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.\" 34.Dd December 30, 1993 35.Dt MAIL 1 36.Os BSD 4 37.Sh NAME 38.Nm mail 39.Nd send and receive mail 40.Sh SYNOPSIS 41.Nm mail 42.Op Fl iInv 43.Op Fl s Ar subject 44.Op Fl c Ar cc-addr 45.Op Fl b Ar bcc-addr 46.Ar to-addr... 47.Nm mail 48.Op Fl iInNv 49.Fl f 50.Op Ar name 51.Nm mail 52.Op Fl iInNv 53.Op Fl u Ar user 54.Sh INTRODUCTION 55.Nm Mail 56is an intelligent mail processing system, which has 57a command syntax reminiscent of 58.Xr \&ed 1 59with lines replaced by messages. 60.Pp 61.Bl -tag -width flag 62.It Fl v 63Verbose mode. 64The details of 65delivery are displayed on the user's terminal. 66.It Fl i 67Ignore tty interrupt signals. 68This is 69particularly useful when using 70.Nm mail 71on noisy phone lines. 72.It Fl I 73Forces mail to run in interactive mode even when 74input isn't a terminal. 75In particular, the 76.Sq Ic \&~ 77special 78character when sending mail is only active in interactive mode. 79.It Fl n 80Inhibits reading 81.Pa /usr/share/misc/Mail.rc 82upon startup. 83.It Fl N 84Inhibits the initial display of message headers 85when reading mail or editing a mail folder. 86.It Fl s 87Specify subject on command line 88(only the first argument after the 89.Fl s 90flag is used as a subject; be careful to quote subjects 91containing spaces.) 92.It Fl c 93Send carbon copies to 94.Ar list 95of users. 96.It Fl b 97Send blind carbon copies to 98.Ar list . 99List should be a comma-separated list of names. 100.It Fl f 101Read in the contents of your 102.Ar mbox 103(or the specified file) 104for processing; when you 105.Ar quit , 106.Nm mail 107writes undeleted messages back to this file. 108.It Fl u 109Is equivalent to: 110.Pp 111.Dl mail -f /var/spool/mail/user 112.El 113.Ss Sending mail 114To send a message to one or more people, 115.Nm mail 116can be invoked with arguments which are the names of people to 117whom the mail will be sent. 118You are then expected to type in 119your message, followed 120by an 121.Sq Li control\-D 122at the beginning of a line. 123The section below 124.Ar Replying to or originating mail , 125describes some features of 126.Nm mail 127available to help you compose your letter. 128.Pp 129.Ss Reading mail 130In normal usage 131.Nm mail 132is given no arguments and checks your mail out of the 133post office, then 134prints out a one line header of each message found. 135The current message is initially the first message (numbered 1) 136and can be printed using the 137.Ic print 138command (which can be abbreviated 139.Ql Ic p ) . 140You can move among the messages much as you move between lines in 141.Xr \&ed 1 , 142with the commands 143.Ql Ic \&+ 144and 145.Ql Ic \&\- 146moving backwards and forwards, and 147simple numbers. 148.Pp 149.Ss Disposing of mail. 150After examining a message you can 151.Ic delete 152.Ql Ic d ) 153the message or 154.Ic reply 155.Ql Ic r ) 156to it. 157Deletion causes the 158.Nm mail 159program to forget about the message. 160This is not irreversible; the message can be 161.Ic undeleted 162.Ql Ic u ) 163by giving its number, or the 164.Nm mail 165session can be aborted by giving the 166.Ic exit 167.Ql Ic x ) 168command. 169Deleted messages will, however, usually disappear never to be seen again. 170.Pp 171.Ss Specifying messages 172Commands such as 173.Ic print 174and 175.Ic delete 176can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply 177to a number of messages at once. 178Thus 179.Dq Li delete 1 2 180deletes messages 1 and 2, while 181.Dq Li delete 1\-5 182deletes messages 1 through 5. 183The special name 184.Ql Li \&* 185addresses all messages, and 186.Ql Li \&$ 187addresses 188the last message; thus the command 189.Ic top 190which prints the first few lines of a message could be used in 191.Dq Li top \&* 192to print the first few lines of all messages. 193.Pp 194.Ss Replying to or originating mail. 195You can use the 196.Ic reply 197command to 198set up a response to a message, sending it back to the 199person who it was from. 200Text you then type in, up to an end-of-file, 201defines the contents of the message. 202While you are composing a message, 203.Nm mail 204treats lines beginning with the character 205.Ql Ic \&~ 206specially. 207For instance, typing 208.Ql Ic \&~m 209(alone on a line) will place a copy 210of the current message into the response right shifting it by a tabstop 211(see 212.Em indentprefix 213variable, below). 