Ubuntu – the difference between “more” and “less” commands

command linelessmore

What is the difference between the two commands below?

more file-name
less file-name

Best Answer

more is the oldest, less is an improvement and most is an improvement on that.

Short comparison:

more: forward navigation and limited backward navigation.
less: both forward and backward navigation and also has search options. You can go to the beginning and the end of a file instantly. Plus you can switch to an editor (like open the file in vi or vim). It is noticeably quicker than editor for when the file is large.
most: has all the features of more and less but you can also open multiple files, close 1 file at a time when you have multiple files open, allows locking and scrolling of the open windows and allows for splitting of open windows.

All 3 use the h to let you view the keybindings for the command.

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – Difference between ‘dir’ and ‘ls’ terminal commands

dir and ls are part of coreutils and dir is almost the same as ls, just with different default options.

The GNU Core Utilities are the basic file, shell and text manipulation utilities of the GNU operating system. These are the core utilities which are expected to exist on every operating system.

info dir says:

dir is equivalent to ls -C -b; that is, by default files are listed in columns, sorted vertically, and special characters are represented by backslash escape sequences.

Oh and there is also vdir! info vdir says:

vdir is equivalent to ls -l -b; that is, by default files are listed in long format and special characters are represented by backslash escape sequences.

Most likely dir exists for backwards compatibility or due to historical reasons.

Ubuntu – What was the difference between `sudo apt-get -f install` and `sudo apt-get install -f`

They are the same.

apt-get and install are obligatory. The -f is optional and can be placed anywhere after apt-get. Though the man page has them explained as apt-get -f install:

   apt-get [-asqdyfmubV] [-o=config_string] [-c=config_file]
           [-t=target_release] [-a=architecture] {update | upgrade |
           dselect-upgrade | dist-upgrade |
           install pkg [{=pkg_version_number | /target_release}]...  |
           remove pkg...  | purge pkg...  |
           source pkg [{=pkg_version_number | /target_release}]...  |
           build-dep pkg [{=pkg_version_number | /target_release}]...  |
           download pkg [{=pkg_version_number | /target_release}]...  |
           check | clean | autoclean | autoremove | {-v | --version} |
           {-h | --help}}

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Ubuntu – Difference between ‘dir’ and ‘ls’ terminal commands

Ubuntu – What was the difference between `sudo apt-get -f install` and `sudo apt-get install -f`

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