| 1 | .TH BINMAIL 1 11/16/79 |
| 2 | .SH NAME |
| 3 | mail \- send or receive mail among users |
| 4 | .SH SYNOPSIS |
| 5 | .B /bin/mail |
| 6 | [ |
| 7 | .B + |
| 8 | ] [ |
| 9 | .B \-i |
| 10 | ] [ person ] ... |
| 11 | .br |
| 12 | .B /bin/mail |
| 13 | .B "[ + ]" |
| 14 | [ |
| 15 | .B \-i |
| 16 | ] |
| 17 | .B \-f |
| 18 | file |
| 19 | .LP |
| 20 | .SH DESCRIPTION |
| 21 | .I Mail |
| 22 | with no argument |
| 23 | prints |
| 24 | a user's mail, |
| 25 | message-by-message, |
| 26 | in last-in, first-out order; |
| 27 | the optional argument |
| 28 | .B + |
| 29 | causes first-in, first-out order. |
| 30 | For each message, |
| 31 | it reads a line from the standard input |
| 32 | to direct disposition of the message. |
| 33 | .TP |
| 34 | newline |
| 35 | Go on to next message. |
| 36 | .TP |
| 37 | d |
| 38 | Delete message and go on to the next. |
| 39 | .TP |
| 40 | p |
| 41 | Print message again. |
| 42 | .TP |
| 43 | \- |
| 44 | Go back to previous message. |
| 45 | .TP |
| 46 | .RI "s [" " file " "] ..." |
| 47 | Save the message in the named |
| 48 | .I files |
| 49 | (`mbox' default). |
| 50 | .TP |
| 51 | .RI "w [" " file " "] ..." |
| 52 | Save the message, without a header, in the named |
| 53 | .I files |
| 54 | (`mbox' default). |
| 55 | .TP |
| 56 | .RI "m [" " person " "] ..." |
| 57 | Mail the message to the named |
| 58 | .I persons |
| 59 | (yourself is default). |
| 60 | .TP |
| 61 | EOT (control-D) |
| 62 | Put unexamined mail back in the mailbox and stop. |
| 63 | .TP |
| 64 | q |
| 65 | Same as EOT. |
| 66 | .TP |
| 67 | .RI ! command |
| 68 | Escape to the Shell to do |
| 69 | .IR command . |
| 70 | .TP |
| 71 | * |
| 72 | Print a command summary. |
| 73 | .PP |
| 74 | .PP |
| 75 | An interrupt normally causes termination of the command; |
| 76 | the mail file is unchanged. |
| 77 | The optional argument |
| 78 | .B \(mii |
| 79 | causes |
| 80 | .I mail |
| 81 | to continue after interrupts. |
| 82 | .PP |
| 83 | When |
| 84 | .I persons |
| 85 | are named, |
| 86 | .I mail |
| 87 | takes the standard input up to an end-of-file |
| 88 | (or a line with just `.') |
| 89 | and adds it to each |
| 90 | .I person's |
| 91 | `mail' file. |
| 92 | The message is preceded by the sender's name and a postmark. |
| 93 | Lines that look like postmarks are |
| 94 | prepended with `>'. |
| 95 | A |
| 96 | .I person |
| 97 | is usually a user name recognized by |
| 98 | .IR login (1). |
| 99 | To denote a recipient on a remote system, prefix |
| 100 | .I person |
| 101 | by the system name and exclamation mark (see |
| 102 | .IR uucp (1)). |
| 103 | .PP |
| 104 | The |
| 105 | .B \-f |
| 106 | option causes the named file, e.g. `mbox', |
| 107 | to be printed as if it were the mail file. |
| 108 | .PP |
| 109 | When a user logs in he is informed of the presence |
| 110 | of mail. |
| 111 | .SH FILES |
| 112 | .ta \w'/usr/spool/mail/*.lock 'u |
| 113 | /etc/passwd to identify sender and locate persons |
| 114 | .br |
| 115 | .li |
| 116 | /usr/spool/mail/* incoming mail for user * |
| 117 | .br |
| 118 | mbox saved mail |
| 119 | .br |
| 120 | /tmp/ma* temp file |
| 121 | .br |
| 122 | /usr/spool/mail/*.lock lock for mail directory |
| 123 | .br |
| 124 | dead.letter unmailable text |
| 125 | .br |
| 126 | .SH "SEE ALSO" |
| 127 | write(1), uucp(1), uux(1) |
| 128 | .SH BUGS |
| 129 | Race conditions sometimes result |
| 130 | in a failure to remove a lock file. |
| 131 | .PP |
| 132 | Normally anybody can read your mail. |
| 133 | An installation can overcome this by making |
| 134 | .I mail |
| 135 | a set-user-id command that owns the mail directory. |