1 .\"@ nail.1 - S-nail(1) reference manual.
3 .\" Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Gunnar Ritter, Freiburg i. Br., Germany.
4 .\" Copyright (c) 2012 - 2016 Steffen (Daode) Nurpmeso <steffen@sdaoden.eu>.
6 .\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993
7 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
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34 .\" S-nail(1): v14.9.0-pre1 / 2016-09-15
36 .ds VV \\%v14.9.0-pre1
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()
78 .Op Fl a Ar attachment
81 .Op Fl M Ar type | Fl m Ar file | Fl q Ar file | Fl t
83 .Op Fl S Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
88 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns Ar mta-option ...
97 .Op Fl S Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
100 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns Ar mta-option ...
108 .Op Fl L Ar spec-list
109 .Op Fl r Ar from-addr
110 .Op Fl S Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
113 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns Ar mta-option ...
118 .Mx -toc -tree html pdf ps xhtml
121 .\" .Sh DESCRIPTION {{{
124 .Bd -filled -compact -offset indent
125 .Sy Compatibility note:
126 S-nail (\*(UA) will wrap up into \%S-mailx in v15.0 (circa 2018).
127 Backward incompatibility has to be expected \(en
131 -style argument quoting rules, for example.
132 New and old behaviour is flagged \*(IN and \*(OU, and setting
135 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
136 will choose new behaviour when applicable.
137 \*(OB flags what will vanish, and enabling
141 enables obsoletion warnings.
145 \*(UA is a mail processing system with a command syntax reminiscent of
147 with lines replaced by messages.
148 It is intended to provide the functionality of the POSIX
150 command, but is MIME capable and optionally offers extensions for
151 line editing, S/MIME, SMTP and POP3 among others.
152 It is usable as a mail batch language.
154 .\" .Ss "Options" {{{
157 .Bl -tag -width ".Fl _ Ar _ddr"
160 Explicitly control which of the
162 shall be loaded: if the letter
164 is (case-insensitively) part of the
168 is loaded, likewise the letter
170 controls loading of the user's personal
172 file, whereas the letters
176 explicitly forbid loading of any resource files.
177 This option should be used by scripts: to avoid environmental noise they
180 from any configuration files and create a script-local environment,
181 explicitly setting any of the desired
182 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
185 This option overrides
192 command for the given user email
194 after program startup is complete.
195 Being a special incarnation of
197 macros for the purpose of bundling longer-lived settings, activating
198 such an email account also switches to the accounts
204 Attach the given file to the message.
205 The same filename conventions as described in the section
207 apply: shell word expansion is restricted to the tilde
211 not be accessible but contain a
213 character, then anything after the
215 is assumed to specify the input character set and anything before
217 the filename: this is the only option to specify the input character set
218 (and don't perform any character set conversion) for text attachments
219 from the command line, not using the
221 tilde escape command.
225 Make standard input and standard output line-buffered.
229 Send a blind carbon copy to
232 May be used multiple times.
234 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
238 Send carbon copies to the given receiver.
239 May be used multiple times.
244 the internal variable
246 which enables debug messages and disables message delivery,
247 among others; effectively turns almost any operation into a dry-run.
253 and thus discard messages with an empty message part body.
254 This is useful for sending messages from scripts.
258 Just check if mail is present (in the specified or system
260 box): if yes, return an exit status of zero, a non-zero value otherwise.
261 To restrict the set of mails to consider in this evaluation a message
262 specification can be added with the option
267 Save the message to send in a file named after the local part of the
268 first recipient's address (instead of in
273 Read in the contents of the user's
275 (or the specified file) for processing;
276 when \*(UA is quit, it writes undeleted messages back to this file
280 Some special conventions are recognized for the optional
282 argument which are documented for the
287 is not a argument to the flag
289 but is instead taken from the command line after option processing has
293 that starts with a hyphen, prefix it with a (relative) path, as in
294 .Ql ./-hyphenbox.mbox .
298 Display a summary of the
300 of all messages in the specified or system
303 A configurable summary view is available via the
309 Show a short usage summary.
310 Because of widespread use a
312 argument will have the same effect.
318 to ignore tty interrupt signals.
321 .It Fl L Ar spec-list
322 Display a summary of all
324 of only those messages in the specified or system
326 box that match the given
330 .Sx "Specifying messages"
337 option has been given in addition no header summary is produced,
338 but \*(UA will instead indicate via its exit status whether
344 note that any verbose output is suppressed in this mode and must instead
345 be enabled explicitly (e.g., by using the option
350 Special send mode that will flag standard input with the MIME
354 and use it as the main message body.
355 \*(ID Using this option will bypass processing of
356 .Va message-inject-head ,
359 .Va message-inject-tail .
365 Special send mode that will MIME classify the specified
367 and use it as the main message body.
368 \*(ID Using this option will bypass processing of
369 .Va message-inject-head ,
372 .Va message-inject-tail .
380 and thus inhibit initial display of message headers when reading mail or
381 editing a mail folder.
385 Standard flag that inhibits reading the system wide
390 allows more control over the startup sequence; also see
391 .Sx "Resource files" .
395 Special send mode that will initialize the message body with the
396 contents of the specified
398 which may be standard input
400 only in non-interactive context.
406 Any folder opened will be in read-only mode.
409 .It Fl r Ar from-addr
412 is a valid address then it specifies the envelope sender address to be
413 passed to a file-based
415 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) as
417 when a message is send.
420 include a user name, then the address components will be separated and
421 the name part will be passed to file-based
427 will also be assigned to the
430 .Ql -Sfrom=from-addr ) ,
431 therefore affecting possible SMTP
433 data transfer; note this assignment does not cause value fixation.
435 If instead an empty string is passed as
437 then the content of the variable
439 will be evaluated and used for this purpose whenever the
442 Note that \*(UA by default, without
444 that is, neither passes
448 flags to a file-based MTA by itself.
451 .It Fl S Ar var Ns Op = Ns value
455 iable and, in case of a non-boolean variable which has a value, assign
459 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
463 may be overwritten from within resource files,
464 the command line setting will be reestablished after all resource files
469 Specify the subject of the to-be-sent message.
473 The message given (on standard input) is expected to contain, separated
474 from the message body by an empty line, a message header with
479 fields giving its recipients, which will be added to any recipients
480 specified on the command line.
481 If a message subject is specified via
483 then it'll be used in favour of one given on the command line.
499 .Ql Mail-Followup-To: ,
500 by default created automatically dependent on message context, will
501 be used if specified (a special address massage will however still occur
503 Any other (even custom) header field is passed through entirely
504 unchanged, and in conjunction with the option
506 it is even possible to embed
513 Initially read the primary system mailbox of
515 appropriate privileges presumed; effectively identical to
525 will also show the list of
527 .Ql $ \*(uA -Xversion -Xx .
532 ting the internal variable
534 enables display of some informational context messages.
535 Using it twice increases the level of verbosity.
539 Add the given (or multiple for a multiline argument)
541 to the list of commands to be executed (as a unit, just as via
543 before normal operation starts.
547 .Va batch-exit-on-error ;
548 the only possibility to execute commands in non-interactive mode when
549 reading startup files is actively prohibited.
555 even if not in interactive mode.
556 This can be used to, e.g., automatically format the composed message
557 text before sending the message:
558 .Bd -literal -offset indent
559 $ ( echo 'line one. Word. Word2.'; \e
560 echo '~| /usr/bin/fmt -tuw66' ) |\e
561 LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ -Sttycharset=UTF-8 -d~ bob@exam.ple
567 In batch mode the full set of commands is available, just like in
568 interactive mode, and diverse variable settings and internal states are
569 adjusted for batch necessities, e.g., it
585 is enabled in compose mode.
586 The following prepares an email message in a batched dry run:
587 .Bd -literal -offset indent
588 $ LC_ALL=C printf 'm bob\en~s ubject\enText\en~.\enx\en' | \e
589 LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ -d# -X'alias bob bob@exam.ple'
594 This flag forces termination of option processing in order to prevent
597 It also forcefully puts \*(UA into send mode, see
598 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
602 In the above list of supported command line options,
606 are implemented by means of
608 ting the respective option, as via
611 .Op Ar mta-option ...
613 arguments that are given at the end of the command line after a
615 separator will be passed through to a file-based
617 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) and persist for an entire (interactive) session
618 \(en if the setting of
620 allows their recognition; no such constraints apply to the variable
624 .\" .Ss "A starter" {{{
627 \*(UA is a direct descendant of
629 Mail, a successor of the Research
632 .Dq was there from the start
637 Mail reference manual begins with the following words:
639 .Bd -ragged -offset indent
640 Mail provides a simple and friendly environment for sending and
642 It divides incoming mail into its constituent messages and allows the
643 user to deal with them in any order.
644 In addition, it provides a set of
646 -like commands for manipulating messages and sending mail.
647 Mail offers the user simple editing capabilities to ease the composition
648 of outgoing messages, as well as providing the ability to define and
649 send to names which address groups of users.
653 \*(UA is thus the user side of the
655 mail system, whereas the system side (Mail-Transfer-Agent, MTA) was
656 traditionally taken by
658 and most MTAs provide a binary of this name for compatibility purposes.
663 of \*(UA then the system side is not a mandatory precondition for mail
667 Because \*(UA strives for compliance with POSIX
669 it is likely that some configuration settings have to be adjusted before
670 using it is a smooth experience.
673 resource file bends those standard imposed settings of the
674 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
675 a bit towards more user friendliness and safety, however, e.g., it
680 in order to suppress the automatic moving of messages to
682 that would otherwise occur (see
683 .Sx "Message states" )
686 to not remove empty files in order not to mangle file permissions when
687 files eventually get recreated (\*(UA actively manages the file mode
690 upon program startup).
693 in order to synchronize \*(UA with the exit status report of the used
698 contains some more complete configuration examples.
701 .\" .Ss "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" {{{
702 .Ss "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode"
704 To send a message to one or more people, using a local or a builtin
706 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) transport to actually deliver the generated mail
707 message, \*(UA can be invoked with arguments which are the names of
708 people to whom the mail will be sent, and the command line options
712 can be used to add (blind) carbon copy receivers:
714 .Bd -literal -offset indent
715 $ \*(uA -s ubject -a ttach.txt bill@exam.ple
716 # But... try it in an isolated dry-run mode first
717 $ LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ -d -vv -Ssendwait \e
718 -b bcc@exam.ple -c cc@exam.ple -. \e
719 '(Lovely) Bob <bob@exam.ple>' eric@exam.ple
721 $ LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ -d -vv -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait \e
722 -S 'mta=smtps://mylogin@exam.ple:465' -Ssmtp-auth=login \e
723 -S 'from=scriptreply@exam.ple' \e
729 If standard input is a terminal rather than the message to be sent,
730 the user is expected to type in the message contents.
731 In this compose mode \*(UA treats lines beginning with the character
733 special \(en these are so-called
735 which can be used to read in files, process shell commands, add and edit
736 attachments and more; e.g., the tilde escape
738 will start the text editor to revise the message in it's current state,
740 allows editing of the most important message headers and
742 gives an overview of available tilde escapes.
746 at the beginning of an empty line leaves compose mode and causes the
747 message to be sent, whereas typing
750 twice will abort the current letter (saving its contents in the file
756 Messages are sent asynchronously, without supervision, unless the variable
758 is set, therefore send errors are not recognizable until then.
764 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
765 can be used to alter default behavior; e.g.,
770 will automatically startup a text editor when compose mode is entered,
772 will cause the user to be prompted actively for carbon-copy recipients
775 option will allow leaving compose mode by writing a line consisting
781 hook macros may be set to automatically adjust some settings dependent
782 on receiver, sender or subject contexts.
785 Especially for using public mail provider accounts with the SMTP
787 it is often necessary to set
789 and saving a copy of sent messages in a
791 may be desirable \(en as for most mailbox file targets some special
792 syntax conventions are recognized (see the
794 command for more on that).
797 for the purpose of arranging a complete environment of settings that can
798 be switched to with a single command or command line option may be
801 contains example configurations for sending messages via some of the
802 well-known public mail providers and also gives a compact overview on
803 how to setup a secure SSL/TLS environment).
808 sandbox dry-run tests first will prove correctness.
812 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
813 will spread light on the different ways of how to specify user email
814 account credentials, the
816 variable chains, and accessing protocol-specific resources,
819 goes into the details of character encoding and how to use them for
820 representing messages and MIME part contents by specifying them in
822 and reading the section
823 .Sx "The mime.types files"
824 should help to understand how the MIME-type of outgoing attachments are
825 classified, and what can be done for fine-tuning.
828 Message recipients (as specified on the command line or defined in
833 may not only be email addressees but can also be names of mailboxes and
834 even complete shell command pipe specifications.
837 is not set then only network addresses (see
839 for a description of mail addresses) and plain user names (including MTA
840 aliases) may be used, other types will be filtered out, giving a warning
843 .\" When changing any of the following adjust any RECIPIENTADDRSPEC;
844 .\" grep the latter for the complete picture
848 is set then extended recipient addresses will optionally be accepted:
849 Any name which starts with a vertical bar
851 character specifies a command pipe \(en the command string following the
853 is executed and the message is sent to its standard input;
854 Likewise, any name that starts with the character solidus
856 or the character sequence dot solidus
858 is treated as a file, regardless of the remaining content.
859 Any other name which contains an at sign
861 character is treated as a network address;
862 Any other name which starts with a plus sign
864 character specifies a mailbox name;
865 Any other name which contains a solidus
867 character but no exclamation mark
871 character before also specifies a mailbox name;
872 What remains is treated as a network address.
874 .Bd -literal -offset indent
875 $ echo bla | \*(uA -Sexpandaddr -s test ./mbox.mbox
876 $ echo bla | \*(uA -Sexpandaddr -s test '|cat >> ./mbox.mbox'
877 $ echo safe | LC_ALL=C \e
878 \*(uA -:/ -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait -Snosave \e
879 -Sexpandaddr=fail,-all,+addr -s test \e
884 It is possible to create personal distribution lists via the
886 command, so that, for instance, the user can send mail to
888 and have it go to a group of people.
889 These aliases have nothing in common with the system wide aliases that
890 may be used by the MTA, which are subject to the
894 and are often tracked in a file
900 Personal aliases will be expanded by \*(UA before the message is sent,
901 and are thus a convenient alternative to specifying each addressee by
905 .Dl alias cohorts bill jkf mark kridle@ucbcory ~/mail/cohorts.mbox
908 To avoid environmental noise scripts should
910 \*(UA from any configuration files and create a script-local
911 environment, ideally with the command line options
913 to disable any configuration file in conjunction with repetitions of
915 to specify variables:
917 .Bd -literal -offset indent
918 $ env LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ \e
919 -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait -Snosave -Sttycharset=utf-8 \e
920 -Sexpandaddr=fail,-all,+addr \e
921 -S 'mta=smtps://mylogin@exam.ple:465' -Ssmtp-auth=login \e
922 -S 'from=scriptreply@exam.ple' \e
923 -s 'subject' -a attachment_file \e
924 -. "Recipient 1 <rec1@exam.ple>" rec2@exam.ple \e
929 As shown, scripts can
931 a locale environment, the above specifies the all-compatible 7-bit clean
934 but will nonetheless take and send UTF-8 in the message text by using
936 In interactive mode, which is introduced in the next section, messages
937 can be sent by calling the
939 command with a list of recipient addresses \(em the semantics are
940 completely identical to non-interactive message sending:
942 .Bd -literal -offset indent
943 $ \*(uA -d -Squiet -Semptystart
944 "/var/spool/mail/user": 0 messages
945 ? mail "Recipient 1 <rec1@exam.ple>", rec2@exam.ple
946 ? # Will do the right thing (tm)
947 ? m rec1@exam.ple rec2@exam.ple
951 .\" .Ss "On reading mail, and interactive mode" {{{
952 .Ss "On reading mail, and interactive mode"
954 When invoked without addressees \*(UA enters interactive mode in which
956 When used like that the user's system
960 for an in-depth description of the different mailbox types that exist)
961 is read in and a one line header of each message therein is displayed.
962 The visual style of this summary of
964 can be adjusted through the variable
966 and the possible sorting criterion via
972 can be performed with the command
974 If the initially opened mailbox is empty \*(UA will instead exit
975 immediately (after displaying a message) unless the variable
984 will give a listing of all available commands and
986 will give a summary of some common ones.
987 If the \*(OPal documentation strings are available one can type
990 and see the actual expansion of
992 and what it's purpose is, i.e., commands can be abbreviated
993 (note that POSIX defines some abbreviations, so that the alphabetical
994 order of commands doesn't necessarily relate to the abbreviations; it is
995 possible to define overwrites with the
998 These commands can also produce a more
1003 Messages are given numbers (starting at 1) which uniquely identify
1004 messages; the current message \(en the
1006 \(en will either be the first new message, or the first unread message,
1007 or the first message of the mailbox; the option
1009 will instead cause usage of the last message for this purpose.
1014 ful of header summaries containing the
1018 will display only the summaries of the given messages, defaulting to the
1022 Message content can be displayed on the users' terminal with the
1026 If instead the command
1028 is used, only the first
1030 of a message will be shown.
1031 By default the current message
1033 is displayed, but like with many other commands it is possible to give
1034 a fancy message specification (see
1035 .Sx "Specifying messages" ) ,
1038 will display all unread messages,
1043 will type the messages 1 and 5,
1045 will type the messages 1 through 5, and
1049 will display the last and the next message, respectively.
1052 (a more substantial alias of the standard command
1054 will display a header summary of the given message specification list
1055 instead of their content, e.g., the following will search for subjects:
1058 .Dl from "'@Some subject to search for'"
1061 In the default setup all header fields of a message will be
1063 d, but this can be changed: either by blacklisting a list of fields via
1065 or by whitelisting only a given list with the
1068 .Ql Ic \:retain Ns \0from_ date from to cc subject .
1069 In order to display all header fields of a message regardless of
1070 currently active ignore or retain lists, use the commands
1076 controls whether and when \*(UA will use the configured
1078 for display instead of directly writing to the user terminal
1080 (generally speaking).
1081 Note that historically the global
1083 not only adjusts the list of displayed headers, but also sets
1087 Dependent upon the configuration a line editor (see the section
1088 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
1089 aims at making user experience with the many
1092 When reading the system
1098 specified a mailbox explicitly prefixed with the special
1100 modifier (propagating the mailbox to a primary one) then messages which
1101 have been read will be moved to a secondary mailbox, the user's
1103 file, automatically when the mailbox is left, either by changing the
1104 active mailbox or by quitting \*(UA (also see
1105 .Sx "Message states" )
1106 \(en this automatic moving from a system or primary to the secondary
1107 mailbox is not performed when the variable
1112 After examining a message the user can also
1116 to the sender and all recipients or
1118 exclusively to the sender(s).
1119 Messages can also be
1121 ed (shorter alias is
1123 Note that when replying to or forwarding a message recipient addresses
1124 will be stripped from comments and names unless the option
1127 Deletion causes \*(UA to forget about the message;
1128 This is not irreversible, though, one can
1130 the message by giving its number,
1131 or the \*(UA session can be ended by giving the
1136 To end a mail processing session one may either issue
1138 to cause a full program exit, which possibly includes
1139 automatic moving of read messages to
1141 as well as updating the \*(OPal line editor
1145 instead in order to prevent any of these actions.
1148 .\" .Ss "HTML mail and MIME attachments" {{{
1149 .Ss "HTML mail and MIME attachments"
1151 Messages which are HTML-only get more and more common and of course many
1152 messages come bundled with a bouquet of MIME attachments.
1153 Whereas \*(UA \*(OPally supports a simple HTML-to-text converter to deal
1154 with HTML messages (see
1155 .Sx "The mime.types files" ) ,
1156 it normally can't deal with any of these itself, but instead programs
1157 need to become registered to deal with specific MIME types or file
1159 These programs may either prepare plain text versions of their input
1160 in order to enable \*(UA to display the content on the terminal,
1161 or display the content themselves, for example in a graphical window.
1164 To install an external handler program for a specific MIME type set an
1166 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
1167 variable; to instead define a handler for a specific file extension set
1170 variable \(en these handlers take precedence.
1171 \*(OPally \*(UA supports mail user agent configuration as defined in
1172 RFC 1524; this mechanism, documented in the section
1173 .Sx "The Mailcap files" ,
1174 will be queried for display or quote handlers if none of the former two
1175 .\" TODO v15-compat "will be" -> "is"
1176 did; it will be the sole source for handlers of other purpose.
1177 A last source for handlers may be the MIME type definition itself, if
1178 the \*(UA specific type-marker extension was used when defining the type
1181 (Many of the builtin MIME types do so by default.)
1185 .Va mime-counter-evidence
1186 can be set to improve dealing with faulty MIME part declarations as are
1187 often seen in real-life messages.
1188 E.g., to display a HTML message inline (that is, converted to a more
1189 fancy plain text representation than the builtin converter is capable to
1190 produce) with either of the text-mode browsers
1194 teach \*(UA about MathML documents and make it display them as plain
1195 text, and to open PDF attachments in an external PDF viewer,
1196 asynchronously and with some other magic attached:
1198 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1199 if $features !@ +filter-html-tagsoup
1200 #set pipe-text/html='elinks -force-html -dump 1'
1201 set pipe-text/html='lynx -stdin -dump -force_html'
1202 # Display HTML as plain text instead
1203 #set pipe-text/html=@
1205 mimetype '@ application/mathml+xml mathml'
1206 wysh set pipe-application/pdf='@&=@ \e
1207 trap "rm -f \e"${NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}\e"" EXIT;\e
1208 trap "trap \e"\e" INT QUIT TERM; exit 1" INT QUIT TERM;\e
1209 mupdf "${NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}"'
1213 Note: special care must be taken when using such commands as mail
1214 viruses may be distributed by this method: if messages of type
1215 .Ql application/x-sh
1216 or files with the extension
1218 were blindly filtered through the shell, for example, a message sender
1219 could easily execute arbitrary code on the system \*(UA is running on.
1220 For more on MIME, also in respect to sending of messages, see the
1222 .Sx "The mime.types files" ,
1223 .Sx "The Mailcap files"
1228 .\" .Ss "Mailing lists" {{{
1231 \*(UA offers some support to ease handling of mailing lists.
1234 promotes all given arguments to known mailing lists, and
1236 sets their subscription attribute, creating them first as necessary.
1241 automatically, but only resets the subscription attribute.)
1242 Using the commands without arguments will show (a subset of) all
1243 currently defined mailing lists.
1248 can be used to mark out messages with configured list addresses
1249 in the header display.
1252 \*(OPally mailing lists may also be specified as (extended) regular
1253 expressions, which allows matching of many addresses with a single
1255 However, all fully qualified list addresses are matched via a fast
1256 dictionary, whereas expressions are placed in (a) list(s) which is
1257 (are) matched sequentially.
1259 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1260 set followup-to followup-to-honour=ask-yes reply-to-honour=ask-yes
1261 wysh mlist a1@b1.c1 a2@b2.c2 '.*@lists\e.c3$'
1262 mlsubscribe a4@b4.c4 exact@lists.c3
1267 .Va followup-to-honour
1269 .Ql Mail-\:Followup-\:To:
1270 header is honoured when the message is being replied to (via
1276 controls whether this header is created when sending mails; it will be
1277 created automatically for a couple of reasons, too, like when the
1279 .Dq mailing list specific
1284 is used to respond to a message with its
1285 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
1289 A difference in between the handling of known and subscribed lists is
1290 that the address of the sender is usually not part of a generated
1291 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
1292 when addressing the latter, whereas it is for the former kind of lists.
1293 Usually because there are exceptions: say, if multiple lists are
1294 addressed and not all of them are subscribed lists.
1296 For convenience \*(UA will, temporarily, automatically add a list
1297 address that is presented in the
1299 header of a message that is being responded to to the list of known
1301 Shall that header have existed \*(UA will instead, dependent on the
1303 .Va reply-to-honour ,
1306 for this purpose in order to accept a list administrators' wish that
1307 is supposed to have been manifested like that (but only if it provides
1308 a single address which resides on the same domain as what is stated in
1312 .\" .Ss "Resource files" {{{
1313 .Ss "Resource files"
1315 Upon startup \*(UA reads in several resource files:
1317 .Bl -tag -width ".It Pa _AIL_EXTRA_R_"
1320 System wide initialization file.
1321 Reading of this file can be suppressed, either by using the
1325 command line options, or by setting the
1328 .Ev NAIL_NO_SYSTEM_RC .
1332 File giving initial commands.
1333 A different file can be chosen by setting the
1337 Reading of this file can be suppressed with the
1339 command line option.
1341 .It Va NAIL_EXTRA_RC
1342 Can be used to define an optional startup file to be read after all
1343 other resource files.
1344 It can be used to specify settings that are not understood by other
1346 implementations, for example.
1347 This variable is only honoured when defined in a resource file, e.g.,
1349 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" .
1353 The content of these files is interpreted as follows:
1356 .Bl -bullet -compact
1358 A lines' leading whitespace is removed.
1360 Empty lines are ignored.
1362 Any other line is interpreted as a command.
1363 It may be spread over multiple input lines if the newline character is
1365 by placing a reverse solidus character
1367 as the last character of the line; whereas any leading whitespace of
1368 follow lines is ignored, trailing whitespace before a escaped newline
1369 remains in the input.
1371 If the line (content) starts with the number sign
1373 then it is a comment-command \(en a real command! \(en and also ignored.
1374 This command is the only form of comment that is understood.
1378 Unless \*(UA is about to enter interactive mode syntax errors that occur
1379 while loading these files are treated as errors and cause program exit.
1380 More files with syntactically equal content can be
1382 The following, saved in a file, would be an examplary content:
1384 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1385 # This line is a comment command. And y\e
1386 es, it is really continued here.
1393 .\" .Ss "Character sets" {{{
1394 .Ss "Character sets"
1396 \*(OP \*(UA detects the character set of the terminal by using
1397 mechanisms that are controlled by the
1402 should give an overview); the \*(UA internal variable
1404 will be set to the detected terminal character set accordingly
1405 and will thus show up in the output of the commands
1411 However, a user supplied
1413 value is not overwritten by this detection mechanism: this
1415 must be used if the detection doesn't work properly,
1416 and it may be used to adjust the name of the locale character set.
1417 E.g., on BSD systems one may use a locale with the character set
1418 ISO8859-1, which is not a valid name for this character set; to be on
1419 the safe side, one may set
1421 to the correct name, which is ISO-8859-1.
1424 Note that changing the value doesn't mean much beside that,
1425 since several aspects of the real character set are implied by the
1426 locale environment of the system,
1427 and that stays unaffected by the content of an overwritten
1430 (This is mostly an issue when interactively using \*(UA, though.
