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