On most systems these days, 'less' *is* more: % cksum `which less` `which more` ...

snazz · on May 21, 2020

I think that more is symlinked to less on your system, not the other way around. On my machine (Arch), they're separate:

  jack@jackdesktop ~ [1]> bash -c "cksum `which less` `which more`"
  3407085100 179664 /usr/bin/less
  110370394 38816 /usr/bin/more
  jack@jackdesktop ~>

_n_b_ · on May 21, 2020

OK, now you've prompted me to do proper research:

Not a symlink (or even a hard link) on my OS X laptop, but the same executable.

On my OpenBSD systems, they're hard links.

On my Ubuntu system, they're separate.

snazz · on May 21, 2020

Interesting! I wonder what the historical reason is for all of those different permutations.