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.Nm mailx 42.Nd send and receive mail 43.Sh SYNOPSIS 44.Nm 45.Op Fl EiInv 46.Op Fl s Ar subject 47.Op Fl c Ar cc-addr 48.Op Fl b Ar bcc-addr 49.Ar to-addr ... 50.Op Fl Ar sendmail-option ... 51.Nm 52.Op Fl EiInNv 53.Fl f 54.Op Ar name 55.Nm 56.Op Fl EiInNv 57.Op Fl u Ar user 58.Sh INTRODUCTION 59.Nm Mail 60is an intelligent mail processing system, which has 61a command syntax reminiscent of 62.Xr ed 1 63with lines replaced by messages. 64.Pp 65The following options are available: 66.Bl -tag -width indent 67.It Fl v 68Verbose mode. 69The details of 70delivery are displayed on the user's terminal. 71.It Fl E 72Do not send messages with an empty body. 73This is useful for piping errors from 74.Xr cron 8 75scripts. 76.It Fl i 77Ignore tty interrupt signals. 78This is 79particularly useful when using 80.Nm 81on noisy phone lines. 82.It Fl I 83Force 84.Nm 85to run in interactive mode even when 86input is not a terminal. 87In particular, the 88.Ql ~ 89special 90character when sending mail is only active in interactive mode. 91.It Fl n 92Inhibit reading the system-wide 93.Pa mail.rc 94files upon startup. 95.It Fl N 96Inhibit the initial display of message headers 97when reading mail or editing a mail folder. 98.It Fl s Ar subject 99Specify 100.Ar subject 101on command line. 102(Only the first argument after the 103.Fl s 104flag is used as a subject; be careful to quote subjects 105containing spaces.) 106.It Fl c Ar cc-addr 107Send carbon copies to 108.Ar cc-addr 109list of users. 110The 111.Ar cc-addr 112argument should be a comma-separated list of names. 113.It Fl b Ar bcc-addr 114Send blind carbon copies to 115.Ar bcc-addr 116list of users. 117The 118.Ar bcc-addr 119argument should be a comma-separated list of names. 120.It Fl f Op Ar mbox 121Read in the contents of your 122.Pa mbox 123(or the specified file) 124for processing; when you 125.Ic quit , 126.Nm 127writes undeleted messages back to this file. 128.It Fl u 129Is equivalent to: 130.Pp 131.Dl "mail -f /var/mail/user" 132.El 133.Ss "Startup Actions" 134At startup time 135.Nm 136will execute commands in the system command files 137.Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.rc , 138.Pa /usr/local/etc/mail.rc 139and 140.Pa /etc/mail.rc 141in order, unless explicitly told not to by the use of the 142.Fl n 143option. 144Next, the commands in the user's personal command file 145.Pa ~/.mailrc 146are executed. 147.Nm 148then examines its command line options to determine whether a 149new message is to be sent, or whether an existing mailbox is to 150be read. 151.Ss "Sending Mail" 152To send a message to one or more people, 153.Nm 154can be invoked with arguments which are the names of people to 155whom the mail will be sent. 156You are then expected to type in 157your message, followed 158by a 159.Aq Li control-D 160at the beginning of a line. 161The section below 162.Sx "Replying To or Originating Mail" , 163describes some features of 164.Nm 165available to help you compose your letter. 166.Ss "Reading Mail" 167In normal usage 168.Nm 169is given no arguments and checks your mail out of the 170post office, then 171prints out a one line header of each message found. 172The current message is initially the first message (numbered 1) 173and can be printed using the 174.Ic print 175command (which can be abbreviated 176.Ic p ) . 177You can move among the messages much as you move between lines in 178.Xr ed 1 , 179with the commands 180.Ic + 181and 182.Ic \- 183moving backwards and forwards, and 184simple numbers. 185.Ss "Disposing of Mail" 186After examining a message you can 187.Ic delete 188.Pq Ic d 189the message or 190.Ic reply 191.Pq Ic r 192to it. 193Deletion causes the 194.Nm 195program to forget about the message. 196This is not irreversible; the message can be 197.Ic undeleted 198.Pq Ic u 199by giving its number, or the 200.Nm 201session can be aborted by giving the 202.Ic exit 203.Pq Ic x 204command. 205Deleted messages will, however, usually disappear never to be seen again. 206.Ss "Specifying Messages" 207Commands such as 208.Ic print 209and 210.Ic delete 211can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply 212to a number of messages at once. 213Thus 214.Dq Li "delete 1 2" 215deletes messages 1 and 2, while 216.Dq Li "delete 1\-5" 217deletes messages 1 through 5. 