freebsd-nq/usr.bin/biff/biff.1

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.\" @(#)biff.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
.\" $FreeBSD$
.\"
.Dd June 6, 1993
.Dt BIFF 1
.Os BSD 4
.Sh NAME
.Nm biff
.Nd "be notified if mail arrives and who it is from"
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Op Cm n | y
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm Biff
informs the system whether you want to be notified when mail arrives
during the current terminal session.
.Pp
Options supported by
.Nm :
.Bl -tag -width 4n
.It Cm n
Disables notification.
.It Cm y
Enables notification.
.El
.Pp
When mail notification is enabled, the header and first few lines of
the message will be printed on your screen whenever mail arrives.
A
.Dq Li biff y
command is often included in the file
.Pa \&.login
or
.Pa \&.profile
to be executed at each login.
.Pp
.Nm Biff
operates asynchronously.
For synchronous notification use the
.Ar MAIL
variable of
.Xr sh 1
or the
.Ar mail
variable of
.Xr csh 1 .
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr csh 1 ,
.Xr mail 1 ,
.Xr sh 1 ,
.Xr comsat 8
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
command appeared in
.Bx 4.0 .
It was named after the dog of Heidi Stettner.
He died
in August 1993, at 15.