Manual page for MAIL(1)
mail, Mail - read or send mail messages
SYNOPSIS
Mail
[ -deHinNUv ]
[ -f
[ filename | +folder
] ]
[ -T
file ]
[ -u
user ]
Mail
[ -dFinUv ]
[ -h
number ]
[ -r
address ]
[ -s
subject ]
recipient
...
/usr/ucb/mail
...
DESCRIPTION
mail
is a comfortable, flexible, interactive program for composing, sending
and receiving electronic messages. While reading messages,
mail
provides you with
commands to browse, display, save, delete, and respond to messages.
While sending mail,
mail
allows editing and reviewing of messages being composed, and the
inclusion of text from files or other messages.
Incoming mail is stored in the
system mailbox
for each user. This is a file named after the user in
/var/spool/mail.
mail
normally looks in this file for incoming messages, but you
can use the
MAIL
environment variable to have it look in a different file.
When you read a message, it is
marked to be moved to a secondary file for storage.
This secondary file, called the
mbox,
is normally the file
mbox
in your home directory.
This file can also be changed by setting the
MBOX
environment variable. Messages remain in the
mbox
file until deliberately removed.
OPTIONS
If no
recipient
is specified,
mail
attempts to read messages from the system mailbox.
- -d
-
Turn on debugging output.
(Neither particularly interesting nor recommended.)
- -e
-
Test for presence of mail.
If there is no mail,
mail
prints nothing and exits (with a successful return code).
- -F
-
Record the message in a file named after the first recipient.
Override the
record
variable, if set.
- -H
-
Print header summary only.
- -i
-
Ignore interrupts (as with the
ignore
variable).
- -n
-
Do not initialize from the system default
Mail.rc
file.
- -N
-
Do not print initial header summary.
- -U
-
Convert
uucp
style addresses to Internet standards.
Overrides the
conv
environment variable.
- -v
-
Pass the
-v
flag to
sendmail.8
- -f [filename]
-
Read messages from
filename
instead of system mailbox. If no
filename
is specified, the
mbox
is used.
- -f +folder
-
Use the file
folder
in the folder directory (same as the
folder
command). The name of this directory is listed in the
folder
variable.
- -h number
-
The number of network ``hops'' made so far.
This is provided for network
software to avoid infinite delivery loops.
- -r address
-
Pass
address
to network delivery software.
All tilde
(~)
commands are disabled.
- -s subject
-
Set the
Subject
header field to
subject.
- -T file
-
Print the contents of the
article-id
fields of all messages that were read or deleted on
file
(for the use of
network news programs if available).
- -u user
-
Read
user's
system mailbox.
This is only effective if
user's
system mailbox is not read protected.
USAGE
Refer to
[a manual with the abbreviation GSBG]
for tutorial information about
mail.
Starting Mail
As it starts,
mail
reads commands from a system-wide file
(/usr/lib/Mail.rc)
to initialize certain variables,
then it reads from a private start-up file called the
.mailrc
file (it is normally the file
.mailrc
in your home directory, but can be changed by setting the
MAILRC
environment variable) for your personal commands and variable settings.
Most
mail
commands are legal inside start-up files. The most common uses
for this file are to set up initial display options and alias lists.
The following commands are
not
legal in the start-up file:
!,
Copy,
edit,
followup,
Followup,
hold,
mail,
preserve,
reply,
Reply,
replyall,
replysender,
shell,
and
visual.
Any errors in the start-up file cause the remaining lines in that file
to be ignored.
You can use the
mail
command to send a message directly by including names of recipients as
arguments on the command line. When no recipients appear on the
mail
command line, it enters command mode, from which you can read
messages sent to you. If you list no recipients and have no messages,
mail
prints the message:
`No mail for username'
and exits.
When in command mode (while reading messages), you can send messages
using the
mail
command.
Sending Mail
While you are composing a message to send,
mail
is in
input
mode.
If no subject is specified as an argument to the command
a prompt for the subject is printed.
After entering the subject line,
mail
enters
input
mode to accept the text of your message to send.
As you type in the message,
mail
stores it in a temporary file.
To review or modify the message, enter the appropriate
tilde escapes,
listed below, at the beginning of an input line.
