Debian Package a Day ([info]debaday) wrote,
@ 2004-07-15 08:00:00
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most - Pager program similar to more and less
Most is a paging program that displays, one windowful at a time, the contents of a file on a terminal. A status line at the bottom of the screen displays the file name, the current line number and the percentage of the file so far displayed.

Unlike other paging programs, most is capable of displaying an arbitrary number of windows as long as they all fit on the screen, and different windows could be used to view the same file in different positions.

In addition to displaying ordinary text files, most can also display binary files as well as files with arbitrary ascii characters.

Thanks go to Fraser H. for this package suggestion:
"most" is a pager for the command line. It works well as a replacement for less. The advantage it has over less is that it supports color. If you install "most" and then use the alternatives system to set it to the default pager, then your man pages will show up in colour.

Thanks for debian package a day, I find it quite useful.

My pleasure, Fraser. Keep 'em coming, everybody.

More information on this package can be found on the Debian web site.
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(13 comments) - (Post a new comment)


[info]synthclarion
2004-07-15 08:03 am UTC (link)
Potentially dumb question, but hey.

What's the alternatives system?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

alternatives
[info]rfunk
2004-07-15 08:12 am UTC (link)
See the update-alternatives(8) man page.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Very Nice -- Man Pages Look GOOD in Color
(Anonymous)
2004-07-15 08:50 am UTC (link)
Thanks to the poster... oh and it was (as root)
> update-alternatives --set pager /usr/bin/most

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Re: Very Nice -- Man Pages Look GOOD in Color
[info]rfunk
2004-07-15 09:20 am UTC (link)
or in your .bashrc:
export PAGER=/usr/bin/most

(Reply to this) (Parent)


[info]mightyquinn
2004-07-15 09:41 am UTC (link)
Most seems not to like UTF-8 locales at all, however. Most manpages I looked had bits of extraneous gobbledygook strewn about, and quickbrown.txt looked awful

(Reply to this)


[info]fenikso
2004-07-15 10:24 am UTC (link)
there is also a good package for man/info pagers replacement -- pinfo

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Already covered pinfo
[info]ydna
2004-07-15 11:04 am UTC (link)
pinfo was covered 25 June 2004 in [info]debaday.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

thumbs down
(Anonymous)
2004-07-15 05:46 pm UTC (link)
I found out about most when I installed Kanotix, a German Knoppix-based distro that comes with most as a default pager instead of less. I like that most will show man pages more colorfully than less.

However, its keymap is awkward if you're used to less keys. And, most annoyingly, it won't hilight your search string in the file you're viewing, as less does. So, despite some advantages, I'm going to stick with less until most catches up.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Re: thumbs down
(Anonymous)
2004-07-15 07:28 pm UTC (link)
the fact that less supports emacs' keybindings is a big plus to me (not to start an emacs vs vi debate).

does most support regex searches? i didn't realize less supported regex searches until one day i absent-mindedly typed a regex into a less search and it worked. it even understands the [:space:] meta character.

color would be nice. though i don't know how much i would use split screen support (as i rarely use it in emacs).

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: thumbs down
(Anonymous)
2004-07-19 02:10 pm UTC (link)
Yes, the keybinding issue is a problem with most also. I use vi, and most doesn't have vi keybindings either. less does. So score yet another point against most.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Re: thumbs down
[info]ydna
2004-07-15 08:40 pm UTC (link)
Well, more or less, I think you've managed to make the most of your situation.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

most
(Anonymous)
2004-07-20 10:24 am UTC (link)
What I like about most is that it automatically reads gzipped files, so you can just most README.gz and not have to think about it.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

Re: most
(Anonymous)
2004-07-20 12:39 pm UTC (link)
less(1) will automatically pipe the input through any sort of filter, including gunzip, for you, depending on filename pattern. Try 'man lesspipe'.

-- Will

(Reply to this) (Parent)


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