1 .\"@ nail.1 - S-nail(1) reference manual.
3 .\" Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Gunnar Ritter, Freiburg i. Br., Germany.
4 .\" Copyright (c) 2012 - 2018 Steffen (Daode) Nurpmeso <steffen@sdaoden.eu>.
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34 .\"@ S-nail v14.9.6 / 2017-12-05
46 .\" If not ~/.mailrc, it breaks POSIX compatibility. And adjust main.c.
51 .ds OU [no v15-compat]
52 .ds ID [v15 behaviour may differ]
53 .ds NQ [Only new quoting rules]
64 .Nd send and receive Internet mail
70 .\" Keep in SYNC: ./nail.1:"SYNOPSIS, main()
79 .Op : Ns Fl a Ar attachment Ns \&:
80 .Op : Ns Fl b Ar bcc-addr Ns \&:
81 .Op : Ns Fl C Ar """custom:\0header""" Ns \&:
82 .Op : Ns Fl c Ar cc-addr Ns \&:
83 .Op Fl M Ar type | Fl m Ar file | Fl q Ar file | Fl t
86 .Fl S Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value Ns
89 .Op : Ns Fl X Ar cmd Ns \&:
91 .Pf : Ar to-addr Ns \&:
92 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns : Ns Ar mta-option Ns \&:
100 .Op : Ns Fl C Ar """custom:\0header""" Ns \&:
102 .Op Fl r Ar from-addr
104 .Fl S Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value Ns
107 .Op : Ns Fl X Ar cmd Ns \&:
108 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns : Ns Ar mta-option Ns \&:
115 .Op : Ns Fl C Ar """custom:\0header""" Ns \&:
118 .Op Fl r Ar from-addr
120 .Fl S Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value Ns
122 .Op : Ns Fl X Ar cmd Ns \&:
124 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns : Ns Ar mta-option Ns \&:
130 .Mx -toc -tree html pdf ps xhtml
133 .\" .Sh DESCRIPTION {{{
136 .Bd -filled -compact -offset indent
137 .Sy Compatibility note:
138 S-nail (\*(UA) will wrap up into \%S-mailx in v15.0 (circa 2020).
139 Backward incompatibility has to be expected \(en
142 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
143 rules, for example, and shell metacharacters will become meaningful.
144 New and old behaviour is flagged \*(IN and \*(OU, and setting
147 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
148 will choose new behaviour when applicable.
149 \*(OB flags what will vanish, and enabling
153 enables obsoletion warnings.
157 \*(UA provides a simple and friendly environment for sending and
159 It is intended to provide the functionality of the POSIX
161 command, but is MIME capable and optionally offers extensions for
162 line editing, S/MIME, SMTP and POP3, among others.
163 \*(UA divides incoming mail into its constituent messages and allows
164 the user to deal with them in any order.
168 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
169 for manipulating messages and sending mail.
170 It provides the user simple editing capabilities to ease the composition
171 of outgoing messages, and increasingly powerful and reliable
172 non-interactive scripting capabilities.
174 .\" .Ss "Options" {{{
177 .Bl -tag -width ".It Fl BaNg"
180 Explicitly control which of the
184 d (loaded): if the letter
186 is (case-insensitively) part of the
190 is sourced, likewise the letter
192 controls sourcing of the user's personal
194 file, whereas the letters
198 explicitly forbid sourcing of any resource files.
199 Scripts should use this option: to avoid environmental noise they should
201 from any configuration and create a script-specific environment, setting
203 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
206 and running configurating commands via
208 This option overrides
215 command for the given user email
217 after program startup is complete (all resource files are loaded, any
219 setting is being established; only
221 commands have not been evaluated yet).
222 Being a special incarnation of
224 macros for the purpose of bundling longer-lived
226 tings, activating such an email account also switches to the accounts
228 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
233 .It Fl a Ar file Ns Op Ar =input-charset Ns Op Ar #output-charset
236 to the message (for compose mode opportunities refer to
240 .Sx "Filename transformations"
243 will be performed, except that shell variables are not expanded.
246 not be accessible but contain a
248 character, then anything before the
250 will be used as the filename, anything thereafter as a character set
253 If an input character set is specified,
254 .Mx -ix "character set specification"
255 but no output character set, then the given input character set is fixed
256 as-is, and no conversion will be applied;
257 giving the empty string or the special string hyphen-minus
259 will be treated as if
261 has been specified (the default).
263 If an output character set has also been given then the conversion will
264 be performed exactly as specified and on-the-fly, not considering the
265 file's type and content.
266 As an exception, if the output character set is specified as the empty
267 string or hyphen-minus
269 then the default conversion algorithm (see
270 .Sx "Character sets" )
271 is applied (therefore no conversion is performed on-the-fly,
273 will be MIME-classified and its contents will be inspected first) \(em
274 without support for character set conversions
276 does not include the term
278 only this argument is supported.
281 (\*(OB: \*(UA will always use line-buffered output, to gain
282 line-buffered input even in batch mode enable batch mode via
287 Send a blind carbon copy to
294 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
296 The option may be used multiple times.
298 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
301 .It Fl C Ar """field: body"""
302 Create a custom header which persists for an entire session.
303 A custom header consists of the field name followed by a colon
305 and the field content body, e.g.,
306 .Ql -C """Blah: Neminem laede; imo omnes, quantum potes, juva""" Ns .
307 Standard header field names cannot be overwritten by a custom header.
308 A changeable way to create custom headers is available via the variable
313 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ,
314 offers the most flexible and powerful possibility of managing headers.
315 This option may be used multiple times.
319 Send carbon copies to the given receiver, if so allowed by
321 May be used multiple times.
326 the internal variable
328 which enables debug messages and disables message delivery,
329 among others; effectively turns almost any operation into a dry-run.
335 and thus discard messages with an empty message part body.
336 This command line option is \*(OB.
340 Just check if mail is present (in the system
342 or the one specified via
344 if yes, return an exit status of zero, a non-zero value otherwise.
345 To restrict the set of mails to consider in this evaluation a message
346 specification can be added with the option
351 Save the message to send in a file named after the local part of the
352 first recipient's address (instead of in
357 Read in the contents of the user's
359 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
361 (or the specified file) for processing;
362 when \*(UA is quit, it writes undeleted messages back to this file
368 argument will undergo some special
369 .Sx "Filename transformations"
374 is not an argument to the flag
376 but is instead taken from the command line after option processing has
380 that starts with a hyphen-minus, prefix with a relative path, as in
381 .Ql ./-hyphenbox.mbox .
387 and exit; a configurable summary view is available via the
393 Show a short usage summary.
399 to ignore tty interrupt signals.
405 of all messages that match the given
409 .Sx "Specifying messages"
414 option has been given in addition no header summary is produced,
415 but \*(UA will instead indicate via its exit status whether
421 note that any verbose output is suppressed in this mode and must instead
422 be enabled explicitly (e.g., by using the option
427 Special send mode that will flag standard input with the MIME
431 and use it as the main message body.
432 \*(ID Using this option will bypass processing of
433 .Va message-inject-head
435 .Va message-inject-tail .
441 Special send mode that will MIME classify the specified
443 and use it as the main message body.
444 \*(ID Using this option will bypass processing of
445 .Va message-inject-head
447 .Va message-inject-tail .
453 inhibit the initial display of message headers when reading mail or
458 for the internal variable
463 Standard flag that inhibits reading the system wide
468 allows more control over the startup sequence; also see
469 .Sx "Resource files" .
473 Special send mode that will initialize the message body with the
474 contents of the specified
476 which may be standard input
478 only in non-interactive context.
486 opened will be in read-only mode.
490 .It Fl r Ar from-addr
491 Whereas the source address that appears in the
493 header of a message (or in the
495 header if the former contains multiple addresses) is honoured by the
496 builtin SMTP transport, it is not used by a file-based
498 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) for the RFC 5321 reverse-path used for relaying
499 and delegating a message to its destination(s), for delivery errors
500 etc., but it instead uses the local identity of the initiating user.
503 When this command line option is used the given
505 will be assigned to the internal variable
507 but in addition the command line option
508 .Fl \&\&f Ar from-addr
509 will be passed to a file-based
511 whenever a message is sent.
514 include a user name the address components will be separated and
515 the name part will be passed to a file-based
521 If an empty string is passed as
523 then the content of the variable
525 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
527 will be evaluated and used for this purpose whenever the file-based
536 command line options are used when contacting a file-based MTA, unless
537 this automatic deduction is enforced by
539 ing the internal variable
540 .Va r-option-implicit .
543 Remarks: many default installations and sites disallow overriding the
544 local user identity like this unless either the MTA has been configured
545 accordingly or the user is member of a group with special privileges.
546 Passing an invalid address will cause an error.
550 .It Fl S Ar var Ns Op = Ns value
552 (or, with a prefix string
555 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
558 iable and optionally assign
560 if supported; \*(ID the entire expression is evaluated as if specified
561 within dollar-single-quotes (see
562 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" )
563 if the internal variable
566 If the operation fails the program will exit if any of
571 Settings established via
573 cannot be changed from within
575 or an account switch initiated by
577 They will become mutable again before commands registered via
583 Specify the subject of the message to be sent.
584 Newline (NL) and carriage-return (CR) bytes are invalid and will be
585 normalized to space (SP) characters.
589 The message given (on standard input) is expected to contain, separated
590 from the message body by an empty line, a message header with
595 fields giving its recipients, which will be added to any recipients
596 specified on the command line.
597 If a message subject is specified via
599 then it will be used in favour of one given on the command line.
615 .Ql Mail-Followup-To: ,
616 by default created automatically dependent on message context, will
617 be used if specified (a special address massage will however still occur
619 Any other custom header field (also see
624 is passed through entirely
625 unchanged, and in conjunction with the options
629 it is possible to embed
630 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
638 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
641 appropriate privileges presumed; effectively identical to
642 .Ql Fl \&\&f Ns \0%user .
651 will also show the list of
653 .Ql $ \*(uA -Xversion -Xx .
658 ting the internal variable
660 enables display of some informational context messages.
661 Using it twice increases the level of verbosity.
665 Add the given (or multiple for a multiline argument)
667 to the list of commands to be executed,
668 as a last step of program startup, before normal operation starts.
669 This is the only possibility to execute commands in non-interactive mode
670 when reading startup files is actively prohibited.
671 The commands will be evaluated as a unit, just as via
681 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
682 in compose mode even in non-interactive use cases.
683 This can be used to, e.g., automatically format the composed message
684 text before sending the message:
685 .Bd -literal -offset indent
686 $ ( echo 'line one. Word. Word2.';\e
687 echo '~| /usr/bin/fmt -tuw66' ) |\e
688 LC_ALL=C \*(uA -d~:/ -Sttycharset=utf-8 bob@exam.ple
693 Enables batch mode: standard input is made line buffered, the complete
694 set of (interactive) commands is available, processing of
695 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
696 is enabled in compose mode, and diverse
697 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
698 are adjusted for batch necessities, exactly as if done via
714 The following prepares an email message in a batched dry run:
715 .Bd -literal -offset indent
716 $ LC_ALL=C printf 'm bob\en~s ubject\enText\en~.\enx\en' |\e
717 LC_ALL=C \*(uA -d#:/ -X'alias bob bob@exam.ple'
722 This flag forces termination of option processing in order to prevent
725 It also forcefully puts \*(UA into send mode, see
726 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
732 arguments and all receivers established via
736 are subject to the checks established by
739 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" .
742 allows their recognition all
744 arguments given at the end of the command line after a
746 separator will be passed through to a file-based
748 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) and persist for the entire session.
750 constraints do not apply to the content of
754 .\" .Ss "A starter" {{{
757 \*(UA is a direct descendant of
759 Mail, itself a successor of the Research
762 .Dq was there from the start
765 It thus represents the user side of the
767 mail system, whereas the system side (Mail-Transfer-Agent, MTA) was
768 traditionally taken by
770 and most MTAs provide a binary of this name for compatibility purposes.
775 of \*(UA then the system side is not a mandatory precondition for mail
779 Because \*(UA strives for compliance with POSIX
781 it is likely that some configuration settings have to be adjusted before
782 using it is a smooth experience.
783 (Rather complete configuration examples can be found in the section
788 .Sx "Resource files" ,
789 bends those standard imposed settings of the
790 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
791 a bit towards more user friendliness and safety already.
799 in order to suppress the automatic moving of messages to the
801 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
803 that would otherwise occur (see
804 .Sx "Message states" ) ,
807 to not remove empty system MBOX mailbox files in order not to mangle
808 file permissions when files eventually get recreated (all empty (MBOX)
809 mailbox files will be removed unless this variable is set whenever
811 .Pf a.k.a.\0 Ev POSIXLY_CORRECT
812 mode has been enabled).
817 in order to synchronize \*(UA with the exit status report of the used
824 to enter interactive startup even if the initial mailbox is empty,
826 to allow editing of headers as well as
828 to not strip down addresses in compose mode, and
830 to include the message that is being responded to when
832 ing, which is indented by an
834 that also deviates from standard imposed settings.
835 .Va mime-counter-evidence
836 is fully enabled, too.
840 The file mode creation mask can be managed explicitly via the variable
842 Sufficient system support provided symbolic links will not be followed
843 when files are opened for writing.
844 Files and shell pipe output can be
846 d for evaluation, also during startup from within the
847 .Sx "Resource files" .
850 .\" .Ss "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" {{{
851 .Ss "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode"
853 To send a message to one or more people, using a local or built-in
855 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) transport to actually deliver the generated mail
856 message, \*(UA can be invoked with arguments which are the names of
857 people to whom the mail will be sent, and the command line options
861 can be used to add (blind) carbon copy receivers:
863 .Bd -literal -offset indent
865 $ \*(uA -s ubject -a ttach.txt bill@exam.ple
867 # But... try it in an isolated dry-run mode (-d) first
868 $ LC_ALL=C \*(uA -d -:/ -Ssendwait -Sttycharset=utf8 \e
869 -b bcc@exam.ple -c cc@exam.ple \e
871 '(Lovely) Bob <bob@exam.ple>' eric@exam.ple
874 $ LC_ALL=C \*(uA -d -:/ -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait -Sttycharset=utf8 \e
875 -S mta=smtps://mylogin@exam.ple:465 -Ssmtp-auth=none \e
876 -S from=scriptreply@exam.ple \e
882 If standard input is a terminal rather than the message to be sent,
883 the user is expected to type in the message contents.
884 In this compose mode \*(UA treats lines beginning with the character
886 special \(en these are so-called
887 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ,
888 which can be used to read in files, process shell commands, add and edit
889 attachments and more; e.g., the command escape
891 will start the text editor to revise the message in its current state,
893 allows editing of the most important message headers, with
895 custom headers can be created (more specifically than with
900 gives an overview of most other available command escapes.
