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