1 2 NEWS about less 3 4====================================================================== 5 6 For the latest news about less, see the "less" Web page: 7 http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less 8 You can also download the latest version of less from there. 9 10 To report bugs, suggestions or comments, send email to 11 bug-less@gnu.org or markn@greenwoodsoftware.com. 12 13====================================================================== 14 15 16 Major changes between "less" versions 358 and 371 17 18* -x option can now specify multiple variable-width tab stops. 19 20* -X option no longer disables keypad initialization. 21 New option --no-keypad disables keypad initialization. 22 23* New commands t and T step through multiple tag matches. 24 Added support for "global(1)" tags 25 (see http://www.gnu.org/software/global/global.html). 26 27* New prompt style set by option -Pw defines the message printed 28 while waiting for data in the F command. 29 30* System-wide lesskey file now defaults to sysless in etc directory 31 instead of .sysless in bin directory. 32 Use "configure --sysconfdir=..." to change it. 33 (For backwards compatibility, .sysless in bin is still recognized.) 34 35* Pressing RightArrow or LeftArrow while entering a number now shifts 36 the display N columns rather than editing the number itself. 37 38* Status column (enabled with -J) now shows search results. 39 40* Windows version sets window title. 41 42* Default LESSCHARSET for MS-DOS versions is now "dos". 43 44* Improved performance in reading very large files. 45 46* Eliminated some dependencies on file offets being 32 bits. 47 48* Fixed problems when viewing files with very long lines. 49 50* Fixed overstriking in UTF-8 mode, and overstriking tabs. 51 52* Improved horizontal shifting of text using -R option with ANSI color. 53 54* Some fixes for EBCDIC systems. 55 56* Some fixes for OS/2 systems. 57 58====================================================================== 59 60 Major changes between "less" versions 354 and 358 61 62* Add -J (--status-column) option to display a status column. 63 64* Add -# (--shift) option to set default horizontal shift distance. 65 Default horizontal shift distance is now one-half screen width. 66 67* Horizontal shifting does not shift line numbers if -N is in effect. 68 69* Horizontal shifting acts as though -S were set, to avoid confusion. 70 71====================================================================== 72 73 74 Major changes between "less" versions 352 and 354 75 76* Allow space after numeric-valued command line options. 77 78* Fix problem with configuring terminal libraries on some systems. 79 80* Add support for PCRE regular expression library. 81 82* Add --with-regex option to configure to allow manually selecting 83 a regular expression library. 84 85* Fix bug compiling with SECURE = 1. 86 87====================================================================== 88 89 90 Major changes between "less" versions 346 and 352 91 92* Enable UTF-8 if "UTF-8" appears in locale-related environment variables. 93 94* Add --with-editor option to configure script. 95 96* The -M prompt and = message now show the top and bottom line number. 97 98* Fix bug in running the editor on a file whose name contains quotes, etc. 99 100* Fix bug in horizontal scrolling of long lines. 101 102* Fix bug in doing :d on a file which contains marks. 103 104* Fix bug causing cleared lines to sometimes be filled with standout, 105 bold, underline, etc. on certain terminals. 106 107* Fixes for MS-DOS (DJGPP) version. 108 109====================================================================== 110 111 112 Major changes between "less" versions 340 and 346 113 114* The UTF-8 character set is now supported. 115 116* The default character set is now latin1 rather than ascii. 117 118* New option -R (--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS) is like -r but handles 119 long (wrapped) lines correctly, as long as the input contains only 120 normal text and ANSI color escape sequences. 121 122* New option -F (--quit-if-one-screen) quits if the text fits on 123 the first screen. 124 125* The -w option now highlights the target line of a g or p command. 126 127* A system-wide lesskey file is supported (LESSKEY_SYSTEM). 128 129* New escape for prompt strings: %c is replaced by column number. 130 131* New escape for prompt strings: %P is replaced by percentage into 132 file, based on line number rather than byte offset. 133 134* HOME and END keys now jump to beginning of file or end of file. 135 136====================================================================== 137 138 139 Major changes between "less" versions 337 and 340 140 141* Command line options for less may now be given in either the old 142 single-letter form, or a new long name form (--option-name). 