[4mLESS[24m(1)                     General Commands Manual                    [4mLESS[24m(1)

[1mNAME[0m
       less - display the contents of a file in a terminal

[1mSYNOPSIS[0m


       [1mless [22m[[1m-[22m[[1m+[22m][1maABcCdeEfFgGiIJKLmMnNqQrRsSuUVwWX~[22m] [[1m-b [4m[22msize[24m] [[1m-D [4m[22mcolor[24m]
              [[1m-h [4m[22mlines[24m] [[1m-j [4m[22mline[24m] [[1m-k [4m[22mkey‐file[24m] [[1m-[22m{[1mo[22m|[1mO[22m} [4mlog‐file[24m] [[1m-p [4m[22mpattern[0m
              [4m][24m [[1m-P [4m[22mprompt[24m] [[1m-t [4m[22mtag[24m] [[1m-T [4m[22mtags‐file[24m] [[1m-x [4m[22mtab[24m[{[1m,[4m[22mtab[24m}...]]
              [[1m-y [4m[22mlines[24m] [[1m-z [4m[22mlines[24m] [[1m-[4m[22mlines[24m] [[1m-"[4m[22mcc[24m] [[1m-# [4m[22mshift[24m] [[1m+[4m[22mless‐command[24m]
              [[1m--[22m] [[4mfile[24m ...]

       [1mless -?[0m
       [1mless --help[0m

       [1mless -V[0m
       [1mless --version[0m

       (See  the  OPTIONS section for alternate option syntax with long option
       names.)

[1mDESCRIPTION[0m
       [1mLess [22mis a program similar to [1mmore[22m(1), but it has  many  more  features.
       [1mLess  [22mdoes  not  have to read the entire input file before starting, so
       with large input files it starts  up  faster  than  text  editors  like
       [1mvi[22m(1).   [1mLess [22muses termcap (or terminfo on some systems), so it can run
       on a variety of terminals.  There is even limited support for  hardcopy
       terminals.   (On  a hardcopy terminal, lines which should be printed at
       the top of the screen are prefixed with a caret.)

[1mCOMMANDS[0m
       Commands are based on both [1mmore [22mand [1mvi[22m.  Commands may be preceded by  a
       decimal number, called N in the descriptions below.  The number is used
       by some commands, as indicated.

       In  the following descriptions, ^X means control‐X.  ESC stands for the
       ESCAPE key; for example ESC‐v means the  two  character  sequence  "ES‐
       CAPE", then "v".

       h or H Help:  display  a  summary of these commands.  If you forget all
              the other commands, remember this one.

       SPACE or ^V or f or ^F
              Scroll forward N lines, default one window (see  option  [1m-z  [22mbe‐
              low).  If N is more than the screen size, only the final screen‐
              ful  is  displayed.   Warning:  some systems use ^V as a special
              literalization character.

       z      Like SPACE, but if N is specified, it  becomes  the  new  window
              size.

       ENTER or RETURN or ^N or e or ^E or j or ^J
              Scroll  forward N lines, default 1.  The entire N lines are dis‐
              played, even if N is more than the screen size.

       d or ^D
              Scroll forward N lines, default one half of the screen size.  If
              N is specified, it becomes the new default for subsequent d  and
              u commands.

       b or ^B or ESC‐v
              Scroll  backward  N lines, default one window (see option [1m-z [22mbe‐
              low).  If N is more than the screen size, only the final screen‐
              ful is displayed.

       w      Like ESC‐v, but if N is specified, it  becomes  the  new  window
              size.

       y or ^Y or ^P or k or ^K
              Scroll backward N lines, default 1.  The entire N lines are dis‐
              played,  even  if N is more than the screen size.  Warning: some
              systems use ^Y as a special job control character.

       u or ^U
              Scroll backward N lines, default one half of  the  screen  size.
              If  N  is specified, it becomes the new default for subsequent d
              and u commands.

       J      Like j, but continues to scroll beyond the end of the file.

       K or Y Like k, but continues to scroll  beyond  the  beginning  of  the
              file.

       ESC‐SPACE
              Like SPACE, but scrolls a full screenful, even if it reaches the
              end of the file.

       ESC‐b  Like b, but scrolls a full screenful, even if it reaches the be‐
              ginning of the file.

       ESC‐j  Scroll  forward  N file lines, default 1.  A file line is a com‐
              plete line in the file, terminated by a newline.

       ESC‐k  Scroll backwards N file lines, default 1.

       ESC‐) or RIGHTARROW
              Scroll horizontally right N characters, default half the  screen
              width  (see  the [1m-# [22moption).  If a number N is specified, it be‐
              comes the default for future RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW  commands.
              While  the  text  is  scrolled,  it acts as though the [1m-S [22moption
              (chop lines) were in effect.

       ESC‐( or LEFTARROW
              Scroll horizontally left N characters, default half  the  screen
              width  (see  the [1m-# [22moption).  If a number N is specified, it be‐
              comes the default for future RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW commands.

       ESC‐} or ^RIGHTARROW or SHIFT‐RIGHTARROW
              Scroll horizontally right to show the end of  the  longest  dis‐
              played line.

       ESC‐{ or ^LEFTARROW or SHIFT‐LEFTARROW
              Scroll horizontally left back to the first column.

       ^END or SHIFT‐END
              Go  to  line  N  in  the  file, default the end of the file, and
              scroll horizontally right to show the end of  the  longest  dis‐
              played line.

       ^HOME or SHIFT‐HOME
              Go  to  line  N  in the file, default 1 (beginning of file), and
              scroll horizontally left back to the first column.

       r or ^R or ^L
              Repaint the screen.

       R      Repaint the screen, discarding any buffered input.  That is, re‐
              load the current file.  Useful if the file is changing while  it
              is being viewed.

       F      Scroll  forward, and keep trying to read when the end of file is
              reached.  Normally this command would be used  when  already  at
              the  end of the file.  It is a way to monitor the tail of a file
              which is growing while it is being  viewed.   (The  behavior  is
              similar  to  the  "tail  -f" command.)  To stop waiting for more
              data, enter the interrupt character (usually  ^C).   On  systems
              which support [1mpoll[22m(2) you can also use ^X or the character spec‐
              ified  by  the  [1m--intr  [22moption.   If the input is a pipe and the
              [1m--exit-follow-on-close [22moption is in effect, [1mless [22mwill  automati‐
              cally  stop  waiting for data when the input side of the pipe is
              closed.

       ESC‐f  Like F, but each time a line is found  which  matches  the  last
              search pattern, the terminal bell is rung.

       ESC‐F  Like  F,  but  as soon as a line is found which matches the last
              search pattern, the terminal bell is rung and forward  scrolling
              stops.

       g or < or ESC‐< or HOME
              Go to line N in the file, default 1 (beginning of file).  (Warn‐
              ing: this may be slow if N is large.)

       G or > or ESC‐> or END
              Go  to  line N in the file, default the end of the file.  (Warn‐
              ing: this may be slow if N is large, or if N  is  not  specified
              and standard input, rather than a file, is being read.)

       ESC‐G  Same  as  G, except if no number N is specified and the input is
              standard input,  goes  to  the  last  line  which  is  currently
              buffered.

       p or % Go to a position N percent into the file.  N should be between 0
              and 100, and may contain a decimal point.

       P      Go to the line containing byte offset N in the file.

       {      If a left curly bracket appears in the top line displayed on the
              screen,  the  {  command  will  go  to  the matching right curly
              bracket.  The matching right curly bracket is positioned on  the
              bottom line of the screen.  If there is more than one left curly
              bracket  on  the top line, a number N may be used to specify the
              N‐th bracket on the line.

       }      If a right curly bracket appears in the bottom line displayed on
              the screen, the } command will go to  the  matching  left  curly
              bracket.   The  matching left curly bracket is positioned on the
              top line of the screen.  If there is more than one  right  curly
              bracket  on  the  bottom line, a number N may be used to specify
              the N‐th bracket on the line.

       (      Like {, but applies to parentheses rather than curly brackets.

       )      Like }, but applies to parentheses rather than curly brackets.

       [      Like {, but applies to square brackets rather than curly  brack‐
              ets.

       ]      Like  }, but applies to square brackets rather than curly brack‐
              ets.

       ESC‐^F Followed by two characters, acts like {, but uses the two  char‐
              acters  as  open and close brackets, respectively.  For example,
              "ESC ^F < >" could be used to go forward to the > which  matches
              the < in the top displayed line.

       ESC‐^B Followed  by two characters, acts like }, but uses the two char‐
              acters as open and close brackets, respectively.   For  example,
              "ESC ^B < >" could be used to go backward to the < which matches
              the > in the bottom displayed line.

       m      Followed  by  any lowercase or uppercase letter, marks the first
              displayed line with that letter.  If a number N is  given,  line
              number N is marked instead.  If the status column is enabled via
              the [1m-J [22moption, the status column shows the marked line.

       M      Acts  like  m,  except  the last displayed line is marked rather
              than the first displayed line.  If a number  N  is  given,  line
              number N is marked instead.

       '      (Single  quote.)  Followed by any lowercase or uppercase letter,
              returns to the position which was previously  marked  with  that
              letter.   Followed by another single quote, returns to the posi‐
              tion at which the last "large" movement  command  was  executed.
              Followed  by a ^ or $, jumps to the beginning or end of the file
              respectively.  If a number N is given, the marked line is placed
              on the N‐th line on the screen.  Otherwise, it is placed on  the
              same  line  that it was on when it was marked (the first line on
              the screen if marked via the [1mm [22mcommand, the  last  line  on  the
              screen if marked via the [1mM [22mcommand, or the line that was clicked
              if  marked  via the mouse).  Marks are preserved when a new file
              is examined within a single invocation of [1mless[22m, so the ' command
              can be used to switch between input files.  The [1m--save-marks [22mop‐
              tion causes marks to be preserved across  different  invocations
              of [1mless[22m.

       ^X^X   Same as single quote.

       ESC‐m  Followed  by  any lowercase or uppercase letter, clears the mark
              identified by that letter.

       /[4mpattern[0m
              Search forward in the file for the N‐th line containing the pat‐
              tern.  N defaults to 1.  The pattern is a regular expression, as
              recognized by the regular expression library  supplied  by  your
              system.   By default, searching is case‐sensitive (uppercase and
              lowercase are considered different); the [1m-i [22moption can  be  used
              to  change  this.  The search starts at the first line displayed
              (but see the [1m-a [22mand [1m-j [22moptions, which change this).

              Certain characters are special if entered at  the  beginning  of
              the  pattern;  they modify the type of search rather than become
              part of the pattern:

              ^N or !
                     Search for lines which do NOT match the pattern.

              ^E or *
                     Search multiple files.  That is, if  the  search  reaches
                     the  END of the current file without finding a match, the
                     search continues in the next file  in  the  command  line
                     list.

              ^F or @
                     Begin  the  search at the first line of the FIRST file in
                     the command line list, regardless of  what  is  currently
                     displayed  on  the screen or the settings of the [1m-a [22mor [1m-j[0m
                     options.

              ^K     Highlight any text which matches the pattern on the  cur‐
                     rent screen, but don’t move to the first match (KEEP cur‐
                     rent position).

              ^R     Don’t  interpret  regular expression metacharacters; that
                     is, do a simple textual comparison.

              ^S     Followed by a digit N between 1 and 5.  Only  text  which
                     has a non‐empty match for the N‐th parenthesized SUB‐PAT‐
                     TERN  will be considered to match the pattern.  For exam‐
                     ple, searching for "(abc)|(def)" modified with ^S1  would
                     search  for  instances  of "abc", but would highlight in‐
                     stances of both "abc" and "def".  (Supported only if [1mless[0m
                     is built with one of  the  regular  expression  libraries
                     [1mposix[22m,  [1mpcre[22m,  or  [1mpcre2[22m.)   Multiple ^S modifiers can be
                     specified, to match more than one sub‐pattern.

              ^W     WRAP around the current file.  That  is,  if  the  search
                     reaches  the  end  of  the current file without finding a
                     match, the search continues from the first  line  of  the
                     current  file up to the line where it started.  If the ^W
                     modifier is set, the ^E modifier is ignored.

              ^L     The next character is taken literally; that  is,  it  be‐
                     comes  part of the pattern even if it is one of the above
                     search modifier characters.

       ?[4mpattern[0m
              Search backward in the file for the  N‐th  line  containing  the
              pattern.   The search starts at the last line displayed (but see
              the [1m-a [22mand [1m-j [22moptions, which change this).

              Certain characters are special as in the / command:

              ^N or !
                     Search for lines which do NOT match the pattern.

              ^E or *
                     Search multiple files.  That is, if  the  search  reaches
                     the  beginning  of  the  current  file  without finding a
                     match, the search continues in the previous file  in  the
                     command line list.

              ^F or @
                     Begin the search at the last line of the last file in the
                     command  line  list, regardless of what is currently dis‐
                     played on the screen or the settings of the [1m-a [22mor [1m-j  [22mop‐
                     tions.

              ^K     As in forward searches.

              ^R     As in forward searches.

              ^S     As in forward searches.

              ^W     WRAP  around  the  current  file.  That is, if the search
                     reaches the beginning of the current file without finding
                     a match, the search continues from the last line  of  the
                     current file up to the line where it started.

              ^L     As in forward searches.

       ESC‐/[4mpattern[0m
              Same as "/*".

       ESC‐?[4mpattern[0m
              Same as "?*".

       n      Repeat  previous  search, for N‐th line containing the last pat‐
              tern.  If the previous search was modified by ^N, the search  is
              made  for the N‐th line NOT containing the pattern.  If the pre‐
              vious search was modified by ^E, the  search  continues  in  the
              next  (or  previous)  file if not satisfied in the current file.
              If the previous search was modified by ^R, the  search  is  done
              without  using  regular expressions.  If the previous search was
              modified by ^W, the search wraps at the end  (or  beginning)  of
              the  file.   There is no effect if the previous search was modi‐
              fied by ^F or ^K.

       N      Repeat previous search, but in the reverse direction.

       ESC‐n  Repeat previous search, but crossing file boundaries.   The  ef‐
              fect is as if the previous search were modified by *.

       ESC‐N  Repeat  previous search, but in the reverse direction and cross‐
              ing file boundaries.

       ESC‐u  Undo search highlighting.   Turn  off  highlighting  of  strings
              matching the current search pattern.  If highlighting is already
              off  because of a previous ESC‐u command, turn highlighting back
              on.  Any search command will also  turn  highlighting  back  on.
              Also  unselects  any OSC 8 hyperlink that is currently selected.
              (Highlighting can also be disabled by toggling the [1m-G [22moption; in
              that case search commands do not turn highlighting back on.)

