


LESSKEY(1)                                             LESSKEY(1)


NNAAMMEE
       lesskey - specify key bindings for less

SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS
       lleesssskkeeyy [[--oo oouuttppuutt]] [[----]] [[iinnppuutt]]
       lleesssskkeeyy [[----oouuttppuutt==oouuttppuutt]] [[----]] [[iinnppuutt]]
       lleesssskkeeyy --VV
       lleesssskkeeyy ----vveerrssiioonn

DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
       _L_e_s_s_k_e_y  is  used  to  specify a set of key bindings to be
       used by _l_e_s_s_.   The  input  file  is  a  text  file  which
       describes  the  key  bindings,  If  the input file is "-",
       standard input is read.  If no input file is specified,  a
       standard  filename  is used as the name of the input file,
       which depends on the system being used: On  Unix  systems,
       $HOME/.lesskey  is used; on MS-DOS systems, $HOME/_lesskey
       is used; and on OS/2 systems $HOME/lesskey.ini is used, or
       $INIT/lesskey.ini  if $HOME is undefined.  The output file
       is a binary file which is used by _l_e_s_s_.  If no output file
       is specified, and the environment variable LESSKEY is set,
       the value of LESSKEY is used as the  name  of  the  output
       file.   Otherwise, a standard filename is used as the name
       of the output file, which  depends  on  the  system  being
       used:  On  Unix  and OS-9 systems, $HOME/.less is used; on
       MS-DOS systems, $HOME/_less is used; and on OS/2  systems,
       $HOME/less.ini  is  used,  or  $INIT/less.ini  if $HOME is
       undefined.  If the output  file  already  exists,  _l_e_s_s_k_e_y
       will overwrite it.

       The  -V  or  --version  option causes _l_e_s_s_k_e_y to print its
       version number and immediately exit.  If -V  or  --version
       is present, other options and arguments are ignored.

       The  input  file  consists  of one or more _s_e_c_t_i_o_n_s_.  Each
       section starts with a line that  identifies  the  type  of
       section.  Possible sections are:

       #command
              Defines new command keys.

       #line-edit
              Defines new line-editing keys.

       #env   Defines environment variables.

       Blank  lines  and  lines which start with a pound sign (#)
       are ignored, except for the special section header  lines.


CCOOMMMMAANNDD SSEECCTTIIOONN
       The command section begins with the line

       #command



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LESSKEY(1)                                             LESSKEY(1)


       If  the  command section is the first section in the file,
       this line may be omitted.  The command section consists of
       lines of the form:

            _s_t_r_i_n_g <whitespace> _a_c_t_i_o_n [extra-string] <newline>

       Whitespace  is  any  sequence of one or more spaces and/or
       tabs.  The _s_t_r_i_n_g is the command key(s) which  invoke  the
       action.   The  _s_t_r_i_n_g  may  be  a single command key, or a
       sequence of up to 15 keys.  The _a_c_t_i_o_n is the name of  the
       less  action,  from the list below.  The characters in the
       _s_t_r_i_n_g may appear literally, or be prefixed by a caret  to
       indicate  a  control  key.  A backslash followed by one to
       three octal digits may be used to specify a  character  by
       its  octal value.  A backslash followed by certain charac-
       ters specifies input characters as follows:

       \b     BACKSPACE

       \e     ESCAPE

       \n     NEWLINE

       \r     RETURN

       \t     TAB

       \ku    UP ARROW

       \kd    DOWN ARROW

       \kr    RIGHT ARROW

       \kl    LEFT ARROW

       \kU    PAGE UP

       \kD    PAGE DOWN

       \kh    HOME

       \ke    END

       \kx    DELETE

       A backslash followed by any other character indicates that
       character is to be taken literally.  Characters which must
       be preceded by backslash include caret, space, tab and the
       backslash itself.

       An action may be followed by an "extra" string.  When such
       a command is entered while running  _l_e_s_s_,  the  action  is
       performed, and then the extra string is parsed, just as if
       it were typed in to _l_e_s_s_.  This feature  can  be  used  in



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LESSKEY(1)                                             LESSKEY(1)


       certain  cases  to  extend the functionality of a command.
       For example, see the "{" and ":t" commands in the  example
       below.   The  extra  string  has a special meaning for the
       "quit" action: when _l_e_s_s quits,  first  character  of  the
       extra string is used as its exit status.


EEXXAAMMPPLLEE
       The following input file describes the set of default com-
       mand keys used by less:

            #command
            \r        forw-line
            \n        forw-line
            e         forw-line
            j         forw-line
            \kd  forw-line
            ^E        forw-line
            ^N        forw-line
            k         back-line
            y         back-line
            ^Y        back-line
            ^K        back-line
            ^P        back-line
            J         forw-line-force
            K         back-line-force
            Y         back-line-force
            d         forw-scroll
            ^D        forw-scroll
            u         back-scroll
            ^U        back-scroll
            \40  forw-screen
            f         forw-screen
            ^F        forw-screen
            ^V        forw-screen
            \kD  forw-screen
            b         back-screen
            ^B        back-screen
            \ev       back-screen
            \kU  back-screen
            z         forw-window
            w         back-window
            \e\40          forw-screen-force
            F         forw-forever
            R         repaint-flush
            r         repaint
            ^R        repaint
            ^L        repaint
            \eu       undo-hilite
            g         goto-line
            <         goto-line
            \e<       goto-line
            p         percent
            %         percent



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LESSKEY(1)                                             LESSKEY(1)


