1 .\"@ nail.1 - S-nail(1) reference manual.
3 .\" Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Gunnar Ritter, Freiburg i. Br., Germany.
4 .\" Copyright (c) 2012 - 2017 Steffen (Daode) Nurpmeso <steffen@sdaoden.eu>.
6 .\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993
7 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
9 .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
10 .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
12 .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
13 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
14 .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
15 .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
16 .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
17 .\" 3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
18 .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
19 .\" without specific prior written permission.
21 .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
22 .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
23 .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
24 .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
25 .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
26 .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
27 .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
28 .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
29 .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
30 .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
34 .\"@ S-nail v14.9.4 / 2017-09-18
35 .Dd September 18, 2017
46 .\" If not ~/.mailrc, it breaks POSIX compatibility. And adjust main.c.
51 .ds OU [no v15-compat]
52 .ds ID [v15 behaviour may differ]
53 .ds NQ [Only new quoting rules]
64 .Nd send and receive Internet mail
70 .\" Keep in SYNC: ./nail.1:"SYNOPSIS, main()
79 .Op : Ns Fl a Ar attachment Ns \&:
80 .Op : Ns Fl b Ar bcc-addr Ns \&:
81 .Op : Ns Fl c Ar cc-addr Ns \&:
82 .Op Fl M Ar type | Fl m Ar file | Fl q Ar file | Fl t
85 .Fl S Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value Ns
88 .Op : Ns Fl X Ar cmd Ns \&:
90 .Pf : Ar to-addr Ns \&:
91 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns : Ns Ar mta-option Ns \&:
100 .Op Fl r Ar from-addr
102 .Fl S Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value Ns
105 .Op : Ns Fl X Ar cmd Ns \&:
106 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns : Ns Ar mta-option Ns \&:
115 .Op Fl r Ar from-addr
117 .Fl S Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value Ns
119 .Op : Ns Fl X Ar cmd Ns \&:
121 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns : Ns Ar mta-option Ns \&:
127 .Mx -toc -tree html pdf ps xhtml
130 .\" .Sh DESCRIPTION {{{
133 .Bd -filled -compact -offset indent
134 .Sy Compatibility note:
135 S-nail (\*(UA) will wrap up into \%S-mailx in v15.0 (circa 2020).
136 Backward incompatibility has to be expected \(en
139 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
140 rules, for example, and shell metacharacters will become meaningful.
141 New and old behaviour is flagged \*(IN and \*(OU, and setting
144 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
145 will choose new behaviour when applicable.
146 \*(OB flags what will vanish, and enabling
150 enables obsoletion warnings.
154 \*(UA provides a simple and friendly environment for sending and
156 It is intended to provide the functionality of the POSIX
158 command, but is MIME capable and optionally offers extensions for
159 line editing, S/MIME, SMTP and POP3, among others.
160 \*(UA divides incoming mail into its constituent messages and allows
161 the user to deal with them in any order.
165 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
166 for manipulating messages and sending mail.
167 It provides the user simple editing capabilities to ease the composition
168 of outgoing messages, and increasingly powerful and reliable
169 non-interactive scripting capabilities.
171 .\" .Ss "Options" {{{
174 .Bl -tag -width ".It Fl BaNg"
177 Explicitly control which of the
181 d (loaded): if the letter
183 is (case-insensitively) part of the
187 is sourced, likewise the letter
189 controls sourcing of the user's personal
191 file, whereas the letters
195 explicitly forbid sourcing of any resource files.
196 Scripts should use this option: to avoid environmental noise they should
198 from any configuration and create a script-specific environment, setting
200 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
203 and running configurating commands via
205 This option overrides
212 command for the given user email
214 after program startup is complete (all resource files are loaded, any
216 setting is being established; only
218 commands have not been evaluated yet).
219 Being a special incarnation of
221 macros for the purpose of bundling longer-lived
223 tings, activating such an email account also switches to the accounts
225 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
230 .It Fl a Ar file Ns Op Ar =input-charset Ns Op Ar #output-charset
233 to the message (for compose mode opportunities refer to
237 .Sx "Filename transformations"
240 will be performed, except that shell variables are not expanded.
243 not be accessible but contain a
245 character, then anything before the
247 will be used as the filename, anything thereafter as a character set
250 If an input character set is specified,
251 .Mx -ix "character set specification"
252 but no output character set, then the given input character set is fixed
253 as-is, and no conversion will be applied;
254 giving the empty string or the special string hyphen-minus
256 will be treated as if
258 has been specified (the default).
260 If an output character set has also been given then the conversion will
261 be performed exactly as specified and on-the-fly, not considering the
262 file's type and content.
263 As an exception, if the output character set is specified as the empty
264 string or hyphen-minus
266 then the default conversion algorithm (see
267 .Sx "Character sets" )
268 is applied (therefore no conversion is performed on-the-fly,
270 will be MIME-classified and its contents will be inspected first) \(em
271 without support for character set conversions
273 does not include the term
275 only this argument is supported.
278 (\*(OB: \*(UA will always use line-buffered output, to gain
279 line-buffered input even in batch mode enable batch mode via
284 Send a blind carbon copy to
291 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
293 The option may be used multiple times.
295 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
299 Send carbon copies to the given receiver, if so allowed by
301 May be used multiple times.
306 the internal variable
308 which enables debug messages and disables message delivery,
309 among others; effectively turns almost any operation into a dry-run.
315 and thus discard messages with an empty message part body.
316 This command line option is \*(OB.
320 Just check if mail is present (in the system
322 or the one specified via
324 if yes, return an exit status of zero, a non-zero value otherwise.
325 To restrict the set of mails to consider in this evaluation a message
326 specification can be added with the option
331 Save the message to send in a file named after the local part of the
332 first recipient's address (instead of in
337 Read in the contents of the user's
339 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
341 (or the specified file) for processing;
342 when \*(UA is quit, it writes undeleted messages back to this file
348 argument will undergo some special
349 .Sx "Filename transformations"
354 is not an argument to the flag
356 but is instead taken from the command line after option processing has
360 that starts with a hyphen-minus, prefix with a relative path, as in
361 .Ql ./-hyphenbox.mbox .
367 and exit; a configurable summary view is available via the
373 Show a short usage summary.
379 to ignore tty interrupt signals.
385 of all messages that match the given
389 .Sx "Specifying messages"
394 option has been given in addition no header summary is produced,
395 but \*(UA will instead indicate via its exit status whether
401 note that any verbose output is suppressed in this mode and must instead
402 be enabled explicitly (e.g., by using the option
407 Special send mode that will flag standard input with the MIME
411 and use it as the main message body.
412 \*(ID Using this option will bypass processing of
413 .Va message-inject-head
415 .Va message-inject-tail .
421 Special send mode that will MIME classify the specified
423 and use it as the main message body.
424 \*(ID Using this option will bypass processing of
425 .Va message-inject-head
427 .Va message-inject-tail .
433 inhibit the initial display of message headers when reading mail or
438 for the internal variable
443 Standard flag that inhibits reading the system wide
448 allows more control over the startup sequence; also see
449 .Sx "Resource files" .
453 Special send mode that will initialize the message body with the
454 contents of the specified
456 which may be standard input
458 only in non-interactive context.
466 opened will be in read-only mode.
470 .It Fl r Ar from-addr
471 Whereas the source address that appears in the
473 header of a message (or in the
475 header if the former contains multiple addresses) is honoured by the
476 builtin SMTP transport, it is not used by a file-based
478 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) for the RFC 5321 reverse-path used for relaying
479 and delegating a message to its destination(s), for delivery errors
480 etc., but it instead uses the local identity of the initiating user.
483 When this command line option is used the given
485 will be assigned to the internal variable
487 but in addition the command line option
488 .Fl \&\&f Ar from-addr
489 will be passed to a file-based
491 whenever a message is sent.
494 include a user name the address components will be separated and
495 the name part will be passed to a file-based
501 If an empty string is passed as
503 then the content of the variable
505 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
507 will be evaluated and used for this purpose whenever the file-based
516 command line options are used when contacting a file-based MTA, unless
517 this automatic deduction is enforced by
519 ing the internal variable
520 .Va r-option-implicit .
523 Remarks: many default installations and sites disallow overriding the
524 local user identity like this unless either the MTA has been configured
525 accordingly or the user is member of a group with special privileges.
529 .It Fl S Ar var Ns Op = Ns value
531 (or, with a prefix string
534 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
537 iable and optionally assign
540 If the operation fails the program will exit if any of
545 Settings established via
547 cannot be changed from within
549 or an account switch initiated by
551 They will become mutable again before commands registered via
557 Specify the subject of the message to be sent.
558 Newline (NL) and carriage-return (CR) bytes are invalid and will be
559 normalized to space (SP) characters.
563 The message given (on standard input) is expected to contain, separated
564 from the message body by an empty line, a message header with
569 fields giving its recipients, which will be added to any recipients
570 specified on the command line.
571 If a message subject is specified via
573 then it will be used in favour of one given on the command line.
589 .Ql Mail-Followup-To: ,
590 by default created automatically dependent on message context, will
591 be used if specified (a special address massage will however still occur
593 Any other custom header field (also see
597 is passed through entirely
598 unchanged, and in conjunction with the options
602 it is possible to embed
603 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
611 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
614 appropriate privileges presumed; effectively identical to
615 .Ql Fl \&\&f Ns \0%user .
624 will also show the list of
626 .Ql $ \*(uA -Xversion -Xx .
631 ting the internal variable
633 enables display of some informational context messages.
634 Using it twice increases the level of verbosity.
638 Add the given (or multiple for a multiline argument)
640 to the list of commands to be executed,
641 as a last step of program startup, before normal operation starts.
642 This is the only possibility to execute commands in non-interactive mode
643 when reading startup files is actively prohibited.
644 The commands will be evaluated as a unit, just as via
654 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
655 in compose mode even in non-interactive use cases.
656 This can be used to, e.g., automatically format the composed message
657 text before sending the message:
658 .Bd -literal -offset indent
659 $ ( echo 'line one. Word. Word2.';\e
660 echo '~| /usr/bin/fmt -tuw66' ) |\e
661 LC_ALL=C \*(uA -d~:/ -Sttycharset=utf-8 bob@exam.ple
666 Enables batch mode: standard input is made line buffered, the complete
667 set of (interactive) commands is available, processing of
668 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
669 is enabled in compose mode, and diverse
670 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
671 are adjusted for batch necessities, exactly as if done via
687 The following prepares an email message in a batched dry run:
688 .Bd -literal -offset indent
689 $ LC_ALL=C printf 'm bob\en~s ubject\enText\en~.\enx\en' |\e
690 LC_ALL=C \*(uA -d#:/ -X'alias bob bob@exam.ple'
695 This flag forces termination of option processing in order to prevent
698 It also forcefully puts \*(UA into send mode, see
699 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
705 arguments and all receivers established via
709 are subject to the checks established by
712 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" .
715 allows their recognition all
717 arguments given at the end of the command line after a
719 separator will be passed through to a file-based
721 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) and persist for the entire session.
723 constraints do not apply to the content of
727 .\" .Ss "A starter" {{{
730 \*(UA is a direct descendant of
732 Mail, itself a successor of the Research
735 .Dq was there from the start
738 It thus represents the user side of the
740 mail system, whereas the system side (Mail-Transfer-Agent, MTA) was
741 traditionally taken by
743 and most MTAs provide a binary of this name for compatibility purposes.
748 of \*(UA then the system side is not a mandatory precondition for mail
752 Because \*(UA strives for compliance with POSIX
754 it is likely that some configuration settings have to be adjusted before
755 using it is a smooth experience.
756 (Rather complete configuration examples can be found in the section
760 resource file bends those standard imposed settings of the
761 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
762 a bit towards more user friendliness and safety already.
770 in order to suppress the automatic moving of messages to the
772 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
774 that would otherwise occur (see
775 .Sx "Message states" ) ,
778 to not remove empty system MBOX mailbox files in order not to mangle
779 file permissions when files eventually get recreated (all empty (MBOX)
780 mailbox files will be removed unless this variable is set whenever
782 .Pf a.k.a.\0 Ev POSIXLY_CORRECT
783 mode has been enabled).
788 in order to synchronize \*(UA with the exit status report of the used
795 to enter interactive startup even if the initial mailbox is empty,
797 to allow editing of headers as well as
799 to not strip down addresses in compose mode, and
801 to include the message that is being responded to when
807 The file mode creation mask can be explicitly managed via the variable
809 Sufficient system support provided symbolic links will not be followed
810 when files are opened for writing.
811 Files and shell pipe output can be
813 d for evaluation, also during startup from within the
814 .Sx "Resource files" .
817 .\" .Ss "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" {{{
818 .Ss "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode"
820 To send a message to one or more people, using a local or a built-in
822 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) transport to actually deliver the generated mail
823 message, \*(UA can be invoked with arguments which are the names of
824 people to whom the mail will be sent, and the command line options
828 can be used to add (blind) carbon copy receivers:
830 .Bd -literal -offset indent
832 $ \*(uA -s ubject -a ttach.txt bill@exam.ple
834 # But... try it in an isolated dry-run mode (-d) first
835 $ LC_ALL=C \*(uA -d -:/ -Ssendwait -Sttycharset=utf8 \e
836 -b bcc@exam.ple -c cc@exam.ple \e
838 '(Lovely) Bob <bob@exam.ple>' eric@exam.ple
841 $ LC_ALL=C \*(uA -d -:/ -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait -Sttycharset=utf8 \e
842 -S mta=smtps://mylogin@exam.ple:465 -Ssmtp-auth=none \e
843 -S from=scriptreply@exam.ple \e
849 If standard input is a terminal rather than the message to be sent,
850 the user is expected to type in the message contents.
851 In this compose mode \*(UA treats lines beginning with the character
853 special \(en these are so-called
854 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ,
855 which can be used to read in files, process shell commands, add and edit
856 attachments and more; e.g., the command escape
858 will start the text editor to revise the message in its current state,
860 allows editing of the most important message headers, with
862 custom headers can be created (more specifically than with
865 gives an overview of most other available command escapes.
868 will leave compose mode and send the message once it is completed.
872 at the beginning of an empty line has the same effect, whereas typing
875 twice will abort the current letter (saving its contents in the file
886 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
887 can be used to alter default behavior.
888 E.g., messages are sent asynchronously, without supervision, unless the
891 is set, therefore send errors will not be recognizable until then.
896 will automatically startup a text editor when compose mode is entered,
898 allows editing of headers additionally to plain body content, whereas
902 will cause the user to be prompted actively for (blind) carbon-copy
903 recipients, respectively, whereas (the default)
905 will request confirmation whether the message shall be sent.
908 The envelope sender address is defined by
910 explicitly defining an originating
912 may be desired, especially with the builtin SMTP Mail-Transfer-Agent
915 for outgoing message and MIME part content are configurable via
917 whereas input data is assumed to be in
919 Message data will be passed over the wire in a
921 MIME parts a.k.a. attachments need to be assigned a
924 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
925 Saving a copy of sent messages in a
927 mailbox may be desirable \(en as for most mailbox
929 targets the value will undergo
930 .Sx "Filename transformations" .
935 sandbox dry-run tests will prove correctness.
938 Message recipients (as specified on the command line or defined in
943 may not only be email addressees but can also be names of mailboxes and
944 even complete shell command pipe specifications.
947 is not set then only network addresses (see
949 for a description of mail addresses) and plain user names (including MTA
950 aliases) may be used, other types will be filtered out, giving a warning
954 can be used to generate standard compliant network addresses.
956 .\" When changing any of the following adjust any RECIPIENTADDRSPEC;
957 .\" grep the latter for the complete picture
961 is set then extended recipient addresses will optionally be accepted:
962 Any name which starts with a vertical bar
964 character specifies a command pipe \(en the command string following the
966 is executed and the message is sent to its standard input;
967 Likewise, any name that starts with the character solidus
969 or the character sequence dot solidus
971 is treated as a file, regardless of the remaining content;
972 likewise a name that solely consists of a hyphen-minus
974 Any other name which contains a commercial at
976 character is treated as a network address;
977 Any other name which starts with a plus sign
979 character specifies a mailbox name;
980 Any other name which contains a solidus
982 character but no exclamation mark
986 character before also specifies a mailbox name;
987 What remains is treated as a network address.
989 .Bd -literal -offset indent
990 $ echo bla | \*(uA -Sexpandaddr -s test ./mbox.mbox
991 $ echo bla | \*(uA -Sexpandaddr -s test '|cat >> ./mbox.mbox'
992 $ echo safe | LC_ALL=C \e
993 \*(uA -:/ -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait -Sttycharset=utf8 \e
994 -Sexpandaddr=fail,-all,+addr,failinvaddr -s test \e
999 It is possible to create personal distribution lists via the
1001 command, so that, for instance, the user can send mail to
1003 and have it go to a group of people.
1004 These aliases have nothing in common with the system wide aliases that
1005 may be used by the MTA, which are subject to the
1009 and are often tracked in a file
1015 Personal aliases will be expanded by \*(UA before the message is sent,
1016 and are thus a convenient alternative to specifying each addressee by
1017 itself; they correlate with the active set of
1024 .Dl alias cohorts bill jkf mark kridle@ucbcory ~/mail/cohorts.mbox
1027 .Va on-compose-enter , on-compose-leave
1029 .Va on-compose-cleanup
1030 hook variables may be set to
1032 d macros to automatically adjust some settings dependent
1033 on receiver, sender or subject contexts, and via the
1034 .Va on-compose-splice
1036 .Va on-compose-splice-shell
1037 variables, the former also to be set to a
1039 d macro, increasingly powerful mechanisms to perform automated message
1040 adjustments, including signature creation, are available.
1041 (\*(ID These hooks work for commands which newly create messages, namely
1042 .Ic forward , mail , reply
1047 for now provide only the hooks
1050 .Va on-resend-cleanup . )
1053 For the purpose of arranging a complete environment of settings that can
1054 be switched to with a single command or command line option there are
1056 Alternatively it is also possible to use a flat configuration, making use
1057 of so-called variable chains which automatically pick
1061 context-dependend variable variants: for example addressing
1062 .Ql Ic File Ns \& pop3://yaa@exam.ple
1064 .Va \&\&pop3-no-apop-yaa@exam.ple ,
1065 .Va \&\&pop3-no-apop-exam.ple
1070 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
1072 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" .
1075 To avoid environmental noise scripts should
1077 \*(UA from any configuration files and create a script-local
1078 environment, ideally with the command line options
1080 to disable any configuration file in conjunction with repetitions of
1082 to specify variables:
1084 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1085 $ env LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ \e
1086 -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait -Sttycharset=utf-8 \e
1087 -Sexpandaddr=fail,-all,failinvaddr \e
1088 -S mta=smtps://mylogin@exam.ple:465 -Ssmtp-auth=login \e
1089 -S from=scriptreply@exam.ple \e
1090 -s 'Subject to go' -a attachment_file \e
1092 'Recipient 1 <rec1@exam.ple>' rec2@exam.ple \e
1097 As shown, scripts can
1099 a locale environment, the above specifies the all-compatible 7-bit clean
1102 but will nonetheless take and send UTF-8 in the message text by using
1104 In interactive mode, which is introduced in the next section, messages
1105 can be sent by calling the
1107 command with a list of recipient addresses:
1109 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1110 $ \*(uA -d -Squiet -Semptystart
1111 "/var/spool/mail/user": 0 messages
1112 ? mail "Recipient 1 <rec1@exam.ple>", rec2@exam.ple
1114 ? # Will do the right thing (tm)
1115 ? m rec1@exam.ple rec2@exam.ple
1119 .\" .Ss "On reading mail, and interactive mode" {{{
1120 .Ss "On reading mail, and interactive mode"
1122 When invoked without addressees \*(UA enters interactive mode in which
1124 When used like that the user's system
1126 (for more on mailbox types please see the command
1128 is read in and a one line header of each message therein is displayed if
1132 The visual style of this summary of
1134 can be adjusted through the variable
1136 and the possible sorting criterion via
1142 can be performed with the command
1144 If the initially opened mailbox is empty \*(UA will instead exit
1145 immediately (after displaying a message) unless the variable
1154 will give a listing of all available commands and
1156 will give a summary of some common ones.
1157 If the \*(OPal documentation strings are available one can type
1160 and see the actual expansion of
1162 and what its purpose is, i.e., commands can be abbreviated
1163 (note that POSIX defines some abbreviations, so that the alphabetical
1164 order of commands does not necessarily relate to the abbreviations; it is
1165 however possible to define overwrites with
1166 .Ic commandalias ) .
1167 These commands can also produce a more
1172 Messages are given numbers (starting at 1) which uniquely identify
1173 messages; the current message \(en the
1175 \(en will either be the first new message, or the first unread message,
1176 or the first message of the mailbox; the internal variable
1178 will instead cause usage of the last message for this purpose.
1183 ful of header summaries containing the
1187 will display only the summaries of the given messages, defaulting to the
1191 Message content can be displayed with the command
1198 controls whether and when \*(UA will use the configured
1200 for display instead of directly writing to the user terminal
1202 the sole difference to the command
1204 which will always use the
1208 will instead only show the first
1210 of a message (maybe even compressed if
1213 Message display experience may improve by setting and adjusting
1214 .Va mime-counter-evidence ,
1216 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" .
1219 By default the current message
1221 is displayed, but like with many other commands it is possible to give
1222 a fancy message specification (see
1223 .Sx "Specifying messages" ) ,
1226 will display all unread messages,
1231 will type the messages 1 and 5,
1233 will type the messages 1 through 5, and
1237 will display the last and the next message, respectively.
1240 (a more substantial alias for
1242 will display a header summary of the given message specification list
1243 instead of their content, e.g., the following will search for subjects:
1246 .Dl ? from "'@Some subject to search for'"
1249 In the default setup all header fields of a message will be
1251 d, but fields can be white- or blacklisted for a variety of
1252 applications by using the command
1254 e.g., to restrict their display to a very restricted set for
1256 .Ql Ic \:headerpick Cd \:type retain Ar \:from to cc subject .
1257 In order to display all header fields of a message regardless of
1258 currently active ignore or retain lists, use the commands
1263 will show the raw message content.
1264 Note that historically the global
1266 not only adjusts the list of displayed headers, but also sets
1270 Dependent upon the configuration a line editor (see the section
1271 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
1272 aims at making the user experience with the many
1275 When reading the system
1281 specified a mailbox explicitly prefixed with the special
1283 modifier (propagating the mailbox to a
1285 .Sx "primary system mailbox" ) ,
1286 then messages which have been read will be automatically moved to a
1288 .Sx "secondary mailbox" ,
1291 file, when the mailbox is left, either by changing the
1292 active mailbox or by quitting \*(UA (also see
1293 .Sx "Message states" )
1294 \(en this automatic moving from a system or primary to the secondary
1295 mailbox is not performed when the variable
1298 Messages can also be explicitly
1300 d to other mailboxes, whereas
1302 keeps the original message.
1304 can be used to write out data content of specific parts of messages.
1307 After examining a message the user can
1309 to the sender and all recipients (which will also be placed in
1312 .Va recipients-in-cc
1315 exclusively to the sender(s).
1317 ing a message will allow editing the new message: the original message
1318 will be contained in the message body, adjusted according to
1324 messages: the former will add a series of
1326 headers, whereas the latter will not; different to newly created
1327 messages editing is not possible and no copy will be saved even with
1329 unless the additional variable
1332 When sending, replying or forwarding messages comments and full names
1333 will be stripped from recipient addresses unless the internal variable
1336 Of course messages can be
1338 and they can spring into existence again via
1340 or when the \*(UA session is ended via the
1345 To end a mail processing session one may either issue
1347 to cause a full program exit, which possibly includes
1348 automatic moving of read messages to the
1350 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
1352 as well as updating the \*(OPal line editor
1356 instead in order to prevent any of these actions.
1359 .\" .Ss "HTML mail and MIME attachments" {{{
1360 .Ss "HTML mail and MIME attachments"
1362 Messages which are HTML-only become more and more common and of course
1363 many messages come bundled with a bouquet of MIME (Multipurpose Internet
1364 Mail Extensions) parts for, e.g., attachments.
1365 To get a notion of MIME types, \*(UA will first read
1366 .Sx "The mime.types files"
1367 (as configured and allowed by
1368 .Va mimetypes-load-control ) ,
1369 and then add onto that types registered directly with
1371 It (normally) has a default set of types built-in, too.
1372 To improve interaction with faulty MIME part declarations which are
1373 often seen in real-life messages, setting
1374 .Va mime-counter-evidence
1375 will allow \*(UA to verify the given assertion and possibly provide
1376 an alternative MIME type.
1379 Whereas \*(UA \*(OPally supports a simple HTML-to-text converter for
1380 HTML messages, it cannot handle MIME types other than plain text itself.
1381 Instead programs need to become registered to deal with specific MIME
1382 types or file extensions.
1383 These programs may either prepare plain text versions of their input in
1384 order to enable \*(UA to integrate their output neatlessly in its own
1385 message visualization (a mode which is called
1386 .Cd copiousoutput ) ,
1387 or display the content themselves, for example in an external graphical
1388 window: such handlers will only be considered by and for the command
1392 To install a handler program for a specific MIME type an according
1393 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
1394 variable needs to be set; to instead define a handler for a specific
1395 file extension the respective
1397 variable can be used \(en these handlers take precedence.
1398 \*(OPally \*(UA supports mail user agent configuration as defined in
1399 RFC 1524; this mechanism (see
1400 .Sx "The Mailcap files" )
1401 will be queried for display or quote handlers if none of the former two
1402 .\" TODO v15-compat "will be" -> "is"
1403 did; it will be the sole source for handlers of other purpose.
1404 A last source for handlers is the MIME type definition itself, when
1405 a (\*(UA specific) type-marker was registered with the command
1407 (which many built-in MIME types do).
1410 E.g., to display a HTML message inline (that is, converted to a more
1411 fancy plain text representation than the built-in converter is capable to
1412 produce) with either of the text-mode browsers
1416 teach \*(UA about MathML documents and make it display them as plain
1417 text, and to open PDF attachments in an external PDF viewer,
1418 asynchronously and with some other magic attached:
1420 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1421 ? if [ "$features" !% +filter-html-tagsoup ]
1422 ? #set pipe-text/html='@* elinks -force-html -dump 1'
1423 ? set pipe-text/html='@* lynx -stdin -dump -force_html'
1424 ? # Display HTML as plain text instead
1425 ? #set pipe-text/html=@
1427 ? mimetype @ application/mathml+xml mathml
1428 ? wysh set pipe-application/pdf='@&=@ \e
1429 trap "rm -f \e"${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}\e"" EXIT;\e
1430 trap "trap \e"\e" INT QUIT TERM; exit 1" INT QUIT TERM;\e
1431 mupdf "${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}"'
1435 .\" .Ss "Mailing lists" {{{
1438 \*(UA offers some support to ease handling of mailing lists.
1441 promotes all given arguments to known mailing lists, and
1443 sets their subscription attribute, creating them first as necessary.
1448 automatically, but only resets the subscription attribute.)
1449 Using the commands without arguments will show (a subset of) all
1450 currently defined mailing lists.
1455 can be used to mark out messages with configured list addresses
1456 in the header display.
1459 \*(OPally mailing lists may also be specified as (extended) regular
1460 expressions, which allows matching of many addresses with a single
1462 However, all fully qualified list addresses are matched via a fast
1463 dictionary, whereas expressions are placed in (a) list(s) which is
1464 (are) matched sequentially.
1466 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1467 ? set followup-to followup-to-honour=ask-yes \e
1468 reply-to-honour=ask-yes
1469 ? wysh mlist a1@b1.c1 a2@b2.c2 '.*@lists\e.c3$'
1470 ? mlsubscribe a4@b4.c4 exact@lists.c3
1475 .Va followup-to-honour
1477 .Ql Mail-\:Followup-\:To:
1478 header is honoured when the message is being replied to (via
1484 controls whether this header is created when sending mails; it will be
1485 created automatically for a couple of reasons, too, like when the
1487 .Dq mailing list specific
1492 is used to respond to a message with its
1493 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
1497 A difference in between the handling of known and subscribed lists is
1498 that the address of the sender is usually not part of a generated
1499 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
1500 when addressing the latter, whereas it is for the former kind of lists.
1501 Usually because there are exceptions: say, if multiple lists are
1502 addressed and not all of them are subscribed lists.
1504 For convenience \*(UA will, temporarily, automatically add a list
1505 address that is presented in the
1507 header of a message that is being responded to to the list of known
1509 Shall that header have existed \*(UA will instead, dependent on the
1511 .Va reply-to-honour ,
1514 for this purpose in order to accept a list administrators' wish that
1515 is supposed to have been manifested like that (but only if it provides
1516 a single address which resides on the same domain as what is stated in
1520 .\" .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME" {{{
1521 .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
1523 \*(OP S/MIME provides two central mechanisms:
1524 message signing and message encryption.
1525 A signed message contains some data in addition to the regular text.
1526 The data can be used to verify that the message was sent using a valid
1527 certificate, that the sender's address in the message header matches
1528 that in the certificate, and that the message text has not been altered.
1529 Signing a message does not change its regular text;
1530 it can be read regardless of whether the recipient's software is able to
1532 It is thus usually possible to sign all outgoing messages if so desired.
1535 Encryption, in contrast, makes the message text invisible for all people
1536 except those who have access to the secret decryption key.
1537 To encrypt a message, the specific recipient's public encryption key
1539 It is therefore not possible to send encrypted mail to people unless their
1540 key has been retrieved from either previous communication or public key
1542 A message should always be signed before it is encrypted.
1543 Otherwise, it is still possible that the encrypted message text is
1547 A central concept to S/MIME is that of the certification authority (CA).
1548 A CA is a trusted institution that issues certificates.
1549 For each of these certificates it can be verified that it really
1550 originates from the CA, provided that the CA's own certificate is
1552 A set of CA certificates is usually delivered with OpenSSL and installed
1554 If you trust the source of your OpenSSL software installation,
1555 this offers reasonable security for S/MIME on the Internet.
1557 .Va smime-ca-no-defaults
1558 to avoid using the default certificates and point
1562 to a trusted pool of certificates.
1563 In general, a certificate cannot be more secure than the method its CA
1564 certificate has been retrieved with.
1567 This trusted pool of certificates is used by the command
1569 to ensure that the given S/MIME messages can be trusted.
1570 If so, verified sender certificates that were embedded in signed
1571 messages can be saved locally with the command
1573 and used by \*(UA to encrypt further communication with these senders:
1575 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1577 ? set smime-encrypt-USER@HOST=FILENAME \e
1578 smime-cipher-USER@HOST=AES256
1582 To sign outgoing messages in order to allow receivers to verify the
1583 origin of these messages a personal S/MIME certificate is required.
1584 \*(UA supports password-protected personal certificates (and keys),
1585 for more on this, and its automatization, please see the section
1586 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
1588 .Sx "S/MIME step by step"
1589 shows examplarily how such a private certificate can be obtained.
1590 In general, if such a private key plus certificate
1592 is available, all that needs to be done is to set some variables:
1594 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1595 ? set smime-sign-cert=ME@HERE.com.paired \e
1596 smime-sign-message-digest=SHA256 \e
1601 Variables of interest for S/MIME in general are
1604 .Va smime-ca-flags ,
1605 .Va smime-ca-no-defaults ,
1607 .Va smime-crl-file .
1608 For S/MIME signing of interest are
1610 .Va smime-sign-cert ,
1611 .Va smime-sign-include-certs
1613 .Va smime-sign-message-digest .
1614 Additional variables of interest for S/MIME en- and decryption:
1617 .Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST .
1620 \*(ID Note that neither S/MIME signing nor encryption applies to
1621 message subjects or other header fields yet.
1622 Thus they may not contain sensitive information for encrypted messages,
1623 and cannot be trusted even if the message content has been verified.
1624 When sending signed messages,
1625 it is recommended to repeat any important header information in the
1629 .\" .Ss "On URL syntax and credential lookup" {{{
1630 .Ss "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
1632 \*(IN For accessing protocol-specific resources usage of Uniform
1633 Resource Locators (URL, RFC 1738) has become omnipresent.
1634 \*(UA expects and understands URLs in the following form;
1637 denote optional parts, optional either because there also exist other
1638 ways to define the information in question or because support of the
1639 part is protocol-specific (e.g.,
1641 is used by the local maildir and the IMAP protocol, but not by POP3);
1646 are specified they must be given in URL percent encoded form (RFC 3986;
1652 .Dl PROTOCOL://[USER[:PASSWORD]@]server[:port][/path]
1655 Note that these \*(UA URLs most often do not conform to any real
1656 standard, but instead represent a normalized variant of RFC 1738 \(en
1657 they are not used in data exchange but only meant as a compact,
1658 easy-to-use way of defining and representing information in
1659 a well-known notation.
1662 Many internal variables of \*(UA exist in multiple versions, called
1663 variable chains for the rest of this document: the plain
1668 .Ql variable-USER@HOST .
1675 had been specified in the respective URL, otherwise it refers to the plain
1681 that had been found when doing the user chain lookup as is described
1684 will never be in URL percent encoded form, whether it came from an URL
1685 or not; i.e., variable chain name extensions of
1686 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
1687 must not be URL percent encoded.
1690 For example, whether an hypothetical URL
1691 .Ql smtp://hey%3Ayou@our.house
1692 had been given that includes a user, or whether the URL was
1693 .Ql smtp://our.house
1694 and the user had been found differently, to lookup the variable chain
1695 .Va smtp-use-starttls
1696 \*(UA first looks for whether
1697 .Ql smtp-\:use-\:starttls-\:hey:you@our.house
1698 is defined, then whether
1699 .Ql smtp-\:use-\:starttls-\:our.house
1700 exists before finally ending up looking at the plain variable itself.
1703 \*(UA obeys the following logic scheme when dealing with the
1704 necessary credential information of an account:
1710 has been given in the URL the variables
1714 are looked up; if no such variable(s) can be found then \*(UA will,
1715 when enforced by the \*(OPal variables
1716 .Va netrc-lookup-HOST
1723 specific entry which provides a
1725 name: this lookup will only succeed if unambiguous (one possible matching
1728 It is possible to load encrypted
1733 If there is still no
1735 then \*(UA will fall back to the user who is supposed to run \*(UA,
1736 the identity of which has been fixated during \*(UA startup and is
1737 known to be a valid user on the current host.
1740 Authentication: unless otherwise noted this will lookup the
1741 .Va PROTOCOL-auth-USER@HOST , PROTOCOL-auth-HOST , PROTOCOL-auth
1742 variable chain, falling back to a protocol-specific default should this
1748 has been given in the URL, then if the
1750 has been found through the \*(OPal
1752 that may have already provided the password, too.
1753 Otherwise the variable chain
1754 .Va password-USER@HOST , password-HOST , password
1755 is looked up and used if existent.
1757 Afterwards the complete \*(OPal variable chain
1758 .Va netrc-lookup-USER@HOST , netrc-lookup-HOST , netrc-lookup
1762 cache is searched for a password only (multiple user accounts for
1763 a single machine may exist as well as a fallback entry without user
1764 but with a password).
1766 If at that point there is still no password available, but the
1767 (protocols') chosen authentication type requires a password, then in
1768 interactive mode the user will be prompted on the terminal.
1773 S/MIME verification works relative to the values found in the
1777 header field(s), which means that the values of
1778 .Va smime-sign , smime-sign-cert , smime-sign-include-certs
1780 .Va smime-sign-message-digest
1781 will not be looked up using the
1785 chains from above but instead use the corresponding values from the
1786 message that is being worked on.
1787 In unusual cases multiple and different
1791 combinations may therefore be involved \(en on the other hand those
1792 unusual cases become possible.
1793 The usual case is as short as:
1795 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1796 set mta=smtp://USER:PASS@HOST smtp-use-starttls \e
1797 smime-sign smime-sign-cert=+smime.pair
1803 contains complete example configurations.
1806 .\" .Ss "Encrypted network communication" {{{
1807 .Ss "Encrypted network communication"
1809 SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) a.k.a. its successor TLS (Transport Layer
1810 Security) are protocols which aid in securing communication by providing
1811 a safely initiated and encrypted network connection.
1812 A central concept of SSL/TLS is that of certificates: as part of each
1813 network connection setup a (set of) certificates will be exchanged, and
1814 by using those the identity of the network peer can be cryptographically
1816 SSL/TLS works by using a locally installed pool of trusted certificates,
1817 and verifying the connection peer succeeds if that provides
1818 a certificate which has been issued or is trusted by any certificate in
1819 the trusted local pool.
1822 The local pool of trusted so-called CA (Certification Authority)
1823 certificates is usually delivered with the used SSL/TLS library, and
1824 will be selected automatically, but it is also possible to create and
1825 use an own pool of trusted certificates.
1826 If this is desired, set
1827 .Va ssl-ca-no-defaults
1828 to avoid using the default certificate pool, and point
1832 to a trusted pool of certificates.
1833 A certificate cannot be more secure than the method its CA certificate
1834 has been retrieved with.
1837 It depends on the used protocol whether encrypted communication is
1838 possible, and which configuration steps have to be taken to enable it.
