pg(1) pg(1)
NAME [Toc] [Back]
pg - file perusal filter for soft-copy terminals
SYNOPSIS [Toc] [Back]
pg [-number] [-pstring] [-cefnrs] [+linenumber] [+/pattern] [file ...]
Remarks [Toc] [Back]
pg and more are both used in similar situations (see more(1)). Text
highlighting features supported by more are not available from pg.
However, pg has some useful features not provided by more.
DESCRIPTION [Toc] [Back]
pg is a text file filter that allows the examination of files one
screenful at a time on a soft-copy terminal. If - is used as a file
argument, or pg detects NULL arguments in the comand line, the
standard input is used. Each screenful is followed by a prompt. To
display a new page, press Return. Other possibilities are enumerated
below.
This command is different from other paginators such as more in that
it can back up for reviewing something that has already passed. The
method for doing this is explained below.
In order to determine terminal attributes, pg scans the terminfo data
base for the terminal type specified by the environment variable TERM
(see terminfo(4)). If TERM is not defined, terminal type dumb is
assumed.
Options [Toc] [Back]
pg recognizes the following command line options:
-number number is an integer specifying the size (in
lines) of the window that pg is to use instead of
the default (on a terminal containing 24 lines,
the default window size is 23).
-p string Causes pg to use string as the prompt. If the
prompt string contains a %d, the first occurrence
of %d in the prompt is replaced by the current
page number when the prompt is issued. The
default prompt string is a colon (:).
-c Home the cursor and clear the screen before
displaying each page. This option is ignored if
clear_screen is not defined in the terminfo data
base for this terminal type.
-e Causes pg to not pause at the end of each file.
-f Normally, pg splits lines longer than the screen
width, but some sequences of characters in the
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text being displayed (such as escape sequences for
underlining) generate undesirable results. The -f
option inhibits pg from splitting lines.
-n Normally, commands must be terminated by a newline
character. This option causes an automatic
end-of-command as soon as a command letter is
entered.
-r Restricted mode. The shell escape is disallowed.
pg will print an error message but does not exit.
-s Causes pg to print all messages and prompts in
standout mode (usually inverse video).
+linenumber Start display at linenumber.
+/pattern/ Start up at the first line containing text that
matches the regular expression pattern.
pg looks in the environment variable PG to preset any flags desired.
For example, if you prefer to view files using the -c mode of
operation, the POSIX-shell command sequence PG='-c' ; export PG or the
C-shell command setenv PG -c causes all invocations of pg, including
invocations by programs such as man and msgs, to use this mode. The
command sequence to set up the PG environment variable is normally
placed in the user .profile or .cshrc file. No form of quoting is
provided, so the string and pattern arguments are limited to single
word.
The responses that can be typed when pg pauses can be divided into
three categories: those causing further perusal, those that search,
and those that modify the perusal environment.
Commands that cause further perusal normally take a preceding address,
an optionally signed number indicating the point from which further
text should be displayed. This address is interpreted either in pages
or lines, depending on the command. A signed address specifies a
point relative to the current page or line; an unsigned address
specifies an address relative to the beginning of the file. Each
command has a default address that is used if none is provided.
Perusal commands and their defaults are as follows:
(+1)<newline> or <blank>
Displays one page. The address is specified in
pages.
(+1) l With a relative address, pg simulates scrolling
the screen, forward or backward, the number of
lines specified. With an absolute address pg
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prints a screenful beginning at the specified
line.
(+1) d or ^D Simulates scrolling a half-screen forward or
backward.
if Skip i screens of text.
iz Same as newline except that i , if present,
becomes the new default number of lines per
screenful.
The following perusal commands take no address:
. or ^L Typing a single period causes the current page of
text to be redisplayed.
$ Displays the last windowful in the file. Use with
caution when the input is a pipe.
