Pine information pages

Syntax for folders

To be able to access remote folders in Pine, the remote host must be running the appropriate server software (imapd or nntpd) and you must correctly specify the name of the folder to Pine, including the domain name of the remote machine. For example, {monet.art.nowhere.edu}INBOX is a remote folder specification, as is {monet.art}~/mail/september-1994. As you can tell, the name of the computer is in {} brackets followed immediately by the name of the folder. If, as in these examples, there is no remote access protocol specified, then IMAP is assumed.

There are certain symbols which have special meanings in folder names:

An asterisk () in front of the folder specification means that the folder is a bulletin board, and therefore has shared access and no write privileges. For example:
```
*comp.mail.pine, *{wharhol.art.nowhere.edu}job-board
```
A folder name beginning with ``#mh/'' is an mh format folder. For example:
```
#mh/mail/sep-1994, {wharhol.art.nowhere.edu}#mh/mail/sep-1994
```

There are certain flags within remote folder names:

An ``/anonymous'' flag means anonymous IMAP access. For example:
```
{wharhol.art.nowhere.edu/anonymous}job-board
```
A ``/user='' flag permits you to specify the username for the desired account on the mail server. For example:
```
{mailhost.myISP.com/user=jsingh}INBOX
```
This will cause Pine to attempt a login as user jsingh on server mailhost.myISP.com when this entry is used. The user will be prompted for a password.
A ``/nntp'' flag means NNTP protocol access. It cannot be used with the ``/anonymous'' flag. For example:
```
*{news.nowhere.edu/nntp}comp.mail.pine
```

Note that ``INBOX'' has special meaning in both local and remote folder specifications. The name INBOX refers to your principal incoming message folder and will be mapped to the actual file name used for your INBOX on any given host. Therefore, a name like {xxx.art.nowhere.edu}INBOX refers to whatever file is used to store incoming mail for you on that particular host.