7. Labels

Each message can have various labels assigned to it as a means of classification. A label has a name; different names mean different labels. Any given label is either present or absent on a particular message. A few label names have standard meanings and are given to messages automatically by Rmail when appropriate; these special labels are called attributes. All other labels are assigned by the user.

a label RET

Assign the label label to the current message (rmail-add-label).

k label RET

Remove the label label from the current message (rmail-kill-label).

C-M-n labels RET

Move to the next message that has one of the labels labels (rmail-next-labeled-message).

C-M-p labels RET

Move to the previous message that has one of the labels labels (rmail-previous-labeled-message).

C-M-l labels RET

Make a summary of all messages containing any of the labels labels (rmail-summary-by-labels).

Specifying an empty string for one these commands means to use the last label specified for any of these commands.

The a (rmail-add-label) and k (rmail-kill-label) commands allow you to assign or remove any label on the current message. If the label argument is empty, it means to assign or remove the label most recently assigned or removed.

Once you have given messages labels to classify them as you wish, there are two ways to use the labels: in moving and in summaries.

The command C-M-n labels RET (rmail-next-labeled-message) moves to the next message that has one of the labels labels. labels is one or more label names, separated by commas. C-M-p (rmail-previous-labeled-message) is similar, but moves backwards to previous messages. A preceding numeric argument to either one serves as a repeat count.

The command C-M-l labels RET (rmail-summary-by-labels) displays a summary containing only the messages that have at least one of a specified set of messages. The argument labels is one or more label names, separated by commas. See section 8. Summaries, for information on summaries.

If the labels argument to C-M-n, C-M-p or C-M-l is empty, it means to use the last set of labels specified for any of these commands.

Some labels such as `deleted' and `filed' have built-in meanings and are assigned to or removed from messages automatically at appropriate times; these labels are called attributes. Here is a list of Rmail attributes:

`unseen'

Means the message has never been current. Assigned to messages when they come from an inbox file, and removed when a message is made current.

`deleted'

Means the message is deleted. Assigned by deletion commands and removed by undeletion commands (see section 3. Deleting Messages).

`filed'

Means the message has been copied to some other file. Assigned by the file output commands (see section 5. Multiple Mail Files).

`answered'

Means you have mailed an answer to the message. Assigned by the r command (rmail-reply). See section 9. Sending Replies.

`forwarded'

Means you have forwarded the message to other users. Assigned by the f command (rmail-forward). See section 9. Sending Replies.

`edited'

Means you have edited the text of the message within Rmail. See section 10. Editing Within a Message.

All other labels are assigned or removed only by the user, and it is up to the user to decide what they mean.

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