readmsg

NAME

       readmsg - extract messages from a mail folder

SYNOPSIS

       readmsg [-anhp] [-f folder] [selection ...]

DESCRIPTION

       Readmsg  extracts  selected  mail  messages  from  a  mail
       folder.  One helpful use of the program is  when  you  are
       composing a response to a mail message in an external edi-
       tor.  In this case, you can run readmsg to pull a copy  of
       the original message into the editing buffer.

       When you run readmsg from within elm (e.g. from a subshell
       escape or in an external editor  while  composing  a  mail
       reply)  it  behaves a bit differently from when you run it
       directly (e.g. from a shell command line).  We will  first
       describe  its normal behavior, and then describe how it is
       different when you run it under elm.

       You tell readmsg which messages to extract with the selec-
       tion  argument.   There are a couple of possible different
       ways to specify the selection.

       1.     A lone ``*'' means select all messages in the mail-
              box.

       2.     A list of message numbers may be specified.  Values
              of ``0'' and ``$'' in the list both mean  the  last
              message in the mailbox.  For example:

                   readmsg 1 3 0

              extracts  three  messages  from  the  folder:   the
              first, the third, and the last.

       3.     Finally, the selection may be some text  to  match.
              This  will  select  a  mail  message  which exactly
              matches the specified text.  For example,

                   readmsg staff meeting

              extracts  the  message  which  contains  the  words
              ``staff  meeting.''   Note that it will not match a
              message containing ``Staff Meeting'' - the matching
              is case sensitive.  Normally only the first message
              which matches the pattern will be printed.  The  -a
              option discussed in a moment changes this.

       The  -f  flag  indicates  that you'd rather use the folder
       specified rather than the default incoming  mailbox.   The
       specified folder can be a filename or a specification such
       as ``=sentmail''.

       The -h flag instructs the program to  include  the  entire
       header  of the matched message or messages when displaying
       their text.  (default is to display the  From:  Date:  and
       Subject: lines only)

       The  -n flag instructs the program to exclude all headers.
       This is used mostly for extracting files mailed and  such.

       The  -p  flag  indicates that the program should put form-
       feeds (control-L) between message headers.

       The -a flag indicates that all messages  which  match  the
       pattern  specified  on the command line should be printed,
       not just the first.  If a pattern was not specified on the
       command line then this flag has no effect.

       When  you  run  readmsg  under elm (once again, say in the
       context of an external editor) the behavior will  be  dif-
       ferent from that described above as follows.

       1.     The  default mail folder will be the folder you are
              currently examining in elm and not necessarily your
              incoming mail folder.

       2.     You  do not need to specify a selection on the com-
              mand line.  If you omit the selection then  readmsg
              will  extract  the  message(s) you have selected in
              Elm.  If you have tagged  any  messages  then  this
              would  be  all of the tagged messages, otherwise it
              would be the message you are currently examining.

       3.     Normally the message numbers readmsg  uses  are  in
              mailbox order.  When you call readmsg under elm and
              do not override the folder selection  with  the  -f
              option, then message numbers will be sorted as they
              are displayed on the elm message index screen.

EXAMPLES

       First off, to use this from within vi to include the  text
       of the current message, you could use the command:

            :r !readmsg

       (as  you hit the ':' the editor will put you at the bottom
       of the screen with the ':' prompt).  The  space  following
       ':r' is required.


       Let's look at something more interesting, however;

       Suppose you have the mail file;

          From joe Jun 3 1986 4:45:30 MST
          Subject: hello
          Hey Guy!  Wanta go out and have a milk this evening?

          Joe

          From john Jun 3 1986 4:48:20 MST
          Subject: Dinner at Eight
          From: John Dinley <xyz!john>

          Remember you should show up about eight, okay?

                    - John D -

          From xxzyz!cron Jun 3 1986 5:02:43 MST

          Cannot connect to server: blob
          Job 43243 deleted from queue.

       The following commands will result in;

         $ readmsg 2
         [ display the second message, from John ]

         $ readmsg
         [ an error, unless we're calling from elm ]

         $ readmsg BLOB
         [ no match - case sensitive! ]

         $ readmsg -h connect to server
         [ displays third message, including headers ]

FILES

       /usr/mail/<username>          The incoming mail
       $ELMSTATE           Status information from elm

AUTHOR

       Elm Development Group

SEE ALSO

       newmail(1L), elm(1L)

BUGS

       The '*' metacharacter doesn't always work as expected!
       Perhaps the pattern matching should be case insensitive?
       It  might  be confusing that messages are sorted when run-
       ning under elm with the current  folder,  and  in  mailbox
       order for all other cases.

BUG REPORTS TO

       Syd Weinstein  elm@DSI.COM    (dsinc!elm)

COPYRIGHTS

       Copyright 1988-1992 by The USENET Community Trust
       Derived from Elm 2.0,  Copyright 1986, 1987 by Dave Taylor