NAME

more, page − file perusal filter for CRT viewing

USAGE

more [ −cdflsu ] [ −n ] [ +linenumber ] [ +/pattern ] [ name ...  ]

page options

DESCRIPTION

More is a filter that lets you examine continuous text one full screen at a time on a soft-copy terminal.  It normally pauses after each full screen, and then prints “--More--” at the bottom of the screen.  If you respond by typing a carriage return, more displays one more line. If you hit a space, it displays the next screen of text. 

More looks in the file /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. 

More looks in the MORE environment variable to pre-set any flags desired.  For example, if you prefer to view files via the −c mode of operation, you can use the csh(1) command

setenv MORE −c

or the sh(1) command sequence

MORE=’-c’ ; export MORE

to force all invocations of more, including those by programs such as man(1), to use this mode.  Normally, you place the command sequence that sets up the MORE environment variable in the .cshrc or .profile file. 

If more is reading from a file, rather than from a pipe, it reports the percentage of the total text (in characters, not lines) displayed on the screen thus far. This percentage is always followed by the “--More--” prompt. 

If the standard output is not a TTY, then more behaves as cat(1) does, except that it prints a header before each file. 

Page clears the screen before printing a screen at a time (that is, if a full screen is to be printed), and k − 1 rather than k − 2 lines are printed for each screen, where k is the number of lines the terminal can display. 

OPTIONS

−n Set the size (in lines) of the display window to n.

−c Draw each page by beginning at the top of the screen and erasing each line just before drawing on it.  This avoids scrolling the screen, making text easier to read while more is writing.  This option is ignored if the terminal does not have the ability to clear to the end of a line. 

−d Prompt with the message “Hit space to continue, Rubout to abort” at the end of each full screen.  This is helpful if more is being used as a filter in some special setting involving unsophisticated users. 

−f Count logical lines rather than screen lines.  Do not fold long lines. This option helps when you pipe nroff(1) output through ul(1), since the latter may generate escape sequences.  These escape sequences contain characters that would ordinarily occupy screen positions, but that do not print when sent to the terminal as part of an escape sequence.  Thus, more may interpret lines to be longer than they actually are, and fold lines erroneously. 

−l Do not treat form feeds specially.  Without this option, more pauses after any line containing a form feed, as if the end of a full screen had been reached.  Also, if a file begins with a form feed, more clears the screen before the file is printed. 

−s Squeeze multiple blank lines from the output, producing only one blank line.  Especially helpful when viewing nroff(1) output, this option maximizes the useful information present on the screen. 

−u Suppress the normal method of handling underlining.  Thus, do not output appropriate escape sequences to enable underlining or standout mode for underlined information in the source file. 

+linenumber
Begin displaying text at linenumber. 

+/pattern
Begin displaying text two lines before the line containing the regular expression pattern. 

COMMANDS

Other sequences that may be typed when more pauses are described below (i is an optional integer argument, defaulting to 1).  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, you may use the line kill character to cancel the numerical argument being formed.  In addition, you may use the erase character to redisplay the “--More--(xx%)” message. 

At any time when output is being sent to the terminal, you may issue an interrupt.  More then stops sending output and displays the usual “--More--” prompt.  You may then enter one of the commands in the normal manner.  Unfortunately, some output is lost when this is done, because any characters waiting in the terminal’s output queue are flushed when the quit signal occurs. 

The terminal is set to noecho mode by this program so that the output can be continuous.  Thus, what you type does not appear on the terminal, except when you use slash (/) or exclamation point (!)  commands. 

i<space> Display i more lines (or another full screen, if no argument is given). 

↑Di Display 11 more lines (a “scroll”).  If i is also specified, set the scroll size to i.

d Same as a ↑D (CONTROL-D). 

iz Same as typing a space, except that i, if present, becomes the new window size.

is Skip i lines ahead and print the next full screen of lines after that.

if Skip i full screens ahead and print the next full screen of lines after that. 

q or Q Exit from the program. 

= Display the current line number. 

v Start up the editor vi(1) at the current line. 

h Help; give a description of all the more commands. 

i/expr Search for the ith occurrence of the regular expression expr. If there are less than i occurrences of expr, and the input is a file rather than a pipe, then the position in the file remains unchanged. Otherwise, a full screen is displayed, starting two lines before the location of the expression. Erase and kill characters may be used to edit the regular expression. Erasing back past the first column cancels the search command.

in Search for the ith occurrence of the last regular expression entered.

´ (single quote) Go to the point where the last search began.  If no search has been performed in the current file, go back to the beginning of the file. 

!command Invoke a Shell with command. Replace the percent (%) and exclamation point (!) characters in command with the current filename and the previous Shell command respectively.  If no current filename exists, the percent (%) is not expanded.  The \% and \! sequences are replaced by % and ! respectively. 

i:n Skip to the ith next file given in the command line (or to last file if n is inappropriate).

i:p Skip to the ith previous file given in the command line. If you issue this command while printing a file, more returns to the beginning of the file. If i is inappropriate, more skips back to the first file.  If more is not reading from a file, it beeps the terminal, but takes no further action. 

:f Display the current filename and line number. 

:q or :Q Same as q or Q. 

. (period) Repeat the previous command. 

EXAMPLE

To use more to help preview nroff(1) output, type the following:

nroff −ms +2 doc.n | more -s

FILES

/etc/termcapterminal data base
/usr/lib/more.helphelp file

AUTHOR

Eric Shienbrood. 

RELATED INFORMATION

csh(1), man(1), sh(1), environ(7).