422 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
422 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
most
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Name
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most -- browse or page through a text file
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Synopsis
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most [-1] [-b] [-C] [-c] [-d] [-M] [-r] [-s] [-t] [-u] [-v]
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[-w] [-z] [+/string] [+line-number] [+d] [+s] [+u] [file...]
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DESCRIPTION
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most is a paging program that displays, one windowful at a
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time, the contents of a file on a terminal. It pauses after
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each windowful and prints on the window status line the screen
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the file name, current line number, and the percentage of the
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file so far displayed.
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Unlike other paging programs, most is capable of displaying an
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arbitrary number of windows as long as each window occupies at
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least two screen lines. Each window may contain the same file
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or a different file. In addition, each window has its own mode.
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For example, one window may display a file with its lines
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wrapped while another may be truncating the lines. Windows may
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be `locked' together in the sense that if one of the locked
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windows scrolls, all locked windows will scroll. most is also
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capable of ignoring lines that are indented beyond a user
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specified value. This is useful when viewing computer programs
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to pick out gross features of the code. See the `:o' command
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for a description of this feature.
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In addition to displaying ordinary text files, most can also
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display binary files as well as files with arbitrary ascii
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characters. When a file is read into a buffer, most examines
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the first 32 bytes of the file to determine if the file is a
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binary file and then switches to the appropriate mode. However,
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this feature may be disabled with the -k option. See the
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description of the -b, -k, -v, and -t options for further
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details.
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Text files may contain combinations of underscore and backspace
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characters causing a printer to underline or overstrike. When
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most recognizes this, it inserts the appropriate escape
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sequences to achieve the desired effect. In addition, some
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files cause the printer to overstrike some characters by
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embedding carriage return characters in the middle of a line.
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When this occurs, most displays the overstruck character with a
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bold attribute. This feature facilitates the reading of UNIX
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man pages or a document produced by runoff. In particular,
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viewing this document with most should illustrate this behavior
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provided that the underline characters have not been stripped.
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This may be turned off with the -v option.
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By default, lines with more characters than the terminal width
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are not wrapped but are instead truncated. When truncation
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occurs, this is indicated by a `$' in the far right column of
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the terminal screen. The RIGHT and LEFT arrow keys may be used
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to view lines which extend past the margins of the screen. The
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-w option may be used to override this feature. When a window
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is wrapped, the character `\' will appear at the right edge of
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the window.
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Commands are listed below.
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OPTIONS
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-1
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VT100 mode. This is meaningful only on VMS systems. This
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option should be used if the terminal is strictly a
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VT100. This implies that the terminal does not have the
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ability to delete and insert multiple lines. VT102s and
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above have this ability.
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-b
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Binary mode. Use this switch when you want to view files
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containing 8 bit characters. most will display the file
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16 bytes per line in hexadecimal notation. A typical
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line looks like:
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01000000 40001575 9C23A020 4000168D ....@..u.#. @...
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When used with the -v option, the same line looks like:
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^A^@^@^@ @^@^U u 9C #A0 @^@^V8D ....@..u.#. @...
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-C
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Disable color support.
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-c
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Make searches case-sensitive
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-d
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Omit the backslash mark used to denote a wrapped line.
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-M
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Disable the use of mmap.
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-r
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Default to using regexp searches
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-s
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Squeeze-mode. Replace multiple blank lines with a single
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blank line.
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-t
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Display tabs as ^I. If this option is immediately
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followed by an integer, the integer sets the tab width,
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e.g., -t4
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-u
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Disable UTF-8 mode even if the locale dictates it
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+u
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Force UTF-8 mode. By default most will use the current
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locale to determine if UTF-8 mode should be used. The +u
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and -u switches allow the behavior to be overridden
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-v
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Display control characters as in `^A' for control A.
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Normally most does not interpret control characters.
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-w
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Wrap lines
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-z
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Disable gunzip-on-the-fly
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+/string
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Start up at the line containing the first occurrence of
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string
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+lineno
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Start up at the specified line-number
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+d
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This switch should only be used if you want the option
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to delete a file while viewing it. This makes it easier
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to clean unwanted files out of a directory. The file is
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deleted with the interactive key sequence `:D' and then
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confirming with `y'.
