1.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990 The Regents of the University of California. 2.\" All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" %sccs.include.redist.man% 5.\" 6.\" @(#)mail.1 6.14 (Berkeley) 06/11/90 7.\" 8.Dd 9.Dt MAIL 1 10.Os BSD 4 11.Sh NAME 12.Nm mail 13.Nd send and receive mail 14.Sh SYNOPSIS 15.Nm mail 16.Op Fl iInv 17.Op Fl s Ar subject 18.Op Fl c Ar cc-addr 19.Op Fl b Ar bcc-addr 20.Ar to-addr... 21.br 22.Nm mail 23.Op Fl iInNv 24.Fl f 25.Op Ar name 26.br 27.Nm mail 28.Op Fl iInNv 29.Op Fl u Ar user 30.Sh INTRODUCTION 31.Nm Mail 32is a intelligent mail processing system, which has 33a command syntax reminiscent of 34.Xr ed 1 35with lines replaced by messages. 36.Pp 37.Tp Fl v 38Verbose mode. The details of 39delivery are displayed on the users terminal. 40.Tp Fl i 41Ignore tty interrupt signals. This is 42particularly useful when using 43.Nm mail 44on noisy phone lines. 45.Tp Fl I 46Forces mail to run in interactive mode even when 47input isn't a terminal. In particular, the 48.Sq Ic \&~ 49special 50character when sending mail is only active in interactive mode. 51.Tp Fl n 52Inhibits reading /usr/share/misc/Mail.rc upon startup. 53.Tp Fl N 54Inhibits the initial display of message headers 55when reading mail or editing a mail folder. 56.Tp Fl s 57Specify subject on command line 58(only the first argument after the 59Fl s 60flag is used as a subject; be careful to quote subjects 61containing spaces.) 62.Tp Fl c 63Send carbon copies to 64.Ar list 65of users. 66.Tp Fl b 67Send blind carbon copies to 68.Ar list . 69List should be a comma-separated list of names. 70.Tp Fl f 71Read in the contents of your 72.Ar mbox 73(or the specified file) 74for processing; when you 75.Ar quit , 76.Nm mail 77writes undeleted messages back to this file. 78.Tp Fl u 79Is equivalent to: 80.Dl mail -f /usr/spool/mail/user 81.Tp 82.Ss Sending mail 83To send a message to one or more people, 84.Nm mail 85can be invoked with arguments which are the names of people to 86whom the mail will be sent. You are then expected to type in 87your message, followed 88by an 89.Sq Li control\-D 90at the beginning of a line. 91The section below 92.Ar Replying to or originating mail , 93describes some features of 94.Nm mail 95available to help you compose your letter. 96.Pp 97.Ss Reading mail 98In normal usage 99.Nm mail 100is given no arguments and checks your mail out of the 101post office, then 102prints out a one line header of each message there. 103The current message is initially the first message (numbered 1) 104and can be printed using the 105.Ic print 106command (which can be abbreviated 107.Cx \&( 108.Ic p 109.Cx \&)). 110.Cx 111You can move among the messages much as you move between lines in 112.Xr ed 1 , 113with the commands 114.Sq Ic \&+ 115and 116.Sq Ic \&\- 117moving backwards and forwards, and 118simple numbers. 119.Pp 120.Ss Disposing of mail. 121After examining a message you can 122.Ic delete 123.Cx \&( 124.Ic d 125.Cx \&) 126.Cx 127the message or 128.Ic reply 129.Cx \&( 130.Ic r 131.Cx \&) 132.Cx 133to it. 134Deletion causes the 135.Nm mail 136program to forget about the message. 137This is not irreversible; the message can be 138.Ic undeleted 139.Cx \&( 140.Ic u 141.Cx \&) 142.Cx 143by giving its number, or the 144.Nm mail 145session can be aborted by giving the 146.Ic exit 147.Cx \&( 148.Ic x 149.Cx \&) 150.Cx 151command. 152Deleted messages will, however, usually disappear never to be seen again. 153.Pp 154.Ss Specifying messages 155Commands such as 156.Ic print 157and 158.Ic delete 159can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply 160to a number of messages at once. 161Thus 162.Dq Li delete 1 2 163deletes messages 1 and 2, while 164.Dq Li delete 1\-5 165deletes messages 1 through 5. 