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 bug-less@gnu.org 11 12====================================================================== 13 14 Major changes between "less" versions 487 and 491 15 16* Don't output terminal init sequence if using -F and file fits on one screen. 17 18* Use ANSI prototypes in funcs.h declarations. 19 20* Fix some const mismatches. 21 22* Remove "register" in variable declarations. 23 24* Fix some memory leaks. 25 26====================================================================== 27 28 Major changes between "less" versions 481 and 487 29 30* New commands ESC-{ and ESC-} to shift to start/end of displayed lines. 31 32* Make search highlights work correctly when changing caselessness with -i. 33 34* New option -Da in Windows version to enable SGR mode. 35 36* Fix "nothing to search" error when top or bottom line on screen is empty. 37 38* Fix bug when terminal has no "cm" termcap entry. 39 40* Fix incorrect display when entering double-width chars in search string. 41 42* Fix bug in Unicode handling that missed some double width characters. 43 44* Update Unicode database to 9.0.0. 45 46====================================================================== 47 48 Major changes between "less" versions 458 and 481 49 50* Don't overwrite history file; just append to it. 51 52* New command ESC-G goes to end of currently buffered data in a pipe. 53 54* Disable history feature when compiled with LESSHISTFILE set to "-". 55 56* In more-compatible mode, make the -p option apply to every file opened, 57 not just the first one. 58 59* In more-compatible mode, change the -e option to work like -E, not -EF. 60 61* Treat multiple CRs before LF are like one CR (all the CRs are hidden). 62 63* Allow "extra" string in lesskey file to append to a multi-char command 64 (like a search pattern), without executing the command. 65 66* Ignore -u/-U setting while viewing help file, so that 67 underline and bold chars are displayed correctly. 68 69* Improve detection of "binary" files in UTF-8 mode. 70 71* Fix bug with ++ commands. 72 73* Fix bug where prompt was sometimes not displayed with +G. 74 75* Fix possible memory corruption 76 77* Fix bugs and improve performance in ampersand filtering. 78 79* Automate construction of Unicode tables from Unicode database. 80 81* Allow %% escape sequence in LESSOPEN variable. 82 83====================================================================== 84 85 Major changes between "less" versions 451 and 458 86 87* Allow backslash escaping of metacharacters in LESS environment variable 88 after the --use-backslash option. 89 90* Don't quit if syntax errors are found in command line options. 91 92* Increase sizes of some internal buffers. 93 94* Fix configure bug with --with-regex=none. 95 96* Fix crash with "stty rows 0". 97 98* Fix Win32 attribute display bug. 99 100* Fix display bug when using up/down arrow on the command line. 101 102====================================================================== 103 104 Major changes between "less" versions 444 and 451 105 106* Add ESC-F command to keep reading data until a pattern is found. 107 108* Use exit code of LESSOPEN script if LESSOPEN starts with "||". 109 110* When up/down arrow is used on the command line immediately after 111 typing text, the next command starting with that text is found. 112 113* Add support for GNU regex. 114 115* Add configure option --with-regex=none and fix compile errors 116 when compiling with no regex library. 117 118* Fix bugs handling SGR sequences in Win32. 119 120* Fix possible crashes caused by malformed LESSOPEN or 121 LESSCLOSE variables. 122 123* Fix bug highlighting text which is discontiguous in the file 124 due to backspace processing. 125 126* Fix bug in displaying status column when scrolling backwards 127 with -J and -S in effect. 128 129====================================================================== 130 131 Major changes between "less" versions 443 and 444 132 133* Fix bug in unget handling that can cause strange effects on the 134 command line. 135 136* Remove vestiges of obsolete -l option that can cause a crash. 137 138====================================================================== 139 140 Major changes between "less" versions 436 and 443 141 142* Change search behavior such that when a search is given an explicit 143 pattern, the entire displayed screen is included in the search and 144 not just the portion after the target line. 145 146* Add -A option to change search behavior to the old way: only 147 the portion of the screen after the target line is searched. 