NEWS revision 256281
1121054Semax 2121054Semax NEWS about less 3121054Semax 4121054Semax====================================================================== 5121054Semax 6121054Semax For the latest news about less, see the "less" Web page: 7121054Semax http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less 8121054Semax You can also download the latest version of less from there. 9121054Semax 10121054Semax To report bugs, suggestions or comments, send email to bug-less@gnu.org. 11121054Semax 12121054Semax====================================================================== 13121054Semax 14121054Semax Major changes between "less" versions 451 and 458 15121054Semax 16121054Semax* Allow backslash escaping of metacharacters in LESS environment variable 17121054Semax after the --use-backslash option. 18121054Semax 19121054Semax* Don't quit if syntax errors are found in command line options. 20121054Semax 21121054Semax* Increase sizes of some internal buffers. 22121054Semax 23121054Semax* Fix configure bug with --with-regex=none. 24121054Semax 25121054Semax* Fix crash with "stty rows 0". 26121054Semax 27121054Semax* Fix Win32 attribute display bug. 28121054Semax 29121054Semax* Fix display bug when using up/down arrow on the command line. 30121054Semax 31121054Semax====================================================================== 32121054Semax 33121054Semax Major changes between "less" versions 444 and 451 34121054Semax 35121054Semax* Add ESC-F command to keep reading data until a pattern is found. 36121054Semax 37121054Semax* Use exit code of LESSOPEN script if LESSOPEN starts with "||". 38121054Semax 39121054Semax* When up/down arrow is used on the command line immediately after 40121054Semax typing text, the next command starting with that text is found. 41121054Semax 42121054Semax* Add support for GNU regex. 43121054Semax 44121054Semax* Add configure option --with-regex=none and fix compile errors 45121054Semax when compiling with no regex library. 46121054Semax 47121054Semax* Fix bugs handling SGR sequences in Win32. 48121054Semax 49121054Semax* Fix possible crashes caused by malformed LESSOPEN or 50121054Semax LESSCLOSE variables. 51121054Semax 52121054Semax* Fix bug highlighting text which is discontiguous in the file 53121054Semax due to backspace processing. 54121054Semax 55121054Semax* Fix bug in displaying status column when scrolling backwards 56121054Semax with -J and -S in effect. 57121054Semax 58121054Semax====================================================================== 59121054Semax 60121054Semax Major changes between "less" versions 443 and 444 61121054Semax 62121054Semax* Fix bug in unget handling that can cause strange effects on the 63121054Semax command line. 64121054Semax 65121054Semax* Remove vestiges of obsolete -l option that can cause a crash. 66121054Semax 67121054Semax====================================================================== 68121054Semax 69121054Semax Major changes between "less" versions 436 and 443 70121054Semax 71121054Semax* Change search behavior such that when a search is given an explicit 72121054Semax pattern, the entire displayed screen is included in the search and 73121054Semax not just the portion after the target line. 74121054Semax 75121054Semax* Add -A option to change search behavior to the old way: only 76121054Semax the portion of the screen after the target line is searched. 77121054Semax 78121054Semax* Add %F formatting to prompt strings, replaced by the last component 79121054Semax of the input file. 80121054Semax 81121054Semax* Control-G while editing a command exits the command. 82121054Semax 83121054Semax* Less now exits with status 2 if control-C is pressed and -K is in effect. 84121054Semax 85121054Semax* Fix "ungetc overflow" when passing long commands via the -p option. 86121054Semax 87121054Semax* Fix bug in using line filtering via the & command 88121054Semax in combination with -i and -I. 89121054Semax 90121054Semax* Fix bug in handling negative arguments to the -j option. 91121054Semax 92121054Semax* Fix bug in handling %t in prompt strings. 93121054Semax 94161662Smarkus* Improve handling of long option names. 95121054Semax 96121054Semax* Improve percentage calculation for very large files. 97121054Semax 98121054Semax====================================================================== 99121054Semax 100121054Semax Major changes between "less" versions 429 and 436 101121054Semax 102121054Semax* Don't pass "-" to non-pipe LESSOPEN unless it starts with "-". 103121054Semax 104121054Semax* Allow a fraction as the argument to the -# (--shift) option. 