4 ======================================================================
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.
10 To report bugs, suggestions or comments, send email to bug-less@gnu.org
12 ======================================================================
14 Major changes between "less" versions 487 and 529
16 * Don't output terminal init sequence if using -F and file fits on one screen.
18 * When using -S, mark truncated lines with a special character.
19 The character can be changed or disabled via the new --rscroll option.
21 * New command M marks the last line displayed on the screen.
23 * New command ESC-m removes a line mark.
25 * Status column (enabled via -J) now shows mark letters.
27 * Status column shows search matches even if highlighting is disabled via -G.
29 * A second ESC-u command will clear search match markers in the status column.
31 * Do same ANSI escape code filtering for tag matching that we do for
32 searching, to help when viewing syntax-highlighted code.
34 * Catch SIGTERM and clean up before exiting.
36 * Fix bug initializing default charset on Windows.
38 * Handle keypad ENTER key correctly if it sends something other than newline.
40 * Fix buffering bug when using stdin with a LESSOPEN pipe.
42 * On Windows, allow 'u' in -D option to enable underlining.
44 * On Windows, use underline in sgr mode.
46 * On Windows, convert UTF-8 to multibyte if console is not UTF-8.
48 * Update Unicode tables to 2017-03-08.
50 * Pass-thru Unicode formating chars (Cf type) instead of treating them
51 as binary chars. But treat them as binary if -U is set.
53 * Fix erroneous binary file warning when UTF-8 file contains ANSI SGR sequences.
55 * Fix bugs when using LESSOPEN and switching between stdin and other files.
57 * Fix some bugs handling filenames containing shell metacharacters.
59 * Fix some memory leaks.
61 * Allow some debugging environment variables to be set in lesskey file.
64 . Use ANSI prototypes in funcs.h declarations.
65 . Fix some const mismatches.
66 . Remove archaic "register" in variable declarations.
68 ======================================================================
70 Major changes between "less" versions 481 and 487
72 * New commands ESC-{ and ESC-} to shift to start/end of displayed lines.
74 * Make search highlights work correctly when changing caselessness with -i.
76 * New option -Da in Windows version to enable SGR mode.
78 * Fix "nothing to search" error when top or bottom line on screen is empty.
80 * Fix bug when terminal has no "cm" termcap entry.
82 * Fix incorrect display when entering double-width chars in search string.
84 * Fix bug in Unicode handling that missed some double width characters.
86 * Update Unicode database to 9.0.0.
88 ======================================================================
90 Major changes between "less" versions 458 and 481
92 * Don't overwrite history file; just append to it.
94 * New command ESC-G goes to end of currently buffered data in a pipe.
96 * Disable history feature when compiled with LESSHISTFILE set to "-".
98 * In more-compatible mode, make the -p option apply to every file opened,
99 not just the first one.
101 * In more-compatible mode, change the -e option to work like -E, not -EF.
103 * Treat multiple CRs before LF are like one CR (all the CRs are hidden).
105 * Allow "extra" string in lesskey file to append to a multi-char command
106 (like a search pattern), without executing the command.
108 * Ignore -u/-U setting while viewing help file, so that
109 underline and bold chars are displayed correctly.
111 * Improve detection of "binary" files in UTF-8 mode.
113 * Fix bug with ++ commands.
115 * Fix bug where prompt was sometimes not displayed with +G.
117 * Fix possible memory corruption
119 * Fix bugs and improve performance in ampersand filtering.
121 * Automate construction of Unicode tables from Unicode database.
123 * Allow %% escape sequence in LESSOPEN variable.
125 ======================================================================
127 Major changes between "less" versions 451 and 458
129 * Allow backslash escaping of metacharacters in LESS environment variable
130 after the --use-backslash option.
132 * Don't quit if syntax errors are found in command line options.
134 * Increase sizes of some internal buffers.
136 * Fix configure bug with --with-regex=none.
138 * Fix crash with "stty rows 0".
