.de SF \" Give short form of a command (from $1) [\\$1] .. .sh 1 "Summary of commands, escapes, and options" .pp This sections describes tersely all of the Mail commands, escapes, and options. For each command, its most abbreviated form (in brackets) and a short description of the command is given below. .pp First, message lists are computed by determining the set M which consists of all message referenced explicitly or through ranges. Then, the set U is computed, which consists of all messages sent by .i any of the user names specified. Finally, the message list is calculated by finding the intersection of sets M and U. .pp Each Mail command is typed on a line by itself, and may take arguments following the command word. The command need not be typed in its entirety \*- the first command which matches the typed prefix is used. If the argument begins with a digit or special character, then no space is required following the command letter, but otherwise the space is required. If a Mail command does not take arguments, they may be specified, even though they are ignored. For the commands which take message lists as arguments, if no message list is given, then the next message forward which satisfies the command's requirements is used. If there are no messages forward of the current message, the search proceeds backwards, and if there are no good messages at all, Mail types \*(lqNo applicable messages\*(rq and aborts the command. .nr ii 12n .ip \- .SF \- Goes to the previous message and prints it out. If given a numeric argument .i n , goes to the .i n th previous message and prints it. If there is no previous message, it prints .q "Nonzero address required." .ip = .SF = Prints out the current message number. Takes no arguments. .ip ? .SF ? Prints out the file /usr/lib/Mail.help, which contains a brief summary of the commands. Takes no arguments. .ip ! .SF ! Executes the \s-2UNIX\s0 Shell command which follows. Unlike other commands, there does not need to be a space after the exclamation point. .ip alias .SF a With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined aliases. With one argument, prints out that alias. With more than one argument, adds the users named in the second and later arguments to the alias named in the first argument. .ip chdir .SF c Changes the user's working directory to that specified, if given. If no directory is given, then changes to the user's login directory. .ip delete .SF d Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted. Deleted messages will not be saved in .i mbox , nor will they be available for most other commands. Default messages may not be deleted already. .ip dp .SF dp Deletes the current message and prints the next message. If there is no next message, types out .q "At EOF." .ip dt .SF dt Same as .b dp . .ip edit .SF e Takes a list of messages and points the text editor at each one in turn. On return from the editor, the message is read back in. The default message for .b edit may not be saved or deleted. .ip exit .SF ex Effects an immediate return to the Shell without modifying the user's system mailbox, his .i mbox file, or his edit file in .b \-f . .ip from .SF f Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers. The default message is neither saved nor deleted. .ip headers .SF h Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18 message group. If the .q + argument is given, then the next 18 message group is printed, and if the .q \- argument is given, the previous 18 message group is printed. .ip help .SF hel A synonym for ? .ip hold .SF ho Takes a message list and marks each message therein to be saved in the user's system mailbox instead of in .i mbox. Does not override the .b delete command. The default message must not be deleted. .ip list .SF l The .b list command lists all of the available user commands in the order that the command processor sees them. It takes no arguments. .ip mail .SF m Takes as argument login names and distribution group names and sends mail to those people. Tilde escapes work in .b mail. .ip next .SF n Goes to the next message in sequence and types it. If a message list is given, then .b next goes to the first message in the message list. .ip preserve .SF pre A synonym for .b hold. .ip print .SF p Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal. The default message must not be deleted. .ip quit .SF q Terminates the Mail session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in the user's .i mbox file in his login directory, preserving all messages marked with .b hold or .b preserve in his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his system mailbox. If mail has arrived during the Mail session, the message \*(lqYou have new mail\*(rq is typed. If executing while editing a mailbox file with the .b \-f flag, then the edit file is rewritten. A return to the Shell is effected, unless the rewrite of edit file fails, in which case the user can escape with the .b exit command. .ip reply .SF r Takes a message list and sends mail to each message author just like the .b mail command. The default message must not be deleted. .ip respond .SF r A synonym for .b reply . .ip save .SF s Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in turn to the end of the file. The filename in quotes, followed by the line count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal. The default message for .b save may not be saved or deleted. .ip set .SF se With no arguments, prints all variable values. Otherwise, sets option. Arguments are of the form .q "option=value" or .q option. .ip shell .SF sh Invokes an interactive version of the shell. .ip size .SF si Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of each message. The default message for .b size must not be deleted. .ip top .SF to Takes a message list and prints the top so many lines. The number of lines printed is controlled by the variable .q toplines and defaults to five. .ip type .SF t A synonym for .b print . .ip unalias .SF una Takes a list of names defined by .b alias commands and discards the remembered groups of users. The group names no longer have any significance. .ip undelete .SF u Takes a message list and marks each one as .i not being deleted. Each message in the list must already be deleted. The default message must be deleted. .ip unset .SF uns Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values; opposite of .b set . .ip visual .SF v Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each one. .ip write .SF w A synonym for .b save . .ip xit .SF x A synonym for .b exit . .pp Recall that tilde escapes are used when composing messages to perform special functions. Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning of lines. The name .q tilde\ escape is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be set by the option .q escape. .pp Here is a summary of the tilde escapes: .nr ii 16n .ip ~!command Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the message. .ip "~c name ..." Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients. .ip ~d Read the file .q dead.letter from your home directory into the message. .ip ~e Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far. After the editing session is finished, you may continue appending text to the message. .ip ~h Edit the message header fields by typing each one in turn and allowing the user to append text to the end or modify the field by using the current terminal erase and kill characters. .ip "~m messages" Read the named messages into the message being sent, shifted right one tab. If no messages are specified, read the current message. .ip ~p Print out the message collected so far, prefaced by the message header fields. .ip ~q Abort the message being sent, copying the message to .q "dead.letter" in your home directory if .q save is set. .ip "~r filename" Read the named file into the message. .ip "~s string" Cause the named string to become the current subject field. .ip "~t name ..." Add the given names to the direct recipient list. .ip "~v" Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the VISUAL option) on the message collected so far. Usually, the alternate editor will be a visual editor. After you quit the editor, you may resume appending text to the end of your message. .ip "~w filename" Write the message onto the named file. .ip "~|command" Pipe the message through the command as a filter. If the command gives no output or terminates abnormally, retain the original text of the message. .ip "~~string" Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single ~. If you have changed the escape character, then you should double .i that character in order to send it. .pp Options are controlled via the .b set and .b unset commands. Options may be either binary, in which case it is only significant to see whether they are set or not, or string, in which case it's actual value is of interest. .pp The binary options include the following: .ip append Causes messages saved in .i mbox to be appended to the end rather than prepended. .ip ask Causes Mail to prompt you for the subject of each message you send. If you respond with simply a newline, no subject field will be sent. .ip askcc Causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients at the end of each message. Responding with a newline indicates your satisfaction with the current list. .ip autoprint Causes the .b delete command to behave like .b dp \*- thus, after deleting a message, the next one will be typed automatically. .ip ignore Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be ignored and echoed as @'s. .ip metoo Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender, the sender is removed from the expansion. Setting this option causes the sender to be included in the group. .ip quiet Suppresses the printing of the version when Mail is first invoked. .ip save Causes the message collected prior to a \s-2RUBOUT\s0 to be saved on the file .q dead.letter in your home directory on receipt of the \s-2RUBOUT\s0. Also causes the message to be so saved in the same fashion for ~q. .pp The following options have string values: .ip EDITOR Pathname of the text editor to use in the .b edit command and ~e escape. If not defined, then a default editor is used. .ip SHELL Pathname of the shell to use in the .rb ! command and the ~! escape. A default shell is used if this option is not defined. .ip VISUAL Pathname of the text editor to use in the .b visual command and ~v escape. .ip escape If defined, the first character of this option gives the character to use in the place of ~ to denote escapes. .ip record If defined, gives the pathname of the file used to record all outgoing mail. If not defined, then outgoing mail is not so saved. .ip toplines If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out with the .b top command; normally, the first five lines are printed.