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5. Motto files

These files contain the quotes or mottoes that are randomly picked. They are simple text files that consist of a header and the mottoes.

5.1 Header

A motto file starts with a header. This header must be followed by a blank line. If you don't want to use the header, you must still begin the file with a blank line. Otherwise the first motto will never be used.

In the header you can give the following options:

FOOTER=footerfile

If a motto is picked from this particular motto file then the file footerfile will be used as a footer instead of the one given on the commandline or in the configuration file. This can be overriden with the OVERRIDE option. If you set the footer file to - it will be read from standard input.

HEADER=headerfile

If a motto is picked from this particular motto file then the file headerfile will be used as a header instead of the one given on the commandline or in the configuration file. This can be overriden with the OVERRIDE option. If you set the header file to - it will be read from standard input.

5.2 Mottoes

Next there are the mottoes:

Any motto may be up to 255 lines long and must be followed by a blank line. The mottoes may be preceded by a control line. This control line can make the motto "better" or "worse" so that it is used more or less often as a signature.

The control line looks like this:


 [++++]  take this motto very very often   
  [+++]  take this motto very often        
  . . .                                    
  [---]  take this motto very seldom       
 [----]  take this motto very very seldom  

5.3 An example

So, a motto file might look like this:


#   <->  mottoes for makeSIGN  <-->  see documentation for details  <->  #
# This is still the header. The next line is a kewl ruler.
----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+----6----+----7----
# We want to use myheader.txt as the header file when a motto is picked
# from here:
HEADER=myheader.txt
# The next line is blank and marks the end of the header.

line 1 of a normal motto
line 2 of a normal motto

[++]
line 1 of the next motto. This one is taken more often than the above one.
line 2 of the second motto
line 3 of the second motto
line 4 of the second motto

[----]
line 1 of a motto that I don't like very much
. . .


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