       ESC‐U  Like ESC‐u but also clears the saved  search  pattern.   If  the
              status  column  is  enabled  via  the [1m-J [22moption, this clears all
              search matches marked in the status column.

       &[4mpattern[0m
              Display only lines which match the pattern; lines which  do  not
              match  the pattern are hidden.  If pattern is empty (if you type
              & immediately followed by ENTER), any filtering is  turned  off,
              and  all  lines are displayed.  While filtering is in effect, an
              ampersand is displayed at the beginning of the prompt, as a  re‐
              minder  that  some  lines in the file may be hidden.  Multiple &
              commands may be entered, in which case only  lines  which  match
              all of the patterns will be displayed.

              Certain characters are special as in the / command:

              ^N or !
                     Display only lines which do NOT match the pattern.

              ^R     Don’t  interpret  regular expression metacharacters; that
                     is, do a simple textual comparison.

       :e [[4mfilename[24m]
              Examine a new file.  If the filename is missing,  the  "current"
              file  (see  the :n and :p commands below) from the list of files
              in the command line is re‐examined.  A percent sign (%)  in  the
              filename  is  replaced by the name of the current file.  A pound
              sign (#) is replaced by the  name  of  the  previously  examined
              file.   However,  two  consecutive  percent signs are simply re‐
              placed with a single percent sign.  This allows you to  enter  a
              filename  that  contains a percent sign in the name.  Similarly,
              two consecutive pound signs are replaced  with  a  single  pound
              sign.   The  filename  is inserted into the command line list of
              files so that it can be seen by subsequent :n and  :p  commands.
              If the filename consists of several files, they are all inserted
              into  the  list  of files and the first one is examined.  If the
              filename contains one or more spaces, the entire filename should
              be enclosed in double quotes (also see the [1m-" [22moption).

       ^X^V or E
              Same as :e.  Warning: some systems use ^V as a special  literal‐
              ization  character.  On such systems, you may not be able to use
              ^V.

       :n     Examine the next file (from the list of files given in the  com‐
              mand  line).   If a number N is specified, the N‐th next file is
              examined.

       :p     Examine the previous file in the command line list.  If a number
              N is specified, the N‐th previous file is examined.

       :x     Examine the first file in the command line list.  If a number  N
              is specified, the N‐th file in the list is examined.

       :d     Remove the current file from the list of files.

       t      Go  to the next tag, if there were more than one matches for the
              current tag.  See the [1m-t [22moption for more details about tags.

       T      Go to the previous tag, if there were more than one matches  for
              the current tag.

       ^O^N or ^On
              Search forward in the file for the N‐th next OSC 8 hyperlink.

       ^O^P or ^Op
              Search  backward  in the file for the N‐th previous OSC 8 hyper‐
              link.

       ^O^L or ^Ol
              Jump to the currently selected OSC 8 hyperlink.

       = or ^G or :f
              Prints some information about the file being  viewed,  including
              its  name and the line number and byte offset of the bottom line
              being displayed.  If possible, it also prints the length of  the
              file,  the  number  of  lines in the file and the percent of the
              file above the last displayed line.

       -      Followed by one of the command line option letters (see  OPTIONS
              below),  this will change the setting of that option and print a
              message describing the new setting.  If a ^P (CONTROL‐P) is  en‐
              tered  immediately  after the dash, the setting of the option is
              changed but no message is printed.  If the option letter  has  a
              numeric  value (such as [1m-b [22mor [1m-h[22m), or a string value (such as [1m-P[0m
              or [1m-t[22m), a new value may be entered after the option letter.   If
              no  new  value is entered, a message describing the current set‐
              ting is printed and nothing is changed.

       --     Like the - command, but takes a long option  name  (see  OPTIONS
              below)  rather  than a single option letter.  Press ENTER or RE‐
              TURN after typing the option name to change it.  You  can  enter
              just the beginning of an option name, then press TAB to find all
              option names which begin with that string.  A ^P immediately af‐
              ter  the second dash suppresses printing of a message describing
              the new setting, as in the - command.

       -+     Followed by one of the command line option letters this will re‐
              set the option to its default setting and print  a  message  de‐
              scribing  the  new  setting.   (The  "-+[4mX[24m" command does the same
              thing as "[1m-+X[22m" on the command line.)  This  does  not  work  for
              string‐valued options.

       --+    Like  the -+ command, but takes a long option name rather than a
              single option letter.

       -!     Followed by one of the command line option  letters,  this  will
              reset  the  option  to the "opposite" of its default setting and
              print a message describing the new setting.  This does not  work
              for numeric or string‐valued options.

       --!    Like  the -! command, but takes a long option name rather than a
              single option letter.

       _      (Underscore.)  Followed by one of the command line  option  let‐
              ters,  this  will print a message describing the current setting
              of that option.  The setting of the option is not changed.

       __     (Double underscore.)  Like the _ (underscore) command, but takes
              a long option name rather than a single option letter.  You must
              press ENTER or RETURN after typing the option name.

       +[4mcmd[24m   Causes the specified cmd to be executed each time a new file  is
              examined.  For example, +G causes [1mless [22mto initially display each
              file starting at the end rather than the beginning.

       V      Prints the version number of [1mless [22mbeing run.

       q or Q or :q or :Q or ZZ
              Exits [1mless[22m.

       The following seven commands may or may not be valid, depending on your
       particular installation.

       v      Invokes  an  editor  to edit the current file being viewed.  The
              editor is taken from the environment variable VISUAL if defined,
              or EDITOR if VISUAL is not defined, or defaults to "vi" if  nei‐
              ther  VISUAL  nor EDITOR is defined.  See also the discussion of
              LESSEDIT under the section on PROMPTS below.

       ! [4mshell‐command[0m
              Invokes a shell to run the shell‐command given.  A percent  sign
              (%)  in the command is replaced by the name of the current file.
              A pound sign (#) is replaced by the name of the previously exam‐
              ined file.  "!!" repeats the last shell command.   "!"  with  no
              shell command invokes an interactive shell.  If a ^P (CONTROL‐P)
              is entered immediately after the !, no "done" message is printed
              after the shell command is executed.  On Unix systems, the shell
              is  taken  from  the  environment variable SHELL, or defaults to
              "sh".  On MS‐DOS, Windows, and OS/2 systems, the  shell  is  the
              normal command processor.

       # [4mshell‐command[0m
              Similar  to the "!" command, except that the command is expanded
              in the same way as prompt strings.  For example, the name of the
              current file would be given as "%f".

       | <[4mm[24m> [4mshell‐command[0m
              <m> represents any mark letter.  Pipes a section  of  the  input
              file  to  the given shell command.  If the marked line is before
              the top line of the current screen, the section to be  piped  is
              between  the  marked  line  and  the  bottom line of the current
              screen, inclusive.  Otherwise (if the marked  line  is  the  top
              line  of the current screen or after it) the section of the file
              to be piped is between the top line of the  current  screen  and
              the  marked line, inclusive.  <m> may also be ^ or $ to indicate
              beginning or end of file respectively.  If <m> is . or  newline,
              the current screen is piped.  If a ^P (CONTROL‐P) is entered im‐
              mediately  after  the  mark letter, no "done" message is printed
              after the shell command is executed.

       s [4mfilename[0m
              Save the input to a file.  This works only if  the  input  is  a
              pipe, not an ordinary file.

       ^O^O
              Run  a shell command to open the URI in the current OSC 8 hyper‐
              link, selected by a previous ^O^N or ^O^P  command.   The  shell
              command   is   given   by   the   environment   variable   named
              "LESS_OSC8_OPEN_xxx" where "xxx" is the scheme from the URI (the
              part before the first colon), converted to lowercase.  If  there
              is   no   colon   in   the   URI,   the   environment   variable
              LESS_OSC8_OPEN_NONE is used.  The URI from the hyperlink is then
              shell‐escaped and appended to the value of the environment vari‐
              able after a space, and the resulting string is  executed  as  a
              shell command.

              For  example, if you wish to open https links by invoking a pro‐
              gram called "mybrowser" with a "--new-window" option, you  could
              set

              LESS_OSC8_OPEN_https="mybrowser --new-window"

              If  the handler command begins with "-", the command is not dis‐
              played before it is executed.  If  the  handler  command  begins
              with  ^P  (CONTROL‐P),  the "link done" message is not displayed
              after it is executed.  If the handler  command  begins  with  ^P
              followed by "-", neither the command nor the "link done" message
              is displayed.

              If  you  attempt  to  open  a link with the "xxx" scheme and the
              LESS_OSC8_OPEN_xxx   variable   is   not   set,   the   variable
              LESS_OSC8_OPEN_ANY  is tried.  If neither LESS_OSC8_OPEN_xxx nor
              LESS_OSC8_OPEN_ANY is set, links using the "xxx"  scheme  cannot
              be   opened.    However,   there   is   a   default   value  for
              LESS_OSC8_OPEN_ANY which invokes the program  [1mless-osc8-open[22m(1).
              This  program will open links with the schemes "man" (by running
              [1mman[22m(1)) or "file" (by running another instance of [1mless[22m(1) if the
              file is local).  [1mless-osc8-open [22mshould  work  on  systems  which
              provide a POSIX‐compatible shell.

              Any  shell  metacharacters such as semicolons, dollar signs, am‐
              persands, etc.  in the URI will be shell‐escaped before the  URI
              is  appended  to the handler command.  If the handler passes the
              URI or any substring of it to a shell, it should  take  care  to
              appropriately  quote such strings, to prevent execution of unin‐
              tended shell commands when opening a URI  which  contains  shell
              metacharacters.

              As  a special case, if the URI begins with "#", the remainder of
              the URI is taken to be the value of the id parameter in  another
              OSC  8  link in the same file, and ^O^O will simply jump to that
              link rather than running a handler program.

       ^X     When the "Waiting for data" message is displayed, such as  while
              in  the  F  command, pressing ^X will stop [1mless [22mfrom waiting and
              return to a prompt.  This may cause [1mless [22mto think that the  file
              ends  at the current position, so it may be necessary to use the
              R or F command to see more data.  The [1m--intr [22moption can be  used
              to  specify  a  different  character to use instead of ^X.  This
              command works only on systems that support the [1mpoll[22m(2) function.
              On systems without [1mpoll[22m(2), the interrupt character (usually ^C)
              can be used instead.

[1mOPTIONS[0m
       Command line options are described below.  Most options may be  changed
       while [1mless [22mis running, via the "-" command.

       Some  options  may be given in one of two forms: either a dash followed
       by a single letter, or two dashes followed by a long  option  name.   A
       long  option name may be abbreviated as long as the abbreviation is un‐
       ambiguous.  For example, [1m--mouse [22mmay  be  abbreviated  [1m--mou[22m,  but  not
       [1m--mo[22m, since both [1m--mouse [22mand [1m--modelines [22mbegin with [1m--mo[22m.

       Some long option names are in uppercase, such as [1m--QUIT-AT-EOF[22m, as dis‐
       tinct from [1m--quit-at-eof[22m.  Such option names need only have their first
       letter  capitalized;  the  remainder of the name may be in either case.
       For example, [1m--Quit-at-eof [22mis equivalent to [1m--QUIT-AT-EOF[22m.

       Options are also taken from the environment variable "LESS".  For exam‐
       ple, to avoid typing "less -options ..." each time [1mless [22mis invoked, you
       might tell [1mcsh[22m:

       setenv LESS "-options"

       or if you use [1msh[22m:

       LESS="-options"; export LESS

       On MS‐DOS and Windows, you don’t need the quotes,  but  you  should  be
       careful  that  any  percent  signs in the options string are not inter‐
       preted as an environment variable expansion.

       The environment variable is parsed before the command line, so  command
       line  options override the LESS environment variable.  If an option ap‐
       pears in the LESS variable, it can be reset to its default value on the
       command line by beginning the command line option with "[1m-+[22m".

       Some options like [1m-k [22mor [1m-D [22mrequire a string to follow the  option  let‐
       ter.   The  string  for  that option is considered to end when a dollar
       sign ($) is found.  For example, you can set two [1m-D [22moptions like this:

       LESS="Dnwb$Dsbw"

       If the [1m--use-backslash [22moption appears earlier in the  options,  then  a
       dollar  sign or backslash may be included literally in an option string
       by preceding it with a backslash.  If the [1m--use-backslash [22moption is not
       in effect, then backslashes are not treated specially, and there is  no
       way to include a dollar sign in the option string.

       [1m-? [22mor [1m--help[0m
              This  option displays a summary of the commands accepted by [1mless[0m
              (the same as the h command).  (Depending on how your  shell  in‐
              terprets  the  question  mark,  it may be necessary to quote the
              question mark, thus: "[1m-\?[22m".)

       [1m-a [22mor [1m--search-skip-screen[0m
              By default, forward searches start at the top of  the  displayed
              screen  and  backwards  searches start at the bottom of the dis‐
              played screen (except for repeated searches invoked by the n  or
              N  commands,  which  start after or before the "target" line re‐
              spectively; see the [1m-j [22moption for more about the  target  line).
              The  [1m-a  [22moption  causes forward searches to instead start at the
              bottom of the screen and backward searches to start at  the  top
              of the screen, thus skipping all lines displayed on the screen.

       [1m-A [22mor [1m--SEARCH-SKIP-SCREEN[0m
              auses  all  forward searches (not just non‐repeated searches) to
              start just after the target line, and all backward  searches  to
              start  just before the target line.  Thus, forward searches will
              skip part of the displayed screen (from the first line up to and
              including the target line).  Similarly backwards  searches  will
              skip the displayed screen from the last line up to and including
              the target line.  This was the default behavior in less versions
              prior to 441.

       [1m-b[4m[22mn[24m or [1m--buffers=[4m[22mn[0m
              Specifies  the  amount  of  buffer  space [1mless [22mwill use for each
              file, in units of kilobytes (1024 bytes).  By default  64 KB  of
              buffer  space  is used for each file (unless the file is a pipe;
              see the [1m-B [22moption).  The [1m-b  [22moption  specifies  instead  that  [4mn[0m
              kilobytes of buffer space should be used for each file.  If [4mn[24m is
              -1,  buffer  space is unlimited; that is, the entire file can be
              read into memory.