148 149* Add %F formatting to prompt strings, replaced by the last component 150 of the input file. 151 152* Control-G while editing a command exits the command. 153 154* Less now exits with status 2 if control-C is pressed and -K is in effect. 155 156* Fix "ungetc overflow" when passing long commands via the -p option. 157 158* Fix bug in using line filtering via the & command 159 in combination with -i and -I. 160 161* Fix bug in handling negative arguments to the -j option. 162 163* Fix bug in handling %t in prompt strings. 164 165* Improve handling of long option names. 166 167* Improve percentage calculation for very large files. 168 169====================================================================== 170 171 Major changes between "less" versions 429 and 436 172 173* Don't pass "-" to non-pipe LESSOPEN unless it starts with "-". 174 175* Allow a fraction as the argument to the -# (--shift) option. 176 177* Fix highlight bug when underlined/overstruck text matches at end of line. 178 179* Fix non-regex searches with ctrl-R. 180 181====================================================================== 182 183 Major changes between "less" versions 424 and 429 184 185* LESSOPEN pipe will now be used on standard input, if the LESSOPEN 186 environment variable begins with "|-". 187 188* The -D option with one number now means use the normal background color. 189 190* Don't change permissions on history file if it is not a regular file. 191 192* Fix non-ANSI-compliant code that caused problems with some compilers. 193 194* Fix binary file detection in UTF-8 mode. 195 196* Fix display problems with long lines on "ignaw" terminals. 197 198* Fix problem interrupting the line number calculation for initial prompt. 199 200* Fix SGR emulation when dealing with multiple attributes (eg. bold+underline). 201 202* Fix highlight bug when searching for underlined/overstruck text. 203 204====================================================================== 205 206 Major changes between "less" versions 418 and 424 207 208* New "&" command allows filtering of lines based on a pattern. 209 210* Status column now displays a search match, even if the matched 211 string is scrolled off screen because -S is in effect. 212 213* Improve behavior of -F option. 214 215* Allow CSI character (0x9B) to work in UTF-8 mode. 216 217* Output carriage return at startup in case terminal doesn't default 218 to column 1. 219 220* Fix bug in '' (quote, quote) command after G command. 221 222====================================================================== 223 224 Major changes between "less" versions 416 and 418 225 226* Color escape sequences are now supported in WIN32 build. 227 228* Makefile now uses EXEEXT feature of autoconf. 229 230* Fix search bug when using -R and text contains ANSI color escape sequences. 231 232* Fix crash when using -r with UTF-8 text containing 0x9B bytes. 233 234* Fix display bug when using ' command to move less than one page forward. 235 236* Update GPL to version 3. 237 238====================================================================== 239 240 Major changes between "less" versions 409 and 416 241 242* New --follow-name option makes F command follow the name of a file 243 rather than the file descriptor if an open file is renamed. 244 245* Make searching with -i/-I work correctly with non-ASCII text. 246 247* Fix DJGPP build. 248 249====================================================================== 250 251 Major changes between "less" versions 406 and 409 252 253* Support CSI escape sequences, like SGR escape sequences. 254 255* Fix bug which caused screen to fail to repaint when window is resized. 256 257* Fix bug in using -i and -I flags with non-ASCII text. 258 259* Fix configure bug on systems which don't support langinfo.h. 260 261* Fix crash when searching text containing certain invalid UTF-8 sequences. 262 263====================================================================== 264 265 Major changes between "less" versions 394 and 406 266 267* Allow decimal point in number for % (percent) command. 268 269* Allow decimal point in number for -j option (fraction of screen height). 270 271* Make n command fetch previous pattern from history file on first search. 272 273* Don't rewrite history file if it has not changed. 274 275* Don't move to bottom of screen on first page. 276 277* Don't output extraneous newlines, so copy & pasting lines from the 278 output works better. 279 280* The -c option has been made identical with the -C option. 