NEWS revision 161475
1 2 NEWS about less 3 4====================================================================== 5 6 For the latest news about less, see the "less" Web page: 7 http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less 8 You can also download the latest version of less from there. 9 10 To report bugs, suggestions or comments, send email to bug-less@gnu.org. 11 12====================================================================== 13 14 15 Major changes between "less" versions 382 and 394 16 17* Add history file to save search and shell command history between 18 invocations of less. 19 20* Improve behavior of history list for search and shell commands. 21 22* Add -K (or --quit-on-intr) option to make less exit immediately on ctrl-C. 23 24* Improve handling of UTF-8 files and commands, including better 25 line wrapping and handling double-width chars. 26 27* Added LESSUTFBINFMT environment variable to control display of 28 non-printable characters in a UTF-8 file. 29 30* Add --with-secure option to configure, to make it easier to 31 build a secure version of less. 32 33* Show search matches in the status column even if search highlights 34 are disabled via the -G option or the ESC-u command. 35 36* Improve performance when the file contains very long lines. 37 38* Add "windows" charset. 39 40* Add man page for lessecho. 41 42* Add support for erase2 character, treated same as erase. 43 44* Use ASCII lowercase/uppercase logic when operating on the command line. 45 46* Update makefile for Borland C++ 5.5.1. 47 48* Fix bug in calculating number of pages for %D prompt. 49 50* Fix bug in handling tag file error. 51 52* Fix obscure bug if input file is deleted while viewing help. 53 54* Fix bug handling filenames which include square brackets. 55 56* Fix possible buffer overflow in "global" tag search. 57 58* Fix possible buffer overflow in usage of LESSOPEN and LESSCLOSE. 59 60* Fix buffer overflow in reverse search. 61 62====================================================================== 63 64 Major changes between "less" versions 381 and 382 65 66* Removed some old copyrighted code. 67 This probably breaks OS/9 support. 68 69====================================================================== 70 71 Major changes between "less" versions 378 and 381 72 73* New -L option to disable LESSOPEN processing. 74 75* Further support for large (64 bit) file addressing. 76 Large file support is now set up by the configure script. 77 78* Use autoconf 2.54. 79 Replace configure.in, acconfig.h, defines.h.top with configure.ac. 80 81* Overstriking underscore with underscore is now bold or underlined 82 depending on context. 83 84* Use only 7 spaces for line numbers in -N mode, if possible. 85 86* Fix some bugs in handling overstriking in UTF-8 files. 87 88* Fix some nroff issues in the man page. 89 90====================================================================== 91 92 Major changes between "less" versions 376 and 378 93 94* Bug fixes: 95 Default buffer space is now 64K as documented. 96 Search highlighting works properly when used with -R. 97 Windows version works properly when input file contains carriage returns. 98 Clean up some compiler warnings. 99 100====================================================================== 101 102 Major changes between "less" versions 358 and 376 103 104* -x option can now specify multiple variable-width tab stops. 105 106* -X option no longer disables keypad initialization. 107 New option --no-keypad disables keypad initialization. 108 109* New commands t and T step through multiple tag matches. 110 Added support for "global(1)" tags 111 (see http://www.gnu.org/software/global/global.html). 112 113* New prompt style set by option -Pw defines the message printed 114 while waiting for data in the F command. 115 116* System-wide lesskey file now defaults to sysless in etc directory 117 instead of .sysless in bin directory. 118 Use "configure --sysconfdir=..." to change it. 119 (For backwards compatibility, .sysless in bin is still recognized.) 120 121* Pressing RightArrow or LeftArrow while entering a number now shifts 122 the display N columns rather than editing the number itself. 123 124* Status column (enabled with -J) now shows search results. 125 126* Windows version sets window title. 127 128* Default LESSCHARSET for MS-DOS versions is now "dos". 129 130* Searching works better with ANSI (SGR) escape sequences. 131 ANSI color escape sequences are now supported in the MS-DOS (DJGPP) version. 132 133* Improved performance in reading very large pipes. 134 135* Eliminated some dependencies on file offets being 32 bits. 136 137* Fixed problems when viewing files with very long lines. 138 139* Fixed overstriking in UTF-8 mode, and overstriking tabs. 140 141* Improved horizontal shifting of text using -R option with ANSI color. 142 143* Improved handling of filenames containing shell metacharacters. 144 145* Some fixes for EBCDIC systems. 146 147* Some fixes for OS/2 systems. 148 149====================================================================== 150 151 Major changes between "less" versions 354 and 358 152 153* Add -J (--status-column) option to display a status column. 154 155* Add -# (--shift) option to set default horizontal shift distance. 156 Default horizontal shift distance is now one-half screen width. 157 158* Horizontal shifting does not shift line numbers if -N is in effect. 159 160* Horizontal shifting acts as though -S were set, to avoid confusion. 161 162====================================================================== 163 164 165 Major changes between "less" versions 352 and 354 166 167* Allow space after numeric-valued command line options. 