1.\" $NetBSD: biff.1,v 1.9 2003/08/07 11:13:12 agc Exp $ 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993 4.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 7.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 8.\" are met: 9.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 11.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 13.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 14.\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 15.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 16.\" without specific prior written permission. 17.\" 18.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 19.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 20.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 21.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 22.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 23.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 24.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 25.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 26.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 27.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 28.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 29.\" 30.\" @(#)biff.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93 31.\" 32.Dd June 6, 1993 33.Dt BIFF 1 34.Os 35.Sh NAME 36.Nm biff 37.Nd "be notified if mail arrives and who it is from" 38.Sh SYNOPSIS 39.Nm 40.Op Cm ny 41.Sh DESCRIPTION 42.Nm 43informs the system whether you want to be notified when mail arrives 44during the current terminal session. 45.Pp 46Options supported by 47.Nm : 48.Bl -tag -width 4n 49.It Cm n 50Disables notification. 51.It Cm y 52Enables notification. 53.El 54.Pp 55When mail notification is enabled, the header and first few lines of 56the message will be printed on your screen whenever mail arrives. 57A 58.Dq Li biff y 59command is often included in the file 60.Pa \&.login 61or 62.Pa \&.profile 63to be executed at each login. 64.Pp 65.Nm 66operates asynchronously. 67For synchronous notification use the 68.Ar MAIL 69variable of 70.Xr sh 1 71or the 72.Ar mail 73variable of 74.Xr csh 1 . 75.Sh SEE ALSO 76.Xr csh 1 , 77.Xr mail 1 , 78.Xr sh 1 , 79.Xr comsat 8 80.Sh HISTORY 81The 82.Nm 83command appeared in 84.Bx 4.0 . 85