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 8.8 (Berkeley) 4/28/95 33.\" $FreeBSD$ 34.\" 35.Dd February 29, 2004 36.Dt MAIL 1 37.Os 38.Sh NAME 39.Nm mail , 40.Nm Mail , 41.Nm mailx 42.Nd send and receive mail 43.Sh SYNOPSIS 44.Nm 45.Op Fl EiInv 46.Op Fl s Ar subject 47.Op Fl c Ar cc-addr 48.Op Fl b Ar bcc-addr 49.Op Fl F 50.Ar to-addr ... 51.Op Fl Ar sendmail-option ... 52.Nm 53.Op Fl EHiInNv 54.Op Fl F 55.Fl f 56.Op Ar name 57.Nm 58.Op Fl EHiInNv 59.Op Fl F 60.Op Fl u Ar user 61.Nm 62.Fl e 63.Op Fl f Ar name 64.Nm 65.Op Fl H 66.Sh INTRODUCTION 67The 68.Nm 69utility is an intelligent mail processing system, which has 70a command syntax reminiscent of 71.Xr ed 1 72with lines replaced by messages. 73.Pp 74The following options are available: 75.Bl -tag -width indent 76.It Fl v 77Verbose mode. 78The details of 79delivery are displayed on the user's terminal. 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. 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 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)" 330See 331.Xr mailaddr 7 332for a description of network addresses. 333.Pp 334The 335.Nm 336utility has a number of options which can be set in the 337.Pa .mailrc 338file to alter its behavior; thus 339.Dq Li "set askcc" 340enables the 341.Va askcc 342feature. 343(These options are summarized below.) 344.Sh SUMMARY 345(Adapted from the 346.%T "Mail Reference Manual" . ) 347.Pp 348Each command is typed on a line by itself, and may take arguments 349following the command word. 350The command need not be typed in its 351entirety \(em the first command which matches the typed prefix is used. 352For commands which take message lists as arguments, if no message 353list is given, then the next message forward which satisfies the 354command's requirements is used. 355If there are no messages forward of 356the current message, the search proceeds backwards, and if there are no 357good messages at all, 358.Nm 359types 360.Dq Li "No applicable messages" 361and 362aborts the command. 363.Bl -tag -width indent 364.It Ic \- 365Print out the preceding message. 366If given a numeric 367argument 368.Ar n , 369goes to the 370.Ar n Ns 'th 371previous message and prints it. 372.It Ic # 373ignore the remainder of the line as a comment. 374.It Ic \&? 375Prints a brief summary of commands. 376.It Ic \&! 377Executes the shell 378(see 379.Xr sh 1 380and 381.Xr csh 1 ) 382command which follows. 383.It Ic Print 384.Pq Ic P 385Like 386.Ic print 387but also prints out ignored header fields. 388See also 389.Ic print , ignore 390and 391.Ic retain . 392.It Ic Reply 393.Pq Ic R 394Reply to originator. 395Does not reply to other 396recipients of the original message. 397.It Ic Type 398.Pq Ic T 399Identical to the 400.Ic Print 401command. 402.It Ic alias 403.Pq Ic a 404With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined aliases. 405With one 406argument, prints out that alias. 407With more than one argument, creates 408a new alias or changes an old one. 409.It Ic alternates 410.Pq Ic alt 411The 412.Ic alternates 413command is useful if you have accounts on several machines. 414It can be used to inform 415.Nm 416that the listed addresses are really you. 417When you 418.Ic reply 419to messages, 420.Nm 421will not send a copy of the message to any of the addresses 422listed on the 423.Ic alternates 424list. 425If the 426.Ic alternates 427command is given with no argument, the current set of alternative 428names is displayed. 429.It Ic chdir 430.Pq Ic c 431Changes the user's working directory to that specified, if given. 432If 433no directory is given, then changes to the user's login directory. 434.It Ic copy 435.Pq Ic co 436The 437.Ic copy 438command does the same thing that 439.Ic save 440does, except that it does not mark the messages it 441is used on for deletion when you 442.Ic quit . 443.It Ic delete 444.Pq Ic d 445Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted. 446Deleted messages will not be saved in 447.Pa mbox , 448nor will they be available for most other commands. 449.It Ic dp 450(also 451.Ic dt ) 452Deletes the current message and prints the next message. 