1.\" $NetBSD: mail.1,v 1.22 2002/09/26 01:13:41 wiz 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 46.Op Fl EiInv 47.Op Fl s Ar subject 48.Op Fl c Ar cc-addr 49.Op Fl b Ar bcc-addr 50.Ar to-addr ... 51.Nm "" 52.Op Fl EiInNv 53.Fl f 54.Op Ar name 55.Nm "" 56.Op Fl EiInNv 57.Op Fl u Ar user 58.Sh DESCRIPTION 59.Nm 60is an intelligent mail processing system, which has 61a command syntax reminiscent of 62.Xr \&ed 1 63with lines replaced by messages. 64.Pp 65.Bl -tag -width flag 66.It Fl v 67Verbose mode. 68The details of 69delivery are displayed on the user's terminal. 70.It Fl E 71Don't send messages with an empty body. 72This is useful for piping errors from cron scripts. 73.It Fl i 74Ignore tty interrupt signals. 75This is 76particularly useful when using 77.Nm 78on noisy phone lines. 79.It Fl I 80Forces mail to run in interactive mode even when 81input isn't a terminal. 82In particular, the 83.Sq Ic \&~ 84special 85character when sending mail is only active in interactive mode. 86.It Fl n 87Inhibits reading 88.Pa /etc/mail.rc 89upon startup. 90.It Fl N 91Inhibits the initial display of message headers 92when reading mail or editing a mail folder. 93.It Fl s 94Specify subject on command line 95(only the first argument after the 96.Fl s 97flag is used as a subject; be careful to quote subjects 98containing spaces.) 99.It Fl c 100Send carbon copies to 101.Ar list 102of users. 103.It Fl b 104Send blind carbon copies to 105.Ar list . 106List should be a comma-separated list of names. 107.It Fl f 108Read in the contents of your 109.Ar mbox 110(or the specified file) 111for processing; when you 112.Ar quit , 113.Nm 114writes undeleted messages back to this file. 115.It Fl u 116Is equivalent to: 117.Pp 118.Dl mail -f /var/mail/user 119.El 120.Ss Sending mail 121To send a message to one or more people, 122.Nm 123can be invoked with arguments which are the names of people to 124whom the mail will be sent. 125You are then expected to type in 126your message, followed 127by an 128.Sq Li control\-D 129at the beginning of a line. 130The section below 131.Ar Replying to or originating mail , 132describes some features of 133.Nm 134available to help you compose your letter. 135.Ss Reading mail 136In normal usage 137.Nm 138is given no arguments and checks your mail out of the 139post office, then 140prints out a one line header of each message found. 141The current message is initially the first message (numbered 1) 142and can be printed using the 143.Ic print 144command (which can be abbreviated 145.Ql Ic p ) . 146You can move among the messages much as you move between lines in 147.Xr \&ed 1 , 148with the commands 149.Ql Ic \&+ 150and 151.Ql Ic \&\- 152moving backwards and forwards, and 153simple numbers. 154.Ss Disposing of mail 155After examining a message you can 156.Ic delete 157.Pq Ql Ic d 158the message or 159.Ic reply 160.Pq Ql Ic r 161to it. 162Deletion causes the 163.Nm 164program to forget about the message. 165This is not irreversible; the message can be 166.Ic undeleted 167.Pq Ql Ic u 168by giving its number, or the 169.Nm 170session can be aborted by giving the 171.Ic exit 172.Pq Ql Ic x 173command. 174Deleted messages will, however, usually disappear never to be seen again. 175.Ss Specifying messages 176Commands such as 177.Ic print 178and 179.Ic delete 180can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply 181to a number of messages at once. 182Thus 183.Dq Li delete 1 2 184deletes messages 1 and 2, while 185.Dq Li delete 1\-5 186deletes messages 1 through 5. 187The special name 188.Ql Li \&* 189addresses all messages, and 190.Ql Li \&$ 191addresses 192the last message; thus the command 193.Ic top 194which prints the first few lines of a message could be used in 195.Dq Li top \&* 196to print the first few lines of all messages. 197.Ss Replying to or originating mail 198You can use the 199.Ic reply 200command to 201set up a response to a message, sending it back to the 202person who it was from. 203Text you then type in, up to an end-of-file, 204defines the contents of the message. 205While you are composing a message, 206.Nm 207treats lines beginning with the character 208.Ql Ic \&~ 209specially. 210For instance, typing 211.Ql Ic \&~m 212(alone on a line) will place a copy 213of the current message into the response right shifting it by a tabstop 214(see 215.Em indentprefix 216variable, below). 217Other escapes will set up subject fields, add and delete recipients 218to the message and allow you to escape to an editor to revise the 219message or to a shell to run some commands. 220(These options 221are given in the summary below.) 