NEWS revision 221715
1139969Simp 21556Srgrimes NEWS about less 31556Srgrimes 41556Srgrimes====================================================================== 51556Srgrimes 61556Srgrimes For the latest news about less, see the "less" Web page: 71556Srgrimes http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less 81556Srgrimes You can also download the latest version of less from there. 91556Srgrimes 101556Srgrimes To report bugs, suggestions or comments, send email to 111556Srgrimes bug-less@gnu.org or markn@greenwoodsoftware.com. 121556Srgrimes 131556Srgrimes====================================================================== 141556Srgrimes 151556Srgrimes Major changes between "less" versions 436 and 443 161556Srgrimes 171556Srgrimes* Change search behavior such that when a search is given an explicit 181556Srgrimes pattern, the entire displayed screen is included in the search and 191556Srgrimes not just the portion after the target line. 201556Srgrimes 211556Srgrimes* Add -A option to change search behavior to the old way: only 221556Srgrimes the portion of the screen after the target line is searched. 231556Srgrimes 241556Srgrimes* Add %F formatting to prompt strings, replaced by the last component 251556Srgrimes of the input file. 261556Srgrimes 271556Srgrimes* Control-G while editing a command exits the command. 281556Srgrimes 291556Srgrimes* Less now exits with status 2 if control-C is pressed and -K is in effect. 30114433Sobrien 311556Srgrimes* Fix "ungetc overflow" when passing long commands via the -p option. 3220420Ssteve 331556Srgrimes* Fix bug in using line filtering via the & command 341556Srgrimes in combination with -i and -I. 351556Srgrimes 361556Srgrimes* Fix bug in handling negative arguments to the -j option. 371556Srgrimes 3836046Scharnier* Fix bug in handling %t in prompt strings. 39114433Sobrien 4036046Scharnier* Improve handling of long option names. 4199109Sobrien 4299109Sobrien* Improve percentage calculation for very large files. 431556Srgrimes 441556Srgrimes====================================================================== 451556Srgrimes 461556Srgrimes Major changes between "less" versions 429 and 436 471556Srgrimes 481556Srgrimes* Don't pass "-" to non-pipe LESSOPEN unless it starts with "-". 49195768Sjilles 50207021Sjilles* Allow a fraction as the argument to the -# (--shift) option. 5177404Simp 521556Srgrimes* Fix highlight bug when underlined/overstruck text matches at end of line. 531556Srgrimes 541556Srgrimes* Fix non-regex searches with ctrl-R. 551556Srgrimes 561556Srgrimes====================================================================== 57226961Sed 58226961Sed Major changes between "less" versions 424 and 429 59226961Sed 60226961Sed* LESSOPEN pipe will now be used on standard input, if the LESSOPEN 61226961Sed environment variable begins with "|-". 62226961Sed 63226961Sed* The -D option with one number now means use the normal background color. 64226961Sed 65179603Skeramida* Don't change permissions on history file if it is not a regular file. 66226961Sed 671556Srgrimes* Fix non-ANSI-compliant code that caused problems with some compilers. 68251261Seadler 69251261Seadler* Fix binary file detection in UTF-8 mode. 701556Srgrimes 711556Srgrimes* Fix display problems with long lines on "ignaw" terminals. 7290110Simp 731556Srgrimes* Fix problem interrupting the line number calculation for initial prompt. 741556Srgrimes 75173701Sru* Fix SGR emulation when dealing with multiple attributes (eg. bold+underline). 761556Srgrimes 771556Srgrimes* Fix highlight bug when searching for underlined/overstruck text. 7854895Ssheldonh 7954895Ssheldonh====================================================================== 8054895Ssheldonh 8154895Ssheldonh Major changes between "less" versions 418 and 424 8254895Ssheldonh 83219680Sjilles* New "&" command allows filtering of lines based on a pattern. 8454895Ssheldonh 8554895Ssheldonh* Status column now displays a search match, even if the matched 8654895Ssheldonh string is scrolled off screen because -S is in effect. 8754895Ssheldonh 8897531Stjr* Improve behavior of -F option. 8954895Ssheldonh 9097531Stjr* Allow CSI character (0x9B) to work in UTF-8 mode. 9197531Stjr 9297531Stjr* Output carriage return at startup in case terminal doesn't default 9397531Stjr to column 1. 9497531Stjr 9554895Ssheldonh* Fix bug in '' (quote, quote) command after G command. 9654895Ssheldonh 97195768Sjilles====================================================================== 981556Srgrimes 99155667Sglebius Major changes between "less" versions 416 and 418 100155667Sglebius 101155667Sglebius* Color escape sequences are now supported in WIN32 build. 