105121054Semax 106121054Semax* Fix highlight bug when underlined/overstruck text matches at end of line. 107121054Semax 108121054Semax* Fix non-regex searches with ctrl-R. 109121054Semax 110121054Semax====================================================================== 111121054Semax 112121054Semax Major changes between "less" versions 424 and 429 113121054Semax 114121054Semax* LESSOPEN pipe will now be used on standard input, if the LESSOPEN 115121054Semax environment variable begins with "|-". 116121054Semax 117121054Semax* The -D option with one number now means use the normal background color. 118121054Semax 119121054Semax* Don't change permissions on history file if it is not a regular file. 120121054Semax 121121054Semax* Fix non-ANSI-compliant code that caused problems with some compilers. 122161662Smarkus 123121054Semax* Fix binary file detection in UTF-8 mode. 124121054Semax 125121054Semax* Fix display problems with long lines on "ignaw" terminals. 126121054Semax 127121054Semax* Fix problem interrupting the line number calculation for initial prompt. 128121054Semax 129121054Semax* Fix SGR emulation when dealing with multiple attributes (eg. bold+underline). 130121054Semax 131121054Semax* Fix highlight bug when searching for underlined/overstruck text. 132121054Semax 133121054Semax====================================================================== 134121054Semax 135121054Semax Major changes between "less" versions 418 and 424 136121054Semax 137121054Semax* New "&" command allows filtering of lines based on a pattern. 138121054Semax 139121054Semax* Status column now displays a search match, even if the matched 140121054Semax string is scrolled off screen because -S is in effect. 141121054Semax 142121054Semax* Improve behavior of -F option. 143121054Semax 144121054Semax* Allow CSI character (0x9B) to work in UTF-8 mode. 145121054Semax 146121054Semax* Output carriage return at startup in case terminal doesn't default 147121054Semax to column 1. 148121054Semax 149121054Semax* Fix bug in '' (quote, quote) command after G command. 150121054Semax 151121054Semax====================================================================== 152121054Semax 153121054Semax Major changes between "less" versions 416 and 418 154121054Semax 155121054Semax* Color escape sequences are now supported in WIN32 build. 156121054Semax 157121054Semax* Makefile now uses EXEEXT feature of autoconf. 158121054Semax 159121054Semax* Fix search bug when using -R and text contains ANSI color escape sequences. 160121054Semax 161121054Semax* Fix crash when using -r with UTF-8 text containing 0x9B bytes. 162121054Semax 163121054Semax* Fix display bug when using ' command to move less than one page forward. 164121054Semax 165121054Semax* Update GPL to version 3. 166121054Semax 167121054Semax====================================================================== 168121054Semax 169121054Semax Major changes between "less" versions 409 and 416 170121054Semax 171121054Semax* New --follow-name option makes F command follow the name of a file 172121054Semax rather than the file descriptor if an open file is renamed. 173161662Smarkus 174161662Smarkus* Make searching with -i/-I work correctly with non-ASCII text. 175161662Smarkus 176121054Semax* Fix DJGPP build. 177121054Semax 178121054Semax====================================================================== 179121054Semax 180121054Semax Major changes between "less" versions 406 and 409 181121054Semax 182121054Semax* Support CSI escape sequences, like SGR escape sequences. 183121054Semax 184121054Semax* Fix bug which caused screen to fail to repaint when window is resized. 185121054Semax 186161662Smarkus* Fix bug in using -i and -I flags with non-ASCII text. 187161662Smarkus 188161662Smarkus* Fix configure bug on systems which don't support langinfo.h. 189121054Semax 190121054Semax* Fix crash when searching text containing certain invalid UTF-8 sequences. 191121054Semax 192161662Smarkus====================================================================== 193121054Semax 194121054Semax Major changes between "less" versions 394 and 406 195121054Semax 196124305Semax* Allow decimal point in number for % (percent) command. 197121054Semax 198121054Semax* Allow decimal point in number for -j option (fraction of screen height). 199121054Semax 200121054Semax* Make n command fetch previous pattern from history file on first search. 201121054Semax 202121054Semax* Don't rewrite history file if it has not changed. 203121054Semax 204121054Semax* Don't move to bottom of screen on first page. 205121054Semax 206121054Semax* Don't output extraneous newlines, so copy & pasting lines from the 207121054Semax output works better. 208121054Semax 209121054Semax* The -c option has been made identical with the -C option. 