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1 .TH LESSKEY 1 "Version 444: 09 Jun 2011"
2 .SH NAME
3 lesskey \- specify key bindings for less
4 .SH SYNOPSIS
5 .B "lesskey [-o output] [--] [input]"
6 .br
7 .B "lesskey [--output=output] [--] [input]"
8 .br
9 .B "lesskey -V"
10 .br
11 .B "lesskey --version"
12 .SH DESCRIPTION
13 .I Lesskey
14 is used to specify a set of key bindings to be used by
15 .I less.
16 The input file is a text file which describes the key bindings.
17 If the input file is "-", standard input is read.
18 If no input file is specified, a standard filename is used
19 as the name of the input file, which depends on the system being used:
20 On Unix systems, $HOME/.lesskey is used;
21 on MS-DOS systems, $HOME/_lesskey is used;
22 and on OS/2 systems $HOME/lesskey.ini is used,
23 or $INIT/lesskey.ini if $HOME is undefined.
24 The output file is a binary file which is used by
25 .I less.
26 If no output file is specified,
27 and the environment variable LESSKEY is set,
28 the value of LESSKEY is used as the name of the output file.
29 Otherwise, a standard filename is used as the name of the output file,
30 which depends on the system being used:
31 On Unix and OS-9 systems, $HOME/.less is used;
32 on MS-DOS systems, $HOME/_less is used;
33 and on OS/2 systems, $HOME/less.ini is used,
34 or $INIT/less.ini if $HOME is undefined.
35 If the output file already exists,
36 .I lesskey
37 will overwrite it.
38 .PP
39 The -V or --version option causes
40 .I lesskey
41 to print its version number and immediately exit.
42 If -V or --version is present, other options and arguments are ignored.
43 .PP
44 The input file consists of one or more
45 .I sections.
46 Each section starts with a line that identifies the type of section.
47 Possible sections are:
48 .IP #command
49 Defines new command keys.
50 .IP #line-edit
51 Defines new line-editing keys.
52 .IP #env
53 Defines environment variables.
54 .PP
55 Blank lines and lines which start with a pound sign (#) are ignored,
56 except for the special section header lines.
58 .SH "COMMAND SECTION"
59 The command section begins with the line
60 .sp
61 #command
62 .sp
63 If the command section is the first section in the file,
64 this line may be omitted.
65 The command section consists of lines of the form:
66 .sp
67 \fIstring\fP <whitespace> \fIaction\fP [extra-string] <newline>
68 .sp
69 Whitespace is any sequence of one or more spaces and/or tabs.
70 The \fIstring\fP is the command key(s) which invoke the action.
71 The \fIstring\fP may be a single command key, or a sequence of up to 15 keys.
72 The \fIaction\fP is the name of the less action, from the list below.
73 The characters in the \fIstring\fP may appear literally, or be
74 prefixed by a caret to indicate a control key.
75 A backslash followed by one to three octal digits may be used to
76 specify a character by its octal value.
77 A backslash followed by certain characters specifies input
78 characters as follows:
79 .IP \eb
80 BACKSPACE
81 .IP \ee
82 ESCAPE
83 .IP \en
84 NEWLINE
85 .IP \er
86 RETURN
87 .IP \et
88 TAB
89 .IP \eku
90 UP ARROW
91 .IP \ekd
92 DOWN ARROW
93 .IP \ekr
94 RIGHT ARROW
95 .IP \ekl
96 LEFT ARROW
97 .IP \ekU
98 PAGE UP
99 .IP \ekD
100 PAGE DOWN
101 .IP \ekh
102 HOME
103 .IP \eke
104 END
105 .IP \ekx
106 DELETE
107 .PP
108 A backslash followed by any other character indicates that character is
109 to be taken literally.
110 Characters which must be preceded by backslash include
111 caret, space, tab and the backslash itself.
112 .PP
113 An action may be followed by an "extra" string.
114 When such a command is entered while running
115 .I less,
116 the action is performed, and then the extra
117 string is parsed, just as if it were typed in to
118 .I less.
119 This feature can be used in certain cases to extend
120 the functionality of a command.
121 For example, see the "{" and ":t" commands in the example below.
122 The extra string has a special meaning for the "quit" action:
123 when
124 .I less
125 quits, first character of the extra string is used as its exit status.
