NEWS revision 293190
10SN/A 26073SN/A NEWS about less 30SN/A 40SN/A====================================================================== 50SN/A 60SN/A For the latest news about less, see the "less" Web page: 72362SN/A http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less 80SN/A You can also download the latest version of less from there. 92362SN/A 100SN/A To report bugs, suggestions or comments, send email to bug-less@gnu.org 110SN/A 120SN/A====================================================================== 130SN/A 140SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 458 and 481 150SN/A 160SN/A* Don't overwrite history file; just append to it. 170SN/A 180SN/A* New command ESC-G goes to end of currently buffered data in a pipe. 190SN/A 200SN/A* Disable history feature when compiled with LESSHISTFILE set to "-". 212362SN/A 222362SN/A* In more-compatible mode, make the -p option apply to every file opened, 232362SN/A not just the first one. 240SN/A 250SN/A* In more-compatible mode, change the -e option to work like -E, not -EF. 260SN/A 270SN/A* Treat multiple CRs before LF are like one CR (all the CRs are hidden). 280SN/A 290SN/A* Allow "extra" string in lesskey file to append to a multi-char command 300SN/A (like a search pattern), without executing the command. 310SN/A 320SN/A* Ignore -u/-U setting while viewing help file, so that 333321SN/A underline and bold chars are displayed correctly. 340SN/A 353321SN/A* Improve detection of "binary" files in UTF-8 mode. 360SN/A 370SN/A* Fix bug with ++ commands. 380SN/A 393321SN/A* Fix bug where prompt was sometimes not displayed with +G. 403321SN/A 413321SN/A* Fix possible memory corruption 423321SN/A 433321SN/A* Fix bugs and improve performance in ampersand filtering. 443321SN/A 450SN/A* Automate construction of Unicode tables from Unicode database. 460SN/A 473321SN/A* Allow %% escape sequence in LESSOPEN variable. 480SN/A 490SN/A====================================================================== 500SN/A 510SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 451 and 458 523321SN/A 533321SN/A* Allow backslash escaping of metacharacters in LESS environment variable 540SN/A after the --use-backslash option. 550SN/A 560SN/A* Don't quit if syntax errors are found in command line options. 573321SN/A 580SN/A* Increase sizes of some internal buffers. 590SN/A 600SN/A* Fix configure bug with --with-regex=none. 610SN/A 623321SN/A* Fix crash with "stty rows 0". 630SN/A 640SN/A* Fix Win32 attribute display bug. 650SN/A 660SN/A* Fix display bug when using up/down arrow on the command line. 670SN/A 680SN/A====================================================================== 690SN/A 700SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 444 and 451 710SN/A 720SN/A* Add ESC-F command to keep reading data until a pattern is found. 730SN/A 743321SN/A* Use exit code of LESSOPEN script if LESSOPEN starts with "||". 750SN/A 760SN/A* When up/down arrow is used on the command line immediately after 770SN/A typing text, the next command starting with that text is found. 780SN/A 793321SN/A* Add support for GNU regex. 800SN/A 810SN/A* Add configure option --with-regex=none and fix compile errors 820SN/A when compiling with no regex library. 830SN/A 840SN/A* Fix bugs handling SGR sequences in Win32. 853321SN/A 863321SN/A* Fix possible crashes caused by malformed LESSOPEN or 873321SN/A LESSCLOSE variables. 883321SN/A 893321SN/A* Fix bug highlighting text which is discontiguous in the file 903321SN/A due to backspace processing. 913321SN/A 923321SN/A* Fix bug in displaying status column when scrolling backwards 933321SN/A with -J and -S in effect. 940SN/A 950SN/A====================================================================== 960SN/A 970SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 443 and 444 980SN/A 990SN/A* Fix bug in unget handling that can cause strange effects on the 1003321SN/A command line. 1010SN/A 1020SN/A* Remove vestiges of obsolete -l option that can cause a crash. 1030SN/A 1040SN/A====================================================================== 1050SN/A 1063321SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 436 and 443 1073321SN/A 1083321SN/A* Change search behavior such that when a search is given an explicit 1093321SN/A pattern, the entire displayed screen is included in the search and 1100SN/A not just the portion after the target line. 1113321SN/A 1120SN/A* Add -A option to change search behavior to the old way: only 1130SN/A the portion of the screen after the target line is searched. 