NAME
msgs —
system messages and junk mail
program
SYNOPSIS
msgs |
[-fhlpqr]
[number]
[-number] |
DESCRIPTION
msgs is used to read system messages. These messages are sent
by mailing to the login `msgs' and should be short pieces of information which
are suitable to be read once by most users of the system.
msgs is normally invoked each time you login, by placing it in
the file
.login (or
.profile if you use
sh(1)). It will then prompt you with
the source and subject of each new message. If there is no subject line, the
first few non-blank lines of the message will be displayed. If there is more
to the message, you will be told how long it is and asked whether you wish to
see the rest of the message. The possible responses are:
-
-
- y
- Type the rest of the message.
-
-
- RETURN
- Synonym for y.
-
-
- n
- Skip this message and go on to the next message.
-
-
- -
- Redisplay the last message.
-
-
- q
- Drop out of msgs; the next time
msgs will pick up where it last left off.
-
-
- s
- Append the current message to the file ``Messages'' in the
current directory; `s-' will save the previously displayed message. A `s'
or `s-' may be followed by a space and a file name to receive the message
replacing the default ``Messages''.
-
-
- m
- A copy of the specified message is placed in a temporary
mailbox and mail(1) is invoked
on that mailbox.
-
-
- p
- The specified message is piped through
PAGER
, or, if PAGER
is
null or not defined, more(1).
The commands `m', `p', and `s' all accept a numeric argument in place of
the `-'.
msgs keeps track of the next message you will see by a number
in the file
.msgsrc in your home directory. In the directory
/var/msgs it keeps a set of files whose names are the
(sequential) numbers of the messages they represent. The file
/var/msgs/bounds shows the low and high number of the
messages in the directory so that
msgs can quickly determine
if there are no messages for you. If the contents of
bounds
is incorrect it can be fixed by removing it;
msgs will make
a new
bounds file the next time it is run.
The
-s option is used for setting up the posting of messages.
The line
msgs: "| /usr/bin/msgs
-s"
should be included in
/etc/mail/aliases (see
newaliases(1)) to enable
posting of messages.
The
-c option is used for performing cleanup on
/var/msgs. An entry with the
-c option
should be placed in
/etc/crontab to run every night. This
will remove all messages over 21 days old. A different expiration may be
specified on the command line to override the default. This number must be
negative and indicates the number of days before the present whose messages
should be kept; that is, use
-c -3 to
remove messages more than three days old.
Options when reading messages include:
-
-
- -f
- Do not print ``No new messages.''. This is useful in a
.login file since this is often the case here.
-
-
- -q
- Queries whether there are messages, printing ``There are
new messages.'' if there are. The command ``msgs -q'' is often used in
login scripts.
-
-
- -h
- Print the first part of messages only.
-
-
- -r
- Disables the ability to save messages or enter the mailer.
It is assumed that
PAGER
is set to something
secure.
-
-
- -l
- Option causes only locally originated messages to be
reported.
-
-
- number
- A message number can be given on the command line, causing
msgs to start at the specified message rather than at
the next message indicated by your .msgsrc file. Thus
msgs -h 1
prints the first part of all messages.
-
-
- -number
- Start number messages back from the
one indicated in the .msgsrc file, useful for reviews of
recent messages.
-
-
- -p
- Pipe long messages through
PAGER
,
or, if PAGER
is null or not defined,
more(1).
Within
msgs you can also go to any specific message by typing
its number when
msgs requests input as to what to do.
ENVIRONMENT
msgs uses the
HOME
and
TERM
environment variables for the default home
directory and terminal type.
FILES
- /var/msgs/*
- database
- ~/.msgsrc
- number of next message to be presented
SEE ALSO
mail(1),
more(1),
aliases(5)
HISTORY
The
msgs command appeared in
3.0BSD.