.\"
.TH PROMPTER %manext1% "%nmhdate%" MH.6.8 [%nmhversion%]
.SH NAME
-prompter \- prompting editor front-end for nmh
+prompter \- prompting editor front-end for mmh
.SH SYNOPSIS
.HP 5
.na
.B prompter
-.RB [ \-erase
-.IR chr ]
-.RB [ \-kill
-.IR chr ]
.RB [ \-prepend " | " \-noprepend ]
.RB [ \-rapid " | " \-norapid ]
-.RB [ \-doteof " | " \-nodoteof ]
+.RB [ \-body " | " \-nobody ]
.I file
.RB [ \-Version ]
.RB [ \-help ]
.ad
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B Prompter
-is an editor front\-end for
-.B nmh
+is an editor front-end for
+.B mmh
which allows rapid
composition of messages. This program is not normally invoked directly by
-users but takes the place of an editor and acts as an editor front\-end.
-It operates on an RFC\-822 style message draft skeleton specified by
+users but takes the place of an editor and acts as an editor front-end.
+It operates on an RFC-822 style message draft skeleton specified by
.IR file ,
normally provided by the
-.B nmh
+.B mmh
commands
.BR comp ,
.BR dist ,
.PP
.B Prompter
is particularly useful when composing messages over slow
-network or modem lines. It is an
-.B nmh program in that it can have
-its own profile entry with switches, but it is not invoked directly by
+network or modem lines. It is hardly invoked directly by
the user. The commands
.BR comp ,
.BR dist ,
and
.B repl
invoke
-.B prompter as an editor, either when invoked with
+.B prompter
+as an editor, either when invoked with
.B \-editor
.IR prompter ,
-or by the profile entry \*(lqEditor:\ prompter\*(rq,
+or by the profile entry `Editor:\ prompter',
or when given the command
-.B edit
-.B prompter
-at the \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq prompt.
+.B edit prompter
+at the `What now?' prompt.
.PP
For each empty component
-.B prompter finds in the draft, the user
-is prompted for a response; A <RETURN> will cause the whole component
-to be left out. Otherwise, a `\\' preceding a <RETURN> will continue
+.B prompter
+finds in the draft, the user
+is prompted for a response. An empty response will cause the whole component
+to be left out. Otherwise, a `\\' preceding the Newline will continue
the response on the next line, allowing for multiline components.
Continuation lines
.B must
begin with a space or tab.
.PP
-Each non\-empty component is copied to the draft and displayed on the
+Each non-empty component is copied to the draft and displayed on the
terminal.
.PP
The start of the message body is denoted by a blank line or a line
-of dashes. If the body is non\-empty, the prompt, which isn't written
-to the file, is
+of dashes.
+Unless
+.B \-nobody
+is specified, the user is queried to enter the message body.
+If the body of the draft is non-empty, the typed-in text will be prepended
+or appended to the existing body, depending on the
+.B \-prepend
+and
+.B \-noprepend
+switches.
+In these cases, the prompt (which isn't written to the file) is
.PP
.RS 5
---------Enter additional text
+\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-Enter additional text
.RE
.PP
or (if
was given)
.PP
.RS 5
---------Enter initial text
+\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-Enter initial text
.RE
.PP
-Message\-body typing is terminated with an end\-of\-file (usually
-CTRL\-D). With the
-.B \-doteof
-switch, a period on a line all by itself
-also signifies end\-of\-file. At this point control is returned to
-the calling program, where the user is asked \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq.
+Message-body typing is terminated with an end-of-file (usually
+CTRL-D).
+At this point control is returned to
+the calling program, where the user is asked `What now?'.
See
.B whatnow (1)
for the valid options to this query.
.PP
By using the
+.B \-nobody
+switch, the user is only queried to fill in header fields, but not to enter
+any body text.
+Note, that the
+.BR \-body and \-nobody
+switches had already existed already in
+.B nmh
+in undocumented/hidden form,
+but with a slightly different meaning.
