1 2 NEWS about less 3 4====================================================================== 5 6 For the latest news about less, see the "less" Web page: 7 http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less 8 You can also download the latest version of less from there. 9 10 To report bugs, suggestions or comments, send email to 11 bug-less@gnu.org or markn@greenwoodsoftware.com. 12 13====================================================================== 14 15 16 Major changes between "less" versions 378 and 381 17 18* New -L option to disable LESSOPEN processing. 19 20* Further support for large (64 bit) file addressing. 21 Large file support is now set up by the configure script. 22 23* Use autoconf 2.54. 24 Replace configure.in, acconfig.h, defines.h.top with configure.ac. 25 26* Overstriking underscore with underscore is now bold or underlined 27 depending on context. 28 29* Use only 7 spaces for line numbers in -N mode, if possible. 30 31* Fix some bugs in handling overstriking in UTF-8 files. 32 33* Fix some nroff issues in the man page. 34 35====================================================================== 36 37 Major changes between "less" versions 376 and 378 38 39* Bug fixes: 40 Default buffer space is now 64K as documented. 41 Search highlighting works properly when used with -R. 42 Windows version works properly when input file contains carriage returns. 43 Clean up some compiler warnings. 44 45====================================================================== 46 47 Major changes between "less" versions 358 and 376 48 49* -x option can now specify multiple variable-width tab stops. 50 51* -X option no longer disables keypad initialization. 52 New option --no-keypad disables keypad initialization. 53 54* New commands t and T step through multiple tag matches. 55 Added support for "global(1)" tags 56 (see http://www.gnu.org/software/global/global.html). 57 58* New prompt style set by option -Pw defines the message printed 59 while waiting for data in the F command. 60 61* System-wide lesskey file now defaults to sysless in etc directory 62 instead of .sysless in bin directory. 63 Use "configure --sysconfdir=..." to change it. 64 (For backwards compatibility, .sysless in bin is still recognized.) 65 66* Pressing RightArrow or LeftArrow while entering a number now shifts 67 the display N columns rather than editing the number itself. 68 69* Status column (enabled with -J) now shows search results. 70 71* Windows version sets window title. 72 73* Default LESSCHARSET for MS-DOS versions is now "dos". 74 75* Searching works better with ANSI (SGR) escape sequences. 76 ANSI color escape sequences are now supported in the MS-DOS (DJGPP) version. 77 78* Improved performance in reading very large pipes. 79 80* Eliminated some dependencies on file offets being 32 bits. 81 82* Fixed problems when viewing files with very long lines. 83 84* Fixed overstriking in UTF-8 mode, and overstriking tabs. 85 86* Improved horizontal shifting of text using -R option with ANSI color. 87 88* Improved handling of filenames containing shell metacharacters. 89 90* Some fixes for EBCDIC systems. 91 92* Some fixes for OS/2 systems. 93 94====================================================================== 95 96 Major changes between "less" versions 354 and 358 97 98* Add -J (--status-column) option to display a status column. 99 100* Add -# (--shift) option to set default horizontal shift distance. 101 Default horizontal shift distance is now one-half screen width. 102 103* Horizontal shifting does not shift line numbers if -N is in effect. 104 105* Horizontal shifting acts as though -S were set, to avoid confusion. 106 107====================================================================== 108 109 110 Major changes between "less" versions 352 and 354 111 112* Allow space after numeric-valued command line options. 113 114* Fix problem with configuring terminal libraries on some systems. 115 116* Add support for PCRE regular expression library. 117 118* Add --with-regex option to configure to allow manually selecting 119 a regular expression library. 120 121* Fix bug compiling with SECURE = 1. 122 123====================================================================== 124 125 126 Major changes between "less" versions 346 and 352 127 128* Enable UTF-8 if "UTF-8" appears in locale-related environment variables. 129 130* Add --with-editor option to configure script. 131 132* The -M prompt and = message now show the top and bottom line number. 133 134* Fix bug in running the editor on a file whose name contains quotes, etc. 135 136* Fix bug in horizontal scrolling of long lines. 137 138* Fix bug in doing :d on a file which contains marks. 139 140* Fix bug causing cleared lines to sometimes be filled with standout, 141 bold, underline, etc. on certain terminals. 142 143* Fixes for MS-DOS (DJGPP) version. 144 145====================================================================== 146 147 148 Major changes between "less" versions 340 and 346 149 150* The UTF-8 character set is now supported. 151 152* The default character set is now latin1 rather than ascii. 