4.4BSD/usr/share/man/cat1/Mail.0
MAIL(1) BSD Reference Manual MAIL(1)
NNAAMMEE
mmaaiill - send and receive mail
SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS
mmaaiill [--iiIInnvv] [--ss _s_u_b_j_e_c_t] [--cc _c_c_-_a_d_d_r] [--bb _b_c_c_-_a_d_d_r] _t_o_-_a_d_d_r_._._.
mmaaiill [--iiIInnNNvv] --ff [_n_a_m_e]
mmaaiill [--iiIInnNNvv] [--uu _u_s_e_r]
IINNTTRROODDUUCCTTIIOONN
MMaaiill is a intelligent mail processing system, which has a command syntax
reminiscent of ed(1) with lines replaced by messages.
--vv Verbose mode. The details of delivery are displayed on the users
terminal.
--ii Ignore tty interrupt signals. This is particularly useful when us-
ing mmaaiill on noisy phone lines.
--II Forces mail to run in interactive mode even when input isn't a ter-
minal. In particular, the `~~' special character when sending mail
is only active in interactive mode.
--nn Inhibits reading _/_u_s_r_/_s_h_a_r_e_/_m_i_s_c_/_M_a_i_l_._r_c upon startup.
--NN Inhibits the initial display of message headers when reading mail
or editing a mail folder.
--ss Specify subject on command line (only the first argument after the
--ss flag is used as a subject; be careful to quote subjects contain-
ing spaces.)
--cc Send carbon copies to _l_i_s_t of users.
--bb Send blind carbon copies to _l_i_s_t. List should be a comma-separated
list of names.
--ff Read in the contents of your _m_b_o_x (or the specified file) for pro-
cessing; when you _q_u_i_t, mmaaiill writes undeleted messages back to this
file.
--uu Is equivalent to:
mail -f /var/spool/mail/user
SSeennddiinngg mmaaiill
To send a message to one or more people, mmaaiill can be invoked with argu-
ments which are the names of people to whom the mail will be sent. You
are then expected to type in your message, followed by an `control-D' at
the beginning of a line. The section below _R_e_p_l_y_i_n_g _t_o _o_r _o_r_i_g_i_n_a_t_i_n_g
_m_a_i_l, describes some features of mmaaiill available to help you compose your
letter.
RReeaaddiinngg mmaaiill
In normal usage mmaaiill is given no arguments and checks your mail out of
the post office, then prints out a one line header of each message found.
The current message is initially the first message (numbered 1) and can
be printed using the pprriinntt command (which can be abbreviated `pp'). You
can move among the messages much as you move between lines in ed(1),
with the commands `++' and `--' moving backwards and forwards, and simple
numbers.
DDiissppoossiinngg ooff mmaaiill..
After examining a message you can ddeelleettee `dd') the message or rreeppllyy `rr')
to it. Deletion causes the mmaaiill program to forget about the message.
This is not irreversible; the message can be uunnddeelleetteedd `uu') by giving its
number, or the mmaaiill session can be aborted by giving the eexxiitt `xx') com-
mand. Deleted messages will, however, usually disappear never to be seen
again.
SSppeecciiffyyiinngg mmeessssaaggeess
Commands such as pprriinntt and ddeelleettee can be given a list of message numbers
as arguments to apply to a number of messages at once. Thus ``delete 1
2'' deletes messages 1 and 2, while ``delete 1-5'' deletes messages 1
through 5. The special name `*' addresses all messages, and `$' address-
es the last message; thus the command ttoopp which prints the first few
lines of a message could be used in ``top *'' to print the first few
lines of all messages.
RReeppllyyiinngg ttoo oorr oorriiggiinnaattiinngg mmaaiill..
You can use the rreeppllyy command to set up a response to a message, sending
it back to the person who it was from. Text you then type in, up to an
end-of-file, defines the contents of the message. While you are compos-
ing a message, mmaaiill treats lines beginning with the character `~~' spe-
cially. For instance, typing `~~mm' (alone on a line) will place a copy of
the current message into the response right shifting it by a tabstop (see
_i_n_d_e_n_t_p_r_e_f_i_x variable, below). Other escapes will set up subject fields,
add and delete recipients to the message and allow you to escape to an
editor to revise the message or to a shell to run some commands. (These
options are given in the summary below.)
