Manual: less
LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1)
NAME
less - display the contents of a file in a terminal
SYNOPSIS
less -?
less --help
less -V
less --version
less [-[+]aABcCdeEfFgGiIJKLmMnNqQrRsSuUVwWX~]
[-b space] [-h lines] [-j line] [-k keyfile]
[-{oO} logfile] [-p pattern] [-P prompt] [-t tag]
[-T tagsfile] [-x tab,...] [-y lines] [-[z] lines]
[-# shift] [+[+]cmd] [--] [filename]...
(See the OPTIONS section for alternate option syntax with long option names.)
DESCRIPTION
Less is a program similar to more(1), but it has many more features. Less does not have to read the entire input
file before starting, so with large input files it starts up faster than text editors like vi(1). Less uses termcap
(or terminfo on some systems), so it can run on a variety of terminals. There is even limited support for hardcopy
terminals. (On a hardcopy terminal, lines which should be printed at the top of the screen are prefixed with a
caret.)
Commands are based on both more and vi. Commands may be preceded by a decimal number, called N in the descriptions
below. The number is used by some commands, as indicated.
COMMANDS
In the following descriptions, ^X means control-X. ESC stands for the ESCAPE key; for example ESC-v means the two
character sequence "ESCAPE", then "v".
h or H Help: display a summary of these commands. If you forget all the other commands, remember this one.
SPACE or ^V or f or ^F
Scroll forward N lines, default one window (see option -z below). If N is more than the screen size, only the
final screenful is displayed. Warning: some systems use ^V as a 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 or RETURN or ^N or e or ^E or j or ^J
Scroll forward N lines, default 1. The entire N lines are displayed, even if N is more than the screen size.
d or ^D
Scroll forward N lines, default one half of the screen size. If N is specified, it becomes the new default
for subsequent d and u commands.
b or ^B or ESC-v
Scroll backward N lines, default one window (see option -z below). If N is more than the screen size, only
the final screenful is displayed.
w Like ESC-v, but if N is specified, it becomes the new window size.
y or ^Y or ^P or k or ^K
Scroll backward N lines, default 1. The entire N lines are 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.
J Like j, but continues to scroll beyond the end of the file.
K or Y Like k, but continues to scroll beyond the beginning of the file.
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.
ESC-} or ^RIGHTARROW
Scroll horizontally right to show the end of the longest displayed line.
ESC-{ or ^LEFTARROW
Scroll horizontally left back to the first column.
r or ^R or ^L
Repaint the screen.
R Repaint the screen, discarding any buffered input. That is, reload the current file. 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.) To stop waiting for more data, enter the
interrupt character (usually ^C). On systems which support poll(2) you can also use ^X or the character specā
ified by the --intr option. If the input is a pipe and the --exit-follow-on-close option is in effect, less
will automatically stop waiting for data when the input side of the pipe is closed.
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 or < or ESC-<
Go to line N in the file, default 1 (beginning of file). (Warning: this may be slow if N is large.)
G or > or ESC->
Go to line N in the file, default the end of the file. (Warning: this may be slow if N is large, or if N is
not specified and standard input, rather than a file, is being read.)
ESC-G Same as G, except if no number N is specified and the input is standard input, goes to the last line which is
currently buffered.
p or % Go to a position N percent into the file. N should be between 0 and 100, and may contain a decimal point.
P Go to the line containing byte offset N in the file.
{ If a left curly bracket appears in the top line displayed on the screen, the { command will go to the matching
right curly bracket. The matching right curly bracket is positioned on the bottom line of the screen. If
there is more than one left curly bracket on the top line, a number N may be used to specify the N-th bracket
on the line.
} If a right curly bracket appears in the bottom line displayed on the screen, the } command will go to the
matching left curly bracket. The matching left curly bracket is positioned on the top line of the screen. If
there is more than one right curly bracket on the bottom 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 or uppercase letter, marks the first displayed line with that letter. If the status
column is enabled via the -J option, the status column shows the marked line.
M Acts like m, except the last displayed line is marked rather than the first displayed line.
' (Single quote.) Followed by any lowercase or uppercase 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.
ESC-m Followed by any lowercase or uppercase letter, clears the mark identified by that letter.
/pattern
Search forward in the file for the N-th line containing the pattern. N defaults to 1. The pattern is a reguā
lar expression, as recognized by the regular expression library supplied by your system. By default, searchā
ing is case-sensitive (uppercase and lowercase are considered different); the -i option can be used to change
this. The search starts at the first line displayed (but see the -a and -j options, which change this).
Certain characters are special if entered at the beginning of the pattern; they modify the type of search
rather than become part of the pattern:
^N or !
Search for lines which do NOT match the pattern.
^E or *
Search multiple files. That is, if the search reaches the END of the current file without finding a
match, the search continues in the next file in the command line list.
^F or @
Begin the search at the first line of the FIRST file in the command line list, regardless of what is
currently displayed on the screen or the settings of the -a or -j options.
^K Highlight any text which matches the pattern on the 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.
^S Followed by a digit N between 1 and 5. Only text which has a non-empty match for the N-th parentheā
sized SUB-PATTERN will be considered to match the pattern. (Supported only if less is built with one
of the regular expression libraries posix, pcre, or pcre2.) Multiple ^S modifiers can be specified, to
match more than one sub-pattern.
^W WRAP around the current file. That is, if the search reaches the end of the current file without findā
ing a match, the search continues from the first line of the current file up to the line where it
started. If the ^W modifier is set, the ^E modifier is ignored.
^L The next character is taken literally; that is, it becomes part of the pattern even if it is one of the
above search modifier characters.
?pattern
Search backward in the file for the N-th line containing the pattern. The search starts at the last line disā
played (but see the -a and -j options, which change this).
Certain characters are special as in the / command:
^N or !
Search for lines which do NOT match the pattern.
^E or *
Search multiple files. That is, if the search reaches the beginning of the current file without findā
ing a match, the search continues in the previous file in the command line list.
