elm(1) elm(1)
NAME [Toc] [Back]
elm - process electronic mail through a screen-oriented interface
SYNOPSIS [Toc] [Back]
elm [-aKkmtVz] [-f folder]
elm [-s subject] address-list
elm -c [alias-list]
elm -h
elm -v
DESCRIPTION [Toc] [Back]
The elm program is a screen-oriented electronic mail processing
system. It supports the industry-wide MIME standard for nontext mail,
a special forms message and forms reply mechanism, and an easy-to-use
alias system for individuals and groups. elm operates in three
principal modes:
+ Interactive mode, running as an interactive mail interface
program. (First syntax.)
+ Message mode, sending a single interactive message to a list of
mail addresses from a shell command line. (Second syntax.)
+ File mode, sending a file or command output to a list of mail
addresses via a command-line pipe or redirection. (Second
syntax.)
In all three cases, elm honors the values that are set in your elmrc
initialization file, in your elm alias database, and in the system elm
alias database.
The modes are described below in inverse order (shortest description
to longest).
Options [Toc] [Back]
The following options are recognized:
-a Set arrow=ON. Use the arrow (->) instead of the
inverse bar to mark the current item in the
various indexes. This overrides the setting of
the arrow boolean variable (see the ELM
CONFIGURATION section).
-c Check alias. Check the aliases in alias-list
against your personal elm alias database and the
system elm alias database. The results are
written to standard output. Errors are reported
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first, in the form:
(alias "alias" is unknown)
Successes are reported in a header-entry format,
with group aliases replaced by their members, in
the form:
Expands to: alias-address (fullname),
alias-address (fullname),
...
alias-address (fullname)
If there is no fullname, the " (fullname)" portion
is omitted.
-f folder Folder file. Read mail from the folder file
rather than from the incoming mailbox. A folder
file is in the standard mail file format, as
created by the mail system or saved by elm itself.
-h Help. Display an annotated list of command-line
options.
-k Set softkeys=OFF. Disable the use of softkeys (HP
2622 function keys). This overrides the setting
of the softkeys boolean variable (see the ELM
CONFIGURATION section).
-K Set keypad=OFF and softkeys=OFF. Disable the use
of softkeys and arrow cursor keys. If your
terminal does not have the HP 2622 function key
protocols, this option is required. This
overrides the settings of the keypad and softkeys
boolean variables (see the ELM CONFIGURATION
section).
-m Set menu=OFF. Do not display the command menus on
several Interactive Mode screens. This overrides
the setting of the menu boolean variable (see the
ELM CONFIGURATION section).
-s subject Subject. Specify the subject for a File Mode or
Message Mode message.
-t Set usetite=OFF. Do not use the termcap ti/te and
terminfo cup cursor-positioning entries. This
overrides the setting of the usetite boolean
variable (see the ELM CONFIGURATION section).
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-V Verbose transmission. Pass outbound messages to
the sendmail mail transport agent using the -v
option (see sendmail(1M)).
-v Version. Print out the elm version information.
This displays the version number and the
compilation features that were specified or
omitted.
-z Zero. Do not enter elm if there is no mail in the
incoming mailbox.
Operands [Toc] [Back]
The following operands are recognized:
address-list A blank-separated list of one or more mail
addresses, your elm user aliases, or elm system
aliases.
alias-list A blank-separated list of one or more of your elm
user aliases or elm system aliases.
Terminology [Toc] [Back]
The following terms are used throughout this manpage.
blank A space or a tab character, sometimes known as linear white
space.
body The body of a message. See message.
boolean variable
See configuration variable.
configuration variable
A boolean, numeric, or string variable that defines default
behavior in the elm mail system. See the ELM CONFIGURATION
section.
elm system alias text file
The source file, /var/mail/.elm/aliases.text, for the elm
system alias database.
elm user alias text file
The source file , $HOME/.elm/aliases.text, for a user's own
elm alias database.
elm user headers file
A file, $HOME/.elm/elmheaders, where a user can specify
special header entries that are included in all outbound
messages.
