The more utility is a filter that displays the contents of
a text file on the terminal, one screenful at a time. It normally pauses
after each screenful. /usr/bin/more then prints --More-- and
/usr/xpg4/bin/more then prints file at the bottom of the
screen. If more is reading from a file rather than a pipe, the
percentage of characters displayed so far is also shown.
The more utility scrolls up to display one more line in
response to a RETURN character. more displays another
screenful in response to a SPACE character. Other commands are listed
below.
The page utility clears the screen before displaying the
next screenful of text. page only provides a one-line overlap between
screens.
The more utility sets the terminal to NOECHO mode,
so that the output can be continuous. Commands that you type do not normally
show up on your terminal, except for the / and ! commands.
The /usr/bin/more utility exits after displaying the last
specified file. /usr/xpg4/bin/more prompts for a command at the last
line of the last specified file.
If the standard output is not a terminal, more acts just
like cat(1), except that a header is printed before each file in a
series.
The following options are supported for both /usr/bin/more
and /usr/xpg4/bin/more:
-c
Clears before displaying. Redraws the screen instead of
scrolling for faster displays. This option is ignored if the terminal does not
have the ability to clear to the end of a line.
-d
Displays error messages rather than ringing the terminal
bell if an unrecognized command is used. This is helpful for inexperienced
users.
-s
Squeeze. Replaces multiple blank lines with a single
blank line. This is helpful when viewing
nroff(1) output on the
screen.
The following options are supported for /usr/bin/more
only:
-f
Does not fold long lines. This is useful when lines
contain nonprinting characters or escape sequences, such as those generated
when
nroff(1) output is piped through
ul(1).
-l
Does not treat FORMFEED characters (Control-l) as
page breaks. If -l is not used, more pauses to accept commands
after any line containing a ^L character (Control-l). Also, if a file
begins with a FORMFEED, the screen is cleared before the file is
printed.
-r
Normally, more ignores control characters that it
does not interpret in some way. The -r option causes these to be
displayed as ^C where C stands for any such control
character.
-u
Suppresses generation of underlining escape sequences.
Normally,
more handles underlining, such as that produced by
nroff(1), in a manner appropriate to the terminal. If the terminal can
perform underlining or has a stand-out mode,
more supplies appropriate
escape sequences as called for in the text file.
-w
Normally, more exits when it comes to the end of
its input. With -w, however, more prompts and waits for any key
to be struck before exiting.
-lines
Displays the indicated number of lines in each
screenful, rather than the default (the number of lines in the terminal screen
less two).
+linenumber
Start up at linenumber.
+/pattern
Start up two lines above the line containing the regular
expression pattern. Note: Unlike editors, this construct should
not end with a `/.' If it does, then the trailing slash is taken
as a character in the search pattern.
The following options are supported for /usr/xpg4/bin/more
only:
-e
Exits immediately after writing the last line of the last
file in the argument list.
-i
Performs pattern matching in searches without regard to
case.
-n number
Specifies the number of lines per screenful. The
number argument is a positive decimal integer. The -n option
overrides any values obtained from the environment.
-p command
+command
For each file examined, initially executes the
more command in the
command argument. If the command is a
positioning command, such as a line number or a regular expression search, set
the current position to represent the final results of the command, without
writing any intermediate lines of the file. For example, the two commands:
more -p 1000j file
more -p 1000G file
are equivalent and start the display with the current position at
line 1000, bypassing the lines that j would write and scroll off the
screen if it had been issued during the file examination. If the positioning
command is unsuccessful, the first line in the file will be the current
position.
-t tagstring
Writes the screenful of the file containing the tag named
by the
tagstring argument. See the
ctags(1) utility.
-u
Treats a backspace character as a printable control
character, displayed as a ^H (Control-h), suppressing backspacing and the
special handling that produces underlined or standout-mode text on some
terminal types. Also, does not ignore a carriage-return character at the end
of a line.
If both the -t tagstring and -p
command (or the obsolescent +command) options are given, the
-t tagstring is processed first.
more uses the terminal's terminfo(5) entry to
determine its display characteristics.
more looks in the environment variable MORE for any
preset options. For instance, to page through files using the -c mode
by default, set the value of this variable to -c. (Normally, the
command sequence to set up this environment variable is placed in the
.login or .profile file).
The commands take effect immediately. It is not necessary to type
a carriage return unless the command requires a file, command,
tagstring, or pattern. Up to the time when the command
character itself is given, the user may type the line kill character to
cancel the numerical argument being formed. In addition, the user may type
the erase character to redisplay the `--More--(xx%)' or
file message.
