[Alpine-info] Using the address book

[Steve Hubert]

On Fri, 16 May 2008, lon at athenet.net wrote:


> I had to resubscribe to this for some reason.

>

> If this is the wrong list for users questions.

>

> I have used pine for years but the address book mystifies me.

>

> I have a CVS file that I want to put in an address book.

>

> How do I do it:

>

> What I don't understand is making the address book and then

> putting in the CVS file.


I'm guessing that you probably mean to say CSV (Comma Separated Values). 
Pine/Alpine doesn't use CSV for the address book, because commas can be 
part of the address. Instead, it has Tab separated fields. If you want to 
try to create an address book from your data the format is

nickname <TAB> fullname <TAB> address <TAB> Fcc <TAB> comment

The Fcc and comment field are optional so it could just be

nickname <TAB> fullname <TAB> address <TAB>

It is usually far easier to use the Take Address command in pine/alpine to 
slowly build up your address book as you read messages.

Steve