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