MH-DRAFT(5)MH-DRAFT(5)NAMEmh-draft - draft folder facility for nmh message system
SYNOPSIS
any nmh command
DESCRIPTION
There are a number of interesting advanced facilities for
the composition of outgoing mail.
The Draft Folder
The comp, dist, forw, and repl commands have two addi-
tional switches, `-draftfolder +folder' and
`-draftmessage msg' which allow you to manipulate the var-
ious draft messages you are composing.
If `-draftfolder +folder' is used, these commands are
directed to construct a draft message in the indicated
folder. (The "Draft-Folder:" profile entry may be used to
declare a default draft folder for use with comp, dist,
forw, and repl).
If the swith `-draftmessage msg' is given, the specified
draft is used to compose the message. If
`-draftmessage msg' is not used, then the draft defaults
to `new' (create a new draft) unless the user invokes comp
with `-use', in which case the default is `cur'.
Hence, the user may have several message compositions in
progress simultaneously. Now, all of the nmh tools are
available on each of the user's message drafts (e.g.,
show, scan, pick, and so on). If the folder does not
exist, the user is asked if it should be created (just
like with refile). Also, the last draft message the user
was composing is known as `cur' in the draft folder.
Furthermore, the send command has these switches as well.
Hence, from the shell, the user can send off whatever
drafts desired using the standard nmh `msgs' convention
with `-draftmessage msgs'. If no `msgs' are given, it
defaults to `cur'.
In addition, all five programs have a `-nodraftfolder'
switch, which undoes the last occurrence of
`-draftfolder folder' (useful if the latter occurs in the
user's nmh profile).
If the user does not give the `-draftfolder +folder'
switch, then all these commands act ``normally''. Note
that the `-draft' switch to send and show still refers to
the file called `draft' in the user's nmh directory. In
the interests of economy of expression, when using comp or
send, the user needn't prefix the draft `msg' or `msgs'
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with `-draftmessage'. Both of these commands accept a
`file' or `files' argument, and they will, if given
`-draftfolder +folder' treat these arguments as `msg' or
`msgs'. (This may appear to be inconsistent, at first,
but it saves a lot of typing) Hence,
send -draftf +drafts first
is the same as
send -draftf +drafts -draftm first
To make all this a bit more clear, here are some examples.
Let's assume that the following entries are in the nmh
profile:
Draft-Folder: +drafts
sendf: -draftfolder +drafts
Furthermore, let's assume that the program sendf is a
(symbolic) link in the user's $HOME/bin/ directory to
send. Then, any of the commands
comp
dist
forw
repl
constructs the message draft in the `draft' folder using
the `new' message number. Furthermore, they each define
`cur' in this folder to be that message draft. If the
user were to use the quit option at `What now?' level,
then later on, if no other draft composition was done, the
draft could be sent with simply
sendf
Or, if more editing was required, the draft could be
edited with
comp -use
Instead, if other drafts had been composed in the mean-
time, so that this message draft was no longer known as
`cur' in the `draft' folder, then the user could scan the
folder to see which message draft in the folder should be
used for editing or sending. Clever users could even
employ a back-quoted pick to do the work:
comp -use `pick +drafts -to nmh-workers`
or
sendf `pick +drafts -to nmh-workers`
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Note that in the comp example, the output from pick must
resolve to a single message draft (it makes no sense to
talk about composing two or more drafts with one invoca-
tion of comp). In contrast, in the send example, as many
message drafts as desired can appear, since send doesn't
mind sending more than one draft at a time.
Note that the argument `-draftfolder +folder' is not
included in the profile entry for send, since when comp,
et. al., invoke send directly, they supply send with the
UNIX pathname of the message draft, and not a
`draftmessage msg' argument. As far as send is concerned,
a draft folder is not being used.
It is important to realize that nmh treats the draft
folder like a standard nmh folder in nearly all respects.
There are two exceptions:
First, under no circumstancs will the
`-draftfolder folder' switch cause the named folder to
become the current folder.
Obviously, if the folder appeared in the context of a
standard `+folder' argument to an nmh program, as in
scan +drafts
it might become the current folder, depending on the con-
text changes of the nmh program in question.
Second, although conceptually send deletes the `msgs'
named in the draft folder, it does not call `delete-prog'
to perform the deletion.
What Happens if the Draft Exists
When the comp, dist, forw, and repl commands are invoked
and the draft you indicated already exists, these programs
will prompt the user for a reponse directing the program's
action. The prompt is
Draft ``/home/foobar/nmhbox/draft'' exists (xx
bytes).
Disposition?
The appropriate responses and their meanings are:
replace - deletes the draft and starts afresh
list - lists the draft
refile - files the draft into a folder and starts afresh
quit - leaves the draft intact and exits
In addition, if you specified `-draftfolder folder' to the
command, then one other response will be accepted:
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new - finds a new draft,
just as if `-draftmessage new' had been given. Finally,
the comp command will accept one more response:
use - re-uses the draft
just as if `-use' had been given.
CONTEXT
None
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