.\"
.TH PICK %manext1% "%nmhdate%" MH.6.8 [%nmhversion%]
.SH NAME
-pick \- search for messages by content
+pick \- select messages by content
.SH SYNOPSIS
.HP 5
.na
.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
.B extremely
useful for
quickly generating arguments for other
-.B nmh
+.B mmh
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).
.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
+Any occurrence of
.B \-datefield
must occur prior to the
.B \-after
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
backquoting
.B pick
is empty. In the case of
-.B nmh
+.B mmh
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.
projects / mmh / blobdiff