210121054Semax 211121054Semax* Allow "/dev/null" as synomym for "-" in LESSHISTFILE to indicate 212121054Semax that no history file should be used. 213121054Semax 214121054Semax* Search can now find text which follows a null byte, if the PCRE 215121054Semax library is used, or if no-regex searching (ctrl-R) is used. 216121054Semax 217121054Semax* Better compatibility with POSIX more specification. 218121054Semax 219121054Semax* Make -f work for directories. 220121054Semax 221121054Semax* Make "t" cmd traverse tags in the correct order. 222121054Semax 223121054Semax* Allow a few binary characters in the input file before warning 224121054Semax that the file is binary. 225121054Semax 226121054Semax* Don't warn that file is binary if it merely contains ANSI color sequences 227121054Semax and -R is in effect. 228121054Semax 229121054Semax* Update Unicode character tables. 230121054Semax 231121054Semax* Support DESTDIR in Makefile. 232121054Semax 233121054Semax* Fix bug when filename contains certain shell metacharacters such as "$". 234121054Semax 235121054Semax* Fix bug when resizing the window while waiting for input from a pipe. 236121054Semax 237121054Semax* Fix configure bugs. 238121054Semax 239161662Smarkus====================================================================== 240121054Semax 241121054Semax Major changes between "less" versions 382 and 394 242121054Semax 243121054Semax* Add history file to save search and shell command history between 244121054Semax invocations of less. 245121054Semax 246121054Semax* Improve behavior of history list for search and shell commands. 247124305Semax 248121054Semax* Add -K (or --quit-on-intr) option to make less exit immediately on ctrl-C. 249121054Semax 250121054Semax* Improve handling of UTF-8 files and commands, including better 251121054Semax line wrapping and handling double-width chars. 252121054Semax 253121054Semax* Added LESSUTFBINFMT environment variable to control display of 254121054Semax non-printable characters in a UTF-8 file. 255121054Semax 256121054Semax* Add --with-secure option to configure, to make it easier to 257121054Semax build a secure version of less. 258121054Semax 259121054Semax* Show search matches in the status column even if search highlights 260121054Semax are disabled via the -G option or the ESC-u command. 261121054Semax 262121054Semax* Improve performance when the file contains very long lines. 263121054Semax 264121054Semax* Add "windows" charset. 265124305Semax 266124305Semax* Add man page for lessecho. 267124305Semax 268121054Semax* Add support for erase2 character, treated same as erase. 269121054Semax 270121054Semax* Use ASCII lowercase/uppercase logic when operating on the command line. 271121054Semax 272121054Semax* Update makefile for Borland C++ 5.5.1. 273124305Semax 274124305Semax* Fix bug in calculating number of pages for %D prompt. 275124305Semax 276124305Semax* Fix bug in handling tag file error. 277124305Semax 278124305Semax* Fix obscure bug if input file is deleted while viewing help. 279124305Semax 280124305Semax* Fix bug handling filenames which include square brackets. 281124305Semax 282124305Semax* Fix possible buffer overflow in "global" tag search. 283124305Semax 284121054Semax* Fix possible buffer overflow in usage of LESSOPEN and LESSCLOSE. 285121054Semax 286121054Semax* Fix buffer overflow in reverse search. 287121054Semax 288121054Semax====================================================================== 289121054Semax 290121054Semax Major changes between "less" versions 381 and 382 291124305Semax 292121054Semax* Removed some old copyrighted code. 293121054Semax This probably breaks OS/9 support. 294121054Semax 295121054Semax====================================================================== 296121054Semax 297121054Semax Major changes between "less" versions 378 and 381 298124305Semax 299121054Semax* New -L option to disable LESSOPEN processing. 300121054Semax 301121054Semax* Further support for large (64 bit) file addressing. 302124305Semax Large file support is now set up by the configure script. 303124305Semax 304124305Semax* Use autoconf 2.54. 305121054Semax Replace configure.in, acconfig.h, defines.h.top with configure.ac. 306121054Semax 307121054Semax* Overstriking underscore with underscore is now bold or underlined 308121054Semax depending on context. 309121054Semax 310121054Semax* Use only 7 spaces for line numbers in -N mode, if possible. 311121054Semax 312121054Semax* Fix some bugs in handling overstriking in UTF-8 files. 313121054Semax 314121054Semax* Fix some nroff issues in the man page. 315124305Semax 316121054Semax====================================================================== 317121054Semax 318121054Semax Major changes between "less" versions 376 and 378 319121054Semax 320121054Semax* Bug fixes: 321124305Semax Default buffer space is now 64K as documented. 