BSD 3 development

[unix-history] / usr / man / man1 / more.1

.TH MORE 1 11/16/79
.UC
.SH NAME
more \- file perusal filter for crt viewing
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B more
[
.B \-d
]
[
.B \-\fIn\fP
]
[
.B +\fIlinenumber\fP | +/\fIpattern\fP
]
[
name ...
]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I  More
is a filter which allows examination of a continuous text
one screenful at a time on a soft-copy terminal.
It normally pauses after each screenful, printing --More--
at the bottom of the screen.
If the user then types a carriage return, one more line is displayed.
If the user hits a space,
another screenful is displayed.
If a space is preceded by an integer, that number of lines are printed.
If the user hits d or control-D,
11 more lines are displayed (a `scroll').
.I More
looks in the file
.I /etc/termcap
to determine terminal characteristics,
and to determine the default window size.
On a terminal capable of displaying 24 lines,
the default window size is 22 lines.
.PP
Other sequences which may be typed when
.I more
pauses, and their effects, are as follows (\fIi\fP is an optional integer
argument, defaulting to 1) :
.PP
.IP \fIi\fPz
same as typing a space except that \fIi\fP, if present, becomes the new
window size.
.PP
.IP \fIi\fPs
skip \fIi\fP lines and print a screenful of lines
.PP
.IP \fIi\fPf
skip \fIi\fP screenfuls and print a screenful of lines
.PP
.IP \fIi\fPn
skip to the \fIi\fP-th next file given in the command line
(skips to last file if n doesn't make sense)
.PP
.IP \fIi\fPp
skip to the \fIi\fP-th previous file given in the command line.
If this command is given in the middle of printing out a
file, then
.I more
goes back to the beginning of the file. If \fIi\fP doesn't make sense,
.I more
skips back to the first file.
If
.I more
is not reading from a file, the bell is rung and nothing else happens.
.PP
.IP q or Q
Exit from more.
.PP
.IP \fIi\fP/expr
search for the \fIi\fP-th occurrence of the regular expression \fIexpr\fP.
If there are less than \fIi\fP occurrences of \fIexpr\fP,
and the input is a file (rather than a pipe),
then the position in the file remains unchanged.
Otherwise, a screenful is displayed, starting two lines before the place
where the expression was found.
The user's erase and kill characters may be used to edit the regular
expression.
Erasing back past the first column cancels the search command.
.PP
.IP !command
invoke a shell with \fIcommand\fP. 
.PP
The commands take effect immediately, i.e., it is not necessary to
type a carriage return.
Up to the time when the command character itself is given,
the user may hit his or her line kill character to cancel the numerical
argument being formed.
.PP
At any time when output is being sent to the terminal, the user can
hit the quit key (normally control\-\\).
.I More
will stop sending output, and will display the usual --More--
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.
.PP
The terminal is set to
.I noecho
mode by this program so that the output can be continuous.
What you type will thus not show on your terminal, except for the / and !
commands.
.PP
If the standard output is not a teletype, then
.I more
acts just like
.I cat,
except that a header is printed before each file (if there is
more than one).
.PP
The
.B \-n
option is an integer which is the size (in lines) of the window which
.I more
will use instead of the default.
The
.B \-d
option causes more to prompt the user with the message "Hit
space to continue, Rubout to abort" at the end of each screenful.
This is useful if
.I more
is being used as a filter in some setting,
such as a class,
where many users may be unsophisticated.
The
.B +\fIlinenumber\fP
option causes more to start up at \fIlinenumber\fP, while the
.B +/\fIpattern\fP
option causes more to start up two lines before the line containing the
regular expression \fIpattern\fP.
.PP
.DT
A sample usage of
.I more
in previewing
.I nroff
output would be
.PP
	nroff \-ms +2 doc.n | more
.SH AUTHOR
Eric Shienbrood
.SH FILES
.DT
/etc/termcap	Terminal data base
.SH "SEE ALSO"
script(1)
.SH BUGS
The function of
.I more
should be done optionally by the teletype driver in the system,
akin to the ``more'' feature of the ITS systems at MIT.