SORTM(%manext1%)

NAME
sortm - sort messages

SYNOPSIS
sortm [+folder] [msgs] [-datefield field] [-textfield field]
[-notextfield] [-limit days] [-nolimit] [-verbose]
[-noverbose] [-version] [-help]

DESCRIPTION
Sortm sorts the specified messages in the named folder according to the chronological order of the “Date:” field of each message. The `-verbose' switch directs sortm to tell the user the general actions that it is taking to place the folder in sorted order. The `-datefield field' switch tells sortm the name of the field to use when making the date comparison. If the user has a special field in each message, such as “BB-Posted:” or “Delivery-Date:”, then the `-datefield' switch can be used to direct sortm which field to examine. The `-textfield field' switch causes sortm to sort messages by the specified text field. If this field is “subject”, any leading "re:" is stripped off. In any case, all characters except letters and numbers are stripped and the resulting strings are sorted datefield-major, textfield-minor, using a case insensitive comparison. With `-textfield field', if `-limit days' is specified, messages with similar textfields that are dated within `days' of each other appear together. Specifying `-nolimit' makes the limit infinity. With `-limit 0', the sort is instead made textfield-major, date-minor. For example, to order a folder by date-major, subject-minor, use:
sortm -textfield subject +folder ^$HOME/.mh_profile~^The user profile ^Path:~^To determine the user's nmh directory ^Current-Folder:~^To find the default current folder folder (1) `+folder' defaults to the current folder `msgs' defaults to all `-datefield date' `-notextfield' `-noverbose' `-nolimit' If a folder is given, it will become the current folder. If the current message is moved, sortm will preserve its status as current. Timezones used to be ignored when comparing dates: they aren't any more. Messages which were in the folder, but not specified by `msgs', used to be moved to the end of the folder; now such messages are left untouched. Sortm sometimes did not preserve the message numbering in a folder (e.g., messages 1, 3, and 5, might have been renumbered to 1, 2, 3 after sorting). This was a bug, and has been fixed. To compress the message numbering in a folder, use “folder -pack” as always. If sortm encounters a message without a date-field, or if the message has a date-field that sortm cannot parse, then sortm attempts to keep the message in the same relative position. This does not always work. For instance, if the first message encountered lacks a date which can be parsed, then it will usually be placed at the end of the messages being sorted. When sortm complains about a message which it can't temporally order, it complains about the message number prior to sorting. It should indicate what the message number will be after sorting.