Far look
| Keyboard commands | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ~ | ! | @ | # | $ | % | ^ | & | * | ( | ) | _ | = | + | ||||||||
| Q | W | E | R | T | Y | U | I | O | P | { | } | | | |||||||||
| q | w | e | r | t | y | u | i | o | p | [ | ] | \ | |||||||||
| A | S | D | F | G | H | J | K | L | : | " | |||||||||||
| a | s | d | f | g | h | j | k | l | ; | ' | |||||||||||
| Z | X | C | V | B | N | M | < | > | ? | ||||||||||||
| z | x | c | v | b | n | m | , | . | / | ||||||||||||
| q | w | e | r | t | u | i | o | p | Alt | ||||||||||||
| a | s | d | f | j | l | Alt | |||||||||||||||
| c | v | n | m | ? | Alt | ||||||||||||||||
| A | C | R | T | O | Alt | ||||||||||||||||
| a | c | d | o | p | r | t | [ | Ctrl | |||||||||||||
The semicolon, ;, is the far look command. It is used to look at a square other than the one you are standing on. To look at the square where you are standing, use the near look (:) command. Far look does not allow you to see what is actually on that square, only what you think you see. This means you won't get information about undetected monsters or traps, and if an item has been moved since you last had line of sight to the area, you can still use far look on that item's symbol. However, it will treat remembered objects that have been moved as unseen, displaying "a wand" instead of "a wand of lightning named empty". Because of this, far look generally gives more accurate information about something when you have direct line of sight.
Using far look can help identify what a particular ASCII symbol represents, and will often give useful information about specific objects you select (especially creatures). This can help determine if a monster is peaceful or tame, for instance. In the case of monsters that are beyond your normal field of vision, but still detected, it will tell you what detection method is being used (like telepathy or infravision). You can also tell if you have called a creature by a particular name, which is handy for sorting out similar pets.
If you don't want the cursor resetting to your position, you should use the / command instead, and unset the help option to avoid the prompt for the encyclopedia entry (or press , instead of . or ;).
Usage
When you press ;, you will be prompted to "pick an object." Pressing ? gives the following advice:
Use [2468] to move the cursor to an unknown object. Use [HJKL] to move the cursor 8 units at a time. Or enter a background symbol (ex. <). Type a . or , or ; or : when you are at the right place.
You can also enter the symbol of a dungeon feature to move the cursor onto it (stairway, altar, closed door, etc). For example, pressing > would jump the cursor to the stairs down.
Choosing a location gives information about the symbol there, such as:
+ a spellbook or closed door (closed door)
... versus ...
+ a spellbook or closed door (tan spellbook)
... or perhaps ...
d a dog or other canine (tame dog called Fido)
... compared to ...
d a dog or other canine (jackal) [seen:normal vision, infravision]
The what is / and travel _ commands make use of the same cursor select mechanic as the far look command.
This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.
It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.6.0. Information on this page may be out of date.
Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-360}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.