214Other escapes will set up subject fields, add and delete recipients 215to the message and allow you to escape to an editor to revise the 216message or to a shell to run some commands. 217(These options 218are given in the summary below.) 219.Pp 220.Ss Ending a mail processing session. 221You can end a 222.Nm mail 223session with the 224.Ic quit 225.Ql Ic q ) 226command. 227Messages which have been examined go to your 228.Ar mbox 229file unless they have been deleted in which case they are discarded. 230Unexamined messages go back to the post office. 231(See the 232.Fl f 233option above). 234.Pp 235.Ss Personal and systemwide distribution lists. 236It is also possible to create a personal distribution lists so that, 237for instance, you can send mail to 238.Dq Li cohorts 239and have it go 240to a group of people. 241Such lists can be defined by placing a line like 242.Pp 243.Dl alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory 244.Pp 245in the file 246.Pa \&.mailrc 247in your home directory. 248The current list of such aliases can be displayed with the 249.Ic alias 250command in 251.Nm mail . 252System wide distribution lists can be created by editing 253.Pa /etc/aliases , 254see 255.Xr aliases 5 256and 257.Xr sendmail 8 ; 258these are kept in a different syntax. 259In mail you send, personal aliases will be expanded in mail sent 260to others so that they will be able to 261.Ic reply 262to the recipients. 263System wide 264.Ic aliases 265are not expanded when the mail is sent, 266but any reply returned to the machine will have the system wide 267alias expanded as all mail goes through 268.Xr sendmail . 269.Pp 270.Ss Network mail (ARPA, UUCP, Berknet) 271See 272.Xr mailaddr 7 273for a description of network addresses. 274.Pp 275.Nm Mail 276has a number of options which can be set in the 277.Pa .mailrc 278file to alter its behavior; thus 279.Dq Li set askcc 280enables the 281.Ar askcc 282feature. 283(These options are summarized below.) 284.Sh SUMMARY 285(Adapted from the `Mail Reference Manual') 286.Pp 287Each command is typed on a line by itself, and may take arguments 288following the command word. 289The command need not be typed in its 290entirety \- the first command which matches the typed prefix is used. 291For commands which take message lists as arguments, if no message 292list is given, then the next message forward which satisfies the 293command's requirements is used. 294If there are no messages forward of 295the current message, the search proceeds backwards, and if there are no 296good messages at all, 297.Nm mail 298types 299.Dq Li No applicable messages 300and 301aborts the command. 302.Bl -tag -width delete 303.It Ic \&\- 304Print out the preceding message. 305If given a numeric 306argument 307.Ar n , 308goes to the 309.Ar n Ns 'th 310previous message and prints it. 311.It Ic \&? 312Prints a brief summary of commands. 313.It Ic \&! 314Executes the shell 315(see 316.Xr sh 1 317and 318.Xr csh 1 ) 319command which follows. 320.It Ic Print 321.Pq Ic P 322Like 323.Ic print 324but also prints out ignored header fields. 325See also 326.Ic print , 327.Ic ignore 328and 329.Ic retain . 330.It Ic Reply 331.Pq Ic R 332Reply to originator. 333Does not reply to other 334recipients of the original message. 335.It Ic Type 336.Pq Ic T 337Identical to the 338.Ic Print 339command. 340.It Ic alias 341.Pq Ic a 342With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined aliases. 343With one 344argument, prints out that alias. 345With more than one argument, creates 346a new alias or changes an old one. 347.It Ic alternates 348.Pq Ic alt 349The 350.Ic alternates 351command is useful if you have accounts on several machines. 352It can be used to inform 353.Nm mail 354that the listed addresses are really you. 355When you 356.Ic reply 357to messages, 358.Nm mail 359will not send a copy of the message to any of the addresses 360listed on the 361.Ic alternates 362list. 363If the 364.Ic alternates 365command is given with no argument, the current set of alternate 366names is displayed. 367.It Ic chdir 368.Pq Ic c 369Changes the user's working directory to that specified, if given. 370If 371no directory is given, then changes to the user's login directory. 