less —
view
files
less |
[-#?~AaBCcdEeFfGgIiJKLMmNnQqRrSsUuVWwX]
[-b
n]
[-h
n]
[-j
n]
[-k
keyfile]
[-O |
-o
logfile]
[-P
prompt]
[-p
pattern]
[-T
tagsfile]
[-t
tag]
[-x
n,...]
[-y
n]
[-z
n]
[file ...] |
less is a program similar to the traditional
more(1),
but with many more features. It displays text one screenful at a time. After
showing each screenful, it prompts the user for a command. When showing the
last line of a file,
less displays a prompt
indicating end of file and the name of the next file to examine, if any. It
then waits for input from the user.
Commands are based on both traditional
more(1) and
vi(1).
Commands may be preceded by a decimal number, called
N in the descriptions below. The number is
used by some commands, as indicated.
This version of
less also acts as
more(1) if
it is called as
more, or if the
LESS_IS_MORE
environment variable is set.
The main differences between the two are summarized in the
COMPATIBILITY WITH
MORE section, below.
A long option name may be abbreviated as long as the abbreviation is
unambiguous. Such option names need only have their first letter capitalized;
the remainder of the name may be in either case. For example,
--Quit-at-eof is equivalent to
--QUIT-AT-EOF.
The options are as follows:
-
-
- -?
|
--help
- This option displays a summary of the commands accepted by
less (the same as the
h command). (Depending on how your shell
interprets the question mark, it may be necessary to quote the question
mark, thus:
‘
-\?
’.)
-
-
- -A
|
--SEARCH-SKIP-SCREEN
- Causes all forward searches (not just non-repeated
searches) to start just after the target line, and all backward searches
to start just before the target line. Thus, forward searches will skip
part of the displayed screen (from the first line up to and including the
target line). Similarly backwards searches will skip the displayed screen
from the last line up to and including the target line. This was the
default behavior in less versions prior to
441.
-
-
- -a
|
--search-skip-screen
- By default, forward searches start at the top of the
displayed screen and backwards searches start at the bottom of the
displayed screen (except for repeated searches invoked by the
n or N commands,
which start after or before the “target” line respectively;
see the -j option for more about the target
line). The -a option causes forward searches
to instead start at the bottom of the screen and backward searches to
start at the top of the screen, thus skipping all lines displayed on the
screen.
-
-
- -B
|
--auto-buffers
- By default, when data is read from a pipe, buffers are
allocated automatically as needed. If a large amount of data is read from
the pipe, this can cause a large amount of memory to be allocated. The
-B option disables this automatic allocation
of buffers for pipes, so that only 64K (or the amount of space specified
by the -b option) is used for the pipe.
Warning: use of
-B can result in erroneous display, since
only the most recently viewed part of the piped data is kept in memory;
any earlier data is lost.
-
-
- -b
n |
--buffers=n
- Specifies the amount of buffer space
less will use for each file, in units of
kilobytes (1024 bytes). By default 64K of buffer space is used for each
file (unless the file is a pipe; see the -B
option). The -b option specifies instead that
n kilobytes of buffer space should be
used for each file. If n is -1, buffer
space is unlimited; that is, the entire file can be read into memory.
-
-
- -C
|
--CLEAR-SCREEN
- Same as -c, for compatibility
with older versions of less.
-
-
- -c
|
--clear-screen
- Causes full screen repaints to be painted from the bottom
of the screen. By default, full screen repaints are done from the top line
down to avoid the position of the display being moved when using
interactive commands.
-
-
- -d
|
--dumb
- The -d option suppresses the
error message normally displayed if the terminal is dumb; that is, if the
terminal 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.
-
-
- -E
|
--QUIT-AT-EOF
- Causes less to automatically
exit the first time it reaches end-of-file.
-
-
- -e
|
--quit-at-eof
- Causes less to automatically
exit the second time it reaches end-of-file. By default, the only way to
exit less is via the
q command.
-
-
- -F
|
--quit-if-one-screen
- Causes less to automatically
exit if the entire file can be displayed on the first screen.
-
-
- -f
|
--force
- Forces non-regular files to be opened. (A non-regular file
is a directory or a device special file.) Also suppresses the warning
message when a binary file is opened. By default,
less will refuse to open non-regular
files.
-
-
- -G
|
--HILITE-SEARCH
- The -G option suppresses all
highlighting of strings found by search commands.
-
-
- -g
|
--hilite-search
- Normally, less will highlight
all strings which match the last search command. The
-g option changes this behavior to highlight
only the particular string which was found by the last search command.
This can cause less to run somewhat faster
than the default.
-
-
- -h
n |
--max-back-scroll=n
- Specifies a maximum number of lines to scroll backward. If
it is necessary to scroll backward more than n lines, the screen is
repainted in a forward direction instead. (If the terminal does not have
the ability to scroll backward,
‘-h0’ is implied.)
-
-
- -I
|
--IGNORE-CASE
- Like -i, but searches ignore
case even if the pattern contains uppercase letters.
-
-
- -i
|
--ignore-case
- Causes searches to ignore case; that is, uppercase and
lowercase are considered identical. This option is ignored if any
uppercase letters appear in the search pattern; in other words, if a
pattern contains uppercase letters, then that search does not ignore
case.
-
-
- -J
|
--status-column
- Displays a status column at the left edge of the screen.
The status column shows the lines that matched the current search. The
status column is also used if the -w or
-W option is in effect.
-
-
- -j
n |
--jump-target=n
- Specifies a line on the screen where the
“target” line is to be positioned. The target line is the
line specified by any command to search for a pattern, jump to a line
number, jump to a file percentage or jump to a tag. The screen line may be
specified by a number: the top line on the screen is 1, the next is 2, and
so on. The number may be negative to specify a line relative to the bottom
of the screen: the bottom line on the screen is -1, the second to the
bottom is -2, and so on. Alternately, the screen line may be specified as
a fraction of the height of the screen, starting with a decimal point: .5
is in the middle of the screen, .3 is three tenths down from the first
line, and so on. If the line is specified as a fraction, the actual line
number is recalculated if the terminal window is resized, so that the
target line remains at the specified fraction of the screen height. If any
form of the -j option is used, forward
searches begin at the line immediately after the target line, and backward
searches begin at the target line, unless changed by
-a or -A. For
example, if ‘-j4’ is used, the
target line is the fourth line on the screen, so forward searches begin at
the fifth line on the screen.
