xref: /dragonfly/contrib/less/NEWS (revision a765cedf)
1
2                     NEWS about less
3
4======================================================================
5
6  For the latest news about less, see https://greenwoodsoftware.com/less
7  You can also download the latest version of less from there.
8
9  Report bugs, suggestions or comments at
10  https://github.com/gwsw/less/issues.
11
12======================================================================
13
14	Major changes between "less" versions 590 and 608
15
16* Add the --header option (github #43).
17
18* Add the --no-number-headers option (github #178).
19
20* Add the --status-line option.
21
22* Add the --redraw-on-quit option (github #36).
23
24* Add the --search-options option (github #213).
25
26* Add the --exit-follow-on-close option (github #244).
27
28* Add 'H' color type to set color of header lines.
29
30* Add #version conditional to lesskey.
31
32* Add += syntax to variable section in lesskey files.
33
34* Allow option name in -- command to end with '=' in addition to '\n'.
35
36* Add $HOME/.config to possible locations of lesskey file (github #153).
37
38* Add $XDG_STATE_HOME and $HOME/.local/state to possible locations
39  of history file (github #223).
40
41* Don't read or write history file in secure mode (github #201).
42
43* Fix display of multibyte and double-width chars in prompt.
44
45* Fix ESC-BACKSPACE command when BACKSPACE key does not send 0x08
46  (github #188).
47
48* Add more \k codes to lesskey format.
49
50* Fix bug when empty file is modified while viewing it.
51
52* Fix bug when parsing a malformed lesskey file (githb #234).
53
54* Fix bug scrolling history when --incsearch is set (github #214).
55
56* Fix buffer overflow when invoking lessecho with more than 63 -m/-n
57  options (github #198).
58
59* Fix buffer overflow in bin_file (github #271).
60
61* Fix bug restoring color at end of highlighted text.
62
63* Fix bug in parsing lesskey file.
64
65* Defer moving cursor to lower left in some more cases.
66
67* Suppress TAB filename expansion in some cases where it doesn't make sense.
68
69* Fix termlib detection when compiler doesn't accept
70  calls to undeclared functions.
71
72* Fix bug in input of non-ASCII characters on Windows (github #247)
73
74* Escape filenames when invoking LESSCLOSE.
75
76* Fix bug using multibyte UTF-8 char in search string
77  with --incsearch (github #273).
78
79======================================================================
80
81	Major changes between "less" versions 581 and 590
82
83* Make less able to read lesskey source files (deprecating lesskey).
84
85* If XDG_CONFIG_HOME is set, find lesskey source file
86  in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/lesskey rather than $HOME/.lesskey.
87
88* If XDG_DATA_HOME is set, find and store history file
89  in $XDG_DATA_HOME/lesshst rather than $HOME/.lesshst.
90
91* Add the --lesskey-src option.
92
93* Add the --file-size option.
94
95* With -F, if screen is resized to make file fit on one screen, don't exit.
96
97* Fix bug which could leave terminal in mouse-reporting mode
98  after exiting less.
99
100* Fix bug which caused failure to respond to window resize.
101
102* Fix backslash bug searching in tag file.
103
104======================================================================
105
106	Major changes between "less" versions 563 and 581
107
108* Change ESC-u command to toggle, not disable, highlighting per man page.
109
110* Add ESC-U command.
111
112* Add ctrl-W search modifier for wrapping search.
113
114* F command can be interrupted by ^X.
115
116* Support OSC 8 hyperlinks when -R is in effect.
117
118* g command with no number will ignore -j and put first line at top of screen.
119
120* Multiple + or -p command line options are handled better.
121
122* Add the --incsearch option.
123
124* Add the --line-num-width option.
125
126* Add the --status-col-width option.
127
128* Add the --use-color and --color options.
129
130* Display -w highlight even if highlighted line is empty.
131
132* If search result is in a long line, scroll to ensure it is visible.
133
134* Editing the same file under different names now creates only
135  one entry in the file list.
136
137* Make visual bell more visible on some terminals.
138
139* Ring end-of-file bell no more than once per second.
140
141* Build can use either Python or Perl for Makefile.aut operations.
142
143* Fix crash when using the @ search modifier.
144
145* Fix crash in the 's' command due to duplicate free.
146
147* Fix realpath crash on Darwin.
148
149======================================================================
150
151	Major changes between "less" versions 551 and 563
152
153* Update Unicode tables.
