1.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993 2.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 6.\" are met: 7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 8.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 11.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 12.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software 13.\" must display the following acknowledgement: 14.\" This product includes software developed by the University of 15.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. 16.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 17.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 18.\" without specific prior written permission. 19.\" 20.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 21.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 22.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 23.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 24.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 25.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 26.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 27.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 28.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 29.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 30.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 31.\" 32.\" from: @(#)mail.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 12/30/93 33.\" $Id: mail.1,v 1.5 1994/06/29 05:09:32 deraadt Exp $ 34.\" 35.Dd December 30, 1993 36.Dt MAIL 1 37.Os BSD 4 38.Sh NAME 39.Nm mail 40.Nd send and receive mail 41.Sh SYNOPSIS 42.Nm mail 43.Op Fl iInv 44.Op Fl s Ar subject 45.Op Fl c Ar cc-addr 46.Op Fl b Ar bcc-addr 47.Ar to-addr... 48.Nm mail 49.Op Fl iInNv 50.Fl f 51.Op Ar name 52.Nm mail 53.Op Fl iInNv 54.Op Fl u Ar user 55.Sh INTRODUCTION 56.Nm Mail 57is an intelligent mail processing system, which has 58a command syntax reminiscent of 59.Xr \&ed 1 60with lines replaced by messages. 61.Pp 62.Bl -tag -width flag 63.It Fl v 64Verbose mode. 65The details of 66delivery are displayed on the user's terminal. 67.It Fl i 68Ignore tty interrupt signals. 69This is 70particularly useful when using 71.Nm mail 72on noisy phone lines. 73.It Fl I 74Forces mail to run in interactive mode even when 75input isn't a terminal. 76In particular, the 77.Sq Ic \&~ 78special 79character when sending mail is only active in interactive mode. 80.It Fl n 81Inhibits reading 82.Pa /etc/mail.rc 83upon startup. 84.It Fl N 85Inhibits the initial display of message headers 86when reading mail or editing a mail folder. 87.It Fl s 88Specify subject on command line 89(only the first argument after the 90.Fl s 91flag is used as a subject; be careful to quote subjects 92containing spaces.) 93.It Fl c 94Send carbon copies to 95.Ar list 96of users. 97.It Fl b 98Send blind carbon copies to 99.Ar list . 100List should be a comma-separated list of names. 101.It Fl f 102Read in the contents of your 103.Ar mbox 104(or the specified file) 105for processing; when you 106.Ar quit , 107.Nm mail 108writes undeleted messages back to this file. 109.It Fl u 110Is equivalent to: 111.Pp 112.Dl mail -f /var/mail/user 113.El 114.Ss Sending mail 115To send a message to one or more people, 116.Nm mail 117can be invoked with arguments which are the names of people to 118whom the mail will be sent. 119You are then expected to type in 120your message, followed 121by an 122.Sq Li control\-D 123at the beginning of a line. 124The section below 125.Ar Replying to or originating mail , 126describes some features of 127.Nm mail 128available to help you compose your letter. 129.Pp 130.Ss Reading mail 131In normal usage 132.Nm mail 133is given no arguments and checks your mail out of the 134post office, then 135prints out a one line header of each message found. 136The current message is initially the first message (numbered 1) 137and can be printed using the 138.Ic print 139command (which can be abbreviated 140.Ql Ic p ) . 141You can move among the messages much as you move between lines in 142.Xr \&ed 1 , 143with the commands 144.Ql Ic \&+ 145and 146.Ql Ic \&\- 147moving backwards and forwards, and 148simple numbers. 149.Pp 150.Ss Disposing of mail. 151After examining a message you can 152.Ic delete 153.Ql Ic d ) 154the message or 155.Ic reply 156.Ql Ic r ) 157to it. 158Deletion causes the 159.Nm mail 160program to forget about the message. 161This is not irreversible; the message can be 162.Ic undeleted 163.Ql Ic u ) 164by giving its number, or the 165.Nm mail 166session can be aborted by giving the 167.Ic exit 168.Ql Ic x ) 169command. 