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Annotation of src/usr.bin/less/NEWS, Revision 1.4

1.2       mbalmer     1:
                      2:                      NEWS about less
                      3:
                      4: ======================================================================
                      5:
                      6:   For the latest news about less, see the "less" Web page:
                      7:       http://www.greenwoodsoftware.com/less
                      8:   You can also download the latest version of less from there.
                      9:
                     10:   To report bugs, suggestions or comments, send email to
                     11:   bug-less@gnu.org or markn@greenwoodsoftware.com.
                     12:
                     13: ======================================================================
                     14:
1.3       shadchin   15:        Major changes between "less" versions 443 and 444
                     16:
                     17: * Fix bug in unget handling that can cause strange effects on the
                     18:   command line.
                     19:
                     20: * Remove vestiges of obsolete -l option that can cause a crash.
                     21:
                     22: ======================================================================
                     23:
                     24:        Major changes between "less" versions 436 and 443
                     25:
                     26: * Change search behavior such that when a search is given an explicit
                     27:   pattern, the entire displayed screen is included in the search and
                     28:   not just the portion after the target line.
                     29:
                     30: * Add -A option to change search behavior to the old way: only
                     31:   the portion of the screen after the target line is searched.
                     32:
                     33: * Add %F formatting to prompt strings, replaced by the last component
                     34:   of the input file.
                     35:
                     36: * Control-G while editing a command exits the command.
                     37:
                     38: * Less now exits with status 2 if control-C is pressed and -K is in effect.
                     39:
                     40: * Fix "ungetc overflow" when passing long commands via the -p option.
                     41:
                     42: * Fix bug in using line filtering via the & command
                     43:   in combination with -i and -I.
                     44:
                     45: * Fix bug in handling negative arguments to the -j option.
                     46:
                     47: * Fix bug in handling %t in prompt strings.
                     48:
                     49: * Improve handling of long option names.
                     50:
                     51: * Improve percentage calculation for very large files.
                     52:
                     53: ======================================================================
                     54:
                     55:        Major changes between "less" versions 429 and 436
                     56:
                     57: * Don't pass "-" to non-pipe LESSOPEN unless it starts with "-".
                     58:
                     59: * Allow a fraction as the argument to the -# (--shift) option.
                     60:
                     61: * Fix highlight bug when underlined/overstruck text matches at end of line.
                     62:
                     63: * Fix non-regex searches with ctrl-R.
                     64:
                     65: ======================================================================
                     66:
                     67:        Major changes between "less" versions 424 and 429
                     68:
                     69: * LESSOPEN pipe will now be used on standard input, if the LESSOPEN
                     70:   environment variable begins with "|-".
                     71:
                     72: * The -D option with one number now means use the normal background color.
                     73:
                     74: * Don't change permissions on history file if it is not a regular file.
                     75:
                     76: * Fix non-ANSI-compliant code that caused problems with some compilers.
                     77:
                     78: * Fix binary file detection in UTF-8 mode.
                     79:
                     80: * Fix display problems with long lines on "ignaw" terminals.
                     81:
                     82: * Fix problem interrupting the line number calculation for initial prompt.
                     83:
                     84: * Fix SGR emulation when dealing with multiple attributes (eg. bold+underline).
                     85:
                     86: * Fix highlight bug when searching for underlined/overstruck text.
                     87:
                     88: ======================================================================
                     89:
                     90:        Major changes between "less" versions 418 and 424
                     91:
                     92: * New "&" command allows filtering of lines based on a pattern.
                     93:
                     94: * Status column now displays a search match, even if the matched
                     95:   string is scrolled off screen because -S is in effect.
                     96:
                     97: * Improve behavior of -F option.
                     98:
                     99: * Allow CSI character (0x9B) to work in UTF-8 mode.
                    100:
                    101: * Output carriage return at startup in case terminal doesn't default
                    102:   to column 1.
