1
2                     NEWS about less
3
4======================================================================
5
6  For the latest news about less, see the "less" Web page:
7      https://greenwoodsoftware.com/less
8  You can also download the latest version of less from there.
9
10  Report bugs, suggestions or comments at 
11  https://github.com/gwsw/less/issues.
12
13======================================================================
14
15	Major changes between "less" versions 563 and 581.2
16
17* Change ESC-u command to toggle, not disable, highlighting per man page.
18
19* Add ESC-U command. 
20
21* Add ctrl-W search modifier for wrapping search.
22
23* F command can be interrupted by ^X.
24
25* Support OSC 8 hyperlinks when -R is in effect.
26
27* g command with no number will ignore -j and put first line at top of screen.
28
29* Multiple + or -p command line options are handled better.
30
31* Add the --incsearch option.
32
33* Add the --line-num-width option.
34
35* Add the --status-col-width option.
36
37* Add the --use-color and --color options.
38
39* Display -w highlight even if highlighted line is empty.
40
41* If search result is in a long line, scroll to ensure it is visible.
42
43* Editing the same file under different names now creates only
44  one entry in the file list.
45
46* Make visual bell more visible on some terminals.
47
48* Ring end-of-file bell no more than once per second.
49
50* Build can use either Python or Perl for Makefile.aut operations.
51
52* Fix crash when using the @ search modifier.
53
54* Fix crash in the 's' command due to duplicate free.
55
56* Fix realpath crash on Darwin.
57
58======================================================================
59
60	Major changes between "less" versions 551 and 563
61
62* Update Unicode tables.
63
64* Treat Hangul Jamo medial vowels and final consonants as zero width.
65
66* Display error message immediately when -o is toggled and 
67  input is not a pipe.
68
69* Fix regression: make screen repaint when "squished" and 
70  a no-movement command is given.
71
72* Fix erroneous EOF calculation when F command is interrupted.
73
74* Make WIN32C version include this fix from 551:
75  Don't count lines in initial screen if using -X with -F.
76
77* Fix display bug in WIN32C version.
78
79* Fix memory corruption when built with libtermcap.
80
81* Support libtinfow.
82
83======================================================================
84
85	Major changes between "less" versions 530 and 551
86
87* Add --mouse option.
88
89* Add --wheel-lines option.
90
91* Add --no-histdups option.
92
93* Add --save-marks option.
94
95* Support PCRE2 regular expression library.
96
97* Redraw screen on SIGWINCH even if screen size doesn't change.
98
99* Shell-escape filenames in history so they can be used again.
100
101* Ring bell if user enters invalid long option name.
102
103* Use PCRE_UTF8 flag for pcre regular expressions when in UTF-8 mode.
104
105* Windows: use wide-char string to set console title.
106
107* Don't count lines in initial screen if using -X with -F.
108
109* Support mingw build system.
110
111* Fix bug in v command on empty file.
112
113* Fix bug in v command when filename contains shell metacharacters.
114
115======================================================================
116
117	Major changes between "less" versions 487 and 530
118
119* Don't output terminal init sequence if using -F and file fits on one screen.
120
121* When using -S, mark truncated lines with a special character.
122  The character can be changed or disabled via the new --rscroll option.
123
124* New command M marks the last line displayed on the screen.
125
126* New command ESC-m removes a line mark.
127
128* Status column (enabled via -J) now shows mark letters.
129
130* Status column shows search matches even if highlighting is disabled via -G.
131
132* A second ESC-u command will clear search match markers in the status column.
133
134* Do same ANSI escape code filtering for tag matching that we do for 
135  searching, to help when viewing syntax-highlighted code.
136  
137* Catch SIGTERM and clean up before exiting.
138
139* Fix bug initializing default charset on Windows.
140
141* Handle keypad ENTER key correctly if it sends something other than newline.
142
143* Fix buffering bug when using stdin with a LESSOPEN pipe.
144
145* On Windows, allow 'u' in -D option to enable underlining.
146
147* On Windows, use underline in sgr mode.
