1.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993 2.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 6.\" are met: 7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 8.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 11.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 12.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software 13.\" must display the following acknowledgement: 14.\" This product includes software developed by the University of 15.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. 16.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 17.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 18.\" without specific prior written permission. 19.\" 20.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 21.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 22.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 23.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 24.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 25.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 26.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 27.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 28.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 29.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 30.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 31.\" 32.\" @(#)mail.1 8.8 (Berkeley) 4/28/95 33.\" $FreeBSD$ 34.\" 35.Dd April 28, 1995 36.Dt MAIL 1 37.Os 38.Sh NAME 39.Nm mail , 40.Nm Mail 41.Nd send and receive mail 42.Sh SYNOPSIS 43.Nm 44.Op Fl EiInv 45.Op Fl s Ar subject 46.Op Fl c Ar cc-addr 47.Op Fl b Ar bcc-addr 48.Ar to-addr ... 49.Op Fl Ar sendmail-option ... 50.Nm 51.Op Fl EiInNv 52.Fl f 53.Op Ar name 54.Nm 55.Op Fl EiInNv 56.Op Fl u Ar user 57.Sh INTRODUCTION 58.Nm Mail 59is an intelligent mail processing system, which has 60a command syntax reminiscent of 61.Xr ed 1 62with lines replaced by messages. 63.Bl -tag -width indent 64.It Fl v 65Verbose mode. 66The details of 67delivery are displayed on the user's terminal. 68.It Fl E 69Do not send messages with an empty body. 70This is useful for piping errors from 71.Xr cron 8 72scripts. 73.It Fl i 74Ignore tty interrupt signals. 75This is 76particularly useful when using 77.Nm 78on noisy phone lines. 79.It Fl I 80Forces 81.Nm 82to run in interactive mode even when 83input is not a terminal. 84In particular, the 85.Ql ~ 86special 87character when sending mail is only active in interactive mode. 88.It Fl n 89Inhibits reading the system-wide 90.Pa mail.rc 91files upon startup. 92.It Fl N 93Inhibits the initial display of message headers 94when reading mail or editing a mail folder. 95.It Fl s 96Specify subject on command line. 97(Only the first argument after the 98.Fl s 99flag is used as a subject; be careful to quote subjects 100containing spaces.) 101.It Fl c 102Send carbon copies to 103.Ar cc-addr 104list of users. 105.It Fl b 106Send blind carbon copies to 107.Ar bcc-addr . 108List should be a comma-separated list of names. 109.It Fl f 110Read in the contents of your 111.Pa mbox 112(or the specified file) 113for processing; when you 114.Ic quit , 115.Nm 116writes undeleted messages back to this file. 117.It Fl u 118Is equivalent to: 119.Pp 120.Dl "mail -f /var/mail/user" 121.El 122.Ss "Startup Actions" 123At startup time 124.Nm 125will execute commands in the system command files 126.Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.rc , 127.Pa /usr/local/etc/mail.rc 128and 129.Pa /etc/mail.rc 130in order, unless explicitly told not to by the use of the 131.Fl n 132option. 133Next, the commands in the user's personal command file 134.Pa ~/.mailrc 135are executed. 136.Nm 137then examines its command line options to determine whether a 138new message is to be sent, or whether an existing mailbox is to 139be read. 140.Ss "Sending Mail" 141To send a message to one or more people, 142.Nm 143can be invoked with arguments which are the names of people to 144whom the mail will be sent. 145You are then expected to type in 146your message, followed 147by a 148.Aq Li control-D 149at the beginning of a line. 150The section below 151.Sx "Replying To or Originating Mail" , 152describes some features of 153.Nm 154available to help you compose your letter. 155.Ss "Reading Mail" 156In normal usage 157.Nm 158is given no arguments and checks your mail out of the 159post office, then 160prints out a one line header of each message found. 