218The special name 219.Ql * 220addresses all messages, and 221.Ql $ 222addresses 223the last message; thus the command 224.Ic top 225which prints the first few lines of a message could be used in 226.Dq Li "top *" 227to print the first few lines of all messages. 228.Ss "Replying To or Originating Mail" 229You can use the 230.Ic reply 231command to 232set up a response to a message, sending it back to the 233person who it was from. 234Text you then type in, up to an end-of-file, 235defines the contents of the message. 236While you are composing a message, 237.Nm 238treats lines beginning with the character 239.Ql ~ 240specially. 241For instance, typing 242.Ic ~m 243(alone on a line) will place a copy 244of the current message into the response right shifting it by a tabstop 245(see 246.Va indentprefix 247variable, below). 248Other escapes will set up subject fields, add and delete recipients 249to the message and allow you to escape to an editor to revise the 250message or to a shell to run some commands. 251(These options 252are given in the summary below.) 253.Ss "Ending a Mail Processing Session" 254You can end a 255.Nm 256session with the 257.Ic quit 258.Pq Ic q 259command. 260Messages which have been examined go to your 261.Pa mbox 262file unless they have been deleted in which case they are discarded. 263Unexamined messages go back to the post office. 264(See the 265.Fl f 266option above). 267.Ss "Personal and System Wide Distribution Lists" 268It is also possible to create a personal distribution lists so that, 269for instance, you can send mail to 270.Dq Li cohorts 271and have it go 272to a group of people. 273Such lists can be defined by placing a line like 274.Pp 275.Dl "alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory" 276.Pp 277in the file 278.Pa .mailrc 279in your home directory. 280The current list of such aliases can be displayed with the 281.Ic alias 282command in 283.Nm . 284System wide distribution lists can be created by editing 285.Pa /etc/mail/aliases , 286see 287.Xr aliases 5 288and 289.Xr sendmail 8 ; 290these are kept in a different syntax. 291In mail you send, personal aliases will be expanded in mail sent 292to others so that they will be able to 293.Ic reply 294to the recipients. 295System wide 296aliases 297are not expanded when the mail is sent, 298but any reply returned to the machine will have the system wide 299alias expanded as all mail goes through 300.Xr sendmail 8 . 301.Ss "Network Mail (ARPA, UUCP, Berknet)" 302See 303.Xr mailaddr 7 304for a description of network addresses. 305.Pp 306.Nm Mail 307has a number of options which can be set in the 308.Pa .mailrc 309file to alter its behavior; thus 310.Dq Li "set askcc" 311enables the 312.Va askcc 313feature. 314(These options are summarized below.) 315.Sh SUMMARY 316(Adapted from the 317.%T "Mail Reference Manual" . ) 318.Pp 319Each command is typed on a line by itself, and may take arguments 320following the command word. 321The command need not be typed in its 322entirety \(em the first command which matches the typed prefix is used. 323For commands which take message lists as arguments, if no message 324list is given, then the next message forward which satisfies the 325command's requirements is used. 326If there are no messages forward of 327the current message, the search proceeds backwards, and if there are no 328good messages at all, 329.Nm 330types 331.Dq Li "No applicable messages" 332and 333aborts the command. 334.Bl -tag -width indent 335.It Ic \- 336Print out the preceding message. 337If given a numeric 338argument 339.Ar n , 340goes to the 341.Ar n Ns 'th 342previous message and prints it. 343.It Ic # 344ignore the remainder of the line as a comment. 345.It Ic \&? 346Prints a brief summary of commands. 347.It Ic \&! 348Executes the shell 349(see 350.Xr sh 1 351and 352.Xr csh 1 ) 353command which follows. 354.It Ic Print 355.Pq Ic P 356Like 357.Ic print 358but also prints out ignored header fields. 359See also 360.Ic print , ignore 361and 362.Ic retain . 363.It Ic Reply 364.Pq Ic R 365Reply to originator. 366Does not reply to other 367recipients of the original message. 368.It Ic Type 369.Pq Ic T 370Identical to the 371.Ic Print 372command. 