1140SN/A 1150SN/A* Add %F formatting to prompt strings, replaced by the last component 1160SN/A of the input file. 1173321SN/A 1180SN/A* Control-G while editing a command exits the command. 1190SN/A 1200SN/A* Less now exits with status 2 if control-C is pressed and -K is in effect. 1210SN/A 1220SN/A* Fix "ungetc overflow" when passing long commands via the -p option. 1233321SN/A 1243321SN/A* Fix bug in using line filtering via the & command 1253321SN/A in combination with -i and -I. 1263321SN/A 1273321SN/A* Fix bug in handling negative arguments to the -j option. 1283321SN/A 1293321SN/A* Fix bug in handling %t in prompt strings. 1303321SN/A 1313321SN/A* Improve handling of long option names. 1323321SN/A 1333321SN/A* Improve percentage calculation for very large files. 1343321SN/A 1353321SN/A====================================================================== 1363321SN/A 1373321SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 429 and 436 1383321SN/A 1393321SN/A* Don't pass "-" to non-pipe LESSOPEN unless it starts with "-". 1403321SN/A 1413321SN/A* Allow a fraction as the argument to the -# (--shift) option. 1423321SN/A 1433321SN/A* Fix highlight bug when underlined/overstruck text matches at end of line. 1444622SN/A 1453321SN/A* Fix non-regex searches with ctrl-R. 1463321SN/A 1473321SN/A====================================================================== 1483321SN/A 1490SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 424 and 429 1503321SN/A 1510SN/A* LESSOPEN pipe will now be used on standard input, if the LESSOPEN 1520SN/A environment variable begins with "|-". 1530SN/A 1540SN/A* The -D option with one number now means use the normal background color. 1550SN/A 1560SN/A* Don't change permissions on history file if it is not a regular file. 1570SN/A 1580SN/A* Fix non-ANSI-compliant code that caused problems with some compilers. 1590SN/A 1600SN/A* Fix binary file detection in UTF-8 mode. 1610SN/A 1620SN/A* Fix display problems with long lines on "ignaw" terminals. 1630SN/A 1640SN/A* Fix problem interrupting the line number calculation for initial prompt. 1650SN/A 1660SN/A* Fix SGR emulation when dealing with multiple attributes (eg. bold+underline). 1670SN/A 1680SN/A* Fix highlight bug when searching for underlined/overstruck text. 1690SN/A 1700SN/A====================================================================== 1710SN/A 1720SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 418 and 424 1733321SN/A 1743321SN/A* New "&" command allows filtering of lines based on a pattern. 1753321SN/A 1760SN/A* Status column now displays a search match, even if the matched 1770SN/A string is scrolled off screen because -S is in effect. 1780SN/A 1790SN/A* Improve behavior of -F option. 1800SN/A 1810SN/A* Allow CSI character (0x9B) to work in UTF-8 mode. 1820SN/A 1830SN/A* Output carriage return at startup in case terminal doesn't default 1840SN/A to column 1. 1850SN/A 1860SN/A* Fix bug in '' (quote, quote) command after G command. 1870SN/A 1880SN/A====================================================================== 1890SN/A 1900SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 416 and 418 1910SN/A 1920SN/A* Color escape sequences are now supported in WIN32 build. 1930SN/A 1940SN/A* Makefile now uses EXEEXT feature of autoconf. 1950SN/A 1960SN/A* Fix search bug when using -R and text contains ANSI color escape sequences. 1970SN/A 1980SN/A* Fix crash when using -r with UTF-8 text containing 0x9B bytes. 1990SN/A 2000SN/A* Fix display bug when using ' command to move less than one page forward. 2010SN/A 2020SN/A* Update GPL to version 3. 2030SN/A 2040SN/A====================================================================== 2053321SN/A 2063321SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 409 and 416 2073321SN/A 2083321SN/A* New --follow-name option makes F command follow the name of a file 2093321SN/A rather than the file descriptor if an open file is renamed. 2103321SN/A 2113321SN/A* Make searching with -i/-I work correctly with non-ASCII text. 2120SN/A 2133321SN/A* Fix DJGPP build. 2143321SN/A 2153321SN/A====================================================================== 2163321SN/A 2173321SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 406 and 409 2183321SN/A 2193321SN/A* Support CSI escape sequences, like SGR escape sequences. 