1<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Alpine Technical Notes: Command Line Arguments</TITLE></HEAD><BODY> 2<H1>Command Line Arguments</H1> 3 4<H2><A NAME="alpine">Alpine</A></H2> 5 6<EM>Alpine</EM> and <EM>PC-Alpine</EM> can accept quite a few 7command-line arguments. 8Many of these arguments overlap with variables 9in the <EM>Alpine</EM> configuration file. 10If there is a difference, then a flag set in the command line takes precedence. 11Both <EM>Alpine</EM> and <EM>PC-Alpine</EM> expect command line arguments (other 12than addresses) to be 13preceded by the "-" (dash) as normally used by UNIX programs. 14<P> 15 16<DL COMPACT> 17 18<DT> <EM>[addresses]</EM> 19 20<DD> Send-to: If you give <EM>Alpine</EM> an argument or arguments which 21do not begin with a dash, <EM>Alpine</EM> treats them as email addresses. 22<EM>Alpine</EM> will startup in 23the composer with a message started to the addresses specified. 24Once the message is sent, the <EM>Alpine</EM> session closes. 25Standard input redirection is allowed. 26Separate multiple addresses with a space between them. 27Addresses are placed in the "To" field only. 28<P> 29 30<DT> < <EM>file</EM> 31 32<DD> <EM>Alpine</EM> will startup in the composer with <EM>file</EM> read 33into the body of the message. 34Once the message is sent, the <EM>Alpine</EM> session closes. 35<P> 36 37<DT> -attach <EM>file</EM> 38 39<DD> Go directly into composer with given file attached. 40<P> 41 42<DT> -attachlist <EM>file-list</EM> 43 44<DD> Go directly into composer with given files attached. 45This must be the last option on the command line. 46<P> 47 48<DT> -attach_and_delete <EM>file</EM> 49 50<DD> Go directly into composer with given file attached, delete when finished. 51<P> 52 53<DT> -aux <EM>local_directory</EM> 54 55<DD> <EM>PC-Alpine</EM> only. 56This tells <EM>PC-Alpine</EM> the local directory to use for storing auxiliary 57files, like debug files, address books, and signature files. The pinerc may 58be local or remote. 59<P> 60 61<DT> -nosplash 62 63<DD> <EM>PC-Alpine</EM> only. 64This tells <EM>PC-Alpine</EM> to not display the splash screen upon startup. 65This may be helpful for certain troubleshooting or terminal server scenarios. 66<P> 67 68<DT> -bail 69 70<DD> If the personal configuration file doesn't already exist, exit. 71This might be useful if the configuration file is accessed using some 72remote filesystem protocol. If the remote mount is missing this will cause 73<EM>Alpine</EM> to quit instead of creating a new pinerc. 74<P> 75 76<DT> -c <EM>n</EM> 77 78<DD> When used with the <CODE>-f</CODE> option, apply the <EM>n</EM>th context. 79This is used when there are multiple folder collections (contexts) and you 80want to open a folder not in the primary collection. 81<P> 82 83<DT> -conf 84 85<DD> Configuration: Prints a sample system configuration file to the 86screen or standard output. To generate an initial system configuration 87file, execute 88 89<PRE><CODE> 90 alpine -conf > /usr/local/lib/pine.conf 91</CODE></PRE> 92<P> 93 94To generate a system configuration file using settings from an old 95system configuration file, execute 96 97<PRE><CODE> 98 alpine -P old-pine.conf -conf > /usr/local/lib/pine.conf 99</CODE></PRE> 100<P> 101A system configuration file is not required. 102<P> 103 104<DT> -convert_sigs <EM>-p pinerc</EM> 105 106<DD> Convert signatures contained in signature files into literal signatures. 107<P> 108 109<DT> <A NAME="copy_abook">-copy_abook <EM><local_abook_file> <remote_abook_folder></EM> 110 111<DD> Copy an address book file to a remote address book folder. 112If the remote folder doesn't exist, it will be created. 113If it exists but the first message in the folder isn't a remote address 114book header message, the copy will be aborted. 115This flag will not usually be used by a user. 116Instead, the user will create a remote address book from within <EM>Alpine</EM> 117and copy entries from the local address book by using aggregate Save in 118the address book screen. 119<P> 120 121<DT> <A NAME="copy_pinerc">-copy_pinerc <EM><local_pinerc_file> <remote_pinerc_folder></EM> 122 123<DD> Copy a pinerc configuration file to a remote pinerc folder. 124If the remote folder doesn't exist, it will be created. 125If it exists but the first message in the folder isn't a remote pinerc 126header message, the copy will be aborted. 127This flag may be useful to users who already have a local pinerc file and 128would like to convert it to a remote pinerc folder and use that instead. 