1.\" $NetBSD: biff.1,v 1.7 2001/12/01 16:43:08 wiz Exp $ 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993 4.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 7.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 8.\" are met: 9.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 11.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 13.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 14.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software 15.\" must display the following acknowledgement: 16.\" This product includes software developed by the University of 17.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. 18.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 19.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 20.\" without specific prior written permission. 21.\" 22.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 23.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 24.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 25.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 26.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 27.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 28.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 29.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 30.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 31.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 32.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 33.\" 34.\" @(#)biff.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93 35.\" 36.Dd June 6, 1993 37.Dt BIFF 1 38.Os 39.Sh NAME 40.Nm biff 41.Nd "be notified if mail arrives and who it is from" 42.Sh SYNOPSIS 43.Nm 44.Op Cm ny 45.Sh DESCRIPTION 46.Nm 47informs the system whether you want to be notified when mail arrives 48during the current terminal session. 49.Pp 50Options supported by 51.Nm "" : 52.Bl -tag -width 4n 53.It Cm n 54Disables notification. 55.It Cm y 56Enables notification. 57.El 58.Pp 59When mail notification is enabled, the header and first few lines of 60the message will be printed on your screen whenever mail arrives. 61A 62.Dq Li biff y 63command is often included in the file 64.Pa \&.login 65or 66.Pa \&.profile 67to be executed at each login. 68.Pp 69.Nm 70operates asynchronously. 71For synchronous notification use the 72.Ar MAIL 73variable of 74.Xr sh 1 75or the 76.Ar mail 77variable of 78.Xr csh 1 . 79.Sh SEE ALSO 80.Xr csh 1 , 81.Xr mail 1 , 82.Xr sh 1 , 83.Xr comsat 8 84.Sh HISTORY 85The 86.Nm 87command appeared in 88.Bx 4.0 . 89