1.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993 2.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 6.\" are met: 7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 8.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 11.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 12.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 13.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 14.\" without specific prior written permission. 15.\" 16.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 17.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 18.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 19.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 20.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 21.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 22.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 23.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 24.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 25.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 26.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 27.\" 28.\" @(#)msgs.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 4/28/95 29.\" 30.Dd August 8, 2018 31.Dt MSGS 1 32.Os 33.Sh NAME 34.Nm msgs 35.Nd system messages and junk mail program 36.Sh SYNOPSIS 37.Nm 38.Op Fl fhlpq 39.Op Ar number 40.Op Ar \-number 41.Nm 42.Op Fl s 43.Nm 44.Op Fl c 45.Op \-days 46.Sh DESCRIPTION 47The 48.Nm 49utility is used to read system messages. 50These messages are 51sent by mailing to the login `msgs' and should be short 52pieces of information which are suitable to be read once by most users 53of the system. 54.Pp 55The 56.Nm 57utility is normally invoked each time you login, by placing it in the file 58.Pa .login 59(or 60.Pa .profile 61if you use 62.Xr sh 1 ) . 63It will then prompt you with the source and subject of each new message. 64If there is no subject line, the first few non-blank lines of the 65message will be displayed. 66If there is more to the message, you will be told how 67long it is and asked whether you wish to see the rest of the message. 68The possible responses are: 69.Bl -tag -width Fl 70.It Fl y 71Type the rest of the message. 72.It Ic RETURN 73Synonym for y. 74.It Fl n 75Skip this message 76and go on to the next message. 77.It Fl 78Redisplay the last message. 79.It Fl q 80Drop out of 81.Nm ; 82the next time 83.Nm 84will pick up where it last left off. 85.It Fl s 86Append the current message to the file ``Messages'' in the current directory; 87`s\-' will save the previously displayed message. 88A `s' or `s\-' may 89be followed by a space and a file name to receive the message replacing 90the default ``Messages''. 91.It Fl m 92A copy of the specified message is placed in a temporary 93mailbox and 94.Xr mail 1 95is invoked on that mailbox. 96Both `m' and `s' accept a numeric argument in place of the `\-'. 97.El 98.Pp 99The 100.Nm 101utility keeps track of the next message you will see by a number in the file 102.Pa \&.msgsrc 103in your home directory. 104In the directory 105.Pa /var/msgs 106it keeps a set of files whose names are the (sequential) numbers 107of the messages they represent. 108The file 109.Pa /var/msgs/bounds 110shows the low and high number of the messages in the directory 111so that 112.Nm 113can quickly determine if there are no messages for you. 114If the contents of 115.Pa bounds 116is incorrect it can be fixed by removing it; 117.Nm 118will make a new 119.Pa bounds 120file the next time it is run with the 121.Fl s 122option. 123If 124.Nm 125is run with any option other than 126.Fl s , 127an error will be displayed if 128.Pa /var/msgs/bounds 129does not exist. 130.Pp 131The 132.Fl s 133option is used for setting up the posting of messages. 134The line 135.Pp 136.Dl msgs: \&"\&| /usr/bin/msgs \-s\&" 137.Pp 138should be included in 139.Pa /etc/mail/aliases 140(see 141.Xr newaliases 1 ) 142to enable posting of messages. 143.Pp 144The 145.Fl c 146option is used for performing cleanup on 147.Pa /var/msgs . 148A shell script entry to run 149.Nm 150with the 151.Fl c 152option should be placed in 153.Pa /etc/periodic/daily 154(see 155.Xr periodic 8 ) 156to run every night. 157This will remove all messages over 21 days old. 158A different expiration may be specified on the command line to override 159the default. 160You must be the superuser to use this option. 161.Pp 162Options when reading messages include: 163.Bl -tag -width Fl 164.It Fl f 165Do not say ``No new messages.''. 166This is useful in a 167.Pa .login 168file since this is often the case here. 169.It Fl q 170Queries whether there are messages, printing 171``There are new messages.'' if there are. 172The command ``msgs \-q'' is often used in login scripts. 173.It Fl h 174Print the first part of messages only. 175.It Fl l 176Cause only locally originated messages to be reported. 177.It Ar num 178A message number can be given 179on the command line, causing 180.Nm 181to start at the specified message rather than at the next message 182indicated by your 183.Pa \&.msgsrc 184file. 185Thus 186.Pp 187.Dl msgs \-h 1 188.Pp 189prints the first part of all messages. 190.It Ar \-number 191Start 192.Ar number 193messages back from the one indicated in the 194.Pa \&.msgsrc 195file, useful for reviews of recent messages. 196.It Fl p 197Pipe long messages through 198.Xr less 1 . 199.El 200.Pp 201Within 202.Nm 203you can also go to any specific message by typing its number when 204.Nm 205requests input as to what to do. 206.Sh ENVIRONMENT 207The 208.Nm 209utility uses the 210.Ev HOME 211and 212.Ev TERM 213environment variables for the default home directory and 214terminal type. 215.Sh FILES 216.Bl -tag -width /var/msgs/* -compact 217.It Pa /var/msgs/* 218database 219.It Pa ~/.msgsrc 220number of next message to be presented 221.El 222.Sh SEE ALSO 223.Xr mail 1 , 224.Xr less 1 , 225.Xr aliases 5 , 226.Xr periodic 8 227.Sh HISTORY 228The 229.Nm 230command appeared in 231.Bx 3.0 . 232