MORE(1)MORE(1)NAME
more, page - browse or page through a text file
SYNOPSIS
/usr/bin/more [-cdflrsuw] [-lines] [+ linenumber]
[+/ pattern] [file]...
/usr/bin/page [-cdflrsuw] [-lines] [+ linenumber]
[+/ pattern] [file]...
/usr/xpg4/bin/more [-cdeisu] [-n number] [-p command]
[-t tagstring] [file]...
/usr/xpg4/bin/more [-cdeisu] [-n number] [+ command]
[-t tagstring] [file]...
DESCRIPTION
The more utility is a filter that displays the contents of a text file
on the terminal, one screenful at a time. It normally pauses after
each screenful. /usr/bin/more then prints --More-- and
/usr/xpg4/bin/more then prints file at the bottom of the screen. If
more is reading from a file rather than a pipe, the percentage of char‐
acters displayed so far is also shown.
The more utility scrolls up to display one more line in response to a
RETURN character. more displays another screenful in response to a
SPACE character. Other commands are listed below.
The page utility clears the screen before displaying the next screenful
of text. page only provides a one-line overlap between screens.
The more utility sets the terminal to NOECHO mode, so that the output
can be continuous. Commands that you type do not normally show up on
your terminal, except for the / and ! commands.
The /usr/bin/more utility exits after displaying the last specified
file. /usr/xpg4/bin/more prompts for a command at the last line of the
last specified file.
If the standard output is not a terminal, more acts just like cat(1),
except that a header is printed before each file in a series.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported for both /usr/bin/more and
/usr/xpg4/bin/more:
-c
Clears before displaying. Redraws the screen instead of
scrolling for faster displays. This option is ignored if the
terminal does not have the ability to clear to the end of a
line.
-d
Displays error messages rather than ringing the terminal bell if
an unrecognized command is used. This is helpful for inexperi‐
enced users.
-s
Squeeze. Replaces multiple blank lines with a single blank
line. This is helpful when viewing nroff(1) output on the
screen.
/usr/bin/more
The following options are supported for /usr/bin/more only:
-f
Does not fold long lines. This is useful when lines con‐
tain nonprinting characters or escape sequences, such as
those generated when nroff(1) output is piped through
ul(1).
-l
Does not treat FORMFEED characters (Control-l) as page
breaks. If -l is not used, more pauses to accept com‐
mands after any line containing a ^L character (Control-
l). Also, if a file begins with a FORMFEED, the screen
is cleared before the file is printed.
-r
Normally, more ignores control characters that it does
not interpret in some way. The -r option causes these to
be displayed as ^C where C stands for any such control
character.
-u
Suppresses generation of underlining escape sequences.
Normally, more handles underlining, such as that pro‐
duced by nroff(1), in a manner appropriate to the termi‐
nal. If the terminal can perform underlining or has a
stand-out mode, more supplies appropriate escape
sequences as called for in the text file.
-w
Normally, more exits when it comes to the end of its
input. With -w, however, more prompts and waits for any
key to be struck before exiting.
-lines
Displays the indicated number of lines in each screen‐
ful, rather than the default (the number of lines in the
terminal screen less two).
+linenumber
Start up at linenumber.
+/pattern
Start up two lines above the line containing the regular
expression pattern. Note: Unlike editors, this construct
should not end with a `/.' If it does, then the trailing
slash is taken as a character in the search pattern.
/usr/xpg4/bin/more
The following options are supported for /usr/xpg4/bin/more only:
-e
Exits immediately after writing the last line of the
last file in the argument list.
-i
Performs pattern matching in searches without regard
to case.
-n number
Specifies the number of lines per screenful. The num‐
ber argument is a positive decimal integer. The -n
option overrides any values obtained from the environ‐
ment.
-p command
+command
For each file examined, initially executes the more
command in the command argument. If the command is a
positioning command, such as a line number or a regu‐
lar expression search, set the current position to
represent the final results of the command, without
writing any intermediate lines of the file. For exam‐
ple, the two commands:
more-p 1000j file
more-p 1000G file
are equivalent and start the display with the current
position at line 1000, bypassing the lines that j
would write and scroll off the screen if it had been
issued during the file examination. If the positioning
command is unsuccessful, the first line in the file
will be the current position.
-t tagstring
Writes the screenful of the file containing the tag
named by the tagstring argument. See the ctags(1)
utility.
-u
Treats a backspace character as a printable control
character, displayed as a ^H (Control-h), suppressing
backspacing and the special handling that produces
underlined or standout-mode text on some terminal
types. Also, does not ignore a carriage-return char‐
acter at the end of a line.
If both the -t tagstring and -p command (or the obsolescent +command)
options are given, the -t tagstring is processed first.
USAGE
Environment
more uses the terminal's terminfo(4) entry to determine its display
characteristics.
more looks in the environment variable MORE for any preset options.
For instance, to page through files using the -c mode by default, set
the value of this variable to -c. (Normally, the command sequence to
set up this environment variable is placed in the .login or .profile
file).
Commands
The commands take effect immediately. It is not necessary to type a
carriage return unless the command requires a file, command, tagstring,
or pattern. Up to the time when the command character itself is given,
the user may type the line kill character to cancel the numerical argu‐
ment being formed. In addition, the user may type the erase character
to redisplay the `--More--(xx%)' or file message.
