Provided by: most_5.0.0a-4_amd64 bug

NAME

       most - browse or page through a text file

SYNOPSIS

       most [-1bCcdMstuvwz] [+lineno] [+c] [+d] [+s] [+u] [+/string] [filename...]

DESCRIPTION

       most  is  a  paging program that displays, one windowful at a time, the contents of a file on a terminal.
       It pauses after each windowful and prints on the window status line the screen  the  file  name,  current
       line number, and the percentage of the file so far displayed.

       Unlike  other  paging  programs,  most is capable of displaying an arbitrary number of windows as long as
       each window occupies at least two screen lines.  Each window may contain the same  file  or  a  different
       file.   In  addition,  each window has its own mode.  For example, one window may display a file with its
       lines wrapped while another may be truncating the lines.  Windows may be `locked' together in  the  sense
       that  if  one  of  the  locked  windows scrolls, all locked windows will scroll.  most is also capable of
       ignoring lines that are indented beyond a user specified value.  This is  useful  when  viewing  computer
       programs to pick out gross features of the code.  See the `:o' command for a description of this feature.

       In  addition  to displaying ordinary text files, most can also display binary files as well as files with
       arbitrary ascii characters.  When a file is read into a buffer, most examines the first 32 bytes  of  the
       file  to determine if the file is a binary file and then switches to the appropriate mode.  However, this
       feature may be disabled with the -k option.  See the description of the -b, -k, -v, and  -t  options  for
       further details.

       Text files may contain combinations of underscore and backspace characters causing a printer to underline
       or overstrike.  When most recognizes this, it inserts the appropriate escape  sequences  to  achieve  the
       desired  effect.   In  addition,  some files cause the printer to overstrike some characters by embedding
       carriage return characters in the middle of a line.  When  this  occurs,  most  displays  the  overstruck
       character  with  a  bold attribute.  This feature facilitates the reading of UNIX man pages or a document
       produced by runoff.  In particular, viewing this document  with  most  should  illustrate  this  behavior
       provided  that  the  underline  characters  have  not  been stripped.  This may be turned off with the -v
       option.

       By default, lines with more characters than the terminal width are not wrapped but are instead truncated.
       When  truncation  occurs, this is indicated by a `$' in the far right column of the terminal screen.  The
       RIGHT and LEFT arrow keys may be used to view lines which extend past the margins of the screen.  The  -w
       option  may be used to override this feature.  When a window is wrapped, the character `\' will appear at
       the right edge of the window.

       Commands are listed below.

OPTIONS

       -1     VT100 mode.  This is meaningful only on VMS systems.  This option should be used if  the  terminal
              is  strictly  a  VT100.   This  implies  that the terminal does not have the ability to delete and
              insert multiple lines.  VT102s and above have this ability.

       -b     Binary mode.  Use this switch when you want to view files containing 8 bit characters.  most  will
              display the file 16 bytes per line in hexadecimal notation.  A typical line looks like:

                   01000000 40001575 9C23A020 4000168D     ....@..u.#. @...

              When used with the -v option, the same line looks like:

                   ^A^@^@^@  @^@^U u 9C #A0    @^@^V8D     ....@..u.#. @...

       -C     Disable color support.

       -d     Omit the backslash mark used to denote a wrapped line.

       -M     Disable the use of mmap.

       -s     Squeeze.  Replace multiple blank lines with a single blank line.

       -z     option turns off gunzip-on-the-fly.

       -v     Display  control  characters  as  in `^A' for control A.  Normally most does not interpret control
              characters.

       -t     Display tabs as `^I'.  This option is meaningful only when used with the -v option.

       +lineno
              Start up at lineno.

       -c     Make searches case sensitive.  By default, they are not.

       -u     Disable UTF-8 mode even if the locale dictates it.

       +u     Force UTF-8 mode.  By default most will use the current locale to determine if UTF-8  mode  should
              be used.  The +u and -u switches allow the behavior to be overridden.

       +d     This  switch  should  only be used if you want the option to delete a file while viewing it.  This
              makes it easier to clean unwanted files out  of  a  directory.   The  file  is  deleted  with  the
              interactive key sequence `:D' and then confirming with `y'.

