1.\" $OpenBSD: mail.1,v 1.33 2000/11/09 17:52:21 aaron Exp $ 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993 4.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 7.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 8.\" are met: 9.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 11.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 13.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 14.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software 15.\" must display the following acknowledgement: 16.\" This product includes software developed by the University of 17.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. 18.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 19.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 20.\" without specific prior written permission. 21.\" 22.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 23.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 24.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 25.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 26.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 27.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 28.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 29.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 30.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 31.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 32.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 33.\" 34.\" @(#)mail.1 8.8 (Berkeley) 4/28/95 35.\" 36.Dd April 28, 1995 37.Dt MAIL 1 38.Os 39.Sh NAME 40.Nm mail , 41.Nm mailx , 42.Nm Mail 43.Nd send and receive mail 44.Sh SYNOPSIS 45.Nm mail 46.Op Fl iInv 47.Op Fl s Ar subject 48.Op Fl c Ar list 49.Op Fl b Ar list 50.Ar to-addr Op Ar ... 51.Op Fl Ar sendmail-options Op Ar ... 52.Nm mail 53.Op Fl iInNv 54.Fl f 55.Op Ar name 56.Nm mail 57.Op Fl iInNv 58.Op Fl u Ar user 59.Sh DESCRIPTION 60.Nm mail 61is an intelligent mail processing system which has 62a command syntax reminiscent of 63.Xr \&ed 1 64with lines replaced by messages. 65.Pp 66The options are as follows: 67.Bl -tag -width Ds 68.It Fl v 69Verbose mode. 70The details of 71delivery are displayed on the user's terminal. 72.It Fl i 73Ignore tty interrupt signals. 74This is 75particularly useful when using 76.Nm mail 77on noisy phone lines. 78.It Fl I 79Forces 80.Nm mail 81to run in interactive mode, even when input is not a terminal. 82In particular, the special 83.Ic \&~ 84command character, used when sending mail, is only available interactively. 85.It Fl n 86Inhibits reading 87.Pa /etc/mail.rc 88upon startup. 89.It Fl N 90Inhibits initial display of message headers 91when reading mail or editing a mail folder. 92.It Fl s Ar subject 93Specify subject on command line 94(only the first argument after the 95.Fl s 96flag is used as a subject; be careful to quote subjects 97containing spaces). 98.It Fl c Ar list 99Send carbon copies to 100.Ar list 101of users. 102.Ar list 103should be a comma separated list of names. 104.It Fl b Ar list 105Send blind carbon copies to 106.Ar list . 107.It Fl f Ar name 108Read in the contents of your mailbox 109(or the specified file 110.Ar name ) 111for processing; when you quit, 112.Nm mail 113writes undeleted messages back to this file. 114.It Fl u Ar user 115Is equivalent to: 116.Pp 117.Dl mail -f /var/mail/user 118.Pp 119except that locking is done. 120.El 121.Ss Startup actions 122At startup time, 123.Nm mail 124will execute commands in the system command files 125.Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.rc , 126.Pa /usr/local/etc/mail.rc 127and 128.Pa /etc/mail.rc 129in order unless explicitly told not to by using the 130.Fl n 131option. 132Next, the commands in the user's personal command file 133.Pa ~/.mailrc 134are executed. 135.Nm mail 136then examines its command line options to determine whether the user 137requested a new message to be sent or existing messages in a mailbox 138to be examined. 139.Ss Sending mail 140To send a message to one or more people, 141.Nm mail 142can be invoked with arguments which are the names of people to 143whom the mail will be sent. 144You are then expected to type in 145your message, followed 146by a control-D 147.Pq Sq ^D 148at the beginning of a line. 149The section below, 150.Ar Replying to or originating mail , 151describes some features of 152.Nm mail 153available to help you compose your letter. 