Tribblix: manual page: more.1

MORE(1) User Commands MORE(1)

NAME

more, page - browse or page through a text file

SYNOPSIS

/usr/bin/more [-cdflrsuw] [-lines] [+ linenumber]
[+/ pattern] [file]...

/usr/bin/page [-cdflrsuw] [-lines] [+ linenumber]
[+/ pattern] [file]...

/usr/xpg4/bin/more [-cdeisu] [-n number] [-p command]
[-t tagstring] [file]...

/usr/xpg4/bin/more [-cdeisu] [-n number] [+ command]
[-t tagstring] [file]...

DESCRIPTION

The more utility is a filter that displays the contents of a text
file on the terminal, one screenful at a time. It normally pauses
after each screenful. /usr/bin/more then prints --More-- and
/usr/xpg4/bin/more then prints file at the bottom of the screen. If
more is reading from a file rather than a pipe, the percentage of
characters displayed so far is also shown.

The more utility scrolls up to display one more line in response to a
RETURN character. more displays another screenful in response to a
SPACE character. Other commands are listed below.

The page utility clears the screen before displaying the next
screenful of text. page only provides a one-line overlap between
screens.

The more utility sets the terminal to NOECHO mode, so that the output
can be continuous. Commands that you type do not normally show up on
your terminal, except for the / and ! commands.

The /usr/bin/more utility exits after displaying the last specified
file. /usr/xpg4/bin/more prompts for a command at the last line of
the last specified file.

If the standard output is not a terminal, more acts just like cat(1),
except that a header is printed before each file in a series.

OPTIONS

The following options are supported for both /usr/bin/more and
/usr/xpg4/bin/more:

-c
Clears before displaying. Redraws the screen instead of
scrolling for faster displays. This option is ignored if the
terminal does not have the ability to clear to the end of a
line.

-d
Displays error messages rather than ringing the terminal bell
if an unrecognized command is used. This is helpful for
inexperienced users.

-s
Squeeze. Replaces multiple blank lines with a single blank
line. This is helpful when viewing nroff(1) output on the
screen.

/usr/bin/more
The following options are supported for /usr/bin/more only:

-f
Does not fold long lines. This is useful when lines
contain nonprinting characters or escape sequences,
such as those generated when nroff(1) output is piped
through ul(1).

-l
Does not treat FORMFEED characters (Control-l) as page
breaks. If -l is not used, more pauses to accept
commands after any line containing a ^L character
(Control-l). Also, if a file begins with a FORMFEED,
the screen is cleared before the file is printed.

-r
Normally, more ignores control characters that it does
not interpret in some way. The -r option causes these
to be displayed as ^C where C stands for any such
control character.

-u
Suppresses generation of underlining escape sequences.
Normally, more handles underlining, such as that
produced by nroff(1), in a manner appropriate to the
terminal. If the terminal can perform underlining or
has a stand-out mode, more supplies appropriate escape
sequences as called for in the text file.

-w
Normally, more exits when it comes to the end of its
input. With -w, however, more prompts and waits for
any key to be struck before exiting.

-lines
Displays the indicated number of lines in each
screenful, rather than the default (the number of
lines in the terminal screen less two).

+linenumber
Start up at linenumber.

+/pattern
Start up two lines above the line containing the
regular expression pattern. Note: Unlike editors, this
construct should not end with a `/.' If it does, then
the trailing slash is taken as a character in the
search pattern.

/usr/xpg4/bin/more
The following options are supported for /usr/xpg4/bin/more only:

-e
Exits immediately after writing the last line of the
last file in the argument list.

-i
Performs pattern matching in searches without regard
to case.

-n number
Specifies the number of lines per screenful. The
number argument is a positive decimal integer. The
-n option overrides any values obtained from the
environment.

-p command
+command
For each file examined, initially executes the more
command in the command argument. If the command is a
positioning command, such as a line number or a
regular expression search, set the current position
to represent the final results of the command,
without writing any intermediate lines of the file.
For example, the two commands:

more -p 1000j file
more -p 1000G file

are equivalent and start the display with the
current position at line 1000, bypassing the lines
that j would write and scroll off the screen if it
had been issued during the file examination. If the
positioning command is unsuccessful, the first line
in the file will be the current position.

-t tagstring
Writes the screenful of the file containing the tag
named by the tagstring argument. See the ctags(1)
utility.

-u
Treats a backspace character as a printable control
character, displayed as a ^H (Control-h),
suppressing backspacing and the special handling
that produces underlined or standout-mode text on
some terminal types. Also, does not ignore a
carriage-return character at the end of a line.

If both the -t tagstring and -p command (or the obsolescent +command)
options are given, the -t tagstring is processed first.

USAGE

Environment

more uses the terminal's terminfo(5) entry to determine its display
characteristics.

more looks in the environment variable MORE for any preset options.
For instance, to page through files using the -c mode by default, set
the value of this variable to -c. (Normally, the command sequence to
set up this environment variable is placed in the .login or .profile
file).

