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LESS(1) LESS(1)
NAME
less - opposite of more
SYNOPSIS
less -?
less --help
less -V
less --version
less [-[+]aABcCdeEfFgGiIJKLmMnNqQrRsSuUVwWX~]
[-b space] [-h lines] [-j line] [-k keyfile]
[-{oO} logfile] [-p pattern] [-P prompt] [-t tag]
[-T tagsfile] [-x tab,...] [-y lines] [-[z] lines]
[-# shift] [+[+]cmd] [--] [filename]...
(See the OPTIONS section for alternate option syntax with long option
names.)
DESCRIPTION
Less is a program similar to more (1), but which allows backward move‐
ment 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.)
Commands are based on both more and vi. Commands may be preceded by a
decimal number, called N in the descriptions below. The number is used
by some commands, as indicated.
COMMANDS
In the following descriptions, ^X means control-X. ESC stands for the
ESCAPE key; for example ESC-v means the two character sequence
"ESCAPE", then "v".
h or H Help: display a summary of these commands. If you forget all
the other commands, remember this one.
SPACE or ^V or f or ^F
Scroll forward N lines, default one window (see option -z
below). If N is more than the screen size, only the final
screenful is displayed. Warning: some systems use ^V as a spe‐
cial 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 or RETURN or ^N or e or ^E or j or ^J
Scroll forward N lines, default 1. The entire N lines are dis‐
played, even if N is more than the screen size.
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.
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.
w Like ESC-v, but if N is specified, it becomes the new window
size.
y or ^Y or ^P or k or ^K
Scroll backward N lines, default 1. The entire N lines are dis‐
played, even if N is more than the screen size. Warning: some
systems use ^Y as a special job control character.
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.
ESC-) or RIGHTARROW
Scroll horizontally right N characters, default half the screen
width (see the -# option). If a number N is specified, it
becomes the default for future RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW com‐
mands. While the text is scrolled, it acts as though the -S
option (chop lines) were in effect.
ESC-( or LEFTARROW
Scroll horizontally left N characters, default half the screen
width (see the -# option). If a number N is specified, it
becomes the default for future RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW com‐
mands.
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.
F Scroll forward, and keep trying to read when the end of file is
reached. Normally this command would be used when already at
the end of the file. It is a way to monitor the tail of a file
which is growing while it is being viewed. (The behavior is
similar to the "tail -f" command.)
g or < or ESC-<
Go to line N in the file, default 1 (beginning of file). (Warn‐
ing: 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. (Warn‐
ing: 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, 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 brack‐
ets.
] Like }, but applies to square brackets rather than curly brack‐
ets.
ESC-^F Followed by two characters, acts like {, but uses the two char‐
acters 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 char‐
acters 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. Fol‐
lowed 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 ' com‐
mand 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 pat‐
tern. 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 or !
Search for lines which do NOT match the pattern.
^E or *
Search multiple files. That is, if the search reaches
the END of the current file without finding a match, the
search continues in the next file in the command line
list.
^F or @
Begin the search at the first line of the FIRST file in
the command line list, regardless of what is currently
displayed on the screen or the settings of the -a or -j
options.
^K Highlight any text which matches the pattern on the cur‐
rent screen, but don't move to the first match (KEEP cur‐
rent 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 or !
Search for lines which do NOT match the pattern.
^E or *
Search multiple files. That is, if the search reaches
the beginning of the current file without finding a
match, the search continues in the previous file in the
command line list.
^F or @
Begin the search at the last line of the last file in the
command line list, regardless of what is currently dis‐
played 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 pat‐
tern. If the previous search was modified by ^N, the search is
made for the N-th line NOT containing the pattern. If the pre‐
vious 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 cross‐
ing 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 or !
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 or E
Same as :e. Warning: some systems use ^V as a special literal‐
ization 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 com‐
mand line). If a number N is specified, the N-th next file is
examined.
:p Examine the previous file in the command line list. If a number
N is specified, the N-th previous file is examined.
:x Examine the first file in the command line list. If a number N
is specified, the N-th file in the list is examined.
