SYNOPSIS

       less -?
       less --help
       less -V
       less --version
       less [-[+]aABcCdeEfFgGiIJmMnNqQrRsSuUVwWX~]
            [-b space] [-h lines] [-j line] [-k keyfile]
            [-K character set] [-{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 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.)

       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.  Warn­
              ing: some systems use ^V as a  special  literaliza­
              tion 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
              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  displayed,  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  commands.   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 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.

       F      Scroll  forward,  and  keep trying to read when the
              end of file  is  reached.   Normally  this  command
              would  be used when already at the end of the file.
              It is a way to monitor the tail of a file which  is
              growing while it is being viewed.  (The behavior is
              similar to the "tail -f" command.)

       g or < or ESC-<
              Go to line N in the file, default 1  (beginning  of
              file).   (Warning: this may be slow if N is large.)

       G or > or ESC->
              Go to line N in the file, default the  end  of  the
              file.  (Warning: this may be slow if N is large, or

       }      If 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 con­
              taining 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
                     ues  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, regard­
                     less 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 metachar­
                     acters; that is, do a simple textual compar­
                     ison.

       ?pattern
              Search backward in the file for the N-th line  con­
              taining 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 pat­
                     tern.

              ^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 com­
                     mand line list.

              ^F or @
                     Begin the search at the  last  line  of  the
                     last  file in the command line list, regard­
                     less 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 "?*".

       ESC-n  Repeat previous search, but  crossing  file  bound­
              aries.   The  effect  is  as if the previous search
              were modified by *.

       ESC-N  Repeat previous search, but in the  reverse  direc­
              tion 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.)

       :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 pre­
              viously 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.  Simi­
              larly, 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 spe­
              cial  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.

       :x     Examine the first file in the  command  line  list.
              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.

       @      Rotate the code recognition method of  the  current
              file.  Enhanced less has 7 methods for recognition,
              default (which is chosen by the JLESSCHARSET  envi­
              ronment  variable),  japanese,  ujis,  sjis,  iso8,
              noconv and none.

       -      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 imme­
              diately 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  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  describ­

       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 neither  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 examined
              file.  "!!" repeats the last  shell  command.   "!"
              with  no  shell command simply invokes a shell.  On
              Unix systems, the shell is taken from the  environ­
              ment  variable  SHELL, or defaults to "sh".  On MS-
              DOS and OS/2 systems, the shell is the normal  com­
              mand 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
              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.

       Options are  also  taken  from  the  environment  variable
       "LESS" and "JLESS".

       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 abbrevi­
       ated as long as  the  abbreviation  is  unambiguous.   For
       or if you use sh:

       LESS="-options"; export LESS

       On MS-DOS, you don't  need  the  quotes,  but  you  should
       replace  any percent signs in the options string by double
       percent signs.

       The environment variable  is  parsed  before  the  command
       line,  so command line options override the LESS and JLESS
       environment variables.  If an option appears in  the  LESS
       and  JLESS variables, 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  ques­
              tion  mark,  it may be necessary to quote the ques­
              tion mark, thus: "-\?".)

       -a or --search-skip-screen
              Causes searches to start after the last  line  dis­
              played  on the screen, thus skipping all lines dis­
              played on the screen.  By default,  searches  start
              at the second line on the screen (or after the last
              found line; see the -j option).

       -A or --mouse-support
              Causes less to process mouse actions  itself.  Cur­
              rently  it  works  only  in  xterm. The inspiration
              comes from vim-6.0.

              Cut&Paste  function  works   only   internally   by
              default.  To access X selection you must hold SHIFT
              key to process the mouse actions by xterm.  Or  you
              can  install  xselection  utility  by which less is
              able to access X selection itself.

              Also scrolling by mouse wheel button is  supported.
              You  must map wheel mouse action on the 4th and 5th
              mouse button. This is done in XF86Config in Section
              "InputDevice" by option:
              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 erro­
              neous display, since only the most recently  viewed
              part  of  the  file  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
              The -C option is like -c, but the screen is cleared
              before it is repainted.

       -d or --dumb
              The -d option suppresses the error message normally
              displayed  if  the terminal is dumb; that is, lacks
              some important capability, such as the  ability  to
              clear the screen or scroll backward.  The -d option
              does not otherwise change the behavior of less on a
              dumb terminal.

