| 1 | .\" Copyright (c) 1980 Regents of the University of California. |
| 2 | .\" All rights reserved. The Berkeley software License Agreement |
| 3 | .\" specifies the terms and conditions for redistribution. |
| 4 | .\" |
| 5 | .\" @(#)mail.1 6.5 (Berkeley) %G% |
| 6 | .\" |
| 7 | .TH MAIL 1 "" |
| 8 | .UC 4 |
| 9 | .SH NAME |
| 10 | mail \- send and receive mail |
| 11 | .SH SYNOPSIS |
| 12 | .B mail |
| 13 | [ |
| 14 | .B \-v |
| 15 | ] |
| 16 | [ |
| 17 | .B \-i |
| 18 | ] |
| 19 | [ |
| 20 | .B \-n |
| 21 | ] |
| 22 | [ |
| 23 | .B \-s |
| 24 | subject |
| 25 | ] |
| 26 | [ |
| 27 | user ... |
| 28 | ] |
| 29 | .br |
| 30 | .B mail |
| 31 | [ |
| 32 | .B \-v |
| 33 | ] |
| 34 | [ |
| 35 | .B \-i |
| 36 | ] |
| 37 | [ |
| 38 | .B \-n |
| 39 | ] |
| 40 | .B \-f |
| 41 | [ |
| 42 | name |
| 43 | ] |
| 44 | .br |
| 45 | .B mail |
| 46 | [ |
| 47 | .B \-v |
| 48 | ] |
| 49 | [ |
| 50 | .B \-i |
| 51 | ] |
| 52 | [ |
| 53 | .B \-n |
| 54 | ] |
| 55 | .B \-u |
| 56 | user |
| 57 | .SH INTRODUCTION |
| 58 | .I Mail |
| 59 | is a intelligent mail processing system, which has |
| 60 | a command syntax reminiscent of |
| 61 | .I ed |
| 62 | with lines replaced by messages. |
| 63 | .PP |
| 64 | The |
| 65 | .B \-v |
| 66 | flag puts mail into verbose mode; the details of |
| 67 | delivery are displayed on the users terminal. |
| 68 | The |
| 69 | .B \-i |
| 70 | flag causes tty interrupt signals to be ignored. This is |
| 71 | particularly useful when using |
| 72 | .I mail |
| 73 | on noisy phone lines. |
| 74 | The |
| 75 | .B \-n |
| 76 | flag inhibits the reading of /usr/lib/Mail.rc. |
| 77 | .PP |
| 78 | .I "Sending mail.\ " |
| 79 | To send a message to one or more other people, |
| 80 | .I mail |
| 81 | can be invoked with arguments which are the names of people to |
| 82 | send to. You are then expected to type in your message, followed |
| 83 | by an \s-2EOT\s0 (control\-D) at the beginning of a line. |
| 84 | A subject may be specified on the command line by using the |
| 85 | .B \-s |
| 86 | flag. (Only the first argument after the |
| 87 | .B \-s |
| 88 | flag is used as a subject; be careful to quote subjects |
| 89 | containing spaces.) |
| 90 | The section below, labeled |
| 91 | .I "Replying to or originating mail," |
| 92 | describes some features of |
| 93 | .I mail |
| 94 | available to help you compose your letter. |
| 95 | .PP |
| 96 | .I "Reading mail.\ " |
| 97 | In normal usage |
| 98 | .I mail |
| 99 | is given no arguments and checks your mail out of the |
| 100 | post office, then |
| 101 | prints out a one line header of each message there. |
| 102 | The current message is initially the first message (numbered 1) |
| 103 | and can be printed using the |
| 104 | .B print |
| 105 | command (which can be abbreviated \fBp\fR). |
| 106 | You can move among the messages much as you move between lines in |
| 107 | .IR ed , |
| 108 | with the commands `+' and `\-' moving backwards and forwards, and |
| 109 | simple numbers. |
| 110 | .PP |
| 111 | .I "Disposing of mail.\ " |
| 112 | After examining a message you can |
| 113 | .B delete |
| 114 | (\fBd\fR) |
| 115 | the message or |
| 116 | .B reply |
| 117 | (\fBr\fR) |
| 118 | to it. |
| 119 | Deletion causes the |
| 120 | .I mail |
| 121 | program to forget about the message. |
| 122 | This is not irreversible; the message can be |
| 123 | .B undeleted |
| 124 | (\fBu\fR) |
| 125 | by giving its number, or the |
| 126 | .I mail |
| 127 | session can be aborted by giving the |
| 128 | .B exit |
| 129 | (\fBx\fR) |
| 130 | command. |