153 154* New option -R (--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS) is like -r but handles 155 long (wrapped) lines correctly, as long as the input contains only 156 normal text and ANSI color escape sequences. 157 158* New option -F (--quit-if-one-screen) quits if the text fits on 159 the first screen. 160 161* The -w option now highlights the target line of a g or p command. 162 163* A system-wide lesskey file is supported (LESSKEY_SYSTEM). 164 165* New escape for prompt strings: %c is replaced by column number. 166 167* New escape for prompt strings: %P is replaced by percentage into 168 file, based on line number rather than byte offset. 169 170* HOME and END keys now jump to beginning of file or end of file. 171 172====================================================================== 173 174 175 Major changes between "less" versions 337 and 340 176 177* Command line options for less may now be given in either the old 178 single-letter form, or a new long name form (--option-name). 179 See the less man page or "less --help" for the list of long option names. 180 181* Command line options for lesskey may now be given in a new long name 182 form. See the lesskey man page for the list of long option names. 183 184* New command -- toggles an option using the long option name. 185 186* New command __ queries an option using the long option name. 187 188* The old -- command is renamed as -!. 189 190* If a ^P is entered between the dash and the option letter of the - 191 command, the message describing the new setting is suppressed. 192 193* Lesskey files may now contain \k escape sequences to represent the 194 "special" keys (arrows, PAGE-UP/PAGE-DOWN, HOME, END, INSERT, DELETE). 195 196* New command :d removes the current file from the list of files. 197 198* New option -~ (like -w before version 335) 199 suppresses tildes after end-of-file. 200 201* Less is now released under the GNU General Public License. 202 203====================================================================== 204 205 206 Major changes between "less" versions 335 and 337 207 208* Fixed bugs in "make install". 209 210====================================================================== 211 212 213 Major changes between "less" versions 332 and 335 214 215* The old -w flag (suppress tildes after end-of-file) has been removed. 216 217* New -w flag highlights the first new line after a forward-screen. 218 219* New -W flag highlights the first new line after any forward movement. 220 221* Window resize works even if LINES and/or COLUMNS environment 222 variables are incorrect. 223 224* New percent escapes for prompt strings: 225 %d is replaced by the page number, and 226 %D is replaced by the number of pages in the file. 227 228* Added charsets "iso8859" and "ebcdic". 229 230* In Windows version, uses HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH if HOME is not defined. 231 232* Fixed some bugs causing incorrect display on DOS/Windows. 233 234====================================================================== 235 236 237 Major changes between "less" versions 330 and 332 238 239* Filenames from the command line are entered into the command history, 240 so UPARROW/DOWNARROW can be used to retrieve them from the :e command. 241 242* Now works correctly on Windows when using a scrolling terminal 243 window (buffer larger than display window). 244 245* On Windows, now restores the console screen on exit. 246 Use -X to get the old behavior. 247 248* Fixed bug on Windows when CAPS-LOCK or NUM-LOCK is pressed. 249 250* Fixed bug on Windows when piping output of an interactive program. 251 252* Fixed bug in tags file processing when tags file has DOS-style 253 line terminators (CR/LF). 254 255* Fixed compilation problem on OS/2. 256 257====================================================================== 258 259 260 Major changes between "less" versions 321 and 330 261 262* Now supports filenames containing spaces (in double quotes). 263 New option -" can be used to change the quoting characters. 264 265* In filename completion, a slash is appended to a directory name. 266 If the environment variable LESSSEPARATOR is set, the value of 267 that variable, rather than a slash, is appended. 268 269* LeftArrow and RightArrow are same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 270 271* Added commands ESC-( and ESC-), same as ESC-[ and ESC-]. 272 273* A "quit" command defined in a lesskey file may now have an "extra" 274 string, which is used to return an exit code from less when it quits. 275 276* New environment variables LESSMETACHARS and LESSMETAESCAPE provide 277 more control over how less interfaces to the shell. 278 279* Ported to Microsoft Visual C compiler for Windows. 280 281* Ported to DJGPP compiler for MS-DOS. 282 283* Bug fixes. 284 285====================================================================== 286 287 288 Major changes between "less" versions 291 and 321 289 290* Command line at bottom of screen now scrolls, so it can be longer 291 than the screen width. 292 293* New commands ESC-] and ESC-[ scroll the display horizontally. 