pg(1) User Commands pg(1)NAMEpg - files perusal filter for CRTs
SYNOPSISpg [-number] [-p string] [-cefnrs] [ + linenumber] [ +/ pattern /]
[filename...]
DESCRIPTION
The pg command is a filter that allows the examination of filenames one
screenful at a time on a CRT. If the user types a RETURN, another page
is displayed; other possibilities are listed below.
This command is different from previous paginators in that it allows
you to back up and review something that has already passed. The method
for doing this is explained below.
To determine terminal attributes, pg scans the terminfo(4) data base
for the terminal type specified by the environment variable TERM. If
TERM is not defined, the terminal type dumb is assumed.
OPTIONS-number An integer specifying the size (in lines) of the window
that pg is to use instead of the default. (On a termi‐
nal containing 24 lines, the default window size is
23).
-p string pg uses string as the prompt. If the prompt string con‐
tains a %d, the first occurrence of %d in the prompt
will be replaced by the current page number when the
prompt is issued. The default prompt string is ``:''.
-c Home the cursor and clear the screen before displaying
each page. This option is ignored if clear_screen is
not defined for this terminal type in the terminfo(4)
data base.
-epg does not pause at the end of each file.
-f Normally, pg splits lines longer than the screen width,
but some sequences of characters in the text being dis‐
played (for instance, escape sequences for underlining)
generate undesirable results. The -f option inhibits pg
from splitting lines.
-n Normally, commands must be terminated by a <newline>
character. This option causes an automatic end of com‐
mand as soon as a command letter is entered.
-r Restricted mode. The shell escape is disallowed. pg
prints an error message but does not exit.
-spg prints all messages and prompts in the standard out‐
put mode (usually inverse video).
+linenumber Start up at linenumber.
+/pattern/ Start up at the first line containing the regular
expression pattern.
OPERANDS
The following operands are supported:
filename A path name of a text file to be displayed. If no file‐
name is given, or if it is −, the standard input is
read.
USAGE
Commands
The responses that may be typed when pg pauses can be divided into
three categories: those causing further perusal, those that search, and
those that modify the perusal environment.
Commands that cause further perusal normally take a preceding address,
an optionally signed number indicating the point from which further
text should be displayed. This address is interpreted in either pages
or lines depending on the command. A signed address specifies a point
relative to the current page or line, and an unsigned address specifies
an address relative to the beginning of the file. Each command has a
default address that is used if none is provided.
The perusal commands and their defaults are as follows:
(+1)<newline> or <blank>This causes one page to be displayed. The
address is specified in pages.
(+1) l With a relative address this causes pg to simu‐
late scrolling the screen, forward or backward,
the number of lines specified. With an abso‐
lute address this command prints a screenful
beginning at the specified line.
(+1) d or ^D Simulates scrolling half a screen forward or
backward.
if Skip i screens of text.
iz Same as <newline> except that i, if present,
becomes the new default number of lines per
screenful.
The following perusal commands take no address.
. or ^L Typing a single period causes the current page of text
to be redisplayed.
$ Displays the last windowful in the file. Use with cau‐
tion when the input is a pipe.
The following commands are available for searching for text patterns in
the text. The regular expressions are described on the regex(5) manual
page. They must always be terminated by a <newline>, even if the -n
option is specified.
i/pattern/ Search forward for the ith (default i=1) occurrence of
pattern. Searching begins immediately after the current
page and continues to the end of the current file,
without wrap-around.
i^pattern^
i?pattern? Search backwards for the ith (default i=1) occurrence
of pattern. Searching begins immediately before the
current page and continues to the beginning of the cur‐
rent file, without wrap-around. The ^ notation is use‐
ful for Adds 100 terminals which will not properly han‐
dle the ?.
After searching, pg will normally display the line found at the top of
the screen. This can be modified by appending m or b to the search com‐
mand to leave the line found in the middle or at the bottom of the win‐
dow from now on. The suffix t can be used to restore the original situ‐
ation.
The user of pg can modify the environment of perusal with the following
commands:
in Begin perusing the ith next file in the command line.
The i is an unsigned number, default value is 1.
ip Begin perusing the ith previous file in the command
line. i is an unsigned number, default is 1.
iw Display another window of text. If i is present, set
the window size to i.
s filename Save the input in the named file. Only the current file
being perused is saved. The white space between the s
and filename is optional. This command must always be
terminated by a <newline>, even if the -n option is
specified.
h Help by displaying an abbreviated summary of available
commands.
q or Q Quit pg.
!command Command is passed to the shell, whose name is taken
from the SHELL environment variable. If this is not
available, the default shell is used. This command must
always be terminated by a <newline>, even if the -n
option is specified.
At any time when output is being sent to the terminal, the user can hit
the quit key (normally CTRL-\) or the interrupt (break) key. This
causes pg to stop sending output, and display the prompt. The user may
then enter one of the above commands in the normal manner. Unfortu‐
nately, some output is lost when this is done, because any characters
waiting in the terminal's output queue are flushed when the quit signal
occurs.
If the standard output is not a terminal, then pg acts just like
cat(1), except that a header is printed before each file (if there is
more than one).
Large File Behavior
See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of pg when encoun‐
tering files greater than or equal to 2 Gbyte ( 2**31 bytes).
EXAMPLES
Example 1: An example of the pg command.
The following command line uses pg to read the system news:
example% news | pg-p "(Page %d):"
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment variables
that affect the execution of pg: LC_CTYPE, LC_MESSAGES, and NLSPATH.
The following environment variables affect the execution of pg:
COLUMNS Determine the horizontal screen size. If unset or NULL,
use the value of TERM, the window size, baud rate,
or some combination of these, to indicate the terminal
type for the screen size calculation.
LINES Determine the number of lines to be displayed on the
screen. If unset or NULL, use the value of TERM, the
window size, baud rate, or some combination of these,
to indicate the terminal type for the screen size cal‐
culation.
SHELL Determine the name of the command interpreter executed
for a !command.
TERM Determine terminal attributes. Optionally attempt to
search a system-dependent database, keyed on the value
of the TERM environment variable. If no information is
available, a terminal incapable of cursor-addressable
movement is assumed.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 Successful completion.
>0 An error occurred.
FILES
/tmp/pg* temporary file when input is from a
pipe
/usr/share/lib/terminfo/?/* terminal information database
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
│Availability │SUNWcsu │
│CSI │enabled │
└─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
SEE ALSOcat(1), grep(1), more(1), terminfo(4), attributes(5), environ(5),
largefile(5), regex(5)NOTES
While waiting for terminal input, pg responds to BREAK, CTRL-C, and
CTRL−\ by terminating execution. Between prompts, however, these sig‐
nals interrupt pg's current task and place the user in prompt mode.
These should be used with caution when input is being read from a pipe,
since an interrupt is likely to terminate the other commands in the
pipeline.
The terminal /, ^, or ? may be omitted from the searching commands.
If terminal tabs are not set every eight positions, undesirable results
may occur.
When using pg as a filter with another command that changes the termi‐
nal I/O options, terminal settings may not be restored correctly.
SunOS 5.10 25 Feb 1996 pg(1)