1839 Some protocols, e.g., POP3S, are implicitly encrypted, others, like
1840 POP3, can upgrade a plain text connection if so requested: POP3 offers
1842 which will be used if the variable (chain)
1843 .Va pop3-use-starttls
1846 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1847 shortcut encpop1 pop3s://pop1.exam.ple
1849 shortcut encpop2 pop3://pop2.exam.ple
1850 set pop3-use-starttls-pop2.exam.ple
1852 set mta=smtps://smtp.exam.ple:465
1853 set mta=smtp://smtp.exam.ple smtp-use-starttls
1857 Normally that is all there is to do, given that SSL/TLS libraries try to
1858 provide safe defaults, plenty of knobs however exist to adjust settings.
1859 For example certificate verification settings can be fine-tuned via
1861 and the SSL/TLS configuration basics are accessible via
1862 .Va ssl-config-pairs ,
1863 e.g., to specify the allowed protocols or cipher lists that
1864 a communication channel may use.
1865 In the past hints of how to restrict the set of protocols to highly
1866 secure ones were indicated, as of the time of this writing the allowed
1867 protocols or cipher list may need to become relaxed in order to be able
1868 to connect to some servers; the following example allows connecting to a
1870 that uses OpenSSL 0.9.8za from June 2014 (refer to
1871 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
1872 for more on variable chains):
1874 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1875 wysh set ssl-config-pairs-lion@exam.ple='MinProtocol=TLSv1.1,\e
1876 CipherList=TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:\e
1877 ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA:\e
1878 DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:@STRENGTH'
1884 can be used and should be referred to when creating a custom cipher list.
1885 Variables of interest for SSL/TLS in general are
1889 .Va ssl-ca-no-defaults ,
1890 .Va ssl-config-file ,
1891 .Va ssl-config-module ,
1892 .Va ssl-config-pairs
1900 .\" .Ss "Character sets" {{{
1901 .Ss "Character sets"
1903 \*(OP \*(UA detects the character set of the terminal by using
1904 mechanisms that are controlled by the
1906 environment variable
1911 in that order, see there).
1912 The internal variable
1914 will be set to the detected terminal character set accordingly,
1915 and will thus show up in the output of commands like, e.g.,
1921 However, the user may give a value for
1923 during startup, so that it is possible to send mail in a completely
1925 locale environment, an option which can be used to generate and send,
1926 e.g., 8-bit UTF-8 input data in a pure 7-bit US-ASCII
1928 environment (an example of this can be found in the section
1929 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" ) .
1930 Changing the value does not mean much beside that, because several
1931 aspects of the real character set are implied by the locale environment
1932 of the system, which stays unaffected by
1936 Messages and attachments which consist of 7-bit clean data will be
1937 classified as consisting of
1940 This is a problem if the
1942 character set is a multibyte character set that is also 7-bit clean.
1943 For example, the Japanese character set ISO-2022-JP is 7-bit clean but
1944 capable to encode the rich set of Japanese Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana
1945 characters: in order to notify receivers of this character set the mail
1946 message must be MIME encoded so that the character set ISO-2022-JP can
1948 To achieve this, the variable
1950 must be set to ISO-2022-JP.
1951 (Today a better approach regarding email is the usage of UTF-8, which
1952 uses 8-bit bytes for non-US-ASCII data.)
1955 If the \*(OPal character set conversion capabilities are not available
1957 does not include the term
1961 will be the only supported character set,
1962 it is simply assumed that it can be used to exchange 8-bit messages
1963 (over the wire an intermediate, configurable
1966 and the rest of this section does not apply;
1967 it may however still be necessary to explicitly set it if automatic
1968 detection fails, since in that case it defaults to
1969 .\" (Keep in SYNC: ./nail.1:"Character sets", ./config.h:CHARSET_*!)
1970 LATIN1 a.k.a. ISO-8859-1.
1973 \*(OP When reading messages, their text is converted into
1975 as necessary in order to display them on the users terminal.
1976 Unprintable characters and invalid byte sequences are detected
1977 and replaced by proper substitution characters.
1978 Character set mappings for source character sets can be established with
1981 which may be handy to work around faulty character set catalogues (e.g.,
1982 to add a missing LATIN1 to ISO-8859-1 mapping), or to enforce treatment
1983 of one character set as another one (e.g., to interpret LATIN1 as CP1252).
1985 .Va charset-unknown-8bit
1986 to deal with another hairy aspect of message interpretation.
1989 When sending messages all their parts and attachments are classified.
1990 Whereas no character set conversion is performed on those parts which
1991 appear to be binary data,
1992 the character set being used must be declared within the MIME header of
1993 an outgoing text part if it contains characters that do not conform to
1994 the set of characters that are allowed by the email standards.
1995 Permissible values for character sets used in outgoing messages can be
2000 which defines a catch-all last-resort fallback character set that is
2001 implicitly appended to the list of character sets in
2005 When replying to a message and the variable
2006 .Va reply-in-same-charset
2007 is set, then the character set of the message being replied to
2008 is tried first (still being a subject of
2009 .Ic charsetalias ) .
2010 And it is also possible to make \*(UA work even more closely related to
2011 the current locale setting automatically by using the variable
2012 .Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset ,
2013 please see there for more information.
2016 All the specified character sets are tried in order unless the
2017 conversion of the part or attachment succeeds.
2018 If none of the tried (8-bit) character sets is capable to represent the
2019 content of the part or attachment,
2020 then the message will not be sent and its text will optionally be
2024 In general, if a message saying
2025 .Dq cannot convert from a to b
2026 appears, either some characters are not appropriate for the currently
2027 selected (terminal) character set,
2028 or the needed conversion is not supported by the system.
2029 In the first case, it is necessary to set an appropriate
2031 locale and/or the variable
2035 The best results are usually achieved when \*(UA is run in a UTF-8
2036 locale on an UTF-8 capable terminal, in which case the full Unicode
2037 spectrum of characters is available.
2038 In this setup characters from various countries can be displayed,
2039 while it is still possible to use more simple character sets for sending
2040 to retain maximum compatibility with older mail clients.
2043 On the other hand the POSIX standard defines a locale-independent 7-bit
2044 .Dq portable character set
2045 that should be used when overall portability is an issue, the even more
2046 restricted subset named
2047 .Dq portable filename character set
2048 consists of A-Z, a-z, 0-9, period
2056 .\" .Ss "Message states" {{{
2057 .Ss "Message states"
2059 \*(UA differentiates in between several different message states;
2060 the current state will be reflected in header summary displays if
2062 is configured to do so (via the internal variable
2064 and messages can also be selected and be acted upon depending on their
2066 .Sx "Specifying messages" ) .
2067 When operating on the system
2071 .Sx "primary system mailbox" ,
2072 special actions, like the automatic moving of messages to the
2074 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
2076 may be applied when the mailbox is left (also implicitly via
2077 a successful exit of \*(UA, but not if the special command
2079 is used) \(en however, because this may be irritating to users which
2082 mail-user-agents, the default global
2088 variables in order to suppress this behaviour.
2090 .Bl -hang -width ".It Ql new"
2092 Message has neither been viewed nor moved to any other state.
2093 Such messages are retained even in the
2095 .Sx "primary system mailbox" .
2098 Message has neither been viewed nor moved to any other state, but the
2099 message was present already when the mailbox has been opened last:
2100 Such messages are retained even in the
2102 .Sx "primary system mailbox" .
2105 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
2124 will always try to automatically
2130 logical message, and may thus mark multiple messages as read, the
2132 command will do so if the internal variable
2137 command is used, messages that are in a
2139 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
2142 state when the mailbox is left will be saved in the
2144 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
2146 unless the internal variable
2151 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
2157 can be used to access such messages.
2160 The message has been processed by a
2162 command and it will be retained in its current location.
2165 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
2171 command is used, messages that are in a
2173 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
2176 state when the mailbox is left will be deleted; they will be saved in the
2178 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
2180 when the internal variable
2186 In addition to these message states, flags which otherwise have no
2187 technical meaning in the mail system except allowing special ways of
2188 addressing them when
2189 .Sx "Specifying messages"
2190 can be set on messages.
2191 These flags are saved with messages and are thus persistent, and are
2192 portable between a set of widely used MUAs.
2194 .Bl -hang -width ".It Ic answered"
2196 Mark messages as having been answered.
2198 Mark messages as being a draft.
2200 Mark messages which need special attention.
2204 .\" .Ss "Specifying messages" {{{
2205 .Ss "Specifying messages"
2212 can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply to a number
2213 of messages at once.
2216 deletes messages 1 and 2,
2219 will delete the messages 1 through 5.
2220 In sorted or threaded mode (see the
2224 will delete the messages that are located between (and including)
2225 messages 1 through 5 in the sorted/threaded order, as shown in the
2228 The following special message names exist:
2231 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ar BaNg"
2233 The current message, the so-called
2237 The message that was previously the current message.
2240 The parent message of the current message,
2241 that is the message with the Message-ID given in the
2243 field or the last entry of the
2245 field of the current message.
2248 The next previous undeleted message,
2249 or the next previous deleted message for the
2252 In sorted/threaded mode,
2253 the next previous such message in the sorted/threaded order.
2256 The next undeleted message,
2257 or the next deleted message for the
2260 In sorted/threaded mode,
2261 the next such message in the sorted/threaded order.
2264 The first undeleted message,
2265 or the first deleted message for the
2268 In sorted/threaded mode,
2269 the first such message in the sorted/threaded order.
2273 In sorted/threaded mode,
2274 the last message in the sorted/threaded order.
2278 selects the message addressed with
2282 is any other message specification,
2283 and all messages from the thread that begins at it.
2284 Otherwise it is identical to
2289 the thread beginning with the current message is selected.
2294 All messages that were included in the
2295 .Sx "Message list arguments"
2296 of the previous command.
2299 An inclusive range of message numbers.
2300 Selectors that may also be used as endpoints include any of
2305 .Dq any substring matches
2308 header, which will match addresses (too) even if
2310 is set (and POSIX says
2311 .Dq any address as shown in a header summary shall be matchable in this form ) ;
2314 variable is set, only the local part of the address is evaluated
2315 for the comparison, not ignoring case, and the setting of
2317 is completely ignored.
2318 For finer control and match boundaries use the
2322 .It Ar / Ns Ar string
2323 All messages that contain
2325 in the subject field (case ignored).
2332 the string from the previous specification of that type is used again.
2334 .It Xo Op Ar @ Ns Ar name-list Ns
2337 All messages that contain the given case-insensitive search
2339 ession; if the \*(OPal regular expression (see
2341 support is available
2343 will be interpreted as (an extended) one if any of the
2345 (extended) regular expression characters is seen: in this case this
2346 should match strings correctly which are in the locale
2350 .Ar @ Ns Ar name-list
2351 part is missing, the search is restricted to the subject field body,
2354 specifies a comma-separated list of header fields to search, as in
2356 .Dl '@to,from,cc@Someone i ought to know'
2358 In order to search for a string that includes a
2360 (commercial at) character the
2362 is effectively non-optional, but may be given as the empty string.
2363 Some special header fields may be abbreviated:
2377 respectively and case-insensitively.
2382 can be used to search in (all of) the header(s) of the message, and the
2391 can be used to perform full text searches \(en whereas the former
2392 searches only the body, the latter also searches the message header.
2394 This message specification performs full text comparison, but even with
2395 regular expression support it is almost impossible to write a search
2396 expression that savely matches only a specific address domain.
2397 To request that the content of the header is treated as a list of
2398 addresses, and to strip those down to the plain email address which the
2399 search expression is to be matched against, prefix the header name
2400 (abbreviation) with a tilde
2403 .Dl @~f@@a\e.safe\e.domain\e.match$
2406 All messages of state or with matching condition
2410 is one or multiple of the following colon modifiers:
2412 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar :M"
2415 messages (cf. the variable
2416 .Va markanswered ) .
2428 Messages with receivers that match
2432 Messages with receivers that match
2439 Old messages (any not in state
2447 \*(OP Messages with unsure spam classification (see
2448 .Sx "Handling spam" ) .
2450 \*(OP Messages classified as spam.
2462 \*(OP IMAP-style SEARCH expressions may also be used.
2463 This addressing mode is available with all types of mailbox
2465 s; \*(UA will perform the search locally as necessary.
2466 Strings must be enclosed by double quotes
2468 in their entirety if they contain whitespace or parentheses;
2469 within the quotes, only reverse solidus
2471 is recognized as an escape character.
2472 All string searches are case-insensitive.
2473 When the description indicates that the
2475 representation of an address field is used,
2476 this means that the search string is checked against both a list
2479 .Bd -literal -offset indent
2480 (\*qname\*q \*qsource\*q \*qlocal-part\*q \*qdomain-part\*q)
2485 and the addresses without real names from the respective header field.
2486 These search expressions can be nested using parentheses, see below for
2490 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar _n_u"
2491 .It Ar ( criterion )
2492 All messages that satisfy the given
2494 .It Ar ( criterion1 criterion2 ... criterionN )
2495 All messages that satisfy all of the given criteria.
2497 .It Ar ( or criterion1 criterion2 )
2498 All messages that satisfy either
2503 To connect more than two criteria using
2505 specifications have to be nested using additional parentheses,
2507 .Ql (or a (or b c)) ,
2511 .Ql ((a or b) and c) .
2514 operation of independent criteria on the lowest nesting level,
2515 it is possible to achieve similar effects by using three separate
2519 .It Ar ( not criterion )
2520 All messages that do not satisfy
2522 .It Ar ( bcc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2523 All messages that contain
2525 in the envelope representation of the
2528 .It Ar ( cc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2529 All messages that contain
2531 in the envelope representation of the
2534 .It Ar ( from \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2535 All messages that contain
2537 in the envelope representation of the
2540 .It Ar ( subject \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2541 All messages that contain
2546 .It Ar ( to \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2547 All messages that contain
2549 in the envelope representation of the
2552 .It Ar ( header name \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2553 All messages that contain
2558 .It Ar ( body \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2559 All messages that contain
2562 .It Ar ( text \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2563 All messages that contain
2565 in their header or body.
2566 .It Ar ( larger size )
2567 All messages that are larger than
2570 .It Ar ( smaller size )
2571 All messages that are smaller than
2575 .It Ar ( before date )
2576 All messages that were received before
2578 which must be in the form
2582 denotes the day of the month as one or two digits,
2584 is the name of the month \(en one of
2585 .Ql Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec ,
2588 is the year as four digits, e.g.,
2592 All messages that were received on the specified date.
2593 .It Ar ( since date )
2594 All messages that were received since the specified date.
2595 .It Ar ( sentbefore date )
2596 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
2597 .It Ar ( senton date )
2598 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
2599 .It Ar ( sentsince date )
2600 All messages that were sent since the specified date.
2602 The same criterion as for the previous search.
2603 This specification cannot be used as part of another criterion.
2604 If the previous command line contained more than one independent
2605 criterion then the last of those criteria is used.
2609 .\" .Ss "On terminal control and line editor" {{{
2610 .Ss "On terminal control and line editor"
2612 \*(OP Terminal control will be realized through one of the standard
2614 libraries, either the
2616 or, alternatively, the
2618 both of which will be initialized to work with the environment variable
2620 Terminal control will enhance or enable interactive usage aspects, e.g.,
2621 .Sx "Coloured display" ,
2622 and extend behaviour of the Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE), which may learn the
2623 byte-sequences of keys like the cursor and function keys.
2626 The internal variable
2628 can be used to overwrite settings or to learn (correct(ed)) keycodes.
2629 \*(UA may also become a fullscreen application by entering the
2630 so-called ca-mode and switching to an alternative exclusive screen
2631 (content) shall the terminal support it and the internal variable
2633 has been set explicitly.
2634 Actual interaction with the chosen library can be disabled completely by
2635 setting the internal variable
2636 .Va termcap-disable ;
2638 will be queried regardless, which is true even if the \*(OPal library
2639 support has not been enabled at configuration time as long as some other
2640 \*(OP which (may) query terminal control sequences has been enabled.
2643 \*(OP The built-in Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE) should work in all
2644 environments which comply to the ISO C standard
2646 and will support wide glyphs if possible (the necessary functionality
2647 had been removed from ISO C, but was included in
2649 Prevent usage of a line editor in interactive mode by setting the
2651 .Va line-editor-disable .
2652 Especially if the \*(OPal terminal control support is missing setting
2653 entries in the internal variable
2655 will help shall the MLE misbehave, see there for more.
2656 The MLE can support a little bit of
2662 feature is available then input from line editor prompts will be saved
2663 in a history list that can be searched in and be expanded from.
2664 Such saving can be prevented by prefixing input with any amount of
2666 Aspects of history, like allowed content and maximum size, as well as
2667 whether history shall be saved persistently, can be configured with the
2671 .Va history-gabby-persist
2676 The MLE supports a set of editing and control commands.
2677 By default (as) many (as possible) of these will be assigned to a set of
2678 single-letter control codes, which should work on any terminal (and can
2679 be generated by holding the
2681 key while pressing the key of desire, e.g.,
2685 command is available then the MLE commands can also be accessed freely
2686 by assigning the command name, which is shown in parenthesis in the list
2687 below, to any desired key-sequence, and the MLE will instead and also use
2689 to establish its built-in key bindings
2690 (more of them if the \*(OPal terminal control is available),
2691 an action which can then be suppressed completely by setting
2692 .Va line-editor-no-defaults .
2693 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
2694 notation is used in the following;
2695 combinations not mentioned either cause job control signals or do not
2696 generate a (unique) keycode:
2700 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql \eBa"
2702 Go to the start of the line
2704 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-home ) .
2707 Move the cursor backward one character
2709 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-bwd ) .
2712 Forward delete the character under the cursor;
2713 quits \*(UA if used on the empty line unless the internal variable
2717 .Pf ( Cd mle-del-fwd ) .
2720 Go to the end of the line
2722 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-end ) .
2725 Move the cursor forward one character
2727 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-fwd ) .
2730 Cancel current operation, full reset.
2731 If there is an active history search or tabulator expansion then this
2732 command will first reset that, reverting to the former line content;
2733 thus a second reset is needed for a full reset in this case
2735 .Pf ( Cd mle-reset ) .
2738 Backspace: backward delete one character
2740 .Pf ( Cd mle-del-bwd ) .
2744 Horizontal tabulator:
2745 try to expand the word before the cursor, supporting the usual
2746 .Sx "Filename transformations"
2748 .Pf ( Cd mle-complete ) .
2750 .Cd mle-quote-rndtrip .
2754 commit the current line
2756 .Pf ( Cd mle-commit ) .
2759 Cut all characters from the cursor to the end of the line
2761 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-end ) .
2766 .Pf ( Cd mle-repaint ) .
2769 \*(OP Go to the next history entry
2771 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-fwd ) .
2774 (\*(OPally context-dependent) Invokes the command
2778 \*(OP Go to the previous history entry
2780 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-bwd ) .
2783 Toggle roundtrip mode shell quotes, where produced,
2786 .Pf ( Cd mle-quote-rndtrip ) .
2787 This setting is temporary, and will be forgotten once the command line
2788 is committed; also see
2792 \*(OP Complete the current line from (the remaining) older history entries
2794 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-srch-bwd ) .
2797 \*(OP Complete the current line from (the remaining) newer history entries
2799 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-srch-fwd ) .
2802 Paste the snarf buffer
2804 .Pf ( Cd mle-paste ) .
2812 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-line ) .
2815 Prompts for a Unicode character (its hexadecimal number) to be inserted
2817 .Pf ( Cd mle-prompt-char ) .
2818 Note this command needs to be assigned to a single-letter control code
2819 in order to become recognized and executed during input of
2820 a key-sequence (only three single-letter control codes can be used for
2821 that shortcut purpose); this control code is special-treated and cannot
2822 be part of any other sequence, because any occurrence will perform the
2824 function immediately.
2827 Cut the characters from the one preceding the cursor to the preceding
2830 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-word-bwd ) .
2833 Move the cursor forward one word boundary
2835 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-word-fwd ) .
2838 Move the cursor backward one word boundary
2840 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-word-bwd ) .
2843 Escape: reset a possibly used multibyte character input state machine
2844 and \*(OPally a lingering, incomplete key binding
2846 .Pf ( Cd mle-cancel ) .
2847 This command needs to be assigned to a single-letter control code in
2848 order to become recognized and executed during input of a key-sequence
2849 (only three single-letter control codes can be used for that shortcut
2851 This control code may also be part of a multi-byte sequence, but if
2852 a sequence is active and the very control code is currently also an
2853 expected input, then it will first be consumed by the active sequence.
2856 (\*(OPally context-dependent) Invokes the command
2860 (\*(OPally context-dependent) Invokes the command
2864 (\*(OPally context-dependent) Invokes the command
2868 Cut the characters from the one after the cursor to the succeeding word
2871 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-word-fwd ) .
2882 this will immediately reset a possibly active search etc.
2887 ring the audible bell.
2891 .\" .Ss "Coloured display" {{{
2892 .Ss "Coloured display"
2894 \*(OP \*(UA can be configured to support a coloured display and font
2895 attributes by emitting ANSI a.k.a. ISO 6429 SGR (select graphic
2896 rendition) escape sequences.
2897 Usage of colours and font attributes solely depends upon the
2898 capability of the detected terminal type that is defined by the
2899 environment variable
2901 and which can be fine-tuned by the user via the internal variable
2905 On top of what \*(UA knows about the terminal the boolean variable
2907 defines whether the actually applicable colour and font attribute
2908 sequences should also be generated when output is going to be paged
2909 through the external program defined by the environment variable
2914 This is not enabled by default because different pager programs need
2915 different command line switches or other configuration in order to
2916 support those sequences.
2917 \*(UA however knows about some widely used pagers and in a clean
2918 environment it is often enough to simply set
2920 please refer to that variable for more on this topic.
2925 is set then any active usage of colour and font attribute sequences
2926 is suppressed, but without affecting possibly established
2931 To define and control colours and font attributes a single multiplexer
2932 command family exists:
2934 shows or defines colour mappings for the given colour type (e.g.,
2937 can be used to remove mappings of a given colour type.
2938 Since colours are only available in interactive mode, it may make
2939 sense to conditionalize the colour setup by encapsulating it with
2942 .Bd -literal -offset indent
2943 if terminal && [ "$features" =% +colour ]
2944 colour iso view-msginfo ft=bold,fg=green
2945 colour iso view-header ft=bold,fg=red from,subject
2946 colour iso view-header fg=red
2948 uncolour iso view-header from,subject
2949 colour iso view-header ft=bold,fg=magenta,bg=cyan
2950 colour 256 view-header ft=bold,fg=208,bg=230 "subject,from"
2951 colour mono view-header ft=bold
2952 colour mono view-header ft=bold,ft=reverse subject,from
2957 .\" .Ss "Handling spam" {{{
2960 \*(OP \*(UA can make use of several spam interfaces for the purpose of
2961 identification of, and, in general, dealing with spam messages.
2962 A precondition of most commands in order to function is that the
2964 variable is set to one of the supported interfaces.
2965 Once messages have been identified as spam their (volatile)
2967 state can be prompted: the
2971 message specifications will address respective messages and their
2973 entries will be used when displaying the
2975 in the header display.
2980 rates the given messages and sets their
2983 If the spam interface offers spam scores those can also be displayed in
2984 the header display by including the
2994 will interact with the Bayesian filter of the chosen interface and learn
2995 the given messages as
2999 respectively; the last command can be used to cause
3001 of messages; it adheres to their current
3003 state and thus reverts previous teachings.
3008 will simply set and clear, respectively, the mentioned volatile
3010 message flag, without any interface interaction.
3019 requires a running instance of the
3021 server in order to function, started with the option
3023 shall Bayesian filter learning be possible.
3025 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3026 $ spamd -i localhost:2142 -i /tmp/.spamsock -d [-L] [-l]
3027 $ spamd --listen=localhost:2142 --listen=/tmp/.spamsock \e
3028 --daemonize [--local] [--allow-tell]
3032 Thereafter \*(UA can make use of these interfaces:
3034 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3035 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=spamc -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
3036 -Sspamc-command=/usr/local/bin/spamc \e
3037 -Sspamc-arguments="-U /tmp/.spamsock" -Sspamc-user=
3039 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=spamc -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
3040 -Sspamc-command=/usr/local/bin/spamc \e
3041 -Sspamc-arguments="-d localhost -p 2142" -Sspamc-user=
3045 Using the generic filter approach allows usage of programs like
3047 Here is an example, requiring it to be accessible via
3050 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3051 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=filter -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
3052 -Sspamfilter-ham="bogofilter -n" \e
3053 -Sspamfilter-noham="bogofilter -N" \e
3054 -Sspamfilter-nospam="bogofilter -S" \e
3055 -Sspamfilter-rate="bogofilter -TTu 2>/dev/null" \e
3056 -Sspamfilter-spam="bogofilter -s" \e
3057 -Sspamfilter-rate-scanscore="1;^(.+)$"
3061 Because messages must exist on local storage in order to be scored (or
3062 used for Bayesian filter training), it is possibly a good idea to
3063 perform the local spam check last.
3064 Spam can be checked automatically when opening specific folders by
3065 setting a specialized form of the internal variable
3068 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3069 define spamdelhook {
3071 spamset (header x-dcc-brand-metrics "bulk")
3072 # Server-side spamassassin(1)
3073 spamset (header x-spam-flag "YES")
3074 del :s # TODO we HAVE to be able to do `spamrate :u ! :sS'
3080 set folder-hook-SOMEFOLDER=spamdelhook
3084 See also the documentation for the variables
3085 .Va spam-interface , spam-maxsize ,
3086 .Va spamc-command , spamc-arguments , spamc-user ,
3087 .Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , spamfilter-nospam , \
3090 .Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore .
3093 .\" }}} (DESCRIPTION)
3096 .\" .Sh COMMANDS {{{
3099 \*(UA reads input in lines.
3100 An unquoted reverse solidus
3102 at the end of a command line
3104 the newline character: it is discarded and the next line of input is
3105 used as a follow-up line, with all leading whitespace removed;
3106 once an entire line is completed, the whitespace characters
3107 .Cm space , tabulator , newline
3108 as well as those defined by the variable
3110 are removed from the beginning and end.
3111 Placing any whitespace characters at the beginning of a line will
3112 prevent a possible addition of the command line to the \*(OPal
3116 The beginning of such input lines is then scanned for the name of
3117 a known command: command names may be abbreviated, in which case the
3118 first command that matches the given prefix will be used.
3119 .Sx "Command modifiers"
3120 may prefix a command in order to modify its behaviour.
3121 A name may also be a
3123 which will become expanded until no more expansion is possible.
3124 Once the command that shall be executed is known, the remains of the
3125 input line will be interpreted according to command-specific rules,
3126 documented in the following.
3129 This behaviour is different to the
3131 ell, which is a programming language with syntactic elements of clearly
3132 defined semantics, and therefore capable to sequentially expand and
3133 evaluate individual elements of a line.
3134 \*(UA will never be able to handle
3135 .Ql ? set one=value two=$one
3136 in a single statement, because the variable assignment is performed by
3144 can be used to show the list of all commands, either alphabetically
3145 sorted or in prefix search order (these do not match, also because the
3146 POSIX standard prescribes a set of abbreviations).
3147 \*(OPally the command
3151 when given an argument, will show a documentation string for the
3152 command matching the expanded argument, as in
3154 which should be a shorthand of
3156 with these documentation strings both commands support a more
3158 listing mode which includes the argument type of the command and other
3159 information which applies; a handy suggestion might thus be:
3161 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3163 # Before v15: need to enable sh(1)ell-style on _entire_ line!
3164 localopts 1;wysh set verbose;ignerr eval "${@}";return ${?}
3166 ? commandalias xv '\ecall __xv'
3170 .\" .Ss "Command modifiers" {{{
3171 .Ss "Command modifiers"
3173 Commands may be prefixed by one or multiple command modifiers.
3177 The modifier reverse solidus
3180 to be placed first, prevents
3182 expansions on the remains of the line, e.g.,
3184 will always evaluate the command
3186 even if an (command)alias of the same name exists.
3188 content may itself contain further command modifiers, including
3189 an initial reverse solidus to prevent further expansions.
3195 indicates that any error generated by the following command should be
3196 ignored by the state machine and not cause a program exit with enabled
3198 or for the standardized exit cases in
3203 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
3204 will be set to the real exit status of the command regardless.
3209 does yet not implement any functionality.
3214 does yet not implement any functionality.
3217 Some commands support the
3220 modifier: if used, they expect the name of a variable, which can itself
3221 be a variable, i.e., shell expansion is applied, as their first
3222 argument, and will place their computation result in it instead of the
3223 default location (it is usually written to standard output).
3225 The given name will be tested for being a valid
3227 variable name, and may therefore only consist of upper- and lowercase
3228 characters, digits, and the underscore; the hyphen-minus may be used as
3229 a non-portable extension; digits may not be used as first, hyphen-minus
3230 may not be used as last characters.
3231 In addition the name may either not be one of the known
3232 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
3233 or must otherwise refer to a writable (non-boolean) value variable.
3234 The actual put operation may fail nonetheless, e.g., if the variable
3235 expects a number argument only a number will be accepted.
3236 Any error during these operations causes the command as such to fail,
3237 and the error number
3240 .Va ^ERR Ns -NOTSUP ,
3245 but some commands deviate from the latter, which is documented.
3248 Last, but not least, the modifier
3251 can be used for some old and established commands to choose the new
3252 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
3253 rules over the traditional
3254 .Sx "Old-style argument quoting" .
3258 .\" .Ss "Message list arguments" {{{
3259 .Ss "Message list arguments"
3261 Some commands expect arguments that represent messages (actually
3262 their symbolic message numbers), as has been documented above under
3263 .Sx "Specifying messages"
3265 If no explicit message list has been specified, the next message
3266 forward that satisfies the command's requirements will be used,
3267 and if there are no messages forward of the current message,
3268 the search proceeds backwards;
3269 if there are no good messages at all to be found, an error message is
3270 shown and the command is aborted.
3273 .\" .Ss "Old-style argument quoting" {{{
3274 .Ss "Old-style argument quoting"
3276 \*(ID This section documents the old, traditional style of quoting
3277 non-message-list arguments to commands which expect this type of
3278 arguments: whereas still used by the majority of such commands, the new
3279 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
3280 may be available even for those via
3283 .Sx "Command modifiers" .
3284 Nonetheless care must be taken, because only new commands have been
3285 designed with all the capabilities of the new quoting rules in mind,
3286 which can, e.g., generate control characters.
3289 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
3291 An argument can be enclosed between paired double-quotes
3296 any whitespace, shell word expansion, or reverse solidus characters
3297 (except as described next) within the quotes are treated literally as
3298 part of the argument.
3299 A double-quote will be treated literally within single-quotes and vice
3301 Inside such a quoted string the actually used quote character can be
3302 used nonetheless by escaping it with a reverse solidus
3308 An argument that is not enclosed in quotes, as above, can usually still
3309 contain space characters if those spaces are reverse solidus escaped, as in
3313 A reverse solidus outside of the enclosing quotes is discarded
3314 and the following character is treated literally as part of the argument.
3318 .\" .Ss "Shell-style argument quoting" {{{
3319 .Ss "Shell-style argument quoting"
3321 Commands which don't expect message-list arguments use
3323 ell-style, and therefore POSIX standardized, argument parsing and
3325 \*(ID Most new commands only support these new rules and are flagged
3326 \*(NQ, some elder ones can use them with the command modifier
3328 in the future only this type of argument quoting will remain.
3331 A command line is parsed from left to right and an input token is
3332 completed whenever an unquoted, otherwise ignored, metacharacter is seen.
3333 Metacharacters are vertical bar
3339 as well as all characters from the variable
3342 .Cm space , tabulator , newline .
3343 The additional metacharacters left and right parenthesis
3345 and less-than and greater-than signs
3349 supports are not used, and are treated as ordinary characters: for one
3350 these characters are a vivid part of email addresses, and it seems
3351 highly unlikely that their function will become meaningful to \*(UA.
3353 .Bd -filled -offset indent
3354 .Sy Compatibility note:
3355 \*(ID Please note that even many new-style commands do not yet honour
3357 to parse their arguments: whereas the
3359 ell is a language with syntactic elements of clearly defined semantics,
3360 \*(UA parses entire input lines and decides on a per-command base what
3361 to do with the rest of the line.
3362 This also means that whenever an unknown command is seen all that \*(UA
3363 can do is cancellation of the processing of the remains of the line.
3365 It also often depends on an actual subcommand of a multiplexer command
3366 how the rest of the line should be treated, and until v15 we are not
3367 capable to perform this deep inspection of arguments.
3368 Nonetheless, at least the following commands which work with positional
3369 parameters fully support
3371 for an almost shell-compatible field splitting:
3372 .Ic call , call_if , read , vpospar , xcall .
3376 Any unquoted number sign
3378 at the beginning of a new token starts a comment that extends to the end
3379 of the line, and therefore ends argument processing.
3380 An unquoted dollar sign
3382 will cause variable expansion of the given name, which must be a valid
3384 ell-style variable name (see
3386 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
3389 (shell) variables can be accessed through this mechanism, brace
3390 enclosing the name is supported (i.e., to subdivide a token).
3393 Whereas the metacharacters
3394 .Cm space , tabulator , newline
3395 only complete an input token, vertical bar
3401 also act as control operators and perform control functions.
3402 For now supported is semicolon
3404 which terminates a single command, therefore sequencing the command line
3405 and making the remainder of the line a subject to reevaluation.
3406 With sequencing, multiple command argument types and quoting rules may
3407 therefore apply to a single line, which can become problematic before
3408 v15: e.g., the first of the following will cause surprising results.
3411 .Dl ? echo one; set verbose; echo verbose=$verbose.
3412 .Dl ? echo one; wysh set verbose; echo verbose=$verbose.
3415 Quoting is a mechanism that will remove the special meaning of
3416 metacharacters and reserved words, and will prevent expansion.
3417 There are four quoting mechanisms: the escape character, single-quotes,
3418 double-quotes and dollar-single-quotes:
3421 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
3423 The literal value of any character can be preserved by preceding it
3424 with the escape character reverse solidus
3428 Arguments which are enclosed in
3429 .Ql 'single-\:quotes'
3430 retain their literal value.
3431 A single-quote cannot occur within single-quotes.
3434 The literal value of all characters enclosed in
3435 .Ql \(dqdouble-\:quotes\(dq
3436 is retained, with the exception of dollar sign
3438 which will cause variable expansion, as above, backquote (grave accent)
3440 (which not yet means anything special), reverse solidus
3442 which will escape any of the characters dollar sign
3444 (to prevent variable expansion), backquote (grave accent)
3448 (to prevent ending the quote) and reverse solidus
3450 (to prevent escaping, i.e., to embed a reverse solidus character as-is),
3451 but has no special meaning otherwise.
3454 Arguments enclosed in
3455 .Ql $'dollar-\:single-\:quotes'
3456 extend normal single quotes in that reverse solidus escape sequences are
3457 expanded as follows:
3459 .Bl -tag -compact -width "Ql \eNNN"
3461 bell control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 BEL).
3463 backspace control characer (ASCII and ISO-10646 BS).
3465 escape control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 ESC).
3469 form feed control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 FF).
3471 line feed control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 LF).
3473 carriage return control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 CR).
3475 horizontal tabulator control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 HT).
3477 vertical tabulator control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 VT).
3479 emits a reverse solidus character.
3483 double quote (escaping is optional).
3485 eight-bit byte with the octal value
3487 (one to three octal digits), optionally prefixed by an additional
3489 A 0 byte will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
3491 eight-bit byte with the hexadecimal value
3493 (one or two hexadecimal characters).
3494 A 0 byte will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
3496 the Unicode / ISO-10646 character with the hexadecimal codepoint value
3498 (one to eight hexadecimal digits) \(em note that Unicode defines the
3499 maximum codepoint ever to be supported as
3504 This escape is only supported in locales that support Unicode (see
3505 .Sx "Character sets" ) ,
3506 in other cases the sequence will remain unexpanded unless the given code
3507 point is ASCII compatible or (if the \*(OPal character set conversion is
3508 available) can be represented in the current locale.
3509 The character NUL will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
3513 except it takes only one to four hexadecimal digits.
3515 Emits the non-printable (ASCII and compatible) C0 control codes
3516 0 (NUL) to 31 (US), and 127 (DEL).
3517 Printable representations of ASCII control codes can be created by
3518 mapping them to a different part of the ASCII character set, which is
3519 possible by adding the number 64 for the codes 0 to 31, e.g., 7 (BEL) is
3520 .Ql 7 + 64 = 71 = G .
3521 The real operation is a bitwise logical XOR with 64 (bit 7 set, see
3523 thus also covering code 127 (DEL), which is mapped to 63 (question mark):
3524 .Ql ? vexpr ^ 127 64 .
3526 Whereas historically circumflex notation has often been used for
3527 visualization purposes of control codes, e.g.,
3529 the reverse solidus notation has been standardized:
3531 Some control codes also have standardized (ISO-10646, ISO C) aliases,
3532 as shown above (e.g.,
3536 whenever such an alias exists it will be used for display purposes.
3537 The control code NUL
3539 a non-standard extension) will suppress further output for the remains
3540 of the token (which may extend beyond the current quote), or, depending
3541 on the context, the remains of all arguments for the current command.
