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 6.17 (Berkeley) 03/14/91 7.\" 8.Vx 9.Vx 10.Dd 11.Dt MAIL 1 12.Os BSD 4 13.Sh NAME 14.Nm mail 15.Nd send and receive mail 16.Sh SYNOPSIS 17.Nm mail 18.Op Fl iInv 19.Op Fl s Ar subject 20.Op Fl c Ar cc-addr 21.Op Fl b Ar bcc-addr 22.Ar to-addr... 23.br 24.Nm mail 25.Op Fl iInNv 26.Fl f 27.Op Ar name 28.br 29.Nm mail 30.Op Fl iInNv 31.Op Fl u Ar user 32.Sh INTRODUCTION 33.Nm Mail 34is a intelligent mail processing system, which has 35a command syntax reminiscent of 36.Xr ed 1 37with lines replaced by messages. 38.Pp 39.Tw Ds 40.Tp Fl v 41Verbose mode. The details of 42delivery are displayed on the users terminal. 43.Tp Fl i 44Ignore tty interrupt signals. This is 45particularly useful when using 46.Nm mail 47on noisy phone lines. 48.Tp Fl I 49Forces mail to run in interactive mode even when 50input isn't a terminal. In particular, the 51.Sq Ic \&~ 52special 53character when sending mail is only active in interactive mode. 54.Tp Fl n 55Inhibits reading 56.Pa /usr/share/misc/Mail.rc 57upon startup. 58.Tp Fl N 59Inhibits the initial display of message headers 60when reading mail or editing a mail folder. 61.Tp Fl s 62Specify subject on command line 63(only the first argument after the 64.Fl s 65flag is used as a subject; be careful to quote subjects 66containing spaces.) 67.Tp Fl c 68Send carbon copies to 69.Ar list 70of users. 71.Tp Fl b 72Send blind carbon copies to 73.Ar list . 74List should be a comma-separated list of names. 75.Tp Fl f 76Read in the contents of your 77.Ar mbox 78(or the specified file) 79for processing; when you 80.Ar quit , 81.Nm mail 82writes undeleted messages back to this file. 83.Tp Fl u 84Is equivalent to: 85.Dl mail -f /var/spool/mail/user 86.Tp 87.Ss Sending mail 88To send a message to one or more people, 89.Nm mail 90can be invoked with arguments which are the names of people to 91whom the mail will be sent. You are then expected to type in 92your message, followed 93by an 94.Sq Li control\-D 95at the beginning of a line. 96The section below 97.Ar Replying to or originating mail , 98describes some features of 99.Nm mail 100available to help you compose your letter. 101.Pp 102.Ss Reading mail 103In normal usage 104.Nm mail 105is given no arguments and checks your mail out of the 106post office, then 107prints out a one line header of each message found. 108The current message is initially the first message (numbered 1) 109and can be printed using the 110.Ic print 111command (which can be abbreviated 112.Cx \&( 113.Ic p 114.Cx \&)). 115.Cx 116You can move among the messages much as you move between lines in 117.Xr ed 1 , 118with the commands 119.Sq Ic \&+ 120and 121.Sq Ic \&\- 122moving backwards and forwards, and 123simple numbers. 124.Pp 125.Ss Disposing of mail. 126After examining a message you can 127.Ic delete 128.Cx \&( 129.Ic d 130.Cx \&) 131.Cx 132the message or 133.Ic reply 134.Cx \&( 135.Ic r 136.Cx \&) 137.Cx 138to it. 139Deletion causes the 140.Nm mail 141program to forget about the message. 142This is not irreversible; the message can be 143.Ic undeleted 144.Cx \&( 145.Ic u 146.Cx \&) 147.Cx 148by giving its number, or the 149.Nm mail 150session can be aborted by giving the 151.Ic exit 152.Cx \&( 153.Ic x 154.Cx \&) 155.Cx 156command. 157Deleted messages will, however, usually disappear never to be seen again. 158.Pp 159.Ss Specifying messages 160Commands such as 161.Ic print 162and 163.Ic delete 164can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply 165to a number of messages at once. 166Thus 167.Dq Li delete 1 2 168deletes messages 1 and 2, while 169.Dq Li delete 1\-5 170deletes messages 1 through 5. 171The special name 172.Sq Li \&* 173addresses all messages, and 174.Sq Li \&$ 175addresses 176the last message; thus the command 177.Ic top 178which prints the first few lines of a message could be used in 179.Dq Li top \&* 180to print the first few lines of all messages. 