(M,14,4,4)
                                  Aliases

Aliases are a mechanism by which one electronic mail address may be used as
shorthand for a list of addresses.  For instance, if you have a group of
people to whom you regularly send the same message, you may have an alias
which will map some short name like `group' to the list of `real' mail
addresses.

Aliases are specified in a personal `alias file'.  The form is

                alias: expansion

where `alias' is the shorthand you would like to use, and `expansion' is
what you would like that alias to stand for.

Here's an example.  I regularly exchange mail with a group of people, and
all of us participate in the discussion.  Rather than type out the address
of each person each time I want to send mail to the group, I would create
an alias:

bash-group: chet@po.CWRU.Edu, bfox@ai.mit.edu, trost@reed.bitnet,
        ray.nickson@comp.vu.ac.nz, maarten@cs.vu.nl, composer@bu-cs.bu.edu

As you might have noticed, aliases may be more than one line, as long as
the second and subsequent lines begin with a space or a tab.  The right-hand
side (the text after the `:') is the list of addresses exactly as you would
type it at a `To:' prompt, with each address separated by a comma.

As a special case, the right-hand side may consist of only one address, so
you can use aliases as `nicknames' for people.  For example, if I would
rather remember someone's given name rather than his user ID, I could create
an alias like this:

ed: rynes@usenet.ins.cwru.edu

and mail to `ed' forevermore, blissfully forgetting his `official' username.


                              The Alias File

Your personal aliases are kept in an `alias file', which you can edit as
you like, using your choice of editors.  It is a simple text file, not
some binary format, to make changes easy.

The alias file consists of a series of lines, each specifying an alias or a
comment.  To make a line in the alias file a comment line, put a `#' as the
first character of the line.  The rest of that line is ignored, so you can
put in explanations or reminders.  Alias lines are as explained above.
Make sure that the first character of the alias is the first character on
the line.  If you want an alias to continue over more than one line, ensure
that the second and subsequent lines begin with a space or a tab.

                            A Concrete Example

Here's my alias file:

#
# Mail aliases
#
# Chet Ramey
#
me: chet

ed: rynes@po.CWRU.Edu
mike: kukura@po.CWRU.Edu

bash-group: chet@po.CWRU.Edu, bfox@ai.mit.edu, trost@reed.bitnet,
        ray.nickson@comp.vu.ac.nz, maarten@cs.vu.nl, composer@bu-cs.bu.edu


          *************************************************

Copyright 1991 Case Western Reserve University.  All Rights Reserved.