NEWS revision 89019
1233294Sstas 2178825Sdfr NEWS about less 3178825Sdfr 4178825Sdfr====================================================================== 5233294Sstas 6233294Sstas For the latest news about less, see the "less" Web page: 7178825Sdfr http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less 8178825Sdfr You can also download the latest version of less from there. 9178825Sdfr 10178825Sdfr To report bugs, suggestions or comments, send email to 11178825Sdfr bug-less@gnu.org or markn@greenwoodsoftware.com. 12178825Sdfr 13178825Sdfr====================================================================== 14178825Sdfr 15178825Sdfr 16178825Sdfr Major changes between "less" versions 358 and 371 17178825Sdfr 18233294Sstas* -x option can now specify multiple variable-width tab stops. 19178825Sdfr 20233294Sstas* -X option no longer disables keypad initialization. 21178825Sdfr New option --no-keypad disables keypad initialization. 22233294Sstas 23178825Sdfr* New commands t and T step through multiple tag matches. 24178825Sdfr Added support for "global(1)" tags 25178825Sdfr (see http://www.gnu.org/software/global/global.html). 26233294Sstas 27178825Sdfr* New prompt style set by option -Pw defines the message printed 28233294Sstas while waiting for data in the F command. 29178825Sdfr 30178825Sdfr* System-wide lesskey file now defaults to sysless in etc directory 31178825Sdfr instead of .sysless in bin directory. 32178825Sdfr Use "configure --sysconfdir=..." to change it. 33178825Sdfr (For backwards compatibility, .sysless in bin is still recognized.) 34178825Sdfr 35178825Sdfr* Pressing RightArrow or LeftArrow while entering a number now shifts 36178825Sdfr the display N columns rather than editing the number itself. 37178825Sdfr 38178825Sdfr* Status column (enabled with -J) now shows search results. 39178825Sdfr 40178825Sdfr* Windows version sets window title. 41178825Sdfr 42178825Sdfr* Default LESSCHARSET for MS-DOS versions is now "dos". 43178825Sdfr 44178825Sdfr* Improved performance in reading very large files. 45178825Sdfr 46178825Sdfr* Eliminated some dependencies on file offets being 32 bits. 47178825Sdfr 48178825Sdfr* Fixed problems when viewing files with very long lines. 49178825Sdfr 50233294Sstas* Fixed overstriking in UTF-8 mode, and overstriking tabs. 51178825Sdfr 52178825Sdfr* Improved horizontal shifting of text using -R option with ANSI color. 53178825Sdfr 54178825Sdfr* Some fixes for EBCDIC systems. 55178825Sdfr 56178825Sdfr* Some fixes for OS/2 systems. 57178825Sdfr 58178825Sdfr====================================================================== 59178825Sdfr 60178825Sdfr Major changes between "less" versions 354 and 358 61178825Sdfr 62178825Sdfr* Add -J (--status-column) option to display a status column. 63178825Sdfr 64178825Sdfr* Add -# (--shift) option to set default horizontal shift distance. 65233294Sstas Default horizontal shift distance is now one-half screen width. 66178825Sdfr 67178825Sdfr* Horizontal shifting does not shift line numbers if -N is in effect. 68178825Sdfr 69178825Sdfr* Horizontal shifting acts as though -S were set, to avoid confusion. 70178825Sdfr 71178825Sdfr====================================================================== 72178825Sdfr 73178825Sdfr 74178825Sdfr Major changes between "less" versions 352 and 354 75178825Sdfr 76178825Sdfr* Allow space after numeric-valued command line options. 77178825Sdfr 78178825Sdfr* Fix problem with configuring terminal libraries on some systems. 79233294Sstas 80233294Sstas* Add support for PCRE regular expression library. 81233294Sstas 82233294Sstas* Add --with-regex option to configure to allow manually selecting 83233294Sstas a regular expression library. 84233294Sstas 85178825Sdfr* Fix bug compiling with SECURE = 1. 86178825Sdfr 87178825Sdfr====================================================================== 88178825Sdfr 89178825Sdfr 90178825Sdfr Major changes between "less" versions 346 and 352 91178825Sdfr 92233294Sstas* Enable UTF-8 if "UTF-8" appears in locale-related environment variables. 93178825Sdfr 94178825Sdfr* Add --with-editor option to configure script. 