| 131 | Deleted messages will, however, usually disappear never to be seen again. |
| 132 | .PP |
| 133 | .I "Specifying messages.\ " |
| 134 | Commands such as |
| 135 | .B print |
| 136 | and |
| 137 | .B delete |
| 138 | can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply |
| 139 | to a number of messages at once. |
| 140 | Thus ``delete 1 2'' deletes messages 1 and 2, while ``delete 1\-5'' |
| 141 | deletes messages 1 through 5. |
| 142 | The special name ``*'' addresses all messages, and ``$'' addresses |
| 143 | the last message; thus the command |
| 144 | .B top |
| 145 | which prints the first few lines of a message could be used in |
| 146 | ``top *'' to print the first few lines of all messages. |
| 147 | .PP |
| 148 | .I "Replying to or originating mail.\ " |
| 149 | You can use the |
| 150 | .B reply |
| 151 | command to |
| 152 | set up a response to a message, sending it back to the |
| 153 | person who it was from. |
| 154 | Text you then type in, up to an end-of-file, |
| 155 | defines the contents of the message. |
| 156 | While you are composing a message, |
| 157 | .I mail |
| 158 | treats lines beginning with the character `~' specially. |
| 159 | For instance, typing ``~m'' (alone on a line) will place a copy |
| 160 | of the current message into the response right shifting it by a tabstop. |
| 161 | Other escapes will set up subject fields, add and delete recipients |
| 162 | to the message and allow you to escape to an editor to revise the |
| 163 | message or to a shell to run some commands. (These options |
| 164 | are given in the summary below.) |
| 165 | .PP |
| 166 | .I "Ending a mail processing session.\ " |
| 167 | You can end a |
| 168 | .I mail |
| 169 | session with the |
| 170 | .B quit |
| 171 | (\fBq\fR) |
| 172 | command. |
| 173 | Messages which have been examined go to your |
| 174 | .I mbox |
| 175 | file unless they have been deleted in which case they are discarded. |
| 176 | Unexamined messages go back to the post office. |
| 177 | The |
| 178 | .B \-f |
| 179 | option causes |
| 180 | .I mail |
| 181 | to read in the contents of your |
| 182 | .I mbox |
| 183 | (or the specified file) |
| 184 | for processing; when you |
| 185 | .BR quit , |
| 186 | .I mail |
| 187 | writes undeleted messages back to this file. |
| 188 | The |
| 189 | .B \-u |
| 190 | flag is a short way of doing |
| 191 | "mail |
| 192 | .B \-f |
| 193 | /usr/spool/mail/user". |
| 194 | .PP |
| 195 | .I "Personal and systemwide distribution lists.\ " |
| 196 | It is also possible to create a personal distribution lists so that, |
| 197 | for instance, you can send mail to ``cohorts'' and have it go |
| 198 | to a group of people. |
| 199 | Such lists can be defined by placing a line like |
| 200 | .IP |
| 201 | alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory |
| 202 | .PP |
| 203 | in the file \&.mailrc in your home directory. |
| 204 | The current list of such aliases can be displayed with the |
| 205 | .B alias |
| 206 | .B (a) |
| 207 | command in |
| 208 | .IR mail . |
| 209 | System wide distribution lists can be created by editing |
| 210 | /usr/lib/aliases, see |
| 211 | .IR aliases (5) |
| 212 | and |
| 213 | .IR sendmail (8); |
| 214 | these are kept in a different syntax. |
| 215 | In mail you send, personal aliases will be expanded in mail sent |
| 216 | to others so that they will be able to \fBreply\fR to the recipients. |
| 217 | System wide \fIaliases\fR are not expanded when the mail is sent, |
| 218 | but any reply returned to the machine will have the system wide |
