LESS(1)			   User Commands		     LESS(1)

NAME
     less - opposite of more

SYNOPSIS
     less -?
     less --help
     less -V
     less --version
     less [-[+]aBcCdeEfgGiImMnNqQrsSuUVwXZ]
	  [-b bufs] [-h lines] [-j line] [-k keyfile]
	  [-K character set] [-{oO} logfile]
	  [-p pattern] [-P prompt] [-t tag]
	  [-T tagsfile] [-x tab] [-y lines] [-[z] lines]
	  [+[+]cmd] [--] [filename]...


DESCRIPTION
     Less  is  a  program  similar to  more (1),  but  which  allows
     backward  movement	 in the file as well  as  forward  movement.
     Also,  less does not have to read the entire input file  before
     starting,	so with large input files it starts up	faster	than
     text  editors  like vi (1). Less uses termcap (or	terminfo  on
     some  systems), so it can run on a variety of terminals.  There
     is	 even limited support for hardcopy terminals. (On a hardcopy
     terminal,	lines which should be printed  at  the	top  of	 the
     screen are prefixed with a caret.)

     Commands  are  based  on  both more and  vi.  Commands  may  be
     preceded  by  a  decimal number,  called N in the	descriptions
     below. The number is used by some commands, as indicated.


COMMANDS
     In	 the  following descriptions, ^X means control-X. ESC stands
     for  the  ESCAPE key; for example ESC-v means the two character
     sequence "ESCAPE", then "v".

     h or H
	  Help:	 display a summary of these commands. If you  forget
	  all the other commands, remember this one.

     SPACE or ^V or f or ^F
	  Scroll forward N lines, default one window (see option  -z
	  below). If N is more than the screen size, only the  final
	  screenful is displayed. Warning: some systems use ^V as  a
	  special literalization character.

     z	  Like	SPACE,	but if N is specified, it  becomes  the	 new
	  window size.

     ESC-SPACE
	  Like	SPACE,	but  scrolls a full screenful,	even  if  it
	  reaches end-of-file in the process.

     RETURN or ^N or e or ^E or j or ^J
	  Scroll forward N lines, default 1. The entire N lines	 are
	  displayed, even if N is more than the screen size.

     d or ^D
	  Scroll  forward N lines, default one half  of	 the  screen
	  size. If N is specified, it becomes the new default  for
	  subsequent d and u commands.

     b or ^B or ESC-v
	  Scroll backward N lines, default one window (see option -z
	  below). If N is more than the screen size, only the  final
	  screenful is displayed.

     w	  Like	ESC-v,	but if N is specified, it  becomes  the	 new
	  window size.

     y or ^Y or ^P or k or ^K
	  Scroll backward N lines, default 1. The entire N lines are
	  displayed,  even  if	N  is more  than  the  screen  size.
	  Warning:  some  systems use ^Y as a  special	job  control
	  character.

     u or ^U
	  Scroll  backward N lines, default one half of	 the  screen
	  size. If N is specified, it becomes the new default  for
	  subsequent d and u commands.

     ESC-) or RIGHTARROW
	  Scroll  horizontally right N characters, default  8.	This
	  behaves  best if you also set the -S option (chop  lines).
	  Note	that if you wish to enter a number N, you  must	 use
	  ESC-), not RIGHTARROW, because the arrow is taken to be  a
	  line editing command (see the LINE EDITING section).

     ESC-( or LEFTARROW
	  Scroll horizontally left N characters, default 8.

     r or ^R or ^L
	  Repaint the screen.

     R	  Repaint the screen, discarding any buffered input.  Useful
	  if the file is changing while it is being viewed.

     F	  Scroll forward, and keep trying to read when	the  end  of
	  file is reached. Normally this command would be used	when
	  already at the end of the file. It is a way to monitor the
	  tail	of a file which is growing while it is being viewed.
	  (The behavior is similar to the "tail -f" command.)

     g or < or ESC-<
	  Go  to  line N in the file, default 1 (beginning of file).
	  (Warning: this may be slow if N is large.)

     G or > or ESC->
	  Go  to  line N in the file, default the end of  the  file.
	  (Warning: this may be slow if N is large, or if N  is	 not
	  specified and standard input, rather than a file, is being
	  read.)

     p or %
	  Go  to  a  position N percent into the file. N  should  be
	  between 0 and 100.

     {	  If  a left curly bracket appears in the top line displayed
	  on the screen, the { command will go to the matching right
	  curly	 bracket.  The	matching  right	 curly	bracket	  is
	  positioned on the bottom line of the screen. If  there  is
	  more than one left curly bracket on the top line, a number
	  N may be used to specify the N-th bracket on the line.

     }	  If  a	 right	curly bracket appears  in  the	bottom	line
	  displayed  on the screen, the } command  will	 go  to	 the
	  matching  left  curly	 bracket. The  matching	 left  curly
	  bracket  is positioned on the top line of the	 screen.  If
	  there	 is  more than one right curly bracket	on  the	 top
	  line,	 a  number N may be used to specify the N-th bracket
	  on the line.

     (	  Like	{,  but	 applies to parentheses	 rather	 than  curly
	  brackets.

     )	  Like	},  but	 applies to parentheses	 rather	 than  curly
	  brackets.

     [	  Like	{, but applies to square brackets rather than  curly
	  brackets.

     ]	  Like	}, but applies to square brackets rather than  curly
	  brackets.

     ESC-^F
	  Followed by two characters, acts like {, but uses the	 two
	  characters  as open and close brackets, respectively.	 For
	  example, "ESC ^F < >" could be used to  go forward to	 the
	  > which matches the < in the top displayed line.

     ESC-^B
	  Followed by two characters, acts like }, but uses the	 two
	  characters  as open and close brackets, respectively.	 For
	  example, "ESC ^B < >" could be used to  go backward to the
	  < which matches the > in the bottom displayed line.

     m	  Followed  by	any  lowercase letter,	 marks	the  current
	  position with that letter.

     '	  (Single quote.) Followed by any lowercase letter,  returns
	  to  the  position  which was previously marked  with	that
	  letter. Followed by another single quote, returns  to	 the
	  position  at which the last "large" movement	command	 was
	  executed. Followed by a ^ or $, jumps to the beginning  or
	  end  of the file respectively. Marks are preserved when  a
	  new  file  is examined, so the ' command can	be  used  to
	  switch between input files.

     ^X^X Same as single quote.

     /pattern
	  Search  forward  in the file for the N-th line  containing
	  the  pattern. N defaults to 1. The pattern  is  a  regular
	  expression, as recognized by ed. The search starts at	 the
	  second  line	displayed (but see the -a  and	-j  options,
	  which change this).

	  Certain characters are special if entered at the beginning
	  of the pattern; they modify the type of search rather than
	  become part of the pattern:

	  ^N or !
	       Search for lines which do NOT match the pattern.