^F or @
Begin the search at the last line of the last file in the command line list, regardless of what is curā
rently displayed on the screen or the settings of the -a or -j options.
^K As in forward searches.
^R As in forward searches.
^S As in forward searches.
^W WRAP around the current file. That is, if the search reaches the beginning of the current file without
finding a match, the search continues from the last line of the current file up to the line where it
started.
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 highā
lighting 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.)
ESC-U Like ESC-u but also clears the saved search pattern. If the status column is enabled via the -J option, this
clears all search matches marked in the status column.
&pattern
Display only lines which match the pattern; lines which do not match the pattern are not displayed. If patā
tern 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 reā
minder that some lines in the file may be hidden. Multiple & commands may be entered, in which case only
lines which match all of the patterns will be displayed.
Certain characters are special as in the / command:
^N or !
Display only lines which do NOT match the pattern.
^R Don't interpret regular expression metacharacters; that is, do a simple textual comparison.
:e [filename]
Examine a new file. If the filename is missing, the "current" file (see the :n and :p commands below) from
the list of files in the command line is re-examined. A percent sign (%) in the filename is replaced by the
name of the current file. A pound sign (#) is replaced by the name of the previously examined file. However,
two consecutive percent signs are simply replaced with a single percent sign. This allows you to enter a
filename that contains a percent sign in the name. Similarly, two consecutive pound signs are replaced with a
single pound sign. The filename is inserted into the command line list of files so that it can be seen by
subsequent :n and :p commands. If the filename consists of several files, they are all inserted into the list
of files and the first one is examined. If the filename contains one or more spaces, the entire filename
should be enclosed in double quotes (also see the -" option).
^X^V or E
Same as :e. Warning: some systems use ^V as a special 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 exā
amined.
:x Examine the first file in the command line list. If a number N is specified, the N-th file in the list is exā
amined.
: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 deā
tails about tags.
T Go to the previous tag, if there were more than one matches for the current tag.
^O^N or ^On
Search forward in the file for the N-th next OSC 8 hyperlink.
^O^P or ^Op
Search backward in the file for the N-th previous OSC 8 hyperlink.
^O^L or ^Ol
Jump to the currently selected OSC 8 hyperlink.
= or ^G or :f
Prints some information about the file being viewed, including its name and the line number and byte offset of
the bottom line being displayed. If possible, it also prints the length of the file, the number of lines in
the file and the percent of the file above the last displayed line.
- Followed by one of the command line option letters (see OPTIONS below), this will change the setting of that
option and print a message describing the new setting. If a ^P (CONTROL-P) is entered immediately after the
dash, the setting of the option is changed but no message is printed. If the option letter has a numeric
value (such as -b or -h), or a string value (such as -P or -t), a new value may be entered after the option
letter. If no new value is entered, a message describing the current 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 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 deā
fault 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 opā
tion 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 iniā
tially display each file starting at the end rather than the beginning.
V Prints the version number of less being run.
q or Q or :q or :Q or ZZ
Exits less.
The following seven 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 deā
fined. 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. If a ^P (CONTROL-P) is entered immediā
ately after the !, no "done" message is printed after the shell command is executed. On Unix systems, the
shell is taken from the environment variable SHELL, or defaults to "sh". On MS-DOS, Windows, and OS/2 sysā
tems, the shell is the normal command processor.
# shell-command
Similar to the "!" command, except that the command is expanded in the same way as prompt strings. For examā
ple, the name of the current file would be given as "%f".
| shell-command
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 position marked by the letter and the current screen. The entire current
screen is included, regardless of whether the marked position is before or after the current screen. may
also be ^ or $ to indicate beginning or end of file respectively. If is . or newline, the current screen
is piped. If a ^P (CONTROL-P) is entered immediately after the mark letter, no "done" message is printed afā
ter the shell command is executed.
s filename
Save the input to a file. This works only if the input is a pipe, not an ordinary file.
^O^O
Run a shell command to open the URI in the current OSC 8 hyperlink, selected by a previous ^O^N or ^O^P comā
mand. To find the shell command, the environment variable named "LESS_OSC8_xxx" is read, where "xxx" is the
scheme from the URI (the part before the first colon), or is empty if there is no colon in the URI. The value
of the environment variable is then expanded in the same way as prompt strings (in particular, any instance of
"%o" is replaced with the URI) to produce an OSC 8 "handler" shell command. The standard output from the hanā
dler is an "opener" shell command which is then executed to open the URI.
There are two special cases:
1. If the URI begins with "#", the remainder of the URI is taken to be the value of the id parameā
ter in another OSC 8 link in the same file, and ^O^O will simply jump to that link.
2. If the opener begins with the characters ":e" followed by whitespace and a filename, then inā
stead of running the opener as a shell command, the specified filename is opened in the current
instance of less.
In a simple case where the opener accepts the complete URI as a command line parameter, the handler may be as
simple as
echo mybrowser '%o'
In other cases, the URI may need to be modified, so the handler may have to do some manipulation of the %o
value.
If the LESS_OSC8_xxx variable is not set, the variable LESS_OSC8_ANY is tried. If neither LESS_OSC8_xxx nor
LESS_OSC8_ANY is set, links using the "xxx" scheme cannot be opened. However, there are default handlers for
the schemes "man" (used when LESS_OSC8_man is not set) and "file" (used when LESS_OSC8_file is not set), which
should work on systems which provide the sed(1) command and a shell with syntax compatible with the Bourne
shell sh(1). If you use LESS_OSC8_ANY to override LESS_OSC8_file, you must set LESS_OSC8_file to "-" to indiā
cate that the default value should not be used, and likewise for LESS_OSC8_man.
The URI passed to an OSC8 handler via %o is guaranteed not to contain any single quote or double quote characā
ters, but it may contain any other shell metacharacters such as semicolons, dollar signs, ampersands, etc.
