1.\" $NetBSD: mail.1,v 1.16 2000/05/05 18:21:06 itojun Exp $ 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993 4.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 7.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 8.\" are met: 9.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 11.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 13.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 14.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software 15.\" must display the following acknowledgement: 16.\" This product includes software developed by the University of 17.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. 18.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 19.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 20.\" without specific prior written permission. 21.\" 22.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 23.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 24.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 25.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 26.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 27.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 28.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 29.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 30.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 31.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 32.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 33.\" 34.\" @(#)mail.1 8.8 (Berkeley) 4/28/95 35.\" 36.Dd April 28, 1995 37.Dt MAIL 1 38.Os 39.Sh NAME 40.Nm mail , 41.Nm mailx , 42.Nm Mail 43.Nd send and receive mail 44.Sh SYNOPSIS 45.Nm 46.Op Fl iInv 47.Op Fl s Ar subject 48.Op Fl c Ar cc-addr 49.Op Fl b Ar bcc-addr 50.Ar to-addr... 51.Nm "" 52.Op Fl iInNv 53.Fl f 54.Op Ar name 55.Nm "" 56.Op Fl iInNv 57.Op Fl u Ar user 58.Sh INTRODUCTION 59.Nm 60is an intelligent mail processing system, which has 61a command syntax reminiscent of 62.Xr \&ed 1 63with lines replaced by messages. 64.Pp 65.Bl -tag -width flag 66.It Fl v 67Verbose mode. 68The details of 69delivery are displayed on the user's terminal. 70.It Fl i 71Ignore tty interrupt signals. 72This is 73particularly useful when using 74.Nm 75on noisy phone lines. 76.It Fl I 77Forces mail to run in interactive mode even when 78input isn't a terminal. 79In particular, the 80.Sq Ic \&~ 81special 82character when sending mail is only active in interactive mode. 83.It Fl n 84Inhibits reading 85.Pa /etc/mail.rc 86upon startup. 87.It Fl N 88Inhibits the initial display of message headers 89when reading mail or editing a mail folder. 90.It Fl s 91Specify subject on command line 92(only the first argument after the 93.Fl s 94flag is used as a subject; be careful to quote subjects 95containing spaces.) 96.It Fl c 97Send carbon copies to 98.Ar list 99of users. 100.It Fl b 101Send blind carbon copies to 102.Ar list . 103List should be a comma-separated list of names. 104.It Fl f 105Read in the contents of your 106.Ar mbox 107(or the specified file) 108for processing; when you 109.Ar quit , 110.Nm 111writes undeleted messages back to this file. 112.It Fl u 113Is equivalent to: 114.Pp 115.Dl mail -f /var/mail/user 116.El 117.Ss Sending mail 118To send a message to one or more people, 119.Nm 120can be invoked with arguments which are the names of people to 121whom the mail will be sent. 122You are then expected to type in 123your message, followed 124by an 125.Sq Li control\-D 126at the beginning of a line. 127The section below 128.Ar Replying to or originating mail , 129describes some features of 130.Nm 131available to help you compose your letter. 132.Pp 133.Ss Reading mail 134In normal usage 135.Nm 136is given no arguments and checks your mail out of the 137post office, then 138prints out a one line header of each message found. 139The current message is initially the first message (numbered 1) 140and can be printed using the 141.Ic print 142command (which can be abbreviated 143.Ql Ic p ) . 144You can move among the messages much as you move between lines in 145.Xr \&ed 1 , 146with the commands 147.Ql Ic \&+ 148and 149.Ql Ic \&\- 150moving backwards and forwards, and 151simple numbers. 