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MORE(1P)		   POSIX Programmer's Manual		      MORE(1P)

PROLOG
       This  manual  page is part of the POSIX Programmer's Manual.  The Linux
       implementation of this interface may differ (consult the	 corresponding
       Linux  manual page for details of Linux behavior), or the interface may
       not be implemented on Linux.

NAME
       more — display files on a page-by-page basis

SYNOPSIS
       more [−ceisu] [−n number] [−p command] [−t tagstring] [file...]

DESCRIPTION
       The more utility shall read files and either write them to the terminal
       on  a page-by-page basis or filter them to standard output. If standard
       output is not a terminal device, all input files	 shall	be  copied  to
       standard	 output	 in  their  entirety,  without modification, except as
       specified for the −s option. If standard output is a  terminal  device,
       the  files shall be written a number of lines (one screenful) at a time
       under the control of user commands. See the EXTENDED  DESCRIPTION  sec‐
       tion.

       Certain block-mode terminals do not have all the capabilities necessary
       to support the complete more definition; they are incapable of  accept‐
       ing commands that are not terminated with a <newline>.  Implementations
       that support such terminals shall provide an operating mode to more  in
       which  all  commands can be terminated with a <newline> on those termi‐
       nals. This mode:

	*  Shall be documented in the system documentation

	*  Shall, at invocation, inform the user of  the  terminal  deficiency
	   that	 requires  the <newline> usage and provide instructions on how
	   this warning can be suppressed in future invocations

	*  Shall not be required for  implementations  supporting  only	 fully
	   capable terminals

	*  Shall not affect commands already requiring <newline> characters

	*  Shall  not affect users on the capable terminals from using more as
	   described in this volume of POSIX.1‐2008

OPTIONS
       The more utility shall  conform	to  the	 Base  Definitions  volume  of
       POSIX.1‐2008,  Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines, except that '+'
       may be recognized as an option delimiter as well as '−'.

       The following options shall be supported:

       −c	 If a screen is to be written that has no lines in common with
		 the current screen, or more is writing its first screen, more
		 shall not scroll the screen, but instead  shall  redraw  each
		 line of the screen in turn, from the top of the screen to the
		 bottom. In addition, if more is writing its first screen, the
		 screen	 shall be cleared. This option may be silently ignored
		 on devices with insufficient terminal capabilities.

       −e	 Exit immediately after writing the last line of the last file
		 in the argument list; see the EXTENDED DESCRIPTION section.

       −i	 Perform  pattern matching in searches without regard to case;
		 see the Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2008, Section 9.2,
		 Regular Expression General Requirements.

       −n number Specify  the  number of lines per screenful. The number argu‐
		 ment is a positive decimal integer. The −n option shall over‐
		 ride any values obtained from any other source.

       −p command
		 Each  time  a	screen	from a new file is displayed or redis‐
		 played (including as a result of more commands; for  example,
		 :p),  execute the more command(s) in the command arguments in
		 the order specified, as if entered  by	 the  user  after  the
		 first	screen	has  been  displayed.  No intermediate results
		 shall be displayed (that is, if the command is a movement  to
		 a  screen  different  from  the normal first screen, only the
		 screen resulting from the command shall be displayed.) If any
		 of the commands fail for any reason, an informational message
		 to this effect shall be  written,  and	 no  further  commands
		 specified  using  the	−p  option  shall be executed for this
		 file.

       −s	 Behave as if consecutive empty	 lines	were  a	 single	 empty
		 line.

       −t tagstring
		 Write	the  screenful of the file containing the tag named by
		 the tagstring argument. See the ctags utility. The tags  fea‐
		 ture  represented  by	−t  tagstring  and  the	 :t command is
		 optional. It shall be provided on any system that  also  pro‐
		 vides	a  conforming  implementation of ctags; otherwise, the
		 use of −t produces undefined results.

		 The filename resulting from the −t option shall be  logically
		 added	as  a  prefix to the list of command line files, as if
		 specified by the user. If the	tag  named  by	the  tagstring
		 argument  is  not found, it shall be an error, and more shall
		 take no further action.