372.It Ic copy 373.Pq Ic co 374The 375.Ic copy 376command does the same thing that 377.Ic save 378does, except that it does not mark the messages it 379is used on for deletion when you quit. 380.It Ic delete 381.Pq Ic d 382Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted. 383Deleted messages will not be saved in 384.Ar mbox , 385nor will they be available for most other commands. 386.It Ic dp 387(also 388.Ic dt ) 389Deletes the current message and prints the next message. 390If there is no next message, 391.Nm mail 392says 393.Dq Li "at EOF" . 394.It Ic edit 395.Pq Ic e 396Takes a list of messages and points the text editor at each one in 397turn. 398On return from the editor, the message is read back in. 399.It Ic exit 400.Pf ( Ic ex 401or 402.Ic x ) 403Effects an immediate return to the Shell without 404modifying the user's system mailbox, his 405.Ar mbox 406file, or his edit file in 407.Fl f . 408.It Ic file 409.Pq Ic fi 410The same as 411.Ic folder . 412.It Ic folders 413List the names of the folders in your folder directory. 414.It Ic folder 415.Pq Ic fo 416The 417.Ic folder 418command switches to a new mail file or folder. 419With no 420arguments, it tells you which file you are currently reading. 421If you give it an argument, it will write out changes (such 422as deletions) you have made in the current file and read in 423the new file. 424Some special conventions are recognized for 425the name. 426# means the previous file, % means your system 427mailbox, %user means user's system mailbox, & means 428your 429.Ar mbox 430file, and 431\&+\&folder means a file in your folder 432directory. 433.It Ic from 434.Pq Ic f 435Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers. 436.It Ic headers 437.Pq Ic h 438Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18\-message group. 439If 440a 441.Ql \&+ 442argument is given, then the next 18\-message group is printed, and if 443a 444.Ql \&\- 445argument is given, the previous 18\-message group is printed. 446.It Ic help 447A synonym for 448.Ic \&? 449.It Ic hold 450.Pf ( Ic ho , 451also 452.Ic preserve ) 453Takes a message list and marks each 454message therein to be saved in the 455user's system mailbox instead of in 456.Ar mbox . 457Does not override the 458.Ic delete 459command. 460.It Ic ignore 461Add the list of header fields named to the 462.Ar ignored list . 463Header fields in the ignore list are not printed 464on your terminal when you print a message. 465This 466command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated 467header fields. 468The 469.Ic Type 470and 471.Ic Print 472commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including 473ignored fields. 474If 475.Ic ignore 476is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 477ignored fields. 478.It Ic mail 479.Pq Ic m 480Takes as argument login names and distribution group names and sends 481mail to those people. 482.It Ic mbox 483Indicate that a list of messages be sent to 484.Ic mbox 485in your home directory when you quit. 486This is the default 487action for messages if you do 488.Em not 489have the 490.Ic hold 491option set. 492.It Ic next 493.Pq Ic n 494like 495.Ic \&+ 496or 497.Tn CR ) 498Goes to the next message in sequence and types it. 499With an argument list, types the next matching message. 500.It Ic preserve 501.Pq Ic pre 502A synonym for 503.Ic hold . 504.It Ic print 505.Pq Ic p 506Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal. 507.It Ic quit 508.Pq Ic q 509Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in 510the user's 511.Ar mbox 512file in his login directory, preserving all messages marked with 513.Ic hold 514or 515.Ic preserve 516or never referenced 517in his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his system 518mailbox. 519If new mail has arrived during the session, the message 520.Dq Li "You have new mail" 521is given. 522If given while editing a 523mailbox file with the 524.Fl f 525flag, then the edit file is rewritten. 526A return to the Shell is 527effected, unless the rewrite of edit file fails, in which case the user 528can escape with the 529.Ic exit 530command. 531.It Ic reply 532.Pq Ic r 533Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all 534recipients of the specified message. 535The default message must not be deleted. 536.It Ic respond 537A synonym for 538.Ic reply . 