Introduction

This page details available commands in Scythe.

Where num is specified as an available argument, the following values are accepted.

* following and argument means "zero or more", + means "one or more". Arguments surrounded by square brackets are optional.

Command line options

Switch Description
--height height Sets the height of the screen to height characters.
--script command+ All further arguments are interpreted as Scythe commands and run automatically when the program starts. e.g. scythe --script i v would incorporate new mail and display the view.
--width width Sets the width of the screen to width characters.

In program commands

Commands here are entered at the command> prompt.

Mail operations

Command Mnemonic Description
a Arrange Applies the filter rules to the mails in the current view.
d num+ Delete Deletes the mails specified.
r folder num+ Refile Moves the mails specified into the folder folder. The folder is created if required.
s num+ Show Show the specified messages. This command is entirely optional since just entering the numbers directly at the command prompt will display messages.
si num+ Show info Displays information about the specified messages.

Environment

See the environment guide for more information.

Command Mnemonic Description
e name = exp Environment set Sets the variable name to the expression exp.
ea name = exp Environment append If name is a list then exp is added to the end of the list. Otherwise, the variable is turned into a list with the previous value as the first entry and the new value as the second.
ed name Environment delete Deletes the variable name from the current environment.
el file Environment load Loads the environment file. All existing environment values are cleared.
em file Environment merge Merges the environment file into the current environment. In the case of a new clash the new values will take priority.
es file Environment save Saves the current environment as file. Note that the environment named 'default' is loaded automatically when Scythe starts.

Folder commands

Command Mnemonic Description
f name* Folder list Shows the total number of messages and unseen messages in each folder specified. If no arguments are supplied all folders are listed.

Source commands

Command Mnemonic Description
i name* Incorporate Incorporates mail from the sources specified. If no sources are specified, all sources with the 'global' attribute set to 'yes' are incorporated. If more than 0 messages are incorporated then the 'lastcheck' sequence is cleared and the messages received are added to the sequence.
il name* Inputs list Shows a summary of the sources listed as arguments. If no arguments are supplied, all sources are shown.

Sequence commands

A sequence is a symbolic name representing a collection of messages. The most common sequence is 'unseen' representing all currently unread mail.

Command Mnemonic Description
mi seq num+ Mark in Adds the messages specified to sequence seq.
mo seq num+ Mark out Removes the messages specified to sequence seq.
mr num+ Mark read Marks the messages specified as read.
mu num+ Mark unread Marks the messages specified as unread.

Quitting commands

Command Mnemonic Description
q Quit Quit Scythe.

View commands

See the view guide for more information.

Command Mnemonic Description
va fol [seq [fil]] View add Adds a clause to the clause list. More information.
vb View back Moves back one in the view history.
vc View calculate Re-evaluates the view clauses. Sometimes messages can be in the view which don't pass the clauses, e.g. after a refile. Running vc forces the view to match the clauses.
vd num+ View deletes Deletes clauses specified from the current view.
vf View forward Moves forward one in the view history.
vl file View load Loads the view specified. The existing view clauses are deleted.
vm file View merge Joins the clauses in file to the current clauses.
vs file View save Saves the current clause list. Note that the clause list 'default' is loaded automatically when Scythe starts.
vv file View view Displays the current clause list.