biff command in a Linux operating system, is basically a program that help users to get notified on command line, when a new mail reaches. Also it tells that who actually sent the mail.
Speaking about the history of biff command, it’s based on the name of dog (who used to bark at the person delivering mail) of a developer of BSD 4.0. BSD is actually a Unix-like operating system which are first introduced back in 1977, and was named as 1BSD. This OS was developed by Computer System Research Group (CSRG) of the University of California at Berkeley. For your information, the current Mac OS X which is used on Apple computers, are even based on BSD operating system.
Syntax of biff command in Linux
biff [ y | n ]
Options available to use with biff command
y: Used for allowing mail notification for terminal
n: Used for denying mail notification for terminal
Examples of biff command in Linux
biff y
Running above command will enable mail notifications for terminal. So, whenever a new mail arrives, you will be notified on terminal.
Nishant Verma is a senior web developer who love to share his knowledge about Linux, SysAdmin, and more other web handlers. Currently, he loves to write as content contributor for ServoNode.