Major changes between "less" versions 170 and 237 * By popular demand, text which matches the current search pattern is highlighted. New -F flag disables this feature. * Henry Spencer's regexp.c is now included, for systems which do not have a regular expression library. regexp.c is Copyright (c) 1986 by University of Toronto. * New line-editing keys, including command history (arrow keys) and filename completion (TAB). * Input preprocessor allows modification of input files (e.g. uncompress) via LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE environment variables. * New -X flag disables sending termcap "ti" and "te" (initialize and deinitialize) strings to the terminal. * Changing -i from within less now correctly affects a subsequent repeated search. * Searching for underlined or overstruck text now works when the -u flag is in effect, rather than the -i flag. * Use setlocale (LANG and LC_CTYPE environment variables) to determine the character set if LESSCHARSET/LESSCHARDEF are not set. * The default format for displaying binary characters is now standout (reverse video) rather than blinking. This can still be changed by setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable. * Use autoconf installation technology. * Ported to MS-DOS. ******************************** Things that may surprise you ******************************** * When you enter text at the bottom of the screen (search string, filename, etc.), some keys act different than previously. Specifically, \ (backslash), ESC, TAB, BACKTAB, and control-L now have line editing functions. * Some previous unofficial versions of less were able to display compressed files. The new LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE feature now provides this functionality in a different way. * Some previous unofficial versions of less provided a -Z flag to set the number of lines of text to retain between full screen scrolls. The -z-n flag (that is, -z with a negative number) provides this functionality. ====================================================================== Major changes between "less" versions 123 and 170 * New option -j allows target lines to be positioned anywhere on screen. * New option -S truncates displayed line at the screen width, rather than wrapping onto the next line. * New option -y limits amount of forward scroll. * New option -T specifies a "tags" file. * Non-printable, non-control characters are displayed in octal. Such characters, as well as control characters, are displayed in blinking mode. * New command -+ sets an option to its default. * New command -- sets an option to the opposite of its default. * Lesskey file may have a string appended to a key's action, which acts as though typed in after the command. * New commands ESC-^F and ESC-^B match arbitrary types of brackets. * New command F monitors a growing file (like "tail -f"). * New command | pipes a section of the input file into a shell command. * New command :x directly jumps to a file in the command line list. * Search commands have been enhanced and reorganized: n Repeat search, same direction. N Repeat search, opposite direction. ESC-/ Search forward thru file boundaries ESC-? Search backward thru file boundaries ESC-n Repeat search thru file boundaries, same direction. ESC-N Repeat search thru file boundaries, opposite direction. Special character * causes search to search thru file boundaries. Special character @ causes search to begin at start/end of file list. * Examining a new file adds it to the command line list. A list of files, or an expression which matches more than one file, may be examined; all of them are added to the command line list. * Environment variables LESSCHARSET and LESSCHARDEF can define a non-ASCII character set. * Partial support for MSDOS, including options -R for repainting screen on quit, -v/-V to select video mode, and -W to change window size. ====================================================================== Major changes between "less" versions 97 and 123 * New option (-N) causes line numbers to be displayed in the text of the file (like vi "set nu"). * New option (-?) prints help message immediately. * New option (-r) displays "raw" control characters, without mapping them to ^X notation. * New option (-f) forces less to open non-regular files (directories, etc). * New option (-k) can be used to specify lesskey files by name. * New option (-y) can be used to set a forward scroll limit (like -h sets a backward scroll limit). * File marks (set by the m command) are now preserved when a new file is edited. The ' command can thus be used to switch files. * New command ESC-/ searches all files (on the command line) for a pattern. * New command ESC-n repeats previous search, spanning files. * The N command has been changed to repeat the previous search in the reverse direction. The old N command is still available via :n. * New command ESC-N repeats previous search in the reverse direction and spanning files. * 8 bit characters are now supported. A new option (-g) can be used to strip off the eighth bit (the previous behavior). * Options which take a following string (like -t) may now optionally have a space between the option letter and the string. * Six new commands { } ( ) [ and ] can be used to match brackets of specific types, similar to vi % command. * New commands z and w move forward/backward one window and simultaneously set the window size. * Prompt string expansion now has %L for line number of the last line in the file, and %E for the name of the editor. Also, % escapes which refer to a line (b=bottom, t=top, etc.) can use j for the jump target line. * New environment variable LESSEDIT can be used to tailor the command string passed to the editor by the v command. * Examining a file which was previously examined will return to the same position in the file. * A "%" is expanded to the current filename and a "#" to the previous filename, in both shell commands and the E command. (Previously % worked only in shell commands and # worked only in the E command.) * New command ":ta" is equivalent to "-t". * New command "s" is equivalent to "-l". * The - command may be followed by "+X" to revert to the default for option X, or "-X" to get the opposite of the default. * Lesskey files may now include characters after the action as extra input to be parsed after the action; for example: "toggle-option X" to toggle a specific option X.