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I have just installed Cygwin, and I have displayed a file's contents using the less command. Now I am unable to exit that in order to type other commands:

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I want to exit this mode to type some other commands. How can I do that?

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    I also use cygwin cat but it does not require to press anything when it has finished to print file. Add cat --version just in case to your question and perhaps a copy of your screen. – Sergei Kurenkov Dec 10 '13 at 8:06
  • Sorry its less command I have updated my question accordingly – Elvin Dec 10 '13 at 8:12
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To quit less, type q.

Also, check out man less, or type h from within less for some more, useful bits of information.

In general, assuming man has been properly installed, man xyz will tell you how to use the xyz tool. On GNU systems like Cygwin or what you call Linux at least, man will usually display through less as well, so to exit from man, again you would type q (which also works in more or most which are other pagers used by man or other commands that need paging on other systems).

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I think you can exit by pressing Ctrl+C.

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    Ctrl+C does not exit from less on my system, at least. – a CVn Dec 10 '13 at 8:28
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    The user said cat in his original question that we answered. – robbat2 Dec 10 '13 at 9:28
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Just press Q (lowercase). No need to press anything else. Some times, you need a capital letter.

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