.Dd July 3, 2020
.Dt MMSG 7
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm mmsg
.Nd mblaze message argument syntax
.Sh DESCRIPTION
This document outlines the message syntax used by many
of the utilities in the
.Xr mblaze 7
message system.
.Pp
In general, you can always specify a filename as a message,
if it contains a
.Sq Li \&/
character.
.Po
Use
.Sq Li \&./
to prefix messages in the current directory.
.Pc
You can also specify a maildir folder, which will be expanded
to all messages in the
.Pa cur/
directory.
.Pp
Ranges have the format
.Sq Ar start Ns Cm \&: Ns Ar stop ,
where
.Ar start
and
.Ar stop
are one-based indexes into the sequence.
Negative numbers count from the end.
If
.Ar start
is the empty string,
.Li 1
will be used instead.
If
.Ar stop
is the empty string,
.Li \&-1
will be used instead.
Thus,
.Sq Cm \&:
represents the whole sequence.
If the range does not contain a
.Sq Cm \&: ,
it is considered to be a single message, equivalent to the range
.Sq Ar start Ns Cm \&: Ns Ar start
of size one.
The special notation
.Sq Ar start Ns Cm \&:+ Ns Ar n ,
selects
.Ar start
and the next
.Ar n
messages.
.Pp
If the sequence is threaded, the following
syntax may be used:
.Sq Ar msg Ns Cm \&=
refers to the whole thread that contains
.Ar msg .
.Sq Ar msg Ns Cm \&^
refers to the parent of the message
.Ar msg
and may be repeated to refer to grandparents.
.Sq Ar msg Ns Cm \&_
refers to the subthread headed by
.Ar msg
.Po
i.e. all messages below
.Ar msg ,
with more indentation
.Pc .
.Pp
The following special shortcuts may be used:
.Bl -tag -width 4n
.It Sq Li \&-
refers to the message read directly from the standard input.
.It Sq Li \&.
refers to the current message.
Additionally, the syntax
.Sq Li \&.+ Ns Ar N
and
.Sq Li \&.- Ns Ar N
can be used to refer to messages relative to the current message.
.It Sq Li \&+
refers to the next message
.Po
like
.Sq Li \&.+1
.Pc
.It Sq Li \&.-
refers to the previous message
.Po
like
.Sq Li \&.-1
.Pc
.It Sq Li \&$
refers to the last message
.Po
like
.Sq Li -1
.Pc
.It Sq Li \&^
refers to the current parent message
.Po
like
.Sq Li \&.^
.Pc
.It Sq Li \&=
refers to the current thread
.Po
like
.Sq Li \&.=
.Pc
.It Sq Li \&_
refers to the current subthread
.Po
like
.Sq Li \&._
.Pc
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr mblaze 7
.Sh AUTHORS
.An Leah Neukirchen Aq Mt leah@vuxu.org