148
149* On Windows, convert UTF-8 to multibyte if console is not UTF-8.
150
151* Update Unicode tables to 2017-03-08.
152
153* Pass-thru Unicode formating chars (Cf type) instead of treating them
154  as binary chars. But treat them as binary if -U is set.
155
156* Fix erroneous binary file warning when UTF-8 file contains ANSI SGR sequences.
157
158* Fix bugs when using LESSOPEN and switching between stdin and other files.
159
160* Fix some bugs handling filenames containing shell metacharacters.
161
162* Fix some memory leaks.
163
164* Allow some debugging environment variables to be set in lesskey file.
165
166* Code improvements:
167  . Use ANSI prototypes in funcs.h declarations.
168  . Fix some const mismatches.
169  . Remove archaic "register" in variable declarations.
170
171======================================================================
172
173	Major changes between "less" versions 481 and 487
174
175* New commands ESC-{ and ESC-} to shift to start/end of displayed lines.
176
177* Make search highlights work correctly when changing caselessness with -i.
178
179* New option -Da in Windows version to enable SGR mode.
180
181* Fix "nothing to search" error when top or bottom line on screen is empty.
182
183* Fix bug when terminal has no "cm" termcap entry.
184
185* Fix incorrect display when entering double-width chars in search string.
186
187* Fix bug in Unicode handling that missed some double width characters.
188
189* Update Unicode database to 9.0.0.
190
191======================================================================
192
193	Major changes between "less" versions 458 and 481
194
195* Don't overwrite history file; just append to it.
196
197* New command ESC-G goes to end of currently buffered data in a pipe.
198
199* Disable history feature when compiled with LESSHISTFILE set to "-".
200
201* In more-compatible mode, make the -p option apply to every file opened,
202  not just the first one.
203
204* In more-compatible mode, change the -e option to work like -E, not -EF.
205
206* Treat multiple CRs before LF are like one CR (all the CRs are hidden).
207
208* Allow "extra" string in lesskey file to append to a multi-char command
209  (like a search pattern), without executing the command.
210
211* Ignore -u/-U setting while viewing help file, so that 
212  underline and bold chars are displayed correctly.
213
214* Improve detection of "binary" files in UTF-8 mode.
215
216* Fix bug with ++ commands.
217
218* Fix bug where prompt was sometimes not displayed with +G.
219
220* Fix possible memory corruption 
221
222* Fix bugs and improve performance in ampersand filtering.
223
224* Automate construction of Unicode tables from Unicode database.
225
226* Allow %% escape sequence in LESSOPEN variable.
227
228======================================================================
229
230	Major changes between "less" versions 451 and 458
231
232* Allow backslash escaping of metacharacters in LESS environment variable
233  after the --use-backslash option.
234
235* Don't quit if syntax errors are found in command line options.
236
237* Increase sizes of some internal buffers.
238
239* Fix configure bug with --with-regex=none.
240
241* Fix crash with "stty rows 0".
242
243* Fix Win32 attribute display bug.
244
245* Fix display bug when using up/down arrow on the command line.
246
247======================================================================
248
249	Major changes between "less" versions 444 and 451
250
251* Add ESC-F command to keep reading data until a pattern is found.
252
253* Use exit code of LESSOPEN script if LESSOPEN starts with "||".
254
255* When up/down arrow is used on the command line immediately after
256  typing text, the next command starting with that text is found.
257
258* Add support for GNU regex.
259
260* Add configure option --with-regex=none and fix compile errors
261  when compiling with no regex library.
262
263* Fix bugs handling SGR sequences in Win32.
264
265* Fix possible crashes caused by malformed LESSOPEN or 
266  LESSCLOSE variables.
267
268* Fix bug highlighting text which is discontiguous in the file 
269  due to backspace processing.
270
271* Fix bug in displaying status column when scrolling backwards 
272  with -J and -S in effect.
273
274======================================================================
275
276	Major changes between "less" versions 443 and 444
277
278* Fix bug in unget handling that can cause strange effects on the
279  command line.
280
281* Remove vestiges of obsolete -l option that can cause a crash.