154.Pp 155.Ss Reading mail 156In normal usage, 157.Nm mail 158is given no arguments and checks your mail out of the 159post office, then 160prints out a one line header of each message found. 161The current message is initially set to the first message (numbered 1) 162and can be printed using the 163.Ic print 164command (which can be abbreviated 165.Ic p ) . 166Moving among the messages is much like moving between lines in 167.Xr ed 1 ; 168you may use 169.Ic \&+ 170and 171.Ic \&- 172to shift forwards and backwards, or simply enter a message number to move 173directly. 174.Pp 175.Ss Disposing of mail 176After examining a message you can 177.Ic delete 178.Pq Ic d 179or 180.Ic reply 181.Pq Ic r 182to it. 183Deletion causes the 184.Nm mail 185program to forget about the message. 186This is not irreversible; the message can be 187.Ic undeleted 188.Pq Ic u 189by giving its number, or the 190.Nm mail 191session can be aborted by giving the 192.Ic exit 193.Pq Ic x 194command. 195Deleted messages, however, will usually disappear, never to be seen again. 196.Pp 197.Ss Specifying messages 198Commands such as 199.Ic print 200and 201.Ic delete 202can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply 203to a number of messages at once. 204Thus 205.Ic delete 1 2 206deletes messages 1 and 2, while 207.Ic delete 1\-5 208deletes messages 1 through 5. 209The special name 210.Sq \&* 211addresses all messages and 212.Sq \&$ 213addresses 214the last message; thus the command 215.Ic top 216which prints the first few lines of a message could be used in 217.Ic top \&* 218to print the first few lines of all messages. 219.Pp 220.Ss Replying to or originating mail 221You can use the 222.Ic reply 223command to 224set up a response to a message, sending it back to the 225person who it was from. 226Text you then type in, up to an end-of-file, 227defines the contents of the message. 228While you are composing a message, 229.Nm mail 230treats lines beginning with the tilde 231.Pq Sq ~ 232character specially. 233For instance, typing 234.Ic ~m 235(alone on a line) will place a copy 236of the current message into the response, right shifting it by a single 237tab-stop (see 238.Va indentprefix 239variable, below). 240Other escapes will set up subject fields, add and delete recipients 241to the message and allow you to escape to an editor to revise the 242message or to a shell to run some commands. 243(These options 244are given in the summary below.) 245.Pp 246.Ss Ending a mail processing session 247You can end a 248.Nm mail 249session with the 250.Ic quit 251.Pq Ic q 252command. 253Messages which have been examined go to your 254.Ar mbox 255file unless they have been deleted in which case they are discarded. 256Unexamined messages go back to the post office (see the 257.Fl f 258option above). 259.Pp 260.Ss Personal and system wide distribution lists 261It is also possible to create personal distribution lists so that, 262for instance, you can send mail to 263.Dq Li cohorts 264and have it go 265to a group of people. 266Such lists can be defined by placing a line like 267.Pp 268.Dl alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory 269.Pp 270in the file 271.Pa \&.mailrc 272in your home directory. 273The current list of such aliases can be displayed with the 274.Ic alias 275command in 276.Nm mail . 277System wide distribution lists can be created by editing 278.Pa /etc/mail/aliases , 279(see 280.Xr aliases 5 281and 282.Xr sendmail 8 ) ; 283these are kept in a different syntax. 284In mail you send, personal aliases will be expanded in mail sent 285to others so that they will be able to 286.Ic reply 287to the recipients. 288System wide aliases 289are not expanded when the mail is sent, 290but any reply returned to the machine will have the system wide 291alias expanded as all mail goes through 292.Xr sendmail . 293.Pp 294.Ss Network mail (ARPA, UUCP, Berknet) 295See 296.Xr mailaddr 7 297for a description of network addresses. 298.Pp 299.Nm mail 300has a number of options which can be set in the 301.Pa .mailrc 302file to alter its behavior; thus 303.Ic set askcc 304enables the 305.Ar askcc 306feature. 307(These options are summarized below.) 