X-Git-Url: https://diplodocus.org/git/nmh/blobdiff_plain/3c516d410d256012f843944b0f43a77d8c1ac146..43a65e9777214029046fe7a1427493e6e503a717:/man/mh-sequence.man

diff --git a/man/mh-sequence.man b/man/mh-sequence.man
index 8fbba7d2..0f876e97 100644
--- a/man/mh-sequence.man
+++ b/man/mh-sequence.man
@@ -1,13 +1,9 @@
-.TH MH-SEQUENCE %manext5% "January 9, 2001" "%nmhversion%"
+.TH MH-SEQUENCE %manext5% "June 11, 2013" "%nmhversion%"
 .\"
 .\" %nmhwarning%
 .\"
 .SH NAME
 mh-sequence \- sequence specification for nmh message system
-.SH SYNOPSIS
-most
-.B nmh
-commands
 .SH DESCRIPTION
 A sequence (or sequence set) is a symbolic name representing a
 message or collection of messages.
@@ -44,7 +40,7 @@ is 94, then \*(lqprev\*(rq is 10 and \*(lqnext\*(rq is 177.
 .PP
 The word `msgs' indicates that one or more messages may be specified.
 Such a specification consists of one message designation or of several
-message designations separated by spaces.  A message designation consists
+message designations, as separate arguments.  A message designation consists
 either of a message name as defined above, or a message range.
 .PP
 A message range is specified as \*(lqname1\-name2\*(rq or
@@ -195,7 +191,7 @@ command.  The entry \*(lqPrevious\-Sequence\*(rq
 should be defined in the
 .B nmh
 profile; its value should be a sequence
-name or multiple sequence names separated by spaces.  If this entry
+name or multiple sequence names, as separate arguments.  If this entry
 is defined, when when an
 .B nmh
 command finishes, it will define the
@@ -240,7 +236,7 @@ honor the profile entry
 in the
 .I \&.mh\(ruprofile
 should be defined as one or more sequence
-names separated by spaces.  If there is a value for
+names, as separate arguments.  If there is a value for
 \*(lqUnseen\-Sequence\*(rq in the profile, then whenever new messages
 are placed in a folder (using
 .B inc
@@ -271,6 +267,28 @@ or
 displays a message, that message will be removed from
 any sequences named by the \*(lqUnseen\-Sequence\*(rq entry in the
 profile.
+.SS Sequence File Format
+The sequence file format is based on the RFC\-5322 message format.  Each line
+of the sequence file corresponds to one sequence.  The line starts with the
+sequence name followed by a `:', then followed by a space-separated list of message numbers
+that correspond to messages that are part of the named sequence.  A contiguous
+range of messages can be represented as \*(lqlownum\-highnum\*(rq.
+.PP
+.B Sample sequence file
+.PP
+.RS 5
+.nf
+work: 3 6 8 22-33 46
+unseen: 47 49-51 54
+cur: 46
+.fi
+.RE
+.PP
+.B Nmh
+commands that modify the sequence file will silently remove sequences for
+nonexistant messages when the sequence file is updated.  The exception to 
+this is the \*(lqcur\*(rq sequence, which is allowed to point to a
+nonexistant message.
 .SS Sequence File Locking
 The \*(lqdatalocking\*(rq profile entry controls the type of locking used
 when reading and writing sequence files.  The locking mechanisms supported