Annotation of src/usr.bin/mail/mail.1, Revision 1.1
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! 32: .\" from: @(#)mail.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 12/30/93
! 33: .\" $Id: mail.1,v 1.5 1994/06/29 05:09:32 deraadt Exp $
! 34: .\"
! 35: .Dd December 30, 1993
! 36: .Dt MAIL 1
! 37: .Os BSD 4
! 38: .Sh NAME
! 39: .Nm mail
! 40: .Nd send and receive mail
! 41: .Sh SYNOPSIS
! 42: .Nm mail
! 43: .Op Fl iInv
! 44: .Op Fl s Ar subject
! 45: .Op Fl c Ar cc-addr
! 46: .Op Fl b Ar bcc-addr
! 47: .Ar to-addr...
! 48: .Nm mail
! 49: .Op Fl iInNv
! 50: .Fl f
! 51: .Op Ar name
! 52: .Nm mail
! 53: .Op Fl iInNv
! 54: .Op Fl u Ar user
! 55: .Sh INTRODUCTION
! 56: .Nm Mail
! 57: is an intelligent mail processing system, which has
! 58: a command syntax reminiscent of
! 59: .Xr \&ed 1
! 60: with lines replaced by messages.
! 61: .Pp
! 62: .Bl -tag -width flag
! 63: .It Fl v
! 64: Verbose mode.
! 65: The details of
! 66: delivery are displayed on the user's terminal.
! 67: .It Fl i
! 68: Ignore tty interrupt signals.
! 69: This is
! 70: particularly useful when using
! 71: .Nm mail
! 72: on noisy phone lines.
! 73: .It Fl I
! 74: Forces mail to run in interactive mode even when
! 75: input isn't a terminal.
! 76: In particular, the
! 77: .Sq Ic \&~
! 78: special
! 79: character when sending mail is only active in interactive mode.
! 80: .It Fl n
! 81: Inhibits reading
! 82: .Pa /etc/mail.rc
! 83: upon startup.
! 84: .It Fl N
! 85: Inhibits the initial display of message headers
! 86: when reading mail or editing a mail folder.
! 87: .It Fl s
! 88: Specify subject on command line
! 89: (only the first argument after the
! 90: .Fl s
! 91: flag is used as a subject; be careful to quote subjects
! 92: containing spaces.)
! 93: .It Fl c
! 94: Send carbon copies to
! 95: .Ar list
! 96: of users.
! 97: .It Fl b
! 98: Send blind carbon copies to
! 99: .Ar list .
! 100: List should be a comma-separated list of names.
! 101: .It Fl f
! 102: Read in the contents of your
! 103: .Ar mbox
! 104: (or the specified file)
! 105: for processing; when you
! 106: .Ar quit ,
! 107: .Nm mail
! 108: writes undeleted messages back to this file.
! 109: .It Fl u
! 110: Is equivalent to:
! 111: .Pp
! 112: .Dl mail -f /var/mail/user
! 113: .El
! 114: .Ss Sending mail
! 115: To send a message to one or more people,
! 116: .Nm mail
! 117: can be invoked with arguments which are the names of people to
! 118: whom the mail will be sent.
! 119: You are then expected to type in
! 120: your message, followed
! 121: by an
! 122: .Sq Li control\-D
! 123: at the beginning of a line.
! 124: The section below
! 125: .Ar Replying to or originating mail ,
! 126: describes some features of
! 127: .Nm mail
! 128: available to help you compose your letter.
! 129: .Pp
! 130: .Ss Reading mail
! 131: In normal usage
! 132: .Nm mail
! 133: is given no arguments and checks your mail out of the
! 134: post office, then
! 135: prints out a one line header of each message found.
! 136: The current message is initially the first message (numbered 1)
! 137: and can be printed using the
! 138: .Ic print
! 139: command (which can be abbreviated
! 140: .Ql Ic p ) .
! 141: You can move among the messages much as you move between lines in
! 142: .Xr \&ed 1 ,
! 143: with the commands
! 144: .Ql Ic \&+
! 145: and
! 146: .Ql Ic \&\-
! 147: moving backwards and forwards, and
! 148: simple numbers.