322124305Semax Search highlighting works properly when used with -R. 323124305Semax Windows version works properly when input file contains carriage returns. 324121054Semax Clean up some compiler warnings. 325121054Semax 326121054Semax====================================================================== 327121054Semax 328121054Semax Major changes between "less" versions 358 and 376 329124305Semax 330124305Semax* -x option can now specify multiple variable-width tab stops. 331124305Semax 332124305Semax* -X option no longer disables keypad initialization. 333124305Semax New option --no-keypad disables keypad initialization. 334121054Semax 335121054Semax* New commands t and T step through multiple tag matches. 336121054Semax Added support for "global(1)" tags 337121054Semax (see http://www.gnu.org/software/global/global.html). 338121054Semax 339124305Semax* New prompt style set by option -Pw defines the message printed 340124305Semax while waiting for data in the F command. 341124305Semax 342124305Semax* System-wide lesskey file now defaults to sysless in etc directory 343124305Semax instead of .sysless in bin directory. 344124305Semax Use "configure --sysconfdir=..." to change it. 345124305Semax (For backwards compatibility, .sysless in bin is still recognized.) 346124305Semax 347124305Semax* Pressing RightArrow or LeftArrow while entering a number now shifts 348121054Semax the display N columns rather than editing the number itself. 349121054Semax 350121054Semax* Status column (enabled with -J) now shows search results. 351121054Semax 352121054Semax* Windows version sets window title. 353121054Semax 354124305Semax* Default LESSCHARSET for MS-DOS versions is now "dos". 355121054Semax 356121054Semax* Searching works better with ANSI (SGR) escape sequences. 357121054Semax ANSI color escape sequences are now supported in the MS-DOS (DJGPP) version. 358121054Semax 359121054Semax* Improved performance in reading very large pipes. 360121054Semax 361121054Semax* Eliminated some dependencies on file offets being 32 bits. 362121054Semax 363121054Semax* Fixed problems when viewing files with very long lines. 364121054Semax 365121054Semax* Fixed overstriking in UTF-8 mode, and overstriking tabs. 366121054Semax 367121054Semax* Improved horizontal shifting of text using -R option with ANSI color. 368121054Semax 369121054Semax* Improved handling of filenames containing shell metacharacters. 370146691Semax 371121054Semax* Some fixes for EBCDIC systems. 372121054Semax 373146691Semax* Some fixes for OS/2 systems. 374146691Semax 375146691Semax====================================================================== 376146691Semax 377146691Semax Major changes between "less" versions 354 and 358 378146691Semax 379146691Semax* Add -J (--status-column) option to display a status column. 380146691Semax 381146691Semax* Add -# (--shift) option to set default horizontal shift distance. 382146691Semax Default horizontal shift distance is now one-half screen width. 383146691Semax 384146691Semax* Horizontal shifting does not shift line numbers if -N is in effect. 385146691Semax 386146691Semax* Horizontal shifting acts as though -S were set, to avoid confusion. 387146691Semax 388146691Semax====================================================================== 389146691Semax 390146691Semax 391146691Semax Major changes between "less" versions 352 and 354 392146691Semax 393146691Semax* Allow space after numeric-valued command line options. 394146691Semax 395121054Semax* Fix problem with configuring terminal libraries on some systems. 396124305Semax 397121054Semax* Add support for PCRE regular expression library. 398121054Semax 399121054Semax* Add --with-regex option to configure to allow manually selecting 400121054Semax a regular expression library. 401121054Semax 402121054Semax* Fix bug compiling with SECURE = 1. 403121054Semax 404121054Semax====================================================================== 405121054Semax 406121054Semax 407121054Semax Major changes between "less" versions 346 and 352 408121054Semax 409121054Semax* Enable UTF-8 if "UTF-8" appears in locale-related environment variables. 410121054Semax 411121054Semax* Add --with-editor option to configure script. 412121054Semax 413121054Semax* The -M prompt and = message now show the top and bottom line number. 414121054Semax 415146691Semax* Fix bug in running the editor on a file whose name contains quotes, etc. 416146691Semax 417146691Semax* Fix bug in horizontal scrolling of long lines. 418146691Semax 419121054Semax* Fix bug in doing :d on a file which contains marks. 420121054Semax 421121054Semax* Fix bug causing cleared lines to sometimes be filled with standout, 422124305Semax bold, underline, etc. on certain terminals. 