NEWS revision 63128
1 2 NEWS about less 3 4====================================================================== 5 6 For the latest news about less, see the "less" Web page: 7 http://www.flash.net/~marknu/less 8 You can also download the latest version of less from there. 9 10 To report bugs, suggestions or comments, send email to 11 bug-less@gnu.org or marknu@flash.net. 12 13====================================================================== 14 15 16 Major changes between "less" versions 354 and 358 17 18* Add -J (--status-column) option to display a status column. 19 20* Add -# (--shift) option to set default horizontal shift distance. 21 Default horizontal shift distance is now one-half screen width. 22 23* Horizontal shifting does not shift line numbers if -N is in effect. 24 25* Horizontal shifting acts as though -S were set, to avoid confusion. 26 27====================================================================== 28 29 30 Major changes between "less" versions 352 and 354 31 32* Allow space after numeric-valued command line options. 33 34* Fix problem with configuring terminal libraries on some systems. 35 36* Add support for PCRE regular expression library. 37 38* Add --with-regex option to configure to allow manually selecting 39 a regular expression library. 40 41* Fix bug compiling with SECURE = 1. 42 43====================================================================== 44 45 46 Major changes between "less" versions 346 and 352 47 48* Enable UTF-8 if "UTF-8" appears in locale-related environment variables. 49 50* Add --with-editor option to configure script. 51 52* The -M prompt and = message now show the top and bottom line number. 53 54* Fix bug in running the editor on a file whose name contains quotes, etc. 55 56* Fix bug in horizontal scrolling of long lines. 57 58* Fix bug in doing :d on a file which contains marks. 59 60* Fix bug causing cleared lines to sometimes be filled with standout, 61 bold, underline, etc. on certain terminals. 62 63* Fixes for MS-DOS (DJGPP) version. 64 65====================================================================== 66 67 68 Major changes between "less" versions 340 and 346 69 70* The UTF-8 character set is now supported. 71 72* The default character set is now latin1 rather than ascii. 73 74* New option -R (--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS) is like -r but handles 75 long (wrapped) lines correctly, as long as the input contains only 76 normal text and ANSI color escape sequences. 77 78* New option -F (--quit-if-one-screen) quits if the text fits on 79 the first screen. 80 81* The -w option now highlights the target line of a g or p command. 82 83* A system-wide lesskey file is supported (LESSKEY_SYSTEM). 84 85* New escape for prompt strings: %c is replaced by column number. 86 87* New escape for prompt strings: %P is replaced by percentage into 88 file, based on line number rather than byte offset. 89 90* HOME and END keys now jump to beginning of file or end of file. 91 92====================================================================== 93 94 95 Major changes between "less" versions 337 and 340 96 97* Command line options for less may now be given in either the old 98 single-letter form, or a new long name form (--option-name). 99 See the less man page or "less --help" for the list of long option names. 100 101* Command line options for lesskey may now be given in a new long name 102 form. See the lesskey man page for the list of long option names. 103 104* New command -- toggles an option using the long option name. 105 106* New command __ queries an option using the long option name. 107 108* The old -- command is renamed as -!. 109 110* If a ^P is entered between the dash and the option letter of the - 111 command, the message describing the new setting is suppressed. 112 113* Lesskey files may now contain \k escape sequences to represent the 114 "special" keys (arrows, PAGE-UP/PAGE-DOWN, HOME, END, INSERT, DELETE). 115 116* New command :d removes the current file from the list of files. 117 118* New option -~ (like -w before version 335) 119 suppresses tildes after end-of-file. 120 121* Less is now released under the GNU General Public License. 122 123====================================================================== 124 125 126 Major changes between "less" versions 335 and 337 127 128* Fixed bugs in "make install". 129 130====================================================================== 131 132 133 Major changes between "less" versions 332 and 335 134 135* The old -w flag (suppress tildes after end-of-file) has been removed. 136 137* New -w flag highlights the first new line after a forward-screen. 138 139* New -W flag highlights the first new line after any forward movement. 140 141* Window resize works even if LINES and/or COLUMNS environment 142 variables are incorrect. 143 144* New percent escapes for prompt strings: 145 %d is replaced by the page number, and 146 %D is replaced by the number of pages in the file. 147 148* Added charsets "iso8859" and "ebcdic". 149 150* In Windows version, uses HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH if HOME is not defined. 151 152* Fixed some bugs causing incorrect display on DOS/Windows. 153 154====================================================================== 155 156 157 Major changes between "less" versions 330 and 332 158 159* Filenames from the command line are entered into the command history, 160 so UPARROW/DOWNARROW can be used to retrieve them from the :e command. 161 162* Now works correctly on Windows when using a scrolling terminal 163 window (buffer larger than display window). 164 165* On Windows, now restores the console screen on exit. 166 Use -X to get the old behavior. 167 168* Fixed bug on Windows when CAPS-LOCK or NUM-LOCK is pressed. 169 170* Fixed bug on Windows when piping output of an interactive program. 171 172* Fixed bug in tags file processing when tags file has DOS-style 173 line terminators (CR/LF). 