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/.