less / more

less [options] [file]
more [options] [file]

Option / Key	Description
less file	Opens a file in paged view.
less -N file	Displays line numbers.
less -S file	Disables line wrapping; long lines can be scrolled horizontally.
less +G file	Opens the file starting from the last line.
less +F file	Opens the file in real-time follow mode, equivalent to tail -f.
q	Quits less / more.
Space / f	Moves forward one page (one screen).
b	Moves back one page (less only).
↑ / ↓ or j / k	Scrolls one line at a time (less only).
g / G	Jumps to the first / last line (less only).
/keyword	Searches forward for a keyword (less only).
n / N	Moves to the next / previous search result (less only).
h	Displays help (less only).

Opens a file in paged view. A prompt (:) appears at the bottom of the screen, and you can navigate with key bindings.

less /var/log/syslog

Displays a file with line numbers. Useful for reviewing scripts.

less -N script.sh
      1 #!/usr/bin/env bash
      2 set -euo pipefail
      3
      4 echo "Hello, World!"
      5 echo "Today is $(date)"
:

Pages through output received from a pipe.

grep "ERROR" app.log | less

Monitors a file in real time (similar to $ tail -f). Press Ctrl+C to stop monitoring and switch to normal less navigation.

less +F /var/log/app.log
2026-03-06 12:00:01 [INFO] Server started
2026-03-06 12:00:05 [INFO] Connection accepted
2026-03-06 12:00:12 [WARN] Slow query detected
Waiting for data... (interrupt to abort)

Views a file with long lines without wrapping. Use the left and right arrow keys to scroll horizontally.

less -S wide_csv_file.csv

Type /ERROR inside $ less to search for lines containing "ERROR". Press n to jump to the next result, and N to go back to the previous one.

less /var/log/app.log
# Type /ERROR after opening to search

The $ man command uses $ less internally. You can navigate it with the same key bindings.

man bash

$ more is a simpler pager that does not support scrolling back to previous pages. Use it for quick, straightforward viewing.

more /etc/fstab

Unlike $ more, $ less does not load the entire file into memory at once, so it can open even multi-gigabyte log files quickly. It also supports backward navigation. When used with a pipe, it reads from standard input (e.g., grep "ERROR" app.log | less).

To follow the end of a file in real time, tail -f is also commonly used. To display an entire file at once, see cat.