SHOW(1)             RISC/os Reference Manual              SHOW(1)



NAME
     show - show (list) messages

SYNOPSIS
     show [+folder] [msgs] [-draft] [-header] [-noheader]
          [-showproc program] [-noshowproc]
          [switches for showproc] [-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 showproc
     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 format.  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 screenful.  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 supported
     by all MH commands which take `msgs' or `msg' arguments.





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SHOW(1)             RISC/os Reference Manual              SHOW(1)



FILES
     $HOME/.mh_profile                 The user profile

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
     `-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 message.
     Hence 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 run-
     ning show in the background with only its standard output
     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 &



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