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LESS(1)			    General Commands Manual		       LESS(1)

NAME
       less - opposite of more

SYNOPSIS
       less -?
       less --help
       less -V
       less --version
       less [-[+]aBcCdeEfFgGiIJLmMnNqQrRsSuUVwWXYZ~]
	    [-b	space] [-h lines] [-j line] [-k	keyfile]
	    [-K	character set] [-{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 which	allows backward	 move-
       ment in the file	as well	as forward movement.  Also, 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  "ES-
       CAPE", 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  be-
	      low).  If	N is more than the screen size,	only the final screen-
	      ful  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.

       RETURN or ^N or e or ^E or j or ^J
	      Scroll forward N lines, default 1.  The entire N lines are  dis-
	      played, 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  be-
	      low).  If	N is more than the screen size,	only the final screen-
	      ful 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 dis-
	      played, 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  be-
	      comes  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  be-
	      comes 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).	(Warn-
	      ing: 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.	(Warn-
	      ing:  this  may  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 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	brack-
	      ets.

       ]      Like }, but applies to square brackets rather than curly	brack-
	      ets.

       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  cur-
		     rent screen, but don't move to the	first match (KEEP cur-
		     rent 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  op-
		     tions.

	      ^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 pat-
	      tern.  If	the previous search was	modified by ^N,	the search  is
	      made  for	the N-th line NOT containing the pattern.  If the pre-
	      vious 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  ef-
	      fect is as if the	previous search	were modified by *.

       ESC-N  Repeat  previous search, but in the reverse direction and	cross-
	      ing 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  simply  re-
	      placed  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 may not be able to  use
	      ^V.

       :n     Examine  the next	file (from the list of files given in the com-
	      mand 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.

       @      Rotate the code recognition method of  the  current  file.   En-
	      hanced  less  has	 7  methods for	recognition, default (which is
	      chosen by	 the  JLESSCHARSET  environment	 variable),  japanese,
	      ujis, sjis, iso8,	noconv and none.

       -      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 en-
	      tered 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  set-
	      ting 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  RE-
	      TURN  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 re-
	      set  the	option	to its default setting and print a message de-
	      scribing 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 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  nei-
	      ther  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 exam-
	      ined 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 first line on the current  screen  and  the
	      position	marked by the letter.  <m> may also be ^ or $ to indi-
	      cate beginning or	end of file respectively.  If <m> is . or new-
	      line, 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.

OPTIONS
       Command	line options are described below.  Most	options	may be changed
       while less is running, via the "-" command.

       Options are  also  taken	 from  the  environment	 variable  "LESS"  and
       "JLESS".

       Most  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 un-
       ambiguous.  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  let-
       ter  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 exam-
       ple, 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, you don't need the quotes, but you should replace  any  per-
       cent signs in the options string	by double percent signs.

       The  environment	variable is parsed before the command line, so command
       line options override the LESS and JLESS	environment variables.	If  an
       option  appears in the LESS and JLESS variables,	it can be reset	to its
       default value on	the command line by beginning the command line	option
       with "-+".

       For  options like -P or -D which	take a following string, a dollar sign
       ($) must	be used	to signal the end of the string.  For example, to  set
       two  -D	options	 on  MS-DOS, you must have a dollar sign between them,
       like this:

       LESS="-Dn9.1$-Ds4.1"

       -? or --help
	      This option displays a summary of	the commands accepted by  less
	      (the  same  as the h command).  (Depending on how	your shell in-
	      terprets the question mark, it may be  necessary	to  quote  the
	      question mark, thus: "-\?".)

       -a or --search-skip-screen
	      Causes  searches	to  start after	the last line displayed	on the
	      screen, thus skipping all	lines displayed	on the screen.	By de-
	      fault, searches start at the second line on the screen (or after
	      the last found line; see the -j option).

       -bn or --buffers=n
	      Specifies	the amount of buffer space  less  will	use  for  each
	      file,  in	 units	of  kilobytes (1024 bytes).  By	default	64K of
	      buffer space is used for each file (unless the file is  a	 pipe;
	      see  the	-B  option).   The  -b option 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 is  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 allo-
	      cated.  The -B option  disables  this  automatic	allocation  of
	      buffers  for  pipes,  so	that  only 64K (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 re-
	      cently viewed part of the	file is	kept in	 memory;  any  earlier
	      data is lost.

       -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
	      The -C option is like -c,	but the	screen is cleared before it is
	      repainted.

