ELMALIAS(1)
NAME
elmalias − create and verify elm user and system aliases
SYNOPSIS
elmalias [ −q ]
elmalias −c alias-list
elmalias −l [ regular−expression ]
DESCRIPTION
Elmalias is the utility for setting, checking and listing aliases. If no options are given to the program it will attempt to install a new set of personal aliases.
Possible starting options are:
−c alias-list Check alias − check aliases in personal or system alias file.
−l regular-expression
List alias − list aliases available for the user.
−q Set system aliases − install the system-level alias set for all elm users on the machine. This command is only available for system administrators.
To install aliases, the program will either look for a file called $HOME/.elm/aliases.text (for personal aliases) or a file /usr/mail/.elm/aliases.text (if invoked by a system administrator). Installation is complete when the program has created two other elm data files: aliases.hash and aliases.data, both in the same directory as the aliases.text file.
The format of alias-text file is:
alias [, alias, ...] = [ fullname = ] address [, address, ...]
Addresses can be explicit routing or addressing information for a specific mailbox (eg. "user@host.domain") or another alias. If more than one alias is listed as the first part of the line, all will have the same value. If more than one address is listed, the specific alias will be assumed to be a group rather than individual alias. (See EXAMPLES)
Invoking with option −c checks the alias indicated by alias-list. This checks the user file first, and then the system alias file to try to find the specified alias or aliases. If found, the value of the alias is printed out, otherwise an error message is generated.
Finally, invoking with option −l outputs a line per alias in both the user and the system aliases. Each line is of the form:
alias address (fullname)
If an optional regular-expression is used, just the aliases that match the specified expression are listed. If not, they are all listed. regular expression is the same as egrep(1) of the shell.
The output is always sorted alphabetically.
EXAMPLES
A simple example aliases.text file:
# sample alias file
mom = my_mother@a.computer
dad,father,pop = Father = host!otherhost!dad
parents = mom, dad
listing this file would result in:
dad host!otherhost!dad (Father)
father host!otherhost!dad (Father)
mom my_mother@a.computer
parents mom,dad
pop host!otherhost!dad (Father)
AUTHOR
elmalias was developed by Hewlett-Packard Company.
FILES
$HOME/.elm/aliases.text
Alias source for user
$HOME/.elm/aliases.hash
Alias hash table for user
$HOME/.elm/aliases.data
Alias data file for user
/usr/mail/.elm/aliases.text
Alias source for system
/usr/mail/.elm/aliases.hash
Alias hash table for system
/usr/mail/.elm/aliases.data
Alias data file for system
SEE ALSO
WARNING
Note that the precedence of aliases is user file then system file. This means that a user can ’overload’ an alias by having one defined in the system file also defined in theirs. This shouldn’t turn out to be a problem, but is something for the system administrator to keep in mind when creating the system alias file.
Hewlett-Packard Company — HP-UX Release 7.0: Sept 1989