richtext(1)richtext(1)NAMErichtext - View a richtext document, typically a mail message
SYNOPSISrichtext [ -c ] [ -f ] [ -m ] [ -n ] [ -o ] [ -p ] [ -s charset ] [ -t
] [ file ]
DESCRIPTION
The richtext program allows users to view "richtext" files on an ASCII
terminal. It uses termcap(5) capabilities to highlight text that is
supposed to be bold or italic, and to underline text that is supposed
to be underlined. It also implements most of the richtext commands
that have to do with indentation and justification, as well as the
"excerpt" and "signature" commands.
Richtext is a very simple markup language for sending rich text through
the mail. It is not to be confused with Microsoft's RTF (Rich Text
Format). It is part of the MIME standard for multimedia Internet mail.
The richtext program takes raw richtext output on its standard input or
from a file and produces formatted output on its standard output, which
is assumed to be a terminal. It is intended primarily for use by the
metamail(1) program.
The program will also repair the raw input to match up any richtext
command pairs that are out of order.
OPTIONS
When invoked with no options, richtext expects raw richtext on its
standard input, which is corrected, and then formatted output is writ‐
ten on its standard output. The following options can alter that be‐
haviour:
-a This option, which is only available under DOS, toggles whether
or not to use ANSI mode for highlighting bold, italic, or
underlined text.
-c This option directs richtext to just correct the raw richtext
and write the corrected version to its standard output, without
performing any formatting.
-f This option directs richtext to use termcap-derived escape
codes for bold and italic text, even if richtext is called in a
pipe.
-m This option directs richtext to interpret '<' in multi-byte Ja‐
panese and Korean sequences as a real less-than symbol and not
the start of a richtext command. This is called the ''multi-
byte '<' hack'' in the source code. Primarily this is for
international variants of richtext.
-n This option directs richtext to not do any correction to the
raw richtext it receives.
-o This option directs richtext to use overstriking for underlin‐
ing, etc., on terminals where this is the most appropriate
behavior.
-p This enables the use of a pager which reports "Press RETURN to
go on" after each screen-full of data. Alternatively, if the
environment variable MM_USEPAGER is present, then the pager
will also be used. This option and the environment variable
have no effect if either standard input or standard output is
redirected.
-s charset
This option directs richtext to use the specified default char‐
acter set initially when processing the text. Legal values are
us-ascii, iso-2022-jp and iso-2022-kr. Any other value will
default to us-ascii.
-t This option directs richtext NOT to use termcap-derived escape
codes for bold and italic text, even if richtext is called in a
terminal. Instead, "*" and "_" will be used to highlight the
affected text.
X11 Resources
If you're using the xterm program, you can control what font is used
for bold text using the "xterm*boldFont" resource.
SEE ALSOmetamail(1), mailto(1), termcap(5)BUGS
This is a very quick hack, really -- an attempt to provide minimal
richtext support for an ASCII terminal. The author makes no pretense
of having gotten every single case right.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1991 Bell Communications Research, Inc. (Bellcore)
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this material for any
purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies, and
that the name of Bellcore not be used in advertising or publicity per‐
taining to this material without the specific, prior written permission
of an authorized representative of Bellcore. BELLCORE MAKES NO REPRE‐
SENTATIONS ABOUT THE ACCURACY OR SUITABILITY OF THIS MATERIAL FOR ANY
PURPOSE. IT IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WAR‐
RANTIES.
AUTHORS
Nathaniel S. Borenstein
Richtext correction algorithm and international language support by
Rhys Weatherley (rhys@cs.uq.oz.au).
Release 1 richtext(1)
