1 2 NEWS about less 3 4====================================================================== 5 6 For the latest news about less, see https://greenwoodsoftware.com/less 7 You can also download the latest version of less from there. 8 9 Report bugs, suggestions or comments at 10 https://github.com/gwsw/less/issues. 11 12====================================================================== 13 14 Major changes between "less" versions 679 and 685 15 16* Add --cmd option (github #624). 17 18* Add LESS_TERMCAP_SUSPEND and LESS_TERMCAP_RESUME (github #654). 19 20* Change --incsearch so that after typing each character of the pattern, 21 the search begins at the position where the search command was invoked, 22 not the current position (github #640). 23 24* Allow mixing of option arguments and filename arguments on the 25 command line unless POSIXLY_CORRECT is set (github #653). 26 27* Don't output U+00AD and U+200D, and fix some bugs handling emoji 28 modifier characters (github #637). 29 30* Fix hang if a search using ^S modifier matches empty string (github #634). 31 32* Fix bug using -g and -J (github #636). 33 34* Fix bug when pasting a search pattern while --incsearch is active 35 (github #635). 36 37* Fix bug in Windows build when autorepeating a search pattern (github #639). 38 39* Fix lesskey bug using #stop directive. 40 41* Fix lesskey bug using "invalid" action (github #643). 42 43* Fix bug causing file to appear to end prematurely if an input command 44 was received during a file read (github #649). 45 46* Fix performance issue in & filtering (github #638). Problem was introduced 47 in da2a9ecdf16beb642d0c030e35f0351c5f2e5a12 and released in less-673. 48 49* Fix some problems reported by valgrind (github #659, github #660, github #661). 50 51====================================================================== 52 53 Major changes between "less" versions 678 and 679 54 55* Fix bad parsing of lesskey file an env var is a prefix of another 56 env var (github #626). 57 58* Fix unexpected exit using -K if a key press is received while reading 59 the input file (github #628). 60 61====================================================================== 62 63 Major changes between "less" versions 668 and 678 64 65* Treat -r in LESS environment variable as -R. 66 67* Add ESC-j and ESC-k commands (github #560). 68 69* Add --no-paste option (github #523). 70 71* Add --no-edit-warn option (github #513). 72 73* Add --form-feed option (github #496). 74 75* Add ESC-b command (github #615). 76 77* Make TAB complete option name in -- command (github #531). 78 79* Update the file size on an attempt to go past end of file. 80 81* Make -R able to pass through any OSC escape sequences, 82 not just OSC 8 (github #504). 83 84* Setting LESS_IS_MORE=0 now disables "more" compatibility even 85 if invoked via a file link named "more" (github #500). 86 87* Pass through escape sequences in prompts even if -R is not set. 88 89* Add LESS_SHELL_LINES to support shell prompts which use more than 90 one line (github #514). 91 92* Add LESSANSIOSCALLOW to define OSC types which may be passed through. 93 94* Add LESSANSIOSCCHARS to define non-standard OSC intro chars. 95 96* Add LESS_SIGUSR1 to define user signal handler (github #582). 97 98* Add mouse and mouse6 commands to lesskey (github #569). 99 100* Improve behavior of ^O^N and ^O^P commands. 101 102* Leave stty tabs setting unchanged (github #620). 103 104* Fix unexpected behavior when entering a partial command followed by 105 a valid command (github #543). 106 107* Fix bug when coloring prompt string with SGR sequences (github #516). 108 109* Fix bug when searching for text near an invalid UTF-8 sequence (github #542). 110 111* Fix display bug when file contains ESC followed by NUL (github #550). 112 113* Fix bug when using +:n +:p +:x or +:d on the command line (github #552). 114 115* Fix bug with --no-number-headers when header is not at start of file 116 (github #566). 117 118* Fix bug where lesstest fails if window is resized (github #570). 119 120* Fix bug using "configure --with-secure=no" (github #584). 121 122* Fix bug using multibyte command chars (github #595). 123 124* Fix auto_wrap setting on Windows (github #497). 125 126* Fix two bugs using ^S search modifier (github #605). 127 128* Fix bug searching for UTF-8 strings with the PCRE2 library (github #610). 129 130* Fix bug highlighting OSC 8 links when opening a new file. 131 132* Fix bug when & filtering is active (github #618). 133 134====================================================================== 135 136 Major changes between "less" versions 661 and 668 137 138* Make 256/true colors work better on Windows without -Da 139 (github #539, github #546, github #562). 140 141* Fix build using --with-secure (github #544). 142 143* Fix crash when using --header on command line (github #545). 144 145* Fix possible crash when scrolling left/right or toggling -S (github #547). 146 147* Fix bug when using #stop in a lesskey file (github #551). 148 149* Fix bug when using --shift or --match-shift on command line with 150 a parameter starting with '.' (github #554). 151 152* Fix bug in R command when file size changes (github #553). 153 154* Fix bug using --header when file does not fill screen (github #556). 155 156* Fix ^X bug when output is not a terminal (github #558). 157 158* Fix bug where ^Z is not handled immediately (github #563). 159 160* Fix bug where first byte from a LESSOPEN filter is deleted if it is 161 greater than 0x7F (github #568). 162 163* Fix uninitialized variable in edit_ifile (github #573). 164 165* Fix incorrect handling of UTF-8 chars in prompts (github #576). 166 167====================================================================== 168 169 Major changes between "less" versions 643 and 661 170 171* Add ^O^N, ^O^P, ^O^L and ^O^O commands and mouse clicks (with --mouse) 172 to find and open OSC8 hyperlinks (github #251). 173 174* Add --match-shift option. 175 176* Add --lesskey-content option (github #447). 177 178* Add LESSKEY_CONTENT environment variable (github #447). 179 180* Add --no-search-header-lines and --no-search-header-columns options 181 (github #397). 182 183* Add ctrl-L search modifier (github #367). 184 185* A ctrl-P at the start of a shell command suppresses the "done" 186 message (github #462). 187 188* Add attribute characters ('*', '~', '_', '&') to --color 189 parameter (github #471). 190 191* Allow expansion of environment variables in lesskey files. 192 193* Add LESSSECURE_ALLOW environment variable (github #449). 194 195* Add LESS_UNSUPPORT environment variable. 