NAME
msgs
—
system messages and junk mail
program
SYNOPSIS
msgs |
[-fhlpqr ] [number]
[-number] |
msgs |
[-s ] |
msgs |
[-c [-days]] |
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 timemsgs
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, ifPAGER
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. Thusmsgs -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, ifPAGER
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
HISTORY
The msgs
command appeared in
3.0BSD.