95178825Sdfr 96178825Sdfr* The -M prompt and = message now show the top and bottom line number. 97178825Sdfr 98233294Sstas* Fix bug in running the editor on a file whose name contains quotes, etc. 99178825Sdfr 100178825Sdfr* Fix bug in horizontal scrolling of long lines. 101178825Sdfr 102178825Sdfr* Fix bug in doing :d on a file which contains marks. 103178825Sdfr 104178825Sdfr* Fix bug causing cleared lines to sometimes be filled with standout, 105233294Sstas bold, underline, etc. on certain terminals. 106178825Sdfr 107178825Sdfr* Fixes for MS-DOS (DJGPP) version. 108178825Sdfr 109178825Sdfr====================================================================== 110233294Sstas 111233294Sstas 112233294Sstas Major changes between "less" versions 340 and 346 113233294Sstas 114178825Sdfr* The UTF-8 character set is now supported. 115178825Sdfr 116178825Sdfr* The default character set is now latin1 rather than ascii. 117178825Sdfr 118178825Sdfr* New option -R (--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS) is like -r but handles 119178825Sdfr long (wrapped) lines correctly, as long as the input contains only 120178825Sdfr normal text and ANSI color escape sequences. 121178825Sdfr 122178825Sdfr* New option -F (--quit-if-one-screen) quits if the text fits on 123178825Sdfr the first screen. 124178825Sdfr 125178825Sdfr* The -w option now highlights the target line of a g or p command. 126178825Sdfr 127178825Sdfr* A system-wide lesskey file is supported (LESSKEY_SYSTEM). 128178825Sdfr 129178825Sdfr* New escape for prompt strings: %c is replaced by column number. 130178825Sdfr 131178825Sdfr* New escape for prompt strings: %P is replaced by percentage into 132233294Sstas file, based on line number rather than byte offset. 133233294Sstas 134178825Sdfr* HOME and END keys now jump to beginning of file or end of file. 135178825Sdfr 136178825Sdfr====================================================================== 137178825Sdfr 138178825Sdfr 139233294Sstas Major changes between "less" versions 337 and 340 140233294Sstas 141178825Sdfr* Command line options for less may now be given in either the old 142178825Sdfr single-letter form, or a new long name form (--option-name). 143178825Sdfr See the less man page or "less --help" for the list of long option names. 144233294Sstas 145178825Sdfr* Command line options for lesskey may now be given in a new long name 146178825Sdfr form. See the lesskey man page for the list of long option names. 147178825Sdfr 148178825Sdfr* New command -- toggles an option using the long option name. 149178825Sdfr 150233294Sstas* New command __ queries an option using the long option name. 151178825Sdfr 152178825Sdfr* The old -- command is renamed as -!. 153233294Sstas 154178825Sdfr* If a ^P is entered between the dash and the option letter of the - 155178825Sdfr command, the message describing the new setting is suppressed. 156178825Sdfr 157178825Sdfr* Lesskey files may now contain \k escape sequences to represent the 158233294Sstas "special" keys (arrows, PAGE-UP/PAGE-DOWN, HOME, END, INSERT, DELETE). 159233294Sstas 160233294Sstas* New command :d removes the current file from the list of files. 161178825Sdfr 162178825Sdfr* New option -~ (like -w before version 335) 163178825Sdfr suppresses tildes after end-of-file. 164178825Sdfr 165178825Sdfr* Less is now released under the GNU General Public License. 166233294Sstas 167178825Sdfr====================================================================== 168178825Sdfr 169178825Sdfr 170178825Sdfr Major changes between "less" versions 335 and 337 171178825Sdfr 172178825Sdfr* Fixed bugs in "make install". 173233294Sstas 174233294Sstas====================================================================== 175178825Sdfr 176178825Sdfr 177233294Sstas Major changes between "less" versions 332 and 335 178178825Sdfr 179178825Sdfr* The old -w flag (suppress tildes after end-of-file) has been removed. 180178825Sdfr 181178825Sdfr* New -w flag highlights the first new line after a forward-screen. 182178825Sdfr 183233294Sstas* New -W flag highlights the first new line after any forward movement. 184178825Sdfr 185178825Sdfr* Window resize works even if LINES and/or COLUMNS environment 186178825Sdfr variables are incorrect. 