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elmrc configuration file
A file, $HOME/.elm/elmrc, that defines the initial values
for elm configuration variables.
environment variable
A global variable set in the shell that called elm. See the
EXTERNAL INFLUENCES section.
folder A file that contains mail messages in the format created by
sendmail or elm.
full name The first and last name of a user, as extracted from an
alias text file or from the /etc/passwd file.
header The header of a message. See message.
header entry
An entry in the header portion of a message, sometimes
called a header field.
incoming mailbox
The mailbox where you receive your mail, usually
/var/mail/loginname.
mail directory
The directory, defined by the maildir string variable, where
a user normally stores mail messages in folders.
mail transport agent (MTA)
The program that sends and receives mail messages to and
from other systems. On HP-UX systems, the MTA is sendmail
(see sendmail(1M)).
mailcap A file that contains information on how to compose and
display mail messages that are not just seven- and eight-bit
ASCII characters.
metamail A system program that processes nontext mail messages.
message In a folder, a sequence of text lines comprised of a message
delimiter, a header, and a body. The message delimiter is a
line in the form:
From sender date
The header starts after the message delimiter and ends with
the first null line. The body begins at the null line and
ends at the next message delimiter. A body can have
subsections, called attachments or body parts, which have
are comprised of a boundary delimiter, a header, and a body.
This process can be recursive. See the METAMAIL
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CONFIGURATION section for more details.
numeric variable
See configuration variable.
sendmail alias database
The alias database, /etc/mail/aliases, that is used by the
sendmail MTA to direct local mail.
signature file
A file that is appended to your outbound messages, usually
containing information about yourself. You can have two
signature files, one for messages to your local machine and
one for other messages. See the localsignature and
remotesignature string variables.
string variable
See configuration variable.
user name Usually the login or mailbox name of someone you send mail
to.
variable See configuration variable and environment variable.
FILE MODE [Toc] [Back]
If standard input is connected to a pipe or to a file, and an
address-list is specified, elm operates in File Mode.
The output of the previous command in the pipe, or the content of the
file, is mailed to the members of the address-list. The address-list
is expanded, based on your elm alias database and the system elm alias
database, and placed in the To: header entry.
If -s is omitted or subject is null, subject defaults to:
no subject (file transmission)
The expressed or default value of subject is placed in the Subject:
header entry.
See the EXAMPLES section.
MESSAGE MODE [Toc] [Back]
If standard input is connected to your terminal, and an address-list
is specified, elm operates in Message Mode.
The address-list is expanded, based on your elm alias database and the
system elm alias database, and placed in the To: header entry. The
To: header entry is displayed, in the same form as for the Message
Menu m (mail) command in Interactive Mode.
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The value of subject, if nonnull, or a null string, is placed in the
Subject: header entry and the Subject: line is displayed for
modification.
If askcc is ON in your elmrc file, you are prompted for Copies to:.
Then the editor defined by the editor string variable (if a signature
file is not added) or the alteditor string variable (if a signature
file is added) is started so that you can write your message.
When you leave your editor, you enter the Send Menu, as described for
Interactive Mode.
If you choose the Send Menu s (send) command, the message is sent and
the program terminates. If you select the Send Menu f (forget)
command, the message is stored in $HOME/Canceled.mail and the program
terminates. If you select other commands, the appropriate action
occurs.
See the EXAMPLES section.
INTERACTIVE MODE [Toc] [Back]
If standard input is connected to your terminal, and there is no
address-list, elm operates in a screen-oriented Interactive Mode.
If you do not have a $HOME/.elm directory, or if you do not have a
mail directory, defined by the maildir string variable, you are asked
in turn if they should be created. You can answer y for yes, n for
no, or q for quit. For y or n, the directories are created or not, as
appropriate, and the program continues. For q, the program
terminates.
Overview [Toc] [Back]
When invoked, elm reads customized variables from file
$HOME/.elm/elmrc (if it exists) to initialize parameters. This file
can be saved from within elm and some of these variables can also be
modified with the Message Menu o (option) command.
elm first displays the Main or Message Menu, which shows index entries
for the messages in your incoming mailbox or selected mail folder.
