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 581 and 590 15 16* Make less able to read lesskey source files (deprecating lesskey). 17 18* If XDG_CONFIG_HOME is set, find lesskey source file 19 in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/lesskey rather than $HOME/.lesskey. 20 21* If XDG_DATA_HOME is set, find and store history file 22 in $XDG_DATA_HOME/lesshst rather than $HOME/.lesshst. 23 24* Add the --lesskey-src option. 25 26* Add the --file-size option. 27 28* With -F, if screen is resized to make file fit on one screen, don't exit. 29 30* Fix bug which could leave terminal in mouse-reporting mode 31 after exiting less. 32 33* Fix bug which caused failure to respond to window resize. 34 35* Fix backslash bug searching in tag file. 36 37====================================================================== 38 39 Major changes between "less" versions 563 and 581 40 41* Change ESC-u command to toggle, not disable, highlighting per man page. 42 43* Add ESC-U command. 44 45* Add ctrl-W search modifier for wrapping search. 46 47* F command can be interrupted by ^X. 48 49* Support OSC 8 hyperlinks when -R is in effect. 50 51* g command with no number will ignore -j and put first line at top of screen. 52 53* Multiple + or -p command line options are handled better. 54 55* Add the --incsearch option. 56 57* Add the --line-num-width option. 58 59* Add the --status-col-width option. 60 61* Add the --use-color and --color options. 62 63* Display -w highlight even if highlighted line is empty. 64 65* If search result is in a long line, scroll to ensure it is visible. 66 67* Editing the same file under different names now creates only 68 one entry in the file list. 69 70* Make visual bell more visible on some terminals. 71 72* Ring end-of-file bell no more than once per second. 73 74* Build can use either Python or Perl for Makefile.aut operations. 75 76* Fix crash when using the @ search modifier. 77 78* Fix crash in the 's' command due to duplicate free. 79 80* Fix realpath crash on Darwin. 81 82====================================================================== 83 84 Major changes between "less" versions 551 and 563 85 86* Update Unicode tables. 87 88* Treat Hangul Jamo medial vowels and final consonants as zero width. 89 90* Display error message immediately when -o is toggled and 91 input is not a pipe. 92 93* Fix regression: make screen repaint when "squished" and 94 a no-movement command is given. 95 96* Fix erroneous EOF calculation when F command is interrupted. 97 98* Make WIN32C version include this fix from 551: 99 Don't count lines in initial screen if using -X with -F. 100 101* Fix display bug in WIN32C version. 102 103* Fix memory corruption when built with libtermcap. 104 105* Support libtinfow. 106 107====================================================================== 108 109 Major changes between "less" versions 530 and 551 110 111* Add --mouse option. 112 113* Add --wheel-lines option. 114 115* Add --no-histdups option. 116 117* Add --save-marks option. 118 119* Support PCRE2 regular expression library. 120 121* Redraw screen on SIGWINCH even if screen size doesn't change. 122 123* Shell-escape filenames in history so they can be used again. 124 125* Ring bell if user enters invalid long option name. 126 127* Use PCRE_UTF8 flag for pcre regular expressions when in UTF-8 mode. 128 129* Windows: use wide-char string to set console title. 130 131* Don't count lines in initial screen if using -X with -F. 132 133* Support mingw build system. 134 135* Fix bug in v command on empty file. 136 137* Fix bug in v command when filename contains shell metacharacters. 138 139====================================================================== 140 141 Major changes between "less" versions 487 and 530 142 143* Don't output terminal init sequence if using -F and file fits on one screen. 144 145* When using -S, mark truncated lines with a special character. 146 The character can be changed or disabled via the new --rscroll option. 147 148* New command M marks the last line displayed on the screen. 149 150* New command ESC-m removes a line mark. 151 152* Status column (enabled via -J) now shows mark letters. 153 154* Status column shows search matches even if highlighting is disabled via -G. 155 156* A second ESC-u command will clear search match markers in the status column. 157 158* Do same ANSI escape code filtering for tag matching that we do for 159 searching, to help when viewing syntax-highlighted code. 160 161* Catch SIGTERM and clean up before exiting. 162 163* Fix bug initializing default charset on Windows. 164 165* Handle keypad ENTER key correctly if it sends something other than newline. 