-
-
- -K
|
--quit-on-intr
- Causes less to exit
immediately (with status 2) when an interrupt character (usually
^C) is typed. Normally, an interrupt
character causes less to stop whatever it is
doing and return to its command prompt. Note that use of this option makes
it impossible to return to the command prompt from the
F command.
-
-
- -k
keyfile |
--lesskey-file=keyfile
- 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
environment variable is
set, or if a lesskey file is found in a standard place (see
KEY BINDINGS), it is
also used as a lesskey file.
-
-
- -L
|
--no-lessopen
- Ignore the
LESSOPEN
environment variable (see the
INPUT PREPROCESSOR
section below). This option can be set from within
less, but it will apply only to files opened
subsequently, not to the file which is currently open.
-
-
- -M
|
--LONG-PROMPT
- Causes less to prompt even
more verbosely than
more(1).
-
-
- -m
|
--long-prompt
- Causes less to prompt
verbosely, like
more(1),
with the percent into the file. By default,
less prompts with a colon.
-
-
- -N
|
--LINE-NUMBERS
- Causes a line number to be displayed at the beginning of
each line in the display.
-
-
- -n
|
--line-numbers
- Suppresses line numbers. The default (to use line numbers)
may cause less to run more slowly in some
cases, especially with a very large input file. Suppressing line numbers
with the -n option will avoid this problem.
Using line numbers means: the line number will be displayed in the verbose
prompt and in the = command, and the
v command will pass the current line number
to the editor (see also the discussion of
LESSEDIT
in
PROMPTS below).
-
-
- -O
logfile |
--LOG-FILE=logfile
- 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.
-
-
- -o
logfile |
--log-file=logfile
- Causes less to copy its input
to the named file as it is being viewed. This applies only when the input
file is a pipe, not an ordinary file. If the file already exists,
less will ask for confirmation before
overwriting it.
-
-
- -P
prompt |
--prompt=prompt
- Provides a way to tailor the three prompt styles to your
own preference. This option would normally be put in the
LESS
environment variable, rather than
being typed in with each less command. Such
an option must either be the last option in the
LESS
variable, or be terminated by a
dollar sign.
- -Ps
string changes the default (short)
prompt to string.
- -Pm
changes the medium (-m) prompt.
- -PM
changes the long (-M) prompt.
- -Ph
changes the prompt for the help screen.
- -P=
changes the message printed by the =
command.
- -Pw
changes the message printed while waiting for data (in the
F command).
All prompt strings consist of a sequence of letters and special escape
sequences. See the section on
PROMPTS for more
details.
-
-
- -p
pattern |
--pattern=pattern
- The -p option on the command
line is equivalent to specifying
+/pattern;
that is, it tells less to start at the first
occurrence of pattern in the file.
-
-
- -Q
|
--QUIET
|
--SILENT
- Causes totally quiet operation: the terminal bell is never
rung.
-
-
- -q
|
--quiet
|
--silent
- Causes moderately quiet operation: the terminal bell is not
rung if an attempt is made to scroll past the end of the file or before
the beginning of the file. If the terminal has a visual bell, it is used
instead. The bell will be rung on certain other errors, such as typing an
invalid character. The default is to ring the terminal bell in all such
cases.
-
-
- -R
|
--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS
- Like -r, but only ANSI color
escape sequences are output in raw form. Unlike
-r, the screen appearance is maintained
correctly in most cases. ANSI color escape sequences are sequences of the
form:
ESC [ ... m
where the “...” is zero or more color specification
characters. For the purpose of keeping track of screen appearance, ANSI
color escape sequences are assumed to not move the cursor. You can make
less think that characters other than
‘m’ can end ANSI color escape sequences by setting the
environment variable LESSANSIENDCHARS
to the list of characters which can end a color escape sequence. And you
can make less think that characters other
than the standard ones may appear between the
ESC and the m by
setting the environment variable
LESSANSIMIDCHARS
to the list of
characters which can appear.
-
-
- -r
|
--raw-control-chars
- Causes raw control characters to be displayed. The default
is to display control characters using the caret notation; for example, a
control-A (octal 001) is displayed as ‘^A’.
Warning: when the
-r option is used,
less cannot keep track of the actual
appearance of the screen (since this depends on how the screen responds to
each type of control character). Thus, various display problems may
result, such as long lines being split in the wrong place.
-
-
- -S
|
--chop-long-lines
- Causes lines longer than the screen width to be chopped
(truncated) rather than wrapped. That is, the portion of a long line that
does not fit in the screen width is not shown. The default is to wrap long
lines; that is, display the remainder on the next line.
-
-
- -s
|
--squeeze-blank-lines
- Causes consecutive blank lines to be squeezed into a single
blank line.
-
-
- -T
tagsfile |
--tag-file=tagsfile
- Specifies a tags file to be used instead of
tags.
-
-
- -t
tag |
--tag=tag
- The -t option, followed
immediately by a tag, will edit the file
containing that tag. For this to work, tag information must be available;
for example, there may be a file in the current directory called
tags, which was previously built by
ctags(1)
or an equivalent command. The -t option may
also be specified from within less (using the
- command) as a way of examining a new file.
The command :t is equivalent to specifying
-t from within
less.
-
-
- -U
|
--UNDERLINE-SPECIAL
- Causes backspaces, tabs and carriage returns to be treated
as control characters; that is, they are handled as specified by the
-r option.
By default, if neither -u nor
-U is given, backspaces which appear adjacent
to an underscore character are treated specially: the underlined text is
displayed using the terminal's hardware underlining capability. Also,
backspaces which appear between two identical characters are treated
specially: the overstruck text is printed using the terminal's hardware
boldface capability. Other backspaces are deleted, along with the
preceding character. Carriage returns immediately followed by a newline
are deleted. Other carriage returns are handled as specified by the
-r option. Text which is overstruck or
underlined can be searched for if neither -u
nor -U is in effect.
-
-
- -u
|
--underline-special
- Causes backspaces and carriage returns to be treated as
printable characters; that is, they are sent to the terminal when they
appear in the input.
