Pine Mail Program

Computing Services Information Document - Sun/Unix

The Pine mail package allows faculty/staff/students to send and receive mail on the system, or throughout the Internet. This document is to aide in using advanced commands, such as sorting your message index,

To use the Pine package on a UNIX system at Rutgers - Camden, you need an account on any Sun Workstation (clam or crab). If you don't have one, see the Account Creation documentation available at the help desks.

Creating an Address Book:

PINE comes with an option of creating an address book. You are able to store personal information about friends, family, and co-workers, as well as setup mailing lists of multiple addresses. To begin your address book, select this option from the Main Menu, or hit the "A" key. You are shown a new screen:

Notice that the entry ".addressbook" is highlighted. To view/edit entries in this file, hit the "Enter" key. To add a New Address, hit the "@"; symbol on your keyboard. You can enter someone's Full Name, a Nick Name you will remember them by, their e-mail address, and information concerning File Carbon Copy (FCC). When you are finished typing in the necessary information, ^X will exit the addressbook, and save your changes. You can also "Take" e-mail addresses from messages that you receive, and add them to your addressbook. While viewing a message, hit "^T"

Sorting the Message Index:

When viewing the message index, you can sort your messages according to their arrival, sender, date, etc. To begin your sort, at the message index, press the "$" key. You will be prompted to sort the index to your preference. Hit the appropriate key.

Searching through Mail Messages:

    You can manipulate PINE to search through your message index, as well as an individual message, for a key word or phrase. To do so, would require the use of the "W" command. If you are in your message index, and choose to search for a keyword from the subject line, or for someone's name, hold the W key. You will be asked to enter the word to search for. If the query finds a matching string, the message will be highlighted.
    If you are viewing an individual message, and choose to search for a specific word/date, etc., try using the "W" command. Again, you will be asked to enter a query string. If it is matched, you will be notified of what line it is on.

Selecting Messages:

    If you are viewing your message index, you have the option of selecting messages, and applying an action to them. For example, press the ";" key to start the process. You can select messages by their number, date, or even by the text your messages contain. Once you have selected your message(s), you have the option of printing them, saving them to another folder, deleting them, etc.

Formatting Text:

    The PINE mail program integrates the PICO text editor for use in composing/editing messages. Many of the commands that are used are similar to that of using PICO alone. For example, to jump to the end of a page, use the "^V" command. If you are in the middle of a composition, and wish to reformat the text/paragraphs, use the "^J" command.

PostPoning Mail Messages:

    When composing a mail message, if for any reason you wish to discontinue the message, but save for future use, the "^O" command will do the trick. The message will be saved to a temporary file on your account. The next time you choose to compose a message, you will be asked to continue with your last postponed composition. Choose "Y" to continue, or "N" to start a new message.

Spell Check your message:

    When you are finished composing your message, and wish to check for spelling errors, PINE utilizes the "^T" command. Simply finish up your message, and hold "^T". If the spell-check program notices any words that may be mis-spelled, you will be prompted to enter replacement text.

PINE Help:

To read the online help, use the Help command at the bottom of each screen. For example, at the Main Menu screen, type ? (Help). Because the help text is context sensitive, you never see all the help at once--only the part that relates to the Pine feature you are using. To exit the online help, type E (Exit Help). If you need more help please consult the pine man page by typing "man pine" at the unix prompt or read the document about pine at /usr/doc/pine.doc . Information can also be obtained by visiting the online HELP system at http://www.camden.rutgers.edu/HELP/help.php and reviewing the Electronic Mail

Questions/comments regarding Camden Computing Services or this web site
can be directed to: help@camden.rutgers.edu.
Last updated: January 10, 2006, 12:01 EST.
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