166The special name 167.Sq Li \&* 168addresses all messages, and 169.Sq Li \&$ 170addresses 171the last message; thus the command 172.Ic top 173which prints the first few lines of a message could be used in 174.Dq Li top \&* 175to print the first few lines of all messages. 176.Pp 177.Ss Replying to or originating mail. 178You can use the 179.Ic reply 180command to 181set up a response to a message, sending it back to the 182person who it was from. 183Text you then type in, up to an end-of-file, 184defines the contents of the message. 185While you are composing a message, 186.Nm mail 187treats lines beginning with the character 188.Sq Ic \&~ 189specially. 190For instance, typing 191.Sq Ic \&~m 192(alone on a line) will place a copy 193of the current message into the response right shifting it by a tabstop 194(see 195.Em indentprefix 196variable, below). 197Other escapes will set up subject fields, add and delete recipients 198to the message and allow you to escape to an editor to revise the 199message or to a shell to run some commands. (These options 200are given in the summary below.) 201.Pp 202.Ss Ending a mail processing session. 203You can end a 204.Nm mail 205session with the 206.Ic quit 207.Cx \&( 208.Ic q 209.Cx \&) 210.Cx 211command. 212Messages which have been examined go to your 213.Ar mbox 214file unless they have been deleted in which case they are discarded. 215Unexamined messages go back to the post office. (See the 216.Fl f 217option above). 218.Pp 219.Ss Personal and systemwide distribution lists. 220It is also possible to create a personal distribution lists so that, 221for instance, you can send mail to 222.Dq Li cohorts 223and have it go 224to a group of people. 225Such lists can be defined by placing a line like 226.Pp 227.Dl alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory 228.Pp 229in the file 230.Pa \&.mailrc 231in your home directory. 232The current list of such aliases can be displayed with the 233.Ic alias 234command in 235.Nm mail . 236System wide distribution lists can be created by editing 237/usr/lib/aliases, see 238.Xr aliases 5 239and 240.Xr sendmail 8 ; 241these are kept in a different syntax. 242In mail you send, personal aliases will be expanded in mail sent 243to others so that they will be able to 244.Ic reply 245to the recipients. 246System wide 247.Ic aliases 248are not expanded when the mail is sent, 249but any reply returned to the machine will have the system wide 250alias expanded as all mail goes through 251.Xr sendmail . 252.Pp 253.Ss Network mail (ARPA, UUCP, Berknet) 254See 255.Xr mailaddr 7 256for a description of network addresses. 257.Pp 258.Nm Mail 259has a number of options which can be set in the 260.Pa \& .mailrc 261file to alter its behavior; thus 262.Dq Li set askcc 263enables the 264.Ar askcc 265feature. (These options are summarized below.) 266.Sh SUMMARY 267(Adapted from the `Mail Reference Manual') 268.Pp 269Each command is typed on a line by itself, and may take arguments 270following the command word. The command need not be typed in its 271entirety \- the first command which matches the typed prefix is used. 272For commands which take message lists as arguments, if no message 273list is given, then the next message forward which satisfies the 274command's requirements is used. If there are no messages forward of 275the current message, the search proceeds backwards, and if there are no 276good messages at all, 277.Nm mail 278types 279.Dq Li No applicable messages 280and 281aborts the command. 282.Tp Ic \&\- 283Print out the preceding message. If given a numeric 284argument 285.Ar n , 286goes to the 287.Cx Ar n 288.Cx \'th 289.Cx 290previous message and prints it. 291.Tp Ic \&? 292Prints a brief summary of commands. 293.Tp Ic \&! 294Executes the shell 295(see 296.Xr sh 1 297and 298.Xr csh 1 ) 299command which follows. 