# phpman > man > ap(8mh)

[AP(8mh)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/AP/8mh/markdown)                                                                                      [AP(8mh)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/AP/8mh/markdown)



## NAME
       ap - nmh parser of RFC 822-style addresses

## SYNOPSIS
       **/usr/lib/mh/ap** [**-help**] [**-version**] [**-form** _formatfile_] [**-format** _string_] [**-width** _columns_] _addrs_
            ...

## DESCRIPTION
       **ap** is a program that parses addresses according to the ARPA Internet standard.  It  also  un‐
       derstands  many  non-standard formats.  It is useful for seeing how **nmh** will interpret an ad‐
       dress.

       The **ap** program treats each argument as one or more addresses, and prints those addresses  out
       in the official RFC 822 format.  Hence, it is usually best to enclose each argument in quotes
       for the shell.

       To override the output format used by **ap**, the **-format** _string_ or  **-format**  _file_  switches  are
       used.   This  permits individual fields of the address to be extracted with ease.  The string
       is simply a format string, and the file is simply a format file.  See  [_mh-format_(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mh-format/5/markdown)  for  the
       details.

       In addition to the standard escapes, **ap** also recognizes the following additional escape:

            _Escape_  _Returns_  _Description_
            error   string   A diagnostic if the parse failed

       Here is the default format string used by **ap**:

            %<{error}%{error}: %{text}%|%(putstr(proper{text}))%>

       which  says  that if an error was detected, print the error, a `:', and the address in error.
       Otherwise, output the RFC 822-proper format of the address.

## FILES
       $HOME/.mh_profile   The user's profile.
       /etc/nmh/mts.conf   The mts configuration file.

## PROFILE COMPONENTS
       None

## SEE ALSO
       [_fmttest_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/fmttest/1/markdown), [_dp_(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/dp/8/markdown)

       _Standard_ _for_ _the_ _Format_ _of_ _ARPA_ _Internet_ _Text_ _Messages_ (RFC 822)

## DEFAULTS
       -format             As described above.
       -width              The width of the terminal.

## CONTEXT
       None



nmh-1.7.1                                    2013-12-05                                      [AP(8mh)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/AP/8mh/markdown)