Major changes between "less" versions 123 and 170
* New option -j allows target lines to be positioned anywhere on screen.
* New option -S truncates displayed line at the screen width,
rather than wrapping onto the next line.
* New option -y limits amount of forward scroll.
* New option -T specifies a "tags" file.
* Non-printable, non-control characters are displayed in octal.
Such characters, as well as control characters, are displayed
* New command -+ sets an option to its default.
* New command -- sets an option to the opposite of its default.
* Lesskey file may have a string appended to a key's action,
which acts as though typed in after the command.
* New commands ESC-^F and ESC-^B match arbitrary types of brackets.
* New command F monitors a growing file (like "tail -f").
* New command | pipes a section of the input file into a shell command.
* New command :x directly jumps to a file in the command line list.
* Search commands have been enhanced and reorganized:
n Repeat search, same direction.
N Repeat search, opposite direction.
ESC-/ Search forward thru file boundaries
ESC-? Search backward thru file boundaries
ESC-n Repeat search thru file boundaries, same direction.
ESC-N Repeat search thru file boundaries, opposite direction.
Special character * causes search to search thru file boundaries.
Special character @ causes search to begin at start/end of file list.
* Examining a new file adds it to the command line list.
A list of files, or an expression which matches more than one file,
may be examined; all of them are added to the command line list.
* Environment variables LESSCHARSET and LESSCHARDEF can define
a non-ASCII character set.
* Partial support for MSDOS, including options -R for repainting screen
on quit, -v/-V to select video mode, and -W to change window size.
======================================================================
Major changes between "less" versions 97 and 123
* New option (-N) causes line numbers to be displayed in the
text of the file (like vi "set nu").
* New option (-?) prints help message immediately.
* New option (-r) displays "raw" control characters, without
mapping them to ^X notation.
* New option (-f) forces less to open non-regular files
* New option (-k) can be used to specify lesskey files by name.
* New option (-y) can be used to set a forward scroll limit
(like -h sets a backward scroll limit).
* File marks (set by the m command) are now preserved when a new
file is edited. The ' command can thus be used to switch files.
* New command ESC-/ searches all files (on the command line)
* New command ESC-n repeats previous search, spanning files.
* The N command has been changed to repeat the previous search
in the reverse direction. The old N command is still available
* New command ESC-N repeats previous search in the reverse
direction and spanning files.
* 8 bit characters are now supported. A new option (-g) can be
used to strip off the eighth bit (the previous behavior).
* Options which take a following string (like -t) may now
optionally have a space between the option letter and the string.
* Six new commands { } ( ) [ and ] can be used to match
brackets of specific types, similar to vi % command.
* New commands z and w move forward/backward one window and
simultaneously set the window size.
* Prompt string expansion now has %L for line number of the last
line in the file, and %E for the name of the editor.
Also, % escapes which refer to a line (b=bottom, t=top, etc.)
can use j for the jump target line.
* New environment variable LESSEDIT can be used to tailor the
command string passed to the editor by the v command.
* Examining a file which was previously examined will return
to the same position in the file.
* A "%" is expanded to the current filename and a "#" to the
previous filename, in both shell commands and the E command.
(Previously % worked only in shell commands and # worked
* New command ":ta" is equivalent to "-t".
* New command "s" is equivalent to "-l".
* The - command may be followed by "+X" to revert to the default
for option X, or "-X" to get the opposite of the default.
* Lesskey files may now include characters after the action as
extra input to be parsed after the action; for example:
"toggle-option X" to toggle a specific option X.
projects / unix-history / blob