222.Ss Ending a mail processing session 223You can end a 224.Nm 225session with the 226.Ic quit 227.Pq Ql Ic q 228command. 229Messages which have been examined go to your 230.Ar mbox 231file unless they have been deleted in which case they are discarded. 232Unexamined messages go back to the post office. 233(See the 234.Fl f 235option above). 236.Ss Personal and systemwide distribution lists 237It is also possible to create a personal distribution lists so that, 238for instance, you can send mail to 239.Dq Li cohorts 240and have it go 241to a group of people. 242Such lists can be defined by placing a line like 243.Pp 244.Dl alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory 245.Pp 246in the file 247.Pa \&.mailrc 248in your home directory. 249The current list of such aliases can be displayed with the 250.Ic alias 251command in 252.Nm "" . 253System wide distribution lists can be created by editing 254.Pa /etc/mail/aliases , 255see 256.Xr aliases 5 257and 258.Xr sendmail 8 ; 259these are kept in a different syntax. 260In mail you send, personal aliases will be expanded in mail sent 261to others so that they will be able to 262.Ic reply 263to the recipients. 264System wide 265.Ic aliases 266are not expanded when the mail is sent, 267but any reply returned to the machine will have the system wide 268alias expanded as all mail goes through 269.Xr sendmail 8 . 270.Ss Network mail (ARPA, UUCP, Berknet) 271See 272.Xr mailaddr 7 273for a description of network addresses. 274.Pp 275.Nm 276has a number of options which can be set in the 277.Pa .mailrc 278file to alter its behavior; thus 279.Dq Li set askcc 280enables the 281.Ar askcc 282feature. 283(These options are summarized below.) 284.Sh SUMMARY 285(Adapted from the `Mail Reference Manual') 286.Pp 287Each command is typed on a line by itself, and may take arguments 288following the command word. 289The command need not be typed in its 290entirety \- the first command which matches the typed prefix is used. 291For commands which take message lists as arguments, if no message 292list is given, then the next message forward which satisfies the 293command's requirements is used. 294If there are no messages forward of 295the current message, the search proceeds backwards, and if there are no 296good messages at all, 297.Nm 298types 299.Dq Li \&No applicable messages 300and 301aborts the command. 302.Bl -tag -width delete 303.It Ic \&\- 304Print out the preceding message. 305If given a numeric 306argument 307.Ar n , 308goes to the 309.Ar n Ns 'th 310previous message and prints it. 311.It Ic \&? 312Prints a brief summary of commands. 313.It Ic \&! 314Executes the shell 315(see 316.Xr sh 1 317and 318.Xr csh 1 ) 319command which follows. 320.It Ic Print 321.Pq Ic P 322Like 323.Ic print 324but also prints out ignored header fields. 325See also 326.Ic print , 327.Ic ignore 328and 329.Ic retain . 330.It Ic Reply 331.Pq Ic R 332Reply to originator. 333Does not reply to other 334recipients of the original message. 335.It Ic Type 336.Pq Ic T 337Identical to the 338.Ic Print 339command. 340.It Ic alias 341.Pq Ic a 342With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined aliases. 343With one 344argument, prints out that alias. 345With more than one argument, creates 346a new alias or changes an old one. 347.It Ic alternates 348.Pq Ic alt 349The 350.Ic alternates 351command is useful if you have accounts on several machines. 352It can be used to inform 353.Nm 354that the listed addresses are really you. 355When you 356.Ic reply 357to messages, 358.Nm 359will not send a copy of the message to any of the addresses 360listed on the 361.Ic alternates 362list. 363If the 364.Ic alternates 365command is given with no argument, the current set of alternative 366names is displayed. 367.It Ic chdir 368.Pq Ic c 369Changes the user's working directory to that specified, if given. 370If 371no directory is given, then changes to the user's login directory. 372.It Ic copy 373.Pq Ic co 374The 375.Ic copy 376command does the same thing that 377.Ic save 378does, except that it does not mark the messages it 379is used on for deletion when you quit. 380.It Ic delete 381.Pq Ic d 382Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted. 383Deleted messages will not be saved in 384.Ar mbox , 385nor will they be available for most other commands. 386.It Ic dp 387(also 388.Ic dt ) 389Deletes the current message and prints the next message. 390If there is no next message, 391.Nm 392says 393.Dq Li "at EOF" . 394.It Ic edit 395.Pq Ic e 396Takes a list of messages and points the text editor at each one in 397turn. 398On return from the editor, the message is read back in. 399.It Ic exit 400.Pf ( Ic ex 401or 402.Ic x ) 403Effects an immediate return to the Shell without 404modifying the user's system mailbox, his 405.Ar mbox 406file, or his edit file in 407.Fl f . 