187178825Sdfr 188178825Sdfr* New percent escapes for prompt strings: 189178825Sdfr %d is replaced by the page number, and 190178825Sdfr %D is replaced by the number of pages in the file. 191178825Sdfr 192178825Sdfr* Added charsets "iso8859" and "ebcdic". 193178825Sdfr 194178825Sdfr* In Windows version, uses HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH if HOME is not defined. 195178825Sdfr 196178825Sdfr* Fixed some bugs causing incorrect display on DOS/Windows. 197178825Sdfr 198178825Sdfr====================================================================== 199178825Sdfr 200178825Sdfr 201178825Sdfr Major changes between "less" versions 330 and 332 202178825Sdfr 203178825Sdfr* Filenames from the command line are entered into the command history, 204178825Sdfr so UPARROW/DOWNARROW can be used to retrieve them from the :e command. 205178825Sdfr 206178825Sdfr* Now works correctly on Windows when using a scrolling terminal 207233294Sstas window (buffer larger than display window). 208178825Sdfr 209178825Sdfr* On Windows, now restores the console screen on exit. 210233294Sstas Use -X to get the old behavior. 211178825Sdfr 212178825Sdfr* Fixed bug on Windows when CAPS-LOCK or NUM-LOCK is pressed. 213178825Sdfr 214178825Sdfr* Fixed bug on Windows when piping output of an interactive program. 215178825Sdfr 216178825Sdfr* Fixed bug in tags file processing when tags file has DOS-style 217178825Sdfr line terminators (CR/LF). 218178825Sdfr 219178825Sdfr* Fixed compilation problem on OS/2. 220178825Sdfr 221178825Sdfr====================================================================== 222178825Sdfr 223178825Sdfr 224178825Sdfr Major changes between "less" versions 321 and 330 225178825Sdfr 226178825Sdfr* Now supports filenames containing spaces (in double quotes). 227178825Sdfr New option -" can be used to change the quoting characters. 228233294Sstas 229233294Sstas* In filename completion, a slash is appended to a directory name. 230178825Sdfr If the environment variable LESSSEPARATOR is set, the value of 231178825Sdfr that variable, rather than a slash, is appended. 232178825Sdfr 233178825Sdfr* LeftArrow and RightArrow are same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 234178825Sdfr 235178825Sdfr* Added commands ESC-( and ESC-), same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 236178825Sdfr 237178825Sdfr* A "quit" command defined in a lesskey file may now have an "extra" 238178825Sdfr string, which is used to return an exit code from less when it quits. 239178825Sdfr 240178825Sdfr* New environment variables LESSMETACHARS and LESSMETAESCAPE provide 241178825Sdfr more control over how less interfaces to the shell. 242178825Sdfr 243178825Sdfr* Ported to Microsoft Visual C compiler for Windows. 244178825Sdfr 245233294Sstas* Ported to DJGPP compiler for MS-DOS. 246178825Sdfr 247178825Sdfr* Bug fixes. 248233294Sstas 249178825Sdfr====================================================================== 250178825Sdfr 251178825Sdfr 252178825Sdfr Major changes between "less" versions 291 and 321 253233294Sstas 254178825Sdfr* Command line at bottom of screen now scrolls, so it can be longer 255233294Sstas than the screen width. 256233294Sstas 257233294Sstas* New commands ESC-] and ESC-[ scroll the display horizontally. 258178825Sdfr 259233294Sstas* New command ESC-SPACE scrolls forward a full screen, even if it 260178825Sdfr hits end-of-file. 261233294Sstas 262233294Sstas* Alternate modifiers for search commands: ^N is same as !, 263178825Sdfr ^F is same as @, and ^E is same as *. 264178825Sdfr 265178825Sdfr* New modifier for search commands: ^K means highlight the matches 266178825Sdfr currently on-screen, but don't move to the first match. 267178825Sdfr 268233294Sstas* New modifier for search commands: ^R means don't use regular 269178825Sdfr expressions in the search. 270178825Sdfr 271233294Sstas* Environment variable LESSKEY gives name of default lesskey file. 272233294Sstas 273233294Sstas* Environment variable LESSSECURE will force less to run in 274233294Sstas "secure" mode. 275178825Sdfr 276233294Sstas* Command line argument "--" signals that the rest of the arguments 277178825Sdfr are files (not option flags). 