Pine Technical Notes: Command Line Arguments

# Command Line Arguments

## Pine

Pine and PC-Pine can accept quite a few command-line arguments. Many of these arguments overlap with variables in the Pine configuration file. If there is a difference, then a flag set in the command line takes precedence. Both Pine and PC-Pine expect command line arguments (other than addresses) to be preceded by the "-" (dash) as normally used by UNIX programs.

[address]
  Send-to: If you put a string (or strings) without a preceding dash in the command line, Pine reads them as email addresses. Pine will startup in the composer with a message started to the person/people specified. Once the message is sent, the Pine session closes.

< file
  Pine will startup in the composer with file read into the body of the message. Once the message is sent, the Pine session closes.

-a
  Special anonymous mode for UWIN*.

-attach file
  Go directly into composer with given file attached.

-attach_and_delete file
  Go directly into composer with given file attached, delete when finished.

-attachlist file-list
  Go directly into composer with given files attached. This must be the last option on the command line.

-bail
  If the personal configuration file doesn't already exist, exit.

-c n
  When used with the `-f` option, apply the nth context. This is used when there are multiple folder collections and you want to open a folder not in the primary collection.

-conf
  Configuration: Prints a sample system configuration file to the screen or standard output. To generate an initial system configuration file, execute

      		pine -conf > /usr/local/lib/pine.conf

  To generate a system configuration file using settings from an old system configuration file, execute

      		pine -P old-pine.conf -conf > /usr/local/lib/pine.conf

-create_lu addrbook sort-order
  Create auxiliary index (LookUp) file for addrbook and sort addrbook in sort-order, which may be dont-sort, nickname, fullname, nickname-with-lists-last, or fullname-with-lists-last. Only useful when creating global or shared address books. See Address Book Lookup File for more information, especially the warning about copying the address book after creating the lookup file.

-d debug-level
  Debug Level: Sets the level of debugging information written by Pine. debug-level can be set to any integer 0-9. A debug level of 0 turns off debugging for the session. (Actually there are some levels higher than 9, now, but you probably don't want to see them.)

-d keywords
  You may use a more detailed version of the debugging flag to set the debug level in separate parts of Pine. The possibilities are flush, timestamp, imap=0..4, numfiles=0..31, verbose=0..9. Flush causes debugging information to be flushed immediately to the debug file as it is written. Verbose is the general debugging verbosity level. Timestamp causes timestamps to be added to the debug file, which is useful when you are trying to figure out who is responsible for delays. Numfiles sets the number of debug files saved. Imap sets the debug level for the debugging statements related to the conversation with the IMAP server, and more generally, for the debugging related to Pine's interaction with the C-Client library.

-f folder
  Startup folder: Pine will open this folder in place of the standard INBOX.

-F file
  Open named text file and view with Pine's browser.

-h
  Help: Prints the list of available command-line arguments to the screen.

-i
  Pine will start up in the FOLDER INDEX screen instead of the MAIN MENU.

  Configuration equivalent: initial-keystroke-list=i

-I a,b,c,...
  Initial Keystrokes: Pine will execute this comma-separated sequence of commands upon startup. This allows users to get Pine to start in any of its menus/screens. You cannot include any input to the composer in the initial keystrokes. The key <Return> is represented by a ``CR'' in the keystroke list; the spacebar is designated by the letters ``SPACE''. Control keys are two character sequences beginning with ``^'', such as ``^I''. A tab character is ``TAB''. Function keys are ``F1'' - ``F12'' and the arrow keys are ``UP'', ``DOWN'', ``LEFT'', and ``RIGHT''. A restriction is that you can't mix function keys and character keys in this list even though you can, in some cases, mix them when running Pine. A user can always use only character keys in the startup list even if he or she is using function keys normally, or vice versa. If an element in this list is a string surrounded by double quotes (") then it will be expanded into the individual characters in the string, excluding the double quotes.

  Configuration equivalent: initial-keystroke-list

-k
  Function-Key Mode: When invoked in this way, Pine expects the input of commands to be function-keys. Otherwise, commands are linked to the regular character keys. This option supported only in conjunction with UW Enhanced NCSA telnet.

  Configuration equivalent: use-function-keys included in feature-list.

-n n
  Message-Number: When specified, Pine starts up in the FOLDER INDEX screen with the current message being the designated message number.

