---
name: "ifrom"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "uw-imapd"
version: "4:2001adebian-6"
release: "Debian 3.0 (Woody)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/ifrom"
---

# ifrom(1)

one line per message summary of IMAP mailbox

## NAME

ifrom - one line per message summary of IMAP mailbox

## SYNOPSIS

**ifrom** *\[-l\]\[-s\]\[-n\]\[-t\]\[-f\]\[-d\]\[-h\] mailbox*

## DESCRIPTION

*ifrom* is a program which produces a one-line-per-message summary of a mailbox using the IMAP protocol.  The summary line contains:\
\
 	Msg# Status:		From:		Date		Subject:\

The *mailbox* argument is required and can be any valid IMAP mailbox specification. Typically one would use: *{imapserver.domain}inbox* to summarize their inbox.  The specification: *{newshost.domain/nntp}comp.os.unix* can be used to summarize the contents of a newsgroup.

If the -h flag is given, some very crude usage is supplied.

If the -l flag is given, the From: and Subject: fields are not truncated to fit an 80 column terminal display.  This makes *ifrom* output suitable for piping to *grep.*

If the -s flag is given, the Status field is omitted making the from field longer.

If the -n flag is given, the Msg# field is omitted making the subject field longer.

If the -d flag is given, the date field is omitted (including the time) making the subject field longer.

If the -t flag is given, the time portion of the date field is omitted making the subject field longer.

If the -f flag is given, From: Real Name \<email\> is re-written as email (Real Name).

## EXAMPLES

Check most recent mail:\
\
 	ifrom '{mailserver}inbox' \| tail\
 Note that the quotes are required to protect the braces from the shell.

Look for news postings with summary lines matching 'search-pattern':\
\
 	ifrom -l '{news/nntp}comp.os.pine' \| grep search-pattern\

## BUGS

Most likely there are some.

## AUTHOR

Eric Horst, erich@cac.washington.edu

## SEE ALSO

[grep(1)](/grep/1.md)