140 * Fix Win32 attribute display bug.
142 * Fix display bug when using up/down arrow on the command line.
144 ======================================================================
146 Major changes between "less" versions 444 and 451
148 * Add ESC-F command to keep reading data until a pattern is found.
150 * Use exit code of LESSOPEN script if LESSOPEN starts with "||".
152 * When up/down arrow is used on the command line immediately after
153 typing text, the next command starting with that text is found.
155 * Add support for GNU regex.
157 * Add configure option --with-regex=none and fix compile errors
158 when compiling with no regex library.
160 * Fix bugs handling SGR sequences in Win32.
162 * Fix possible crashes caused by malformed LESSOPEN or
165 * Fix bug highlighting text which is discontiguous in the file
166 due to backspace processing.
168 * Fix bug in displaying status column when scrolling backwards
169 with -J and -S in effect.
171 ======================================================================
173 Major changes between "less" versions 443 and 444
175 * Fix bug in unget handling that can cause strange effects on the
178 * Remove vestiges of obsolete -l option that can cause a crash.
180 ======================================================================
182 Major changes between "less" versions 436 and 443
184 * Change search behavior such that when a search is given an explicit
185 pattern, the entire displayed screen is included in the search and
186 not just the portion after the target line.
188 * Add -A option to change search behavior to the old way: only
189 the portion of the screen after the target line is searched.
191 * Add %F formatting to prompt strings, replaced by the last component
194 * Control-G while editing a command exits the command.
196 * Less now exits with status 2 if control-C is pressed and -K is in effect.
198 * Fix "ungetc overflow" when passing long commands via the -p option.
200 * Fix bug in using line filtering via the & command
201 in combination with -i and -I.
203 * Fix bug in handling negative arguments to the -j option.
205 * Fix bug in handling %t in prompt strings.
207 * Improve handling of long option names.
209 * Improve percentage calculation for very large files.
211 ======================================================================
213 Major changes between "less" versions 429 and 436
215 * Don't pass "-" to non-pipe LESSOPEN unless it starts with "-".
217 * Allow a fraction as the argument to the -# (--shift) option.
219 * Fix highlight bug when underlined/overstruck text matches at end of line.
221 * Fix non-regex searches with ctrl-R.
223 ======================================================================
225 Major changes between "less" versions 424 and 429
227 * LESSOPEN pipe will now be used on standard input, if the LESSOPEN
228 environment variable begins with "|-".
230 * The -D option with one number now means use the normal background color.
232 * Don't change permissions on history file if it is not a regular file.
234 * Fix non-ANSI-compliant code that caused problems with some compilers.
236 * Fix binary file detection in UTF-8 mode.
238 * Fix display problems with long lines on "ignaw" terminals.
240 * Fix problem interrupting the line number calculation for initial prompt.
242 * Fix SGR emulation when dealing with multiple attributes (eg. bold+underline).
244 * Fix highlight bug when searching for underlined/overstruck text.
246 ======================================================================
248 Major changes between "less" versions 418 and 424
250 * New "&" command allows filtering of lines based on a pattern.
252 * Status column now displays a search match, even if the matched
253 string is scrolled off screen because -S is in effect.
255 * Improve behavior of -F option.
257 * Allow CSI character (0x9B) to work in UTF-8 mode.
259 * Output carriage return at startup in case terminal doesn't default
262 * Fix bug in '' (quote, quote) command after G command.
264 ======================================================================
266 Major changes between "less" versions 416 and 418
268 * Color escape sequences are now supported in WIN32 build.
270 * Makefile now uses EXEEXT feature of autoconf.
272 * Fix search bug when using -R and text contains ANSI color escape sequences.
274 * Fix crash when using -r with UTF-8 text containing 0x9B bytes.
276 * Fix display bug when using ' command to move less than one page forward.
278 * Update GPL to version 3.
280 ======================================================================
282 Major changes between "less" versions 409 and 416
284 * New --follow-name option makes F command follow the name of a file
285 rather than the file descriptor if an open file is renamed.