423124305Semax 424121054Semax* Fixes for MS-DOS (DJGPP) version. 425121054Semax 426121054Semax====================================================================== 427121054Semax 428121054Semax 429124305Semax Major changes between "less" versions 340 and 346 430124305Semax 431121054Semax* The UTF-8 character set is now supported. 432121054Semax 433121054Semax* The default character set is now latin1 rather than ascii. 434121054Semax 435121054Semax* New option -R (--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS) is like -r but handles 436121054Semax long (wrapped) lines correctly, as long as the input contains only 437124305Semax normal text and ANSI color escape sequences. 438124305Semax 439121054Semax* New option -F (--quit-if-one-screen) quits if the text fits on 440121054Semax the first screen. 441121054Semax 442121054Semax* The -w option now highlights the target line of a g or p command. 443121054Semax 444121054Semax* A system-wide lesskey file is supported (LESSKEY_SYSTEM). 445121054Semax 446121054Semax* New escape for prompt strings: %c is replaced by column number. 447124305Semax 448124305Semax* New escape for prompt strings: %P is replaced by percentage into 449121054Semax file, based on line number rather than byte offset. 450121054Semax 451121054Semax* HOME and END keys now jump to beginning of file or end of file. 452121054Semax 453121054Semax====================================================================== 454121054Semax 455121054Semax 456121054Semax Major changes between "less" versions 337 and 340 457121054Semax 458121054Semax* Command line options for less may now be given in either the old 459121054Semax single-letter form, or a new long name form (--option-name). 460121054Semax See the less man page or "less --help" for the list of long option names. 461121054Semax 462124305Semax* Command line options for lesskey may now be given in a new long name 463121054Semax form. See the lesskey man page for the list of long option names. 464121054Semax 465121054Semax* New command -- toggles an option using the long option name. 466121054Semax 467121054Semax* New command __ queries an option using the long option name. 468121054Semax 469121054Semax* The old -- command is renamed as -!. 470121054Semax 471121054Semax* If a ^P is entered between the dash and the option letter of the - 472121054Semax command, the message describing the new setting is suppressed. 473121054Semax 474121054Semax* Lesskey files may now contain \k escape sequences to represent the 475121054Semax "special" keys (arrows, PAGE-UP/PAGE-DOWN, HOME, END, INSERT, DELETE). 476121054Semax 477121054Semax* New command :d removes the current file from the list of files. 478121054Semax 479121054Semax* New option -~ (like -w before version 335) 480121054Semax suppresses tildes after end-of-file. 481146691Semax 482146691Semax* Less is now released under the GNU General Public License. 483146691Semax 484146691Semax====================================================================== 485146691Semax 486146691Semax 487146691Semax Major changes between "less" versions 335 and 337 488146691Semax 489146691Semax* Fixed bugs in "make install". 490146691Semax 491146691Semax====================================================================== 492146691Semax 493146691Semax 494146691Semax Major changes between "less" versions 332 and 335 495146691Semax 496146691Semax* The old -w flag (suppress tildes after end-of-file) has been removed. 497146691Semax 498146691Semax* New -w flag highlights the first new line after a forward-screen. 499146691Semax 500146691Semax* New -W flag highlights the first new line after any forward movement. 501146691Semax 502146691Semax* Window resize works even if LINES and/or COLUMNS environment 503121054Semax variables are incorrect. 504124305Semax 505121054Semax* New percent escapes for prompt strings: 506121054Semax %d is replaced by the page number, and 507121054Semax %D is replaced by the number of pages in the file. 508121054Semax 509121054Semax* Added charsets "iso8859" and "ebcdic". 510121054Semax 511121054Semax* In Windows version, uses HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH if HOME is not defined. 512121054Semax 513121054Semax* Fixed some bugs causing incorrect display on DOS/Windows. 514121054Semax 515121054Semax====================================================================== 516121054Semax 517121054Semax 518121054Semax Major changes between "less" versions 330 and 332 519121054Semax 520121054Semax* Filenames from the command line are entered into the command history, 521121054Semax so UPARROW/DOWNARROW can be used to retrieve them from the :e command. 