NAME

       prompter - prompting editor front-end for nmh

SYNOPSIS

       prompter [-erase chr] [-kill chr] [-prepend | -noprepend] [-rapid | -norapid] [-doteof | -nodoteof] file
            [-version] [-help]

DESCRIPTION

       Prompter is an editor front-end for nmh which allows rapid composition of messages.  This program is  not
       normally  invoked directly by users but takes the place of an editor and acts as an editor front-end.  It
       operates on an RFC-822 style message draft skeleton specified by  file,  normally  provided  by  the  nmh
       commands comp, dist, forw, or repl.

       Prompter  is  particularly useful when composing messages over slow network or modem lines.  It is an nmh
       program in that it can have its own profile entry with switches, but it is not invoked  directly  by  the
       user.   The  commands  comp,  dist, forw, and repl invoke prompter as an editor, either when invoked with
       -editor prompter, or by the profile entry “Editor: prompter”, or when given the command edit prompter  at
       the “What now?” prompt.

       For  each  empty  component  prompter finds in the draft, the user is prompted for a response; A <RETURN>
       will cause the whole component to be left out.  Otherwise, a `\' preceding a <RETURN> will  continue  the
       response on the next line, allowing for multiline components.  Continuation lines must begin with a space
       or tab.

       Each non-empty component is copied to the draft and displayed on the terminal.

       The start of the message body is denoted by a blank line or a line of dashes.  If the body is  non-empty,
       the prompt, which isn't written to the file, is

            --------Enter additional text

       or (if -prepend was given)

            --------Enter initial text

       Message-body  typing  is  terminated  with  an  end-of-file (usually CTRL-D).  With the -doteof switch, a
       period on a line all by itself also signifies end-of-file.  At this point  control  is  returned  to  the
       calling  program,  where  the  user  is asked “What now?”.  See whatnow (1) for the valid options to this
       query.

       By using the -prepend switch, the user can add type-in to the beginning of the message body and have  the
       rest of the body follow.  This is useful for the forw command.

       By  using  the -rapid switch, if the draft already contains text in the message-body, it is not displayed
       on the user's terminal.  This is useful for low-speed terminals.

       The line editing characters for kill and erase may be specified by the user via the arguments  -kill  chr
       and  -erase  chr,  where  chr  may  be  a  character;  or  `\nnn', where “nnn” is the octal value for the
       character.

       An interrupt (usually CTRL-C) during component typing will  abort  prompter  and  the  nmh  command  that
       invoked  it.   An  interrupt  during message-body typing is equivalent to CTRL-D, for historical reasons.
       This means that prompter should finish up and exit.

       The first non-flag argument to prompter is taken as the name of the draft file, and  subsequent  non-flag
       arguments are ignored.

FILES

       $HOME/.mh_profile          The user profile
       /tmp/prompter*             Temporary copy of message

PROFILE COMPONENTS

       prompter-next:       To name the editor to be used on exit from .B prompter
       Msg-Protect:         To set mode when creating a new draft

SEE ALSO

       comp(1), dist(1), forw(1), repl(1), whatnow(1)

DEFAULTS

       `-prepend'
       `-norapid'
       `-nodoteof'

CONTEXT

       None

HELPFUL HINTS

       The -rapid option is particularly useful with forw, and -noprepend is useful with comp -use.

       The  user  may wish to link prompter under several names (e.g., “rapid”) and give appropriate switches in
       the profile entries under these names  (e.g.,  “rapid:  -rapid”).   This  facilitates  invoking  prompter
       differently for different nmh commands (e.g., “forw: -editor rapid”).

BUGS

       Prompter uses stdio(3), so it will lose if you edit files with nulls in them.