How To Read Files

Less

Less is a 'pager'. That just means that it allows you to read a text file page by page. If you'd like to know why it's called 'less', ask me online sometime. It's sort of a lame programmer's joke, so don't expect too much. :o)

Moving through a file with 'less'

This is virtually all you do with this program, so it's hardly worth giving it a header. But that's beside the point. To move down a line in the file, type 'j', without the apostrophes. To move up a line you use 'k'. If you prefer to read in big chunks, you can hit the spacebar to go down a page, and the 'b' key to move up one. Easy, eh? When you come to the end of a file, the text '(END)' will be printed in the lower left-hand part of your window. When you see this, you can just press 'q' to finish with the text and quit the program.

With that out of the way, it's time to move onto the slightly more complex topics, such as using email and newsgroups. When you're reading the help files on those, it would be a good idea to open up a session to MINDS>. That way, you'll be able to keep the help file open and still try out the differentcommands mentioned in it.

Cian, pooka@minds.cs.may.ie
Fri Oct 8 23:09:37 IST 1999

PS: In case you don't know already, this little fellow ----> :o)
is a 'smiley', also referred to as an 'emoticon'. If you still don't know what I'm talking about, tilt your head over to the left and look at it again. :o)