LESS(1) General Commands Manual LESS(1) less - less [-[+]aABcCdeEfFgGiIJKLmMnNqQrRsSuUVwWX~] [-b ] [-D ] [-h ] [-j ] [-k -] [-{o|O} -] [-p ] [-P ] [-t ] [-T -] [-x [{, }...]] [-y ] [-z ] [-] [-"cc] [-# ] [+-less] [--] [ ...] less -? less --help less -V less --version ( OPTIONS .) Less more(1) . Less vi(1) . Less termcap ( terminfo ) . (hardcopy). ( .) more vi. N . . ^X control X. ESC ESCAPE ESC-v "ESCAPE" "v". h H : . . ^V f ^F N ( -z ). N . : ^V . z (SPACE) N . ENTER RETURN ^N e ^E j ^J N 1. N N . d ^D N . N d u . b ^B ESC-v N ( -z ). N . w ESC-v N . y ^Y ^P k ^K N 1. N N . : ^Y . u ^U N . N d u . J j . K Y k . ESC-SPACE (SPACE) . ESC-b b . ESC-j N 1. . ESC-k N 1. ESC-) (RIGHTARROW) N ( -#). N . -S ( ) . ESC-( (LEFTARROW) N ( -#). N . ESC-} ^ SHIFT- . ESC-{ ^ SHIFT- . ^END SHIFT-END N . ^HOME SHIFT-HOME N 1 ( ) . r ^R ^L . R . . . F . . . ( "tail -f"). ( ^C). poll(2) ^X --intr. --exit-follow-on-close less . ESC-f F . ESC-F F . g < ESC-< HOME N 1 ( ). (: N .) G > ESC-> END N . (: N N .) ESC-G G N . p % N . N 0 100 . P N . { { . . N N . } } . . N N . ( { . ) } . [ { . ] } . ESC-^F { . "ESC ^F < >" > < . ESC-^B } . "ESC ^B < >" < > . m . -J . M m . ' ( .) . "". ^ $ . less ' . --save-marks less. ^X^X . ESC-m . / N . N 1. . ( ) -i . ( -a -j ). : ^N ! . ^E * . . ^F @ -a -j. ^K ( ). ^R . ^S N 1 5. N . "(abc)|(def)" ^S1 "abc" "abc" "def". ( less posix pcre pcre2.) ^S . ^W . . ^W ^E. ^L . ?pattern N . ( -a -j ). /: ^N ! . ^E * . . ^F @ -a -j. ^K . ^R . ^S . ^W . . ^L . ESC-/pattern "/*". ESC-?pattern "?*". n N . ^N N . ^E ( ) . ^R . ^W ( ) . ^F ^K. N . ESC-n . *. ESC-N . ESC-u . . ESC-u . . ( -G .) ESC-U ESC-u . -J . &pattern . ( & ENTER) . ampersand (&) . & . /: ^N ! . ^R . :e [filename] . "" ( :n :p ) . (%) . (#) . . . . :n :p . . ( -"). ^X^V E :e. : ^V . ^V. :n ( ). N N . :p . N N . :x . N N . :d . t . -t . T . ^O^N ^On OSC 8 N. ^O^P ^Op OSC 8 N. ^O^L ^Ol OSC 8 . = ^G :f . . - ( OPTIONS ) . ^P (CONTROL-P) . ( -b -h) ( -P -t) . . -- - ( OPTIONS ) . ENTER RETURN . TAB . ^P -. -+ . ( "-+X" "-+X" .) . --+ -+ . -! "" . . --! -! . _ ( .) . . __ ( .) _ ( ) . ENTER RETURN . +cmd cmd . +G less . V less . q Q :q :Q ZZ less. . v . VISUAL EDITOR VISUAL "vi" . LESSEDIT PROMPTS . ! shell-command shell-command . (%) . (#) . "!!" . "!" . ^P (CONTROL-P) ! "done" . SHELL "sh". MS-DOS Windows OS/2 . # shell-command "!" . "%f". | shell-command . . . . ^ $ . . . ^P (CONTROL-P) "done" . s filename . . ^O^O (URI) OSC 8 ^O^N ^O^P. "LESS_OSC8_xxx" "xxx" (scheme) URI ( ) URI. ( "%o" URI) "handler" OSC 8. "opener" URI. : 1. URI "#" URI (id) OSC 8 ^O^O . 