453If there is no next message, 454.Nm 455says 456.Dq Li "at EOF" . 457.It Ic edit 458.Pq Ic e 459Takes a list of messages and points the text editor at each one in 460turn. 461On return from the editor, the message is read back in. 462.It Ic exit 463.Ic ( ex 464or 465.Ic x ) 466Effects an immediate return to the shell without 467modifying the user's system mailbox, his 468.Pa mbox 469file, or his edit file in 470.Fl f . 471.It Ic file 472.Pq Ic fi 473The same as 474.Ic folder . 475.It Ic folders 476List the names of the folders in your folder directory. 477.It Ic folder 478.Pq Ic fo 479The 480.Ic folder 481command switches to a new mail file or folder. 482With no 483arguments, it tells you which file you are currently reading. 484If you give it an argument, it will write out changes (such 485as deletions) you have made in the current file and read in 486the new file. 487Some special conventions are recognized for 488the name. 489.Ql # 490means the previous file, 491.Ql % 492means your system mailbox, 493.Dq Li % Ns Ar user 494means user's system mailbox, 495.Ql & 496means your 497.Pa mbox 498file, and 499.Dq Li + Ns Ar folder 500means a file in your folder 501directory. 502.It Ic from 503.Pq Ic f 504Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers. 505.It Ic headers 506.Pq Ic h 507Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18-message group. 508If 509a 510.Ql + 511argument is given, then the next 18-message group is printed, and if 512a 513.Ql \- 514argument is given, the previous 18-message group is printed. 515.It Ic help 516A synonym for 517.Ic \&? . 518.It Ic hold 519.Ic ( ho , 520also 521.Ic preserve ) 522Takes a message list and marks each 523message therein to be saved in the 524user's system mailbox instead of in 525.Pa mbox . 526Does not override the 527.Ic delete 528command. 529.It Ic ignore 530Add the list of header fields named to the 531.Ar ignored list . 532Header fields in the ignore list are not printed 533on your terminal when you print a message. 534This 535command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated 536header fields. 537The 538.Ic Type 539and 540.Ic Print 541commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including 542ignored fields. 543If 544.Ic ignore 545is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 546ignored fields. 547.It Ic inc 548Incorporate any new messages that have arrived while mail 549is being read. 550The new messages are added to the end of the message list, 551and the current message is reset to be the first new mail message. 552This does not renumber the existing message list, nor 553does it cause any changes made so far to be saved. 554.It Ic mail 555.Pq Ic m 556Takes as argument login names and distribution group names and sends 557mail to those people. 558.It Ic mbox 559Indicate that a list of messages be sent to 560.Pa mbox 561in your home directory when you quit. 562This is the default 563action for messages if you do 564.Em not 565have the 566.Ic hold 567option set. 568.It Ic more 569.Pq Ic mo 570Takes a list of messages and invokes the pager on that list. 571.It Ic next 572.Ic ( n , 573like 574.Ic + 575or 576.Tn CR ) 577Goes to the next message in sequence and types it. 578With an argument list, types the next matching message. 579.It Ic preserve 580.Pq Ic pre 581A synonym for 582.Ic hold . 583.It Ic print 584.Pq Ic p 585Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal. 586.It Ic quit 587.Pq Ic q 588Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in 589the user's 590.Pa mbox 591file in his login directory, preserving all messages marked with 592.Ic hold 593or 594.Ic preserve 595or never referenced 596in his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his system 597mailbox. 598If new mail has arrived during the session, the message 599.Dq Li "You have new mail" 600is given. 601If given while editing a 602mailbox file with the 603.Fl f 604flag, then the edit file is rewritten. 605A return to the shell is 606effected, unless the rewrite of edit file fails, in which case the user 607can escape with the 608.Ic exit 609command. 