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I am wandering if there is a way to read the full output of a command when it uses more than the screen. I am currently having to output the command into a file, and then using nano to scroll through it.

E.g. $ ls -Al /etc/ only displays the end of the output and cuts of the rest.

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3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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You need to use less less is a pager, it allows you to view a page at a time. e.g. 

command | less
ls -Al /etc | less

The most common command while in less are:

  • enter advance one line
  • space advance one page
  • q quit / exit help
  • h help

see man less for more info, like how to search.

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That's possible by pressing shift + pg up.

More information on scrollback and the scrollback buffer can be found here.

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  • This will depend on the terminal (emulator). Commented Oct 6, 2015 at 20:32
  • It works for me. Commented Oct 6, 2015 at 20:33
  • @richard Which one(s) don't implement a scrollback buffer? Commented Oct 6, 2015 at 20:33
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    @Jan I can not list them all, but some examples are the console alt ctrl F1, old or low resource using emulators, and some physical terminals. Commented Oct 6, 2015 at 20:41
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    @richard, the linux console does have a scrollback buffer, it just only works for the current vt, and is lost on vt switch. Commented Oct 7, 2015 at 2:59
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Pipe any command's output into less and it will allow pagination, searching nd whatnot.

ls -lA /etc | less

As 'less' is displaying your text, hit h for help, read and ponder. man less - more to read.

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