3543 Non-standard extension: expand the given variable name, as above.
3544 Brace enclosing the name is supported.
3546 Not yet supported, just to raise awareness: Non-standard extension.
3553 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3554 ? echo 'Quotes '${HOME}' and 'tokens" differ!"# no comment
3555 ? echo Quotes ${HOME} and tokens differ! # comment
3556 ? echo Don"'"t you worry$'\ex21' The sun shines on us. $'\eu263A'
3560 .\" .Ss "Raw data arguments for codec commands" {{{
3561 .Ss "Raw data arguments for codec commands"
3563 A special set of commands, which all have the string
3565 in their name, e.g.,
3569 take raw string data as input, which means that the content of the
3570 command input line is passed completely unexpanded and otherwise
3571 unchanged: like this the effect of the actual codec is visible without
3572 any noise of possible shell quoting rules etc., i.e., the user can input
3573 one-to-one the desired or questionable data.
3574 To gain a level of expansion, the entire command line can be
3578 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3579 ? vput shcodec res encode /usr/Sch\[:o]nes Wetter/heute.txt
3581 $'/usr/Sch\eu00F6nes Wetter/heute.txt'
3583 $'/usr/Sch\eu00F6nes Wetter/heute.txt'
3584 ? eval shcodec d $res
3585 /usr/Sch\[:o]nes Wetter/heute.txt
3589 .\" .Ss "Filename transformations" {{{
3590 .Ss "Filename transformations"
3592 Filenames, where expected, and unless documented otherwise, are
3593 subsequently subject to the following filename transformations, in
3596 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
3598 If the given name is a registered
3600 it will be replaced with the expanded shortcut.
3603 The filename is matched against the following patterns or strings:
3605 .Bl -hang -compact -width ".Ar %user"
3607 (Number sign) is expanded to the previous file.
3609 (Percent sign) is replaced by the invoking
3610 .Mx -ix "primary system mailbox"
3611 user's primary system mailbox, which either is the (itself expandable)
3613 if that is set, the standardized absolute pathname indicated by
3615 if that is set, or a built-in compile-time default otherwise.
3617 Expands to the primary system mailbox of
3619 (and never the value of
3621 regardless of its actual setting).
3623 (Ampersand) is replaced with the invoking users
3624 .Mx -ix "secondary mailbox"
3625 secondary mailbox, the
3632 directory (if that variable is set).
3634 Expands to the same value as
3636 but has special meaning when used with, e.g., the command
3638 the file will be treated as a primary system mailbox by, e.g., the
3642 commands, meaning that messages that have been read in the current
3643 session will be moved to the
3645 mailbox instead of simply being flagged as read.
3649 Meta expansions may be applied to the resulting filename, as allowed by
3650 the operation and applicable to the resulting access protocol (also see
3651 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ) .
3652 For the file-protocol, a leading tilde
3654 character will be replaced by the expansion of
3656 except when followed by a valid user name, in which case the home
3657 directory of the given user is used instead.
3659 A shell expansion as if specified in double-quotes (see
3660 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" )
3661 may be applied, so that any occurrence of
3665 will be replaced by the expansion of the variable, if possible;
3666 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
3669 (shell) variables can be accessed through this mechanism.
3671 Shell pathname wildcard pattern expansions
3673 may be applied as documented.
3674 If the fully expanded filename results in multiple pathnames and the
3675 command is expecting only one file, an error results.
3677 In interactive context, in order to allow simple value acceptance (via
3679 arguments will usually be displayed in a properly quoted form, e.g., a file
3680 .Ql diet\e is \ecurd.txt
3682 .Ql 'diet\e is \ecurd.txt' .
3686 .\" .Ss "Commands" {{{
3689 The following commands are available:
3691 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ic BaNg"
3698 command which follows, replacing unescaped exclamation marks with the
3699 previously executed command if the internal variable
3702 This command supports
3705 .Sx "Command modifiers" ,
3706 and manages the error number
3708 A 0 or positive exit status
3710 reflects the exit status of the command, negative ones that
3711 an error happened before the command was executed, or that the program
3712 did not exit cleanly, but, e.g., due to a signal: the error number is
3713 .Va ^ERR Ns -CHILD ,
3717 In conjunction with the
3719 modifier the following special cases exist:
3720 a negative exit status occurs if the collected data could not be stored
3721 in the given variable, which is a
3723 error that should otherwise not occur.
3724 .Va ^ERR Ns -CANCELED
3725 indicates that no temporary file could be created to collect the command
3726 output at first glance.
3727 In case of catchable out-of-memory situations
3729 will occur and \*(UA will try to store the empty string, just like with
3730 all other detected error conditions.
3735 The comment-command causes the entire line to be ignored.
3737 this really is a normal command which' purpose is to discard its
3740 indicating special character, which means that, e.g., trailing comments
3741 on a line are not possible.
3745 Goes to the next message in sequence and types it
3751 Display the preceding message, or the n'th previous message if given
3752 a numeric argument n.
3756 Show the current message number (the
3761 Show a brief summary of commands.
3762 \*(OP Given an argument a synopsis for the command in question is
3763 shown instead; commands can be abbreviated in general and this command
3764 can be used to see the full expansion of an abbreviation including the
3765 synopsis, try, e.g.,
3770 and see how the output changes.
3771 This mode also supports a more
3773 output, which will provide the informations documented for
3784 .It Ic account , unaccount
3785 (ac, una) Creates, selects or lists (an) account(s).
3786 Accounts are special incarnations of
3788 macros and group commands and variable settings which together usually
3789 arrange the environment for the purpose of creating an email account.
3790 Different to normal macros settings which are covered by
3792 \(en here by default enabled! \(en will not be reverted before the
3797 (case-insensitive) always exists, and all but it can be deleted by the
3798 latter command, and in one operation with the special name
3800 Also for all but it a possibly set
3801 .Va on-account-cleanup
3802 hook is called once they are left.
3804 Without arguments a listing of all defined accounts is shown.
3805 With one argument the given account is activated: the system
3807 of that account will be activated (as via
3809 a possibly installed
3811 will be run, and the internal variable
3814 The two argument form is identical to defining a macro as via
3816 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3818 set folder=~/mail inbox=+syste.mbox record=+sent.mbox
3819 set from='(My Name) myname@myisp.example'
3820 set mta=smtp://mylogin@smtp.myisp.example
3827 Perform email address codec transformations on raw-data argument, rather
3828 according to email standards (RFC 5322; \*(ID will furtherly improve).
3832 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) ,
3833 and manages the error number
3835 The first argument must be either
3836 .Ar [+[+[+]]]e[ncode] ,
3840 and specifies the operation to perform on the rest of the line.
3843 Decoding will show how a standard-compliant MUA will display the given
3844 argument, which should be an email address.
3845 Please be aware that most MUAs have difficulties with the address
3846 standards, and vary wildly when (comments) in parenthesis,
3848 strings, or quoted-pairs, as below, become involved.
3849 \*(ID \*(UA currently does not perform decoding when displaying addresses.
3852 Skinning is identical to decoding but only outputs the plain address,
3853 without any string, comment etc. components.
3854 Another difference is that it may fail with the error number
3858 if decoding fails to find a(n) (valid) email address, in which case the
3859 unmodified input will be output again.
3862 Encoding supports four different modes, lesser automated versions can be
3863 chosen by prefixing one, two or three plus signs: the standard imposes
3864 a special meaning on some characters, which thus have to be transformed
3865 to so-called quoted-pairs by pairing them with a reverse solidus
3867 in order to remove the special meaning; this might change interpretation
3868 of the entire argument from what has been desired, however!
3869 Specify one plus sign to remark that parenthesis shall be left alone,
3870 two for not turning double quotation marks into quoted-pairs, and three
3871 for also leaving any user-specified reverse solidus alone.
3872 The result will always be valid, if a successful exit status is reported.
3873 \*(ID Addresses need to be specified in between angle brackets
3876 if the construct becomes more difficult, otherwise the current parser
3877 will fail; it is not smart enough to guess right.
3879 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3880 ? addrc enc "Hey, you",<diet@exam.ple>\e out\e there
3881 "\e"Hey, you\e", \e\e out\e\e there" <diet@exam.ple>
3882 ? addrc d "\e"Hey, you\e", \e\e out\e\e there" <diet@exam.ple>
3883 "Hey, you", \e out\e there <diet@exam.ple>
3884 ? addrc s "\e"Hey, you\e", \e\e out\e\e there" <diet@exam.ple>
3891 .It Ic alias , unalias
3892 (a, una) Aliases are a method of creating personal distribution lists
3893 that map a single alias name to none to multiple real receivers;
3894 these aliases become expanded after message composing is completed.
3895 The latter command removes the given list of aliases, the special name
3897 will discard all existing aliases.
3899 The former command shows all currently defined aliases when used without
3900 arguments, and with one argument the expansion of the given alias.
3901 With more than one argument, creates or appends to the alias name given
3902 as the first argument the remaining arguments.
3903 Alias names adhere to the Postfix MTA
3905 rules and are thus restricted to alphabetic characters, digits, the
3906 underscore, hyphen-minus, the number sign, colon and commercial at,
3907 the last character can also be the dollar sign; the regular expression:
3908 .Ql [[:alnum:]_#:@-]+$? .
3909 As extensions the exclamation mark
3914 .Dq any character that has the high bit set
3919 .It Ic alternates , unalternates
3920 \*(NQ (alt) Manage a list of alternate addresses or names of the active user,
3921 members of which will be removed from recipient lists.
3922 The latter command removes the given list of alternates, the special name
3924 will discard all existing aliases.
3925 The former command manages the error number
3927 and shows the current set of alternates when used without arguments; in
3928 this mode it supports
3931 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
3932 Otherwise the given arguments (after being checked for validity) are
3933 appended to the list of alternate names; in
3935 mode they replace that list instead.
3936 There is a set of implicit alternates which is formed of the values of
3945 .It Ic answered , unanswered
3946 Take a message lists and mark each message as having been answered,
3947 having not been answered, respectively.
3948 Messages will be marked answered when being
3950 to automatically if the
3954 .Sx "Message states" .
3959 .It Ic bind , unbind
3960 \*(OP\*(NQ The bind command extends the MLE (see
3961 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
3962 with freely configurable key bindings.
3963 The latter command removes from the given context the given key binding,
3964 both of which may be specified as a wildcard
3968 will remove all bindings of all contexts.
3969 Due to initialization order unbinding will not work for built-in key
3970 bindings upon program startup, however: please use
3971 .Va line-editor-no-defaults
3972 for this purpose instead.
3975 With one argument the former command shows all key bindings for the
3976 given context, specifying an asterisk
3978 will show the bindings of all contexts; a more verbose listing will be
3979 produced if either of
3984 With two or more arguments a binding is (re)established:
3985 the first argument is the context to which the binding shall apply,
3986 the second argument is a comma-separated list of the
3988 which form the binding, and any remaining arguments form the expansion.
3989 To indicate that a binding shall not be auto-committed, but that the
3990 expansion shall instead be furtherly editable by the user, a commercial at
3992 (that will be removed) can be placed last in the expansion, from which
3993 leading and trailing whitespace will finally be removed.
3994 Reverse solidus cannot be used as the last character of expansion.
3997 Contexts define when a binding applies, i.e., a binding will not be seen
3998 unless the context for which it is defined for is currently active.
3999 This is not true for the shared binding
4001 which is the foundation for all other bindings and as such always
4002 applies, its bindings, however, only apply secondarily.
4003 The available contexts are the shared
4007 context which is used in all not otherwise documented situations, and
4009 which applies to compose mode only.
4013 which form the binding are specified as a comma-separated list of
4014 byte-sequences, where each list entry corresponds to one key(press).
4015 A list entry may, indicated by a leading colon character
4017 also refer to the name of a terminal capability; several dozen names
4018 will be compiled in and may be specified either by their
4020 or, if existing, by their
4022 name, regardless of the actually used \*(OPal terminal control library.
4023 It is possible to use any capability, as long as the name is resolvable
4024 by the \*(OPal control library or was defined via the internal variable
4026 Input sequences are not case-normalized, so that an exact match is
4027 required to update or remove a binding.
4030 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4031 ? bind base $'\eE',d mle-snarf-word-fwd # Esc(ape)
4032 ? bind base $'\eE',$'\ec?' mle-snarf-word-bwd # Esc, Delete
4033 ? bind default $'\ecA',:khome,w 'echo An editable binding@'
4034 ? bind default a,b,c rm -irf / @ # Another editable binding
4035 ? bind default :kf1 File %
4036 ? bind compose :kf1 ~e
4040 Note that the entire comma-separated list is first parsed (over) as a
4041 shell-token with whitespace as the field separator, before being parsed
4042 and expanded for real with comma as the field separator, therefore
4043 whitespace needs to be properly quoted, see
4044 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" .
4045 Using Unicode reverse solidus escape sequences renders a binding
4046 defunctional if the locale does not support Unicode (see
4047 .Sx "Character sets" ) ,
4048 and using terminal capabilities does so if no (corresponding) terminal
4049 control support is (currently) available.
4052 The following terminal capability names are built-in and can be used in
4054 or (if available) the two-letter
4057 See the respective manual for a list of capabilities.
4060 can be used to show all the capabilities of
4062 or the given terminal type;
4065 flag will also show supported (non-standard) extensions.
4068 .Bl -tag -compact -width kcuuf_or_kcuuf
4069 .It Cd kbs Ns \0or Cd kb
4071 .It Cd kdch1 Ns \0or Cd kD
4073 .It Cd kDC Ns \0or Cd *4
4074 \(em shifted variant.
4075 .It Cd kel Ns \0or Cd kE
4076 Clear to end of line.
4077 .It Cd kext Ns \0or Cd @9
4079 .It Cd kich1 Ns \0or Cd kI
4081 .It Cd kIC Ns \0or Cd #3
4082 \(em shifted variant.
4083 .It Cd khome Ns \0or Cd kh
4085 .It Cd kHOM Ns \0or Cd #2
4086 \(em shifted variant.
4087 .It Cd kend Ns \0or Cd @7
4089 .It Cd knp Ns \0or Cd kN
4091 .It Cd kpp Ns \0or Cd kP
4093 .It Cd kcub1 Ns \0or Cd kl
4094 Left cursor (with more modifiers: see below).
4095 .It Cd kLFT Ns \0or Cd #4
4096 \(em shifted variant.
4097 .It Cd kcuf1 Ns \0or Cd kr
4098 Right cursor (ditto).
4099 .It Cd kRIT Ns \0or Cd %i
4100 \(em shifted variant.
4101 .It Cd kcud1 Ns \0or Cd kd
4102 Down cursor (ditto).
4104 \(em shifted variant (only terminfo).
4105 .It Cd kcuu1 Ns \0or Cd ku
4108 \(em shifted variant (only terminfo).
4109 .It Cd kf0 Ns \0or Cd k0
4111 Add one for each function key up to
4116 .It Cd kf10 Ns \0or Cd k;
4118 .It Cd kf11 Ns \0or Cd F1
4120 Add one for each function key up to
4128 Some terminals support key-modifier combination extensions, e.g.,
4130 For example, the delete key,
4132 in its shifted variant, the name is mutated to
4134 then a number is appended for the states
4146 .Ql Shift+Alt+Control
4148 The same for the left cursor key,
4150 .Cd KLFT , KLFT3 , KLFT4 , KLFT5 , KLFT6 , KLFT7 , KLFT8 .
4153 It is advisable to use an initial escape or other control character (e.g.,
4155 for bindings which describe user key combinations (as opposed to purely
4156 terminal capability based ones), in order to avoid ambiguities whether
4157 input belongs to key sequences or not; it also reduces search time.
4160 may help shall keys and sequences be falsely recognized.
4165 \*(NQ Calls the given macro, which must have been created via
4170 Parameters given to macros are implicitly local to the macro's scope, and
4171 may be accessed via special (positional) parameters, e.g.,
4176 The positional parameters may be removed by
4178 ing them off the stack (exceeding the supported number of arguments
4180 .Va ^ERR Ns -OVERFLOW ) ,
4181 and are otherwise controllable via
4186 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
4187 can be reverted before the current level regains control by setting
4189 for called macro(s) (or in them, of course).
4190 Macro execution can be terminated at any time by calling
4194 Calling macros recursively will at some time excess the stack size
4195 limit, causing a hard program abortion; if recursively calling a macro
4196 is the last command of the current macro, consider to use the command
4198 which will first release all resources of the current macro before
4199 replacing the current macro with the called one.
4200 Numeric and string operations can be performed via
4204 may be helpful to recreate argument lists.
4206 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4208 echo Parameter 1 of ${#} is ${1}, all: ${*} / ${@}
4211 call exmac Hello macro exmac!
4219 if the given macro has been created via
4221 but doesn't fail nor warn if the macro doesn't exist.
4225 (ch) Change the working directory to
4227 or the given argument.
4233 \*(OP Only applicable to S/MIME signed messages.
4234 Takes a message list and a filename and saves the certificates
4235 contained within the message signatures to the named file in both
4236 human-readable and PEM format.
4237 The certificates can later be used to send encrypted messages to the
4238 respective message senders by setting
4239 .Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST
4244 .It Ic charsetalias , uncharsetalias
4245 \*(NQ Manage (character set conversion) character set alias mappings,
4246 as documented in the section
4247 .Sx "Character sets" .
4248 Character set aliases are expanded recursively, but no expansion is
4249 performed on values of the user-settable variables, e.g.,
4251 These are effectively no-operations if character set conversion
4252 is not available (i.e., no
4256 Without arguments the list of all currently defined aliases is shown,
4257 with one argument the expansion of the given alias.
4258 Otherwise all given arguments are treated as pairs of character sets and
4259 their desired target alias name, creating new or changing already
4260 existing aliases, as necessary.
4262 The latter deletes all aliases given as arguments, the special argument
4264 will remove all aliases.
4268 (ch) Change the working directory to
4270 or the given argument.
4276 .It Ic collapse , uncollapse
4277 Only applicable to threaded mode.
4278 Takes a message list and makes all replies to these messages invisible
4279 in header summaries, except for
4283 Also when a message with collapsed replies is displayed,
4284 all of these are automatically uncollapsed.
4285 The latter command undoes collapsing.
4290 .It Ic colour , uncolour
4291 \*(OP\*(NQ Manage colour mappings of and for a
4292 .Sx "Coloured display" .
4293 The type of colour is given as the (case-insensitive) first argument,
4294 which must be one of
4296 for 256-colour terminals,
4301 for the standard 8-colour ANSI / ISO 6429 color palette and
4305 for monochrome terminals.
4306 Monochrome terminals cannot deal with colours, but only (some) font
4310 Without further arguments the list of all currently defined mappings
4311 for the given colour type is shown (as a special case giving
4315 will show the mappings of all types).
4316 Otherwise the second argument defines the mappable slot, and the third
4317 argument a (comma-separated list of) colour and font attribute
4318 specification(s), and the optional fourth argument can be used to
4319 specify a precondition: if conditioned mappings exist they are tested in
4320 (creation) order unless a (case-insensitive) match has been found, and
4321 the default mapping (if any has been established) will only be chosen as
4323 The types of precondition available depend on the mappable slot (see
4324 .Sx "Coloured display"
4325 for some examples), the following of which exist:
4328 Mappings prefixed with
4330 are used for the \*(OPal built-in Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE, see
4331 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
4332 and do not support preconditions.
4334 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
4336 This mapping is used for the position indicator that is visible when
4337 a line cannot be fully displayed on the screen.
4344 Mappings prefixed with
4346 are used in header summaries, and they all understand the preconditions
4348 (the current message) and
4350 for elder messages (only honoured in conjunction with
4351 .Va datefield-markout-older ) .
4353 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
4355 This mapping is used for the
4357 that can be created with the
4361 formats of the variable
4364 For the complete header summary line except the
4366 and the thread structure.
4368 For the thread structure which can be created with the
4370 format of the variable
4375 Mappings prefixed with
4377 are used when displaying messages.
4379 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
4381 This mapping is used for so-called
4383 lines, which are MBOX file format specific header lines.
4386 A comma-separated list of headers to which the mapping applies may be
4387 given as a precondition; if the \*(OPal regular expression support is
4388 available then if any of the
4390 (extended) regular expression characters is seen the precondition will
4391 be evaluated as (an extended) one.
4393 For the introductional message info line.
4394 .It Ar view-partinfo
4395 For MIME part info lines.
4399 The following (case-insensitive) colour definitions and font attributes
4400 are understood, multiple of which can be specified in a comma-separated
4410 It is possible (and often applicable) to specify multiple font
4411 attributes for a single mapping.
4414 foreground colour attribute:
4424 To specify a 256-color mode a decimal number colour specification in
4425 the range 0 to 255, inclusive, is supported, and interpreted as follows:
4427 .Bl -tag -compact -width "999 - 999"
4429 the standard ISO 6429 colors, as above.
4431 high intensity variants of the standard colors.
4433 216 colors in tuples of 6.
4435 grayscale from black to white in 24 steps.
4437 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4439 fg() { printf "\e033[38;5;${1}m($1)"; }
4440 bg() { printf "\e033[48;5;${1}m($1)"; }
4442 while [ $i -lt 256 ]; do fg $i; i=$(($i + 1)); done
4443 printf "\e033[0m\en"
4445 while [ $i -lt 256 ]; do bg $i; i=$(($i + 1)); done
4446 printf "\e033[0m\en"
4450 background colour attribute (see
4452 for possible values).
4458 will remove for the given colour type (the special type
4460 selects all) the given mapping; if the optional precondition argument is
4461 given only the exact tuple of mapping and precondition is removed.
4464 will remove all mappings (no precondition allowed), thus
4466 will remove all established mappings.
4471 .It Ic commandalias , uncommandalias
4472 \*(NQ Define or list, and remove, respectively, command aliases.
4473 An (command)alias can be used everywhere a normal command can be used,
4474 but always takes precedence: any arguments that are given to the command
4475 alias are joined onto the alias expansion, and the resulting string
4476 forms the command line that is, in effect, executed.
4477 The latter command removes all given aliases, the special name
4479 will remove all existing aliases.
4480 When used without arguments the former shows a list of all currently
4481 known aliases, with one argument only the expansion of the given one.
4483 With two or more arguments a command alias is defined or updated: the
4484 first argument is the name under which the remaining command line should
4485 be accessible, the content of which can be just about anything.
4486 An alias may itself expand to another alias, but to avoid expansion loops
4487 further expansion will be prevented if an alias refers to itself or if
4488 an expansion depth limit is reached.
4489 Explicit expansion prevention is available via reverse solidus
4492 .Sx "Command modifiers" .
4493 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4495 \*(uA: `commandalias': no such alias: xx
4496 ? commandalias xx echo hello,
4498 commandalias xx 'echo hello,'
4507 (C) Copy messages to files whose names are derived from the author of
4508 the respective message and do not mark them as being saved;
4509 otherwise identical to
4514 (c) Copy messages to the named file and do not mark them as being saved;
4515 otherwise identical to
4520 Show the name of the current working directory, as reported by
4525 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
4526 The return status is tracked via
4531 \*(OP For unencrypted messages this command is identical to
4533 Encrypted messages are first decrypted, if possible, and then copied.
4537 \*(OP For unencrypted messages this command is identical to
4539 Encrypted messages are first decrypted, if possible, and then copied.
4543 .It Ic define , undefine
4544 Without arguments the current list of macros, including their content,
4545 is shown, otherwise a macro is defined, replacing an existing macro of
4547 A macro definition is a sequence of commands in the following form:
4548 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4557 A defined macro can be invoked explicitly by using the
4562 commands, or implicitly if a macro hook is triggered, e.g., a
4564 It is possible to localize adjustments, like creation, deletion and
4566 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
4569 command; the scope which is localized depends on how (i.e.,
4571 normal macro, folder hook, hook,
4573 switch) the macro is invoked.
4574 Execution of a macro body can be stopped from within by calling
4578 ed macro, given positional parameters can be
4580 ed, or become completely replaced, removed etc. via
4583 The latter command deletes the given macro, the special name
4585 will discard all existing macros.
4586 Creation and deletion of (a) macro(s) can be performed from within
4591 .It Ic delete , undelete
4592 (d, u) Marks the given message list as being or not being
4594 respectively; if no argument has been specified then the usual search
4595 for a visible message is performed, as documented for
4596 .Sx "Message list arguments" ,
4597 showing only the next input prompt if the search fails.
4598 Deleted messages will neither be saved in the
4600 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
4602 nor will they be available for most other commands.
4605 variable is set, the new
4607 or the last message restored, respectively, is automatically
4617 Superseded by the multiplexer
4623 Delete the given messages and automatically
4627 if one exists, regardless of the setting of
4634 up or down by one message when given
4638 argument, respectively.
4642 .It Ic draft , undraft
4643 Take message lists and mark each given message as being draft, or not
4644 being draft, respectively, as documented in the section
4645 .Sx "Message states" .
4649 \*(NQ (ec) Echoes arguments to standard output and writes a trailing
4650 newline, whereas the otherwise identical
4653 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
4655 .Sx "Filename transformations"
4656 are applied to the expanded arguments.
4657 This command also supports
4660 .Sx "Command modifiers" ,
4661 and manages the error number
4663 if data is stored in a variable then the return value reflects the
4664 length of the result string in case of success and is
4672 except that is echoes to standard error.
4675 In interactive sessions the \*(OPal message ring queue for
4677 will be used instead, if available and
4685 but does not write or store a trailing newline.
4691 but does not write or store a trailing newline.
4695 (e) Point the text editor (as defined in
4697 at each message from the given list in turn.
4698 Modified contents are discarded unless the
4700 variable is set, and are not used unless the mailbox can be written to
4701 and the editor returns a successful exit status.
4706 .Ic if Ns \0/\: Ic elif Ns \0/\: Ic else Ns \0/\: Ic endif
4707 conditional \(em if the condition of a preceding
4709 was false, check the following condition and execute the following block
4710 if it evaluates true.
4715 .Ic if Ns \0/\: Ic elif Ns \0/\: Ic else Ns \0/\: Ic endif
4716 conditional \(em if none of the conditions of the preceding
4720 commands was true, the
4726 (en) Marks the end of an
4727 .Ic if Ns \0/\: Ic elif Ns \0/\: Ic else Ns \0/\: Ic endif
4728 conditional execution block.
4733 \*(NQ \*(UA has a strict notion about which variables are
4734 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
4735 and which are managed in the program
4737 Since some of the latter are a vivid part of \*(UAs functioning,
4738 however, they are transparently integrated into the normal handling of
4739 internal variables via
4743 To integrate other environment variables of choice into this
4744 transparent handling, and also to export internal variables into the
4745 process environment where they normally are not, a
4747 needs to become established with this command, as in, e.g.,
4750 .Dl environ link PERL5LIB TZ
4753 Afterwards changing such variables with
4755 will cause automatic updates of the program environment, and therefore
4756 be inherited by newly created child processes.
4757 Sufficient system support provided (it was in BSD as early as 1987, and
4758 is standardized since Y2K) removing such variables with
4760 will remove them also from the program environment, but in any way
4761 the knowledge they ever have been
4764 Note that this implies that
4766 may cause loss of such links.
4771 will remove an existing link, but leaves the variables as such intact.
4772 Additionally the subcommands
4776 are provided, which work exactly the same as the documented commands
4780 but (additionally un)link the variable(s) with the program environment
4781 and thus immediately export them to, or remove them from (if possible),
4782 respectively, the program environment.
4787 \*(OP Since \*(UA uses the console as a user interface it can happen
4788 that messages scroll by too fast to become recognized.
4789 An error message ring queue is available which stores duplicates of any
4790 error message and notifies the user in interactive sessions whenever
4791 a new error has occurred.
4792 The queue is finite: if its maximum size is reached any new message
4793 replaces the eldest.
4796 can be used to manage this message queue: if given
4798 or no argument the queue will be displayed and cleared,
4800 will only clear all messages from the queue.
4804 \*(NQ Construct a command by concatenating the arguments, separated with
4805 a single space character, and then evaluate the result.
4806 This command passes through the exit status
4810 of the evaluated command; also see
4812 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4823 call yyy '\ecall xxx' "b\e$'\et'u ' "
4831 (ex or x) Exit from \*(UA without changing the active mailbox and skip
4832 any saving of messages in the
4834 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
4836 as well as a possibly tracked line editor
4838 The optional status number argument will be passed through to
4840 \*(ID For now it can happen that the given status will be overwritten,
4841 later this will only occur if a later error needs to be reported onto an
4842 otherwise success indicating status.
4848 but open the mailbox read-only.
4853 (fi) The file command switches to a new mailbox.
4854 Without arguments it shows status information of the current mailbox.
4855 If an argument is given, it will write out changes (such as deletions)
4856 the user has made, open a new mailbox, update the internal variables
4857 .Va mailbox-resolved
4859 .Va mailbox-display ,
4860 and optionally display a summary of
4867 .Sx "Filename transformations"
4868 will be applied to the
4872 prefixes are, i.e., URL syntax is understood, e.g.,
4873 .Ql maildir:///tmp/mdirbox :
4874 if a protocol prefix is used the mailbox type is fixated and neither
4875 the auto-detection (read on) nor the
4878 \*(OPally URLs can also be used to access network resources, which may
4879 be accessed securely via
4880 .Sx "Encrypted network communication"
4881 if so supported, and it is possible to proxy all network traffic over
4882 a SOCKS5 server given via
4886 .Dl \*(IN protocol://[user[:password]@]host[:port][/path]
4887 .Dl \*(OU protocol://[user@]host[:port][/path]
4890 \*(OPally supported network protocols are
4894 (POP3 with SSL/TLS encrypted transport),
4900 part is valid only for IMAP; there it defaults to
4902 Network URLs require a special encoding as documented in the section
4903 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
4906 If the resulting file protocol (MBOX database)
4908 is located on a local filesystem then the list of all registered
4910 s is traversed in order to see whether a transparent intermediate
4911 conversion step is necessary to handle the given mailbox, in which case
4912 \*(UA will use the found hook to load and save data into and from
4913 a temporary file, respectively.
4914 Changing hooks will not affect already opened mailboxes.
4915 For example, the following creates hooks for the
4917 compression tool and a combined compressed and encrypted format:
4919 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4921 gzip 'gzip -dc' 'gzip -c' \e
4922 zst.pgp 'gpg -d | zstd -dc' 'zstd -19 -zc | gpg -e'
4926 MBOX database files are generally locked during file operations in order
4927 to avoid inconsistencies due to concurrent modifications.
4928 \*(OPal Mailbox files which \*(UA treats as the system
4933 .Sx "primary system mailbox" Ns
4934 es in general will also be protected by so-called dotlock files, the
4935 traditional way of mail spool file locking: for any file
4939 will be created for the duration of the synchronization \(em
4940 as necessary a privilege-separated dotlock child process will be used
4941 to accommodate for necessary privilege adjustments in order to create
4942 the dotlock file in the same directory
4943 and with the same user and group identities as the file of interest.
4946 \*(UA by default uses tolerant POSIX rules when reading MBOX database
4947 files, but it will detect invalid message boundaries in this mode and
4948 complain (even more with
4950 if any is seen: in this case
4952 can be used to create a valid MBOX database from the invalid input.
4955 If no protocol has been fixated, and
4957 refers to a directory with the subdirectories
4962 then it is treated as a folder in
4965 The maildir format stores each message in its own file, and has been
4966 designed so that file locking is not necessary when reading or writing
4970 \*(ID If no protocol has been fixated and no existing file has
4971 been found, the variable
4973 controls the format of mailboxes yet to be created.
4978 .It Ic filetype , unfiletype
4979 \*(NQ Define or list, and remove, respectively, file handler hooks,
4980 which provide (shell) commands that enable \*(UA to load and save MBOX
4981 files from and to files with the registered file extensions;
4982 it will use an intermediate temporary file to store the plain data.
4983 The latter command removes the hooks for all given extensions,
4985 will remove all existing handlers.
4987 When used without arguments the former shows a list of all currently
4988 defined file hooks, with one argument the expansion of the given alias.
4989 Otherwise three arguments are expected, the first specifying the file
4990 extension for which the hook is meant, and the second and third defining
4991 the load- and save commands, respectively, to deal with the file type,
4992 both of which must read from standard input and write to standard
4994 Changing hooks will not affect already opened mailboxes (\*(ID except below).
4995 \*(ID For now too much work is done, and files are oftened read in twice
4996 where once would be sufficient: this can cause problems if a filetype is
4997 changed while such a file is opened; this was already so with the
4998 built-in support of .gz etc. in Heirloom, and will vanish in v15.
4999 \*(ID For now all handler strings are passed to the
5000 .Ev SHELL for evaluation purposes; in the future a
5002 prefix to load and save commands may mean to bypass this shell instance:
5003 placing a leading space will avoid any possible misinterpretations.
5004 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5005 ? filetype bz2 'bzip2 -dc' 'bzip2 -zc' \e
5006 gz 'gzip -dc' 'gzip -c' xz 'xz -dc' 'xz -zc' \e
5007 zst 'zstd -dc' 'zstd -19 -zc' \e
5008 zst.pgp 'gpg -d | zstd -dc' 'zstd -19 -zc | gpg -e'
5009 ? set record=+sent.zst.pgp
5014 .It Ic flag , unflag
5015 Take message lists and mark the messages as being flagged, or not being
5016 flagged, respectively, for urgent/special attention.
5018 .Sx "Message states" .
5027 With no arguments, list the names of the folders in the folder directory.
5028 With an existing folder as an argument,
5029 lists the names of folders below the named folder.
5035 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
5036 recipient's address (instead of in
5043 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
5044 recipient's address (instead of in
5051 but responds to all recipients regardless of the
5056 .It Ic followupsender
5059 but responds to the sender only regardless of the
5067 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the
5068 recipient's address (instead of in
5073 Takes a message and the address of a recipient
5074 and forwards the message to him.
5075 The text of the original message is included in the new one,
5076 with the value of the
5077 .Va forward-inject-head
5078 variable preceding it.
5079 To filter the included header fields to the desired subset use the
5081 slot of the white- and blacklisting command
5083 Only the first part of a multipart message is included unless
5084 .Va forward-as-attachment ,
5085 and recipient addresses will be stripped from comments, names
5086 etc. unless the internal variable
5090 This may generate the errors
5091 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
5092 if no receiver has been specified,
5094 if some addressees where rejected by
5097 if no applicable messages have been given,
5099 if multiple messages have been specified,
5101 if an I/O error occurs,
5103 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
5109 (f) Takes a list of message specifications and displays a summary of
5110 their message headers, exactly as via
5112 An alias of this command is
5115 .Sx "Specifying messages" .
5126 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
5130 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
5133 .It Ic ghost , unghost
5136 .Ic uncommandalias .
5140 .It Ic headerpick , unheaderpick
5141 \*(NQ Multiplexer command to manage white- and blacklisting
5142 selections of header fields for a variety of applications.
5143 Without arguments the set of contexts that have settings is displayed.
5144 When given arguments, the first argument is the context to which the
5145 command applies, one of (case-insensitive)
5147 for display purposes (via, e.g.,
5150 for selecting which headers shall be stored persistently when
5156 ing messages (note that MIME related etc. header fields should not be
5157 ignored in order to not destroy usability of the message in this case),
5159 for stripping down messages when
5161 ing message (has no effect if
5162 .Va forward-as-attachment
5165 for defining user-defined set of fields for the command
5168 The current settings of the given context are displayed if it is the
5170 A second argument denotes the type of restriction that is to be chosen,
5171 it may be (a case-insensitive prefix of)
5175 for white- and blacklisting purposes, respectively.
5176 Establishing a whitelist suppresses inspection of the corresponding
5179 If no further argument is given the current settings of the given type
5180 will be displayed, otherwise the remaining arguments specify header
5181 fields, which \*(OPally may be given as regular expressions, to be added
5183 The special wildcard field (asterisk,
5185 will establish a (fast) shorthand setting which covers all fields.
5187 The latter command always takes three or more arguments and can be used
5188 to remove selections, i.e., from the given context, the given type of
5189 list, all the given headers will be removed, the special argument
5191 will remove all headers.
5195 (h) Show the current group of headers, the size of which depends on
5198 and the style of which can be adjusted with the variable
5200 If a message-specification is given the group of headers containing the
5201 first message therein is shown and the message at the top of the screen
5214 (this mode also supports a more
5218 the list of history entries;
5221 argument selects and evaluates the respective history entry,
5222 which will become the new history top; a negative number is used as an
5223 offset to the current command, e.g.,
5225 will select the last command, the history top.
5226 The default mode if no arguments are given is
5229 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor"
5230 for more on this topic.
5236 Takes a message list and marks each message therein to be saved in the
5241 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
5243 Does not override the
5246 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command, because a
5248 command issued after
5250 will display the following message, not the current one.
5255 (i) Part of the nestable
5256 .Ic if Ns \0/\: Ic elif Ns \0/\: Ic else Ns \0/\: Ic endif
5257 conditional execution construct \(em if the given condition is true then
5258 the encapsulated block is executed.
5259 The POSIX standards supports the (case-insensitive) conditions
5264 end, all remaining conditions are non-portable extensions.
5265 \*(ID These commands do not yet use
5266 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
5267 and therefore do not know about input tokens, so that syntax
5268 elements have to be surrounded by whitespace; in v15 \*(UA will inspect
5269 all conditions bracket group wise and consider the tokens, representing
5270 values and operators, therein, which also means that variables will
5271 already have been expanded at that time (just like in the shell).
5273 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5282 The (case-insensitive) condition
5284 erminal will evaluate to true if the standard input is a terminal, i.e.,
5285 in interactive sessions.