Among other options, you can read, print, reply to, and forward these
messages, as well as initiate new mail messages to other users.
You can also move to the Alias Menu, where you can create, modify, and
delete your personal aliases. From the Alias Menu, you can select one
or more of your aliases and send a message to the corresponding users.
When you send a message, you can include attachments in a number of
formats, such as PostScript, images, audio, and video, as well as
plain text. The attachments are managed separately, which can be
convenient both for you and your correspondents.
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Sending Messages [Toc] [Back]
When you send a message, you use the editor defined by the editor or
alteditor string variable. If builtin is your editor, a set of
commands described in the Built-In Editor subsection is available
while composing your message
If the elmheaders file exists (see the HEADER FILE section), all
nonblank lines in the file are copied to the headers of all outbound
mail. This is useful for adding special information headers such as
X-Organization:, X-Phone:, and so forth.
MIME Support [Toc] [Back]
elm supports the MIME protocols for headers and messages (RFC 1521 and
RFC 1522) enabling it to view and send mail containing other than
normal ASCII text. For example, the mail contents can be audio,
video, images, etc., or a combination of these.
This also enables conformance with SMTP (RFC 821), which allows only
7-bit characters in the message, by using MIME-encoding (base64 and
quoted-printable) to convert 8-bit data to 7-bit.
elm also provides a facility to view multipart MIME messages. If elm
receives a message whose type is not text/plain, it invokes metamail,
which invokes the appropriate utility (for example, ghostview, xv, an
audio editor, mpeg) to display the different mail parts according to
the content type (for example, application/postscript, image, audio,
video).
Aliases [Toc] [Back]
elm has its own alias system that supports both personal and systemwide
aliases. Personal aliases are specific to a single user; system
aliases are available to everyone on the system where the system
aliases reside (see newalias(1)). You can access the Alias Menu by
executing the Message Menu a (alias) command. You can then create and
save an alias for the current message, create and check other aliases,
and send messages to one or more aliases.
Aliases are limited to 2500 bytes. If you wish to create a group
alias that is longer than 2500 bytes, please ask your system
administrator to create it for you in the sendmail system alias file,
/etc/mail/aliases (see sendmail(1M)).
INTERACTIVE MODE MENUS AND COMMANDS [Toc] [Back]
This section begins with the Message Menu, which is the main screen
for Interactive Mode. The rest of the menus are presented
alphabetically.
Message Menu [Toc] [Back]
The Message Index is displayed on the Message Menu. You can use the
following commands to manipulate and send messages. Some commands use
a series of prompts to complete their action. You can use Ctrl-D to
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cancel their operations.
The commands are:
!command Shell Escape. Send command to the shell defined
by the shell string variable without leaving elm.
# Display all known information about the current
message.
$ Resynchronize the messages without leaving elm.
If there are any messages marked for deletion, you
are asked if you want to delete them. If any
messages are deleted or any status flags have
changed, the messages are written back to the
mailbox file. All tags are removed.
% Display the computed return address of the current
message.
* Set the current message pointer to the last
message.
+ Display the next message index page, when
applicable.
- Display the previous message index page, when
applicable.
/pattern Pattern match. Search for pattern in the from and
subject fields of the current message index. The
search starts at the current message and wraps
around to the beginning of the index. The current
message pointer is set to the first message that
matches. Uppercase and lowercase are treated as
equivalent.
//pattern Pattern match. Search for pattern through all the
lines of the current folder. The search starts at
the current message and wraps around to the
beginning of the folder. The current message
pointer is set to the first message that matches.
Uppercase and lowercase are treated as equivalent.
< Calendar. Scan message for calendar entries and
add them to your calendar file. A calendar entry
is defined as a line whose first nonblank
characters are ->, as in:
->calendar-entry
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The delimiter -> and surrounding blanks are
removed before the entry is added to the calendar
file. Resultant blank lines are ignored. You can
define the calendar file name in your elmrc file
or with the Options Menu.
= Set the current message pointer to the first
message.
