Pine Overview

Pine (Program for Internet News & Email) was developed at the University of Washington. Pine may be installed on computers running UNIX or the Microsoft operating system (PC-Pine).

Starting Pine

To start Pine, log into your UNIX account, and type pine at the prompt.

If you are not sure how to log into your UNIX account, refer to the SSH documentation.

If you have never used Pine before, you will be presented with a Welcome screen. Press E to exit the greeting. Otherwise, Pine will load the Main Menu screen.

Controlling Pine

Options in Pine are presented at the bottom of the screen, along with any system messages that Pine may present. Options can be selected by pressing the highlighted letter next to the option. Options that begin with a carat (^) can be selected by holding the Control key while pressing the option letter.

Options in Pine are also context-sensitive: any changes will be reflected in the options list at the bottom of the screen. Generally, if more options exist than can be displayed, you can press O to move through the options list.

Reading Messages

To read messages in your Inbox:

1. Press I from the Main Menu, or use the arrow keys to highlight the Message Index option, and press Return.
   This will load an index of the messages you currently have in your Inbox, starting at the end of the index, by default.
2. Use the arrow keys to highlight the message you want to view, and press Return to display the contents of the message.


To display messages in other folders besides the Inbox:

1. Press L to load the Collection List.
2. Highlight Mail and press Return to load a listing of local mail folders.
3. Highlight the folder that contains the message(s) you want to view, and press Return to load the message index for that folder.
4. Use the arrow keys to highlight the message you wish to view, and press Return to view the contents of the message.

When viewing a message or message index, the following commands apply:

• P : Move to previous message or folder (when in folder listing)
• N : Move to next message or folder (when in folder listing)
• - : Move up one page in message index
• Spacebar : Move down one page in message index
• J : Jump to message (enter message number at system prompt)
• I : Load current message index
• L : Load Collection List
• M : Load Main Menu

Sending Messages

By default, Pine uses the Pico editor to create messages. Message options are invoked in the same way as in the Pico editor, but it should be noted that they are slightly different from regular Pico commands. All of your available options are listed at the bottom of each individual screen.


To create a new email message:

1. Press C to begin the message editor.
2. In the To: field, enter the email addresses of the message recipients. Addressees may be regular e-mail addresses, or Nicknames and Distribution Lists from the Address Book.
3. In the Cc: field, enter the email addresses for any carbon copy recipients.
4. In the Attachment: field, enter the path of files to be attached to the email message.
   To pull up a list of files that can be attached, press ^T (Control-T) to start the file browser. Select the file you want to attach, and press Return. Attachments in Pine must be added one at a time.
5. In the Subject: field, enter the subject of the email message, if any.
6. Type in the text of the message in the Message Text section.
7. Once you have finished editing the message, press ^X (Control-X) to send the message. A copy of the email will be placed in your sent-mail folder.
8. Messages may be postponed, to finish at a later time. Press ^O (Control-O) to postpone a message. Pine will ask if you want to resume composing the message on subsequent attempts to create a new message.
9. Messages may also be cancelled. To cancel composition of an email message, press ^C (Control-C). Cancelled messages are automatically saved to the file dead.letter in your home directory.

Replying to Messages

While viewing the contents of a message, or while the message is highlighted in the message index:

1. Press R to reply to the current message.
2. Pine will ask if you want to include the original message in the reply: press Y to include, or N to not include the original message.
   If the original message is included in the reply, it will display in the Message Text section, separated by a line indicating the date and sender of the original message, with a leading ">" on each line of text.
   The contents of the original message may be edited as necessary, and empty space is provided before the original message for the sender's reply.
3. If the message was sent to multiple recipients, Pine will also ask if you want to reply to all recipients: press Y to respond to all recipients of the original message, or N to reply only to the sender.
4. Press ^X (Control-X) to send the email reply.

Forwarding Messages

While viewing the contents of a message, or while the message is highlighted in the message index:

1. Press F to forward the current message.
2. Pine will create a new message with the details and contents of the forwarded message at the bottom.
   The contents of the forwarded message may be edited as necessary, and empty space is provided before the forwarded message for the sender's remarks.
3. Press ^X (Control-X) to send the email reply.
Any message in a mail folder may be forwarded, including messages in the sent-mail folders.

Saving Messages

Messages in Pine may be saved to another folder within Pine, or exported to a text file in your home directory.

