ELMALIAS(1L)ELMALIAS(1L)NAMEelmalias - expand and display Elm address aliases
SYNOPSISelmalias [ -adenrsuvV ] [ -f format ] [ name ... ]
$lib/prlong [ options ... ] < file
DESCRIPTION
Elmalias allows you to examine information about aliases. The alias
databases are consulted for each name on the command line, and the
alias value is displayed, one value per line of output. If name is not
a known alias, then it is displayed unchanged. If no name is given on
the command line then all alias values in the databases are displayed.
All of these actions are default behaviors that may be modified by com‐
mand line options.
There are two possible alias databases, a user-specific alias file
(usually in $HOME/.elm/aliases) and a system-wide alias file (usually
in $lib/aliases). By default both files are searched, first the user-
specific file and then the system-wide file. If an alias file does not
exist then elmalias silently ignores it and continues on. The -s and
-u command line options (discussed shortly) can restrict what files are
files searched.
There are two types of aliases, Person aliases and Group aliases. A
Person alias expands to an individual address and a Group alias con‐
tains a list of addresses, some of which may be aliases. By default,
elmalias displays the defined value of an alias, regardless of type.
The -e command line option (discussed shortly) fully expands out Group
aliases.
The default output produced is just the ``Address'' information for
each name on the command line. A number of command line options (dis‐
cussed shortly) may be used to select different output information or
specify a format of your choosing. The following information is main‐
tained in the alias databases, and may be accessed by the elmalias
utility:
· Alias (the alias name)
· Last Name
· Name (the user's full name)
· Comment (not displayed in mail headers)
· Address (the alias value)
· Type (Person, Group, or Unknown)
When the name specified on the command line is not a known alias, both
the ``Alias'' and ``Address'' information will display as the name, the
``Type'' information will display as ``Unknown'', and all other items
will be blank.
The available command line options are:
-a Selects an alternative output format. The ``Alias'' information
is displayed in addition to and preceding the usual ``Address''
information.
-d Turns debugging on. Has no effect unless elmalias was compiled
with debugging enabled.
-e Tells elmalias to fully expand group aliases. This option can
be used only when names are given on the command line.
-f The output produced will be in the specified format. Format
specifications will be discussed shortly.
-n Selects an alternative output format. The ``Name'' information,
if it exists, is displayed in addition to and following the
usual ``Address'' information. The ``Name'' will be enclosed in
parenthesis.
-r If a specified name does not correspond to a known alias then
elmalias will display a message and exit with a nonzero status.
-s Normally elmalias examines both the user-specific and system-
wide alias files. This option requests that elmalias use the
system-wide alias file, and unless the -u option is also speci‐
fied the user-specific alias file will be ignored.
-u Normally elmalias examines both the user-specific and system-
wide alias files. This option requests that elmalias use the
user-specific alias file, and unless the -s option is also spec‐
ified the system-wide alias file will be ignored.
-v Selects a verbose output format. Both the ``Alias'' and the
``Name'' information will be displayed in addition to the
``Address'' information. The ``Alias'' information will precede
the ``Address'' information, and the ``Name'' information will
be enclosed in parenthesis and follow it. If there is no
``Name'' information for this alias then that portion of the
output will be ignored.
-V Selects a very verbose, multi-line output format. Displays all
available information on aliases.
The output produced by elmalias is fully customizable with the -f
option. The format string uses a syntax similar to date(1) (System V
version) and printf(3). The following field descriptors may be used in
format specifications:
%a Alias (the alias name)
%l Last Name
%n Name (the user's full name)
%c Comment (not displayed in mail headers)
%v Address (the alias value)
%t Type (Person, Group, or Unknown)
Field widths in a [-][m][.n] format (again, similar to printf(3)) may
also be used. For example, "%-20.20a" means print the ``Alias'' infor‐
mation left justified in a field twenty characters long, with the value
truncated to twenty characters.
The following special character sequences are also recognized in format
specifications:
\b A backspace.
\f A formfeed.
\n A newline.
\r A return.
\t A tab.
\c Literal character ``c''.
There is a very simplistic conditional evaluation mechanism that may be
used in format specifications. The conditional text should be sur‐
rounded by question marks, and a single character that specifies the
condition immediately follows the first question mark. The condition
characters correspond to the ``%'' field specifier characters, and the
condition is true if the corresponding alias information is defined and
nonempty. For example, if you want to display the ``Name'' information
surrounded by parenthesis, but omit it if the information is not avail‐
able, you may use ``?n(%n)?'' in the format specification.
