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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 418 and 424
17
18 * New "&" command allows filtering of lines based on a pattern.
19
20 * Status column now displays a search match, even if the matched
21 string is scrolled off screen because -S is in effect.
22
23 * Improve behavior of -F option.
24
25 * Allow CSI character (0x9B) to work in UTF-8 mode.
26
27 * Output carriage return at startup in case terminal doesn't default
28 to column 1.
29
30 * Fix bug in '' (quote, quote) command after G command.
31
32 ======================================================================
33
34 Major changes between "less" versions 416 and 418
35
36 * Color escape sequences are now supported in WIN32 build.
37
38 * Makefile now uses EXEEXT feature of autoconf.
39
40 * Fix search bug when using -R and text contains ANSI color escape sequences.
41
42 * Fix crash when using -r with UTF-8 text containing 0x9B bytes.
43
44 * Fix display bug when using ' command to move less than one page forward.
45
46 * Update GPL to version 3.
47
48 ======================================================================
49
50 Major changes between "less" versions 409 and 416
51
52 * New --follow-name option makes F command follow the name of a file
53 rather than the file descriptor if an open file is renamed.
54
55 * Make searching with -i/-I work correctly with non-ASCII text.
56
57 * Fix DJGPP build.
58
59 ======================================================================
60
61 Major changes between "less" versions 406 and 409
62
63 * Support CSI escape sequences, like SGR escape sequences.
64
65 * Fix bug which caused screen to fail to repaint when window is resized.
66
67 * Fix bug in using -i and -I flags with non-ASCII text.
68
69 * Fix configure bug on systems which don't support langinfo.h.
70
71 * Fix crash when searching text containing certain invalid UTF-8 sequences.
72
73 ======================================================================
74
75 Major changes between "less" versions 394 and 406
76
77 * Allow decimal point in number for % (percent) command.
78
79 * Allow decimal point in number for -j option (fraction of screen height).
80
81 * Make n command fetch previous pattern from history file on first search.
82
83 * Don't rewrite history file if it has not changed.
84
85 * Don't move to bottom of screen on first page.
86
87 * Don't output extraneous newlines, so copy & pasting lines from the
88 output works better.
89
90 * The -c option has been made identical with the -C option.
91
92 * Allow "/dev/null" as synomym for "-" in LESSHISTFILE to indicate
93 that no history file should be used.
94
95 * Search can now find text which follows a null byte, if the PCRE
96 library is used, or if no-regex searching (ctrl-R) is used.
97
98 * Better compatibility with POSIX more specification.
99
100 * Make -f work for directories.
101
102 * Make "t" cmd traverse tags in the correct order.
103
104 * Allow a few binary characters in the input file before warning
105 that the file is binary.
106
107 * Don't warn that file is binary if it merely contains ANSI color sequences
108 and -R is in effect.
109
110 * Update Unicode character tables.
111
112 * Support DESTDIR in Makefile.
113
114 * Fix bug when filename contains certain shell metacharacters such as "$".
115
116 * Fix bug when resizing the window while waiting for input from a pipe.
117
118 * Fix configure bugs.
119
120 ======================================================================
121
122 Major changes between "less" versions 382 and 394
123
124 * Add history file to save search and shell command history between
125 invocations of less.
126
127 * Improve behavior of history list for search and shell commands.
128
129 * Add -K (or --quit-on-intr) option to make less exit immediately on ctrl-C.
130
131 * Improve handling of UTF-8 files and commands, including better
132 line wrapping and handling double-width chars.
133
134 * Added LESSUTFBINFMT environment variable to control display of
135 non-printable characters in a UTF-8 file.
136
137 * Add --with-secure option to configure, to make it easier to
138 build a secure version of less.
139
140 * Show search matches in the status column even if search highlights
141 are disabled via the -G option or the ESC-u command.
142
143 * Improve performance when the file contains very long lines.
144
145 * Add "windows" charset.
146
147 * Add man page for lessecho.
148
149 * Add support for erase2 character, treated same as erase.
150
151 * Use ASCII lowercase/uppercase logic when operating on the command line.
152
153 * Update makefile for Borland C++ 5.5.1.
154
155 * Fix bug in calculating number of pages for %D prompt.
156
157 * Fix bug in handling tag file error.
158
159 * Fix obscure bug if input file is deleted while viewing help.
160
161 * Fix bug handling filenames which include square brackets.
162
163 * Fix possible buffer overflow in "global" tag search.
164
165 * Fix possible buffer overflow in usage of LESSOPEN and LESSCLOSE.