610.It Ic reply 611.Pq Ic r 612Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all 613recipients of the specified message. 614The default message must not be deleted. 615.It Ic respond 616A synonym for 617.Ic reply . 618.It Ic retain 619Add the list of header fields named to the 620.Em "retained list" . 621Only the header fields in the retained list 622are shown on your terminal when you print a message. 623All other header fields are suppressed. 624The 625.Ic type 626and 627.Ic print 628commands can be used to print a message in its entirety. 629If 630.Ic retain 631is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 632retained fields. 633.It Ic save 634.Pq Ic s 635Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in 636turn to the end of the file. 637The filename in quotes, followed by the line 638count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal. 639.It Ic set 640.Pq Ic se 641With no arguments, prints all variable values. 642Otherwise, sets 643option. 644Arguments are of the form 645.Ar option Ns Li = Ns Ar value 646(no space before or after 647.Ql = ) 648or 649.Ar option . 650Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment statement to 651quote blanks or tabs, i.e.\& 652.Dq Li "set indentprefix=\*q->\*q" 653.It Ic saveignore 654.Ic Saveignore 655is to 656.Ic save 657what 658.Ic ignore 659is to 660.Ic print 661and 662.Ic type . 663Header fields thus marked are filtered out when 664saving a message by 665.Ic save 666or when automatically saving to 667.Pa mbox . 668.It Ic saveretain 669.Ic Saveretain 670is to 671.Ic save 672what 673.Ic retain 674is to 675.Ic print 676and 677.Ic type . 678Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved 679with a message when saving by 680.Ic save 681or when automatically saving to 682.Pa mbox . 683.Ic Saveretain 684overrides 685.Ic saveignore . 686.It Ic shell 687.Pq Ic sh 688Invokes an interactive version of the shell. 689.It Ic size 690Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of each 691message. 692.It Ic source 693The 694.Ic source 695command reads 696commands from a file. 697.It Ic top 698Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each. 699The number of 700lines printed is controlled by the variable 701.Va toplines 702and defaults to 5. 703.It Ic type 704.Pq Ic t 705A synonym for 706.Ic print . 707.It Ic unalias 708Takes a list of names defined by 709.Ic alias 710commands and discards the remembered groups of users. 711The group names 712no longer have any significance. 713.It Ic undelete 714.Pq Ic u 715Takes a message list and marks each message as 716.Em not 717being deleted. 718.It Ic unread 719.Pq Ic U 720Takes a message list and marks each message as 721.Em not 722having been read. 723.It Ic unset 724Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values; 725the inverse of 726.Ic set . 727.It Ic visual 728.Pq Ic v 729Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message. 730.It Ic write 731.Pq Ic w 732Similar to 733.Ic save , 734except that 735.Em only 736the message body 737.Em ( without 738the header) is saved. 739Extremely useful for such tasks as sending and receiving source 740program text over the message system. 741.It Ic xit 742.Pq Ic x 743A synonym for 744.Ic exit . 745.It Ic z 746The 747.Nm 748utility presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the 749.Ic headers 750command. 751You can move 752.Nm Ns 's 753attention forward to the next window with the 754.Ic z 755command. 756Also, you can move to the previous window by using 757.Ic z\- . 758.El 759.Ss Tilde/Escapes 760Here is a summary of the tilde escapes, 761which are used when composing messages to perform 762special functions. 763Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning 764of lines. 765The name 766.Dq "tilde escape" 767is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be set 768by the option 769.Va escape . 770.Bl -tag -width indent 771.It Ic ~a 772Inserts the autograph string from the sign= option into the message. 773.It Ic ~A 774Inserts the autograph string from the Sign= option into the message. 775.It Ic ~b Ar name ... 776Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients but do not make 777the names visible in the Cc: line 778.Dq ( blind 779carbon copy). 