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MP(1)			     General Commands Manual			   MP(1)

NAME
     mp - POSTSCRIPT pretty printer

SYNOPSIS
     mp  [  -a4  ]  [  -addhdr type ] [ -article ] [ -chars # ] [ -columns # ] [
     -content ] [ -digest ] [ -elm ] [ -filofax ] [ -folder ] [  -franklin  ]  [
     -from ] [ -help ] [ -landscape ] [ -linelength # ] [ -modtime ] [ -nobanner
     ]	[  -number ] [ -pagelength # ] [ -postscript ] [ -printer name ] [ -pro-
     logue name ] [ -remhdr type ] [ -subject text ] [ -tab #  ]  [  -text  ]  [
     -timeman  ] [ -timesys ] [ -us ] [ -version ] [ -words # ] [ -wrap ] [ -F ]
     [ filename ...  ]

     digestp [ options] file ...

     filep [ options] file ...

     filofaxp [ options] file ...

     franklinp [ options] file ...

     mailp [ options] file ...

     newsp [ options] file ...

     timemanp [ options] file ...

     timesysp [ options] file ...

DESCRIPTION
     The mp program reads each filename in sequence and generates  a  prettified
     version of the contents in POSTSCRIPT format. By default the output is sent
     to  standard  output. If you use one of the different names, output is sent
     direct to the printer.

     mailp will print out mail messages.

     newsp will print out USENET news articles.

     digestp will print out USENET digest files.

     filep will print out ordinary ASCII files.

     filofaxp will print out in Filofax personal organiser format.

     franklinp will print out in Franklin Planner personal organiser format.

     timemanp will print out in Time Manager personal organiser format.

     timesysp will print out in  Time/System  International  personal  organiser
     format.

     These  programs will use the PRINTER or LPDEST environment variables to de-
     termine which printer the output is sent to.

     If no filename argument is provided, mp reads the standard input.	 If  the
     standard input is a terminal, input is terminated by an EOF signal, usually
     Ctrl-D.

     Mail items, news articles, ordinary ASCII files, complete mail folders, and
     digests  are  all	acceptable  input formats for mp.  The output format in-
     cludes grayscale lozenges containing banner information at the top and bot-
     tom of every page.

     The program is conveniently used in conjunction with the  print  button  of
     the  SunView/xnews(1) mailtool(1) programs, or the pipe command provided by
     mail(1).  Add the following two lines to your .mailrc file:
	       set printmail='mp -printer'
	       set cmd="mp -printer &"

     Source the .mailrc file, and you are ready to use mp.  For  printing  ordi-
     nary  ASCII  files,  the following alias (to be placed in your .cshrc file)
     may also prove useful:
	       alias print 'mp -o -printer -s "\!*" <\!*'

OPTIONS
     -a4    Use A4 paper size (8.5 x 11.4 inches).

     -addhdr type
	    Add type to the list of mail or news headers to be printed.

     -article
	    Format the file as a news article.	 The  top  banner  contains  the
	    text:  "Article  from newsgroup ", where newsgroup is the first news
	    group found on the Newsgroups: line.

     -chars #
	    The maximum number of characters to extract from the gecos field  of
	    the users /etc/passwd entry. The default is 18.

     -columns #
	    Number  of	columns of output per page. This value will override the
	    default value in the prologue file.

     -content
	    Instead of using "\nFrom" to denote the start of new mail  messages,
	    mp	will  look  for  (and use) the value of the Content-Length: mail
	    header. If the Content-Length doesn't take you to the next "\nFrom",
	    then it's wrong, and mp falls back to looking for the next	"\nFrom"
	    in the mail folder.

     -digest
	    Format the file as a digest.

     -elm   Assume  the  ELM  mail  frontend intermediate file format. Used when
	    printing messages from within ELM (using  the  "p"	command),  espe-
	    cially  for  printing tagged messages. This option must be specified
	    in your ELM option setup.

     -filofax
	    Format the file for use with a Filofax personal organiser.

     -folder
	    Format the file as a mail folder, printing multiple messages.

     -franklin
	    Format the file for use with a Franklin Planner personal organiser.

     -from  Instead of printing who the mail article is for, the top header will
	    contain who the mail article is from. A  useful  option  for  people
	    with their own personal printer.

     -F     Synonym for -from for backwards compatiblity with earier versions.

     -help  Print the usage message for mp

     -landscape
	    Format  output in landscape mode.  Two pages of text will be printed
	    per sheet of paper.

     -linelength #
	    Maximum number of characters on each line of output. This value will
	    override the default value in the prologue file.

     -modtime
	    Use the files last modification time (rather than the current  time)
	    in	the mp banner. Note that this only works when the files are sup-
	    plied on the command line (as opposed to standard input).

     -nobanner
	    If the output is destined for a printer,  than  banner  printing  is
	    disabled.	Most  of  the  information that typically appears on the
	    banner sheet is output in the mp banners.

     -number
	    Print the line number on each line output.