-
-
- -V
|
--version
- Displays the version number of
less.
-
-
- -W
|
--HILITE-UNREAD
- Like -w, but temporarily
highlights the first new line after any forward movement command larger
than one line.
-
-
- -w
|
--hilite-unread
- Temporarily highlights the first new line after a forward
movement of a full page. The first new line is the line immediately
following the line previously at the bottom of the screen. Also highlights
the target line after a g or
p command. The highlight is removed at the
next command which causes movement. The entire line is highlighted, unless
the -J option is in effect, in which case
only the status column is highlighted.
-
-
- -X
|
--no-init
- Disables sending the termcap initialization and
deinitialization strings to the terminal. This is sometimes desirable if
the deinitialization string does something unnecessary, like clearing the
screen.
-
-
- -x
n,... |
--tabs=n,...
- Sets tab stops. If only one
n is specified, tab stops are set at
multiples of n. If multiple values
separated by commas are specified, tab stops are set at those positions,
and then continue with the same spacing as the last two. For example,
‘-x9,17’ will set tabs at
positions 9, 17, 25, 33, etc. The default for
n is 8.
-
-
- -y
n |
--max-forw-scroll=n
- Specifies a maximum number of lines to scroll forward. If
it is necessary to scroll forward more than n lines, the screen is
repainted instead. The -c or
-C option may be used to repaint from the top
of the screen if desired. By default, any forward movement causes
scrolling.
-
-
- -z
n |
--window=n
- Changes the default scrolling window size to
n lines. The default is one screenful.
The z and w
commands can also be used to change the window size. The
z may be omitted for compatibility with some
versions of
more(1).
If the number n is negative, it indicates
n lines less than the current screen
size. For example, if the screen is 24 lines,
-z-4 sets the scrolling window to 20 lines.
If the screen is resized to 40 lines, the scrolling window automatically
changes to 36 lines.
-
-
- --follow-name
- Normally, if the input file is renamed while an
F command is executing,
less will continue to display the contents of
the original file despite its name change. If
--follow-name is specified, during an
F command less
will periodically attempt to reopen the file by name. If the reopen
succeeds and the file is a different file from the original (which means
that a new file has been created with the same name as the original (now
renamed) file), less will display the
contents of that new file.
-
-
- --no-keypad
- Disables sending the keypad initialization and
deinitialization strings to the terminal. This is sometimes useful if the
keypad strings make the numeric keypad behave in an undesirable
manner.
-
-
- --use-backslash
- This option changes the interpretations of options which
follow this one. After the --use-backslash
option, any backslash in an option string is removed and the following
character is taken literally. This allows a dollar sign to be included in
option strings.
-
-
- -"
cc |
--quotes=cc
- Changes the filename quoting character. This may be
necessary if you are trying to name a file which contains both spaces and
quote characters. If cc is 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. If cc consists of two
characters, this changes the open quote to the first character, and the
close quote to the second character. Filenames containing a space should
then be preceded by the open quote character and followed by the close
quote character. Note that even after the quote characters are changed,
this option remains -" (a dash followed
by a double quote).
-
-
- -~
|
--tilde
- Normally lines after end of file are displayed as a single
tilde (~). This option causes lines after end of file to be displayed as
blank lines.
-
-
- -#
|
--shift
- Specifies the default number of positions to scroll
horizontally in the RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW commands. If the number
specified is zero, it sets the default number of positions to one half of
the screen width. Alternately, the number may be specified as a fraction
of the width of the screen, starting with a decimal point: .5 is half of
the screen width, .3 is three tenths of the screen width, and so on. If
the number is specified as a fraction, the actual number of scroll
positions is recalculated if the terminal window is resized, so that the
actual scroll remains at the specified fraction of the screen width.
-
-
- --
- A command line argument of --
marks the end of option arguments. Any arguments following this are
interpreted as filenames. This can be useful when viewing a file whose
name begins with a ‘-’ or ‘+’.
-
-
- +
- If a command line option begins with +, the remainder of
that option is taken to be an initial command to
less. For example,
+G 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
+numberg;
that is, it starts the display at the specified line number (however, see
the caveat under the g command below). 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.
In the following descriptions, ^X means control-X. ESC stands for the ESCAPE
key; for example ESC-v means the two character sequence "ESCAPE",
then "v".
-
-
- h
|
H
- Help: display a summary of these commands. If you forget
all the other commands, remember this one.
-
-
- SPACE
| ^V
| f |
^F
- Scroll forward N lines, default one window (see option
-z above). If N is more than the screen size,
only the final screenful is displayed. Warning: some systems use ^V as a
special literalization character.
-
-
- z
- Like SPACE, but if N is specified, it becomes the new
window size.
-
-
- ESC-SPACE
- Like SPACE, but scrolls a full screenful, even if it
reaches end-of-file in the process.
-
-
- ENTER
|
RETURN
| ^N
| e |
^E |
j |
^J
- Scroll forward N lines, default 1. The entire N lines are
displayed, even if N is more than the screen size.
-
-
- d
|
^D
- Scroll forward N lines, default one half of the screen
size. If N is specified, it becomes the new default for subsequent d and u
commands.
-
-
- b
| ^B
|
ESC-v
- Scroll backward N lines, default one window (see option
-z above). If N is more than the screen size,
only the final screenful is displayed.
-
-
- w
- Like ESC-v, but if N is specified, it becomes the new
window size.
-
-
- y
| ^Y
| ^P
| k |
^K
- Scroll backward N lines, default 1. The entire N lines are
displayed, even if N is more than the screen size. Warning: some systems
use ^Y as a special job control character.
-
-
- u
|
^U
- Scroll backward N lines, default one half of the screen
size. If N is specified, it becomes the new default for subsequent d and u
commands.
-
-
- ESC-)
|
RIGHTARROW
- Scroll horizontally right N characters, default half the
screen width (see the -# option). If a number
N is specified, it becomes the default for future RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW
commands. While the text is scrolled, it acts as though the
-S option (chop lines) were in effect.
-
-
- ESC-(
|
LEFTARROW
- Scroll horizontally left N characters, default half the
screen width (see the -# option). If a number
N is specified, it becomes the default for future RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW
commands.
