It can be somewhat confusing that
less < some_file.txt
works fine, whereas
xzless < some_file.txt.xz
does not. Since version 429, ‘less’ allows a filter specified in
the LESSOPEN environment variable to preprocess its input even if
it comes from standard input, if $LESSOPEN begins with ‘|-’. So
set $LESSOPEN to take advantage of this feature.
Check less’s version at runtime so xzless can continue to work
with older versions.
LESSMETACHARS="$space$tab$nl'"';*?"()<>[|&^`#\$%=~'
fi
-LESSOPEN="|$xz -cdfq -- %s"
+if test "$(less -V | { read ver && echo ${ver#less }; })" -ge 429; then
+ # less 429 or later: LESSOPEN pipe will be used on
+ # standard input if $LESSOPEN begins with |-.
+ LESSOPEN="|-$xz -cdfq -- %s"
+else
+ LESSOPEN="|$xz -cdfq -- %s"
+fi
export LESSMETACHARS LESSOPEN
exec less "$@"