# phpman > man > XZLESS(1)

> **TLDR:** Display text from `xz` and `lzma` compressed files.
>
- View a compressed file:
  `xzless {{path/to/file}}`
- View a compressed file and display line numbers:
  `xzless --LINE-NUMBERS {{path/to/file}}`
- View a compressed file and quit if the entire file can be displayed on the first screen:
  `xzless --quit-if-one-screen {{path/to/file}}`

*Source: tldr-pages*

---

[XZLESS(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/XZLESS/1/markdown)                                     XZ Utils                                     [XZLESS(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/XZLESS/1/markdown)



## NAME
       xzless, lzless - view xz or lzma compressed (text) files

## SYNOPSIS
       **xzless** [_file_...]
       **lzless** [_file_...]

## DESCRIPTION
       **xzless** is a filter that displays text from compressed files to a terminal.  It works on files
       compressed with [**xz**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xz/1/markdown) or [**lzma**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/lzma/1/markdown).  If no _files_ are given, **xzless** reads from standard input.

       **xzless** uses [**less**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/less/1/markdown) to present its output.  Unlike **xzmore**, its choice of pager cannot be  al‐
       tered  by  setting an environment variable.  Commands are based on both [**more**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/more/1/markdown) and [**vi**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/vi/1/markdown) and
       allow back and forth movement and searching.  See the [**less**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/less/1/markdown) manual for more information.

       The command named **lzless** is provided for backward compatibility with LZMA Utils.

## ENVIRONMENT
       **LESSMETACHARS**
              A list of characters special to the shell.  Set by **xzless** unless it is already set  in
              the environment.

       **LESSOPEN**
              Set  to  a  command  line to invoke the [**xz**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xz/1/markdown) decompressor for preprocessing the input
              files to [**less**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/less/1/markdown).

## SEE ALSO
       [**less**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/less/1/markdown), [**xz**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xz/1/markdown), [**xzmore**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/xzmore/1/markdown), [**zless**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/zless/1/markdown)



Tukaani                                      2010-09-27                                    [XZLESS(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/XZLESS/1/markdown)