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.