780.It Ic ~c Ar name ... 781Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients. 782.It Ic ~d 783Read the file 784.Pa dead.letter 785from your home directory into the message. 786.It Ic ~e 787Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far. 788After the 789editing session is finished, you may continue appending text to the 790message. 791.It Ic ~f Ar messages 792Read the named messages into the message being sent. 793If no messages are specified, read in the current message. 794Message headers currently being ignored (by the 795.Ic ignore 796or 797.Ic retain 798command) are not included. 799.It Ic ~F Ar messages 800Identical to 801.Ic ~f , 802except all message headers are included. 803.It Ic ~h 804Edit the message header fields by typing each one in turn and allowing 805the user to append text to the end or modify the field by using the 806current terminal erase and kill characters. 807.It Ic ~i Ar string 808Inserts the value of the named option into the text of the message. 809.It Ic ~m Ar messages 810Read the named messages into the message being sent, indented by a 811tab or by the value of 812.Va indentprefix . 813If no messages are specified, 814read the current message. 815Message headers currently being ignored (by the 816.Ic ignore 817or 818.Ic retain 819command) are not included. 820.It Ic ~M Ar messages 821Identical to 822.Ic ~m , 823except all message headers are included. 824.It Ic ~p 825Print out the message collected so far, prefaced by the message header 826fields. 827.It Ic ~q 828Abort the message being sent, copying the message to 829.Pa dead.letter 830in your home directory if 831.Va save 832is set. 833.It Ic ~r Ar filename , Ic ~r Li \&! Ns Ar command 834.It Ic ~< Ar filename , Ic ~< Li \&! Ns Ar command 835Read the named file into the message. 836If the argument begins with a 837.Ql \&! , 838the rest of the string is taken as an arbitrary system command and is 839executed, with the standard output inserted into the message. 840.It Ic ~R Ar string 841Use 842.Ar string 843as the Reply-To field. 844.It Ic ~s Ar string 845Cause the named string to become the current subject field. 846.It Ic ~t Ar name ... 847Add the given names to the direct recipient list. 848.It Ic ~v 849Invoke an alternative editor (defined by the 850.Ev VISUAL 851environment variable) on the 852message collected so far. 853Usually, the alternative editor will be a 854screen editor. 855After you quit the editor, you may resume appending 856text to the end of your message. 857.It Ic ~w Ar filename 858Write the message onto the named file. 859.It Ic ~x 860Exits as with 861.Ic ~q , 862except the message is not saved in 863.Pa dead.letter . 864.It Ic ~! Ar command 865Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the message. 866.It Ic ~| Ar command , Ic ~^ Ar command 867Pipe the message through the command as a filter. 868If the command gives 869no output or terminates abnormally, retain the original text of the 870message. 871The command 872.Xr fmt 1 873is often used as 874.Ar command 875to rejustify the message. 876.It Ic ~: Ar mail-command , Ic ~_ Ar mail-command 877Execute the given 878.Nm 879command. 880Not all commands, however, are allowed. 881.It Ic ~. 882Simulate end-of-file on input. 883.It Ic ~? 884Print a summary of the available command escapes. 885.It Ic ~~ Ar string 886Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single 887.Ql ~ . 888If 889you have changed the escape character, then you should double 890that character in order to send it. 891.El 892.Ss "Mail Options" 893Options can be set with the 894.Ic set 895command 896and can be disabled with the 897.Ic unset 898or 899.Ic set Cm no Ns Ar name 900commands. 901Options may be either binary, in which case it is only 902significant to see whether they are set or not; or string, in which 903case the actual value is of interest. 904If an option is not set, 905.Nm 906will look for an environment variable of the same name. 907The available options include the following: 908.Bl -tag -width indent 909.It Va append 910Causes messages saved in 911.Pa mbox 912to be appended to the end rather than prepended. 