msh(1)msh(1)NAMEmsh - MH shell (only available within the message handling system, mh)
SYNOPSISmsh [-help] [-prompt string] [file]
OPTIONS
Prints a list of the valid options for this command. Sets the prompt
for msh. If the string you specify includes white space, you must
enclose it in double quotes ("). If you do not specify this option, the
default prompt is (msh).
The following defaults are used by msh:
file defaults to ./msgbox
-prompt (msh)
DESCRIPTION
The command msh is an interactive program that implements a subset of
the normal MH commands operating on a single file in packf format.
That is, msh is used to read a file that contains a number of messages,
as opposed to the standard MH style of reading a number of files, each
file being a separate message in a folder.
The chief advantage of msh is that, unlike the normal MH style, it
allows a file to have more than one message in it. In addition, msh can
be used on other files, such as message archives which have been packed
using packf.
When invoked, msh reads the named file, and enters a command loop. You
can type most of the normal MH commands. The syntax and semantics of
these commands typed to msh are identical to their MH counterparts. In
cases where the nature of msh would be inconsistent with the way MH
works (for example, specifying a +folder with some commands), msh will
duly inform you. The commands that msh currently supports are: ali
burst comp dist folder forw inc
mark mhmail msgchk next packf pick
prev refile repl rmm scan send
show sortm whatnow whom
In addition, msh has a help command which gives a brief overview of all
the msh options. To terminate msh, either type <CTRL/D>, or use the
quit command. If the file is writable and has been modified, then using
quit will ask you if the file should be updated.
A redirection facility is supported by msh. Commands may be followed by
one of the following standard symbols: Open an interprocess channel;
connect output to another command. Write output to file. Append out‐
put to file.
If file starts with a tilde (~), then a C-shell-like expansion takes
place. Note that commands are interpreted by sh(1).
When parsing commands to the left of any redirection symbol, msh will
honor the backslash (\) as the quote next-character symbol, and double
quotes (") as quote-word delimiters. All other input tokens are sepa‐
rated by white space (spaces and tabs).
You may wish to use an alternative profile for the commands that msh
executes; see mh_profile(4) for details of the $MH environment vari‐
able.
RESTRICTIONS
The msh shell is not the C-shell, and a lot of the facilities provided
by the latter are not present in the former. In particular, msh does
not support back-quoting, history substitutions, variable substitu‐
tions, or alias substitutions.
msh does not understand back-quoting. The only effective way to use
pick inside msh is to always use the seq select option. If you add the
following line to your pick will work equally well from both the shell
and msh:
pick: -seq select -list
There is a strict limit of messages per file in packf format which msh
can handle. Usually, this limit is 1000 messages.
PROFILE COMPONENTS
Path: To determine your Mail directory
Msg-Protect: To set protections when creating a new file
fileproc: Program to file messages
showproc: Program to show messages
FILES
The user profile. The system customization file.
SEE ALSOcsh(1), packf(1), sh(1), mh_profile(4)msh(1)