2203321SN/A 2213321SN/A* Fix bug which caused screen to fail to repaint when window is resized. 2223321SN/A 2233321SN/A* Fix bug in using -i and -I flags with non-ASCII text. 2243321SN/A 2253321SN/A* Fix configure bug on systems which don't support langinfo.h. 2263321SN/A 2273321SN/A* Fix crash when searching text containing certain invalid UTF-8 sequences. 2283321SN/A 2293321SN/A====================================================================== 2303321SN/A 2313321SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 394 and 406 2323321SN/A 2330SN/A* Allow decimal point in number for % (percent) command. 2340SN/A 2350SN/A* Allow decimal point in number for -j option (fraction of screen height). 2363321SN/A 2373321SN/A* Make n command fetch previous pattern from history file on first search. 2383321SN/A 2390SN/A* Don't rewrite history file if it has not changed. 2403321SN/A 2413321SN/A* Don't move to bottom of screen on first page. 2423321SN/A 2433321SN/A* Don't output extraneous newlines, so copy & pasting lines from the 2443321SN/A output works better. 2453321SN/A 2463321SN/A* The -c option has been made identical with the -C option. 2473321SN/A 2483321SN/A* Allow "/dev/null" as synomym for "-" in LESSHISTFILE to indicate 2493321SN/A that no history file should be used. 2503321SN/A 2513321SN/A* Search can now find text which follows a null byte, if the PCRE 2523321SN/A library is used, or if no-regex searching (ctrl-R) is used. 2533321SN/A 2543321SN/A* Better compatibility with POSIX more specification. 2553321SN/A 2560SN/A* Make -f work for directories. 2570SN/A 2580SN/A* Make "t" cmd traverse tags in the correct order. 2590SN/A 2600SN/A* Allow a few binary characters in the input file before warning 2610SN/A that the file is binary. 2620SN/A 2630SN/A* Don't warn that file is binary if it merely contains ANSI color sequences 2640SN/A and -R is in effect. 2650SN/A 2660SN/A* Update Unicode character tables. 2670SN/A 2680SN/A* Support DESTDIR in Makefile. 2690SN/A 2700SN/A* Fix bug when filename contains certain shell metacharacters such as "$". 2710SN/A 2720SN/A* Fix bug when resizing the window while waiting for input from a pipe. 2730SN/A 2740SN/A* Fix configure bugs. 2750SN/A 2760SN/A====================================================================== 2770SN/A 2780SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 382 and 394 2790SN/A 2800SN/A* Add history file to save search and shell command history between 2810SN/A invocations of less. 2820SN/A 2830SN/A* Improve behavior of history list for search and shell commands. 2840SN/A 2850SN/A* Add -K (or --quit-on-intr) option to make less exit immediately on ctrl-C. 2860SN/A 2870SN/A* Improve handling of UTF-8 files and commands, including better 2880SN/A line wrapping and handling double-width chars. 2890SN/A 2900SN/A* Added LESSUTFBINFMT environment variable to control display of 2910SN/A non-printable characters in a UTF-8 file. 2920SN/A 2930SN/A* Add --with-secure option to configure, to make it easier to 2940SN/A build a secure version of less. 2950SN/A 2960SN/A* Show search matches in the status column even if search highlights 2970SN/A are disabled via the -G option or the ESC-u command. 2980SN/A 2990SN/A* Improve performance when the file contains very long lines. 3000SN/A 3010SN/A* Add "windows" charset. 3020SN/A 3030SN/A* Add man page for lessecho. 3040SN/A 3050SN/A* Add support for erase2 character, treated same as erase. 3060SN/A 3070SN/A* Use ASCII lowercase/uppercase logic when operating on the command line. 3080SN/A 3090SN/A* Update makefile for Borland C++ 5.5.1. 3100SN/A 3110SN/A* Fix bug in calculating number of pages for %D prompt. 3120SN/A 3130SN/A* Fix bug in handling tag file error. 3143321SN/A 3154622SN/A* Fix obscure bug if input file is deleted while viewing help. 3160SN/A 3170SN/A* Fix bug handling filenames which include square brackets. 3180SN/A 3190SN/A* Fix possible buffer overflow in "global" tag search. 3200SN/A 3210SN/A* Fix possible buffer overflow in usage of LESSOPEN and LESSCLOSE. 3220SN/A 3230SN/A* Fix buffer overflow in reverse search. 3240SN/A 3250SN/A====================================================================== 3260SN/A 3270SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 381 and 382 3280SN/A 3290SN/A* Removed some old copyrighted code. 3300SN/A This probably breaks OS/9 support. 