       -d or --dumb
	      The -d option suppresses the error message normally displayed if
	      the  terminal is dumb; that is, lacks some important capability,
	      such as the ability to clear the screen or scroll	backward.  The
	      -d option	does not otherwise change the behavior of  less	 on  a
	      dumb terminal.

       -Dxcolor	or --color=xcolor
	      [MS-DOS only] Sets the color of the text displayed.  x is	a sin-
	      gle  character which selects the type of text whose color	is be-
	      ing set: n=normal, s=standout,  d=bold,  u=underlined,  k=blink.
	      color  is	 a  pair  of numbers separated by a period.  The first
	      number selects the foreground color and the second  selects  the
	      background  color	of the text.  A	single number N	is the same as
	      N.0.

       -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	 warn-
	      ing message when a binary	file is	opened.	 By default, less will
	      refuse to	open non-regular files.

       -F or --quit-if-one-screen
	      Causes less to automatically exit	if the entire file can be dis-
	      played 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  behavior  to	 high-
	      light  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	ignored	if any	upper-
	      case  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.   A  target line is the object of a text search, tag
	      search, jump to a	line number, jump to  a	 file  percentage,  or
	      jump  to	a  marked position.  The screen	line is	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.  If the -j option is
	      used, searches begin at the line immediately  after  the	target
	      line.   For  example,  if	 "-j4" is used,	the target line	is the
	      fourth line on the screen, so searches begin at the  fifth  line
	      on the screen.

       -J or --status-column
	      Displays	a  status  column at the left edge of the screen.  The
	      status column shows the lines that matched the  current  search.
	      The  status column is also used if the -w	or -W option is	in ef-
	      fect.

       -kfilename or --lesskey-file=filename
	      Causes less to open and interpret	the named file	as  a  lesskey
	      (1) 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.

       -L or --no-lessopen
	      Ignore the LESSOPEN environment variable	(see  the  INPUT  PRE-
	      PROCESSOR	 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.

       -Kcharset
	      Causes  less to use this charset instead of a charset defined in
	      the JLESSCHARSET or LESSCHARSET environment variable.

       -m or --long-prompt
	      Causes less to prompt verbosely (like more),  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.

       -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 op-
	      tion  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 be-
	      low).

       -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 overwriting 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 specifying -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	occur-
	      rence 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  and
	      JLESS  environment  variables,  rather  than being typed in with
	      each less	command.  Such an option must either be	the  last  op-
	      tion in the LESS and JLESS variables, or be terminated by	a dol-
	      lar  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.

       -r or --raw-control-chars
	      Causes "raw" control characters to be displayed.	The default is
	      to display control characters using the caret notation; for  ex-
	      ample,  a	 control-A (octal 001) is displayed as "^A".  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 dis-
	      play  problems may result, such as long lines being split	in the
	      wrong place.

       -R or --RAW-CONTROL-CHARS
	      Like -r, but tries to keep track of the screen appearance	 where
	      possible.	  This works only if the input consists	of normal text
	      and possibly some	ANSI "color" escape sequences, which  are  se-
	      quences of the form:

		   ESC [ ... m

	      where  the "..." is zero or more characters other	than "m".  For
	      the purpose of keeping track of screen appearance,  all  control
	      characters  and  all  ANSI color escape sequences	are assumed to
	      not move the cursor.  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 charac-
	      ters which can end a color escape	sequence.

       -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	rather
	      than folded.  That is, the portion of a long line	that does  not
	      fit  in  the  screen width is not	shown.	The default is to fold
	      long lines; that is, display the remainder on the	next line.

       -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 di-
	      rectory called "tags", which was previously built	by  ctags  (1)
	      or an equivalent command.	 If the	environment variable LESSGLOB-
	      ALTAGS  is set, it is taken to be	the name of a command compati-
	      ble 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	print-
	      able characters; that is,	they are sent  to  the	terminal  when
	      they appear in the input.

       -U or --UNDERLINE-SPECIAL
	      Causes  backspaces,  tabs	 and carriage returns 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 ap-
	      pear adjacent to an underscore character are treated  specially:
	      the  underlined  text is displayed using the terminal's hardware
	      underlining capability.  Also, backspaces	which  appear  between
	      two  identical  characters are treated specially:	the overstruck
	      text is printed using the	terminal's hardware boldface  capabil-
	      ity.   Other  backspaces	are  deleted, along with the preceding
	      character.  Carriage returns immediately followed	by  a  newline
	      are deleted.  other carriage returns are handled as specified by
	      the  -r  option.	 Text which is overstruck or underlined	can be
	      searched for if neither -u nor -U	is in effect.