                    103:
                    104: * Fix bug in '' (quote, quote) command after G command.
                    105:
                    106: ======================================================================
                    107:
                    108:        Major changes between "less" versions 416 and 418
                    109:
                    110: * Color escape sequences are now supported in WIN32 build.
                    111:
                    112: * Makefile now uses EXEEXT feature of autoconf.
                    113:
                    114: * Fix search bug when using -R and text contains ANSI color escape sequences.
                    115:
                    116: * Fix crash when using -r with UTF-8 text containing 0x9B bytes.
                    117:
                    118: * Fix display bug when using ' command to move less than one page forward.
                    119:
                    120: * Update GPL to version 3.
                    121:
                    122: ======================================================================
                    123:
                    124:        Major changes between "less" versions 409 and 416
                    125:
                    126: * New --follow-name option makes F command follow the name of a file
                    127:   rather than the file descriptor if an open file is renamed.
                    128:
                    129: * Make searching with -i/-I work correctly with non-ASCII text.
                    130:
                    131: * Fix DJGPP build.
                    132:
                    133: ======================================================================
                    134:
                    135:        Major changes between "less" versions 406 and 409
                    136:
                    137: * Support CSI escape sequences, like SGR escape sequences.
                    138:
                    139: * Fix bug which caused screen to fail to repaint when window is resized.
                    140:
                    141: * Fix bug in using -i and -I flags with non-ASCII text.
                    142:
                    143: * Fix configure bug on systems which don't support langinfo.h.
                    144:
                    145: * Fix crash when searching text containing certain invalid UTF-8 sequences.
                    146:
                    147: ======================================================================
                    148:
                    149:        Major changes between "less" versions 394 and 406
                    150:
                    151: * Allow decimal point in number for % (percent) command.
                    152:
                    153: * Allow decimal point in number for -j option (fraction of screen height).
                    154:
                    155: * Make n command fetch previous pattern from history file on first search.
                    156:
                    157: * Don't rewrite history file if it has not changed.
                    158:
                    159: * Don't move to bottom of screen on first page.
                    160:
                    161: * Don't output extraneous newlines, so copy & pasting lines from the
                    162:   output works better.
                    163:
                    164: * The -c option has been made identical with the -C option.
                    165:
                    166: * Allow "/dev/null" as synomym for "-" in LESSHISTFILE to indicate
                    167:   that no history file should be used.
                    168:
                    169: * Search can now find text which follows a null byte, if the PCRE
                    170:   library is used, or if no-regex searching (ctrl-R) is used.
                    171:
                    172: * Better compatibility with POSIX more specification.
                    173:
                    174: * Make -f work for directories.
                    175:
                    176: * Make "t" cmd traverse tags in the correct order.
                    177:
                    178: * Allow a few binary characters in the input file before warning
                    179:   that the file is binary.
                    180:
                    181: * Don't warn that file is binary if it merely contains ANSI color sequences
                    182:   and -R is in effect.
                    183:
                    184: * Update Unicode character tables.
                    185:
                    186: * Support DESTDIR in Makefile.
                    187:
                    188: * Fix bug when filename contains certain shell metacharacters such as "$".
                    189:
                    190: * Fix bug when resizing the window while waiting for input from a pipe.
                    191:
                    192: * Fix configure bugs.
                    193:
                    194: ======================================================================
                    195:
                    196:        Major changes between "less" versions 382 and 394
                    197:
                    198: * Add history file to save search and shell command history between
                    199:   invocations of less.
                    200:
                    201: * Improve behavior of history list for search and shell commands.
                    202:
                    203: * Add -K (or --quit-on-intr) option to make less exit immediately on ctrl-C.
                    204:
                    205: * Improve handling of UTF-8 files and commands, including better
                    206:   line wrapping and handling double-width chars.
                    207:
                    208: * Added LESSUTFBINFMT environment variable to control display of
                    209:   non-printable characters in a UTF-8 file.