To indicate that the message is ready to send, type a dot
(or
EOF
character, normally
CTRL-D )
on a line by itself.
mail
submits the message to
sendmail.8
for routing to each
recipient.
Recipients can be;
-
local usernames
-
Internet addresses of the form:
-
name@domain
-
[host!...host!]host!username
-
filenames for which you have write permission
-
alias groups
If the name of the
recipient
begins with a pipe symbol
(|),
the remainder of the name is taken as a shell command to pipe
the message through. This provides an automatic interface with
any program that reads the standard input, such as
lpr.1
to record outgoing mail on paper.
An alias group is the name of a list of recipients that is set by the
alias
command, taken from the host's
/etc/aliases
file, or taken from the
Network Information Service
(NIS)
aliases domain.
See
aliases.5
for more information about mail addresses and aliases.
Tilde Escapes
The following
tilde escape
commands can be used when composing messages to send.
Each must appear at the beginning of an input line.
The escape character (~), can be changed by setting a new
value for the
escape
variable.
The escape character can be entered as text by typing it twice.
- ~!
[shell-command]
-
Escape to the shell.
If present, run
shell-command.
- ~.
-
Simulate
EOF
(terminate message input).
- ~:
mail-command
-
- ~_
mail-command
-
Perform the indicated
mail
command.
Valid only when sending a message while reading mail.
- ~?
-
Print a summary of tilde escapes.
- ~A
-
Insert the autograph string
Sign
into the message.
- ~a
-
Insert the autograph string
sign
into the message.
- ~b name ...
-
Add the
names
to the blind carbon copy
(Bcc)
list. This is like the carbon copy
(Cc)
list, except that the names in the
Bcc
list are not shown in the header
of the mail message.
- ~c name ...
-
Add the
names
to the carbon copy
(Cc)
list.
- ~d
-
Read in the
dead.letter
file.
The name of this file is listed in the variable
DEAD.
- ~e
-
Invoke the editor to edit the message.
The name of the editor is listed in the
EDITOR
variable.
The default editor is
ex.1
- ~f
[message-list]
-
Forward the listed messages, or the current message being read.
Valid only when sending a message while reading mail;
the messages are inserted without alteration (as opposed to the
~m
escape).
- ~h
-
Prompt for the message header lines:
Subject,
To,
Cc,
and
Bcc.
If the header line contains text, you can edit the text by
backspacing over it and retyping.
- ~i variable
-
Insert the value of the named
variable
into the message.
- ~m
[message-list]
-
Insert text from the specified messages, or the current message,
into the letter. Valid only when sending a message while reading mail;
the text the message is shifted to the right, and the string contained
in the
indentprefix
variable is inserted as the leftmost characters of each line.
If
indentprefix
is not set, a
TAB
character is inserted into each line.
- ~p
-
Print the message being entered.
- ~q
-
Quit from input mode by simulating an interrupt. If the body of the
message is not empty, the partial message is saved in the
dead.letter
file.
- ~r filename
-
- ~< filename
-
- ~<! shell-command
-
Read in text from the specified file or the standard output of
the specified
shell-command.
- ~s subject
-
Set the subject line to
subject.
- ~t name ...
-
Add each
name
to the list of recipients.
- ~v
-
Invoke a visual editor to edit the message. The name of the editor
is listed in the
VISUAL
variable. The default visual editor is
vi.1
- ~w filename
-
Write the message text onto the given file, without the header.
- ~x
-
Exit as with
~q
but do not save the message in the
dead.letter
file.
- ~| shell-command
-
Pipe the body of the message through the given
shell-command.
If
shell-command
returns a successful exit status,
the output of the command replaces the message.
Reading Mail
When you enter
command
mode in order to read your messages,
mail
displays a header summary of the first several messages,
followed by a prompt for one of the commands listed below.
The default prompt is the
&
(ampersand character).
Message are listed and referred to by number.
There is, at any time, a
current
message, which is marked by a
>
in the header summary.
For commands that take an optional list of messages,
if you omit a message number as an argument, the command applies
to the current message.
A
message-list
is a list of message specifications, separated by
SPACE
characters, which may include:
-
- .
-
The current message.
