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1.1 root 1: .\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990 The Regents of the University of California.
2: .\" All rights reserved.
3: .\"
4: .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted provided
5: .\" that: (1) source distributions retain this entire copyright notice and
6: .\" comment, and (2) distributions including binaries display the following
7: .\" acknowledgement: ``This product includes software developed by the
8: .\" University of California, Berkeley and its contributors'' in the
9: .\" documentation or other materials provided with the distribution and in
10: .\" all advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software.
11: .\" Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors may
12: .\" be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without
13: .\" specific prior written permission.
14: .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
15: .\" WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
16: .\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
17: .\"
18: .\" @(#)mail.1 6.16 (Berkeley) 7/24/90
19: .\"
20: .Dd July 24, 1990
21: .Dt MAIL 1
22: .Os BSD 4
23: .Sh NAME
24: .Nm mail
25: .Nd send and receive mail
26: .Sh SYNOPSIS
27: .Nm mail
28: .Op Fl iInv
29: .Op Fl s Ar subject
30: .Op Fl c Ar cc-addr
31: .Op Fl b Ar bcc-addr
32: .Ar to-addr...
33: .br
34: .Nm mail
35: .Op Fl iInNv
36: .Fl f
37: .Op Ar name
38: .br
39: .Nm mail
40: .Op Fl iInNv
41: .Op Fl u Ar user
42: .Sh INTRODUCTION
43: .Nm Mail
44: is a intelligent mail processing system, which has
45: a command syntax reminiscent of
46: .Xr ed 1
47: with lines replaced by messages.
48: .Pp
49: .Tw Ds
50: .Tp Fl v
51: Verbose mode. The details of
52: delivery are displayed on the users terminal.
53: .Tp Fl i
54: Ignore tty interrupt signals. This is
55: particularly useful when using
56: .Nm mail
57: on noisy phone lines.
58: .Tp Fl I
59: Forces mail to run in interactive mode even when
60: input isn't a terminal. In particular, the
61: .Sq Ic \&~
62: special
63: character when sending mail is only active in interactive mode.
64: .Tp Fl n
65: Inhibits reading
66: .Pa /usr/share/misc/Mail.rc
67: upon startup.
68: .Tp Fl N
69: Inhibits the initial display of message headers
70: when reading mail or editing a mail folder.
71: .Tp Fl s
72: Specify subject on command line
73: (only the first argument after the
74: .Fl s
75: flag is used as a subject; be careful to quote subjects
76: containing spaces.)
77: .Tp Fl c
78: Send carbon copies to
79: .Ar list
80: of users.
81: .Tp Fl b
82: Send blind carbon copies to
83: .Ar list .
84: List should be a comma-separated list of names.
85: .Tp Fl f
86: Read in the contents of your
87: .Ar mbox
88: (or the specified file)
89: for processing; when you
90: .Ar quit ,
91: .Nm mail
92: writes undeleted messages back to this file.
93: .Tp Fl u
94: Is equivalent to:
95: .Dl mail -f /var/spool/mail/user
96: .Tp
97: .Ss Sending mail
98: To send a message to one or more people,
99: .Nm mail
100: can be invoked with arguments which are the names of people to
101: whom the mail will be sent. You are then expected to type in
102: your message, followed
103: by an
104: .Sq Li control\-D
105: at the beginning of a line.
106: The section below
107: .Ar Replying to or originating mail ,
108: describes some features of
109: .Nm mail
110: available to help you compose your letter.
111: .Pp
112: .Ss Reading mail
113: In normal usage
114: .Nm mail
115: is given no arguments and checks your mail out of the
116: post office, then
117: prints out a one line header of each message found.
118: The current message is initially the first message (numbered 1)
119: and can be printed using the
120: .Ic print
121: command (which can be abbreviated
122: .Cx \&(
123: .Ic p
124: .Cx \&)).
