richtext(1) UNIX System V (Release 1) richtext(1)
NAME
richtext - View a richtext document, typically a mail
message
SYNOPSIS
richtext [ -c ] [ -f ] [ -m ] [ -n ] [ -o ] [ -p ] [ -s
charset ] [ -t ] [ file ]
DESCRIPTION
The richtext program allows users to view "richtext" files
on an ASCII terminal. It uses termcap(5) capabilities to
highlight text that is supposed to be bold or italic, and to
underline text that is supposed to be underlined. It also
implements most of the richtext commands that have to do
with indentation and justification, as well as the "excerpt"
and "signature" commands.
Richtext is a very simple markup language for sending rich
text through the mail. It is not to be confused with
Microsoft's RTF (Rich Text Format). It is part of the MIME
standard for multimedia Internet mail.
The richtext program takes raw richtext output on its
standard input or from a file and produces formatted output
on its standard output, which is assumed to be a terminal.
It is intended primarily for use by the metamail(1) program.
The program will also repair the raw input to match up any
richtext command pairs that are out of order.
OPTIONS
When invoked with no options, richtext expects raw richtext
on its standard input, which is corrected, and then
formatted output is written on its standard output. The
following options can alter that behaviour:
-a This option, which is only available under DOS,
toggles whether or not to use ANSI mode for
highlighting bold, italic, or underlined text.
-c This option directs richtext to just correct the raw
richtext and write the corrected version to its
standard output, without performing any formatting.
-f This option directs richtext to use termcap-derived
escape codes for bold and italic text, even if
richtext is called in a pipe.
-m This option directs richtext to interpret '<' in
multi-byte Japanese and Korean sequences as a real
less-than symbol and not the start of a richtext
command. This is called the ''multi-byte '<' hack''
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richtext(1) UNIX System V (Release 1) richtext(1)
in the source code. Primarily this is for
international variants of richtext.
-n This option directs richtext to not do any
correction to the raw richtext it receives.
-o This option directs richtext to use overstriking for
underlining, etc., on terminals where this is the
most appropriate behavior.
-p This enables the use of a pager which reports "Press
RETURN to go on" after each screen-full of data.
Alternatively, if the environment variable
MM_USEPAGER is present, then the pager will also be
used. This option and the environment variable have
no effect if either standard input or standard
output is redirected.
-s charset
This option directs richtext to use the specified
default character set initially when processing the
text. Legal values are us-ascii, iso-2022-jp and
iso-2022-kr. Any other value will default to us-
ascii.
-t This option directs richtext NOT to use termcap-
derived escape codes for bold and italic text, even
if richtext is called in a terminal. Instead, "*"
and "_" will be used to highlight the affected text.
X11 Resources
If you're using the xterm program, you can control what font
is used for bold text using the "xterm*boldFont" resource.
SEE ALSO
metamail(1), mailto(1), termcap(5)
BUGS
This is a very quick hack, really -- an attempt to provide
minimal richtext support for an ASCII terminal. The author
makes no pretense of having gotten every single case right.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 1991 Bell Communications Research, Inc.
(Bellcore)
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this
material for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,
provided that the above copyright notice and this permission
notice appear in all copies, and that the name of Bellcore
not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to this
material without the specific, prior written permission of
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richtext(1) UNIX System V (Release 1) richtext(1)
an authorized representative of Bellcore. BELLCORE MAKES NO
REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE ACCURACY OR SUITABILITY OF THIS
MATERIAL FOR ANY PURPOSE. IT IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES.
AUTHORS
Nathaniel S. Borenstein
Richtext correction algorithm and international language
support by Rhys Weatherley (rhys@cs.uq.oz.au).
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