152.Pp 153.Ss Disposing of mail. 154After examining a message you can 155.Ic delete 156.Pq Ql Ic d 157the message or 158.Ic reply 159.Pq Ql Ic r 160to it. 161Deletion causes the 162.Nm 163program to forget about the message. 164This is not irreversible; the message can be 165.Ic undeleted 166.Pq Ql Ic u 167by giving its number, or the 168.Nm 169session can be aborted by giving the 170.Ic exit 171.Pq Ql Ic x 172command. 173Deleted messages will, however, usually disappear never to be seen again. 174.Pp 175.Ss Specifying messages 176Commands such as 177.Ic print 178and 179.Ic delete 180can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply 181to a number of messages at once. 182Thus 183.Dq Li delete 1 2 184deletes messages 1 and 2, while 185.Dq Li delete 1\-5 186deletes messages 1 through 5. 187The special name 188.Ql Li \&* 189addresses all messages, and 190.Ql Li \&$ 191addresses 192the last message; thus the command 193.Ic top 194which prints the first few lines of a message could be used in 195.Dq Li top \&* 196to print the first few lines of all messages. 197.Pp 198.Ss Replying to or originating mail. 199You can use the 200.Ic reply 201command to 202set up a response to a message, sending it back to the 203person who it was from. 204Text you then type in, up to an end-of-file, 205defines the contents of the message. 206While you are composing a message, 207.Nm 208treats lines beginning with the character 209.Ql Ic \&~ 210specially. 211For instance, typing 212.Ql Ic \&~m 213(alone on a line) will place a copy 214of the current message into the response right shifting it by a tabstop 215(see 216.Em indentprefix 217variable, below). 218Other escapes will set up subject fields, add and delete recipients 219to the message and allow you to escape to an editor to revise the 220message or to a shell to run some commands. 221(These options 222are given in the summary below.) 223.Pp 224.Ss Ending a mail processing session. 225You can end a 226.Nm 227session with the 228.Ic quit 229.Pq Ql Ic q 230command. 231Messages which have been examined go to your 232.Ar mbox 233file unless they have been deleted in which case they are discarded. 234Unexamined messages go back to the post office. 235(See the 236.Fl f 237option above). 238.Pp 239.Ss Personal and systemwide distribution lists. 240It is also possible to create a personal distribution lists so that, 241for instance, you can send mail to 242.Dq Li cohorts 243and have it go 244to a group of people. 245Such lists can be defined by placing a line like 246.Pp 247.Dl alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory 248.Pp 249in the file 250.Pa \&.mailrc 251in your home directory. 252The current list of such aliases can be displayed with the 253.Ic alias 254command in 255.Nm "" . 256System wide distribution lists can be created by editing 257.Pa /etc/mail/aliases , 258see 259.Xr aliases 5 260and 261.Xr sendmail 8 ; 262these are kept in a different syntax. 263In mail you send, personal aliases will be expanded in mail sent 264to others so that they will be able to 265.Ic reply 266to the recipients. 267System wide 268.Ic aliases 269are not expanded when the mail is sent, 270but any reply returned to the machine will have the system wide 271alias expanded as all mail goes through 272.Xr sendmail . 273.Pp 274.Ss Network mail (ARPA, UUCP, Berknet) 275See 276.Xr mailaddr 7 277for a description of network addresses. 278.Pp 279.Nm 280has a number of options which can be set in the 281.Pa .mailrc 282file to alter its behavior; thus 283.Dq Li set askcc 284enables the 285.Ar askcc 286feature. 287(These options are summarized below.) 288.Sh SUMMARY 289(Adapted from the `Mail Reference Manual') 290.Pp 291Each command is typed on a line by itself, and may take arguments 292following the command word. 293The command need not be typed in its 294entirety \- the first command which matches the typed prefix is used. 295For commands which take message lists as arguments, if no message 296list is given, then the next message forward which satisfies the 297command's requirements is used. 298If there are no messages forward of 299the current message, the search proceeds backwards, and if there are no 300good messages at all, 301.Nm 302types 303.Dq Li No applicable messages 304and 305aborts the command. 