287 * Make searching with -i/-I work correctly with non-ASCII text.
291 ======================================================================
293 Major changes between "less" versions 406 and 409
295 * Support CSI escape sequences, like SGR escape sequences.
297 * Fix bug which caused screen to fail to repaint when window is resized.
299 * Fix bug in using -i and -I flags with non-ASCII text.
301 * Fix configure bug on systems which don't support langinfo.h.
303 * Fix crash when searching text containing certain invalid UTF-8 sequences.
305 ======================================================================
307 Major changes between "less" versions 394 and 406
309 * Allow decimal point in number for % (percent) command.
311 * Allow decimal point in number for -j option (fraction of screen height).
313 * Make n command fetch previous pattern from history file on first search.
315 * Don't rewrite history file if it has not changed.
317 * Don't move to bottom of screen on first page.
319 * Don't output extraneous newlines, so copy & pasting lines from the
322 * The -c option has been made identical with the -C option.
324 * Allow "/dev/null" as synomym for "-" in LESSHISTFILE to indicate
325 that no history file should be used.
327 * Search can now find text which follows a null byte, if the PCRE
328 library is used, or if no-regex searching (ctrl-R) is used.
330 * Better compatibility with POSIX more specification.
332 * Make -f work for directories.
334 * Make "t" cmd traverse tags in the correct order.
336 * Allow a few binary characters in the input file before warning
337 that the file is binary.
339 * Don't warn that file is binary if it merely contains ANSI color sequences
342 * Update Unicode character tables.
344 * Support DESTDIR in Makefile.
346 * Fix bug when filename contains certain shell metacharacters such as "$".
348 * Fix bug when resizing the window while waiting for input from a pipe.
350 * Fix configure bugs.
352 ======================================================================
354 Major changes between "less" versions 382 and 394
356 * Add history file to save search and shell command history between
359 * Improve behavior of history list for search and shell commands.
361 * Add -K (or --quit-on-intr) option to make less exit immediately on ctrl-C.
363 * Improve handling of UTF-8 files and commands, including better
364 line wrapping and handling double-width chars.
366 * Added LESSUTFBINFMT environment variable to control display of
367 non-printable characters in a UTF-8 file.
369 * Add --with-secure option to configure, to make it easier to
370 build a secure version of less.
372 * Show search matches in the status column even if search highlights
373 are disabled via the -G option or the ESC-u command.
375 * Improve performance when the file contains very long lines.
377 * Add "windows" charset.
379 * Add man page for lessecho.
381 * Add support for erase2 character, treated same as erase.
383 * Use ASCII lowercase/uppercase logic when operating on the command line.
385 * Update makefile for Borland C++ 5.5.1.
387 * Fix bug in calculating number of pages for %D prompt.
389 * Fix bug in handling tag file error.
391 * Fix obscure bug if input file is deleted while viewing help.
393 * Fix bug handling filenames which include square brackets.
395 * Fix possible buffer overflow in "global" tag search.
397 * Fix possible buffer overflow in usage of LESSOPEN and LESSCLOSE.
399 * Fix buffer overflow in reverse search.
401 ======================================================================
403 Major changes between "less" versions 381 and 382
405 * Removed some old copyrighted code.
406 This probably breaks OS/9 support.
408 ======================================================================
410 Major changes between "less" versions 378 and 381
412 * New -L option to disable LESSOPEN processing.
414 * Further support for large (64 bit) file addressing.
415 Large file support is now set up by the configure script.
418 Replace configure.in, acconfig.h, defines.h.top with configure.ac.
420 * Overstriking underscore with underscore is now bold or underlined
421 depending on context.
423 * Use only 7 spaces for line numbers in -N mode, if possible.
425 * Fix some bugs in handling overstriking in UTF-8 files.
427 * Fix some nroff issues in the man page.