| 219 | alias expanded as all mail goes through |
| 220 | .IR sendmail . |
| 221 | .PP |
| 222 | .I "Network mail (ARPA, UUCP, Berknet)\ " |
| 223 | See |
| 224 | .IR mailaddr(7) |
| 225 | for a description of network addresses. |
| 226 | .PP |
| 227 | .I Mail |
| 228 | has a number of options which can be set in the |
| 229 | .I \&.mailrc |
| 230 | file to alter its behavior; thus ``set askcc'' enables the ``askcc'' |
| 231 | feature. (These options are summarized below.) |
| 232 | .SH SUMMARY |
| 233 | (Adapted from the `Mail Reference Manual') |
| 234 | .PP |
| 235 | Each command is typed on a line by itself, and may take arguments |
| 236 | following the command word. The command need not be typed in its |
| 237 | entirety \- the first command which matches the typed prefix is used. |
| 238 | For commands which take message lists as arguments, if no message |
| 239 | list is given, then the next message forward which satisfies the |
| 240 | command's requirements is used. If there are no messages forward of |
| 241 | the current message, the search proceeds backwards, and if there are no |
| 242 | good messages at all, |
| 243 | .I mail |
| 244 | types ``No applicable messages'' and |
| 245 | aborts the command. |
| 246 | .TP 12n |
| 247 | .B \- |
| 248 | Goes to the previous message and prints it out. If given a numeric |
| 249 | argument |
| 250 | .IR n , |
| 251 | goes to the |
| 252 | .IR n -th |
| 253 | previous message and prints it. |
| 254 | .TP |
| 255 | .B ? |
| 256 | Prints a brief summary of commands. |
| 257 | .TP |
| 258 | .B ! |
| 259 | Executes the \s-2UNIX\s0 shell command which follows. |
| 260 | .TP |
| 261 | .B Print |
| 262 | (\fBP\fR) |
| 263 | Like |
| 264 | .B print |
| 265 | but also prints out ignored header fields. See also |
| 266 | .B print |
| 267 | , |
| 268 | .B ignore |
| 269 | and |
| 270 | .B retain. |
| 271 | .TP |
| 272 | .B Reply |
| 273 | (\fBR\fR) |
| 274 | Reply to originator. Does not reply to other |
| 275 | recipients of the original message. |
| 276 | .TP |
| 277 | .B Type |
| 278 | (\fBT\fR) |
| 279 | Identical to the |
| 280 | .B Print |
| 281 | command. |
| 282 | .TP |
| 283 | .B alias |
| 284 | (\fBa\fR) With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined aliases. With one |
| 285 | argument, prints out that alias. With more than one argument, creates |
| 286 | an new or changes an on old alias. |
| 287 | .TP |
| 288 | .B alternates |
| 289 | (\fBalt\fR) |
| 290 | The |
| 291 | .B alternates |
| 292 | command is useful if you have accounts on several machines. |
| 293 | It can be used to inform |
| 294 | .I mail |
| 295 | that the listed addresses are really you. When you |
| 296 | .B reply |
| 297 | to messages, |
| 298 | .I mail |
| 299 | will not send a copy of the message to any of the addresses |
| 300 | listed on the |
| 301 | .I alternates |
| 302 | list. If the |
| 303 | .B alternates |
| 304 | command is given with no argument, the current set of alternate |
| 305 | names is displayed. |
| 306 | .TP |
| 307 | .B chdir |
| 308 | (\fBc\fR) Changes the user's working directory to that specified, if given. If |
| 309 | no directory is given, then changes to the user's login directory. |
| 310 | .TP |
| 311 | .B copy |
| 312 | (\fBco\fR) |
| 313 | The |
| 314 | .B copy |
| 315 | command does the same thing that |
| 316 | .B save |
| 317 | does, except that it does not mark the messages it |
| 318 | is used on for deletion when you quit. |
| 319 | .TP |
| 320 | .B delete |
| 321 | (\fBd\fR) Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted. |