166
167 * Fix buffer overflow in reverse search.
168
169 ======================================================================
170
171 Major changes between "less" versions 381 and 382
172
173 * Removed some old copyrighted code.
174 This probably breaks OS/9 support.
175
176 ======================================================================
177
178 Major changes between "less" versions 378 and 381
179
180 * New -L option to disable LESSOPEN processing.
181
182 * Further support for large (64 bit) file addressing.
183 Large file support is now set up by the configure script.
184
185 * Use autoconf 2.54.
186 Replace configure.in, acconfig.h, defines.h.top with configure.ac.
187
188 * Overstriking underscore with underscore is now bold or underlined
189 depending on context.
190
191 * Use only 7 spaces for line numbers in -N mode, if possible.
192
193 * Fix some bugs in handling overstriking in UTF-8 files.
194
195 * Fix some nroff issues in the man page.
196
197 ======================================================================
198
199 Major changes between "less" versions 376 and 378
200
201 * Bug fixes:
202 Default buffer space is now 64K as documented.
203 Search highlighting works properly when used with -R.
204 Windows version works properly when input file contains carriage returns.
205 Clean up some compiler warnings.
206
207 ======================================================================
208
209 Major changes between "less" versions 358 and 376
210
211 * -x option can now specify multiple variable-width tab stops.
212
213 * -X option no longer disables keypad initialization.
214 New option --no-keypad disables keypad initialization.
215
216 * New commands t and T step through multiple tag matches.
217 Added support for "global(1)" tags
218 (see http://www.gnu.org/software/global/global.html).
219
220 * New prompt style set by option -Pw defines the message printed
221 while waiting for data in the F command.
222
223 * System-wide lesskey file now defaults to sysless in etc directory
224 instead of .sysless in bin directory.
225 Use "configure --sysconfdir=..." to change it.
226 (For backwards compatibility, .sysless in bin is still recognized.)
227
228 * Pressing RightArrow or LeftArrow while entering a number now shifts
229 the display N columns rather than editing the number itself.
230
231 * Status column (enabled with -J) now shows search results.
232
233 * Windows version sets window title.
234
235 * Default LESSCHARSET for MS-DOS versions is now "dos".
236
237 * Searching works better with ANSI (SGR) escape sequences.
238 ANSI color escape sequences are now supported in the MS-DOS (DJGPP) version.
239
240 * Improved performance in reading very large pipes.
241
242 * Eliminated some dependencies on file offets being 32 bits.
243
244 * Fixed problems when viewing files with very long lines.
245
246 * Fixed overstriking in UTF-8 mode, and overstriking tabs.
247
248 * Improved horizontal shifting of text using -R option with ANSI color.
249
250 * Improved handling of filenames containing shell metacharacters.
251
252 * Some fixes for EBCDIC systems.
253
254 * Some fixes for OS/2 systems.
255
256 ======================================================================
257
258 Major changes between "less" versions 354 and 358
259
260 * Add -J (--status-column) option to display a status column.
261
262 * Add -# (--shift) option to set default horizontal shift distance.
263 Default horizontal shift distance is now one-half screen width.
264
265 * Horizontal shifting does not shift line numbers if -N is in effect.
266
267 * Horizontal shifting acts as though -S were set, to avoid confusion.
268
269 ======================================================================
270
271
272 Major changes between "less" versions 352 and 354
273
274 * Allow space after numeric-valued command line options.
275
276 * Fix problem with configuring terminal libraries on some systems.
277
278 * Add support for PCRE regular expression library.
279
280 * Add --with-regex option to configure to allow manually selecting
281 a regular expression library.
282
283 * Fix bug compiling with SECURE = 1.
284
285 ======================================================================
286
287
288 Major changes between "less" versions 346 and 352
289
290 * Enable UTF-8 if "UTF-8" appears in locale-related environment variables.
291
292 * Add --with-editor option to configure script.
293
294 * The -M prompt and = message now show the top and bottom line number.
295
296 * Fix bug in running the editor on a file whose name contains quotes, etc.
297
298 * Fix bug in horizontal scrolling of long lines.
299
300 * Fix bug in doing :d on a file which contains marks.
301
302 * Fix bug causing cleared lines to sometimes be filled with standout,
303 bold, underline, etc. on certain terminals.
304
305 * Fixes for MS-DOS (DJGPP) version.
306
307 ======================================================================
308
309
310 Major changes between "less" versions 340 and 346
311
312 * The UTF-8 character set is now supported.
313
314 * The default character set is now latin1 rather than ascii.