	  ^E or *
	       Search multiple files. That is, if the search reaches
	       the END of the current file  without finding a match,
	       the  search continues in the next file in the command
	       line list.

	  ^F or @
	       Begin the search at the first line of the FIRST	file
	       in  the	command	 line list, regardless	of  what  is
	       currently displayed on the screen or the settings  of
	       the -a or -j options.

	  ^K   Highlight any text which matches the pattern  on	 the
	       current	screen,	 but don't move to the	first  match
	       (KEEP current position).

	  ^R   Don't  interpret	 regular expression  metacharacters;
	       that is, do a simple textual comparison.

     ?pattern
	  Search  backward in the file for the N-th line  containing
	  the  pattern.	 The  search starts at the line	 immediately
	  before the top line displayed.

	  Certain characters are special as in the / command:

	  ^N or !
	       Search for lines which do NOT match the pattern.

	  ^E or *
	       Search multiple files. That is, if the search reaches
	       the beginning of the current file  without finding  a
	       match, the search continues in the previous  file  in
	       the command line list.

	  ^F or @
	       Begin the search at the last line of the last file in
	       the   command  line  list,  regardless  of  what	  is
	       currently displayed on the screen or the settings  of
	       the -a or -j options.

	  ^K   As in forward searches.

	  ^R   As in forward searches.

     ESC-/pattern
	  Same as "/*".

     ESC-?pattern
	  Same as "?*".

     n	  Repeat previous search, for N-th line containing the	last
	  pattern. If the previous search was modified	by  ^N,	 the
	  search  is  made  for	 the N-th line	NOT  containing	 the
	  pattern. If the previous search was modified	by  ^E,	 the
	  search  continues in the next (or previous)  file  if	 not
	  satisfied in the current file. If the previous search	 was
	  modified  by ^R, the search is done without using  regular
	  expressions. There is no effect if the previous search was
	  modified by ^F or ^K.

     N	  Repeat previous search, but in the reverse direction.

     ESC-n
	  Repeat previous search, but crossing file boundaries.	 The
	  effect is as if the previous search were modified by *.

     ESC-N
	  Repeat  previous search, but in the reverse direction	 and
	  crossing file boundaries.

     ESC-u
	  Undo search highlighting. Turn off highlighting of strings
	  matching  the current search pattern.	 If highlighting  is
	  already  off	because of a previous  ESC-u  command,	turn
	  highlighting back on. Any search command  will  also	turn
	  highlighting back on. (Highlighting can also	be  disabled
	  by toggling the -G option; in that case search commands do
	  not turn highlighting back on.)

     :e [filename]
	  Examine  a  new  file.  If the filename  is  missing,	 the
	  "current" file (see the :n and :p commands below) from the
	  list	of  files  in  the command line	 is  re-examined.  A
	  percent sign (%) in the filename is replaced by  the	name
	  of the current file.	 A pound sign (#) is replaced by the
	  name	of  the	 previously  examined  file.  However,	 two
	  consecutive  percent signs are simply	   replaced  with  a
	  single percent sign.	 This allows you to enter a filename
	  that	contains a percent sign in the name. Similarly,	 two
	  consecutive pound signs are replaced with a  single  pound
	  sign. The filename is inserted into the command line	list
	  of  files so that it can be seen by subsequent :n  and  :p
	  commands. If the filename consists of several files,	they
	  are all inserted into the list of files and the first	 one
	  is  examined. If the filename contains one or more spaces,
	  the  entire  filename should be enclosed in double  quotes
	  (also see the -" option).

     ^X^V or E
	  Same	as  :e.	 Warning: some systems use ^V as  a  special
	  literalization character. On such systems, you may not  be
	  able to use ^V.

     :n	  Examine the next file (from the list of files given in the
	  command  line). If a number N is specified, the N-th	next
	  file is examined.

     :p	  Examine the previous file in the command line list.  If  a
	  number N is specified, the N-th previous file is examined.

     :x	  Examine  the first file in the command  line	list.  If  a
	  number  N  is	 specified, the N-th file  in  the  list  is
	  examined.

     = or ^G or :f
	  Prints  some	information about  the	file  being  viewed,
	  including its name and the line number and byte offset  of
	  the  bottom  line  being displayed. If possible,  it	also
	  prints the length of the file, the number of lines in	 the
	  file	and the percent of the file above the last displayed
	  line.

     @	  Rotate  the  code recognition method of the current  file.
	  Enhanced  less  has  7  methods for  recognition,  default
	  (which   is	chosen	 by  the  JLESSCHARSET	 environment
	  variable), japanese, ujis, sjis, iso8, noconv and none.

     -	  Followed  by one of the command line option  letters	(see
	  below),  this will change the setting of that	 option	 and
	  print	 a message describing the new setting. If the option
	  letter has a numeric value (such as -b or -h), or a string
	  value (such as -P or -t), a new value may be entered after
	  the  option letter. If no new value is entered, a  message
	  describing the current setting is printed and	 nothing  is
	  changed.

     -+	  Followed  by one of the command line option  letters	(see
	  below), this will reset the option to its default  setting
	  and print a message describing the new setting. (The "-+X"
	  command does the same thing as "-+X" on the command line.)
	  This does not work for string-valued options.

     --	  Followed  by one of the command line option  letters	(see
	  below),  this	 will reset the option to the "opposite"  of
	  its default setting and print a message describing the new
	  setting. (The "--X" command does the same thing as "-X" on
	  the  command	line.) This does not  work  for	 numeric  or
	  string-valued options.

     _	  (Underscore.) Followed by one of the command	line  option
	  letters  (see below), this will print a message describing
	  the  current	setting of that option. The setting  of	 the
	  option is not changed.

     +cmd Causes the specified cmd to be executed each	time  a	 new
	  file	is  examined.  For  example,  +G  causes    less  to
	  initially  display each file starting at the end    rather
	  than the beginning.

     V	  Prints the version number of	less being run.

     q or Q or :q or :Q or ZZ
	  Exits less.

     The following  four commands may or may not be valid, depending
     on your particular installation.

     v	  Invokes  an editor to edit the current file being  viewed.
	  The  editor is taken from the environment variable  VISUAL
	  if  defined,	or  EDITOR  if VISUAL  is  not	defined,  or
	  defaults to "vi" if neither VISUAL nor EDITOR is  defined.
	  See  also the discussion of LESSEDIT under the section  on
	  PROMPTS below.

