Back to main site | Back to man page index

MORE(1)                                             User Commands                                             MORE(1)



NAME
       more - file perusal filter for crt viewing

SYNOPSIS
       more [options] file [...]

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

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

       -number
              This option specifies an integer number which is the screen size (in lines).

       -d     more  will  prompt the user with the message "[Press space to continue, 'q' to quit.]" and will display
              "[Press 'h' for instructions.]" instead of ringing the bell when an illegal key is pressed.

       -l     more usually treats ^L (form feed) as a special character, and will pause after any line that  contains
              a form feed.  The -l option will prevent this behavior.

       -f     Causes more to count logical, rather than screen lines (i.e., long lines are not folded).

       -p     Do  not scroll.  Instead, clear the whole screen and then display the text.  Notice that this option is
              switched on automatically if the executable is named page.

       -c     Do not scroll.  Instead, paint each screen from the top, clearing the remainder of each line as  it  is
              displayed.

       -s     Squeeze multiple blank lines into one.

       -u     Suppress underlining.

       +/     The +/ option specifies a string that will be searched for before each file is displayed.

       +number
              Start at line number.

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

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

              SPACE     Display next k lines of text.  Defaults to current screen size.

              z         Display  next  k  lines  of  text.   Defaults  to  current screen size.  Argument becomes new
                        default.

              RETURN    Display next k lines of text.  Defaults to 1.  Argument becomes new default.

              d or ^D   Scroll k lines.  Default is current scroll size, initially 11.  Argument becomes new default.


              /pattern  Search for kth occurrence of regular expression.  Defaults to 1.

              n         Search for kth occurrence of last regular expression.  Defaults to 1.

              !command or :!command
                        Execute command in a subshell.

              v         Start up an editor at current line.  The editor is taken from the environment variable VISUAL
                        if  defined, or EDITOR if VISUAL is not defined, or defaults to vi if neither VISUAL nor EDI‐
                        TOR is defined.

              ^L        Redraw screen.

              :n        Go to kth next file.  Defaults to 1.

              :P        Go to kth previous file.  Defaults to 1.

              :f        Display current file name and line number.

              .         Repeat previous command.

ENVIRONMENT
       More utilizes the following environment variables, if they exist:

       MORE   This variable may be set with favored options to more.

       SHELL  Current shell in use (normally set by the shell at login time).

       TERM   Specifies terminal type, used by more to get the terminal characteristics necessary to  manipulate  the
              screen.

       VISUAL Editor the user is preferring.  Used when key command v is pressed.

       EDITOR Editor of choise when VISUAL is not specified.

SEE ALSO
       vi(1), less(1)

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

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

AVAILABILITY
       The  more  command  is  part  of  the  util-linux  package  and is available from Linux Kernel Archive ⟨ftp://
       ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/⟩.