306.Bl -tag -width delete 307.It Ic \&\- 308Print out the preceding message. 309If given a numeric 310argument 311.Ar n , 312goes to the 313.Ar n Ns 'th 314previous message and prints it. 315.It Ic \&? 316Prints a brief summary of commands. 317.It Ic \&! 318Executes the shell 319(see 320.Xr sh 1 321and 322.Xr csh 1 ) 323command which follows. 324.It Ic Print 325.Pq Ic P 326Like 327.Ic print 328but also prints out ignored header fields. 329See also 330.Ic print , 331.Ic ignore 332and 333.Ic retain . 334.It Ic Reply 335.Pq Ic R 336Reply to originator. 337Does not reply to other 338recipients of the original message. 339.It Ic Type 340.Pq Ic T 341Identical to the 342.Ic Print 343command. 344.It Ic alias 345.Pq Ic a 346With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined aliases. 347With one 348argument, prints out that alias. 349With more than one argument, creates 350a new alias or changes an old one. 351.It Ic alternates 352.Pq Ic alt 353The 354.Ic alternates 355command is useful if you have accounts on several machines. 356It can be used to inform 357.Nm 358that the listed addresses are really you. 359When you 360.Ic reply 361to messages, 362.Nm 363will not send a copy of the message to any of the addresses 364listed on the 365.Ic alternates 366list. 367If the 368.Ic alternates 369command is given with no argument, the current set of alternative 370names is displayed. 371.It Ic chdir 372.Pq Ic c 373Changes the user's working directory to that specified, if given. 374If 375no directory is given, then changes to the user's login directory. 376.It Ic copy 377.Pq Ic co 378The 379.Ic copy 380command does the same thing that 381.Ic save 382does, except that it does not mark the messages it 383is used on for deletion when you quit. 384.It Ic delete 385.Pq Ic d 386Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted. 387Deleted messages will not be saved in 388.Ar mbox , 389nor will they be available for most other commands. 390.It Ic dp 391(also 392.Ic dt ) 393Deletes the current message and prints the next message. 394If there is no next message, 395.Nm 396says 397.Dq Li "at EOF" . 398.It Ic edit 399.Pq Ic e 400Takes a list of messages and points the text editor at each one in 401turn. 402On return from the editor, the message is read back in. 403.It Ic exit 404.Pf ( Ic ex 405or 406.Ic x ) 407Effects an immediate return to the Shell without 408modifying the user's system mailbox, his 409.Ar mbox 410file, or his edit file in 411.Fl f . 412.It Ic file 413.Pq Ic fi 414The same as 415.Ic folder . 416.It Ic folders 417List the names of the folders in your folder directory. 418.It Ic folder 419.Pq Ic fo 420The 421.Ic folder 422command switches to a new mail file or folder. 423With no 424arguments, it tells you which file you are currently reading. 425If you give it an argument, it will write out changes (such 426as deletions) you have made in the current file and read in 427the new file. 428Some special conventions are recognized for 429the name. 430# means the previous file, % means your system 431mailbox, %user means user's system mailbox, & means 432your 433.Ar mbox 434file, and 435\&+\&folder means a file in your folder 436directory. 437.It Ic from 438.Pq Ic f 439Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers. 440.It Ic headers 441.Pq Ic h 442Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18\-message group. 443If 444a 445.Ql \&+ 446argument is given, then the next 18\-message group is printed, and if 447a 448.Ql \&\- 449argument is given, the previous 18\-message group is printed. 450.It Ic help 451A synonym for 452.Ic \&? 453.It Ic hold 454.Pf ( Ic ho , 455also 456.Ic preserve ) 457Takes a message list and marks each 458message therein to be saved in the 459user's system mailbox instead of in 460.Ar mbox . 461Does not override the 462.Ic delete 463command. 464.It Ic ignore 465Add the list of header fields named to the 466.Ar ignored list . 467Header fields in the ignore list are not printed 468on your terminal when you print a message. 469This 470command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated 471header fields. 472The 473.Ic Type 474and 475.Ic Print 476commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including 477ignored fields. 