4.3BSD-UWisc/man/catl/mh.l
MH(1) UNIX Programmer's Manual MH(1)
NAME
mh - Message Handler
SYNOPSIS
any _M_H command
9 _M_H is the name of a powerful message handling system.
Rather then being a single comprehensive program, _M_H con-
sists of a collection of fairly simple single-purpose pro-
grams to send, receive, save, and retrieve messages. The
user should refer to the _M_H _U_s_e_r'_s _M_a_n_u_a_l and the pages for
the _M_H programs in the Unix Programmers Manual.
Unlike _m_a_i_l, the standard UNIX mail user interface program,
_M_H is not a closed system which must be explicitly run, then
exited when you wish to return to the shell. You may freely
intersperse _M_H commands with other shell commands, allowing
you to read and answer your mail while you have (for exam-
ple) a compilation running, or search for a file or run pro-
grams as needed to find the answer to someone's question
before answering their mail.
The rest of this manual entry is a quick tutorial which will
teach you the basics of _M_H. You should read the manual
entries for the individual programs for complete documenta-
tion.
To get started using _M_H, put the directory /usr/misc/mh on
your $PATH. This is best done in one of the files: .pro-
file, .login, or .cshrc in your home directory. (Check the
manual entry for the shell you use, in case you don't know
how to do this.) Run the _i_n_c command. If you've never used
_M_H before, it will create the necessary default files and
directories after asking you if you wish it to do so.
_i_n_c moves mail from your system maildrop into your _M_H
`+inbox' folder, breaking it up into separate files and con-
verting it to _M_H format as it goes. It prints one line for
each message it processes, containing the from field, the
subject field and as much of the first line of the message
as will fit. It leaves the first message it processes as
your current message. You'll need to run _i_n_c each time you
wish to incorporate new mail into your _M_H file.
_s_c_a_n prints a list of the messages in your current folder.
The commands: _s_h_o_w, _n_e_x_t, and _p_r_e_v are used to read specific
messages from the current folder. _s_h_o_w displays the current
message, or a specific message, which may be specified by
its number, which you pass as an argument to _s_h_o_w. _n_e_x_t and
_p_r_e_v display, respectively, the message numerically after or
before the current message. In all cases, the message
displayed becomes the current message. If there is no
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MH(1) UNIX Programmer's Manual MH(1)
current message, _s_h_o_w may be called with an argument, or
_n_e_x_t may be used to advance to the first message.
_r_m_m (remove message) deletes the current message. It may be
called with message numbers passed as arguments, to delete
specific messages.
_r_e_p_l is used to respond to the current message (by default).
It places you in the editor with a prototype response form.
While you're in the editor, you may peruse the item you're
responding to by reading the file @. After completing your
response, type l to review it, or s to send it.
_c_o_m_p allows you to compose a message by putting you in the
editor on a prototype message form, and then lets you send
it.
All the _M_H commands may be run with the single argument:
`-help', which causes them to print a list of the arguments
they may be invoked with.
Commands which take a message number as an argument (_s_c_a_n,
_s_h_o_w, _r_e_p_l, ...) also take one of the words: _f_i_r_s_t, _p_r_e_v,
_c_u_r, _n_e_x_t, or _l_a_s_t to indicate (respectively) the first,
previous, current, next, or last message in the current
folder (assuming they are defined).
Commands which take a range of message numbers (_r_m_m, _s_c_a_n,
_s_h_o_w, ...) also take any of the abbreviations:
<_n_u_m_1>-<_n_u_m_2> - Indicates all messages in the range <num1>
to <num2>, inclusive. The range must be nonempty.
<_n_u_m>:+_N
<_n_u_m>:-_N - Up to _N messages beginning with (or ending
with) message _n_u_m. _N_u_m may be any of the pre-defined
symbols: _f_i_r_s_t, _p_r_e_v, _c_u_r, _n_e_x_t or _l_a_s_t.
_f_i_r_s_t:_N
_p_r_e_v:_N
_n_e_x_t:_N
_l_a_s_t:_N - The first, previous, next or last _N messages, if
they exist.
There are many other possibilities such as creating multiple
folders for different topics, and automatically refiling
messages according to subject, source, destination, or con-
tent. These are beyond the scope of this manual entry.
Following is a list of all the _M_H commands:
ali (1) - list mail aliases
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anno (1) - annotate messages
burst (1) - explode digests into messages
comp (1) - compose a message
dist (1) - redistribute a message to additional addresses
folder (1) - set/list current folder/message
folders (1) - list all folders
forw (1) - forward messages
inc (1) - incorporate new mail
mark (1) - mark messages
mhl (1) - produce formatted listings of MH messages
mhmail (1) - send or read mail
mhook (1) - MH receive-mail hooks
mhpath (1) - print full pathnames of MH messages and folders
msgchk (1) - check for messages
msh (1) - MH shell (and BBoard reader)
next (1) - show the next message
packf (1) - compress a folder into a single file
pick (1) - select messages by content
prev (1) - show the previous message
prompter (1) - prompting editor front end
rcvstore (1) - incorporate new mail asynchronously
refile (1) - file messages in other folders
repl (1) - reply to a message
rmf (1) - remove folder
rmm (1) - remove messages
scan (1) - produce a one line per message scan listing
send (1) - send a message
show (1) - show (list) messages
sortm (1) - sort messages
vmh (1) - visual front-end to MH
whatnow (1) - prompting front-end for send
whom (1) - report to whom a message would go
mh-alias (5) - alias file for MH message system
mh-format (5) - format file for MH message system
mh-mail (5) - message format for MH message system
mh-profile (5) - user customization for MH message system
ap (8) - parse addresses 822-style
conflict (8) - search for alias/password conflicts
dp (8) - parse dates 822-style
install-mh (8) - initialize the MH environment
post (8) - deliver a message
FILES
/usr/misc/mh directory containing _M_H commands
/usr/misc/mh/lib _M_H library
SEE ALSO
_T_h_e _R_a_n_d _M_H Message Handling System: User's Manual,
_T_h_e _R_a_n_d _M_H Message Handling System: Tutorial,
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_T_h_e _R_a_n_d _M_H Message Handling System: The UCI BBoards Facil-
ity,
_M_H._5: _H_o_w _t_o _p_r_o_c_e_s_s _2_0_0 _m_e_s_s_a_g_e_s _a _d_a_y _a_n_d _s_t_i_l_l _g_e_t _s_o_m_e
_r_e_a_l _w_o_r_k _d_o_n_e
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