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I have added the following to my user's .bashrc file to get a longer prompt in less:

export LESS="-M"

This is added to the root user's .bashrc file as well, so when I sudo bash to get a root shell, it works just as well.

But when using sudo less …, it doesn't apply. There's only the simple colon prompt giving me no information at all where I am in the file. How can I change that?

ygoe
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2 Answers2

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You should keep this environmental variable when running sudo. Edit the file /etc/sudoers and add

Defaults        env_keep += "LESS"
xuhdev
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You need to be using aliases in your .bashrc file not export. You need to be editing your /etc/bash.bashrc file to inclide, 

 alias less="sudo less -m"

more info from this POST

Community
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Mike Meding
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    The following question has answers that explain why exporting the variables do not work: http://askubuntu.com/questions/161924/how-do-i-set-persistent-environment-variables-for-root

    If you want to use your current method, you can use 'sudo -E', but setting up an alias as Mike suggests, is probably a better way to do it.

     – Tobias Dec 07 '14 at 19:43
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    Not all less should do sudo... – ygoe Dec 08 '14 at 06:50