478.It Ic inc 479Incorporate any new messages that have arrived while mail 480is being read. 481The new messages are added to the end of the message list, 482and the current message is reset to be the first new mail message. 483This does not renumber the existing message list, nor does 484does it cause any changes made so far to be saved. 485If 486.Ic ignore 487is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 488ignored fields. 489.It Ic mail 490.Pq Ic m 491Takes as argument login names and distribution group names and sends 492mail to those people. 493.It Ic mbox 494Indicate that a list of messages be sent to 495.Ic mbox 496in your home directory when you quit. 497This is the default 498action for messages if you do 499.Em not 500have the 501.Ic hold 502option set. 503.It Ic more 504.Pq Ic \mo 505Takes a message list and invokes the pager on that list. 506.It Ic next 507.Pf ( Ic n , 508like 509.Ic \&+ 510or 511.Tn CR ) 512Goes to the next message in sequence and types it. 513With an argument list, types the next matching message. 514.It Ic preserve 515.Pq Ic pre 516A synonym for 517.Ic hold . 518.It Ic print 519.Pq Ic p 520Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal. 521.It Ic quit 522.Pq Ic q 523Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in 524the user's 525.Ar mbox 526file in his login directory, preserving all messages marked with 527.Ic hold 528or 529.Ic preserve 530or never referenced 531in his system mailbox, and removing all other messages from his system 532mailbox. 533If new mail has arrived during the session, the message 534.Dq Li "You have new mail" 535is given. 536If given while editing a 537mailbox file with the 538.Fl f 539flag, then the edit file is rewritten. 540A return to the Shell is 541effected, unless the rewrite of edit file fails, in which case the user 542can escape with the 543.Ic exit 544command. 545.It Ic reply 546.Pq Ic r 547Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all 548recipients of the specified message. 549The default message must not be deleted. 550.It Ic respond 551A synonym for 552.Ic reply . 553.It Ic retain 554Add the list of header fields named to the 555.Ar retained list . 556Only the header fields in the retained list 557are shown on your terminal when you print a message. 558All other header fields are suppressed. 559The 560.Ic type 561and 562.Ic print 563commands can be used to print a message in its entirety. 564If 565.Ic retain 566is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of 567retained fields. 568.It Ic save 569.Pq Ic s 570Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in 571turn to the end of the file. 572The filename in quotes, followed by the line 573count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal. 574.It Ic set 575.Pq Ic se 576With no arguments, prints all variable values. 577Otherwise, sets 578option. 579Arguments are of the form 580.Ar option=value 581(no space before or after =) or 582.Ar option . 583Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment statement to 584quote blanks or tabs, i.e. 585.Dq Li "set indentprefix=\*q->\*q" 586.It Ic saveignore 587.Ic Saveignore 588is to 589.Ic save 590what 591.Ic ignore 592is to 593.Ic print 594and 595.Ic type . 596Header fields thus marked are filtered out when 597saving a message by 598.Ic save 599or when automatically saving to 600.Ar mbox . 601.pl +1 602.It Ic saveretain 603.Ic Saveretain 604is to 605.Ic save 606what 607.Ic retain 608is to 609.Ic print 610and 611.Ic type . 612Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved 613with a message when saving by 614.Ic save 615or when automatically saving to 616.Ar mbox . 617.Ic Saveretain 618overrides 619.Ic saveignore . 620.It Ic shell 621.Pq Ic sh 622Invokes an interactive version of the shell. 623.It Ic size 624Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of each 625message. 626.It Ic source 627The 628.Ic source 629command reads 630commands from a file. 631.It Ic top 632Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each. 633The number of 634lines printed is controlled by the variable 635.Ic toplines 636and defaults to five. 637.It Ic type 638.Pq Ic t 639A synonym for 640.Ic print . 