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