NAME
less
, more
— view files
SYNOPSIS
less | more |
-? |
less | more |
--help |
less | more |
-V |
less | more |
--version |
less | more |
[- [+ ]AaBCcdEeFfGgIiJKLMmNnQqRrSsUuVWwX~ ]
[-b space]
[-h lines]
[-j line]
[-k keyfile]
[-O | -o logfile]
[-P prompt]
[-p pattern]
[-T tagsfile]
[-t tag]
[-x tab,...]
[-y lines]
[- [z ] lines]
[-# shift]
[+ [+ ] cmd]
[-- ]
[filename ...] |
DESCRIPTION
less
is a program similar to the
traditional 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
hardcopy terminals. (On a hardcopy terminal, lines which should be printed
at the top of the screen are prefixed with a caret.)
This version of less
also acts as
more(1) if it is called as more
. In this
mode, the differences are in the prompt and that
more
exits by default when it gets to the end of the
file. Commands are based on both traditional more
and vi(1). 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".
h
|H
- Help: display a summary of these commands. If you forget all the other commands, remember this one.
SPACE
|^V
|f
|^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.
z
- Like SPACE, but if N is specified, it becomes the new window size.
ESC-SPACE
- Like SPACE, but scrolls a full screenful, even if it reaches end-of-file in the process.
ENTER
|RETURN
|^N
|e
|^E
|j
|^J
- Scroll forward N lines, default 1. The entire N lines are displayed, even if N is more than the screen size.
d
|^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.
b
|^B
|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.
w
- Like ESC-v, but if N is specified, it becomes the new window size.
y
|^Y
|^P
|k
|^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.
u
|^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.
ESC-)
|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-(
|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.
r
|^R
|^L
- Repaint the screen.
R
- Repaint the screen, discarding any buffered input. Useful if the file is changing while it is being viewed.
F
- Scroll forward, and keep trying to read when the end of file is reached. Normally this command would be used when already at the end of the file. It is a way to monitor the tail of a file which is growing while it is being viewed. (The behavior is similar to the "tail -f" command.)
g
|<
|ESC-<
- Go to line N in the file, default 1 (beginning of file). (Warning: this may be slow if N is large.)
G
|>
|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.)
p
|%
- Go to a position N percent into the file. N should be between 0 and 100, and may contain a decimal point.
P
- Go to the line containing byte offset N in the file.
{
- If a left curly bracket appears in the top line displayed on the screen, the { command will go to the matching right curly bracket. The matching right curly bracket is positioned on the 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.
(
- Like {, but applies to parentheses rather than curly brackets.
)
- Like }, but applies to parentheses rather than curly brackets.
[
- Like {, but applies to square brackets rather than curly brackets.
]
- Like }, but applies to square brackets rather than curly brackets.
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.
m
- Followed by any lowercase letter, marks the current position with that letter.
'
- (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.
^X^X
- Same as single quote.
/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 first line displayed (but see the -a and -j options, which change
this).
Certain characters are special if entered at the beginning of the pattern; they modify the type of search rather than become 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
|@
- 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 metacharacters; that is, do a simple textual comparison.
?pattern
- Search backward in the file for the N-th line containing the pattern. The
search starts at the 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
|@
- 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.
ESC-/pattern
- Same as "/*".
ESC-?pattern
- Same as "?*".
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.
N
- Repeat previous search, but in the reverse direction.
ESC-n
- Repeat previous search, but crossing file boundaries. The effect is as if the previous search were modified by *.
ESC-N
- Repeat previous search, but in the reverse direction and crossing file boundaries.
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.)
&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 metacharacters; that is, do a simple textual comparison.
:e
[filename]- Examine a new file. If the filename is missing, the "current" file (see the :n and :p commands below) from the list of files in the command line is re-examined. A percent sign (%) in the filename is replaced by the name of the current file. A pound sign (#) is replaced by the name of the previously examined file. However, two consecutive percent signs are simply replaced with a single percent sign. This allows you to enter a filename that contains a percent sign in the name. Similarly, two consecutive pound signs are replaced with a single pound sign. The filename is inserted into the command line list of files so that it can be seen by subsequent :n and :p commands. If the filename consists of several files, they are all inserted into the list of files and the first one is examined. If the filename contains one or more spaces, the entire filename should be enclosed in double quotes (also see the -" option).
^X^V
|E
- Same as :e. Warning: some systems use ^V as a special literalization character. On such systems, you may not be able to use ^V.
:n
- Examine the next file (from the list of files given in the 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.
:t
- Go to the specified tag.
:x
- Examine the first file in the command line list. If a number N is specified, the N-th file in the list is examined.