                    210:
                    211: * Add --with-secure option to configure, to make it easier to
                    212:   build a secure version of less.
                    213:
                    214: * Show search matches in the status column even if search highlights
                    215:   are disabled via the -G option or the ESC-u command.
                    216:
                    217: * Improve performance when the file contains very long lines.
                    218:
                    219: * Add "windows" charset.
                    220:
                    221: * Add man page for lessecho.
                    222:
                    223: * Add support for erase2 character, treated same as erase.
                    224:
                    225: * Use ASCII lowercase/uppercase logic when operating on the command line.
                    226:
                    227: * Update makefile for Borland C++ 5.5.1.
                    228:
                    229: * Fix bug in calculating number of pages for %D prompt.
                    230:
                    231: * Fix bug in handling tag file error.
                    232:
                    233: * Fix obscure bug if input file is deleted while viewing help.
                    234:
                    235: * Fix bug handling filenames which include square brackets.
                    236:
                    237: * Fix possible buffer overflow in "global" tag search.
                    238:
                    239: * Fix possible buffer overflow in usage of LESSOPEN and LESSCLOSE.
                    240:
                    241: * Fix buffer overflow in reverse search.
                    242:
                    243: ======================================================================
                    244:
                    245:        Major changes between "less" versions 381 and 382
                    246:
                    247: * Removed some old copyrighted code.
                    248:   This probably breaks OS/9 support.
                    249:
                    250: ======================================================================
1.2       mbalmer   251:
                    252:        Major changes between "less" versions 378 and 381
                    253:
                    254: * New -L option to disable LESSOPEN processing.
                    255:
                    256: * Further support for large (64 bit) file addressing.
                    257:   Large file support is now set up by the configure script.
                    258:
                    259: * Use autoconf 2.54.
                    260:   Replace configure.in, acconfig.h, defines.h.top with configure.ac.
                    261:
                    262: * Overstriking underscore with underscore is now bold or underlined
                    263:   depending on context.
                    264:
                    265: * Use only 7 spaces for line numbers in -N mode, if possible.
                    266:
                    267: * Fix some bugs in handling overstriking in UTF-8 files.
                    268:
                    269: * Fix some nroff issues in the man page.
                    270:
                    271: ======================================================================
                    272:
                    273:        Major changes between "less" versions 376 and 378
                    274:
                    275: * Bug fixes:
                    276:   Default buffer space is now 64K as documented.
                    277:   Search highlighting works properly when used with -R.
                    278:   Windows version works properly when input file contains carriage returns.
                    279:   Clean up some compiler warnings.
                    280:
                    281: ======================================================================
                    282:
                    283:        Major changes between "less" versions 358 and 376
                    284:
                    285: * -x option can now specify multiple variable-width tab stops.
                    286:
                    287: * -X option no longer disables keypad initialization.
                    288:   New option --no-keypad disables keypad initialization.
                    289:
                    290: * New commands t and T step through multiple tag matches.
                    291:   Added support for "global(1)" tags
                    292:   (see http://www.gnu.org/software/global/global.html).
                    293:
                    294: * New prompt style set by option -Pw defines the message printed
                    295:   while waiting for data in the F command.
                    296:
                    297: * System-wide lesskey file now defaults to sysless in etc directory
                    298:   instead of .sysless in bin directory.
                    299:   Use "configure --sysconfdir=..." to change it.
                    300:   (For backwards compatibility, .sysless in bin is still recognized.)
                    301:
                    302: * Pressing RightArrow or LeftArrow while entering a number now shifts
                    303:   the display N columns rather than editing the number itself.
                    304:
                    305: * Status column (enabled with -J) now shows search results.
                    306:
                    307: * Windows version sets window title.
                    308:
                    309: * Default LESSCHARSET for MS-DOS versions is now "dos".
                    310:
                    311: * Searching works better with ANSI (SGR) escape sequences.