170Deleted messages will, however, usually disappear never to be seen again. 171.Pp 172.Ss Specifying messages 173Commands such as 174.Ic print 175and 176.Ic delete 177can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply 178to a number of messages at once. 179Thus 180.Dq Li delete 1 2 181deletes messages 1 and 2, while 182.Dq Li delete 1\-5 183deletes messages 1 through 5. 184The special name 185.Ql Li \&* 186addresses all messages, and 187.Ql Li \&$ 188addresses 189the last message; thus the command 190.Ic top 191which prints the first few lines of a message could be used in 192.Dq Li top \&* 193to print the first few lines of all messages. 194.Pp 195.Ss Replying to or originating mail. 196You can use the 197.Ic reply 198command to 199set up a response to a message, sending it back to the 200person who it was from. 201Text you then type in, up to an end-of-file, 202defines the contents of the message. 203While you are composing a message, 204.Nm mail 205treats lines beginning with the character 206.Ql Ic \&~ 207specially. 208For instance, typing 209.Ql Ic \&~m 210(alone on a line) will place a copy 211of the current message into the response right shifting it by a tabstop 212(see 213.Em indentprefix 214variable, below). 215Other escapes will set up subject fields, add and delete recipients 216to the message and allow you to escape to an editor to revise the 217message or to a shell to run some commands. 218(These options 219are given in the summary below.) 220.Pp 221.Ss Ending a mail processing session. 222You can end a 223.Nm mail 224session with the 225.Ic quit 226.Ql Ic q ) 227command. 228Messages which have been examined go to your 229.Ar mbox 230file unless they have been deleted in which case they are discarded. 231Unexamined messages go back to the post office. 232(See the 233.Fl f 234option above). 235.Pp 236.Ss Personal and systemwide distribution lists. 237It is also possible to create a personal distribution lists so that, 238for instance, you can send mail to 239.Dq Li cohorts 240and have it go 241to a group of people. 242Such lists can be defined by placing a line like 243.Pp 244.Dl alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory 245.Pp 246in the file 247.Pa \&.mailrc 248in your home directory. 249The current list of such aliases can be displayed with the 250.Ic alias 251command in 252.Nm mail . 253System wide distribution lists can be created by editing 254.Pa /etc/aliases , 255see 256.Xr aliases 5 257and 258.Xr sendmail 8 ; 259these are kept in a different syntax. 260In mail you send, personal aliases will be expanded in mail sent 261to others so that they will be able to 262.Ic reply 263to the recipients. 264System wide 265.Ic aliases 266are not expanded when the mail is sent, 267but any reply returned to the machine will have the system wide 268alias expanded as all mail goes through 269.Xr sendmail . 270.Pp 271.Ss Network mail (ARPA, UUCP, Berknet) 272See 273.Xr mailaddr 7 274for a description of network addresses. 275.Pp 276.Nm Mail 277has a number of options which can be set in the 278.Pa .mailrc 279file to alter its behavior; thus 280.Dq Li set askcc 281enables the 282.Ar askcc 283feature. 284(These options are summarized below.) 285.Sh SUMMARY 286(Adapted from the `Mail Reference Manual') 287.Pp 288Each command is typed on a line by itself, and may take arguments 289following the command word. 290The command need not be typed in its 291entirety \- the first command which matches the typed prefix is used. 292For commands which take message lists as arguments, if no message 293list is given, then the next message forward which satisfies the 294command's requirements is used. 295If there are no messages forward of 296the current message, the search proceeds backwards, and if there are no 297good messages at all, 298.Nm mail 299types 300.Dq Li No applicable messages 301and 302aborts the command. 303.Bl -tag -width delete 304.It Ic \&\- 305Print out the preceding message. 306If given a numeric 307argument 308.Ar n , 309goes to the 310.Ar n Ns 'th 311previous message and prints it. 312.It Ic \&? 313Prints a brief summary of commands. 314.It Ic \&! 315Executes the shell 316(see 317.Xr sh 1 318and 319.Xr csh 1 ) 320command which follows. 321.It Ic Print 322.Pq Ic P 323Like 324.Ic print 325but also prints out ignored header fields. 326See also 327.Ic print , 328.Ic ignore 329and 330.Ic retain . 331.It Ic Reply 332.Pq Ic R 333Reply to originator. 334Does not reply to other 335recipients of the original message. 336.It Ic Type 337.Pq Ic T 338Identical to the 339.Ic Print 340command. 