903 will leave compose mode and send the message once it is completed.
907 at the beginning of an empty line has the same effect, whereas typing
910 twice will abort the current letter (saving its contents in the file
921 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
922 can be used to alter default behavior.
923 E.g., messages are sent asynchronously, without supervision, unless the
926 is set, therefore send errors will not be recognizable until then.
931 will automatically startup a text editor when compose mode is entered,
933 allows editing of headers additionally to plain body content,
937 will cause the user to be prompted actively for (blind) carbon-copy
938 recipients, respectively, and (the default)
940 will request confirmation whether the message shall be sent.
943 The envelope sender address is defined by
945 explicitly defining an originating
947 may be desirable, especially with the builtin SMTP Mail-Transfer-Agent
950 for outgoing message and MIME part content are configurable via
952 whereas input data is assumed to be in
954 Message data will be passed over the wire in a
956 MIME parts a.k.a. attachments need to be assigned a
959 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
960 Saving a copy of sent messages in a
962 mailbox may be desirable \(en as for most mailbox
964 targets the value will undergo
965 .Sx "Filename transformations" .
970 sandbox dry-run tests will prove correctness.
973 Message recipients (as specified on the command line or defined in
978 may not only be email addressees but can also be names of mailboxes and
979 even complete shell command pipe specifications.
982 is not set then only network addresses (see
984 for a description of mail addresses) and plain user names (including MTA
985 aliases) may be used, other types will be filtered out, giving a warning
989 can be used to generate standard compliant network addresses.
991 .\" When changing any of the following adjust any RECIPIENTADDRSPEC;
992 .\" grep the latter for the complete picture
996 is set then extended recipient addresses will optionally be accepted:
997 Any name which starts with a vertical bar
999 character specifies a command pipe \(en the command string following the
1001 is executed and the message is sent to its standard input;
1002 Likewise, any name that starts with the character solidus
1004 or the character sequence dot solidus
1006 is treated as a file, regardless of the remaining content;
1007 likewise a name that solely consists of a hyphen-minus
1009 Any other name which contains a commercial at
1011 character is treated as a network address;
1012 Any other name which starts with a plus sign
1014 character specifies a mailbox name;
1015 Any other name which contains a solidus
1017 character but no exclamation mark
1021 character before also specifies a mailbox name;
1022 What remains is treated as a network address.
1024 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1025 $ echo bla | \*(uA -Sexpandaddr -s test ./mbox.mbox
1026 $ echo bla | \*(uA -Sexpandaddr -s test '|cat >> ./mbox.mbox'
1027 $ echo safe | LC_ALL=C \e
1028 \*(uA -:/ -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait -Sttycharset=utf8 \e
1029 -Sexpandaddr=fail,-all,+addr,failinvaddr -s test \e
1034 It is possible to create personal distribution lists via the
1036 command, so that, for instance, the user can send mail to
1038 and have it go to a group of people.
1039 These aliases have nothing in common with the system wide aliases that
1040 may be used by the MTA, which are subject to the
1044 and are often tracked in a file
1050 Personal aliases will be expanded by \*(UA before the message is sent,
1051 and are thus a convenient alternative to specifying each addressee by
1052 itself; they correlate with the active set of
1059 .Dl alias cohorts bill jkf mark kridle@ucbcory ~/mail/cohorts.mbox
1062 .Va on-compose-enter , on-compose-leave
1064 .Va on-compose-cleanup
1065 hook variables may be set to
1067 d macros to automatically adjust some settings dependent
1068 on receiver, sender or subject contexts, and via the
1069 .Va on-compose-splice
1071 .Va on-compose-splice-shell
1072 variables, the former also to be set to a
1074 d macro, increasingly powerful mechanisms to perform automated message
1075 adjustments, including signature creation, are available.
1076 (\*(ID These hooks work for commands which newly create messages, namely
1077 .Ic forward , mail , reply
1082 for now provide only the hooks
1085 .Va on-resend-cleanup . )
1088 For the purpose of arranging a complete environment of settings that can
1089 be switched to with a single command or command line option there are
1091 Alternatively it is also possible to use a flat configuration, making use
1092 of so-called variable chains which automatically pick
1096 context-dependent variable variants: for example addressing
1097 .Ql Ic File Ns \& pop3://yaa@exam.ple
1099 .Va \&\&pop3-no-apop-yaa@exam.ple ,
1100 .Va \&\&pop3-no-apop-exam.ple
1105 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
1107 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" .
1110 To avoid environmental noise scripts should
1112 \*(UA from any configuration files and create a script-local
1113 environment, ideally with the command line options
1115 to disable any configuration file in conjunction with repetitions of
1117 to specify variables:
1119 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1120 $ env LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ \e
1121 -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait -Sttycharset=utf-8 \e
1122 -Sexpandaddr=fail,-all,failinvaddr \e
1123 -S mta=smtps://mylogin@exam.ple:465 -Ssmtp-auth=login \e
1124 -S from=scriptreply@exam.ple \e
1125 -s 'Subject to go' -a attachment_file \e
1127 'Recipient 1 <rec1@exam.ple>' rec2@exam.ple \e
1132 As shown, scripts can
1134 a locale environment, the above specifies the all-compatible 7-bit clean
1137 but will nonetheless take and send UTF-8 in the message text by using
1139 In interactive mode, which is introduced in the next section, messages
1140 can be sent by calling the
1142 command with a list of recipient addresses:
1144 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1145 $ \*(uA -d -Squiet -Semptystart
1146 "/var/spool/mail/user": 0 messages
1147 ? mail "Recipient 1 <rec1@exam.ple>", rec2@exam.ple
1149 ? # Will do the right thing (tm)
1150 ? m rec1@exam.ple rec2@exam.ple
1154 .\" .Ss "On reading mail, and interactive mode" {{{
1155 .Ss "On reading mail, and interactive mode"
1157 When invoked without addressees \*(UA enters interactive mode in which
1159 When used like that the user's system
1161 (for more on mailbox types please see the command
1163 is read in and a one line header of each message therein is displayed if
1167 The visual style of this summary of
1169 can be adjusted through the variable
1171 and the possible sorting criterion via
1177 can be performed with the command
1179 If the initially opened mailbox is empty \*(UA will instead exit
1180 immediately (after displaying a message) unless the variable
1189 will give a listing of all available commands and
1191 will give a summary of some common ones.
1192 If the \*(OPal documentation strings are available (see
1197 and see the actual expansion of
1199 and what its purpose is, i.e., commands can be abbreviated
1200 (note that POSIX defines some abbreviations, so that the alphabetical
1201 order of commands does not necessarily relate to the abbreviations; it is
1202 however possible to define overwrites with
1203 .Ic commandalias ) .
1204 These commands can also produce a more
1209 Messages are given numbers (starting at 1) which uniquely identify
1210 messages; the current message \(en the
1212 \(en will either be the first new message, or the first unread message,
1213 or the first message of the mailbox; the internal variable
1215 will instead cause usage of the last message for this purpose.
1220 ful of header summaries containing the
1224 will display only the summaries of the given messages, defaulting to the
1228 Message content can be displayed with the command
1235 controls whether and when \*(UA will use the configured
1237 for display instead of directly writing to the user terminal
1239 the sole difference to the command
1241 which will always use the
1245 will instead only show the first
1247 of a message (maybe even compressed if
1250 Message display experience may improve by setting and adjusting
1251 .Va mime-counter-evidence ,
1253 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" .
1256 By default the current message
1258 is displayed, but like with many other commands it is possible to give
1259 a fancy message specification (see
1260 .Sx "Specifying messages" ) ,
1263 will display all unread messages,
1268 will type the messages 1 and 5,
1270 will type the messages 1 through 5, and
1274 will display the last and the next message, respectively.
1277 (a more substantial alias for
1279 will display a header summary of the given message specification list
1280 instead of their content, e.g., the following will search for subjects:
1283 .Dl ? from "'@Some subject to search for'"
1286 In the default setup all header fields of a message will be
1288 d, but fields can be white- or blacklisted for a variety of
1289 applications by using the command
1291 e.g., to restrict their display to a very restricted set for
1293 .Ql Ic \:headerpick Cd \:type retain Ar \:from to cc subject .
1294 In order to display all header fields of a message regardless of
1295 currently active ignore or retain lists, use the commands
1300 will show the raw message content.
1301 Note that historically the global
1303 not only adjusts the list of displayed headers, but also sets
1307 Dependent upon the configuration a line editor (see the section
1308 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
1309 aims at making the user experience with the many
1312 When reading the system
1318 specified a mailbox explicitly prefixed with the special
1320 modifier (propagating the mailbox to a
1322 .Sx "primary system mailbox" ) ,
1323 then messages which have been read will be automatically moved to a
1325 .Sx "secondary mailbox" ,
1328 file, when the mailbox is left, either by changing the
1329 active mailbox or by quitting \*(UA (also see
1330 .Sx "Message states" )
1331 \(en this automatic moving from a system or primary to the secondary
1332 mailbox is not performed when the variable
1335 Messages can also be explicitly
1337 d to other mailboxes, whereas
1339 keeps the original message.
1341 can be used to write out data content of specific parts of messages.
1344 After examining a message the user can
1346 to the sender and all recipients (which will also be placed in
1349 .Va recipients-in-cc
1352 exclusively to the sender(s).
1354 ing a message will allow editing the new message: the original message
1355 will be contained in the message body, adjusted according to
1361 messages: the former will add a series of
1363 headers, whereas the latter will not; different to newly created
1364 messages editing is not possible and no copy will be saved even with
1366 unless the additional variable
1369 When sending, replying or forwarding messages comments and full names
1370 will be stripped from recipient addresses unless the internal variable
1373 Of course messages can be
1375 and they can spring into existence again via
1377 or when the \*(UA session is ended via the
1382 To end a mail processing session one may either issue
1384 to cause a full program exit, which possibly includes
1385 automatic moving of read messages to the
1387 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
1389 as well as updating the \*(OPal (see
1395 instead in order to prevent any of these actions.
1398 .\" .Ss "HTML mail and MIME attachments" {{{
1399 .Ss "HTML mail and MIME attachments"
1401 Messages which are HTML-only become more and more common and of course
1402 many messages come bundled with a bouquet of MIME (Multipurpose Internet
1403 Mail Extensions) parts for, e.g., attachments.
1404 To get a notion of MIME types, \*(UA will first read
1405 .Sx "The mime.types files"
1406 (as configured and allowed by
1407 .Va mimetypes-load-control ) ,
1408 and then add onto that types registered directly with
1410 It (normally) has a default set of types built-in, too.
1411 To improve interaction with faulty MIME part declarations which are
1412 often seen in real-life messages, setting
1413 .Va mime-counter-evidence
1414 will allow \*(UA to verify the given assertion and possibly provide
1415 an alternative MIME type.
1418 Whereas \*(UA \*(OPally supports a simple HTML-to-text converter for
1419 HTML messages, it cannot handle MIME types other than plain text itself.
1420 Instead programs need to become registered to deal with specific MIME
1421 types or file extensions.
1422 These programs may either prepare plain text versions of their input in
1423 order to enable \*(UA to integrate their output neatlessly in its own
1424 message visualization (a mode which is called
1425 .Cd copiousoutput ) ,
1426 or display the content themselves, for example in an external graphical
1427 window: such handlers will only be considered by and for the command
1431 To install a handler program for a specific MIME type an according
1432 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
1433 variable needs to be set; to instead define a handler for a specific
1434 file extension the respective
1436 variable can be used \(en these handlers take precedence.
1437 \*(OPally \*(UA supports mail user agent configuration as defined in
1438 RFC 1524; this mechanism (see
1439 .Sx "The Mailcap files" )
1440 will be queried for display or quote handlers if none of the former two
1441 .\" TODO v15-compat "will be" -> "is"
1442 did; it will be the sole source for handlers of other purpose.
1443 A last source for handlers is the MIME type definition itself, when
1444 a (\*(UA specific) type-marker was registered with the command
1446 (which many built-in MIME types do).
1449 E.g., to display a HTML message inline (that is, converted to a more
1450 fancy plain text representation than the built-in converter is capable to
1451 produce) with either of the text-mode browsers
1455 teach \*(UA about MathML documents and make it display them as plain
1456 text, and to open PDF attachments in an external PDF viewer,
1457 asynchronously and with some other magic attached:
1459 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1460 ? if [ "$features" !% +filter-html-tagsoup ]
1461 ? #set pipe-text/html='@* elinks -force-html -dump 1'
1462 ? set pipe-text/html='@* lynx -stdin -dump -force_html'
1463 ? # Display HTML as plain text instead
1464 ? #set pipe-text/html=@
1466 ? mimetype @ application/mathml+xml mathml
1467 ? wysh set pipe-application/pdf='@&=@ \e
1468 trap "rm -f \e"${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}\e"" EXIT;\e
1469 trap "trap \e"\e" INT QUIT TERM; exit 1" INT QUIT TERM;\e
1470 mupdf "${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}"'
1474 .\" .Ss "Mailing lists" {{{
1477 \*(UA offers some support to ease handling of mailing lists.
1480 promotes all given arguments to known mailing lists, and
1482 sets their subscription attribute, creating them first as necessary.
1487 automatically, but only resets the subscription attribute.)
1488 Using the commands without arguments will show (a subset of) all
1489 currently defined mailing lists.
1494 can be used to mark out messages with configured list addresses
1495 in the header display.
1498 If the \*(OPal regular expression support is available a mailing list
1499 specification that contains any of the
1501 regular expression characters
1505 will be interpreted as one, which allows matching of many addresses with
1506 a single expression.
1507 However, all fully qualified list addresses are matched via a fast
1508 dictionary, whereas expressions are placed in (a) list(s) which is
1509 (are) matched sequentially.
1511 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1512 ? set followup-to followup-to-honour=ask-yes \e
1513 reply-to-honour=ask-yes
1514 ? wysh mlist a1@b1.c1 a2@b2.c2 '.*@lists\e.c3$'
1515 ? mlsubscribe a4@b4.c4 exact@lists.c3
1520 .Va followup-to-honour
1522 .Ql Mail-\:Followup-\:To:
1523 header is honoured when the message is being replied to (via
1529 controls whether this header is created when sending mails; it will be
1530 created automatically for a couple of reasons, too, like when the
1532 .Dq mailing list specific
1537 is used to respond to a message with its
1538 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
1542 A difference in between the handling of known and subscribed lists is
1543 that the address of the sender is usually not part of a generated
1544 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
1545 when addressing the latter, whereas it is for the former kind of lists.
