5 .TH PICK %manext1% "%nmhdate%" MH.6.8 [%nmhversion%]
7 pick \- search for messages by content
46 .RB [ \-public " | " \-nopublic ]
47 .RB [ \-zero " | " \-nozero ]
48 .RB [ \-list " | " \-nolist ]
56 scan\0`pick\0\-from\0jones`
57 pick\0\-to\0holloway\0\-sequence\0select
58 show\0`pick\0\-before\0friday`
64 searches within a folder for messages with the specified
65 contents, and then identifies those messages. Two types of search
66 primitives are available: pattern matching and date constraint
71 is used to perform the matching, so the
72 full regular expression (see
80 is used directly, and with the others, the grep pattern constructed is:
83 `component[ \\t]*:\&.*pattern'
86 This means that the pattern specified for a
89 everywhere in the message, including the header and the body, while
90 the other pattern matching requests are limited to the single specified
91 component. The expression
94 `\-\|\-component\ pattern'
97 is a shorthand for specifying
100 `\-search \*(lqcomponent[ \\t]*:\&.*pattern\*(rq\ '
103 It is used to pick a component which is not one of \*(lqTo:\*(rq,
104 \*(lqcc:\*(rq, \*(lqDate:\*(rq, \*(lqFrom:\*(rq, or \*(lqSubject:\*(rq.
106 .RB \*(lq "pick\0\-\|\-reply\-to\0pooh" \*(rq.
108 Pattern matching is performed on a per\-line basis. Within the header
109 of the message, each component is treated as one long line, but in the
110 body, each line is separate. Lower\-case letters in the search pattern
111 will match either lower or upper case in the message, while upper case
112 will match only upper case.
116 switch is a pattern matching operation (as
117 described above), to find messages sent on a certain date the pattern
118 string must match the text of the \*(lqDate:\*(rq field of the message.
120 Independent of any pattern matching operations requested, the switches
126 may also be used to introduce date/time
127 constraints on all of the messages. By default, the \*(lqDate:\*(rq
128 field is consulted, but if another date yielding field (such as
129 \*(lqBB\-Posted:\*(rq or \*(lqDelivery\-Date:\*(rq) should be used, the
139 will actually parse the date
140 fields in each of the messages specified in `msgs' and compare them
141 to the date/time specified. If
143 is given, then only those
144 messages whose \*(lqDate:\*(rq field value is chronologically after the
145 date specified will be considered. The
148 complimentary action.
154 switches take legal 822\-style date
155 specifications as arguments.
157 will default certain missing
158 fields so that the entire date need not be specified. These fields
159 are (in order of defaulting): timezone, time and timezone, date, date
160 and timezone. All defaults are taken from the current date, time,
163 In addition to 822\-style dates,
165 will also recognize any of
166 the days of the week (\*(lqsunday\*(rq, \*(lqmonday\*(rq, and so on),
167 and the special dates \*(lqtoday\*(rq, \*(lqyesterday\*(rq (24 hours
168 ago), and \*(lqtomorrow\*(rq (24 hours from now). All days of the
169 week are judged to refer to a day in the past (e.g., telling \fIpick\fR
170 \*(lqsaturday\*(rq on a \*(lqtuesday\*(rq means \*(lqlast\ saturday\*(rq
171 not \*(lqthis\ saturday\*(rq).
173 Finally, in addition to these special specifications,
176 also honor a specification of the form \*(lq\-dd\*(rq, which means
177 \*(lqdd days ago\*(rq.
180 supports complex boolean operations on the searching primitives
194 pick\0\-after\0yesterday\0\-and
195 \-lbrace\0\-from\0freida\0\-or\0\-from\0fear\0\-rbrace
199 identifies messages recently sent by \*(lqfrieda\*(rq or \*(lqfear\*(rq.
201 The matching primitives take precedence over the
203 switch, which in turn takes precedence over
205 which in turn takes precedence
208 To override the default precedence, the
212 switches are provided, which act just like opening and closing
213 parentheses in logical expressions.
215 If no search criteria are given, all the messages specified on the
216 command line are selected (this defaults to \*(lqall\*(rq).
218 Once the search has been performed, if the
221 message numbers of the selected messages are written to the standard
222 output separated by newlines. This is
225 quickly generating arguments for other
227 programs by using the
228 \*(lqbackquoting\*(rq syntax of the shell. For example, the command
231 scan\0`pick\0+todo\0\-after\0\*(lq31 Mar 83 0123 PST\*(rq`
236 those messages in the indicated folder which meet the
237 appropriate criterion. Note that since
240 are written out prior to
242 invocation, you need not give
243 the folder argument to
247 Regardless of the operation of the
252 switch may be given once for each sequence the user wishes to define.
253 For each sequence named, that sequence will be defined to mean exactly
254 those messages selected by
259 pick\0\-from\0frated\0\-seq\0fred
262 defines a new message sequence for the current folder called
263 \*(lqfred\*(rq which contains exactly those messages that were selected.
276 will zero the sequence before adding it. This
277 action can be disabled with the
279 switch, which means that the
282 will be added to the sequence, if it
283 already exists, and any messages already a part of that sequence will
300 .ta \w'%etcdir%/ExtraBigFileName 'u
301 ^$HOME/\&.mh\(ruprofile~^The user profile
304 .SH "PROFILE COMPONENTS"
308 .ta \w'ExtraBigProfileName 'u
309 ^Path:~^To determine the user's nmh directory
310 ^Current\-Folder:~^To find the default current folder
318 .RB ` +folder "' defaults to the current folder"
319 .RB ` msgs "' defaults to all"
320 .RB ` "\-datefield date" '
322 .RB ` \-list "' is the default if no `\-sequence', `\-nolist' otherwise"
326 If a folder is given, it will become the current folder.
329 In previous versions of
338 the selected messages. This was rather
339 \*(lqinverted logic\*(rq from the UNIX point of view, so
341 was changed to define sequences and output those sequences. Hence,
343 can be used to generate the arguments for all other
345 commands, instead of giving
347 endless switches for invoking those commands
350 Also, previous versions of
352 balked if you didn't specify
353 a search string or a date/time constraint. The current version does
354 not, and merely matches the messages you specify. This lets you type
358 show\0`pick\0last:20\0\-seq\0fear`
365 mark\0\-add\0\-nozero\0\-seq\0fear\0last:20
370 Finally, timezones used to be ignored when comparing dates: they aren't
375 .RB \*(lq "pick sequence \-list" \*(rq
376 to enumerate the messages in a sequence
377 (such as for use by a shell script).
384 switches must be interpreted
385 as a single token by the shell that invokes
388 must usually place the argument to this switch inside double\-quotes.
389 Furthermore, any occurrence of
391 must occur prior to the
395 switch it applies to.
399 is used in a back\-quoted operation, such as
402 scan\0`pick\0\-from\0jones`
407 selects no messages (e.g., no messages are from
408 \*(lqjones\*(rq), then the shell will still run the outer command (e.g.,
410 Since no messages were matched,
413 no output, and the argument given to the outer command as a result of
416 is empty. In the case of
419 the outer command now acts as if the default `msg' or `msgs' should be
420 used (e.g., \*(lqall\*(rq in the case of
423 unexpected behavior, if
425 was given, and if its standard output is not a tty, then
427 outputs the illegal message number \*(lq0\*(rq
428 when it fails. This lets the outer command fail gracefully as well.
430 The pattern syntax \*(lq[l-r]\*(rq is not supported; each letter to be
431 matched must be included within the square brackets.
projects / mmh / blob