page(1)
NAME
more, page - browse or page through a text file
SYNOPSIS
/usr/bin/more [-cdflrsuw] [-lines] [ + linenumber] [ +/ pat-
tern] [file...]
/usr/bin/page [-cdflrsuw] [-lines] [ + linenumber] [ +/ pat-
tern] [file...]
/usr/xpg4/bin/more [-cdeisu] [-n number] [-p command] [-
t tagstring] [file...]
/usr/xpg4/bin/more [-cdeisu] [-n number] [ + command] [-
t tagstring] [file...]
DESCRIPTION
The more utility is a filter that displays the contents of a
text file on the terminal, one screenful at a time. It nor-
mally pauses after each screenful. /usr/bin/more then prints
--More-- and /usr/xpg4/bin/more then prints file at the bot-
tom of the screen. If more is reading from a file rather
than a pipe, the percentage of characters displayed so far
is also shown.
The more utility scrolls up to display one more line in
response to a RETURN character. more displays another
screenful in response to a SPACE character. Other commands
are listed below.
The page utility clears the screen before displaying the
next screenful of text. page only provides a one-line over-
lap between screens.
The more utility 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.
The /usr/bin/more utility 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.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported for both /usr/bin/more
and /usr/xpg4/bin/more:
-c Clears 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 Displays error messages rather than ringing the termi-
nal bell if an unrecognized command is used. This is
helpful for inexperienced users.
-s Squeeze. Replaces multiple blank lines with a single
blank line. This is helpful when viewing nroff(1) out-
put on the screen.
/usr/bin/more
The following options are supported for /usr/bin/more only:
-f Does 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 Does not treat FORMFEED characters (Control-l) as page
breaks. If -l is not used, more pauses to accept com-
mands after any line containing a ^L character
(Control-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 con-
trol character.
-u Suppresses 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.
-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
Displays 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
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.
/usr/xpg4/bin/more
The following options are supported for /usr/xpg4/bin/more
only:
-e Exits immediately after writing the last line of the
last file in the argument list.
-i Performs pattern matching in searches without regard
to case.
-n number
Specifies the number of lines per screenful. The
number argument is a positive decimal integer. The -n
option overrides any values obtained from the environ-
ment.
-p command
+command
For each file examined, initially executes the more
command in the command argument. If the command is a
positioning command, such as a line number or a regu-
lar expression search, set the current position to
represent the final results of the command, without
writing any intermediate lines of the file. For exam-
ple, 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
Writes the screenful of the file containing the tag
named by the tagstring argument. See the ctags(1)
utility.
-u Treats a backspace character as a printable control
character, displayed as a ^H (Control-h), suppressing
backspacing and the special handling that produces
underlined or standout-mode text on some terminal
types.
Also, does 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.
USAGE
Environment
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. (Nor-
mally, the command sequence to set up this environment vari-
able is placed in the .login or .profile file).
Commands
The commands take effect immediately. It is not necessary to
type a carriage return unless the command requires a file,
command, tagstring, or pattern. Up to the time when the com-
mand 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 file message.
In the following commands, i is a numerical argument (1 by
default).
i<SPACE>
Display another screenful, or i more lines if i is
specified.
i<RETURN>
Display another line, or i more lines, if specified.
ib
i^B (Control-b) Skip back i screenfuls and then print a
screenful.
id
i^D (Control-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 (Control-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).
/usr/bin/more
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.
/usr/xpg4/bin/more
The following commands are available only in
/usr/xpg4/bin/more:
i^F (Control-f) Skip i screens full and print a screenful.
(Same as if.)
^G (Control-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 i<RETURN>.)
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 (Control-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 com-
mands.
ZZ Exit from more (same as q).
:e file
Examine (display) a new file. If no file 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 begin-
ning of the file.
i?[!]pattern
Search backward in the file for the ith line contain-
ing 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.
Large File Behavior
See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of more
and page when encountering files greater than or equal to 2
Gbyte ( 2**31 bytes).
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment
variables that affect the execution of more: LANG, LC_ALL,
LC_COLLATE (/usr/xpg4/bin/more only), LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES,
NLSPATH, and TERM.
/usr/xpg4/bin/more
The following environment variables also affect the execu-
tion of /usr/xpg4/bin/more:
COLUMNS
Overrides the system selected horizontal screen size.
EDITOR
Used by the v command to select an editor.
LINES Overrides 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
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 Successful completion.
>0 An error occurred.
FILES
/usr/lib/more.help
help file for /usr/bin/more and /usr/bin/page only.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
/usr/bin/more /usr/bin/page
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWcsu |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| CSI | Not enabled |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
/usr/xpg4/bin/more
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWxcu4 |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| CSI | Enabled |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Interface Stability | Standard |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
cat(1), csh(1), ctags(1), man(1), nroff(1), script(1),
sh(1), ul(1), environ(4), terminfo(4), attributes(5),
environ(5), largefile(5), standards(5)
/usr/bin/more /usr/bin/page
regcomp(3C)
/usr/xpg4/bin/more
regex(5)
NOTES
/usr/bin/more
Skipping backwards is too slow on large files.
/usr/xpg4/bin/more
This utility will not behave correctly if the terminal is
not set up properly.
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