1546 Usually because there are exceptions: say, if multiple lists are
1547 addressed and not all of them are subscribed lists.
1549 For convenience \*(UA will, temporarily, automatically add a list
1550 address that is presented in the
1552 header of a message that is being responded to to the list of known
1554 Shall that header have existed \*(UA will instead, dependent on the
1556 .Va reply-to-honour ,
1559 for this purpose in order to accept a list administrators' wish that
1560 is supposed to have been manifested like that (but only if it provides
1561 a single address which resides on the same domain as what is stated in
1565 .\" .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME" {{{
1566 .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
1568 \*(OP S/MIME provides two central mechanisms:
1569 message signing and message encryption.
1570 A signed message contains some data in addition to the regular text.
1571 The data can be used to verify that the message was sent using a valid
1572 certificate, that the sender's address in the message header matches
1573 that in the certificate, and that the message text has not been altered.
1574 Signing a message does not change its regular text;
1575 it can be read regardless of whether the recipient's software is able to
1577 It is thus usually possible to sign all outgoing messages if so desired.
1580 Encryption, in contrast, makes the message text invisible for all people
1581 except those who have access to the secret decryption key.
1582 To encrypt a message, the specific recipient's public encryption key
1584 It is therefore not possible to send encrypted mail to people unless their
1585 key has been retrieved from either previous communication or public key
1587 A message should always be signed before it is encrypted.
1588 Otherwise, it is still possible that the encrypted message text is
1592 A central concept to S/MIME is that of the certification authority (CA).
1593 A CA is a trusted institution that issues certificates.
1594 For each of these certificates it can be verified that it really
1595 originates from the CA, provided that the CA's own certificate is
1597 A set of CA certificates is usually delivered with OpenSSL and installed
1599 If you trust the source of your OpenSSL software installation,
1600 this offers reasonable security for S/MIME on the Internet.
1602 .Va smime-ca-no-defaults
1603 to avoid using the default certificates and point
1607 to a trusted pool of certificates.
1608 In general, a certificate cannot be more secure than the method its CA
1609 certificate has been retrieved with.
1612 This trusted pool of certificates is used by the command
1614 to ensure that the given S/MIME messages can be trusted.
1615 If so, verified sender certificates that were embedded in signed
1616 messages can be saved locally with the command
1618 and used by \*(UA to encrypt further communication with these senders:
1620 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1622 ? set smime-encrypt-USER@HOST=FILENAME \e
1623 smime-cipher-USER@HOST=AES256
1627 To sign outgoing messages in order to allow receivers to verify the
1628 origin of these messages a personal S/MIME certificate is required.
1629 \*(UA supports password-protected personal certificates (and keys),
1630 for more on this, and its automatization, please see the section
1631 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
1633 .Sx "S/MIME step by step"
1634 shows examplarily how such a private certificate can be obtained.
1635 In general, if such a private key plus certificate
1637 is available, all that needs to be done is to set some variables:
1639 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1640 ? set smime-sign-cert=ME@HERE.com.paired \e
1641 smime-sign-message-digest=SHA256 \e
1646 Variables of interest for S/MIME in general are
1649 .Va smime-ca-flags ,
1650 .Va smime-ca-no-defaults ,
1652 .Va smime-crl-file .
1653 For S/MIME signing of interest are
1655 .Va smime-sign-cert ,
1656 .Va smime-sign-include-certs
1658 .Va smime-sign-message-digest .
1659 Additional variables of interest for S/MIME en- and decryption:
1662 .Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST .
1665 \*(ID Note that neither S/MIME signing nor encryption applies to
1666 message subjects or other header fields yet.
1667 Thus they may not contain sensitive information for encrypted messages,
1668 and cannot be trusted even if the message content has been verified.
1669 When sending signed messages,
1670 it is recommended to repeat any important header information in the
1674 .\" .Ss "On URL syntax and credential lookup" {{{
1675 .Ss "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
1677 \*(IN For accessing protocol-specific resources usage of Uniform
1678 Resource Locators (URL, RFC 1738) has become omnipresent.
1679 \*(UA expects and understands URLs in the following form;
1682 denote optional parts, optional either because there also exist other
1683 ways to define the information in question or because support of the
1684 part is protocol-specific (e.g.,
1686 is used by the local maildir and the IMAP protocol, but not by POP3);
1691 are specified they must be given in URL percent encoded form (RFC 3986;
1697 .Dl PROTOCOL://[USER[:PASSWORD]@]server[:port][/path]
1700 Note that these \*(UA URLs most often do not conform to any real
1701 standard, but instead represent a normalized variant of RFC 1738 \(en
1702 they are not used in data exchange but only meant as a compact,
1703 easy-to-use way of defining and representing information in
1704 a well-known notation.
1707 Many internal variables of \*(UA exist in multiple versions, called
1708 variable chains for the rest of this document: the plain
1713 .Ql variable-USER@HOST .
1720 had been specified in the respective URL, otherwise it refers to the plain
1726 that had been found when doing the user chain lookup as is described
1729 will never be in URL percent encoded form, whether it came from an URL
1730 or not; i.e., variable chain name extensions of
1731 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
1732 must not be URL percent encoded.
1735 For example, whether an hypothetical URL
1736 .Ql smtp://hey%3Ayou@our.house
1737 had been given that includes a user, or whether the URL was
1738 .Ql smtp://our.house
1739 and the user had been found differently, to lookup the variable chain
1740 .Va smtp-use-starttls
1741 \*(UA first looks for whether
1742 .Ql smtp-\:use-\:starttls-\:hey:you@our.house
1743 is defined, then whether
1744 .Ql smtp-\:use-\:starttls-\:our.house
1745 exists before finally ending up looking at the plain variable itself.
1748 \*(UA obeys the following logic scheme when dealing with the
1749 necessary credential information of an account:
1755 has been given in the URL the variables
1759 are looked up; if no such variable(s) can be found then \*(UA will,
1760 when enforced by the \*(OPal variables
1761 .Va netrc-lookup-HOST
1768 specific entry which provides a
1770 name: this lookup will only succeed if unambiguous (one possible matching
1773 It is possible to load encrypted
1778 If there is still no
1780 then \*(UA will fall back to the user who is supposed to run \*(UA,
1781 the identity of which has been fixated during \*(UA startup and is
1782 known to be a valid user on the current host.
1785 Authentication: unless otherwise noted this will lookup the
1786 .Va PROTOCOL-auth-USER@HOST , PROTOCOL-auth-HOST , PROTOCOL-auth
1787 variable chain, falling back to a protocol-specific default should this
1793 has been given in the URL, then if the
1795 has been found through the \*(OPal
1797 that may have already provided the password, too.
1798 Otherwise the variable chain
1799 .Va password-USER@HOST , password-HOST , password
1800 is looked up and used if existent.
1802 Afterwards the complete \*(OPal variable chain
1803 .Va netrc-lookup-USER@HOST , netrc-lookup-HOST , netrc-lookup
1807 cache is searched for a password only (multiple user accounts for
1808 a single machine may exist as well as a fallback entry without user
1809 but with a password).
1811 If at that point there is still no password available, but the
1812 (protocols') chosen authentication type requires a password, then in
1813 interactive mode the user will be prompted on the terminal.
1818 S/MIME verification works relative to the values found in the
1822 header field(s), which means that the values of
1823 .Va smime-sign , smime-sign-cert , smime-sign-include-certs
1825 .Va smime-sign-message-digest
1826 will not be looked up using the
1830 chains from above but instead use the corresponding values from the
1831 message that is being worked on.
1832 In unusual cases multiple and different
1836 combinations may therefore be involved \(en on the other hand those
1837 unusual cases become possible.
1838 The usual case is as short as:
1840 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1841 set mta=smtp://USER:PASS@HOST smtp-use-starttls \e
1842 smime-sign smime-sign-cert=+smime.pair
1848 contains complete example configurations.
1851 .\" .Ss "Encrypted network communication" {{{
1852 .Ss "Encrypted network communication"
1854 SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) a.k.a. its successor TLS (Transport Layer
1855 Security) are protocols which aid in securing communication by providing
1856 a safely initiated and encrypted network connection.
1857 A central concept of SSL/TLS is that of certificates: as part of each
1858 network connection setup a (set of) certificates will be exchanged, and
1859 by using those the identity of the network peer can be cryptographically
1861 SSL/TLS works by using a locally installed pool of trusted certificates,
1862 and verifying the connection peer succeeds if that provides
1863 a certificate which has been issued or is trusted by any certificate in
1864 the trusted local pool.
1867 The local pool of trusted so-called CA (Certification Authority)
1868 certificates is usually delivered with the used SSL/TLS library, and
1869 will be selected automatically, but it is also possible to create and
1870 use an own pool of trusted certificates.
1871 If this is desired, set
1872 .Va ssl-ca-no-defaults
1873 to avoid using the default certificate pool, and point
1877 to a trusted pool of certificates.
1878 A certificate cannot be more secure than the method its CA certificate
1879 has been retrieved with.
1882 It depends on the used protocol whether encrypted communication is
1883 possible, and which configuration steps have to be taken to enable it.
1884 Some protocols, e.g., POP3S, are implicitly encrypted, others, like
1885 POP3, can upgrade a plain text connection if so requested: POP3 offers
1887 which will be used if the variable (chain)
1888 .Va pop3-use-starttls
1891 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1892 shortcut encpop1 pop3s://pop1.exam.ple
1894 shortcut encpop2 pop3://pop2.exam.ple
1895 set pop3-use-starttls-pop2.exam.ple
1897 set mta=smtps://smtp.exam.ple:465
1898 set mta=smtp://smtp.exam.ple smtp-use-starttls
1902 Normally that is all there is to do, given that SSL/TLS libraries try to
1903 provide safe defaults, plenty of knobs however exist to adjust settings.
1904 For example certificate verification settings can be fine-tuned via
1906 and the SSL/TLS configuration basics are accessible via
1907 .Va ssl-config-pairs ,
1908 e.g., to specify the allowed protocols or cipher lists that
1909 a communication channel may use.
1910 In the past hints of how to restrict the set of protocols to highly
1911 secure ones were indicated, as of the time of this writing the allowed
1912 protocols or cipher list may need to become relaxed in order to be able
1913 to connect to some servers; the following example allows connecting to a
1915 that uses OpenSSL 0.9.8za from June 2014 (refer to
1916 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
1917 for more on variable chains):
1919 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1920 wysh set ssl-config-pairs-lion@exam.ple='MinProtocol=TLSv1.1,\e
1921 CipherList=TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:\e
1922 ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA:\e
1923 DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:@STRENGTH'
1929 can be used and should be referred to when creating a custom cipher list.
1930 Variables of interest for SSL/TLS in general are
1934 .Va ssl-ca-no-defaults ,
1935 .Va ssl-config-file ,
1936 .Va ssl-config-module ,
1937 .Va ssl-config-pairs ,
1945 .\" .Ss "Character sets" {{{
1946 .Ss "Character sets"
1948 \*(OP \*(UA detects the character set of the terminal by using
1949 mechanisms that are controlled by the
1951 environment variable
1956 in that order, see there).
1957 The internal variable
1959 will be set to the detected terminal character set accordingly,
1960 and will thus show up in the output of commands like, e.g.,
1966 However, the user may give a value for
1968 during startup, so that it is possible to send mail in a completely
1970 locale environment, an option which can be used to generate and send,
1971 e.g., 8-bit UTF-8 input data in a pure 7-bit US-ASCII
1973 environment (an example of this can be found in the section
1974 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" ) .
1975 Changing the value does not mean much beside that, because several
1976 aspects of the real character set are implied by the locale environment
1977 of the system, which stays unaffected by
1981 Messages and attachments which consist of 7-bit clean data will be
1982 classified as consisting of
1985 This is a problem if the
1987 character set is a multibyte character set that is also 7-bit clean.
1988 For example, the Japanese character set ISO-2022-JP is 7-bit clean but
1989 capable to encode the rich set of Japanese Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana
1990 characters: in order to notify receivers of this character set the mail
1991 message must be MIME encoded so that the character set ISO-2022-JP can
1993 To achieve this, the variable
1995 must be set to ISO-2022-JP.
1996 (Today a better approach regarding email is the usage of UTF-8, which
1997 uses 8-bit bytes for non-US-ASCII data.)
2000 If the \*(OPal character set conversion capabilities are not available
2002 does not include the term
2006 will be the only supported character set,
2007 it is simply assumed that it can be used to exchange 8-bit messages
2008 (over the wire an intermediate, configurable
2011 and the rest of this section does not apply;
2012 it may however still be necessary to explicitly set it if automatic
2013 detection fails, since in that case it defaults to
2014 .\" (Keep in SYNC: ./nail.1:"Character sets", ./config.h:CHARSET_*!)
2015 LATIN1 a.k.a. ISO-8859-1.
2018 \*(OP When reading messages, their text is converted into
2020 as necessary in order to display them on the users terminal.
2021 Unprintable characters and invalid byte sequences are detected
2022 and replaced by proper substitution characters.
2023 Character set mappings for source character sets can be established with
2026 which may be handy to work around faulty character set catalogues (e.g.,
2027 to add a missing LATIN1 to ISO-8859-1 mapping), or to enforce treatment
2028 of one character set as another one (e.g., to interpret LATIN1 as CP1252).
2030 .Va charset-unknown-8bit
2031 to deal with another hairy aspect of message interpretation.
2034 When sending messages all their parts and attachments are classified.
2035 Whereas no character set conversion is performed on those parts which
2036 appear to be binary data,
2037 the character set being used must be declared within the MIME header of
2038 an outgoing text part if it contains characters that do not conform to
2039 the set of characters that are allowed by the email standards.
2040 Permissible values for character sets used in outgoing messages can be
2045 which defines a catch-all last-resort fallback character set that is
2046 implicitly appended to the list of character sets in
2050 When replying to a message and the variable
2051 .Va reply-in-same-charset
2052 is set, then the character set of the message being replied to
2053 is tried first (still being a subject of
2054 .Ic charsetalias ) .
2055 And it is also possible to make \*(UA work even more closely related to
2056 the current locale setting automatically by using the variable
2057 .Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset ,
2058 please see there for more information.
2061 All the specified character sets are tried in order unless the
2062 conversion of the part or attachment succeeds.
2063 If none of the tried (8-bit) character sets is capable to represent the
2064 content of the part or attachment,
2065 then the message will not be sent and its text will optionally be
2069 In general, if a message saying
2070 .Dq cannot convert from a to b
2071 appears, either some characters are not appropriate for the currently
2072 selected (terminal) character set,
2073 or the needed conversion is not supported by the system.
