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. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 13.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 14.\" without specific prior written permission. 15.\" 16.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 17.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 18.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 19.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 20.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 21.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 22.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 23.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 24.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 25.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 26.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 27.\" 28.\" @(#)mail.1 8.8 (Berkeley) 4/28/95 29.\" $FreeBSD$ 30.\" 31.Dd August 8, 2018 32.Dt MAIL 1 33.Os 34.Sh NAME 35.Nm mail , 36.Nm Mail , 37.Nm mailx 38.Nd send and receive mail 39.Sh SYNOPSIS 40.Nm 41.Op Fl dEiInv 42.Op Fl s Ar subject 43.Op Fl c Ar cc-addr 44.Op Fl b Ar bcc-addr 45.Op Fl F 46.Ar to-addr ... 47.Op Fl Ar sendmail-option ... 48.Nm 49.Op Fl dEHiInNv 50.Op Fl F 51.Fl f 52.Op Ar name 53.Nm 54.Op Fl dEHiInNv 55.Op Fl F 56.Op Fl u Ar user 57.Nm 58.Op Fl d 59.Fl e 60.Op Fl f Ar name 61.Sh INTRODUCTION 62The 63.Nm 64utility is an intelligent mail processing system, which has 65a command syntax reminiscent of 66.Xr ed 1 67with lines replaced by messages. 68.Pp 69The following options are available: 70.Bl -tag -width indent 71.It Fl v 72Verbose mode. 73The details of 74delivery are displayed on the user's terminal. 75.It Fl d 76Debugging mode. 77See the 78.Va debug 79mail option for details. 80.It Fl e 81Test for the presence of mail in the (by default, system) 82mailbox. 83An exit status of 0 is returned if 84it has mail; otherwise, an exit status 85of 1 is returned. 86.It Fl H 87Write a header summary only, then exit. 88.It Fl E 89Do not send messages with an empty body. 90This is useful for piping errors from 91.Xr cron 8 92scripts. 93.It Fl i 94Ignore tty interrupt signals. 95This is 96particularly useful when using 97.Nm 98on noisy phone lines. 99.It Fl I 100Force 101.Nm 102to run in interactive mode even when 103input is not a terminal. 104In particular, the 105.Ql ~ 106special 107character when sending mail is only active in interactive mode. 108.It Fl n 109Inhibit reading the system-wide 110.Pa mail.rc 111files upon startup. 112.It Fl N 113Inhibit the initial display of message headers 114when reading mail or editing a mail folder. 115.It Fl s Ar subject 116Specify 117.Ar subject 118on command line. 119(Only the first argument after the 120.Fl s 121flag is used as a subject; be careful to quote subjects 122containing spaces.) 123.It Fl c Ar cc-addr 124Send carbon copies to 125.Ar cc-addr 126list of users. 127The 128.Ar cc-addr 129argument should be a comma-separated list of names. 130.It Fl b Ar bcc-addr 131Send blind carbon copies to 132.Ar bcc-addr 133list of users. 134The 135.Ar bcc-addr 136argument should be a comma-separated list of names. 137.It Fl f Op Ar mbox 138Read in the contents of your 139.Pa mbox 140(or the specified file) 141for processing; when you 142.Ic quit , 143.Nm 144writes undeleted messages back to this file. 145.It Fl F 146Record the message in a file named after the first 147recipient. 148The name is the login-name portion of the 149address found first on the 150.Dq Li To: 151line in the mail header. 152Overrides the 153.Va record 154variable, if set. 155.It Fl u Ar user 156Is equivalent to: 157.Pp 158.Dl "mail -f /var/mail/user" 159.El 160.Ss "Startup Actions" 161At startup time 162.Nm 163will execute commands in the system command files 164.Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.rc , 165.Pa /usr/local/etc/mail.rc 166and 167.Pa /etc/mail.rc 168in order, unless explicitly told not to by the use of the 169.Fl n 170option. 171Next, the commands in the user's personal command file 172.Pa ~/.mailrc 173are executed. 