294 295* New command ESC-SPACE scrolls forward a full screen, even if it 296 hits end-of-file. 297 298* Alternate modifiers for search commands: ^N is same as !, 299 ^F is same as @, and ^E is same as *. 300 301* New modifier for search commands: ^K means highlight the matches 302 currently on-screen, but don't move to the first match. 303 304* New modifier for search commands: ^R means don't use regular 305 expressions in the search. 306 307* Environment variable LESSKEY gives name of default lesskey file. 308 309* Environment variable LESSSECURE will force less to run in 310 "secure" mode. 311 312* Command line argument "--" signals that the rest of the arguments 313 are files (not option flags). 314 315* Help file (less.hlp) is no longer installed. Help text is now 316 embedded in the less executable itself. 317 318* Added -Ph to change the prompt for the help text. 319 Added -Ps to change the default short prompt (same as plain -P). 320 321* Ported to the Borland C compiler for MS-DOS. 322 323* Ported to Windows 95 & Windows NT. 324 325* Ported to OS-9. 326 327* Ported to GNU Hurd. 328 329====================================================================== 330 331 332 Major changes between "less" versions 290 and 291 333 334* Less environment variables can be specified in lesskey files. 335 336* Fixed MS-DOS build. 337 338====================================================================== 339 340 341 Major changes between "less" versions 278 and 290 342 343* Accepts GNU-style options "--help" and "--version". 344 345* OS/2 version looks for less.ini in $HOME before $INIT and $PATH. 346 347* Bug fixes 348 349====================================================================== 350 351 352 Major changes between "less" versions 252 and 278 353 354* A LESSOPEN preprocessor may now pipe the converted file data to less, 355 rather than writing it to a temporary file. 356 357* Search pattern highlighting has been fixed. It now highlights 358 reliably, even if a string is split across two screen lines, 359 contains TABs, etc. 360 361* The -F flag (which suppress search highlighting) has been changed 362 to -G. A new flag, -g, changes search highlighting to highlight 363 only the string found by the last search command, instead of all 364 strings which match the last search command. 365 366* New flag -I acts like -i, but ignores case even if the search 367 pattern contains uppercase letters. 368 369* Less now checks for the environment variable VISUAL before EDITOR. 370 371* Ported to OS/2. 372 373====================================================================== 374 375 376 Major changes between "less" versions 237 and 252 377 378* Changes in line-editing keys: 379 The literal key is now ^V or ^A rather than \ (backslash). 380 Filename completion commands (TAB and ^L) are disabled 381 when typing a search pattern. 382 383* Line-editing command keys can be redefined using lesskey. 384 385* Lesskey with no input file defaults to $HOME/.lesskey 386 rather than standard input. 387 388* New option -V displays version number of less. 389 390* New option -V displays version number of lesskey. 391 392* Help file less.hlp is now installed by default in /usr/local/share 393 rather than /usr/local/lib. 394 395 396====================================================================== 397 398 399 Major changes between "less" versions 170 and 237 400 401* By popular demand, text which matches the current search pattern 402 is highlighted. New -F flag disables this feature. 403 404* Henry Spencer's regexp.c is now included, for systems which do not 405 have a regular expression library. 406 regexp.c is Copyright (c) 1986 by University of Toronto. 407 408* New line-editing keys, including command history (arrow keys) and 409 filename completion (TAB). 410 411* Input preprocessor allows modification of input files (e.g. uncompress) 412 via LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE environment variables. 413 414* New -X flag disables sending termcap "ti" and "te" (initialize and 415 deinitialize) strings to the terminal. 416 417* Changing -i from within less now correctly affects a subsequent 418 repeated search. 419 420* Searching for underlined or overstruck text now works when the -u 421 flag is in effect, rather than the -i flag. 422 423* Use setlocale (LANG and LC_CTYPE environment variables) to determine 424 the character set if LESSCHARSET/LESSCHARDEF are not set. 425 426* The default format for displaying binary characters is now standout 427 (reverse video) rather than blinking. This can still be changed by 428 setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable. 429 430* Use autoconf installation technology. 431 432* Ported to MS-DOS. 433 434 ******************************** 435 Things that may surprise you 436 ******************************** 437 438* When you enter text at the bottom of the screen (search string, 439 filename, etc.), some keys act different than previously. 440 Specifically, \ (backslash), ESC, TAB, BACKTAB, and control-L 441 now have line editing functions. 442 443* Some previous unofficial versions of less were able to display 444 compressed files. The new LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE feature now provides 445 this functionality in a different way. 446 447* Some previous unofficial versions of less provided a -Z flag to 448 set the number of lines of text to retain between full screen scrolls. 