166 167* Fix buffering bug when using stdin with a LESSOPEN pipe. 168 169* On Windows, allow 'u' in -D option to enable underlining. 170 171* On Windows, use underline in sgr mode. 172 173* On Windows, convert UTF-8 to multibyte if console is not UTF-8. 174 175* Update Unicode tables to 2017-03-08. 176 177* Pass-thru Unicode formating chars (Cf type) instead of treating them 178 as binary chars. But treat them as binary if -U is set. 179 180* Fix erroneous binary file warning when UTF-8 file contains ANSI SGR sequences. 181 182* Fix bugs when using LESSOPEN and switching between stdin and other files. 183 184* Fix some bugs handling filenames containing shell metacharacters. 185 186* Fix some memory leaks. 187 188* Allow some debugging environment variables to be set in lesskey file. 189 190* Code improvements: 191 . Use ANSI prototypes in funcs.h declarations. 192 . Fix some const mismatches. 193 . Remove archaic "register" in variable declarations. 194 195====================================================================== 196 197 Major changes between "less" versions 481 and 487 198 199* New commands ESC-{ and ESC-} to shift to start/end of displayed lines. 200 201* Make search highlights work correctly when changing caselessness with -i. 202 203* New option -Da in Windows version to enable SGR mode. 204 205* Fix "nothing to search" error when top or bottom line on screen is empty. 206 207* Fix bug when terminal has no "cm" termcap entry. 208 209* Fix incorrect display when entering double-width chars in search string. 210 211* Fix bug in Unicode handling that missed some double width characters. 212 213* Update Unicode database to 9.0.0. 214 215====================================================================== 216 217 Major changes between "less" versions 458 and 481 218 219* Don't overwrite history file; just append to it. 220 221* New command ESC-G goes to end of currently buffered data in a pipe. 222 223* Disable history feature when compiled with LESSHISTFILE set to "-". 224 225* In more-compatible mode, make the -p option apply to every file opened, 226 not just the first one. 227 228* In more-compatible mode, change the -e option to work like -E, not -EF. 229 230* Treat multiple CRs before LF are like one CR (all the CRs are hidden). 231 232* Allow "extra" string in lesskey file to append to a multi-char command 233 (like a search pattern), without executing the command. 234 235* Ignore -u/-U setting while viewing help file, so that 236 underline and bold chars are displayed correctly. 237 238* Improve detection of "binary" files in UTF-8 mode. 239 240* Fix bug with ++ commands. 241 242* Fix bug where prompt was sometimes not displayed with +G. 243 244* Fix possible memory corruption 245 246* Fix bugs and improve performance in ampersand filtering. 247 248* Automate construction of Unicode tables from Unicode database. 249 250* Allow %% escape sequence in LESSOPEN variable. 251 252====================================================================== 253 254 Major changes between "less" versions 451 and 458 255 256* Allow backslash escaping of metacharacters in LESS environment variable 257 after the --use-backslash option. 258 259* Don't quit if syntax errors are found in command line options. 260 261* Increase sizes of some internal buffers. 262 263* Fix configure bug with --with-regex=none. 264 265* Fix crash with "stty rows 0". 266 267* Fix Win32 attribute display bug. 268 269* Fix display bug when using up/down arrow on the command line. 270 271====================================================================== 272 273 Major changes between "less" versions 444 and 451 274 275* Add ESC-F command to keep reading data until a pattern is found. 276 277* Use exit code of LESSOPEN script if LESSOPEN starts with "||". 278 279* When up/down arrow is used on the command line immediately after 280 typing text, the next command starting with that text is found. 281 282* Add support for GNU regex. 283 284* Add configure option --with-regex=none and fix compile errors 285 when compiling with no regex library. 286 287* Fix bugs handling SGR sequences in Win32. 288 289* Fix possible crashes caused by malformed LESSOPEN or 290 LESSCLOSE variables. 291 292* Fix bug highlighting text which is discontiguous in the file 293 due to backspace processing. 294 295* Fix bug in displaying status column when scrolling backwards 296 with -J and -S in effect. 297 298====================================================================== 299 300 Major changes between "less" versions 443 and 444 301 302* Fix bug in unget handling that can cause strange effects on the 303 command line. 304 305* Remove vestiges of obsolete -l option that can cause a crash. 