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.\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.bin/mail/mail.1,v 1.18.2.12 2003/01/06 05:46:03 mikeh Exp $ 30.\" 31.Dd February 29, 2004 32.Dt MAIL 1 33.Os 34.Sh NAME 35.Nm mail , 36.Nm Mail , 37.Nm mailx 38.Nd send and receive mail 39.Sh SYNOPSIS 40.Nm 41.Op Fl EiInv 42.Op Fl s Ar subject 43.Op Fl c Ar cc-addr 44.Op Fl b Ar bcc-addr 45.Op Fl F 46.Ar to-addr ... 47.Op Fl Ar sendmail-option ... 48.Nm 49.Op Fl EHiInNv 50.Op Fl F 51.Fl f 52.Op Ar name 53.Nm 54.Op Fl EHiInNv 55.Op Fl F 56.Op Fl u Ar user 57.Nm 58.Fl e 59.Op Fl f Ar name 60.Nm 61.Op Fl H 62.Sh INTRODUCTION 63The 64.Nm 65utility is an intelligent mail processing system, which has 66a command syntax reminiscent of 67.Xr ed 1 68with lines replaced by messages. 69.Pp 70The following options are available: 71.Bl -tag -width indent 72.It Fl v 73Verbose mode. 74The details of 75delivery are displayed on the user's terminal. 76.It Fl e 77Test for the presence of mail in the (by default, system) 78mailbox. 79An exit status of 0 is returned if 80it has mail; otherwise an exit status of 1 is returned. 81.It Fl H 82Write a header summary only. 83.It Fl E 84Do not send messages with an empty body. 85This is useful for piping errors from 86.Xr cron 8 87scripts. 88.It Fl i 89Ignore tty interrupt signals. 90This is 91particularly useful when using 92.Nm 93on noisy phone lines. 94.It Fl I 95Force 96.Nm 97to run in interactive mode even when 98input is not a terminal. 99In particular, the 100.Ql ~ 101special 102character when sending mail is only active in interactive mode. 103.It Fl n 104Inhibit reading the system-wide 105.Pa mail.rc 106files upon startup. 107.It Fl N 108Inhibit the initial display of message headers 109when reading mail or editing a mail folder. 110.It Fl s Ar subject 111Specify 112.Ar subject 113on command line. 114(Only the first argument after the 115.Fl s 116flag is used as a subject; be careful to quote subjects 117containing spaces.) 118.It Fl c Ar cc-addr 119Send carbon copies to 120.Ar cc-addr 121list of users. 122The 123.Ar cc-addr 124argument should be a comma-separated list of names. 125.It Fl b Ar bcc-addr 126Send blind carbon copies to 127.Ar bcc-addr 128list of users. 129The 130.Ar bcc-addr 131argument should be a comma-separated list of names. 132.It Fl f Op Ar mbox 133Read in the contents of your 134.Pa mbox 135(or the specified file) 136for processing; when you 137.Ic quit , 138.Nm 139writes undeleted messages back to this file. 140.It Fl F 141Record the message in a file named after the first recipient. 142The name is the login-name portion of the 143address found first on the 144.Dq Li To: 145line in the mail header. 146Overrides the 147.Va record 148variable, if set. 149.It Fl u 150Is equivalent to: 151.Pp 152.Dl "mail -f /var/mail/user" 153.El 154.Ss "Startup Actions" 155At startup time 156.Nm 157will execute commands in the system command files 158.Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.rc , 159.Pa /usr/local/etc/mail.rc 160and 161.Pa /etc/mail.rc 162in order, unless explicitly told not to by the use of the 163.Fl n 164option. 165Next, the commands in the user's personal command file 166.Pa ~/.mailrc 167are executed. 168The 169.Nm 170utility then examines its command line options to determine whether a 171new message is to be sent, or whether an existing mailbox is to 172be read. 173.Ss "Sending Mail" 174To send a message to one or more people, 175.Nm 176can be invoked with arguments which are the names of people to 177whom the mail will be sent. 178You are then expected to type in 179your message, followed 180by a 181.Aq Li control-D 182at the beginning of a line. 183The section below 184.Sx "Replying To or Originating Mail" , 185describes some features of 186.Nm 187available to help you compose your letter. 188.Ss "Reading Mail" 189In normal usage 190.Nm 191is given no arguments and checks your mail out of the 192post office, then 193prints out a one line header of each message found. 