5286 Another condition can be any boolean value (see the section
5287 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
5288 for textual boolean representations) to mark an enwrapped block as
5291 .Dq always execute .
5292 (It shall be remarked that a faulty condition skips all branches until
5297 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
5298 will be used, and this command will simply interpret expanded tokens.)
5299 It is possible to check
5300 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
5303 variables for existence or compare their expansion against a user given
5304 value or another variable by using the
5306 .Pf ( Dq variable next )
5307 conditional trigger character;
5308 a variable on the right hand side may be signalled using the same
5310 Variable names may be enclosed in a pair of matching braces.
5311 When this mode has been triggered, several operators are available:
5314 Integer operators treat the arguments on the left and right hand side of
5315 the operator as integral numbers and compare them arithmetically.
5316 It is an error if any of the operands is not a valid integer, an empty
5317 argument (which implies it had been quoted) is treated as if it were 0.
5318 Available operators are
5322 (less than or equal to),
5328 (greater than or equal to), and
5333 String data operators compare the left and right hand side according to
5334 their textual content.
5335 Unset variables are treated as the empty string.
5336 The behaviour of string operators can be adjusted by prefixing the
5337 operator with the modifier trigger commercial at
5339 followed by none to multiple modifiers: for now supported is
5341 which turns the comparison into a case-insensitive one: this is
5342 implied if no modifier follows the trigger.
5345 Available string operators are
5349 (less than or equal to),
5355 (greater than or equal to),
5359 (is substring of) and
5361 (is not substring of).
5362 By default these operators work on bytes and (therefore) do not take
5363 into account character set specifics.
5364 If the case-insensitivity modifier has been used, case is ignored
5365 according to the rules of the US-ASCII encoding, i.e., bytes are
5369 When the \*(OPal regular expression support is available, the additional
5375 They treat the right hand side as an extended regular expression that is
5376 matched according to the active locale (see
5377 .Sx "Character sets" ) ,
5378 i.e., character sets should be honoured correctly.
5381 Conditions can be joined via AND-OR lists (where the AND operator is
5383 and the OR operator is
5385 which have equal precedence and will be evaluated with left
5386 associativity, thus using the same syntax that is known for the
5388 It is also possible to form groups of conditions and lists by enclosing
5389 them in pairs of brackets
5390 .Ql [\ \&.\&.\&.\ ] ,
5391 which may be interlocked within each other, and also be joined via
5395 The results of individual conditions and entire groups may be modified
5396 via unary operators: the unary operator
5398 will reverse the result.
5400 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5401 # (This not in v15, there [ -n "$debug"]!)
5405 if [ "$ttycharset" == UTF-8 ] || [ "$ttycharset" @i== UTF8 ]
5406 echo *ttycharset* is UTF-8, the former case-sensitive!
5409 if [ "${t1}" == "${t2}" ]
5410 echo These two variables are equal
5412 if [ "$features" =% +regex ] && [ "$TERM" @i=~ "^xterm\&.*" ]
5413 echo ..in an X terminal
5415 if [ [ true ] && [ [ "${debug}" != '' ] || \e
5416 [ "$verbose" != '' ] ] ]
5419 if true && [ "$debug" != '' ] || [ "${verbose}" != '' ]
5420 echo Left associativity, as is known from the shell
5429 Superseded by the multiplexer
5434 Shows the names of all available commands, alphabetically sorted.
5435 If given any non-whitespace argument the list will be shown in the order
5436 in which command prefixes are searched.
5437 \*(OP In conjunction with a set variable
5439 additional information will be provided for each command: the argument
5440 type will be indicated, the documentation string will be shown,
5441 and the set of command flags will show up:
5443 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql BaNg"
5444 .It Ql "vput modifier"
5445 command supports the command modifier
5447 .It Ql "errno in *!*"
5448 the error number is tracked in
5451 commands needs an active mailbox, a
5453 .It Ql "ok: batch or interactive"
5454 command may only be used in interactive or
5457 .It Ql "ok: send mode"
5458 command can be used in send mode.
5459 .It Ql "not ok: compose mode"
5460 command is not available when in compose mode.
5461 .It Ql "not ok: during startup"
5462 command cannot be used during program startup, e.g., while loading
5463 .Sx "Resource files" .
5464 .It Ql "ok: in subprocess"
5465 command is allowed to be used when running in a subprocess instance,
5466 e.g., from within a macro that is called via
5467 .Va on-compose-splice .
5473 This command can be used to localize changes to (linked)
5476 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
5477 meaning that their state will be reverted to the former one once the
5480 \*(ID Note in the future the coverage may be extended to none or any of
5490 It can only be used inside of macro definition blocks introduced by
5494 The covered scope of an
5496 is left once a different account is activated, and some macros, notably
5497 .Va folder-hook Ns s ,
5498 use their own specific notion of covered scope, here it will be extended
5499 until the folder is left again.
5502 This setting stacks up: i.e., if
5504 enables change localization and calls
5506 which explicitly resets localization, then any value changes within
5508 will still be reverted when the scope of
5511 (Caveats: if in this example
5513 changes to a different
5515 which sets some variables that are already covered by localizations,
5516 their scope will be extended, and in fact leaving the
5518 will (thus) restore settings in (likely) global scope which actually
5519 were defined in a local, macro private context!)
5522 This command takes one or two arguments, the optional first one
5523 specifies an attribute that may be one of
5525 which refers to the current scope and is thus the default,
5527 which causes any macro that is being
5529 ed to be started with localization enabled by default, as well as
5531 which (if enabled) disallows any called macro to turn off localization:
5532 like this it can be ensured that once the current scope regains control,
5533 any changes made in deeper levels have been reverted.
5534 The latter two are mutually exclusive.
5535 The (second) argument is interpreted as a boolean (string, see
5536 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" )
5537 and states whether the given attribute shall be turned on or off.
5539 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5540 define temporary_settings {
5541 set possibly_global_option1
5546 set possibly_global_option2
5553 Reply to messages that come in via known
5556 .Pf ( Ic mlsubscribe )
5557 mailing lists, or pretend to do so (see
5558 .Sx "Mailing lists" ) :
5561 functionality this will actively resort and even remove message
5562 recipients in order to generate a message that is supposed to be sent to
5564 For example it will also implicitly generate a
5565 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
5566 header if that seems useful, regardless of the setting of the variable
5568 For more documentation please refer to
5569 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
5571 This may generate the errors
5572 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
5573 if no receiver has been specified,
5575 if some addressees where rejected by
5578 if no applicable messages have been given,
5580 if an I/O error occurs,
5582 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
5585 Any error stops processing of further messages.
5591 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
5592 recipient's address (instead of in
5597 (m) Takes a (list of) recipient address(es) as (an) argument(s),
5598 or asks on standard input if none were given;
5599 then collects the remaining mail content and sends it out.
5600 Unless the internal variable
5602 is set recipient addresses will be stripped from comments, names etc.
5603 For more documentation please refer to
5604 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
5606 This may generate the errors
5607 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
5608 if no receiver has been specified,
5610 if some addressees where rejected by
5613 if no applicable messages have been given,
5615 if multiple messages have been specified,
5617 if an I/O error occurs,
5619 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
5625 (mb) The given message list is to be sent to the
5627 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
5629 when \*(UA is quit; this is the default action unless the variable
5632 \*(ID This command can only be used in a
5634 .Sx "primary system mailbox" .
5638 .It Ic mimetype , unmimetype
5639 Without arguments the content of the MIME type cache will displayed;
5640 a more verbose listing will be produced if either of
5645 When given arguments they will be joined, interpreted as shown in
5646 .Sx "The mime.types files"
5648 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ) ,
5649 and the resulting entry will be added (prepended) to the cache.
5650 In any event MIME type sources are loaded first as necessary \(en
5651 .Va mimetypes-load-control
5652 can be used to fine-tune which sources are actually loaded.
5654 The latter command deletes all specifications of the given MIME type, thus
5655 .Ql ? unmimetype text/plain
5656 will remove all registered specifications for the MIME type
5660 will discard all existing MIME types, just as will
5662 but which also reenables cache initialization via
5663 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
5667 .It Ic mlist , unmlist
5668 The latter command removes all given mailing-lists, the special name
5670 can be used to remove all registered lists.
5671 The former will list all currently defined mailing lists (and their
5672 attributes, if any) when used without arguments; a more verbose listing
5673 will be produced if either of
5678 Otherwise all given arguments will be added and henceforth be recognized
5680 If the \*(OPal regular expression support is available then mailing
5681 lists may also be specified as (extended) regular expressions (see
5686 pair of commands manages subscription attributes of mailing-lists.
5690 \*(ID Only available in interactive mode, this command allows to display
5691 MIME parts which require external MIME handler programs to run which do
5692 not integrate in \*(UAs normal
5695 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ) .
5696 (\*(ID No syntax to directly address parts, this restriction may vanish.)
5697 The user will be asked for each non-text part of the given message in
5698 turn whether the registered handler shall be used to display the part.
5702 .It Ic mlsubscribe , unmlsubscribe
5703 The latter command removes the subscription attribute from all given
5704 mailing-lists, the special name
5706 can be used to do so for any registered list.
5707 The former will list all currently defined mailing lists which have
5708 a subscription attribute when used without arguments; a more verbose
5709 listing will be produced if either of
5714 Otherwise this attribute will be set for all given mailing lists,
5715 newly creating them as necessary (as via
5724 but moves the messages to a file named after the local part of the
5725 sender address of the first message (instead of in
5732 but marks the messages for deletion if they were transferred
5739 but also displays header fields which would not pass the
5741 selection, and all MIME parts.
5749 on the given messages, even in non-interactive mode and as long as the
5750 standard output is a terminal.
5756 \*(OP When used without arguments or if
5758 has been given the content of the
5760 cache is shown, loading it first as necessary.
5763 then the cache will only be initialized and
5765 will remove its contents.
5766 Note that \*(UA will try to load the file only once, use
5767 .Ql Ic \&\&netrc Ns \:\0\:clear
5768 to unlock further attempts.
5773 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ;
5775 .Sx "The .netrc file"
5776 documents the file format in detail.
5780 Checks for new mail in the current folder without committing any changes
5782 If new mail is present, a message is shown.
5786 the headers of each new message are also shown.
5787 This command is not available for all mailbox types.
5795 Goes to the next message in sequence and types it.
5796 With an argument list, types the next matching message.
5810 If the current folder is accessed via a network connection, a
5812 command is sent, otherwise no operation is performed.
5818 but also displays header fields which would not pass the
5820 selection, and all MIME parts.
5828 on the given messages, even in non-interactive mode and as long as the
5829 standard output is a terminal.
5837 but also pipes header fields which would not pass the
5839 selection, and all parts of MIME
5840 .Ql multipart/alternative
5845 (pi) Takes a message list and a shell command
5846 and pipes the messages through the command.
5847 Without an argument the current message is piped through the command
5854 every message is followed by a formfeed character.
5875 (q) Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in
5878 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
5880 preserving all messages marked with
5884 or never referenced in the system
5886 and removing all other messages from the
5888 .Sx "primary system mailbox" .
5889 If new mail has arrived during the session,
5891 .Dq You have new mail
5893 If given while editing a mailbox file with the command line option
5895 then the edit file is rewritten.
5896 A return to the shell is effected,
5897 unless the rewrite of edit file fails,
5898 in which case the user can escape with the exit command.
5899 The optional status number argument will be passed through to
5901 \*(ID For now it can happen that the given status will be overwritten,
5902 later this will only occur if a later error needs to be reported onto an
5903 otherwise success indicating status.
5907 \*(NQ Read a line from standard input, or the channel set active via
5909 and assign the data, which will be splitted as indicated by
5911 to the given variables.
5912 The variable names are checked by the same rules as documented for
5914 and the same error codes will be seen in
5918 indicates the number of bytes read, it will be
5920 with the error number
5924 in case of I/O errors, or
5927 If there are more fields than variables, assigns successive fields to the
5928 last given variable.
5929 If there are less fields than variables, assigns the empty string to the
5931 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5934 ? echo "<$a> <$b> <$c>"
5936 ? wysh set ifs=:; read a b c;unset ifs
5937 hey2.0,:"'you ",:world!:mars.:
5938 ? echo $?/$^ERRNAME / <$a><$b><$c>
5939 0/NONE / <hey2.0,><"'you ",><world!:mars.:><><>
5944 \*(NQ Read anything from standard input, or the channel set active via
5946 and assign the data to the given variable.
5947 The variable name is checked by the same rules as documented for
5949 and the same error codes will be seen in
5953 indicates the number of bytes read, it will be
5955 with the error number
5959 in case of I/O errors, or
5962 \*(ID The input data length is restricted to 31-bits.
5966 \*(NQ Manages input channels for
5970 to be used to avoid complicated or impracticable code, like calling
5972 from within a macro in non-interactive mode.
5973 Without arguments, or when the first argument is
5975 a listing of all known channels is printed.
5976 Channels can otherwise be
5978 d, and existing channels can be
5982 d by giving the string used for creation.
5984 The channel name is expected to be a file descriptor number, or,
5985 if parsing the numeric fails, an input file name that undergoes
5986 .Sx "Filename transformations" .
5987 E.g. (this example requires a modern shell):
5988 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5989 $ LC_ALL=C printf 'echon "hey, "\enread a\enyou\enecho $a' |\e
5992 $ LC_ALL=C printf 'echon "hey, "\enread a\enecho $a' |\e
5993 LC_ALL=C 6<<< 'you' \*(uA -R#X'readctl create 6'
6007 Removes the named files or directories.
6008 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6009 including shell pathname wildcard pattern expansions
6011 are performed on the arguments.
6012 If a name refer to a mailbox, e.g., a Maildir mailbox, then a mailbox
6013 type specific removal will be performed, deleting the complete mailbox.
6014 The user is asked for confirmation in interactive mode.
6018 Takes the name of an existing folder
6019 and the name for the new folder
6020 and renames the first to the second one.
6021 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6022 including shell pathname wildcard pattern expansions
6024 are performed on both arguments.
6025 Both folders must be of the same type.
6029 (R) Replies to only the sender of each message of the given message
6030 list, by using the first message as the template to quote, for the
6034 will exchange this command with
6036 Unless the internal variable
6038 is set the recipient address will be stripped from comments, names etc.
6040 headers will be inspected if
6044 This may generate the errors
6045 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
6046 if no receiver has been specified,
6048 if some addressees where rejected by
6051 if no applicable messages have been given,
6053 if an I/O error occurs,
6055 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
6061 (r) Take a message and group-responds to it by addressing the sender
6062 and all recipients, subject to
6066 .Va followup-to-honour ,
6069 .Va recipients-in-cc
6070 influence response behaviour.
6071 Unless the internal variable
6073 is set recipient addresses will be stripped from comments, names etc.
6083 offers special support for replying to mailing lists.
6084 For more documentation please refer to
6085 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
6087 This may generate the errors
6088 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
6089 if no receiver has been specified,
6091 if some addressees where rejected by
6094 if no applicable messages have been given,
6096 if an I/O error occurs,
6098 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
6101 Any error stops processing of further messages.
6107 but initiates a group-reply regardless of the value of
6114 but responds to the sender only regardless of the value of
6121 but does not add any header lines.
6122 This is not a way to hide the sender's identity,
6123 but useful for sending a message again to the same recipients.
6127 Takes a list of messages and a user name
6128 and sends each message to the named user.
6130 and related header fields are prepended to the new copy of the message.
6133 is only performed if
6137 This may generate the errors
6138 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
6139 if no receiver has been specified,
6141 if some addressees where rejected by
6144 if no applicable messages have been given,
6146 if an I/O error occurs,
6148 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
6151 Any error stops processing of further messages.
6169 .It Ic respondsender
6175 (ret) Superseded by the multiplexer
6180 Only available inside the scope of a
6184 this will stop evaluation of any further macro content, and return
6185 execution control to the caller.
6186 The two optional parameters must be specified as positive decimal
6187 numbers and default to the value 0:
6188 the first argument specifies the signed 32-bit return value (stored in
6190 \*(ID and later extended to signed 64-bit),
6191 the second the signed 32-bit error number (stored in
6195 a non-0 exit status may cause the program to exit.
6201 but saves the messages in a file named after the local part of the
6202 sender of the first message instead of (in
6204 and) taking a filename argument; the variable
6206 is inspected to decide on the actual storage location.
6210 (s) Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in turn
6211 to the end of the file.
6212 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6213 including shell pathname wildcard pattern expansions
6215 is performed on the filename.
6216 If no filename is given, the
6218 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
6221 The filename in quotes, followed by the generated character count
6222 is echoed on the user's terminal.
6225 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
6226 the messages are marked for deletion.
6227 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6229 To filter the saved header fields to the desired subset use the
6231 slot of the white- and blacklisting command
6235 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6239 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6243 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6248 Takes a message specification (list) and displays a header summary of
6249 all matching messages, as via
6251 This command is an alias of
6254 .Sx "Specifying messages" .
6258 Takes a message list and marks all messages as having been read.
6264 (se, \*(NQ uns) The latter command will delete all given variables,
6265 the former, when used without arguments, will show all variables which
6266 are currently known to \*(UA.
6267 A more verbose listing will be produced if
6273 Remarks: the list mode will not automatically link-in known
6275 variables, but only explicit addressing will, e.g., via
6277 using a variable in an
6279 condition or a string passed to
6283 ting, as well as some program-internal use cases.
6286 Otherwise the given variables (and arguments) are set or adjusted.
6287 Arguments are of the form
6289 (no space before or after
6293 if there is no value, i.e., a boolean variable.
6294 \*(ID In conjunction with the
6297 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
6298 can be used to quote arguments as necessary.
6299 \*(ID Otherwise quotation marks may be placed around any part of the
6300 assignment statement to quote blanks or tabs.
6303 .Dl ? wysh set indentprefix=' -> '
6306 If an argument begins with
6310 the effect is the same as invoking the
6312 command with the remaining part of the variable
6313 .Pf ( Ql unset save ) .
6318 that is known to map to an environment variable will automatically cause
6319 updates in the program environment (unsetting a variable in the
6320 environment requires corresponding system support) \(em use the command
6322 for further environmental control.
6327 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
6334 Apply shell quoting rules to the given raw-data arguments.
6338 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
6339 The first argument specifies the operation:
6343 cause shell quoting to be applied to the remains of the line, and
6344 expanded away thereof, respectively.
6345 If the former is prefixed with a plus-sign, the quoted result will not
6346 be roundtrip enabled, and thus can be decoded only in the very same
6347 environment that was used to perform the encode; also see
6348 .Cd mle-quote-rndtrip .
6349 If the coding operation fails the error number
6352 .Va ^ERR Ns -CANCELED ,
6353 and the unmodified input is used as the result; the error number may
6354 change again due to output or result storage errors.
6358 \*(NQ (sh) Invokes an interactive version of the shell,
6359 and returns its exit status.
6363 .It Ic shortcut , unshortcut
6364 Without arguments the list of all currently defined shortcuts is
6365 shown, with one argument the expansion of the given shortcut.
6366 Otherwise all given arguments are treated as pairs of shortcuts and
6367 their expansions, creating new or changing already existing shortcuts,
6369 The latter command will remove all given shortcuts, the special name
6371 will remove all registered shortcuts.
6375 \*(NQ Shift the positional parameter stack (starting at
6377 by the given number (which must be a positive decimal),
6378 or 1 if no argument has been given.
6379 It is an error if the value exceeds the number of positional parameters.
6380 If the given number is 0, no action is performed, successfully.
6381 The stack as such can be managed via
6383 Note this command will fail in
6385 and hook macros unless the positional parameter stack has been
6386 explicitly created in the current context via
6393 but performs neither MIME decoding nor decryption, so that the raw
6394 message text is shown.
6398 (si) Shows the size in characters of each message of the given
6403 \*(NQ Sleep for the specified number of seconds (and optionally
6404 milliseconds), by default interruptably.
6405 If a third argument is given the sleep will be uninterruptible,
6406 otherwise the error number
6410 if the sleep has been interrupted.
6411 The command will fail and the error number will be
6412 .Va ^ERR Ns -OVERFLOW
6413 if the given duration(s) overflow the time datatype, and
6415 if the given durations are no valid integers.
6420 .It Ic sort , unsort
6421 The latter command disables sorted or threaded mode, returns to normal
6422 message order and, if the
6425 displays a header summary.
6426 The former command shows the current sorting criterion when used without
6427 an argument, but creates a sorted representation of the current folder
6428 otherwise, and changes the
6430 command and the addressing modes such that they refer to messages in
6432 Message numbers are the same as in regular mode.
6436 a header summary in the new order is also displayed.
6437 Automatic folder sorting can be enabled by setting the
6439 variable, as in, e.g.,
6440 .Ql set autosort=thread .
6441 Possible sorting criterions are:
6444 .Bl -tag -compact -width "subject"
6446 Sort the messages by their
6448 field, that is by the time they were sent.
6450 Sort messages by the value of their
6452 field, that is by the address of the sender.
6455 variable is set, the sender's real name (if any) is used.
6457 Sort the messages by their size.
6459 \*(OP Sort the message by their spam score, as has been classified by
6462 Sort the messages by their message status.
6464 Sort the messages by their subject.
6466 Create a threaded display.
6468 Sort messages by the value of their
6470 field, that is by the address of the recipient.
6473 variable is set, the recipient's real name (if any) is used.
6479 \*(NQ (so) The source command reads commands from the given file.
6480 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6482 If the given expanded argument ends with a vertical bar
6484 then the argument will instead be interpreted as a shell command and
6485 \*(UA will read the output generated by it.
6486 Dependent on the settings of
6490 and also dependent on whether the command modifier
6492 had been used, encountering errors will stop sourcing of the given input.
6495 cannot be used from within macros that execute as
6496 .Va folder-hook Ns s
6499 i.e., it can only be called from macros that were
6504 \*(NQ The difference to
6506 (beside not supporting pipe syntax aka shell command input) is that
6507 this command will not generate an error nor warn if the given file
6508 argument cannot be opened successfully.
6512 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and clears their
6518 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and causes the
6520 to forget it has ever used them to train its Bayesian filter.
6521 Unless otherwise noted the
6523 flag of the message is inspected to chose whether a message shall be
6531 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and informs the Bayesian filter of the
6535 This also clears the
6537 flag of the messages in question.
6541 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and rates them using the configured
6542 .Va spam-interface ,
6543 without modifying the messages, but setting their
6545 flag as appropriate; because the spam rating headers are lost the rate
6546 will be forgotten once the mailbox is left.
6547 Refer to the manual section
6549 for the complete picture of spam handling in \*(UA.
6553 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and sets their
6559 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and informs the Bayesian filter of the
6565 flag of the messages in question.
6581 slot for white- and blacklisting header fields.
6585 (to) Takes a message list and types out the first
6587 lines of each message on the users' terminal.
6588 Unless a special selection has been established for the
6592 command, the only header fields that are displayed are
6603 It is possible to apply compression to what is displayed by setting
6605 Messages are decrypted and converted to the terminal character set
6610 (tou) Takes a message list and marks the messages for saving in the
6612 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
6614 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command,
6617 command will display the following message instead of the current one.
6623 but also displays header fields which would not pass the
6625 selection, and all visualizable parts of MIME
6626 .Ql multipart/alternative
6631 (t) Takes a message list and types out each message on the users terminal.
6632 The display of message headers is selectable via
6634 For MIME multipart messages, all parts with a content type of
6636 all parts which have a registered MIME type handler (see
6637 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" )
6638 which produces plain text output, and all
6640 parts are shown, others are hidden except for their headers.
6641 Messages are decrypted and converted to the terminal character set
6645 can be used to display parts which are not displayable as plain text.
6688 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6692 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6697 Superseded by the multiplexer
6708 .It Ic unmlsubscribe
6719 Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been read.
6723 Superseded by the multiplexer
6727 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6731 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6753 Perform URL percent codec operations on the raw-data argument, rather
6754 according to RFC 3986.
6758 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) ,
6759 and manages the error number
6761 This is a character set agnostic and thus locale dependent operation,
6762 and it may decode bytes which are invalid in the current
6764 \*(ID This command does not know about URLs beside that.
6766 The first argument specifies the operation:
6770 perform plain URL percent en- and decoding, respectively.
6774 perform a slightly modified operation which should be better for
6775 pathnames: it does not allow a tilde
6777 and will neither accept hyphen-minus
6781 as an initial character.
6782 The remains of the line form the URL data which is to be converted.
6783 If the coding operation fails the error number
6786 .Va ^ERR Ns -CANCELED ,
6787 and the unmodified input is used as the result; the error number may
6788 change again due to output or result storage errors.
6792 \*(NQ Edit the values of or create the given variable(s) in the
6794 Boolean variables cannot be edited, and variables can also not be
6800 \*(NQ This command produces the same output as the listing mode of
6804 ity adjustments, but only for the given variables.
6808 \*(OP Takes a message list and verifies each message.
6809 If a message is not a S/MIME signed message,
6810 verification will fail for it.
6811 The verification process checks if the message was signed using a valid
6813 if the message sender's email address matches one of those contained
6814 within the certificate,
6815 and if the message content has been altered.
6828 \*(NQ Evaluate arguments according to a given operator.
6829 This is a multiplexer command which can be used to perform signed 64-bit
6830 numeric calculations as well as byte string and string operations.
6831 It uses polish notation, i.e., the operator is the first argument and
6832 defines the number and type, and the meaning of the remaining arguments.
6833 An empty argument is replaced with a 0 if a number is expected.
6837 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
6840 The result that is shown in case of errors is always
6842 for usage errors and numeric operations, and the empty string for byte
6843 string and string operations;
6844 if the latter two fail to provide result data for
6846 errors, e.g., when a search operation failed, they also set the
6849 .Va ^ERR Ns -NODATA .
6850 Except when otherwise noted numeric arguments are parsed as signed 64-bit
6851 numbers, and errors will be reported in the error number
6853 as the numeric error
6854 .Va ^ERR Ns -RANGE .
6857 Numeric operations work on one or two signed 64-bit integers.
6858 One integer is expected by assignment (equals sign
6860 which does nothing but parsing the argument, thus detecting validity and
6861 possible overflow conditions, and unary not (tilde
6863 which creates the bitwise complement.
6864 Two integers are used by addition (plus sign
6866 subtraction (hyphen-minus
6868 multiplication (asterisk
6872 and modulo (percent sign
6874 as well as for the bitwise operators logical or (vertical bar
6877 bitwise and (ampersand
6880 bitwise xor (circumflex
6882 the bitwise signed left- and right shifts
6885 as well as for the unsigned right shift
6889 All numeric operators can be suffixed with a commercial at
6893 this will turn the operation into a saturated one, which means that
6894 overflow errors and division and modulo by zero are no longer reported
6895 via the exit status, but the result will linger at the minimum or
6896 maximum possible value, instead of overflowing (or trapping).
6897 This is true also for the argument parse step.
6898 For the bitwise shifts, the saturated maximum is 63.
6899 Any catched overflow will be reported via the error number
6902 .Va ^ERR Ns -OVERFLOW .
6905 Character set agnostic string functions have no notion of locale
6906 settings and character sets.
6908 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm random"
6911 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6914 Generates a random string of the given length, or of
6916 bytes (a constant from
6918 if the value 0 is given; the random string will be base64url encoded
6919 according to RFC 4648, and thus be usable as a (portable) filename.
6923 Byte string operations work on 8-bit bytes and have no notion of locale
6924 settings and character sets, effectively assuming ASCII data.
6927 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm length"
6929 Queries the length of the given argument.
6932 Calculates the Chris Torek hash of the given argument.
6935 Byte-searches in the first for the second argument.
6936 Shows the resulting 0-based offset shall it have been found.
6941 but works case-insensitively according to the rules of the ASCII
6945 Creates a substring of its first argument.
6946 The second argument is the 0-based starting offset, a negative one
6947 counts from the end;
6948 the optional third argument specifies the length of the desired result,
6949 a negative length leaves off the given number of bytes at the end of the
6950 original string, by default the entire string is used;
6951 this operation tries to work around faulty arguments (set
6953 for error logs), but reports them via the error number
6956 .Va ^ERR Ns -OVERFLOW .
6959 Trim away whitespace characters from both ends of the argument.
6962 Trim away whitespace characters from the begin of the argument.
6965 Trim away whitespace characters from the end of the argument.
6970 String operations work, sufficient support provided, according to the
6971 active user's locale encoding and character set (see
6972 .Sx "Character sets" ) .
6975 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm regex"
6977 (One-way) Converts the argument to something safely printable on the
6981 \*(OP A string operation that will try to match the first argument with
6982 the regular expression given as the second argument.
6983 If the optional third argument has been given then instead of showing
6984 the match offset a replacement operation is performed: the third
6985 argument is treated as if specified via dollar-single-quote (see
6986 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" ) ,
6987 and any occurrence of a positional parameter, e.g.,
6989 is replaced by the corresponding match group of the regular expression:
6990 .Bd -literal -offset indent
6991 ? vexpr -@ +1 -9223372036854775808
6992 ? vput vexpr res ir bananarama \e
6993 (.*)NanA(.*) '\e${1}au\e$2'
6998 On otherwise identical case-insensitive equivalent to
7005 \*(NQ Manage the positional parameter stack (see
7009 If the first argument is
7011 then the positional parameter stack of the current context, or the
7012 global one, if there is none, is cleared.
7015 then the remaining arguments will be used to (re)create the stack,
7016 if the parameter stack size limit is excessed an
7017 .Va ^ERR Ns -OVERFLOW
7021 If the first argument is
7023 a round-trip capable representation of the stack contents is created,
7024 with each quoted parameter separated from each other with the first
7027 and followed by the first character of
7029 if that is not empty and not identical to the first.
7030 If that results in no separation at all a
7036 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
7037 I.e., the subcommands
7041 can be used (in conjunction with
7043 to (re)create an argument stack from and to a single variable losslessly.
7045 .Bd -literal -offset indent
7046 ? vpospar set hey, "'you ", world!
7047 ? echo $#: <${1}><${2}><${3}>
7048 ? vput vpospar x quote
7050 ? echo $#: <${1}><${2}><${3}>
7051 ? eval vpospar set ${x}
7052 ? echo $#: <${1}><${2}><${3}>
7058 (v) Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message.
7059 Modified contents are discarded unless the
7061 variable is set, and are not used unless the mailbox can be written to
7062 and the editor returns a successful exit status.
7066 (w) For conventional messages the body without all headers is written.
7067 The original message is never marked for deletion in the originating
7069 The output is decrypted and converted to its native format as necessary.
7070 If the output file exists, the text is appended.
7071 If a message is in MIME multipart format its first part is written to
7072 the specified file as for conventional messages, handling of the remains
7073 depends on the execution mode.
7074 No special handling of compressed files is performed.
7076 In interactive mode the user is consecutively asked for the filenames of
7077 the processed parts.
7078 For convience saving of each part may be skipped by giving an empty
7079 value, the same result as writing it to
7081 Shell piping the part content by specifying a leading vertical bar
7083 character for the filename is supported.
7084 Other user input undergoes the usual
7085 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
7086 including shell pathname wildcard pattern expansions
7088 and shell variable expansion for the message as such, not the individual
7089 parts, and contents of the destination file are overwritten if the file
7092 \*(ID In non-interactive mode any part which does not specify a filename
7093 is ignored, and suspicious parts of filenames of the remaining parts are
7094 URL percent encoded (as via
7096 to prevent injection of malicious character sequences, resulting in
7097 a filename that will be written into the current directory.
7098 Existing files will not be overwritten, instead the part number or
7099 a dot are appended after a number sign
7101 to the name until file creation succeeds (or fails due to other
7106 \*(NQ The sole difference to
7108 is that the new macro is executed in place of the current one, which
7109 will not regain control: all resources of the current macro will be
7111 This implies that any setting covered by
7113 will be forgotten and covered variables will become cleaned up.
7114 If this command is not used from within a
7116 ed macro it will silently be (a more expensive variant of)
7126 \*(NQ \*(UA presents message headers in
7128 fuls as described under the
7131 Without arguments this command scrolls to the next window of messages,
7132 likewise if the argument is
7136 scrolls to the last,
7138 scrolls to the first, and
7143 A number argument prefixed by
7147 indicates that the window is calculated in relation to the current
7148 position, and a number without a prefix specifies an absolute position.
7154 but scrolls to the next or previous window that contains at least one
7165 .\" .Sh COMMAND ESCAPES {{{
7166 .Sh "COMMAND ESCAPES"
7168 Here is a summary of the command escapes available in compose mode,
7169 which are used to perform special functions when composing messages.
7170 Command escapes are only recognized at the beginning of lines, and
7171 consist of a trigger (escape) and a command character.
7172 The actual escape character can be set via the internal variable
7174 it defaults to the tilde
7176 Otherwise ignored whitespace characters following the escape character
7177 will prevent a possible addition of the command line to the \*(OPal
7181 Unless otherwise noted all compose mode command escapes ensure proper
7182 updates of the variables which represent the error number
7188 is set they will, unless stated otherwise, error out message compose
7189 mode and cause a progam exit if an operation fails.
7190 It is however possible to place the character hyphen-minus
7192 after (possible whitespace following) the escape character, which has an
7193 effect equivalent to the command modifier
7195 If the \*(OPal key bindings are available it is possible to create
7197 ings specifically for the compose mode.
7200 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ic BaNg"
7203 Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single
7205 (If the escape character has been changed,
7206 that character must be doubled instead.)
7209 .It Ic ~! Ar command
7210 Execute the indicated shell
7212 which follows, replacing unescaped exclamation marks with the previously
7213 executed command if the internal variable
7215 is set, then return to the message.
7219 Same effect as typing the end-of-file character.
7222 .It Ic ~: Ar \*(UA-command Ns \0or Ic ~_ Ar \*(UA-command
7223 Execute the given \*(UA command.
7224 Not all commands, however, are allowed.
7227 .It Ic ~< Ar filename
7232 .It Ic ~<! Ar command
7234 is executed using the shell.
7235 Its standard output is inserted into the message.
7239 Write a summary of command escapes.
7242 .It Ic ~@ Op Ar filename...
7243 Append or edit the list of attachments.
7244 Does not manage the error number
7250 instead if this is a concern).
7253 arguments is expected as shell tokens (see
7254 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" ;
7255 token-separating commas are ignored, too), to be
7256 interpreted as documented for the command line option
7258 with the message number exception as below.
7262 arguments the attachment list is edited, entry by entry;
7263 if a filename is left empty, that attachment is deleted from the list;
7264 once the end of the list is reached either new attachments may be
7265 entered or the session can be quit by committing an empty
7269 For all mode, if a given filename solely consists of the number sign
7271 followed by a valid message number of the currently active mailbox, then
7272 the given message is attached as a
7275 As the shell comment character the number sign must be quoted.
7278 .It Ic ~| Ar command
7279 Pipe the message through the specified filter command.
7280 If the command gives no output or terminates abnormally,
7281 retain the original text of the message.
7284 is often used as a rejustifying filter.
7288 .It Ic ~^ Ar cmd Op Ar subcmd Op Ar arg3 Op Ar arg4
7289 Low-level command meant for scripted message access, i.e., for
7290 .Va on-compose-splice
7292 .Va on-compose-splice-shell .
7293 The used protocol is likely subject to changes, and therefore the
7294 mentioned hooks receive the used protocol version as an initial line.
7295 In general the first field of a response line represents a status code
7296 which specifies whether a command was successful or not, whether result
7297 data is to be expected, and if, the format of the result data.
7298 Does not manage the error number
7302 because errors are reported via the protocol
7303 (hard errors like I/O failures cannot be handled).
7304 This command has read-only access to several virtual pseudo headers in
7305 the \*(UA private namespace, which may not exist (except for the first):
7309 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Va BaNg"
7310 .It Ql Mailx-Command:
7311 The name of the command that generates the message, one of
7319 .It Ql Mailx-Raw-To:
7320 .It Ql Mailx-Raw-Cc:
7321 .It Ql Mailx-Raw-Bcc:
7322 Represent the frozen initial state of these headers before any
7323 transformation (e.g.,
7326 .Va recipients-in-cc
7329 .It Ql Mailx-Orig-From:
7330 .It Ql Mailx-Orig-To:
7331 .It Ql Mailx-Orig-Cc:
7332 .It Ql Mailx-Orig-Bcc:
7333 The values of said headers of the original message which has been
7335 .Ic reply , forward , resend .
7339 The status codes are:
7343 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql 210"
7345 Status ok; the remains of the line are the result.
7348 Status ok; the rest of the line is optionally used for more status.
7349 What follows are lines of result addresses, terminated by an empty line.
7350 The address lines consist of two fields, the first of which is the
7351 plain address, e.g.,
7353 separated by a single ASCII SP space from the second which contains the
7354 unstripped address, even if that is identical to the first field, e.g.,
7355 .Ql (Lovely) Bob <bob@exam.ple> .
7356 All the input, including the empty line, must be consumed before further
7357 commands can be issued.
7360 Status ok; the rest of the line is optionally used for more status.
7361 What follows are lines of furtherly unspecified string content,
7362 terminated by an empty line.
7363 All the input, including the empty line, must be consumed before further
7364 commands can be issued.
7367 Syntax error; invalid command.
7370 Syntax error in parameters or arguments.
7373 Error: an argument fails verification.
7374 For example an invalid address has been specified, or an attempt was
7375 made to modify anything in \*(UA's own namespace.