306 307====================================================================== 308 309 Major changes between "less" versions 436 and 443 310 311* Change search behavior such that when a search is given an explicit 312 pattern, the entire displayed screen is included in the search and 313 not just the portion after the target line. 314 315* Add -A option to change search behavior to the old way: only 316 the portion of the screen after the target line is searched. 317 318* Add %F formatting to prompt strings, replaced by the last component 319 of the input file. 320 321* Control-G while editing a command exits the command. 322 323* Less now exits with status 2 if control-C is pressed and -K is in effect. 324 325* Fix "ungetc overflow" when passing long commands via the -p option. 326 327* Fix bug in using line filtering via the & command 328 in combination with -i and -I. 329 330* Fix bug in handling negative arguments to the -j option. 331 332* Fix bug in handling %t in prompt strings. 333 334* Improve handling of long option names. 335 336* Improve percentage calculation for very large files. 337 338====================================================================== 339 340 Major changes between "less" versions 429 and 436 341 342* Don't pass "-" to non-pipe LESSOPEN unless it starts with "-". 343 344* Allow a fraction as the argument to the -# (--shift) option. 345 346* Fix highlight bug when underlined/overstruck text matches at end of line. 347 348* Fix non-regex searches with ctrl-R. 349 350====================================================================== 351 352 Major changes between "less" versions 424 and 429 353 354* LESSOPEN pipe will now be used on standard input, if the LESSOPEN 355 environment variable begins with "|-". 356 357* The -D option with one number now means use the normal background color. 358 359* Don't change permissions on history file if it is not a regular file. 360 361* Fix non-ANSI-compliant code that caused problems with some compilers. 362 363* Fix binary file detection in UTF-8 mode. 364 365* Fix display problems with long lines on "ignaw" terminals. 366 367* Fix problem interrupting the line number calculation for initial prompt. 368 369* Fix SGR emulation when dealing with multiple attributes (eg. bold+underline). 370 371* Fix highlight bug when searching for underlined/overstruck text. 372 373====================================================================== 374 375 Major changes between "less" versions 418 and 424 376 377* New "&" command allows filtering of lines based on a pattern. 378 379* Status column now displays a search match, even if the matched 380 string is scrolled off screen because -S is in effect. 381 382* Improve behavior of -F option. 383 384* Allow CSI character (0x9B) to work in UTF-8 mode. 385 386* Output carriage return at startup in case terminal doesn't default 387 to column 1. 388 389* Fix bug in '' (quote, quote) command after G command. 390 391====================================================================== 392 393 Major changes between "less" versions 416 and 418 394 395* Color escape sequences are now supported in WIN32 build. 396 397* Makefile now uses EXEEXT feature of autoconf. 398 399* Fix search bug when using -R and text contains ANSI color escape sequences. 400 401* Fix crash when using -r with UTF-8 text containing 0x9B bytes. 402 403* Fix display bug when using ' command to move less than one page forward. 404 405* Update GPL to version 3. 406 407====================================================================== 408 409 Major changes between "less" versions 409 and 416 410 411* New --follow-name option makes F command follow the name of a file 412 rather than the file descriptor if an open file is renamed. 413 414* Make searching with -i/-I work correctly with non-ASCII text. 415 416* Fix DJGPP build. 417 418====================================================================== 419 420 Major changes between "less" versions 406 and 409 421 422* Support CSI escape sequences, like SGR escape sequences. 423 424* Fix bug which caused screen to fail to repaint when window is resized. 425 426* Fix bug in using -i and -I flags with non-ASCII text. 427 428* Fix configure bug on systems which don't support langinfo.h. 429 430* Fix crash when searching text containing certain invalid UTF-8 sequences. 431 432====================================================================== 433 434 Major changes between "less" versions 394 and 406 435 436* Allow decimal point in number for % (percent) command. 437 438* Allow decimal point in number for -j option (fraction of screen height). 439 440* Make n command fetch previous pattern from history file on first search. 