Turn off counting line numbers in less command

Question

In openSUSE 12.2, the less command counts line numbers when the file is opened. This causes a lot of delays when working with huge files. Is there a way to disable this option?

Crockett

Answer 1

My less (cygwin) has a -n option to suppress that default behavior. Equivalent to the long version --line-numbers. Do man less to see your less's options.

Cheryl

-n option counts the bytes instead of number of lines. But yes, it is fast and saves from delay of counting line numbers of huge files. – Crockett

Probably because bytes can be seeked (where lines generally can't, without using some sort of index on newlines). – Cheryl