To save a message in another folder:

1. View the message you want to save, or highlight the message in the message index, and press S.
2. Pine will ask what folder you want to save the message in: type the name of the folder you want to move the message to, or type ^T (Control-T) to bring up the folder listing. Select the folder from the listing, and press Return. Press Return again to save the message in the new folder.
3. Saving a message in another folder will automatically delete the message from the current folder. From the message index, press X to remove the message entry from the index.

To save a message in a text file:

1. View the message you want to save, or highlight the message in the message index, and press E.
2. Pine will ask what file you want to save the message in: type the name of the file you want to save the message to, or type ^T (Control-T) to bring up the file browser. Select the file from the listing, and press Return. Press Return again to save the message in the file.
3. If the file selected already exists, Pine will ask if you want to overwrite or append to the file contents. Press O to overwrite, or A to append.

Printing Messages

Messages may be printed from Pine, but Pine must be configured to print first. There are two destination types that may be selected: a printer attached locally to the machine, or to a network printer accessible from the UNIX prompt.

1. From the Main Menu, press S to pull up the Pine Setup window.
2. Select P to edit the Printer options.

3. By default, Pine is set to print to attached-to-ansi, the local printer setting. The ability to print to a local printer is limited by your terminal.
4. To print to a network printer, move to the Personally selected print command section, and press A.
5. Enter a name for the printer you want to configure (eg., My Printer) and press Return. This name will display when you are selecting printers to print to.
6. Enter the print command for the printer, as you would normally type it at the UNIX prompt (eg., lpr -P) and press Return. Pine will use this command to send the message to the printer.
7. Pine will enter the name of the printer and its command on the printer list.
8. To select a default printer, highlight the printer on the printer list, and press S. This will change the default setting at the top of the screen.
9. Press E to exit the Printer setup, and Y to commit the current changes. To restore the previous setup (exit without saving changes), press N.

To print a message:

1. View the message you want to print, or highlight the message in the message index, and press %.
2. Pine will ask what printer setup you want to print to. If you have multiple printer setups, press ^P and ^N to move between options, and Y or N to confirm the printer choice.
3. Pine can only select between different printer setups, not different printer types (local or network). If you want to print to a network printer, and are currently configured to print to a local printer, you must reset the default, using the steps above.
4. Press E to exit the event viewer, and return to the message window.

Deleting Messages

Deleting messages in Pine is a two-step process: messages must be marked for deletion and then expunged from the mailbox.

1. View the message you want to delete, or highlight the message in the message index, and press D.
2. In the message index, a "D" will be placed next to messages marked for deletion.
3. To expunge the messages currently marked for deletion, press X. Pine will ask if you are sure: press Y to expunge the deleted messages, or N to cancel the operation. Cancelling an expunge operation does not unmark the messages for deletion.
   Note: Expunging messages marked for deletion causes the messages to be permanently deleted, so this action cannot be undone.
4. To unmark a message for deletion, highlight or view the deleted message and press U. This will remove the "D" from the message listing.

Creating An Address Book

Pine uses an Address Book, similar to other email programs. The address book may be used to create nicknames for frequent email recipients or distribution lists for groups of recipients. To edit the Address Book:

1. On the Main Menu, press A
2. Highlight the first option, .addressbook and press Return
3. To create a new entry, press @ to load the Add menu.

4. In the Nickname: field, type in an optional, one-word nickname that can be used for this recipient. Using a Nickname in the To: field of a new message, will cause the name to expand to the list of addresses in the Addresses: field.
5. In the Fullname: field, type the name of the recipient as it should display in the email header. If the entry is a distribution list, this should be a phrase describing the list's contents.
6. In the Fcc: field, you can specify another folder to save messages to for this recipient. This applies only if the entry is the first in the list of To: or Cc: recipients.
7. In the Comment: field, you may add a comment, visible only within the Address Book.
8. In the Addresses: field, type the email address for this Address Book entry. If the entry is a distribution list, separate the email addresses with commas. Addresses may also contain other existing distribution lists.
9. Once you have finished editing the entry, press ^X to save the entry and return to the Address Book.
10. Address Book entries may be deleted by highlighting the entry and pressing D.

Entries in the address book display only the Nickname, Fullname, and Addresses fields. By default, addresses that comprise a distribution list aren't displayed; to display these lists, highlight the [Address List] entry under the list name and press >.