:d
- Remove the current file from the list of files.
t
- Go to the next tag, if there were more than one matches for the current tag. See the -t option for more details about tags.
T
- Go to the previous tag, if there were more than one matches for the current tag.
=
|^G
|: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.
-
- Followed by one of the command line option letters (see OPTIONS below), this will change the setting of that option and print a message describing the new setting. If a ^P (CONTROL-P) is entered immediately after the dash, the setting of the option is changed but no message is printed. If the option letter has a numeric value (such as -b or -h), or a string value (such as -P or -t), a new value may be entered after the option letter. If no new value is entered, a message describing the current 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 ENTER or RETURN after typing the option name. A ^P immediately after the second dash suppresses printing of a message describing the new setting, as in the - command.
-+
- Followed by one of the command line option letters this will reset the option to its default setting and print a message describing the new setting. (The "-+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.
-!
- 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.
_
- (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 ENTER or 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
less
to initially display each file starting at the end rather than the beginning. V
- Prints the version number of
less
being run. q
|Q
|:q
|:Q
|ZZ
- Exits
less
.
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, orEDITOR
ifVISUAL
is not defined, or defaults to "vi" if neitherVISUAL
norEDITOR
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. The shell is taken from the environment variable
SHELL
, or defaults to "sh". - |
<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 indicate beginning or end of file respectively. If <m> is . or newline, the current screen is piped.
s
filename- Save the input to a file. This only works if the input is a pipe, not an ordinary file.
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.
Options are also taken from the environment variable
LESS
if the command is less
,
or from the environment variable MORE
if the command
is more
. For example, to avoid typing "less
-options ..." each time less
is invoked, you
might tell csh(1):
setenv LESS -options
or if you use sh(1):
LESS="-options"; export
LESS
The environment variable is parsed before the command line, so
command line options override the LESS
environment
variable. If an option appears in the LESS
variable,
it can be reset to its default value on the command line by beginning the
command line option with "-+".
For options like -P which take a following string, a dollar sign ($) must be used to signal the end of the string. For example, to separate a prompt value from any other options with dollar sign between them:
LESS="-Ps--More--$-C
-e"
-?
|--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
|--SEARCH-SKIP-SCREEN
- Causes all forward searches (not just non-repeated searches) to start just after the target line, and all backward searches to start just before the target line. Thus, forward searches will skip part of the displayed screen (from the first line up to and including the target line). Similarly backwards searches will skip the displayed screen from the last line up to and including the target line. This was the default behavior in less versions prior to 441.
-a
|--search-skip-screen
- By default, forward searches start at the top of the displayed screen and backwards searches start at the bottom of the displayed screen (except for repeated searches invoked by the n or N commands, which start after or before the "target" line respectively; see the -j option for more about the target line). The -a option causes forward searches to instead start at the bottom of the screen and backward searches to start at the top of the screen, thus skipping all lines displayed on the screen.
-B
|--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.
-b
n |--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. -C
|--CLEAR-SCREEN
- Same as -c, for compatibility with older versions of
less
. -c
|--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.
-d
|--dumb
(less only)- 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. This option is on by default when invoked asmore
. -d
(more only)- The -d option causes the default prompt to include the basic directions ``[Press space to continue, 'q' to quit.]''. The -d option also causes the message ``[Press 'h' for instructions.]'' to be displayed when an invalid command is entered (normally, the bell is rung). This option is useful in environments where users may not be experienced with pagers.
-E
|--QUIT-AT-EOF
- Causes
less
to automatically exit the first time it reaches end-of-file. -e
|--quit-at-eof
- Causes
less
to automatically exit the second time it reaches end-of-file. By default, the only way to exitless
is via the "q" command. -F
|--quit-if-one-screen
- Causes
less
to automatically exit if the entire file can be displayed on the first screen. -f
|--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. -G
|--HILITE-SEARCH
- The -G option suppresses all highlighting of strings found by search commands.
-g
|--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 causeless
to run somewhat faster than the default. -h
n |--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
|--IGNORE-CASE
- Like -i, but searches ignore case even if the pattern contains uppercase letters.
-i
|--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.
-J
|--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.
-j
n |--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, unless changed by -a or -A. For example, if "-j4" is used, the target line is the fourth line on the screen, so forward searches begin at the fifth line on the screen.
