Annotation of src/usr.bin/mail/mail.1, Revision 1.50
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1.5 millert 30: .\" @(#)mail.1 8.8 (Berkeley) 4/28/95
1.1 deraadt 31: .\"
1.50 ! jmc 32: .Dd $Mdocdate$
1.1 deraadt 33: .Dt MAIL 1
1.24 aaron 34: .Os
1.1 deraadt 35: .Sh NAME
1.7 millert 36: .Nm mail ,
37: .Nm mailx ,
38: .Nm Mail
1.1 deraadt 39: .Nd send and receive mail
40: .Sh SYNOPSIS
41: .Nm mail
1.39 jmc 42: .Bk -words
1.43 jmc 43: .Op Fl Iinv
44: .Op Fl b Ar list
45: .Op Fl c Ar list
1.1 deraadt 46: .Op Fl s Ar subject
1.19 aaron 47: .Ar to-addr Op Ar ...
48: .Op Fl Ar sendmail-options Op Ar ...
1.39 jmc 49: .Ek
1.1 deraadt 50: .Nm mail
1.43 jmc 51: .Op Fl IiNnv
1.1 deraadt 52: .Fl f
53: .Op Ar name
54: .Nm mail
1.43 jmc 55: .Op Fl IiNnv
1.1 deraadt 56: .Op Fl u Ar user
1.22 aaron 57: .Sh DESCRIPTION
1.19 aaron 58: .Nm mail
1.18 aaron 59: is an intelligent mail processing system which has
1.1 deraadt 60: a command syntax reminiscent of
1.43 jmc 61: .Xr ed 1
1.1 deraadt 62: with lines replaced by messages.
1.26 aaron 63: .Pp
64: The options are as follows:
1.33 aaron 65: .Bl -tag -width Ds
1.43 jmc 66: .It Fl b Ar list
67: Send blind carbon copies to
68: .Ar list .
69: .It Fl c Ar list
70: Send carbon copies to
71: .Ar list
72: of users.
73: .Ar list
74: should be a comma separated list of names.
75: .It Fl f Op Ar name
76: Read in the contents of your mailbox
77: (or the specified file
78: .Ar name )
79: for processing; when you quit,
1.1 deraadt 80: .Nm mail
1.43 jmc 81: writes undeleted messages back to this file.
1.1 deraadt 82: .It Fl I
1.22 aaron 83: Forces
84: .Nm mail
85: to run in interactive mode, even when input is not a terminal.
86: In particular, the special
1.43 jmc 87: .Ic ~
1.22 aaron 88: command character, used when sending mail, is only available interactively.
1.43 jmc 89: .It Fl i
90: Ignore tty interrupt signals.
91: This is
92: particularly useful when using
93: .Nm mail
94: on noisy phone lines.
95: .It Fl N
96: Inhibits initial display of message headers
97: when reading mail or editing a mail folder.
1.1 deraadt 98: .It Fl n
99: Inhibits reading
100: .Pa /etc/mail.rc
101: upon startup.
1.8 deraadt 102: .It Fl s Ar subject
1.1 deraadt 103: Specify subject on command line
104: (only the first argument after the
105: .Fl s
106: flag is used as a subject; be careful to quote subjects
1.22 aaron 107: containing spaces).
1.8 deraadt 108: .It Fl u Ar user
1.45 jmc 109: Equivalent to:
1.1 deraadt 110: .Pp
1.35 deraadt 111: .Dl $ mail -f /var/mail/user
1.22 aaron 112: .Pp
113: except that locking is done.
1.43 jmc 114: .It Fl v
115: Verbose mode.
116: The details of
117: delivery are displayed on the user's terminal.
1.1 deraadt 118: .El
1.10 deraadt 119: .Ss Startup actions
1.22 aaron 120: At startup time,
1.24 aaron 121: .Nm mail
1.46 jmc 122: will execute commands in the system command file,
123: .Pa /etc/mail.rc ,
124: unless explicitly told not to by using the
1.10 deraadt 125: .Fl n
1.27 aaron 126: option.
127: Next, the commands in the user's personal command file
1.24 aaron 128: .Pa ~/.mailrc
1.10 deraadt 129: are executed.
130: .Nm mail
131: then examines its command line options to determine whether the user
132: requested a new message to be sent or existing messages in a mailbox
133: to be examined.
1.1 deraadt 134: .Ss Sending mail
135: To send a message to one or more people,
136: .Nm mail
137: can be invoked with arguments which are the names of people to
138: whom the mail will be sent.
139: You are then expected to type in
140: your message, followed
1.22 aaron 141: by a control-D
142: .Pq Sq ^D
1.1 deraadt 143: at the beginning of a line.
1.18 aaron 144: The section below,
1.48 jmc 145: .Sx Replying to or originating mail ,
1.1 deraadt 146: describes some features of
147: .Nm mail
148: available to help you compose your letter.