522121054Semax 523146691Semax* Now works correctly on Windows when using a scrolling terminal 524146691Semax window (buffer larger than display window). 525146691Semax 526146691Semax* On Windows, now restores the console screen on exit. 527121054Semax Use -X to get the old behavior. 528121054Semax 529121054Semax* Fixed bug on Windows when CAPS-LOCK or NUM-LOCK is pressed. 530124317Semax 531121054Semax* Fixed bug on Windows when piping output of an interactive program. 532121054Semax 533121054Semax* Fixed bug in tags file processing when tags file has DOS-style 534121054Semax line terminators (CR/LF). 535124305Semax 536124305Semax* Fixed compilation problem on OS/2. 537124305Semax 538121054Semax====================================================================== 539159350Semax 540159350Semax 541124305Semax Major changes between "less" versions 321 and 330 542124305Semax 543121054Semax* Now supports filenames containing spaces (in double quotes). 544124305Semax New option -" can be used to change the quoting characters. 545124305Semax 546124305Semax* In filename completion, a slash is appended to a directory name. 547124305Semax If the environment variable LESSSEPARATOR is set, the value of 548124305Semax that variable, rather than a slash, is appended. 549124305Semax 550124305Semax* LeftArrow and RightArrow are same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 551124758Semax 552124758Semax* Added commands ESC-( and ESC-), same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 553124758Semax 554124758Semax* A "quit" command defined in a lesskey file may now have an "extra" 555124758Semax string, which is used to return an exit code from less when it quits. 556124758Semax 557124758Semax* New environment variables LESSMETACHARS and LESSMETAESCAPE provide 558124758Semax more control over how less interfaces to the shell. 559124758Semax 560124758Semax* Ported to Microsoft Visual C compiler for Windows. 561124758Semax 562124758Semax* Ported to DJGPP compiler for MS-DOS. 563124758Semax 564124758Semax* Bug fixes. 565124758Semax 566124758Semax====================================================================== 567124758Semax 568124758Semax 569124758Semax Major changes between "less" versions 291 and 321 570124758Semax 571124758Semax* Command line at bottom of screen now scrolls, so it can be longer 572124758Semax than the screen width. 573124758Semax 574124758Semax* New commands ESC-] and ESC-[ scroll the display horizontally. 575124758Semax 576124758Semax* New command ESC-SPACE scrolls forward a full screen, even if it 577124758Semax hits end-of-file. 578124758Semax 579124758Semax* Alternate modifiers for search commands: ^N is same as !, 580124758Semax ^F is same as @, and ^E is same as *. 581124758Semax 582124758Semax* New modifier for search commands: ^K means highlight the matches 583124758Semax currently on-screen, but don't move to the first match. 584124758Semax 585124758Semax* New modifier for search commands: ^R means don't use regular 586124305Semax expressions in the search. 587124305Semax 588124305Semax* Environment variable LESSKEY gives name of default lesskey file. 589124305Semax 590124305Semax* Environment variable LESSSECURE will force less to run in 591124305Semax "secure" mode. 592124305Semax 593124305Semax* Command line argument "--" signals that the rest of the arguments 594124305Semax are files (not option flags). 595124305Semax 596124305Semax* Help file (less.hlp) is no longer installed. Help text is now 597124305Semax embedded in the less executable itself. 598124305Semax 599124305Semax* Added -Ph to change the prompt for the help text. 600124305Semax Added -Ps to change the default short prompt (same as plain -P). 601124305Semax 602124305Semax* Ported to the Borland C compiler for MS-DOS. 603124758Semax 604124305Semax* Ported to Windows 95 & Windows NT. 605124305Semax 606124305Semax* Ported to OS-9. 607124305Semax 608124305Semax* Ported to GNU Hurd. 609124305Semax 610124305Semax====================================================================== 611124305Semax 612124305Semax 613124305Semax Major changes between "less" versions 290 and 291 614124305Semax 615124305Semax* Less environment variables can be specified in lesskey files. 616124305Semax 617124305Semax* Fixed MS-DOS build. 618124305Semax 619124305Semax====================================================================== 620124305Semax 621124305Semax 622124305Semax Major changes between "less" versions 278 and 290 623124305Semax 624124305Semax* Accepts GNU-style options "--help" and "--version". 