2074 In the first case, it is necessary to set an appropriate
2076 locale and/or the variable
2080 The best results are usually achieved when \*(UA is run in a UTF-8
2081 locale on an UTF-8 capable terminal, in which case the full Unicode
2082 spectrum of characters is available.
2083 In this setup characters from various countries can be displayed,
2084 while it is still possible to use more simple character sets for sending
2085 to retain maximum compatibility with older mail clients.
2088 On the other hand the POSIX standard defines a locale-independent 7-bit
2089 .Dq portable character set
2090 that should be used when overall portability is an issue, the even more
2091 restricted subset named
2092 .Dq portable filename character set
2093 consists of A-Z, a-z, 0-9, period
2101 .\" .Ss "Message states" {{{
2102 .Ss "Message states"
2104 \*(UA differentiates in between several different message states;
2105 the current state will be reflected in header summary displays if
2107 is configured to do so (via the internal variable
2109 and messages can also be selected and be acted upon depending on their
2111 .Sx "Specifying messages" ) .
2112 When operating on the system
2116 .Sx "primary system mailbox" ,
2117 special actions, like the automatic moving of messages to the
2119 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
2121 may be applied when the mailbox is left (also implicitly via
2122 a successful exit of \*(UA, but not if the special command
2124 is used) \(en however, because this may be irritating to users which
2127 mail-user-agents, the default global
2133 variables in order to suppress this behaviour.
2135 .Bl -hang -width ".It Ql new"
2137 Message has neither been viewed nor moved to any other state.
2138 Such messages are retained even in the
2140 .Sx "primary system mailbox" .
2143 Message has neither been viewed nor moved to any other state, but the
2144 message was present already when the mailbox has been opened last:
2145 Such messages are retained even in the
2147 .Sx "primary system mailbox" .
2150 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
2169 will always try to automatically
2175 logical message, and may thus mark multiple messages as read, the
2177 command will do so if the internal variable
2182 command is used, messages that are in a
2184 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
2187 state when the mailbox is left will be saved in the
2189 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
2191 unless the internal variable
2196 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
2202 can be used to access such messages.
2205 The message has been processed by a
2207 command and it will be retained in its current location.
2210 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
2216 command is used, messages that are in a
2218 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
2221 state when the mailbox is left will be deleted; they will be saved in the
2223 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
2225 when the internal variable
2231 In addition to these message states, flags which otherwise have no
2232 technical meaning in the mail system except allowing special ways of
2233 addressing them when
2234 .Sx "Specifying messages"
2235 can be set on messages.
2236 These flags are saved with messages and are thus persistent, and are
2237 portable between a set of widely used MUAs.
2239 .Bl -hang -width ".It Ic answered"
2241 Mark messages as having been answered.
2243 Mark messages as being a draft.
2245 Mark messages which need special attention.
2249 .\" .Ss "Specifying messages" {{{
2250 .Ss "Specifying messages"
2253 .Sx "Message list arguments" ,
2261 can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply to a number
2262 of messages at once.
2265 deletes messages 1 and 2,
2268 will delete the messages 1 through 5.
2269 In sorted or threaded mode (see the
2273 will delete the messages that are located between (and including)
2274 messages 1 through 5 in the sorted/threaded order, as shown in the
2277 The following special message names exist:
2280 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ar BaNg"
2282 The current message, the so-called
2286 The message that was previously the current message.
2289 The parent message of the current message,
2290 that is the message with the Message-ID given in the
2292 field or the last entry of the
2294 field of the current message.
2297 The next previous undeleted message,
2298 or the next previous deleted message for the
2301 In sorted/threaded mode,
2302 the next previous such message in the sorted/threaded order.
2305 The next undeleted message,
2306 or the next deleted message for the
2309 In sorted/threaded mode,
2310 the next such message in the sorted/threaded order.
2313 The first undeleted message,
2314 or the first deleted message for the
2317 In sorted/threaded mode,
2318 the first such message in the sorted/threaded order.
2322 In sorted/threaded mode,
2323 the last message in the sorted/threaded order.
2327 selects the message addressed with
2331 is any other message specification,
2332 and all messages from the thread that begins at it.
2333 Otherwise it is identical to
2338 the thread beginning with the current message is selected.
2343 All messages that were included in the
2344 .Sx "Message list arguments"
2345 of the previous command.
2348 An inclusive range of message numbers.
2349 Selectors that may also be used as endpoints include any of
2354 .Dq any substring matches
2357 header, which will match addresses (too) even if
2359 is set (and POSIX says
2360 .Dq any address as shown in a header summary shall be matchable in this form ) ;
2363 variable is set, only the local part of the address is evaluated
2364 for the comparison, not ignoring case, and the setting of
2366 is completely ignored.
2367 For finer control and match boundaries use the
2371 .It Ar / Ns Ar string
2372 All messages that contain
2374 in the subject field (case ignored according to locale).
2381 the string from the previous specification of that type is used again.
2384 .It Xo Op Ar @ Ns Ar name-list Ns
2387 All messages that contain the given case-insensitive search
2389 ession; If the \*(OPal regular expression support is available
2391 will be interpreted as (an extended) one if any of the
2393 regular expression characters
2398 .Ar @ Ns Ar name-list
2399 part is missing the search is restricted to the subject field body,
2402 specifies a comma-separated list of header fields to search, e.g.,
2405 .Dl '@to,from,cc@Someone i ought to know'
2408 In order to search for a string that includes a
2410 (commercial at) character the
2412 is effectively non-optional, but may be given as the empty string.
2413 Also, specifying an empty search
2415 ession will effectively test for existence of the given header fields.
2416 Some special header fields may be abbreviated:
2430 respectively and case-insensitively.
2431 \*(OPally, and just like
2434 will be interpreted as (an extended) regular expression if any of the
2436 regular expression characters is seen.
2443 can be used to search in (all of) the header(s) of the message, and the
2452 will perform full text searches \(en whereas the former searches only
2453 the body, the latter also searches the message header (\*(ID this mode
2454 yet brute force searches over the entire decoded content of messages,
2455 including administrativa strings).
2458 This specification performs full text comparison, but even with
2459 regular expression support it is almost impossible to write a search
2460 expression that safely matches only a specific address domain.
2461 To request that the body content of the header is treated as a list of
2462 addresses, and to strip those down to the plain email address which the
2463 search expression is to be matched against, prefix the effective
2469 .Dl @~f@@a\e.safe\e.domain\e.match$
2473 All messages of state or with matching condition
2477 is one or multiple of the following colon modifiers:
2479 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar :M"
2482 messages (cf. the variable
2483 .Va markanswered ) .
2495 Messages with receivers that match
2499 Messages with receivers that match
2506 Old messages (any not in state
2514 \*(OP Messages with unsure spam classification (see
2515 .Sx "Handling spam" ) .
2517 \*(OP Messages classified as spam.
2529 \*(OP IMAP-style SEARCH expressions may also be used.
2530 This addressing mode is available with all types of mailbox
2532 s; \*(UA will perform the search locally as necessary.
2533 Strings must be enclosed by double quotes
2535 in their entirety if they contain whitespace or parentheses;
2536 within the quotes, only reverse solidus
2538 is recognized as an escape character.
2539 All string searches are case-insensitive.
2540 When the description indicates that the
2542 representation of an address field is used,
2543 this means that the search string is checked against both a list
2546 .Bd -literal -offset indent
2547 (\*qname\*q \*qsource\*q \*qlocal-part\*q \*qdomain-part\*q)
2552 and the addresses without real names from the respective header field.
2553 These search expressions can be nested using parentheses, see below for
2557 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar _n_u"
2558 .It Ar ( criterion )
2559 All messages that satisfy the given
2561 .It Ar ( criterion1 criterion2 ... criterionN )
2562 All messages that satisfy all of the given criteria.
2564 .It Ar ( or criterion1 criterion2 )
2565 All messages that satisfy either
2570 To connect more than two criteria using
2572 specifications have to be nested using additional parentheses,
2574 .Ql (or a (or b c)) ,
2578 .Ql ((a or b) and c) .
2581 operation of independent criteria on the lowest nesting level,
2582 it is possible to achieve similar effects by using three separate
2586 .It Ar ( not criterion )
2587 All messages that do not satisfy
2589 .It Ar ( bcc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2590 All messages that contain
2592 in the envelope representation of the
2595 .It Ar ( cc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2596 All messages that contain
2598 in the envelope representation of the
2601 .It Ar ( from \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2602 All messages that contain
2604 in the envelope representation of the
2607 .It Ar ( subject \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2608 All messages that contain
2613 .It Ar ( to \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2614 All messages that contain
2616 in the envelope representation of the
2619 .It Ar ( header name \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2620 All messages that contain
2625 .It Ar ( body \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2626 All messages that contain
2629 .It Ar ( text \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2630 All messages that contain
2632 in their header or body.
2633 .It Ar ( larger size )
2634 All messages that are larger than
2637 .It Ar ( smaller size )
2638 All messages that are smaller than
2642 .It Ar ( before date )
2643 All messages that were received before
2645 which must be in the form
2649 denotes the day of the month as one or two digits,
2651 is the name of the month \(en one of
2652 .Ql Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec ,
2655 is the year as four digits, e.g.,
2659 All messages that were received on the specified date.
2660 .It Ar ( since date )
2661 All messages that were received since the specified date.
2662 .It Ar ( sentbefore date )
2663 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
2664 .It Ar ( senton date )
2665 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
2666 .It Ar ( sentsince date )
2667 All messages that were sent since the specified date.
2669 The same criterion as for the previous search.
2670 This specification cannot be used as part of another criterion.
2671 If the previous command line contained more than one independent
2672 criterion then the last of those criteria is used.
2676 .\" .Ss "On terminal control and line editor" {{{
2677 .Ss "On terminal control and line editor"
2679 \*(OP Terminal control will be realized through one of the standard
2681 libraries, either the
2683 or, alternatively, the
2685 both of which will be initialized to work with the environment variable
2687 Terminal control will enhance or enable interactive usage aspects, e.g.,
2688 .Sx "Coloured display" ,
2689 and extend behaviour of the Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE), which may learn the
2690 byte-sequences of keys like the cursor and function keys.
2693 The internal variable
2695 can be used to overwrite settings or to learn (correct(ed)) keycodes.
2696 \*(UA may also become a fullscreen application by entering the
2697 so-called ca-mode and switching to an alternative exclusive screen
2698 (content) shall the terminal support it and the internal variable
2700 has been set explicitly.
2701 Actual interaction with the chosen library can be disabled completely by
2702 setting the internal variable
2703 .Va termcap-disable ;
2705 will be queried regardless, which is true even if the \*(OPal library
2706 support has not been enabled at configuration time as long as some other
2707 \*(OP which (may) query terminal control sequences has been enabled.
2710 \*(OP The built-in Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE) should work in all
2711 environments which comply to the ISO C standard
2713 and will support wide glyphs if possible (the necessary functionality
2714 had been removed from ISO C, but was included in
2716 Prevent usage of a line editor in interactive mode by setting the
2718 .Va line-editor-disable .
2719 Especially if the \*(OPal terminal control support is missing setting
2720 entries in the internal variable
2722 will help shall the MLE misbehave, see there for more.
2723 The MLE can support a little bit of
2729 feature is available then input from line editor prompts will be saved
2730 in a history list that can be searched in and be expanded from.
2731 Such saving can be prevented by prefixing input with any amount of
2733 Aspects of history, like allowed content and maximum size, as well as
2734 whether history shall be saved persistently, can be configured with the
2738 .Va history-gabby-persist
2743 The MLE supports a set of editing and control commands.
2744 By default (as) many (as possible) of these will be assigned to a set of
2745 single-letter control codes, which should work on any terminal (and can
2746 be generated by holding the
2748 key while pressing the key of desire, e.g.,
2752 command is available then the MLE commands can also be accessed freely
2753 by assigning the command name, which is shown in parenthesis in the list
2754 below, to any desired key-sequence, and the MLE will instead and also use
2756 to establish its built-in key bindings
2757 (more of them if the \*(OPal terminal control is available),
2758 an action which can then be suppressed completely by setting
2759 .Va line-editor-no-defaults .
2760 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
2761 notation is used in the following;
2762 combinations not mentioned either cause job control signals or do not
2763 generate a (unique) keycode:
2767 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql \eBa"
2769 Go to the start of the line
2771 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-home ) .
2774 Move the cursor backward one character
2776 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-bwd ) .
2779 Forward delete the character under the cursor;
2780 quits \*(UA if used on the empty line unless the internal variable
2784 .Pf ( Cd mle-del-fwd ) .
2787 Go to the end of the line
2789 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-end ) .
2792 Move the cursor forward one character
2794 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-fwd ) .
2797 Cancel current operation, full reset.
2798 If there is an active history search or tabulator expansion then this
2799 command will first reset that, reverting to the former line content;
2800 thus a second reset is needed for a full reset in this case
2802 .Pf ( Cd mle-reset ) .
2805 Backspace: backward delete one character
2807 .Pf ( Cd mle-del-bwd ) .
2811 Horizontal tabulator:
2812 try to expand the word before the cursor, supporting the usual
2813 .Sx "Filename transformations"
2815 .Pf ( Cd mle-complete ;
2817 .Cd mle-quote-rndtrip ) .
2821 commit the current line
2823 .Pf ( Cd mle-commit ) .
2826 Cut all characters from the cursor to the end of the line
2828 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-end ) .
2833 .Pf ( Cd mle-repaint ) .
2836 \*(OP Go to the next history entry
2838 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-fwd ) .
2841 (\*(OPally context-dependent) Invokes the command
2845 \*(OP Go to the previous history entry
2847 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-bwd ) .
2850 Toggle roundtrip mode shell quotes, where produced,
2853 .Pf ( Cd mle-quote-rndtrip ) .
2854 This setting is temporary, and will be forgotten once the command line
2855 is committed; also see
2859 \*(OP Complete the current line from (the remaining) older history entries
2861 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-srch-bwd ) .
2864 \*(OP Complete the current line from (the remaining) newer history entries
2866 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-srch-fwd ) .
2869 Paste the snarf buffer
2871 .Pf ( Cd mle-paste ) .
2879 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-line ) .
2882 Prompts for a Unicode character (hexadecimal number without prefix, see
2886 .Pf ( Cd mle-prompt-char ) .
2887 Note this command needs to be assigned to a single-letter control code
2888 in order to become recognized and executed during input of
2889 a key-sequence (only three single-letter control codes can be used for
2890 that shortcut purpose); this control code is special-treated and cannot
2891 be part of any other sequence, because any occurrence will perform the
2893 function immediately.
