fmttest - Man Page

The -format string and -form formatfile specify a format string or file to read. A format string, if given, must be a single argument to the -format switch.  If a format file name is passed to the -form, switch, the file is searched for using the normal nmh rules: absolute pathnames are accessed directly, tilde expansion is done on usernames, and files are searched for in the user's Mail directory as specified in their profile.  If not found there, the directory “/etc/nmh” is checked.

fmttest has four operating modes - address, raw, date, and message - which are selected by the -address, -raw, -date, and -message switches, respectively.

Address mode treats every argument as an email address to be processed by nmh's email parser using the specified format program. The parsed address is made available as a special %{text} component escape, and the output from the program is printed on standard output. If there was an error parsing the email address the error message is stored in the %{error} component escape.  If no format program is given on the command line, the following default program is used:

%<{error}%{error}: %{text}%|%(putstr(proper{text}))%>

Address mode is equivalent to ap(8).

In raw mode, no processing of the specified arguments is done.  Each argument is run against the specified format program with the argument text available in the %{text} component.  You must specify a format with -form or -format when using raw mode.

Date mode is identical to raw mode, with one exception: if no format is specified, the following format string is used:

%<(nodate{text})error: %{text}%|%(putstr(pretty{text}))%>

Date mode is equivalent to dp(8).

In message mode the arguments to fmttest are interpreted as an optional folder and messages. fmttest will read each specified message and make all of the components in the message available to the format program.  Also, the appropriate information for the %(msg), %(cur), %(unseen), and %(size) function escapes will be made available for each message.  If the -file switch is given, the arguments are interpreted as filenames instead of message numbers, but otherwise the behavior is the same (except that the %(msg), %(cur), and %(unseen) function escapes will not provide any useful information).

The default format used in address mode is the default format used by scan. The following command can replicate the functionality of the repl command.

fmttest -nodupaddrs -form replcomps -outsize max [+folder] message

Regardless of the mode, other components can be provided to the format program by the use of the --component switch.  For example, the following program will test the use of the “encrypted” component:

fmttest --encrypted yes -message cur

In message mode, components supplied on the command line will override components from messages.

The -dupaddrs and -nodupaddrs switches control whether duplicate addresses are allowed or suppressed by the FORMATADDR instruction, which is used by the `%(formataddr)' function escape.  In normal operation duplicate addresses are only suppressed by repl.

The -ccme and -noccme switches control whether or not to count the user's local mailbox as a duplicate address.  This replicates the behavior of the -cc me switch to repl, and only applies if -nodupaddrs is in effect.

The -outsize switch controls the maximum number of printable characters that the format engine will produce.  Characters marked as non-printing by the format engine with `%(zputlit)', characters with zero width, and extra bytes that are part of a multibyte character are not counted against this total. Two special values are supported: “max”, which means as many characters as the format engine can produce (limited by internal buffers), and “width”, which will set the value to the width of the terminal.  In message mode it defaults to “width”, otherwise the default is “max”.

The -width switch controls the column width which is used by the `%(width)' function escape.  It defaults to the terminal width.

The -msgnum, -msgcur, -msgsize, and the -unseen switches all control the values used, respectively, by the following function escapes: `%(num)', `%(cur)', `%(size)', and `%(unseen)'. If none are supplied, these values are taken from the message in message mode; in all other modes the default values are 0.

The -dump switch outputs the complete set of format instructions for the specified format program.  The -trace switch will output each format instruction as it is being executed, and show the values of the num and str registers if they have changed from the previous instruction. The output buffer is also printed if it has changed from the previous instruction.

It should be noted that there is not a one-to-one correspondence between format escapes and format instructions; many instructions have side effects.  Instructions prefixed with “LV” generally return a integer into the num (value) register; instructions prefixed with a “LS” return a string into the str register.

The LV_DAT instruction is a bit special.  Callers of the format library pass in an array of integers that are used by certain format escapes.  The current list of format escapes and the indexes they use are: