MORE(1) BSD MORE(1)
NAME
more, page - file perusal filter for CRT viewing
SYNOPSIS
more [ -cdflsu ] [ -n ] [ +linenumber ] [ +/pattern ] [ name ... ]
page [ more-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 displays "--More--" at the bottom of the screen. If you
respond by entering a newline, more displays one more line. If you press
the spacebar, 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 environment variable MORE 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), and msgs(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, on
the same line as the "--More--" prompt, the percentage of the total text
(in characters, not lines) displayed on the screen so far.
If the standard output is not a tty, more behaves as cat(1) does, except
that it displays a header before each file.
If you run more from a Display Manager window, a vt100 emulator is
started first.
page clears the screen before displaying each full screen (only if a full
screen is to be displayed), and displays k - 1 rather than k - 2 lines on
each full 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. more
ignores this option if the terminal cannot clear to the end of a
line.
-d Prompt with the message "Press space to continue, 'q' to quit." at
the end of each full screen. Respond to subsequent illegal user
input by printing "Press 'h' for instructions." instead of ringing
the bell. This is helpful if you use more as a filter in some
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 ordinarily occupy screen
positions, but are not displayed 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 displaying the file.
-s Squeeze multiple blank lines from the output, producing only one
blank line. This option maximizes the useful information present on
the screen; it is especially helpful when you are viewing nroff(1)
output.
-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 you can type when more pauses are described below (i
is an optional integer argument, defaulting to 1). The commands take
effect immediately, that is, you do not have to enter a carriage return.
Up to the time you specify the command character itself, you can use the
line-kill character to cancel the numerical argument being formed. You
can also use the erase character to redisplay the "--More--(xx%)"
message.
You can issue an interrupt any time output is being sent to the terminal.
more stops sending output and displays the usual "--More--" prompt. You
can then enter one of the commands in the normal manner. Unfortunately,
you lose some output when you do this, because any characters waiting in
the terminal's output queue are flushed when you issue the quit signal.
more sets the terminal to noecho mode, 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 you do not
specify an argument).
CTRL/D Display 11 more lines (a "scroll"). If you also specify i
(iCTRL/D), set the scroll size to i.
d This command is the same as D (CTRL/D).
iz This is the 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.
ib Skip i full screens back and print the next full screen of
lines.
iCTRL/B This is the same as ib.
q or Q Exit from the program (more or page).
= 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 fewer than i occurrences of expr, and the input is
a file rather than a pipe, the position in the file remains
unchanged. Otherwise, more displays a full screen, starting
two lines before the location of the expression. You can use
erase and kill characters 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 was
performed in the current file, go 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 This is the same as q or Q.
. (dot) 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/termcap Terminal database
/usr/lib/more.help Help file
BUGS
Skipping backwards is too slow on large files.
SEE ALSO
csh(1), crpad(1), msgs(1), man(1), sh(1), environ(7)