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BIFF(1)			  BSD General Commands Manual		       BIFF(1)

NAME
     biff -- be	notified if mail arrives and who it is from

SYNOPSIS
     biff [n | y | b]

DESCRIPTION
     The biff utility informs the system whether you want to be	notified when
     mail arrives during the current terminal session.

     The following options are available:

     n	     Disable notification.

     y	     Enable header notification.

     b	     Enable bell notification.

     When header notification is enabled, the header and first few lines of
     the message will be printed on your terminal whenever mail	arrives.  A
     "biff y" command is often included	in the file .login or .profile to be
     executed at each login.

     When bell notification is enabled,	only two bell characters (ASCII	\007)
     will be printed on	your terminal whenever mail arrives.

     The biff utility operates asynchronously.	For synchronous	notification
     use the MAIL variable of sh(1) or the mail	variable of csh(1).

DIAGNOSTICS
     The biff utility exits with one of	the following values:

     0	     Notification is enabled.

     1	     Notification is disabled.

     >1	     An	error occurred.

SEE ALSO
     csh(1), mail(1), sh(1), comsat(8)

HISTORY
     The biff command appeared in 4.0BSD.  It was named	after the dog of Heidi
     Stettner.	He died	in August 1993,	at 15.

BSD				August 9, 2002				   BSD

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | DIAGNOSTICS | SEE ALSO | HISTORY

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