"Less" prompts for "binary file" display when colors in output

Question

We've recently enabled colouring the log files of a few services, I believe we use ANSI escape sequences for that. Looks like this:

[2014-06-12 10:56:43,214] [main] [VOID] ESC[34mINFO ESC[0;39m ESC[36mc.a.m.p.s.config.DataSourceConfigESC[0;39m 

My colleagues mostly use tail to view logfiles, but I like less better. Unfortunately, less doesn't automatically pick up on those escape codes. Instead it tells me that my log file "may be a binary file. See it anyway?".

I know if I add the -r option, less will display the colors, but it still asks the "binary file" question.

Is there a way to get around this? If yes, can I make this a default?

Solution 1

The flag is -f or --force:

less -f -r myfile

In order to make it default you should set this environment variable, for example in /etc/profile

LESS=-f

Solution 2

I would never colorize the logfiles themself. This would potentially break any third party script or tool (like grep, sed, awk ...) that would operate on the logfiles or at least clutter their output.

I would instead colorize the output on demand when watching/tailing the logfile. Use colortail for example.