429 ======================================================================
431 Major changes between "less" versions 376 and 378
434 Default buffer space is now 64K as documented.
435 Search highlighting works properly when used with -R.
436 Windows version works properly when input file contains carriage returns.
437 Clean up some compiler warnings.
439 ======================================================================
441 Major changes between "less" versions 358 and 376
443 * -x option can now specify multiple variable-width tab stops.
445 * -X option no longer disables keypad initialization.
446 New option --no-keypad disables keypad initialization.
448 * New commands t and T step through multiple tag matches.
449 Added support for "global(1)" tags
450 (see http://www.gnu.org/software/global/global.html).
452 * New prompt style set by option -Pw defines the message printed
453 while waiting for data in the F command.
455 * System-wide lesskey file now defaults to sysless in etc directory
456 instead of .sysless in bin directory.
457 Use "configure --sysconfdir=..." to change it.
458 (For backwards compatibility, .sysless in bin is still recognized.)
460 * Pressing RightArrow or LeftArrow while entering a number now shifts
461 the display N columns rather than editing the number itself.
463 * Status column (enabled with -J) now shows search results.
465 * Windows version sets window title.
467 * Default LESSCHARSET for MS-DOS versions is now "dos".
469 * Searching works better with ANSI (SGR) escape sequences.
470 ANSI color escape sequences are now supported in the MS-DOS (DJGPP) version.
472 * Improved performance in reading very large pipes.
474 * Eliminated some dependencies on file offets being 32 bits.
476 * Fixed problems when viewing files with very long lines.
478 * Fixed overstriking in UTF-8 mode, and overstriking tabs.
480 * Improved horizontal shifting of text using -R option with ANSI color.
482 * Improved handling of filenames containing shell metacharacters.
484 * Some fixes for EBCDIC systems.
486 * Some fixes for OS/2 systems.
488 ======================================================================
490 Major changes between "less" versions 354 and 358
492 * Add -J (--status-column) option to display a status column.
494 * Add -# (--shift) option to set default horizontal shift distance.
495 Default horizontal shift distance is now one-half screen width.
497 * Horizontal shifting does not shift line numbers if -N is in effect.
499 * Horizontal shifting acts as though -S were set, to avoid confusion.
501 ======================================================================
504 Major changes between "less" versions 352 and 354
506 * Allow space after numeric-valued command line options.
508 * Fix problem with configuring terminal libraries on some systems.
510 * Add support for PCRE regular expression library.
512 * Add --with-regex option to configure to allow manually selecting
513 a regular expression library.
515 * Fix bug compiling with SECURE = 1.
517 ======================================================================
520 Major changes between "less" versions 346 and 352
522 * Enable UTF-8 if "UTF-8" appears in locale-related environment variables.
524 * Add --with-editor option to configure script.
526 * The -M prompt and = message now show the top and bottom line number.
528 * Fix bug in running the editor on a file whose name contains quotes, etc.
530 * Fix bug in horizontal scrolling of long lines.
532 * Fix bug in doing :d on a file which contains marks.
534 * Fix bug causing cleared lines to sometimes be filled with standout,
535 bold, underline, etc. on certain terminals.
537 * Fixes for MS-DOS (DJGPP) version.
539 ======================================================================
542 Major changes between "less" versions 340 and 346
544 * The UTF-8 character set is now supported.
546 * The default character set is now latin1 rather than ascii.
548 * New option -R (--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS) is like -r but handles
549 long (wrapped) lines correctly, as long as the input contains only
550 normal text and ANSI color escape sequences.
552 * New option -F (--quit-if-one-screen) quits if the text fits on
555 * The -w option now highlights the target line of a g or p command.
557 * A system-wide lesskey file is supported (LESSKEY_SYSTEM).
559 * New escape for prompt strings: %c is replaced by column number.
561 * New escape for prompt strings: %P is replaced by percentage into
562 file, based on line number rather than byte offset.
564 * HOME and END keys now jump to beginning of file or end of file.
