mark(1)mark(1)NAMEmark - mark messages (only available within the message handling sys‐
tem, mh)
SYNOPSISmark [+folder] [msgs] [options]
OPTIONS
Adds messages to sequences. The mark command takes the messages speci‐
fied by the msgs argument, and adds them to the sequence named by using
the -sequence name option. If no msgs argument is given, the current
message is added to the sequence. This option can also be used in con‐
junction with the -zero option.
This option cannot be used in conjunction with the -delete or
-list options. If you attempt to use two or more of these
options together, mark takes the last occurrence of any of them,
and ignores any previous occurrences. Deletes messages from
sequences. The mark command removes the messages specified by
the msgs argument from the named sequences. As with -add, the
sequences are specified using the -sequence name option. If no
msgs argument is given, the current message is removed from the
named sequences. This option can also be used in conjunction
with the -zero option.
This option cannot be used in conjunction with the -add or -list
options. If you attempt to use two or more of these options
together, mark takes the last occurrence of any of them, and
ignores any previous occurrences. Prints a list of the valid
options to this command. Lists the sequences defined for the
current folder and the messages associated with those sequences.
If you wish to list only particular sequences in a folder, you
can specify them by using the -sequence name option. If you do
not use this option, mark lists all the sequences in the current
folder. You can also list sequences in another folder by using
the +folder argument.
This option cannot be used in conjunction with the -add or
-delete options. If you attempt to use two or more of these
options together, mark takes the last occurrence of any of them,
and ignores any previous occurrences.
The mark command automatically lists the sequences in the folder
unless you use the -add or -delete options, or unless you give a
msgs argument. Indicates that the sequence being created should
be made readable for other MH users. When you use the -add
option to create a sequence, the -public option makes the
sequence public, that is, readable to other MH users. By con‐
trast, the -nopublic option indicates that the sequence should
be private, or exclusive to your own MH environment. Specifies
the sequence(s) you wish to list or modify. You use this option
in conjunction with the -add, -delete, and -list options, to
name the sequences you wish to add messages to, delete messages
from, or list. You can name more than one sequence by listing
the names with a space separating them; you do not need to
repeat -sequence before each sequence name. Modifies the behav‐
ior of the -add and -delete options.
If you use the -zero option with -add, all messages are removed
from the named sequence before the new messages are added to it.
This means that the sequence contains only the new messages that
you have just added. The -nozero option simply adds the new mes‐
sages to the existing sequence, without deleting any of the mes‐
sages already in the sequence. This is the default behavior.
If you use -zero with -delete, all of the messages in the folder
are added to the named sequence, and then the messages you spec‐
ify are deleted from the sequence. This means that the sequence
contains all the messages in the folder except those that you
have named. The -nozero option simply removes the messages you
specify from the sequence, leaving the rest of the contents of
the sequence intact. This is the default behavior.
The defaults for this command are:
+folder defaults to the current folder
msgs defaults to the current message (or all messages if -list is specified)
-add if a msgs argument is specified, -list otherwise
-nopublic if the folder is read-only, -public otherwise
-nozero
DESCRIPTION
Use the mark command to assign a name to a sequence of messages within
the current folder.
A sequence is a number of messages that are grouped together under a
name. You can then use that name with any MH command instead of a mes‐
sage number, to perform the command on all the messages in the
sequence. You can still continue to handle messages individually when
they belong to a sequence, just as you did before. Sequences are spe‐
cific to a particular folder. You can use the same name for sequences
in different folders without causing problems.
By default, mark operates on the sequences in the current folder. You
can specify another folder by using the +folder argument.
When you create a sequence using mark, the ordering of messages within
the folder remains unchanged. So if messages 3, 7 and 9 are put into
the sequence, they are still numbered as messages 3, 7 and 9 when you
use scan to list the contents of the folder. The scan command does not
show you what sequences messages belong to; you must use mark to find
this information.
The mark command is used only to modify sequences, not messages. If you
delete a message from a sequence using mark, it remains in the folder.
However, when a message is deleted or moved from a folder (for example,
using rmm(1) or refile(1)), it is removed from all the sequences in
that folder.
RESTRICTIONS
MH allows a maximum of ten sequences in any folder.
The names of sequences must consist entirely of alphabetic or numeric
characters, and must begin with an alphabetic character. Punctuation is
not allowed. In addition, certain names are reserved for use by MH.
These include first, next, prev, and cur.
PROFILE COMPONENTS
Path: To determine your Mail directory
EXAMPLES
The first example shows how mark lists all the sequences in a named
folder: % mark cur: 20 Admail: 1 5 9-12 test: 3-7
This output is identical to that produced by using the -list
option. The next example creates a sequence called odd, con‐
taining the first five odd-numbered messages: % mark-add
-sequence odd 1 3 5 7 9% mark cur: 20 Admail: 1 5 9-12 odd: 1 3
5 7 9 test: 3-7 The next example deletes message 3 from the
sequences test and odd: % mark-delete -sequence test odd 3%
mark cur: 20 Admail: 1 5 9-12 odd: 1 5 7 9 test: 4-7 The final
example illustrates how the -zero option works with -add. All
messages are first removed from the sequence test, and then mes‐
sages 1 to 3 are added. The result is that test contains only
messages 1 to 3: % mark-add -zero -sequence test 1-3 % mark
cur: 20 Admail: 1 5 9-12 odd: 1 5 7 9 test: 1-3
FILES
The user profile.
SEE ALSOfolder(1), pick(1), sortm(1)mark(1)