161The current message is initially the first message (numbered 1) 162and can be printed using the 163.Ic print 164command (which can be abbreviated 165.Ic p ) . 166You can move among the messages much as you move between lines in 167.Xr ed 1 , 168with the commands 169.Ic + 170and 171.Ic \- 172moving backwards and forwards, and 173simple numbers. 174.Ss "Disposing of Mail" 175After examining a message you can 176.Ic delete 177.Pq Ic d 178the message or 179.Ic reply 180.Pq Ic r 181to it. 182Deletion causes the 183.Nm 184program to forget about the message. 185This is not irreversible; the message can be 186.Ic undeleted 187.Pq Ic u 188by giving its number, or the 189.Nm 190session can be aborted by giving the 191.Ic exit 192.Pq Ic x 193command. 194Deleted messages will, however, usually disappear never to be seen again. 195.Ss "Specifying Messages" 196Commands such as 197.Ic print 198and 199.Ic delete 200can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply 201to a number of messages at once. 202Thus 203.Dq Li "delete 1 2" 204deletes messages 1 and 2, while 205.Dq Li "delete 1\-5" 206deletes messages 1 through 5. 207The special name 208.Ql * 209addresses all messages, and 210.Ql $ 211addresses 212the last message; thus the command 213.Ic top 214which prints the first few lines of a message could be used in 215.Dq Li "top *" 216to print the first few lines of all messages. 217.Ss "Replying To or Originating Mail" 218You can use the 219.Ic reply 220command to 221set up a response to a message, sending it back to the 222person who it was from. 223Text you then type in, up to an end-of-file, 224defines the contents of the message. 225While you are composing a message, 226.Nm 227treats lines beginning with the character 228.Ql ~ 229specially. 230For instance, typing 231.Ic ~m 232(alone on a line) will place a copy 233of the current message into the response right shifting it by a tabstop 234(see 235.Va indentprefix 236variable, below). 237Other escapes will set up subject fields, add and delete recipients 238to the message and allow you to escape to an editor to revise the 239message or to a shell to run some commands. 240(These options 241are given in the summary below.) 242.Ss "Ending a Mail Processing Session" 243You can end a 244.Nm 245session with the 246.Ic quit 247.Pq Ic q 248command. 249Messages which have been examined go to your 250.Pa mbox 251file unless they have been deleted in which case they are discarded. 252Unexamined messages go back to the post office. 253(See the 254.Fl f 255option above). 256.Ss "Personal and System Wide Distribution Lists" 257It is also possible to create a personal distribution lists so that, 258for instance, you can send mail to 259.Dq Li cohorts 260and have it go 261to a group of people. 262Such lists can be defined by placing a line like 263.Pp 264.Dl "alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory" 265.Pp 266in the file 267.Pa .mailrc 268in your home directory. 269The current list of such aliases can be displayed with the 270.Ic alias 271command in 272.Nm . 273System wide distribution lists can be created by editing 274.Pa /etc/mail/aliases , 275see 276.Xr aliases 5 277and 278.Xr sendmail 8 ; 279these are kept in a different syntax. 280In mail you send, personal aliases will be expanded in mail sent 281to others so that they will be able to 282.Ic reply 283to the recipients. 284System wide 285aliases 286are not expanded when the mail is sent, 287but any reply returned to the machine will have the system wide 288alias expanded as all mail goes through 289.Xr sendmail 8 . 290.Ss "Network Mail (ARPA, UUCP, Berknet)" 291See 292.Xr mailaddr 7 293for a description of network addresses. 294.Pp 295.Nm Mail 296has a number of options which can be set in the 297.Pa .mailrc 298file to alter its behavior; thus 299.Dq Li "set askcc" 300enables the 301.Va askcc 302feature. 303(These options are summarized below.) 304.Sh SUMMARY 305(Adapted from the 306.%T "Mail Reference Manual" . ) 307.Pp 308Each command is typed on a line by itself, and may take arguments 309following the command word. 310The command need not be typed in its 311entirety \(em the first command which matches the typed prefix is used. 312For commands which take message lists as arguments, if no message 313list is given, then the next message forward which satisfies the 314command's requirements is used. 315If there are no messages forward of 316the current message, the search proceeds backwards, and if there are no 317good messages at all, 318.Nm 319types 320.Dq Li "No applicable messages" 321and 322aborts the command. 