154
155* Treat Hangul Jamo medial vowels and final consonants as zero width.
156
157* Display error message immediately when -o is toggled and
158  input is not a pipe.
159
160* Fix regression: make screen repaint when "squished" and
161  a no-movement command is given.
162
163* Fix erroneous EOF calculation when F command is interrupted.
164
165* Make WIN32C version include this fix from 551:
166  Don't count lines in initial screen if using -X with -F.
167
168* Fix display bug in WIN32C version.
169
170* Fix memory corruption when built with libtermcap.
171
172* Support libtinfow.
173
174======================================================================
175
176	Major changes between "less" versions 530 and 551
177
178* Add --mouse option.
179
180* Add --wheel-lines option.
181
182* Add --no-histdups option.
183
184* Add --save-marks option.
185
186* Support PCRE2 regular expression library.
187
188* Redraw screen on SIGWINCH even if screen size doesn't change.
189
190* Shell-escape filenames in history so they can be used again.
191
192* Ring bell if user enters invalid long option name.
193
194* Use PCRE_UTF8 flag for pcre regular expressions when in UTF-8 mode.
195
196* Windows: use wide-char string to set console title.
197
198* Don't count lines in initial screen if using -X with -F.
199
200* Support mingw build system.
201
202* Fix bug in v command on empty file.
203
204* Fix bug in v command when filename contains shell metacharacters.
205
206======================================================================
207
208	Major changes between "less" versions 487 and 530
209
210* Don't output terminal init sequence if using -F and file fits on one screen.
211
212* When using -S, mark truncated lines with a special character.
213  The character can be changed or disabled via the new --rscroll option.
214
215* New command M marks the last line displayed on the screen.
216
217* New command ESC-m removes a line mark.
218
219* Status column (enabled via -J) now shows mark letters.
220
221* Status column shows search matches even if highlighting is disabled via -G.
222
223* A second ESC-u command will clear search match markers in the status column.
224
225* Do same ANSI escape code filtering for tag matching that we do for
226  searching, to help when viewing syntax-highlighted code.
227
228* Catch SIGTERM and clean up before exiting.
229
230* Fix bug initializing default charset on Windows.
231
232* Handle keypad ENTER key correctly if it sends something other than newline.
233
234* Fix buffering bug when using stdin with a LESSOPEN pipe.
235
236* On Windows, allow 'u' in -D option to enable underlining.
237
238* On Windows, use underline in sgr mode.
239
240* On Windows, convert UTF-8 to multibyte if console is not UTF-8.
241
242* Update Unicode tables to 2017-03-08.
243
244* Pass-thru Unicode formating chars (Cf type) instead of treating them
245  as binary chars. But treat them as binary if -U is set.
246
247* Fix erroneous binary file warning when UTF-8 file contains ANSI SGR sequences.
248
249* Fix bugs when using LESSOPEN and switching between stdin and other files.
250
251* Fix some bugs handling filenames containing shell metacharacters.
252
253* Fix some memory leaks.
254
255* Allow some debugging environment variables to be set in lesskey file.
256
257* Code improvements:
258  . Use ANSI prototypes in funcs.h declarations.
259  . Fix some const mismatches.
260  . Remove archaic "register" in variable declarations.
261
262======================================================================
263
264	Major changes between "less" versions 481 and 487
265
266* New commands ESC-{ and ESC-} to shift to start/end of displayed lines.
267
268* Make search highlights work correctly when changing caselessness with -i.
269
270* New option -Da in Windows version to enable SGR mode.
271
272* Fix "nothing to search" error when top or bottom line on screen is empty.
273
274* Fix bug when terminal has no "cm" termcap entry.
275
276* Fix incorrect display when entering double-width chars in search string.
277
278* Fix bug in Unicode handling that missed some double width characters.
279
280* Update Unicode database to 9.0.0.
281
282======================================================================
283
284	Major changes between "less" versions 458 and 481
285
286* Don't overwrite history file; just append to it.
287
288* New command ESC-G goes to end of currently buffered data in a pipe.
289
290* Disable history feature when compiled with LESSHISTFILE set to "-".
291
292* In more-compatible mode, make the -p option apply to every file opened,
293  not just the first one.
294
295* In more-compatible mode, change the -e option to work like -E, not -EF.
296
297* Treat multiple CRs before LF are like one CR (all the CRs are hidden).
298
299* Allow "extra" string in lesskey file to append to a multi-char command
300  (like a search pattern), without executing the command.