In the following commands, i is a numerical argument
(1 by default).
iSPACE
Display another screenful, or i more lines if
i is specified.
iRETURN
Display another line, or i more lines, if
specified.
ib
i^B
(Control-b) Skip back i screenfuls and then print
a screenful.
id
i^D
(Control-d) Scroll forward one half screenful or i
more lines. If i is specified, the count becomes the default for
subsequent d and u commands.
if
Skip i screens full and then print a
screenful.
h
Help. Give a description of all the more
commands.
^L
(Control-l) Refresh.
in
Search for the ith occurrence of the last
pattern entered.
q
Q
Exit from more.
is
Skip i lines and then print a screenful.
v
Drop into the vi editor at the current line of the
current file.
iz
Same as SPACE, except that i, if present, becomes
the new default number of lines per screenful.
=
Display the current line number.
i/pattern
Search forward for the ith occurrence of the
regular expression pattern. Display the screenful starting two lines
before the line that contains the ith match for the regular expression
pattern, or the end of a pipe, whichever comes first. If more is
displaying a file and there is no match, its position in the file remains
unchanged. Regular expressions can be edited using erase and kill characters.
Erasing back past the first column cancels the search command.
!command
Invoke a shell to execute command. The characters
% and !, when used within command are replaced with the
current filename and the previous shell command, respectively. If there is no
current filename, % is not expanded. Prepend a backslash to these
characters to escape expansion.
:f
Display the current filename and line number.
i:n
Skip to the ith next filename given in the command
line, or to the last filename in the list if i is out of range.
i:p
Skip to the ith previous filename given in the
command line, or to the first filename if i is out of range. If given
while more is positioned within a file, go to the beginning of the
file. If more is reading from a pipe, more simply rings the
terminal bell.
:q
:Q
Exit from more (same as q or
Q).
The following commands are available only in
/usr/bin/more:
'
Single quote. Go to the point from which the last search
started. If no search has been performed in the current file, go to the
beginning of the file.
.
Dot. Repeat the previous command.
^\
Halt a partial display of text. more stops sending
output, and displays the usual --More-- prompt. Some output is lost as
a result.
The following commands are available only in
/usr/xpg4/bin/more:
i^F
(Control-f) Skip i screens full and print a
screenful. (Same as if.)
^G
(Control-g) Display the current line number (same as
=).
ig
Go to line number i with the default of the first
line in the file.
iG
Go to line number i with the default of the Last
line in the file.
ij
Display another line, or i more lines, if
specified. (Same as iRETURN.)
ik
Scroll backwards one or i lines, if
specified.
mletter
Mark the current position with the name
letter.
N
Reverse direction of search.
r
Refresh the screen.
R
Refresh the screen, discarding any buffered input.
iu
i^U
(Control-u) Scroll backwards one half a screen of
i lines, if specified. If i is specified, the count becomes the
new default for subsequent d and u commands.
ZZ
Exit from more (same as q).
:e file
Examine (display) a new file. If no file is
specified, the current file is redisplayed.
:t tagstring
Go to the tag named by the tagstring argument and
scroll/rewrite the screen with the tagged line in the current position. See
the ctags utility.
'letter
Return to the position that was previously marked with
the name letter.
''
Return to the position from which the last move of more
than a screenful was made. Defaults to the beginning of the file.
i?[!]pattern
Search backward in the file for the ith line
containing the pattern. The ! specifies to search backward for
the ith line that does not contain the pattern.
i/!pattern
Search forward in the file for the ith line that
does not contain the pattern.
![command]
Invoke a shell or the specified command.
See largefile(7) for the description of the behavior of
more and page when encountering files greater than or equal to
2 Gbyte ( 2^31 bytes).
See environ(7) for descriptions of the following
environment variables that affect the execution of more: LANG,
LC_ALL, LC_COLLATE (/usr/xpg4/bin/more only),
LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, NLSPATH, and TERM.
The following environment variables also affect the execution of
/usr/xpg4/bin/more:
COLUMNS
Overrides the system selected horizontal screen
size.
EDITOR
Used by the v command to select an editor.
LINES
Overrides the system selected vertical screen size. The
-n option has precedence over LINES in determining the number of
lines in a screen.
MORE
A string specifying options as described in the OPTIONS
section, above. As in a command line, The options must be separated by blank
characters and each option specification must start with a −. Any
command line options are processed after those specified in MORE as
though the command line were: more $MORE options
operands