SCAN(1)                       [mh.6]                      SCAN(1)


NAME
       scan - produce a one line per message scan listing

SYNOPSIS
       scan  [+folder]  [msgs] [-clear] [-noclear] [-form format-
            file]    [-format string]    [-header]    [-noheader]
            [-width columns] [-help]

DESCRIPTION
       Scan produces a one-line-per-message listing of the speci-
       fied messages.  Each scan line contains the message number
       (name), the date, the From: field, the Subject field, and,
       if room allows, some of the  body  of  the  message.   For
       example:

            15+  7/ 5  Dcrocker  nned  Last week I asked some of
            16 - 7/ 5  dcrocker  message id format  I recommend
            18   7/ 6  Obrien    Re: Exit status from mkdir
            19   7/ 7  Obrien    scan listing format in MH

       The  `+'  on  message  15 indicates that it is the current
       message.  The `-' on message 16 indicates that it has been
       replied  to, as indicated by a Replied: component produced
       by an `-annotate' switch to the repl command.

       If there is sufficient room left on the  scan  line  after
       the  subject,  the  line will be filled with text from the
       body, preceded by <<, and terminated by >> if the body  is
       sufficiently short.  Scan actually reads each of the spec-
       ified messages and parses  them  to  extract  the  desired
       fields.   During  parsing, appropriate error messages will
       be produced if there are format errors in any of the  mes-
       sages.

       The  `-header'  switch produces a header line prior to the
       scan listing.  Currently, the name of the folder  and  the
       current  date and time are output (see the HISTORY section
       for more information).

       If the `-clear'  switch  is  used  and  scan's  output  is
       directed  to  a terminal, then scan will consult the $TERM
       and $TERMCAP envariables to determine your  terminal  type
       in  order  to  find  out  how to clear the screen prior to
       exiting.  If the `-clear' switch is used and scan's output
       is  not  directed  to a terminal (e.g., a pipe or a file),
       then scan will send a formfeed prior to exiting.

       For example, the command:

            (scan -clear -header; show all -show pr -f) | lpr

       produces a scan listing of the current folder, followed by
       a  formfeed,  followed  by a formatted listing of all mes-
       sages in the folder, one per page.  Omitting `-show pr -f'



MH                        April 22, 1986                        1

SCAN(1)                       [mh.6]                      SCAN(1)


       will cause the messages to be concatenated, separated by a
       one-line header and two blank lines.

       If scan encounters a message without a Date: field, rather
       than  leaving  that portion of the scan listing blank, the
       date is filled-in with the last write date of the message,
       and post-fixed with a `*'.  This is particularly handy for
       scanning a draft folder, as message drafts usually  aren't
       allowed to have dates in them.

       To   override   the   output  format  used  by  scan,  the
       `-format string'  or  `-format file'  switches  are  used.
       This  permits  individual fields of the scan listing to be
       extracted with ease.  The string is simply a format string
       and  the  file is simply a format file.  See mh-format (5)
       for the details.

       In addition to the standard escapes, scan also  recognizes
       the following additional escape:
       escape  substitution
       body    the (compressed) first part of the body

       On  hosts  where  MH  was configured with the BERK option,
       scan has two other switches: `-reverse', and `-noreverse'.
       These  make  scan  list the messages in reverse order.  In
       addition, scan will update the MH context prior to  start-
       ing  the listing, so interrupting a long scan listing pre-
       serves the new context.  MH purists  hate  both  of  these
       ideas.

FILES
       $HOME/.mh_profile                     The user profile

PROFILE COMPONENTS
       Path:                To determine the user's MH directory
       Alternate-Mailboxes: To determine the user's mailboxes
       Current-Folder:      To find the default current folder

SEE ALSO
       inc(1), pick(1), show(1), mh-format(5)

DEFAULTS
       `+folder' defaults to the folder current
       `msgs' defaults to all
       `-format' defaulted as described above
       `-noheader'
       `-width' defaulted to the width of the terminal

CONTEXT
       If a folder is given, it will become the current folder.

HISTORY
       Prior to using the format string mechanism, `-header' used
       to generate a heading  saying  what  each  column  in  the



MH                        April 22, 1986                        2

SCAN(1)                       [mh.6]                      SCAN(1)


       listing  was.  Format strings prevent this from happening.

BUGS
       The argument to the `-format' switch must  be  interpreted
       as  a single token by the shell that invokes scan.  There-
       fore, one must usually place the argument to  this  switch
       inside double-quotes.


















































MH                        April 22, 1986                        3