625124305Semax 626124305Semax* OS/2 version looks for less.ini in $HOME before $INIT and $PATH. 627124305Semax 628124305Semax* Bug fixes 629124305Semax 630124305Semax====================================================================== 631124305Semax 632124758Semax 633124305Semax Major changes between "less" versions 252 and 278 634124305Semax 635124305Semax* A LESSOPEN preprocessor may now pipe the converted file data to less, 636124305Semax rather than writing it to a temporary file. 637124305Semax 638124305Semax* Search pattern highlighting has been fixed. It now highlights 639124305Semax reliably, even if a string is split across two screen lines, 640124305Semax contains TABs, etc. 641124305Semax 642124305Semax* The -F flag (which suppress search highlighting) has been changed 643124305Semax to -G. A new flag, -g, changes search highlighting to highlight 644124305Semax only the string found by the last search command, instead of all 645124305Semax strings which match the last search command. 646124305Semax 647124305Semax* New flag -I acts like -i, but ignores case even if the search 648124305Semax pattern contains uppercase letters. 649124305Semax 650177044Semax* Less now checks for the environment variable VISUAL before EDITOR. 651177044Semax 652177358Semax* Ported to OS/2. 653177358Semax 654177358Semax====================================================================== 655177358Semax 656177358Semax 657177358Semax Major changes between "less" versions 237 and 252 658177044Semax 659177044Semax* Changes in line-editing keys: 660177044Semax The literal key is now ^V or ^A rather than \ (backslash). 661177044Semax Filename completion commands (TAB and ^L) are disabled 662177358Semax when typing a search pattern. 663177358Semax 664177358Semax* Line-editing command keys can be redefined using lesskey. 665177358Semax 666177358Semax* Lesskey with no input file defaults to $HOME/.lesskey 667177358Semax rather than standard input. 668177358Semax 669177358Semax* New option -V displays version number of less. 670177358Semax 671177358Semax* New option -V displays version number of lesskey. 672177044Semax 673177358Semax* Help file less.hlp is now installed by default in /usr/local/share 674177358Semax rather than /usr/local/lib. 675177358Semax 676177358Semax 677177358Semax====================================================================== 678177364Semax 679177364Semax 680177358Semax Major changes between "less" versions 170 and 237 681177358Semax 682177358Semax* By popular demand, text which matches the current search pattern 683177044Semax is highlighted. New -F flag disables this feature. 684124758Semax 685124758Semax* Henry Spencer's regexp.c is now included, for systems which do not 686124758Semax have a regular expression library. 687124758Semax regexp.c is Copyright (c) 1986 by University of Toronto. 688124758Semax 689124758Semax* New line-editing keys, including command history (arrow keys) and 690124758Semax filename completion (TAB). 691121054Semax 692121054Semax* Input preprocessor allows modification of input files (e.g. uncompress) 693121054Semax via LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE environment variables. 694121054Semax 695* New -X flag disables sending termcap "ti" and "te" (initialize and 696 deinitialize) strings to the terminal. 697 698* Changing -i from within less now correctly affects a subsequent 699 repeated search. 700 701* Searching for underlined or overstruck text now works when the -u 702 flag is in effect, rather than the -i flag. 703 704* Use setlocale (LANG and LC_CTYPE environment variables) to determine 705 the character set if LESSCHARSET/LESSCHARDEF are not set. 706 707* The default format for displaying binary characters is now standout 708 (reverse video) rather than blinking. This can still be changed by 709 setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable. 710 711* Use autoconf installation technology. 712 713* Ported to MS-DOS. 714 715 ******************************** 716 Things that may surprise you 717 ******************************** 718 719* When you enter text at the bottom of the screen (search string, 720 filename, etc.), some keys act different than previously. 721 Specifically, \ (backslash), ESC, TAB, BACKTAB, and control-L 722 now have line editing functions. 723 724* Some previous unofficial versions of less were able to display 725 compressed files. The new LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE feature now provides 726 this functionality in a different way. 727 728* Some previous unofficial versions of less provided a -Z flag to 729 set the number of lines of text to retain between full screen scrolls. 730 The -z-n flag (that is, -z with a negative number) provides this 731 functionality. 732 733 734====================================================================== 735 736 737 Major changes between "less" versions 123 and 170 738 739* New option -j allows target lines to be positioned anywhere on screen. 