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INFO-DIR-SECTION Mail
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* mboxgrep: (mboxgrep).		A mail folder scanning utility.
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File: mboxgrep.info,  Node: Top,  Up: (dir)

This file documents 'mboxgrep' (version 0.7.13), a mailbox scanning
utility.

   Copyright (C) 2000 - 2003, 2024 Daniel Spiljar

* Menu:

* Introduction::	A short preface.
* Invoking::		Command-line arguments.
* Examples::		A few examples of usage.
* Bugs::		What to do with bugs and similar vermin.

* To Vicky::            Author's dedication.


File: mboxgrep.info,  Node: Introduction,  Next: Invoking,  Up: Top

1 Introduction
**************

'mboxgrep' is a small, non-interactive utility that scans mail folders
for messages matching regular expressions.

   It supports basic and extended POSIX regular expressions.
'Perl'-style regular expressions are supported as well, if 'mboxgrep' is
linked with PCRE library.

   Found messages can be either displayed on standard output, counted,
deleted, piped to a specified command, or copied to another mailbox.

   It can read and write a variety of folder formats:

   * mbox folders, either plain or compressed
   * MH folders
   * nnml and nnmh folders used by Gnus
   * 'qmail'-style maildirs

   Additionally, it can read mbox folders or output from another
'mboxgrep' process from standard input.  It does so if a single dash (-)
is given as a file name.


File: mboxgrep.info,  Node: Invoking,  Next: Examples,  Prev: Introduction,  Up: Top

2 Command-Line Arguments
************************

The syntax of 'mboxgrep' invocation is:

     mboxgrep [OPTIONS] PATTERN [MAILBOX]

* Menu:

* Miscellaneous::
* File locking::
* Regexp selection::
* Output control::
* Search scope selection::
* Mailbox type selection::


File: mboxgrep.info,  Node: Miscellaneous,  Next: File locking,  Up: Invoking

'--help'
'-h'
     Display a brief help screen and exit.

'--version'
'-V'
     Display program version and copyright information and exit.

'--recursive'
'-r'
     Descend into directories recursively.


File: mboxgrep.info,  Node: File locking,  Next: Regexp selection,  Prev: Miscellaneous,  Up: Invoking

When accessing mbox folders, 'mboxgrep' puts a shared lock on files by
default.  Note that mbox folders normally should not be accessed without
locking.

'--file-lock=METHOD'
'-l METHOD'
     Specify file locking METHOD. 'mboxgrep' supports 'flock' and
     'fcntl' file locking.  However, one of these methods may be
     unimplemented on your operating system and thus not available in
     'mboxgrep' at run time.  To disable file locking, specify 'none'.

'--no-file-lock'
'-nl'
     Do not attempt to lock mbox folder files.


File: mboxgrep.info,  Node: Regexp selection,  Next: Output control,  Prev: File locking,  Up: Invoking

'--extended-regexp'
'-E'
     PATTERN is an extended regular expression.

'--basic-regexp'
'-G'
     PATTERN is a basic regular expression.

'--perl-regexp'
'-P'
     PATTERN is a Perl regular expression.

'--regexp=PATTERN'
'-e PATTERN'
     Use PATTERN as a regular expression.

'--ignore-case'
'-i'
     Perform case-insensitive search.

'--invert-match'
'-v'
     Invert the sense of matching, i.e.  select only non-matching
     messages.


File: mboxgrep.info,  Node: Output control,  Next: Search scope selection,  Prev: Regexp selection,  Up: Invoking

By default, 'mboxgrep' writes found messages to standard output.  The
options below change such behavior.

'--count'
'-c'
     Suppress normal output and print the count of matching (or
     non-matching, if used with the '-v' option) messages.

'--delete'
'-d'
     Suppress normal output and delete selected messages.

     Use with extreme caution.

'--no-duplicates'
'-nd'
     Ignore duplicate messages.

'--output=MAILBOX'
'-o MAILBOX'
     Suppress normal output and write messages to destination MAILBOX
     instead.

     Note that 'mboxgrep' assumes the output folder is of the same
     format as the input folder.  Currently there is no possibility to
     convert folders.

'--pipe=COMMAND'
'-p COMMAND'
     Suppress normal output and pipe each selected message to a separate
     instance of COMMAND.

'--no-messages'
'-s'
     Suppress error messages.

'--debug'
     Print messages useful for debugging.


File: mboxgrep.info,  Node: Search scope selection,  Next: Mailbox type selection,  Prev: Output control,  Up: Invoking

'--headers'
'-H'
     Match PATTERN against message headers.

'--body'
'-B'
     Match PATTERN against message body.


File: mboxgrep.info,  Node: Mailbox type selection,  Prev: Search scope selection,  Up: Invoking

'--mailbox-format=FORMAT'
'-m FORMAT'
     Specify mailbox FORMAT. Supported formats are 'mbox' (default),
     'zmbox' (gzip compressed mbox), 'bz2mbox' (bzip2 compressed mbox)
     'mh', 'nnml', 'nnmh', and 'maildir'.


File: mboxgrep.info,  Node: Examples,  Next: Bugs,  Prev: Invoking,  Up: Top

3 Examples
**********

Scan '$MAIL' for messages from Dirty Harry:

     mboxgrep -H '^From:.*callahan@sanfranciscopolice\.org' $MAIL

   Re-mail to George messages that mention his name:

     mboxgrep --pipe="/usr/lib/sendmail george" --ignore-case george ~/Mail/*

   Display all messages in folder '~/Mail/incoming', except those that
appear to originate from AOL:

     mboxgrep -v -H '^Received:.*aol\.com' ~/Mail/incoming

   Do a case-insensitive scan of '~/Mail/incoming' for messages with
subject "Weekly News" and write them to folder '~/Mail/archive':

     mboxgrep -o ~/Mail/archive -H -i '^Subject: Weekly News' ~/Mail/incoming

   Count _all_ messages stored in folder 'spam', ignoring duplicates:

     mboxgrep -nd -c . spam


File: mboxgrep.info,  Node: Bugs,  Next: To Vicky,  Prev: Examples,  Up: Top

4 Detecting Vermin
******************

Shortly, if 'mboxgrep' crashes and/or works differently than described
in this manual, you have found a bug.

   Please report bugs to <dspiljar@datatipp.se>.  Instructions how to
reproduce the bug or output from a debugger would be highly appreciated.
Please do not, however, send any core dumps.


File: mboxgrep.info,  Node: To Vicky,  Prev: Bugs,  Up: Top

5 Author's Dedication
*********************

'Mboxgrep' is dedicated in loving memory of Vicky, my cat who died of
tumor on Sep 12, 2002.

   You haven't been long with us, but you gave us a lot of joy and all
your big heart that stopped ticking too early.  I will never forget you.
Sleep well, little friend.



Tag Table:
Node: Top197
Node: Introduction591
Node: Invoking1460
Node: Miscellaneous1822
Node: File locking2107
Node: Regexp selection2744
Node: Output control3296
Node: Search scope selection4336
Node: Mailbox type selection4577
Node: Examples4898
Node: Bugs5722
Node: To Vicky6140

End Tag Table


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