301
302* Ignore -u/-U setting while viewing help file, so that
303  underline and bold chars are displayed correctly.
304
305* Improve detection of "binary" files in UTF-8 mode.
306
307* Fix bug with ++ commands.
308
309* Fix bug where prompt was sometimes not displayed with +G.
310
311* Fix possible memory corruption
312
313* Fix bugs and improve performance in ampersand filtering.
314
315* Automate construction of Unicode tables from Unicode database.
316
317* Allow %% escape sequence in LESSOPEN variable.
318
319======================================================================
320
321	Major changes between "less" versions 451 and 458
322
323* Allow backslash escaping of metacharacters in LESS environment variable
324  after the --use-backslash option.
325
326* Don't quit if syntax errors are found in command line options.
327
328* Increase sizes of some internal buffers.
329
330* Fix configure bug with --with-regex=none.
331
332* Fix crash with "stty rows 0".
333
334* Fix Win32 attribute display bug.
335
336* Fix display bug when using up/down arrow on the command line.
337
338======================================================================
339
340	Major changes between "less" versions 444 and 451
341
342* Add ESC-F command to keep reading data until a pattern is found.
343
344* Use exit code of LESSOPEN script if LESSOPEN starts with "||".
345
346* When up/down arrow is used on the command line immediately after
347  typing text, the next command starting with that text is found.
348
349* Add support for GNU regex.
350
351* Add configure option --with-regex=none and fix compile errors
352  when compiling with no regex library.
353
354* Fix bugs handling SGR sequences in Win32.
355
356* Fix possible crashes caused by malformed LESSOPEN or
357  LESSCLOSE variables.
358
359* Fix bug highlighting text which is discontiguous in the file
360  due to backspace processing.
361
362* Fix bug in displaying status column when scrolling backwards
363  with -J and -S in effect.
364
365======================================================================
366
367	Major changes between "less" versions 443 and 444
368
369* Fix bug in unget handling that can cause strange effects on the
370  command line.
371
372* Remove vestiges of obsolete -l option that can cause a crash.
373
374======================================================================
375
376	Major changes between "less" versions 436 and 443
377
378* Change search behavior such that when a search is given an explicit
379  pattern, the entire displayed screen is included in the search and
380  not just the portion after the target line.
381
382* Add -A option to change search behavior to the old way: only
383  the portion of the screen after the target line is searched.
384
385* Add %F formatting to prompt strings, replaced by the last component
386  of the input file.
387
388* Control-G while editing a command exits the command.
389
390* Less now exits with status 2 if control-C is pressed and -K is in effect.
391
392* Fix "ungetc overflow" when passing long commands via the -p option.
393
394* Fix bug in using line filtering via the & command
395  in combination with -i and -I.
396
397* Fix bug in handling negative arguments to the -j option.
398
399* Fix bug in handling %t in prompt strings.
400
401* Improve handling of long option names.
402
403* Improve percentage calculation for very large files.
404
405======================================================================
406
407	Major changes between "less" versions 429 and 436
408
409* Don't pass "-" to non-pipe LESSOPEN unless it starts with "-".
410
411* Allow a fraction as the argument to the -# (--shift) option.
412
413* Fix highlight bug when underlined/overstruck text matches at end of line.
414
415* Fix non-regex searches with ctrl-R.
416
417======================================================================
418
419	Major changes between "less" versions 424 and 429
420
421* LESSOPEN pipe will now be used on standard input, if the LESSOPEN
422  environment variable begins with "|-".
423
424* The -D option with one number now means use the normal background color.
425
426* Don't change permissions on history file if it is not a regular file.
427
428* Fix non-ANSI-compliant code that caused problems with some compilers.
429
430* Fix binary file detection in UTF-8 mode.
431
432* Fix display problems with long lines on "ignaw" terminals.
433
434* Fix problem interrupting the line number calculation for initial prompt.
435
436* Fix SGR emulation when dealing with multiple attributes (eg. bold+underline).
437
438* Fix highlight bug when searching for underlined/overstruck text.
439
440======================================================================
441
442	Major changes between "less" versions 418 and 424
443
444* New "&" command allows filtering of lines based on a pattern.
445
446* Status column now displays a search match, even if the matched
447  string is scrolled off screen because -S is in effect.
448
449* Improve behavior of -F option.
450
451* Allow CSI character (0x9B) to work in UTF-8 mode.
452
453* Output carriage return at startup in case terminal doesn't default
454  to column 1.