2. (opener) ":e" less . URI echo mybrowser '%o' URI %o. LESS_OSC8_xxx LESS_OSC8_ANY. LESS_OSC8_xxx LESS_OSC8_ANY "xxx". "man" ( LESS_OSC8_man ) "file" ( LESS_OSC8_file ) sed(1) sh(1). LESS_OSC8_ANY LESS_OSC8_file LESS_OSC8_file "-" LESS_OSC8_man. URI OSC8 %o ampersand . URI . ( ) ( PROMPTS ). ^X " " F ^X less . less R F . --intr ^X. poll(2). poll(2) ( ^C) . . less "-". : . . --mouse --mou --mo --mouse --modelines --mo. --QUIT-AT-EOF --quit-at-eof. . --Quit-at-eof --QUIT-AT-EOF. "LESS". "less -options ..." less csh: setenv LESS "-options" sh: LESS="-options"; export LESS MS-DOS . LESS. LESS "-+". -k -D . ($). -D : LESS="Dnwb$Dsbw" --use-backslash . --use-backslash . -? --help less ( h ). ( : "-\?".) -a --search-skip-screen ( n N "" -j ). -a . -A --SEARCH-SKIP-SCREEN ( ) . ( ). . less 441. -bn --buffers=n less (1024 ). 64 ( -B). -b n . n -1 . -B --auto-buffers . . -B 64 ( -b) . : -B . . -c --clear-screen . . -C --CLEAR-SCREEN -c less. -d --dumb -d . -d less . -Dxcolor --color=xcolor . x : B . C . E . H --header. M . N -N. P . R (rscroll). S . W -w. 1-5 . less posix pcre pcre2. d . k . s . u . --use-color. . . "s" "E" "E" "s" . ( -U) ( ) ANSI -R ( MS-DOS). + . -Dug . -Du+g . color 4 8 : 4 : b c g k m r w y . -DNGk -DEbR . "-" . 8 . 0 255 "CSI 38;5" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ ANSI_escape_code#SGR). "-" . 4 8 . s ~ ( ) u _ d * l & MS-DOS --color : o (d *) (l &) . o ANSI -R ( -Da). o "CSI 38;5" 4 CHAR_INFO.Attributes 0 15 ( https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/ console/char-info-str). MS-DOS/. o ( "CSI 38;5") 10. o ANSI . 4 "CSI 38;5" . o -Da --color MS-DOS/ (1) ANSI (2) "CSI 38;5" ( 10 -Da). -e --quit-at-eof less . less "q". -E --QUIT-AT-EOF less . -f --force . ( ). . less . -f. -F --quit-if-one-screen less . LESS_SHELL_LINES . -g --hilite-search less . -g . less . -G --HILITE-SEARCH -G . -hn --max-back-scroll=n . n . ( -h0). -i --ignore-case . . -I --IGNORE-CASE -i . -jn --jump-target=n "". . : 1 2 . : -1 -2 . : .5 .3 . . --header -j . -j ( "n" "N") -a -A. "-j4" . ( "/" "?") . -J --status-column . : > -S . < . = . * . a-z, A-Z m M. # --mouse . -kfilename --lesskey-file=filename less lesskey(1). -k . LESSKEY LESSKEY_SYSTEM lesskey ( KEY BINDINGS) lesskey. --lesskey-content . --lesskey-src=filename less lesskey(1). LESSKEYIN LESSKEYIN_SYSTEM lesskey ( KEY BINDINGS) lesskey. 