408.It Ic file 409.Pq Ic fi 410The same as 411.Ic folder . 412.It Ic folders 413List the names of the folders in your folder directory. 414.It Ic folder 415.Pq Ic fo 416The 417.Ic folder 418command switches to a new mail file or folder. 419With no 420arguments, it tells you which file you are currently reading. 421If you give it an argument, it will write out changes (such 422as deletions) you have made in the current file and read in 423the new file. 424Some special conventions are recognized for 425the name. 426# means the previous file, % means your system 427mailbox, %user means user's system mailbox, & means 428your 429.Ar mbox 430file, and 431\&+\&folder means a file in your folder 432directory. 433.It Ic from 434.Pq Ic f 435Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers. 436.It Ic headers 437.Pq Ic h 438Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18\-message group. 439If 440a 441.Ql \&+ 442argument is given, then the next 18\-message group is printed, and if 443a 444.Ql \&\- 445argument is given, the previous 18\-message group is printed. 446.It Ic help 447A synonym for 448.Ic \&? 449.It Ic hold 450.Pf ( Ic ho , 451also 452.Ic preserve ) 453Takes a message list and marks each 454message therein to be saved in the 455user's system mailbox instead of in 456.Ar mbox . 457Does not override the 458.Ic delete 459command. 460.It Ic ignore 461Add the list of header fields named to the 462.Ar ignored list . 463Header fields in the ignore list are not printed 464on your terminal when you print a message. 465This 466command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated 467header fields. 468The 469.Ic Type 470and 471.Ic Print 472commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including 473ignored fields. 474.It Ic inc 475Incorporate any new messages that have arrived while mail 476is being read. 477The new messages are added to the end of the message list, 478and the current message is reset to be the first new mail message. 479This does not renumber the existing message list, nor does 480does it cause any changes made so far to be saved. 481If 482.Ic ignore 483is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 484ignored fields. 485.It Ic mail 486.Pq Ic m 487Takes as argument login names and distribution group names and sends 488mail to those people. 489.It Ic mbox 490Indicate that a list of messages be sent to 491.Ic mbox 492in your home directory when you quit. 493This is the default 494action for messages if you do 495.Em not 496have the 497.Ic hold 498option set. 499.It Ic more 500.Pq Ic \mo 501Takes a message list and invokes the pager on that list. 502.It Ic next 503.Pf ( Ic n , 504like 505.Ic \&+ 506or 507.Tn CR ) 508Goes to the next message in sequence and types it. 509With an argument list, types the next matching message. 510.It Ic preserve 511.Pq Ic pre 512A synonym for 513.Ic hold . 514.It Ic print 515.Pq Ic p 516Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal. 517.It Ic quit 518.Pq Ic q 519Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in 520the user's 521.Ar mbox 522file in his login directory, preserving all messages marked with 523.Ic hold 524or 525.Ic preserve 526or never referenced 527in his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his system 528mailbox. 529If new mail has arrived during the session, the message 530.Dq Li "You have new mail" 531is given. 532If given while editing a 533mailbox file with the 534.Fl f 535flag, then the edit file is rewritten. 536A return to the Shell is 537effected, unless the rewrite of edit file fails, in which case the user 538can escape with the 539.Ic exit 540command. 541.It Ic reply 542.Pq Ic r 543Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all 544recipients of the specified message. 545The default message must not be deleted. 546.It Ic respond 547A synonym for 548.Ic reply . 549.It Ic retain 550Add the list of header fields named to the 551.Ar retained list . 552Only the header fields in the retained list 553are shown on your terminal when you print a message. 554All other header fields are suppressed. 555The 556.Ic type 557and 558.Ic print 559commands can be used to print a message in its entirety. 560If 561.Ic retain 562is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 563retained fields. 564.It Ic save 565.Pq Ic s 566Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in 567turn to the end of the file. 568The filename in quotes, followed by the line 569count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal. 570.It Ic set 571.Pq Ic se 572With no arguments, prints all variable values. 