Questions tagged [less]
less is a terminal pager program on Unix, Windows, and Unix-like systems used to view (but not change) the contents of a text file one screen at a time.
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"less" stopped wrapping on Debian Bookworm
As it says in subject: it does NOT wrap text in terminal anymore and there does not seem to be any option in manpage that says how to force it to wrap long lines.
Please advise how to force less to ...
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Can I modify the exit key for the less command in ubuntu?
Is there any way to customize the less command to exit using a key other than 'q'?
EDIT
I have tried creating a file called lesskey under $HOME/.config with the following contents:
#command
\b quit
...
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cli program `less` interprets a file as binary when it is utf-8 text
I have a file that has non-ascii, UTF-8 characters in it. When I use less to view that file I get a warning saying may be a binary file. See it anyway? But the file is clearly not a binary. And when ...
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How do I make less look like a terminal to programs attached to its input?
Questions like "How do I get grep to pipe color output to less?" explain what flag to give to grep so it'll ignore the fact that less isn't a regular terminal. Is there a way to fool an ...
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In less, what's the matter with the <End> key as command?
In less I have been using the End key as a command for many years.
This is in order to let less end working page by page but instead to let less make its work up to the end of the file from that ...
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how to chop (truncate) long lines in bash output to fit in the screen with?
I love piping any output into less -S because it prints neatly without wrapping long lines of output into new lines (especially for tables). However, I wonder if there is a way to truncate long lines ...
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less does not obey env LESSHISTFILE
I use less version
version 590 (GNU regular expressions)
1984-2021 Mark Nudelman
I was informed to install the version 602 since therein the bug with colored input and -R is fixed.
But this is until ...
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In less cmd, I cannot use mouse to select characters expect press Shift button. Why?
Refered to this post, I had set export LESS='-riF --mouse --wheel-lines=3', and solved the scrolling problem, but I coundn't select any charaters on the screen except pressing SHIFT button.
This is ...
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`less -R` vs `less -r`: Why do colors only work partially in `-R` mode?
I've been confused by the following behavior of less many times:
# setup some test data
echo -e "foo\nfoo\nfoo" > /tmp/foo
echo -e "bar\nbar\nbar" > /tmp/bar
# now pipe ...
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Does `less`'s text search NOT work with huge files?
Either this is a bug, or I'm not understanding something. But I use less -p value filename.txt to search for value in filename.text and when I do it for a file that only contains a couple of lines of ...
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How to go to N-th file as described in the man file for less [duplicate]
I love using less to browse files. I often like to move through multiple files.
In the man file it says that one can move N files forward:
:n Examine the next file (from the list of files given in ...
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Indent wrapped lines using less
Using less you can wrap long lines with -S or --chop-long-lines.
Is there any way to indent those wrapped lines?
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DIfference between `less mount` and `mount | less`
I was trying to look at the output of the mount command. less mount gave the following error:
(base) jafar_isbarov@jafar-IdeaPad-3-15ADA05:~$ less mount
mount: No such file or directory
When I ran ...
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How can I stop `less` from removing ANSI color sequences from stdin?
tree go | less -R
Debian/Linux tree includes ANSI color escape sequences matching the form ESC]...m in its output.
I would like less -R --RAW-CONTROL-CHARS to output the incoming ANSI "color&...
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How to go to the next found result when using the less command on a log file in Linux?
I have a log file where I can use less on the file where I know how to go to the bottom of the log file with a shift+G and then use ? to query in the text file.
What I don't know how to do is when I ...
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Pressing q does not exit in less running in tmux
How to exit file reading mode (in less) in Linux terminal?
To quit less, type q.
I am using tmux on remotely connected node using ssh. I am connecting into host as follows: ssh -xt4C username@host.
...
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How do I see current status of runtime options of less utility?
Less takes runtime options from LESS environment variable + system-wide lesskey file + $HOME/.less file + command line arguments + runtime commands invoked by user.
Use case
After toggling some ...
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The closest thing to 'less -S' using pre-installed Windows command-line tools?
What would be the best way to chop long lines of output (and do some horizontal scrolling perhaps, but I'm not holding my breath) on Windows, using Windows command-line tools like more. I want to ...
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Tuning vim's less.sh: enabling persistent search history
So, I'm using vim's less.sh in place of standard less pager:
alias less=/usr/share/vim/vim81/macros/less.sh
However, I have a major and a minor problem with it.
The major issue is that it does not ...
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less command does not open zip files on debian
Here I am using debian/testing distribution on my machine but there is something interesting.
# less file.zip
"./file.zip" may be a binary file. See it anyway?
Do I need to install some ...
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How to exit less follow mode without exiting less when xargs is used?
ls -rt *.log | tail -1 | xargs less +GF
I use this command to tail -f my logs, but when I ctrl+c to exit follow mode, it quits less too.
I think it is caused by xargs, because if you just less <...
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Unblock "less" after follow mode / scrolling past end of buffer
I'm using less to capture the output of a live program. Using F activates follow mode, showing me real-time output. However, after entering follow mode (or, more generally, scrolling past the buffered ...
- 1,411
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less -R does not show colors when processing ANSI colored text via a pipe
The command terraform show does NOT show colored text but the command terraform show | less shows output with what seem to be text color codes:
ESC[0m#module.vpc.module.label.data.null_data_source....
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How can I paginate Docker commands?
The output of some Docker commands (such as docker container ls) takes a lot of space of my terminal, causing a lot of line breaks, which makes the reading to be a frustrating task.
So I wondered if ...
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Italics work everywhere except in less(1)
I followed (and modified) this Reddit post to get italics working in Terminal.app and in tmux(1).
