Name
less
Synopsis
less [options
] [filename
]
less is a program for paging through files or other output. It was written in reaction to the perceived primitiveness of more (hence its name). A number may precede some commands.
Options
-
-[z]
num
Set number of lines to scroll to
num
. Default is one screenful. A negativenum
sets the number tonum
lines less than the current number.-
+[+]
command
Run
command
on startup. Ifcommand
is a number, jump to that line. The option ++ applies this command to each file in the command-line list.- -?
Print help screen. Ignore all other options; don’t page through file.
- -a, --skip-search-screen
When searching, begin after last line displayed. (Default is to search from second line displayed.)
-
-b, --buffers=
n
Use
n
buffers for each file (default is 10). Buffers are 1 KB in size.- -B, --auto-buffers
Don’t automatically allocate buffers for data read from a pipe. If -b specifies a number of buffers, allocate that many. If necessary, allow information from previous screens to be lost.
- -c, --clear-screen
Redraw screen from top, instead of scrolling from the bottom.
- -C, --CLEAR-SCREEN
Same as -c, but clear the screen before redrawing.
- -d, --dumb
Suppress dumb-terminal error messages.
- -e, --quit-at-eof
Automatically exit after reaching EOF twice.
- -E, --QUIT-AT-EOF
Automatically exit after reaching EOF once.
- -f, --force
Force opening of directories and devices; don’t print warning when opening binaries.
- -F, --quit-if-one-screen
Automatically exit if the file ...
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