149: .Ss Reading mail
1.22 aaron 150: In normal usage,
1.1 deraadt 151: .Nm mail
152: is given no arguments and checks your mail out of the
153: post office, then
154: prints out a one line header of each message found.
1.22 aaron 155: The current message is initially set to the first message (numbered 1)
1.1 deraadt 156: and can be printed using the
157: .Ic print
158: command (which can be abbreviated
1.6 deraadt 159: .Ic p ) .
1.22 aaron 160: Moving among the messages is much like moving between lines in
161: .Xr ed 1 ;
162: you may use
1.43 jmc 163: .Ic +
1.1 deraadt 164: and
1.43 jmc 165: .Ic -
1.22 aaron 166: to shift forwards and backwards, or simply enter a message number to move
167: directly.
168: .Ss Disposing of mail
1.1 deraadt 169: After examining a message you can
170: .Ic delete
1.6 deraadt 171: .Pq Ic d
1.22 aaron 172: or
1.1 deraadt 173: .Ic reply
1.6 deraadt 174: .Pq Ic r
1.1 deraadt 175: to it.
176: Deletion causes the
177: .Nm mail
178: program to forget about the message.
179: This is not irreversible; the message can be
180: .Ic undeleted
1.6 deraadt 181: .Pq Ic u
1.1 deraadt 182: by giving its number, or the
183: .Nm mail
184: session can be aborted by giving the
185: .Ic exit
1.6 deraadt 186: .Pq Ic x
1.1 deraadt 187: command.
1.22 aaron 188: Deleted messages, however, will usually disappear, never to be seen again.
1.1 deraadt 189: .Ss Specifying messages
190: Commands such as
191: .Ic print
192: and
193: .Ic delete
194: can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply
195: to a number of messages at once.
196: Thus
1.22 aaron 197: .Ic delete 1 2
1.1 deraadt 198: deletes messages 1 and 2, while
1.22 aaron 199: .Ic delete 1\-5
1.1 deraadt 200: deletes messages 1 through 5.
201: The special name
1.43 jmc 202: .Sq *
1.22 aaron 203: addresses all messages and
1.43 jmc 204: .Sq $
1.1 deraadt 205: addresses
206: the last message; thus the command
207: .Ic top
208: which prints the first few lines of a message could be used in
1.43 jmc 209: .Ic top *
1.1 deraadt 210: to print the first few lines of all messages.
1.22 aaron 211: .Ss Replying to or originating mail
1.1 deraadt 212: You can use the
213: .Ic reply
214: command to
215: set up a response to a message, sending it back to the
216: person who it was from.
217: Text you then type in, up to an end-of-file,
218: defines the contents of the message.
219: While you are composing a message,
220: .Nm mail
1.22 aaron 221: treats lines beginning with the tilde
222: .Pq Sq ~
223: character specially.
1.1 deraadt 224: For instance, typing
1.22 aaron 225: .Ic ~m
1.1 deraadt 226: (alone on a line) will place a copy
1.22 aaron 227: of the current message into the response, right shifting it by a single
1.45 jmc 228: tab-stop (see the
1.22 aaron 229: .Va indentprefix
1.1 deraadt 230: variable, below).
231: Other escapes will set up subject fields, add and delete recipients
1.45 jmc 232: to the message, and allow you to escape to an editor to revise the
1.1 deraadt 233: message or to a shell to run some commands.
234: (These options
235: are given in the summary below.)
1.22 aaron 236: .Ss Ending a mail processing session
1.1 deraadt 237: You can end a
238: .Nm mail
239: session with the
240: .Ic quit
1.6 deraadt 241: .Pq Ic q
1.1 deraadt 242: command.
243: Messages which have been examined go to your
244: .Ar mbox
1.45 jmc 245: file unless they have been deleted, in which case they are discarded.
1.22 aaron 246: Unexamined messages go back to the post office (see the
1.1 deraadt 247: .Fl f
248: option above).
1.22 aaron 249: .Ss Personal and system wide distribution lists
1.15 aaron 250: It is also possible to create personal distribution lists so that,
1.1 deraadt 251: for instance, you can send mail to
252: .Dq Li cohorts
253: and have it go
254: to a group of people.
255: Such lists can be defined by placing a line like
256: .Pp
257: .Dl alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory
258: .Pp
259: in the file
1.43 jmc 260: .Pa .mailrc
1.1 deraadt 261: in your home directory.
262: The current list of such aliases can be displayed with the
263: .Ic alias
264: command in
1.22 aaron 265: .Nm mail .
1.1 deraadt 266: System wide distribution lists can be created by editing
1.47 jmc 267: .Pa /etc/mail/aliases
1.22 aaron 268: (see
269: .Xr aliases 5
1.1 deraadt 270: and
1.22 aaron 271: .Xr sendmail 8 ) ;
1.1 deraadt 272: these are kept in a different syntax.
