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 some systems you can
also use ^X.
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 top
line, a number N may be used to specify the N-th bracket
on the line.
( Like {, but applies to parentheses rather than curly
brackets.
) Like }, but applies to parentheses rather than curly
brackets.
[ Like {, but applies to square brackets rather than curly
brackets.
] Like }, but applies to square brackets rather than curly
brackets.
ESC-^F Followed by two characters, acts like {, but uses the two
characters as open and close brackets, respectively. For
example, "ESC ^F < >" could be used to go forward to the >
which matches the < in the top displayed line.
ESC-^B Followed by two characters, acts like }, but uses the two
characters as open and close brackets, respectively. For
example, "ESC ^B < >" could be used to go backward to the
< which matches the > in the bottom displayed line.
m Followed by any lowercase 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 regular
expression, as recognized by the regular expression
library supplied by your system. The search starts at the
first line displayed (but see the -a and -j options, which
change this).
Certain characters are special if entered at the beginning
of the pattern; they modify the type of search rather than
become part of the pattern:
^N 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.
^W WRAP around the current file. That is, if the
search reaches the end of the current file without
finding a match, the search continues from the
first line of the current file up to the line where
it started.
?pattern
Search backward in the file for the N-th line containing
the pattern. The search starts at the last line displayed
(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
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 displayed on the screen or the settings
of the -a or -j options.
^K As in forward searches.
^R 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
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.)
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 pattern is
empty (if you type & immediately followed by ENTER), any
filtering is turned off, and all lines are displayed.
While filtering is in effect, an ampersand is displayed at
the beginning of the prompt, as a reminder that some lines
in the file may be hidden. 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 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 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 default
setting and print a message describing the new setting.
This does not work for numeric or string-valued options.
--! Like the -! command, but takes a long option name rather
than a single option letter.
_ (Underscore.) Followed by one of the command line option
letters, this will print a message describing the current
setting of that option. The setting of the option is not
changed.
__ (Double underscore.) Like the _ (underscore) command, but
takes a long option name rather than a single option
letter. You must press ENTER or RETURN after typing the
option name.
+cmd Causes the specified cmd to be executed each time a new
file is examined. For example, +G causes less to
initially display each file starting at the end rather
than the beginning.
V Prints the version number of less being run.
q or Q or :q or :Q or ZZ
Exits less.
The following four commands may or may not be valid, depending on
your particular installation.
v Invokes an editor to edit the current file being viewed.
The editor is taken from the environment variable VISUAL
if defined, or EDITOR if VISUAL is not defined, or
defaults to "vi" if neither VISUAL nor EDITOR is defined.
See also the discussion of LESSEDIT under the section on
PROMPTS below.
! 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. 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 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. <m> may also be ^ or
$ to indicate beginning or end of file respectively. If
<m> is . or newline, the current screen is piped.
s filename
Save the input to a file. This only works if the input is
a pipe, not an ordinary file.
