---
name: "mark"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "nmh"
version: "1.5-release-0.2"
release: "Debian 7 (Wheezy)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/mark"
---

# mark(1)

manipulate message sequences

## NAME

mark - manipulate message sequences

## SYNOPSIS

**mark** \[*+folder*\] \[*msgs*\] \[**-sequence** *name* ...\] \[**-add** \| **-delete**\] \[**-list**\] \[**-public** \| **-nopublic**\] \[**-zero** \| **-nozero**\] \[**-version**\] \[**-help**\]

## DESCRIPTION

The **mark** command manipulates message sequences by adding or deleting message numbers from folder-specific message sequences, or by listing those sequences and messages.

A message sequence is a keyword, just like one of the “reserved” message names, such as “first” or “next”.  Unlike the “reserved” message names, which have a fixed semantics on a per-folder basis, the semantics of a message sequence may be defined, modified, and removed by the user.  Message sequences are folder-specific, e.g., the sequence name “seen” in the context of folder “*+inbox*” need not have any relation whatsoever to the sequence of the same name in a folder of a different name.

Three action switches direct the operation of **mark**. These switches are mutually exclusive: the last occurrence of any of them overrides any previous occurrence of the other two.

The **-add** switch tells **mark** to add messages to sequences or to create a new sequence.  For each sequence named via the **-sequence** *name* argument (which must occur at least once) the messages named via *msgs* (which defaults to “cur” if no *msgs* are given), are added to the sequence.  The messages to be added need not be absent from the sequence. If the **-zero** switch is specified, the sequence will be emptied prior to adding the messages.  Hence, **-add** **-zero** means that each sequence should be initialized to the indicated messages, while **-add** **-nozero** means that each sequence should be appended to by the indicated messages.

The **-delete** switch tells **mark** to delete messages from sequences, and is the dual of **-add**. For each of the named sequences, the named messages are removed from the sequence.  These messages need not be already present in the sequence.  If the **-zero** switch is specified, then all messages in the folder are added to the sequence (first creating the sequence, if necessary) before removing the messages. Hence, **-delete** **-zero** means that each sequence should contain all messages except those indicated, while **-delete** **-nozero** means that only the indicated messages should be removed from each sequence. As expected, the command “**mark** **-sequence** *foo* **-delete** all” deletes the sequence “foo” from the current folder.

When creating or modifying sequences, you can specify the switches **-public** or **-nopublic** to force the new or modified sequences to be “public” or “private”.  The switch **-public** indicates that the sequences should be made “public”.  These sequences will then be readable by all **nmh** users with permission to read the relevant folders.  In contrast, the **-nopublic** switch indicates that the sequences should be made “private”, and will only be accessible by you.  If neither of these switches is specified, then existing sequences will maintain their current status, and new sequences will default to “public” if you have write permission for the relevant folder. Check the [**mh-sequence**(5)](/mh-sequence/5.md) man page for more details about the difference between “public” and “private” sequences.

The **-list** switch tells **mark** to list both the sequences defined for the folder and the messages associated with those sequences. **Mark** will list the name of each sequence given by **-sequence** *name* and the messages associated with that sequence.  If the sequence is private, this will also be indicated.  If no sequence is specified by the **-sequence** switch, then all sequences for this folder will be listed.  The **-zero** switch does not affect the operation of **-list**.

The current restrictions on sequences are:

- •

  The name used to denote a message sequence must consist of an alphabetic character followed by zero or more alphanumeric characters, and cannot be one of the (reserved) message names “new”, “first”, “last”, “all”, “next”, or “prev”.

- •

  Only a certain number of sequences may be defined for a given folder. This number is usually limited to 27 (11 on small systems).  (The internal implementation relies on bitmasks, with some bits set aside for internal use.)

- •

  Message ranges with user-defined sequence names are restricted to the form “name:n”, “name:+n”, or “name:-n”, and refer to the first or last \`n' messages of the sequence \`name', respectively. Constructs of the form “name1-name2” are forbidden for user defined sequences.

## FILES

```
^$HOME/.mh_profile~^The user profile
```

## PROFILE COMPONENTS

```
^Path:~^To determine the user's nmh directory
^Current-Folder:~^To find the default current folder
```

## SEE ALSO

[flist(1)](/flist/1.md), [pick(1)](/pick/1.md), [mh-sequence(5)](/mh-sequence/5.md)

## DEFAULTS

```
`+folder' defaults to the current folder
`-add' if -sequence is specified, -list otherwise
`msgs' defaults to cur (or all if -list is specified)
`-nozero'
```

## CONTEXT

If a folder is given, it will become the current folder.

## HELPFUL HINTS

Use **flist** to find folders with a given sequence, and “**pick** *sequence* **-list**” to enumerate those messages in the sequence (such as for use by a shell script).