illumos: manual page: more.1

MORE(1) User Commands MORE(1)

NAME

more, page - browse or page through a text file

SYNOPSIS

/usr/bin/more [-cdflrsuw] [-lines] [+ linenumber]
[+/ pattern] [file]...

/usr/bin/page [-cdflrsuw] [-lines] [+ linenumber]
[+/ pattern] [file]...

/usr/xpg4/bin/more [-cdeisu] [-n number] [-p command]
[-t tagstring] [file]...

/usr/xpg4/bin/more [-cdeisu] [-n number] [+ command]
[-t tagstring] [file]...

DESCRIPTION

The more utility is a filter that displays the contents of a text file on
the terminal, one screenful at a time. It normally pauses after each
screenful. /usr/bin/more then prints --More-- and /usr/xpg4/bin/more then
prints file at the bottom of the screen. If more is reading from a file
rather than a pipe, the percentage of characters displayed so far is also
shown.

The more utility scrolls up to display one more line in response to a
RETURN character. more displays another screenful in response to a SPACE
character. Other commands are listed below.

The page utility clears the screen before displaying the next screenful
of text. page only provides a one-line overlap between screens.

The more utility sets the terminal to NOECHO mode, so that the output can
be continuous. Commands that you type do not normally show up on your
terminal, except for the / and ! commands.

The /usr/bin/more utility exits after displaying the last specified file.
/usr/xpg4/bin/more prompts for a command at the last line of the last
specified file.

If the standard output is not a terminal, more acts just like cat(1),
except that a header is printed before each file in a series.

OPTIONS

The following options are supported for both /usr/bin/more and
/usr/xpg4/bin/more:

-c
Clears before displaying. Redraws the screen instead of scrolling
for faster displays. This option is ignored if the terminal does
not have the ability to clear to the end of a line.

-d
Displays error messages rather than ringing the terminal bell if
an unrecognized command is used. This is helpful for inexperienced
users.

-s
Squeeze. Replaces multiple blank lines with a single blank line.
This is helpful when viewing nroff(1) output on the screen.

/usr/bin/more
The following options are supported for /usr/bin/more only:

-f
Does not fold long lines. This is useful when lines
contain nonprinting characters or escape sequences, such
as those generated when nroff(1) output is piped through
ul(1).

-l
Does not treat FORMFEED characters (Control-l) as page
breaks. If -l is not used, more pauses to accept commands
after any line containing a ^L character (Control-l).
Also, if a file begins with a FORMFEED, the screen is
cleared before the file is printed.

-r
Normally, more ignores control characters that it does not
interpret in some way. The -r option causes these to be
displayed as ^C where C stands for any such control
character.

-u
Suppresses generation of underlining escape sequences.
Normally, more handles underlining, such as that produced
by nroff(1), in a manner appropriate to the terminal. If
the terminal can perform underlining or has a stand-out
mode, more supplies appropriate escape sequences as called
for in the text file.

-w
Normally, more exits when it comes to the end of its
input. With -w, however, more prompts and waits for any
key to be struck before exiting.

-lines
Displays the indicated number of lines in each screenful,
rather than the default (the number of lines in the
terminal screen less two).

+linenumber
Start up at linenumber.

+/pattern
Start up two lines above the line containing the regular
expression pattern. Note: Unlike editors, this construct
should not end with a `/.' If it does, then the trailing
slash is taken as a character in the search pattern.

/usr/xpg4/bin/more
The following options are supported for /usr/xpg4/bin/more only:

-e
Exits immediately after writing the last line of the
last file in the argument list.

-i
Performs pattern matching in searches without regard to
case.

-n number
Specifies the number of lines per screenful. The number
argument is a positive decimal integer. The -n option
overrides any values obtained from the environment.

-p command
+command
For each file examined, initially executes the more
command in the command argument. If the command is a
positioning command, such as a line number or a regular
expression search, set the current position to represent
the final results of the command, without writing any
intermediate lines of the file. For example, the two
commands:

more -p 1000j file
more -p 1000G file

are equivalent and start the display with the current
position at line 1000, bypassing the lines that j would
write and scroll off the screen if it had been issued
during the file examination. If the positioning command
is unsuccessful, the first line in the file will be the
current position.

-t tagstring
Writes the screenful of the file containing the tag
named by the tagstring argument. See the ctags(1)
utility.

-u
Treats a backspace character as a printable control
character, displayed as a ^H (Control-h), suppressing
backspacing and the special handling that produces
underlined or standout-mode text on some terminal types.
Also, does not ignore a carriage-return character at the
end of a line.

If both the -t tagstring and -p command (or the obsolescent +command)
options are given, the -t tagstring is processed first.

USAGE

Environment

more uses the terminal's terminfo(5) entry to determine its display
characteristics.

more looks in the environment variable MORE for any preset options. For
instance, to page through files using the -c mode by default, set the
value of this variable to -c. (Normally, the command sequence to set up
this environment variable is placed in the .login or .profile file).