196 197* Add line number parameter to --header option (github #436). 198 199* Mouse right-click jumps to position marked by left-click (github #390). 200 201* Ensure that the target line is not obscured by a header line 202 set by --header (github #444). 203 204* Change default character set to "utf-8", except remains "dos" on MS-DOS. 205 206* Add message when search with ^W wraps (github #459). 207 208* UCRT builds on Windows 10 and later now support Unicode file names 209 (github #438). 210 211* Improve behavior of interrupt while reading non-terminated pipe 212 (github #414). 213 214* Improve parsing of -j, -x and -# options (github #393). 215 216* Support files larger than 4GB on Windows (github #417). 217 218* Support entry of Unicode chars larger than U+FFFF on Windows (github #391). 219 220* Improve colors of bold, underline and standout text on Windows. 221 222* Allow --rscroll to accept non-ASCII characters (github #483). 223 224* Allow the parameter to certain options to be terminated with a 225 space (--color, --quotes, --rscroll, --search-options 226 and --intr) (github #495). 227 228* Fix bug where # substitution failed after viewing help (github #420). 229 230* Fix crash if files are deleted while less is viewing them (github #404). 231 232* Workaround unreliable ReadConsoleInputW behavior on Windows 233 with non-ASCII input. 234 235* Fix -J display when searching for non-ASCII characters (github #422). 236 237* Don't filter header lines via the & command (github #423). 238 239* Fix bug when horizontally shifting long lines (github #425). 240 241* Add -x and -D options to lesstest, to make it easier to diagnose 242 a failed lesstest run. 243 244* Fix bug searching long lines with --incsearch and -S (github #428). 245 246* Fix bug that made ESC-} fail if top line on screen was empty (github #429). 247 248* Fix bug with --mouse on Windows when used with pipes (github #440). 249 250* Fix bug in --+OPTION command line syntax. 251 252* Fix display bug when using -w with an empty line with a CR/LF 253 line ending (github #474). 254 255* When substituting '#' or '%' with a filename, quote the filename 256 if it contains a space (github #480). 257 258* Fix wrong sleep time when system has usleep but not nanosleep (github #489). 259 260* Fix bug when file name contains a newline. 261 262* Fix bug when file name contains nonprintable characters (github #503). 263 264* Fix DJGPP build (github #497). 265 266* Update Unicode tables. 267 268====================================================================== 269 270 Major changes between "less" versions 633 and 643 271 272* Fix problem when a program piping into less reads from the tty, 273 like sudo asking for password (github #368). 274 275* Fix search modifier ^E after ^W. 276 277* Fix bug using negated (^N) search (github #374). 278 279* Fix bug setting colors with -D on Windows build (github #386). 280 281* Fix reading special chars like PageDown on Windows (github #378). 282 283* Fix mouse wheel scrolling on Windows (github #379). 284 285* Fix erroneous EOF when terminal window size changes (github #372). 286 287* Fix compile error with some definitions of ECHONL (github #395). 288 289* Fix crash on Windows when writing logfile (github #405). 290 291* Fix regression in exit code when stdin is /dev/null and 292 output is a file (github #373). 293 294* Add lesstest test suite to production release (github #344). 295 296* Change lesstest output to conform with 297 automake Simple Test Format (github #399). 298 299====================================================================== 300 301 Major changes between "less" versions 632 and 633 302 303* Fix build on systems which have ncurses/termcap.h or 304 ncursesw/termcap.h but not termcap.h. 305 306====================================================================== 307 308 Major changes between "less" versions 608 and 632 309 310* Add LESSUTFCHARDEF environment variable (github #275). 311 312* Add # command (github #330). 313 314* Add ^S search modifier (github #196). 315 316* Add --wordwrap option (github #113). 317 318* Add --no-vbell option (github #304). 319 320* Add --no-search-headers option (github #44). 321 322* Add --modelines option (github #89). 323 324* Add --intr option (github #224). 325 326* Add --proc-backspace, --proc-tab and --proc-return options (github #335). 327 328* Add --show-preproc-errors option (github #258). 329 330* Add LESS_LINES and LESS_COLUMNS environment variables (github #84). 331 332* Add LESS_DATA_DELAY environment variable (github #337). 333 334* Allow empty "lines" field in --header option. 335 336* Update Unicode tables. 337 338* Improve ability of ^X to interrupt F command (github #49). 339 340* Status column (-J) shows off-screen matches. 341 342* Parenthesized sub-patterns in searches are colored with unique colors, 343 if supported by the regular expression library (github #196). 344 345* Don't allow opening a tty as file input unless -f is set (github #309). 346 347* Don't require newline input after +&... option (github #339). 348 349* Fix incorrect handling of some Private Use Unicode characters. 350 351* Fix ANSI color bug when overstriking with colored chars (github #276). 352 353* Fix compiler const warning (github #279). 354 355* Fix signal race in iread (github #280). 356 357* Fix reading procfs files on Linux (github #282). 358 359* Fix --ignore-case with ctrl-R (no regex) search (github #300). 360 361* Fix bug doing repeat search after setting & filter (github #299). 362 363* Fix bug doing repeat search before non-repeat search. 364 365* Fix crash with -R and certain line lengths (github #338). 366 367* Fix input of Windows dead keys (github #352). 368 369* Don't retain search options from a cancelled search (github #302). 370 371* Don't call realpath on fake filenames like "-" (github #289). 372 373* Implement lesstest test suite. 374 375* Convert function parameter definitions from K&R to C89 (github #316). 376 377====================================================================== 378 379 Major changes between "less" versions 590 and 608 380 381* Add the --header option (github #43). 382 383* Add the --no-number-headers option (github #178). 384 385* Add the --status-line option. 386 387* Add the --redraw-on-quit option (github #36). 388 389* Add the --search-options option (github #213). 390 391* Add the --exit-follow-on-close option (github #244). 392 393* Add 'H' color type to set color of header lines. 394 395* Add #version conditional to lesskey. 396 397* Add += syntax to variable section in lesskey files. 398 399* Allow option name in -- command to end with '=' in addition to '\n'. 