MAN page from Old RedHat 5.X mh-6.8.4-6.i386.rpm

MARK

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: MH.6.8
Index

NAME

mark - mark messages

SYNOPSIS

mark[+folder] [msgs][-sequence name ...][-add] [-delete] [-list] [-public] [-nopublic][-zero] [-nozero][-help]

DESCRIPTION

The mark command manipulates message sequences by adding ordeleting message numbers from folder-specific message sequences,or by listing those sequences and messages.A message sequence is a keyword, just like one of the``reserved'' message names,such as ``first'' or ``next''.Unlike the ``reserved'' message names,which have a fixed semantics on a per-folder basis,the semantics of a message sequence may be defined, modified, andremoved by the user.Message sequences are folder-specific, e.g.,the sequence name ``seen'' in the context of folder ``+inbox''need not have any relation whatsoever to the sequence of the same namein a folder of a different name.

Three action switches direct the operation of mark.These switches are mutually exclusive:the last occurrence of any of them overrides any previous occurrence of theother two.

The `-add' switch tells mark to add messages to sequencesor to create a new sequence.For each sequence named via the `-sequence name' argument(which must occur at least once)the messages named via `msgs'(which defaults to ``cur'' if no `msgs' are given),are added to the sequence.The messages to be added need not be absent from the sequence.If the `-zero' switch is specified,the sequence will be emptied prior to adding the messages.Hence, `-add -zero' means that each sequence should be initializedto the indicated messages,while `-add -nozero' means that each sequence should be appended toby the indicated messages.

The `-delete' switch tells mark to delete messages fromsequences, and is the dual of `-add'.For each of the named sequences,the named messages are removed from the sequence.These messages need not be already present in the sequence.If the `-zero' switch is specified,then all messages in the folder are appended to the sequence prior toremoving the messages.Hence, `-delete -zero' means that each sequence should contain allmessages except those indicated,while `-delete -nozero' means that only the indicated messagesshould be removed from each sequence.As expected, the command `mark -sequence seen -delete all'deletes the sequence ``seen'' from the current folder.

When creating (or modifying) a sequence,the `-public' switch indicates that the sequence should be made readablefor other MH users.In contrast, the `-nopublic' switch indicates that the sequence should beprivate to the user's MH environment.

The `-list' switch tells mark to list both the sequences definedfor the folder and the messages associated with those sequences.Mark will list the name of each sequence given by`-sequence name' and the messages associated with that sequence.If `-sequence' isn't used, all sequences will be listed,with private sequences being so indicated.The `-zero' switch does not affect the operation of `-list'.

The current restrictions on sequences are:

The name used to denote a message sequence must consist ofan alphabetic character followed by zero or morealphanumeric characters, and cannot be one of the (reserved)message names ``new'', ``first'',``last'', ``all'', ``next'', or ``prev''.

Only a certain number of sequences may be defined for a given folder.This number is usually limited to 26 (10 on small systems).

Message ranges with user-defined sequence names are restricted to the form ``name:n'' or``name:-n'', and refer to the first or last `n' messagesof the sequence `name', respectively.Constructs of the form ``name1-name2'' are forbidden.^$HOME/.mh_profile~^The user profile^Path:~^To determine the user's MH directory^Current-Folder:~^To find the default current folderpick (1), mh-sequence (5)`+folder' defaults to the current folder`-add' if `-sequence' is specified, `-list' otherwise`msgs' defaults to cur (or all if `-list' is specified)`-nopublic' if the folder is read-only, `-public' otherwise`-nozero'If a folder is given, it will become the current folder.Use ``pick sequence -list''to enumerate the messages in a sequence (such as for use by a shell script).

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