125: .Cx
126: You can move among the messages much as you move between lines in
127: .Xr ed 1 ,
128: with the commands
129: .Sq Ic \&+
130: and
131: .Sq Ic \&\-
132: moving backwards and forwards, and
133: simple numbers.
134: .Pp
135: .Ss Disposing of mail.
136: After examining a message you can
137: .Ic delete
138: .Cx \&(
139: .Ic d
140: .Cx \&)
141: .Cx
142: the message or
143: .Ic reply
144: .Cx \&(
145: .Ic r
146: .Cx \&)
147: .Cx
148: to it.
149: Deletion causes the
150: .Nm mail
151: program to forget about the message.
152: This is not irreversible; the message can be
153: .Ic undeleted
154: .Cx \&(
155: .Ic u
156: .Cx \&)
157: .Cx
158: by giving its number, or the
159: .Nm mail
160: session can be aborted by giving the
161: .Ic exit
162: .Cx \&(
163: .Ic x
164: .Cx \&)
165: .Cx
166: command.
167: Deleted messages will, however, usually disappear never to be seen again.
168: .Pp
169: .Ss Specifying messages
170: Commands such as
171: .Ic print
172: and
173: .Ic delete
174: can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply
175: to a number of messages at once.
176: Thus
177: .Dq Li delete 1 2
178: deletes messages 1 and 2, while
179: .Dq Li delete 1\-5
180: deletes messages 1 through 5.
181: The special name
182: .Sq Li \&*
183: addresses all messages, and
184: .Sq Li \&$
185: addresses
186: the last message; thus the command
187: .Ic top
188: which prints the first few lines of a message could be used in
189: .Dq Li top \&*
190: to print the first few lines of all messages.
191: .Pp
192: .Ss Replying to or originating mail.
193: You can use the
194: .Ic reply
195: command to
196: set up a response to a message, sending it back to the
197: person who it was from.
198: Text you then type in, up to an end-of-file,
199: defines the contents of the message.
200: While you are composing a message,
201: .Nm mail
202: treats lines beginning with the character
203: .Sq Ic \&~
204: specially.
205: For instance, typing
206: .Sq Ic \&~m
207: (alone on a line) will place a copy
208: of the current message into the response right shifting it by a tabstop
209: (see
210: .Em indentprefix
211: variable, below).
212: Other escapes will set up subject fields, add and delete recipients
213: to the message and allow you to escape to an editor to revise the
214: message or to a shell to run some commands. (These options
215: are given in the summary below.)
216: .Pp
217: .Ss Ending a mail processing session.
218: You can end a
219: .Nm mail
220: session with the
221: .Ic quit
222: .Cx \&(
223: .Ic q
224: .Cx \&)
225: .Cx
226: command.
227: Messages which have been examined go to your
228: .Ar mbox
229: file unless they have been deleted in which case they are discarded.
230: Unexamined messages go back to the post office. (See the
231: .Fl f
232: option above).
233: .Pp
234: .Ss Personal and systemwide distribution lists.
235: It is also possible to create a personal distribution lists so that,
236: for instance, you can send mail to
237: .Dq Li cohorts
238: and have it go
239: to a group of people.
240: Such lists can be defined by placing a line like
241: .Pp
242: .Dl alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory
243: .Pp
244: in the file
245: .Pa \&.mailrc
246: in your home directory.
247: The current list of such aliases can be displayed with the
248: .Ic alias
249: command in
250: .Nm mail .
251: System wide distribution lists can be created by editing
252: .Pa /etc/aliases ,
253: see
254: .Xr aliases 5
255: and
256: .Xr sendmail 8 ;
257: these are kept in a different syntax.
258: In mail you send, personal aliases will be expanded in mail sent
259: to others so that they will be able to
260: .Ic reply
261: to the recipients.
262: System wide
263: .Ic aliases
264: are not expanded when the mail is sent,
265: but any reply returned to the machine will have the system wide
266: alias expanded as all mail goes through
267: .Xr sendmail .
