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 551 and 563
16 * Update Unicode tables.
18 * Treat Hangul Jamo medial vowels and final consonants as zero width.
20 * Display error message immediately when -o is toggled and
23 * Fix regression: make screen repaint when "squished" and
24 a no-movement command is given.
26 * Fix erroneous EOF calculation when F command is interrupted.
28 * Make WIN32C version include this fix from 551:
29 Don't count lines in initial screen if using -X with -F.
31 * Fix display bug in WIN32C version.
33 * Fix memory corruption when built with libtermcap.
37 ======================================================================
39 Major changes between "less" versions 530 and 551
43 * Add --wheel-lines option.
45 * Add --no-histdups option.
47 * Add --save-marks option.
49 * Support PCRE2 regular expression library.
51 * Redraw screen on SIGWINCH even if screen size doesn't change.
53 * Shell-escape filenames in history so they can be used again.
55 * Ring bell if user enters invalid long option name.
57 * Use PCRE_UTF8 flag for pcre regular expressions when in UTF-8 mode.
59 * Windows: use wide-char string to set console title.
61 * Don't count lines in initial screen if using -X with -F.
63 * Support mingw build system.
65 * Fix bug in v command on empty file.
67 * Fix bug in v command when filename contains shell metacharacters.
69 ======================================================================
71 Major changes between "less" versions 487 and 530
73 * Don't output terminal init sequence if using -F and file fits on one screen.
75 * When using -S, mark truncated lines with a special character.
76 The character can be changed or disabled via the new --rscroll option.
78 * New command M marks the last line displayed on the screen.
80 * New command ESC-m removes a line mark.
82 * Status column (enabled via -J) now shows mark letters.
84 * Status column shows search matches even if highlighting is disabled via -G.
86 * A second ESC-u command will clear search match markers in the status column.
88 * Do same ANSI escape code filtering for tag matching that we do for
89 searching, to help when viewing syntax-highlighted code.
91 * Catch SIGTERM and clean up before exiting.
93 * Fix bug initializing default charset on Windows.
95 * Handle keypad ENTER key correctly if it sends something other than newline.
97 * Fix buffering bug when using stdin with a LESSOPEN pipe.
99 * On Windows, allow 'u' in -D option to enable underlining.
101 * On Windows, use underline in sgr mode.
103 * On Windows, convert UTF-8 to multibyte if console is not UTF-8.
105 * Update Unicode tables to 2017-03-08.
107 * Pass-thru Unicode formating chars (Cf type) instead of treating them
108 as binary chars. But treat them as binary if -U is set.
110 * Fix erroneous binary file warning when UTF-8 file contains ANSI SGR sequences.
112 * Fix bugs when using LESSOPEN and switching between stdin and other files.
114 * Fix some bugs handling filenames containing shell metacharacters.
116 * Fix some memory leaks.
118 * Allow some debugging environment variables to be set in lesskey file.
121 . Use ANSI prototypes in funcs.h declarations.
122 . Fix some const mismatches.
123 . Remove archaic "register" in variable declarations.
125 ======================================================================
127 Major changes between "less" versions 481 and 487
129 * New commands ESC-{ and ESC-} to shift to start/end of displayed lines.
131 * Make search highlights work correctly when changing caselessness with -i.
133 * New option -Da in Windows version to enable SGR mode.
135 * Fix "nothing to search" error when top or bottom line on screen is empty.
137 * Fix bug when terminal has no "cm" termcap entry.
139 * Fix incorrect display when entering double-width chars in search string.
141 * Fix bug in Unicode handling that missed some double width characters.
143 * Update Unicode database to 9.0.0.
145 ======================================================================
147 Major changes between "less" versions 458 and 481
149 * Don't overwrite history file; just append to it.
151 * New command ESC-G goes to end of currently buffered data in a pipe.
153 * Disable history feature when compiled with LESSHISTFILE set to "-".
155 * In more-compatible mode, make the -p option apply to every file opened,
156 not just the first one.
158 * In more-compatible mode, change the -e option to work like -E, not -EF.
160 * Treat multiple CRs before LF are like one CR (all the CRs are hidden).