455
456* Fix bug in '' (quote, quote) command after G command.
457
458======================================================================
459
460	Major changes between "less" versions 416 and 418
461
462* Color escape sequences are now supported in WIN32 build.
463
464* Makefile now uses EXEEXT feature of autoconf.
465
466* Fix search bug when using -R and text contains ANSI color escape sequences.
467
468* Fix crash when using -r with UTF-8 text containing 0x9B bytes.
469
470* Fix display bug when using ' command to move less than one page forward.
471
472* Update GPL to version 3.
473
474======================================================================
475
476	Major changes between "less" versions 409 and 416
477
478* New --follow-name option makes F command follow the name of a file
479  rather than the file descriptor if an open file is renamed.
480
481* Make searching with -i/-I work correctly with non-ASCII text.
482
483* Fix DJGPP build.
484
485======================================================================
486
487	Major changes between "less" versions 406 and 409
488
489* Support CSI escape sequences, like SGR escape sequences.
490
491* Fix bug which caused screen to fail to repaint when window is resized.
492
493* Fix bug in using -i and -I flags with non-ASCII text.
494
495* Fix configure bug on systems which don't support langinfo.h.
496
497* Fix crash when searching text containing certain invalid UTF-8 sequences.
498
499======================================================================
500
501	Major changes between "less" versions 394 and 406
502
503* Allow decimal point in number for % (percent) command.
504
505* Allow decimal point in number for -j option (fraction of screen height).
506
507* Make n command fetch previous pattern from history file on first search.
508
509* Don't rewrite history file if it has not changed.
510
511* Don't move to bottom of screen on first page.
512
513* Don't output extraneous newlines, so copy & pasting lines from the
514  output works better.
515
516* The -c option has been made identical with the -C option.
517
518* Allow "/dev/null" as synomym for "-" in LESSHISTFILE to indicate
519  that no history file should be used.
520
521* Search can now find text which follows a null byte, if the PCRE
522  library is used, or if no-regex searching (ctrl-R) is used.
523
524* Better compatibility with POSIX more specification.
525
526* Make -f work for directories.
527
528* Make "t" cmd traverse tags in the correct order.
529
530* Allow a few binary characters in the input file before warning
531  that the file is binary.
532
533* Don't warn that file is binary if it merely contains ANSI color sequences
534  and -R is in effect.
535
536* Update Unicode character tables.
537
538* Support DESTDIR in Makefile.
539
540* Fix bug when filename contains certain shell metacharacters such as "$".
541
542* Fix bug when resizing the window while waiting for input from a pipe.
543
544* Fix configure bugs.
545
546======================================================================
547
548	Major changes between "less" versions 382 and 394
549
550* Add history file to save search and shell command history between
551  invocations of less.
552
553* Improve behavior of history list for search and shell commands.
554
555* Add -K (or --quit-on-intr) option to make less exit immediately on ctrl-C.
556
557* Improve handling of UTF-8 files and commands, including better
558  line wrapping and handling double-width chars.
559
560* Added LESSUTFBINFMT environment variable to control display of
561  non-printable characters in a UTF-8 file.
562
563* Add --with-secure option to configure, to make it easier to
564  build a secure version of less.
565
566* Show search matches in the status column even if search highlights
567  are disabled via the -G option or the ESC-u command.
568
569* Improve performance when the file contains very long lines.
570
571* Add "windows" charset.
572
573* Add man page for lessecho.
574
575* Add support for erase2 character, treated same as erase.
576
577* Use ASCII lowercase/uppercase logic when operating on the command line.
578
579* Update makefile for Borland C++ 5.5.1.
580
581* Fix bug in calculating number of pages for %D prompt.
582
583* Fix bug in handling tag file error.
584
585* Fix obscure bug if input file is deleted while viewing help.
586
587* Fix bug handling filenames which include square brackets.
588
589* Fix possible buffer overflow in "global" tag search.
590
591* Fix possible buffer overflow in usage of LESSOPEN and LESSCLOSE.
592
593* Fix buffer overflow in reverse search.
594
595======================================================================
596
597	Major changes between "less" versions 381 and 382
598
599* Removed some old copyrighted code.
600  This probably breaks OS/9 support.
601
602======================================================================
603
604	Major changes between "less" versions 378 and 381
605
606* New -L option to disable LESSOPEN processing.
607
608* Further support for large (64 bit) file addressing.
