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 6.18 (Berkeley) 06/19/91 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 477Add the list of header fields named to the 478.Ar ignored list 479Header fields in the ignore list are not printed 480on your terminal when you print a message. This 481command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated 482header fields. The 483.Ic Type 484and 485.Ic Print 486commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including 487ignored fields. If 488.Ic ignore 489is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 490ignored fields. 491.Tp Ic mail 492.Cx \&( 493.Ic m 494.Cx \&) 495.Cx 496Takes as argument login names and distribution group names and sends 497mail to those people. 498.Tp Ic mbox 499Indicate that a list of messages be sent to 500.Ic mbox 501in your home directory when you quit. This is the default 502action for messages if you do 503.Em not 504have the 505.Ic hold 506option set. 507.Tp Ic next 508.Cx \&( 509.Ic n 510.Cx 511like 512.Ic \&+ 513or CR) Goes to the next message in sequence and types it. 514With an argument list, types the next matching message. 515.Tp Ic preserve 516.Cx \&( 517.Ic pre 518.Cx \&) 519.Cx 520A synonym for 521.Ic hold . 522.Tp Ic print 523.Cx \&( 524.Ic p 525.Cx \&) 526.Cx 527Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal. 528.Tp Ic quit 529.Cx \&( 530.Ic q 531.Cx \&) 532.Cx 533Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in 534the user's 535.Ar mbox 536file in his login directory, preserving all messages marked with 537.Ic hold 538or 539.Ic preserve 540or never referenced 541in his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his system 542mailbox. If new mail has arrived during the session, the message 543.Dq Li You have new mail 544is given. If given while editing a 545mailbox file with the 546.Fl f 547flag, then the edit file is rewritten. A return to the Shell is 548effected, unless the rewrite of edit file fails, in which case the user 549can escape with the 550.Ic exit 551command. 552.Tp Ic reply 553.Cx \&( 554.Ic r 555.Cx \&) 556.Cx 557Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all 558recipients of the specified message. 559The default message must not be deleted. 560.Tp Ic respond 561A synonym for 562.Ic reply . 563.Tp Ic retain 564Add the list of header fields named to the 565.Ar retained list 566Only the header fields in the retain list 567are shown on your terminal when you print a message. 568All other header fields are suppressed. 569The 570.Ic Type 571and 572.Ic Print 573commands can be used to print a message in its entirety. 574If 575.Ic retain 576is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 577retained fields. 578.Tp Ic save 579.Cx \&( 580.Ic s 581.Cx \&) 582.Cx 583Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in 584turn to the end of the file. The filename in quotes, followed by the line 585count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal. 586.Tp Ic set 587.Cx \&( 588.Ic se 589.Cx \&) 590.Cx 591With no arguments, prints all variable values. Otherwise, sets 592option. Arguments are of the form 593.Ar option=value 594(no space before or after =) or 595.Ar option . 596Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment statement to 597quote blanks or tabs, i.e. 598.Dq Li set indentprefix="->" 599.Tp Ic saveignore 600.Ic Saveignore 601is to 602.Ic save 603what 604.Ic ignore 605is to 606.Ic print 607and 608.Ic type . 609Header fields thus marked are filtered out when 610saving a message by 611.Ic save 612or when automatically saving to 613.Ar mbox . 614.Tp Ic saveretain 615.Ic Saveretain 616is to 617.Ic save 618what 619.Ic retain 620is to 621.Ic print 622and 623.Ic type . 624Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved 625with a message when saving by 626.Ic save 627or when automatically saving to 628.Ar mbox . 629.Ic Saveretain 630overrides 631.Ic saveignore . 632.Tp Ic shell 633.Cx \&( 634.Ic sh 635.Cx \&) 636.Cx 637Invokes an interactive version of the shell. 638.Tp Ic size 639Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of each 640message. 641.Tp Ic source 642.Cx \&( 643.Ic so 644.Cx \&) 645The 646.Ic source 647command reads 648.Nm mail 649commands from a file. 650.Tp Ic top 651Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each. The number of 652lines printed is controlled by the variable 653.Ic toplines 654and defaults to five. 655.Tp Ic type 656.Cx \&( 657.Ic t 658.Cx \&) 659.Cx 660A synonym for 661.Ic print . 662.Tp Ic unalias 663Takes a list of names defined by 664.Ic alias 665commands and discards the remembered groups of users. The group names 666no longer have any significance. 667.Tp Ic undelete 668.Cx \&( 669.Ic u 670.Cx \&) 671.Cx 672Takes a message list and marks each message as 673.Ic not 674being deleted. 675.Tp Ic unread 676.Cx \&( 677.Ic U 678.Cx \&) 679.Cx 680Takes a message list and marks each message as 681.Ic not 682having been read. 683.Tp Ic unset 684Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values; 685the inverse of 686.Ic set . 687.Tp Ic visual 688.Cx \&( 689.Ic v 690.Cx \&) 691.Cx 692Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message. 