prompter

PURPOSE

     Invokes a prompting editor.

SYNOPSIS
     prompter [-erease chr][-kill chr][-prepend][-noprepend]
              [-rapid][-norapid]file[-help]


DESCRIPTION

     The  prompter  command is  used  to  invoke the  prompter
     editor for message entry.  prompter is not designed to be
     run directly by the user; it  is designed to be called by
     other programs.  The  prompter command is part  of the MH
     (Message Handling) package.

     The prompter  command opens the specified  file and scans
     it for  empty components such  as To: and prompts  you to
     fill in those fields.  If  you press Enter without adding
     text, prompter later deletes the component.

     After the first blank line or line of dashes in the file,
     prompter accepts  text for the  body of the  message.  If
     the body already contains text and the flag -noprepend is
     specified,  prompter displays  the text  followed by  the
     message:

       --------Enter additional text

     prompter appends any text that  is entered to the message
     body.  If  you specify  the -prepend flag,  prompter dis-
     plays the following message instead:

       --------Enter initial text

     When you press END OF FILE,  prompter ends text entry and
     returns control to the calling program.

FLAGS

     -erase char                 Sets the character to be used
                                 as the  erase character.  You
                                 can specify  the octal repre-
                                 sentation of the character in
                                 the  form  \nnn, or  you  can
                                 specify the character itself.
     -help                       Displays help information for
                                 the command.

     -kill char                  Sets the character to be used
                                 as  the kill  character.  You
                                 can specify  the octal repre-
                                 sentation of the character in
                                 the  form  \nnn, or  you  can
                                 specify the character itself.
     -noprepend                  Places additional  text below
                                 any   text  already   in  the
                                 message body.
     -norapid                    Displays any  text already in
                                 the  message  body.  This  is
                                 the default.
     -prepend                    Places additional text before
                                 any   text  already   in  the
                                 message  body.   This is  the
                                 default.
     -rapid                      Does not display text already
                                 in the message body.

PROFILE ENTRIES

     Msg-Protect:      Sets the protection  level for your new
                       message files.
     prompter-next:    Specifies the editor used after exiting
                       prompter.

FILES

     $HOME/.mh_profile    The MH user profile.
     /tmp/prompter*       A temporary copy of a message.

RELATED INFORMATION

     Other  MH commands:   "comp,"  "dist,"  "forw,"  "repl,"
     "whatnow."

     The  mh-profile file  in AIX  Operating System  Technical
     Reference.

     The "Overview  of the  Message Handling Package"  in Man-
     aging the AIX Operating System.