282
283======================================================================
284
285	Major changes between "less" versions 436 and 443
286
287* Change search behavior such that when a search is given an explicit 
288  pattern, the entire displayed screen is included in the search and 
289  not just the portion after the target line.
290
291* Add -A option to change search behavior to the old way: only
292  the portion of the screen after the target line is searched.
293
294* Add %F formatting to prompt strings, replaced by the last component
295  of the input file.
296
297* Control-G while editing a command exits the command.
298
299* Less now exits with status 2 if control-C is pressed and -K is in effect.
300
301* Fix "ungetc overflow" when passing long commands via the -p option.
302
303* Fix bug in using line filtering via the & command 
304  in combination with -i and -I.
305
306* Fix bug in handling negative arguments to the -j option.
307
308* Fix bug in handling %t in prompt strings.
309
310* Improve handling of long option names.
311
312* Improve percentage calculation for very large files.
313
314======================================================================
315
316	Major changes between "less" versions 429 and 436
317
318* Don't pass "-" to non-pipe LESSOPEN unless it starts with "-".
319
320* Allow a fraction as the argument to the -# (--shift) option.
321
322* Fix highlight bug when underlined/overstruck text matches at end of line.
323
324* Fix non-regex searches with ctrl-R.
325
326======================================================================
327
328	Major changes between "less" versions 424 and 429
329
330* LESSOPEN pipe will now be used on standard input, if the LESSOPEN
331  environment variable begins with "|-".
332
333* The -D option with one number now means use the normal background color.
334
335* Don't change permissions on history file if it is not a regular file.
336
337* Fix non-ANSI-compliant code that caused problems with some compilers.
338
339* Fix binary file detection in UTF-8 mode.
340
341* Fix display problems with long lines on "ignaw" terminals.
342
343* Fix problem interrupting the line number calculation for initial prompt.
344
345* Fix SGR emulation when dealing with multiple attributes (eg. bold+underline).
346
347* Fix highlight bug when searching for underlined/overstruck text.
348
349======================================================================
350
351	Major changes between "less" versions 418 and 424
352
353* New "&" command allows filtering of lines based on a pattern.
354
355* Status column now displays a search match, even if the matched
356  string is scrolled off screen because -S is in effect.
357
358* Improve behavior of -F option.
359
360* Allow CSI character (0x9B) to work in UTF-8 mode.
361
362* Output carriage return at startup in case terminal doesn't default
363  to column 1.
364
365* Fix bug in '' (quote, quote) command after G command.
366
367======================================================================
368
369	Major changes between "less" versions 416 and 418
370
371* Color escape sequences are now supported in WIN32 build.
372
373* Makefile now uses EXEEXT feature of autoconf.
374
375* Fix search bug when using -R and text contains ANSI color escape sequences.
376
377* Fix crash when using -r with UTF-8 text containing 0x9B bytes.
378
379* Fix display bug when using ' command to move less than one page forward.
380
381* Update GPL to version 3.
382
383======================================================================
384
385	Major changes between "less" versions 409 and 416
386
387* New --follow-name option makes F command follow the name of a file
388  rather than the file descriptor if an open file is renamed.
389
390* Make searching with -i/-I work correctly with non-ASCII text.
391
392* Fix DJGPP build.
393
394======================================================================
395
396	Major changes between "less" versions 406 and 409
397
398* Support CSI escape sequences, like SGR escape sequences.
399
400* Fix bug which caused screen to fail to repaint when window is resized.
401
402* Fix bug in using -i and -I flags with non-ASCII text.
403
404* Fix configure bug on systems which don't support langinfo.h.
405
406* Fix crash when searching text containing certain invalid UTF-8 sequences.
407
408======================================================================
409
410	Major changes between "less" versions 394 and 406
411
412* Allow decimal point in number for % (percent) command.
413
414* Allow decimal point in number for -j option (fraction of screen height).
415
416* Make n command fetch previous pattern from history file on first search.
417
418* Don't rewrite history file if it has not changed.
419
420* Don't move to bottom of screen on first page.
