lesskey.man revision 128345
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4LESSKEY(1)                                             LESSKEY(1)
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7NNAAMMEE
8       lesskey - specify key bindings for less
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10SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS
11       lleesssskkeeyy [[--oo oouuttppuutt]] [[----]] [[iinnppuutt]]
12       lleesssskkeeyy [[----oouuttppuutt==oouuttppuutt]] [[----]] [[iinnppuutt]]
13       lleesssskkeeyy --VV
14       lleesssskkeeyy ----vveerrssiioonn
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16DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
17       _L_e_s_s_k_e_y  is  used  to  specify a set of key bindings to be
18       used by _l_e_s_s_.   The  input  file  is  a  text  file  which
19       describes  the  key  bindings,  If  the input file is "-",
20       standard input is read.  If no input file is specified,  a
21       standard  filename  is used as the name of the input file,
22       which depends on the system being used: On  Unix  systems,
23       $HOME/.lesskey  is used; on MS-DOS systems, $HOME/_lesskey
24       is used; and on OS/2 systems $HOME/lesskey.ini is used, or
25       $INIT/lesskey.ini  if $HOME is undefined.  The output file
26       is a binary file which is used by _l_e_s_s_.  If no output file
27       is specified, and the environment variable LESSKEY is set,
28       the value of LESSKEY is used as the  name  of  the  output
29       file.   Otherwise, a standard filename is used as the name
30       of the output file, which  depends  on  the  system  being
31       used:  On  Unix  and OS-9 systems, $HOME/.less is used; on
32       MS-DOS systems, $HOME/_less is used; and on OS/2  systems,
33       $HOME/less.ini  is  used,  or  $INIT/less.ini  if $HOME is
34       undefined.  If the output  file  already  exists,  _l_e_s_s_k_e_y
35       will overwrite it.
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37       The  -V  or  --version  option causes _l_e_s_s_k_e_y to print its
38       version number and immediately exit.  If -V  or  --version
39       is present, other options and arguments are ignored.
40
41       The  input  file  consists  of one or more _s_e_c_t_i_o_n_s_.  Each
42       section starts with a line that  identifies  the  type  of
43       section.  Possible sections are:
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45       #command
46              Defines new command keys.
47
48       #line-edit
49              Defines new line-editing keys.
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51       #env   Defines environment variables.
52
53       Blank  lines  and  lines which start with a pound sign (#)
54       are ignored, except for the special section header  lines.
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56
57CCOOMMMMAANNDD SSEECCTTIIOONN
58       The command section begins with the line
59
60       #command
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70LESSKEY(1)                                             LESSKEY(1)
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73       If  the  command section is the first section in the file,
74       this line may be omitted.  The command section consists of
75       lines of the form:
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77            _s_t_r_i_n_g <whitespace> _a_c_t_i_o_n [extra-string] <newline>
78
79       Whitespace  is  any  sequence of one or more spaces and/or
80       tabs.  The _s_t_r_i_n_g is the command key(s) which  invoke  the
81       action.   The  _s_t_r_i_n_g  may  be  a single command key, or a
82       sequence of up to 15 keys.  The _a_c_t_i_o_n is the name of  the
83       less  action,  from the list below.  The characters in the
84       _s_t_r_i_n_g may appear literally, or be prefixed by a caret  to
85       indicate  a  control  key.  A backslash followed by one to
86       three octal digits may be used to specify a  character  by
87       its  octal value.  A backslash followed by certain charac�
88       ters specifies input characters as follows:
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90       \b     BACKSPACE
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92       \e     ESCAPE
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94       \n     NEWLINE
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96       \r     RETURN
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98       \t     TAB
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100       \ku    UP ARROW
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102       \kd    DOWN ARROW
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104       \kr    RIGHT ARROW
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106       \kl    LEFT ARROW
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108       \kU    PAGE UP
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110       \kD    PAGE DOWN
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112       \kh    HOME
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114       \ke    END
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116       \kx    DELETE
117
118       A backslash followed by any other character indicates that
119       character is to be taken literally.  Characters which must
120       be preceded by backslash include caret, space, tab and the
121       backslash itself.