     ! shell-command
	  Invokes a shell to run the shell-command given. A  percent
	  sign	(%)  in the command is replaced by the name  of	 the
	  current file.	  A pound sign (#) is replaced by  the	name
	  of  the  previously examined file. "!!" repeats  the	last
	  shell command. "!" with no shell command simply invokes  a
	  shell.  On  Unix  systems, the shell	is  taken  from	 the
	  environment variable SHELL, or defaults to "sh". On MS-DOS
	  and	OS/2  systems,	the  shell  is	the  normal  command
	  processor.

     | <m> shell-command
	  <m>  represents any mark letter. Pipes a  section  of	 the
	  input file to the given shell command. The section of	 the
	  file	to be piped is between the first line on the current
	  screen and the position marked by the letter. <m> may also
	  be   ^   or  $  to  indicate	beginning  or  end  of	file
	  respectively. If <m> is . or newline, the  current  screen
	  is piped.

     s filename
	  Save the input to a file. This only works if the input  is
	  a pipe, not an ordinary file.

OPTIONS
     Command line options are described below. Most options  may  be
     changed while less is running, via the "-" command.

     Options are also taken from the environment variable "LESS" and
     "JLESS". For example,  to avoid typing "less -options ..." each
     time  less is invoked, you might tell  csh:

     setenv LESS "-options"

     or if you use  sh:

     LESS="-options"; export LESS

     On	 MS-DOS,  you don't need the quotes, but you should  replace
     any    percent  signs in the options string by  double  percent
     signs.

     The environment variable is parsed before the command line,  so
     command  line  options override the LESS and JLESS	 environment
     variables.	 If  an	 option	 appears  in  the  LESS	 and   JLESS
     variables,	 it can be reset to its default on the command	line
     by beginning the command line option with "-+".

     For  options  like -P which take a following string,  a  dollar
     sign ($) may be used to signal the end of the string.

     -?	  This option displays a summary of the commands accepted by
	  less	(the same as the h command). (Depending on how	your
	  shell interprets the question mark, it may be necessary to
	  quote the question mark, thus: "-\?".)

     --help
	  Same as -?.

     -a	  Causes searches to start after the last line displayed  on
	  the  screen,	  thus skipping all lines displayed  on	 the
	  screen. By default, searches start at the second  line  on
	  the  screen  (or  after the last found line;	see  the  -j
	  option).

     -bn  Specifies  the number of buffers less will  use  for	each
	  file.	 Buffers are 1K, and by default 10 buffers are	used
	  for  each file (except if the file is a pipe; see  the  -B
	  option).  The	 number n specifies a  different  number  of
	  buffers to use.

     -B	  By  default,	when data is read from a pipe,	buffers	 are
	  allocated  automatically as needed. If a large  amount  of
	  data	is read from the pipe, this can cause a large amount
	  of  memory  to  be allocated. The -B option disables	this
	  automatic  allocation of buffers for pipes, so  that	only
	  the number of buffers specified by the -b option are used.
	  Warning: use of -B can result in erroneous display,  since
	  only the most recently viewed part of the file is kept  in
	  memory;  any earlier data is lost.

     -c	  Causes  full screen repaints to be painted  from  the	 top
	  line	down. By default, full screen repaints are  done  by
	  scrolling from the bottom of the screen.

     -C	  The -C option is like -c, but the screen is cleared before
	  it is repainted.

     -d	  The  -d  option  suppresses  the  error  message  normally
	  displayed  if	 the terminal is dumb; that is,	 lacks	some
	  important  capability, such as the ability  to  clear	 the
	  screen  or  scroll  backward.	 The  -d  option  does	 not
	  otherwise change the behavior of less on a dumb terminal).

     -Dxcolor
	  [MS-DOS only] Sets the color of the text displayed. x is a
	  single  character which selects the  type  of	 text  whose
	  color	  is	being  set:  n=normal,	s=standout,  d=bold,
	  u=underlined,	 k=blink.  color  is  a	 pair	of   numbers
	  separated  by	 a  period.   The first number	selects	 the
	  foreground  color and the second selects   the  background
	  color of the text. A single number N is the same as N.0.

     -e	  Causes    less to automatically exit the  second  time  it
	  reaches  end-of-file. By default, the only way  to  exit
	  less is via the "q" command.

     -E	  Causes    less to automatically exit	the  first  time  it
	  reaches end-of-file.

     -f	  Forces non-regular files to be opened. (A non-regular file
	  is  a directory or a device special file.) Also suppresses
	  the  warning	message when a binary  file  is	 opened.  By
	  default, less will refuse to open non-regular files.

     -g	  Normally,  less will highlight ALL strings which match the
	  last	search command. The -g option changes this  behavior
	  to  highlight only the particular string  which was  found
	  by  the last search command. This can cause  less  to	 run
	  somewhat faster than the default.

     -G	  The -G option suppresses all highlighting of strings found
	  by search commands.

     -hn  Specifies a maximum number of lines to scroll backward. If
	  it  is necessary to scroll backward more than n lines, the
	  screen  is  repainted in a forward direction instead.	 (If
	  the terminal does not have the ability to scroll backward,
	  -h0 is implied.)

     -i	  Causes  searches to ignore case; that	 is,  uppercase	 and
	  lowercase are considered identical. This option is ignored
	  if any uppercase letters appear in the search pattern;  in
	  other words, if a pattern contains uppercase letters, then
	  that search does not ignore case.

     -I	  Like	-i,  but searches ignore case even if	the  pattern
	  contains uppercase letters.

     -jn  Specifies a line on the screen where the "target" line  is
	  to  be  positioned. A target line is the object of a	text
	  search,  tag search, jump to a line number, jump to a file
	  percentage, or jump to a marked position. The screen	line
	  is specified by a number: the top line on the screen is 1,
	  the  next  is 2, and so on. The number may be negative  to
	  specify  a line relative to the bottom of the screen:	 the
	  bottom line on the screen is -1, the second to the  bottom
	  is -2, and so on. If the -j option is used, searches begin
	  at  the  line	 immediately  after  the  target  line.	 For
	  example,  if "-j4" is used, the target line is the  fourth
	  line on the screen, so searches begin at the fifth line on
	  the screen.

     -kfilename
	  Causes  less	to open and interpret the named	 file  as  a
	  lesskey (1) file. Multiple -k options may be specified. If
	  the  LESSKEY environment variable is set, or if a  lesskey
	  file	is found in a standard place (see KEY BINDINGS),  it
	  is also used as a  lesskey file.

     -Kcharset
	  Causes  less	to  use this charset instead  of  a  charset
	  defined  in  the  JLESSCHARSET or LESSCHARSET	 environment
	  variable.

     -m	  Causes    less to prompt verbosely (like more),  with	 the
	  percent  into	 the file. By default, less prompts  with  a
	  colon.

     -M	  Causes  less to prompt even more verbosely than  more.

     -n	  Suppresses line numbers. The default (to use line numbers)
	  may	cause  less  to	 run  more  slowly  in	some  cases,
	  especially with a very large input file. Suppressing	line
	  numbers with the -n option will avoid this problem.  Using
	  line	numbers means: the line number will be displayed  in
	  the verbose prompt and in the = command, and the v command
	  will pass the current line number to the editor (see	also
	  the discussion of LESSEDIT in PROMPTS below).