In the following commands, i is a numerical argument (1 by default).
iSPACE
Display another screenful, or i more lines if i is speci‐
fied.
iRETURN
Display another line, or i more lines, if specified.
ib
i^B
(Control-b) Skip back i screenfuls and then print a
screenful.
id
i^D
(Control-d) Scroll forward one half screenful or i more
lines. If i is specified, the count becomes the default
for subsequent d and u commands.
if
Skip i screens full and then print a screenful.
h
Help. Give a description of all the more commands.
^L
(Control-l) Refresh.
in
Search for the ith occurrence of the last pattern entered.
q
Q
Exit from more.
is
Skip i lines and then print a screenful.
v
Drop into the vi editor at the current line of the current
file.
iz
Same as SPACE, except that i, if present, becomes the new
default number of lines per screenful.
=
Display the current line number.
i/pattern
Search forward for the ith occurrence of the regular
expression pattern. Display the screenful starting two
lines before the line that contains the ith match for the
regular expression pattern, or the end of a pipe, which‐
ever comes first. If more is displaying a file and there
is no match, its position in the file remains unchanged.
Regular expressions can be edited using erase and kill
characters. Erasing back past the first column cancels the
search command.
!command
Invoke a shell to execute command. The characters % and !,
when used within command are replaced with the current
filename and the previous shell command, respectively. If
there is no current filename, % is not expanded. Prepend a
backslash to these characters to escape expansion.
:f
Display the current filename and line number.
i:n
Skip to the ith next filename given in the command line,
or to the last filename in the list if i is out of range.
i:p
Skip to the ith previous filename given in the command
line, or to the first filename if i is out of range. If
given while more is positioned within a file, go to the
beginning of the file. If more is reading from a pipe,
more simply rings the terminal bell.
:q
:Q
Exit from more (same as q or Q).
/usr/bin/more
The following commands are available only in /usr/bin/more:
'
Single quote. Go to the point from which the last search
started. If no search has been performed in the current file,
go to the beginning of the file.
.
Dot. Repeat the previous command.
^\
Halt a partial display of text. more stops sending output, and
displays the usual --More-- prompt. Some output is lost as a
result.
/usr/xpg4/bin/more
The following commands are available only in /usr/xpg4/bin/more:
i^F
(Control-f) Skip i screens full and print a screenful.
(Same as if.)
^G
(Control-g) Display the current line number (same as
=).
ig
Go to line number i with the default of the first line
in the file.
iG
Go to line number i with the default of the Last line
in the file.
ij
Display another line, or i more lines, if specified.
(Same as iRETURN.)
ik
Scroll backwards one or i lines, if specified.
mletter
Mark the current position with the name letter.
N
Reverse direction of search.
r
Refresh the screen.
R
Refresh the screen, discarding any buffered input.
iu
i^U
(Control-u) Scroll backwards one half a screen of i
lines, if specified. If i is specified, the count
becomes the new default for subsequent d and u com‐
mands.
ZZ
Exit from more (same as q).
:e file
Examine (display) a new file. If no file is specified,
the current file is redisplayed.
:t tagstring
Go to the tag named by the tagstring argument and
scroll/rewrite the screen with the tagged line in the
current position. See the ctags utility.
'letter
Return to the position that was previously marked with
the name letter.
''
Return to the position from which the last move of
more than a screenful was made. Defaults to the begin‐
ning of the file.
i?[!]pattern
Search backward in the file for the ith line contain‐
ing the pattern. The ! specifies to search backward
for the ith line that does not contain the pattern.
i/!pattern
Search forward in the file for the ith line that does
not contain the pattern.
![command]
Invoke a shell or the specified command.
Large File Behavior
See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of more and page
when encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2^31 bytes).
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
that affect the execution of more: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_COLLATE
(/usr/xpg4/bin/more only), LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, NLSPATH, and TERM.
/usr/xpg4/bin/more
The following environment variables also affect the execution of
/usr/xpg4/bin/more:
COLUMNS
Overrides the system selected horizontal screen size.
EDITOR
Used by the v command to select an editor.
LINES
Overrides the system selected vertical screen size. The -n
option has precedence over LINES in determining the number
of lines in a screen.
MORE
A string specifying options as described in the OPTIONS
section, above. As in a command line, The options must be
separated by blank characters and each option specification
must start with a −. Any command line options are processed
after those specified in MORE as though the command line
were: more $MORE options operands
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0
Successful completion.
>0
An error occurred.
FILES
/usr/lib/more.help
help file for /usr/bin/more and /usr/bin/page
only.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
/usr/bin/more /usr/bin/page
┌───────────────┬─────────────────┐
│ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├───────────────┼─────────────────┤
│CSI │ Not enabled │
└───────────────┴─────────────────┘
/usr/xpg4/bin/more
┌────────────────────┬─────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├────────────────────┼─────────────────┤
│CSI │ Enabled │
├────────────────────┼─────────────────┤
│Interface Stability │ Standard │
└────────────────────┴─────────────────┘
SEE ALSOcat(1), csh(1), ctags(1), man(1), nroff(1), script(1), sh(1), ul(1),
terminfo(4), attributes(5), environ(5), largefile(5), standards(5)
/usr/bin/more /usr/bin/page
regcomp(3C)
/usr/xpg4/bin/more
regex(5)NOTES
/usr/bin/more
Skipping backwards is too slow on large files.
/usr/xpg4/bin/more
This utility will not behave correctly if the terminal is not set up
properly.
Nov 4, 2005 MORE(1)