       [1m-B [22mor [1m--auto-buffers[0m
              By default, when data is read from a pipe, buffers are allocated
              automatically as needed.  If a large amount of data is read from
              the pipe, this can cause a large amount of memory  to  be  allo‐
              cated.   The  [1m-B  [22moption  disables  this automatic allocation of
              buffers for pipes, so that only 64 KB (or the  amount  of  space
              specified  by the [1m-b [22moption) is used for the pipe.  Warning: use
              of [1m-B [22mcan result in erroneous display, since only the  most  re‐
              cently viewed part of the piped data is kept in memory; any ear‐
              lier  data  is  lost.  Lost characters are displayed as question
              marks.

       [1m-c [22mor [1m--clear-screen[0m
              Causes full screen repaints to be  painted  from  the  top  line
              down.   By  default,  full screen repaints are done by scrolling
              from the bottom of the screen.

       [1m-C [22mor [1m--CLEAR-SCREEN[0m
              Same as [1m-c[22m, for compatibility with older versions of [1mless[22m.

       [1m-d [22mor [1m--dumb[0m
              The [1m-d [22moption suppresses the error message normally displayed if
              the terminal is dumb; that is, lacks some important  capability,
              such as the ability to clear the screen or scroll backward.  The
              [1m-d  [22moption  does  not otherwise change the behavior of [1mless [22mon a
              dumb terminal.

       [1m-Dx[4m[22mcolor[24m or [1m--color=x[4m[22mcolor[0m
              Changes the color of different parts of the displayed  text.   [1mx[0m
              is a single character which selects the type of text whose color
              is being set:

              B      Binary characters.

              C      Control characters.

              E      Errors and informational messages.

              H      Header lines and columns, set via the [1m--header [22moption.

              J      Target line when highlighted via --hilite-target.

              M      Mark letters in the status column.

              N      Line numbers enabled via the [1m-N [22moption.

              P      Prompts.

              R      The rscroll character.

              S      Search results.

              T      The  tilde  lines  displayed after the end of the file or
                     before the beginning of the file.

              W      The highlight enabled via the [1m-w [22moption.

              1-5    The text in a  search  result  which  matches  the  first
                     through  fifth  parenthesized  sub‐pattern.   Sub‐pattern
                     coloring works only if [1mless [22mis built with one of the reg‐
                     ular expression libraries [1mposix[22m, [1mpcre[22m, or [1mpcre2[22m.

              d      Bold text.

              k      Blinking text.

              s      Standout text.

              u      Underlined text.

              The uppercase letters and digits  can  be  used  only  when  the
              [1m--use-color  [22moption is enabled.  When text color is specified by
              both an uppercase letter and a lowercase letter,  the  uppercase
              letter  takes  precedence.  For example, error messages are nor‐
              mally displayed as standout text.  So if both "s"  and  "E"  are
              given  a color, the "E" color applies to error messages, and the
              "s" color applies to other standout text.  The lowercase letters
              refer to bold and underline text  formed  by  overstriking  with
              backspaces  (see the [1m-U [22moption) and to non‐content text (such as
              line numbers and prompts), but not to text formatted using  ANSI
              escape  sequences with the [1m-R [22moption (but see the note below for
              different behavior on Windows and MS‐DOS).

              A lowercase letter may be followed by a + to indicate  that  the
              normal  format  change  and  the  specified color should both be
              used.  For example, [1m-Dug [22mdisplays underlined text as green with‐
              out underlining; the green color has replaced the  usual  under‐
              line  formatting.   But  [1m-Du+g  [22mdisplays underlined text as both
              green and in underlined format.

              [4mcolor[24m is either a 4‐bit color string or an 8‐bit color string:

              A 4‐bit color string is one or two characters, where  the  first
              character  specifies  the foreground color and the second speci‐
              fies the background color as follows:

              b      Blue

              c      Cyan

              g      Green

              k      Black

              m      Magenta

              r      Red

              w      White

              y      Yellow

              The corresponding uppercase letter denotes a brighter  shade  of
              the  color.   For example, [1m-DNGk [22mdisplays line numbers as bright
              green text on a black background, and [1m-DEbR [22mdisplays error  mes‐
              sages  as blue text on a bright red background.  If either char‐
              acter is a "-" or is omitted, the corresponding color is set  to
              that of normal text.

              An  8‐bit  color string is one or two decimal integers separated
              by a dot, where the first integer specifies the foreground color
              and the second specifies the background color.  Each integer  is
              a  value  between 0 and 255 inclusive which selects a "CSI 38;5"
              color value (see  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANSI_escape_code
              #SGR).   If  either  integer  is a "-" or is omitted, the corre‐
              sponding color is set to that of normal text.

              A 4‐bit or 8‐bit color string may be followed by one or more  of
              the  following  characters to set text attributes in addition to
              the color.

              s or ~ Standout (reverse video)

              u or _ Underline

              d or * Bold

              l or & Blinking

              On MS‐DOS and Windows, the [1m--color  [22moption  behaves  differently
              from what is described above in these ways:

              •      The bold (d and *) and blinking (l and &) text attributes
                     at the end of a color string are not supported.

              •      Lowercase  color selector letters refer to text formatted
                     by ANSI escape sequences with [1m-R[22m, in  addition  to  over‐
                     struck and non‐content text (but see [1m-Da[22m).

              •      For  historical  reasons, when a lowercase color selector
                     letter is followed by a numeric color value,  the  number
                     is  not  interpreted  as an "CSI 38;5" color value as de‐
                     scribed    above,    but    instead    as     a     4‐bit
                     CHAR_INFO.Attributes  value,  between  0 and 15 inclusive
                     (see   https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/console/
                     char-info-str).

                     To avoid confusion, it is recommended that the equivalent
                     letters  rather  than  numbers  be used after a lowercase
                     color selector on MS‐DOS/Windows.

              •      Numeric color values ("CSI 38;5" color) following an  up‐
                     percase  color  selector letter are not supported on sys‐
                     tems earlier than Windows 10.

              •      Only a limited set of ANSI escape sequences to set  color
                     in  the  content  work  correctly.  4‐bit color sequences
                     work, but "CSI 38;5" color sequences do not.

              •      The [1m-Da [22moption makes the behavior of [1m--color [22mmore similar
                     to its behavior on non‐MS‐DOS/Windows systems by (1) mak‐
                     ing lowercase color selector letters not affect text for‐
                     matted with ANSI escape sequences, and (2) allowing  "CSI
                     38;5" color sequences in the content work by passing them
                     to the terminal (only on Windows 10 and later; on earlier
                     Windows systems, such sequences do not work regardless of
                     the setting of [1m-Da[22m).

       [1m-e [22mor [1m--quit-at-eof[0m
              Causes  [1mless  [22mto  automatically  exit the second time it reaches
              end‐of‐file.  By default, the only way to exit [1mless [22mis  via  the
              "q" command.

       [1m-E [22mor [1m--QUIT-AT-EOF[0m
              Causes [1mless [22mto automatically exit the first time it reaches end‐
              of‐file.

       [1m-f [22mor [1m--force[0m
              Forces non‐regular files to be opened.  (A non‐regular file is a
              directory  or a device special file.)  Also suppresses the warn‐
              ing message when a binary file is opened.  By default, [1mless [22mwill
              refuse to open non‐regular files.  Note that some operating sys‐
              tems will not allow directories to be read, even if [1m-f [22mis set.

       [1m-F [22mor [1m--quit-if-one-screen[0m
              Causes [1mless [22mto automatically exit if the entire file can be dis‐
              played on the first screen.  Also see  the  description  of  the
              LESS_SHELL_LINES environment variable below.

       [1m-g [22mor [1m--hilite-search[0m
              Normally,  [1mless  [22mwill highlight ALL strings which match the last
              search command.  The [1m-g [22moption changes this  behavior  to  high‐
              light  only  the  particular  string which was found by the last
              search command.  This can cause [1mless [22mto run somewhat faster than
              the default.

       [1m-G [22mor [1m--HILITE-SEARCH[0m
              The -G option suppresses all highlighting of  strings  found  by
              search commands.

       [1m-h[4m[22mn[24m or [1m--max-back-scroll=[4m[22mn[0m
              Specifies  a  maximum number of lines to scroll backward.  If it
              is necessary to scroll backward more than [4mn[24m lines, the screen is
              repainted in a forward direction instead.  (If the terminal does
              not have the ability to scroll backward, [1m-h0 [22mis implied.)

       [1m-i [22mor [1m--ignore-case[0m
              Causes searches to ignore case; that is, uppercase and lowercase
              are considered identical.  This option is ignored if any  upper‐
              case  letters appear in the search pattern; in other words, if a
              pattern contains uppercase letters, then that  search  does  not
              ignore case.

       [1m-I [22mor [1m--IGNORE-CASE[0m
              Like  [1m-i[22m,  but searches ignore case even if the pattern contains
              uppercase letters.

       [1m-j[4m[22mn[24m or [1m--jump-target=[4m[22mn[0m
              Specifies a line on the screen where the "target" line is to  be
              positioned.   The  target line is the line specified by any com‐
              mand to search for a pattern, jump to a line number, jump  to  a
              file percentage or jump to a tag.  The screen line may be speci‐
              fied  by  a number: the top line on the screen is 1, the next is
              2, and so on.  The number may be negative to specify a line rel‐
              ative to the bottom of the screen: the bottom line on the screen
              is -1, the second to the bottom is -2, and so on.   Alternately,
              the  screen line may be specified as a fraction of the height of
              the screen, starting with a decimal point: .5 is in  the  middle
              of  the screen, .3 is three tenths down from the first line, and
              so on.  If the line is specified as a fraction, the actual  line
              number  is  recalculated  if the terminal window is resized.  If
              the [1m--header [22moption is used and the target line specified by  [1m-j[0m
              would be obscured by the header, the target line is moved to the
              first line after the header.

              If  any form of the [1m-j [22moption is used, repeated forward searches
              (invoked with "n" or "N") begin at the  line  immediately  after
              the  target  line,  and  repeated backward searches begin at the
              target line, unless changed by [1m-a [22mor [1m-A[22m.  For example, if  "[1m-j4[22m"
              is  used,  the  target line is the fourth line on the screen, so
              forward searches begin at the fifth line on the screen.  However
              nonrepeated searches (invoked with "/" or "?")  always begin  at
              the first or last line on the screen respectively.

       [1m-J [22mor [1m--status-column[0m
              Displays  a  status  column at the left edge of the screen.  The
              character displayed in the status column may be one of:

              >      The line is chopped with the [1m-S [22moption, and the text that
                     is chopped off beyond the right edge of the  screen  con‐
                     tains a match for the current search.

              <      The  line  is  horizontally shifted, and the text that is
                     shifted beyond the left side of  the  screen  contains  a
                     match for the current search.

              =      The  line  is  both  chopped  and  shifted, and there are
                     matches beyond both sides of the screen.

              *      There are matches in the visible part  of  the  line  but
                     none to the right or left of it.

              a‐z, A‐Z
                     The  line  has  been marked with the corresponding letter
                     via the m or M command.

              #      The line has been marked by  left‐clicking  it  with  the
                     mouse when the [1m--mouse [22moption is in effect.

       [1m-k[4m[22mfilename[24m or [1m--lesskey-file=[4m[22mfilename[0m
              Causes [1mless [22mto open and interpret the named file as a [1mlesskey[22m(1)
              binary  file.   Multiple  [1m-k  [22moptions  may be specified.  If the
              LESSKEY or LESSKEY_SYSTEM environment variable is set, or  if  a
              lesskey file is found in a standard place (see KEY BINDINGS), it
              is  also  used  as  a  [1mlesskey  [22mfile.   Note  the  warning under
              [1m--lesskey-content [22mbelow.

       [1m--lesskey-src=[4m[22mfilename[0m
              Causes [1mless [22mto open and interpret the named file as a [1mlesskey[22m(1)
              source file.  If the LESSKEYIN or  LESSKEYIN_SYSTEM  environment
              variable is set, or if a lesskey source file is found in a stan‐
              dard  place  (see  KEY  BINDINGS),  it is also used as a lesskey
              source file.  Prior to version 582, the [1mlesskey  [22mprogram  needed
              to  be  run to convert a lesskey [4msource[24m file to a lesskey [4mbinary[0m
              file for [1mless [22mto use.  Newer versions of [1mless [22mread  the  lesskey
              source  file  directly  and ignore the binary file if the source
              file exists.  Note the warning under [1m--lesskey-content [22mbelow.

       [1m--lesskey-content=[4m[22mtext[0m
              Causes [1mless [22mto interpret the specified text as the contents of a
              [1mlesskey[22m(1) source file.  In the text, [1mlesskey [22mlines may be sepa‐
              rated by either newlines as usual, or by semicolons.  A  literal
              semicolon  may be represented by a backslash followed by a semi‐
              colon.

              Warning: certain environment variables such as LESS, LESSSECURE,
              LESSCHARSET and others, which are used early in startup,  cannot
              be  set in a file specified by a command line option ([1m--lesskey[22m,
              [1m--lesskey-src [22mor [1m--lesskey-content[22m).  When using a [1mlesskey  [22mfile
              to  set  environment  variables,  it is safer to use the default
              lesskey file, or to specify the  file  using  the  LESSKEYIN  or
              LESSKEY_CONTENT  environment  variables rather than using a com‐
              mand line option.

       [1m-K [22mor [1m--quit-on-intr[0m
              Causes [1mless [22mto exit immediately (with status 2) when  an  inter‐
              rupt  character  (usually  ^C) is typed.  Normally, an interrupt
              character causes [1mless [22mto stop whatever it is doing and return to
              its command prompt.

       [1m-L [22mor [1m--no-lessopen[0m
              Ignore the LESSOPEN environment variable  (see  the  INPUT  PRE‐
              PROCESSOR  section  below).   This option can be set from within
              [1mless[22m, but it will apply only to files opened  subsequently,  not
              to the file which is currently open.

       [1m-m [22mor [1m--long-prompt[0m
              Causes [1mless [22mto prompt verbosely (like [1mmore[22m(1)), with the percent
              into the file.  By default, [1mless [22mprompts with a colon.

       [1m-M [22mor [1m--LONG-PROMPT[0m
              Causes [1mless [22mto prompt even more verbosely than [1mmore[22m(1).

       [1m-n [22mor [1m--line-numbers[0m
              Suppresses  line numbers.  The default (to use line numbers) may
              cause [1mless [22mto run more slowly in some cases, especially  with  a
              very  large input file.  Using line numbers means: the line num‐
              ber will be displayed in the verbose prompt and in  the  =  com‐
              mand, and the v command will pass the current line number to the
              editor (see also the discussion of LESSEDIT in PROMPTS below).