308.Sh SUMMARY 309(Adapted from the 310.Dq Mail Reference Manual . ) 311.Pp 312Each command is typed on a line by itself, and may take arguments 313following the command word. 314The command need not be typed in its 315entirety -- the first command which matches the typed prefix is used. 316For commands which take message lists as arguments, if no message 317list is given, then the next message forward which satisfies the 318command's requirements is used. 319If there are no messages forward of 320the current message, the search proceeds backwards, and if there are no 321good messages at all, 322.Nm mail 323types 324.Dq Li \&No applicable messages 325and 326aborts the command. 327.Bl -tag -width delete 328.It Ic \&\- 329Print out the preceding message. 330If given a numeric 331argument 332.Ar n , 333goes to the 334.Ar n Ns th 335previous message and prints it. 336.It Ic \&? 337Prints a brief summary of commands. 338.It Ic \&! 339Executes the shell 340(see 341.Xr sh 1 342and 343.Xr csh 1 ) 344command which follows. 345.It Ic Print 346.Pq Ic P 347Like 348.Ic print 349but also prints out ignored header fields. 350See also 351.Ic print , 352.Ic ignore 353and 354.Ic retain . 355.It Ic Reply 356.Pq Ic R 357Reply to originator. 358Does not reply to other 359recipients of the original message. 360.It Ic Type 361.Pq Ic T 362Identical to the 363.Ic Print 364command. 365.It Ic alias 366.Pq Ic a 367With no arguments, prints out all currently defined aliases. 368With one 369argument, prints out that alias. 370With more than one argument, creates 371a new alias or changes an old one. 372.It Ic alternates 373.Pq Ic alt 374The 375.Ic alternates 376command is useful if you have accounts on several machines. 377It can be used to inform 378.Nm mail 379that the listed addresses are really you. 380When you 381.Ic reply 382to messages, 383.Nm mail 384will not send a copy of the message to any of the addresses 385listed on the 386.Ic alternates 387list. 388If the 389.Ic alternates 390command is given with no argument, the current set of alternate 391names is displayed. 392.It Ic chdir 393.Pq Ic c 394Changes the user's working directory to that specified, if given. 395If 396no directory is given, then changes to the user's login directory. 397.It Ic copy 398.Pq Ic co 399The 400.Ic copy 401command does the same thing that 402.Ic save 403does, except that it does not mark the messages it 404is used on for deletion when you quit. 405.It Ic delete 406.Pq Ic d 407Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted. 408Deleted messages will not be saved in 409.Ar mbox , 410nor will they be available for most other commands. 411.It Ic dp 412(also 413.Ic dt ) 414Deletes the current message and prints the next message. 415If there is no next message, 416.Nm mail 417says 418.Dq Li "at EOF" . 419.It Ic edit 420.Pq Ic e 421Takes a list of messages and points the text editor at each one in 422turn. 423On return from the editor, the message is read back in. 424.It Ic exit 425.Pf ( Ic ex 426or 427.Ic x ) 428Effects an immediate return to the shell without 429modifying the user's system mailbox, his 430.Ar mbox 431file, or his edit file in 432.Fl f . 433.It Ic file 434.Pq Ic fi 435The same as 436.Ic folder . 437.It Ic folders 438List the names of the folders in your folder directory. 439.It Ic folder 440.Pq Ic fo 441The 442.Ic folder 443command switches to a new mail file or folder. 444With no 445arguments, it tells you which file you are currently reading. 446If you give it an argument, it will write out changes (such 447as deletions) you have made in the current file and read in 448the new file. 449Some special conventions are recognized for 450the name. 451# means the previous file, % means your system 452mailbox, %user means user's system mailbox, & means 453your 454.Ar mbox 455file, and 456\&+\&folder means a file in your folder 457directory. 458.It Ic from 459.Pq Ic f 460Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers. 461.It Ic headers 462.Pq Ic h 463Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18\-message group. 464If 465a 466.Ql \&+ 467argument is given, the next 18\-message group is printed; if 468a 469.Ql \&\- 470argument is given, the previous 18\-message group is printed. 471.It Ic help 472A synonym for 473.Ic \&? . 