SYNOPSIS
more [-cdflrsuw] [-lines] [+linenumber] [+/pattern/] [filename ...]
page [-cdflrsuw] [-lines] [+linenumber] [+/pattern/] [filename ...]
DESCRIPTION
More is a filter which allows examination of a continuous text one
screenful at a time on a soft-copy terminal. It normally pauses after
each screenful, printing --More-- at the bottom of the screen. If the
user then types a carriage return, one more line is displayed. If the
user hits a space, another screenful is displayed. Other possibilities
are enumerated later.
The command line options are:
-n An integer which is the size (in lines) of the window which more
will use instead of the default.
-c More will draw each page by beginning at the top of the screen
and erasing each line just before it draws on it. This avoids
scrolling the screen, making it easier to read while more is
writing. This option will be ignored if the terminal does not
have the ability to clear to the end of a line.
-d More will prompt the user with the message "Press space to con-
tinue, 'q' to quit." at the end of each screenful, and will re-
spond to subsequent illegal user input by printing "Press 'h'
for instructions." instead of ringing the bell. This is useful
if more is being used as a filter in some setting, such as a
class, where many users may be unsophisticated.
-f This causes more to count logical, rather than screen lines.
That is, long lines are not folded. This option is recommended
if nroff output is being piped through ul, since the latter may
generate escape sequences. These escape sequences contain char-
acters which would ordinarily occupy screen positions, but which
do not print when they are sent to the terminal as part of an
escape sequence. Thus more may think that lines are longer than
they actually are, and fold lines erroneously.
-l Do not treat ^L (form feed) specially. If this option is not
given, more will pause after any line that contains a ^L, as if
the end of a screenful had been reached. Also, if a file begins
with a form feed, the screen will be cleared before the file is
printed.
-r More will print ASCII control characters as `c' with this op-
tion.
-s Squeeze multiple blank lines from the output, producing only one
blank line. Especially helpful when viewing nroff output, this
option maximizes the useful information present on the screen.
+/pattern
Start up two lines before the line containing the regular ex-
pression pattern.
If the program is invoked as page, then the screen is cleared before
each screenful is printed (but only if a full screenful is being print-
ed), and k - 1 rather than k - 2 lines are printed in each screenful,
where k is the number of lines the terminal can display.
More looks in the terminfo database to determine terminal characteris-
tics, and to determine the default window size. On a terminal capable
of displaying 24 lines, the default window size is 22 lines.
More looks in the environment variable MORE to pre-set any flags de-
sired. For example, if you prefer to view files using the -c mode of
operation, the csh command setenv MORE -c or the sh command sequence
MORE='-c' ; export MORE would cause all invocations of more , including
invocations by programs such as man and msgs , to use this mode. Nor-
mally, the user will place the command sequence which sets up the MORE
environment variable in the .cshrc or .profile file.
If more is reading from a file, rather than a pipe, then a percentage
is displayed along with the --More-- prompt. This gives the fraction
of the file (in characters, not lines) that has been read so far.
Other sequences which may be typed when more pauses, and their effects,
are as follows (i is an optional integer argument, defaulting to 1) :
i<space>
display i more lines, (or another screenful if no argument is
given)
^D display 11 more lines (a ``scroll''). If i is given, then the
scroll size is set to i.
d same as ^D (control-D)
iz same as typing a space except that i, if present, becomes the
new window size.
is skip i lines and print a screenful of lines
if skip i screenfuls and print a screenful of lines
ib skip back i screenfuls and print a screenful of lines
h Help command; give a description of all the more commands.
i/expr search for the i-th occurrence of the regular expression expr.
If there are fewer than i occurrences of expr, and the input is
a file (rather than a pipe), then the position in the file re-
mains unchanged. Otherwise, a screenful is displayed, starting
two lines before the place where the expression was found. The
user's erase and kill characters may be used to edit the regular
expression. Erasing back past the first column cancels the
search command.
in search for the i-th occurrence of the last regular expression
entered.
' (single quote) Go to the point from which the last search start-
ed. If no search has been performed in the current file, this
command goes back to the beginning of the file.
!command
invoke a shell with command. The characters `%' and `!' in
"command" are replaced with the current file name and the previ-
ous shell command respectively. If there is no current file
name, `%' is not expanded. The sequences "\%" and "\!" are re-
placed by "%" and "!" respectively.
i:n skip to the i-th next file given in the command line (skips to
last file if n doesn't make sense)
i:p skip to the i-th previous file given in the command line. If
this command is given in the middle of printing out a file, then
more goes back to the beginning of the file. If i doesn't make
sense, more skips back to the first file. If more is not read-
ing from a file, the bell is rung and nothing else happens.
:f display the current file name and line number.
:q or :Q
exit from more (same as q or Q).
. (dot) repeat the previous command.
The commands take effect immediately, i.e., it is not necessary to type
a carriage return. Up to the time when the command character itself is
If the standard output is not a teletype, then more acts just like cat,
except that a header is printed before each file (if there is more than
one).
A sample usage of more in previewing nroff output would be
nroff -ms +2 doc.n | more -s
SEE ALSO
cat(1), csh(1), man(1), script(1), sh(1)
Heirloom Toolchest 2/15/05 MORE(1)
Man(1) output converted with
man2html