421
422* Don't output extraneous newlines, so copy & pasting lines from the
423  output works better.
424
425* The -c option has been made identical with the -C option.
426
427* Allow "/dev/null" as synomym for "-" in LESSHISTFILE to indicate
428  that no history file should be used.
429
430* Search can now find text which follows a null byte, if the PCRE
431  library is used, or if no-regex searching (ctrl-R) is used.
432
433* Better compatibility with POSIX more specification.
434
435* Make -f work for directories.
436
437* Make "t" cmd traverse tags in the correct order.
438
439* Allow a few binary characters in the input file before warning
440  that the file is binary.
441
442* Don't warn that file is binary if it merely contains ANSI color sequences
443  and -R is in effect.
444
445* Update Unicode character tables.
446
447* Support DESTDIR in Makefile.
448
449* Fix bug when filename contains certain shell metacharacters such as "$".
450
451* Fix bug when resizing the window while waiting for input from a pipe.
452
453* Fix configure bugs.
454
455======================================================================
456
457	Major changes between "less" versions 382 and 394
458
459* Add history file to save search and shell command history between
460  invocations of less.
461
462* Improve behavior of history list for search and shell commands.
463
464* Add -K (or --quit-on-intr) option to make less exit immediately on ctrl-C.
465
466* Improve handling of UTF-8 files and commands, including better
467  line wrapping and handling double-width chars.
468
469* Added LESSUTFBINFMT environment variable to control display of
470  non-printable characters in a UTF-8 file.
471
472* Add --with-secure option to configure, to make it easier to
473  build a secure version of less.
474
475* Show search matches in the status column even if search highlights
476  are disabled via the -G option or the ESC-u command.
477
478* Improve performance when the file contains very long lines.
479
480* Add "windows" charset.
481
482* Add man page for lessecho.
483
484* Add support for erase2 character, treated same as erase.
485
486* Use ASCII lowercase/uppercase logic when operating on the command line.
487
488* Update makefile for Borland C++ 5.5.1.
489
490* Fix bug in calculating number of pages for %D prompt.
491
492* Fix bug in handling tag file error.
493
494* Fix obscure bug if input file is deleted while viewing help.
495
496* Fix bug handling filenames which include square brackets.
497
498* Fix possible buffer overflow in "global" tag search.
499
500* Fix possible buffer overflow in usage of LESSOPEN and LESSCLOSE.
501
502* Fix buffer overflow in reverse search.
503
504======================================================================
505
506	Major changes between "less" versions 381 and 382
507
508* Removed some old copyrighted code.
509  This probably breaks OS/9 support.
510
511======================================================================
512
513	Major changes between "less" versions 378 and 381
514
515* New -L option to disable LESSOPEN processing.
516
517* Further support for large (64 bit) file addressing.
518  Large file support is now set up by the configure script.
519
520* Use autoconf 2.54.
521  Replace configure.in, acconfig.h, defines.h.top with configure.ac.
522
523* Overstriking underscore with underscore is now bold or underlined 
524  depending on context.
525
526* Use only 7 spaces for line numbers in -N mode, if possible.
527
528* Fix some bugs in handling overstriking in UTF-8 files.
529
530* Fix some nroff issues in the man page.
531
532======================================================================
533
534	Major changes between "less" versions 376 and 378
535
536* Bug fixes:
537  Default buffer space is now 64K as documented.
538  Search highlighting works properly when used with -R.
539  Windows version works properly when input file contains carriage returns.
540  Clean up some compiler warnings.
541
542======================================================================
543
544	Major changes between "less" versions 358 and 376
545
546* -x option can now specify multiple variable-width tab stops.
547
548* -X option no longer disables keypad initialization.
549  New option --no-keypad disables keypad initialization.
550
551* New commands t and T step through multiple tag matches.
552  Added support for "global(1)" tags
553  (see http://www.gnu.org/software/global/global.html).
554
555* New prompt style set by option -Pw defines the message printed 
556  while waiting for data in the F command.
557
558* System-wide lesskey file now defaults to sysless in etc directory 
559  instead of .sysless in bin directory.
