NAME

       dp - parse dates 822-style

SYNOPSIS

       /usr/lib/mh/dp [-form formatfile] [-format string] [-width columns] [-version] [-help] dates ...

DESCRIPTION

       Dp  is  a  program  that  parses dates according to the ARPA Internet standard.  It also understands many
       non-standard formats, such as those produced by TOPS-20 sites and some UNIX sites using ctime(3).  It  is
       useful for seeing how nmh will interpret a date.

       The dp program treats each argument as a single date, and prints the date out in the official 822-format.
       Hence, it is usually best to enclose each argument in quotes for the shell.

       To  override  the  output  format used by dp, the -format string or -format file switches are used.  This
       permits individual fields of the address to be extracted with ease.  The string is simply a format string
       and the file is simply a format file.  See mh-format(5) for the details.

       Here is the default format string used by dp:

            %<(nodate{text})error: %{text}%|%(putstr(pretty{text}))%>

       which says that if an error was detected, print the error, a `:', and  the  date  in  error.   Otherwise,
       output the 822-proper format of the date.

FILES

       $HOME/.mh_profile          The user profile

PROFILE COMPONENTS

       None

SEE ALSO

       ap(8), Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text Messages (RFC-822)

DEFAULTS

       `-format' default as described above
       `-width' default to the width of the terminal

CONTEXT

       None

BUGS

       The  argument  to  the -format switch must be interpreted as a single token by the shell that invokes dp.
       Therefore, one must usually place the argument to this switch inside quotes.

MH.6.8                                            11 June 2012                                           DP(8mh)