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+s
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Secure Mode-- no edit, cd, shell, and reading files not
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already listed on the command line.
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COMMAND USAGE
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The commands take effect immediately; it is not necessary to
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type a carriage return. In the following commands, i is a
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numerical argument (1 by default).
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SPACE, CTRL-D, NEXT_SCREEN
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Display another windowful, or jump i windowfuls if i is
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specified.
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RETURN, DOWN_ARROW, V, CTRL-N
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Display another line, or i more lines, if specified.
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UP_ARROW, ^, CTRL-P
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Display previous line, or i previous lines, if
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specified.
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T, ESCAPE<
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Move to top of buffer.
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B, ESCAPE>
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Move to bottom of buffer.
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RIGHT_ARROW, TAB, >
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Scroll window left 60i columns to view lines that are
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beyond the right margin of the window.
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LEFT_ARROW, CTRL-B, <
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Scroll window right 60i columns to view lines that are
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beyond the left margin of the window.
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U, CTRL-U, DELETE, PREV_SCREEN
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Skip back i windowfuls and then print a windowful.
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R, CTRL-R
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Redraw the window.
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J, G
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If i is not specified, then prompt for a line number
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then jump to that line otherwise just jump to line i.
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%
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If i is not specified, then prompt for a percent number
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then jump to that percent of the file otherwise just
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jump to i percent of the file.
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W, w
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If the current screen width is 80, make it 132 and
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vice-versa. For other values, this command is ignored.
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Q, CTRL-X CTRL-C, CTRL-K E
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Exit from most. On VMS, ^Z also exits.
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h, CTRL-H, HELP, PF2
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Help. Give a description of all the most commands. The
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most environment variable MOST_HELP must be set for this
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to be meaningful.
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f, /, CTRL-F, FIND, GOLD PF3
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Prompt for a string and search forward from the current
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line for ith distinct line containing the string. CTRL-G
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aborts.
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?
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Prompt for a string and search backward for the ith
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distinct line containing the string. CTRL-G aborts.
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n
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Search for the next i lines containing an occurrence of
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the last search string in the direction of the previous
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search.
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m, SELECT, CTRL-@, CTRL-K M, PERIOD
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Set a mark on the current line for later reference.
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INSERT_HERE, CTRL-X CTRL-X, COMMA, CTRL-K RETURN, GOLD PERIOD
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Set a mark on the current line but return to previous
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mark. This allows the user to toggle back and forth
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between two positions in the file.
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l, L
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Toggle locking for this window. The window is locked if
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there is a `*' at the left edge of the status line.
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Windows locked together, scroll together.
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CTRL-X 2, CTRL-W 2, GOLD X
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Split this window in half.
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CTRL-X o, CTRL-W o, o, GOLDUP, GOLDDOWN
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Move to other window.
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CTRL-X 0, CTRL-W 0, GOLD V
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Delete this window.
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CTRL-X 1, CTRL-W 1, GOLD O
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Delete all other windows, leaving only one window.
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E, e
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Edit this file.
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$, ESC $
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This is system dependent. On VMS, this causes most to
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spawn a subprocess. When the user exits the process,
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most is resumed. On UNIX systems, most simply suspends
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itself.
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:n
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Skip to the next filename given in the command line. Use
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the arrow keys to scroll forward or backward through the
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file list. `Q' quits most and any other key selects the
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given file.
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:c
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Toggle case sensitive search.
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:D
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Delete current file. This command is only meaningful
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with the +d switch.
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:o, :O
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Toggle various options. With this key sequence, most
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displays a prompt asking the user to hit one of: bdtvw.
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The `b', `t', `v', and `w' options have the same meaning
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as the command line switches. For example, the `w'
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option will toggle wrapping on and off for the current
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window.
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The `d' option must be used with a prefix integer i. All
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lines indented beyond i columns will not be displayed.
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For example, consider the fragment:
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int main(int argc, char **argv)
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{
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int i;
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for (i = 0; i < argc, i++)
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{
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fprintf(stdout,"%i: %s\n",i,argv[i]);
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}
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return 0;
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}
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The key sequence `1:od' will cause most to display the
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file ignoring all lines indented beyond the first
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column. So for the example above, most would display:
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int main(int argc, char **argv)...