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123       An action may be followed by an "extra" string.  When such
124       a command is entered while running  _l_e_s_s_,  the  action  is
125       performed, and then the extra string is parsed, just as if
126       it were typed in to _l_e_s_s_.  This feature  can  be  used  in
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136LESSKEY(1)                                             LESSKEY(1)
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138
139       certain  cases  to  extend the functionality of a command.
140       For example, see the "{" and ":t" commands in the  example
141       below.   The  extra  string  has a special meaning for the
142       "quit" action: when _l_e_s_s quits,  first  character  of  the
143       extra string is used as its exit status.
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145
146EEXXAAMMPPLLEE
147       The following input file describes the set of default com�
148       mand keys used by less:
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150            #command
151            \r        forw-line
152            \n        forw-line
153            e         forw-line
154            j         forw-line
155            \kd  forw-line
156            ^E        forw-line
157            ^N        forw-line
158            k         back-line
159            y         back-line
160            ^Y        back-line
161            ^K        back-line
162            ^P        back-line
163            J         forw-line-force
164            K         back-line-force
165            Y         back-line-force
166            d         forw-scroll
167            ^D        forw-scroll
168            u         back-scroll
169            ^U        back-scroll
170            \40  forw-screen
171            f         forw-screen
172            ^F        forw-screen
173            ^V        forw-screen
174            \kD  forw-screen
175            b         back-screen
176            ^B        back-screen
177            \ev       back-screen
178            \kU  back-screen
179            z         forw-window
180            w         back-window
181            \e\40          forw-screen-force
182            F         forw-forever
183            R         repaint-flush
184            r         repaint
185            ^R        repaint
186            ^L        repaint
187            \eu       undo-hilite
188            g         goto-line
189            \kh  goto-line
190            <         goto-line
191            \e<       goto-line
192            p         percent
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202LESSKEY(1)                                             LESSKEY(1)
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205            %         percent
206            \e[       left-scroll
207            \e]       right-scroll
208            \e(       left-scroll
209            \e)       right-scroll
210            {         forw-bracket {}
211            }         back-bracket {}
212            (         forw-bracket ()
213            )         back-bracket ()
214            [         forw-bracket []
215            ]         back-bracket []
216            \e^F      forw-bracket
217            \e^B      back-bracket
218            G         goto-end
219            \e>       goto-end
220            >         goto-end
221            \ke  goto-end
222            =         status
223            ^G        status
224            :f        status
225            /         forw-search
226            ?         back-search
227            \e/       forw-search *
228            \e?       back-search *
229            n         repeat-search
230            \en       repeat-search-all
231            N         reverse-search
232            \eN       reverse-search-all
233            m         set-mark
234            '         goto-mark
235            ^X^X      goto-mark
236            E         examine
237            :e        examine
238            ^X^V      examine
239            :n        next-file
240            :p        prev-file
241            t         next-tag
242            T         prev-tag
243            :x        index-file
244            :d        remove-file
245            -         toggle-option
246            :t        toggle-option t
247            s         toggle-option o
248            _         display-option
249            |         pipe
250            v         visual
251            !         shell
252            +         firstcmd
253            H         help
254            h         help
255            V         version
256            0         digit
257            1         digit
258            2         digit
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268LESSKEY(1)                                             LESSKEY(1)
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271            3         digit
272            4         digit
273            5         digit
274            6         digit
275            7         digit
276            8         digit
277            9         digit
278            q         quit
279            Q         quit
280            :q        quit
281            :Q        quit
282            ZZ        quit
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285PPRREECCEEDDEENNCCEE
286       Commands specified by _l_e_s_s_k_e_y  take  precedence  over  the
287       default  commands.   A default command key may be disabled
288       by  including  it  in  the  input  file  with  the  action
289       "invalid".   Alternatively,  a  key  may  be defined to do
290       nothing by using the  action  "noaction".   "noaction"  is
291       similar to "invalid", but _l_e_s_s will give an error beep for
292       an "invalid" command, but not for  a  "noaction"  command.
