Less Tricks
To edit a file based on the VISUAL or EDITOR variables, or Vi by default:
v
Run a shell command, a % is substituted by the name of the file being
viewed:
!command
To mark a position in a text file demoted by any single character:
m<any single character>
To go back to a mark type a single apostrphe followed by the same single character:
'<any single character>
Go to to top of file:
g
Go to bottom of file:
G
Go 50% into the file:
50p
Disable word wrap: useful for big-column DB queries, -S is also a parameter
-S
Show/hide line numbers:
-N
Show new lines, 'forever' mode, similar to 'tail -f':
F
Using multiple files
Less can open mutliple files at once, where additional features can be utilised:
less file1 file2 file3
Go to next file: :n
Go to previous file::p
Search across multiple files:
/*pattern
Searching tricks
To search for text that matches the pattern:
/pattern
To search for lines that does NOT match the pattern:
/!pattern
To only highlight text that matches the pattern and not move the location of the first match (\^K means Ctrl-K) :
/^Kpattern
To search BACKWARDS in a file for the pattern:
?pattern
Repeat last search:
/
Repeat last search in the previous direction:
N
Add a useful prompt
Add the following to your .bashrc for a more useful prompt with additional information:
alias less='less -P "?f%f .?m(file %i of %m) .?ltlines %lt-%lb?L/%L. . byte %bB?s/%s. ?e(END) :?pB%pB\\%..%t"'