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LESS(1)								       LESS(1)

NAME
       less - opposite of more

SYNOPSIS
       less [-[+]aABcCdeEimMnqQuUsw] [-bN] [-hN] [-xN] [-[z]N]
	    [-P[mM=]string] [-[lL]logfile] [+cmd]
	    [-ttag] [filename]...

DESCRIPTION
       Less  is	 a  program  similar  to  more (1), but which allows backwards
       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 an up-arrow.)

       Commands are based on both more and vi.	Commands may be preceeded 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      Help: display a summary of these commands.  If  you  forget  all
	      the other commands, remember this one.

       SPACE or f or ^F or ^V
	      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.

       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.

       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.

       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.

       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.

       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.

       r or ^R or ^L
	      Repaint the screen.

       R      Repaint  the  screen,  discarding any buffered input.  Useful if
	      the file is changing while it is being viewed.

       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.)

       p or % Go to a position N percent into the file.	 N should be between 0
	      and  100.	 (This works if standard input is being read, but only
	      if less has already read to the end of the file.	It  is	always
	      fast, but not always useful.)

       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  postion  at
	      which the last "large" movement command was executed.  All marks
	      are lost when a new file is examined.

       ^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 ed.  The	 search	 starts	 at  the  second  line
	      displayed (but see the -a option, which changes this).

       ?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.

       /!pattern
	      Like  /,	but  the  search  is  for the N-th line which does NOT
	      contain the pattern.

       ?!pattern
	      Like ?, but the search is for  the  N-th	line  which  does  NOT
	      contain the pattern.

       n      Repeat  previous	search,	 for  N-th  line  containing  the last
	      pattern (or NOT containing the last  pattern,  if	 the  previous
	      search was /! or ?!).

       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.  If the filename is a pound
	      sign (#), the previously examined file is re-examined.

       ^X^V or :e
	      Same  as	E.   Warning:  some  systems  use  ^V  as  a   special
	      literalization character.

       N or :n
	      Examine  the  next  file	(from  the  list of files given in the
	      command line).  If a number N is specified (not to  be  confused
	      with the command N), the N-th next file is examined.

       P or :p
	      Examine the previous file.  If a number N is specified, the N-th
	      previous file is examined.

       = or ^G
	      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 and the percent of the file above the last displayed line.

       -      Followed	by one of the command line option letters (see below),
	      this will change the setting of that option and print a  message
	      describing  the new setting.  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.

       _      (Underscore.)   Followed	by  one	 of  the  command  line option
	      letters (see below), this will print a  message  describing  the
	      current  setting	of  that option.  The setting of the option is
	      not changed.

       +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 or :q or ZZ
	      Exits less.

       The following two 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  EDITOR,  or
	      defaults to "vi".

       ! 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.
	      "!!"  repeats the last shell command.  "!" with no shell command
	      simply invokes a shell.  In all cases, the shell is  taken  from
	      the environment variable SHELL, or defaults to "sh".

OPTIONS
       Command	line options are described below.  Most options may be changed
       while less is running, via the "-" command.

       Options are also taken  from  the  environment  variable	 "LESS".   For
       example, 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

       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  on  the
       command line by beginning the command line option with "-+".

       A  dollar  sign	($) may be used to signal the end of an option string.
       This is important only for options  like	 -P  which  take  a  following
       string.

       -a     Normally,	 forward  searches  start just after the top displayed
	      line (that is, at the second  displayed  line).	Thus,  forward
	      searches	include the currently displayed screen.	 The -a option
	      causes forward searches to start	just  after  the  bottom  line
	      displayed, thus skipping the currently displayed screen.

       -A     The -A option causes searches to start at the second SCREEN line
	      displayed, as opposed to the default which is to	start  at  the
	      second  REAL  line  displayed.  For example, suppose a long real
	      line occupies the first three screen lines.  The default	search
	      will  start  at  the  second real line (the fourth screen line),
	      while the -A option will cause the search to start at the second
	      screen line (in the midst of the first real line).  (This option
	      is rarely useful.)

       -b     The -bn option tells  less  to  use  a  non-standard  number  of
	      buffers.	 Buffers  are  1K,  and	 normally  10 buffers are used
	      (except if data in  coming  from	standard  input;  see  the  -B
	      option).	 The  number n specifies a different number of buffers
	      to use.

       -B     Normally, when data is coming from standard input,  buffers  are
	      allocated	 automatically	as needed, to avoid loss of data.  The
	      -B option disables this feature, so that only the default number
	      of  buffers are used.  If more data is read than will fit in the
	      buffers, the oldest data is discarded.

       -c     Normally, less will repaint the screen  by  scrolling  from  the
	      bottom  of the screen.  If the -c option is set, when less needs
	      to change the entire display, it will paint from	the  top  line
	      down.

       -C     The -C option is like -c, but the screen is cleared before it is
	      repainted.

       -d     Normally, less will complain if the terminal is dumb;  that  is,
	      lacks  some  important  capability, such as the ability to clear
	      the screen or scroll backwards.  The -d option  suppresses  this
	      complaint	 (but  does  not  otherwise change the behavior of the
	      program on a dumb terminal).