1431 It is actually possible to send mail in a completely
1433 locale environment, an option that \*(UA's test-suite uses excessively.)
1436 If no character set conversion capabilities have been compiled into
1439 doesn't include the term
1443 will be the only supported character set,
1444 it is simply assumed that it can be used to exchange 8-bit messages,
1445 and the rest of this section does not apply;
1446 it may however still be necessary to explicitly set it if automatic
1447 detection fails, since in that case it defaults to the mentioned
1448 .\" (Keep in SYNC: ./nail.1:"Character sets", ./nail.h:CHARSET_*!)
1452 When reading messages, their text is converted into
1454 as necessary in order to display them on the users terminal.
1455 Unprintable characters and invalid byte sequences are detected
1456 and replaced by proper substitution characters (unless the variable
1458 was set once \*(UA was started).
1460 .Va charset-unknown-8bit
1461 to deal with another hairy aspect of message interpretation.
1464 When sending messages all their parts and attachments are classified.
1465 Whereas no character set conversion is performed on those parts which
1466 appear to be binary data,
1467 the character set being used must be declared within the MIME header of
1468 an outgoing text part if it contains characters that do not conform to
1469 the set of characters that are allowed by the email standards.
1470 Permissible values for character sets can be declared using the
1474 which defines a catch-all last-resort fallback character set that is
1475 implicitly appended to the list of character-sets in
1479 When replying to a message and the variable
1480 .Va reply-in-same-charset
1481 is set then the character set of the message being replied to is tried
1483 And it is also possible to make \*(UA work even more closely related to
1484 the current locale setting automatically by using the variable
1485 .Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset ,
1486 please see there for more information.
1489 All the specified character sets are tried in order unless the
1490 conversion of the part or attachment succeeds.
1491 If none of the tried (8-bit) character sets is capable to represent the
1492 content of the part or attachment,
1493 then the message will not be sent and its text will optionally be
1497 In general, if the message
1498 .Dq Cannot convert from a to b
1499 appears, either some characters are not appropriate for the currently
1500 selected (terminal) character set,
1501 or the needed conversion is not supported by the system.
1502 In the first case, it is necessary to set an appropriate
1504 locale and/or the variable
1508 The best results are usually achieved when \*(UA is run in a UTF-8
1509 locale on a UTF-8 capable terminal, in which case the full Unicode
1510 spectrum of characters is available.
1511 In this setup characters from various countries can be displayed,
1512 while it is still possible to use more simple character sets for sending
1513 to retain maximum compatibility with older mail clients.
1516 On the other hand the POSIX standard defines a locale-independent 7-bit
1517 .Dq portable character set
1518 that should be used when overall portability is an issue, the even more
1519 restricted subset named
1520 .Dq portable filename character set
1521 consisting of A-Z, a-z, 0-9, period
1530 .\" .Ss "Message states" {{{
1531 .Ss "Message states"
1533 \*(UA differentiates in between several different message states;
1534 the current state will be reflected in header summary displays if
1536 is configured to do so (via the internal variable
1538 and messages can also be selected and be acted upon depending on their
1540 .Sx "Specifying messages" ) .
1541 When operating on the system
1543 box or in primary mailboxes opened with the special prefix
1547 special actions, like the automatic moving of messages to the secondary
1549 mailbox may be applied when the mailbox is left (also implicitly via
1550 a successful exit of \*(UA, but not if the special command
1552 is used) \(en however, because this may be irritating to users which
1555 mail-user-agents, the default global
1561 variables in order to suppress this behaviour.
1563 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ql _reserved"
1565 Message has neither been viewed nor moved to any other state.
1566 Such messages are retained even in the primary system mailbox.
1569 Message has neither been viewed nor moved to any other state, but the
1570 message was present already when the mailbox has been opened last:
1571 Such messages are retained even in the primary system mailbox.
1574 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
1594 commands may also cause the next message to be marked as read, depending
1600 command is used, messages that are in the primary system mailbox or in
1601 mailboxes which were opened with the special
1605 state when the mailbox is left will be saved in
1612 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
1618 can be used to access such messages.
1621 The message has been processed by a
1623 command and it will be retained in its current location.
1626 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
1632 command is used, messages that are in the primary system mailbox or in
1633 mailboxes which were opened with the special
1637 state when the mailbox is left will be deleted; they will be saved in
1645 .\" .Ss "Specifying messages" {{{
1646 .Ss "Specifying messages"
1653 can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply to a number
1654 of messages at once.
1657 deletes messages 1 and 2,
1660 will delete the messages 1 through 5.
1661 In sorted or threaded mode (see the
1665 will delete the messages that are located between (and including)
1666 messages 1 through 5 in the sorted/threaded order, as shown in the
1669 The following special message names exist:
1672 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ar _n_u"
1674 The current message, the so-called
1678 The message that was previously the current message.
1681 The parent message of the current message,
1682 that is the message with the Message-ID given in the
1684 field or the last entry of the
1686 field of the current message.
1689 The next previous undeleted message,
1690 or the next previous deleted message for the
1693 In sorted/threaded mode,
1694 the next previous such message in the sorted/threaded order.
1697 The next undeleted message,
1698 or the next deleted message for the
1701 In sorted/threaded mode,
1702 the next such message in the sorted/threaded order.
1705 The first undeleted message,
1706 or the first deleted message for the
1709 In sorted/threaded mode,
1710 the first such message in the sorted/threaded order.
1714 In sorted/threaded mode,
1715 the last message in the sorted/threaded order.
1719 selects the message addressed with
1723 is any other message specification,
1724 and all messages from the thread that begins at it.
1725 Otherwise it is identical to
1730 the thread beginning with the current message is selected.
1735 All messages that were included in the message list for the previous
1739 An inclusive range of message numbers.
1740 Selectors that may also be used as endpoints include any of
1745 .Dq any substring matches
1748 header, which will match addresses (too) even if
1750 is set (and POSIX says
1751 .Dq any address as shown in a header summary shall be matchable in this form ) ;
1754 variable is set, only the local part of the address is evaluated
1755 for the comparison, not ignoring case, and the setting of
1757 is completely ignored.
1758 For finer control and match boundaries use the
1762 .It Ar / Ns Ar string
1763 All messages that contain
1765 in the subject field (case ignored).
1772 the string from the previous specification of that type is used again.
1774 .It Xo Op Ar @ Ns Ar name-list Ns
1777 All messages that contain the given case-insensitive search
1779 ession; if the \*(OPal regular expression (see
1781 support is available
1783 will be interpreted as (an extended) one if any of the
1785 (extended) regular expression characters is seen.
1787 .Ar @ Ns Ar name-list
1788 part is missing, the search is restricted to the subject field body,
1791 specifies a comma-separated list of header fields to search, as in
1793 .Dl '@to,from,cc@Someone i ought to know'
1795 In order to search for a string that includes a
1797 (commercial at) character the
1799 is effectively non-optional, but may be given as the empty string.
1800 Some special header fields may be abbreviated:
1814 respectively and case-insensitively.
1819 can be used to search in (all of) the header(s) of the message, and the
1828 can be used to perform full text searches \(en whereas the former
1829 searches only the body, the latter also searches the message header.
1831 This message specification performs full text comparison, but even with
1832 regular expression support it is almost impossible to write a search
1833 expression that savely matches only a specific address domain.
1834 To request that the content of the header is treated as a list of
1835 addresses, and to strip those down to the plain email address which the
1836 search expression is to be matched against, prefix the header name
1837 (abbreviation) with a tilde
1840 .Dl @~f@@a\e.safe\e.domain\e.match$
1843 All messages of state
1847 is one or multiple of the following colon modifiers:
1849 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar :M"
1854 Old messages (any not in state
1880 Messages marked as draft.
1882 \*(OP Messages classified as spam.
1884 \*(OP Messages with unsure spam classification.
1890 \*(OP IMAP-style SEARCH expressions may also be used.
1891 This addressing mode is available with all types of folders;
1892 \*(UA will perform the search locally as necessary.
1893 Strings must be enclosed by double quotes
1895 in their entirety if they contain white space or parentheses;
1896 within the quotes, only reverse solidus
1898 is recognized as an escape character.
1899 All string searches are case-insensitive.
1900 When the description indicates that the
1902 representation of an address field is used,
1903 this means that the search string is checked against both a list
1906 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1907 (\*qname\*q \*qsource\*q \*qlocal-part\*q \*qdomain-part\*q)
1912 and the addresses without real names from the respective header field.
1913 These search expressions can be nested using parentheses, see below for
1917 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar _n_u"
1918 .It Ar ( criterion )
1919 All messages that satisfy the given
1921 .It Ar ( criterion1 criterion2 ... criterionN )
1922 All messages that satisfy all of the given criteria.
1924 .It Ar ( or criterion1 criterion2 )
1925 All messages that satisfy either
1930 To connect more than two criteria using
1932 specifications have to be nested using additional parentheses,
1934 .Ql (or a (or b c)) ,
1938 .Ql ((a or b) and c) .
1941 operation of independent criteria on the lowest nesting level,
1942 it is possible to achieve similar effects by using three separate
1946 .It Ar ( not criterion )
1947 All messages that do not satisfy
1949 .It Ar ( bcc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
1950 All messages that contain
1952 in the envelope representation of the
1955 .It Ar ( cc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
1956 All messages that contain
1958 in the envelope representation of the
1961 .It Ar ( from \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
1962 All messages that contain
1964 in the envelope representation of the
1967 .It Ar ( subject \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
1968 All messages that contain
1973 .It Ar ( to \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
1974 All messages that contain
1976 in the envelope representation of the
1979 .It Ar ( header name \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
1980 All messages that contain
1985 .It Ar ( body \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
1986 All messages that contain
1989 .It Ar ( text \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
1990 All messages that contain
1992 in their header or body.
1993 .It Ar ( larger size )
1994 All messages that are larger than
1997 .It Ar ( smaller size )
1998 All messages that are smaller than
2002 .It Ar ( before date )
2003 All messages that were received before
2005 which must be in the form
2009 denotes the day of the month as one or two digits,
2011 is the name of the month \(en one of
2012 .Ql Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec ,
2015 is the year as four digits, e.g.,
2019 All messages that were received on the specified date.
2020 .It Ar ( since date )
2021 All messages that were received since the specified date.
2022 .It Ar ( sentbefore date )
2023 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
2024 .It Ar ( senton date )
2025 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
2026 .It Ar ( sentsince date )
2027 All messages that were sent since the specified date.
2029 The same criterion as for the previous search.
2030 This specification cannot be used as part of another criterion.
2031 If the previous command line contained more than one independent
2032 criterion then the last of those criteria is used.
2036 .\" .Ss "On URL syntax and credential lookup" {{{
2037 .Ss "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
2039 \*(IN For accessing protocol-specific resources usage of Uniform
2040 Resource Locators (URL, RFC 1738) has become omnipresent.
2041 \*(UA expects and understands URLs in the following form;
2044 denote optional parts, optional either because there also exist other
2045 ways to define the information in question or because support of the
2046 part is protocol-specific (e.g.,
2048 is used by the IMAP protocol but not by POP3);
2053 are specified they must be given in URL percent encoded form (RFC 3986;
2061 .Dl PROTOCOL://[USER[:PASSWORD]@]server[:port][/path]
2064 Note that these \*(UA URLs most often don't conform to any real
2065 standard, but instead represent a normalized variant of RFC 1738 \(en
2066 they are not used in data exchange but only meant as a compact,
2067 easy-to-use way of defining and representing information in
2068 a well-known notation.
2071 Many internal variables of \*(UA exist in multiple versions, called
2072 variable chains for the rest of this document: the plain
2077 .Ql variable-USER@HOST .
2084 had been specified in the respective URL, otherwise it refers to the plain
2090 that had been found when doing the user chain lookup as is described
2093 will never be in URL percent encoded form, whether it came from an URL
2094 or not; i.e., values of
2095 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
2096 must not be URL percent encoded.
2099 For example, whether an hypothetical URL
2100 .Ql smtp://hey%3Ayou@our.house
2101 had been given that includes a user, or whether the URL was
2102 .Ql smtp://our.house
2103 and the user had been found differently, to lookup the variable chain
2104 .Va smtp-use-starttls
2105 \*(UA first looks for whether
2106 .Ql smtp-\:use-\:starttls-\:hey:you@our.house
2107 is defined, then whether
2108 .Ql smtp-\:use-\:starttls-\:our.house
2109 exists before finally ending up looking at the plain variable itself.
2112 \*(UA obeys the following logic scheme when dealing with the
2113 necessary credential information of an account:
2119 has been given in the URL the variables
2123 are looked up; if no such variable(s) can be found then \*(UA will,
2124 when enforced by the \*(OPal variables
2125 .Va netrc-lookup-HOST
2132 specific entry which provides a
2134 name: this lookup will only succeed if unambiguous (one possible matching
2137 It is possible to load encrypted
2142 If there is still no
2144 then \*(UA will fall back to the user who is supposed to run \*(UA,
2145 the identity of which has been fixated during \*(UA startup and is
2146 known to be a valid user on the current host.
2149 Authentication: unless otherwise noted this will lookup the
2150 .Va PROTOCOL-auth-USER@HOST , PROTOCOL-auth-HOST , PROTOCOL-auth
2151 variable chain, falling back to a protocol-specific default should this
2157 has been given in the URL, then if the
2159 has been found through the \*(OPal
2161 that may have already provided the password, too.
2162 Otherwise the variable chain
2163 .Va password-USER@HOST , password-HOST , password
2164 is looked up and used if existent.
2166 Afterwards the complete \*(OPal variable chain
2167 .Va netrc-lookup-USER@HOST , netrc-lookup-HOST , netrc-lookup
2171 cache is searched for a password only (multiple user accounts for
2172 a single machine may exist as well as a fallback entry without user
2173 but with a password).
2175 If at that point there is still no password available, but the
2176 (protocols') chosen authentication type requires a password, then in
2177 interactive mode the user will be prompted on the terminal.
2182 S/MIME verification works relative to the values found in the
2186 header field(s), which means that the values of
2187 .Va smime-sign , smime-sign-cert , smime-sign-include-certs
2189 .Va smime-sign-message-digest
2190 will not be looked up using the
2194 chains from above but instead use the corresponding values from the
2195 message that is being worked on.
2196 In unusual cases multiple and different
2200 combinations may therefore be involved \(en on the other hand those
2201 unusual cases become possible.
2202 The usual case is as short as:
2205 .Dl set mta=smtp://USER:PASS@HOST smtp-use-starttls \e
2206 .Dl \ \ \ \ smime-sign smime-sign-cert=+smime.pair
2211 contains complete example configurations.
2214 .\" .Ss "On terminal control and line editor" {{{
2215 .Ss "On terminal control and line editor"
2217 \*(OP Terminal control will be realized through one of the standard
2219 libraries, either the
2221 or, alternatively, the
2223 both of which will be initialized to work with the environment variable
2225 Terminal control will enhance or enable interactive usage aspects, e.g.,
2226 .Sx "Coloured display" ,
2227 and extend behaviour of the Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE), which may learn the
2228 byte-sequences of keys like the cursor and function keys, and which will
2229 automatically enter the so-called
2231 alternative screen shall the terminal support it.
2232 The internal variable
2234 can be used to overwrite settings or to learn (correct(ed)) keycodes.
2235 Actual interaction with the chosen library can be disabled completely by
2236 setting the internal variable
2237 .Va termcap-disable ;
2239 will be queried regardless, even if the \*(OPal support for the
2240 libraries has not been enabled at configuration time.
2243 \*(OP The builtin \*(UA Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE) should work in all
2244 environments which comply to the ISO C standard
2246 and will support wide glyphs if possible (the necessary functionality
2247 had been removed from ISO C, but was included in
2249 Prevent usage of a line editor in interactive mode by setting the
2251 .Va line-editor-disable .
2252 Especially if the \*(OPal terminal control support is missing setting
2253 entries in the internal variable
2255 will help shall the MLE misbehave, see there for more.
2256 The MLE can support a little bit of
2262 feature is available then input from line editor prompts will be saved
2263 in a history list that can be searched in and be expanded from.
2264 Such saving can be prevented by prefixing input with any amount of
2266 Aspects of history, like allowed content and maximum size, as well as
2267 whether history shall be saved persistently, can be configured with the
2271 .Va history-gabby-persist
2276 The MLE supports a set of editing and control commands.
2277 By default (as) many (as possible) of these will be assigned to a set of
2278 single-letter control codes, which should work on any terminal.
2281 command is available then the MLE commands can also be accessed freely
2282 by assigning the command name, which is shown in parenthesis in the list
2283 below, to any desired key-sequence, and the MLE will instead and also use
2285 to establish its builtin key bindings
2286 (more of them if the \*(OPal terminal control is available),
2287 an action which can then be suppressed completely by setting
2288 .Va line-editor-no-defaults .
2289 The following uses the
2291 ell-style quote notation that is documented in the introductional
2294 combinations not mentioned either cause job control signals or don't
2295 generate a (unique) keycode:
2299 .Bl -tag -compact -width "Ql _M"
2301 Go to the start of the line
2302 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-home ) .
2305 Move the cursor backward one character
2306 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-bwd ) .
2309 Forward delete the character under the cursor;
2310 quits \*(UA if used on the empty line unless the
2313 .Pf ( Cd mle-del-fwd ) .
2316 Go to the end of the line
2317 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-end ) .
2320 Move the cursor forward one character
2321 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-fwd ) .
2324 Cancel current operation, full reset.
2325 If there is an active history search or tabulator expansion then this
2326 command will first reset that, reverting to the former line content;
2327 thus a second reset is needed for a full reset in this case
2328 .Pf ( Cd mle-reset ) .
2331 Backspace: backward delete one character
2332 .Pf ( Cd mle-del-bwd ) .
2336 Horizontal tabulator:
2337 try to expand the word before the cursor, also supporting \*(UA
2340 .Pf ( Cd mle-complete ) .
2342 .Cd mle-quote-rndtrip .
2346 commit the current line
2347 .Pf ( Cd mle-commit ) .
2350 Cut all characters from the cursor to the end of the line
2351 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-end ) .
2355 .Pf ( Cd mle-repaint ) .
2358 \*(OP Go to the next history entry
2359 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-fwd ) .
2366 \*(OP Go to the previous history entry
2367 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-bwd ) .
2370 Toggle roundtrip mode shell quotes, where produced,
2372 .Pf ( Cd mle-quote-rndtrip ) .
2373 This setting is temporary, and will be forgotten once the command line
2377 \*(OP Complete the current line from (the remaining) older history entries
2378 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-srch-bwd ) .
2381 \*(OP Complete the current line from (the remaining) newer history entries
2382 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-srch-fwd ) .
2385 Paste the snarf buffer
2386 .Pf ( Cd mle-paste ) .
2393 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-line ) .
2396 Prompts for a Unicode character (its hexadecimal number) to be inserted
2397 .Pf ( Cd mle-prompt-char ) .
2398 Note this command needs to be assigned to a single-letter control code
2399 in order to become recognized and executed during input of
2400 a key-sequence (only four single-letter control codes can be used for
2401 that shortcut purpose); this control code is special-treated and can't
2402 be part of any other sequence, because any occurrence will perform the
2404 function immediately.
2407 Cut the characters from the one preceding the cursor to the preceding
2409 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-word-bwd ) .
2412 Move the cursor forward one word boundary
2413 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-word-fwd ) .
2416 Move the cursor backward one word boundary
2417 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-word-bwd ) .
2420 Escape: reset a possibly used multibyte character input state machine
2421 and \*(OPally a lingering, incomplete key binding
2422 .Pf ( Cd mle-cancel ) .
2423 This command needs to be assigned to a single-letter control code in
2424 order to become recognized and executed during input of a key-sequence
2425 (only four single-letter control codes can be used for that shortcut
2427 This control code may also be part of a multi-byte sequence, but if
2428 a sequence is active and the very control code is currently also an
2429 expected input, then it will first be consumed by the active sequence.
2444 Cut the characters from the one after the cursor to the succeeding word
2446 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-word-fwd ) .
2456 this will immediately reset a possibly active search etc.
2460 ring the audible bell.
2464 .\" .Ss "Coloured display" {{{
2465 .Ss "Coloured display"
2467 \*(OP \*(UA can be configured to support a coloured display and font
2468 attributes by emitting ANSI / ISO 6429 SGR (select graphic rendition)
2470 Usage of colours and font attributes solely depends upon the
2471 capability of the detected terminal type that is defined by the
2472 environment variable
2474 and which can be fine-tuned by the user via the internal variable
2478 On top of what \*(UA knows about the terminal the boolean variable
2480 defines whether the actually applicable colour and font attribute
2481 sequences should also be generated when output is going to be paged
2482 through the external program defined by the environment variable
2487 This is not enabled by default because different pager programs need
2488 different command line switches or other configuration in order to
2489 support those sequences.
2490 \*(UA however knows about some widely used pagers and in a clean
2491 environment it is often enough to simply set
2493 please refer to that variable for more on this topic.
2498 is set then any active usage of colour and font attribute sequences
2499 is suppressed, but without affecting possibly established
2504 To define and control colours and font attributes a single multiplexer
2505 command family exists:
2507 shows or defines colour mappings for the given colour type (e.g.,
2510 can be used to remove mappings of a given colour type.
2511 Since colours are only available in interactive mode, it may make
2512 sense to conditionalize the colour setup by encapsulating it with
2515 .Bd -literal -offset indent
2516 if terminal && $features =@ +colour
2517 colour iso view-msginfo ft=bold,fg=green
2518 colour iso view-header ft=bold,fg=red "from,subject"
2519 colour iso view-header fg=red
2521 uncolour iso view-header from,subject
2522 colour iso view-header ft=bold,fg=magenta,bg=cyan
2523 colour 256 view-header ft=bold,fg=208,bg=230 subject,from
2524 colour mono view-header ft=bold
2525 colour mono view-header ft=bold,ft=reverse subject,from
2529 .\" }}} (DESCRIPTION)
2532 .\" .Sh COMMANDS {{{
2535 Each command is typed on a line by itself,
2536 and may take arguments following the command word.
2537 Command names may be abbreviated, in which case the first command that
2538 matches the given prefix will be used.
2541 can be used to show the list of all commands, either alphabetically
2542 sorted or in prefix search order (these don't match, also because the
2543 POSIX standard prescribes a set of abbreviations).
2544 \*(OPally the command
2548 when given an argument, will show a documentation string for the
2549 command matching the expanded argument, as in
2551 which should be a shorthand of
2553 Both commands support a more
2555 listing mode which includes the argument type of the command.
2558 For commands which take message lists as arguments, the next message
2559 forward that satisfies the command's requirements will be used shall no
2560 explicit message list have been specified.
2561 If there are no messages forward of the current message,
2562 the search proceeds backwards,
2563 and if there are no good messages at all,
2564 \*(UA shows an error message and aborts the command.
2565 \*(ID Non-message-list arguments can be quoted using the following methods:
2568 .Bl -bullet -compact -offset indent
2570 An argument can be enclosed between paired double-quotes
2575 any white space, shell word expansion, or reverse solidus characters
2576 (except as described next) within the quotes are treated literally as
2577 part of the argument.
2578 A double-quote will be treated literally within single-quotes and vice
2580 Inside such a quoted string the actually used quote character can be
2581 used nonetheless by escaping it with a reverse solidus
2587 An argument that is not enclosed in quotes, as above, can usually still
2588 contain space characters if those spaces are reverse solidus escaped, as in
2592 A reverse solidus outside of the enclosing quotes is discarded
2593 and the following character is treated literally as part of the argument.
2598 Some commands which don't take message-list arguments can also be
2599 prefixed with the special keyword
2601 to choose \*(INible behaviour, and some new commands support only the
2602 new quoting style (without that keyword) and are flagged \*(NQ.
2603 In the future \*(UA will (mostly) use
2605 compatible argument parsing:
2606 Non-message-list arguments can be quoted using the following shell-style
2607 mechanisms: the escape character, single-quotes, double-quotes and
2608 dollar-single-quotes; any unquoted number sign
2610 starts a comment that ends argument processing.
2611 The overall granularity of error reporting and diagnostics, also
2612 regarding function arguments and their content, will improve.
2616 .Bl -bullet -compact -offset indent
2618 The literal value of any character can be preserved by preceding it
2619 with the escape character reverse solidus
2623 will cause variable expansion of the given name: \*(UA
2624 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
2627 (shell) variables can be accessed through this mechanism, brace
2628 enclosing the name is supported.
2631 Arguments which are enclosed in
2632 .Ql 'single-\:quotes'
2633 retain their literal value.
2634 A single-quote cannot occur within single-quotes.
2637 The literal value of all characters enclosed in
2638 .Ql \(dqdouble-\:quotes\(dq
2639 is retained, with the exception of dollar
2641 which will cause variable expansion, as above, backquote (grave accent)
2643 (which not yet means anything special), reverse solidus
2645 which will escape any of the characters dollar
2647 (to prevent variable expansion), backquote (grave accent)
2651 (to prevent ending the quote) and reverse solidus
2653 (to prevent escaping, i.e., to embed a reverse solidus character as-is),
2654 but has no special meaning otherwise.
2657 Arguments enclosed in
2658 .Ql $'dollar-\:single-\:quotes'
2659 extend normal single quotes in that reverse solidus escape sequences are
2660 expanded as follows:
2662 .Bl -tag -compact -width "Ql \eNNN"
2668 an escape character.
2670 an escape character.
2682 emits a reverse solidus character.
2686 double quote (escaping is optional).
2688 eight-bit byte with the octal value
2690 (one to three octal digits), optionally with an additional
2693 A 0 byte will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
2695 eight-bit byte with the hexadecimal value
2697 (one or two hexadecimal characters).
2698 A 0 byte will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
2700 the Unicode / ISO-10646 character with the hexadecimal codepoint value
2702 (one to eight hexadecimal digits) \(em note that Unicode defines the
2703 maximum codepoint to be ever supported as
2708 This escape is only supported in locales which support Unicode (see
2709 .Sx "Character sets" ) ,
2710 in other cases the sequence will remain unexpanded unless the given code
2711 point is ASCII compatible or can be represented in the current locale.
2712 The character NUL will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
2716 except it takes only one to four hexadecimal digits.
2721 This is a mechanism that allows usage of the non-printable (ASCII and
2722 compatible) control codes 0 to 31: to be able to create a printable
2723 representation the numeric value 64 is added to the control code of
2724 desire, and the resulting ASCII character set code point is then
2725 printed, e.g., BEL is
2726 .Ql 7 + 64 = 71 = G .