> Save in folder. Same as the Message Menu s (save)
command.
?key ... Help on key. Display a one-line description of
what each key does. ? displays a summary listing
for each command available. A period (.) returns
you to the Message Menu.
@ Display a summary of the messages indexed on the
current screen.
| Pipe the current message or the set of tagged
messages through other filters as desired. Use
the shell defined by the shell string variable.
n New current message. Change the current message
pointer to the one indexed as n. If the message
is not on the current page of headers, the
appropriate page displayed.
Return Read current message. The screen is cleared and
the current message is displayed by the pager
defined by the pager string variable.
a Alias. Switch to the Alias Menu.
b Bounce mail. This is similar to forwarding a
message, except that you do not edit the message
and the return address is set to the original
sender's address, rather than to your address.
c Change folder. This command is used to change the
file whose messages are displayed on the Message
Menu. You are asked for a file name. The file
must be in message format; otherwise, elm aborts.
You can use the customary wildcards for your
shell, as well as the following special names:
! Your incoming mail folder.
> Your received folder, defined by
the receivedmail string variable.
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< Your sent folder, defined by the
sentmail string variable.
. The previously used folder.
@alias The default folder for the login
name associated with the alias
alias.
=filename A file in the directory defined by
the maildir string variable.
C Copy message. Save the current message or the set
of tagged messages to a folder. You are prompted
for a file name with a default value. The default
value is a file in the maildir directory with the
user name of the sender of the first message in
the set being saved. Any tags are cleared.
Unlike the > and s commands, the messages are not
marked for deletion and the current message
pointer is not moved.
d Delete. Mark the current message for deletion.
See also Ctrl-D, u, and Ctrl-U.
Ctrl-D Delete. Mark all messages for deletion that
contain a specified pattern in the From: and
Subject: header entries. See also d, u, and
Ctrl-U.
e Edit. Allows you to physically edit the current
mail folder using the editor defined by the editor
string variable. When you exit from your editor,
elm resynchronizes your mail folder (see the $
command).
f Forward the current message. You are asked if you
want to edit the outbound message. If you answer
y, the characters defined by the prefix string
variable are prefixed to each line of the message
and the editor defined by the editor string
variable will be invoked to allow you to edit the
message. If you answer n, the characters are not
prefixed and the editor will not be invoked. In
either case, you are prompted for To: recipients,
allowed to edit the Subject: header entry, and, if
the askcc boolean variable is ON, you are prompted
for Cc: recipients.
If the userlevel numeric variable is 1
(intermediate) or 2 (expert), and there was a
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previous sent or forgotten message in this
session, you are asked if you would like to
Recall last kept message instead? (y/n)
If you answer y, the previous message is returned
to the send buffer. If you answer n, the current
message is copied into the send buffer and your
signature file (if any) is appended.
Then the editor is invoked if you chose to edit
the outbound message (above). When you leave the
editor, or if it was not invoked, the Send Menu is
displayed.
g Group reply. The reply is automatically sent To:
the sender of the message, with Cc: to all the
original To: and Cc: recipients. Otherwise, the
action is the same as for the r command.
h Same as Return, except that the message is
displayed with all headers.
j Move down. Move the current message pointer down
to the next message.
J Move down. Move the current message pointer down
to the next undeleted message.
k Move up. Move the current message pointer up to
the previous message.
K Move up. Move the current message pointer up to
the previous undeleted message.
l (ell) Limit the displayed messages to those that contain
certain string values. You are prompted with
Enter criteria:. To set, add to, or clear the
limiting criteria, type one of:
all Clear all the criteria and
restore the normal display.
from string Restrict to entries that
contain string in the From:
header.
subject string Restrict to entries that
contain string in the Subject:
header.
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to string Restrict to entries that
contain string in the To:
header.
You can add limiting criteria by repeating the l
command.
Ctrl-L Redraw the screen.
m Mail. Send mail to one or more addresses. You
are prompted for To: recipients, a Subject: and,
if the askcc boolean variable is ON, Cc:
recipients.
