prompter(1mh)
NAME
prompter - prompting editor front-end for nmh
SYNOPSIS
prompter [-erase chr] [-kill chr] [-prepend | -noprepend] [-rapid |
-norapid] [-doteof | -nodoteof] file [-version] [-help]
DESCRIPTION
Prompter is an editor front-end for nmh which allows rapid composition
of messages. This program is not normally invoked directly by users
but takes the place of an editor and acts as an editor front-end. It
operates on an RFC 822 style message draft skeleton specified by file,
normally provided by the nmh commands comp, dist, forw, or repl.
Prompter is particularly useful when composing messages over slow
network or modem lines. It is an nmh program in that it can have its
own profile entry with switches, but it is not invoked directly by the
user. The commands comp, dist, forw, and repl invoke prompter as an
editor, either when invoked with -editor prompter, or by the profile
entry "Editor: prompter", or when given the command edit prompter at
the "What now?" prompt.
For each empty component prompter finds in the draft, the user is
prompted for a response; A <RETURN> will cause the whole component to
be left out. Otherwise, a `\' preceding a <RETURN> will continue the
response on the next line, allowing for multiline components.
Continuation lines must begin with a space or tab.
Each non-empty component is copied to the draft and displayed on the
terminal.
The start of the message body is denoted by a blank line or a line of
dashes. If the body is non-empty, the prompt, which isn't written to
the file, is
--------Enter additional text
or (if -prepend was given)
--------Enter initial text
Message-body typing is terminated with an end-of-file (usually CTRL-D).
With the -doteof switch, a period on a line all by itself also
signifies end-of-file. At this point control is returned to the
calling program, where the user is asked "What now?". See whatnow (1)
for the valid options to this query.
By using the -prepend switch, the user can add type-in to the beginning
of the message body and have the rest of the body follow. This is
useful for the forw command.
By using the -rapid switch, if the draft already contains text in the
message-body, it is not displayed on the user's terminal. This is
useful for low-speed terminals.
The line editing characters for kill and erase may be specified by the
user via the arguments -kill chr and -erase chr, where chr may be a
character; or `\nnn', where "nnn" is the octal value for the character.
An interrupt (usually CTRL-C) during component typing will abort
prompter and the nmh command that invoked it. An interrupt during
message-body typing is equivalent to CTRL-D, for historical reasons.
This means that prompter should finish up and exit.
The first non-flag argument to prompter is taken as the name of the
draft file, and subsequent non-flag arguments are ignored.
FILES
$HOME/.mh_profile The user profile /tmp/prompter* Temporary copy of message
PROFILE COMPONENTS
prompter-next: To name the editor to be used on exit from .B prompter Msg-Protect: To set mode when creating a new draft
SEE ALSO
comp(1), dist(1), forw(1), repl(1), whatnow(1)
DEFAULTS
`-prepend' `-norapid' `-nodoteof'
CONTEXT
None
HELPFUL HINTS
The -rapid option is particularly useful with forw, and -noprepend is useful with comp -use. The user may wish to link prompter under several names (e.g., "rapid") and give appropriate switches in the profile entries under these names (e.g., "rapid: -rapid"). This facilitates invoking prompter differently for different nmh commands (e.g., "forw: -editor rapid").
BUGS
Prompter uses stdio(3), so it will lose if you edit files with nulls in them.
Opportunity
Personal Opportunity - Free software gives you access to billions of dollars of software at no cost. Use this software for your business, personal use or to develop a profitable skill. Access to source code provides access to a level of capabilities/information that companies protect though copyrights. Open source is a core component of the Internet and it is available to you. Leverage the billions of dollars in resources and capabilities to build a career, establish a business or change the world. The potential is endless for those who understand the opportunity.
Business Opportunity - Goldman Sachs, IBM and countless large corporations are leveraging open source to reduce costs, develop products and increase their bottom lines. Learn what these companies know about open source and how open source can give you the advantage.
Free Software
Free Software provides computer programs and capabilities at no cost but more importantly, it provides the freedom to run, edit, contribute to, and share the software. The importance of free software is a matter of access, not price. Software at no cost is a benefit but ownership rights to the software and source code is far more significant.
Free Office Software - The Libre Office suite provides top desktop productivity tools for free. This includes, a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation engine, drawing and flowcharting, database and math applications. Libre Office is available for Linux or Windows.
Free Books
The Free Books Library is a collection of thousands of the most popular public domain books in an online readable format. The collection includes great classical literature and more recent works where the U.S. copyright has expired. These books are yours to read and use without restrictions.
Source Code - Want to change a program or know how it works? Open Source provides the source code for its programs so that anyone can use, modify or learn how to write those programs themselves. Visit the GNU source code repositories to download the source.
Education
Study at Harvard, Stanford or MIT - Open edX provides free online courses from Harvard, MIT, Columbia, UC Berkeley and other top Universities. Hundreds of courses for almost all major subjects and course levels. Open edx also offers some paid courses and selected certifications.
Linux Manual Pages - A man or manual page is a form of software documentation found on Linux/Unix operating systems. Topics covered include computer programs (including library and system calls), formal standards and conventions, and even abstract concepts.
