From: Derek Lewis <lewisd@...00f.net>
Date: 2003-12-18T03:53:45+09:00
Subject: Re: Newbie questions


Just a note about PAGER.  Some systems (both my Debian installs, for
example) don't define PAGER or READER, but use a symlink named 'pager'.
It may be useful somehow to check for all of those.

My (Debian) "man man" says:

PAGER     If $PAGER is set, its value is used as the name of the
    program used to display the manual page.  By default, exec
    /usr/bin/pager -s is used.

A SuSe system here at work has the exact paragraph, so I assume it's some
sort of standard behavior.


On Wed, 17 Dec 2003, Luke A. Kanies wrote:

> 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
>

Derek Lewis

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