566 ======================================================================
569 Major changes between "less" versions 337 and 340
571 * Command line options for less may now be given in either the old
572 single-letter form, or a new long name form (--option-name).
573 See the less man page or "less --help" for the list of long option names.
575 * Command line options for lesskey may now be given in a new long name
576 form. See the lesskey man page for the list of long option names.
578 * New command -- toggles an option using the long option name.
580 * New command __ queries an option using the long option name.
582 * The old -- command is renamed as -!.
584 * If a ^P is entered between the dash and the option letter of the -
585 command, the message describing the new setting is suppressed.
587 * Lesskey files may now contain \k escape sequences to represent the
588 "special" keys (arrows, PAGE-UP/PAGE-DOWN, HOME, END, INSERT, DELETE).
590 * New command :d removes the current file from the list of files.
592 * New option -~ (like -w before version 335)
593 suppresses tildes after end-of-file.
595 * Less is now released under the GNU General Public License.
597 ======================================================================
600 Major changes between "less" versions 335 and 337
602 * Fixed bugs in "make install".
604 ======================================================================
607 Major changes between "less" versions 332 and 335
609 * The old -w flag (suppress tildes after end-of-file) has been removed.
611 * New -w flag highlights the first new line after a forward-screen.
613 * New -W flag highlights the first new line after any forward movement.
615 * Window resize works even if LINES and/or COLUMNS environment
616 variables are incorrect.
618 * New percent escapes for prompt strings:
619 %d is replaced by the page number, and
620 %D is replaced by the number of pages in the file.
622 * Added charsets "iso8859" and "ebcdic".
624 * In Windows version, uses HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH if HOME is not defined.
626 * Fixed some bugs causing incorrect display on DOS/Windows.
628 ======================================================================
631 Major changes between "less" versions 330 and 332
633 * Filenames from the command line are entered into the command history,
634 so UPARROW/DOWNARROW can be used to retrieve them from the :e command.
636 * Now works correctly on Windows when using a scrolling terminal
637 window (buffer larger than display window).
639 * On Windows, now restores the console screen on exit.
640 Use -X to get the old behavior.
642 * Fixed bug on Windows when CAPS-LOCK or NUM-LOCK is pressed.
644 * Fixed bug on Windows when piping output of an interactive program.
646 * Fixed bug in tags file processing when tags file has DOS-style
647 line terminators (CR/LF).
649 * Fixed compilation problem on OS/2.
651 ======================================================================
654 Major changes between "less" versions 321 and 330
656 * Now supports filenames containing spaces (in double quotes).
657 New option -" can be used to change the quoting characters.
659 * In filename completion, a slash is appended to a directory name.
660 If the environment variable LESSSEPARATOR is set, the value of
661 that variable, rather than a slash, is appended.
663 * LeftArrow and RightArrow are same as ESC-[ and ESC-].
665 * Added commands ESC-( and ESC-), same as ESC-[ and ESC-].
667 * A "quit" command defined in a lesskey file may now have an "extra"
668 string, which is used to return an exit code from less when it quits.
670 * New environment variables LESSMETACHARS and LESSMETAESCAPE provide
671 more control over how less interfaces to the shell.
673 * Ported to Microsoft Visual C compiler for Windows.
675 * Ported to DJGPP compiler for MS-DOS.
679 ======================================================================
682 Major changes between "less" versions 291 and 321
684 * Command line at bottom of screen now scrolls, so it can be longer
685 than the screen width.
687 * New commands ESC-] and ESC-[ scroll the display horizontally.
689 * New command ESC-SPACE scrolls forward a full screen, even if it
692 * Alternate modifiers for search commands: ^N is same as !,
693 ^F is same as @, and ^E is same as *.
695 * New modifier for search commands: ^K means highlight the matches
696 currently on-screen, but don't move to the first match.
698 * New modifier for search commands: ^R means don't use regular
699 expressions in the search.