181.Pp 182.Ss Replying to or originating mail. 183You can use the 184.Ic reply 185command to 186set up a response to a message, sending it back to the 187person who it was from. 188Text you then type in, up to an end-of-file, 189defines the contents of the message. 190While you are composing a message, 191.Nm mail 192treats lines beginning with the character 193.Sq Ic \&~ 194specially. 195For instance, typing 196.Sq Ic \&~m 197(alone on a line) will place a copy 198of the current message into the response right shifting it by a tabstop 199(see 200.Em indentprefix 201variable, below). 202Other escapes will set up subject fields, add and delete recipients 203to the message and allow you to escape to an editor to revise the 204message or to a shell to run some commands. (These options 205are given in the summary below.) 206.Pp 207.Ss Ending a mail processing session. 208You can end a 209.Nm mail 210session with the 211.Ic quit 212.Cx \&( 213.Ic q 214.Cx \&) 215.Cx 216command. 217Messages which have been examined go to your 218.Ar mbox 219file unless they have been deleted in which case they are discarded. 220Unexamined messages go back to the post office. (See the 221.Fl f 222option above). 223.Pp 224.Ss Personal and systemwide distribution lists. 225It is also possible to create a personal distribution lists so that, 226for instance, you can send mail to 227.Dq Li cohorts 228and have it go 229to a group of people. 230Such lists can be defined by placing a line like 231.Pp 232.Dl alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory 233.Pp 234in the file 235.Pa \&.mailrc 236in your home directory. 237The current list of such aliases can be displayed with the 238.Ic alias 239command in 240.Nm mail . 241System wide distribution lists can be created by editing 242.Pa /etc/aliases , 243see 244.Xr aliases 5 245and 246.Xr sendmail 8 ; 247these are kept in a different syntax. 248In mail you send, personal aliases will be expanded in mail sent 249to others so that they will be able to 250.Ic reply 251to the recipients. 252System wide 253.Ic aliases 254are not expanded when the mail is sent, 255but any reply returned to the machine will have the system wide 256alias expanded as all mail goes through 257.Xr sendmail . 258.Pp 259.Ss Network mail (ARPA, UUCP, Berknet) 260See 261.Xr mailaddr 7 262for a description of network addresses. 263.Pp 264.Nm Mail 265has a number of options which can be set in the 266.Pa \& .mailrc 267file to alter its behavior; thus 268.Dq Li set askcc 269enables the 270.Ar askcc 271feature. (These options are summarized below.) 272.Sh SUMMARY 273(Adapted from the `Mail Reference Manual') 274.Pp 275Each command is typed on a line by itself, and may take arguments 276following the command word. The command need not be typed in its 277entirety \- the first command which matches the typed prefix is used. 278For commands which take message lists as arguments, if no message 279list is given, then the next message forward which satisfies the 280command's requirements is used. If there are no messages forward of 281the current message, the search proceeds backwards, and if there are no 282good messages at all, 283.Nm mail 284types 285.Dq Li No applicable messages 286and 287aborts the command. 288.Tp Ic \&\- 289Print out the preceding message. If given a numeric 290argument 291.Ar n , 292goes to the 293.Cx Ar n 294.Cx \'th 295.Cx 296previous message and prints it. 297.Tp Ic \&? 298Prints a brief summary of commands. 299.Tp Ic \&! 300Executes the shell 301(see 302.Xr sh 1 303and 304.Xr csh 1 ) 305command which follows. 306.Tp Ic Print 307.Cx \&( 308.Ic P 309.Cx \&) 310.Cx 311Like 312.Ic print 313but also prints out ignored header fields. See also 314.Ic print , 315.Ic ignore 316and 317.Ic retain . 