1MH-SEQUENCE(5) [nmh-1.3] MH-SEQUENCE(5)
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6 mh-sequence - sequence specification for nmh message system
7
9 most nmh commands
10
12 A sequence (or sequence set) is a symbolic name representing a message
13 or collection of messages. nmh has several internally defined
14 sequences, as well as allowing users to define their own sequences.
15 Message Specification and Pre-Defined Message Sequences
18 Most nmh commands accept a `msg' or `msgs' specification, where `msg'
19 indicates one message and `msgs' indicates one or more messages. To
20 designate a message, you may use either its number (e.g., 1, 10, 234)
21 or one of these “reserved” message names:
22 Name Description
24 first the first message in the folder
25 last the last message in the folder
26 cur the most recently accessed message
27 prev the message numerically preceding “cur”
28 next the message numerically following “cur”
29 In commands that take a `msg' argument, the default is “cur”. As a
31 shorthand, “.” is equivalent to “cur”.
32 For example: In a folder containing five messages numbered 5, 10, 94,
34 177 and 325, “first” is 5 and “last” is 325. If “cur” is 94, then
35 “prev” is 10 and “next” is 177.
36 The word `msgs' indicates that one or more messages may be specified.
38 Such a specification consists of one message designation or of several
39 message designations separated by spaces. A message designation con‐
40 sists either of a message name as defined above, or a message range.
41 A message range is specified as “name1-name2” or “name:n”, where
43 `name', `name1' and `name2' are message names, and `n' is an integer.
44 The specification “name1-name2” designates all currently existing mes‐
46 sages from `name1' to `name2' inclusive. The “reserved” message name
47 “all” is a shorthand for the message range “first-last”.
48 The specification “name:n” designates up to `n' messages. These mes‐
50 sages start with `name' if `name' is a message number or one of the
51 reserved names “first” “cur”, or “next”, The messages end with `name'
52 if `name' is “prev” or “last”. The interpretation of `n' may be over‐
53 ridden by preceding `n' with a plus or minus sign; `+n' always means up
54 to `n' messages starting with `name', and `-n' always means up to `n'
55 messages ending with `name'.
56 In commands which accept a `msgs' argument, the default is either “cur”
58 or “all”, depending on which makes more sense for each command (see the
59 individual man pages for details). Repeated specifications of the same
60 message have the same effect as a single specification of the message.
61 There is also a special “reserved” message name “new” which is used by
63 the mhpath command.
64 User-Defined Message Sequences
67 In addition to the “reserved” (pre-defined) message names given above,
68 nmh supports user-defined sequence names. User-defined sequences allow
69 the nmh user a tremendous amount of power in dealing with groups of
70 messages in the same folder by allowing the user to bind a group of
71 messages to a meaningful symbolic name.
72 The name used to denote a message sequence must consist of an alpha‐
74 betic character followed by zero or more alphanumeric characters, and
75 can not be one of the “reserved” message names above. After defining a
76 sequence, it can be used wherever an nmh command expects a `msg' or
77 `msgs' argument.
78 Some forms of message ranges are allowed with user-defined sequences.
80 The specification “name:n” may be used, and it designates up to the
81 first `n' messages (or last `n' messages for `-n') which are elements
82 of the user-defined sequence `name'.
83 The specifications “name:next” and “name:prev” may also be used, and
85 they designate the next or previous message (relative to the current
86 message) which is an element of the user-defined sequence `name'. The
87 specifications “name:first” and “name:last” are equivalent to “name:1”
88 and “name:-1”, respectively. The specification “name:cur” is not
89 allowed (use just “cur” instead). The syntax of these message range
90 specifications is subject to change in the future.
91 User-defined sequence names are specific to each folder. They are
93 defined using the pick and mark commands.
94 Public and Private User-Defined Sequences
96 There are two varieties of user-defined sequences: public and private.
97 Public sequences of a folder are accessible to any nmh user that can
98 read that folder. They are kept in each folder in the file determined
99 by the “mh-sequences” profile entry (default is .mh_sequences). Pri‐
100 vate sequences are accessible only to the nmh user that defined those
101 sequences and are kept in the user's nmh context file.
102 In general, the commands that create sequences (such as pick and mark)
104 will create public sequences if the folder for which the sequences are
105 being defined is writable by the nmh user. For most commands, this can
106 be overridden by using the switches -public and -private. But if the
107 folder is read-only, or if the “mh-sequences” profile entry is defined
108 but empty, then private sequences will be created instead.
109 Sequence Negation
112 Nmh provides the ability to select all messages not elements of a user-
113 defined sequence. To do this, the user should define the entry
114 “Sequence-Negation” in the nmh profile file; its value may be any
115 string. This string is then used to preface an existing user-defined
116 sequence name. This specification then refers to those messages not
117 elements of the specified sequence name. For example, if the profile
118 entry is:
119 Sequence-Negation: not
121 then anytime an nmh command is given “notfoo” as a `msg' or `msgs'
123 argument, it would substitute all messages that are not elements of the
124 sequence “foo”.
125 Obviously, the user should beware of defining sequences with names that
127 begin with the value of the “Sequence-Negation” profile entry.
128 The Previous Sequence
131 Nmh provides the ability to remember the `msgs' or `msg' argument last
132 given to an nmh command. The entry “Previous-Sequence” should be
133 defined in the nmh profile; its value should be a sequence name or mul‐
134 tiple sequence names separated by spaces. If this entry is defined,
135 when when an nmh command finishes, it will define the sequence(s) named
136 in the value of this entry to be those messages that were specified to
137 the command. Hence, a profile entry of
138 Previous-Sequence: pseq
140 directs any nmh command that accepts a `msg' or `msgs' argument to
142 define the sequence “pseq” as those messages when it finishes.
143 Note: there can be a performance penalty in using the “Previ‐
145 ous-Sequence” facility. If it is used, all nmh programs have to write
146 the sequence information to the .mh_sequences file for the folder each
147 time they run. If the “Previous-Sequence” profile entry is not
148 included, only pick and mark will write to the .mh_sequences file.
149 The Unseen Sequence
152 Finally, many users like to indicate which messages have not been pre‐
153 viously seen by them. The commands inc, rcvstore, show, mhshow, and
154 flist honor the profile entry “Unseen-Sequence” to support this activ‐
155 ity. This entry in the .mh_profile should be defined as one or more
156 sequence names separated by spaces. If there is a value for
157 “Unseen-Sequence” in the profile, then whenever new messages are placed
158 in a folder (using inc or rcvstore), the new messages will also be
159 added to all the sequences named in this profile entry. For example, a
160 profile entry of
161 Unseen-Sequence: unseen
163 directs inc to add new messages to the sequence “unseen”. Unlike the
165 behavior of the “Previous-Sequence” entry in the profile, however, the
166 sequence(s) will not be zeroed by inc.
167 Similarly, whenever show, mhshow, next, or prev displays a message,
169 that message will be removed from any sequences named by the
170 “Unseen-Sequence” entry in the profile.
171
174 $HOME/.mh_profile The user profile
175 <mh-dir>/context The user context
176 <folder>/.mh_sequences File for public sequences
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180 mh-sequences: Name of file to store public sequences
181 Sequence-Negation: To designate messages not in a sequence
182 Previous-Sequence: The last message specification given
183 Unseen-Sequence: Those messages not yet seen by the user
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187 flist(1), mark(1), pick(1), mh-profile(5)
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191 None
192MH.6.8 1 June 2008 MH-SEQUENCE(5)