441 442* Don't rewrite history file if it has not changed. 443 444* Don't move to bottom of screen on first page. 445 446* Don't output extraneous newlines, so copy & pasting lines from the 447 output works better. 448 449* The -c option has been made identical with the -C option. 450 451* Allow "/dev/null" as synomym for "-" in LESSHISTFILE to indicate 452 that no history file should be used. 453 454* Search can now find text which follows a null byte, if the PCRE 455 library is used, or if no-regex searching (ctrl-R) is used. 456 457* Better compatibility with POSIX more specification. 458 459* Make -f work for directories. 460 461* Make "t" cmd traverse tags in the correct order. 462 463* Allow a few binary characters in the input file before warning 464 that the file is binary. 465 466* Don't warn that file is binary if it merely contains ANSI color sequences 467 and -R is in effect. 468 469* Update Unicode character tables. 470 471* Support DESTDIR in Makefile. 472 473* Fix bug when filename contains certain shell metacharacters such as "$". 474 475* Fix bug when resizing the window while waiting for input from a pipe. 476 477* Fix configure bugs. 478 479====================================================================== 480 481 Major changes between "less" versions 382 and 394 482 483* Add history file to save search and shell command history between 484 invocations of less. 485 486* Improve behavior of history list for search and shell commands. 487 488* Add -K (or --quit-on-intr) option to make less exit immediately on ctrl-C. 489 490* Improve handling of UTF-8 files and commands, including better 491 line wrapping and handling double-width chars. 492 493* Added LESSUTFBINFMT environment variable to control display of 494 non-printable characters in a UTF-8 file. 495 496* Add --with-secure option to configure, to make it easier to 497 build a secure version of less. 498 499* Show search matches in the status column even if search highlights 500 are disabled via the -G option or the ESC-u command. 501 502* Improve performance when the file contains very long lines. 503 504* Add "windows" charset. 505 506* Add man page for lessecho. 507 508* Add support for erase2 character, treated same as erase. 509 510* Use ASCII lowercase/uppercase logic when operating on the command line. 511 512* Update makefile for Borland C++ 5.5.1. 513 514* Fix bug in calculating number of pages for %D prompt. 515 516* Fix bug in handling tag file error. 517 518* Fix obscure bug if input file is deleted while viewing help. 519 520* Fix bug handling filenames which include square brackets. 521 522* Fix possible buffer overflow in "global" tag search. 523 524* Fix possible buffer overflow in usage of LESSOPEN and LESSCLOSE. 525 526* Fix buffer overflow in reverse search. 527 528====================================================================== 529 530 Major changes between "less" versions 381 and 382 531 532* Removed some old copyrighted code. 533 This probably breaks OS/9 support. 534 535====================================================================== 536 537 Major changes between "less" versions 378 and 381 538 539* New -L option to disable LESSOPEN processing. 540 541* Further support for large (64 bit) file addressing. 542 Large file support is now set up by the configure script. 543 544* Use autoconf 2.54. 545 Replace configure.in, acconfig.h, defines.h.top with configure.ac. 546 547* Overstriking underscore with underscore is now bold or underlined 548 depending on context. 549 550* Use only 7 spaces for line numbers in -N mode, if possible. 551 552* Fix some bugs in handling overstriking in UTF-8 files. 553 554* Fix some nroff issues in the man page. 555 556====================================================================== 557 558 Major changes between "less" versions 376 and 378 559 560* Bug fixes: 561 Default buffer space is now 64K as documented. 562 Search highlighting works properly when used with -R. 563 Windows version works properly when input file contains carriage returns. 564 Clean up some compiler warnings. 565 566====================================================================== 567 568 Major changes between "less" versions 358 and 376 569 570* -x option can now specify multiple variable-width tab stops. 571 572* -X option no longer disables keypad initialization. 573 New option --no-keypad disables keypad initialization. 574 575* New commands t and T step through multiple tag matches. 576 Added support for "global(1)" tags 577 (see http://www.gnu.org/software/global/global.html). 578 579* New prompt style set by option -Pw defines the message printed 580 while waiting for data in the F command. 