bzless

Additional Notes

bzless opens bzip2-compressed text through a pager, usually less, without manually decompressing the file first.

Use it for compressed logs, documentation, reports, or text archives.

Syntax

bzless file.bz2...

Parameters

• file.bz2: Compressed text file to view.
• options: Pager options may be accepted depending on the wrapper.

Common Keys

• Space: Move forward one screen.
• b: Move backward one screen.
• /pattern: Search forward.
• n: Repeat search.
• q: Quit.

Examples

bzless access.log.bz2

View a compressed log.

bzless README.bz2

Read compressed text documentation.

Practical Notes

• bzless is for text. Binary output may be unreadable.
• Use bzgrep when you only need matching lines.
• Use bzcat file.bz2 | less as a fallback.