194The current message is initially the first message (numbered 1) 195and can be printed using the 196.Ic print 197command (which can be abbreviated 198.Ic p ) . 199You can move among the messages much as you move between lines in 200.Xr ed 1 , 201with the commands 202.Ic + 203and 204.Ic \- 205moving backwards and forwards, and 206simple numbers. 207.Ss "Disposing of Mail" 208After examining a message you can 209.Ic delete 210.Pq Ic d 211the message or 212.Ic reply 213.Pq Ic r 214to it. 215Deletion causes the 216.Nm 217program to forget about the message. 218This is not irreversible; the message can be 219.Ic undeleted 220.Pq Ic u 221by giving its number, or the 222.Nm 223session can be aborted by giving the 224.Ic exit 225.Pq Ic x 226command. 227Deleted messages will, however, usually disappear never to be seen again. 228.Ss "Specifying Messages" 229Commands such as 230.Ic print 231and 232.Ic delete 233can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply 234to a number of messages at once. 235Thus 236.Dq Li "delete 1 2" 237deletes messages 1 and 2, while 238.Dq Li "delete 1\-5" 239deletes messages 1 through 5. 240The special name 241.Ql * 242addresses all messages, and 243.Ql $ 244addresses 245the last message; thus the command 246.Ic top 247which prints the first few lines of a message could be used in 248.Dq Li "top *" 249to print the first few lines of all messages. 250.Ss "Replying To or Originating Mail" 251You can use the 252.Ic reply 253command to 254set up a response to a message, sending it back to the 255person who it was from. 256Text you then type in, up to an end-of-file, 257defines the contents of the message. 258While you are composing a message, 259.Nm 260treats lines beginning with the character 261.Ql ~ 262specially. 263For instance, typing 264.Ic ~m 265(alone on a line) will place a copy 266of the current message into the response right shifting it by a tabstop 267(see 268.Va indentprefix 269variable, below). 270Other escapes will set up subject fields, add and delete recipients 271to the message and allow you to escape to an editor to revise the 272message or to a shell to run some commands. 273(These options 274are given in the summary below.) 275.Ss "Ending a Mail Processing Session" 276You can end a 277.Nm 278session with the 279.Ic quit 280.Pq Ic q 281command. 282Messages which have been examined go to your 283.Pa mbox 284file unless they have been deleted in which case they are discarded. 285Unexamined messages go back to the post office. 286(See the 287.Fl f 288option above). 289.Ss "Personal and System Wide Distribution Lists" 290It is also possible to create a personal distribution lists so that, 291for instance, you can send mail to 292.Dq Li cohorts 293and have it go 294to a group of people. 295Such lists can be defined by placing a line like 296.Pp 297.Dl "alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory" 298.Pp 299in the file 300.Pa .mailrc 301in your home directory. 302The current list of such aliases can be displayed with the 303.Ic alias 304command in 305.Nm . 306System wide distribution lists can be created by editing 307.Pa /etc/mail/aliases , 308see 309.Xr aliases 5 310and 311.Xr sendmail 8 ; 312these are kept in a different syntax. 313In mail you send, personal aliases will be expanded in mail sent 314to others so that they will be able to 315.Ic reply 316to the recipients. 317System wide 318aliases 319are not expanded when the mail is sent, 320but any reply returned to the machine will have the system wide 321alias expanded as all mail goes through 322.Xr sendmail 8 . 323.Ss "Network Mail (ARPA, UUCP, Berknet)" 324The 325.Nm 326utility has a number of options which can be set in the 327.Pa .mailrc 328file to alter its behavior; thus 329.Dq Li "set askcc" 330enables the 331.Va askcc 332feature. 333(These options are summarized below.) 334.Sh SUMMARY 335(Adapted from the 336.