Syntax for IMAP Folders and Collections

Pine users have the option of using folders which are stored on a computer other than the one on which Pine is running. Pine accesses remote folders via IMAP (the Internet Message Access Protocol), or in the case of news, via NNTP (the Network News Transport Protocol).

Syntax for Folders

To be able to access remote folders in Pine, the remote host must be running the appropriate server software (imapd or nntpd) and you must correctly specify the name of the folder to Pine, including the domain name of the remote machine. For example, "{monet.art.nowhere.edu}INBOX" is a remote folder specification, as is "{monet.art}~/mail/september-1994". As you can tell, the name of the computer is in {} brackets followed immediately by the name of the folder. If, as in these examples, there is no remote access protocol specified, then IMAP is assumed.

There are certain symbols which have special meanings in folder names:

A "*" in front of the folder specification means that the folder is a bulletin board -- shared access and no write privileges. Examples:
```
           *comp.mail.pine, *{wharhol.art.nowhere.edu}job-board
```

A folder name beginning with "#mh/" is an mh format folder. Examples:

           #mh/mail/sep-1994, {wharhol.art.nowhere.edu}#mh/mail/sep-1994

There are certain flags within remote folder names:

An "/anonymous" flag means anonymous IMAP access. Example:

          {wharhol.art.nowhere.edu/anonymous}job-board

A "/user=" flag permits you to specify the username for the desired account on the mail server. Example:
```
          {mailhost.myISP.com/user=jsingh}INBOX
```
will cause Pine to attempt a login as user "jsingh" on server "mailhost.myISP.com" when this entry is used. The user will be prompted for a password.
A "/nntp" flag means NNTP protocol access. It cannot be used with the /anonymous flag. Example:
```
           *{news.nowhere.edu/nntp}comp.mail.pine
```

Note that "INBOX" has special meaning in both local and remote folder specifications. The name INBOX refers to your "principal incoming message folder" and will be mapped to the actual file name used for your INBOX on any given host. Therefore, a name like "{xxx.art.nowhere.edu}INBOX" refers to whatever file is used to store incoming mail for you on that particular host.

Syntax for Collections

Folder collections are "places" to store folders. They roughly correspond to a filesystem "directory". Collections may be local or remote, but they must correspond to a pre-existing filesystem directory, i.e. Pine will not create any directory other than the original default.

A valid local collection is just the specification of a directory on the local system followed by square brackets. For example, "ART-101\[]" may be valid on a PC and "exhibit/[]" may be valid on Unix.

Pine also allows you to access a collection on a remote computer (provided it supports IMAP and you have the right to store folders on it.) To specify a remote folder collection, you need to give the name of the IMAP mail server, the name of the collection on that server, and the square brackets. For instance, "{wharhol.art.nowhere.edu}art-101/[]" is a remote collection. As you can tell, the name of the computer is in {} brackets followed immediately by the name of the collection.

Collection syntax:

 {optional-imap-hostname}optional-directory-path[]

For more information on IMAP, visit the University of Washington's IMAP Information Center at the URL:
http://www.washington.edu/imap

End of Pine User's Guide