		 If the tag specifies a line number, the  first	 line  of  the
		 display  shall contain the beginning of that line. If the tag
		 specifies a pattern, the first line of the display shall con‐
		 tain  the  beginning of the matching text from the first line
		 of the file that contains that pattern. If the line does  not
		 exist	in the file or matching text is not found, an informa‐
		 tional message to this effect shall be	 displayed,  and  more
		 shall display the default screen as if −t had not been speci‐
		 fied.

		 If both the −t tagstring and −p command  options  are	given,
		 the  −t tagstring shall be processed first; that is, the file
		 and starting line for the display shall be  as	 specified  by
		 −t,  and  then	 the −p more command shall be executed. If the
		 line (matching text) specified by the	−t  command  does  not
		 exist	(is  not  found), no −p more command shall be executed
		 for this file at any time.

       −u	 Treat a <backspace> as a printable  control  character,  dis‐
		 played	 as  an implementation-defined character sequence (see
		 the EXTENDED DESCRIPTION  section),  suppressing  backspacing
		 and the special handling that produces underlined or standout
		 mode text on some terminal types.   Also,  do	not  ignore  a
		 <carriage-return> at the end of a line.

OPERANDS
       The following operand shall be supported:

       file	 A  pathname  of an input file. If no file operands are speci‐
		 fied, the standard input shall be used. If a file is '−', the
		 standard input shall be read at that point in the sequence.

STDIN
       The  standard  input  shall be used only if no file operands are speci‐
       fied, or if a file operand is '−'.

INPUT FILES
       The input files being examined shall be text files. If standard	output
       is  a  terminal, standard error shall be used to read commands from the
       user. If standard output is a terminal, standard error is not readable,
       and  command  input is needed, more may attempt to obtain user commands
       from the controlling terminal (for example, /dev/tty); otherwise,  more
       shall  terminate	 with  an  error indicating that it was unable to read
       user commands. If standard output is not a  terminal,  no  error	 shall
       result if standard error cannot be opened for reading.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       The following environment variables shall affect the execution of more:

       COLUMNS	 Override  the	system-selected	 horizontal display line size.
		 See the Base Definitions volume of POSIX.1‐2008,  Chapter  8,
		 Environment Variables for valid values and results when it is
		 unset or null.

       EDITOR	 Used by the v command to select an editor. See	 the  EXTENDED
		 DESCRIPTION section.

       LANG	 Provide  a  default  value for the internationalization vari‐
		 ables that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions  vol‐
		 ume  of POSIX.1‐2008, Section 8.2, Internationalization Vari‐
		 ables for the precedence  of  internationalization  variables
		 used to determine the values of locale categories.)

       LC_ALL	 If  set  to  a non-empty string value, override the values of
		 all the other internationalization variables.

       LC_COLLATE
		 Determine the locale for the behavior of ranges,  equivalence
		 classes,  and multi-character collating elements within regu‐
		 lar expressions.

       LC_CTYPE	 Determine the locale for the interpretation of	 sequences  of
		 bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as
		 opposed to  multi-byte	 characters  in	 arguments  and	 input
		 files)	 and  the behavior of character classes within regular
		 expressions.

       LC_MESSAGES
		 Determine the locale that should be used to affect the format
		 and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error
		 and informative messages written to standard output.

       NLSPATH	 Determine the location of message catalogs for the processing
		 of LC_MESSAGES.

       LINES	 Override  the	system-selected	 vertical screen size, used as
		 the number of lines in a screenful. See the Base  Definitions
		 volume	 of POSIX.1‐2008, Chapter 8, Environment Variables for
		 valid values and results when it is unset  or	null.  The  −n
		 option	 shall	take  precedence  over	the LINES variable for
		 determining the number of lines in a screenful.

       MORE	 Determine  a  string  containing  options  described  in  the
		 OPTIONS   section   preceded  with  <hyphen>  characters  and
		 <blank>-separated as on the command line.  Any	 command  line
		 options  shall be processed after those in the MORE variable,
		 as if the command line were:

		     more $MORE options operands

		 The MORE variable shall take precedence  over	the  TERM  and
		 LINES	variables  for	determining  the  number of lines in a
		 screenful.

       TERM	 Determine the name of the terminal type. If this variable  is
		 unset or null, an unspecified default terminal type is used.

ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS
       Default.

STDOUT
       The  standard  output  shall be used to write the contents of the input
       files.

STDERR
       The standard error shall be used for diagnostic messages and user  com‐
       mands  (see the INPUT FILES section), and, if standard output is a ter‐
       minal device, to write a prompting string. The prompting	 string	 shall
       appear  on the screen line below the last line of the file displayed in
       the current screenful. The prompt shall contain the name	 of  the  file
       currently  being	 examined  and shall contain an end-of-file indication
       and the name of the next file, if any, when prompting  at  the  end-of-
       file. If an error or informational message is displayed, it is unspeci‐
       fied whether it is contained in the prompt. If it is not	 contained  in
       the  prompt,  it shall be displayed and then the user shall be prompted
       for a continuation character, at which point  another  message  or  the
       user  prompt  may be displayed. The prompt is otherwise unspecified. It
       is unspecified whether informational messages  are  written  for	 other
       user commands.

OUTPUT FILES
       None.

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION
       The  following section describes the behavior of more when the standard
       output is a terminal device. If the standard output is not  a  terminal
       device,	no  options other than −s shall have any effect, and all input
       files shall be copied to standard output otherwise unmodified, at which
       time more shall exit without further action.

       The  number of lines available per screen shall be determined by the −n
       option, if present, or by examining values in the environment (see  the
       ENVIRONMENT  VARIABLES  section). If neither method yields a number, an
       unspecified number of lines shall be used.

       The maximum number of lines written shall be one less than this number,
       because	the  screen  line after the last line written shall be used to
       write a user prompt and user input. If  the  number  of	lines  in  the
       screen  is  less than two, the results are undefined. It is unspecified
       whether user input is permitted to be longer than the remainder of  the
       single line where the prompt has been written.

       The number of columns available per line shall be determined by examin‐
       ing values in the environment (see the ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES  section),
       with  a	default	 value	as described in the Base Definitions volume of
       POSIX.1‐2008, Chapter 8, Environment Variables.

       Lines that are longer than the display shall be folded; the  length  at
       which  folding occurs is unspecified, but should be appropriate for the
       output device. Folding may occur between glyphs	of  single  characters
       that take up multiple display columns.

       When  standard output is a terminal and −u is not specified, more shall
       treat <backspace> and <carriage-return> characters specially:

	*  A character, followed first by a sequence of n <backspace>  charac‐
	   ters	 (where	 n  is the same as the number of column positions that
	   the character occupies), then by n <underscore>  characters	('_'),
	   shall cause that character to be written as underlined text, if the
	   terminal type supports that. The n  <underscore>  characters,  fol‐
	   lowed  first by n <backspace> characters, then any character with n
	   column positions, shall also cause that character to be written  as
	   underlined text, if the terminal type supports that.

	*  A  sequence of n <backspace> characters (where n is the same as the
	   number of column positions that the	previous  character  occupies)
	   that appears between two identical printable characters shall cause
	   the first of those two characters to be written as emboldened  text
	   (that is, visually brighter, standout mode, or inverse-video mode),
	   if the terminal type supports that, and the second to be discarded.
	   Immediately	subsequent  occurrences of <backspace>/character pairs
	   for that same character shall also be discarded. (For example,  the
	   sequence "a\ba\ba\ba" is interpreted as a single emboldened 'a'.)

	*  The	more  utility  shall  logically	 discard all other <backspace>
	   characters from the line as well as the  character  which  precedes
	   them, if any.

	*  A  <carriage-return>	 at the end of a line shall be ignored, rather
	   than being written as a non-printable character,  as	 described  in
	   the next paragraph.

       It  is  implementation-defined  how  other non-printable characters are
       written. Implementations should use the same format that they  use  for
       the ex print command; see the OPTIONS section within the ed utility. It
       is unspecified whether a multi-column character shall be	 separated  if
       it  crosses  a  display	line  boundary; it shall not be discarded. The
       behavior is unspecified if the number of columns on the display is less
       than  the number of columns any single character in the line being dis‐
       played would occupy.

