1 .TH NMH %manext7% "November 30, 2012" "%nmhversion%"
5 .\" Register 'tt' contains the indent for .TP in the COMMANDS section:
6 .nr tt \w'\fImh-sequence\fR(5)\0\0'u
9 nmh \- new MH message system
12 is the name of a powerful message handling system. Rather than
13 being a single comprehensive program,
15 consists of a collection
16 of fairly simple single-purpose programs to send, retrieve, save,
17 and manipulate messages.
19 Unlike most mail clients in UNIX,
21 is not a closed system which
22 must be explicitly run, then exited when you wish to return to the shell.
23 You may freely intersperse
25 commands with other shell commands,
26 allowing you to read and answer your mail while you have (for example)
27 a compilation running, or search for a file or run programs as needed
28 to find the answer to someone's question before answering their mail.
30 The rest of this manual entry is a quick tutorial which will teach you
33 You should read the manual entries for the
34 individual programs for complete documentation.
44 command. If you've never used
46 before, it will create the necessary default files and directories after
47 asking you if you wish it to do so.
50 moves mail from your system maildrop into your
53 folder, breaking it up into separate files and converting it
56 format as it goes. It prints one line for each message it
57 processes, containing the from field, the subject field and as much of
58 the first line of the message as will fit. It leaves the first message
59 it processes as your current message. You'll need to run
62 time you wish to incorporate new mail into your
67 prints a list of the messages in your current folder.
75 specific messages from the current folder.
78 current message, or a specific message, which may be specified by its
79 number, which you pass as an argument to
84 display, respectively, the message numerically after or before
85 the current message. In all cases, the message displayed becomes the
86 current message. If there is no current message,
89 called with an argument, or
91 may be used to advance to the
95 (remove message) deletes the current message. It may be called
96 with message numbers passed as arguments, to delete specific messages.
99 is used to respond to the current message (by default).
100 It places you in the editor with a prototype response form. While you're
101 in the editor, you may peruse the item you're responding to by reading
104 After completing your response, type
115 allows you to compose a message by putting you in the editor
116 on a prototype message form, and then lets you send it via the
120 also supports easy\-to\-use management of MIME attachments via
123 and related responses, as described in its man page.
127 commands may be run with the single argument
129 which causes them to print a list of the arguments they may be invoked
134 commands may be run with the single argument
136 which causes them to print the version number of the
138 distribution, and then exit.
140 Commands which take a message number as an argument
144 \&...) also take one of the words \*(lqfirst\*(rq,
145 \*(lqprev\*(rq, \*(lqcur\*(rq, \*(lqnext\*(rq, or \*(lqlast\*(rq to indicate
146 (respectively) the first, previous, current, next, or last message in
147 the current folder (assuming they are defined).
148 As a shorthand, \*(lq\&.\*(rq is equivalent to \*(lqcur\*(rq.
150 Commands which take a range of message numbers
154 \&...) also take any of the abbreviations:
157 Indicates all messages in the range <num1> to <num2>, inclusive.
158 The range must be nonempty.
161 Indicates all messages, i.e.,
170 messages beginning with (or ending with) message
173 may be any of the pre-defined symbols
190 The first, previous, next or last
191 messages, if they exist.
194 Commands that take a folder name
198 \&...) accept the folder name in two formats: \*(lq+folder\*(rq or
199 \*(lq@folder\*(rq. In both cases, \*(lqfolder\*(rq can be a
200 \*(lq/\*(rq-separated path, e.g. \*(lqfoo/bar\*(rq. \*(lq+folder\*(rq
201 specifies a directory path to a folder. If \*(lqfolder\*(rq starts
202 with \*(lq/\*(rq then it's an absolute path from the root directory.
203 If it is \*(lq.\*(rq or \*(lq..\*(rq, or starts with \*(lq./\*(rq or
204 \*(lq../\*(rq, then it's relative to the current working directory.
205 Otherwise it's relative to mh-profile(5)'s
206 .RI \*(lq Path \*(rq,
209 \*(lq@folder\*(rq is a shorthand for \*(lq+curfolder/folder\*(rq; it's
210 a relative path from the current folder. \*(lqcurfolder\*(rq is given
213 For example, assuming a
215 profile component of Mail,
219 scans $HOME/Mail/inbox
221 .BI "scan " +work/todo
222 scans $HOME/Mail/work/todo
225 scans $HOME/Mail/work/todo, if current folder is +work
227 .BI "refile " @../done
228 refiles to $HOME/Mail/work/done, if the current folder is +work/todo
234 scans the current directory
237 refiles current message to end of current folder.
240 There are many other possibilities such as creating multiple folders
241 for different topics, and automatically refiling messages according to
242 subject, source, destination, or content. These are beyond the scope
243 of this manual entry.
247 Following is a list of all the
249 commands, grouped loosely according to their role.
265 prompting front-end for send
270 provides much of the primary
272 user interface for sending mail, it is almost never invoked manually,
273 but rather is invoked indirectly by one of the above commands, after
274 you've composed a message in your editor, and before you've decided to
275 send it. Here you can add attachments, check the recipient
276 list, decide to quit and send it later, etc.
288 report to whom a message would go
291 redistribute a message to additional addresses
294 Advanced commands, only sometimes invoked directly:
298 translate MIME composition draft
304 send multiple files in a MIME message
317 explode digests into messages
323 asynchronously redistribute new mail
326 append message to file
329 asynchronously incorporate new mail
332 asynchronously filter and deliver new mail
340 show the next message
343 show the previous message
346 show(display) messages
349 produce a one line per message scan listing
352 select the next folder with new messages
355 select the previous folder with new messages
358 Related utilities, only sometimes invoked directly:
362 produce formatted listings of nmh messages
365 list information about content of MIME messages
368 display/list/store/cache MIME messages
371 display MIME messages
374 store contents of MIME messages into files
383 select messages by content
389 list folders with new messages
392 list new messages in a give set of folders
395 list folders with messages in given sequence(s)
398 list all folders with messages in given sequence(s)
401 set/list current folder/message
415 file messages in other folders
443 print nmh profile components
446 print full pathnames of nmh messages and folders
449 compress a folder into a single file
452 prompting editor front end
459 Indirectly Invoked Commands
463 parse addresses RFC 822\-style
466 search for alias/password conflicts
469 parse dates RFC 822\-style
477 initialize the nmh environment
484 Files Used by nmh Commands
488 alias file for nmh message system
491 draft folder facility
494 format file for nmh message system
497 message format for nmh message system
500 user customization for nmh message system
503 sequence specification for nmh message system
506 mail transport customization for nmh message system
527 The user's nmh profile
535 If problems are encountered with an
537 program, the problems should
538 be reported to the local maintainers of
541 name of the program should be reported, along with the version information
544 To find out what version of an
546 program is being run, invoke
552 the host it was compiled on, and the date the
555 Send bug reports and suggestions to
556 .IR nmh-workers@nongnu.org .
projects / nmh / blob