! 149: .Pp
! 150: .Ss Disposing of mail.
! 151: After examining a message you can
! 152: .Ic delete
! 153: .Ql Ic d )
! 154: the message or
! 155: .Ic reply
! 156: .Ql Ic r )
! 157: to it.
! 158: Deletion causes the
! 159: .Nm mail
! 160: program to forget about the message.
! 161: This is not irreversible; the message can be
! 162: .Ic undeleted
! 163: .Ql Ic u )
! 164: by giving its number, or the
! 165: .Nm mail
! 166: session can be aborted by giving the
! 167: .Ic exit
! 168: .Ql Ic x )
! 169: command.
! 170: Deleted messages will, however, usually disappear never to be seen again.
! 171: .Pp
! 172: .Ss Specifying messages
! 173: Commands such as
! 174: .Ic print
! 175: and
! 176: .Ic delete
! 177: can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply
! 178: to a number of messages at once.
! 179: Thus
! 180: .Dq Li delete 1 2
! 181: deletes messages 1 and 2, while
! 182: .Dq Li delete 1\-5
! 183: deletes messages 1 through 5.
! 184: The special name
! 185: .Ql Li \&*
! 186: addresses all messages, and
! 187: .Ql Li \&$
! 188: addresses
! 189: the last message; thus the command
! 190: .Ic top
! 191: which prints the first few lines of a message could be used in
! 192: .Dq Li top \&*
! 193: to print the first few lines of all messages.
! 194: .Pp
! 195: .Ss Replying to or originating mail.
! 196: You can use the
! 197: .Ic reply
! 198: command to
! 199: set up a response to a message, sending it back to the
! 200: person who it was from.
! 201: Text you then type in, up to an end-of-file,
! 202: defines the contents of the message.
! 203: While you are composing a message,
! 204: .Nm mail
! 205: treats lines beginning with the character
! 206: .Ql Ic \&~
! 207: specially.
! 208: For instance, typing
! 209: .Ql Ic \&~m
! 210: (alone on a line) will place a copy
! 211: of the current message into the response right shifting it by a tabstop
! 212: (see
! 213: .Em indentprefix
! 214: variable, below).
! 215: Other escapes will set up subject fields, add and delete recipients
! 216: to the message and allow you to escape to an editor to revise the
! 217: message or to a shell to run some commands.
! 218: (These options
! 219: are given in the summary below.)
! 220: .Pp
! 221: .Ss Ending a mail processing session.
! 222: You can end a
! 223: .Nm mail
! 224: session with the
! 225: .Ic quit
! 226: .Ql Ic q )
! 227: command.
! 228: Messages which have been examined go to your
! 229: .Ar mbox
! 230: file unless they have been deleted in which case they are discarded.
! 231: Unexamined messages go back to the post office.
! 232: (See the
! 233: .Fl f
! 234: option above).
! 235: .Pp
! 236: .Ss Personal and systemwide distribution lists.
! 237: It is also possible to create a personal distribution lists so that,
! 238: for instance, you can send mail to
! 239: .Dq Li cohorts
! 240: and have it go
! 241: to a group of people.
! 242: Such lists can be defined by placing a line like
! 243: .Pp
! 244: .Dl alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory
! 245: .Pp
! 246: in the file
! 247: .Pa \&.mailrc
! 248: in your home directory.
! 249: The current list of such aliases can be displayed with the
! 250: .Ic alias
! 251: command in
! 252: .Nm mail .
! 253: System wide distribution lists can be created by editing
! 254: .Pa /etc/aliases ,
! 255: see
! 256: .Xr aliases 5
! 257: and
! 258: .Xr sendmail 8 ;
! 259: these are kept in a different syntax.
! 260: In mail you send, personal aliases will be expanded in mail sent
! 261: to others so that they will be able to
! 262: .Ic reply
! 263: to the recipients.
! 264: System wide
! 265: .Ic aliases
! 266: are not expanded when the mail is sent,
! 267: but any reply returned to the machine will have the system wide
! 268: alias expanded as all mail goes through
! 269: .Xr sendmail .