323.Bl -tag -width indent 324.It Ic \- 325Print out the preceding message. 326If given a numeric 327argument 328.Ar n , 329goes to the 330.Ar n Ns 'th 331previous message and prints it. 332.It Ic # 333ignore the remainder of the line as a comment. 334.It Ic \&? 335Prints a brief summary of commands. 336.It Ic \&! 337Executes the shell 338(see 339.Xr sh 1 340and 341.Xr csh 1 ) 342command which follows. 343.It Ic Print 344.Pq Ic P 345Like 346.Ic print 347but also prints out ignored header fields. 348See also 349.Ic print , ignore 350and 351.Ic retain . 352.It Ic Reply 353.Pq Ic R 354Reply to originator. 355Does not reply to other 356recipients of the original message. 357.It Ic Type 358.Pq Ic T 359Identical to the 360.Ic Print 361command. 362.It Ic alias 363.Pq Ic a 364With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined aliases. 365With one 366argument, prints out that alias. 367With more than one argument, creates 368a new alias or changes an old one. 369.It Ic alternates 370.Pq Ic alt 371The 372.Ic alternates 373command is useful if you have accounts on several machines. 374It can be used to inform 375.Nm 376that the listed addresses are really you. 377When you 378.Ic reply 379to messages, 380.Nm 381will not send a copy of the message to any of the addresses 382listed on the 383.Ic alternates 384list. 385If the 386.Ic alternates 387command is given with no argument, the current set of alternative 388names is displayed. 389.It Ic chdir 390.Pq Ic c 391Changes the user's working directory to that specified, if given. 392If 393no directory is given, then changes to the user's login directory. 394.It Ic copy 395.Pq Ic co 396The 397.Ic copy 398command does the same thing that 399.Ic save 400does, except that it does not mark the messages it 401is used on for deletion when you 402.Ic quit . 403.It Ic delete 404.Pq Ic d 405Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted. 406Deleted messages will not be saved in 407.Pa mbox , 408nor will they be available for most other commands. 409.It Ic dp 410(also 411.Ic dt ) 412Deletes the current message and prints the next message. 413If there is no next message, 414.Nm 415says 416.Dq Li "at EOF" . 417.It Ic edit 418.Pq Ic e 419Takes a list of messages and points the text editor at each one in 420turn. 421On return from the editor, the message is read back in. 422.It Ic exit 423.Ic ( ex 424or 425.Ic x ) 426Effects an immediate return to the shell without 427modifying the user's system mailbox, his 428.Pa mbox 429file, or his edit file in 430.Fl f . 431.It Ic file 432.Pq Ic fi 433The same as 434.Ic folder . 435.It Ic folders 436List the names of the folders in your folder directory. 437.It Ic folder 438.Pq Ic fo 439The 440.Ic folder 441command switches to a new mail file or folder. 442With no 443arguments, it tells you which file you are currently reading. 444If you give it an argument, it will write out changes (such 445as deletions) you have made in the current file and read in 446the new file. 447Some special conventions are recognized for 448the name. 449.Ql # 450means the previous file, 451.Ql % 452means your system mailbox, 453.Dq Li % Ns Ar user 454means user's system mailbox, 455.Ql & 456means your 457.Pa mbox 458file, and 459.Dq Li + Ns Ar folder 460means a file in your folder 461directory. 462.It Ic from 463.Pq Ic f 464Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers. 465.It Ic headers 466.Pq Ic h 467Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18-message group. 468If 469a 470.Ql + 471argument is given, then the next 18-message group is printed, and if 472a 473.Ql \- 474argument is given, the previous 18-message group is printed. 475.It Ic help 476A synonym for 477.Ic \&? . 478.It Ic hold 479.Ic ( ho , 480also 481.Ic preserve ) 482Takes a message list and marks each 483message therein to be saved in the 484user's system mailbox instead of in 485.Pa mbox . 486Does not override the 487.Ic delete 488command. 489.It Ic ignore 490Add the list of header fields named to the 491.Ar ignored list . 492Header fields in the ignore list are not printed 493on your terminal when you print a message. 494This 495command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated 496header fields. 497The 498.Ic Type 499and 500.Ic Print 501commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including 502ignored fields. 