474.ne li 475.It Ic hold 476.Pf ( Ic ho , 477also 478.Ic preserve ) 479Takes a message list and marks each 480message therein to be saved in the 481user's system mailbox instead of in 482.Ar mbox . 483Does not override the 484.Ic delete 485command. 486.It Ic ignore 487Add the list of header fields named to the 488.Ar ignored list . 489Header fields in the ignore list are not printed 490on your terminal when you print a message. 491This 492command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated 493header fields. 494The 495.Ic Type 496and 497.Ic Print 498commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including 499ignored fields. 500If 501.Ic ignore 502is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 503ignored fields. 504.It Ic inc 505Incorporate any new messages that have arrived while mail 506is being read. 507The new messages are added to the end of the message list, 508and the current message is reset to be the first new mail message. 509This does not renumber the existing message list, nor 510does it cause any changes made so far to be saved. 511.It Ic mail 512.Pq Ic m 513Takes as argument login names and distribution group names and sends 514mail to those people. 515.It Ic mbox 516Indicate that a list of messages be sent to 517.Ic mbox 518in your home directory when you quit. 519This is the default 520action for messages if you do 521.Em not 522have the 523.Ic hold 524option set. 525.It Ic more 526.Pq Ic \mo 527Takes a message list and invokes the pager on that list. 528.It Ic next 529.Pq Ic n 530(like 531.Ic \&+ 532or 533.Tn CR ) 534Goes to the next message in sequence and types it. 535With an argument list, types the next matching message. 536.It Ic preserve 537.Pq Ic pre 538A synonym for 539.Ic hold . 540.It Ic print 541.Pq Ic p 542Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal. 543.It Ic quit 544.Pq Ic q 545Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in 546the user's 547.Ar mbox 548file in his login directory, preserving all messages marked with 549.Ic hold 550or 551.Ic preserve 552or never referenced 553in his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his system 554mailbox. 555If new mail has arrived during the session, the message 556.Dq Li "You have new mail" 557is given. 558If given while editing a 559mailbox file with the 560.Fl f 561flag, then the edit file is rewritten. 562A return to the shell is 563effected, unless the rewrite of edit file fails, in which case the user 564can escape with the 565.Ic exit 566command. 567.It Ic reply 568.Pq Ic r 569Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all 570recipients of the specified message. 571The default message must not be deleted. 572.It Ic respond 573A synonym for 574.Ic reply . 575.It Ic retain 576Add the list of header fields named to the 577.Ar retained list . 578Only the header fields in the retain list 579are shown on your terminal when you print a message. 580All other header fields are suppressed. 581The 582.Ic Type 583and 584.Ic Print 585commands can be used to print a message in its entirety. 586If 587.Ic retain 588is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 589retained fields. 590.It Ic save 591.Pq Ic s 592Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in 593turn to the end of the file. 594The filename in quotes, followed by the line 595count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal. 596.It Ic set 597.Pq Ic se 598With no arguments, prints all variable values. 599Otherwise, sets 600option. 601Arguments are of the form 602.Ar option=value 603(no space before or after =) or 604.Ar option . 605Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment statement to 606quote blanks or tabs, i.e., 607.Ic set indentprefix="->" . 608.It Ic saveignore 609.Ic saveignore 610is to 611.Ic save 612what 613.Ic ignore 614is to 615.Ic print 616and 617.Ic type . 618Header fields thus marked are filtered out when 619saving a message by 620.Ic save 621or when automatically saving to 622.Ar mbox . 623.pl +1 624.It Ic saveretain 625.Ic saveretain 626is to 627.Ic save 628what 629.Ic retain 630is to 631.Ic print 632and 633.Ic type . 634Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved 635with a message when saving by 636.Ic save 637or when automatically saving to 638.Ar mbox . 