7378 Error: an otherwise valid argument is rendered invalid due to context.
7379 For example, a second address is added to a header which may consist of
7380 a single address only.
7385 If a command indicates failure then the message will have remained
7387 Most commands can fail with
7389 if required arguments are missing (false command usage).
7390 The following (case-insensitive) commands are supported:
7393 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm header"
7395 This command allows listing, inspection, and editing of message headers.
7396 Header name case is not normalized, and case-insensitive comparison
7397 should be used when matching names.
7398 The second argument specifies the subcommand to apply, one of:
7400 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm remove"
7402 Without a third argument a list of all yet existing headers is given via
7404 this command is the default command of
7406 if no second argument has been given.
7407 A third argument restricts output to the given header only, which may
7410 if no such field is defined.
7413 Shows the content of the header given as the third argument.
7414 Dependent on the header type this may respond with
7418 any failure results in
7422 This will remove all instances of the header given as the third
7427 if no such header can be found, and
7429 on \*(UA namespace violations.
7432 This will remove from the header given as the third argument the
7433 instance at the list position (counting from one!) given with the fourth
7438 if the list position argument is not a number or on \*(UA namespace
7441 if no such header instance exists.
7444 Create a new or an additional instance of the header given in the third
7445 argument, with the header body content as given in the fourth argument
7446 (the remains of the line).
7449 if the third argument specifies a free-form header field name that is
7450 invalid, or if body content extraction fails to succeed,
7452 if any extracted address does not pass syntax and/or security checks or
7453 on \*(UA namespace violations, and
7455 to indicate prevention of excessing a single-instance header \(em note that
7457 can be appended to (a space separator will be added automatically first).
7460 is returned upon success, followed by the name of the header and the list
7461 position of the newly inserted instance.
7462 The list position is always 1 for single-instance header fields.
7463 All free-form header fields are managed in a single list.
7468 This command allows listing, removal and addition of message attachments.
7469 The second argument specifies the subcommand to apply, one of:
7471 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm remove"
7473 List all attachments via
7477 if no attachments exist.
7478 This command is the default command of
7480 if no second argument has been given.
7483 This will remove the attachment given as the third argument, and report
7487 if no such attachment can be found.
7488 If there exists any path component in the given argument, then an exact
7489 match of the path which has been used to create the attachment is used
7490 directly, but if only the basename of that path matches then all
7491 attachments are traversed to find an exact match first, and the removal
7492 occurs afterwards; if multiple basenames match, a
7495 Message attachments are treated as absolute pathnames.
7497 If no path component exists in the given argument, then all attachments
7498 will be searched for
7500 parameter matches as well as for matches of the basename of the path
7501 which has been used when the attachment has been created; multiple
7506 This will interpret the third argument as a number and remove the
7507 attachment at that list position (counting from one!), reporting
7511 if the argument is not a number or
7513 if no such attachment exists.
7516 Adds the attachment given as the third argument, specified exactly as
7517 documented for the command line option
7519 and supporting the message number extension as documented for
7523 upon success, with the index of the new attachment following,
7525 if the given file cannot be opened,
7527 if an on-the-fly performed character set conversion fails, otherwise
7529 is reported; this is also reported if character set conversion is
7530 requested but not available.
7533 This uses the same search mechanism as described for
7535 and prints any known attributes of the first found attachment via
7539 if no such attachment can be found.
7540 The attributes are written as lines of keyword and value tuples, the
7541 keyword being separated from the rest of the line with an ASCII SP space
7545 This uses the same search mechanism as described for
7547 and is otherwise identical to
7550 .It Cm attribute-set
7551 This uses the same search mechanism as described for
7553 and will assign the attribute given as the fourth argument, which is
7554 expected to be a value tuple of keyword and other data, separated by
7555 a ASCII SP space or TAB tabulator character.
7556 If the value part is empty, then the given attribute is removed, or
7557 reset to a default value if existence of the attribute is crucial.
7561 upon success, with the index of the found attachment following,
7563 for message attachments or if the given keyword is invalid, and
7565 if no such attachment can be found.
7566 The following keywords may be used (case-insensitively):
7568 .Bl -hang -compact -width ".It Ql filename"
7570 Sets the filename of the MIME part, i.e., the name that is used for
7571 display and when (suggesting a name for) saving (purposes).
7572 .It Ql content-description
7573 Associate some descriptive information to the attachment's content, used
7574 in favour of the plain filename by some MUAs.
7576 May be used for uniquely identifying MIME entities in several contexts;
7577 this expects a special reference address format as defined in RFC 2045
7580 upon address content verification failure.
7582 Defines the media type/subtype of the part, which is managed
7583 automatically, but can be overwritten.
7584 .It Ql content-disposition
7585 Automatically set to the string
7589 .It Cm attribute-set-at
7590 This uses the same search mechanism as described for
7592 and is otherwise identical to
7601 .Ql Ic ~i Ns \| Va Sign .
7606 .Ql Ic ~i Ns \| Va sign .
7609 .It Ic ~b Ar name ...
7610 Add the given names to the list of blind carbon copy recipients.
7613 .It Ic ~c Ar name ...
7614 Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients.
7618 Read the file specified by the
7620 variable into the message.
7624 Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far.
7625 After the editing session is finished,
7626 the user may continue appending text to the message.
7629 .It Ic ~F Ar messages
7630 Read the named messages into the message being sent, including all
7631 message headers and MIME parts.
7632 If no messages are specified, read in the current message, the
7636 .It Ic ~f Ar messages
7637 Read the named messages into the message being sent.
7638 If no messages are specified, read in the current message, the
7640 Strips down the list of header fields according to the
7642 white- and blacklist selection of
7644 For MIME multipart messages,
7645 only the first displayable part is included.
7649 Edit the message header fields
7654 by typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit the field.
7655 The default values for these fields originate from the
7663 Edit the message header fields
7669 by typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit the field.
7672 .It Ic ~I Ar variable
7673 Insert the value of the specified variable into the message.
7674 The message remains unaltered if the variable is unset or empty.
7675 Any embedded character sequences
7677 horizontal tabulator and
7679 line feed are expanded in
7681 mode; otherwise the expansion should occur at
7683 time by using the command modifier
7687 .It Ic ~i Ar variable
7688 Insert the value of the specified variable followed by a newline
7689 character into the message.
7690 The message remains unaltered if the variable is unset or empty.
7691 Any embedded character sequences
7693 horizontal tabulator and
7695 line feed are expanded in
7697 mode; otherwise the expansion should occur at
7699 time by using the command modifier
7703 .It Ic ~M Ar messages
7704 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
7707 If no messages are specified, read the current message, the
7711 .It Ic ~m Ar messages
7712 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
7715 If no messages are specified, read the current message, the
7717 Strips down the list of header fields according to the
7719 white- and blacklist selection of
7721 For MIME multipart messages,
7722 only the first displayable part is included.
7726 Display the message collected so far,
7727 prefaced by the message header fields
7728 and followed by the attachment list, if any.
7732 Abort the message being sent,
7733 copying it to the file specified by the
7740 .It Ic ~R Ar filename
7743 but indent each line that has been read by
7747 .It Ic ~r Ar filename Op Ar HERE-delimiter
7748 Read the named file, object to the usual
7749 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
7750 into the message; if (the expanded)
7754 then standard input is used, e.g., for pasting purposes.
7755 Only in this latter mode
7757 may be given: if it is data will be read in until the given
7759 is seen on a line by itself, and encountering EOF is an error; the
7761 is a required argument in non-interactive mode; if it is single-quote
7762 quoted then the pasted content will not be expanded, \*(ID otherwise
7763 a future version of \*(UA may perform shell-style expansion on the content.
7767 Cause the named string to become the current subject field.
7768 Newline (NL) and carriage-return (CR) bytes are invalid and will be
7769 normalized to space (SP) characters.
7772 .It Ic ~t Ar name ...
7773 Add the given name(s) to the direct recipient list.
7776 .It Ic ~U Ar messages
7777 Read in the given / current message(s) excluding all headers, indented by
7781 .It Ic ~u Ar messages
7782 Read in the given / current message(s), excluding all headers.
7786 Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the
7788 environment variable) on the message collected so far.
7789 Usually, the alternate editor will be a screen editor.
7790 After the editor is quit,
7791 the user may resume appending text to the end of the message.
7794 .It Ic ~w Ar filename
7795 Write the message onto the named file, which is object to the usual
7796 .Sx "Filename transformations" .
7798 the message is appended to it.
7804 except that the message is not saved at all.
7810 .\" .Sh INTERNAL VARIABLES {{{
7811 .Sh "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
7813 Internal \*(UA variables are controlled via the
7817 commands; prefixing a variable name with the string
7821 has the same effect as using
7827 Creation or editing of variables can be performed in the
7832 will give more insight on the given variable(s), and
7834 when called without arguments, will show a listing of all variables.
7835 Both commands support a more
7838 Some well-known variables will also become inherited from the
7841 implicitly, others can be imported explicitly with the command
7843 and henceforth share said properties.
7846 Two different kinds of internal variables exist, and both of which can
7848 There are boolean variables, which can only be in one of the two states
7852 and value variables with a(n optional) string value.
7853 For the latter proper quoting is necessary upon assignment time, the
7854 introduction of the section
7856 documents the supported quoting rules.
7858 .Bd -literal -offset indent
7859 ? wysh set one=val\e 1 two="val 2" \e
7860 three='val "3"' four=$'val \e'4\e''; \e
7861 varshow one two three four; \e
7862 unset one two three four
7866 Dependent upon the actual option the string values will be interpreted
7867 as numbers, colour names, normal text etc., but there also exists
7868 a special kind of string value, the
7869 .Dq boolean string ,
7870 which must either be a decimal integer (in which case
7874 and any other value is true) or any of the (case-insensitive) strings
7880 for a false boolean and
7886 for a true boolean; a special kind of boolean string is the
7888 which is a boolean string that can optionally be prefixed with the
7889 (case-insensitive) term
7893 which causes prompting of the user in interactive mode, with the given
7894 boolean as the default value.
7897 Variable chains extend a plain
7902 .Ql variable-USER@HOST
7910 had been specified in the contextual Uniform Resource Locator URL (see
7911 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ) .
7912 Even though this mechanism is based on URLs no URL percent encoding may
7913 be applied to neither of
7917 variable chains need to be specified using raw data.
7918 Variables which support chains are explicitly documented as such.
7920 .\" .Ss "Initial settings" {{{
7921 .\" (Keep in SYNC: ./nail.h:okeys, ./nail.rc, ./nail.1:"Initial settings")
7922 .Ss "Initial settings"
7924 The standard POSIX 2008/Cor 2-2016 mandates the following initial
7930 .Pf no Va autoprint ,
7944 .Pf no Va ignoreeof ,
7946 .Pf no Va keepsave ,
7948 .Pf no Va outfolder ,
7956 .Pf no Va sendwait ,
7965 Notes: \*(UA does not support the
7967 variable \(en use command line options or
7969 to pass options through to a
7971 And the default global
7973 file, which is loaded unless the
7975 (with according argument) or
7977 command line options have been used, or the
7978 .Ev MAILX_NO_SYSTEM_RC
7979 environment variable is set (see
7980 .Sx "Resource files" )
7981 bends those initial settings a bit, e.g., it sets the variables
7986 to name a few, establishes a default
7988 selection etc., and should thus be taken into account.
7991 .\" .Ss "Variables" {{{
7994 .Bl -tag -width ".It Va BaNg"
7998 \*(RO The exit status of the last command, or the
8003 This status has a meaning in the state machine: in conjunction with
8005 any non-0 exit status will cause a program exit, and in
8007 mode any error while loading (any of the) resource files will have the
8011 .Sx "Command modifiers" ,
8012 can be used to instruct the state machine to ignore errors.
8016 \*(RO The current error number
8017 .Pf ( Xr errno 3 ) ,
8018 which is set after an error occurred; it is also available via
8020 and the error name and documentation string can be queried via
8024 \*(ID This machinery is new and the error number is only really usable
8025 if a command explicitly states that it manages the variable
8027 for others errno will be used in case of errors, or
8029 if that is 0: it thus may or may not reflect the real error.
8030 The error number may be set with the command
8036 \*(RO This is a multiplexer variable which performs dynamic expansion of
8037 the requested state or condition, of which there are:
8040 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Va BaNg"
8044 .It Va ^ERR , ^ERRDOC , ^ERRNAME
8045 The number, documentation, and name of the current
8047 respectively, which is usually set after an error occurred.
8048 \*(ID This machinery is new and is usually reliable only if a command
8049 explicitly states that it manages the variable
8051 which is effectively identical to
8053 Each of those variables can be suffixed with a hyphen minus followed by
8054 a name or number, in which case the expansion refers to the given error.
8055 Note this is a direct mapping of (a subset of) the system error values:
8056 .Bd -literal -offset indent
8058 eval echo \e$1: \e$^ERR-$1: \e$^ERRNAME-$1: \e$^ERRDOC-$1
8059 vput vexpr i + "$1" 1
8071 \*(RO Expands all positional parameters (see
8073 separated by a space character.
8074 \*(ID The special semantics of the equally named special parameter of the
8076 are not yet supported.
8080 \*(RO Expands all positional parameters (see
8082 separated by a space character.
8083 If placed in double quotation marks, each positional parameter is
8084 properly quoted to expand to a single parameter again.
8088 \*(RO Expands to the number of positional parameters, i.e., the size of
8089 the positional parameter stack in decimal.
8093 \*(RO Inside the scope of a
8097 ed macro this expands to the name of the calling macro, or to the empty
8098 string if the macro is running from top-level.
8099 For the \*(OPal regular expression search and replace operator of
8101 this expands to the entire matching expression.
8102 It represents the program name in global context.
8106 \*(RO Access of the positional parameter stack.
8107 All further parameters can be accessed with this syntax, too, e.g.,
8110 etc.; positional parameters can be shifted off the stack by calling
8112 The parameter stack contains, e.g., the arguments of a
8116 d macro, the matching groups of the \*(OPal regular expression search
8117 and replace expression of
8119 and can be explicitly created or overwritten with the command
8124 \*(RO Is set to the active
8128 .It Va add-file-recipients
8129 \*(BO When file or pipe recipients have been specified,
8130 mention them in the corresponding address fields of the message instead
8131 of silently stripping them from their recipient list.
8132 By default such addressees are not mentioned.
8136 \*(BO Causes only the local part to be evaluated
8137 when comparing addresses.
8141 \*(BO Causes messages saved in the
8143 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
8145 to be appended to the end rather than prepended.
8146 This should always be set.
8150 \*(BO Causes the prompts for
8154 lists to appear after the message has been edited.
8158 \*(BO If set, \*(UA asks for files to attach at the end of each message.
8159 An empty line finalizes the list.
8163 \*(BO Causes the user to be prompted for carbon copy recipients
8164 (at the end of each message if
8172 \*(BO Causes the user to be prompted for blind carbon copy
8173 recipients (at the end of each message if
8181 \*(BO Causes the user to be prompted for confirmation to send the
8182 message or reenter compose mode after having been shown an envelope
8184 This is by default enabled.
8188 \*(BO\*(OP Causes the user to be prompted if the message is to be
8189 signed at the end of each message.
8192 variable is ignored when this variable is set.
8196 .\" The alternative *ask* is not documented on purpose
8197 \*(BO Causes \*(UA to prompt for the subject upon entering compose mode
8198 unless a subject already exists.
8202 A sequence of characters to display in the
8206 as shown in the display of
8208 each for one type of messages (see
8209 .Sx "Message states" ) ,
8210 with the default being
8213 .Ql NU\ \ *HMFAT+\-$~
8216 variable is set, in the following order:
8218 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql _"
8240 start of a collapsed thread.
8242 an uncollapsed thread (TODO ignored for now).
8246 classified as possible spam.
8252 Specifies a list of recipients to which a blind carbon copy of each
8253 outgoing message will be sent automatically.
8257 Specifies a list of recipients to which a carbon copy of each outgoing
8258 message will be sent automatically.
8262 \*(BO Causes threads to be collapsed automatically when threaded mode
8269 \*(BO Enable automatic
8271 ing of a(n existing)
8277 commands, e.g., the message that becomes the new
8279 is shown automatically, as via
8286 Causes sorted mode (see the
8288 command) to be entered automatically with the value of this variable as
8289 sorting method when a folder is opened, e.g.,
8290 .Ql set autosort=thread .
8294 \*(BO Enables the substitution of all not (reverse-solidus) escaped
8297 characters by the contents of the last executed command for the
8299 shell escape command and
8301 one of the compose mode
8302 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
8303 If this variable is not set no reverse solidus stripping is performed.
8307 \*(OP Terminals generate multi-byte sequences for certain forms of
8308 input, for example for function and other special keys.
8309 Some terminals however do not write these multi-byte sequences as
8310 a whole, but byte-by-byte, and the latter is what \*(UA actually reads.
8311 This variable specifies the timeout in milliseconds that the MLE (see
8312 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
8313 waits for more bytes to arrive unless it considers a sequence
8319 \*(BO Sets some cosmetical features to traditional BSD style;
8320 has the same affect as setting
8322 and all other variables prefixed with
8324 it also changes the behaviour of
8326 (which does not exist in BSD).
8330 \*(BO Changes the letters shown in the first column of a header
8331 summary to traditional BSD style.
8335 \*(BO Changes the display of columns in a header summary to traditional
8340 \*(BO Changes some informational messages to traditional BSD style.
8346 field to appear immediately after the
8348 field in message headers and with the
8350 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
8354 .It Va build-os , build-osenv
8355 \*(RO The operating system \*(UA has been build for, usually taken from
8361 respectively, the former being lowercased.
8365 The value that should appear in the
8369 MIME header fields when no character set conversion of the message data
8371 This defaults to US-ASCII, and the chosen character set should be
8372 US-ASCII compatible.
8376 \*(OP The default 8-bit character set that is used as an implicit last
8377 member of the variable
8379 This defaults to UTF-8 if character set conversion capabilities are
8380 available, and to ISO-8859-1 otherwise, in which case the only supported
8383 and this variable is effectively ignored.
8384 Refer to the section
8385 .Sx "Character sets"
8386 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
8389 .It Va charset-unknown-8bit
8390 \*(OP RFC 1428 specifies conditions when internet mail gateways shall
8392 the content of a mail message by using a character set with the name
8394 Because of the unclassified nature of this character set \*(UA will not
8395 be capable to convert this character set to any other character set.
8396 If this variable is set any message part which uses the character set
8398 is assumed to really be in the character set given in the value,
8399 otherwise the (final) value of
8401 is used for this purpose.
8403 This variable will also be taken into account if a MIME type (see
8404 .Sx "The mime.types files" )
8405 of a MIME message part that uses the
8407 character set is forcefully treated as text.
8411 The default value for the
8416 .It Va colour-disable
8417 \*(BO\*(OP Forcefully disable usage of colours.
8418 Also see the section
8419 .Sx "Coloured display" .
8423 \*(BO\*(OP Whether colour shall be used for output that is paged through
8425 Note that pagers may need special command line options, e.g.,
8433 in order to support colours.
8434 Often doing manual adjustments is unnecessary since \*(UA may perform
8435 adjustments dependent on the value of the environment variable
8437 (see there for more).
8441 .It Va contact-mail , contact-web
8442 \*(RO Addresses for contact per email and web, respectively, e.g., for
8443 bug reports, suggestions, or help regarding \*(UA.
8444 The former can be used directly:
8445 .Ql ? Ns \| Ic eval Ns \| Ic mail Ns \| $contact-mail .
8449 In a(n interactive) terminal session, then if this valued variable is
8450 set it will be used as a threshold to determine how many lines the given
8451 output has to span before it will be displayed via the configured
8455 can be forced by setting this to the value
8457 setting it without a value will deduce the current height of the
8458 terminal screen to compute the treshold (see
8463 \*(ID At the moment this uses the count of lines of the message in wire
8464 format, which, dependent on the
8466 of the message, is unrelated to the number of display lines.
8467 (The software is old and historically the relation was a given thing.)
8471 Define a set of custom headers to be injected into newly composed or
8472 forwarded messages; it is also possible to create custom headers in
8475 which can be automated by setting one of the hooks
8476 .Va on-compose-splice
8478 .Va on-compose-splice-shell .
8479 The value is interpreted as a comma-separated list of custom headers to
8480 be injected, to include commas in the header bodies escape them with
8482 \*(ID Overwriting of automatically managed headers is neither supported
8485 .Dl ? set customhdr='Hdr1: Body1-1\e, Body1-2, Hdr2: Body2'
8489 Controls the appearance of the
8491 date and time format specification of the
8493 variable, that is used, for example, when viewing the summary of
8495 If unset, then the local receiving date is used and displayed
8496 unformatted, otherwise the message sending
8498 It is possible to assign a
8500 format string and control formatting, but embedding newlines via the
8502 format is not supported, and will result in display errors.
8504 .Ql %Y-%m-%d %H:%M ,
8506 .Va datefield-markout-older .
8509 .It Va datefield-markout-older
8510 Only used in conjunction with
8512 Can be used to create a visible distinction of messages dated more than
8513 a day in the future, or older than six months, a concept comparable to the
8515 option of the POSIX utility
8517 If set to the empty string, then the plain month, day and year of the
8519 will be displayed, but a
8521 format string to control formatting can be assigned.
8527 \*(BO Enables debug messages and obsoletion warnings, disables the
8528 actual delivery of messages and also implies
8534 .It Va disposition-notification-send
8536 .Ql Disposition-Notification-To:
8537 header (RFC 3798) with the message.
8541 .\" TODO .It Va disposition-notification-send-HOST
8543 .\".Va disposition-notification-send
8544 .\" for SMTP accounts on a specific host.
8545 .\" TODO .It Va disposition-notification-send-USER@HOST
8547 .\".Va disposition-notification-send
8548 .\"for a specific account.
8552 \*(BO When dot is set, a period
8554 on a line by itself during message input in (interactive or batch
8556 compose mode will be treated as end-of-message (in addition to the
8557 normal end-of-file condition).
8558 This behaviour is implied in
8564 .It Va dotlock-ignore-error
8565 \*(BO\*(OP Synchronization of mailboxes which \*(UA treats as
8567 .Sx "primary system mailbox" Ns
8568 es (see, e.g., the notes on
8569 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
8570 as well as the documentation of
8572 will be protected with so-called dotlock files\(emthe traditional mail
8573 spool file locking method\(emin addition to system file locking.
8574 Because \*(UA ships with a privilege-separated dotlock creation program
8575 that should always be able to create such a dotlock file there is no
8576 good reason to ignore dotlock file creation errors, and thus these are
8577 fatal unless this variable is set.
8581 \*(BO If this variable is set then the editor is started automatically
8582 when a message is composed in interactive mode, as if the
8584 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
8588 variable is implied for this automatically spawned editor session.
8592 \*(BO When a message is edited while being composed,
8593 its header is included in the editable text.
8597 \*(BO When entering interactive mode \*(UA normally writes
8598 .Dq \&No mail for user
8599 and exits immediately if a mailbox is empty or does not exist.
8600 If this variable is set \*(UA starts even with an empty or non-existent
8601 mailbox (the latter behaviour furtherly depends upon
8607 \*(BO Let each command with a non-0 exit status, including every
8611 s a non-0 status, cause a program exit unless prefixed by
8614 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
8616 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ,
8617 but which use a different modifier for ignoring the error.
8618 Please refer to the variable
8620 for more on this topic.
8624 The first character of this value defines the escape character for
8625 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
8627 The default value is the character tilde
8629 If set to the empty string, command escapes are disabled.
8633 If not set then file and command pipeline targets are not allowed,
8634 and any such address will be filtered out, giving a warning message.
8635 If set without a value then all possible recipient address
8636 specifications will be accepted \(en see the section
8637 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode"
8639 To accept them, but only in interactive mode, or when tilde commands
8640 were enabled explicitly by using one of the command line options
8644 set this to the (case-insensitive) value
8646 (it actually acts like
8647 .Ql restrict,-all,+name,+addr ,
8648 so that care for ordering issues must be taken) .
8650 In fact the value is interpreted as a comma-separated list of values.
8653 then the existence of disallowed specifications is treated as a hard
8654 send error instead of only filtering them out.
8655 The remaining values specify whether a specific type of recipient
8656 address specification is allowed (optionally indicated by a plus sign
8658 prefix) or disallowed (prefixed with a hyphen-minus
8662 addresses all possible address specifications,
8666 command pipeline targets,
8668 plain user names and (MTA) aliases and
8671 These kind of values are interpreted in the given order, so that
8672 .Ql restrict,\:fail,\:+file,\:-all,\:+addr
8673 will cause hard errors for any non-network address recipient address
8674 unless \*(UA is in interactive mode or has been started with the
8678 command line option; in the latter case(s) any address may be used, then.
8680 Historically invalid network addressees are silently stripped off.
8681 To change this so that any encountered invalid email address causes
8682 a hard error it must be ensured that
8684 is an entry in the above list.
8685 Setting this automatically enables network addressees
8686 (it actually acts like
8687 .Ql failinvaddr,+addr ,
8688 so that care for ordering issues must be taken) .
8692 Unless this variable is set additional
8694 (Mail-Transfer-Agent)
8695 arguments from the command line, as can be given after a
8697 separator, are ignored due to safety reasons.
8698 However, if set to the special (case-insensitive) value
8700 then the presence of additional MTA arguments is treated as a hard
8701 error that causes \*(UA to exit with failure status.
8702 A lesser strict variant is the otherwise identical
8704 which does accept such arguments in interactive mode, or if tilde
8705 commands were enabled explicitly by using one of the command line options
8712 \*(RO String giving a list of optional features, preceded with a plus sign
8714 if it is available, and a hyphen-minus
8717 The output of the command
8719 will include this information in a more pleasant output.
8723 \*(BO This setting reverses the meanings of a set of reply commands,
8724 turning the lowercase variants, which by default address all recipients
8725 included in the header of a message
8726 .Pf ( Ic reply , respond , followup )
8727 into the uppercase variants, which by default address the sender only
8728 .Pf ( Ic Reply , Respond , Followup )
8731 .Ic replysender , respondsender , followupsender
8733 .Ic replyall , respondall , followupall
8734 are not affected by the current setting of
8739 The default path under which mailboxes are to be saved:
8740 filenames that begin with the plus sign
8742 will have the plus sign replaced with the value of this variable if set,
8743 otherwise the plus sign will remain unchanged when doing
8744 .Sx "Filename transformations" ;
8747 for more on this topic.
8748 The value supports a subset of transformations itself, and if the
8749 non-empty value does not start with a solidus
8753 will be prefixed automatically.
8754 Once the actual value is evaluated first, the internal variable
8756 will be updated for caching purposes.
8759 .It Va folder-hook-FOLDER , Va folder-hook
8762 macro which will be called whenever a
8765 The macro will also be invoked when new mail arrives,
8766 but message lists for commands executed from the macro
8767 only include newly arrived messages then.
8769 are activated by default in a folder hook, causing the covered settings
8770 to be reverted once the folder is left again.
8772 The specialized form will override the generic one if
8774 matches the file that is opened.
8775 Unlike other folder specifications, the fully expanded name of a folder,
8776 without metacharacters, is used to avoid ambiguities.
8777 However, if the mailbox resides under
8781 specification is tried in addition, e.g., if
8785 (and thus relative to the user's home directory) then
8786 .Pa /home/usr1/mail/sent
8788 .Ql folder-hook-/home/usr1/mail/sent
8789 first, but then followed by
8790 .Ql folder-hook-+sent .
8793 .It Va folder-resolved
8794 \*(RO Set to the fully resolved path of
8796 once that evaluation has occurred; rather internal.
8800 \*(BO Controls whether a
8801 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
8802 header is generated when sending messages to known mailing lists.
8804 .Va followup-to-honour
8806 .Ic mlist , mlsubscribe , reply
8811 .It Va followup-to-honour
8813 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
8814 header is honoured when group-replying to a message via
8818 This is a quadoption; if set without a value it defaults to
8828 .It Va forward-as-attachment
8829 \*(BO Original messages are normally sent as inline text with the
8832 and only the first part of a multipart message is included.
8833 With this setting enabled messages are sent as unmodified MIME
8835 attachments with all of their parts included.
8838 .It Va forward-inject-head
8839 The string to put before the text of a message with the
8841 command instead of the default
8842 .Dq -------- Original Message -------- .
8843 No heading is put if it is set to the empty string.
8844 This variable is ignored if the
8845 .Va forward-as-attachment
8851 The address (or a list of addresses) to put into the
8853 field of the message header, quoting RFC 5322:
8854 the author(s) of the message, that is, the mailbox(es) of the person(s)
8855 or system(s) responsible for the writing of the message.
8856 According to that RFC setting the
8858 variable is required if
8860 contains more than one address.
8863 ing to messages these addresses are handled as if they were in the
8868 If a file-based MTA is used, then
8870 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
8872 can nonetheless be enforced to appear as the envelope sender address at
8873 the MTA protocol level (the RFC 5321 reverse-path), either by using the
8875 command line option (with an empty argument; see there for the complete
8876 picture on this topic), or by setting the internal variable
8877 .Va r-option-implicit .
8880 If the machine's hostname is not valid at the Internet (for example at
8881 a dialup machine) then either this variable or
8885 adds even more fine-tuning capabilities with
8886 .Va smtp-hostname ) ,
8887 have to be set; if so the message and MIME part related unique ID fields
8891 will be created (except when disallowed by
8892 .Va message-id-disable
8899 \*(BO Due to historical reasons comments and name parts of email
8900 addresses are removed by default when sending mail, replying to or
8901 forwarding a message.
8902 If this variable is set such stripping is not performed.
8905 \*(OB Predecessor of
8906 .Va forward-inject-head .
8910 \*(BO Causes the header summary to be written at startup and after
8911 commands that affect the number of messages or the order of messages in
8916 mode a header summary will also be displayed on folder changes.
8917 The command line option
8925 A format string to use for the summary of
8927 similar to the ones used for
8930 Format specifiers in the given string start with a percent sign
8932 and may be followed by an optional decimal number indicating the field
8933 width \(em if that is negative, the field is to be left-aligned.
8934 Valid format specifiers are:
8937 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql _%%_"
8939 A plain percent sign.
8942 a space character but for the current message
8944 for which it expands to
8948 a space character but for the current message
8950 for which it expands to
8953 \*(OP The spam score of the message, as has been classified via the
8956 Shows only a replacement character if there is no spam support.
8958 Message attribute character (status flag); the actual content can be
8962 The date found in the
8964 header of the message when
8966 is set (the default), otherwise the date when the message was received.
8967 Formatting can be controlled by assigning a
8972 The indenting level in threaded mode.
8974 The address of the message sender.
8976 The message thread tree structure.
8977 (Note that this format does not support a field width.)
8979 The number of lines of the message, if available.
8983 The number of octets (bytes) in the message, if available.
8985 Message subject (if any).
8987 Message subject (if any) in double quotes.
8989 Message recipient flags: is the addressee of the message a known or
8990 subscribed mailing list \(en see
8995 The position in threaded/sorted order.
8999 .Ql %>\&%a\&%m\ %-18f\ %16d\ %4l/%\-5o\ %i%-s ,
9001 .Ql %>\&%a\&%m\ %20-f\ \ %16d\ %3l/%\-5o\ %i%-S
9012 .It Va headline-bidi
9013 Bidirectional text requires special treatment when displaying headers,
9014 because numbers (in dates or for file sizes etc.) will not affect the
9015 current text direction, in effect resulting in ugly line layouts when
9016 arabic or other right-to-left text is to be displayed.
9017 On the other hand only a minority of terminals is capable to correctly
9018 handle direction changes, so that user interaction is necessary for
9020 Note that extended host system support is required nonetheless, e.g.,
9021 detection of the terminal character set is one precondition;
9022 and this feature only works in an Unicode (i.e., UTF-8) locale.
9024 In general setting this variable will cause \*(UA to encapsulate text
9025 fields that may occur when displaying
9027 (and some other fields, like dynamic expansions in
9029 with special Unicode control sequences;
9030 it is possible to fine-tune the terminal support level by assigning
9032 no value (or any value other than
9037 will make \*(UA assume that the terminal is capable to properly deal
9038 with Unicode version 6.3, in which case text is embedded in a pair of
9039 U+2068 (FIRST STRONG ISOLATE) and U+2069 (POP DIRECTIONAL ISOLATE)
9041 In addition no space on the line is reserved for these characters.
9043 Weaker support is chosen by using the value
9045 (Unicode 6.3, but reserve the room of two spaces for writing the control
9046 sequences onto the line).
9051 select Unicode 1.1 support (U+200E, LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK); the latter
9052 again reserves room for two spaces in addition.
9056 \*(OP If a line editor is available then this can be set to
9057 name the (expandable) path of the location of a permanent history file.
9062 .It Va history-gabby
9063 \*(BO\*(OP Add more entries to the history as is normally done.
9066 .It Va history-gabby-persist
9067 \*(BO\*(OP \*(UA's own MLE will not save the additional
9069 entries in persistent storage unless this variable is set.
9070 On the other hand it will not loose the knowledge of whether
9071 a persistent entry was gabby or not.
9077 \*(OP Setting this variable imposes a limit on the number of concurrent
9079 If set to the value 0 then no further history entries will be added, and
9080 loading and incorporation of the
9082 upon program startup can also be suppressed by doing this.
9083 Runtime changes will not be reflected, but will affect the number of
9084 entries saved to permanent storage.
9088 \*(BO This setting controls whether messages are held in the system
9090 and it is set by default.
9094 Used instead of the value obtained from
9098 as the hostname when expanding local addresses, e.g., in
9102 or this variable Is set the message and MIME part related unique ID fields
9106 will be created (except when disallowed by
9107 .Va message-id-disable
9110 Setting it to the empty string will cause the normal hostname to be
9111 used, but nonetheless enables creation of said ID fields.
9112 \*(IN in conjunction with the built-in SMTP
9115 also influences the results:
9116 one should produce some test messages with the desired combination of
9125 \*(BO\*(OP Can be used to turn off the automatic conversion of domain
9126 names according to the rules of IDNA (internationalized domain names
9128 Since the IDNA code assumes that domain names are specified with the
9130 character set, an UTF-8 locale charset is required to represent all
9131 possible international domain names (before conversion, that is).
9135 The input field separator that is used (\*(ID by some functions) to
9136 determine where to split input data.
9138 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It MMM"
9140 Unsetting is treated as assigning the default value,
9143 If set to the empty value, no field splitting will be performed.
9145 If set to a non-empty value, all whitespace characters are extracted
9146 and assigned to the variable
9150 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It MMM"
9153 will be ignored at the beginning and end of input.
9154 Diverging from POSIX shells default whitespace is removed in addition,
9155 which is owed to the entirely different line content extraction rules.
9157 Each occurrence of a character of
9159 will cause field-splitting, any adjacent
9161 characters will be skipped.
9166 \*(RO Automatically deduced from the whitespace characters in
9171 \*(BO Ignore interrupt signals from the terminal while entering
9172 messages; instead echo them as
9174 characters and discard the current line.
9178 \*(BO Ignore end-of-file conditions
9179 .Pf ( Ql control-D )
9180 in compose mode on message input and in interactive command input.
9181 If set an interactive command input session can only be left by
9182 explicitly using one of the commands
9186 and message input in compose mode can only be terminated by entering
9189 on a line by itself or by using the
9191 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ;
9192 Setting this implies the behaviour that
9200 If this is set to a non-empty string it will specify the users
9202 .Sx "primary system mailbox" ,
9205 and the system-dependent default, and (thus) be used to replace
9208 .Sx "Filename transformations" ;
9211 for more on this topic.
9212 The value supports a subset of transformations itself.
9220 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
9223 option for indenting messages,
9224 in place of the normal tabulator character
9226 which is the default.
9227 Be sure to quote the value if it contains spaces or tabs.
9231 \*(BO If set, an empty
9233 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
9234 file is not removed.
9235 Note that, in conjunction with
9237 mode any empty file will be removed unless this variable is set.
9238 This may improve the interoperability with other mail user agents
9239 when using a common folder directory, and prevents malicious users
9240 from creating fake mailboxes in a world-writable spool directory.
9241 \*(ID Only local regular (MBOX) files are covered, Maildir or other
9242 mailbox types will never be removed, even if empty.
9245 .It Va keep-content-length
9246 \*(BO When (editing messages and) writing MBOX mailbox files \*(UA can
9251 header fields that some MUAs generate by setting this variable.
9252 Since \*(UA does neither use nor update these non-standardized header
9253 fields (which in itself shows one of their conceptual problems),
9254 stripping them should increase interoperability in between MUAs that
9255 work with with same mailbox files.
9256 Note that, if this is not set but
9257 .Va writebackedited ,
9258 as below, is, a possibly performed automatic stripping of these header
9259 fields already marks the message as being modified.
9260 \*(ID At some future time \*(UA will be capable to rewrite and apply an
9262 to modified messages, and then those fields will be stripped silently.
9266 \*(BO When a message is saved it is usually discarded from the
9267 originating folder when \*(UA is quit.
9268 This setting causes all saved message to be retained.
9271 .It Va line-editor-disable
9272 \*(BO Turn off any enhanced line editing capabilities (see
9273 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor"
9277 .It Va line-editor-no-defaults
9278 \*(BO\*(OP Do not establish any default key binding.
9282 Error log message prefix string
9283 .Pf ( Ql "\*(uA: " ) .