300.Tp Ic Print 301.Cx \&( 302.Ic P 303.Cx \&) 304.Cx 305Like 306.Ic print 307but also prints out ignored header fields. See also 308.Ic print , 309.Ic ignore 310and 311.Ic retain . 312.Tp Ic Reply 313.Cx \&( 314.Ic R 315.Cx \&) 316.Cx 317Reply to originator. Does not reply to other 318recipients of the original message. 319.Tp Ic Type 320.Cx \&( 321.Ic T 322.Cx \&) 323.Cx 324Identical to the 325.Ic Print 326command. 327.Tp Ic alias 328.Cx \&( 329.Ic a 330.Cx \&) 331.Cx 332With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined aliases. With one 333argument, prints out that alias. With more than one argument, creates 334a new alias or changes an old one. 335.Tp Ic alternates 336.Cx \&( 337.Ic alt 338.Cx \&) 339.Cx 340The 341.Ic alternates 342command is useful if you have accounts on several machines. 343It can be used to inform 344.Nm mail 345that the listed addresses are really you. When you 346.Ic reply 347to messages, 348.Nm mail 349will not send a copy of the message to any of the addresses 350listed on the 351.Ic alternates 352list. If the 353.Ic alternates 354command is given with no argument, the current set of alternate 355names is displayed. 356.Tp Ic chdir 357.Cx \&( 358.Ic c 359.Cx \&) 360.Cx 361Changes the user's working directory to that specified, if given. If 362no directory is given, then changes to the user's login directory. 363.Tp Ic copy 364.Cx \&( 365.Ic co 366.Cx \&) 367.Cx 368The 369.Ic copy 370command does the same thing that 371.Ic save 372does, except that it does not mark the messages it 373is used on for deletion when you quit. 374.Tp Ic delete 375.Cx \&( 376.Ic d 377.Cx \&) 378.Cx 379Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted. 380Deleted messages will not be saved in 381.Ar mbox , 382nor will they be available for most other commands. 383.Tp Ic dp 384(also 385.Ic dt ) 386Deletes the current message and prints the next message. 387If there is no next message, 388.Nm mail 389says 390.Dq Li at EOF. 391.Tp Ic edit 392.Cx \&( 393.Ic e 394.Cx \&) 395.Cx 396Takes a list of messages and points the text editor at each one in 397turn. On return from the editor, the message is read back in. 398.Tp Ic exit 399.Cx \&( 400.Ic ex 401.Cx 402or 403.Ic x ) 404Effects an immediate return to the Shell without 405modifying the user's system mailbox, his 406.Ar mbox 407file, or his edit file in 408.Fl f . 409.Tp Ic file 410.Cx \&( 411.Ic fi 412.Cx ) 413.Cx 414The same as 415.Ic folder . 416.Tp Ic folders 417List the names of the folders in your folder directory. 418.Tp Ic folder 419.Cx \&( 420.Ic fo 421.Cx \&) 422.Cx 423The 424.Ic folder 425command switches to a new mail file or folder. With no 426arguments, it tells you which file you are currently reading. 427If you give it an argument, it will write out changes (such 428as deletions) you have made in the current file and read in 429the new file. Some special conventions are recognized for 430the name. # means the previous file, % means your system 431mailbox, %user means user's system mailbox, & means 432your 433.Ar mbox 434file, and +folder means a file in your folder 435directory. 436.Tp Ic from 437.Cx \&( 438.Ic f 439.Cx \&) 440.Cx 441Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers. 442.Tp Ic headers 443.Cx \&( 444.Ic h 445.Cx \&) 446.Cx 447Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18\-message group. If 448a 449.Sq Li \&+ 450argument is given, then the next 18\-message group is printed, and if 451a 452.Sq Li \&\- 453argument is given, the previous 18\-message group is printed. 454.Tp Ic help 455A synonym for 456.Ic \&? 457.Tp Ic hold 458.Cx \&( 459.Ic ho , 460.Cx 461also 462.Ic preserve ) 463Takes a message list and marks each 464message therein to be saved in the 465user's system mailbox instead of in 466.Ar mbox . 467Does not override the 468.Ic delete 469command. 470.Tp Ic ignore 471.Sy N.B.: 472.Ic Ignore 473has been superseded by 474.Ic retain . 