268: .Pp
269: .Ss Network mail (ARPA, UUCP, Berknet)
270: See
271: .Xr mailaddr 7
272: for a description of network addresses.
273: .Pp
274: .Nm Mail
275: has a number of options which can be set in the
276: .Pa \& .mailrc
277: file to alter its behavior; thus
278: .Dq Li set askcc
279: enables the
280: .Ar askcc
281: feature. (These options are summarized below.)
282: .Sh SUMMARY
283: (Adapted from the `Mail Reference Manual')
284: .Pp
285: Each command is typed on a line by itself, and may take arguments
286: following the command word. The command need not be typed in its
287: entirety \- the first command which matches the typed prefix is used.
288: For commands which take message lists as arguments, if no message
289: list is given, then the next message forward which satisfies the
290: command's requirements is used. If there are no messages forward of
291: the current message, the search proceeds backwards, and if there are no
292: good messages at all,
293: .Nm mail
294: types
295: .Dq Li No applicable messages
296: and
297: aborts the command.
298: .Tp Ic \&\-
299: Print out the preceding message. If given a numeric
300: argument
301: .Ar n ,
302: goes to the
303: .Cx Ar n
304: .Cx \'th
305: .Cx
306: previous message and prints it.
307: .Tp Ic \&?
308: Prints a brief summary of commands.
309: .Tp Ic \&!
310: Executes the shell
311: (see
312: .Xr sh 1
313: and
314: .Xr csh 1 )
315: command which follows.
316: .Tp Ic Print
317: .Cx \&(
318: .Ic P
319: .Cx \&)
320: .Cx
321: Like
322: .Ic print
323: but also prints out ignored header fields. See also
324: .Ic print ,
325: .Ic ignore
326: and
327: .Ic retain .
328: .Tp Ic Reply
329: .Cx \&(
330: .Ic R
331: .Cx \&)
332: .Cx
333: Reply to originator. Does not reply to other
334: recipients of the original message.
335: .Tp Ic Type
336: .Cx \&(
337: .Ic T
338: .Cx \&)
339: .Cx
340: Identical to the
341: .Ic Print
342: command.
343: .Tp Ic alias
344: .Cx \&(
345: .Ic a
346: .Cx \&)
347: .Cx
348: With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined aliases. With one
349: argument, prints out that alias. With more than one argument, creates
350: a new alias or changes an old one.
351: .Tp Ic alternates
352: .Cx \&(
353: .Ic alt
354: .Cx \&)
355: .Cx
356: The
357: .Ic alternates
358: command is useful if you have accounts on several machines.
359: It can be used to inform
360: .Nm mail
361: that the listed addresses are really you. When you
362: .Ic reply
363: to messages,
364: .Nm mail
365: will not send a copy of the message to any of the addresses
366: listed on the
367: .Ic alternates
368: list. If the
369: .Ic alternates
370: command is given with no argument, the current set of alternate
371: names is displayed.
372: .Tp Ic chdir
373: .Cx \&(
374: .Ic c
375: .Cx \&)
376: .Cx
377: Changes the user's working directory to that specified, if given. If
378: no directory is given, then changes to the user's login directory.
379: .Tp Ic copy
380: .Cx \&(
381: .Ic co
382: .Cx \&)
383: .Cx
384: The
385: .Ic copy
386: command does the same thing that
387: .Ic save
388: does, except that it does not mark the messages it
389: is used on for deletion when you quit.
390: .Tp Ic delete
391: .Cx \&(
392: .Ic d
393: .Cx \&)
394: .Cx
395: Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted.
396: Deleted messages will not be saved in
397: .Ar mbox ,
398: nor will they be available for most other commands.
399: .Tp Ic dp
400: (also
401: .Ic dt )
402: Deletes the current message and prints the next message.
