- ``--entire-thread=(true|false)``
- If true, **notmuch show** outputs all messages in the thread of
- any message matching the search terms; if false, it outputs only
- the matching messages. For ``--format=json`` and
- ``--format=sexp`` this defaults to true. For other formats, this
- defaults to false.
-
- ``--format=(text|json|sexp|mbox|raw)``
-
- **text** (default for messages)
- The default plain-text format has all text-content MIME
- parts decoded. Various components in the output,
- (**message**, **header**, **body**, **attachment**, and MIME
- **part**), will be delimited by easily-parsed markers. Each
- marker consists of a Control-L character (ASCII decimal 12),
- the name of the marker, and then either an opening or
- closing brace, ('{' or '}'), to either open or close the
- component. For a multipart MIME message, these parts will be
- nested.
-
- **json**
- The output is formatted with Javascript Object Notation
- (JSON). This format is more robust than the text format for
- automated processing. The nested structure of multipart MIME
- messages is reflected in nested JSON output. By default JSON
- output includes all messages in a matching thread; that is,
- by default,
- ``--format=json`` sets ``--entire-thread``. The caller can
- disable this behaviour by setting ``--entire-thread=false``.
- The JSON output is always encoded as UTF-8 and any message
- content included in the output will be charset-converted to
- UTF-8.
-
- **sexp**
- The output is formatted as the Lisp s-expression (sexp)
- equivalent of the JSON format above. Objects are formatted
- as property lists whose keys are keywords (symbols preceded
- by a colon). True is formatted as ``t`` and both false and
- null are formatted as ``nil``. As for JSON, the s-expression
- output is always encoded as UTF-8.
-
- **mbox**
- All matching messages are output in the traditional, Unix
- mbox format with each message being prefixed by a line
- beginning with "From " and a blank line separating each
- message. Lines in the message content beginning with "From "
- (preceded by zero or more '>' characters) have an additional
- '>' character added. This reversible escaping is termed
- "mboxrd" format and described in detail here:
-
- http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jonathan.deboynepollard/FGA/mail-mbox-formats.html
-
- **raw** (default if --part is given)
- Write the raw bytes of the given MIME part of a message to
- standard out. For this format, it is an error to specify a
- query that matches more than one message.
-
- If the specified part is a leaf part, this outputs the
- body of the part after performing content transfer
- decoding (but no charset conversion). This is suitable for
- saving attachments, for example.
-
- For a multipart or message part, the output includes the
- part headers as well as the body (including all child
- parts). No decoding is performed because multipart and
- message parts cannot have non-trivial content transfer
- encoding. Consumers of this may need to implement MIME
- decoding and similar functions.
-
- ``--format-version=N``
- Use the specified structured output format version. This is
- intended for programs that invoke **notmuch(1)** internally. If
- omitted, the latest supported version will be used.
-
- ``--part=N``
- Output the single decoded MIME part N of a single message. The
- search terms must match only a single message. Message parts are
- numbered in a depth-first walk of the message MIME structure,
- and are identified in the 'json', 'sexp' or 'text' output
- formats.
-
- Note that even a message with no MIME structure or a single
- body part still has two MIME parts: part 0 is the whole
- message (headers and body) and part 1 is just the body.
-
- ``--verify``
- Compute and report the validity of any MIME cryptographic
- signatures found in the selected content (ie. "multipart/signed"
- parts). Status of the signature will be reported (currently only
- supported with --format=json and --format=sexp), and the
- multipart/signed part will be replaced by the signed data.
-
- ``--decrypt``
- Decrypt any MIME encrypted parts found in the selected content
- (ie. "multipart/encrypted" parts). Status of the decryption will
- be reported (currently only supported with --format=json and
- --format=sexp) and on successful decryption the
- multipart/encrypted part will be replaced by the decrypted
- content.
-
- Decryption expects a functioning **gpg-agent(1)** to provide any
- needed credentials. Without one, the decryption will fail.
-
- Implies --verify.
-
- ``--exclude=(true|false)``
- Specify whether to omit threads only matching
- search.tag\_exclude from the search results (the default) or
- not. In either case the excluded message will be marked with the
- exclude flag (except when output=mbox when there is nowhere to
- put the flag).