701 * Environment variable LESSKEY gives name of default lesskey file.
703 * Environment variable LESSSECURE will force less to run in
706 * Command line argument "--" signals that the rest of the arguments
707 are files (not option flags).
709 * Help file (less.hlp) is no longer installed. Help text is now
710 embedded in the less executable itself.
712 * Added -Ph to change the prompt for the help text.
713 Added -Ps to change the default short prompt (same as plain -P).
715 * Ported to the Borland C compiler for MS-DOS.
717 * Ported to Windows 95 & Windows NT.
721 * Ported to GNU Hurd.
723 ======================================================================
726 Major changes between "less" versions 290 and 291
728 * Less environment variables can be specified in lesskey files.
730 * Fixed MS-DOS build.
732 ======================================================================
735 Major changes between "less" versions 278 and 290
737 * Accepts GNU-style options "--help" and "--version".
739 * OS/2 version looks for less.ini in $HOME before $INIT and $PATH.
743 ======================================================================
746 Major changes between "less" versions 252 and 278
748 * A LESSOPEN preprocessor may now pipe the converted file data to less,
749 rather than writing it to a temporary file.
751 * Search pattern highlighting has been fixed. It now highlights
752 reliably, even if a string is split across two screen lines,
755 * The -F flag (which suppress search highlighting) has been changed
756 to -G. A new flag, -g, changes search highlighting to highlight
757 only the string found by the last search command, instead of all
758 strings which match the last search command.
760 * New flag -I acts like -i, but ignores case even if the search
761 pattern contains uppercase letters.
763 * Less now checks for the environment variable VISUAL before EDITOR.
767 ======================================================================
770 Major changes between "less" versions 237 and 252
772 * Changes in line-editing keys:
773 The literal key is now ^V or ^A rather than \ (backslash).
774 Filename completion commands (TAB and ^L) are disabled
775 when typing a search pattern.
777 * Line-editing command keys can be redefined using lesskey.
779 * Lesskey with no input file defaults to $HOME/.lesskey
780 rather than standard input.
782 * New option -V displays version number of less.
784 * New option -V displays version number of lesskey.
786 * Help file less.hlp is now installed by default in /usr/local/share
787 rather than /usr/local/lib.
790 ======================================================================
793 Major changes between "less" versions 170 and 237
795 * By popular demand, text which matches the current search pattern
796 is highlighted. New -F flag disables this feature.
798 * Henry Spencer's regexp.c is now included, for systems which do not
799 have a regular expression library.
800 regexp.c is Copyright (c) 1986 by University of Toronto.
802 * New line-editing keys, including command history (arrow keys) and
803 filename completion (TAB).
805 * Input preprocessor allows modification of input files (e.g. uncompress)
806 via LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE environment variables.
808 * New -X flag disables sending termcap "ti" and "te" (initialize and
809 deinitialize) strings to the terminal.
811 * Changing -i from within less now correctly affects a subsequent
814 * Searching for underlined or overstruck text now works when the -u
815 flag is in effect, rather than the -i flag.
817 * Use setlocale (LANG and LC_CTYPE environment variables) to determine
818 the character set if LESSCHARSET/LESSCHARDEF are not set.
820 * The default format for displaying binary characters is now standout
821 (reverse video) rather than blinking. This can still be changed by
822 setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable.
824 * Use autoconf installation technology.
828 ********************************
829 Things that may surprise you
830 ********************************
832 * When you enter text at the bottom of the screen (search string,
833 filename, etc.), some keys act different than previously.
834 Specifically, \ (backslash), ESC, TAB, BACKTAB, and control-L
835 now have line editing functions.
837 * Some previous unofficial versions of less were able to display
838 compressed files. The new LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE feature now provides
839 this functionality in a different way.
841 * Some previous unofficial versions of less provided a -Z flag to
842 set the number of lines of text to retain between full screen scrolls.