2727 Often circumflex notation is used for the visualization purpose, e.g,
2729 but the reverse solid notation has been standardized:
2731 The control code NUL
2733 ends argument processing without producing further output.
2735 Non-standard extension: expand the given variable name, as above.
2736 Brace enclosing the name is supported.
2738 Not yet supported, just to raise awareness: Non-standard extension.
2744 .Sy Compatibility notes:
2745 \*(ID Note these are new mechanisms which are not supported by all
2747 Round-tripping (feeding in things shown in list modes again) are not yet
2748 stable or possible at all.
2749 On new-style command lines it is wise to quote semicolon
2753 characters in order to ensure upward compatibility: the author would
2754 like to see things like
2755 .Ql ? echo $'trouble\etahead' | cat >> in_the_shell.txt
2757 .Ql ? top 2 5 10; type 3 22
2759 Before \*(UA will switch entirely to shell-style argument parsing there
2760 will be a transition phase where using
2762 will emit obsoletion warnings.
2763 E.g., the following are equivalent:
2765 .Bd -literal -offset indent
2766 mlist @any\e\e.where\e\e.example\e\e.com
2767 wysh mlist '@any\e.where\e.example\e.com' # This is a comment
2768 wysh mlist $'@any\e\e\ex2Ewhere\e\e.example\e\e\e56com' # A comment
2769 wysh mlist "@any\e.where\e.example\e.com"
2773 In any event an unquoted reverse solidus at the end of a command line is
2774 discarded and the next line continues the command.
2775 \*(ID Note that line continuation is handled before the above parsing is
2776 applied, i.e., the parsers documented above will see merged lines.
2777 Filenames, where expected, are subsequently subjected to the following
2778 transformations, in sequence:
2781 .Bl -bullet -compact -offset indent
2783 If the filename begins with an unquoted plus sign, and the
2785 variable is defined,
2786 the plus sign will be replaced by the value of the
2788 variable followed by a solidus.
2791 variable is unset or is set to null, the filename will be unchanged.
2794 Meta expansions are applied to the filename: a leading tilde
2796 character will be replaced by the expansion of
2798 except when followed by a valid user name, in which case the home
2799 directory of the given user is used instead.
2804 will be replaced by the expansion of the variable, if possible; \*(UA
2805 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
2808 (shell) variables can be accessed through this mechanism, and the usual
2809 escape mechanism has to be applied to prevent interpretation.
2810 If the fully expanded filename results in multiple pathnames and the
2811 command is expecting only one file, an error results.
2813 In interactive context, in order to allow simple value acceptance (via
2815 arguments will usually be displayed in a properly quoted form, e.g., a file
2816 .Ql diet\e is \ecurd.txt
2818 .Ql 'diet\e is \ecurd.txt' .
2822 The following commands are available:
2824 .Bl -tag -width ".Ic _ccount"
2831 ) command which follows.
2835 The comment-command causes the entire line to be ignored.
2837 this really is a normal command which' purpose is to discard its
2840 indicating special character, which means that, e.g., trailing comments
2841 on a line are not possible.
2845 Goes to the next message in sequence and types it
2851 Display the preceding message, or the n'th previous message if given
2852 a numeric argument n.
2856 Show the current message number (the
2861 Show a brief summary of commands.
2864 output is available.
2865 \*(OP Given an argument a synopsis for the command in question is
2866 shown instead; commands can be abbreviated in general and this command
2867 can be used to see the full expansion of an abbreviation including the
2868 synopsis, try, e.g.,
2873 and see how the output changes.
2883 Interprets the remainder of the word as a macro name and passes it
2888 is a shorter synonym for
2889 .Ql call Ar mymacro .
2893 (ac) Creates, selects or lists (an) account(s).
2894 Accounts are special incarnations of
2896 macros and group commands and variable settings which together usually
2897 arrange the environment for the purpose of creating an email account.
2898 Different to normal macros settings which are covered by
2900 \(en here by default enabled! \(en will not be reverted before the
2905 (case-insensitive) always exists, and all but it can be deleted via
2908 Without arguments a listing of all defined accounts is shown.
2909 With one argument the given account is activated: the system
2911 box of that account will be activated (as via
2913 and a possibly installed
2916 The two argument form is identical to defining a macro as via
2918 .Bd -literal -offset indent
2920 set folder=~/mail MAIL=+syste.mbox record=+sent.mbox
2921 set from='myname@myisp.example (My Name)'
2922 set mta=smtp://mylogin@smtp.myisp.example
2928 (a) With no arguments, shows all currently-defined aliases.
2929 With one argument, shows that alias.
2930 With more than one argument,
2931 creates a new alias or appends to an existing one.
2933 can be used to delete aliases.
2937 (alt) Manage a list of alternate addresses / names of the active user,
2938 members of which will be removed from recipient lists when replying to
2941 variable is not set).
2942 If arguments are given the set of alternate names is replaced by them,
2943 without arguments the current set is displayed.
2947 Takes a message list and marks each message as having been answered.
2948 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
2949 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
2950 and makes them specially addressable.
2955 \*(OP\*(NQ The bind command extends the MLE (see
2956 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
2957 with freely configurable key bindings.
2958 With one argument all bindings for the given context are shown,
2959 specifying an asterisk
2961 will show the bindings of all contexts; a more verbose listing will be
2962 produced if either of
2967 With two or more arguments a binding is (re)established:
2968 the first argument is the context to which the binding shall apply,
2969 the second argument is a comma-separated list of the
2971 which form the binding, and any remaining arguments form the expansion.
2972 To indicate that a binding shall not be auto-committed, but that the
2973 expansion shall instead be furtherly editable by the user, an at-sign
2975 (that will be removed) can be placed last in the expansion, from which
2976 leading and trailing whitespace will finally be removed.
2979 Contexts define when a binding applies, i.e., a binding won't be seen
2980 unless the context for which it is defined for is currently active.
2981 This is not true for the binding
2983 which always applies, but which will be searched secondarily to a more
2984 specialized context and may thus have some or all of its key bindings
2985 transparently replaced by equal bindings of more specialized contexts.
2986 The available contexts are
2988 which always applies, and
2990 which applies to compose-mode.
2994 which form the binding are specified as a comma-separated list of
2995 byte-sequences, where each list entry corresponds to one key(press).
2996 \*(OPally a list entry may, indicated by a leading colon character
2998 also refer to the name of a terminal capability;
2999 several dozen names will be compiled into \*(UA and may be specified
3002 or, if existing, by their
3004 name, regardless of the actually used terminal control library.
3005 It is however possible to use any capability, as long as the name is
3006 resolvable by the control library or defined in the internal variable
3008 Input sequences are not case-normalized, so that an exact match is
3009 required to update or remove a binding.
3012 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3013 bind base $'\eE',d mle-snarf-word-fwd # Esc(ape)
3014 bind base $'\eE',$'\ec?' mle-snarf-word-bwd # Esc, Delete
3015 bind compose :kf1 ~e
3016 bind base $'\ecA',:khome,w 'echo An editable binding@'
3017 bind base a,b,c rm -rf / @ # Another editable binding
3021 Note that the entire comma-separated list is first parsed (over) as a
3022 shell-token with whitespace as the field separator, before being parsed
3023 and expanded for real with comma as the field separator, therefore
3024 whitespace needs to be properly quoted:
3025 shell-style quoting is documented in the introductional section of
3027 Using Unicode reverse solidus escape sequences renders a binding
3028 defunctional if the locale doesn't support Unicode (see
3029 .Sx "Character sets" ) ,
3030 and using terminal capabilities does so if no terminal control support
3031 is (currently) available.
3034 The following terminal capability names are builtin and can be used in
3036 or (if available) the two-letter
3038 notation regardless of the actually used library.
3039 See the respective manual for a list of capabilities.
3042 can be used to show all the capabilities of
3044 or the given terminal type;
3047 flag will also show supported (non-standard) extensions.
3050 .Bl -tag -compact -width kcuuf_or_kcuuf
3051 .It Cd kbs Ns \0or Cd kb
3053 .It Cd kdch1 Ns \0or Cd kD
3055 .It Cd kDC Ns \0or Cd *4
3056 \(em shifted variant.
3057 .It Cd kel Ns \0or Cd kE
3058 Clear to end of line.
3059 .It Cd kext Ns \0or Cd @9
3061 .It Cd kich1 Ns \0or Cd kI
3063 .It Cd kIC Ns \0or Cd #3
3064 \(em shifted variant.
3065 .It Cd khome Ns \0or Cd kh
3067 .It Cd kHOM Ns \0or Cd #2
3068 \(em shifted variant.
3069 .It Cd kend Ns \0or Cd @7
3071 .It Cd knp Ns \0or Cd kN
3073 .It Cd kpp Ns \0or Cd kP
3075 .It Cd kcub1 Ns \0or Cd kl
3076 Left cursor (with more modifiers: see below).
3077 .It Cd kLFT Ns \0or Cd #4
3078 \(em shifted variant.
3079 .It Cd kcuf1 Ns \0or Cd kr
3080 Right cursor (ditto).
3081 .It Cd kRIT Ns \0or Cd %i
3082 \(em shifted variant.
3083 .It Cd kcud1 Ns \0or Cd kd
3084 Down cursor (ditto).
3086 \(em shifted variant (only terminfo).
3087 .It Cd kcuu1 Ns \0or Cd ku
3090 \(em shifted variant (only terminfo).
3091 .It Cd kf0 Ns \0or Cd k0
3093 Add one for each function key up to
3098 .It Cd kf10 Ns \0or Cd k;
3100 .It Cd kf11 Ns \0or Cd F1
3102 Add one for each function key up to
3110 Some terminals support key-modifier combination extensions, e.g.,
3112 For example, the delete key,
3114 in its shifted variant, the name is mutated to
3116 then a number is appended for the states
3128 .Ql Shift+Alt+Control
3130 The same for the left cursor key,
3132 .Cd KLFT , KLFT3 , KLFT4 , KLFT5 , KLFT6 , KLFT7 , KLFT8 .
3135 Key bindings can be removed with the command
3137 It is advisable to use an initial escape or other control character (e.g.,
3139 for bindings which describe user key combinations (as opposed to purely
3140 terminal capability based ones), in order to avoid ambiguities whether
3141 input belongs to key sequences or not; it also reduces search time.
3144 may help shall keys and sequences be falsely recognized.
3149 Calls a macro that has been created via
3154 (ch) Change the working directory to
3156 or the given argument.
3162 \*(OP Only applicable to S/MIME signed messages.
3163 Takes a message list and a file name and saves the certificates
3164 contained within the message signatures to the named file in both
3165 human-readable and PEM format.
3166 The certificates can later be used to send encrypted messages to the
3167 respective message senders by setting
3168 .Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST
3173 (ch) Change the working directory to
3175 or the given argument.
3181 Only applicable to threaded mode.
3182 Takes a message list and makes all replies to these messages invisible
3183 in header summaries, unless they are in state
3189 \*(OP\*(NQ Manage colour mappings for the type of colour given as the
3190 (case-insensitive) first argument, which must be one of
3192 for 256-colour terminals,
3197 for the standard 8-colour ANSI / ISO 6429 color palette and
3201 for monochrome terminals.
3202 Monochrome terminals cannot deal with colours, but only (some) font
3206 Without further arguments the list of all currently defined mappings
3207 for the given colour type is shown (as a special case giving
3211 will iterate over all types in order).
3212 Otherwise the second argument defines the mappable slot, the third
3213 argument a (comma-separated list of) colour and font attribute
3214 specification(s), and the optional fourth argument can be used to
3215 specify a precondition: if conditioned mappings exist they are tested in
3216 (creation) order unless a (case-insensitive) match has been found, and
3217 the default mapping (if any has been established) will only be chosen as
3219 The types of precondition available depend on the mappable slot, the
3220 following of which exist:
3223 Mappings prefixed with
3225 are used for the \*(OPal builtin Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE, see
3226 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
3227 and don't support preconditions.
3229 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
3231 This mapping is used for the position indicator that is visible when
3232 a line cannot be fully displayed on the screen.
3239 Mappings prefixed with
3241 are used in header summaries, and they all understand the preconditions
3243 (the current message) and
3245 for elder messages (only honoured in conjunction with
3246 .Va datefield-markout-older ) .
3248 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
3250 This mapping is used for the
3252 that can be created with the
3256 formats of the variable
3259 For the complete header summary line except the
3261 and the thread structure.
3263 For the thread structure which can be created with the
3265 format of the variable
3270 Mappings prefixed with
3272 are used when displaying messages.
3274 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
3276 This mapping is used for so-called
3278 lines, which are MBOX file format specific header lines.
3281 A comma-separated list of headers to which the mapping applies may be
3282 given as a precondition; if the \*(OPal regular expression support is
3283 available then if any of the
3285 (extended) regular expression characters is seen the precondition will
3286 be evaluated as (an extended) one.
3288 For the introductional message info line.
3289 .It Cd view-partinfo
3290 For MIME part info lines.
3294 The following (case-insensitive) colour definitions and font attributes
3295 are understood, multiple of which can be specified in a comma-separated
3305 It is possible (and often applicable) to specify multiple font
3306 attributes for a single mapping.
3309 foreground colour attribute:
3319 To specify a 256-color mode a decimal number colour specification in
3320 the range 0 to 255, inclusive, is supported, and interpreted as follows:
3322 .Bl -tag -compact -width "999 - 999"
3324 the standard ISO 6429 colors, as above.
3326 high intensity variants of the standard colors.
3328 216 colors in tuples of 6.
3330 grayscale from black to white in 24 steps.
3332 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3334 fg() { printf "\e033[38;5;${1}m($1)"; }
3335 bg() { printf "\e033[48;5;${1}m($1)"; }
3337 while [ $i -lt 256 ]; do fg $i; i=$(($i + 1)); done
3338 printf "\e033[0m\en"
3340 while [ $i -lt 256 ]; do bg $i; i=$(($i + 1)); done
3341 printf "\e033[0m\en"
3345 background colour attribute (see
3347 for possible values).
3351 Mappings may be removed with the command
3353 For a generic overview see the section
3354 .Sx "Coloured display" .
3359 (C) Copy messages to files whose names are derived from the author of
3360 the respective message and don't mark them as being saved;
3361 otherwise identical to
3366 (c) Copy messages to the named file and don't mark them as being saved;
3367 otherwise identical to
3372 \*(NQ With no arguments, shows all currently-defined custom headers.
3373 With one argument, shows that custom header.
3374 With more than one argument, creates a new or replaces an existing
3375 custom header with the name given as the first argument, the content of
3376 which being defined by the concatenated remaining arguments.
3378 can be used to delete custom headers.
3379 \*(ID Overwriting of automatically managed headers is neither supported
3381 Defined custom headers will be injected into newly composed or forwarded
3384 .Dl customhdr OpenPGP id=12345678; url=http://www.YYY.ZZ
3388 may also be used to inject custom headers; it is covered by
3393 Show the name of the current working directory.
3397 \*(OP For unencrypted messages this command is identical to
3399 Encrypted messages are first decrypted, if possible, and then copied.
3403 \*(OP For unencrypted messages this command is identical to
3405 Encrypted messages are first decrypted, if possible, and then copied.
3409 Without arguments the current list of macros, including their content,
3410 is shown, otherwise a macro is defined.
3411 A macro definition is a sequence of commands in the following form:
3412 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3421 A defined macro can be invoked explicitly by using the
3425 commands, or implicitly if a macro hook is triggered, e.g., a
3427 Note that interpretation of
3429 depends on how (i.e.,
3431 normal macro, folder hook, hook, account switch) the macro is invoked.
3432 Macros can be deleted via
3436 Macro behaviour, including option localization, will change in v15.
3437 Please be aware of that and possibly embed a version check in a resource
3442 (d) Marks the given message list as
3444 Deleted messages will neither be saved in
3446 nor will they be available for most other commands.
3458 Deletes the current message and displays the next message.
3459 If there is no next message, \*(UA says
3466 up or down by one message when given
3470 argument, respectively.
3474 Takes a message list and marks each given message as a draft.
3475 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
3476 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
3477 and makes them specially addressable.
3481 (ec) Echoes its arguments after applying
3483 expansions and filename transformations, as documented for
3488 (e) Point the text editor (as defined in
3490 at each message from the given list in turn.
3491 Modified contents are discarded unless the
3498 .Ic if Ns / Ns Ic elif Ns / Ns Ic else Ns / Ns Ic endif
3499 conditional \(em if the condition of a preceding
3501 was false, check the following condition and execute the following block
3502 if it evaluates true.
3507 .Ic if Ns / Ns Ic elif Ns / Ns Ic else Ns / Ns Ic endif
3508 conditional \(em if none of the conditions of the preceding
3512 commands was true, the
3518 (en) Marks the end of an
3519 .Ic if Ns / Ns Ic elif Ns / Ns Ic else Ns / Ns Ic endif
3520 conditional execution block.
3525 \*(NQ \*(UA has a strict notion about which variables are
3526 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
3527 and which are managed in the program
3529 Since some of the latter are a vivid part of \*(UAs functioning,
3530 however, they are transparently integrated into the normal handling of
3531 internal variables via
3535 To integrate other environment variables of choice into this
3536 transparent handling, and also to export internal variables into the
3537 process environment where they normally are not, a
3539 needs to become established with this command, as in, e.g.,
3542 .Dl environ link PERL5LIB from TZ
3545 Afterwards changing such variables with
3547 will cause automatic updates of the program environment, and therefore
3548 be inherited by newly created child processes.
3549 Sufficient system support provided (it was in BSD as early as 1987, and
3550 is standardized since Y2K) removing such variables with
3552 will remove them also from the program environment, but in any way
3553 the knowledge they ever have been
3556 Note this implies that
3558 may cause loss of links.
3563 will remove an existing link, but leaves the variables as such intact.
3564 Additionally the subcommands
3568 are provided, which work exactly the same as the documented commands
3572 but (additionally) link the variable(s) with the program environment and
3573 thus immediately export them to, or remove them from (if possible),
3574 respectively, the program environment.
3579 \*(OP Since \*(UA uses the console as a user interface it can happen
3580 that messages scroll by too fast to become recognized.
3581 Optionally an error message ring queue is available which stores
3582 duplicates of any error message and notifies the user in interactive
3583 sessions whenever a new error has occurred.
3584 The queue is finite: if its maximum size is reached any new message
3585 replaces the eldest.
3588 can be used to manage this message queue: if given
3590 or no argument the queue will be displayed and cleared,
3592 will only clear all messages from the queue.
3596 (ex or x) Exit from \*(UA without changing the active mailbox and skip
3597 any saving of messages in
3599 as well as a possibly tracked line editor history file.
3605 but open the mailbox readonly.
3609 (fi) The file command switches to a new mailbox.
3610 Without arguments it shows status information of the current mailbox.
3611 If an argument is given, it will write out changes (such as deletions)
3612 the user has made and open a new mailbox.
3613 Some special conventions are recognized for the
3617 .Bl -tag -compact -offset indent -width ".Ar %:__lespec"
3619 (number sign) means the previous file,
3621 (percent sign) means the invoking user's system
3625 means the primary system mailbox of
3627 (and never the value of
3629 regardless of its actual setting),
3631 (ampersand) means the invoking user's
3641 expands to the same value as
3643 but the file is handled as a primary system mailbox by, e.g., the
3647 commands, meaning that messages that have been read in the current
3648 session will be moved to the
3650 mailbox instead of simply being flagged as read.
3653 If the name matches one of the strings defined with the command
3655 it is replaced by its long form and expanded.
3656 If the name ends with
3661 it is treated as being compressed with
3666 respectively, and transparently handled through an intermediate
3667 (un)compression step (using a temporary file) with the according
3668 facility, sufficient support provided.
3669 Likewise, if the named file doesn't exist, but a file with one of the
3670 mentioned compression extensions does, then the name is automatically
3671 expanded and the compressed file is used.
3673 Otherwise, if the name ends with an extension for which
3674 .Va file-hook-load-EXTENSION
3676 .Va file-hook-save-EXTENSION
3677 variables are set, then the given hooks will be used to load and save
3679 and \*(UA will work with an intermediate temporary file.
3681 MBOX files (flat file-based mailboxes) are generally locked during file
3682 operations in order to avoid inconsistencies due to concurrent
3684 \*(OPal Mailbox files which \*(UA treats as system
3686 boxes or primary mailboxes will also be protected by so-called dotlock
3687 files, the traditional way of mail spool file locking: for any file
3691 will be created for the duration of the synchronization \(em
3692 as necessary a privilege-separated dotlock child process will be used
3693 to accommodate for necessary privilege adjustments in order to create
3694 the dotlock file in the same directory
3695 and with the same user and group identities as the file of interest.
3699 refers to a directory with the subdirectories
3704 then it is treated as a folder in
3706 format; \*(ID the variable
3708 can be used to control the format of yet non-existent folders.
3711 .Dl \*(IN protocol://[user[:password]@]host[:port][/path]
3712 .Dl \*(OU protocol://[user@]host[:port][/path]
3714 is taken as an Internet mailbox specification.
3715 The \*(OPally supported protocols are
3719 (POP3 with SSL/TLS encrypted transport).
3722 part is valid only for IMAP; there it defaults to
3724 Also see the section
3725 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
3729 contains special characters, in particular
3733 they must be escaped in URL notation \(en the command
3735 can be used to show the necessary conversion.
3739 Takes a message list and marks the messages as
3741 ged for urgent/special attention.
3742 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
3743 it just causes messages to be highlighted in the header summary,
3744 and makes them specially addressable.
3753 With no arguments, list the names of the folders in the folder directory.
3754 With an existing folder as an argument,
3755 lists the names of folders below the named folder.
3761 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
3762 recipient's address (instead of in
3769 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
3770 recipient's address (instead of in
3777 but responds to all recipients regardless of the
3782 .It Ic followupsender
3785 but responds to the sender only regardless of the
3801 (f) Takes a list of message specifications and displays a summary of
3802 their message headers, exactly as via
3804 An alias of this command is
3807 .Sx "Specifying messages" .
3813 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the
3814 recipient's address (instead of in
3819 Takes a message and the address of a recipient
3820 and forwards the message to him.
3821 The text of the original message is included in the new one,
3822 with the value of the
3824 variable preceding it.
3829 commands specify which header fields are included in the new message.
3830 Only the first part of a multipart message is included unless the
3831 .Va forward-as-attachment
3835 is set recipient addresses will be stripped from comments, names etc.
3839 Specifies which header fields are to be ignored with the command
3841 This command has no effect when the
3842 .Va forward-as-attachment
3847 Specifies which header fields are to be retained with the command
3852 This command has no effect when the
3853 .Va forward-as-attachment
3858 Define or list command aliases, so-called ghosts.
3859 Without arguments a list of all currently known aliases is shown.
3860 With one argument the expansion of the given alias is shown.
3861 With two or more arguments a command alias is defined or updated: the
3862 first argument is the name under which the remaining command line should
3863 be accessible, the content of which can be just about anything.
3864 A ghost can be used everywhere a normal command can be used, but always
3865 takes precedence; any arguments that are given to the command alias are
3866 joined onto the alias content, and the resulting string forms the
3867 command line that is, in effect, executed.
3870 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3872 `ghost': no such alias: "xx"
3875 ghost xx "echo hello,"
3884 (h) Show the current group of headers, the size of which depends on
3887 and the style of which can be adjusted with the variable
3889 If a message-specification is given the group of headers containing the
3890 first message therein is shown and the message at the top of the screen
3905 the list of history entries;
3908 argument selects and shows the respective history entry \(en
3911 to accept it, and the history entry will become the new history top.
3912 The default mode if no arguments are given is
3919 Takes a message list and marks each message therein to be saved in the
3924 Does not override the
3927 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command, because a
3929 command issued after
3931 will display the following message, not the current one.
3936 (i) Part of the nestable
3937 .Ic if Ns / Ns Ic elif Ns / Ns Ic else Ns / Ns Ic endif
3938 conditional execution construct \(em if the given condition is true then
3939 the encapsulated block is executed.
3940 POSIX only supports the (case-insensitive) conditions
3945 end, all remaining conditions are non-portable extensions; note that
3946 falsely specified conditions cause the execution of the entire
3947 conditional construct until the (matching) closing
3949 command to be suppressed.
3950 The syntax of the nestable
3952 conditional execution construct requires that each condition and syntax
3953 element is surrounded by whitespace.
3955 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3964 The (case-insensitive) condition
3966 erminal will evaluate to true if the standard input is a terminal, i.e.,
3967 in interactive sessions.
3968 Another condition can be any boolean value (see the section
3969 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
3970 for textual boolean representations) to mark an enwrapped block as
3973 .Dq always execute .
3974 It is possible to check
3975 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
3978 variables for existence or compare their expansion against a user given
3979 value or another variable by using the
3981 .Pf ( Dq variable next )
3982 conditional trigger character;
3983 a variable on the right hand side may be signalled using the same
3985 The variable names may be enclosed in a pair of matching braces.
3988 The available comparison operators are
3992 (less than or equal to),
3998 (greater than or equal to),
4002 (is substring of) and
4004 (is not substring of).
4005 The values of the left and right hand side are treated as strings and
4006 are compared 8-bit byte-wise, ignoring case according to the rules of
4007 the US-ASCII encoding (therefore, dependent on the active locale,
4008 possibly producing false results for strings in the locale encoding).
4009 Except for the substring checks the comparison will instead be performed
4010 arithmetically if both, the user given value as well as the variable
4011 content, can be parsed as numbers (integers).
4012 An unset variable is treated as the empty string.
4015 When the \*(OPal regular expression support is available, the additional
4021 They treat the right hand side as an extended regular expression that is
4022 matched case-insensitively and according to the active
4024 locale, meaning that strings in the locale encoding should be matched
4028 Conditions can be joined via AND-OR lists (where the AND operator is
4030 and the OR operator is
4032 which have equal precedence and will be evaluated with left
4033 associativity, thus using the same syntax that is known for the
4035 It is also possible to form groups of conditions and lists by enclosing
4036 them in pairs of brackets
4037 .Ql [\ \&.\&.\&.\ ] ,
4038 which may be interlocked within each other, and also be joined via
4042 The results of individual conditions and entire groups may be modified
4043 via unary operators: the unary operator
4045 will reverse the result.
4047 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4051 if $ttycharset == "UTF-8"
4052 echo *ttycharset* is set to UTF-8, case-insensitively
4056 echo These two variables are equal
4058 if $version-major >= 15
4059 echo Running a new version..