281 282* Allow "/dev/null" as synomym for "-" in LESSHISTFILE to indicate 283 that no history file should be used. 284 285* Search can now find text which follows a null byte, if the PCRE 286 library is used, or if no-regex searching (ctrl-R) is used. 287 288* Better compatibility with POSIX more specification. 289 290* Make -f work for directories. 291 292* Make "t" cmd traverse tags in the correct order. 293 294* Allow a few binary characters in the input file before warning 295 that the file is binary. 296 297* Don't warn that file is binary if it merely contains ANSI color sequences 298 and -R is in effect. 299 300* Update Unicode character tables. 301 302* Support DESTDIR in Makefile. 303 304* Fix bug when filename contains certain shell metacharacters such as "$". 305 306* Fix bug when resizing the window while waiting for input from a pipe. 307 308* Fix configure bugs. 309 310====================================================================== 311 312 Major changes between "less" versions 382 and 394 313 314* Add history file to save search and shell command history between 315 invocations of less. 316 317* Improve behavior of history list for search and shell commands. 318 319* Add -K (or --quit-on-intr) option to make less exit immediately on ctrl-C. 320 321* Improve handling of UTF-8 files and commands, including better 322 line wrapping and handling double-width chars. 323 324* Added LESSUTFBINFMT environment variable to control display of 325 non-printable characters in a UTF-8 file. 326 327* Add --with-secure option to configure, to make it easier to 328 build a secure version of less. 329 330* Show search matches in the status column even if search highlights 331 are disabled via the -G option or the ESC-u command. 332 333* Improve performance when the file contains very long lines. 334 335* Add "windows" charset. 336 337* Add man page for lessecho. 338 339* Add support for erase2 character, treated same as erase. 340 341* Use ASCII lowercase/uppercase logic when operating on the command line. 342 343* Update makefile for Borland C++ 5.5.1. 344 345* Fix bug in calculating number of pages for %D prompt. 346 347* Fix bug in handling tag file error. 348 349* Fix obscure bug if input file is deleted while viewing help. 350 351* Fix bug handling filenames which include square brackets. 352 353* Fix possible buffer overflow in "global" tag search. 354 355* Fix possible buffer overflow in usage of LESSOPEN and LESSCLOSE. 356 357* Fix buffer overflow in reverse search. 358 359====================================================================== 360 361 Major changes between "less" versions 381 and 382 362 363* Removed some old copyrighted code. 364 This probably breaks OS/9 support. 365 366====================================================================== 367 368 Major changes between "less" versions 378 and 381 369 370* New -L option to disable LESSOPEN processing. 371 372* Further support for large (64 bit) file addressing. 373 Large file support is now set up by the configure script. 374 375* Use autoconf 2.54. 376 Replace configure.in, acconfig.h, defines.h.top with configure.ac. 377 378* Overstriking underscore with underscore is now bold or underlined 379 depending on context. 380 381* Use only 7 spaces for line numbers in -N mode, if possible. 382 383* Fix some bugs in handling overstriking in UTF-8 files. 384 385* Fix some nroff issues in the man page. 386 387====================================================================== 388 389 Major changes between "less" versions 376 and 378 390 391* Bug fixes: 392 Default buffer space is now 64K as documented. 393 Search highlighting works properly when used with -R. 394 Windows version works properly when input file contains carriage returns. 395 Clean up some compiler warnings. 396 397====================================================================== 398 399 Major changes between "less" versions 358 and 376 400 401* -x option can now specify multiple variable-width tab stops. 402 403* -X option no longer disables keypad initialization. 404 New option --no-keypad disables keypad initialization. 405 406* New commands t and T step through multiple tag matches. 407 Added support for "global(1)" tags 408 (see http://www.gnu.org/software/global/global.html). 409 410* New prompt style set by option -Pw defines the message printed 411 while waiting for data in the F command. 412 413* System-wide lesskey file now defaults to sysless in etc directory 414 instead of .sysless in bin directory. 415 Use "configure --sysconfdir=..." to change it. 416 (For backwards compatibility, .sysless in bin is still recognized.) 