341.It Ic alias 342.Pq Ic a 343With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined aliases. 344With one 345argument, prints out that alias. 346With more than one argument, creates 347a new alias or changes an old one. 348.It Ic alternates 349.Pq Ic alt 350The 351.Ic alternates 352command is useful if you have accounts on several machines. 353It can be used to inform 354.Nm mail 355that the listed addresses are really you. 356When you 357.Ic reply 358to messages, 359.Nm mail 360will not send a copy of the message to any of the addresses 361listed on the 362.Ic alternates 363list. 364If the 365.Ic alternates 366command is given with no argument, the current set of alternate 367names is displayed. 368.It Ic chdir 369.Pq Ic c 370Changes the user's working directory to that specified, if given. 371If 372no directory is given, then changes to the user's login directory. 373.It Ic copy 374.Pq Ic co 375The 376.Ic copy 377command does the same thing that 378.Ic save 379does, except that it does not mark the messages it 380is used on for deletion when you quit. 381.It Ic delete 382.Pq Ic d 383Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted. 384Deleted messages will not be saved in 385.Ar mbox , 386nor will they be available for most other commands. 387.It Ic dp 388(also 389.Ic dt ) 390Deletes the current message and prints the next message. 391If there is no next message, 392.Nm mail 393says 394.Dq Li "at EOF" . 395.It Ic edit 396.Pq Ic e 397Takes a list of messages and points the text editor at each one in 398turn. 399On return from the editor, the message is read back in. 400.It Ic exit 401.Pf ( Ic ex 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.It Ic file 410.Pq Ic fi 411The same as 412.Ic folder . 413.It Ic folders 414List the names of the folders in your folder directory. 415.It Ic folder 416.Pq Ic fo 417The 418.Ic folder 419command switches to a new mail file or folder. 420With no 421arguments, it tells you which file you are currently reading. 422If you give it an argument, it will write out changes (such 423as deletions) you have made in the current file and read in 424the new file. 425Some special conventions are recognized for 426the name. 427# means the previous file, % means your system 428mailbox, %user means user's system mailbox, & means 429your 430.Ar mbox 431file, and 432\&+\&folder means a file in your folder 433directory. 434.It Ic from 435.Pq Ic f 436Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers. 437.It Ic headers 438.Pq Ic h 439Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18\-message group. 440If 441a 442.Ql \&+ 443argument is given, then the next 18\-message group is printed, and if 444a 445.Ql \&\- 446argument is given, the previous 18\-message group is printed. 447.It Ic help 448A synonym for 449.Ic \&? 450.It Ic hold 451.Pf ( Ic ho , 452also 453.Ic preserve ) 454Takes a message list and marks each 455message therein to be saved in the 456user's system mailbox instead of in 457.Ar mbox . 458Does not override the 459.Ic delete 460command. 461.It Ic ignore 462Add the list of header fields named to the 463.Ar ignored list . 464Header fields in the ignore list are not printed 465on your terminal when you print a message. 466This 467command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated 468header fields. 469The 470.Ic Type 471and 472.Ic Print 473commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including 474ignored fields. 475If 476.Ic ignore 477is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 478ignored fields. 479.It Ic mail 480.Pq Ic m 481Takes as argument login names and distribution group names and sends 482mail to those people. 483.It Ic mbox 484Indicate that a list of messages be sent to 485.Ic mbox 486in your home directory when you quit. 487This is the default 488action for messages if you do 489.Em not 490have the 491.Ic hold 492option set. 493.It Ic next 494.Pq Ic n 495like 496.Ic \&+ 497or 498.Tn CR ) 499Goes to the next message in sequence and types it. 500With an argument list, types the next matching message. 501.It Ic preserve 502.Pq Ic pre 503A synonym for 504.Ic hold . 505.It Ic print 506.Pq Ic p 507Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal. 508.It Ic quit 509.Pq Ic q 510Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in 511the user's 512.Ar mbox 513file in his login directory, preserving all messages marked with 514.Ic hold 515or 516.Ic preserve 517or never referenced 518in his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his system 519mailbox. 520If new mail has arrived during the session, the message 521.Dq Li "You have new mail" 522is given. 