---
name: "mmsg"
section: "7"
platform: "linux"
package: "mblaze"
version: "1.1-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/mmsg/7"
---

# mmsg(7)

mblaze message argument syntax

## NAME

**mmsg** – mblaze message argument syntax

## DESCRIPTION

This document outlines the message syntax used by many of the utilities in the [mblaze(7)](/mblaze/7.md) message system.

In general, you can always specify a filename as a message, if it contains a ‘/’ character.( Use ‘./’ to prefix messages in the current directory.) You can also specify a maildir folder, which will be expanded to all messages in the *cur/* directory.

Ranges have the format ‘*start***:***stop*’, where *start* and *stop* are one-based indexes into the sequence. Negative numbers count from the end. If *start* is the empty string, 1 will be used instead. If *stop* is the empty string, -1 will be used instead. Thus, ‘**:**’ represents the whole sequence. If the range does not contain a ‘**:**’, it is considered to be a single message, equivalent to the range ‘*start***:***start*’ of size one. The special notation ‘*start***:+***n*’, selects *start* and the next *n* messages.

If the sequence is threaded, the following syntax may be used: ‘*msg***=**’ refers to the whole thread that contains *msg*. ‘*msg***^**’ refers to the parent of the message *msg* and may be repeated to refer to grandparents. ‘*msg***\_**’ refers to the subthread headed by *msg*( i.e. all messages below *msg*, with more indentation).

The following special shortcuts may be used:

- ‘-’

  refers to the message read directly from the standard input.

- ‘.’

  refers to the current message. Additionally, the syntax ‘.+*N*’ and ‘.-*N*’ can be used to refer to messages relative to the current message.

- ‘+’

  refers to the next message( like ‘.+1’)

- ‘.-’

  refers to the previous message( like ‘.-1’)

- ‘$’

  refers to the last message( like ‘-1’)

- ‘^’

  refers to the current parent message( like ‘.^’)

- ‘=’

  refers to the current thread( like ‘.=’)

- ‘\_’

  refers to the current subthread( like ‘.\_’)

## SEE ALSO

[mblaze(7)](/mblaze/7.md)

## AUTHORS

Leah Neukirchen ⟨*leah@vuxu.org*⟩