4BSD/usr/man/cat1/mail.1
MAIL(1) UNIX Programmer's Manual MAIL(1)
NAME
mail - send and receive mail
SYNOPSIS
mail [ -f [ name ] ] [ people ... ]
INTRODUCTION
_M_a_i_l is a intelligent mail processing system, which has a
command syntax reminiscent of _e_d with lines replaced by mes-
sages.
_S_e_n_d_i_n_g _m_a_i_l. To send a message to one or more other peo-
ple, _m_a_i_l can be invoked with arguments which are the names
of people to send to. You are then expected to type in your
message, followed by an EOT (control-D) at the beginning of
a line. The section below, labeled _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 _m_a_i_l available to help
you compose your letter.
_R_e_a_d_i_n_g _m_a_i_l. In normal usage, _m_a_i_l is given no arguments
and checks your mail out of the post office, then printing
out a one line header of each message there. The current
message is initially the first message (numbered 1) and can
be printed using the print command (which can be abbreviated
p). You can move among the messages much as you move
between lines in _e_d, with the commands `+' and `-' moving
backwards and forwards, and simple numbers typing the
addressed message.
_D_i_s_p_o_s_i_n_g _o_f _m_a_i_l. After examining a message you can delete
(d) the message or reply (r) to it. Deletion causes the
_m_a_i_l program to forget about the message. This is not
irreversible, the message can be undeleted (u) by giving its
number, or the _m_a_i_l session can be aborted by giving the
exit (x) command. Deleted messages will, however, usually
disappear never to be seen again.
_S_p_e_c_i_f_y_i_n_g _m_e_s_s_a_g_e_s. Commands such as print and delete
often can be given a list of message numbers as argument to
apply to a number of messages at once. Thus ``delete 1 2''
deletes messages 1 and 2, while ``delete 1-5'' deletes mes-
sages 1 through 5. The special name ``*'' addresses all
messages, and ``$'' addresses the last message; thus the
command top which prints the first few lines of a message
could be used in ``top *'' to print the first few lines of
all messages.
_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. You can use the reply com-
mand 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 (or a line consisting only of a ``.'') defines
the contents of the message. While you are composing a
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message, _m_a_i_l treats lines beginning with the character `~'
specially. For instance, typing ``~m'' (alone on a line)
will place a copy of the current message into the response
right shifting it by a tabstop. 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 will be given
in the summary below.)
_E_n_d_i_n_g _a _m_a_i_l _p_r_o_c_e_s_s_i_n_g _s_e_s_s_i_o_n. You can end a _m_a_i_l ses-
sion with the quit (q) 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. The -f option causes _m_a_i_l to read
in the contents of your _m_b_o_x (or the specified file) for
processing; when you quit _m_a_i_l writes undeleted messages
back to this file.
_P_e_r_s_o_n_a_l _a_n_d _s_y_s_t_e_m_w_i_d_e _d_i_s_t_r_i_b_u_t_i_o_n _l_i_s_t_s. It is also pos-
sible 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 sklower jkf mark cory:kridle
in the file .mailrc in your home directory. The current
list of such aliases can be displayed by the alias (a) com-
mand in _m_a_i_l. System wide distribution lists can be created
by editing /usr/lib/aliases, see _a_l_i_a_s_e_s(5) and _d_e_l_i_v_e_r_-
_m_a_i_l(8); these are kept in a slightly different syntax. In
mail you send, personal aliases will be expanded in mail
sent to others so that they will be able to reply to the
recipients. System wide _a_l_i_a_s_e_s 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
_d_e_l_i_v_e_r_m_a_i_l. If you edit /usr/lib/aliases, you must run the
program _n_e_w_a_l_i_a_s_e_s(1).
_N_e_t_w_o_r_k _m_a_i_l (_A_R_P_A, _U_U_C_P, _B_e_r_k_n_e_t) Mail to sites on the
ARPA network and sites within Bell laboratories can be sent
using ``name@site'' for ARPA-net sites or ``machine!user''
for Bell labs sites, provided appropriate gateways are known
to the system. (Be sure to escape the ! in Bell sites when
giving it on a _c_s_h command line by preceding it with an \.
Machines on an instance of the Berkeley network are
addressed as ``machine:user'', e.g. ``csvax:bill''. When
addressed from the arpa-net, ``csvax:bill'' is known as
``csvax.bill@berkeley''.
_M_a_i_l has a number of options which can be set in the ._m_a_i_l_r_c
file to alter its behavior; thus ``set askcc'' enables the
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``askcc'' feature. (These options are summarized below.)
SUMMARY
(Adapted from the `Mail Reference Manual') Each 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. For the commands which take message lists as argu-
ments, 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, _m_a_i_l types ``No applicable messages'' and aborts the
command.
- Goes to the previous message and prints it out.
If given a numeric argument _n , goes to the _n _t_h
previous message and prints it.
? Prints a brief summary of commands.