EEnnddiinngg aa mmaaiill pprroocceessssiinngg sseessssiioonn..
You can end a mmaaiill session with the qquuiitt `qq') command. Messages which
have been examined go to your _m_b_o_x file unless they have been deleted in
which case they are discarded. Unexamined messages go back to the post
office. (See the --ff option above).
PPeerrssoonnaall aanndd ssyysstteemmwwiiddee ddiissttrriibbuuttiioonn lliissttss..
It is also possible to create a personal distribution lists so that, for
instance, you can send mail to ``cohorts'' and have it go to a group of
people. Such lists can be defined by placing a line like
alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory
in the file _._m_a_i_l_r_c in your home directory. The current list of such
aliases can be displayed with the aalliiaass command in mmaaiill. System wide dis-
tribution lists can be created by editing _/_e_t_c_/_a_l_i_a_s_e_s, see aliases(5)
and sendmail(8); these are kept in a different syntax. In mail you
send, personal aliases will be expanded in mail sent to others so that
they will be able to rreeppllyy to the recipients. System wide aalliiaasseess are
not expanded when the mail is sent, but any reply returned to the machine
will have the system wide alias expanded as all mail goes through
sendmail.
NNeettwwoorrkk mmaaiill ((AARRPPAA,, UUUUCCPP,, BBeerrkknneett))
See mailaddr(7) for a description of network addresses.
MMaaiill has a number of options which can be set in the _._m_a_i_l_r_c file to al-
ter its behavior; thus ``set askcc'' enables the _a_s_k_c_c feature. (These
options are summarized below.)
SSUUMMMMAARRYY
(Adapted from the `Mail Reference Manual')
Each command is typed on a line by itself, and may take arguments follow-
ing the command word. The command need not be typed in its entirety -
the first command which matches the typed prefix is used. For 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, mmaaiill
types ``applicable messages'' and aborts the command.
-- Print out the preceding message. If given a numeric argument _n,
goes to the _n'th previous message and prints it.
?? Prints a brief summary of commands.
!! Executes the shell (see sh(1) and csh(1)) command which follows.
PPrriinntt (PP) Like pprriinntt but also prints out ignored header fields. See
also pprriinntt, iiggnnoorree and rreettaaiinn.
RReeppllyy (RR) Reply to originator. Does not reply to other recipients of
the original message.
TTyyppee (TT) Identical to the PPrriinntt command.
aalliiaass (aa) With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined aliases.
With one argument, prints out that alias. With more than one ar-
gument, creates a new alias or changes an old one.
aalltteerrnnaatteess
(aalltt) The aalltteerrnnaatteess command is useful if you have accounts on
several machines. It can be used to inform mmaaiill that the listed
addresses are really you. When you rreeppllyy to messages, mmaaiill will
not send a copy of the message to any of the addresses listed on
the aalltteerrnnaatteess list. If the aalltteerrnnaatteess command is given with no
argument, the current set of alternate names is displayed.
cchhddiirr (cc) Changes the user's working directory to that specified, if
given. If no directory is given, then changes to the user's lo-
gin directory.
ccooppyy (ccoo) The ccooppyy command does the same thing that ssaavvee does, except
that it does not mark the messages it is used on for deletion
when you quit.
ddeelleettee (dd) Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as
deleted. Deleted messages will not be saved in _m_b_o_x, nor will
they be available for most other commands.
ddpp (also ddtt) Deletes the current message and prints the next mes-
sage. If there is no next message, mmaaiill says ``at EOF''.
eeddiitt (ee) 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.
eexxiitt (eexx or xx) Effects an immediate return to the Shell without modi-
fying the user's system mailbox, his _m_b_o_x file, or his edit file
in --ff.
ffiillee (ffii) The same as ffoollddeerr.
ffoollddeerrss
List the names of the folders in your folder directory.
ffoollddeerr (ffoo) The ffoollddeerr command switches to a new mail file or folder.
