For the whole scoop on MH sequences, refer to ‘mh-sequence’(5)1. As you've read, several of the MH-E commands can operate on a sequence, which is a shorthand for a range or group of messages. For example, you might want to forward several messages to a friend or colleague. Here's how to manipulate sequences. These commands are also available in the ‘Sequence’ menu.
mh-toggle-tick).
mh-prefix-help).
mh-narrow-to-tick).
mh-delete-msg-from-seq).
mh-delete-seq).
mh-list-sequences).
mh-narrow-to-seq).
mh-put-msg-in-seq).
mh-msg-is-in-seq).
mh-widen).
The ‘mh-sequences’ customization group contains the options associated with sequences.
mh-refile-preserves-sequences-flagmh-tick-seqmh-update-sequences-after-mh-show-flagThe following hook is available.
mh-unseen-updated-hooknil). To place a message in a
sequence, use S p (mh-put-msg-in-seq).
Give S p a range and you can add all the messages in a
sequence to another sequence (for example, C-u S p
SourceSequence <RET> DestSequence <RET>, see
Ranges).
One specific use of the
S p command is '
(mh-toggle-tick) which adds messages to the
‘tick’
sequence. This sequence can be viewed later with the F
' (mh-index-ticked-messages) command (see
Folders).
You can customize the
option mh-tick-seq if you already use the
‘tick’
sequence for your own use. You can also disable all of the
ticking functions by choosing the ‘Disable Ticking’ item but there isn't
much advantage to that.
Once you've placed some messages in a
sequence, you may wish to narrow the field of view to just those
messages in the sequence you've created. To do this, use S
n (mh-narrow-to-seq). You are prompted for the
name of the sequence. What this does is show only those messages
that are in the selected sequence in the MH-Folder buffer. In
addition, it limits further MH-E searches to just those messages.
To narrow the view to the messages in the
‘tick’
sequence, use S ' (mh-narrow-to-tick).
When you want to widen the view to all your messages again, use
S w (mh-widen).
You can see which sequences in which a
message appears with the command S s
(mh-msg-is-in-seq). Use a prefix argument to display
the sequences in which another message appears (as in C-u 42
S s <RET>). Or, you can list all sequences in a
selected folder (default is current folder) with S l
(mh-list-sequences). The list appears in a buffer
named ‘*MH-E
Sequences*’ (see Miscellaneous).
If a message is in any sequence (except ‘Previous-Sequence:’2 and
‘cur’) when it
is refiled, then it will still be in those sequences in the
destination folder. If this behavior is not desired, then turn
off the option
mh-refile-preserves-sequences-flag.
If you want to remove a message (or range,
see Ranges) from a sequence, use
S d (mh-delete-msg-from-seq). If you want
to delete an entire sequence, use S k
(mh-delete-seq). In the latter case you are prompted
for the sequence to delete. Note that this deletes only the
sequence, not the messages in the sequence. If you want to delete
the messages, use C-u d (see Reading Mail).
Three sequences are maintained internally by MH-E and pushed out
to MH when a message is shown. They include the sequence
specified by your ‘Unseen-Sequence:’ profile component,
‘cur’, and the
sequence listed by the option mh-tick-seq which is
‘tick’ by
default. If you do not like this behavior, turn off the option
mh-update-sequences-after-mh-show-flag. You can then
update the state manually with the x, q, or
M-x mh-update-sequences commands.
The hook
mh-unseen-updated-hook is run after the unseen
sequence has been updated. The variable mh-seen-list
can be used by this hook to obtain the list of messages which
were removed from the unseen sequence.
With the exceptions of S n and S w, the underlying MH command dealing with sequences is mark3.
[1] See the section More About Sequences in the MH book.
[2] See ‘mh-profile’(5)).
[3] See the section Make Message Bookmarks with mark in the MH book.