       -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 imme-
	      diately  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	 move-
	      ment.   The  entire 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 separated by commas are
	      specified, tab stops are set at those positions, and  then  con-
	      tinue  with  the	same  spacing  as  the last two.  For example,
	      -x9,17 will set tabs at positions	9, 17, 25, 33, etc.   The  de-
	      fault 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	clear-
	      ing the screen.

       --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.

       -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 re-
	      painted 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.

       -Y     Causes mark characters to	be used	to represent wrong characters.
	      By default, such wrong characters	displayed as binary.

       -[z]n or	--window=n
	      Changes the default scrolling window size	to n lines.   The  de-
	      fault  is	 one screenful.	 The z and w commands can also be used
	      to change	the window size.  The "z" may be omitted for  compati-
	      bility  with  more.  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 auto-
	      matically	changes	to 36 lines.

       -Z     Causes to	give priority to the SJIS over the UJIS	if  a  "japan-
	      ese" was selected	by the JLESSCHARSET environment	variable.  The
	      default value is to give priority	to the UJIS over the SJIS.

       -"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 followed by the close quote
	      character.  Note	that  even  after  the	quote  characters  are
	      changed,	this  option  remains  -" (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	speci-
	      fied  is	zero,  it  sets	the default number of positions	to one
	      half of the screen width.

       --     A	command	line argument of "--" marks the	end  of	 option	 argu-
	      ments.   Any  arguments  following this are interpreted as file-
	      names.  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,	 +<number>  acts  like
	      +<number>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 ini-
	      tial command for every file.

LINE EDITING
       When entering command line at the bottom	of the screen (for example,  a
       filename	for the	:e command, or the pattern for a search	command), cer-
       tain  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.  (The bracketed forms do not work
       in the MS-DOS version.)	Any of these special keys may be entered  lit-
       erally  by  preceding it	with the "literal" character, either ^V	or ^A.
       A backslash itself may also be entered literally	by entering two	 back-
       slashes.

       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 cur-
	      sor one word to the left.

       ^RIGHTARROW [ ESC-w or ESC-RIGHTARROW ]
	      (That is,	CONTROL	and RIGHTARROW simultaneously.)	 Move the cur-
	      sor 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.

       DOWNARROW [ ESC-j ]
	      Retrieve the next	command	line.

       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 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)
	      Delete  the  entire  command  line, or cancel the	command	if the
	      command line is empty.  If you have changed your line-kill char-
	      acter in Unix to something other than ^U,	that character is used
	      instead of ^U.

KEY BINDINGS
       You may define your own less commands by	using the program lesskey  (1)
       to  create  a  lesskey file.  This file specifies a set of command keys
       and an action associated	with each key.	You may	also  use  lesskey  to
       change the line-editing keys (see LINE EDITING),	and to set environment
       variables.   If the environment variable	LESSKEY	is set,	less uses that
       as the name of the lesskey file.	 Otherwise, less looks in  a  standard
       place  for  the lesskey file: On	Unix systems, less looks for a lesskey
       file called "$HOME/.less".  On MS-DOS and Windows systems,  less	 looks
       for  a lesskey file called "$HOME/_less", and if	it is not found	there,
       then looks for a	lesskey	file called "_less" in any directory specified
       in the PATH environment variable.  On OS/2 systems, less	 looks	for  a
       lesskey	file  called  "$HOME/less.ini",	 and  if it is not found, then
       looks for a lesskey file	called "less.ini" in any  directory  specified
       in the INIT environment variable, and if	it not found there, then looks
       for  a lesskey file called "less.ini" in	any directory specified	in the
       PATH environment	variable.  See the lesskey manual page	for  more  de-
       tails.

       A  system-wide lesskey 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	LESSKEY_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 system-wide lesskey file is /usr/local/etc/sysless.
       (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:\_sys-
       less.  On OS/2 systems, the system-wide lesskey file is c:\sysless.ini.

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 sim-
       ply an executable program (or shell script), which writes the  contents
       of the file to a	different file,	called the replacement file.  The con-
       tents  of  the replacement file are then	displayed in place of the con-
       tents 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 replace-
       ment filename, less uses	the original file, as normal.  The input  pre-
       processor  is not called	when viewing standard input.  To set up	an in-
       put preprocessor, set the LESSOPEN environment variable	to  a  command
       line  which  will  invoke  your	input preprocessor.  This command line
       should include one occurrence of	the string "%s",  which	 will  be  re-
       placed by the filename when the input preprocessor command is invoked.

