.TH pick 1mh.SH Namepick \- select messages by content.SH Syntax.B pick[.I +folder] [.I msgs] [.I options].\".\".\".\".SH Description.NXR "pick command".NXR "messages" "select by content"The.PN pickcommand lets you search messages in a folder on a diverse range of search criteria..PPYou can search the mail headers or the text of some or all of the messages within a folder for the specified criteria.  You can use pattern matching or date constraint operations.  You can use the messages that you find with other MH commands,or you can place them in a sequence..PPBy default, .PN pick searches all the messages in the current folder.You can specify a folder other than the current folder using the.I +foldernameoption.  Also, if you do not want to search all messages within the folder, you can specify more than one message or a range of messages using the message numbers.  .PPYou can search on the contents of the most commonheader fields by giving the name of the field as an option,preceded by a dash (\f(CW-\fR).The.PN pickcommand allows you to specifythe following header fields in this way:\f(CWTo:\fR,\f(CWcc:\fR,\f(CWDate:\fR,\f(CWFrom:\fR,and\f(CWSubject:\fR.You can also search the contents of any other header field by preceding the name of the field with two dashes..PPThe .PN pick also allows you to introduce time constraints.You can search for messages sent before, after,or between specified dates..\".SS Combining pick with Other CommandsYou can combine the output of.PN pickdirectly with any MH command.  by using a technique called back-quoting.Enclose the.PN pick command and its associated arguments and options in back quotes (\f(CW`\fR).The system performs back-quoted commands first.In the following example, the .PN pick command is performed first,and the output is then listed by the.PN scan command:.EX% \f(CBscan `pick \-from jones`\f(CW   3  16/01 jones              Meeting 10.00 tomorrow<<There wi  17  22/01 jones              Minutes of meeting 16/1<<Any com  21  01/02 jones              Next week's meeting cancelled<<T.EE.PPIf .PN pick finds that there is no mail from Jones, it will output the illegal character \f(CW0\fR.This will cause the  .PN scancommand to fail gracefully..PPYou can use back-quoting to combine .PN pick with any MH command.For more information on back-quoting, see the reference page for your ULTRIX shell; for example,.MS csh 1or.MS sh 1 ..\".\".\".\".SH Options.IP "\-after \fIdate\fB" 10Searches for messages sent after the specified date.This command can be used with pattern-matching options,and also in conjunction with the .B \-beforeoption to specify a date range.The date must be enclosed in double quotes (").This option accepts RFC 822-style dates.It also accepts days of the week, and the special dates\f(CWtoday\fR and \f(CWyesterday\fR.Days of the week always refer to days in the past;for example, \f(CWsaturday\fR refers to last Saturday,not to next Saturday..IPBy default, .PN pickconsults the \f(CWDate:\fR field of the message.If you wish to use the date in another header field,you can specify this with the .B \-datefieldoption..\".IP "\-before \fIdate\fB" 10Searches for messages sent before the specified date.This command can be used with pattern-matching options,and also in conjunction with the.B \-afteroption to specify a date range.The date must be enclosed in double quotes (").This option accepts RFC 822-style dates.It also accepts days of the week, and the special dates\f(CWtoday\fR, \f(CWtomorrow\fR, and \f(CWyesterday\fR.Days of the week always refer to days in the past;for example, \f(CWsaturday\fR refers to last Saturday,not to next Saturday..IPBy default,.PN pickconsults the \f(CWDate:\fR field of the message.If you wish to use the date in another header field,you can specify this with the.B \-datefieldoption..\".IP "\-cc \fIpattern\fB" 10Searches for the specified pattern in the \f(CWcc:\fR field of messages.This option is case-insensitive:lower- and upper-case letters are treated as identical.So a search for the pattern \f(CWphillips\fR would also find \f(CWPhillips\fR and \f(CWPHILLIPS\fR.If the pattern contains spaces, you must enclose itin double quotes (")..\".IP "\-date \fIpattern\fB" 10Searches for messages sent on a specified date.This option consults the \f(CWDate:\fR field of messages.You must enclose the date that you give in double quotes (")if it contains spaces..\".IP "\-datefield \fIfield\fB"  10Specifies the header field to be used by the.B \-beforeand.B \-afteroptions.By default, these options consult the\f(CWDate:\fR field of the message header.You can specify a different header field by naming itwith this option.The .B \-datefieldoption must precede the.B \-beforeor .B \-after options it is used with..\".IP "\-from \fIpattern\fB" 10Searches for the specified pattern in the \f(CWFrom:\fR field of messages.This option is case-insensitive:lower- and upper-case letters are treated as identical.So a search for the pattern \f(CWphillips\fR would also find \f(CWPhillips\fR and \f(CWPHILLIPS\fR.If the pattern contains spaces, you must enclose itin double quotes (")..\".IP "\-help" 10Prints a list of the valid options to this command..\".IP "\-list" 10.PD 0.IP "\-nolist" 10.PDThe.B \-listoption lists the numbers of the messages that have metthe search criteria.This is the usual default behavior of .PN pick .If you use the .B \-nolist option, .PN pick indicates how many messages met the search criteria..IPIf you use the.B \-sequence option to add the messages found to a sequence,the default behavior is to use the .B \-nolistoption..