The handler should take care to appropriately quote parameters in the opener command, to prevent execution of
unintended shell commands in the case of opening a URI which contains shell metacharacters. Also, since the
handler command is expanded like a command prompt, any metacharacters interpreted by prompt expansion (such as
percent, dot, colon, backslash, etc.) must be escaped with a backslash (see the PROMPTS section for details).
^X When the "Waiting for data" message is displayed, such as while in the F command, pressing ^X will stop less
from waiting and return to a prompt. This may cause less to think that the file ends at the current position,
so it may be necessary to use the R or F command to see more data. The --intr option can be used to specify a
different character to use instead of ^X. This command works only on systems that support the poll(2) funcā
tion. On systems without poll(2), the interrupt character (usually ^C) can be used instead.
OPTIONS
Command line options are described below. Most options may be changed while less is running, via the "-" command.
Some options may be given in one of two forms: either a dash followed by a single letter, or two dashes followed by a
long option name. A long option name may be abbreviated as long as the abbreviation is unambiguous. For example,
--quit-at-eof may be abbreviated --quit, but not --qui, since both --quit-at-eof and --quiet begin with --qui. Some
long option names are in uppercase, such as --QUIT-AT-EOF, as distinct from --quit-at-eof. Such option names need
only have their first letter capitalized; the remainder of the name may be in either case. For example, --Quit-at-
eof is equivalent to --QUIT-AT-EOF.
Options are also taken from the environment variable "LESS". For example, to avoid typing "less -options ..." each
time less is invoked, you might tell csh:
setenv LESS "-options"
or if you use sh:
LESS="-options"; export LESS
On MS-DOS and Windows, you don't need the quotes, but you should be careful that any percent signs in the options
string are not interpreted as an environment variable expansion.
The environment variable is parsed before the command line, so command line options override the LESS environment
variable. If an option appears in the LESS variable, it can be reset to its default value on the command line by beā
ginning the command line option with "-+".
Some options like -k or -D require a string to follow the option letter. The string for that option is considered to
end when a dollar sign ($) is found. For example, you can set two -D options like this:
LESS="Dnwb$Dsbw"
If the --use-backslash option appears earlier in the options, then a dollar sign or backslash may be included literā
ally 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.
-? or --help
This option displays a summary of the commands accepted by less (the same as the h command). (Depending on
how your shell interprets the question mark, it may be necessary to quote the question mark, thus: "-\?".)
-a or --search-skip-screen
By default, forward searches start at the top of the displayed screen and backwards searches start at the botā
tom 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.
-A or --SEARCH-SKIP-SCREEN
Causes all forward searches (not just non-repeated searches) to start just after the target line, and all
backward searches to start just before the target line. Thus, forward searches will skip part of the disā
played 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 behavā
ior in less versions prior to 441.
-bn or --buffers=n
Specifies the amount of buffer space less will use for each file, in units of kilobytes (1024 bytes). By deā
fault 64 KB of buffer space is used for each file (unless the file is a pipe; see the -B option). The -b opā
tion specifies instead that n kilobytes of buffer space should be used for each file. If n is -1, buffer
space is unlimited; that is, the entire file can be read into memory.
-B or --auto-buffers
By default, when data is read from a pipe, buffers are allocated automatically as needed. If a large amount
of data is read from the pipe, this can cause a large amount of memory to be allocated. The -B option disā
ables this automatic allocation of buffers for pipes, so that only 64 KB (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. Lost characters are disā
played as question marks.
-c or --clear-screen
Causes full screen repaints to be painted from the top line down. By default, full screen repaints are done
by scrolling from the bottom of the screen.
-C or --CLEAR-SCREEN
Same as -c, for compatibility with older versions of less.
-d or --dumb
The -d option suppresses the error message normally displayed if the terminal is dumb; that is, lacks some imā
portant capability, such as the ability to clear the screen or scroll backward. The -d option does not otherā
wise change the behavior of less on a dumb terminal.
-Dxcolor or --color=xcolor
Changes the color of different parts of the displayed text. x is a single character which selects the type of
text whose color is being set:
B Binary characters.
C Control characters.
E Errors and informational messages.
H Header lines and columns, set via the --header option.
M Mark letters in the status column.
N Line numbers enabled via the -N option.
P Prompts.
R The rscroll character.
S Search results.
W The highlight enabled via the -w option.
1-5 The text in a search result which matches the first through fifth parenthesized sub-pattern. Sub-patā
tern coloring works only if less is built with one of the regular expression libraries posix, pcre, or
pcre2.
d Bold text.
k Blinking text.
s Standout text.
u Underlined text.
The uppercase letters and digits can be used only when the --use-color option is enabled. When text color is
specified by both an uppercase letter and a lowercase letter, the uppercase letter takes precedence. For exā
ample, error messages are normally displayed as standout text. So if both "s" and "E" are given a color, the
"E" color applies to error messages, and the "s" color applies to other standout text. The lowercase letters
refer to bold and underline text formed by overstriking with backspaces (see the -U option) and to non-content
text (such as line numbers and prompts), but not to text formatted using ANSI escape sequences with the -R opā
tion (but see the note below for different behavior on Windows and MS-DOS).
A lowercase letter may be followed by a + to indicate that the normal format change and the specified color
should both be used. For example, -Dug displays underlined text as green without underlining; the green color
has replaced the usual underline formatting. But -Du+g displays underlined text as both green and in underā
lined format.
color is either a 4-bit color string or an 8-bit color string:
A 4-bit color string is one or two characters, where the first character specifies the foreground color and
the second specifies the background color as follows:
b Blue
c Cyan
g Green
k Black
m Magenta
r Red
w White
y Yellow
The corresponding uppercase letter denotes a brighter shade of the color. For example, -DNGk displays line
numbers as bright green text on a black background, and -DEbR displays error messages as blue text on a bright
red background. If either character is a "-" or is omitted, the corresponding color is set to that of normal
text.
An 8-bit color string is one or two decimal integers separated by a dot, where the first integer specifies the
foreground color and the second specifies the background color. Each integer is a value between 0 and 255 inā
clusive which selects a "CSI 38;5" color value (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code#SGR). If
either integer is a "-" or is omitted, the corresponding color is set to that of normal text.