560  Use "configure --sysconfdir=..." to change it.
561  (For backwards compatibility, .sysless in bin is still recognized.)
562
563* Pressing RightArrow or LeftArrow while entering a number now shifts
564  the display N columns rather than editing the number itself.
565
566* Status column (enabled with -J) now shows search results.
567
568* Windows version sets window title.
569
570* Default LESSCHARSET for MS-DOS versions is now "dos".
571
572* Searching works better with ANSI (SGR) escape sequences.
573  ANSI color escape sequences are now supported in the MS-DOS (DJGPP) version.
574
575* Improved performance in reading very large pipes.
576
577* Eliminated some dependencies on file offets being 32 bits.
578
579* Fixed problems when viewing files with very long lines.
580
581* Fixed overstriking in UTF-8 mode, and overstriking tabs.
582
583* Improved horizontal shifting of text using -R option with ANSI color.
584
585* Improved handling of filenames containing shell metacharacters.
586
587* Some fixes for EBCDIC systems.
588
589* Some fixes for OS/2 systems.
590
591======================================================================
592
593	Major changes between "less" versions 354 and 358
594
595* Add -J (--status-column) option to display a status column.
596
597* Add -# (--shift) option to set default horizontal shift distance.
598  Default horizontal shift distance is now one-half screen width.
599
600* Horizontal shifting does not shift line numbers if -N is in effect.
601
602* Horizontal shifting acts as though -S were set, to avoid confusion.
603
604======================================================================
605
606
607	Major changes between "less" versions 352 and 354
608
609* Allow space after numeric-valued command line options.
610
611* Fix problem with configuring terminal libraries on some systems.
612
613* Add support for PCRE regular expression library.
614
615* Add --with-regex option to configure to allow manually selecting
616  a regular expression library.
617
618* Fix bug compiling with SECURE = 1.
619
620======================================================================
621
622
623	Major changes between "less" versions 346 and 352
624
625* Enable UTF-8 if "UTF-8" appears in locale-related environment variables.
626
627* Add --with-editor option to configure script.
628
629* The -M prompt and = message now show the top and bottom line number.
630
631* Fix bug in running the editor on a file whose name contains quotes, etc.
632
633* Fix bug in horizontal scrolling of long lines.
634
635* Fix bug in doing :d on a file which contains marks.
636
637* Fix bug causing cleared lines to sometimes be filled with standout, 
638  bold, underline, etc. on certain terminals.
639
640* Fixes for MS-DOS (DJGPP) version.
641
642======================================================================
643
644
645	Major changes between "less" versions 340 and 346
646
647* The UTF-8 character set is now supported.
648
649* The default character set is now latin1 rather than ascii.
650
651* New option -R (--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS) is like -r but handles 
652  long (wrapped) lines correctly, as long as the input contains only 
653  normal text and ANSI color escape sequences.
654
655* New option -F (--quit-if-one-screen) quits if the text fits on
656  the first screen.
657
658* The -w option now highlights the target line of a g or p command.
659
660* A system-wide lesskey file is supported (LESSKEY_SYSTEM).
661
662* New escape for prompt strings: %c is replaced by column number.
663
664* New escape for prompt strings: %P is replaced by percentage into
665  file, based on line number rather than byte offset.
666
667* HOME and END keys now jump to beginning of file or end of file.
668
669======================================================================
670
671
672	Major changes between "less" versions 337 and 340
673
674* Command line options for less may now be given in either the old 
675  single-letter form, or a new long name form (--option-name).
676  See the less man page or "less --help" for the list of long option names.
677
678* Command line options for lesskey may now be given in a new long name
679  form.  See the lesskey man page for the list of long option names.
680
681* New command -- toggles an option using the long option name.
682
683* New command __ queries an option using the long option name.
684
685* The old -- command is renamed as -!.
686
687* If a ^P is entered between the dash and the option letter of the -
688  command, the message describing the new setting is suppressed.
689
690* Lesskey files may now contain \k escape sequences to represent the
691  "special" keys (arrows, PAGE-UP/PAGE-DOWN, HOME, END, INSERT, DELETE).
