-screen
Causes searches to start after the last line displayed on the screen, thus skipping all lines 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).
-bn or --buffers=n
Specifies the amount of buffer space less will use for each file, in units of kilobytes (1024 bytes). By default 64K of buffer space is used for each file (unless the file is a pipe;
see the -B option). The -b option specifies instead that n kilobytes of buffer space should be used for each file. If n is -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 allocated. The -B option disables this automatic allocation of buffers for pipes, so that only 64K (or the amount of space specified 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 from the bottom of the screen.
-C or --CLEAR-SCREEN
Same as -c, for compatibility with older versions of less.
-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 clear the screen or scroll backward. The -d option does not otherwise change the behavior of less on a dumb terminal.
-Dxcolor or --color=xcolor
[MS-DOS only] Sets the color of the text displayed. x is a single character which selects the type of text whose color is being set: n=normal, s=standout, d=bold, u=underlined, k=blink. color 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.M, where M is the normal background color.
-e or --quit-at-eof
Causes less to automatically exit the second time it reaches end-of-file. By default, the only way to exit less is via the "q" command.
-E or --QUIT-AT-EOF
Causes less to automatically exit the first time it reaches end-of- file.
-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 warning message when a binary file is opened. By default, less will refuse to open non-regular files. Note that some operating systems will not allow directories to be read, even if -f is set.
-F or --quit-if-one-screen
Causes less to automatically exit if the entire file can be displayed on the first screen.
-g or --hilite-search
Normally, less will highlight ALL strings which match the last search command. The -g option changes this behavior to highlight only the particular string which was found by the last search command. This can cause less to run somewhat faster than the default.
-G or --HILITE-SEARCH
The -G option suppresses all highlighting of strings found by search commands.
-hn or --max-back-scroll=n
Specifies a maximum number of lines to scroll backward.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 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 uppercase letters.
-jn or --jump-target=n
Specifies a line on the screen where the "target" line is to be positioned. The target line is the line specified by any command 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 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. 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, forward searches begin at the line immediately after the target line, and backward searches begin at the target line. 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.
-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. The status column is also used if the -w or -W option is in effect.
-K or --quit-on-intr
Causes less to exit immediately when an interrupt character (usually ^C) is typed. Normally, an interrupt character causes less 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.
-L or --no-lessopen
See the INPUT PREPROCESSOR section below. This option can be set from within less, but it will apply only to files opened subsequently, not to the file which is currently open.
-m or --long-prompt
Causes less to prompt verbosely (like more), with the percent into the file. By default,less prompts with a colon.
-M or --LONG-PROMPT
Causes less to prompt even more verbosely than more.
-n or --line-numbers
Suppresses line numbers. The default (to use line numbers) may cause less 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 line number will be displayed in the verbose prompt and in the = command.
-N or --LINE-NUMBERS
Causes a line number to be displayed at the beginning of each line in the display.
-ofilename or --log-file=filename
Causes less 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, less will ask for confirmation before overwriting it.
-Ofilename or --LOG-FILE=filename
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 less 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 less.
-ppattern or --pattern=pattern
The -p option on the command line is equivalent to specifying +/pattern; that is, it tells less to start at the first occurrence of pattern in the file.
-Pprompt or --prompt=prompt
Provides a way to tailor the three prompt styles to your own preference. This option would normally be put in the LESS environment variable, rather than being typed in with each less command. 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 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 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 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 such cases.
-Q or --QUIET or --SILENT
Causes totally "quiet"operation: the terminal bell is never 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: when the -r option is used, less 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 only ANSI "color" escape sequences are output in "raw" form. Unlike -r, the screen appearance is maintained correctly in most cases. ANSI "color" escape sequences are sequences 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.
-s or --squeeze-blank-lines
Causes consecutive blank lines to be squeezed into a single blank line. This is useful when viewing nroff output.
-S or --chop-long-lines
Causes lines longer than the screen width to be chopped rather than folded. That is, the portion of a long line that does not fit in the screen width is not shown. The default is to fold long lines; that is, display the remainder on the next line.
-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 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.
-V or --version
Displays the version number of less.
-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 highlights 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 only the status column is highlighted.
-W or --HILITE-UNREAD
Like -w, but temporarily highlights the first new line after any forward movement command larger than one line.
-xn,... or --tabs=n,...
Sets tab stops. If only one n is specified, tab stops are set at multiples of n. If multiple values 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, -x9,17 will set tabs at positions 9, 17, 25, 33, etc. The default for n is 8.
-X or --no-init
Disables sending the term cap initialization and deinitialization strings to the terminal. This is sometimes desirable if the deinitialization string does something unnecessary, like clearing the screen.
-yn or --max-forw-scroll=n
Specifies a maximum number of lines to scroll forward. 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 some versions of more. If the number n is negative, it indicates 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 automatically changes to 36 lines.
-"cc or --quotes=cc
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 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 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.
-# or --shift
Specifies the default number of positions to scroll horizontally in the RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW commands. If the number specified is zero, it sets the default number of positions to one half of the screen width. Alternately, the number may be specified 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 specified 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.
--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.
--follow-name
Normally, if the input file is renamed while an F command is executing, less will continue to display the contents of the original file despite its name change. If --follow-name is specified, during an F command less 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), less will display the contents of that new file.
