1LESSKEY(1)                  General Commands Manual                 LESSKEY(1)
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NAME

6       lesskey - specify key bindings for less
7

SYNOPSIS

9       lesskey [-o output] [--] [input]
10       lesskey [--output=output] [--] [input]
11       lesskey -V
12       lesskey --version
13

DESCRIPTION

15       Lesskey  is  used  to specify a set of key bindings to be used by less.
16       The input file is a text file which describes the key bindings.  If the
17       input  file is "-", standard input is read.  If no input file is speci‐
18       fied, a standard filename is used as the name of the input file,  which
19       depends  on  the  system being used: On Unix systems, $HOME/.lesskey is
20       used; on MS-DOS systems, $HOME/_lesskey is used; and  on  OS/2  systems
21       $HOME/lesskey.ini  is used, or $INIT/lesskey.ini if $HOME is undefined.
22       The output file is a binary file which is used by less.  If  no  output
23       file  is  specified,  and  the environment variable LESSKEY is set, the
24       value of LESSKEY is used as the name of the output file.  Otherwise,  a
25       standard filename is used as the name of the output file, which depends
26       on the system being used: On Unix  and  OS-9  systems,  $HOME/.less  is
27       used;  on  MS-DOS  systems,  $HOME/_less  is used; and on OS/2 systems,
28       $HOME/less.ini is used, or $INIT/less.ini if $HOME  is  undefined.   If
29       the output file already exists, lesskey will overwrite it.
30
31       The  -V  or --version option causes lesskey to print its version number
32       and immediately exit.  If -V or --version is present, other options and
33       arguments are ignored.
34
35       The  input  file consists of one or more sections.  Each section starts
36       with a line that identifies the type  of  section.   Possible  sections
37       are:
38
39       #command
40              Defines new command keys.
41
42       #line-edit
43              Defines new line-editing keys.
44
45       #env   Defines environment variables.
46
47       Blank  lines  and  lines which start with a pound sign (#) are ignored,
48       except for the special section header lines.
49
50

COMMAND SECTION

52       The command section begins with the line
53
54       #command
55
56       If the command section is the first section in the file, this line  may
57       be omitted.  The command section consists of lines of the form:
58
59            string <whitespace> action [extra-string] <newline>
60
61       Whitespace  is  any  sequence  of  one or more spaces and/or tabs.  The
62       string is the command key(s) which invoke the action.  The  string  may
63       be a single command key, or a sequence of up to 15 keys.  The action is
64       the name of the less action, from the list below.   The  characters  in
65       the  string may appear literally, or be prefixed by a caret to indicate
66       a control key.  A backslash followed by one to three octal  digits  may
67       be  used  to  specify a character by its octal value.  A backslash fol‐
68       lowed by certain characters specifies input characters as follows:
69
70       \b     BACKSPACE
71
72       \e     ESCAPE
73
74       \n     NEWLINE
75
76       \r     RETURN
77
78       \t     TAB
79
80       \ku    UP ARROW
81
82       \kd    DOWN ARROW
83
84       \kr    RIGHT ARROW
85
86       \kl    LEFT ARROW
87
88       \kU    PAGE UP
89
90       \kD    PAGE DOWN
91
92       \kh    HOME
93
94       \ke    END
95
96       \kx    DELETE
97
98       A backslash followed by any other character indicates that character is
99       to  be taken literally.  Characters which must be preceded by backslash
100       include caret, space, tab and the backslash itself.
101
102       An action may be followed by an "extra" string.  When such a command is
103       entered while running less, the action is performed, and then the extra
104       string is parsed, just as if it were typed in to  less.   This  feature
105       can  be used in certain cases to extend the functionality of a command.
106       For example, see the "{" and ":t" commands in the example  below.   The
107       extra  string  has  a  special meaning for the "quit" action: when less
108       quits, first character of the extra string is used as its exit status.
109
110

EXAMPLE

112       The following input file describes the set of default command keys used
113       by less:
114
115            #command
116            \r        forw-line
117            \n        forw-line
118            e         forw-line
119            j         forw-line
120            \kd       forw-line
121            ^E        forw-line
122            ^N        forw-line
123            k         back-line
124            y         back-line
125            ^Y        back-line
126            ^K        back-line
127            ^P        back-line
128            J         forw-line-force
129            K         back-line-force
130            Y         back-line-force
131            d         forw-scroll
132            ^D        forw-scroll
133            u         back-scroll
134            ^U        back-scroll
135            \40       forw-screen
136            f         forw-screen
137            ^F        forw-screen
138            ^V        forw-screen
139            \kD       forw-screen
140            b         back-screen
141            ^B        back-screen
142            \ev       back-screen
143            \kU       back-screen
144            z         forw-window
145            w         back-window
146            \e\40          forw-screen-force
147            F         forw-forever
148            \eF       forw-until-hilite
149            R         repaint-flush
150            r         repaint
151            ^R        repaint
152            ^L        repaint
153            \eu       undo-hilite
154            g         goto-line
155            \kh       goto-line
156            <         goto-line
157            \e<       goto-line
158            p         percent
159            %         percent
160            \e[       left-scroll
161            \e]       right-scroll
162            \e(       left-scroll
163            \e)       right-scroll
164            \kl       left-scroll
165            \kr       right-scroll
166            \e{       no-scroll
167            \e}       end-scroll
168            {         forw-bracket {}
169            }         back-bracket {}
170            (         forw-bracket ()
171            )         back-bracket ()
172            [         forw-bracket []
173            ]         back-bracket []
174            \e^F      forw-bracket
175            \e^B      back-bracket
176            G         goto-end
177            \e>       goto-end
178            >         goto-end
179            \ke       goto-end
180            \eG       goto-end-buffered
181            =         status
182            ^G        status
183            :f        status
184            /         forw-search
185            ?         back-search
186            \e/       forw-search *
187            \e?       back-search *
188            n         repeat-search
189            \en       repeat-search-all
190            N         reverse-search
191            \eN       reverse-search-all
192            &         filter
193            m         set-mark
194            M         set-mark-bottom
195            \em       clear-mark
196            '         goto-mark
197            ^X^X      goto-mark
198            E         examine
199            :e        examine
200            ^X^V      examine
201            :n        next-file
202            :p        prev-file
203            t         next-tag
204            T         prev-tag
205            :x        index-file
206            :d        remove-file
207            -         toggle-option
208            :t        toggle-option t
209            s         toggle-option o
210            _         display-option
211            |         pipe
212            v         visual
213            !         shell
214            +         firstcmd
215            H         help
216            h         help
217            V         version
218            0         digit
219            1         digit
220            2         digit
221            3         digit
222            4         digit
223            5         digit
224            6         digit
225            7         digit
226            8         digit
227            9         digit
228            q         quit
229            Q         quit
230            :q        quit
231            :Q        quit
232            ZZ        quit
233
234