2896 Cut the characters from the one preceding the cursor to the preceding
2899 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-word-bwd ) .
2902 Move the cursor forward one word boundary
2904 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-word-fwd ) .
2907 Move the cursor backward one word boundary
2909 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-word-bwd ) .
2912 Escape: reset a possibly used multibyte character input state machine
2913 and \*(OPally a lingering, incomplete key binding
2915 .Pf ( Cd mle-cancel ) .
2916 This command needs to be assigned to a single-letter control code in
2917 order to become recognized and executed during input of a key-sequence
2918 (only three single-letter control codes can be used for that shortcut
2920 This control code may also be part of a multi-byte sequence, but if
2921 a sequence is active and the very control code is currently also an
2922 expected input, then it will first be consumed by the active sequence.
2925 (\*(OPally context-dependent) Invokes the command
2929 (\*(OPally context-dependent) Invokes the command
2933 (\*(OPally context-dependent) Invokes the command
2937 Cut the characters from the one after the cursor to the succeeding word
2940 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-word-fwd ) .
2951 this will immediately reset a possibly active search etc.
2956 ring the audible bell.
2960 .\" .Ss "Coloured display" {{{
2961 .Ss "Coloured display"
2963 \*(OP \*(UA can be configured to support a coloured display and font
2964 attributes by emitting ANSI a.k.a. ISO 6429 SGR (select graphic
2965 rendition) escape sequences.
2966 Usage of colours and font attributes solely depends upon the
2967 capability of the detected terminal type that is defined by the
2968 environment variable
2970 and which can be fine-tuned by the user via the internal variable
2974 On top of what \*(UA knows about the terminal the boolean variable
2976 defines whether the actually applicable colour and font attribute
2977 sequences should also be generated when output is going to be paged
2978 through the external program defined by the environment variable
2983 This is not enabled by default because different pager programs need
2984 different command line switches or other configuration in order to
2985 support those sequences.
2986 \*(UA however knows about some widely used pagers and in a clean
2987 environment it is often enough to simply set
2989 please refer to that variable for more on this topic.
2994 is set then any active usage of colour and font attribute sequences
2995 is suppressed, but without affecting possibly established
3000 To define and control colours and font attributes a single multiplexer
3001 command family exists:
3003 shows or defines colour mappings for the given colour type (e.g.,
3006 can be used to remove mappings of a given colour type.
3007 Since colours are only available in interactive mode, it may make
3008 sense to conditionalize the colour setup by encapsulating it with
3011 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3012 if terminal && [ "$features" =% +colour ]
3013 colour iso view-msginfo ft=bold,fg=green
3014 colour iso view-header ft=bold,fg=red from,subject
3015 colour iso view-header fg=red
3017 uncolour iso view-header from,subject
3018 colour iso view-header ft=bold,fg=magenta,bg=cyan
3019 colour 256 view-header ft=bold,fg=208,bg=230 "subject,from"
3020 colour mono view-header ft=bold
3021 colour mono view-header ft=bold,ft=reverse subject,from
3026 .\" .Ss "Handling spam" {{{
3029 \*(OP \*(UA can make use of several spam interfaces for the purpose of
3030 identification of, and, in general, dealing with spam messages.
3031 A precondition of most commands in order to function is that the
3033 variable is set to one of the supported interfaces.
3034 Once messages have been identified as spam their (volatile)
3036 state can be prompted: the
3040 message specifications will address respective messages and their
3042 entries will be used when displaying the
3044 in the header display.
3049 rates the given messages and sets their
3052 If the spam interface offers spam scores those can also be displayed in
3053 the header display by including the
3063 will interact with the Bayesian filter of the chosen interface and learn
3064 the given messages as
3068 respectively; the last command can be used to cause
3070 of messages; it adheres to their current
3072 state and thus reverts previous teachings.
3077 will simply set and clear, respectively, the mentioned volatile
3079 message flag, without any interface interaction.
3088 requires a running instance of the
3090 server in order to function, started with the option
3092 shall Bayesian filter learning be possible.
3094 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3095 $ spamd -i localhost:2142 -i /tmp/.spamsock -d [-L] [-l]
3096 $ spamd --listen=localhost:2142 --listen=/tmp/.spamsock \e
3097 --daemonize [--local] [--allow-tell]
3101 Thereafter \*(UA can make use of these interfaces:
3103 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3104 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=spamc -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
3105 -Sspamc-command=/usr/local/bin/spamc \e
3106 -Sspamc-arguments="-U /tmp/.spamsock" -Sspamc-user=
3108 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=spamc -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
3109 -Sspamc-command=/usr/local/bin/spamc \e
3110 -Sspamc-arguments="-d localhost -p 2142" -Sspamc-user=
3114 Using the generic filter approach allows usage of programs like
3116 Here is an example, requiring it to be accessible via
3119 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3120 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=filter -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
3121 -Sspamfilter-ham="bogofilter -n" \e
3122 -Sspamfilter-noham="bogofilter -N" \e
3123 -Sspamfilter-nospam="bogofilter -S" \e
3124 -Sspamfilter-rate="bogofilter -TTu 2>/dev/null" \e
3125 -Sspamfilter-spam="bogofilter -s" \e
3126 -Sspamfilter-rate-scanscore="1;^(.+)$"
3130 Because messages must exist on local storage in order to be scored (or
3131 used for Bayesian filter training), it is possibly a good idea to
3132 perform the local spam check last.
3133 Spam can be checked automatically when opening specific folders by
3134 setting a specialized form of the internal variable
3137 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3138 define spamdelhook {
3140 spamset (header x-dcc-brand-metrics "bulk")
3141 # Server-side spamassassin(1)
3142 spamset (header x-spam-flag "YES")
3143 del :s # TODO we HAVE to be able to do `spamrate :u ! :sS'
3149 set folder-hook-SOMEFOLDER=spamdelhook
3153 See also the documentation for the variables
3154 .Va spam-interface , spam-maxsize ,
3155 .Va spamc-command , spamc-arguments , spamc-user ,
3156 .Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , spamfilter-nospam , \
3159 .Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore .
3162 .\" }}} (DESCRIPTION)
3165 .\" .Sh COMMANDS {{{
3168 \*(UA reads input in lines.
3169 An unquoted reverse solidus
3171 at the end of a command line
3173 the newline character: it is discarded and the next line of input is
3174 used as a follow-up line, with all leading whitespace removed;
3175 once an entire line is completed, the whitespace characters
3176 .Cm space , tabulator , newline
3177 as well as those defined by the variable
3179 are removed from the beginning and end.
3180 Placing any whitespace characters at the beginning of a line will
3181 prevent a possible addition of the command line to the \*(OPal
3185 The beginning of such input lines is then scanned for the name of
3186 a known command: command names may be abbreviated, in which case the
3187 first command that matches the given prefix will be used.
3188 .Sx "Command modifiers"
3189 may prefix a command in order to modify its behaviour.
3190 A name may also be a
3192 which will become expanded until no more expansion is possible.
3193 Once the command that shall be executed is known, the remains of the
3194 input line will be interpreted according to command-specific rules,
3195 documented in the following.
3198 This behaviour is different to the
3200 ell, which is a programming language with syntactic elements of clearly
3201 defined semantics, and therefore capable to sequentially expand and
3202 evaluate individual elements of a line.
3203 \*(UA will never be able to handle
3204 .Ql ? set one=value two=$one
3205 in a single statement, because the variable assignment is performed by
3213 can be used to show the list of all commands, either alphabetically
3214 sorted or in prefix search order (these do not match, also because the
3215 POSIX standard prescribes a set of abbreviations).
3216 \*(OPally the command
3220 when given an argument, will show a documentation string for the
3221 command matching the expanded argument, as in
3223 which should be a shorthand of
3225 with these documentation strings both commands support a more
3227 listing mode which includes the argument type of the command and other
3228 information which applies; a handy suggestion might thus be:
3230 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3232 # Before v15: need to enable sh(1)ell-style on _entire_ line!
3233 localopts 1;wysh set verbose;ignerr eval "${@}";return ${?}
3235 ? commandalias xv '\ecall __xv'
3239 .\" .Ss "Command modifiers" {{{
3240 .Ss "Command modifiers"
3242 Commands may be prefixed by one or multiple command modifiers.
3243 Some command modifiers can be used with a restricted set of commands
3248 will (\*(OPally) show which modifiers apply.
3252 The modifier reverse solidus
3255 to be placed first, prevents
3257 expansions on the remains of the line, e.g.,
3259 will always evaluate the command
3261 even if an (command)alias of the same name exists.
3263 content may itself contain further command modifiers, including
3264 an initial reverse solidus to prevent further expansions.
3270 indicates that any error generated by the following command should be
3271 ignored by the state machine and not cause a program exit with enabled
3273 or for the standardized exit cases in
3278 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
3279 will be set to the real exit status of the command regardless.
3284 will alter the called command to apply changes only temporarily,
3285 local to block-scope, and can thus only be used inside of a
3290 Specifying it implies the modifier
3292 Block-scope settings will not be inherited by macros deeper in the
3294 chain, and will be garbage collected once the current block is left.
3295 To record and unroll changes in the global scope use the command
3301 does yet not implement any functionality.
3306 does yet not implement any functionality.
3309 Some commands support the
3312 modifier: if used, they expect the name of a variable, which can itself
3313 be a variable, i.e., shell expansion is applied, as their first
3314 argument, and will place their computation result in it instead of the
3315 default location (it is usually written to standard output).
3317 The given name will be tested for being a valid
3319 variable name, and may therefore only consist of upper- and lowercase
3320 characters, digits, and the underscore; the hyphen-minus may be used as
3321 a non-portable extension; digits may not be used as first, hyphen-minus
3322 may not be used as last characters.
3323 In addition the name may either not be one of the known
3324 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
3325 or must otherwise refer to a writable (non-boolean) value variable.
3326 The actual put operation may fail nonetheless, e.g., if the variable
3327 expects a number argument only a number will be accepted.
3328 Any error during these operations causes the command as such to fail,
3329 and the error number
3332 .Va ^ERR Ns -NOTSUP ,
3337 but some commands deviate from the latter, which is documented.
3340 Last, but not least, the modifier
3343 can be used for some old and established commands to choose the new
3344 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
3345 rules over the traditional
3346 .Sx "Old-style argument quoting" .
3350 .\" .Ss "Message list arguments" {{{
3351 .Ss "Message list arguments"
3353 Some commands expect arguments that represent messages (actually
3354 their symbolic message numbers), as has been documented above under
3355 .Sx "Specifying messages"
3357 If no explicit message list has been specified, the next message
3358 forward that satisfies the command's requirements will be used,
3359 and if there are no messages forward of the current message,
3360 the search proceeds backwards;
3361 if there are no good messages at all to be found, an error message is
3362 shown and the command is aborted.
3365 .\" .Ss "Old-style argument quoting" {{{
3366 .Ss "Old-style argument quoting"
3368 \*(ID This section documents the old, traditional style of quoting
3369 non-message-list arguments to commands which expect this type of
3370 arguments: whereas still used by the majority of such commands, the new
3371 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
3372 may be available even for those via
3375 .Sx "Command modifiers" .
3376 Nonetheless care must be taken, because only new commands have been
3377 designed with all the capabilities of the new quoting rules in mind,
3378 which can, e.g., generate control characters.
3381 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
3383 An argument can be enclosed between paired double-quotes
3388 any whitespace, shell word expansion, or reverse solidus characters
3389 (except as described next) within the quotes are treated literally as
3390 part of the argument.
3391 A double-quote will be treated literally within single-quotes and vice
3393 Inside such a quoted string the actually used quote character can be
3394 used nonetheless by escaping it with a reverse solidus
3400 An argument that is not enclosed in quotes, as above, can usually still
3401 contain space characters if those spaces are reverse solidus escaped, as in
3405 A reverse solidus outside of the enclosing quotes is discarded
3406 and the following character is treated literally as part of the argument.
3410 .\" .Ss "Shell-style argument quoting" {{{
3411 .Ss "Shell-style argument quoting"
3413 Commands which don't expect message-list arguments use
3415 ell-style, and therefore POSIX standardized, argument parsing and
3417 \*(ID Most new commands only support these new rules and are flagged
3418 \*(NQ, some elder ones can use them with the command modifier
3420 in the future only this type of argument quoting will remain.
3423 A command line is parsed from left to right and an input token is
3424 completed whenever an unquoted, otherwise ignored, metacharacter is seen.
3425 Metacharacters are vertical bar
3431 as well as all characters from the variable
3434 .Cm space , tabulator , newline .
3435 The additional metacharacters left and right parenthesis
3437 and less-than and greater-than signs
3441 supports are not used, and are treated as ordinary characters: for one
3442 these characters are a vivid part of email addresses, and it seems
3443 highly unlikely that their function will become meaningful to \*(UA.
3445 .Bd -filled -offset indent
3446 .Sy Compatibility note:
3447 \*(ID Please note that even many new-style commands do not yet honour
3449 to parse their arguments: whereas the
3451 ell is a language with syntactic elements of clearly defined semantics,
3452 \*(UA parses entire input lines and decides on a per-command base what
3453 to do with the rest of the line.
3454 This also means that whenever an unknown command is seen all that \*(UA
3455 can do is cancellation of the processing of the remains of the line.
3457 It also often depends on an actual subcommand of a multiplexer command
3458 how the rest of the line should be treated, and until v15 we are not
3459 capable to perform this deep inspection of arguments.
3460 Nonetheless, at least the following commands which work with positional
3461 parameters fully support
3463 for an almost shell-compatible field splitting:
3464 .Ic call , call_if , read , vpospar , xcall .
3468 Any unquoted number sign
3470 at the beginning of a new token starts a comment that extends to the end
3471 of the line, and therefore ends argument processing.
3472 An unquoted dollar sign
3474 will cause variable expansion of the given name, which must be a valid
3476 ell-style variable name (see
3478 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
3481 (shell) variables can be accessed through this mechanism, brace
3482 enclosing the name is supported (i.e., to subdivide a token).
3485 Whereas the metacharacters
3486 .Cm space , tabulator , newline
3487 only complete an input token, vertical bar
3493 also act as control operators and perform control functions.
3494 For now supported is semicolon
3496 which terminates a single command, therefore sequencing the command line
3497 and making the remainder of the line a subject to reevaluation.
3498 With sequencing, multiple command argument types and quoting rules may
3499 therefore apply to a single line, which can become problematic before
3500 v15: e.g., the first of the following will cause surprising results.
3503 .Dl ? echo one; set verbose; echo verbose=$verbose.
3504 .Dl ? echo one; wysh set verbose; echo verbose=$verbose.