913This should always be set (preferably in one of the system-wide 914.Pa mail.rc 915files). 916Default is 917.Va noappend . 918.It Va ask , asksub 919Causes 920.Nm 921to prompt you for the subject of each message you send. 922If 923you respond with simply a newline, no subject field will be sent. 924Default is 925.Va asksub . 926.It Va askbcc 927Causes you to be prompted for additional blind carbon copy recipients at the 928end of each message. 929Responding with a newline indicates your 930satisfaction with the current list. 931Default is 932.Va noaskbcc . 933.It Va askcc 934Causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients at the 935end of each message. 936Responding with a newline indicates your 937satisfaction with the current list. 938Default is 939.Va noaskcc . 940.It Va autoinc 941Causes new mail to be automatically incorporated when it arrives. 942Setting this is similar to issuing the 943.Ic inc 944command at each prompt, except that the current message is not 945reset when new mail arrives. 946Default is 947.Va noautoinc . 948.It Va autoprint 949Causes the 950.Ic delete 951command to behave like 952.Ic dp ; 953thus, after deleting a message, the next one will be typed 954automatically. 955Default is 956.Va noautoprint . 957.It Va crt 958The valued option 959.Va crt 960is used as a threshold to determine how long a message must 961be before 962.Ev PAGER 963is used to read it. 964If 965.Va crt 966is set without a value, 967then the height of the terminal screen stored in the system 968is used to compute the threshold (see 969.Xr stty 1 ) . 970Default is 971.Va nocrt . 972.It Va debug 973Setting the binary option 974.Va debug 975is the same as specifying 976.Fl d 977on the command line and causes 978.Nm 979to output all sorts of information useful for debugging 980.Nm . 981Default is 982.Va nodebug . 983.It Va dot 984The binary option 985.Va dot 986causes 987.Nm 988to interpret a period alone on a line as the terminator 989of a message you are sending. 990Default is 991.Va nodot . 992.It Va escape 993If defined, the first character of this option gives the character to 994use in place of 995.Ql ~ 996to denote escapes. 997.It Va flipr 998Reverses the sense of 999.Ic reply 1000and 1001.Ic Reply 1002commands. 1003Default is 1004.Va noflipr . 1005.It Va folder 1006The name of the directory to use for storing folders of 1007messages. 1008If this name begins with a 1009.Ql / , 1010.Nm 1011considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the 1012folder directory is found relative to your home directory. 1013.It Va header 1014If defined, initially display message headers when reading mail or 1015editing a mail folder. 1016Default is 1017.Va header . 1018This option can be disabled by giving the 1019.Fl N 1020flag on the command line. 1021.It Va hold 1022This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox 1023by default. 1024Default is 1025.Va nohold . 1026.It Va ignore 1027Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be ignored and echoed as 1028.Li @ Ns 's. 1029Default is 1030.Va noignore . 1031.It Va ignoreeof 1032An option related to 1033.Va dot 1034is 1035.Va ignoreeof 1036which makes 1037.Nm 1038refuse to accept a 1039.Aq Li control-D 1040as the end of a message. 1041.Ar Ignoreeof 1042also applies to 1043.Nm 1044command mode. 1045Default is 1046.Va noignoreeof . 1047.It Va indentprefix 1048String used by the 1049.Ic ~m 1050tilde escape for indenting messages, in place of 1051the normal tab character 1052.Pq Li ^I . 1053Be sure to quote the value if it contains 1054spaces or tabs. 1055.It Va metoo 1056Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender, the sender 1057is removed from the expansion. 1058Setting this option causes the sender 1059to be included in the group. 1060Default is 1061.Va nometoo . 1062.It Va quiet 1063Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked. 1064Default is 1065.Va noquiet . 1066.It Va record 1067If defined, gives the pathname of the file used to record all outgoing 1068mail. 1069If not defined, outgoing mail is not saved. 1070Default is 1071.Va norecord . 