Columbia MM
MM Manual

SEEING THE SETTINGS OF MM'S VARIABLES

Some of the operation of MM is controlled by variables. MM was designed with variables so that you could change some of the things it does to match your preferences.

SEEING CURRENT SETTINGS

To see a list of variables, use the show command. If you type just show, you will see a series of set commands that show each variable and its current setting. At the end, you also see define commands if you have created any mail-aliases with define.


MM>show
set aliases-use-groups no
set append-signature never
set auto-startup-get yes
set autowrap-column -7
set browse-clear-screen yes
set browse-pause yes
set check-interval 300
set clear-screen yes
set continuous-check no
set control-d-automatic-send no
set control-e-editor yes
set control-l-confirm no
set control-n-abort ask
set crt-filter /usr/ucb/more -d
set default-bcc-list
set default-cc-list
set default-fcc-list
set default-from
set default-mail-type mbox
set default-read-command next
...

If you type show ? with a question mark, you see a list of mail-aliases (if you created any) and variables without their values.


MM>show ? confirm with carriage return
  or mail alias, one of the following:
  or variable, one of the following:
 aliases-use-groups         append-new-mail            append-signature
 auto-create-files          auto-startup-get           autowrap-column
 browse-clear-screen        browse-pause               check-interval
 clear-screen               continuous-check           control-d-automatic-send
 control-e-editor           control-l-confirm          control-n-abort
 crt-filter                 default-bcc-list           default-cc-list
...

Lastly, the show command can also be used to see the current setting of any specific variable.


MM>show aliases-use-groups
set aliases-use-groups no
MM>

DESCRIPTIONS OF VARIABLES

For information about what any variable does, use the command help set and the name of a variable.


MM>help set aliases-use-groups
SET ALIASES-USE-GROUPS NO/yes  -  whether to show mail-aliases in sent mail

With the usual NO setting, if you use a mail-alias when you type in an
  address, it is changed in the outgoing mail to show the real addresses.
  If the mail-alias was for a list of addresses, the people receiving
  your mail will see who else got the message, and be able to send replies
  (or regular mail) to the other people.

If you change it to YES, the people receiving your mail will see only the
  mail-alias in the address.  This might be desirable if it is a long list
  of addresses that would appear as a very long header field.

For more help, type "help" and one of the following:
(at any prompt:)  save-init   set   show   define   who

DEFAULT SETTINGS

The variables all have what are called default settings. A default, in general, is the value of a variable in the absence of any specific instruction. If you have never changed any variables, all the values shown by show are the defaults.

The values are of two basic types:

yes-no: Many variables are yes-no in nature. They determine that some feature is or is not used, or some action is or is not to be done. They take values yes (or always or true, meaning the same thing) or no (or never or false). Some take a third possible value, ask, which means MM will prompt you for a yes or no each time it checks the variable.
string: Other variables take a string, such as an address, a filename, a word or a number. Of these, some default to a particular value, and some default to null (nothing).

To determine what values are possible, see the help screen (help set and the variable name), which describes the purpose of the variable. The help screen also states what the default is (the usual value), so that if you changed the variable, you can see how to change it back.

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