                    312:   ANSI color escape sequences are now supported in the MS-DOS (DJGPP) version.
                    313:
                    314: * Improved performance in reading very large pipes.
                    315:
                    316: * Eliminated some dependencies on file offets being 32 bits.
                    317:
                    318: * Fixed problems when viewing files with very long lines.
                    319:
                    320: * Fixed overstriking in UTF-8 mode, and overstriking tabs.
                    321:
                    322: * Improved horizontal shifting of text using -R option with ANSI color.
                    323:
                    324: * Improved handling of filenames containing shell metacharacters.
                    325:
                    326: * Some fixes for EBCDIC systems.
                    327:
                    328: * Some fixes for OS/2 systems.
                    329:
                    330: ======================================================================
                    331:
                    332:        Major changes between "less" versions 354 and 358
                    333:
                    334: * Add -J (--status-column) option to display a status column.
                    335:
                    336: * Add -# (--shift) option to set default horizontal shift distance.
                    337:   Default horizontal shift distance is now one-half screen width.
                    338:
                    339: * Horizontal shifting does not shift line numbers if -N is in effect.
                    340:
                    341: * Horizontal shifting acts as though -S were set, to avoid confusion.
                    342:
                    343: ======================================================================
                    344:
                    345:
                    346:        Major changes between "less" versions 352 and 354
                    347:
                    348: * Allow space after numeric-valued command line options.
                    349:
                    350: * Fix problem with configuring terminal libraries on some systems.
                    351:
                    352: * Add support for PCRE regular expression library.
                    353:
                    354: * Add --with-regex option to configure to allow manually selecting
                    355:   a regular expression library.
                    356:
                    357: * Fix bug compiling with SECURE = 1.
                    358:
                    359: ======================================================================
                    360:
                    361:
                    362:        Major changes between "less" versions 346 and 352
                    363:
                    364: * Enable UTF-8 if "UTF-8" appears in locale-related environment variables.
                    365:
                    366: * Add --with-editor option to configure script.
                    367:
                    368: * The -M prompt and = message now show the top and bottom line number.
                    369:
                    370: * Fix bug in running the editor on a file whose name contains quotes, etc.
                    371:
                    372: * Fix bug in horizontal scrolling of long lines.
                    373:
                    374: * Fix bug in doing :d on a file which contains marks.
                    375:
                    376: * Fix bug causing cleared lines to sometimes be filled with standout,
                    377:   bold, underline, etc. on certain terminals.
                    378:
                    379: * Fixes for MS-DOS (DJGPP) version.
                    380:
                    381: ======================================================================
                    382:
                    383:
                    384:        Major changes between "less" versions 340 and 346
                    385:
                    386: * The UTF-8 character set is now supported.
                    387:
                    388: * The default character set is now latin1 rather than ascii.
                    389:
                    390: * New option -R (--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS) is like -r but handles
                    391:   long (wrapped) lines correctly, as long as the input contains only
                    392:   normal text and ANSI color escape sequences.
                    393:
                    394: * New option -F (--quit-if-one-screen) quits if the text fits on
                    395:   the first screen.
                    396:
                    397: * The -w option now highlights the target line of a g or p command.
                    398:
                    399: * A system-wide lesskey file is supported (LESSKEY_SYSTEM).
                    400:
                    401: * New escape for prompt strings: %c is replaced by column number.
                    402:
                    403: * New escape for prompt strings: %P is replaced by percentage into
                    404:   file, based on line number rather than byte offset.
                    405:
                    406: * HOME and END keys now jump to beginning of file or end of file.
                    407:
                    408: ======================================================================
                    409:
                    410:
                    411:        Major changes between "less" versions 337 and 340
                    412:
                    413: * Command line options for less may now be given in either the old
                    414:   single-letter form, or a new long name form (--option-name).
                    415:   See the less man page or "less --help" for the list of long option names.