       [1m-N [22mor [1m--LINE-NUMBERS[0m
              Causes  a  line  number to be displayed at the beginning of each
              line in the display.

       [1m-o[4m[22mfilename[24m or [1m--log-file=[4m[22mfilename[0m
              Causes [1mless [22mto copy its input to the named file as it  is  being
              viewed.  This applies only when the input file is a pipe, not an
              ordinary  file.   If  the file already exists, [1mless [22mwill ask for
              confirmation before overwriting it.

       [1m-O[4m[22mfilename[24m or [1m--LOG-FILE=[4m[22mfilename[0m
              The [1m-O [22moption is like [1m-o, [22mbut it will overwrite an existing file
              without asking for confirmation.

              If no log file has been specified, the [1m-o [22mand [1m-O [22moptions can  be
              used  from  within  [1mless  [22mto specify a log file.  Without a file
              name, they will simply report the name of the log file.  The "s"
              command is equivalent to specifying [1m-o [22mfrom within [1mless[22m.

       [1m-p[4m[22mpattern[24m or [1m--pattern=[4m[22mpattern[0m
              The -p option on the command line is  equivalent  to  specifying
              +/[4mpattern[24m;  that  is, it tells [1mless [22mto start at the first occur‐
              rence of [4mpattern[24m in the file.

       [1m-P[4m[22mprompt[24m or [1m--prompt=[4m[22mprompt[0m
              Provides a way to tailor the three prompt  styles  to  your  own
              preference.  This option would normally be put in the LESS envi‐
              ronment variable, rather than being typed in with each [1mless [22mcom‐
              mand.  Such an option must either be the last option in the LESS
              variable, or be terminated by a dollar sign.

              [1m-Ps    [22mfollowed  by  a string changes the default (short) prompt
                     to that string.

              [1m-Pm    [22mchanges the medium ([1m-m[22m) prompt.

              [1m-PM    [22mchanges the long ([1m-M[22m) prompt.

              [1m-Ph    [22mchanges the prompt for the help screen.

              [1m-P=    [22mchanges the message printed by the = command.

              [1m-Pw    [22mchanges the message printed while waiting  for  data  (in
                     the "F" command).

              All  prompt strings consist of a sequence of letters and special
              escape sequences.  See the section on PROMPTS for more details.

       [1m-q [22mor [1m--quiet [22mor [1m--silent[0m
              Causes moderately "quiet" operation: the terminal  bell  is  not
              rung if an attempt is made to scroll past the end of the file or
              before the beginning of the file.  If the terminal has a "visual
              bell",  it  is  used  instead.  The bell will be rung on certain
              other errors, such as typing an invalid character.  The  default
              is to ring the terminal bell in all such cases.

       [1m-Q [22mor [1m--QUIET [22mor [1m--SILENT[0m
              Causes  totally  "quiet"  operation:  the terminal bell is never
              rung.  If the terminal has a "visual bell", it is  used  in  all
              cases where the terminal bell would have been rung.

       [1m-r [22mor [1m--raw-control-chars[0m
              Causes "raw" control characters to be displayed.  The default is
              to  display control characters using the caret notation; for ex‐
              ample, a control‐A (octal 001) is displayed as "^A"  (with  some
              exceptions as described under the [1m-U [22moption).  Warning: when the
              [1m-r  [22moption is used, [1mless [22mcannot keep track of the actual appear‐
              ance of the screen (since this depends on  how  the  screen  re‐
              sponds  to  each type of control character).  Thus, various dis‐
              play problems may result, such as long lines being split in  the
              wrong place.

              USE OF THE [1m-r [22mOPTION IS DANGEROUS AND IS NOT RECOMMENDED.
              The  [1m-r  [22moption can be set on the command line or via the - com‐
              mand, but to avoid unintentional use, it cannot be set in a LESS
              environment variable.  If [1m-r [22mappears in a LESS environment vari‐
              able, it is treated as if it were [1m-R[22m.

       [1m-R [22mor [1m--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS[0m
              Like [1m-r[22m, but only a limited set of escape sequences  are  output
              in  "raw"  form.  Unlike [1m-r[22m, the screen appearance is maintained
              correctly.  The sequences which are output raw are:

              1. ANSI SGR ("color") sequences

              2. OSC 8 hyperlinks

              3. Other OSC sequences, if the OSC type number is listed in  the
              LESSANSIOSCALLOW environment variable

              4. OSC sequences starting with a non‐standard introductory char‐
              acter  (that  is, something other than "]"), if the character is
              listed in the LESSANSIOSCCHARS environment variable followed  by
              an asterisk

              ANSI color escape sequences are sequences of the form:

                   ESC [ ... m

              where  the "..." is zero or more color specification characters.
              Color escape sequences are only  supported  when  the  color  is
              changed  within one line, not across lines.  In other words, the
              beginning of each line is assumed to  be  normal  (non‐colored),
              regardless of any escape sequences in previous lines.

              You  can  make [1mless [22mthink that characters other than "m" can end
              ANSI color escape sequences by setting the environment  variable
              LESSANSIENDCHARS to the list of characters which can end a color
              escape  sequence.   And  you can make [1mless [22mthink that characters
              other than the standard ones may appear between the ESC and  the
              m  by  setting  the environment variable LESSANSIMIDCHARS to the
              list of characters which can appear.

              OSC sequences are of the form:

                   ESC ] N ; ... \7

              where the OSC type number N is a decimal integer.  The terminat‐
              ing sequence may be either a BEL character (\7) as above, or the
              two‐character sequence "ESC \".

       [1m-s [22mor [1m--squeeze-blank-lines[0m
              Causes consecutive blank lines to  be  squeezed  into  a  single
              blank line.  This is useful when viewing [1mnroff[22m(1) output.

       [1m-S [22mor [1m--chop-long-lines[0m
              Causes  lines  longer than the screen width to be chopped (trun‐
              cated) rather than wrapped.  That is, the portion of a long line
              that does not fit in the screen width is not displayed until you
              press RIGHT‐ARROW.  The default is to wrap long lines; that  is,
              display the remainder on the next line.  See also the [1m--wordwrap[0m
              option.   While  the [1m--header [22moption is active, the [1m-S [22moption is
              ignored, and lines longer than the screen width are truncated.

       [1m-t[4m[22mtag[24m or [1m--tag=[4m[22mtag[0m
              The [1m-t [22moption, followed immediately by a TAG, will edit the file
              containing that tag.  For this to work, tag information must  be
              available;  for  example, there may be a file in the current di‐
              rectory called "tags", which was previously built by [1mctags[22m(1) or
              an equivalent command.  If the environment variable LESSGLOBALT‐
              AGS is set, it is taken to be the name of a  command  compatible
              with  [1mglobal[22m(1),  and  that command is executed to find the tag.
              (See  http://www.gnu.org/software/global/global.html).   The  [1m-t[0m
              option  may also be specified from within [1mless [22m(using the - com‐
              mand) as a way of examining a new file.   The  command  ":t"  is
              equivalent to specifying [1m-t [22mfrom within [1mless[22m.

       [1m-T[4m[22mtagsfile[24m or [1m--tag-file=[4m[22mtagsfile[0m
              Specifies a tags file to be used instead of "tags".

       [1m-u [22mor [1m--underline-special[0m
              Causes  backspaces  and carriage returns to be treated as print‐
              able characters; that is, they are sent  to  the  terminal  when
              they appear in the input.

       [1m-U [22mor [1m--UNDERLINE-SPECIAL[0m
              Causes  backspaces, tabs, carriage returns and "formatting char‐
              acters" (as defined by Unicode) to be treated as control charac‐
              ters; that is, they are handled as specified by the [1m-r [22moption.

              By default, if neither [1m-u [22mnor [1m-U [22mis given, backspaces which  ap‐
              pear  adjacent to an underscore character are treated specially:
              the underlined text is displayed using the  terminal’s  hardware
              underlining  capability.   Also, backspaces which appear between
              two identical characters are treated specially:  the  overstruck
              text is printed using the terminal’s hardware boldface capabili‐
              ty.   Other  backspaces  are  deleted,  along with the preceding
              character.  Carriage returns immediately followed by  a  newline
              are deleted.  Other carriage returns are handled as specified by
              the  [1m-r [22moption.  Unicode formatting characters, such as the Byte
              Order Mark, are sent to the terminal.  Text which is  overstruck
              or underlined can be searched for if neither [1m-u [22mnor [1m-U [22mis in ef‐
              fect.

              See  also the [1m--proc-backspace[22m,[1m--proc-tab[22m, and [1m--proc-return [22mop‐
              tions.

       [1m-V [22mor [1m--version[0m
              Displays the version number of [1mless[22m.

       [1m-w [22mor [1m--hilite-unread[0m
              Temporarily highlights the first "new" line after a movement  of
              a  full page.  The first "new" line is the line immediately fol‐
              lowing the line previously at the bottom of  the  screen.   Also
              highlights  the  target  line after a g or p command.  The high‐
              light is removed at the next command which causes movement.   If
              the  [1m--status-line  [22moption  is  in  effect, the entire line (the
              width of the screen) is highlighted.  Otherwise, only  the  text
              in  the  line is highlighted, unless the [1m-J [22moption is in effect,
              in which case only the status column is highlighted.

       [1m-W [22mor [1m--HILITE-UNREAD[0m
              Like [1m-w[22m, but temporarily highlights the first new line after any
              movement command larger than one line.

       [1m-x[4m[22mn[24m,... or [1m--tabs=[4m[22mn[24m,...
              Sets tab stops.  If only one [4mn[24m is specified, tab stops  are  set
              at  multiples  of [4mn[24m.  If multiple values separated by commas are
              specified, tab stops are set at those positions, and  then  con‐
              tinue  with  the same spacing as the last two.  Position numbers
              are zero‐based: the leftmost position is 0, the next is 1,  etc.
              For  example, "[1m-x8,16[22m" is the same as "[1m-x8[22m" and sets tabs at po‐
              sition 8, 16, 24, 32, etc.  "[1m-x10,14,20[22m" will set tabs at  posi‐
              tion 10, 14, 20, 26, 32, etc.  The default for [4mn[24m is 8.

       [1m-X [22mor [1m--no-init[0m
              Disables sending the termcap initialization and deinitialization
              strings  to  the  terminal.  This is sometimes desirable if ini‐
              tialization or deinitialization does something unnecessary, like
              clearing the screen.  Note that some terminals require the  ini‐
              tialization  string for proper operation, so they may not behave
              completely correctly when [1m-X [22mis used.

       [1m-y[4m[22mn[24m or [1m--max-forw-scroll=[4m[22mn[0m
              Specifies a maximum number of lines to scroll forward.  If it is
              necessary to scroll forward more than [4mn[24m lines, the screen is re‐
              painted instead.  The [1m-c [22mor [1m-C [22moption may  be  used  to  repaint
              from  the top of the screen if desired.  By default, any forward
              movement causes scrolling.

       [1m-z[4m[22mn[24m or [1m--window=[4m[22mn[24m or -[4mn[0m
              Changes the default scrolling window size to [4mn[24m lines.   The  de‐
              fault  is  one screenful.  The z and w commands can also be used
              to change the window size.  The "z" may be omitted for  compati‐
              bility  with some versions of [1mmore[22m(1).  If the number [4mn[24m is nega‐
              tive, it indicates [4mn[24m lines less than the  current  screen  size.
              For  example, if the screen is 24 lines, [1m-z-4 [22msets the scrolling
              window to 20 lines.  If the screen is later resized to 40 lines,
              the scrolling window automatically changes to 36 lines.

       [1m-"[4m[22mcc[24m or [1m--quotes=[4m[22mcc[0m
              Changes the filename quoting character.  This may  be  necessary
              if  you are trying to name a file which contains both spaces and
              quote characters.  Followed by a single character, this  changes
              the  quote  character to that character.  Filenames containing a
              space should then be surrounded by that character rather than by
              double quotes.  Followed by two  characters,  changes  the  open
              quote  to the first character, and the close quote to the second
              character.  Filenames containing a space should then be preceded
              by the open quote character and  followed  by  the  close  quote
              character.   Note  that  even  after  the  quote  characters are
              changed, this option remains -" (a dash  followed  by  a  double
              quote).

       [1m-~ [22mor [1m--tilde[0m
              Normally lines after end of file are displayed as a single tilde
              (~).  This option causes lines after end of file to be displayed
              as blank lines.

       [1m-# [22mor [1m--shift[0m
              Specifies the default number of positions to scroll horizontally
              in  the RIGHTARROW and LEFTARROW commands.  If the number speci‐
              fied is zero, it sets the default number  of  positions  to  one
              half of the screen width.  Alternately, the number may be speci‐
              fied  as  a fraction of the width of the screen, starting with a
              decimal point: .5 is half of  the  screen  width,  .3  is  three
              tenths  of the screen width, and so on.  If the number is speci‐
              fied as a fraction, the actual number of scroll positions is re‐
              calculated if the terminal window is resized.

       [1m--autosave=[4m[22mactions[0m
              Normally the history file is saved only when [1mless  [22mexits.   This
              option specifies other actions which will cause the history file
              to  be  saved.   Each action is defined by a single character in
              the [4mactions[24m string:

              m      Setting or clearing a mark while [1m--save‐marks [22mis  in  ef‐
                     fect.

              /      Searching.

              !      Running a shell command.

              *      Any action; same as "m/!".

              Can be set to "‐" to specify the default, that only exiting [1mless[0m
              will  cause  the history file to be saved.  Note that, depending
              on your shell, if you specify this option on the  command  line,
              the "!" and "*" characters may need to be escaped or quoted.

       [1m--cmd=[4m[22mcommands[0m
              The  specified string is taken to be an initial command to [1mless[22m.
              This is similar to specifying "+[4mcommands[24m", except that  commands
              specified  by  [1m--cmd  [22mare not executed if [1mless [22mexits immediately
              due to the use of the [1m-E [22mor [1m-F [22moption, while commands  specified
              by the [1m+ [22moption are executed even if [1mless [22mexits immediately.

