ELMALIAS (1)

SYNOPSIS

elmalias [ -adenrsuvV ] [ -f format ] [ name ... ] $lib/prlong [ options ... ] < \f2file

DESCRIPTION

Elmalias allows you to examine information about aliases. The alias databases are consulted for each name on the command line, and the alias value is displayed, one value per line of output. If name is not a known alias, then it is displayed unchanged. If no name is given on the command line then all alias values in the databases are displayed. All of these actions are default behaviors that may be modified by command line options. There are two possible alias databases, a user-specific alias file (usually in $HOME/.elm/aliases ) and a system-wide alias file (usually in $lib/aliases ). By default both files are searched, first the user-specific file and then the system-wide file. If an alias file does not exist then elmalias silently ignores it and continues on. The -s and -u command line options (discussed shortly) can restrict what files are files searched. There are two types of aliases, Person aliases and Group aliases. A Person alias expands to an individual address and a Group alias contains a list of addresses, some of which may be aliases. By default, elmalias displays the defined value of an alias, regardless of type. The -e command line option (discussed shortly) fully expands out Group aliases. The default output produced is just the ``Address'' information for each name on the command line. A number of command line options (discussed shortly) may be used to select different output information or specify a format of your choosing. The following information is maintained in the alias databases, and may be accessed by the elmalias utility:

        \(bu Alias (the alias name)
        \(bu Last Name
        \(bu Name (the user's full name)
        \(bu Comment (not displayed in mail headers)
        \(bu Address (the alias value)
        \(bu Type (Person, Group, or Unknown)

When the name specified on the command line is not a known alias, both the ``Alias'' and ``Address'' information will display as the name , the ``Type'' information will display as ``Unknown'', and all other items will be blank. The available command line options are: