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