1pg(1) User Commands pg(1)
2
6 pg - files perusal filter for CRTs
7
9 pg [-number] [-p string] [-cefnrs] [+ linenumber]
10 [+/ pattern /] [filename]...
11
14 The pg command is a filter that allows the examination of filenames one
15 screenful at a time on a CRT. If the user types a RETURN, another page
16 is displayed; other possibilities are listed below.
17 This command is different from previous paginators in that it allows
20 you to back up and review something that has already passed. The method
21 for doing this is explained below.
22 To determine terminal attributes, pg scans the terminfo(4) data base
25 for the terminal type specified by the environment variable TERM. If
26 TERM is not defined, the terminal type dumb is assumed.
27
29 -number An integer specifying the size (in lines) of the window
30 that pg is to use instead of the default. (On a terminal
31 containing 24 lines, the default window size is 23).
32 -pstring pg uses string as the prompt. If the prompt string con‐
35 tains a %d, the first occurrence of %d in the prompt
36 will be replaced by the current page number when the
37 prompt is issued. The default prompt string is ``:''.
38 -c Home the cursor and clear the screen before displaying
41 each page. This option is ignored if clear_screen is not
42 defined for this terminal type in the terminfo(4) data
43 base.
44 -e pg does not pause at the end of each file.
47 -f Normally, pg splits lines longer than the screen width,
50 but some sequences of characters in the text being dis‐
51 played (for instance, escape sequences for underlining)
52 generate undesirable results. The -f option inhibits pg
53 from splitting lines.
54 -n Normally, commands must be terminated by a <newline>
57 character. This option causes an automatic end of com‐
58 mand as soon as a command letter is entered.
59 -r Restricted mode. The shell escape is disallowed. pg
62 prints an error message but does not exit.
63 -s pg prints all messages and prompts in the standard out‐
66 put mode (usually inverse video).
67 +linenumber Start up at linenumber.
70 +/pattern/ Start up at the first line containing the regular
73 expression pattern.
74
77 The following operands are supported:
78 filename A path name of a text file to be displayed. If no filename
80 is given, or if it is −, the standard input is read.
81
84 Commands
85 The responses that may be typed when pg pauses can be divided into
86 three categories: those causing further perusal, those that search, and
87 those that modify the perusal environment.
88 Commands that cause further perusal normally take a preceding address,
91 an optionally signed number indicating the point from which further
92 text should be displayed. This address is interpreted in either pages
93 or lines depending on the command. A signed address specifies a point
94 relative to the current page or line, and an unsigned address specifies
95 an address relative to the beginning of the file. Each command has a
96 default address that is used if none is provided.
97 The perusal commands and their defaults are as follows:
100 (+1)<newline> or <blank> This causes one page to be displayed. The
102 address is specified in pages.
103 (+1) l With a relative address this causes pg to
106 simulate scrolling the screen, forward or
107 backward, the number of lines specified.
108 With an absolute address this command
109 prints a screenful beginning at the speci‐
110 fied line.
111 (+1) d or ^D Simulates scrolling half a screen forward
114 or backward.
115 if Skip i screens of text.
118 iz Same as <newline> except that i, if
121 present, becomes the new default number of
122 lines per screenful.
123 The following perusal commands take no address.
127 . or ^L Typing a single period causes the current page of text to
129 be redisplayed.
130 $ Displays the last full window in the file. Use with cau‐
133 tion when the input is a pipe.
134 The following commands are available for searching for text patterns in
138 the text. The regular expressions are described on the regex(5) manual
139 page. They must always be terminated by a <newline>, even if the -n
140 option is specified.
141 i/pattern/ Search forward for the ith (default i=1) occurrence of
143 pattern. Searching begins immediately after the current
144 page and continues to the end of the current file, with‐
145 out wrap-around.
146 i^pattern^
149 i?pattern? Search backwards for the ith (default i=1) occurrence of
152 pattern. Searching begins immediately before the current
153 page and continues to the beginning of the current file,
154 without wrap-around. The ^ notation is useful for Adds
155 100 terminals which will not properly handle the ?.
156 After searching, pg will normally display the line found at the top of
160 the screen. This can be modified by appending m or b to the search com‐
161 mand to leave the line found in the middle or at the bottom of the win‐
162 dow from now on. The suffix t can be used to restore the original situ‐
163 ation.
164 The user of pg can modify the environment of perusal with the following
167 commands:
168 in Begin perusing the ith next file in the command line. The
170 i is an unsigned number, default value is 1.
171 ip Begin perusing the ith previous file in the command line.
174 i is an unsigned number, default is 1.
175 iw Display another window of text. If i is present, set the
178 window size to i.
179 s filename Save the input in the named file. Only the current file
182 being perused is saved. The white space between the s and
183 filename is optional. This command must always be termi‐
184 nated by a <newline>, even if the -n option is specified.
185 h Help by displaying an abbreviated summary of available
188 commands.
189 q or Q Quit pg.
192 !command Command is passed to the shell, whose name is taken from
195 the SHELL environment variable. If this is not available,
196 the default shell is used. This command must always be
197 terminated by a <newline>, even if the -n option is spec‐
198 ified.
199 At any time when output is being sent to the terminal, the user can hit
203 the quit key (normally CTRL-\) or the interrupt (break) key. This
204 causes pg to stop sending output, and display the prompt. The user may
205 then enter one of the above commands in the normal manner. Unfortu‐
206 nately, some output is lost when this is done, because any characters
207 waiting in the terminal's output queue are flushed when the quit signal
208 occurs.
209 If the standard output is not a terminal, then pg acts just like
212 cat(1), except that a header is printed before each file (if there is
213 more than one).
214 Large File Behavior
216 See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of pg when encoun‐
217 tering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2^31 bytes).
218
220 Example 1 An example of the pg command.
221 The following command line uses pg to read the system news:
224 example% news | pg -p "(Page %d):"
228
231 See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
232 that affect the execution of pg: LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.
233 The following environment variables affect the execution of pg:
236 COLUMNS Determine the horizontal screen size. If unset or NULL, use
238 the value of TERM, the window size, baud rate, or some com‐
239 bination of these, to indicate the terminal type for the
240 screen size calculation.
241 LINES Determine the number of lines to be displayed on the screen.
244 If unset or NULL, use the value of TERM, the window size,
245 baud rate, or some combination of these, to indicate the
246 terminal type for the screen size calculation.
247 SHELL Determine the name of the command interpreter executed for a
250 !command.
251 TERM Determine terminal attributes. Optionally attempt to search
254 a system-dependent database, keyed on the value of the TERM
255 environment variable. If no information is available, a ter‐
256 minal incapable of cursor-addressable movement is assumed.
257
260 The following exit values are returned:
261 0 Successful completion.
263 >0 An error occurred.
266
269 /tmp/pg*
270 temporary file when input is from a pipe
272 /usr/share/lib/terminfo/?/*
275 terminal information database
277
280 See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
281 ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
286 │ ATTRIBUTE TYPE ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
287 │Availability SUNWcsu │
288 │CSI Enabled │
289 └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
290
292 cat(1), grep(1), more(1), terminfo(4), attributes(5), environ(5),
293 largefile(5), regex(5)
294
296 While waiting for terminal input, pg responds to BREAK, CTRL-C, and
297 CTRL−\ by terminating execution. Between prompts, however, these sig‐
298 nals interrupt pg's current task and place the user in prompt mode.
299 These should be used with caution when input is being read from a pipe,
300 since an interrupt is likely to terminate the other commands in the
301 pipeline.
302 The terminal /, ^, or ? may be omitted from the searching commands.
305 If terminal tabs are not set every eight positions, undesirable results
308 may occur.
309 When using pg as a filter with another command that changes the termi‐
312 nal I/O options, terminal settings may not be restored correctly.
313SunOS 5.11 25 Feb 1996 pg(1)