TH LESSKEY 1 "Version 458: 04 Apr 2013"
SH NAME
lesskey \- specify key bindings for less
SH SYNOPSIS
B "lesskey [-o output] [--] [input]"
br
B "lesskey [--output=output] [--] [input]"
br
B "lesskey -V"
br
B "lesskey --version"
SH DESCRIPTION
I Lesskey
is used to specify a set of key bindings to be used by
I 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 specified, 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
I 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,
I lesskey
will overwrite it.
PP
The -V or --version option causes
I lesskey
to print its version number and immediately exit.
If -V or --version is present, other options and arguments are ignored.
PP
The input file consists of one or more
I sections.
Each section starts with a line that identifies the type of section.
Possible sections are:
IP #command
Defines new command keys.
IP #line-edit
Defines new line-editing keys.
IP #env
Defines environment variables.
PP
Blank lines and lines which start with a pound sign (#) are ignored,
except for the special section header lines.

SH "COMMAND SECTION"
The command section begins with the line
sp
#command
sp
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:
sp
       \fIstring\fP <whitespace> \fIaction\fP [extra-string] <newline>
sp
Whitespace is any sequence of one or more spaces and/or tabs.
The \fIstring\fP is the command key(s) which invoke the action.
The \fIstring\fP may be a single command key, or a sequence of up to 15 keys.
The \fIaction\fP is the name of the less action, from the list below.
The characters in the \fIstring\fP 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 backslash followed by certain characters specifies input
characters as follows:
IP \eb
BACKSPACE
IP \ee
ESCAPE
IP \en
NEWLINE
IP \er
RETURN
IP \et
TAB
IP \eku
UP ARROW
IP \ekd
DOWN ARROW
IP \ekr
RIGHT ARROW
IP \ekl
LEFT ARROW
IP \ekU
PAGE UP
IP \ekD
PAGE DOWN
IP \ekh
HOME
IP \eke
END
IP \ekx
DELETE
PP
A backslash followed by any other character indicates that character is
to be taken literally.
Characters which must be preceded by backslash include
caret, space, tab and the backslash itself.
PP
An action may be followed by an "extra" string.
When such a command is entered while running
I less,
the action is performed, and then the extra
string is parsed, just as if it were typed in to
I 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
I less
quits, first character of the extra string is used as its exit status.

SH EXAMPLE
The following input file describes the set of
default command keys used by less:
sp
nf
       #command
       \er             forw-line
       \en             forw-line
       e               forw-line
       j               forw-line
       \ekd    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
       \e40    forw-screen
       f               forw-screen
       ^F              forw-screen
       ^V              forw-screen
       \ekD    forw-screen
       b               back-screen
       ^B              back-screen
       \eev            back-screen
       \ekU    back-screen
       z               forw-window
       w               back-window
       \ee\e40         forw-screen-force
       F               forw-forever
       \eeF            forw-until-hilite
       R               repaint-flush
       r               repaint
       ^R              repaint
       ^L              repaint
       \eeu            undo-hilite
       g               goto-line
       \ekh    goto-line
       <               goto-line
       \ee<            goto-line
       p               percent
       %               percent
       \ee[            left-scroll
       \ee]            right-scroll
       \ee(            left-scroll
       \ee)            right-scroll
       {               forw-bracket {}
       }               back-bracket {}
       (               forw-bracket ()
       )               back-bracket ()
       [               forw-bracket []
       ]               back-bracket []
       \ee^F           forw-bracket
       \ee^B           back-bracket
       G               goto-end
       \ee>            goto-end
       >               goto-end
       \eke    goto-end
       =               status
       ^G              status
       :f              status
       /               forw-search
       ?               back-search
       \ee/            forw-search *
       \ee?            back-search *
       n               repeat-search
       \een            repeat-search-all
       N               reverse-search
       \eeN            reverse-search-all
       &               filter
       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
fi
sp
SH PRECEDENCE
Commands specified by
I lesskey
take precedence over the default commands.
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
I 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:
sp
#stop
sp
This will cause all default commands to be ignored.
The #stop line should be the last line in that section of the file.
PP
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.

SH "LINE EDITING SECTION"
The line-editing section begins with the line:
sp
#line-edit
sp
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.

SH EXAMPLE
The following input file describes the set of
default line-editing keys used by less:
sp
nf
       #line-edit
       \et             forw-complete
       \e17            back-complete
       \ee\et          back-complete
       ^L              expand
       ^V              literal
       ^A              literal
       \eel            right
       \ekr            right
       \eeh            left
       \ekl            left
       \eeb            word-left
       \ee\ekl word-left
       \eew            word-right
       \ee\ekr word-right
       \eei            insert
       \eex            delete
       \ekx            delete
       \eeX            word-delete
       \eekx           word-delete
       \ee\eb          word-backspace
       \ee0            home
       \ekh            home
       \ee$            end
       \eke            end
       \eek            up
       \eku            up
       \eej            down
       ^G              abort
fi
sp

SH "LESS ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES"
The environment variable section begins with the line
sp
#env
sp
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
I 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
I less
configuration information stored in one file.

SH EXAMPLE
The following input file sets the -i option whenever
I less
is run, and specifies the character set to be "latin1":
sp
nf
       #env
       LESS = -i
       LESSCHARSET = latin1
fi
sp

SH "SEE ALSO"
less(1)

SH WARNINGS
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 \e340 in a lesskey file.

SH COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2000-2012  Mark Nudelman
PP
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.
PP
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.
PP
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.

SH AUTHOR
PP
Mark Nudelman <[email protected]>
br
Send bug reports or comments to [email protected].

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