693.Tp Ic write 694.Cx \&( 695.Ic w 696.Cx \&) 697.Cx 698Similar to 699.Ic save , 700except that 701.Ic only 702the message body 703.Cx \&( 704.Ar without 705.Cx 706the header) is saved. 707Extremely useful for such tasks as sending and receiving source 708program text over the message system. 709.Tp Ic xit 710.Cx \&( 711.Ic x 712.Cx \&) 713.Cx 714A synonym for 715.Ic exit . 716.Tp Ic z 717.Nm Mail 718presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the 719.Ic headers 720command. You can move 721.Cx Nm mail 722.Cx 's 723.Cx 724attention forward to the next window with the 725.Ic \&z 726command. Also, you can move to the previous window by using 727.Ic \&z\&\- . 728.Tp 729.Ss Tilde/Escapes 730.Pp 731Here is a summary of the tilde escapes, 732which are used when composing messages to perform 733special functions. Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning 734of lines. The name 735.Dq Em tilde\ escape 736is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be set 737by the option 738.Ic escape . 739.Tw Ds 740.Tp Cx Ic \&~! 741.Ar command 742.Cx 743Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the message. 744.Tp Cx Ic \&~b 745.Ar name ... 746.Cx 747Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients but do not make 748the names visible in the Cc: line ("blind" carbon copy). 749.Tp Cx Ic \&~c 750.Ar name ... 751.Cx 752Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients. 753.Tp Ic \&~d 754Read the file 755.Dq Pa dead.letter 756from your home directory into the message. 757.Tp Ic \&~e 758Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far. After the 759editing session is finished, you may continue appending text to the 760message. 761.Tp Cx Ic \&~f 762.Ar messages 763.Cx 764Read the named messages into the message being sent. 765If no messages are specified, read in the current message. 766Message headers currently being ignored (by the 767.Ic ignore 768or 769.Ic retain 770command) are not included. 771.Tp Cx Ic \&~F 772.Ar messages 773.Cx 774Identical to 775.Ic \&~f , 776except all message headers are included. 777.Tp Ic \&~h 778Edit the message header fields by typing each one in turn and allowing 779the user to append text to the end or modify the field by using the 780current terminal erase and kill characters. 781.Tp Cx Ic \&~m 782.Ar messages 783.Cx 784Read the named messages into the message being sent, indented by a 785tab or by the value of 786.Ar indentprefix . 787If no messages are specified, 788read the current message. 789Message headers currently being ignored (by the 790.Ic ignore 791or 792.Ic retain 793command) are not included. 794.Tp Cx Ic \&~M 795.Ar messages 796.Cx 797Identical to 798.Ic \&~m , 799except all message headers are included. 800.Tp Ic \&~p 801Print out the message collected so far, prefaced by the message header 802fields. 803.Tp Ic \&~q 804Abort the message being sent, copying the message to 805.Dq Pa dead.letter 806in your home directory if 807.Ic save 808is set. 809.Tp Cx Ic \&~r 810.Ar filename 811.Cx 812Read the named file into the message. 813.Tp Cx Ic \&~s 814.Ar string 815.Cx 816Cause the named string to become the current subject field. 817.Tp Cx Ic \&~\&t 818.Ar name ... 819.Cx 820Add the given names to the direct recipient list. 821.\" This .br should have to be here 822.br 823.Tp Ic \&~\&v 824Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the VISUAL option) on the 825message collected so far. Usually, the alternate editor will be a 826screen editor. After you quit the editor, you may resume appending 827text to the end of your message. 828.Tp Cx Ic \&~w 829.Ar filename 830.Cx 831Write the message onto the named file. 832.Tp Cx Ic \&~\&| 833.Ar command 834.Cx 835Pipe the message through the command as a filter. If the command gives 836no output or terminates abnormally, retain the original text of the 837message. The command 838.Xr fmt 1 839is often used as 840.Ic command 841to rejustify the message. 842.Tp Cx Ic \&~: 843.Ar mail-command 844.Cx 845Execute the given mail command. Not all commands, however, are allowed. 846.Tp Cx Ic \&~~ 847.Ar string 848.Cx 849Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single ~. If 850you have changed the escape character, then you should double 851that character in order to send it. 852.Tp 853.Ss Mail Options 854Options are controlled via 855.Ic set 856and 857.Ic unset 858commands. Options may be either binary, in which case it is only 859significant to see whether they are set or not; or string, in which 860case the actual value is of interest. 861The binary options include the following: 862.Tp Ar append 863Causes messages saved in 864.Ar mbox 865to be appended to the end rather than prepended. 866This should always be set (perhaps in 867.Pa /usr/share/misc/Mail.rc ) . 868.Tp Ar ask 869Causes 870.Nm mail 871to prompt you for the subject of each message you send. If 872you respond with simply a newline, no subject field will be sent. 873.Tp Ar askcc 874Causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients at the 875end of each message. Responding with a newline indicates your 876satisfaction with the current list. 877.Tp Ar autoprint 878Causes the 879.Ic delete 880command to behave like 881.Ic dp 882\- thus, after deleting a message, the next one will be typed 883automatically. 