- n
-
Message number
n.
- ^
-
The first undeleted message.
- $
-
The last message.
- +
-
The next undeleted message.
- -
-
The previous undeleted message.
- *
-
All messages.
- n-m
-
An inclusive range of message numbers.
- user
-
All messages from
user.
- /string
-
All messages with
string
in the subject line (case ignored).
- :c
-
All messages of type
c,
where
c
is one of:
-
-
- d
-
deleted messages
- n
-
new messages
- o
-
old messages
- r
-
read messages
- u
-
unread messages
Note: the context of the command determines whether this type of
message specification makes sense.
Additional arguments are treated as strings whose usage
depends on the command involved. Filenames, where expected,
are expanded using the normal shell filename-substitution
mechanism.
Special characters, recognized by certain commands, are
documented with those commands.
Commands
While in command mode, if you type in an empty command line
(a
RETURN
or
NEWLINE
only), the
print
command is assumed. The following is a complete list of
mail
commands:
- ! shell-command
-
Escape to the shell. The name of the shell to use is listed in
the
SHELL
variable.
- # arguments
-
Null command. This may be used as if it were a comment in
.mailrc
files, but note that it must be separated from its arguments
(commentary) by white space.
- =
-
Print the current message number.
- ?
-
Print a summary of commands.
- alias
[alias recipient...]
-
- group
[alias recipient...]
-
Declare an alias for the given list of recipients.
The list will be substituted when the
alias
is used as a recipient while sending mail. When put in the
.mailrc
file, this command provides you with a record of the alias. With no
arguments, the command displays the list of defined aliases.
- alternates name ...
-
Declare a list of alternate names for your login.
When responding to a message,
these names are removed from the list of recipients for the response.
With no arguments,
alternates
prints the current list of alternate names.
- cd[
directory]
-
- chdir [directory]
-
Change directory. If
directory
is not specified,
$HOME
is used.
- copy
[message-list]
[filename]
-
Copy messages to the file without marking the messages as saved.
Otherwise equivalent to the
save
command.
- Copy [message-list]
-
Save the specified messages in a file whose name is derived from the
author of the
message to be saved, without marking the messages as saved.
Otherwise equivalent to the
Save
command.
- delete [message-list]
-
Delete messages from the system mailbox. If the variable
autoprint
is set, print the message following the last message deleted.
- discard
[header-field...]
-
- ignore
[header-field...]
-
Suppress printing of the specified header fields when displaying
messages on the screen, such as
``Status'' and ``Received''.
The fields are included when the message is saved unless the
variable
alwaysignore
is set.
The
Print
and
Type
commands display all header fields, ignored or not.
- dp
[message-list]
-
- dt [message-list]
-
Delete the specified messages from the system mailbox, and print the
message after the last one deleted. Equivalent to a
delete
command followed by a
print
command.
- echo [string ...]
-
Echo the given strings (like
echo.1v
- edit [message-list]
-
Edit the given messages.
The messages are placed in a temporary file and the
EDITOR
variable is used to get the name of the editor.
The default editor is
ex.1
- exit
-
- xit
-
Exit from
mail
without changing the system mailbox.
No messages are saved in the
mbox
(see also
quit).
- file
[filename]
-
- folder [filename]
-
Quit from the current mailbox file and read in the named mailbox
file. Several special characters are recognized when used as file
names:
-
-
- %
-
Your system mailbox.
- %user
-
The system mailbox for
user.
- #
-
The previous mail file.
- &
-
Your
mbox
file (of messages previously read).
- +filename
-
The named file in the
folder
directory (listed in the
folder
variable).
With no arguments,
file
prints the name of the current mail file, and the number of messages
and characters it contains.
- folders
-
Print the name of each mail file in the
folder
directory (listed in the
folder
variable).
- followup [message]
-
Respond to a message, recording the response in a file, name of which
is derived from the author of the message (overrides the
record
variable, if set).
See also the
Followup,
Save,
and
Copy
commands and the
outfolder
variable.
- Followup
[message-list]
-
Respond to the first message in the message list,
sending the message to the author of each message in the list.
The subject line is taken from the first message,
and the response is recorded in a file, the name of which is derived
from the author of the first message (overrides the
record
variable, if set).
