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From: jdpeek@RODAN.ACS.SYR.EDU (Jerry Peek)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.mh
Subject: Re: Reply formatting - how to format body?
Message-ID: <9008310120.AA17537@rodan.acs.syr.edu>
Date: 31 Aug 90 01:20:18 GMT
References: <bhagwan@agps.lanl.gov> <88@topgun.UUCP>
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
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> 	I've looked at the man pages and have figured out that
>
> 	  From:formatfield="%(putstr(friendly{text})) writes:",nocomponent
>
> 	will give me my introductory line. Now I'd like the body
> 	formatted as follows:
>
> 	  >  blah...
> 	  >  blah...
> 	  >  blah...
>
> 	I can't see how to have every line prefixed by some arbitrary
> 	string. I'd appreciate a solution to this and some more examples
> 	of mh-format and mhl in general.

In mhl, the body lines are all treated as components -- just like the
header.  The body component is named Body:.  Here's an example.  It shows
a simple mhl format file named 'mhl.1' that displays the subject and body.
I'll use it on your message:

	% cat mhl.1
	Subject:
	:
	Body:

	% show -form mhl.1
	Subject:  Reply formatting - how to format body?

	Body	I need some help with MH. Specifically on formatting the body
	Body	of a message in a reply.
	Body
	Body	I've looked at the man pages and have figured out that
			...deleted...


If you want to tell mhl not to show a component name, use the "nocomponent"
variable.  This 'mhl.2' format file does that:

	$ cat mhl.2
	Subject:
	:
	Body:nocomponent

	$ show -form mhl.2
	Subject:  Reply formatting - how to format body?

		I need some help with MH. Specifically on formatting the body
		of a message in a reply.

		I've looked at the man pages and have figured out that
			...deleted...


You can use a different name for any component.  Do that with the
'component' variable.  The 'mhl.3' format file below displays the 'Subject:'
component as 'Subj:' and the body component as '> '.  Get the idea?

	$ cat mhl.3
	Subject:component="Subj"
	:
	Body:nocomponent,component="> "

	$ show -form mhl.3
	Subj:  Reply formatting - how to format body?

	> 	I need some help with MH. Specifically on formatting the body
	> 	of a message in a reply.
	> 
	> 	I've looked at the man pages and have figured out that
		...deleted...


I hope that helps.  BTW, the new MH 6.7 mh-format(5) man page has been
revised and expanded.  Even if you don't have 6.7, you should get that
man page!

--Jerry Peek; Syracuse University Academic Computing Services; Syracuse, NY
  jdpeek@rodan.acs.syr.edu, JDPEEK@SUNRISE.BITNET        +1 315 443-3995


> P.S.  There was a fellow a while back that said he was writing a book on
>       MH for O'reilly. Still there? A suggestion: put lots of examples
>       of these format strings in your book. I think many of us could use it.

That's me.  The book devotes a whole chapter, plus parts of other
chapters, to this topic.  I think MH formatting is *very* useful --
not only for displaying and scanning messages, but also for extracting
information from messages (in shell programming, for instance).
They're aiming to release the book in November.