About lazyread

Lazyread auto-scrolls files or command output to the screen.

It features different scroll modes, configurable scroll speed and colors, the ability to pause, the ability to search, and more. It can render text, HTML, PDF, gzip, tar, zip, ar, bzip2, MS-Word, nroff (man pages), binary executables, directories, .deb, .so, .rpm, piped output from other programs, and more.

Lazyread is an auto-scroller, pager, and e-book reader all in one.

I originally wrote lazyread because I wanted a way to read long files while sat back in my chair and read without needing to touch my keyboard to scroll down the pages as I read them.

Here are some examples of uses for lazyread:

You want to take notes of what you're reading without having to put down your pencil and paper to scroll down the file.
You want to read music while playin an instrument, such as guitar tabs while playing your guitar.
You want to be able to eat while you're reading without getting food all over your keyboard.
You want to read while you're laying or sitting too far away from your keyboard to reach it.
You want to be able to read a file while doing some exercises in front of your computer.
You want to practice speed reading. Just set the program at a fast speed and see if you can keep up!
As a screen saver
You could even use it as a fitness tool by typing random commands in a text file such as 'right punch', 'left front kick', 'right side kick' etc. Then run the file through lazyread and everytime you see a command, execute it. Make the scroll speed faster and/or add more commands to make your training harder.
[Insert your own ideas here]

Current Version:

2.0 (released feb 2nd 2003)

Requirements:

C compiler/ncurses library

Download:

lazyread-2.0.tar.gz (13KB)

Screenshot:

Usage

The following Command line options are available:

-f <filename> File to scroll
-s <n> Scroll file at <n> milliseconds. Default: 1000 (1 sec)
-p <n> Start text on row <n> (1 to LINES-2).
-w <string> Highlight all lines that <string> appears on.
-l Display in all lower case characters.
-u Display in all upper case characters.
-c <color> red, bgred, green, bggreen, blue, bgblue, yellow, bgyellow, magenta, bgmagenta, bgwhite, bgblack.
-n Don't takeout extra blank lines. (Display file "as is")
-a Automatically pause on highlight word from -w.
-v Display program version number.
-h Show usage message.
-x Don't show status bar.
-m Scroll a character at a time mode.
-t <ttyname> Name of tty you're running lazyread from while piped.
-b Allow beeping on important events.

While lazyread is running you can use the option keys:

'q' to quit
'p' to pause
'spacebar' to scroll superfast (hit again to turn off)
'c' to clear the current screen
'n' to turn off the status bar
'v' to turn the status bar back on
'f' to speed scrolling up in 25 percent increments
's' to slow scrolling speed down in 25 percent increments
'o' to go back to original speed
'a' to toggle Auto-Pausing on/off
'e' open file for editing in an external editor. Uses $VISUAL then $EDITOR then /bin/vi
'i' to view detailed file/program/etc information

Examples

Say you want to view a log file and highlight any lines containing the string 'foo'.

Just type: lazyread log.txt -w foo

Or maybe you want to scroll a file very slowly and in all uppercase letters: lazyread /guitar/tabs/song1.pdf -s 5000 -u

You can even scroll the output of other programs by piping lazyread: who | lazyread -t /dev/ttyn

There's an alternate mode in lazyread (and more modes coming soon) that lets you scroll letter by letter instead of line by line. Just use the -m flag: lazyread file.txt -m

Lazyread also supports color. Choose from red, bgred, blue, bgblue, green, bggree, yellow, bgyellow, magenta, bgmagenta, bgwhite and bgblack. Just supply "-c <color>" on the lazyread command line.

Some of my favorite commands

Normal viewing: lazyread file.html -c green -w word -b

Character at a time viewing mode: lazyread file.txt -m -c bgblue -s 100

You get the idea. Adjust lazyread anyway you like.

For a full list of commands type: lazyread -h