The Linux commands more
and less
are similar to cat
, but with more
and less
you can scroll the file instead of showing the enter file at once. So if you have larger files you want to view that are longer than your screen or terminal then you can use more
or less
commands instead of cat
.
I would suggest using less
more often than more
as the Linux less
command can load files to the screen faster. If you do more somefile.txt
the entire file must be read before it will start displaying on your screen. If you use less somefile.txt
the contents of somefile.txt
will be displayed as they are read from the file, so you don’t have to wait until the entire contents are read before you can see it!
Another reason I would suggest using the Linux command less
more than the Linux command more
is because with less
command you can scroll up in the file as well as down, where with the Linux command more
you can only scroll down the file. If you pass something with more
you have to quit, run the more
command again, and hope you don’t pass what you were looking for again.
The syntax for more
is like most Linux commands: more [OPTIONS] [filename]
. The sytax for less
is the same: less [OPTIONS] [FILENAME]
.
The only options I use normally with less
is less -N [FILENAME]
which will print line numbers before each line. The only options I use on more
is more +[number] [FILENAME]
which will start you on line [number].
Now for some examples of more
.
If I wanted to view file phone-numbers.txt
to write them down on paper, or enter into my cellphone, I could run more phone-numbers.txt
and hit enter to scroll down after I have already entered the information on my cellphone or wrote them down on paper.
If I was working on a php/mysql website and I click on Login which takes me to login.php and I get something like: PHP parse error : syntax error, unexpected T-STRING on line 130 in file /home/user/www/login.php
I can then run more +130 /home/user/www/login.php
which will start me on line 130 where the error is so I can look for what is wrong and then fix it.
Now for some examples of less
.
If I was working on a php/mysql website and I was writing a foreach()
loop on my php script and needed a little help from someone that has a copy of my script, I could do less -N some-script.php
and tell him or her what lines I was having problems with.
Well that’s it for the Linux more
and less
commands. As always I hope this Linux tutorial on the Linux less
and more
commands has helped you understand more
and less
a bit more! Thank you for reading my Linux tutorials on Beginner Linux Tutorial, I hope you have a great day! Any questions of problems with more
or less
can be asked below in the comment section.
4 Comments
thank you very much sir..very useful notes
It is nice. Much help for me
I couldn’t help but think about the More vs Less ATT commercial. Very helpful though, thank you.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDgQtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D48-tcRiBNj4&ei=136vUcfWJcX54AOksoCwCQ&usg=AFQjCNFhcDgZ25SR3Yl-E-LlBuzEQs3hqw&sig2=3OpNRaya7UIGxLbtpkjB3Q&bvm=bv.47380653,d.dmg
Lol, good one! Glad it helped, you’re welcome!