If the userlevel numeric variable is 1
(intermediate) or 2 (expert), and there was a
previous sent or forgotten message in this
session, you are asked if you would like to
Recall last kept message instead? (y/n)
If you answer y, the previous message is returned
to the send buffer. If you answer n, the
signature file (if any) is copied into the send
buffer.
Then, the editor defined by the editor string
variable is invoked. After you exit from your
editor, the Send Menu is displayed.
n Next message. Advances the current message
pointer to the next message, and displays that
message as for the Return command.
o Options. Invokes the Options Menu, permitting you
to change certain configuration options. The
changeable options are defined by the
configoptions string variable.
p Print. Print the current message or the set of
tagged messages using the command defined by the
print string variable. The current message
pointer does not move. Tagged messages remain
tagged.
q Quit. Gracefully terminate, performing message
cleanup according to defined personal preferences.
You can choose to actually delete messages marked
for deletion. For your incoming mailbox, you can
choose to keep undeleted mail in the mailbox or
move it to the received folder defined by the
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receivedmail string variable.
If the ask boolean variable is ON, you may be
asked the following questions. The actions
described are all performed after you have
answered all the relevant questions.
Delete messages? (y/n)
This question is asked if you have messages
marked for deletion. The default answer is
provided by the alwaysdelete boolean variable
(ON means y (yes) and OFF means n (no)).
If you answer y, all messages marked for
deletion will be deleted.
If you answer n, all messages marked for
deletion will be restored to their former
read, unread, or new state.
Move read messages to "received" folder? (y/n)
This question is asked if you are reading
your incoming mailbox and if you have
messages that have been read. The default
answer is provided by the alwaysstore boolean
variable (ON means y (yes) and OFF means n
(no)).
If you answer y, undeleted messages that have
been read will be moved to the folder defined
by the receivedmail string variable and the
next question will also be asked.
If you answer n, all undeleted messages are
returned to your incoming mailbox and the
next question is not asked.
Keep unread messages in incoming mailbox? (y/n)
This question is asked if you are reading
your incoming mailbox, if you answered y to
the Move read messages... question (or it was
not asked), and if you have messages that
have not been read. The default answer is
provided by the alwayskeep boolean variable
(ON means y (yes) and OFF means n (no)).
If you answer y, all undeleted unread (new
and old) messages are returned to your
incoming mailbox.
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If you answer n, all undeleted unread
messages will be moved to the folder defined
by the receivedmail string variable.
If the ask boolean variable is OFF, the answers to
the questions (which are not displayed) are taken
automatically from the values of the alwaysdelete,
alwaysstore, and alwayskeep boolean variables,
respectively.
Q Quick quit. This is equivalent to executing the q
command with the ask boolean variable set to OFF.
r Reply to the sender of the current message. If
the autocopy boolean variable is OFF, you are
asked if the source message should be copied into
the edit buffer. If it is ON, the message is
copied automatically. If copied in, all lines
from the message are preceded by the prefix string
defined by the prefix string variable. The To:
header is set to the sender of the message (or the
address in the Reply-To: header, if one was set),
the Subject: is set to the subject of the message,
preceded by Re:, and presented for you to edit.
If the askcc boolean variable is ON, you are
prompted for Cc: recipients. Then, the editor
defined by the editor string variable is invoked.
After you exit from your editor, the Send Menu is
displayed.
s Save in folder (same as >). Save the current
message or the set of tagged messages to a folder.
You are prompted for a file name with a default
value. The default value is a file in the maildir
directory with the login name of the sender of the
first message in the set being saved. Any tags
are cleared and the messages are marked for
deletion. The current message pointer is moved to
the first undeleted message after the last saved
message.
t Tag toggle. Tag the current message for a later
operation and move the current message pointer to
the next undeleted message. The operation can be
one of |, C, p, and s.
Or, remove the tag from a tagged message. See
also the Ctrl-T command.
T Tag toggle. Tag the current message for a later
operation and remain at the current message. The
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operation can be one of |, C, p, and s.
Or, remove the tag from a tagged message. See
also the Ctrl-T command.