-- 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 remainder of that option is taken to be an initial command to less. For example, +G tells less 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 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 described previously may also be used to set (or change) an initial command for every file.
Line Editing
When entering command line at the bottom of the screen (for example, the pattern for a search command), certain keys can be used to manipulate the command line. Most commands have an alternate form in [ brackets ] which can be used if a key does not exist on a particular keyboard.(Note that the forms beginning with ESC do not work in some MS-DOS and Windows systems because ESC is the line erase character.) 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 ]
Move the cursor one space to the left.
RIGHTARROW [ ESC-l ]
Move the cursor one space to the right.
^LEFTARROW [ ESC-b or ESC-LEFTARROW ]
(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.) Move the cursor one word to the right.
HOME [ ESC-0 ]
Move the cursor to the beginning of the line.
END [ ESC-$ ]
Move the cursor to the end of the line.
BACKSPACE
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.) Delete the word to the left of the cursor.
^DELETE [ ESC-X or ESC-DELETE ]
(That is, CONTROL and DELETE simultaneously.) Delete the word under the cursor.
UPARROW [ ESC-k ]
Retrieve the previous command line.
DOWNARROW [ ESC-j ]
Retrieve the next command line.
^U (Unix and OS/2) or ESC (MS-DOS)
Delete the entire command line, or cancel the command if the command line is empty. If you have changed your line-kill character in Unix to something other than ^U, that character is used instead of ^U.
National Character Sets
There are three types of characters in the input file:
normal characters
can be displayed directly to the screen.
control characters
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 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 LESSCHARSET are:
ascii BS, 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 characters.
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 LESSCHARSET=IBM-1047 or LC_CTYPE=en_US in your environment.
koi8-r Selects a Russian character set.
next Selects a character set appropriate for NeXT computers.
utf-8 Selects the UTF-8 encoding of the ISO10646 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 1251).
In rare cases, it may be desired to tailor less to use a character set other than the ones definable by LESSCHARSET. The character "." is used for a normal character, "c" for control, and "b" for binary. A decimal number 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 character set.)
This table shows the value of LESSCHARDEF which is equivalent to each of the possible values for LESSCHARSET:
ascii 8bcccbcc18b95.bdos 8bcccbcc12bc5b95.bebcdic 5bc6bcc7bcc41b.9b7.9b5.b..8b6.10b6.b9.7b 9.8b8.17b3.3b9.7b9.8b8.6b10.b.b.b.IBM-1047 4cbcbc3b9cbccbccbb4c6bcc5b3cbbc4bc4bccbc 191.biso8859 8bcccbcc18b95.33b.koi8-r 8bcccbcc18b95.b128.latin1 8bcccbcc18b95.33b.next 8bcccbcc18b95.bb125.bb
If LESSCHARSET is not set, but any of the strings "UTF-8", "UTF8", "utf-8" or "utf8" is found in the LC_ALL, or LC_TYPE, then the default character set is utf-8.
If that string is not found, but your system supports the set locale interface, less will use set locale to determine the character set. set locale is controlled by setting the LANG.
Finally, if the set locale 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.
Prompts
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 ordinary 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:
%bX
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.
%B
Replaced by the size of the current input file.
%c
Replaced by the column number of the text appearing in the first column of the screen.
%dX
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 in the input file.
%E
Replaced by the name of the editor (from the VISUAL environment variable.)
%f
Replaced by the name of the current input file.
%i
Replaced by the index of the current file in the list of input files.
%lX
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 input file.
%m
Replaced by the total number of input files.
%pX
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.
%PX
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 anywhere.
%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.
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 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 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 be:
?a
True if any characters have been included in the prompt so far.
?bX
True if the byte offset of the specified line is known.
?B
True if the size of current input file is known.
?c
True if the text is horizontally shifted (%c is not zero).
?dX
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 input is not a pipe).
?lX
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.
?n
True if this is the first prompt in a new input file.
?pX
True if the percent into the current input file, based on byte offsets, of the specified line is known.
?PX
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).
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.
Some examples:
?f%f:Standard input.
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 filename 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 ina 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 reference, 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.:?pB%pB\%:byte %bB?s/%s...%t
?f%f .?n?m(file %i of %m) ..?ltlines %lt-%lb?L/%L. :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(file %i of %m) .?ltlines %lt-%lb?L/%L. .byte %bB?s/%s. ?e(END) :?pB%pB\%..%t
The LESSEDIT string is expanded in the same way as the prompt strings.
The default value for LESSEDIT is:
%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 variable can be changed to modify this default.
Compatibility with MORE
If the program is invoked via a file link named "more", less behaves (mostly) in conformance 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, less behaves as if the -E option were set. If the -e option is set, less behaves as if the -e and -F options 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–". If the -m option is set, the short prompt is used.
The -n option acts like the -z option. The normal behavior of the -n option is unavailable in this mode.
The parameter to the -p option is taken to be a less command rather than a search pattern.
See Also
lesskey(1)
Copyright
Copyright (C) 1984-2009Mark 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 s 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 warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.See the GNU General Public License for more details.
Author
Mark Nudelman <markn@greenwoodsoftware.com> See http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less/bugs.html for the latest list of known bugs in less. 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.