@c This is part of the Emacs manual.
-@c Copyright (C) 1985, 86, 87, 93, 94, 95, 1997 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+@c Copyright (C) 1985,86,87,93,94,95,1997,2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
@c See file emacs.texi for copying conditions.
@node Rmail, Dired, Sending Mail, Top
@chapter Reading Mail with Rmail
@section Scrolling Within a Message
When Rmail displays a message that does not fit on the screen, you
-must scroll through it to read the rest. You could do this with
+must scroll through it to read the rest. You could do this with
@kbd{C-v}, @kbd{M-v} and @kbd{M-<}, but in Rmail scrolling is so
frequent that it deserves to be easier to type.
receipt of messages. When you enter Rmail, you are positioned at the
first message that you have not yet made current (that is, the first one
that has the @samp{unseen} attribute; @pxref{Rmail Attributes}). Move
-forward to see the other new messages; move backward to reexamine old
+forward to see the other new messages; move backward to re-examine old
messages.
@table @kbd
the direction of motion after deletion.
@vindex rmail-delete-message-hook
- Whenever Rmail deletes a message, it invokes the function(s) listed in
+ Whenever Rmail deletes a message, it runs the hook
@code{rmail-delete-message-hook}. When the hook functions are invoked,
the message has been marked deleted, but it is still the current message
in the Rmail buffer.
inbox format; the output commands ascertain the file's format and write
the copied message in that format.
- When copying a message to a file in Unix mail file format, these
-commands include whichever header fields are currently visible. Use the
-@kbd{t} command first, if you wish, to specify which headers to show
-(and copy).
-
The @kbd{o} and @kbd{C-o} commands differ in two ways: each has its
own separate default file name, and each specifies a choice of format to
use when the file does not already exist. The @kbd{o} command uses
@kindex C-M-s @r{(Rmail)}
@findex rmail-summary-by-regexp
- @kbd{C-M-s @var{rgexp} @key{RET}} (@code{rmail-summary-by-regexp})
+ @kbd{C-M-s @var{regexp} @key{RET}} (@code{rmail-summary-by-regexp})
makes a partial summary which mentions only the messages whose headers
(including the date and the subject lines) match the regular
expression @var{regexp}.
@section Rmail and Coding Systems
@cindex decoding mail messages (Rmail)
- Rmail automatically decodes messages which contain non-@sc{ascii}
-characters, just as it does with files you visit and with and
-subprocess output. Rmail uses the standard
-@samp{charset=@var{charset}} header in the message, if any, to determine how
-the message was encoded by the sender. It maps @var{charset} into the
-corresponding Emacs coding system (@pxref{Coding Systems}), and uses
-that coding system to decode message text. If the message header
-doesn't have the charset specification, or if the @var{charset} it
-specifies is not recognized, Rmail chooses the coding system with the
-usual Emacs heuristics and defaults (@pxref{Recognize Coding}).
+ Rmail automatically decodes messages which contain non-ASCII
+characters, just as Emacs does with files you visit and with subprocess
+output. Rmail uses the standard @samp{charset=@var{charset}} header in
+the message, if any, to determine how the message was encoded by the
+sender. It maps @var{charset} into the corresponding Emacs coding
+system (@pxref{Coding Systems}), and uses that coding system to decode
+message text. If the message header doesn't have the @samp{charset}
+specification, or if @var{charset} is not recognized,
+Rmail chooses the coding system with the usual Emacs heuristics and
+defaults (@pxref{Recognize Coding}).
@cindex fixing incorrectly decoded mail messages
Occasionally, a message is decoded incorrectly, either because Emacs
When you receive a digest message, the most convenient way to read it is
to @dfn{undigestify} it: to turn it back into many individual messages.
Then you can read and delete the individual messages as it suits you.
-
- To do this, select the digest message and type the command @kbd{M-x
+To do this, select the digest message and type the command @kbd{M-x
undigestify-rmail-message}. This extracts the submessages as separate
Rmail messages, and inserts them following the digest. The digest
message itself is flagged as deleted.
@node Out of Rmail
@section Converting an Rmail File to Inbox Format
+@cindex Babyl format to Inbox format
+@cindex converting Rmail file to mailbox format
@findex unrmail
The command @kbd{M-x unrmail} converts a file in Rmail format to inbox
-format (also known as the system mailbox format), so that you can use it
-with other mail-editing tools. You must specify two arguments, the name
-of the Rmail file and the name to use for the converted file. @kbd{M-x
-unrmail} does not alter the Rmail file itself.
+format (also known as the system mailbox, or mbox, format), so that
+you can use it with other mail-editing tools. You must specify two
+arguments, the name of the Rmail file and the name to use for the
+converted file. @kbd{M-x unrmail} does not alter the Rmail file itself.
+
+@pindex b2m
+ @kbd{M-x unrmail} is useful if you can run Emacs on the machine
+where the Rmail file resides, or can access the Rmail file remotely
+(@pxref{Remote Files}) from a machine where Emacs is installed. If
+accessing Rmail files from Emacs is impossible, you can use the
+@command{b2m} program instead. @command{b2m} is part of the Emacs
+distribution, it is installed into the same directory where all the
+other auxiliary programs (@command{etags} etc.) are installed, and its
+source is available in the Emacs source distribution, so that you
+could copy the source to the target machine and compile it there.
+
+ To convert a file @file{@var{babyl-file}} into @file{@var{mbox-file}},
+invoke @command{b2m} like this:
+
+@example
+ b2m < @var{babyl-file} > @var{mbox-file}
+@end example
@node Rmail Rot13
@section Reading Rot13 Messages