641.It Ic unalias 642Takes a list of names defined by 643.Ic alias 644commands and discards the remembered groups of users. 645The group names 646no longer have any significance. 647.It Ic undelete 648.Pq Ic u 649Takes a message list and marks each message as 650.Ic not 651being deleted. 652.It Ic unread 653.Pq Ic U 654Takes a message list and marks each message as 655.Em not 656having been read. 657.It Ic unset 658Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values; 659the inverse of 660.Ic set . 661.It Ic visual 662.Pq Ic v 663Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message. 664.It Ic write 665.Pq Ic w 666Similar to 667.Ic save , 668except that 669.Em only 670the message body 671.Pf ( Em without 672the header) is saved. 673Extremely useful for such tasks as sending and receiving source 674program text over the message system. 675.It Ic xit 676.Pq Ic x 677A synonym for 678.Ic exit . 679.It Ic z 680.Nm 681presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the 682.Ic headers 683command. 684You can move 685.Nm "" Ns 's 686attention forward to the next window with the 687.Ic \&z 688command. 689Also, you can move to the previous window by using 690.Ic \&z\&\- . 691.El 692.Ss Tilde/Escapes 693.Pp 694Here is a summary of the tilde escapes, 695which are used when composing messages to perform 696special functions. 697Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning 698of lines. 699The name 700.Dq Em tilde\ escape 701is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be set 702by the option 703.Ic escape . 704.Bl -tag -width Ds 705.It Ic \&~! Ns Ar command 706Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the message. 707.It Ic \&~a 708Inserts the autograph string from the sign= option into the message. 709.It Ic \&~A 710Inserts the autograph string from the Sign= option into the message. 711.It Ic \&~b Ns Ar name ... 712Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients but do not make 713the names visible in the Cc: line ("blind" carbon copy). 714.It Ic \&~c Ns Ar name ... 715Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients. 716.It Ic \&~d 717Read the file 718.Dq Pa dead.letter 719from your home directory into the message. 720.It Ic \&~e 721Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far. 722After the 723editing session is finished, you may continue appending text to the 724message. 725.It Ic \&~f Ns Ar messages 726Read the named messages into the message being sent. 727If no messages are specified, read in the current message. 728Message headers currently being ignored (by the 729.Ic ignore 730or 731.Ic retain 732command) are not included. 733.sp 734.It Ic \&~F Ns Ar messages 735Identical to 736.Ic \&~f , 737except all message headers are included. 738.It Ic \&~h 739Edit the message header fields by typing each one in turn and allowing 740the user to append text to the end or modify the field by using the 741current terminal erase and kill characters. 742.It Ic \&~i Ns Ar string 743Inserts the value of the named option into the text of the message. 744.It Ic \&~m Ns Ar messages 745Read the named messages into the message being sent, indented by a 746tab or by the value of 747.Ar indentprefix . 748If no messages are specified, 749read the current message. 750Message headers currently being ignored (by the 751.Ic ignore 752or 753.Ic retain 754command) are not included. 755.It Ic \&~M Ns Ar messages 756Identical to 757.Ic \&~m , 758except all message headers are included. 759.It Ic \&~p 760Print out the message collected so far, prefaced by the message header 761fields. 762.It Ic \&~q 763Abort the message being sent, copying the message to 764.Dq Pa dead.letter 765in your home directory if 766.Ic save 767is set. 768.It Ic \&~x 769Exits as with \&~q, except the message is not saved in dead.letter. 770.It Ic \&~r Ns Ar filename 771.It Ic \&~< Ns Ar filename 772Reads the named file into the message. 773If the argument begins with !, 774the rest of the string is taken as an arbitrary system command and is 775executed, with the standard output inserted into the message. 776.It Ic \&~s Ns Ar string 777Cause the named string to become the current subject field. 