Quoting W. Wesley Groleau x4923
(wwgrol(_at_)sparc01(_dot_)fw(_dot_)hac(_dot_)com):
I have seen a lot of examples that use 'echo', i.e.,
:0
* condition
| echo "first line of message" ; \
echo "second ..." et cetera
I started out with spam.rc from "ariel" which got me into the habit of
:0
* condition
| cat file_containing_message
although I note that spam.rc did have one recipe using the echo method.
What are the reasons for choosing each method over the other?
I know one: it's MUCH easier to edit file_containing_message than
to edit <long recipe with lots of echoing>
Hmm. Here's some differences: echo starts many processes, cat only
starts one. Echo's keep all the relevant stuff in one file, cat's make
you maintain multiple files. That's the main reason I lean toward
echo's; I have accounts on a whole lotta machines, and I like to be able
to copy just one generic .procmailrc between them without having to copy
a bunch of messages also. Mostly, though, there's no real difference
between the two methods.
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