3310SN/A 3320SN/A====================================================================== 3330SN/A 3340SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 378 and 381 3350SN/A 3360SN/A* New -L option to disable LESSOPEN processing. 3370SN/A 3380SN/A* Further support for large (64 bit) file addressing. 3390SN/A Large file support is now set up by the configure script. 3400SN/A 3410SN/A* Use autoconf 2.54. 3420SN/A Replace configure.in, acconfig.h, defines.h.top with configure.ac. 3430SN/A 3440SN/A* Overstriking underscore with underscore is now bold or underlined 3450SN/A depending on context. 3460SN/A 3470SN/A* Use only 7 spaces for line numbers in -N mode, if possible. 3480SN/A 3490SN/A* Fix some bugs in handling overstriking in UTF-8 files. 3500SN/A 3510SN/A* Fix some nroff issues in the man page. 3520SN/A 3530SN/A====================================================================== 3540SN/A 3550SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 376 and 378 3560SN/A 3570SN/A* Bug fixes: 3580SN/A Default buffer space is now 64K as documented. 3590SN/A Search highlighting works properly when used with -R. 3600SN/A Windows version works properly when input file contains carriage returns. 3610SN/A Clean up some compiler warnings. 3620SN/A 3630SN/A====================================================================== 3640SN/A 3650SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 358 and 376 3660SN/A 3670SN/A* -x option can now specify multiple variable-width tab stops. 3680SN/A 3690SN/A* -X option no longer disables keypad initialization. 3700SN/A New option --no-keypad disables keypad initialization. 3710SN/A 3720SN/A* New commands t and T step through multiple tag matches. 3730SN/A Added support for "global(1)" tags 3740SN/A (see http://www.gnu.org/software/global/global.html). 3750SN/A 3763321SN/A* New prompt style set by option -Pw defines the message printed 3773321SN/A while waiting for data in the F command. 3783321SN/A 3793321SN/A* System-wide lesskey file now defaults to sysless in etc directory 3800SN/A instead of .sysless in bin directory. 3813321SN/A Use "configure --sysconfdir=..." to change it. 3823321SN/A (For backwards compatibility, .sysless in bin is still recognized.) 3830SN/A 3843321SN/A* Pressing RightArrow or LeftArrow while entering a number now shifts 3850SN/A the display N columns rather than editing the number itself. 3860SN/A 3870SN/A* Status column (enabled with -J) now shows search results. 3880SN/A 3893321SN/A* Windows version sets window title. 3900SN/A 3910SN/A* Default LESSCHARSET for MS-DOS versions is now "dos". 3920SN/A 3930SN/A* Searching works better with ANSI (SGR) escape sequences. 3940SN/A ANSI color escape sequences are now supported in the MS-DOS (DJGPP) version. 3950SN/A 3960SN/A* Improved performance in reading very large pipes. 3970SN/A 3980SN/A* Eliminated some dependencies on file offets being 32 bits. 3990SN/A 4000SN/A* Fixed problems when viewing files with very long lines. 4010SN/A 4020SN/A* Fixed overstriking in UTF-8 mode, and overstriking tabs. 4030SN/A 4040SN/A* Improved horizontal shifting of text using -R option with ANSI color. 4050SN/A 4060SN/A* Improved handling of filenames containing shell metacharacters. 4070SN/A 4080SN/A* Some fixes for EBCDIC systems. 4090SN/A 4100SN/A* Some fixes for OS/2 systems. 4110SN/A 4120SN/A====================================================================== 4130SN/A 4140SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 354 and 358 4150SN/A 4160SN/A* Add -J (--status-column) option to display a status column. 4170SN/A 4180SN/A* Add -# (--shift) option to set default horizontal shift distance. 4190SN/A Default horizontal shift distance is now one-half screen width. 4200SN/A 4210SN/A* Horizontal shifting does not shift line numbers if -N is in effect. 4220SN/A 4234621SN/A* Horizontal shifting acts as though -S were set, to avoid confusion. 4240SN/A 4250SN/A====================================================================== 4260SN/A 4274621SN/A 4284621SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 352 and 354 4290SN/A 4300SN/A* Allow space after numeric-valued command line options. 4310SN/A 4320SN/A* Fix problem with configuring terminal libraries on some systems. 4330SN/A 4340SN/A* Add support for PCRE regular expression library. 4350SN/A 4360SN/A* Add --with-regex option to configure to allow manually selecting 4370SN/A a regular expression library. 4380SN/A 4390SN/A* Fix bug compiling with SECURE = 1. 