417 418* Pressing RightArrow or LeftArrow while entering a number now shifts 419 the display N columns rather than editing the number itself. 420 421* Status column (enabled with -J) now shows search results. 422 423* Windows version sets window title. 424 425* Default LESSCHARSET for MS-DOS versions is now "dos". 426 427* Searching works better with ANSI (SGR) escape sequences. 428 ANSI color escape sequences are now supported in the MS-DOS (DJGPP) version. 429 430* Improved performance in reading very large pipes. 431 432* Eliminated some dependencies on file offets being 32 bits. 433 434* Fixed problems when viewing files with very long lines. 435 436* Fixed overstriking in UTF-8 mode, and overstriking tabs. 437 438* Improved horizontal shifting of text using -R option with ANSI color. 439 440* Improved handling of filenames containing shell metacharacters. 441 442* Some fixes for EBCDIC systems. 443 444* Some fixes for OS/2 systems. 445 446====================================================================== 447 448 Major changes between "less" versions 354 and 358 449 450* Add -J (--status-column) option to display a status column. 451 452* Add -# (--shift) option to set default horizontal shift distance. 453 Default horizontal shift distance is now one-half screen width. 454 455* Horizontal shifting does not shift line numbers if -N is in effect. 456 457* Horizontal shifting acts as though -S were set, to avoid confusion. 458 459====================================================================== 460 461 462 Major changes between "less" versions 352 and 354 463 464* Allow space after numeric-valued command line options. 465 466* Fix problem with configuring terminal libraries on some systems. 467 468* Add support for PCRE regular expression library. 469 470* Add --with-regex option to configure to allow manually selecting 471 a regular expression library. 472 473* Fix bug compiling with SECURE = 1. 474 475====================================================================== 476 477 478 Major changes between "less" versions 346 and 352 479 480* Enable UTF-8 if "UTF-8" appears in locale-related environment variables. 481 482* Add --with-editor option to configure script. 483 484* The -M prompt and = message now show the top and bottom line number. 485 486* Fix bug in running the editor on a file whose name contains quotes, etc. 487 488* Fix bug in horizontal scrolling of long lines. 489 490* Fix bug in doing :d on a file which contains marks. 491 492* Fix bug causing cleared lines to sometimes be filled with standout, 493 bold, underline, etc. on certain terminals. 494 495* Fixes for MS-DOS (DJGPP) version. 496 497====================================================================== 498 499 500 Major changes between "less" versions 340 and 346 501 502* The UTF-8 character set is now supported. 503 504* The default character set is now latin1 rather than ascii. 505 506* New option -R (--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS) is like -r but handles 507 long (wrapped) lines correctly, as long as the input contains only 508 normal text and ANSI color escape sequences. 509 510* New option -F (--quit-if-one-screen) quits if the text fits on 511 the first screen. 512 513* The -w option now highlights the target line of a g or p command. 514 515* A system-wide lesskey file is supported (LESSKEY_SYSTEM). 516 517* New escape for prompt strings: %c is replaced by column number. 518 519* New escape for prompt strings: %P is replaced by percentage into 520 file, based on line number rather than byte offset. 521 522* HOME and END keys now jump to beginning of file or end of file. 523 524====================================================================== 525 526 527 Major changes between "less" versions 337 and 340 528 529* Command line options for less may now be given in either the old 530 single-letter form, or a new long name form (--option-name). 531 See the less man page or "less --help" for the list of long option names. 532 533* Command line options for lesskey may now be given in a new long name 534 form. See the lesskey man page for the list of long option names. 535 536* New command -- toggles an option using the long option name. 537 538* New command __ queries an option using the long option name. 539 540* The old -- command is renamed as -!. 541 542* If a ^P is entered between the dash and the option letter of the - 543 command, the message describing the new setting is suppressed. 544 545* Lesskey files may now contain \k escape sequences to represent the 546 "special" keys (arrows, PAGE-UP/PAGE-DOWN, HOME, END, INSERT, DELETE). 547 548* New command :d removes the current file from the list of files. 