639.Ic saveretain 640overrides 641.Ic saveignore . 642.It Ic shell 643.Pq Ic sh 644Invokes an interactive version of the shell. 645.It Ic size 646Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of each 647message. 648.It Ic source 649The 650.Ic source 651command reads 652commands from a file. 653.It Ic top 654Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each. 655The number of 656lines printed is controlled by the variable 657.Ic toplines 658and defaults to five. 659.It Ic type 660.Pq Ic t 661A synonym for 662.Ic print . 663.It Ic unalias 664Takes a list of names defined by 665.Ic alias 666commands and discards the remembered groups of users. 667The group names 668no longer have any significance. 669.It Ic undelete 670.Pq Ic u 671Takes a message list and marks each message as 672.Ic not 673being deleted. 674.It Ic unread 675.Pq Ic U 676Takes a message list and marks each message as 677.Ic not 678having been read. 679.It Ic unset 680Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values; 681the inverse of 682.Ic set . 683.It Ic visual 684.Pq Ic v 685Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message. 686.It Ic write 687.Pq Ic w 688Similar to 689.Ic save , 690except that 691.Ic only 692the message body 693.Pf ( Ar without 694the header) 695is saved. 696Extremely useful for such tasks as sending and receiving source 697program text over the message system. 698.It Ic xit 699.Pq Ic x 700A synonym for 701.Ic exit . 702.It Ic z 703.Nm mail 704presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the 705.Ic headers 706command. 707You can move 708.Nm mail Ns 's 709attention forward to the next window with the 710.Ic \&z 711command. 712Also, you can move to the previous window by using 713.Ic \&z\&\- . 714.El 715.Ss Tilde/escapes 716Here is a summary of the tilde escapes, 717which are used when composing messages to perform 718special functions. 719Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning 720of lines. 721The name 722.Dq tilde escape 723is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be set 724by the option 725.Ic escape . 726.Bl -tag -width Ds 727.It Ic \&~! Ns Ar command 728Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the message. 729.It Ic \&~b Ns Ar name ... 730Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients but do not make 731the names visible in the Cc: line ("blind" carbon copy). 732.It Ic \&~c Ns Ar name ... 733Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients. 734.It Ic \&~d 735Read the file 736.Pa dead.letter 737from your home directory into the message. 738.It Ic \&~e 739Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far. 740After the 741editing session is finished, you may continue appending text to the 742message. 743.It Ic \&~f Ns Ar messages 744Read the named messages into the message being sent. 745If no messages are specified, read in the current message. 746Message headers currently being ignored (by the 747.Ic ignore 748or 749.Ic retain 750command) are not included. 751.ne li 752.It Ic \&~F Ns Ar messages 753Identical to 754.Ic \&~f , 755except all message headers are included. 756.It Ic \&~h 757Edit the message header fields by typing each one in turn and allowing 758the user to append text to the end or modify the field by using the 759current terminal erase and kill characters. 760.It Ic \&~m Ns Ar messages 761Read the named messages into the message being sent, indented by a 762tab or by the value of 763.Va indentprefix . 764If no messages are specified, 765read the current message. 766Message headers currently being ignored (by the 767.Ic ignore 768or 769.Ic retain 770command) are not included. 771.It Ic \&~M Ns Ar messages 772Identical to 773.Ic \&~m , 774except all message headers are included. 775.It Ic \&~p 776Print out the message collected so far, prefaced by the message header 777fields. 778.It Ic \&~q 779Abort the message being sent, copying the message to 780.Pa dead.letter 781in your home directory if 782.Ic save 783is set. 784.It Ic \&~r Ns Ar filename 785Read the named file into the message. 786.It Ic \&~s Ns Ar string 787Cause the named string to become the current subject field. 788.It Ic \&~\&t Ns Ar name ... 