1MSGS(1) General Commands Manual MSGS(1)
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6 msgs - system messages and junk mail program
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9 msgs [ -fhlpq ] [ number ] [ -number ]
10 msgs -s
12 msgs -c [ -days ]
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16 Msgs is used to read system messages. These messages are sent by mail‐
17 ing to the login `msgs' and should be short pieces of information which
18 are suitable to be read once by most users of the system.
19 Msgs is normally invoked each time you login, by placing it in the file
21 .login (.profile if you use /bin/sh). It will then prompt you with the
22 source and subject of each new message. If there is no subject line,
23 the first few non-blank lines of the message will be displayed. If
24 there is more to the message, you will be told how long it is and asked
25 whether you wish to see the rest of the message. The possible
26 responses are:
27 y type the rest of the message.
29 RETURN synonym for y.
31 n skip this message and go on to the next message.
33 - redisplay the last message.
35 q drops you out of msgs; the next time you run the program it will
37 pick up where you left off.
38 s append the current message to the file ``Messages'' in the cur‐
40 rent directory; `s-' will save the previously displayed message.
41 A `s' or `s-' may be followed by a space and a file name to
42 receive the message replacing the default ``Messages''.
43 m or `m-' causes a copy of the specified message to be placed in a
45 temporary mailbox and mail(1) to be invoked on that mailbox.
46 Both `m' and `s' accept a numeric argument in place of the `-'.
47 Msgs keeps track of the next message you will see by a number in the
49 file .msgsrc in your home directory. In the directory /usr/msgs it
50 keeps a set of files whose names are the (sequential) numbers of the
51 messages they represent. The file /usr/msgs/bounds shows the low and
52 high number of the messages in the directory so that msgs can quickly
53 determine if there are no messages for you. If the contents of bounds
54 is incorrect it can be fixed by removing it; msgs will make a new
55 bounds file the next time it is run.
56 The -s option is used for setting up the posting of messages. The line
58 msgs: "| /usr/ucb/msgs -s"
60 should be include in /etc/aliases to enable posting of messages.
62 The -c option is used for performing cleanup on /usr/msgs. An entry
64 with the -c option should be placed in /etc/crontab to run every night.
65 This will remove all messages over 21 days old. A different expiration
66 may be specified on the command line to override the default.
67 Options when reading messages include:
69 -f which causes it not to say ``No new messages.''. This is useful
71 in your .login file since this is often the case here.
72 -q Queries whether there are messages, printing ``There are new
74 messages.'' if there are. The command ``msgs -q'' is often used
75 in login scripts.
76 -h causes msgs to print the first part of messages only.
78 -l option causes only locally originated messages to be reported.
80 num A message number can be given on the command line, causing msgs
82 to start at the specified message rather than at the next mes‐
83 sage indicated by your .msgsrc file. Thus
84 msgs -h 1
87 prints the first part of all messages.
89 -number
91 will cause msgs to start number messages back from the one indi‐
92 cated by your .msgsrc file, useful for reviews of recent mes‐
93 sages.
94 -p causes long messages to be piped through more(1).
96 Within msgs you can also go to any specific message by typing its num‐
98 ber when msgs requests input as to what to do.
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101 /usr/msgs/* database
102 ~/.msgsrc number of next message to be presented
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105 William Joy
106 David Wasley
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109 aliases(5), crontab(5), mail(1), more(1)
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1124th Berkeley Distribution October 22, 1996 MSGS(1)