102195768Sjilles 103195768Sjilles* Makefile now uses EXEEXT feature of autoconf. 104195768Sjilles 105195768Sjilles* Fix search bug when using -R and text contains ANSI color escape sequences. 106195768Sjilles 107195768Sjilles* Fix crash when using -r with UTF-8 text containing 0x9B bytes. 1081556Srgrimes 1091556Srgrimes* Fix display bug when using ' command to move less than one page forward. 11064787Ssheldonh 111179603Skeramida* Update GPL to version 3. 1121556Srgrimes 11376039Ssobomax====================================================================== 11476039Ssobomax 11576039Ssobomax Major changes between "less" versions 409 and 416 11676039Ssobomax 11764638Ssheldonh* New --follow-name option makes F command follow the name of a file 11864638Ssheldonh rather than the file descriptor if an open file is renamed. 11964787Ssheldonh 12064638Ssheldonh* Make searching with -i/-I work correctly with non-ASCII text. 1211556Srgrimes 1221556Srgrimes* Fix DJGPP build. 1231556Srgrimes 12451148Sobrien====================================================================== 12551148Sobrien 12651148Sobrien Major changes between "less" versions 406 and 409 127179603Skeramida 128179603Skeramida* Support CSI escape sequences, like SGR escape sequences. 129179603Skeramida 1301556Srgrimes* Fix bug which caused screen to fail to repaint when window is resized. 1311556Srgrimes 1321556Srgrimes* Fix bug in using -i and -I flags with non-ASCII text. 1331556Srgrimes 1341556Srgrimes* Fix configure bug on systems which don't support langinfo.h. 1351556Srgrimes 1361556Srgrimes* Fix crash when searching text containing certain invalid UTF-8 sequences. 1371556Srgrimes 13851148Sobrien====================================================================== 139155667Sglebius 140155667Sglebius Major changes between "less" versions 394 and 406 141179603Skeramida 142155667Sglebius* Allow decimal point in number for % (percent) command. 143179603Skeramida 144179603Skeramida* Allow decimal point in number for -j option (fraction of screen height). 1451556Srgrimes 1461556Srgrimes* Make n command fetch previous pattern from history file on first search. 1471556Srgrimes 1481556Srgrimes* Don't rewrite history file if it has not changed. 14976039Ssobomax 150173701Sru* Don't move to bottom of screen on first page. 1511556Srgrimes 152173701Sru* Don't output extraneous newlines, so copy & pasting lines from the 1531556Srgrimes output works better. 15491084Smarkm 15596373Sjedgar* The -c option has been made identical with the -C option. 1561556Srgrimes 157173701Sru* Allow "/dev/null" as synomym for "-" in LESSHISTFILE to indicate 158173701Sru that no history file should be used. 159173701Sru 16076039Ssobomax* Search can now find text which follows a null byte, if the PCRE 16176039Ssobomax library is used, or if no-regex searching (ctrl-R) is used. 16276039Ssobomax 16376039Ssobomax* Better compatibility with POSIX more specification. 16476039Ssobomax 165173701Sru* Make -f work for directories. 16676039Ssobomax 167173701Sru* Make "t" cmd traverse tags in the correct order. 168173701Sru 1691556Srgrimes* Allow a few binary characters in the input file before warning 1701556Srgrimes that the file is binary. 171173701Sru 172173701Sru* Don't warn that file is binary if it merely contains ANSI color sequences 1731556Srgrimes and -R is in effect. 1741556Srgrimes 1751556Srgrimes* Update Unicode character tables. 176206773Sjilles 177206773Sjilles* Support DESTDIR in Makefile. 178206773Sjilles 179206773Sjilles* Fix bug when filename contains certain shell metacharacters such as "$". 180206773Sjilles 181206773Sjilles* Fix bug when resizing the window while waiting for input from a pipe. 182206773Sjilles 183206773Sjilles* Fix configure bugs. 184206773Sjilles 185206773Sjilles====================================================================== 186206773Sjilles 187206773Sjilles Major changes between "less" versions 382 and 394 188206773Sjilles 189206773Sjilles* Add history file to save search and shell command history between 190206773Sjilles invocations of less. 191206773Sjilles 192206773Sjilles* Improve behavior of history list for search and shell commands. 193206773Sjilles 194206773Sjilles* Add -K (or --quit-on-intr) option to make less exit immediately on ctrl-C. 195206773Sjilles 196206773Sjilles* Improve handling of UTF-8 files and commands, including better 197206773Sjilles line wrapping and handling double-width chars. 198206773Sjilles 199206773Sjilles* Added LESSUTFBINFMT environment variable to control display of 200206773Sjilles non-printable characters in a UTF-8 file. 201206773Sjilles 202206773Sjilles* Add --with-secure option to configure, to make it easier to 203206773Sjilles build a secure version of less. 204206773Sjilles 205206773Sjilles* Show search matches in the status column even if search highlights 206206773Sjilles are disabled via the -G option or the ESC-u command. 