4060 if $features =@ +regex
4061 if $TERM =~ "^xterm\&.*"
4062 echo ..in an X terminal
4065 if [ [ true ] && [ [ ${debug} ] || [ $verbose ] ] ]
4068 if true && $debug || ${verbose}
4069 echo Left associativity, as is known from the shell
4071 if ! ! true && ! [ ! $debug && ! $verbose ]
4072 echo Unary operator support
4080 Without arguments the list of ignored header fields is shown,
4081 otherwise the given list of header fields is added to the ignore list:
4082 Header fields in the ignore list are not shown on the terminal when
4083 a message is displayed.
4084 To display a message in its entirety, use the commands
4095 Shows the names of all available commands, alphabetically sorted.
4096 If given any non-whitespace argument the list will be shown in the order
4097 in which command prefixes are searched.
4100 output is available.
4104 This command can be used to localize changes to variables, meaning that
4105 their state will be reverted to the former one once the covered scope
4107 It can only be used inside of macro definition blocks introduced by
4111 and is interpreted as a boolean (string, see
4112 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ) ;
4115 of an account is left once it is switched off again.
4116 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4117 define temporary_settings {
4132 enables change localization and calls
4134 which explicitly resets localization, then any value changes within
4136 will still be reverted by
4138 \*(ID Once the outermost level, the one which enabled localization
4139 first, is left, but no earlier, all adjustments will be unrolled.
4140 \*(ID Likewise worth knowing, if in this example
4142 changes to a different
4144 which sets some variables that are yet covered by localizations, their
4145 scope will be extended, and in fact leaving the
4147 will (thus) restore settings in (likely) global scope which actually
4148 were defined in a local, private context.
4152 Reply to messages that come in via known
4155 .Pf ( Ic mlsubscribe )
4156 mailing lists, or pretend to do so (see
4157 .Sx "Mailing lists" ) :
4160 functionality this will actively resort and even remove message
4161 recipients in order to generate a message that is supposed to be sent to
4163 For example it will also implicitly generate a
4164 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
4165 header if that seems useful, regardless of the setting of the variable
4172 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
4173 recipient's address (instead of in
4178 (m) Takes a (list of) recipient address(es) as (an) argument(s),
4179 or asks on standard input if none were given;
4180 then collects the remaining mail content and sends it out.
4184 (mb) The given message list is to be sent to
4186 when \*(UA is quit; this is the default action unless the
4189 \*(ID This command can only be used in a primary system mailbox (see
4194 Without any arguments the content of the MIME type cache will displayed.
4195 Otherwise each argument defines a complete MIME type specification of
4196 a type that shall be added (prepended) to the cache.
4197 In any event MIME type sources are loaded first as necessary \(en
4198 .Va mimetypes-load-control
4199 can be used to fine-tune which sources are actually loaded.
4200 Refer to the section on
4201 .Sx "The mime.types files"
4202 for more on MIME type specifications and this topic in general.
4203 MIME type unregistration and cache resets can be triggered with
4208 Without arguments the list of all currently defined mailing lists
4209 (and their attributes, if any) is shown; a more verbose listing will be
4210 produced if either of
4215 Otherwise all given arguments (which need not be quoted except for
4216 whitespace) will be added and henceforth be recognized as mailing lists.
4217 Mailing lists may be removed via the command
4220 If the \*(OPal regular expression support is available then mailing
4221 lists may also be specified as (extended) regular expressions (see
4227 Without arguments the list of all currently defined mailing lists which
4228 have a subscription attribute is shown; a more verbose listing will be
4229 produced if either of
4234 Otherwise this attribute will be set for all given mailing lists,
4235 newly creating them as necessary (as via
4237 Subscription attributes may be removed via the command
4246 but moves the messages to a file named after the local part of the
4247 sender address of the first message (instead of in
4254 but marks the messages for deletion if they were transferred
4261 but also displays ignored header fields and all MIME parts.
4269 on the given messages, even in non-interactive mode and as long as the
4270 standard output is a terminal.
4276 \*(OP When used without arguments or if
4278 has been given the content of the
4280 cache is shown, loading it first as necessary.
4283 then the cache will only be initialized and
4285 will remove its contents.
4286 Note that \*(UA will try to load the file only once, use
4287 .Ql Ic \&\&netrc Ns \:\0\:clear
4288 to unlock further attempts.
4293 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ;
4295 .Sx "The .netrc file"
4296 documents the file format in detail.
4300 Checks for new mail in the current folder without committing any changes
4302 If new mail is present, a message is shown.
4306 the headers of each new message are also shown.
4307 This command is not available for all mailbox types.
4315 Goes to the next message in sequence and types it.
4316 With an argument list, types the next matching message.
4330 If the current folder is accessed via a network connection, a
4332 command is sent, otherwise no operation is performed.
4338 but also displays ignored header fields and all MIME parts.
4346 on the given messages, even in non-interactive mode and as long as the
4347 standard output is a terminal.
4355 but also pipes ignored header fields and all parts of MIME
4356 .Ql multipart/alternative
4361 (pi) Takes a message list and a shell command
4362 and pipes the messages through the command.
4363 Without an argument the current message is piped through the command
4370 every message is followed by a formfeed character.
4391 (q) Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in
4394 preserving all messages marked with
4398 or never referenced in the system
4400 box, and removing all other messages from the primary system mailbox.
4401 If new mail has arrived during the session,
4403 .Dq You have new mail
4405 If given while editing a mailbox file with the command line flag
4407 then the edit file is rewritten.
4408 A return to the shell is effected,
4409 unless the rewrite of edit file fails,
4410 in which case the user can escape with the exit command.
4424 Removes the named files or directories.
4425 If a name refer to a mailbox, e.g., a Maildir mailbox, then a mailbox
4426 type specific removal will be performed, deleting the complete mailbox.
4427 The user is asked for confirmation in interactive mode.
4431 Takes the name of an existing folder
4432 and the name for the new folder
4433 and renames the first to the second one.
4434 Both folders must be of the same type.
4438 (R) Reply to originator.
4439 Does not reply to other recipients of the original message.
4441 will exchange this command with
4445 is set the recipient address will be stripped from comments, names etc.
4449 (r) Take a message and group-responds to it by addressing the sender
4452 .Va followup-to-honour ,
4455 .Va recipients-in-cc
4456 influence response behaviour.
4459 offers special support for replying to mailing lists.
4462 is set recipient addresses will be stripped from comments, names etc.
4475 but initiates a group-reply regardless of the value of
4482 but responds to the sender only regardless of the value of
4489 but does not add any header lines.
4490 This is not a way to hide the sender's identity,
4491 but useful for sending a message again to the same recipients.
4495 Takes a list of messages and a user name
4496 and sends each message to the named user.
4498 and related header fields are prepended to the new copy of the message.
4516 .It Ic respondsender
4522 (ret) Without arguments the list of retained header fields is shown,
4523 otherwise the given list of header fields is added to the retain list:
4524 Header fields in the retain list are shown on the terminal when
4525 a message is displayed, all other header fields are suppressed.
4526 To display a message in its entirety, use the commands
4535 takes precedence over the mentioned.
4541 but saves the messages in a file named after the local part of the
4542 sender of the first message instead of (in
4544 and) taking a filename argument.
4548 (s) Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in turn
4549 to the end of the file.
4550 If no filename is given, the
4553 The filename in quotes, followed by the generated character count
4554 is echoed on the user's terminal.
4555 If editing a primary system mailbox the messages are marked for deletion.
4556 Filename interpretation as described for the
4558 command is performed.
4575 Header fields thus marked are filtered out when saving a message by
4577 or when automatically saving to
4579 This command should only be applied to header fields that do not contain
4580 information needed to decode the message,
4581 as MIME content fields do.
4593 Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved with a message when
4596 or when automatically saving to
4601 The use of this command is strongly discouraged since it may strip
4602 header fields that are needed to decode the message correctly.
4606 Takes a message specification (list) and displays a header summary of
4607 all matching messages, as via
4609 This command is an alias of
4612 .Sx "Specifying messages" .
4616 Takes a message list and marks all messages as having been read.
4620 (se) Without arguments this command shows all internal variables which
4621 are currently known to \*(UA (they have been set).
4622 A more verbose listing will be produced if either of
4626 are set, in which case variables may be preceded with a comment line
4627 that gives some context of what \*(UA knows about the given variable.
4629 Otherwise the given variables (and arguments) are set or adjusted.
4630 Arguments are of the form
4632 (no space before or after
4636 if there is no value, i.e., a boolean variable.
4637 Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment
4638 statement to quote blanks or tabs, e.g.,
4640 .Dl set indentprefix='->'
4642 If an argument begins with
4646 the effect is the same as invoking the
4648 command with the remaining part of the variable
4649 .Pf ( Ql unset save ) .
4653 that is known to map to an environment variable will automatically cause
4654 updates in the program environment (unsetting a variable in the
4655 environment requires corresponding system support).
4656 Please use the command
4658 for further environmental control.
4663 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
4669 (sh) Invokes an interactive version of the shell.
4673 Without arguments the list of all currently defined shortcuts is
4675 Otherwise all given arguments (which need not be quoted except for
4676 whitespace) are treated as pairs of shortcuts and their expansions,
4677 creating new or changing already existing shortcuts, as necessary.
4678 Shortcuts may be removed via the command
4680 The expansion strings should be in the syntax that has been described
4689 but performs neither MIME decoding nor decryption, so that the raw
4690 message text is shown.
4694 (si) Shows the size in characters of each message of the given
4699 Shows the current sorting criterion when used without an argument.
4700 Otherwise creates a sorted representation of the current folder,
4703 command and the addressing modes such that they refer to messages in
4705 Message numbers are the same as in regular mode.
4709 a header summary in the new order is also displayed.
4710 Automatic folder sorting can be enabled by setting the
4712 variable, as in, e.g.,
4713 .Ql set autosort=thread .
4714 Possible sorting criterions are:
4716 .Bl -tag -compact -offset indent -width "subject"
4718 Sort the messages by their
4720 field, that is by the time they were sent.
4722 Sort messages by the value of their
4724 field, that is by the address of the sender.
4727 variable is set, the sender's real name (if any) is used.
4729 Sort the messages by their size.
4731 \*(OP Sort the message by their spam score, as has been classified by
4734 Sort the messages by their message status.
4736 Sort the messages by their subject.
4738 Create a threaded display.
4740 Sort messages by the value of their
4742 field, that is by the address of the recipient.
4745 variable is set, the recipient's real name (if any) is used.
4750 (so) The source command reads commands from the given file, which is
4751 subject to the usual filename expansions (see introductional words of
4753 If the given argument ends with a vertical bar
4755 then the argument will instead be interpreted as a shell command and
4756 \*(UA will read the output generated by it.
4757 Interpretation of commands read is stopped when an error is encountered.
4760 cannot be used from within macros that execute as
4761 .Va folder-hook Ns s
4764 i.e., it can only be called from macros that were
4771 (beside not supporting pipe syntax aka shell command input) is that
4772 this command will not generate an error if the given file argument
4773 cannot be opened successfully.
4777 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and clears their
4783 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and causes the
4785 to forget it has ever used them to train its Bayesian filter.
4786 Unless otherwise noted the
4788 flag of the message is inspected to chose whether a message shall be
4796 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and informs the Bayesian filter of the
4800 This also clears the
4802 flag of the messages in question.
4806 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and rates them using the configured
4807 .Va spam-interface ,
4808 without modifying the messages, but setting their
4810 flag as appropriate; because the spam rating headers are lost the rate
4811 will be forgotten once the mailbox is left.
4812 Refer to the manual section
4814 for the complete picture of spam handling in \*(UA.
4818 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and sets their
4824 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and informs the Bayesian filter of the
4830 flag of the messages in question.
4839 Create a threaded representation of the current folder,
4840 i.\|e. indent messages that are replies to other messages in the header
4841 display and change the
4843 command and the addressing modes such that they refer to messages in the
4845 Message numbers are the same as in unthreaded mode.
4849 a header summary in threaded order is also displayed.
4863 (to) Takes a message list and types out the first
4865 lines of each message on the users' terminal.
4866 The only header fields that are displayed are
4873 will instead honour configured lists).
4874 It is possible to apply compression to what is displayed by setting
4876 Messages are decrypted and converted to the terminal character set
4881 (tou) Takes a message list and marks the messages for saving in
4883 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command,
4886 command will display the following message instead of the current one.
4892 but also displays out ignored header fields and all parts of MIME
4893 .Ql multipart/alternative
4898 (t) Takes a message list and types out each message on the users'
4904 For MIME multipart messages, all parts with a content type of
4908 are shown, the other are hidden except for their headers.
4909 Messages are decrypted and converted to the terminal character set
4914 Delete all given accounts.
4915 An error message is shown if a given account is not defined.
4918 will discard all existing accounts.
4922 (una) Takes a list of names defined by alias commands
4923 and discards the remembered groups of users.
4926 will discard all existing aliases.
4930 Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been answered.
4936 ing, specified by its context and input sequence, both of which may be
4937 specified as a wildcard (asterisk,
4941 will remove all bindings of all contexts.
4945 Only applicable to threaded mode.
4946 Takes a message list and makes the message and all replies to it visible
4947 in header summaries again.
4948 When a message becomes the current message,
4949 it is automatically made visible.
4950 Also when a message with collapsed replies is displayed,
4951 all of these are automatically uncollapsed.
4957 mapping for the given colour type (see
4959 for a list of types) and mapping; if the optional precondition argument
4960 is used then only the exact tuple of mapping and precondition is removed.
4963 will remove all mappings (no precondition allowed).
4965 .Sx "Coloured display"
4966 for the general picture.
4970 Deletes the custom headers given as arguments.
4973 will remove all custom headers.
4977 Undefine all given macros.
4978 An error message is shown if a given macro is not defined.
4981 will discard all existing macros.
4985 (u) Takes a message list and marks each message as not being deleted.
4989 Takes a message list and
4995 Takes a message list and marks each message as not being
5000 Removes the header field names from the list of ignored fields for the
5005 will remove all fields.
5009 Removes the header field names from the list of retained fields for the
5014 will remove all fields.
5018 Remove all the given command
5022 will remove all ghosts.
5026 Removes the header field names from the list of ignored fields.
5029 will remove all fields.
5033 Delete all given MIME types, e.g.,
5034 .Ql unmimetype text/plain
5035 will remove all registered specifications for the MIME type
5039 will discard all existing MIME types, just as will
5041 but which also reenables cache initialization via
5042 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
5046 Forget about all the given mailing lists.
5049 will remove all lists.
5054 .It Ic unmlsubscribe
5055 Remove the subscription attribute from all given mailing lists.
5058 will clear the attribute from all lists which have it set.
5069 Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been read.
5073 Removes the header field names from the list of retained fields.
5076 will remove all fields.
5080 Removes the header field names from the list of ignored fields for
5084 will remove all fields.
5088 Removes the header field names from the list of retained fields for
5092 will remove all fields.
5096 (uns) Takes a list of internal variable names and discards their
5097 remembered values; the reverse of
5104 Deletes the shortcut names given as arguments.
5107 will remove all shortcuts.
5111 Disable sorted or threaded mode
5117 return to normal message order and,
5121 displays a header summary.
5131 Decode the given URL-encoded string arguments and show the results.
5132 Note the resulting strings may not be valid in the current locale, see
5137 URL-encode the given arguments and show the results.
5138 Because the arguments effectively are in the character set of the
5139 current locale the results will vary accordingly unless the input solely
5140 consists of characters in the portable character set, see
5141 .Sx "Character sets" .
5145 Edit the values of or create the given variable(s) in the
5147 Boolean variables cannot be edited.
5151 This command produces the same output as the listing mode of
5155 ity adjustments, but only for the given variables.
5159 \*(OP Takes a message list and verifies each message.
5160 If a message is not a S/MIME signed message,
5161 verification will fail for it.
5162 The verification process checks if the message was signed using a valid
5164 if the message sender's email address matches one of those contained
5165 within the certificate,
5166 and if the message content has been altered.
5178 (v) Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message.
5179 Modified contents are discarded unless the
5185 (w) For conventional messages the body without all headers is written.
5186 The output is decrypted and converted to its native format as necessary.
5187 If the output file exists, the text is appended.
5188 If a message is in MIME multipart format its first part is written to
5189 the specified file as for conventional messages,
5190 and the user is asked for a filename to save each other part.
5191 For convience saving of each part may be skipped by giving an empty value;
5192 the same result can also be achieved by writing it to
5194 For the second and subsequent parts a leading
5196 character causes the part to be piped to the remainder of the user input
5197 interpreted as a shell command;
5198 otherwise the user input is expanded as usually for folders,
5199 e.g., tilde expansion is performed.
5200 In non-interactive mode, only the parts of the multipart message
5201 that have a filename given in the part header are written,
5202 the others are discarded.
5203 The original message is never marked for deletion in the originating
5206 the contents of the destination file are overwritten if the file
5208 No special handling of compressed files is performed.
5217 \*(UA presents message headers in
5219 fuls as described under the
5222 Without arguments this command scrolls to the next window of messages,
5223 likewise if the argument is
5227 scrolls to the last,
5229 scrolls to the first, and
5234 A number argument prefixed by
5238 indicates that the window is calculated in relation to the current
5239 position, and a number without a prefix specifies an absolute position.
5245 but scrolls to the next or previous window that contains at least one
5254 .\" .Sh TILDE ESCAPES {{{
5257 Here is a summary of the tilde escapes,
5258 which are used to perform special functions when composing messages.
5259 Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning of lines.
5262 is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be
5263 changed by adjusting the option
5266 .Bl -tag -width ".Ic __ filename"
5269 Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single
5271 (If the escape character has been changed,
5272 that character must be doubled
5273 in order to send it at the beginning of a line.)
5276 .It Ic ~! Ar command
5277 Execute the indicated shell
5279 then return to the message.
5283 Same effect as typing the end-of-file character.
5286 .It Ic ~: Ar \*(UA-command Ns \0or Ic ~_ Ar \*(UA-command
5287 Execute the given \*(UA command.
5288 Not all commands, however, are allowed.
5292 Write a summary of command escapes.
5295 .It Ic ~< Ar filename
5300 .It Ic ~<! Ar command
5302 is executed using the shell.
5303 Its standard output is inserted into the message.
5306 .It Ic ~@ Op Ar filename...
5307 With no arguments, edit the attachment list interactively.
5308 If an attachment's file name is left empty,
5309 that attachment is deleted from the list.
5310 When the end of the attachment list is reached,
5311 \*(UA will ask for further attachments until an empty name is given.
5312 If a given file name solely consists of the number sign
5314 followed by a valid message number of the currently active mailbox, then
5315 the given message is attached as a MIME
5317 and the rest of this section does not apply.
5319 If character set conversion has been compiled into \*(UA, then this mode
5320 gives the user the option to specify input and output character sets,
5321 unless the file extension indicates binary content, in which case \*(UA
5322 asks whether this step shall be skipped for the attachment in question.
5323 If not skipped, then the charset that succeeds to represent the
5324 attachment data will be used in the
5326 MIME parameter of the mail message:
5328 .Bl -bullet -compact
5330 If input and output character sets are specified, then the conversion is
5331 performed on the fly.
5332 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
5334 If only an output character set is specified, then the input is assumed
5337 charset and will be converted to the given output charset on the fly.
5338 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
5340 If no character sets are specified at all then the algorithm that is
5341 documented in the section
5342 .Sx "Character sets"
5343 is applied, but directly and on the fly.
5344 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
5346 Finally, if an input-, but no output character set is specified, then no
5347 conversion is ever performed, but the
5349 MIME parameter value will still be set to the user input.
5351 The character set selection loop can be left by typing
5353 i.e., causing an interrupt.
5354 .\" \*(OU next sentence
5355 Note that before \*(UA version 15.0 this terminates the entire
5356 current attachment selection, not only the character set selection.
5359 Without character set conversion support, \*(UA will ask for the input
5360 character set only, and it'll set the
5362 MIME parameter value to the given input, if any;
5363 if no user input is seen then the
5365 character set will be used for the parameter value instead.
5366 Note that the file extension check isn't performed in this mode, since
5367 no conversion will take place anyway.
5369 Note that in non-interactive mode, for reproduceabilities sake, there
5370 will always be two questions for each attachment, regardless of whether
5371 character set conversion is available and what the file extension is.
5372 The first asks for the filename, and the second asks for the input
5373 character set to be passed through to the corresponding MIME parameter;
5374 no conversion will be tried if there is input to the latter question,
5375 otherwise the usual conversion algorithm, as above, is applied.
5376 For message attachments, the answer to the second question is completely
5381 arguments are specified for the
5383 command they are treated as a file list of
5385 -style quoted arguments, optionally also separated by commas, which are
5386 expanded and then appended to the existing list of message attachments.
5387 Message attachments can only be added via the first method.
5388 In this mode the (text) attachments are assumed to be in
5390 encoding, and will be evaluated as documented in the section
5391 .Sx "Character sets" .
5395 Inserts the string contained in the
5398 .Ql Ic ~i Ns \0Sign ) .
5399 The escape sequences tabulator
5407 Inserts the string contained in the
5410 .Ql Ic ~i Ns \0sign ) .
5411 The escape sequences tabulator
5418 .It Ic ~b Ar name ...
5419 Add the given names to the list of blind carbon copy recipients.
5422 .It Ic ~c Ar name ...
5423 Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients.
5427 Read the file specified by the
5429 variable into the message.
5433 Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far.
5434 After the editing session is finished,
5435 the user may continue appending text to the message.
5438 .It Ic ~F Ar messages
5439 Read the named messages into the message being sent, including all
5440 message headers and MIME parts.
5441 If no messages are specified, read in the current message.
5444 .It Ic ~f Ar messages
5445 Read the named messages into the message being sent.
5446 If no messages are specified, read in the current message.
5450 lists are used to modify the message headers.
5451 For MIME multipart messages,
5452 only the first displayable part is included.
5456 Edit the message header fields
5461 by typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit the field.
5462 The default values for these fields originate from the
5470 Edit the message header fields
5476 by typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit the field.
5479 .It Ic ~i Ar variable
5480 Insert the value of the specified variable into the message,
5481 adding a newline character at the end.
5482 The message remains unaltered if the variable is unset or empty.
5483 The escape sequences tabulator
5490 .It Ic ~M Ar messages
5491 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
5494 If no messages are specified, read the current message.
5497 .It Ic ~m Ar messages
5498 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
5501 If no messages are specified, read the current message.
5505 lists are used to modify the message headers.
5506 For MIME multipart messages,
5507 only the first displayable part is included.
5511 Display the message collected so far,
5512 prefaced by the message header fields
5513 and followed by the attachment list, if any.
5517 Abort the message being sent,
5518 copying it to the file specified by the
5525 .It Ic ~R Ar filename
5526 Read the named file into the message, indented by
5530 .It Ic ~r Ar filename
5531 Read the named file into the message.
5535 Cause the named string to become the current subject field.
5538 .It Ic ~t Ar name ...
5539 Add the given name(s) to the direct recipient list.
5542 .It Ic ~U Ar messages
5543 Read in the given / current message(s) excluding all headers, indented by
5547 .It Ic ~u Ar messages
5548 Read in the given / current message(s), excluding all headers.
5552 Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the
5554 option) on the message collected so far.
5555 Usually, the alternate editor will be a screen editor.
5556 After the editor is quit,
5557 the user may resume appending text to the end of the message.
5560 .It Ic ~w Ar filename
5561 Write the message onto the named file.
5563 the message is appended to it.
5569 except that the message is not saved at all.
5572 .It Ic ~| Ar command
5573 Pipe the message through the specified filter command.
5574 If the command gives no output or terminates abnormally,
5575 retain the original text of the message.
5578 is often used as a rejustifying filter.
5583 .\" .Sh INTERNAL VARIABLES {{{
5584 .Sh "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
5586 Internal \*(UA variables are controlled via the
5590 commands; prefixing a variable name with the string
5594 has the same effect as using
5600 Creation or editing of variables can be performed in the
5605 will give more insight on the given variable(s), and
5607 when called without arguments, will show a listing of all variables.
5608 Some well-known variables will also become inherited from the
5611 implicitly, others can be explicitly imported with the command
5613 and henceforth share the said properties.
5616 Two different kind of internal variables exist.
5617 There are boolean variables, which can only be in one of the two states
5621 and value variables with a(n optional) string value.
5622 For the latter proper quoting is necessary upon assignment time, the
5623 introduction of the section
5625 documents the supported quoting rules.
5627 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5628 wysh set one=val\e 1 two="val 2" \e
5629 three='val "3"' four=$'val \e'4\e''
5630 varshow one two three four
5631 unset one two three four
5635 Dependent upon the actual option the string values will be interpreted
5636 as numbers, colour names, normal text etc., but there also exists
5637 a special kind of string value, the
5638 .Dq boolean string ,
5639 which must either be a decimal integer (in which case
5643 and any other value is true) or any of the (case-insensitive) strings
5649 for a false boolean and
5655 for a true boolean; a special kind of boolean string is the
5657 which is a boolean string that can optionally be prefixed with the
5658 (case-insensitive) term
5662 which causes prompting of the user in interactive mode, with the given
5663 boolean as the default value.
5665 .\" .Ss "Initial settings" {{{
5666 .\" (Keep in SYNC: ./nail.h:okeys, ./nail.rc, ./nail.1:"Initial settings")
5667 .Ss "Initial Settings"
5669 The standard POSIX 2008/Cor 2-2016 mandates the following initial
5675 .Pf no Va autoprint ,
5689 .Pf no Va ignoreeof ,
5691 .Pf no Va keepsave ,
5693 .Pf no Va outfolder ,
5698 (note that \*(UA deviates from the standard by using
5702 special prompt escape results in
5710 .Pf no Va sendwait ,
5719 Notes: \*(UA doesn't support the
5721 variable \(en use command line options or
5723 to pass options through to a
5725 And the default global
5727 file (which is loaded unless the
5729 command line flag has been used or the
5730 .Ev NAIL_NO_SYSTEM_RC
5731 environment variable is set) bends those initial settings a bit, e.g.,
5732 it sets the variables
5737 to name a few, calls
5739 etc., and should thus be taken into account.
5742 .\" .Ss "Variables" {{{
5745 .Bl -tag -width ".It Va _utoprin_"
5747 .It Va add-file-recipients
5748 \*(BO When file or pipe recipients have been specified,
5749 mention them in the corresponding address fields of the message instead
5750 of silently stripping them from their recipient list.
5751 By default such addressees are not mentioned.
5755 \*(BO Causes only the local part to be evaluated
5756 when comparing addresses.
5760 \*(BO Causes messages saved in
5762 to be appended to the end rather than prepended.
5763 This should always be set.
5767 \*(BO Causes \*(UA to prompt for the subject of each message sent.
5768 If the user responds with simply a newline,
5769 no subject field will be sent.
5773 \*(BO Causes the prompts for
5777 lists to appear after the message has been edited.