       -Dxcolor or --color=xcolor
              [MS-DOS only] Sets the color of the text displayed.
              x is a single character which selects the  type  of
              text  whose  color is being set: n=normal, s=stand­
              out, 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.0.

       -e or --quit-at-eof
              Causes less to automatically exit the  second  time
              it  reaches  end-of-file.  By default, the only way
              to exit less is via the "q" command.

       -E or --QUIT-AT-EOF
              Causes less to automatically exit the first time it
              reaches end-of-file.

       -f or --force
              Forces non-regular files to be opened.  (A non-reg­
              ular file is a directory or a device special file.)
              than the default.

       -G or --HILITE-SEARCH
              The   -G  option  suppresses  all  highlighting  of
              strings found by search commands.

       -hn or ---max-back-scroll=n
              Specifies a maximum number of lines to scroll back­
              ward.   If  it is necessary to scroll backward more
              than n lines, the screen is repainted in a  forward
              direction  instead.  (If the terminal does not have
              the ability to scroll backward, -h0 is implied.)

       -i or --ignore-case
              Causes searches to ignore case; that is,  uppercase
              and   lowercase  are  considered  identical.   This
              option is ignored if any uppercase  letters  appear
              in the search pattern; in other words, if a pattern
              contains uppercase letters, then that  search  does
              not ignore case.

       -I or --IGNORE-CASE
              Like  -i, but searches ignore case even if the pat­
              tern contains uppercase letters.

       -jn or --jump-target=n
              Specifies a line on the screen where  the  "target"
              line  is  to  be  positioned.  A target line is the
              object of a text search, tag search, jump to a line
              number,  jump  to  a  file percentage, or jump to a
              marked position.  The screen line is 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.  If the -j
              option is used, searches begin at the line  immedi­
              ately after the target line.  For example, if "-j4"
              is used, the target line is the fourth line on  the
              screen,  so searches begin at the fifth line on the
              screen.

       -J or --status-column
              Displays a status column at the left  edge  of  the
              screen.   The  status  column  shows the lines that
              matched the current search.  The status  column  is
              also used if the -w or -W option is in effect.

       -kfilename or --lesskey-file=filename
              Causes less to open and interpret the named file as
              a lesskey (1) file.  Multiple  -k  options  may  be
              specified.   If the LESSKEY or LESSKEY_SYSTEM envi­

       -M or --LONG-PROMPT
              Causes less to  prompt  even  more  verbosely  than
              more.

       -n or --line-numbers
              Suppresses  line numbers.  The default (to use line
              numbers) may cause less to run more slowly in  some
              cases,  especially  with  a  very large input file.
              Suppressing line numbers with the  -n  option  will
              avoid  this problem.  Using line numbers means: the
              line number will be displayed in the verbose prompt
              and  in  the = command, and the v command will pass
              the current line number to the editor (see also the
              discussion of LESSEDIT in PROMPTS below).

       -N or --LINE-NUMBERS
              Causes  a line number to be displayed at the begin­
              ning of each line in the display.

       -ofilename or --log-file=filename
              Causes less to copy its input to the named file  as
              it  is  being  viewed.   This applies only when the
              input file is a pipe, not an ordinary file.  If the
              file already exists, less will ask for confirmation
              before overwriting it.

       -Ofilename or --LOG-FILE=filename
              The -O option is like -o, but it will overwrite  an
              existing file without asking for confirmation.

              If  no  log  file has been specified, the -o and -O
              options can be used from within less to  specify  a
              log  file.   Without  a file name, they will simply
              report the name of the log file.  The  "s"  command
              is equivalent to specifying -o from within less.

       -ppattern or --pattern=pattern
              The  -p option on the command line is equivalent to
              specifying +/pattern; that is,  it  tells  less  to
              start  at  the  first  occurrence of pattern in the
              file.

       -Pprompt or --prompt=prompt
              Provides a way to tailor the three prompt styles to
              your own preference.  This option would normally be
              put in the LESS and  JLESS  environment  variables,
              rather  than being typed in with each less command.
              Such an option must either be the  last  option  in
              the LESS and JLESS variables, 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)
              other errors, such as typing an invalid  character.
              The  default  is  to  ring the terminal bell in all
              such cases.

