burst(1) General Commands Manual burst(1)
NAME
burst - explode digests into messages (only available within the message handling system, mh)
SYNOPSIS
burst [+folder] [msgs] [options]
OPTIONS
Expands the forwarded message or digest in its current place in the folder. The message that is expanded is replaced by the header used to
forward the message, or if it is a digest, by the table of contents. The burst command then places the extracted messages immediately after
this, and re-numbers the rest of the messages in the folder to make room for them. The original message or digest is not saved.
If -noinplace is given, the original message or digest is preserved. The messages which burst extracts are placed at the end of the
folder. Other messages are not re-numbered. This is the default behavior. Directs burst to be silent about reporting messages that
are not in digest format. Normally, an error message is printed if you attempt to use burst on a message which does not contain
encapsulated messages. Reports the general actions that burst is taking to explode the digest.
The default settings for this command are:
+folder defaults to the current folder msgs defaults to the current message -noinplace -noquiet -noverbose
DESCRIPTION
The burst command extracts the original messages from a forwarded message, discards the forwarder's header details, and places the original
messages at the end of the current folder.
By default, burst takes the current message in the current folder. You can specify messages other than the current message by using burst
with the +folder and msgs arguments. If you specify another message, that message becomes the current message. If you specify another
folder, that folder becomes the current folder.
The burst command will expand either a single message which contains a number of separate messages packed together for ease of mailing, or
an Internet digest. The packf and forw commands can both pack individual messages into a single message or file.
You can use burst in combination with forw or packf to re-direct or forward mail more conveniently. For example, if you wanted to forward
a number of messages to yourself on another account, you could use forw to combine them and send them in a single message. When the message
arrives, you can use burst to expand the single message into its constituent messages.
RESTRICTIONS
The burst program enforces a limit on the number of messages which may be expanded from a single message. This number is about 1000 mes-
sages. However, there is usually no limit on the number of messages which may reside in the folder after the messages have been expanded.
The burst command only works on messages that have been encapsulated according to the guidelines laid down by the proposed standard RFC
934. The encapsulated message is considered to start after burst encounters a line of dashes. If you attempt to use burst on a message that
has not been encapsulated according to RFC 934, the results may be unpredictable. For example, burst may find an encapsulation boundary
prematurely, and split a single encapsulated message into two or more messages.
Any text which appears after the last encapsulated message is not placed in a separate message by burst. When the -inplace option is used,
this trailing information is lost. Text which appears before the first encapsulated message is not lost.
PROFILE COMPONENTS
Path: To determine your Mail directory
Msg-Protect: To set file protection when creating a new message
FILES
The user profile.
SEE ALSO
forw(1), inc(1), msh(1), packf(1)
Proposed Standard for Message Encapsulation (RFC 934)
burst(1)