     -N	  Causes  a line number to be displayed at the beginning  of
	  each line in the display.

     -ofilename
	  Causes less to copy its input to the named file as  it  is
	  being viewed. This applies only when the input file  is  a
	  pipe,	 not an ordinary file. If the file already exists,
	  less will ask for confirmation before overwriting it.

     -Ofilename
	  The  -O  option  is  like -o, but  it	 will  overwrite  an
	  existing file without asking for confirmation.

	  If  no  log file has been specified, the -o and -O options
	  can  be  used	 from within  less to specify  a  log  file.
	  Without a file name, they will simply report the  name  of
	  the  log file. The "s" command is equivalent to specifying
	  -o from within less.

     -ppattern
	  The  -p  option  on  the command line is  equivalent	to
	  specifying +/pattern; that is, it tells less to  start  at
	  the first occurrence of pattern in the file.

     -Pprompt
	  Provides a way to tailor the three prompt styles  to	your
	  own  preference. This option would normally be put in	 the
	  LESS	and  JLESS environment variables, rather than  being
	  typed	 in  with  each	 less command. Such an	option	must
	  either be the last option in the LESS and JLESS variables,
	  or  be  terminated by a dollar sign.	-Ps  followed  by  a
	  string changes the default (short) prompt  to that string.
	  -Pm  changes the medium (-m) prompt. -PM changes the	long
	  (-M) prompt. -Ph changes the prompt for the help screen. -
	  P=  changes  the  message printed by the  =  command.	 All
	  prompt  strings  consist of a sequence  of	letters	 and
	  special  escape sequences. See the section on PROMPTS	 for
	  more details.

     -q	  Causes moderately "quiet" operation: the terminal bell  is
	  not rung  if an attempt is made to scroll past the end  of
	  the  file  or	 before the beginning of the  file.  If	 the
	  terminal has a "visual bell", it is used instead. The bell
	  will	be  rung on certain other errors, such as typing  an
	  invalid  character. The default is to	 ring  the  terminal
	  bell in all such cases.

     -Q	  Causes  totally "quiet" operation: the  terminal  bell  is
	  never rung.

     -r	  Causes  "raw"	 control characters  to	 be  displayed.	 The
	  default  is to display control characters using the  caret
	  notation;  for  example,  a  control-A  (octal   001)	  is
	  displayed  as "^A". Warning: when the -r option  is  used,
	  less	cannot	keep track of the actual appearance  of	 the
	  screen  (since this depends on how the screen responds  to
	  each	type  of  control character). Thus, various  display
	  problems may result, such as long lines being split in the
	  wrong place.

     -s	  Causes  consecutive blank lines  to  be  squeezed  into  a
	  single  blank	 line.	This is useful	when  viewing  nroff
	  output.

     -S	  Causes  lines longer than the screen width to	 be  chopped
	  rather than folded. That is, the remainder of a long	line
	  is  simply  discarded. The default is to fold long  lines;
	  that is, display the remainder on the next line.

     -ttag
	  The  -t  option, followed immediately by a TAG, will	edit
	  the file containing that tag. For this to work, there must
	  be  a	 file called "tags" in the current directory,  which
	  was  previously  built  by the  ctags	 (1)  command.	This
	  option may also be specified from within  less (using	 the
	  -  command) as a way of examining a new file. The  command
	  ":t" is equivalent to specifying -t from within less.

     -Ttagsfile
	  Specifies a tags file to be used instead of "tags".

     -u	  Causes  backspaces and carriage returns to be	 treated  as
	  printable  characters; that  is,  they  are  sent  to	 the
	  terminal when they appear in the input.

     -U	  Causes  backspaces,  tabs and	 carriage  returns  to	be
	  treated  as control characters; that is, they are  handled
	  as specified by the -r option.

	  By  default,	if  neither -u nor -U is  given,  backspaces
	  which	 appear	 adjacent  to  an underscore  character	 are
	  treated specially: the underlined text is displayed  using
	  the  terminal's  hardware  underlining  capability.  Also,
	  backspaces  which appear between two identical  characters
	  are  treated specially:  the overstruck text is  printed
	  using	 the terminal's hardware boldface capability.  Other
	  backspaces   are   deleted,  along  with   the   preceding
	  character.  Carriage	returns immediately  followed  by  a
	  newline are deleted. Other carriage returns are handled as
	  specified  by	 the -r option. Text which is overstruck  or
	  underlined can be searched for if neither -u nor -U is  in
	  effect.

     -V	  Displays the version number of  less.

     --version
	  Same as -V.

     -w	  Causes blank lines to be used to represent lines past	 the
	  end  of  the	file. By default, a tilde character  (~)  is
	  used.

     -xn  Sets tab stops every n positions. The default for n is 8.

     -X	  Disables   sending   the   termcap   initialization	 and
	  deinitialization  strings  to	 the   terminal.   This	  is
	  sometimes  desirable if the deinitialization	string	does
	  something unnecessary, like clearing the screen.

     -yn  Specifies a maximum number of lines to scroll forward.  If
	  it  is necessary to scroll forward more than n lines,	 the
	  screen  is repainted instead. The -c or -C option  may  be
	  used to repaint from the top of the screen if desired.  By
	  default, any forward movement causes scrolling.

     -[z]n
	  Changes the default scrolling window size to n lines.	 The
	  default is one screenful. The z and w commands can also be
	  used to change the window size. The "z" may be omitted for
	  compatibility with more. If the number n is  negative,  it
	  indicates  n lines less than the current screen size.	 For
	  example,  if	the  screen is 24  lines,  -z-4	 sets  the
	  scrolling window to 20 lines.	 If the screen is resized to
	  40 lines, the scrolling window automatically changes to 36
	  lines.

     -Z	  Causes  to give priority to the SJIS over the	 UJIS  if  a
	  "japanese"  was  selected by the JLESSCHARSET	 environment
	  variable.   The default value is to give priority  to	 the
	  UJIS over the SJIS.

     -"	  Changes  the	filename  quoting  character.  This  may  be
	  necessary if you are trying to name a file which  contains
	  both	spaces and quote characters. Followed  by  a  single
	  character,  this  changes  the  quote	 character  to	that
	  character.  Filenames containing a space  should  then  be
	  surrounded by that character rather than by double quotes.
	  Followed by two characters, changes the open quote to	 the
	  first	 character,  and  the  close  quote  to	 the  second
	  character.  Filenames containing a space  should  then  be
	  preceded by the open quote character and followed  by	 the
	  close	 quote	character. Note that even  after  the  quote
	  characters  are changed, this option remains	-"  (a	dash
	  followed by a double quote).

     --	  A  command line argument of "--" marks the end  of  option
	  arguments. Any arguments following this are interpreted as
	  filenames. This can be useful when viewing  a	 file  whose
	  name begins with a "-" or "+".

