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