                    416:
                    417: * Command line options for lesskey may now be given in a new long name
                    418:   form.  See the lesskey man page for the list of long option names.
                    419:
                    420: * New command -- toggles an option using the long option name.
                    421:
                    422: * New command __ queries an option using the long option name.
                    423:
                    424: * The old -- command is renamed as -!.
                    425:
                    426: * If a ^P is entered between the dash and the option letter of the -
                    427:   command, the message describing the new setting is suppressed.
                    428:
                    429: * Lesskey files may now contain \k escape sequences to represent the
                    430:   "special" keys (arrows, PAGE-UP/PAGE-DOWN, HOME, END, INSERT, DELETE).
                    431:
                    432: * New command :d removes the current file from the list of files.
                    433:
                    434: * New option -~ (like -w before version 335)
                    435:   suppresses tildes after end-of-file.
                    436:
                    437: * Less is now released under the GNU General Public License.
                    438:
                    439: ======================================================================
                    440:
                    441:
                    442:        Major changes between "less" versions 335 and 337
                    443:
                    444: * Fixed bugs in "make install".
                    445:
                    446: ======================================================================
                    447:
                    448:
                    449:        Major changes between "less" versions 332 and 335
                    450:
                    451: * The old -w flag (suppress tildes after end-of-file) has been removed.
                    452:
                    453: * New -w flag highlights the first new line after a forward-screen.
                    454:
                    455: * New -W flag highlights the first new line after any forward movement.
                    456:
                    457: * Window resize works even if LINES and/or COLUMNS environment
                    458:   variables are incorrect.
                    459:
                    460: * New percent escapes for prompt strings:
                    461:   %d is replaced by the page number, and
                    462:   %D is replaced by the number of pages in the file.
                    463:
                    464: * Added charsets "iso8859" and "ebcdic".
                    465:
                    466: * In Windows version, uses HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH if HOME is not defined.
                    467:
                    468: * Fixed some bugs causing incorrect display on DOS/Windows.
                    469:
                    470: ======================================================================
                    471:
                    472:
                    473:        Major changes between "less" versions 330 and 332
                    474:
                    475: * Filenames from the command line are entered into the command history,
                    476:   so UPARROW/DOWNARROW can be used to retrieve them from the :e command.
                    477:
                    478: * Now works correctly on Windows when using a scrolling terminal
                    479:   window (buffer larger than display window).
                    480:
                    481: * On Windows, now restores the console screen on exit.
                    482:   Use -X to get the old behavior.
                    483:
                    484: * Fixed bug on Windows when CAPS-LOCK or NUM-LOCK is pressed.
                    485:
                    486: * Fixed bug on Windows when piping output of an interactive program.
                    487:
                    488: * Fixed bug in tags file processing when tags file has DOS-style
                    489:   line terminators (CR/LF).
                    490:
                    491: * Fixed compilation problem on OS/2.
                    492:
                    493: ======================================================================
                    494:
                    495:
                    496:        Major changes between "less" versions 321 and 330
                    497:
                    498: * Now supports filenames containing spaces (in double quotes).
                    499:   New option -" can be used to change the quoting characters.
                    500:
                    501: * In filename completion, a slash is appended to a directory name.
                    502:   If the environment variable LESSSEPARATOR is set, the value of
                    503:   that variable, rather than a slash, is appended.
                    504:
                    505: * LeftArrow and RightArrow are same as ESC-[ and ESC-].
                    506:
                    507: * Added commands ESC-( and ESC-), same as ESC-[ and ESC-].
                    508:
                    509: * A "quit" command defined in a lesskey file may now have an "extra"
                    510:   string, which is used to return an exit code from less when it quits.
                    511:
                    512: * New environment variables LESSMETACHARS and LESSMETAESCAPE provide
                    513:   more control over how less interfaces to the shell.
                    514:
                    515: * Ported to Microsoft Visual C compiler for Windows.
