Linux Commands: more and less

Command line options are described below. Options are also taken from the environment variable MORE (make sure to precede them with a dash (``-'')) but command line options will override them.

-num

This option specifies an integer which is the screen size (in lines).

-d

more will prompt the user with the message "[Press space to continue, 'q' to quit.]" and will display "[Press 'h' for instructions.]" instead of ringing the bell when an illegal key is pressed.

-l

more usually treats ^L (form feed) as a special character, and will pause after any line that contains a form feed. The -l option will prevent this behavior.

-f

Causes more to count logical, rather than screen lines (i.e., long lines are not folded).

-p

Do not scroll. Instead, clear the whole screen and then display the text.

-c

Do not scroll. Instead, paint each screen from the top, clearing the remainder of each line as it is displayed.

-s

Squeeze multiple blank lines into one.

-u

Suppress underlining.

+/

The +/ option specifies a string that will be searched for before each file is displayed.

+num

Start at line number num

COMMANDS

Interactive commands for more are based on vi(1). Some commands may be preceded by a decimal number, called k in the descriptions below. In the following descriptions, ^X means control-X.

h or ?

Help: display a summary of these commands. If you forget all the other commands, remember this one.

SPACE

Display next k lines of text. Defaults to current screen size.

z

Display next k lines of text. Defaults to current screen size. Argument becomes new default.

RETURN

Display next k lines of text. Defaults to 1. Argument becomes new default.

d or ^D

Scroll k lines. Default is current scroll size, initially 11. Argument becomes new default.

q or Q or INTERRUPT

Exit.

s

Skip forward k lines of text. Defaults to 1.

f

Skip forward k screenfuls of text. Defaults to 1.

b or ^B

Skip backwards k screenfuls of text. Defaults to 1. Only works with files, not pipes.

Go to place where previous search started.

=

Display current line number.

/ pattern

Search for kth occurrence of regular expression. Defaults to 1.

n

Search for kth occurrence of last r.e. Defaults to 1.

! or :!

Execute in a subshell

v

Start up an editor at current line. 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.

^L

Redraw screen

:n

Go to kth next file. Defaults to 1.

:p

Go to kth previous file. Defaults to 1.

:f

Display current file name and line number

.

Repeat previous command