It was, but it was (and still is) a Unix tool.
I believe POSIX still requires that more be provided (even if it's just less secretly).
The original Unix more could only go forwards.
Someone wanted to make something like more that could go both forwards and backwards, so he called it less as a joke (because "less" is a "backwards more").
For the past 40 years, everyone's realized that less is much better than the original more, so nobody uses the original any more.
(MSDOS took the idea of "more" before "less" caught on).
It was, but it was (and still is) a Unix tool. I believe POSIX still requires that
more
be provided (even if it's justless
secretly).The original Unix
more
could only go forwards. Someone wanted to make something likemore
that could go both forwards and backwards, so he called itless
as a joke (because "less" is a "backwards more"). For the past 40 years, everyone's realized thatless
is much better than the originalmore
, so nobody uses the original any more.(MSDOS took the idea of "more" before "less" caught on).