-
- If --entire-thread is specified then complete threads are
- returned regardless (with the excluded flag being set when
- appropriate) but threads that only match in an excluded message
- are not returned when ``--exclude=true.``
-
- The default is ``--exclude=true.``
-
- ``--body=(true|false)``
- If true (the default) **notmuch show** includes the bodies of
- the messages in the output; if false, bodies are omitted.
- ``--body=false`` is only implemented for the json and sexp
- formats and it is incompatible with ``--part > 0.``
-
- This is useful if the caller only needs the headers as body-less
- output is much faster and substantially smaller.
-
- ``--include-html``
- Include "text/html" parts as part of the output (currently only
- supported with --format=json and --format=sexp). By default,
- unless ``--part=N`` is used to select a specific part or
- ``--include-html`` is used to include all "text/html" parts, no
- part with content type "text/html" is included in the output.
-
-A common use of **notmuch show** is to display a single thread of email
-messages. For this, use a search term of "thread:<thread-id>" as can be
-seen in the first column of output from the **notmuch search** command.
+.. program:: show
+
+.. option:: --entire-thread=(true|false)
+
+ If true, **notmuch show** outputs all messages in the thread of
+ any message matching the search terms; if false, it outputs only
+ the matching messages. For ``--format=json`` and ``--format=sexp``
+ this defaults to true. For other formats, this defaults to false.
+
+.. option:: --format=(text|json|sexp|mbox|raw)
+
+ text (default for messages)
+ The default plain-text format has all text-content MIME parts
+ decoded. Various components in the output, (**message**,
+ **header**, **body**, **attachment**, and MIME **part**), will
+ be delimited by easily-parsed markers. Each marker consists of
+ a Control-L character (ASCII decimal 12), the name of the
+ marker, and then either an opening or closing brace, ('{' or
+ '}'), to either open or close the component. For a multipart
+ MIME message, these parts will be nested.
+
+ json
+ The output is formatted with Javascript Object Notation
+ (JSON). This format is more robust than the text format for
+ automated processing. The nested structure of multipart MIME
+ messages is reflected in nested JSON output. By default JSON
+ output includes all messages in a matching thread; that is, by
+ default, ``--format=json`` sets ``--entire-thread``. The
+ caller can disable this behaviour by setting
+ ``--entire-thread=false``. The JSON output is always encoded
+ as UTF-8 and any message content included in the output will
+ be charset-converted to UTF-8.
+
+ sexp
+ The output is formatted as the Lisp s-expression (sexp)
+ equivalent of the JSON format above. Objects are formatted as
+ property lists whose keys are keywords (symbols preceded by a
+ colon). True is formatted as ``t`` and both false and null are
+ formatted as ``nil``. As for JSON, the s-expression output is
+ always encoded as UTF-8.
+
+ mbox
+ All matching messages are output in the traditional, Unix mbox
+ format with each message being prefixed by a line beginning
+ with "From " and a blank line separating each message. Lines
+ in the message content beginning with "From " (preceded by
+ zero or more '>' characters) have an additional '>' character
+ added. This reversible escaping is termed "mboxrd" format and
+ described in detail here:
+
+ http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jonathan.deboynepollard/FGA/mail-mbox-formats.html
+
+ raw (default if ``--part`` is given)
+ Write the raw bytes of the given MIME part of a message to
+ standard out. For this format, it is an error to specify a
+ query that matches more than one message.
+
+ If the specified part is a leaf part, this outputs the body of
+ the part after performing content transfer decoding (but no
+ charset conversion). This is suitable for saving attachments,
+ for example.
+
+ For a multipart or message part, the output includes the part
+ headers as well as the body (including all child parts). No
+ decoding is performed because multipart and message parts
+ cannot have non-trivial content transfer encoding. Consumers
+ of this may need to implement MIME decoding and similar
+ functions.
+
+.. option:: --format-version=N
+
+ Use the specified structured output format version. This is
+ intended for programs that invoke :any:`notmuch(1)` internally. If
+ omitted, the latest supported version will be used.
+
+.. option:: --part=N
+
+ Output the single decoded MIME part N of a single message. The
+ search terms must match only a single message. Message parts are
+ numbered in a depth-first walk of the message MIME structure, and
+ are identified in the 'json', 'sexp' or 'text' output formats.
+
+ Note that even a message with no MIME structure or a single body
+ part still has two MIME parts: part 0 is the whole message
+ (headers and body) and part 1 is just the body.