692
693* New command :d removes the current file from the list of files.
694
695* New option -~ (like -w before version 335)
696  suppresses tildes after end-of-file.
697
698* Less is now released under the GNU General Public License.
699
700======================================================================
701
702
703	Major changes between "less" versions 335 and 337
704
705* Fixed bugs in "make install".
706
707======================================================================
708
709
710	Major changes between "less" versions 332 and 335
711
712* The old -w flag (suppress tildes after end-of-file) has been removed.
713
714* New -w flag highlights the first new line after a forward-screen.
715
716* New -W flag highlights the first new line after any forward movement.
717
718* Window resize works even if LINES and/or COLUMNS environment 
719  variables are incorrect.
720
721* New percent escapes for prompt strings:
722  %d is replaced by the page number, and
723  %D is replaced by the number of pages in the file.
724
725* Added charsets "iso8859" and "ebcdic".
726
727* In Windows version, uses HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH if HOME is not defined.
728
729* Fixed some bugs causing incorrect display on DOS/Windows.
730
731======================================================================
732
733
734	Major changes between "less" versions 330 and 332
735
736* Filenames from the command line are entered into the command history,
737  so UPARROW/DOWNARROW can be used to retrieve them from the :e command.
738
739* Now works correctly on Windows when using a scrolling terminal
740  window (buffer larger than display window).
741
742* On Windows, now restores the console screen on exit.  
743  Use -X to get the old behavior.
744
745* Fixed bug on Windows when CAPS-LOCK or NUM-LOCK is pressed.
746
747* Fixed bug on Windows when piping output of an interactive program.
748
749* Fixed bug in tags file processing when tags file has DOS-style
750  line terminators (CR/LF).
751
752* Fixed compilation problem on OS/2.
753
754======================================================================
755
756
757	Major changes between "less" versions 321 and 330
758
759* Now supports filenames containing spaces (in double quotes).
760  New option -" can be used to change the quoting characters.
761
762* In filename completion, a slash is appended to a directory name.
763  If the environment variable LESSSEPARATOR is set, the value of
764  that variable, rather than a slash, is appended.
765
766* LeftArrow and RightArrow are same as ESC-[ and ESC-].
767
768* Added commands ESC-( and ESC-), same as ESC-[ and ESC-].
769
770* A "quit" command defined in a lesskey file may now have an "extra" 
771  string, which is used to return an exit code from less when it quits.
772
773* New environment variables LESSMETACHARS and LESSMETAESCAPE provide
774  more control over how less interfaces to the shell.
775
776* Ported to Microsoft Visual C compiler for Windows.
777
778* Ported to DJGPP compiler for MS-DOS.
779
780* Bug fixes.
781
782======================================================================
783
784
785	Major changes between "less" versions 291 and 321
786
787* Command line at bottom of screen now scrolls, so it can be longer 
788  than the screen width.
789
790* New commands ESC-] and ESC-[ scroll the display horizontally.
791
792* New command ESC-SPACE scrolls forward a full screen, even if it
793  hits end-of-file.
794
795* Alternate modifiers for search commands: ^N is same as !,
796  ^F is same as @, and ^E is same as *.
797
798* New modifier for search commands: ^K means highlight the matches
799  currently on-screen, but don't move to the first match.
800
801* New modifier for search commands: ^R means don't use regular
802  expressions in the search.
803
804* Environment variable LESSKEY gives name of default lesskey file.
805
806* Environment variable LESSSECURE will force less to run in
807  "secure" mode.
808
809* Command line argument "--" signals that the rest of the arguments
810  are files (not option flags).
811
812* Help file (less.hlp) is no longer installed.  Help text is now 
813  embedded in the less executable itself.
814
815* Added -Ph to change the prompt for the help text.
816  Added -Ps to change the default short prompt (same as plain -P).
817
818* Ported to the Borland C compiler for MS-DOS.
819
820* Ported to Windows 95 & Windows NT.
821
822* Ported to OS-9.
823
824* Ported to GNU Hurd.
