mark(1mh)mark(1mh)Namemark - mark messages
Syntaxmark [ +folder ] [ msgs ] [ options ]
Description
Use the command to assign a name to a sequence of messages within the
current folder.
A sequence is a number of messages that are grouped together under a
name. You can then use that name with any MH command instead of a mes‐
sage number, to perform the command on all the messages in the
sequence. You can still continue to handle messages individually when
they belong to a sequence, just as you did before. Sequences are spe‐
cific to a particular folder. You can use the same name for sequences
in different folders without causing problems.
By default, operates on the sequences in the current folder. You can
specify another folder by using the +folder argument.
When you create a sequence using the ordering of messages within the
folder remains unchanged. So if messages 3, 7 and 9 are put into the
sequence, they are still numbered as messages 3, 7 and 9 when you use
to list the contents of the folder. The command does not show you what
sequences messages belong to; you must use to find this information.
The command is used only to modify sequences, not messages. If you
delete a message from a sequence using it remains in the folder. How‐
ever, when a message is deleted or moved from a folder (for example,
using or it is removed from all the sequences in that folder.
Options-add Adds messages to sequences. The command takes the messages
specified by the msgs argument, and adds them to the sequence
named by using the -sequence name option. If no msgs argu‐
ment is given, the current message is added to the sequence.
This option can also be used in conjunction with the -zero
option.
This option cannot be used in conjunction with the -delete or
-list options. If you attempt to use two or more of these
options together, takes the last occurrence of any of them,
and ignores any previous occurrences.
-delete Deletes messages from sequences. The command removes the
messages specified by the msgs argument from the named
sequences. As with -add, the sequences are specified using
the -sequence name option. If no msgs argument is given, the
current message is removed from the named sequences. This
option can also be used in conjunction with the -zero option.
This option cannot be used in conjunction with the -add or
-list options. If you attempt to use two or more of these
options together, takes the last occurrence of any of them,
and ignores any previous occurrences.
-help Prints a list of the valid options to this command.
-list Lists the sequences defined for the current folder and the
messages associated with those sequences. If you wish to
list only particular sequences in a folder, you can specify
them by using the -sequence name option. If you do not use
this option, lists all the sequences in the current folder.
You can also list sequences in another folder by using the
+folder argument.
This option cannot be used in conjunction with the -add or
-delete options. If you attempt to use two or more of these
options together, takes the last occurrence of any of them,
and ignores any previous occurrences.
The command automatically lists the sequences in the folder
unless you use the -add or -delete options, or unless you
give a msgs argument.
-public
-nopublic Indicates that the sequence being created should be made
readable for other MH users. When you use the -add option to
create a sequence, the -public option makes the sequence pub‐
lic, that is, readable to other MH users. By contrast, the
-nopublic option indicates that the sequence should be pri‐
vate, or exclusive to your own MH environment.
-sequence name...
Specifies the sequence(s) you wish to list or modify. You
use this option in conjunction with the -add, -delete, and
-list options, to name the sequences you wish to add messages
to, delete messages from, or list. You can name more than
one sequence by listing the names with a space separating
them; you do not need to repeat -sequence before each
sequence name.
-zero
-nozero Modifies the behavior of the -add and -delete options.
If you use the -zero option with -add, all messages are
removed from the named sequence before the new messages are
added to it. This means that the sequence contains only the
new messages that you have just added. The -nozero option
simply adds the new messages to the existing sequence, with‐
out deleting any of the messages already in the sequence.
This is the default behavior.
If you use -zero with -delete, all of the messages in the
folder are added to the named sequence, and then the messages
you specify are deleted from the sequence. This means that
the sequence contains all the messages in the folder except
those that you have named. The -nozero option simply removes
the messages you specify from the sequence, leaving the rest
of the contents of the sequence intact. This is the default
behavior.
The defaults for this command are:
+folder defaults to the current folder
msgs defaults to the current message (or all messages if -list
is specified)
-add if a msgs argument is specified, -list otherwise
-nopublic if the folder is read-only, -public otherwise
-nozero
Restrictions
MH allows a maximum of ten sequences in any folder.
The names of sequences must consist entirely of alphabetic or numeric
characters, and must begin with an alphabetic character. Punctuation
is not allowed. In addition, certain names are reserved for use by MH.
These include first, next, prev, and cur.
Examples
The first example shows how lists all the sequences in a named folder:
% mark
cur: 20
Admail: 1 5 9-12
test: 3-7
This output is identical to that produced by using the -list option.
The next example creates a sequence called odd, containing the first
five odd-numbered messages:
% mark-add -sequence odd 1 3 5 7 9
% mark
cur: 20
Admail: 1 5 9-12
odd: 1 3 5 7 9
test: 3-7
The next example deletes message 3 from the sequences test and odd:
% mark-delete -sequence test odd 3
% mark
cur: 20
Admail: 1 5 9-12
odd: 1 5 7 9
test: 4-7
The final example illustrates how the -zero option works with -add.
All messages are first removed from the sequence test, and then mes‐
sages 1 to 3 are added. The result is that test contains only messages
1 to 3:
% mark-add -zero -sequence test 1-3
% mark
cur: 20
Admail: 1 5 9-12
odd: 1 5 7 9
test: 1-3
Profile Components
Path: To determine your Mail directory
Files
The user profile.
See Alsofolder(1mh), pick(1mh), sortm(1mh)mark(1mh)