273: In mail you send, personal aliases will be expanded in mail sent
274: to others so that they will be able to
275: .Ic reply
276: to the recipients.
1.22 aaron 277: System wide aliases
1.1 deraadt 278: are not expanded when the mail is sent,
279: but any reply returned to the machine will have the system wide
280: alias expanded as all mail goes through
1.22 aaron 281: .Xr sendmail .
1.1 deraadt 282: .Ss Network mail (ARPA, UUCP, Berknet)
283: See
284: .Xr mailaddr 7
285: for a description of network addresses.
286: .Pp
1.19 aaron 287: .Nm mail
1.1 deraadt 288: has a number of options which can be set in the
289: .Pa .mailrc
290: file to alter its behavior; thus
1.25 aaron 291: .Ic set askcc
1.1 deraadt 292: enables the
293: .Ar askcc
294: feature.
295: (These options are summarized below.)
296: .Sh SUMMARY
1.22 aaron 297: (Adapted from the
1.24 aaron 298: .Dq Mail Reference Manual . )
1.1 deraadt 299: .Pp
300: Each command is typed on a line by itself, and may take arguments
301: following the command word.
302: The command need not be typed in its
1.22 aaron 303: entirety -- the first command which matches the typed prefix is used.
1.1 deraadt 304: For commands which take message lists as arguments, if no message
305: list is given, then the next message forward which satisfies the
306: command's requirements is used.
307: If there are no messages forward of
308: the current message, the search proceeds backwards, and if there are no
309: good messages at all,
310: .Nm mail
311: types
1.43 jmc 312: .Dq \&No applicable messages
1.1 deraadt 313: and
314: aborts the command.
315: .Bl -tag -width delete
1.43 jmc 316: .It Ic -
1.1 deraadt 317: Print out the preceding message.
318: If given a numeric
319: argument
1.22 aaron 320: .Ar n ,
1.1 deraadt 321: goes to the
1.22 aaron 322: .Ar n Ns th
1.1 deraadt 323: previous message and prints it.
324: .It Ic \&?
325: Prints a brief summary of commands.
326: .It Ic \&!
327: Executes the shell
328: (see
329: .Xr sh 1
330: and
331: .Xr csh 1 )
332: command which follows.
333: .It Ic alias
334: .Pq Ic a
1.23 aaron 335: With no arguments, prints out all currently defined aliases.
1.1 deraadt 336: With one
337: argument, prints out that alias.
338: With more than one argument, creates
339: a new alias or changes an old one.
340: .It Ic alternates
341: .Pq Ic alt
342: The
343: .Ic alternates
344: command is useful if you have accounts on several machines.
345: It can be used to inform
346: .Nm mail
347: that the listed addresses are really you.
348: When you
349: .Ic reply
350: to messages,
351: .Nm mail
352: will not send a copy of the message to any of the addresses
353: listed on the
354: .Ic alternates
355: list.
356: If the
357: .Ic alternates
358: command is given with no argument, the current set of alternate
359: names is displayed.
360: .It Ic chdir
361: .Pq Ic c
362: Changes the user's working directory to that specified, if given.
363: If
364: no directory is given, then changes to the user's login directory.
365: .It Ic copy
366: .Pq Ic co
367: The
368: .Ic copy
369: command does the same thing that
370: .Ic save
371: does, except that it does not mark the messages it
372: is used on for deletion when you quit.
373: .It Ic delete
374: .Pq Ic d
375: Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted.
376: Deleted messages will not be saved in
1.22 aaron 377: .Ar mbox ,
1.1 deraadt 378: nor will they be available for most other commands.
379: .It Ic dp
380: (also
381: .Ic dt )
382: Deletes the current message and prints the next message.
383: If there is no next message,
384: .Nm mail
385: says
1.45 jmc 386: .Dq Li "\&No more messages."
1.1 deraadt 387: .It Ic edit
388: .Pq Ic e
389: Takes a list of messages and points the text editor at each one in
390: turn.
391: On return from the editor, the message is read back in.
392: .It Ic exit
393: .Pf ( Ic ex
394: or
395: .Ic x )
1.15 aaron 396: Effects an immediate return to the shell without
1.1 deraadt 397: modifying the user's system mailbox, his
398: .Ar mbox
399: file, or his edit file in
1.22 aaron 400: .Fl f .
1.1 deraadt 401: .It Ic file
402: .Pq Ic fi
403: The same as
1.22 aaron 404: .Ic folder .
1.1 deraadt 405: .It Ic folder
406: .Pq Ic fo
407: The
408: .Ic folder
409: command switches to a new mail file or folder.
410: With no
411: arguments, it tells you which file you are currently reading.
412: If you give it an argument, it will write out changes (such
413: as deletions) you have made in the current file and read in
414: the new file.