A 4-bit or 8-bit color string may be followed by one or more of the following characters to set text attributā
es in addition to the color.
s or ~ Standout (reverse video)
u or _ Underline
d or * Bold
l or & Blinking
On MS-DOS and Windows, the --color option behaves differently from what is described above in these ways:
ā¢ The bold (d and *) and blinking (l and &) text attributes at the end of a color string are not supportā
ed.
ā¢ Lowercase color selector letters refer to text formatted by ANSI escape sequences with -R, in addition
to overstruck and non-content text (but see -Da).
ā¢ For historical reasons, when a lowercase color selector letter is followed by a numeric color value,
the number is not interpreted as an "CSI 38;5" color value as described above, but instead as a 4-bit
CHAR_INFO.Attributes value, between 0 and 15 inclusive (see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-
us/windows/console/char-info-str).
To avoid confusion, it is recommended that the equivalent letters rather than numbers be used after a
lowercase color selector on MS-DOS/Windows.
ā¢ Numeric color values ("CSI 38;5" color) following an uppercase color selector letter are not supported
on systems earlier than Windows 10.
ā¢ Only a limited set of ANSI escape sequences to set color in the content work correctly. 4-bit color
sequences work, but "CSI 38;5" color sequences do not.
ā¢ The -Da option makes the behavior of --color more similar to its behavior on non-MS-DOS/Windows systems
by (1) making lowercase color selector letters not affect text formatted with ANSI escape sequences,
and (2) allowing "CSI 38;5" color sequences in the content work by passing them to the terminal (only
on Windows 10 and later; on earlier Windows systems, such sequences do not work regardless of the setā
ting of -Da).
-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-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. Note that some operating systems will not allow directories to be read, even if -f is set.
-F or --quit-if-one-screen
Causes less to automatically exit if the entire file can be displayed on the first screen.
-g or --hilite-search
Normally, less will highlight ALL strings which match the last search command. The -g option changes this beā
havior 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.
-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 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 or --ignore-case
Causes searches to ignore case; that is, uppercase and lowercase are considered identical. This option is igā
nored 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 pattern contains uppercase letters.
-jn or --jump-target=n
Specifies a line on the screen where the "target" line is to be positioned. The target line is the line specā
ified 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. If the --header option is used and the target line
specified by -j would be obscured by the header, the target line is moved to the first line after the header.
While the --header option is active, the -S option is ignored, and lines longer than the screen width are
truncated.
If any form of the -j option is used, repeated forward searches (invoked with "n" or "N") begin at the line
immediately after the target line, and repeated 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 searchā
es begin at the fifth line on the screen. However nonrepeated searches (invoked with "/" or "?") always beā
gin at the start or end of the current screen respectively.
-J or --status-column
Displays a status column at the left edge of the screen. The character displayed in the status column may be
one of:
> The line is chopped with the -S option, and the text that is chopped off beyond the right edge of the
screen contains a match for the current search.
< The line is horizontally shifted, and the text that is shifted beyond the left side of the screen conā
tains a match for the current search.
= The line is both chopped and shifted, and there are matches beyond both sides of the screen.
* There are matches in the visible part of the line but none to the right or left of it.
a-z, A-Z
The line has been marked with the corresponding letter via the m command.
-kfilename or --lesskey-file=filename
Causes less to open and interpret the named file as a lesskey(1) binary 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. Note the warning under "--lesskey-conā
tent" below.
--lesskey-src=filename
Causes less to open and interpret the named file as a lesskey(1) source file. If the LESSKEYIN or
LESSKEYIN_SYSTEM environment variable is set, or if a lesskey source file is found in a standard place (see
KEY BINDINGS), it is also used as a lesskey source file. Prior to version 582, the lesskey program needed to
be run to convert a lesskey source file to a lesskey binary file for less to use. Newer versions of less read
the lesskey source file directly and ignore the binary file if the source file exists. Note the warning under
"--lesskey-content" below.
--lesskey-content=text
Causes less to interpret the specified text as the contents of a lesskey(1) source file. In the text, lesskey
lines may be separated by either newlines as usual, or by semicolons. A literal semicolon may be represented
by a backslash followed by a semicolon.
Warning: certain environment variables such as LESS, LESSSECURE, LESSCHARSET and others, which are used early
in startup, cannot be set in a file specified by a command line option (--lesskey, --lesskey-src or --lesskey-
content). When using a lesskey file to set environment variables, it is safer to use the default lesskey
file, or to specify the file using the LESSKEYIN or LESSKEY_CONTENT environment variables rather than using a
command line option.
-K or --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.
-L or --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 or --long-prompt
Causes less to prompt verbosely (like more(1)), with the percent into the file. By default, less prompts with
a colon.
-M or --LONG-PROMPT
Causes less to prompt even more verbosely than more(1).
-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 beginning 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 overwritā
ing 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 specā
ifying -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 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 followed by a string changes the default (short) prompt to that 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.
-q or --quiet or --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.
-Q or --QUIET or --SILENT
Causes totally "quiet" operation: the terminal bell is never rung. If the terminal has a "visual bell", it is
used in all cases where the terminal bell would have been 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" (with some exceptions as described under
the -U option). 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 disā
play problems may result, such as long lines being split in the wrong place.
USE OF THE -r OPTION IS NOT RECOMMENDED.
-R or --RAW-CONTROL-CHARS
Like -r, but only ANSI "color" escape sequences and OSC 8 hyperlink sequences are output in "raw" form. Unā
like -r, the screen appearance is maintained correctly, provided that there are no escape sequences in the
file other than these types of escape sequences. Color escape sequences are only supported when the color is
changed within one line, not across lines. In other words, the beginning of each line is assumed to be normal
(non-colored), regardless of any escape sequences in previous lines. For the purpose of keeping track of
screen appearance, these escape sequences are assumed to not move the cursor.