| 322 | Deleted messages will not be saved in |
| 323 | .IR mbox , |
| 324 | nor will they be available for most other commands. |
| 325 | .TP |
| 326 | .B dp |
| 327 | (also \fBdt\fR) Deletes the current message and prints the next message. |
| 328 | If there is no next message, |
| 329 | .I mail |
| 330 | says ``at EOF.'' |
| 331 | .TP |
| 332 | .B edit |
| 333 | (\fBe\fR) Takes a list of messages and points the text editor at each one in |
| 334 | turn. On return from the editor, the message is read back in. |
| 335 | .TP |
| 336 | .B exit |
| 337 | (\fBex\fR or \fBx\fR) Effects an immediate return to the Shell without |
| 338 | modifying the user's system mailbox, his |
| 339 | .I mbox |
| 340 | file, or his edit file in |
| 341 | .BR \-f . |
| 342 | .TP |
| 343 | .B file |
| 344 | (\fBfi\fR) |
| 345 | The same as |
| 346 | .BR folder . |
| 347 | .TP |
| 348 | .B folders |
| 349 | List the names of the folders in your folder directory. |
| 350 | .TP |
| 351 | .B folder |
| 352 | (\fBfo\fR) |
| 353 | The |
| 354 | .B folder |
| 355 | command switches to a new mail file or folder. With no |
| 356 | arguments, it tells you which file you are currently reading. |
| 357 | If you give it an argument, it will write out changes (such |
| 358 | as deletions) you have made in the current file and read in |
| 359 | the new file. Some special conventions are recognized for |
| 360 | the name. # means the previous file, % means your system |
| 361 | mailbox, %user means user's system mailbox, & means |
| 362 | your \~/mbox file, and +folder means a file in your folder |
| 363 | directory. |
| 364 | .TP |
| 365 | .B from |
| 366 | (\fBf\fR) Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers. |
| 367 | .TP |
| 368 | .B headers |
| 369 | (\fBh\fR) Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18 message group. If |
| 370 | a ``+'' argument is given, then the next 18 message group is printed, and if |
| 371 | a ``\-'' argument is given, the previous 18 message group is printed. |
| 372 | .TP |
| 373 | .B help |
| 374 | A synonym for ? |
| 375 | .TP |
| 376 | .B hold |
| 377 | (\fBho\fR, also \fBpreserve\fR) Takes a message list and marks each |
| 378 | message therein to be saved in the |
| 379 | user's system mailbox instead of in |
| 380 | .IR mbox . |
| 381 | Does not override the |
| 382 | .B delete |
| 383 | command. |
| 384 | .TP |
| 385 | .B ignore |
| 386 | .B N.B.: |
| 387 | .I Ignore |
| 388 | has been superseded by |
| 389 | .I retain. |
| 390 | .br |
| 391 | Add the list of header fields named to the |
| 392 | .IR "ignored list" . |
| 393 | Header fields in the ignore list are not printed |
| 394 | on your terminal when you print a message. This |
| 395 | command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated |
| 396 | header fields. The |
| 397 | .B Type |
| 398 | and |
| 399 | .B Print |
| 400 | commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including |
| 401 | ignored fields. If |
| 402 | .B ignore |
| 403 | is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of |
| 404 | ignored fields. |
| 405 | .TP |
| 406 | .B mail |
| 407 | (\fBm\fR) Takes as argument login names and distribution group names and sends |
| 408 | mail to those people. |
| 409 | .TP |
| 410 | .B mbox |
| 411 | Indicate that a list of messages be sent to |
| 412 | .I mbox |
| 413 | in your home directory when you quit. This is the default |
| 414 | action for messages if you do |
| 415 | .I not |
| 416 | have the |
| 417 | .I hold |
| 418 | option set. |
| 419 | .TP |
| 420 | .B next |