174The 175.Nm 176utility then examines its command line options to determine whether a 177new message is to be sent, or whether an existing mailbox is to 178be read. 179.Ss "Sending Mail" 180To send a message to one or more people, 181.Nm 182can be invoked with arguments which are the names of people to 183whom the mail will be sent. 184You are then expected to type in 185your message, followed 186by a 187.Aq Li control-D 188at the beginning of a line. 189The section below 190.Sx "Replying To or Originating Mail" , 191describes some features of 192.Nm 193available to help you compose your letter. 194.Ss "Reading Mail" 195In normal usage 196.Nm 197is given no arguments and checks your mail out of the 198post office, then 199prints out a one line header of each message found. 200The current message is initially the first message (numbered 1) 201and can be printed using the 202.Ic print 203command (which can be abbreviated 204.Ic p ) . 205You can move among the messages much as you move between lines in 206.Xr ed 1 , 207with the commands 208.Ic + 209and 210.Ic \- 211moving backwards and forwards, and 212simple numbers. 213.Ss "Disposing of Mail" 214After examining a message you can 215.Ic delete 216.Pq Ic d 217the message or 218.Ic reply 219.Pq Ic r 220to it. 221Deletion causes the 222.Nm 223program to forget about the message. 224This is not irreversible; the message can be 225.Ic undeleted 226.Pq Ic u 227by giving its number, or the 228.Nm 229session can be aborted by giving the 230.Ic exit 231.Pq Ic x 232command. 233Deleted messages will, however, usually disappear never to be seen again. 234.Ss "Specifying Messages" 235Commands such as 236.Ic print 237and 238.Ic delete 239can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply 240to a number of messages at once. 241Thus 242.Dq Li "delete 1 2" 243deletes messages 1 and 2, while 244.Dq Li "delete 1\-5" 245deletes messages 1 through 5. 246The special name 247.Ql * 248addresses all messages, and 249.Ql $ 250addresses 251the last message; thus the command 252.Ic top 253which prints the first few lines of a message could be used in 254.Dq Li "top *" 255to print the first few lines of all messages. 256.Ss "Replying To or Originating Mail" 257You can use the 258.Ic reply 259command to 260set up a response to a message, sending it back to the 261person who it was from. 262Text you then type in, up to an end-of-file, 263defines the contents of the message. 264While you are composing a message, 265.Nm 266treats lines beginning with the character 267.Ql ~ 268specially. 269For instance, typing 270.Ic ~m 271(alone on a line) will place a copy 272of the current message into the response right shifting it by a tabstop 273(see 274.Va indentprefix 275variable, below). 276Other escapes will set up subject fields, add and delete recipients 277to the message and allow you to escape to an editor to revise the 278message or to a shell to run some commands. 279(These options 280are given in the summary below.) 281.Ss "Ending a Mail Processing Session" 282You can end a 283.Nm 284session with the 285.Ic quit 286.Pq Ic q 287command. 288Messages which have been examined go to your 289.Pa mbox 290file unless they have been deleted in which case they are discarded. 291Unexamined messages go back to the post office. 292(See the 293.Fl f 294option above). 295.Ss "Personal and System Wide Distribution Lists" 296It is also possible to create a personal distribution lists so that, 297for instance, you can send mail to 298.Dq Li cohorts 299and have it go 300to a group of people. 301Such lists can be defined by placing a line like 302.Pp 303.Dl "alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory" 304.Pp 305in the file 306.Pa .mailrc 307in your home directory. 308The current list of such aliases can be displayed with the 309.Ic alias 310command in 311.Nm . 312System wide distribution lists can be created by editing 313.Pa /etc/mail/aliases , 314see 315.Xr aliases 5 316and 317.Xr sendmail 8 ; 318these are kept in a different syntax. 319In mail you send, personal aliases will be expanded in mail sent 320to others so that they will be able to 321.Ic reply 322to the recipients. 