MSH(1)MSH(1)NAMEmsh - nmh shell (and BBoard reader)
SYNOPSISmsh [-prompt string] [-scan | -noscan] [-topcur | -notopcur] [file]
[-version] [-help]
STATUSmsh is deprecated and will be removed from the next nmh release.
DESCRIPTIONmsh is an interactive program that implements a subset of the normal
nmh commands operating on a single file in mmdf format. That is, msh
is used to read a file that contains a number of messages, as opposed
to the standard nmh style of reading a number of files, each file being
a separate message in a folder. msh's chief advantage is that the nor‐
mal nmh style does not allow a file to have more than one message in
it. Hence, msh is ideal for reading BBoards, as these files are deliv‐
ered by the transport system in this format. In addition, msh can be
used on other files, such as message archives which have been packed
(see packf(1)). Finally, msh is an excellent nmh tutor. As the only
commands available to the user are nmh commands, this allows nmh begin‐
ners to concentrate on how commands to nmh are formed and (more or
less) what they mean.
When invoked, msh reads the named file, and enters a command loop. The
user may type most of the normal nmh commands. The syntax and seman‐
tics of these commands typed to msh are identical to their nmh counter‐
parts. In cases where the nature of msh would be inconsistent (e.g.,
specifying a +folder with some commands), msh will duly inform the
user. The commands that msh currently supports (in some slightly modi‐
fied or restricted forms) are:
ali
burst
comp
dist
folder
forw
inc
mark
mhmail
mhn
msgchk
next
packf
pick
prev
refile
repl
rmm
scan
send
show
sortm
whatnow
whom
In addition, msh has a help command which gives a brief overview. To
terminate msh, type CTRL-D, or use the quit command.
If the file is writable and has been modified, then using quit will
query the user if the file should be updated.
The -prompt string switch sets the prompting string for msh.
You may wish to use an alternate nmh profile for the commands that msh
executes; see mh-profile(5) for details about the $MH environment vari‐
able.
The exit command is identical to the quit command in msh.
msh supports an output redirection facility. Commands may be followed
by one of
^> file~^write output to file
^>> file~^append output to file
^| command~^pipe output to UNIX command
If file starts with a “ ” (tilde), then a csh-like expansion takes
place. Note that command is interpreted by sh. Also note that msh
does NOT support history substitutions, variable substitutions, or
alias substitutions.
When parsing commands to the left of any redirection symbol, msh will
honor `\' (backslash) as the quote next-character symbol, and `“' (dou‐
ble-quote) as quote-word delimiters. All other input tokens are sepa‐
rated by whitespace (spaces and tabs).
FILES
$HOME/.mh_profile The user profile
/usr/local/etc/nmh/mts.conf nmh mts configuration file
PROFILE COMPONENTS
Path: To determine the user's nmh directory
Msg-Protect: To set mode when creating a new `file'
fileproc: Program to file messages
showproc: Program to show messages
SEE ALSOpackf(1)DEFAULTS
`file' defaults to “./msgbox”
`-prompt (msh) '
`-noscan'
`-notopcur'
CONTEXT
None
BUGS
There is a strict limit of messages per file in packf'd format which
msh can handle. Usually, this limit is 1000 messages.
Please remember that msh is not the C-Shell, and that a lot of the nice
facilities provided by the latter are not present in the former.
In particular, msh does not understand backquoting, so the only effec‐
tive way to use pick inside msh is to always use the -seq select
switch. Clever users of nmh will put the line
pick: -seq select -list
in their .mh_profile file so that pick works equally well from both the
shell and msh.
sortm always uses -noverbose and if -textfield field is used, -limit 0.
The msh program inherits most (if not all) of the bugs from the nmh
commands it implements.
nmh-1.6 January 26, 2013 MSH(1)