See also the
followup,
Save,
and
Copy
commands and the
outfolder
variable.
- from [message-list]
-
Print the header summary for the indicated messages or the
current message.
- group alias name ...
-
Same as the
alias
command.
- headers [message]
-
Print the page of headers that includes the message specified,
or the current message. The
screen
variable sets the number of headers per page.
See also the
z
command.
- help
-
Print a summary of commands.
- hold
[message-list]
-
- preserve
[message-list]
-
Hold the specified messages in the system mailbox.
- if
s|r|t
-
- mail-command
-
- ...
-
- else
-
- mail-command
-
- ...
-
- endif
-
Conditional execution, where
s
will execute following
mail-command
up to an
else
or
endif,
if the program is in
send
mode,
r
executes the
mail-command
only in
receive
mode, and
t
executes the
mail-command
only if
mail
is being run from a terminal. Useful primarily in the
.mailrc
file.
- ignore
[header-field...]
-
Same as the
discard
command.
- inc
-
Incorporate messages that arrive while you are reading the
system mailbox. The new messages are added to the message list in the
current
mail
session. This command does not commit changes made during
the session, and prior messages are not renumbered.
- list
-
Prints all commands available. No explanation is given.
- load
[message]
filename
-
Load the specified message from the name file.
filename
should contain a single mail message including mail headers
(as saved by the
save
command).
- mail recipient ...
-
Mail a message to the specified recipients.
- mbox [message-list]
-
Arrange for the given messages to end up in the standard
mbox
file when
mail
terminates normally.
See also the
exit
and
quit
commands.
- new
[message-list]
-
New
[message-list]
unread
[message-list]
- Unread
[message-list]
-
Take a message list and mark each message as
not
having been read.
- next message
-
Go to next message matching
message.
A
message-list
can be given instead of
message,
but only first valid message in the list is used. (This can be used,
for instance, to jump to the next message from a specific user.)
- pipe
[message-list]
[shell-command]
-
- |
[message-list]
[shell-command]
-
Pipe the message through
shell-command.
The message is treated marked as read (and normally saved to the
mbox
file when
mail
exits). If no arguments are given, the current message is piped
through the command specified by the value of the
cmd
variable. If the
page
variable is set, a form feed character is inserted after each message.
- preserve
[message-list]
-
Same as the
hold
command.
- print
[message-list]
-
- type [message-list]
-
Print the specified messages. If the
crt
variable is set, messages longer than the number of lines it indicates
paged through the command specified by the
PAGER
variable. The default paging command is
more.1
- Print
[message-list]
-
- Type [message-list]
-
Print the specified messages on the screen, including all header fields.
Overrides suppression of fields by the
ignore
and
retain
commands.
- quit
-
Exit from
mail
storing messages that were read in the
mbox
file and unread messages in the system mailbox.
Messages that have been explicitly saved in a file are deleted
unless the variable
keepsave
is set.
- reply
[message-list]
-
- respond
[message-list]
-
- replysender
[message-list]
-
Send a response to the author of each message in the
message-list.
The subject line is taken from the first message. If
record
is set to a filename, a copy of the
reply is added to that file.
If the
replyall
variable is set, the actions of
Reply/Respond
and
reply/respond
are reversed.
The
replysender
command is not
affected by the
replyall
variable, but sends each reply only to the sender of each
message.
- Reply
[message]
-
- Respond
[message]
-
- replyall [message]
-
Reply to the specified message, including all other recipients of that
message. If the variable
record
is set to a filename, a copy of the reply added to that file.
If the
replyall
variable is set, the actions of
Reply/Respond
and
reply/respond
are reversed. The
replyall
command is not affected by the
replyall
variable, but always sends the reply to all recipients of the
message.
- retain
-
Add the list of header fields named to the
retained list.
Only the header fields in the retain list
are shown on your terminal when you print a message.
All other header fields are suppressed. The set of retained fields
specified by the
retain
command overrides any list of ignored fields specified by the
ignore
command.
The
Type
and
Print
commands can be used to print a message in its entirety.
If
retain
is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of
retained fields.
- save
[message-list]
[filename]
-
Save the specified messages in the named file.