373.It Ic alias 374.Pq Ic a 375With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined aliases. 376With one 377argument, prints out that alias. 378With more than one argument, creates 379a new alias or changes an old one. 380.It Ic alternates 381.Pq Ic alt 382The 383.Ic alternates 384command is useful if you have accounts on several machines. 385It can be used to inform 386.Nm 387that the listed addresses are really you. 388When you 389.Ic reply 390to messages, 391.Nm 392will not send a copy of the message to any of the addresses 393listed on the 394.Ic alternates 395list. 396If the 397.Ic alternates 398command is given with no argument, the current set of alternative 399names is displayed. 400.It Ic chdir 401.Pq Ic c 402Changes the user's working directory to that specified, if given. 403If 404no directory is given, then changes to the user's login directory. 405.It Ic copy 406.Pq Ic co 407The 408.Ic copy 409command does the same thing that 410.Ic save 411does, except that it does not mark the messages it 412is used on for deletion when you 413.Ic quit . 414.It Ic delete 415.Pq Ic d 416Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted. 417Deleted messages will not be saved in 418.Pa mbox , 419nor will they be available for most other commands. 420.It Ic dp 421(also 422.Ic dt ) 423Deletes the current message and prints the next message. 424If there is no next message, 425.Nm 426says 427.Dq Li "at EOF" . 428.It Ic edit 429.Pq Ic e 430Takes a list of messages and points the text editor at each one in 431turn. 432On return from the editor, the message is read back in. 433.It Ic exit 434.Ic ( ex 435or 436.Ic x ) 437Effects an immediate return to the shell without 438modifying the user's system mailbox, his 439.Pa mbox 440file, or his edit file in 441.Fl f . 442.It Ic file 443.Pq Ic fi 444The same as 445.Ic folder . 446.It Ic folders 447List the names of the folders in your folder directory. 448.It Ic folder 449.Pq Ic fo 450The 451.Ic folder 452command switches to a new mail file or folder. 453With no 454arguments, it tells you which file you are currently reading. 455If you give it an argument, it will write out changes (such 456as deletions) you have made in the current file and read in 457the new file. 458Some special conventions are recognized for 459the name. 460.Ql # 461means the previous file, 462.Ql % 463means your system mailbox, 464.Dq Li % Ns Ar user 465means user's system mailbox, 466.Ql & 467means your 468.Pa mbox 469file, and 470.Dq Li + Ns Ar folder 471means a file in your folder 472directory. 473.It Ic from 474.Pq Ic f 475Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers. 476.It Ic headers 477.Pq Ic h 478Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18-message group. 479If 480a 481.Ql + 482argument is given, then the next 18-message group is printed, and if 483a 484.Ql \- 485argument is given, the previous 18-message group is printed. 486.It Ic help 487A synonym for 488.Ic \&? . 489.It Ic hold 490.Ic ( ho , 491also 492.Ic preserve ) 493Takes a message list and marks each 494message therein to be saved in the 495user's system mailbox instead of in 496.Pa mbox . 497Does not override the 498.Ic delete 499command. 500.It Ic ignore 501Add the list of header fields named to the 502.Ar ignored list . 503Header fields in the ignore list are not printed 504on your terminal when you print a message. 505This 506command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated 507header fields. 508The 509.Ic Type 510and 511.Ic Print 512commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including 513ignored fields. 514If 515.Ic ignore 516is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 517ignored fields. 518.It Ic inc 519Incorporate any new messages that have arrived while mail 520is being read. 521The new messages are added to the end of the message list, 522and the current message is reset to be the first new mail message. 523This does not renumber the existing message list, nor 524does it cause any changes made so far to be saved. 525.It Ic mail 526.Pq Ic m 527Takes as argument login names and distribution group names and sends 528mail to those people. 