lesskey - specify key bindings for less


SYNOPSIS

       lesskey [-o output] [--] [input]
       lesskey [--output=output] [--] [input]
       lesskey -V
       lesskey --version


DESCRIPTION

       Lesskey  is  used  to  specify a set of key bindings to be
       used by 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 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,  lesskey
       will overwrite it.

       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.


COMMAND SECTION

       The command section begins with the line

       #command

       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 charac­
       ters specifies input characters as follows:

       \b     BACKSPACE

       \e     ESCAPE

       \n     NEWLINE

       \r     RETURN

       \t     TAB

       \ku    UP ARROW

       \kd    DOWN ARROW

       \kr    RIGHT ARROW

       \kl    LEFT ARROW

       \kU    PAGE UP

       \kD    PAGE DOWN

       \kh    HOME

       \ke    END

       \kx    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

       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.


EXAMPLE

       The following input file describes the set of default com­
       mand keys used by less:

            #command
            \r        forw-line
            \n        forw-line
            e         forw-line
            j         forw-line
            \kd  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
            \kD  forw-screen
            b         back-screen
            ^B        back-screen
            \ev       back-screen
            \kU  back-screen
            z         forw-window
            w         back-window
            \e\40          forw-screen-force
            F         forw-forever
            R         repaint-flush
            r         repaint
            ^R        repaint
            ^L        repaint
            \eu       undo-hilite
            g         goto-line
            <         goto-line
            \e<       goto-line
            p         percent
            %         percent

            \e]       right-scroll
            \e(       left-scroll
            \e)       right-scroll
            {         forw-bracket {}
            }         back-bracket {}
            (         forw-bracket ()
            )         back-bracket ()
            [         forw-bracket []
            ]         back-bracket []
            \e^F      forw-bracket
            \e^B      back-bracket
            G         goto-end
            \e>       goto-end
            >         goto-end
            =         status
            ^G        status
            :f        status
            /         forw-search
            ?         back-search
            \e/       forw-search *
            \e?       back-search *
            n         repeat-search
            \en       repeat-search-all
            N         reverse-search
            \eN       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
            :x        index-file
            -         toggle-option
            :t        toggle-option t
            s         toggle-option o
            _         display-option
            |         pipe
            v         visual
            !         shell
            +         firstcmd
            @         rotate-right
            H         help
            h         help
            V         version
            0         digit
            1         digit
            2         digit
            3         digit
            4         digit
            5         digit
            6         digit

            8         digit
            9         digit
            q         quit
            Q         quit
            :q        quit
            :Q        quit
            ZZ        quit


PRECEDENCE

       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 com­
       mands before  the  #stop  line  to  enable  all  necessary
       actions.  For example, failure to provide a "quit" command
       can lead to frustration.


LINE EDITING SECTION

       The line-editing section begins with the line:

       #line-edit

       This section specifies new key bindings for the line edit­
       ing  commands, in a manner similar to the way key bindings
       for ordinary commands are specified in the  #command  sec­
       tion.  The line-editing section consists of a list of keys
       and actions, one per line as in the example below.


EXAMPLE

       The following input file  describes  the  set  of  default
       line-editing keys used by less:

            #line-edit
            \t        forw-complete
            \17       back-complete
            \e\t      back-complete

            ^V        literal
            ^A        literal
            \el       right
            \kr       right
            \eh       left
            \kl       left
            \eb       word-left
            \e\kl     word-left
            \ew       word-right
            \e\kr     word-right
            \ei       insert
            \ex       delete
            \kx       delete
            \eX       word-delete
            \ekx      word-delete
            \e\b      word-backspace
            \e0       home
            \kh       home
            \e$       end
            \ke       end
            \ek       up
            \ku       up
            \ej       down


LESS ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       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  vari­
       able 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 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 less configuration
       information stored in one file.


EXAMPLE

       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

       less(1)


WARNINGS

       It  is not possible to specify special keys, such as upar­
       row, 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 keys is pressed.

       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 \340 in  a  lesskey
       file.


COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 2000  Mark Nudelman
       Copyright   (c)  1994,1995,1996,1997,1998   Kazushi  (Jam)
       Marukawa, Japanized routines only

       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.

       lesskey is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
       but  WITHOUT  ANY  WARRANTY; without even the implied war­
       ranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR  PUR­
       POSE.   See  the  GNU  General  Public  License  for  more
       details.

       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.


AUTHOR

       Mark Nudelman <marknu@flash.net>
       jam@pobox.com
       Send  bug  reports  or comments to the above address or to
       bug-less@gnu.org.


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