prompter

PROMPTER(1)                                                        PROMPTER(1)

NAME

       prompter - prompting editor front-end for nmh

SYNOPSIS

       prompter  [-erase chr]  [-kill chr]  [-prepend]  [-noprepend]  [-rapid]
            [-norapid] [-doteof] [-nodoteof] file [-version] [-help]

DESCRIPTION

       Prompter is an editor front-end for nmh which allows rapid  composition
       of  messages.   This  program is not normally invoked directly by users
       but takes the place of an editor and acts as an editor  front-end.   It
       operates  on an RFC-822 style message draft skeleton specified by file,
       normally provided by the nmh commands comp, dist, forw, or repl.

       Prompter is particularly useful when composing messages over slow  net-
       work  or modem lines.  It is an nmh program in that it can have its own
       profile entry with switches, but it is  not  invoked  directly  by  the
       user.   The  commands  comp, dist, forw, and repl invoke prompter as an
       editor, either when invoked with `-editor prompter', or by the  profile
       entry  "Editor: prompter", or when given the command `edit prompter' at
       the "What now?" prompt.

       For each empty component prompter finds  in  the  draft,  the  user  is
       prompted  for  a response; A <RETURN> will cause the whole component to
       be left out.  Otherwise, a `\' preceding a <RETURN> will  continue  the
       response on the next line, allowing for multiline components.  Continu-
       ation lines must begin with a space or tab.

       Each non-empty component is copied to the draft and  displayed  on  the
       terminal.

       The  start  of the message body is denoted by a blank line or a line of
       dashes.  If the body is non-empty, the prompt, which isn't  written  to
       the file, is

           "--------Enter additional text",

       or (if `-prepend' was given)

           "--------Enter initial text".

       Message-body typing is terminated with an end-of-file (usually CTRL-D).
       With the `-doteof' switch, a period on a line all by itself also signi-
       fies  end-of-file.   At  this  point control is returned to the calling
       program, where the user is asked "What  now?".   See  whatnow  for  the
       valid options to this query.

       By  using the `-prepend' switch, the user can add type-in to the begin-
       ning of the message body and have the rest of the body follow.  This is
       useful for the forw command.

       By using the `-rapid' switch, if the draft already contains text in the
       message-body, it is not displayed on the user's terminal.  This is use-
       ful for low-speed terminals.

       The  line editing characters for kill and erase may be specified by the
       user via the arguments `-kill chr' and `-erase chr', where chr may be a
       character; or `\nnn', where "nnn" is the octal value for the character.

       An interrupt  (usually  CTRL-C)  during  component  typing  will  abort
       prompter and the nmh command that invoked it.  An interrupt during mes-
       sage-body typing is equivalent to CTRL-D, for historical reasons.  This
       means that prompter should finish up and exit.

       The  first  non-flag  argument  to prompter is taken as the name of the
       draft file, and subsequent non-flag arguments are ignored.

FILES

       $HOME/.mh_profile                    The user profile
       /tmp/prompter*                       Temporary copy of message

PROFILE COMPONENTS

       prompter-next:       To name the editor to be used on exit from prompter
       Msg-Protect:         To set mode when creating a new draft

SEE ALSO

       comp(1), dist(1), forw(1), repl(1), whatnow(1)

DEFAULTS

       `-prepend'
       `-norapid'
       `-nodoteof'

CONTEXT

       None

HELPFUL HINTS

       The `-rapid' option is particularly useful with forw, and  `-noprepend'
       is useful with comp -use.

       The  user may wish to link prompter under several names (e.g., "rapid")
       and give appropriate switches in the profile entries under these  names
       (e.g.,  "rapid:  -rapid").   This facilitates invoking prompter differ-
       ently for different nmh commands (e.g., "forw: -editor rapid").

BUGS

       Prompter uses stdio (3), so it will lose if you edit files  with  nulls
       in them.



[nmh-1.0.4]                         MH.6.8                         PROMPTER(1)