549 550* New option -~ (like -w before version 335) 551 suppresses tildes after end-of-file. 552 553* Less is now released under the GNU General Public License. 554 555====================================================================== 556 557 558 Major changes between "less" versions 335 and 337 559 560* Fixed bugs in "make install". 561 562====================================================================== 563 564 565 Major changes between "less" versions 332 and 335 566 567* The old -w flag (suppress tildes after end-of-file) has been removed. 568 569* New -w flag highlights the first new line after a forward-screen. 570 571* New -W flag highlights the first new line after any forward movement. 572 573* Window resize works even if LINES and/or COLUMNS environment 574 variables are incorrect. 575 576* New percent escapes for prompt strings: 577 %d is replaced by the page number, and 578 %D is replaced by the number of pages in the file. 579 580* Added charsets "iso8859" and "ebcdic". 581 582* In Windows version, uses HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH if HOME is not defined. 583 584* Fixed some bugs causing incorrect display on DOS/Windows. 585 586====================================================================== 587 588 589 Major changes between "less" versions 330 and 332 590 591* Filenames from the command line are entered into the command history, 592 so UPARROW/DOWNARROW can be used to retrieve them from the :e command. 593 594* Now works correctly on Windows when using a scrolling terminal 595 window (buffer larger than display window). 596 597* On Windows, now restores the console screen on exit. 598 Use -X to get the old behavior. 599 600* Fixed bug on Windows when CAPS-LOCK or NUM-LOCK is pressed. 601 602* Fixed bug on Windows when piping output of an interactive program. 603 604* Fixed bug in tags file processing when tags file has DOS-style 605 line terminators (CR/LF). 606 607* Fixed compilation problem on OS/2. 608 609====================================================================== 610 611 612 Major changes between "less" versions 321 and 330 613 614* Now supports filenames containing spaces (in double quotes). 615 New option -" can be used to change the quoting characters. 616 617* In filename completion, a slash is appended to a directory name. 618 If the environment variable LESSSEPARATOR is set, the value of 619 that variable, rather than a slash, is appended. 620 621* LeftArrow and RightArrow are same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 622 623* Added commands ESC-( and ESC-), same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 624 625* A "quit" command defined in a lesskey file may now have an "extra" 626 string, which is used to return an exit code from less when it quits. 627 628* New environment variables LESSMETACHARS and LESSMETAESCAPE provide 629 more control over how less interfaces to the shell. 630 631* Ported to Microsoft Visual C compiler for Windows. 632 633* Ported to DJGPP compiler for MS-DOS. 634 635* Bug fixes. 636 637====================================================================== 638 639 640 Major changes between "less" versions 291 and 321 641 642* Command line at bottom of screen now scrolls, so it can be longer 643 than the screen width. 644 645* New commands ESC-] and ESC-[ scroll the display horizontally. 646 647* New command ESC-SPACE scrolls forward a full screen, even if it 648 hits end-of-file. 649 650* Alternate modifiers for search commands: ^N is same as !, 651 ^F is same as @, and ^E is same as *. 652 653* New modifier for search commands: ^K means highlight the matches 654 currently on-screen, but don't move to the first match. 655 656* New modifier for search commands: ^R means don't use regular 657 expressions in the search. 658 659* Environment variable LESSKEY gives name of default lesskey file. 660 661* Environment variable LESSSECURE will force less to run in 662 "secure" mode. 663 664* Command line argument "--" signals that the rest of the arguments 665 are files (not option flags). 666 667* Help file (less.hlp) is no longer installed. Help text is now 668 embedded in the less executable itself. 669 670* Added -Ph to change the prompt for the help text. 671 Added -Ps to change the default short prompt (same as plain -P). 672 673* Ported to the Borland C compiler for MS-DOS. 674 675* Ported to Windows 95 & Windows NT. 676 677* Ported to OS-9. 678 679* Ported to GNU Hurd. 680 681====================================================================== 682 683 684 Major changes between "less" versions 290 and 291 685 686* Less environment variables can be specified in lesskey files. 