Provided by: nmh_1.8-1_amd64 bug

NAME

       sortm - sort nmh messages

SYNOPSIS

       sortm [-help] [-version] [+folder] [msgs] [-all | -noall] [-datefield field] [-textfield
            field] [-notextfield] [-limit days] [-nolimit] [-check | -nocheck] [-verbose |
            -noverbose]

DESCRIPTION

       sortm  sorts  the  specified  messages  in the named folder according to the chronological
       order of the “Date:” field of each message.

       If no messages are specified, the default is all messages in the folder.  However,  if  no
       messages  are  specified  and  the -noall switch is enabled, then sortm reports that as an
       error and exits with non-zero status.  -noall is most useful in  the  user's  profile,  to
       avoid  inadvertent  sorting  of an entire folder.  The -all switch can then be used on the
       command line to disable it.  Of course, a message specification of all can be used in  any
       case.

       The  -verbose  switch directs sortm to tell the user the general actions that it is taking
       to place the folder in sorted order.

       The -datefield field switch tells sortm the name of the field to use when making the  date
       comparison.   If  the  user  has  a special field in each message, such as “BB-Posted:” or
       “Delivery-Date:”, then the -datefield switch can be used to direct sortm  which  field  to
       examine.

       The  -textfield  field  switch  causes sortm to sort messages by the specified text field.
       All characters except letters and numbers are  stripped  and  the  resulting  strings  are
       sorted  datefield-major,  textfield-minor,  using  a case insensitive comparison.  If this
       field is “subject”, any leading "re:" is stripped off.

       With -textfield field, if -limit days is specified, messages with the same textfields that
       are  dated  within  `days'  of  each other appear together.  Specifying -nolimit makes the
       limit infinity.  With -limit 0, the sort is instead simply textfield-major.

       For example, to order a folder by date-major, grouping messages with the same  subject  on
       the same date together, use:

            sortm -textfield subject +folder

       sortm  always  issues  a  warning  for each message that is missing a “Date:” field, has a
       “Date:” field that cannot be parsed, or has a format error in any header field.  With  the
       -check  switch,  sortm  inhibits  all  modifications  to  the folder if there are any such
       messages, and exits with non-zero status.  With  the  default  of  -nocheck,  sortm  sorts
       messages with a missing or invalid “Date:” field using their file modification times.

       When  ordering  messages based on their dates, if they have the same dates, their original
       message order is preserved.

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

       folder(1)

DEFAULTS

       `+folder' defaults to the current folder
       `msgs' defaults to all without -noall, has no default with -noall
       `-all'
       `-datefield' defaults to date
       `-notextfield'
       `-noverbose'
       `-nolimit'
       `-nocheck'

CONTEXT

       If a folder is given, it will become the current folder.  If the current message is moved,
       sortm will preserve its status as current.

HISTORY

       Timezones used to be ignored when comparing dates: they aren't any more.

       Messages  which  were  in the folder, but not specified by `msgs', used to be moved to the
       end of the folder; now such messages are left untouched.

       sortm sometimes did not preserve the message numbering in a folder (e.g., messages  1,  3,
       and 5, might have been renumbered to 1, 2, 3 after sorting).  This was a bug, and has been
       fixed.  To compress the message numbering in a folder, use “folder -pack” as always.

BUGS

       When sortm complains about a message which it can't temporally order, it  complains  about
       the  message  number prior to sorting.  It should indicate what the message number will be
       after sorting.