       -Q or --QUIET or --SILENT
              Causes totally "quiet" operation: the terminal bell
              is never rung.

       -r or --raw-control-chars
              Causes  "raw"  control  characters to be displayed.
              The default is to display control characters  using
              the caret notation; for example, a control-A (octal
              001) is displayed as "^A".  Warning:  when  the  -r
              option  is  used,  less  cannot  keep  track of the
              actual appearance of the screen (since this depends
              on  how the screen responds to each type of control
              character).  Thus,  various  display  problems  may
              result, such as long lines being split in the wrong
              place.

       -R or --RAW-CONTROL-CHARS
              Like -r, but tries to  keep  track  of  the  screen
              appearance  where possible.  This works only if the
              input consists of normal  text  and  possibly  some
              ANSI  "color" escape sequences, which are sequences
              of the form:

                   ESC [ ... m

              where the "..." is zero or  more  characters  other
              than  "m".   For  the  purpose  of keeping track of
              screen appearance, all control characters  and  all
              ANSI color escape sequences are assumed to not move
              the cursor.  You can make less think  that  charac­
              ters  other  than  "m"  can  end  ANSI color escape
              sequences  by  setting  the  environment   variable
              LESSANSIENDCHARS  to  the  list of characters which
              can end a color escape sequence.

       -s or --squeeze-blank-lines
              Causes consecutive blank lines to be squeezed  into
              a  single  blank line.  This is useful when viewing
              nroff output.

       -S or --chop-long-lines
              Causes lines longer than the  screen  width  to  be
              chopped rather than folded.  That is, the remainder
              of a long line is simply discarded.  The default is
              to  fold long lines; that is, display the remainder
              on the next line.

       -ttag or --tag=tag

       -Ttagsfile or --tag-file=tagsfile
              Specifies a tags file to be used instead of "tags".

       -u or --underline-special
              Causes  backspaces  and  carriage  returns  to   be
              treated  as printable characters; that is, they are
              sent to the terminal when they appear in the input.

       -U or --UNDERLINE-SPECIAL
              Causes  backspaces, tabs and carriage returns to be
              treated as control characters; that  is,  they  are
              handled as specified by the -r option.

              By   default,  if  neither  -u  nor  -U  is  given,
              backspaces which appear adjacent to  an  underscore
              character  are  treated  specially:  the underlined
              text is displayed  using  the  terminal's  hardware
              underlining  capability.   Also,  backspaces  which
              appear between two identical characters are treated
              specially: the overstruck text is printed using the
              terminal's  hardware  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.

       -V or --version
              Displays the version number of less.

       -w or --hilite-unread
              Temporarily highlights the first "new" line after a
              forward  movement  of a full page.  The first "new"
              line is the line  immediately  following  the  line
              previously at the bottom of the screen.  Also high­
              lights the target line after a g or p command.  The
              highlight  is  removed  at  the  next command which
              causes movement.  The entire line  is  highlighted,
              unless  the  -J  option is in effect, in which case
              only the status column is highlighted.

       -W or --HILITE-UNREAD
              Like -w, but temporarily highlights the  first  new
              line after any forward movement command larger than
              one line.

       -XXX   Causes mark characters  to  be  used  to  represent
              wrong  characters.   By default, such wrong charac­
              ters displayed as binary.

              screen.

       --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.

       -yn or --max-forw-scroll=n
              Specifies  a maximum number of lines to scroll for­
              ward.  If it is necessary to  scroll  forward  more
              than n lines, the screen is repainted instead.  The
              -c or -C option may be used to repaint from the top
              of  the screen if desired.  By default, any forward
              movement causes scrolling.

       -[z]n or --window=n
              Changes the default  scrolling  window  size  to  n
              lines.   The default is one screenful.  The z and w
              commands can also be  used  to  change  the  window
              size.   The  "z"  may  be omitted for compatibility
              with more.  If the number n is negative,  it  indi­
              cates  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 automati­
              cally changes to 36 lines.

       -Z     Causes  to  give priority to the SJIS over the UJIS
              if a "japanese" was selected  by  the  JLESSCHARSET
              environment variable.  The default value is to give
              priority to the UJIS over the SJIS.

