Is it possible to pipe output (e.g. dmesg) to a command like less (or equivalent) and keep the text highlighting used by the original command?
example: on the left dmesg | less on the right dmesg
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Use the --human parameter to view colored dmesg output in a less-like environment.
dmesg --human --color=always
Or use the short version:
dmesg -H
Alternatively, use the following command to achieve similar results.
dmesg --color=always | less -R
Many other utilities that produce colored output (ls, grep, etc.) have a similar --color=always option.
Steven
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2Actually `--human` does more than just preserve color and pipe to `less`: it also marks dates as e.g. `[May23 00:58]` and subsequent small offsets as `[ +6.046768]` instead of what would always be `[121187.191521]` with `less`. – Ruslan May 23 '17 at 12:56
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Is there a way to make this preserving of color formatting automatic for anytime I'm piping *any* txt based command (not just dmesg)? – mikemtnbikes Aug 02 '18 at 18:48
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@mikemtnbikes You have to use the `--color=always` if provided by the program. A program knows if it is outputting to a pipe and can therefore decide to output color or not. – Steven Aug 22 '18 at 16:04
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1`git` also has the `--color=always` option – Axel Bregnsbo Aug 23 '20 at 15:25
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`dmesg -H -T` gives absolute timestamps, e.g. `[Sat Jul 3 02:39:08 2021]` instead of `[ +0.000002]` – Bob Stein Jul 04 '21 at 19:36
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A generic command to preserve coloration independent of the program providing the output is the unbuffer command (which is part of the expect package).
Usage:
unbuffer dmesg | less -R
Artur Meinild
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Given that the OP uses `dmesg` as an example, **this should be the accepted answer**. – JesusIniesta Sep 19 '22 at 10:01
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Yes, it works nice.
for tree:
tree -C | less -rfor ls:
ls -lA --color=always | less -rfor pytest:
py.test --color=yes | less -r
Peregrino69
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