With no arguments, it tells you which file you are currently
reading. If you give it an argument, it will write out changes
(such as deletions) you have made in the current file and read in
the new file. Some special conventions are recognized for the
name. # means the previous file, % means your system mailbox,
%user means user's system mailbox, & means your _m_b_o_x file, and
+folder means a file in your folder directory.
ffrroomm (ff) Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers.
hheeaaddeerrss
(hh) Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18-message
group. If a `+' argument is given, then the next 18-message
group is printed, and if a `-' argument is given, the previous
18-message group is printed.
hheellpp A synonym for ??
hhoolldd (hhoo, also pprreesseerrvvee) Takes a message list and marks each message
therein to be saved in the user's system mailbox instead of in
_m_b_o_x. Does not override the ddeelleettee command.
iiggnnoorree Add the list of header fields named to the _i_g_n_o_r_e_d _l_i_s_t Header
fields in the ignore list are not printed on your terminal when
you print a message. This command is very handy for suppression
of certain machine-generated header fields. The TTyyppee and PPrriinntt
commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, includ-
ing ignored fields. If iiggnnoorree is executed with no arguments, it
lists the current set of ignored fields.
mmaaiill (mm) Takes as argument login names and distribution group names
and sends mail to those people.
mmbbooxx Indicate that a list of messages be sent to mmbbooxx in your home di-
rectory when you quit. This is the default action for messages
if you do _n_o_t have the hhoolldd option set.
nneexxtt (nn) like ++ or CR) Goes to the next message in sequence and types
it. With an argument list, types the next matching message.
pprreesseerrvvee
(pprree) A synonym for hhoolldd.
pprriinntt (pp) Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's
terminal.
qquuiitt (qq) Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved mes-
sages in the user's _m_b_o_x file in his login directory, preserving
all messages marked with hhoolldd or pprreesseerrvvee or never referenced in
his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his sys-
tem mailbox. If new mail has arrived during the session, the
message ``You have new mail'' is given. If given while editing a
mailbox file with the --ff 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 eexxiitt com-
mand.
rreeppllyy (rr) Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all re-
cipients of the specified message. The default message must not
be deleted.
rreessppoonndd
A synonym for rreeppllyy.
rreettaaiinn Add the list of header fields named to the _r_e_t_a_i_n_e_d _l_i_s_t Only the
header fields in the retain list are shown on your terminal when
you print a message. All other header fields are suppressed.
The TTyyppee and PPrriinntt commands can be used to print a message in its
entirety. If rreettaaiinn is executed with no arguments, it lists the
current set of retained fields.
ssaavvee (ss) 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.
sseett (ssee) With no arguments, prints all variable values. Otherwise,
sets option. Arguments are of the form _o_p_t_i_o_n_=_v_a_l_u_e (no space
before or after =) or _o_p_t_i_o_n. Quotation marks may be placed
around any part of the assignment statement to quote blanks or
tabs, i.e. ``set indentprefix="->"''
ssaavveeiiggnnoorree
SSaavveeiiggnnoorree is to ssaavvee what iiggnnoorree is to pprriinntt and ttyyppee. Header
fields thus marked are filtered out when saving a message by ssaavvee
or when automatically saving to _m_b_o_x.
ssaavveerreettaaiinn
SSaavveerreettaaiinn is to ssaavvee what rreettaaiinn is to pprriinntt and ttyyppee. Header
fields thus marked are the only ones saved with a message when
saving by ssaavvee or when automatically saving to _m_b_o_x. SSaavveerreettaaiinn
overrides ssaavveeiiggnnoorree.
sshheellll (sshh) Invokes an interactive version of the shell.
ssiizzee Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of
each message.
ssoouurrccee The ssoouurrccee command reads commands from a file.
ttoopp Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each. The
number of lines printed is controlled by the variable ttoopplliinneess
and defaults to five.
ttyyppee (tt) A synonym for pprriinntt.
uunnaalliiaass
Takes a list of names defined by aalliiaass commands and discards the
remembered groups of users. The group names no longer have any
significance.
uunnddeelleettee
(uu) Takes a message list and marks each message as nnoott being
deleted.
uunnrreeaadd (UU) Takes a message list and marks each message as nnoott having
been read.
uunnsseett Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered val-
ues; the inverse of sseett.
vviissuuaall (vv) Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each
message.
wwrriittee (ww) Similar to ssaavvee, except that oonnllyy the message body (_w_i_t_h_o_u_t)
the header) is saved. Extremely useful for such tasks as sending
and receiving source program text over the message system.
xxiitt (xx) A synonym for eexxiitt.
zz MMaaiill presents message headers in windowfuls as described under
the hheeaaddeerrss command. You can move mmaaiill's attention forward to
the next window with the zz command. Also, you can move to the
previous window by using zz--.