400 401* Add $HOME/.config to possible locations of lesskey file (github #153). 402 403* Add $XDG_STATE_HOME and $HOME/.local/state to possible locations 404 of history file (github #223). 405 406* Don't read or write history file in secure mode (github #201). 407 408* Fix display of multibyte and double-width chars in prompt. 409 410* Fix ESC-BACKSPACE command when BACKSPACE key does not send 0x08 411 (github #188). 412 413* Add more \k codes to lesskey format. 414 415* Fix bug when empty file is modified while viewing it. 416 417* Fix bug when parsing a malformed lesskey file (githb #234). 418 419* Fix bug scrolling history when --incsearch is set (github #214). 420 421* Fix buffer overflow when invoking lessecho with more than 63 -m/-n 422 options (github #198). 423 424* Fix buffer overflow in bin_file (github #271). 425 426* Fix bug restoring color at end of highlighted text. 427 428* Fix bug in parsing lesskey file. 429 430* Defer moving cursor to lower left in some more cases. 431 432* Suppress TAB filename expansion in some cases where it doesn't make sense. 433 434* Fix termlib detection when compiler doesn't accept 435 calls to undeclared functions. 436 437* Fix bug in input of non-ASCII characters on Windows (github #247) 438 439* Escape filenames when invoking LESSCLOSE. 440 441* Fix bug using multibyte UTF-8 char in search string 442 with --incsearch (github #273). 443 444====================================================================== 445 446 Major changes between "less" versions 581 and 590 447 448* Make less able to read lesskey source files (deprecating lesskey). 449 450* If XDG_CONFIG_HOME is set, find lesskey source file 451 in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/lesskey rather than $HOME/.lesskey. 452 453* If XDG_DATA_HOME is set, find and store history file 454 in $XDG_DATA_HOME/lesshst rather than $HOME/.lesshst. 455 456* Add the --lesskey-src option. 457 458* Add the --file-size option. 459 460* With -F, if screen is resized to make file fit on one screen, don't exit. 461 462* Fix bug which could leave terminal in mouse-reporting mode 463 after exiting less. 464 465* Fix bug which caused failure to respond to window resize. 466 467* Fix backslash bug searching in tag file. 468 469====================================================================== 470 471 Major changes between "less" versions 563 and 581 472 473* Change ESC-u command to toggle, not disable, highlighting per man page. 474 475* Add ESC-U command. 476 477* Add ctrl-W search modifier for wrapping search. 478 479* F command can be interrupted by ^X. 480 481* Support OSC 8 hyperlinks when -R is in effect. 482 483* g command with no number will ignore -j and put first line at top of screen. 484 485* Multiple + or -p command line options are handled better. 486 487* Add the --incsearch option. 488 489* Add the --line-num-width option. 490 491* Add the --status-col-width option. 492 493* Add the --use-color and --color options. 494 495* Display -w highlight even if highlighted line is empty. 496 497* If search result is in a long line, scroll to ensure it is visible. 498 499* Editing the same file under different names now creates only 500 one entry in the file list. 501 502* Make visual bell more visible on some terminals. 503 504* Ring end-of-file bell no more than once per second. 505 506* Build can use either Python or Perl for Makefile.aut operations. 507 508* Fix crash when using the @ search modifier. 509 510* Fix crash in the 's' command due to duplicate free. 511 512* Fix realpath crash on Darwin. 513 514====================================================================== 515 516 Major changes between "less" versions 551 and 563 517 518* Update Unicode tables. 519 520* Treat Hangul Jamo medial vowels and final consonants as zero width. 521 522* Display error message immediately when -o is toggled and 523 input is not a pipe. 524 525* Fix regression: make screen repaint when "squished" and 526 a no-movement command is given. 527 528* Fix erroneous EOF calculation when F command is interrupted. 529 530* Make WIN32C version include this fix from 551: 531 Don't count lines in initial screen if using -X with -F. 532 533* Fix display bug in WIN32C version. 534 535* Fix memory corruption when built with libtermcap. 536 537* Support libtinfow. 538 539====================================================================== 540 541 Major changes between "less" versions 530 and 551 542 543* Add --mouse option. 544 545* Add --wheel-lines option. 546 547* Add --no-histdups option. 548 549* Add --save-marks option. 550 551* Support PCRE2 regular expression library. 552 553* Redraw screen on SIGWINCH even if screen size doesn't change. 554 555* Shell-escape filenames in history so they can be used again. 556 557* Ring bell if user enters invalid long option name. 558 559* Use PCRE_UTF8 flag for pcre regular expressions when in UTF-8 mode. 560 561* Windows: use wide-char string to set console title. 562 563* Don't count lines in initial screen if using -X with -F. 564 565* Support mingw build system. 566 567* Fix bug in v command on empty file. 568 569* Fix bug in v command when filename contains shell metacharacters. 570 571====================================================================== 572 573 Major changes between "less" versions 487 and 530 574 575* Don't output terminal init sequence if using -F and file fits on one screen. 576 577* When using -S, mark truncated lines with a special character. 578 The character can be changed or disabled via the new --rscroll option. 579 580* New command M marks the last line displayed on the screen. 581 582* New command ESC-m removes a line mark. 583 584* Status column (enabled via -J) now shows mark letters. 585 586* Status column shows search matches even if highlighting is disabled via -G. 587 588* A second ESC-u command will clear search match markers in the status column. 589 590* Do same ANSI escape code filtering for tag matching that we do for 591 searching, to help when viewing syntax-highlighted code. 592 593* Catch SIGTERM and clean up before exiting. 594 595* Fix bug initializing default charset on Windows. 596 597* Handle keypad ENTER key correctly if it sends something other than newline. 598 599* Fix buffering bug when using stdin with a LESSOPEN pipe. 600 601* On Windows, allow 'u' in -D option to enable underlining. 602 603* On Windows, use underline in sgr mode. 604 605* On Windows, convert UTF-8 to multibyte if console is not UTF-8. 606 607* Update Unicode tables to 2017-03-08. 