PRECEDENCE

236       Commands  specified  by  lesskey  take precedence over the default com‐
237       mands.  A default command key may be disabled by including  it  in  the
238       input  file  with  the  action  "invalid".  Alternatively, a key may be
239       defined to do nothing by using the action  "noaction".   "noaction"  is
240       similar to "invalid", but less will give an error beep for an "invalid"
241       command, but not for a "noaction" command.  In  addition,  ALL  default
242       commands may be disabled by adding this control line to the input file:
243
244       #stop
245
246       This  will  cause  all  default commands to be ignored.  The #stop line
247       should be the last line in that section of the file.
248
249       Be aware that #stop can be dangerous.  Since all default  commands  are
250       disabled, you must provide sufficient commands before the #stop line to
251       enable all necessary actions.  For example, failure to provide a "quit"
252       command can lead to frustration.
253
254

LINE EDITING SECTION

256       The line-editing section begins with the line:
257
258       #line-edit
259
260       This  section specifies new key bindings for the line editing commands,
261       in a manner similar to the way key bindings for ordinary  commands  are
262       specified  in  the #command section.  The line-editing section consists
263       of a list of keys and actions, one per line as in the example below.
264
265

EXAMPLE

267       The following input file describes the set of default line-editing keys
268       used by less:
269
270            #line-edit
271            \t        forw-complete
272            \17       back-complete
273            \e\t      back-complete
274            ^L        expand
275            ^V        literal
276            ^A        literal
277            \el       right
278            \kr       right
279            \eh       left
280            \kl       left
281            \eb       word-left
282            \e\kl     word-left
283            \ew       word-right
284            \e\kr     word-right
285            \ei       insert
286            \ex       delete
287            \kx       delete
288            \eX       word-delete
289            \ekx      word-delete
290            \e\b      word-backspace
291            \e0       home
292            \kh       home
293            \e$       end
294            \ke       end
295            \ek       up
296            \ku       up
297            \ej       down
298            ^G        abort
299
300
301

LESS ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

303       The environment variable section begins with the line
304
305       #env
306
307       Following  this  line  is  a  list of environment variable assignments.
308       Each line consists of an environment variable name, an equals sign  (=)
309       and  the value to be assigned to the environment variable.  White space
310       before and after the equals sign is  ignored.   Variables  assigned  in
311       this  way  are visible only to less.  If a variable is specified in the
312       system environment and also in a lesskey file, the value in the lesskey
313       file  takes precedence.  Although the lesskey file can be used to over‐
314       ride variables set in the environment, the main  purpose  of  assigning
315       variables  in the lesskey file is simply to have all less configuration
316       information stored in one file.
317
318

EXAMPLE

320       The following input file sets the -i option whenever less is  run,  and
321       specifies the character set to be "latin1":
322
323            #env
324            LESS = -i
325            LESSCHARSET = latin1
326
327
328

SEE ALSO

330       less(1)
331
332

WARNINGS

334       On  MS-DOS and OS/2 systems, certain keys send a sequence of characters
335       which start with a NUL character (0).  This  NUL  character  should  be
336       represented as \340 in a lesskey file.
337
338
340       Copyright (C) 1984-2019  Mark Nudelman
341
342       less  is  part of the GNU project and is free software.  You can redis‐
343       tribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either (1) the GNU  Gen‐
344       eral  Public  License  as published by the Free Software Foundation; or
345       (2) the Less License.  See the file README in the less distribution for
346       more details regarding redistribution.  You should have received a copy
347       of the GNU General Public License along with the source for  less;  see
348       the  file  COPYING.   If not, write to the Free Software Foundation, 59
349       Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.  You should  also
350       have received a copy of the Less License; see the file LICENSE.
351
352       less is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
353       WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or  FIT‐
354       NESS  FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for
355       more details.
356
357

AUTHOR

359       Mark Nudelman
360       Send bug reports or comments to <bug-less@gnu.org>.
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364                           Version 551: 11 Jun 2019                 LESSKEY(1)
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