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Is there a command line option that will allow less to return to the command line if there are not sufficient lines in the file to warrant paging.
Sure I have seen it in the past but can't find the option in help.
justintime
Posted 2010-08-12T08:47:10.850
Reputation: 2 651
20
See manpage:
-F or --quit-if-one-screen
Causes less to automatically exit if the entire file can be displayed on the first screen.
sleske
Posted 2010-08-12T08:47:10.850
Reputation: 19 887
2+1 - Goes off and aliases less to less -F – Nifle – 2010-08-12T08:55:53.310
4Not sure I see the point of -F by itself as (at least on my Linux) doesnt display any of the file. But combined with -X it does what I want. Thanks. – justintime – 2010-08-12T15:47:12.497
The different behaviors are explained in this SU question and answer and even more in the blog linked from there.
http://superuser.com/questions/134598/how-can-you-turn-off-alternate-screen-in-osxs-terminal-app
http://fixlog.blogspot.com/2006/09/stop-gnome-terminal-screen-clear.html
To summarize the below answer's and comments:
less -FXworks. It produces a behavior similar to that ofmorefor short files. – loxaxs – 2017-05-29T10:15:55.533