609  Large file support is now set up by the configure script.
610
611* Use autoconf 2.54.
612  Replace configure.in, acconfig.h, defines.h.top with configure.ac.
613
614* Overstriking underscore with underscore is now bold or underlined
615  depending on context.
616
617* Use only 7 spaces for line numbers in -N mode, if possible.
618
619* Fix some bugs in handling overstriking in UTF-8 files.
620
621* Fix some nroff issues in the man page.
622
623======================================================================
624
625	Major changes between "less" versions 376 and 378
626
627* Bug fixes:
628  Default buffer space is now 64K as documented.
629  Search highlighting works properly when used with -R.
630  Windows version works properly when input file contains carriage returns.
631  Clean up some compiler warnings.
632
633======================================================================
634
635	Major changes between "less" versions 358 and 376
636
637* -x option can now specify multiple variable-width tab stops.
638
639* -X option no longer disables keypad initialization.
640  New option --no-keypad disables keypad initialization.
641
642* New commands t and T step through multiple tag matches.
643  Added support for "global(1)" tags
644  (see http://www.gnu.org/software/global/global.html).
645
646* New prompt style set by option -Pw defines the message printed
647  while waiting for data in the F command.
648
649* System-wide lesskey file now defaults to sysless in etc directory
650  instead of .sysless in bin directory.
651  Use "configure --sysconfdir=..." to change it.
652  (For backwards compatibility, .sysless in bin is still recognized.)
653
654* Pressing RightArrow or LeftArrow while entering a number now shifts
655  the display N columns rather than editing the number itself.
656
657* Status column (enabled with -J) now shows search results.
658
659* Windows version sets window title.
660
661* Default LESSCHARSET for MS-DOS versions is now "dos".
662
663* Searching works better with ANSI (SGR) escape sequences.
664  ANSI color escape sequences are now supported in the MS-DOS (DJGPP) version.
665
666* Improved performance in reading very large pipes.
667
668* Eliminated some dependencies on file offets being 32 bits.
669
670* Fixed problems when viewing files with very long lines.
671
672* Fixed overstriking in UTF-8 mode, and overstriking tabs.
673
674* Improved horizontal shifting of text using -R option with ANSI color.
675
676* Improved handling of filenames containing shell metacharacters.
677
678* Some fixes for EBCDIC systems.
679
680* Some fixes for OS/2 systems.
681
682======================================================================
683
684	Major changes between "less" versions 354 and 358
685
686* Add -J (--status-column) option to display a status column.
687
688* Add -# (--shift) option to set default horizontal shift distance.
689  Default horizontal shift distance is now one-half screen width.
690
691* Horizontal shifting does not shift line numbers if -N is in effect.
692
693* Horizontal shifting acts as though -S were set, to avoid confusion.
694
695======================================================================
696
697
698	Major changes between "less" versions 352 and 354
699
700* Allow space after numeric-valued command line options.
701
702* Fix problem with configuring terminal libraries on some systems.
703
704* Add support for PCRE regular expression library.
705
706* Add --with-regex option to configure to allow manually selecting
707  a regular expression library.
708
709* Fix bug compiling with SECURE = 1.
710
711======================================================================
712
713
714	Major changes between "less" versions 346 and 352
715
716* Enable UTF-8 if "UTF-8" appears in locale-related environment variables.
717
718* Add --with-editor option to configure script.
719
720* The -M prompt and = message now show the top and bottom line number.
721
722* Fix bug in running the editor on a file whose name contains quotes, etc.
723
724* Fix bug in horizontal scrolling of long lines.
725
726* Fix bug in doing :d on a file which contains marks.
727
728* Fix bug causing cleared lines to sometimes be filled with standout,
729  bold, underline, etc. on certain terminals.
730
731* Fixes for MS-DOS (DJGPP) version.
732
733======================================================================
734
735
736	Major changes between "less" versions 340 and 346
737
738* The UTF-8 character set is now supported.
739
740* The default character set is now latin1 rather than ascii.
741
742* New option -R (--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS) is like -r but handles
743  long (wrapped) lines correctly, as long as the input contains only
744  normal text and ANSI color escape sequences.
745
746* New option -F (--quit-if-one-screen) quits if the text fits on
747  the first screen.
748
749* The -w option now highlights the target line of a g or p command.
750
751* A system-wide lesskey file is supported (LESSKEY_SYSTEM).
752
753* New escape for prompt strings: %c is replaced by column number.
