SHOW(%manext1%)

NAME
show - show (display) messages

SYNOPSIS
show [+folder] [msgs] [-showproc program]
[-showmimeproc program] [-header] [-noheader]
[-draft] [-checkmime] [-nocheckmime]
[switches for showproc or showmimeproc]
[-version] [-help]

DESCRIPTION
Show lists each of the specified messages to the standard output (typically, the terminal). By default, non-MIME messages are listed with no reformatting, by the more(1) command. This default can be changed by defining the showproc profile component. Any switches not recognized by show are passed along to that program. To override the default and the showproc profile component, use the `-showproc program' switch. For example, `-showproc less' will cause the less(1) program to list the messages. The nmh command mhl can be used as a showproc to show non-MIME messages in a more uniform format. Normally, this program is specified as the showproc in the user's .mh_profile. See the mhl(1) manual page for details about this command. By default, MIME messages (messages with multi-media contents) are processed and displayed by the nmh command mhn(1). See the mhn(1) manual page for details about this command. This default can changed by defining the showmimeproc profile component. Any switches not recognized by show are passed along to that program. To override this default and the showmimeproc profile component, use the `-showmimeproc program' switch. Note that the showmimeproc may be invoked even for textual contents, depending on the character set involved. The environment variable MM_CHARSET should be set to the terminal's character set to avoid gratuitous invocations of the showmimeproc. The option `-checkmime' (set by default) instructs show to test if any of the messages to be displayed are MIME messages. If any are MIME, they are displayed by the program showmimeproc, else they are displayed by the program showproc. The option `-nocheckmime' disables this test and instructs show to use showproc, regardless of whether any of the messages are MIME messages. The `-noshowproc' switch will disable any formatting or paging of messages. It is equivalent to `-nocheckmime -showproc cat'. It is still accepted, but should be considered (somewhat) obsolete. If the environment variable NOMHNPROC is set, the test for MIME messages will be disabled. This method is obsolete. Use the `-nocheckmime' switch instead. The `-header' switch tells show to display a one-line description of the message being shown. This description includes the folder and the message number. If no `msgs' are specified, the current message is used. Although it depends on the specific showproc or showmimeproc, in the default setup when more than one message is specified, you will be prompted for a <RETURN> prior to listing each message. Each message will be listed a page at a time, and when the end of page is reached, the program will wait for a <SPACE> or <RETURN>. If a <RETURN> is entered, it will print the next line, whereas <SPACE> will print the next screenful. If the standard output is not a terminal, no queries are made, and each file is listed with a one-line header and two lines of separation. “show -draft” will list the file <mh-dir>/draft if it exists. If the profile entry “Unseen-Sequence” is present and non-empty, then show will remove each of the messages shown from each sequence named by the profile entry. This is similar to the “Previous-Sequence” profile entry supported by all nmh commands which take `msgs' or `msg' arguments. ^$HOME/.mh_profile~^The user profile ^Path:~^To determine the user's nmh directory ^Current-Folder:~^To find the default current folder ^Unseen-Sequence:~^To name sequences denoting unseen messages ^showproc:~^Program to show non-MIME messages ^showmimeproc:~^Program to show MIME messages mhl(1), mhn(1), more(1), next(1), prev(1), scan(1) `+folder' defaults to the current folder `msgs' defaults to cur `-checkmime' `-header' If a folder is given, it will become the current folder. The last message shown will become the current message. The `-header' switch doesn't work when `msgs' expands to more than one message. If the showproc is mhl, then is problem can be circumvented by referencing the “messagename” field in the mhl format file. Show updates the user's context before showing the message. Hence show will mark messages as seen prior to the user actually seeing them. This is generally not a problem, unless the user relies on the “unseen” messages mechanism, and interrupts show while it is showing “unseen” messages. If showproc is mhl, then show uses a built-in mhl: it does not actually run the mhl program. Hence, if you define your own showproc, don't call it mhl since show won't run it. If more (1) is your showproc (the default), then avoid running show in the background with only its standard output piped to another process, as in
show | imprint & Due to a bug in more, show will go into a “tty input” state. To avoid this problem, re-direct show's diagnostic output as well. For users of csh:
show |& imprint & For users of sh:
show 2>&1 | imprint &