more(1) UNIX System V(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 printed.
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more(1) UNIX System V(Directory and File Management Utilities) more(1)
-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 termcap(5) 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.
In the following commands, i is a numerical argument (1 by default).
iSPACE Display another screenful, or i more lines if i is specified.
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more(1) UNIX System V(Directory and File Management Utilities) more(1)
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).
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.
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more(1) UNIX System V(Directory and File Management Utilities) more(1)
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.
FILES
/usr/share/lib/termcap
terminal data base
/usr/lib/more.help
help file
SEE ALSO
cat(1), csh(1), man(1), script(1), sh(1)
environ(5V), termcap(5) in the System Administrator's Reference Manual
NOTES
Skipping backwards is too slow on large files.
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