415: Some special conventions are recognized for
416: the name.
417: # means the previous file, % means your system
418: mailbox, %user means user's system mailbox, & means
419: your
420: .Ar mbox
421: file, and
1.43 jmc 422: +folder means a file in your folder
1.1 deraadt 423: directory.
1.48 jmc 424: .It Ic folders
425: List the names of the folders in your folder directory.
1.1 deraadt 426: .It Ic from
427: .Pq Ic f
428: Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers.
429: .It Ic headers
430: .Pq Ic h
1.45 jmc 431: Lists the current windowful of headers.
432: To view the next or previous group of headers, see the
433: .Ic z
434: command.
1.1 deraadt 435: .It Ic help
436: A synonym for
1.22 aaron 437: .Ic \&? .
1.1 deraadt 438: .It Ic hold
439: .Pf ( Ic ho ,
440: also
441: .Ic preserve )
442: Takes a message list and marks each
443: message therein to be saved in the
444: user's system mailbox instead of in
1.22 aaron 445: .Ar mbox .
1.1 deraadt 446: Does not override the
447: .Ic delete
448: command.
449: .It Ic ignore
450: Add the list of header fields named to the
451: .Ar ignored list .
452: Header fields in the ignore list are not printed
453: on your terminal when you print a message.
454: This
455: command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated
456: header fields.
457: The
458: .Ic Type
459: and
460: .Ic Print
461: commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including
462: ignored fields.
1.32 hugh 463: If
464: .Ic ignore
465: is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of
466: ignored fields.
1.5 millert 467: .It Ic inc
468: Incorporate any new messages that have arrived while mail
469: is being read.
470: The new messages are added to the end of the message list,
471: and the current message is reset to be the first new mail message.
1.14 aaron 472: This does not renumber the existing message list, nor
1.5 millert 473: does it cause any changes made so far to be saved.
1.45 jmc 474: .It Ic list
475: .Pq Ic l
476: List the valid
477: .Nm
478: commands.
1.1 deraadt 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
1.45 jmc 485: .Ar mbox
1.1 deraadt 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.
1.4 deraadt 493: .It Ic more
1.43 jmc 494: .Pq Ic \&mo
1.4 deraadt 495: Takes a message list and invokes the pager on that list.
1.1 deraadt 496: .It Ic next
497: .Pq Ic n
1.15 aaron 498: (like
1.43 jmc 499: .Ic +
1.1 deraadt 500: or
501: .Tn CR )
502: Goes to the next message in sequence and types it.
503: With an argument list, types the next matching message.
504: .It Ic preserve
505: .Pq Ic pre
506: A synonym for
1.22 aaron 507: .Ic hold .
1.49 jmc 508: .It Ic Print
509: .Pq Ic P
510: Like
511: .Ic print
512: but also prints out ignored header fields.
513: See also
514: .Ic print ,
515: .Ic ignore ,
516: and
517: .Ic retain .
1.1 deraadt 518: .It Ic print
519: .Pq Ic p
520: Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal.
521: .It Ic quit
522: .Pq Ic q
523: Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in
524: the user's
525: .Ar mbox
526: file in his login directory, preserving all messages marked with
527: .Ic hold
528: or
529: .Ic preserve
530: or never referenced
531: in his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his system
532: mailbox.
533: If new mail has arrived during the session, the message
534: .Dq Li "You have new mail"
535: is given.
536: If given while editing a
537: mailbox file with the
538: .Fl f
539: flag, then the edit file is rewritten.
1.15 aaron 540: A return to the shell is
1.18 aaron 541: effected, unless the rewrite of edit file fails, in which case the user
1.1 deraadt 542: can escape with the
543: .Ic exit
544: command.
1.49 jmc 545: .It Ic Reply
546: .Pq Ic R
547: Reply to originator.
548: Does not reply to other
549: recipients of the original message.
1.1 deraadt 550: .It Ic reply
551: .Pq Ic r
552: Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all
553: recipients of the specified message.
554: The default message must not be deleted.
555: .It Ic respond
556: A synonym for
1.22 aaron 557: .Ic reply .
1.1 deraadt 558: .It Ic retain
559: Add the list of header fields named to the
1.22 aaron 560: .Ar retained list .
1.1 deraadt 561: Only the header fields in the retain list
562: are shown on your terminal when you print a message.
563: All other header fields are suppressed.
564: The
565: .Ic Type
566: and
567: .Ic Print
568: commands can be used to print a message in its entirety.
569: If
570: .Ic retain
571: is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of
572: retained fields.
573: .It Ic save
574: .Pq Ic s
575: Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in
576: turn to the end of the file.
577: The filename in quotes, followed by the line
578: count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal.
