Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bbn!uwmcsd1!ig!agate!ucbvax!HPLABS.HP.COM!hpsemc!bd
From: hpsemc!bd@HPLABS.HP.COM (bob desinger)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.mh
Subject: Re: Here's a way to expire old messages
Message-ID: <8802032148.AA24647@hpsemc.HP.COM>
Date: 3 Feb 88 21:48:53 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 40

> echo "+rm -f $x"
>       rm -f $x
> echo "+folder -push +deleted"
>       folder -push +deleted
> echo "+folder -pack"
>       folder -pack
> echo "+folder -pop"
>       folder -pop

This is pretty good, and it lets the system do the hard part of
deciding (intelligently) which messages to prune out.

You can also replace the echo lines with one line of `set -x':

	set -x
	rm -f $x
	folder -push +deleted
	folder -pack
	folder -pop

...to get the same effect (well, nearly the same effect; you'll have a
space between the first "+" and your command with the new way but
not with your original.)  You may also wish to add some `&&' tokens
on two lines:

	set -x
	rm -f $x
	folder -push +deleted &&
	folder -pack &&
	folder -pop

The double ampersand means "if this command succeeds, do the next one;
if this fails, skip the other commands."  (Newlines need not be quoted
after the &&.)  With the old way, if the `folder -push' failed, you'd
pack the current folder; with the new way, the packing will occur only
if you successfully pushed +deleted onto the stack.  If the push
fails, neither the pack nor the pop will happen.  It's a small thing,
though, especially because the erroneous action is not very destructive.

bob desinger