687 688* Fixed MS-DOS build. 689 690====================================================================== 691 692 693 Major changes between "less" versions 278 and 290 694 695* Accepts GNU-style options "--help" and "--version". 696 697* OS/2 version looks for less.ini in $HOME before $INIT and $PATH. 698 699* Bug fixes 700 701====================================================================== 702 703 704 Major changes between "less" versions 252 and 278 705 706* A LESSOPEN preprocessor may now pipe the converted file data to less, 707 rather than writing it to a temporary file. 708 709* Search pattern highlighting has been fixed. It now highlights 710 reliably, even if a string is split across two screen lines, 711 contains TABs, etc. 712 713* The -F flag (which suppress search highlighting) has been changed 714 to -G. A new flag, -g, changes search highlighting to highlight 715 only the string found by the last search command, instead of all 716 strings which match the last search command. 717 718* New flag -I acts like -i, but ignores case even if the search 719 pattern contains uppercase letters. 720 721* Less now checks for the environment variable VISUAL before EDITOR. 722 723* Ported to OS/2. 724 725====================================================================== 726 727 728 Major changes between "less" versions 237 and 252 729 730* Changes in line-editing keys: 731 The literal key is now ^V or ^A rather than \ (backslash). 732 Filename completion commands (TAB and ^L) are disabled 733 when typing a search pattern. 734 735* Line-editing command keys can be redefined using lesskey. 736 737* Lesskey with no input file defaults to $HOME/.lesskey 738 rather than standard input. 739 740* New option -V displays version number of less. 741 742* New option -V displays version number of lesskey. 743 744* Help file less.hlp is now installed by default in /usr/local/share 745 rather than /usr/local/lib. 746 747 748====================================================================== 749 750 751 Major changes between "less" versions 170 and 237 752 753* By popular demand, text which matches the current search pattern 754 is highlighted. New -F flag disables this feature. 755 756* Henry Spencer's regexp.c is now included, for systems which do not 757 have a regular expression library. 758 regexp.c is Copyright (c) 1986 by University of Toronto. 759 760* New line-editing keys, including command history (arrow keys) and 761 filename completion (TAB). 762 763* Input preprocessor allows modification of input files (e.g. uncompress) 764 via LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE environment variables. 765 766* New -X flag disables sending termcap "ti" and "te" (initialize and 767 deinitialize) strings to the terminal. 768 769* Changing -i from within less now correctly affects a subsequent 770 repeated search. 771 772* Searching for underlined or overstruck text now works when the -u 773 flag is in effect, rather than the -i flag. 774 775* Use setlocale (LANG and LC_CTYPE environment variables) to determine 776 the character set if LESSCHARSET/LESSCHARDEF are not set. 777 778* The default format for displaying binary characters is now standout 779 (reverse video) rather than blinking. This can still be changed by 780 setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable. 781 782* Use autoconf installation technology. 783 784* Ported to MS-DOS. 785 786 ******************************** 787 Things that may surprise you 788 ******************************** 789 790* When you enter text at the bottom of the screen (search string, 791 filename, etc.), some keys act different than previously. 792 Specifically, \ (backslash), ESC, TAB, BACKTAB, and control-L 793 now have line editing functions. 794 795* Some previous unofficial versions of less were able to display 796 compressed files. The new LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE feature now provides 797 this functionality in a different way. 798 799* Some previous unofficial versions of less provided a -Z flag to 800 set the number of lines of text to retain between full screen scrolls. 801 The -z-n flag (that is, -z with a negative number) provides this 802 functionality. 803 804 805====================================================================== 806 807 808 Major changes between "less" versions 123 and 170 809 810* New option -j allows target lines to be positioned anywhere on screen. 811 812* New option -S truncates displayed line at the screen width, 813 rather than wrapping onto the next line. 814 815* New option -y limits amount of forward scroll. 