207206773Sjilles 208206773Sjilles* Improve performance when the file contains very long lines. 209206773Sjilles 210206773Sjilles* Add "windows" charset. 211206773Sjilles 212206773Sjilles* Add man page for lessecho. 213206773Sjilles 214206773Sjilles* Add support for erase2 character, treated same as erase. 215206773Sjilles 216206773Sjilles* Use ASCII lowercase/uppercase logic when operating on the command line. 217206773Sjilles 218206773Sjilles* Update makefile for Borland C++ 5.5.1. 219206773Sjilles 220206773Sjilles* Fix bug in calculating number of pages for %D prompt. 221206773Sjilles 222251261Seadler* Fix bug in handling tag file error. 223173701Sru 2241556Srgrimes* Fix obscure bug if input file is deleted while viewing help. 2251556Srgrimes 22676877Skris* Fix bug handling filenames which include square brackets. 22764787Ssheldonh 22877404Simp* Fix possible buffer overflow in "global" tag search. 229179603Skeramida 230207021Sjilles* Fix possible buffer overflow in usage of LESSOPEN and LESSCLOSE. 2311556Srgrimes 2321556Srgrimes* Fix buffer overflow in reverse search. 233173701Sru 234195768Sjilles====================================================================== 235173701Sru 2361556Srgrimes Major changes between "less" versions 381 and 382 2371556Srgrimes 23815900Speter* Removed some old copyrighted code. 23915900Speter This probably breaks OS/9 support. 24015900Speter 241173701Sru====================================================================== 2421556Srgrimes 2431556Srgrimes Major changes between "less" versions 378 and 381 2441556Srgrimes 2451556Srgrimes* New -L option to disable LESSOPEN processing. 24676039Ssobomax 247173701Sru* Further support for large (64 bit) file addressing. 248321094Sngie Large file support is now set up by the configure script. 24976039Ssobomax 250321094Sngie* Use autoconf 2.54. 251173701Sru Replace configure.in, acconfig.h, defines.h.top with configure.ac. 252321094Sngie 253207021Sjilles* Overstriking underscore with underscore is now bold or underlined 254207021Sjilles depending on context. 255207021Sjilles 256101094Smarkm* Use only 7 spaces for line numbers in -N mode, if possible. 25799019Stjr 258173701Sru* Fix some bugs in handling overstriking in UTF-8 files. 25999019Stjr 26099019Stjr* Fix some nroff issues in the man page. 261173701Sru 26276039Ssobomax====================================================================== 2631556Srgrimes 2641556Srgrimes Major changes between "less" versions 376 and 378 265179603Skeramida 266179603Skeramida* Bug fixes: 267179603Skeramida Default buffer space is now 64K as documented. 268179603Skeramida Search highlighting works properly when used with -R. 269179603Skeramida Windows version works properly when input file contains carriage returns. 270179603Skeramida Clean up some compiler warnings. 271179603Skeramida 272179603Skeramida====================================================================== 273179603Skeramida 274179603Skeramida Major changes between "less" versions 358 and 376 275179603Skeramida 276179603Skeramida* -x option can now specify multiple variable-width tab stops. 277179603Skeramida 278179603Skeramida* -X option no longer disables keypad initialization. 279207021Sjilles New option --no-keypad disables keypad initialization. 280207021Sjilles 281207021Sjilles* New commands t and T step through multiple tag matches. 282207021Sjilles Added support for "global(1)" tags 283207021Sjilles (see http://www.gnu.org/software/global/global.html). 284207021Sjilles 285207021Sjilles* New prompt style set by option -Pw defines the message printed 286207021Sjilles while waiting for data in the F command. 287179603Skeramida 288179603Skeramida* System-wide lesskey file now defaults to sysless in etc directory 289206773Sjilles instead of .sysless in bin directory. 290179603Skeramida Use "configure --sysconfdir=..." to change it. 291206773Sjilles (For backwards compatibility, .sysless in bin is still recognized.) 292206773Sjilles 293206773Sjilles* Pressing RightArrow or LeftArrow while entering a number now shifts 294206773Sjilles the display N columns rather than editing the number itself. 295206773Sjilles 296206773Sjilles* Status column (enabled with -J) now shows search results. 297206773Sjilles 298206773Sjilles* Windows version sets window title. 299206773Sjilles 300206773Sjilles* Default LESSCHARSET for MS-DOS versions is now "dos". 301206773Sjilles 302206773Sjilles* Searching works better with ANSI (SGR) escape sequences. 