name: less description: Paginate and search text files interactively. Use when the agent needs to search, filter, or transform data efficiently.

Less

Paginate and search text files interactively

Prerequisite Check

Run this before choosing an interactive pager workflow:

command -v less >/dev/null 2>&1 || less --version

If less is missing, switch to non-interactive fallbacks such as head, tail, or sed -n, and note that search/navigation will be more limited.

Quick Start

1. Verify less is available: less --version or man less
2. Establish the command surface: man less or less --help
3. Start with basic usage: less [options] [input]

Intent Router

• references/install-and-setup.md — Installing less
• references/cheatsheet.md — Common options and patterns
• references/advanced-usage.md — Advanced techniques
• references/troubleshooting.md — Common errors and solutions

Core Workflow

1. Verify less is available: less --version
2. Test with sample data first
3. Validate output before batch processing
4. Document exact commands for reproducibility

Quick Command Reference

less --version                       # Check version
less --help                          # Show help
less [options] [input]               # Basic usage
man less                             # Full manual

# Open a file with line numbers and quit if it fits on one screen
less -N -F build.log

# Fallbacks when less is unavailable
head -n 40 build.log
sed -n '120,180p' build.log
tail -n 40 build.log

Safety Notes

Recovery note: when less is unavailable, explain that paging/search commands like /pattern and n will not work. Use sed -n for exact ranges and grep -n to locate lines first.

Source Policy

• Treat installed behavior and man page as truth.

Resource Index

• scripts/install.sh — Install on macOS or Linux.
• scripts/install.ps1 — Install on Windows or any platform.