Removing and Recovering Messages

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The rmm command removes one or more messages. Like most MH commands, if you don't give a message number, rmm acts on the current message.

How rmm Removes Messages

As explained in the Chapter Key Parts of the UNIX Filesystem, MH messages are stored as files in UNIX directories -- one message per file. By default, rmm adds a comma (,) or a hash mark (#) to the start of a message filename. The extra character hides the message from other MH commands and flags the message for a system program to remove later. (You or your system administrator have to set up an automatic procedure for actually removing these "removed" messages. It will probably use either of the UNIX commands at(1) or cron(8) with find(1)-- most likely, just a one-line command.) This method of removing messages can give you a grace period to recover messages you've deleted accidentally.

Recovering a Removed Message

Recovering an accidentally removed message takes a little work. This section explains how to recover a message that you've just deleted. At the end, there's an easier method.

Let's start this example by removing message 10:

% rmm 10 +somefolder
% scan 10
scan: message 10 doesn't exist

Use these steps to get the message back:

Change your current directory into the mail folder where your message was. The `mhpath +somefolder` gets the pathname of the folder. Use backquotes (`), not single quotes ('):
```
% cd `mhpath +somefolder`
```
If you know the old message number, use ls to look for a filename that's the same number with a comma or hash mark before it. For example, the removed message 10 would be named ,10 or #10 -- so you'd type ls ,10 or ls \#10. (The backslash (\) tells the shell not to treat the hash mark (#) as a comment character. This isn't needed on all shells.)
If you don't know the message number, search through the deleted messages with grep for lines that start with the word Subject:. (You can also search for messages by From:, To:, and so on.) Use a wildcard file-matching pattern: \#* if your deleted messages have a hash mark before them, or ,* if they have commas. Also, be sure to use single quotes ('), not backquotes (`):
```
% grep '^Subject:' ,*
    ...
,13:Subject: How to attain nirvana
,15:Subject: How to get to Newark
    ...
```
When you find the file, you can restore the message by taking away the extra character at the start of the name -- use the mv command to rename the file. Let's say that the message you want to restore is ,13. First, use ls to be sure that there's no other file (message) named 13.
- If there isn't a file named 13, just rename the file. Finally, use scan to see the recovered message:
```
% ls 13
ls: 13: No such file or directory
% mv ,13 13
% scan 13 +somefolder
  13  11/25 yourfriend     How to attain nirvana<<Take I-90 to
```
- If there is a file named 13, it's probably a new message that was put in the folder since the original 13 was deleted. You'll need to use a new message number. You can use ls to list the folder and find a "hole" with no message. But it's probably safer to use the mhpath new command to find a new unused message number at the end of the folder. When you use mhpath, be sure to use backquotes (`), not single quotes ('):
```
% ls 13
13
% mv ,13 `mhpath new +somefolder`
% scan last +somefolder
  94  11/25 yourfriend     How to attain nirvana<<Take I-90 to
```
Whew. You're done. Now, think about using an rmmproc like rmmer!

Changing Your rmmproc

You can change the way that rmm works by specifying a message removing program in your MH profile. For instance, you can tell rmm to use the standard system file removing command, rm. That will actually remove your message permanently, right away, with no grace period. If that's what you want, put the following entry in your MH profile:

rmmproc: /bin/rm

You can also set rmm to "remove" messages by moving them to a subfolder named DELETE, where a program can find them and remove them later. This is more convenient for most people because you can scan your removed messages and refile them back into the parent folder (where they came from). To find out about that, read the Section Improve rmm: use rmmer and put this entry in your MH profile:

rmmproc: rmmer

Improve rmm: use rmmer

The default rmm command "removes" a mail message by renaming it with a leading comma (,), hash mark (#), or other character. This hides the message from MH commands, but it doesn't really remove the message file. A system program comes along later to actually remove the "removed" message. (The Section Periodic Cleanup, Checking, etc. with cron and at introduces those system programs.)

That scheme lets you recover a deleted message, but it's not very easy. Also, if you delete a message and then later delete another message with the same number, the first "deleted" message will be overwritten by the second one. The rmmer shell script changes that. For instance, when you type, say:

% rmm

rmmer moves the deleted message to a subfolder named DELETE. For example, let's say that you deleted a message by accident. To get it back, you look in the DELETE subfolder. Your message will be the last one in the subfolder because you just removed it. You show the deleted message. To recover the deleted message, move it back to the parent folder (where it was before) with refile and a relative folder name. After you recover it, it'll be the last message in the folder. Here's an example:

% rmm
% show last @DELETE
(Message inbox/DELETE:25)
    ...A message appears -- this is the one you "deleted"...
% refile @..
% show last @..
(Message inbox:54)
    ...The same message appears -- now it's back in the parent folder...

Of course, you can scan the deleted messages, use pick on them, and so forth. You run a periodic job to clean out the DELETE subfolders -- look here for the rm_msgs scripts.

If you don't want rmmer to use a subfolder and instead you want it to put all the messages in a central +DELETE folder, you can call the program with the name rmmer_1, and that'll do it. (The script checks its name and uses that to decide where to move the messages. You use a UNIX link to give the same script more than one name.)

Like the UNIX rm -i command, rmmer can prompt to be sure you want to remove messages. rmmer will only ask in folders where you've created a file named .rmmer.ask. The best way to make this file is with the touch command. It creates a zero-length file which doesn't take any disk space to store. For example, to make rmmer prompt in your archive folder:

% touch `mhpath +archive`/.rmmer.ask

When you remove messages in that folder, you can type n (or just RETURN) to stop the removal:

% rmm last:3
rmmer: remove 91 94 95 in +archive? [ny](n) y

(Something interesting happens when you use refile to move a message out of a folder and then answer n when rmmer asks you. The refile command will already have linked the message into the destination folder by the time it runs the rmmproc. You'll end up with a link between the two folders, as if you'd used refile -link.)

Sometimes, rmmer shouldn't prompt, even with a .rmmer.ask file. For example, if a job is running without a terminal on its standard input, like cron, then rmmer will never prompt. If you never want rmmer to prompt (if you use xmh, for example), use one of the versions with .noask on the end of its name, rmmer.noask or rmmer_1.noask.

You don't actually type a name like rmmer or rmmer_1 to run this script. Instead, you put one of its names in your MH profile, for example:

rmmproc: rmmer.noask

The rmm and refile commands will then run rmmer.noask to "delete" messages.

Because the rmmproc: might be called from a cron job where your shell's search path is short, it's a good idea to use the full pathname in your MH profile:

rmmproc: /xxx/yyy/bin/rmmer

This program is explained in the Section Explanation of rmmer. You'll also need to set up a program to clean out your DELETE folders periodically; see the Section Periodic Cleanup, Checking, etc. with cron and at for tips.

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Last change $Date: 1996/06/06 15:13:13 $

This file is from the third edition of the book MH & xmh: Email for Users & Programmers, ISBN 1-56592-093-7, by Jerry Peek. Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. This file is freely-available; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation. For more information, see the file copying.htm.

Suggestions are welcome: Jerry Peek <jpeek@jpeek.com>