Any time you need a quick reminder of an MH command's switches, use the -help switch. For example, here's a list for scan:
% scan -help
syntax: scan [+folder] [msgs] [switches]
switches are:
-[no]clear
-form formatfile
-(forma)t string
-[no]header
-width columns
-[no]reverse
-(file) file
-(help)
profile: -form scan.timely
version: MH 6.8.3 #1[UCI] (ora) of Sun Feb 13 14:19:54 PST 1994
options: [ATTVIBUG] [BIND] [BSD42] [BSD43] [DUMB] [FLOCK] [GCOS_HACK]
[MHE] [MIME] [NTHOLSWAP] [OVERHEAD] [POP] [POP2] [RENAME]
[RPATHS] [RUSERPASS] [SENDMTS] [SOCKETS] [SUN40] [TYPESIG=void]
[UNISTD] [VSPRINTF] [ZONEINFO]
The syntax: shows what kinds of things you can type on
the command line. Some parts of some switches are shown in
parentheses -- this is the shortest abbreviation you can use --
for example, you can type -forma instead of -format.
But it doesn't show all abbreviations; for example, you can
use -w instead of -width.
You'll get the profile: line in nmh as well as MH 6.8.4 and above. It shows your MH profile entry (here, -form scan.timely) for the command you're getting help on (here, scan).
The version: and options: information is important when you're asking questions or reporting bugs to someone who's not at your computer site. There are several versions of MH and lots of configuration options -- an expert may need to know how your MH is set up, and this information will explain it. The #1 means this was the first build of MH 6.8.3 on our computer named ora. Local changes and rebuilds will change this to #2, #3, etc. The options: are explained in your online mh-gen(8) manual page.
In nmh, the -help output doesn't have the version: and options: information. To get the version, put a -version switch on any command line. The build options are stored in the nmh configuration files -- but nmh has fewer build options than MH, so you often won't need to bother.