AFAIK there is no metadata in an mbox file that determines if a particular message has been read or not?

If you're using Mutt like me then a new header is added 'Status: RO' for "read" and "old" when a message is read. This may be something other programs add, or it may be mutt-specific. I'm not sure.

I guess you are assuming that there are no named pipes or FIFOs or other types of files?

Yes, but I think that is a valid assumption in this case.

I think your comments on the exclusion of filenames being very simplistic are very valid, but for simple code it works well for me. I guess I'm lucky that I don't have any meta-characters in my mailbox names.

I've updated the node to fix the pod errors you pointed out, so thanks for those.

Steve
--

In reply to Re^2: Show mbox files with unread mail messages in them by skx
in thread Show mbox files with unread mail messages in them by skx

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":



  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.