Simtel MSDOS 1992 June

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Simtel MSDOS 1992 June / SIMTEL_0692.cdr / msdos / txtutl / tcless.arc / TCLESS.DOC < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1988-04-22 | 15KB | 397 lines

LLLLEEEESSSSSSSS(((()))) MMMMSSSS----DDDDOOOOSSSS LLLLEEEESSSSSSSS(((()))) NNNNAAAAMMMMEEEE less - opposite of more SSSSYYYYNNNNOOOOPPPPSSSSIIIISSSS lllleeeessssssss [[[[----ccccCCCCeeeeppppttttmmmmMMMMqqqqQQQQuuuuUUUU]]]] [[[[----hhhh_N]]]] [[[[----bbbb[[[[ffffpppp]]]]_N]]]] [[[[++++_c_m_d]]]] [[[[_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e]]]]............ DDDDEEEESSSSCCCCRRRRIIIIPPPPTTTTIIIIOOOONNNN _L_e_s_s is a program similar to _m_o_r_e (1), but which allows backwards movement in the file as well as forward movement. Also, _l_e_s_s does not have to read the entire input file before starting, so with large input files it starts up faster than text editors like _v_i (1). Commands are based on both _m_o_r_e and _v_i. Commands may be preceeded by a decimal number, called N in the descriptions below. The number is used by some commands, as indicated. CCCCOOOOMMMMMMMMAAAANNNNDDDDSSSS In the following descriptions, ^X means control-X. h Help: display a summary of these commands. If you forget all the other commands, remember this one. SPACE Scroll forward N lines, default one window (see option -z below). If N is more than the screen size, only the final screenful is displayed. f or ^F Same as SPACE. b or ^B Scroll backward N lines, default one window (see option -z below). If N is more than the screen size, only the final screenful is displayed. RETURN Scroll forward N lines, default 1. The entire N lines are displayed, even if N is more than the screen size. e or ^E Same as RETURN. j or ^J Also the same as RETURN. y or ^Y Scroll backward N lines, default 1. The entire N lines are displayed, even if N is more than the screen size. Page 1 (printed 4/22/88) LLLLEEEESSSSSSSS(((()))) MMMMSSSS----DDDDOOOOSSSS LLLLEEEESSSSSSSS(((()))) k or ^K Same as y. d or ^D Scroll forward N lines, default 10. If N is specified, it becomes the new default for subsequent d and u commands. u or ^U Scroll backward N lines, default 10. If N is specified, it becomes the new default for subsequent d and u 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. g Go to line N in the file, default 1 (beginning of file). (Warning: this may be slow if N is large.) G Go to line N in the file, default the end of the file. (Warning: this may be slow if standard input, rather than a file, is being read.) p Go to a position N percent into the file. N should be between 0 and 100. (This is possible if standard input is being read, but only if _l_e_s_s has already read to the end of the file. It is always fast, but not always useful.) % Same as p. 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. Followed by another single quote, returns to the postion at which the last "large" movement command was executed. All marks are lost when a new file is examined. /pattern Search forward in the file for the N-th line containing the pattern. N defaults to 1. The pattern is a regular expression, as recognized by _e_d, and, in this implementation, may include the additional metacharacters unique to _e_g_r_e_p. The search starts at the second line displayed (but see the -t option, which Page 2 (printed 4/22/88) LLLLEEEESSSSSSSS(((()))) MMMMSSSS----DDDDOOOOSSSS LLLLEEEESSSSSSSS(((()))) changes this). ?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. n Repeat previous search, for N-th line containing the last pattern. E 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. N Examine the next file (from the list of files given in the command line). If a number N is specified (not to be confused with the command N), the N-th next file is examined. P Examine the previous file. If a number N is specified, the N-th previous file is examined. = or ^G Displays some information about the file being viewed, including its name and the byte offset of the bottom line being displayed. If possible, it also prints the length of the file and the percent of the file above the last displayed line. L Displays the number of the line appearing at the top of the screen, in addition to the information displayed with the = or ^G command (file name, byte offset, length and approximate percentage). _N_o_t_e: this command can be slow, particularly on long files. - Followed by one of the command line option letters (see below), this will toggle the setting of that option and print a message describing the new setting. +cmd Causes the specified cmd to be executed each time a new file is examined. For example, +G causes _l_e_s_s to initially display each file starting at the end rather than the