more(1) (Directory and File Management Utilities) more(1)
NAME
more, page - browse or page through a text file
SYNOPSIS
more [-cdflrsuw] [-lines] [+linenumber] [+/pattern]
[ filename ... ]
page [-cdflrsuw] [-lines] [+linenumber] [+/pattern] [ filename ... ]
DESCRIPTION
more 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, and prints --More-- at the bottom of the screen. more
provides a two-line overlap between screens for continuity. If more
is reading from a file rather than a pipe, the percentage of
characters displayed so far is also shown.
more scrolls up to display one more line in response to a RETURN
character; it displays another screenful in response to a SPACE
character. Other commands are listed below.
page clears the screen before displaying the next screenful of text;
it only provides a one-line overlap between screens.
more 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.
If the standard output is not a terminal, more acts just like
cat(1V), except that a header is printed before each file in a
series.
OPTIONS
The following options are available with more:
-c Clear before displaying. Redrawing 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 Display error messages rather than ringing the terminal bell if
an unrecognized command is used. This is helpful for
inexperienced users.
-f Do 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 Do not treat FORMFEED characters (CTRL-D) as page breaks. If -l
is not used, more pauses to accept commands after any line
containing a ^L character (CTRL-D). Also, if a file begins
with a FORMFEED, the screen is cleared before the file is
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more(1) (Directory and File Management Utilities) more(1)
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.
-s Squeeze. Replace multiple blank lines with a single blank
line. This is helpful when viewing nroff(1) output, on the
screen.
-u Suppress 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 Display 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.
USAGE
Environment
more uses the terminal's terminfo(4) entry to determine its display
characteristics, and looks in the environment variable 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. 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%)' message.
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more(1) (Directory and File Management Utilities) more(1)
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.
i^D (CTRL-D) Display (scroll down) 11 more lines. If i is
given, the scroll size is set to i.
id Same as ^D.
iz Same as SPACE, except that i, if present, becomes the new
default number of lines per screenful.
is Skip i lines and then print a screenful.
if Skip i screenfuls and then print a screenful.
i^B (CTRL-B) Skip back i screenfuls and then print a screenful.
b Same as ^B (CTRL-D).
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more(1) (Directory and File Management Utilities) more(1)
q
Q Exit from more.
= Display the current line number.
v Drop into the editor indicated by the EDITOR environment
variable, at the current line of the current file. The
default editor is ed(1).
h Help. Give a description of all the more commands.
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
such 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.
in Search for the ith occurrence of the last pattern entered.
' 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.
!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.
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.
:f Display the current filename and line number.
:q
:Q Exit from more (same as q or Q).
. Dot. Repeat the previous command.
^\ Halt a partial display of text. more stops sending output,
and displays the usual --More-- prompt. Unfortunately,
some output is lost as a result.
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more(1) (Directory and File Management Utilities) more(1)
FILES
/usr/share/lib/terminfo terminal data base
/usr/lib/more.help help file
SEE ALSO
cat(1), csh(1), man(1), script(1), sh(1)
terminfo(4), environ(5) in the Programmer's Reference Manual.
NOTES
Skipping backwards is too slow on large files.
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