539.It Ic retain 540Add the list of header fields named to the 541.Ar retained list 542Only the header fields in the retain list 543are shown on your terminal when you print a message. 544All other header fields are suppressed. 545The 546.Ic Type 547and 548.Ic Print 549commands can be used to print a message in its entirety. 550If 551.Ic retain 552is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 553retained fields. 554.It Ic save 555.Pq Ic s 556Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in 557turn to the end of the file. 558The filename in quotes, followed by the line 559count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal. 560.It Ic set 561.Pq Ic se 562With no arguments, prints all variable values. 563Otherwise, sets 564option. 565Arguments are of the form 566.Ar option=value 567(no space before or after =) or 568.Ar option . 569Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment statement to 570quote blanks or tabs, i.e. 571.Dq Li "set indentprefix=\*q->\*q" 572.It Ic saveignore 573.Ic Saveignore 574is to 575.Ic save 576what 577.Ic ignore 578is to 579.Ic print 580and 581.Ic type . 582Header fields thus marked are filtered out when 583saving a message by 584.Ic save 585or when automatically saving to 586.Ar mbox . 587.It Ic saveretain 588.Ic Saveretain 589is to 590.Ic save 591what 592.Ic retain 593is to 594.Ic print 595and 596.Ic type . 597Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved 598with a message when saving by 599.Ic save 600or when automatically saving to 601.Ar mbox . 602.Ic Saveretain 603overrides 604.Ic saveignore . 605.It Ic shell 606.Pq Ic sh 607Invokes an interactive version of the shell. 608.It Ic size 609Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of each 610message. 611.It Ic source 612The 613.Ic source 614command reads 615commands from a file. 616.It Ic top 617Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each. 618The number of 619lines printed is controlled by the variable 620.Ic toplines 621and defaults to five. 622.It Ic type 623.Pq Ic t 624A synonym for 625.Ic print . 626.It Ic unalias 627Takes a list of names defined by 628.Ic alias 629commands and discards the remembered groups of users. 630The group names 631no longer have any significance. 632.It Ic undelete 633.Pq Ic u 634Takes a message list and marks each message as 635.Ic not 636being deleted. 637.It Ic unread 638.Pq Ic U 639Takes a message list and marks each message as 640.Ic not 641having been read. 642.It Ic unset 643Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values; 644the inverse of 645.Ic set . 646.It Ic visual 647.Pq Ic v 648Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message. 649.It Ic write 650.Pq Ic w 651Similar to 652.Ic save , 653except that 654.Ic only 655the message body 656.Pq Ar without 657the header) is saved. 658Extremely useful for such tasks as sending and receiving source 659program text over the message system. 660.It Ic xit 661.Pq Ic x 662A synonym for 663.Ic exit . 664.It Ic z 665.Nm Mail 666presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the 667.Ic headers 668command. 669You can move 670.Nm mail Ns 's 671attention forward to the next window with the 672.Ic \&z 673command. 674Also, you can move to the previous window by using 675.Ic \&z\&\- . 676.El 677.Ss Tilde/Escapes 678.Pp 679Here is a summary of the tilde escapes, 680which are used when composing messages to perform 681special functions. 682Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning 683of lines. 684The name 685.Dq Em tilde\ escape 686is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be set 687by the option 688.Ic escape . 689.Bl -tag -width Ds 690.It Ic \&~! Ns Ar command 691Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the message. 692.It Ic \&~b Ns Ar name ... 693Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients but do not make 694the names visible in the Cc: line ("blind" carbon copy). 695.It Ic \&~c Ns Ar name ... 696Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients. 697.It Ic \&~d 698Read the file 699.Dq Pa dead.letter 700from your home directory into the message. 701.It Ic \&~e 702Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far. 703After the 704editing session is finished, you may continue appending text to the 705message. 706.It Ic \&~f Ns Ar messages 707Read the named messages into the message being sent. 708If no messages are specified, read in the current message. 