403: If there is no next message,
404: .Nm mail
405: says
406: .Dq Li at EOF.
407: .Tp Ic edit
408: .Cx \&(
409: .Ic e
410: .Cx \&)
411: .Cx
412: Takes a list of messages and points the text editor at each one in
413: turn. On return from the editor, the message is read back in.
414: .Tp Ic exit
415: .Cx \&(
416: .Ic ex
417: .Cx
418: or
419: .Ic x )
420: Effects an immediate return to the Shell without
421: modifying the user's system mailbox, his
422: .Ar mbox
423: file, or his edit file in
424: .Fl f .
425: .Tp Ic file
426: .Cx \&(
427: .Ic fi
428: .Cx )
429: .Cx
430: The same as
431: .Ic folder .
432: .Tp Ic folders
433: List the names of the folders in your folder directory.
434: .Tp Ic folder
435: .Cx \&(
436: .Ic fo
437: .Cx \&)
438: .Cx
439: The
440: .Ic folder
441: command switches to a new mail file or folder. With no
442: arguments, it tells you which file you are currently reading.
443: If you give it an argument, it will write out changes (such
444: as deletions) you have made in the current file and read in
445: the new file. Some special conventions are recognized for
446: the name. # means the previous file, % means your system
447: mailbox, %user means user's system mailbox, & means
448: your
449: .Ar mbox
450: file, and +folder means a file in your folder
451: directory.
452: .Tp Ic from
453: .Cx \&(
454: .Ic f
455: .Cx \&)
456: .Cx
457: Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers.
458: .Tp Ic headers
459: .Cx \&(
460: .Ic h
461: .Cx \&)
462: .Cx
463: Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18\-message group. If
464: a
465: .Sq Li \&+
466: argument is given, then the next 18\-message group is printed, and if
467: a
468: .Sq Li \&\-
469: argument is given, the previous 18\-message group is printed.
470: .Tp Ic help
471: A synonym for
472: .Ic \&?
473: .Tp Ic hold
474: .Cx \&(
475: .Ic ho ,
476: .Cx
477: also
478: .Ic preserve )
479: Takes a message list and marks each
480: message therein to be saved in the
481: user's system mailbox instead of in
482: .Ar mbox .
483: Does not override the
484: .Ic delete
485: command.
486: .Tp Ic ignore
487: .Sy N.B.:
488: .Ic Ignore
489: has been superseded by
490: .Ic retain .
491: .br
492: Add the list of header fields named to the
493: .Ar ignored list
494: Header fields in the ignore list are not printed
495: on your terminal when you print a message. This
496: command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated
497: header fields. The
498: .Ic Type
499: and
500: .Ic Print
501: commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including
502: ignored fields. If
503: .Ic ignore
504: is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of
505: ignored fields.
506: .Tp Ic mail
507: .Cx \&(
508: .Ic m
509: .Cx \&)
510: .Cx
511: Takes as argument login names and distribution group names and sends
512: mail to those people.
513: .Tp Ic mbox
514: Indicate that a list of messages be sent to
515: .Ic mbox
516: in your home directory when you quit. This is the default
517: action for messages if you do
518: .Em not
519: have the
520: .Ic hold
521: option set.
522: .Tp Ic next
523: .Cx \&(
524: .Ic n
525: .Cx
526: like
527: .Ic \&+
528: or CR) Goes to the next message in sequence and types it.
529: With an argument list, types the next matching message.
530: .Tp Ic preserve
531: .Cx \&(
532: .Ic pre
533: .Cx \&)
534: .Cx
535: A synonym for
536: .Ic hold .
537: .Tp Ic print
538: .Cx \&(
539: .Ic p
540: .Cx \&)
541: .Cx
542: Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal.
