Good grief! - (nf)

[avak at inmet.UUCP]

#R:whuxle:-41400:inmet:10300020:000:981
inmet!avak    Jun  4 11:20:00 1984

If I recall correctly, "henry" is an undocumented mail variable, which
if set will cause mail to treat redirected standard input the same as
when standard input is the terminal. Specifically, "henry" will cause
the "~" escapes to work when they appear in a file.

My guess is that someone named Henry wanted this feature, and so the author
put it in as a favor, but didn't really believe in it.

I found the "feature" useful in a case where a script is sending mail, but
where I don't want the "set record" in my .mailrc to give me copies.  The
"set henry" allows an "~:unset record" to do the job.
I say "feature" because I would have prefered mail to not even notice that
standard input was a file.
(The "ls" command also behaves differently when its standard output is not
the terminal.)
Such cleverness detracts from the otherwise brilliant concept of 
standard input/output and redirection.  
(I lived for years with IBM's TSO. Nuff said??)

	Arra Avakian
	Intermetrics, Inc.