       -"cc or --quotes=cc
              Changes the filename quoting character.   This  may
              be necessary if you are trying to name a file which
              contains both spaces and  quote  characters.   Fol­
              lowed 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  char­
              acter.  Filenames containing a space should then be
              preceded by the open quote character  and  followed
              by the close quote character.  Note that even after
              the  quote  characters  are  changed,  this  option
              remains -" (a dash followed by a double quote).

       -~ or --tilde
              Normally lines after end of file are displayed as a
              single tilde (~).  This option causes  lines  after

       +      If a command line option begins with +, the remain­
              der of that option is taken to be an  initial  com­
              mand  to less.  For example, +G tells less to start
              at the end of the file rather than  the  beginning,
              and +/xyz tells it to start at the first occurrence
              of "xyz" in the file.  As a special case, +<number>
              acts  like  +<number>g; that is, it starts the dis­
              play 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 pat­
       tern for a search command), certain keys can  be  used  to
       manipulate the command line.  Most commands have an alter­
       nate form in [ brackets ] which can be used if a key  does
       not  exist on a particular keyboard.  (The bracketed forms
       do not work in the MS-DOS version.)  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.

       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 thru  the  other  matching
              filenames.   If  the completed filename is a direc­
              tory, a "/" is appended to the filename.   (On  MS-
              DOS  systems,  a "\" is appended.)  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 thru
              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 (Unix and OS/2) or ESC (MS-DOS)
              Delete the entire command line, or cancel the  com­
              mand  if  the  command  line is empty.  If you have
              changed your line-kill character in Unix  to  some­
              thing other than ^U, that character is used instead
              of ^U.



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 in
       a  standard  place  for the lesskey file: On Unix systems,
       less looks for a lesskey file  called  "$HOME/.less".   On
       MS-DOS  and Windows systems, less looks for a lesskey file
       called "$HOME/_less", and if it is not found  there,  then
       looks  for  a lesskey file called "_less" in any directory
       specified in the PATH environment variable.  On OS/2  sys­
       tems,    less    looks   for   a   lesskey   file   called
       "$HOME/less.ini", and if it is not found, then looks for a
       lesskey  file called "less.ini" in any directory specified
       in the INIT environment variable,  and  if  it  not  found
       there,  then looks for a lesskey file called "less.ini" in
       any directory specified in the PATH environment  variable.
       See the lesskey manual page for more details.




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 file­
       name,  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 environ­
       ment 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 origi­
       nal name of the file and the second with the name  of  the
       replacement file, which was output by LESSOPEN.

       For  example, on many Unix systems, 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.$$

       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 pre­
       processor is an input pipe.

       For example, on many Unix systems, 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 "-".



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 charac­
       ters are to be considered  normal,  control,  and  binary.
              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 LESS­
              CHARSET=IBM-1047 or LC_CTYPE=en_US in your environ­
              ment.

       koi8-r Selects a Russian character set.

       next   Selects  a  character set appropriate for NeXT com­
              puters.

       utf-8  Selects the UTF-8 encoding of the ISO 10646 charac­
              ter set.

       And possible values for only JLESSCHARSET are:

       iso7   Multi  character sets with the ISO 2022 code exten­
              sion techniques in 7 bits are assumed.   Characters
              with  values  between  128  and  255 are treated as
              binary.  The level of  implementation  of  Less  is
              level 3 of ISO 2022.

       iso8   Multi  character sets with the ISO 2022 code exten­
              sion techniques in 8 bits are assumed.   The  level
              of implementation of Less is level 3 of ISO 2022.

       jis    Only Japanese character sets with the ISO 2022 code
              extension techniques in 7 bits are assumed.

       ujis   If characters has values between 32  and  127,  the
              ASCII character set are assumed.  If characters has
              values between 162 and 254, the JISX 0208 character
              set,  a  right  half of the JISX 0201 character set
              and the JISX 0212 character set with the UJIS  cod­
              ing are assumed.  Otherwise, characters are treated
              as binary.

       euc    Same as ujis.

       sjis   If characters has values between 32  and  127,  the

       ujis-iso7
              The  ujis  and  iso7 are assumend.  But less output
              only the iso7.