543: .Tp Ic quit
544: .Cx \&(
545: .Ic q
546: .Cx \&)
547: .Cx
548: Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in
549: the user's
550: .Ar mbox
551: file in his login directory, preserving all messages marked with
552: .Ic hold
553: or
554: .Ic preserve
555: or never referenced
556: in his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his system
557: mailbox. If new mail has arrived during the session, the message
558: .Dq Li You have new mail
559: is given. If given while editing a
560: mailbox file with the
561: .Fl f
562: flag, then the edit file is rewritten. A return to the Shell is
563: effected, unless the rewrite of edit file fails, in which case the user
564: can escape with the
565: .Ic exit
566: command.
567: .Tp Ic reply
568: .Cx \&(
569: .Ic r
570: .Cx \&)
571: .Cx
572: Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all
573: recipients of the specified message.
574: The default message must not be deleted.
575: .Tp Ic respond
576: A synonym for
577: .Ic reply .
578: .Tp Ic retain
579: Add the list of header fields named to the
580: .Ar retained list
581: Only the header fields in the retain list
582: are shown on your terminal when you print a message.
583: All other header fields are suppressed.
584: The
585: .Ic Type
586: and
587: .Ic Print
588: commands can be used to print a message in its entirety.
589: If
590: .Ic retain
591: is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of
592: retained fields.
593: .Tp Ic save
594: .Cx \&(
595: .Ic s
596: .Cx \&)
597: .Cx
598: Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in
599: turn to the end of the file. The filename in quotes, followed by the line
600: count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal.
601: .Tp Ic set
602: .Cx \&(
603: .Ic se
604: .Cx \&)
605: .Cx
606: With no arguments, prints all variable values. Otherwise, sets
607: option. Arguments are of the form
608: .Ar option=value
609: (no space before or after =) or
610: .Ar option .
611: Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment statement to
612: quote blanks or tabs, i.e.
613: .Dq Li set indentprefix="->"
614: .Tp Ic saveignore
615: .Ic Saveignore
616: is to
617: .Ic save
618: what
619: .Ic ignore
620: is to
621: .Ic print
622: and
623: .Ic type .
624: Header fields thus marked are filtered out when
625: saving a message by
626: .Ic save
627: or when automatically saving to
628: .Ar mbox .
629: .Tp Ic saveretain
630: .Ic Saveretain
631: is to
632: .Ic save
633: what
634: .Ic retain
635: is to
636: .Ic print
637: and
638: .Ic type .
639: Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved
640: with a message when saving by
641: .Ic save
642: or when automatically saving to
643: .Ar mbox .
644: .Ic Saveretain
645: overrides
646: .Ic saveignore .
647: .Tp Ic shell
648: .Cx \&(
649: .Ic sh
650: .Cx \&)
651: .Cx
652: Invokes an interactive version of the shell.
653: .Tp Ic size
654: Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of each
655: message.
656: .Tp Ic source
657: .Cx \&(
658: .Ic so
659: .Cx \&)
660: The
661: .Ic source
662: command reads
663: .Nm mail
664: commands from a file.
665: .Tp Ic top
666: Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each. The number of
667: lines printed is controlled by the variable
668: .Ic toplines
669: and defaults to five.
670: .Tp Ic type
671: .Cx \&(
672: .Ic t
673: .Cx \&)
674: .Cx
675: A synonym for
676: .Ic print .
677: .Tp Ic unalias
678: Takes a list of names defined by
679: .Ic alias
680: commands and discards the remembered groups of users. The group names
681: no longer have any significance.
682: .Tp Ic undelete
683: .Cx \&(
684: .Ic u
685: .Cx \&)
686: .Cx
687: Takes a message list and marks each message as
688: .Ic not
689: being deleted.
690: .Tp Ic unread
691: .Cx \&(
692: .Ic U
693: .Cx \&)
694: .Cx
695: Takes a message list and marks each message as
696: .Ic not
697: having been read.
698: .Tp Ic unset
699: Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values;
700: the inverse of
701: .Ic set .