-nr
  Special mode for UWIN*.

-o folder
  Opens the INBOX (or a folder specified via the -f argument) ReadOnly.

-p file
  Uses the named file as the personal configuration file instead of ~/.pinerc or the default PINERC search sequence PC-Pine uses.

-P file
  Uses the named file as the system wide configuration file instead of /usr/local/lib/pine.conf. UNIX Pine only.

-pinerc file
  Output fresh pinerc configuration to file, preserving the settings of variables that the user has made. Use file set to ``-'' to make output go to standard out.

-r
  Restricted Mode: For UNIX Pine only. Pine in restricted mode can only send email to itself. Save and export are limited.

-sort key
  Sort-Key: Specifies the order messages will be displayed in for the FOLDER INDEX screen. Key can have the following values: arrival, date, subject, orderedsubj, from, size, score, to, cc, arrival/reverse, date/reverse, subject/reverse, orderedsubj/reverse, from/reverse, size/reverse, score/reverse, to/reverse, and cc/reverse. The default value is "arrival". The key value reverse is equivalent to arrival/reverse.

  Configuration equivalent: sort-key.

-url url
  Open the given URL.

-z
  Enable Suspend: When run with this flag, the key sequence ctrl-z will suspend the Pine session.

  Configuration equivalent: enable-suspend included in feature-list.

-option=value
  Assign value to the config option option. For example, -signature-file=sig1 or -feature-list=signature-at-bottom (Note: feature-list values are additive and features may be preceded with no- to turn them off).

* UWIN = University of Washington Information Navigator

## Pico

The following command line options are supported in Pico:

+n
  Causes Pico to be started with the cursor located n lines into the file. (Note: no space between "+" sign and number)

-d
  Rebind the "delete" key so the character the cursor is on is rubbed out rather than the character to its left.

-e
  Enable file name completion.

-f
  Use function keys for commands. This option supported only in conjunction with UW Enhanced NCSA telnet.

-g
  Enable "Show Cursor" mode in file browser. Cause cursor to be positioned before the current selection rather than placed at the lower left of the display.

-k
  Causes "Cut Text" command to remove characters from the cursor position to the end of the line rather than remove the entire line.

-m
  Enable mouse functionality. This only works when Pico is run from within an X Window System "xterm" window.

-nn
  The -nn option enables new mail notification. The n argument is optional, and specifies how often, in seconds, your mailbox is checked for new mail. For example, -n60 causes Pico to check for new mail once every minute. The default interval is 180 seconds, while the minimum allowed is 30. (Note: no space between "n" and the number)

-o dir
  Sets operating directory. Only files within this directory are accessible. Likewise, the file browser is limited to the specified directory subtree.

-rn
  Sets column used to limit the "Justify" command's right margin.

-t
  Enable "tool" mode. Intended for when Pico is used as the editor within other tools (e.g., Elm, Pnews). Pico will not prompt for save on exit, and will not rename the buffer during the "Write Out" command.

-v
  View the file only, disallowing any editing.

-w
  Disable word wrap (thus allow editing of long lines).

  Note: Pico will break any lines over 255 characters when reading a file, regardless of word wrapping.

-x
  Disable keymenu at the bottom of the screen.

-z
  Enable ^Z suspension of Pico.

## Pilot

The following command line options are supported in Pilot:

-a
  Display all files including those beginning with a period (.).

-f
  Use function keys for commands. This option supported only in conjunction with UW Enhanced NCSA telnet.

-g
  Enable "Show Cursor" mode. Cause cursor to be positioned before the current selection rather than placed at the lower left of the display.

-m
  Enable mouse functionality. This only works when Pilot is run from within an X Window System "xterm" window.

-nn
  The -nn option enables new mail notification. The n argument is optional, and specifies how often, in seconds, your mailbox is checked for new mail. For example, -n60 causes Pilot to check for new mail once every minute. The default interval is 180 seconds, while the minimum allowed is 30. (Note: no space between "n" and the number)

-o dir
  Sets operating directory. Only files within the specified directory are accessible and browsing is limited to the specified directory subtree.

-v
  Enable single vertical column display.

-x
  Disable keymenu at the bottom of the screen.

-z
  Enable ^Z suspension of Pilot.