30364787Ssheldonh ANSI color escape sequences are now supported in the MS-DOS (DJGPP) version. 3041556Srgrimes 30564787Ssheldonh* Improved performance in reading very large pipes. 306155667Sglebius 307173701Sru* Eliminated some dependencies on file offets being 32 bits. 308173701Sru 309155667Sglebius* Fixed problems when viewing files with very long lines. 310155667Sglebius 311173701Sru* Fixed overstriking in UTF-8 mode, and overstriking tabs. 312173701Sru 31364787Ssheldonh* Improved horizontal shifting of text using -R option with ANSI color. 31464787Ssheldonh 31564638Ssheldonh* Improved handling of filenames containing shell metacharacters. 31664787Ssheldonh 317173701Sru* Some fixes for EBCDIC systems. 31864638Ssheldonh 31964638Ssheldonh* Some fixes for OS/2 systems. 32064638Ssheldonh 32164638Ssheldonh====================================================================== 32264787Ssheldonh 32364787Ssheldonh Major changes between "less" versions 354 and 358 32464787Ssheldonh 32564787Ssheldonh* Add -J (--status-column) option to display a status column. 32664638Ssheldonh 327155667Sglebius* Add -# (--shift) option to set default horizontal shift distance. 328173701Sru Default horizontal shift distance is now one-half screen width. 329173701Sru 330155667Sglebius* Horizontal shifting does not shift line numbers if -N is in effect. 331155667Sglebius 332173701Sru* Horizontal shifting acts as though -S were set, to avoid confusion. 333173701Sru 33464638Ssheldonh====================================================================== 33564638Ssheldonh 3361556Srgrimes 33764787Ssheldonh Major changes between "less" versions 352 and 354 33864787Ssheldonh 339195768Sjilles* Allow space after numeric-valued command line options. 340195768Sjilles 341195768Sjilles* Fix problem with configuring terminal libraries on some systems. 342173701Sru 34364638Ssheldonh* Add support for PCRE regular expression library. 34464638Ssheldonh 34551148Sobrien* Add --with-regex option to configure to allow manually selecting 346173701Sru a regular expression library. 3471556Srgrimes 3481556Srgrimes* Fix bug compiling with SECURE = 1. 3491556Srgrimes 350251261Seadler====================================================================== 35190110Simp 3521556Srgrimes 35354895Ssheldonh Major changes between "less" versions 346 and 352 354195768Sjilles 355195768Sjilles* Enable UTF-8 if "UTF-8" appears in locale-related environment variables. 356141578Sru 3571556Srgrimes* Add --with-editor option to configure script. 3581556Srgrimes 359* The -M prompt and = message now show the top and bottom line number. 360 361* Fix bug in running the editor on a file whose name contains quotes, etc. 362 363* Fix bug in horizontal scrolling of long lines. 364 365* Fix bug in doing :d on a file which contains marks. 366 367* Fix bug causing cleared lines to sometimes be filled with standout, 368 bold, underline, etc. on certain terminals. 369 370* Fixes for MS-DOS (DJGPP) version. 371 372====================================================================== 373 374 375 Major changes between "less" versions 340 and 346 376 377* The UTF-8 character set is now supported. 378 379* The default character set is now latin1 rather than ascii. 380 381* New option -R (--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS) is like -r but handles 382 long (wrapped) lines correctly, as long as the input contains only 383 normal text and ANSI color escape sequences. 384 385* New option -F (--quit-if-one-screen) quits if the text fits on 386 the first screen. 387 388* The -w option now highlights the target line of a g or p command. 389 390* A system-wide lesskey file is supported (LESSKEY_SYSTEM). 391 392* New escape for prompt strings: %c is replaced by column number. 393 394* New escape for prompt strings: %P is replaced by percentage into 395 file, based on line number rather than byte offset. 396 397* HOME and END keys now jump to beginning of file or end of file. 398 399====================================================================== 400 401 402 Major changes between "less" versions 337 and 340 403 404* Command line options for less may now be given in either the old 405 single-letter form, or a new long name form (--option-name). 406 See the less man page or "less --help" for the list of long option names. 407 408* Command line options for lesskey may now be given in a new long name 409 form. See the lesskey man page for the list of long option names. 410 411* New command -- toggles an option using the long option name. 412 413* New command __ queries an option using the long option name. 414 415* The old -- command is renamed as -!. 416 417* If a ^P is entered between the dash and the option letter of the - 418 command, the message describing the new setting is suppressed. 