       +/string
              Start up at the line containing the first occurrence of string.

COMMAND USAGE

       Some  commands  have  an  optional  numeric  argument id ,entered before the command.   If not given, the
       default value of i is 1.

       Commands  take effect immediately; typing a RETURN after isn't necessary or  correct.   (Besides,  RETURN
       itself is a command.)

       Example:  to  go  down  one  line, press the DOWN_ARROW key. To go down 20 lines, press 2 then 0 then the
       DOWN_ARROW key.

       RETURN, DOWN_ARROW, V, CTRL-N
              Display another line, or i more lines, if specified.

       UP_ARROW, ^, CTRL-P
              Display previous line, or i previous lines, if specified.

       T, ESCAPE<
              Move to top of buffer.

       B, ESCAPE>
              Move to bottom of buffer.

       RIGHT_ARROW, TAB, >
              Scroll window left 60i columns to view lines that are beyond the right margin of the window.

       LEFT_ARROW, CTRL-B, <
              Scroll window right 60i columns to view lines that are beyond the left margin of the window.

       U, CTRL-U, DELETE, PREV_SCREEN
              Skip back i windowfuls and then print a windowful.

       R, CTRL-R
              Redraw the window.

       J, G   If i is not specified, then prompt for a line number then jump to that line otherwise just jump to
              line i.

       %      If  i  is  not  specified,  then prompt for a percent number then jump to that percent of the file
              otherwise just jump to i percent of the file.

       W, w   If the current screen width is 80, make it 132 and vice-versa.  For other values, this command  is
              ignored.

       Q, CTRL-X CTRL-C, CTRL-K E
              Exit from most.  On VMS, ^Z also exits.

       h, CTRL-H, HELP, PF2
              Help.   Give a description of all the most commands.  The most environment variable MOST_HELP must
              be set for this to be meaningful.

       f, /, CTRL-F, FIND, GOLD PF3
              Prompt for a string and search forward from the current line for ith distinct line containing  the
              string.  CTRL-G aborts.

       ?      Prompt  for  a string and search backward for the ith distinct line containing the string.  CTRL-G
              aborts.

       n      Search for the next i lines containing an occurrence of the last search string in the direction of
              the previous search.

       m, SELECT, CTRL-@, CTRL-K M, PERIOD
              Set a mark on the current line for later reference.

       INSERT_HERE, CTRL-X CTRL-X, COMMA, CTRL-K RETURN, GOLD PERIOD
              Set  a  mark on the current line but return to previous mark.  This allows the user to toggle back
              and forth between two positions in the file.

       l, L   Toggle locking for this window.  The window is locked if there is a `*' at the left  edge  of  the
              status line.  Windows locked together, scroll together.

       CTRL-X 2, CTRL-W 2, GOLD X
              Split this window in half.

       CTRL-X o, CTRL-W o, o, GOLD UP, GOLD DOWN
              Move to other window.

       CTRL-X 0, CTRL-W 0, GOLD V
              Delete this window.

       CTRL-X 1, CTRL-W 1, GOLD O
              Delete all other windows, leaving only one window.

       E, e   Edit this file.

       $, ESC $
              This  is  system  dependent.  On VMS, this causes most to spawn a subprocess.  When the user exits
              the process, most is resumed.  On UNIX systems, most simply suspends itself.

       :n     Skip to the next filename given in the command line.  Use the arrow  keys  to  scroll  forward  or
              backward through the file list.  `Q' quits most and any other key selects the given file.

       :c     Toggle case sensitive search.

       :D     Delete current file.  This command is only meaningful with the +d switch.

       :o, :O Toggle various options.  With this key sequence, most displays a prompt asking the user to hit one
              of: bdtvw.  The `b', `t', `v', and `w' options have the same meaning as the command line switches.
              For example, the `w' option will toggle wrapping on and off for the current window.

              The `d' option must be used with a prefix integer i.  All lines indented beyond i columns will not
              be displayed.  For example, consider the fragment:

                   int main(int argc, char **argv)
                   {
                        int i;

                        for (i = 0; i < argc, i++)
                        {
                             fprintf(stdout,"%i: %s\n",i,argv[i]);
                        }
                        return 0;
                   }

              The key sequence `1:od' will cause most to display the file ignoring all lines indented beyond the
              first column.  So for the example above, most would display:

                   int main(int argc, char **argv)...
                   }

              where the `...' indicates lines follow are not displayed.

