less -?
less --help
less -V
less --version
less [-[+]aABcCdeEfFgGiIJKLmMnNqQrRsSuUVwWX~]
[-b space] [-h lines] [-j line] [-k keyfile]
[-{oO} logfile] [-p pattern] [-P prompt] [-t tag]
[-T tagsfile] [-x tab,...] [-y lines] [-[z] lines]
[-# shift] [+[+]cmd] [--] [filename]...
(See the OPTIONS section for alternate option syntax with long option names.)
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-? or --help
This option displays a summary of the commands accepted by less (the same as the h command).
(Depending on how your shell interprets the question mark, it may be necessary to quote the
question mark, thus: "-\?".)
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-a or --search-skip-screen
By default, forward searches start at the top of the displayed screen and backwards searches start
at the bottom of the displayed screen (except for repeated searches invoked by the n or N
commands, which start after or before the "target" line respectively; see the -j option for more
about the target line). The -a option causes forward searches to instead start at the bottom of
the screen and backward searches to start at the top of the screen, thus skipping all lines
displayed on the screen.
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-A or --SEARCH-SKIP-SCREEN
Causes all forward searches (not just non-repeated searches) to start just after the target line,
and all backward searches to start just before the target line. Thus, forward searches will skip
part of the displayed screen (from the first line up to and including the target line). Similarly
backwards searches will skip the displayed screen from the last line up to and including the
target line. This was the default behavior in less versions prior to 441.
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-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 can be read into
memory.
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-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
allocated. 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 recently viewed part of the piped data is
kept in memory; any earlier data is lost.
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-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.
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-C or --CLEAR-SCREEN
Same as -c, for compatibility with older versions of less.
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-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.
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-Dxcolor or --color=xcolor
[MS-DOS only] Sets the color of the text displayed. x is a single character which selects the
type of text whose color is being 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.M, where M is
the normal background color.
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-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.
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-E or --QUIT-AT-EOF
Causes less to automatically exit the first time it reaches end-of-file.
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-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 warning message when a binary file is opened. By default, less will
refuse to open non-regular files. Note that some operating systems will not allow directories to
be read, even if -f is set.
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-F or --quit-if-one-screen
Causes less to automatically exit if the entire file can be displayed on the first screen.
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-g or --hilite-search
Normally, less will highlight ALL strings which match the last search command. The -g option
changes this behavior to highlight only the particular string which was found by the last search
command. This can cause less to run somewhat faster than the default.
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-G or --HILITE-SEARCH
The -G option suppresses all highlighting of strings found by search commands.
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-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.)
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-i or --ignore-case
Causes searches to ignore case; that is, uppercase and lowercase are considered identical. This
option is ignored if any uppercase letters appear in the search pattern; in other words, if a
pattern contains uppercase letters, then that search does not ignore case.
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-I or --IGNORE-CASE
Like -i, but searches ignore case even if the pattern contains uppercase letters.
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-jn or --jump-target=n
Specifies a line on the screen where the "target" line is to be positioned. The target line is
the line specified by any command to search for a pattern, jump to a line number, jump to a file
percentage or jump to a tag. The screen line may be 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. Alternately, the screen line may be specified as a fraction of the height of the screen,
starting with a decimal point: .5 is in the middle of the screen, .3 is three tenths down from the
first line, and so on. If the line is specified as a fraction, the actual line number is
recalculated if the terminal window is resized, so that the target line remains at the specified
fraction of the screen height. If any form of the -j option is used, forward searches begin at
the line immediately after the target line, and backward searches begin at the target line, unless
changed by -a or -A. For example, if "-j4" is used, the target line is the fourth line on the
screen, so forward searches begin at the fifth line on the screen.
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-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 effect.
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-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.
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-K or --quit-on-intr
Causes less to exit immediately (with status 2) when an interrupt character (usually ^C) is typed.
Normally, an interrupt character causes less to stop whatever it is doing and return to its
command prompt. Note that use of this option makes it impossible to return to the command prompt
from the "F" command.
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-L or --no-lessopen
Ignore the LESSOPEN environment variable (see the INPUT PREPROCESSOR 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.
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-m or --long-prompt
Causes less to prompt verbosely (like more), with the percent into the file. By default, less
prompts with a colon.
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-M or --LONG-PROMPT
Causes less to prompt even more verbosely than more.
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-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 option
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 below).
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-N or --LINE-NUMBERS
Causes a line number to be displayed at the beginning of each line in the display.
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-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.
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-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.
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-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 occurrence of pattern in the file.
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-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 environment variable, rather than being typed in with each less
command. Such an option must either be the last option in the LESS variable, or be terminated by
a dollar 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.
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-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.
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-Q or --QUIET or --SILENT
Causes totally "quiet" operation: the terminal bell is never rung.
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-r or --raw-control-chars
Causes "raw" control characters to be displayed. The default is to display control characters
using the caret notation; for example, 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 display
problems may result, such as long lines being split in the wrong place.
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-R or --RAW-CONTROL-CHARS
Like -r, but only ANSI "color" escape sequences are output in "raw" form. Unlike -r, the screen
appearance is maintained correctly in most cases. ANSI "color" escape sequences are sequences of
the form:
ESC [ ... m
where the "..." is zero or more color specification characters For the purpose of keeping track of
screen appearance, 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 characters which can end a color escape
sequence. And you can make less think that characters other than the standard ones may appear
between the ESC and the m by setting the environment variable LESSANSIMIDCHARS to the list of
characters which can appear.
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-s or --squeeze-blank-lines
Causes consecutive blank lines to be squeezed into a single blank line. This is useful when
viewing nroff output.
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-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.
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-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 directory
called "tags", which was previously built by ctags (1) or an equivalent command. If the
environment variable LESSGLOBALTAGS is set, it is taken to be the name of a command compatible
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.
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-Ttagsfile or --tag-file=tagsfile
Specifies a tags file to be used instead of "tags".
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-u or --underline-special
Causes backspaces and carriage returns to be treated as printable characters; that is, they are
sent to the terminal when they appear in the input.
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-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 appear 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
capability. 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.
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-V or --version
Displays the version number of less.
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-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 immediately 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 movement. The entire line is highlighted, unless the -J option is in effect,
in which case only the status column is highlighted.
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-W or --HILITE-UNREAD
Like -w, but temporarily highlights the first new line after any forward movement command larger
than one line.
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-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 continue
with the same spacing as the last two. For example, -x9,17 will set tabs at positions 9, 17, 25,
33, etc. The default for n is 8.
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-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 clearing the
screen.
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-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 repainted 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.
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-"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).
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-~ 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.
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-# or --shift
Specifies the default number of positions to scroll horizontally in the RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW
commands. If the number specified is zero, it sets the default number of positions to one half of
the screen width. Alternately, the number may be specified as a fraction of the width of the
screen, starting with a decimal point: .5 is half of the screen width, .3 is three tenths of the
screen width, and so on. If the number is specified as a fraction, the actual number of scroll
positions is recalculated if the terminal window is resized, so that the actual scroll remains at
the specified fraction of the screen width.
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--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.
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--follow-name
Normally, if the input file is renamed while an F command is executing, less will continue to
display the contents of the original file despite its name change. If --follow-name is specified,
during an F command less will periodically attempt to reopen the file by name. If the reopen
succeeds and the file is a different file from the original (which means that a new file has been
created with the same name as the original (now renamed) file), less will display the contents of
that new file.
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-- A command line argument of "--" marks the end of option arguments. Any arguments following this
are interpreted as filenames. This can be useful when viewing a file whose name begins with a "-"
or "+".
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