| .TH LESSKEY 1 "Version 444: 09 Jun 2011" |
| .SH NAME |
| lesskey \- specify key bindings for less |
| .SH SYNOPSIS |
| .B "lesskey [-o output] [--] [input]" |
| .br |
| .B "lesskey [--output=output] [--] [input]" |
| .br |
| .B "lesskey -V" |
| .br |
| .B "lesskey --version" |
| .SH DESCRIPTION |
| .I Lesskey |
| is used to specify a set of key bindings to be used by |
| .I less. |
| 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, which depends on the system being used: |
| On Unix systems, $HOME/.lesskey is used; |
| on MS-DOS systems, $HOME/_lesskey is used; |
| and on OS/2 systems $HOME/lesskey.ini is used, |
| or $INIT/lesskey.ini if $HOME is undefined. |
| The output file is a binary file which is used by |
| .I less. |
| 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, |
| which depends on the system being used: |
| On Unix and OS-9 systems, $HOME/.less is used; |
| on MS-DOS systems, $HOME/_less is used; |
| and on OS/2 systems, $HOME/less.ini is used, |
| or $INIT/less.ini if $HOME is undefined. |
| If the output file already exists, |
| .I lesskey |
| will overwrite it. |
| .PP |
| The -V or --version option causes |
| .I lesskey |
| to print its version number and immediately exit. |
| If -V or --version is present, other options and arguments are ignored. |
| .PP |
| The input file consists of one or more |
| .I sections. |
| Each section starts with a line that identifies the type of section. |
| Possible sections are: |
| .IP #command |
| Defines new command keys. |
| .IP #line-edit |
| Defines new line-editing keys. |
| .IP #env |
| Defines environment variables. |
| .PP |
| Blank lines and lines which start with a pound sign (#) are ignored, |
| except for the special section header lines. |
| |
| .SH "COMMAND SECTION" |
| The command section begins with the line |
| .sp |
| #command |
| .sp |
| 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: |
| .sp |
| \fIstring\fP <whitespace> \fIaction\fP [extra-string] <newline> |
| .sp |
| Whitespace is any sequence of one or more spaces and/or tabs. |
| The \fIstring\fP is the command key(s) which invoke the action. |
| The \fIstring\fP may be a single command key, or a sequence of up to 15 keys. |
| The \fIaction\fP is the name of the less action, from the list below. |
| The characters in the \fIstring\fP 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: |
| .IP \eb |
| BACKSPACE |
| .IP \ee |
| ESCAPE |
| .IP \en |
| NEWLINE |
| .IP \er |
| RETURN |
| .IP \et |
| TAB |
| .IP \eku |
| UP ARROW |
| .IP \ekd |
| DOWN ARROW |
| .IP \ekr |
| RIGHT ARROW |
| .IP \ekl |
| LEFT ARROW |
| .IP \ekU |
| PAGE UP |
| .IP \ekD |
| PAGE DOWN |
| .IP \ekh |
| HOME |
| .IP \eke |
| END |
| .IP \ekx |
| DELETE |
| .PP |
| 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. |
| .PP |
| An action may be followed by an "extra" string. |
| When such a command is entered while running |
| .I less, |
| the action is performed, and then the extra |
| string is parsed, just as if it were typed in to |
| .I 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 |
| .I less |
| quits, first character of the extra string is used as its exit status. |
| |
| .SH EXAMPLE |
| The following input file describes the set of |
| default command keys used by less: |
| .sp |
| .nf |
| #command |
| \er forw-line |
| \en forw-line |
| e forw-line |
| j forw-line |
| \ekd 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 |
| \e40 forw-screen |
| f forw-screen |
| ^F forw-screen |
| ^V forw-screen |
| \ekD forw-screen |
| b back-screen |
| ^B back-screen |
| \eev back-screen |
| \ekU back-screen |
| z forw-window |
| w back-window |
| \ee\e40 forw-screen-force |
| F forw-forever |
| R repaint-flush |
| r repaint |
| ^R repaint |
| ^L repaint |
| \eeu undo-hilite |
| g goto-line |
| \ekh goto-line |
| < goto-line |
| \ee< goto-line |
| p percent |
| % percent |
| \ee[ left-scroll |