     +	  If  a command line option begins with +, the remainder  of
	  that option is taken to be an initial command to less. For
	  example,  +G tells less to start at the end  of  the	file
	  rather than the beginning, and +/xyz tells it to start  at
	  the  first occurrence of "xyz" in the file. As  a  special
	  case,	 +<number> acts like +<number>g;  that is, it starts
	  the display at the specified line number (however, see the
	  caveat under the "g" command above). If the option  starts
	  with	++, the initial command applies to every file  being
	  viewed,  not	just the first one. The + command  described
	  previously may also be used to set (or change) an  initial
	  command for every file.


LINE EDITING
     When  entering  command line at the bottom of the	screen	(for
     example,  a filename for the :e command, or the pattern  for  a
     search  command), certain keys can be used	 to  manipulate	 the
     command  line.  Most  commands have  an  alternate	 form  in  [
     brackets  ]  which can be used if a key does  not	exist  on  a
     particular keyboard.  (The bracketed forms do not work  in	 the
     MS-DOS  version.)	Any of these special  keys  may	 be  entered
     literally by preceding it with the "literal" character,  either
     ^V	 or ^A. A backslash itself may also be entered literally  by
     entering two backslashes.

     LEFTARROW [ ESC-h ]
	  Move the cursor one space to the left.

     RIGHTARROW [ ESC-l ]
	  Move the cursor one space to the right.

     ^LEFTARROW [ ESC-b or ESC-LEFTARROW ]
	  (That is, CONTROL and LEFTARROW simultaneously.) Move	 the
	  cursor one word to the left.

     ^RIGHTARROW [ ESC-w or ESC-RIGHTARROW ]
	  (That is, CONTROL and RIGHTARROW simultaneously.) Move the
	  cursor one word to the right.

     HOME [ ESC-0 ]
	  Move the cursor to the beginning of the line.

     END [ ESC-$ ]
	  Move the cursor to the end of the line.

     BACKSPACE
	  Delete the character to the left of the cursor, or  cancel
	  the command if the command line is empty.

     DELETE or [ ESC-x ]
	  Delete the character under the cursor.

     ^BACKSPACE [ ESC-BACKSPACE ]
	  (That	 is,  CONTROL and BACKSPACE simultaneously.)  Delete
	  the word to the left of the cursor.

     ^DELETE [ ESC-X or ESC-DELETE ]
	  (That	 is, CONTROL and DELETE simultaneously.) Delete	 the
	  word under the cursor.

     UPARROW [ ESC-k ]
	  Retrieve the previous command line.

     DOWNARROW [ ESC-j ]
	  Retrieve the next command line.

     TAB  Complete the partial filename to the left of	the  cursor.
	  If  it matches more than one filename, the first match  is
	  entered  into the command line. Repeated TABs	 will  cycle
	  thru	the  other  matching  filenames.  If  the  completed
	  filename  is	a  directory,  a  "/"  is  appended  to	 the
	  filename.  (On  MS-DOS systems, a "\"	 is  appended.)	 The
	  environment variable LESSSEPARATOR can be used to  specify
	  a  different character to append to a directory name.

     BACKTAB [ ESC-TAB ]
	  Like,	 TAB, but cycles in the reverse direction  thru	 the
	  matching filenames.

     ^L	  Complete the partial filename to the left of	the  cursor.
	  If  it  matches  more than one filename, all	matches	 are
	  entered into the command line (if they fit).

     ^U (Unix and OS/2) or ESC (MS-DOS)
	  Delete  the entire command line, or cancel the command  if
	  the  command line is empty. If you have changed your line-
	  kill	character in Unix to something other than  ^U,	that
	  character is used instead of ^U.


KEY BINDINGS
     You  may  define your own	less commands by using the program
     lesskey (1) to create a lesskey file. This file specifies a set
     of command keys and an action associated with each key. You may
     also  use	lesskey to change the line-editing  keys  (see	LINE
     EDITING),	and to set environment variables. If the environment
     variable  LESSKEY is set, less uses that as  the  name  of	 the
     lesskey  file. Otherwise,	less looks in a standard  place	 for
     the  lesskey  file: On Unix systems, less looks for  a  lesskey
     file called "$HOME/.less". On MS-DOS systems, less looks for  a
     lesskey  file  called "$HOME/_less", and if  it  is  not  found
     there,  then  looks for a lesskey file called  "_less"  in	 any
     directory specified in the PATH environment variable.  On	OS/2
     systems, less looks for a lesskey file called "$HOME/less.ini",
     and  if  it is not found, then looks for a lesskey file  called
     "less.ini"	 in any directory specified in the INIT	 environment
     variable, and if it not found there, then looks for  a  lesskey
     file  called "less.ini" in any directory specified in the	PATH
     environment  variable. See the lesskey  manual  page  for	more
     details.


INPUT PREPROCESSOR
     You  may define an "input preprocessor" for  less. Before	less
     opens  a file, it first gives your input preprocessor a  chance
     to	 modify	 the way the contents of the file are displayed.  An
     input  preprocessor is simply an executable program  (or  shell
     script),  which writes the contents of the file to a  different
     file,  called  the	 replacement  file.  The  contents  of	 the
     replacement file are then displayed  in place of  the  contents
     of the original file. However, it will appear to the user as if
     the  original file is opened; that is,  less will	display	 the
     original filename as the name of the current file.

     An	 input preprocessor receives one command line argument,	 the
     original filename, as entered by the user. It should create the
     replacement  file, and when finished, print  the  name  of	 the
     replacement  file	to  its	 standard  output.  If	 the   input
     preprocessor does not output a replacement filename,  less uses
     the  original  file, as normal. The input preprocessor  is	 not
     called  when  viewing  standard  input.  To  set  up  an  input
     preprocessor,  set	 the  LESSOPEN	environment  variable  to  a
     command  line  which will invoke your input preprocessor.	This
     command line should include one occurrence of the string "%s",
     which  will  be  replaced	by  the	 filename  when	 the   input
     preprocessor command is invoked.

     When    less closes a file opened in such a way, it  will	call
     another  program,	called	the input postprocessor,  which	 may
     perform  any  desired  clean-up action (such  as  deleting	 the
     replacement  file created by LESSOPEN). This  program  receives
     two command line arguments, the original filename as entered by
     the  user, and the name of the replacement file. To set  up  an
     input postprocessor, set the LESSCLOSE environment variable  to
     a	command line which will invoke your input postprocessor.  It
     may  include two occurrences of the string "%s";  the first  is
     replaced  with the original name of the file and	 the  second
     with  the	name of the replacement file,  which was  output  by
     LESSOPEN.