174 175* Fixed compilation problem on OS/2. 176 177====================================================================== 178 179 180 Major changes between "less" versions 321 and 330 181 182* Now supports filenames containing spaces (in double quotes). 183 New option -" can be used to change the quoting characters. 184 185* In filename completion, a slash is appended to a directory name. 186 If the environment variable LESSSEPARATOR is set, the value of 187 that variable, rather than a slash, is appended. 188 189* LeftArrow and RightArrow are same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 190 191* Added commands ESC-( and ESC-), same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 192 193* A "quit" command defined in a lesskey file may now have an "extra" 194 string, which is used to return an exit code from less when it quits. 195 196* New environment variables LESSMETACHARS and LESSMETAESCAPE provide 197 more control over how less interfaces to the shell. 198 199* Ported to Microsoft Visual C compiler for Windows. 200 201* Ported to DJGPP compiler for MS-DOS. 202 203* Bug fixes. 204 205====================================================================== 206 207 208 Major changes between "less" versions 291 and 321 209 210* Command line at bottom of screen now scrolls, so it can be longer 211 than the screen width. 212 213* New commands ESC-] and ESC-[ scroll the display horizontally. 214 215* New command ESC-SPACE scrolls forward a full screen, even if it 216 hits end-of-file. 217 218* Alternate modifiers for search commands: ^N is same as !, 219 ^F is same as @, and ^E is same as *. 220 221* New modifier for search commands: ^K means highlight the matches 222 currently on-screen, but don't move to the first match. 223 224* New modifier for search commands: ^R means don't use regular 225 expressions in the search. 226 227* Environment variable LESSKEY gives name of default lesskey file. 228 229* Environment variable LESSSECURE will force less to run in 230 "secure" mode. 231 232* Command line argument "--" signals that the rest of the arguments 233 are files (not option flags). 234 235* Help file (less.hlp) is no longer installed. Help text is now 236 embedded in the less executable itself. 237 238* Added -Ph to change the prompt for the help text. 239 Added -Ps to change the default short prompt (same as plain -P). 240 241* Ported to the Borland C compiler for MS-DOS. 242 243* Ported to Windows 95 & Windows NT. 244 245* Ported to OS-9. 246 247* Ported to GNU Hurd. 248 249====================================================================== 250 251 252 Major changes between "less" versions 290 and 291 253 254* Less environment variables can be specified in lesskey files. 255 256* Fixed MS-DOS build. 257 258====================================================================== 259 260 261 Major changes between "less" versions 278 and 290 262 263* Accepts GNU-style options "--help" and "--version". 264 265* OS/2 version looks for less.ini in $HOME before $INIT and $PATH. 266 267* Bug fixes 268 269====================================================================== 270 271 272 Major changes between "less" versions 252 and 278 273 274* A LESSOPEN preprocessor may now pipe the converted file data to less, 275 rather than writing it to a temporary file. 276 277* Search pattern highlighting has been fixed. It now highlights 278 reliably, even if a string is split across two screen lines, 279 contains TABs, etc. 280 281* The -F flag (which suppress search highlighting) has been changed 282 to -G. A new flag, -g, changes search highlighting to highlight 283 only the string found by the last search command, instead of all 284 strings which match the last search command. 285 286* New flag -I acts like -i, but ignores case even if the search 287 pattern contains uppercase letters. 288 289* Less now checks for the environment variable VISUAL before EDITOR. 290 291* Ported to OS/2. 292 293====================================================================== 294 295 296 Major changes between "less" versions 237 and 252 297 298* Changes in line-editing keys: 299 The literal key is now ^V or ^A rather than \ (backslash). 300 Filename completion commands (TAB and ^L) are disabled 301 when typing a search pattern. 302 303* Line-editing command keys can be redefined using lesskey. 304 305* Lesskey with no input file defaults to $HOME/.lesskey 306 rather than standard input. 307 308* New option -V displays version number of less. 309 310* New option -V displays version number of lesskey. 311 312* Help file less.hlp is now installed by default in /usr/local/share 313 rather than /usr/local/lib. 314 315 316====================================================================== 317 318 319 Major changes between "less" versions 170 and 237 320 321* By popular demand, text which matches the current search pattern 322 is highlighted. New -F flag disables this feature. 323 324* Henry Spencer's regexp.c is now included, for systems which do not 325 have a regular expression library. 326 regexp.c is Copyright (c) 1986 by University of Toronto. 327 328* New line-editing keys, including command history (arrow keys) and 329 filename completion (TAB). 330 331* Input preprocessor allows modification of input files (e.g. uncompress) 332 via LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE environment variables. 333 334* New -X flag disables sending termcap "ti" and "te" (initialize and 335 deinitialize) strings to the terminal. 336 337* Changing -i from within less now correctly affects a subsequent 338 repeated search. 339 340* Searching for underlined or overstruck text now works when the -u 341 flag is in effect, rather than the -i flag. 342 343* Use setlocale (LANG and LC_CTYPE environment variables) to determine 344 the character set if LESSCHARSET/LESSCHARDEF are not set. 345 346* The default format for displaying binary characters is now standout 347 (reverse video) rather than blinking. This can still be changed by 348 setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable. 349 350* Use autoconf installation technology. 