5781 \*(BO If set, \*(UA asks for files to attach at the end of each message,
5782 shall the list be found empty at that time.
5783 An empty line finalizes the list.
5787 \*(BO Causes the user to be prompted for carbon copy recipients
5788 (at the end of each message if
5792 are set) shall the list be found empty (at that time).
5793 An empty line finalizes the list.
5797 \*(BO Causes the user to be prompted for blind carbon copy
5798 recipients (at the end of each message if
5802 are set) shall the list be found empty (at that time).
5803 An empty line finalizes the list.
5807 \*(BO\*(OP Causes the user to be prompted if the message is to be
5808 signed at the end of each message.
5811 variable is ignored when this variable is set.
5815 \*(BO Alternative name for
5822 .It Va attachment-ask-content-description , \
5823 attachment-ask-content-disposition , \
5824 attachment-ask-content-id , \
5825 attachment-ask-content-type
5826 \*(BO If set then the user will be prompted for some attachment
5827 information when editing the attachment list.
5828 It is advisable to not use these but for the first of the variables;
5829 even for that it has to be noted that the data is used
5835 A sequence of characters to display in the
5839 as shown in the display of
5841 each for one type of messages (see
5842 .Sx "Message states" ) ,
5843 with the default being
5846 .Ql NU\ \ *HMFAT+\-$~
5849 variable is set, in the following order:
5851 .Bl -tag -compact -offset indent -width ".It Ql _"
5873 start of a collapsed thread.
5875 an uncollapsed thread (TODO ignored for now).
5879 classified as possible spam.
5885 Specifies a list of recipients to which a blind carbon copy of each
5886 outgoing message will be sent automatically.
5890 Specifies a list of recipients to which a carbon copy of each outgoing
5891 message will be sent automatically.
5895 \*(BO Causes threads to be collapsed automatically when threaded mode
5902 \*(BO Causes the delete command to behave like
5904 thus, after deleting a message the next one will be typed automatically.
5908 \*(BO\*(OB Causes threaded mode (see the
5910 command) to be entered automatically when a folder is opened.
5912 .Ql autosort=thread .
5916 Causes sorted mode (see the
5918 command) to be entered automatically with the value of this option as
5919 sorting method when a folder is opened, e.g.,
5920 .Ql set autosort=thread .
5924 \*(BO Enables the substitution of
5926 by the contents of the last command line in shell escapes.
5929 .It Va batch-exit-on-error
5930 \*(BO If the batch mode has been enabled via the
5932 command line option, then this variable will be consulted whenever \*(UA
5933 completes one operation (returns to the command prompt); if it is set
5934 then \*(UA will terminate if the last operation generated an error.
5938 \*(OP Terminals generate multi-byte sequences for certain forms of
5939 input, for example for function and other special keys.
5940 Some terminals however do not write these multi-byte sequences as
5941 a whole, but byte-by-byte, and the latter is what \*(UA actually reads.
5942 This variable specifies the timeout in milliseconds that the MLE (see
5943 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
5944 waits for more bytes to arrive unless it considers a sequence
5950 \*(BO Causes automatic display of a header summary after executing a
5952 command, and thus complements the standard variable
5954 which controls header summary display on program startup.
5955 It is only meaningful if
5961 \*(BO Sets some cosmetical features to traditional BSD style;
5962 has the same affect as setting
5964 and all other variables prefixed with
5966 it also changes the meaning of the \*(UA specific
5969 escape sequence and changes behaviour of
5971 (which doesn't exist in BSD).
5975 \*(BO Changes the letters shown in the first column of a header
5976 summary to traditional BSD style.
5980 \*(BO Changes the display of columns in a header summary to traditional
5985 \*(BO Changes some informational messages to traditional BSD style.
5991 field to appear immediately after the
5993 field in message headers and with the
5995 .Sx "TILDE ESCAPES" .
5999 The value that should appear in the
6003 MIME header fields when no character set conversion of the message data
6005 This defaults to US-ASCII, and the chosen character set should be
6006 US-ASCII compatible.
6010 \*(OP The default 8-bit character set that is used as an implicit last
6011 member of the variable
6013 This defaults to UTF-8.
6014 If no character set conversion capabilities are available in \*(UA then
6015 the only supported character set is
6017 Refer to the section
6018 .Sx "Character sets"
6019 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
6022 .It Va charset-unknown-8bit
6023 \*(OP RFC 1428 specifies conditions when internet mail gateways shall
6025 the content of a mail message by using a character set with the name
6027 Because of the unclassified nature of this character set \*(UA will not
6028 be capable to convert this character set to any other character set.
6029 If this variable is set any message part which uses the character set
6031 is assumed to really be in the character set given in the value,
6032 otherwise the (final) value of
6034 is used for this purpose.
6036 This variable will also be taken into account if a MIME type (see
6037 .Sx "The mime.types files" )
6038 of a MIME message part that uses the
6040 character set is forcefully treated as text.
6044 The default value for the
6049 .It Va colour-disable
6050 \*(BO\*(OP Forcefully disable usage of colours.
6051 Also see the section
6052 .Sx "Coloured display" .
6056 \*(BO\*(OP Whether colour shall be used for output that is paged through
6058 Note that pagers may need special flags, e.g.,
6066 in order to support colours.
6067 Often doing manual adjustments is unnecessary since \*(UA may perform
6068 adjustments dependend on the value of the environment variable
6070 (see there for more).
6074 In a(n interactive) terminal session, then if this valued option is set
6075 it'll be used as a threshold to determine how many lines the given
6076 output has to span before it will be displayed via the configured
6080 can be forced by setting this to the value
6082 setting it without a value will deduce the current height of the
6083 terminal screen to compute the treshold (see
6091 \*(OB A variable counterpart of the
6093 command (see there for documentation), interpreted as a comma-separated
6094 list of custom headers to be injected, to include commas in the header
6095 bodies escape them with reverse solidus, e.g.:
6097 .Dl set customhdr='Hdr1: Body1-1\e, Body1-2, Hdr2: Body2'
6103 the message date, if any is to be displayed according to the format of
6105 is by default taken from the
6107 line of the message.
6108 If this variable is set the date as given in the
6110 header field is used instead, converted to local time.
6111 To control the display format of the date assign a valid
6116 format should not be used, because \*(UA doesn't take embedded newlines
6117 into account when calculating how many lines fit onto the screen.)
6119 .Va datefield-markout-older .
6122 .It Va datefield-markout-older
6123 This option, when set in addition to
6127 messages (concept is rather comparable to the
6129 option of the POSIX utility
6131 The content interpretation is identical to
6136 \*(BO Enables debug messages and obsoletion warnings, disables the
6137 actual delivery of messages and also implies
6143 .It Va disposition-notification-send
6145 .Ql Disposition-Notification-To:
6146 header (RFC 3798) with the message.
6150 .\" TODO .It Va disposition-notification-send-HOST
6152 .\".Va disposition-notification-send
6153 .\" for SMTP accounts on a specific host.
6154 .\" TODO .It Va disposition-notification-send-USER@HOST
6156 .\".Va disposition-notification-send
6157 .\"for a specific account.
6161 \*(BO When dot is set, a period
6163 on a line by itself during message input in (interactive) compose mode
6164 will be treated as end-of-message (in addition to the normal end-of-file
6173 .It Va dotlock-ignore-error
6174 \*(BO\*(OP Synchronization of mailboxes which \*(UA treats as system
6175 mailboxes (see the command
6177 will be protected with so-called dotlock files\(emthe traditional mail
6178 spool file locking method\(emin addition to system file locking.
6179 Because \*(UA ships with a privilege-separated dotlock creation program
6180 that should always be able to create such a dotlock file there is no
6181 good reason to ignore dotlock file creation errors, and thus these are
6182 fatal unless this variable is set.
6186 \*(BO If this variable is set then the editor is started automatically
6187 when a message is composed in interactive mode, as if the
6193 variable is implied for this automatically spawned editor session.
6197 \*(BO When a message is edited while being composed,
6198 its header is included in the editable text.
6208 fields are accepted within the header, other fields are ignored.
6212 \*(BO When entering interactive mode \*(UA normally writes
6213 .Dq \&No mail for user
6214 and exits immediately if a mailbox is empty or doesn't exist.
6215 If this option is set \*(UA starts even with an empty or nonexistent
6216 mailbox (the latter behaviour furtherly depends upon
6222 Suggestion for the MIME encoding to use in outgoing text messages
6224 Valid values are the default
6225 .Ql quoted-printable ,
6230 may cause problems when transferring mail messages over channels that
6231 are not ESMTP (RFC 1869) compliant.
6232 If there is no need to encode a message,
6234 transfer mode is always used regardless of this variable.
6235 Binary data is always encoded as
6240 If defined, the first character of this option
6241 gives the character to use in place of
6244 .Sx "TILDE ESCAPES" .
6248 If not set then file and command pipeline targets are not allowed,
6249 and any such address will be filtered out, giving a warning message.
6250 If set without a value then all possible recipient address
6251 specifications will be accepted \(en see the section
6252 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode"
6254 To accept them, but only in interactive mode, or when tilde commands
6255 were enabled explicitly by using one of the command line options
6259 set this to the (case-insensitive) value
6261 (note right now this is actually like setting
6262 .Ql restrict,-all,+name,+addr ) .
6264 In fact the value is interpreted as a comma-separated list of values.
6267 then the existence of disallowed specifications is treated as a hard
6268 send error instead of only filtering them out.
6269 The remaining values specify whether a specific type of recipient
6270 address specification is allowed (optionally indicated by a plus sign
6272 prefix) or disallowed (prefixed with a hyphen
6276 addresses all possible address specifications,
6280 command pipeline targets,
6282 plain user names and (MTA) aliases (\*(OB
6284 may be used as an alternative syntax to
6289 These kind of values are interpreted in the given order, so that
6290 .Ql restrict,\:fail,\:+file,\:-all,\:+addr
6291 will cause hard errors for any non-network address recipient address
6292 unless \*(UA is in interactive mode or has been started with the
6296 command line option; in the latter case(s) any address may be used, then.
6300 Unless this variable is set additional
6302 (Mail-Transfer-Agent)
6303 arguments from the command line, as can be given after a
6305 separator, are ignored due to safety reasons.
6306 However, if set to the special (case-insensitive) value
6308 then the presence of additional MTA arguments is treated as a hard
6309 error that causes \*(UA to exit with failure status.
6310 A lesser strict variant is the otherwise identical
6312 which does accept such arguments in interactive mode, or if tilde
6313 commands were enabled explicitly by using one of the command line options
6320 \*(RO String giving a list of features \*(UA, preceded with a plus-sign
6322 if the feature is available, and a minus-sign
6325 The output of the command
6327 will include this information.
6331 \*(BO This option reverses the meanings of a set of reply commands,
6332 turning the lowercase variants, which by default address all recipients
6333 included in the header of a message
6334 .Pf ( Ic reply , respond , followup )
6335 into the uppercase variants, which by default address the sender only
6336 .Pf ( Ic Reply , Respond , Followup )
6339 .Ic replysender , respondsender , followupsender
6341 .Ic replyall , respondall , followupall
6342 are not affected by the current setting of
6347 .It Va file-hook-load-EXTENSION , file-hook-save-EXTENSION
6348 It is possible to install file hooks which will be used by the
6350 command in order to be able to transparently handle (through an
6351 intermediate temporary file) files with specific
6353 s: the variable values can include shell snippets and are expected to
6354 write data to standard output / read data from standard input,
6356 \*(ID The variables may not be changed while there is a mailbox
6358 .Bd -literal -offset indent
6359 set file-hook-load-xy='echo >&2 XY-LOAD; gzip -cd' \e
6360 file-hook-save-xy='echo >&2 XY-SAVE; gzip -c' \e
6361 record=+null-sent.xy
6366 The default path under which mailboxes are to be saved:
6367 file names that begin with the plus-sign
6369 will be expanded by prefixing them with the value of this variable.
6370 The same special syntax conventions as documented for the
6372 command may be used; if the non-empty value doesn't start with a solidus
6376 will be prefixed automatically.
6377 If unset or the empty string any
6379 prefixing file names will remain unexpanded.
6383 This variable can be set to the name of a
6385 macro which will be called whenever a
6388 The macro will also be invoked when new mail arrives,
6389 but message lists for commands executed from the macro
6390 only include newly arrived messages then.
6392 are activated by default in a folder hook, causing the covered settings
6393 to be reverted once the folder is left again.
6396 Macro behaviour, including option localization, will change in v15.
6397 Please be aware of that and possibly embed a version check in a resource
6401 .It Va folder-hook-FOLDER
6406 Unlike other folder specifications, the fully expanded name of a folder,
6407 without metacharacters, is used to avoid ambiguities.
6408 However, if the mailbox resides under
6412 specification is tried in addition, e.g., if
6416 (and thus relative to the user's home directory) then
6417 .Pa /home/usr1/mail/sent
6419 .Ql folder-hook-/home/usr1/mail/sent
6420 first, but then followed by
6421 .Ql folder-hook-+sent .
6425 \*(BO Controls whether a
6426 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
6427 header is generated when sending messages to known mailing lists.
6429 .Va followup-to-honour
6431 .Ic mlist , mlsubscribe , reply
6436 .It Va followup-to-honour
6438 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
6439 header is honoured when group-replying to a message via
6443 This is a quadoption; if set without a value it defaults to
6453 .It Va forward-as-attachment
6454 \*(BO Original messages are normally sent as inline text with the
6457 and only the first part of a multipart message is included.
6458 With this option messages are sent as unmodified MIME
6460 attachments with all of their parts included.
6464 The address (or a list of addresses) to put into the
6466 field of the message header, quoting RFC 5322:
6467 the author(s) of the message, that is, the mailbox(es) of the person(s)
6468 or system(s) responsible for the writing of the message.
6471 ing to messages these addresses are handled as if they were in the
6475 If the machine's hostname is not valid at the Internet (for example at
6476 a dialup machine) then either this variable or
6478 (\*(IN and with a defined SMTP protocol in
6481 adds even more fine-tuning capabilities),
6485 contains more than one address,
6488 variable is required (according to the standard RFC 5322).
6492 \*(BO When replying to or forwarding a message \*(UA normally removes
6493 the comment and name parts of email addresses.
6494 If this variable is set such stripping is not performed,
6495 and comments, names etc. are retained.
6499 The string to put before the text of a message with the
6503 .Va forward-as-attachment
6506 .Dq -------- Original Message --------
6507 if unset; No heading is put if it is set to the empty string.
6511 \*(BO Causes the header summary to be written at startup and after
6512 commands that affect the number of messages or the order of messages in
6513 the current folder; enabled by default.
6514 The command line option
6520 complements this and controls header summary display on folder changes.
6525 A format string to use for the summary of
6527 similar to the ones used for
6530 Format specifiers in the given string start with a percent character
6532 and may be followed by an optional decimal number indicating the field
6533 width \(em if that is negative, the field is to be left-aligned.
6534 Valid format specifiers are:
6537 .Bl -tag -compact -offset indent -width "_%%_"
6539 A plain percent character.
6542 a space character but for the current message
6544 for which it expands to
6548 a space character but for the current message
6550 for which it expands to
6553 \*(OP The spam score of the message, as has been classified via the
6556 Shows only a replacement character if there is no spam support.
6558 Message attribute character (status flag); the actual content can be
6562 The date when the message was received, or the date found in the
6566 variable is set (optionally to a date display format string).
6568 The indenting level in threaded mode.
6570 The address of the message sender.
6572 The message thread tree structure.
6573 (Note that this format doesn't support a field width.)
6575 The number of lines of the message, if available.
6579 The number of octets (bytes) in the message, if available.
6581 Message subject (if any).
6583 Message subject (if any) in double quotes.
6585 Message recipient flags: is the addressee of the message a known or
6586 subscribed mailing list \(en see
6591 The position in threaded/sorted order.
6595 .Ql %>\&%a\&%m\ %-18f\ %16d\ %4l/%\-5o\ %i%-s ,
6597 .Ql %>\&%a\&%m\ %20-f\ \ %16d\ %3l/%\-5o\ %i%-S
6608 .It Va headline-bidi
6609 Bidirectional text requires special treatment when displaying headers,
6610 because numbers (in dates or for file sizes etc.) will not affect the
6611 current text direction, in effect resulting in ugly line layouts when
6612 arabic or other right-to-left text is to be displayed.
6613 On the other hand only a minority of terminals is capable to correctly
6614 handle direction changes, so that user interaction is necessary for
6616 Note that extended host system support is required nonetheless, e.g.,
6617 detection of the terminal character set is one precondition;
6618 and this feature only works in an Unicode (i.e., UTF-8) locale.
6620 In general setting this variable will cause \*(UA to encapsulate text
6621 fields that may occur when displaying
6623 (and some other fields, like dynamic expansions in
6625 with special Unicode control sequences;
6626 it is possible to fine-tune the terminal support level by assigning
6628 no value (or any value other than
6633 will make \*(UA assume that the terminal is capable to properly deal
6634 with Unicode version 6.3, in which case text is embedded in a pair of
6635 U+2068 (FIRST STRONG ISOLATE) and U+2069 (POP DIRECTIONAL ISOLATE)
6637 In addition no space on the line is reserved for these characters.
6639 Weaker support is chosen by using the value
6641 (Unicode 6.3, but reserve the room of two spaces for writing the control
6642 sequences onto the line).
6647 select Unicode 1.1 support (U+200E, LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK); the latter
6648 again reserves room for two spaces in addition.
6652 \*(OP If a line editor is available then this can be set to
6653 name the (expandable) path of the location of a permanent history file.
6656 .It Va history-gabby
6657 \*(BO\*(OP Add more entries to the history as is normally done.
6660 .It Va history-gabby-persist
6661 \*(BO\*(OP \*(UA's own MLE will not save the additional
6663 entries in persistent storage unless this variable is set.
6664 On the other hand it will not loose the knowledge of whether
6665 a persistent entry was gabby or not.
6671 \*(OP If a line editor is available this value restricts the
6672 amount of history entries that are saved into a set and valid
6674 A value of less than 0 disables this feature;
6675 note that loading and incorporation of
6677 upon program startup can also be suppressed by doing this.
6678 If unset or 0, a default value will be used.
6679 Dependent on the available line editor this will also define the
6680 number of history entries in memory;
6681 it is also editor-specific whether runtime updates of this value will
6686 \*(BO This option is used to hold messages in the system
6688 box, and it is set by default.
6692 Use this string as hostname when expanding local addresses instead of
6693 the value obtained from
6702 Note that when SMTP transport is not used (via
6704 then it is normally the responsibility of the MTA to create these
6705 fields, \*(IN in conjunction with SMTP however
6707 also influences the results:
6708 you should produce some test messages with the desired combination of
6717 \*(BO\*(OP Can be used to turn off the automatic conversion of domain
6718 names according to the rules of IDNA (internationalized domain names
6720 Since the IDNA code assumes that domain names are specified with the
6722 character set, an UTF-8 locale charset is required to represent all
6723 possible international domain names (before conversion, that is).
6727 \*(BO Ignore interrupt signals from the terminal while entering
6728 messages; instead echo them as
6730 characters and discard the current line.
6734 \*(BO Ignore end-of-file conditions
6735 .Pf ( Ql control-D )
6736 in compose mode on message input and in interactive command input.
6737 If set an interactive command input session can only be left by
6738 explicitly using one of the commands
6742 and message input in compose mode can only be terminated by entering
6745 on a line by itself or by using the
6747 .Sx "TILDE ESCAPES" ;
6749 overrides a setting of
6761 option for indenting messages,
6762 in place of the normal tabulator character
6764 which is the default.
6765 Be sure to quote the value if it contains spaces or tabs.
6769 \*(BO If set, an empty mailbox file is not removed.
6770 This may improve the interoperability with other mail user agents
6771 when using a common folder directory, and prevents malicious users
6772 from creating fake mailboxes in a world-writable spool directory.
6773 Note this only applies to local regular (MBOX) files, other mailbox
6774 types will never be removed.
6777 .It Va keep-content-length
6778 \*(BO When (editing messages and) writing
6780 mailbox files \*(UA can be told to keep the
6784 header fields that some MUAs generate by setting this variable.
6785 Since \*(UA does neither use nor update these non-standardized header
6786 fields (which in itself shows one of their conceptual problems),
6787 stripping them should increase interoperability in between MUAs that
6788 work with with same mailbox files.
6789 Note that, if this is not set but
6790 .Va writebackedited ,
6791 as below, is, a possibly performed automatic stripping of these header
6792 fields already marks the message as being modified.
6796 \*(BO When a message is saved it is usually discarded from the
6797 originating folder when \*(UA is quit.
6798 Setting this option causes all saved message to be retained.
6801 .It Va line-editor-disable
6802 \*(BO Turn off any enhanced line editing capabilities (see
6803 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor"
6807 .It Va line-editor-no-defaults
6808 \*(BO\*(OP Do not establish any default key binding.
6812 \*(BO When a message is replied to and this variable is set,
6813 it is marked as having been answered.
6814 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
6815 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
6816 and makes them specially addressable.
6820 \*(BO Internal development variable.
6823 .It Va message-id-disable
6824 \*(BO By setting this option the generation of
6826 can be completely suppressed, effectively leaving this task up to the
6828 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) or the SMTP server.
6829 (According to RFC 5321 your SMTP server is not required to add this
6830 field by itself, so you should ensure that it accepts messages without a
6834 .It Va message-inject-head
6835 A string to put at the beginning of each new message.
6836 The escape sequences tabulator
6843 .It Va message-inject-tail
6844 A string to put at the end of each new message.
6845 The escape sequences tabulator
6853 \*(BO Usually, when an
6855 expansion contains the sender, the sender is removed from the expansion.
6856 Setting this option suppresses these removals.
6861 option to be passed through to the
6863 (Mail-Transfer-Agent); though most of the modern MTAs no longer document
6864 this flag, no MTA is known which doesn't support it (for historical
6868 .It Va mime-allow-text-controls
6869 \*(BO When sending messages, each part of the message is MIME-inspected
6870 in order to classify the
6873 .Ql Content-Transfer-Encoding:
6876 that is required to send this part over mail transport, i.e.,
6877 a computation rather similar to what the
6879 command produces when used with the
6883 This classification however treats text files which are encoded in
6884 UTF-16 (seen for HTML files) and similar character sets as binary
6885 octet-streams, forcefully changing any
6890 .Ql application/octet-stream :
6891 If that actually happens a yet unset charset MIME parameter is set to
6893 effectively making it impossible for the receiving MUA to automatically
6894 interpret the contents of the part.
6896 If this option is set, and the data was unambiguously identified as text
6897 data at first glance (by a
6901 file extension), then the original
6903 will not be overwritten.
6906 .It Va mime-alternative-favour-rich
6907 \*(BO If this variable is set then rich MIME alternative parts (e.g.,
6908 HTML) will be preferred in favour of included plain text versions when
6909 displaying messages, provided that a handler exists which produces
6910 output that can be (re)integrated into \*(UA's normal visual display.
6911 (E.g., at the time of this writing some newsletters ship their full
6912 content only in the rich HTML part, whereas the plain text part only
6913 contains topic subjects.)
6916 .It Va mime-counter-evidence
6919 field is used to decide how to handle MIME parts.
6920 Some MUAs however don't use
6922 or a similar mechanism to correctly classify content, but simply specify
6923 .Ql application/octet-stream ,
6924 even for plain text attachments like
6926 If this variable is set then \*(UA will try to classify such MIME
6927 message parts on its own, if possible, for example via a possibly
6928 existent attachment filename.
6929 A non-empty value may also be given, in which case a number is expected,
6930 actually a carrier of bits.
6931 Creating the bit-carrying number is a simple addition:
6932 .Bd -literal -offset indent
6933 ? !echo Value should be set to $((2 + 4 + 8))
6934 Value should be set to 14
6937 .Bl -bullet -compact
6939 If bit two is set (2) then the detected
6941 content-type will be carried along with the message and be used for
6943 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
6944 is responsible for the MIME part, shall that question arise;
6945 when displaying such a MIME part the part-info will indicate the
6946 overridden content-type by showing a plus-sign
6949 If bit three is set (4) then the counter-evidence is always produced
6950 and a positive result will be used as the MIME type, even forcefully
6951 overriding the parts given MIME type.
6953 If bit four is set (8) then as a last resort the actual content of
6954 .Ql application/octet-stream
6955 parts will be inspected, so that data which looks like plain text can be
6960 .It Va mimetypes-load-control
6961 This option can be used to control which of the
6963 databases are loaded by \*(UA, as furtherly described in the section
6964 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
6967 is part of the option value, then the user's personal
6969 file will be loaded (if it exists); likewise the letter
6971 controls loading of the system wide
6972 .Pa /etc/mime.types ;
6973 directives found in the user file take precedence, letter matching is
6975 If this option is not set \*(UA will try to load both files.
6976 Incorporation of the \*(UA-builtin MIME types cannot be suppressed,
6977 but they will be matched last.
6979 More sources can be specified by using a different syntax: if the
6980 value string contains an equals sign
6982 then it is instead parsed as a comma-separated list of the described
6985 pairs; the given filenames will be expanded and loaded, and their
6986 content may use the extended syntax that is described in the section
6987 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
6988 Directives found in such files always take precedence (are prepended to
6989 the MIME type cache).
6994 To choose an alternate Mail-Transfer-Agent, set this option to either
6995 the full pathname of an executable (optionally prefixed with a
6997 protocol indicator), or \*(OPally a SMTP protocol URL, e.g., \*(IN
6999 .Dl smtps?://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
7002 .Ql [smtp://]server[:port] . )
7003 The default has been chosen at compie time.
7004 All supported data transfers are executed in child processes, which
7005 run asynchronously, and without supervision, unless either the
7010 If such a child receives a TERM signal, it will abort and
7017 For a file-based MTA it may be necessary to set
7019 in in order to choose the right target of a modern
7022 It will be passed command line arguments from several possible sources:
7025 if set, from the command line if given and the variable
7028 Argument processing of the MTA will be terminated with a
7033 The otherwise occurring implicit usage of the following MTA command
7034 line arguments can be disabled by setting the boolean option
7035 .Va mta-no-default-arguments
7036 (which will also disable passing
7040 (for not treating a line with only a dot
7042 character as the end of input),
7050 option is set); in conjunction with the
7052 command line option \*(UA will also pass
7058 \*(OP \*(UA can send mail over SMTP network connections to a single
7059 defined SMTP smarthost, the access URL of which has to be assigned to
7061 To use this mode it is helpful to read
7062 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
7063 It may be necessary to set the
7065 variable in order to use a specific combination of
7070 with some mail providers.
