Mail sendmail front end, includes commands accepted while in inout mode

mail - send and receive mail

mail [-iInv] [-s subject] [-c cc-addr] [-b bcc-addr] to-addr... [-- sendmail-options...] mail [-iInNv] -f [name] mail [-iInNv] [-u user] mail processing system, which has a command with lines replaced by messages.

`-i`	Ignore tty interrupt signals
`-I`	interactive mode when input isn't a terminal. the '~' special character when sending mail is only active in interactive mode.
`-n`	Inhibits reading `/etc/mail.rc`
`-v`	Verbose , details of delivery are displayed on the terminal.
`-N`	No display of message headers when reading mail or editing a mail folder.
`-s`	subject ; quote subjects containing spaces.
`-c`	carbon copies to list comma-separated list of names.
`-bnot bcc`	blind carbon copies to

`-f`	Read in the contents of your mbox (or the specified file) for processing; when you quit, mail writes undeleted messages back to this file.
`-u`	Is equivalent to: `mail -f /var/spool/mail/user`

Reading mail

with no arguments and checks your mail in the post office, then prints out a one line header of each message found. The current message is initially the first message (numbered 1) and can be printed using the print command (which can be abbreviated 'p'). You can move among the messages much as you move between lines in ed(1), with the commands '+' and '-' moving backwards and forwards, and simple numbers.

Sending mail

mail is invoked with arguments which are the names of people to whom the mail will be sent. type in the message, followed by an 'control-D' at the beginning of a line.

Replying to or originating mail.

Use the reply command to set up a response to a message, sending it back to the person who it was from. Text you then type in, up to an end-of-file, defines the contents of the message. While you are composing a message, mail treats lines beginning with the character ~specially.
m (alone on a line) will place a copy of the current message into the response right shifting it by a tabstop (see indentprefix variable, below). Other escapes will set up subject fields, add and delete recipients to the message and allow you to escape to an editor to revise the message or to a shell to run commands. These options are given in the summary .

Disposing of mail.

Delete 'd') the message or reply 'r') to it. This is reversible; the message can be undeleted 'u') by giving its number, or the mail session can be aborted by with the exit 'x') command.

Specifying messages

Commands such as print and delete can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply to a number of messages at once.

"delete 1 2" deletes messages 1 and 2,

"delete 1-5" deletes messages 1 through 5. <.ul> * addresses all messages,
$ addresses the last message; thus the command top which prints the first few lines of a message could be used in "top *" to print the first few lines of all messages.

Ending a mail processing session.

Quit 'q') command. Messages which have been examined go to your mbox file
unless they have been deleted in which case they are discarded. Unexamined messages go back to the post office. (See -f ).

Personal and systemwide distribution lists.

To create a personal distribution lists to send mail to "cohorts" and have it go to a group of people. Such lists can be defined by placing a line like

alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory

in the file .mailrc in your home directory.
The current list of such aliases can be displayed with alias .
System wide distribution lists can be created by editing /etc/aliases, see aliases and sendmail.
you send, personal aliases will be expanded in mail sent to others so that they will be able to reply to the recipients.
System wide aliases are not expanded when the mail is sent, but any reply returned to the system will have the system wide alias expanded .

Network mail (ARPA, UUCP, Berknet) See mailaddr for a description of network addresses.

Options which be set in .mailrc
set askcc enables the askcc feature.

SUMMARY

(Adapted from the 'Mail Reference Manual')

Commands are typed on a line by themselves, and may take arguments
First command which matches the typed prefix is used.
For commands which take message lists as arguments, if no message list is given, then the next message forward which satisfies the command's requirements is used.
If there are no messages forward of the current message, the search proceeds backwards, and if there are no good messages at all, mail types "No applicable messages" and aborts the command.