129This gives a way to bootstrap that conversion without having to manually 130reset all of the variables in the remote pinerc folder. 131<P> 132 133<DT> -d <EM>debug-level</EM> 134 135<DD> Debug Level: Sets the level of debugging information written by 136<EM>Alpine</EM>. 137<EM>Debug-level</EM> can be set to any integer 0-9. 138A debug level of 0 turns off debugging for the session. 139(Actually there are some levels higher than 9, but you probably don't 140want to see them. Sensitive authentication information is hidden at 141levels less than 10.) 142<P> 143 144<DT> -d <EM>keywords</EM> 145 146<DD> You may use a more detailed version of the debugging flag to set 147the debug level in separate parts of <EM>Alpine</EM>. 148The possibilities are flush, timestamp, imap=0..4, tcp, numfiles=0..31, and 149verbose=0..9. 150<EM>Flush</EM> causes debugging information to be flushed immediately to 151the debug file as it is written. 152<EM>Verbose</EM> is the general debugging verbosity level. 153<EM>Timestamp</EM> causes timestamps to be added to the debug file, which 154is useful when you are trying to figure out what is responsible for delays. 155<EM>Numfiles</EM> sets the number of debug files saved. 156<EM>Imap</EM> sets the debug level for the debugging statements related 157to the conversation with the IMAP server, and more generally, for the 158debugging related to <EM>Alpine</EM>'s interaction with the C-Client library. 159If <EM>imap</EM> is set higher than 4, sensitive authentication information 160will be included in the debug file. 161<EM>Tcp</EM> adds more TCP/IP debugging information. 162<P> 163 164<DT> -f <EM>folder</EM> 165 166<DD> Startup folder: <EM>Alpine</EM> will open this folder in place 167of the standard INBOX. 168<P> 169 170<DT> -F <EM>file</EM> 171 172<DD> Open named text file for viewing and forwarding. 173<P> 174 175<DT> -h 176 177<DD> Help: Prints the list of available command-line arguments to the 178screen. 179<P> 180 181<DT> -i 182 183<DD> <EM>Alpine</EM> will start up in the FOLDER INDEX 184screen instead of the MAIN MENU. 185<P> 186 187Configuration equivalent: <EM>initial-keystroke-list=i</EM>. 188<P> 189 190<DT> -I <EM>a,b,c,...</EM> 191 192<DD> Initial Keystrokes: <EM>Alpine</EM> will execute this comma-separated 193sequence of commands upon startup. 194This allows users to get <EM>Alpine</EM> to start in any 195of its menus/screens. 196You cannot include any input to the composer in the initial keystrokes. 197The key <Return> is represented by a ``CR'' in 198the keystroke list; the spacebar is designated by the letters ``SPACE''. 199Control keys are two character sequences beginning with ``^'', such as 200``^I''. 201A tab character is ``TAB''. 202Function keys are ``F1'' - ``F12'' and the arrow keys are ``UP'', 203``DOWN'', ``LEFT'', and ``RIGHT''. 204A restriction is that you can't mix function keys and character keys in this 205list even though you can, in some cases, mix them when running <EM>Alpine</EM>. 206A user can always use only <EM>character</EM> keys in the startup list even 207if he or she is using <EM>function</EM> keys normally, or vice versa. 208If an element in this list is a string of characters surrounded by double 209quotes (") then it will be expanded into the individual characters in 210the string, excluding the double quotes. 211<P> 212 213Configuration equivalent: <EM>initial-keystroke-list</EM> 214<P> 215 216<DT> -install 217 218<DD> For <EM>PC-Alpine</EM> only, this option prompts for some basic 219setup information, then exits. 220<P> 221 222<DT> -k 223 224<DD> Function-Key Mode: When invoked in this way, <EM>Alpine</EM> expects 225the input of commands to be function-keys. 226Otherwise, commands are linked to the regular character keys. 227<P> 228 229Configuration equivalent: <EM>use-function-keys</EM> included in 230<EM>feature-list</EM>. 231<P> 232 233<DT> -n <EM>n</EM> 234 235<DD> Message-Number: When specified, <EM>Alpine</EM> starts up in the 236FOLDER INDEX screen with the current message being the specified 237message number. 238<P> 239 240<DT> -nowrite_password_cache 241 242<DD> This tells <EM>Alpine</EM> to use the local password cache if there is one, but to 243never offer writing new passwords to the cache. 244<P> 245 246<DT> -o <EM>folder</EM> 247 248<DD> Opens the INBOX (or a folder specified via the -f argument) ReadOnly. 249<P> 250 251<DT> -p <EM>pinerc</EM> 252 253<DD> Uses the named file as the personal configuration file instead of 254<EM>~/.pinerc</EM> or the default PINERC search sequence <EM>PC-Alpine</EM> uses. 255Pinerc may be either a local file or a remote configuration folder. 