168 169* Fix problem with configuring terminal libraries on some systems. 170 171* Add support for PCRE regular expression library. 172 173* Add --with-regex option to configure to allow manually selecting 174 a regular expression library. 175 176* Fix bug compiling with SECURE = 1. 177 178====================================================================== 179 180 181 Major changes between "less" versions 346 and 352 182 183* Enable UTF-8 if "UTF-8" appears in locale-related environment variables. 184 185* Add --with-editor option to configure script. 186 187* The -M prompt and = message now show the top and bottom line number. 188 189* Fix bug in running the editor on a file whose name contains quotes, etc. 190 191* Fix bug in horizontal scrolling of long lines. 192 193* Fix bug in doing :d on a file which contains marks. 194 195* Fix bug causing cleared lines to sometimes be filled with standout, 196 bold, underline, etc. on certain terminals. 197 198* Fixes for MS-DOS (DJGPP) version. 199 200====================================================================== 201 202 203 Major changes between "less" versions 340 and 346 204 205* The UTF-8 character set is now supported. 206 207* The default character set is now latin1 rather than ascii. 208 209* New option -R (--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS) is like -r but handles 210 long (wrapped) lines correctly, as long as the input contains only 211 normal text and ANSI color escape sequences. 212 213* New option -F (--quit-if-one-screen) quits if the text fits on 214 the first screen. 215 216* The -w option now highlights the target line of a g or p command. 217 218* A system-wide lesskey file is supported (LESSKEY_SYSTEM). 219 220* New escape for prompt strings: %c is replaced by column number. 221 222* New escape for prompt strings: %P is replaced by percentage into 223 file, based on line number rather than byte offset. 224 225* HOME and END keys now jump to beginning of file or end of file. 226 227====================================================================== 228 229 230 Major changes between "less" versions 337 and 340 231 232* Command line options for less may now be given in either the old 233 single-letter form, or a new long name form (--option-name). 234 See the less man page or "less --help" for the list of long option names. 235 236* Command line options for lesskey may now be given in a new long name 237 form. See the lesskey man page for the list of long option names. 238 239* New command -- toggles an option using the long option name. 240 241* New command __ queries an option using the long option name. 242 243* The old -- command is renamed as -!. 244 245* If a ^P is entered between the dash and the option letter of the - 246 command, the message describing the new setting is suppressed. 247 248* Lesskey files may now contain \k escape sequences to represent the 249 "special" keys (arrows, PAGE-UP/PAGE-DOWN, HOME, END, INSERT, DELETE). 250 251* New command :d removes the current file from the list of files. 252 253* New option -~ (like -w before version 335) 254 suppresses tildes after end-of-file. 255 256* Less is now released under the GNU General Public License. 257 258====================================================================== 259 260 261 Major changes between "less" versions 335 and 337 262 263* Fixed bugs in "make install". 264 265====================================================================== 266 267 268 Major changes between "less" versions 332 and 335 269 270* The old -w flag (suppress tildes after end-of-file) has been removed. 271 272* New -w flag highlights the first new line after a forward-screen. 273 274* New -W flag highlights the first new line after any forward movement. 275 276* Window resize works even if LINES and/or COLUMNS environment 277 variables are incorrect. 278 279* New percent escapes for prompt strings: 280 %d is replaced by the page number, and 281 %D is replaced by the number of pages in the file. 282 283* Added charsets "iso8859" and "ebcdic". 284 285* In Windows version, uses HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH if HOME is not defined. 286 287* Fixed some bugs causing incorrect display on DOS/Windows. 288 289====================================================================== 290 291 292 Major changes between "less" versions 330 and 332 293 294* Filenames from the command line are entered into the command history, 295 so UPARROW/DOWNARROW can be used to retrieve them from the :e command. 296 297* Now works correctly on Windows when using a scrolling terminal 298 window (buffer larger than display window). 299 300* On Windows, now restores the console screen on exit. 301 Use -X to get the old behavior. 302 303* Fixed bug on Windows when CAPS-LOCK or NUM-LOCK is pressed. 304 305* Fixed bug on Windows when piping output of an interactive program. 306 307* Fixed bug in tags file processing when tags file has DOS-style 308 line terminators (CR/LF). 309 310* Fixed compilation problem on OS/2. 311 312====================================================================== 313 314 315 Major changes between "less" versions 321 and 330 316 317* Now supports filenames containing spaces (in double quotes). 318 New option -" can be used to change the quoting characters. 319 320* In filename completion, a slash is appended to a directory name. 321 If the environment variable LESSSEPARATOR is set, the value of 322 that variable, rather than a slash, is appended. 