OSC 8 hyperlinks are sequences of the form:
ESC ] 8 ; ... \7
The terminating sequence may be either a BEL character (\7) or the two-character sequence "ESC \".
ANSI color escape sequences are sequences of the form:
ESC [ ... m
where the "..." is zero or more color specification characters. 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.
-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 (truncated) rather than wrapped. That is, the portion
of a long line that does not fit in the screen width is not displayed until you press RIGHT-ARROW. The deā
fault is to wrap long lines; that is, display the remainder on the next line. See also the --wordwrap option.
-ttag or --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. If the environment variable LESSGLOBALTAGS is set,
it is taken to be the name of a command compatible with global(1), and that command is executed to find the
tag. (See http://www.gnu.org/software/global/global.html). 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.
-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, carriage returns and "formatting characters" (as defined by Unicode) 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. Alā
so, 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 preā
ceding character. Carriage returns immediately followed by a newline are deleted. Other carriage returns are
handled as specified by the -r option. Unicode formatting characters, such as the Byte Order Mark, are sent
to the terminal. Text which is overstruck or underlined can be searched for if neither -u nor -U is in efā
fect.
See also the --proc-backspace, --proc-tab, and --proc-return options.
-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 highlights the target
line after a g or p command. The highlight is removed at the next command which causes movement. If the
--status-line option is in effect, the entire line (the width of the screen) is highlighted. Otherwise, only
the text in the 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.
-xn,... or --tabs=n,...
Sets tab stops. If only one n is specified, tab stops are set at multiples of n. If multiple values separatā
ed 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.
-X or --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.
-yn or --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.
-zn or --window=n or -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.
-"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. Followed 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 character. Filenames containing a space should then be preceded by the open quote character and folā
lowed by the close quote character. Note that even after the quote characters are changed, this option reā
mains -" (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 end of
file to be displayed as blank lines.
-# or --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. Alterā
nately, 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.
--exit-follow-on-close
When using the "F" command on a pipe, less will automatically stop waiting for more data when the input side
of the pipe is closed.
--file-size
If --file-size is specified, less will determine the size of the file immediately after opening the file.
Then the "=" command will display the number of lines in the file. Normally this is not done, because it can
be slow if the input file is non-seekable (such as a pipe) and is large.
--follow-name
Normally, if the input file is renamed while an F command is executing, less will continue to display the conā
tents 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 reā
named) file), less will display the contents of that new file.
--header=L,C,N
Sets the number of header lines and columns displayed on the screen. The number of header lines is set to L.
If L is 0, header lines are disabled. If L is empty or missing, the number of header lines is unchanged. The
number of header columns is set to C. If C is 0, header columns are disabled. If C is empty or missing, the
number of header columns is unchanged. The first header line is set to line number N in the file. If N is
empty or missing, it is taken to be the number of the line currently displayed in the first line of the screen
(if the --header command has been issued from within less), or 1 (if the --header option has been given on the
command line). The special form "--header=-" disables header lines and header columns, and is equivalent to
"--header=0,0".
When L is nonzero, the first L lines at the top of the screen are replaced with the L lines of the file beginā
ning at line N, regardless of what part of the file is being viewed. When header lines are displayed, any
file contents before the header line cannot be viewed. When C is nonzero, the first C characters displayed at
the beginning of each line are replaced with the first C characters of the line, even if the rest of the line
is scrolled horizontally.
--incsearch
Subsequent search commands will be "incremental"; that is, less will advance to the next line containing the
search pattern as each character of the pattern is typed in.
--intr=c
Use the character c instead of ^X to interrupt a read when the "Waiting for data" message is displayed. c
must be an ASCII character; that is, one with a value between 1 and 127 inclusive. A caret followed by a sinā
gle character can be used to specify a control character.
--line-num-width=n
Sets the minimum width of the line number field when the -N option is in effect to n characters. The default
is 7.
--match-shift=n
When -S is in effect, if a search match is not visible because it is shifted to the left or right of the curā
rently visible screen, the text will horizontally shift to ensure that the search match is visible. This opā
tion selects the column in which the first character of the search match will be placed after the shift. In
other words, there will be n characters visible to the left of the search match.
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 reā
sized.
--modelines=n
Before displaying a file, less will read the first n lines to try to find a vim-compatible modeline. If n is
zero, less does not try to find modelines. By using a modeline, the file itself can specify the tab stops
that should be used when viewing it.
A modeline contains, anywhere in the line, a program name ("vi", "vim", "ex", or "less"), followed by a colon,
possibly followed by the word "set", and finally followed by zero or more option settings. If the word "set"
is used, option settings are separated by spaces, and end at the first colon. If the word "set" is not used,
option settings may be separated by either spaces or colons. The word "set" is required if the program name
is "less" but optional if any of the other three names are used. If any option setting is of the form "tabā
stop=n" or "ts=n", then tab stops are automatically set as if --tabs=n had been given. See the --tabs deā
scription for acceptable values of n.
--mouse
Enables mouse input: scrolling the mouse wheel down moves forward in the file, scrolling the mouse wheel up
moves backwards in the file, left-click sets the "#" mark to the line where the mouse is clicked, and right-
click (or any other) returns to the "#" mark position. If a left-click is performed with the mouse cursor on
an OSC 8 hyperlink, the hyperlink is selected as if by the ^O^N command. If a left-click is performed with
the mouse cursor on an OSC 8 hyperlink which is already selected, the hyperlink is opened as if by the ^O^O
command. The number of lines to scroll when the wheel is moved can be set by the --wheel-lines option. Mouse
input works only on terminals which support X11 mouse reporting, and on the Windows version of less.
--MOUSE
Like --mouse, except the direction scrolled on mouse wheel movement is reversed.
--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.
--no-histdups
This option changes the behavior so that if a search string or file name is typed in, and the same string is
already in the history list, the existing copy is removed from the history list before the new one is added.
Thus, a given string will appear only once in the history list. Normally, a string may appear multiple times.
--no-number-headers
Header lines (defined via the --header option) are not assigned line numbers. Line number 1 is assigned to
the first line after any header lines.