%T "Mail Reference Manual" . ) 337.Pp 338Each command is typed on a line by itself, and may take arguments 339following the command word. 340The command need not be typed in its 341entirety \(em the first command which matches the typed prefix is used. 342For commands which take message lists as arguments, if no message 343list is given, then the next message forward which satisfies the 344command's requirements is used. 345If there are no messages forward of 346the current message, the search proceeds backwards, and if there are no 347good messages at all, 348.Nm 349types 350.Dq Li "No applicable messages" 351and 352aborts the command. 353.Bl -tag -width indent 354.It Ic \- 355Print out the preceding message. 356If given a numeric 357argument 358.Ar n , 359goes to the 360.Ar n Ns 'th 361previous message and prints it. 362.It Ic # 363ignore the remainder of the line as a comment. 364.It Ic \&? 365Prints a brief summary of commands. 366.It Ic \&! 367Executes the shell 368(see 369.Xr sh 1 370and 371.Xr csh 1 ) 372command which follows. 373.It Ic Print 374.Pq Ic P 375Like 376.Ic print 377but also prints out ignored header fields. 378See also 379.Ic print , ignore 380and 381.Ic retain . 382.It Ic Reply 383.Pq Ic R 384Reply to originator. 385Does not reply to other 386recipients of the original message. 387.It Ic Type 388.Pq Ic T 389Identical to the 390.Ic Print 391command. 392.It Ic alias 393.Pq Ic a 394With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined aliases. 395With one 396argument, prints out that alias. 397With more than one argument, creates 398a new alias or changes an old one. 399.It Ic alternates 400.Pq Ic alt 401The 402.Ic alternates 403command is useful if you have accounts on several machines. 404It can be used to inform 405.Nm 406that the listed addresses are really you. 407When you 408.Ic reply 409to messages, 410.Nm 411will not send a copy of the message to any of the addresses 412listed on the 413.Ic alternates 414list. 415If the 416.Ic alternates 417command is given with no argument, the current set of alternative 418names is displayed. 419.It Ic chdir 420.Pq Ic c 421Changes the user's working directory to that specified, if given. 422If 423no directory is given, then changes to the user's login directory. 424.It Ic copy 425.Pq Ic co 426The 427.Ic copy 428command does the same thing that 429.Ic save 430does, except that it does not mark the messages it 431is used on for deletion when you 432.Ic quit . 433.It Ic delete 434.Pq Ic d 435Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted. 436Deleted messages will not be saved in 437.Pa mbox , 438nor will they be available for most other commands. 439.It Ic dp 440(also 441.Ic dt ) 442Deletes the current message and prints the next message. 443If there is no next message, 444.Nm 445says 446.Dq Li "at EOF" . 447.It Ic edit 448.Pq Ic e 449Takes a list of messages and points the text editor at each one in 450turn. 451On return from the editor, the message is read back in. 452.It Ic exit 453.Ic ( ex 454or 455.Ic x ) 456Effects an immediate return to the shell without 457modifying the user's system mailbox, his 458.Pa mbox 459file, or his edit file in 460.Fl f . 461.It Ic file 462.Pq Ic fi 463The same as 464.Ic folder . 465.It Ic folders 466List the names of the folders in your folder directory. 467.It Ic folder 468.Pq Ic fo 469The 470.Ic folder 471command switches to a new mail file or folder. 472With no 473arguments, it tells you which file you are currently reading. 474If you give it an argument, it will write out changes (such 475as deletions) you have made in the current file and read in 476the new file. 477Some special conventions are recognized for 478the name. 479.Ql # 480means the previous file, 481.Ql % 482means your system mailbox, 483.Dq Li % Ns Ar user 484means user's system mailbox, 485.Ql & 486means your 487.Pa mbox 488file, and 489.Dq Li + Ns Ar folder 490means a file in your folder 491directory. 492.It Ic from 493.Pq Ic f 494Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers. 495.It Ic headers 496.Pq Ic h 497Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18-message group. 