318.Tp Ic Reply 319.Cx \&( 320.Ic R 321.Cx \&) 322.Cx 323Reply to originator. Does not reply to other 324recipients of the original message. 325.Tp Ic Type 326.Cx \&( 327.Ic T 328.Cx \&) 329.Cx 330Identical to the 331.Ic Print 332command. 333.Tp Ic alias 334.Cx \&( 335.Ic a 336.Cx \&) 337.Cx 338With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined aliases. With one 339argument, prints out that alias. With more than one argument, creates 340a new alias or changes an old one. 341.Tp Ic alternates 342.Cx \&( 343.Ic alt 344.Cx \&) 345.Cx 346The 347.Ic alternates 348command is useful if you have accounts on several machines. 349It can be used to inform 350.Nm mail 351that the listed addresses are really you. When you 352.Ic reply 353to messages, 354.Nm mail 355will not send a copy of the message to any of the addresses 356listed on the 357.Ic alternates 358list. If the 359.Ic alternates 360command is given with no argument, the current set of alternate 361names is displayed. 362.Tp Ic chdir 363.Cx \&( 364.Ic c 365.Cx \&) 366.Cx 367Changes the user's working directory to that specified, if given. If 368no directory is given, then changes to the user's login directory. 369.Tp Ic copy 370.Cx \&( 371.Ic co 372.Cx \&) 373.Cx 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.Tp Ic delete 381.Cx \&( 382.Ic d 383.Cx \&) 384.Cx 385Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted. 386Deleted messages will not be saved in 387.Ar mbox , 388nor will they be available for most other commands. 389.Tp Ic dp 390(also 391.Ic dt ) 392Deletes the current message and prints the next message. 393If there is no next message, 394.Nm mail 395says 396.Dq Li at EOF. 397.Tp Ic edit 398.Cx \&( 399.Ic e 400.Cx \&) 401.Cx 402Takes a list of messages and points the text editor at each one in 403turn. On return from the editor, the message is read back in. 404.Tp Ic exit 405.Cx \&( 406.Ic ex 407.Cx 408or 409.Ic x ) 410Effects an immediate return to the Shell without 411modifying the user's system mailbox, his 412.Ar mbox 413file, or his edit file in 414.Fl f . 415.Tp Ic file 416.Cx \&( 417.Ic fi 418.Cx ) 419.Cx 420The same as 421.Ic folder . 422.Tp Ic folders 423List the names of the folders in your folder directory. 424.Tp Ic folder 425.Cx \&( 426.Ic fo 427.Cx \&) 428.Cx 429The 430.Ic folder 431command switches to a new mail file or folder. With no 432arguments, it tells you which file you are currently reading. 433If you give it an argument, it will write out changes (such 434as deletions) you have made in the current file and read in 435the new file. Some special conventions are recognized for 436the name. # means the previous file, % means your system 437mailbox, %user means user's system mailbox, & means 438your 439.Ar mbox 440file, and +folder means a file in your folder 441directory. 442.Tp Ic from 443.Cx \&( 444.Ic f 445.Cx \&) 446.Cx 447Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers. 448.Tp Ic headers 449.Cx \&( 450.Ic h 451.Cx \&) 452.Cx 453Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18\-message group. If 454a 455.Sq Li \&+ 456argument is given, then the next 18\-message group is printed, and if 457a 458.Sq Li \&\- 459argument is given, the previous 18\-message group is printed. 460.Tp Ic help 461A synonym for 462.Ic \&? 463.Tp Ic hold 464.Cx \&( 465.Ic ho , 466.Cx 467also 468.Ic preserve ) 469Takes a message list and marks each 470message therein to be saved in the 471user's system mailbox instead of in 472.Ar mbox . 473Does not override the 474.Ic delete 475command. 476.Tp Ic ignore 477.Sy N.B.: 478.Ic Ignore 479has been superseded by 480.Ic retain . 