608 609* Pass-thru Unicode formatting chars (Cf type) instead of treating them 610 as binary chars. But treat them as binary if -U is set. 611 612* Fix erroneous binary file warning when UTF-8 file contains ANSI SGR sequences. 613 614* Fix bugs when using LESSOPEN and switching between stdin and other files. 615 616* Fix some bugs handling filenames containing shell metacharacters. 617 618* Fix some memory leaks. 619 620* Allow some debugging environment variables to be set in lesskey file. 621 622* Code improvements: 623 . Use ANSI prototypes in funcs.h declarations. 624 . Fix some const mismatches. 625 . Remove archaic "register" in variable declarations. 626 627====================================================================== 628 629 Major changes between "less" versions 481 and 487 630 631* New commands ESC-{ and ESC-} to shift to start/end of displayed lines. 632 633* Make search highlights work correctly when changing caselessness with -i. 634 635* New option -Da in Windows version to enable SGR mode. 636 637* Fix "nothing to search" error when top or bottom line on screen is empty. 638 639* Fix bug when terminal has no "cm" termcap entry. 640 641* Fix incorrect display when entering double-width chars in search string. 642 643* Fix bug in Unicode handling that missed some double width characters. 644 645* Update Unicode database to 9.0.0. 646 647====================================================================== 648 649 Major changes between "less" versions 458 and 481 650 651* Don't overwrite history file; just append to it. 652 653* New command ESC-G goes to end of currently buffered data in a pipe. 654 655* Disable history feature when compiled with LESSHISTFILE set to "-". 656 657* In more-compatible mode, make the -p option apply to every file opened, 658 not just the first one. 659 660* In more-compatible mode, change the -e option to work like -E, not -EF. 661 662* Treat multiple CRs before LF are like one CR (all the CRs are hidden). 663 664* Allow "extra" string in lesskey file to append to a multi-char command 665 (like a search pattern), without executing the command. 666 667* Ignore -u/-U setting while viewing help file, so that 668 underline and bold chars are displayed correctly. 669 670* Improve detection of "binary" files in UTF-8 mode. 671 672* Fix bug with ++ commands. 673 674* Fix bug where prompt was sometimes not displayed with +G. 675 676* Fix possible memory corruption 677 678* Fix bugs and improve performance in ampersand filtering. 679 680* Automate construction of Unicode tables from Unicode database. 681 682* Allow %% escape sequence in LESSOPEN variable. 683 684====================================================================== 685 686 Major changes between "less" versions 451 and 458 687 688* Allow backslash escaping of metacharacters in LESS environment variable 689 after the --use-backslash option. 690 691* Don't quit if syntax errors are found in command line options. 692 693* Increase sizes of some internal buffers. 694 695* Fix configure bug with --with-regex=none. 696 697* Fix crash with "stty rows 0". 698 699* Fix Win32 attribute display bug. 700 701* Fix display bug when using up/down arrow on the command line. 702 703====================================================================== 704 705 Major changes between "less" versions 444 and 451 706 707* Add ESC-F command to keep reading data until a pattern is found. 708 709* Use exit code of LESSOPEN script if LESSOPEN starts with "||". 710 711* When up/down arrow is used on the command line immediately after 712 typing text, the next command starting with that text is found. 713 714* Add support for GNU regex. 715 716* Add configure option --with-regex=none and fix compile errors 717 when compiling with no regex library. 718 719* Fix bugs handling SGR sequences in Win32. 720 721* Fix possible crashes caused by malformed LESSOPEN or 722 LESSCLOSE variables. 723 724* Fix bug highlighting text which is discontiguous in the file 725 due to backspace processing. 726 727* Fix bug in displaying status column when scrolling backwards 728 with -J and -S in effect. 729 730====================================================================== 731 732 Major changes between "less" versions 443 and 444 733 734* Fix bug in unget handling that can cause strange effects on the 735 command line. 736 737* Remove vestiges of obsolete -l option that can cause a crash. 738 739====================================================================== 740 741 Major changes between "less" versions 436 and 443 742 743* Change search behavior such that when a search is given an explicit 744 pattern, the entire displayed screen is included in the search and 745 not just the portion after the target line. 746 747* Add -A option to change search behavior to the old way: only 748 the portion of the screen after the target line is searched. 749 750* Add %F formatting to prompt strings, replaced by the last component 751 of the input file. 752 753* Control-G while editing a command exits the command. 754 755* Less now exits with status 2 if control-C is pressed and -K is in effect. 756 757* Fix "ungetc overflow" when passing long commands via the -p option. 758 759* Fix bug in using line filtering via the & command 760 in combination with -i and -I. 761 762* Fix bug in handling negative arguments to the -j option. 763 764* Fix bug in handling %t in prompt strings. 765 766* Improve handling of long option names. 767 768* Improve percentage calculation for very large files. 769 770====================================================================== 771 772 Major changes between "less" versions 429 and 436 773 774* Don't pass "-" to non-pipe LESSOPEN unless it starts with "-". 775 776* Allow a fraction as the argument to the -# (--shift) option. 777 778* Fix highlight bug when underlined/overstruck text matches at end of line. 779 780* Fix non-regex searches with ctrl-R. 781 782====================================================================== 783 784 Major changes between "less" versions 424 and 429 785 786* LESSOPEN pipe will now be used on standard input, if the LESSOPEN 787 environment variable begins with "|-". 788 789* The -D option with one number now means use the normal background color. 790 791* Don't change permissions on history file if it is not a regular file. 792 793* Fix non-ANSI-compliant code that caused problems with some compilers. 794 795* Fix binary file detection in UTF-8 mode. 796 797* Fix display problems with long lines on "ignaw" terminals. 798 799* Fix problem interrupting the line number calculation for initial prompt. 