754
755* New escape for prompt strings: %P is replaced by percentage into
756  file, based on line number rather than byte offset.
757
758* HOME and END keys now jump to beginning of file or end of file.
759
760======================================================================
761
762
763	Major changes between "less" versions 337 and 340
764
765* Command line options for less may now be given in either the old
766  single-letter form, or a new long name form (--option-name).
767  See the less man page or "less --help" for the list of long option names.
768
769* Command line options for lesskey may now be given in a new long name
770  form.  See the lesskey man page for the list of long option names.
771
772* New command -- toggles an option using the long option name.
773
774* New command __ queries an option using the long option name.
775
776* The old -- command is renamed as -!.
777
778* If a ^P is entered between the dash and the option letter of the -
779  command, the message describing the new setting is suppressed.
780
781* Lesskey files may now contain \k escape sequences to represent the
782  "special" keys (arrows, PAGE-UP/PAGE-DOWN, HOME, END, INSERT, DELETE).
783
784* New command :d removes the current file from the list of files.
785
786* New option -~ (like -w before version 335)
787  suppresses tildes after end-of-file.
788
789* Less is now released under the GNU General Public License.
790
791======================================================================
792
793
794	Major changes between "less" versions 335 and 337
795
796* Fixed bugs in "make install".
797
798======================================================================
799
800
801	Major changes between "less" versions 332 and 335
802
803* The old -w flag (suppress tildes after end-of-file) has been removed.
804
805* New -w flag highlights the first new line after a forward-screen.
806
807* New -W flag highlights the first new line after any forward movement.
808
809* Window resize works even if LINES and/or COLUMNS environment
810  variables are incorrect.
811
812* New percent escapes for prompt strings:
813  %d is replaced by the page number, and
814  %D is replaced by the number of pages in the file.
815
816* Added charsets "iso8859" and "ebcdic".
817
818* In Windows version, uses HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH if HOME is not defined.
819
820* Fixed some bugs causing incorrect display on DOS/Windows.
821
822======================================================================
823
824
825	Major changes between "less" versions 330 and 332
826
827* Filenames from the command line are entered into the command history,
828  so UPARROW/DOWNARROW can be used to retrieve them from the :e command.
829
830* Now works correctly on Windows when using a scrolling terminal
831  window (buffer larger than display window).
832
833* On Windows, now restores the console screen on exit.
834  Use -X to get the old behavior.
835
836* Fixed bug on Windows when CAPS-LOCK or NUM-LOCK is pressed.
837
838* Fixed bug on Windows when piping output of an interactive program.
839
840* Fixed bug in tags file processing when tags file has DOS-style
841  line terminators (CR/LF).
842
843* Fixed compilation problem on OS/2.
844
845======================================================================
846
847
848	Major changes between "less" versions 321 and 330
849
850* Now supports filenames containing spaces (in double quotes).
851  New option -" can be used to change the quoting characters.
852
853* In filename completion, a slash is appended to a directory name.
854  If the environment variable LESSSEPARATOR is set, the value of
855  that variable, rather than a slash, is appended.
856
857* LeftArrow and RightArrow are same as ESC-[ and ESC-].
858
859* Added commands ESC-( and ESC-), same as ESC-[ and ESC-].
860
861* A "quit" command defined in a lesskey file may now have an "extra"
862  string, which is used to return an exit code from less when it quits.
863
864* New environment variables LESSMETACHARS and LESSMETAESCAPE provide
865  more control over how less interfaces to the shell.
866
867* Ported to Microsoft Visual C compiler for Windows.
868
869* Ported to DJGPP compiler for MS-DOS.
870
871* Bug fixes.
872
873======================================================================
874
875
876	Major changes between "less" versions 291 and 321
877
878* Command line at bottom of screen now scrolls, so it can be longer
879  than the screen width.
880
881* New commands ESC-] and ESC-[ scroll the display horizontally.
882
883* New command ESC-SPACE scrolls forward a full screen, even if it
884  hits end-of-file.
885
886* Alternate modifiers for search commands: ^N is same as !,
887  ^F is same as @, and ^E is same as *.
888
889* New modifier for search commands: ^K means highlight the matches
890  currently on-screen, but don't move to the first match.
891
892* New modifier for search commands: ^R means don't use regular
893  expressions in the search.
894
895* Environment variable LESSKEY gives name of default lesskey file.
896
897* Environment variable LESSSECURE will force less to run in
898  "secure" mode.