9286 .It Va mailbox-display
9287 \*(RO The name of the current mailbox
9289 possibly abbreviated for display purposes.
9292 .It Va mailbox-resolved
9293 \*(RO The fully resolved path of the current mailbox.
9296 .It Va mailx-extra-rc
9297 An additional startup file that is loaded as the last of the
9298 .Sx "Resource files" .
9299 Use this file for commands that are not understood by other POSIX
9301 implementations, i.e., mostly anything which is not covered by
9302 .Sx "Initial settings" .
9306 \*(BO When a message is replied to and this variable is set,
9307 it is marked as having been
9310 .Sx "Message states" .
9314 \*(BO When opening MBOX mailbox databases \*(UA by default uses tolerant
9315 POSIX rules for detecting message boundaries (so-called
9317 lines) due to compatibility reasons, instead of the stricter rules that
9318 have been standardized in RFC 4155.
9319 This behaviour can be switched to the stricter RFC 4155 rules by
9320 setting this variable.
9321 (This is never necessary for any message newly generated by \*(UA,
9322 it only applies to messages generated by buggy or malicious MUAs, or may
9323 occur in old MBOX databases: \*(UA itself will choose a proper
9325 to avoid false interpretation of
9327 content lines in the MBOX database.)
9329 This may temporarily be handy when \*(UA complains about invalid
9331 lines when opening a MBOX: in this case setting this variable and
9332 re-opening the mailbox in question may correct the result.
9333 If so, copying the entire mailbox to some other file, as in
9334 .Ql copy * SOME-FILE ,
9335 will perform proper, all-compatible
9337 quoting for all detected messages, resulting in a valid MBOX mailbox.
9338 Finally the variable can be unset again:
9339 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9341 localopts yes; wysh set mbox-rfc4155;\e
9342 wysh File "${1}"; eval copy * "${2}"
9344 call mboxfix /tmp/bad.mbox /tmp/good.mbox
9349 \*(BO Internal development variable.
9352 .It Va message-id-disable
9353 \*(BO By setting this variable the generation of
9357 message and MIME part headers can be completely suppressed, effectively
9358 leaving this task up to the
9360 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) or the SMTP server.
9361 Note that according to RFC 5321 a SMTP server is not required to add this
9362 field by itself, so it should be ensured that it accepts messages without
9366 .It Va message-inject-head
9367 A string to put at the beginning of each new message, followed by a newline.
9368 \*(OB The escape sequences tabulator
9372 are understood (use the
9376 ting the variable(s) instead).
9379 .It Va message-inject-tail
9380 A string to put at the end of each new message, followed by a newline.
9381 \*(OB The escape sequences tabulator
9385 are understood (use the
9389 ting the variable(s) instead).
9393 \*(BO Usually, when an
9395 expansion contains the sender, the sender is removed from the expansion.
9396 Setting this option suppresses these removals.
9401 option to be passed through to the
9403 (Mail-Transfer-Agent); though most of the modern MTAs no longer document
9404 this flag, no MTA is known which does not support it (for historical
9408 .It Va mime-allow-text-controls
9409 \*(BO When sending messages, each part of the message is MIME-inspected
9410 in order to classify the
9413 .Ql Content-Transfer-Encoding:
9416 that is required to send this part over mail transport, i.e.,
9417 a computation rather similar to what the
9419 command produces when used with the
9423 This classification however treats text files which are encoded in
9424 UTF-16 (seen for HTML files) and similar character sets as binary
9425 octet-streams, forcefully changing any
9430 .Ql application/octet-stream :
9431 If that actually happens a yet unset charset MIME parameter is set to
9433 effectively making it impossible for the receiving MUA to automatically
9434 interpret the contents of the part.
9436 If this variable is set, and the data was unambiguously identified as
9437 text data at first glance (by a
9441 file extension), then the original
9443 will not be overwritten.
9446 .It Va mime-alternative-favour-rich
9447 \*(BO If this variable is set then rich MIME alternative parts (e.g.,
9448 HTML) will be preferred in favour of included plain text versions when
9449 displaying messages, provided that a handler exists which produces
9450 output that can be (re)integrated into \*(UA's normal visual display.
9451 (E.g., at the time of this writing some newsletters ship their full
9452 content only in the rich HTML part, whereas the plain text part only
9453 contains topic subjects.)
9456 .It Va mime-counter-evidence
9459 field is used to decide how to handle MIME parts.
9460 Some MUAs, however, do not use
9461 .Sx "The mime.types files"
9463 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" )
9464 or a similar mechanism to correctly classify content, but specify an
9465 unspecific MIME type
9466 .Pf ( Ql application/octet-stream )
9467 even for plain text attachments.
9468 If this variable is set then \*(UA will try to re-classify such MIME
9469 message parts, if possible, for example via a possibly existing
9470 attachment filename.
9471 A non-empty value may also be given, in which case a number is expected,
9472 actually a carrier of bits.
9473 Creating the bit-carrying number is a simple addition:
9474 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9475 ? !echo Value should be set to $((2 + 4 + 8))
9476 Value should be set to 14
9479 .Bl -bullet -compact
9481 If bit two is set (2) then the detected
9483 will be carried along with the message and be used for deciding which
9484 MIME handler is to be used, for example;
9485 when displaying such a MIME part the part-info will indicate the
9486 overridden content-type by showing a plus sign
9489 If bit three is set (4) then the counter-evidence is always produced
9490 and a positive result will be used as the MIME type, even forcefully
9491 overriding the parts given MIME type.
9493 If bit four is set (8) then as a last resort the actual content of
9494 .Ql application/octet-stream
9495 parts will be inspected, so that data which looks like plain text can be
9500 .It Va mime-encoding
9502 .Ql Content-Transfer-Encoding
9503 to use in outgoing text messages and message parts, where applicable.
9504 (7-bit clean text messages are sent as-is, without a transfer encoding.)
9507 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql _%%_"
9510 8-bit transport effectively causes the raw data be passed through
9511 unchanged, but may cause problems when transferring mail messages over
9512 channels that are not ESMTP (RFC 1869) compliant.
9513 Also, several input data constructs are not allowed by the
9514 specifications and may cause a different transfer-encoding to be used.
9515 .It Ql quoted-printable
9517 Quoted-printable encoding is 7-bit clean and has the property that ASCII
9518 characters are passed through unchanged, so that an english message can
9519 be read as-is; it is also acceptible for other single-byte locales that
9520 share many characters with ASCII, like, e.g., ISO-8859-1.
9521 The encoding will cause a large overhead for messages in other character
9522 sets: e.g., it will require up to twelve (12) bytes to encode a single
9523 UTF-8 character of four (4) bytes.
9525 .Pf (Or\0 Ql b64 . )
9526 The default encoding, it is 7-bit clean and will always be used for
9528 This encoding has a constant input:output ratio of 3:4, regardless of
9529 the character set of the input data it will encode three bytes of input
9530 to four bytes of output.
9531 This transfer-encoding is not human readable without performing
9536 .It Va mimetypes-load-control
9537 Can be used to control which of
9538 .Sx "The mime.types files"
9539 are loaded: if the letter
9541 is part of the option value, then the user's personal
9543 file will be loaded (if it exists); likewise the letter
9545 controls loading of the system wide
9546 .Pa /etc/mime.types ;
9547 directives found in the user file take precedence, letter matching is
9549 If this variable is not set \*(UA will try to load both files.
9550 Incorporation of the \*(UA-built-in MIME types cannot be suppressed,
9551 but they will be matched last (the order can be listed via
9554 More sources can be specified by using a different syntax: if the
9555 value string contains an equals sign
9557 then it is instead parsed as a comma-separated list of the described
9560 pairs; the given filenames will be expanded and loaded, and their
9561 content may use the extended syntax that is described in the section
9562 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
9563 Directives found in such files always take precedence (are prepended to
9564 the MIME type cache).
9569 To choose an alternate Mail-Transfer-Agent, set this option to either
9570 the full pathname of an executable (optionally prefixed with a
9572 protocol indicator), or \*(OPally a SMTP protocol URL, e.g., \*(IN
9574 .Dl smtps?://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
9577 .Ql [smtp://]server[:port] . )
9578 The default has been chosen at compile time.
9579 All supported data transfers are executed in child processes, which
9580 run asynchronously and without supervision unless either the
9585 If such a child receives a TERM signal, it will abort and
9592 For a file-based MTA it may be necessary to set
9594 in in order to choose the right target of a modern
9597 It will be passed command line arguments from several possible sources:
9600 if set, from the command line if given and the variable
9603 Argument processing of the MTA will be terminated with a
9608 The otherwise occurring implicit usage of the following MTA command
9609 line arguments can be disabled by setting the boolean variable
9610 .Va mta-no-default-arguments
9611 (which will also disable passing
9615 (for not treating a line with only a dot
9617 character as the end of input),
9625 variable is set); in conjunction with the
9627 command line option \*(UA will also (not) pass
9633 \*(OPally \*(UA can send mail over SMTP network connections to a single
9634 defined SMTP smart host by specifying a SMTP URL as the value (see
9635 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ) .
9636 Encrypted network connections are \*(OPally available, the section
9637 .Sx "Encrypted network communication"
9638 should give an overview and provide links to more information on this.
9639 \*(UA also supports forwarding of all network traffic over a specified
9641 Note that with some mail providers it may be necessary to set the
9643 variable in order to use a specific combination of
9648 The following SMTP variants may be used:
9652 The plain SMTP protocol (RFC 5321) that normally lives on the
9653 server port 25 and requires setting the
9654 .Va smtp-use-starttls
9655 variable to enter a SSL/TLS encrypted session state.
9656 Assign a value like \*(IN
9657 .Ql smtp://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
9659 .Ql smtp://server[:port] )
9660 to choose this protocol.
9662 The so-called SMTPS which is supposed to live on server port 465
9663 and is automatically SSL/TLS secured.
9664 Unfortunately it never became a standardized protocol and may thus not
9665 be supported by your hosts network service database
9666 \(en in fact the port number has already been reassigned to other
9669 SMTPS is nonetheless a commonly offered protocol and thus can be
9670 chosen by assigning a value like \*(IN
9671 .Ql smtps://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
9673 .Ql smtps://server[:port] ) ;
9674 due to the mentioned problems it is usually necessary to explicitly
9679 Finally there is the SUBMISSION protocol (RFC 6409), which usually
9680 lives on server port 587 and is practically identically to the SMTP
9681 protocol from \*(UA's point of view beside that; it requires setting the
9682 .Va smtp-use-starttls
9683 variable to enter a SSL/TLS secured session state.
9684 Assign a value like \*(IN
9685 .Ql submission://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
9687 .Ql submission://server[:port] ) .
9692 .It Va mta-arguments
9693 Arguments to pass through to a file-based
9695 can be given via this variable, which is parsed according to
9696 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
9697 into an array of arguments, and which will be joined onto MTA options
9698 from other sources, and then passed individually to the MTA:
9699 .Ql ? wysh set mta-arguments='-t -X \&"/tmp/my log\&"' .
9702 .It Va mta-no-default-arguments
9703 \*(BO Unless this variable is set \*(UA will pass some well known
9704 standard command line options to a file-based
9706 (Mail-Transfer-Agent), see there for more.
9710 Many systems use a so-called
9712 environment to ensure compatibility with
9714 This works by inspecting the name that was used to invoke the mail
9716 If this variable is set then the mailwrapper (the program that is
9717 actually executed when calling the file-based
9719 will treat its contents as that name.
9722 .It Va netrc-lookup-USER@HOST , netrc-lookup-HOST , netrc-lookup
9723 \*(BO\*(IN\*(OP Used to control usage of the users
9725 file for lookup of account credentials, as documented in the section
9726 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
9730 .Sx "The .netrc file"
9731 documents the file format.
9743 then \*(UA will read the output of a shell pipe instead of the users
9745 file if this variable is set (to the desired shell command).
9746 This can be used to, e.g., store
9749 .Ql ? set netrc-pipe='gpg -qd ~/.netrc.pgp' .
9753 If this variable has the value
9755 newly created local folders will be in Maildir instead of MBOX format.
9759 Checks for new mail in the current folder each time the prompt is shown.
9760 A Maildir folder must be re-scanned to determine if new mail has arrived.
9761 If this variable is set to the special value
9763 then a Maildir folder will not be rescanned completely, but only
9764 timestamp changes are detected.
9768 \*(BO Causes the filename given in the
9771 and the sender-based filenames for the
9775 commands to be interpreted relative to the directory given in the
9777 variable rather than to the current directory,
9778 unless it is set to an absolute pathname.
9780 .Mx Va on-account-cleanup
9781 .It Va on-account-cleanup-ACCOUNT , Va on-account-cleanup
9782 Macro hook which will be called once an
9784 is left, as the very last step before unrolling per-account
9786 This hook is run even in case of fatal errors, and it is advisable to
9787 perform only absolutely necessary actions, like cleaning up
9790 The specialized form is used in favour of the generic one if found.
9793 .It Va on-compose-cleanup
9794 Macro hook which will be called after the message has been sent (or not,
9795 in case of failures), as the very last step before unrolling compose mode
9797 This hook is run even in case of fatal errors, and it is advisable to
9798 perform only absolutely necessary actions, like cleaning up
9802 For compose mode hooks that may affect the message content please see
9803 .Va on-compose-enter , on-compose-leave , on-compose-splice .
9804 \*(ID This hook exists because
9805 .Ic alias , alternates , commandalias , shortcut ,
9806 to name a few, are not covered by
9808 changes applied in compose mode will continue to be in effect thereafter.
9813 .It Va on-compose-enter , on-compose-leave
9814 Macro hooks which will be called once compose mode is entered,
9815 and after composing has been finished, but before a set
9816 .Va message-inject-tail
9817 has been injected etc., respectively.
9819 are enabled for these hooks, and changes on variables will be forgotten
9820 after the message has been sent.
9821 .Va on-compose-cleanup
9822 can be used to perform other necessary cleanup steps.
9824 The following (read-only) variables will be set temporarily during
9825 execution of the macros to represent the according message headers, or
9826 the empty string for non-existent; they correspond to accoding virtual
9827 temporary message headers that can be accessed (also from within
9828 .Va on-compose-splice
9832 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" :
9835 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Va mailx_subject"
9836 .It Va mailx-command
9837 The command that generates the message.
9838 .It Va mailx-subject
9844 .It Va mailx-to , mailx-cc , mailx-bcc
9845 The list of receiver addresses as a space-separated list.
9846 .It Va mailx-raw-to , mailx-raw-cc , mailx-raw-bcc
9847 The list of receiver addresses before any mangling (due to, e.g.,
9850 .Va recipients-in-cc )
9851 as a space-separated list.
9852 .It Va mailx-orig-from
9853 When replying, forwarding or resending, this will be set to the
9855 of the given message.
9856 .It Va mailx-orig-to , mailx-orig-cc , mailx-orig-bcc
9857 When replying, forwarding or resending, this will be set to the
9858 receivers of the given message.
9862 Here is am example that injects a signature via
9863 .Va message-inject-tail ;
9865 .Va on-compose-splice
9866 to simply inject the file of desire via
9870 may be a better approach.
9872 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9874 vput ! i cat ~/.mysig
9876 vput vexpr message-inject-tail trim-end $i
9880 readctl create ~/.mysig
9884 vput vexpr message-inject-tail trim-end $i
9886 readctl remove ~/.mysig
9889 set on-compose-leave=t_ocl
9895 .It Va on-compose-splice , on-compose-splice-shell
9896 These hooks run once the normal compose mode is finished, but before the
9897 .Va on-compose-leave
9898 macro hook is called, the
9899 .Va message-inject-tail
9901 Both hooks will be executed in a subprocess, with their input and output
9902 connected to \*(UA such that they can act as if they would be an
9904 The difference in between them is that the latter is a
9906 command, whereas the former is a normal \*(UA macro, but which is
9907 restricted to a small set of commands (the
9911 will indicate said capability).
9913 are enabled for these hooks (in the parent process), causing any setting
9914 to be forgotten after the message has been sent;
9915 .Va on-compose-cleanup
9916 can be used to perform other cleanup as necessary.
9919 During execution of these hooks \*(UA will temporarily forget whether it
9920 has been started in interactive mode, (a restricted set of)
9921 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
9922 will always be available, and for guaranteed reproducibilities sake
9926 will be set to their defaults.
9927 The compose mode command
9929 has been especially designed for scriptability (via these hooks).
9930 The first line the hook will read on its standard input is the protocol
9931 version of said command escape, currently
9933 backward incompatible protocol changes have to be expected.
9936 Care must be taken to avoid deadlocks and other false control flow:
9937 if both involved processes wait for more input to happen at the
9938 same time, or one does not expect more input but the other is stuck
9939 waiting for consumption of its output, etc.
9940 There is no automatic synchronization of the hook: it will not be
9941 stopped automatically just because it, e.g., emits
9943 The hooks will however receive a termination signal if the parent enters
9945 \*(ID Protection against and interaction with signals is not yet given;
9946 it is likely that in the future these scripts will be placed in an
9947 isolated session, which is signalled in its entirety as necessary.
9949 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9950 define ocs_signature {
9952 echo '~< ~/.mysig' # '~<! fortune pathtofortunefile'
9954 set on-compose-splice=ocs_signature
9956 wysh set on-compose-splice-shell=$'\e
9958 printf "hello $version! Headers: ";\e
9959 echo \e'~^header list\e';\e
9960 read status result;\e
9961 echo "status=$status result=$result";\e
9966 echo Splice protocol version is $version
9967 echo '~^h l'; read hl; vput vexpr es substring "${hl}" 0 1
9969 echoerr 'Cannot read header list'; echo '~x'; xit
9971 if [ "$hl" @i!% ' cc' ]
9972 echo '~^h i cc Diet is your <mirr.or>'; read es;\e
9973 vput vexpr es substring "${es}" 0 1
9975 echoerr 'Cannot insert Cc: header'; echo '~x'
9976 # (no xit, macro finishs anyway)
9980 set on-compose-splice=ocsm
9985 .It Va on-resend-cleanup
9987 .Va on-compose-cleanup ,
9988 but is only triggered by
9992 .It Va on-resend-enter
9994 .Va on-compose-enter ,
9995 but is only triggered by
10000 \*(BO If set, each message feed through the command given for
10002 is followed by a formfeed character
10006 .It Va password-USER@HOST , password-HOST , password
10007 \*(IN Variable chain that sets a password, which is used in case none has
10008 been given in the protocol and account-specific URL;
10009 as a last resort \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal if
10010 the authentication method requires a password.
10011 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
10012 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
10014 .It Va password-USER@HOST
10015 \*(OU (see the chain above for \*(IN)
10016 Set the password for
10020 If no such variable is defined for a host,
10021 the user will be asked for a password on standard input.
10022 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
10023 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
10027 \*(BO Send messages to the
10029 command without performing MIME and character set conversions.
10033 .It Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
10034 When a MIME message part of type
10036 (case-insensitive) is displayed or quoted,
10037 its text is filtered through the value of this variable interpreted as
10039 Note that only parts which can be displayed inline as plain text (see
10040 .Cd copiousoutput )
10041 are displayed unless otherwise noted, other MIME parts will only be
10042 considered by and for the command
10046 The special value commercial at
10048 forces interpretation of the message part as plain text, e.g.,
10049 .Ql set pipe-application/xml=@
10050 will henceforth display XML
10052 (The same could also be achieved by adding a MIME type marker with the
10055 And \*(OPally MIME type handlers may be defined via
10056 .Sx "The Mailcap files"
10057 \(em these directives,
10059 has already been used, should be referred to for further documentation.
10064 can in fact be used as a trigger character to adjust usage and behaviour
10065 of a following shell command specification more thoroughly by appending
10066 more special characters which refer to further mailcap directives, e.g.,
10067 the following hypothetical command specification could be used:
10069 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10070 ? set pipe-X/Y='@!++=@vim ${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}'
10074 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql __"
10076 The command produces plain text to be integrated in \*(UAs output:
10077 .Cd copiousoutput .
10080 If set the handler will not be invoked when a message is to be quoted,
10081 but only when it will be displayed:
10082 .Cd x-mailx-noquote .
10085 Run the command asynchronously, i.e., without blocking \*(UA:
10086 .Cd x-mailx-async .
10089 The command must be run on an interactive terminal, \*(UA will
10090 temporarily release the terminal to it:
10091 .Cd needsterminal .
10094 Request creation of a zero-sized temporary file, the absolute pathname
10095 of which will be made accessible via the environment variable
10096 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY :
10097 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile .
10098 If given twice then the file will be unlinked automatically by \*(UA
10099 when the command loop is entered again at latest:
10100 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink .
10103 Normally the MIME part content is passed to the handler via standard
10104 input; if this flag is set then the data will instead be written into
10105 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY
10106 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill ) ,
10107 the creation of which is implied; note however that in order to cause
10108 deletion of the temporary file you still have to use two plus signs
10113 To avoid ambiguities with normal shell command content you can use
10114 another commercial at to forcefully terminate interpretation of
10115 remaining characters.
10116 (Any character not in this list will have the same effect.)
10120 Some information about the MIME part to be displayed is embedded into
10121 the environment of the shell command:
10124 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ev _AIL__ILENAME__ENERATED"
10126 .It Ev MAILX_CONTENT
10127 The MIME content-type of the part, if known, the empty string otherwise.
10130 .It Ev MAILX_CONTENT_EVIDENCE
10132 .Va mime-counter-evidence
10133 includes the carry-around-bit (2), then this will be set to the detected
10134 MIME content-type; not only then identical to
10135 .Ev \&\&MAILX_CONTENT
10139 .It Ev MAILX_EXTERNAL_BODY_URL
10141 .Ql message/external-body access-type=url
10142 will store the access URL in this variable, it is empty otherwise.
10145 .It Ev MAILX_FILENAME
10146 The filename, if any is set, the empty string otherwise.
10149 .It Ev MAILX_FILENAME_GENERATED
10153 .It Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY
10154 If temporary file creation has been requested through the command prefix
10155 this variable will be set and contain the absolute pathname of the
10161 .It Va pipe-EXTENSION
10162 This is identical to
10163 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
10166 (normalized to lowercase using character mappings of the ASCII charset)
10167 names a file extension, e.g.,
10169 Handlers registered using this method take precedence.
10172 .It Va pop3-auth-USER@HOST , pop3-auth-HOST , pop3-auth
10173 \*(OP\*(IN Variable chain that sets the POP3 authentication method.
10174 The only possible value as of now is
10176 which is thus the default.
10178 .Mx Va pop3-bulk-load
10179 .It Va pop3-bulk-load-USER@HOST , pop3-bulk-load-HOST , pop3-bulk-load
10180 \*(BO\*(OP When accessing a POP3 server \*(UA loads the headers of
10181 the messages, and only requests the message bodies on user request.
10182 For the POP3 protocol this means that the message headers will be
10184 If this variable is set then \*(UA will download only complete messages
10185 from the given POP3 server(s) instead.
10187 .Mx Va pop3-keepalive
10188 .It Va pop3-keepalive-USER@HOST , pop3-keepalive-HOST , pop3-keepalive
10189 \*(OP POP3 servers close the connection after a period of inactivity;
10190 the standard requires this to be at least 10 minutes,
10191 but practical experience may vary.
10192 Setting this variable to a numeric value greater than
10196 command to be sent each value seconds if no other operation is performed.
10198 .Mx Va pop3-no-apop
10199 .It Va pop3-no-apop-USER@HOST , pop3-no-apop-HOST , pop3-no-apop
10200 \*(BO\*(OP Unless this variable is set the
10202 authentication method will be used when connecting to a POP3 server that
10203 advertises support.
10206 is that the password is not sent in clear text over the wire and that
10207 only a single packet is sent for the user/password tuple.
10209 .Va pop3-no-apop-HOST
10212 .Mx Va pop3-use-starttls
10213 .It Va pop3-use-starttls-USER@HOST , pop3-use-starttls-HOST , pop3-use-starttls
10214 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a
10216 command to make an unencrypted POP3 session SSL/TLS encrypted.
10217 This functionality is not supported by all servers,
10218 and is not used if the session is already encrypted by the POP3S method.
10220 .Va pop3-use-starttls-HOST
10226 \*(BO This flag enables POSIX mode, which changes behaviour of \*(UA
10227 where that deviates from standardized behaviour.
10228 It will be set implicitly before the
10229 .Sx "Resource files"
10230 are loaded if the environment variable
10231 .Ev POSIXLY_CORRECT
10232 is set, and adjusting any of those two will be reflected by the other
10234 The following behaviour is covered and enforced by this mechanism:
10237 .Bl -bullet -compact
10239 In non-interactive mode, any error encountered while loading resource
10240 files during program startup will cause a program exit, whereas in
10241 interactive mode such errors will stop loading of the currently loaded
10242 (stack of) file(s, i.e., recursively).
10243 These exits can be circumvented on a per-command base by using
10246 .Sx "Command modifiers" ,
10247 for each command which shall be allowed to fail.
10251 will replace the list of alternate addresses instead of appending to it.
10254 The variable inserting
10255 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
10261 will expand embedded character sequences
10263 horizontal tabulator and
10266 \*(ID For compatibility reasons this step will always be performed.
10269 Upon changing the active
10273 will be displayed even if
10280 implies the behaviour described by
10286 is extended to cover any empty mailbox, not only empty
10288 .Sx "primary system mailbox" Ns
10289 es: they will be removed when they are left in empty state otherwise.
10294 .It Va print-alternatives
10295 \*(BO When a MIME message part of type
10296 .Ql multipart/alternative
10297 is displayed and it contains a subpart of type
10299 other parts are normally discarded.
10300 Setting this variable causes all subparts to be displayed,
10301 just as if the surrounding part was of type
10302 .Ql multipart/mixed .
10306 The string used as a prompt in interactive mode.
10307 Whenever the variable is evaluated the value is expanded as via
10308 dollar-single-quote expansion (see
10309 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" ) .
10310 This (post-assignment, i.e., second) expansion can be used to embed
10311 status information, for example
10316 .Va mailbox-display .
10318 In order to embed characters which should not be counted when
10319 calculating the visual width of the resulting string, enclose the
10320 characters of interest in a pair of reverse solidus escaped brackets:
10322 a slot for coloured prompts is also available with the \*(OPal command
10324 Prompting may be prevented by setting this to the null string
10326 .Ql set noprompt ) .
10330 This string is used for secondary prompts, but is otherwise identical to
10337 \*(BO Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked.
10341 If set, \*(UA starts a replying message with the original message
10342 prefixed by the value of the variable
10344 Normally, a heading consisting of
10345 .Dq Fromheaderfield wrote:
10346 is put before the quotation.
10351 variable, this heading is omitted.
10354 is assigned, only the headers selected by the
10357 selection are put above the message body,
10360 acts like an automatic
10362 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
10366 is assigned, all headers are put above the message body and all MIME
10367 parts are included, making
10369 act like an automatic
10372 .Va quote-as-attachment .
10375 .It Va quote-as-attachment
10376 \*(BO Add the original message in its entirety as a
10378 MIME attachment when replying to a message.
10379 Note this works regardless of the setting of
10384 \*(OP Can be set in addition to
10386 Setting this turns on a more fancy quotation algorithm in that leading
10387 quotation characters are compressed and overlong lines are folded.
10389 can be set to either one or two (space separated) numeric values,
10390 which are interpreted as the maximum (goal) and the minimum line length,
10391 respectively, in a spirit rather equal to the
10393 program, but line-, not paragraph-based.
10394 If not set explicitly the minimum will reflect the goal algorithmically.
10395 The goal cannot be smaller than the length of
10397 plus some additional pad.
10398 Necessary adjustments take place silently.
10401 .It Va r-option-implicit
10402 \*(BO Setting this option evaluates the contents of
10404 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
10406 and passes the results onto the used (file-based) MTA as described for the
10408 option (empty argument case).
10411 .It Va recipients-in-cc
10418 are by default merged into the new
10420 If this variable is set, only the original
10424 the rest is merged into
10429 Unless this variable is defined, no copies of outgoing mail will be saved.
10430 If defined it gives the pathname, subject to the usual
10431 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
10432 of a folder where all new, replied-to or forwarded messages are saved:
10433 when saving to this folder fails the message is not sent, but instead
10437 The standard defines that relative (fully expanded) paths are to be
10438 interpreted relative to the current directory
10440 to force interpretation relative to
10443 needs to be set in addition.
10446 .It Va record-files
10447 \*(BO If this variable is set the meaning of
10449 will be extended to cover messages which target only file and pipe
10452 These address types will not appear in recipient lists unless
10453 .Va add-file-recipients
10457 .It Va record-resent
10458 \*(BO If this variable is set the meaning of
10460 will be extended to also cover the
10467 .It Va reply-in-same-charset
10468 \*(BO If this variable is set \*(UA first tries to use the same
10469 character set of the original message for replies.
10470 If this fails, the mechanism described in
10471 .Sx "Character sets"
10472 is evaluated as usual.
10475 .It Va reply-strings
10476 Can be set to a comma-separated list of (case-insensitive according to
10477 ASCII rules) strings which shall be recognized in addition to the
10478 built-in strings as
10480 reply message indicators \(en built-in are
10482 which is mandated by RFC 5322, as well as the german
10487 which often has been seen in the wild;
10488 I.e., the separating colon has to be specified explicitly.
10492 A list of addresses to put into the
10494 field of the message header.
10495 Members of this list are handled as if they were in the
10504 .It Va reply-to-honour
10507 header is honoured when replying to a message via
10511 This is a quadoption; if set without a value it defaults to
10515 .It Va rfc822-body-from_
10516 \*(BO This variable can be used to force displaying a so-called
10518 line for messages that are embedded into an envelope mail via the
10520 MIME mechanism, for more visual convenience.
10524 \*(BO Enable saving of (partial) messages in
10526 upon interrupt or delivery error.
10530 The number of lines that represents a
10539 line display and scrolling via
10541 If this variable is not set \*(UA falls back to a calculation based upon
10542 the detected terminal window size and the baud rate: the faster the
10543 terminal, the more will be shown.
10544 Overall screen dimensions and pager usage is influenced by the
10545 environment variables
10553 .It Va searchheaders
10554 \*(BO Expand message-list specifiers in the form
10556 to all messages containing the substring
10558 in the header field
10560 The string search is case insensitive.
10563 .It Va sendcharsets
10564 \*(OP A comma-separated list of character set names that can be used in
10565 outgoing internet mail.
10566 The value of the variable
10568 is automatically appended to this list of character sets.
10569 If no character set conversion capabilities are compiled into \*(UA then
10570 the only supported charset is
10573 .Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
10574 and refer to the section
10575 .Sx "Character sets"
10576 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
10579 .It Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
10580 \*(BO\*(OP If this variable is set, but
10582 is not, then \*(UA acts as if
10584 had been set to the value of the variable
10586 In effect this combination passes through the message data in the
10587 character set of the current locale encoding:
10588 therefore mail message text will be (assumed to be) in ISO-8859-1
10589 encoding when send from within a ISO-8859-1 locale, and in UTF-8
10590 encoding when send from within an UTF-8 locale.
10594 never comes into play as
10596 is implicitly assumed to be 8-bit and capable to represent all files the
10597 user may specify (as is the case when no character set conversion
10598 support is available in \*(UA and the only supported character set is
10600 .Sx "Character sets" ) .
10601 This might be a problem for scripts which use the suggested
10603 setting, since in this case the character set is US-ASCII by definition,
10604 so that it is better to also override
10610 An address that is put into the
10612 field of outgoing messages, quoting RFC 5322: the mailbox of the agent
10613 responsible for the actual transmission of the message.
10614 This field should normally not be used unless the
10616 field contains more than one address, on which case it is required.
10619 address is handled as if it were in the
10623 .Va r-option-implicit .
10626 \*(OB Predecessor of
10629 .It Va sendmail-arguments
10630 \*(OB Predecessor of
10631 .Va mta-arguments .
10633 .It Va sendmail-no-default-arguments
10634 \*(OB\*(BO Predecessor of
10635 .Va mta-no-default-arguments .
10637 .It Va sendmail-progname
10638 \*(OB Predecessor of
10643 \*(BO When sending a message wait until the
10645 (including the built-in SMTP one) exits before accepting further commands.
10647 with this variable set errors reported by the MTA will be recognizable!
10648 If the MTA returns a non-zero exit status,
10649 the exit status of \*(UA will also be non-zero.
10653 \*(BO This setting causes \*(UA to start at the last message
10654 instead of the first one when opening a mail folder.
10658 \*(BO Causes \*(UA to use the sender's real name instead of the plain
10659 address in the header field summary and in message specifications.
10663 \*(BO Causes the recipient of the message to be shown in the header
10664 summary if the message was sent by the user.
10671 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
10673 .Va message-inject-tail ,
10674 .Va on-compose-leave
10676 .Va on-compose-splice .
10683 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
10685 .Va message-inject-tail ,
10686 .Va on-compose-leave
10688 .Va on-compose-splice .
10693 .Va on-compose-splice
10695 .Va on-compose-splice-shell
10697 .Va on-compose-leave
10699 .Va message-inject-tail
10703 .It Va skipemptybody
10704 \*(BO If an outgoing message does not contain any text in its first or
10705 only message part, do not send it but discard it silently (see also the
10706 command line option
10711 .It Va smime-ca-dir , smime-ca-file
10712 \*(OP Specify the location of trusted CA certificates in PEM (Privacy
10713 Enhanced Mail) format as a directory and a file, respectively, for the
10714 purpose of verification of S/MIME signed messages.
10715 It is possible to set both, the file will be loaded immediately, the
10716 directory will be searched whenever no match has yet been found.
10717 The set of CA certificates which are built into the SSL/TLS library can
10718 be explicitly turned off by setting
10719 .Va smime-ca-no-defaults ,
10720 and further fine-tuning is possible via
10721 .Va smime-ca-flags .
10724 .It Va smime-ca-flags
10725 \*(OP Can be used to fine-tune behaviour of the X509 CA certificate
10726 storage, and the certificate verification that is used.
10727 The actual values and their meanings are documented for
10731 .It Va smime-ca-no-defaults
10732 \*(BO\*(OP Do not load the default CA locations that are built into the
10733 used to SSL/TLS library to verify S/MIME signed messages.
10735 .Mx Va smime-cipher
10736 .It Va smime-cipher-USER@HOST , smime-cipher
10737 \*(OP Specifies the cipher to use when generating S/MIME encrypted
10738 messages (for the specified account).
10739 RFC 5751 mandates a default of
10742 Possible values are (case-insensitive and) in decreasing cipher strength:
10750 (DES EDE3 CBC, 168 bits; default if
10752 is not available) and
10754 (DES CBC, 56 bits).
10756 The actually available cipher algorithms depend on the cryptographic
10757 library that \*(UA uses.
10758 \*(OP Support for more cipher algorithms may be available through
10759 dynamic loading via, e.g.,
10760 .Xr EVP_get_cipherbyname 3
10761 (OpenSSL) if \*(UA has been compiled to support this.
10764 .It Va smime-crl-dir
10765 \*(OP Specifies a directory that contains files with CRLs in PEM format
10766 to use when verifying S/MIME messages.
10769 .It Va smime-crl-file
10770 \*(OP Specifies a file that contains a CRL in PEM format to use when
10771 verifying S/MIME messages.
10774 .It Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST
10775 \*(OP If this variable is set, messages send to the given receiver are
10776 encrypted before sending.
10777 The value of the variable must be set to the name of a file that
10778 contains a certificate in PEM format.
10780 If a message is sent to multiple recipients,
10781 each of them for whom a corresponding variable is set will receive an
10782 individually encrypted message;
10783 other recipients will continue to receive the message in plain text
10785 .Va smime-force-encryption
10787 It is recommended to sign encrypted messages, i.e., to also set the
10792 .It Va smime-force-encryption
10793 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to refuse sending unencrypted messages.
10797 \*(BO\*(OP S/MIME sign outgoing messages with the user's private key
10798 and include the user's certificate as a MIME attachment.
10799 Signing a message enables a recipient to verify that the sender used
10800 a valid certificate,
10801 that the email addresses in the certificate match those in the message
10802 header and that the message content has not been altered.
10803 It does not change the message text,
10804 and people will be able to read the message as usual.
10806 .Va smime-sign-cert , smime-sign-include-certs
10808 .Va smime-sign-message-digest .
10810 .Mx Va smime-sign-cert
10811 .It Va smime-sign-cert-USER@HOST , smime-sign-cert
10812 \*(OP Points to a file in PEM format.
10813 For the purpose of signing and decryption this file needs to contain the
10814 user's private key, followed by his certificate.
10816 For message signing
10818 is always derived from the value of
10820 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
10822 For the purpose of encryption the recipient's public encryption key
10823 (certificate) is expected; the command
10825 can be used to save certificates of signed messages (the section
10826 .Sx "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
10827 gives some details).
10828 This mode of operation is usually driven by the specialized form.
10830 When decrypting messages the account is derived from the recipient
10835 of the message, which are searched for addresses for which such
10837 \*(UA always uses the first address that matches,
10838 so if the same message is sent to more than one of the user's addresses
10839 using different encryption keys, decryption might fail.