579: .It Ic saveignore
1.25 aaron 580: .Ic saveignore
1.1 deraadt 581: is to
582: .Ic save
583: what
584: .Ic ignore
585: is to
586: .Ic print
587: and
1.22 aaron 588: .Ic type .
1.1 deraadt 589: Header fields thus marked are filtered out when
590: saving a message by
591: .Ic save
592: or when automatically saving to
1.22 aaron 593: .Ar mbox .
1.1 deraadt 594: .It Ic saveretain
1.25 aaron 595: .Ic saveretain
1.1 deraadt 596: is to
597: .Ic save
598: what
599: .Ic retain
600: is to
601: .Ic print
602: and
1.22 aaron 603: .Ic type .
1.1 deraadt 604: Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved
605: with a message when saving by
606: .Ic save
607: or when automatically saving to
1.22 aaron 608: .Ar mbox .
1.25 aaron 609: .Ic saveretain
1.1 deraadt 610: overrides
1.22 aaron 611: .Ic saveignore .
1.45 jmc 612: .It Ic set
613: .Pq Ic se
614: With no arguments, prints all variable values.
615: Otherwise, sets
616: option.
617: Arguments are of the form
618: .Ar option=value
619: (no space before or after =) or
620: .Ar option .
621: Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment statement to
622: quote blanks or tabs, i.e.,
623: .Ic set indentprefix="->" .
1.1 deraadt 624: .It Ic shell
625: .Pq Ic sh
626: Invokes an interactive version of the shell.
627: .It Ic size
628: Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of each
629: message.
630: .It Ic source
631: The
632: .Ic source
633: command reads
634: commands from a file.
635: .It Ic top
636: Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each.
637: The number of
638: lines printed is controlled by the variable
639: .Ic toplines
640: and defaults to five.
1.49 jmc 641: .It Ic Type
642: .Pq Ic T
643: Identical to the
644: .Ic Print
645: command.
1.1 deraadt 646: .It Ic type
647: .Pq Ic t
648: A synonym for
1.22 aaron 649: .Ic print .
1.1 deraadt 650: .It Ic unalias
651: Takes a list of names defined by
652: .Ic alias
653: commands and discards the remembered groups of users.
654: The group names
655: no longer have any significance.
656: .It Ic undelete
657: .Pq Ic u
1.49 jmc 658: Takes a message list and marks each message as not being deleted.
1.1 deraadt 659: .It Ic unread
660: .Pq Ic U
1.49 jmc 661: Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been read.
1.1 deraadt 662: .It Ic unset
663: Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values;
664: the inverse of
1.22 aaron 665: .Ic set .
1.1 deraadt 666: .It Ic visual
667: .Pq Ic v
668: Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message.
669: .It Ic write
670: .Pq Ic w
671: Similar to
1.22 aaron 672: .Ic save ,
1.1 deraadt 673: except that
674: .Ic only
675: the message body
1.49 jmc 676: (without the header)
1.16 millert 677: is saved.
1.1 deraadt 678: Extremely useful for such tasks as sending and receiving source
679: program text over the message system.
680: .It Ic xit
681: .Pq Ic x
682: A synonym for
1.22 aaron 683: .Ic exit .
1.1 deraadt 684: .It Ic z
1.19 aaron 685: .Nm mail
1.1 deraadt 686: presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the
687: .Ic headers
688: command.
689: You can move
690: .Nm mail Ns 's
691: attention forward to the next window with the
1.43 jmc 692: .Ic z
1.1 deraadt 693: command.
694: Also, you can move to the previous window by using
1.43 jmc 695: .Ic z- .
1.1 deraadt 696: .El
1.22 aaron 697: .Ss Tilde/escapes
1.1 deraadt 698: Here is a summary of the tilde escapes,
699: which are used when composing messages to perform
700: special functions.
701: Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning
702: of lines.
703: The name
1.22 aaron 704: .Dq tilde escape
1.1 deraadt 705: is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be set
706: by the option
707: .Ic escape .
708: .Bl -tag -width Ds
1.43 jmc 709: .It Ic ~! Ns Ar command
1.1 deraadt 710: Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the message.
1.43 jmc 711: .It Ic ~b Ns Ar name ...
1.1 deraadt 712: Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients but do not make
713: the names visible in the Cc: line ("blind" carbon copy).
1.43 jmc 714: .It Ic ~c Ns Ar name ...
1.1 deraadt 715: Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients.
1.43 jmc 716: .It Ic ~d
1.1 deraadt 717: Read the file
1.22 aaron 718: .Pa dead.letter
1.1 deraadt 719: from your home directory into the message.
1.43 jmc 720: .It Ic ~e
1.1 deraadt 721: Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far.
722: After the
723: editing session is finished, you may continue appending text to the
724: message.
1.49 jmc 725: .It Ic ~F Ns Ar messages
726: Identical to
727: .Ic ~f ,
728: except all message headers are included.
