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 6.3 (Berkeley) 06/11/90 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.Li ``biff y'' 34command is often included in the file 35.Pa \& 36login 37or 38.Pa \& 39profile 40to be executed at each login. 41.Pp 42.Nm Biff 43operates asynchronously. 44For synchronous notification use the 45.Ar MAIL 46variable of 47.Xr sh 1 48or the 49.Ar mail 50variable of 51.Xr csh 1 . 52.Sh SEE ALSO 53.Xr csh 1 , 54.Xr mail 1 , 55.Xr sh 1 , 56.Xr comsat 8 57.Sh HISTORY 58.Nm biff 59appeared in the 4.0 BSD release. 60