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MORE(1) User Commands MORE(1)

NAME

more - file perusal filter for crt viewing

SYNOPSIS

more [options] file [...]

DESCRIPTION

more is a filter for paging through text one screenful at a time. This version is especially primitive. Users should realize that less(1) provides more(1) emulation plus extensive enhancements.

OPTIONS

Command-line options are described below. Options are also taken from the environment variable MORE (make sure to precede them with a dash (``-'')) but command line options will override them.

This option specifies an integer number which is the screen size (in lines).
more will prompt the user with the message "[Press space to continue, 'q' to quit.]" and will display "[Press 'h' for instructions.]" instead of ringing the bell when an illegal key is pressed.
more usually treats ^L (form feed) as a special character, and will pause after any line that contains a form feed. The -l option will prevent this behavior.
Causes more to count logical, rather than screen lines (i.e., long lines are not folded).
Do not scroll. Instead, clear the whole screen and then display the text. Notice that this option is switched on automatically if the executable is named page.
Do not scroll. Instead, paint each screen from the top, clearing the remainder of each line as it is displayed.
Squeeze multiple blank lines into one.
Suppress underlining.
+/
The +/ option specifies a string that will be searched for before each file is displayed.
+number
Start at line number.

COMMANDS

Interactive commands for more are based on vi(1). Some commands may be preceded by a decimal number, called k in the descriptions below. In the following descriptions, ^X means control-X.

Help: display a summary of these commands. If you forget all the other commands, remember this one.
Display next k lines of text. Defaults to current screen size.
Display next k lines of text. Defaults to current screen size. Argument becomes new default.
Display next k lines of text. Defaults to 1. Argument becomes new default.
Scroll k lines. Default is current scroll size, initially 11. Argument becomes new default.
Exit.
Skip forward k lines of text. Defaults to 1.
Skip forward k screenfuls of text. Defaults to 1.
Skip backwards k screenfuls of text. Defaults to 1. Only works with files, not pipes.
´
Go to place where previous search started.
=
Display current line number.
/pattern
Search for kth occurrence of regular expression. Defaults to 1.
Search for kth occurrence of last regular expression. Defaults to 1.
!command or :!command
Execute command in a subshell.
Start up an editor at current line. 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.
^L
Redraw screen.
:n
Go to kth next file. Defaults to 1.
:P
Go to kth previous file. Defaults to 1.
:f
Display current file name and line number.
.
Repeat previous command.

ENVIRONMENT

More utilizes the following environment variables, if they exist:

This variable may be set with favored options to more.
Current shell in use (normally set by the shell at login time).
Specifies terminal type, used by more to get the terminal characteristics necessary to manipulate the screen.
Editor the user is preferring. Used when key command v is pressed.
Editor of choise when VISUAL is not specified.

SEE ALSO

vi(1), less(1)

AUTHORS

Eric Shienbrood, UC Berkeley
Modified by Geoff Peck, UCB to add underlining, single spacing
Modified by John Foderaro, UCB to add -c and MORE environment variable

HISTORY

The more command appeared in 3.0BSD. This man page documents more version 5.19 (Berkeley 6/29/88), which is currently in use in the Linux community. Documentation was produced using several other versions of the man page, and extensive inspection of the source code.

AVAILABILITY

The more command is part of the util-linux package and is available from Linux Kernel Archive.

September 2011 util-linux