mirror of
https://git.FreeBSD.org/src.git
synced 2024-12-30 12:04:07 +00:00
124 lines
3.6 KiB
Groff
124 lines
3.6 KiB
Groff
.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993
|
|
.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
|
|
.\"
|
|
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
|
|
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
|
|
.\" are met:
|
|
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
|
|
.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
|
|
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
|
|
.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
|
|
.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
|
|
.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
|
|
.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
|
|
.\" without specific prior written permission.
|
|
.\"
|
|
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
|
|
.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
|
|
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
|
|
.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
|
|
.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
|
|
.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
|
|
.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
|
|
.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
|
|
.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
|
|
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
|
|
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
|
|
.\"
|
|
.\" @(#)biff.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
|
|
.\" $FreeBSD$
|
|
.\"
|
|
.Dd April 28, 2013
|
|
.Dt BIFF 1
|
|
.Os
|
|
.Sh NAME
|
|
.Nm biff
|
|
.Nd "be notified if mail arrives and who it is from"
|
|
.Sh SYNOPSIS
|
|
.Nm
|
|
.Op Cm n | y | b
|
|
.Sh DESCRIPTION
|
|
The
|
|
.Nm
|
|
utility informs the system whether you want to be notified on your terminal
|
|
when mail arrives.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
Affected is the first terminal associated with the standard input,
|
|
standard output or standard error file descriptor, in that order.
|
|
Thus, it is possible to use the redirection facilities of a shell to
|
|
toggle the notification for other terminals than the one
|
|
.Nm
|
|
runs on.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
The following options are available:
|
|
.Bl -tag -width indent
|
|
.It Cm n
|
|
Disable notification.
|
|
.It Cm y
|
|
Enable header notification.
|
|
.It Cm b
|
|
Enable bell notification.
|
|
.El
|
|
.Pp
|
|
When header notification is enabled, the header and first few lines of
|
|
the message will be printed on your terminal whenever mail arrives.
|
|
A
|
|
.Dq "biff y"
|
|
command is often included in the file
|
|
.Pa .login
|
|
or
|
|
.Pa .profile
|
|
to be executed at each login.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
When bell notification is enabled, only two bell characters
|
|
.Tn ( ASCII
|
|
\\007)
|
|
will be printed on your terminal whenever mail arrives.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
If no arguments are given,
|
|
.Nm
|
|
displays the present notification status of the terminal to the
|
|
standard output.
|
|
.Pp
|
|
The
|
|
.Nm
|
|
utility operates asynchronously.
|
|
For synchronous notification use the
|
|
.Ev MAIL
|
|
variable of
|
|
.Xr sh 1
|
|
or the
|
|
.Va mail
|
|
variable of
|
|
.Xr csh 1 .
|
|
.Sh EXIT STATUS
|
|
The
|
|
.Nm
|
|
utility exits with one of the following values:
|
|
.Bl -tag -width indent
|
|
.It 0
|
|
Notification was enabled at the time of invocation.
|
|
.It 1
|
|
Notification was disabled at the time of invocation.
|
|
.It >1
|
|
An error occurred.
|
|
.El
|
|
.Sh COMPATIBILITY
|
|
Previous versions of the
|
|
.Nm
|
|
utility affected the terminal attached to standard error without first
|
|
trying the standard input or output devices.
|
|
.Sh SEE ALSO
|
|
.Xr csh 1 ,
|
|
.Xr mail 1 ,
|
|
.Xr sh 1 ,
|
|
.Xr comsat 8
|
|
.Sh HISTORY
|
|
The
|
|
.Nm
|
|
command appeared in
|
|
.Bx 4.0 .
|
|
It was named after the dog of Heidi Stettner.
|
|
He died
|
|
in August 1993, at 15.
|