581 582* System-wide lesskey file now defaults to sysless in etc directory 583 instead of .sysless in bin directory. 584 Use "configure --sysconfdir=..." to change it. 585 (For backwards compatibility, .sysless in bin is still recognized.) 586 587* Pressing RightArrow or LeftArrow while entering a number now shifts 588 the display N columns rather than editing the number itself. 589 590* Status column (enabled with -J) now shows search results. 591 592* Windows version sets window title. 593 594* Default LESSCHARSET for MS-DOS versions is now "dos". 595 596* Searching works better with ANSI (SGR) escape sequences. 597 ANSI color escape sequences are now supported in the MS-DOS (DJGPP) version. 598 599* Improved performance in reading very large pipes. 600 601* Eliminated some dependencies on file offets being 32 bits. 602 603* Fixed problems when viewing files with very long lines. 604 605* Fixed overstriking in UTF-8 mode, and overstriking tabs. 606 607* Improved horizontal shifting of text using -R option with ANSI color. 608 609* Improved handling of filenames containing shell metacharacters. 610 611* Some fixes for EBCDIC systems. 612 613* Some fixes for OS/2 systems. 614 615====================================================================== 616 617 Major changes between "less" versions 354 and 358 618 619* Add -J (--status-column) option to display a status column. 620 621* Add -# (--shift) option to set default horizontal shift distance. 622 Default horizontal shift distance is now one-half screen width. 623 624* Horizontal shifting does not shift line numbers if -N is in effect. 625 626* Horizontal shifting acts as though -S were set, to avoid confusion. 627 628====================================================================== 629 630 631 Major changes between "less" versions 352 and 354 632 633* Allow space after numeric-valued command line options. 634 635* Fix problem with configuring terminal libraries on some systems. 636 637* Add support for PCRE regular expression library. 638 639* Add --with-regex option to configure to allow manually selecting 640 a regular expression library. 641 642* Fix bug compiling with SECURE = 1. 643 644====================================================================== 645 646 647 Major changes between "less" versions 346 and 352 648 649* Enable UTF-8 if "UTF-8" appears in locale-related environment variables. 650 651* Add --with-editor option to configure script. 652 653* The -M prompt and = message now show the top and bottom line number. 654 655* Fix bug in running the editor on a file whose name contains quotes, etc. 656 657* Fix bug in horizontal scrolling of long lines. 658 659* Fix bug in doing :d on a file which contains marks. 660 661* Fix bug causing cleared lines to sometimes be filled with standout, 662 bold, underline, etc. on certain terminals. 663 664* Fixes for MS-DOS (DJGPP) version. 665 666====================================================================== 667 668 669 Major changes between "less" versions 340 and 346 670 671* The UTF-8 character set is now supported. 672 673* The default character set is now latin1 rather than ascii. 674 675* New option -R (--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS) is like -r but handles 676 long (wrapped) lines correctly, as long as the input contains only 677 normal text and ANSI color escape sequences. 678 679* New option -F (--quit-if-one-screen) quits if the text fits on 680 the first screen. 681 682* The -w option now highlights the target line of a g or p command. 683 684* A system-wide lesskey file is supported (LESSKEY_SYSTEM). 685 686* New escape for prompt strings: %c is replaced by column number. 687 688* New escape for prompt strings: %P is replaced by percentage into 689 file, based on line number rather than byte offset. 690 691* HOME and END keys now jump to beginning of file or end of file. 692 693====================================================================== 694 695 696 Major changes between "less" versions 337 and 340 697 698* Command line options for less may now be given in either the old 699 single-letter form, or a new long name form (--option-name). 700 See the less man page or "less --help" for the list of long option names. 701 702* Command line options for lesskey may now be given in a new long name 703 form. See the lesskey man page for the list of long option names. 704 705* New command -- toggles an option using the long option name. 706 707* New command __ queries an option using the long option name. 708 709* The old -- command is renamed as -!. 710 711* If a ^P is entered between the dash and the option letter of the - 712 command, the message describing the new setting is suppressed. 