503If 504.Ic ignore 505is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 506ignored fields. 507.It Ic inc 508Incorporate any new messages that have arrived while mail 509is being read. 510The new messages are added to the end of the message list, 511and the current message is reset to be the first new mail message. 512This does not renumber the existing message list, nor 513does it cause any changes made so far to be saved. 514.It Ic mail 515.Pq Ic m 516Takes as argument login names and distribution group names and sends 517mail to those people. 518.It Ic mbox 519Indicate that a list of messages be sent to 520.Pa mbox 521in your home directory when you quit. 522This is the default 523action for messages if you do 524.Em not 525have the 526.Ic hold 527option set. 528.It Ic more 529.Pq Ic mo 530Takes a list of messages and invokes the pager on that list. 531.It Ic next 532.Ic ( n , 533like 534.Ic + 535or 536.Tn CR ) 537Goes to the next message in sequence and types it. 538With an argument list, types the next matching message. 539.It Ic preserve 540.Pq Ic pre 541A synonym for 542.Ic hold . 543.It Ic print 544.Pq Ic p 545Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal. 546.It Ic quit 547.Pq Ic q 548Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in 549the user's 550.Pa mbox 551file in his login directory, preserving all messages marked with 552.Ic hold 553or 554.Ic preserve 555or never referenced 556in his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his system 557mailbox. 558If new mail has arrived during the session, the message 559.Dq Li "You have new mail" 560is given. 561If given while editing a 562mailbox file with the 563.Fl f 564flag, then the edit file is rewritten. 565A return to the shell is 566effected, unless the rewrite of edit file fails, in which case the user 567can escape with the 568.Ic exit 569command. 570.It Ic reply 571.Pq Ic r 572Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all 573recipients of the specified message. 574The default message must not be deleted. 575.It Ic respond 576A synonym for 577.Ic reply . 578.It Ic retain 579Add the list of header fields named to the 580.Em "retained list" . 581Only the header fields in the retained list 582are shown on your terminal when you print a message. 583All other header fields are suppressed. 584The 585.Ic type 586and 587.Ic print 588commands can be used to print a message in its entirety. 589If 590.Ic retain 591is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 592retained fields. 593.It Ic save 594.Pq Ic s 595Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in 596turn to the end of the file. 597The filename in quotes, followed by the line 598count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal. 599.It Ic set 600.Pq Ic se 601With no arguments, prints all variable values. 602Otherwise, sets 603option. 604Arguments are of the form 605.Ar option Ns Li = Ns Ar value 606(no space before or after 607.Ql = ) 608or 609.Ar option . 610Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment statement to 611quote blanks or tabs, i.e.\& 612.Dq Li "set indentprefix=\*q->\*q" 613.It Ic saveignore 614.Ic Saveignore 615is to 616.Ic save 617what 618.Ic ignore 619is to 620.Ic print 621and 622.Ic type . 623Header fields thus marked are filtered out when 624saving a message by 625.Ic save 626or when automatically saving to 627.Pa mbox . 628.It Ic saveretain 629.Ic Saveretain 630is to 631.Ic save 632what 633.Ic retain 634is to 635.Ic print 636and 637.Ic type . 638Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved 639with a message when saving by 640.Ic save 641or when automatically saving to 642.Pa mbox . 643.Ic Saveretain 644overrides 645.Ic saveignore . 646.It Ic shell 647.Pq Ic sh 648Invokes an interactive version of the shell. 649.It Ic size 650Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of each 651message. 652.It Ic source 653The 654.Ic source 655command reads 656commands from a file. 657.It Ic top 658Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each. 659The number of 660lines printed is controlled by the variable 661.Va toplines 662and defaults to 5. 663.It Ic type 664.Pq Ic t 665A synonym for 666.Ic print . 667.It Ic unalias 668Takes a list of names defined by 669.Ic alias 670commands and discards the remembered groups of users. 671The group names 672no longer have any significance. 