built in command line pager/viewer like less? Without busybox or root access Sometimes i investigate foreign phones, where i can't root or install any Apps.

But i want to examine the filesystem via adb shell, and view some text-files. Like i usually do with a *nix-shell: with the less or the more command.

Both are absent in the shell, that i can access with adb shell.

My workaround until now is using the linux tool screen in conjunction with the adb-shell-command cat. (C-a Esc to scroll, '/' to search, Esc Esc to quit Copy-mode)
I know this question is a bit old. But I run into exactly the same problem and would like to share my solutions.

1st solution

Check if toybox is installed. If you are lucky, ls | toybox more may work.

2nd solution

However, I am not satisfied with the first solution, since more does not support going backwards. It turns out that vim is installed. In this case, you can run ls | vim -.

3rd solution

If you use emacs, calling adb shell in shell or eshell solves the problem. This is more or less the same as your screen workaround.