       When each new file is displayed (or redisplayed), more shall write  the
       first  screen  of  the  file. Once the initial screen has been written,
       more shall prompt for a user command. If the execution of the user com‐
       mand  results  in  a  screen  that has lines in common with the current
       screen, and the device has sufficient terminal capabilities, more shall
       scroll  the  screen; otherwise, it is unspecified whether the screen is
       scrolled or redrawn.

       For all files but the last (including standard input  if	 no  file  was
       specified,  and	for  the  last	file as well, if the −e option was not
       specified), when more has written the last line in the file, more shall
       prompt  for  a  user command. This prompt shall contain the name of the
       next file as well as an indication that more has	 reached  end-of-file.
       If  the user command is f, <control>‐F, <space>, j, <newline>, d, <con‐
       trol>‐D, or s, more shall display the next file. Otherwise, if display‐
       ing  the	 last file, more shall exit. Otherwise, more shall execute the
       user command specified.

       Several of the commands described in this section  display  a  previous
       screen from the input stream. In the case that text is being taken from
       a non-rewindable stream, such as a pipe, it  is	implementation-defined
       how much backwards motion is supported. If a command cannot be executed
       because of a limitation on backwards motion, an error message  to  this
       effect shall be displayed, the current screen shall not change, and the
       user shall be prompted for another command.

       If a command cannot be performed because there are  insufficient	 lines
       to  display, more shall alert the terminal. If a command cannot be per‐
       formed because there are insufficient lines to display or a  /  command
       fails:  if the input is the standard input, the last screen in the file
       may be displayed; otherwise, the current	 file  and  screen  shall  not
       change, and the user shall be prompted for another command.

       The  interactive commands in the following sections shall be supported.
       Some commands can be preceded by a decimal integer, called count in the
       following  descriptions. If not specified with the command, count shall
       default to 1. In the following descriptions, pattern is a basic regular
       expression,   as	  described   in   the	 Base  Definitions  volume  of
       POSIX.1‐2008, Section 9.3, Basic Regular Expressions.  The term ``exam‐
       ine''  is  historical  usage meaning ``open the file for viewing''; for
       example, more foo would be expressed as examining file foo.

       In the following descriptions, unless otherwise specified,  line	 is  a
       line in the more display, not a line from the file being examined.

       In  the	following  descriptions,  the  current	position refers to two
       things:

	1. The position of the current line on the screen

	2. The line number (in the file) of the current line on the screen

       Usually, the line on the screen corresponding to the  current  position
       is  the	third  line  on the screen. If this is not possible (there are
       fewer than three lines to display or this is  the  first	 page  of  the
       file, or it is the last page of the file), then the current position is
       either the first or last line on the screen as described later.

   Help
       Synopsis:
		     h

       Write a summary of these commands and other implementation-defined com‐
       mands.  The behavior shall be as if the more utility were executed with
       the −e option on a file that contained  the  summary  information.  The
       user  shall  be prompted as described earlier in this section when end-
       of-file is reached. If the user command is one of  those	 specified  to
       continue	 to  the  next	file, more shall return to the file and screen
       state from which the h command was executed.

   Scroll Forward One Screenful
       Synopsis:
		     [count]f
		     [count]<control>-F

       Scroll forward count lines, with a default of one screenful.  If	 count
       is  more	 than the screen size, only the final screenful shall be writ‐
       ten.

   Scroll Backward One Screenful
       Synopsis:
		     [count]b
		     [count]<control>-B

       Scroll backward count lines, with a default of one screenful  (see  the
       −n  option).  If	 count	is  more  than the screen size, only the final
       screenful shall be written.

   Scroll Forward One Line
       Synopsis:
		     [count]<space>
		     [count]j
		     [count]<newline>

       Scroll forward count lines. The default count for the <space> shall  be
       one  screenful;	for  j and <newline>, one line. The entire count lines
       shall be written, even if count is more than the screen size.

   Scroll Backward One Line
       Synopsis:
		     [count]k

       Scroll backward count lines. The entire count lines shall  be  written,
       even if count is more than the screen size.

   Scroll Forward One Half Screenful
       Synopsis:
		     [count]d
		     [count]<control>-D

       Scroll  forward	count  lines, with a default of one half of the screen
       size. If count is specified, it shall become the new default for subse‐
       quent d, <control>‐D, and u commands.