162 * Allow "extra" string in lesskey file to append to a multi-char command
163 (like a search pattern), without executing the command.
165 * Ignore -u/-U setting while viewing help file, so that
166 underline and bold chars are displayed correctly.
168 * Improve detection of "binary" files in UTF-8 mode.
170 * Fix bug with ++ commands.
172 * Fix bug where prompt was sometimes not displayed with +G.
174 * Fix possible memory corruption
176 * Fix bugs and improve performance in ampersand filtering.
178 * Automate construction of Unicode tables from Unicode database.
180 * Allow %% escape sequence in LESSOPEN variable.
182 ======================================================================
184 Major changes between "less" versions 451 and 458
186 * Allow backslash escaping of metacharacters in LESS environment variable
187 after the --use-backslash option.
189 * Don't quit if syntax errors are found in command line options.
191 * Increase sizes of some internal buffers.
193 * Fix configure bug with --with-regex=none.
195 * Fix crash with "stty rows 0".
197 * Fix Win32 attribute display bug.
199 * Fix display bug when using up/down arrow on the command line.
201 ======================================================================
203 Major changes between "less" versions 444 and 451
205 * Add ESC-F command to keep reading data until a pattern is found.
207 * Use exit code of LESSOPEN script if LESSOPEN starts with "||".
209 * When up/down arrow is used on the command line immediately after
210 typing text, the next command starting with that text is found.
212 * Add support for GNU regex.
214 * Add configure option --with-regex=none and fix compile errors
215 when compiling with no regex library.
217 * Fix bugs handling SGR sequences in Win32.
219 * Fix possible crashes caused by malformed LESSOPEN or
222 * Fix bug highlighting text which is discontiguous in the file
223 due to backspace processing.
225 * Fix bug in displaying status column when scrolling backwards
226 with -J and -S in effect.
228 ======================================================================
230 Major changes between "less" versions 443 and 444
232 * Fix bug in unget handling that can cause strange effects on the
235 * Remove vestiges of obsolete -l option that can cause a crash.
237 ======================================================================
239 Major changes between "less" versions 436 and 443
241 * Change search behavior such that when a search is given an explicit
242 pattern, the entire displayed screen is included in the search and
243 not just the portion after the target line.
245 * Add -A option to change search behavior to the old way: only
246 the portion of the screen after the target line is searched.
248 * Add %F formatting to prompt strings, replaced by the last component
251 * Control-G while editing a command exits the command.
253 * Less now exits with status 2 if control-C is pressed and -K is in effect.
255 * Fix "ungetc overflow" when passing long commands via the -p option.
257 * Fix bug in using line filtering via the & command
258 in combination with -i and -I.
260 * Fix bug in handling negative arguments to the -j option.
262 * Fix bug in handling %t in prompt strings.
264 * Improve handling of long option names.
266 * Improve percentage calculation for very large files.
268 ======================================================================
270 Major changes between "less" versions 429 and 436
272 * Don't pass "-" to non-pipe LESSOPEN unless it starts with "-".
274 * Allow a fraction as the argument to the -# (--shift) option.
276 * Fix highlight bug when underlined/overstruck text matches at end of line.
278 * Fix non-regex searches with ctrl-R.
280 ======================================================================
282 Major changes between "less" versions 424 and 429
284 * LESSOPEN pipe will now be used on standard input, if the LESSOPEN
285 environment variable begins with "|-".
287 * The -D option with one number now means use the normal background color.
289 * Don't change permissions on history file if it is not a regular file.
291 * Fix non-ANSI-compliant code that caused problems with some compilers.
293 * Fix binary file detection in UTF-8 mode.
295 * Fix display problems with long lines on "ignaw" terminals.
297 * Fix problem interrupting the line number calculation for initial prompt.
299 * Fix SGR emulation when dealing with multiple attributes (eg. bold+underline).
301 * Fix highlight bug when searching for underlined/overstruck text.
303 ======================================================================
305 Major changes between "less" versions 418 and 424
307 * New "&" command allows filtering of lines based on a pattern.