702: .Tp Ic visual
703: .Cx \&(
704: .Ic v
705: .Cx \&)
706: .Cx
707: Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message.
708: .Tp Ic write
709: .Cx \&(
710: .Ic w
711: .Cx \&)
712: .Cx
713: Similar to
714: .Ic save ,
715: except that
716: .Ic only
717: the message body
718: .Cx \&(
719: .Ar without
720: .Cx
721: the header) is saved.
722: Extremely useful for such tasks as sending and receiving source
723: program text over the message system.
724: .Tp Ic xit
725: .Cx \&(
726: .Ic x
727: .Cx \&)
728: .Cx
729: A synonym for
730: .Ic exit .
731: .Tp Ic z
732: .Nm Mail
733: presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the
734: .Ic headers
735: command. You can move
736: .Cx Nm mail
737: .Cx 's
738: .Cx
739: attention forward to the next window with the
740: .Ic \&z
741: command. Also, you can move to the previous window by using
742: .Ic \&z\&\- .
743: .Tp
744: .Ss Tilde/Escapes
745: .Pp
746: Here is a summary of the tilde escapes,
747: which are used when composing messages to perform
748: special functions. Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning
749: of lines. The name
750: .Dq Em tilde\ escape
751: is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be set
752: by the option
753: .Ic escape .
754: .Tw Ds
755: .Tp Cx Ic \&~!
756: .Ar command
757: .Cx
758: Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the message.
759: .Tp Cx Ic \&~b
760: .Ar name ...
761: .Cx
762: Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients but do not make
763: the names visible in the Cc: line ("blind" carbon copy).
764: .Tp Cx Ic \&~c
765: .Ar name ...
766: .Cx
767: Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients.
768: .Tp Ic \&~d
769: Read the file
770: .Dq Pa dead.letter
771: from your home directory into the message.
772: .Tp Ic \&~e
773: Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far. After the
774: editing session is finished, you may continue appending text to the
775: message.
776: .Tp Cx Ic \&~f
777: .Ar messages
778: .Cx
779: Read the named messages into the message being sent.
780: If no messages are specified, read in the current message.
781: Message headers currently being ignored (by the
782: .Ic ignore
783: or
784: .Ic retain
785: command) are not included.
786: .Tp Cx Ic \&~F
787: .Ar messages
788: .Cx
789: Identical to
790: .Ic \&~f ,
791: except all message headers are included.
792: .Tp Ic \&~h
793: Edit the message header fields by typing each one in turn and allowing
794: the user to append text to the end or modify the field by using the
795: current terminal erase and kill characters.
796: .Tp Cx Ic \&~m
797: .Ar messages
798: .Cx
799: Read the named messages into the message being sent, indented by a
800: tab or by the value of
801: .Ar indentprefix .
802: If no messages are specified,
803: read the current message.
804: Message headers currently being ignored (by the
805: .Ic ignore
806: or
807: .Ic retain
808: command) are not included.
809: .Tp Cx Ic \&~M
810: .Ar messages
811: .Cx
812: Identical to
813: .Ic \&~m ,
814: except all message headers are included.
815: .Tp Ic \&~p
816: Print out the message collected so far, prefaced by the message header
817: fields.
818: .Tp Ic \&~q
819: Abort the message being sent, copying the message to
820: .Dq Pa dead.letter
821: in your home directory if
822: .Ic save
823: is set.
824: .Tp Cx Ic \&~r
825: .Ar filename
826: .Cx
827: Read the named file into the message.
828: .Tp Cx Ic \&~s
829: .Ar string
830: .Cx
831: Cause the named string to become the current subject field.
832: .Tp Cx Ic \&~\&t
833: .Ar name ...
834: .Cx
835: Add the given names to the direct recipient list.
836: .\" This .br should have to be here
837: .br
838: .Tp Ic \&~\&v
839: Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the VISUAL option) on the
840: message collected so far. Usually, the alternate editor will be a
841: screen editor. After you quit the editor, you may resume appending
842: text to the end of your message.
