1.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993 2.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" %sccs.include.redist.man% 5.\" 6.\" @(#)biff.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 06/06/93 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 ny 17.Sh DESCRIPTION 18.Nm Biff 19informs the system whether you want to be notified when mail arrives 20during the current terminal session. 21.Pp 22Options supported by 23.Nm biff : 24.Bl -tag -width 4n 25.It Cm n 26Disables notification. 27.It Cm y 28Enables notification. 29.El 30.Pp 31When mail notification is enabled, the header and first few lines of 32the message will be printed on your screen whenever mail arrives. 33A 34.Dq Li biff y 35command is often included in the file 36.Pa \&.login 37or 38.Pa \&.profile 39to be executed at each login. 40.Pp 41.Nm Biff 42operates asynchronously. 43For synchronous notification use the 44.Ar MAIL 45variable of 46.Xr sh 1 47or the 48.Ar mail 49variable of 50.Xr csh 1 . 51.Sh SEE ALSO 52.Xr csh 1 , 53.Xr mail 1 , 54.Xr sh 1 , 55.Xr comsat 8 56.Sh HISTORY 57The 58.Nm 59command appeared in 60.Bx 4.0 . 61