| 421 | (\fBn\fR like \fB+\fR or CR) Goes to the next message in sequence and types it. |
| 422 | With an argument list, types the next matching message. |
| 423 | .TP |
| 424 | .B preserve |
| 425 | (\fBpre\fR) |
| 426 | A synonym for |
| 427 | .BR hold . |
| 428 | .TP |
| 429 | .B print |
| 430 | (\fBp\fR) |
| 431 | Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal. |
| 432 | .TP |
| 433 | .B quit |
| 434 | (\fBq\fR) Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in |
| 435 | the user's |
| 436 | .I mbox |
| 437 | file in his login directory, preserving all messages marked with |
| 438 | .B hold |
| 439 | or |
| 440 | .B preserve |
| 441 | or never referenced |
| 442 | in his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his system |
| 443 | mailbox. If new mail has arrived during the session, the message |
| 444 | ``You have new mail'' is given. If given while editing a |
| 445 | mailbox file with the |
| 446 | .B \-f |
| 447 | flag, then the edit file is rewritten. A return to the Shell is |
| 448 | effected, unless the rewrite of edit file fails, in which case the user |
| 449 | can escape with the |
| 450 | .B exit |
| 451 | command. |
| 452 | .TP |
| 453 | .B reply |
| 454 | (\fBr\fR) |
| 455 | Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all |
| 456 | recipients of the specified message. |
| 457 | The default message must not be deleted. |
| 458 | .TP |
| 459 | .B respond |
| 460 | A synonym for |
| 461 | .BR reply . |
| 462 | .TP |
| 463 | .B retain |
| 464 | Add the list of header fields named to the |
| 465 | .IR "retained list" . |
| 466 | Only the header fields in the retain list |
| 467 | are shown on your terminal when you print a message. |
| 468 | All other header fields are suppressed. |
| 469 | The |
| 470 | .B Type |
| 471 | and |
| 472 | .B Print |
| 473 | commands can be used to print a message in its entirety. |
| 474 | If |
| 475 | .B retain |
| 476 | is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of |
| 477 | retained fields. |
| 478 | .TP |
| 479 | .B save |
| 480 | (\fBs\fR) Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in |
| 481 | turn to the end of the file. The filename in quotes, followed by the line |
| 482 | count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal. |
| 483 | .TP |
| 484 | .B set |
| 485 | (\fBse\fR) With no arguments, prints all variable values. Otherwise, sets |
| 486 | option. Arguments are of the form |
| 487 | ``option=value'' |
| 488 | (no space before or after =) or |
| 489 | ``option.'' |
| 490 | .TP |
| 491 | .B shell |
| 492 | (\fBsh\fR) Invokes an interactive version of the shell. |
| 493 | .TP |
| 494 | .B size |
| 495 | Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of each |
| 496 | message. |
| 497 | .TP |
| 498 | .B source |
| 499 | (\fBso\fR) |
| 500 | The |
| 501 | .B source |
| 502 | command reads |
| 503 | .I mail |
| 504 | commands from a file. |
| 505 | .TP |
| 506 | .B top |
| 507 | Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each. The number of |
| 508 | lines printed is controlled by the variable |
| 509 | .B toplines |
| 510 | and defaults to five. |
| 511 | .TP |
| 512 | .B type |
| 513 | (\fBt\fR) A synonym for |
| 514 | .BR print . |
| 515 | .TP |
| 516 | .B unalias |
| 517 | Takes a list of names defined by |
| 518 | .B alias |
| 519 | commands and discards the remembered groups of users. The group names |
| 520 | no longer have any significance. |
| 521 | .TP |
| 522 | .B undelete |
| 523 | (\fBu\fR) Takes a message list and marks each message as |
| 524 | .I not |
| 525 | being deleted. |
| 526 | .TP |
