lesskey - specify key bindings for less
lesskey [-o output | --output=output] [input]
lesskey -V | --version
lesskey is used to specify a set of key bindings to be used
by less(1).
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; by default
$HOME/.lesskey. The output file is a binary file
which is used by
less(1). 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; by default $HOME/.less is used. If the output file
already exists,
lesskey will overwrite it.
A system-wide lesskey file may also be set up to provide key
bindings.
If a key is defined in both a local lesskey file and in the
system-wide
file, key bindings in the local file take precedence over
those in the
system-wide file. If the environment variable LESSKEY_SYSTEM is set,
less(1) uses that as the name of the system-wide lesskey
file. Otherwise,
less(1) looks in a standard place for the system-wide
lesskey file:
On OpenBSD, the system-wide lesskey file is /etc/sysless.
The -V or --version option causes lesskey 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 sections. 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.
The command section begins with the line
#command
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:
string <whitespace> action [extra-string] <newline>
Whitespace is any sequence of one or more spaces and/or
tabs. The string
is the command key(s) which invoke the action. The string
may be a single
command key, or a sequence of up to 15 keys. The action
is the name
of the less action, from the list below. The characters in
the string
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
characters specifies input characters as follows:
BACKSPACE
\ ESCAPE
NRETURN
TAB
UP ARROW
DOWN ARROW
RIGHT ARROW
LEFT ARROW
PAGE UP
PAGE DOWN
HOME
END
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 less, the action is performed, and
then the extra
string is parsed, just as if it were typed in to less. This
feature can
be used in 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
less quits,
first character of the extra string is used as its exit status.
The following input file describes the set of default command keys used
by less:
#commaforw-line
forw-line
e forw-line
j forw-line
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
forw-screen
b back-screen
^B back-screen
\v back-screen
back-screen
z forw-window
w back-window
\40 forw-screen-force
F forw-forever
R repaint-flush
r repaint
^R repaint
^L repaint
\u undo-hilite
g goto-line
goto-line
< goto-line
\< goto-line
p percent
% percent
\[ left-scroll
\] right-scroll
\( left-scroll
\) right-scroll
{ forw-bracket {}
} back-bracket {}
( forw-bracket ()
) back-bracket ()
[ forw-bracket []
] back-bracket []
\^F forw-bracket
\^B back-bracket
G goto-end
\> goto-end
> goto-end
goto-end
= status
^G status
:f status
/ forw-search
? back-search
\/ forw-search *
\? back-search *
n repeat-search
\n repeat-search-all
N reverse-search
\N 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
t next-tag
T prev-tag
:x index-file
:d remove-file
- toggle-option
:t toggle-option t
s toggle-option o
_ display-option
| pipe
v visual
! shell
+ firstcmd
H help
h help
V version
0 digit
1 digit
2 digit
3 digit
4 digit
5 digit
6 digit
7 digit
8 digit
9 digit
q quit
Q quit
:q quit
:Q quit
ZZ quit
Commands specified by lesskey 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 less 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 commands before the
#stop line to
enable all necessary actions. For example, failure to provide a "quit"
command can lead to frustration.
The line-editing section begins with the line:
#line-edit
This section specifies new key bindings for the line editing
commands, in
a manner similar to the way key bindings for ordinary commands are specified
in the #command section. The line-editing section consists of a
list of keys and actions, one per line as in the example below.
The following input file describes the set of default lineediting keys
used by less:
#line-edit
forw-complete
17 back-complete
\ back-complete
^L expand
^V literal
^A literal
\l right
right
\h left
left
\b word-left
\ word-left
\w word-right
\ word-right
\i insert
\x delete
delete
\X word-delete
\kx word-delete
\ word-backspace
\0 home
home
\$ end
end
\k up
up
\j down
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 variable name, an equals
sign (`=') and
the value to be assigned to the environment variable.
Whitespace before
and after the equals sign is ignored. Variables assigned in
this way are
visible only to less. If environment variables are defined
in more than
one place, variables defined in a local lesskey file take
precedence over
variables defined in the system environment, which take
precedence over
variables defined in the system-wide lesskey file. 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
less configuration information stored in one file.
The following input file sets the -i option whenever less is
run, and
specifies the character set to be "latin1":
#env
LESS = -i
LESSCHARSET = latin1
LESSKEY Name of the default lesskey file.
LESSKEY_SYSTEM Name of the default system-wide lesskey
file.
$HOME/.less Default lesskey file.
$HOME/.lesskey Default lesskey input file.
/etc/sysless Default system-wide lesskey file.
less(1)
Mark Nudelman <[email protected]>
Send bug reports or comments to the above address or to
<[email protected]>.
It is not possible to specify special keys, such as uparrow,
in a keyboard-independent
manner. The only way to specify such keys
is to specify
the escape sequence which a particular keyboard sends
when such a key
is pressed.
Copyright (C) 2000 Mark Nudelman
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or
without modification,
are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above
copyright notice,
this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
copyright
notice in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
distribution.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR ``AS IS'' AND ANY
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES
OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
DISCLAIMED.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
LOSS OF USE, DATA,
OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND
ON ANY THEORY
OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR
TORT (INCLUDING
NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE
USE OF THIS
SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
OpenBSD 3.6 January 17, 2003
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