481.br 482Add the list of header fields named to the 483.Ar ignored list 484Header fields in the ignore list are not printed 485on your terminal when you print a message. This 486command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated 487header fields. The 488.Ic Type 489and 490.Ic Print 491commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including 492ignored fields. If 493.Ic ignore 494is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 495ignored fields. 496.Tp Ic mail 497.Cx \&( 498.Ic m 499.Cx \&) 500.Cx 501Takes as argument login names and distribution group names and sends 502mail to those people. 503.Tp Ic mbox 504Indicate that a list of messages be sent to 505.Ic mbox 506in your home directory when you quit. This is the default 507action for messages if you do 508.Em not 509have the 510.Ic hold 511option set. 512.Tp Ic next 513.Cx \&( 514.Ic n 515.Cx 516like 517.Ic \&+ 518or CR) Goes to the next message in sequence and types it. 519With an argument list, types the next matching message. 520.Tp Ic preserve 521.Cx \&( 522.Ic pre 523.Cx \&) 524.Cx 525A synonym for 526.Ic hold . 527.Tp Ic print 528.Cx \&( 529.Ic p 530.Cx \&) 531.Cx 532Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal. 533.Tp Ic quit 534.Cx \&( 535.Ic q 536.Cx \&) 537.Cx 538Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in 539the user's 540.Ar mbox 541file in his login directory, preserving all messages marked with 542.Ic hold 543or 544.Ic preserve 545or never referenced 546in his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his system 547mailbox. If new mail has arrived during the session, the message 548.Dq Li You have new mail 549is given. If given while editing a 550mailbox file with the 551.Fl f 552flag, then the edit file is rewritten. A return to the Shell is 553effected, unless the rewrite of edit file fails, in which case the user 554can escape with the 555.Ic exit 556command. 557.Tp Ic reply 558.Cx \&( 559.Ic r 560.Cx \&) 561.Cx 562Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all 563recipients of the specified message. 564The default message must not be deleted. 565.Tp Ic respond 566A synonym for 567.Ic reply . 568.Tp Ic retain 569Add the list of header fields named to the 570.Ar retained list 571Only the header fields in the retain list 572are shown on your terminal when you print a message. 573All other header fields are suppressed. 574The 575.Ic Type 576and 577.Ic Print 578commands can be used to print a message in its entirety. 579If 580.Ic retain 581is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 582retained fields. 583.Tp Ic save 584.Cx \&( 585.Ic s 586.Cx \&) 587.Cx 588Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in 589turn to the end of the file. The filename in quotes, followed by the line 590count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal. 591.Tp Ic set 592.Cx \&( 593.Ic se 594.Cx \&) 595.Cx 596With no arguments, prints all variable values. Otherwise, sets 597option. Arguments are of the form 598.Ar option=value 599(no space before or after =) or 600.Ar option . 601Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment statement to 602quote blanks or tabs, i.e. 603.Dq Li set indentprefix="->" 604.Tp Ic saveignore 605.Ic Saveignore 606is to 607.Ic save 608what 609.Ic ignore 610is to 611.Ic print 612and 613.Ic type . 614Header fields thus marked are filtered out when 615saving a message by 616.Ic save 617or when automatically saving to 618.Ar mbox . 619.Tp Ic saveretain 620.Ic Saveretain 621is to 622.Ic save 623what 624.Ic retain 625is to 626.Ic print 627and 628.Ic type . 629Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved 630with a message when saving by 631.Ic save 632or when automatically saving to 633.Ar mbox . 634.Ic Saveretain 635overrides 636.Ic saveignore . 637.Tp Ic shell 638.Cx \&( 639.Ic sh 640.Cx \&) 641.Cx 642Invokes an interactive version of the shell. 643.Tp Ic size 644Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of each 645message. 