biff(1) - NetBSD Manual Pages

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BIFF(1)                 NetBSD General Commands Manual                 BIFF(1)


NAME

     biff -- be notified if mail arrives and who it is from


SYNOPSIS

     biff [ny]


DESCRIPTION

     biff informs the system whether you want to be notified when mail arrives
     during the current terminal session.

     Options supported by biff:

     n     Disables notification.

     y     Enables notification.

     When mail notification is enabled, the header and first few lines of the
     message will be printed on your screen whenever mail arrives.  A ``biff
     y'' command is often included in the file .login or .profile to be exe-
     cuted at each login.

     biff operates asynchronously.  For synchronous notification use the MAIL
     variable of sh(1) or the mail variable of csh(1).


EXIT STATUS

     The biff utility exits with one of the following values:

     0       Notification was enabled at the time of invocation.

     1       Notification was disabled at the time of invocation.

     >1      An error occurred.


SEE ALSO

     csh(1), mail(1), sh(1), comsat(8)


HISTORY

     The biff command appeared in 4.0BSD.

NetBSD 7.0                      April 28, 2013                      NetBSD 7.0