NAME¶

mboxgrep - displays email messages matching a pattern

SYNOPSIS¶

mboxgrep [OPTIONS] PATTERN [MAILBOX]

DESCRIPTION¶

This manual page refers to mboxgrep version 0.7.9.

mboxgrep scans a MAILBOX and displays messages matching PATTERN.

If a mailbox name is omitted, or a single dash (-) is given instead, it reads from standard input. It can read mbox folders or output from another mboxgrep process from standard input.

mboxgrep understands POSIX regular expressions, as well as Perl compatible regular expressions (if enabled at compile time). MAILBOX can be either a:

•

mbox folder (either plain or compressed)

•

MH folder

•

Gnus nnmh or nnml folder

•

qmail-style maildir folder

OPTIONS¶

-h, --help

Display a help screen and exit.

-V, --version

Display version and copyright information and exit.

-r, --recursive

Descend into directories recursively.

-E, --extended-regexp

PATTERN is an extended regular expression. This is default.

-G, --basic-regexp

PATTERN is a basic regular expression.

-P, --perl-regexp

PATTERN is a Perl regular expression. Works only if enabled at compile time.

-e, --regexp=PATTERN

Use PATTERN as a regular expression.

-i, --ignore-case

Ignore case distinctions.

-v, --invert-match

Select messages which don't match PATTERN.

-H, --headers

Match PATTERN against message headers.

-B, --body

Match PATTERN against message body.

-l, --file-lock=METHOD

Select file locking METHOD. METHOD is `fcntl', `flock', or `none'.

-nl, --no-file-lock

Do not lock files. This option is meaningful only if a mbox folder (see below) is scanned.

-c, --count

Suppress normal output and print a count of matching messages.

-o, --output=FOLDER

Suppress normal output and write messages to destination folder FOLDER instead.

-p, --pipe=COMMAND

Pipe each found message to COMMAND

-d, --delete

Suppress normal output and delete selected messages instead. Use with caution.

-nd, --no-duplicates

Ignore duplicate messages.

-m, --mailbox-format=TYPE

Select input and output mailbox TYPE. TYPE can be either `mbox' (default), `zmbox' (meaning `gzip compressed mbox'), `bz2mbox' (meaning `bzip2 compressed mbox'), `mh', `nnml', `nnmh' or `maildir'.

EXAMPLES¶

•

Search $MAIL for messages from Dirty Harry:

mboxgrep '^From:.*callahan@homicide\.SFPD\.gov' $MAIL

•

Display all messages contained in folder ~/Mail/incoming, except those that appear to originate from AOL:

mboxgrep -v 'Received:.*aol\.com' ~/Mail/incoming

BUGS¶

Report them to address below.

NOTICE¶

Mboxgrep was almost completely rewritten since version 0.5.3. Additionally, there was no stable 0.6.x branch between 0.5.3 and 0.7.0.

SEE ALSO¶

grep(1), regex(7), perlre(1), mbox(5), RFC 2822

DEDICATION¶

Mboxgrep is dedicated in loving memory of Vicky, my cat who died of tumor on Sep 12, 2002.

You haven't been long with us, but you gave us a lot of joy and all your big heart that stopped ticking too early. I will never forget you. Sleep well, little friend.

URL¶

http://www.mboxgrep.org/

AUTHOR¶

Daniel Spiljar <dspiljar@world.std.com>