709Message headers currently being ignored (by the 710.Ic ignore 711or 712.Ic retain 713command) are not included. 714.It Ic \&~F Ns Ar messages 715Identical to 716.Ic \&~f , 717except all message headers are included. 718.It Ic \&~h 719Edit the message header fields by typing each one in turn and allowing 720the user to append text to the end or modify the field by using the 721current terminal erase and kill characters. 722.It Ic \&~m Ns Ar messages 723Read the named messages into the message being sent, indented by a 724tab or by the value of 725.Ar indentprefix . 726If no messages are specified, 727read the current message. 728Message headers currently being ignored (by the 729.Ic ignore 730or 731.Ic retain 732command) are not included. 733.It Ic \&~M Ns Ar messages 734Identical to 735.Ic \&~m , 736except all message headers are included. 737.It Ic \&~p 738Print out the message collected so far, prefaced by the message header 739fields. 740.It Ic \&~q 741Abort the message being sent, copying the message to 742.Dq Pa dead.letter 743in your home directory if 744.Ic save 745is set. 746.It Ic \&~r Ns Ar filename 747Read the named file into the message. 748.It Ic \&~s Ns Ar string 749Cause the named string to become the current subject field. 750.It Ic \&~\&t Ns Ar name ... 751Add the given names to the direct recipient list. 752.It Ic \&~\&v 753Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the 754.Ev VISUAL 755option) on the 756message collected so far. 757Usually, the alternate editor will be a 758screen editor. 759After you quit the editor, you may resume appending 760text to the end of your message. 761.It Ic \&~w Ns Ar filename 762Write the message onto the named file. 763.It Ic \&~\&| Ns Ar command 764Pipe the message through the command as a filter. 765If the command gives 766no output or terminates abnormally, retain the original text of the 767message. 768The command 769.Xr fmt 1 770is often used as 771.Ic command 772to rejustify the message. 773.It Ic \&~: Ns Ar mail-command 774Execute the given mail command. 775Not all commands, however, are allowed. 776.It Ic \&~~ Ns Ar string 777Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single ~. 778If 779you have changed the escape character, then you should double 780that character in order to send it. 781.El 782.Ss Mail Options 783Options are controlled via 784.Ic set 785and 786.Ic unset 787commands. 788Options may be either binary, in which case it is only 789significant to see whether they are set or not; or string, in which 790case the actual value is of interest. 791The binary options include the following: 792.Bl -tag -width append 793.It Ar append 794Causes messages saved in 795.Ar mbox 796to be appended to the end rather than prepended. 797This should always be set (perhaps in 798.Pa /usr/share/misc/Mail.rc ) . 799.It Ar ask 800Causes 801.Nm mail 802to prompt you for the subject of each message you send. 803If 804you respond with simply a newline, no subject field will be sent. 805.It Ar askcc 806Causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients at the 807end of each message. 808Responding with a newline indicates your 809satisfaction with the current list. 810.It Ar autoprint 811Causes the 812.Ic delete 813command to behave like 814.Ic dp 815\- thus, after deleting a message, the next one will be typed 816automatically. 817.It Ar debug 818Setting the binary option 819.Ar debug 820is the same as specifying 821.Fl d 822on the command line and causes 823.Nm mail 824to output all sorts of information useful for debugging 825.Nm mail . 826.It Ar dot 827The binary option 828.Ar dot 829causes 830.Nm mail 831to interpret a period alone on a line as the terminator 832of a message you are sending. 833.It Ar hold 834This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox 835by default. 836.It Ar ignore 837Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be ignored and echoed as 838@'s. 839.It Ar ignoreeof 840An option related to 841.Ar dot 842is 843.Ar ignoreeof 844which makes 845.Nm mail 846refuse to accept a control-d as the end of a message. 847.Ar Ignoreeof 848also applies to 849.Nm mail 850command mode. 851.It Ar metoo 852Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender, the sender 853is removed from the expansion. 