673.It Ic undelete 674.Pq Ic u 675Takes a message list and marks each message as 676.Em not 677being deleted. 678.It Ic unread 679.Pq Ic U 680Takes a message list and marks each message as 681.Em not 682having been read. 683.It Ic unset 684Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values; 685the inverse of 686.Ic set . 687.It Ic visual 688.Pq Ic v 689Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message. 690.It Ic write 691.Pq Ic w 692Similar to 693.Ic save , 694except that 695.Em only 696the message body 697.Em ( without 698the header) is saved. 699Extremely useful for such tasks as sending and receiving source 700program text over the message system. 701.It Ic xit 702.Pq Ic x 703A synonym for 704.Ic exit . 705.It Ic z 706.Nm Mail 707presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the 708.Ic headers 709command. 710You can move 711.Nm Ns 's 712attention forward to the next window with the 713.Ic z 714command. 715Also, you can move to the previous window by using 716.Ic z\- . 717.El 718.Ss Tilde/Escapes 719Here is a summary of the tilde escapes, 720which are used when composing messages to perform 721special functions. 722Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning 723of lines. 724The name 725.Dq "tilde escape" 726is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be set 727by the option 728.Va escape . 729.Bl -tag -width indent 730.It Ic ~a 731Inserts the autograph string from the sign= option into the message. 732.It Ic ~A 733Inserts the autograph string from the Sign= option into the message. 734.It Ic ~b Ar name ... 735Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients but do not make 736the names visible in the Cc: line 737.Dq ( blind 738carbon copy). 739.It Ic ~c Ar name ... 740Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients. 741.It Ic ~d 742Read the file 743.Pa dead.letter 744from your home directory into the message. 745.It Ic ~e 746Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far. 747After the 748editing session is finished, you may continue appending text to the 749message. 750.It Ic ~f Ar messages 751Read the named messages into the message being sent. 752If no messages are specified, read in the current message. 753Message headers currently being ignored (by the 754.Ic ignore 755or 756.Ic retain 757command) are not included. 758.It Ic ~F Ar messages 759Identical to 760.Ic ~f , 761except all message headers are included. 762.It Ic ~h 763Edit the message header fields by typing each one in turn and allowing 764the user to append text to the end or modify the field by using the 765current terminal erase and kill characters. 766.It Ic ~i Ar string 767Inserts the value of the named option into the text of the message. 768.It Ic ~m Ar messages 769Read the named messages into the message being sent, indented by a 770tab or by the value of 771.Va indentprefix . 772If no messages are specified, 773read the current message. 774Message headers currently being ignored (by the 775.Ic ignore 776or 777.Ic retain 778command) are not included. 779.It Ic ~M Ar messages 780Identical to 781.Ic ~m , 782except all message headers are included. 783.It Ic ~p 784Print out the message collected so far, prefaced by the message header 785fields. 786.It Ic ~q 787Abort the message being sent, copying the message to 788.Pa dead.letter 789in your home directory if 790.Va save 791is set. 792.It Ic ~r Ar filename , Ic ~r Li \&! Ns Ar command 793.It Ic ~< Ar filename , Ic ~< Li \&! Ns Ar command 794Read the named file into the message. 795If the argument begins with a 796.Ql \&! , 797the rest of the string is taken as an arbitrary system command and is 798executed, with the standard output inserted into the message. 799.It Ic ~R Ar string 800Use 801.Ar string 802as the Reply-To field. 803.It Ic ~s Ar string 804Cause the named string to become the current subject field. 805.It Ic ~t Ar name ... 806Add the given names to the direct recipient list. 807.It Ic ~v 808Invoke an alternative editor (defined by the 809.Ev VISUAL 810option) on the 811message collected so far. 812Usually, the alternative editor will be a 813screen editor. 814After you quit the editor, you may resume appending 815text to the end of your message. 816.It Ic ~w Ar filename 817Write the message onto the named file. 818.It Ic ~x 819Exits as with 820.Ic ~q , 821except the message is not saved in 822.Pa dead.letter . 823.It Ic ~! Ar command 824Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the message. 