--- /dev/null
+.\"
+.\" %nmhwarning%
+.\"
+.TH PICK %manext1% "%nmhdate%" MH.6.8 [%nmhversion%]
+.SH NAME
+pick \- search for messages by content
+.SH SYNOPSIS
+.HP 5
+.na
+.B pick
+.RI [ +folder ]
+.RI [ msgs ]
+.RB [ \-and
+\&...]
+.RB [ \-or
+\&...]
+.RB [ \-not
+\&...]
+.RB [ \-lbrace
+\&...
+.BR \-rbrace ]
+.RB [ \-\|\-component
+.IR pattern ]
+.RB [ \-cc
+.IR pattern ]
+.RB [ \-date
+.IR pattern ]
+.RB [ \-from
+.IR pattern ]
+.RB [ \-search
+.IR pattern ]
+.RB [ \-subject
+.IR pattern ]
+.RB [ \-to
+.IR pattern ]
+.RB [ \-after
+.IR date ]
+.RB [ \-before
+.IR date ]
+.RB [ \-datefield
+.IR field ]
+.RB [ \-sequence
+.I name
+\&...]
+.RB [ \-public " | " \-nopublic ]
+.RB [ \-zero " | " \-nozero ]
+.RB [ \-list " | " \-nolist ]
+.RB [ \-version ]
+.RB [ \-help ]
+.PP
+typical usage:
+.PP
+.RS 5
+.nf
+scan\0`pick\0\-from\0jones`
+pick\0\-to\0holloway\0\-sequence\0select
+show\0`pick\0\-before\0friday`
+.fi
+.RE
+.ad
+.SH DESCRIPTION
+.B Pick
+searches within a folder for messages with the specified
+contents, and then identifies those messages. Two types of search
+primitives are available: pattern matching and date constraint
+operations.
+.PP
+A modified
+.BR grep (1)
+is used to perform the matching, so the
+full regular expression (see
+.BR ed (1))
+facility is available
+within
+.IR pattern .
+With
+.BR \-search ,
+.I pattern
+is used directly, and with the others, the grep pattern constructed is:
+.PP
+.RS 5
+`component[ \\t]*:\&.*pattern'
+.RE
+.PP
+This means that the pattern specified for a
+.B \-search
+will be found
+everywhere in the message, including the header and the body, while
+the other pattern matching requests are limited to the single specified
+component. The expression
+.PP
+.RS 5
+`\-\|\-component\ pattern'
+.RE
+.PP
+is a shorthand for specifying
+.PP
+.RS 5
+`\-search \*(lqcomponent[ \\t]*:\&.*pattern\*(rq\ '
+.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.
+An example is
+.RB \*(lq "pick\0\-\|\-reply\-to\0pooh" \*(rq.
+.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
+body, each line is separate. Lower\-case letters in the search pattern
+will match either lower or upper case in the message, while upper case
+will match only upper case.
+.PP
+Note that since 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.
+.PP
+Independent of any pattern matching operations requested, the switches
+.B \-after
+.I date
+or
+.B \-before
+.I date
+may also be used to introduce date/time
+constraints on all of the messages. By default, the \*(lqDate:\*(rq
+field is consulted, but if another date yielding field (such as
+\*(lqBB\-Posted:\*(rq or \*(lqDelivery\-Date:\*(rq) should be used, the
+.B \-datefield
+.I field
+switch may be used.
+.PP
+With
+.B \-before
+and
+.BR \-after ,
+.B pick
+will actually parse the date
+fields in each of the messages specified in `msgs' and compare them
+to the date/time specified. If
+.B \-after
+is given, then only those
+messages whose \*(lqDate:\*(rq field value is chronologically after the
+date specified will be considered. The
+.B \-before
+switch specifies the
+complimentary action.
+.PP
+Both the
+.B \-after
+and
+.B \-before
+switches take legal 822\-style date
+specifications as arguments.
+.B Pick
+will default certain missing
+fields so that the entire date need not be specified. These fields
+are (in order of defaulting): timezone, time and timezone, date, date
+and timezone. All defaults are taken from the current date, time,
+and timezone.
+.PP
+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
+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
+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.
+.PP
+.B Pick
+supports complex boolean operations on the searching primitives
+with the
+.BR \-and ,
+.BR \-or ,
+.BR \-not ,
+and
+.B \-lbrace
+.B \&...
+.B \-rbrace
+switches.
+For example,
+.PP
+.RS 5
+.nf
+pick\0\-after\0yesterday\0\-and
+ \-lbrace\0\-from\0freida\0\-or\0\-from\0fear\0\-rbrace
+.fi
+.RE
+.PP
+identifies messages recently sent by \*(lqfrieda\*(rq or \*(lqfear\*(rq.
