msgs - system messages and junk mail program
msgs [-fhlopqr] [[-]number]
msgs [-s]
msgs [-c [-days]]
msgs is used to read system messages. These messages are
sent by mailing
to the login ``msgs'' and should be short pieces of information which are
suitable to be read once by most users of the system.
The options are as follows:
-c -days
The -c option is used for performing cleanup on
/var/msgs. An
entry with the -c option should be placed in the
system
crontab(5) to run every night. This will remove
all messages
over 21 days old. The optional -days argument may
be specified
on the command line to override the default.
-f Do not say ``No new messages.'' This is useful in a
.login file
since this is often the case here.
-h Print the first part of messages only.
-l Causes only locally originated messages to be reported.
-o By default, msgs exits when there are no more messages to read.
If the -o flag is specified, the user will be given
the chance
to save or read messages again.
-p Pipe long messages through the program specified by
the PAGER
environment variable. If PAGER is null or not defined, more(1)
is used.
-q Queries whether there are messages, printing
``There are new
messages.'' if there are. The command msgs -q is
often used in
login scripts.
-r Disables the ability to save messages or enter the
mailer. It
is assumed that the PAGER environment is set to
something secure.
-s The -s option is used for setting up the posting of
messages.
The line
msgs: "| /usr/bin/msgs -s"
should be included in /etc/mail/aliases (see
newaliases(8)) to
enable posting of messages.
number A message number can be given on the command line,
causing msgs
to start at the specified message rather than at
the next message
indicated by your .msgsrc file. Thus
msgs -h 1
prints the first part of all messages.
-number Start number messages back from the one indicated
in the .msgsrc
file; useful for reviews of recent messages.
msgs is normally invoked each time you login, by placing it
in the file
.login (or .profile if you use sh(1)). It will then prompt
you with the
source and subject of each new message. If there is no subject line, the
first few non-blank lines of the message will be displayed.
If there is
more to the message, you will be told how long it is and
asked whether
you wish to see the rest of the message. The possible responses are:
y Type the rest of the message.
RETURN Synonym for y.
n Skip this message and go on to the next message.
- Redisplay the last message.
q Drop out of msgs; the next time msgs will pick
up where it
last left off.
s Append the current message to the file Messages
in the current
directory; `s-' will save the previously
displayed message.
An `s' or `s-' may be followed by a space
and a file
name to receive the message replacing the default
``Messages''.
m A copy of the specified message is placed in a
temporary
mailbox and mail(1) is invoked on that mailbox.
p The specified message is piped through the program specified
by the PAGER environment variable. If PAGER is
not defined,
more(1) is used.
The commands m, p, and s all accept a numeric argument in
place of the
`-'.
msgs keeps track of the next message you will see by a number in the file
.msgsrc in your home directory. In the directory /var/msgs
it keeps a
set of files whose names are the (sequential) numbers of the
messages
they represent. The file /var/msgs/bounds shows the low and
high number
of the messages in the directory so that msgs can quickly
determine if
there are no messages for you.
Within msgs you can also go to any specific message by typing its number
when msgs requests input as to what to do.
msgs uses the HOME and TERM environment variables for the
default home
directory and terminal type. If defined and non-null, the
PAGER variable
is invoked as the pagination program.
/var/msgs/* database
~/.msgsrc number of next message to be presented
mail(1), more(1), aliases(5), crontab(5), newaliases(8)
The msgs command appeared in 3.0BSD.
OpenBSD 3.6 April 28, 1995
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