278178825Sdfr 279233294Sstas* Help file (less.hlp) is no longer installed. Help text is now 280233294Sstas embedded in the less executable itself. 281178825Sdfr 282178825Sdfr* Added -Ph to change the prompt for the help text. 283178825Sdfr Added -Ps to change the default short prompt (same as plain -P). 284178825Sdfr 285178825Sdfr* Ported to the Borland C compiler for MS-DOS. 286178825Sdfr 287178825Sdfr* Ported to Windows 95 & Windows NT. 288178825Sdfr 289178825Sdfr* Ported to OS-9. 290178825Sdfr 291178825Sdfr* Ported to GNU Hurd. 292178825Sdfr 293178825Sdfr====================================================================== 294178825Sdfr 295178825Sdfr 296178825Sdfr Major changes between "less" versions 290 and 291 297178825Sdfr 298233294Sstas* Less environment variables can be specified in lesskey files. 299178825Sdfr 300233294Sstas* Fixed MS-DOS build. 301233294Sstas 302178825Sdfr====================================================================== 303233294Sstas 304178825Sdfr 305178825Sdfr Major changes between "less" versions 278 and 290 306178825Sdfr 307178825Sdfr* Accepts GNU-style options "--help" and "--version". 308178825Sdfr 309178825Sdfr* OS/2 version looks for less.ini in $HOME before $INIT and $PATH. 310178825Sdfr 311178825Sdfr* Bug fixes 312178825Sdfr 313178825Sdfr====================================================================== 314178825Sdfr 315178825Sdfr 316178825Sdfr Major changes between "less" versions 252 and 278 317178825Sdfr 318178825Sdfr* A LESSOPEN preprocessor may now pipe the converted file data to less, 319178825Sdfr rather than writing it to a temporary file. 320178825Sdfr 321178825Sdfr* Search pattern highlighting has been fixed. It now highlights 322178825Sdfr reliably, even if a string is split across two screen lines, 323178825Sdfr contains TABs, etc. 324178825Sdfr 325178825Sdfr* The -F flag (which suppress search highlighting) has been changed 326178825Sdfr to -G. A new flag, -g, changes search highlighting to highlight 327178825Sdfr only the string found by the last search command, instead of all 328178825Sdfr strings which match the last search command. 329178825Sdfr 330178825Sdfr* New flag -I acts like -i, but ignores case even if the search 331178825Sdfr pattern contains uppercase letters. 332178825Sdfr 333178825Sdfr* Less now checks for the environment variable VISUAL before EDITOR. 334178825Sdfr 335178825Sdfr* Ported to OS/2. 336178825Sdfr 337178825Sdfr====================================================================== 338178825Sdfr 339178825Sdfr 340178825Sdfr Major changes between "less" versions 237 and 252 341178825Sdfr 342178825Sdfr* Changes in line-editing keys: 343178825Sdfr The literal key is now ^V or ^A rather than \ (backslash). 344233294Sstas Filename completion commands (TAB and ^L) are disabled 345178825Sdfr when typing a search pattern. 346178825Sdfr 347233294Sstas* Line-editing command keys can be redefined using lesskey. 348178825Sdfr 349178825Sdfr* Lesskey with no input file defaults to $HOME/.lesskey 350233294Sstas rather than standard input. 351233294Sstas 352233294Sstas* New option -V displays version number of less. 353178825Sdfr 354178825Sdfr* New option -V displays version number of lesskey. 355178825Sdfr 356178825Sdfr* Help file less.hlp is now installed by default in /usr/local/share 357233294Sstas rather than /usr/local/lib. 358178825Sdfr 359178825Sdfr 360178825Sdfr====================================================================== 361178825Sdfr 362178825Sdfr 363178825Sdfr Major changes between "less" versions 170 and 237 364233294Sstas 365178825Sdfr* By popular demand, text which matches the current search pattern 366178825Sdfr is highlighted. New -F flag disables this feature. 367178825Sdfr 368178825Sdfr* Henry Spencer's regexp.c is now included, for systems which do not 369178825Sdfr have a regular expression library. 370178825Sdfr regexp.c is Copyright (c) 1986 by University of Toronto. 371233294Sstas 372178825Sdfr* New line-editing keys, including command history (arrow keys) and 373178825Sdfr filename completion (TAB). 