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lesskey(1)                  General Commands Manual                 lesskey(1)


NAME

       lesskey - customize key bindings for less


SYNOPSIS (deprecated)

       lesskey [-o output] [--] [input]
       lesskey [--output=output] [--] [input]
       lesskey -V
       lesskey --version


SCOPE

       This document describes the format of the lesskey source file, which is
       used by less version 582 and later.  In previous versions of less, a
       separate program called lesskey was used to compile the lesskey source
       file into a format understood by less.  This compilation step is no
       longer required and the lesskey program is therefore deprecated,
       although the file format remains supported by less itself.


DESCRIPTION

       A lesskey file specifies a set of key bindings and environment
       variables to be used by subsequent invocations of less.


FILE FORMAT

       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
              Customizes command key bindings.

       #line-edit
              Customizes line-editing key bindings.

       #env   Defines environment variables.

       Blank lines and lines which start with a hash mark (#) are ignored,
       except as noted below.


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 <whitespace> action [extra-string] <newline>

       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 backslash
       followed by certain characters specifies input characters as follows:

            \b   BACKSPACE   (0x08)
            \e   ESCAPE      (0x1B)
            \n   NEWLINE     (0x0A)
            \r   RETURN      (0x0D)
            \t   TAB         (0x09)

            \k followed by a single character represents the char(s) produced
            when one of these keys is pressed:

            \kb   BACKSPACE (the BACKSPACE key)
            \kB   ctrl-BACKSPACE
            \kd   DOWN ARROW
            \kD   PAGE DOWN
            \ke   END
            \kh   HOME
            \ki   INSERT
            \kl   LEFT ARROW
            \kL   ctrl-LEFT ARROW
            \kr   RIGHT ARROW
            \kR   ctrl-RIGHT ARROW
            \kt   BACKTAB
            \ku   UP ARROW
            \kU   PAGE UP
            \kx   DELETE
            \kX   ctrl-DELETE
            \k1   F1


            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, hash mark 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, the ASCII value of
            the 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.  Documentation on each command can be found in the less man
       page, under the key sequence which invokes the command.


            #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
            \eF        forw-until-hilite
            R          repaint-flush
            r          repaint
            ^R         repaint
            ^L         repaint
            \eu        undo-hilite
            \eU        clear-search
            g          goto-line
            \kh        goto-line
            <          goto-line
            \e<        goto-line
            p          percent
            %          percent
            \e(        left-scroll
            \e)        right-scroll
            \kl        left-scroll
            \kr        right-scroll
            \e{        no-scroll
            \e}        end-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
            \eG        goto-end-buffered
            =          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
            ^O^N       osc8-forw-search
            ^On        osc8-forw-search
            ^O^P       osc8-back-search
            ^Op        osc8-back-search
            ^O^O       osc8-open
            &          filter
            m          set-mark
            M          set-mark-bottom
            \em        clear-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
                       ## Use a long option name by starting the
                       ## extra string with ONE dash; eg:
                       ##   s toggle-option -log-file\n
            _          display-option
            |          pipe
            v          visual
            !          shell
            #          pshell
            +          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
       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 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
            ^G           abort



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.

       If the variable name is followed by += rather than =, the string is
       appended to the variable's existing value.  This currently works only
       if any += lines immediately follow the same variable's original
       definition (with an = line), without any intervening definitions of
       other variables.  It can append only to a variable defined earlier in
       the file; it cannot append to a variable in the system environment.
       The string is appended literally, without any extra whitespace added,
       so if whitespace is desired, it should be appended to the end of the
       preceding line.  (It cannot be added to the beginning of the += string
       because space after the equals sign is ignored, as noted above.)

       In the string after the = sign, a substring of the form ${NAME} is
       replaced with the value of the environment variable "NAME".  The value
       of the variable may come from either the system environment, an earlier
       lesskey file, or an earlier definition in the current lesskey file.
       Simple text replacements can be performed by using the syntax
       ${NAME/STRING/REPL}.  This replaces all instances of "STRING" in the
       named environment variable with the text "REPL".  STRING is matched
       using a simple text comparison; no metacharacters are supported.  An
       instance of slash or right curly bracket in STRING or REPL must be
       escaped by preceding it with two backslashes.  If REPL is an empty
       string, all instances of STRING are removed.  A slash immediately
       before the right curly bracket may be omitted.  Multiple replacements
       may be performed by using the syntax
       ${NAME/STRING1/REPL1/STRING2/REPL2} and so on.


CONDITIONAL CONFIGURATION

       If a line begins with #version followed by a relational operator and a
       version number, the remainder of the line is parsed if and only if the
       running version of less (or lesskey) matches the operator.  This can be
       helpful if a lesskey file is used by different versions of less.

       For example, suppose that a new command named 'sideways-search' is
       added in less version 777.  Then the following line would assign the
       command to the Q key, but only in versions of less which support it.
       The line would be ignored by versions earlier than 777.

            #version >= 777  Q sideways-search

       These six operators are supported:

             >    Greater than
             <    Less than
             >=   Greater than or equal to
             <=   Less than or equal to
             =    Equal to
             !=   Not equal to

       The #version feature is not supported in less and lesskey before
       version 594.  In those older versions, all #version lines are ignored.


EXAMPLE

       The following input file sets the -i and -S options when less is run
       and, on version 595 and higher, adds a --color option.

            #env
            ## (Note that there must be a space at the end of the next line,
            ##  to separate the --color option from the -S option.)
            LESS = -i -S
            #version >= 595  LESS += --color=Hkc


SEE ALSO

       less(1)


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 \340 in a lesskey file.


COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (C) 1984-2024  Mark Nudelman

       less is part of the GNU project and is free software.  You can
       redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either (1) the GNU
       General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; or
       (2) the Less License.  See the file README in the less distribution for
       more details regarding redistribution.  You should have received a copy
       of the GNU General Public License along with the source for less; see
       the file COPYING.  If not, write to the Free Software Foundation, 59
       Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.  You should also
       have received a copy of the Less License; see the file LICENSE.

       less 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.


AUTHOR

       Mark Nudelman
       Report bugs at https://github.com/gwsw/less/issues.

                           Version 661: 29 Jun 2024                 lesskey(1)

less 661 - Generated Sat Aug 17 19:06:57 CDT 2024
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