! Executes the UNIX shell command which follows.
alias (a) With no arguments, prints out all
currently-defined aliases. With one argument,
prints out that alias. With more than one argu-
ment, adds the users named in the second and
later arguments to the alias named in the first
argument.
chdir (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.
delete (d) 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.
dp (also dt) Deletes the current message and prints
the next message. If there is no next message,
_m_a_i_l says ``at EOF.''
edit (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.
exit (ex or x) Effects an immediate return to the
Shell without modifying the user's system mail-
box, his _m_b_o_x file, or his edit file in -f .
from (f) Takes a list of messages and prints their
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message headers.
headers (h) 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.
help A synonym for ?
hold (ho, also preserve) 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 delete command.
mail (m) Takes as argument login names and distribu-
tion group names and sends mail to those people.
next (n like + or CR) Goes to the next message in
sequence and types it. With an argument list,
types the next matching message.
preserve A synonym for hold.
print (p) Takes a message list and types out each mes-
sage on the user's terminal.
quit (q) Terminates the session, saving all
undeleted, unsaved messages in the user's _m_b_o_x
file in his login directory, preserving all mes-
sages marked with hold or preserve or never
referenced in his system mailbox, and removing
all other messages from his system 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 -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 exit command.
reply (r) Takes a message list and sends mail to each
message author just like the mail command. The
default message must not be deleted.
respond A synonym for reply .
save (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.
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set (se) With no arguments, prints all variable
values. Otherwise, sets option. Arguments are
of the form ``option=value'' or ``option.''
shell (sh) Invokes an interactive version of the
shell.
size Takes a message list and prints out the size in
characters of each message.
top Takes a message list and prints the top few
lines of each. The number of lines printed is
controlled by the variable toplines and defaults
to five.
type (t) A synonym for print .
unalias Takes a list of names defined by alias commands
and discards the remembered groups of users.
The group names no longer have any significance.
undelete (u) Takes a message list and marks each one as
_n_o_t being deleted.
unset Takes a list of option names and discards their
remembered values; the inverse of set .
visual (v) Takes a message list and invokes the display
editor on each message.
write (w) A synonym for save .
xit (x) A synonym for exit .
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 ``tilde escape'' is somewhat of a misnomer since the
actual escape character can be set by the option escape.
~!command Execute the indicated shell command, then return
to the message.
~c name ... Add the given names to the list of carbon copy
recipients.
~d Read the file ``dead.letter'' from your home
directory into the message.
~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.
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~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.
~m messages Read the named messages into the message being
sent, shifted right one tab. If no messages are
specified, read the current message.
~p Print out the message collected so far, prefaced
by the message header fields.
~q Abort the message being sent, copying the mes-
sage to ``dead.letter'' in your home directory
if save is set.
~r filename Read the named file into the message.
~s string Cause the named string to become the current
subject field.
~t name ... Add the given names to the direct recipient
list.
~v 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 appending text to the end of your mes-
sage.
~w filename Write the message onto the named file.
~|command Pipe the message through the command as a
filter. If the command gives no output or ter-
minates abnormally, retain the original text of
the message. The command _f_m_t(1) is often used
as _c_o_m_m_a_n_d to rejustify the message.
~~string Insert the string of text in the message pre-
faced by a single ~. If you have changed the
escape character, then you should double that
character in order to send it.
Options are controlled via the set and unset commands.
Options may be either binary, in which case it is only sig-
nificant 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:
append Causes messages saved in _m_b_o_x to be appended
to the end rather than prepended. (This is
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set in /usr/lib/Mail.rc on version 7 sys-
tems.)
ask Causes _m_a_i_l to prompt you for the subject of
each message you send. If you respond with
simply a newline, no subject field will be
sent.
askcc Causes you to be prompted for additional car-
bon copy recipients at the end of each mes-
sage. Responding with a newline indicates
your satisfaction with the current list.
autoprint Causes the delete command to behave like dp -
thus, after deleting a message, the next one
will be typed automatically.
ignore Causes interrupt signals from your terminal
to be ignored and echoed as @'s.
metoo Usually, when a group is expanded that con-
tains the sender, the sender is removed from
the expansion. Setting this option causes
the sender to be included in the group.
quiet Suppresses the printing of the version when
first invoked.
save Causes the message collected prior to a
interrupt to be saved on the file
``dead.letter'' in your home directory on
receipt of two interrupts (or after a ~q.)
The following options have string values:
EDITOR Pathname of the text editor to use in the
edit command and ~e escape. If not defined,
then a default editor is used.
SHELL Pathname of the shell to use in the ! command
and the ~! escape. A default shell is used
if this option is not defined.
VISUAL Pathname of the text editor to use in the
visual command and ~v escape.
escape If defined, the first character of this
option gives the character to use in the
place of ~ to denote escapes.
record If defined, gives the pathname of the file
used to record all outgoing mail. If not
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defined, then outgoing mail is not so saved.
toplines If defined, gives the number of lines of a
message to be printed out with the top com-
mand; normally, the first five lines are
printed.
FILES
/usr/spool/mail/* post office
~/mbox your old mail
~/.mailrc file giving initial mail commands
/tmp/R# temporary for editor escape
/usr/lib/Mail.help* help files
/usr/lib/Mail.rc system initialization file
/bin/mail to do actual mailing
/etc/delivermail postman
SEE ALSO
binmail(1), fmt(1), newaliases(1), aliases(5), deliver-
mail(8)
`The Mail Reference Manual'
AUTHOR
Kurt Shoens
BUGS
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