| \ee] right-scroll |
| \ee( left-scroll |
| \ee) right-scroll |
| { forw-bracket {} |
| } back-bracket {} |
| ( forw-bracket () |
| ) back-bracket () |
| [ forw-bracket [] |
| ] back-bracket [] |
| \ee^F forw-bracket |
| \ee^B back-bracket |
| G goto-end |
| \ee> goto-end |
| > goto-end |
| \eke goto-end |
| = status |
| ^G status |
| :f status |
| / forw-search |
| ? back-search |
| \ee/ forw-search * |
| \ee? back-search * |
| n repeat-search |
| \een repeat-search-all |
| N reverse-search |
| \eeN reverse-search-all |
| & filter |
| 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 |
| .fi |
| .sp |
| .SH PRECEDENCE |
| Commands specified by |
| .I 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 |
| .I 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: |
| .sp |
| #stop |
| .sp |
| This will cause all default commands to be ignored. |
| The #stop line should be the last line in that section of the file. |
| .PP |
| 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. |
| |
| .SH "LINE EDITING SECTION" |
| The line-editing section begins with the line: |
| .sp |
| #line-edit |
| .sp |
| 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. |
| |
| .SH EXAMPLE |
| The following input file describes the set of |
| default line-editing keys used by less: |
| .sp |
| .nf |
| #line-edit |
| \et forw-complete |
| \e17 back-complete |
| \ee\et back-complete |
| ^L expand |
| ^V literal |
| ^A literal |
| \eel right |
| \ekr right |
| \eeh left |
| \ekl left |
| \eeb word-left |
| \ee\ekl word-left |
| \eew word-right |
| \ee\ekr word-right |
| \eei insert |
| \eex delete |
| \ekx delete |
| \eeX word-delete |
| \eekx word-delete |
| \ee\eb word-backspace |
| \ee0 home |
| \ekh home |
| \ee$ end |
| \eke end |
| \eek up |
| \eku up |
| \eej down |
| ^G abort |
| .fi |
| .sp |
| |
| .SH "LESS ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES" |
| The environment variable section begins with the line |
| .sp |
| #env |
| .sp |
| 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. |
| White space before and after the equals sign is ignored. |
| Variables assigned in this way are visible only to |
| .I less. |
| If a variable is specified in the system environment and also in a |
| lesskey file, the value in the lesskey file takes precedence. |
| 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 |
| .I less |
| configuration information stored in one file. |
| |
| .SH EXAMPLE |
| The following input file sets the -i option whenever |
| .I less |
| is run, and specifies the character set to be "latin1": |
| .sp |
| .nf |
| #env |
| LESS = -i |
| LESSCHARSET = latin1 |
| .fi |
| .sp |
| |
| .SH "SEE ALSO" |
| less(1) |
| |
| .SH WARNINGS |
| On MS-DOS and OS/2 systems, certain keys send a sequence of characters |
| which start with a NUL character (0). |
| This NUL character should be represented as \e340 in a lesskey file. |
| |
| .SH COPYRIGHT |
| Copyright (C) 2000-2011 Mark Nudelman |
| .PP |
| lesskey is part of the GNU project and is free software; |
| you can redistribute it and/or modify it |
| under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by |
| the Free Software Foundation; |
| either version 2, or (at your option) any later version. |
| .PP |
| lesskey is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but |
| WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY |
| or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. |
| See the GNU General Public License for more details. |
| .PP |
| You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License |
| along with lesskey; see the file COPYING. |
| If not, write to the Free Software Foundation, 59 Temple Place, |
| Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. |
| |
| .SH AUTHOR |
| .PP |
| Mark Nudelman <markn@greenwoodsoftware.com> |
| .br |
| Send bug reports or comments to the above address or to bug-less@gnu.org. |
| |