: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.
= or ^G or :f
Prints some information about the file being viewed, including
its name and the line number and byte offset of the bottom line
being displayed. If possible, it also prints the length of the
file, the number of lines in the file and the percent of the
file above the last displayed line.
- 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 set‐
ting 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 let‐
ters, 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 or Q or :q or :Q or 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,
or EDITOR if VISUAL is not defined, or defaults to "vi" if nei‐
ther VISUAL nor EDITOR is defined. See also the discussion of
LESSEDIT under the section on PROMPTS below.
! shell-command
Invokes a shell to run the shell-command given. A percent sign
(%) in the command is replaced by the name of the current file.
A pound sign (#) is replaced by the name of the previously exam‐
ined file. "!!" repeats the last shell command. "!" with no
shell command simply invokes a shell. On Unix systems, the
shell is taken from the environment variable SHELL, or defaults
to "sh". On MS-DOS and OS/2 systems, the shell is the normal
command processor.
| <m> shell-command
<m> represents any mark letter. Pipes a section of the input
file to the given shell command. The section of the file to be
piped is between the first line on the current screen and the
position marked by the letter. <m> may also be ^ or $ to indi‐
cate beginning or end of file respectively. If <m> is . or new‐
line, 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 let‐
ter 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". For exam‐
ple, to avoid typing "less -options ..." each time less is invoked, you
might tell csh:
setenv LESS "-options"
or if you use sh:
LESS="-options"; export LESS
On MS-DOS, you don't need the quotes, but you should replace any per‐
cent signs in the options string by double percent signs.
The environment variable is parsed before the command line, so command
line options override the LESS 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 or -D which take a following string, a dollar sign
($) must be used to signal the end of the string. For example, to set
two -D options on MS-DOS, you must have a dollar sign between them,
like this:
LESS="-Dn9.1$-Ds4.1"
-? or --help
This option displays a summary of the commands accepted by less
(the same as the h command). (Depending on how your shell
interprets the question mark, it may be necessary to quote the
question mark, thus: "-\?".)
-a or --search-skip-screen
By default, forward searches start at the top of the displayed
screen and backwards searches start at the bottom of the dis‐
played 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.
-A or --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.
-bn or --buffers=n
Specifies the amount of buffer space less will use for each
file, in units of kilobytes (1024 bytes). By default 64K of
buffer space is used for each file (unless the file is a pipe;
see the -B option). The -b option specifies instead that n
kilobytes of buffer space should be used for each file. If n is
-1, buffer space is unlimited; that is, the entire file can be
read into memory.
-B or --auto-buffers
By default, when data is read from a pipe, buffers are allocated
automatically as needed. If a large amount of data is read from
the pipe, this can cause a large amount of memory to be allo‐
cated. The -B option disables this automatic allocation of buf‐
fers for pipes, so that only 64K (or the amount of space speci‐
fied by the -b option) is used for the pipe. Warning: use of -B
can result in erroneous display, since only the most recently
viewed part of the piped data is kept in memory; any earlier
data is lost.
-c or --clear-screen
Causes full screen repaints to be painted from the top line
down. By default, full screen repaints are done by scrolling
from the bottom of the screen.
-C or --CLEAR-SCREEN
Same as -c, for compatibility with older versions of less.
-d or --dumb
The -d option suppresses the error message normally displayed if
the terminal is dumb; that is, lacks some important capability,
such as the ability to clear the screen or scroll backward. The
-d option does not otherwise change the behavior of less on a
dumb terminal.
-Dxcolor or --color=xcolor
[MS-DOS only] Sets the color of the text displayed. x is a sin‐
gle character which selects the type of text whose color is
being set: n=normal, s=standout, d=bold, u=underlined, k=blink.
color is a pair of numbers separated by a period. The first
number selects the foreground color and the second selects the
background color of the text. A single number N is the same as
N.M, where M is the normal background color.
-e or --quit-at-eof
Causes less to automatically exit the second time it reaches
end-of-file. By default, 