   Skip Forward One Line
       Synopsis:
		     [count]s

       Display	the  screenful	beginning  with the line count lines after the
       last line on the current screen. If count would cause the current posi‐
       tion to be such that less than one screenful would be written, the last
       screenful in the file shall be written.

   Scroll Backward One Half Screenful
       Synopsis:
		     [count]u
		     [count]<control>-U

       Scroll backward count lines, with a default of one half of  the	screen
       size. If count is specified, it shall become the new default for subse‐
       quent d, <control>−D, u, and <control>−U	 commands.  The	 entire	 count
       lines shall be written, even if count is more than the screen size.

   Go to Beginning of File
       Synopsis:
		     [count]g

       Display the screenful beginning with line count.

   Go to End-of-File
       Synopsis:
		     [count]G

       If  count  is  specified, display the screenful beginning with the line
       count.  Otherwise, display the last screenful of the file.

   Refresh the Screen
       Synopsis:
		     r
		     <control>-L

       Refresh the screen.

   Discard and Refresh
       Synopsis:
		     R

       Refresh the screen, discarding any buffered input. If the current  file
       is  non-seekable,  buffered input shall not be discarded and the R com‐
       mand shall be equivalent to the r command.

   Mark Position
       Synopsis:
		     mletter

       Mark the current position with the letter named by letter, where letter
       represents  the	name  of  one of the lowercase letters of the portable
       character set. When a new file is examined, all marks may be lost.

   Return to Mark
       Synopsis:
		     'letter

       Return to the position that was previously marked with the letter named
       by letter, making that line the current position.

   Return to Previous Position
       Synopsis:
		     ''

       Return  to  the position from which the last large movement command was
       executed (where a ``large movement'' is defined as any movement of more
       than a screenful of lines). If no such movements have been made, return
       to the beginning of the file.

   Search Forward for Pattern
       Synopsis:
		     [count]/[!]pattern<newline>

       Display the screenful beginning with the countth	 line  containing  the
       pattern.	 The  search  shall  start after the first line currently dis‐
       played. The null regular expression ('/' followed by a <newline>) shall
       repeat the search using the previous regular expression, with a default
       count.  If the character '!'  is included, the matching lines shall  be
       those  that  do	not contain the pattern.  If no match is found for the
       pattern, a message to that effect shall be displayed.

   Search Backward for Pattern
       Synopsis:
		     [count]?[!]pattern<newline>

       Display the screenful beginning with the countth previous line contain‐
       ing  the	 pattern.  The	search shall start on the last line before the
       first line currently displayed. The null regular expression ('?'	  fol‐
       lowed  by a <newline>) shall repeat the search using the previous regu‐
       lar expression, with  a	default	 count.	  If  the  character  '!'   is
       included,  matching  lines  shall be those that do not contain the pat‐
       tern.  If no match is found for the pattern, a message to  that	effect
       shall be displayed.

   Repeat Search
       Synopsis:
		     [count]n

       Repeat the previous search for countth line containing the last pattern
       (or not containing the last pattern, if the previous search was "/!" or
       "?!").

   Repeat Search in Reverse
       Synopsis:
		     [count]N

       Repeat  the search in the opposite direction of the previous search for
       the countth line containing the last pattern  (or  not  containing  the
       last pattern, if the previous search was "/!" or "?!").

   Examine New File
       Synopsis:
		     :e [filename]<newline>

       Examine a new file. If the filename argument is not specified, the cur‐
       rent file (see the :n and :p commands below) shall be re-examined.  The
       filename	 shall	be  subjected  to the process of shell word expansions
       (see Section 2.6, Word Expansions); if  more  than  a  single  pathname
       results,	 the  effects are unspecified.	If filename is a <number-sign>
       ('#'), the previously examined file shall be re-examined.  If  filename
       is  not	accessible for any reason (including that it is a non-seekable
       file), an error message to this effect shall be displayed and the  cur‐
       rent file and screen shall not change.

   Examine Next File
       Synopsis:
		     [count]:n

       Examine the next file. If a number count is specified, the countth next
       file shall be examined. If filename refers to a non-seekable file,  the
       results are unspecified.