309 * Status column now displays a search match, even if the matched
310 string is scrolled off screen because -S is in effect.
312 * Improve behavior of -F option.
314 * Allow CSI character (0x9B) to work in UTF-8 mode.
316 * Output carriage return at startup in case terminal doesn't default
319 * Fix bug in '' (quote, quote) command after G command.
321 ======================================================================
323 Major changes between "less" versions 416 and 418
325 * Color escape sequences are now supported in WIN32 build.
327 * Makefile now uses EXEEXT feature of autoconf.
329 * Fix search bug when using -R and text contains ANSI color escape sequences.
331 * Fix crash when using -r with UTF-8 text containing 0x9B bytes.
333 * Fix display bug when using ' command to move less than one page forward.
335 * Update GPL to version 3.
337 ======================================================================
339 Major changes between "less" versions 409 and 416
341 * New --follow-name option makes F command follow the name of a file
342 rather than the file descriptor if an open file is renamed.
344 * Make searching with -i/-I work correctly with non-ASCII text.
348 ======================================================================
350 Major changes between "less" versions 406 and 409
352 * Support CSI escape sequences, like SGR escape sequences.
354 * Fix bug which caused screen to fail to repaint when window is resized.
356 * Fix bug in using -i and -I flags with non-ASCII text.
358 * Fix configure bug on systems which don't support langinfo.h.
360 * Fix crash when searching text containing certain invalid UTF-8 sequences.
362 ======================================================================
364 Major changes between "less" versions 394 and 406
366 * Allow decimal point in number for % (percent) command.
368 * Allow decimal point in number for -j option (fraction of screen height).
370 * Make n command fetch previous pattern from history file on first search.
372 * Don't rewrite history file if it has not changed.
374 * Don't move to bottom of screen on first page.
376 * Don't output extraneous newlines, so copy & pasting lines from the
379 * The -c option has been made identical with the -C option.
381 * Allow "/dev/null" as synomym for "-" in LESSHISTFILE to indicate
382 that no history file should be used.
384 * Search can now find text which follows a null byte, if the PCRE
385 library is used, or if no-regex searching (ctrl-R) is used.
387 * Better compatibility with POSIX more specification.
389 * Make -f work for directories.
391 * Make "t" cmd traverse tags in the correct order.
393 * Allow a few binary characters in the input file before warning
394 that the file is binary.
396 * Don't warn that file is binary if it merely contains ANSI color sequences
399 * Update Unicode character tables.
401 * Support DESTDIR in Makefile.
403 * Fix bug when filename contains certain shell metacharacters such as "$".
405 * Fix bug when resizing the window while waiting for input from a pipe.
407 * Fix configure bugs.
409 ======================================================================
411 Major changes between "less" versions 382 and 394
413 * Add history file to save search and shell command history between
416 * Improve behavior of history list for search and shell commands.
418 * Add -K (or --quit-on-intr) option to make less exit immediately on ctrl-C.
420 * Improve handling of UTF-8 files and commands, including better
421 line wrapping and handling double-width chars.
423 * Added LESSUTFBINFMT environment variable to control display of
424 non-printable characters in a UTF-8 file.
426 * Add --with-secure option to configure, to make it easier to
427 build a secure version of less.
429 * Show search matches in the status column even if search highlights
430 are disabled via the -G option or the ESC-u command.
432 * Improve performance when the file contains very long lines.
434 * Add "windows" charset.
436 * Add man page for lessecho.
438 * Add support for erase2 character, treated same as erase.
440 * Use ASCII lowercase/uppercase logic when operating on the command line.
442 * Update makefile for Borland C++ 5.5.1.
444 * Fix bug in calculating number of pages for %D prompt.
446 * Fix bug in handling tag file error.
448 * Fix obscure bug if input file is deleted while viewing help.
450 * Fix bug handling filenames which include square brackets.
452 * Fix possible buffer overflow in "global" tag search.
454 * Fix possible buffer overflow in usage of LESSOPEN and LESSCLOSE.
456 * Fix buffer overflow in reverse search.
458 ======================================================================
460 Major changes between "less" versions 381 and 382
462 * Removed some old copyrighted code.
