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version 1.21, 1998/11/11 23:01:45

version 1.22, 1998/11/19 23:23:49

Line 45

.Nm mail

.Op Fl iInv

.Op Fl s Ar subject

.Op Fl c Ar cc-addr

.Op Fl c Ar list

.Op Fl b Ar bcc-addr

.Op Fl b Ar list

.Ar to-addr Op Ar ...

.Op Fl Ar sendmail-options Op Ar ...

.Nm mail

Line 56

.Nm mail

.Op Fl iInNv

.Op Fl u Ar user

.Sh INTRODUCTION

.Sh DESCRIPTION

.Nm mail

is an intelligent mail processing system which has

a command syntax reminiscent of

Line 74

.Nm mail

on noisy phone lines.

.It Fl I

Forces mail to run in interactive mode even when

Forces

input isn't a terminal.

.Nm mail

In particular, the

to run in interactive mode, even when input is not a terminal.

.Sq Ic \&~

In particular, the special

special

.Ic \&~

character when sending mail is only active in interactive mode.

command character, used when sending mail, is only available interactively.

.It Fl n

Inhibits reading

.Pa /etc/mail.rc

upon startup.

.It Fl N

Inhibits the initial display of message headers

Inhibits initial display of message headers

when reading mail or editing a mail folder.

.It Fl s Ar subject

Specify subject on command line

(only the first argument after the

.Fl s

flag is used as a subject; be careful to quote subjects

containing spaces.)

containing spaces).

.It Fl c Ar cc-addr

.It Fl c Ar list

Send carbon copies to

.Ar list

of users.

.It Fl b Ar bcc-addr

.Ar list

should be a comma separated list of names.

.It Fl b Ar list

Send blind carbon copies to

.Ar list .

List should be a comma-separated list of names.

.It Fl f Ar name

.It Fl f

Read in the contents of your mailbox

Read in the contents of your

(or the specified file

.Ar mbox

.Ar name )

(or the specified file)

for processing; when you quit,

for processing; when you

.Ar quit ,

.Nm mail

writes undeleted messages back to this file.

.It Fl u Ar user

Is equivalent to:

.Pp

.Dl mail -f /var/mail/user

Except that locking is done.

.Pp

except that locking is done.

.El

.Ss Startup actions

At startup time

At startup time,

.Nm mail

will execute commands in the system command files

.Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.rc ,

.Pa /usr/local/etc/mail.rc ,

.Pa /usr/local/etc/mail.rc

and

.Pa /etc/mail.rc

in order unless explicitly told not to by using the

.Fl n

option. Next, the commands in the user's personal command file

.Pa ~/.mailrc

are executed.

.Nm mail

Line 139

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whom the mail will be sent.

You are then expected to type in

your message, followed

by an

by a control-D

.Sq Li control\-D

.Pq Sq ^D

at the beginning of a line.

The section below,

.Ar Replying to or originating mail ,

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Line 150

available to help you compose your letter.

.Pp

.Ss Reading mail

In normal usage

In normal usage,

.Nm mail

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)

The current message is initially set to the first message (numbered 1)

and can be printed using the

.Ic print

command (which can be abbreviated

.Ic p ) .

You can move among the messages much as you move between lines in

Moving among the messages is much like moving between lines in

.Xr \&ed 1 ,

.Xr ed 1 ;

with the commands

you may use

.Ql Ic \&+

.Ic \&+

and

.Ql Ic \&\-

.Ic \&-

moving backwards and forwards, and

to shift forwards and backwards, or simply enter a message number to move

simple numbers.

directly.

.Pp

.Ss Disposing of mail.

.Ss Disposing of mail

After examining a message you can

.Ic delete

.Pq Ic d

the message or

.Ic reply

.Pq Ic r

to it.

Line 188

Line 189

.Ic exit

.Pq Ic x

command.

Deleted messages will, however, usually disappear never to be seen again.

Deleted messages, however, will usually disappear, never to be seen again.

.Pp

.Ss Specifying messages

Commands such as

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can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply

to a number of messages at once.

Thus

.Dq Li delete 1 2

.Ic delete 1 2

deletes messages 1 and 2, while

.Dq Li delete 1\-5

.Ic delete 1\-5

deletes messages 1 through 5.

The special name

.Ql Li \&*

.Dq \&*

addresses all messages, and

addresses all messages and

.Ql Li \&$

.Dq \&$

addresses

the last message; thus the command

.Ic top

which prints the first few lines of a message could be used in

.Dq Li top \&*

.Ic top \&*

to print the first few lines of all messages.

.Pp

.Ss Replying to or originating mail.

.Ss Replying to or originating mail

You can use the

.Ic reply

command to

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defines the contents of the message.