--no-search-header-lines
Searches do not include header lines, but still include header columns.
--no-search-header-columns
Searches do not include header columns, but still include header lines.
--no-search-headers
Searches do not include header lines or header columns.
--no-vbell
Disables the terminal's visual bell.
--proc-backspace
If set, backspaces are handled as if neither the -u option nor the -U option were set. That is, a backspace
adjacent to an underscore causes text to be displayed in underline mode, and a backspace between identical
characters cause text to be displayed in boldface mode. This option overrides the -u and -U options, so that
display of backspaces can be controlled separate from tabs and carriage returns. If not set, backspace disā
play is controlled by the -u and -U options.
--PROC-BACKSPACE
If set, backspaces are handled as if the -U option were set; that is backspaces are treated as control characā
ters.
--proc-return
If set, carriage returns are handled as if neither the -u option nor the -U option were set. That is, a carā
riage return immediately before a newline is deleted. This option overrides the -u and -U options, so that
display of carriage returns can be controlled separate from that of backspaces and tabs. If not set, carriage
return display is controlled by the -u and -U options.
--PROC-RETURN
If set, carriage returns are handled as if the -U option were set; that is carriage returns are treated as
control characters.
--proc-tab
If set, tabs are handled as if the -U option were not set. That is, tabs are expanded to spaces. This option
overrides the -U option, so that display of tabs can be controlled separate from that of backspaces and carā
riage returns. If not set, tab display is controlled by the -U options.
--PROC-TAB
If set, tabs are handled as if the -U option were set; that is tabs are treated as control characters.
--redraw-on-quit
When quitting, after sending the terminal deinitialization string, redraws the entire last screen. On termiā
nals whose terminal deinitialization string causes the terminal to switch from an alternate screen, this makes
the last screenful of the current file remain visible after less has quit.
--rscroll=c
This option changes the character used to mark truncated lines. It may begin with a two-character attribute
indicator like LESSBINFMT does. If there is no attribute indicator, standout is used. If set to "-", trunā
cated lines are not marked.
--save-marks
Save marks in the history file, so marks are retained across different invocations of less.
--search-options=...
Sets default search modifiers. The value is a string of one or more of the characters E, F, K, N, R or W.
Setting any of these has the same effect as typing that control character at the beginning of every search
pattern. For example, setting --search-options=W is the same as typing ^W at the beginning of every pattern.
The value may also contain a digit between 1 and 5, which has the same effect as typing ^S followed by that
digit at the beginning of every search pattern. The value "-" disables all default search modifiers.
--show-preproc-errors
If a preprocessor produces data, then exits with a non-zero exit code, less will display a warning.
--status-col-width=n
Sets the width of the status column when the -J option is in effect. The default is 2 characters.
--status-line
If a line is marked, the entire line (rather than just the status column) is highlighted. Also lines highā
lighted due to the -w option will have the entire line highlighted. If --use-color is set, the line is colā
ored rather than highlighted.
--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.
--use-color
Enables colored text in various places. The -D option can be used to change the colors. Colored text works
only if the terminal supports ANSI color escape sequences (as defined in https://www.ecma-
international.org/publications-and-standards/standards/ecma-48).
--wheel-lines=n
Set the number of lines to scroll when the mouse wheel is scrolled and the --mouse or --MOUSE option is in efā
fect. The default is 1 line.
--wordwrap
When the -S option is not in use, wrap each line at a space or tab if possible, so that a word is not split
between two lines. The default is to wrap at any character.
-- A command line argument of "--" marks the end of option arguments. Any arguments following this are interā
preted 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, + acts like +g;
that is, it starts the display at the specified line number (however, see the caveat under the "g" command
above). If the option starts with ++, the initial command applies to every file being viewed, not just the
first one. The + command described previously may also be used to set (or change) an initial command for
every file.
LINE EDITING
When entering a 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. (Note that the forms beginning
with ESC do not work in some MS-DOS and Windows systems because ESC is the line erase character.) Any of these speā
cial 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 thru the other matching filenames. If the
completed filename is a directory, a "/" is appended to the filename. (On MS-DOS and Windows 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 and Windows)
Delete the entire command line, or cancel the command if the command line is empty. If you have changed your
line-kill character in Unix to something other than ^U, that character is used instead of ^U.
^G Delete the entire command line and return to the main prompt.
KEY BINDINGS
You may define your own less commands by creating a lesskey source file. This file specifies a set of command keys
and an action associated with each key. You may also change the line-editing keys (see LINE EDITING), and set enviā
ronment variables used by less. See the lesskey(1) manual page for details about the file format.
If the environment variable LESSKEYIN is set, less uses that as the name of the lesskey source file. Otherwise, less
looks in a standard place for the lesskey source file: On Unix systems, less looks for a lesskey file called
"$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/lesskey" or "$HOME/.config/lesskey" or "$HOME/.lesskey". On MS-DOS and Windows systems, less looks
for a lesskey file called "$HOME/_lesskey", and if it is not found there, then looks for a lesskey file called
"_lesskey" in any directory specified in the PATH environment variable. On OS/2 systems, less looks for a lesskey
file called "$HOME/lesskey.ini", and if it is not found, then looks for a lesskey file called "lesskey.ini" in any
directory specified in the INIT environment variable, and if it not found there, then looks for a lesskey file called
"lesskey.ini" in any directory specified in the PATH environment variable.
A system-wide lesskey source 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 LESSKEYIN_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 Unix systems, the sysā
tem-wide lesskey file is /usr/local/etc/syslesskey. (However, if less was built with a different sysconf directory
than /usr/local/etc, that directory is where the sysless file is found.) On MS-DOS and Windows systems, the system-
wide lesskey file is c:\_syslesskey. On OS/2 systems, the system-wide lesskey file is c:\syslesskey.ini.
Previous versions of less (before v582) used lesskey files with a binary format, produced by the lesskey program. It
is no longer necessary to use the lesskey program.
