SHOW(1) [mh.6] (MH.6.8) SHOW(1)
NAME
show - show (list) messages
SYNOPSIS
show [+folder] [msgs] [-draft] [-header] [-noheader]
[-showproc program] [-noshowproc]
[switches for showproc] [-help]
DESCRIPTION
Show lists each of the specified messages to the standard
output (typically, the terminal). Typically, the messages
are listed exactly as they are, with no reformatting. A
program named by the showproc profile component is invoked
to do the listing, and any switches not recognized by show
are passed along to that program. The default program is
known as more (1). To override the default and the showproc
profile component, use the `-showproc program' switch. For
example, `-show pr' will cause the pr (1) program to list
the messages. The MH command mhl can be used as a showproc
to show messages in a more uniform format. Normally, this
program is specified as the showproc is the user's
.mh_profile. See mhl (1) for the details. If the
`-noshowproc' option is specified, `/bin/cat' is used
instead of showproc.
The `-header' switch tells show to display a one-line
description of the message being shown. This description
includes the folder and the message number.
If no `msgs' are specified, the current message is used. If
more than one message is specified, more will prompt for a
<RETURN> prior to listing each message. more will list each
message, a page at a time. When the end of page is reached,
more will ring the bell and wait for a <SPACE> or <RETURN>.
If a <RETURN> is entered, more will print the next line,
whereas <SPACE> will print the next screenful. To exit
more, type q.
If the standard output is not a terminal, no queries are
made, and each file is listed with a one-line header and two
lines of separation.
show -draft will list the file <mh-dir>/draft if it exists.
If the profile entry Unseen-Sequence is present and
non-empty, then show will remove each of the messages shown
from each sequence named by the profile entry. This is
similar to the Previous-Sequence profile entry supported by
all MH commands which take `msgs' or `msg' arguments.
FILES
$HOME/.mh_profile The user profile
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SHOW(1) [mh.6] (MH.6.8) SHOW(1)
PROFILE COMPONENTS
Path: To determine the user's MH directory
Current-Folder: To find the default current folder
Unseen-Sequence: To name sequences denoting unseen messages
showproc: Program to show messages
SEE ALSO
mhl(1), more(1), next(1), pick(1), prev(1), scan(1)
DEFAULTS
`+folder' defaults to the current folder
`msgs' defaults to cur
`-header'
CONTEXT
If a folder is given, it will become the current folder.
The last message shown will become the current message.
BUGS
The `-header' switch doesn't work when `msgs' expands to
more than one message. If the showproc is mhl, then is
problem can be circumvented by referencing the messagename
field in the mhl format file.
Show updates the user's context before showing the message.
Hence show will mark messages as seen prior to the user
actually seeing them. This is generally not a problem,
unless the user relies on the unseen messages mechanism, and
interrupts show while it is showing unseen messages.
If showproc is mhl, then show uses a built-in mhl: it does
not actually run the mhl program. Hence, if you define your
own showproc, don't call it mhl since show won't run it.
If more (1) is your showproc (the default), then avoid
running show in the background with only its standard output
piped to another process, as in
show | imprint &
Due to a bug in more, show will go into a tty input state.
To avoid this problem, re-direct show's diagnostic output as
well. For users of csh:
show |& imprint &
For users of sh:
show 2>&1 | imprint &
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