SHOW(1) [mh.6] SHOW(1)
NAME
show - show (list) messages
SYNOPSIS
show [+folder] [msgs] [-draft] [-header] [-noheader]
[-showproc program] [-noshowproc] [switches for show-
proc] [-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 show-
proc 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 for-
mat. 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 screen-
ful. 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 sup-
ported by all MH commands which take `msgs' or `msg' argu-
ments.
FILES
$HOME/.mh_profile The user profile
MH April 22, 1986 1
SHOW(1) [mh.6] 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
`-format'
`-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 mes-
sage. Hence if 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 out-
put 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 &
MH April 22, 1986 2