789Add the given names to the direct recipient list. 790.It Ic \&~\&v 791Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the 792.Ev VISUAL 793option) on the 794message collected so far. 795Usually, the alternate editor will be a 796screen editor. 797After you quit the editor, you may resume appending 798text to the end of your message. 799.It Ic \&~w Ns Ar filename 800Write the message onto the named file. 801.It Ic \&~\&| Ns Ar command 802Pipe the message through the command as a filter. 803If the command gives 804no output or terminates abnormally, retain the original text of the 805message. 806The command 807.Xr fmt 1 808is often used as 809.Ic command 810to rejustify the message. 811.It Ic \&~: Ns Ar mail-command 812Execute the given mail command. 813Not all commands, however, are allowed. 814.It Ic \&~~ Ns Ar string 815Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single ~. 816If 817you have changed the escape character, then you should double 818that character in order to send it. 819.El 820.Ss Mail options 821Options are controlled via 822.Ic set 823and 824.Ic unset 825commands. 826Options may be either binary, in which case it is only 827significant to see whether they are set or not; or string, in which 828case the actual value is of interest. 829The binary options include the following: 830.Bl -tag -width append 831.It Ar append 832Causes messages saved in 833.Ar mbox 834to be appended to the end rather than prepended. 835This should always be set (perhaps in 836.Pa /etc/mail.rc ) . 837.It Ar ask , asksub 838Causes 839.Nm mail 840to prompt you for the subject of each message you send. 841If 842you respond with simply a newline, no subject field will be sent. 843.ne li 844.It Ar askcc 845Causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients at the 846end of each message. 847Responding with a newline indicates your 848satisfaction with the current list. 849.It Ar autoinc 850Causes new mail to be automatically incorporated when it arrives. 851Setting this is similar to issuing the 852.Ic inc 853command at each prompt, except that the current message is not 854reset when new mail arrives. 855.It Ar askbcc 856Causes you to be prompted for additional blind carbon copy recipients at the 857end of each message. 858Responding with a newline indicates your 859satisfaction with the current list. 860.It Ar autoprint 861Causes the 862.Ic delete 863command to behave like 864.Ic dp ; 865thus, after deleting a message, the next one will be typed 866automatically. 867.It Ar debug 868Setting the binary option 869.Ar debug 870is the same as specifying 871.Fl d 872on the command line and causes 873.Nm mail 874to output all sorts of information useful for debugging 875.Nm mail . 876.It Ar dot 877The binary option 878.Ar dot 879causes 880.Nm mail 881to interpret a period alone on a line as the terminator 882of a message you are sending. 883.It Ar hold 884This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox 885by default. 886.It Ar ignore 887Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be ignored and echoed as 888@'s. 889.It Ar ignoreeof 890An option related to 891.Ar dot 892is 893.Ar ignoreeof 894which makes 895.Nm mail 896refuse to accept a control-d as the end of a message. 897.Ar ignoreeof 898also applies to 899.Nm mail 900command mode. 901.It Ar metoo 902Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender, the sender 903is removed from the expansion. 904Setting this option causes the sender 905to be included in the group. 906.It Ar noheader 907Setting the option 908.Ar noheader 909is the same as giving the 910.Fl N 911flag on the command line. 912.It Ar nosave 913Normally, when you abort a message with two 914.Tn RUBOUT 915(erase or delete) 916.Nm mail 917copies the partial letter to the file 918.Pa dead.letter 919in your home directory. 920Setting the binary option 921.Ar nosave 922prevents this. 923.It Ar Replyall 924Reverses the sense of 925.Ic reply 926and 927.Ic Reply 928commands. 929.It Ar quiet 930Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked. 931.It Ar searchheaders 932If this option is set, then a message-list specifier in the form 933.Dq /x:y 934will expand to all messages containing the substring 935.Dq y 936in the header 937field 938.Dq x . 939The string search is case insensitive. 940If 941.Dq x 942is omitted, it will default to the 943.Dq Subject 944header field. 