show(1mh) show(1mh)
Name
show - show (list) messages
Syntax
show [ +folder ] [ msgs ] [ -draft ] [ -[no]header ] [ -help ] [ -showproc program ] [ -noshowproc ] [ options to ]
Description
Use to display the contents of the current message. You can specify alternative messages or folders by using the +folder or msgs argu-
ments.
If a folder is given, it becomes the current folder. The last message shown becomes the current message.
You can specify a number of messages or a range of messages using the msgs argument. If you specify more than one message, prompts for a
<RETURN> prior to listing each message.
Typically, the messages are listed exactly as they are, with no reformatting. A program named by the showproc component in the file is
invoked to do the listing, and any options not recognized by are passed along to that program. The default program is
By default, the command use the program to list each message, a page at a time. When the end of the page is reached, it waits for a
<RETURN> or a space. If you press <RETURN>, prints the next line. If you press the space bar, it prints the next screen of data. At the
end of the message, automatically returns you to the system prompt. Press q to quit before the end of the message.
If the profile entry Unseen-Sequence: is present and non-empty, then will remove each of the messages shown from the sequences named by the
profile entry.
Options
-draft Displays the draft message, or the current message in your folder, if you have one set up. You cannot give a msgs argument when
you use this option.
-header
-noheader Displays a one-line header before the message. The header consists of the name of the folder and the message number. This is
the default behavior. It can be suppressed with the -noheader option.
-help Prints a list of the valid options to this command.
-showproc program [ options ]
-noshowproc
Specifies an alternative program to list messages. The default is to use the program defined by the showproc: entry in the file.
You can give options to the program at the command line. These are passed directly to by
If the -noshowproc option is specified, is used instead of
The MH command can be used as a to show messages in a more uniform format. See for more details.
If you are going to use the same all the time, it is advisable to specify it in your file. See for more details.
The defaults for this command are as follows:
+folder defaults to the current folder
msgs defaults to the current message
-header
Restrictions
The -header option does not work when expands to more than one message. If the is then this problem can be circumvented by referencing the
messagename field in the format file.
The command updates your mail environment before showing the message. Hence may mark messages as seen before you actually see them. How-
ever, this is generally not a problem, unless you are using the unseen messages mechanism, and you interrupt while it is showing unseen
messages.
If your is then uses a built-in it does not actually run the program. Hence, if you define your own do not call it since will not run it.
If is your (which is the default), then avoid running in the background with only its standard output piped to another process. You should
re-direct the diagnostic output of as well.
For example, in the following incorrect example, will go into a input state:
% show | print &
For users of the correct command is:
% show |& print &
For users of the correct command is:
% show 2>&1 | print &
Examples
In the first example, displays the contents of message 36 in the current folder:
% show 36
In the next example, the program is used to list the current message:
% show -showproc pr
Profile Components
Path: To determine the user's Mail directory
Unseen-Sequence: To name sequences denoting unseen messages
showproc: Program to show messages
Files
The user profile.
See Also
more(1), mhl(1mh), next(1mh), pick(1mh), prev(1mh), scan(1mh)
show(1mh)