     -pagelength #
	    Maximum number of lines on each page  of  output.  This  value  will
	    override the default value in the prologue file.

     -printer name
	    Send  output  to  the  named  printer.  Otherwise send output to the
	    printer named in the PRINTER or LPDEST environment variables.

     -ps    If the mail or digest message just has PostScript as the text of the
	    message, then this is normally just passed straight through.  Speci-
	    fying this option, causes PostScript to be printed as text.

     -prologue name
	    Employ the file name as the POSTSCRIPT prologue file, overriding any
	    previously defined file names.

     -remhdr type
	    Add  type  to  the	list  of  mail or news headers which will not be
	    printed.

     -subject text
	    Use  text as the new subject for the printout. If you  are	printing
	    ordinary  ASCII files which have been specified on the command line,
	    the the subject will default to the name of each of these files.

     -tab #
	    The number of spaces to output when encountering a tab character.

     -text  Format the file as an ordinary ASCII text file.

     -timeman
	    Format the file for use with the Time Manager personal organiser.

     -timesys
	    format the file for use with the Time/System International	personal
	    organiser.

     -us    Use US paper size (8.5 x 11 inches).

     -version
	    Print the version number of this release of mp.

     -words #
	    The  maximum  number of words to extract from the gecos field of the
	    users /etc/passwd entry. The default is 3.

     -wrap  Wrap words onto the next line of output.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
     The default output printer is determined by looking at the PRINTER environ-
     ment variable for BSD systems or the LPDEST environment variable for System
     V systems.

     The mp prologue file is determined by first  looking  for	the  environment
     variable MP_PROLOGUE, which specifies the directory where mp prologue files
     are  to  be found.  If MP_PROLOGUE is not found, then the default directory
     is assumed (/usr/local/share/mp/mp.pro.ps).

SUPPLIED PROLOGUE FILES
     The following prologue files are provided:

	    mp.pro.ps
		   Used by default

	    mp.pro.l.ps
		   Used by the -l landscape mode option

	    mp.pro.ff.ps
		   Used if the -ff option is in effect

	    mp.pro.fp.ps
		   Used if the -fp option is in effect

	    mp.pro.tm.ps
		   Used if the -tm option is in effect

	    mp.pro.ts.ps
		   Used if the -ts option is in effect

	    mp.pro.alt.ps
		   An alternative modification	of  the  default  prologue  file
		   which outputs the page number in the right corner of the bot-
		   tom banner.

	    mp.pro.altl.ps
		   An alternative landscape option mode prologue file.

FILES
     .cshrc
	    initialization file for csh(1)

     .mailrc
	    initialization file for mail(1)

     /usr/local/bin/mp
	    executable

     /usr/local/share/mp/mp.pro.ps
	    POSTSCRIPT prologue for mail printing

     /usr/local/share/mp/mp.pro.l.ps
	    POSTSCRIPT prologue for landscape format

     /usr/local/share/mp/mp.pro.alt.ps
	    alternative  "default"  POSTSCRIPT prologue, inserts page numbers in
	    the bottom right corner of each page

     /usr/local/share/mp/mp.pro.altl.ps
	    alternative "landscape" POSTSCRIPT prologue.

     /usr/local/share/mp/mp.pro.ff.ps
	    POSTSCRIPT prologue for Filofax format

     /usr/local/share/mp/mp.pro.fp.ps
	    POSTSCRIPT prologue for Franklin Planner format.

     /usr/local/share/mp/mp.pro.tm.ps
	    POSTSCRIPT prologue for Time Manager format

     /usr/local/share/mp/mp.pro.ts.ps
	    POSTSCRIPT prologue for Time/System International format.

SEE ALSO
     mail(1), mailtool(1), xnews(1)

AUTHORS
     Original version by Steve Holden.

     Converted to C then C++, modified and maintained by Rich Burridge,  SunSoft
     Inc.

     Original modified to handle net news articles and MH mail by Bruno Pillard,
     Chorus Systemes, France.

     Handling  of  mail  digests added by Dave Glowacki of Public Works Computer
     Services, St Paul, MN.

     Original manual page revised by Rick Rodgers, UCSF School of Pharmacy,  San
     Francicso.

     Support  for  Personal  Organiser printing style added by Douglas Buchanan,
     Sun Microsystems Europe.

     Substantial modifications to header parsing by Jeremy Webber, Computer Sci-
     ence Department, University of Adelaide, Australia.

     Support for printing multiple files and subject line filename print for or-
     dinary ASCII files added by Sam Manoharan, Edinburgh University.

     Support for landscape mode written by Michael Tuchiarone.

     Revision of the POSTSCRIPT structuring and the way that the prologue  files
     are handled was included by Johan Vromans.

     New style POSTSCRIPT prologue files by John Macdonald.

     Support for the ISO8859 character set by Bertrand DeCouty.

     Rich Burridge.  PHONE: (USA) (415) 336 6261  MAIL: richb@Eng.Sun.COM

				  2 August 1993 			   MP(1)

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