899
900* Command line argument "--" signals that the rest of the arguments
901  are files (not option flags).
902
903* Help file (less.hlp) is no longer installed.  Help text is now
904  embedded in the less executable itself.
905
906* Added -Ph to change the prompt for the help text.
907  Added -Ps to change the default short prompt (same as plain -P).
908
909* Ported to the Borland C compiler for MS-DOS.
910
911* Ported to Windows 95 & Windows NT.
912
913* Ported to OS-9.
914
915* Ported to GNU Hurd.
916
917======================================================================
918
919
920	Major changes between "less" versions 290 and 291
921
922* Less environment variables can be specified in lesskey files.
923
924* Fixed MS-DOS build.
925
926======================================================================
927
928
929	Major changes between "less" versions 278 and 290
930
931* Accepts GNU-style options "--help" and "--version".
932
933* OS/2 version looks for less.ini in $HOME before $INIT and $PATH.
934
935* Bug fixes
936
937======================================================================
938
939
940	Major changes between "less" versions 252 and 278
941
942* A LESSOPEN preprocessor may now pipe the converted file data to less,
943  rather than writing it to a temporary file.
944
945* Search pattern highlighting has been fixed.  It now highlights
946  reliably, even if a string is split across two screen lines,
947  contains TABs, etc.
948
949* The -F flag (which suppress search highlighting) has been changed
950  to -G.  A new flag, -g, changes search highlighting to highlight
951  only the string found by the last search command, instead of all
952  strings which match the last search command.
953
954* New flag -I acts like -i, but ignores case even if the search
955  pattern contains uppercase letters.
956
957* Less now checks for the environment variable VISUAL before EDITOR.
958
959* Ported to OS/2.
960
961======================================================================
962
963
964	Major changes between "less" versions 237 and 252
965
966* Changes in line-editing keys:
967  The literal key is now ^V or ^A rather than \ (backslash).
968  Filename completion commands (TAB and ^L) are disabled
969  when typing a search pattern.
970
971* Line-editing command keys can be redefined using lesskey.
972
973* Lesskey with no input file defaults to $HOME/.lesskey
974  rather than standard input.
975
976* New option -V displays version number of less.
977
978* New option -V displays version number of lesskey.
979
980* Help file less.hlp is now installed by default in /usr/local/share
981  rather than /usr/local/lib.
982
983
984======================================================================
985
986
987	Major changes between "less" versions 170 and 237
988
989* By popular demand, text which matches the current search pattern
990  is highlighted.  New -F flag disables this feature.
991
992* Henry Spencer's regexp.c is now included, for systems which do not
993  have a regular expression library.
994  regexp.c is Copyright (c) 1986 by University of Toronto.
995
996* New line-editing keys, including command history (arrow keys) and
997  filename completion (TAB).
998
999* Input preprocessor allows modification of input files (e.g. uncompress)
1000  via LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE environment variables.
1001
1002* New -X flag disables sending termcap "ti" and "te" (initialize and
1003  deinitialize) strings to the terminal.
1004
1005* Changing -i from within less now correctly affects a subsequent
1006  repeated search.
1007
1008* Searching for underlined or overstruck text now works when the -u
1009  flag is in effect, rather than the -i flag.
1010
1011* Use setlocale (LANG and LC_CTYPE environment variables) to determine
1012  the character set if LESSCHARSET/LESSCHARDEF are not set.
1013
1014* The default format for displaying binary characters is now standout
1015  (reverse video) rather than blinking.  This can still be changed by
1016  setting the LESSBINFMT environment variable.
1017
1018* Use autoconf installation technology.
1019
1020* Ported to MS-DOS.
1021
1022        ********************************
1023          Things that may surprise you
1024        ********************************
1025
1026* When you enter text at the bottom of the screen (search string,
1027  filename, etc.), some keys act different than previously.
1028  Specifically, \ (backslash), ESC, TAB, BACKTAB, and control-L
1029  now have line editing functions.
1030
1031* Some previous unofficial versions of less were able to display
1032  compressed files.  The new LESSOPEN/LESSCLOSE feature now provides
1033  this functionality in a different way.
1034
1035* Some previous unofficial versions of less provided a -Z flag to
1036  set the number of lines of text to retain between full screen scrolls.
1037  The -z-n flag (that is, -z with a negative number) provides this
1038  functionality.
1039
1040
1041======================================================================
1042
1043
1044	Major changes between "less" versions 123 and 170
1045
1046* New option -j allows target lines to be positioned anywhere on screen.