3507 Quoting is a mechanism that will remove the special meaning of
3508 metacharacters and reserved words, and will prevent expansion.
3509 There are four quoting mechanisms: the escape character, single-quotes,
3510 double-quotes and dollar-single-quotes:
3513 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
3515 The literal value of any character can be preserved by preceding it
3516 with the escape character reverse solidus
3520 Arguments which are enclosed in
3521 .Ql 'single-\:quotes'
3522 retain their literal value.
3523 A single-quote cannot occur within single-quotes.
3526 The literal value of all characters enclosed in
3527 .Ql \(dqdouble-\:quotes\(dq
3528 is retained, with the exception of dollar sign
3530 which will cause variable expansion, as above, backquote (grave accent)
3532 (which not yet means anything special), reverse solidus
3534 which will escape any of the characters dollar sign
3536 (to prevent variable expansion), backquote (grave accent)
3540 (to prevent ending the quote) and reverse solidus
3542 (to prevent escaping, i.e., to embed a reverse solidus character as-is),
3543 but has no special meaning otherwise.
3546 Arguments enclosed in
3547 .Ql $'dollar-\:single-\:quotes'
3548 extend normal single quotes in that reverse solidus escape sequences are
3549 expanded as follows:
3551 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".Ql \eNNN"
3553 bell control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 BEL).
3555 backspace control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 BS).
3557 escape control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 ESC).
3561 form feed control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 FF).
3563 line feed control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 LF).
3565 carriage return control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 CR).
3567 horizontal tabulator control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 HT).
3569 vertical tabulator control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 VT).
3571 emits a reverse solidus character.
3575 double quote (escaping is optional).
3577 eight-bit byte with the octal value
3579 (one to three octal digits), optionally prefixed by an additional
3581 A 0 byte will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
3583 eight-bit byte with the hexadecimal value
3585 (one or two hexadecimal characters, no prefix, see
3587 A 0 byte will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
3589 the Unicode / ISO-10646 character with the hexadecimal codepoint value
3591 (one to eight hexadecimal characters) \(em note that Unicode defines the
3592 maximum codepoint ever to be supported as
3597 This escape is only supported in locales that support Unicode (see
3598 .Sx "Character sets" ) ,
3599 in other cases the sequence will remain unexpanded unless the given code
3600 point is ASCII compatible or (if the \*(OPal character set conversion is
3601 available) can be represented in the current locale.
3602 The character NUL will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
3606 except it takes only one to four hexadecimal characters.
3608 Emits the non-printable (ASCII and compatible) C0 control codes
3609 0 (NUL) to 31 (US), and 127 (DEL).
3610 Printable representations of ASCII control codes can be created by
3611 mapping them to a different part of the ASCII character set, which is
3612 possible by adding the number 64 for the codes 0 to 31, e.g., 7 (BEL) is
3613 .Ql 7 + 64 = 71 = G .
3614 The real operation is a bitwise logical XOR with 64 (bit 7 set, see
3616 thus also covering code 127 (DEL), which is mapped to 63 (question mark):
3617 .Ql ? vexpr ^ 127 64 .
3619 Whereas historically circumflex notation has often been used for
3620 visualization purposes of control codes, e.g.,
3622 the reverse solidus notation has been standardized:
3624 Some control codes also have standardized (ISO-10646, ISO C) aliases,
3625 as shown above (e.g.,
3629 whenever such an alias exists it will be used for display purposes.
3630 The control code NUL
3632 a non-standard extension) will suppress further output for the remains
3633 of the token (which may extend beyond the current quote), or, depending
3634 on the context, the remains of all arguments for the current command.
3636 Non-standard extension: expand the given variable name, as above.
3637 Brace enclosing the name is supported.
3639 Not yet supported, just to raise awareness: Non-standard extension.
3646 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3647 ? echo 'Quotes '${HOME}' and 'tokens" differ!"# no comment
3648 ? echo Quotes ${HOME} and tokens differ! # comment
3649 ? echo Don"'"t you worry$'\ex21' The sun shines on us. $'\eu263A'
3653 .\" .Ss "Raw data arguments for codec commands" {{{
3654 .Ss "Raw data arguments for codec commands"
3656 A special set of commands, which all have the string
3658 in their name, e.g.,
3662 take raw string data as input, which means that the content of the
3663 command input line is passed completely unexpanded and otherwise
3664 unchanged: like this the effect of the actual codec is visible without
3665 any noise of possible shell quoting rules etc., i.e., the user can input
3666 one-to-one the desired or questionable data.
3667 To gain a level of expansion, the entire command line can be
3671 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3672 ? vput shcodec res encode /usr/Sch\[:o]nes Wetter/heute.txt
3674 $'/usr/Sch\eu00F6nes Wetter/heute.txt'
3676 $'/usr/Sch\eu00F6nes Wetter/heute.txt'
3677 ? eval shcodec d $res
3678 /usr/Sch\[:o]nes Wetter/heute.txt
3682 .\" .Ss "Filename transformations" {{{
3683 .Ss "Filename transformations"
3685 Filenames, where expected, and unless documented otherwise, are
3686 subsequently subject to the following filename transformations, in
3689 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
3691 If the given name is a registered
3693 it will be replaced with the expanded shortcut.
3696 The filename is matched against the following patterns or strings:
3698 .Bl -hang -compact -width ".Ar %user"
3700 (Number sign) is expanded to the previous file.
3702 (Percent sign) is replaced by the invoking
3703 .Mx -ix "primary system mailbox"
3704 user's primary system mailbox, which either is the (itself expandable)
3706 if that is set, the standardized absolute pathname indicated by
3708 if that is set, or a built-in compile-time default otherwise.
3710 Expands to the primary system mailbox of
3712 (and never the value of
3714 regardless of its actual setting).
3716 (Ampersand) is replaced with the invoking users
3717 .Mx -ix "secondary mailbox"
3718 secondary mailbox, the
3725 directory (if that variable is set).
3727 Expands to the same value as
3729 but has special meaning when used with, e.g., the command
3731 the file will be treated as a primary system mailbox by, e.g., the
3735 commands, meaning that messages that have been read in the current
3736 session will be moved to the
3738 mailbox instead of simply being flagged as read.
3742 Meta expansions may be applied to the resulting filename, as allowed by
3743 the operation and applicable to the resulting access protocol (also see
3744 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ) .
3745 For the file-protocol, a leading tilde
3747 character will be replaced by the expansion of
3749 except when followed by a valid user name, in which case the home
3750 directory of the given user is used instead.
3752 A shell expansion as if specified in double-quotes (see
3753 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" )
3754 may be applied, so that any occurrence of
3758 will be replaced by the expansion of the variable, if possible;
3759 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
3762 (shell) variables can be accessed through this mechanism.
3764 Shell pathname wildcard pattern expansions
3766 may be applied as documented.
3767 If the fully expanded filename results in multiple pathnames and the
3768 command is expecting only one file, an error results.
3770 In interactive context, in order to allow simple value acceptance (via
3772 arguments will usually be displayed in a properly quoted form, e.g., a file
3773 .Ql diet\e is \ecurd.txt
3775 .Ql 'diet\e is \ecurd.txt' .
3779 .\" .Ss "Commands" {{{
3782 The following commands are available:
3784 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ic BaNg"
3791 command which follows, replacing unescaped exclamation marks with the
3792 previously executed command if the internal variable
3795 This command supports
3798 .Sx "Command modifiers" ,
3799 and manages the error number
3801 A 0 or positive exit status
3803 reflects the exit status of the command, negative ones that
3804 an error happened before the command was executed, or that the program
3805 did not exit cleanly, but, e.g., due to a signal: the error number is
3806 .Va ^ERR Ns -CHILD ,
3810 In conjunction with the
3812 modifier the following special cases exist:
3813 a negative exit status occurs if the collected data could not be stored
3814 in the given variable, which is a
3816 error that should otherwise not occur.
3817 .Va ^ERR Ns -CANCELED
3818 indicates that no temporary file could be created to collect the command
3819 output at first glance.
3820 In case of catchable out-of-memory situations
3822 will occur and \*(UA will try to store the empty string, just like with
3823 all other detected error conditions.
3828 The comment-command causes the entire line to be ignored.
3830 this really is a normal command which' purpose is to discard its
3833 indicating special character, which means that, e.g., trailing comments
3834 on a line are not possible.
3838 Goes to the next message in sequence and types it
3844 Display the preceding message, or the n'th previous message if given
3845 a numeric argument n.
3849 Show the current message number (the
3854 Show a brief summary of commands.
3855 \*(OP Given an argument a synopsis for the command in question is
3856 shown instead; commands can be abbreviated in general and this command
3857 can be used to see the full expansion of an abbreviation including the
3858 synopsis, try, e.g.,
3863 and see how the output changes.
3864 This mode also supports a more
3866 output, which will provide the information documented for
3877 .It Ic account , unaccount
3878 (ac, una) Creates, selects or lists (an) account(s).
3879 Accounts are special incarnations of
3881 macros and group commands and variable settings which together usually
3882 arrange the environment for the purpose of creating an email account.
3883 Different to normal macros settings which are covered by
3885 \(en here by default enabled! \(en will not be reverted before the
3890 (case-insensitive) always exists, and all but it can be deleted by the
3891 latter command, and in one operation with the special name
3893 Also for all but it a possibly set
3894 .Va on-account-cleanup
3895 hook is called once they are left.
3897 Without arguments a listing of all defined accounts is shown.
3898 With one argument the given account is activated: the system
3900 of that account will be activated (as via
3902 a possibly installed
3904 will be run, and the internal variable
3907 The two argument form is identical to defining a macro as via
3909 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3911 set folder=~/mail inbox=+syste.mbox record=+sent.mbox
3912 set from='(My Name) myname@myisp.example'
3913 set mta=smtp://mylogin@smtp.myisp.example
3920 Perform email address codec transformations on raw-data argument, rather
3921 according to email standards (RFC 5322; \*(ID will furtherly improve).
3925 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) ,
3926 and manages the error number
3928 The first argument must be either
3929 .Ar [+[+[+]]]e[ncode] ,
3934 and specifies the operation to perform on the rest of the line.
3937 Decoding will show how a standard-compliant MUA will display the given
3938 argument, which should be an email address.
3939 Please be aware that most MUAs have difficulties with the address
3940 standards, and vary wildly when (comments) in parenthesis,
3942 strings, or quoted-pairs, as below, become involved.
3943 \*(ID \*(UA currently does not perform decoding when displaying addresses.
3946 Skinning is identical to decoding but only outputs the plain address,
3947 without any string, comment etc. components.
3948 Another difference is that it may fail with the error number
3952 if decoding fails to find a(n) (valid) email address, in which case the
3953 unmodified input will be output again.
3957 first performs a skin operation, and thereafter checks a valid
3958 address for whether it is a registered mailing-list (see
3962 eventually reporting that state in the error number
3965 .Va ^ERR Ns -EXIST .
3966 (This state could later become overwritten by an I/O error, though.)
3969 Encoding supports four different modes, lesser automated versions can be
3970 chosen by prefixing one, two or three plus signs: the standard imposes
3971 a special meaning on some characters, which thus have to be transformed
3972 to so-called quoted-pairs by pairing them with a reverse solidus
3974 in order to remove the special meaning; this might change interpretation
3975 of the entire argument from what has been desired, however!
3976 Specify one plus sign to remark that parenthesis shall be left alone,
3977 two for not turning double quotation marks into quoted-pairs, and three
3978 for also leaving any user-specified reverse solidus alone.
3979 The result will always be valid, if a successful exit status is reported
3980 (\*(ID the current parser fails this assertion for some constructs).
3981 \*(ID Addresses need to be specified in between angle brackets
3984 if the construct becomes more difficult, otherwise the current parser
3985 will fail; it is not smart enough to guess right.
3987 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3988 ? addrc enc "Hey, you",<diet@exam.ple>\e out\e there
3989 "\e"Hey, you\e", \e\e out\e\e there" <diet@exam.ple>
3990 ? addrc d "\e"Hey, you\e", \e\e out\e\e there" <diet@exam.ple>
3991 "Hey, you", \e out\e there <diet@exam.ple>
3992 ? addrc s "\e"Hey, you\e", \e\e out\e\e there" <diet@exam.ple>
3999 .It Ic alias , unalias
4000 (a, una) Aliases are a method of creating personal distribution lists
4001 that map a single alias name to none to multiple real receivers;
4002 these aliases become expanded after message composing is completed.
4003 The latter command removes the given list of aliases, the special name
4005 will discard all existing aliases.
4007 The former command shows all currently defined aliases when used without
4008 arguments, and with one argument the expansion of the given alias.
4009 With more than one argument, creates or appends to the alias name given
4010 as the first argument the remaining arguments.
4011 Alias names adhere to the Postfix MTA
4013 rules and are thus restricted to alphabetic characters, digits, the
4014 underscore, hyphen-minus, the number sign, colon and commercial at,
4015 the last character can also be the dollar sign; the regular expression:
4016 .Ql [[:alnum:]_#:@-]+$? .
4017 As extensions the exclamation mark
4022 .Dq any character that has the high bit set
4027 .It Ic alternates , unalternates
4028 \*(NQ (alt) Manage a list of alternate addresses or names of the active user,
4029 members of which will be removed from recipient lists.
4030 The latter command removes the given list of alternates, the special name
4032 will discard all existing aliases.
4033 The former command manages the error number
4035 and shows the current set of alternates when used without arguments; in
4036 this mode it supports
4039 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
4040 Otherwise the given arguments (after being checked for validity) are
4041 appended to the list of alternate names; in
4043 mode they replace that list instead.
4044 There is a set of implicit alternates which is formed of the values of
4053 .It Ic answered , unanswered
4054 Take a message lists and mark each message as having been answered,
4055 having not been answered, respectively.
4056 Messages will be marked answered when being
4058 to automatically if the
4062 .Sx "Message states" .
4067 .It Ic bind , unbind
4068 \*(OP\*(NQ The bind command extends the MLE (see
4069 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
4070 with freely configurable key bindings.
4071 The latter command removes from the given context the given key binding,
4072 both of which may be specified as a wildcard
4076 will remove all bindings of all contexts.
4077 Due to initialization order unbinding will not work for built-in key
4078 bindings upon program startup, however: please use
4079 .Va line-editor-no-defaults
4080 for this purpose instead.
4083 With one argument the former command shows all key bindings for the
4084 given context, specifying an asterisk
4086 will show the bindings of all contexts; a more verbose listing will be
4087 produced if either of
4092 With two or more arguments a binding is (re)established:
4093 the first argument is the context to which the binding shall apply,
4094 the second argument is a comma-separated list of the
4096 which form the binding, and any remaining arguments form the expansion.