374178825Sdfr 375233294Sstas* Input preprocessor allows modification of input files (e.g. uncompress) 376233294Sstas via LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE environment variables. 377178825Sdfr 378178825Sdfr* New -X flag disables sending termcap "ti" and "te" (initialize and 379178825Sdfr deinitialize) strings to the terminal. 380233294Sstas 381178825Sdfr* Changing -i from within less now correctly affects a subsequent 382178825Sdfr repeated search. 383178825Sdfr 384178825Sdfr* Searching for underlined or overstruck text now works when the -u 385233294Sstas flag is in effect, rather than the -i flag. 386233294Sstas 387178825Sdfr* Use setlocale (LANG and LC_CTYPE environment variables) to determine 388178825Sdfr the character set if LESSCHARSET/LESSCHARDEF are not set. 389178825Sdfr 390233294Sstas* The default format for displaying binary characters is now standout 391233294Sstas (reverse video) rather than blinking. This can still be changed by 392233294Sstas setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable. 393178825Sdfr 394178825Sdfr* Use autoconf installation technology. 395178825Sdfr 396178825Sdfr* Ported to MS-DOS. 397178825Sdfr 398178825Sdfr ******************************** 399178825Sdfr Things that may surprise you 400178825Sdfr ******************************** 401178825Sdfr 402178825Sdfr* When you enter text at the bottom of the screen (search string, 403178825Sdfr filename, etc.), some keys act different than previously. 404178825Sdfr Specifically, \ (backslash), ESC, TAB, BACKTAB, and control-L 405178825Sdfr now have line editing functions. 406178825Sdfr 407178825Sdfr* Some previous unofficial versions of less were able to display 408178825Sdfr compressed files. The new LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE feature now provides 409178825Sdfr this functionality in a different way. 410233294Sstas 411178825Sdfr* Some previous unofficial versions of less provided a -Z flag to 412178825Sdfr set the number of lines of text to retain between full screen scrolls. 413233294Sstas The -z-n flag (that is, -z with a negative number) provides this 414233294Sstas functionality. 415233294Sstas 416233294Sstas 417233294Sstas====================================================================== 418233294Sstas 419233294Sstas 420178825Sdfr Major changes between "less" versions 123 and 170 421178825Sdfr 422178825Sdfr* New option -j allows target lines to be positioned anywhere on screen. 423178825Sdfr 424178825Sdfr* New option -S truncates displayed line at the screen width, 425178825Sdfr rather than wrapping onto the next line. 426178825Sdfr 427178825Sdfr* New option -y limits amount of forward scroll. 428178825Sdfr 429178825Sdfr* New option -T specifies a "tags" file. 430178825Sdfr 431178825Sdfr* Non-printable, non-control characters are displayed in octal. 432178825Sdfr Such characters, as well as control characters, are displayed 433233294Sstas in blinking mode. 434233294Sstas 435233294Sstas* New command -+ sets an option to its default. 436233294Sstas* New command -- sets an option to the opposite of its default. 437178825Sdfr 438233294Sstas* Lesskey file may have a string appended to a key's action, 439233294Sstas which acts as though typed in after the command. 440233294Sstas 441233294Sstas* New commands ESC-^F and ESC-^B match arbitrary types of brackets. 442233294Sstas 443178825Sdfr* New command F monitors a growing file (like "tail -f"). 444178825Sdfr 445233294Sstas* New command | pipes a section of the input file into a shell command. 446233294Sstas 447233294Sstas* New command :x directly jumps to a file in the command line list. 448233294Sstas 449233294Sstas* Search commands have been enhanced and reorganized: 450178825Sdfr n Repeat search, same direction. 451178825Sdfr N Repeat search, opposite direction. 452233294Sstas ESC-/ Search forward thru file boundaries 453233294Sstas ESC-? Search backward thru file boundaries 454233294Sstas ESC-n Repeat search thru file boundaries, same direction. 455233294Sstas ESC-N Repeat search thru file boundaries, opposite direction. 456233294Sstas Special character * causes search to search thru file boundaries. 