HINTS

       CTRL-G  aborts the commands requiring the user to type something in at a prompt.  The backquote key has a
       special meaning here.  It is used to quote certain characters.   This  is  useful  when  search  for  the
       occurrence  of  a  string with a control character or a string at the beginning of a line.  In the latter
       case, to find the occurrence of `The' at the beginning of a line, enter `^JThe where ` quotes the CTRL-J.

ENVIRONMENT

       most uses the following environment variables:

       MOST_SWITCHES
              This variable sets commonly used switches.  For example, some people prefer to use most  with  the
              -s  option so that excess blank lines are not displayed.  On VMS this is normally done done in the
              login.com through the line:

                   $ define MOST_SWITCHES "-s"

       MOST_EDITOR, SLANG_EDITOR
              Either of these environment variables specify an editor for most to invoke to  edit  a  file.  The
              value  can  contain %s and %d formatting descriptors that represent the file name and line number,
              respectively.  For example, if JED is your editor, then set MOST_EDITOR to 'jed %s -g %d'.

       MOST_HELP
              This variable may be used to specify an alternate help file.

       MOST_INITFILE
              Set this variable to specify the initialization file to load during startup.  The  default  action
              is  to  load  the  system configuration file from /etc/most.conf and then a personal configuration
              file located at $HOME/.mostrc

CONFIGURATION FILE SYNTAX

       When most starts up, it tries to read a system configuration file and then a personal configuration file.
       These files may be used to specify keybindings and colors.

       To bind a key to a particular function use the syntax:

       setkey function-name key-sequence

       The  setkey command requires two arguments.  The function-name argument specifies the function that is to
       be executed as a response to the keys specified by the key-sequence argument are pressed.  For example,

             setkey   "up"     "^P"

       indicates that when Ctrl-P is pressed then the function up is to be executed.

       Sometimes, it is necessary to first unbind a key-sequence before rebinding it in order via  the  unsetkey
       function:

              unsetkey "^F"

       Colors may be defined through the use of the color keyword in the configuration file using the syntax:

       color OBJECT-NAME FOREGROUND-COLOR BACKGROUND-COLOR

       Here, OBJECT-NAME can be any one of the following items:

           status           -- the status line
           underline        -- underlined text
           overstrike       -- overstriked text
           normal           -- anything else

       See the sample configuration files for more information.

BUGS

       Almost  all  of  the  known bugs or limitations of most are due to a desire to read and interpret control
       characters in files.  One problem concerns the use of backspace characters to  underscore  or  overstrike
       other characters.  most makes an attempt to use terminal escape sequences to simulate this behavior.  One
       side effect is the one does not always get what one expects when scrolling right and left through a file.
       When in doubt, use the -v and -b options of most.

AUTHOR

       John E. Davis
       davis@space.mit.edu

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

       I would like to thank the users of most for valuable comments and criticisms.  I would especially like to
       thank those individuals who have contributed code to most.

       Mats Akerberg, Henk D. Davids, Rex O. Livingston,  and  Mark  Pizzolato  contributed  to  the  early  VMS
       versions of most.  In particular, Mark worked on it to get it ready for DECUS.

       Foteos Macrides <MACRIDES@SCI.WFEB.EDU> adapted most for use in cswing and gopher.  A few features of the
       present version of most was inspired from his work.

       I am grateful to Robert Mills <robert@jna.com.au> for re-writing  the  search  routines  to  use  regular
       expressions.

       Sven  Oliver  Moll <smol0075@rz.uni-hildesheim.de> came up with the idea of automatic detection of zipped
       files.

       I would also like to thank Shinichi Hama for his valuable criticisms of most.

       Javier Kohen was instrumental in the support for UTF-8.

       Thanks to David W. Sanderson (dws@cs.wisc.edu) for adapting the documentation to nroff  man  page  source
       format.

                                                    May 1999                                             MOST(1)