The command line switches that select an alternative format correspond
to the following format specifiers.
default "%v"
-a "%-20.20a %v"
-n "%v?n (%n)?"
-v "%-20.20a %v?n (%n)?"
-V "Alias:\t\t%a\n\
Address:\t%v\n\
Type:\t\t%t\n\
?n Name:\t\t%n\n?\
?l Last Name:\t%l\n?\
?c Comment:\t%c\n?"
The prlong utility formats long amounts of data, folding across multi‐
ple lines. It is useful to reformat output of elmalias. Prlong reads
data from its standard input, one line at a time, and tries to place as
much information as possible on each output line. A field seperator,
by default a single space, seperates each input record in the output
lines. Every output line is preceded by a leader field. By default
the leader of the first output line is an empty string, and the leader
for all subsequent output lines is a single tab. prlong will never
split an input record. If an input record exceeds the maximum output
line length, it will appear unmodified on an output line all by itself.
The following options may be used to modify the prlong behavior.
-w width Constrains output lines to width columns in length (not
counting an appended newline character). The default is 78
columns. The width calculation assumes that tabstops occur
every eight spaces.
-f string Seperates each input record with the indicated string when
displayed to the output. The default is a single space.
-1 string Specifies the leader string used for the first line of out‐
put. (This option is the digit ``one''.) The default is
an empty string.
-l string Specifies the leader string for all subsequent lines of
output. (This option is a lower-case ``ell''.) The default
is a single tab.
EXAMPLES
Consider an aliases.text file that contains:
friends = List of Friends = tom, dick, harry
tom = Tom Smith = sleepy!tom
dick = Dick Jones = dopey!dick
harry = = grumpy!harry
Below are shown some example commands and the output produced.
$ elmalias friends
tom,dick,harry
$ elmalias mike
mike
$ elmalias-r mike
elmalias: "mike" is not a known alias
$ elmalias-n friends
tom,dick,harry (List of Friends)
$ elmalias-a friends
friends tom,dick,harry
$ elmalias-V friends
Alias: friends
Address: tom,dick,harry
Type: Group
Name: List of Friends
Last Name: List of Friends
$ elmalias-e friends
tom@sleepy.acme.com
dick@dopey.acme.com
harry@grumpy.acme.com
$ elmalias-ve friends
tom tom@sleepy.acme.com (Tom Smith)
dick dick@dopey.acme.com (Dick Jones)
harry harry@grumpy.acme.com
$ elmalias-f "alias %a is \"%v\" ?n(%n)?" -e friends
alias tom is "tom@sleepy.acme.com" (Tom Smith)
alias dick is "dick@dopey.acme.com" (Dick Jones)
alias harry is "harry@grumpy.acme.com"
$ elmalias-en friends | /usr/lib/elm/prlong -w40
tom@sleepy.acme.com (Tom Smith)
dick@dopey.acme.com (Dick Jones)
harry@grumpy.acme.com
$ elmalias-en friends | /usr/lib/elm/prlong -1 "To: " -f ", " -w40
To: tom@sleepy.acme.com (Tom Smith),
dick@dopey.acme.com (Dick Jones),
harry@grumpy.acme.com
The checkalias(1L) and listalias(1L) scripts distributed with the Elm package
provide further examples of the elmalias and prlong utilities.AUTHOR
Elm Development Group
SEE ALSOcheckalias(1L), elm(1L), listalias(1L), newalias(1L)BUGS
There is no centralized, comprehensive interface to the Elm 2.4 alias
system, so every program in the Elm suite that uses aliases implements
its own interfaces. It's possible for inconsistencies to creep in
between what elmalias says and what some Elm utility does. If you find
an inconsistency please report it to us!
Boy, there sure are a lot of command line switches in this thing.
Note that the precedence of aliases is user file then system file.
This means that a user can 'overload' an alias by having one defined in
the system file also defined in theirs. This shouldn't turn out to be
a problem, but is something for the system administrator to keep in
mind when creating the system alias file.
BUG REPORTS TO
Bill Pemberton flash@virginia.edu
COPYRIGHTS
Copyright 1993-1995 by The USENET Community Trust
USENET Community Trust Elm Version 2.5 ELMALIAS(1L)