582 lesskey lesskey lesskey less. less lesskey . --lesskey-content . --lesskey-content=text less lesskey(1). lesskey . . : LESS LESSSECURE LESSCHARSET (--lesskey --lesskey-src --lesskey-content). lesskey lesskey LESSKEYIN LESSKEY_CONTENT . -K --quit-on-intr less ( 2) ( ^C). less . -L --no-lessopen LESSOPEN ( INPUT PREPROCESSOR ). less . -m --long-prompt less ( more(1)) . less . -M --LONG-PROMPT less more(1). -n --line-numbers . ( ) less . : = v ( LESSEDIT PROMPTS ). -N --LINE-NUMBERS . -ofilename --log-file=filename less . . less . -Ofilename --LOG-FILE=filename -O -o . -o -O less . . "s" -o less. -ppattern --pattern=pattern -p +/pattern less pattern . -Pprompt --prompt=prompt . LESS less. LESS . -Ps () . -Pm (-m). -PM (-M). -Ph . -P= =. -Pw ( "F"). . PROMPTS . -q --quiet --silent "" : . " " . . . -Q --QUIET --SILENT "" : . " " . -r --raw-control-chars "". -A ( 001) "^A" ( -U). : -r less ( ). . -r . -r - LESS. -r LESS -R. -R --RAW-CONTROL-CHARS -r "". -r . : 1. ANSI SGR ("") 2. OSC 8 3. OSC OSC LESSANSIOSCALLOW 4. OSC ( "]") LESSANSIOSCCHARS ANSI : ESC [ ... m "..." . . ( ) . less "m" ANSI LESSANSIENDCHARS . less ESC m LESSANSIMIDCHARS . OSC : ESC ] N ; ... \7 OSC N . BEL (\7) "ESC \". -s --squeeze-blank-lines . nroff(1). -S --chop-long-lines () . . . --wordwrap. --header -S . -ttag --tag=tag -t TAG . "tags" ctags(1) . LESSGLOBALTAGS global(1) . ( http://www.gnu.org/software/ global/global.html). -t less ( -) . ":t" -t less. -Ttagsfile --tag-file=tagsfile "tags". -u --underline-special . -U --UNDERLINE-SPECIAL " " ( ) -r. -u -U : . : . . . -r. . -u -U . --proc-backspace --proc-tab --proc-return. -V --version less. -w --hilite-unread "" . "" . g p. . --status-line ( ). -J . -W --HILITE-UNREAD -w . -xn... --tabs=n... . n n. . "-x9,17" 9 17 25 33 . n 8. -X --no-init termcap . . -X. -yn --max-forw-scroll=n . n . -c -C . . -zn --window=n -n n . . z w . "z" more(1). n n . 24 -z-4 20 . 40 36 . -"cc --quotes=cc . . . . . . -" ( ). -~ --tilde (~). . -# --shift . . : .5 .3 . . --autosave=actions less. . actions: m --save-marks . / . ! . * "m/!". "-" less . "!" "*" . --cmd=commands less. "+commands" --cmd less -E -F + less . --exit-follow-on-close "F" less . --file-size --file-size less . "=" . ( ) . --follow-name F less . --follow-name less F . ( ( )) less . --form-feed (^L). . --header=LCN . L. L 0 . L . C. C 0 . C . N . N ( --header less) 1 ( --header ). "--header=-" "--header=0,0". L L L N . . C C C . --header -S. --incsearch "" less . --intr=c c ^X "Waiting for data". c ASCII 1 127 . . --line-num-width=n -N n . 7. --match-shift=n -S . . n . : .5 .3 . . --modelines=n less n modeline vim. n less . . ("vi" "vim" "ex" "less") "set" . "set" . "set" . "set" "less" . "tabstop=n" "ts=n" --tabs=n. --tabs n. --mouse : "#" ( ) "#". . OSC 8 ^O^N. OSC 8 ^O^O. --wheel-lines. X11 . --MOUSE --mouse . --no-edit-warn v LESSOPEN ( INPUT PREPROCESSOR ). --no-keypad . . --no-histdups . . . --no-number-headers ( --header). 