Sending Messages
A mail message consists of two parts: the headers and the body. The
headers are the lines at the top of the message that say "To:" and so
on. The body is the actual text of the message (what you want to say).
To send someone a message, you start with the "comp" command. This will
start up an editor called "prompter" that will prompt you to fill in the
headers. You should type the requested information for that header or
a [RETURN] to omit it. End the message by pressing [RETURN] and
typing [CTRL-D]. Here is an example:
<![CDATA[
% comp
To: morgan, jromine
Cc:
Subject: Lunch
--------
Where are you guys going for lunch on Friday? Does it
have a drive-through window?
Mary
[CTRL-D]
-------
What now? send
]]>
At the "What now ?" prompt you can type a "?" to see what commands you
can type next. One of the most useful options at this point is to edit
the draft of the message to correct any mistakes. To do this you
type:
<![CDATA[
What now ? edit emacs
]]>
This will put you in the "emacs"
editor to edit the message. If you use "vi"
or any other editor, just type "edit vi" or whatever. When you have
finished editing, just exit the editor as you would normally. You will
then get another "What now?" prompt. Here are some of the "What now"
options:
- edit editor
- Edit the message using the specified editor. When you exit, you will be back at "What now?".
- list
- Shows the message you just typed
- whom -check
- Verifies that the addresses you have used are valid as far as our system can tell
- send
- Sends the message to the recipients
- push
- Sends the message in the background
- quit
- Quits without sending the message. Saves the text of the message as a "draft". Type comp -use to get back to that draft later.
- quit -delete
- Quit, throwing away the draft
Make sure you are happy with your message before typing "send". There is
no way to recall a message once it has been sent.
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