     For example, on many Unix systems, these two scripts will allow
     you to keep files in compressed format, but still let less view
     them directly:

     lessopen.sh:
	     #! /bin/sh
	     case "$1" in
	     *.Z)    uncompress -c $1  >/tmp/less.$$  2>/dev/null
		     if [ -s /tmp/less.$$ ]; then
			     echo /tmp/less.$$
		     else
			     rm -f /tmp/less.$$
		     fi
		     ;;
	     esac

     lessclose.sh:
	     #! /bin/sh
	     rm $2

     To	 use these scripts, put them both where they can be executed
     and set LESSOPEN="lessopen.sh %s", and
     LESSCLOSE="lessclose.sh %s %s".  More  complex   LESSOPEN	 and
     LESSCLOSE	scripts	 may be written to  accept  other  types  of
     compressed files, and so on.

     It is also possible to set up an input preprocessor to pipe the
     file data directly to  less, rather than putting the data	into
     a	replacement  file. This avoids the need	 to  decompress	 the
     entire  file before  starting to view it. An input preprocessor
     that  works  this way is called an input pipe. An	input  pipe,
     instead  of  writing  the	name of a replacement  file  on	 its
     standard  output, writes the entire contents of the replacement
     file  on its standard output. If the input pipe does not  write
     any  characters  on  its  standard output,	 then  there  is  no
     replacement file and  less uses the original file,	 as  normal.
     To	 use an input pipe, make the first character in the LESSOPEN
     environment  variable a  vertical bar (|) to signify  that	 the
     input preprocessor is an input pipe.

     For  example, on many Unix systems, this script will work	like
     the previous example scripts:

     lesspipe.sh:
	     #! /bin/sh
	     case "$1" in
	     *.Z)    uncompress -c $1  2>/dev/null
		     ;;
	     esac

     To	 use  this script, put it where it can be executed  and	 set
     LESSOPEN="|lesspipe.sh %s". When  an  input  pipe	is  used,  a
     LESSCLOSE	postprocessor can be used, but	it  is	usually	 not
     necessary	since there is no replacement file to clean  up.  In
     this  case,  the replacement file name passed to the  LESSCLOSE
     postprocessor is "-".


NATIONAL CHARACTER SETS
     There are three types of characters in the input file:

     normal characters
	  can be displayed directly to the screen.

     control characters
	  should not be displayed directly, but are expected  to  be
	  found in ordinary text files (such as backspace and tab).

     binary characters
	  should  not be displayed directly and are not expected  to
	  be found in text files.

     A	"character set" is simply a description of which  characters
     are   to  be  considered  normal,	control,  and  binary.	 The
     JLESSCHARSET and LESSCHARSET environment variables may be	used
     to select a character set.	 There is no difference between them
     in	  program  of  less.  But  I  suppose  you  should  use	 the
     JLESSCHARSET  environment variable because	 not  enhanced	less
     will  make errors if you use enhanced character set  in	your
     LESSCHARSET environment variable. Possible values for them are:

     ascii
	  The  default character set. BS, TAB, NL, CR, and  formfeed
	  are control characters, all chars with values between	 127
	  and 255 are binary, and all others are normal.

     latin1
	  Selects the ISO 8859/1 character set. latin-1 is the	same
	  as  ASCII,  except  characters between  161  and  255	 are
	  treated as normal characters.

     dos  Selects a character set appropriate for MS-DOS.

     koi8-r
	  Selects a Russian character set.

     next Selects a character set appropriate for NeXT computers.

     And possible values for only JLESSCHARSET are:

     iso7 Multi	 character  sets with the ISO  2022  code  extension
	  techniques in 7 bits are assumed. Characters	with  values
	  between  128 and 255 are treated as binary. The  level  of
	  implementation of Less is level 3 of ISO 2022.

     iso8 Multi	 character  sets with the ISO  2022  code  extension
	  techniques   in  8  bits  are	 assumed.   The	  level	  of
	  implementation of Less is level 3 of ISO 2022.

     jis  Only	Japanese  character sets  with	the  ISO  2022	code
	  extension techniques in 7 bits are assumed.

     ujis If  characters has values between 32 and  127,  the  ASCII
	  character  set  are  assumed.	 If  characters	 has  values
	  between 162 and 254, the JISX 0208 character set, a  right
	  half	of  the	 JISX 0201 character set and the  JISX	0212
	  character set with the UJIS coding are assumed. Otherwise,
	  characters are treated as binary.

     euc  Same as ujis.

     sjis If  characters has values between 32 and  127,  the  ASCII
	  character  set  are  assumed.	 If  characters	 has  values
	  between  128 and 252, the JISX 0208 character	 set  and  a
	  right	 half  of the JISX 0201 character set  are  assumed.
	  Otherwise, characters are treated as binary.

     japanese
	  All  Japanese	 character sets, jis,  ujis  and  sjis,	 are
	  assumed.  But less output only the jis.

     Japanese has several code sets (not character sets). Thus	less
     must  convert  among  them to display them correctly.  Possible
     values with this conversion for only JLESSCHARSET are:

     ujis-iso7
	  The ujis and iso7 are assumend.  But less output only	 the
	  iso7.

     euc-iso7
	  Same as ujis-iso7.

     sjis-iso7
	  The sjis and iso7 are assumend.  But less output only	 the
	  iso7.

     ujis-jis
	  The  ujis and jis are assumend.  But less output only	 the
	  jis.

     euc-jis
	  Same as ujis-jis.

     sjis-jis
	  The  sjis and jis are assumend.  But less output only	 the
	  jis.

     jis-ujis
	  The  jis and ujis are assumend.  But less output only	 the
	  ujis.

     jis-euc
	  Same as jis-ujis.

     jis-sjis
	  The  jis and sjis are assumend.  But less output only	 the
	  sjis.

     japanese-iso7
	  The  japanese and iso7 are assumend.	But less output only
	  the iso7.

     japanese-jis
	  The  japanese is assumend.  But less output only the	jis.
	  Same as japanese.

     japanese-ujis
	  The japanese is assumend.  But less output only the ujis.

     japanese-euc
	  Same as japanese-ujis.

     japanese-sjis
	  The japanese is assumend.  But less output only the sjis.

     ujis-sjis
	  The ujis is assumend.	 But less output only the sjis.

     euc-sjis
	  Same as ujis-sjis.

     sjis-ujis
	  The sjis is assumend.	 But less output only the ujis.

     sjis-euc
	  Same as sjis-ujis.

     Other  way	 to  select  a character set  is  to  use  the	LANG
     environment variable. If it start with "ja_JP" or "japan", less
     read  all	Japanese coded characters as some Japanese character
     set, and a rest of the LANG environment variable specify output
     coding.

     The  ISO  2022  code extension techniques define  4  planes  to
     display many character sets easy. Default setting of planes  is
     selected  by  the	JLESSPLANESET environment variable.  If	 the
     JLESSPLANESET vriable is equal to "japanese", "ujis" or  "euc",
     less  treat g1 plane as JISX 0208, g2 plane as JISX 0201  right
     half,  g3	plane  as  JISX 0212.  If it is equal  to  "latin1",
     "latin2",	"latin3",  "latin4",  "greek",	"alabic",  "hebrew",
     "cyrillic" or "latin5", less treat g1 plane as one of ISO 8859.
     Otherwise,	 less try to parse the JLESSPLANESET  variable	as
     real escape sequences for setting up, and "\e" in JLESSPLANESET
     is treated as escape code when parsing.

