NAME

       pg - browse pagewise through text files

SYNOPSIS

       pg [-amount] [-p prompt] [-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
              Start at the given line number.

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

       -number
              The number of lines per page.  By default, 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.

       -V, --version
              Disaplay version information and exit.

       -h, --help
              Display help text and exit.

COMMANDS

       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<Enter>
              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
              As <Enter> 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 behavior 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/.