+Back then,
+.B "prompter \-nobody
+would change the draft to have an empty body,
+by ignoring any existing body and not querying the user for body text.
+.PP
+By using the
.B \-prepend
-switch, the user can add type\-in to the
+switch, the user can add type-in to the
beginning of the message body and have the rest of the body follow.
-This is useful for the
-.B forw
-command.
+With
+.B \-noprepend
+the typed-in text is appended to the message body.
.PP
By using the
.B \-rapid
switch, if the draft already contains text in
-the message\-body, it is not displayed on the user's terminal. This is
-useful for low\-speed terminals.
+the message-body, it is not displayed on the user's terminal. This is
+useful for low-speed terminals.
.PP
-The line editing characters for kill and erase may be specified by the
-user via the arguments
-.B \-kill
-.I chr
-and
-.B \-erase
-.IR chr ,
-where
-.I chr
-may be a character; or `\\nnn', where \*(lqnnn\*(rq is the octal value for
-the character.
-.PP
-An interrupt (usually CTRL\-C) during component typing will abort
+An interrupt (usually CTRL-C) during component typing will abort
.B prompter
and the
-.B nmh
+.B mmh
command that invoked it. An interrupt
-during message\-body typing is equivalent to CTRL\-D, for historical
-reasons. This means that
+during message-body typing is equivalent to CTRL-D, for historical
+reasons and to avoid losing the typed-in message text. This means that
.B prompter
-should finish up and exit.
+should finish up and exit, usually putting the user back to the
+Whatnow prompt.
.PP
-The first non\-flag argument to
-.B prompter is taken as the name of
-the draft file, and subsequent non\-flag arguments are ignored.
-.\" (\fIRepl\fR invokes editors with two file arguments:
-.\" the draft file name and the replied\-to message file name.)
+The first non-flag argument to
+.B prompter
+is taken as the name of
+the draft file, and subsequent non-flag arguments are ignored.
.SH FILES
.fc ^ ~
.nf
.ta 2.4i
.ta \w'ExtraBigProfileName 'u
-prompter\-next: To name the editor to be used on exit from .B prompter
+prompter\-next: The editor to be used on exit from \fBprompter\fP
^Msg\-Protect:~^To set mode when creating a new draft
.fi
.SH DEFAULTS
.nf
+.RB ` \-body '
.RB ` \-prepend '
.RB ` \-norapid '
-.RB ` \-nodoteof '
.fi
.SH CONTEXT
.SH "HELPFUL HINTS"
The
-.B \-rapid
-option is particularly useful with
-.BR forw ,
-and
.B \-noprepend
-is useful with
+switch is particularly useful with
.B comp
.BR \-use .
.PP
The user may wish to link
-.B prompter under several names (e.g.,
-\*(lqrapid\*(rq) and give appropriate switches in the profile entries
-under these names (e.g., \*(lqrapid: -rapid\*(rq). This facilitates
+.B prompter
+under several names (e.g.,
+`rapid') and give appropriate switches in the profile entries
+under these names (e.g., `rapid: \-rapid'). This facilitates
invoking prompter differently for different
-.B nmh
+.B mmh
commands (e.g.,
-\*(lqforw: -editor rapid\*(rq).
-
-.SH BUGS
-.B Prompter
-uses
-.BR stdio (3),
-so it will lose if you edit files with nulls in them.
+`forw: \-editor rapid').
+.PP
+Former
+.B mutt
+users might find it useful to create a shell script
+.B hprompter
+containing:
+.PP
+.RS 5
+.nf
+prompter \-nobody \-rapid "$1"
+vi "$1"
+.fi
+.RE
+.LP
+and use that as the default editor for
+.B comp
+by adding a profile entry like:
+.PP
+.RS 5
+.nf
+comp: \-editor hprompter
+.fi
+.RE
projects / mmh / blobdiff