The following commands are available for searching for text patterns
in the text. The Basic Regular Expression syntax (see regexp(5)) is
supported. The terminal /, ^, or ? can be omitted from the pattern
search commands. Regular expressions must always be terminated by a
new-line character, even if the -n option is specified.
i/pattern/ Search forward for the ith (default i=1)
occurrence of pattern. Searching begins
immediately after the current page and continues
to the end of the current file, without wraparound.
i^pattern^
i?pattern? Search backwards for the ith (default i=1)
occurrence of pattern. Searching begins
immediately before the current page and continues
to the beginning of the current file, without
wrap-around. The ^ notation is useful for Adds
100 terminals which cannot properly handle the ?.
After searching, pg normally displays the line found at the top of the
screen. This can be modified by appending m or b to the search
command to leave the line found in the middle or at the bottom of the
window from now on. The suffix t can be used to restore the original
situation.
pg users can modify the perusal environment with the following
commands:
in Begin perusing the ith next file in the command
line. The i is an unsigned number, default value
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is 1.
ip Begin perusing the ith previous file in the
command line. i is an unsigned number, default is
1.
iw Display another window of text. If i is present,
set the window size to i.
s filename Save the input in the named file. Only the
current file being perused is saved. The white
space between the s and filename is optional.
This command must always be terminated by a newline
character, even if the -n option is
specified.
h Help by displaying an abbreviated summary of
available commands.
q or Q Quit pg.
!command command is passed to the shell, whose name is
taken from the SHELL environment variable. If
this is not available, the default shell is used.
This command must always be terminated by a newline
character, even if the -n option is
specified.
At any time when the output is being sent to the terminal, the user
can press the quit key (normally CTRL-\), the interrupt (break) key or
the DEL key. This causes pg to stop sending output, and display the
prompt. The user may then enter one of the commands in the normal
manner. Unfortunately, some output is lost when this is done, due to
the fact that any characters waiting in the terminal's output queue
are flushed when the quit signal occurs.
If the standard output is not a terminal, pg is functionally
equivalent to cat (see cat(1)), except that a header is printed before
each file if more than one file is specified.
EXTERNAL INFLUENCES [Toc] [Back]
Environment Variables
LC_COLLATE determines the collating sequence used in evaluating
regular expressions.
LC_CTYPE determines the interpretation of text as single and/or
multi-byte characters, and the characters matched by character class
expressions in regular expressions.
LANG determines the language in which messages are displayed.
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If LC_COLLATE or LC_CTYPE is not specified in the environment or is
set to the empty string, the value of LANG is used as a default for
each unspecified or empty variable. If LANG is not specified or is
set to the empty string, a default of "C" (see lang(5)) is used
instead of LANG. If any internationalization variable contains an
invalid setting, pg behaves as if all internationalization variables
are set to "C". See environ(5).
International Code Set Support [Toc] [Back]
Single- and multi-byte character code sets are supported.
EXAMPLES [Toc] [Back]
To use pg when reading system news:
news | pg -p "(Page %d):"
WARNINGS [Toc] [Back]
If terminal tabs are not set every eight positions, undesirable
results may occur.
When using pg as a filter with another command that changes the
terminal I/O options (such as crypt(1)), terminal settings may not be
restored correctly.
While waiting for terminal input, pg responds to BREAK, DEL, and ^ by
terminating execution. Between prompts, however, these signals
interrupt pg's current task and place the user in prompt mode. These
should be used with caution when input is being read from a pipe,
because an interrupt is likely to terminate the other commands in the
pipeline.
Users of more will find that the z and f commands are available, and
that the terminal /, ^, or ? can be omitted from the pattern search
commands.
FILES [Toc] [Back]
/usr/share/lib/terminfo/?/* terminal information data base
/tmp/pg* temporary file when input is
from a pipe
SEE ALSO [Toc] [Back]
crypt(1), grep(1), more(1), terminfo(4), environ(5), lang(5),
regexp(5).
STANDARDS CONFORMANCE [Toc] [Back]
pg: SVID2, SVID3, XPG2, XPG3
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