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NAME
    lesskey - specify key bindings for less

SYNOPSIS
    lesskey [-o output] [--] [input]
    lesskey [--output=output] [--] [input]
    lesskey -V
    lesskey --version

DESCRIPTION
    Lesskey is used to specify a set of key bindings to be used by less.
    The input file is a text file which describes the key bindings, If the
    input file is "-", standard input is read. If no input file is speci-
    fied, a standard filename is used as the name of the input file,  which
    depends on the  system being used: On Unix systems, $HOME/.lesskey is
    used; on MS-DOS systems, $HOME/_lesskey is used; and on  OS/2 systems
    $HOME/lesskey.ini is used, or $INIT/lesskey.ini if $HOME is undefined.
    The output file is a binary file which is used by less. If no output
    file is  specified, and the environment variable LESSKEY is set, the
    value of LESSKEY is used as the name of the output file.  Otherwise, a
    standard filename is used as the name of the output file, which depends
    on the system being used: On Unix and OS-9 systems, $HOME/.less is
    used; on MS-DOS systems, $HOME/_less  is used; and on OS/2 systems,
    $HOME/less.ini is used, or $INIT/less.ini if $HOME is undefined.  If
    the output file already exists, lesskey will overwrite it.

    The -V or --version option causes lesskey to print its version number
    and immediately exit. If -V or --version is present, other options and
    arguments are ignored.

    The input file consists of one or more sections. Each section starts
    with a line that identifies the type of  section.  Possible sections
    are:

    #command
    Defines new command keys.

    #line-edit
    Defines new line-editing keys.

    #env  Defines environment variables.

    Blank lines and lines which start with a pound sign (#) are ignored,
    except for the special section header lines.

COMMAND SECTION
    The command section begins with the line

    #command

    If the command section is the first section in the file, this line may
    be omitted. The command section consists of lines of the form:

   string <whitespace> action [extra-string] <newline>

    Whitespace is any sequence of one or more spaces and/or tabs. The
    string is the command key(s) which invoke the action. The string may
    be a single command key, or a sequence of up to 15 keys.  The action is
    the name of the less action, from the list below.  The characters in
    the string may appear literally, or be prefixed by a caret to indicate
    a control key. A backslash followed by one to three octal digits may
    be used  to specify a character by its octal value. A backslash fol-
    lowed by certain characters specifies input characters as follows:

    \b   BACKSPACE

    \e   ESCAPE

    \n   NEWLINE

    \r   RETURN

    \t   TAB

    \ku  UP ARROW

    \kd  DOWN ARROW

    \kr  RIGHT ARROW

    \kl  LEFT ARROW

    \kU  PAGE UP

    \kD  PAGE DOWN

    \kh  HOME

    \ke  END

    \kx  DELETE

    A backslash followed by any other character indicates that character is
    to be taken literally. Characters which must be preceded by backslash
    include caret, space, tab and the backslash itself.

    An action may be followed by an "extra" string. When such a command is
    entered while running less, the action is performed, and then the extra
    string is parsed, just as if it were typed in to  less.  This feature
    can be used in certain cases to extend the functionality of a command.
    For example, see the "{" and ":t" commands in the example below.  The
    extra string has a special meaning for the "quit" action: when less
    quits, first character of the extra string is used as its exit status.

EXAMPLE
    The following input file describes the set of default command keys used
    by less:

   #command
   \r    forw-line
   \n    forw-line
   e    forw-line
   j    forw-line
   \kd  forw-line
   ^E    forw-line
   ^N    forw-line
   k    back-line
   y    back-line
   ^Y    back-line
   ^K    back-line
   ^P    back-line
   J    forw-line-force
   K    back-line-force
   Y    back-line-force
   d    forw-scroll
   ^D    forw-scroll
   u    back-scroll
   ^U    back-scroll
   \40  forw-screen
   f    forw-screen
   ^F    forw-screen
   ^V    forw-screen
   \kD  forw-screen
   b    back-screen
   ^B    back-screen
   \ev    back-screen
   \kU  back-screen
   z    forw-window
   w    back-window
   \e\40   forw-screen-force
   F    forw-forever
   R    repaint-flush
   r    repaint
   ^R    repaint
   ^L    repaint
   \eu    undo-hilite
   g    goto-line
   \kh  goto-line
   <    goto-line
   \e<    goto-line
   p    percent
   %    percent
   \e[    left-scroll
   \e]    right-scroll
   \e(    left-scroll
   \e)    right-scroll
   {    forw-bracket {}
   }    back-bracket {}
   (    forw-bracket ()
   )    back-bracket ()
   [    forw-bracket []
   ]    back-bracket []
   \e^F   forw-bracket
   \e^B   back-bracket
   G    goto-end
   \e>    goto-end
   >    goto-end
   \ke  goto-end
   =    status
   ^G    status
   :f    status
   /    forw-search
   ?    back-search
   \e/    forw-search *
   \e?    back-search *
   n    repeat-search
   \en    repeat-search-all
   N    reverse-search
   \eN    reverse-search-all
   m    set-mark
   '    goto-mark
   ^X^X   goto-mark
   E    examine
   :e    examine
   ^X^V   examine
   :n    next-file
   :p    prev-file
   t    next-tag
   T    prev-tag
   :x    index-file
   :d    remove-file
   -    toggle-option
   :t    toggle-option t
   s    toggle-option o
   _    display-option
   |    pipe
   v    visual
   !    shell
   +    firstcmd
   @    rotate-right
   H    help
   h    help
   V    version
   0    digit
   1    digit
   2    digit
   3    digit
   4    digit
   5    digit
   6    digit
   7    digit
   8    digit
   9    digit
   q    quit
   Q    quit
   :q    quit
   :Q    quit
   ZZ    quit