-K
|--quit-on-intr
- Causes
less
to exit immediately (with status 2) when an interrupt character (usually ^C) is typed. Normally, an interrupt character causesless
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. -k
filename |--lesskey-file
=filename- Causes
less
to open and interpret the named file as a lesskey(1) file. Multiple -k options may be specified. If theLESSKEY
orLESSKEY_SYSTEM
environment variable is set, or if a lesskey file is found in a standard place (see KEY BINDINGS), it is also used as a lesskey file. -L
|--no-lessopen
- Ignore the
LESSOPEN
environment variable (see the INPUT PREPROCESSOR section below). This option can be set from withinless
, but it will apply only to files opened subsequently, not to the file which is currently open. When invoked asmore
, theLESSOPEN
environment variable is ignored by default. -M
|--LONG-PROMPT
- Causes
less
to prompt even more verbosely thanmore
. -m
|--long-prompt
- Causes
less
to prompt verbosely (like more), with the percent into the file. By default,less
prompts with a colon. -N
|--LINE-NUMBERS
- Causes a line number to be displayed at the beginning of each line in the display.
-n
|--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, and the v command will pass the current line number to the editor (see also the discussion of LESSEDIT in PROMPTS below). -O
filename |--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 withinless
. -o
filename |--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. -P
prompt |--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 eachless
command. Such an option must either be the last option in theLESS
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. -p
pattern |--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. -Q
|--QUIET
|--SILENT
- Causes totally "quiet" operation: the terminal bell is never rung.
-q
|--quiet
|--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.
-R
|--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. You can make
less
think that characters other than "m" can end ANSI color escape sequences by setting the environment variableLESSANSIENDCHARS
to the list of characters which can end a color escape sequence. And you can makeless
think that characters other than the standard ones may appear between the ESC and the m by setting the environment variableLESSANSIMIDCHARS
to the list of characters which can appear. -r
|--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. -S
|--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.
-s
|--squeeze-blank-lines
- Causes consecutive blank lines to be squeezed into a single blank line.
-T
tagsfile |--tag-file
=tagsfile- Specifies a tags file to be used instead of "tags".
-t
tag |--tag
=tag- The -t option, followed immediately by a TAG, will edit the file
containing that tag. For this to work, tag information must be available;
for example, there may be a file in the current directory called
"tags", which was previously built by
ctags(1) or an equivalent command. If the environment variable
LESSGLOBALTAGS
is set, it is taken to be the name of a command compatible with global, 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 withinless
(using the - command) as a way of examining a new file. The command ":t" is equivalent to specifying -t from withinless
. -U
|--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 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 for if neither -u nor -U is in effect.
-u
|--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.
-V
|--version
- Displays the version number of
less
. -W
|--HILITE-UNREAD
- Like -w, but temporarily highlights the first new line after any forward movement command larger than one line.
-w
|--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.
-X
|--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.
-x
n,... |--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.
-y
n |--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 |--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. --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 commandless
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. --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.
- -cc |
--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).
-~
|--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.
-#
|--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.
--
- 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 tellsless
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, a filename for the :e command, or 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. 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-$]
- Move the cursor to the end of the line.
- BACKSPACE
- Delete the character to the left of the cursor, or cancel the command if the command line is empty.
- DELETE or [ESC-x]
- Delete the character under the cursor.
- ^BACKSPACE [ESC-BACKSPACE]
- (That is, CONTROL and BACKSPACE simultaneously.) Delete the word to the left of the cursor.
- ^DELETE [ESC-X or ESC-DELETE]
- (That is, CONTROL and DELETE simultaneously.) Delete the word under the cursor.
- UPARROW [ESC-k]
- Retrieve the previous command line.
- DOWNARROW [ESC-j]
- Retrieve the next command line.
- TAB
- Complete the partial filename to the left of the cursor. If it matches
more than one filename, the first match is entered into the command line.
Repeated TABs will cycle through the other matching filenames. If the
completed filename is a directory, a "/" is appended to the
filename. The environment variable
LESSSEPARATOR
can be used to specify a different character to append to a directory name. - BACKTAB [ESC-TAB]
- Like TAB, but cycles in the reverse direction through the matching filenames.
- ^L
- Complete the partial filename to the left of the cursor. If it matches more than one filename, all matches are entered into the command line (if they fit).
- ^U
- Delete the entire command line, or cancel the command if the command line is empty. If you have changed your line-kill character to something other than ^U, that character is used instead of ^U.
- ^G
- Delete the entire command line and return to the main prompt.
KEY BINDINGS
You may define your own less
commands by
using the program
lesskey(1) to create a lesskey file. This file specifies a set of
command keys and an action associated with each key. You may also use
lesskey to change the line-editing keys (see
LINE EDITING), and to set environment
variables. If the environment variable LESSKEY
is
set, less
uses that as the name of the lesskey file.