475.br 476Add the list of header fields named to the 477.Ar ignored list 478Header fields in the ignore list are not printed 479on your terminal when you print a message. This 480command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated 481header fields. The 482.Ic Type 483and 484.Ic Print 485commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including 486ignored fields. If 487.Ic ignore 488is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 489ignored fields. 490.Tp Ic mail 491.Cx \&( 492.Ic m 493.Cx \&) 494.Cx 495Takes as argument login names and distribution group names and sends 496mail to those people. 497.Tp Ic mbox 498Indicate that a list of messages be sent to 499.Ic mbox 500in your home directory when you quit. This is the default 501action for messages if you do 502.Em not 503have the 504.Ic hold 505option set. 506.Tp Ic next 507.Cx \&( 508.Ic n 509.Cx 510like 511.Ic \&+ 512or CR) Goes to the next message in sequence and types it. 513With an argument list, types the next matching message. 514.Tp Ic preserve 515.Cx \&( 516.Ic pre 517.Cx \&) 518.Cx 519A synonym for 520.Ic hold . 521.Tp Ic print 522.Cx \&( 523.Ic p 524.Cx \&) 525.Cx 526Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal. 527.Tp Ic quit 528.Cx \&( 529.Ic q 530.Cx \&) 531.Cx 532Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in 533the user's 534.Ar mbox 535file in his login directory, preserving all messages marked with 536.Ic hold 537or 538.Ic preserve 539or never referenced 540in his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his system 541mailbox. If new mail has arrived during the session, the message 542.Dq LI You have new mail 543is given. If given while editing a 544mailbox file with the 545.Fl f 546flag, then the edit file is rewritten. A return to the Shell is 547effected, unless the rewrite of edit file fails, in which case the user 548can escape with the 549.Ic exit 550command. 551.Tp Ic reply 552.Cx \&( 553.Ic r 554.Cx \&) 555.Cx 556Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all 557recipients of the specified message. 558The default message must not be deleted. 559.Tp Ic respond 560A synonym for 561.Ic reply . 562.Tp Ic retain 563Add the list of header fields named to the 564.Ar retained list 565Only the header fields in the retain list 566are shown on your terminal when you print a message. 567All other header fields are suppressed. 568The 569.Ic Type 570and 571.Ic Print 572commands can be used to print a message in its entirety. 573If 574.Ic retain 575is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 576retained fields. 577.Tp Ic save 578.Cx \&( 579.Ic s 580.Cx \&) 581.Cx 582Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in 583turn to the end of the file. The filename in quotes, followed by the line 584count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal. 585.Tp Ic set 586.Cx \&( 587.Ic se 588.Cx \&) 589.Cx 590With no arguments, prints all variable values. Otherwise, sets 591option. Arguments are of the form 592.Ar option=value 593(no space before or after =) or 594.Ar option . 595Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment statement to 596quote blanks or tabs, i.e. 597.Dq Li set indentprefix=\*(Lq \*(Rq 598.Tp Ic saveignore 599.Ic Saveignore 600is to 601.Ic save 602what 603.Ic ignore 604is to 605.Ic print 606and 607.Ic type . 608Header fields thus marked are filtered out when 609saving a message by 610.Ic save 611or when automatically saving to 612.Ar mbox . 613.Tp Ic saveretain 614.Ic Saveretain 615is to 616.Ic save 617what 618.Ic retain 619is to 620.Ic print 621and 622.Ic type . 623Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved 624with a message when saving by 625.Ic save 626or when automatically saving to 627.Ar mbox . 628.Ic Saveretain 629overrides 630.Ic saveignore . 631.Tp Ic shell 632.Cx \&( 633.Ic sh 634.Cx \&) 635.Cx 636Invokes an interactive version of the shell. 