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 proā
gram (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 environā
ment variable to a command line which will invoke your input preprocessor. This command line should include one ocā
currence 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 reā
ceives 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, 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 "$1" in
*.Z) TEMPFILE=$(mktemp)
uncompress -c $1 >$TEMPFILE 2>/dev/null
if [ -s $TEMPFILE ]; then
echo $TEMPFILE
else
rm -f $TEMPFILE
fi
;;
esac
lessclose.sh:
#! /bin/sh
rm $2
To use these scripts, put them both where they can be executed and set LESSOPEN="lessopen.sh %s", and LESSā
CLOSE="lessclose.sh %s %s". More complex LESSOPEN and LESSCLOSE scripts may be written to accept other types of comā
pressed 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 inā
put preprocessor that works this way is called an input pipe. An input pipe, instead of writing the name of a reā
placement 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. As with non-pipe input preprocessors, the
command string must contain one occurrence of %s, which is replaced with the filename of the input file.
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
;;
*) 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 determines the behavior when the output is empty. If the output is empty and the exit status is zero, the
empty output is considered to be replacement text. If the output is empty and the exit status is nonzero, the origiā
nal 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 stanā
dard 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 inā
put 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.
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 characters are to be considered normal, control, and binary. The
LESSCHARSET environment variable may be used to select a character set. Possible values for LESSCHARSET are:
ascii BS, TAB, NL, CR, and formfeed are control characters, all chars with values between 32 and 126 are normal, and
all others are binary.
iso8859
Selects an ISO 8859 character set. This is the 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 LESSCHARSET=IBM-1047 or LC_CTYPE=en_US in your environment.
koi8-r Selects a Russian character set.
next Selects a character set appropriate for NeXT computers.
utf-8 Selects the UTF-8 encoding of the ISO 10646 character set. UTF-8 is special in that it supports multi-byte
characters in the input file. It is the only character set that supports multi-byte characters.
windows
Selects a character set appropriate for Microsoft Windows (cp 1252).
In rare cases, it may be desired to tailor less to use a character set other than the ones definable by LESSCHARSET.
In this case, the environment variable LESSCHARDEF can be used to define a character set. It should be set to a
string where each character in the string represents 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 repetition. For examā
ple, "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 necessarily represent any real character set.)
This table shows the value of LESSCHARDEF which is equivalent to each of the possible values for LESSCHARSET:
ascii 8bcccbcc18b95.b
dos 8bcccbcc12bc5b95.b.
ebcdic 5bc6bcc7bcc41b.9b7.9b5.b..8b6.10b6.b9.7b
9.8b8.17b3.3b9.7b9.8b8.6b10.b.b.b.
IBM-1047 4cbcbc3b9cbccbccbb4c6bcc5b3cbbc4bc4bccbc
191.b
iso8859 8bcccbcc18b95.33b.
koi8-r 8bcccbcc18b95.b128.
latin1 8bcccbcc18b95.33b.
next 8bcccbcc18b95.bb125.bb
If neither LESSCHARSET nor LESSCHARDEF is set, but any of the strings "UTF-8", "UTF8", "utf-8" or "utf8" is found in
the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE or LANG environment variables, then the default character set is utf-8.
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 utf-8.
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 norā
mal. 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 LESSā
BINFMT 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 "". 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, invalid octets, and stray trailing octets) are displayed individually using LESSBINFMT so as to facilā
itate diagnostic of how the UTF-8 file is ill-formed.
When the character set is utf-8, in rare cases it may be desirable to override the Unicode definition of the type of
certain characters. For example, characters in a Private Use Area are normally treated as control characters, but if
you are using a custom font with printable characters in that range, it may be desirable to tell less to treat such
characters as printable. This can be done by setting the LESSUTFCHARDEF environment variable to a comma-separated
list of character type definitions. Each character type definition consists of either one hexadecimal codepoint or a
pair of codepoints separated by a dash, followed by a colon and a type character. Each hexadecimal codepoint may opā
tionally be preceded by a "U" or "U+". If a pair of codepoints is given, the type is set for all characters incluā
sively between the two values. If there are multiple comma-separated codepoint values, they must be in ascending nuā
merical order. The type character may be one of:
p A normal printable character.
w A wide (2-space) printable character.
b A binary (non-printable) character.
c A composing (zero width) character.
For example, setting LESSUTFCHARDEF to
E000-F8FF:p,F0000-FFFFD:p,100000-10FFFD:p
would make all Private Use Area characters be treated as printable.
PROMPTS
The -P option allows you to tailor the prompt to your preference. The string given to the -P option replaces the
specified prompt string. Certain characters in the string are interpreted specially. The prompt mechanism is rather
complicated to provide flexibility, but the ordinary user need not understand the details of constructing personalā
ized prompt strings.
A percent sign followed by a single character is expanded according to what the following character is. (References
to the input file size below refer to the preprocessed size, if an input preprocessor is being used.)
%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.
%g Replaced by the shell-escaped name of the current input file. This is useful when the expanded string will be
used in a shell command, such as in LESSEDIT.
%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.
%o Replaced by the URI of the currently selected OSC 8 hyperlink, or a question mark if no hyperlink is selected.
This is used by OSC 8 handlers as explained in the ^O^O command description.
%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.
%T Normally expands to the word "file". However if viewing files via a tags list using the -t option, it expands
to the word "tag".
%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 peā
riod 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 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(%T %i of %m) ..?e(END) ?x- Next\: %x..%t
This prints the filename if this is the first prompt in a file, followed by the "file N of N" message if there is
more than one input file. Then, if we are at end-of-file, the string "(END)" is printed followed by the name of the
next file, if there is one. Finally, any trailing spaces are truncated. This is the default prompt. For reference,
here are the defaults for the other two prompts (-m and -M respectively). Each is broken into two lines here for
readability only.
?n?f%f .?m(%T %i of %m) ..?e(END) ?x- Next\: %x.:
?pB%pB\%:byte %bB?s/%s...%t
?f%f .?n?m(%T %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(%T %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. %g
Note that this expands to the editor name, followed by a + and the line number, followed by the shell-escaped 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.