498If 499a 500.Ql + 501argument is given, then the next 18-message group is printed, and if 502a 503.Ql \- 504argument is given, the previous 18-message group is printed. 505.It Ic help 506A synonym for 507.Ic \&? . 508.It Ic hold 509.Ic ( ho , 510also 511.Ic preserve ) 512Takes a message list and marks each 513message therein to be saved in the 514user's system mailbox instead of in 515.Pa mbox . 516Does not override the 517.Ic delete 518command. 519.It Ic ignore 520Add the list of header fields named to the 521.Ar ignored list . 522Header fields in the ignore list are not printed 523on your terminal when you print a message. 524This 525command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated 526header fields. 527The 528.Ic Type 529and 530.Ic Print 531commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including 532ignored fields. 533If 534.Ic ignore 535is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 536ignored fields. 537.It Ic inc 538Incorporate any new messages that have arrived while mail 539is being read. 540The new messages are added to the end of the message list, 541and the current message is reset to be the first new mail message. 542This does not renumber the existing message list, nor 543does it cause any changes made so far to be saved. 544.It Ic mail 545.Pq Ic m 546Takes as argument login names and distribution group names and sends 547mail to those people. 548.It Ic mbox 549Indicate that a list of messages be sent to 550.Pa mbox 551in your home directory when you quit. 552This is the default 553action for messages if you do 554.Em not 555have the 556.Ic hold 557option set. 558.It Ic more 559.Pq Ic mo 560Takes a list of messages and invokes the pager on that list. 561.It Ic next 562.Ic ( n , 563like 564.Ic + 565or 566.Tn CR ) 567Goes to the next message in sequence and types it. 568With an argument list, types the next matching message. 569.It Ic preserve 570.Pq Ic pre 571A synonym for 572.Ic hold . 573.It Ic print 574.Pq Ic p 575Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal. 576.It Ic quit 577.Pq Ic q 578Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in 579the user's 580.Pa mbox 581file in his login directory, preserving all messages marked with 582.Ic hold 583or 584.Ic preserve 585or never referenced 586in his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his system 587mailbox. 588If new mail has arrived during the session, the message 589.Dq Li "You have new mail" 590is given. 591If given while editing a 592mailbox file with the 593.Fl f 594flag, then the edit file is rewritten. 595A return to the shell is 596effected, unless the rewrite of edit file fails, in which case the user 597can escape with the 598.Ic exit 599command. 600.It Ic reply 601.Pq Ic r 602Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all 603recipients of the specified message. 604The default message must not be deleted. 605.It Ic respond 606A synonym for 607.Ic reply . 608.It Ic retain 609Add the list of header fields named to the 610.Em "retained list" . 611Only the header fields in the retained list 612are shown on your terminal when you print a message. 613All other header fields are suppressed. 614The 615.Ic type 616and 617.Ic print 618commands can be used to print a message in its entirety. 619If 620.Ic retain 621is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 622retained fields. 623.It Ic save 624.Pq Ic s 625Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in 626turn to the end of the file. 627The filename in quotes, followed by the line 628count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal. 629.It Ic set 630.Pq Ic se 631With no arguments, prints all variable values. 632Otherwise, sets 633option. 634Arguments are of the form 635.Ar option Ns Li = Ns Ar value 636(no space before or after 637.Ql = ) 638or 639.Ar option . 640Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment statement to 641quote blanks or tabs, i.e.\& 642.Dq Li "set indentprefix=\*q->\*q" 643.It Ic saveignore 644.Ic Saveignore 645is to 646.Ic save 647what 648.Ic ignore 649is to 650.Ic print 651and 652.Ic type . 653Header fields thus marked are filtered out when 654saving a message by 655.Ic save 656or when automatically saving to 657.Pa mbox . 658.It Ic saveretain 659.Ic Saveretain 660is to 661.Ic save 662what 663.Ic retain 664is to 665.Ic print 666and 667.Ic type . 668Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved 669with a message when saving by 670.Ic save 671or when automatically saving to 672.Pa mbox . 673.Ic Saveretain 674overrides 675.Ic saveignore . 676.It Ic shell 677.Pq Ic sh 678Invokes an interactive version of the shell. 679.It Ic size 680Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of each 681message. 682.It Ic source 683The 684.Ic source 685command reads 686commands from a file. 687.It Ic top 688Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each. 689The number of 690lines printed is controlled by the variable 691.Va toplines 692and defaults to 5. 693.It Ic type 694.Pq Ic t 695A synonym for 696.Ic print . 697.It Ic unalias 698Takes a list of names defined by 699.Ic alias 700commands and discards the remembered groups of users. 701The group names 702no longer have any significance. 703.It Ic undelete 704.Pq Ic u 705Takes a message list and marks each message as 706.Em not 707being deleted. 708.It Ic unread 709.Pq Ic U 710Takes a message list and marks each message as 711.Em not 712having been read. 713.It Ic unset 714Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values; 715the inverse of 716.Ic set . 717.It Ic visual 718.Pq Ic v 719Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message. 720.It Ic write 721.Pq Ic w 722Similar to 723.Ic save , 724except that 725.Em only 726the message body 727.Em ( without 728the header) is saved. 729Extremely useful for such tasks as sending and receiving source 730program text over the message system. 731.It Ic xit 732.Pq Ic x 733A synonym for 734.Ic exit . 735.It Ic z 736The 737.Nm 738utility presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the 739.Ic headers 740command. 741You can move 742.Nm Ns 's 743attention forward to the next window with the 744.Ic z 745command. 746Also, you can move to the previous window by using 747.Ic z\- . 748.El 749.Ss Tilde/Escapes 750Here is a summary of the tilde escapes, 751which are used when composing messages to perform 752special functions. 753Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning 754of lines. 755The name 756.Dq "tilde escape" 757is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be set 758by the option 759.Va escape . 760.Bl -tag -width indent 761.It Ic ~a 762Inserts the autograph string from the sign= option into the message. 763.It Ic ~A 764Inserts the autograph string from the Sign= option into the message. 765.It Ic ~b Ar name ... 766Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients but do not make 767the names visible in the Cc: line 768.Dq ( blind 769carbon copy). 770.It Ic ~c Ar name ... 771Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients. 772.It Ic ~d 773Read the file 774.Pa dead.letter 775from your home directory into the message. 776.It Ic ~e 777Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far. 778After the 779editing session is finished, you may continue appending text to the 780message. 781.It Ic ~f Ar messages 782Read the named messages into the message being sent. 783If no messages are specified, read in the current message. 784Message headers currently being ignored (by the 785.Ic ignore 786or 787.Ic retain 788command) are not included. 789.It Ic ~F Ar messages 790Identical to 791.Ic ~f , 792except all message headers are included. 793.It Ic ~h 794Edit the message header fields by typing each one in turn and allowing 795the user to append text to the end or modify the field by using the 796current terminal erase and kill characters. 