                    516:
                    517: * Ported to DJGPP compiler for MS-DOS.
                    518:
                    519: * Bug fixes.
                    520:
                    521: ======================================================================
                    522:
                    523:
                    524:        Major changes between "less" versions 291 and 321
                    525:
                    526: * Command line at bottom of screen now scrolls, so it can be longer
                    527:   than the screen width.
                    528:
                    529: * New commands ESC-] and ESC-[ scroll the display horizontally.
                    530:
                    531: * New command ESC-SPACE scrolls forward a full screen, even if it
                    532:   hits end-of-file.
                    533:
                    534: * Alternate modifiers for search commands: ^N is same as !,
                    535:   ^F is same as @, and ^E is same as *.
                    536:
                    537: * New modifier for search commands: ^K means highlight the matches
                    538:   currently on-screen, but don't move to the first match.
                    539:
                    540: * New modifier for search commands: ^R means don't use regular
                    541:   expressions in the search.
                    542:
                    543: * Environment variable LESSKEY gives name of default lesskey file.
                    544:
                    545: * Environment variable LESSSECURE will force less to run in
                    546:   "secure" mode.
                    547:
                    548: * Command line argument "--" signals that the rest of the arguments
                    549:   are files (not option flags).
                    550:
                    551: * Help file (less.hlp) is no longer installed.  Help text is now
                    552:   embedded in the less executable itself.
                    553:
                    554: * Added -Ph to change the prompt for the help text.
                    555:   Added -Ps to change the default short prompt (same as plain -P).
                    556:
                    557: * Ported to the Borland C compiler for MS-DOS.
                    558:
                    559: * Ported to Windows 95 & Windows NT.
                    560:
                    561: * Ported to OS-9.
                    562:
                    563: * Ported to GNU Hurd.
                    564:
                    565: ======================================================================
                    566:
                    567:
                    568:        Major changes between "less" versions 290 and 291
                    569:
                    570: * Less environment variables can be specified in lesskey files.
                    571:
                    572: * Fixed MS-DOS build.
                    573:
                    574: ======================================================================
                    575:
                    576:
1.1       etheisen  577:        Major changes between "less" versions 278 and 290
                    578:
                    579: * Accepts GNU-style options "--help" and "--version".
                    580:
                    581: * OS/2 version looks for less.ini in $HOME before $INIT and $PATH.
                    582:
                    583: * Bug fixes
                    584:
                    585: ======================================================================
                    586:
                    587:
                    588:        Major changes between "less" versions 252 and 278
                    589:
                    590: * A LESSOPEN preprocessor may now pipe the converted file data to less,
                    591:   rather than writing it to a temporary file.
                    592:
                    593: * Search pattern highlighting has been fixed.  It now highlights
                    594:   reliably, even if a string is split across two screen lines,
                    595:   contains TABs, etc.
                    596:
                    597: * The -F flag (which suppress search highlighting) has been changed
                    598:   to -G.  A new flag, -g, changes search highlighting to highlight
                    599:   only the string found by the last search command, instead of all
                    600:   strings which match the last search command.
                    601:
                    602: * New flag -I acts like -i, but ignores case even if the search
                    603:   pattern contains uppercase letters.
                    604:
                    605: * Less now checks for the environment variable VISUAL before EDITOR.
                    606:
                    607: * Ported to OS/2.
                    608:
                    609: ======================================================================
                    610:
                    611:
                    612:        Major changes between "less" versions 237 and 252
                    613:
                    614: * Changes in line-editing keys:
                    615:   The literal key is now ^V or ^A rather than \ (backslash).
                    616:   Filename completion commands (TAB and ^L) are disabled
                    617:   when typing a search pattern.
                    618:
                    619: * Line-editing command keys can be redefined using lesskey.
                    620:
                    621: * Lesskey with no input file defaults to $HOME/.lesskey
                    622:   rather than standard input.