884.Tp Ar debug 885Setting the binary option 886.Ar debug 887is the same as specifying 888.Fl d 889on the command line and causes 890.Nm mail 891to output all sorts of information useful for debugging 892.Nm mail . 893.Tp Ar dot 894The binary option 895.Ar dot 896causes 897.Nm mail 898to interpret a period alone on a line as the terminator 899of a message you are sending. 900.Tp Ar hold 901This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox 902by default. 903.Tp Ar ignore 904Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be ignored and echoed as 905@'s. 906.Tp Ar ignoreeof 907An option related to 908.Ar dot 909is 910.Ar ignoreeof 911which makes 912.Nm mail 913refuse to accept a control-d as the end of a message. 914.Ar Ignoreeof 915also applies to 916.Nm mail 917command mode. 918.Tp Ar metoo 919Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender, the sender 920is removed from the expansion. Setting this option causes the sender 921to be included in the group. 922.Tp Ar noheader 923Setting the option 924.Ar noheader 925is the same as giving the 926.Fl N 927flag on the command line. 928.Tp Ar nosave 929Normally, when you abort a message with two 930.Li RUBOUT 931(erase or delete) 932.Nm mail 933copies the partial letter to the file 934.Dq Pa dead.letter 935in your home directory. Setting the binary option 936.Ar nosave 937prevents this. 938.Tp Ar Replyall 939Reverses the sense of 940.Ic reply 941and 942.Ic Reply 943commands. 944.Tp Ar quiet 945Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked. 946.Tp Ar verbose 947Setting the option 948.Ar verbose 949is the same as using the 950.Fl v 951flag on the command line. When mail runs in verbose mode, 952the actual delivery of messages is displayed on he users 953terminal. 954.Tp 955.Ss Option String Values 956.Tw Va 957.Tp Va EDITOR 958Pathname of the text editor to use in the 959.Ic edit 960command and 961.Ic \&~e 962escape. If not defined, then a default editor is used. 963.Tp Va LISTER 964Pathname of the directory lister to use in the 965.Ic folders 966command. Default is 967.Pa /bin/ls . 968.Tp Va PAGER 969Pathname of the program to use in the 970.Ic more 971command or when 972.Ic crt 973variable is set. The default paginator 974.Xr more 1 975is used if this option is not defined. 976.Tp Va SHELL 977Pathname of the shell to use in the 978.Ic \&! 979command and the 980.Ic \&~! 981escape. A default shell is used if this option is 982not defined. 983.Tp Va VISUAL 984Pathname of the text editor to use in the 985.Ic visual 986command and 987.Ic \&~v 988escape. 989.Tp Va crt 990The valued option 991.Va crt 992is used as a threshold to determine how long a message must 993be before 994.Va PAGER 995is used to read it. If 996.Va crt 997is set without a value, 998then the height of the terminal screen stored in the system 999is used to compute the threshold (see 1000.Xr stty 1 ) . 1001.Tp Ar escape 1002If defined, the first character of this option gives the character to 1003use in the place of ~ to denote escapes. 1004.Tp Ar folder 1005The name of the directory to use for storing folders of 1006messages. If this name begins with a `/', 1007.Nm mail 1008considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the 1009folder directory is found relative to your home directory. 1010.Tp Ar MBOX 1011The name of the 1012.Ar mbox 1013file. It can be the name of a folder. 1014The default is 1015.Dq Li mbox 1016in the user's home directory. 1017.Tp Ar record 1018If defined, gives the pathname of the file used to record all outgoing 1019mail. If not defined, then outgoing mail is not so saved. 1020.Tp Ar indentprefix 1021String used by the ``~m'' tilde escape for indenting messages, in place of 1022the normal tab character (^I). Be sure to quote the value if it contains 1023spaces or tabs. 1024.Tp Ar toplines 1025If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out 1026with the 1027.Ic top 1028command; normally, the first five lines are printed. 1029.Tp 1030.Sh ENVIRONMENT 1031.Nm Mail 1032utilizes the 1033.Ev HOME 1034and 1035.Ev USER 1036environment variables. 1037.Sh FILES 1038.Dw /usr/share/misc/Mail.help* 1039.Di L 1040.Dp Pa /var/spool/mail/* 1041post office 1042.Dp ~/mbox 1043your old mail 1044.Dp ~/.mailrc 1045file giving initial mail commands 1046.Dp Pa /tmp/R* 1047temporary files 1048.Dp Pa /usr/share/misc/Mail.help* 1049help files 1050.Dp Pa /usr/share/misc/Mail.rc 1051system initialization file 1052.Dp 1053.Sh SEE ALSO 1054.Xr fmt 1 , 1055.Xr newaliases 1 , 1056.Xr vacation 1 , 1057.Xr aliases 5 , 1058.Xr mailaddr 7 , 1059.Xr sendmail 8 1060and 1061.Em The Mail Reference Manual . 1062.Sh HISTORY 1063A 1064.Nm mail 1065command 1066appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX. 1067This man page is derived from 1068.Em The Mail Reference Manual 1069originally written by Kurt Shoens. 1070.Sh BUGS 1071There are some flags that are not documented here. Most are 1072not useful to the general user. 1073.Pp 1074Usually, 1075.Nm mail 1076is just a link to 1077.Nm Mail , 1078which can be confusing. 1079