323System wide 324aliases 325are not expanded when the mail is sent, 326but any reply returned to the machine will have the system wide 327alias expanded as all mail goes through 328.Xr sendmail 8 . 329.Ss "Network Mail (ARPA, UUCP, Berknet)" 330.Pp 331The 332.Nm 333utility has a number of options which can be set in the 334.Pa .mailrc 335file to alter its behavior; thus 336.Dq Li "set askcc" 337enables the 338.Va askcc 339feature. 340(These options are summarized below.) 341.Sh SUMMARY 342(Adapted from the 343.%T "Mail Reference Manual" . ) 344.Pp 345Each command is typed on a line by itself, and may take arguments 346following the command word. 347The command need not be typed in its 348entirety \(em the first command which matches the typed prefix is used. 349For commands which take message lists as arguments, if no message 350list is given, then the next message forward which satisfies the 351command's requirements is used. 352If there are no messages forward of 353the current message, the search proceeds backwards, and if there are no 354good messages at all, 355.Nm 356types 357.Dq Li "No applicable messages" 358and 359aborts the command. 360.Bl -tag -width indent 361.It Ic \- 362Print out the preceding message. 363If given a numeric 364argument 365.Ar n , 366goes to the 367.Ar n Ns 'th 368previous message and prints it. 369.It Ic # 370ignore the remainder of the line as a comment. 371.It Ic \&? 372Prints a brief summary of commands. 373.It Ic \&! 374Executes the shell 375(see 376.Xr sh 1 377and 378.Xr csh 1 ) 379command which follows. 380.It Ic Print 381.Pq Ic P 382Like 383.Ic print 384but also prints out ignored header fields. 385See also 386.Ic print , ignore 387and 388.Ic retain . 389.It Ic Reply 390.Pq Ic R 391Reply to originator. 392Does not reply to other 393recipients of the original message. 394.It Ic Type 395.Pq Ic T 396Identical to the 397.Ic Print 398command. 399.It Ic alias 400.Pq Ic a 401With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined aliases. 402With one 403argument, prints out that alias. 404With more than one argument, creates 405a new alias or changes an old one. 406.It Ic alternates 407.Pq Ic alt 408The 409.Ic alternates 410command is useful if you have accounts on several machines. 411It can be used to inform 412.Nm 413that the listed addresses are really you. 414When you 415.Ic reply 416to messages, 417.Nm 418will not send a copy of the message to any of the addresses 419listed on the 420.Ic alternates 421list. 422If the 423.Ic alternates 424command is given with no argument, the current set of alternative 425names is displayed. 426.It Ic chdir 427.Pq Ic c 428Changes the user's working directory to that specified, if given. 429If 430no directory is given, then changes to the user's login directory. 431.It Ic copy 432.Pq Ic co 433The 434.Ic copy 435command does the same thing that 436.Ic save 437does, except that it does not mark the messages it 438is used on for deletion when you 439.Ic quit . 440.It Ic delete 441.Pq Ic d 442Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted. 443Deleted messages will not be saved in 444.Pa mbox , 445nor will they be available for most other commands. 446.It Ic dp 447(also 448.Ic dt ) 449Deletes the current message and prints the next message. 450If there is no next message, 451.Nm 452says 453.Dq Li "at EOF" . 454.It Ic edit 455.Pq Ic e 456Takes a list of messages and points the text editor at each one in 457turn. 458On return from the editor, the message is read back in. 459.It Ic exit 460.Ic ( ex 461or 462.Ic x ) 463Effects an immediate return to the shell without 464modifying the user's system mailbox, his 465.Pa mbox 466file, or his edit file in 467.Fl f . 468.It Ic file 469.Pq Ic fi 470The same as 471.Ic folder . 472.It Ic folders 473List the names of the folders in your folder directory. 474.It Ic folder 475.Pq Ic fo 476The 477.Ic folder 478command switches to a new mail file or folder. 479With no 480arguments, it tells you which file you are currently reading. 