.RB [ \-public " | " \-nopublic ]
.RB [ \-zero " | " \-nozero ]
.RB [ \-list " | " \-nolist ]
-.RB [ \-version ]
+.RB [ \-Version ]
.RB [ \-help ]
+.ad
.PP
typical usage:
.PP
is a shorthand for specifying
.PP
.RS 5
-`\-search \*(lqcomponent[ \\t]*:\&.*pattern\*(rq\ '
+`\-search `component[ \\t]*:\&.*pattern'\ '
.RE
.PP
-It is used to pick a component which is not one of \*(lqTo:\*(rq,
-\*(lqCc:\*(rq, \*(lqDate:\*(rq, \*(lqFrom:\*(rq, or \*(lqSubject:\*(rq.
+It is used to pick a component which is not one of `To:',
+`Cc:', `Date:', `From:', or `Subject:'.
An example is
-.RB \*(lq "pick\0\-\|\-reply\-to\0pooh" \*(rq.
+.RB ` "pick\0\-\|\-reply\-to\0pooh" '.
.PP
Pattern matching is performed on a per\-line basis. Within the header
of the message, each component is treated as one long line, but in the
.B \-date
switch is a pattern matching operation (as
described above), to find messages sent on a certain date the pattern
-string must match the text of the \*(lqDate:\*(rq field of the message.
+string must match the text of the `Date:' field of the message.
.PP
Independent of any pattern matching operations requested, the switches
.B \-after
.B \-before
.I date
may also be used to introduce date/time
-constraints on all of the messages. By default, the \*(lqDate:\*(rq
+constraints on all of the messages. By default, the `Date:'
field is consulted, but if another date yielding field (such as
-\*(lqBB\-Posted:\*(rq or \*(lqDelivery\-Date:\*(rq) should be used, the
+`BB\-Posted:' or `Delivery\-Date:') should be used, the
.B \-datefield
.I field
switch may be used.
to the date/time specified. If
.B \-after
is given, then only those
-messages whose \*(lqDate:\*(rq field value is chronologically after the
+messages whose `Date:' field value is chronologically after the
date specified will be considered. The
.B \-before
switch specifies the
In addition to 822\-style dates,
.B pick
will also recognize any of
-the days of the week (\*(lqsunday\*(rq, \*(lqmonday\*(rq, and so on),
-and the special dates \*(lqtoday\*(rq, \*(lqyesterday\*(rq (24 hours
-ago), and \*(lqtomorrow\*(rq (24 hours from now). All days of the
+the days of the week (`sunday', `monday', and so on),
+and the special dates `today', `yesterday' (24 hours
+ago), and `tomorrow' (24 hours from now). All days of the
week are judged to refer to a day in the past (e.g., telling \fIpick\fR
-\*(lqsaturday\*(rq on a \*(lqtuesday\*(rq means \*(lqlast\ saturday\*(rq
-not \*(lqthis\ saturday\*(rq).
-.PP
+`saturday' on a `tuesday' means `last\ saturday'
+not `this\ saturday').
Finally, in addition to these special specifications,
.B pick
will
-also honor a specification of the form \*(lq\-dd\*(rq, which means
-\*(lqdd days ago\*(rq.
+also honor a date specification of the form `\-\fIddd\fR', which means
+`\fIddd\fR days ago'.
+For example,
+.PP
+.RS 5
+.nf
+pick\0\-after\0\-30
+.fi
+.RE
+.PP
+identifies the messages of the last thirty days.
.PP
.B Pick
supports complex boolean operations on the searching primitives
.fi
.RE
.PP
-identifies messages recently sent by \*(lqfrieda\*(rq or \*(lqfear\*(rq.
+identifies messages recently sent by `frieda' or `fear'.
.PP
The matching primitives take precedence over the
.B \-not
parentheses in logical expressions.
.PP
If no search criteria are given, all the messages specified on the
-command line are selected (this defaults to \*(lqall\*(rq).
+command line are selected (this defaults to `all').
.PP
Once the search has been performed, if the
.B \-list
quickly generating arguments for other
.B nmh
programs by using the
-\*(lqbackquoting\*(rq syntax of the shell. For example, the command
+`backquoting' syntax of the shell. For example, the command
.PP
.RS 5
-scan\0`pick\0+todo\0\-after\0\*(lq31 Mar 83 0123 PST\*(rq`
+scan\0`pick\0+todo\0\-after\0`31 Mar 83 0123 PST'`
.RE
.PP
says to
.RE
.PP
defines a new message sequence for the current folder called
-\*(lqfred\*(rq which contains exactly those messages that were selected.
+`fred' which contains exactly those messages that were selected.
.PP
By default,
.B pick
or
.B refile
the selected messages. This was rather
-\*(lqinverted logic\*(rq from the UNIX point of view, so
+`inverted logic' from the UNIX point of view, so
.B pick
was changed to define sequences and output those sequences. Hence,
.B pick
something like:
.PP
.RS 5
-show\0`pick\0last:20\0\-seq\0fear`
+show\0`pick\0l:20\0\-seq\0fear`
.RE
.PP
instead of typing
.PP
.RS 5
.nf
-mark\0\-add\0\-nozero\0\-seq\0fear\0last:20
+mark\0\-add\0\-nozero\0\-seq\0fear\0l:20
show\0fear
.fi
.RE
.SH "HELPFUL HINTS"
Use
-.RB \*(lq "pick sequence \-list" \*(rq
+.RB ` "pick sequence \-list" '
to enumerate the messages in a sequence
(such as for use by a shell script).
and
.B pick
selects no messages (e.g., no messages are from
-\*(lqjones\*(rq), then the shell will still run the outer command (e.g.,
+`jones'), then the shell will still run the outer command (e.g.,
.BR scan ).
Since no messages were matched,
.B pick
.B nmh
programs,
the outer command now acts as if the default `msg' or `msgs' should be
-used (e.g., \*(lqall\*(rq in the case of
+used (e.g., `all' in the case of
.BR scan ).
To prevent this
unexpected behavior, if
.B \-list
was given, and if its standard output is not a tty, then
.B pick
-outputs the illegal message number \*(lq0\*(rq
+outputs the illegal message number `0'
when it fails. This lets the outer command fail gracefully as well.
.PP
-The pattern syntax \*(lq[l-r]\*(rq is not supported; each letter to be
+The pattern syntax `[l-r]' is not supported; each letter to be
matched must be included within the square brackets.