+.PP
+The matching primitives take precedence over the
+.B \-not
+switch, which in turn takes precedence over
+.B \-and
+which in turn takes precedence
+over
+.BR \-or .
+To override the default precedence, the
+.B \-lbrace
+and
+.B \-rbrace
+switches are provided, which act just like opening and closing
+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).
+.PP
+Once the search has been performed, if the
+.B \-list
+switch is given, the
+message numbers of the selected messages are written to the standard
+output separated by newlines. This is
+.B extremely
+useful for
+quickly generating arguments for other
+.B nmh
+programs by using the
+\*(lqbackquoting\*(rq 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`
+.RE
+.PP
+says to
+.B scan
+those messages in the indicated folder which meet the
+appropriate criterion. Note that since
+.BR pick 's
+context changes
+are written out prior to
+.BR scan 's
+invocation, you need not give
+the folder argument to
+.B scan
+as well.
+.PP
+The
+.B \-sequence
+.I name
+switch may be given once for each sequence the user wishes to define.
+For each sequence named, that sequence will be defined to mean exactly
+those messages selected by
+.BR pick .
+For example,
+.PP
+.RS 5
+pick\0\-from\0frated\0\-seq\0fred
+.RE
+.PP
+defines a new message sequence for the current folder called
+\*(lqfred\*(rq which contains exactly those messages that were selected.
+.PP
+By default,
+.B pick
+will zero the sequence before adding it. This
+action can be disabled with the
+.B \-nozero
+switch, which means that the
+messages selected by
+.B pick
+will be added to the sequence, if it
+already exists, and any messages already a part of that sequence will
+remain so.
+.PP
+The
+.B \-public
+and
+.B \-nopublic
+switches are used by
+.B pick
+in the
+same way
+.B mark
+uses them.
+
+.SH FILES
+.fc ^ ~
+.nf
+.ta \w'%etcdir%/ExtraBigFileName 'u
+^$HOME/.mmh/profile~^The user profile
+.fi
+
+.SH "PROFILE COMPONENTS"
+.fc ^ ~
+.nf
+.ta 2.4i
+.ta \w'ExtraBigProfileName 'u
+^Path:~^To determine the user's mail storage
+^Current\-Folder:~^To find the default current folder
+.fi
+
+.SH "SEE ALSO"
+mark(1)
+
+.SH DEFAULTS
+.nf
+.RB ` +folder "' defaults to the current folder"
+.RB ` msgs "' defaults to all"
+.RB ` "\-datefield date" '
+.RB ` \-zero '
+.RB ` \-list "' is the default if no `\-sequence', `\-nolist' otherwise"
+.fi
+
+.SH CONTEXT
+If a folder is given, it will become the current folder.
+
+.SH HISTORY
+In previous versions of
+.BR MH ,
+the
+.B pick
+command would
+.BR show ,
+.BR scan ,
+or
+.B refile
+the selected messages. This was rather
+\*(lqinverted logic\*(rq from the UNIX point of view, so
+.B pick
+was changed to define sequences and output those sequences. Hence,
+.B pick
+can be used to generate the arguments for all other
+.B MH
+commands, instead of giving
+.B pick
+endless switches for invoking those commands
+itself.
+.PP
+Also, previous versions of
+.B pick
+balked if you didn't specify
+a search string or a date/time constraint. The current version does
+not, and merely matches the messages you specify. This lets you type
+something like:
+.PP
+.RS 5
+show\0`pick\0last:20\0\-seq\0fear`
+.RE
+.PP
+instead of typing
+.PP
+.RS 5
+.nf
+mark\0\-add\0\-nozero\0\-seq\0fear\0last:20
+show\0fear
+.fi
+.RE
+.PP
+Finally, timezones used to be ignored when comparing dates: they aren't
+any more.
+
+.SH "HELPFUL HINTS"
+Use
+.RB \*(lq "pick sequence \-list" \*(rq
+to enumerate the messages in a sequence
+(such as for use by a shell script).
+
+.SH BUGS
+The argument to the
+.B \-after
+and
+.B \-before
+switches must be interpreted
+as a single token by the shell that invokes
+.BR pick .
+Therefore, one
+must usually place the argument to this switch inside double\-quotes.
+Furthermore, any occurrence of
+.B \-datefield
+must occur prior to the
+.B \-after
+or
+.B \-before
+switch it applies to.
+.PP
+If
+.B pick
+is used in a back\-quoted operation, such as
+.PP
+.RS 5
+scan\0`pick\0\-from\0jones`
+.RE
+.PP
+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.,
+.BR scan ).
+Since no messages were matched,
+.B pick
+produced
+no output, and the argument given to the outer command as a result of
+backquoting
+.B pick
+is empty. In the case of
+.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
+.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
+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
+matched must be included within the square brackets.
projects / mmh / blobdiff