457178825Sdfr Special character @ causes search to begin at start/end of file list. 458178825Sdfr 459178825Sdfr* Examining a new file adds it to the command line list. 460178825Sdfr A list of files, or an expression which matches more than one file, 461178825Sdfr may be examined; all of them are added to the command line list. 462178825Sdfr 463178825Sdfr* Environment variables LESSCHARSET and LESSCHARDEF can define 464178825Sdfr a non-ASCII character set. 465178825Sdfr 466178825Sdfr* Partial support for MSDOS, including options -R for repainting screen 467178825Sdfr on quit, -v/-V to select video mode, and -W to change window size. 468178825Sdfr 469233294Sstas 470233294Sstas====================================================================== 471178825Sdfr 472178825Sdfr 473178825Sdfr Major changes between "less" versions 97 and 123 474178825Sdfr 475178825Sdfr* New option (-N) causes line numbers to be displayed in the 476233294Sstas text of the file (like vi "set nu"). 477178825Sdfr 478178825Sdfr* New option (-?) prints help message immediately. 479178825Sdfr 480178825Sdfr* New option (-r) displays "raw" control characters, without 481178825Sdfr mapping them to ^X notation. 482233294Sstas 483233294Sstas* New option (-f) forces less to open non-regular files 484233294Sstas (directories, etc). 485233294Sstas 486178825Sdfr* New option (-k) can be used to specify lesskey files by name. 487233294Sstas 488233294Sstas* New option (-y) can be used to set a forward scroll limit 489233294Sstas (like -h sets a backward scroll limit). 490233294Sstas 491233294Sstas* File marks (set by the m command) are now preserved when a new 492233294Sstas file is edited. The ' command can thus be used to switch files. 493233294Sstas 494178825Sdfr* New command ESC-/ searches all files (on the command line) 495178825Sdfr for a pattern. 496178825Sdfr 497178825Sdfr* New command ESC-n repeats previous search, spanning files. 498178825Sdfr 499178825Sdfr* The N command has been changed to repeat the previous search 500178825Sdfr in the reverse direction. The old N command is still available 501178825Sdfr via :n. 502233294Sstas 503233294Sstas* New command ESC-N repeats previous search in the reverse 504233294Sstas direction and spanning files. 505178825Sdfr 506233294Sstas* 8 bit characters are now supported. A new option (-g) can be 507178825Sdfr used to strip off the eighth bit (the previous behavior). 508178825Sdfr 509178825Sdfr* Options which take a following string (like -t) may now 510233294Sstas optionally have a space between the option letter and the string. 511233294Sstas 512178825Sdfr* Six new commands { } ( ) [ and ] can be used to match 513178825Sdfr brackets of specific types, similar to vi % command. 514178825Sdfr 515178825Sdfr* New commands z and w move forward/backward one window and 516178825Sdfr simultaneously set the window size. 517178825Sdfr 518178825Sdfr* Prompt string expansion now has %L for line number of the last 519178825Sdfr line in the file, and %E for the name of the editor. 520178825Sdfr Also, % escapes which refer to a line (b=bottom, t=top, etc.) 521178825Sdfr can use j for the jump target line. 522178825Sdfr 523178825Sdfr* New environment variable LESSEDIT can be used to tailor the 524178825Sdfr command string passed to the editor by the v command. 525178825Sdfr 526178825Sdfr* Examining a file which was previously examined will return 527178825Sdfr to the same position in the file. 528178825Sdfr 529178825Sdfr* A "%" is expanded to the current filename and a "#" to the 530178825Sdfr previous filename, in both shell commands and the E command. 531178825Sdfr (Previously % worked only in shell commands and # worked 532233294Sstas only in the E command.) 533233294Sstas 534233294Sstas* New command ":ta" is equivalent to "-t". 535178825Sdfr 536233294Sstas* New command "s" is equivalent to "-l". 537233294Sstas 538178825Sdfr* The - command may be followed by "+X" to revert to the default 539233294Sstas for option X, or "-X" to get the opposite of the default. 540178825Sdfr 541233294Sstas* Lesskey files may now include characters after the action as 542233294Sstas extra input to be parsed after the action; for example: 543178825Sdfr "toggle-option X" to toggle a specific option X. 544178825Sdfr