573Otherwise, sets 574option. 575Arguments are of the form 576.Ar option=value 577(no space before or after =) or 578.Ar option . 579Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment statement to 580quote blanks or tabs, i.e. 581.Dq Li "set indentprefix=\*q->\*q" 582.It Ic saveignore 583.Ic Saveignore 584is to 585.Ic save 586what 587.Ic ignore 588is to 589.Ic print 590and 591.Ic type . 592Header fields thus marked are filtered out when 593saving a message by 594.Ic save 595or when automatically saving to 596.Ar mbox . 597.pl +1 598.It Ic saveretain 599.Ic Saveretain 600is to 601.Ic save 602what 603.Ic retain 604is to 605.Ic print 606and 607.Ic type . 608Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved 609with a message when saving by 610.Ic save 611or when automatically saving to 612.Ar mbox . 613.Ic Saveretain 614overrides 615.Ic saveignore . 616.It Ic shell 617.Pq Ic sh 618Invokes an interactive version of the shell. 619.It Ic size 620Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of each 621message. 622.It Ic source 623The 624.Ic source 625command reads 626commands from a file. 627.It Ic top 628Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each. 629The number of 630lines printed is controlled by the variable 631.Ic toplines 632and defaults to five. 633.It Ic type 634.Pq Ic t 635A synonym for 636.Ic print . 637.It Ic unalias 638Takes a list of names defined by 639.Ic alias 640commands and discards the remembered groups of users. 641The group names 642no longer have any significance. 643.It Ic undelete 644.Pq Ic u 645Takes a message list and marks each message as 646.Ic not 647being deleted. 648.It Ic unread 649.Pq Ic U 650Takes a message list and marks each message as 651.Em not 652having been read. 653.It Ic unset 654Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values; 655the inverse of 656.Ic set . 657.It Ic visual 658.Pq Ic v 659Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message. 660.It Ic write 661.Pq Ic w 662Similar to 663.Ic save , 664except that 665.Em only 666the message body 667.Pf ( Em without 668the header) is saved. 669Extremely useful for such tasks as sending and receiving source 670program text over the message system. 671.It Ic xit 672.Pq Ic x 673A synonym for 674.Ic exit . 675.It Ic z 676.Nm 677presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the 678.Ic headers 679command. 680You can move 681.Nm "" Ns 's 682attention forward to the next window with the 683.Ic \&z 684command. 685Also, you can move to the previous window by using 686.Ic \&z\&\- . 687.El 688.Ss Tilde/Escapes 689Here is a summary of the tilde escapes, 690which are used when composing messages to perform 691special functions. 692Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning 693of lines. 694The name 695.Dq Em tilde\ escape 696is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be set 697by the option 698.Ic escape . 699.Bl -tag -width Ds 700.It Ic \&~! Ns Ar command 701Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the message. 702.It Ic \&~a 703Inserts the autograph string from the sign= option into the message. 704.It Ic \&~A 705Inserts the autograph string from the Sign= option into the message. 706.It Ic \&~b Ns Ar name ... 707Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients but do not make 708the names visible in the Cc: line ("blind" carbon copy). 709.It Ic \&~c Ns Ar name ... 710Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients. 711.It Ic \&~d 712Read the file 713.Dq Pa dead.letter 714from your home directory into the message. 715.It Ic \&~e 716Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far. 717After the 718editing session is finished, you may continue appending text to the 719message. 720.It Ic \&~f Ns Ar messages 721Read the named messages into the message being sent. 722If no messages are specified, read in the current message. 723Message headers currently being ignored (by the 724.Ic ignore 725or 726.Ic retain 727command) are not included. 728.sp 729.It Ic \&~F Ns Ar messages 730Identical to 731.Ic \&~f , 732except all message headers are included. 733.It Ic \&~h 734Edit the message header fields by typing each one in turn and allowing 735the user to append text to the end or modify the field by using the 736current terminal erase and kill characters. 737.It Ic \&~i Ns Ar string 738Inserts the value of the named option into the text of the message. 739.It Ic \&~m Ns Ar messages 740Read the named messages into the message being sent, indented by a 741tab or by the value of 742.Ar indentprefix . 743If no messages are specified, 744read the current message. 