797.It Ic ~i Ar string 798Inserts the value of the named option into the text of the message. 799.It Ic ~m Ar messages 800Read the named messages into the message being sent, indented by a 801tab or by the value of 802.Va indentprefix . 803If no messages are specified, 804read the current message. 805Message headers currently being ignored (by the 806.Ic ignore 807or 808.Ic retain 809command) are not included. 810.It Ic ~M Ar messages 811Identical to 812.Ic ~m , 813except all message headers are included. 814.It Ic ~p 815Print out the message collected so far, prefaced by the message header 816fields. 817.It Ic ~q 818Abort the message being sent, copying the message to 819.Pa dead.letter 820in your home directory if 821.Va save 822is set. 823.It Ic ~r Ar filename , Ic ~r Li \&! Ns Ar command 824.It Ic ~< Ar filename , Ic ~< Li \&! Ns Ar command 825Read the named file into the message. 826If the argument begins with a 827.Ql \&! , 828the rest of the string is taken as an arbitrary system command and is 829executed, with the standard output inserted into the message. 830.It Ic ~R Ar string 831Use 832.Ar string 833as the Reply-To field. 834.It Ic ~s Ar string 835Cause the named string to become the current subject field. 836.It Ic ~t Ar name ... 837Add the given names to the direct recipient list. 838.It Ic ~v 839Invoke an alternative editor (defined by the 840.Ev VISUAL 841environment variable) on the 842message collected so far. 843Usually, the alternative editor will be a 844screen editor. 845After you quit the editor, you may resume appending 846text to the end of your message. 847.It Ic ~w Ar filename 848Write the message onto the named file. 849.It Ic ~x 850Exits as with 851.Ic ~q , 852except the message is not saved in 853.Pa dead.letter . 854.It Ic ~! Ar command 855Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the message. 856.It Ic ~| Ar command , Ic ~^ Ar command 857Pipe the message through the command as a filter. 858If the command gives 859no output or terminates abnormally, retain the original text of the 860message. 861The command 862.Xr fmt 1 863is often used as 864.Ar command 865to rejustify the message. 866.It Ic ~: Ar mail-command , Ic ~_ Ar mail-command 867Execute the given 868.Nm 869command. 870Not all commands, however, are allowed. 871.It Ic ~. 872Simulate end-of-file on input. 873.It Ic ~? 874Print a summary of the available command escapes. 875.It Ic ~~ Ar string 876Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single 877.Ql ~ . 878If 879you have changed the escape character, then you should double 880that character in order to send it. 881.El 882.Ss "Mail Options" 883Options can be set with the 884.Ic set 885command 886and can be disabled with the 887.Ic unset 888or 889.Ic set Cm no Ns Ar name 890commands. 891Options may be either binary, in which case it is only 892significant to see whether they are set or not; or string, in which 893case the actual value is of interest. 894If an option is not set, 895.Nm 896will look for an environment variable of the same name. 897The available options include the following: 898.Bl -tag -width indent 899.It Va append 900Causes messages saved in 901.Pa mbox 902to be appended to the end rather than prepended. 903This should always be set (preferably in one of the system-wide 904.Pa mail.rc 905files). 906Default is 907.Va noappend . 908.It Va ask , asksub 909Causes 910.Nm 911to prompt you for the subject of each message you send. 912If 913you respond with simply a newline, no subject field will be sent. 914Default is 915.Va asksub . 916.It Va askbcc 917Causes you to be prompted for additional blind carbon copy recipients at the 918end of each message. 919Responding with a newline indicates your 920satisfaction with the current list. 921Default is 922.Va noaskbcc . 923.It Va askcc 924Causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients at the 925end of each message. 