Cisco IOS and ASA Showing the Config Without the ‘More’ Breaks/Pauses

KB ID 0001017

Problem

When looking at a router, switch or firewall running config, it will usually display a page at a time, you can page down with the space bar, or line down with the Enter/Return key.

Normally that’s fine, but what if you want to capture (take a quick backup,) of the config?

If you do that, and page down you get a copy of the config that looks like this;

–More–  

Yes, you can delete them, but in a big config that can take time, how about making the config scroll right to the end without the breaks/pauses.

Solution

Cisco ASA Disable Paging

On a firewall that’s done with a pager command, normally a firewall config will display 25 lines at a time, to get it to scroll straight to the end set the pager length to zero.

Type help or '?' for a list of available commands.
Petes-ASA> enable
Password:*********
Petes-ASA# configure terminal
Petes-ASA(config)# pager 0
Petes-ASA(config)#

Tip: If you want to take a copy of a firewall config it will blank, (replace with asterisks) the VPN shared secrets and failover keys, you can suppress that from happening, and show the hidden values with the following command;

Petes-ASA(config)# more system:running-config

To return it back to pausing every 25 lines and giving the <— More —> prompt again.

Petes-ASA(config)# pager 25 

Cisco Router / Switch IOS Terminal Length

On IOS the default is 24 lines at a time (show terminal will tell you). You can change this by changing the terminal length. Note: This is NOT a global configuration command.

Petes-Router#terminal length 0

To reset it, and get the –More– prompt back again;

Petes-Router#terminal length 24

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

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