SECURITY
When the environment variable LESSSECURE is set to 1, less runs in a "secure" mode. In this mode, these features are
disabled:
edit the edit command (v)
examine the examine command (:e)
glob metacharacters such as * in filenames,
and filename completion (TAB, ^L)
history history file
lesskey use of lesskey files (-k and --lesskey-src)
lessopen input preprocessor (LESSOPEN environment variable)
logfile log files (s and -o)
osc8 opening OSC 8 links (^O^O)
pipe the pipe command (|)
shell the shell and pshell commands (! and #)
stop stopping less via a SIGSTOP signal
tags use of tags files (-t)
The LESSSECURE_ALLOW environment variable can be set to a comma-separated list of names of features which are selecā
tively enabled when LESSSECURE is set. Each feature name is the first word in each line in the above list. A feaā
ture name may be abbreviated as long as the abbreviation is unambiguous. For example, if LESSSECURE=1 and
LESSSECURE_ALLOW=hist,edit were set, all of the above features would be disabled except for history files and the edā
it command.
Less can also be compiled to be permanently in "secure" mode. In that case, the LESSSECURE and LESSSECURE_ALLOW
variables are ignored.
COMPATIBILITY WITH MORE
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(1) command specification. In this mode, less behaves differently
in these ways:
The -e option works differently. If the -e option is not set, less behaves as if the -e option were set. If the -e
option is set, less behaves as if the -E option were set.
The -m option works differently. If the -m option is not set, the medium prompt is used, and it is prefixed with the
string "--More--". If the -m option is set, 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 less command rather than a search pattern.
The LESS environment variable is ignored, and the MORE environment variable is used in its place.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
Environment variables may be specified either in the system environment as usual, or in a lesskey(1) file. If enviā
ronment 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 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.)
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 environment 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.
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.
LESSCHARDEF
Defines a character set.
LESSCHARSET
Selects a predefined character set.
LESSCLOSE
Command line to invoke the (optional) input-postprocessor.
LESSECHO
Name of the lessecho program (default "lessecho"). The lessecho program is needed to expand metacharacters,
such as * and ?, in filenames on Unix systems.
LESSEDIT
Editor prototype string (used for the v command). See discussion under PROMPTS.
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.
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 depends on the operating system, but is
usually:
Linux and Unix
"$XDG_STATE_HOME/lesshst" or "$HOME/.local/state/lesshst" or "$XDG_DATA_HOME/lesshst" or
"$HOME/.lesshst".
Windows and MS-DOS
"$HOME/_lesshst".
OS/2 "$HOME/lesshst.ini" or "$INIT/lesshst.ini".
LESSHISTSIZE
The maximum number of commands to save in the history file. The default is 100.
LESSKEYIN
Name of the default lesskey source file.
LESSKEY
Name of the default lesskey binary file. (Not used if "$LESSKEYIN" exists.)
LESSKEY_CONTENT
The value is parsed as if it were the parameter of a --lesskey-content option.
LESSKEYIN_SYSTEM
Name of the default system-wide lesskey source file.
LESSKEY_SYSTEM
Name of the default system-wide lesskey binary file. (Not used if "$LESSKEYIN_SYSTEM" exists.)
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.
LESSSECURE_ALLOW
Enables individual features which are normally disabled by LESSSECURE. 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.
LESSUTFCHARDEF
Overrides the type of specified Unicode characters.
LESS_COLUMNS
Sets the number of columns on the screen. Unlike COLUMNS, takes precedence over the system's idea of the
screen size, so it can be used to make less use less than the full screen width. If set to a negative number,
sets the number of columns used to this much less than the actual screen width.
LESS_LINES
Sets the number of lines on the screen. Unlike LINES, takes precedence over the system's idea of the screen
size, so it can be used to make less use less than the full screen height. If set to a negative number, sets
the number of lines used to this much less than the actual screen height. When set, less repaints the entire
screen on every movement command, so scrolling may be slower.
LESS_DATA_DELAY
Duration (in milliseconds) after starting to read data from the input, after which the "Waiting for data" mesā
sage will be displayed. The default is 4000 (4 seconds).
LESS_IS_MORE
Emulate the more(1) command.
LESS_OSC8_xxx
Where "xxx" is a URI scheme such as "http" or "file", sets an OSC 8 handler for opening OSC 8 links containing
a URI with that scheme.
LESS_OSC8_ANY
Sets an OSC 8 handler for opening OSC 8 links for which there is no specific LESS_OSC8_xxx handler set for the
"xxx" scheme.
LESS_TERMCAP_xx
Where "xx" is any two characters, overrides the definition of the termcap "xx" capability for the terminal.
LESS_UNSUPPORT
A space-separated list of command line options. These options will be ignored (with no error message) if they
appear on the command line or in the LESS environment variable. Options listed in LESS_UNSUPPORT can still be
changed by the - and -- commands. Each option in LESS_UNSUPPORT is a dash followed by a single character opā
tion letter, or two dashes followed by a long option name.
LINES Sets the number of lines on the screen. Takes precedence over the number of lines specified by the TERM variā
able. (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.)
MORE Options which are passed to less automatically when running in more-compatible mode.
PATH User's search path (used to find a lesskey file on MS-DOS, Windows, 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).
XDG_CONFIG_HOME
Possible location of the lesskey file; see the KEY BINDINGS section.
XDG_DATA_HOME
Possible location of the history file; see the description of the LESSHISTFILE environment variable.
XDG_STATE_HOME
Possible location of the history file; see the description of the LESSHISTFILE environment variable.
SEE ALSO
lesskey(1), lessecho(1)
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 1984-2024 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 warranty
of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
AUTHOR
Mark Nudelman
Report bugs at https://github.com/gwsw/less/issues.
For more information, see the less homepage at
https://greenwoodsoftware.com/less.
Version 668: 06 Oct 2024 LESS(1)