\".IP "\-public" 10.PD 0.IP "\-nopublic" 10.PDSets the read permissions of sequences.Normally, when you create a sequence with the.B \-sequenceoption, the sequence will not be accessible to other MH users.The .B \-public option makes the sequence accessible to other MH users.You can use the .B \-nopublicoption to ensure that the sequence that you create is only accessible to yourself..\".IP "\-search \fIpattern\fB" 10Searches the entire message for the specified string.Each line of the message is searched for the pattern that you specify.The.B \-searchoption is a modified.MS grep 1 .Like .PN grep ,this option is case-sensitive;it treats upper- and lower-case letters as different.So a search for the word \f(CWstrawberries\fRwould not find a messages which contained the word\f(CWSTRAWBERRIES\fR.If the search pattern contains spaces, you must enclose it in double quotes (")..\".IP "\-sequence \fIname\fB" 10Specifies a sequence in which .PN pick places the messages found.For more information on sequences, see.MS mark 1mh .The name of the sequence must begin with a letter, and must consist entirely of alphabetic or numeric characters;no punctuation is allowed..\".IP "\-subject \fIpattern\fB" 10Searches for the specified pattern in the \f(CWSubject:\fR field of messages.This option is case-insensitive:lower- and upper-case letters are treated as identical.So a search for the pattern \f(CWphillips\fR would also find \f(CWPhillips\fR and \f(CWPHILLIPS\fR.If the pattern contains spaces, you must enclose itin double quotes (")..\".IP "\-to \fIpattern\fB" 10Searches for the specified pattern in the \f(CWTo:\fR field of messages.This option is case-insensitive:lower- and upper-case letters are treated as identical.So a search for the pattern \f(CWphillips\fR would also find \f(CWPhillips\fR and \f(CWPHILLIPS\fR.If the pattern contains spaces, you must enclose itin double quotes (")..\".IP "\-zero" 10.PD 0.IP "\-nozero" 10.PDSpecifies whether to zero existing sequences before adding new messages.Normally, .PN pick removes all existing messages from a sequence beforeadding messages to it.If you specify the .B \-nozerooption,.PN pickwill add the messages it finds to the existing contents of the sequence.This option only works with the.B \-sequenceoption..\".IP "\-\|\-\fIcomponent pattern\fB" 10Searches a specified header field.If you wish to search for a pattern in a particular header field,you can specify the field by placing two dashes (\f(CW-\fR)before the name of the field.This option is case-insensitive:lower- and upper-case letters are treated as identical.So a search for the pattern \f(CWphillips\fRwould also find \f(CWPhillips\fR and \f(CWPHILLIPS\fR.If the pattern contains spaces, you must enclose itin double quotes (")..IPThe .PN pick command recognizes the following common header fields:\f(CWTo:\fR,\f(CWcc:\fR,\f(CWDate:\fR,\f(CWFrom:\fR,and\f(CWSubject:\fR.You can search these fields by preceding the namewith one dash only..PPIn addition to the above options, you can direct.PN pick to start its search a specified number of days ago.To do this, precede the number of days with a dash (\f(CW-\fR).For example, the following command searches all messagessent in the last ten days:.EX% \f(CBpick \-subject strawberries \-10\f(CW16.EE.\".\".PPThe .PN pickcommand also supports complex boolean operations.The.BR \-not ,.B \-or and.B \-andoptions allow you to modify the behavior of pattern-matching options.In the following command, the.B \-not option means that .PN pick searches for messages that were not from fred:.EX% \f(CBpick -not -from fred\f(CW.EE.PPIn the next example, the .B \-or option finds all messages from fred or from david.If the .B \-or option is not used, .PN pick searches for messages with both the string \f(CWfred\fRand the string \f(CWdavid\fR in the \f(CWFrom:\fR field..EX% \f(CBpick -from fred -or -from david\f(CW.EE.PPThe pattern-matching options normally take precedence over.BR \-not ,which in turn takes precedence over .BR \-and ,which in turn takes precedence over .BR \-or ..PPYou can override the default precedence with the.B \-lbraceand.B \-rbraceoptions.These act just like opening and closing parentheses in logical expressions..\".\".\".\".SH Restrictions.PPThe sequence name, punctuation and message list must not exceed 1024characters.In practice, this gives a reasonable limit of approximately200 non-consecutive messages in a sequence..\".\".\".\".SH ExamplesThe first example finds all the mail in the current folder that was sent by Christine:.EX% \f(CBpick \-from christine\f(CW138.EE.PPIn the next example,.PN picksearches messages 10-20 in the .PN +sent folder for messages that were sent to Kafka:.EX% \f(CBpick +sent 10-20 \-to Kafka\f(CWpick: no messages match specification.EE.PPThe next example finds all messages from Jack, and places them in a sequence called \f(CWtesting\fR:.EX% \f(CBpick \-from Jack \-sequence testing\f(CW3 hits.EE.PPThe final example finds all messages sent to Holloway since 10th June:.EX% \f(CBpick \-to holloway \-after "10 Jun 90"\f(CW19.EE.\".\".\".\".SH Profile Components.TStab(+);l l.Path:+To determine your Mail directory.TE.\".\".\".\".SH Files.TP 10.PN $HOME/.mh_profileThe user profile..\".\".\".\".SH See Also csh(1), ed(1), grep(1), sh(1), inc(1mh), mark(1mh)