945The form 946.Dq /to:y 947is a special case, and will expand 948to all messages containing the substring 949.Dq y 950in the 951.Dq To , 952.Dq Cc 953or 954.Dq Bcc 955header fields. 956The check for 957.Dq to 958is case sensitive, so that 959.Dq /To:y 960can be used to limit the search for 961.Dq y 962to just the 963.Dq To: 964field. 965.It Ar verbose 966Setting the option 967.Ar verbose 968is the same as using the 969.Fl v 970flag on the command line. 971When mail runs in verbose mode, 972the actual delivery of messages is displayed on the user's 973terminal. 974.El 975.Ss Option string values 976.Bl -tag -width Va 977.It Ev EDITOR 978Pathname of the text editor to use in the 979.Ic edit 980command and 981.Ic \&~e 982escape. 983If not defined, then a default editor is used. 984.It Ev LISTER 985Pathname of the directory lister to use in the 986.Ic folders 987command. 988Default is 989.Pa /bin/ls . 990.It Ev PAGER 991Pathname of the program to use in the 992.Ic more 993command or when 994.Ic crt 995variable is set. 996The default paginator 997.Xr more 1 998is used if this option is not defined. 999.It Ev SHELL 1000Pathname of the shell to use in the 1001.Ic \&! 1002command and the 1003.Ic \&~! 1004escape. 1005A default shell is used if this option is 1006not defined. 1007.It Ev VISUAL 1008Pathname of the text editor to use in the 1009.Ic visual 1010command and 1011.Ic \&~v 1012escape. 1013.ne li 1014.It Va crt 1015The valued option 1016.Va crt 1017is used as a threshold to determine how long a message must 1018be before 1019.Ev PAGER 1020is used to read it. 1021If 1022.Va crt 1023is set without a value, 1024then the height of the terminal screen stored in the system 1025is used to compute the threshold (see 1026.Xr stty 1 ) . 1027.It Ar escape 1028If defined, the first character of this option gives the character to 1029use in the place of ~ to denote escapes. 1030.It Ar folder 1031The name of the directory to use for storing folders of 1032messages. 1033If this name begins with a 1034.Ql / , 1035.Nm mail 1036considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the 1037folder directory is found relative to your home directory. 1038.It Ev MBOX 1039The name of the 1040.Ar mbox 1041file. 1042It can be the name of a folder. 1043The default is 1044.Dq Li mbox 1045in the user's home directory. 1046.It Ar record 1047If defined, gives the pathname of the file used to record all outgoing 1048mail. 1049If not defined, then outgoing mail is not so saved. 1050.It Ar indentprefix 1051String used by the 1052.Ic \&~m 1053tilde escape for indenting messages, in place of the normal tab character 1054.Pq Sq ^I 1055Be sure to quote the value if it contains 1056spaces or tabs. 1057.It Ar toplines 1058If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out 1059with the 1060.Ic top 1061command; normally, the first five lines are printed. 1062.El 1063.Sh ENVIRONMENT 1064.Nm mail 1065utilizes the 1066.Ev HOME , 1067.Ev LOGNAME , 1068and 1069.Ev USER 1070environment variables. 1071.Pp 1072If the 1073.Ev MAIL 1074environment variable is set, its value is used as the path to the 1075user's mail spool. 1076.Sh FILES 1077.Bl -tag -width /usr/share/misc/mail.*help -compact 1078.It Pa /var/mail/* 1079post office (unless overridden by the 1080.Ev MAIL 1081environment variable) 1082.It ~/mbox 1083user's old mail 1084.It ~/.mailrc 1085file giving initial mail commands; can be overridden by setting the 1086.Ev MAILRC 1087environment variable 1088.It Pa /tmp/R* 1089temporary files 1090.It Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.*help 1091help files 1092.It Pa /etc/mail.rc 1093system initialization file 1094.El 1095.Sh SEE ALSO 1096.Xr fmt 1 , 1097.Xr lockspool 1 , 1098.Xr vacation 1 , 1099.Xr aliases 5 , 1100.Xr mailaddr 7 , 1101.Xr mail.local 8 , 1102.Xr newaliases 8 , 1103.Xr sendmail 8 1104.Rs 1105.%T "The Mail Reference Manual" 1106.Re 1107.Sh HISTORY 1108A 1109.Nm mail 1110command appeared in 1111.At v5 . 1112This man page is derived from 1113.%T "The Mail Reference Manual" 1114originally written by Kurt Shoens. 1115.Sh BUGS 1116There are some flags that are not documented here. 1117Most are 1118not useful to the general user. 1119.Pp 1120Usually, 1121.Nm mail 1122and 1123.Nm mailx 1124are just links to 1125.Nm Mail , 1126which can be confusing. 1127