anno Command

Commands Reference, Volume 1

anno Command

Purpose

Annotates messages.

Syntax

anno [ +Folder ] [ Messages ] [ -component Field ] [ -inplace | -noinplace ] [ -text "String" ]

Description

The anno command annotates messages with text and dates. If you enter the anno command without any flags, the system responds with the following prompt:

Enter component name:

Typing a component name and pressing the Enter key annotates the component name and system date to the top of the message being processed. You cannot annotate an existing field. You can only add lines to the top of a message file. The annotation fields can contain only alphanumeric characters and dashes.

Note: To simply add distribution information to a message, use the dist, forw, or repl commands.

Flags

-component Field	Specifies the field name for the annotation text. The Field variable must consist of alphanumeric characters and dashes. If you do not specify this flag, the anno command prompts you for the name of the field.
+Folder	Identifies the message folder that contains the message to annotate. The default is the current folder.
-help	Lists the command syntax, available switches (toggles), and version information. Note: For MH (Message Handler), the name of this flag must be fully spelled out.
-inplace	Forces annotation to be done in place in order to preserve links to the annotated messages.
Messages	Specifies what messages to annotate. This parameter can specify several messages, a range of messages, or a single message. If several messages are specified, the first message annotated becomes the current message. Use the following references to specify messages: Number Number of the message. When specifying several messages, separate each number with a comma. When specifying a range, separate the first and last number in the range with a hyphen. Sequence A group of messages specified by the user. Recognized values include: all All messages in the folder. cur or . (period) Current message. This is the default. first First message in a folder. last Last message in a folder. next Message following the current message. prev Message preceding the current message.
-noinplace	Prevents annotation in place. This flag is the default.
-text "String"	Specifies the text to be annotated to the messages. The text must be enclosed with quotation marks.

Profile Entries

The following entries can be made to the UserMhDirectory/.mh_profile file:

`Current-Folder:`	Sets the default current folder.
`Path:`	Specifies the location of a user's MH (Message Handler) directory.

Examples

To annotate the message being processed with the date and time, enter:
```
anno
```
The following prompt is displayed on your screen:
```
Enter component name: _
```
After responding to this prompt, type:
```
Date
```
Press Enter. The component name you entered becomes the prefix to the date and time on the message. The caption appended to the message is similar to the following:
```
Date: Tues, 28 Mar 89 13:36:32 -0600
```
To annotate the message being processed with the date, time, and a message, enter:
```
anno -component NOTE -text "Meeting canceled."
```
A two-line caption similar to the following is appended to the message:
```
NOTE: Mon, 15 Mar 89 10:19:45 -0600
NOTE: Meeting canceled.
```
To annotate message 25 in the meetings folder, enter:
```
anno +meetings 25 -component NOTE -text "Meeting delayed 
until Friday."
```
The top of message 25 is annotated with a caption similar to the following:
```
NOTE: Wed, 19 Jun 87 15:20:12 -0600
NOTE: Meeting delayed until Friday.
```
Note: Do not press the Enter key until the entire message has been entered, even though the message may be wider than the screen.

Files

$HOME/.mh_profile	Contains the MH user profile.
/usr/bin/anno	Contains anno command.

Related Information

The dist command, forw command, repl command.

The mh_alias file format, mh_profile file format.

Mail Overview in AIX Version 4.3 System User's Guide: Communications and Networks.

Peek, Jerry. MH and xmh: E-mail for Users and Programmers. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly & Associates, 1992.