481If you give it an argument, it will write out changes (such 482as deletions) you have made in the current file and read in 483the new file. 484Some special conventions are recognized for 485the name. 486.Ql # 487means the previous file, 488.Ql % 489means your system mailbox, 490.Dq Li % Ns Ar user 491means user's system mailbox, 492.Ql & 493means your 494.Pa mbox 495file, and 496.Dq Li + Ns Ar folder 497means a file in your folder 498directory. 499.It Ic from 500.Pq Ic f 501Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers. 502.It Ic headers 503.Pq Ic h 504Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18-message group. 505If 506a 507.Ql + 508argument is given, then the next 18-message group is printed, and if 509a 510.Ql \- 511argument is given, the previous 18-message group is printed. 512.It Ic help 513A synonym for 514.Ic \&? . 515.It Ic hold 516.Ic ( ho , 517also 518.Ic preserve ) 519Takes a message list and marks each 520message therein to be saved in the 521user's system mailbox instead of in 522.Pa mbox . 523Does not override the 524.Ic delete 525command. 526.It Ic ignore 527Add the list of header fields named to the 528.Ar ignored list . 529Header fields in the ignore list are not printed 530on your terminal when you print a message. 531This 532command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated 533header fields. 534The 535.Ic Type 536and 537.Ic Print 538commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including 539ignored fields. 540If 541.Ic ignore 542is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 543ignored fields. 544.It Ic inc 545Incorporate any new messages that have arrived while mail 546is being read. 547The new messages are added to the end of the message list, 548and the current message is reset to be the first new mail message. 549This does not renumber the existing message list, nor 550does it cause any changes made so far to be saved. 551.It Ic mail 552.Pq Ic m 553Takes as argument login names and distribution group names and sends 554mail to those people. 555.It Ic mbox 556Indicate that a list of messages be sent to 557.Pa mbox 558in your home directory when you quit. 559This is the default 560action for messages if you do 561.Em not 562have the 563.Ic hold 564option set. 565.It Ic more 566.Pq Ic mo 567Takes a list of messages and invokes the pager on that list. 568.It Ic next 569.Ic ( n , 570like 571.Ic + 572or 573.Tn CR ) 574Goes to the next message in sequence and types it. 575With an argument list, types the next matching message. 576.It Ic preserve 577.Pq Ic pre 578A synonym for 579.Ic hold . 580.It Ic print 581.Pq Ic p 582Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal. 583.It Ic quit 584.Pq Ic q 585Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in 586the user's 587.Pa mbox 588file in his login directory, preserving all messages marked with 589.Ic hold 590or 591.Ic preserve 592or never referenced 593in his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his system 594mailbox. 595If new mail has arrived during the session, the message 596.Dq Li "You have new mail" 597is given. 598If given while editing a 599mailbox file with the 600.Fl f 601flag, then the edit file is rewritten. 602A return to the shell is 603effected, unless the rewrite of edit file fails, in which case the user 604can escape with the 605.Ic exit 606command. 607.It Ic reply 608.Pq Ic r 609Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all 610recipients of the specified message. 611The default message must not be deleted. 612.It Ic respond 613A synonym for 614.Ic reply . 615.It Ic retain 616Add the list of header fields named to the 617.Em "retained list" . 618Only the header fields in the retained list 619are shown on your terminal when you print a message. 620All other header fields are suppressed. 621The 622.Ic type 623and 624.Ic print 625commands can be used to print a message in its entirety. 626If 627.Ic retain 628is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 629retained fields. 630.It Ic save 631.Pq Ic s 632Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in 633turn to the end of the file. 634The filename in quotes, followed by the line 635count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal. 636.It Ic set 637.Pq Ic se 638With no arguments, prints all variable values. 