Italics work
The command
echo -e "\e[3mfoo\e[23m"
outputs foo (with italics) in both a regular ...
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git log -<number> does not work in Combination with LESS env Variable
I want git log or git diff to clear the screen when I quit. I followed this instruction and added export LESS="FR" to my .bashrc, so that git does not add the X option to the less command (see pager ...
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Mouse scrolling less pager output in tmux session
I use export LESS=-R to enable scrolling through less output using mouse scroll. It doesn’t work in tmux. For vim, the solution was to add set mouse=a. What is the equivalent option for less assuming ...
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Have utilities like vim and less source .bash_login or .bashrc for command lines
When I try to enter an alias into the less or vim command lines, they both print “/bin/bash: [MY ALIAS]: command not found”
This alias is defined in .bashrc or .bash_login and is there a way to ...
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`vim | less` breaks things
This is the best place I found for my question.
Running vim | less from inside gitbash will cause it to do something that I can only describe as "breaking."
Usually I can get the less ...
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3
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`less`: multiple commands, including a search
Imagine you would want less to auto scroll to the end. Easy, as its manual states, do less +G.
Imagine you would want less to start at the beginning but after soaking its whole input. Easy, do less +...
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When I press up-arrow in 'less' in mintty (cygwin), only the top line changes. How do I fix this?
Here is what is happening:
How do I fix this?
(Just to be clear, the issue occurs when I type less <any filename>. The man less in the gif is just an arbitrary command to demonstrate the ...
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less showing ^M instead of going to a new line
I have a log file where borg --progress adds many lines separated by ^M.
Weirdly, less puts the ^M in the screen "as it is", instead of producing a new line.
Is there a reason for that?
How can I ...
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119
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Print content and exit if the content can fit in one screen in less command
I have the following in my ~/.gitconfig:
[core]
pager = less -+$LESS -MR
This makes less to be used for git commands. git commands output contents in less irrespective of the size of the content. ...
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Is there a way to run less without reverting the screen afterward? [duplicate]
I much prefer less over more for paging output since it has a much nicer command interface. However, it has the very annoying feature of clearing the screen back to its original state on exit. The one ...
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Less Compiler is not working in PHPStrom 2018.3
I am using PHPstrom 2018.3 (latest Version). I am getting this error while I am using less to compile through file watcher.
Failed to run File Watcher ', Less'.
The watcher has been disabled.
Error: ...
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less +F but tracking file by name, not inode
I'm looking at log file but it's renamed (logs rotation mechanism). How do I see actual logging file in less-like fashion, so I can stop updating for a while and then continue?
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less -+Option documentation
In this answer less -+S is used, to toggle the -S option off.
I am wondering where this behaviour of less is documented, as scrolling less --help only yields +cmd Execute the less cmd ...
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Have pager (less) re-run git log upon keypress
Sometimes I find it handy to have the git commit graph (given by git log) displayed side-by-side to the terminal pane I'm working in.
git log is run with the less pager by default and only shows the ...
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What does `LESS=+/EXAMPLE\:` mean?
In man parallel_tutorial (for GNU parallel) I’ve found the following black magic:
LESS=+/EXAMPLE\: man parallel
Searching around in the man pages for man, less, and bash, it appears this may have ...
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Graphical less alternative (log file viewer) [closed]
While I'm comfortable in the command line, I find a GUI easier to navigate and able to fit/scroll more information at a time.
In the Windows world I'm used to TotalCommander, which has a really nice ...
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why is `less` command using too `much` ram
I was using less to examine a rather large file (8GB on a machine with 4GB RAM). I told it to "scroll to the end" (shift+G) and it ran for quite awhile then was killed for using up RAM. I thought ...
- 2,146
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Less program rendering breaks
I've been experiencing this problem on multiple computers, over a long time, but I could never find any mention of it anywhere so I thought I should ask it to understand whether it's only me once and ...
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what's the least-painfull way to have less on Windows?
I want to use less, instead of more, on a Windows machine.
I know I can install Cygwin and use its less. But I've also noticed there's GnuWin which offers a less, a stand-alone less, and there are ...
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Append to compressed log
There is a couple of z-utilities (zless, zcat), which are able to read contents of zipped file in transparent manner.
Is it possible to append to compressed log file (in either format, not ...
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Less - How to jump to a part in a large pdf?
I am using less to view a large (Think over 5k page) pdf in my terminal. The pdf is divided up into chapters. I am curious to know, how do I go to a certain chapter in the pdf without knowing the line ...
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`less` "search backward" command line switch?
I know less +/pattern filename will open the file and navigate to the first occurrence of the pattern. Is there a way to tell less to search from the end backwards? Does it even accept more than one + ...
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Pipe grep to less showing the grep command as file name
less -M will show the file name as a prompt, as in:
1 asdf
test.txt lines 1-1/1 (END)
I like to pipe grep into less for easier reading. Can I get less to interpret the grep command as file ...
- 200
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3
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142
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Telling `less` where to break pages
Is there some way to tell less where to break pages?
I was hoping that ^L (form feed / page break) would do it, but found it doesn't. I tried the following:
The first page.
It is three lines
long.
^...
- 4,156
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475
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Special characters in less log file make it useless
I want to save the output of the Python help command to a file. Since it uses less, the obvious way is to "s file" while in less. It works, but the words which less shows in bold are screwed up. Any ...
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3
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Command for reloading file from disk to show changes when using “less?”
In less is there a command for reloading a file from disk, so that less will show any changes made to a file since less was started? This would saving me have to terminate and restart less if I want ...
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