   Examine Previous File
       Synopsis:
		     [count]:p

       Examine	the previous file. If a number count is specified, the countth
       previous file shall be examined. If filename refers to  a  non-seekable
       file, the results are unspecified.

   Go to Tag
       Synopsis:
		     :t tagstring<newline>

       If  the	file containing the tag named by the tagstring argument is not
       the current file, examine the file, as if the :e command	 was  executed
       with  that file as the argument. Otherwise, or in addition, display the
       screenful beginning with the tag, as described for the −t  option  (see
       the OPTIONS section). If the ctags utility is not supported by the sys‐
       tem, the use of :t produces undefined results.

   Invoke Editor
       Synopsis:
		     v

       Invoke an editor to edit the current file being examined.  If  standard
       input  is  being examined, the results are unspecified. The name of the
       editor shall be taken from the environment variable  EDITOR,  or	 shall
       default	to  vi.	 If the last pathname component in EDITOR is either vi
       or ex, the editor shall be invoked with a −c  linenumber	 command  line
       argument, where linenumber is the line number of the file line contain‐
       ing the display line currently displayed	 as  the  first	 line  of  the
       screen.	It  is implementation-defined whether line-setting options are
       passed to editors other than vi and ex.

       When the editor exits, more shall resume with the same file and	screen
       as when the editor was invoked.

   Display Position
       Synopsis:
		     =
		     <control>-G

       Write  a message for which the information references the first byte of
       the line after the last line of the file on the	screen.	 This  message
       shall include the name of the file currently being examined, its number
       relative to the total number of files there are to  examine,  the  line
       number  in  the	file, the byte number and the total bytes in the file,
       and what percentage of the file precedes the current position. If  more
       is  reading  from  standard input, or the file is shorter than a single
       screen, the line number, the byte number, the total bytes, and the per‐
       centage need not be written.

   Quit
       Synopsis:
		     q
		     :q
		     ZZ

       Exit more.

EXIT STATUS
       The following exit values shall be returned:

	0    Successful completion.

       >0    An error occurred.

CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS
       If  an error is encountered accessing a file when using the :n command,
       more shall attempt to examine the next file in the argument  list,  but
       the  final  exit	 status	 shall be affected. If an error is encountered
       accessing a file via the :p command, more shall attempt to examine  the
       previous	 file in the argument list, but the final exit status shall be
       affected. If an error is encountered accessing a file via the  :e  com‐
       mand,  more  shall remain in the current file and the final exit status
       shall not be affected.

       The following sections are informative.

APPLICATION USAGE
       When the standard output is not a terminal, only the −s	filter-modifi‐
       cation  option  is effective. This is based on historical practice. For
       example, a typical implementation of man pipes its output through  more
       −s  to squeeze excess white space for terminal users. When man is piped
       to lp, however, it is undesirable for this squeezing to happen.

EXAMPLES
       The −p allows arbitrary commands to be executed at the  start  of  each
       file.  Examples are:

       more −p G file1 file2
	     Examine each file starting with its last screenful.

       more −p 100 file1 file2
	     Examine  each file starting with line 100 in the current position
	     (usually the third line, so line 98 would be the first line writ‐
	     ten).

       more −p /100 file1 file2
	     Examine  each  file  starting  with the first line containing the
	     string "100" in the current position

RATIONALE
       The more utility, available in BSD and BSD-derived systems, was	chosen
       as  the	prototype  for the POSIX file display program since it is more
       widely available than either the public-domain program less or than pg,
       a  pager	 provided  in  System V. The 4.4 BSD more is the model for the
       features selected; it is almost fully upwards-compatible from  the  4.3
       BSD version in wide use and has become more amenable for vi users. Sev‐
       eral features originally derived from various file  editors,  found  in
       both  less  and	pg,  have been added to this volume of POSIX.1‐2008 as
       they have proved extremely popular with users.

       There are inconsistencies between more and vi that result from histori‐
       cal  practice.  For example, the single-character commands h, f, b, and
       <space> are screen movers in more, but  cursor  movers  in  vi.	 These
       inconsistencies	were  maintained  because the cursor movements are not
       applicable to more and the powerful functionality achieved without  the
       use of the control key justifies the differences.