463 This probably breaks OS/9 support.
465 ======================================================================
467 Major changes between "less" versions 378 and 381
469 * New -L option to disable LESSOPEN processing.
471 * Further support for large (64 bit) file addressing.
472 Large file support is now set up by the configure script.
475 Replace configure.in, acconfig.h, defines.h.top with configure.ac.
477 * Overstriking underscore with underscore is now bold or underlined
478 depending on context.
480 * Use only 7 spaces for line numbers in -N mode, if possible.
482 * Fix some bugs in handling overstriking in UTF-8 files.
484 * Fix some nroff issues in the man page.
486 ======================================================================
488 Major changes between "less" versions 376 and 378
491 Default buffer space is now 64K as documented.
492 Search highlighting works properly when used with -R.
493 Windows version works properly when input file contains carriage returns.
494 Clean up some compiler warnings.
496 ======================================================================
498 Major changes between "less" versions 358 and 376
500 * -x option can now specify multiple variable-width tab stops.
502 * -X option no longer disables keypad initialization.
503 New option --no-keypad disables keypad initialization.
505 * New commands t and T step through multiple tag matches.
506 Added support for "global(1)" tags
507 (see http://www.gnu.org/software/global/global.html).
509 * New prompt style set by option -Pw defines the message printed
510 while waiting for data in the F command.
512 * System-wide lesskey file now defaults to sysless in etc directory
513 instead of .sysless in bin directory.
514 Use "configure --sysconfdir=..." to change it.
515 (For backwards compatibility, .sysless in bin is still recognized.)
517 * Pressing RightArrow or LeftArrow while entering a number now shifts
518 the display N columns rather than editing the number itself.
520 * Status column (enabled with -J) now shows search results.
522 * Windows version sets window title.
524 * Default LESSCHARSET for MS-DOS versions is now "dos".
526 * Searching works better with ANSI (SGR) escape sequences.
527 ANSI color escape sequences are now supported in the MS-DOS (DJGPP) version.
529 * Improved performance in reading very large pipes.
531 * Eliminated some dependencies on file offets being 32 bits.
533 * Fixed problems when viewing files with very long lines.
535 * Fixed overstriking in UTF-8 mode, and overstriking tabs.
537 * Improved horizontal shifting of text using -R option with ANSI color.
539 * Improved handling of filenames containing shell metacharacters.
541 * Some fixes for EBCDIC systems.
543 * Some fixes for OS/2 systems.
545 ======================================================================
547 Major changes between "less" versions 354 and 358
549 * Add -J (--status-column) option to display a status column.
551 * Add -# (--shift) option to set default horizontal shift distance.
552 Default horizontal shift distance is now one-half screen width.
554 * Horizontal shifting does not shift line numbers if -N is in effect.
556 * Horizontal shifting acts as though -S were set, to avoid confusion.
558 ======================================================================
561 Major changes between "less" versions 352 and 354
563 * Allow space after numeric-valued command line options.
565 * Fix problem with configuring terminal libraries on some systems.
567 * Add support for PCRE regular expression library.
569 * Add --with-regex option to configure to allow manually selecting
570 a regular expression library.
572 * Fix bug compiling with SECURE = 1.
574 ======================================================================
577 Major changes between "less" versions 346 and 352
579 * Enable UTF-8 if "UTF-8" appears in locale-related environment variables.
581 * Add --with-editor option to configure script.
583 * The -M prompt and = message now show the top and bottom line number.
585 * Fix bug in running the editor on a file whose name contains quotes, etc.
587 * Fix bug in horizontal scrolling of long lines.
589 * Fix bug in doing :d on a file which contains marks.
591 * Fix bug causing cleared lines to sometimes be filled with standout,
592 bold, underline, etc. on certain terminals.
594 * Fixes for MS-DOS (DJGPP) version.
596 ======================================================================
599 Major changes between "less" versions 340 and 346
601 * The UTF-8 character set is now supported.
603 * The default character set is now latin1 rather than ascii.
605 * New option -R (--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS) is like -r but handles
606 long (wrapped) lines correctly, as long as the input contains only
607 normal text and ANSI color escape sequences.
