more(1) manual page
Table of Contents
more, page - browse or page through a text file
/usr/bin/more
[ -cdflrsuw ] [ -lines ] [ +linenumber ] [ +/pattern ] [ filename ... ]
/usr/bin/page
[ -cdflrsuw ] [ -lines ] [ +linenumber ] [ +/pattern ] [ filename ... ]
/usr/xpg4/bin/more
[ -cdeisu ] [ -nnumber ] [ -pcommand ] [ -ttagstring ] [ filename ... ]
/usr/xpg4/bin/more
[ -cdeisu ] [ -nnumber ] [ +command ] [ -ttagstring ] [ filename ... ]
SUNWcsu
SUNWxcu4
more is a
filter that displays the contents of a text file on the terminal, one
screenful at a time. It normally pauses after each screenful. /usr/bin/more
then prints --More-- and /usr/xpg4/bin/more then prints filename at the
bottom of the screen. If more is reading from a file rather than a pipe,
the percentage of characters displayed so far is also shown.
more scrolls
up to display one more line in response to a RETURN
character; it displays
another screenful in response to a SPACE
character. Other commands are
listed below.
page clears the screen before displaying the next screenful
of text; it only provides a one-line overlap between screens.
more sets the
terminal to NOECHO
mode, so that the output can be continuous. Commands
that you type do not normally show up on your terminal, except for the
/ and ! commands.
/usr/bin/more exits after displaying the last specified
file. /usr/xpg4/bin/more prompts for a command at the last line of the last
specified file.
If the standard output is not a terminal, more acts just
like cat(1)
, except that a header is printed before each file in a series.
The following options are available in both versions of more:
- -c
- Clear before displaying. Redraws the screen instead of scrolling for faster
displays. This option is ignored if the terminal does not have the ability
to clear to the end of a line.
- -d
- Display error messages rather than ringing
the terminal bell if an unrecognized command is used. This is helpful for
inexperienced users.
- -s
- Squeeze. Replace multiple blank lines with a single
blank line. This is helpful when viewing nroff(1)
output on the screen.
The following options are available only in /usr/bin/more:
- -f
- Do not fold long lines. This is useful when lines contain nonprinting
characters or escape sequences, such as those generated when nroff(1)
output
is piped through ul(1)
.
- -l
- Do not treat FORMFEED
characters (CTRL-L
) as page
breaks. If -l is not used, more pauses to accept commands after any line
containing a ^L character (CTRL-L
). Also, if a file begins with a FORMFEED
,
the screen is cleared before the file is printed.
- -r
- Normally, more ignores
control characters that it does not interpret in some way. The -r option
causes these to be displayed as ^C where C stands for any such control character.
- -u
- Suppress generation of underlining escape sequences. Normally, more handles
underlining, such as that produced by nroff(1)
, in a manner appropriate
to the terminal. If the terminal can perform underlining or has a stand-out
mode, more supplies appropriate escape sequences as called for in the text
file.
- -w
- Normally, more exits when it comes to the end of its input. With
-w, however, more prompts and waits for any key to be struck before exiting.
- -lines
- Display the indicated number of lines in each screenful, rather than
the default (the number of lines in the terminal screen less two).
- +linenumber
- Start up at linenumber.
- +/pattern
- Start up two lines above the line containing
the regular expression pattern. Note: Unlike editors, this construct should
not end with a ‘/.’ If it does, then the trailing slash is taken as a character
in the search pattern.
The following options are available
only in /usr/xpg4/bin/more:
- -e
- Exit immediately after writing the last line
of the last file in the argument list.
- -i
- Perform pattern matching in searches
without regard to case.
- -n number
Specify the number of lines per screenful. The number argument is a positive
decimal integer. The -n option overrides any values obtained from the environment.
- -p command
- For each file examined, initially execute the more command in
the command argument. If the command is a positioning command, such as
a line number or a regular expression search, set the current position
to represent the final results of the command, without writing any intermediate
lines of the file. For example, the two commands:
more -p 1000j file
more -p 1000G file
are equivalent and start the display with the current position at line
1000, bypassing the lines that j would write and scroll off the screen
if it had been issued during the file examination. If the positioning
command is unsuccessful, the first line in the file will be the current
position.
- -t tagstring
- Write the screenful of the file containing the tag
named by the tagstring argument. See the ctags(1)
utility.
- -u
- Treat a backspace
character as a printable control character, displayed as a ^H
(CTRL-H
),
suppressing backspacing and the special handling that produces underlined
or standout-mode text on some terminal types. Also, do not ignore a carriage-return
character at the end of a line.
If both the -t tagstring and -p command (or
the obsolescent +command) options are given, the -t tagstring is processed
first.
more uses the terminal’s terminfo(4)
entry to determine
its display characteristics.
more looks in the environment variable MORE
for any preset options. For instance, to page through files using the
-c mode by default, set the value of this variable to -c. (Normally, the command
sequence to set up this environment variable is placed in the .login or
.profile file).
The commands take effect immediately. It is not necessary
to type a carriage return unless the command requires a filename, command,
tagstring, or pattern. Up to the time when the command character itself
is given, the user may type the line kill character to cancel the numerical
argument being formed. In addition, the user may type the erase character
to redisplay the ‘--More--(xx%)’ or filename message.