7073 .Bl -bullet -compact
7075 The plain SMTP protocol (RFC 5321) that normally lives on the
7076 server port 25 and requires setting the
7077 .Va smtp-use-starttls
7078 variable to enter a SSL/TLS encrypted session state.
7079 Assign a value like \*(IN
7080 .Ql smtp://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
7082 .Ql smtp://server[:port] )
7083 to choose this protocol.
7085 The so-called SMTPS which is supposed to live on server port 465
7086 and is automatically SSL/TLS secured.
7087 Unfortunately it never became a standardized protocol and may thus not
7088 be supported by your hosts network service database
7089 \(en in fact the port number has already been reassigned to other
7092 SMTPS is nonetheless a commonly offered protocol and thus can be
7093 chosen by assigning a value like \*(IN
7094 .Ql smtps://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
7096 .Ql smtps://server[:port] ) ;
7097 due to the mentioned problems it is usually necessary to explicitly
7102 Finally there is the SUBMISSION protocol (RFC 6409), which usually
7103 lives on server port 587 and is practically identically to the SMTP
7104 protocol from \*(UA's point of view beside that; it requires setting the
7105 .Va smtp-use-starttls
7106 variable to enter a SSL/TLS secured session state.
7107 Assign a value like \*(IN
7108 .Ql submission://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
7110 .Ql submission://server[:port] ) .
7115 .It Va mta-arguments
7116 Arguments to pass through to a file-based
7118 can be given via this variable, the content of which will be split up in
7119 a vector of arguments, to be joined onto other possible MTA options:
7121 .Dl set mta-arguments='-t -X \&"/tmp/my log\&"'
7124 .It Va mta-no-default-arguments
7125 \*(BO Unless this option is set \*(UA will pass some well known
7126 standard command line options to a file-based
7128 (Mail-Transfer-Agent), see there for more.
7132 Many systems use a so-called
7134 environment to ensure compatibility with
7136 This works by inspecting the name that was used to invoke the mail
7138 If this variable is set then the mailwrapper (the program that is
7139 actually executed when calling the file-based
7141 will treat its contents as that name.
7146 .It Va NAIL_EXTRA_RC
7147 The name of an optional startup file to be read last.
7148 This variable has an effect only if it is set in any of the
7149 .Sx "Resource files" ,
7150 it is not imported from the environment.
7151 Use this file for commands that are not understood by other POSIX
7156 .It Va netrc-lookup-USER@HOST , netrc-lookup-HOST , netrc-lookup
7157 \*(BO\*(IN\*(OP Used to control usage of the users
7159 file for lookup of account credentials, as documented in the section
7160 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
7164 .Sx "The .netrc file"
7165 documents the file format.
7177 then \*(UA will read the output of a shell pipe instead of the users
7179 file if this variable is set (to the desired shell command).
7180 This can be used to, e.g., store
7184 .Dl set netrc-pipe='gpg -qd ~/.netrc.pgp'
7188 If this variable has the value
7190 newly created local folders will be in Maildir format.
7194 Checks for new mail in the current folder each time the prompt is shown.
7195 A Maildir folder must be re-scanned to determine if new mail has arrived.
7196 If this variable is set to the special value
7198 then a Maildir folder will not be rescanned completely, but only
7199 timestamp changes are detected.
7203 .It Va on-compose-enter , on-compose-leave
7204 \*(ID Macro hooks which will be executed before compose mode is
7205 entered, and after composing has been finished, respectively.
7206 Please note that this interface is very likely to change in v15, and
7207 should therefore possibly even be seen as experimental.
7209 are by default enabled for these hooks, causing any setting to be
7210 forgotten after the message has been sent.
7211 The following variables will be set temporarily during execution of the
7214 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Va compose_subject"
7217 .It Va compose-sender
7219 .It Va compose-to , compose-cc , compose-bcc
7220 The list of receiver addresses as a space-separated list.
7221 .It Va compose-subject
7227 \*(BO Causes the filename given in the
7230 and the sender-based filenames for the
7234 commands to be interpreted relative to the directory given in the
7236 variable rather than to the current directory,
7237 unless it is set to an absolute pathname.
7241 \*(BO If set, each message feed through the command given for
7243 is followed by a formfeed character
7247 .It Va password-USER@HOST , password-HOST , password
7248 \*(IN Variable chain that sets a password, which is used in case none has
7249 been given in the protocol and account-specific URL;
7250 as a last resort \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal if
7251 the authentication method requires a password.
7252 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
7253 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
7255 .It Va password-USER@HOST
7256 \*(OU (see the chain above for \*(IN)
7257 Set the password for
7261 If no such variable is defined for a host,
7262 the user will be asked for a password on standard input.
7263 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
7264 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
7268 \*(BO Send messages to the
7270 command without performing MIME and character set conversions.
7274 .It Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
7275 When a MIME message part of type
7277 (case-insensitive) is displayed or quoted,
7278 its text is filtered through the value of this variable interpreted as
7282 forces interpretation of the message part as plain text, e.g.,
7283 .Ql set pipe-application/xml=@
7284 will henceforth display XML
7286 (The same could also be achieved by adding a MIME type marker with the
7289 And \*(OPally MIME type handlers may be defined via
7290 .Sx "The Mailcap files"
7291 \(em corresponding flag strings are shown in parenthesis below.)
7296 can in fact be used to adjust usage and behaviour of a following shell
7297 command specification by appending trigger characters to it, e.g., the
7298 following hypothetical command specification could be used:
7299 .Bd -literal -offset indent
7300 set pipe-X/Y='@*!++=@vim ${NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}'
7304 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql __"
7306 Simply by using the special
7308 prefix the MIME type (shell command) handler will only be invoked to
7309 display or convert the MIME part if the message is addressed directly
7310 and alone by itself.
7311 Use this trigger to disable this and always invoke the handler
7312 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-always ) .
7315 If set the handler will not be invoked when a message is to be quoted,
7316 but only when it will be displayed
7317 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-noquote ) .
7320 The command will be run asynchronously, i.e., without blocking \*(UA,
7321 which may be a handy way to display a, e.g., PDF file while also
7322 continuing to read the mail message
7323 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-async ) .
7324 Asynchronous execution implies
7328 The command must be run on an interactive terminal, \*(UA will
7329 temporarily release the terminal to it
7330 .Pf ( Cd needsterminal ) .
7331 This flag is mutual exclusive with
7333 will only be used in interactive mode and implies
7337 Request creation of a zero-sized temporary file, the absolute pathname
7338 of which will be made accessible via the environment variable
7339 .Ev NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY
7340 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-tmpfile ) .
7341 If this trigger is given twice then the file will be unlinked
7342 automatically by \*(UA when the command loop is entered again at latest
7343 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink ) .
7344 (Don't use this for asynchronous handlers.)
7347 Normally the MIME part content is passed to the handler via standard
7348 input; if this flag is set then the data will instead be written into
7349 .Ev NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY
7350 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill ) ,
7351 the creation of which is implied; note however that in order to cause
7352 deletion of the temporary file you still have to use two plus signs
7357 To avoid ambiguities with normal shell command content you can use
7358 another at-sign to forcefully terminate interpretation of remaining
7360 (Any character not in this list will have the same effect.)
7364 Some information about the MIME part to be displayed is embedded into
7365 the environment of the shell command:
7368 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ev _AIL__ILENAME__ENERATED"
7371 The MIME content-type of the part, if known, the empty string otherwise.
7374 .It Ev NAIL_CONTENT_EVIDENCE
7376 .Va mime-counter-evidence
7377 includes the carry-around-bit (2), then this will be set to the detected
7378 MIME content-type; not only then identical to
7379 .Ev \&\&NAIL_CONTENT
7383 .It Ev NAIL_FILENAME
7384 The filename, if any is set, the empty string otherwise.
7387 .It Ev NAIL_FILENAME_GENERATED
7391 .It Ev NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY
7392 If temporary file creation has been requested through the command prefix
7393 this variable will be set and contain the absolute pathname of the
7398 The temporary directory that \*(UA uses.
7399 Usually identical to
7401 but guaranteed to be set and usable by child processes;
7402 to ensure the latter condition for
7409 .It Va pipe-EXTENSION
7410 This is identical to
7411 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
7414 (normalized to lowercase using character mappings of the ASCII charset)
7415 names a file extension, e.g.,
7417 Handlers registered using this method take precedence.
7420 .It Va pop3-auth-USER@HOST , pop3-auth-HOST , pop3-auth
7421 \*(OP\*(IN Variable chain that sets the POP3 authentication method.
7422 The only possible value as of now is
7424 which is thus the default.
7427 .Mx Va pop3-bulk-load
7428 .It Va pop3-bulk-load-USER@HOST , pop3-bulk-load-HOST , pop3-bulk-load
7429 \*(BO\*(OP When accessing a POP3 server \*(UA loads the headers of
7430 the messages, and only requests the message bodies on user request.
7431 For the POP3 protocol this means that the message headers will be
7433 If this option is set then \*(UA will download only complete messages
7434 from the given POP3 server(s) instead.
7436 .Mx Va pop3-keepalive
7437 .It Va pop3-keepalive-USER@HOST , pop3-keepalive-HOST , pop3-keepalive
7438 \*(OP POP3 servers close the connection after a period of inactivity;
7439 the standard requires this to be at least 10 minutes,
7440 but practical experience may vary.
7441 Setting this variable to a numeric value greater than
7445 command to be sent each value seconds if no other operation is performed.
7448 .It Va pop3-no-apop-USER@HOST , pop3-no-apop-HOST , pop3-no-apop
7449 \*(BO\*(OP Unless this variable is set the
7451 authentication method will be used when connecting to a POP3 server that
7455 is that the password is not sent in clear text over the wire and that
7456 only a single packet is sent for the user/password tuple.
7458 .Va pop3-no-apop-HOST
7461 .Mx Va pop3-use-starttls
7462 .It Va pop3-use-starttls-USER@HOST , pop3-use-starttls-HOST , pop3-use-starttls
7463 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a
7465 command to make an unencrypted POP3 session SSL/TLS encrypted.
7466 This functionality is not supported by all servers,
7467 and is not used if the session is already encrypted by the POP3S method.
7469 .Va pop3-use-starttls-HOST
7473 .It Va print-alternatives
7474 \*(BO When a MIME message part of type
7475 .Ql multipart/alternative
7476 is displayed and it contains a subpart of type
7478 other parts are normally discarded.
7479 Setting this variable causes all subparts to be displayed,
7480 just as if the surrounding part was of type
7481 .Ql multipart/mixed .
7485 The string shown when a command is accepted.
7486 Prompting may be prevented by setting this to the null string
7488 .Pf no Va prompt ) .
7489 If a value is assigned the following \*(UA specific additional sequences
7496 is set, in which case it expands to
7500 is the default value of
7503 which will expand to
7505 if the last command failed and to
7509 which will expand to the name of the currently active
7511 if any, and to the empty string otherwise, and
7513 which will expand to the name of the currently active mailbox.
7514 (Note that the prompt buffer is size-limited, excess is cut off.)
7520 to encapsulate the expansions of the
7524 escape sequences as necessary to correctly display bidirectional text,
7525 this is not true for the final string that makes up
7527 as such, i.e., real BIDI handling is not supported.
7531 \*(BO Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked.
7535 If set, \*(UA starts a replying message with the original message
7536 prefixed by the value of the variable
7538 Normally, a heading consisting of
7539 .Dq Fromheaderfield wrote:
7540 is put before the quotation.
7545 variable, this heading is omitted.
7548 is assigned, the headers selected by the
7549 .Ic ignore Ns / Ns Ic retain
7550 commands are put above the message body,
7553 acts like an automatic
7559 is assigned, all headers are put above the message body and all MIME
7560 parts are included, making
7562 act like an automatic
7565 .Va quote-as-attachment .
7568 .It Va quote-as-attachment
7569 \*(BO Add the original message in its entirety as a
7571 MIME attachment when replying to a message.
7572 Note this works regardless of the setting of
7577 \*(OP Can be set in addition to
7579 Setting this turns on a more fancy quotation algorithm in that leading
7580 quotation characters are compressed and overlong lines are folded.
7582 can be set to either one or two (space separated) numeric values,
7583 which are interpreted as the maximum (goal) and the minimum line length,
7584 respectively, in a spirit rather equal to the
7586 program, but line-, not paragraph-based.
7587 If not set explicitly the minimum will reflect the goal algorithmically.
7588 The goal can't be smaller than the length of
7590 plus some additional pad.
7591 Necessary adjustments take place silently.
7594 .It Va recipients-in-cc
7595 \*(BO On group replies, specify only the sender of the original mail in
7597 and mention the other recipients in the secondary
7599 By default all recipients of the original mail will be addressed via
7604 If defined, gives the pathname of the folder used to record all outgoing
7606 If not defined, then outgoing mail is not saved.
7607 When saving to this folder fails the message is not sent,
7608 but instead saved to
7612 .It Va record-resent
7613 \*(BO If both this variable and the
7620 commands save messages to the
7622 folder as it is normally only done for newly composed messages.
7625 .It Va reply-in-same-charset
7626 \*(BO If this variable is set \*(UA first tries to use the same
7627 character set of the original message for replies.
7628 If this fails, the mechanism described in
7629 .Sx "Character sets"
7630 is evaluated as usual.
7633 .It Va reply_strings
7634 Can be set to a comma-separated list of (case-insensitive according to
7635 ASCII rules) strings which shall be recognized in addition to the
7638 reply message indicators \(en builtin are
7640 which is mandated by RFC 5322, as well as the german
7645 A list of addresses to put into the
7647 field of the message header.
7648 Members of this list are handled as if they were in the
7653 .It Va reply-to-honour
7656 header is honoured when replying to a message via
7660 This is a quadoption; if set without a value it defaults to
7664 .It Va rfc822-body-from_
7665 \*(BO This variable can be used to force displaying a so-called
7667 line for messages that are embedded into an envelope mail via the
7669 MIME mechanism, for more visual convenience.
7673 \*(BO Enable saving of (partial) messages in
7675 upon interrupt or delivery error.
7679 The number of lines that represents a
7688 line display and scrolling via
7690 If this variable is not set \*(UA falls back to a calculation based upon
7691 the detected terminal window size and the baud rate: the faster the
7692 terminal, the more will be shown.
7693 Overall screen dimensions and pager usage is influenced by the
7694 environment variables
7702 .It Va searchheaders
7703 \*(BO Expand message-list specifiers in the form
7705 to all messages containing the substring
7709 The string search is case insensitive.
7713 \*(OP A comma-separated list of character set names that can be used in
7714 outgoing internet mail.
7715 The value of the variable
7717 is automatically appended to this list of character-sets.
7718 If no character set conversion capabilities are compiled into \*(UA then
7719 the only supported charset is
7722 .Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
7723 and refer to the section
7724 .Sx "Character sets"
7725 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
7728 .It Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
7729 \*(BO\*(OP If this variable is set, but
7731 is not, then \*(UA acts as if
7733 had been set to the value of the variable
7735 In effect this combination passes through the message data in the
7736 character set of the current locale (given that
7738 hasn't been set manually), i.e., without converting it to the
7740 fallback character set.
7741 Thus, mail message text will be in ISO-8859-1 encoding when send from
7742 within a ISO-8859-1 locale, and in UTF-8 encoding when send from within
7744 If no character set conversion capabilities are available in \*(UA then
7745 the only supported character set is
7750 An address that is put into the
7752 field of outgoing messages, quoting RFC 5322: the mailbox of the agent
7753 responsible for the actual transmission of the message.
7754 This field should normally not be used unless the
7756 field contains more than one address, on which case it is required.
7759 address is handled as if it were in the
7765 \*(OB Predecessor of
7769 .It Va sendmail-arguments
7770 \*(OB Predecessor of
7774 .It Va sendmail-no-default-arguments
7775 \*(OB\*(BO Predecessor of
7776 .Va mta-no-default-arguments .
7779 .It Va sendmail-progname
7780 \*(OB Predecessor of
7785 \*(BO When sending a message wait until the
7787 (including the builtin SMTP one) exits before accepting further commands.
7789 with this variable set errors reported by the MTA will be recognizable!
7790 If the MTA returns a non-zero exit status,
7791 the exit status of \*(UA will also be non-zero.
7795 \*(BO Setting this option causes \*(UA to start at the last message
7796 instead of the first one when opening a mail folder.
7800 \*(BO Causes \*(UA to use the sender's real name instead of the plain
7801 address in the header field summary and in message specifications.
7805 \*(BO Causes the recipient of the message to be shown in the header
7806 summary if the message was sent by the user.
7810 A string for use with the
7816 A string for use with the
7822 Must correspond to the name of a readable file if set.
7823 The file's content is then appended to each singlepart message
7824 and to the first part of each multipart message.
7825 Be warned that there is no possibility to edit the signature for an
7829 .It Va skipemptybody
7830 \*(BO If an outgoing message does not contain any text in its first or
7831 only message part, do not send it but discard it silently (see also the
7837 \*(OP Specifies a directory with CA certificates in PEM (Privacy
7838 Enhanced Mail) format for verification of S/MIME signed messages.
7841 .It Va smime-ca-file
7842 \*(OP Specifies a file with CA certificates in PEM format for
7843 verification of S/MIME signed messages.
7846 .It Va smime-cipher-USER@HOST , smime-cipher
7847 \*(OP Specifies the cipher to use when generating S/MIME encrypted
7848 messages (for the specified account).
7849 RFC 5751 mandates a default of
7852 Possible values are (case-insensitive and) in decreasing cipher strength:
7860 (DES EDE3 CBC, 168 bits; default if
7862 isn't available) and
7866 The actually available cipher algorithms depend on the cryptographic
7867 library that \*(UA uses.
7868 \*(OP Support for more cipher algorithms may be available through
7869 dynamic loading via, e.g.,
7870 .Xr EVP_get_cipherbyname 3
7871 (OpenSSL) if \*(UA has been compiled to support this.
7874 .It Va smime-crl-dir
7875 \*(OP Specifies a directory that contains files with CRLs in PEM format
7876 to use when verifying S/MIME messages.
7879 .It Va smime-crl-file
7880 \*(OP Specifies a file that contains a CRL in PEM format to use when
7881 verifying S/MIME messages.
7884 .It Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST
7885 \*(OP If this variable is set, messages send to the given receiver are
7886 encrypted before sending.
7887 The value of the variable must be set to the name of a file that
7888 contains a certificate in PEM format.
7890 If a message is sent to multiple recipients,
7891 each of them for whom a corresponding variable is set will receive an
7892 individually encrypted message;
7893 other recipients will continue to receive the message in plain text
7895 .Va smime-force-encryption
7897 It is recommended to sign encrypted messages, i.e., to also set the
7902 .It Va smime-force-encryption
7903 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to refuse sending unencrypted messages.
7906 .It Va smime-no-default-ca
7907 \*(BO\*(OP Don't load default CA locations when verifying S/MIME signed
7912 \*(BO\*(OP S/MIME sign outgoing messages with the user's private key
7913 and include the user's certificate as a MIME attachment.
7914 Signing a message enables a recipient to verify that the sender used
7915 a valid certificate,
7916 that the email addresses in the certificate match those in the message
7917 header and that the message content has not been altered.
7918 It does not change the message text,
7919 and people will be able to read the message as usual.
7921 .Va smime-sign-cert , smime-sign-include-certs
7923 .Va smime-sign-message-digest .
7925 .Mx Va smime-sign-cert
7926 .It Va smime-sign-cert-USER@HOST , smime-sign-cert
7927 \*(OP Points to a file in PEM format.
7928 For the purpose of signing and decryption this file needs to contain the
7929 user's private key as well as his certificate.
7933 is always derived from the value of
7935 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
7937 For the purpose of encryption the recipient's public encryption key
7938 (certificate) is expected; the command
7940 can be used to save certificates of signed messages (the section
7941 .Sx "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
7942 gives some details).
7943 This mode of operation is usually driven by the specialized form.
7945 When decrypting messages the account is derived from the recipient
7950 of the message, which are searched for addresses for which such
7952 \*(UA always uses the first address that matches,
7953 so if the same message is sent to more than one of the user's addresses
7954 using different encryption keys, decryption might fail.
7956 .Mx Va smime-sign-include-certs
7957 .It Va smime-sign-include-certs-USER@HOST , smime-sign-include-certs
7958 \*(OP If used, this is supposed to a consist of a comma-separated list
7959 of files, each of which containing a single certificate in PEM format to
7960 be included in the S/MIME message in addition to the
7963 This is most useful for long certificate chains if it is desired to aid
7964 the receiving party's verification process.
7965 Note that top level certificates may also be included in the chain but
7966 don't play a role for verification.
7968 .Va smime-sign-cert .
7969 Remember that for this
7971 refers to the variable
7973 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
7976 .Mx Va smime-sign-message-digest
7977 .It Va smime-sign-message-digest-USER@HOST , smime-sign-message-digest
7978 \*(OP Specifies the message digest to use when signing S/MIME messages.
7979 RFC 5751 mandates a default of
7981 Possible values are (case-insensitive and) in decreasing cipher strength:
7989 The actually available message digest algorithms depend on the
7990 cryptographic library that \*(UA uses.
7991 \*(OP Support for more message digest algorithms may be available
7992 through dynamic loading via, e.g.,
7993 .Xr EVP_get_digestbyname 3
7994 (OpenSSL) if \*(UA has been compiled to support this.
7995 Remember that for this
7997 refers to the variable
7999 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
8004 \*(OB\*(OP To use the builtin SMTP transport, specify a SMTP URL in
8006 \*(ID For compatibility reasons a set
8008 is used in preference of
8012 .It Va smtp-auth-USER@HOST , smtp-auth-HOST , smtp-auth
8013 \*(OP Variable chain that controls the SMTP
8015 authentication method, possible values are
8021 as well as the \*(OPal methods
8027 method doesn't need any user credentials,
8029 requires a user name and all other methods require a user name and
8037 .Va smtp-auth-password
8039 .Va smtp-auth-user ) .
8044 .Va smtp-auth-USER@HOST :
8045 may override dependent on sender address in the variable
8048 .It Va smtp-auth-password
8049 \*(OP\*(OU Sets the global fallback password for SMTP authentication.
8050 If the authentication method requires a password, but neither
8051 .Va smtp-auth-password
8053 .Va smtp-auth-password-USER@HOST
8055 \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal.
8057 .It Va smtp-auth-password-USER@HOST
8059 .Va smtp-auth-password
8060 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
8063 .It Va smtp-auth-user
8064 \*(OP\*(OU Sets the global fallback user name for SMTP authentication.
8065 If the authentication method requires a user name, but neither
8068 .Va smtp-auth-user-USER@HOST
8070 \*(UA will ask for a user name on the user's terminal.
8072 .It Va smtp-auth-user-USER@HOST
8075 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
8079 .It Va smtp-hostname
8080 \*(OP\*(IN Normally \*(UA uses the variable
8082 to derive the necessary
8084 information in order to issue a
8091 can be used to use the
8093 from the SMTP account
8100 from the content of this variable (or, if that is the empty string,
8102 or the local hostname as a last resort).
8103 This often allows using an address that is itself valid but hosted by
8104 a provider other than which (in
8106 is about to send the message.
8107 Setting this variable also influences the generated
8110 .Mx Va smtp-use-starttls
8111 .It Va smtp-use-starttls-USER@HOST , smtp-use-starttls-HOST , smtp-use-starttls
8112 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a
8114 command to make an SMTP
8116 session SSL/TLS encrypted, i.e., to enable transport layer security.
8120 .It Va spam-interface
8121 \*(OP In order to use any of the spam-related commands (like, e.g.,
8123 the desired spam interface must be defined by setting this variable.
8124 Please refer to the manual section
8126 for the complete picture of spam handling in \*(UA.
8127 All or none of the following interfaces may be available:
8129 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ql _ilte_"
8135 .Pf ( Lk http://spamassassin.apache.org SpamAssassin )
8137 Different to the generic filter interface \*(UA will automatically add
8138 the correct arguments for a given command and has the necessary
8139 knowledge to parse the program's output.
8142 will have been compiled into the \*(UA binary if
8147 Shall it be necessary to define a specific connection type (rather than
8148 using a configuration file for that), the variable
8150 can be used as in, e.g.,
8151 .Ql -d server.example.com -p 783 .
8152 It is also possible to specify a per-user configuration via
8154 Note that this interface doesn't inspect the
8156 flag of a message for the command
8160 generic spam filter support via freely configurable hooks.
8161 This interface is meant for programs like
8163 and requires according behaviour in respect to the hooks' exit
8164 status for at least the command
8167 meaning a message is spam,
8171 for unsure and any other return value indicating a hard error);
8172 since the hooks can include shell code snippets diverting behaviour
8173 can be intercepted as necessary.
8175 .Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , spamfilter-nospam , \
8178 .Va spamfilter-spam ;
8181 contains examples for some programs.
8182 The process environment of the hooks will have the variables
8183 .Ev NAIL_TMPDIR , TMPDIR
8185 .Ev NAIL_FILENAME_GENERATED
8187 Note that spam score support for
8189 isn't supported unless the \*(OPtional regular expression support is
8191 .Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore
8198 \*(OP Messages that exceed this size won't be passed through to the
8200 .Va spam-interface .
8201 If unset or 0, the default of 420000 bytes is used.
8204 .It Va spamc-command
8205 \*(OP The path to the
8209 .Va spam-interface .
8210 Note that the path is not expanded, but used
8212 A fallback path will have been compiled into the \*(UA binary if the
8213 executable had been found during compilation.
8216 .It Va spamc-arguments
8217 \*(OP Even though \*(UA deals with most arguments for the
8220 automatically, it may at least sometimes be desirable to specify
8221 connection-related ones via this variable, e.g.,
8222 .Ql -d server.example.com -p 783 .
8226 \*(OP Specify a username for per-user configuration files for the
8228 .Va spam-interface .
8229 If this is set to the empty string then \*(UA will use the name of the
8238 .It Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , \
8239 spamfilter-nospam , spamfilter-rate , spamfilter-spam
8240 \*(OP Command and argument hooks for the
8242 .Va spam-interface .
8245 contains examples for some programs.
8248 .It Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore
8249 \*(OP Because of the generic nature of the
8252 spam scores are not supported for it by default, but if the \*(OPtional
8253 regular expression support is available then setting this variable can
8254 be used to overcome this restriction.
8255 It is interpreted as follows: first a number (digits) is parsed that
8256 must be followed by a semicolon
8258 and an extended regular expression.
8259 Then the latter is used to parse the first output line of the
8261 hook, and, in case the evaluation is successful, the group that has been
8262 specified via the number is interpreted as a floating point scan score.