609 * New option -F (--quit-if-one-screen) quits if the text fits on
612 * The -w option now highlights the target line of a g or p command.
614 * A system-wide lesskey file is supported (LESSKEY_SYSTEM).
616 * New escape for prompt strings: %c is replaced by column number.
618 * New escape for prompt strings: %P is replaced by percentage into
619 file, based on line number rather than byte offset.
621 * HOME and END keys now jump to beginning of file or end of file.
623 ======================================================================
626 Major changes between "less" versions 337 and 340
628 * Command line options for less may now be given in either the old
629 single-letter form, or a new long name form (--option-name).
630 See the less man page or "less --help" for the list of long option names.
632 * Command line options for lesskey may now be given in a new long name
633 form. See the lesskey man page for the list of long option names.
635 * New command -- toggles an option using the long option name.
637 * New command __ queries an option using the long option name.
639 * The old -- command is renamed as -!.
641 * If a ^P is entered between the dash and the option letter of the -
642 command, the message describing the new setting is suppressed.
644 * Lesskey files may now contain \k escape sequences to represent the
645 "special" keys (arrows, PAGE-UP/PAGE-DOWN, HOME, END, INSERT, DELETE).
647 * New command :d removes the current file from the list of files.
649 * New option -~ (like -w before version 335)
650 suppresses tildes after end-of-file.
652 * Less is now released under the GNU General Public License.
654 ======================================================================
657 Major changes between "less" versions 335 and 337
659 * Fixed bugs in "make install".
661 ======================================================================
664 Major changes between "less" versions 332 and 335
666 * The old -w flag (suppress tildes after end-of-file) has been removed.
668 * New -w flag highlights the first new line after a forward-screen.
670 * New -W flag highlights the first new line after any forward movement.
672 * Window resize works even if LINES and/or COLUMNS environment
673 variables are incorrect.
675 * New percent escapes for prompt strings:
676 %d is replaced by the page number, and
677 %D is replaced by the number of pages in the file.
679 * Added charsets "iso8859" and "ebcdic".
681 * In Windows version, uses HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH if HOME is not defined.
683 * Fixed some bugs causing incorrect display on DOS/Windows.
685 ======================================================================
688 Major changes between "less" versions 330 and 332
690 * Filenames from the command line are entered into the command history,
691 so UPARROW/DOWNARROW can be used to retrieve them from the :e command.
693 * Now works correctly on Windows when using a scrolling terminal
694 window (buffer larger than display window).
696 * On Windows, now restores the console screen on exit.
697 Use -X to get the old behavior.
699 * Fixed bug on Windows when CAPS-LOCK or NUM-LOCK is pressed.
701 * Fixed bug on Windows when piping output of an interactive program.
703 * Fixed bug in tags file processing when tags file has DOS-style
704 line terminators (CR/LF).
706 * Fixed compilation problem on OS/2.
708 ======================================================================
711 Major changes between "less" versions 321 and 330
713 * Now supports filenames containing spaces (in double quotes).
714 New option -" can be used to change the quoting characters.
716 * In filename completion, a slash is appended to a directory name.
717 If the environment variable LESSSEPARATOR is set, the value of
718 that variable, rather than a slash, is appended.
720 * LeftArrow and RightArrow are same as ESC-[ and ESC-].
722 * Added commands ESC-( and ESC-), same as ESC-[ and ESC-].
724 * A "quit" command defined in a lesskey file may now have an "extra"
725 string, which is used to return an exit code from less when it quits.
727 * New environment variables LESSMETACHARS and LESSMETAESCAPE provide
728 more control over how less interfaces to the shell.
730 * Ported to Microsoft Visual C compiler for Windows.
732 * Ported to DJGPP compiler for MS-DOS.
736 ======================================================================
739 Major changes between "less" versions 291 and 321
741 * Command line at bottom of screen now scrolls, so it can be longer
742 than the screen width.
744 * New commands ESC-] and ESC-[ scroll the display horizontally.
746 * New command ESC-SPACE scrolls forward a full screen, even if it
749 * Alternate modifiers for search commands: ^N is same as !,
750 ^F is same as @, and ^E is same as *.
