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