1 . --no-paste " " xterm less ( ). . --no-search-header-lines . --no-search-header-columns . --no-search-headers . --no-vbell . --proc-backspace -u -U. . -u -U . -u -U. --PROC-BACKSPACE -U . --proc-return -u -U. . -u -U . -u -U. --PROC-RETURN -U . --proc-tab -U . . -U . -U. --PROC-TAB -U . --redraw-on-quit . less. --rscroll=c . LESSBINFMT. (standout). "-" . --save-marks less . --search-options=... . E F K N R W. . --search-options=W ^W . 1 5 ^S . "-" . --show-preproc-errors LESSOPEN less . --status-col-width=n -J . . --status-line ( ). -w . --use-color . --use-backslash . --use-backslash . . --use-color . -D . ANSI ( https://www.ecma-international.org/ publications-and-standards/standards/ecma-48). --wheel-lines=n --mouse --MOUSE . . --wordwrap -S . . -- "--" . . "-" "+". POSIXLY_CORRECT . + + less. +G less +/xyz "xyz" . + +g ( "g" ). ++ . + ( ) . --cmd. ( :e ) . [ ] . ( ESC MS-DOS ESC .) "" ^V ^A. . [ ESC-h ] . [ ESC-l ] . ^_ [ ESC-b ESC-_ ] ( CONTROL .) . ^_ [ ESC-w ESC-_ ] ( CONTROL .) . HOME [ ESC-0 ] . END [ ESC-$ ] . BACKSPACE . DELETE [ ESC-x ] . ^BACKSPACE [ ESC-BACKSPACE ] ( CONTROL BACKSPACE .) . ^DELETE [ ESC-X ESC-DELETE ] ( CONTROL DELETE .) . [ ESC-k ] . . [ ESC-j ] . . (TAB) . . TAB . "/" . ( MS-DOS Windows "\".) LESSSEPARATOR . BACKTAB (SHIFT-TAB) [ ESC-TAB ] TAB . ^L . ( ). ^U (Unix OS/2) ESC (MS-DOS Windows) . (line-kill) Unix ^U ^U. ^G . less lesskey. . ( LINE EDITING) less. lesskey(1) . LESSKEYIN less lesskey. less lesskey: Unix less "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/lesskey" "$HOME/.config/lesskey" "$HOME/.lesskey". MS-DOS Windows less "$HOME/_lesskey" "_lesskey" PATH. OS/2 less "$HOME/lesskey.ini" "lesskey.ini" INIT "lesskey.ini" PATH. lesskey . lesskey . LESSKEYIN_SYSTEM less lesskey . less lesskey : Unix /usr/local/etc/syslesskey ( less sysconf ). MS-DOS Windows c:\_syslesskey. OS/2 c:\syslesskey.ini. less ( v582) lesskey lesskey. lesskey . " " less. less . ( ) " ". . less . . . less . . LESSOPEN . "%s" . less " " ( LESSOPEN). : . LESSCLOSE . "%s" LESSOPEN. Unix less : lessopen.sh: #! /bin/sh case "$1" in *.Z) TEMPFILE=$(mktemp) uncompress -c $1 >$TEMPFILE 2>/dev/null if [ -s $TEMPFILE ]; then echo $TEMPFILE else rm -f $TEMPFILE fi ;; esac lessclose.sh: #! /bin/sh rm $2 LESSOPEN="lessopen.sh %s" LESSCLOSE="lessclose.sh %s %s". . (pipe) less . . " " (input pipe). . less . LESSOPEN (|). %s . Unix : lesspipe.sh: #! /bin/sh case "$1" in *.Z) uncompress -c $1 2>/dev/null ;; *) exit 1 ;; esac exit $? LESSOPEN="|lesspipe.sh %s". . LESSOPEN (||) . . . (|) . LESSCLOSE . "-". less . LESSOPEN (-) . . . (|-) (||-) . : . ( ). . . ( LESSCHARSET "utf8".) . ( LESSCHARSET "utf8".) " " . LESSCHARSET . : ascii BS TAB NL CR 32 126 . iso8859 ISO 8859. ASCII 160 255 . latin1 