       When less closes	a file opened in such a	way, it	will call another pro-
       gram,  called  the  input  postprocessor, which may perform any desired
       clean-up	action (such as	 deleting  the	replacement  file  created  by
       LESSOPEN).  This	program	receives two command line arguments, the orig-
       inal  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  re-
       placed  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) uncompress -c $1  >/tmp/less.$$  2>/dev/null
		 if [ -s /tmp/less.$$ ]; then
		      echo /tmp/less.$$
		 else
		      rm -f /tmp/less.$$
		 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	LESSCLOSE="lessclose.sh	%s %s".	  More
       complex	LESSOPEN  and LESSCLOSE	scripts	may be written to accept other
       types of	compressed 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	start-
       ing to view it.	An input preprocessor that works this way is called an
       input pipe.  An input pipe, instead of writing the name of  a  replace-
       ment file on its	standard output, writes	the entire contents of the re-
       placement  file	on  its	 standard  output.  If the input pipe does not
       write any characters on its standard output, then there is no  replace-
       ment  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.

       For example, on many Unix systems, this script will work	like the  pre-
       vious example scripts:

       lesspipe.sh:
	    #! /bin/sh
	    case "$1" in
	    *.Z) uncompress -c $1  2>/dev/null
		 ;;
	    esac

       To  use	this  script,  put  it	where  it  can	be  executed  and  set
       LESSOPEN="|lesspipe.sh %s".  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 "-".

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  JLESSCHARSET  and	 LESS-
       CHARSET	environment  variables	may be used to select a	character set.
       There is	no difference between them in program of less.	But I  suppose
       you  should  use	 the JLESSCHARSET environment variable because not en-
       hanced less will	make errors if you use enhanced	character set in  your
       LESSCHARSET environment variable.  Possible values for them 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.

       And possible values for only JLESSCHARSET are:

       iso7   Multi character sets with	the ISO	2022 code extension techniques
	      in  7  bits are assumed.	Characters with	values between 128 and
	      255 are treated as binary.  The level of implementation of  Less
	      is level 3 of ISO	2022.

       iso8   Multi character sets with	the ISO	2022 code extension techniques
	      in  8  bits are assumed.	The level of implementation of Less is
	      level 3 of ISO 2022.

       jis    Only Japanese character sets with	the ISO	 2022  code  extension
	      techniques in 7 bits are assumed.

       ujis   If characters has	values between 32 and 127, the ASCII character
	      set  are assumed.	 If characters has values between 162 and 254,
	      the JISX 0208 character set, a right half	of the JISX 0201 char-
	      acter set	and the	JISX 0212 character set	with the  UJIS	coding
	      are assumed.  Otherwise, characters are treated as binary.

       euc    Same as ujis.

       sjis   If characters has	values between 32 and 127, the ASCII character
	      set  are assumed.	 If characters has values between 128 and 252,
	      the JISX 0208 character set and a	right half of  the  JISX  0201
	      character	set are	assumed.  Otherwise, characters	are treated as
	      binary.

       japanese
	      All  Japanese  character	sets, jis, ujis	and sjis, are assumed.
	      But less output only the jis.

       Japanese	has several code sets (not character sets).   Thus  less  must
       convert	among  them  to	 display them correctly.  Possible values with
       this conversion for only	JLESSCHARSET are:

       ujis-iso7
	      The ujis and iso7	are assumend.  But less	output only the	iso7.

       euc-iso7
	      Same as ujis-iso7.

       sjis-iso7
	      The sjis and iso7	are assumend.  But less	output only the	iso7.

       ujis-jis
	      The ujis and jis are assumend.  But less output only the jis.

       euc-jis
	      Same as ujis-jis.

       sjis-jis
	      The sjis and jis are assumend.  But less output only the jis.

       jis-ujis
	      The jis and ujis are assumend.  But less output only the ujis.

       jis-euc
	      Same as jis-ujis.

       jis-sjis
	      The jis and sjis are assumend.  But less output only the sjis.

       japanese-iso7
	      The japanese and iso7 are	assumend.  But less  output  only  the
	      iso7.

       japanese-jis
	      The  japanese  is	assumend.  But less output only	the jis.  Same
	      as japanese.

       japanese-ujis
	      The japanese is assumend.	 But less output only the ujis.

       japanese-euc
	      Same as japanese-ujis.

       japanese-sjis
	      The japanese is assumend.	 But less output only the sjis.

       ujis-sjis
	      The ujis is assumend.  But less output only the sjis.

       euc-sjis
	      Same as ujis-sjis.

       sjis-ujis
	      The sjis is assumend.  But less output only the ujis.

       sjis-euc
	      Same as sjis-ujis.