256<P> 257 258<DT> -P <EM>pinerc</EM> 259 260<DD> Uses the named file as the system wide configuration file instead of 261<EM>/usr/local/lib/pine.conf</EM> on UNIX, or nothing on <EM>PC-Alpine</EM>. 262Pinerc may be either a local file or a remote configuration folder. 263<P> 264 265<DT> -passfile <EM>passfile</EM> 266 267<DD> This tells <EM>Alpine</EM> what file should be used as the password file. 268This should be a fully-qualified filename. 269<P> 270 271<DT> -pinerc <EM>file</EM> 272 273<DD> Output fresh pinerc configuration to <EM>file</EM>, preserving the 274settings of variables that the user has made. 275Use <EM>file</EM> set to ``-'' to make output go to standard out. 276<P> 277 278<DT> -r 279 280<DD> Restricted Mode: For UNIX <EM>Alpine</EM> only. 281<EM>Alpine</EM> in restricted mode can only send email to itself. 282Save and export are limited. 283<P> 284 285<DT> -registry <EM>cmd</EM> 286 287<DD> For <EM>PC-Alpine</EM> only, this option affects the values of 288<EM>Alpine</EM>'s registry entries. 289Possible values for <EM>cmd</EM> are set, noset, clear, clearsilent, and dump. 290<EM>Set</EM> will always reset <EM>Alpine</EM>'s registry 291entries according to its current settings. 292<EM>NoSet</EM> will never set any values in the registry, but it will 293still use the values already set in the registry. 294<EM>Clear</EM> will clear the registry values. 295<EM>Clearsilent</EM> will silently clear the registry values. 296<EM>Dump</EM> will display the values of current registry settings. 297Note that the dump command is currently disabled. 298Without the -registry option, <EM>PC-Alpine</EM> will write values into 299the registry only if there currently aren't any values set. 300<P> 301 302<DT> -sort <EM>key</EM> 303 304<DD> Sort-Key: Specifies the order messages will be displayed in for the 305FOLDER INDEX screen. 306<EM>Key</EM> can have the following values: 307arrival, date, subject, orderedsubj, thread, from, size, score, to, cc, 308arrival/reverse, date/reverse, subject/reverse, orderedsubj/reverse, thread/reverse, 309from/reverse, size/reverse, score/reverse, to/reverse, and cc/reverse. 310The default value is "arrival". 311The <EM>key</EM> value reverse is equivalent to arrival/reverse. 312<P> 313 314Configuration equivalent: <EM>sort-key</EM>. 315<P> 316 317<DT> -supported 318 319<DD> Some options may or may not be supported depending on how <EM>Alpine</EM> 320was compiled. 321This is a way to determine which options are supported in the particular 322copy of <EM>Alpine</EM> you are using. 323<P> 324 325<DT> -install 326 327<DD> For <EM>PC-Alpine</EM> only, this option removes references to Alpine 328in Windows settings. The registry settings are removed and 329the password cache is cleared. 330<P> 331 332<DT> -url <EM>url</EM> 333 334<DD> Open the given URL. 335<P> 336 337<DT> -v 338 339<DD> Version: Print version information to the screen. 340<P> 341 342<DT> -version 343 344<DD> Version: Print version information to the screen. 345<P> 346 347<DT> -x <EM>exceptions_config</EM> 348 349<DD> Configuration settings in the exceptions config override your normal 350default settings. 351<EM>Exceptions_config</EM> may be either a local file or a remote pinerc folder. 352<P> 353 354<DT> -z 355 356<DD> Enable Suspend: When run with this flag, the key sequence ctrl-z 357will suspend the <EM>Alpine</EM> session. 358<P> 359 360Configuration equivalent: <EM>enable-suspend</EM> included in 361<EM>feature-list</EM>. 362<P> 363 364<DT> -<EM>option</EM>=<EM>value</EM> 365 366<DD> Assign <EM>value</EM> to the config option <EM>option</EM>. 367For example, <EM>-signature-file=sig1</EM> or 368<EM>-feature-list=signature-at-bottom</EM>. 369(Note: feature-list values are 370additive and features may be preceded with no- to turn them off). 371<P> 372 373</DL> 374<P> 375 376<H2><A NAME="pico">Pico</A></H2> 377 378The following command line options are supported in <EM>Pico</EM>: 379 380<DL> 381 382<DT> +<EM>n</EM> 383 384<DD> Causes <EM>Pico</EM> to be started with the cursor located <EM>n</EM> 385lines into the file. (Note: no space between "+" sign and number) <P> 386 387<DT> -a 388 389<DD> Display all files and directories, including those beginning 390with a period (.). <P> 391 392<DT> -b 393 394<DD> Enable the option to Replace text matches found using the 395"Where is" command. This now does nothing. Instead, the option is 396always turned on (as if the -b flag had been specified). <P> 397 398<DT> -d 399 400<DD> Rebind the "delete" key so the character the cursor is on is rubbed 401out rather than the character to its left. <P> 402 403<DT> -e 404 405<DD>Enable file name completion. <P> 406 407<DT> -f 408 409<DD> Use function keys for commands. <I>This option supported only in 410conjunction with UW Enhanced NCSA telnet.