+
+.. option:: --sort=(newest-first|oldest-first)
+
+ This option can be used to present results in either chronological
+ order (**oldest-first**) or reverse chronological order
+ (**newest-first**).
+
+ Only threads as a whole are reordered. Ordering of messages within
+ each thread will not be affected by this flag, since that order is
+ always determined by the thread's replies.
+
+ By default, results will be displayed in reverse chronological
+ order, (that is, the newest results will be displayed first).
+
+.. option:: --verify
+
+ Compute and report the validity of any MIME cryptographic
+ signatures found in the selected content (e.g., "multipart/signed"
+ parts). Status of the signature will be reported (currently only
+ supported with ``--format=json`` and ``--format=sexp``), and the
+ multipart/signed part will be replaced by the signed data.
+
+.. option:: --decrypt=(false|auto|true|stash)
+
+ If ``true``, decrypt any MIME encrypted parts found in the
+ selected content (e.g., "multipart/encrypted" parts). Status of
+ the decryption will be reported (currently only supported
+ with ``--format=json`` and ``--format=sexp``) and on successful
+ decryption the multipart/encrypted part will be replaced by
+ the decrypted content.
+
+ ``stash`` behaves like ``true``, but upon successful decryption it
+ will also stash the message's session key in the database, and
+ index the cleartext of the message, enabling automatic decryption
+ in the future.
+
+ If ``auto``, and a session key is already known for the
+ message, then it will be decrypted, but notmuch will not try
+ to access the user's keys.
+
+ Use ``false`` to avoid even automatic decryption.
+
+ Non-automatic decryption (``stash`` or ``true``, in the absence of
+ a stashed session key) expects a functioning :manpage:`gpg-agent(1)` to
+ provide any needed credentials. Without one, the decryption will
+ fail.
+
+ Note: setting either ``true`` or ``stash`` here implies
+ ``--verify``.
+
+ Here is a table that summarizes each of these policies:
+
+ +------------------------+-------+------+------+-------+
+ | | false | auto | true | stash |
+ +========================+=======+======+======+=======+
+ | Show cleartext if | | X | X | X |
+ | session key is | | | | |
+ | already known | | | | |
+ +------------------------+-------+------+------+-------+
+ | Use secret keys to | | | X | X |
+ | show cleartext | | | | |
+ +------------------------+-------+------+------+-------+
+ | Stash any newly | | | | X |
+ | recovered session keys,| | | | |
+ | reindexing message if | | | | |
+ | found | | | | |
+ +------------------------+-------+------+------+-------+
+
+ Note: ``--decrypt=stash`` requires write access to the database.
+ Otherwise, ``notmuch show`` operates entirely in read-only mode.
+
+ Default: ``auto``
+
+.. option:: --exclude=(true|false)
+
+ Specify whether to omit threads only matching search.exclude\_tags
+ from the search results (the default) or not. In either case the
+ excluded message will be marked with the exclude flag (except when
+ output=mbox when there is nowhere to put the flag).
+
+ If ``--entire-thread`` is specified then complete threads are returned
+ regardless (with the excluded flag being set when appropriate) but
+ threads that only match in an excluded message are not returned
+ when ``--exclude=true.``
+
+ The default is ``--exclude=true.``
+
+.. option:: --body=(true|false)
+
+ If true (the default) **notmuch show** includes the bodies of the
+ messages in the output; if false, bodies are omitted.
+ ``--body=false`` is only implemented for the text, json and sexp
+ formats and it is incompatible with ``--part > 0.``
+
+ This is useful if the caller only needs the headers as body-less
+ output is much faster and substantially smaller.
+
+.. option:: --include-html
+
+ Include "text/html" parts as part of the output (currently
+ only supported with ``--format=text``, ``--format=json`` and
+ ``--format=sexp``). By default, unless ``--part=N`` is used to
+ select a specific part or ``--include-html`` is used to include all
+ "text/html" parts, no part with content type "text/html" is included
+ in the output.
+
+A common use of **notmuch show** is to display a single thread of
+email messages. For this, use a search term of "thread:<thread-id>" as
+can be seen in the first column of output from the
+:any:`notmuch-search(1)` command.
+
+CONFIGURATION
+=============
+
+Structured output (json / sexp) is influenced by the configuration
+option :ref:`show.extra_headers <show.extra_headers>`. See
+:any:`notmuch-config(1)` for details.