pager program like less, able to repeat top N lines

There is a solution using Vim.

First, you need a Vim macro, which will do most of the work. Save it in ~/.vim/plugin/less.vim:

" :Less
" turn vim into a pager for psql aligned results 
fun! Less()
  set nocompatible
  set nowrap
  set scrollopt=hor
  set scrollbind
  set number
  execute 'above split'
  " resize upper window to one line; two lines are not needed because vim adds separating line
  execute 'resize 1'
  " switch to lower window and scroll 2 lines down 
  wincmd j
  execute 'norm! 2^E'
  " hide statusline in lower window
  set laststatus=0
  " hide contents of upper statusline. editor note: do not remove trailing spaces in next line!
  set statusline=\  
  " arrows do scrolling instead of moving
  nmap ^[OC zL
  nmap ^[OB ^E
  nmap ^[OD zH
  nmap ^[OA ^Y
  nmap <Space> <PageDown>
  " faster quit (I tend to forget about the upper panel)
  nmap q :qa^M
  nmap Q :qa^M
endfun
command! -nargs=0 Less call Less()

Second, to emulate a pager, you need to invoke vim so that it will:

• read standard input
• but if argument is given on command line, read whatever comes there
• work in read-only mode
• skip all init scripts, but instead execute Less macro defined above

I put this together as helper script in ~/bin/vimpager:

#!/bin/bash
what=-
test "$@" && what="$@"
exec vim -u NONE -R -S ~/.vim/plugin/less.vim -c Less $what

Make the script executable with chmod +x ~/bin/vimpager.

Third, you need to override pager program for psql. Do not set variable PAGER globally, as it can affect other programs, not only psql. Instead, add this to your ~/.psqlrc file:

\setenv PAGER ~/bin/vimpager

Voila! After reloading your profile, you can enjoy the result, which should behave as expected (arrow keys browse both vertically and horizontally) and look like this: . Plus, all the power of Vim is right there if you need it.

Have you tried SQL Mode in Emacs/XEmacs?

It's certainly not as simple to use as more or less, but it does what your asking for, leaving a header row while scrolling results vertically and horizontally.

This borrows very heavily from the accepted answer, but adds...

• Faster scrolling
• Cannot accidentally scroll into the header
• Syntax highlighting (some credit belongs here)
  • Positive/negative numbers, dates, times, NULL, True/False (and T/F, Y/N, Yes/No)
  • Row numbers, if you have them before a pipe char.
• Help text
• Support for the Vim that is included with Git for Windows
• Do not threaten to update the view if the stdin buffer changes

Some portions may have to be tweaked for your specific output, since I do not use psql. I also have slightly different helper functions for my purposes, but they are similar to those in the accepted answer.

Sample input

  | ID |   First   |     Last     | Member | Balance |
--+----+-----------+--------------+--------+---------+
 1|  4 | Tom       | Hanks        | False  |    0.00 |
 2| 12 | Susan     | Patterson    | True   |   10.00 |
 3| 23 | Harriet   | Langford-Wat | False  |    0.00 |
 4|  8 | Jerry     |     NULL     | True   | -382.94 |
[… More rows …]
10| 87 | Horace    | Weaver       | False  |   47.52 |

Code

" :HeadPager
" Turn vim into a pager with a header row
" Adapted from https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/27840/143088
fun! HeadPager()
    " If you didn't get three lines, shortcut out
    if line('$') < 3
        set nocompatible
        nmap <silent> q :qa!<c-M>
        nmap <silent> Q :qa!<c-M>
        return
    endif

    set noswapfile
    set nocompatible
    set nowrap
    set scrollopt=hor
    set scrollbind

    " Hide statusline in lower window
    set laststatus=0
    " Explain mapped chars in status line.
    set statusline=\ \ \ Q\ to\ quit\.\ Arrows\ or\ mousewheel\ to\ scroll\.\ \(Vim\ commands\ work\,\ too\.\)

    " Delete/copy header lines
    silent execute '1,2d'

    " Split screen with new buffer (opens at top)
    execute 'new'

    " Switch to upper split
    wincmd k

    " Paste the header over the blank line
    execute 'norm! Vp'

    " Header highlighting
    syn match Pipe "|"
    hi def Pipe ctermfg=blue
    syn match Any /[^|]\+/
    hi def Any ctermfg=yellow

    " Switch back to lower split for scrolling
    wincmd j

    " Set lower split height to maximum
    execute "norm! \<c-W>_"

    " Syntax highlighting
    syn cluster CellContents contains=None
    syn match Pipe "|" contained nextgroup=@CellContents skipwhite
    hi def Pipe ctermfg=blue

    " Start with newline or |. End right before next | or EOL
    syn region Cell start=/\v(^|\|)\s*/ end=/\v(\||$)\@=/ contains=LineNumber,Pipe

    syn match NumPos /\v\+?\d+(,?\d{3})*\.?\d*\ze *(\||$)\@=/ contained
    syn match NumNeg   /\v-\d+(,?\d{3})*\.?\d*\ze *(\||$)\@=/ contained
    syn match NumZero         /\v[+-]?0+\.?0*\ze *(\||$)\@=/  contained
    hi def NumPos ctermfg=cyan
    hi def NumNeg ctermfg=red
    hi def NumZero ctermfg=NONE
    syn cluster CellContents add=NumPos,NumNeg,NumZero

    syn match DateVal /\v\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}/ contained nextgroup=TimeVal skipwhite
    syn match TimeVal /\v\d{1,2}:\d{2}(:\d{2})?(\.\d+)?(Z| ?\c[AP]M)?\ze *(\||$)\@=/ contained
    hi def DateVal ctermfg=magenta
    hi def TimeVal ctermfg=magenta
    syn cluster CellContents add=DateVal,TimeVal

    syn match TrueVal /\v\c(t(rue)?|y(es)?)\ze *(\||$)\@=/ contained
    syn match FalseVal /\v\c(f(alse)?|no?)\ze *(\||$)\@=/ contained
    hi def TrueVal ctermfg=green
    hi def FalseVal ctermfg=red
    syn match NullVal /\v\cnull?\ze *(\||$)\@=/ contained
    hi def NullVal ctermbg=gray ctermfg=black
    syn cluster CellContents add=TrueVal,FalseVal,NullVal

    syn match LineNumber /^ *\d\+/ contained
    hi def LineNumber ctermfg=yellow

    " Arrows do scrolling instead of moving
    nmap <silent> <Up> 3<c-Y>
    nmap <silent> <Down> 3<c-E>
    nmap <silent> <Left> zH
    nmap <silent> <Right> zL
    nmap <Space> <PageDown>
    " Faster quit (I tend to forget about the upper panel)
    nmap <silent> q :qa!<c-M>
    nmap <silent> Q :qa!<c-M>

    " Ignore external updates to the buffer
    autocmd! FileChangedShell */fd/*
    autocmd! FileChangedRO */fd/*
endfun
command! -nargs=0 HeadPager call HeadPager()