Otherwise, less
looks for a lesskey file called
"$HOME/.less". See the
lesskey(1) 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, less
uses that as the name of the system-wide lesskey file. Otherwise,
less
looks in a standard place for the system-wide
lesskey file: On OpenBSD, the system-wide lesskey
file is /etc/sysless.
INPUT PREPROCESSOR
You may define an "input preprocessor" for
less
. Before less
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 will appear to the user as if the original file is opened;
that is, less
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
filename, less
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
environment
variable to a command line which will invoke your input preprocessor. This
command line should include one occurrence of the string "%s",
which will be replaced by the filename when the input preprocessor command
is invoked.
When less
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 original name
of the file and the second with the name of the replacement file, which was
output by LESSOPEN
.
For example, these two scripts will allow you to keep files in
compressed format, but still let less
view them
directly:
lessopen.sh:
#! /bin/sh case "$1" in *.Z) uncompress -c $1 >/tmp/less.$$ 2>/dev/null if [ -s /tmp/less.$$ ]; then echo /tmp/less.$$ else rm -f /tmp/less.$$ fi ;; esac
lessclose.sh:
#! /bin/sh rm $2
To use these scripts, put them both where they can be executed and set LESSOPEN="lessopen.sh %s", and LESSCLOSE="lessclose.sh %s %s". More complex LESSOPEN and LESSCLOSE scripts may be written to accept other types of compressed files, and so on.
It is also possible to set up an input preprocessor to pipe the
file data directly to less
, 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
less
uses the original file, as normal. To use an
input pipe, make the first character in the LESSOPEN
environment variable a vertical bar (|) to signify that the input
preprocessor is an input pipe.
For example, 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 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 "-".
For compatibility with previous versions of
less
, the input preprocessor or pipe is not used if
less
is viewing standard input. However, if the
first character of LESSOPEN is a dash (-), the input preprocessor is used on
standard input as well as other files. In this case, the dash is not
considered to be part of the preprocessor command. If standard input is
being viewed, the input preprocessor is passed a file name consisting of a
single dash. Similarly, if the first two characters of LESSOPEN are vertical
bar and dash (|-), the input pipe is used on standard input as well as other
files. Again, in this case the dash is not considered to be part of the
input pipe command.
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, TAB, NL, CR, and formfeed are control characters, all chars with values between 32 and 126 are normal, and all others are binary.
- iso8859
- Selects an ISO 8859 character set. This is the same as ASCII, except characters between 160 and 255 are treated as normal 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 ISO 10646 character set. UTF-8 is special in that it supports multi-byte characters in the input file. It is the only character set that supports multi-byte characters.
- windows
- Selects a character set appropriate for Microsoft Windows (cp 1251).
In rare cases, it may be desired to tailor
less
to use a character set other than the ones
definable by LESSCHARSET. In this case, the environment variable
LESSCHARDEF
can be used to define a character set.
It should be set to a string where each character in the string represents
one character in the character set. The character "." is used for
a normal character, "c" for control, and "b" for binary.
A decimal 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.b dos 8bcccbcc12bc5b95.b. ebcdic 5bc6bcc7bcc41b.9b7.9b5.b..8b6.10b6.b9.7b 9.8b8.17b3.3b9.7b9.8b8.6b10.b.b.b. IBM-1047 4cbcbc3b9cbccbccbb4c6bcc5b3cbbc4bc4bccbc 191.b iso8859 8bcccbcc18b95.33b. koi8-r 8bcccbcc18b95.b128. latin1 8bcccbcc18b95.33b. next 8bcccbcc18b95.bb125.bb
If neither LESSCHARSET nor LESSCHARDEF is set, but any of the
strings "UTF-8", "UTF8", "utf-8" or
"utf8" is found in the LC_ALL
,
LC_CTYPE
or LANG
environment
variables, then the default character set is utf-8.
If that string is not found, but your system supports the
setlocale interface, less
will use setlocale to
determine the character set. setlocale is controlled by setting the
LANG
or LC_CTYPE
environment
variables.
Finally, if the setlocale 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 variable.
LESSBINFMT may begin with a "*" and one character to select the
display attribute: "*k" is blinking, "*d" is bold,
"*u" is underlined, "*s" is standout, and "*n"
is normal. If LESSBINFMT does not begin with a "*", normal
attribute is assumed. The remainder of LESSBINFMT is a string which may
include one printf-style escape sequence (a % followed by x, X, o, d, etc.).
For example, if LESSBINFMT is "*u[%x]", binary characters are
displayed in underlined hexadecimal surrounded by brackets. The default if
no LESSBINFMT is specified is "*s<%02X>". Warning: the
result of expanding the character via LESSBINFMT must be less than 31
characters.
