NAME

       pg - browse pagewise through text files

SYNOPSIS

       pg [-number] [-p string] [-cefnrs] [+line] [+/pattern/] [file...]

DESCRIPTION

       pg  displays  a  text  file on a CRT one screenful at once.  After each page, a prompt is displayed.  The
       user may then either press the newline key to view the next page or one of the keys described below.

       If no filename is given on the command line, pg reads from standard input.  If standard output is  not  a
       terminal, pg acts like cat(1) but precedes each file with its name if there is more than one.

       If  input  comes  from  a  pipe,  pg  stores  the  data in a buffer file while reading to make navigation
       possible.

OPTIONS

       pg accepts the following options:

       -number
              The number of lines per page.  Usually, this is the number of CRT lines minus one.

       -c     Clear the screen before a page is displayed, if the terminfo entry for the terminal provides  this
              capability.

       -e     Do not pause and display (EOF) at the end of a file.

       -f     Do not split long lines.

       -n     Without  this  option,  commands  must be terminated by a newline character.  With this option, pg
              advances once a command letter is entered.

       -p string
              Instead of the normal prompt :, string is displayed.  If string contains %d, its first  occurrence
              is replaced by the number of the current page.

       -r     Disallow the shell escape.

       -s     Print messages in standout mode, if the terminfo entry for the terminal provides this capability.

       +number
              Start at the given line.

       +/pattern/
              Start at the line containing the Basic Regular Expression pattern given.

USAGE

       The  following  commands  may be entered at the prompt.  Commands preceded by i in this document accept a
       number as argument, positive or negative.  If this argument  starts  with  +  or  -,  it  is  interpreted
       relative to the current position in the input file, otherwise relative to the beginning.

       i<newline>
              Display the next or the indicated page.

       id or ^D
              Display  the  next  halfpage.   If  i  is  given, it is always interpreted relative to the current
              position.

       il     Display the next or the indicated line.

       if     Skip a page forward.  i must be a positive number  and  is  always  interpreted  relative  to  the
              current position.

       iw or iz
              Behave as <newline> except that i becomes the new page size.

       . or ^L
              Redraw the screen.

       $      Advance to the last line of the input file.

       i/pattern/
              Search  forward  until the first or the i-th occurrence of the Basic Regular Expression pattern is
              found.  The search starts after the current page and stops at the end of the file.  No wrap-around
              is performed.  i must be a positive number.

       i?pattern? or i^pattern^
              Search backward until the first or the i-th occurrence of the Basic Regular Expression pattern  is
              found.   The  search  starts  before  the current page and stops at the beginning of the file.  No
              wrap-around is performed.  i must be a positive number.

       The search commands accept an added letter.  If t is given, the line containing the pattern is  displayed
       at  the  top  of  the screen, which is the default.  m selects the middle and b the bottom of the screen.
       The selected position is used in following searches, too.

       in     Advance to the next file or i files forward.

       ip     Reread the previous file or i files backward.

       s filename
              Save the current file to the given filename.

       h      Display a command summary.

       !command
              Execute command using the shell.

       q or Q Quit.

       If the user presses the interrupt or quit key while pg reads  from  the  input  file  or  writes  on  the
       terminal, pg will immediately display the prompt.  In all other situations these keys will terminate pg.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       The following environment variables affect the behaviour of pg:

       COLUMNS
              Overrides the system-supplied number of columns if set.

       LANG, LC_ALL, LC_COLLATE, LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES
              See locale(7).

       LINES  Overrides the system-supplied number of lines if set.

       SHELL  Used by the ! command.

       TERM   Determines the terminal type.

SEE ALSO

       cat(1), more(1), sh(1), terminfo(5), locale(7), regex(7), term(7)

NOTES

       pg expects the terminal tabulators to be set every eight positions.

       Files that include NUL characters cannot be displayed by pg.

AVAILABILITY

       The    pg    command    is    part    of    the    util-linux    package    and    is    available   from
       ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.

util-linux                                         April 2001                                              PG(1)