Linux in a Nutshell, Fourth Edition

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). Some commands may be preceded by a number.

Options

-[z] num, --window= num

Set number of lines to scroll to num. Default is one screenful. A negative num sets the number to num lines less than the current number.

+[+] command

Run command on startup. If command is a number, jump to that line. The option ++ applies this command to each file in the command-line list.

-?, --help

Print help screen. Ignore all other options; do not page through file.

-a, --search-screen

When searching, begin after last line displayed. (Default is to search from second line displayed.)

-b buffers, -buffers= buffers

Use buffers buffers for each file (default is 10). Buffers are 1 KB in size.

-c, --clear-screen

Redraw screen from top, not bottom.

-d, --dumb

Suppress dumb-terminal error messages.

-e, --quit-at-eof

Automatically exit after reaching EOF twice.

-f, --force

Force opening of directories and devices; do not print warning when opening binaries.

-g, --hilite-search

Highlight only string found by past search command, not all matching strings.

-h num, --max-back-scroll= num

Never scroll backward more than num lines at once.

-i, --ignore-case

Make searches case-insensitive, unless the search string contains uppercase letters.

-j num, --jump-target= num

Position target line on line num of screen. Target line can be the ...