646.Tp Ic source 647.Cx \&( 648.Ic so 649.Cx \&) 650The 651.Ic source 652command reads 653.Nm mail 654commands from a file. 655.Tp Ic top 656Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each. The number of 657lines printed is controlled by the variable 658.Ic toplines 659and defaults to five. 660.Tp Ic type 661.Cx \&( 662.Ic t 663.Cx \&) 664.Cx 665A synonym for 666.Ic print . 667.Tp Ic unalias 668Takes a list of names defined by 669.Ic alias 670commands and discards the remembered groups of users. The group names 671no longer have any significance. 672.Tp Ic undelete 673.Cx \&( 674.Ic u 675.Cx \&) 676.Cx 677Takes a message list and marks each message as 678.Ic not 679being deleted. 680.Tp Ic unread 681.Cx \&( 682.Ic U 683.Cx \&) 684.Cx 685Takes a message list and marks each message as 686.Ic not 687having been read. 688.Tp Ic unset 689Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values; 690the inverse of 691.Ic set . 692.Tp Ic visual 693.Cx \&( 694.Ic v 695.Cx \&) 696.Cx 697Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message. 698.Tp Ic write 699.Cx \&( 700.Ic w 701.Cx \&) 702.Cx 703Similar to 704.Ic save , 705except that 706.Ic only 707the message body 708.Cx \&( 709.Ar without 710.Cx 711the header) is saved. 712Extremely useful for such tasks as sending and receiving source 713program text over the message system. 714.Tp Ic xit 715.Cx \&( 716.Ic x 717.Cx \&) 718.Cx 719A synonym for 720.Ic exit . 721.Tp Ic z 722.Nm Mail 723presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the 724.Ic headers 725command. You can move 726.Cx Nm mail 727.Cx 's 728.Cx 729attention forward to the next window with the 730.Ic \&z 731command. Also, you can move to the previous window by using 732.Ic \&z\&\- . 733.Tp 734.Ss Tilde/Escapes 735.Pp 736Here is a summary of the tilde escapes, 737which are used when composing messages to perform 738special functions. Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning 739of lines. The name 740.Dq Em tilde\ escape 741is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be set 742by the option 743.Ic escape . 744.Tw Ds 745.Tp Cx Ic \&~! 746.Ar command 747.Cx 748Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the message. 749.Tp Cx Ic \&~b 750.Ar name ... 751.Cx 752Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients but do not make 753the names visible in the Cc: line ("blind" carbon copy). 754.Tp Cx Ic \&~c 755.Ar name ... 756.Cx 757Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients. 758.Tp Ic \&~d 759Read the file 760.Dq Pa dead.letter 761from your home directory into the message. 762.Tp Ic \&~e 763Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far. After the 764editing session is finished, you may continue appending text to the 765message. 766.Tp Cx Ic \&~f 767.Ar messages 768.Cx 769Read the named messages into the message being sent. 770If no messages are specified, read in the current message. 771Message headers currently being ignored (by the 772.Ic ignore 773or 774.Ic retain 775command) are not included. 776.Tp Cx Ic \&~F 777.Ar messages 778.Cx 779Identical to 780.Ic \&~f , 781except all message headers are included. 782.Tp Ic \&~h 783Edit the message header fields by typing each one in turn and allowing 784the user to append text to the end or modify the field by using the 785current terminal erase and kill characters. 786.Tp Cx Ic \&~m 787.Ar messages 788.Cx 789Read the named messages into the message being sent, indented by a 790tab or by the value of 791.Ar indentprefix . 792If no messages are specified, 793read the current message. 794Message headers currently being ignored (by the 795.Ic ignore 796or 797.Ic retain 798command) are not included. 799.Tp Cx Ic \&~M 800.Ar messages 801.Cx 802Identical to 803.Ic \&~m , 804except all message headers are included. 