| 527 | .B unread |
| 528 | (\fBU\fR) Takes a message list and marks each message as |
| 529 | .I not |
| 530 | having been read. |
| 531 | .TP |
| 532 | .B unset |
| 533 | Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values; |
| 534 | the inverse of |
| 535 | .BR set . |
| 536 | .TP |
| 537 | .B visual |
| 538 | (\fBv\fR) Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message. |
| 539 | .TP |
| 540 | .B write |
| 541 | (\fBw\fR) Similar to |
| 542 | .BR save , |
| 543 | except that |
| 544 | .I only |
| 545 | the message body (\fIwithout\fP the header) is saved. |
| 546 | Extremely useful for such tasks as sending and receiving source |
| 547 | program text over the message system. |
| 548 | .TP |
| 549 | .B xit |
| 550 | (\fBx\fR) A synonym for |
| 551 | .BR exit . |
| 552 | .TP |
| 553 | .B z |
| 554 | .I Mail |
| 555 | presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the |
| 556 | .B headers |
| 557 | command. You can move |
| 558 | .IR mail 's |
| 559 | attention forward to the next window with the |
| 560 | .B z |
| 561 | command. Also, you can move to the previous window by using |
| 562 | .BR z\- . |
| 563 | .PP |
| 564 | Here is a summary of the tilde escapes, |
| 565 | which are used when composing messages to perform |
| 566 | special functions. Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning |
| 567 | of lines. The name |
| 568 | ``tilde\ escape'' |
| 569 | is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be set |
| 570 | by the option |
| 571 | .B escape. |
| 572 | .TP 12n |
| 573 | .BR ~! command |
| 574 | Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the message. |
| 575 | .TP |
| 576 | \fB~b\fR name ... |
| 577 | Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients but do not make |
| 578 | the names visible in the Cc: line ("blind" carbon copy). |
| 579 | .TP |
| 580 | \fB~c\fR name ... |
| 581 | Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients. |
| 582 | .TP |
| 583 | .B ~d |
| 584 | Read the file ``dead.letter'' from your home directory into the message. |
| 585 | .TP |
| 586 | .B ~e |
| 587 | Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far. After the |
| 588 | editing session is finished, you may continue appending text to the |
| 589 | message. |
| 590 | .TP |
| 591 | \fB~f\fR messages |
| 592 | Read the named messages into the message being sent. |
| 593 | If no messages are specified, read in the current message. |
| 594 | .TP |
| 595 | .B ~h |
| 596 | Edit the message header fields by typing each one in turn and allowing |
| 597 | the user to append text to the end or modify the field by using the |
| 598 | current terminal erase and kill characters. |
| 599 | .TP |
| 600 | \fB~m\fR messages |
| 601 | Read the named messages into the message being sent, shifted right one |
| 602 | tab. If no messages are specified, read the current message. |
| 603 | .TP |
| 604 | .B ~p |
| 605 | Print out the message collected so far, prefaced by the message header |
| 606 | fields. |
| 607 | .TP |
| 608 | .B ~q |
| 609 | Abort the message being sent, copying the message to |
| 610 | ``dead.letter'' |
| 611 | in your home directory if |
| 612 | .B save |
| 613 | is set. |
| 614 | .TP |
| 615 | \fB~r\fR filename |
| 616 | Read the named file into the message. |
| 617 | .TP |
| 618 | \fB~s\fR string |
| 619 | Cause the named string to become the current subject field. |
| 620 | .TP |
| 621 | \fB~t\fR name ... |
| 622 | Add the given names to the direct recipient list. |
| 623 | .TP |
| 624 | .B ~v |
