"Pine" (Program for Internet News & Email) is an e-mail and news reader program that allows you to send, receive, and view Internet e-mail and news (to view news with Pine see the "Using Pine to Read News" Quick Start).

To start Pine, type pine (lowercase is required for Unix) at the command prompt.

When starting Pine for the first time you will be given the option of receiving an introductory help document. If you respond with a "y," the document will be e-mailed to you. After you answer "yes" or "no," you can exit the ‘Welcome’ message by typing ‘E’. The Main Menu will appear next:

Pressing the keys for any of the letters listed in the left-hand column of the Main Menu will allow you to access the function described on the right. The picture above shows the various parts of the Pine display. At the bottom are commands that can be accessed by pressing the highlighted key shown. Not all commands are displayed on the screen at once; hit the O (the letter "O") key to cycle through the available commands. Note that you do not need to see commands on the screen in order to use them.

To begin a new e-mail message, type C from the Main Menu. You will then be presented with the Compose Message Screen (shown below). You will notice that the commands at the bottom of this screen are preceded with a "^" symbol. This symbol simply means that you must hit the Ctrl key at the same time as the letter shown to access the command.

When you are done composing your message, hit Ctrl-X to send it. (If you want to cancel, hit Ctrl-C.)

In order to view messages you have received, type I from the Main Menu. (An index of messages in your current folder will be displayed. To change the current folder, type L from the Main Menu.) Use the arrow keys to highlight the message you want to view. Then hit Enter to read the highlighted message.

You will now be at the Message Text screen. You can use some of the commands listed at the bottom of the Message Text screen will allow you to move around inside the e-mail message.

While viewing a message, you may type R to reply to it. You are then asked whether you want to include the original message in your reply (answer "y" or "n"). You will be presented with the Compose screen in which you will enter your message.

At any screen except the "Compose Message" screen, you can access online help by pressing the ? (question mark) key.

At the "Compose Message" screen, help may be accessed by typing Ctrl-G (hold down the "Ctrl" key and press the "g" key).

When you are finished using Pine, type Q to quit. You will be asked whether you actually want to quit, and you may be asked to confirm changes you have made to your mailbox during your Pine session.

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