419 420* Lesskey files may now contain \k escape sequences to represent the 421 "special" keys (arrows, PAGE-UP/PAGE-DOWN, HOME, END, INSERT, DELETE). 422 423* New command :d removes the current file from the list of files. 424 425* New option -~ (like -w before version 335) 426 suppresses tildes after end-of-file. 427 428* Less is now released under the GNU General Public License. 429 430====================================================================== 431 432 433 Major changes between "less" versions 335 and 337 434 435* Fixed bugs in "make install". 436 437====================================================================== 438 439 440 Major changes between "less" versions 332 and 335 441 442* The old -w flag (suppress tildes after end-of-file) has been removed. 443 444* New -w flag highlights the first new line after a forward-screen. 445 446* New -W flag highlights the first new line after any forward movement. 447 448* Window resize works even if LINES and/or COLUMNS environment 449 variables are incorrect. 450 451* New percent escapes for prompt strings: 452 %d is replaced by the page number, and 453 %D is replaced by the number of pages in the file. 454 455* Added charsets "iso8859" and "ebcdic". 456 457* In Windows version, uses HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH if HOME is not defined. 458 459* Fixed some bugs causing incorrect display on DOS/Windows. 460 461====================================================================== 462 463 464 Major changes between "less" versions 330 and 332 465 466* Filenames from the command line are entered into the command history, 467 so UPARROW/DOWNARROW can be used to retrieve them from the :e command. 468 469* Now works correctly on Windows when using a scrolling terminal 470 window (buffer larger than display window). 471 472* On Windows, now restores the console screen on exit. 473 Use -X to get the old behavior. 474 475* Fixed bug on Windows when CAPS-LOCK or NUM-LOCK is pressed. 476 477* Fixed bug on Windows when piping output of an interactive program. 478 479* Fixed bug in tags file processing when tags file has DOS-style 480 line terminators (CR/LF). 481 482* Fixed compilation problem on OS/2. 483 484====================================================================== 485 486 487 Major changes between "less" versions 321 and 330 488 489* Now supports filenames containing spaces (in double quotes). 490 New option -" can be used to change the quoting characters. 491 492* In filename completion, a slash is appended to a directory name. 493 If the environment variable LESSSEPARATOR is set, the value of 494 that variable, rather than a slash, is appended. 495 496* LeftArrow and RightArrow are same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 497 498* Added commands ESC-( and ESC-), same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 499 500* A "quit" command defined in a lesskey file may now have an "extra" 501 string, which is used to return an exit code from less when it quits. 502 503* New environment variables LESSMETACHARS and LESSMETAESCAPE provide 504 more control over how less interfaces to the shell. 505 506* Ported to Microsoft Visual C compiler for Windows. 507 508* Ported to DJGPP compiler for MS-DOS. 509 510* Bug fixes. 511 512====================================================================== 513 514 515 Major changes between "less" versions 291 and 321 516 517* Command line at bottom of screen now scrolls, so it can be longer 518 than the screen width. 519 520* New commands ESC-] and ESC-[ scroll the display horizontally. 521 522* New command ESC-SPACE scrolls forward a full screen, even if it 523 hits end-of-file. 524 525* Alternate modifiers for search commands: ^N is same as !, 526 ^F is same as @, and ^E is same as *. 527 528* New modifier for search commands: ^K means highlight the matches 529 currently on-screen, but don't move to the first match. 530 531* New modifier for search commands: ^R means don't use regular 532 expressions in the search. 533 534* Environment variable LESSKEY gives name of default lesskey file. 535 536* Environment variable LESSSECURE will force less to run in 537 "secure" mode. 538 539* Command line argument "--" signals that the rest of the arguments 540 are files (not option flags). 541 542* Help file (less.hlp) is no longer installed. Help text is now 543 embedded in the less executable itself. 544 545* Added -Ph to change the prompt for the help text. 546 Added -Ps to change the default short prompt (same as plain -P). 547 548* Ported to the Borland C compiler for MS-DOS. 549 550* Ported to Windows 95 & Windows NT. 551 552* Ported to OS-9. 