1 .TH NMH %manext7% "November 30, 2012" "%nmhversion%"
5 .\" Register 'tt' contains the indent for .TP in the COMMANDS section:
6 .nr tt \w'\fImh-sequence\fR(5)\0\0'u
9 nmh \- new MH message system
16 is the name of a powerful message handling system. Rather than
17 being a single comprehensive program,
19 consists of a collection
20 of fairly simple single-purpose programs to send, retrieve, save,
21 and manipulate messages.
23 Unlike most mail clients in UNIX,
25 is not a closed system which
26 must be explicitly run, then exited when you wish to return to the shell.
27 You may freely intersperse
29 commands with other shell commands,
30 allowing you to read and answer your mail while you have (for example)
31 a compilation running, or search for a file or run programs as needed
32 to find the answer to someone's question before answering their mail.
34 The rest of this manual entry is a quick tutorial which will teach you
37 You should read the manual entries for the
38 individual programs for complete documentation.
48 command. If you've never used
50 before, it will create the necessary default files and directories after
51 asking you if you wish it to do so.
54 moves mail from your system maildrop into your
57 folder, breaking it up into separate files and converting it
60 format as it goes. It prints one line for each message it
61 processes, containing the from field, the subject field and as much of
62 the first line of the message as will fit. It leaves the first message
63 it processes as your current message. You'll need to run
66 time you wish to incorporate new mail into your
71 prints a list of the messages in your current folder.
79 specific messages from the current folder.
82 current message, or a specific message, which may be specified by its
83 number, which you pass as an argument to
88 display, respectively, the message numerically after or before
89 the current message. In all cases, the message displayed becomes the
90 current message. If there is no current message,
93 called with an argument, or
95 may be used to advance to the
99 (remove message) deletes the current message. It may be called
100 with message numbers passed as arguments, to delete specific messages.
103 is used to respond to the current message (by default).
104 It places you in the editor with a prototype response form. While you're
105 in the editor, you may peruse the item you're responding to by reading
108 After completing your response, type
119 allows you to compose a message by putting you in the editor
120 on a prototype message form, and then lets you send it via the
124 also supports easy\-to\-use management of MIME attachments via
127 and related responses, as described in its man page.
131 commands may be run with the single argument
133 which causes them to print a list of the arguments they may be invoked
138 commands may be run with the single argument
140 which causes them to print the version number of the
142 distribution, and then exit.
144 Commands which take a message number as an argument
148 \&...) also take one of the words \*(lqfirst\*(rq,
149 \*(lqprev\*(rq, \*(lqcur\*(rq, \*(lqnext\*(rq, or \*(lqlast\*(rq to indicate
150 (respectively) the first, previous, current, next, or last message in
151 the current folder (assuming they are defined).
152 As a shorthand, \*(lq\&.\*(rq is equivalent to \*(lqcur\*(rq.
154 Commands which take a range of message numbers
158 \&...) also take any of the abbreviations:
161 Indicates all messages in the range <num1> to <num2>, inclusive.
162 The range must be nonempty.
165 Indicates all messages, i.e.,
174 messages beginning with (or ending with) message
177 may be any of the pre-defined symbols
194 The first, previous, next or last
195 messages, if they exist.
198 Commands that take a folder name
202 \&...) accept the folder name in two formats: \*(lq+folder\*(rq or
203 \*(lq@folder\*(rq. In both cases, \*(lqfolder\*(rq can be a
204 \*(lq/\*(rq-separated path, e.g. \*(lqfoo/bar\*(rq. \*(lq+folder\*(rq
205 specifies a directory path to a folder. If \*(lqfolder\*(rq starts
206 with \*(lq/\*(rq then it's an absolute path from the root directory.
207 If it is \*(lq.\*(rq or \*(lq..\*(rq, or starts with \*(lq./\*(rq or
208 \*(lq../\*(rq, then it's relative to the current working directory.
209 Otherwise it's relative to mh-profile(5)'s
210 .RI \*(lq Path \*(rq,
213 \*(lq@folder\*(rq is a shorthand for \*(lq+curfolder/folder\*(rq; it's
214 a relative path from the current folder. \*(lqcurfolder\*(rq is given
217 For example, assuming a
219 profile component of Mail,
223 scans $HOME/Mail/inbox
225 .BI "scan " +work/todo
226 scans $HOME/Mail/work/todo
229 scans $HOME/Mail/work/todo, if current folder is +work
231 .BI "refile " @../done
232 refiles to $HOME/Mail/work/done, if the current folder is +work/todo
238 scans the current directory
241 refiles current message to end of current folder.
244 There are many other possibilities such as creating multiple folders
245 for different topics, and automatically refiling messages according to
246 subject, source, destination, or content. These are beyond the scope
247 of this manual entry.
251 Following is a list of all the
253 commands, grouped loosely according to their role.
269 prompting front-end for send
274 provides much of the primary
276 user interface for sending mail, it is almost never invoked manually,
277 but rather is invoked indirectly by one of the above commands, after
278 you've composed a message in your editor, and before you've decided to
279 send it. Here you can add attachments, check the recipient
280 list, decide to quit and send it later, etc.
292 report to whom a message would go
295 redistribute a message to additional addresses
298 Advanced commands, only sometimes invoked directly:
302 translate MIME composition draft
308 send multiple files in a MIME message
321 explode digests into messages
327 asynchronously redistribute new mail
330 append message to file
333 asynchronously incorporate new mail
336 asynchronously filter and deliver new mail
344 show the next message
347 show the previous message
350 show(display) messages
353 produce a one line per message scan listing
356 select the next folder with new messages
359 select the previous folder with new messages
362 Related utilities, only sometimes invoked directly:
366 produce formatted listings of nmh messages
369 list information about content of MIME messages
372 display/list/store/cache MIME messages
375 display MIME messages
378 store contents of MIME messages into files
387 select messages by content
393 list folders with new messages
396 list new messages in a give set of folders
399 list folders with messages in given sequence(s)
402 list all folders with messages in given sequence(s)
405 set/list current folder/message
419 file messages in other folders
447 print nmh profile components
450 print full pathnames of nmh messages and folders
453 compress a folder into a single file
456 prompting editor front end
463 Indirectly Invoked Commands
467 parse addresses 822\-style
470 search for alias/password conflicts
473 parse dates 822\-style
481 initialize the nmh environment
488 Files Used by nmh Commands
492 alias file for nmh message system
495 draft folder facility
498 format file for nmh message system
501 message format for nmh message system
504 user customization for nmh message system
507 sequence specification for nmh message system
510 mail transport customization for nmh message system
531 The user's nmh profile
539 If problems are encountered with an
541 program, the problems should
542 be reported to the local maintainers of
545 name of the program should be reported, along with the version information
548 To find out what version of an
550 program is being run, invoke
556 the host it was compiled on, and the date the
559 Send bug reports and suggestions to
560 .IR nmh-workers@nongnu.org .
projects / mmh / blob