! 270: .Pp
! 271: .Ss Network mail (ARPA, UUCP, Berknet)
! 272: See
! 273: .Xr mailaddr 7
! 274: for a description of network addresses.
! 275: .Pp
! 276: .Nm Mail
! 277: has a number of options which can be set in the
! 278: .Pa .mailrc
! 279: file to alter its behavior; thus
! 280: .Dq Li set askcc
! 281: enables the
! 282: .Ar askcc
! 283: feature.
! 284: (These options are summarized below.)
! 285: .Sh SUMMARY
! 286: (Adapted from the `Mail Reference Manual')
! 287: .Pp
! 288: Each command is typed on a line by itself, and may take arguments
! 289: following the command word.
! 290: The command need not be typed in its
! 291: entirety \- the first command which matches the typed prefix is used.
! 292: For commands which take message lists as arguments, if no message
! 293: list is given, then the next message forward which satisfies the
! 294: command's requirements is used.
! 295: If there are no messages forward of
! 296: the current message, the search proceeds backwards, and if there are no
! 297: good messages at all,
! 298: .Nm mail
! 299: types
! 300: .Dq Li No applicable messages
! 301: and
! 302: aborts the command.
! 303: .Bl -tag -width delete
! 304: .It Ic \&\-
! 305: Print out the preceding message.
! 306: If given a numeric
! 307: argument
! 308: .Ar n ,
! 309: goes to the
! 310: .Ar n Ns 'th
! 311: previous message and prints it.
! 312: .It Ic \&?
! 313: Prints a brief summary of commands.
! 314: .It Ic \&!
! 315: Executes the shell
! 316: (see
! 317: .Xr sh 1
! 318: and
! 319: .Xr csh 1 )
! 320: command which follows.
! 321: .It Ic Print
! 322: .Pq Ic P
! 323: Like
! 324: .Ic print
! 325: but also prints out ignored header fields.
! 326: See also
! 327: .Ic print ,
! 328: .Ic ignore
! 329: and
! 330: .Ic retain .
! 331: .It Ic Reply
! 332: .Pq Ic R
! 333: Reply to originator.
! 334: Does not reply to other
! 335: recipients of the original message.
! 336: .It Ic Type
! 337: .Pq Ic T
! 338: Identical to the
! 339: .Ic Print
! 340: command.
! 341: .It Ic alias
! 342: .Pq Ic a
! 343: With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined aliases.
! 344: With one
! 345: argument, prints out that alias.
! 346: With more than one argument, creates
! 347: a new alias or changes an old one.
! 348: .It Ic alternates
! 349: .Pq Ic alt
! 350: The
! 351: .Ic alternates
! 352: command is useful if you have accounts on several machines.
! 353: It can be used to inform
! 354: .Nm mail
! 355: that the listed addresses are really you.
! 356: When you
! 357: .Ic reply
! 358: to messages,
! 359: .Nm mail
! 360: will not send a copy of the message to any of the addresses
! 361: listed on the
! 362: .Ic alternates
! 363: list.
! 364: If the
! 365: .Ic alternates
! 366: command is given with no argument, the current set of alternate
! 367: names is displayed.
! 368: .It Ic chdir
! 369: .Pq Ic c
! 370: Changes the user's working directory to that specified, if given.
! 371: If
! 372: no directory is given, then changes to the user's login directory.
! 373: .It Ic copy
! 374: .Pq Ic co
! 375: The
! 376: .Ic copy
! 377: command does the same thing that
! 378: .Ic save
! 379: does, except that it does not mark the messages it
! 380: is used on for deletion when you quit.
! 381: .It Ic delete
! 382: .Pq Ic d
! 383: Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted.
! 384: Deleted messages will not be saved in
! 385: .Ar mbox ,
! 386: nor will they be available for most other commands.
! 387: .It Ic dp
! 388: (also
! 389: .Ic dt )
! 390: Deletes the current message and prints the next message.
! 391: If there is no next message,
! 392: .Nm mail
! 393: says
! 394: .Dq Li "at EOF" .
! 395: .It Ic edit
! 396: .Pq Ic e
! 397: Takes a list of messages and points the text editor at each one in
! 398: turn.
! 399: On return from the editor, the message is read back in.
! 400: .It Ic exit
! 401: .Pf ( Ic ex
! 402: or
! 403: .Ic x )
! 404: Effects an immediate return to the Shell without
! 405: modifying the user's system mailbox, his
! 406: .Ar mbox
! 407: file, or his edit file in
! 408: .Fl f .
! 409: .It Ic file
! 410: .Pq Ic fi
! 411: The same as
! 412: .Ic folder .
! 413: .It Ic folders
! 414: List the names of the folders in your folder directory.
! 415: .It Ic folder
! 416: .Pq Ic fo
! 417: The
! 418: .Ic folder
! 419: command switches to a new mail file or folder.
! 420: With no
! 421: arguments, it tells you which file you are currently reading.
! 422: If you give it an argument, it will write out changes (such
! 423: as deletions) you have made in the current file and read in
! 424: the new file.
! 425: Some special conventions are recognized for
! 426: the name.
! 427: # means the previous file, % means your system
! 428: mailbox, %user means user's system mailbox, & means
! 429: your
! 430: .Ar mbox
! 431: file, and
! 432: \&+\&folder means a file in your folder
! 433: directory.
! 434: .It Ic from
! 435: .Pq Ic f
! 436: Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers.
! 437: .It Ic headers
! 438: .Pq Ic h
! 439: Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18\-message group.
! 440: If
! 441: a
! 442: .Ql \&+
! 443: argument is given, then the next 18\-message group is printed, and if
! 444: a
! 445: .Ql \&\-
! 446: argument is given, the previous 18\-message group is printed.
! 447: .It Ic help
! 448: A synonym for
! 449: .Ic \&?
! 450: .It Ic hold
! 451: .Pf ( Ic ho ,
! 452: also
! 453: .Ic preserve )
! 454: Takes a message list and marks each
! 455: message therein to be saved in the
! 456: user's system mailbox instead of in
! 457: .Ar mbox .
! 458: Does not override the
! 459: .Ic delete
! 460: command.
! 461: .It Ic ignore
! 462: Add the list of header fields named to the
! 463: .Ar ignored list .
! 464: Header fields in the ignore list are not printed
! 465: on your terminal when you print a message.
! 466: This
! 467: command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated
! 468: header fields.
! 469: The
! 470: .Ic Type
! 471: and
! 472: .Ic Print
! 473: commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including
! 474: ignored fields.
! 475: If
! 476: .Ic ignore
! 477: is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of
! 478: ignored fields.
! 479: .It Ic mail
! 480: .Pq Ic m
! 481: Takes as argument login names and distribution group names and sends
! 482: mail to those people.
! 483: .It Ic mbox
! 484: Indicate that a list of messages be sent to
! 485: .Ic mbox
! 486: in your home directory when you quit.
! 487: This is the default
! 488: action for messages if you do
! 489: .Em not
! 490: have the
! 491: .Ic hold
! 492: option set.
! 493: .It Ic next
! 494: .Pq Ic n
! 495: like
! 496: .Ic \&+
! 497: or
! 498: .Tn CR )
! 499: Goes to the next message in sequence and types it.
! 500: With an argument list, types the next matching message.
! 501: .It Ic preserve
! 502: .Pq Ic pre
! 503: A synonym for
! 504: .Ic hold .
! 505: .It Ic print
! 506: .Pq Ic p
! 507: Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal.
! 508: .It Ic quit
! 509: .Pq Ic q
! 510: Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in
! 511: the user's
! 512: .Ar mbox
! 513: file in his login directory, preserving all messages marked with
! 514: .Ic hold
! 515: or
! 516: .Ic preserve
! 517: or never referenced
! 518: in his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his system
! 519: mailbox.
! 520: If new mail has arrived during the session, the message
! 521: .Dq Li "You have new mail"
! 522: is given.
! 523: If given while editing a
! 524: mailbox file with the
! 525: .Fl f
! 526: flag, then the edit file is rewritten.
! 527: A return to the Shell is
! 528: effected, unless the rewrite of edit file fails, in which case the user
! 529: can escape with the
! 530: .Ic exit
! 531: command.
