MORE(C) UNIX System V
Name
more - views a file one screen full at a time
Syntax
more [ -cdflrsuvw ] [ -n ] [ +linenumber ] [ +/pattern ] [
name ... ]
Description
This filter allows examination of a continuous text one
screen full at a time. It normally pauses after each full
screen, displaying:
--More--
at the bottom of the screen. If the user then presses a
carriage return, one more line is displayed. If the user
presses the SPACE bar, another full screen is displayed.
Other possibilities are described below.
The command line options are:
-n An integer which is the size (in lines) of the window
which more will use instead of the default.
-c more draws each page by beginning at the top of the
screen and erasing each line just before it draws on
it. This avoids scrolling the screen, making it 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 more prompts with the message ``Hit space to continue,
Rubout to abort" at the end of each full screen. This
is useful if more is being used as a filter in some
setting, such as a class, where many users may be
inexperienced.
-f This option causes more to count logical, rather than
screen lines. That is, long lines are not folded.
This option is recommended if nroff output is being
piped through ul, since the latter may generate escape
sequences. These escape sequences contain characters
that would ordinarily occupy screen positions, but do
not print when they are sent to the terminal as part of
an escape sequence. Thus more may think that lines are
longer than they actually are and fold lines
erroneously.
-l Does not treat Ctrl-L (form feed) specially. If this
option is not given, more pauses after any line that
contains a Ctrl-L, as if the end of a full screen has
been reached. Also, if a file begins with a form feed,
the screen is cleared before the file is printed.
-r Causes carriage returns to be printed as ``^M''.
-s Squeezes multiple blank lines from the output,
producing only one blank line. Especially helpful when
viewing nroff output, this option maximizes the useful
information present on the screen.
-u Normally, more handles underlining, such as that
produced by nroff in a manner appropriate to the
particular terminal: if the terminal can perform
underlining or has a stand-out mode, more outputs
appropriate escape sequences to enable underlining or
stand-out mode for underlined information in the source
file. The -u option suppresses this processing.
-v Normally, more ignores control characters that it does
not interpret in some way. The -v option causes these
to be displayed as ^C where C is the corresponding
printable ASCII character. Non-printing non-ASCII
characters (with the high bit set) are displayed in the
format M-C, where C is the corresponding character
without the high bit set. If output is not going to a
terminal, more does not interpret control characters.
-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.
+linenumber
Starts up at linenumber.
+/pattern
Starts up two lines before the line containing the
regular expression pattern.
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 preset any
flags desired. For example, if you prefer to view files
using the -c mode of operation, the shell command ``MORE=-
c'' in the .profile file causes all invocations of more to
use this mode.
If more is reading from a file, rather than a pipe, a
percentage is displayed along with the ``--More--'' prompt.
This gives the fraction of the file (in characters, not
lines) that has been read so far.
Other sequences which may be entered when more pauses, and
their effects, are as follows (i is an optional integer
argument, defaulting to 1 where not specified otherwise):
i<space>
Displays i more lines, (or another full screen if no
argument is given).
Ctrl-D
Displays 11 more lines (a ``scroll''). If i is given,
then the scroll size is set to i.
d Same as Ctrl-D.
iz Same as entering a space except that i, if present,
becomes the new window size.
is Skips i lines and displays a full screen of lines.
if Skips i full screens and displays a full screen of
lines.
q or Q
Exits from more.
= Displays the current line number.
v Starts up the screen editor vi at the current line.
Note that vi may not be available with your system.
h or ?
Help command; Gives a description of all the more
commands.
i/expr
Searches 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 place where the expression was found.
The user's erase and kill characters may be used to
edit the regular expression. Erasing back past the
first column cancels the search command.
in Searches for the ith occurrence of the last regular
expression entered.
' (Single quotation mark) Goes to the point from which
the last search started. If no search has been
performed in the current file, this command goes back
to the beginning of the file.
!command
Invokes a shell with command. The characters % and ! in
``command" are replaced with the current filename and
the previous shell command respectively. If there is
no current filename, % is not expanded. The sequences
``\%'' and ``\!'' are replaced by ``%'' and ``!''
respectively.
i:n Skips to the ith next file given in the command line
(skips to last file if i doesn't make sense).
i:p Skips to the ith previous file given in the command
line. If this command is given in the middle of
printing out a file, more goes back to the beginning of
the file. If i doesn't make sense, more skips back to
the first file. If more is not reading from a file,
the bell rings and nothing else happens.
:f Displays the current filename and line number.
:q or :Q
Exits from more (same as q or Q).
. Repeats the previous command.
The commands take effect immediately. It is not necessary to
enter a carriage return. Up to the time when the command
character itself is given, the user may enter the line kill
character to cancel the numerical argument being formed. In
addition, the user may enter the erase character to
redisplay the ``--More--(xx%)'' message.
The terminal is set to noecho mode by this program so that
the output can be continuous. What you enter will not show
on your terminal, except for the slash (/) and exclamation
(!) commands.
If the standard output is not a teletype, more acts just
like cat, except that a header is printed before each file
(if there is more than one).
A sample usage of more in previewing nroff output would be
nroff -ms +2 doc.n | more -s
Files
/etc/termcap Terminal data base
/usr/lib/more.help Help file
See Also
csh(C), sh(C), environ(M)
Credit
This utility was developed at the University of California
at Berkeley and is used with permission.
Notes
The vi and help options may not be available.
Before displaying a file, more attempts to detect whether it
is a non-printable binary file such as a directory or
executable binary image. If more concludes that a file is
unprintable, it refuses to print it. However, more cannot
detect all possible kinds of non-printable files.
(printed 2/15/90) MORE(C)