more(1)

Name | Synopsis | Description | Options | Usage | Environment Variables | Exit Status | Files | Attributes | See Also | Notes

Name

more, page– browse or page through a text file

Synopsis

/usr/bin/more [-cdflrsuw] [-lines] [+ linenumber] 
     [+/ pattern] [file]...

/usr/bin/page [-cdflrsuw] [-lines] [+ linenumber] 
     [+/ pattern] [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 normally pauses after each screenful. /usr/bin/more then prints --More-- and /usr/xpg4/bin/more then prints file 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.

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 overlap 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 terminal 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) output 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 commands 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 control character.

-u

Suppresses 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

Displays 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.

/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 environment.

-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 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

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. (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 unless the command requires a file, 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 file 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

(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 i th 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 i th occurrence of the regular expression pattern. Display the screenful starting two lines before the line that contains the i th 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 i th 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 i th 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 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

(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 commands.

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 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.

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 ( 2³¹ 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 execution 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 attributes:

/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), 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.

SunOS 5.11  Last Revised 4 Nov 2005

Name | Synopsis | Description | Options | Usage | Environment Variables | Exit Status | Files | Attributes | See Also | Notes