4400SN/A 4410SN/A====================================================================== 4420SN/A 4430SN/A 4440SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 346 and 352 4450SN/A 4460SN/A* Enable UTF-8 if "UTF-8" appears in locale-related environment variables. 4470SN/A 4480SN/A* Add --with-editor option to configure script. 4490SN/A 4500SN/A* The -M prompt and = message now show the top and bottom line number. 4510SN/A 4520SN/A* Fix bug in running the editor on a file whose name contains quotes, etc. 4530SN/A 4540SN/A* Fix bug in horizontal scrolling of long lines. 4550SN/A 4560SN/A* Fix bug in doing :d on a file which contains marks. 4570SN/A 4580SN/A* Fix bug causing cleared lines to sometimes be filled with standout, 4590SN/A bold, underline, etc. on certain terminals. 4600SN/A 4610SN/A* Fixes for MS-DOS (DJGPP) version. 4620SN/A 4630SN/A====================================================================== 4644622SN/A 4654622SN/A 4660SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 340 and 346 4670SN/A 4680SN/A* The UTF-8 character set is now supported. 4690SN/A 4700SN/A* The default character set is now latin1 rather than ascii. 4713321SN/A 4720SN/A* New option -R (--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS) is like -r but handles 4730SN/A long (wrapped) lines correctly, as long as the input contains only 4743321SN/A normal text and ANSI color escape sequences. 4750SN/A 4763321SN/A* New option -F (--quit-if-one-screen) quits if the text fits on 4770SN/A the first screen. 4780SN/A 4790SN/A* The -w option now highlights the target line of a g or p command. 4800SN/A 4813321SN/A* A system-wide lesskey file is supported (LESSKEY_SYSTEM). 4823321SN/A 4833321SN/A* New escape for prompt strings: %c is replaced by column number. 4843321SN/A 4850SN/A* New escape for prompt strings: %P is replaced by percentage into 4863321SN/A file, based on line number rather than byte offset. 4870SN/A 4880SN/A* HOME and END keys now jump to beginning of file or end of file. 4890SN/A 4900SN/A====================================================================== 4910SN/A 4920SN/A 4930SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 337 and 340 4940SN/A 4950SN/A* Command line options for less may now be given in either the old 4960SN/A single-letter form, or a new long name form (--option-name). 4970SN/A See the less man page or "less --help" for the list of long option names. 4983321SN/A 4990SN/A* Command line options for lesskey may now be given in a new long name 5000SN/A form. See the lesskey man page for the list of long option names. 5010SN/A 5020SN/A* New command -- toggles an option using the long option name. 5030SN/A 5040SN/A* New command __ queries an option using the long option name. 5053321SN/A 5064622SN/A* The old -- command is renamed as -!. 5070SN/A 5080SN/A* If a ^P is entered between the dash and the option letter of the - 5090SN/A command, the message describing the new setting is suppressed. 5100SN/A 5110SN/A* Lesskey files may now contain \k escape sequences to represent the 5120SN/A "special" keys (arrows, PAGE-UP/PAGE-DOWN, HOME, END, INSERT, DELETE). 5130SN/A 5140SN/A* New command :d removes the current file from the list of files. 5153321SN/A 5160SN/A* New option -~ (like -w before version 335) 5170SN/A suppresses tildes after end-of-file. 5183321SN/A 5190SN/A* Less is now released under the GNU General Public License. 5200SN/A 5210SN/A====================================================================== 5220SN/A 5230SN/A 5240SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 335 and 337 5250SN/A 5260SN/A* Fixed bugs in "make install". 5270SN/A 5280SN/A====================================================================== 5290SN/A 5300SN/A 5310SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 332 and 335 5323321SN/A 5330SN/A* The old -w flag (suppress tildes after end-of-file) has been removed. 5340SN/A 5350SN/A* New -w flag highlights the first new line after a forward-screen. 5360SN/A 5370SN/A* New -W flag highlights the first new line after any forward movement. 5383321SN/A 5393321SN/A* Window resize works even if LINES and/or COLUMNS environment 5400SN/A variables are incorrect. 5410SN/A 5420SN/A* New percent escapes for prompt strings: 5433321SN/A %d is replaced by the page number, and 5443321SN/A %D is replaced by the number of pages in the file. 5450SN/A 5460SN/A* Added charsets "iso8859" and "ebcdic". 5470SN/A 5480SN/A* In Windows version, uses HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH if HOME is not defined. 