816 817* New option -T specifies a "tags" file. 818 819* Non-printable, non-control characters are displayed in octal. 820 Such characters, as well as control characters, are displayed 821 in blinking mode. 822 823* New command -+ sets an option to its default. 824* New command -- sets an option to the opposite of its default. 825 826* Lesskey file may have a string appended to a key's action, 827 which acts as though typed in after the command. 828 829* New commands ESC-^F and ESC-^B match arbitrary types of brackets. 830 831* New command F monitors a growing file (like "tail -f"). 832 833* New command | pipes a section of the input file into a shell command. 834 835* New command :x directly jumps to a file in the command line list. 836 837* Search commands have been enhanced and reorganized: 838 n Repeat search, same direction. 839 N Repeat search, opposite direction. 840 ESC-/ Search forward thru file boundaries 841 ESC-? Search backward thru file boundaries 842 ESC-n Repeat search thru file boundaries, same direction. 843 ESC-N Repeat search thru file boundaries, opposite direction. 844 Special character * causes search to search thru file boundaries. 845 Special character @ causes search to begin at start/end of file list. 846 847* Examining a new file adds it to the command line list. 848 A list of files, or an expression which matches more than one file, 849 may be examined; all of them are added to the command line list. 850 851* Environment variables LESSCHARSET and LESSCHARDEF can define 852 a non-ASCII character set. 853 854* Partial support for MSDOS, including options -R for repainting screen 855 on quit, -v/-V to select video mode, and -W to change window size. 856 857 858====================================================================== 859 860 861 Major changes between "less" versions 97 and 123 862 863* New option (-N) causes line numbers to be displayed in the 864 text of the file (like vi "set nu"). 865 866* New option (-?) prints help message immediately. 867 868* New option (-r) displays "raw" control characters, without 869 mapping them to ^X notation. 870 871* New option (-f) forces less to open non-regular files 872 (directories, etc). 873 874* New option (-k) can be used to specify lesskey files by name. 875 876* New option (-y) can be used to set a forward scroll limit 877 (like -h sets a backward scroll limit). 878 879* File marks (set by the m command) are now preserved when a new 880 file is edited. The ' command can thus be used to switch files. 881 882* New command ESC-/ searches all files (on the command line) 883 for a pattern. 884 885* New command ESC-n repeats previous search, spanning files. 886 887* The N command has been changed to repeat the previous search 888 in the reverse direction. The old N command is still available 889 via :n. 890 891* New command ESC-N repeats previous search in the reverse 892 direction and spanning files. 893 894* 8 bit characters are now supported. A new option (-g) can be 895 used to strip off the eighth bit (the previous behavior). 896 897* Options which take a following string (like -t) may now 898 optionally have a space between the option letter and the string. 899 900* Six new commands { } ( ) [ and ] can be used to match 901 brackets of specific types, similar to vi % command. 902 903* New commands z and w move forward/backward one window and 904 simultaneously set the window size. 905 906* Prompt string expansion now has %L for line number of the last 907 line in the file, and %E for the name of the editor. 908 Also, % escapes which refer to a line (b=bottom, t=top, etc.) 909 can use j for the jump target line. 910 911* New environment variable LESSEDIT can be used to tailor the 912 command string passed to the editor by the v command. 913 914* Examining a file which was previously examined will return 915 to the same position in the file. 916 917* A "%" is expanded to the current filename and a "#" to the 918 previous filename, in both shell commands and the E command. 919 (Previously % worked only in shell commands and # worked 920 only in the E command.) 921 922* New command ":ta" is equivalent to "-t". 923 924* New command "s" is equivalent to "-l". 925 926* The - command may be followed by "+X" to revert to the default 927 for option X, or "-X" to get the opposite of the default. 928 929* Lesskey files may now include characters after the action as 930 extra input to be parsed after the action; for example: 931 "toggle-option X" to toggle a specific option X. 932 933 934 935 936 937