843 The -z-n flag (that is, -z with a negative number) provides this
847 ======================================================================
850 Major changes between "less" versions 123 and 170
852 * New option -j allows target lines to be positioned anywhere on screen.
854 * New option -S truncates displayed line at the screen width,
855 rather than wrapping onto the next line.
857 * New option -y limits amount of forward scroll.
859 * New option -T specifies a "tags" file.
861 * Non-printable, non-control characters are displayed in octal.
862 Such characters, as well as control characters, are displayed
865 * New command -+ sets an option to its default.
866 * New command -- sets an option to the opposite of its default.
868 * Lesskey file may have a string appended to a key's action,
869 which acts as though typed in after the command.
871 * New commands ESC-^F and ESC-^B match arbitrary types of brackets.
873 * New command F monitors a growing file (like "tail -f").
875 * New command | pipes a section of the input file into a shell command.
877 * New command :x directly jumps to a file in the command line list.
879 * Search commands have been enhanced and reorganized:
880 n Repeat search, same direction.
881 N Repeat search, opposite direction.
882 ESC-/ Search forward thru file boundaries
883 ESC-? Search backward thru file boundaries
884 ESC-n Repeat search thru file boundaries, same direction.
885 ESC-N Repeat search thru file boundaries, opposite direction.
886 Special character * causes search to search thru file boundaries.
887 Special character @ causes search to begin at start/end of file list.
889 * Examining a new file adds it to the command line list.
890 A list of files, or an expression which matches more than one file,
891 may be examined; all of them are added to the command line list.
893 * Environment variables LESSCHARSET and LESSCHARDEF can define
894 a non-ASCII character set.
896 * Partial support for MSDOS, including options -R for repainting screen
897 on quit, -v/-V to select video mode, and -W to change window size.
900 ======================================================================
903 Major changes between "less" versions 97 and 123
905 * New option (-N) causes line numbers to be displayed in the
906 text of the file (like vi "set nu").
908 * New option (-?) prints help message immediately.
910 * New option (-r) displays "raw" control characters, without
911 mapping them to ^X notation.
913 * New option (-f) forces less to open non-regular files
916 * New option (-k) can be used to specify lesskey files by name.
918 * New option (-y) can be used to set a forward scroll limit
919 (like -h sets a backward scroll limit).
921 * File marks (set by the m command) are now preserved when a new
922 file is edited. The ' command can thus be used to switch files.
924 * New command ESC-/ searches all files (on the command line)
927 * New command ESC-n repeats previous search, spanning files.
929 * The N command has been changed to repeat the previous search
930 in the reverse direction. The old N command is still available
933 * New command ESC-N repeats previous search in the reverse
934 direction and spanning files.
936 * 8 bit characters are now supported. A new option (-g) can be
937 used to strip off the eighth bit (the previous behavior).
939 * Options which take a following string (like -t) may now
940 optionally have a space between the option letter and the string.
942 * Six new commands { } ( ) [ and ] can be used to match
943 brackets of specific types, similar to vi % command.
945 * New commands z and w move forward/backward one window and
946 simultaneously set the window size.
948 * Prompt string expansion now has %L for line number of the last
949 line in the file, and %E for the name of the editor.
950 Also, % escapes which refer to a line (b=bottom, t=top, etc.)
951 can use j for the jump target line.
953 * New environment variable LESSEDIT can be used to tailor the
954 command string passed to the editor by the v command.
956 * Examining a file which was previously examined will return
957 to the same position in the file.
959 * A "%" is expanded to the current filename and a "#" to the
960 previous filename, in both shell commands and the E command.
961 (Previously % worked only in shell commands and # worked
962 only in the E command.)
964 * New command ":ta" is equivalent to "-t".
966 * New command "s" is equivalent to "-l".
968 * The - command may be followed by "+X" to revert to the default
969 for option X, or "-X" to get the opposite of the default.
971 * Lesskey files may now include characters after the action as
972 extra input to be parsed after the action; for example:
973 "toggle-option X" to toggle a specific option X.