From: "Luke A. Kanies" <luke@...>
Date: 2003-12-17T07:35:37+09:00
Subject: Re: Newbie questions

On Wed, 17 Dec 2003, Daniel Carrera wrote:

> On Wed, Dec 17, 2003 at 07:07:45AM +0900, Luke A. Kanies wrote:
> >
> > Shouldn't it just use the PAGER or READER environment variable?  I don't
> > really know what the difference is between the two, since they're always
> > set the same for me, but I know perldoc uses one of them, and ri should do
> > the same, at least on Unix.  That's what they're for, and it certainly
> > provides a more consistent interface (consistent with man, that is).
>
>
> I didn't know about those variables.  How do they work?

They're just the standard variables to set to change your pager.  The man
command is the main thing that uses them, but anything that supports
paging should use the PAGER variable.  I only know about them because I
always reset mine to 'less' instead of 'more'.

I haven't yet used ri, but it should definitely be coded to use that
variable by default (which means it doesn't use it if it's connected to a
pipe instead of a terminal, for instance).

I've also written some scripts which use these variables.  It's pretty
easy.

Luke

-- 
The hypothalamus is one of the most important parts of the brain,
involved in many kinds of motivation, among other functions. The
hypothalamus controls the "Four F's": 1. fighting;  2. fleeing;
3. feeding; and  4. mating.
                -- Psychology professor in neuropsychology intro course