FORW(1)

NAME
forw - forward messages

SYNOPSIS
forw [+folder] [msgs] [-annotate] [-noannotate] [-draftfolder +folder] [-draftmessage msg] [-nodraftfolder] [-editor editor] [-noedit] [-filter filterfile] [-form formfile] [-format] [-noformat] [-inplace] [-noinplace] [-mime] [-nomime] [-whatnowproc program] [-nowhatnowproc] [-help]
forw [+folder] [msgs] [-digest list] [-issue number] [-volume number] [other switches for forw] [-help]

DESCRIPTION
Forw may be used to prepare a message containing other messages. It constructs the new message from the components file or `-form formfile' (see comp ), with a body composed of the message(s) to be forwarded. An editor is invoked as in comp, and after editing is complete, the user is prompted before the message is sent. The default message form contains the following elements:
To:
cc:
Subject:
--------
If the file named "forwcomps" exists in the user's MH directory, it will be used instead of this form. In either case, the file specified by `-form formfile' will be used if given. If the draft already exists, forw will ask you as to the disposition of the draft. A reply of quit will abort forw, leaving the draft intact; replace will replace the existing draft with a blank skeleton; and list will display the draft. If the `-annotate' switch is given, each message being forwarded will be annotated with the lines
     Forwarded: date
     Forwarded: addrs where each address list contains as many lines as required. This annotation will be done only if the message is sent directly from forw. If the message is not sent immediately from forw, "comp -use" may be used to re-edit and send the constructed message, but the annotations won't take place. The '-inplace' switch causes annotation to be done in place in order to preserve links to the annotated message. See comp (1) for a description of the `-editor' and `-noedit' switches. Although forw uses the `-form formfile' switch to direct it how to construct the beginning of the draft, the `-filter filterfile', `-format', and `-noformat' switches direct forw as to how each forwarded message should be formatted in the body of the draft. If `-noformat' is specified, then each forwarded message is output exactly as it appears. If `-format' or `-filter filterfile' is specified, then each forwarded message is filtered (re-formatted) prior to being output to the body of the draft. The filter file for forw should be a standard form file for mhl, as forw will invoke mhl to format the forwarded messages. The default message filter (what you get with `-format') is:
width=80,overflowtext=,overflowoffset=10
leftadjust,compress,compwidth=9
Date:formatfield="%<(nodate{text})%{text}%|%(tws{text})%>"
From:
To:
cc:
Subject:
:
body:nocomponent,overflowoffset=0,noleftadjust,nocompress
If the file named "mhl.forward" exists in the user's MH directory, it will be used instead of this form. In either case, the file specified by `-filter filterfile' will be used if given. To summarize: `-noformat' will reproduce each forwarded message exactly, `-format' will use mhl and a default filterfile, "mhl.forward", to format each forwarded message, and `-filter filterfile' will use the named filterfile to format each forwarded message with mhl. Each forwarded message is separated with an encapsulation delimiter and dashes in the first column of the forwarded messages will be prepended with `- ' so that when received, the message is suitable for bursting by burst (1). This follows the Internet RFC-934 guidelines. For users of prompter (1), by specifying prompter's `-prepend' switch in the .mh_profile file, any commentary text is entered before the forwarded messages. (A major win!) To use the MIME rules for encapsulation, specify the `-mime' switch. This directs forw to generate an mhn composition file. Note that MH will not invoke mhn automatically, unless you add this line to your .mh_profile file:

automhnproc: mhn

Otherwise, you must specifically give the command

What now? edit mhn

prior to sending the draft. To automate this somewhat, create a link to prompter called rapid and put these lines in your .mh_profile file:

forw: -editor rapid -mime
rapid: -rapid
rapid-next: mhn

Then, you can simply do:

forw msgs
To: mailbox
cc:
Subject: whatever
--------Enter initial text
blah, blah, blah.
<CTRL-D>
--------
What now? edit
What now? send

The edit command invokes mhn automatically. The `-draftfolder +folder' and `-draftmessage msg' switches invoke the MH draft folder facility. This is an advanced (and highly useful) feature. Consult the Advanced Features section of the MH manual for more information. Upon exiting from the editor, forw will invoke the whatnow program. See whatnow (1) for a discussion of available options. The invocation of this program can be inhibited by using the `-nowhatnowproc' switch. (In truth of fact, it is the whatnow program which starts the initial edit. Hence, `-nowhatnowproc' will prevent any edit from occurring.) The `-digest list', `-issue number', and `-volume number' switches implement a digest facility for MH. Specifying these switches enables and/or overloads the following escapes:

Type	Escape	Returns	Description
component	digest	string	Argument to `-digest'
function	cur	integer	Argument to `-volume'
function	msg	integer	Argument to `-issue'
Consult the Advanced Features section of the MH User's Manual for more information on making digests.
/usr/local/lib/mh/forwcomps    The message skeleton
or <mh-dir>/forwcomps    Rather than the standard skeleton
/usr/local/lib/mh/digestcomps    The message skeleton if `-digest' is given
or <mh-dir>/digestcomps    Rather than the standard skeleton
/usr/local/lib/mh/mhl.forward    The message filter
or <mh-dir>/mhl.forward    Rather than the standard filter
$HOME/.mh_profile    The user profile
<mh-dir>/draft    The draft file
Path:    To determine the user's MH directory
Current-Folder:    To find the default current folder
Draft-Folder:    To find the default draft-folder
Editor:    To override the default editor
Msg-Protect:    To set mode when creating a new message (draft)
fileproc:    Program to refile the message
mhlproc:    Program to filter messages being forwarded
whatnowproc:    Program to ask the "What now?" questions
Proposed Standard for Message Encapsulation (aka RFC-934),
comp(1), dist(1), repl(1), send(1), whatnow(1), mh-format(5) `+folder' defaults to the current folder `msgs' defaults to cur `-noannotate' `-nodraftfolder' `-noformat' `-noinplace' `-nomime' If a folder is given, it will become the current folder. The first message forwarded will become the current message. If whatnowproc is whatnow, then forw uses a built-in whatnow, it does not actually run the whatnow program. Hence, if you define your own whatnowproc, don't call it whatnow since forw won't run it. When forw is told to annotate the messages it forwards, it doesn't actually annotate them until the draft is successfully sent. If from the whatnowproc, you push instead of send, it's possible to confuse forw by re-ordering the file (e.g., by using `folder -pack') before the message is successfully sent. Dist and repl don't have this problem. To avoid prepending the leading dash characters in forwarded messages, there is a `-nodashmunging' option. See the "Hidden Features" section of the MH Administrator's Guide for more details.