637.Tp Ic size 638Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of each 639message. 640.Tp Ic source 641.Cx \&( 642.Ic so 643.Cx \&) 644The 645.Ic source 646command reads 647.Nm mail 648commands from a file. 649.Tp Ic top 650Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each. The number of 651lines printed is controlled by the variable 652.Ic toplines 653and defaults to five. 654.Tp Ic type 655.Cx \&( 656.Ic t 657.Cx \&) 658.Cx 659A synonym for 660.Ic print . 661.Tp Ic unalias 662Takes a list of names defined by 663.Ic alias 664commands and discards the remembered groups of users. The group names 665no longer have any significance. 666.Tp Ic undelete 667.Cx \&( 668.Ic u 669.Cx \&) 670.Cx 671Takes a message list and marks each message as 672.Ic not 673being deleted. 674.Tp Ic unread 675.Cx \&( 676.Ic U 677.Cx \&) 678.Cx 679Takes a message list and marks each message as 680.Ic not 681having been read. 682.Tp Ic unset 683Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values; 684the inverse of 685.Ic set . 686.Tp Ic visual 687.Cx \&( 688.Ic v 689.Cx \&) 690.Cx 691Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message. 692.Tp Ic write 693.Cx \&( 694.Ic w 695.Cx \&) 696.Cx 697Similar to 698.Ic save , 699except that 700.Ic only 701the message body 702.Cx \&( 703.Ar without 704.Cx 705the header) is saved. 706Extremely useful for such tasks as sending and receiving source 707program text over the message system. 708.Tp Ic xit 709.Cx \&( 710.Ic x 711.Cx \&) 712.Cx 713A synonym for 714.Ic exit . 715.Tp Ic z 716.Nm Mail 717presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the 718.Ic headers 719command. You can move 720.Cx Nm mail 721.Cx 's 722.Cx 723attention forward to the next window with the 724.Ic \&z 725command. Also, you can move to the previous window by using 726.Ic \&z\&\- . 727.Tp 728.Ss Tilde/Escapes 729.Pp 730Here is a summary of the tilde escapes, 731which are used when composing messages to perform 732special functions. Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning 733of lines. The name 734.Dq Em tilde\ escape 735is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be set 736by the option 737.Ic escape . 738.Tw Ds 739.Tp Cx Ic \&~! 740.Ar command 741.Cx 742Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the message. 743.Tp Cx Ic \&~b 744.Ar name ... 745.Cx 746Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients but do not make 747the names visible in the Cc: line ("blind" carbon copy). 748.Tp Cx Ic \&~c 749.Ar name ... 750.Cx 751Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients. 752.Tp Ic \&~d 753Read the file 754.Dq Pa dead.letter 755from your home directory into the message. 756.Tp Ic \&~e 757Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far. After the 758editing session is finished, you may continue appending text to the 759message. 760.Tp Cx Ic \&~f 761.Ar messages 762.Cx 763Read the named messages into the message being sent. 764If no messages are specified, read in the current message. 765Message headers currently being ignored (by the 766.Ic ignore 767or 768.Ic retain 769command) are not included. 770.Tp Cx Ic \&~F 771.Ar messages 772.Cx 773Identical to 774Ic \&~f , 775except all message headers are included. 776.Tp Ic \&~h 777Edit the message header fields by typing each one in turn and allowing 778the user to append text to the end or modify the field by using the 779current terminal erase and kill characters. 780.Tp Cx Ic \&~m 781.Ar messages 782.Cx 783Read the named messages into the message being sent, indented by a 784tab or by the value of 785.Ar indentprefix . 786If no messages are specified, 787read the current message. 788Message headers currently being ignored (by the 789.Ic ignore 790or 791.Ic retain 792command) are not included. 