Install lesspipe with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix, pacman

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• archive_color
• lesspipe.sh

Project history

The project is maintained by Wolfgang Friebel and distributed from the lesspipe web site and the `wofr06/lesspipe` GitHub repository. The maintainer's project page lists early coverage in Linux Magazin 01/2001, CERN Computing Newsletter 01/2002, and Linux User 04/2002, showing that the script was already established in Unix/Linux user circles by the early 2000s.

The changelog shows continuous modernization rather than a frozen shell-script utility: later releases added support for newer archive and document formats, optional syntax colorizers, tab-completion improvements, security fixes, and a 2025 note for a '25 years recursive lesspipe' article.

Adoption history

lesspipe's adoption follows the shape of pager culture: users opt into it through `LESSOPEN`, distributions package it as a small helper, and package managers expose it as a lightweight add-on for people who live in terminals. Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix, and Arch package metadata in this batch all list a `lesspipe` package.

How it is used

The common usage is not to run lesspipe as a destination program, but to configure `less` so the filter is called automatically. Once installed, it makes `less archive.tar.gz`, `less file.pdf`, or nested archive inspection behave like ordinary paging instead of a manual extract-convert-open workflow.

Why package nerds care

Package nerds care about lesspipe because it is a compact example of Unix composition aging well: one pager, one environment hook, and a shell-script filter that tracks the moving target of real-world file formats. It also explains why many Linux users expect `less` to be smarter than upstream `less` alone.

Timeline

• 2001: Linux Magazin 01/2001 coverage listed on the maintainer's lesspipe page.
• 2002: CERN Computing Newsletter 01/2002 and Linux User 04/2002 coverage listed on the maintainer's lesspipe page.
• 2015: The GitHub repository `wofr06/lesspipe` was created on July 20, 2015.
• 2025: Version 2.18 noted a '25 years recursive lesspipe' article in the lesspipe.sh wiki.
• 2026: Version 2.27 was recorded in the changelog on June 10, 2026.

Related projects

• lesspipe is tightly coupled to `less` and its `LESSOPEN` input-preprocessor mechanism. It also overlaps with tools it delegates to or competes with for specific formats, including archive utilities, document converters, `file`/magic databases, `bat`, Vim/Neovim-based colorizers, and media metadata tools.

Sources

• https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/lesspipe
• https://github.com/wofr06/lesspipe
• https://github.com/wofr06/lesspipe/blob/lesspipe/ChangeLog
• https://lesspipe.org/
• https://www-zeuthen.desy.de/~friebel/unix/lesspipe.html