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Old 06-19-2008, 07:14 AM   #1
atul_sp
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Difference between less and more command


Hi,

Please let me know the main difference between less command and more command i.e. what exactly different thing we can archive from less or more which we can't achieve from next one. As per usage i find both working in same way.
 
Old 06-19-2008, 07:20 AM   #2
pinniped
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Less is so much more! 'less' is also happy to read gz files (if it is zless) and is also useful for peeking at binary files and special files like device nodes.
 
Old 06-19-2008, 01:22 PM   #3
Mr. C.
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"More" was created long ago, as a pager. It would prompt "-more-" at the bottom of the screen - hence, its name.

However, "more" was fairly limited, and additional development on "more" had stopped. So, along came "less" (with the cute play on words that "less" is "more"). Less continues to be improved even to this day, whereas more is basically dead. Use less.
 
Old 06-19-2008, 04:49 PM   #4
Hangdog42
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And while less is more, most is um, well, um. Well, it's most.
 
Old 06-21-2008, 04:54 AM   #5
toaravind
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1) You can navigate the page up/down using the less command and not possible in more command.
2) You can search a string in less command.
 
Old 06-21-2008, 05:14 AM   #6
SteveK1979
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Quote:
Originally Posted by atul_sp View Post
As per usage i find both working in same way.
You'll probably find on quite a few modern distros that the 'less' and 'more' commands are actually running the same binary. RHEL/CentOS seems to be a notable exception though.

Cheers,
Steve
 
  


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