MSGS(1) 						      General Commands Manual							   MSGS(1)

NAME

       msgs - system messages and junk mail program

SYNOPSIS

       msgs [ -fhlpq ] [ number ] [ -number ]

       msgs -s

       msgs -c [ -days ]

DESCRIPTION

       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.

       Msgs is normally invoked each time you login, by placing it in the file .login (.profile if you use /bin/sh).  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      drops you out of msgs; the next time you run the program it will pick up where you left off.

       s      append the current message to the file ``Messages'' in the current directory; `s-' will save the previously displayed message. A `s'
	      or `s-' may be followed by a space and a file name to receive the message replacing the default ``Messages''.

       m      or `m-' causes a copy of the specified message to be placed in a temporary mailbox and mail(1) to be invoked on that mailbox.   Both
	      `m' and `s' 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 /usr/msgs it
       keeps a set of files whose names are the (sequential) numbers of the messages they represent.  The file /usr/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.	If the contents of
       bounds is incorrect it can be fixed by removing it; msgs will make a new bounds file the next time it is run.

       The -s option is used for setting up the posting of messages.  The line

	      msgs: "| /usr/ucb/msgs -s"

       should be include in /etc/aliases to enable posting of messages.

       The -c option is used for performing cleanup on /usr/msgs.  An entry with the -c option should be  placed  in  /etc/crontab  to	run  every
       night.	This  will  remove  all  messages  over  21 days old.  A different expiration may be specified on the command line to override the
       default.

       Options when reading messages include:

       -f     which causes it not to say ``No new messages.''.	This is useful in your .login file since this is often the case here.

       -q     Queries whether there are messages, printing ``There are new messages.'' if there are.  The command ``msgs -q''  is  often  used	in
	      login scripts.

       -h     causes msgs to print the first part of messages only.

       -l     option causes only locally originated messages to be reported.

       num    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
	      will cause msgs to start number messages back from the one indicated by your .msgsrc file, useful for reviews of recent messages.

       -p     causes long messages to be piped through more(1).

       Within msgs you can also go to any specific message by typing its number when msgs requests input as to what to do.

FILES

       /usr/msgs/*	   database
       ~/.msgsrc	   number of next message to be presented

AUTHORS

       William Joy
       David Wasley

SEE ALSO

       aliases(5), crontab(5), mail(1), more(1)

BUGS

4th Berkeley Distribution					 October 22, 1996							   MSGS(1)