529.It Ic mbox 530Indicate that a list of messages be sent to 531.Pa mbox 532in your home directory when you quit. 533This is the default 534action for messages if you do 535.Em not 536have the 537.Ic hold 538option set. 539.It Ic more 540.Pq Ic mo 541Takes a list of messages and invokes the pager on that list. 542.It Ic next 543.Ic ( n , 544like 545.Ic + 546or 547.Tn CR ) 548Goes to the next message in sequence and types it. 549With an argument list, types the next matching message. 550.It Ic preserve 551.Pq Ic pre 552A synonym for 553.Ic hold . 554.It Ic print 555.Pq Ic p 556Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal. 557.It Ic quit 558.Pq Ic q 559Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in 560the user's 561.Pa mbox 562file in his login directory, preserving all messages marked with 563.Ic hold 564or 565.Ic preserve 566or never referenced 567in his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his system 568mailbox. 569If new mail has arrived during the session, the message 570.Dq Li "You have new mail" 571is given. 572If given while editing a 573mailbox file with the 574.Fl f 575flag, then the edit file is rewritten. 576A return to the shell is 577effected, unless the rewrite of edit file fails, in which case the user 578can escape with the 579.Ic exit 580command. 581.It Ic reply 582.Pq Ic r 583Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all 584recipients of the specified message. 585The default message must not be deleted. 586.It Ic respond 587A synonym for 588.Ic reply . 589.It Ic retain 590Add the list of header fields named to the 591.Em "retained list" . 592Only the header fields in the retained list 593are shown on your terminal when you print a message. 594All other header fields are suppressed. 595The 596.Ic type 597and 598.Ic print 599commands can be used to print a message in its entirety. 600If 601.Ic retain 602is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 603retained fields. 604.It Ic save 605.Pq Ic s 606Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in 607turn to the end of the file. 608The filename in quotes, followed by the line 609count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal. 610.It Ic set 611.Pq Ic se 612With no arguments, prints all variable values. 613Otherwise, sets 614option. 615Arguments are of the form 616.Ar option Ns Li = Ns Ar value 617(no space before or after 618.Ql = ) 619or 620.Ar option . 621Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment statement to 622quote blanks or tabs, i.e.\& 623.Dq Li "set indentprefix=\*q->\*q" 624.It Ic saveignore 625.Ic Saveignore 626is to 627.Ic save 628what 629.Ic ignore 630is to 631.Ic print 632and 633.Ic type . 634Header fields thus marked are filtered out when 635saving a message by 636.Ic save 637or when automatically saving to 638.Pa mbox . 639.It Ic saveretain 640.Ic Saveretain 641is to 642.Ic save 643what 644.Ic retain 645is to 646.Ic print 647and 648.Ic type . 649Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved 650with a message when saving by 651.Ic save 652or when automatically saving to 653.Pa mbox . 654.Ic Saveretain 655overrides 656.Ic saveignore . 657.It Ic shell 658.Pq Ic sh 659Invokes an interactive version of the shell. 660.It Ic size 661Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of each 662message. 663.It Ic source 664The 665.Ic source 666command reads 667commands from a file. 668.It Ic top 669Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each. 670The number of 671lines printed is controlled by the variable 672.Va toplines 673and defaults to 5. 674.It Ic type 675.Pq Ic t 676A synonym for 677.Ic print . 678.It Ic unalias 679Takes a list of names defined by 680.Ic alias 681commands and discards the remembered groups of users. 682The group names 683no longer have any significance. 684.It Ic undelete 685.Pq Ic u 686Takes a message list and marks each message as 687.Em not 688being deleted. 689.It Ic unread 690.Pq Ic U 691Takes a message list and marks each message as 692.Em not 693having been read. 694.It Ic unset 695Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values; 696the inverse of 697.Ic set . 698.It Ic visual 699.Pq Ic v 700Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message. 701.It Ic write 702.Pq Ic w 703Similar to 704.Ic save , 705except that 706.Em only 707the message body 708.Em ( without 709the header) is saved. 