-
-
- r
| ^R
|
^L
- Repaint the screen.
-
-
- R
- Repaint the screen, discarding any buffered input. Useful
if the file is changing while it is being viewed.
-
-
- F
- Scroll forward, and keep trying to read when the end of
file is reached. Normally this command would be used when already at the
end of the file. It is a way to monitor the tail of a file which is
growing while it is being viewed. (The behavior is similar to the
"tail -f" command.)
-
-
- ESC-F
- Like F, but as soon as a line is found which matches the
last search pattern, the terminal bell is rung and forward scrolling
stops.
-
-
- g
|
<
|
ESC-<
- Go to line N in the file, default 1 (beginning of file).
(Warning: this may be slow if N is large.)
-
-
- G
|
>
|
ESC->
- Go to line N in the file, default the end of the file.
(Warning: this may be slow if N is large, or if N is not specified and
standard input, rather than a file, is being read.)
-
-
- p
|
%
- Go to a position N percent into the file. N should be
between 0 and 100, and may contain a decimal point.
-
-
- P
- Go to the line containing byte offset N in the file.
-
-
- {
- If a left curly bracket appears in the top line displayed
on the screen, the { command will go to the matching right curly bracket.
The matching right curly bracket is positioned on the bottom line of the
screen. If there is more than one left curly bracket on the top line, a
number N may be used to specify the N-th bracket on the line.
-
-
- }
- If a right curly bracket appears in the bottom line
displayed on the screen, the } command will go to the matching left curly
bracket. The matching left curly bracket is positioned on the top line of
the screen. If there is more than one right curly bracket on the top line,
a number N may be used to specify the N-th bracket on the line.
-
-
- (
- Like {, but applies to parentheses rather than curly
brackets.
-
-
- )
- Like }, but applies to parentheses rather than curly
brackets.
-
-
- [
- Like {, but applies to square brackets rather than curly
brackets.
-
-
- ]
- Like }, but applies to square brackets rather than curly
brackets.
-
-
- ESC-^F
- Followed by two characters, acts like {, but uses the two
characters as open and close brackets, respectively. For example,
"ESC ^F < >" could be used to go forward to the > which
matches the < in the top displayed line.
-
-
- ESC-^B
- Followed by two characters, acts like }, but uses the two
characters as open and close brackets, respectively. For example,
"ESC ^B < >" could be used to go backward to the <
which matches the > in the bottom displayed line.
-
-
- m
- Followed by any lowercase letter, marks the current
position with that letter.
-
-
- '
- (Single quote.) Followed by any lowercase letter, returns
to the position which was previously marked with that letter. Followed by
another single quote, returns to the position at which the last
"large" movement command was executed. Followed by a ^ or $,
jumps to the beginning or end of the file respectively. Marks are
preserved when a new file is examined, so the ' command can be used to
switch between input files.
-
-
- ^X^X
- Same as single quote.
-
-
- /pattern
- Search forward in the file for the N-th line containing the
pattern. N defaults to 1. The pattern is a regular expression, as
recognized by the regular expression library supplied by your system. The
search starts at the first line displayed (but see the
-a and -j
options, which change this).
Certain characters are special if entered at the beginning of the pattern;
they modify the type of search rather than become part of the pattern:
-
-
- ^N
|
!
- Search for lines which do NOT match the pattern.
-
-
- ^E
|
*
- Search multiple files. That is, if the search reaches
the END of the current file without finding a match, the search
continues in the next file in the command line list.
-
-
- ^F
|
@
- Begin the search at the first line of the FIRST file in
the command line list, regardless of what is currently displayed on
the screen or the settings of the -a or
-j options.
-
-
- ^K
- Highlight any text which matches the pattern on the
current screen, but don't move to the first match (KEEP current
position).
-
-
- ^R
- Don't interpret regular expression metacharacters; that
is, do a simple textual comparison.
-
-
- ?pattern
- Search backward in the file for the N-th line containing
the pattern. The search starts at the line immediately before the top line
displayed.
Certain characters are special, as in the / command:
-
-
- ^N
|
!
- Search for lines which do NOT match the pattern.
-
-
- ^E
|
*
- Search multiple files. That is, if the search reaches
the beginning of the current file without finding a match, the search
continues in the previous file in the command line list.
-
-
- ^F
|
@
- Begin the search at the last line of the last file in
the command line list, regardless of what is currently displayed on
the screen or the settings of the -a or
-j options.
-
-
- ^K
- As in forward searches.
-
-
- ^R
- As in forward searches.
-
-
- ESC-/pattern
- Same as "/*".
-
-
- ESC-?pattern
- Same as "?*".
-
-
- n
- Repeat previous search, for N-th line containing the last
pattern. If the previous search was modified by ^N, the search is made for
the N-th line NOT containing the pattern. If the previous search was
modified by ^E, the search continues in the next (or previous) file if not
satisfied in the current file. If the previous search was modified by ^R,
the search is done without using regular expressions. There is no effect
if the previous search was modified by ^F or ^K.
-
-
- N
- Repeat previous search, but in the reverse direction.
-
-
- ESC-n
- Repeat previous search, but crossing file boundaries. The
effect is as if the previous search were modified by *.
-
-
- ESC-N
- Repeat previous search, but in the reverse direction and
crossing file boundaries.
-
-
- ESC-u
- Undo search highlighting. Turn off highlighting of strings
matching the current search pattern. If highlighting is already off
because of a previous ESC-u command, turn highlighting back on. Any search
command will also turn highlighting back on. (Highlighting can also be
disabled by toggling the -G option; in that
case search commands do not turn highlighting back on.)
-
-
- &pattern
- Display only lines which match the pattern; lines which do
not match the pattern are not displayed. If pattern is empty (if you type
& immediately followed by ENTER), any filtering is turned off, and all
lines are displayed. While filtering is in effect, an ampersand is
displayed at the beginning of the prompt, as a reminder that some lines in
the file may be hidden.
Certain characters are special as in the / command:
-
-
- ^N
|!
- Display only lines which do NOT match the pattern.
-
-
- ^R
- Don't interpret regular expression metacharacters; that
is, do a simple textual comparison.