800 801* Fix SGR emulation when dealing with multiple attributes (e.g. bold+underline). 802 803* Fix highlight bug when searching for underlined/overstruck text. 804 805====================================================================== 806 807 Major changes between "less" versions 418 and 424 808 809* New "&" command allows filtering of lines based on a pattern. 810 811* Status column now displays a search match, even if the matched 812 string is scrolled off screen because -S is in effect. 813 814* Improve behavior of -F option. 815 816* Allow CSI character (0x9B) to work in UTF-8 mode. 817 818* Output carriage return at startup in case terminal doesn't default 819 to column 1. 820 821* Fix bug in '' (quote, quote) command after G command. 822 823====================================================================== 824 825 Major changes between "less" versions 416 and 418 826 827* Color escape sequences are now supported in WIN32 build. 828 829* Makefile now uses EXEEXT feature of autoconf. 830 831* Fix search bug when using -R and text contains ANSI color escape sequences. 832 833* Fix crash when using -r with UTF-8 text containing 0x9B bytes. 834 835* Fix display bug when using ' command to move less than one page forward. 836 837* Update GPL to version 3. 838 839====================================================================== 840 841 Major changes between "less" versions 409 and 416 842 843* New --follow-name option makes F command follow the name of a file 844 rather than the file descriptor if an open file is renamed. 845 846* Make searching with -i/-I work correctly with non-ASCII text. 847 848* Fix DJGPP build. 849 850====================================================================== 851 852 Major changes between "less" versions 406 and 409 853 854* Support CSI escape sequences, like SGR escape sequences. 855 856* Fix bug which caused screen to fail to repaint when window is resized. 857 858* Fix bug in using -i and -I flags with non-ASCII text. 859 860* Fix configure bug on systems which don't support langinfo.h. 861 862* Fix crash when searching text containing certain invalid UTF-8 sequences. 863 864====================================================================== 865 866 Major changes between "less" versions 394 and 406 867 868* Allow decimal point in number for % (percent) command. 869 870* Allow decimal point in number for -j option (fraction of screen height). 871 872* Make n command fetch previous pattern from history file on first search. 873 874* Don't rewrite history file if it has not changed. 875 876* Don't move to bottom of screen on first page. 877 878* Don't output extraneous newlines, so copy & pasting lines from the 879 output works better. 880 881* The -c option has been made identical with the -C option. 882 883* Allow "/dev/null" as synonym for "-" in LESSHISTFILE to indicate 884 that no history file should be used. 885 886* Search can now find text which follows a null byte, if the PCRE 887 library is used, or if no-regex searching (ctrl-R) is used. 888 889* Better compatibility with POSIX more specification. 890 891* Make -f work for directories. 892 893* Make "t" cmd traverse tags in the correct order. 894 895* Allow a few binary characters in the input file before warning 896 that the file is binary. 897 898* Don't warn that file is binary if it merely contains ANSI color sequences 899 and -R is in effect. 900 901* Update Unicode character tables. 902 903* Support DESTDIR in Makefile. 904 905* Fix bug when filename contains certain shell metacharacters such as "$". 906 907* Fix bug when resizing the window while waiting for input from a pipe. 908 909* Fix configure bugs. 910 911====================================================================== 912 913 Major changes between "less" versions 382 and 394 914 915* Add history file to save search and shell command history between 916 invocations of less. 917 918* Improve behavior of history list for search and shell commands. 919 920* Add -K (or --quit-on-intr) option to make less exit immediately on ctrl-C. 921 922* Improve handling of UTF-8 files and commands, including better 923 line wrapping and handling double-width chars. 924 925* Added LESSUTFBINFMT environment variable to control display of 926 non-printable characters in a UTF-8 file. 927 928* Add --with-secure option to configure, to make it easier to 929 build a secure version of less. 930 931* Show search matches in the status column even if search highlights 932 are disabled via the -G option or the ESC-u command. 933 934* Improve performance when the file contains very long lines. 935 936* Add "windows" charset. 937 938* Add man page for lessecho. 939 940* Add support for erase2 character, treated same as erase. 941 942* Use ASCII lowercase/uppercase logic when operating on the command line. 943 944* Update makefile for Borland C++ 5.5.1. 945 946* Fix bug in calculating number of pages for %D prompt. 947 948* Fix bug in handling tag file error. 949 950* Fix obscure bug if input file is deleted while viewing help. 951 952* Fix bug handling filenames which include square brackets. 953 954* Fix possible buffer overflow in "global" tag search. 955 956* Fix possible buffer overflow in usage of LESSOPEN and LESSCLOSE. 957 958* Fix buffer overflow in reverse search. 959 960====================================================================== 961 962 Major changes between "less" versions 381 and 382 963 964* Removed some old copyrighted code. 965 This probably breaks OS/9 support. 966 967====================================================================== 968 969 Major changes between "less" versions 378 and 381 970 971* New -L option to disable LESSOPEN processing. 972 973* Further support for large (64 bit) file addressing. 974 Large file support is now set up by the configure script. 975 976* Use autoconf 2.54. 977 Replace configure.in, acconfig.h, defines.h.top with configure.ac. 978 979* Overstriking underscore with underscore is now bold or underlined 980 depending on context. 981 982* Use only 7 spaces for line numbers in -N mode, if possible. 983 984* Fix some bugs in handling overstriking in UTF-8 files. 985 986* Fix some nroff issues in the man page. 987 988====================================================================== 989 990 Major changes between "less" versions 376 and 378 991 992* Bug fixes: 993 Default buffer space is now 64K as documented. 994 Search highlighting works properly when used with -R. 995 Windows version works properly when input file contains carriage returns. 996 Clean up some compiler warnings. 