Save marks in the history file, so marks are retained across different invocations of less.
--status‐col‐width
Sets the width of the status column when the -J option is in effect. The default is 2 characters.
--use‐backslash
This option changes the interpretations of options which follow this one. After the --use‐backslash option, any backslash in an option string is removed and the following character is taken literally. This
allows a dollar sign to be included in option strings.
--use‐color
Enables the colored text in various places. The ‐D option can be used to change the colors. Colored text works only if the terminal supports ANSI color escape sequences (as defined in ECMA‐48 SGR; see
https://www.ecma‐international.org/publications‐and‐standards/standards/ecma‐48).
--wheel‐lines=n
Set the number of lines to scroll when the mouse wheel is scrolled and the --mouse or --MOUSE option is in effect. The default is 1 line.
-- A command line argument of "--" marks the end of option arguments. Any arguments following this are interpreted as filenames. This can be useful when viewing a file whose name begins with a "-" or "+".
+ If a command line option begins with +, the remainder of that option is taken to be an initial command to less. For example, +G tells less to start at the end of the file rather than the beginning, and +/xyz
tells it to start at the first occurrence of "xyz" in the file. As a special case, +<number> acts like +<number>g; that is, it starts the display at the specified line number (however, see the caveat under the
"g" command above). If the option starts with ++, the initial command applies to every file being viewed, not just the first one. The + command described previously may also be used to set (or change) an ini‐
tial command for every file.
LINE EDITING
When entering a command line at the bottom of the screen (for example, a filename for the :e command, or the pattern for a search command), certain keys can be used to manipulate the command line. Most commands have
an alternate form in [ brackets ] which can be used if a key does not exist on a particular keyboard. (Note that the forms beginning with ESC do not work in some MS‐DOS and Windows systems because ESC is the line
erase character.) Any of these special keys may be entered literally by preceding it with the "literal" character, either ^V or ^A. A backslash itself may also be entered literally by entering two backslashes.
LEFTARROW [ ESC‐h ]
Move the cursor one space to the left.
RIGHTARROW [ ESC‐l ]
Move the cursor one space to the right.
^LEFTARROW [ ESC‐b or ESC‐LEFTARROW ]
(That is, CONTROL and LEFTARROW simultaneously.) Move the cursor one word to the left.
^RIGHTARROW [ ESC‐w or ESC‐RIGHTARROW ]
(That is, CONTROL and RIGHTARROW simultaneously.) Move the cursor one word to the right.
HOME [ ESC‐0 ]
Move the cursor to the beginning of the line.
END [ ESC‐$ ]
Move the cursor to the end of the line.
BACKSPACE
Delete the character to the left of the cursor, or cancel the command if the command line is empty.
DELETE or [ ESC‐x ]
Delete the character under the cursor.
^BACKSPACE [ ESC‐BACKSPACE ]
(That is, CONTROL and BACKSPACE simultaneously.) Delete the word to the left of the cursor.
^DELETE [ ESC‐X or ESC‐DELETE ]
(That is, CONTROL and DELETE simultaneously.) Delete the word under the cursor.
UPARROW [ ESC‐k ]
Retrieve the previous command line. If you first enter some text and then press UPARROW, it will retrieve the previous command which begins with that text.