10841 For signing and decryption purposes it is possible to use encrypted
10842 keys, and the pseudo-host(s)
10843 .Ql USER@HOST.smime-cert-key
10844 for the private key
10846 .Ql USER@HOST.smime-cert-cert
10847 for the certificate stored in the same file)
10848 will be used for performing any necessary password lookup,
10849 therefore the lookup can be automatized via the mechanisms described in
10850 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
10851 For example, the hypothetical address
10853 could be driven with a private key / certificate pair path defined in
10854 .Va \&\&smime-sign-cert-bob@exam.ple ,
10855 and needed passwords would then be looked up via the pseudo hosts
10856 .Ql bob@exam.ple.smime-cert-key
10858 .Ql bob@exam.ple.smime-cert-cert ) .
10859 To include intermediate certificates, use
10860 .Va smime-sign-include-certs .
10862 .Mx Va smime-sign-include-certs
10863 .It Va smime-sign-include-certs-USER@HOST , smime-sign-include-certs
10864 \*(OP If used, this is supposed to a consist of a comma-separated list
10865 of files, each of which containing a single certificate in PEM format to
10866 be included in the S/MIME message in addition to the
10867 .Va smime-sign-cert
10869 This can be used to include intermediate certificates of the certificate
10870 authority, in order to allow the receiver's S/MIME implementation to
10871 perform a verification of the entire certificate chain, starting from
10872 a local root certificate, over the intermediate certificates, down to the
10873 .Va smime-sign-cert .
10874 Even though top level certificates may also be included in the chain,
10875 they won't be used for the verification on the receiver's side.
10877 For the purpose of the mechanisms involved here,
10879 refers to the content of the internal variable
10881 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
10884 .Ql USER@HOST.smime-include-certs
10885 will be used for performing password lookups for these certificates,
10886 shall they have been given one, therefore the lookup can be automatized
10887 via the mechanisms described in
10888 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
10890 .Mx Va smime-sign-message-digest
10891 .It Va smime-sign-message-digest-USER@HOST , smime-sign-message-digest
10892 \*(OP Specifies the message digest to use when signing S/MIME messages.
10893 RFC 5751 mandates a default of
10895 Possible values are (case-insensitive and) in decreasing cipher strength:
10903 The actually available message digest algorithms depend on the
10904 cryptographic library that \*(UA uses.
10905 \*(OP Support for more message digest algorithms may be available
10906 through dynamic loading via, e.g.,
10907 .Xr EVP_get_digestbyname 3
10908 (OpenSSL) if \*(UA has been compiled to support this.
10909 Remember that for this
10911 refers to the variable
10913 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
10917 \*(OB\*(OP To use the built-in SMTP transport, specify a SMTP URL in
10919 \*(ID For compatibility reasons a set
10921 is used in preference of
10925 .It Va smtp-auth-USER@HOST , smtp-auth-HOST , smtp-auth
10926 \*(OP Variable chain that controls the SMTP
10928 authentication method, possible values are
10934 as well as the \*(OPal methods
10940 method does not need any user credentials,
10942 requires a user name and all other methods require a user name and
10950 .Va smtp-auth-password
10952 .Va smtp-auth-user ) .
10957 .Va smtp-auth-USER@HOST :
10958 may override dependent on sender address in the variable
10961 .It Va smtp-auth-password
10962 \*(OP\*(OU Sets the global fallback password for SMTP authentication.
10963 If the authentication method requires a password, but neither
10964 .Va smtp-auth-password
10966 .Va smtp-auth-password-USER@HOST
10968 \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal.
10970 .It Va smtp-auth-password-USER@HOST
10972 .Va smtp-auth-password
10973 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
10976 .It Va smtp-auth-user
10977 \*(OP\*(OU Sets the global fallback user name for SMTP authentication.
10978 If the authentication method requires a user name, but neither
10981 .Va smtp-auth-user-USER@HOST
10983 \*(UA will ask for a user name on the user's terminal.
10985 .It Va smtp-auth-user-USER@HOST
10988 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
10992 .It Va smtp-hostname
10993 \*(OP\*(IN Normally \*(UA uses the variable
10995 to derive the necessary
10997 information in order to issue a
11004 can be used to use the
11006 from the SMTP account
11013 from the content of this variable (or, if that is the empty string,
11015 or the local hostname as a last resort).
11016 This often allows using an address that is itself valid but hosted by
11017 a provider other than which (in
11019 is about to send the message.
11020 Setting this variable also influences generated
11026 .Mx Va smtp-use-starttls
11027 .It Va smtp-use-starttls-USER@HOST , smtp-use-starttls-HOST , smtp-use-starttls
11028 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a
11030 command to make an SMTP
11032 session SSL/TLS encrypted, i.e., to enable transport layer security.
11035 .It Va socks-proxy-USER@HOST , socks-proxy-HOST , socks-proxy
11036 \*(OP If this is set to the hostname (SOCKS URL) of a SOCKS5 server then
11037 \*(UA will proxy all of its network activities through it.
11038 This can be used to proxy SMTP, POP3 etc. network traffic through the
11039 Tor anonymizer, for example.
11040 The following would create a local SOCKS proxy on port 10000 that
11041 forwards to the machine
11043 and from which the network traffic is actually instantiated:
11044 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11045 # Create local proxy server in terminal 1 forwarding to HOST
11046 $ ssh -D 10000 USER@HOST
11047 # Then, start a client that uses it in terminal 2
11048 $ \*(uA -Ssocks-proxy-USER@HOST=localhost:10000
11052 .It Va spam-interface
11053 \*(OP In order to use any of the spam-related commands (like, e.g.,
11055 the desired spam interface must be defined by setting this variable.
11056 Please refer to the manual section
11057 .Sx "Handling spam"
11058 for the complete picture of spam handling in \*(UA.
11059 All or none of the following interfaces may be available:
11061 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ql _ilte_"
11067 .Pf ( Lk http://spamassassin.apache.org SpamAssassin )
11069 Different to the generic filter interface \*(UA will automatically add
11070 the correct arguments for a given command and has the necessary
11071 knowledge to parse the program's output.
11072 A default value for
11074 will have been compiled into the \*(UA binary if
11078 during compilation.
11079 Shall it be necessary to define a specific connection type (rather than
11080 using a configuration file for that), the variable
11081 .Va spamc-arguments
11082 can be used as in, e.g.,
11083 .Ql -d server.example.com -p 783 .
11084 It is also possible to specify a per-user configuration via
11086 Note that this interface does not inspect the
11088 flag of a message for the command
11092 generic spam filter support via freely configurable hooks.
11093 This interface is meant for programs like
11095 and requires according behaviour in respect to the hooks' exit
11096 status for at least the command
11099 meaning a message is spam,
11103 for unsure and any other return value indicating a hard error);
11104 since the hooks can include shell code snippets diverting behaviour
11105 can be intercepted as necessary.
11107 .Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , spamfilter-nospam , \
11110 .Va spamfilter-spam ;
11112 .Sx "Handling spam"
11113 contains examples for some programs.
11114 The process environment of the hooks will have the variable
11115 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_GENERATED
11117 Note that spam score support for
11119 is not supported unless the \*(OPtional regular expression support is
11121 .Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore
11127 .It Va spam-maxsize
11128 \*(OP Messages that exceed this size will not be passed through to the
11130 .Va spam-interface .
11131 If unset or 0, the default of 420000 bytes is used.
11134 .It Va spamc-command
11135 \*(OP The path to the
11139 .Va spam-interface .
11140 Note that the path is not expanded, but used
11142 A fallback path will have been compiled into the \*(UA binary if the
11143 executable had been found during compilation.
11146 .It Va spamc-arguments
11147 \*(OP Even though \*(UA deals with most arguments for the
11150 automatically, it may at least sometimes be desirable to specify
11151 connection-related ones via this variable, e.g.,
11152 .Ql -d server.example.com -p 783 .
11156 \*(OP Specify a username for per-user configuration files for the
11158 .Va spam-interface .
11159 If this is set to the empty string then \*(UA will use the name of the
11168 .It Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , \
11169 spamfilter-nospam , spamfilter-rate , spamfilter-spam
11170 \*(OP Command and argument hooks for the
11172 .Va spam-interface .
11174 .Sx "Handling spam"
11175 contains examples for some programs.
11178 .It Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore
11179 \*(OP Because of the generic nature of the
11182 spam scores are not supported for it by default, but if the \*(OPnal
11183 regular expression support is available then setting this variable can
11184 be used to overcome this restriction.
11185 It is interpreted as follows: first a number (digits) is parsed that
11186 must be followed by a semicolon
11188 and an extended regular expression.
11189 Then the latter is used to parse the first output line of the
11190 .Va spamfilter-rate
11191 hook, and, in case the evaluation is successful, the group that has been
11192 specified via the number is interpreted as a floating point scan score.
11196 .It Va ssl-ca-dir-USER@HOST , ssl-ca-dir-HOST , ssl-ca-dir ,\
11197 ssl-ca-file-USER@HOST , ssl-ca-file-HOST , ssl-ca-file
11198 \*(OP Specify the location of trusted CA certificates in PEM (Privacy
11199 Enhanced Mail) format as a directory and a file, respectively, for the
11200 purpose of verification of SSL/TLS server certificates.
11201 It is possible to set both, the file will be loaded immediately, the
11202 directory will be searched whenever no match has yet been found.
11203 The set of CA certificates which are built into the SSL/TLS library can
11204 be explicitly turned off by setting
11205 .Va ssl-ca-no-defaults ,
11206 and further fine-tuning is possible via
11209 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
11210 for more information.
11211 \*(UA will try to use the TLS/SNI (ServerNameIndication) extension when
11212 establishing TLS connections to servers identified with hostnames.
11215 .Mx Va ssl-ca-flags
11216 .It Va ssl-ca-flags-USER@HOST , ssl-ca-flags-HOST , ssl-ca-flags
11217 \*(OP Can be used to fine-tune behaviour of the X509 CA certificate
11218 storage, and the certificate verification that is used (also see
11220 The value is expected to consist of a comma-separated list of
11221 configuration directives, with any intervening whitespace being ignored.
11222 The directives directly map to flags that can be passed to
11223 .Xr X509_STORE_set_flags 3 ,
11224 which are usually defined in a file
11225 .Pa openssl/x509_vfy.h ,
11226 and the availability of which depends on the used SSL/TLS library
11227 version: a directive without mapping is ignored (error log subject to
11229 Directives currently understood (case-insensitively) include:
11232 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Cd BaNg"
11233 .It Cd no-alt-chains
11234 If the initial chain is not trusted, do not attempt to build an
11236 Setting this flag will make OpenSSL certificate verification match that
11237 of older OpenSSL versions, before automatic building and checking of
11238 alternative chains has been implemented; also see
11239 .Cd trusted-first .
11240 .It Cd no-check-time
11241 Do not check certificate/CRL validity against current time.
11242 .It Cd partial-chain
11243 By default partial, incomplete chains which cannot be verified up to the
11244 chain top, a self-signed root certificate, will not verify.
11245 With this flag set, a chain succeeds to verify if at least one signing
11246 certificate of the chain is in any of the configured trusted stores of
11248 The OpenSSL manual page
11249 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
11250 gives some advise how to manage your own trusted store of CA certificates.
11252 Disable workarounds for broken certificates.
11253 .It Cd trusted-first
11254 Try building a chain using issuers in the trusted store first to avoid
11255 problems with server-sent legacy intermediate certificates.
11256 Newer versions of OpenSSL support alternative chain checking and enable
11257 it by default, resulting in the same behaviour; also see
11258 .Cd no-alt-chains .
11262 .Mx Va ssl-ca-no-defaults
11263 .It Va ssl-ca-no-defaults-USER@HOST , ssl-ca-no-defaults-HOST ,\
11265 \*(BO\*(OP Do not load the default CA locations that are built into the
11266 used to SSL/TLS library to verify SSL/TLS server certificates.
11269 .It Va ssl-cert-USER@HOST , ssl-cert-HOST , ssl-cert
11270 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11273 .Va ssl-config-pairs .
11275 .Mx Va ssl-cipher-list
11276 .It Va ssl-cipher-list-USER@HOST , ssl-cipher-list-HOST , ssl-cipher-list
11277 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11280 .Va ssl-config-pairs .
11283 .It Va ssl-config-file
11284 \*(OP If this variable is set
11285 .Xr CONF_modules_load_file 3
11287 .Ql +modules-load-file
11290 is used to allow resource file based configuration of the SSL/TLS library.
11291 This happens once the library is used first, which may also be early
11292 during startup (logged with
11294 If a non-empty value is given then the given file, after performing
11295 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
11296 will be used instead of the global OpenSSL default, and it is an error
11297 if the file cannot be loaded.
11298 The application name will always be passed as
11300 Some SSL/TLS libraries support application-specific configuration via
11301 resource files loaded like this, please see
11302 .Va ssl-config-module .
11304 .Mx Va ssl-config-module
11305 .It Va ssl-config-module-USER@HOST , ssl-config-module-HOST ,\
11307 \*(OP If file based application-specific configuration via
11308 .Va ssl-config-file
11309 is available, announced as
11313 indicating availability of
11314 .Xr SSL_CTX_config 3 ,
11315 then, it becomes possible to use a central SSL/TLS configuration file
11316 for all programs, including \*(uA, e.g.:
11317 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11318 # Register a configuration section for \*(uA
11319 \*(uA = mailx_master
11320 # The top configuration section creates a relation
11321 # in between dynamic SSL configuration and an actual
11322 # program specific configuration section
11324 ssl_conf = mailx_ssl_config
11325 # Well that actual program specific configuration section
11326 # now can map individual ssl-config-module names to sections,
11327 # e.g., ssl-config-module=account_xy
11329 account_xy = mailx_account_xy
11330 account_yz = mailx_account_yz
11332 MinProtocol = TLSv1.2
11335 CipherString = TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:
11336 MinProtocol = TLSv1.1
11341 .Mx Va ssl-config-pairs
11342 .It Va ssl-config-pairs-USER@HOST , ssl-config-pairs-HOST , ssl-config-pairs
11343 \*(OP The value of this variable chain will be interpreted as
11344 a comma-separated list of directive/value pairs.
11345 Different to when placing these pairs in a
11346 .Va ssl-config-module
11348 .Va ssl-config-file
11351 need to be escaped with a reverse solidus
11353 when included in pairs.
11354 Just likewise directives and values need to be separated by equals signs
11356 any whitespace surrounding pair members is removed.
11357 Keys are (usually) case-insensitive.
11358 Unless proper support is announced by
11360 .Pf ( Ql +conf-ctx )
11361 only the keys below are supported, otherwise the pairs will be used
11362 directly as arguments to the function
11363 .Xr SSL_CONF_cmd 3 .
11366 may be preceded with an asterisk
11369 .Sx "Filename transformations"
11370 shall be performed on the value; it is an error if these fail.
11373 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Cd C_rtificate"
11375 Filename of a SSL/TLS client certificate (chain) required by some servers.
11376 Fallback support via
11377 .Xr SSL_CTX_use_certificate_chain_file 3 .
11378 .Sx "Filename transformations"
11380 .\" v15compat: remove the next sentence
11382 if you use this you need to specify the private key via
11388 A list of ciphers for SSL/TLS connections, see
11390 By default no list of ciphers is set, resulting in a
11391 .Cd Protocol Ns - Ns
11392 specific list of ciphers (the protocol standards define lists of
11393 acceptable ciphers; possibly cramped by the used SSL/TLS library).
11394 Fallback support via
11395 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_cipher_list 3 .
11398 A list of supported elliptic curves, if applicable.
11399 By default no curves are set.
11400 Fallback support via
11401 .Xr SSL_CTX_set1_curves_list 3 ,
11404 .It Cd MaxProtocol , MinProtocol
11405 The maximum and minimum supported SSL/TLS versions, respectively.
11406 Optional fallback support via
11407 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_max_proto_version 3
11409 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_min_proto_version 3
11413 .Ql +ctx-set-maxmin-proto ,
11414 otherwise this directive results in an error.
11415 The fallback uses an internal parser which understands the strings
11420 and the special value
11422 which disables the given limit.
11425 Various flags to set.
11427 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_options 3 ,
11428 in which case any other value but (exactly)
11430 results in an error.
11433 Filename of the private key in PEM format of a SSL/TLS client certificate.
11434 If unset, the name of the certificate file is used.
11435 .Sx "Filename transformations"
11438 .Xr SSL_CTX_use_PrivateKey_file 3 .
11439 .\" v15compat: remove the next sentence
11441 if you use this you need to specify the certificate (chain) via
11447 The used SSL/TLS protocol.
11453 .Ql ctx-set-maxmin-proto
11460 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_options 3 ,
11461 driven via an internal parser which understands the strings
11466 and the special value
11468 Multiple protocols may be given as a comma-separated list, any
11469 whitespace is ignored, an optional plus sign
11471 prefix enables, a hyphen-minus
11473 prefix disables a protocol, so that
11475 enables only the TLSv1.2 protocol.
11481 .It Va ssl-crl-dir , ssl-crl-file
11482 \*(OP Specify a directory / a file, respectively that contains a CRL in
11483 PEM format to use when verifying SSL/TLS server certificates.
11486 .It Va ssl-curves-USER@HOST , ssl-curves-HOST , ssl-curves
11487 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11490 .Va ssl-config-pairs .
11493 .It Va ssl-features
11494 \*(OP\*(RO This expands to a comma separated list of the TLS/SSL library
11495 identity and optional TLS/SSL library features.
11496 Currently supported identities are
11500 (OpenSSL v1.1.x series)
11503 (elder OpenSSL series, other clones).
11504 Optional features are preceded with a plus sign
11506 when available, and with a hyphen-minus
11509 .Ql modules-load-file
11510 .Pf ( Va ssl-config-file ) ,
11512 .Pf ( Va ssl-config-pairs ) ,
11514 .Pf ( Va ssl-config-module ) ,
11515 .Ql ctx-set-maxmin-proto
11516 .Pf ( Va ssl-config-pairs )
11519 .Pf ( Va ssl-rand-egd ) .
11522 .It Va ssl-key-USER@HOST , ssl-key-HOST , ssl-key
11523 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11526 .Va ssl-config-pairs .
11528 .It Va ssl-method-USER@HOST , ssl-method-HOST , ssl-method
11529 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11532 .Va ssl-config-pairs .
11534 .Mx Va ssl-protocol
11535 .It Va ssl-protocol-USER@HOST , ssl-protocol-HOST , ssl-protocol
11536 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11539 .Va ssl-config-pairs .
11542 .It Va ssl-rand-egd
11543 \*(OP Gives the pathname to an entropy daemon socket, see
11545 Not all SSL/TLS libraries support this,
11547 announces availability with
11551 .It Va ssl-rand-file
11552 \*(OP Gives the filename to a file with random entropy data, see
11553 .Xr RAND_load_file 3 .
11554 If this variable is not set, or set to the empty string, or if the
11555 .Sx "Filename transformations"
11557 .Xr RAND_file_name 3
11558 will be used to create the filename.
11559 If the SSL PRNG was seeded successfully
11560 The file will be updated
11561 .Pf ( Xr RAND_write_file 3 )
11562 if and only if seeding and buffer stirring succeeds.
11563 This variable is only used if
11565 is not set (or not supported by the SSL/TLS library).
11568 .It Va ssl-verify-USER@HOST , ssl-verify-HOST , ssl-verify
11569 \*(OP Variable chain that sets the action to be performed if an error
11570 occurs during SSL/TLS server certificate validation against the
11571 specified or default trust stores
11574 or the SSL/TLS library built-in defaults (unless usage disallowed via
11575 .Va ssl-ca-no-defaults ) ,
11576 and as fine-tuned via
11578 Valid (case-insensitive) values are
11580 (fail and close connection immediately),
11582 (ask whether to continue on standard input),
11584 (show a warning and continue),
11586 (do not perform validation).
11592 If only set without an assigned value, then this setting inhibits the
11598 header fields that include obvious references to \*(UA.
11599 There are two pitfalls associated with this:
11600 First, the message id of outgoing messages is not known anymore.
11601 Second, an expert may still use the remaining information in the header
11602 to track down the originating mail user agent.
11603 If set to the value
11609 suppression does not occur.
11614 (\*(OP) This specifies a comma-separated list of
11619 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" ,
11620 escape commas with reverse solidus) to be used to overwrite or define
11623 this variable will only be queried once at program startup and can
11624 thus only be specified in resource files or on the command line.
11627 String capabilities form
11629 pairs and are expected unless noted otherwise.
11630 Numerics have to be notated as
11632 where the number is expected in normal decimal notation.
11633 Finally, booleans do not have any value but indicate a true or false
11634 state simply by being defined or not; this indeed means that \*(UA
11635 does not support undefining an existing boolean.
11636 String capability values will undergo some expansions before use:
11637 for one notations like
11640 .Ql control-LETTER ,
11641 and for clarification purposes
11643 can be used to specify
11645 (the control notation
11647 could lead to misreadings when a left bracket follows, which it does for
11648 the standard CSI sequence);
11649 finally three letter octal sequences, as in
11652 To specify that a terminal supports 256-colours, and to define sequences
11653 that home the cursor and produce an audible bell, one might write:
11655 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11656 ? set termcap='Co#256,home=\eE[H,bel=^G'
11660 The following terminal capabilities are or may be meaningful for the
11661 operation of the built-in line editor or \*(UA in general:
11664 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Cd yay"
11666 .It Cd colors Ns \0or Cd Co
11668 numeric capability specifying the maximum number of colours.
11669 Note that \*(UA does not actually care about the terminal beside that,
11670 but always emits ANSI / ISO 6429 escape sequences.
11673 .It Cd rmcup Ns \0or Cd te Ns \0/ Cd smcup Ns \0or Cd ti
11676 .Cd enter_ca_mode ,
11677 respectively: exit and enter the alternative screen ca-mode,
11678 effectively turning \*(UA into a fullscreen application.
11679 This must be enabled explicitly by setting
11680 .Va termcap-ca-mode .
11682 .It Cd smkx Ns \0or Cd ks Ns \0/ Cd rmkx Ns \0or Cd ke
11686 respectively: enable and disable the keypad.
11687 This is always enabled if available, because it seems even keyboards
11688 without keypads generate other key codes for, e.g., cursor keys in that
11689 case, and only if enabled we see the codes that we are interested in.
11691 .It Cd ed Ns \0or Cd cd
11695 .It Cd clear Ns \0or Cd cl
11697 clear the screen and home cursor.
11698 (Will be simulated via
11703 .It Cd home Ns \0or Cd ho
11708 .It Cd el Ns \0or Cd ce
11710 clear to the end of line.
11711 (Will be simulated via
11713 plus repetitions of space characters.)
11715 .It Cd hpa Ns \0or Cd ch
11716 .Cd column_address :
11717 move the cursor (to the given column parameter) in the current row.
11718 (Will be simulated via
11724 .Cd carriage_return :
11725 move to the first column in the current row.
11726 The default built-in fallback is
11729 .It Cd cub1 Ns \0or Cd le
11731 move the cursor left one space (non-destructively).
11732 The default built-in fallback is
11735 .It Cd cuf1 Ns \0or Cd nd
11737 move the cursor right one space (non-destructively).
11738 The default built-in fallback is
11740 which is used by most terminals.
11748 Many more capabilities which describe key-sequences are documented for
11753 .It Va termcap-ca-mode
11754 \*(OP Allow usage of the
11758 terminal capabilities, effectively turning \*(UA into a fullscreen
11759 application, as documented for
11762 this variable will only be queried once at program startup and can
11763 thus only be specified in resource files or on the command line.
11766 .It Va termcap-disable
11767 \*(OP Disable any interaction with a terminal control library.
11768 If set only some generic fallback built-ins and possibly the content of
11770 describe the terminal to \*(UA.
11772 this variable will only be queried once at program startup and can
11773 thus only be specified in resource files or on the command line.
11777 If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be displayed
11780 if unset, the first five lines are printed, if set to 0 the variable
11783 If the value is negative then its absolute value will be used for
11784 unsigned right shifting (see
11792 \*(BO If set then the
11794 command series will strip adjacent empty lines and quotations.
11798 The character set of the terminal \*(UA operates on,
11799 and the one and only supported character set that \*(UA can use if no
11800 character set conversion capabilities have been compiled into it,
11801 in which case it defaults to ISO-8859-1 unless it can deduce a value
11802 from the locale specified in the
11804 environment variable (if supported, see there for more).
11805 It defaults to UTF-8 if conversion is available.
11806 Refer to the section
11807 .Sx "Character sets"
11808 for the complete picture about character sets.
11811 .It Va typescript-mode
11812 \*(BO A special multiplex variable that disables all variables and
11813 settings which result in behaviour that interferes with running \*(UA in
11816 .Va colour-disable ,
11817 .Va line-editor-disable
11818 and (before startup completed only)
11819 .Va termcap-disable .
11820 Unsetting it does not restore the former state of the covered settings.
11824 For a safety-by-default policy \*(UA sets its process
11828 but this variable can be used to override that:
11829 set it to an empty value to do not change the (current) setting (on
11830 startup), otherwise the process file mode creation mask is updated to
11832 Child processes inherit the process file mode creation mask.
11835 .It Va user-HOST , user
11836 \*(IN Variable chain that sets a global fallback user name, which is
11837 used in case none has been given in the protocol and account-specific
11839 This variable defaults to the name of the user who runs \*(UA.
11843 \*(BO Setting this enables upward compatibility with \*(UA
11844 version 15.0 in respect to which configuration options are available and
11845 how they are handled.
11846 This manual uses \*(IN and \*(OU to refer to the new and the old way of
11847 doing things, respectively.
11851 \*(BO This setting, also controllable via the command line option
11853 causes \*(UA to be more verbose, e.g., it will display obsoletion
11854 warnings and SSL/TLS certificate chains.
11855 Even though marked \*(BO this option may be set twice in order to
11856 increase the level of verbosity even more, in which case even details of
11857 the actual message delivery and protocol conversations are shown.
11860 is sufficient to disable verbosity as such.
11867 .It Va version , version-date , version-major , version-minor , version-update
11868 \*(RO \*(UA version information: the first variable contains a string
11869 containing the complete version identification, the latter three contain
11870 only digits: the major, minor and update version numbers.
11871 The date is in ISO 8601 notation.
11872 The output of the command
11874 will include this information.
11877 .It Va writebackedited
11878 If this variable is set messages modified using the
11882 commands are written back to the current folder when it is quit;
11883 it is only honoured for writable folders in MBOX format, though.
11884 Note that the editor will be pointed to the raw message content in that
11885 case, i.e., neither MIME decoding nor decryption will have been
11886 performed, and proper RFC 4155
11888 quoting of newly added or edited content is also left as an excercise to
11891 .\" }}} (Variables)
11893 .\" }}} (INTERNAL VARIABLES)
11896 .\" .Sh ENVIRONMENT {{{
11900 .Dq environment variable
11901 should be considered an indication that these variables are either
11902 standardized as vivid parts of process environments, or that they are
11903 commonly found in there.
11904 The process environment is inherited from the
11906 once \*(UA is started, and unless otherwise explicitly noted handling of
11907 the following variables transparently integrates into that of the
11908 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
11909 from \*(UA's point of view.
11910 This means that, e.g., they can be managed via
11914 causing automatic program environment updates (to be inherited by
11915 newly created child processes).
11918 In order to transparently integrate other environment variables equally
11919 they need to be imported (linked) with the command
11921 This command can also be used to set and unset non-integrated
11922 environment variables from scratch, sufficient system support provided.
11923 The following example, applicable to a POSIX shell, sets the
11925 environment variable for \*(UA only, and beforehand exports the
11927 in order to affect any further processing in the running shell:
11929 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11930 $ EDITOR="vim -u ${HOME}/.vimrc"
11932 $ COLUMNS=80 \*(uA -R
11935 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ev BaNg"
11938 The user's preferred width in column positions for the terminal screen
11940 Queried and used once on program startup, actively managed for child
11941 processes and the MLE (see
11942 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
11943 in interactive mode thereafter.
11944 Ignored in non-interactive mode, which always uses 80 columns, unless in
11950 The name of the (mailbox)
11952 to use for saving aborted messages if
11954 is set; this defaults to
11961 is set no output will be generated, otherwise the contents of the file
11966 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
11970 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
11971 A default editor is used if this value is not defined.
11975 The user's home directory.
11976 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
11977 The calling user's home directory will be used instead if this directory
11978 does not exist, is not accessible or cannot be read.
11979 (No test for being writable is performed to allow usage by
11980 non-privileged users within read-only jails, but dependent on the
11981 variable settings this directory is a default write target, e.g. for
11989 .It Ev LC_ALL , LC_CTYPE , LANG
11990 \*(OP The (names in lookup order of the)
11994 which indicates the used
11995 .Sx "Character sets" .
11996 Runtime changes trigger automatic updates of the entire locale system,
11997 updating and overwriting also a
12003 The user's preferred number of lines on a page or the vertical screen
12004 or window size in lines.
12005 Queried and used once on program startup, actively managed for child
12006 processes in interactive mode thereafter.
12007 Ignored in non-interactive mode, which always uses 24 lines, unless in
12013 Pathname of the directory lister to use in the
12015 command when operating on local mailboxes.
12018 (path search through
12023 Upon startup \*(UA will actively ensure that this variable refers to the
12024 name of the user who runs \*(UA, in order to be able to pass a verified
12025 name to any newly created child process.
12029 Is used as the users
12031 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
12035 This is assumed to be an absolute pathname.
12039 \*(OP Overrides the default path search for
12040 .Sx "The Mailcap files" ,
12041 which is defined in the standard RFC 1524 as
12042 .Ql ~/.mailcap:\:/etc/mailcap:\:/usr/etc/mailcap:\:/usr/local/etc/mailcap .
12043 .\" TODO we should have a mailcaps-default virtual RDONLY option!
12044 (\*(UA makes it a configuration option, however.)
12045 Note this is not a search path, but a path search.
12049 Is used as a startup file instead of
12052 In order to avoid side-effects from configuration files scripts should
12053 either set this variable to
12057 command line option should be used.
12060 .It Ev MAILX_NO_SYSTEM_RC
12061 If this variable is set then reading of
12063 at startup is inhibited, i.e., the same effect is achieved as if \*(UA
12064 had been started up with the option
12066 (and according argument) or
12068 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
12072 The name of the users
12074 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
12076 A logical subset of the special
12077 .Sx "Filename transformations"
12083 Traditionally this MBOX is used as the file to save messages from the
12085 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
12086 that have been read.
12088 .Sx "Message states" .
12092 \*(IN\*(OP This variable overrides the default location of the user's
12098 Pathname of the program to use for backing the command
12102 variable enforces usage of a pager for output.
12103 The default paginator is
12105 (path search through
12108 \*(UA inspects the contents of this variable: if its contains the string
12110 then a non-existing environment variable
12117 will optionally be set to
12124 A colon-separated list of directories that is searched by the shell when
12125 looking for commands, e.g.,
12126 .Ql /bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin .
12129 .It Ev POSIXLY_CORRECT
12130 This variable is automatically looked for upon startup, see
12136 The shell to use for the commands
12141 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
12142 and when starting subprocesses.
12143 A default shell is used if this environment variable is not defined.
12146 .It Ev SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
12147 This specifies a time in seconds since the Unix epoch (1970-01-01) to be
12148 used in place of the current time.
12149 This variable is looked up upon program startup, and its existence will
12150 switch \*(UA to a completely reproducible mode which causes
12151 deterministic random numbers, a special fixed (non-existent?)
12153 and more to be used and set.
12154 It is to be used during development or by software packagers.
12155 \*(ID Currently an invalid setting is only ignored, rather than causing
12156 a program abortion.
12158 .Dl $ SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=`date +%s` \*(uA
12162 \*(OP The terminal type for which output is to be prepared.
12163 For extended colour and font control please refer to
12164 .Sx "Coloured display" ,
12165 and for terminal management in general to
12166 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" .
12170 Used as directory for temporary files instead of
12172 if set, existent, accessible as well as read- and writable.
12173 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment,
12174 but \*(UA will ensure at startup that this environment variable is
12175 updated to contain a usable temporary directory.
12181 (see there), but this variable is not standardized, should therefore not
12182 be used, and is only corrected if already set.
12186 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
12190 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
12200 .Bl -tag -width ".It Pa BaNg"
12202 File giving initial commands, one of the
12203 .Sx "Resource files" .
12206 System wide initialization file, one of the
12207 .Sx "Resource files" .
12211 \*(OP Personal MIME type handler definition file, see
12212 .Sx "The Mailcap files" .
12213 This location is part of the RFC 1524 standard search path, which is
12214 a configuration option and can be overridden via
12218 .It Pa /etc/mailcap
12219 \*(OP System wide MIME type handler definition file, see
12220 .Sx "The Mailcap files" .
12221 This location is part of the RFC 1524 standard search path, which is
12222 a configuration option and can be overridden via
12226 The default value for
12228 The actually used path is a configuration option.
12231 .It Pa ~/.mime.types
12232 Personal MIME types, see
12233 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
12234 The actually used path is a configuration option.
12237 .It Pa /etc/mime.types
12238 System wide MIME types, see
12239 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
12240 The actually used path is a configuration option.
12244 \*(IN\*(OP The default location of the users
12246 file \(en the section
12247 .Sx "The .netrc file"
12248 documents the file format.
12249 The actually used path is a configuration option and can be overridden via
12256 The actually used path is a compile-time constant.
12260 .\" .Ss "Resource files" {{{
12261 .Ss "Resource files"
12263 Upon startup \*(UA reads in several resource files:
12265 .Bl -tag -width ".It Pa BaNg"
12268 System wide initialization file.
12269 Reading of this file can be suppressed, either by using the
12271 (and according argument) or
12273 command line options, or by setting the
12276 .Ev MAILX_NO_SYSTEM_RC .
12280 File giving initial commands.
12281 A different file can be chosen by setting the
12285 Reading of this file can be suppressed with the
12287 command line option.
12289 .It Va mailx-extra-rc
12290 Defines a startup file to be read after all other resource files.
12291 It can be used to specify settings that are not understood by other
12293 implementations, for example.
12294 This variable is only honoured when defined in a resource file, e.g.,
12296 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" .
12300 The content of these files is interpreted as follows:
12303 .Bl -bullet -compact
12305 The whitespace characters space, tabulator and newline,
12306 as well as those defined by the variable
12308 are removed from the beginning and end of input lines.
12310 Empty lines are ignored.
12312 Any other line is interpreted as a command.
12313 It may be spread over multiple input lines if the newline character is
12315 by placing a reverse solidus character
12317 as the last character of the line; whereas any leading whitespace of
12318 follow lines is ignored, trailing whitespace before a escaped newline
12319 remains in the input.
12321 If the line (content) starts with the number sign
12323 then it is a comment-command and also ignored.
12324 (The comment-command is a real command, which does nothing, and
12325 therefore the usual follow lines mechanism applies!)
12329 Unless \*(UA is about to enter interactive mode syntax errors that occur
12330 while loading these files are treated as errors and cause program exit.
12331 More files with syntactically equal content can be
12333 The following, saved in a file, would be an examplary content:
12335 .Bd -literal -offset indent
12336 # This line is a comment command. And y\e
12337 es, it is really continued here.
12344 .\" .Ss "The mime.types files" {{{
12345 .Ss "The mime.types files"
12348 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments"
12349 \*(UA needs to learn about MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions)
12350 media types in order to classify message and attachment content.
12351 One source for them are
12353 files, the loading of which can be controlled by setting the variable
12354 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
12355 Another is the command
12357 which also offers access to \*(UAs MIME type cache.
12359 files have the following syntax:
12361 .Bd -literal -offset indent
12362 type/subtype extension [extension ...]
12363 # E.g., text/html html htm
12369 define the MIME media type, as standardized in RFC 2046:
12371 is used to declare the general type of data, while the
12373 specifies a specific format for that type of data.
12374 One or multiple filename
12376 s, separated by whitespace, can be bound to the media type format.
12377 Comments may be introduced anywhere on a line with a number sign
12379 causing the remaining line to be discarded.
12381 \*(UA also supports an extended, non-portable syntax in especially
12382 crafted files, which can be loaded via the alternative value syntax of
12383 .Va mimetypes-load-control ,
12384 and prepends an optional
12388 .Dl [type-marker ]type/subtype extension [extension ...]
12391 The following type markers are supported:
12394 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar _n_u"
12396 Treat message parts with this content as plain text.
12401 Treat message parts with this content as HTML tagsoup.
12402 If the \*(OPal HTML-tagsoup-to-text converter is not available treat
12403 the content as plain text instead.
12407 but instead of falling back to plain text require an explicit content
12408 handler to be defined.
12410 If no handler can be found a text message is displayed which says so.
12411 This can be annoying, for example signatures serve a contextual purpose,
12412 their content is of no use by itself.
12413 This marker will avoid displaying the text message.
12418 for sending messages:
12420 .Va mime-allow-text-controls ,
12421 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
12422 For reading etc. messages:
12423 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ,
12424 .Sx "The Mailcap files" ,
12426 .Va mime-counter-evidence ,
12427 .Va mimetypes-load-control ,
12428 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE ,
12429 .Va pipe-EXTENSION .
12432 .\" .Ss "The Mailcap files" {{{
12433 .Ss "The Mailcap files"
12435 .\" TODO MAILCAP DISABLED
12436 .Sy This feature is not available in v14.9.0, sorry!
12438 .Dq User Agent Configuration Mechanism
12439 which \*(UA \*(OPally supports (see
12440 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ) .