Commands

The commands take effect immediately. It is not necessary to type a
carriage return unless the command requires a file, command,
tagstring, or pattern. Up to the time when the command character
itself is given, the user may type the line kill character to cancel
the numerical argument being formed. In addition, the user may type
the erase character to redisplay the `--More--(xx%)' or file message.

In the following commands, i is a numerical argument (1 by default).

iSPACE
Display another screenful, or i more lines if i is
specified.

iRETURN
Display another line, or i more lines, if specified.

ib
i^B
(Control-b) Skip back i screenfuls and then print a
screenful.

id
i^D
(Control-d) Scroll forward one half screenful or i more
lines. If i is specified, the count becomes the default
for subsequent d and u commands.

if
Skip i screens full and then print a screenful.

h
Help. Give a description of all the more commands.

^L
(Control-l) Refresh.

in
Search for the ith occurrence of the last pattern
entered.

q
Q
Exit from more.

is
Skip i lines and then print a screenful.

v
Drop into the vi editor at the current line of the
current file.

iz
Same as SPACE, except that i, if present, becomes the
new default number of lines per screenful.

=
Display the current line number.

i/pattern
Search forward for the ith occurrence of the regular
expression pattern. Display the screenful starting two
lines before the line that contains the ith match for
the regular expression pattern, or the end of a pipe,
whichever comes first. If more is displaying a file and
there is no match, its position in the file remains
unchanged. Regular expressions can be edited using erase
and kill characters. Erasing back past the first column
cancels the search command.

!command
Invoke a shell to execute command. The characters % and
!, when used within command are replaced with the
current filename and the previous shell command,
respectively. If there is no current filename, % is not
expanded. Prepend a backslash to these characters to
escape expansion.

:f
Display the current filename and line number.

i:n
Skip to the ith next filename given in the command line,
or to the last filename in the list if i is out of
range.

i:p
Skip to the ith previous filename given in the command
line, or to the first filename if i is out of range. If
given while more is positioned within a file, go to the
beginning of the file. If more is reading from a pipe,
more simply rings the terminal bell.

:q
:Q
Exit from more (same as q or Q).

/usr/bin/more
The following commands are available only in /usr/bin/more:

'
Single quote. Go to the point from which the last search
started. If no search has been performed in the current
file, go to the beginning of the file.

.
Dot. Repeat the previous command.

^\
Halt a partial display of text. more stops sending output,
and displays the usual --More-- prompt. Some output is lost
as a result.

/usr/xpg4/bin/more
The following commands are available only in /usr/xpg4/bin/more:

i^F
(Control-f) Skip i screens full and print a
screenful. (Same as if.)

^G
(Control-g) Display the current line number (same as
=).

ig
Go to line number i with the default of the first
line in the file.

iG
Go to line number i with the default of the Last
line in the file.

ij
Display another line, or i more lines, if specified.
(Same as iRETURN.)

ik
Scroll backwards one or i lines, if specified.

mletter
Mark the current position with the name letter.

N
Reverse direction of search.

r
Refresh the screen.

R
Refresh the screen, discarding any buffered input.

iu
i^U
(Control-u) Scroll backwards one half a screen of i
lines, if specified. If i is specified, the count
becomes the new default for subsequent d and u
commands.

ZZ
Exit from more (same as q).

:e file
Examine (display) a new file. If no file is
specified, the current file is redisplayed.

:t tagstring
Go to the tag named by the tagstring argument and
scroll/rewrite the screen with the tagged line in
the current position. See the ctags utility.

'letter
Return to the position that was previously marked
with the name letter.

''
Return to the position from which the last move of
more than a screenful was made. Defaults to the
beginning of the file.

i?[!]pattern
Search backward in the file for the ith line
containing the pattern. The ! specifies to search
backward for the ith line that does not contain the
pattern.

i/!pattern
Search forward in the file for the ith line that
does not contain the pattern.

![command]
Invoke a shell or the specified command.

Large File Behavior

See largefile(7) for the description of the behavior of more and page
when encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2^31
bytes).

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

See environ(7) for descriptions of the following environment
variables that affect the execution of more: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_COLLATE
(/usr/xpg4/bin/more only), LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, NLSPATH, and TERM.

/usr/xpg4/bin/more
The following environment variables also affect the execution of
/usr/xpg4/bin/more:

COLUMNS
Overrides the system selected horizontal screen size.

EDITOR
Used by the v command to select an editor.

LINES
Overrides the system selected vertical screen size. The
-n option has precedence over LINES in determining the
number of lines in a screen.

MORE
A string specifying options as described in the OPTIONS
section, above. As in a command line, The options must be
separated by blank characters and each option
specification must start with a -. Any command line
options are processed after those specified in MORE as
though the command line were: more $MORE options operands

EXIT STATUS

The following exit values are returned:

0
Successful completion.

>0
An error occurred.

FILES

/usr/lib/more.help
help file for /usr/bin/more and /usr/bin/page
only.

ATTRIBUTES

NOTES

/usr/bin/more
Skipping backwards is too slow on large files.

/usr/xpg4/bin/more
This utility will not behave correctly if the terminal is not set up
properly.

November 4, 2005 MORE(1)