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   1 .TH MSH %manext1% "January 26, 2013" "%nmhversion%"
   2 .\"
   3 .\" %nmhwarning%
   4 .\"
   5 .SH NAME
   6 msh \- nmh shell (and BBoard reader)
   7 .SH SYNOPSIS
   8 .HP 5
   9 .na
  10 .B msh
  11 .RB [ \-prompt
  12 .IR string ]
  13 .RB [ \-scan " | " \-noscan ]
  14 .RB [ \-topcur " | " \-notopcur ]
  15 .RI [ file ]
  16 .RB [ \-version ]
  17 .RB [ \-help ]
  18 .ad
  19 .SH STATUS
  20 .B msh is deprecated and will be removed from the next nmh release.
  21 .SH DESCRIPTION
  22 .B msh
  23 is an interactive program that implements a subset of the normal
  24 .B nmh
  25 commands operating on a single file in
  26 .BR mmdf
  27 format.
  28 That is,
  29 .B msh
  30 is used to read a file that contains a number
  31 of messages, as opposed to the standard
  32 .B nmh
  33 style of reading
  34 a number of files, each file being a separate message in a folder.
  35 .BR msh 's
  36 chief advantage is that the normal
  37 .B nmh
  38 style does not
  39 allow a file to have more than one message in it.  Hence,
  40 .B msh
  41 is
  42 ideal for reading BBoards, as these files are delivered by the
  43 transport system in this format.  In addition,
  44 .B msh
  45 can be used on
  46 other files, such as message archives which have been
  47 .BR pack ed
  48 (see
  49 .IR packf (1)).
  50 Finally,
  51 .B msh
  52 is an excellent
  53 .B nmh
  54 tutor.
  55 As the only commands available to the user are
  56 .B nmh
  57 commands, this
  58 allows
  59 .B nmh
  60 beginners to concentrate on how commands to
  61 .B nmh
  62 are formed and (more or less) what they mean.
  63 .PP
  64 When invoked,
  65 .B msh
  66 reads the named file, and enters a command loop.
  67 The user may type most of the normal
  68 .B nmh
  69 commands.  The syntax and
  70 semantics of these commands typed to
  71 .B msh
  72 are identical to their
  73 .B nmh
  74 counterparts.  In cases where the nature of
  75 .B msh
  76 would be
  77 inconsistent (e.g., specifying a
  78 .I +folder
  79 with some commands),
  80 .B msh
  81 will duly inform the user.  The commands that
  82 .B msh
  83 currently supports
  84 (in some slightly modified or restricted forms) are:
  85 .PP
  86 .RS 5
  87 .nf
  88 ali
  89 burst
  90 comp
  91 dist
  92 folder
  93 forw
  94 inc
  95 mark
  96 mhmail
  97 mhn
  98 msgchk
  99 next
 100 packf
 101 pick
 102 prev
 103 refile
 104 repl
 105 rmm
 106 scan
 107 send
 108 show
 109 sortm
 110 whatnow
 111 whom
 112 .fi
 113 .RE
 114 .PP
 115 In addition,
 116 .B msh
 117 has a
 118 .B help
 119 command which gives a
 120 brief overview.  To terminate
 121 .BR msh ,
 122 type CTRL\-D, or use the
 123 .B quit
 124 command.
 125 .PP
 126 If the file is writable and has been modified, then using
 127 .B quit
 128 will query the user if the file should be updated.
 129 .PP
 130 The
 131 .B \-prompt
 132 .I string
 133 switch sets the prompting string for
 134 .BR msh .
 135 .PP
 136 You may wish to use an alternate
 137 .B nmh
 138 profile for the commands that
 139 .B msh
 140 executes; see
 141 .IR mh-profile (5)
 142 for details about the
 143 .B $MH
 144 environment variable.
 145 .PP
 146 The
 147 .B exit
 148 command is identical to the
 149 .B quit
 150 command in
 151 .BR msh .
 152 .PP
 153 .B msh
 154 supports an output redirection facility.  Commands may be
 155 followed by one of
 156 .PP
 157 .RS 5
 158 .nf
 159 .ta \w'| \fIcommand\fR  'u
 160 ^> \fIfile\fR~^write output to \fIfile\fR
 161 ^>> \fIfile\fR~^append output to \fIfile\fR
 162 ^| \fIcommand\fR~^pipe output to UNIX \fIcommand\fR
 163 .fi
 164 .RE
 165 .PP
 166 If
 167 .I file
 168 starts with a \*(lq\~\*(rq (tilde), then a
 169 .BR csh \-like
 170 expansion
 171 takes place.  Note that
 172 .I command
 173 is interpreted by
 174 .BR sh .
 175 Also note that
 176 .B msh
 177 does NOT support history substitutions, variable
 178 substitutions, or alias substitutions.
 179 .PP
 180 When parsing commands to the left of any redirection symbol,
 181 .B msh
 182 will honor `\\' (backslash) as the quote next\-character symbol, and
 183 `\*(lq' (double\-quote) as quote\-word delimiters.  All other input tokens
 184 are separated by whitespace (spaces and tabs).
 185 .SH FILES
 186 .fc ^ ~
 187 .nf
 188 .ta \w'%etcdir%/ExtraBigFileName  'u
 189 ^$HOME/\&.mh\(ruprofile~^The user profile
 190 ^%etcdir%/mts.conf~^nmh mts configuration file
 191 .fi
 192 .SH "PROFILE COMPONENTS"
 193 .fc ^ ~
 194 .nf
 195 .ta 2.4i
 196 .ta \w'ExtraBigProfileName  'u
 197 ^Path:~^To determine the user's nmh directory
 198 ^Msg\-Protect:~^To set mode when creating a new `file'
 199 ^fileproc:~^Program to file messages
 200 ^showproc:~^Program to show messages
 201 .fi
 202 .SH "SEE ALSO"
 203 .IR packf (1)
 204 .SH DEFAULTS
 205 .nf
 206 .RB ` file "' defaults to \*(lq./msgbox\*(rq"
 207 .RB ` "\-prompt\ (msh)\ "'
 208 .RB ` \-noscan '
 209 .RB ` \-notopcur '
 210 .fi
 211 .SH CONTEXT
 212 None
 213 .SH BUGS
 214 .PP
 215 There is a strict limit of messages per file in
 216 .BR packf 'd
 217 format which
 218 .B msh
 219 can handle.  Usually, this limit is 1000 messages.
 220 .PP
 221 Please remember that
 222 .B msh
 223 is not the C\-Shell, and that a lot of
 224 the nice facilities provided by the latter are not present in the former.
 225 .PP
 226 In particular,
 227 .B msh
 228 does not understand backquoting, so the only
 229 effective way to use
 230 .B pick
 231 inside
 232 .B msh
 233 is to always use the
 234 .B \-seq
 235 .I select
 236 switch.  Clever users of
 237 .B nmh
 238 will put the line
 239 .P
 240 .RS 5
 241 pick:\0\-seq\0select\0\-list
 242 .RE
 243 .PP
 244 in their
 245 .I \&.mh\(ruprofile
 246 file so that
 247 .B pick
 248 works equally well from both the shell and
 249 .BR msh .
 250 .PP
 251 .B sortm
 252 always uses
 253 .B \-noverbose
 254 and if
 255 .B \-textfield
 256 .I field
 257 is used,
 258 .B \-limit
 259 .IR 0 .
 260 .PP
 261 The
 262 .B msh
 263 program inherits most (if not all) of the bugs from the
 264 .B nmh
 265 commands it implements.