When the character set is utf-8, the
LESSUTFBINFMT
environment variable acts similarly to
LESSBINFMT but it applies to Unicode code points that were successfully
decoded but are unsuitable for display (e.g., unassigned code points). Its
default value is "<U+%04lX>". Note that LESSUTFBINFMT and
LESSBINFMT share their display attribute setting ("*x") so
specifying one will affect both; LESSUTFBINFMT is read after LESSBINFMT so
its setting, if any, will have priority. Problematic octets in a UTF-8 file
(octets of a truncated sequence, octets of a complete but non-shortest form
sequence, illegal octets, and stray trailing octets) are displayed
individually using LESSBINFMT so as to facilitate diagnostic of how the
UTF-8 file is ill-formed.
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, or theEDITOR
environment variable ifVISUAL
is not defined). See the discussion of the LESSEDIT feature below. - %f
- Replaced by the name of the current input file.
- %F
- Replaced by the last component of the name of the current input 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 the 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 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 reference, here are the defaults for the other two prompts (-m and -M respectively). Each is broken into two lines here for readability only.
?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 prompt expansion features are also used for another purpose:
if an environment variable LESSEDIT
is defined, it
is used as the command to be executed when the v command is invoked. The
LESSEDIT string is expanded in the same way as the prompt strings. The
default value for 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.
SECURITY
When the environment variable LESSSECURE
is set to 1, less
runs in a "secure" mode.
This means these features are disabled:
- !
- The shell command.
- |
- The pipe command.
- :e
- The examine command.
- v
- The editing command.
- s -o
- Log files.
- -k
- Use of lesskey files.
- -t
- Use of tags files.
- Metacharacters in filenames, such as "*".
- Filename completion (TAB, ^L).
Less can also be compiled to be permanently in "secure" mode.
COMPATIBILITY WITH MORE
If the environment variable LESS_IS_MORE
is set to 1, or 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. 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.
The LESS
environment variable is ignored,
and the MORE
environment variable is used in its
place.
ENVIRONMENT
Environment variables may be specified either in the system environment as usual, or in a lesskey(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.
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).
LANG
- Language for determining the character set.
LC_CTYPE
- Language for determining the character set.
LESS
- Options which are passed to
less
automatically. LESSANSIENDCHARS
- Characters which may end an ANSI color escape sequence (default "m").
LESSANSIMIDCHARS
- Characters which may appear between the ESC character and the end character in an ANSI color escape sequence (default "0123456789;[?!"'#%()*+ ").
LESSBINFMT
- 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-postprocessor.
LESSEDIT
- Editor prototype string (used for the v command). See discussion under PROMPTS.
LESSGLOBALTAGS
- Name of the command used by the -t option to find global tags. Normally should be set to "global" if your system has the global command. If not set, global tags are not used.
LESSHISTFILE
- Name of the history file used to remember search commands and shell
commands between invocations of
less
. If set to "-" or "/dev/null", a history file is not used. The default is "-". LESSHISTSIZE
- The maximum number of commands to save in the history file. The default is 100.
LESSKEY
- Name of the default lesskey(1) file.
LESSKEY_SYSTEM
- Name of the default system-wide lesskey(1) file.
LESSMETACHARS
- List of characters which are considered "metacharacters" by the shell.
LESSMETAESCAPE
- Prefix which
less
will add before each metacharacter in a command sent to the shell. If LESSMETAESCAPE is an empty string, commands containing metacharacters will not be passed to the shell. LESSOPEN
- Command line to invoke the (optional) input-preprocessor.
LESSSECURE
- Runs less in "secure" mode. See discussion under SECURITY.
LESSSEPARATOR
- String to be appended to a directory name in filename completion.
LESSUTFBINFMT
- Format for displaying non-printable Unicode code points.
LESS_IS_MORE
- Emulate the more(1) command.
LINES
- Sets the number of lines on the screen. Takes precedence over the number of lines specified by the TERM variable. (But if you have a windowing system which supports TIOCGWINSZ or WIOCGETD, the window system's idea of the screen size takes precedence over the LINES and COLUMNS environment variables.)
SHELL
- The shell used to execute the ! command, as well as to expand filenames.
TERM
- The type of terminal on which
less
is being run. VISUAL
- The name of the editor (used for the v command).
SEE ALSO
STANDARDS
The more
utility is compliant with the
IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (“POSIX.1”)
specification, though its presence is optional.
The flags
[-aBbCdEFfGghIJjkLMmNOoPQqRrSTUVWwXxyz~#
] are
extensions to that specification.
AUTHORS
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.