143 See the less man page or "less --help" for the list of long option names. 144 145* Command line options for lesskey may now be given in a new long name 146 form. See the lesskey man page for the list of long option names. 147 148* New command -- toggles an option using the long option name. 149 150* New command __ queries an option using the long option name. 151 152* The old -- command is renamed as -!. 153 154* If a ^P is entered between the dash and the option letter of the - 155 command, the message describing the new setting is suppressed. 156 157* Lesskey files may now contain \k escape sequences to represent the 158 "special" keys (arrows, PAGE-UP/PAGE-DOWN, HOME, END, INSERT, DELETE). 159 160* New command :d removes the current file from the list of files. 161 162* New option -~ (like -w before version 335) 163 suppresses tildes after end-of-file. 164 165* Less is now released under the GNU General Public License. 166 167====================================================================== 168 169 170 Major changes between "less" versions 335 and 337 171 172* Fixed bugs in "make install". 173 174====================================================================== 175 176 177 Major changes between "less" versions 332 and 335 178 179* The old -w flag (suppress tildes after end-of-file) has been removed. 180 181* New -w flag highlights the first new line after a forward-screen. 182 183* New -W flag highlights the first new line after any forward movement. 184 185* Window resize works even if LINES and/or COLUMNS environment 186 variables are incorrect. 187 188* New percent escapes for prompt strings: 189 %d is replaced by the page number, and 190 %D is replaced by the number of pages in the file. 191 192* Added charsets "iso8859" and "ebcdic". 193 194* In Windows version, uses HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH if HOME is not defined. 195 196* Fixed some bugs causing incorrect display on DOS/Windows. 197 198====================================================================== 199 200 201 Major changes between "less" versions 330 and 332 202 203* Filenames from the command line are entered into the command history, 204 so UPARROW/DOWNARROW can be used to retrieve them from the :e command. 205 206* Now works correctly on Windows when using a scrolling terminal 207 window (buffer larger than display window). 208 209* On Windows, now restores the console screen on exit. 210 Use -X to get the old behavior. 211 212* Fixed bug on Windows when CAPS-LOCK or NUM-LOCK is pressed. 213 214* Fixed bug on Windows when piping output of an interactive program. 215 216* Fixed bug in tags file processing when tags file has DOS-style 217 line terminators (CR/LF). 218 219* Fixed compilation problem on OS/2. 220 221====================================================================== 222 223 224 Major changes between "less" versions 321 and 330 225 226* Now supports filenames containing spaces (in double quotes). 227 New option -" can be used to change the quoting characters. 228 229* In filename completion, a slash is appended to a directory name. 230 If the environment variable LESSSEPARATOR is set, the value of 231 that variable, rather than a slash, is appended. 232 233* LeftArrow and RightArrow are same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 234 235* Added commands ESC-( and ESC-), same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 236 237* A "quit" command defined in a lesskey file may now have an "extra" 238 string, which is used to return an exit code from less when it quits. 239 240* New environment variables LESSMETACHARS and LESSMETAESCAPE provide 241 more control over how less interfaces to the shell. 242 243* Ported to Microsoft Visual C compiler for Windows. 244 245* Ported to DJGPP compiler for MS-DOS. 246 247* Bug fixes. 248 249====================================================================== 250 251 252 Major changes between "less" versions 291 and 321 253 254* Command line at bottom of screen now scrolls, so it can be longer 255 than the screen width. 256 257* New commands ESC-] and ESC-[ scroll the display horizontally. 258 259* New command ESC-SPACE scrolls forward a full screen, even if it 260 hits end-of-file. 261 262* Alternate modifiers for search commands: ^N is same as !, 263 ^F is same as @, and ^E is same as *. 264 265* New modifier for search commands: ^K means highlight the matches 266 currently on-screen, but don't move to the first match. 267 268* New modifier for search commands: ^R means don't use regular 269 expressions in the search. 270 271* Environment variable LESSKEY gives name of default lesskey file. 272 273* Environment variable LESSSECURE will force less to run in 274 "secure" mode. 275 276* Command line argument "--" signals that the rest of the arguments 277 are files (not option flags). 