793.Tp Cx Ic \&~M 794.Ar messages 795.Cx 796Identical to 797.Ic \&~m , 798except all message headers are included. 799.Tp Ic \&~p 800Print out the message collected so far, prefaced by the message header 801fields. 802.Tp Ic \&~q 803Abort the message being sent, copying the message to 804.Dq Pa dead.letter 805in your home directory if 806.Ic save 807is set. 808.Tp Cx Ic \&~r 809.Ar filename 810.Cx 811Read the named file into the message. 812.Tp Ic \&~s 813string 814Cause the named string to become the current subject field. 815.Tp Cx Ic \&~\&t 816.Ar name ... 817.Cx 818Add the given names to the direct recipient list. 819.\" This .br should have to be here 820.br 821.Tp Ic \&~\&v 822Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the VISUAL option) on the 823message collected so far. Usually, the alternate editor will be a 824screen editor. After you quit the editor, you may resume appending 825text to the end of your message. 826.Tp Cx Ic \&~w 827.Ar filename 828.Cx 829Write the message onto the named file. 830.Tp Cx Ic \&~\\ 831.Ar command 832.Cx 833Pipe the message through the command as a filter. If the command gives 834no output or terminates abnormally, retain the original text of the 835message. The command 836.Xr fmt 1 837is often used as 838.Ic command 839to rejustify the message. 840.Tp Cx Ic \&~: 841.Ar mail-command 842.Cx 843Execute the given mail command. Not all commands, however, are allowed. 844.Tp Cx Ic \&~~ 845.Ar string 846.Cx 847Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single ~. If 848you have changed the escape character, then you should double 849that character in order to send it. 850.Tp 851.Ss Mail Options 852Options are controlled via 853.Ic set 854and 855.Ic unset 856commands. Options may be either binary, in which case it is only 857significant to see whether they are set or not; or string, in which 858case the actual value is of interest. 859The binary options include the following: 860.Tp Ar append 861Causes messages saved in 862.Ar mbox 863to be appended to the end rather than prepended. 864This should always be set (perhaps in /usr/lib/Mail.rc). 865.Tp Ar ask 866Causes 867.Nm mail 868to prompt you for the subject of each message you send. If 869you respond with simply a newline, no subject field will be sent. 870.Tp Ar askcc 871Causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients at the 872end of each message. Responding with a newline indicates your 873satisfaction with the current list. 874.Tp Ar autoprint 875Causes the 876.Ic delete 877command to behave like 878.Ic dp 879\- thus, after deleting a message, the next one will be typed 880automatically. 881.Tp Ar debug 882Setting the binary option 883.Ar debug 884is the same as specifying 885.Fl d 886on the command line and causes 887.Nm mail 888to output all sorts of information useful for debugging 889.Nm mail . 890.Tp Ar dot 891The binary option 892.Ar dot 893causes 894.Nm mail 895to interpret a period alone on a line as the terminator 896of a message you are sending. 897.Tp Ar hold 898This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox 899by default. 900.Tp Ar ignore 901Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be ignored and echoed as 902@'s. 903.Tp Ar ignoreeof 904An option related to 905.Ar dot 906is 907.Ar ignoreeof 908which makes 909.Nm mail 910refuse to accept a control-d as the end of a message. 911.Ar Ignoreeof 912also applies to 913.Nm mail 914command mode. 915.Tp Ar metoo 916Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender, the sender 917is removed from the expansion. Setting this option causes the sender 918to be included in the group. 