# Problem with kakoune as a pager

**URL:** <https://discuss.kakoune.com/t/problem-with-kakoune-as-a-pager/2841>\
**Category:** Help\
**Created:** [February 18, 2026, 4:08am UTC](https://discuss.kakoune.com/t/problem-with-kakoune-as-a-pager/2841 "2026-02-18T04:08:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![M-Programer](https://discuss.kakoune.com/user_avatar/discuss.kakoune.com/m-programer/32/1613_2.png) [@M-Programer](https://discuss.kakoune.com/u/M-Programer)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2026, 4:08am UTC](https://discuss.kakoune.com/t/problem-with-kakoune-as-a-pager/2841/1 "2026-02-18T04:08:06Z")

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What makes `ansi.kak` not much powerful is that there are a ton of ansi code standards that my terminal supports but it doesn’t by default, so rather than giving kakoune a functionality that should be for other tools (the terminal emulator), we need a way to bypass kakoune sanitization of these codes so they reach the terminal emulator as is.

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**Author:** ![jdugan6240](https://discuss.kakoune.com/user_avatar/discuss.kakoune.com/jdugan6240/32/637_2.png) [@jdugan6240](https://discuss.kakoune.com/u/jdugan6240)\
**Post date:** [February 21, 2026, 1:36am UTC](https://discuss.kakoune.com/t/problem-with-kakoune-as-a-pager/2841/2 "2026-02-21T01:36:53Z")

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Stuff like this is why I don’t like using kakoune as a pager. Sure it can do the job, but that’s not what it’s for. Proper pagers can be quite powerful (see [GitHub - noborus/ov: 🎑Feature-rich terminal-based text viewer. It is a so-called terminal pager.](https://github.com/noborus/ov)).

Right tool for the job and all that.

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**Author:** ![M-Programer](https://discuss.kakoune.com/user_avatar/discuss.kakoune.com/m-programer/32/1613_2.png) [@M-Programer](https://discuss.kakoune.com/u/M-Programer)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2026, 12:48pm UTC](https://discuss.kakoune.com/t/problem-with-kakoune-as-a-pager/2841/3 "2026-02-22T12:48:22Z")

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kakoune keybinds and kakoune registers will be convenient to integrate. also kakoune plugins working on the stdin. It’s easier to remove the sanitization at will than making a separate kakpager program that connects to a kakoune session

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![M-Programer](https://discuss.kakoune.com/user_avatar/discuss.kakoune.com/m-programer/32/1613_2.png) [@M-Programer](https://discuss.kakoune.com/u/M-Programer)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2026, 12:50pm UTC](https://discuss.kakoune.com/t/problem-with-kakoune-as-a-pager/2841/4 "2026-02-22T12:50:40Z")

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what I said doesn’t mean that ov isn’t too good to exist. It’s like a charm!  
still, I’d prefer something minimal while not learning a new configuration language if possible.

this pager is like emacs in the fact of over-promise. I’m a minimalist