{
    "mode": "man",
    "parameter": "ZLESS",
    "section": "1",
    "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/ZLESS/1/json",
    "generated": "2026-06-16T05:59:44Z",
    "synopsis": "zless [ name ...  ]",
    "sections": {
        "NAME": {
            "content": "zless - file perusal filter for crt viewing of compressed text\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SYNOPSIS": {
            "content": "zless [ name ...  ]\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "DESCRIPTION": {
            "content": "Zless is a filter which allows examination of compressed or plain text files one screenful at\na time on a soft-copy terminal.  It is the equivalent of  setting  the  environment  variable\nLESSOPEN   to   '|gzip   -cdfq   --  %s',  and  the  environment  variable  LESSMETACHARS  to\n'<space><tab><newline>;*?\"()<>[|&^`#\\$%=~', and then running less.   However,  enough  people\nseem to think that having the command zless available is important to be worth providing it.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SEE ALSO": {
            "content": "zmore(1), less(1)\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "BUGS": {
            "content": "Zless  does not work with compressed data that is piped to it via standard input; it requires\nthat input files be specified as arguments.  To read compressed data from a pipe, you can use\n...|gunzip|less instead of ...|zless.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "COPYRIGHT NOTICE": {
            "content": "Copyright © 2006-2007, 2015-2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc.\nCopyright © 1992, 1993 Jean-loup Gailly\n\nPermission  is  granted  to  make  and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the\ncopyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.\n\nPermission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this manual under the  con‐\nditions  for verbatim copying, provided that the entire resulting derived work is distributed\nunder the terms of a permission notice identical to this one.\n\nPermission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual  into  another  lan‐\nguage,  under  the above conditions for modified versions, except that this permission notice\nmay be stated in a translation approved by the Foundation.\n\n\n\nZLESS(1)",
            "subsections": []
        }
    },
    "summary": "zless - file perusal filter for crt viewing of compressed text",
    "flags": [],
    "examples": [],
    "see_also": [
        {
            "name": "zmore",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/zmore/1/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "less",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/less/1/json"
        }
    ],
    "tldr": {
        "source": "official",
        "description": "View `gzip` and `xz` compressed files.",
        "examples": [
            {
                "description": "Page through a `gzip` compressed file with `less`",
                "command": "zless {{file.txt.gz}}"
            }
        ]
    }
}