825.It Ic ~| Ar command , Ic ~^ Ar command 826Pipe the message through the command as a filter. 827If the command gives 828no output or terminates abnormally, retain the original text of the 829message. 830The command 831.Xr fmt 1 832is often used as 833.Ar command 834to rejustify the message. 835.It Ic ~: Ar mail-command , Ic ~_ Ar mail-command 836Execute the given 837.Nm 838command. 839Not all commands, however, are allowed. 840.It Ic ~~ Ar string 841Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single 842.Ql ~ . 843If 844you have changed the escape character, then you should double 845that character in order to send it. 846.El 847.Ss "Mail Options" 848Options are controlled via 849.Ic set 850and 851.Ic unset 852commands. 853Options may be either binary, in which case it is only 854significant to see whether they are set or not; or string, in which 855case the actual value is of interest. 856If an option is not set, 857.Nm 858will look for an environment variable of the same name. 859The binary options include the following: 860.Bl -tag -width indent 861.It Va append 862Causes messages saved in 863.Pa mbox 864to be appended to the end rather than prepended. 865This should always be set (preferably in one of the system-wide 866.Pa mail.rc 867files). 868.It Va ask , asksub 869Causes 870.Nm 871to prompt you for the subject of each message you send. 872If 873you respond with simply a newline, no subject field will be sent. 874.It Va askbcc 875Causes you to be prompted for additional blind carbon copy recipients at the 876end of each message. 877Responding with a newline indicates your 878satisfaction with the current list. 879.It Va askcc 880Causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients at the 881end of each message. 882Responding with a newline indicates your 883satisfaction with the current list. 884.It Va autoinc 885Causes new mail to be automatically incorporated when it arrives. 886Setting this is similar to issuing the 887.Ic inc 888command at each prompt, except that the current message is not 889reset when new mail arrives. 890.It Va autoprint 891Causes the 892.Ic delete 893command to behave like 894.Ic dp ; 895thus, after deleting a message, the next one will be typed 896automatically. 897.It Va debug 898Setting the binary option 899.Va debug 900is the same as specifying 901.Fl d 902on the command line and causes 903.Nm 904to output all sorts of information useful for debugging 905.Nm . 906.It Va dot 907The binary option 908.Va dot 909causes 910.Nm 911to interpret a period alone on a line as the terminator 912of a message you are sending. 913.It Va hold 914This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox 915by default. 916.It Va ignore 917Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be ignored and echoed as 918.Li @ Ns 's. 919.It Va ignoreeof 920An option related to 921.Va dot 922is 923.Va ignoreeof 924which makes 925.Nm 926refuse to accept a 927.Aq Li control-D 928as the end of a message. 929.Ar Ignoreeof 930also applies to 931.Nm 932command mode. 933.It Va metoo 934Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender, the sender 935is removed from the expansion. 936Setting this option causes the sender 937to be included in the group. 938.It Va noheader 939Setting the option 940.Va noheader 941is the same as giving the 942.Fl N 943flag on the command line. 944.It Va nosave 945Normally, when you abort a message with two 946.Tn RUBOUT 947(erase or delete), 948.Nm 949copies the partial letter to the file 950.Pa dead.letter 951in your home directory. 952Setting the binary option 953.Va nosave 954prevents this. 955.It Va Replyall 956Reverses the sense of 957.Ic reply 958and 959.Ic Reply 960commands. 961.It Va quiet 962Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked. 963.It Va searchheaders 964If this option is set, then a message-list specifier in the form 965.Dq Li / Ns Ar x Ns Li : Ns Ar y 966will expand to all messages containing the substring 967.Ar y 968in the header field 969.Ar x . 970The string search is case insensitive. 971If 972.Ar x 973is ommitted, it will default to the 974.Dq Li Subject 975header field. 976The form 977.Dq Li /to: Ns Ar y 978is a special case, and will expand 979to all messages containing the substring 980.Ar y 981in the 982.Dq Li To , 983.Dq Li Cc 984or 985.Dq Li Bcc 986header fields. 987The check for 988.Qq Li "to" 989is case sensitive, so that 990.Dq Li /to: Ns Ar y 991can be used to limit the search for 992.Ar y 993to just the 994.Dq Li To: 995field. 