323 324* LeftArrow and RightArrow are same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 325 326* Added commands ESC-( and ESC-), same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 327 328* A "quit" command defined in a lesskey file may now have an "extra" 329 string, which is used to return an exit code from less when it quits. 330 331* New environment variables LESSMETACHARS and LESSMETAESCAPE provide 332 more control over how less interfaces to the shell. 333 334* Ported to Microsoft Visual C compiler for Windows. 335 336* Ported to DJGPP compiler for MS-DOS. 337 338* Bug fixes. 339 340====================================================================== 341 342 343 Major changes between "less" versions 291 and 321 344 345* Command line at bottom of screen now scrolls, so it can be longer 346 than the screen width. 347 348* New commands ESC-] and ESC-[ scroll the display horizontally. 349 350* New command ESC-SPACE scrolls forward a full screen, even if it 351 hits end-of-file. 352 353* Alternate modifiers for search commands: ^N is same as !, 354 ^F is same as @, and ^E is same as *. 355 356* New modifier for search commands: ^K means highlight the matches 357 currently on-screen, but don't move to the first match. 358 359* New modifier for search commands: ^R means don't use regular 360 expressions in the search. 361 362* Environment variable LESSKEY gives name of default lesskey file. 363 364* Environment variable LESSSECURE will force less to run in 365 "secure" mode. 366 367* Command line argument "--" signals that the rest of the arguments 368 are files (not option flags). 369 370* Help file (less.hlp) is no longer installed. Help text is now 371 embedded in the less executable itself. 372 373* Added -Ph to change the prompt for the help text. 374 Added -Ps to change the default short prompt (same as plain -P). 375 376* Ported to the Borland C compiler for MS-DOS. 377 378* Ported to Windows 95 & Windows NT. 379 380* Ported to OS-9. 381 382* Ported to GNU Hurd. 383 384====================================================================== 385 386 387 Major changes between "less" versions 290 and 291 388 389* Less environment variables can be specified in lesskey files. 390 391* Fixed MS-DOS build. 392 393====================================================================== 394 395 396 Major changes between "less" versions 278 and 290 397 398* Accepts GNU-style options "--help" and "--version". 399 400* OS/2 version looks for less.ini in $HOME before $INIT and $PATH. 401 402* Bug fixes 403 404====================================================================== 405 406 407 Major changes between "less" versions 252 and 278 408 409* A LESSOPEN preprocessor may now pipe the converted file data to less, 410 rather than writing it to a temporary file. 411 412* Search pattern highlighting has been fixed. It now highlights 413 reliably, even if a string is split across two screen lines, 414 contains TABs, etc. 415 416* The -F flag (which suppress search highlighting) has been changed 417 to -G. A new flag, -g, changes search highlighting to highlight 418 only the string found by the last search command, instead of all 419 strings which match the last search command. 420 421* New flag -I acts like -i, but ignores case even if the search 422 pattern contains uppercase letters. 423 424* Less now checks for the environment variable VISUAL before EDITOR. 425 426* Ported to OS/2. 427 428====================================================================== 429 430 431 Major changes between "less" versions 237 and 252 432 433* Changes in line-editing keys: 434 The literal key is now ^V or ^A rather than \ (backslash). 435 Filename completion commands (TAB and ^L) are disabled 436 when typing a search pattern. 437 438* Line-editing command keys can be redefined using lesskey. 439 440* Lesskey with no input file defaults to $HOME/.lesskey 441 rather than standard input. 442 443* New option -V displays version number of less. 444 445* New option -V displays version number of lesskey. 446 447* Help file less.hlp is now installed by default in /usr/local/share 448 rather than /usr/local/lib. 449 450 451====================================================================== 452 453 454 Major changes between "less" versions 170 and 237 455 456* By popular demand, text which matches the current search pattern 457 is highlighted. New -F flag disables this feature. 458 459* Henry Spencer's regexp.c is now included, for systems which do not 460 have a regular expression library. 461 regexp.c is Copyright (c) 1986 by University of Toronto. 462 463* New line-editing keys, including command history (arrow keys) and 464 filename completion (TAB). 465 466* Input preprocessor allows modification of input files (e.g. uncompress) 467 via LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE environment variables. 468 469* New -X flag disables sending termcap "ti" and "te" (initialize and 470 deinitialize) strings to the terminal. 471 472* Changing -i from within less now correctly affects a subsequent 473 repeated search. 474 475* Searching for underlined or overstruck text now works when the -u 476 flag is in effect, rather than the -i flag. 477 478* Use setlocale (LANG and LC_CTYPE environment variables) to determine 479 the character set if LESSCHARSET/LESSCHARDEF are not set. 480 481* The default format for displaying binary characters is now standout 482 (reverse video) rather than blinking. This can still be changed by 483 setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable. 484 485* Use autoconf installation technology. 