745Message headers currently being ignored (by the 746.Ic ignore 747or 748.Ic retain 749command) are not included. 750.It Ic \&~M Ns Ar messages 751Identical to 752.Ic \&~m , 753except all message headers are included. 754.It Ic \&~p 755Print out the message collected so far, prefaced by the message header 756fields. 757.It Ic \&~q 758Abort the message being sent, copying the message to 759.Dq Pa dead.letter 760in your home directory if 761.Ic save 762is set. 763.It Ic \&~x 764Exits as with \&~q, except the message is not saved in dead.letter. 765.It Ic \&~r Ns Ar filename 766.It Ic \&~< Ns Ar filename 767Reads the named file into the message. 768If the argument begins with !, 769the rest of the string is taken as an arbitrary system command and is 770executed, with the standard output inserted into the message. 771.It Ic \&~s Ns Ar string 772Cause the named string to become the current subject field. 773.It Ic \&~\&t Ns Ar name ... 774Add the given names to the direct recipient list. 775.It Ic \&~\&v 776Invoke an alternative editor (defined by the 777.Ev VISUAL 778option) on the 779message collected so far. 780Usually, the alternative editor will be a 781screen editor. 782After you quit the editor, you may resume appending 783text to the end of your message. 784.It Ic \&~w Ns Ar filename 785Write the message onto the named file. 786.It Ic \&~\&| Ns Ar command 787Pipe the message through the command as a filter. 788If the command gives 789no output or terminates abnormally, retain the original text of the 790message. 791The command 792.Xr fmt 1 793is often used as 794.Ic command 795to rejustify the message. 796.It Ic \&~: Ns Ar mail-command 797Execute the given mail command. 798Not all commands, however, are allowed. 799.It Ic \&~~ Ns Ar string 800Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single ~. 801If 802you have changed the escape character, then you should double 803that character in order to send it. 804.El 805.Ss Mail Options 806Options are controlled via 807.Ic set 808and 809.Ic unset 810commands. 811Options may be either binary, in which case it is only 812significant to see whether they are set or not; or string, in which 813case the actual value is of interest. 814The binary options include the following: 815.Bl -tag -width append 816.It Ar append 817Causes messages saved in 818.Ar mbox 819to be appended to the end rather than prepended. 820This should always be set (perhaps in 821.Pa /etc/mail.rc ) . 822.It Ar ask , Ar asksub 823Causes 824.Nm 825to prompt you for the subject of each message you send. 826If 827you respond with simply a newline, no subject field will be sent. 828.sp 829.It Ar askcc 830Causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients at the 831end of each message. 832Responding with a newline indicates your 833satisfaction with the current list. 834.It Ar autoinc 835Causes new mail to be automatically incorporated when it arrives. 836Setting this is similar to issuing the 837.Ic inc 838command at each prompt, except that the current message is not 839reset when new mail arrives. 840.It Ar askbcc 841Causes you to be prompted for additional blind carbon copy recipients at the 842end of each message. 843Responding with a newline indicates your 844satisfaction with the current list. 845.It Ar autoprint 846Causes the 847.Ic delete 848command to behave like 849.Ic dp 850\- thus, after deleting a message, the next one will be typed 851automatically. 852.It Ar debug 853Setting the binary option 854.Ar debug 855is the same as specifying 856.Fl d 857on the command line and causes 858.Nm 859to output all sorts of information useful for debugging 860.Nm "" . 861.It Ar dot 862The binary option 863.Ar dot 864causes 865.Nm 866to interpret a period alone on a line as the terminator 867of a message you are sending. 868.It Ar hold 869This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox 870by default. 871.It Ar ignore 872Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be ignored and echoed as 873@'s. 874.It Ar ignoreeof 875An option related to 876.Ar dot 877is 878.Ar ignoreeof 879which makes 880.Nm 881refuse to accept a control-d as the end of a message. 882.Ar Ignoreeof 883also applies to 884.Nm 885command mode. 886.It Ar metoo 887Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender, the sender 888is removed from the expansion. 889Setting this option causes the sender 890to be included in the group. 891.It Ar noheader 892Setting the option 893.Ar noheader 894is the same as giving the 895.Fl N 896flag on the command line. 897.It Ar nosave 898Normally, when you abort a message with two 899.Tn RUBOUT 900(erase or delete) 901.Nm 902copies the partial letter to the file 903.Dq Pa dead.letter 904in your home directory. 