Re: [Sheflug] less -f ?

[James Rogers <phb01jdr [at] xxxxxxxxxx>]

lesleyb wrote:

> I was looking at stuff in the less man page and noticed the -f option
>
> "       -f or --force
>               Forces non-regular files to be opened.  (A non-regular 
> file is a directory or a device special file.)
>               Also  suppresses  the  warning message when a binary 
> file is opened.  By default, less will refuse to
>               open non-regular files.
> "
>
> so I tried it on an unsuspecting sub directory of my home dir.  AFAIK, 
> the sub directory seems to have survived but I get this
>
> mkdir test
> lesleyb [at] guano:~> less -f test
> test is a directory
> lesleyb [at] guano:~>   less --force test
> test is a directory
>
> While I haven't a clue what would be a reasonable way for less to 
> display a non-regular file, the man page does say it forces it to be 
> opened.  Pedantically, opening a file is different to displaying it so 
> what state is that directory left in?
>
> Regards
>
> Lesley
>
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Sheffield Linux User's Group -
> http://www.sheflug.co.uk/mailfaq.html
>
>  GNU the choice of a complete generation.
"vi test" will open it
___________________________________________________________________

Sheffield Linux User's Group -
http://www.sheflug.co.uk/mailfaq.html

 GNU the choice of a complete generation.