     Less understand almost all escape sequence about character	 set
     in	 the  ISO  2022 code extension techniques.  There  are	many
     escape sequences to select the character set.  On the one hand,
     less output only 6 escape sequences to select a character	set:
     '^[(', '^[-', '^[$(', '^[$-', '^N' and '^O'. It means  less  is
     friendly to a terminal and a terminal emulator.

     And  there is special "character set" for keyboard inputs.	 The
     JLESSKEYCHARSET environment variable is used for such  purpose.
     Possible values of it are equal to the JLESSCHARSET environment
     variable.

     In	 special cases, it may be desired to tailor less  to  use  a
     character set other than the ones definable by LESSCHARSET.  In
     this case, the environment variable LESSCHARDEF can be used  to
     define a character set. It should be set to a string where each
     character	in  the	 string	 represents  one  character  in	 the
     character	set.  The  character  "."  is  used  for  a   normal
     character,	 "c"  for  control, and "b" for	 binary.  A  decimal
     number may be used for repetition. For example, "bccc4b." would
     mean character 0 is binary, 1, 2 and 3 are control, 4, 5, 6 and
     7	are  binary, and 8 is normal. All characters after the	last
     are  taken to be the same as the last, so characters 9  through
     255  would	 be  normal.  (This is	an  example,  and  does	 not
     necessarily  represent any real character set.)

     This  table  shows the value of LESSCHARDEF which is equivalent
     to each of the possible values for LESSCHARSET:

	     ascii   8bcccbcc18b95.b
	     latin1  8bcccbcc18b95.33b.
	     dos     8bcccbcc12bc5b95.b.
	     koi8-r  8bcccbcc18b95.b128.
	     next    8bcccbcc18b95.bb125.bb

     If neither LESSCHARSET nor LESSCHARDEF is set,  but your system
     supports  the  setlocale interface, less will use setlocale  to
     determine the character set. setlocale is controlled by setting
     the LANG or LC_CTYPE environment variables.

     Control   and  binary  characters	are  displayed	in  standout
     (reverse  video).	Each such character is	displayed  in  caret
     notation  if possible (e.g. ^A for control-A).  Caret  notation
     is	 used  only if	inverting the 0100 bit results in  a  normal
     printable character. Otherwise, the character is displayed as a
     hex  number in angle brackets. This format can be changed	by
     setting  the  LESSBINFMT environment variable.  LESSBINFMT	 may
     begin  with  a  "*" and one character to select	the  display
     attribute:	 "*k" is blinking, "*d" is bold, "*u" is underlined,
     "*s"  is  standout, and "*n" is normal. If LESSBINFMT does	 not
     begin with a "*", normal attribute is assumed. The remainder of
     LESSBINFMT	 is  a	string	which may include  one	printf-style
     escape  sequence  (a  % followed by x,  X,	 o,  d,	 etc.).	 For
     example,  if  LESSBINFMT  is "*u[%x]",  binary  characters	 are
     displayed in underlined hexadecimal surrounded by brackets. The
     default if no LESSBINFMT is specified is "*d<%X>".


PROMPTS
     The  -P  option  allows  you  to  tailor  the  prompt  to	your
     preference.  The  string given to the -P  option  replaces	 the
     specified prompt string. Certain characters in the	 string	 are
     interpreted   specially.  The  prompt   mechanism	 is   rather
     complicated to provide flexibility, but the ordinary user	need
     not  understand the details of constructing personalized prompt
     strings.

     A	percent	 sign  followed by a single  character	is  expanded
     according to what the following character is:

     %bX  Replaced by the byte offset into the current	input  file.
	  The b is followed by a single character (shown as X above)
	  which specifies the line whose byte offset is to be  used.
	  If the character is a "t", the byte offset of the top line
	  in  the display is used, an "m" means use the middle line,
	  a  "b" means use the bottom line, a "B" means use the line
	  just	after  the  bottom line, and a	"j"  means  use	 the
	  "target" line, as specified by the -j option.

     %B	  Replaced by the size of the current input file.

     %E	  Replaced  by	the  name of the  editor  (from	 the  VISUAL
	  environment  variable, or the EDITOR environment  variable
	  if  VISUAL  is  not  defined). See the discussion  of	 the
	  LESSEDIT feature below.

     %f	  Replaced by the name of the current input file.

     %i	  Replaced by the index of the current file in the  list  of
	  input files.

     %lX  Replaced by the line number of a line in the	input  file.
	  The line to be used is determined by the X, as with the %b
	  option.

     %L	  Replaced by the line number of the last line in the  input
	  file.

     %m	  Replaced by the total number of input files.

     %pX  Replaced by the percent into the current input  file.	 The
	  line used is determined by the X as with the %b option.

     %s	  Same as %B.

     %t	  Causes any trailing spaces to be removed. Usually used  at
	  the end of the string, but may appear anywhere.

     %x	  Replaced by the name of the next input file in the list.

     %K	  Replaced  by the name of the last non ASCII character	 set
	  or code set.

     If any item is unknown (for example, the file size if input  is
     a pipe), a question mark is printed instead.

     The  format  of the prompt string can be changed  depending  on
     certain  conditions.  A  question mark  followed  by  a  single
     character	acts  like  an	"IF":  depending  on  the  following
     character, a condition is evaluated. If the condition is  true,
     any  characters  following	 the  question	mark  and  condition
     character, up to a period, are included in the prompt.  If	 the
     condition is false, such characters are not included.  A  colon
     appearing between the question mark and the period can be	used
     to	 establish an "ELSE": any characters between the  colon	 and
     the  period are included in the string if and only	 if  the  IF
     condition	is  false.  Condition  characters  (which  follow  a
     question mark) may be:

     ?a	  True if any characters have been included in the prompt so
	  far.

     ?bX  True if the byte offset of the specified line is known.

     ?B	  True if the size of current input file is known.

     ?e	  True if at end-of-file.

     ?f	  True if there is an input filename (that is, if  input  is
	  not a pipe).

     ?lX  True if the line number of the specified line is known.

     ?L	  True	if the line number of the last line in the  file  is
	  known.

     ?m	  True if there is more than one input file.

     ?n	  True if this is the first prompt in a new input file.

     ?pX  True	if the percent into the current input  file  of	 the
	  specified line is known.

     ?s	  Same as "?B".

     ?x	  True	if  there  is a next input file	 (that	is,  if	 the
	  current input file is not the last one).

     Any  characters  other than the special  ones  (question  mark,
     colon, period, percent, and backslash) become literally part of
     the  prompt. Any of the special characters may be	included  in
     the prompt literally by preceding it with a backslash.