315
316 * New option -R (--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS) is like -r but handles
317 long (wrapped) lines correctly, as long as the input contains only
318 normal text and ANSI color escape sequences.
319
320 * New option -F (--quit-if-one-screen) quits if the text fits on
321 the first screen.
322
323 * The -w option now highlights the target line of a g or p command.
324
325 * A system-wide lesskey file is supported (LESSKEY_SYSTEM).
326
327 * New escape for prompt strings: %c is replaced by column number.
328
329 * New escape for prompt strings: %P is replaced by percentage into
330 file, based on line number rather than byte offset.
331
332 * HOME and END keys now jump to beginning of file or end of file.
333
334 ======================================================================
335
336
337 Major changes between "less" versions 337 and 340
338
339 * Command line options for less may now be given in either the old
340 single-letter form, or a new long name form (--option-name).
341 See the less man page or "less --help" for the list of long option names.
342
343 * Command line options for lesskey may now be given in a new long name
344 form. See the lesskey man page for the list of long option names.
345
346 * New command -- toggles an option using the long option name.
347
348 * New command __ queries an option using the long option name.
349
350 * The old -- command is renamed as -!.
351
352 * If a ^P is entered between the dash and the option letter of the -
353 command, the message describing the new setting is suppressed.
354
355 * Lesskey files may now contain \k escape sequences to represent the
356 "special" keys (arrows, PAGE-UP/PAGE-DOWN, HOME, END, INSERT, DELETE).
357
358 * New command :d removes the current file from the list of files.
359
360 * New option -~ (like -w before version 335)
361 suppresses tildes after end-of-file.
362
363 * Less is now released under the GNU General Public License.
364
365 ======================================================================
366
367
368 Major changes between "less" versions 335 and 337
369
370 * Fixed bugs in "make install".
371
372 ======================================================================
373
374
375 Major changes between "less" versions 332 and 335
376
377 * The old -w flag (suppress tildes after end-of-file) has been removed.
378
379 * New -w flag highlights the first new line after a forward-screen.
380
381 * New -W flag highlights the first new line after any forward movement.
382
383 * Window resize works even if LINES and/or COLUMNS environment
384 variables are incorrect.
385
386 * New percent escapes for prompt strings:
387 %d is replaced by the page number, and
388 %D is replaced by the number of pages in the file.
389
390 * Added charsets "iso8859" and "ebcdic".
391
392 * In Windows version, uses HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH if HOME is not defined.
393
394 * Fixed some bugs causing incorrect display on DOS/Windows.
395
396 ======================================================================
397
398
399 Major changes between "less" versions 330 and 332
400
401 * Filenames from the command line are entered into the command history,
402 so UPARROW/DOWNARROW can be used to retrieve them from the :e command.
403
404 * Now works correctly on Windows when using a scrolling terminal
405 window (buffer larger than display window).
406
407 * On Windows, now restores the console screen on exit.
408 Use -X to get the old behavior.
409
410 * Fixed bug on Windows when CAPS-LOCK or NUM-LOCK is pressed.
411
412 * Fixed bug on Windows when piping output of an interactive program.
413
414 * Fixed bug in tags file processing when tags file has DOS-style
415 line terminators (CR/LF).
416
417 * Fixed compilation problem on OS/2.
418
419 ======================================================================
420
421
422 Major changes between "less" versions 321 and 330
423
424 * Now supports filenames containing spaces (in double quotes).
425 New option -" can be used to change the quoting characters.
426
427 * In filename completion, a slash is appended to a directory name.
428 If the environment variable LESSSEPARATOR is set, the value of
429 that variable, rather than a slash, is appended.
430
431 * LeftArrow and RightArrow are same as ESC-[ and ESC-].
432
433 * Added commands ESC-( and ESC-), same as ESC-[ and ESC-].
434
435 * A "quit" command defined in a lesskey file may now have an "extra"
436 string, which is used to return an exit code from less when it quits.
437
438 * New environment variables LESSMETACHARS and LESSMETAESCAPE provide
439 more control over how less interfaces to the shell.
440
441 * Ported to Microsoft Visual C compiler for Windows.
442
443 * Ported to DJGPP compiler for MS-DOS.
444
445 * Bug fixes.
446
447 ======================================================================
448
449
450 Major changes between "less" versions 291 and 321
451
452 * Command line at bottom of screen now scrolls, so it can be longer
453 than the screen width.
454
455 * New commands ESC-] and ESC-[ scroll the display horizontally.
456
457 * New command ESC-SPACE scrolls forward a full screen, even if it
458 hits end-of-file.