997 998====================================================================== 999 1000 Major changes between "less" versions 358 and 376 1001 1002* -x option can now specify multiple variable-width tab stops. 1003 1004* -X option no longer disables keypad initialization. 1005 New option --no-keypad disables keypad initialization. 1006 1007* New commands t and T step through multiple tag matches. 1008 Added support for "global(1)" tags 1009 (see http://www.gnu.org/software/global/global.html). 1010 1011* New prompt style set by option -Pw defines the message printed 1012 while waiting for data in the F command. 1013 1014* System-wide lesskey file now defaults to sysless in etc directory 1015 instead of .sysless in bin directory. 1016 Use "configure --sysconfdir=..." to change it. 1017 (For backwards compatibility, .sysless in bin is still recognized.) 1018 1019* Pressing RightArrow or LeftArrow while entering a number now shifts 1020 the display N columns rather than editing the number itself. 1021 1022* Status column (enabled with -J) now shows search results. 1023 1024* Windows version sets window title. 1025 1026* Default LESSCHARSET for MS-DOS versions is now "dos". 1027 1028* Searching works better with ANSI (SGR) escape sequences. 1029 ANSI color escape sequences are now supported in the MS-DOS (DJGPP) version. 1030 1031* Improved performance in reading very large pipes. 1032 1033* Eliminated some dependencies on file offsets being 32 bits. 1034 1035* Fixed problems when viewing files with very long lines. 1036 1037* Fixed overstriking in UTF-8 mode, and overstriking tabs. 1038 1039* Improved horizontal shifting of text using -R option with ANSI color. 1040 1041* Improved handling of filenames containing shell metacharacters. 1042 1043* Some fixes for EBCDIC systems. 1044 1045* Some fixes for OS/2 systems. 1046 1047====================================================================== 1048 1049 Major changes between "less" versions 354 and 358 1050 1051* Add -J (--status-column) option to display a status column. 1052 1053* Add -# (--shift) option to set default horizontal shift distance. 1054 Default horizontal shift distance is now one-half screen width. 1055 1056* Horizontal shifting does not shift line numbers if -N is in effect. 1057 1058* Horizontal shifting acts as though -S were set, to avoid confusion. 1059 1060====================================================================== 1061 1062 1063 Major changes between "less" versions 352 and 354 1064 1065* Allow space after numeric-valued command line options. 1066 1067* Fix problem with configuring terminal libraries on some systems. 1068 1069* Add support for PCRE regular expression library. 1070 1071* Add --with-regex option to configure to allow manually selecting 1072 a regular expression library. 1073 1074* Fix bug compiling with SECURE = 1. 1075 1076====================================================================== 1077 1078 1079 Major changes between "less" versions 346 and 352 1080 1081* Enable UTF-8 if "UTF-8" appears in locale-related environment variables. 1082 1083* Add --with-editor option to configure script. 1084 1085* The -M prompt and = message now show the top and bottom line number. 1086 1087* Fix bug in running the editor on a file whose name contains quotes, etc. 1088 1089* Fix bug in horizontal scrolling of long lines. 1090 1091* Fix bug in doing :d on a file which contains marks. 1092 1093* Fix bug causing cleared lines to sometimes be filled with standout, 1094 bold, underline, etc. on certain terminals. 1095 1096* Fixes for MS-DOS (DJGPP) version. 1097 1098====================================================================== 1099 1100 1101 Major changes between "less" versions 340 and 346 1102 1103* The UTF-8 character set is now supported. 1104 1105* The default character set is now latin1 rather than ascii. 1106 1107* New option -R (--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS) is like -r but handles 1108 long (wrapped) lines correctly, as long as the input contains only 1109 normal text and ANSI color escape sequences. 1110 1111* New option -F (--quit-if-one-screen) quits if the text fits on 1112 the first screen. 1113 1114* The -w option now highlights the target line of a g or p command. 1115 1116* A system-wide lesskey file is supported (LESSKEY_SYSTEM). 1117 1118* New escape for prompt strings: %c is replaced by column number. 1119 1120* New escape for prompt strings: %P is replaced by percentage into 1121 file, based on line number rather than byte offset. 1122 1123* HOME and END keys now jump to beginning of file or end of file. 1124 1125====================================================================== 1126 1127 1128 Major changes between "less" versions 337 and 340 1129 1130* Command line options for less may now be given in either the old 1131 single-letter form, or a new long name form (--option-name). 1132 See the less man page or "less --help" for the list of long option names. 1133 1134* Command line options for lesskey may now be given in a new long name 1135 form. See the lesskey man page for the list of long option names. 1136 1137* New command -- toggles an option using the long option name. 1138 1139* New command __ queries an option using the long option name. 1140 1141* The old -- command is renamed as -!. 1142 1143* If a ^P is entered between the dash and the option letter of the - 1144 command, the message describing the new setting is suppressed. 1145 1146* Lesskey files may now contain \k escape sequences to represent the 1147 "special" keys (arrows, PAGE-UP/PAGE-DOWN, HOME, END, INSERT, DELETE). 1148 1149* New command :d removes the current file from the list of files. 1150 1151* New option -~ (like -w before version 335) 1152 suppresses tildes after end-of-file. 1153 1154* Less is now released under the GNU General Public License. 1155 1156====================================================================== 1157 1158 1159 Major changes between "less" versions 335 and 337 1160 1161* Fixed bugs in "make install". 1162 1163====================================================================== 1164 1165 1166 Major changes between "less" versions 332 and 335 1167 1168* The old -w flag (suppress tildes after end-of-file) has been removed. 1169 1170* New -w flag highlights the first new line after a forward-screen. 1171 1172* New -W flag highlights the first new line after any forward movement. 1173 1174* Window resize works even if LINES and/or COLUMNS environment 1175 variables are incorrect. 1176 1177* New percent escapes for prompt strings: 1178 %d is replaced by the page number, and 1179 %D is replaced by the number of pages in the file. 1180 1181* Added charsets "iso8859" and "ebcdic". 