Darabos Edv�rd Konr�d <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi! > > dpkg-query has the very same problem, (redirected output is 80 > characters wide). The value of the COLUMNS variable _does nothing_ when > you redirect the output, the result will be still 80 characters wide.
[...] > Additionally: The value of the COLUMNS does nothing (again!!!). The dpkg > program queries the width of the screen in other ways (don't know how). > Try it! Manipulate COLUMNS, and run dpkg -l, it will be always as wide as > the terminal, not the value of COLUMNS. [...] > $ dpkg -l > $ dpkg -l | cat > $ COLUMNS=120 > $ dpkg -l > $ dpkg -l | cat You don't understand the difference between a shell variable and an environment variable. The COLUMNS variable you set in the quoted shell session is only available to the shell. dpkg has no way to see it. Try: COLUMNS=200 dpkg -l | less COLUMNS=200 dpkg-query -l | less Or use export/setenv, depending on your shell (man `basename "$SHELL"` will probably work). -- Florent