1047
1048* New option -S truncates displayed line at the screen width,
1049  rather than wrapping onto the next line.
1050
1051* New option -y limits amount of forward scroll.
1052
1053* New option -T specifies a "tags" file.
1054
1055* Non-printable, non-control characters are displayed in octal.
1056  Such characters, as well as control characters, are displayed
1057  in blinking mode.
1058
1059* New command -+ sets an option to its default.
1060* New command -- sets an option to the opposite of its default.
1061
1062* Lesskey file may have a string appended to a key's action,
1063  which acts as though typed in after the command.
1064
1065* New commands ESC-^F and ESC-^B match arbitrary types of brackets.
1066
1067* New command F monitors a growing file (like "tail -f").
1068
1069* New command | pipes a section of the input file into a shell command.
1070
1071* New command :x directly jumps to a file in the command line list.
1072
1073* Search commands have been enhanced and reorganized:
1074	n	Repeat search, same direction.
1075	N	Repeat search, opposite direction.
1076	ESC-/	Search forward thru file boundaries
1077	ESC-?	Search backward thru file boundaries
1078	ESC-n	Repeat search thru file boundaries, same direction.
1079	ESC-N	Repeat search thru file boundaries, opposite direction.
1080  Special character * causes search to search thru file boundaries.
1081  Special character @ causes search to begin at start/end of file list.
1082
1083* Examining a new file adds it to the command line list.
1084  A list of files, or an expression which matches more than one file,
1085  may be examined; all of them are added to the command line list.
1086
1087* Environment variables LESSCHARSET and LESSCHARDEF can define
1088  a non-ASCII character set.
1089
1090* Partial support for MSDOS, including options -R for repainting screen
1091  on quit, -v/-V to select video mode, and -W to change window size.
1092
1093
1094======================================================================
1095
1096
1097	Major changes between "less" versions 97 and 123
1098
1099* New option (-N) causes line numbers to be displayed in the
1100  text of the file (like vi "set nu").
1101
1102* New option (-?) prints help message immediately.
1103
1104* New option (-r) displays "raw" control characters, without
1105  mapping them to ^X notation.
1106
1107* New option (-f) forces less to open non-regular files
1108  (directories, etc).
1109
1110* New option (-k) can be used to specify lesskey files by name.
1111
1112* New option (-y) can be used to set a forward scroll limit
1113  (like -h sets a backward scroll limit).
1114
1115* File marks (set by the m command) are now preserved when a new
1116  file is edited.  The ' command can thus be used to switch files.
1117
1118* New command ESC-/ searches all files (on the command line)
1119  for a pattern.
1120
1121* New command ESC-n repeats previous search, spanning files.
1122
1123* The N command has been changed to repeat the previous search
1124  in the reverse direction.  The old N command is still available
1125  via :n.
1126
1127* New command ESC-N repeats previous search in the reverse
1128  direction and spanning files.
1129
1130* 8 bit characters are now supported.  A new option (-g) can be
1131  used to strip off the eighth bit (the previous behavior).
1132
1133* Options which take a following string (like -t) may now
1134  optionally have a space between the option letter and the string.
1135
1136* Six new commands { } ( ) [ and ] can be used to match
1137  brackets of specific types, similar to vi % command.
1138
1139* New commands z and w move forward/backward one window and
1140  simultaneously set the window size.
1141
1142* Prompt string expansion now has %L for line number of the last
1143  line in the file, and %E for the name of the editor.
1144  Also, % escapes which refer to a line (b=bottom, t=top, etc.)
1145  can use j for the jump target line.
1146
1147* New environment variable LESSEDIT can be used to tailor the
1148  command string passed to the editor by the v command.
1149
1150* Examining a file which was previously examined will return
1151  to the same position in the file.
1152
1153* A "%" is expanded to the current filename and a "#" to the
1154  previous filename, in both shell commands and the E command.
1155  (Previously % worked only in shell commands and # worked
1156  only in the E command.)
1157
1158* New command ":ta" is equivalent to "-t".
1159
1160* New command "s" is equivalent to "-l".
1161
1162* The - command may be followed by "+X" to revert to the default
1163  for option X, or "-X" to get the opposite of the default.
1164
1165* Lesskey files may now include characters after the action as
1166  extra input to be parsed after the action; for example:
1167  "toggle-option X" to toggle a specific option X.
1168
1169
1170
1171
1172
1173