       The  tags  interface  has been included in a program that is not a text
       editor because it promotes another degree of consistent operation  with
       vi.   It	 is  conceivable  that the paging environment of more would be
       superior for browsing source code files in some circumstances.

       The operating mode referred to  for  block-mode	terminals  effectively
       adds a <newline> to each Synopsis line that currently has none. So, for
       example, d<newline> would page one screenful. The mode could  be	 trig‐
       gered  by  a  command  line option, environment variable, or some other
       method. The details are not imposed  by	this  volume  of  POSIX.1‐2008
       because	there are so few systems known to support such terminals. Nev‐
       ertheless, it was considered that all systems should be able to support
       more  given  the	 exception cited for this small community of terminals
       because, in comparison to vi, the cursor movements are few and the com‐
       mand set relatively amenable to the optional <newline> characters.

       Some versions of more provide a shell escaping mechanism similar to the
       ex !  command. The standard developers did not consider that  this  was
       necessary  in  a	 paginator,  particularly given the wide acceptance of
       multiple window terminals and job  control  features.  (They  chose  to
       retain  such features in the editors and mailx because the shell inter‐
       action also gives an opportunity to modify the editing buffer, which is
       not applicable to more.)

       The  −p (position) option replaces the + command because of the Utility
       Syntax Guidelines. The  +command	 option	 is  no	 longer	 specified  by
       POSIX.1‐2008  but may be present in some implementations. In early pro‐
       posals, it took a pattern argument, but historical  less	 provided  the
       more general facility of a command. It would have been desirable to use
       the same −c as ex and vi, but the letter was already in use.

       The text stating ``from a non-rewindable stream ... implementations may
       limit  the amount of backwards motion supported'' would allow an imple‐
       mentation that permitted no backwards motion beyond text already on the
       screen.	It  was	 not possible to require a minimum amount of backwards
       motion that would be effective for all conceivable  device  types.  The
       implementation  should  allow  the  user to back up as far as possible,
       within device and reasonable memory allocation constraints.

       Historically, non-printable characters were displayed  using  the  ARPA
       standard mappings, which are as follows:

	1. Printable characters are left alone.

	2. Control  characters	less  than \177 are represented as followed by
	   the character offset from the '@' character in the ASCII  map;  for
	   example, \007 is represented as 'G'.

	3. \177 is represented as followed by '?'.

       The  display  of	 characters having their eighth bit set was less stan‐
       dard. Existing implementations use hex  (0x00),	octal  (\000),	and  a
       meta-bit	 display.  (The	 latter displayed characters with their eighth
       bit set as the two characters "M−", followed by the  seven-bit  display
       as  described  previously.)  The	 latter probably has the best claim to
       historical practice because it was used with the −v option of 4 BSD and
       4 BSD-derived versions of the cat utility since 1980.

       No specific display format is required by POSIX.1‐2008. Implementations
       are encouraged to conform to historic practice in the  absence  of  any
       strong reason to diverge.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS
       None.

SEE ALSO
       Chapter 2, Shell Command Language, ctags, ed, ex, vi

       The  Base  Definitions  volume  of POSIX.1‐2008, Chapter 8, Environment
       Variables, Section 9.2, Regular Expression General  Requirements,  Sec‐
       tion  9.3,  Basic  Regular  Expressions,	 Section  12.2, Utility Syntax
       Guidelines

COPYRIGHT
       Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in  electronic  form
       from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2013 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
       -- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX),	The  Open  Group  Base
       Specifications Issue 7, Copyright (C) 2013 by the Institute of Electri‐
       cal and Electronics Engineers,  Inc  and	 The  Open  Group.   (This  is
       POSIX.1-2008  with  the	2013  Technical Corrigendum 1 applied.) In the
       event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
       The  Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
       is the referee document. The original Standard can be  obtained	online
       at http://www.unix.org/online.html .

       Any  typographical  or  formatting  errors that appear in this page are
       most likely to have been introduced during the conversion of the source
       files  to  man page format. To report such errors, see https://www.ker‐
       nel.org/doc/man-pages/reporting_bugs.html .

IEEE/The Open Group		     2013			      MORE(1P)
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