5490SN/A 5500SN/A* Fixed some bugs causing incorrect display on DOS/Windows. 5510SN/A 5520SN/A====================================================================== 5530SN/A 5540SN/A 5550SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 330 and 332 5560SN/A 5570SN/A* Filenames from the command line are entered into the command history, 5583321SN/A so UPARROW/DOWNARROW can be used to retrieve them from the :e command. 5593321SN/A 5603321SN/A* Now works correctly on Windows when using a scrolling terminal 5613321SN/A window (buffer larger than display window). 5623321SN/A 5633321SN/A* On Windows, now restores the console screen on exit. 5640SN/A Use -X to get the old behavior. 5650SN/A 5660SN/A* Fixed bug on Windows when CAPS-LOCK or NUM-LOCK is pressed. 5673321SN/A 5683321SN/A* Fixed bug on Windows when piping output of an interactive program. 5693321SN/A 5700SN/A* Fixed bug in tags file processing when tags file has DOS-style 5710SN/A line terminators (CR/LF). 5723321SN/A 5730SN/A* Fixed compilation problem on OS/2. 5743321SN/A 5750SN/A====================================================================== 5760SN/A 5770SN/A 5780SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 321 and 330 5790SN/A 5800SN/A* Now supports filenames containing spaces (in double quotes). 5810SN/A New option -" can be used to change the quoting characters. 5820SN/A 5830SN/A* In filename completion, a slash is appended to a directory name. 5840SN/A If the environment variable LESSSEPARATOR is set, the value of 5850SN/A that variable, rather than a slash, is appended. 5863321SN/A 5873321SN/A* LeftArrow and RightArrow are same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 5883321SN/A 5893321SN/A* Added commands ESC-( and ESC-), same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 5903321SN/A 5913321SN/A* A "quit" command defined in a lesskey file may now have an "extra" 5920SN/A string, which is used to return an exit code from less when it quits. 5933321SN/A 5943321SN/A* New environment variables LESSMETACHARS and LESSMETAESCAPE provide 5950SN/A more control over how less interfaces to the shell. 5963321SN/A 5973321SN/A* Ported to Microsoft Visual C compiler for Windows. 5983321SN/A 5993321SN/A* Ported to DJGPP compiler for MS-DOS. 6000SN/A 6010SN/A* Bug fixes. 6020SN/A 6030SN/A====================================================================== 6040SN/A 6050SN/A 6060SN/A Major changes between "less" versions 291 and 321 6070SN/A 6080SN/A* Command line at bottom of screen now scrolls, so it can be longer 6090SN/A than the screen width. 6100SN/A 6110SN/A* New commands ESC-] and ESC-[ scroll the display horizontally. 6123321SN/A 6130SN/A* New command ESC-SPACE scrolls forward a full screen, even if it 6140SN/A hits end-of-file. 6150SN/A 6160SN/A* Alternate modifiers for search commands: ^N is same as !, 6170SN/A ^F is same as @, and ^E is same as *. 6180SN/A 6190SN/A* New modifier for search commands: ^K means highlight the matches 6200SN/A currently on-screen, but don't move to the first match. 6210SN/A 6220SN/A* New modifier for search commands: ^R means don't use regular 6230SN/A expressions in the search. 6240SN/A 6250SN/A* Environment variable LESSKEY gives name of default lesskey file. 6260SN/A 6270SN/A* Environment variable LESSSECURE will force less to run in 6280SN/A "secure" mode. 6290SN/A 6300SN/A* Command line argument "--" signals that the rest of the arguments 6310SN/A are files (not option flags). 6320SN/A 6330SN/A* Help file (less.hlp) is no longer installed. Help text is now 6340SN/A embedded in the less executable itself. 6350SN/A 6360SN/A* Added -Ph to change the prompt for the help text. 6370SN/A Added -Ps to change the default short prompt (same as plain -P). 6380SN/A 6390SN/A* Ported to the Borland C compiler for MS-DOS. 6400SN/A 6410SN/A* Ported to Windows 95 & Windows NT. 6420SN/A 6430SN/A* Ported to OS-9. 644 645* Ported to GNU Hurd. 646 647====================================================================== 648 649 650 Major changes between "less" versions 290 and 291 651 652* Less environment variables can be specified in lesskey files. 653 654* Fixed MS-DOS build. 655 656====================================================================== 657 658 659 Major changes between "less" versions 278 and 290 660 661* Accepts GNU-style options "--help" and "--version". 