TTiillddee//EEssccaappeess
Here is a summary of the tilde escapes, which are used when composing
messages to perform special functions. Tilde escapes are only recognized
at the beginning of lines. The name ``_t_i_l_d_e _e_s_c_a_p_e'' is somewhat of a
misnomer since the actual escape character can be set by the option
eessccaappee.
~~!!_c_o_m_m_a_n_d
Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the message.
~~bb_n_a_m_e _._._.
Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients but do
not make the names visible in the Cc: line ("blind" carbon copy).
~~cc_n_a_m_e _._._.
Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients.
~~dd Read the file ``_d_e_a_d_._l_e_t_t_e_r'' from your home directory into the
message.
~~ee Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far. After
the editing session is finished, you may continue appending text
to the message.
~~ff_m_e_s_s_a_g_e_s
Read the named messages into the message being sent. If no mes-
sages are specified, read in the current message. Message head-
ers currently being ignored (by the iiggnnoorree or rreettaaiinn command) are
not included.
~~FF_m_e_s_s_a_g_e_s
Identical to ~~ff, except all message headers are included.
~~hh Edit the message header fields by typing each one in turn and al-
lowing the user to append text to the end or modify the field by
using the current terminal erase and kill characters.
~~mm_m_e_s_s_a_g_e_s
Read the named messages into the message being sent, indented by
a tab or by the value of _i_n_d_e_n_t_p_r_e_f_i_x. If no messages are speci-
fied, read the current message. Message headers currently being
ignored (by the iiggnnoorree or rreettaaiinn command) are not included.
~~MM_m_e_s_s_a_g_e_s
Identical to ~~mm, except all message headers are included.
~~pp Print out the message collected so far, prefaced by the message
header fields.
~~qq Abort the message being sent, copying the message to
``_d_e_a_d_._l_e_t_t_e_r'' in your home directory if ssaavvee is set.
~~rr_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e
Read the named file into the message.
~~ss_s_t_r_i_n_g
Cause the named string to become the current subject field.
~~tt_n_a_m_e _._._.
Add the given names to the direct recipient list.
~~vv Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the VISUAL option) on the
message collected so far. Usually, the alternate editor will be
a screen editor. After you quit the editor, you may resume ap-
pending text to the end of your message.
~~ww_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e
Write the message onto the named file.
~~||_c_o_m_m_a_n_d
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. The command fmt(1) is often used as ccoommmmaanndd
to rejustify the message.
~~::_m_a_i_l_-_c_o_m_m_a_n_d
Execute the given mail command. Not all commands, however, are
allowed.
~~~~_s_t_r_i_n_g
Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single ~.
If you have changed the escape character, then you should double
that character in order to send it.
MMaaiill OOppttiioonnss
Options are controlled via sseett and uunnsseett 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 the actual value is of interest. The
binary options include the following:
_a_p_p_e_n_d Causes messages saved in _m_b_o_x to be appended to the end rather
than prepended. This should always be set (perhaps in
_/_u_s_r_/_s_h_a_r_e_/_m_i_s_c_/_M_a_i_l_._r_c).
_a_s_k Causes mmaaiill to prompt you for the subject of each message you
send. If you respond with simply a newline, no subject field
will be sent.
_a_s_k_c_c 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.
_a_u_t_o_p_r_i_n_t
Causes the ddeelleettee command to behave like ddpp - thus, after delet-
ing a message, the next one will be typed automatically.
_d_e_b_u_g Setting the binary option _d_e_b_u_g is the same as specifying --dd on
the command line and causes mmaaiill to output all sorts of informa-
tion useful for debugging mmaaiill.
_d_o_t The binary option _d_o_t causes mmaaiill to interpret a period alone on
a line as the terminator of a message you are sending.
_h_o_l_d This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox by de-
fault.