-
-
- :e
[filename]
- Examine a new file. If the filename is missing, the
"current" file (see the :n and :p commands below) from the list
of files in the command line is re-examined. A percent sign (%) in the
filename is replaced by the name of the current file. A pound sign (#) is
replaced by the name of the previously examined file. However, two
consecutive percent signs are simply replaced with a single percent sign.
This allows you to enter a filename that contains a percent sign in the
name. Similarly, two consecutive pound signs are replaced with a single
pound sign. The filename is inserted into the command line list of files
so that it can be seen by subsequent :n and :p commands. If the filename
consists of several files, they are all inserted into the list of files
and the first one is examined. If the filename contains one or more
spaces, the entire filename should be enclosed in double quotes (also see
the -" option).
-
-
- ^X^V
|
E
- Same as :e. Warning: some systems use ^V as a special
literalization character. On such systems, you may not be able to use
^V.
-
-
- :n
- Examine the next file (from the list of files given in the
command line). If a number N is specified, the N-th next file is
examined.
-
-
- :p
- Examine the previous file in the command line list. If a
number N is specified, the N-th previous file is examined.
-
-
- :t
- Go to the specified tag.
-
-
- :x
- Examine the first file in the command line list. If a
number N is specified, the N-th file in the list is examined.
-
-
- :d
- Remove the current file from the list of files.
-
-
- t
- Go to the next tag, if there were more than one matches for
the current tag. See the -t option for more
details about tags.
-
-
- T
- Go to the previous tag, if there were more than one matches
for the current tag.
-
-
- =
| ^G
|
:f
- Prints some information about the file being viewed,
including its name and the line number and byte offset of the bottom line
being displayed. If possible, it also prints the length of the file, the
number of lines in the file and the percent of the file above the last
displayed line.
-
-
- -
- Followed by one of the command line option letters (see
DESCRIPTION above), this
will change the setting of that option and print a message describing the
new setting. If a ^P (CONTROL-P) is entered immediately after the dash,
the setting of the option is changed but no message is printed. If the
option letter has a numeric value (such as -b
or -h), or a string value (such as
-P or -t), a new
value may be entered after the option letter. If no new value is entered,
a message describing the current setting is printed and nothing is
changed.
-
-
- --
- Like the - command, but takes a long option name (see
DESCRIPTION above) rather
than a single option letter. You must press ENTER or RETURN after typing
the option name. A ^P immediately after the second dash suppresses
printing of a message describing the new setting, as in the -
command.
-
-
- -+
- Followed by one of the command line option letters this
will reset the option to its default setting and print a message
describing the new setting. (The "-+X" command does the same
thing as ‘-+X’ on the command
line.) This does not work for string-valued options.
-
-
- --+
- Like the -+ command, but takes a long option name rather
than a single option letter.
-
-
- -!
- Followed by one of the command line option letters, this
will reset the option to the "opposite" of its default setting
and print a message describing the new setting. This does not work for
numeric or string-valued options.
-
-
- --!
- Like the -! command, but takes a long option name rather
than a single option letter.
-
-
- _
- (Underscore.) Followed by one of the command line option
letters, this will print a message describing the current setting of that
option. The setting of the option is not changed.
-
-
- __
- (Double underscore.) Like the _ (underscore) command, but
takes a long option name rather than a single option letter. You must
press ENTER or RETURN after typing the option name.
-
-
- +cmd
- Causes the specified cmd to be executed each time a new
file is examined. For example, +G causes less
to initially display each file starting at the end rather than the
beginning.
-
-
- V
- Prints the version number of
less being run.
-
-
- q
| Q |
:q |
:Q |
ZZ
- Exits less.
The following four commands may or may not be valid, depending on your
particular installation.
-
-
- v
- Invokes an editor to edit the current file being viewed.
The editor is taken from the environment variable
VISUAL
, if defined, 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.
-
-
- |
<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.
When entering command line at the bottom of the screen (for example, a filename
for the :e command, or the pattern for a search command), certain keys can be
used to manipulate the command line. Most commands have an alternate form in [
brackets ] which can be used if a key does not exist on a particular keyboard.
Any of these special keys may be entered literally by preceding it with the
"literal" character, either ^V or ^A. A backslash itself may also be
entered literally by entering two backslashes.
-
-
- LEFTARROW [ESC-h]
- Move the cursor one space to the left.
-
-
- RIGHTARROW [ESC-l]
- Move the cursor one space to the right.
-
-
- ^LEFTARROW [ESC-b or ESC-LEFTARROW]
- (That is, CONTROL and LEFTARROW simultaneously.) Move the
cursor one word to the left.
-
-
- ^RIGHTARROW [ESC-w or ESC-RIGHTARROW]
- (That is, CONTROL and RIGHTARROW simultaneously.) Move the
cursor one word to the right.
-
-
- HOME [ESC-0]
- Move the cursor to the beginning of the line.
-
-
- END [ESC-$]
- Move the cursor to the end of the line.
-
-
- BACKSPACE
- Delete the character to the left of the cursor, or cancel
the command if the command line is empty.
-
-
- DELETE or [ESC-x]
- Delete the character under the cursor.
-
-
- ^BACKSPACE [ESC-BACKSPACE]
- (That is, CONTROL and BACKSPACE simultaneously.) Delete the
word to the left of the cursor.
-
-
- ^DELETE [ESC-X or ESC-DELETE]
- (That is, CONTROL and DELETE simultaneously.) Delete the
word under the cursor.
-
-
- UPARROW [ESC-k]
- Retrieve the previous command line. If you first enter some
text and then press UPARROW, it will retrieve the previous command which
begins with that text.
-
-
- DOWNARROW [ESC-j]
- Retrieve the next command line. If you first enter some
text and then press DOWNARROW, it will retrieve the next command which
begins with that text.
-
-
- TAB
- Complete the partial filename to the left of the cursor. If
it matches more than one filename, the first match is entered into the
command line. Repeated TABs will cycle through the other matching
filenames. If the completed filename is a directory, a "/" is
appended to the filename. The environment variable
LESSSEPARATOR
can be used to specify a
different character to append to a directory name.
-
-
- BACKTAB [ESC-TAB]
- Like TAB, but cycles in the reverse direction through the
matching filenames.