523If given while editing a 524mailbox file with the 525.Fl f 526flag, then the edit file is rewritten. 527A return to the Shell is 528effected, unless the rewrite of edit file fails, in which case the user 529can escape with the 530.Ic exit 531command. 532.It Ic reply 533.Pq Ic r 534Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all 535recipients of the specified message. 536The default message must not be deleted. 537.It Ic respond 538A synonym for 539.Ic reply . 540.It Ic retain 541Add the list of header fields named to the 542.Ar retained list 543Only the header fields in the retain list 544are shown on your terminal when you print a message. 545All other header fields are suppressed. 546The 547.Ic Type 548and 549.Ic Print 550commands can be used to print a message in its entirety. 551If 552.Ic retain 553is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 554retained fields. 555.It Ic save 556.Pq Ic s 557Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in 558turn to the end of the file. 559The filename in quotes, followed by the line 560count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal. 561.It Ic set 562.Pq Ic se 563With no arguments, prints all variable values. 564Otherwise, sets 565option. 566Arguments are of the form 567.Ar option=value 568(no space before or after =) or 569.Ar option . 570Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment statement to 571quote blanks or tabs, i.e. 572.Dq Li "set indentprefix=\*q->\*q" 573.It Ic saveignore 574.Ic Saveignore 575is to 576.Ic save 577what 578.Ic ignore 579is to 580.Ic print 581and 582.Ic type . 583Header fields thus marked are filtered out when 584saving a message by 585.Ic save 586or when automatically saving to 587.Ar mbox . 588.It Ic saveretain 589.Ic Saveretain 590is to 591.Ic save 592what 593.Ic retain 594is to 595.Ic print 596and 597.Ic type . 598Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved 599with a message when saving by 600.Ic save 601or when automatically saving to 602.Ar mbox . 603.Ic Saveretain 604overrides 605.Ic saveignore . 606.It Ic shell 607.Pq Ic sh 608Invokes an interactive version of the shell. 609.It Ic size 610Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of each 611message. 612.It Ic source 613The 614.Ic source 615command reads 616commands from a file. 617.It Ic top 618Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each. 619The number of 620lines printed is controlled by the variable 621.Ic toplines 622and defaults to five. 623.It Ic type 624.Pq Ic t 625A synonym for 626.Ic print . 627.It Ic unalias 628Takes a list of names defined by 629.Ic alias 630commands and discards the remembered groups of users. 631The group names 632no longer have any significance. 633.It Ic undelete 634.Pq Ic u 635Takes a message list and marks each message as 636.Ic not 637being deleted. 638.It Ic unread 639.Pq Ic U 640Takes a message list and marks each message as 641.Ic not 642having been read. 643.It Ic unset 644Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values; 645the inverse of 646.Ic set . 647.It Ic visual 648.Pq Ic v 649Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message. 650.It Ic write 651.Pq Ic w 652Similar to 653.Ic save , 654except that 655.Ic only 656the message body 657.Pq Ar without 658the header) is saved. 659Extremely useful for such tasks as sending and receiving source 660program text over the message system. 661.It Ic xit 662.Pq Ic x 663A synonym for 664.Ic exit . 665.It Ic z 666.Nm Mail 667presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the 668.Ic headers 669command. 670You can move 671.Nm mail Ns 's 672attention forward to the next window with the 673.Ic \&z 674command. 675Also, you can move to the previous window by using 676.Ic \&z\&\- . 677.El 678.Ss Tilde/Escapes 679.Pp 680Here is a summary of the tilde escapes, 681which are used when composing messages to perform 682special functions. 683Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning 684of lines. 685The name 686.Dq Em tilde\ escape 687is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be set 688by the option 689.Ic escape . 690.Bl -tag -width Ds 691.It Ic \&~! Ns Ar command 692Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the message. 693.It Ic \&~b Ns Ar name ... 694Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients but do not make 695the names visible in the Cc: line ("blind" carbon copy). 696.It Ic \&~c Ns Ar name ... 697Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients. 698.It Ic \&~d 699Read the file 700.Dq Pa dead.letter 701from your home directory into the message. 