msgs(1)

NAME

msgs - system messages and junk mail program

SYNOPSIS

msgs [-fhlpq] [number] [-number]
msgs [-s]
msgs [-c] [-days]

DESCRIPTION

The msgs utility 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.

The msgs utility 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 ``Mes

sages'' 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 de

fault ``Messages''.

-m A copy of the specified message is placed in a

temporary

mailbox and mail(1) is invoked on that mailbox.

Both `m' and
`s' accept a numeric argument in place of the

`-'.

The msgs utility keeps track of the next message you will

see by a number
in the file .msgsrc in your home directory. In the directo

ry /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 with the -s option. If msgs is

run with any
option other than -s, an error will be displayed if

/var/msgs/bounds does
not exist.

The -s option is used for setting up the posting of mes

sages. 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.

A shell
script entry to run msgs with the -c option should be placed

in
/etc/periodic/daily (see periodic(8)) to run every night.

This will
remove all messages over 21 days old. A different expira

tion may be
specified on the command line to override the default. You

must be the
superuser to use this option.

Options when reading messages include:

-f Do not say ``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.

-l Cause only locally originated messages to be re

ported.

num 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 indicat

ed in the

.msgsrc file, useful for reviews of recent mes

sages.

-p Pipe long messages through more(1).

Within msgs you can also go to any specific message by typ

ing its number
when msgs requests input as to what to do.

ENVIRONMENT

The msgs utility uses the HOME and TERM environment vari

ables 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), periodic(8)

HISTORY

The msgs command appeared in 3.0BSD.

BSD April 28, 1995

BSD