1182 1183* In Windows version, uses HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH if HOME is not defined. 1184 1185* Fixed some bugs causing incorrect display on DOS/Windows. 1186 1187====================================================================== 1188 1189 1190 Major changes between "less" versions 330 and 332 1191 1192* Filenames from the command line are entered into the command history, 1193 so UPARROW/DOWNARROW can be used to retrieve them from the :e command. 1194 1195* Now works correctly on Windows when using a scrolling terminal 1196 window (buffer larger than display window). 1197 1198* On Windows, now restores the console screen on exit. 1199 Use -X to get the old behavior. 1200 1201* Fixed bug on Windows when CAPS-LOCK or NUM-LOCK is pressed. 1202 1203* Fixed bug on Windows when piping output of an interactive program. 1204 1205* Fixed bug in tags file processing when tags file has DOS-style 1206 line terminators (CR/LF). 1207 1208* Fixed compilation problem on OS/2. 1209 1210====================================================================== 1211 1212 1213 Major changes between "less" versions 321 and 330 1214 1215* Now supports filenames containing spaces (in double quotes). 1216 New option -" can be used to change the quoting characters. 1217 1218* In filename completion, a slash is appended to a directory name. 1219 If the environment variable LESSSEPARATOR is set, the value of 1220 that variable, rather than a slash, is appended. 1221 1222* LeftArrow and RightArrow are same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 1223 1224* Added commands ESC-( and ESC-), same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 1225 1226* A "quit" command defined in a lesskey file may now have an "extra" 1227 string, which is used to return an exit code from less when it quits. 1228 1229* New environment variables LESSMETACHARS and LESSMETAESCAPE provide 1230 more control over how less interfaces to the shell. 1231 1232* Ported to Microsoft Visual C compiler for Windows. 1233 1234* Ported to DJGPP compiler for MS-DOS. 1235 1236* Bug fixes. 1237 1238====================================================================== 1239 1240 1241 Major changes between "less" versions 291 and 321 1242 1243* Command line at bottom of screen now scrolls, so it can be longer 1244 than the screen width. 1245 1246* New commands ESC-] and ESC-[ scroll the display horizontally. 1247 1248* New command ESC-SPACE scrolls forward a full screen, even if it 1249 hits end-of-file. 1250 1251* Alternate modifiers for search commands: ^N is same as !, 1252 ^F is same as @, and ^E is same as *. 1253 1254* New modifier for search commands: ^K means highlight the matches 1255 currently on-screen, but don't move to the first match. 1256 1257* New modifier for search commands: ^R means don't use regular 1258 expressions in the search. 1259 1260* Environment variable LESSKEY gives name of default lesskey file. 1261 1262* Environment variable LESSSECURE will force less to run in 1263 "secure" mode. 1264 1265* Command line argument "--" signals that the rest of the arguments 1266 are files (not option flags). 1267 1268* Help file (less.hlp) is no longer installed. Help text is now 1269 embedded in the less executable itself. 1270 1271* Added -Ph to change the prompt for the help text. 1272 Added -Ps to change the default short prompt (same as plain -P). 1273 1274* Ported to the Borland C compiler for MS-DOS. 1275 1276* Ported to Windows 95 & Windows NT. 1277 1278* Ported to OS-9. 1279 1280* Ported to GNU Hurd. 1281 1282====================================================================== 1283 1284 1285 Major changes between "less" versions 290 and 291 1286 1287* Less environment variables can be specified in lesskey files. 1288 1289* Fixed MS-DOS build. 1290 1291====================================================================== 1292 1293 1294 Major changes between "less" versions 278 and 290 1295 1296* Accepts GNU-style options "--help" and "--version". 1297 1298* OS/2 version looks for less.ini in $HOME before $INIT and $PATH. 1299 1300* Bug fixes 1301 1302====================================================================== 1303 1304 1305 Major changes between "less" versions 252 and 278 1306 1307* A LESSOPEN preprocessor may now pipe the converted file data to less, 1308 rather than writing it to a temporary file. 1309 1310* Search pattern highlighting has been fixed. It now highlights 1311 reliably, even if a string is split across two screen lines, 1312 contains TABs, etc. 1313 1314* The -F flag (which suppress search highlighting) has been changed 1315 to -G. A new flag, -g, changes search highlighting to highlight 1316 only the string found by the last search command, instead of all 1317 strings which match the last search command. 1318 1319* New flag -I acts like -i, but ignores case even if the search 1320 pattern contains uppercase letters. 1321 1322* Less now checks for the environment variable VISUAL before EDITOR. 1323 1324* Ported to OS/2. 1325 1326====================================================================== 1327 1328 1329 Major changes between "less" versions 237 and 252 1330 1331* Changes in line-editing keys: 1332 The literal key is now ^V or ^A rather than \ (backslash). 1333 Filename completion commands (TAB and ^L) are disabled 1334 when typing a search pattern. 1335 1336* Line-editing command keys can be redefined using lesskey. 1337 1338* Lesskey with no input file defaults to $HOME/.lesskey 1339 rather than standard input. 1340 1341* New option -V displays version number of less. 1342 1343* New option -V displays version number of lesskey. 1344 1345* Help file less.hlp is now installed by default in /usr/local/share 1346 rather than /usr/local/lib. 1347 1348 1349====================================================================== 1350 1351 1352 Major changes between "less" versions 170 and 237 1353 1354* By popular demand, text which matches the current search pattern 1355 is highlighted. New -F flag disables this feature. 1356 1357* Henry Spencer's regexp.c is now included, for systems which do not 1358 have a regular expression library. 1359 regexp.c is Copyright (c) 1986 by University of Toronto. 1360 1361* New line-editing keys, including command history (arrow keys) and 1362 filename completion (TAB). 1363 1364* Input preprocessor allows modification of input files (e.g. uncompress) 1365 via LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE environment variables. 