josser / pspg

Postgres Pager

pspg - Postgres Pager

Everybody who uses psql uses less pager. It is working well, but there is not any special support for tabular data. I found few projects, but no one was completed for this purpose. I decided to write some small specialized pager for usage as psql pager.

Main target

• possibility to freeze first few rows, first few columns
• possibility to use fancy colors - like mcview or FoxPro

Screenshots

Options

• -b black/white theme
• -X doesn't clean screen on the end
• -s N use theme (default theme is mc theme)
• -c N freeze first N columns
• -f file open file (default stdin)
• --no-mouse without own mouse handling (cannot be changed in app)

Themes

0. black & white
1. Midnight Commander like
2. FoxPro like
3. Pdmenu like
4. White theme
5. Mutt like
6. PCFand like
7. Green theme
8. Blue theme
9. Word Perfect like
10. Low contrast blue theme
11. Dark cyan/black mode
12. Paradox like
13. dBase IV retro style
14. dBase IV retro style (Magenta labels)

see http://okbob.blogspot.cz/2017/07/i-hope-so-every-who-uses-psql-uses-less.html

Keyboard commands

• 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 - freeze first N columns
• KEY_UP, k - navigate backward by one line
• KEY_DOWN, j - navigate forward by one line
• KEY_LEFT, h - scroll to left
• KEY_RIGHT, l - scroll to right
• Ctrl Home, g - go to the start of file
• Ctrl End, G - go to the end of file
• H - go to first line of current window
• M - go to half of current window
• L - go to end of current window
• PPAGE, Ctrl B - backward one window
• NPAGE, Ctrl F, space - forward one window
• HOME, ^ - go to begin of line, first column
• END, $ - go to end of line, last column
• Ctrl E - scroll a window down
• Ctrl Y - scroll a window up
• Ctrl D - forward a half window
• Ctrl U - backward a half window
• s - save content to file
• / - search for a pattern which will take you to the next occurrence
• ? - search for a pattern which will take you to the previous occurrence
• n - for next match in backward direction
• N - for previous match in forward direction
• Alt M - switch (on, off) own mouse handler
• Mouse button wheel - scroll vertical
• Alt Mouse button wheel - scroll horizontal
• q, F10, Esc Esc, Esc 0 - quit

Recommended psql configuration

• linestyle unicode
• border 2

some possible configuration:

-- Switch pagers with :x and :xx commands
\set x '\\setenv PAGER less'
\set xx '\\setenv PAGER \'pspg -bX --no-mouse\''
:xx

Note - compilation issue

Some linker issues can be fixed by:

I changed 
gcc -lncursesw pager.c -o pspg -ggdb
to
gcc pager.c -o pspg -ggdb -lncursesw

Note

If you like it, send a postcard from your home country to my address, please:

Pavel Stehule
Skalice 12
256 01 Benesov u Prahy
Czech Republic

I invite any questions, comments, bug reports, patches on mail address [e-mail]