825
826======================================================================
827
828
829	Major changes between "less" versions 290 and 291
830
831* Less environment variables can be specified in lesskey files.
832
833* Fixed MS-DOS build.
834
835======================================================================
836
837
838	Major changes between "less" versions 278 and 290
839
840* Accepts GNU-style options "--help" and "--version".
841
842* OS/2 version looks for less.ini in $HOME before $INIT and $PATH.
843
844* Bug fixes
845
846======================================================================
847
848
849	Major changes between "less" versions 252 and 278
850
851* A LESSOPEN preprocessor may now pipe the converted file data to less,
852  rather than writing it to a temporary file.
853
854* Search pattern highlighting has been fixed.  It now highlights 
855  reliably, even if a string is split across two screen lines,
856  contains TABs, etc.
857
858* The -F flag (which suppress search highlighting) has been changed 
859  to -G.  A new flag, -g, changes search highlighting to highlight 
860  only the string found by the last search command, instead of all 
861  strings which match the last search command.
862
863* New flag -I acts like -i, but ignores case even if the search 
864  pattern contains uppercase letters.
865
866* Less now checks for the environment variable VISUAL before EDITOR.
867
868* Ported to OS/2.
869
870======================================================================
871
872
873	Major changes between "less" versions 237 and 252
874
875* Changes in line-editing keys:
876  The literal key is now ^V or ^A rather than \ (backslash).
877  Filename completion commands (TAB and ^L) are disabled 
878  when typing a search pattern.
879
880* Line-editing command keys can be redefined using lesskey.
881
882* Lesskey with no input file defaults to $HOME/.lesskey
883  rather than standard input.
884
885* New option -V displays version number of less.
886
887* New option -V displays version number of lesskey.
888
889* Help file less.hlp is now installed by default in /usr/local/share 
890  rather than /usr/local/lib.
891
892
893======================================================================
894
895
896	Major changes between "less" versions 170 and 237
897
898* By popular demand, text which matches the current search pattern
899  is highlighted.  New -F flag disables this feature.
900
901* Henry Spencer's regexp.c is now included, for systems which do not
902  have a regular expression library.
903  regexp.c is Copyright (c) 1986 by University of Toronto.
904
905* New line-editing keys, including command history (arrow keys) and 
906  filename completion (TAB).
907
908* Input preprocessor allows modification of input files (e.g. uncompress)
909  via LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE environment variables.
910
911* New -X flag disables sending termcap "ti" and "te" (initialize and
912  deinitialize) strings to the terminal. 
913
914* Changing -i from within less now correctly affects a subsequent
915  repeated search.  
916
917* Searching for underlined or overstruck text now works when the -u
918  flag is in effect, rather than the -i flag.
919
920* Use setlocale (LANG and LC_CTYPE environment variables) to determine
921  the character set if LESSCHARSET/LESSCHARDEF are not set.
922
923* The default format for displaying binary characters is now standout
924  (reverse video) rather than blinking.  This can still be changed by
925  setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable.
926
927* Use autoconf installation technology.
928
929* Ported to MS-DOS.
930
931        ********************************
932          Things that may surprise you
933        ********************************
934
935* When you enter text at the bottom of the screen (search string, 
936  filename, etc.), some keys act different than previously.  
937  Specifically, \ (backslash), ESC, TAB, BACKTAB, and control-L 
938  now have line editing functions.
939
940* Some previous unofficial versions of less were able to display
941  compressed files.  The new LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE feature now provides
942  this functionality in a different way.
943
944* Some previous unofficial versions of less provided a -Z flag to 
945  set the number of lines of text to retain between full screen scrolls.
946  The -z-n flag (that is, -z with a negative number) provides this 
947  functionality.
948
949
950======================================================================
951
952
953	Major changes between "less" versions 123 and 170
954
955* New option -j allows target lines to be positioned anywhere on screen.
956
957* New option -S truncates displayed line at the screen width,
958  rather than wrapping onto the next line.
959
960* New option -y limits amount of forward scroll.
961
962* New option -T specifies a "tags" file.
963
964* Non-printable, non-control characters are displayed in octal.