            \e[       left-scroll
            \e]       right-scroll
            \e(       left-scroll
            \e)       right-scroll
            {         forw-bracket {}
            }         back-bracket {}
            (         forw-bracket ()
            )         back-bracket ()
            [         forw-bracket []
            ]         back-bracket []
            \e^F      forw-bracket
            \e^B      back-bracket
            G         goto-end
            \e>       goto-end
            >         goto-end
            =         status
            ^G        status
            :f        status
            /         forw-search
            ?         back-search
            \e/       forw-search *
            \e?       back-search *
            n         repeat-search
            \en       repeat-search-all
            N         reverse-search
            \eN       reverse-search-all
            m         set-mark
            '         goto-mark
            ^X^X      goto-mark
            E         examine
            :e        examine
            ^X^V      examine
            :n        next-file
            :p        prev-file
            :x        index-file
            -         toggle-option
            :t        toggle-option t
            s         toggle-option o
            _         display-option
            |         pipe
            v         visual
            !         shell
            +         firstcmd
            H         help
            h         help
            V         version
            q         quit
            Q         quit
            :q        quit
            :Q        quit
            ZZ        quit






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LESSKEY(1)                                             LESSKEY(1)


PPRREECCEEDDEENNCCEE
       Commands specified by _l_e_s_s_k_e_y  take  precedence  over  the
       default  commands.   A default command key may be disabled
       by  including  it  in  the  input  file  with  the  action
       "invalid".   Alternatively,  a  key  may  be defined to do
       nothing by using the  action  "noaction".   "noaction"  is
       similar to "invalid", but _l_e_s_s will give an error beep for
       an "invalid" command, but not for  a  "noaction"  command.
       In  addition,  ALL  default  commands  may  be disabled by
       adding this control line to the input file:

       #stop

       This will cause all default commands to be  ignored.   The
       #stop  line should be the last line in that section of the
       file.

       Be aware that #stop can be dangerous.  Since  all  default
       commands  are  disabled,  you must provide sufficient com-
       mands before  the  #stop  line  to  enable  all  necessary
       actions.  For example, failure to provide a "quit" command
       can lead to frustration.


LLIINNEE EEDDIITTIINNGG SSEECCTTIIOONN
       The line-editing section begins with the line:

       #line-edit

       This section specifies new key bindings for the line edit-
       ing  commands, in a manner similar to the way key bindings
       for ordinary commands are specified in the  #command  sec-
       tion.  The line-editing section consists of a list of keys
       and actions, one per line as in the example below.


EEXXAAMMPPLLEE
       The following input file  describes  the  set  of  default
       line-editing keys used by less:

            #line-edit
            \t        forw-complete
            \17       back-complete
            \e\t      back-complete
            ^L        expand
            ^V        literal
            ^A        literal
            \el       right
            \kr       right
            \eh       left
            \kl       left
            \eb       word-left
            \e\kl     word-left
            \ew       word-right



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LESSKEY(1)                                             LESSKEY(1)


            \e\kr     word-right
            \ei       insert
            \ex       delete
            \kx       delete
            \eX       word-delete
            \ekx      word-delete
            \e\b      word-backspace
            \e0       home
            \kh       home
            \e$       end
            \ke       end
            \ek       up
            \ku       up
            \ej       down



LLEESSSS EENNVVIIRROONNMMEENNTT VVAARRIIAABBLLEESS
       The environment variable section begins with the line

       #env

       Following  this  line  is  a  list of environment variable
       assignments.  Each line consists of an  environment  vari-
       able name, an equals sign (=) and the value to be assigned
       to the environment variable.  White space before and after
       the  equals  sign  is ignored.  Variables assigned in this
       way are visible only to _l_e_s_s_.  If a variable is  specified
       in  the system environment and also in a lesskey file, the
       value in the lesskey file takes precedence.  Although  the
       lesskey  file can be used to override variables set in the
       environment, the main purpose of  assigning  variables  in
       the  lesskey file is simply to have all _l_e_s_s configuration
       information stored in one file.


EEXXAAMMPPLLEE
       The following input file sets the -i option whenever  _l_e_s_s
       is run, and specifies the character set to be "latin1":

            #env
            LESS = -i
            LESSCHARSET = latin1



SSEEEE AALLSSOO
       less(1)


WWAARRNNIINNGGSS
       It  is not possible to specify special keys, such as upar-
       row, in a keyboard-independent manner.  The  only  way  to
       specify  such keys is to specify the escape sequence which



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LESSKEY(1)                                             LESSKEY(1)


       a particular keyboard sends when such a keys is pressed.

       On MS-DOS and OS/2 systems, certain keys send  a  sequence
       of  characters which start with a NUL character (0).  This
       NUL character should be represented as \340 in  a  lesskey
       file.


CCOOPPYYRRIIGGHHTT
       Copyright (C) 2000  Mark Nudelman

       lesskey  is  part of the GNU project and is free software;
       you can redistribute it and/or modify it under  the  terms
       of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
       Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
       any later version.

       lesskey is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
       but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even  the  implied  war-
       ranty  of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PUR-
       POSE.   See  the  GNU  General  Public  License  for  more
       details.

       You  should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
       License along with lesskey; see the file COPYING.  If not,
       write  to  the  Free Software Foundation, 59 Temple Place,
       Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.


AAUUTTHHOORR
       Mark Nudelman <marknu@flash.net>
       Send bug reports or comments to the above  address  or  to
       bug-less@gnu.org.
























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