351 352* Ported to MS-DOS. 353 354 ******************************** 355 Things that may surprise you 356 ******************************** 357 358* When you enter text at the bottom of the screen (search string, 359 filename, etc.), some keys act different than previously. 360 Specifically, \ (backslash), ESC, TAB, BACKTAB, and control-L 361 now have line editing functions. 362 363* Some previous unofficial versions of less were able to display 364 compressed files. The new LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE feature now provides 365 this functionality in a different way. 366 367* Some previous unofficial versions of less provided a -Z flag to 368 set the number of lines of text to retain between full screen scrolls. 369 The -z-n flag (that is, -z with a negative number) provides this 370 functionality. 371 372 373====================================================================== 374 375 376 Major changes between "less" versions 123 and 170 377 378* New option -j allows target lines to be positioned anywhere on screen. 379 380* New option -S truncates displayed line at the screen width, 381 rather than wrapping onto the next line. 382 383* New option -y limits amount of forward scroll. 384 385* New option -T specifies a "tags" file. 386 387* Non-printable, non-control characters are displayed in octal. 388 Such characters, as well as control characters, are displayed 389 in blinking mode. 390 391* New command -+ sets an option to its default. 392* New command -- sets an option to the opposite of its default. 393 394* Lesskey file may have a string appended to a key's action, 395 which acts as though typed in after the command. 396 397* New commands ESC-^F and ESC-^B match arbitrary types of brackets. 398 399* New command F monitors a growing file (like "tail -f"). 400 401* New command | pipes a section of the input file into a shell command. 402 403* New command :x directly jumps to a file in the command line list. 404 405* Search commands have been enhanced and reorganized: 406 n Repeat search, same direction. 407 N Repeat search, opposite direction. 408 ESC-/ Search forward thru file boundaries 409 ESC-? Search backward thru file boundaries 410 ESC-n Repeat search thru file boundaries, same direction. 411 ESC-N Repeat search thru file boundaries, opposite direction. 412 Special character * causes search to search thru file boundaries. 413 Special character @ causes search to begin at start/end of file list. 414 415* Examining a new file adds it to the command line list. 416 A list of files, or an expression which matches more than one file, 417 may be examined; all of them are added to the command line list. 418 419* Environment variables LESSCHARSET and LESSCHARDEF can define 420 a non-ASCII character set. 421 422* Partial support for MSDOS, including options -R for repainting screen 423 on quit, -v/-V to select video mode, and -W to change window size. 424 425 426====================================================================== 427 428 429 Major changes between "less" versions 97 and 123 430 431* New option (-N) causes line numbers to be displayed in the 432 text of the file (like vi "set nu"). 433 434* New option (-?) prints help message immediately. 435 436* New option (-r) displays "raw" control characters, without 437 mapping them to ^X notation. 438 439* New option (-f) forces less to open non-regular files 440 (directories, etc). 441 442* New option (-k) can be used to specify lesskey files by name. 443 444* New option (-y) can be used to set a forward scroll limit 445 (like -h sets a backward scroll limit). 446 447* File marks (set by the m command) are now preserved when a new 448 file is edited. The ' command can thus be used to switch files. 449 450* New command ESC-/ searches all files (on the command line) 451 for a pattern. 452 453* New command ESC-n repeats previous search, spanning files. 454 455* The N command has been changed to repeat the previous search 456 in the reverse direction. The old N command is still available 457 via :n. 458 459* New command ESC-N repeats previous search in the reverse 460 direction and spanning files. 461 462* 8 bit characters are now supported. A new option (-g) can be 463 used to strip off the eighth bit (the previous behavior). 464 465* Options which take a following string (like -t) may now 466 optionally have a space between the option letter and the string. 467 468* Six new commands { } ( ) [ and ] can be used to match 469 brackets of specific types, similar to vi % command. 470 471* New commands z and w move forward/backward one window and 472 simultaneously set the window size. 473 474* Prompt string expansion now has %L for line number of the last 475 line in the file, and %E for the name of the editor. 476 Also, % escapes which refer to a line (b=bottom, t=top, etc.) 477 can use j for the jump target line. 478 479* New environment variable LESSEDIT can be used to tailor the 480 command string passed to the editor by the v command. 481 482* Examining a file which was previously examined will return 483 to the same position in the file. 484 485* A "%" is expanded to the current filename and a "#" to the 486 previous filename, in both shell commands and the E command. 487 (Previously % worked only in shell commands and # worked 488 only in the E command.) 489 490* New command ":ta" is equivalent to "-t". 491 492* New command "s" is equivalent to "-l". 493 494* The - command may be followed by "+X" to revert to the default 495 for option X, or "-X" to get the opposite of the default. 496 497* Lesskey files may now include characters after the action as 498 extra input to be parsed after the action; for example: 499 "toggle-option X" to toggle a specific option X. 500