`dp dt`	Deletes the current message and displays the next
`-n`	display the preceding message. If given a numeric argument n, goes to the n'th previous message and displays it.
`next n`	like + or CR) Goes to the next message in sequence and types it. With an argument
`print p type [n,m, …] t`	types list of messages
`Print P Type`	" displays the all headers. See `p`rint, `i`gnore and `r`etain.
`Reply R`	to originator only
`reply r [n,m, …] respond`	sends mail to the sender and all recipients of the list of messages. The default message must not be deleted.
`alias [aaaaa[nnnnn[ nnnnn …]]] a`	With no arguments, displays aliases. With one argument, displays that alias. With more than one argument, creates a new alias or changes an old one.
`unalias aaaaa`	Takes a list of names defined by alias commands and discards the remembered groups of users which no longer have any significance.
`alternates alt`	useful if you have accounts on several machines. Used to inform mail that the listed addresses are really you. When you reply to messages, mail will not send a copy of the message to any of the addresses listed on the alternates list. If the alternates command is given with no argument, the current set of alternate names is displayed.
`copy c ,B\ save s`	command does the same as save , except that it does not mark the messages it is used on for deletion when you quit. Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in turn to the end of the file. The filename in quotes, followed by the line count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal.
`delete [n,m, …] d`	Marks list of messages as deleted, which will not be saved in mbox, nor will they be available for most other commands.
`edit [n,m, …] e`	a list of messages and points the text editor at each one in turn. On return from the editor, the message is read back in.
`exit (ex or x) , xit (x)`	return to the Shell without modifying the user's system mailbox, his mbox file, or his edit file in -f.
`folders`	List the names of the folders in your folder directory.
`folder (fo)`	The folder command switches to a new mail file or folder. With no arguments, it tells you which file you are currently reading. If you give it an argument, it will write out changes (such as deletions) you have made in the current file and read in the new file. Some special conventions are recognized for the name. # means the pre- vious file, % means your system mailbox, %user means user's system mailbox, & means your mbox file, and +folder means a file in your folder directory.
`file (fi)`	The same as folder.
`from (f)`	Takes a list of messages and displays their message headers.
`headers`	(h) Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18-message group. If a '+' argument is given, then the next 18-message group is display, and if a '-' argument is given, the previous 18-message group is displayed.
`hold,(ho) preserve (pre)`	Takes a message list and marks each message therein to be saved in the user's system mailbox instead of in mbox. Does not override the delete command.
`ignore`	Add the list of header fields named to the ignored list. Header fields in the ignore list are not displayed on your terminal when you displaye a message. This command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated header fields. The Type and Print commands can be used to display a message in its entirety, including ignored fields. If ignore is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of ignored fields.
`mail (m)`	Takes as argument login names and distribution group names and sends mail to those people.
`mbox`	Indicate that a list of messages be sent to mbox in your home directory when you quit. This is the default action for messages if you do not have the hold option set. list, types the next matching message.
`chdir (c)`	Changes the current directory to that specified, if given. If no directory is given, then changes to the user's login directory.
`quit (q)`	Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in the user's mbox file in his login directory, preserving all messages marked with hold or preserve or never referenced in his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his sys- tem mailbox. If new mail has arrived during the session, the message "You have new mail" is given. If given while editing a mailbox file with the -f flag, then the ] ] quit (q) Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in the user's mbox file in his login directory, preserving all messages marked with hold or preserve or never referenced in his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his sys- tem mailbox. If new mail has arrived during the session, the message "You have new mail" is given. If given while editing a mailbox file with the -f flag, then the edit file is rewritten. A return to the Shell is effected, unless the rewrite of edit file fails, in which case the user can escape with the exit command.
`retain`	Add the list of header fields named to the retained list Only the header fields in the retain list are shown on your terminal when you print a message. All other header fields are suppressed. The Type and Print commands can be used to print a message in its entirety. If retain is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of retained fields.
`set (se) W`	ith no arguments, prints all variable values. Otherwise, sets option. Argu- ments are of the form option=value (no space before or after =) or option. Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment statement to quote blanks or tabs, i.e. "set indentprefix="->""
`saveignore`	Saveignore is to save what ignore is to print and type. Header fields thus marked are filtered out when saving a message by save or when automatically saving to mbox.
`saveretain`	Saveretain is to save what retain is to print and type. Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved with a message when saving by save or when automatically saving to mbox. Saveretain overrides saveignore.
`write (w)`	Similar to save, except that only the message body (without) the header) is saved.
`!`	Executes the shell (see sh(1) and csh(1)) command which follows.
`shell (sh)`	Invokes an interactive version of the shell.
`size`	Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of each message.
`source`	reads commands from a file.
`top`	Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each. The number of lines printed is controlled by the variable toplines and defaults to five.
`undelete`	(u) Takes a message list and marks each message as not being deleted.
`unread (U)`	Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been read.
`unset`	Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values; the inverse of set.
`visual (v)`	Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message. Extremely useful for such tasks as sending and receiving source program text over the message system.
`z`	Mail presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the headers command. You can move mail's attention forward to the next window with the z command. Also, you can move to the previous window by using z-.
`help , ?`	displays helpful explaination

Tilde/Escapes Here is a summary of the tilde escapes, which are used when composing messages to perform special functions. Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning of lines. The name "tilde escape" is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be set by the option escape.

