pg
browse pagewise through text files
see also :
cat - more - sh - locale
Synopsis
pg
[-number] [-p
string] [-cefnrs] [+line]
[+/pattern/] [file...]
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description
pg
displays a text file on a CRT one screenful
at once. After each page, a prompt is displayed. The user
may then either press the newline key to view the next page
or one of the keys described below.
If no filename
is given on the command line, pg reads from standard
input. If standard output is not a terminal, pg acts
like cat(1) but precedes each file with its name if
there is more than one.
If input comes
from a pipe, pg stores the data in a buffer file
while reading to make navigation possible.
options
pg
accepts the following options:
-number
The number of lines per page.
Usually, this is the number of CRT lines
minus one.
-c
Clear the screen before a page is displayed, if the
terminfo entry for the terminal provides this
capability.
-e
Do not pause and display (EOF) at the end
of a file.
-f
Do not split long lines.
-n
Without this option, commands must be terminated by a
newline character. With this option, pg advances once
a command letter is entered.
-p string
Instead of the normal prompt
:, string is displayed. If string
contains %d, its first occurrence is replaced by the
number of the current page.
-r
Disallow the shell escape.
-s
Print messages in standout mode, if the terminfo
entry for the terminal provides this capability.
+number
Start at the given line.
+/pattern/
Start at the line containing
the Basic Regular Expression pattern given.
availability
The pg command is part of the util-linux package and is available
from ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.
environment variables
The following environment variables affect the behaviour of
pg:
COLUMNS
Overrides the system-supplied number of columns if set.
LANG, LC_ALL, LC_COLLATE, LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES
See locale(7).
LINES
Overrides the system-supplied number of lines if set.
SHELL
Used by the ! command.
TERM
Determines the terminal type.
notes
pg expects the terminal tabulators to be set every eight
positions.
Files that include NUL characters cannot be
displayed by pg.
usage
The following commands may be entered at the prompt. Commands
preceded by i in this document accept a number as
argument, positive or negative. If this argument starts with
+ or -, it is interpreted relative to the current
position in the input file, otherwise relative to the beginning.
i<newline>
Display the next or the indicated page.
id or ^D
Display the next halfpage. If i is given, it is always
interpreted relative to the current position.
il
Display the next or the indicated line.
if
Skip a page forward. i must be a positive number and is
always interpreted relative to the current position.
iw or iz
Behave as <newline> except that i becomes the
new page size.
. or ^L
Redraw the screen.
$
Advance to the last line of the input file.
i/pattern/
Search forward until the first or the i-th occurrence of
the Basic Regular Expression pattern is found. The search
starts after the current page and stops at the end of the file.
No wrap-around is performed. i must be a positive number.
i?pattern? or
i^pattern^
Search backward until the first or the i-th occurrence of
the Basic Regular Expression pattern is found. The search
starts before the current page and stops at the beginning of the
file. No wrap-around is performed. i must be a positive
number.
The search commands accept an added letter. If t is given,
the line containing the pattern is displayed at the top of the
screen, which is the default. m selects the middle and
b the bottom of the screen. The selected position is used
in following searches, too.
in
Advance to the next file or i files forward.
ip
Reread the previous file or i files backward.
s filename
Save the current file to the given filename.
h
Display a command summary.
!command
Execute command using the shell.
q or Q
Quit.
If the user presses the interrupt or quit key while pg
reads from the input file or writes on the terminal, pg
will immediately display the prompt. In all other situations
these keys will terminate pg.
see also
cat ,
more , sh , terminfo,
locale , regex, term