       [1m--emouse=[4m[22mfeatures[0m
              [4mfeatures[24m  is  a comma‐separated list of mouse features to be en‐
              abled, selected from this list:

              vscroll
                     Scrolling the mouse wheel down or  up  moves  forward  or
                     backward in the file.  The number of lines to scroll when
                     the  wheel  is  moved can be set by the [1m--wheel-lines [22mop‐
                     tion.  The [1m--rmouse  [22moption  reverses  the  direction  of
                     movement.

              vdrag  Holding  down  the  left  button  and dragging up or down
                     moves forward or backward in the file.

              hscroll
                     Scrolling the side scroll wheel left or right moves  left
                     or  right  in  the file.  The number of columns to scroll
                     when the wheel is moved can be set by  the  [1m--wheel-lines[0m
                     option.   The  [1m--rmouse  [22moption reverses the direction of
                     movement.

              hdrag  Holding down the left button and dragging left  or  right
                     moves left or right in the file.

              lclick Left‐clicking  sets  the  "#"  mark to the line where the
                     mouse is clicked.  If a left‐click is performed with  the
                     mouse  cursor on an OSC 8 hyperlink, the hyperlink is se‐
                     lected as if by the ^O^N command.   If  a  left‐click  is
                     performed  with  the  mouse  cursor on an OSC 8 hyperlink
                     which is already selected, the hyperlink is opened as  if
                     by the ^O^O command.

              rclick Right‐clicking  (or  clicking  any  button other than the
                     left one) returns to the "#" mark position.

              scroll Same as "vscroll,hscroll".

              drag   Same as "vdrag,hdrag".

              hmove  Same as "hscroll,hdrag".

              vmove  Same as "vscroll,vdrag".

              move   Same as "vmove,hmove".

              click  Same as "lclick,rclick".

              all    Same as "move,click".

              Each feature name may be abbreviated as long as the abbreviation
              is unambiguous.  If [4mfeatures[24m is set to "‐", all  mouse  features
              are disabled.  Mouse input works only on terminals which support
              X11 mouse reporting, and on Windows.

       [1m--end-prompt=[4m[22mstring[0m
              Specifies a string which is printed immediately after the prompt
              is  erased.  As with the [1m--prompt [22moption, the first character of
              the string determines which prompt the string  will  be  printed
              after  ("[1ms[22m"  for the short prompt, "[1mm[22m" for the medium prompt, or
              "[1mM[22m" for the long prompt).  Special characters in the string  are
              processed  as  described in the PROMPTS section, in the same way
              as prompts specified by the [1m--prompt [22moption.  If set to  a  dash
              ([1m-[22m), nothing is printed after the prompt is erased.  This option
              can  be useful if the prompt string has been modified to contain
              an escape sequence that puts the terminal in a mode which should
              be cleared when the prompt is erased.

       [1m--exit-follow-on-close[0m
              When using the "F" command on a pipe,  [1mless  [22mwill  automatically
              stop  waiting  for  more data when the input side of the pipe is
              closed.

       [1m--file-size[0m
              If [1m--file-size [22mis specified, [1mless [22mwill determine the size of the
              file immediately after opening the file.  With this  option  en‐
              abled, the = command and the long prompt will display the number
              of lines in the file.  Normally this is not done, because it can
              be  slow  if the input file is non‐seekable (such as a pipe) and
              is large.

       [1m--follow-name[0m
              Normally, if the input file is renamed while an F command is ex‐
              ecuting, [1mless [22mwill continue to display the contents of the orig‐
              inal file despite its name change.  If [1m--follow-name  [22mis  speci‐
              fied,  during an F command [1mless [22mwill periodically attempt to re‐
              open the file by name.  If the reopen succeeds and the file is a
              different file from the original (which means that  a  new  file
              has  been  created  with  the same name as the original (now re‐
              named) file), [1mless [22mwill display the contents of that new file.

       [1m--form-feed[0m
              When scrolling forward or backward in the file, stop if  a  line
              beginning  with a form feed character (^L) is reached.  This can
              be useful when viewing a file  which  uses  form  feeds  between
              pages.

       [1m--header=[4m[22mL[24m,[4mC[24m,[4mN[0m
              Sets  the  number  of  header lines and columns displayed on the
              screen.  The number of header lines is set to [4mL[24m.   If  [4mL[24m  is  0,
              header lines are disabled.  If [4mL[24m is empty or missing, the number
              of  header  lines is unchanged.  The number of header columns is
              set to [4mC[24m.  If [4mC[24m is 0, header columns are disabled.  If [4mC[24m is emp‐
              ty or missing, the number of header columns is  unchanged.   The
              first  header line is set to line number [4mN[24m in the file.  If [4mN[24m is
              empty or missing, it is taken to be the number of the line  cur‐
              rently displayed in the first line of the screen (if the [1m--head‐[0m
              [1mer  [22mcommand  has  been  issued  from  within [1mless[22m), or 1 (if the
              [1m--header [22moption has been given on the command line).   The  spe‐
              cial form "[1m--header=-[22m" disables header lines and header columns,
              and is equivalent to "[1m--header=0,0[22m".

              When  [4mL[24m  is  nonzero, the first [4mL[24m lines at the top of the screen
              are replaced with the [4mL[24m lines of the file beginning at  line  [4mN[24m,
              regardless of what part of the file is being viewed.  When head‐
              er lines are displayed, any file contents before the header line
              cannot  be  viewed.   When  [4mC[24m is nonzero, the first [4mC[24m characters
              displayed at the beginning of each line are  replaced  with  the
              first  [4mC[24m characters of the line, even if the rest of the line is
              scrolled horizontally.

              While the [1m--header [22moption  is  active,  lines  longer  than  the
              screen width are truncated, and the [1m-S [22moption is ignored.

       [1m--hilite-target[0m
              Highlights the "target" line, as specified by the -j option.  If
              the  [1m--status-line  [22moption  is  in  effect, the entire line (the
              width of the screen) is highlighted.  Otherwise, only  the  text
              in  the  line is highlighted, unless the [1m-J [22moption is in effect,
              in which case only the status column is highlighted.

       [1m--incsearch[0m
              Subsequent search commands will be "incremental"; that is,  [1mless[0m
              will  advance  to the next line containing the search pattern as
              each character of the pattern is typed in.

       [1m--intr=[4m[22mc[0m
              Use the character [4mc[24m instead of ^X to interrupt a read  when  the
              "Waiting  for  data"  message  is displayed.  [4mc[24m must be an ASCII
              character; that is, one with a value between 1  and  127  inclu‐
              sive.   A  caret  followed  by a single character can be used to
              specify a control character.

       [1m--line-num-width=[4m[22mn[0m
              Sets the minimum width of the line number field when the -N  op‐
              tion is in effect to [4mn[24m characters.  The default is 7.

       [1m--match-shift=[4m[22mn[0m
              When  [1m-S  [22mis in effect, if a search match is not visible because
              it is shifted to the left or  right  of  the  currently  visible
              screen,  the  text  will  horizontally  shift to ensure that the
              search match is visible.  This  option  selects  the  column  in
              which the first character of the search match will be placed af‐
              ter the shift.  In other words, there will be [4mn[24m characters visi‐
              ble to the left of the search match.

              Alternately,  the  number  may be specified as a fraction of the
              width of the screen, starting with a decimal point: .5  is  half
              of the screen width, .3 is three tenths of the screen width, and
              so  on.   If  the  number is specified as a fraction, the actual
              number of scroll positions is recalculated if the terminal  win‐
              dow is resized.

       [1m--modelines=[4m[22mn[0m
              Before  displaying  a  file, [1mless [22mwill read the first [4mn[24m lines to
              try to find a vim‐compatible [4mmodeline[24m.  If [4mn[24m is zero, [1mless  [22mdoes
              not try to find modelines.  By using a modeline, the file itself
              can specify the tab stops that should be used when viewing it.

              A modeline contains, anywhere in the line, a program name ("vi",
              "vim",  "ex", or "less"), followed by a colon, possibly followed
              by the word "set", and finally followed by zero or  more  option
              settings.   If the word "set" is used, option settings are sepa‐
              rated by spaces, and end at the first colon.  If the word  "set"
              is  not  used, option settings may be separated by either spaces
              or colons.  The word "set" is required if the  program  name  is
              "less"  but  optional  if any of the other three names are used.
              If any option setting is of the form "tabstop=[4mn[24m" or "ts=[4mn[24m", then
              tab stops are automatically set as if [1m--tabs=[4m[22mn[24m had  been  given.
              See the [1m--tabs [22mdescription for acceptable values of [4mn[24m.

       [1m--mouse[0m
              Enabling [1m--mouse [22mis the same as [1m--emouse=vmove,click[22m.  Disabling
              [1m--mouse [22mis the same as [1m--emouse=‐[22m.

       [1m--MOUSE[0m
              Like [1m--mouse [22mwith [1m--rmouse[22m.

       [1m--no-edit-warn[0m
              Don’t print a warning message when using the v command on a file
              which  was  opened  using a LESSOPEN preprocessor (see the INPUT
              PREPROCESSOR section below).

       [1m--no-keypad[0m
              Disables sending the keypad initialization and  deinitialization
              strings to the terminal.  This is sometimes useful if the keypad
              strings make the numeric keypad behave in an undesirable manner.

       [1m--no-histdups[0m
              This  option  changes the behavior so that if a search string or
              file name is typed in, and the same string  is  already  in  the
              history list, the existing copy is removed from the history list
              before  the  new one is added.  Thus, a given string will appear
              only once in the history list.  Normally, a  string  may  appear
              multiple times.

       [1m--no-number-headers[0m
              Header  lines (defined via the [1m--header [22moption) are not assigned
              line numbers.  Line number 1 is assigned to the first line after
              any header lines.

       [1m--no-paste[0m
              If the terminal supports [1mxterm[22m‐compatible "bracketed paste", any
              text pasted into [1mless [22mis ignored, except that one line  of  text
              may  be pasted into the command line at the bottom of the screen
              (search strings, file names, etc).  That is, the  first  newline
              of  text  pasted into the command line and any text that follows
              it is ignored.

       [1m--no-search-header-lines[0m
              Searches do not include header lines, but still  include  header
              columns.

       [1m--no-search-header-columns[0m
              Searches do not include header columns, but still include header
              lines.

       [1m--no-search-headers[0m
              Searches do not include header lines or header columns.

       [1m--no-vbell[0m
              Disables the terminal’s visual bell.

       [1m--past-eof[0m
              Normally scrolling commands (other than J, K, ESC‐SPACE and ESC‐
              b) stop scrolling when end‐of‐file is reached scrolling forward,
              or beginning‐of‐file is reached scrolling backward.  This option
              makes all scrolling commands continue past end‐of‐file or begin‐
              ning‐of‐file.

       [1m--proc-backspace[0m
              If  set,  backspaces are handled as if neither the [1m-u [22moption nor
              the [1m-U [22moption were set.  That is, a backspace adjacent to an un‐
              derscore causes text to be displayed in underline  mode,  and  a
              backspace  between  identical  characters  cause text to be dis‐
              played in boldface mode.  This option overrides the  [1m-u  [22mand  [1m-U[0m
              options,  so  that display of backspaces can be controlled sepa‐
              rate from tabs and carriage returns.  If not set, backspace dis‐
              play is controlled by the [1m-u [22mand [1m-U [22moptions.

       [1m--PROC-BACKSPACE[0m
              If set, backspaces are handled as if the  [1m-U  [22moption  were  set;
              that is backspaces are treated as control characters.

       [1m--proc-return[0m
              If set, carriage returns are handled as if neither the [1m-u [22moption
              nor  the [1m-U [22moption were set.  That is, a carriage return immedi‐
              ately before a newline is deleted.  This option overrides the [1m-u[0m
              and [1m-U [22moptions, so that display of carriage returns can be  con‐
              trolled  separate from that of backspaces and tabs.  If not set,
              carriage return display is controlled by the [1m-u [22mand [1m-U [22moptions.

       [1m--PROC-RETURN[0m
              If set, carriage returns are handled as if the  [1m-U  [22moption  were
              set; that is carriage returns are treated as control characters.

       [1m--proc-tab[0m
              If set, tabs are handled as if the [1m-U [22moption were not set.  That
              is,  tabs  are expanded to spaces.  This option overrides the [1m-U[0m
              option, so that display of tabs can be controlled separate  from
              that  of  backspaces and carriage returns.  If not set, tab dis‐
              play is controlled by the [1m-U [22moption.

       [1m--PROC-TAB[0m
              If set, tabs are handled as if the [1m-U [22moption were set;  that  is
              tabs are treated as control characters.

       [1m--redraw-on-quit[0m
              When  quitting,  after  sending  the  terminal  deinitialization
              string, redraws the entire last screen.  On terminals whose ter‐
              minal deinitialization string causes the terminal to switch from
              an alternate screen, this makes the last screenful of  the  cur‐
              rent file remain visible after [1mless [22mhas quit.

       [1m--rmouse[0m
              Reverses  the normal direction of scrolling when mouse scrolling
              is enabled via [1m--emouse=vscroll [22mor [1m--emouse=hscroll[22m.

       [1m--rscroll=[4m[22mc[0m
              This option changes the character used to mark truncated  lines.
              It may begin with a two‐character attribute indicator like LESS‐
              BINFMT  does.   If  there is no attribute indicator, standout is
              used.  If set to "-", truncated lines are not marked.

       [1m--save-marks[0m
              Save marks in the history file, so  marks  are  retained  across
              different invocations of [1mless[22m.

       [1m--search-options=[4m[22m...[0m
              Sets  default search modifiers.  The value is a string of one or
              more of the characters E, F, K, N, R or W.  Setting any of these
              has the same effect as typing that control character at the  be‐
              ginning   of   every   search  pattern.   For  example,  setting
              [1m--search-options=[4m[22mW[24m is the same as typing ^W at the beginning  of
              every pattern.  The value may also contain a digit between 1 and
              5, which has the same effect as typing ^S followed by that digit
              at  the  beginning  of every search pattern.  The value "-" dis‐
              ables all default search modifiers.

       [1m--show-preproc-errors[0m
              If a LESSOPEN preprocessor produces data, then exits with a non‐
              zero exit code, [1mless [22mwill display a warning.

       [1m--status-col-width=[4m[22mn[0m
              Sets the width of the status column when the [1m-J [22moption is in ef‐
              fect.  The default is 2 characters.

       [1m--status-line[0m
              If a line is marked, the entire line (rather than just the  sta‐
              tus  column)  is highlighted.  Also lines highlighted due to the
              [1m-w [22mor [1m--hilite-target [22moption will have  the  entire  line  high‐
              lighted.  If [1m--use-color [22mis set, the line is colored rather than
              highlighted.