702.It Ic \&~e 703Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far. 704After the 705editing session is finished, you may continue appending text to the 706message. 707.It Ic \&~f Ns Ar messages 708Read the named messages into the message being sent. 709If no messages are specified, read in the current message. 710Message headers currently being ignored (by the 711.Ic ignore 712or 713.Ic retain 714command) are not included. 715.It Ic \&~F Ns Ar messages 716Identical to 717.Ic \&~f , 718except all message headers are included. 719.It Ic \&~h 720Edit the message header fields by typing each one in turn and allowing 721the user to append text to the end or modify the field by using the 722current terminal erase and kill characters. 723.It Ic \&~m Ns Ar messages 724Read the named messages into the message being sent, indented by a 725tab or by the value of 726.Ar indentprefix . 727If no messages are specified, 728read the current message. 729Message headers currently being ignored (by the 730.Ic ignore 731or 732.Ic retain 733command) are not included. 734.It Ic \&~M Ns Ar messages 735Identical to 736.Ic \&~m , 737except all message headers are included. 738.It Ic \&~p 739Print out the message collected so far, prefaced by the message header 740fields. 741.It Ic \&~q 742Abort the message being sent, copying the message to 743.Dq Pa dead.letter 744in your home directory if 745.Ic save 746is set. 747.It Ic \&~r Ns Ar filename 748Read the named file into the message. 749.It Ic \&~s Ns Ar string 750Cause the named string to become the current subject field. 751.It Ic \&~\&t Ns Ar name ... 752Add the given names to the direct recipient list. 753.It Ic \&~\&v 754Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the 755.Ev VISUAL 756option) on the 757message collected so far. 758Usually, the alternate editor will be a 759screen editor. 760After you quit the editor, you may resume appending 761text to the end of your message. 762.It Ic \&~w Ns Ar filename 763Write the message onto the named file. 764.It Ic \&~\&| Ns Ar command 765Pipe the message through the command as a filter. 766If the command gives 767no output or terminates abnormally, retain the original text of the 768message. 769The command 770.Xr fmt 1 771is often used as 772.Ic command 773to rejustify the message. 774.It Ic \&~: Ns Ar mail-command 775Execute the given mail command. 776Not all commands, however, are allowed. 777.It Ic \&~~ Ns Ar string 778Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single ~. 779If 780you have changed the escape character, then you should double 781that character in order to send it. 782.El 783.Ss Mail Options 784Options are controlled via 785.Ic set 786and 787.Ic unset 788commands. 789Options may be either binary, in which case it is only 790significant to see whether they are set or not; or string, in which 791case the actual value is of interest. 792The binary options include the following: 793.Bl -tag -width append 794.It Ar append 795Causes messages saved in 796.Ar mbox 797to be appended to the end rather than prepended. 798This should always be set (perhaps in 799.Pa /etc/mail.rc ) . 800.It Ar ask, asksub 801Causes 802.Nm mail 803to prompt you for the subject of each message you send. 804If 805you respond with simply a newline, no subject field will be sent. 806.It Ar askcc 807Causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients at the 808end of each message. 809Responding with a newline indicates your 810satisfaction with the current list. 811.It Ar askbcc 812Causes you to be prompted for additional blind carbon copy recipients at the 813end of each message. 814Responding with a newline indicates your 815satisfaction with the current list. 816.It Ar autoprint 817Causes the 818.Ic delete 819command to behave like 820.Ic dp 821\- thus, after deleting a message, the next one will be typed 822automatically. 823.It Ar debug 824Setting the binary option 825.Ar debug 826is the same as specifying 827.Fl d 828on the command line and causes 829.Nm mail 830to output all sorts of information useful for debugging 831.Nm mail . 832.It Ar dot 833The binary option 834.Ar dot 835causes 836.Nm mail 837to interpret a period alone on a line as the terminator 838of a message you are sending. 839.It Ar hold 840This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox 841by default. 842.It Ar ignore 843Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be ignored and echoed as 844@'s. 845.It Ar ignoreeof 846An option related to 847.Ar dot 848is 849.Ar ignoreeof 850which makes 851.Nm mail 852refuse to accept a control-d as the end of a message. 