While you are composing a message,

.Nm mail

treats lines beginning with the character

treats lines beginning with the tilde

.Ql Ic \&~

.Pq Sq ~

specially.

character specially.

For instance, typing

.Ql Ic \&~m

.Ic ~m

(alone on a line) will place a copy

of the current message into the response right shifting it by a tabstop

of the current message into the response, right shifting it by a single

(see

tab-stop (see

.Em indentprefix

.Va indentprefix

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

Line 239

Line 240

(These options

are given in the summary below.)

.Pp

.Ss Ending a mail processing session.

.Ss Ending a mail processing session

You can end a

.Nm mail

session with the

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Messages which have been examined go to your

.Ar mbox

file unless they have been deleted in which case they are discarded.

Unexamined messages go back to the post office.

Unexamined messages go back to the post office (see the

(See the

.Fl f

option above).

.Pp

.Ss Personal and systemwide distribution lists.

.Ss Personal and system wide distribution lists

It is also possible to create personal distribution lists so that,

for instance, you can send mail to

.Dq Li cohorts

Line 270

The current list of such aliases can be displayed with the

.Ic alias

command in

.Nm mail .

System wide distribution lists can be created by editing

.Pa /etc/aliases ,

see

(see

.Xr aliases 5

and

.Xr sendmail 8 ;

.Xr 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

.Ic reply

to the recipients.

System wide

System wide aliases

.Ic aliases

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

.Xr sendmail .

.Pp

.Ss Network mail (ARPA, UUCP, Berknet)

See

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feature.

(These options are summarized below.)

.Sh SUMMARY

(Adapted from the `Mail Reference Manual')

(Adapted from the

.Dq Mail Reference Manual . )

.Pp

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.

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.

Line 326

Print out the preceding message.

If given a numeric

argument

.Ar n ,

goes to the

.Ar n Ns 'th

.Ar n Ns th

previous message and prints it.

.It Ic \&?

Prints a brief summary of commands.

Line 403

.Pq Ic d

Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted.

Deleted messages will not be saved in

.Ar mbox ,

nor will they be available for most other commands.

.It Ic dp

(also

Line 426

modifying the user's system mailbox, his

.Ar mbox

file, or his edit file in

.Fl f .

.It Ic file

.Pq Ic fi

The same as

.Ic folder .

.It Ic folders

List the names of the folders in your folder directory.

.It Ic folder

Line 460

Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18\-message group.

.Ql \&+

.Dq \&+

argument is given, then the next 18\-message group is printed, and if

argument is given, the next 18\-message group is printed; if

.Ql \&\-

.Dq \&\-

argument is given, the previous 18\-message group is printed.

.It Ic help

A synonym for

.Ic \&? .

.ne li

.It Ic hold

.Pf ( Ic ho ,

Line 476

Takes a message list and marks each

message therein to be saved in the

user's system mailbox instead of in

.Ar mbox .

Does not override the

.Ic delete

command.

Line 533

.It Ic preserve

.Pq Ic pre

A synonym for

.Ic hold .

.It Ic print

.Pq Ic p

Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal.

Line 568

The default message must not be deleted.

.It Ic respond

A synonym for

.Ic reply .

.It Ic retain

Add the list of header fields named to the

.Ar retained list .

Only the header fields in the retain list

are shown on your terminal when you print a message.

All other header fields are suppressed.

Line 601

.Ar option .

Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment statement to

quote blanks or tabs, i.e.

.Dq Li "set indentprefix=\*q->\*q"

.Dq Li "set indentprefix=\*q->\*q" .

.It Ic saveignore

.Ic Saveignore

is to

Line 611

is to

.Ic print

and

.Ic type .

Header fields thus marked are filtered out when

saving a message by

.Ic save

or when automatically saving to

.Ar mbox .

.pl +1

.It Ic saveretain

.Ic Saveretain

Line 627

is to

.Ic print

and

.Ic type .

Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved

with a message when saving by

.Ic save

or when automatically saving to

.Ar mbox .

.Ic Saveretain

overrides

.Ic saveignore .

.It Ic shell

.Pq Ic sh

Invokes an interactive version of the shell.

Line 656

.It Ic type

.Pq Ic t

A synonym for

.Ic print .

.It Ic unalias

Takes a list of names defined by

.Ic alias

Line 676

.It Ic unset

Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values;

the inverse of

.Ic set .

.It Ic visual

.Pq Ic v

Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message.

.It Ic write

.Pq Ic w

Similar to

.Ic save ,

except that

.Ic only

the message body

Line 696

.It Ic xit

.Pq Ic x

A synonym for

.Ic exit .