843: .Tp Cx Ic \&~w
844: .Ar filename
845: .Cx
846: Write the message onto the named file.
847: .Tp Cx Ic \&~\&|
848: .Ar command
849: .Cx
850: Pipe the message through the command as a filter. If the command gives
851: no output or terminates abnormally, retain the original text of the
852: message. The command
853: .Xr fmt 1
854: is often used as
855: .Ic command
856: to rejustify the message.
857: .Tp Cx Ic \&~:
858: .Ar mail-command
859: .Cx
860: Execute the given mail command. Not all commands, however, are allowed.
861: .Tp Cx Ic \&~~
862: .Ar string
863: .Cx
864: Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single ~. If
865: you have changed the escape character, then you should double
866: that character in order to send it.
867: .Tp
868: .Ss Mail Options
869: Options are controlled via
870: .Ic set
871: and
872: .Ic unset
873: commands. Options may be either binary, in which case it is only
874: significant to see whether they are set or not; or string, in which
875: case the actual value is of interest.
876: The binary options include the following:
877: .Tp Ar append
878: Causes messages saved in
879: .Ar mbox
880: to be appended to the end rather than prepended.
881: This should always be set (perhaps in
882: .Pa /usr/share/misc/Mail.rc ) .
883: .Tp Ar ask
884: Causes
885: .Nm mail
886: to prompt you for the subject of each message you send. If
887: you respond with simply a newline, no subject field will be sent.
888: .Tp Ar askcc
889: Causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients at the
890: end of each message. Responding with a newline indicates your
891: satisfaction with the current list.
892: .Tp Ar autoprint
893: Causes the
894: .Ic delete
895: command to behave like
896: .Ic dp
897: \- thus, after deleting a message, the next one will be typed
898: automatically.
899: .Tp Ar debug
900: Setting the binary option
901: .Ar debug
902: is the same as specifying
903: .Fl d
904: on the command line and causes
905: .Nm mail
906: to output all sorts of information useful for debugging
907: .Nm mail .
908: .Tp Ar dot
909: The binary option
910: .Ar dot
911: causes
912: .Nm mail
913: to interpret a period alone on a line as the terminator
914: of a message you are sending.
915: .Tp Ar hold
916: This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox
917: by default.
918: .Tp Ar ignore
919: Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be ignored and echoed as
920: @'s.
921: .Tp Ar ignoreeof
922: An option related to
923: .Ar dot
924: is
925: .Ar ignoreeof
926: which makes
927: .Nm mail
928: refuse to accept a control-d as the end of a message.
929: .Ar Ignoreeof
930: also applies to
931: .Nm mail
932: command mode.
933: .Tp Ar metoo
934: Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender, the sender
935: is removed from the expansion. Setting this option causes the sender
936: to be included in the group.
937: .Tp Ar noheader
938: Setting the option
939: .Ar noheader
940: is the same as giving the
941: .Fl N
942: flag on the command line.
943: .Tp Ar nosave
944: Normally, when you abort a message with two
945: .Li RUBOUT
946: (erase or delete)
947: .Nm mail
948: copies the partial letter to the file
949: .Dq Pa dead.letter
950: in your home directory. Setting the binary option
951: .Ar nosave
952: prevents this.
953: .Tp Ar Replyall
954: Reverses the sense of
955: .Ic reply
956: and
957: .Ic Reply
958: commands.
959: .Tp Ar quiet
960: Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked.
961: .Tp Ar verbose
962: Setting the option
963: .Ar verbose
964: is the same as using the
965: .Fl v
966: flag on the command line. When mail runs in verbose mode,
967: the actual delivery of messages is displayed on he users
968: terminal.
969: .Tp
970: .Ss Option String Values
971: .Tw Va
972: .Tp Va EDITOR
973: Pathname of the text editor to use in the
974: .Ic edit
975: command and
976: .Ic \&~e
977: escape. If not defined, then a default editor is used.
