ms was written using the CCMD package developed at Columbia to mimic the command interface on DEC-20s. Thus, it has copious internal help, completion of partially typed commands on escape, and help on partial commands when "?" is typed.
These are the most useful commands:
GET mailbox
Open the specified local or remote mailbox. Remote mailbox names are in the form {server}mailbox. The default is INBOX. For example, GET {FOO.BAR.EDU} will open your primary mailbox at FOO.BAR.EDU. You will be prompted for your username and password at the host.
BBOARD bboard
Open the specified local or remote bulletin board. Remote bulletin board names are in the form {server}bboard. On Unix systems a bboard is a Usenet newsgroup. The default is general. For example BBOARD {FOO.BAR.EDU}rec.arts.anime will open the newsgroup rec.arts.anime at FOO.BAR.EDU. You will be prompted for your username and password at the host.
SEND address
Send mail to specified address or list of addresses. All addresses may be either local (without an "@") or in RFC 822 format.
HEADERS msgs
Displays a one-line summary of the specified messages.
TYPE msgs
Types the specified messages.
READ msgs
Enters read sub-mode on the specified messages.
DELETE msgs
Delete specified messages from current file.
EXIT
Permanently removes deleted messages from the mail file, closes any network connection, and gets out of MS.
HELP topic
Type a message explaining the specified topic.
Please type "?" to the "MS>" prompt for a complete list of commands. After that you can type "HELP" followed by the individual command name, i.e. "HELP SEND".
Use the BUG command in ms to send mail about bugs to the maintainers of ms.