.It Ic z

.Nm mail

presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the

Line 708

.Ic \&z

command.

Also, you can move to the previous window by using

.Ic \&z\&\- .

.El

.Ss Tilde/Escapes

.Ss Tilde/escapes

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

.Dq Em tilde\ escape

.Dq tilde escape

is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be set

by the option

.Ic escape .

Line 731

Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients.

.It Ic \&~d

Read the file

.Dq Pa dead.letter

.Pa dead.letter

from your home directory into the message.

.It Ic \&~e

Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far.

Line 758

.It Ic \&~m Ns Ar messages

Read the named messages into the message being sent, indented by a

tab or by the value of

.Ar indentprefix .

If no messages are specified,

read the current message.

Message headers currently being ignored (by the

Line 775

fields.

.It Ic \&~q

Abort the message being sent, copying the message to

.Dq Pa dead.letter

.Pa dead.letter

in your home directory if

.Ic save

is set.

Line 815

you have changed the escape character, then you should double

that character in order to send it.

.El

.Ss Mail Options

.Ss Mail options

Options are controlled via

.Ic set

and

Line 870

on the command line and causes

.Nm mail

to output all sorts of information useful for debugging

.Nm mail .

.It Ar dot

The binary option

.Ar dot

Line 913

(erase or delete)

.Nm mail

copies the partial letter to the file

.Dq Pa dead.letter

.Pa dead.letter

in your home directory.

Setting the binary option

.Ar nosave

Line 927

.It Ar quiet

Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked.

.It Ar searchheaders

If this option is set, then a message-list specifier in the form ``/x:y''

If this option is set, then a message-list specifier in the form

will expand to all messages containing the substring ``y'' in the header

.Dq /x:y

field ``x''. The string search is case insensitive.

will expand to all messages containing the substring

If ``x'' is omitted, it will default to the ``Subject'' header field.

.Dq y

The form ``/to:y'' is a special case, and will expand

in the header

to all messages containing the substring ``y'' in the ``To'', ``Cc''

field

or ``Bcc'' header fields.

.Dq x .

The check for "to" is case sensitive, so that

The string search is case insensitive. If

``/To:y'' can be used to limit the search for ``y'' to just

.Dq x

the ``To:'' field.

is omitted, it will default to the

.Dq Subject

header field.

The form

.Dq /to:y

is a special case, and will expand

to all messages containing the substring

.Dq y

in the

.Dq To ,

.Dq Cc

.Dq Bcc

header fields.

The check for

.Dq to

is case sensitive, so that

.Dq /To:y

can be used to limit the search for

.Dq y

to just the

.Dq To:

field.

.It Ar verbose

Setting the option

.Ar verbose

Line 947

Line 969

the actual delivery of messages is displayed on the user's

terminal.

.El

.Ss Option String Values

.Ss Option string values

.Bl -tag -width Va

.It Ev EDITOR

Pathname of the text editor to use in the

Line 1005

Line 1027

.It Ar folder

The name of the directory to use for storing folders of

messages.

If this name begins with a `/',

If this name begins with a

.Dq / ,

.Nm mail

considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the

folder directory is found relative to your home directory.

Line 1022

Line 1045

mail.

If not defined, then outgoing mail is not so saved.

.It Ar indentprefix

String used by the ``~m'' tilde escape for indenting messages, in place of

String used by the

the normal tab character (^I).

.Ic \&~m

tilde escape for indenting messages, in place of the normal tab character

.Pq Sq ^I

Be sure to quote the value if it contains

spaces or tabs.

.It Ar toplines

Line 1048

Line 1073

.Sh FILES

.Bl -tag -width /usr/share/misc/mail.*help -compact

.It Pa /var/mail/*

Post office (unless overridden by the

post office (unless overridden by the

.Ev MAIL

environment variable).

environment variable)

.It ~/mbox

User's old mail.

user's old mail

.It ~/.mailrc

File giving initial mail commands.

file giving initial mail commands; can be overridden by setting the

This can be overridden by setting the

.Ev MAILRC

environment variable.

environment variable

.It Pa /tmp/R*

Temporary files.

temporary files

.It Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.*help

Help files.

help files

.It Pa /etc/mail.rc

System initialization file.

system initialization file

.El

.Sh SEE ALSO

.Xr fmt 1 ,

Line 1074

Line 1098

.Xr mailaddr 7 ,

.Xr mail.local 8 ,

.Xr sendmail 8

and

.Rs

.%T "The Mail Reference Manual" .

.%T "The Mail Reference Manual"

.Re

.Sh HISTORY

Line 1097

Line 1120

and

.Nm mailx

are just links to

.Nm Mail ,

which can be confusing.