Page through text one screenful at a time, search through output. less provides more emulation plus extensive enhancements such as allowing backward paging through a file as well as forward movement.
Syntax
less [-[+]aBcCdeEfFgGiIJmMnNqQrRsSuUVwWX~]
[-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]...
less -?
less --help
less -V
less --version
Options - The options above are described in full on this page
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 i it reaches
end-of-file in the process.
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.
ESC-) or RIGHTARROW
Scroll horizontally right N characters, default half the screen
width (see the -# option). If a number N is specified, it
becomes the default for future RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW commands.
While the text is scrolled, it acts as though the -S option
(chop lines) were in effect.
ESC-( or LEFTARROW
Scroll horizontally left N characters, default half the screen
width (see the -# option). If a number N is specified, it
becomes the default for future RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW commands.
r or ^R or ^L
Repaint the screen.
R Repaint the screen, discarding any buffered input. Useful if
the file is changing while it is being viewed.
F Scroll forward, and keep trying to read when the end of file is
reached. Normally this command would be used when already at
the end of the file. It is a way to monitor the tail of a file
which is growing while it is being viewed. (The behavior is
similar to the "tail -f" command.)
g or < or ESC-<
Go to line N in the file, default 1 (beginning of file).
Warning: this can be slow if N is large.)
G or > or ESC->
Go to line N in the file, default the end of the file. (Warn-
ing: this can be slow if N is large, or if N is not specified
and standard input, rather than a file, is being read.)
p or % Go to a position N percent into the file. N should be between 0 and 100.
{ 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 can be used to specify the
N-th bracket on the line.
} If a right curly bracket appears in the bottom line displayed on
the screen, the } command will go to the matching left curly
bracket. The matching left curly bracket is positioned on the
top line of the screen. If there is more than one right curly
bracket on the top line, a number N can 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 char-
acters as open and close brackets, respectively. For example,
"ESC ^F < >" could be used to go forward to the > which matches
the < in the top displayed line.
ESC-^B Followed by two characters, acts like }, but uses the two char-
acters as open and close brackets, respectively. For example,
"ESC ^B < >" could be used to go backward to the < which matches
the > in the bottom displayed line.
m Followed by any lowercase letter, marks the current position
with that letter.
' (Single quote.) Followed by any lowercase letter, returns to
the position which was previously marked with that letter. Fol-
lowed by another single quote, returns to the position at which
the last "large" movement command was executed. Followed by a ^
or $, jumps to the beginning or end of the file respectively.
Marks are preserved when a new file is examined, so the ' com-
mand can be used to switch between input files.
^X^X Same as single quote.
/pattern
Search forward in the file for the N-th line containing the pat-
tern. N defaults to 1. The pattern is a regular expression, as
recognized by ed. The search starts at the second line dis-
played (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.
?pattern
Search backward in the file for the N-th line containing the
pattern. The search starts at the line immediately before the
top line displayed.
Certain characters are special as in the / command:
^N or !
Search for lines which do NOT match the pattern.
^E or *
Search multiple files. That is, if the search reaches
the beginning of the current file without finding a
match, the search continues in the previous file in the
command line list.
^F or @
Begin the search at the last line of the last file in the
command line list, regardless of what is currently dis-
played on the screen or the settings of the -a or -j
options.
^K As in forward searches.
^R As in forward searches.
ESC-/pattern
Same as "/*".
ESC-?pattern
Same as "?*".
n Repeat previous search, for N-th line containing the last pattern.
If the previous search was modified by ^N, the search is made for
the N-th line NOT containing the pattern. If the previous search
was modified by ^E, the search continues in the next (or previous)
file if not satisfied in the current file.
If the previous search was modified by ^R, the search is done
without using regular expressions. There is no effect if the
previous search was modified by ^F or ^K.
N Repeat previous search, but in the reverse direction.
ESC-n Repeat previous search, but crossing file boundaries.
The effect is as if the previous search were modified by *.
ESC-N Repeat previous search, but in the reverse direction and crossing
file boundaries.
ESC-u Undo search highlighting. Turn off highlighting of strings
matching the current search pattern. If highlighting is already
off because of a previous ESC-u command, turn highlighting back
on. Any search command will also turn highlighting back on.
(Highlighting can also be disabled by toggling the -G option; in
that case search commands do not turn highlighting back on.)
: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 replaced with a
single percent sign. This allows you to enter a filename that
contains a percent sign in the name.