-
-
- ^L
- Complete the partial filename to the left of the cursor. If
it matches more than one filename, all matches are entered into the
command line (if they fit).
-
-
- ^U
- Delete the entire command line, or cancel the command if
the command line is empty. If you have changed your line-kill character to
something other than ^U, that character is used instead of ^U.
-
-
- ^G
- Delete the entire command line and return to the main
prompt.
You may define your own
less commands by using the
program
lesskey(1)
to create a lesskey file. This file specifies a set of command keys and an
action associated with each key. You may also use lesskey to change the
line-editing keys (see
LINE
EDITING), and to set environment variables. If the environment variable
LESSKEY
is set,
less uses that as the name of the lesskey file.
Otherwise,
less looks for a lesskey file called
"$HOME/.less". See the
lesskey(1)
manual page for more details.
A system-wide lesskey file may also be set up to provide key bindings. If a key
is defined in both a local lesskey file and in the system-wide file, key
bindings in the local file take precedence over those in the system-wide file.
If the environment variable
LESSKEY_SYSTEM
is set,
less uses that as the name of the
system-wide lesskey file. Otherwise,
less looks
in a standard place for the system-wide lesskey file: On
OpenBSD, the system-wide lesskey file is
/etc/sysless.
You may define an "input preprocessor" for
less. Before
less
opens a file, it first gives your input preprocessor a chance to modify the
way the contents of the file are displayed. An input preprocessor is simply an
executable program (or shell script), which writes the contents of the file to
a different file, called the replacement file. The contents of the replacement
file are then displayed in place of the contents of the original file.
However, it will appear to the user as if the original file is opened; that
is,
less will display the original filename as
the name of the current file.
An input preprocessor receives one command line argument, the original filename,
as entered by the user. It should create the replacement file, and when
finished print the name of the replacement file to its standard output. If the
input preprocessor does not output a replacement filename,
less uses the original file, as normal. The input
preprocessor is not called when viewing standard input. To set up an input
preprocessor, set the
LESSOPEN
environment
variable to a command line which will invoke your input preprocessor. This
command line should include one occurrence of the string "%s", which
will be replaced by the filename when the input preprocessor command is
invoked.
When
less closes a file opened in such a way, it
will call another program, called the input postprocessor, which may perform
any desired clean-up action (such as deleting the replacement file created by
LESSOPEN
). This program receives two
command line arguments, the original filename as entered by the user, and the
name of the replacement file. To set up an input postprocessor, set the
LESSCLOSE
environment variable to a command
line which will invoke your input postprocessor. It may include two
occurrences of the string "%s"; the first is replaced with the
original name of the file and the second with the name of the replacement
file, which was output by
LESSOPEN
.
For example, these two scripts will allow you to keep files in compressed
format, but still let
less view them directly:
lessopen.sh:
#! /bin/sh
case "$1" in
*.Z) uncompress -c $1 >/tmp/less.$$ 2>/dev/null
if [ -s /tmp/less.$$ ]; then
echo /tmp/less.$$
else
rm -f /tmp/less.$$
fi
;;
esac
lessclose.sh:
To use these scripts, put them both where they can be executed and set
LESSOPEN="lessopen.sh %s", and
LESSCLOSE="lessclose.sh %s %s". More complex LESSOPEN
and LESSCLOSE scripts may be written to accept other types of compressed
files, and so on.
It is also possible to set up an input preprocessor to pipe the file data
directly to
less, rather than putting the data
into a replacement file. This avoids the need to decompress the entire file
before starting to view it. An input preprocessor that works this way is
called an input pipe. An input pipe, instead of writing the name of a
replacement file on its standard output, writes the entire contents of the
replacement file on its standard output. If the input pipe does not write any
characters on its standard output, then there is no replacement file and
less uses the original file, as normal. To use an
input pipe, make the first character in the
LESSOPEN
environment variable a vertical
bar (|) to signify that the input preprocessor is an input pipe.
For example, this script will work like the previous example scripts:
lesspipe.sh:
#! /bin/sh
case "$1" in
*.Z) uncompress -c $1 2>/dev/null
*) exit 1
;;
esac
exit $?
To use this script, put it where it can be executed and set
LESSOPEN="|lesspipe.sh %s".
Note that a preprocessor cannot output an empty file, since that is interpreted
as meaning there is no replacement, and the original file is used. To avoid
this, if
LESSOPEN
starts with two vertical
bars, the exit status of the script becomes meaningful. If the exit status is
zero, the output is considered to be replacement text, even if it empty. If
the exit status is nonzero, any output is ignored and the original file is
used. For compatibility with previous versions of
less, if
LESSOPEN
starts with only one vertical bar,
the exit status of the preprocessor is ignored.
When an input pipe is used, a LESSCLOSE postprocessor can be used, but it is
usually not necessary since there is no replacement file to clean up. In this
case, the replacement file name passed to the LESSCLOSE postprocessor is
"-".
For compatibility with previous versions of
less,
the input preprocessor or pipe is not used if
less is viewing standard input. However, if the
first character of LESSOPEN is a dash (-), the input preprocessor is used on
standard input as well as other files. In this case, the dash is not
considered to be part of the preprocessor command. If standard input is being
viewed, the input preprocessor is passed a file name consisting of a single
dash. Similarly, if the first two characters of LESSOPEN are vertical bar and
dash (|-) or two vertical bars and a dash (||-), the input pipe is used on
standard input as well as other files. Again, in this case the dash is not
considered to be part of the input pipe command.
There are three types of characters in the input file:
-
-
- normal characters
- Can be displayed directly to the screen.
-
-
- control characters
- Should not be displayed directly, but are expected to be
found in ordinary text files (such as backspace and tab).
-
-
- binary characters
- Should not be displayed directly and are not expected to be
found in text files.
A "character set" is simply a description of which characters are to
be considered normal, control, and binary.
less
will determine the character set to use from the environment (see
locale(1)).
