1.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990 The Regents of the University of California. 2.\" All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" %sccs.include.redist.man% 5.\" 6.\" @(#)biff.1 6.4 (Berkeley) 07/24/90 7.\" 8.Dd 9.Dt BIFF 1 10.Os BSD 4 11.Sh NAME 12.Nm biff 13.Nd be\ notified\ if mail arrives and who it is from 14.Sh SYNOPSIS 15.Nm biff 16.Op Cm yn 17.Sh DESCRIPTION 18.Nm Biff 19informs the system whether you want to be notified when mail arrives 20during the current terminal session. 21The command 22.Pp 23.Dl biff y 24.Pp 25enables notification; the command 26.Pp 27.Dl biff n 28.Pp 29disables it. 30When mail notification is enabled, the header and first few lines of 31the message will be printed on your screen whenever mail arrives. 32A 33.Ql biff y 34command is often included in the file 35.Pa \&.login 36or 37.Pa \&.profile 38to be executed at each login. 39.Pp 40.Nm Biff 41operates asynchronously. 42For synchronous notification use the 43.Ar MAIL 44variable of 45.Xr sh 1 46or the 47.Ar mail 48variable of 49.Xr csh 1 . 50.Sh SEE ALSO 51.Xr csh 1 , 52.Xr mail 1 , 53.Xr sh 1 , 54.Xr comsat 8 55.Sh HISTORY 56.Nm biff 57appeared in the 4.0 BSD release. 58