127 .SH EXAMPLE
128 The following input file describes the set of
129 default command keys used by less:
130 .sp
131 .nf
132 #command
133 \er forw-line
134 \en forw-line
135 e forw-line
136 j forw-line
137 \ekd forw-line
138 ^E forw-line
139 ^N forw-line
140 k back-line
141 y back-line
142 ^Y back-line
143 ^K back-line
144 ^P back-line
145 J forw-line-force
146 K back-line-force
147 Y back-line-force
148 d forw-scroll
149 ^D forw-scroll
150 u back-scroll
151 ^U back-scroll
152 \e40 forw-screen
153 f forw-screen
154 ^F forw-screen
155 ^V forw-screen
156 \ekD forw-screen
157 b back-screen
158 ^B back-screen
159 \eev back-screen
160 \ekU back-screen
161 z forw-window
162 w back-window
163 \ee\e40 forw-screen-force
164 F forw-forever
165 R repaint-flush
166 r repaint
167 ^R repaint
168 ^L repaint
169 \eeu undo-hilite
170 g goto-line
171 \ekh goto-line
172 < goto-line
173 \ee< goto-line
174 p percent
175 % percent
176 \ee[ left-scroll
177 \ee] right-scroll
178 \ee( left-scroll
179 \ee) right-scroll
180 { forw-bracket {}
181 } back-bracket {}
182 ( forw-bracket ()
183 ) back-bracket ()
184 [ forw-bracket []
185 ] back-bracket []
186 \ee^F forw-bracket
187 \ee^B back-bracket
188 G goto-end
189 \ee> goto-end
190 > goto-end
191 \eke goto-end
192 = status
193 ^G status
194 :f status
195 / forw-search
196 ? back-search
197 \ee/ forw-search *
198 \ee? back-search *
199 n repeat-search
200 \een repeat-search-all
201 N reverse-search
202 \eeN reverse-search-all
203 & filter
204 m set-mark
205 ' goto-mark
206 ^X^X goto-mark
207 E examine
208 :e examine
209 ^X^V examine
210 :n next-file
211 :p prev-file
212 t next-tag
213 T prev-tag
214 :x index-file
215 :d remove-file
216 - toggle-option
217 :t toggle-option t
218 s toggle-option o
219 _ display-option
220 | pipe
221 v visual
222 ! shell
223 + firstcmd
224 H help
225 h help
226 V version
227 0 digit
228 1 digit
229 2 digit
230 3 digit
231 4 digit
232 5 digit
233 6 digit
234 7 digit
235 8 digit
236 9 digit
237 q quit
238 Q quit
239 :q quit
240 :Q quit
241 ZZ quit
242 .fi
243 .sp
244 .SH PRECEDENCE
245 Commands specified by
246 .I lesskey
247 take precedence over the default commands.
248 A default command key may be disabled by including it in the
249 input file with the action "invalid".
250 Alternatively, a key may be defined
251 to do nothing by using the action "noaction".
252 "noaction" is similar to "invalid", but
253 .I less
254 will give an error beep for an "invalid" command,
255 but not for a "noaction" command.
256 In addition, ALL default commands may be disabled by
257 adding this control line to the input file:
258 .sp
259 #stop
260 .sp
261 This will cause all default commands to be ignored.
262 The #stop line should be the last line in that section of the file.
263 .PP
264 Be aware that #stop can be dangerous.
265 Since all default commands are disabled,
266 you must provide sufficient commands before the #stop line
267 to enable all necessary actions.
268 For example, failure to provide a "quit" command can lead to frustration.
270 .SH "LINE EDITING SECTION"
271 The line-editing section begins with the line:
272 .sp
273 #line-edit
274 .sp
275 This section specifies new key bindings for the line editing commands,
276 in a manner similar to the way key bindings for
277 ordinary commands are specified in the #command section.
278 The line-editing section consists of a list of keys and actions,
279 one per line as in the example below.
281 .SH EXAMPLE
282 The following input file describes the set of
283 default line-editing keys used by less:
284 .sp
285 .nf
286 #line-edit
287 \et forw-complete
288 \e17 back-complete
289 \ee\et back-complete
290 ^L expand
291 ^V literal
292 ^A literal
293 \eel right
294 \ekr right
295 \eeh left
296 \ekl left
297 \eeb word-left
298 \ee\ekl word-left
299 \eew word-right
300 \ee\ekr word-right
301 \eei insert
302 \eex delete
303 \ekx delete
304 \eeX word-delete
305 \eekx word-delete
306 \ee\eb word-backspace
307 \ee0 home
308 \ekh home
309 \ee$ end
310 \eke end
311 \eek up
312 \eku up
313 \eej down
314 ^G abort
315 .fi
316 .sp
318 .SH "LESS ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES"
319 The environment variable section begins with the line
320 .sp
321 #env
322 .sp
323 Following this line is a list of environment variable assignments.
324 Each line consists of an environment variable name, an equals sign (=)
325 and the value to be assigned to the environment variable.
326 White space before and after the equals sign is ignored.
327 Variables assigned in this way are visible only to
328 .I less.
329 If a variable is specified in the system environment and also in a
330 lesskey file, the value in the lesskey file takes precedence.
331 Although the lesskey file can be used to override variables set in the
332 environment, the main purpose of assigning variables in the lesskey file
333 is simply to have all
334 .I less
335 configuration information stored in one file.
337 .SH EXAMPLE
338 The following input file sets the -i option whenever
339 .I less
340 is run, and specifies the character set to be "latin1":
341 .sp
342 .nf
343 #env
344 LESS = -i
345 LESSCHARSET = latin1
346 .fi
347 .sp
349 .SH "SEE ALSO"
350 less(1)
352 .SH WARNINGS
353 On MS-DOS and OS/2 systems, certain keys send a sequence of characters
354 which start with a NUL character (0).
355 This NUL character should be represented as \e340 in a lesskey file.
357 .SH COPYRIGHT
358 Copyright (C) 2000-2011 Mark Nudelman
359 .PP
360 lesskey is part of the GNU project and is free software;
361 you can redistribute it and/or modify it
362 under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
363 the Free Software Foundation;
364 either version 2, or (at your option) any later version.
365 .PP
366 lesskey is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
367 WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY
368 or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
369 See the GNU General Public License for more details.
370 .PP
371 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
372 along with lesskey; see the file COPYING.
373 If not, write to the Free Software Foundation, 59 Temple Place,
374 Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
376 .SH AUTHOR
377 .PP
378 Mark Nudelman <markn@greenwoodsoftware.com>
379 .br
380 Send bug reports or comments to the above address or to bug-less@gnu.org.