4 .TH REPL %manext1% "%nmhdate%" MH.6.8 [%nmhversion%]
6 repl \- reply to a message
13 .RB [ \-annotate " | " \-noannotate ]
14 .RB [ \-group " | " \-nogroup ]
19 .RB [ \-query " | " \-noquery ]
24 .RB " | " \-nofilter ]
25 .RB [ \-mime " | " \-nomime ]
39 may be used to produce a reply to an existing message.
41 In its simplest form (with no arguments),
44 message\-form skeleton in reply to the current message in the current
45 folder, and invoke the whatnow shell.
47 In order to construct the message draft of the reply,
50 a reply template to guide its actions. A reply template is simply a
58 is given (it is on by default), then
60 will use the standard forms file \*(lqreplcomps\*(rq. This will construct
61 a draft message that is intended to be sent only to the author of the
62 message to which you are replying. If a file named \*(lqreplcomps\*(rq
65 directory, it will be used instead of this
68 The default reply template \*(lqreplcomps\*(rq will direct
70 to construct the reply message draft as follows:
74 To: <Mail\-Reply\-To> or <Reply\-To> or <From>
75 Cc: <To> and <Cc> and <personal address>
77 Subject: Re: <Subject>
78 In\-Reply\-To: <Message\-Id>
79 References: <Message\-Id>
80 Comments: In\-Reply\-To <From> or <apparently from> or <Sender>
87 where field names enclosed in angle brackets (<\ >) indicate the
88 contents of the named field from the message to which the reply is
91 By default, the \*(lqCc:\*(rq field is empty. You may selectively add
92 addresses to this default with the
95 switch. This switch takes an
97 .IR all / to / cc / me )
98 which specifies who gets added to the default
99 \*(lqCc:\*(rq list of the reply. You may give this switch multiple times (with
100 different arguments) if you wish to add multiple types of addresses.
107 standard forms file \*(lqreplgroupcomps\*(rq. This will construct a
108 draft message that is intended as a group or followup reply. If a file
109 named \*(lqreplgroupcomps\*(rq exists in the user's mmh directory, it
110 will be used instead of this default forms file.
112 The default group reply template \*(lqreplgroupcomps\*(rq will direct
114 to construct the reply message draft as follows:
118 To: <Mail\-Followup\-To>
119 Subject: Re: <Subject>
120 In\-Reply\-To: Message from <From> of <Date>.
121 .ti +\w'In\-Reply\-To: 'u
127 or if the field <Mail\-Followup\-To> is not available:
131 To: <Mail\-Reply\-To> or <Reply\-To> or <From>
132 Cc: <To> and <Cc> and <personal address>
133 Subject: Re: <Subject>
134 In\-Reply\-To: Message from <From> of <Date>.
135 .ti +\w'In\-Reply\-To: 'u
141 By default, the \*(lqCc:\*(rq contains all the addresses shown. You may
142 selectively remove addresses from this default with the
146 This switch takes an argument (
147 .IR all / to / cc / me )
148 which specifies who gets removed
149 from the default \*(lqCc:\*(rq list of the reply. You may give this switch
150 multiple times (with different arguments) if you wish to remove multiple types
153 In any case, you may specify an alternate forms file with the switch
159 switch modifies the action of
163 interactively asking you if each address that normally would be placed in
164 the \*(lqTo:\*(rq and \*(lqCc:\*(rq list should actually be sent a copy.
165 This is useful for special\-purpose replies. Note that the position of
170 switches, like all other switches which take a
171 positive and negative form, is important.
173 Lines beginning with the fields \*(lqTo:\*(rq, \*(lqCc:\*(rq, and
174 \*(rqBcc:\*(rq will be standardized and have duplicate addresses removed.
175 In addition, these fields will be wrapped at a reasonable length.
179 for a description of the
183 switches. Note that while in the editor, the message being replied
184 to is available through a link named \*(lq@\*(rq (assuming the default
186 In addition, the actual pathname of the message is
187 stored in the environment variable
190 the folder containing the message is stored in the environment variable
195 uses a forms file to direct it how to construct
196 the beginning of the draft, it uses a message filter file to direct
197 it as to how the message to which you are replying should be filtered
198 (re\-formatted) in the body of the draft. The filter file for
200 should be a standard form file for
206 to format the message to which you are replying.
208 By default, the original message gets filtered
209 through a default message filter file and then included into the draft body
211 This should be adequate for most users.
213 .RI \*(lq mhl.reply \*(rq
222 which outputs each line of the body of the message prefaced with the
223 \*(lq>\*(rq character and a space.