553 554* Ported to GNU Hurd. 555 556====================================================================== 557 558 559 Major changes between "less" versions 290 and 291 560 561* Less environment variables can be specified in lesskey files. 562 563* Fixed MS-DOS build. 564 565====================================================================== 566 567 568 Major changes between "less" versions 278 and 290 569 570* Accepts GNU-style options "--help" and "--version". 571 572* OS/2 version looks for less.ini in $HOME before $INIT and $PATH. 573 574* Bug fixes 575 576====================================================================== 577 578 579 Major changes between "less" versions 252 and 278 580 581* A LESSOPEN preprocessor may now pipe the converted file data to less, 582 rather than writing it to a temporary file. 583 584* Search pattern highlighting has been fixed. It now highlights 585 reliably, even if a string is split across two screen lines, 586 contains TABs, etc. 587 588* The -F flag (which suppress search highlighting) has been changed 589 to -G. A new flag, -g, changes search highlighting to highlight 590 only the string found by the last search command, instead of all 591 strings which match the last search command. 592 593* New flag -I acts like -i, but ignores case even if the search 594 pattern contains uppercase letters. 595 596* Less now checks for the environment variable VISUAL before EDITOR. 597 598* Ported to OS/2. 599 600====================================================================== 601 602 603 Major changes between "less" versions 237 and 252 604 605* Changes in line-editing keys: 606 The literal key is now ^V or ^A rather than \ (backslash). 607 Filename completion commands (TAB and ^L) are disabled 608 when typing a search pattern. 609 610* Line-editing command keys can be redefined using lesskey. 611 612* Lesskey with no input file defaults to $HOME/.lesskey 613 rather than standard input. 614 615* New option -V displays version number of less. 616 617* New option -V displays version number of lesskey. 618 619* Help file less.hlp is now installed by default in /usr/local/share 620 rather than /usr/local/lib. 621 622 623====================================================================== 624 625 626 Major changes between "less" versions 170 and 237 627 628* By popular demand, text which matches the current search pattern 629 is highlighted. New -F flag disables this feature. 630 631* Henry Spencer's regexp.c is now included, for systems which do not 632 have a regular expression library. 633 regexp.c is Copyright (c) 1986 by University of Toronto. 634 635* New line-editing keys, including command history (arrow keys) and 636 filename completion (TAB). 637 638* Input preprocessor allows modification of input files (e.g. uncompress) 639 via LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE environment variables. 640 641* New -X flag disables sending termcap "ti" and "te" (initialize and 642 deinitialize) strings to the terminal. 643 644* Changing -i from within less now correctly affects a subsequent 645 repeated search. 646 647* Searching for underlined or overstruck text now works when the -u 648 flag is in effect, rather than the -i flag. 649 650* Use setlocale (LANG and LC_CTYPE environment variables) to determine 651 the character set if LESSCHARSET/LESSCHARDEF are not set. 652 653* The default format for displaying binary characters is now standout 654 (reverse video) rather than blinking. This can still be changed by 655 setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable. 656 657* Use autoconf installation technology. 658 659* Ported to MS-DOS. 660 661 ******************************** 662 Things that may surprise you 663 ******************************** 664 665* When you enter text at the bottom of the screen (search string, 666 filename, etc.), some keys act different than previously. 667 Specifically, \ (backslash), ESC, TAB, BACKTAB, and control-L 668 now have line editing functions. 669 670* Some previous unofficial versions of less were able to display 671 compressed files. The new LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE feature now provides 672 this functionality in a different way. 673 674* Some previous unofficial versions of less provided a -Z flag to 675 set the number of lines of text to retain between full screen scrolls. 676 The -z-n flag (that is, -z with a negative number) provides this 677 functionality. 678 679 680====================================================================== 681 682 683 Major changes between "less" versions 123 and 170 684 685* New option -j allows target lines to be positioned anywhere on screen. 