1.43 jmc 729: .It Ic ~f Ns Ar messages
1.1 deraadt 730: Read the named messages into the message being sent.
731: If no messages are specified, read in the current message.
732: Message headers currently being ignored (by the
733: .Ic ignore
734: or
735: .Ic retain
736: command) are not included.
1.43 jmc 737: .It Ic ~h
1.1 deraadt 738: Edit the message header fields by typing each one in turn and allowing
739: the user to append text to the end or modify the field by using the
740: current terminal erase and kill characters.
1.49 jmc 741: .It Ic ~M Ns Ar messages
742: Identical to
743: .Ic ~m ,
744: except all message headers are included.
1.43 jmc 745: .It Ic ~m Ns Ar messages
1.1 deraadt 746: Read the named messages into the message being sent, indented by a
747: tab or by the value of
1.25 aaron 748: .Va indentprefix .
1.1 deraadt 749: If no messages are specified,
750: read the current message.
751: Message headers currently being ignored (by the
752: .Ic ignore
753: or
754: .Ic retain
755: command) are not included.
1.43 jmc 756: .It Ic ~p
1.1 deraadt 757: Print out the message collected so far, prefaced by the message header
758: fields.
1.43 jmc 759: .It Ic ~q
1.1 deraadt 760: Abort the message being sent, copying the message to
1.22 aaron 761: .Pa dead.letter
1.1 deraadt 762: in your home directory if
763: .Ic save
764: is set.
1.43 jmc 765: .It Ic ~r Ns Ar filename
1.1 deraadt 766: Read the named file into the message.
1.43 jmc 767: .It Ic ~s Ns Ar string
1.1 deraadt 768: Cause the named string to become the current subject field.
1.43 jmc 769: .It Ic ~t Ns Ar name ...
1.1 deraadt 770: Add the given names to the direct recipient list.
1.43 jmc 771: .It Ic ~v
1.1 deraadt 772: Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the
773: .Ev VISUAL
774: option) on the
775: message collected so far.
776: Usually, the alternate editor will be a
777: screen editor.
778: After you quit the editor, you may resume appending
779: text to the end of your message.
1.43 jmc 780: .It Ic ~w Ns Ar filename
1.1 deraadt 781: Write the message onto the named file.
1.43 jmc 782: .It Ic ~| Ns Ar command
1.1 deraadt 783: Pipe the message through the command as a filter.
784: If the command gives
785: no output or terminates abnormally, retain the original text of the
786: message.
787: The command
788: .Xr fmt 1
789: is often used as
790: .Ic command
791: to rejustify the message.
1.43 jmc 792: .It Ic ~: Ns Ar mail-command
1.1 deraadt 793: Execute the given mail command.
794: Not all commands, however, are allowed.
1.43 jmc 795: .It Ic ~~ Ns Ar string
1.1 deraadt 796: Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single ~.
797: If
798: you have changed the escape character, then you should double
799: that character in order to send it.
800: .El
1.22 aaron 801: .Ss Mail options
1.1 deraadt 802: Options are controlled via
803: .Ic set
804: and
805: .Ic unset
806: commands.
807: Options may be either binary, in which case it is only
808: significant to see whether they are set or not; or string, in which
809: case the actual value is of interest.
810: The binary options include the following:
811: .Bl -tag -width append
812: .It Ar append
813: Causes messages saved in
814: .Ar mbox
815: to be appended to the end rather than prepended.
816: This should always be set (perhaps in
817: .Pa /etc/mail.rc ) .
1.25 aaron 818: .It Ar ask , asksub
1.1 deraadt 819: Causes
820: .Nm mail
821: to prompt you for the subject of each message you send.
822: If
823: you respond with simply a newline, no subject field will be sent.
1.45 jmc 824: .It Ar askbcc
825: Causes you to be prompted for additional blind carbon copy recipients at the
826: end of each message.
827: Responding with a newline indicates your
828: satisfaction with the current list.
1.1 deraadt 829: .It Ar askcc
830: Causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients at the
831: end of each message.
832: Responding with a newline indicates your
833: satisfaction with the current list.
1.5 millert 834: .It Ar autoinc
835: Causes new mail to be automatically incorporated when it arrives.
836: Setting this is similar to issuing the
837: .Ic inc
838: command at each prompt, except that the current message is not
839: reset when new mail arrives.
1.1 deraadt 840: .It Ar autoprint
841: Causes the
842: .Ic delete
843: command to behave like
1.25 aaron 844: .Ic dp ;
845: thus, after deleting a message, the next one will be typed
1.1 deraadt 846: automatically.
847: .It Ar debug
848: Setting the binary option
849: .Ar debug
850: is the same as specifying
851: .Fl d
852: on the command line and causes
853: .Nm mail
854: to output all sorts of information useful for debugging
1.22 aaron 855: .Nm mail .
