| 1 | Major changes between "less" versions 123 and 170 |
| 2 | |
| 3 | * New option -j allows target lines to be positioned anywhere on screen. |
| 4 | |
| 5 | * New option -S truncates displayed line at the screen width, |
| 6 | rather than wrapping onto the next line. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | * New option -y limits amount of forward scroll. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | * New option -T specifies a "tags" file. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | * Non-printable, non-control characters are displayed in octal. |
| 13 | Such characters, as well as control characters, are displayed |
| 14 | in blinking mode. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | * New command -+ sets an option to its default. |
| 17 | * New command -- sets an option to the opposite of its default. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | * Lesskey file may have a string appended to a key's action, |
| 20 | which acts as though typed in after the command. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | * New commands ESC-^F and ESC-^B match arbitrary types of brackets. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | * New command F monitors a growing file (like "tail -f"). |
| 25 | |
| 26 | * New command | pipes a section of the input file into a shell command. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | * New command :x directly jumps to a file in the command line list. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | * Search commands have been enhanced and reorganized: |
| 31 | n Repeat search, same direction. |
| 32 | N Repeat search, opposite direction. |
| 33 | ESC-/ Search forward thru file boundaries |
| 34 | ESC-? Search backward thru file boundaries |
| 35 | ESC-n Repeat search thru file boundaries, same direction. |
| 36 | ESC-N Repeat search thru file boundaries, opposite direction. |
| 37 | Special character * causes search to search thru file boundaries. |
| 38 | Special character @ causes search to begin at start/end of file list. |
| 39 | |
| 40 | * Examining a new file adds it to the command line list. |
| 41 | A list of files, or an expression which matches more than one file, |
| 42 | may be examined; all of them are added to the command line list. |
| 43 | |
| 44 | * Environment variables LESSCHARSET and LESSCHARDEF can define |
| 45 | a non-ASCII character set. |
| 46 | |
| 47 | * Partial support for MSDOS, including options -R for repainting screen |
| 48 | on quit, -v/-V to select video mode, and -W to change window size. |
| 49 | |
| 50 | |
| 51 | ====================================================================== |
| 52 | |
| 53 | |
| 54 | Major changes between "less" versions 97 and 123 |
| 55 | |
| 56 | * New option (-N) causes line numbers to be displayed in the |
| 57 | text of the file (like vi "set nu"). |
| 58 | |
| 59 | * New option (-?) prints help message immediately. |
| 60 | |
| 61 | * New option (-r) displays "raw" control characters, without |
| 62 | mapping them to ^X notation. |
| 63 | |
| 64 | * New option (-f) forces less to open non-regular files |
| 65 | (directories, etc). |
| 66 | |
| 67 | * New option (-k) can be used to specify lesskey files by name. |
| 68 | |
| 69 | * New option (-y) can be used to set a forward scroll limit |
| 70 | (like -h sets a backward scroll limit). |
| 71 | |
| 72 | * File marks (set by the m command) are now preserved when a new |
| 73 | file is edited. The ' command can thus be used to switch files. |
| 74 | |
| 75 | * New command ESC-/ searches all files (on the command line) |
| 76 | for a pattern. |
| 77 | |
| 78 | * New command ESC-n repeats previous search, spanning files. |
| 79 | |
| 80 | * The N command has been changed to repeat the previous search |
| 81 | in the reverse direction. The old N command is still available |
| 82 | via :n. |
| 83 | |
| 84 | * New command ESC-N repeats previous search in the reverse |
| 85 | direction and spanning files. |
| 86 | |
| 87 | * 8 bit characters are now supported. A new option (-g) can be |
| 88 | used to strip off the eighth bit (the previous behavior). |
| 89 | |
| 90 | * Options which take a following string (like -t) may now |
| 91 | optionally have a space between the option letter and the string. |
| 92 | |
| 93 | * Six new commands { } ( ) [ and ] can be used to match |
| 94 | brackets of specific types, similar to vi % command. |
| 95 | |
| 96 | * New commands z and w move forward/backward one window and |
| 97 | simultaneously set the window size. |
| 98 | |
| 99 | * Prompt string expansion now has %L for line number of the last |
| 100 | line in the file, and %E for the name of the editor. |
| 101 | Also, % escapes which refer to a line (b=bottom, t=top, etc.) |
| 102 | can use j for the jump target line. |
| 103 | |
| 104 | * New environment variable LESSEDIT can be used to tailor the |
| 105 | command string passed to the editor by the v command. |
| 106 | |
| 107 | * Examining a file which was previously examined will return |
| 108 | to the same position in the file. |
| 109 | |
| 110 | * A "%" is expanded to the current filename and a "#" to the |
| 111 | previous filename, in both shell commands and the E command. |
| 112 | (Previously % worked only in shell commands and # worked |
| 113 | only in the E command.) |
| 114 | |
| 115 | * New command ":ta" is equivalent to "-t". |
| 116 | |
| 117 | * New command "s" is equivalent to "-l". |
| 118 | |
| 119 | * The - command may be followed by "+X" to revert to the default |
| 120 | for option X, or "-X" to get the opposite of the default. |
| 121 | |
| 122 | * Lesskey files may now include characters after the action as |
| 123 | extra input to be parsed after the action; for example: |
| 124 | "toggle-option X" to toggle a specific option X. |