710Extremely useful for such tasks as sending and receiving source 711program text over the message system. 712.It Ic xit 713.Pq Ic x 714A synonym for 715.Ic exit . 716.It Ic z 717.Nm Mail 718presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the 719.Ic headers 720command. 721You can move 722.Nm Ns 's 723attention forward to the next window with the 724.Ic z 725command. 726Also, you can move to the previous window by using 727.Ic z\- . 728.El 729.Ss Tilde/Escapes 730Here is a summary of the tilde escapes, 731which are used when composing messages to perform 732special functions. 733Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning 734of lines. 735The name 736.Dq "tilde escape" 737is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be set 738by the option 739.Va escape . 740.Bl -tag -width indent 741.It Ic ~a 742Inserts the autograph string from the sign= option into the message. 743.It Ic ~A 744Inserts the autograph string from the Sign= option into the message. 745.It Ic ~b Ar name ... 746Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients but do not make 747the names visible in the Cc: line 748.Dq ( blind 749carbon copy). 750.It Ic ~c Ar name ... 751Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients. 752.It Ic ~d 753Read the file 754.Pa dead.letter 755from your home directory into the message. 756.It Ic ~e 757Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far. 758After the 759editing session is finished, you may continue appending text to the 760message. 761.It Ic ~f Ar messages 762Read the named messages into the message being sent. 763If no messages are specified, read in the current message. 764Message headers currently being ignored (by the 765.Ic ignore 766or 767.Ic retain 768command) are not included. 769.It Ic ~F Ar messages 770Identical to 771.Ic ~f , 772except all message headers are included. 773.It Ic ~h 774Edit the message header fields by typing each one in turn and allowing 775the user to append text to the end or modify the field by using the 776current terminal erase and kill characters. 777.It Ic ~i Ar string 778Inserts the value of the named option into the text of the message. 779.It Ic ~m Ar messages 780Read the named messages into the message being sent, indented by a 781tab or by the value of 782.Va indentprefix . 783If no messages are specified, 784read the current message. 785Message headers currently being ignored (by the 786.Ic ignore 787or 788.Ic retain 789command) are not included. 790.It Ic ~M Ar messages 791Identical to 792.Ic ~m , 793except all message headers are included. 794.It Ic ~p 795Print out the message collected so far, prefaced by the message header 796fields. 797.It Ic ~q 798Abort the message being sent, copying the message to 799.Pa dead.letter 800in your home directory if 801.Va save 802is set. 803.It Ic ~r Ar filename , Ic ~r Li \&! Ns Ar command 804.It Ic ~< Ar filename , Ic ~< Li \&! Ns Ar command 805Read the named file into the message. 806If the argument begins with a 807.Ql \&! , 808the rest of the string is taken as an arbitrary system command and is 809executed, with the standard output inserted into the message. 810.It Ic ~R Ar string 811Use 812.Ar string 813as the Reply-To field. 814.It Ic ~s Ar string 815Cause the named string to become the current subject field. 816.It Ic ~t Ar name ... 817Add the given names to the direct recipient list. 818.It Ic ~v 819Invoke an alternative editor (defined by the 820.Ev VISUAL 821environment variable) on the 822message collected so far. 823Usually, the alternative editor will be a 824screen editor. 825After you quit the editor, you may resume appending 826text to the end of your message. 827.It Ic ~w Ar filename 828Write the message onto the named file. 829.It Ic ~x 830Exits as with 831.Ic ~q , 832except the message is not saved in 833.Pa dead.letter . 834.It Ic ~! Ar command 835Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the message. 836.It Ic ~| Ar command , Ic ~^ Ar command 837Pipe the message through the command as a filter. 838If the command gives 839no output or terminates abnormally, retain the original text of the 840message. 841The command 842.Xr fmt 1 843is often used as 844.Ar command 845to rejustify the message. 846.It Ic ~: Ar mail-command , Ic ~_ Ar mail-command 847Execute the given 848.Nm 849command. 