Manual page for PG(1V)
pg - page through a file on a soft-copy terminal
SYNOPSIS
/usr/5bin/pg
[
-cefns
] [
-number
] [
-p
string
] [
+linenumber
] [
+/pattern/
] [
filename
... ]
AVAILABILITY
This command is available with the
System V
software installation option. Refer to
[a manual with the abbreviation INSTALL]
for information on how to install optional software.
DESCRIPTION
pg
is a filter that allows you to page through
filename,
one screenful at a time, on a soft-copy terminal. With a
filename
of
`-',
or no
filename
specified,
pg
reads from the standard input.
Each screenful is followed by a prompt.
If the user types a
RETURN,
another page is displayed;
other possibilities are enumerated below.
This command is different from previous paginators
in that it allows you to back up
and review something that has already passed.
The method for doing this is explained below.
In order to determine terminal attributes,
pg
scans the
terminfo.5v
data base for the terminal type specified by the
environment variable
TERM.
If
TERM
is not defined,
the terminal type
dumb
is assumed.
The responses that may be typed when
pg
pauses can be divided
into three categories: those causing further perusal, those that
search, and those that modify the perusal environment.
Commands which cause further perusal normally take a preceding
address,
an optionally signed number indicating the point from which
further text should be displayed.
This
address
is interpreted in either pages or lines depending
on the command.
A signed
address
specifies a point relative to the current page
or line, and an unsigned
address
specifies an address relative
to the beginning of the file.
Each command has a default address that is used if none is provided.
The perusal commands and their defaults are as follows:
- (+1) NEWLINE or SPACE
-
Display one page.
The address is specified in pages.
- (+1) l
-
With a relative address
pg
will simulate scrolling the screen, forward or backward,
the number of lines specified.
With an absolute address
this command prints a screenful
beginning at the specified line.
- (+1) d or ^D
-
Simulate scrolling half a screen forward or backward.
The following perusal commands take no
address.
- . or ^L
-
Redisplay the current page
of text.
- $
-
Display the last full window in the file.
Use with caution when the input is a pipe.
The following commands are available for searching for text patterns
in the text.
The regular expressions described in
ed.1
are available.
They must always be terminated by a
NEWLINE,
even if the
-n
option is specified.
- i/pattern/
-
Search forward for the
ith
(default
i=1)
occurrence
of
pattern.
Searching begins immediately after the current
page and continues to the
end of the current file, without wrap-around.
i^pattern^
- i?pattern?
-
Search backwards for the
ith
(default
i=1)
occurrence of
pattern.
Searching begins immediately before the current page
and continues to the beginning of the current file, without
wrap-around.
The
^
notation is useful for Adds 100 terminals which will not properly
handle the
?.
After searching,
pg
will normally display the line found at the top of the screen.
This can be modified by appending
m
or
b
to the search
command to leave the line found in the middle or at the bottom of
the window from now on.
The suffix
t
can be used to restore the original situation.
The user of
pg
can modify the environment of perusal with the
following commands:
- in
-
Begin perusing the
ith
next file in the command line.
The
i
is an unsigned number, default value is 1.
- ip
-
Begin perusing the
ith
previous file in the command line.
i
is an unsigned number, default is 1.
- iw
-
Display another window of text.
If
i
is present, set the window size to
i.
- s filename
-
Save the input in the named file.
Only the current file being perused is saved.
The white space between the
s
and
filename
is optional.
This command must always be terminated by a
NEWLINE,
even if the
-n
option is specified.
- h
-
Help by displaying an abbreviated summary of available commands.
- q or Q
-
Quit
pg.
- !command
-
command
is passed to the shell, whose name is
taken from the
SHELL
environment variable.
If this is not available, the default shell is used.
This command must always be terminated by a
NEWLINE,
even if the
-n
option is specified.
At any time when output is being sent to the terminal, the user can hit
the quit key, normally
CTRL-\
or the
BREAK
(interrupt) key.
This causes
pg
to stop sending output, and display the prompt.
The user may then enter one of the above commands in the normal manner.
Unfortunately, some output is lost when this is done, due to the fact
that any characters waiting in the terminal's output queue are flushed
when the quit signal occurs.
If the standard output is not a terminal, then
pg
acts just like
cat.1v
except that a header is printed before each file (if there is
more than one).
OPTIONS
The command line options are:
- -number
-
An integer specifying the size (in lines)
of the window that
pg
is to use instead of the default.
(On a terminal containing 24 lines, the default window size is 23).
- -p string
-
Use
string
as the prompt.
If the prompt string contains a
`%d',
the first occurrence
of
`%d'
in the prompt will be replaced
by the current page number when the prompt is issued.
The default prompt string is
`:'.
- -c
-
Home the cursor and clear the screen before displaying each page.
This option is ignored if
clear_screen
is not defined for this terminal type in the
terminfo.5v
data base.
- -e
-
Do
not
pause at the end of each file.
- -f
-
Inhibit
pg
from splitting lines.
Normally,
pg
splits lines longer than the screen width,
but some sequences of characters
in the text being displayed
(for instance, escape sequences for underlining)
generate undesirable results.
- -n
-
Automatic end of command as soon as a command
letter is entered.
Normally, commands must be terminated by a
NEWLINE
character.
- -s
-
Print all messages and prompts in standout
mode (usually inverse video).
- +linenumber
-
Start up at
linenumber.
- +/pattern/
-
Start up at the first line containing
the regular expression pattern.
EXAMPLES
A sample usage of
pg
in reading system news would be
news | pg -p '(Page %d):'
FILES
- /usr/share/lib/terminfo/*
-
terminal information data base
- /tmp/pg*
-
temporary file when input is from a pipe
SEE ALSO
cat.1v
crypt.1
ed.1
grep.1v
more.1
terminfo.5v
BUGS
If terminal
TAB
characters are not set every eight positions,
undesirable results may occur.
When using
pg
as a filter with another command that changes the terminal
I/O
options
(for instance,
crypt.1
terminal settings may not be restored correctly.
NOTES
While waiting for terminal input,
pg
responds to
BREAK ,
DEL ,
and
^
by terminating execution.
Between prompts, however, these signals interrupt
pg's
current task and place the user in prompt mode.
These should be used with caution when input is being read from
a pipe, since an interrupt is likely to terminate the other
commands in the pipeline.
Users of
more.1
will find that the
z
and
f
commands are available,
and that the terminal
`/',
`^',
or
`?'
may be omitted from the searching commands.
Created by unroff & hp-tools.
© somebody (See intro for details). All Rights Reserved.
Last modified 11/5/97