926Responding with a newline indicates your 927satisfaction with the current list. 928Default is 929.Va noaskcc . 930.It Va autoinc 931Causes new mail to be automatically incorporated when it arrives. 932Setting this is similar to issuing the 933.Ic inc 934command at each prompt, except that the current message is not 935reset when new mail arrives. 936Default is 937.Va noautoinc . 938.It Va autoprint 939Causes the 940.Ic delete 941command to behave like 942.Ic dp ; 943thus, after deleting a message, the next one will be typed 944automatically. 945Default is 946.Va noautoprint . 947.It Va crt 948The valued option 949.Va crt 950is used as a threshold to determine how long a message must 951be before 952.Ev PAGER 953is used to read it. 954If 955.Va crt 956is set without a value, 957then the height of the terminal screen stored in the system 958is used to compute the threshold (see 959.Xr stty 1 ) . 960Default is 961.Va nocrt . 962.It Va debug 963Setting the binary option 964.Va debug 965is the same as specifying 966.Fl d 967on the command line and causes 968.Nm 969to output all sorts of information useful for debugging 970.Nm . 971Default is 972.Va nodebug . 973.It Va dot 974The binary option 975.Va dot 976causes 977.Nm 978to interpret a period alone on a line as the terminator 979of a message you are sending. 980Default is 981.Va nodot . 982.It Va escape 983If defined, the first character of this option gives the character to 984use in place of 985.Ql ~ 986to denote escapes. 987.It Va flipr 988Reverses the sense of 989.Ic reply 990and 991.Ic Reply 992commands. 993Default is 994.Va noflipr . 995.It Va folder 996The name of the directory to use for storing folders of 997messages. 998If this name begins with a 999.Ql / , 1000.Nm 1001considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the 1002folder directory is found relative to your home directory. 1003.It Va header 1004If defined, initially display message headers when reading mail or 1005editing a mail folder. 1006Default is 1007.Va header . 1008This option can be disabled by giving the 1009.Fl N 1010flag on the command line. 1011.It Va hold 1012This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox 1013by default. 1014Default is 1015.Va nohold . 1016.It Va ignore 1017Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be ignored and echoed as 1018.Li @ Ns 's. 1019Default is 1020.Va noignore . 1021.It Va ignoreeof 1022An option related to 1023.Va dot 1024is 1025.Va ignoreeof 1026which makes 1027.Nm 1028refuse to accept a 1029.Aq Li control-D 1030as the end of a message. 1031.Ar Ignoreeof 1032also applies to 1033.Nm 1034command mode. 1035Default is 1036.Va noignoreeof . 1037.It Va indentprefix 1038String used by the 1039.Ic ~m 1040tilde escape for indenting messages, in place of 1041the normal tab character 1042.Pq Li ^I . 1043Be sure to quote the value if it contains 1044spaces or tabs. 1045.It Va metoo 1046Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender, the sender 1047is removed from the expansion. 1048Setting this option causes the sender 1049to be included in the group. 1050Default is 1051.Va nometoo . 1052.It Va quiet 1053Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked. 1054Default is 1055.Va noquiet . 1056.It Va record 1057If defined, gives the pathname of the file used to record all outgoing 1058mail. 1059If not defined, outgoing mail is not saved. 1060Default is 1061.Va norecord . 1062.It Va Replyall 1063Reverses the sense of 1064.Ic reply 1065and 1066.Ic Reply 1067commands. 1068Default is 1069.Va noReplyall . 1070.It Va save 1071If this option is set, and you abort a message with two 1072.Tn RUBOUT 1073(erase or delete), 1074.Nm 1075will copy the partial letter to the file 1076.Pa dead.letter 1077in your home directory. 1078Default is 1079.Va save . 1080.It Va searchheaders 1081If this option is set, then a message-list specifier in the form 1082.Dq Li / Ns Ar x Ns Li : Ns Ar y 1083will expand to all messages containing the substring 1084.Ar y 1085in the header field 1086.Ar x . 