850Not all commands, however, are allowed. 851.It Ic ~~ Ar string 852Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single 853.Ql ~ . 854If 855you have changed the escape character, then you should double 856that character in order to send it. 857.El 858.Ss "Mail Options" 859Options are controlled via 860.Ic set 861and 862.Ic unset 863commands. 864Options may be either binary, in which case it is only 865significant to see whether they are set or not; or string, in which 866case the actual value is of interest. 867If an option is not set, 868.Nm 869will look for an environment variable of the same name. 870The binary options include the following: 871.Bl -tag -width indent 872.It Va append 873Causes messages saved in 874.Pa mbox 875to be appended to the end rather than prepended. 876This should always be set (preferably in one of the system-wide 877.Pa mail.rc 878files). 879.It Va ask , asksub 880Causes 881.Nm 882to prompt you for the subject of each message you send. 883If 884you respond with simply a newline, no subject field will be sent. 885.It Va askbcc 886Causes you to be prompted for additional blind carbon copy recipients at the 887end of each message. 888Responding with a newline indicates your 889satisfaction with the current list. 890.It Va askcc 891Causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients at the 892end of each message. 893Responding with a newline indicates your 894satisfaction with the current list. 895.It Va autoinc 896Causes new mail to be automatically incorporated when it arrives. 897Setting this is similar to issuing the 898.Ic inc 899command at each prompt, except that the current message is not 900reset when new mail arrives. 901.It Va autoprint 902Causes the 903.Ic delete 904command to behave like 905.Ic dp ; 906thus, after deleting a message, the next one will be typed 907automatically. 908.It Va debug 909Setting the binary option 910.Va debug 911is the same as specifying 912.Fl d 913on the command line and causes 914.Nm 915to output all sorts of information useful for debugging 916.Nm . 917.It Va dot 918The binary option 919.Va dot 920causes 921.Nm 922to interpret a period alone on a line as the terminator 923of a message you are sending. 924.It Va hold 925This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox 926by default. 927.It Va ignore 928Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be ignored and echoed as 929.Li @ Ns 's. 930.It Va ignoreeof 931An option related to 932.Va dot 933is 934.Va ignoreeof 935which makes 936.Nm 937refuse to accept a 938.Aq Li control-D 939as the end of a message. 940.Ar Ignoreeof 941also applies to 942.Nm 943command mode. 944.It Va metoo 945Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender, the sender 946is removed from the expansion. 947Setting this option causes the sender 948to be included in the group. 949.It Va noheader 950Setting the option 951.Va noheader 952is the same as giving the 953.Fl N 954flag on the command line. 955.It Va nosave 956Normally, when you abort a message with two 957.Tn RUBOUT 958(erase or delete), 959.Nm 960copies the partial letter to the file 961.Pa dead.letter 962in your home directory. 963Setting the binary option 964.Va nosave 965prevents this. 966.It Va Replyall 967Reverses the sense of 968.Ic reply 969and 970.Ic Reply 971commands. 972.It Va quiet 973Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked. 974.It Va searchheaders 975If this option is set, then a message-list specifier in the form 976.Dq Li / Ns Ar x Ns Li : Ns Ar y 977will expand to all messages containing the substring 978.Ar y 979in the header field 980.Ar x . 981The string search is case insensitive. 982If 983.Ar x 984is ommitted, it will default to the 985.Dq Li Subject 986header field. 987The form 988.Dq Li /to: Ns Ar y 989is a special case, and will expand 990to all messages containing the substring 991.Ar y 992in the 993.Dq Li To , 994.Dq Li Cc 995or 996.Dq Li Bcc 997header fields. 998The check for 999.Qq Li "to" 1000is case sensitive, so that 1001.Dq Li /to: Ns Ar y 1002can be used to limit the search for 1003.Ar y 1004to just the 1005.Dq Li To: 1006field. 