       euc-iso7
              Same as ujis-iso7.

       sjis-iso7
              The sjis and iso7 are assumend.   But  less  output
              only the iso7.

       ujis-jis
              The  ujis  and  jis  are assumend.  But less output
              only the jis.

       euc-jis
              Same as ujis-jis.

       sjis-jis
              The sjis and jis are  assumend.   But  less  output
              only the jis.

       jis-ujis
              The  jis  and  ujis  are assumend.  But less output
              only the ujis.

       jis-euc
              Same as jis-ujis.

       jis-sjis
              The jis and sjis are  assumend.   But  less  output
              only the sjis.

       japanese-iso7
              The  japanese and iso7 are assumend.  But less out­
              put only the iso7.

       japanese-jis
              The japanese is assumend.  But less output only the
              jis.  Same as japanese.

       japanese-ujis
              The japanese is assumend.  But less output only the
              ujis.

       japanese-euc
              Same as japanese-ujis.

       japanese-sjis
              The japanese is assumend.  But less output only the
              sjis.

       Other  way  to  select  a character set is to use the LANG
       environment  variable.   If  it  start  with  "ja_JP"   or
       "japan",  less  read all Japanese coded characters as some
       Japanese character set, and a rest of the LANG environment
       variable specify output coding.

       The  ISO 2022 code extension techniques define 4 planes to
       display many character  sets  easy.   Default  setting  of
       planes  is selected by the JLESSPLANESET environment vari­
       able.   If  the  JLESSPLANESET   vriable   is   equal   to
       "japanese",  "ujis"  or "euc", less treat g1 plane as JISX
       0208, g2 plane as JISX 0201 right half, g3 plane  as  JISX
       0212.   If  it  is  equal to "latin1", "latin2", "latin3",
       "latin4",  "greek",  "arabic",  "hebrew",  "cyrillic"   or
       "latin5",  less treat g1 plane as one of ISO 8859.  Other­
       wise, less try to parse the JLESSPLANESET variable as real
       escape sequences for setting up, and "\e" in JLESSPLANESET
       is treated as escape code when parsing.

       Less understand almost all escape sequence about character
       set  in the ISO 2022 code extension techniques.  There are
       many escape sequences to select the character set.  On the
       one  hand, less output only 6 escape sequences to select a
       character set: '^[(',  '^[-',  '^[$(',  '^[$-',  '^N'  and
       '^O'.   It means less is friendly to a terminal and a ter­
       minal emulator.

       And there is special "character set" for keyboard  inputs.
       The  JLESSKEYCHARSET environment variable is used for such
       purpose.  Possible values of it are equal  to  the  JLESS­
       CHARSET environment variable.

       In  special cases, it may be desired to tailor less to use
       a character set other than the  ones  definable  by  LESS­
       CHARSET.   In  this  case,  the environment variable LESS­
       CHARDEF can be used to define a character set.  It  should
       be set to a string where each character in the string rep­
       resents 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  repeti­
       tion.   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 neces­
       sarily represent any real character set.)

       This table shows the value of LESSCHARDEF which is equiva­
       lent to each of the possible values for LESSCHARSET:

            ascii     8bcccbcc18b95.b

       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 vari­
       able.  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 LESS­
       BINFMT  is  "*u[%x]",  binary  characters are displayed in
       underlined  hexadecimal  surrounded  by   brackets.    The
       default if no LESSBINFMT is specified is "*s<%X>".



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 ordi­
       nary 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.

              cussion of the LESSEDIT feature below.

       %f     Replaced by the name of the current input file.

       %i     Replaced by the index of the current  file  in  the
              list of input files.

       %lX    Replaced  by the line number of a line in the input
              file.  The line to be used is determined by the  X,
              as with the %b option.

       %L     Replaced by the line number of the last line in the
              input file.

       %m     Replaced by the total number of input files.

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

       %PX    Replaced by the  percent  into  the  current  input
              file,  based  on  line  numbers.   The line used is
              determined by the X as with the %b option.

       %s     Same as %B.

       %t     Causes any trailing spaces to be removed.   Usually
              used  at the end of the string, but may appear any­
              where.