996.It Va verbose 997Setting the option 998.Va verbose 999is the same as using the 1000.Fl v 1001flag on the command line. 1002When 1003.Nm 1004runs in verbose mode, 1005the actual delivery of messages is displayed on the user's 1006terminal. 1007.El 1008.Ss "Option String Values" 1009.Bl -tag -width indent 1010.It Ev EDITOR 1011Pathname of the text editor to use in the 1012.Ic edit 1013command and 1014.Ic ~e 1015escape. 1016If not defined, then a default editor is used. 1017.It Ev LISTER 1018Pathname of the directory lister to use in the 1019.Ic folders 1020command. 1021Default is 1022.Pa /bin/ls . 1023.It Ev PAGER 1024Pathname of the program to use in the 1025.Ic more 1026command or when 1027.Va crt 1028variable is set. 1029The default paginator 1030.Xr more 1 1031is used if this option is not defined. 1032.It Ev REPLYTO 1033If set, will be used to initialize the Reply-To field for outgoing 1034messages. 1035.It Ev SHELL 1036Pathname of the shell to use in the 1037.Ic \&! 1038command and the 1039.Ic ~! 1040escape. 1041A default shell is used if this option is 1042not defined. 1043.It Ev VISUAL 1044Pathname of the text editor to use in the 1045.Ic visual 1046command and 1047.Ic ~v 1048escape. 1049.It Va crt 1050The valued option 1051.Va crt 1052is used as a threshold to determine how long a message must 1053be before 1054.Ev PAGER 1055is used to read it. 1056If 1057.Va crt 1058is set without a value, 1059then the height of the terminal screen stored in the system 1060is used to compute the threshold (see 1061.Xr stty 1 ) . 1062.It Va escape 1063If defined, the first character of this option gives the character to 1064use in the place of 1065.Ql ~ 1066to denote escapes. 1067.It Va folder 1068The name of the directory to use for storing folders of 1069messages. 1070If this name begins with a 1071.Ql / , 1072.Nm 1073considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the 1074folder directory is found relative to your home directory. 1075.It Ev MBOX 1076The name of the mailbox file. 1077It can be the name of a folder. 1078The default is 1079.Pa mbox 1080in the user's home directory. 1081.It Va record 1082If defined, gives the pathname of the file used to record all outgoing 1083mail. 1084If not defined, then outgoing mail is not so saved. 1085.It Va indentprefix 1086String used by the 1087.Ic ~m 1088tilde escape for indenting messages, in place of 1089the normal tab character 1090.Pq Li ^I . 1091Be sure to quote the value if it contains 1092spaces or tabs. 1093.It Va toplines 1094If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out 1095with the 1096.Ic top 1097command; normally, the first five lines are printed. 1098.El 1099.Sh ENVIRONMENT 1100.Nm Mail 1101utilizes the 1102.Ev HOME 1103and 1104.Ev USER 1105environment variables. 1106Also, if the 1107.Ev MAIL 1108environment variable is set, it is used as the 1109location of the user's mailbox instead of the 1110default in 1111.Pa /var/mail . 1112.Sh FILES 1113.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.*help" -compact 1114.It Pa /var/mail/* 1115Post office. 1116.It Pa ~/mbox 1117User's old mail. 1118.It Pa ~/.mailrc 1119File giving initial 1120.Nm 1121commands. 1122This can be overridden by setting the 1123.Ev MAILRC 1124environment variable. 1125.It Pa /tmp/R* 1126Temporary files. 1127.It Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.*help 1128Help files. 1129.Pp 1130.It Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.rc 1131.It Pa /usr/local/etc/mail.rc 1132.It Pa /etc/mail.rc 1133System-wide initialization files. 1134Each file will be sourced, in order, 1135if it exists. 1136.El 1137.Sh SEE ALSO 1138.Xr fmt 1 , 1139.Xr newaliases 1 , 1140.Xr vacation 1 , 1141.Xr aliases 5 , 1142.Xr mailaddr 7 , 1143.Xr sendmail 8 1144.Rs 1145.%T "The Mail Reference Manual" 1146.Re 1147.Sh HISTORY 1148A 1149.Nm 1150command 1151appeared in 1152.At v1 . 1153This man page is derived from 1154.%T "The Mail Reference Manual" 1155originally written by 1156.An Kurt Shoens . 1157.Sh BUGS 1158There are some flags that are not documented here. 1159Most are 1160not useful to the general user. 1161.Pp 1162Usually, 1163.Nm 1164is just a link to 1165.Nm Mail , 1166which can be confusing. 1167.Pp 1168The name of the 1169.Ic alternates 1170list is incorrect English (it should be 1171.Dq alternatives ) , 1172but is retained for compatibility. 1173