alex(1mh) alex(1mh)
Name
alex - extract addresses from message headers
Syntax
alex [ +folder ] [ msgs ] [ options ]
Description
The address line extraction utility extracts electronic mail addresses from message headers and prints the addresses on your screen or
places them, with a specified alias name, in an alias file.
By default, searches for addresses in the current message in the current folder. You can list the messages you wish to search giving a
msgs argument. You can also search messages in a different folder by giving a +folder argument.
You define the fields from which you want addresses by using combinations of field names with the -field option. You can also supply an
address yourself as a value to the -address option. Results are printed either to your screen or to a file in format. Where there is an
address group in the alias file with an alias name identical to one you have specified in an command, it may be replaced or the new
addresses appended. A copy of the original alias file is kept.
By default, searches the Reply-to:, Sender:, From: and To: header fields in that order until an address is found. You can set up your own
default values for in your file; see
When giving options to the command, generally the shortest unique abbreviation suffices.
Options
-address string
Accepts an address that you type in, rather than taking an address from a message. If any -field option is specified, it is
ignored.
-alias filename
Specifies the name of the alias file, in which aliases are placed. You must provide a file name or a dash (-) as an argument
with this option. There is no default value. If the value given for this option is -, or the option is not specified, will
print the output to your screen. If you do not give the full pathname of your alias file, will look for the alias file in your
Mail directory, as specified in the Path field of your file. If cannot locate the alias file in the directory that you specify,
it will ask you whether or not you wish to create one.
You can set up an alias file to be used by in your see for more information. Like other mail commands, uses the Aliasfile entry
to find the alias file.
-compress
-nocompress
Prevents any repetition of the same address in the output of an command. You can use this option when there are multiple occur-
rences of an address in an address group and you want just one occurrence of it in your alias. The default is -nocompress.
-field name[ /name ... ]
-nofield Specifies the name of a header field. The name of the field is not case-sensitive. If you specify this option without providing
an argument, the default values are: -field reply-to/sender/from/to. You can set up your own default values for the -field
option in your See
Examples of field names are From, cc and To. You must not type a colon after the name of a field. When more field names follow,
in the form /name, the message header is searched for each of the fields in turn until one is found. Only the first header field
found to contain an address is used; the rest are ignored.
The option -nofield excludes the named field.
The special name, all, means all fields, and can be used as a value for the -nofield option to override any default order of
header fields, otherwise -field values are appended to any default values.
-global Specifies that any address replacements or appendings will apply to all occurrences of that alias name. Normally, if an alias
name is entered in the alias file more than once, any actions performed by are performed only on the first occurrence of that
alias name. The -global option ensures that any changes are made to all occurrences of the alias. Whenever this option is spec-
ified, a message is broadcast to your screen telling you how many entries in the alias file have been changed.
-help Prints a list of the valid options for this command.
-name name
Specifies the alias name for address information extracted. The command appends a colon (:) to the name as required by If you do
not specify this option, will print extracted addresses to your screen. If you specify this option, you must provide an argu-
ment; there is no default value.
-query
-noquery Extracts addresses interactively. Before adding each address of a list of extracted addresses to an alias group, the mail system
will ask you whether you wish the address to be added. The query prompt is written on the standard error output. The default is
-noquery.
-replace
-noreplace
Replaces existing alias with the new list of addresses. By default, if there is an existing alias with the same name as the one
you are trying to create, appends the new address list to the old alias. If an address appears in both address groups, it is
still appended, so that it appears twice in the new alias. You can specify this explicitly by using the -noreplace option. If
you specify the -replace option, the new list of addresses replaces the existing group. The default is -noreplace.
-width n Specifies the maximum width of your alias file line. If an alias group extends beyond this length, it is continued on the next
line, with a backslash () at end of the first line. This option affects the format of each individual entry when it is imple-
mented; any subsequent or previous entries in the alias file remain the same. The default is 72 characters.
Restrictions
Because the -nofield option can take the value all as an argument, will not recognize a header field called All. If you wish to use such a
header field, you should call it X-all.
If a command line contains contradictory arguments then the last value specified is used. For example, in the following command, only uses
the options -name fred and -noreplace:
% alex -name sam -name fred -replace -noreplace
Examples
This example takes the address from the From field of the current message, and places it in your alias file with the alias name bob:
% alex -field from -alias aliases -name bob
The following example shows what happens if you specify an alias file that does not exist. You are asked whether you want to create the
file; enter y to create it:
% alex -field from -name bob -alias aliases
Create alias file "HOME/Mail/aliases"? y
The next example takes addresses from two fields, From and cc, and saves them as the alias sales_team:
% alex -field from -field cc -alias aliases -name sales_team
Files
Your user profile.
See Also
ali(1mh), mh(1mh), pick(1mh), mh-alias(5mh), mh_profile(5mh)
alex(1mh)