iso8859. latin9 iso8859. dos MS-DOS. ebcdic EBCDIC. IBM-1047 EBCDIC OS/390 Unix. EBCDIC latin1. koi8-r . next NeXT. utf-8 UTF-8 ISO 10646. UTF-8 . windows Microsoft Windows (cp 1252). less . LESSCHARDEF . "." "c" "b" . . LESSCHARDEF LESSCHARSET : ascii 8bcccbcc18b95.b dos 8bcccbcc12bc5b95.b. ebcdic 5bc6bcc7bcc41b.9b7.9b5.b..8b6.10b6.b9.7b 9.8b8.17b3.3b9.7b9.8b8.6b10.b.b.b. IBM-1047 4cbcbc3b9cbccbccbb4c6bcc5b3cbbc4bc4bccbc 191.b iso8859 8bcccbcc18b95.33b. koi8-r 8bcccbcc18b95.b128. latin1 8bcccbcc18b95.33b. next 8bcccbcc18b95.bb125.bb LESSCHARSET LESSCHARDEF "UTF-8" "UTF8" "utf-8" "utf8" LC_ALL LC_CTYPE LANG utf-8. setlocale(3) less setlocale . setlocale LANG LC_CTYPE. setlocale utf-8. ( ). (caret notation) ( ^A control-A). 0100 . . LESSBINFMT. LESSBINFMT "*" : "*k" "*d" "*u" "*s" "*n" . LESSBINFMT "*" . LESSBINFMT printf ( % x X o d ). LESSBINFMT "*u[%x]" . LESSBINFMT "*s<%02X>". : LESSBINFMT 31 . utf-8 LESSUTFBINFMT LESSBINFMT ( ). "". LESSUTFBINFMT LESSBINFMT ("*x") LESSUTFBINFMT LESSBINFMT . (octets) UTF-8 ( ) LESSBINFMT UTF-8. utf-8 . " " less . LESSUTFCHARDEF . . "U" "U+" . . . : p . w ( ) . b ( ). c ( ). d ( ). LESSUTFCHARDEF E000-F8FF:p,F0000-FFFFD:p,100000-10FFFD:p . (emoji) . LESSUTFCHARDEF . : FE00-FE0F:c,1F3FB-1F3FF:c,1F9B0-1F9B3:c,E0100-E01EF:c -P . -P . . . . ( ). %bX . b ( X ) . "t" "m" "b" "B" "j" "" -j. %B . %c . %C ( ) . %dX . X %b. %D . %E ( VISUAL EDITOR VISUAL ). LESSEDIT . %f . %F . %g . LESSEDIT. %i . %lX . X %b. %L . %m . %o URI OSC 8 . OSC 8 ^O^O. %pX . X %b. %PX . X %b. %Q ( %C %W). . %s %B. %t . . %T "". -t "". %W . . %x . ( ) . . "IF": . . . "ELSE": IF . ( ) : ?a . ?bX . ?B . ?c (%c ). ?dX . ?e . ?f ( ). ?lX . ?L . ?m . ?n . ?pX . ?PX . ?Q %Q 100. . ?s "?B". ?x ( ). ( ) . . : ?f%f: . " ". ?f%f .?lt %lt:?pt%pt\%:?bt %bt:-... . . . % %pt . ?n?f%f .?m(%T %i of %m) ..?e() ?x- \: %x..%t "file N of N" . "(END)" . . . -m -M ). . ?n?f%f .?m(%T %i of %m) ..?e() ?x- \: %x.: ?pB%pB\%: %bB?s/%s...%t ?f%f .?n?m(%T %i of %m) ..?lt %lt-%lb?L/%L. : %bB?s/%s. .?e() ?x- \: %x.:?pB%pB\%..?c ( %c).%t =: ?f%f .?m(%T %i of %m) .?lt %lt-%lb?L/%L. . %bB?s/%s. ?e() :?pB%pB\%..?c ( %c).%t : LESSEDIT v. LESSEDIT . LESSEDIT : %E ?lm+%lm. %g + . "+linenumber" LESSEDIT . LESSSECURE 1 less "". : edit (v) examine (:e) glob * (TAB, ^L) history lesskey lesskey -k --lesskey-src) lessopen ( LESSOPEN) logfile (s -o) osc8 OSC 8 (^O^O) pipe (|) shell p (! #) stop less SIGTSTP tags (-t) LESSSECURE_ALLOW LESSSECURE. . . LESSSECURE=1 LESSSECURE_ALLOW=hist,edit . Less "" . LESSSECURE LESSSECURE_ALLOW. MORE LESS_IS_MORE 1 "more" LESS_IS_MORE 0 less ( ) POSIX more(1). less : -e . -e less -e . -e less -E . -m . -m "--More--". -m . -n -z. -n . -p less . LESS MORE . lesskey(1). lesskey lesskey . COLUMNS . TERM. ( TIOCGWINSZ WIOCGETD LINES COLUMNS.) EDITOR ( v). HOME ( lesskey OS/2). HOMEDRIVE, HOMEPATH HOMEDRIVE HOMEPATH HOME ( ). INIT ( lesskey OS/2). LANG . LC_CTYPE . LESS less . LESSANSIENDCHARS ANSI ( "m"). LESSANSIMIDCHARS ESC ANSI ( "0123456789:;[?!"'