NAME
more, page - browse or page through a text file
SYNOPSIS
more [ -cdflsu ] [ -lines ] [ +linenumber ] [ +/pattern ]
[ filename ... ]
page [ -cdflsu ] [ -lines ] [ +linenumber ] [ +/pattern ] [
filename ... ]
DESCRIPTION
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, and prints --More-- at the bot-
tom of the screen. more provides a two-line overlap between
screens for continuity. 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.
If the standard output is not a terminal, more acts just
like cat(1V), except that a header is printed before each
file in a series.
OPTIONS
-c Clear before displaying. Redrawing 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 help-
ful for inexperienced users.
-f Do not fold long lines. This is useful when lines con-
tain 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-D) as "page
breaks." If -l is not used, more pauses to accept
commands after any line containing a ^L character
(CTRL-D). Also, if a file begins with a FORMFEED, the
screen is cleared before the file is printed.
-s Squeeze. Replace multiple blank lines with a single
blank line. This is helpful when viewing nroff(1) out-
put, on the screen.
-u Suppress generation of underlining escape sequences.
Normally, more handles underlining, such as that pro-
duced by nroff(1), in a manner appropriate to the ter-
minal. If the terminal can perform underlining or has
a stand-out mode, more supplies appropriate escape
sequences as called for in the text file.
-lines
Display the indicated number of lines in each screen-
ful, 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 regu-
lar 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.
USAGE
Environment
more uses the terminal's termcap(5) entry to determine its
display characteristics, and looks in the environment vari-
able 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).
Commands
The commands take effect immediately; it is not necessary
to type a carriage return. 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%)' 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 speci-
fied.
i^D (CTRL-D) Display (scroll down) 11 more lines. i
is given, the scroll size is set to i.
id Same as ^D.
iz Same as SPACE, except that i, if present, becomes
the new default number of lines per screenful.
is Skip i lines and then print a screenful.
if Skip i screenfuls and then print a screenful.
i^B (CTRL-B) Skip back i screenfuls and then print a
screenful.
b Same as ^B (CTRL-D).
q
Q Exit from more.
= Display the current line number.
v Drop into the vi(1) editor at the current line of
the current file.
h Help. Give a description of all the more com-
mands.
i/pattern Search for the ith occurrence of the regular
expression pattern. Display the screenful start-
ing two lines prior to 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 such match,
its position in the file remains unchanged. Regu-
lar expressions can be edited using erase and kill
characters. Erasing back past the first column
cancels the search command.
in Search for the ith occurrence of the last pattern
entered.
' 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.
!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.
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.
:f Display the current filename and line number.
:q
:Q Exit from more (same as q or Q ).
. Dot. Repeat the previous command.
^\ Halt a partial display of text. more stops send-
ing output, and displays the usual --More--
prompt. Unfortunately, some output is lost as a
result.
FILES
/etc/termcap terminal data base
/usr/lib/more.help help file
SEE ALSO
cat(1V), csh(1), man(1), script(1), sh(1), environ(5V),
termcap(5)
BUGS
Skipping backwards is too slow on large files.