                    623:
                    624: * New option -V displays version number of less.
                    625:
                    626: * New option -V displays version number of lesskey.
                    627:
                    628: * Help file less.hlp is now installed by default in /usr/local/share
                    629:   rather than /usr/local/lib.
                    630:
                    631:
                    632: ======================================================================
                    633:
                    634:
                    635:        Major changes between "less" versions 170 and 237
                    636:
                    637: * By popular demand, text which matches the current search pattern
                    638:   is highlighted.  New -F flag disables this feature.
                    639:
                    640: * Henry Spencer's regexp.c is now included, for systems which do not
                    641:   have a regular expression library.
                    642:   regexp.c is Copyright (c) 1986 by University of Toronto.
                    643:
                    644: * New line-editing keys, including command history (arrow keys) and
                    645:   filename completion (TAB).
                    646:
                    647: * Input preprocessor allows modification of input files (e.g. uncompress)
                    648:   via LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE environment variables.
                    649:
                    650: * New -X flag disables sending termcap "ti" and "te" (initialize and
                    651:   deinitialize) strings to the terminal.
                    652:
                    653: * Changing -i from within less now correctly affects a subsequent
                    654:   repeated search.
                    655:
                    656: * Searching for underlined or overstruck text now works when the -u
                    657:   flag is in effect, rather than the -i flag.
                    658:
                    659: * Use setlocale (LANG and LC_CTYPE environment variables) to determine
                    660:   the character set if LESSCHARSET/LESSCHARDEF are not set.
                    661:
                    662: * The default format for displaying binary characters is now standout
                    663:   (reverse video) rather than blinking.  This can still be changed by
                    664:   setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable.
                    665:
                    666: * Use autoconf installation technology.
                    667:
                    668: * Ported to MS-DOS.
                    669:
                    670:         ********************************
                    671:           Things that may surprise you
                    672:         ********************************
                    673:
                    674: * When you enter text at the bottom of the screen (search string,
                    675:   filename, etc.), some keys act different than previously.
                    676:   Specifically, \ (backslash), ESC, TAB, BACKTAB, and control-L
                    677:   now have line editing functions.
                    678:
                    679: * Some previous unofficial versions of less were able to display
                    680:   compressed files.  The new LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE feature now provides
                    681:   this functionality in a different way.
                    682:
                    683: * Some previous unofficial versions of less provided a -Z flag to
                    684:   set the number of lines of text to retain between full screen scrolls.
                    685:   The -z-n flag (that is, -z with a negative number) provides this
                    686:   functionality.
                    687:
                    688:
                    689: ======================================================================
                    690:
                    691:
                    692:        Major changes between "less" versions 123 and 170
                    693:
                    694: * New option -j allows target lines to be positioned anywhere on screen.
                    695:
                    696: * New option -S truncates displayed line at the screen width,
                    697:   rather than wrapping onto the next line.
                    698:
                    699: * New option -y limits amount of forward scroll.
                    700:
                    701: * New option -T specifies a "tags" file.
                    702:
                    703: * Non-printable, non-control characters are displayed in octal.
                    704:   Such characters, as well as control characters, are displayed
                    705:   in blinking mode.
                    706:
                    707: * New command -+ sets an option to its default.
                    708: * New command -- sets an option to the opposite of its default.
                    709:
                    710: * Lesskey file may have a string appended to a key's action,
                    711:   which acts as though typed in after the command.
                    712:
                    713: * New commands ESC-^F and ESC-^B match arbitrary types of brackets.
                    714:
                    715: * New command F monitors a growing file (like "tail -f").
                    716:
                    717: * New command | pipes a section of the input file into a shell command.
                    718:
                    719: * New command :x directly jumps to a file in the command line list.
                    720:
                    721: * Search commands have been enhanced and reorganized:
                    722:        n       Repeat search, same direction.
                    723:        N       Repeat search, opposite direction.