905Setting the binary option 906.Ar nosave 907prevents this. 908.It Ar Replyall 909Reverses the sense of 910.Ic reply 911and 912.Ic Reply 913commands. 914.It Ar quiet 915Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked. 916.It Ar searchheaders 917If this option is set, then a message-list specifier in the form ``/x:y'' 918will expand to all messages containing the substring ``y'' in the header 919field ``x''. 920The string search is case insensitive. 921If ``x'' is omitted, it will default to the ``Subject'' header field. 922The form ``/to:y'' is a special case, and will expand 923to all messages containing the substring ``y'' in the ``To'', ``Cc'' 924or ``Bcc'' header fields. 925The check for "to" is case sensitive, so that 926``/To:y'' can be used to limit the search for ``y'' to just 927the ``To:'' field. 928.It Ar verbose 929Setting the option 930.Ar verbose 931is the same as using the 932.Fl v 933flag on the command line. 934When mail runs in verbose mode, 935the actual delivery of messages is displayed on the user's 936terminal. 937.El 938.Ss Option String Values 939.Bl -tag -width Va 940.It Ev EDITOR 941Pathname of the text editor to use in the 942.Ic edit 943command and 944.Ic \&~e 945escape. 946If not defined, then a default editor is used. 947.It Ev LISTER 948Pathname of the directory lister to use in the 949.Ic folders 950command. 951Default is 952.Pa /bin/ls . 953.It Ev PAGER 954Pathname of the program to use in the 955.Ic more 956command or when 957.Ic crt 958variable is set. 959The default paginator 960.Xr more 1 961is used if this option is not defined. 962.It Ev SHELL 963Pathname of the shell to use in the 964.Ic \&! 965command and the 966.Ic \&~! 967escape. 968A default shell is used if this option is 969not defined. 970.It Ev VISUAL 971Pathname of the text editor to use in the 972.Ic visual 973command and 974.Ic \&~v 975escape. 976.sp 977.It Va crt 978The valued option 979.Va crt 980is used as a threshold to determine how long a message must 981be before 982.Ev PAGER 983is used to read it. 984If 985.Va crt 986is set without a value, 987then the height of the terminal screen stored in the system 988is used to compute the threshold (see 989.Xr stty 1 ) . 990.It Ar escape 991If defined, the first character of this option gives the character to 992use in the place of ~ to denote escapes. 993.It Ar folder 994The name of the directory to use for storing folders of 995messages. 996If this name begins with a `/', 997.Nm 998considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the 999folder directory is found relative to your home directory. 1000.It Ev MBOX 1001The name of the 1002.Ar mbox 1003file. 1004It can be the name of a folder. 1005The default is 1006.Dq Li mbox 1007in the user's home directory. 1008.It Ar record 1009If defined, gives the pathname of the file used to record all outgoing 1010mail. 1011If not defined, then outgoing mail is not so saved. 1012.It Ar indentprefix 1013String used by the ``~m'' tilde escape for indenting messages, in place of 1014the normal tab character (^I). 1015Be sure to quote the value if it contains 1016spaces or tabs. 1017.It Ar toplines 1018If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out 1019with the 1020.Ic top 1021command; normally, the first five lines are printed. 1022.El 1023.Sh ENVIRONMENT 1024.Nm 1025utilizes the 1026.Ev HOME 1027and 1028.Ev USER 1029environment variables. 1030.Sh FILES 1031.Bl -tag -width /usr/share/misc/mail.*help -compact 1032.It Pa /var/mail/* 1033Post office. 1034.It ~/mbox 1035User's old mail. 1036.It ~/.mailrc 1037File giving initial mail commands. 1038This can be overridden by setting the 1039.Ev MAILRC 1040environment variable. 1041.It Pa /tmp/R* 1042Temporary files. 1043.It Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.*help 1044Help files. 1045.It Pa /etc/mail.rc 1046System initialization file. 1047.El 1048.Sh SEE ALSO 1049.Xr fmt 1 , 1050.Xr newaliases 1 , 1051.Xr vacation 1 , 1052.Xr aliases 5 , 1053.Xr mailaddr 7 , 1054.Xr sendmail 8 1055and 1056.Rs 1057.%T "The Mail Reference Manual" 1058.Re 1059.Sh HISTORY 1060A 1061.Nm 1062command 1063appeared in 1064.At v6 . 1065This man page is derived from 1066.%T "The Mail Reference Manual" 1067originally written by Kurt Shoens. 1068.Sh BUGS 1069There are some flags that are not documented here. 1070Most are 1071not useful to the general user. 1072.Pp 1073Usually, 1074.Nm 1075is just a link to 1076.Nm Mail , 1077which can be confusing. 1078.Pp 1079The name of the 1080.Ic alternates 1081list is incorrect English (it should be 1082.Dq alternatives ) , 1083but is retained for compatibility. 1084