Commands

The commands take effect immediately. It is not necessary to type a
carriage return unless the command requires a file, command, tagstring,
or pattern. Up to the time when the command character itself is given,
the user may type the line kill character to cancel the numerical
argument being formed. In addition, the user may type the erase character
to redisplay the `--More--(xx%)' or file message.

In the following commands, i is a numerical argument (1 by default).

iSPACE
Display another screenful, or i more lines if i is
specified.

iRETURN
Display another line, or i more lines, if specified.

ib
i^B
(Control-b) Skip back i screenfuls and then print a
screenful.

id
i^D
(Control-d) Scroll forward one half screenful or i more
lines. If i is specified, the count becomes the default for
subsequent d and u commands.

if
Skip i screens full and then print a screenful.

h
Help. Give a description of all the more commands.

^L
(Control-l) Refresh.

in
Search for the ith occurrence of the last pattern entered.

q
Q
Exit from more.

is
Skip i lines and then print a screenful.

v
Drop into the vi editor at the current line of the current
file.

iz
Same as SPACE, except that i, if present, becomes the new
default number of lines per screenful.

=
Display the current line number.

i/pattern
Search forward for the ith occurrence of the regular
expression pattern. Display the screenful starting two lines
before the line that contains the ith match for the regular
expression pattern, or the end of a pipe, whichever comes
first. If more is displaying a file and there is no match,
its position in the file remains unchanged. Regular
expressions can be edited using erase and kill characters.
Erasing back past the first column cancels the search
command.

!command
Invoke a shell to execute command. The characters % and !,
when used within command are replaced with the current
filename and the previous shell command, respectively. If
there is no current filename, % is not expanded. Prepend a
backslash to these characters to escape expansion.

:f
Display the current filename and line number.

i:n
Skip to the ith next filename given in the command line, or
to the last filename in the list if i is out of range.

i:p
Skip to the ith previous filename given in the command line,
or to the first filename if i is out of range. If given
while more is positioned within a file, go to the beginning
of the file. If more is reading from a pipe, more simply
rings the terminal bell.

:q
:Q
Exit from more (same as q or Q).

/usr/bin/more
The following commands are available only in /usr/bin/more:

'
Single quote. Go to the point from which the last search
started. If no search has been performed in the current file, go
to the beginning of the file.

.
Dot. Repeat the previous command.

^\
Halt a partial display of text. more stops sending output, and
displays the usual --More-- prompt. Some output is lost as a
result.

/usr/xpg4/bin/more
The following commands are available only in /usr/xpg4/bin/more:

i^F
(Control-f) Skip i screens full and print a screenful.
(Same as if.)

^G
(Control-g) Display the current line number (same as =).

ig
Go to line number i with the default of the first line
in the file.

iG
Go to line number i with the default of the Last line in
the file.

ij
Display another line, or i more lines, if specified.
(Same as iRETURN.)

ik
Scroll backwards one or i lines, if specified.

mletter
Mark the current position with the name letter.

N
Reverse direction of search.

r
Refresh the screen.

R
Refresh the screen, discarding any buffered input.

iu
i^U
(Control-u) Scroll backwards one half a screen of i
lines, if specified. If i is specified, the count
becomes the new default for subsequent d and u commands.

ZZ
Exit from more (same as q).

:e file
Examine (display) a new file. If no file is specified,
the current file is redisplayed.

:t tagstring
Go to the tag named by the tagstring argument and
scroll/rewrite the screen with the tagged line in the
current position. See the ctags utility.

'letter
Return to the position that was previously marked with
the name letter.

''
Return to the position from which the last move of more
than a screenful was made. Defaults to the beginning of
the file.

i?[!]pattern
Search backward in the file for the ith line containing
the pattern. The ! specifies to search backward for the
ith line that does not contain the pattern.

i/!pattern
Search forward in the file for the ith line that does
not contain the pattern.

![command]
Invoke a shell or the specified command.

Large File Behavior

See largefile(7) for the description of the behavior of more and page
when encountering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2^31 bytes).

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

See environ(7) for descriptions of the following environment variables
that affect the execution of more: LANG, LC_ALL, LC_COLLATE
(/usr/xpg4/bin/more only), LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, NLSPATH, and TERM.

/usr/xpg4/bin/more
The following environment variables also affect the execution of
/usr/xpg4/bin/more:

COLUMNS
Overrides the system selected horizontal screen size.

EDITOR
Used by the v command to select an editor.

LINES
Overrides the system selected vertical screen size. The -n
option has precedence over LINES in determining the number of
lines in a screen.

MORE
A string specifying options as described in the OPTIONS
section, above. As in a command line, The options must be
separated by blank characters and each option specification
must start with a -. Any command line options are processed
after those specified in MORE as though the command line
were: more $MORE options operands

EXIT STATUS

The following exit values are returned:

0
Successful completion.

>0
An error occurred.

FILES

/usr/lib/more.help
help file for /usr/bin/more and /usr/bin/page
only.

ATTRIBUTES

NOTES

/usr/bin/more
Skipping backwards is too slow on large files.

/usr/xpg4/bin/more
This utility will not behave correctly if the terminal is not set up
properly.

November 4, 2005 MORE(1)