This is used to view larger files because it is a paging program; it displays the content page by page with scroll-back capabilities. We can also perform search operations and navigate inside the files:

• /<string>: To search for the <string> in a forward direction
• ?<string>: To search for the <string> in a backward direction
• q: To quit the less editor

Examples of the less command are as follows:

$ less /var/log/messages or
$ cat /var/log/messages | less

Main pages are displayed using the less utility.