Manual page for MORE(1)
more, page - browse or page through a text file
SYNOPSIS
more
[
-cdflsu
] [
-lines
] [
+linenumber
] [
+/pattern
]
[
filename
... ]
page
[
-cdflsu
] [
-lines
] [
+linenumber
] [
+/pattern
] [
filename
... ]
DESCRIPTION
more
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, and prints
--More--
at the bottom of the screen.
more
provides a two-line overlap between screens for continuity.
If
more
is reading from a file rather than a pipe, the percentage of
characters displayed so far is also shown.
more
scrolls up to display one more line in response to a
RETURN
character; it displays another screenful in response to a
SPACE
character. Other commands are listed below.
page
clears the screen before displaying the next screenful of text;
it only provides a one-line overlap between screens.
more
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.
If the standard output is not a terminal,
more
acts just like
cat.1v
except that a header is printed before each file in a series.
OPTIONS
- -c
-
Clear before displaying. Redrawing 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
-
Display error messages rather than ringing the terminal bell if
an unrecognized command is used.
This is helpful for inexperienced users.
- -f
-
Do 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
-
Do not treat
FORMFEED
characters (CTRL-D) as ``page breaks.'' If
-l
is not used,
more
pauses to accept commands after any line containing a
^L
character (CTRL-D). Also, if a file begins with a
FORMFEED,
the screen is cleared before the file is printed.
- -s
-
Squeeze. Replace multiple blank lines with a single
blank line. This is helpful when viewing
nroff.1
output, on the screen.
- -u
-
Suppress 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.
- -lines
-
Display 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.
USAGE
Environment
more
uses the terminal's
termcap.5
entry to determine its display characteristics, and
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.
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%)'
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.
- i^D
-
(CTRL-D)
Display (scroll down) 11 more lines.
i
is given, the scroll size is set to
i.
- id
-
Same as
^D.
- iz
-
Same as
SPACE,
except that
i,
if present, becomes the new default number
of lines per screenful.
- is
-
Skip
i
lines and then print a screenful.
- if
-
Skip
i
screenfuls and then print a screenful.
- i^B
-
(CTRL-B)
Skip back
i
screenfuls and then print a screenful.
- b
-
Same as
^B
(CTRL-D).
- q
-
- Q
-
Exit from
more.
- =
-
Display the current line number.
- v
-
Drop into the
vi.1
editor at the current line of the current
file.
- h
-
Help. Give a description of all the
more
commands.
- i/pattern
-
Search for the
ith
occurrence of the regular expression
pattern.
Display the screenful starting two lines prior to 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 such 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.
- in
-
Search for the
ith
occurrence of the last
pattern
entered.
- '
-
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.
- !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.
- 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.
- :f
-
Display the current filename and line number.
- :q
-
- :Q
-
Exit from
more
(same as
q
or
Q ).
- .
-
Dot. Repeat the previous command.
- ^\
-
Halt a partial display of text.
more
stops sending output, and displays the usual
--More--
prompt. Unfortunately, some output is lost as a result.
FILES
- /etc/termcap
-
terminal data base
- /usr/lib/more.help
-
help file
SEE ALSO
cat.1v
csh.1
man.1
script.1
sh.1
environ.5v
termcap.5
BUGS
Skipping backwards is too slow on large files.
Created by unroff & hp-tools.
© somebody (See intro for details). All Rights Reserved.
Last modified 11/5/97