752 * New modifier for search commands: ^K means highlight the matches
753 currently on-screen, but don't move to the first match.
755 * New modifier for search commands: ^R means don't use regular
756 expressions in the search.
758 * Environment variable LESSKEY gives name of default lesskey file.
760 * Environment variable LESSSECURE will force less to run in
763 * Command line argument "--" signals that the rest of the arguments
764 are files (not option flags).
766 * Help file (less.hlp) is no longer installed. Help text is now
767 embedded in the less executable itself.
769 * Added -Ph to change the prompt for the help text.
770 Added -Ps to change the default short prompt (same as plain -P).
772 * Ported to the Borland C compiler for MS-DOS.
774 * Ported to Windows 95 & Windows NT.
778 * Ported to GNU Hurd.
780 ======================================================================
783 Major changes between "less" versions 290 and 291
785 * Less environment variables can be specified in lesskey files.
787 * Fixed MS-DOS build.
789 ======================================================================
792 Major changes between "less" versions 278 and 290
794 * Accepts GNU-style options "--help" and "--version".
796 * OS/2 version looks for less.ini in $HOME before $INIT and $PATH.
800 ======================================================================
803 Major changes between "less" versions 252 and 278
805 * A LESSOPEN preprocessor may now pipe the converted file data to less,
806 rather than writing it to a temporary file.
808 * Search pattern highlighting has been fixed. It now highlights
809 reliably, even if a string is split across two screen lines,
812 * The -F flag (which suppress search highlighting) has been changed
813 to -G. A new flag, -g, changes search highlighting to highlight
814 only the string found by the last search command, instead of all
815 strings which match the last search command.
817 * New flag -I acts like -i, but ignores case even if the search
818 pattern contains uppercase letters.
820 * Less now checks for the environment variable VISUAL before EDITOR.
824 ======================================================================
827 Major changes between "less" versions 237 and 252
829 * Changes in line-editing keys:
830 The literal key is now ^V or ^A rather than \ (backslash).
831 Filename completion commands (TAB and ^L) are disabled
832 when typing a search pattern.
834 * Line-editing command keys can be redefined using lesskey.
836 * Lesskey with no input file defaults to $HOME/.lesskey
837 rather than standard input.
839 * New option -V displays version number of less.
841 * New option -V displays version number of lesskey.
843 * Help file less.hlp is now installed by default in /usr/local/share
844 rather than /usr/local/lib.
847 ======================================================================
850 Major changes between "less" versions 170 and 237
852 * By popular demand, text which matches the current search pattern
853 is highlighted. New -F flag disables this feature.
855 * Henry Spencer's regexp.c is now included, for systems which do not
856 have a regular expression library.
857 regexp.c is Copyright (c) 1986 by University of Toronto.
859 * New line-editing keys, including command history (arrow keys) and
860 filename completion (TAB).
862 * Input preprocessor allows modification of input files (e.g. uncompress)
863 via LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE environment variables.
865 * New -X flag disables sending termcap "ti" and "te" (initialize and
866 deinitialize) strings to the terminal.
868 * Changing -i from within less now correctly affects a subsequent
871 * Searching for underlined or overstruck text now works when the -u
872 flag is in effect, rather than the -i flag.
874 * Use setlocale (LANG and LC_CTYPE environment variables) to determine
875 the character set if LESSCHARSET/LESSCHARDEF are not set.
877 * The default format for displaying binary characters is now standout
878 (reverse video) rather than blinking. This can still be changed by
879 setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable.
881 * Use autoconf installation technology.
885 ********************************
886 Things that may surprise you
887 ********************************
889 * When you enter text at the bottom of the screen (search string,
890 filename, etc.), some keys act different than previously.
891 Specifically, \ (backslash), ESC, TAB, BACKTAB, and control-L
892 now have line editing functions.
894 * Some previous unofficial versions of less were able to display
895 compressed files. The new LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE feature now provides
896 this functionality in a different way.
898 * Some previous unofficial versions of less provided a -Z flag to
899 set the number of lines of text to retain between full screen scrolls.
