SORTM(1)SORTM(1)NAMEsortm - sort messages
SYNOPSISsortm [+folder] [msgs] [-all | -noall] [-datefield field] [-textfield
field] [-notextfield] [-limit days] [-nolimit] [-check | -nocheck]
[-verbose | -noverbose] [-version] [-help]
DESCRIPTION
Sortm sorts the specified messages in the named folder according to the
chronological order of the “Date:” field of each message.
If no messages are specified, the default is all messages in the
folder. However, if no messages are specified and the -noall switch is
enabled, then sortm reports that as an error and exits with non-zero
status. -noall is most useful in the user's profile, to avoid inadver‐
tant sorting of an entire folder. The -all switch can then be used on
the command line to disable it. Of course, a message specification of
all can be used in any case.
The -verbose switch directs sortm to tell the user the general actions
that it is taking to place the folder in sorted order.
The -datefield field switch tells sortm the name of the field to use
when making the date comparison. If the user has a special field in
each message, such as “BB-Posted:” or “Delivery-Date:”, then the -date‐
field switch can be used to direct sortm which field to examine.
The -textfield field switch causes sortm to sort messages by the speci‐
fied text field. All characters except letters and numbers are
stripped and the resulting strings are sorted datefield-major,
textfield-minor, using a case insensitive comparison. If this field is
“subject”, any leading "re:" is stripped off.
With -textfield field, if -limit days is specified, messages with the
same textfields that are dated within `days' of each other appear
together. Specifying -nolimit makes the limit infinity. With -limit
0, the sort is instead simply textfield-major.
For example, to order a folder by date-major, grouping messages with
the same subject on the same date together, use:
sortm-textfield subject +folder
sortm always issues a warning for each message that is missing a
“Date:” field, has a “Date:” field that cannot be parsed, or has a for‐
mat error in any header field. With the -check switch, sortm inhibits
all modifications to the folder if there are any such messages, and
exits with non-zero status. With the default of -nocheck, sortm sorts
messages with a missing or invalid “Date:” field using their file modi‐
fication times.
When ordering messages based on their dates, if they have the same
dates, their original message order is preserved.
FILES
$HOME/.mh_profile The user profile
PROFILE COMPONENTS
Path: To determine the user's nmh directory
Current-Folder: To find the default current folder
SEE ALSOfolder(1)DEFAULTS
`+folder' defaults to the current folder
`msgs"'defaultstoallwithout-noall,nodefaultwith-noall"
`-all'
`-datefield' defaults to date
`-notextfield'
`-noverbose'
`-nolimit'
`-nocheck'
CONTEXT
If a folder is given, it will become the current folder. If the cur‐
rent message is moved, sortm will preserve its status as current.
HISTORY
Timezones used to be ignored when comparing dates: they aren't any
more.
Messages which were in the folder, but not specified by `msgs', used to
be moved to the end of the folder; now such messages are left
untouched.
Sortm sometimes did not preserve the message numbering in a folder
(e.g., messages 1, 3, and 5, might have been renumbered to 1, 2, 3
after sorting). This was a bug, and has been fixed. To compress the
message numbering in a folder, use “folder -pack” as always.
BUGS
When sortm complains about a message which it can't temporally order,
it complains about the message number prior to sorting. It should
indicate what the message number will be after sorting.
nmh-1.6 March 23, 2014 SORTM(1)