853.Ar Ignoreeof 854also applies to 855.Nm mail 856command mode. 857.It Ar metoo 858Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender, the sender 859is removed from the expansion. 860Setting this option causes the sender 861to be included in the group. 862.It Ar noheader 863Setting the option 864.Ar noheader 865is the same as giving the 866.Fl N 867flag on the command line. 868.It Ar nosave 869Normally, when you abort a message with two 870.Tn RUBOUT 871(erase or delete) 872.Nm mail 873copies the partial letter to the file 874.Dq Pa dead.letter 875in your home directory. 876Setting the binary option 877.Ar nosave 878prevents this. 879.It Ar Replyall 880Reverses the sense of 881.Ic reply 882and 883.Ic Reply 884commands. 885.It Ar quiet 886Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked. 887.It Ar searchheaders 888If this option is set, then a message-list specifier in the form ``/x:y'' 889will expand to all messages containing the substring ``y'' in the header 890field ``x''. The string search is case insensitive. 891.It Ar verbose 892Setting the option 893.Ar verbose 894is the same as using the 895.Fl v 896flag on the command line. 897When mail runs in verbose mode, 898the actual delivery of messages is displayed on the user's 899terminal. 900.El 901.Ss Option String Values 902.Bl -tag -width Va 903.It Ev EDITOR 904Pathname of the text editor to use in the 905.Ic edit 906command and 907.Ic \&~e 908escape. 909If not defined, then a default editor is used. 910.It Ev LISTER 911Pathname of the directory lister to use in the 912.Ic folders 913command. 914Default is 915.Pa /bin/ls . 916.It Ev PAGER 917Pathname of the program to use in the 918.Ic more 919command or when 920.Ic crt 921variable is set. 922The default paginator 923.Xr more 1 924is used if this option is not defined. 925.It Ev SHELL 926Pathname of the shell to use in the 927.Ic \&! 928command and the 929.Ic \&~! 930escape. 931A default shell is used if this option is 932not defined. 933.It Ev VISUAL 934Pathname of the text editor to use in the 935.Ic visual 936command and 937.Ic \&~v 938escape. 939.It Va crt 940The valued option 941.Va crt 942is used as a threshold to determine how long a message must 943be before 944.Ev PAGER 945is used to read it. 946If 947.Va crt 948is set without a value, 949then the height of the terminal screen stored in the system 950is used to compute the threshold (see 951.Xr stty 1 ) . 952.It Ar escape 953If defined, the first character of this option gives the character to 954use in the place of ~ to denote escapes. 955.It Ar folder 956The name of the directory to use for storing folders of 957messages. 958If this name begins with a `/', 959.Nm mail 960considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the 961folder directory is found relative to your home directory. 962.It Ev MBOX 963The name of the 964.Ar mbox 965file. 966It can be the name of a folder. 967The default is 968.Dq Li mbox 969in the user's home directory. 970.It Ar record 971If defined, gives the pathname of the file used to record all outgoing 972mail. 973If not defined, then outgoing mail is not so saved. 974.It Ar indentprefix 975String used by the ``~m'' tilde escape for indenting messages, in place of 976the normal tab character (^I). 977Be sure to quote the value if it contains 978spaces or tabs. 979.It Ar toplines 980If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out 981with the 982.Ic top 983command; normally, the first five lines are printed. 984.El 985.Sh ENVIRONMENT 986.Nm Mail 987utilizes the 988.Ev HOME 989and 990.Ev USER 991environment variables. 992.Sh FILES 993.Bl -tag -width /usr/share/misc/mail.*help -compact 994.It Pa /var/mail/* 995Post office. 996.It ~/mbox 997User's old mail. 998.It ~/.mailrc 999File giving initial mail commands. 1000.It Pa /tmp/R* 1001Temporary files. 1002.It Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.*help 1003Help files. 1004.It Pa /etc/mail.rc 1005System initialization file. 1006.El 1007.Sh SEE ALSO 1008.Xr fmt 1 , 1009.Xr newaliases 1 , 1010.Xr vacation 1 , 1011.Xr aliases 5 , 1012.Xr mailaddr 7 , 1013.Xr sendmail 8 1014and 1015.Rs 1016.%T "The Mail Reference Manual" . 1017.Re 1018.Sh HISTORY 1019A 1020.Nm mail 1021command 1022appeared in 1023.At v6 . 1024This man page is derived from 1025.%T "The Mail Reference Manual" 1026originally written by Kurt Shoens. 1027.Sh BUGS 1028There are some flags that are not documented here. 1029Most are 1030not useful to the general user. 1031.Pp 1032Usually, 1033.Nm mail 1034is just a link to 1035.Nm Mail , 1036which can be confusing. 1037