biff

BIFF(1)                    OpenBSD Reference Manual                    BIFF(1)

NAME

     biff - be notified if mail arrives and who it is from

SYNOPSIS

     biff [n | y]

DESCRIPTION

     biff informs the system whether you want to be notified when mail arrives
     during the current terminal session.

     The options are as follows:

     n       Disables notification.

     y       Enables notification.

     When mail notification is enabled, the header and first few lines of the
     message will be printed on your screen whenever mail arrives.  A ``biff
     y'' command is often included in the file .login or .profile to be
     executed at each login.

     biff operates asynchronously.  For synchronous notification use the MAIL
     variable of sh(1) or the mail variable of csh(1).

SEE ALSO

     csh(1), mail(1), sh(1), comsat(8)

HISTORY

     The biff command appeared in 4.0BSD.  "Biff" was Heidi Stettner's dog.
     He died in August 1993, at 15.

OpenBSD 5.1                      May 31, 2007                      OpenBSD 5.1