Ctrl-T Tag all messages containing the specified pattern.
Or remove the tags from all tagged messages.
If any messages are currently tagged, you are
asked if the tags should be removed. Answer y to
remove the old tags; answer n to keep them. In
either case, you are prompted for a string to
match in either the From: or Subject: line of each
message. All messages that match the criterion
are tagged. If you enter a null string
(carriage-return alone), no more messages are
tagged.
u Undelete. Remove the deletion mark from the
current message. See also d, Ctrl-D, and Ctrl-U.
Ctrl-U Undelete. Remove any deletion mark from all
messages that contain a specified pattern in the
From: and Subject: header entries. See also d,
Ctrl-D, and u.
v View attachments. Invoke the Attachment View Menu
for the current message.
x Exit. Exit without changing the mailbox. If
changes are pending, such as deletions, you are
asked if they can be abandoned. If you answer y,
the changes are abandoned and the program
terminates. If you answer n the exit is abandoned
and you return to the Message Menu command prompt.
X Exit immediately without changing the mailbox.
All pending changes are abandoned.
Message Index [Toc] [Back]
The messages in the current folder are indexed on the Message Menu,
one per line, in the format:
sssnum mmm d from (lines) subject
defined as:
sss A three-character status field, described in the
Message Status subsection.
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num The ordinal message index number.
mmm The month from the last Date: header entry, or from the
From message header.
d The day from the last Date: header entry, or from the
From message header.
from Either the sender name from the last From: header entry
or from the From message header.
lines The number of lines in the message.
subject The subject description from the first Subject: header
entry, truncated to fit your screen.
The current message index entry is either highlighted in inverse video
or marked in the left margin with an arrow (->). See the -a option in
the Options subsection and the arrow string variable in the ELM
CONFIGURATION section.
Message Status [Toc] [Back]
The first three characters of each message index entry describe the
message status. Each can be blank or one of the values described
below in descending order of precedence.
When a message has more than one status flag of a particular type set,
the highest-precedence indicator is displayed on the index line. For
example, if a forms message (F) is also marked as company confidential
(C), the C rather than the F status character is displayed.
Column One: Variable Status
D Deleted. The message is marked for deletion.
E Expired. The date specified in the Expires: header entry is
older than today. elm accepts the following date formats:
Mon, 11 Jun 90 (format produced by elm in the Header Menu)
Jun 11, 90
11 Jun, 90
9006111324GMT (ISO X.400 format: YYMMDDhhmmzzz)
N New. The message was received after your last elm session
or during the current session. The message has not been
read.
O Old. The message was received before or during your last
elm session. It was marked N in your last session and it
was not read.
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Blank. The message has been read.
Column Two: Permanent Status
C Confidential. The Sensitivity: 3 header entry is present.
The message is considered company confidential, as specified
by the ISO X.400 standard. You can set this value for
outbound mail with the user-defined option of the Header
Menu.
U Urgent. The message contains a Priority: header entry.
P Private. The Sensitivity: 2 header entry is present. The
message is considered private, as specified by the ISO X.400
standard. You can set this value for outbound mail with the
user-defined option of the Header Menu.
A Action. The message contains an Action: header entry.
F Forms. The message is an elm forms message. The message
contains a Content-Type: mailform header entry.
M MIME. The message or its attachments is in a MIME format
that can be displayed using metamail.
? MIME. The message or its attachments is in a MIME format
whose version is not supported.
Blank. Normal status.
Column Three: Tagged Status
+ Tagged. Tagged messages are handled as a group by some
commands. See t and other commands in the Message Menu
subsection.
Blank. The message is not tagged.
Built-In Editor [Toc] [Back]
When you are composing an outbound message with the builtin built-in
editor, it prompts you for text lines with an empty line. Enter a
period (.) to end the message and continue with the Send Menu.
Built-in editor commands are lines that begin with an escape
character, defined by the escape string variable. The default escape
character is tilde (~).