     Some examples:

     ?f%f:Standard input.

     This prompt prints the filename, if known; otherwise the string
     "Standard input".

     ?f%f .?ltLine %lt:?pt%pt\%:?btByte %bt:-...

     This prompt would print the filename, if known. The filename is
     followed by the line number, if known, otherwise the percent if
     known, otherwise the byte offset if known. Otherwise, a dash is
     printed.  Notice how each question mark has a matching  period,
     and  how  the % after the %pt is included literally by escaping
     it with a backslash.

     ?n?f%f .?m(file %i of %m) ..?e(END) ?x- Next\: %x..%t

     This prints the filename if this is the first prompt in a file,
     followed by the "file N of N" message if there is more than one
     input  file. Then, if we are at end-of-file, the string "(END)"
     is	 printed followed by the name of the next file, if there  is
     one.  Finally, any trailing spaces are truncated. This  is	 the
     default  prompt. For reference, here are the defaults  for	 the
     other two prompts (-m and -M respectively). Each is broken into
     two lines here for readability only.

     ?n?f%f .?m(file %i of %m) ..?e(END) ?x- Next\: %x.:
	     ?pB%pB\%:byte %bB?s/%s...%t

     ?f%f .?n?m(file %i of %m) ..?ltline %lt?L/%L. :byte %bB?s/%s. .
	     ?e(END) ?x- Next\: %x.:?pB%pB\%..%t

     And here is the default message produced by the = command:

     ?f%f .?m(file %i of %m) .?ltline %lt?L/%L. .
	     byte %bB?s/%s. ?e(END) :?pB%pB\%..%t

     The  prompt  expansion  features  are  also  used	for  another
     purpose: if an environment variable LESSEDIT is defined, it  is
     used  as  the  command to be executed when	 the  v	 command  is
     invoked. The LESSEDIT string is expanded in the same way as the
     prompt strings. The default value for LESSEDIT is:

	     %E ?lm+%lm. %f

     Note that this expands to the editor name, followed by a +	 and
     the line number, followed by the file name. If your editor does
     not  accept  the "+linenumber" syntax, or has other differences
     in invocation syntax, the LESSEDIT variable can be	 changed  to
     modify this default.


SECURITY
     When the environment variable LESSSECURE is set to 1, less runs
     in a "secure" mode. This means these features are disabled:

	  !    the shell command

	  |    the pipe command

	  :e   the examine command.

	  v    the editing command

	  s  -o
	       log files

	  -k   use of lesskey files

	  -t   use of tags files

	       metacharacters in filenames, such as *

	       filename completion (TAB, ^L)

     Less can also be compiled to be permanently in "secure" mode.


ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
     Environment  variables may be specified either  in	 the  system
     environment as usual, or in a  lesskey (1) file.

     COLUMNS
	  Sets the number of columns on the screen. Takes precedence
	  over the number of columns specified by the TERM variable.

     EDITOR
	  The name of the editor (used for the v command).

     HOME Name of the user's home directory (used to find a  lesskey
	  file on Unix systems and OS/2 systems).

     INIT Name of the user's init directory (used to find a  lesskey
	  file on OS/2 systems).

     LANG Language for determining the character set.

     LC_CTYPE
	  Language for determining the character set.

     LESS Options which are passed to  less automatically.

     JLESS
	  same as the LESS environment variable.

     LESSBINFMT
	  Format    for	   displaying	non-printable,	 non-control
	  characters.

     LESSCHARDEF
	  Defines a character set.

     JLESSCHARSET
	  Selects a predefined character set.

     LESSCHARSET
	  Selects a predefined character set if JLESSCHARSET is	 not
	  defined.

     JLESSKEYCHARSET
	  Selects a predefined character set for keyboard inputs.

     JLESSPLANESET
	  Selects  a  predefined plane set  of	the  ISO  2022	code
	  extension techniques.

     LESSCLOSE
	  Command line to invoke the (optional) input-postprocessor.

     LESSECHO
	  Name	of  the	 lessecho program (default "lessecho").	 The
	  lessecho program is needed to expand metacharacters,	such
	  as * and ?, in filenames on Unix systems.

     LESSEDIT
	  Editor  prototype  string (used for the  v  command).	 See
	  discussion under PROMPTS.

     LESSKEY
	  Name of the default lesskey(1) file.

     LESSMETACHARS
	  List	of  characters which are considered "metacharacters"
	  by the shell.

     LESSMETAESCAPE
	  Prefix which less will add before each metacharacter in  a
	  command sent to the shell. If LESSMETAESCAPE is  an  empty
	  string,  commands containing metacharacters  will  not  be
	  passed to the shell.

     LESSOPEN
	  Command line to invoke the (optional) input-preprocessor.

     LESSSECURE
	  Runs less in "secure" mode. See discussion under SECURITY.

     LESSSEPARATOR
	  String  to  be  appended to a directory name	in  filename
	  completion.

     LINES
	  Sets	the  number of lines on the screen. Takes precedence
	  over the number of lines specified by the TERM variable.

     PATH User's search path (used to find a lesskey file  on MS-DOS
	  and OS/2 systems).

     SHELL
	  The  shell used to execute the ! command, as	well  as  to
	  expand filenames.

     TERM The type of terminal on which less is being run.

     VISUAL
	  The name of the editor (used for the v command).


SEE ALSO
     lesskey(1)


WARNINGS
     The  =  command and prompts (unless changed by -P)	 report	 the
     line number of the line at the top of the screen, but the	byte
     and percent of the line at the bottom of the screen.

     If	 the :e command is used to name more than one file, and	 one
     of	 the  named files has been viewed previously, the new  files
     may be entered into the list in an unexpected order.

     On	 certain  older	 terminals  (the  so-called  "magic  cookie"
     terminals),  search  highlighting	will  cause   an   erroneous
     display. On such terminals, search highlighting is disabled  by
     default  to avoid possible problems.

     In	 certain cases, when search highlighting is enabled and	   a
     search  pattern  begins with a ^, more text than  the  matching
     string may be highlighted.

     On	 some systems, setlocale claims that ASCII characters 0 thru
     31	 are control characters	 rather than binary characters. This
     causes  less to treat some binary files as ordinary, non-binary
     files. To workaround this problem, set the environment variable
     LESSCHARSET   to	"ascii"	 (or  whatever	character   set	  is
     appropriate).


COPYRIGHT
     Copyright (c) 1984,1985,1989,1994,1995,1996  Mark Nudelman
     Comments to: markn@fog.net
     Copyright (c) 1994,1995,1996,1997,1998  Kazushi (Jam) Marukawa,
     Japanized routines only
     Comments to: jam@pobox.com
     Copyright	(c) 1997,1998,1999  Altair, Unofficial	patches	 for
     OS/2
     Comments to: NBG01720@nifty.ne.jp

OS/2					      Version 332: 22 Apr 97