The file is created if it does not exist. If no
filename
is specified, the file named in the
MBOX
variable is used,
mbox
in your home directory by default.
Each saved message is deleted from the system mailbox when
mail
terminates unless the
keepsave
variable is set.
See also the
exit
and
quit
commands.
- Save [message-list]
-
Save the specified messages in a file whose name is derived from
the author of the first message.
The name of the file is taken from the author's name, with all
network addressing stripped off. See also the
Copy,
followup,
and
Followup
commands and the
outfolder
variables.
- set
[variable[=value]]
-
Define a
variable.
To assign a
value
to
variable,
separate the variable name from the value by an
`='
(there must be no space before or after the
`=').
A variable may be given a null, string, or numeric
value.
To embed
SPACE
characters within a
value
enclose it in quotes.
With no arguments,
set
displays all defined variables and any values they might have.
See
Variables
for a description of all predefined
mail
variables.
- shell
-
Invoke the interactive shell listed in the
SHELL
variable.
- size [message-list]
-
Print the size in characters of the specified messages.
- source filename
-
Read commands from the given file and return to command mode.
- top [message-list]
-
Print the top few lines of the specified messages.
If the
toplines
variable is set, it is taken as the number of lines to print.
The default number is 5.
- touch [message-list]
-
Touch the specified messages. If any message in
message-list
is not specifically saved in a file, it will be placed in the
mbox
upon normal termination. See also the
exit
and
quit
commands.
- type [message-list]
-
Same as the
print
command.
- Type [message-list]
-
Same as the
Print
command.
- undelete
[message-list]
-
Restore deleted messages. This command
only restores messages
deleted in the current mail session.
If the
autoprint
variable is set, the last message restored is printed.
- unread
[message-list]
-
- Unread
[message-list]
-
Same as the
new
command.
- unset variable ...
-
Erase the specified variables.
If the variable was imported from the environment (that is, an
environment variable or exported shell variable), it cannot be
unset from within
mail.
- version
-
Print the current version and release date of the
mail
utility.
- visual [message-list]
-
Edit the given messages with the screen editor listed in the
VISUAL
variable. The default screen editor is
vi.1
Each message is placed in a temporary file for editing.
- write
[message-list]
[filename]
-
Write the given messages onto the specified file, but without the header
and trailing blank line. Otherwise, this is equivalent to the
save
command.
- xit
-
Same as the
exit
command.
- z[+|-]
-
Scroll the header display forward
(+)
or backward
(-)
one screenfull. The number of headers displayed is set by the
screen
variable.
Forwarding Messages
To forward a specific message, include it in a message to the
desired recipients with the
~f
or
~m
tilde escapes.
To forward mail automatically, add a comma-separated list of addresses
for additional recipients to the
.forward
file in your home directory. This is different from the format
of the
alias
command, which takes a space-separated list instead.
Note: forwarding addresses must be valid (as described in
aliases.5
or the messages will ``bounce.'' You cannot, for
instance, reroute your mail to a new host by forwarding it to your
new address if it is not yet listed in the
NIS
aliases domain.
Variables
The behavior of
mail
is governed by a set of predefined variables
that are set and cleared using the
set
and
unset
commands.
Environment Variables
Values for the following variables are read in
automatically from the environment; they cannot be altered from within
mail:
- HOME=directory
-
The user's home directory.
- MAIL=filename
-
The name of the initial mailbox file to read (in lieu of the
standard system mailbox). The default is
/var/spool/mail/username.
- MAILRC=filename
-
The name of the personal start-up file. The
default is
$HOME/.mailrc.
Mail Variables
The following variables can be initialized within the
.mailrc
file, or set and altered interactively using the
set
command.
They can also be imported from the environment (in which
case their values cannot be changed within
mail).
The
unset
command clears variables. The set command can also be used to
clear a variable by prefixing the word
no
to the name of the variable to clear.
Variables for which values are normally supplied are indicated
with an equal-sign
(=).
The equal-sign is required by the
set
command, and there can be no spaces between the variable-name,
equal-sign, and value, using
set
to assign a value.
- allnet
-
All network names whose last component (login name) match are treated as
identical.