8266 \*(OP Specifies a directory with CA certificates in PEM (Pricacy
8267 Enhanced Mail) for verification of of SSL/TLS server certificates.
8269 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
8270 for more information.
8274 \*(OP Specifies a file with CA certificates in PEM format for
8275 verification of SSL/TLS server certificates.
8277 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
8278 for more information.
8281 .It Va ssl-cert-USER@HOST , ssl-cert-HOST , ssl-cert
8282 \*(OP Variable chain that sets the file name for a SSL/TLS client
8283 certificate required by some servers.
8284 This is a direct interface to the
8288 function of the OpenSSL library, if available.
8290 .Mx Va ssl-cipher-list
8291 .It Va ssl-cipher-list-USER@HOST , ssl-cipher-list-HOST , ssl-cipher-list
8292 \*(OP Specifies a list of ciphers for SSL/TLS connections.
8293 This is a direct interface to the
8297 function of the OpenSSL library, if available; see
8299 for more information.
8300 By default \*(UA doesn't set a list of ciphers, which in effect will use a
8302 specific cipher (protocol standards ship with a list of acceptable
8303 ciphers), possibly cramped to what the actually used SSL/TLS library
8304 supports \(en the manual section
8305 .Sx "An example configuration"
8306 also contains a SSL/TLS use case.
8309 .It Va ssl-config-file
8310 \*(OP If this variable is set \*(UA will call
8311 .Xr CONF_modules_load_file 3
8312 to allow OpenSSL to be configured according to the host system wide
8314 If a non-empty value is given then this will be used to specify the
8315 configuration file to be used instead of the global OpenSSL default;
8316 note that in this case it is an error if the file cannot be loaded.
8317 The application name will always be passed as
8322 \*(OP Specifies a file that contains a CRL in PEM format to use when
8323 verifying SSL/TLS server certificates.
8327 \*(OP Specifies a directory that contains files with CRLs in PEM format
8328 to use when verifying SSL/TLS server certificates.
8331 .It Va ssl-key-USER@HOST , ssl-key-HOST , ssl-key
8332 \*(OP Variable chain that sets the file name for the private key of
8333 a SSL/TLS client certificate.
8334 If unset, the name of the certificate file is used.
8335 The file is expected to be in PEM format.
8336 This is a direct interface to the
8340 function of the OpenSSL library, if available.
8343 .It Va ssl-method-USER@HOST , ssl-method-HOST , ssl-method
8344 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the newer and more flexible
8346 instead: if both values are set,
8348 will take precedence!
8349 Can be set to the following values, the actually used
8351 specification to which it is mapped is shown in parenthesis:
8353 .Pf ( Ql -ALL, TLSv1.2 ) ,
8355 .Pf ( Ql -ALL, TLSv1.1 ) ,
8357 .Pf ( Ql -ALL, TLSv1 )
8360 .Pf ( Ql -ALL, SSLv3 ) ;
8365 and thus includes the SSLv3 protocol.
8366 Note that SSLv2 is no longer supported at all.
8369 .It Va ssl-no-default-ca
8370 \*(BO\*(OP Don't load default CA locations to verify SSL/TLS server
8374 .It Va ssl-protocol-USER@HOST , ssl-protocol-HOST , ssl-protocol
8375 \*(OP Specify the used SSL/TLS protocol.
8376 This is a direct interface to the
8380 function of the OpenSSL library, if available;
8381 otherwise an \*(UA internal parser is used which understands the
8382 following subset of (case-insensitive) command strings:
8388 as well as the special value
8390 Multiple specifications may be given via a comma-separated list which
8391 ignores any whitespace.
8394 plus prefix will enable a protocol, a
8396 minus prefix will disable it, so that
8398 will enable only the TLSv1.2 protocol.
8400 It depends upon the used TLS/SSL library which protocols are actually
8401 supported and which protocols are used if
8403 is not set, but note that SSLv2 is no longer supported at all and
8405 Especially for older protocols explicitly securing
8407 may be worthwile, see
8408 .Sx "An example configuration" .
8412 \*(OP Gives the pathname to an entropy daemon socket, see
8414 Not all SSL/TLS libraries support this.
8417 .It Va ssl-rand-file
8418 \*(OP Gives the filename to a file with random entropy data, see
8419 .Xr RAND_load_file 3 .
8420 If this variable is not set, or set to the empty string, or if the
8421 filename expansion failed, then
8422 .Xr RAND_file_name 3
8423 will be used to create the filename if, and only if,
8425 documents that the SSL PRNG is not yet sufficiently seeded.
8426 If \*(UA successfully seeded the SSL PRNG then it'll update the file via
8427 .Xr RAND_write_file 3 .
8428 This variable is only used if
8430 is not set (or not supported by the SSL/TLS library).
8433 .It Va ssl-verify-USER@HOST , ssl-verify-HOST , ssl-verify
8434 \*(OP Variable chain that sets the action to be performed if an error
8435 occurs during SSL/TLS server certificate validation.
8436 Valid (case-insensitive) values are
8438 (fail and close connection immediately),
8440 (ask whether to continue on standard input),
8442 (show a warning and continue),
8444 (do not perform validation).
8450 If only set without an assigned value, then this option inhibits the
8455 header fields that include obvious references to \*(UA.
8456 There are two pitfalls associated with this:
8457 First, the message id of outgoing messages is not known anymore.
8458 Second, an expert may still use the remaining information in the header
8459 to track down the originating mail user agent.
8464 suppression doesn't occur.
8469 (\*(OP) This specifies a comma-separated list of
8474 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" ,
8475 escape commas with reverse solidus) to be used to overwrite or define
8477 Note that this variable will only be queried once at program startup and
8478 can thus only be specified in resource files or on the command line.
8481 String capabilities form
8483 pairs and are expected unless noted otherwise.
8484 Numerics have to be notated as
8486 where the number is expected in normal decimal notation.
8487 Finally, booleans don't have any value but indicate a true or false
8488 state simply by being defined or not; this indeed means that \*(UA
8489 doesn't support undefining an existing boolean.
8490 String capability values will undergo some expansions before use:
8491 for one notations like
8494 .Ql control-LETTER ,
8495 and for clarification purposes
8497 can be used to specify
8499 (the control notation
8501 could lead to misreadings when a left bracket follows, which it does for
8502 the standard CSI sequence);
8503 finally three letter octal sequences, as in
8506 To specify that a terminal supports 256-colours, and to define sequences
8507 that home the cursor and produce an audible bell, one might write:
8509 .Bd -literal -offset indent
8510 set termcap='Co#256,home=\eE[H,bel=^G'
8514 The following terminal capabilities are or may be meaningful for the
8515 operation of the builtin line editor or \*(UA in general:
8518 .Bl -tag -compact -width yay
8520 .It Cd colors Ns \0or Cd Co
8522 numeric capability specifying the maximum number of colours.
8523 Note that \*(UA doesn't actually care about the terminal beside that,
8524 but always emits ANSI / ISO 6429 escape sequences.
8527 .It Cd rmcup Ns \0or Cd te Ns \0/ Cd smcup Ns \0or Cd ti
8531 respectively: exit and enter the alternative screen
8533 effectively turning \*(UA into a fullscreen application.
8534 To disable that, set (at least) one to the empty string.
8536 .It Cd smkx Ns \0or Cd ks Ns \0/ Cd rmkx Ns \0or Cd ke
8540 respectively: enable and disable the keypad.
8541 This is always enabled if available, because it seems even keyboards
8542 without keypads generate other key codes for, e.g., cursor keys in that
8543 case, and only if enabled we see the codes that we are interested in.
8545 .It Cd ed Ns \0or Cd cd
8549 .It Cd clear Ns \0or Cd cl
8551 clear the screen and home cursor.
8552 (Will be simulated via
8557 .It Cd home Ns \0or Cd ho
8562 .It Cd el Ns \0or Cd ce
8564 clear to the end of line.
8565 (Will be simulated via
8567 plus repetitions of space characters.)
8569 .It Cd hpa Ns \0or Cd ch
8570 .Cd column_address :
8571 move the cursor (to the given column parameter) in the current row.
8572 (Will be simulated via
8578 .Cd carriage_return :
8579 move to the first column in the current row.
8580 The default builtin fallback is
8583 .It Cd cub1 Ns \0or Cd le
8585 move the cursor left one space (non-destructively).
8586 The default builtin fallback is
8589 .It Cd cuf1 Ns \0or Cd nd
8591 move the cursor right one space (non-destructively).
8592 The default builtin fallback is
8594 which is used by most terminals.
8602 Many more capabilities which describe key-sequences are documented for
8606 .It Va termcap-disable
8607 \*(OP Disable any interaction with a terminal control library.
8608 If set only some generic fallback builtins and possibly the content of
8610 describe the terminal to \*(UA.
8612 that this variable will only be queried once at program startup and can
8613 thus only be specified in resource files or on the command line.
8617 If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be displayed
8620 if unset, the first five lines are printed, if set to 0 the variable
8623 If the value is negative then its absolute value will be used for right
8626 height; (shifting bitwise is like dividing algorithmically, but since
8627 it takes away bits the value decreases pretty fast).
8631 \*(BO If set then the
8633 command series will strip adjacent empty lines and quotations.
8637 The character set of the terminal \*(UA operates on,
8638 and the one and only supported character set that \*(UA can use if no
8639 character set conversion capabilities have been compiled into it,
8640 in which case it defaults to ISO-8859-1 unless it can deduce a value
8644 Refer to the section
8645 .Sx "Character sets"
8646 for the complete picture about character sets.
8650 For a safety-by-default policy \*(UA sets its process
8654 but this variable can be used to override that:
8655 set it to an empty value to don't change the (current) setting,
8656 otherwise the process file mode creation mask is updated to the new value.
8657 Child processes inherit the process file mode creation mask.
8660 .It Va user-HOST , user
8661 \*(IN Variable chain that sets a global fallback user name, which is
8662 used in case none has been given in the protocol and account-specific
8664 This variable defaults to the name of the user who runs \*(UA.
8668 \*(BO Setting this option enables upward compatibility with \*(UA
8669 version 15.0 in respect to which configuration options are available and
8670 how they are handled.
8671 This manual uses \*(IN and \*(OU to refer to the new and the old way of
8672 doing things, respectively.
8676 \*(BO Setting this option, also controllable via the command line option
8678 causes \*(UA to be more verbose, e.g., it will display obsoletion
8679 warnings and SSL/TLS certificate chains.
8680 Even though marked \*(BO this option may be set twice in order to
8681 increase the level of verbosity even more, in which case even details of
8682 the actual message delivery and protocol conversations are shown.
8685 is sufficient to disable verbosity as such.
8691 .It Va version , version-major , version-minor , version-update
8692 \*(RO \*(UA version information: the first variable contains a string
8693 containing the complete version identification, the latter three contain
8694 only digits: the major, minor and update version numbers.
8695 The output of the command
8697 will include this information.
8700 .It Va writebackedited
8701 If this variable is set messages modified using the
8705 commands are written back to the current folder when it is quit;
8706 it is only honoured for writable folders in MBOX format, though.
8707 Note that the editor will be pointed to the raw message content in that
8708 case, i.e., neither MIME decoding nor decryption will have been
8709 performed, and proper RFC 4155
8711 quoting of newly added or edited content is also left as an excercise to
8715 .\" }}} (INTERNAL VARIABLES)
8718 .\" .Sh ENVIRONMENT {{{
8722 .Dq environment variable
8723 should be considered an indication that these variables are either
8724 standardized as vivid parts of process environments, or that they are
8725 commonly found in there.
8726 The process environment is inherited from the
8728 once \*(UA is started, and unless otherwise explicitly noted handling of
8729 the following variables transparently integrates into that of the
8730 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
8731 from \*(UA's point of view.
8732 This means that, e.g., they can be managed via
8736 causing automatic program environment updates (to be inherited by
8737 newly created child processes).
8740 In order to transparently integrate other environment variables equally
8741 they need to be imported (linked) with the command
8743 This command can also be used to set and unset non-integrated
8744 environment variables from scratch, sufficient system support provided.
8745 The following example, applicable to a POSIX shell, sets the
8747 environment variable for \*(UA only, and beforehand exports the
8749 in order to affect any further processing in the running shell:
8751 .Bd -literal -offset indent
8752 $ EDITOR="vim -u ${HOME}/.vimrc"
8754 $ COLUMNS=80 \*(uA -R
8757 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ev _AILR_"
8760 The user's preferred width in column positions for the terminal screen
8762 Queried and used once on program startup, actively managed for child
8763 processes and the MLE (see
8764 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
8765 in interactive mode thereafter.
8769 The name of the (mailbox)
8771 to use for saving aborted messages if
8773 is set; this defaults to
8780 is set no output will be generated, otherwise the contents of the file
8785 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
8789 .Sx "TILDE ESCAPES" .
8790 A default editor is used if this value is not defined.
8794 The user's home directory.
8795 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
8802 .It Ev LANG , LC_ALL , LC_COLLATE , LC_CTYPE , LC_MESSAGES
8806 .Sx "Character sets" .
8810 The user's preferred number of lines on a page or the vertical screen
8811 or window size in lines.
8812 Queried and used once on program startup, actively managed for child
8813 processes in interactive mode thereafter.
8817 Pathname of the directory lister to use in the
8819 command when operating on local mailboxes.
8822 (path search through
8827 Upon startup \*(UA will actively ensure that this variable refers to the
8828 name of the user who runs \*(UA, in order to be able to pass a verified
8829 name to any newly created child process.
8833 Is used as the user's primary system mailbox, if set.
8834 Otherwise, a system-dependent default is used.
8835 Supports the special syntax conventions that are documented for the
8841 \*(OP Overrides the default path search for
8842 .Sx "The Mailcap files" ,
8843 which is defined in the standard RFC 1524 as
8844 .Ql ~/.mailcap:\:/etc/mailcap:\:/usr/etc/mailcap:\:/usr/local/etc/mailcap .
8845 .\" TODO we should have a mailcaps-default virtual RDONLY option!
8846 (\*(UA makes it a configuration option, however.)
8847 Note this is not a search path, but a path search.
8851 Is used as a startup file instead of
8854 When \*(UA scripts are invoked on behalf of other users,
8855 either this variable should be set to
8859 command line option should be used in order to avoid side-effects from
8860 reading their configuration files.
8861 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
8865 The name of the user's mbox file.
8866 A logical subset of the special conventions that are documented for the
8871 The fallback default is
8876 Traditionally this secondary mailbox is used as the file to save
8877 messages from the primary system mailbox that have been read.
8879 .Sx "Message states" .
8882 .It Ev NAIL_NO_SYSTEM_RC
8883 If this variable is set then reading of
8885 at startup is inhibited, i.e., the same effect is achieved as if \*(UA
8886 had been started up with the option
8888 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
8892 \*(IN\*(OP This variable overrides the default location of the user's
8898 Pathname of the program to use for backing the command
8902 variable enforces usage of a pager for output.
8903 The default paginator is
8905 (path search through
8908 \*(UA inspects the contents of this variable: if its contains the string
8910 then a non-existing environment variable
8917 dependent on whether terminal control support is available and whether
8918 that supports full (alternative) screen mode or not (also see
8919 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" ) .
8923 will optionally be set to
8930 A colon-separated list of directories that is searched by the shell when
8931 looking for commands, e.g.,
8932 .Ql /bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin .
8936 The shell to use for the commands
8942 and when starting subprocesses.
8943 A default shell is used if this option is not defined.
8946 .It Ev SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
8947 If set, this specifies a time in seconds since the Unix epoch
8948 (1970-01-01) to be used in place of the current time.
8949 This is for the sake of reproduceability of tests, to be used during
8950 development or by software packagers.
8954 \*(OP The terminal type for which output is to be prepared.
8955 For extended colour and font control please refer to
8956 .Sx "Coloured display" ,
8957 and for terminal management in general to
8958 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" .
8962 Used as directory for temporary files instead of
8965 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
8971 (see there), but this variable is not standardized, should therefore not
8972 be used, and is only corrected if already set.
8976 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
8980 .Sx "TILDE ESCAPES" .
8988 .Bl -tag -width ".It Pa _etc/mime.type_"
8990 File giving initial commands.
8993 System wide initialization file.
8997 \*(OP Personal MIME type handler definition file, see
8998 .Sx "The Mailcap files" .
8999 (RFC 1524 location, the actual path is a configuration option.)
9003 \*(OP System wide MIME type handler definition file, see
9004 .Sx "The Mailcap files" .
9005 (RFC 1524 location, the actual path is a configuration option.)
9008 .It Pa ~/.mime.types
9009 Personal MIME types, see
9010 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
9013 .It Pa /etc/mime.types
9014 System wide MIME types, see
9015 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
9019 \*(IN\*(OP The default location of the users
9021 file \(en the section
9022 .Sx "The .netrc file"
9023 documents the file format.
9026 .\" .Ss "The mime.types files" {{{
9027 .Ss "The mime.types files"
9029 When sending messages \*(UA tries to determine the content type of all
9031 When displaying message content or attachments \*(UA uses the content
9032 type to decide whether it can directly display data or whether it needs
9033 to deal with content handlers.
9034 It learns about MIME types and how to treat them by reading
9036 files, the loading of which can be controlled by setting the variable
9037 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
9040 can also be used to deal with MIME types.)
9042 files have the following syntax:
9045 .Dl type/subtype extension [extension ...]
9050 are strings describing the file contents, and one or multiple
9052 s, separated by whitespace, name the part of a filename starting after
9053 the last dot (of interest).
9054 Comments may be introduced anywhere on a line with a number sign
9056 causing the remaining line to be discarded.
9058 \*(UA also supports an extended, non-portable syntax in specially
9059 crafted files, which can be loaded via the alternative value syntax of
9060 .Va mimetypes-load-control
9061 and prepends an optional
9065 .Dl [type-marker ]type/subtype extension [extension ...]
9068 The following type markers are supported:
9071 .Bl -tag -compact -offset indent -width ".It Ar _n_u"
9073 Treat message parts with this content as plain text.
9078 Treat message parts with this content as HTML tagsoup.
9079 If the \*(OPal HTML-tagsoup-to-text converter is not available treat
9080 the content as plain text instead.
9084 but instead of falling back to plain text require an explicit content
9085 handler to be defined.
9090 for sending messages:
9092 .Va mime-allow-text-controls ,
9093 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
9094 For reading etc. messages:
9095 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ,
9096 .Sx "The Mailcap files" ,
9098 .Va mime-counter-evidence ,
9099 .Va mimetypes-load-control ,
9100 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE ,
9101 .Va pipe-EXTENSION .
9104 .\" .Ss "The Mailcap files" {{{
9105 .Ss "The Mailcap files"
9108 .Dq User Agent Configuration Mechanism
9109 which \*(UA \*(OPally supports.
9110 It defines a file format to be used to inform mail user agent programs
9111 about the locally-installed facilities for handling various data
9112 formats, i.e., about commands and how they can be used to display, edit
9113 etc. MIME part contents, as well as a default path search that includes
9114 multiple possible locations of
9118 environment variable that can be used to overwrite that (repeating here
9119 that it is not a search path, but instead a path search specification).
9120 Any existing files will be loaded in sequence, appending any content to
9121 the list of MIME type handler directives.
9125 files consist of a set of newline separated entries.
9126 Comment lines start with a number sign
9128 (in the first column!) and are ignored.
9129 Empty lines are also ignored.
9130 All other lines form individual entries that must adhere to the syntax
9132 To extend a single entry (not comment) its line can be continued on
9133 follow lines if newline characters are
9135 by preceding them with the reverse solidus character
9137 The standard doesn't specify how leading whitespace of follow lines is
9138 to be treated, therefore \*(UA retains it.
9142 entries consist of a number of semicolon
9144 separated fields, and the reverse solidus
9146 character can be used to escape any following character including
9147 semicolon and itself.
9148 The first two fields are mandatory and must occur in the specified
9149 order, the remaining fields are optional and may appear in any order.
9150 Leading and trailing whitespace of content is ignored (removed).
9153 The first field defines the MIME
9155 the entry is about to handle (case-insensitively, and no reverse solidus
9156 escaping is possible in this field).
9157 If the subtype is specified as an asterisk
9159 the entry is meant to match all subtypes of the named type, e.g.,
9161 would match any audio type.
9162 The second field defines the shell command which shall be used to
9164 MIME parts of the given type; it is implicitly called the
9171 shell commands message (MIME part) data is passed via standard input
9172 unless the given shell command includes one or more instances of the
9175 in which case these instances will be replaced with a temporary filename
9176 and the data will have been stored in the file that is being pointed to.
9179 shell commands data is assumed to be generated on standard output unless
9180 the given command includes (one ore multiple)
9182 In any case any given
9184 format is replaced with a(n already) properly quoted filename.
9185 Note that when a command makes use of a temporary file via
9187 then \*(UA will remove it again, as if the
9188 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile ,
9189 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill
9191 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
9192 flags had been set; see below for more.
9195 The optional fields either define a shell command or an attribute (flag)
9196 value, the latter being a single word and the former being a keyword
9197 naming the field followed by an equals sign
9199 succeeded by a shell command, and as usual for any
9201 content any whitespace surrounding the equals sign will be removed, too.
9202 Optional fields include the following:
9205 .Bl -tag -width textualnewlines
9207 A program that can be used to compose a new body or body part in the
9214 field, but is to be used when the composing program needs to specify the
9216 header field to be applied to the composed data.
9220 A program that can be used to edit a body or body part in the given
9225 A program that can be used to print a message or body part in the given
9230 Specifies a program to be run to test some condition, e.g., the machine
9231 architecture, or the window system in use, to determine whether or not
9232 this mailcap entry applies.
9233 If the test fails, a subsequent mailcap entry should be sought; also see
9234 .Cd x-mailx-test-once .
9236 .It Cd needsterminal
9237 This flag field indicates that the given shell command must be run on
9238 an interactive terminal.
9239 \*(UA will temporarily release the terminal to the given command in
9240 interactive mode, in non-interactive mode this entry will be entirely
9241 ignored; this flag implies
9242 .Cd x-mailx-noquote .
9244 .It Cd copiousoutput
9245 A flag field which indicates that the output of the
9247 command will be an extended stream of textual output that can be
9248 (re)integrated into \*(UA's normal visual display.
9249 It is mutually exclusive with
9252 .Cd x-mailx-always .
9254 .It Cd textualnewlines
9255 A flag field which indicates that this type of data is line-oriented and
9258 all newlines should be converted to canonical form (CRLF) before
9259 encoding, and will be in that form after decoding.
9263 This field gives a file name format, in which
9265 will be replaced by a random string, the joined combination of which
9266 will be used as the filename denoted by
9267 .Ev NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY .
9268 One could specify that a GIF file being passed to an image viewer should
9269 have a name ending in
9272 .Ql nametemplate=%s.gif .
9273 Note that \*(UA ignores the name template unless that solely specifies
9274 a filename suffix that consists of (ASCII) alphabetic and numeric
9275 characters, the underscore and dot only.
9278 Names a file, in X11 bitmap (xbm) format, which points to an appropriate
9279 icon to be used to visually denote the presence of this kind of data.
9280 This field is not used by \*(UA.
9283 A textual description that describes this type of data.
9285 .It Cd x-mailx-always
9286 Extension flag field that denotes that the given
9288 command shall be executed even if multiple messages will be displayed
9290 Normally messages which require external viewers that produce output
9291 which doesn't integrate into \*(UA's visual display (i.e., don't have
9293 set) have to be addressed directly and individually.
9294 (To avoid cases where, e.g., a thousand PDF viewer instances are spawned
9297 .It Cd x-mailx-even-if-not-interactive
9298 An extension flag test field \(em by default handlers without
9300 are entirely ignored in non-interactive mode, but if this flag is set
9301 then their use will be considered.
9302 It is an error if this flag is set for commands that use the flag
9305 .It Cd x-mailx-noquote
9306 An extension flag field that indicates that even a
9309 command shall not be used to generate message quotes
9310 (as it would be by default).
9312 .It Cd x-mailx-async
9313 Extension flag field that denotes that the given
9315 command shall be executed asynchronously, without blocking \*(UA.
9316 Cannot be used in conjunction with
9319 .It Cd x-mailx-test-once
9320 Extension flag which denotes whether the given
9322 command shall be evaluated once only and the (boolean) result be cached.
9323 This is handy if some global unchanging condition is to be queried, like
9324 .Dq running under the X Window System .
9326 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile
9327 Extension flag field that requests creation of a zero-sized temporary
9328 file, the name of which is to be placed in the environment variable
9329 .Ev NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY .
9330 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
9334 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill
9335 Normally the MIME part content is passed to the handler via standard
9336 input; if this flag is set then the data will instead be written into
9338 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile .
9339 In order to cause deletion of the temporary file you will have to set
9340 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
9342 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
9346 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
9347 Extension flag field that requests that the temporary file shall be
9348 deleted automatically when the command loop is entered again at latest.
9349 (Don't use this for asynchronous handlers.)
9350 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
9352 format, or without also setting
9355 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill .
9357 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-keep
9360 implies the three tmpfile related flags above, but if you want, e.g.,
9362 and deal with the temporary file yourself, you can add in this flag to
9364 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink .
9369 The standard includes the possibility to define any number of additional
9370 entry fields, prefixed by
9372 Flag fields apply to the entire
9374 entry \(em in some unusual cases, this may not be desirable, but
9375 differentiation can be accomplished via separate entries, taking
9376 advantage of the fact that subsequent entries are searched if an earlier
9377 one does not provide enough information.
9380 command needs to specify the
9384 command shall not, the following will help out the latter (with enabled
9388 level \*(UA will show information about handler evaluation):
9390 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9391 application/postscript; ps-to-terminal %s; needsterminal
9392 application/postscript; ps-to-terminal %s; compose=idraw %s
9396 In fields any occurrence of the format string
9398 will be replaced by the
9401 Named parameters from the
9403 field may be placed in the command execution line using
9405 followed by the parameter name and a closing
9408 The entire parameter should appear as a single command line argument,
9409 regardless of embedded spaces; thus:
9411 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9413 Content-type: multipart/mixed; boundary=42
9416 multipart/*; /usr/local/bin/showmulti \e
9417 %t %{boundary} ; composetyped = /usr/local/bin/makemulti
9419 # Executed shell command
9420 /usr/local/bin/showmulti multipart/mixed 42
9424 .\" TODO v15: Mailcap: %n,%F
9425 Note that \*(UA doesn't support handlers for multipart MIME parts as
9426 shown in this example (as of today).