278 279* Help file (less.hlp) is no longer installed. Help text is now 280 embedded in the less executable itself. 281 282* Added -Ph to change the prompt for the help text. 283 Added -Ps to change the default short prompt (same as plain -P). 284 285* Ported to the Borland C compiler for MS-DOS. 286 287* Ported to Windows 95 & Windows NT. 288 289* Ported to OS-9. 290 291* Ported to GNU Hurd. 292 293====================================================================== 294 295 296 Major changes between "less" versions 290 and 291 297 298* Less environment variables can be specified in lesskey files. 299 300* Fixed MS-DOS build. 301 302====================================================================== 303 304 305 Major changes between "less" versions 278 and 290 306 307* Accepts GNU-style options "--help" and "--version". 308 309* OS/2 version looks for less.ini in $HOME before $INIT and $PATH. 310 311* Bug fixes 312 313====================================================================== 314 315 316 Major changes between "less" versions 252 and 278 317 318* A LESSOPEN preprocessor may now pipe the converted file data to less, 319 rather than writing it to a temporary file. 320 321* Search pattern highlighting has been fixed. It now highlights 322 reliably, even if a string is split across two screen lines, 323 contains TABs, etc. 324 325* The -F flag (which suppress search highlighting) has been changed 326 to -G. A new flag, -g, changes search highlighting to highlight 327 only the string found by the last search command, instead of all 328 strings which match the last search command. 329 330* New flag -I acts like -i, but ignores case even if the search 331 pattern contains uppercase letters. 332 333* Less now checks for the environment variable VISUAL before EDITOR. 334 335* Ported to OS/2. 336 337====================================================================== 338 339 340 Major changes between "less" versions 237 and 252 341 342* Changes in line-editing keys: 343 The literal key is now ^V or ^A rather than \ (backslash). 344 Filename completion commands (TAB and ^L) are disabled 345 when typing a search pattern. 346 347* Line-editing command keys can be redefined using lesskey. 348 349* Lesskey with no input file defaults to $HOME/.lesskey 350 rather than standard input. 351 352* New option -V displays version number of less. 353 354* New option -V displays version number of lesskey. 355 356* Help file less.hlp is now installed by default in /usr/local/share 357 rather than /usr/local/lib. 358 359 360====================================================================== 361 362 363 Major changes between "less" versions 170 and 237 364 365* By popular demand, text which matches the current search pattern 366 is highlighted. New -F flag disables this feature. 367 368* Henry Spencer's regexp.c is now included, for systems which do not 369 have a regular expression library. 370 regexp.c is Copyright (c) 1986 by University of Toronto. 371 372* New line-editing keys, including command history (arrow keys) and 373 filename completion (TAB). 374 375* Input preprocessor allows modification of input files (e.g. uncompress) 376 via LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE environment variables. 377 378* New -X flag disables sending termcap "ti" and "te" (initialize and 379 deinitialize) strings to the terminal. 380 381* Changing -i from within less now correctly affects a subsequent 382 repeated search. 383 384* Searching for underlined or overstruck text now works when the -u 385 flag is in effect, rather than the -i flag. 386 387* Use setlocale (LANG and LC_CTYPE environment variables) to determine 388 the character set if LESSCHARSET/LESSCHARDEF are not set. 389 390* The default format for displaying binary characters is now standout 391 (reverse video) rather than blinking. This can still be changed by 392 setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable. 393 394* Use autoconf installation technology. 395 396* Ported to MS-DOS. 397 398 ******************************** 399 Things that may surprise you 400 ******************************** 401 402* When you enter text at the bottom of the screen (search string, 403 filename, etc.), some keys act different than previously. 404 Specifically, \ (backslash), ESC, TAB, BACKTAB, and control-L 405 now have line editing functions. 406 407* Some previous unofficial versions of less were able to display 408 compressed files. The new LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE feature now provides 409 this functionality in a different way. 410 411* Some previous unofficial versions of less provided a -Z flag to 412 set the number of lines of text to retain between full screen scrolls. 413 The -z-n flag (that is, -z with a negative number) provides this 414 functionality. 