713 714* Lesskey files may now contain \k escape sequences to represent the 715 "special" keys (arrows, PAGE-UP/PAGE-DOWN, HOME, END, INSERT, DELETE). 716 717* New command :d removes the current file from the list of files. 718 719* New option -~ (like -w before version 335) 720 suppresses tildes after end-of-file. 721 722* Less is now released under the GNU General Public License. 723 724====================================================================== 725 726 727 Major changes between "less" versions 335 and 337 728 729* Fixed bugs in "make install". 730 731====================================================================== 732 733 734 Major changes between "less" versions 332 and 335 735 736* The old -w flag (suppress tildes after end-of-file) has been removed. 737 738* New -w flag highlights the first new line after a forward-screen. 739 740* New -W flag highlights the first new line after any forward movement. 741 742* Window resize works even if LINES and/or COLUMNS environment 743 variables are incorrect. 744 745* New percent escapes for prompt strings: 746 %d is replaced by the page number, and 747 %D is replaced by the number of pages in the file. 748 749* Added charsets "iso8859" and "ebcdic". 750 751* In Windows version, uses HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH if HOME is not defined. 752 753* Fixed some bugs causing incorrect display on DOS/Windows. 754 755====================================================================== 756 757 758 Major changes between "less" versions 330 and 332 759 760* Filenames from the command line are entered into the command history, 761 so UPARROW/DOWNARROW can be used to retrieve them from the :e command. 762 763* Now works correctly on Windows when using a scrolling terminal 764 window (buffer larger than display window). 765 766* On Windows, now restores the console screen on exit. 767 Use -X to get the old behavior. 768 769* Fixed bug on Windows when CAPS-LOCK or NUM-LOCK is pressed. 770 771* Fixed bug on Windows when piping output of an interactive program. 772 773* Fixed bug in tags file processing when tags file has DOS-style 774 line terminators (CR/LF). 775 776* Fixed compilation problem on OS/2. 777 778====================================================================== 779 780 781 Major changes between "less" versions 321 and 330 782 783* Now supports filenames containing spaces (in double quotes). 784 New option -" can be used to change the quoting characters. 785 786* In filename completion, a slash is appended to a directory name. 787 If the environment variable LESSSEPARATOR is set, the value of 788 that variable, rather than a slash, is appended. 789 790* LeftArrow and RightArrow are same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 791 792* Added commands ESC-( and ESC-), same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 793 794* A "quit" command defined in a lesskey file may now have an "extra" 795 string, which is used to return an exit code from less when it quits. 796 797* New environment variables LESSMETACHARS and LESSMETAESCAPE provide 798 more control over how less interfaces to the shell. 799 800* Ported to Microsoft Visual C compiler for Windows. 801 802* Ported to DJGPP compiler for MS-DOS. 803 804* Bug fixes. 805 806====================================================================== 807 808 809 Major changes between "less" versions 291 and 321 810 811* Command line at bottom of screen now scrolls, so it can be longer 812 than the screen width. 813 814* New commands ESC-] and ESC-[ scroll the display horizontally. 815 816* New command ESC-SPACE scrolls forward a full screen, even if it 817 hits end-of-file. 818 819* Alternate modifiers for search commands: ^N is same as !, 820 ^F is same as @, and ^E is same as *. 821 822* New modifier for search commands: ^K means highlight the matches 823 currently on-screen, but don't move to the first match. 824 825* New modifier for search commands: ^R means don't use regular 826 expressions in the search. 827 828* Environment variable LESSKEY gives name of default lesskey file. 829 830* Environment variable LESSSECURE will force less to run in 831 "secure" mode. 832 833* Command line argument "--" signals that the rest of the arguments 834 are files (not option flags). 835 836* Help file (less.hlp) is no longer installed. Help text is now 837 embedded in the less executable itself. 838 839* Added -Ph to change the prompt for the help text. 840 Added -Ps to change the default short prompt (same as plain -P). 841 842* Ported to the Borland C compiler for MS-DOS. 843 844* Ported to Windows 95 & Windows NT. 845 846* Ported to OS-9. 