More (command)#Unix
{{Short description|Terminal pager available on various operating systems}}
{{lowercase}}
{{Infobox software
| name = more
| logo =
| screenshot = Unix_more_output.png
| screenshot size = 300px
| caption = Example output of the more
command
| author = Daniel Halbert, Eric Shienbrood, Geoff Peck,[http://danhalbert.org/more.html Early history of the more command] John Foderaro[http://manpages.courier-mta.org/htmlman1/more.1.html more(1) — Linux manual pages]
| developer = DR, Microsoft, IBM, Toshiba, TSL, Jim Hall
| released = {{Release year|df=yes|1978}}
| latest release version =
| latest release date =
| programming language = MS-DOS, PC-MOS: x86 assembly language
FreeDOS, ReactOS: C
| operating system = Cross-platform
| genre = Command
| license = Unix, Unix-like: BSD License, CDDL
MS-DOS: MIT
FreeDOS, ReactOS: GPL v2
PC-MOS: GPL v3
| website =
}}
In computing, more
is a command to view (but not modify) the contents of a text file one screen at a time.
It is available on Unix and Unix-like systems, DOS,{{cite web|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/1.2/repos/pkg-html/group-base.html|title=ibiblio.org FreeDOS Group -- FreeDOS Base|website=www.ibiblio.org}} Digital Research FlexOS,{{cite web|url=http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/digitalResearch/flexos/1073-2003_FlexOS_Users_Guide_V1.3_Nov86.pdf |title=Users guide |publisher=www.bitsavers.org |access-date=2020-01-30}} IBM/Toshiba 4690 OS,[https://archive.org/details/4690OSV6r2UsersGuide/page/n169]{{dead link|date=January 2020}} IBM OS/2,{{cite web|url=http://www.jatomes.com/Help/Os2Cmd.php#MORE|title=JaTomes Help - OS/2 Commands|website=www.jatomes.com}} Microsoft Windows and ReactOS.{{cite web|url=https://github.com/reactos/reactos|title=reactos/reactos|website=GitHub|date=3 January 2022}} Programs of this sort are called pagers.{{cite web|url=http://foldoc.org/pager|title=pager from FOLDOC|website=foldoc.org}} more
is a very basic pager, originally allowing only forward navigation through a file, though newer implementations do allow for limited backward movement.
History
The more
command was originally written by Daniel Halbert, a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1978. It was later expanded on by Eric Shienbrood, Geoff Peck (added underlining, single spacing) and John Foderaro (added -c, more
environment variable history
). It was first included in 3.0 BSD, and has since become a standard program in all Unix systems. less
, a similar command with the extended capability of allowing both forward and backward navigation through the file, was written by Mark Nudelman between 1983 and 1985 and is now included in most Unix and Unix-like systems.
The command is available in MS-DOS versions 2 and later.{{Cite book|author-last=Wolverton|author-first=Van|title=Running MS-DOS Version 6.22 (20th Anniversary Edition), 6th Revised edition|date=2003|publisher=Microsoft Press|isbn=0-7356-1812-7}} A more
command is also part of ASCII's MSX-DOS2 Tools for MSX-DOS version 2.[https://archive.org/details/MSXDOS2TOOLS MSX-DOS2 Tools User's Manual by ASCII Corporation] The Software Link's PC-MOS includes an implementation of more
.{{cite web|url=https://github.com/roelandjansen/pcmos386v501|title=roelandjansen/pcmos386v501|website=GitHub|date=2 January 2022}} Like the rest of the operating system, it is licensed under the GPL v3.{{cite web|url=https://github.com/roelandjansen/pcmos386v501|title=pcmos386v501: PC-MOS/386 v5.01 final release including cdrom driver sources|first=Roeland|last=Jansen|date=8 February 2018|via=GitHub}} The FreeDOS version was developed by Jim Hall and is licensed under the GPL v2.{{cite web|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/micro/pc-stuff/freedos/files/distributions/1.2/repos/pkg-html/more.html|title=ibiblio.org FreeDOS Package -- more (FreeDOS Base)|website=www.ibiblio.org}} The command is also available in the KolibriOS Shell.{{cite web|url=http://wiki.kolibrios.org/wiki/Shell|title=Shell - KolibriOS wiki|website=wiki.kolibrios.org}}
The numerical computing environments MATLAB and GNU Octave include a more
function that turns output pagination on or off.{{cite web|url=https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/more.html|title=Control paged output in Command Window - MATLAB more|website=www.mathworks.com}}{{cite web|url=https://octave.sourceforge.io/octave/function/more.html|title=Function Reference: more|website=octave.sourceforge.io}}
Usage
=Unix-like=
The command-syntax is:
more [options] [file_name]
If no file name is provided, more
looks for input from standard input.