662 663* OS/2 version looks for less.ini in $HOME before $INIT and $PATH. 664 665* Bug fixes 666 667====================================================================== 668 669 670 Major changes between "less" versions 252 and 278 671 672* A LESSOPEN preprocessor may now pipe the converted file data to less, 673 rather than writing it to a temporary file. 674 675* Search pattern highlighting has been fixed. It now highlights 676 reliably, even if a string is split across two screen lines, 677 contains TABs, etc. 678 679* The -F flag (which suppress search highlighting) has been changed 680 to -G. A new flag, -g, changes search highlighting to highlight 681 only the string found by the last search command, instead of all 682 strings which match the last search command. 683 684* New flag -I acts like -i, but ignores case even if the search 685 pattern contains uppercase letters. 686 687* Less now checks for the environment variable VISUAL before EDITOR. 688 689* Ported to OS/2. 690 691====================================================================== 692 693 694 Major changes between "less" versions 237 and 252 695 696* Changes in line-editing keys: 697 The literal key is now ^V or ^A rather than \ (backslash). 698 Filename completion commands (TAB and ^L) are disabled 699 when typing a search pattern. 700 701* Line-editing command keys can be redefined using lesskey. 702 703* Lesskey with no input file defaults to $HOME/.lesskey 704 rather than standard input. 705 706* New option -V displays version number of less. 707 708* New option -V displays version number of lesskey. 709 710* Help file less.hlp is now installed by default in /usr/local/share 711 rather than /usr/local/lib. 712 713 714====================================================================== 715 716 717 Major changes between "less" versions 170 and 237 718 719* By popular demand, text which matches the current search pattern 720 is highlighted. New -F flag disables this feature. 721 722* Henry Spencer's regexp.c is now included, for systems which do not 723 have a regular expression library. 724 regexp.c is Copyright (c) 1986 by University of Toronto. 725 726* New line-editing keys, including command history (arrow keys) and 727 filename completion (TAB). 728 729* Input preprocessor allows modification of input files (e.g. uncompress) 730 via LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE environment variables. 731 732* New -X flag disables sending termcap "ti" and "te" (initialize and 733 deinitialize) strings to the terminal. 734 735* Changing -i from within less now correctly affects a subsequent 736 repeated search. 737 738* Searching for underlined or overstruck text now works when the -u 739 flag is in effect, rather than the -i flag. 740 741* Use setlocale (LANG and LC_CTYPE environment variables) to determine 742 the character set if LESSCHARSET/LESSCHARDEF are not set. 743 744* The default format for displaying binary characters is now standout 745 (reverse video) rather than blinking. This can still be changed by 746 setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable. 747 748* Use autoconf installation technology. 749 750* Ported to MS-DOS. 751 752 ******************************** 753 Things that may surprise you 754 ******************************** 755 756* When you enter text at the bottom of the screen (search string, 757 filename, etc.), some keys act different than previously. 758 Specifically, \ (backslash), ESC, TAB, BACKTAB, and control-L 759 now have line editing functions. 760 761* Some previous unofficial versions of less were able to display 762 compressed files. The new LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE feature now provides 763 this functionality in a different way. 764 765* Some previous unofficial versions of less provided a -Z flag to 766 set the number of lines of text to retain between full screen scrolls. 767 The -z-n flag (that is, -z with a negative number) provides this 768 functionality. 769 770 771====================================================================== 772 773 774 Major changes between "less" versions 123 and 170 775 776* New option -j allows target lines to be positioned anywhere on screen. 777 778* New option -S truncates displayed line at the screen width, 779 rather than wrapping onto the next line. 780 781* New option -y limits amount of forward scroll. 782 783* New option -T specifies a "tags" file. 784 785* Non-printable, non-control characters are displayed in octal. 