1366 1367* New -X flag disables sending termcap "ti" and "te" (initialize and 1368 deinitialize) strings to the terminal. 1369 1370* Changing -i from within less now correctly affects a subsequent 1371 repeated search. 1372 1373* Searching for underlined or overstruck text now works when the -u 1374 flag is in effect, rather than the -i flag. 1375 1376* Use setlocale (LANG and LC_CTYPE environment variables) to determine 1377 the character set if LESSCHARSET/LESSCHARDEF are not set. 1378 1379* The default format for displaying binary characters is now standout 1380 (reverse video) rather than blinking. This can still be changed by 1381 setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable. 1382 1383* Use autoconf installation technology. 1384 1385* Ported to MS-DOS. 1386 1387 ******************************** 1388 Things that may surprise you 1389 ******************************** 1390 1391* When you enter text at the bottom of the screen (search string, 1392 filename, etc.), some keys act different than previously. 1393 Specifically, \ (backslash), ESC, TAB, BACKTAB, and control-L 1394 now have line editing functions. 1395 1396* Some previous unofficial versions of less were able to display 1397 compressed files. The new LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE feature now provides 1398 this functionality in a different way. 1399 1400* Some previous unofficial versions of less provided a -Z flag to 1401 set the number of lines of text to retain between full screen scrolls. 1402 The -z-n flag (that is, -z with a negative number) provides this 1403 functionality. 1404 1405 1406====================================================================== 1407 1408 1409 Major changes between "less" versions 123 and 170 1410 1411* New option -j allows target lines to be positioned anywhere on screen. 1412 1413* New option -S truncates displayed line at the screen width, 1414 rather than wrapping onto the next line. 1415 1416* New option -y limits amount of forward scroll. 1417 1418* New option -T specifies a "tags" file. 1419 1420* Non-printable, non-control characters are displayed in octal. 1421 Such characters, as well as control characters, are displayed 1422 in blinking mode. 1423 1424* New command -+ sets an option to its default. 1425* New command -- sets an option to the opposite of its default. 1426 1427* Lesskey file may have a string appended to a key's action, 1428 which acts as though typed in after the command. 1429 1430* New commands ESC-^F and ESC-^B match arbitrary types of brackets. 1431 1432* New command F monitors a growing file (like "tail -f"). 1433 1434* New command | pipes a section of the input file into a shell command. 1435 1436* New command :x directly jumps to a file in the command line list. 1437 1438* Search commands have been enhanced and reorganized: 1439 n Repeat search, same direction. 1440 N Repeat search, opposite direction. 1441 ESC-/ Search forward thru file boundaries 1442 ESC-? Search backward thru file boundaries 1443 ESC-n Repeat search thru file boundaries, same direction. 1444 ESC-N Repeat search thru file boundaries, opposite direction. 1445 Special character * causes search to search thru file boundaries. 1446 Special character @ causes search to begin at start/end of file list. 1447 1448* Examining a new file adds it to the command line list. 1449 A list of files, or an expression which matches more than one file, 1450 may be examined; all of them are added to the command line list. 1451 1452* Environment variables LESSCHARSET and LESSCHARDEF can define 1453 a non-ASCII character set. 1454 1455* Partial support for MSDOS, including options -R for repainting screen 1456 on quit, -v/-V to select video mode, and -W to change window size. 1457 1458 1459====================================================================== 1460 1461 1462 Major changes between "less" versions 97 and 123 1463 1464* New option (-N) causes line numbers to be displayed in the 1465 text of the file (like vi "set nu"). 1466 1467* New option (-?) prints help message immediately. 1468 1469* New option (-r) displays "raw" control characters, without 1470 mapping them to ^X notation. 1471 1472* New option (-f) forces less to open non-regular files 1473 (directories, etc). 1474 1475* New option (-k) can be used to specify lesskey files by name. 1476 1477* New option (-y) can be used to set a forward scroll limit 1478 (like -h sets a backward scroll limit). 1479 1480* File marks (set by the m command) are now preserved when a new 1481 file is edited. The ' command can thus be used to switch files. 1482 1483* New command ESC-/ searches all files (on the command line) 1484 for a pattern. 1485 1486* New command ESC-n repeats previous search, spanning files. 1487 1488* The N command has been changed to repeat the previous search 1489 in the reverse direction. The old N command is still available 1490 via :n. 1491 1492* New command ESC-N repeats previous search in the reverse 1493 direction and spanning files. 1494 1495* 8 bit characters are now supported. A new option (-g) can be 1496 used to strip off the eighth bit (the previous behavior). 1497 1498* Options which take a following string (like -t) may now 1499 optionally have a space between the option letter and the string. 1500 1501* Six new commands { } ( ) [ and ] can be used to match 1502 brackets of specific types, similar to vi % command. 1503 1504* New commands z and w move forward/backward one window and 1505 simultaneously set the window size. 1506 1507* Prompt string expansion now has %L for line number of the last 1508 line in the file, and %E for the name of the editor. 1509 Also, % escapes which refer to a line (b=bottom, t=top, etc.) 1510 can use j for the jump target line. 1511 1512* New environment variable LESSEDIT can be used to tailor the 1513 command string passed to the editor by the v command. 1514 1515* Examining a file which was previously examined will return 1516 to the same position in the file. 1517 1518* A "%" is expanded to the current filename and a "#" to the 1519 previous filename, in both shell commands and the E command. 1520 (Previously % worked only in shell commands and # worked 1521 only in the E command.) 1522 1523* New command ":ta" is equivalent to "-t". 1524 1525* New command "s" is equivalent to "-l". 1526 1527* The - command may be followed by "+X" to revert to the default 1528 for option X, or "-X" to get the opposite of the default. 1529 1530* Lesskey files may now include characters after the action as 1531 extra input to be parsed after the action; for example: 1532 "toggle-option X" to toggle a specific option X. 1533 1534 1535 1536 1537 1538