1007.It Va verbose 1008Setting the option 1009.Va verbose 1010is the same as using the 1011.Fl v 1012flag on the command line. 1013When 1014.Nm 1015runs in verbose mode, 1016the actual delivery of messages is displayed on the user's 1017terminal. 1018.El 1019.Ss "Option String Values" 1020.Bl -tag -width indent 1021.It Ev EDITOR 1022Pathname of the text editor to use in the 1023.Ic edit 1024command and 1025.Ic ~e 1026escape. 1027If not defined, then a default editor is used. 1028.It Ev LISTER 1029Pathname of the directory lister to use in the 1030.Ic folders 1031command. 1032Default is 1033.Pa /bin/ls . 1034.It Ev PAGER 1035Pathname of the program to use in the 1036.Ic more 1037command or when 1038.Va crt 1039variable is set. 1040The default paginator 1041.Xr more 1 1042is used if this option is not defined. 1043.It Ev REPLYTO 1044If set, will be used to initialize the Reply-To field for outgoing 1045messages. 1046.It Ev SHELL 1047Pathname of the shell to use in the 1048.Ic \&! 1049command and the 1050.Ic ~! 1051escape. 1052A default shell is used if this option is 1053not defined. 1054.It Ev VISUAL 1055Pathname of the text editor to use in the 1056.Ic visual 1057command and 1058.Ic ~v 1059escape. 1060.It Va crt 1061The valued option 1062.Va crt 1063is used as a threshold to determine how long a message must 1064be before 1065.Ev PAGER 1066is used to read it. 1067If 1068.Va crt 1069is set without a value, 1070then the height of the terminal screen stored in the system 1071is used to compute the threshold (see 1072.Xr stty 1 ) . 1073.It Va escape 1074If defined, the first character of this option gives the character to 1075use in the place of 1076.Ql ~ 1077to denote escapes. 1078.It Va folder 1079The name of the directory to use for storing folders of 1080messages. 1081If this name begins with a 1082.Ql / , 1083.Nm 1084considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the 1085folder directory is found relative to your home directory. 1086.It Ev MBOX 1087The name of the mailbox file. 1088It can be the name of a folder. 1089The default is 1090.Pa mbox 1091in the user's home directory. 1092.It Va record 1093If defined, gives the pathname of the file used to record all outgoing 1094mail. 1095If not defined, then outgoing mail is not so saved. 1096.It Va indentprefix 1097String used by the 1098.Ic ~m 1099tilde escape for indenting messages, in place of 1100the normal tab character 1101.Pq Li ^I . 1102Be sure to quote the value if it contains 1103spaces or tabs. 1104.It Va toplines 1105If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out 1106with the 1107.Ic top 1108command; normally, the first five lines are printed. 1109.El 1110.Sh ENVIRONMENT 1111.Nm Mail 1112utilizes the 1113.Ev HOME 1114and 1115.Ev USER 1116environment variables. 1117Also, if the 1118.Ev MAIL 1119environment variable is set, it is used as the 1120location of the user's mailbox instead of the 1121default in 1122.Pa /var/mail . 1123.Sh FILES 1124.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.*help" -compact 1125.It Pa /var/mail/* 1126Post office. 1127.It Pa ~/mbox 1128User's old mail. 1129.It Pa ~/.mailrc 1130File giving initial 1131.Nm 1132commands. 1133This can be overridden by setting the 1134.Ev MAILRC 1135environment variable. 1136.It Pa /tmp/R* 1137Temporary files. 1138.It Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.*help 1139Help files. 1140.Pp 1141.It Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.rc 1142.It Pa /usr/local/etc/mail.rc 1143.It Pa /etc/mail.rc 1144System-wide initialization files. 1145Each file will be sourced, in order, 1146if it exists. 1147.El 1148.Sh SEE ALSO 1149.Xr fmt 1 , 1150.Xr newaliases 1 , 1151.Xr vacation 1 , 1152.Xr aliases 5 , 1153.Xr mailaddr 7 , 1154.Xr sendmail 8 1155.Rs 1156.%T "The Mail Reference Manual" 1157.Re 1158.Sh HISTORY 1159A 1160.Nm 1161command 1162appeared in 1163.At v1 . 1164This man page is derived from 1165.%T "The Mail Reference Manual" 1166originally written by 1167.An Kurt Shoens . 1168.Sh BUGS 1169There are some flags that are not documented here. 1170Most are 1171not useful to the general user. 1172.Pp 1173Usually, 1174.Nm 1175is just a link to 1176.Nm Mail 1177and 1178.Nm mailx , 1179which can be confusing. 1180.Pp 1181The name of the 1182.Ic alternates 1183list is incorrect English (it should be 1184.Dq alternatives ) , 1185but is retained for compatibility. 1186