! 532: .It Ic reply
! 533: .Pq Ic r
! 534: Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all
! 535: recipients of the specified message.
! 536: The default message must not be deleted.
! 537: .It Ic respond
! 538: A synonym for
! 539: .Ic reply .
! 540: .It Ic retain
! 541: Add the list of header fields named to the
! 542: .Ar retained list
! 543: Only the header fields in the retain list
! 544: are shown on your terminal when you print a message.
! 545: All other header fields are suppressed.
! 546: The
! 547: .Ic Type
! 548: and
! 549: .Ic Print
! 550: commands can be used to print a message in its entirety.
! 551: If
! 552: .Ic retain
! 553: is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of
! 554: retained fields.
! 555: .It Ic save
! 556: .Pq Ic s
! 557: Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in
! 558: turn to the end of the file.
! 559: The filename in quotes, followed by the line
! 560: count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal.
! 561: .It Ic set
! 562: .Pq Ic se
! 563: With no arguments, prints all variable values.
! 564: Otherwise, sets
! 565: option.
! 566: Arguments are of the form
! 567: .Ar option=value
! 568: (no space before or after =) or
! 569: .Ar option .
! 570: Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment statement to
! 571: quote blanks or tabs, i.e.
! 572: .Dq Li "set indentprefix=\*q->\*q"
! 573: .It Ic saveignore
! 574: .Ic Saveignore
! 575: is to
! 576: .Ic save
! 577: what
! 578: .Ic ignore
! 579: is to
! 580: .Ic print
! 581: and
! 582: .Ic type .
! 583: Header fields thus marked are filtered out when
! 584: saving a message by
! 585: .Ic save
! 586: or when automatically saving to
! 587: .Ar mbox .
! 588: .It Ic saveretain
! 589: .Ic Saveretain
! 590: is to
! 591: .Ic save
! 592: what
! 593: .Ic retain
! 594: is to
! 595: .Ic print
! 596: and
! 597: .Ic type .
! 598: Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved
! 599: with a message when saving by
! 600: .Ic save
! 601: or when automatically saving to
! 602: .Ar mbox .
! 603: .Ic Saveretain
! 604: overrides
! 605: .Ic saveignore .
! 606: .It Ic shell
! 607: .Pq Ic sh
! 608: Invokes an interactive version of the shell.
! 609: .It Ic size
! 610: Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of each
! 611: message.
! 612: .It Ic source
! 613: The
! 614: .Ic source
! 615: command reads
! 616: commands from a file.
! 617: .It Ic top
! 618: Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each.
! 619: The number of
! 620: lines printed is controlled by the variable
! 621: .Ic toplines
! 622: and defaults to five.
! 623: .It Ic type
! 624: .Pq Ic t
! 625: A synonym for
! 626: .Ic print .
! 627: .It Ic unalias
! 628: Takes a list of names defined by
! 629: .Ic alias
! 630: commands and discards the remembered groups of users.
! 631: The group names
! 632: no longer have any significance.
! 633: .It Ic undelete
! 634: .Pq Ic u
! 635: Takes a message list and marks each message as
! 636: .Ic not
! 637: being deleted.
! 638: .It Ic unread
! 639: .Pq Ic U
! 640: Takes a message list and marks each message as
! 641: .Ic not
! 642: having been read.
! 643: .It Ic unset
! 644: Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values;
! 645: the inverse of
! 646: .Ic set .
! 647: .It Ic visual
! 648: .Pq Ic v
! 649: Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message.
! 650: .It Ic write
! 651: .Pq Ic w
! 652: Similar to
! 653: .Ic save ,
! 654: except that
! 655: .Ic only
! 656: the message body
! 657: .Pq Ar without
! 658: the header) is saved.
! 659: Extremely useful for such tasks as sending and receiving source
! 660: program text over the message system.
! 661: .It Ic xit
! 662: .Pq Ic x
! 663: A synonym for
! 664: .Ic exit .
! 665: .It Ic z
! 666: .Nm Mail
! 667: presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the
! 668: .Ic headers
! 669: command.
! 670: You can move
! 671: .Nm mail Ns 's
! 672: attention forward to the next window with the
! 673: .Ic \&z
! 674: command.