847 848* Ported to GNU Hurd. 849 850====================================================================== 851 852 853 Major changes between "less" versions 290 and 291 854 855* Less environment variables can be specified in lesskey files. 856 857* Fixed MS-DOS build. 858 859====================================================================== 860 861 862 Major changes between "less" versions 278 and 290 863 864* Accepts GNU-style options "--help" and "--version". 865 866* OS/2 version looks for less.ini in $HOME before $INIT and $PATH. 867 868* Bug fixes 869 870====================================================================== 871 872 873 Major changes between "less" versions 252 and 278 874 875* A LESSOPEN preprocessor may now pipe the converted file data to less, 876 rather than writing it to a temporary file. 877 878* Search pattern highlighting has been fixed. It now highlights 879 reliably, even if a string is split across two screen lines, 880 contains TABs, etc. 881 882* The -F flag (which suppress search highlighting) has been changed 883 to -G. A new flag, -g, changes search highlighting to highlight 884 only the string found by the last search command, instead of all 885 strings which match the last search command. 886 887* New flag -I acts like -i, but ignores case even if the search 888 pattern contains uppercase letters. 889 890* Less now checks for the environment variable VISUAL before EDITOR. 891 892* Ported to OS/2. 893 894====================================================================== 895 896 897 Major changes between "less" versions 237 and 252 898 899* Changes in line-editing keys: 900 The literal key is now ^V or ^A rather than \ (backslash). 901 Filename completion commands (TAB and ^L) are disabled 902 when typing a search pattern. 903 904* Line-editing command keys can be redefined using lesskey. 905 906* Lesskey with no input file defaults to $HOME/.lesskey 907 rather than standard input. 908 909* New option -V displays version number of less. 910 911* New option -V displays version number of lesskey. 912 913* Help file less.hlp is now installed by default in /usr/local/share 914 rather than /usr/local/lib. 915 916 917====================================================================== 918 919 920 Major changes between "less" versions 170 and 237 921 922* By popular demand, text which matches the current search pattern 923 is highlighted. New -F flag disables this feature. 924 925* Henry Spencer's regexp.c is now included, for systems which do not 926 have a regular expression library. 927 regexp.c is Copyright (c) 1986 by University of Toronto. 928 929* New line-editing keys, including command history (arrow keys) and 930 filename completion (TAB). 931 932* Input preprocessor allows modification of input files (e.g. uncompress) 933 via LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE environment variables. 934 935* New -X flag disables sending termcap "ti" and "te" (initialize and 936 deinitialize) strings to the terminal. 937 938* Changing -i from within less now correctly affects a subsequent 939 repeated search. 940 941* Searching for underlined or overstruck text now works when the -u 942 flag is in effect, rather than the -i flag. 943 944* Use setlocale (LANG and LC_CTYPE environment variables) to determine 945 the character set if LESSCHARSET/LESSCHARDEF are not set. 946 947* The default format for displaying binary characters is now standout 948 (reverse video) rather than blinking. This can still be changed by 949 setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable. 950 951* Use autoconf installation technology. 952 953* Ported to MS-DOS. 954 955 ******************************** 956 Things that may surprise you 957 ******************************** 958 959* When you enter text at the bottom of the screen (search string, 960 filename, etc.), some keys act different than previously. 961 Specifically, \ (backslash), ESC, TAB, BACKTAB, and control-L 962 now have line editing functions. 963 964* Some previous unofficial versions of less were able to display 965 compressed files. The new LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE feature now provides 966 this functionality in a different way. 967 968* Some previous unofficial versions of less provided a -Z flag to 969 set the number of lines of text to retain between full screen scrolls. 970 The -z-n flag (that is, -z with a negative number) provides this 971 functionality. 972 973 974====================================================================== 975 976 977 Major changes between "less" versions 123 and 170 978 979* New option -j allows target lines to be positioned anywhere on screen. 980 981* New option -S truncates displayed line at the screen width, 982 rather than wrapping onto the next line. 983 984* New option -y limits amount of forward scroll. 