any command to search for a pattern, jump to a line number, jump to a file percentage or
jump to a tag. The screen line may be specified by a number: the top line on the screen is 1, the next is 2, and so on. The number may be negative to specify a line relative to the bottom of the screen: the
bottom line on the screen is -1, the second to the bottom is -2, and so on. Alternately, the screen line may be specified as a fraction of the height of the screen, starting with a decimal point: .5 is in the
middle of the screen, .3 is three tenths down from the first line, and so on. If the line is specified as a fraction, the actual line number is recalculated if the terminal window is resized, so that the tar‐
get line remains at the specified fraction of the screen height. If any form of the -j option is used, repeated forward searches (invoked with "n" or "N") begin at the line immediately after the target line,
and repeated backward searches begin at the target line, unless changed by -a or -A. For example, if "-j4" is used, the target line is the fourth line on the screen, so forward searches begin at the fifth line
on the screen. However nonrepeated searches (invoked with "/" or "?") always begin at the start or end of the current screen respectively.
-J or --status‐column
Displays a status column at the left edge of the screen. The status column shows the lines that matched the current search, and any lines that are marked (via the m or M command).
-kfilename or --lesskey‐file=filename
Causes less to open and interpret the named file as a lesskey(1) binary file. Multiple -k options may be specified. If the LESSKEY or LESSKEY_SYSTEM environment variable is set, or if a lesskey file is found
in a standard place (see KEY BINDINGS), it is also used as a lesskey file.
--lesskey‐src=filename
Causes less to open and interpret the named file as a lesskey(1) source file. If the LESSKEYIN or LESSKEYIN_SYSTEM environment variable is set, or if a lesskey source file is found in a standard place (see KEY
BINDINGS), it is also used as a lesskey source file. Prior to version 582, the lesskey program needed to be run to convert a lesskey source file to a lesskey binary file for less to use. Newer versions of
less read the lesskey source file directly and ignore the binary file if the source file exists.
-K or --quit‐on‐intr
Causes less to exit immediately (with status 2) when an interrupt character (usually ^C) is typed. Normally, an interrupt character causes less to stop whatever it is doing and return to its command prompt.
Note that use of this option makes it impossible to return to the command prompt from the "F" command.
-L or --no‐lessopen
Ignore the LESSOPEN environment variable (see the INPUT PREPROCESSOR section below). This option can be set from within less, but it will apply only to files opened subsequently, not to the file which is cur‐
rently open.
-m or --long‐prompt
Causes less to prompt verbosely (like more), with the percent into the file. By default, less prompts with a colon.
-M or --LONG‐PROMPT
Causes less to prompt even more verbosely than more.
-n or --line‐numbers
Suppresses line numbers. The default (to use line numbers) may cause less to run more slowly in some cases, especially with a very large input file. Suppressing line numbers with the -n option will avoid this
problem. Using line numbers means: the line number will be displayed in the verbose prompt and in the = command, and the v command will pass the current line number to the editor (see also the discussion of
LESSEDIT in PROMPTS below).
-N or --LINE‐NUMBERS