978: .Tp Va LISTER
979: Pathname of the directory lister to use in the
980: .Ic folders
981: command. Default is
982: .Pa /bin/ls .
983: .Tp Va PAGER
984: Pathname of the program to use in the
985: .Ic more
986: command or when
987: .Ic crt
988: variable is set. The default paginator
989: .Xr more 1
990: is used if this option is not defined.
991: .Tp Va SHELL
992: Pathname of the shell to use in the
993: .Ic \&!
994: command and the
995: .Ic \&~!
996: escape. A default shell is used if this option is
997: not defined.
998: .Tp Va VISUAL
999: Pathname of the text editor to use in the
1000: .Ic visual
1001: command and
1002: .Ic \&~v
1003: escape.
1004: .Tp Va crt
1005: The valued option
1006: .Va crt
1007: is used as a threshold to determine how long a message must
1008: be before
1009: .Va PAGER
1010: is used to read it. If
1011: .Va crt
1012: is set without a value,
1013: then the height of the terminal screen stored in the system
1014: is used to compute the threshold (see
1015: .Xr stty 1 ) .
1016: .Tp Ar escape
1017: If defined, the first character of this option gives the character to
1018: use in the place of ~ to denote escapes.
1019: .Tp Ar folder
1020: The name of the directory to use for storing folders of
1021: messages. If this name begins with a `/',
1022: .Nm mail
1023: considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the
1024: folder directory is found relative to your home directory.
1025: .Tp Ar MBOX
1026: The name of the
1027: .Ar mbox
1028: file. It can be the name of a folder.
1029: The default is
1030: .Dq Li mbox
1031: in the user's home directory.
1032: .Tp Ar record
1033: If defined, gives the pathname of the file used to record all outgoing
1034: mail. If not defined, then outgoing mail is not so saved.
1035: .Tp Ar indentprefix
1036: String used by the ``~m'' tilde escape for indenting messages, in place of
1037: the normal tab character (^I). Be sure to quote the value if it contains
1038: spaces or tabs.
1039: .Tp Ar toplines
1040: If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out
1041: with the
1042: .Ic top
1043: command; normally, the first five lines are printed.
1044: .Tp
1045: .Sh ENVIRONMENT
1046: .Nm Mail
1047: utilizes the
1048: .Ev HOME
1049: and
1050: .Ev USER
1051: environment variables.
1052: .Sh FILES
1053: .Dw /usr/share/misc/Mail.help*
1054: .Di L
1055: .Dp Pa /var/spool/mail/*
1056: post office
1057: .Dp ~/mbox
1058: your old mail
1059: .Dp ~/.mailrc
1060: file giving initial mail commands
1061: .Dp Pa /tmp/R*
1062: temporary files
1063: .Dp Pa /usr/share/misc/Mail.help*
1064: help files
1065: .Dp Pa /usr/share/misc/Mail.rc
1066: system initialization file
1067: .Dp
1068: .Sh SEE ALSO
1069: .Xr binmail 1 ,
1070: .Xr fmt 1 ,
1071: .Xr newaliases 1 ,
1072: .Xr vacation 1 ,
1073: .Xr aliases 5 ,
1074: .Xr mailaddr 7 ,
1075: .Xr sendmail 8
1076: and
1077: .Em The Mail Reference Manual .
1078: .Sh HISTORY
1079: A
1080: .Nm mail
1081: command
1082: appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.
1083: This man page is derived from
1084: .Em The Mail Reference Manual
1085: originally written by Kurt Shoens.
1086: .Sh BUGS
1087: There are some flags that are not documented here. Most are
1088: not useful to the general user.
1089: .Pp
1090: Usually,
1091: .Nm mail
1092: is just a link to
1093: .Nm Mail ,
1094: which can be confusing.
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