`~!command`	Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the message.
`~bname ...`	Add the names to the list of blind carbon copy recipients
`~cname ...`	Add the names to the list of carbon copy recipients.
`~d`	Read the file "dead.letter" from your home directory into the message.
`~e`	Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far. After the editing session is finished, you may continue appending text to the message.
`~fmessages`	Read the named messages into the message being sent. If no messages are specified, read in the current message. Message headers currently being ignored (by the ignore or retain command) are not included.
`~Fmessages`	Identical to ~f, except all message headers are included.
`~h`	Edit the message header fields by typing each one in turn and allowing the user to append text to the end or modify the field by using the current terminal erase and kill characters.
`~mmessages`	Read the named messages into the message being sent, indented by a tab or by the value of indentprefix. If no messages are specified, read the current message. Message headers currently being ignored (by the ignore or retain command) are not included.
`~Mmessages`	Identical to ~m, except all message headers are included.
`~p`	display the message collected so far, prefaced by the message header fields.
`~q`	Abort the message being sent, copying the message to "dead.letter" in your home direc- tory if save is set.
`~rfilename`	Read the named file into the message.
`~sstring`	Cause the named string to become the current subject field.
`~tname ...`	Add the given names to the direct recipient list.
`~v`	Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the VISUAL option) on the message collected so far. Usually, the alternate editor will be a screen editor. After you quit the edi- tor, you may resume appending text to the end of your message.
`~wfilename`	Write the message onto the named file.
`~\|command`	Pipe the message through the command as a filter. If the command gives no output or terminates abnormally, retain the original text of the message. The command fmt(1) is often used as command to rejustify the message.
`~:mail-command`	Execute the given mail command. Not all commands, however, are allowed.
`~~string`	Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single ~. If you have changed the escape character, then you should double that character in order to send it.

Mail Options

Options may be either binary, in which case it is only significant to see whether they are set or not; or
string, in which case the actual value is of interest.
The binary options include :

`append`	Causes messages saved in mbox to be appended to the end rather than prepended. This should always be set (perhaps in /etc/mail.rc).
`ask, asksub`	Causes mail to prompt you for the subject of each message you send. If you respond with simply a newline, no subject field will be sent.
`askcc`	Causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients at the end of each message. Responding with a newline indicates your satisfaction with the current list. list.
`autoprint`	Causes the delete command to behave like dp - thus, after deleting a message, the next one will be typed automatically.
`debug`	Setting the binary option debug is the same as specifying -d on the command line and causes mail to output all sorts of information useful for debugging mail.
`dot`	The binary option dot causes mail to interpret a period alone on a line as the terminator of a message you are sending.
`hold`	used to hold messages in the system mailbox by default.
`ignore`	Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be ignored and echoed as @'s.
`ignoreeof`	An option related to dot is ignoreeof which makes mail refuse to accept a control-d as the end of a message. Ignoreeof also applies to mail command mode.
`metoo`	Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender, the sender is removed from the expansion. Setting this option causes the sender to be included in the group.
`noheader`	`-N flag on the command line.`
`nosave`	Normally, when you abort a message with two RUBOUT (erase or delete) mail copies the partial letter to the file "dead.letter" in your home directory. Setting the binary option nosave prevents this.
`Replyall`	Reverses the sense of reply and Reply commands.
`quiet`	Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked.
`searchheaders`	If this option is set, then a message-list specifier in the form ''/x:y'' will expand to all messages containing the substring ''y'' in the header field ''x''. The string search is case insensitive.
`verbose`	Setting the option verbose is the same as using the -v flag on the command line. When mail runs in verbose mode, the actual delivery of messages is displayed on the user's terminal.

Option String Values
`EDITOR eee`	for edit command and `~e` escape.
`LISTER lll`	directory lister for folders command. Default : `/bin/ls.`
`PAGER mmm`	for more command or when `crt` is set. Default : `more`
`SHELL sss`	to use in the ! command and the ~! escape. A default shell is used if this option is not defined.
`VISUAL vvvv`	text editor to use in visual command and `~v` escape.
`crt ll`	threshold be before PAGER is used to read it. Without a value, height of the screen (see stty(1)).
`escape e`	character to use instead of `~` foe escape
`folder ddd`	for storing folders of messages.
`MBOX [dir/]file`	file or folder. Default : `~/mbox`
`record ffff`	Sent messages file, if not defined, outgoing mail are not saved.
`indentprefix i`	String used by the `~m` for indenting , instead of tab (`^I`). Quote the value if it contains spaces or tabs.
`toplines nn`	the number of lines of a message displayed with `top` ; Default:5.

ENVIRONMENT

HOME, USER, SHELL, DEAD, PAGER, LISTER, EDITOR, VISUAL and MBOX

FILES

`/var/spool/mail/*`	Post office.
`~/mbox`	User's old mail.
`~/.mailrc`	File giving initial mail commands. Only used if the owner of the file is the user running this copy of mail.
`/tmp/R*`	Temporary files.
`/usr/lib/mail.*help`	Help files.
`/etc/mail.rc`	System initialization file. as of 1/29/12 on slmp-550-13.slc.westdc.net set ask askcc append dot save crt ignore Received Message-Id Resent-Message-Id Status Mail-From Return-Path Via

SEE ALSO fmt, newaliases, vacation, aliases, mailaddr, sendmail and

A mail command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX. This man page is derived from The Mail Reference Manual originally written by Kurt Shoens.