! 675: Also, you can move to the previous window by using
! 676: .Ic \&z\&\- .
! 677: .El
! 678: .Ss Tilde/Escapes
! 679: .Pp
! 680: Here is a summary of the tilde escapes,
! 681: which are used when composing messages to perform
! 682: special functions.
! 683: Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning
! 684: of lines.
! 685: The name
! 686: .Dq Em tilde\ escape
! 687: is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be set
! 688: by the option
! 689: .Ic escape .
! 690: .Bl -tag -width Ds
! 691: .It Ic \&~! Ns Ar command
! 692: Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the message.
! 693: .It Ic \&~b Ns Ar name ...
! 694: Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients but do not make
! 695: the names visible in the Cc: line ("blind" carbon copy).
! 696: .It Ic \&~c Ns Ar name ...
! 697: Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients.
! 698: .It Ic \&~d
! 699: Read the file
! 700: .Dq Pa dead.letter
! 701: from your home directory into the message.
! 702: .It Ic \&~e
! 703: Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far.
! 704: After the
! 705: editing session is finished, you may continue appending text to the
! 706: message.
! 707: .It Ic \&~f Ns Ar messages
! 708: Read the named messages into the message being sent.
! 709: If no messages are specified, read in the current message.
! 710: Message headers currently being ignored (by the
! 711: .Ic ignore
! 712: or
! 713: .Ic retain
! 714: command) are not included.
! 715: .It Ic \&~F Ns Ar messages
! 716: Identical to
! 717: .Ic \&~f ,
! 718: except all message headers are included.
! 719: .It Ic \&~h
! 720: Edit the message header fields by typing each one in turn and allowing
! 721: the user to append text to the end or modify the field by using the
! 722: current terminal erase and kill characters.
! 723: .It Ic \&~m Ns Ar messages
! 724: Read the named messages into the message being sent, indented by a
! 725: tab or by the value of
! 726: .Ar indentprefix .
! 727: If no messages are specified,
! 728: read the current message.
! 729: Message headers currently being ignored (by the
! 730: .Ic ignore
! 731: or
! 732: .Ic retain
! 733: command) are not included.
! 734: .It Ic \&~M Ns Ar messages
! 735: Identical to
! 736: .Ic \&~m ,
! 737: except all message headers are included.
! 738: .It Ic \&~p
! 739: Print out the message collected so far, prefaced by the message header
! 740: fields.
! 741: .It Ic \&~q
! 742: Abort the message being sent, copying the message to
! 743: .Dq Pa dead.letter
! 744: in your home directory if
! 745: .Ic save
! 746: is set.
! 747: .It Ic \&~r Ns Ar filename
! 748: Read the named file into the message.
! 749: .It Ic \&~s Ns Ar string
! 750: Cause the named string to become the current subject field.
! 751: .It Ic \&~\&t Ns Ar name ...
! 752: Add the given names to the direct recipient list.
! 753: .It Ic \&~\&v
! 754: Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the
! 755: .Ev VISUAL
! 756: option) on the
! 757: message collected so far.
! 758: Usually, the alternate editor will be a
! 759: screen editor.
! 760: After you quit the editor, you may resume appending
! 761: text to the end of your message.
! 762: .It Ic \&~w Ns Ar filename
! 763: Write the message onto the named file.
! 764: .It Ic \&~\&| Ns Ar command
! 765: Pipe the message through the command as a filter.
! 766: If the command gives
! 767: no output or terminates abnormally, retain the original text of the
! 768: message.
! 769: The command
! 770: .Xr fmt 1
! 771: is often used as
! 772: .Ic command
! 773: to rejustify the message.
! 774: .It Ic \&~: Ns Ar mail-command
! 775: Execute the given mail command.
! 776: Not all commands, however, are allowed.
! 777: .It Ic \&~~ Ns Ar string
! 778: Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single ~.
! 779: If
! 780: you have changed the escape character, then you should double
! 781: that character in order to send it.
! 782: .El
! 783: .Ss Mail Options
! 784: Options are controlled via
! 785: .Ic set
! 786: and
! 787: .Ic unset
! 788: commands.