449 The -z-n flag (that is, -z with a negative number) provides this 450 functionality. 451 452 453====================================================================== 454 455 456 Major changes between "less" versions 123 and 170 457 458* New option -j allows target lines to be positioned anywhere on screen. 459 460* New option -S truncates displayed line at the screen width, 461 rather than wrapping onto the next line. 462 463* New option -y limits amount of forward scroll. 464 465* New option -T specifies a "tags" file. 466 467* Non-printable, non-control characters are displayed in octal. 468 Such characters, as well as control characters, are displayed 469 in blinking mode. 470 471* New command -+ sets an option to its default. 472* New command -- sets an option to the opposite of its default. 473 474* Lesskey file may have a string appended to a key's action, 475 which acts as though typed in after the command. 476 477* New commands ESC-^F and ESC-^B match arbitrary types of brackets. 478 479* New command F monitors a growing file (like "tail -f"). 480 481* New command | pipes a section of the input file into a shell command. 482 483* New command :x directly jumps to a file in the command line list. 484 485* Search commands have been enhanced and reorganized: 486 n Repeat search, same direction. 487 N Repeat search, opposite direction. 488 ESC-/ Search forward thru file boundaries 489 ESC-? Search backward thru file boundaries 490 ESC-n Repeat search thru file boundaries, same direction. 491 ESC-N Repeat search thru file boundaries, opposite direction. 492 Special character * causes search to search thru file boundaries. 493 Special character @ causes search to begin at start/end of file list. 494 495* Examining a new file adds it to the command line list. 496 A list of files, or an expression which matches more than one file, 497 may be examined; all of them are added to the command line list. 498 499* Environment variables LESSCHARSET and LESSCHARDEF can define 500 a non-ASCII character set. 501 502* Partial support for MSDOS, including options -R for repainting screen 503 on quit, -v/-V to select video mode, and -W to change window size. 504 505 506====================================================================== 507 508 509 Major changes between "less" versions 97 and 123 510 511* New option (-N) causes line numbers to be displayed in the 512 text of the file (like vi "set nu"). 513 514* New option (-?) prints help message immediately. 515 516* New option (-r) displays "raw" control characters, without 517 mapping them to ^X notation. 518 519* New option (-f) forces less to open non-regular files 520 (directories, etc). 521 522* New option (-k) can be used to specify lesskey files by name. 523 524* New option (-y) can be used to set a forward scroll limit 525 (like -h sets a backward scroll limit). 526 527* File marks (set by the m command) are now preserved when a new 528 file is edited. The ' command can thus be used to switch files. 529 530* New command ESC-/ searches all files (on the command line) 531 for a pattern. 532 533* New command ESC-n repeats previous search, spanning files. 534 535* The N command has been changed to repeat the previous search 536 in the reverse direction. The old N command is still available 537 via :n. 538 539* New command ESC-N repeats previous search in the reverse 540 direction and spanning files. 541 542* 8 bit characters are now supported. A new option (-g) can be 543 used to strip off the eighth bit (the previous behavior). 544 545* Options which take a following string (like -t) may now 546 optionally have a space between the option letter and the string. 547 548* Six new commands { } ( ) [ and ] can be used to match 549 brackets of specific types, similar to vi % command. 550 551* New commands z and w move forward/backward one window and 552 simultaneously set the window size. 553 554* Prompt string expansion now has %L for line number of the last 555 line in the file, and %E for the name of the editor. 556 Also, % escapes which refer to a line (b=bottom, t=top, etc.) 557 can use j for the jump target line. 558 559* New environment variable LESSEDIT can be used to tailor the 560 command string passed to the editor by the v command. 561 562* Examining a file which was previously examined will return 563 to the same position in the file. 564 565* A "%" is expanded to the current filename and a "#" to the 566 previous filename, in both shell commands and the E command. 567 (Previously % worked only in shell commands and # worked 568 only in the E command.) 569 570* New command ":ta" is equivalent to "-t". 571 572* New command "s" is equivalent to "-l". 573 574* The - command may be followed by "+X" to revert to the default 575 for option X, or "-X" to get the opposite of the default. 576 577* Lesskey files may now include characters after the action as 578 extra input to be parsed after the action; for example: 579 "toggle-option X" to toggle a specific option X. 580