                    724:        ESC-/   Search forward thru file boundaries
                    725:        ESC-?   Search backward thru file boundaries
                    726:        ESC-n   Repeat search thru file boundaries, same direction.
                    727:        ESC-N   Repeat search thru file boundaries, opposite direction.
                    728:   Special character * causes search to search thru file boundaries.
                    729:   Special character @ causes search to begin at start/end of file list.
                    730:
                    731: * Examining a new file adds it to the command line list.
                    732:   A list of files, or an expression which matches more than one file,
                    733:   may be examined; all of them are added to the command line list.
                    734:
                    735: * Environment variables LESSCHARSET and LESSCHARDEF can define
                    736:   a non-ASCII character set.
                    737:
                    738: * Partial support for MSDOS, including options -R for repainting screen
                    739:   on quit, -v/-V to select video mode, and -W to change window size.
                    740:
                    741:
                    742: ======================================================================
                    743:
                    744:
                    745:        Major changes between "less" versions 97 and 123
                    746:
                    747: * New option (-N) causes line numbers to be displayed in the
                    748:   text of the file (like vi "set nu").
                    749:
                    750: * New option (-?) prints help message immediately.
                    751:
                    752: * New option (-r) displays "raw" control characters, without
                    753:   mapping them to ^X notation.
                    754:
                    755: * New option (-f) forces less to open non-regular files
                    756:   (directories, etc).
                    757:
                    758: * New option (-k) can be used to specify lesskey files by name.
                    759:
                    760: * New option (-y) can be used to set a forward scroll limit
                    761:   (like -h sets a backward scroll limit).
                    762:
                    763: * File marks (set by the m command) are now preserved when a new
                    764:   file is edited.  The ' command can thus be used to switch files.
                    765:
                    766: * New command ESC-/ searches all files (on the command line)
                    767:   for a pattern.
                    768:
                    769: * New command ESC-n repeats previous search, spanning files.
                    770:
                    771: * The N command has been changed to repeat the previous search
                    772:   in the reverse direction.  The old N command is still available
                    773:   via :n.
                    774:
                    775: * New command ESC-N repeats previous search in the reverse
                    776:   direction and spanning files.
                    777:
                    778: * 8 bit characters are now supported.  A new option (-g) can be
                    779:   used to strip off the eighth bit (the previous behavior).
                    780:
                    781: * Options which take a following string (like -t) may now
                    782:   optionally have a space between the option letter and the string.
                    783:
                    784: * Six new commands { } ( ) [ and ] can be used to match
                    785:   brackets of specific types, similar to vi % command.
                    786:
                    787: * New commands z and w move forward/backward one window and
                    788:   simultaneously set the window size.
                    789:
                    790: * Prompt string expansion now has %L for line number of the last
                    791:   line in the file, and %E for the name of the editor.
                    792:   Also, % escapes which refer to a line (b=bottom, t=top, etc.)
                    793:   can use j for the jump target line.
                    794:
                    795: * New environment variable LESSEDIT can be used to tailor the
                    796:   command string passed to the editor by the v command.
                    797:
                    798: * Examining a file which was previously examined will return
                    799:   to the same position in the file.
                    800:
                    801: * A "%" is expanded to the current filename and a "#" to the
                    802:   previous filename, in both shell commands and the E command.
                    803:   (Previously % worked only in shell commands and # worked
                    804:   only in the E command.)
                    805:
                    806: * New command ":ta" is equivalent to "-t".
                    807:
                    808: * New command "s" is equivalent to "-l".
                    809:
                    810: * The - command may be followed by "+X" to revert to the default
                    811:   for option X, or "-X" to get the opposite of the default.
                    812:
                    813: * Lesskey files may now include characters after the action as
                    814:   extra input to be parsed after the action; for example:
                    815:   "toggle-option X" to toggle a specific option X.
1.3       shadchin  816:
                    817:
                    818:
                    819:
                    820: