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1 .TH LESSKEY 1 "Version 418: 02 Jan 2008"
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 m set-mark
204 ' goto-mark
205 ^X^X goto-mark
206 E examine
207 :e examine
208 ^X^V examine
209 :n next-file
210 :p prev-file
211 t next-tag
212 T prev-tag
213 :x index-file
214 :d remove-file
215 - toggle-option
216 :t toggle-option t
217 s toggle-option o
218 _ display-option
219 | pipe
220 v visual
221 ! shell
222 + firstcmd
223 H help
224 h help
225 V version
226 0 digit
227 1 digit
228 2 digit
229 3 digit
230 4 digit
231 5 digit
232 6 digit
233 7 digit
234 8 digit
235 9 digit
236 q quit
237 Q quit
238 :q quit
239 :Q quit
240 ZZ quit
241 .fi
242 .sp
243 .SH PRECEDENCE
244 Commands specified by
245 .I lesskey
246 take precedence over the default commands.
247 A default command key may be disabled by including it in the
248 input file with the action "invalid".
249 Alternatively, a key may be defined
250 to do nothing by using the action "noaction".
251 "noaction" is similar to "invalid", but
252 .I less
253 will give an error beep for an "invalid" command,
254 but not for a "noaction" command.
255 In addition, ALL default commands may be disabled by
256 adding this control line to the input file:
257 .sp
258 #stop
259 .sp
260 This will cause all default commands to be ignored.
261 The #stop line should be the last line in that section of the file.
262 .PP
263 Be aware that #stop can be dangerous.
264 Since all default commands are disabled,
265 you must provide sufficient commands before the #stop line
266 to enable all necessary actions.
267 For example, failure to provide a "quit" command can lead to frustration.
269 .SH "LINE EDITING SECTION"
270 The line-editing section begins with the line:
271 .sp
272 #line-edit
273 .sp
274 This section specifies new key bindings for the line editing commands,
275 in a manner similar to the way key bindings for
276 ordinary commands are specified in the #command section.
277 The line-editing section consists of a list of keys and actions,
278 one per line as in the example below.
280 .SH EXAMPLE
281 The following input file describes the set of
282 default line-editing keys used by less:
283 .sp
284 .nf
285 #line-edit
286 \et forw-complete
287 \e17 back-complete
288 \ee\et back-complete
289 ^L expand
290 ^V literal
291 ^A literal
292 \eel right
293 \ekr right
294 \eeh left
295 \ekl left
296 \eeb word-left
297 \ee\ekl word-left
298 \eew word-right
299 \ee\ekr word-right
300 \eei insert
301 \eex delete
302 \ekx delete
303 \eeX word-delete
304 \eekx word-delete
305 \ee\eb word-backspace
306 \ee0 home
307 \ekh home
308 \ee$ end
309 \eke end
310 \eek up
311 \eku up
312 \eej down
313 .fi
314 .sp
316 .SH "LESS ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES"
317 The environment variable section begins with the line
318 .sp
319 #env
320 .sp
321 Following this line is a list of environment variable assignments.
322 Each line consists of an environment variable name, an equals sign (=)
323 and the value to be assigned to the environment variable.
324 White space before and after the equals sign is ignored.
325 Variables assigned in this way are visible only to
326 .I less.
327 If a variable is specified in the system environment and also in a
328 lesskey file, the value in the lesskey file takes precedence.
329 Although the lesskey file can be used to override variables set in the
330 environment, the main purpose of assigning variables in the lesskey file
331 is simply to have all
332 .I less
333 configuration information stored in one file.
335 .SH EXAMPLE
336 The following input file sets the -i option whenever
337 .I less
338 is run, and specifies the character set to be "latin1":
339 .sp
340 .nf
341 #env
342 LESS = -i
343 LESSCHARSET = latin1
344 .fi
345 .sp
347 .SH "SEE ALSO"
348 less(1)
350 .SH WARNINGS
351 It is not possible to specify special keys, such as uparrow,
352 in a keyboard-independent manner.
353 The only way to specify such keys is to specify the escape sequence
354 which a particular keyboard sends when such a key is pressed.
355 .PP
356 On MS-DOS and OS/2 systems, certain keys send a sequence of characters
357 which start with a NUL character (0).
358 This NUL character should be represented as \e340 in a lesskey file.
360 .SH COPYRIGHT
361 Copyright (C) 2000-2007 Mark Nudelman
362 .PP
363 lesskey is part of the GNU project and is free software;
364 you can redistribute it and/or modify it
365 under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
366 the Free Software Foundation;
367 either version 2, or (at your option) any later version.
368 .PP
369 lesskey is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
370 WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY
371 or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
372 See the GNU General Public License for more details.
373 .PP
374 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
375 along with lesskey; see the file COPYING.
376 If not, write to the Free Software Foundation, 59 Temple Place,
377 Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
379 .SH AUTHOR
380 .PP
381 Mark Nudelman <markn@greenwoodsoftware.com>
382 .br
383 Send bug reports or comments to the above address or to bug-less@gnu.org.