919.Tp Ar noheader 920Setting the option 921.Ar noheader 922is the same as giving the 923.Fl N 924flag on the command line. 925.Tp Ar nosave 926Normally, when you abort a message with two 927.Li RUBOUT 928(erase or delete) 929.Nm mail 930copies the partial letter to the file 931.Dq Pa dead.letter 932in your home directory. Setting the binary option 933.Ar nosave 934prevents this. 935.Tp Ar Replyall 936Reverses the sense of 937.Ic reply 938and 939.Ic Reply 940commands. 941.Tp Ar quiet 942Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked. 943.Tp Ar verbose 944Setting the option 945.Ar verbose 946is the same as using the 947.Fl v 948flag on the command line. When mail runs in verbose mode, 949the actual delivery of messages is displayed on he users 950terminal. 951.Tp 952.Ss Option String Values 953.Tw Va 954.Tp Va EDITOR 955Pathname of the text editor to use in the 956.Ic edit 957command and 958.Ic \&~e 959escape. If not defined, then a default editor is used. 960.Tp Va LISTER 961Pathname of the directory lister to use in the 962.Ic folders 963command. Default is 964.Pa /bin/ls . 965.Tp Va PAGER 966Pathname of the program to use in the 967.Ic more 968command or when 969.Ic crt 970variable is set. The default paginator 971.Xr more 1 972is used if this option is not defined. 973.Tp Va SHELL 974Pathname of the shell to use in the 975.Ic \&! 976command and the 977.Ic \&~! 978escape. A default shell is used if this option is 979not defined. 980.Tp Va VISUAL 981Pathname of the text editor to use in the 982.Ic visual 983command and 984.Ic \&~v 985escape. 986.Tp Va crt 987The valued option 988.Va crt 989is used as a threshold to determine how long a message must 990be before 991.Va PAGER 992is used to read it. If 993.Va crt 994is set without a value, 995then the height of the terminal screen stored in the system 996is used to compute the threshold (see 997.Xr stty 1 ) . 998.Tp Ar escape 999If defined, the first character of this option gives the character to 1000use in the place of ~ to denote escapes. 1001.Tp Ar folder 1002The name of the directory to use for storing folders of 1003messages. If this name begins with a `/', 1004.Nm mail 1005considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the 1006folder directory is found relative to your home directory. 1007.Tp Ar MBOX 1008The name of the 1009.Ar mbox 1010file. It can be the name of a folder. 1011The default is 1012.Dq Li mbox 1013in the user's home directory. 1014.Tp Ar record 1015If defined, gives the pathname of the file used to record all outgoing 1016mail. If not defined, then outgoing mail is not so saved. 1017.Tp Ar indentprefix 1018String used by the ``~m'' tilde escape for indenting messages, in place of 1019the normal tab character (^I). Be sure to quote the value if it contains 1020spaces or tabs. 1021.Tp Ar toplines 1022If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out 1023with the 1024.Ic top 1025command; normally, the first five lines are printed. 1026.Tp 1027.Sh ENVIRONMENT 1028.Nm Mail 1029utilizes the 1030.Ev HOME 1031and 1032.Ev USER 1033environment variables. 1034.Sh FILES 1035.Dw /usr/share/misc/Mail.help* 1036.Di L 1037.Dp Pa /var/spool/mail/* 1038post office 1039.Dp ~/mbox 1040your old mail 1041.Dp ~/.mailrc 1042file giving initial mail commands 1043.Dp Pa /tmp/R* 1044temporary files 1045.Dp Pa /usr/share/misc/Mail.help* 1046help files 1047.Dp Pa /usr/share/misc/Mail.rc 1048system initialization file 1049.Dp 1050.Sh SEE ALSO 1051.Xr binmail 1 , 1052.Xr fmt 1 , 1053.Xr newaliases 1 , 1054.Xr vacation 1 , 1055.Xr aliases 5 , 1056.Xr mailaddr 7 , 1057.Xr sendmail 8 1058and 1059.Em The Mail Reference Manual . 1060.Sh HISTORY 1061A 1062.Nm mail 1063command 1064appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX. 1065This man page is derived from 1066.Em The Mail Reference Manual 1067originally written by Kurt Shoens. 1068.Sh BUGS 1069There are some flags that are not documented here. Most are 1070not useful to the general user. 1071.Pp 1072Usually, 1073.Nm mail 1074is just a link to 1075.Nm Mail , 1076which can be confusing. 1077