740 741* New option -S truncates displayed line at the screen width, 742 rather than wrapping onto the next line. 743 744* New option -y limits amount of forward scroll. 745 746* New option -T specifies a "tags" file. 747 748* Non-printable, non-control characters are displayed in octal. 749 Such characters, as well as control characters, are displayed 750 in blinking mode. 751 752* New command -+ sets an option to its default. 753* New command -- sets an option to the opposite of its default. 754 755* Lesskey file may have a string appended to a key's action, 756 which acts as though typed in after the command. 757 758* New commands ESC-^F and ESC-^B match arbitrary types of brackets. 759 760* New command F monitors a growing file (like "tail -f"). 761 762* New command | pipes a section of the input file into a shell command. 763 764* New command :x directly jumps to a file in the command line list. 765 766* Search commands have been enhanced and reorganized: 767 n Repeat search, same direction. 768 N Repeat search, opposite direction. 769 ESC-/ Search forward thru file boundaries 770 ESC-? Search backward thru file boundaries 771 ESC-n Repeat search thru file boundaries, same direction. 772 ESC-N Repeat search thru file boundaries, opposite direction. 773 Special character * causes search to search thru file boundaries. 774 Special character @ causes search to begin at start/end of file list. 775 776* Examining a new file adds it to the command line list. 777 A list of files, or an expression which matches more than one file, 778 may be examined; all of them are added to the command line list. 779 780* Environment variables LESSCHARSET and LESSCHARDEF can define 781 a non-ASCII character set. 782 783* Partial support for MSDOS, including options -R for repainting screen 784 on quit, -v/-V to select video mode, and -W to change window size. 785 786 787====================================================================== 788 789 790 Major changes between "less" versions 97 and 123 791 792* New option (-N) causes line numbers to be displayed in the 793 text of the file (like vi "set nu"). 794 795* New option (-?) prints help message immediately. 796 797* New option (-r) displays "raw" control characters, without 798 mapping them to ^X notation. 799 800* New option (-f) forces less to open non-regular files 801 (directories, etc). 802 803* New option (-k) can be used to specify lesskey files by name. 804 805* New option (-y) can be used to set a forward scroll limit 806 (like -h sets a backward scroll limit). 807 808* File marks (set by the m command) are now preserved when a new 809 file is edited. The ' command can thus be used to switch files. 810 811* New command ESC-/ searches all files (on the command line) 812 for a pattern. 813 814* New command ESC-n repeats previous search, spanning files. 815 816* The N command has been changed to repeat the previous search 817 in the reverse direction. The old N command is still available 818 via :n. 819 820* New command ESC-N repeats previous search in the reverse 821 direction and spanning files. 822 823* 8 bit characters are now supported. A new option (-g) can be 824 used to strip off the eighth bit (the previous behavior). 825 826* Options which take a following string (like -t) may now 827 optionally have a space between the option letter and the string. 828 829* Six new commands { } ( ) [ and ] can be used to match 830 brackets of specific types, similar to vi % command. 831 832* New commands z and w move forward/backward one window and 833 simultaneously set the window size. 834 835* Prompt string expansion now has %L for line number of the last 836 line in the file, and %E for the name of the editor. 837 Also, % escapes which refer to a line (b=bottom, t=top, etc.) 838 can use j for the jump target line. 839 840* New environment variable LESSEDIT can be used to tailor the 841 command string passed to the editor by the v command. 842 843* Examining a file which was previously examined will return 844 to the same position in the file. 845 846* A "%" is expanded to the current filename and a "#" to the 847 previous filename, in both shell commands and the E command. 848 (Previously % worked only in shell commands and # worked 849 only in the E command.) 850 851* New command ":ta" is equivalent to "-t". 852 853* New command "s" is equivalent to "-l". 854 855* The - command may be followed by "+X" to revert to the default 856 for option X, or "-X" to get the opposite of the default. 857 858* Lesskey files may now include characters after the action as 859 extra input to be parsed after the action; for example: 860 "toggle-option X" to toggle a specific option X. 861 862 863 864 865 866