beginning. V Prints the version number of _l_e_s_s being run. q Exits _l_e_s_s. The following two commands are valid in the DOS version of _l_e_s_s. v Invokes an editor to edit the current file being Page 3 (printed 4/22/88) LLLLEEEESSSSSSSS(((()))) MMMMSSSS----DDDDOOOOSSSS LLLLEEEESSSSSSSS(((()))) viewed. The editor is taken from the environment variable EDITOR, or defaults to "emacs". ! shell-command Invokes a shell to run the shell-command given. OOOOPPPPTTTTIIIIOOOONNNNSSSS Command line options are described below. Most options may be changed while _l_e_s_s is running, via the "-" command. Options are also taken from the environment variable "LESS". For example, if you like more-style prompting, to avoid typing "less -m ..." each time _l_e_s_s is invoked, you might tell DOS: set LESS=m The environment variable is parsed before the command line, so command line options override the LESS environment variable. -t Normally, forward searches start just after the top displayed line (that is, at the second displayed line). Thus forward searches include the currently displayed screen. The -t option causes forward searches to start just after the bottom line displayed, thus skipping the currently displayed screen. -m Normally, _l_e_s_s prompts with a colon. The -m option causes _l_e_s_s to prompt verbosely (like _m_o_r_e), with the percent into the file. -M The -M option causes _l_e_s_s to prompt even more verbosely than _m_o_r_e. -q Normally, if an attempt is made to scroll past the end of the file or before the beginning of the file, the terminal bell is rung to indicate this fact. The -q option tells _l_e_s_s not to ring the bell at such times. If the terminal has a "visual bell", it is used instead. -Q Even if -q is given, _l_e_s_s will ring the bell on certain other errors, such as typing an invalid character. The -Q option tells _l_e_s_s to be quiet all the time; that is, never ring the terminal bell. If the terminal has a "visual bell", it is used instead. -e Normally the only way to exit less is via the "q" command. The -e option tells less to automatically exit the second time it reaches end-of-file. Page 4 (printed 4/22/88) LLLLEEEESSSSSSSS(((()))) MMMMSSSS----DDDDOOOOSSSS LLLLEEEESSSSSSSS(((()))) -u If the -u option is given, backspaces are treated as printable characters; that is, they are sent to the terminal when they appear in the input. -U If the -U option is given, backspaces are not printed. 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 preceeding character. -p Normally, _l_e_s_s will repaint the screen by scrolling from the bottom of the screen. If the -p option is set, when _l_e_s_s needs to change the entire display, it will clear the screen and paint from the top line down. -h Normally, _l_e_s_s will scroll backwards when backwards movement is necessary. The -h option specifies a maximum number of lines to scroll backwards. If it is necessary to move backwards more than this many lines, the screen is repainted in a forward direction. (If the terminal does not have the ability to scroll backwards, -h0 is implied.) -b The -b_n option tells _l_e_s_s to use a non-standard buffer size. There are two standard (default) buffer sizes, one is used when a file is being read and the other when a pipe (standard input) is being read. The current defaults are 5 buffers for files and 12 for pipes. (Buffers are 1024 bytes.) The number _n specifies a different number of buffers to use. The -b may be followed by "f", in which case only the file default is changed, or by "p" in which case only the pipe default is changed. Otherwise, both are changed. -c Normally, when data is read by _l_e_s_s, it is scanned to ensure that bit 7 (the high order bit) is turned off in each byte read, and to ensure that there are no null (zero) bytes in the data (null bytes are turned into "@" characters). If the data is known to be "clean", the -c option will tell _l_e_s_s to skip this checking, causing an imperceptible speed improvement. (However, if the data is not "clean", unpredictable results may occur.) + If a command line option begins with ++++, the remainder of that option is taken to be an initial command to Page 5 (printed 4/22/88) LLLLEEEESSSSSSSS(((()))) MMMMSSSS----DDDDOOOOSSSS LLLLEEEESSSSSSSS(((()))) _l_e_s_s. For example, +G tells _l_e_s_s to start at the end of the file rather than the beginning, and +/xyz tells it to start at the first occurence 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 initial command for every file. BBBBUUUUGGGGSSSS When used on standard input (rather than a file), you can move backwards only a finite amount, corresponding to that portion of the file which is still buffered. The -b option may be used to expand the buffer space. Page 6 (printed 4/22/88)