4097 To indicate that a binding shall not be auto-committed, but that the
4098 expansion shall instead be furtherly editable by the user, a commercial at
4100 (that will be removed) can be placed last in the expansion, from which
4101 leading and trailing whitespace will finally be removed.
4102 Reverse solidus cannot be used as the last character of expansion.
4105 Contexts define when a binding applies, i.e., a binding will not be seen
4106 unless the context for which it is defined for is currently active.
4107 This is not true for the shared binding
4109 which is the foundation for all other bindings and as such always
4110 applies, its bindings, however, only apply secondarily.
4111 The available contexts are the shared
4115 context which is used in all not otherwise documented situations, and
4117 which applies to compose mode only.
4121 which form the binding are specified as a comma-separated list of
4122 byte-sequences, where each list entry corresponds to one key(press).
4123 A list entry may, indicated by a leading colon character
4125 also refer to the name of a terminal capability; several dozen names
4126 will be compiled in and may be specified either by their
4128 or, if existing, by their
4130 name, regardless of the actually used \*(OPal terminal control library.
4131 It is possible to use any capability, as long as the name is resolvable
4132 by the \*(OPal control library or was defined via the internal variable
4134 Input sequences are not case-normalized, so that an exact match is
4135 required to update or remove a binding.
4138 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4139 ? bind base $'\eE',d mle-snarf-word-fwd # Esc(ape)
4140 ? bind base $'\eE',$'\ec?' mle-snarf-word-bwd # Esc, Delete
4141 ? bind default $'\ecA',:khome,w 'echo An editable binding@'
4142 ? bind default a,b,c rm -irf / @ # Another editable binding
4143 ? bind default :kf1 File %
4144 ? bind compose :kf1 ~e
4148 Note that the entire comma-separated list is first parsed (over) as a
4149 shell-token with whitespace as the field separator, before being parsed
4150 and expanded for real with comma as the field separator, therefore
4151 whitespace needs to be properly quoted, see
4152 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" .
4153 Using Unicode reverse solidus escape sequences renders a binding
4154 defunctional if the locale does not support Unicode (see
4155 .Sx "Character sets" ) ,
4156 and using terminal capabilities does so if no (corresponding) terminal
4157 control support is (currently) available.
4160 The following terminal capability names are built-in and can be used in
4162 or (if available) the two-letter
4165 See the respective manual for a list of capabilities.
4168 can be used to show all the capabilities of
4170 or the given terminal type;
4173 flag will also show supported (non-standard) extensions.
4176 .Bl -tag -compact -width kcuuf_or_kcuuf
4177 .It Cd kbs Ns \0or Cd kb
4179 .It Cd kdch1 Ns \0or Cd kD
4181 .It Cd kDC Ns \0or Cd *4
4182 \(em shifted variant.
4183 .It Cd kel Ns \0or Cd kE
4184 Clear to end of line.
4185 .It Cd kext Ns \0or Cd @9
4187 .It Cd kich1 Ns \0or Cd kI
4189 .It Cd kIC Ns \0or Cd #3
4190 \(em shifted variant.
4191 .It Cd khome Ns \0or Cd kh
4193 .It Cd kHOM Ns \0or Cd #2
4194 \(em shifted variant.
4195 .It Cd kend Ns \0or Cd @7
4197 .It Cd knp Ns \0or Cd kN
4199 .It Cd kpp Ns \0or Cd kP
4201 .It Cd kcub1 Ns \0or Cd kl
4202 Left cursor (with more modifiers: see below).
4203 .It Cd kLFT Ns \0or Cd #4
4204 \(em shifted variant.
4205 .It Cd kcuf1 Ns \0or Cd kr
4206 Right cursor (ditto).
4207 .It Cd kRIT Ns \0or Cd %i
4208 \(em shifted variant.
4209 .It Cd kcud1 Ns \0or Cd kd
4210 Down cursor (ditto).
4212 \(em shifted variant (only terminfo).
4213 .It Cd kcuu1 Ns \0or Cd ku
4216 \(em shifted variant (only terminfo).
4217 .It Cd kf0 Ns \0or Cd k0
4219 Add one for each function key up to
4224 .It Cd kf10 Ns \0or Cd k;
4226 .It Cd kf11 Ns \0or Cd F1
4228 Add one for each function key up to
4236 Some terminals support key-modifier combination extensions, e.g.,
4238 For example, the delete key,
4240 in its shifted variant, the name is mutated to
4242 then a number is appended for the states
4254 .Ql Shift+Alt+Control
4256 The same for the left cursor key,
4258 .Cd KLFT , KLFT3 , KLFT4 , KLFT5 , KLFT6 , KLFT7 , KLFT8 .
4261 It is advisable to use an initial escape or other control character (e.g.,
4263 for bindings which describe user key combinations (as opposed to purely
4264 terminal capability based ones), in order to avoid ambiguities whether
4265 input belongs to key sequences or not; it also reduces search time.
4268 may help shall keys and sequences be falsely recognized.
4273 \*(NQ Calls the given macro, which must have been created via
4278 Calling macros recursively will at some time excess the stack size
4279 limit, causing a hard program abortion; if recursively calling a macro
4280 is the last command of the current macro, consider to use the command
4282 which will first release all resources of the current macro before
4283 replacing the current macro with the called one.
4284 Numeric and string operations can be performed via
4288 may be helpful to recreate argument lists.
4295 if the given macro has been created via
4297 but doesn't fail nor warn if the macro doesn't exist.
4301 (ch) Change the working directory to
4303 or the given argument.
4309 \*(OP Only applicable to S/MIME signed messages.
4310 Takes a message list and a filename and saves the certificates
4311 contained within the message signatures to the named file in both
4312 human-readable and PEM format.
4313 The certificates can later be used to send encrypted messages to the
4314 respective message senders by setting
4315 .Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST
4320 .It Ic charsetalias , uncharsetalias
4321 \*(NQ Manage (character set conversion) character set alias mappings,
4322 as documented in the section
4323 .Sx "Character sets" .
4324 Character set aliases are expanded recursively, but no expansion is
4325 performed on values of the user-settable variables, e.g.,
4327 These are effectively no-operations if character set conversion
4328 is not available (i.e., no
4332 Without arguments the list of all currently defined aliases is shown,
4333 with one argument the expansion of the given alias.
4334 Otherwise all given arguments are treated as pairs of character sets and
4335 their desired target alias name, creating new or changing already
4336 existing aliases, as necessary.
4338 The latter deletes all aliases given as arguments, the special argument
4340 will remove all aliases.
4344 (ch) Change the working directory to
4346 or the given argument.
4352 .It Ic collapse , uncollapse
4353 Only applicable to threaded mode.
4354 Takes a message list and makes all replies to these messages invisible
4355 in header summaries, except for
4359 Also when a message with collapsed replies is displayed,
4360 all of these are automatically uncollapsed.
4361 The latter command undoes collapsing.
4366 .It Ic colour , uncolour
4367 \*(OP\*(NQ Manage colour mappings of and for a
4368 .Sx "Coloured display" .
4369 The type of colour is given as the (case-insensitive) first argument,
4370 which must be one of
4372 for 256-colour terminals,
4377 for the standard 8-colour ANSI / ISO 6429 color palette and
4381 for monochrome terminals.
4382 Monochrome terminals cannot deal with colours, but only (some) font
4386 Without further arguments the list of all currently defined mappings
4387 for the given colour type is shown (as a special case giving
4391 will show the mappings of all types).
4392 Otherwise the second argument defines the mappable slot, and the third
4393 argument a (comma-separated list of) colour and font attribute
4394 specification(s), and the optional fourth argument can be used to
4395 specify a precondition: if conditioned mappings exist they are tested in
4396 (creation) order unless a (case-insensitive) match has been found, and
4397 the default mapping (if any has been established) will only be chosen as
4399 The types of precondition available depend on the mappable slot (see
4400 .Sx "Coloured display"
4401 for some examples), the following of which exist:
4404 Mappings prefixed with
4406 are used for the \*(OPal built-in Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE, see
4407 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
4408 and do not support preconditions.
4410 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
4412 This mapping is used for the position indicator that is visible when
4413 a line cannot be fully displayed on the screen.
4420 Mappings prefixed with
4422 are used in header summaries, and they all understand the preconditions
4424 (the current message) and
4426 for elder messages (only honoured in conjunction with
4427 .Va datefield-markout-older ) .
4429 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
4431 This mapping is used for the
4433 that can be created with the
4437 formats of the variable
4440 For the complete header summary line except the
4442 and the thread structure.
4444 For the thread structure which can be created with the
4446 format of the variable
4451 Mappings prefixed with
4453 are used when displaying messages.
4455 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
4457 This mapping is used for so-called
4459 lines, which are MBOX file format specific header lines.
4462 A comma-separated list of headers to which the mapping applies may be
4463 given as a precondition; if the \*(OPal regular expression support is
4464 available then if any of the
4466 (extended) regular expression characters is seen the precondition will
4467 be evaluated as (an extended) one.
4469 For the introductional message info line.
4470 .It Ar view-partinfo
4471 For MIME part info lines.
4475 The following (case-insensitive) colour definitions and font attributes
4476 are understood, multiple of which can be specified in a comma-separated
4486 It is possible (and often applicable) to specify multiple font
4487 attributes for a single mapping.
4490 foreground colour attribute:
4500 To specify a 256-color mode a decimal number colour specification in
4501 the range 0 to 255, inclusive, is supported, and interpreted as follows:
4503 .Bl -tag -compact -width "999 - 999"
4505 the standard ISO 6429 colors, as above.
4507 high intensity variants of the standard colors.
4509 216 colors in tuples of 6.
4511 grayscale from black to white in 24 steps.
4513 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4515 fg() { printf "\e033[38;5;${1}m($1)"; }
4516 bg() { printf "\e033[48;5;${1}m($1)"; }
4518 while [ $i -lt 256 ]; do fg $i; i=$(($i + 1)); done
4519 printf "\e033[0m\en"
4521 while [ $i -lt 256 ]; do bg $i; i=$(($i + 1)); done
4522 printf "\e033[0m\en"
4526 background colour attribute (see
4528 for possible values).
4534 will remove for the given colour type (the special type
4536 selects all) the given mapping; if the optional precondition argument is
4537 given only the exact tuple of mapping and precondition is removed.
4540 will remove all mappings (no precondition allowed), thus
4542 will remove all established mappings.
4547 .It Ic commandalias , uncommandalias
4548 \*(NQ Define or list, and remove, respectively, command aliases.
4549 An (command)alias can be used everywhere a normal command can be used,
4550 but always takes precedence: any arguments that are given to the command
4551 alias are joined onto the alias expansion, and the resulting string
4552 forms the command line that is, in effect, executed.
4553 The latter command removes all given aliases, the special name
4555 will remove all existing aliases.
4556 When used without arguments the former shows a list of all currently
4557 known aliases, with one argument only the expansion of the given one.
4559 With two or more arguments a command alias is defined or updated: the
4560 first argument is the name under which the remaining command line should
4561 be accessible, the content of which can be just about anything.
4562 An alias may itself expand to another alias, but to avoid expansion loops
4563 further expansion will be prevented if an alias refers to itself or if
4564 an expansion depth limit is reached.
4565 Explicit expansion prevention is available via reverse solidus
4568 .Sx "Command modifiers" .
4569 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4571 \*(uA: `commandalias': no such alias: xx
4572 ? commandalias xx echo hello,
4574 commandalias xx 'echo hello,'
4583 (C) Copy messages to files whose names are derived from the author of
4584 the respective message and do not mark them as being saved;
4585 otherwise identical to
4590 (c) Copy messages to the named file and do not mark them as being saved;
4591 otherwise identical to
4596 Show the name of the current working directory, as reported by
4601 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
4602 The return status is tracked via
4607 \*(OP For unencrypted messages this command is identical to
4609 Encrypted messages are first decrypted, if possible, and then copied.
4613 \*(OP For unencrypted messages this command is identical to
4615 Encrypted messages are first decrypted, if possible, and then copied.
4620 .It Ic define , undefine
4621 The latter command deletes the given macro, the special name
4623 will discard all existing macros.
4624 Deletion of (a) macro(s) can be performed from within running (a)
4625 macro(s), including self-deletion.
4626 Without arguments the former command prints the current list of macros,
4627 including their content, otherwise it it defines a macro, replacing an
4628 existing one of the same name as applicable.
4631 A defined macro can be invoked explicitly by using the
4636 commands, or implicitly if a macro hook is triggered, e.g., a
4638 Execution of a macro body can be stopped from within by calling
4642 Temporary macro block-scope variables can be created or deleted with the
4644 command modifier in conjunction with the commands
4649 To enforce unrolling of changes made to (global)
4650 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
4653 can be used instead; its covered scope depends on how (i.e.,
4655 normal macro, folder hook, hook,
4657 switch) the macro is invoked.
4662 ed macro, the given positional parameters are implicitly local
4663 to the macro's scope, and may be accessed via the variables
4669 and any other positive unsigned decimal number less than or equal to
4671 Positional parameters can be
4673 ed, or become completely replaced, removed etc. via
4676 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4686 echo Parameter 1 of ${#} is ${1}, all: ${*} / ${@}
4689 call exmac Hello macro exmac!
4690 echo ${?}/${!}/${^ERRNAME}
4696 .It Ic delete , undelete
4697 (d, u) Marks the given message list as being or not being
4699 respectively; if no argument has been specified then the usual search
4700 for a visible message is performed, as documented for
4701 .Sx "Message list arguments" ,
4702 showing only the next input prompt if the search fails.
4703 Deleted messages will neither be saved in the
4705 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
4707 nor will they be available for most other commands.
4710 variable is set, the new
4712 or the last message restored, respectively, is automatically
4722 Superseded by the multiplexer
4728 Delete the given messages and automatically
4732 if one exists, regardless of the setting of
4739 up or down by one message when given
4743 argument, respectively.
4747 .It Ic draft , undraft
4748 Take message lists and mark each given message as being draft, or not
4749 being draft, respectively, as documented in the section
4750 .Sx "Message states" .
4754 \*(NQ (ec) Echoes arguments to standard output and writes a trailing
4755 newline, whereas the otherwise identical
4758 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
4760 .Sx "Filename transformations"
4761 are applied to the expanded arguments.
4762 This command also supports
4765 .Sx "Command modifiers" ,
4766 and manages the error number
4768 if data is stored in a variable then the return value reflects the
4769 length of the result string in case of success and is
4777 except that is echoes to standard error.
4780 In interactive sessions the \*(OPal message ring queue for
4782 will be used instead, if available and
4790 but does not write or store a trailing newline.