805.Tp Ic \&~p 806Print out the message collected so far, prefaced by the message header 807fields. 808.Tp Ic \&~q 809Abort the message being sent, copying the message to 810.Dq Pa dead.letter 811in your home directory if 812.Ic save 813is set. 814.Tp Cx Ic \&~r 815.Ar filename 816.Cx 817Read the named file into the message. 818.Tp Cx Ic \&~s 819.Ar string 820.Cx 821Cause the named string to become the current subject field. 822.Tp Cx Ic \&~\&t 823.Ar name ... 824.Cx 825Add the given names to the direct recipient list. 826.\" This .br should have to be here 827.br 828.Tp Ic \&~\&v 829Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the VISUAL option) on the 830message collected so far. Usually, the alternate editor will be a 831screen editor. After you quit the editor, you may resume appending 832text to the end of your message. 833.Tp Cx Ic \&~w 834.Ar filename 835.Cx 836Write the message onto the named file. 837.Tp Cx Ic \&~\&| 838.Ar command 839.Cx 840Pipe the message through the command as a filter. If the command gives 841no output or terminates abnormally, retain the original text of the 842message. The command 843.Xr fmt 1 844is often used as 845.Ic command 846to rejustify the message. 847.Tp Cx Ic \&~: 848.Ar mail-command 849.Cx 850Execute the given mail command. Not all commands, however, are allowed. 851.Tp Cx Ic \&~~ 852.Ar string 853.Cx 854Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single ~. If 855you have changed the escape character, then you should double 856that character in order to send it. 857.Tp 858.Ss Mail Options 859Options are controlled via 860.Ic set 861and 862.Ic unset 863commands. Options may be either binary, in which case it is only 864significant to see whether they are set or not; or string, in which 865case the actual value is of interest. 866The binary options include the following: 867.Tp Ar append 868Causes messages saved in 869.Ar mbox 870to be appended to the end rather than prepended. 871This should always be set (perhaps in 872.Pa /usr/share/misc/Mail.rc ) . 873.Tp Ar ask 874Causes 875.Nm mail 876to prompt you for the subject of each message you send. If 877you respond with simply a newline, no subject field will be sent. 878.Tp Ar askcc 879Causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients at the 880end of each message. Responding with a newline indicates your 881satisfaction with the current list. 882.Tp Ar autoprint 883Causes the 884.Ic delete 885command to behave like 886.Ic dp 887\- thus, after deleting a message, the next one will be typed 888automatically. 889.Tp Ar debug 890Setting the binary option 891.Ar debug 892is the same as specifying 893.Fl d 894on the command line and causes 895.Nm mail 896to output all sorts of information useful for debugging 897.Nm mail . 898.Tp Ar dot 899The binary option 900.Ar dot 901causes 902.Nm mail 903to interpret a period alone on a line as the terminator 904of a message you are sending. 905.Tp Ar hold 906This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox 907by default. 908.Tp Ar ignore 909Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be ignored and echoed as 910@'s. 911.Tp Ar ignoreeof 912An option related to 913.Ar dot 914is 915.Ar ignoreeof 916which makes 917.Nm mail 918refuse to accept a control-d as the end of a message. 919.Ar Ignoreeof 920also applies to 921.Nm mail 922command mode. 923.Tp Ar metoo 924Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender, the sender 925is removed from the expansion. Setting this option causes the sender 926to be included in the group. 927.Tp Ar noheader 928Setting the option 929.Ar noheader 930is the same as giving the 931.Fl N 932flag on the command line. 933.Tp Ar nosave 934Normally, when you abort a message with two 935.Li RUBOUT 936(erase or delete) 937.Nm mail 938copies the partial letter to the file 939.Dq Pa dead.letter 940in your home directory. Setting the binary option 941.Ar nosave 942prevents this. 943.Tp Ar Replyall 944Reverses the sense of 945.Ic reply 946and 947.Ic Reply 948commands. 