Similarly, two consecutive pound signs are replaced with a single
pound sign. The filename is inserted into the command line list of
files so that it can be seen by subsequent :n and :p commands.
If the filename consists of several files, they are all inserted
into the list of files and the first one is examined. If the
filename contains one or more spaces, the entire filename should
be enclosed in double quotes (also see the -" option).
^X^V or E
Same as :e. Warning: some systems use ^V as a special literal-
ization character. On such systems, you might not be able to use
^V.
:n Examine the next file (from the list of files given in the command
line). If a number N is specified, the N-th next file is
examined.
:p Examine the previous file in the command line list. If a number
N is specified, the N-th previous file is examined.
:x Examine the first file in the command line list. If a number N
is specified, the N-th file in the list is examined.
:d Remove the current file from the list of files.
t Go to the next tag, if there were more than one matches for the
current tag. See the -t option for more details about tags.
T Go to the previous tag, if there were more than one matches for
the current tag.
= or ^G or :f
Prints some information about the file being viewed, including
its name and the line number and byte offset of the bottom line
being displayed. If possible, it also prints the length of the
file, the number of lines in the file and the percent of the
file above the last displayed line.
- Followed by one of the command line option letters (see Options
below), this will change the setting of that option and print a
message describing the new setting. If a ^P (CONTROL-P) is
entered immediately after the dash, the setting of the option is
changed but no message is printed. If the option letter has a
numeric value (such as -b or -h), or a string value (such as -P
or -t), a new value can be entered after the option letter. If
no new value is entered, a message describing the current setting
is printed and nothing is changed.
-- Like the - command, but takes a long option name (see Options
below) rather than a single option letter. You must press
RETURN after typing the option name. A ^P immediately after the
second dash suppresses printing of a message describing the new
setting, as in the - command.
-+ Followed by one of the command line option letters this will
reset the option to its default setting and print a message
describing the new setting. (The "-+X" command does the same
thing as "-+X" on the command line.) This does not work for
string-valued options.
--+ Like the -+ command, but takes a long option name rather than a
single option letter.
-! Followed by one of the command line option letters, this will
reset the option to the "opposite" of its default setting and
print a message describing the new setting. This does not work
for numeric or string-valued options.
--! Like the -! command, but takes a long option name rather than a
single option letter.
_ (Underscore.) Followed by one of the command line option let-
ters, this will print a message describing the current setting
of that option. The setting of the option is not changed.
__ (Double underscore.) Like the _ (underscore) command, but takes
a long option name rather than a single option letter. You must
press RETURN after typing the option name.
+cmd Causes the specified cmd to be executed each time a new file is
examined. For example, +G causes less to initially display each
file starting at the end rather than the beginning.
V Prints the version number of less being run.
q or Q or :q or :Q or ZZ
Exits less.
The following four commands might not be valid, depending on your
particular installation.
v Invokes an editor to edit the current file being viewed. The
editor is taken from the environment variable VISUAL if defined,
or EDITOR if VISUAL is not defined, or defaults to "vi" if neither
VISUAL nor EDITOR is defined. See also the discussion of
LESSEDIT under the section on PROMPTS below.
! shell-command
Invokes a shell to run the shell-command given. A percent sign
(%) in the command is replaced by the name of the current file.
A pound sign (#) is replaced by the name of the previously examined
file. "!!" repeats the last shell command. "!" with no
shell command invokes a shell. On Unix systems, the
shell is taken from the environment variable SHELL, or defaults
to "sh". On MS-DOS and OS/2 systems, the shell is the normal
command processor.
| m shell-command
m represents any mark letter. Pipes a section of the input
file to the given shell command. The section of the file to be
piped is between the first line on the current screen and the
position marked by the letter. m can also be ^ or $ to indicate
beginning or end of file respectively. If m is . or newline,
the current screen is piped.
s filename
Save the input to a file. This only works if the input is a
pipe, not an ordinary file.
Also: Options, Line editing and Language support
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.
When the output of less is redirected to a file, it behaves like cat, no additional output is added or input requested.
“Counter to the widely held belief that industrial agriculture is more efficient and productive, small farms produce far more per acre than large farms” ~ Christos Vasilikiotis (University of California, Berkeley)
lesskey - specify key bindings for less.
echo - Display message on screen.
tee - Redirect output to multiple files .
The less home
page (Mark Nudelman).