| 625 | Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the VISUAL option) on the |
| 626 | message collected so far. Usually, the alternate editor will be a |
| 627 | screen editor. After you quit the editor, you may resume appending |
| 628 | text to the end of your message. |
| 629 | .TP |
| 630 | \fB~w\fR filename |
| 631 | Write the message onto the named file. |
| 632 | .TP |
| 633 | \fB~\||\|\fRcommand |
| 634 | Pipe the message through the command as a filter. If the command gives |
| 635 | no output or terminates abnormally, retain the original text of the |
| 636 | message. The command |
| 637 | .IR fmt (1) |
| 638 | is often used as |
| 639 | .I command |
| 640 | to rejustify the message. |
| 641 | .TP |
| 642 | .BR ~~ string |
| 643 | Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single ~. If |
| 644 | you have changed the escape character, then you should double |
| 645 | that character in order to send it. |
| 646 | .PP |
| 647 | Options are controlled via the |
| 648 | .B set |
| 649 | and |
| 650 | .B unset |
| 651 | commands. Options may be either binary, in which case it is only |
| 652 | significant to see whether they are set or not, or string, in which |
| 653 | case the actual value is of interest. |
| 654 | The binary options include the following: |
| 655 | .TP 15n |
| 656 | .B append |
| 657 | Causes messages saved in |
| 658 | .I mbox |
| 659 | to be appended to the end rather than prepended. |
| 660 | (This is set in |
| 661 | /usr/lib/Mail.rc |
| 662 | on version 7 systems.) |
| 663 | .TP |
| 664 | .B ask |
| 665 | Causes |
| 666 | .I mail |
| 667 | to prompt you for the subject of each message you send. If |
| 668 | you respond with simply a newline, no subject field will be sent. |
| 669 | .TP |
| 670 | .B askcc |
| 671 | Causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients at the |
| 672 | end of each message. Responding with a newline indicates your |
| 673 | satisfaction with the current list. |
| 674 | .TP |
| 675 | .B autoprint |
| 676 | Causes the |
| 677 | .B delete |
| 678 | command to behave like |
| 679 | .B dp |
| 680 | \- thus, after deleting a message, the next one will be typed |
| 681 | automatically. |
| 682 | .TP |
| 683 | .B debug |
| 684 | Setting the binary option |
| 685 | .I debug |
| 686 | is the same as specifying |
| 687 | .B \-d |
| 688 | on the command line and causes |
| 689 | .I mail |
| 690 | to output all sorts of information useful for debugging |
| 691 | .IR mail . |
| 692 | .TP |
| 693 | .B dot |
| 694 | The binary option |
| 695 | .I dot |
| 696 | causes |
| 697 | .I mail |
| 698 | to interpret a period alone on a line as the terminator |
| 699 | of a message you are sending. |
| 700 | .TP |
| 701 | .B hold |
| 702 | This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox |
| 703 | by default. |
| 704 | .TP |
| 705 | .B ignore |
| 706 | Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be ignored and echoed as |
| 707 | @'s. |
| 708 | .TP |
| 709 | .B ignoreeof |
| 710 | An option related to |
| 711 | .I dot |
| 712 | is |
| 713 | .I ignoreeof |
| 714 | which makes |
| 715 | .I mail |
| 716 | refuse to accept a control-d as the end of a message. |
| 717 | .I Ignoreeof |
| 718 | also applies to |
| 719 | .I mail |
| 720 | command mode. |
| 721 | .TP |
| 722 | .B metoo |
| 723 | Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender, the sender |
| 724 | is removed from the expansion. Setting this option causes the sender |
| 725 | to be included in the group. |
| 726 | .TP |
| 727 | .B nosave |
| 728 | Normally, when you abort a message with two \s-2RUBOUT\s0, |
