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When I first heard their names, I got really confused when I tried to guess what these tools might do, I thought I'd misheard something.
What's the difference between more and less, i.e. why should I choose one over the other?
They both seem to do the same thing...
Also, why are they named like that in the first place?
user541686
Posted 2011-07-13T15:59:16.360
Reputation: 21 330
78
more is a basic pager, which allows you to scroll downwards, one page at a time. Only downwards.
less is also a pager, but has addition functionality to scroll upwards and downwards through the input, in addition to several other extensions.
So, yes. less is more, and more is less. Another common idiom (according to the wiki entry) is "less is more, more or less." The name comes from the fact that the author (Mark Nudelman) essentially wanted a program that was "backwards more" -- The opposite of more, is less.
Darth Android
Posted 2011-07-13T15:59:16.360
Reputation: 35 133
1To add confusion...what about the 'most' pager program. – mdpc – 2014-08-27T23:15:33.133
Which should you use? It doesn't matter, more or less. – cowlinator – 2019-01-09T02:16:43.493
+1 cool, thanks. Any idea why more was named more, btw? – user541686 – 2011-07-13T16:17:48.963
@Mehrdad All I have to go on is the wiki entry, which states "The name came from the joke of doing 'backwards more.'" – Darth Android – 2011-07-13T16:20:17.873
13@Mehrdad I just realized I misread your comment-- I have no clue why more is called "more", but I would suspect that it's because all the program originally did was accept input and display -- More -- at the bottom of the screen if there was more. – Darth Android – 2011-07-13T16:35:46.673
6more came well before less, and was named for the simple purpose that it let you handle "more" output than would fit on screen. – Stephanie – 2011-07-14T04:01:10.123
6True, more or less. – Daniel R Hicks – 2012-05-09T18:37:39.110
6
I find less a bit more friendly than more because you can use the arrow keys to stroll through the file. more only scrolls screen by screen (by default).
iank
Posted 2011-07-13T15:59:16.360
Reputation: 163
... And you can search with / – Canadian Luke – 2015-01-02T23:00:22.017
3
Other that it allows more scrolling features, less also doesn't need to read the whole file, i.e. it loads files faster than more
yafrani
Posted 2011-07-13T15:59:16.360
Reputation: 131
2
Another difference between more and less, is that more leaves the (last page of the) output on the shell, while less leaves the shell clean.
Sometimes you might prefer one over the other. For example, if you need to copy-paste from the file, more can be better. However, in other cases you might prefer the 'cleaner' approach of less.
Zvika
Posted 2011-07-13T15:59:16.360
Reputation: 209
Less's behavior on small inputs and its use of the alternate screen is configurable (-F and -X respectively). – torek – 2020-02-24T08:16:55.727
0
More or less they also work well together:
more * | less
This shows the contents of matching files along with the decorated matching file and directory names.
Acumenus
Posted 2011-07-13T15:59:16.360
Reputation: 902
7Wait until you find out about
most! It's just likemoreandlessbut it supports colors too! – Kevin Panko – 2011-07-13T19:03:19.0671o_O you're joking right? – user541686 – 2011-07-13T19:30:53.113
@Mehrdad No.
– new123456 – 2011-07-13T20:12:27.7904@new123456: lol
Why settle for less?... – user541686 – 2011-07-13T20:13:41.4573
lessis more thanmore! – ctype.h – 2012-01-17T00:17:46.757