Control and binary characters are displayed in standout (reverse video). Each
such character is displayed in caret notation if possible (e.g. ^A for
control-A). Caret notation is used only if inverting the 0100 bit results in a
normal printable character. Otherwise, the character is displayed as a hex
number in angle brackets. This format can be changed by setting the
LESSBINFMT
environment variable. LESSBINFMT
may begin with a "*" and one character to select the display
attribute: "*k" is blinking, "*d" is bold, "*u"
is underlined, "*s" is standout, and "*n" is normal. If
LESSBINFMT does not begin with a "*", normal attribute is assumed.
The remainder of LESSBINFMT is a string which may include one printf-style
escape sequence (a % followed by x, X, o, d, etc.). For example, if LESSBINFMT
is "*u[%x]", binary characters are displayed in underlined
hexadecimal surrounded by brackets. The default if no LESSBINFMT is specified
is "*s<%02X>". Warning: the result of expanding the character
via LESSBINFMT must be less than 31 characters.
When the character set is utf-8, the
LESSUTFBINFMT
environment variable acts
similarly to LESSBINFMT but it applies to Unicode code points that were
successfully decoded but are unsuitable for display (e.g., unassigned code
points). Its default value is "<U+%04lX>". Note that
LESSUTFBINFMT and LESSBINFMT share their display attribute setting
("*x") so specifying one will affect both; LESSUTFBINFMT is read
after LESSBINFMT so its setting, if any, will have priority. Problematic
octets in a UTF-8 file (octets of a truncated sequence, octets of a complete
but non-shortest form sequence, illegal octets, and stray trailing octets) are
displayed individually using LESSBINFMT so as to facilitate diagnostic of how
the UTF-8 file is ill-formed.
The
-P option allows you to tailor the prompt to
your preference. The string given to the
-P
option replaces the specified prompt string. Certain characters in the string
are interpreted specially. The prompt mechanism is rather complicated to
provide flexibility, but the ordinary user need not understand the details of
constructing personalized prompt strings.
A percent sign followed by a single character is expanded according to what the
following character is:
-
-
- %bX
- Replaced by the byte offset into the current input file.
The b is followed by a single character (shown as
X above) which specifies the line whose
byte offset is to be used. If the character is a "t", the byte
offset of the top line in the display is used, an "m" means use
the middle line, a "b" means use the bottom line, a
"B" means use the line just after the bottom line, and a
"j" means use the "target" line, as specified by the
-j option.
-
-
- %B
- Replaced by the size of the current input file.
-
-
- %c
- Replaced by the column number of the text appearing in the
first column of the screen.
-
-
- %dX
- Replaced by the page number of a line in the input file.
The line to be used is determined by the
X, as with the %b option.
-
-
- %D
- Replaced by the number of pages in the input file, or
equivalently, the page number of the last line in the input file.
-
-
- %E
- Replaced by the name of the editor (from the
VISUAL
environment variable, or the
EDITOR
environment variable if
VISUAL
is not defined). See the
discussion of the LESSEDIT feature below.
-
-
- %f
- Replaced by the name of the current input file.
-
-
- %F
- Replaced by the last component of the name of the current
input file.
-
-
- %i
- Replaced by the index of the current file in the list of
input files.
-
-
- %lX
- Replaced by the line number of a line in the input file.
The line to be used is determined by the
X, as with the %b option.
-
-
- %L
- Replaced by the line number of the last line in the input
file.
-
-
- %m
- Replaced by the total number of input files.
-
-
- %pX
- Replaced by the percent into the current input file, based
on byte offsets. The line used is determined by the
X, as with the %b option.
-
-
- %PX
- Replaced by the percent into the current input file, based
on line numbers. The line used is determined by the
X, as with the %b option.
-
-
- %s
- Same as %B.
-
-
- %t
- Causes any trailing spaces to be removed. Usually used at
the end of the string, but may appear anywhere.
-
-
- %x
- Replaced by the name of the next input file in the
list.
If any item is unknown (for example, the file size if input is a pipe), a
question mark is printed instead.
The format of the prompt string can be changed depending on certain conditions.
A question mark followed by a single character acts like an "IF":
depending on the following character, a condition is evaluated. If the
condition is true, any characters following the question mark and condition
character, up to a period, are included in the prompt. If the condition is
false, such characters are not included. A colon appearing between the
question mark and the period can be used to establish an "ELSE": any
characters between the colon and the period are included in the string, if and
only if the IF condition is false. Condition characters (which follow a
question mark) may be:
-
-
- ?a
- True if any characters have been included in the prompt so
far.
-
-
- ?bX
- True if the byte offset of the specified line is
known.
-
-
- ?B
- True if the size of the current input file is known.
-
-
- ?c
- True if the text is horizontally shifted (%c is not
zero).
-
-
- ?dX
- True if the page number of the specified line is
known.
-
-
- ?e
- True if at end-of-file.
-
-
- ?f
- True if there is an input filename (that is, if input is
not a pipe).
-
-
- ?lX
- True if the line number of the specified line is
known.
-
-
- ?L
- True if the line number of the last line in the file is
known.
-
-
- ?m
- True if there is more than one input file.
-
-
- ?n
- True if this is the first prompt in a new input file.
-
-
- ?pX
- True if the percent into the current input file, based on
byte offsets, of the specified line is known.
-
-
- ?PX
- True if the percent into the current input file, based on
line numbers, of the specified line is known.
-
-
- ?s
- Same as "?B".
-
-
- ?x
- True if there is a next input file (that is, if the current
input file is not the last one).
Any characters other than the special ones (question mark, colon, period,
percent, and backslash) become literally part of the prompt. Any of the
special characters may be included in the prompt literally by preceding it
with a backslash.
Some examples:
?f%f:Standard input.
This prompt prints the filename, if known; otherwise the string "Standard
input".
?f%f .?ltLine %lt:?pt%pt\%:?btByte
%bt:-...
This prompt would print the filename, if known. The filename is followed by the
line number, if known, otherwise the percent if known, otherwise the byte
offset if known. Otherwise, a dash is printed. Notice how each question mark
has a matching period, and how the % after the %pt is included literally by
escaping it with a backslash.
?n?f%f .?m(file %i of %m) ..?e(END) ?x- Next\: %x..%t
This prints the filename if this is the first prompt in a file, followed by the
"file N of N" message if there is more than one input file. Then, if
we are at end-of-file, the string "(END)" is printed followed by the
name of the next file, if there is one. Finally, any trailing spaces are
truncated. This is the default prompt. For reference, here are the defaults
for the other two prompts (
-m and
-M respectively). Each is broken into two lines
here for readability only.