459
460 * Alternate modifiers for search commands: ^N is same as !,
461 ^F is same as @, and ^E is same as *.
462
463 * New modifier for search commands: ^K means highlight the matches
464 currently on-screen, but don't move to the first match.
465
466 * New modifier for search commands: ^R means don't use regular
467 expressions in the search.
468
469 * Environment variable LESSKEY gives name of default lesskey file.
470
471 * Environment variable LESSSECURE will force less to run in
472 "secure" mode.
473
474 * Command line argument "--" signals that the rest of the arguments
475 are files (not option flags).
476
477 * Help file (less.hlp) is no longer installed. Help text is now
478 embedded in the less executable itself.
479
480 * Added -Ph to change the prompt for the help text.
481 Added -Ps to change the default short prompt (same as plain -P).
482
483 * Ported to the Borland C compiler for MS-DOS.
484
485 * Ported to Windows 95 & Windows NT.
486
487 * Ported to OS-9.
488
489 * Ported to GNU Hurd.
490
491 ======================================================================
492
493
494 Major changes between "less" versions 290 and 291
495
496 * Less environment variables can be specified in lesskey files.
497
498 * Fixed MS-DOS build.
499
500 ======================================================================
501
502
503 Major changes between "less" versions 278 and 290
504
505 * Accepts GNU-style options "--help" and "--version".
506
507 * OS/2 version looks for less.ini in $HOME before $INIT and $PATH.
508
509 * Bug fixes
510
511 ======================================================================
512
513
514 Major changes between "less" versions 252 and 278
515
516 * A LESSOPEN preprocessor may now pipe the converted file data to less,
517 rather than writing it to a temporary file.
518
519 * Search pattern highlighting has been fixed. It now highlights
520 reliably, even if a string is split across two screen lines,
521 contains TABs, etc.
522
523 * The -F flag (which suppress search highlighting) has been changed
524 to -G. A new flag, -g, changes search highlighting to highlight
525 only the string found by the last search command, instead of all
526 strings which match the last search command.
527
528 * New flag -I acts like -i, but ignores case even if the search
529 pattern contains uppercase letters.
530
531 * Less now checks for the environment variable VISUAL before EDITOR.
532
533 * Ported to OS/2.
534
535 ======================================================================
536
537
538 Major changes between "less" versions 237 and 252
539
540 * Changes in line-editing keys:
541 The literal key is now ^V or ^A rather than \ (backslash).
542 Filename completion commands (TAB and ^L) are disabled
543 when typing a search pattern.
544
545 * Line-editing command keys can be redefined using lesskey.
546
547 * Lesskey with no input file defaults to $HOME/.lesskey
548 rather than standard input.
549
550 * New option -V displays version number of less.
551
552 * New option -V displays version number of lesskey.
553
554 * Help file less.hlp is now installed by default in /usr/local/share
555 rather than /usr/local/lib.
556
557
558 ======================================================================
559
560
561 Major changes between "less" versions 170 and 237
562
563 * By popular demand, text which matches the current search pattern
564 is highlighted. New -F flag disables this feature.
565
566 * Henry Spencer's regexp.c is now included, for systems which do not
567 have a regular expression library.
568 regexp.c is Copyright (c) 1986 by University of Toronto.
569
570 * New line-editing keys, including command history (arrow keys) and
571 filename completion (TAB).
572
573 * Input preprocessor allows modification of input files (e.g. uncompress)
574 via LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE environment variables.
575
576 * New -X flag disables sending termcap "ti" and "te" (initialize and
577 deinitialize) strings to the terminal.
578
579 * Changing -i from within less now correctly affects a subsequent
580 repeated search.
581
582 * Searching for underlined or overstruck text now works when the -u
583 flag is in effect, rather than the -i flag.
584
585 * Use setlocale (LANG and LC_CTYPE environment variables) to determine
586 the character set if LESSCHARSET/LESSCHARDEF are not set.
587
588 * The default format for displaying binary characters is now standout
589 (reverse video) rather than blinking. This can still be changed by
590 setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable.
591
592 * Use autoconf installation technology.
593
594 * Ported to MS-DOS.
595
596 ********************************
597 Things that may surprise you
598 ********************************
599
600 * When you enter text at the bottom of the screen (search string,
601 filename, etc.), some keys act different than previously.
602 Specifically, \ (backslash), ESC, TAB, BACKTAB, and control-L
603 now have line editing functions.
604
605 * Some previous unofficial versions of less were able to display
606 compressed files. The new LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE feature now provides
607 this functionality in a different way.