#%()*+ "). LESSANSIOSCALLOW OSC -R ( "8" OSC 8 ). LESSANSIOSCCHARS ESC "OS Command". (ESC-backslash BEL) OSC ( "]"). LESSANSIOSCCHARS . LESSBINFMT . LESSCHARDEF . LESSCHARSET . LESSCLOSE (). LESSECHO lessecho ( "lessecho"). lessecho * ? . LESSEDIT ( v). "PROMPTS". LESSGLOBALTAGS -t . "global" global(1). . LESSHISTFILE less. "-" "/dev/null" . : "$XDG_STATE_HOME/lesshst" "$HOME/.local/state/lesshst" "$XDG_DATA_HOME/lesshst" "$HOME/.lesshst". MS-DOS "$HOME/_lesshst". OS/2 "$HOME/lesshst.ini" "$INIT/lesshst.ini". LESSHISTSIZE . 100. LESSKEYIN lesskey . LESSKEY lesskey . ( "$LESSKEYIN".) LESSKEY_CONTENT --lesskey-content. LESSKEYIN_SYSTEM lesskey . LESSKEY_SYSTEM lesskey . ( "$LESSKEYIN_SYSTEM".) LESSMETACHARS " ". LESSMETAESCAPE less (metacharacter) ( "\"). LESSNOCONFIG "-" TERM ( ). TERM . ( ) lesskey. LESSOPEN (). LESSSECURE less "". SECURITY. LESSSECURE_ALLOW LESSSECURE. SECURITY. LESSSEPARATOR ( "\" MS-DOS Windows OS/2 "/"). LESSUTFBINFMT . LESSUTFCHARDEF . LESS_COLUMNS . COLUMNS less . . LESS_LINES . LINES less . . less . LESS_DATA_DELAY ( ) "Waiting for data". 4000 (4 ). LESS_IS_MORE more(1). LESS_OSC8_xxx "xxx" URI "http" "file" OSC 8 OSC 8 URI . LESS_OSC8_ANY OSC 8 OSC 8 LESS_OSC8_xxx "xxx". LESS_SHELL_LINES -F less LESS_SHELL_LINES. -F. LESS_SHELL_LINES 1. LESS_SIGUSR1 less less SIGUSR1. LESS_TERMCAP_xx "xx" termcap "xx" . ESC . LESS_TERMINFO_xxxx "xxxx" terminfo "xxxx" . LESS_TERMCAP_xx LESS_TERMINFO_xxxx less termcap terminfo. LESS_TERMCAP_BRACKETED_PASTE_START ANSI (bracketed paste). --no-paste . LESS_TERMCAP_BRACKETED_PASTE_END ANSI . LESS_TERMCAP_MOUSE_START ANSI . --mouse . LESS_TERMCAP_MOUSE_END ANSI . LESS_TERMCAP_SUSPEND . . (screen tearing) . LESS_TERMCAP_RESUME . . LESS_UNSUPPORT . ( ) LESS. LESS_UNSUPPORT - --. LESS_UNSUPPORT . . TERM. ( TIOCGWINSZ WIOCGETD LINES COLUMNS.) MORE less more. PATH ( lesskey MS-DOS Windows OS/2). POSIXLY_CORRECT . lesskey. SHELL ! . TERM less . VISUAL ( v). XDG_CONFIG_HOME lesskey KEY BINDINGS. XDG_DATA_HOME LESSHISTFILE. XDG_STATE_HOME LESSHISTFILE. lesskey(1) lessecho(1) (C) 1984-2026 less . / (1) (2) Less. README less . less COPYING. Free Software Foundation 59 Temple Place Suite 330 Boston MA 02111-1307 USA. Less LICENSE. less . . https://github.com/gwsw/ less/issues. less https://greenwoodsoftware.com/less. 3 . . : . less 692 29 2026 LESS(1)