       %x     Replaced by the name of the next input file in  the
              list.

       %K     Replaced  by the name of the last non ASCII charac­
              ter set or code set.

       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 sin­
       gle  character acts like an "IF": depending on the follow­
       ing 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:

       ?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 file­
       name 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.


       ?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 com­
       mand 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 vari­
       able 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.


              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 on Unix and OS/2 systems).

       HOMEDRIVE, HOMEPATH
              Concatenation of the HOMEDRIVE and  HOMEPATH  envi­
              ronment  variables  is  the name of the user's home
              directory if the HOME variable is not set (only  in
              the Windows version).

       INIT   Name  of  the user's init directory (used to find a
              lesskey file on OS/2 systems).

       LANG   Language for determining the character set.

       LC_CTYPE
              Language for determining the character set.

       LESS   Options which are passed to less automatically.

       JLESS  same as the LESS environment variable.

       LESSANSIENDCHARS
              Characters which are assumed to end an  ANSI  color
              escape sequence (default "m").

       LESSBINFMT
              Format  for  displaying  non-printable, non-control
              characters.

       LESSCHARDEF
              Defines a character set.

       JLESSCHARSET
              Selects a predefined character set.

       LESSCHARSET
              Selects a predefined character set if  JLESSCHARSET
              is not defined.

       JLESSKEYCHARSET
              Selects  a  predefined  character  set for keyboard
              inputs.

       JLESSPLANESET
              Selects a predefined plane set of the ISO 2022 code
              extension techniques.

       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  (1)  command.   If  not
              set, global tags are not used.

       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 "metachar­
              acters" by the shell.

       LESSMETAESCAPE
              Prefix which less will add before each  metacharac­
              ter  in  a  command  sent  to  the shell.  If LESS­
              METAESCAPE is an empty string, commands  containing
              metacharacters will not be passed to the shell.

       LESSOPEN
              Command line to invoke the (optional) input-prepro­
              cessor.

       LESSSECURE
              Runs less in "secure" mode.  See  discussion  under
              SECURITY.

       LESSSEPARATOR
              String  to be appended to a directory name in file­
              name completion.

       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.)

       PATH   User's search path (used to find a lesskey file  on
              MS-DOS and OS/2 systems).

       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).
       files may be entered into the list in an unexpected order.

       On certain older terminals (the so-called  "magic  cookie"
       terminals),  search  highlighting  will cause an erroneous
       display.  On such terminals, search highlighting  is  dis­
       abled by default to avoid possible problems.

       In  certain cases, when search highlighting is enabled and
       a search pattern begins with  a  ^,  more  text  than  the
       matching  string  may  be highlighted.  (This problem does
       not occur when less is compiled to use the  POSIX  regular
       expression package.)

       When  viewing  text containing ANSI color escape sequences
       using the -R option, searching will not find text contain­
       ing  an embedded escape sequence.  Also, search highlight­
       ing may change the color of some of the text which follows
       the highlighted text.

       On  some systems, setlocale claims that ASCII characters 0
       thru 31 are control characters rather than binary  charac­
       ters.   This  causes  less  to  treat some binary files as
       ordinary, non-binary files.  To workaround  this  problem,
       set  the  environment  variable LESSCHARSET to "ascii" (or
       whatever character set is appropriate).

       See http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less for  the  latest
       list of known bugs in this version of less.



COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 2002  Mark Nudelman

       less is part of the GNU project and is free software.  You
       can redistribute it and/or modify it under  the  terms  of
       either  (1) the GNU General Public License as published by
       the Free Software Foundation; or  (2)  the  Less  License.
       See  the  file  README  in  the less distribution for more
       details  regarding  redistribution.    You   should   have
       received  a  copy  of the GNU General Public License along
       with the source for less; see the file COPYING.   If  not,
       write  to  the  Free Software Foundation, 59 Temple Place,
       Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.  You  should  also
       have  received  a  copy  of the Less License; see the file
       LICENSE.

       less is distributed in the hope that it  will  be  useful,
       but  WITHOUT  ANY  WARRANTY; without even the implied war­
       ranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR  PUR­
       POSE.   See  the  GNU  General  Public  License  for  more
       details.




                     Version 378: 30 Sep 2002             LESS(1)

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