985 986* New option -T specifies a "tags" file. 987 988* Non-printable, non-control characters are displayed in octal. 989 Such characters, as well as control characters, are displayed 990 in blinking mode. 991 992* New command -+ sets an option to its default. 993* New command -- sets an option to the opposite of its default. 994 995* Lesskey file may have a string appended to a key's action, 996 which acts as though typed in after the command. 997 998* New commands ESC-^F and ESC-^B match arbitrary types of brackets. 999 1000* New command F monitors a growing file (like "tail -f"). 1001 1002* New command | pipes a section of the input file into a shell command. 1003 1004* New command :x directly jumps to a file in the command line list. 1005 1006* Search commands have been enhanced and reorganized: 1007 n Repeat search, same direction. 1008 N Repeat search, opposite direction. 1009 ESC-/ Search forward thru file boundaries 1010 ESC-? Search backward thru file boundaries 1011 ESC-n Repeat search thru file boundaries, same direction. 1012 ESC-N Repeat search thru file boundaries, opposite direction. 1013 Special character * causes search to search thru file boundaries. 1014 Special character @ causes search to begin at start/end of file list. 1015 1016* Examining a new file adds it to the command line list. 1017 A list of files, or an expression which matches more than one file, 1018 may be examined; all of them are added to the command line list. 1019 1020* Environment variables LESSCHARSET and LESSCHARDEF can define 1021 a non-ASCII character set. 1022 1023* Partial support for MSDOS, including options -R for repainting screen 1024 on quit, -v/-V to select video mode, and -W to change window size. 1025 1026 1027====================================================================== 1028 1029 1030 Major changes between "less" versions 97 and 123 1031 1032* New option (-N) causes line numbers to be displayed in the 1033 text of the file (like vi "set nu"). 1034 1035* New option (-?) prints help message immediately. 1036 1037* New option (-r) displays "raw" control characters, without 1038 mapping them to ^X notation. 1039 1040* New option (-f) forces less to open non-regular files 1041 (directories, etc). 1042 1043* New option (-k) can be used to specify lesskey files by name. 1044 1045* New option (-y) can be used to set a forward scroll limit 1046 (like -h sets a backward scroll limit). 1047 1048* File marks (set by the m command) are now preserved when a new 1049 file is edited. The ' command can thus be used to switch files. 1050 1051* New command ESC-/ searches all files (on the command line) 1052 for a pattern. 1053 1054* New command ESC-n repeats previous search, spanning files. 1055 1056* The N command has been changed to repeat the previous search 1057 in the reverse direction. The old N command is still available 1058 via :n. 1059 1060* New command ESC-N repeats previous search in the reverse 1061 direction and spanning files. 1062 1063* 8 bit characters are now supported. A new option (-g) can be 1064 used to strip off the eighth bit (the previous behavior). 1065 1066* Options which take a following string (like -t) may now 1067 optionally have a space between the option letter and the string. 1068 1069* Six new commands { } ( ) [ and ] can be used to match 1070 brackets of specific types, similar to vi % command. 1071 1072* New commands z and w move forward/backward one window and 1073 simultaneously set the window size. 1074 1075* Prompt string expansion now has %L for line number of the last 1076 line in the file, and %E for the name of the editor. 1077 Also, % escapes which refer to a line (b=bottom, t=top, etc.) 1078 can use j for the jump target line. 1079 1080* New environment variable LESSEDIT can be used to tailor the 1081 command string passed to the editor by the v command. 1082 1083* Examining a file which was previously examined will return 1084 to the same position in the file. 1085 1086* A "%" is expanded to the current filename and a "#" to the 1087 previous filename, in both shell commands and the E command. 1088 (Previously % worked only in shell commands and # worked 1089 only in the E command.) 1090 1091* New command ":ta" is equivalent to "-t". 1092 1093* New command "s" is equivalent to "-l". 1094 1095* The - command may be followed by "+X" to revert to the default 1096 for option X, or "-X" to get the opposite of the default. 1097 1098* Lesskey files may now include characters after the action as 1099 extra input to be parsed after the action; for example: 1100 "toggle-option X" to toggle a specific option X. 1101 1102 1103 1104 1105 1106