.TH MSGS UCB 2/24/79 UCB
.SH NAME
msgs \- system messages and junk mail program
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B msgs
[
.B \-f
] [
.B \-q
] [
.B \-h
] [
number
]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Msgs
is used to read system messages.
These messages are
sent by mailing to the login `msgs' and are short
pieces of information which are suitable to be read once by most users
of the system.
.PP
.I Msgs
is normally invoked each time you login, by placing it in the file
.I \&.login
.I (\&.profile
if you use
.IR /bin/sh ).
It will then prompt you with the first portion of each new message.
If the message is longer than a couple of lines you will be told how
long it is and asked whether you wish to see the whole message.
You can type return, or `y' to see the message, or `n' to skip it
and go on to the next message.
An interrupt drops you out of
.I msgs;
the next time you run the program it will pick up where you left off.
.PP
.I Msgs
keeps track of the next message you will see by number in the file
.I \&.msgsrc
in your home directory.
In the directory
.I /usr/msgs
it keeps a set of files whose names are the (sequential) numbers
of the messages they represent.
The file
.I /usr/msgs/bounds
shows the low and high number of the messages in the directory
so that
.I msgs
can quickly determine if there are no messages for you.
If this file
.I bounds
is incorrect it can be fixed by removing it;
.I msgs
will make a new
.I bounds
file the next time it is run.
.PP
Options to msgs include
.B \-f
which causes it not to say ``No messages.''.
This is useful in your
.I \&.login
file since this is often the case here.
If you prefer to learn of new messages without running the program
you can put the command ``msgs \-q'' in your
.I \&.login
file.
This queries whether there are messages, printing
``There are new messages.'' if there are.
Finally the
.B \-h
option causes
.I msgs
to print the first part of messages only.
This is most useful when a message number is also given
on the command line, causing
.I msgs
to start at the specified message rather than at the next message
your
.I \&.msgsrc
file indicates.
Thus
.IP
msgs \-h 1
.PP
prints the first part of all messages.
Within
.I msgs
you can also go to any specific message by typing its number when
.I msgs
requests input as to what to do.
.SH FILES
/usr/msgs/*		database
.br
~/.msgsrc		number of next message to be presented
.SH AUTHOR
Bill Joy
.SH SEE ALSO
mail(1), Mail(UCB)
.SH BUGS