Question about display in less

I'm creating test suites for multiple octave/matlab scripts and several of the tests require a user to verify that something has happened visually with in a plot, or that a file has been created, or not been overwritten, etc.

I use input to determine whether these kinds of tests have failed (for better or worse).

Often times, prompts are given in the octave shell for what to look for when a user has has to do something, occasionally scripts have detailed messages requiring user input as well. I have found that with a this test suite, there is often enough printing in the terminal that the terminal moves into "less mode," but then the prompt is given for the user to enter information and they are missing have of the instructions, or were unable to see previous output from the program that they may need to see. This is because, of course, input closes less. Is there anyway to just not use less, and have all of my text appear in the usual terminal?