686 687* New option -S truncates displayed line at the screen width, 688 rather than wrapping onto the next line. 689 690* New option -y limits amount of forward scroll. 691 692* New option -T specifies a "tags" file. 693 694* Non-printable, non-control characters are displayed in octal. 695 Such characters, as well as control characters, are displayed 696 in blinking mode. 697 698* New command -+ sets an option to its default. 699* New command -- sets an option to the opposite of its default. 700 701* Lesskey file may have a string appended to a key's action, 702 which acts as though typed in after the command. 703 704* New commands ESC-^F and ESC-^B match arbitrary types of brackets. 705 706* New command F monitors a growing file (like "tail -f"). 707 708* New command | pipes a section of the input file into a shell command. 709 710* New command :x directly jumps to a file in the command line list. 711 712* Search commands have been enhanced and reorganized: 713 n Repeat search, same direction. 714 N Repeat search, opposite direction. 715 ESC-/ Search forward thru file boundaries 716 ESC-? Search backward thru file boundaries 717 ESC-n Repeat search thru file boundaries, same direction. 718 ESC-N Repeat search thru file boundaries, opposite direction. 719 Special character * causes search to search thru file boundaries. 720 Special character @ causes search to begin at start/end of file list. 721 722* Examining a new file adds it to the command line list. 723 A list of files, or an expression which matches more than one file, 724 may be examined; all of them are added to the command line list. 725 726* Environment variables LESSCHARSET and LESSCHARDEF can define 727 a non-ASCII character set. 728 729* Partial support for MSDOS, including options -R for repainting screen 730 on quit, -v/-V to select video mode, and -W to change window size. 731 732 733====================================================================== 734 735 736 Major changes between "less" versions 97 and 123 737 738* New option (-N) causes line numbers to be displayed in the 739 text of the file (like vi "set nu"). 740 741* New option (-?) prints help message immediately. 742 743* New option (-r) displays "raw" control characters, without 744 mapping them to ^X notation. 745 746* New option (-f) forces less to open non-regular files 747 (directories, etc). 748 749* New option (-k) can be used to specify lesskey files by name. 750 751* New option (-y) can be used to set a forward scroll limit 752 (like -h sets a backward scroll limit). 753 754* File marks (set by the m command) are now preserved when a new 755 file is edited. The ' command can thus be used to switch files. 756 757* New command ESC-/ searches all files (on the command line) 758 for a pattern. 759 760* New command ESC-n repeats previous search, spanning files. 761 762* The N command has been changed to repeat the previous search 763 in the reverse direction. The old N command is still available 764 via :n. 765 766* New command ESC-N repeats previous search in the reverse 767 direction and spanning files. 768 769* 8 bit characters are now supported. A new option (-g) can be 770 used to strip off the eighth bit (the previous behavior). 771 772* Options which take a following string (like -t) may now 773 optionally have a space between the option letter and the string. 774 775* Six new commands { } ( ) [ and ] can be used to match 776 brackets of specific types, similar to vi % command. 777 778* New commands z and w move forward/backward one window and 779 simultaneously set the window size. 780 781* Prompt string expansion now has %L for line number of the last 782 line in the file, and %E for the name of the editor. 783 Also, % escapes which refer to a line (b=bottom, t=top, etc.) 784 can use j for the jump target line. 785 786* New environment variable LESSEDIT can be used to tailor the 787 command string passed to the editor by the v command. 788 789* Examining a file which was previously examined will return 790 to the same position in the file. 791 792* A "%" is expanded to the current filename and a "#" to the 793 previous filename, in both shell commands and the E command. 794 (Previously % worked only in shell commands and # worked 795 only in the E command.) 796 797* New command ":ta" is equivalent to "-t". 798 799* New command "s" is equivalent to "-l". 800 801* The - command may be followed by "+X" to revert to the default 802 for option X, or "-X" to get the opposite of the default. 803 804* Lesskey files may now include characters after the action as 805 extra input to be parsed after the action; for example: 806 "toggle-option X" to toggle a specific option X. 807 808 809 810 811 812