       -e     Normally the only way to exit less is via the "q" command.   The
	      -e  option  tells	 less to automatically exit the second time it
	      reaches end-of-file.

       -E     The -E flag causes less to exit the first time it	 reaches  end-
	      of-file.

       -h     Normally,	 less will scroll backwards when backwards movement is
	      necessary.  The -h option specifies a maximum number of lines to
	      scroll  backwards.   If  it  is necessary to move backwards more
	      than this many lines, the	 screen	 is  repainted	in  a  forward
	      direction.  (If the terminal does not have the ability to scroll
	      backwards, -h0 is implied.)

       -i     The -i option causes searches to ignore case; that is, uppercase
	      and  lowercase  are  considered  identical.  Also, text which is
	      overstruck or underlined can be searched for.

       -l     The -l option, followed immediately by a	filename,  will	 cause
	      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.

       -L     The -L option is like -l, but it will overwrite an existing file
	      without asking for confirmation.

	      If  no log file has been specified, the -l and -L 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.

       -m     Normally,	 less prompts with a colon.  The -m option causes less
	      to prompt verbosely (like more), with the percent into the file.

       -M     The -M option causes less to prompt  even	 more  verbosely  than
	      more.

       -n     The  -n  flag 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 flag 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.

       -P     The  -P  option provides a way to tailor the three prompt styles
	      to your own preference.  You would normally put this  option  in
	      your LESS environment variable, rather than type it 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.  -P
	      followed by a string changes the default (short) prompt to  that
	      string.	-Pm  changes the medium (-m) prompt to the string, and
	      -PM changes the long (-M) prompt.	 Also, -P= changes the message
	      printed  by  the	=  command  to	the  given string.  All prompt
	      strings consist of a sequence  of	 letters  and  special	escape
	      sequences.  See the section on PROMPTS for more details.

       -q     Normally,	 if  an	 attempt is made to scroll past the end of the
	      file or before the beginning of the file, the terminal  bell  is
	      rung  to	indicate  this	fact.  The -q option tells less not to
	      ring the bell at such times.  If	the  terminal  has  a  "visual
	      bell", it is used instead.

       -Q     Even  if	-q  is given, less will ring the bell on certain other
	      errors, such as typing an	 invalid  character.   The  -Q	option
	      tells  less  to  be  quiet all the time; that is, never ring the
	      terminal bell.  If the terminal has a "visual bell", it is  used
	      instead.

       -s     The -s option causes consecutive blank lines to be squeezed into
	      a single blank line.  This is useful when viewing nroff output.

       -t     The -t option, followed immediately by a TAG, will edit the file
	      containing  that	tag.   For  this to work, there must be a file
	      called "tags" in the current  directory,	which  was  previously
	      built  by	 the  ctags  (1)  command.   This  option  may also be
	      specified from within less (using the - command)	as  a  way  of
	      examining a new file.

       -u     If  the  -u option is given, backspaces are treated as printable
	      characters; that is, they are sent to  the  terminal  when  they
	      appear in the input.

       -U     If  the  -U  option  is given, backspaces are printed as the two
	      character sequence "^H".

	      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 preceeding character.

       -w     Normally, less uses a tilde character to	represent  lines  past
	      the  end	of  the	 file.	The -w option causes blank lines to be
	      used instead.

       -x     The -xn option sets tab stops every n  positions.	  The  default
	      for n is 8.

       -[z]   When  given a backwards or forwards window command, less will by
	      default scroll backwards or forwards  one	 screenful  of	lines.
	      The  -zn	option	changes the default scrolling window size to n
	      lines.  Note that the "z" is  optional  for  compatibility  with
	      more.

       +      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 occurence 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.

KEY BINDINGS
       You  may define your own less commands by using the program lesskey (1)
       to create a file called ".less" in  your	 home  directory.   This  file
       specifies a set of command keys and an action associated with each key.
       See the lesskey manual page for more details.

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, and a "B" means use the line just after the
	      bottom line.

       %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.

       %m     Replaced by the total number of input files.

       %pX    Replaced by the percent into the current input file.   The  line
	      used is determined by the X as with the %b option.

       %s     Replaced by the size of the current input file.

       %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.

       ?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.

       ?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 of the specified
	      line is known.

       ?s     True if the size of current input file is known.

       ?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 preceeding 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.

       ?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) ..?ltline %lt :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) .?ltline %lt .
	    byte %bB?s/%s. ?e(END) :?pB%pB\%..%t

SEE ALSO
       lesskey(1)

WARNINGS
       The = command and prompts (unless changed by -P) report the line number
       of the line at the top of the screen, but the byte and percent  of  the
       line at the bottom of the screen.

								       LESS(1)
[top]
                             _         _         _ 
                            | |       | |       | |     
                            | |       | |       | |     
                         __ | | __ __ | | __ __ | | __  
                         \ \| |/ / \ \| |/ / \ \| |/ /  
                          \ \ / /   \ \ / /   \ \ / /   
                           \   /     \   /     \   /    
                            \_/       \_/       \_/ 
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