LESSKEY linux command manual

LESSKEY(1)                                                         LESSKEY(1)



NAME
       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 speci-
       fied, 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

       If the command section is the first section in the file, this line may
       be omitted.  The command section consists of lines of the form:

            string  action [extra-string] 

       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 back-
       slash  followed  by  certain  characters 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 back-
       slash 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 certain cases to extend the functionality of a
       command.  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 command 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
            \kh  goto-line
            <         goto-line
            \e<       goto-line
            p         percent
            %         percent
            \e[       left-scroll
            \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
            \ke  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
            t         next-tag
            T         prev-tag
            :x        index-file
            :d        remove-file
            -         toggle-option
            :t        toggle-option t
            s         toggle-option o
            _         display-option
            |         pipe
            v         visual
            !         shell
            +         firstcmd
            H         help
            h         help
            V         version
            0         digit
            1         digit
            2         digit
            3         digit
            4         digit
            5         digit
            6         digit
            7         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  com-
       mands.   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 commands 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 editing commands,
       in a manner similar to the way key bindings for ordinary commands  are
       specified  in the #command section.  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
            ^L        expand
            ^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 variable 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



SEE ALSO
       less(1)


WARNINGS
       It is not possible to specify special keys, such as uparrow, in a key-
       board-independent manner.  The only way to specify  such  keys  is  to
       specify  the  escape  sequence  which a particular keyboard sends when
       such a key 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

       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 warranty of MERCHANTABILITY  or
       FITNESS  FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  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 
       Send  bug  reports  or  comments  to  the  above  address  or  to bug-
       less@gnu.org.




                           Version 382: 03 Feb 2004                LESSKEY(1)