PMDF User's Guide
UNIX Edition

The following sections provide full descriptions of all pmdf db commands.

5.4.5.1 add

With the add command an alias and its expansion value may be added to the database currently opened. If the alias expansion value contains any spaces, commas, or upper case characters which should not be converted to lower case, then the expansion value must be enclosed in double quotes. Any double quotes in the expansion value must be "doubled" (i.e., entered as two consecutive double quotes). Examples of these two cases are:

db> add staff "bob@example.com,sue@example.com,tom@example.com" db> add jo """John Owen""@example.com"

The first add command establishes the alias
staff -> bob@example.com,sue@example.com,tom@example.com This alias required quoting since it included commas. The second add command establishes the alias
jo -> "John Owen"@example.com and was enclosed in double quotes because of the space in it, and the need to not convert John Owen's name to john owen. Also, the double quotes present in the alias expansion value were doubled; that is, each double quote, ", was specified as two double quotes, "".

As another example, consider entering the alias JD with the simple expansion value jd573@hostc.example.com:

db> add JD jd573@hostc.example.com [Entry added to database] db> show JD Key Value ---------- ----------------------------- jd jd573@vaxc.example.com [1 entry shown] db>

Note that the alias name along with its translation value was converted to lower case. pmdf db will always translate the name of an alias to lower case; PMDF does not do case sensitive alias matching. To prevent the alias translation value from being converted to lower case, enclose it in double quotes; e.g.,

db> modify JD "JD573@HOSTC.EXAMPLE.COM" [1 entry modified] db> show JD Key Value ---------- ----------------------------- jd JD573@HOSTC.EXAMPLE.COM [1 entry shown] db>

The optional attributes parameter of the add command may be one or more comma separated keywords selected from the list:

mail_address

Treat this alias as a mail address; i.e., set the mail address attribute flag for this alias. Default when in normal mode. Not set when an override on command has been issued.

non_mail_address

Do not treat this alias as a mail address; that is, clear the mail address attribute flag for this alias.

expand

This attribute forces the expansion of the alias into its component addresses. All of the component addresses will be listed in the message header as the alias expands.

no_expand

This attribute inhibits the expansion of the alias into its component addresses. The alias itself will appear in the header in some form; see the description of the public and private attributes above for details on the forms the alias can take.

pass_receipts

This attribute enables the passage of requests for delivery and read receipts through to all recipients as the alias is expanded. Note that allowing the passage of such a request to a large distribution list may result in a lot of return mail.

block_receipts

This attribute disables the passage of requests for delivery and read receipts through to all recipients as the alias is expanded. Requests for such receipts are honored at the time the alias expands; in effect the alias is treated as the message destination.

When an alias is entered with the add command at the db> prompt, the alias will automatically be given the mail address attribute unless an override on command has been previously issued or the non_mail_address keyword is specified with the add command.

5.4.5.2 close

The close command closes the currently open alias database. Use the open command to open a different database. pmdf db will automatically close any open database when the exit or quit commands are issued.

5.4.5.3 copy

The copy command creates a new alias with the name to-alias-name and associates to it the expansion value of the alias with the name from-alias-name. A subsequent change to the "from" alias will not affect the "to" alias. Any attributes associated with the "from" alias will be copied to the "to" alias regardless of whether or not an override on command has been issued previously.

db> add postmaster "root@thor.example.com" [Entry added to database] db> copy postmaster postmast [1 entry copied] db> show post* Key Value ---------- ----------------------------- postmast system@thor.example.com postmaster system@thor.example.com [2 entries shown] db>

5.4.5.4 exit

The exit and quit commands are identical and each causes pmdf db to close any open database and then exit.

5.4.5.5 help

Obtain help on a topic.

5.4.5.6 modify

The modify command is used to replace the expansion value of an alias with a new expansion value.

db> add postmaster "root@thor.example.com" [Entry added to database] db> show postmaster Key Value ---------- ----------------------------- postmaster root@thor.example.com [1 entry shown] db> modify postmaster "ariel@example.com" db> show postmaster Key Value ---------- ----------------------------- postmaster ariel@example.com [1 entry shown] db>

Wild cards may be used when specifying the alias name in order to modify one or more aliases simultaneously.

5.4.5.7 open

The open command opens an alias database after first closing any currently opened database. If the database to be opened already exists, then pmdf db will automatically determine whether or not the database is a "long" (stores 80/132 character long alias names/values) or "short" (stores 32/80 character long alias names/values). If the database does not already exist, then it will be created as a long database.

When pmdf db is first invoked, your own personal alias database is automatically opened.

5.4.5.8 override

The override command is useful when looking at or modifying databases other than an alias database. Ordinarily the database manipulation commands, add, copy, modify, rename, remove, set, and show will only operate on aliases with the mail_address attribute. When the command override on has been issued, these commands may be used to manipulate any entry in the database regardless of its attributes (or lack thereof).

The override off command negates the override on command.

5.4.5.9 quit

The exit and quit commands are identical and each causes pmdf db to close any open database and then exit.

5.4.5.10 remove

With the remove command, one or more aliases may be removed from the database. Wild cards may be used when specifying aliases to be removed. For instance, to remove all aliases from a database, issue the command remove*.

5.4.5.11 rename

The rename command is used to rename an alias without altering its expansion value:

db> add postmaster "root@thor.example.com" [Entry added to database] db> show postmaster Key Value ---------- ----------------------------- postmaster root@thor.example.com [1 entry shown] db> rename postmaster post [1 entry renamed] db> show post Key Value ---------- ----------------------------- post root@thor.example.com [1 entry shown] db>

5.4.5.12 run

The run command may be used to execute a file of pmdf db commands.

5.4.5.13 set

The set command may be used to grant or remove attributes from aliases. The alias name specification may include wild cards. The allowable attribute names are listed in the add command description described in Section 5.4.5.1.

5.4.5.14 show

The show command is used to list the contents of a database. The optional attributes keyword, when supplied, causes the attributes associated with each alias to also be displayed:

db> add postmaster "root@thor.example.com" [Entry added to database] db> show postmaster attributes Key Value ---------- ----------------------------- postmaster root@thor.example.com Attributes: private,expand,block_receipts,mail_address [1 entries shown] db>

The alias name specification may contain wild cards. To see all entries with the mail_address attribute, issue the command show; to see absolutely all entries, first issue the command override on followed by the command show

5.4.5.15 wildcards

By default, the characters * and % in alias names are interpreted as wildcards: an asterisk, *, will match zero or more characters while each percent sign, %, will match precisely one character. The command wildcards ignore will cause pmdf db to not interpret asterisks or percent signs as wildcards; the command wildcards interpret will resume interpretation of wildcards.

5.4.5.16 write

The write command is used to create a command file which, when fed back into pmdf db with the run command, will recreate the entire database. If the alias keyword is specified, then a PMDF alias file (using PMDF's alias file format) will instead be produced. If the pine keyword is specified, then a pine addressbook is written.

For instance, the following commands will create a database named db2 which duplicates the database db1:

db> open db1 db> write makedb1 db> open db2 [creating database] db> run makedb1 db>

The above example presupposes the existence of a database named db1. The file makedb1 created with the write command is an ordinary text file which may be edited with any text editor.

Note that this is not an efficient way to duplicate a database --- a shell command such as the cp command will work much more quickly. The write command is intended as a means of creating a textual representation of a database which can be edited as a text file and later turned back into a database.