PG(1)                            User Commands                           PG(1)



NAME
       pg - browse pagewise through text files

SYNOPSIS
       pg [-amount] [-p prompt] [-cefnrs] [+line] [+/pattern/] [file...]

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  new-
       line 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
              Start at the given line number.

       +/pattern/
              Start at the line containing the Basic Regular  Expression  pat-
              tern given.

       -number
              The number of lines per page.  By default, 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.

       -V, --version
              Disaplay version information and exit.

       -h, --help
              Display help text and exit.

COMMANDS
       The following commands may be entered at the prompt.  Commands preceded
       by  i  in  this document accept a number as argument, positive or nega-
       tive.  If this argument starts with + or -, it is interpreted  relative
       to  the  current  position in the input file, otherwise relative to the
       beginning.

       i<Enter>
              Display the next or the indicated page.

       id or ^D
              Display the next halfpage.  If i is given, it is  always  inter-
              preted 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
              As <Enter> 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.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
       The following environment variables affect the behavior 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.

SEE ALSO
       cat(1), more(1), sh(1), terminfo(5), locale(7), regex(7), term(7)

NOTES
       pg expects the terminal tabulators to be set every eight positions.

       Files that include NUL characters cannot be displayed by pg.

AVAILABILITY
       The  pg command is part of the util-linux package and is available from
       ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/.



util-linux                         July 2014                             PG(1)
