SUMMARY OF COMMANDS Commands marked with * may be preceded by a number, _N. Notes in parentheses indicate the behavior if _N is given. h H Display this help. q :q :Q ZZ Exit. e ^E j ^N CR * Forward one line (or _N lines). y ^Y k ^K ^P * Backward one line (or _N lines). f ^F ^V SPACE * Forward one window (or _N lines). b ^B ESC-v * Backward one window (or _N lines). z * Forward one window (and set window to _N). w * Backward one window (and set window to _N). d ^D * Forward one half-window (and set half-window to _N). u ^U * Backward one half-window (and set half-window to _N). F Forward forever; like "tail -f". r ^R ^L Repaint screen. R Repaint screen, discarding buffered input. --------------------------------------------------- Default "window" is the screen height. Default "half-window" is half of the screen height. --------------------------------------------------- /_p_a_t_t_e_r_n * Search forward for (_N-th) matching line. ?_p_a_t_t_e_r_n * Search backward for (_N-th) matching line. n * Repeat previous search (for _N-th occurrence). N * Repeat previous search in reverse direction. ESC-n * Repeat previous search, spanning files. ESC-N * Repeat previous search, reverse dir. & spanning files. ESC-u Undo (toggle) search highlighting. --------------------------------------------------- Search patterns may be modified by one or more of: ! search for NON-matching lines. * search multiple files. @ start search at first file (for /) or last file (for ?). --------------------------------------------------- g < ESC-< * Go to first line in file (or line _N). G > ESC-> * Go to last line in file (or line _N). p % * Go to beginning of file (or _N percent into file). { * Go to the } matching the (_N-th) { in the top line. } * Go to the { matching the (_N-th) } in the bottom line. ( * Go to the ) matching the (_N-th) ( in the top line. ) * Go to the ( matching the (_N-th) ) in the bottom line. [ * Go to the ] matching the (_N-th) [ in the top line. ] * Go to the [ matching the (_N-th) ] in the bottom line. ESC-^F _<_c_1_> _<_c_2_> * Go to the _c_1 matching the (_N-th) _c_2 in the top line ESC-^B _<_c_1_> _<_c_2_> * Go to the _c_2 matching the (_N-th) _c_1 in the bottom line. m_<_l_e_t_t_e_r_> Mark the current position with . '_<_l_e_t_t_e_r_> Go to a previously marked position. '' Go to the previous position. ^X^X Same as '. :e [_f_i_l_e] Examine a new file. ^X^V Same as :e. :n * Examine the (_N-th) next file from the command line. :p * Examine the (_N-th) previous file from the command line. :x * Examine the first (or _N-th) file from the command line. = ^G :f Print current file name. V Print version number of "less". -_<_f_l_a_g_> Toggle a command line flag [see FLAGS below]. __<_f_l_a_g_> Display the setting of a command line flag. +_c_m_d Execute the less cmd each time a new file is examined. !_c_o_m_m_a_n_d Passes the command to $SHELL to be executed. |XX_c_o_m_m_a_n_d Pipe file between current pos & mark XX to shell command. v Edit the current file with $EDITOR. --------------------------------------------------- FLAGS Most flags may be changed either on the command line, or from within less by using the - command. -? Display help (from command line). -a Set forward search starting location. -b [_N] Number of buffers. -B Automatically allocate buffers. -c -C Repaint by scrolling/clearing. -d Dumb terminal. -e -E Quit at end of file. -f Force open non-regular files. -F Don't highlight matches for previous search pattern. -h [_N] Backward scroll limit. -i Ignore case in searches. -j [_N] Screen position of target lines. -k [_f_i_l_e] Use a lesskey file. -m -M Set prompt style. -n -N Use line numbers. -o [_f_i_l_e] Log file. -O [_f_i_l_e] Log file (unconditionally overwrite). -p [_p_a_t_t_e_r_n] Start at pattern (from command line). -P [_p_r_o_m_p_t] Define new prompt. -q -Q Quiet the terminal bell. -r Translate control characters. -s Squeeze multiple blank lines. -S Chop long lines. -t [_t_a_g] Find a tag. -T [_t_a_g_s_f_i_l_e] Use an alternate tags file. -u -U Change handling of backspaces. -w Display ~ for lines after end-of-file. -x [_N] Set tab stops. -X Don't use termcap init/deinit strings. -y [_N] Forward scroll limit. -z [_N] Set size of window.