900 The -z-n flag (that is, -z with a negative number) provides this
904 ======================================================================
907 Major changes between "less" versions 123 and 170
909 * New option -j allows target lines to be positioned anywhere on screen.
911 * New option -S truncates displayed line at the screen width,
912 rather than wrapping onto the next line.
914 * New option -y limits amount of forward scroll.
916 * New option -T specifies a "tags" file.
918 * Non-printable, non-control characters are displayed in octal.
919 Such characters, as well as control characters, are displayed
922 * New command -+ sets an option to its default.
923 * New command -- sets an option to the opposite of its default.
925 * Lesskey file may have a string appended to a key's action,
926 which acts as though typed in after the command.
928 * New commands ESC-^F and ESC-^B match arbitrary types of brackets.
930 * New command F monitors a growing file (like "tail -f").
932 * New command | pipes a section of the input file into a shell command.
934 * New command :x directly jumps to a file in the command line list.
936 * Search commands have been enhanced and reorganized:
937 n Repeat search, same direction.
938 N Repeat search, opposite direction.
939 ESC-/ Search forward thru file boundaries
940 ESC-? Search backward thru file boundaries
941 ESC-n Repeat search thru file boundaries, same direction.
942 ESC-N Repeat search thru file boundaries, opposite direction.
943 Special character * causes search to search thru file boundaries.
944 Special character @ causes search to begin at start/end of file list.
946 * Examining a new file adds it to the command line list.
947 A list of files, or an expression which matches more than one file,
948 may be examined; all of them are added to the command line list.
950 * Environment variables LESSCHARSET and LESSCHARDEF can define
951 a non-ASCII character set.
953 * Partial support for MSDOS, including options -R for repainting screen
954 on quit, -v/-V to select video mode, and -W to change window size.
957 ======================================================================
960 Major changes between "less" versions 97 and 123
962 * New option (-N) causes line numbers to be displayed in the
963 text of the file (like vi "set nu").
965 * New option (-?) prints help message immediately.
967 * New option (-r) displays "raw" control characters, without
968 mapping them to ^X notation.
970 * New option (-f) forces less to open non-regular files
973 * New option (-k) can be used to specify lesskey files by name.
975 * New option (-y) can be used to set a forward scroll limit
976 (like -h sets a backward scroll limit).
978 * File marks (set by the m command) are now preserved when a new
979 file is edited. The ' command can thus be used to switch files.
981 * New command ESC-/ searches all files (on the command line)
984 * New command ESC-n repeats previous search, spanning files.
986 * The N command has been changed to repeat the previous search
987 in the reverse direction. The old N command is still available
990 * New command ESC-N repeats previous search in the reverse
991 direction and spanning files.
993 * 8 bit characters are now supported. A new option (-g) can be
994 used to strip off the eighth bit (the previous behavior).
996 * Options which take a following string (like -t) may now
997 optionally have a space between the option letter and the string.
999 * Six new commands { } ( ) [ and ] can be used to match
1000 brackets of specific types, similar to vi % command.
1002 * New commands z and w move forward/backward one window and
1003 simultaneously set the window size.
1005 * Prompt string expansion now has %L for line number of the last
1006 line in the file, and %E for the name of the editor.
1007 Also, % escapes which refer to a line (b=bottom, t=top, etc.)
1008 can use j for the jump target line.
1010 * New environment variable LESSEDIT can be used to tailor the
1011 command string passed to the editor by the v command.
1013 * Examining a file which was previously examined will return
1014 to the same position in the file.
1016 * A "%" is expanded to the current filename and a "#" to the
1017 previous filename, in both shell commands and the E command.
1018 (Previously % worked only in shell commands and # worked
1019 only in the E command.)
1021 * New command ":ta" is equivalent to "-t".
1023 * New command "s" is equivalent to "-l".
1025 * The - command may be followed by "+X" to revert to the default
1026 for option X, or "-X" to get the opposite of the default.
1028 * Lesskey files may now include characters after the action as
1029 extra input to be parsed after the action; for example:
1030 "toggle-option X" to toggle a specific option X.