In the following commands,
i is a numerical argument (1 by default).
- iSPACE
- Display another screenful,
or i more lines if i is specified.
- iRETURN
- Display another line, or i more
lines, if specified.
- ib
-
- i^B
- (CTRL-B
) Skip back i screenfuls and then print
a screenful.
- id
-
- i^D
- (CTRL-D
) Scroll forward one half screenful or i more
lines. If i is specified, the count becomes the default for subsequent
d and u commands.
- if
- Skip i screens full and then print a screenful.
- h
- Help.
Give a description of all the more commands.
- ^L
- (CTRL-L
) Refresh.
- in
- Search
for the ith occurrence of the last pattern entered.
- q
-
- Q
- Exit from more.
- is
- Skip i lines and then print a screenful.
- v
- Drop into the vi editor
at the current line of the current file.
- iz
- Same as SPACE,
except that i,
if present, becomes the new default number of lines per screenful.
- =
- Display
the current line number.
- i/pattern
- Search forward for the ith occurrence
of the regular expression pattern. Display the screenful starting two lines
before the line that contains the ith match for the regular expression
pattern, or the end of a pipe, whichever comes first. If more is displaying
a file and there is no match, its position in the file remains unchanged.
Regular expressions can be edited using erase and kill characters. Erasing
back past the first column cancels the search command.
- !command
- Invoke
a shell to execute command. The characters % and !, when used within command
are replaced with the current filename and the previous shell command,
respectively. If there is no current filename, % is not expanded. Prepend
a backslash to these characters to escape expansion.
- :f
- Display the current
filename and line number.
- i:n
- Skip to the ith next filename given in the
command line, or to the last filename in the list if i is out of range.
- i:p
- Skip to the ith previous filename given in the command line, or to
the first filename if i is out of range. If given while more is positioned
within a file, go to the beginning of the file. If more is reading from
a pipe, more simply rings the terminal bell.
- :q
-
- :Q
- Exit from more (same
as q or Q).
The following commands are available only in /usr/bin/more:
- ’
- Single quote. Go to the point from which the last search started. If no
search has been performed in the current file, go to the beginning of the
file. .
- Dot. Repeat the previous command.
- ^\
- Halt a partial display of text. more
stops sending output, and displays the usual --More-- prompt. Some output is
lost as a result.
The following commands are available
only in /usr/xpg4/bin/more:
- i^F
- (CTRL-F
) Skip i screens full and print a
screenful. (Same as if.)
- ^G
- (CTRL-G
) Display the current line number (same
as =).
- ig
- Go to line number i with the default of the first line in the
file.
- iG
- Go to line number i with the default of the Last line in the file.
- ij
- Display another line, or i more lines, if specified. (Same as iRETURN
.)
- ik
- Scroll backwards one or i lines, if specified.
- mletter
- Mark the current
position with the name letter.
- N
- Reverse direction of search.
- r
- Refresh
the screen.
- R
- Refresh the screen, discarding any buffered input.
- iu
-
- i^U
- (CTRL-U
)
Scroll backwards one half a screen of i lines, if specified. If i is specified,
the count becomes the new default for subsequent d and u commands.
- ZZ
- Exit from more (same as q).
- :e filename
- Examine (display) a new file.
If no filename is specified, the current file is redisplayed.
- :t tagstring
- Go to the tag named by the tagstring argument and scroll/rewrite the screen
with the tagged line in the current position. See the ctags utility.
- ’letter
- Return to the position that was previously marked with the name letter.
- ’’
- Return to the position from which the last move of more than a screenful
was made. Defaults to the beginning of the file.
- i?[!]pattern
- Search backward
in the file for the ith line containing the pattern. The ! specifies to
search backward for the ith line that does not contain the pattern.
- i/!pattern
- Search forward in the file for the ith line that does not contain the
pattern.
- ![command]
- Invoke a shell or the specified command.
See
environ(5)
for descriptions of the following environment variables that
affect the execution of more: LC_COLLATE
, LC_CTYPE
, LC_MESSAGES
, NLSPATH
,
and TERM
.
The following environment variables also affect
the execution of /usr/xpg4/bin/more:
- COLUMNS
- Override the system selected
horizontal screen size.
- EDITOR
- Used by the v command to select an editor.
- LINES
- Override the system selected vertical screen size. The -n option
has precedence over LINES
in determining the number of lines in a screen.
- MORE
- A string specifying options as described in the OPTIONS section,
above. As in a command line, The options must be separated by blank characters
and each option specification must start with a -. Any command line options
are processed after those specified in MORE
as though the command line
were:
more $MORE
options operands
- /usr/lib/more.help
- help file for /usr/bin/more and /usr/bin/page
only.
cat(1)
, csh(1)
, ctags(1)
, man(1)
, nroff(1)
, script(1)
, sh(1)
,
ul(1)
, environ(4)
, terminfo(4)
, environ(5)
Skipping
backwards is too slow on large files.
Will not behave
correctly if the terminal is not set up correctly.
Table of Contents
![[Go to CFHT Home Page]](/images/cfht-icon.gif){kind=icon}
Man Pages 
Back to Software Index 
Manpage Top Level