854Setting this option causes the sender 855to be included in the group. 856.It Ar noheader 857Setting the option 858.Ar noheader 859is the same as giving the 860.Fl N 861flag on the command line. 862.It Ar nosave 863Normally, when you abort a message with two 864.Tn RUBOUT 865(erase or delete) 866.Nm mail 867copies the partial letter to the file 868.Dq Pa dead.letter 869in your home directory. 870Setting the binary option 871.Ar nosave 872prevents this. 873.It Ar Replyall 874Reverses the sense of 875.Ic reply 876and 877.Ic Reply 878commands. 879.It Ar quiet 880Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked. 881.It Ar searchheaders 882If this option is set, then a message-list specifier in the form ``/x:y'' 883will expand to all messages containing the substring ``y'' in the header 884field ``x''. The string search is case insensitive. 885.It Ar verbose 886Setting the option 887.Ar verbose 888is the same as using the 889.Fl v 890flag on the command line. 891When mail runs in verbose mode, 892the actual delivery of messages is displayed on the user's 893terminal. 894.El 895.Ss Option String Values 896.Bl -tag -width Va 897.It Ev EDITOR 898Pathname of the text editor to use in the 899.Ic edit 900command and 901.Ic \&~e 902escape. 903If not defined, then a default editor is used. 904.It Ev LISTER 905Pathname of the directory lister to use in the 906.Ic folders 907command. 908Default is 909.Pa /bin/ls . 910.It Ev PAGER 911Pathname of the program to use in the 912.Ic more 913command or when 914.Ic crt 915variable is set. 916The default paginator 917.Xr more 1 918is used if this option is not defined. 919.It Ev SHELL 920Pathname of the shell to use in the 921.Ic \&! 922command and the 923.Ic \&~! 924escape. 925A default shell is used if this option is 926not defined. 927.It Ev VISUAL 928Pathname of the text editor to use in the 929.Ic visual 930command and 931.Ic \&~v 932escape. 933.It Va crt 934The valued option 935.Va crt 936is used as a threshold to determine how long a message must 937be before 938.Ev PAGER 939is used to read it. 940If 941.Va crt 942is set without a value, 943then the height of the terminal screen stored in the system 944is used to compute the threshold (see 945.Xr stty 1 ) . 946.It Ar escape 947If defined, the first character of this option gives the character to 948use in the place of ~ to denote escapes. 949.It Ar folder 950The name of the directory to use for storing folders of 951messages. 952If this name begins with a `/', 953.Nm mail 954considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the 955folder directory is found relative to your home directory. 956.It Ev MBOX 957The name of the 958.Ar mbox 959file. 960It can be the name of a folder. 961The default is 962.Dq Li mbox 963in the user's home directory. 964.It Ar record 965If defined, gives the pathname of the file used to record all outgoing 966mail. 967If not defined, then outgoing mail is not so saved. 968.It Ar indentprefix 969String used by the ``~m'' tilde escape for indenting messages, in place of 970the normal tab character (^I). 971Be sure to quote the value if it contains 972spaces or tabs. 973.It Ar toplines 974If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out 975with the 976.Ic top 977command; normally, the first five lines are printed. 978.El 979.Sh ENVIRONMENT 980.Nm Mail 981utilizes the 982.Ev HOME 983and 984.Ev USER 985environment variables. 986.Sh FILES 987.Bl -tag -width /usr/share/misc/Mail.help* -compact 988.It Pa /var/spool/mail/* 989Post office. 990.It ~/mbox 991User's old mail. 992.It ~/.mailrc 993File giving initial mail commands. 994.It Pa /tmp/R* 995Temporary files. 996.It Pa /usr/share/misc/Mail.help* 997Help files. 998.It Pa /usr/share/misc/Mail.rc 999System initialization file. 1000.El 1001.Sh SEE ALSO 1002.Xr fmt 1 , 1003.Xr newaliases 1 , 1004.Xr vacation 1 , 1005.Xr aliases 5 , 1006.Xr mailaddr 7 , 1007.Xr sendmail 8 1008and 1009.Rs 1010.%T "The Mail Reference Manual" . 1011.Re 1012.Sh HISTORY 1013A 1014.Nm mail 1015command 1016appeared in 1017.At v6 . 1018This man page is derived from 1019.%T "The Mail Reference Manual" 1020originally written by Kurt Shoens. 1021.Sh BUGS 1022There are some flags that are not documented here. 1023Most are 1024not useful to the general user. 1025.Pp 1026Usually, 1027.Nm mail 1028is just a link to 1029.Nm Mail , 1030which can be confusing. 1031