1.1 deraadt 856: .It Ar dot
857: The binary option
858: .Ar dot
859: causes
860: .Nm mail
861: to interpret a period alone on a line as the terminator
862: of a message you are sending.
863: .It Ar hold
864: This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox
865: by default.
866: .It Ar ignore
867: Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be ignored and echoed as
868: @'s.
869: .It Ar ignoreeof
870: An option related to
871: .Ar dot
872: is
873: .Ar ignoreeof
874: which makes
875: .Nm mail
1.36 millert 876: refuse to accept a control-D as the end of a message.
1.25 aaron 877: .Ar ignoreeof
1.1 deraadt 878: also applies to
879: .Nm mail
880: command mode.
1.45 jmc 881: .It Ar keep
882: Setting this option causes
883: .Nm
884: to truncate your system mailbox instead of deleting it
885: when it's empty.
886: .It Ar keepsave
887: Messages saved with the
888: .Ic save
889: command are not normally saved in
890: .Ar mbox
891: at quit time.
892: Use this option to retain those messages.
1.1 deraadt 893: .It Ar metoo
894: Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender, the sender
895: is removed from the expansion.
896: Setting this option causes the sender
897: to be included in the group.
898: .It Ar noheader
899: Setting the option
900: .Ar noheader
901: is the same as giving the
902: .Fl N
903: flag on the command line.
904: .It Ar nosave
1.36 millert 905: Normally, when you abort a message with two interrupt characters
906: (usually control-C),
1.1 deraadt 907: .Nm mail
908: copies the partial letter to the file
1.22 aaron 909: .Pa dead.letter
1.1 deraadt 910: in your home directory.
911: Setting the binary option
912: .Ar nosave
913: prevents this.
1.48 jmc 914: .It Ar quiet
915: Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked.
1.1 deraadt 916: .It Ar Replyall
917: Reverses the sense of
918: .Ic reply
919: and
920: .Ic Reply
921: commands.
922: .It Ar searchheaders
1.22 aaron 923: If this option is set, then a message-list specifier in the form
924: .Dq /x:y
925: will expand to all messages containing the substring
1.45 jmc 926: .Sq y
1.22 aaron 927: in the header
928: field
1.45 jmc 929: .Sq x .
1.27 aaron 930: The string search is case insensitive.
931: If
1.45 jmc 932: .Sq x
1.22 aaron 933: is omitted, it will default to the
934: .Dq Subject
935: header field.
936: The form
937: .Dq /to:y
938: is a special case, and will expand
939: to all messages containing the substring
1.45 jmc 940: .Sq y
1.22 aaron 941: in the
942: .Dq To ,
943: .Dq Cc
944: or
945: .Dq Bcc
946: header fields.
947: The check for
948: .Dq to
949: is case sensitive, so that
950: .Dq /To:y
951: can be used to limit the search for
1.45 jmc 952: .Sq y
1.22 aaron 953: to just the
954: .Dq To:
955: field.
1.1 deraadt 956: .It Ar verbose
957: Setting the option
958: .Ar verbose
959: is the same as using the
960: .Fl v
961: flag on the command line.
1.45 jmc 962: When
963: .Nm
964: runs in verbose mode,
1.1 deraadt 965: the actual delivery of messages is displayed on the user's
966: terminal.
967: .El
1.22 aaron 968: .Ss Option string values
1.1 deraadt 969: .Bl -tag -width Va
970: .It Ev EDITOR
971: Pathname of the text editor to use in the
972: .Ic edit
973: command and
1.43 jmc 974: .Ic ~e
1.1 deraadt 975: escape.
1.45 jmc 976: If not defined,
977: .Pa /usr/bin/ex
978: is used.
1.1 deraadt 979: .It Ev LISTER
980: Pathname of the directory lister to use in the
981: .Ic folders
982: command.
983: Default is
984: .Pa /bin/ls .
1.45 jmc 985: .It Ev MBOX
986: The name of the
987: .Ar mbox
988: file.
989: It can be the name of a folder.
990: The default is
991: .Dq Li mbox
992: in the user's home directory.
1.1 deraadt 993: .It Ev PAGER
994: Pathname of the program to use in the
995: .Ic more
1.45 jmc 996: command or when the
1.49 jmc 997: .Ar crt
1.1 deraadt 998: variable is set.
999: The default paginator
1000: .Xr more 1
1001: is used if this option is not defined.
1002: .It Ev SHELL
1003: Pathname of the shell to use in the
1.41 jmc 1004: .Ic !\&
1.1 deraadt 1005: command and the
1.42 jmc 1006: .Ic ~!\&
1.1 deraadt 1007: escape.
1008: A default shell is used if this option is
1009: not defined.
1010: .It Ev VISUAL
1011: Pathname of the text editor to use in the
1012: .Ic visual
1013: command and
1.43 jmc 1014: .Ic ~v
1.1 deraadt 1015: escape.