! 789: Options may be either binary, in which case it is only
! 790: significant to see whether they are set or not; or string, in which
! 791: case the actual value is of interest.
! 792: The binary options include the following:
! 793: .Bl -tag -width append
! 794: .It Ar append
! 795: Causes messages saved in
! 796: .Ar mbox
! 797: to be appended to the end rather than prepended.
! 798: This should always be set (perhaps in
! 799: .Pa /etc/mail.rc ) .
! 800: .It Ar ask, asksub
! 801: Causes
! 802: .Nm mail
! 803: to prompt you for the subject of each message you send.
! 804: If
! 805: you respond with simply a newline, no subject field will be sent.
! 806: .It Ar askcc
! 807: Causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients at the
! 808: end of each message.
! 809: Responding with a newline indicates your
! 810: satisfaction with the current list.
! 811: .It Ar askbcc
! 812: Causes you to be prompted for additional blind carbon copy recipients at the
! 813: end of each message.
! 814: Responding with a newline indicates your
! 815: satisfaction with the current list.
! 816: .It Ar autoprint
! 817: Causes the
! 818: .Ic delete
! 819: command to behave like
! 820: .Ic dp
! 821: \- thus, after deleting a message, the next one will be typed
! 822: automatically.
! 823: .It Ar debug
! 824: Setting the binary option
! 825: .Ar debug
! 826: is the same as specifying
! 827: .Fl d
! 828: on the command line and causes
! 829: .Nm mail
! 830: to output all sorts of information useful for debugging
! 831: .Nm mail .
! 832: .It Ar dot
! 833: The binary option
! 834: .Ar dot
! 835: causes
! 836: .Nm mail
! 837: to interpret a period alone on a line as the terminator
! 838: of a message you are sending.
! 839: .It Ar hold
! 840: This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox
! 841: by default.
! 842: .It Ar ignore
! 843: Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be ignored and echoed as
! 844: @'s.
! 845: .It Ar ignoreeof
! 846: An option related to
! 847: .Ar dot
! 848: is
! 849: .Ar ignoreeof
! 850: which makes
! 851: .Nm mail
! 852: refuse to accept a control-d as the end of a message.
! 853: .Ar Ignoreeof
! 854: also applies to
! 855: .Nm mail
! 856: command mode.
! 857: .It Ar metoo
! 858: Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender, the sender
! 859: is removed from the expansion.
! 860: Setting this option causes the sender
! 861: to be included in the group.
! 862: .It Ar noheader
! 863: Setting the option
! 864: .Ar noheader
! 865: is the same as giving the
! 866: .Fl N
! 867: flag on the command line.
! 868: .It Ar nosave
! 869: Normally, when you abort a message with two
! 870: .Tn RUBOUT
! 871: (erase or delete)
! 872: .Nm mail
! 873: copies the partial letter to the file
! 874: .Dq Pa dead.letter
! 875: in your home directory.
! 876: Setting the binary option
! 877: .Ar nosave
! 878: prevents this.
! 879: .It Ar Replyall
! 880: Reverses the sense of
! 881: .Ic reply
! 882: and
! 883: .Ic Reply
! 884: commands.
! 885: .It Ar quiet
! 886: Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked.
! 887: .It Ar searchheaders
! 888: If this option is set, then a message-list specifier in the form ``/x:y''
! 889: will expand to all messages containing the substring ``y'' in the header
! 890: field ``x''. The string search is case insensitive.
! 891: .It Ar verbose
! 892: Setting the option
! 893: .Ar verbose
! 894: is the same as using the
! 895: .Fl v
! 896: flag on the command line.
! 897: When mail runs in verbose mode,
! 898: the actual delivery of messages is displayed on the user's
! 899: terminal.
! 900: .El
! 901: .Ss Option String Values
! 902: .Bl -tag -width Va
! 903: .It Ev EDITOR
! 904: Pathname of the text editor to use in the
! 905: .Ic edit
! 906: command and
! 907: .Ic \&~e
! 908: escape.
! 909: If not defined, then a default editor is used.
! 910: .It Ev LISTER
! 911: Pathname of the directory lister to use in the
! 912: .Ic folders
! 913: command.
