msgchk Command

Commands Reference, Volume 3

msgchk Command

Purpose

Checks for messages.

Syntax

msgchk [ User ... ]

Description

The msgchk command checks mail drops for messages. The msgchk command reports whether the mail drop for the specified user contains messages and indicates if the user has already seen these messages. By default, the msgchk command checks the mail drop for the current user.

Flags

-help

Lists the command syntax, available switches (toggles), and version information.

Note: For the Message Handler (MH), the name of this flag must be fully spelled out.

Examples

To check to see if you have any new messages, enter:
```
msgchk
```
If you have new messages, the system responds with a message similar to the following:
```
You have new Internet mail waiting
```
If you have no messages, the system responds with a message similar to the following:
```
You don't have any mail waiting
```
To check to see if user karen on your local system has any new messages, enter:
```
msgchk karen
```
In this example, if user karen on your local system has new messages, the system responds with a message similar to the following:
```
karen has new Internet mail waiting
```
If user karen on your local system has no messages, the system responds with a message similar to the following:
```
karen doesn't have any mail waiting
```

Files

$HOME/.mh_profile	Contains the user's MH profile.
/etc/mh/mtstailor	Contains the MH tailor file.
/var/spool/Mail/$USER	Defines the location of the mail drop.
/usr/bin/msgchk	Contains the msgchk command.

Related Information

The inc command.

The mh_alias file format, mh_profile file format.

Mail Overview in AIX Version 4.3 System User's Guide: Communications and Networks.

Peek, Jerry. MH and xmh: E-mail for Users and Programmers. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly & Associates, 1992.