       Other way to select a character set is  to  use	the  LANG  environment
       variable.   If it start with "ja_JP" or "japan",	less read all Japanese
       coded characters	as some	Japanese character set,	and a rest of the LANG
       environment variable specify output coding.

       The ISO 2022 code extension techniques define 4 planes to display  many
       character  sets	easy.	Default	 setting  of planes is selected	by the
       JLESSPLANESET environment variable.  If the  JLESSPLANESET  vriable  is
       equal to	"japanese", "ujis" or "euc", less treat	g1 plane as JISX 0208,
       g2  plane  as  JISX  0201  right	half, g3 plane as JISX 0212.  If it is
       equal to	"latin1", "latin2",  "latin3",	"latin4",  "greek",  "arabic",
       "hebrew",  "cyrillic"  or  "latin5",  less treat	g1 plane as one	of ISO
       8859.  Otherwise, less try to parse the JLESSPLANESET variable as  real
       escape  sequences  for setting up, and "\e" in JLESSPLANESET is treated
       as escape code when parsing.

       Less understand almost all escape sequence about	character set  in  the
       ISO 2022	code extension techniques.  There are many escape sequences to
       select  the  character set.  On the one hand, less output only 6	escape
       sequences to select a character set: '^[(', '^[-', '^[$(', '^[$-', '^N'
       and '^O'.  It means less	is friendly to a terminal and a	terminal  emu-
       lator.

       And  there is special "character	set" for keyboard inputs.  The JLESSK-
       EYCHARSET environment variable is used for such purpose.	 Possible val-
       ues of it are equal to the JLESSCHARSET environment variable.

       If the LESSCHARSET environment variable is not set, the default charac-
       ter set is latin1.  However, if the string  "UTF-8"  is	found  in  the
       LC_ALL,	LC_CTYPE or LANG environment variables,	then the default char-
       acter set is utf-8 instead.

       In special 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	repre-
       sents  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 example,	"bccc4b."  would  mean
       character  0  is	 binary, 1, 2 and 3 are	control, 4, 5, 6 and 7 are bi-
       nary, 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	 char-
       acter 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 the  string  "UTF-8"
       is found	in the LC_ALL, LC_TYPE or LANG environment variables, then the
       default character set is	utf-8.

       If that string is not found, but	your system supports the setlocale in-
       terface,	 less will use setlocale to determine the character set.  set-
       locale is controlled by setting the LANG	or LC_CTYPE environment	 vari-
       ables.

       Finally,	 if the	setlocale interface is also not	available, the default
       character set is	latin1.

       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 char-
       acter 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  normal.  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 LESSBINFMT	is specified is	"*s<%X>".

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	 ordi-
       nary  user need not understand the details of constructing personalized
       prompt strings.

       A percent sign followed by a single character is	expanded according  to
       what the	following character is:

       %bX    Replaced	by the byte offset into	the current input file.	 The b
	      is followed by a single character	(shown as X above) which spec-
	      ifies the	line whose byte	offset is to be	used.  If the  charac-
	      ter  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 bot-
	      tom 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 equiva-
	      lently, 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.

       %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.

       %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.

       %x     Replaced by the name of the next input file in the list.

       %K     Replaced by the name of the last non ASCII character set or code
	      set.

       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	evalu-
       ated.  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 period 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  in-
	      put file is not the last one).

       Any  characters	other than the special ones (question mark, colon, pe-
       riod, 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	"Stan-
       dard input".

       ?f%f .?ltLine %lt:?pt%pt\%:?btByte %bt:-...

       This prompt would print the filename, if	known.	The filename  is  fol-
       lowed  by  the  line  number, if	known, otherwise the percent if	known,
       otherwise the byte offset if known.  Otherwise, a dash is printed.  No-
       tice 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(file %i of %m) ..?e(END) ?x- Next\: %x..%t

       This  prints  the  filename if this is the first	prompt in a file, fol-
       lowed 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	refer-
       ence,  here  are	 the defaults for the other two	prompts	(-m and	-M re-
       spectively).  Each is broken into two lines here	for readability	only.

