MORE(1) INTERACTIVE UNIX System MORE(1)
NAME
more - view a file one full screen at a time
SYNOPSIS
more [ -cdflsurw ] [ -n ] [ +linenumber ] [ +/pattern ]
[ name ... ]
DESCRIPTION
The more filter allows examination of continuous text one
full screen at a time. It normally pauses after each full
screen, printing
``--More--'' at the bottom of the screen. If the user then
presses the RETURN key, one more line is displayed. If the
user presses the SPACEBAR, another full screen is displayed.
Other possibilities are described below.
The command line options include the following:
-n An integer which is the size (in lines) of the
window which more will use instead of the
default.
-c More draws each page by beginning at the top of
the screen and erasing each line just before it
displays a new line. This avoids scrolling the
screen, making it easier to read while more is
writing. This option is ignored if the terminal
does not have the ability to clear to the end of
a line.
-d More prompts with the message ``Hit space to
continue, Del to abort" at the end of each full
screen. This is useful if more is being used as
a filter in some setting, such as a class, where
many users may be inexperienced.
-f This option causes more to count logical lines,
rather than screen lines. That is, long lines
are not folded. This option is recommended if
nroff output is being piped through ul, since
the latter may generate escape sequences. These
escape sequences contain characters that would
ordinarily occupy screen positions, but that do
not print when they are sent to the terminal as
part of an escape sequence. Thus, more may
think that lines are longer than they actually
are and fold lines erroneously.
-l Does not treat CTRL-L (FORMFEED) specially. If
this option is not given, more pauses after any
line that contains a CTRL-L, as if the end of a
full screen had been reached. Also, if a file
begins with a FORMFEED, the screen is cleared
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MORE(1) INTERACTIVE UNIX System MORE(1)
before the file is printed.
-s Squeezes multiple blank lines from the output,
producing only one blank line. Especially help-
ful when viewing nroff output, this option max-
imizes the useful information present on the
screen.
-u Normally, more handles underlining, such as that
produced by nroff in a manner appropriate to the
particular terminal: if the terminal can per-
form underlining or has a stand-out mode, more
outputs appropriate escape sequences to enable
underlining or stand-out mode for
underlined information in the source file. The
-u option suppresses this processing.
-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.
-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.
+linenumber Starts up at linenumber.
+/pattern Starts up two lines before the line containing
the regular expression pattern.
More looks in the /etc/termcap file for the terminal charac-
teristics and the default window size. For example, on a
terminal capable of displaying 24 lines, the default window
size is 22 lines.
More looks in the environment variable, MORE, to preset any
flags desired. For example, if you prefer to view files
using the -c mode of operation, the shell command,
``MORE=-c'', in the .profile file causes all invocations of
more to use this mode.
If more is reading from a file, rather than a pipe, then a
percentage is displayed along with the ``--More--'' prompt.
This gives the fraction of the file (in characters, not
lines) that has been read so far.
Other sequences which may be typed when more pauses, and
their effects, are as follows (i is an optional integer
argument, defaulting to 1):
i<space> Displays i more lines, (or another full screen
if no argument is given).
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CTRL-D Displays 11 more lines (a ``scroll''). If i is
given, then the scroll size is set to i.
d Same as CTRL-D.
iz Same as typing a space except that i, if
present, becomes the new window size.
is Skips i lines and prints a full screen of lines.
if Skips i full screens and prints a full screen of
lines.
q or Q Exits from more.
= Displays the current line number.
v Starts up the screen editor vi at the current
line. (Note that vi may not be available with
your system.)
h or ? Help command; gives a description of all the
more commands.
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MORE(1) INTERACTIVE UNIX System MORE(1)
i/expr Searches for the ith occurrence of the regular
expression expr. If there are less than i
occurrences of expr, and the input is a file
(rather than a pipe), then the position in the
file remains unchanged. Otherwise, a full
screen is displayed, starting two lines before
the place where the expression was found. You
can use the ERASE and KILL characters to edit
the regular expression. Erasing back past the
first column cancels the search command.
in Searches for the ith occurrence of the last reg-
ular expression entered.
' (Single quotation mark) Goes to the point from
which the last search started. If no search has
been performed in the current file, this command
goes back to the beginning of the file.
!command Invokes a shell with command. The % and ! char-
acters in command are replaced with the current
filename and the previous shell command respec-
tively. If there is no current filename, % is
not expanded. The sequences, ``\%'' and ``\!'',
are replaced by ``%'' and ``!'', respectively.
i:n Skips to the ith next file given in the command
line (skips to last file if n doesn't make
sense).
i:p Skips to the ith previous file given in the com-
mand line. If this command is given in the mid-
dle of printing out a file, more goes back to
the beginning of the file. If i doesn't make
sense, more skips back to the first file. If
more is not reading from a file, the bell rings
and nothing else happens.
:f Displays the current filename and line number.
:q or :Q Exits from more (same as q or Q).
. Repeats the previous command.
The commands take effect immediately, i.e., you do not need
to press the RETURN key. Up to the time when the command
character itself is given, you can press the KILL character
to cancel the numerical argument being formed. In addition,
you can press the ERASE character to redisplay the ``--
More--(xx%)'' message.
The terminal is set to noecho mode by this program so that
the output can be continuous. This means that what you type
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MORE(1) INTERACTIVE UNIX System MORE(1)
does not show on your terminal, except for the slash (/) and
exclamation (!) commands.
If the standard output is not a teletype, more acts just
like cat, except that a header is printed before each file
(if there is more than one file).
A sample usage of more in previewing nroff output would be:
nroff -ms +2 doc.n | more -s
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MORE(1) INTERACTIVE UNIX System MORE(1)
FILES
/usr/lib/terminfo/?/* terminal information database
/usr/lib/more.help help file
SEE ALSO
csh(1), sh(1).
environ(5) in the INTERACTIVE SDS Guide and Programmer's
Reference Manual.
NOTES
The vi and help options may not be available.
Before displaying a file, more attempts to detect whether
the file is an unprintable binary file such as a directory
or an executable binary image. If more concludes that a
file is unprintable, more refuses to print it. However,
more cannot detect all possible kinds of unprintable files.
This utility was developed at the University of California
at Berkeley and is used with permission.
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