778.It Ic \&~\&t Ns Ar name ... 779Add the given names to the direct recipient list. 780.It Ic \&~\&v 781Invoke an alternative editor (defined by the 782.Ev VISUAL 783option) on the 784message collected so far. 785Usually, the alternative editor will be a 786screen editor. 787After you quit the editor, you may resume appending 788text to the end of your message. 789.It Ic \&~w Ns Ar filename 790Write the message onto the named file. 791.It Ic \&~\&| Ns Ar command 792Pipe the message through the command as a filter. 793If the command gives 794no output or terminates abnormally, retain the original text of the 795message. 796The command 797.Xr fmt 1 798is often used as 799.Ic command 800to rejustify the message. 801.It Ic \&~: Ns Ar mail-command 802Execute the given mail command. 803Not all commands, however, are allowed. 804.It Ic \&~~ Ns Ar string 805Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single ~. 806If 807you have changed the escape character, then you should double 808that character in order to send it. 809.El 810.Ss Mail Options 811Options are controlled via 812.Ic set 813and 814.Ic unset 815commands. 816Options may be either binary, in which case it is only 817significant to see whether they are set or not; or string, in which 818case the actual value is of interest. 819The binary options include the following: 820.Bl -tag -width append 821.It Ar append 822Causes messages saved in 823.Ar mbox 824to be appended to the end rather than prepended. 825This should always be set (perhaps in 826.Pa /etc/mail.rc ) . 827.It Ar ask , Ar asksub 828Causes 829.Nm 830to prompt you for the subject of each message you send. 831If 832you respond with simply a newline, no subject field will be sent. 833.sp 834.It Ar askcc 835Causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients at the 836end of each message. 837Responding with a newline indicates your 838satisfaction with the current list. 839.It Ar autoinc 840Causes new mail to be automatically incorporated when it arrives. 841Setting this is similar to issuing the 842.Ic inc 843command at each prompt, except that the current message is not 844reset when new mail arrives. 845.It Ar askbcc 846Causes you to be prompted for additional blind carbon copy recipients at the 847end of each message. 848Responding with a newline indicates your 849satisfaction with the current list. 850.It Ar autoprint 851Causes the 852.Ic delete 853command to behave like 854.Ic dp 855\- thus, after deleting a message, the next one will be typed 856automatically. 857.It Ar debug 858Setting the binary option 859.Ar debug 860is the same as specifying 861.Fl d 862on the command line and causes 863.Nm 864to output all sorts of information useful for debugging 865.Nm "" . 866.It Ar dot 867The binary option 868.Ar dot 869causes 870.Nm 871to interpret a period alone on a line as the terminator 872of a message you are sending. 873.It Ar hold 874This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox 875by default. 876.It Ar ignore 877Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be ignored and echoed as 878@'s. 879.It Ar ignoreeof 880An option related to 881.Ar dot 882is 883.Ar ignoreeof 884which makes 885.Nm 886refuse to accept a control-d as the end of a message. 887.Ar Ignoreeof 888also applies to 889.Nm 890command mode. 891.It Ar metoo 892Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender, the sender 893is removed from the expansion. 894Setting this option causes the sender 895to be included in the group. 896.It Ar noheader 897Setting the option 898.Ar noheader 899is the same as giving the 900.Fl N 901flag on the command line. 902.It Ar nosave 903Normally, when you abort a message with two 904.Tn RUBOUT 905(erase or delete) 906.Nm 907copies the partial letter to the file 908.Dq Pa dead.letter 909in your home directory. 910Setting the binary option 911.Ar nosave 912prevents this. 913.It Ar Replyall 914Reverses the sense of 915.Ic reply 916and 917.Ic Reply 918commands. 919.It Ar quiet 920Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked. 921.It Ar searchheaders 922If this option is set, then a message-list specifier in the form ``/x:y'' 923will expand to all messages containing the substring ``y'' in the header 924field ``x''. The string search is case insensitive. 