| 729 | .I mail |
| 730 | copies the partial letter to the file ``dead.letter'' |
| 731 | in your home directory. Setting the binary option |
| 732 | .I nosave |
| 733 | prevents this. |
| 734 | .TP |
| 735 | .B Replyall |
| 736 | Reverses the sense of |
| 737 | .I reply |
| 738 | and |
| 739 | .I Reply |
| 740 | commands. |
| 741 | .TP |
| 742 | .B quiet |
| 743 | Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked. |
| 744 | .TP |
| 745 | .B verbose |
| 746 | Setting the option |
| 747 | .I verbose |
| 748 | is the same as using the |
| 749 | .B \-v |
| 750 | flag on the command line. When mail runs in verbose mode, |
| 751 | the actual delivery of messages is displayed on he users |
| 752 | terminal. |
| 753 | .PP |
| 754 | The following options have string values: |
| 755 | .TP 15n |
| 756 | EDITOR |
| 757 | Pathname of the text editor to use in the |
| 758 | .B edit |
| 759 | command and ~e escape. If not defined, then a default editor is used. |
| 760 | .TP |
| 761 | PAGER |
| 762 | Pathname of the program to use in the |
| 763 | .B more |
| 764 | command or when |
| 765 | .I crt |
| 766 | variable is set. A default paginator is used if this option is |
| 767 | not defined. |
| 768 | .TP |
| 769 | SHELL |
| 770 | Pathname of the shell to use in the |
| 771 | .B ! |
| 772 | command and the ~! escape. A default shell is used if this option is |
| 773 | not defined. |
| 774 | .TP |
| 775 | VISUAL |
| 776 | Pathname of the text editor to use in the |
| 777 | .B visual |
| 778 | command and ~v escape. |
| 779 | .TP |
| 780 | .B crt |
| 781 | The valued option |
| 782 | .I crt |
| 783 | is used as a threshold to determine how long a message must |
| 784 | be before |
| 785 | .B PAGER |
| 786 | is used to read it. |
| 787 | .TP |
| 788 | .B escape |
| 789 | If defined, the first character of this option gives the character to |
| 790 | use in the place of ~ to denote escapes. |
| 791 | .TP |
| 792 | .B folder |
| 793 | The name of the directory to use for storing folders of |
| 794 | messages. If this name begins with a `/', |
| 795 | .I mail |
| 796 | considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the |
| 797 | folder directory is found relative to your home directory. |
| 798 | .TP |
| 799 | .B record |
| 800 | If defined, gives the pathname of the file used to record all outgoing |
| 801 | mail. If not defined, then outgoing mail is not so saved. |
| 802 | .TP |
| 803 | .B toplines |
| 804 | If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out |
| 805 | with the |
| 806 | .B top |
| 807 | command; normally, the first five lines are printed. |
| 808 | .SH FILES |
| 809 | .if n .ta 2.5i |
| 810 | .if t .ta 1.8i |
| 811 | /usr/spool/mail/* post office |
| 812 | .br |
| 813 | ~/mbox your old mail |
| 814 | .br |
| 815 | ~/.mailrc file giving initial mail commands |
| 816 | .br |
| 817 | /tmp/R# temporary for editor escape |
| 818 | .br |
| 819 | /usr/lib/Mail.help* help files |
| 820 | .br |
| 821 | /usr/lib/Mail.rc system initialization file |
| 822 | .br |
| 823 | Message* temporary for editing messages |
| 824 | .SH "SEE ALSO" |
| 825 | binmail(1), fmt(1), newaliases(1), aliases(5), |
| 826 | .br |
| 827 | mailaddr(7), sendmail(8) |
| 828 | .br |
| 829 | `The Mail Reference Manual' |
| 830 | .SH BUGS |
| 831 | There are many flags that are not documented here. Most are |
| 832 | not useful to the general user. |
| 833 | .br |
| 834 | Usually, |
| 835 | .I mail |
| 836 | is just a link to |
| 837 | .IR Mail , |
| 838 | which can be confusing. |
| 839 | .SH AUTHOR |
| 840 | Kurt Shoens |