1 .TH NMH %manext7% 2016-09-26 "%nmhversion%"
6 nmh \- new MH message system
8 .\" Register 'tt' contains the indent for .TP in the COMMANDS section:
9 .nr tt \w'\fImh-sequence\fR(5)\0\0'u
13 is the name of a powerful message handling system. Rather than
14 being a single comprehensive program,
16 consists of a collection
17 of fairly simple single-purpose programs to send, retrieve, save,
18 and manipulate messages.
20 Unlike most mail clients in Unix,
22 is not a closed system which
23 must be explicitly run, then exited when you wish to return to the shell.
24 You may freely intersperse
26 commands with other shell commands,
27 allowing you to read and answer your mail while you have (for example)
28 a compilation running, or search for a file or run programs as needed
29 to find the answer to someone's question before answering their mail.
31 The rest of this manual entry is a quick tutorial which will teach you
34 You should read the manual entries for the individual programs for
35 complete documentation (see the section on
47 command. If you've never used
49 before, it will create the necessary default files and directories after
50 asking you if you wish it to do so.
53 moves mail from your system mail drop into your
56 folder, breaking it up into separate files and converting it
59 format. It prints one line for each message it processes,
60 containing the from field, the subject field and as much of
61 the first line of the message as will fit. It leaves the first message
62 it processes as your current message. You'll need to run
65 time you wish to incorporate new mail into your
70 prints a list of the messages in your current folder.
78 specific messages from the current folder.
80 displays the current message, or a specific message specified by its
81 number which is passed as an argument.
85 display, respectively, the message numerically after or before
86 the current message. In all cases, the message displayed becomes the
87 current message. If there is no current message,
90 called with an argument, or
92 may be used to advance to the
96 (remove message) deletes the current message. It may be called,
97 with message numbers passed as arguments, to delete specific messages.
100 is used to respond to the current message (by default).
101 It places you in the editor with a prototype response form. While you're
102 in the editor, you may peruse the item you're responding to by reading
105 After completing your response, type
116 allows you to compose a message by putting you in the editor
117 on a prototype message form, and then lets you send it via the
121 also supports easy-to-use management of MIME attachments via
124 and related responses, as described in its man page.
127 command arguments are usually called
129 Some switches have a corresponding \*(lq\-no\*(rq switch, which
130 negates all previous occurrences of that switch on the command line.
131 This allows a user to conveniently override, on the command line, a
132 switch in their profile. Switches may be abbreviated as long as there
133 is no ambiguity with another switch of the same command. To avoid
134 ambiguity with any switches that may be added in the future, it is
135 recommended that full switch names be used in durable code such as
136 shell scripts, functions, and aliases.
140 command may be run with the single switch
142 which causes it to print its available switches, along with any
143 profile components that apply, and then exit.
147 commands may be run with the single switch
149 which causes them to print the version number of the
151 distribution, and then exit.
153 Commands which take a message number as an argument
157 \&...) also take one of the words \*(lqfirst\*(rq,
158 \*(lqprev\*(rq, \*(lqcur\*(rq, \*(lqnext\*(rq, or \*(lqlast\*(rq to indicate
159 (respectively) the first, previous, current, next, or last message in
160 the current folder (assuming they are defined).
161 As a shorthand, \*(lq.\*(rq is equivalent to \*(lqcur\*(rq.
163 Commands which take a range of message numbers
167 \&...) also take any of the abbreviations:
170 Indicates all messages in the range <num1> to <num2>, inclusive.
171 The range must be nonempty.
174 Indicates all messages, i.e.,
185 must be a positive number, messages beginning with (or ending with)
189 may be any of the pre-defined symbols
196 The + can be omitted.
207 As many of the first, previous, next, or last N messages that exist.
208 As above, N can be preceded with - to end the listing at the specified
209 message, or with an optional +.