786 Such characters, as well as control characters, are displayed 787 in blinking mode. 788 789* New command -+ sets an option to its default. 790* New command -- sets an option to the opposite of its default. 791 792* Lesskey file may have a string appended to a key's action, 793 which acts as though typed in after the command. 794 795* New commands ESC-^F and ESC-^B match arbitrary types of brackets. 796 797* New command F monitors a growing file (like "tail -f"). 798 799* New command | pipes a section of the input file into a shell command. 800 801* New command :x directly jumps to a file in the command line list. 802 803* Search commands have been enhanced and reorganized: 804 n Repeat search, same direction. 805 N Repeat search, opposite direction. 806 ESC-/ Search forward thru file boundaries 807 ESC-? Search backward thru file boundaries 808 ESC-n Repeat search thru file boundaries, same direction. 809 ESC-N Repeat search thru file boundaries, opposite direction. 810 Special character * causes search to search thru file boundaries. 811 Special character @ causes search to begin at start/end of file list. 812 813* Examining a new file adds it to the command line list. 814 A list of files, or an expression which matches more than one file, 815 may be examined; all of them are added to the command line list. 816 817* Environment variables LESSCHARSET and LESSCHARDEF can define 818 a non-ASCII character set. 819 820* Partial support for MSDOS, including options -R for repainting screen 821 on quit, -v/-V to select video mode, and -W to change window size. 822 823 824====================================================================== 825 826 827 Major changes between "less" versions 97 and 123 828 829* New option (-N) causes line numbers to be displayed in the 830 text of the file (like vi "set nu"). 831 832* New option (-?) prints help message immediately. 833 834* New option (-r) displays "raw" control characters, without 835 mapping them to ^X notation. 836 837* New option (-f) forces less to open non-regular files 838 (directories, etc). 839 840* New option (-k) can be used to specify lesskey files by name. 841 842* New option (-y) can be used to set a forward scroll limit 843 (like -h sets a backward scroll limit). 844 845* File marks (set by the m command) are now preserved when a new 846 file is edited. The ' command can thus be used to switch files. 847 848* New command ESC-/ searches all files (on the command line) 849 for a pattern. 850 851* New command ESC-n repeats previous search, spanning files. 852 853* The N command has been changed to repeat the previous search 854 in the reverse direction. The old N command is still available 855 via :n. 856 857* New command ESC-N repeats previous search in the reverse 858 direction and spanning files. 859 860* 8 bit characters are now supported. A new option (-g) can be 861 used to strip off the eighth bit (the previous behavior). 862 863* Options which take a following string (like -t) may now 864 optionally have a space between the option letter and the string. 865 866* Six new commands { } ( ) [ and ] can be used to match 867 brackets of specific types, similar to vi % command. 868 869* New commands z and w move forward/backward one window and 870 simultaneously set the window size. 871 872* Prompt string expansion now has %L for line number of the last 873 line in the file, and %E for the name of the editor. 874 Also, % escapes which refer to a line (b=bottom, t=top, etc.) 875 can use j for the jump target line. 876 877* New environment variable LESSEDIT can be used to tailor the 878 command string passed to the editor by the v command. 879 880* Examining a file which was previously examined will return 881 to the same position in the file. 882 883* A "%" is expanded to the current filename and a "#" to the 884 previous filename, in both shell commands and the E command. 885 (Previously % worked only in shell commands and # worked 886 only in the E command.) 887 888* New command ":ta" is equivalent to "-t". 889 890* New command "s" is equivalent to "-l". 891 892* The - command may be followed by "+X" to revert to the default 893 for option X, or "-X" to get the opposite of the default. 894 895* Lesskey files may now include characters after the action as 896 extra input to be parsed after the action; for example: 897 "toggle-option X" to toggle a specific option X. 898 899 900 901 902 903