?f%f .?m(file %i of %m) .?e(END) ?x- Next\: %x.:
?pB%pB\%:byte %bB?s/%s...%t
?f%f .?n?m(file %i of %m) ..?ltlines %lt-%lb?L/%L. :
byte %bB?s/%s. .?e(END) ?x- Next\: %x.:?pB%pB\%..%t
And here is the default message produced by the = command:
?f%f .?m(file %i of %m) .?ltlines %lt-%lb?L/%L. .
byte %bB?s/%s. ?e(END) :?pB%pB\%..%t
The prompt expansion features are also used for another purpose: if an
environment variable
LESSEDIT
is defined,
it is used as the command to be executed when the v command is invoked. The
LESSEDIT string is expanded in the same way as the prompt strings. The default
value for LESSEDIT is:
%E ?lm+%lm. %f
Note that this expands to the editor name, followed by a + and the line number,
followed by the file name. If your editor does not accept the
"+linenumber" syntax, or has other differences in invocation syntax,
the
LESSEDIT
variable can be changed to
modify this default.
When the environment variable
LESSSECURE
is
set to 1,
less runs in a "secure" mode.
This means these features are disabled:
-
-
- |
- 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).
If the environment variable
LESS_IS_MORE
is
set to 1, or if the program is invoked via a file link named "more",
less behaves (mostly) in conformance with the
POSIX "more" command specification. In this mode, less behaves
differently in these ways:
The sense of the
-c option is inverted: when
more(1)
changes the display, the default is to scroll from the bottom of the screen,
and the
-c option causes it to paint from the top
line down.
The
-e option works differently: it causes
more(1) to
exit the first time it reaches EOF, not the second.
The
-i option acts like the
-I option. The normal behavior of the
-i option is unavailable in this mode.
The
-m option works differently: if it is not
specified, the medium prompt is used; if it is specified, the short prompt is
used.
The
-n option acts like the
-z option. The normal behavior of the
-n option is unavailable in this mode.
The parameter to the
-p option is taken to be a
command rather than a search pattern.
Options to suppress error messages when the terminal is dumb
(
-d), suppress highlighting of strings in search
results (
-G), and disable termcap initialization
(
-X) are on by default.
The
LESS
environment variables are ignored,
and the
MORE
environment variable is used
in its place.
Environment variables may be specified either in the system environment as
usual, or in a
lesskey(1)
file. If environment variables are defined in more than one place, variables
defined in a local lesskey file take precedence over variables defined in the
system environment, which take precedence over variables defined in the
system-wide lesskey file.
-
-
COLUMNS
- Sets the number of columns on the screen. Takes precedence
over the number of columns specified by the
TERM
variable, but may be overridden by
window systems which support
TIOCGWINSZ
.
-
-
EDITOR
- Specifies the default editor if
VISUAL
is not set. If neither are set,
vi(1) is
used.
-
-
HOME
- Name of the user's home directory (used to find a lesskey
file).
-
-
LANG
- Language for determining the character set.
-
-
LC_CTYPE
- The character encoding
locale(1).
It decides which byte sequences form characters, what their display width
is, and which characters are composing or combining characters.
-
-
LESS
- Options which are passed to
less automatically. Command line options
override the
LESS
environment variable.
Some options like -k require a string to follow
the option letter. The string for that option is considered to end when a
dollar sign ($) is found. For example, to separate a prompt value from any
other options with dollar sign between them:
LESS="-Ps--More--$-C
-e"
If the --use-backslash option appears earlier
in the options, then a dollar sign or backslash may be included literally
in an option string by preceding it with a backslash. If the
--use-backslash option is not in effect, then
backslashes are not treated specially, and there is no way to include a
dollar sign in the option string.
-
-
LESSANSIENDCHARS
- Characters which may end an ANSI color escape sequence
(default "m").
-
-
LESSANSIMIDCHARS
- Characters which may appear between the ESC character and
the end character in an ANSI color escape sequence (default
"0123456789;[?!"'#%()*+ ").
-
-
LESSBINFMT
- Format for displaying non-printable, non-control
characters.
-
-
LESSCLOSE
- Command line to invoke the (optional)
input-postprocessor.
-
-
LESSEDIT
- Editor prototype string (used for the v command). See
discussion under
PROMPTS.
-
-
LESSHISTFILE
- Name of the history file used to remember search commands
and shell commands between invocations of
less. If set to "-" or
"/dev/null", a history file is not used. The default is
"-".
-
-
LESSHISTSIZE
- The maximum number of commands to save in the history file.
The default is 100.
-
-
LESSKEY
- Name of the default lesskey(1) file.
-
-
LESSKEY_SYSTEM
- Name of the default system-wide lesskey(1) file.
-
-
LESSMETACHARS
- List of characters which are considered
"metacharacters" by the shell.
-
-
LESSMETAESCAPE
- Prefix which less will add
before each metacharacter in a command sent to the shell. If
LESSMETAESCAPE is an empty string, commands containing metacharacters will
not be passed to the shell.
-
-
LESSOPEN
- Command line to invoke the (optional)
input-preprocessor.
-
-
LESSSECURE
- Runs less in "secure" mode. See discussion under
SECURITY.
-
-
LESSSEPARATOR
- String to be appended to a directory name in filename
completion.
-
-
LESSUTFBINFMT
- Format for displaying non-printable Unicode code
points.
-
-
LESS_IS_MORE
- Emulate the
more(1)
command.
-
-
LINES
- Sets the number of lines on the screen. Takes precedence
over the number of lines specified by the TERM variable, but may be
overridden by window systems which support
TIOCGWINSZ
.
-
-
MORE
- Options which are passed to
less automatically when running in
more(1)
compatible mode.
-
-
SHELL
- The shell used to expand filenames.
-
-
TERM
- Specifies the terminal type. Used by
less to get the terminal characteristics
necessary to manipulate the screen.
-
-
VISUAL
- Specifies the default editor. If not set,
EDITOR
is used; if that is not set,
vi(1) is
used.
lesskey(1),
more(1)
Mark Nudelman.