212 Commands that take a folder name
216 \&...) accept the folder name in two formats: \*(lq+folder\*(rq or
217 \*(lq@folder\*(rq. In both cases, \*(lqfolder\*(rq can be a
218 \*(lq/\*(rq-separated path, e.g.\& \*(lqfoo/bar\*(rq. \*(lq+folder\*(rq
219 specifies a directory path to a folder. If \*(lqfolder\*(rq starts
220 with \*(lq/\*(rq then it's an absolute path from the root directory.
221 If it is \*(lq.\*(rq or \*(lq..\*(rq, or starts with \*(lq./\*(rq or
222 \*(lq../\*(rq, then it's relative to the current working directory.
223 Otherwise it's relative to mh-profile(5)'s
224 .RI \*(lq Path \*(rq,
227 \*(lq@folder\*(rq is a shorthand for \*(lq+curfolder/folder\*(rq; it's
228 a relative path from the current folder. \*(lqcurfolder\*(rq is given
231 For example, assuming a
233 profile component of Mail,
237 scans $HOME/Mail/inbox
239 .BI "scan " +work/todo
240 scans $HOME/Mail/work/todo
243 scans $HOME/Mail/work/todo, if current folder is +work
245 .BI "refile " @../done
246 refiles to $HOME/Mail/work/done, if the current folder is +work/todo
252 scans the current directory
255 refiles current message to end of current folder.
258 There are many other possibilities such as creating multiple folders
259 for different topics, and automatically refiling messages according to
260 subject, source, destination, or content. These are beyond the scope
261 of this manual entry.
265 Following is a list of all the
267 commands, grouped loosely according to their role.
283 prompting front-end for send
288 provides much of the primary
290 user interface for sending mail, it is almost never invoked manually,
291 but rather is invoked indirectly by one of the above commands, after
292 you've composed a message in your editor, and before you've decided to
293 send it. Here you can add attachments, check the recipient
294 list, decide to quit and send it later, etc.
306 report to whom a message would go
309 redistribute a message to additional addresses
312 Advanced commands, only sometimes invoked directly:
316 translate MIME composition draft
322 send multiple files in a MIME message
335 explode digests into messages
341 asynchronously redistribute new mail
344 append message to file
347 asynchronously incorporate new mail
350 asynchronously filter and deliver new mail
358 show the next message
361 show the previous message
364 show (display) messages
367 produce a one line per message scan listing
370 select the next folder with new messages
373 select the previous folder with new messages
376 Related utilities, only sometimes invoked directly:
380 produce formatted listings of nmh messages
383 list information about content of MIME messages
386 display/list/store/cache MIME messages
389 display MIME messages
392 store contents of MIME messages into files
401 select messages by content
407 list folders with new messages
410 list new messages in a given set of folders
413 list folders with messages in given sequence(s)
416 list all folders with messages in given sequence(s)
419 set/list current folder/message
433 file messages in other folders
458 rewrite MIME messages with various transformations
461 print nmh profile components
464 print full pathnames of nmh messages and folders
467 compress a folder into a single file
470 prompting editor front end
477 Indirectly Invoked Commands
481 parse addresses RFC 822\-style
484 parse dates RFC 822\-style
492 initialize the nmh environment
499 Files Used by nmh Commands
503 alias file for nmh message system
506 format file for nmh message system
509 user customization for nmh message system
512 mail transport customization for nmh message system
520 draft folder facility
523 nmh message storage format specification
526 message format for nmh message system
529 sequence specification for nmh message system
550 The user's nmh profile
559 \" The contents of this section also appear in sbr/print_help.c .
560 Send bug reports, questions, suggestions, and patches to
561 .IR nmh-workers@nongnu.org .
562 That mailing list is relatively quiet, so user questions are encouraged.
563 Users are also encouraged to subscribe, and view the archives, at
564 https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/nmh-workers .
566 If problems are encountered with an
569 be reported to the local maintainers of
571 if any, or to the mailing list noted above.
572 When doing this, the name of the program should be reported, along
573 with the version information for the program.
575 To find out what version of an
577 program is being run, invoke
583 the host it was compiled on, and the date the
586 New releases, and other information of potential interest, are announced at http://www.nongnu.org/nmh/
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