639Otherwise, sets 640option. 641Arguments are of the form 642.Ar option Ns Li = Ns Ar value 643(no space before or after 644.Ql = ) 645or 646.Ar option . 647Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment statement to 648quote blanks or tabs, i.e.\& 649.Dq Li "set indentprefix=\*q->\*q" 650.It Ic saveignore 651.Ic Saveignore 652is to 653.Ic save 654what 655.Ic ignore 656is to 657.Ic print 658and 659.Ic type . 660Header fields thus marked are filtered out when 661saving a message by 662.Ic save 663or when automatically saving to 664.Pa mbox . 665.It Ic saveretain 666.Ic Saveretain 667is to 668.Ic save 669what 670.Ic retain 671is to 672.Ic print 673and 674.Ic type . 675Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved 676with a message when saving by 677.Ic save 678or when automatically saving to 679.Pa mbox . 680.Ic Saveretain 681overrides 682.Ic saveignore . 683.It Ic shell 684.Pq Ic sh 685Invokes an interactive version of the shell. 686.It Ic size 687Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of each 688message. 689.It Ic source 690The 691.Ic source 692command reads 693commands from a file. 694.It Ic top 695Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each. 696The number of 697lines printed is controlled by the variable 698.Va toplines 699and defaults to 5. 700.It Ic type 701.Pq Ic t 702A synonym for 703.Ic print . 704.It Ic unalias 705Takes a list of names defined by 706.Ic alias 707commands and discards the remembered groups of users. 708The group names 709no longer have any significance. 710.It Ic undelete 711.Pq Ic u 712Takes a message list and marks each message as 713.Em not 714being deleted. 715.It Ic unread 716.Pq Ic U 717Takes a message list and marks each message as 718.Em not 719having been read. 720.It Ic unset 721Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values; 722the inverse of 723.Ic set . 724.It Ic visual 725.Pq Ic v 726Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message. 727.It Ic write 728.Pq Ic w 729Similar to 730.Ic save , 731except that 732.Em only 733the message body 734.Em ( without 735the header) is saved. 736Extremely useful for such tasks as sending and receiving source 737program text over the message system. 738.It Ic xit 739.Pq Ic x 740A synonym for 741.Ic exit . 742.It Ic z 743The 744.Nm 745utility presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the 746.Ic headers 747command. 748You can move 749.Nm Ns 's 750attention forward to the next window with the 751.Ic z 752command. 753Also, you can move to the previous window by using 754.Ic z\- . 755.El 756.Ss Tilde/Escapes 757Here is a summary of the tilde escapes, 758which are used when composing messages to perform 759special functions. 760Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning 761of lines. 762The name 763.Dq "tilde escape" 764is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be set 765by the option 766.Va escape . 767.Bl -tag -width indent 768.It Ic ~a 769Inserts the autograph string from the sign= option into the message. 770.It Ic ~A 771Inserts the autograph string from the Sign= option into the message. 772.It Ic ~b Ar name ... 773Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients but do not make 774the names visible in the Cc: line 775.Dq ( blind 776carbon copy). 777.It Ic ~c Ar name ... 778Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients. 779.It Ic ~d 780Read the file 781.Pa dead.letter 782from your home directory into the message. 783.It Ic ~e 784Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far. 785After the 786editing session is finished, you may continue appending text to the 787message. 788.It Ic ~f Ar messages 789Read the named messages into the message being sent. 790If no messages are specified, read in the current message. 791Message headers currently being ignored (by the 792.Ic ignore 793or 794.Ic retain 795command) are not included. 796.It Ic ~F Ar messages 797Identical to 798.Ic ~f , 799except all message headers are included. 