486 487* Ported to MS-DOS. 488 489 ******************************** 490 Things that may surprise you 491 ******************************** 492 493* When you enter text at the bottom of the screen (search string, 494 filename, etc.), some keys act different than previously. 495 Specifically, \ (backslash), ESC, TAB, BACKTAB, and control-L 496 now have line editing functions. 497 498* Some previous unofficial versions of less were able to display 499 compressed files. The new LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE feature now provides 500 this functionality in a different way. 501 502* Some previous unofficial versions of less provided a -Z flag to 503 set the number of lines of text to retain between full screen scrolls. 504 The -z-n flag (that is, -z with a negative number) provides this 505 functionality. 506 507 508====================================================================== 509 510 511 Major changes between "less" versions 123 and 170 512 513* New option -j allows target lines to be positioned anywhere on screen. 514 515* New option -S truncates displayed line at the screen width, 516 rather than wrapping onto the next line. 517 518* New option -y limits amount of forward scroll. 519 520* New option -T specifies a "tags" file. 521 522* Non-printable, non-control characters are displayed in octal. 523 Such characters, as well as control characters, are displayed 524 in blinking mode. 525 526* New command -+ sets an option to its default. 527* New command -- sets an option to the opposite of its default. 528 529* Lesskey file may have a string appended to a key's action, 530 which acts as though typed in after the command. 531 532* New commands ESC-^F and ESC-^B match arbitrary types of brackets. 533 534* New command F monitors a growing file (like "tail -f"). 535 536* New command | pipes a section of the input file into a shell command. 537 538* New command :x directly jumps to a file in the command line list. 539 540* Search commands have been enhanced and reorganized: 541 n Repeat search, same direction. 542 N Repeat search, opposite direction. 543 ESC-/ Search forward thru file boundaries 544 ESC-? Search backward thru file boundaries 545 ESC-n Repeat search thru file boundaries, same direction. 546 ESC-N Repeat search thru file boundaries, opposite direction. 547 Special character * causes search to search thru file boundaries. 548 Special character @ causes search to begin at start/end of file list. 549 550* Examining a new file adds it to the command line list. 551 A list of files, or an expression which matches more than one file, 552 may be examined; all of them are added to the command line list. 553 554* Environment variables LESSCHARSET and LESSCHARDEF can define 555 a non-ASCII character set. 556 557* Partial support for MSDOS, including options -R for repainting screen 558 on quit, -v/-V to select video mode, and -W to change window size. 559 560 561====================================================================== 562 563 564 Major changes between "less" versions 97 and 123 565 566* New option (-N) causes line numbers to be displayed in the 567 text of the file (like vi "set nu"). 568 569* New option (-?) prints help message immediately. 570 571* New option (-r) displays "raw" control characters, without 572 mapping them to ^X notation. 573 574* New option (-f) forces less to open non-regular files 575 (directories, etc). 576 577* New option (-k) can be used to specify lesskey files by name. 578 579* New option (-y) can be used to set a forward scroll limit 580 (like -h sets a backward scroll limit). 581 582* File marks (set by the m command) are now preserved when a new 583 file is edited. The ' command can thus be used to switch files. 584 585* New command ESC-/ searches all files (on the command line) 586 for a pattern. 587 588* New command ESC-n repeats previous search, spanning files. 589 590* The N command has been changed to repeat the previous search 591 in the reverse direction. The old N command is still available 592 via :n. 593 594* New command ESC-N repeats previous search in the reverse 595 direction and spanning files. 596 597* 8 bit characters are now supported. A new option (-g) can be 598 used to strip off the eighth bit (the previous behavior). 599 600* Options which take a following string (like -t) may now 601 optionally have a space between the option letter and the string. 602 603* Six new commands { } ( ) [ and ] can be used to match 604 brackets of specific types, similar to vi % command. 605 606* New commands z and w move forward/backward one window and 607 simultaneously set the window size. 608 609* Prompt string expansion now has %L for line number of the last 610 line in the file, and %E for the name of the editor. 611 Also, % escapes which refer to a line (b=bottom, t=top, etc.) 612 can use j for the jump target line. 613 614* New environment variable LESSEDIT can be used to tailor the 615 command string passed to the editor by the v command. 616 617* Examining a file which was previously examined will return 618 to the same position in the file. 619 620* A "%" is expanded to the current filename and a "#" to the 621 previous filename, in both shell commands and the E command. 622 (Previously % worked only in shell commands and # worked 623 only in the E command.) 624 625* New command ":ta" is equivalent to "-t". 626 627* New command "s" is equivalent to "-l". 628 629* The - command may be followed by "+X" to revert to the default 630 for option X, or "-X" to get the opposite of the default. 631 632* Lesskey files may now include characters after the action as 633 extra input to be parsed after the action; for example: 634 "toggle-option X" to toggle a specific option X. 635