       [1m--use-backslash[0m
              This  option changes the interpretations of options which follow
              this one.  After the [1m--use-backslash [22moption, any backslash in an
              option string is removed and the following  character  is  taken
              literally.   This  allows a dollar sign to be included in option
              strings.

       [1m--use-color[0m
              Enables colored text in various places.  The [1m-D  [22moption  can  be
              used  to change the colors.  Colored text works only if the ter‐
              minal supports  ANSI  color  escape  sequences  (as  defined  in
              https://www.ecma-international.org/publications-and-standards/
              standards/ecma-48).

       [1m--wheel-lines=[4m[22mn[0m
              Set  the  number  of  lines  or columns to scroll when the mouse
              wheel is scrolled and the [1m--mouse [22mor [1m--MOUSE [22moption  is  in  ef‐
              fect.  The default is 1 line or column.

       [1m--wordwrap[0m
              When  the  [1m-S [22moption is not in use, wrap each line at a space or
              tab if possible, so that a word is not split between two  lines.
              The default is to wrap at any character.

       [1m--     [22mA  command  line  argument of "[1m--[22m" marks the end of option argu‐
              ments.  Any arguments following this are  interpreted  as  file‐
              names.  This can be useful when viewing a file whose name begins
              with a "-" or "+".  Otherwise, option arguments and filename ar‐
              guments can be intermixed; that is, option arguments do not need
              to  appear  before  filename  arguments,  unless the environment
              variable POSIXLY_CORRECT is set.

       +      If a command line option begins with [1m+[22m, the  remainder  of  that
              option  is taken to be an initial command to [1mless[22m.  For example,
              +G tells [1mless [22mto start at the end of the file  rather  than  the
              beginning,  and  +/xyz tells it to start at the first occurrence
              of "xyz" in the file.  As a special case,  +<number>  acts  like
              +<number>g; that is, it starts the display at the specified line
              number  (however,  see  the caveat under the "g" command above).
              If the option starts with ++, the  initial  command  applies  to
              every  file being viewed, not just the first one.  The + command
              described previously may also be used to set (or change) an ini‐
              tial command for every file.  Also see the [1m--cmd [22moption.

[1mLINE EDITING[0m
       When entering a command line at the bottom of the screen (for  example,
       a  filename  for  the :e command, or the pattern for a search command),
       certain keys can be used to manipulate the command line.  Most commands
       have an alternate form in [ brackets ] which can be used if a key  does
       not  exist  on  a  particular keyboard.  (Note that the forms beginning
       with ESC do not work on some MS‐DOS and Windows systems because ESC  is
       the  line  erase  character.)  Any of these special keys may be entered
       literally by preceding it with the "literal" character,  either  ^V  or
       ^A.   A  backslash itself may also be entered literally by entering two
       backslashes.

       LEFTARROW [ ESC‐h ]
              Move the cursor one space to the left.

       RIGHTARROW [ ESC‐l ]
              Move the cursor one space to the right.

       ^LEFTARROW [ ESC‐b or ESC‐LEFTARROW ]
              (That is, CONTROL and LEFTARROW simultaneously.)  Move the  cur‐
              sor one word to the left.

       ^RIGHTARROW [ ESC‐w or ESC‐RIGHTARROW ]
              (That is, CONTROL and RIGHTARROW simultaneously.)  Move the cur‐
              sor one word to the right.

       HOME [ ESC‐0 ]
              Move the cursor to the beginning of the line.

       END [ ESC‐$ ]
              Move the cursor to the end of the line.

       BACKSPACE
              Delete  the  character  to the left of the cursor, or cancel the
              command if the command line is empty.

       DELETE [ ESC‐x ]
              Delete the character under the cursor.

       ^BACKSPACE [ ESC‐BACKSPACE ]
              (That is, CONTROL and  BACKSPACE  simultaneously.)   Delete  the
              word to the left of the cursor.

       ^DELETE [ ESC‐X or ESC‐DELETE ]
              (That  is,  CONTROL and DELETE simultaneously.)  Delete the word
              under the cursor.

       UPARROW [ ESC‐k ]
              Retrieve the previous command line.  If  you  first  enter  some
              text  and then press UPARROW, it will retrieve the previous com‐
              mand which begins with that text.

       DOWNARROW [ ESC‐j ]
              Retrieve the next command line.  If you first  enter  some  text
              and  then  press  DOWNARROW,  it  will retrieve the next command
              which begins with that text.

       TAB    Complete the partial filename to the left of the cursor.  If  it
              matches  more than one filename, the first match is entered into
              the command line.  Repeated TABs will cycle  through  the  other
              matching filenames.  If the completed filename is a directory, a
              "/"  is  appended  to the filename.  (On MS‐DOS and Windows sys‐
              tems, a "\" is appended.)  The environment variable  LESSSEPARA‐
              TOR  can be used to specify a different character to append to a
              directory name.

       BACKTAB (SHIFT‐TAB) [ ESC‐TAB ]
              Like TAB, but cycles in the reverse direction through the match‐
              ing filenames.

       ^L     Complete the partial filename to the left of the cursor.  If  it
              matches more than one filename, all matches are entered into the
              command line (if they fit).

       ^U (Unix and OS/2) or ESC (MS‐DOS and Windows)
              Delete  the  entire  command  line, or cancel the command if the
              cursor is at the beginning of the command  line.   If  you  have
              changed your line‐kill character in Unix to something other than
              ^U, that character is used instead of ^U.

       ^G     Delete the entire command line and return to the main prompt.

[1mKEY BINDINGS[0m
       You  may  define  your  own  [1mless [22mcommands by creating a lesskey source
       file.  This file specifies a set of command keys and an action  associ‐
       ated  with  each  key.   You may also change the line‐editing keys (see
       LINE EDITING), and set environment variables used  by  [1mless[22m.   See  the
       [1mlesskey[22m(1) manual page for details about the file format.

       If  the  environment  variable  LESSKEYIN is set, [1mless [22muses that as the
       name of the lesskey source file.  Otherwise, [1mless [22mlooks in  a  standard
       place  for  the  lesskey source file: On Unix systems, [1mless [22mlooks for a
       lesskey  file   called   "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/lesskey"   or   "$HOME/.con‐
       fig/lesskey"  or "$HOME/.lesskey".  On MS‐DOS and Windows systems, [1mless[0m
       looks for a lesskey file called "$HOME/_lesskey",  and  if  it  is  not
       found there, then looks for a lesskey file called "_lesskey" in any di‐
       rectory  specified  in the PATH environment variable.  On OS/2 systems,
       [1mless [22mlooks for a lesskey file called "$HOME/lesskey.ini", and if it  is
       not  found,  then  looks for a lesskey file called "lesskey.ini" in any
       directory specified in the INIT environment variable,  and  if  it  not
       found  there, then looks for a lesskey file called "lesskey.ini" in any
       directory specified in the PATH environment variable.

       A system‐wide lesskey source file may also be set  up  to  provide  key
       bindings.   If a key is defined in both a local lesskey file and in the
       system‐wide file, key bindings in the local file take  precedence  over
       those   in   the   system‐wide   file.   If  the  environment  variable
       LESSKEYIN_SYSTEM is set, [1mless [22muses that as the name of the  system‐wide
       lesskey  file.   Otherwise, [1mless [22mlooks in a standard place for the sys‐
       tem‐wide lesskey file: On Unix systems, the system‐wide lesskey file is
       /usr/local/etc/syslesskey.  (However, if [1mless [22mwas built with a  differ‐
       ent  sysconf directory than /usr/local/etc, that directory is where the
       sysless file is found.)  On MS‐DOS and Windows systems, the system‐wide
       lesskey file is  c:\_syslesskey.   On  OS/2  systems,  the  system‐wide
       lesskey file is c:\syslesskey.ini.

       Older  versions  of [1mless [22m(before v582) used lesskey files with a binary
       format, produced by the [1mlesskey [22mprogram. It is no longer  necessary  to
       use the [1mlesskey [22mprogram.

[1mINPUT PREPROCESSOR[0m
       You  may  define an "input preprocessor" for [1mless[22m.  Before [1mless [22mopens a
       file, it first gives the input preprocessor a chance to modify the  way
       the  contents of the file are displayed.  An input preprocessor is sim‐
       ply an executable program (or shell script), which writes the  contents
       of the file to a different file, called the replacement file.  The con‐
       tents  of  the replacement file are then displayed in place of the con‐
       tents of the original file.  However, it will appear to the user as  if
       the  original  file  is opened; that is, [1mless [22mwill display the original
       filename as the name of the current file.

       An input preprocessor receives one command line argument, the  original
       filename,  as  entered  by  the user.  It should create the replacement
       file, and when finished, print the name of the replacement file to  its
       standard  output.  If the input preprocessor does not output a replace‐
       ment filename, [1mless [22muses the original file, as normal.  The input  pre‐
       processor  is not called when viewing standard input.  To set up an in‐
       put preprocessor, set the LESSOPEN environment variable  to  a  command
       line  which  will  invoke  your  input preprocessor.  This command line
       should include one occurrence of the string "%s",  which  will  be  re‐
       placed by the filename when the input preprocessor command is invoked.

       When [1mless [22mcloses a file opened in such a way, it will call another pro‐
       gram,  called  the  input  postprocessor, which may perform any desired
       clean‐up action (such as  deleting  the  replacement  file  created  by
       LESSOPEN).  This program receives two command line arguments, the orig‐
       inal  filename  as entered by the user, and the name of the replacement
       file.  To set up an input postprocessor, set the LESSCLOSE  environment
       variable  to a command line which will invoke your input postprocessor.
       It may include two occurrences of the string "%s";  the  first  is  re‐
       placed  with the original name of the file and the second with the name
       of the replacement file, which was output by LESSOPEN.

       For example, on many Unix systems, these two scripts will allow you  to
       keep files in compressed format, but still let [1mless [22mview them directly:

       lessopen.sh:
            #! /bin/sh
            case "$1" in
            *.Z) TEMPFILE=$(mktemp)
                 uncompress -c $1  >$TEMPFILE  2>/dev/null
                 if [ -s $TEMPFILE ]; then
                      echo $TEMPFILE
                 else
                      rm -f $TEMPFILE
                 fi
                 ;;
            esac

       lessclose.sh:
            #! /bin/sh
            rm $2

       To  use these scripts, put them both where they can be executed and set
       LESSOPEN="lessopen.sh %s",  and  LESSCLOSE="lessclose.sh %s %s".   More
       complex  LESSOPEN  and LESSCLOSE scripts may be written to accept other
       types of compressed files, and so on.

       It is also possible to set up an input preprocessor to  pipe  the  file
       data  directly to [1mless[22m, rather than putting the data into a replacement
       file.  This avoids the need to decompress the entire file before start‐
       ing to view it.  An input preprocessor that works this way is called an
       input pipe.  An input pipe, instead of writing the name of  a  replace‐
       ment file on its standard output, writes the entire contents of the re‐
       placement  file  on  its  standard  output.  If the input pipe does not
       write any characters on its standard output, then there is no  replace‐
       ment  file and [1mless [22muses the original file, as normal.  To use an input
       pipe, make the first character in the LESSOPEN environment  variable  a
       vertical  bar  (|)  to  signify that the input preprocessor is an input
       pipe.  As with non‐pipe input preprocessors, the  command  string  must
       contain  one  occurrence  of %s, which is replaced with the filename of
       the input file.

       For example, on many Unix systems, this script will work like the  pre‐
       vious example scripts:

       lesspipe.sh:
            #! /bin/sh
            case "$1" in
            *.Z) uncompress -c $1  2>/dev/null
                 ;;
            *)   exit 1
                 ;;
            esac
            exit $?

       To  use  this  script,  put  it  where  it  can  be  executed  and  set
       LESSOPEN="|lesspipe.sh %s".

       Note that a preprocessor cannot output an empty file, since that is in‐
       terpreted as meaning there is no replacement, and the original file  is
       used.   To  avoid  this, if LESSOPEN starts with two vertical bars, the
       exit status of the script determines the behavior when  the  output  is
       empty.   If  the output is empty and the exit status is zero, the empty
       output is considered to be replacement text.  If the  output  is  empty
       and the exit status is nonzero, the original file is used.  For compat‐
       ibility  with  previous  versions of [1mless[22m, if LESSOPEN starts with only
       one vertical bar, the exit status of the preprocessor is ignored.

       When an input pipe is used, a LESSCLOSE postprocessor can be used,  but
       it is usually not necessary since there is no replacement file to clean
       up.   In  this  case, the replacement file name passed to the LESSCLOSE
       postprocessor is "-".

       For compatibility with previous versions of [1mless[22m, the input  preproces‐
       sor or pipe is not used if [1mless [22mis viewing standard input.  However, if
       the  first  character of LESSOPEN is a dash ([1m-[22m), the input preprocessor
       is used on standard input as well as other files.  In  this  case,  the
       dash  is  not  considered  to  be part of the preprocessor command.  If
       standard input is being viewed, the input preprocessor is passed a file
       name consisting of a single dash.  Similarly, if the first two  charac‐
       ters  of  LESSOPEN  are vertical bar and dash ([1m|-[22m) or two vertical bars
       and a dash ([1m||-[22m), the input pipe is used on standard input as  well  as
       other files.  Again, in this case the dash is not considered to be part
       of the input pipe command.

[1mNATIONAL CHARACTER SETS[0m
       There are five types of characters in the input file:

       normal characters
              can be displayed directly to the screen.

       control characters
              should  not  be displayed directly, but are expected to be found
              in ordinary text files (such as backspace and tab).

       binary characters
              should not be displayed directly and  are  not  expected  to  be
              found in text files.

       composing characters
              are not displayed separately, but modify the display of the pre‐
              ceding character. (Only when LESSCHARSET is "utf8".)

       deleted characters
              are simply deleted from the input and not displayed.  (Only when
              LESSCHARSET is "utf8".)

       A  "character  set"  is a description of which of these categories each
       character belongs to.  The LESSCHARSET environment variable may be used
       to select a character set.  Possible values for LESSCHARSET are:

       ascii  BS, TAB, NL, CR, and formfeed are control characters, all  chars
              with  values  between  32 and 126 are normal, and all others are
              binary.

       iso8859
              Selects an ISO 8859 character set.  This is the same  as  ASCII,
              except  characters  between  160  and  255 are treated as normal
              characters.

       latin1 Same as iso8859.

       latin9 Same as iso8859.

       dos    Selects a character set appropriate for MS‐DOS.

       ebcdic Selects an EBCDIC character set.

