MH(5MH)                 COMMAND REFERENCE                 MH(5MH)



NAME
     mh - mh mail message format

DESCRIPTION
     This section paraphrases the format of mail text messages.

     Assumptions

     Messages are expected to consist of lines of text.  Graphics
     and binary data are not handled.

     No data compression is accepted.  All text is clear ASCII
     7-bit data.

     Layout

     A general "memo" framework is used.  A message consists of a
     block of information in a rigid format, followed by general
     text with no specified format.  The rigidly formatted  first
     part of a message is  called the header, and the free-format
     portion is called the body.  The header must always exist,
     but the body is optional.

     The Header

     Each header item can be viewed as a single logical line of
     ASCII characters.  If the text of a header item extends
     across several real lines, the continuation lines are
     indicated by leading spaces or tabs.

     Each header item is called a component and is composed of a
     keyword or name, along with associated text.  The keyword
     begins at the left margin, may contain spaces or tabs, may
     not exceed 63 characters, and is terminated by a colon (:).
     Certain components (as identified by their keywords) must
     follow rigidly defined formats in their text portions.

     The text for most formatted components (e.g., "Date:" and
     "Message-Id:") is produced automatically.  The only ones
     entered by the user are address fields such as "To:", "cc:",
     etc.  Addresses are assigned mailbox names and host computer
     specifications.  The rough format is "mailbox at host", such
     as "Borden at Rand-UTek".  Multiple addresses are separated
     by commas.  A missing host is assumed to be the local host.

     The Body

     A blank line signals that all following text up to the end
     of the file is the body.  (A blank line is defined as a pair
     of <end-of-line> characters with no characters in between.)
     No formatting is expected or enforced within the body.




Printed 3/13/89                                                 1

MH(5MH)                 COMMAND REFERENCE                 MH(5MH)



     Within MH, a line consisting of dashes is accepted as the
     header delimiter.  This is a cosmetic feature applying only
     to locally composed mail.

     Message Name BNF

          msgs:=       msgspec | msgs msgspec

          msgspec:=    msg | msg-range | msg-sequence

          msg:=        msg-name | <number>

          msg-name:=   "first" | "last"    | "cur"     | "."  |
                       "next"    | "prev"

          msg-range:=  msg"-"msg | "all"

          msg-sequence:=
                       msg":"signed-number

          signed-number:=
                       "+"<number> | "--"<number> | <number>

     Where <number> is a decimal number in the range 1 to 999.

     Msg-range specifies all of the messages in the given range
     and must not be empty.

     Msg-sequence specifies up to <number> of messages, beginning
     with msg (in the case of first, cur, next, or <number>), or
     ending with msg (in the case of prev or last).  +<number>
     forces "starting with " .ds ]F " .}S 1 2 "msg" " ","" "" ""
     "" "" and -<number> forces "ending with number".  In all
     cases, msg must exist.

SEE ALSO
     mh(1mh).


















Printed 3/13/89                                                 2

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