293       In  addition,  ALL  default  commands  may  be disabled by
294       adding this control line to the input file:
295
296       #stop
297
298       This will cause all default commands to be  ignored.   The
299       #stop  line should be the last line in that section of the
300       file.
301
302       Be aware that #stop can be dangerous.  Since  all  default
303       commands  are  disabled,  you must provide sufficient com�
304       mands before  the  #stop  line  to  enable  all  necessary
305       actions.  For example, failure to provide a "quit" command
306       can lead to frustration.
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308
309LLIINNEE EEDDIITTIINNGG SSEECCTTIIOONN
310       The line-editing section begins with the line:
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312       #line-edit
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314       This section specifies new key bindings for the line edit�
315       ing  commands, in a manner similar to the way key bindings
316       for ordinary commands are specified in the  #command  sec�
317       tion.  The line-editing section consists of a list of keys
318       and actions, one per line as in the example below.
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320
321EEXXAAMMPPLLEE
322       The following input file  describes  the  set  of  default
323       line-editing keys used by less:
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334LESSKEY(1)                                             LESSKEY(1)
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336
337            #line-edit
338            \t        forw-complete
339            \17       back-complete
340            \e\t      back-complete
341            ^L        expand
342            ^V        literal
343            ^A        literal
344            \el       right
345            \kr       right
346            \eh       left
347            \kl       left
348            \eb       word-left
349            \e\kl     word-left
350            \ew       word-right
351            \e\kr     word-right
352            \ei       insert
353            \ex       delete
354            \kx       delete
355            \eX       word-delete
356            \ekx      word-delete
357            \e\b      word-backspace
358            \e0       home
359            \kh       home
360            \e$       end
361            \ke       end
362            \ek       up
363            \ku       up
364            \ej       down
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368LLEESSSS EENNVVIIRROONNMMEENNTT VVAARRIIAABBLLEESS
369       The environment variable section begins with the line
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371       #env
372
373       Following  this  line  is  a  list of environment variable
374       assignments.  Each line consists of an  environment  vari�
375       able name, an equals sign (=) and the value to be assigned
376       to the environment variable.  White space before and after
377       the  equals  sign  is ignored.  Variables assigned in this
378       way are visible only to _l_e_s_s_.  If a variable is  specified
379       in  the system environment and also in a lesskey file, the
380       value in the lesskey file takes precedence.  Although  the
381       lesskey  file can be used to override variables set in the
382       environment, the main purpose of  assigning  variables  in
383       the  lesskey file is simply to have all _l_e_s_s configuration
384       information stored in one file.
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387EEXXAAMMPPLLEE
388       The following input file sets the -i option whenever  _l_e_s_s
389       is run, and specifies the character set to be "latin1":
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400LESSKEY(1)                                             LESSKEY(1)
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402
403            #env
404            LESS = -i
405            LESSCHARSET = latin1
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407
408
409SSEEEE AALLSSOO
410       less(1)
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412
413WWAARRNNIINNGGSS
414       It  is not possible to specify special keys, such as upar�
415       row, in a keyboard-independent manner.  The  only  way  to
416       specify  such keys is to specify the escape sequence which
417       a particular keyboard sends when such a key is pressed.
418
419       On MS-DOS and OS/2 systems, certain keys send  a  sequence
420       of  characters which start with a NUL character (0).  This
421       NUL character should be represented as \340 in  a  lesskey
422       file.
423
424
425CCOOPPYYRRIIGGHHTT
426       Copyright (C) 2000  Mark Nudelman
427
428       lesskey  is  part of the GNU project and is free software;
429       you can redistribute it and/or modify it under  the  terms
430       of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
431       Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
432       any later version.
433
434       lesskey is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
435       but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even  the  implied  war�
436       ranty  of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PUR�
437       POSE.   See  the  GNU  General  Public  License  for  more
438       details.
439
440       You  should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
441       License along with lesskey; see the file COPYING.  If not,
442       write  to  the  Free Software Foundation, 59 Temple Place,
443       Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.
444
445
446AAUUTTHHOORR
447       Mark Nudelman <markn@greenwoodsoftware.com>
448       Send bug reports or comments to the above  address  or  to
449       bug-less@gnu.org.
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