       IBM-1047
              Selects an EBCDIC character set used by  OS/390  Unix  Services.
              This  is the EBCDIC analogue of latin1.  You get similar results
              by setting either LESSCHARSET=IBM-1047 or LC_CTYPE=en_US in your
              environment.

       koi8-r Selects a Russian character set.

       next   Selects a character set appropriate for NeXT computers.

       utf-8  Selects the UTF‐8 encoding  of  the  ISO  10646  character  set.
              UTF‐8  is  special  in that it supports multi‐byte characters in
              the input file.  It is the only character set that supports mul‐
              ti‐byte characters.

       windows
              Selects a character set appropriate for  Microsoft  Windows  (cp
              1252).

       In  rare cases, it may be desired to tailor [1mless [22mto use a character set
       other than the ones definable by LESSCHARSET.  In this case, the  envi‐
       ronment variable LESSCHARDEF can be used to define a character set.  It
       should be set to a string where each character in the string represents
       one  character  in  the character set.  The character "." is used for a
       normal character, "c" for control, and "b" for binary.  A decimal  num‐
       ber  may  be  used  for  repetition.  For example, "bccc4b." would mean
       character 0 is binary, 1, 2 and 3 are control, 4, 5, 6 and 7 are  bina‐
       ry, and 8 is normal.  All characters after the last are taken to be the
       same  as  the last, so characters 9 through 255 would be normal.  (This
       is an example, and does not necessarily represent  any  real  character
       set.)

       This  table  shows the value of LESSCHARDEF which is equivalent to each
       of the possible values for LESSCHARSET:
            ascii      8bcccbcc18b95.b
            dos        8bcccbcc12bc5b95.b.
            ebcdic     5bc6bcc7bcc41b.9b7.9b5.b..8b6.10b6.b9.7b
                       9.8b8.17b3.3b9.7b9.8b8.6b10.b.b.b.
            IBM-1047   4cbcbc3b9cbccbccbb4c6bcc5b3cbbc4bc4bccbc
                       191.b
            iso8859    8bcccbcc18b95.33b.
            koi8-r     8bcccbcc18b95.b128.
            latin1     8bcccbcc18b95.33b.
            next       8bcccbcc18b95.bb125.bb

       If neither LESSCHARSET nor LESSCHARDEF is set, but any of  the  strings
       "UTF-8",  "UTF8", "utf-8" or "utf8" is found in the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE or
       LANG environment variables, then the default character set is utf-8.

       If that string is not found, but your system supports the  [1msetlocale[22m(3)
       interface,  [1mless  [22mwill  use  setlocale  to determine the character set.
       setlocale is controlled by setting the  LANG  or  LC_CTYPE  environment
       variables.

       Finally,  if the [1msetlocale [22minterface is also not available, the default
       character set is utf-8.

       Control and  binary  characters  are  displayed  in  standout  (reverse
       video).  Each such character is displayed in caret notation if possible
       (e.g.  ^A for control‐A).  Caret notation is used only if inverting the
       0100 bit results in a normal printable character.  Otherwise, the char‐
       acter is displayed as a hex number in angle brackets.  This format  can
       be  changed by setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable.  LESSBINFMT
       may begin with a "*" and one character to select the display attribute:
       "*k" is blinking, "*d" is bold, "*u" is underlined, "*s"  is  standout,
       and  "*n"  is  normal.  If LESSBINFMT does not begin with a "*", normal
       attribute is assumed.  The remainder of LESSBINFMT is  a  string  which
       may  include one printf‐style escape sequence (a % followed by x, X, o,
       d, etc.).  For example, if LESSBINFMT is  "*u[%x]",  binary  characters
       are  displayed  in  underlined hexadecimal surrounded by brackets.  The
       default if no LESSBINFMT is specified is "*s<%02X>".  Warning: the  re‐
       sult  of  expanding  the  character via LESSBINFMT must be less than 31
       characters.

       When the character set is utf-8, the LESSUTFBINFMT environment variable
       acts similarly to LESSBINFMT but it applies to Unicode code points that
       were successfully decoded but are unsuitable for display  (e.g.,  unas‐
       signed  code  points).   Its  default  value is "<U+%04lX>".  Note that
       LESSUTFBINFMT and LESSBINFMT  share  their  display  attribute  setting
       ("*x")  so specifying one will affect both; LESSUTFBINFMT is read after
       LESSBINFMT so its setting, if any,  will  have  priority.   Problematic
       octets  in  a  UTF‐8  file (octets of a truncated sequence, octets of a
       complete but non‐shortest form  sequence,  invalid  octets,  and  stray
       trailing  octets)  are displayed individually using LESSBINFMT so as to
       facilitate diagnostic of how the UTF‐8 file is ill‐formed.

       When the character set is utf-8, in rare cases it may be  desirable  to
       override the Unicode definition of the type of certain characters.  For
       example, characters in a Private Use Area are normally treated as bina‐
       ry  characters, but if you are using a custom font with printable char‐
       acters in that range, it may be desirable to tell [1mless  [22mto  treat  such
       characters as printable.  This can be done by setting the LESSUTFCHARD‐
       EF environment variable to a comma‐separated list of [4mcharacter[24m [4mtype[24m de‐
       finitions.  Each character type definition consists of either one hexa‐
       decimal codepoint or a pair of codepoints separated by a dash, followed
       by  a  colon  and a type character.  Each hexadecimal codepoint may op‐
       tionally be preceded by a "U" or "U+".  If a pair of codepoints is giv‐
       en, the type is set for all characters inclusively between the two val‐
       ues.  If there are multiple comma‐separated codepoint values, they must
       be in ascending numerical order.  The type character may be one of:

              p      A normal printable character.

              w      A wide (2‐space) printable character.

              b      A binary (non‐printable) character.

              c      A composing (zero width) character.

              d      A deleted character (deleted from the input and not  dis‐
                     played).

       For example, setting LESSUTFCHARDEF to

            E000-F8FF:p,F0000-FFFFD:p,100000-10FFFD:p

       would make all Private Use Area characters be treated as printable.

       By  default,  emoji  modifiers,  components and variation selectors are
       deleted because many terminals do not display them correctly.   If  you
       use  a  terminal  which does display some or all of them correctly, you
       can cause them to be displayed by setting LESSUTFCHARDEF to treat  them
       as  composing characters.  For example, this sets them all to composing
       characters:

            FE00-FE0F:c,1F3FB-1F3FF:c,1F9B0-1F9B3:c,E0100-E01EF:c

[1mPROMPTS[0m
       The [1m-P [22moption allows you to tailor the prompt to your preference.   The
       string  given  to  the  [1m-P [22moption replaces the specified prompt string.
       Certain characters in the string are interpreted specially.  The prompt
       mechanism is rather complicated to provide flexibility, but  the  ordi‐
       nary  user need not understand the details of constructing personalized
       prompt strings.

       A percent sign followed by a single character is expanded according  to
       what  the  following  character is.  (References to the input file size
       below refer to the preprocessed size, if an input preprocessor is being
       used.)

       %b[4mX[24m    Replaced by the byte offset into the current input file.  The  b
              is followed by a single character (shown as [4mX[24m above) which spec‐
              ifies  the line whose byte offset is to be used.  If the charac‐
              ter is a "t", the byte offset of the top line in the display  is
              used, an "m" means use the middle line, a "b" means use the bot‐
              tom  line,  a "B" means use the line just after the bottom line,
              and a "j" means use the "target" line, as specified  by  the  [1m-j[0m
              option.

       %B     Replaced by the size of the current input file.

       %c     Replaced  by  the column number of the text which appears in the
              first column of the screen.

       %C     Replaced by the column number of  the  text  which  appears  (or
              would appear) in the last column of the screen.

       %d[4mX[24m    Replaced  by  the  page number of a line in the input file.  The
              line to be used is determined by the [4mX[24m, as with the %b option.

       %D     Replaced by the number of pages in the input  file,  or  equiva‐
              lently, the page number of the last line in the input file.

       %E     Replaced  by the name of the editor (from the VISUAL environment
              variable, or the EDITOR environment variable if  VISUAL  is  not
              defined).  See the discussion of the LESSEDIT feature below.

       %f     Replaced by the name of the current input file.

       %F     Replaced  by the last component of the name of the current input
              file.

       %g     Replaced by the shell‐escaped name of the  current  input  file.
              This  is useful when the expanded string will be used in a shell
              command, such as in LESSEDIT.

       %i     Replaced by the index of the current file in the list  of  input
              files.

       %l[4mX[24m    Replaced  by  the  line number of a line in the input file.  The
              line to be used is determined by the [4mX[24m, as with the %b option.

       %L     Replaced by the line number of the last line in the input file.

       %m     Replaced by the total number of input files.

       %p[4mX[24m    Replaced by the percent into the current input  file,  based  on
              byte  offsets.  The line used is determined by the [4mX[24m as with the
              %b option.

       %P[4mX[24m    Replaced by the percent into the current input  file,  based  on
              line  numbers.  The line used is determined by the [4mX[24m as with the
              %b option.

       %Q     Replaced by the percent of the last column of text displayed  on
              the  screen compared to the length of the longest line currently
              displayed (that is, %C divided by %W).  Note that using this se‐
              quence can make displaying the prompt be slower than usual.

       %s     Same as %B.

       %t     Causes any trailing spaces to be removed.  Usually used  at  the
              end of the string, but may appear anywhere.

       %T     Normally  expands  to the word "file".  However if viewing files
              via a tags list using the [1m-t [22moption,  it  expands  to  the  word
              "tag".

       %W     Replaced by the width of the longest line currently displayed on
              the  screen.   Note that using this sequence can make displaying
              the prompt be slower than usual.

       %x     Replaced by the name of the next input file in the list.

       If any item is unknown (for example, the file size if input is a pipe),
       a question mark is printed instead.

       The format of the prompt string can be  changed  depending  on  certain
       conditions.   A  question mark followed by a single character acts like
       an "IF": depending on the following character, a condition is  evaluat‐
       ed.   If  the  condition is true, any characters following the question
       mark and condition character, up to  a  period,  are  included  in  the
       prompt.   If  the condition is false, such characters are not included.
       A colon appearing between the question mark and the period can be  used
       to establish an "ELSE": any characters between the colon and the period
       are  included  in  the string if and only if the IF condition is false.
       Condition characters (which follow a question mark) may be:

       ?a     True if any characters have been included in the prompt so far.

       ?b[4mX[24m    True if the byte offset of the specified line is known.

       ?B     True if the size of current input file is known.

       ?c     True if the text is horizontally shifted (%c is greater than 1).

       ?d[4mX[24m    True if the page number of the specified line is known.

       ?e     True if at end‐of‐file.

       ?f     True if there is an input filename (that is, if input is  not  a
              pipe).

       ?l[4mX[24m    True if the line number of the specified line is known.

       ?L     True if the line number of the last line in the file is known.

       ?m     True if there is more than one input file.

       ?n     True if this is the first prompt in a new input file.

       ?O     True if an OSC 8 hyperlink is selected.

       ?p[4mX[24m    True  if  the percent into the current input file, based on byte
              offsets, of the specified line is known.

       ?P[4mX[24m    True if the percent into the current input file, based  on  line
              numbers, of the specified line is known.

       ?Q     True  if %Q is less than 100.  Note that using this sequence can
              make displaying the prompt be slower than usual.

       ?s     Same as "?B".

       ?x     True if there is a next input file (that is, if the current  in‐
              put file is not the last one).

       Any characters other than the special ones (question mark, colon, peri‐
       od,  percent,  and backslash) become literally part of the prompt.  Any
       of the special characters may be included in the  prompt  literally  by
       preceding it with a backslash.

       Some examples:

       ?f%f:Standard input.

       This  prompt prints the filename, if known; otherwise the string "Stan‐
       dard input".

       ?f%f .?ltLine %lt:?pt%pt\%:?btByte %bt:-...

       This prompt would print the filename, if known.  The filename  is  fol‐
       lowed  by  the  line  number, if known, otherwise the percent if known,
       otherwise the byte offset if known.  Otherwise, a dash is printed.  No‐
       tice how each question mark has a matching period, and how the %  after
       the %pt is included literally by escaping it with a backslash.

       ?n?f%f .?m(%T %i of %m) ..?e(END) ?x- Next\: %x..%t

       This  prints  the  filename if this is the first prompt in a file, fol‐
       lowed by the "file N of N" message if there  is  more  than  one  input
       file.   Then,  if  we are at end‐of‐file, the string "(END)" is printed
       followed by the name of the next file, if there is one.   Finally,  any
       trailing spaces are truncated.  This is the default prompt.  For refer‐
       ence, here are the defaults for the other two prompts [1m-m [22mand [1m-M [22mrespec‐
       tively).  Each is broken into two lines here for readability only.

       ?n?f%f .?m(%T %i of %m) ..?e(END) ?x- Next\: %x.:
            ?pB%pB\%:byte %bB?s/%s...%t

       ?f%f .?n?m(%T %i of %m) ..?ltlines %lt-%lb?L/%L. :
            byte %bB?s/%s. .?e(END) ?x- Next\: %x.:?pB%pB\%..?c (column %c).%t

       And here is the default message produced by the = command:

       ?f%f .?m(%T %i of %m) .?ltlines %lt-%lb?L/%L. .
            byte %bB?s/%s. ?e(END) :?pB%pB\%..?c (column %c).%t

       The  prompt expansion features are also used for another purpose: if an
       environment variable LESSEDIT is defined, it is used as the command  to
       be  executed when the v command is invoked.  The LESSEDIT string is ex‐
       panded in the same way as the prompt strings.  The  default  value  for
       LESSEDIT is:

            %E ?lm+%lm. %g

       Note that this expands to the editor name, followed by a + and the line
       number,  followed  by the shell‐escaped file name.  If your editor does
       not accept the "+linenumber" syntax, or has other differences in  invo‐
       cation  syntax, the LESSEDIT variable can be changed to modify this de‐
       fault.