1072.It Va Replyall 1073Reverses the sense of 1074.Ic reply 1075and 1076.Ic Reply 1077commands. 1078Default is 1079.Va noReplyall . 1080.It Va save 1081If this option is set, and you abort a message with two 1082.Tn RUBOUT 1083(erase or delete), 1084.Nm 1085will copy the partial letter to the file 1086.Pa dead.letter 1087in your home directory. 1088Default is 1089.Va save . 1090.It Va searchheaders 1091If this option is set, then a message-list specifier in the form 1092.Dq Li / Ns Ar x Ns Li : Ns Ar y 1093will expand to all messages containing the substring 1094.Ar y 1095in the header field 1096.Ar x . 1097The string search is case insensitive. 1098If 1099.Ar x 1100is ommitted, it will default to the 1101.Dq Li Subject 1102header field. 1103The form 1104.Dq Li /to: Ns Ar y 1105is a special case, and will expand 1106to all messages containing the substring 1107.Ar y 1108in the 1109.Dq Li To , 1110.Dq Li Cc 1111or 1112.Dq Li Bcc 1113header fields. 1114The check for 1115.Qq Li "to" 1116is case sensitive, so that 1117.Dq Li /To: Ns Ar y 1118can be used to limit the search for 1119.Ar y 1120to just the 1121.Dq Li To: 1122field. 1123Default is 1124.Va nosearchheaders . 1125.It Va toplines 1126If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out 1127with the 1128.Ic top 1129command; normally, the first five lines are printed. 1130.It Va verbose 1131Setting the option 1132.Va verbose 1133is the same as using the 1134.Fl v 1135flag on the command line. 1136When 1137.Nm 1138runs in verbose mode, 1139the actual delivery of messages is displayed on the user's 1140terminal. 1141Default is 1142.Va noverbose . 1143.El 1144.Sh ENVIRONMENT 1145.Bl -tag -width ".Ev REPLYTO" 1146.It Ev DEAD 1147Pathname of the file to save partial messages to in case of interrupts 1148or delivery errors. 1149Default is 1150.Pa ~/dead.letter . 1151.It Ev EDITOR 1152Pathname of the text editor to use in the 1153.Ic edit 1154command and 1155.Ic ~e 1156escape. 1157If not defined, then a default editor is used. 1158.It Ev HOME 1159Pathname of the user's home directory. 1160.It Ev LISTER 1161Pathname of the directory lister to use in the 1162.Ic folders 1163command. 1164Default is 1165.Pa /bin/ls . 1166.It Ev MAIL 1167Location of the user's mailbox. 1168Default is 1169.Pa /var/mail . 1170.It Ev MAILRC 1171Pathname of file containing initial 1172.Nm 1173commands. 1174Default is 1175.Pa ~/.mailrc . 1176.It Ev MBOX 1177The name of the mailbox file. 1178It can be the name of a folder. 1179The default is 1180.Pa mbox 1181in the user's home directory. 1182.It Ev PAGER 1183Pathname of the program to use in the 1184.Ic more 1185command or when 1186.Va crt 1187variable is set. 1188The default paginator 1189.Xr more 1 1190is used if this option is not defined. 1191.It Ev REPLYTO 1192If set, will be used to initialize the Reply-To field for outgoing 1193messages. 1194.It Ev SHELL 1195Pathname of the shell to use in the 1196.Ic \&! 1197command and the 1198.Ic ~! 1199escape. 1200A default shell is used if this option is 1201not defined. 1202.It Ev VISUAL 1203Pathname of the text editor to use in the 1204.Ic visual 1205command and 1206.Ic ~v 1207escape. 1208.It Ev USER 1209Login name of the user executing mail. 1210.El 1211.Sh FILES 1212.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.*help" -compact 1213.It Pa /var/mail/* 1214Post office. 1215.It Pa ~/mbox 1216User's old mail. 1217.It Pa ~/.mailrc 1218File giving initial 1219.Nm 1220commands. 1221This can be overridden by setting the 1222.Ev MAILRC 1223environment variable. 1224.It Pa /tmp/R* 1225Temporary files. 1226.It Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.*help 1227Help files. 1228.Pp 1229.It Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.rc 1230.It Pa /usr/local/etc/mail.rc 1231.It Pa /etc/mail.rc 1232System-wide initialization files. 1233Each file will be sourced, in order, 1234if it exists. 1235.El 1236.Sh SEE ALSO 1237.Xr fmt 1 , 1238.Xr newaliases 1 , 1239.Xr vacation 1 , 1240.Xr aliases 5 , 1241.Xr mailaddr 7 , 1242.Xr sendmail 8 1243.Rs 1244.%T "The Mail Reference Manual" 1245.Re 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