_i_g_n_o_r_e Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be ignored and
echoed as @'s.
_i_g_n_o_r_e_e_o_f
An option related to _d_o_t is _i_g_n_o_r_e_e_o_f which makes mmaaiill refuse to
accept a control-d as the end of a message. _I_g_n_o_r_e_e_o_f also ap-
plies to mmaaiill command mode.
_m_e_t_o_o 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.
_n_o_h_e_a_d_e_r
Setting the option _n_o_h_e_a_d_e_r is the same as giving the --NN flag on
the command line.
_n_o_s_a_v_e Normally, when you abort a message with two RUBOUT (erase or
delete) mmaaiill copies the partial letter to the file
``_d_e_a_d_._l_e_t_t_e_r'' in your home directory. Setting the binary op-
tion _n_o_s_a_v_e prevents this.
_R_e_p_l_y_a_l_l
Reverses the sense of rreeppllyy and RReeppllyy commands.
_q_u_i_e_t Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked.
_s_e_a_r_c_h_h_e_a_d_e_r_s
If this option is set, then a message-list specifier in the form
``/x:y'' will expand to all messages containing the substring
``y'' in the header field ``x''. The string search is case in-
sensitive.
_v_e_r_b_o_s_e
Setting the option _v_e_r_b_o_s_e is the same as using the --vv flag on
the command line. When mail runs in verbose mode, the actual de-
livery of messages is displayed on he users terminal.
OOppttiioonn SSttrriinngg VVaalluueess
EDITOR Pathname of the text editor to use in the eeddiitt command and
~~ee escape. If not defined, then a default editor is used.
LISTER Pathname of the directory lister to use in the ffoollddeerrss com-
mand. Default is _/_b_i_n_/_l_s.
PAGER Pathname of the program to use in the mmoorree command or when
ccrrtt variable is set. The default paginator more(1) is used
if this option is not defined.
SHELL Pathname of the shell to use in the !! command and the ~~!!
escape. A default shell is used if this option is not de-
fined.
VISUAL Pathname of the text editor to use in the vviissuuaall command
and ~~vv escape.
_c_r_t The valued option _c_r_t is used as a threshold to determine
how long a message must be before PAGER is used to read it.
If _c_r_t is set without a value, then the height of the ter-
minal screen stored in the system is used to compute the
threshold (see stty(1)).
_e_s_c_a_p_e If defined, the first character of this option gives the
character to use in the place of ~ to denote escapes.
_f_o_l_d_e_r The name of the directory to use for storing folders of
messages. If this name begins with a `/', mmaaiill considers
it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the folder direc-
tory is found relative to your home directory.
MBOX The name of the _m_b_o_x file. It can be the name of a folder.
The default is ``mbox'' in the user's home directory.
_r_e_c_o_r_d If defined, gives the pathname of the file used to record
all outgoing mail. If not defined, then outgoing mail is
not so saved.
_i_n_d_e_n_t_p_r_e_f_i_x String used by the ``~m'' tilde escape for indenting mes-
sages, in place of the normal tab character (^I). Be sure
to quote the value if it contains spaces or tabs.
_t_o_p_l_i_n_e_s If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be
printed out with the ttoopp command; normally, the first five
lines are printed.
EENNVVIIRROONNMMEENNTT
MMaaiill utilizes the HOME and USER environment variables.
FFIILLEESS
/var/spool/mail/* Post office.
~/mbox User's old mail.
~/.mailrc File giving initial mail commands.
/tmp/R* Temporary files.
/usr/share/misc/Mail.help* Help files.
/usr/share/misc/Mail.rc System initialization file.
SSEEEE AALLSSOO
fmt(1), newaliases(1), vacation(1), aliases(5), mailaddr(7), send-
mail(8) and
_T_h_e _M_a_i_l _R_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e _M_a_n_u_a_l_..
HHIISSTTOORRYY
A mmaaiill command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX. This man page is derived
from _T_h_e _M_a_i_l _R_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e _M_a_n_u_a_l originally written by Kurt Shoens.
BBUUGGSS
There are some flags that are not documented here. Most are not useful
to the general user.
Usually, mmaaiill is just a link to MMaaiill, which can be confusing.
4th Berkeley Distribution June 6, 1993 9