[1mSECURITY[0m
       When the environment variable LESSSECURE is set to 1, [1mless  [22mruns  in  a
       "secure" mode.  In this mode, these features are disabled:

       edit      the edit command (v)

       examine   the examine command (:e)

       glob      metacharacters such as * in filenames,
                 and filename completion (TAB, ^L)

       history   history file

       lesskey   use of lesskey files [1m-k [22mand [1m--lesskey-src[22m)

       lessopen  input preprocessor (LESSOPEN environment variable)

       logfile   log files (s and [1m-o[22m)

       osc8      opening OSC 8 links (^O^O)

       pipe      the pipe command (|)

       shell     the shell and pshell commands (! and #)

       stop      stopping [1mless [22mvia a SIGTSTP signal

       tags      use of tags files ([1m-t[22m)

       The  LESSSECURE_ALLOW  environment variable can be set to a comma‐sepa‐
       rated list of names of features  which  are  selectively  enabled  when
       LESSSECURE is set.  Each feature name is the first word in each line in
       the  above  list.  A feature name may be abbreviated as long as the ab‐
       breviation  is  unambiguous.   For   example,   if   LESSSECURE=1   and
       LESSSECURE_ALLOW=hist,edit were set, all of the above features would be
       disabled except for history files and the edit command.

       Less  can also be compiled to be permanently in "secure" mode.  In that
       case, the LESSSECURE and LESSSECURE_ALLOW variables are ignored.

[1mCOMPATIBILITY WITH MORE[0m
       If the environment variable LESS_IS_MORE is set to 1, or if the program
       is invoked via a file link named "more" and  the  environment  variable
       LESS_IS_MORE is not set to 0, [1mless [22mbehaves (mostly) in conformance with
       the  POSIX  [1mmore[22m(1)  command specification.  In this mode, [1mless [22mbehaves
       differently in these ways:

       The [1m-e [22moption works differently.  If the [1m-e [22moption is not set, [1mless [22mbe‐
       haves as if the [1m-e [22moption were set.  If the [1m-e [22moption is set, [1mless  [22mbe‐
       haves as if the [1m-E [22moption were set.

       The  [1m-m  [22moption  works  differently.   If the [1m-m [22moption is not set, the
       medium prompt is used, and it is prefixed with the  string  "--More--".
       If the [1m-m [22moption is set, the short prompt is used.

       The  [1m-n  [22moption acts like the [1m-z [22moption.  The normal behavior of the [1m-n[0m
       option is unavailable in this mode.

       The parameter to the [1m-p [22moption is taken to be  a  [1mless  [22mcommand  rather
       than a search pattern.

       The  LESS  environment  variable  is  ignored, and the MORE environment
       variable is used in its place.

[1mENVIRONMENT VARIABLES[0m
       Environment variables may be specified either in the system environment
       as usual, or in a [1mlesskey[22m(1) file.  If environment  variables  are  de‐
       fined in more than one place, variables defined in a local lesskey file
       take precedence over variables defined in the system environment, which
       take precedence over variables defined in the system‐wide lesskey file.

       COLUMNS
              Sets the number of columns on the screen.  Takes precedence over
              the  number  of columns specified by the TERM variable.  (But if
              you  have  a  windowing  system  which  supports  TIOCGWINSZ  or
              WIOCGETD,  the  window  system’s  idea  of the screen size takes
              precedence over the LINES and COLUMNS environment variables.)

       EDITOR The name of the editor (used for the v command).

       HOME   Name of the user’s home directory (used to find a  lesskey  file
              on Unix and OS/2 systems).

       HOMEDRIVE, HOMEPATH
              Concatenation  of  the  HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH environment vari‐
              ables is the name of the user’s home directory if the HOME vari‐
              able is not set (only in the Windows version).

       INIT   Name of the user’s init directory (used to find a  lesskey  file
              on OS/2 systems).

       LANG   Language for determining the character set.

       LC_CTYPE
              Language for determining the character set.

       LESS   Options which are passed to [1mless [22mautomatically.

       LESSANSIENDCHARS
              Characters  which may end an ANSI color escape sequence (default
              "m").

       LESSANSIMIDCHARS
              Characters which may appear between the ESC  character  and  the
              end   character  in  an  ANSI  color  escape  sequence  (default
              "0123456789:;[?!"'#%()*+ ").

       LESSANSIOSCALLOW
              A comma‐separated list of OSC types which are output directly to
              the terminal when [1m-R [22mis in effect (default "8";  that  is,  only
              OSC 8 sequences are output directly).

       LESSANSIOSCCHARS
              Characters  which  may follow an ESC character to mark the start
              of an "OS Command" sequence.  All characters  that  follow  this
              character  up  to a String Terminator (ESC‐backslash or BEL) are
              considered to be part of the OSC sequence (default "]").   If  a
              character  in  LESSANSIOSCCHARS  is followed by an asterisk, se‐
              quences that begin with that character in the file contents  are
              passed  through  to  the terminal; otherwise only sequences that
              appear in a prompt string are passed through.

       LESSBINFMT
              Format for displaying non‐printable, non‐control characters.

       LESSCHARDEF
              Defines a character set.

       LESSCHARSET
              Selects a predefined character set.

       LESSCLOSE
              Command line to invoke the (optional) input‐postprocessor.

       LESSECHO
              Name of the lessecho program (default "lessecho").  The lessecho
              program is needed to expand metacharacters, such as * and ?,  in
              filenames on Unix systems.

       LESSEDIT
              Editor  prototype  string (used for the v command).  See discus‐
              sion under PROMPTS.

       LESSGLOBALTAGS
              Name of the command used by the [1m-t [22moption to find  global  tags.
              Normally  should be set to "global" if your system has the [1mglob‐[0m
              [1mal[22m(1) command.  If not set, global tags are not used.

       LESSHISTFILE
              Name of the history file used to remember  search  commands  and
              shell  commands  between  invocations of [1mless[22m.  If set to "-" or
              "/dev/null", a history file is not used.  The default depends on
              the operating system, but is usually:

              Linux and Unix
                     "$XDG_STATE_HOME/lesshst" or "$HOME/.local/state/lesshst"
                     or "$XDG_DATA_HOME/lesshst" or "$HOME/.lesshst".

              Windows and MS‐DOS
                     "$HOME/_lesshst".

              OS/2   "$HOME/lesshst.ini" or "$INIT/lesshst.ini".

       LESSHISTSIZE
              The maximum number of commands to save in the history file.  The
              default is 100.

       LESSKEYIN
              Name of the default [4mlesskey[24m [4msource[24m file.

       LESSKEY
              Name  of  the  default  [4mlesskey[24m  [4mbinary[24m  file.  (Not   used   if
              "$LESSKEYIN" exists.)

       LESSKEY_CONTENT
              The   value  is  parsed  as  if  it  were  the  parameter  of  a
              [1m--lesskey-content [22moption.

       LESSKEYIN_SYSTEM
              Name of the default system‐wide [4mlesskey[24m [4msource[24m file.

       LESSKEY_SYSTEM
              Name of the default system‐wide [4mlesskey[24m [4mbinary[24m file.  (Not  used
              if "$LESSKEYIN_SYSTEM" exists.)

       LESSMETACHARS
              List  of characters which are considered "metacharacters" by the
              shell.

       LESSMETAESCAPE
              Prefix which less will add before each metacharacter in  a  com‐
              mand sent to the shell (default "\").

       LESSNOCONFIG
              If set to "-", all environment variables except TERM are ignored
              (treated  as if they were not set).  If set to a comma‐separated
              list of environment variable names,  all  environment  variables
              except  TERM  and those in the list are ignored.  In either case
              (if set to any non‐empty value), all [1mlesskey [22mfiles are also  ig‐
              nored.

       LESSOPEN
              Command line to invoke the (optional) input‐preprocessor.

       LESSSECURE
              Runs less in "secure" mode.  See discussion under SECURITY.

       LESSSECURE_ALLOW
              Enables  individual  features  which  are  normally  disabled by
              LESSSECURE.  See discussion under SECURITY.

       LESSSEPARATOR
              String to be appended to a directory name in filename completion
              (default "\" on MS‐DOS, Windows, and OS/2; otherwise "/").

       LESSUTFBINFMT
              Format for displaying non‐printable Unicode code points.

       LESSUTFCHARDEF
              Overrides the type of specified Unicode characters.

       LESS_COLUMNS
              Sets the number of columns on the screen.  Unlike COLUMNS, takes
              precedence over the system’s idea of the screen size, so it  can
              be  used  to  make [1mless [22muse less than the full screen width.  If
              set to a negative number, sets the number  of  columns  used  to
              this much less than the actual screen width.

       LESS_LINES
              Sets  the  number  of  lines on the screen.  Unlike LINES, takes
              precedence over the system’s idea of the screen size, so it  can
              be  used  to make [1mless [22muse less than the full screen height.  If
              set to a negative number, sets the number of lines used to  this
              much  less  than  the  actual screen height.  When set, [1mless [22mre‐
              paints the entire screen on every movement command, so scrolling
              may be slower.

       LESS_DATA_DELAY
              Duration (in milliseconds) after starting to read data from  the
              input,  after  which the "Waiting for data" message will be dis‐
              played.  The default is 4000 (4 seconds).

       LESS_IS_MORE
              Emulate the [1mmore[22m(1) command.

       LESS_OSC8_OPEN_xxx
              Where "xxx" is a URI scheme such as "http" or  "file",  sets  an
              OSC 8 handler for opening OSC 8 links containing a URI with that
              scheme.

       LESS_OSC8_OPEN_ANY
              Sets an OSC 8 handler for opening OSC 8 links for which there is
              no specific LESS_OSC8_OPEN_xxx handler set for the "xxx" scheme.

       LESS_OSC8_OPEN_NONE
              Sets  an  OSC 8 handler for opening OSC 8 links which contain no
              scheme (that is, there is no colon in the URI).

       LESS_SHELL_LINES
              When the [1m-F [22moption is set, [1mless [22mexits automatically if the  num‐
              ber  of  screen  lines  used to display the file is less than or
              equal  to  the  screen   height   minus   the   value   of   the
              LESS_SHELL_LINES  variable.   Thus,  if  you  use a shell prompt
              which occupies more than one screen line, this variable  can  be
              set  to  the number of lines used by your prompt, to ensure that
              the entire file can be seen  when  [1m-F  [22mis  used.   If  not  set,
              LESS_SHELL_LINES is assumed to be 1.

       LESS_SIGUSR1
              If set to a string of one or more [1mless [22mcommand characters, those
              commands will be executed when [1mless [22mreceives a SIGUSR1 signal.

       LESS_TERMCAP_xx
              Where  "xx"  is  any two characters, overrides the definition of
              the termcap "xx" capability for the  terminal.   No  escape  se‐
              quences in the string are processed, so any nonprintable charac‐
              ters such as ESC must be in the string literally.

       LESS_TERMINFO_xxxx
              Where  "xxxx" is any string of characters, overrides the defini‐
              tion of the terminfo "xxxx" capability for  the  terminal.   You
              can use either LESS_TERMCAP_xx or LESS_TERMINFO_xxxx to override
              a  terminal capability, regardless of whether [1mless [22mis built with
              the [1mtermcap [22mor the [1mterminfo [22mlibrary.

       LESS_TERMCAP_BRACKETED_PASTE_START
              Overrides the standard ANSI escape sequence to enable  bracketed
              paste.  This is used when the [1m--no-paste [22moption is in effect.

       LESS_TERMCAP_BRACKETED_PASTE_END
              Overrides the standard ANSI escape sequence to disable bracketed
              paste.

       LESS_TERMCAP_MOUSE_START
              Overrides  the standard ANSI escape sequence to enable mouse re‐
              porting.  This is used when the [1m--mouse [22moption is in effect.

       LESS_TERMCAP_MOUSE_END
              Overrides the standard ANSI escape sequence to disable mouse re‐
              porting.

       LESS_TERMCAP_SUSPEND
              Defines an escape sequence to  temporarily  suspend  screen  up‐
              dates.  This is sent to the terminal before clearing the screen.
              This  can be used to avoid screen tearing when the screen is re‐
              drawn on certain terminals.

       LESS_TERMCAP_RESUME
              Defines an escape sequence to resume screen  updates.   This  is
              sent to the terminal after displaying the prompt.

       LESS_UNSUPPORT
              A  space‐separated  list of command line options.  These options
              will be ignored (with no error message) if they  appear  on  the
              command line or in the LESS environment variable.  Options list‐
              ed  in  LESS_UNSUPPORT can still be changed by the - and -- com‐
              mands.  Each option in LESS_UNSUPPORT is a dash  followed  by  a
              single character option letter, or two dashes followed by a long
              option name.

       LINES  Sets  the  number of lines on the screen.  Takes precedence over
              the number of lines specified by the TERM variable.  (But if you
              have a windowing system which supports TIOCGWINSZ  or  WIOCGETD,
              the  window  system’s  idea  of the screen size takes precedence
              over the LINES and COLUMNS environment variables.)

       MORE   Options which are passed to [1mless [22mautomatically when  running  in
              [1mmore[22m‐compatible mode.

       PATH   User’s  search path (used to find a lesskey file on MS‐DOS, Win‐
              dows, and OS/2 systems).

       POSIXLY_CORRECT
              If set to any value, all option arguments on  the  command  line
              are expected to appear before any filename arguments.  This must
              be set as an actual environment variable, not in a [1mlesskey [22mfile.

       SHELL  The  shell  used  to execute the ! command, as well as to expand
              filenames.

       TERM   The type of terminal on which [1mless [22mis being run.

       VISUAL The name of the editor (used for the v command).

       XDG_CONFIG_HOME
              Possible location of the [1mlesskey [22mfile; see the KEY BINDINGS sec‐
              tion.

       XDG_DATA_HOME
              Possible location of the history file; see  the  description  of
              the LESSHISTFILE environment variable.

       XDG_STATE_HOME
              Possible  location  of  the history file; see the description of
              the LESSHISTFILE environment variable.

[1mSEE ALSO[0m
       [1mlesskey[22m(1), [1mlessecho[22m(1)

[1mCOPYRIGHT[0m
       Copyright (C) 1984‐2026  Mark Nudelman

       less is part of the GNU project and is free software.  You  can  redis‐
       tribute  it and/or modify it under the terms of either (1) the GNU Gen‐
       eral Public License as published by the Free  Software  Foundation;  or
       (2) the Less License.  See the file README in the less distribution for
       more details regarding redistribution.  You should have received a copy
       of  the  GNU General Public License along with the source for less; see
       the file COPYING.  If not, write to the Free  Software  Foundation,  59
       Temple  Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111‐1307, USA.  You should also
       have received a copy of the Less License; see the file LICENSE.

       less is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
       WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or  FIT‐
       NESS  FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for
       more details.

[1mAUTHOR[0m
       Mark Nudelman
       Report bugs at https://github.com/gwsw/less/issues.
       For more information, see the less homepage at
       https://greenwoodsoftware.com/less.

less 702                          22 May 2026                          [4mLESS[24m(1)
