more1
Display the contents of a file in a terminal
Usage
more [options]
file ...
Overview
more is a filter for paging through text one screenful at a time. This version is especially primitive. Users should realize that less(1) provides more(1) emulation plus extensive enhancements.
Options
Options are also taken from the environment variable MORE (make sure to precede them with a dash (-)) but command-line options will override those.
-
-d, --silent -
Prompt with "[Press space to continue, 'q' to quit.]", and display "[Press 'h' for instructions.]" instead of ringing the bell when an illegal key is pressed.
-
-l, --logical -
Do not pause after any line containing a ^L (form feed).
-
-e, --exit-on-eof -
Exit on End-Of-File, enabled by default if POSIXLY_CORRECT environment variable is not set or if not executed on terminal.
-
-f, --no-pause -
Count logical lines, rather than screen lines (i.e., long lines are not folded).
-
-p, --print-over -
Do not scroll. Instead, clear the whole screen and then display the text. Notice that this option is switched on automatically if the executable is named
page.
-
-c, --clean-print -
Do not scroll. Instead, paint each screen from the top, clearing the remainder of each line as it is displayed.
-
-s, --squeeze -
Squeeze multiple blank lines into one.
-
-u, --plain -
Suppress underlining. This option is silently ignored as backwards compatibility.
-
-n, --lines number -
Specify the number of lines per screenful. The number argument is a positive decimal integer. The
--linesoption shall override any values obtained from any other source, such as number of lines reported by terminal.
-
-number -
A numeric option means the same as
--linesoption argument.
+number
Start displaying each file at line number.
+/string
The string to be searched in each file before starting to display it.
-
-h, --help -
Display help text and exit.
-
-V, --version -
Display version and exit.
Commands
Interactive commands for more are based on vi(1). Some commands may be preceded by a decimal number, called k in the descriptions below. In the following descriptions, ^X means control-X.
h or ?
Help; display a summary of these commands. If you forget all other commands, remember this one.
SPACE
Display next k lines of text. Defaults to current screen size.
z
Display next k lines of text. Defaults to current screen size. Argument becomes new default.
RETURN
Display next k lines of text. Defaults to 1. Argument becomes new default.
d or ^D
Scroll k lines. Default is current scroll size, initially 11. Argument becomes new default.
q or Q or INTERRUPT
Exit.
s
Skip forward k lines of text. Defaults to 1.
f
Skip forward k screenfuls of text. Defaults to 1.
b or ^B
Skip backwards k screenfuls of text. Defaults to 1. Only works with files, not pipes.
'
Go to the place where the last search started.
=
Display current line number.
/pattern
Search for kth occurrence of regular expression. Defaults to 1.
n
Search for kth occurrence of last regular expression. Defaults to 1.
!command or :!command
Execute command in a subshell.
v
Start up an editor at current line. The editor is taken from the environment variable VISUAL if defined, or EDITOR if VISUAL is not defined, or defaults to vi(1) if neither VISUAL nor EDITOR is defined.
^L
Redraw screen.
:n
Go to kth next file. Defaults to 1.
:p
Go to kth previous file. Defaults to 1.
:f
Display current file name and line number.
.
Repeat previous command.
Security
When either MORESECURE or PAGERSECURE is set, more will run in "secure" mode and effectively disable the following commands:
!command or :!command
Execute command in a subshell.
v
Start up an editor.
Environment
The more command respects the following environment variables, if they exist:
MORE
This variable may be set with favored options to more.
SHELL
Current shell in use (normally set by the shell at login time).
TERM
The terminal type used by more to get the terminal characteristics necessary to manipulate the screen.
VISUAL
The editor the user prefers. Invoked when command key v is pressed.
EDITOR
The editor of choice when VISUAL is not specified.
POSIXLY_CORRECT
Disable exit-on-eof (see option -e for more details).
MORESECURE
Run more in "secure" mode. See SECURITY for details.
PAGERSECURE
Equivalent to MORESECURE.
MORE_SHELL_LINES
Specify the number of lines the shell prompt occupies on the terminal screen. If this value is set, the number of lines for the shell prompt is subtracted from the number of lines used to print a page on the screen. The value must be greater than zero and less than the current number of lines per screen; otherwise it is silently ignored. This is useful in situations where the printed page has to remain on the screen after exiting more(1) without scrolling up too much as the shell prints a new prompt.
Releases
19 releases since Debian 1.1 (Buzz); the text changed 11 times.
--clean-print since Debian 11 (Bullseye);
--exit-on-eof since Debian 12 (Bookworm);
--help since Debian 10 (Buster);
--lines since Debian 11 (Bullseye);
--logical since Debian 11 (Bullseye);
--no-pause since Debian 11 (Bullseye);
--plain since Debian 11 (Bullseye);
--print-over since Debian 11 (Bullseye);
--silent since Debian 11 (Bullseye);
--squeeze since Debian 11 (Bullseye);
--version since Debian 10 (Buster);
-V since Debian 10 (Buster);
-e since Debian 12 (Bookworm);
-h since Debian 12 (Bookworm);
-n since Debian 11 (Bullseye);
-number since Debian 8 (Jessie).
-num until Debian 7 (Wheezy).