Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)

  
 
  

home | help
MARK(1) 		     General Commands Manual			 MARK(1)

NAME
     mark - manipulate nmh message sequences

SYNOPSIS
     mark [-help] [-version] [+folder] [msgs] [-sequence name ...]  [-add |
	  -delete | -list] [-public | -nopublic] [-zero | -nozero] [-empty |
	  -noempty] [-range | -norange]

DESCRIPTION
     The  mark	command manipulates message sequences by adding or deleting mes-
     sage 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 mes-
     sage  sequence  may be defined, modified, and removed by the user.  Message
     sequences are folder-specific, e.g., the sequence name "seen" in  the  con-
     text  of  folder  "+inbox" need not have any relation whatsoever to the se-
     quence of the same name in a folder of a different name.

     Three action switches direct the operation of mark.  These switches are mu-
     tually exclusive: the last occurrence of any of them overrides any previous
     occurrence of the other two.

     The -add switch tells mark to add messages to sequences or 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 speci-
     fied, the sequence will be emptied prior to adding  the  messages.   Hence,
     -add  -zero means that each sequence should be initialized to the indicated
     messages, while -add -nozero means that each sequence should be appended to
     by the indicated messages.  The -empty switch does not affect the operation
     of -add.

     The -delete switch tells mark to delete messages from sequences, and is the
     dual of -add.  For each of the named sequences, the named messages are  re-
     moved 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 added to the sequence (first creating the  sequence,  if  neces-
     sary)  before  removing the messages.  Hence, -delete -zero means that each
     sequence should contain all messages except those indicated, while  -delete
     -nozero  means that only the indicated messages should be removed from each
     sequence.	As expected, the command "mark -sequence foo -delete  all"  emp-
     ties  the sequence "foo", and therefore removes that sequence from the cur-
     rent folder's list of sequences.  Sequence foo must exist or a "no such se-
     quence" error results.  This can be avoided by  adding  -zero:  "mark  -se-
     quence  foo  -delete -zero all" ensures sequence foo no longer exists.  The
     -empty switch does not affect the operation of -delete.

     When creating or modifying sequences, you can specify the switches  -public
     or -nopublic to force the new or modified sequences to be "public" or "pri-
     vate".   The  switch  -public  indicates  that the sequences should be made
     "public".	These sequences will then be readable by all nmh users with per-
     mission to read the relevant folders.  In contrast,  the  -nopublic  switch
     indicates that the sequences should be made "private", and will only be ac-
     cessible  by you.	If neither of these switches is specified, then existing
     sequences will maintain their current status, and new  sequences  will  de-
     fault  to	"public"  if  you have write permission for the relevant folder.
     Check mh-sequence(5) for more details about the difference between "public"
     and "private" sequences.

     The -list switch tells mark to list all sequences, and the messages associ-
     ated with them.  The output can be limited to just certain sequences  (with
     -sequence switches) and/or messages (with msgs arguments).  Normally, -list
     will  show all sequences associated with the folder, or all sequences given
     with -sequence.  Using -noempty will  suppress  any  which  would	show  as
     empty,  whether  because they actually are empty, or because they don't in-
     clude any of the given msgs, or because they've been  specified  with  -se-
     quence  but don't exist.  (-empty is the default.)  With the default -range
     switch, mark will compress consecutive runs  of  message  numbers	to  save
     space.   That  is,  "3 4 5 6" will be shown as the range "3-6".  With -nor-
     ange, lists will be fully enumerated.  The -zero switch does not affect the
     operation of -list.

     The restrictions on sequences are:

     * The name used to denote a message sequence must consist of an  alphabetic
       character followed by zero or more alphanumeric characters, and cannot be
       one  of	the  (reserved)  message  names  "new",  "first", "last", "all",
       "next", or "prev".

     * Message ranges with user-defined sequence names	are  restricted  to  the
       form  "name:n",	"name:+n",  or "name:-n", and refer to the first or last
       `n' messages of the sequence `name'.  If  `='  is  substituted  for  `:',
       these  forms  will  instead  refer to single messages positioned `n' away
       from one end or the other  of  the  sequence.   Constructs  of  the  form
       "name1-name2" are forbidden for user defined sequences.

FILES
     $HOME/.mh_profile	 The user's profile.

PROFILE COMPONENTS
     Path:		 To determine the user's nmh directory.
     Current-Folder:	 To find the default current folder.

SEE ALSO
     flist(1), pick(1), mh-sequence(5)

DEFAULTS
     +folder		 The current folder.
     -add		 If -sequence is specified, -list otherwise.
     msgs		 The current message, or all if -list is specified.
     -nozero

CONTEXT
     If a folder is given, it will become the current folder.

HELPFUL HINTS
     Use  flist to find folders with a given sequence, and "pick sequence -list"
     to enumerate those messages in the sequence (such as for  use  by	a  shell
     script).

nmh-1.8+dev			   2021-05-01				 MARK(1)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=mark&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+Ports+15.1.quarterly>

home | help