949.Tp Ar quiet 950Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked. 951.Tp Ar verbose 952Setting the option 953.Ar verbose 954is the same as using the 955.Fl v 956flag on the command line. When mail runs in verbose mode, 957the actual delivery of messages is displayed on he users 958terminal. 959.Tp 960.Ss Option String Values 961.Tw Va 962.Tp Va EDITOR 963Pathname of the text editor to use in the 964.Ic edit 965command and 966.Ic \&~e 967escape. If not defined, then a default editor is used. 968.Tp Va LISTER 969Pathname of the directory lister to use in the 970.Ic folders 971command. Default is 972.Pa /bin/ls . 973.Tp Va PAGER 974Pathname of the program to use in the 975.Ic more 976command or when 977.Ic crt 978variable is set. The default paginator 979.Xr more 1 980is used if this option is not defined. 981.Tp Va SHELL 982Pathname of the shell to use in the 983.Ic \&! 984command and the 985.Ic \&~! 986escape. A default shell is used if this option is 987not defined. 988.Tp Va VISUAL 989Pathname of the text editor to use in the 990.Ic visual 991command and 992.Ic \&~v 993escape. 994.Tp Va crt 995The valued option 996.Va crt 997is used as a threshold to determine how long a message must 998be before 999.Va PAGER 1000is used to read it. If 1001.Va crt 1002is set without a value, 1003then the height of the terminal screen stored in the system 1004is used to compute the threshold (see 1005.Xr stty 1 ) . 1006.Tp Ar escape 1007If defined, the first character of this option gives the character to 1008use in the place of ~ to denote escapes. 1009.Tp Ar folder 1010The name of the directory to use for storing folders of 1011messages. If this name begins with a `/', 1012.Nm mail 1013considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the 1014folder directory is found relative to your home directory. 1015.Tp Ar MBOX 1016The name of the 1017.Ar mbox 1018file. It can be the name of a folder. 1019The default is 1020.Dq Li mbox 1021in the user's home directory. 1022.Tp Ar record 1023If defined, gives the pathname of the file used to record all outgoing 1024mail. If not defined, then outgoing mail is not so saved. 1025.Tp Ar indentprefix 1026String used by the ``~m'' tilde escape for indenting messages, in place of 1027the normal tab character (^I). Be sure to quote the value if it contains 1028spaces or tabs. 1029.Tp Ar toplines 1030If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out 1031with the 1032.Ic top 1033command; normally, the first five lines are printed. 1034.Tp 1035.Sh ENVIRONMENT 1036.Nm Mail 1037utilizes the 1038.Ev HOME 1039and 1040.Ev USER 1041environment variables. 1042.Sh FILES 1043.Dw /usr/share/misc/Mail.help* 1044.Di L 1045.Dp Pa /var/spool/mail/* 1046post office 1047.Dp ~/mbox 1048your old mail 1049.Dp ~/.mailrc 1050file giving initial mail commands 1051.Dp Pa /tmp/R* 1052temporary files 1053.Dp Pa /usr/share/misc/Mail.help* 1054help files 1055.Dp Pa /usr/share/misc/Mail.rc 1056system initialization file 1057.Dp 1058.Sh SEE ALSO 1059.Xr binmail 1 , 1060.Xr fmt 1 , 1061.Xr newaliases 1 , 1062.Xr vacation 1 , 1063.Xr aliases 5 , 1064.Xr mailaddr 7 , 1065.Xr sendmail 8 1066and 1067.Em The Mail Reference Manual . 1068.Sh HISTORY 1069A 1070.Nm mail 1071command 1072appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX. 1073This man page is derived from 1074.Em The Mail Reference Manual 1075originally written by Kurt Shoens. 1076.Sh BUGS 1077There are some flags that are not documented here. Most are 1078not useful to the general user. 1079.Pp 1080Usually, 1081.Nm mail 1082is just a link to 1083.Nm Mail , 1084which can be confusing. 1085