800.It Ic ~h 801Edit the message header fields by typing each one in turn and allowing 802the user to append text to the end or modify the field by using the 803current terminal erase and kill characters. 804.It Ic ~i Ar string 805Inserts the value of the named option into the text of the message. 806.It Ic ~m Ar messages 807Read the named messages into the message being sent, indented by a 808tab or by the value of 809.Va indentprefix . 810If no messages are specified, 811read the current message. 812Message headers currently being ignored (by the 813.Ic ignore 814or 815.Ic retain 816command) are not included. 817.It Ic ~M Ar messages 818Identical to 819.Ic ~m , 820except all message headers are included. 821.It Ic ~p 822Print out the message collected so far, prefaced by the message header 823fields. 824.It Ic ~q 825Abort the message being sent, copying the message to 826.Pa dead.letter 827in your home directory if 828.Va save 829is set. 830.It Ic ~r Ar filename , Ic ~r Li \&! Ns Ar command 831.It Ic ~< Ar filename , Ic ~< Li \&! Ns Ar command 832Read the named file into the message. 833If the argument begins with a 834.Ql \&! , 835the rest of the string is taken as an arbitrary system command and is 836executed, with the standard output inserted into the message. 837.It Ic ~R Ar string 838Use 839.Ar string 840as the Reply-To field. 841.It Ic ~s Ar string 842Cause the named string to become the current subject field. 843.It Ic ~t Ar name ... 844Add the given names to the direct recipient list. 845.It Ic ~v 846Invoke an alternative editor (defined by the 847.Ev VISUAL 848environment variable) on the 849message collected so far. 850Usually, the alternative editor will be a 851screen editor. 852After you quit the editor, you may resume appending 853text to the end of your message. 854.It Ic ~w Ar filename 855Write the message onto the named file. 856.It Ic ~x 857Exits as with 858.Ic ~q , 859except the message is not saved in 860.Pa dead.letter . 861.It Ic ~! Ar command 862Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the message. 863.It Ic ~| Ar command , Ic ~^ Ar command 864Pipe the message through the command as a filter. 865If the command gives 866no output or terminates abnormally, retain the original text of the 867message. 868The command 869.Xr fmt 1 870is often used as 871.Ar command 872to rejustify the message. 873.It Ic ~: Ar mail-command , Ic ~_ Ar mail-command 874Execute the given 875.Nm 876command. 877Not all commands, however, are allowed. 878.It Ic ~. 879Simulate end-of-file on input. 880.It Ic ~? 881Print a summary of the available command escapes. 882.It Ic ~~ Ar string 883Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single 884.Ql ~ . 885If 886you have changed the escape character, then you should double 887that character in order to send it. 888.El 889.Ss "Mail Options" 890Options can be set with the 891.Ic set 892command 893and can be disabled with the 894.Ic unset 895or 896.Ic set Cm no Ns Ar name 897commands. 898Options may be either binary, in which case it is only 899significant to see whether they are set or not; or string, in which 900case the actual value is of interest. 901If an option is not set, 902.Nm 903will look for an environment variable of the same name. 904The available options include the following: 905.Bl -tag -width indent 906.It Va append 907Causes messages saved in 908.Pa mbox 909to be appended to the end rather than prepended. 910This should always be set (preferably in one of the system-wide 911.Pa mail.rc 912files). 913Default is 914.Va noappend . 915.It Va ask , asksub 916Causes 917.Nm 918to prompt you for the subject of each message you send. 919If 920you respond with simply a newline, no subject field will be sent. 921Default is 922.Va asksub . 923.It Va askbcc 924Causes you to be prompted for additional blind carbon copy recipients at the 925end of each message. 926Responding with a newline indicates your 927satisfaction with the current list. 928Default is 929.Va noaskbcc . 930.It Va askcc 931Causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients at the 932end of each message. 