Once more
has obtained input, it displays as much as can fit on the current screen and waits for user input to advance, with the exception that a form feed (^L) will also cause more
to wait at that line, regardless of the amount of text on the screen. In the lower-left corner of the screen is displayed the text "--More--" and a percentage, representing the percent of the file that more
has paged through. (This percentage includes the text displayed on the current screen.) When more
reaches the end of a file (100%) it exits. The most common methods of navigating through a file are Enter, which advances the output by one line, and Space, which advances the output by one screen.
There are also other commands that can be used while navigating through the document; consult more
's man
page for more details.{{man|cu|more|SUS|display files on a page-by-page basis}}
==Options==
Options are typically entered before the file name, but can also be entered in the environment variable $MORE
. Options entered in the actual command line will override those entered in the $MORE
environment variable. Available options may vary between Unix systems, but a typical set of options is as follows:
- -num: This option specifies an integer which is the screen size (in lines).
- -d:
more
will prompt the user with the message [Press space to continue, 'q' to quit.] and will display [Press 'h' for instructions.] instead of ringing the bell when an illegal key is pressed. - -l:
more
usually treats ^L (form feed) as a special character, and will pause after any line that contains a form feed. The -l option will prevent this behavior. - -f: Causes
more
to count logical, rather than screen lines (i.e., long lines are not folded). - -p: Do not scroll. Instead, clear the whole screen and then display the text.
- -c: Do not scroll. Instead, paint each screen from the top, clearing the remainder of each line as it is displayed.
- -s: Squeeze multiple blank lines into one.
- -u: Backspaces and carriage returns to be treated as printable characters;
- +/: This option specifies a string that will be searched for before each file is displayed. (Ex.: more +/Preamble gpl.txt)
- +num: Start at line number num.
=Microsoft Windows and ReactOS=
File:ReactOS-0.4.13 more command 667x434.png more
command]]
The command-syntax is:{{cite web|url=https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-xp/bb490933(v%3dtechnet.10)|title=More|website=docs.microsoft.com}}
command | more [/c] [/p] [/s] [/tn] [+n]
more /c] [/p] [/s] [/tn] [+n < [Drive:] [Path] FileName
more [/c] [/p] [/s] [/tn] [+n] [files]
==Examples==
To display the file named letter.txt on the screen, the user can type either of the following two commands:
more letter.txt
type letter.txt | more
The command displays the first screen of information from letter.txt, and then the following prompt appears:
-- More—When the spacebar is pressed, the next screen of information will be displayed.
It is also possible to clear the screen and remove all extra blank lines before displaying the file:
more /c /s < letter.txt
type letter.txt | more /c /s
=IBM OS/2=
The command-syntax is:
MORE < [drive:][path]filename
command | more
drive:\path\filename
– Specifies the location of the file to display one screen at a time.command |
– Specifies the command whose output will be displayed.
==Example==
Return the content of the OS/2 system directory using the dir
command and display it one screen at a time using the more
command:
[C:\]dir C:\OS2 | more
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{Cite book|author-last=Cooper|author-first=Jim|title=Special Edition Using MS-DOS 6.22, Third Edition|date=2001|publisher=Que Publishing|isbn=978-0789725738}}
- {{Cite book|author1=Kathy Ivens|author2=Brian Proffit|year=1993|title=OS/2 Inside & Out|publisher=Osborne McGraw-Hill|isbn=978-0078818714}}
- {{Cite book|first=William R.|last=Stanek|year=2008|title=Windows Command-Line Administrator's Pocket Consultant, 2nd Edition|publisher=Microsoft Press|isbn=978-0735622623}}
- {{Cite book|author-last=McElhearn|author-first=Kirk|title=The Mac OS X Command Line: Unix Under the Hood|date=2006|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0470113851}}
External links
{{Wikibooks|Guide to Windows Commands}}
{{Wikibooks|Guide to Unix|Commands}}
- [http://foldoc.org/?pager "FOLDOC entry for pager"]; see definition #2.
- [https://www.mankier.com/1/more manpage of more]
- [https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/more more | Microsoft Docs]
- [https://github.com/microsoft/MS-DOS/blob/master/v2.0/source/MORE.ASM Open source MORE implementation that comes with MS-DOS v2.0]
- https://www.question-defense.com/documentation/linux-manpages/more
{{Unix commands}}
{{Windows commands}}
Category:Standard Unix programs
Category:Unix SUS2008 utilities
Category:External DOS commands