415 416 417====================================================================== 418 419 420 Major changes between "less" versions 123 and 170 421 422* New option -j allows target lines to be positioned anywhere on screen. 423 424* New option -S truncates displayed line at the screen width, 425 rather than wrapping onto the next line. 426 427* New option -y limits amount of forward scroll. 428 429* New option -T specifies a "tags" file. 430 431* Non-printable, non-control characters are displayed in octal. 432 Such characters, as well as control characters, are displayed 433 in blinking mode. 434 435* New command -+ sets an option to its default. 436* New command -- sets an option to the opposite of its default. 437 438* Lesskey file may have a string appended to a key's action, 439 which acts as though typed in after the command. 440 441* New commands ESC-^F and ESC-^B match arbitrary types of brackets. 442 443* New command F monitors a growing file (like "tail -f"). 444 445* New command | pipes a section of the input file into a shell command. 446 447* New command :x directly jumps to a file in the command line list. 448 449* Search commands have been enhanced and reorganized: 450 n Repeat search, same direction. 451 N Repeat search, opposite direction. 452 ESC-/ Search forward thru file boundaries 453 ESC-? Search backward thru file boundaries 454 ESC-n Repeat search thru file boundaries, same direction. 455 ESC-N Repeat search thru file boundaries, opposite direction. 456 Special character * causes search to search thru file boundaries. 457 Special character @ causes search to begin at start/end of file list. 458 459* Examining a new file adds it to the command line list. 460 A list of files, or an expression which matches more than one file, 461 may be examined; all of them are added to the command line list. 462 463* Environment variables LESSCHARSET and LESSCHARDEF can define 464 a non-ASCII character set. 465 466* Partial support for MSDOS, including options -R for repainting screen 467 on quit, -v/-V to select video mode, and -W to change window size. 468 469 470====================================================================== 471 472 473 Major changes between "less" versions 97 and 123 474 475* New option (-N) causes line numbers to be displayed in the 476 text of the file (like vi "set nu"). 477 478* New option (-?) prints help message immediately. 479 480* New option (-r) displays "raw" control characters, without 481 mapping them to ^X notation. 482 483* New option (-f) forces less to open non-regular files 484 (directories, etc). 485 486* New option (-k) can be used to specify lesskey files by name. 487 488* New option (-y) can be used to set a forward scroll limit 489 (like -h sets a backward scroll limit). 490 491* File marks (set by the m command) are now preserved when a new 492 file is edited. The ' command can thus be used to switch files. 493 494* New command ESC-/ searches all files (on the command line) 495 for a pattern. 496 497* New command ESC-n repeats previous search, spanning files. 498 499* The N command has been changed to repeat the previous search 500 in the reverse direction. The old N command is still available 501 via :n. 502 503* New command ESC-N repeats previous search in the reverse 504 direction and spanning files. 505 506* 8 bit characters are now supported. A new option (-g) can be 507 used to strip off the eighth bit (the previous behavior). 508 509* Options which take a following string (like -t) may now 510 optionally have a space between the option letter and the string. 511 512* Six new commands { } ( ) [ and ] can be used to match 513 brackets of specific types, similar to vi % command. 514 515* New commands z and w move forward/backward one window and 516 simultaneously set the window size. 517 518* Prompt string expansion now has %L for line number of the last 519 line in the file, and %E for the name of the editor. 520 Also, % escapes which refer to a line (b=bottom, t=top, etc.) 521 can use j for the jump target line. 522 523* New environment variable LESSEDIT can be used to tailor the 524 command string passed to the editor by the v command. 525 526* Examining a file which was previously examined will return 527 to the same position in the file. 528 529* A "%" is expanded to the current filename and a "#" to the 530 previous filename, in both shell commands and the E command. 531 (Previously % worked only in shell commands and # worked 532 only in the E command.) 533 534* New command ":ta" is equivalent to "-t". 535 536* New command "s" is equivalent to "-l". 537 538* The - command may be followed by "+X" to revert to the default 539 for option X, or "-X" to get the opposite of the default. 540 541* Lesskey files may now include characters after the action as 542 extra input to be parsed after the action; for example: 543 "toggle-option X" to toggle a specific option X. 544