933Responding with a newline indicates your 934satisfaction with the current list. 935Default is 936.Va noaskcc . 937.It Va autoinc 938Causes new mail to be automatically incorporated when it arrives. 939Setting this is similar to issuing the 940.Ic inc 941command at each prompt, except that the current message is not 942reset when new mail arrives. 943Default is 944.Va noautoinc . 945.It Va autoprint 946Causes the 947.Ic delete 948command to behave like 949.Ic dp ; 950thus, after deleting a message, the next one will be typed 951automatically. 952Default is 953.Va noautoprint . 954.It Va crt 955The valued option 956.Va crt 957is used as a threshold to determine how long a message must 958be before 959.Ev PAGER 960is used to read it. 961If 962.Va crt 963is set without a value, 964then the height of the terminal screen stored in the system 965is used to compute the threshold (see 966.Xr stty 1 ) . 967Default is 968.Va nocrt . 969.It Va debug 970Setting the binary option 971.Va debug 972is the same as specifying 973.Fl d 974on the command line and causes 975.Nm 976to output all sorts of information useful for debugging 977.Nm . 978In case 979.Nm 980is invoked in this mode to send mail, all preparations 981will be performed and reported about, but the mail will 982not be actually sent. 983Default is 984.Va nodebug . 985.It Va dot 986The binary option 987.Va dot 988causes 989.Nm 990to interpret a period alone on a line as the terminator 991of a message you are sending. 992Default is 993.Va nodot . 994.It Va escape 995If defined, the first character of this option gives the character to 996use in place of 997.Ql ~ 998to denote escapes. 999.It Va flipr 1000Reverses the sense of 1001.Ic reply 1002and 1003.Ic Reply 1004commands. 1005Default is 1006.Va noflipr . 1007.It Va folder 1008The name of the directory to use for storing folders of 1009messages. 1010If this name begins with a 1011.Ql / , 1012.Nm 1013considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the 1014folder directory is found relative to your home directory. 1015.It Va header 1016If defined, initially display message headers when reading mail or 1017editing a mail folder. 1018Default is 1019.Va header . 1020This option can be disabled by giving the 1021.Fl N 1022flag on the command line. 1023.It Va hold 1024This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox 1025by default. 1026Default is 1027.Va nohold . 1028.It Va ignore 1029Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be ignored and echoed as 1030.Li @ Ns 's. 1031Default is 1032.Va noignore . 1033.It Va ignoreeof 1034An option related to 1035.Va dot 1036is 1037.Va ignoreeof 1038which makes 1039.Nm 1040refuse to accept a 1041.Aq Li control-D 1042as the end of a message. 1043.Ar Ignoreeof 1044also applies to 1045.Nm 1046command mode. 1047Default is 1048.Va noignoreeof . 1049.It Va indentprefix 1050String used by the 1051.Ic ~m 1052tilde escape for indenting messages, in place of 1053the normal tab character 1054.Pq Li ^I . 1055Be sure to quote the value if it contains 1056spaces or tabs. 1057.It Va metoo 1058Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender, the sender 1059is removed from the expansion. 1060Setting this option causes the sender 1061to be included in the group. 1062Default is 1063.Va nometoo . 1064.It Va quiet 1065Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked. 1066Default is 1067.Va noquiet . 1068.It Va record 1069If defined, gives the pathname of the file used to record all outgoing 1070mail. 1071If not defined, outgoing mail is not saved. 1072Default is 1073.Va norecord . 1074.It Va Replyall 1075Reverses the sense of 1076.Ic reply 1077and 1078.Ic Reply 1079commands. 1080Default is 1081.Va noReplyall . 1082.It Va save 1083If this option is set, and you abort a message with two 1084.Tn RUBOUT 1085(erase or delete), 1086.Nm 1087will copy the partial letter to the file 1088.Pa dead.letter 1089in your home directory. 1090Default is 1091.Va save . 1092.It Va searchheaders 1093If this option is set, then a message-list specifier in the form 1094.Dq Li / Ns Ar x Ns : Ns Ar y 1095will expand to all messages containing the substring 1096.Ar y 1097in the header field 1098.Ar x . 