608
609 * Some previous unofficial versions of less provided a -Z flag to
610 set the number of lines of text to retain between full screen scrolls.
611 The -z-n flag (that is, -z with a negative number) provides this
612 functionality.
613
614
615 ======================================================================
616
617
618 Major changes between "less" versions 123 and 170
619
620 * New option -j allows target lines to be positioned anywhere on screen.
621
622 * New option -S truncates displayed line at the screen width,
623 rather than wrapping onto the next line.
624
625 * New option -y limits amount of forward scroll.
626
627 * New option -T specifies a "tags" file.
628
629 * Non-printable, non-control characters are displayed in octal.
630 Such characters, as well as control characters, are displayed
631 in blinking mode.
632
633 * New command -+ sets an option to its default.
634 * New command -- sets an option to the opposite of its default.
635
636 * Lesskey file may have a string appended to a key's action,
637 which acts as though typed in after the command.
638
639 * New commands ESC-^F and ESC-^B match arbitrary types of brackets.
640
641 * New command F monitors a growing file (like "tail -f").
642
643 * New command | pipes a section of the input file into a shell command.
644
645 * New command :x directly jumps to a file in the command line list.
646
647 * Search commands have been enhanced and reorganized:
648 n Repeat search, same direction.
649 N Repeat search, opposite direction.
650 ESC-/ Search forward thru file boundaries
651 ESC-? Search backward thru file boundaries
652 ESC-n Repeat search thru file boundaries, same direction.
653 ESC-N Repeat search thru file boundaries, opposite direction.
654 Special character * causes search to search thru file boundaries.
655 Special character @ causes search to begin at start/end of file list.
656
657 * Examining a new file adds it to the command line list.
658 A list of files, or an expression which matches more than one file,
659 may be examined; all of them are added to the command line list.
660
661 * Environment variables LESSCHARSET and LESSCHARDEF can define
662 a non-ASCII character set.
663
664 * Partial support for MSDOS, including options -R for repainting screen
665 on quit, -v/-V to select video mode, and -W to change window size.
666
667
668 ======================================================================
669
670
671 Major changes between "less" versions 97 and 123
672
673 * New option (-N) causes line numbers to be displayed in the
674 text of the file (like vi "set nu").
675
676 * New option (-?) prints help message immediately.
677
678 * New option (-r) displays "raw" control characters, without
679 mapping them to ^X notation.
680
681 * New option (-f) forces less to open non-regular files
682 (directories, etc).
683
684 * New option (-k) can be used to specify lesskey files by name.
685
686 * New option (-y) can be used to set a forward scroll limit
687 (like -h sets a backward scroll limit).
688
689 * File marks (set by the m command) are now preserved when a new
690 file is edited. The ' command can thus be used to switch files.
691
692 * New command ESC-/ searches all files (on the command line)
693 for a pattern.
694
695 * New command ESC-n repeats previous search, spanning files.
696
697 * The N command has been changed to repeat the previous search
698 in the reverse direction. The old N command is still available
699 via :n.
700
701 * New command ESC-N repeats previous search in the reverse
702 direction and spanning files.
703
704 * 8 bit characters are now supported. A new option (-g) can be
705 used to strip off the eighth bit (the previous behavior).
706
707 * Options which take a following string (like -t) may now
708 optionally have a space between the option letter and the string.
709
710 * Six new commands { } ( ) [ and ] can be used to match
711 brackets of specific types, similar to vi % command.
712
713 * New commands z and w move forward/backward one window and
714 simultaneously set the window size.
715
716 * Prompt string expansion now has %L for line number of the last
717 line in the file, and %E for the name of the editor.
718 Also, % escapes which refer to a line (b=bottom, t=top, etc.)
719 can use j for the jump target line.
720
721 * New environment variable LESSEDIT can be used to tailor the
722 command string passed to the editor by the v command.
723
724 * Examining a file which was previously examined will return
725 to the same position in the file.
726
727 * A "%" is expanded to the current filename and a "#" to the
728 previous filename, in both shell commands and the E command.
729 (Previously % worked only in shell commands and # worked
730 only in the E command.)
731
732 * New command ":ta" is equivalent to "-t".
733
734 * New command "s" is equivalent to "-l".
735
736 * The - command may be followed by "+X" to revert to the default
737 for option X, or "-X" to get the opposite of the default.
738
739 * Lesskey files may now include characters after the action as
740 extra input to be parsed after the action; for example:
741 "toggle-option X" to toggle a specific option X.
742
743
744
745
746