more

Updated

September 4, 2026

Overview

more is a simple historical pager that displays text one screen at a time. On modern Linux, less is almost always the better interactive choice (bi-directional scroll, better search). more remains useful for POSIX familiarity, tiny environments, and scripts that expect the classic pager name.

Syntax

more [options] [file ...]
command | more

Common Options

Option Description
-d Prompt with more helpful “press space” text
-f Count logical lines (don’t fold long lines as multiple)
-l Do not treat form-feed specially
-c / -p Paint from top / clear then show (terminal-dependent)
-s Squeeze multiple blank lines
-u Suppress underlining
+num Start at line number
+/pattern Start at pattern
-n num Screen size (lines)

Feature sets differ between implementations (util-linux vs BSD heritage).

Common keys

Key Action
Space Next page
Enter Next line
q Quit
/pattern Search (implementation-dependent)
h Help (if supported)
b Back (often not available in classic more)

Limited backward movement is the classic reason people switch to less.

Examples with Explanations

Basic

more /etc/os-release
more +20 /var/log/dmesg
more +/failed /var/log/syslog

Pipelines

dmesg | more
seq 1 200 | more
ls -l /usr/bin | more

Prefer less when available

# interactive systems
less /var/log/syslog

# force more only if required
PAGER=more man ls

Start position

more +100 /var/log/kern.log
more +/error app.log

Tiny environments

# busybox / recovery shells may only have more
more /etc/passwd

Compare pagers

printf '%s\n' {1..200} | more
printf '%s\n' {1..200} | less

Notice bidirectional movement and search comfort in less.

Notes / Pitfalls

  • Default PAGER / MANPAGER on desktop distros is usually less, not more.
  • Behavior of flags is less portable than many coreutils tools.
  • Not ideal for huge logs; still reads sequentially.
  • Some more versions exit automatically at EOF when not a tty — good for scripts, surprising interactively.
  • Teaching material still mentions more; production muscle memory should favor less.

2026-relevant notes

  • Recovery initramfs and busybox environments may ship more only — know both.
  • systemctl / journalctl respect $SYSTEMD_PAGER / $PAGER; set to less -R for color.
  • Don’t write new tooling that requires more-specific keybindings.

Additional Resources

  • man more