12441 It defines a file format to be used to inform mail user agent programs
12442 about the locally-installed facilities for handling various data
12443 formats, i.e., about commands and how they can be used to display, edit
12444 et cetera MIME part contents, as well as a default path search that
12445 includes multiple possible locations of
12449 environment variable that can be used to overwrite that (repeating here
12450 that it is not a search path, but instead a path search specification).
12451 Any existing files will be loaded in sequence, appending any content to
12452 the list of MIME type handler directives.
12456 files consist of a set of newline separated entries.
12457 Comment lines start with a number sign
12459 (in the first column!) and are ignored.
12460 Empty lines are also ignored.
12461 All other lines form individual entries that must adhere to the syntax
12463 To extend a single entry (not comment) its line can be continued on
12464 follow lines if newline characters are
12466 by preceding them with the reverse solidus character
12468 The standard does not specify how leading whitespace of follow lines
12469 is to be treated, therefore \*(UA retains it.
12473 entries consist of a number of semicolon
12475 separated fields, and the reverse solidus
12477 character can be used to escape any following character including
12478 semicolon and itself.
12479 The first two fields are mandatory and must occur in the specified
12480 order, the remaining fields are optional and may appear in any order.
12481 Leading and trailing whitespace of content is ignored (removed).
12484 The first field defines the MIME
12486 the entry is about to handle (case-insensitively, and no reverse solidus
12487 escaping is possible in this field).
12488 If the subtype is specified as an asterisk
12490 the entry is meant to match all subtypes of the named type, e.g.,
12492 would match any audio type.
12493 The second field defines the shell command which shall be used to
12495 MIME parts of the given type; it is implicitly called the
12502 shell commands message (MIME part) data is passed via standard input
12503 unless the given shell command includes one or more instances of the
12506 in which case these instances will be replaced with a temporary filename
12507 and the data will have been stored in the file that is being pointed to.
12510 shell commands data is assumed to be generated on standard output unless
12511 the given command includes (one ore multiple)
12513 In any case any given
12515 format is replaced with a(n already) properly quoted filename.
12516 Note that when a command makes use of a temporary file via
12518 then \*(UA will remove it again, as if the
12519 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile ,
12520 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill
12522 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
12523 flags had been set; see below for more.
12526 The optional fields either define a shell command or an attribute (flag)
12527 value, the latter being a single word and the former being a keyword
12528 naming the field followed by an equals sign
12530 succeeded by a shell command, and as usual for any
12532 content any whitespace surrounding the equals sign will be removed, too.
12533 Optional fields include the following:
12536 .Bl -tag -width ".It Cd BaNg"
12538 A program that can be used to compose a new body or body part in the
12540 (Currently unused.)
12542 .It Cd composetyped
12545 field, but is to be used when the composing program needs to specify the
12547 header field to be applied to the composed data.
12548 (Currently unused.)
12551 A program that can be used to edit a body or body part in the given
12553 (Currently unused.)
12556 A program that can be used to print a message or body part in the given
12558 (Currently unused.)
12561 Specifies a program to be run to test some condition, e.g., the machine
12562 architecture, or the window system in use, to determine whether or not
12563 this mailcap entry applies.
12564 If the test fails, a subsequent mailcap entry should be sought; also see
12565 .Cd x-mailx-test-once .
12568 .It Cd needsterminal
12569 This flag field indicates that the given shell command must be run on
12570 an interactive terminal.
12571 \*(UA will temporarily release the terminal to the given command in
12572 interactive mode, in non-interactive mode this entry will be entirely
12573 ignored; this flag implies
12574 .Cd x-mailx-noquote .
12577 .It Cd copiousoutput
12578 A flag field which indicates that the output of the
12580 command will be an extended stream of textual output that can be
12581 (re)integrated into \*(UA's normal visual display.
12582 It is mutually exclusive with
12583 .Cd needsterminal .
12585 .It Cd textualnewlines
12586 A flag field which indicates that this type of data is line-oriented and
12587 that, if encoded in
12589 all newlines should be converted to canonical form (CRLF) before
12590 encoding, and will be in that form after decoding.
12591 (Currently unused.)
12593 .It Cd nametemplate
12594 This field gives a filename format, in which
12596 will be replaced by a random string, the joined combination of which
12597 will be used as the filename denoted by
12598 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY .
12599 One could specify that a GIF file being passed to an image viewer should
12600 have a name ending in
12603 .Ql nametemplate=%s.gif .
12604 Note that \*(UA ignores the name template unless that solely specifies
12605 a filename suffix that consists of (ASCII) alphabetic and numeric
12606 characters, the underscore and dot only.
12609 Names a file, in X11 bitmap (xbm) format, which points to an appropriate
12610 icon to be used to visually denote the presence of this kind of data.
12611 This field is not used by \*(UA.
12614 A textual description that describes this type of data.
12617 .It Cd x-mailx-even-if-not-interactive
12618 An extension flag test field \(em by default handlers without
12620 are entirely ignored in non-interactive mode, but if this flag is set
12621 then their use will be considered.
12622 It is an error if this flag is set for commands that use the flag
12623 .Cd needsterminal .
12626 .It Cd x-mailx-noquote
12627 An extension flag field that indicates that even a
12630 command shall not be used to generate message quotes
12631 (as it would be by default).
12634 .It Cd x-mailx-async
12635 Extension flag field that denotes that the given
12637 command shall be executed asynchronously, without blocking \*(UA.
12638 Cannot be used in conjunction with
12639 .Cd needsterminal .
12642 .It Cd x-mailx-test-once
12643 Extension flag which denotes whether the given
12645 command shall be evaluated once only and the (boolean) result be cached.
12646 This is handy if some global unchanging condition is to be queried, like
12647 .Dq running under the X Window System .
12650 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile
12651 Extension flag field that requests creation of a zero-sized temporary
12652 file, the name of which is to be placed in the environment variable
12653 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY .
12654 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
12659 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill
12660 Normally the MIME part content is passed to the handler via standard
12661 input; if this flag is set then the data will instead be written into
12663 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile .
12664 In order to cause deletion of the temporary file you will have to set
12665 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
12667 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
12672 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
12673 Extension flag field that requests that the temporary file shall be
12674 deleted automatically when the command loop is entered again at latest.
12675 (Do not use this for asynchronous handlers.)
12676 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
12678 format, or in conjunction with
12679 .Cd x-mailx-async ,
12680 or without also setting
12681 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile
12683 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill .
12686 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-keep
12689 implies the three tmpfile related flags above, but if you want, e.g.,
12691 and deal with the temporary file yourself, you can add in this flag to
12693 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink .
12698 The standard includes the possibility to define any number of additional
12699 entry fields, prefixed by
12701 Flag fields apply to the entire
12703 entry \(em in some unusual cases, this may not be desirable, but
12704 differentiation can be accomplished via separate entries, taking
12705 advantage of the fact that subsequent entries are searched if an earlier
12706 one does not provide enough information.
12709 command needs to specify the
12713 command shall not, the following will help out the latter (with enabled
12717 level \*(UA will show information about handler evaluation):
12719 .Bd -literal -offset indent
12720 application/postscript; ps-to-terminal %s; needsterminal
12721 application/postscript; ps-to-terminal %s; compose=idraw %s
12725 In fields any occurrence of the format string
12727 will be replaced by the
12730 Named parameters from the
12732 field may be placed in the command execution line using
12734 followed by the parameter name and a closing
12737 The entire parameter should appear as a single command line argument,
12738 regardless of embedded spaces; thus:
12740 .Bd -literal -offset indent
12742 Content-type: multipart/mixed; boundary=42
12745 multipart/*; /usr/local/bin/showmulti \e
12746 %t %{boundary} ; composetyped = /usr/local/bin/makemulti
12748 # Executed shell command
12749 /usr/local/bin/showmulti multipart/mixed 42
12753 .\" TODO v15: Mailcap: %n,%F
12754 Note that \*(UA does not support handlers for multipart MIME parts as
12755 shown in this example (as of today).
12756 \*(UA does not support the additional formats
12760 An example file, also showing how to properly deal with the expansion of
12762 which includes any quotes that are necessary to make it a valid shell
12763 argument by itself and thus will cause undesired behaviour when placed
12764 in additional user-provided quotes:
12766 .Bd -literal -offset indent
12768 text/richtext; richtext %s; copiousoutput
12770 text/x-perl; perl -cWT %s
12772 application/pdf; \e
12774 trap "rm -f ${infile}" EXIT\e; \e
12775 trap "exit 75" INT QUIT TERM\e; \e
12777 x-mailx-async; x-mailx-tmpfile-keep
12779 application/*; echo "This is \e"%t\e" but \e
12780 is 50 \e% Greek to me" \e; < %s head -c 1024 | cat -vET; \e
12781 copiousoutput; x-mailx-noquote
12786 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ,
12787 .Sx "The mime.types files" ,
12790 .Va mime-counter-evidence ,
12791 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE ,
12792 .Va pipe-EXTENSION .
12795 .\" .Ss "The .netrc file" {{{
12796 .Ss "The .netrc file"
12800 file contains user credentials for machine accounts.
12801 The default location in the user's
12803 directory may be overridden by the
12805 environment variable.
12806 The file consists of space, tabulator or newline separated tokens.
12807 \*(UA implements a parser that supports a superset of the original BSD
12808 syntax, but users should nonetheless be aware of portability glitches
12809 of that file format, shall their
12811 be usable across multiple programs and platforms:
12814 .Bl -bullet -compact
12816 BSD does not support single, but only double quotation marks, e.g.,
12817 .Ql password="pass with spaces" .
12819 BSD (only?) supports escaping of single characters via a reverse solidus
12820 (e.g., a space can be escaped via
12822 in- as well as outside of a quoted string.
12824 BSD does not require a final quotation mark of the last user input token.
12826 The original BSD (Berknet) parser also supported a format which allowed
12827 tokens to be separated with commas \(en whereas at least Hewlett-Packard
12828 still seems to support this syntax, \*(UA does not!
12830 As a non-portable extension some widely-used programs support
12831 shell-style comments: if an input line starts, after any amount of
12832 whitespace, with a number sign
12834 then the rest of the line is ignored.
12836 Whereas other programs may require that the
12838 file is accessible by only the user if it contains a
12840 token for any other
12844 \*(UA will always require these strict permissions.
12848 Of the following list of supported tokens \*(UA only uses (and caches)
12853 At runtime the command
12855 can be used to control \*(UA's
12859 .Bl -tag -width ".It Cd BaNg"
12860 .It Cd machine Ar name
12861 The hostname of the entries' machine, lowercase-normalized by \*(UA
12863 Any further file content, until either end-of-file or the occurrence
12868 first-class token is bound (only related) to the machine
12871 As an extension that should not be the cause of any worries
12872 \*(UA supports a single wildcard prefix for
12874 .Bd -literal -offset indent
12875 machine *.example.com login USER password PASS
12876 machine pop3.example.com login USER password PASS
12877 machine smtp.example.com login USER password PASS
12883 .Ql pop3.example.com ,
12887 .Ql local.smtp.example.com .
12888 Note that in the example neither
12889 .Ql pop3.example.com
12891 .Ql smtp.example.com
12892 will be matched by the wildcard, since the exact matches take
12893 precedence (it is however faster to specify it the other way around).
12896 This is the same as
12898 except that it is a fallback entry that is used shall none of the
12899 specified machines match; only one default token may be specified,
12900 and it must be the last first-class token.
12902 .It Cd login Ar name
12903 The user name on the remote machine.
12905 .It Cd password Ar string
12906 The user's password on the remote machine.
12908 .It Cd account Ar string
12909 Supply an additional account password.
12910 This is merely for FTP purposes.
12912 .It Cd macdef Ar name
12914 A macro is defined with the specified
12916 it is formed from all lines beginning with the next line and continuing
12917 until a blank line is (consecutive newline characters are) encountered.
12920 entries cannot be utilized by multiple machines, too, but must be
12921 defined following the
12923 they are intended to be used with.)
12926 exists, it is automatically run as the last step of the login process.
12927 This is merely for FTP purposes.
12934 .\" .Sh EXAMPLES {{{
12937 .\" .Ss "An example configuration" {{{
12938 .Ss "An example configuration"
12940 .Bd -literal -offset indent
12941 # This example assumes v15.0 compatibility mode
12944 # Request strict SSL/TLS transport security checks
12945 set ssl-verify=strict
12947 # Where are the up-to-date SSL/TLS certificates?
12948 # (Since we manage up-to-date ones explicitly, do not use any,
12949 # possibly outdated, default certificates shipped with OpenSSL)
12950 #set ssl-ca-dir=/etc/ssl/certs
12951 set ssl-ca-file=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
12952 set ssl-ca-no-defaults
12953 #set ssl-ca-flags=partial-chain
12954 wysh set smime-ca-file="${ssl-ca-file}" \e
12955 smime-ca-no-defaults #smime-ca-flags="${ssl-ca-flags}"
12957 # This could be outsourced to a central configuration file via
12958 # ssl-config-file plus ssl-config-module if the used library allows.
12959 # CipherList: explicitly define the list of ciphers, which may
12960 # improve security, especially with protocols older than TLS v1.2.
12961 # See ciphers(1). Possibly best to only use ssl-cipher-list-HOST
12962 # (or -USER@HOST), as necessary, again..
12963 # Curves: especially with TLSv1.3 curves selection may be desired.
12964 # MinProtocol,MaxProtocol: do not use protocols older than TLS v1.2.
12965 # Change this only when the remote server does not support it:
12966 # maybe use chain support via ssl-config-pairs-HOST / -USER@HOST
12967 # to define such explicit exceptions, then, e.g.
12968 # MinProtocol=TLSv1.1
12969 if [ "$ssl-features" =% +ctx-set-maxmin-proto ]
12970 wysh set ssl-config-pairs='\e
12971 CipherList=TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:@STRENGTH,\e
12972 Curves=P-521:P-384:P-256,\e
12973 MinProtocol=TLSv1.1'
12975 wysh set ssl-config-pairs='\e
12976 CipherList=TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:@STRENGTH,\e
12977 Curves=P-521:P-384:P-256,\e
12978 Protocol=-ALL\e,+TLSv1.1 \e, +TLSv1.2'
12981 # Essential setting: select allowed character sets
12982 set sendcharsets=utf-8,iso-8859-1
12984 # A very kind option: when replying to a message, first try to
12985 # use the same encoding that the original poster used herself!
12986 set reply-in-same-charset
12988 # When replying, do not merge From: and To: of the original message
12989 # into To:. Instead old From: -> new To:, old To: -> merge Cc:.
12990 set recipients-in-cc
12992 # When sending messages, wait until the Mail-Transfer-Agent finishs.
12993 # Only like this you will be able to see errors reported through the
12994 # exit status of the MTA (including the built-in SMTP one)!
12997 # Only use built-in MIME types, no mime.types(5) files
12998 set mimetypes-load-control
13000 # Default directory where we act in (relative to $HOME)
13002 # A leading "+" (often) means: under *folder*
13003 # *record* is used to save copies of sent messages
13004 set MBOX=+mbox.mbox DEAD=+dead.txt \e
13005 record=+sent.mbox record-files record-resent
13007 # Make "file mymbox" and "file myrec" go to..
13008 shortcut mymbox %:+mbox.mbox myrec +sent.mbox
13010 # Not really optional, e.g., for S/MIME
13011 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
13013 # It may be necessary to set hostname and/or smtp-hostname
13014 # if the "SERVER" of mta and "domain" of from do not match.
13015 # The `urlencode' command can be used to encode USER and PASS
13016 set mta=(smtps?|submission)://[USER[:PASS]@]SERVER[:PORT] \e
13017 smtp-auth=login/plain... \e
13020 # Never refuse to start into interactive mode, and more
13022 colour-pager crt= \e
13023 followup-to followup-to-honour=ask-yes fullnames \e
13024 history-file=+.\*(uAhist history-size=-1 history-gabby \e
13025 mime-counter-evidence=0xE \e
13026 prompt='?\e$?!\e$!/\e$^ERRNAME[\e$account#\e$mailbox-display]? ' \e
13027 reply-to-honour=ask-yes \e
13030 # Only include the selected header fields when typing messages
13031 headerpick type retain from_ date from to cc subject \e
13032 message-id mail-followup-to reply-to
13033 # ...when forwarding messages
13034 headerpick forward retain subject date from to cc
13035 # ...when saving message, etc.
13036 #headerpick save ignore ^Original-.*$ ^X-.*$
13038 # Some mailing lists
13039 mlist '@xyz-editor\e.xyz$' '@xyzf\e.xyz$'
13040 mlsubscribe '^xfans@xfans\e.xyz$'
13042 # Handle a few file extensions (to store MBOX databases)
13043 filetype bz2 'bzip2 -dc' 'bzip2 -zc' \e
13044 gz 'gzip -dc' 'gzip -c' xz 'xz -dc' 'xz -zc' \e
13045 zst 'zstd -dc' 'zstd -19 -zc' \e
13046 zst.pgp 'gpg -d | zstd -dc' 'zstd -19 -zc | gpg -e'
13048 # A real life example of a very huge free mail provider
13049 # Instead of directly placing content inside `account',
13050 # we `define' a macro: like that we can switch "accounts"
13051 # from within *on-compose-splice*, for example!
13053 set folder=~/spool/XooglX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
13054 set from='Your Name <address@examp.ple>'
13056 set pop3-no-apop-pop.gmXil.com
13057 shortcut pop %:pop3s://pop.gmXil.com
13058 shortcut imap %:imaps://imap.gmXil.com
13059 #set record="+[Gmail]/Sent Mail"
13060 # Select: File imaps://imap.gmXil.com/[Gmail]/Sent\e Mail
13062 set mta=smtp://USER:PASS@smtp.gmXil.com smtp-use-starttls
13064 set mta=smtps://USER:PASS@smtp.gmail.com:465
13070 # Here is a pretty large one which does not allow sending mails
13071 # if there is a domain name mismatch on the SMTP protocol level,
13072 # which would bite us if the value of from does not match, e.g.,
13073 # for people who have a sXXXXeforge project and want to speak
13074 # with the mailing list under their project account (in from),
13075 # still sending the message through their normal mail provider
13077 set folder=~/spool/XandeX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
13078 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
13080 shortcut pop %:pop3s://pop.yaXXex.com
13081 shortcut imap %:imaps://imap.yaXXex.com
13083 set mta=smtps://USER:PASS@smtp.yaXXex.com:465 \e
13084 hostname=yaXXex.com smtp-hostname=
13090 # Create some new commands so that, e.g., `ls /tmp' will..
13091 commandalias lls '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFlrS'
13092 commandalias llS '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFlS'
13094 wysh set pipe-message/external-body='@* echo $MAILX_EXTERNAL_BODY_URL'
13096 # We do not support gpg(1) directly yet. But simple --clearsign'd
13097 # message parts can be dealt with as follows:
13100 wysh set pipe-text/plain=$'@*#++=@\e
13101 < "${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}" awk \e
13102 -v TMPFILE="${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}" \e'\e
13104 /^-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----/,/^$/ {\e
13107 print "--- GPG --verify ---";\e
13108 system("gpg --verify " TMPFILE " 2>&1");\e
13109 print "--- GPG --verify ---";\e
13113 /^-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----/,\e
13114 /^-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----/{\e
13121 commandalias V '\e'call V
13125 When storing passwords in
13127 appropriate permissions should be set on this file with
13128 .Ql $ chmod 0600 \*(ur .
13131 is available user credentials can be stored in the central
13133 file instead; e.g., here is a different version of the example account
13134 that sets up SMTP and POP3:
13136 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13138 set folder=~/spool/XandeX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
13139 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
13141 # Load an encrypted ~/.netrc by uncommenting the next line
13142 #set netrc-pipe='gpg -qd ~/.netrc.pgp'
13144 set mta=smtps://smtp.yXXXXx.ru:465 \e
13145 smtp-hostname= hostname=yXXXXx.com
13146 set pop3-keepalive=240 pop3-no-apop-pop.yXXXXx.ru
13147 commandalias xp fi pop3s://pop.yXXXXx.ru
13159 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13160 machine *.yXXXXx.ru login USER password PASS
13164 This configuration should now work just fine:
13167 .Dl $ echo text | \*(uA -dvv -AXandeX -s Subject user@exam.ple
13170 .\" .Ss "S/MIME step by step" {{{
13171 .Ss "S/MIME step by step"
13173 \*(OP The first thing you need for participating in S/MIME message
13174 exchange is your personal certificate, including a private key.
13175 The certificate contains public information, in particular your name and
13176 your email address(es), and the public key that is used by others to
13177 encrypt messages for you,
13178 and to verify signed messages they supposedly received from you.
13179 The certificate is included in each signed message you send.
13180 The private key must be kept secret.
13181 It is used to decrypt messages that were previously encrypted with your
13182 public key, and to sign messages.
13185 For personal use it is recommended that you get a S/MIME certificate
13186 from one of the major CAs on the Internet using your WWW browser.
13187 Many CAs offer such certificates for free.
13189 .Lk https://www.CAcert.org
13190 which issues client and server certificates to members of their
13191 community for free; their root certificate
13192 .Pf ( Lk https://\:www.cacert.org/\:certs/\:root.crt )
13193 is often not in the default set of trusted CA root certificates, though,
13194 which means you will have to download their root certificate separately
13195 and ensure it is part of our S/MIME certificate validation chain by
13198 or as a vivid member of the
13199 .Va smime-ca-file .
13200 But let us take a step-by-step tour on how to setup S/MIME with
13201 a certificate from CAcert.org despite this situation!
13204 First of all you will have to become a member of the CAcert.org
13205 community, simply by registrating yourself via the web interface.
13206 Once you are, create and verify all email addresses you want to be able
13207 to create signed and encrypted messages for/with using the corresponding
13208 entries of the web interface.
13209 Now ready to create S/MIME certificates, so let us create a new
13210 .Dq client certificate ,
13211 ensure to include all email addresses that should be covered by the
13212 certificate in the following web form, and also to use your name as the
13216 Create a private key and a certificate request on your local computer
13217 (please see the manual pages of the used commands for more in-depth
13218 knowledge on what the used arguments etc. do):
13221 .Dl $ openssl req -nodes -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout key.pem -out creq.pem
13224 Afterwards copy-and-paste the content of
13226 into the certificate-request (CSR) field of the web form on the
13227 CAcert.org website (you may need to unfold some
13228 .Dq advanced options
13229 to see the corresponding text field).
13230 This last step will ensure that your private key (which never left your
13231 box) and the certificate belong together (through the public key that
13232 will find its way into the certificate via the certificate-request).
13233 You are now ready and can create your CAcert certified certificate.
13234 Download and store or copy-and-paste it as
13239 In order to use your new S/MIME setup a combined private key/public key
13240 (certificate) file has to be created:
13243 .Dl $ cat key.pem pub.crt > ME@HERE.com.paired
13246 This is the file \*(UA will work with.
13247 If you have created your private key with a passphrase then \*(UA will
13248 ask you for it whenever a message is signed or decrypted.
13249 Set the following variables to henceforth use S/MIME (setting
13251 is of interest for verification only):
13253 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13254 ? set smime-ca-file=ALL-TRUSTED-ROOT-CERTS-HERE \e
13255 smime-sign-cert=ME@HERE.com.paired \e
13256 smime-sign-message-digest=SHA256 \e
13262 .\" .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or SSL/TLS" {{{
13263 .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or SSL/TLS"
13265 \*(OP Certification authorities (CAs) issue certificate revocation
13266 lists (CRLs) on a regular basis.
13267 These lists contain the serial numbers of certificates that have been
13268 declared invalid after they have been issued.
13269 Such usually happens because the private key for the certificate has
13271 because the owner of the certificate has left the organization that is
13272 mentioned in the certificate, etc.
13273 To seriously use S/MIME or SSL/TLS verification,
13274 an up-to-date CRL is required for each trusted CA.
13275 There is otherwise no method to distinguish between valid and
13276 invalidated certificates.
13277 \*(UA currently offers no mechanism to fetch CRLs, nor to access them on
13278 the Internet, so they have to be retrieved by some external mechanism.
13281 \*(UA accepts CRLs in PEM format only;
13282 CRLs in DER format must be converted, like, e.\|g.:
13285 .Dl $ openssl crl \-inform DER \-in crl.der \-out crl.pem
13288 To tell \*(UA about the CRLs, a directory that contains all CRL files
13289 (and no other files) must be created.
13294 variables, respectively, must then be set to point to that directory.
13295 After that, \*(UA requires a CRL to be present for each CA that is used
13296 to verify a certificate.
13305 In general it is a good idea to turn on
13311 twice) if something does not work well.
13312 Very often a diagnostic message can be produced that leads to the
13313 problems' solution.
13315 .\" .Ss "\*(UA shortly hangs on startup" {{{
13316 .Ss "\*(UA shortly hangs on startup"
13318 This can have two reasons, one is the necessity to wait for a file lock
13319 and cannot be helped, the other being that \*(UA calls the function
13321 in order to query the nodename of the box (sometimes the real one is
13322 needed instead of the one represented by the internal variable
13324 One may have varying success by ensuring that the real hostname and
13328 or, more generally, that the name service is properly setup \(en
13331 return the expected value?
13332 Does this local hostname have a domain suffix?
13333 RFC 6762 standardized the link-local top-level domain
13335 try again after adding an (additional) entry with this extension.
13338 .\" .Ss "I cannot login to Google mail aka GMail" {{{
13339 .Ss "I cannot login to Google mail aka GMail"
13341 Since 2014 some free service providers classify programs as
13343 unless they use a special authentification method (OAuth 2.0) which
13344 was not standardized for non-HTTP protocol authentication token query
13345 until August 2015 (RFC 7628).
13348 Different to Kerberos / GSSAPI, which is developed since the mid of the
13349 1980s, where a user can easily create a local authentication ticket for
13350 her- and himself with the locally installed
13352 program, that protocol has no such local part but instead requires
13353 a world-wide-web query to create or fetch a token; since there is no
13354 local cache this query would have to be performed whenever \*(UA is
13355 invoked (in interactive sessions situation may differ).
13358 \*(UA does not support OAuth.
13359 Because of this it is necessary to declare \*(UA a
13360 .Dq less secure app
13361 (on the providers account web page) in order to read and send mail.
13362 However, it also seems possible to take the following steps instead:
13367 give the provider the number of a mobile phone,
13370 .Dq 2-Step Verification ,
13372 create an application specific password (16 characters), and
13374 use that special password instead of the real Google account password in
13375 \*(UA (for more on that see the section
13376 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ) .
13380 .\" .Ss "Not \(dqdefunctional\(dq, but the editor key does not work" {{{
13381 .Ss "Not \(dqdefunctional\(dq, but the editor key does not work"
13383 It can happen that the terminal library (see
13384 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor",
13387 reports different codes than the terminal really sends, in which case
13388 \*(UA will tell that a key binding is functional, but will not be able to
13389 recognize it because the received data does not match anything expected.
13390 Especially without the \*(OPal terminal capability library support one
13391 reason for this may be that the (possibly even non-existing) keypad
13392 is not turned on and the resulting layout reports the keypad control
13393 codes for the normal keyboard keys.
13398 ings will show the byte sequences that are expected.
13401 To overcome the situation, use, e.g., the program
13403 in conjunction with the command line option
13405 if available, to see the byte sequences which are actually produced
13406 by keypresses, and use the variable
13408 to make \*(UA aware of them.
13409 E.g., the terminal this is typed on produces some false sequences, here
13410 an example showing the shifted home key:
13412 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13415 # 1B 5B=[ 31=1 3B=; 32=2 48=H
13420 ? \*(uA -v -Stermcap='kHOM=\eE[H'
13430 .\" .Sh "IMAP CLIENT" {{{
13433 \*(OPally there is IMAP client support available.
13434 This part of the program is obsolete and will vanish in v15 with the
13435 large MIME and I/O layer rewrite, because it uses old-style blocking I/O
13436 and makes excessive use of signal based long code jumps.
13437 Support can hopefully be readded later based on a new-style I/O, with
13438 SysV signal handling.
13439 In fact the IMAP support had already been removed from the codebase, but
13440 was reinstantiated on user demand: in effect the IMAP code is at the
13441 level of \*(UA v14.8.16 (with
13443 being the sole exception), and should be treated with some care.
13450 protocol prefixes, and an IMAP-based
13453 IMAP URLs (paths) undergo inspections and possible transformations
13454 before use (and the command
13456 can be used to manually apply them to any given argument).
13457 Hierarchy delimiters are normalized, a step which is configurable via the
13459 variable chain, but defaults to the first seen delimiter otherwise.
13460 \*(UA supports internationalised IMAP names, and en- and decodes the
13461 names from and to the
13463 as necessary and possible.
13464 If a mailbox name is expanded (see
13465 .Sx "Filename transformations" )
13466 to an IMAP mailbox, all names that begin with `+' then refer to IMAP
13467 mailboxes below the
13469 target box, while folder names prefixed by `@' refer to folders below
13470 the hierarchy base.
13473 Note: some IMAP servers do not accept the creation of mailboxes in
13474 the hierarchy base, but require that they are created as subfolders of
13475 `INBOX' \(en with such servers a folder name of the form
13477 .Dl imaps://mylogin@imap.myisp.example/INBOX.
13479 should be used (the last character is the server's hierarchy
13481 The following IMAP-specific commands exist:
13484 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ic BaNg"
13487 Only applicable to cached IMAP mailboxes;
13488 takes a message list and reads the specified messages into the IMAP
13493 If operating in disconnected mode on an IMAP mailbox,
13494 switch to online mode and connect to the mail server while retaining
13495 the mailbox status.
13496 See the description of the
13498 variable for more information.
13502 If operating in online mode on an IMAP mailbox,
13503 switch to disconnected mode while retaining the mailbox status.
13504 See the description of the
13507 A list of messages may optionally be given as argument;
13508 the respective messages are then read into the cache before the
13509 connection is closed, thus
13511 makes the entire mailbox available for disconnected use.
13515 Sends command strings directly to the current IMAP server.
13516 \*(UA operates always in IMAP `selected state' on the current mailbox;
13517 commands that change this will produce undesirable results and should be
13519 Useful IMAP commands are:
13520 .Bl -tag -offset indent -width ".Ic getquotearoot"
13522 Takes the name of an IMAP mailbox as an argument and creates it.
13524 (RFC 2087) Takes the name of an IMAP mailbox as an argument
13525 and prints the quotas that apply to the mailbox.
13526 Not all IMAP servers support this command.
13528 (RFC 2342) Takes no arguments and prints the Personal Namespaces,
13529 the Other User's Namespaces and the Shared Namespaces.
13530 Each namespace type is printed in parentheses;
13531 if there are multiple namespaces of the same type,
13532 inner parentheses separate them.
13533 For each namespace a prefix and a hierarchy separator is listed.
13534 Not all IMAP servers support this command.
13539 Perform IMAP path transformations.
13543 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) ,
13544 and manages the error number
13546 The first argument specifies the operation:
13548 normalizes hierarchy delimiters (see
13550 and converts the strings from the locale
13552 to the internationalized variant used by IMAP,
13554 performs the reverse operation.
13559 The following IMAP-specific internal variables exist:
13562 .Bl -tag -width ".It Va BaNg"
13564 .It Va disconnected
13565 \*(BO When an IMAP mailbox is selected and this variable is set,
13566 no connection to the server is initiated.
13567 Instead, data is obtained from the local cache (see
13570 Mailboxes that are not present in the cache
13571 and messages that have not yet entirely been fetched from the server
13573 to fetch all messages in a mailbox at once,
13575 .No ` Ns Li copy * /dev/null Ns '
13576 can be used while still in connected mode.
13577 Changes that are made to IMAP mailboxes in disconnected mode are queued
13578 and committed later when a connection to that server is made.
13579 This procedure is not completely reliable since it cannot be guaranteed
13580 that the IMAP unique identifiers (UIDs) on the server still match the
13581 ones in the cache at that time.
13584 when this problem occurs.
13586 .It Va disconnected-USER@HOST
13587 The specified account is handled as described for the
13590 but other accounts are not affected.
13593 .It Va imap-auth-USER@HOST , imap-auth
13594 Sets the IMAP authentication method.
13595 Valid values are `login' for the usual password-based authentication
13597 `cram-md5', which is a password-based authentication that does not send
13598 the password over the network in clear text,
13599 and `gssapi' for GSS-API based authentication.
13603 Enables caching of IMAP mailboxes.
13604 The value of this variable must point to a directory that is either
13605 existent or can be created by \*(UA.
13606 All contents of the cache can be deleted by \*(UA at any time;
13607 it is not safe to make assumptions about them.
13610 .It Va imap-delim-USER@HOST , imap-delim-HOST , imap-delim
13611 The hierarchy separator used by the IMAP server.
13612 Whenever an IMAP path is specified it will undergo normalization.
13613 One of the normalization steps is the squeezing and adjustment of
13614 hierarchy separators.
13615 If this variable is set, any occurrence of any character of the given
13616 value that exists in the path will be replaced by the first member of
13617 the value; an empty value will cause the default to be used, it is
13619 If not set, we will reuse the first hierarchy separator character that
13620 is discovered in a user-given mailbox name.
13622 .Mx Va imap-keepalive
13623 .It Va imap-keepalive-USER@HOST , imap-keepalive-HOST , imap-keepalive
13624 IMAP servers may close the connection after a period of
13625 inactivity; the standard requires this to be at least 30 minutes,
13626 but practical experience may vary.
13627 Setting this variable to a numeric `value' greater than 0 causes
13628 a `NOOP' command to be sent each `value' seconds if no other operation
13632 .It Va imap-list-depth
13633 When retrieving the list of folders on an IMAP server, the
13635 command stops after it has reached a certain depth to avoid possible
13637 The value of this variable sets the maximum depth allowed.
13639 If the folder separator on the current IMAP server is a slash `/',
13640 this variable has no effect and the
13642 command does not descend to subfolders.
13644 .Mx Va imap-use-starttls
13645 .It Va imap-use-starttls-USER@HOST , imap-use-starttls-HOST , imap-use-starttls
13646 Causes \*(UA to issue a `STARTTLS' command to make an unencrypted
13647 IMAP session SSL/TLS encrypted.
13648 This functionality is not supported by all servers,
13649 and is not used if the session is already encrypted by the IMAPS method.
13655 .\" .Sh "SEE ALSO" {{{
13665 .Xr spamassassin 1 ,
13674 .Xr mailwrapper 8 ,
13680 .\" .Sh HISTORY {{{
13683 M. Douglas McIlroy writes in his article
13684 .Dq A Research UNIX Reader: Annotated Excerpts \
13685 from the Programmer's Manual, 1971-1986
13688 command already appeared in First Edition
13692 .Bd -ragged -offset indent
13693 Electronic mail was there from the start.
13694 Never satisfied with its exact behavior, everybody touched it at one
13695 time or another: to assure the safety of simultaneous access, to improve
13696 privacy, to survive crashes, to exploit uucp, to screen out foreign
13697 freeloaders, or whatever.
13698 Not until v7 did the interface change (Thompson).
13699 Later, as mail became global in its reach, Dave Presotto took charge and
13700 brought order to communications with a grab-bag of external networks
13706 Mail was written in 1978 by Kurt Shoens and developed as part of the
13709 distribution until 1995.
13710 Mail has then seen further development in open source
13712 variants, noticeably by Christos Zoulas in
13714 Based upon this Nail, later Heirloom Mailx, was developed by Gunnar
13715 Ritter in the years 2000 until 2008.
13716 Since 2012 S-nail is maintained by Steffen (Daode) Nurpmeso.
13717 This man page is derived from
13718 .Dq The Mail Reference Manual
13719 that was originally written by Kurt Shoens.
13727 .An "Kurt Shoens" ,
13728 .An "Edward Wang" ,
13729 .An "Keith Bostic" ,
13730 .An "Christos Zoulas" ,
13731 .An "Gunnar Ritter" .
13732 \*(UA is developed by
13733 .An "Steffen Nurpmeso" Aq steffen@sdaoden.eu .
13736 .\" .Sh CAVEATS {{{
13739 \*(ID Interrupting an operation via
13743 from anywhere else but a command prompt is very problematic and likely
13744 to leave the program in an undefined state: many library functions
13745 cannot deal with the
13747 that this software (still) performs; even though efforts have been taken
13748 to address this, no sooner but in v15 it will have been worked out:
13749 interruptions have not been disabled in order to allow forceful breakage
13750 of hanging network connections, for example (all this is unrelated to
13754 The SMTP and POP3 protocol support of \*(UA is very basic.
13755 Also, if it fails to contact its upstream SMTP server, it will not make
13756 further attempts to transfer the message at a later time (setting
13761 If this is a concern, it might be better to set up a local SMTP server
13762 that is capable of message queuing.
13769 After deleting some message of a POP3 mailbox the header summary falsely
13770 claims that there are no messages to display, one needs to perform
13771 a scroll or dot movement to restore proper state.
13773 In threaded display a power user may encounter crashes very
13774 occasionally (this is may and very).
13778 in the source repository lists future directions.
13781 Please report bugs to the
13783 address, e.g., from within \*(uA:
13784 .\" v15-compat: drop eval as `mail' will expand variable?
13785 .Ql ? Ns \| Ic eval Ns \| Ic mail Ns \| $contact-mail .
13786 More information is available on the web:
13787 .Ql $ \*(uA -X 'echo Ns \| $ Ns Va contact-web Ns ' -Xx .