This causes the message list specifications to behave similarly.
Default is
noallnet.
See also the
alternates
command and the
metoo
variable.
- alwaysignore
-
Ignore header fields with
ignore
everywhere, not just during
print
or
type.
Affects the
save,
Save,
copy,
Copy,
top,
pipe,
and
write
commands, and the
~m
and
~f
tilde escapes.
- append
-
Upon termination, append messages to the end of the
mbox
file instead of prepending them.
Default is
noappend
but
append
is set in the global start-up file (which can be suppressed with the
-n
command line option).
- askcc
-
Prompt for the
Cc
list after message is entered.
Default is
noaskcc.
- asksub
-
Prompt for subject if it is not specified on the command line
with the
-s
option.
Enabled by default.
- autoprint
-
Enable automatic printing of messages after
delete
and
undelete
commands.
Default is
noautoprint.
- bang
-
Enable the special-casing of exclamation points (!) in shell escape
command lines
as in
vi.1
Default is
nobang.
- cmd=shell-command
-
Set the default command for the
pipe
command.
No default value.
- conv=conversion
-
Convert
uucp
addresses to the address style specified by
conversion,
which can be either:
-
- internet
-
This requires a mail delivery program conforming to the
RFC822
standard for electronic mail addressing.
- optimize
-
Remove loops in
uucp.1c
address paths (typically generated by the
reply
command). No rerouting is performed;
mail
has no knowledge of
UUCP
routes or connections.
Conversion is disabled by default. See also
sendmail.8
and the
-U
command line option.
- crt=number
-
Pipe messages having more than number lines
through the command specified by the value of the
PAGER
variable
(more
by default).
Disabled by default.
- DEAD=filename
-
The name of the file in which to save partial letters
in case of untimely interrupt or delivery errors.
Default is the file
dead.letter
in your home directory.
- debug
-
Enable verbose diagnostics for debugging.
Messages are not delivered.
Default is
nodebug.
- dot
-
Take a period on a line by itself during input from a terminal as
EOF.
Default is
nodot
but
dot
is set in the global start-up file (which can be suppressed with the
-n
command line option).
- editheaders
-
Include message headers in the text to be edited by the
~e
and
~v
commands.
- EDITOR=shell-command
-
The command to run when the
edit
or
~e
command is used.
Default is
ex.1
- escape=c
-
Substitute
c
for the ~ escape character.
- folder=directory
-
The directory for saving standard mail files.
User specified file names beginning with a plus
(+)
are expanded by preceding the filename with
this directory name to obtain the real filename.
If
directory
does not start with a slash
(/),
the value of
HOME
is prepended to it. There is no default for the
folder
variable.
See also
outfolder
below.
- header
-
Enable printing of the header summary when entering
mail.
Enabled by default.
- hold
-
Preserve all messages that are read in
the system mailbox instead of putting them
in the standard
mbox
save file.
Default is
nohold
for
mail
and
hold
for
mailtool.1
- ignore
-
Ignore interrupts while entering messages.
Handy for noisy dial-up lines.
Default is
noignore.
- ignoreeof
-
Ignore
EOF
during message input.
Input must be terminated by a period
(`.')
on a line by itself
or by the
`~.'
command.
Default is
noignoreeof.
See also
dot
above.
- indentprefix=string
-
When
indentprefix
is set,
string
is used to mark indented lines from messages included with
~m.
The default is a
TAB
character.
- keep
-
When the system mailbox is empty,
truncate it to zero length instead of removing it.
Disabled by default.
- keepsave
-
Keep messages that have been saved in other files in the system
mailbox instead of deleting them.
Default is
nokeepsave.
- LISTER=shell-command
-
The command (and options) to use when listing the files in the
folder
directory. The default is
ls.1v
- MBOX=filename
-
The name of the file to save messages which have been read.
The
xit
command overrides this variable,
as does saving the message explicitly to another file.
Default is the file
mbox
in your home directory.
- metoo
-
If your login appears as a recipient,
do not delete it from the list.
Default is
nometoo.
- no
-
When used as a prefix to a variable name, has the effect of
unsetting the variable.
- onehop
-
When responding to a message that was originally sent to several
recipients,
the other recipient addresses are normally forced to be relative to the
originating author's machine for the response.