1099The string search is case insensitive. 1100If 1101.Ar x 1102is omitted, it will default to the 1103.Dq Li Subject 1104header field. 1105The form 1106.Dq Li /to: Ns Ar y 1107is a special case, and will expand 1108to all messages containing the substring 1109.Ar y 1110in the 1111.Dq Li To , 1112.Dq Li Cc 1113or 1114.Dq Li Bcc 1115header fields. 1116The check for 1117.Qq Li "to" 1118is case sensitive, so that 1119.Dq Li /To: Ns Ar y 1120can be used to limit the search for 1121.Ar y 1122to just the 1123.Dq Li To: 1124field. 1125Default is 1126.Va nosearchheaders . 1127.It Va toplines 1128If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out 1129with the 1130.Ic top 1131command; normally, the first five lines are printed. 1132.It Va verbose 1133Setting the option 1134.Va verbose 1135is the same as using the 1136.Fl v 1137flag on the command line. 1138When 1139.Nm 1140runs in verbose mode, 1141the actual delivery of messages is displayed on the user's 1142terminal. 1143Default is 1144.Va noverbose . 1145.El 1146.Sh ENVIRONMENT 1147.Bl -tag -width ".Ev REPLYTO" 1148.It Ev DEAD 1149Pathname of the file to save partial messages to in case of interrupts 1150or delivery errors. 1151Default is 1152.Pa ~/dead.letter . 1153.It Ev EDITOR 1154Pathname of the text editor to use in the 1155.Ic edit 1156command and 1157.Ic ~e 1158escape. 1159If not defined, then a default editor is used. 1160.It Ev HOME 1161Pathname of the user's home directory. 1162.It Ev LISTER 1163Pathname of the directory lister to use in the 1164.Ic folders 1165command. 1166Default is 1167.Pa /bin/ls . 1168.It Ev MAIL 1169Location of the user's mailbox. 1170Default is 1171.Pa /var/mail . 1172.It Ev MAILRC 1173Pathname of file containing initial 1174.Nm 1175commands. 1176Default is 1177.Pa ~/.mailrc . 1178.It Ev MBOX 1179The name of the mailbox file. 1180It can be the name of a folder. 1181The default is 1182.Pa mbox 1183in the user's home directory. 1184.It Ev PAGER 1185Pathname of the program to use in the 1186.Ic more 1187command or when 1188.Va crt 1189variable is set. 1190The default paginator 1191.Xr less 1 1192is used if this option is not defined. 1193.It Ev REPLYTO 1194If set, will be used to initialize the Reply-To field for outgoing 1195messages. 1196.It Ev SHELL 1197Pathname of the shell to use in the 1198.Ic \&! 1199command and the 1200.Ic ~! 1201escape. 1202A default shell is used if this option is 1203not defined. 1204.It Ev TMPDIR 1205Pathname of the directory used for creating temporary files. 1206.It Ev VISUAL 1207Pathname of the text editor to use in the 1208.Ic visual 1209command and 1210.Ic ~v 1211escape. 1212.It Ev USER 1213Login name of the user executing mail. 1214.El 1215.Sh FILES 1216.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.*help" -compact 1217.It Pa /var/mail/* 1218Post office. 1219.It Pa ~/mbox 1220User's old mail. 1221.It Pa ~/.mailrc 1222File giving initial 1223.Nm 1224commands. 1225This can be overridden by setting the 1226.Ev MAILRC 1227environment variable. 1228.It Pa /tmp/R* 1229Temporary files. 1230.It Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.*help 1231Help files. 1232.Pp 1233.It Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.rc 1234.It Pa /usr/local/etc/mail.rc 1235.It Pa /etc/mail.rc 1236System-wide initialization files. 1237Each file will be sourced, in order, 1238if it exists. 1239.El 1240.Sh SEE ALSO 1241.Xr fmt 1 , 1242.Xr newaliases 1 , 1243.Xr vacation 1 , 1244.Xr aliases 5 , 1245.Xr sendmail 8 1246.Sh HISTORY 1247A 1248.Nm 1249command 1250appeared in 1251.At v1 . 1252This man page is derived from 1253.%T "The Mail Reference Manual" 1254originally written by 1255.An Kurt Shoens . 1256.Sh BUGS 1257There are some flags that are not documented here. 1258Most are 1259not useful to the general user. 1260.Pp 1261Usually, 1262.Nm 1263is just a link to 1264.Nm Mail 1265and 1266.Nm mailx , 1267which can be confusing. 1268.Pp 1269The name of the 1270.Ic alternates 1271list is incorrect English (it should be 1272.Dq alternatives ) , 1273but is retained for compatibility. 1274