1.45 jmc 1016: If not defined,
1017: .Pa /usr/bin/vi
1018: is used.
1.49 jmc 1019: .It Ar crt
1.1 deraadt 1020: The valued option
1.49 jmc 1021: .Ar crt
1.1 deraadt 1022: is used as a threshold to determine how long a message must
1023: be before
1024: .Ev PAGER
1025: is used to read it.
1026: If
1.49 jmc 1027: .Ar crt
1.1 deraadt 1028: is set without a value,
1029: then the height of the terminal screen stored in the system
1030: is used to compute the threshold (see
1031: .Xr stty 1 ) .
1032: .It Ar escape
1033: If defined, the first character of this option gives the character to
1034: use in the place of ~ to denote escapes.
1035: .It Ar folder
1036: The name of the directory to use for storing folders of
1037: messages.
1.22 aaron 1038: If this name begins with a
1.25 aaron 1039: .Ql / ,
1.1 deraadt 1040: .Nm mail
1041: considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the
1042: folder directory is found relative to your home directory.
1043: .It Ar indentprefix
1.24 aaron 1044: String used by the
1.43 jmc 1045: .Ic ~m
1.22 aaron 1046: tilde escape for indenting messages, in place of the normal tab character
1.44 jmc 1047: .Pq Sq ^I .
1.1 deraadt 1048: Be sure to quote the value if it contains
1049: spaces or tabs.
1.45 jmc 1050: .It Ar record
1051: If defined, gives the pathname of the file used to record all outgoing
1052: mail.
1053: If not defined, then outgoing mail is not so saved.
1054: .It Ar screen
1055: Size of window of message headers for
1056: .Ic z .
1057: .It Ar sendmail
1058: Pathname to an alternative mail delivery system.
1.1 deraadt 1059: .It Ar toplines
1060: If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out
1061: with the
1062: .Ic top
1063: command; normally, the first five lines are printed.
1064: .El
1065: .Sh ENVIRONMENT
1.19 aaron 1066: .Nm mail
1.1 deraadt 1067: utilizes the
1.3 millert 1068: .Ev HOME ,
1069: .Ev LOGNAME ,
1.45 jmc 1070: .Ev MAIL ,
1071: .Ev MAILRC ,
1.1 deraadt 1072: and
1073: .Ev USER
1074: environment variables.
1.12 millert 1075: .Pp
1076: If the
1077: .Ev MAIL
1078: environment variable is set, its value is used as the path to the
1079: user's mail spool.
1.1 deraadt 1080: .Sh FILES
1081: .Bl -tag -width /usr/share/misc/mail.*help -compact
1082: .It Pa /var/mail/*
1.22 aaron 1083: post office (unless overridden by the
1.12 millert 1084: .Ev MAIL
1.22 aaron 1085: environment variable)
1.1 deraadt 1086: .It ~/mbox
1.22 aaron 1087: user's old mail
1.1 deraadt 1088: .It ~/.mailrc
1.22 aaron 1089: file giving initial mail commands; can be overridden by setting the
1.5 millert 1090: .Ev MAILRC
1.22 aaron 1091: environment variable
1.1 deraadt 1092: .It Pa /tmp/R*
1.22 aaron 1093: temporary files
1.1 deraadt 1094: .It Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.*help
1.22 aaron 1095: help files
1.1 deraadt 1096: .It Pa /etc/mail.rc
1.22 aaron 1097: system initialization file
1.1 deraadt 1098: .El
1099: .Sh SEE ALSO
1100: .Xr fmt 1 ,
1.17 millert 1101: .Xr lockspool 1 ,
1.1 deraadt 1102: .Xr vacation 1 ,
1103: .Xr aliases 5 ,
1104: .Xr mailaddr 7 ,
1.12 millert 1105: .Xr mail.local 8 ,
1.31 millert 1106: .Xr newaliases 8 ,
1.1 deraadt 1107: .Xr sendmail 8
1.43 jmc 1108: .Pp
1.48 jmc 1109: "Mail Reference Manual",
1.43 jmc 1110: .Pa /usr/share/doc/usd/07.mail/ .
1.1 deraadt 1111: .Sh HISTORY
1112: A
1113: .Nm mail
1.28 aaron 1114: command appeared in
1.34 mickey 1115: .At v3 .
1.48 jmc 1116: This man page is derived from the
1117: .%T "Mail Reference Manual"
1.1 deraadt 1118: originally written by Kurt Shoens.
1119: .Sh BUGS
1120: There are some flags that are not documented here.
1121: Most are
1122: not useful to the general user.
1123: .Pp
1124: Usually,
1125: .Nm mail
1.11 deraadt 1126: and
1127: .Nm mailx
1128: are just links to
1.22 aaron 1129: .Nm Mail ,
1.1 deraadt 1130: which can be confusing.
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