225 .RI \*(lq mhl.reply \*(rq
229 it will be used instead of this form.
231 You may specify an alternate message filter file with the switch
235 Other reply filters are commonly used, such as:
240 body:nocomponent,compwidth=9,offset=9
244 which says to output a blank line and then the body of the message
245 being replied\-to, indented by one tab\-stop. Another popular format
250 message-id:nocomponent,\|nonewline,\\
251 formatfield=\*(lqIn message %{text},\ \*(rq
252 from:nocomponent,\|formatfield=\*(lq%(decode(friendly{text})) writes:\*(rq
253 body:component=\*(lq>\*(rq,\|overflowtext=\*(lq>\*(rq,\|overflowoffset=0
257 This message filter file cites the Message-ID and author of the message
258 being replied\-to, and then outputs each line of the body prefaced with
259 the \*(lq>\*(rq character.
263 is given, then the message
264 to which you are replying will not be formated and thus not included in
265 the body of the draft.
266 (It may be added as MIME attachment with
270 To MIME-attach the original message, specify the
273 Note: In mmh, the \-mime switch is unrelated to
274 the \-filter and \-nofilter switches.
275 It is therefore possible to have the original message quoted in the body
277 attached as MIME part.
278 However, using the \-mime switch is discouraged.
279 It may get removed in the future.
283 switch is given, the message being replied\-to will
284 be annotated with the line:
292 The annotation will be done only if the message is sent directly from
294 If the message is not sent immediately from
296 .RB \*(lq "comp\ \-use" \*(rq
297 may be used to re\-edit and send the constructed
298 message, but the annotations won't take place. Annotations are always
299 done inplace in order to preserve any links to the message.
301 The default template specifies that a copy of the reply will be
305 To avoid reiteration,
307 strips any leading `Re: ' strings from
317 Upon exiting from the editor,
323 for a discussion of available
328 switch is intended to be used by the Emacs mh-e interface
331 and is only present if
333 was compiled with support
336 .I reply (in the mail storage root)
337 to be created, containing the draft message that would normally be presented
338 to the user for editing.
342 No mail is actually sent. Note that this switch is not guaranteed to
343 be present or to have the same effects in future versions of
345 it is documented here only for completeness.
350 switch specifies the message to be replied to as an
351 exact filename rather than as an
353 folder and message number. It is
354 intended to be used by the
358 The same caveats apply to this option as to the
365 .ta \w'%etcdir%/ExtraBigFileName 'u
366 ^%etcdir%/replcomps~^The standard reply template
367 ^or $HOME/.mmh/replcomps~^Rather than the standard template
368 ^%etcdir%/replgroupcomps~^The standard `reply -group' template
369 ^or $HOME/.mmh/replgroupcomps~^Rather than the standard template
370 ^%etcdir%/mhl.reply~^The standard message filter
371 ^or $HOME/.mmh/mhl.reply~^Rather than the standard filter
372 ^$HOME/.mmh/profile~^The user profile
373 ^+drafts~^The draft folder
376 .SH "PROFILE COMPONENTS"
380 .ta \w'ExtraBigProfileName 'u
381 ^Path:~^To determine the user's mail storage
382 ^Alternate\-Mailboxes:~^To determine the user's mailboxes
383 ^Current\-Folder:~^To find the default current folder
384 ^Draft\-Folder:~^To set the default draft\-folder
385 ^Editor:~^To override the default editor
386 ^Msg\-Protect:~^To set mode when creating a new message (draft)
387 ^whatnowproc:~^Program to ask the \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq questions
391 mhbuild(1), comp(1), forw(1), send(1), whatnow(1), mh\-format(5)
395 .RB ` +folder "' defaults to the current folder"
396 .RB ` msg "' defaults to cur"
398 .RB ` "\-nocc\ all" "' with `\-nogroup', `\-cc\ all' with `\-group'"
405 If a folder is given, it will become the current folder. The message
406 replied\-to will become the current message.
409 If any addresses occur in the reply template, addresses in the template
410 that do not contain hosts are defaulted incorrectly. Instead of using
411 the localhost for the default,
413 uses the sender's host.
414 Moral of the story: if you're going to include addresses in a reply
415 template, include the host portion of the address.
417 If your current working directory is not writable, the link named
418 \*(lq@\*(rq is not available.
420 The quotation of the original message does not get transfer-decoded, yet.