GNU Info

(emacs)Rmail Output

---

Next: Rmail Labels Prev: Rmail Files Up: Rmail

---

Enter node , (file) or (file)node

Copying Messages Out to Files
=============================

   These commands copy messages from an Rmail file into another file.

`o FILE <RET>'
     Append a copy of the current message to the file FILE, using Rmail
     file format by default (`rmail-output-to-rmail-file').

`C-o FILE <RET>'
     Append a copy of the current message to the file FILE, using
     system inbox file format by default (`rmail-output').

`w FILE <RET>'
     Output just the message body to the file FILE, taking the default
     file name from the message `Subject' header.

   The commands `o' and `C-o' copy the current message into a specified
file.  This file may be an Rmail file or it may be in system inbox
format; the output commands ascertain the file's format and write the
copied message in that format.

   The `o' and `C-o' commands differ in two ways: each has its own
separate default file name, and each specifies a choice of format to
use when the file does not already exist.  The `o' command uses Rmail
format when it creates a new file, while `C-o' uses system inbox format
for a new file.  The default file name for `o' is the file name used
last with `o', and the default file name for `C-o' is the file name
used last with `C-o'.

   If the output file is an Rmail file currently visited in an Emacs
buffer, the output commands copy the message into that buffer.  It is
up to you to save the buffer eventually in its file.

   Sometimes you may receive a message whose body holds the contents of
a file.  You can save the body to a file (excluding the message header)
with the `w' command (`rmail-output-body-to-file').  Often these
messages contain the intended file name in the `Subject' field, so the
`w' command uses the `Subject' field as the default for the output file
name.  However, the file name is read using the minibuffer, so you can
specify a different name if you wish.

   You can also output a message to an Rmail file chosen with a menu.
Choose first the menu bar Classify item, then from the Classify menu
choose the Output Rmail File menu item; then choose the Rmail file you
want.  This outputs the current message to that file, like the `o'
command.  The variables `rmail-secondary-file-directory' and
`rmail-secondary-file-regexp' specify which files to offer in the menu:
the first variable says which directory to find them in; the second
says which files in that directory to offer (all those that match the
regular expression).

   Copying a message gives the original copy of the message the `filed'
attribute, so that `filed' appears in the mode line when such a message
is current.  If you like to keep just a single copy of every mail
message, set the variable `rmail-delete-after-output' to `t'; then the
`o' and `C-o' commands delete the original message after copying it.
(You can undelete the original afterward if you wish.)

   Copying messages into files in system inbox format uses the header
fields that are displayed in Rmail at the time.  Thus, if you use the
`t' command to view the entire header and then copy the message, the
entire header is copied.  Note: Rmail Display.

   The variable `rmail-output-file-alist' lets you specify intelligent
defaults for the output file, based on the contents of the current
message.  The value should be a list whose elements have this form:

     (REGEXP . NAME-EXP)

If there's a match for REGEXP in the current message, then the default
file name for output is NAME-EXP.  If multiple elements match the
message, the first matching element decides the default file name.  The
subexpression NAME-EXP may be a string constant giving the file name to
use, or more generally it may be any Lisp expression that returns a
file name as a string.  `rmail-output-file-alist' applies to both `o'
and `C-o'.