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   1 .TH SORTM %manext1% "March 23, 2014" "%nmhversion%"
   2 .\"
   3 .\" %nmhwarning%
   4 .\"
   5 .SH NAME
   6 sortm \- sort messages
   7 .SH SYNOPSIS
   8 .HP 5
   9 .na
  10 .B sortm
  11 .RB [ \-help ]
  12 .RB [ \-version ]
  13 .RI [ +folder ]
  14 .RI [ msgs ]
  15 .RB [ \-all " | " \-noall ]
  16 .RB [ \-datefield
  17 .IR field ]
  18 .RB [ \-textfield
  19 .IR field ]
  20 .RB [ \-notextfield ]
  21 .RB [ \-limit
  22 .IR days ]
  23 .RB [ \-nolimit ]
  24 .RB [ \-check " | " \-nocheck ]
  25 .RB [ \-verbose " | " \-noverbose ]
  26 .ad
  27 .SH DESCRIPTION
  28 .B sortm
  29 sorts the specified messages in the named folder according
  30 to the chronological order of the \*(lqDate:\*(rq field of each message.
  31 .PP
  32 If no messages are specified, the default is all messages in the folder.
  33 However, if no messages are specified and the
  34 .B \-noall
  35 switch is enabled, then
  36 .B sortm
  37 reports that as an error and exits with non-zero status.
  38 .B \-noall
  39 is most useful in the user's profile, to avoid inadvertent sorting of
  40 an entire folder.  The
  41 .B \-all
  42 switch can then be used on the command line to disable it.  Of course,
  43 a message specification of
  44 .I all
  45 can be used in any case.
  46 .PP
  47 The
  48 .B \-verbose
  49 switch directs
  50 .B sortm
  51 to tell the user the general
  52 actions that it is taking to place the folder in sorted order.
  53 .PP
  54 The
  55 .B \-datefield
  56 .I field
  57 switch tells
  58 .B sortm
  59 the name of the field to
  60 use when making the date comparison.  If the user has a special field in
  61 each message, such as \*(lqBB\-Posted:\*(rq or \*(lqDelivery\-Date:\*(rq,
  62 then the
  63 .B \-datefield
  64 switch can be used to direct
  65 .B sortm
  66 which field to examine.
  67 .PP
  68 The
  69 .B \-textfield
  70 .I field
  71 switch causes
  72 .B sortm
  73 to sort messages by the specified text field.  All characters except
  74 letters and numbers are stripped and the resulting strings are sorted
  75 datefield\-major, textfield\-minor, using a case insensitive
  76 comparison.  If this field is \*(lqsubject\*(rq, any leading "re:" is
  77 stripped off.
  78 .PP
  79 With
  80 .B \-textfield
  81 .IR field ,
  82 if
  83 .B \-limit
  84 .I days
  85 is specified, messages
  86 with the same textfields that are dated within `days' of each other
  87 appear together.  Specifying
  88 .B \-nolimit
  89 makes the limit infinity.
  90 With
  91 .B \-limit
  92 .IR 0 ,
  93 the sort is instead simply textfield\-major.
  94 .PP
  95 For example, to order a folder by date-major, grouping messages with
  96 the same subject on the same date together, use:
  97 .PP
  98 .RS 5
  99 sortm -textfield subject +folder
 100 .RE
 101 .PP
 102 .B sortm
 103 always issues a warning for each message that is missing a
 104 \*(lqDate:\*(rq field, has a \*(lqDate:\*(rq field that cannot be
 105 parsed, or has a format error in any header field.  With the
 106 .B \-check
 107 switch,
 108 .B sortm
 109 inhibits all modifications to the folder if there are any such
 110 messages, and exits with non-zero status.  With the default of
 111 .BR \-nocheck ,
 112 .B sortm
 113 sorts messages with a missing or invalid
 114 \*(lqDate:\*(rq field using their file modification times.
 115 .PP
 116 When ordering messages based on their dates, if they have the same
 117 dates, their original message order is preserved.
 118 .SH FILES
 119 .fc ^ ~
 120 .nf
 121 .ta \w'%nmhetcdir%/ExtraBigFileName  'u
 122 ^$HOME/\&.mh\(ruprofile~^The user profile
 123 .fi
 124 .SH "PROFILE COMPONENTS"
 125 .fc ^ ~
 126 .nf
 127 .ta 2.4i
 128 .ta \w'ExtraBigProfileName  'u
 129 ^Path:~^To determine the user's nmh directory
 130 ^Current\-Folder:~^To find the default current folder
 131 .fi
 132 .SH "SEE ALSO"
 133 .IR folder (1)
 134 .SH DEFAULTS
 135 .nf
 136 .RB ` +folder "' defaults to the current folder"
 137 .RB ` msgs"' defaults to all without -noall, no default with -noall"
 138 .RB ` \-all '
 139 .RB ` \-datefield "' defaults to date"
 140 .RB ` \-notextfield '
 141 .RB ` \-noverbose '
 142 .RB ` \-nolimit '
 143 .RB ` \-nocheck '
 144 .fi
 145 .SH CONTEXT
 146 If a folder is given, it will become the current folder.  If the current
 147 message is moved,
 148 .B sortm
 149 will preserve its status as current.
 150 .SH HISTORY
 151 Timezones used to be ignored when comparing dates: they aren't any more.
 152 .PP
 153 Messages which were in the folder, but not specified by `msgs', used to
 154 be moved to the end of the folder; now such messages are left untouched.
 155 .PP
 156 .B sortm
 157 sometimes did not preserve the message numbering in a folder
 158 (e.g., messages 1, 3, and 5, might have been renumbered to 1, 2, 3 after
 159 sorting).  This was a bug, and has been fixed.  To compress the message
 160 numbering in a folder, use
 161 .RB \*(lq "folder\ \-pack" \*(rq
 162 as always.
 163 .SH BUGS
 164 When
 165 .B sortm
 166 complains about a message which it can't temporally
 167 order, it complains about the message number
 168 .B prior
 169 to sorting.
 170 It should indicate what the message number will be
 171 .B after
 172 sorting.