       ?n?f%f .?m(file %i of %m) ..?e(END) ?x- Next\: %x.:
	    ?pB%pB\%:byte %bB?s/%s...%t

       ?f%f .?n?m(file %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(file %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  ex-
       panded  in  the	same way as the	prompt strings.	 The default value for
       LESSEDIT	is:

	    %E ?lm+%lm.	%f

       Note that this expands to the editor name, followed by a	+ and the line
       number, followed	by the 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.  This means these	features are disabled:

	      !	     the shell command

	      |	     the pipe command

	      :e     the examine command.

	      v	     the editing command

	      s	 -o  log files

	      -k     use of lesskey files

	      -t     use of tags files

		     metacharacters in filenames, such as *

		     filename completion (TAB, ^L)

       Less can	also be	compiled to be permanently in "secure" mode.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       Environment variables may be specified either in	the system environment
       as  usual,  or in a lesskey (1) file.  If environment variables are de-
       fined 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	 vari-
	      ables is the name	of the user's home directory if	the HOME vari-
	      able 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.

       JLESS  same as the LESS environment variable.

       LESSANSIENDCHARS
	      Characters which are assumed to end an  ANSI  color  escape  se-
	      quence (default "m").

       LESSBINFMT
	      Format for displaying non-printable, non-control characters.

       LESSCHARDEF
	      Defines a	character set.

       JLESSCHARSET
	      Selects a	predefined character set.

       LESSCHARSET
	      Selects  a  predefined  character	set if JLESSCHARSET is not de-
	      fined.

       JLESSKEYCHARSET
	      Selects a	predefined character set for keyboard inputs.

       JLESSPLANESET
	      Selects a	predefined plane set of	the ISO	 2022  code  extension
	      techniques.

       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  discus-
	      sion 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.

       LESSKEY
	      Name of the default lesskey(1) file.

       LESSKEY_SYSTEM
	      Name of the default system-wide lesskey(1) file.

       LESSMETACHARS
	      List of characters which are considered "metacharacters" by  the
	      shell.

       LESSMETAESCAPE
	      Prefix  which  less will add before each metacharacter in	a com-
	      mand 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.

       LESSSEPARATOR
	      String to	be appended to a directory name	 in  filename  comple-
	      tion.

       LINES  Sets  the	 number	of lines on the	screen.	 Takes precedence over
	      the number of lines 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.)

       PATH   User's search path (used to find a lesskey file  on  MS-DOS  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).

SEE ALSO
       lesskey(1)

WARNINGS
       The = command and prompts (unless changed by -P)	report the  line  num-
       bers of the lines at the	top and	bottom of the screen, but the byte and
       percent of the line after the one at the	bottom of the screen.

       If  the	:e  command is used to name more than one file,	and one	of the
       named files has been viewed previously, the new files  may  be  entered
       into the	list in	an unexpected order.

       On  certain  older  terminals (the so-called "magic cookie" terminals),
       search highlighting will	cause an erroneous display.   On  such	termi-
       nals,  search  highlighting  is	disabled  by default to	avoid possible
       problems.

       In certain cases, when search highlighting is enabled and a search pat-
       tern begins with	a ^, more text than the	matching string	may  be	 high-
       lighted.	 (This problem does not	occur when less	is compiled to use the
       POSIX regular expression	package.)

       When  viewing  text containing ANSI color escape	sequences using	the -R
       option, searching will not find text containing an embedded escape  se-
       quence.	 Also, search highlighting may change the color	of some	of the
       text which follows the highlighted text.

       On some systems,	setlocale claims that ASCII characters 0 thru  31  are
       control	characters rather than binary characters.  This	causes less to
       treat some binary files as ordinary, non-binary files.	To  workaround
       this  problem,  set the environment variable LESSCHARSET	to "ascii" (or
       whatever	character set is appropriate).

       See http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less for the latest	list of	 known
       bugs in this version of less.

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2002  Mark	Nudelman

       less  is	 part of the GNU project and is	free software.	You can	redis-
       tribute it and/or modify	it under the terms of either (1) the GNU  Gen-
       eral  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 FIT-
       NESS FOR	A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License  for
       more details.

AUTHOR
       Mark Nudelman <markn@greenwoodsoftware.com>
       Send  bug  reports  or  comments	 to  the  above	 address  or  to  bug-
       less@gnu.org.
       For more	information, see the less  homepage  at	 http://www.greenwood-
       software.com/less.

PATCH
       Copyright  (c)  1994-2005   Kazushi  (Jam) Marukawa, Japanized routines
       only
       Comments	about this part	to: jam@pobox.com
       You may distribute under	the terms of the Less License.

			Version	382+iso259: 06 Sep 2005		       LESS(1)

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