Address Book entries can also be created from email addresses in messages received. To take addresses from an e-mail message:

1. View the message you want to pull addresses from, or highlight the message in the message index, and press T.
2. Select the address to take from the listing, and press T.
3. Pine will ask for a nickname for the e-mail address. Type one in, or press ^T and select .addressbook to select from nicknames in your address book. Press Return to set the nickname.
4. If you have selected an existing nickname, Pine will ask if you want to replace or append the email address to the address already in the nickname. Select R to replace the current email address with the selected address, or A to add the selected address to the nickname's list of addresses.
5. Pine will load the Add screen, and you can make any changes to the nickname, as necessary.
6. Press ^X to save the Address Book entry, and return to the message or message index screen.

Message Signatures

You can append a signature to your outgoing email messages:

1. From the Main Menu, press S to pull up the Pine Setup window.
2. Select S to begin the Signature editor. By default, Pine will use Pico as the Signature editor
3. Edit your signature, and press ^X to save the signature. Your signature will be saved in the file .signature, in your home directory.
If you have created a signature, or if the file .signature exists in your home directory, Pine will add the signature at the bottom of any email message you create. The signature will be included as part of the message text, and can be edited or changed like any other part of the message body.

Creating Email Filters

Pine has a filtering system that enables you to move or delete messages from one mailbox to another without having to manually move every message. Each filter you set within pine will perform one action on messages within folders (such as the inbox) you specify. Pine filters only operate when you have Pine running. The USC Message Store system also has its own filters, which you can use in the place of the Pine filters.

To set up Pine filters:

1. From the Pine Main Menu, type S to get to the Setup menu.
2. In the Setup menu, type R for Rules.
3. At the bottom of the screen, four options will be presented to you, one of which is Filters. Type F.
4. You will see a list of commands at the bottom of the Setup Filtering Rules screen that appears. To add a new filter, type A.
5. The next screen, Add A Filtering Rule, will appear. You will need a name for the filter action you wish to perform. This name you choose will be listed on the previous, Setup Filtering Rules screen. To choose a name, make sure Nickname is highlighted. If it is not highlighted, use the up and down arrow keys to highlight that field. Type C. At the bottom of your screen, you will be prompted to enter replacement text. Type a name for your filter and press Enter.
6. Following the Nickname field are a number of patterns, which refer to certain parts of an email.
7. The first six patterns refer to parts of the header of an email or, in the case of News pattern, a newsgroup message. When you set a value for any of these patterns, the filter will then look through the designated part of the header for a text string that matches your value. You are allowed to set multiple values for a single field, by separating each with commas. The next pattern, Recip, will search the To and Cc fields for a match. Partic will search the From, To and Cc fields. AllText will search the whole header and body. The final field, Score interval, refers to Scoring values that you can configure Pine to assign to your messages.
8. To set a value for any of the patterns, make sure the pattern is highlighted, or selected. You can select a specific item by using the up and down arrow keys. When you have done that, type C to change the value. Type the string you want to match, and then press Enter.
9. Below that list is the Current Folder Type setting. This will allow you to choose what folder, or folders, you wish to filter. All will filter all of your mailboxes and newsgroups. News will filter only newsgroups, while Email will only filter mailboxes. If you select Specific, you will only filter one email folder, like your inbox.
10. To select one of the four choices, highlight the type you wish to filter and then type *. If you choose Specific, you must also designate the folder you wish to filter.
11. Following the Current Folder Type section are four message status settings. They can filter messages based on whether or not they are important, new, deleted, or answered. For each of these criteria, you can select Don't care, always matches, Yes, or No by using the same method you used to set the Current Folder Type.
12. Finally, you need to set the Filter Action. All qualifying messages that fit the defined criteria can either be deleted or moved to another folder. Select either Delete or Move. If you choose Move, you will then have to choose the folder you want all messages that qualify in this filter to be moved to. To set a folder, highlight the appropriate field and type C. You will be prompted to write the folder name. If you do not currently have a folder with your desired name, Pine can make it for you. Type Enter.
13. Type E to exit the settings for this filter. Pine will ask you if you want to commit the changes. If you are certain about the settings of the filter, type Y.
14. Now, back at the Setup Filtering Rules screen, you can create more filters or you can exit the screen. To exit, type E. To save your changes, type Y.

Quitting Pine

To quit Pine, press Q. If you have any messages marked for deletion, Pine will ask if you want to expunge these messages. To expunge the messages, press Y, otherwise select N. If you decline to expunge any messages marked for deletion, these messages will remain marked.

Getting Help

Pine provides a rudimentary help system that can be accessed by pressing ? from the Main Menu, or by pressing^G in any window. Context-sensitive help may be displayed by pressing ^G while entering information in fields.

Last updated:
August 10, 2012

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