9427 \*(UA doesn't support the additional formats
9431 An example file, also showing how to properly deal with the expansion of
9433 which includes any quotes that are necessary to make it a valid shell
9434 argument by itself and thus will cause undesired behaviour when placed
9435 in additional user-provided quotes:
9437 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9439 text/richtext; richtext %s; copiousoutput
9441 text/x-perl; perl -cWT %s
9445 trap "rm -f ${infile}" EXIT\e; \e
9446 trap "exit 75" INT QUIT TERM\e; \e
9448 x-mailx-async; x-mailx-tmpfile-keep
9450 application/*; echo "This is \e"%t\e" but \e
9451 is 50 \e% Greek to me" \e; < %s head -c 1024 | cat -vET; \e
9452 copiousoutput; x-mailx-noquote
9457 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ,
9458 .Sx "The mime.types files" ,
9461 .Va mime-counter-evidence ,
9462 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE ,
9463 .Va pipe-EXTENSION .
9466 .\" .Ss "The .netrc file" {{{
9467 .Ss "The .netrc file"
9471 file contains user credentials for machine accounts.
9472 The default location in the user's
9474 directory may be overridden by the
9476 environment variable.
9477 The file consists of space, tabulator or newline separated tokens.
9478 \*(UA implements a parser that supports a superset of the original BSD
9479 syntax, but users should nonetheless be aware of portability glitches
9480 of that file format, shall their
9482 be usable across multiple programs and platforms:
9485 .Bl -bullet -compact
9487 BSD doesn't support single, but only double quotation marks, e.g.,
9488 .Ql password="pass with spaces" .
9490 BSD (only?) supports escaping of single characters via a reverse solidus
9491 (e.g., a space can be escaped via
9493 in- as well as outside of a quoted string.
9495 BSD doesn't require the final quotation mark of the final user input token.
9497 The original BSD (Berknet) parser also supported a format which allowed
9498 tokens to be separated with commas \(en whereas at least Hewlett-Packard
9499 still seems to support this syntax, \*(UA does not!
9501 As a non-portable extension some widely-used programs support
9502 shell-style comments: if an input line starts, after any amount of
9503 whitespace, with a number sign
9505 then the rest of the line is ignored.
9507 Whereas other programs may require that the
9509 file is accessible by only the user if it contains a
9515 \*(UA will always require these strict permissions.
9519 Of the following list of supported tokens \*(UA only uses (and caches)
9524 At runtime the command
9526 can be used to control \*(UA's
9530 .Bl -tag -width password
9531 .It Cd machine Ar name
9532 The hostname of the entries' machine, lowercase-normalized by \*(UA
9534 Any further file content, until either end-of-file or the occurrence
9539 first-class token is bound (only related) to the machine
9542 As an extension that shouldn't be the cause of any worries
9543 \*(UA supports a single wildcard prefix for
9545 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9546 machine *.example.com login USER password PASS
9547 machine pop3.example.com login USER password PASS
9548 machine smtp.example.com login USER password PASS
9554 .Ql pop3.example.com ,
9558 .Ql local.smtp.example.com .
9559 Note that in the example neither
9560 .Ql pop3.example.com
9562 .Ql smtp.example.com
9563 will be matched by the wildcard, since the exact matches take
9564 precedence (it is however faster to specify it the other way around).
9569 except that it is a fallback entry that is used shall none of the
9570 specified machines match; only one default token may be specified,
9571 and it must be the last first-class token.
9573 .It Cd login Ar name
9574 The user name on the remote machine.
9576 .It Cd password Ar string
9577 The user's password on the remote machine.
9579 .It Cd account Ar string
9580 Supply an additional account password.
9581 This is merely for FTP purposes.
9583 .It Cd macdef Ar name
9585 A macro is defined with the specified
9587 it is formed from all lines beginning with the next line and continuing
9588 until a blank line is (consecutive newline characters are) encountered.
9591 entries cannot be utilized by multiple machines, too, but must be
9592 defined following the
9594 they are intended to be used with.)
9597 exists, it is automatically run as the last step of the login process.
9598 This is merely for FTP purposes.
9605 .\" .Sh EXAMPLES {{{
9608 .\" .Ss "An example configuration" {{{
9609 .Ss "An example configuration"
9611 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9612 # This example assumes v15.0 compatibility mode
9615 # Where are the up-to-date SSL certificates?
9616 #set ssl-ca-dir=/etc/ssl/certs
9617 set ssl-ca-file=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
9619 # (Since we manage up-to-date ones explicitly, don't use any,
9620 # possibly outdated, default certificates shipped with OpenSSL)
9621 set ssl-no-default-ca
9623 # Don't use protocols older than TLS v1.2.
9624 # Change this only when the remote server doesn't support it:
9625 # maybe use ssl-protocol-HOST (or -USER@HOST) syntax to define
9626 # such explicit exceptions, then
9627 set ssl-protocol='-ALL,+TLSv1.2'
9629 # Explicitly define the list of ciphers, which may improve security,
9630 # especially with protocols older than TLS v1.2. See ciphers(1).
9631 # Including "@STRENGTH" will sort the final list by algorithm strength.
9632 # In reality it is possibly best to only use ssl-cipher-list-HOST
9633 # (or -USER@HOST), as necessary, again..
9634 set ssl-cipher-list=TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:!MEDIUM:!LOW:!EXPORT:@STRENGTH
9635 # ALL:!aNULL:!MEDIUM:!LOW:!MD5:!RC4:!EXPORT:@STRENGTH
9637 # Request strict transport security checks!
9638 set ssl-verify=strict
9640 # Essential setting: select allowed character sets
9641 set sendcharsets=utf-8,iso-8859-1
9643 # A very kind option: when replying to a message, first try to
9644 # use the same encoding that the original poster used herself!
9645 set reply-in-same-charset
9647 # When replying to or forwarding a message the comment and name
9648 # parts of email addresses are removed unless this variable is set
9651 # When sending messages, wait until the Mail-Transfer-Agent finishs.
9652 # Only like this you'll be able to see errors reported through the
9653 # exit status of the MTA (including the builtin SMTP one)!
9656 # Only use builtin MIME types, no mime.types(5) files
9657 set mimetypes-load-control
9659 # Default directory where we act in (relative to $HOME)
9661 # A leading "+" (often) means: under *folder*
9662 # *record* is used to save copies of sent messages
9663 set MBOX=+mbox.mbox record=+sent.mbox DEAD=+dead.txt
9665 # Make "file mymbox" and "file myrec" go to..
9666 shortcut mymbox %:+mbox.mbox myrec +sent.mbox
9668 # Not really optional, e.g., for S/MIME
9669 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
9671 # It may be necessary to set hostname and/or smtp-hostname
9672 # if the "SERVER" of mta and "domain" of from don't match.
9673 # The `urlencode' command can be used to encode USER and PASS
9674 set mta=(smtps?|submission)://[USER[:PASS]@]SERVER[:PORT] \e
9675 smtp-auth=login/plain... \e
9678 # Never refuse to start into interactive mode, and more
9680 colour-pager crt= \e
9681 followup-to followup-to-honour=ask-yes \e
9682 history-file=+.\*(uAhist history-size=-1 history-gabby \e
9683 mime-counter-evidence=0xE \e
9684 prompt='?\e?[\e$ \e@]\e& ' \e
9685 reply-to-honour=ask-yes \e
9688 # When `t'yping messages, show only these headers
9689 # (use `T'ype for all headers and `S'how for raw message)
9690 retain date from to cc subject
9692 # Some mailing lists
9693 mlist '@xyz-editor\e.xyz$' '@xyzf\e.xyz$'
9694 mlsubscribe '^xfans@xfans\e.xyz$'
9696 # A real life example of a very huge free mail provider
9698 set folder=~/spool/XooglX MAIL=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
9699 set from='Your Name <address@examp.ple>'
9700 set mta=smtp://USER:PASS@smtp.gmXil.com smtp-use-starttls
9703 # Here is a pretty large one which does not allow sending mails
9704 # if there is a domain name mismatch on the SMTP protocol level,
9705 # which would bite us if the value of from does not match, e.g.,
9706 # for people who have a sXXXXeforge project and want to speak
9707 # with the mailing list under their project account (in from),
9708 # still sending the message through their normal mail provider
9710 set folder=~/spool/XandeX MAIL=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
9711 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
9712 set mta=smtps://USER:PASS@smtp.yaXXex.ru:465 \e
9713 hostname=yaXXex.com smtp-hostname=
9716 # Create some new commands so that, e.g., `ls /tmp' will..
9717 wysh ghost lls '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFlrS'
9718 wysh ghost llS '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFlS'
9719 wysh ghost ls '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFrS'
9720 wysh ghost lS '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFS'
9721 wysh ghost lla '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFlr'
9722 wysh ghost llA '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFl'
9723 wysh ghost la '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFr'
9724 wysh ghost lA '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aF'
9725 wysh ghost ll '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFltr'
9726 wysh ghost lL '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFlt'
9727 wysh ghost l '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFtr'
9728 wysh ghost L '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFt'
9730 # We don't support gpg(1) directly yet. But simple --clearsign'd
9731 # message parts can be dealt with as follows:
9733 wysh set pipe-text/plain=$'@*#++=@\e
9734 < "${NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}" awk \e
9735 -v TMPFILE="${NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}" \e'\e
9737 /^-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----/,/^$/{\e
9740 print "--- GPG --verify ---";\e
9741 system("gpg --verify " TMPFILE " 2>&1");\e
9742 print "--- GPG --verify ---";\e
9746 /^-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----/,\e
9747 /^-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----/{\e
9757 !printf 'Key IDs to gpg --recv-keys: ';\e
9759 gpg --recv-keys ${keyids};
9765 When storing passwords in
9767 appropriate permissions should be set on this file with
9768 .Ql $ chmod 0600 \*(ur .
9771 is available user credentials can be stored in the central
9773 file instead; e.g., here is a different version of the example account
9774 that sets up SMTP and POP3:
9776 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9778 set folder=~/spool/XandeX MAIL=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
9779 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
9781 # Load an encrypted ~/.netrc by uncommenting the next line
9782 #set netrc-pipe='gpg -qd ~/.netrc.pgp'
9784 set mta=smtps://smtp.yXXXXx.ru:465 \e
9785 smtp-hostname= hostname=yXXXXx.com
9786 set pop3-keepalive=240 pop3-no-apop-pop.yXXXXx.ru
9787 ghost xp fi pop3s://pop.yXXXXx.ru
9796 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9797 machine *.yXXXXx.ru login USER password PASS
9801 This configuration should now work just fine:
9804 .Dl $ echo text | \*(uA -vv -AXandeX -s Subject user@exam.ple
9807 .\" .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME" {{{
9808 .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
9810 \*(OP S/MIME provides two central mechanisms:
9811 message signing and message encryption.
9812 A signed message contains some data in addition to the regular text.
9813 The data can be used to verify that the message was sent using a valid
9814 certificate, that the sender's address in the message header matches
9815 that in the certificate, and that the message text has not been altered.
9816 Signing a message does not change its regular text;
9817 it can be read regardless of whether the recipient's software is able to
9821 It is thus usually possible to sign all outgoing messages if so desired.
9822 Encryption, in contrast, makes the message text invisible for all people
9823 except those who have access to the secret decryption key.
9824 To encrypt a message, the specific recipient's public encryption key
9826 It is therefore not possible to send encrypted mail to people unless their
9827 key has been retrieved from either previous communication or public key
9829 A message should always be signed before it is encrypted.
9830 Otherwise, it is still possible that the encrypted message text is
9834 A central concept to S/MIME is that of the certification authority (CA).
9835 A CA is a trusted institution that issues certificates.
9836 For each of these certificates it can be verified that it really
9837 originates from the CA, provided that the CA's own certificate is
9839 A set of CA certificates is usually delivered with OpenSSL and installed
9841 If you trust the source of your OpenSSL software installation,
9842 this offers reasonable security for S/MIME on the Internet.
9844 .Va ssl-no-default-ca
9848 .Va smime-ca-dir . )
9849 In general, a certificate cannot be more secure than the method its CA
9850 certificate has been retrieved with, though.
9851 Thus if you download a CA certificate from the Internet,
9852 you can only trust the messages you verify using that certificate as
9853 much as you trust the download process.
9856 The first thing you need for participating in S/MIME message exchange is
9857 your personal certificate, including a private key.
9858 The certificate contains public information, in particular your name and
9859 your email address(es), and the public key that is used by others to
9860 encrypt messages for you,
9861 and to verify signed messages they supposedly received from you.
9862 The certificate is included in each signed message you send.
9863 The private key must be kept secret.
9864 It is used to decrypt messages that were previously encrypted with your
9865 public key, and to sign messages.
9868 For personal use it is recommended that you get a S/MIME certificate
9869 from one of the major CAs on the Internet using your WWW browser.
9870 Many CAs offer such certificates for free.
9872 .Lk https://www.CAcert.org
9873 which issues client and server certificates to members of their
9874 community for free; their root certificate
9875 .Pf ( Lk https://\:www.cacert.org/\:certs/\:root.crt )
9876 is often not in the default set of trusted CA root certificates, though,
9877 which means you will have to download their root certificate separately
9878 and ensure it is part of our S/MIME certificate validation chain by
9881 or as a vivid member of the
9883 But let's take a step-by-step tour on how to setup S/MIME with
9884 a certificate from CAcert.org despite this situation!
9887 First of all you will have to become a member of the CAcert.org
9888 community, simply by registrating yourself via the web interface.
9889 Once you are, create and verify all email addresses you want to be able
9890 to create signed and encrypted messages for/with using the corresponding
9891 entries of the web interface.
9892 Now ready to create S/MIME certificates, so let's create a new
9893 .Dq client certificate ,
9894 ensure to include all email addresses that should be covered by the
9895 certificate in the following web form, and also to use your name as the
9899 Create a private key and a certificate request on your local computer
9900 (please see the manual pages of the used commands for more in-depth
9901 knowledge on what the used arguments etc. do):
9904 .Dl openssl req -nodes -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout key.pem -out creq.pem
9907 Afterwards copy-and-paste the content of
9909 into the certificate-request (CSR) field of the web form on the
9910 CAcert.org website (you may need to unfold some
9911 .Dq advanced options
9912 to see the corresponding text field).
9913 This last step will ensure that your private key (which never left your
9914 box) and the certificate belong together (through the public key that
9915 will find its way into the certificate via the certificate-request).
9916 You are now ready and can create your CAcert certified certificate.
9917 Download and store or copy-and-paste it as
9922 In order to use your new S/MIME setup you will have to create
9923 a combined private key/public key (certificate) file:
9926 .Dl cat key.pem pub.crt > ME@HERE.com.paired
9929 This is the file \*(UA will work with.
9930 If you have created your private key with a passphrase then \*(UA will
9931 ask you for it whenever a message is signed or decrypted.
9932 Set the following variables to henceforth use S/MIME (setting
9934 is of interest for verification only):
9936 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9937 set smime-ca-file=ALL-TRUSTED-ROOT-CERTS-HERE \e
9938 smime-sign-cert=ME@HERE.com.paired \e
9939 smime-sign-message-digest=SHA256 \e
9944 From each signed message you send, the recipient can fetch your
9945 certificate and use it to send encrypted mail back to you.
9946 Accordingly if somebody sends you a signed message, you can do the same,
9949 command to check the validity of the certificate.
9952 Variables of interest for S/MIME signing:
9956 .Va smime-crl-file ,
9957 .Va smime-no-default-ca ,
9959 .Va smime-sign-cert ,
9960 .Va smime-sign-include-certs
9962 .Va smime-sign-message-digest .
9965 After it has been verified save the certificate via
9967 and tell \*(UA that it should use it for encryption for further
9968 communication with that somebody:
9970 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9972 set smime-encrypt-USER@HOST=FILENAME \e
9973 smime-cipher-USER@HOST=AES256
9977 Additional variables of interest for S/MIME en- and decryption:
9980 .Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST .
9983 You should carefully consider if you prefer to store encrypted messages
9985 If you do, anybody who has access to your mail folders can read them,
9986 but if you do not, you might be unable to read them yourself later if
9987 you happen to lose your private key.
9990 command saves messages in decrypted form, while the
9994 commands leave them encrypted.
9997 Note that neither S/MIME signing nor encryption applies to message
9998 subjects or other header fields yet.
9999 Thus they may not contain sensitive information for encrypted messages,
10000 and cannot be trusted even if the message content has been verified.
10001 When sending signed messages,
10002 it is recommended to repeat any important header information in the
10006 .\" .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or SSL/TLS" {{{
10007 .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or SSL/TLS"
10009 \*(OP Certification authorities (CAs) issue certificate revocation
10010 lists (CRLs) on a regular basis.
10011 These lists contain the serial numbers of certificates that have been
10012 declared invalid after they have been issued.
10013 Such usually happens because the private key for the certificate has
10015 because the owner of the certificate has left the organization that is
10016 mentioned in the certificate, etc.
10017 To seriously use S/MIME or SSL/TLS verification,
10018 an up-to-date CRL is required for each trusted CA.
10019 There is otherwise no method to distinguish between valid and
10020 invalidated certificates.
10021 \*(UA currently offers no mechanism to fetch CRLs, nor to access them on
10022 the Internet, so you have to retrieve them by some external mechanism.
10025 \*(UA accepts CRLs in PEM format only;
10026 CRLs in DER format must be converted, like, e.\|g.:
10029 .Dl $ openssl crl \-inform DER \-in crl.der \-out crl.pem
10032 To tell \*(UA about the CRLs, a directory that contains all CRL files
10033 (and no other files) must be created.
10038 variables, respectively, must then be set to point to that directory.
10039 After that, \*(UA requires a CRL to be present for each CA that is used
10040 to verify a certificate.
10043 .\" .Ss "Handling spam" {{{
10044 .Ss "Handling spam"
10046 \*(OP \*(UA can make use of several spam interfaces for the purpose of
10047 identification of, and, in general, dealing with spam messages.
10048 A precondition of most commands in order to function is that the
10050 variable is set to one of the supported interfaces.
10051 Once messages have been identified as spam their (volatile)
10053 state can be prompted: the
10057 message specifications will address respective messages and their
10059 entries will be used when displaying the
10061 in the header display.
10066 rates the given messages and sets their
10069 If the spam interface offers spam scores those can also be displayed in
10070 the header display by including the
10080 will interact with the Bayesian filter of the chosen interface and learn
10081 the given messages as
10085 respectively; the last command can be used to cause
10087 of messages; it adheres to their current
10089 state and thus reverts previous teachings.
10094 will simply set and clear, respectively, the mentioned volatile
10096 message flag, without any interface interaction.
10105 requires a running instance of the
10107 server in order to function, started with the option
10109 shall Bayesian filter learning be possible.
10111 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10112 $ spamd -i localhost:2142 -i /tmp/.spamsock -d [-L] [-l]
10113 $ spamd --listen=localhost:2142 --listen=/tmp/.spamsock \e
10114 --daemonize [--local] [--allow-tell]
10118 Thereafter \*(UA can make use of these interfaces:
10120 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10121 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=spamc -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
10122 -Sspamc-command=/usr/local/bin/spamc \e
10123 -Sspamc-arguments="-U /tmp/.spamsock" -Sspamc-user=
10125 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=spamc -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
10126 -Sspamc-command=/usr/local/bin/spamc \e
10127 -Sspamc-arguments="-d localhost -p 2142" -Sspamc-user=
10131 Using the generic filter approach allows usage of programs like
10133 Here is an example, requiring it to be accessible via
10136 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10137 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=filter -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
10138 -Sspamfilter-ham="bogofilter -n" \e
10139 -Sspamfilter-noham="bogofilter -N" \e
10140 -Sspamfilter-nospam="bogofilter -S" \e
10141 -Sspamfilter-rate="bogofilter -TTu 2>/dev/null" \e
10142 -Sspamfilter-spam="bogofilter -s" \e
10143 -Sspamfilter-rate-scanscore="1;^(.+)$"
10147 Because messages must exist on local storage in order to be scored (or
10148 used for Bayesian filter training), it is possibly a good idea to
10149 perform the local spam check last:
10151 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10152 define spamdelhook {
10154 spamset (header x-dcc-brand-metrics "bulk")
10155 # Server-side spamassassin(1)
10156 spamset (header x-spam-flag "YES")
10157 del :s # TODO we HAVE to be able to do `spamrate :u ! :sS'
10158 move :S +maybe-spam
10161 move :S +maybe-spam
10163 set folder-hook-FOLDER=spamdelhook
10167 See also the documentation for the variables
10168 .Va spam-interface , spam-maxsize ,
10169 .Va spamc-command , spamc-arguments , spamc-user ,
10170 .Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , spamfilter-nospam , \
10173 .Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore .
10181 In general it is a good idea to turn on
10187 twice) if something doesn't work well.
10188 Very often a diagnostic message can be produced that leads to the
10189 problems' solution.
10191 .\" .Ss "\*(UA shortly hangs on startup" {{{
10192 .Ss "\*(UA shortly hangs on startup"
10194 This can have two reasons, one is the necessity to wait for a file lock
10195 and can't be helped, the other being that \*(UA calls the function
10197 in order to query the nodename of the box (sometimes the real one is
10198 needed instead of the one represented by the internal variable
10200 You may have varying success by ensuring that the real hostname and
10204 or, more generally, that the name service is properly setup \(en
10207 return what you'd expect?
10208 Does this local hostname has a domain suffix?
10209 RFC 6762 standardized the link-local top-level domain
10213 .\" .Ss "\*(UA exits quick, and output is cleared away" {{{
10214 .Ss "\*(UA exits quick, and output is cleared away"
10216 When this happens even with
10218 set, then this most likely indicates a problem with the creation of
10219 so-called dotlock files: setting
10220 .Va dotlock-ignore-error
10221 should overcome this situation.
10222 This only avoids symptoms, it doesn't address the problem, though.
10223 Since the output is cleared away \*(UA has support for
10224 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" ,
10225 and switches to the
10227 which causes the output clearance: by doing
10228 .Ql set termcap='smcup='
10229 this mode can be suppressed, and by setting
10231 (twice) the actual problem should be reported.
10234 .\" .Ss "I can't login to Google mail aka GMail" {{{
10235 .Ss "I can't login to Google mail aka GMail"
10237 Since 2014 some free service providers classify programs as
10239 unless they use a special authentification method (OAuth 2.0) which
10240 wasn't standardized for non-HTTP protocol authentication token query
10241 until August 2015 (RFC 7628).
10244 Different to Kerberos / GSSAPI, which is developed since the mid of the
10245 1980s, where a user can easily create a local authentication ticket for
10246 her- and himself with the locally installed
10248 program, that protocol has no such local part but instead requires
10249 a world-wide-web query to create or fetch a token; since there is no
10250 local cache this query has to be performed whenever \*(UA is invoked
10251 from the command line (in interactive sessions situation may differ).
10254 \*(UA doesn't support OAuth.
10255 Because of this it is necessary to declare \*(UA a
10256 .Dq less secure app
10257 (on the providers account web page) in order to read and send mail.
10258 However, it also seems possible to take the following steps instead:
10263 give the provider the number of a mobile phone,
10266 .Dq 2-Step Verification ,
10268 create an application specific password (16 characters), and
10270 use that special password instead of your real Google account password in
10271 \*(UA (for more on that see the section
10272 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ) .
10276 .\" .Ss "Not \(dqdefunctional\(dq, but the editor key won't work" {{{
10277 .Ss "Not \(dqdefunctional\(dq, but the editor key won't work"
10279 It can happen that the terminal library (see
10280 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor",
10283 reports different codes than the terminal really sends, in which case
10284 \*(UA will tell that a key binding is functional, but won't be able to
10285 recognize it because the received data doesn't match anything expected.
10286 The verbose listing of
10288 ings will show the byte sequences that are expected.
10291 To overcome the situation, use, e.g., the program
10293 in conjunction with the
10295 flag if available, to see the byte sequences which are actually produced
10296 by keypresses, and use the variable
10298 to make \*(UA aware of them.
10299 E.g., the terminal this is typed on produces some false sequences, here
10300 an example showing the shifted home key:
10302 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10305 # 1B 5B=[ 31=1 3B=; 32=2 48=H
10310 ? \*(uA -v -Stermcap='kHOM=\eE[H'
10319 .\" .Sh "SEE ALSO" {{{
10329 .Xr spamassassin 1 ,
10338 .Xr mailwrapper 8 ,
10343 .\" .Sh HISTORY {{{
10346 M. Douglas McIlroy writes in his article
10347 .Dq A Research UNIX Reader: Annotated Excerpts \
10348 from the Programmer's Manual, 1971-1986
10351 command already appeared in First Edition
10355 .Bd -ragged -offset indent
10356 Electronic mail was there from the start.
10357 Never satisfied with its exact behavior, everybody touched it at one
10358 time or another: to assure the safety of simultaneous access, to improve
10359 privacy, to survive crashes, to exploit uucp, to screen out foreign
10360 freeloaders, or whatever.
10361 Not until v7 did the interface change (Thompson).
10362 Later, as mail became global in its reach, Dave Presotto took charge and
10363 brought order to communications with a grab-bag of external networks
10369 Mail was written in 1978 by Kurt Shoens and developed as part of the
10372 distribution until 1995.
10373 Mail has then seen further development in open source
10375 variants, noticeably by Christos Zoulas in
10377 Basing upon this Nail, later Heirloom Mailx, was developed by Gunnar
10378 Ritter in the years 2000 until 2008.
10379 Since 2012 S-nail is maintained by Steffen (Daode) Nurpmeso.
10380 This man page is derived from
10381 .Dq The Mail Reference Manual
10382 that was originally written by Kurt Shoens.
10388 .An "Kurt Shoens" ,
10389 .An "Edward Wang" ,
10390 .An "Keith Bostic" ,
10391 .An "Christos Zoulas" ,
10392 .An "Gunnar Ritter" ,
10393 .An "Steffen Nurpmeso" Aq Mt s-nail-users@lists.sourceforge.net
10395 .Mt s-mailx@sdaoden.eu ) .
10398 .\" .Sh CAVEATS {{{
10401 \*(ID Interrupting an operation via
10405 is often problematic: many library functions cannot deal with the
10407 that this software (still) performs.
10410 The SMTP and POP3 protocol support of \*(UA is very basic.
10411 Also, if it fails to contact its upstream SMTP server, it will not make
10412 further attempts to transfer the message at a later time (setting
10417 If this is a concern, it might be better to set up a local SMTP server
10418 that is capable of message queuing.
10424 After deleting some message of a POP3 mailbox the header summary falsely
10425 claims that there are no messages to display, you need to perform
10426 a scroll or dot movement to restore proper state.
10428 In threaded display a power user may encounter crashes very
10429 occasionally (this is may and very).
10433 in the source repository lists future directions.