less -R passes through ANSI color sequences; however, it seems to reset ANSI colors at each newline. For an example, try running the following: /usr/bin/printf '\e[1mHello\nworld\n\e[0m' This should print two lines to the terminal, both of them bold. Then try running the same through less -R: /usr/bin/printf '\e[1mHello\nworld\n\e[0m' | less -R This shows the first line bold, and the second line normal. - Josh Triplett