PRECEDENCE
    Commands specified by lesskey take precedence over the  default com-
    mands. A default command key may be disabled by including it in the
    input file with the action "invalid".  Alternatively, a key may be
    defined to do nothing by using the action "noaction".  "noaction" is
    similar to "invalid", but less will give an error beep for an "invalid"
    command,  but not for a "noaction" command. In addition, ALL default
    commands may be disabled by adding this control line to the input file:

    #stop

    This will cause all default commands to be ignored. The #stop line
    should be the last line in that section of the file.

    Be aware that #stop can be dangerous. Since all default  commands are
    disabled, you must provide sufficient commands before the #stop line to
    enable all necessary actions. For example, failure to provide a "quit"
    command can lead to frustration.

LINE EDITING SECTION
    The line-editing section begins with the line:

    #line-edit

    This section specifies new key bindings for the line editing commands,
    in a manner similar to the way key bindings for ordinary  commands are
    specified in the #command section. The line-editing section consists
    of a list of keys and actions, one per line as in the example below.

EXAMPLE
    The following input file describes the set of default line-editing keys
    used by less:

   #line-edit
   \t    forw-complete
   \17    back-complete
   \e\t   back-complete
   ^L    expand
   ^V    literal
   ^A    literal
   \el    right
   \kr    right
   \eh    left
   \kl    left
   \eb    word-left
   \e\kl   word-left
   \ew    word-right
   \e\kr   word-right
   \ei    insert
   \ex    delete
   \kx    delete
   \eX    word-delete
   \ekx   word-delete
   \e\b   word-backspace
   \e0    home
   \kh    home
   \e$    end
   \ke    end
   \ek    up
   \ku    up
   \ej    down

LESS ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
    The environment variable section begins with the line

    #env

    Following this line is a list of environment variable assignments.
    Each line consists of an environment variable name, an equals sign (=)
    and the value to be assigned to the environment variable. White space
    before and after the equals sign is ignored.  Variables assigned in
    this way are visible only to less. If a variable is specified in the
    system environment and also in a lesskey file, the value in the lesskey
    file takes precedence. Although the lesskey file can be used to over-
    ride variables set in the environment, the main purpose  of assigning
    variables in the lesskey file is simply to have all less configuration
    information stored in one file.

EXAMPLE
    The following input file sets the -i option whenever less is run, and
    specifies the character set to be "latin1":

   #env
   LESS = -i
   LESSCHARSET = latin1

SEE ALSO
   less(1)

WARNINGS
    It is not possible to specify special keys, such as uparrow, in a key-
    board-independent manner. The only way to specify such keys is to
    specify the escape sequence which a particular keyboard sends when such
    a keys is pressed.

    On MS-DOS and OS/2 systems, certain keys send a sequence of characters
    which start with a NUL character (0). This NUL character should be
    represented as \340 in a lesskey file.

COPYRIGHT
    Copyright (C) 2000 Mark Nudelman
    Copyright (c) 1994,1995,1996,1997,1998   Kazushi  (Jam)  Marukawa,
    Japanized routines only

    lesskey is part of the GNU project and is free software; you can redis-
    tribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
    License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2,
    or (at your option) any later version.

    lesskey is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
    ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
    FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License
    for more details.

    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
    with lesskey; see the file COPYING. If not, write to the Free Software
    Foundation, 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.

AUTHOR
    Mark Nudelman <markn@greenwoodsoftware.com>
    jam@pobox.com
    Send bug reports or comments  to the above  address or to bug-
    less@gnu.org.