925If ``x'' is ommitted, it will default to the ``Subject'' header field. 926The form ``/to:y'' is a special case, and will expand 927to all messages containing the substring ``y'' in the ``To'', ``Cc'' 928or ``Bcc'' header fields. 929The check for "to" is case sensitive, so that 930``/To:y'' can be used to limit the search for ``y'' to just 931the ``To:'' field. 932.It Ar verbose 933Setting the option 934.Ar verbose 935is the same as using the 936.Fl v 937flag on the command line. 938When mail runs in verbose mode, 939the actual delivery of messages is displayed on the user's 940terminal. 941.El 942.Ss Option String Values 943.Bl -tag -width Va 944.It Ev EDITOR 945Pathname of the text editor to use in the 946.Ic edit 947command and 948.Ic \&~e 949escape. 950If not defined, then a default editor is used. 951.It Ev LISTER 952Pathname of the directory lister to use in the 953.Ic folders 954command. 955Default is 956.Pa /bin/ls . 957.It Ev PAGER 958Pathname of the program to use in the 959.Ic more 960command or when 961.Ic crt 962variable is set. 963The default paginator 964.Xr more 1 965is used if this option is not defined. 966.It Ev SHELL 967Pathname of the shell to use in the 968.Ic \&! 969command and the 970.Ic \&~! 971escape. 972A default shell is used if this option is 973not defined. 974.It Ev VISUAL 975Pathname of the text editor to use in the 976.Ic visual 977command and 978.Ic \&~v 979escape. 980.sp 981.It Va crt 982The valued option 983.Va crt 984is used as a threshold to determine how long a message must 985be before 986.Ev PAGER 987is used to read it. 988If 989.Va crt 990is set without a value, 991then the height of the terminal screen stored in the system 992is used to compute the threshold (see 993.Xr stty 1 ) . 994.It Ar escape 995If defined, the first character of this option gives the character to 996use in the place of ~ to denote escapes. 997.It Ar folder 998The name of the directory to use for storing folders of 999messages. 1000If this name begins with a `/', 1001.Nm 1002considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the 1003folder directory is found relative to your home directory. 1004.It Ev MBOX 1005The name of the 1006.Ar mbox 1007file. 1008It can be the name of a folder. 1009The default is 1010.Dq Li mbox 1011in the user's home directory. 1012.It Ar record 1013If defined, gives the pathname of the file used to record all outgoing 1014mail. 1015If not defined, then outgoing mail is not so saved. 1016.It Ar indentprefix 1017String used by the ``~m'' tilde escape for indenting messages, in place of 1018the normal tab character (^I). 1019Be sure to quote the value if it contains 1020spaces or tabs. 1021.It Ar toplines 1022If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out 1023with the 1024.Ic top 1025command; normally, the first five lines are printed. 1026.El 1027.Sh ENVIRONMENT 1028.Nm 1029utilizes the 1030.Ev HOME 1031and 1032.Ev USER 1033environment variables. 1034.Sh FILES 1035.Bl -tag -width /usr/share/misc/mail.*help -compact 1036.It Pa /var/mail/* 1037Post office. 1038.It ~/mbox 1039User's old mail. 1040.It ~/.mailrc 1041File giving initial mail commands. 1042This can be overridden by setting the 1043.Ev MAILRC 1044environment variable. 1045.It Pa /tmp/R* 1046Temporary files. 1047.It Pa /usr/share/misc/mail.*help 1048Help files. 1049.It Pa /etc/mail.rc 1050System initialization file. 1051.El 1052.Sh SEE ALSO 1053.Xr fmt 1 , 1054.Xr newaliases 1 , 1055.Xr vacation 1 , 1056.Xr aliases 5 , 1057.Xr mailaddr 7 , 1058.Xr sendmail 8 1059and 1060.Rs 1061.%T "The Mail Reference Manual" 1062.Re 1063.Sh HISTORY 1064A 1065.Nm 1066command 1067appeared in 1068.At v6 . 1069This man page is derived from 1070.%T "The Mail Reference Manual" 1071originally written by Kurt Shoens. 1072.Sh BUGS 1073There are some flags that are not documented here. 1074Most are 1075not useful to the general user. 1076.Pp 1077Usually, 1078.Nm 1079is just a link to 1080.Nm Mail , 1081which can be confusing. 1082.Pp 1083The name of the 1084.Ic alternates 1085list is incorrect English (it should be 1086.Dq alternatives ) , 1087but is retained for compatibility. 1088