</I> <P> 411 412<DT> -g 413 414<DD> Enable "Show Cursor" mode in file browser. Cause cursor to be 415positioned before the current selection rather than placed at the lower 416left of the display. <P> 417 418<DT> -k 419 420<DD>Causes "Cut Text" command to remove characters from the cursor 421position to the end of the line rather than remove the entire line. <P> 422 423<DT> -m 424 425<DD> Enable mouse functionality. This only works when <EM>Pico</EM> is 426run from within an X Window System "xterm" window. <P> 427 428<DT>-n<EM>n</EM> 429 430<DD> The -n<EM>n</EM> option enables new mail notification. The 431<EM>n</EM> argument is optional, and specifies how often, in seconds, your 432mailbox is checked for new mail. For example, -n60 causes <EM>Pico</EM> 433to check for new mail once every minute. The default interval is 180 434seconds, while the minimum allowed is 30. (Note: no space between "n" and 435the number) <P> 436 437<DT> -o <EM>dir</EM> 438 439<DD> Sets operating directory. Only files within this directory are 440accessible. Likewise, the file browser is limited to the specified 441directory subtree. <P> 442 443<DT> -p 444 445<DD> Preserve the "start" and "stop" characters, typically Ctrl-Q 446 and Ctrl-S, which are sometimes used in communications paths to control data flow 447between devices that operate at different speeds.<P> 448 449<DT> -q 450 451<DD> TermdefWins. Termcap or terminfo escape sequences are used in preference 452to default escape sequences.<P> 453 454<DT> -Q <EM>quotestr</EM> 455 456<DD> Set the quote string. Especially useful when composing email, setting this 457allows the quote string to be checked for when Justifying paragraphs. 458A common quote string is "> ".<P> 459 460<DT> -r<EM>n</EM> 461 462<DD> Sets column used to limit the "Justify" command's right margin. <P> 463 464<DT> -t 465 466<DD> Enable "tool" mode. Intended for when <EM>Pico</EM> is used as the 467editor within other tools (e.g., Elm, Pnews). <EM>Pico</EM> will not 468prompt for save on exit, and will not rename the buffer during the "Write 469Out" command. <P> 470 471<DT> -v 472 473<DD> View the file only, disallowing any editing. <P> 474 475<DT> -version 476 477<DD> Print version information. <P> 478 479<DT> -w 480 481<DD> Disable word wrap (thus allow editing of long lines). <P> 482 483<I>Note: <EM>Pico</EM> will break any lines over 255 characters when reading a 484file, regardless of word wrapping.</I> <P> 485 486<DT> -x 487 488<DD> Disable keymenu at the bottom of the screen. <P> 489 490<DT> -z 491 492<DD> Enable ^Z suspension of <EM>Pico</EM>. <P> 493 494</DL> 495 496<H2><A NAME="pilot">Pilot</A></H2> 497 498The following command line options are supported in <EM>Pilot</EM>: 499 500<DL> 501 502<DT> -a 503 504<DD> Display all files including those beginning with a period (.). <P> 505 506<DT> -f 507 508<DD> Use function keys for commands. <I>This option supported only in 509conjunction with UW Enhanced NCSA telnet.</I> <P> 510 511<DT> -g 512 513<DD> Enable "Show Cursor" mode. Cause cursor to be positioned before the 514current selection rather than placed at the lower left of the display. <P> 515 516<DT> -m 517 518<DD> Enable mouse functionality. This only works when <EM>Pilot</EM> is 519run from within an X Window System "xterm" window. <P> 520 521<DT> -n<EM>n</EM> 522 523<DD> The -n<EM>n</EM> option enables new mail notification. The 524<EM>n</EM> argument is optional, and specifies how often, in seconds, your 525mailbox is checked for new mail. For example, -n60 causes <EM>Pilot</EM> 526to check for new mail once every minute. The default interval is 180 527seconds, while the minimum allowed is 30. (Note: no space between "n" and 528the number) <P> 529 530<DT> -o <EM>dir</EM> 531 532<DD>Sets operating directory. Only files within the specified directory 533are accessible and browsing is limited to the specified directory subtree. 534<P> 535 536<DT> -v 537 538<DD> Enable single vertical column display. <P> 539 540<DT> -x 541 542<DD> Disable keymenu at the bottom of the screen. <P> 543 544<DT> -z 545 546<DD> Enable ^Z suspension of <EM>Pilot</EM>. 547 548</DL> 549 550<!-- pnuts --> 551 552</BODY> 553</HTML> 554