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}
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where the `...' indicates lines that follow are not
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displayed.
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HINTS
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CTRL-G aborts the commands requiring the user to type something
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in at a prompt. The back-quote key has a special meaning here.
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It is used to quote certain characters. This is useful when
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search for the occurrence of a string with a control character
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or a string at the beginning of a line. In the latter case, to
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find the occurrence of `The' at the beginning of a line, enter
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`^JThe where ` quotes the CTRL-J.
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ENVIRONMENT
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most uses the following environment variables:
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MOST_SWITCHES
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This variable sets commonly used switches. For example,
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some people prefer to use most with the -s option so
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that excess blank lines are not displayed. On VMS this
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is normally done done in the login.com through the line:
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$ define MOST_SWITCHES "-s"
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MOST_EDITOR, SLANG_EDITOR
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Either of these environment variables specify an editor
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for most to invoke to edit a file. The value can contain
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%s and %d formatting descriptors that represent the file
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name and line number, respectively. For example, if JED
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is your editor, then set MOST_EDITOR to 'jed %s -g %d'.
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MOST_HELP
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This variable may be used to specify an alternate help
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file.
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MOST_INITFILE
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Set this variable to specify the initialization file to
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load during startup. The default action is to load the
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system configuration file and then a personal
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configuration file called .mostrc on Unix, and most.rc
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on other systems.
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CONFIGURATION FILE SYNTAX
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When most starts up, it tries to read a system configuration
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file and then a personal configuration file. These files may be
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used to specify key-bindings and colors.
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To bind a key to a particular function use the syntax:
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setkey function-name key-sequence
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The setkey command requires two arguments. The function-name
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argument specifies the function that is to be executed as a
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response to the keys specified by the key-sequence argument are
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pressed. For example,
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setkey "up" "^P"
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indicates that when Ctrl-P is pressed then the function up is
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to be executed.
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Sometimes, it is necessary to first unbind a key-sequence
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before rebinding it in order via the unsetkey function:
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unsetkey "^F"
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Colors may be defined through the use of the color keyword in
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the the configuration file using the syntax:
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color OBJECT-NAME FOREGROUND-COLOR BACKGROUND-COLOR
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Here, OBJECT-NAME can be any one of the following items:
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status -- the status line
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underline -- underlined text
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overstrike -- overstruck text
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normal -- anything else
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See the sample configuration files for more information.
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BUGS
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Almost all of the known bugs or limitations of most are due to
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a desire to read and interpret control characters in files. One
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problem concerns the use of backspace characters to underscore
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or overstrike other characters. most makes an attempt to use
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terminal escape sequences to simulate this behavior. One side
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effect is the one does not always get what one expects when
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scrolling right and left through a file. When in doubt, use the
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-v and -b options of most.
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The regular-expression searches may fail to find strings that
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involve backspace/underscore used for highlighting. The
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regular-expression syntax is described in the S-Lang Library
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documentation.
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AUTHOR
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John E. Davis <jed@jedsoft.org>
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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Over the years, many people have contributed to most in one way
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or another, e.g., via code patches, bug-fixes, comments, or
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criticisms. I am particularly grateful to the very early
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adopters of the program who took a chance with a fledgling
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software project headed by someone learning the underlying
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language. These include:
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Mats Akerberg, Henk D. Davids, Rex O. Livingston, and Mark
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Pizzolato contributed to the early VMS versions of most. In
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particular, Mark worked on it to get it ready for DECUS.
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Foteos Macrides adapted most for use in cswing and gopher. A
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few features of the present version of most was inspired from
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his work.
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I am grateful to Robert Mills for re-writing the search
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routines to use regular expressions.
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Sven Oliver Moll came up with the idea of automatic detection
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of zipped files.
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I would also like to thank Shinichi Hama for his valuable
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criticisms of most.
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Javier Kohen was instrumental in the support for UTF-8.
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Thanks to David W. Sanderson for adapting the early
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documentation to nroff man page source format.
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