less has a flag for that: (the gnu version does at least) -F or --quit-if-one-screen Causes less to automatically exit if the entire file can b

less has a flag for that: (the gnu version does at least) -F or --quit-if-one-screen Causes less to automatically exit if the entire file can be displayed on the first screen. So one could just pipe everything through `less -F`. If a different $PAGER is preferred, well that'll be a little more involved. (Also handy: add in `-X` to leave the contents on the screen when you exit less)