965  Such characters, as well as control characters, are displayed 
966  in blinking mode.
967
968* New command -+ sets an option to its default.
969* New command -- sets an option to the opposite of its default.
970
971* Lesskey file may have a string appended to a key's action,
972  which acts as though typed in after the command.
973
974* New commands ESC-^F and ESC-^B match arbitrary types of brackets.
975
976* New command F monitors a growing file (like "tail -f").
977
978* New command | pipes a section of the input file into a shell command.
979
980* New command :x directly jumps to a file in the command line list.
981
982* Search commands have been enhanced and reorganized:
983	n	Repeat search, same direction.
984	N	Repeat search, opposite direction.
985	ESC-/	Search forward thru file boundaries
986	ESC-?	Search backward thru file boundaries
987	ESC-n	Repeat search thru file boundaries, same direction.
988	ESC-N	Repeat search thru file boundaries, opposite direction.
989  Special character * causes search to search thru file boundaries.
990  Special character @ causes search to begin at start/end of file list.
991
992* Examining a new file adds it to the command line list.
993  A list of files, or an expression which matches more than one file,
994  may be examined; all of them are added to the command line list.
995
996* Environment variables LESSCHARSET and LESSCHARDEF can define
997  a non-ASCII character set.
998
999* Partial support for MSDOS, including options -R for repainting screen
1000  on quit, -v/-V to select video mode, and -W to change window size.
1001
1002
1003======================================================================
1004
1005
1006	Major changes between "less" versions 97 and 123
1007
1008* New option (-N) causes line numbers to be displayed in the
1009  text of the file (like vi "set nu").
1010
1011* New option (-?) prints help message immediately.
1012
1013* New option (-r) displays "raw" control characters, without
1014  mapping them to ^X notation.
1015
1016* New option (-f) forces less to open non-regular files
1017  (directories, etc).
1018
1019* New option (-k) can be used to specify lesskey files by name.
1020
1021* New option (-y) can be used to set a forward scroll limit
1022  (like -h sets a backward scroll limit).
1023
1024* File marks (set by the m command) are now preserved when a new
1025  file is edited.  The ' command can thus be used to switch files.
1026
1027* New command ESC-/ searches all files (on the command line) 
1028  for a pattern.
1029
1030* New command ESC-n repeats previous search, spanning files.
1031
1032* The N command has been changed to repeat the previous search
1033  in the reverse direction.  The old N command is still available 
1034  via :n.
1035
1036* New command ESC-N repeats previous search in the reverse
1037  direction and spanning files.
1038
1039* 8 bit characters are now supported.  A new option (-g) can be 
1040  used to strip off the eighth bit (the previous behavior).
1041
1042* Options which take a following string (like -t) may now
1043  optionally have a space between the option letter and the string.
1044
1045* Six new commands { } ( ) [ and ] can be used to match
1046  brackets of specific types, similar to vi % command.
1047
1048* New commands z and w move forward/backward one window and
1049  simultaneously set the window size.
1050
1051* Prompt string expansion now has %L for line number of the last
1052  line in the file, and %E for the name of the editor.
1053  Also, % escapes which refer to a line (b=bottom, t=top, etc.)
1054  can use j for the jump target line.
1055
1056* New environment variable LESSEDIT can be used to tailor the
1057  command string passed to the editor by the v command.
1058
1059* Examining a file which was previously examined will return
1060  to the same position in the file.
1061
1062* A "%" is expanded to the current filename and a "#" to the 
1063  previous filename, in both shell commands and the E command.
1064  (Previously % worked only in shell commands and # worked 
1065  only in the E command.)
1066
1067* New command ":ta" is equivalent to "-t".
1068
1069* New command "s" is equivalent to "-l".
1070
1071* The - command may be followed by "+X" to revert to the default
1072  for option X, or "-X" to get the opposite of the default.
1073
1074* Lesskey files may now include characters after the action as
1075  extra input to be parsed after the action; for example:
1076  "toggle-option X" to toggle a specific option X.
1077
1078
1079
1080
1081
1082