! 914: Default is
! 915: .Pa /bin/ls .
! 916: .It Ev PAGER
! 917: Pathname of the program to use in the
! 918: .Ic more
! 919: command or when
! 920: .Ic crt
! 921: variable is set.
! 922: The default paginator
! 923: .Xr more 1
! 924: is used if this option is not defined.
! 925: .It Ev SHELL
! 926: Pathname of the shell to use in the
! 927: .Ic \&!
! 928: command and the
! 929: .Ic \&~!
! 930: escape.
! 931: A default shell is used if this option is
! 932: not defined.
! 933: .It Ev VISUAL
! 934: Pathname of the text editor to use in the
! 935: .Ic visual
! 936: command and
! 937: .Ic \&~v
! 938: escape.
! 939: .It Va crt
! 940: The valued option
! 941: .Va crt
! 942: is used as a threshold to determine how long a message must
! 943: be before
! 944: .Ev PAGER
! 945: is used to read it.
! 946: If
! 947: .Va crt
! 948: is set without a value,
! 949: then the height of the terminal screen stored in the system
! 950: is used to compute the threshold (see
! 951: .Xr stty 1 ) .
! 952: .It Ar escape
! 953: If defined, the first character of this option gives the character to
! 954: use in the place of ~ to denote escapes.
! 955: .It Ar folder
! 956: The name of the directory to use for storing folders of
! 957: messages.
! 958: If this name begins with a `/',
! 959: .Nm mail
! 960: considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the
! 961: folder directory is found relative to your home directory.
! 962: .It Ev MBOX
! 963: The name of the
! 964: .Ar mbox
! 965: file.
! 966: It can be the name of a folder.
! 967: The default is
! 968: .Dq Li mbox
! 969: in the user's home directory.
! 970: .It Ar record
! 971: If defined, gives the pathname of the file used to record all outgoing
! 972: mail.
! 973: If not defined, then outgoing mail is not so saved.
! 974: .It Ar indentprefix
! 975: String used by the ``~m'' tilde escape for indenting messages, in place of
! 976: the normal tab character (^I).
! 977: Be sure to quote the value if it contains
! 978: spaces or tabs.
! 979: .It Ar toplines
! 980: If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out
! 981: with the
! 982: .Ic top
! 983: command; normally, the first five lines are printed.
! 984: .El
! 985: .Sh ENVIRONMENT
! 986: .Nm Mail
! 987: utilizes the
! 988: .Ev HOME
! 989: and
! 990: .Ev USER
! 991: environment variables.
! 992: .Sh FILES
! 993: .Bl -tag -width /usr/share/misc/mail.*help -compact
! 994: .It Pa /var/mail/*
! 995: Post office.
! 996: .It ~/mbox
! 997: User's old mail.
! 998: .It ~/.mailrc
! 999: File giving initial mail commands.
! 1000: .It Pa /tmp/R*
! 1001: Temporary files.
! 1002: .It Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.*help
! 1003: Help files.
! 1004: .It Pa /etc/mail.rc
! 1005: System initialization file.
! 1006: .El
! 1007: .Sh SEE ALSO
! 1008: .Xr fmt 1 ,
! 1009: .Xr newaliases 1 ,
! 1010: .Xr vacation 1 ,
! 1011: .Xr aliases 5 ,
! 1012: .Xr mailaddr 7 ,
! 1013: .Xr sendmail 8
! 1014: and
! 1015: .Rs
! 1016: .%T "The Mail Reference Manual" .
! 1017: .Re
! 1018: .Sh HISTORY
! 1019: A
! 1020: .Nm mail
! 1021: command
! 1022: appeared in
! 1023: .At v6 .
! 1024: This man page is derived from
! 1025: .%T "The Mail Reference Manual"
! 1026: originally written by Kurt Shoens.
! 1027: .Sh BUGS
! 1028: There are some flags that are not documented here.
! 1029: Most are
! 1030: not useful to the general user.
! 1031: .Pp
! 1032: Usually,
! 1033: .Nm mail
! 1034: is just a link to
! 1035: .Nm Mail ,
! 1036: which can be confusing.
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