On Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 08:43:58PM -0500, Kyle Wheeler wrote: > On Tuesday, July 29 at 06:59 PM, quoth Tom: > > I would like to set up a group and an alias for that group. I read > > the manual and the wiki and the recent post and still to dumb to > > figure it out. I want the group name to be fargo. I would like the > > alias to be fargo if the group name and alias can be the same. > > Sure. > > I think you're confusing what "group" means in this context, and > you're making it mean multiple things. As far as mutt is concerned, a > "group" is (more or less) a label that is applied to addresses, while > an alias is a way of referring to one or more addresses. Thus, you > can't say "send a message to group X", but you can say "send a message > to alias Y". Groups are for answering questions like "is the sender a > member of group X". > > > The email addreses are [EMAIL PROTECTED],[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Okay, so, first, we set up the alias: > > alias fargo ([EMAIL PROTECTED]), ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > > Now, to add those to a group, we can do one of two things: we can > either tag the alias command, or we can do a separate group command. > For example, we could replace the previous alias command with this > one: > > alias -group fargo fargo ([EMAIL PROTECTED]), ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > > OR we can add a second "group" command: > > group -group fargo -addr [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Note that no comma is needed for the group command, but it is needed > for the alias command. Also note that you don't need to create a group > before using it! > > > In .muttrc I put group -group fargo -addr > > [EMAIL PROTECTED],[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > In my alias file whose name is addressbook.txt I put > > alias -group fargo > > That didn't work for multiple reasons. First, I'm pretty sure you > don't want the comma in the group command. Second, when you create an > alias you're associating a name with a set of addresses. You can't > associate a name with a group (groups can include things like regular > expressions, and it makes no sense to send a message to a regular > expression). > > Or, if you prefer, think of it this way: the -group tag on the alias > command is shorthand for the full-fledged group command, not the other > way around. Thus "alias -group fargo" is saying "create an alias, in > the group fargo, that is..." but is missing all the important > information about the alias that you wish to create. > > One of the ways I use groups is for coloring. Say, let's make it so > that email from anyone in my family is colored blue. Now, over the > years, my family members have changed email addresses, and I want to > keep their old emails colored blue, but when I send messages to them, > I only want to send the message to their current address. Thus: > > alias -group family dad ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > group -group family -addr [EMAIL PROTECTED] > group -group family -addr [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > (I could combine those last two lines, but I'm trying to keep these > lines short for the purposes of this email). > > Thus, the group "family" contains all three addresses, and I can > create hooks that match on "%C family" that will match everything. For > example: > > fcc-save-hook '%C family' =Family > color index blue default '%f family' > > And whenever Dad gets a new address, I only have to change the alias, > I don't have to create an additional hook or coloring pattern. > > Does that explain things a bit better? > > ~Kyle
Thanks for the good detailed answer. I have a better idea of group and its use now. All i needed was the alias but I thought I had to make a group to be able to alias the two addresses. I now have in my alias file alias fargo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> and it works. I had to change the ( to > for it to work. Thats a lot faster than tagging the two . Thanks for the great help Tom
