Provided by: most_5.0.0a-2.3+deb8u1build0.14.04.1_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)