Note: Some remote login programs use tilde as their default escape
character when it is the first character on a line. (You can tell,
because the tilde does not print.) Usually, the tilde is transmitted
when you enter a second character that is not recognized by the
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program or when you enter a second tilde. See the program
documentation for further information.
The built-in editor commands are:
~! [command] Execute the shell command, if one is given
(as in ~!ls), or start an interactive shell,
using the shell defined by the shell string
variable.
~< command Execute the shell command and place the
output of the command into the editor buffer.
For example, "~< who" inserts the output of
the who command in your message.
~? Print a brief help menu.
~~ Start a line with a single tilde (~)
character.
~b Prompt for changes to the Blind-Carbon-Copy
(Bcc:) list.
~c Prompt for changes to the Carbon-Copy (Cc:)
list.
~e Invoke the editor defined for the easyeditor
string variable on the message, if possible.
~f [options] Add the specified list of messages or the
current message. This uses readmail which
means that all readmail options are available
(see readmail(1)).
~h Prompt for changes to all the available
headers (To:, Cc:, Bcc:, and Subject:).
~m [options] Same as ~f, but each line is prefixed with
the current prefix. See the prefix string
variable.
~o Prompt for the name of an editor to use on
the message.
~p Print out the message as typed in so far.
~r filename Include (read in) the contents of the
specified file.
~s Prompt for changes to the Subject: line.
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~t Prompt for changes to the To: list.
~v Invoke the editor defined for the
visualeditor string variable on the message,
if possible.
Alias Menu [Toc] [Back]
The Alias Menu is invoked with the Message Menu a command. The source
text for your alias file is stored in the file
$HOME/.elm/aliases.text. You can edit this file directly or with the
following commands.
The aliases currently compiled into your database and the system
database are displayed in an indexed list similar to the Message Menu.
The entry format is described in the Alias Index subsection. The
index is sorted in the order defined by the aliassortby string
variable.
The commands are:
$ Resynchronize your alias text file and your alias
database by rebuilding the database from the text
file by running newalias. Aliases marked for
deletion are removed, tagged aliases are untagged,
and new and changed aliases are recognized. The
alias screen is updated to reflect these changes.
+ Display the next alias index page, when
applicable.
- Display the previous alias index page, when
applicable.
/pattern Pattern match. Search for pattern in the alias
and user name fields of the alias list. The
search starts at the current alias and wraps
around to the beginning of the alias list. The
current alias pointer is set to the first alias
that matches. Uppercase and lowercase are treated
as equivalent.
//pattern Pattern match. Search for pattern through all the
fields of the alias list (alias, user name,
comment, and address). The search starts at the
current alias and wraps around to the beginning of
the alias list. The current alias pointer is set
to the first alias that matches. Uppercase and
lowercase are treated as equivalent. /pattern
Pattern match. This command allows you to search
through all the alias and username entries in the
alias list, starting at the current alias and
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continuing through the end. If the first
character of the pattern is a /, then the comment
and the fully expanded address fields are also
included in the search. The search is caseinsensitive.
This allows you to find a specific
alias in a situation where there are a large
number of aliases.
?key ... Help on key. Display a one-line description of
what each key does. ? displays a summary listing
for each command available. A period (.) returns
you to the Alias Menu.
a Alias current message. This allows you to create
an alias that has the return address of the
current message as the address field of the alias.
It prompts for a unique alias name and allows you
to edit the comment and address fields.
c Change the current user alias. The old values of
the alias fields are used as the defaults in the
prompts for the new values. You cannot change the
alias name. If the alias name is one of a
multiple-alias record, it is removed from that
record and stored as a separate record. The old
alias is marked N. Changes are effective after
the next alias resynchronization.
d Mark the current user alias for deletion. The
deletions are made when you exit from the Alias
Menu with an q, r, or i command or you
resynchronize your alias database with the $
command. (You cannot delete a system alias in
this way.)
Ctrl-D Delete user aliases with a specified search
pattern.
e Edit your aliases.text file, using the editor
defined in the editor string variable. Your
aliases are resynchronized when you finish editing
(see the $ command).
f Display a fully expanded alias. The currently
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