This flag disables alteration of the recipients' addresses,
improving efficiency in a network where all machines can send directly
to all other machines (that is, one ``hop'' away).
- outfolder
-
Locate the files used to record outgoing messages
in the directory specified by the
folder
variable unless the
pathname is absolute. Default is
nooutfolder.
See
folder
above and the
Save,
Copy,
followup,
and
Followup
commands.
- page
-
Used with the
pipe
command to insert a form feed after each message sent through the pipe.
Default is
nopage.
- PAGER=shell-command
-
The command to use as a filter for paginating output, along
with any options to be used.
Default is
more.1
- prompt=string
-
Set the
command mode
prompt to
string.
Default is
`&'.
- quiet
-
Refrain from printing the opening message and version when entering
mail.
Default is
noquiet.
- record=filename
-
Record all outgoing mail in
filename.
Disabled by default.
See also the variable
outfolder.
- replyall
-
Reverse the effect of the
reply
and
Reply
commands.
- save
-
Enable saving of messages in the
dead.letter
file on interrupt or delivery error.
See
DEAD
for a description of this file. Enabled by default.
- screen=number
-
Set the number of lines in a screen-full of headers for the
headers
command.
- sendmail=shell-command
-
Alternate command for delivering messages. Note:
in addition to the expected list of recipients,
mail
also passes the
-i
and
-m,
flags to the command. Since these flags are not appropriate to
other commands, you may have to use a shell script that strips them
from the arguments list before invoking the desired command.
- sendwait
-
Wait for background mailer to finish before returning.
Default is
nosendwait.
- SHELL=shell-command
-
The name of a preferred command interpreter.
Typically inherited from the environment, the shell is normally
the one you always use. Otherwise defaults to
sh.1
- showto
-
When displaying the header summary and the message is from you,
print the recipient's name instead of the author's name.
- sign=autograph
-
The
autograph
text inserted into the message when the
~a
(autograph) command is given.
No default
(see also the
~i
tilde escape).
- Sign=autograph
-
The
autograph
text inserted into the message when the
~A
command is given. No default (see also the
~i
tilde escape).
- toplines=number
-
The number of lines of header to print with the
top
command. Default is 5.
- verbose
-
Invoke
sendmail
with the
-v
flag.
- VISUAL=shell-command
-
The name of a preferred screen editor. Default is
vi.
FILES
- $HOME/.mailrc
-
personal start-up file
- $HOME/.forward
-
list of recipients for automatic forwarding of messages
- $HOME/mbox
-
secondary storage file
- $HOME/dead.letter
-
undeliverable messages file
- /var/spool/mail
-
directory for system mailboxes
- /usr/lib/Mail.help*
-
help message files
- /usr/lib/Mail.rc
-
global start-up file
- /tmp/R[emqsx]*
-
temporary files
SEE ALSO
biff.1
bin-mail.1
echo.1v
ex.1
fmt.1
ls.1v
mailtool.1
more.1
sh.1
uucp.1c
vacation.1
vi.1
aliases.5
newaliases.8
sendmail.8
[a manual with the abbreviation GSBG]
mail
is found in
/usr/ucb/Mail,
as a link to
/usr/ucb/mail.
If you wish to use the original
(version 7)
UNIX
mail program, you can find it in
/usr/bin/mail.
Its man page is named
bin-mail.1
BUGS
Where
shell-command
is shown as valid, arguments are not always allowed.
Experimentation is recommended.
Internal variables imported from the execution environment cannot be
unset.
Replies do not always generate correct return addresses. Try
resending the errant reply with
onehop
set.
mail
does not lock your record file. So, if you use a record file
and send two or more messages simultaneously, lines from the
messages may be interleaved in the record file.
The format for the
alias
command is a space-separated list of recipients, while the
format for an alias in either the
.forward
or
/etc/aliases
is a comma-separated list.
NOTES
The Network Information Service
(NIS)
was formerly known as Sun Yellow Pages
(YP).
The functionality of the two remains the same;
only the name has changed.
Created by unroff & hp-tools.
© somebody (See intro for details). All Rights Reserved.
Last modified 11/5/97