1087The string search is case insensitive. 1088If 1089.Ar x 1090is omitted, it will default to the 1091.Dq Li Subject 1092header field. 1093The form 1094.Dq Li /to: Ns Ar y 1095is a special case, and will expand 1096to all messages containing the substring 1097.Ar y 1098in the 1099.Dq Li To , 1100.Dq Li Cc 1101or 1102.Dq Li Bcc 1103header fields. 1104The check for 1105.Qq Li "to" 1106is case sensitive, so that 1107.Dq Li /To: Ns Ar y 1108can be used to limit the search for 1109.Ar y 1110to just the 1111.Dq Li To: 1112field. 1113Default is 1114.Va nosearchheaders . 1115.It Va toplines 1116If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out 1117with the 1118.Ic top 1119command; normally, the first five lines are printed. 1120.It Va verbose 1121Setting the option 1122.Va verbose 1123is the same as using the 1124.Fl v 1125flag on the command line. 1126When 1127.Nm 1128runs in verbose mode, 1129the actual delivery of messages is displayed on the user's 1130terminal. 1131Default is 1132.Va noverbose . 1133.El 1134.Sh ENVIRONMENT 1135.Bl -tag -width ".Ev REPLYTO" 1136.It Ev DEAD 1137Pathname of the file to save partial messages to in case of interrupts 1138or delivery errors. 1139Default is 1140.Pa ~/dead.letter . 1141.It Ev EDITOR 1142Pathname of the text editor to use in the 1143.Ic edit 1144command and 1145.Ic ~e 1146escape. 1147If not defined, then a default editor is used. 1148.It Ev HOME 1149Pathname of the user's home directory. 1150.It Ev LISTER 1151Pathname of the directory lister to use in the 1152.Ic folders 1153command. 1154Default is 1155.Pa /bin/ls . 1156.It Ev MAIL 1157Location of the user's mailbox. 1158Default is 1159.Pa /var/mail . 1160.It Ev MAILRC 1161Pathname of file containing initial 1162.Nm 1163commands. 1164Default is 1165.Pa ~/.mailrc . 1166.It Ev MBOX 1167The name of the mailbox file. 1168It can be the name of a folder. 1169The default is 1170.Pa mbox 1171in the user's home directory. 1172.It Ev PAGER 1173Pathname of the program to use in the 1174.Ic more 1175command or when 1176.Va crt 1177variable is set. 1178The default paginator 1179.Xr more 1 1180is used if this option is not defined. 1181.It Ev REPLYTO 1182If set, will be used to initialize the Reply-To field for outgoing 1183messages. 1184.It Ev SHELL 1185Pathname of the shell to use in the 1186.Ic \&! 1187command and the 1188.Ic ~! 1189escape. 1190A default shell is used if this option is 1191not defined. 1192.It Ev VISUAL 1193Pathname of the text editor to use in the 1194.Ic visual 1195command and 1196.Ic ~v 1197escape. 1198.It Ev USER 1199Login name of the user executing mail. 1200.El 1201.Sh FILES 1202.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.*help" -compact 1203.It Pa /var/mail/* 1204Post office. 1205.It Pa ~/mbox 1206User's old mail. 1207.It Pa ~/.mailrc 1208File giving initial 1209.Nm 1210commands. 1211This can be overridden by setting the 1212.Ev MAILRC 1213environment variable. 1214.It Pa /tmp/R* 1215Temporary files. 1216.It Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.*help 1217Help files. 1218.Pp 1219.It Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.rc 1220.It Pa /usr/local/etc/mail.rc 1221.It Pa /etc/mail.rc 1222System-wide initialization files. 1223Each file will be sourced, in order, 1224if it exists. 1225.El 1226.Sh SEE ALSO 1227.Xr fmt 1 , 1228.Xr newaliases 1 , 1229.Xr vacation 1 , 1230.Xr aliases 5 , 1231.Xr sendmail 8 1232.Sh HISTORY 1233A 1234.Nm 1235command 1236appeared in 1237.At v1 . 1238This man page is derived from 1239.%T "The Mail Reference Manual" 1240originally written by 1241.An Kurt Shoens . 1242.Sh BUGS 1243There are some flags that are not documented here. 1244Most are 1245not useful to the general user. 1246.Pp 1247Usually, 1248.Nm 1249is just a link to 1250.Nm Mail 1251and 1252.Nm mailx , 1253which can be confusing. 1254.Pp 1255The name of the 1256.Ic alternates 1257list is incorrect English (it should be 1258.Dq alternatives ) , 1259but is retained for compatibility. 1260