WTF is going on with my less (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) by zarkanian@sh.itjust.works to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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Today, I was doing some command-line stuff and then this happened:

ls --help|less

Usage: ls [OPTION]... [FILE]...
List information about the FILEs (the current directory by default).
Sort entries alphabetically if none of -cftuvSUX nor --sort is specified.

Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.
ESC]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-aESC\ESC[1m-a, --allESC[0mESC]8;;ESC\
do not ignore entries starting with .
ESC]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls-AESC\ESC[1m-A, --almost-allESC[0mESC]8;;ESC\
do not list implied . and ..
ESC]8;;https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html#ls--authorESC\ESC[1m--authorESC[0mESC]8;;ESC\

It's rendering ls --help with control characters. When I do ls --help|less --raw-control-chars it doesn't show the control characters, and it looks all neat and pretty. Isn't this the opposite of how it's supposed to work?!

Is --raw-control-chars a toggle and some config is causing less to show control characters when I invoke it with no options? If so, where can I find this config and stop this?

This has absolutely no bearing on my work and my life in general except for the fact that I'll go absolutely batshit trying to figure this out, because that's how my brain is. So far, all of my web searches just confirm that less shouldn't be working this way, but they don't give me any way to fix it. Please help me, Lemmy!!!

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[-] syklemil@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 3 weeks ago

-q controls output for filenames. From ls.c:

/* True means output nongraphic chars in file names as '?'.
   (-q, --hide-control-chars)
   qmark_funny_chars and the quoting style (-Q, --quoting-style=WORD) are
   independent.  The algorithm is: first, obey the quoting style to get a
   string representing the file name;  then, if qmark_funny_chars is set,
   replace all nonprintable chars in that string with '?'.  It's necessary
   to replace nonprintable chars even in quoted strings, because we don't
   want to mess up the terminal if control chars get sent to it, and some
   quoting methods pass through control chars as-is.  */
static bool qmark_funny_chars;

this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2026

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