Random .sigs in UNIX

Below is the small perl script I use to randomize my signature.  There 
are a few ways to use this, you can either put the command in your .login 
file, in which case you will get a new .sig everytime you log in, or you 
can alias the programs which need it like this:
  alias pine randsig;/usr/local/bin/pine
  alias tin randsig;/usr/local/bin/tin
which results in a new sig everytime you run pine or tin, you could even 
crontab it, to give you a new sig every few minutes.  How this works is 
to copy a random sig from the directory indicated by @files into 
$HOME/.signature when it is run.

------------------------- cut here -----------------
#!/usr/local/bin/perl
#######
# Randomizes your sig by copying a random sig file
# from $HOME/sigs/ into $HOME/.signature
#
# be sure to change $home to your home directory path
# and to change the @files line if you use a different path structure
#
# the file defined in $base will be put into the sig file,
# then the random sig will be appended to it.
#  if you want to use this feature, be sure to uncomment the `cat base` line
#######

$home = "/home/users/r/robobob";
$base = "$home/bin/randsigbase";
srand(time|$$);
@files = <$home/bin/randsigs/*>;
$this = $files[rand(@files)];

#`cat $base > $home/.signature`;
`cat $this > $home/.signature`;
-------------- cut here ----------------------

--
\\\\\        \\            \\\\\         \\        
 \\  \\       \\            \\  \\        \\       The way to fight a woman
  \\  \\       \\            \\  \\        \\       is with your hat.  Grab
   \\\\\  \\\\  \\\\\   \\\\  \\\\\   \\\\  \\\\\    it and run.
    \\\\  \\  \\ \\  \\ \\  \\ \\  \\ \\  \\ \\  \\       -- John Barrymore
     \\ \\ \\  \\ \\  \\ \\  \\ \\  \\ \\  \\ \\  \\
      \\ \\  \\\\  \\\\\   \\\\  \\\\\   \\\\  \\\\\    

In article <3hj9gi$s4...@news.xmission.com>, robobob@xmission (Friendly Human Person) writes:
>Below is the small perl script I use to randomize my signature.  There 
>are a few ways to use this, you can either put the command in your .login 
>file, in which case you will get a new .sig everytime you log in, or you 
>can alias the programs which need it like this:
>  alias pine randsig;/usr/local/bin/pine
>  alias tin randsig;/usr/local/bin/tin
>which results in a new sig everytime you run pine or tin, you could even 
>crontab it, to give you a new sig every few minutes.  How this works is 
>to copy a random sig from the directory indicated by @files into 
>$HOME/.signature when it is run.

Do you know if this would work with ELM???

Steven
                                          __^__
                                         /(o o)\
======================================oOO==(_)==OOo===========================
"Life was easy when it was boring."                  -The Police
  	STEVEN SPALTEN 	  	SUNY ALBANY	SS4...@UACSC1.ALBANY.EDU	
		WWW ---> HTTP://CSCMOSAIC.ALBANY.EDU/~SS4569/
==============================================================================

On 12 Feb 1995 ss4...@albnyvms.bitnet wrote:

> In article <3hj9gi$s4...@news.xmission.com>, robobob@xmission (Friendly Human Person) writes:
> >Below is the small perl script I use to randomize my signature.  There 
> >are a few ways to use this, you can either put the command in your .login 
> >file, in which case you will get a new .sig everytime you log in, or you 
> >can alias the programs which need it like this:
> >  alias pine randsig;/usr/local/bin/pine
> >  alias tin randsig;/usr/local/bin/tin
> >which results in a new sig everytime you run pine or tin, you could even 
> >crontab it, to give you a new sig every few minutes.  How this works is 
> >to copy a random sig from the directory indicated by @files into 
> >$HOME/.signature when it is run.

For us mere mortals who dont know much about perl scripts could you 
explain it bit more. I would really appreciate this. By the way, do you 
put all the different sigs in one file?
Thanks for the help!

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