4796 but does not write or store a trailing newline.
4800 (e) Point the text editor (as defined in
4802 at each message from the given list in turn.
4803 Modified contents are discarded unless the
4805 variable is set, and are not used unless the mailbox can be written to
4806 and the editor returns a successful exit status.
4811 .Ic if Ns \0/\: Ic elif Ns \0/\: Ic else Ns \0/\: Ic endif
4812 conditional \(em if the condition of a preceding
4814 was false, check the following condition and execute the following block
4815 if it evaluates true.
4820 .Ic if Ns \0/\: Ic elif Ns \0/\: Ic else Ns \0/\: Ic endif
4821 conditional \(em if none of the conditions of the preceding
4825 commands was true, the
4831 (en) Marks the end of an
4832 .Ic if Ns \0/\: Ic elif Ns \0/\: Ic else Ns \0/\: Ic endif
4833 conditional execution block.
4838 \*(NQ \*(UA has a strict notion about which variables are
4839 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
4840 and which are managed in the program
4842 Since some of the latter are a vivid part of \*(UAs functioning,
4843 however, they are transparently integrated into the normal handling of
4844 internal variables via
4848 To integrate other environment variables of choice into this
4849 transparent handling, and also to export internal variables into the
4850 process environment where they normally are not, a
4852 needs to become established with this command, as in, e.g.,
4855 .Dl environ link PERL5LIB TZ
4858 Afterwards changing such variables with
4860 will cause automatic updates of the program environment, and therefore
4861 be inherited by newly created child processes.
4862 Sufficient system support provided (it was in BSD as early as 1987, and
4863 is standardized since Y2K) removing such variables with
4865 will remove them also from the program environment, but in any way
4866 the knowledge they ever have been
4869 Note that this implies that
4871 may cause loss of such links.
4876 will remove an existing link, but leaves the variables as such intact.
4877 Additionally the subcommands
4881 are provided, which work exactly the same as the documented commands
4885 but (additionally un)link the variable(s) with the program environment
4886 and thus immediately export them to, or remove them from (if possible),
4887 respectively, the program environment.
4892 \*(OP Since \*(UA uses the console as a user interface it can happen
4893 that messages scroll by too fast to become recognized.
4894 An error message ring queue is available which stores duplicates of any
4895 error message and notifies the user in interactive sessions whenever
4896 a new error has occurred.
4897 The queue is finite: if its maximum size is reached any new message
4898 replaces the eldest.
4901 can be used to manage this message queue: if given
4903 or no argument the queue will be displayed and cleared,
4905 will only clear all messages from the queue.
4909 \*(NQ Construct a command by concatenating the arguments, separated with
4910 a single space character, and then evaluate the result.
4911 This command passes through the exit status
4915 of the evaluated command; also see
4917 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4928 call yyy '\ecall xxx' "b\e$'\et'u ' "
4936 (ex or x) Exit from \*(UA without changing the active mailbox and skip
4937 any saving of messages in the
4939 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
4941 as well as a possibly tracked line editor
4943 The optional status number argument will be passed through to
4945 \*(ID For now it can happen that the given status will be overwritten,
4946 later this will only occur if a later error needs to be reported onto an
4947 otherwise success indicating status.
4953 but open the mailbox read-only.
4958 (fi) The file command switches to a new mailbox.
4959 Without arguments it shows status information of the current mailbox.
4960 If an argument is given, it will write out changes (such as deletions)
4961 the user has made, open a new mailbox, update the internal variables
4962 .Va mailbox-resolved
4964 .Va mailbox-display ,
4965 and optionally display a summary of
4972 .Sx "Filename transformations"
4973 will be applied to the
4977 prefixes are, i.e., URL syntax is understood, e.g.,
4978 .Ql maildir:///tmp/mdirbox :
4979 if a protocol prefix is used the mailbox type is fixated and neither
4980 the auto-detection (read on) nor the
4983 \*(OPally URLs can also be used to access network resources, which may
4984 be accessed securely via
4985 .Sx "Encrypted network communication"
4986 if so supported, and it is possible to proxy all network traffic over
4987 a SOCKS5 server given via
4991 .Dl \*(IN protocol://[user[:password]@]host[:port][/path]
4992 .Dl \*(OU protocol://[user@]host[:port][/path]
4995 \*(OPally supported network protocols are
4999 (POP3 with SSL/TLS encrypted transport),
5005 part is valid only for IMAP; there it defaults to
5007 Network URLs require a special encoding as documented in the section
5008 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
5011 If the resulting file protocol (MBOX database)
5013 is located on a local filesystem then the list of all registered
5015 s is traversed in order to see whether a transparent intermediate
5016 conversion step is necessary to handle the given mailbox, in which case
5017 \*(UA will use the found hook to load and save data into and from
5018 a temporary file, respectively.
5019 Changing hooks will not affect already opened mailboxes.
5020 For example, the following creates hooks for the
5022 compression tool and a combined compressed and encrypted format:
5024 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5026 gzip 'gzip -dc' 'gzip -c' \e
5027 zst.pgp 'gpg -d | zstd -dc' 'zstd -19 -zc | gpg -e'
5031 MBOX database files are generally locked during file operations in order
5032 to avoid inconsistencies due to concurrent modifications.
5033 \*(OPal Mailbox files which \*(UA treats as the system
5038 .Sx "primary system mailbox" Ns
5039 es in general will also be protected by so-called dotlock files, the
5040 traditional way of mail spool file locking: for any file
5044 will be created for the duration of the synchronization \(em
5045 as necessary a privilege-separated dotlock child process will be used
5046 to accommodate for necessary privilege adjustments in order to create
5047 the dotlock file in the same directory
5048 and with the same user and group identities as the file of interest.
5051 \*(UA by default uses tolerant POSIX rules when reading MBOX database
5052 files, but it will detect invalid message boundaries in this mode and
5053 complain (even more with
5055 if any is seen: in this case
5057 can be used to create a valid MBOX database from the invalid input.
5060 If no protocol has been fixated, and
5062 refers to a directory with the subdirectories
5067 then it is treated as a folder in
5070 The maildir format stores each message in its own file, and has been
5071 designed so that file locking is not necessary when reading or writing
5075 \*(ID If no protocol has been fixated and no existing file has
5076 been found, the variable
5078 controls the format of mailboxes yet to be created.
5083 .It Ic filetype , unfiletype
5084 \*(NQ Define or list, and remove, respectively, file handler hooks,
5085 which provide (shell) commands that enable \*(UA to load and save MBOX
5086 files from and to files with the registered file extensions;
5087 it will use an intermediate temporary file to store the plain data.
5088 The latter command removes the hooks for all given extensions,
5090 will remove all existing handlers.
5092 When used without arguments the former shows a list of all currently
5093 defined file hooks, with one argument the expansion of the given alias.
5094 Otherwise three arguments are expected, the first specifying the file
5095 extension for which the hook is meant, and the second and third defining
5096 the load- and save commands, respectively, to deal with the file type,
5097 both of which must read from standard input and write to standard
5099 Changing hooks will not affect already opened mailboxes (\*(ID except below).
5100 \*(ID For now too much work is done, and files are oftened read in twice
5101 where once would be sufficient: this can cause problems if a filetype is
5102 changed while such a file is opened; this was already so with the
5103 built-in support of .gz etc. in Heirloom, and will vanish in v15.
5104 \*(ID For now all handler strings are passed to the
5105 .Ev SHELL for evaluation purposes; in the future a
5107 prefix to load and save commands may mean to bypass this shell instance:
5108 placing a leading space will avoid any possible misinterpretations.
5109 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5110 ? filetype bz2 'bzip2 -dc' 'bzip2 -zc' \e
5111 gz 'gzip -dc' 'gzip -c' xz 'xz -dc' 'xz -zc' \e
5112 zst 'zstd -dc' 'zstd -19 -zc' \e
5113 zst.pgp 'gpg -d | zstd -dc' 'zstd -19 -zc | gpg -e'
5114 ? set record=+sent.zst.pgp
5119 .It Ic flag , unflag
5120 Take message lists and mark the messages as being flagged, or not being
5121 flagged, respectively, for urgent/special attention.
5123 .Sx "Message states" .
5132 With no arguments, list the names of the folders in the folder directory.
5133 With an existing folder as an argument,
5134 lists the names of folders below the named folder.
5140 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
5141 recipient's address (instead of in
5148 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
5149 recipient's address (instead of in
5156 but responds to all recipients regardless of the
5161 .It Ic followupsender
5164 but responds to the sender only regardless of the
5172 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the
5173 recipient's address (instead of in
5178 Takes a message and the address of a recipient
5179 and forwards the message to him.
5180 The text of the original message is included in the new one,
5181 with the value of the
5182 .Va forward-inject-head
5183 variable preceding it.
5184 To filter the included header fields to the desired subset use the
5186 slot of the white- and blacklisting command
5188 Only the first part of a multipart message is included unless
5189 .Va forward-as-attachment ,
5190 and recipient addresses will be stripped from comments, names
5191 etc. unless the internal variable
5195 This may generate the errors
5196 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
5197 if no receiver has been specified,
5199 if some addressees where rejected by
5202 if no applicable messages have been given,
5204 if multiple messages have been specified,
5206 if an I/O error occurs,
5208 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
5214 (f) Takes a list of message specifications and displays a summary of
5215 their message headers, exactly as via
5217 An alias of this command is
5220 .Sx "Specifying messages" .
5231 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
5235 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
5238 .It Ic ghost , unghost
5241 .Ic uncommandalias .
5245 .It Ic headerpick , unheaderpick
5246 \*(NQ Multiplexer command to manage white- and blacklisting
5247 selections of header fields for a variety of applications.
5248 Without arguments the set of contexts that have settings is displayed.
5249 When given arguments, the first argument is the context to which the
5250 command applies, one of (case-insensitive)
5252 for display purposes (via, e.g.,
5255 for selecting which headers shall be stored persistently when
5261 ing messages (note that MIME related etc. header fields should not be
5262 ignored in order to not destroy usability of the message in this case),
5264 for stripping down messages when
5266 ing message (has no effect if
5267 .Va forward-as-attachment
5270 for defining user-defined set of fields for the command
5273 The current settings of the given context are displayed if it is the
5275 A second argument denotes the type of restriction that is to be chosen,
5276 it may be (a case-insensitive prefix of)
5280 for white- and blacklisting purposes, respectively.
5281 Establishing a whitelist suppresses inspection of the corresponding
5284 If no further argument is given the current settings of the given type
5285 will be displayed, otherwise the remaining arguments specify header
5286 fields, which \*(OPally may be given as regular expressions, to be added
5288 The special wildcard field (asterisk,
5290 will establish a (fast) shorthand setting which covers all fields.
5292 The latter command always takes three or more arguments and can be used
5293 to remove selections, i.e., from the given context, the given type of
5294 list, all the given headers will be removed, the special argument
5296 will remove all headers.
5300 (h) Show the current group of headers, the size of which depends on
5303 and the style of which can be adjusted with the variable
5305 If a message-specification is given the group of headers containing the
5306 first message therein is shown and the message at the top of the screen
5317 \*(OP Without arguments or when given
5319 all history entries are shown (this mode also supports a more
5323 will replace the list of entries with the content of
5327 will dump the current list to said file, replacing former content.
5329 will delete all history entries.
5330 The argument can also be a signed decimal
5332 which will select and evaluate the respective history entry, and move it
5333 to the top of the history; a negative number is used as an offset to the
5334 current command, e.g.,
5336 will select the last command, the history top.
5338 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor"
5339 for more on this topic.
5345 Takes a message list and marks each message therein to be saved in the
5350 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
5352 Does not override the
5355 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command, because a
5357 command issued after
5359 will display the following message, not the current one.
5364 (i) Part of the nestable
5365 .Ic if Ns \0/\: Ic elif Ns \0/\: Ic else Ns \0/\: Ic endif
5366 conditional execution construct \(em if the given condition is true then
5367 the encapsulated block is executed.
5368 The POSIX standards supports the (case-insensitive) conditions
5373 end, all remaining conditions are non-portable extensions.
5374 \*(ID These commands do not yet use
5375 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
5376 and therefore do not know about input tokens, so that syntax
5377 elements have to be surrounded by whitespace; in v15 \*(UA will inspect
5378 all conditions bracket group wise and consider the tokens, representing
5379 values and operators, therein, which also means that variables will
5380 already have been expanded at that time (just like in the shell).
5382 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5391 The (case-insensitive) condition
5393 erminal will evaluate to true if the standard input is a terminal, i.e.,
5394 in interactive sessions.
5395 Another condition can be any boolean value (see the section
5396 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
5397 for textual boolean representations) to mark an enwrapped block as
5400 .Dq always execute .
5401 (It shall be remarked that a faulty condition skips all branches until
5406 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
5407 will be used, and this command will simply interpret expanded tokens.)
5408 It is possible to check
5409 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
5412 variables for existence or compare their expansion against a user given
5413 value or another variable by using the
5415 .Pf ( Dq variable next )
5416 conditional trigger character;
5417 a variable on the right hand side may be signalled using the same
5419 Variable names may be enclosed in a pair of matching braces.
5420 When this mode has been triggered, several operators are available:
5423 Integer operators treat the arguments on the left and right hand side of
5424 the operator as integral numbers and compare them arithmetically.
5425 It is an error if any of the operands is not a valid integer, an empty
5426 argument (which implies it had been quoted) is treated as if it were 0.
5427 Available operators are
5431 (less than or equal to),
5437 (greater than or equal to), and
5442 String data operators compare the left and right hand side according to
5443 their textual content.
5444 Unset variables are treated as the empty string.
5445 The behaviour of string operators can be adjusted by prefixing the
5446 operator with the modifier trigger commercial at
5448 followed by none to multiple modifiers: for now supported is
5450 which turns the comparison into a case-insensitive one: this is
5451 implied if no modifier follows the trigger.
5454 Available string operators are
5458 (less than or equal to),
5464 (greater than or equal to),
5468 (is substring of) and
5470 (is not substring of).
5471 By default these operators work on bytes and (therefore) do not take
5472 into account character set specifics.
5473 If the case-insensitivity modifier has been used, case is ignored
5474 according to the rules of the US-ASCII encoding, i.e., bytes are
5478 When the \*(OPal regular expression support is available, the additional
5484 They treat the right hand side as an extended regular expression that is
5485 matched according to the active locale (see
5486 .Sx "Character sets" ) ,
5487 i.e., character sets should be honoured correctly.
5490 Conditions can be joined via AND-OR lists (where the AND operator is
5492 and the OR operator is
5494 which have equal precedence and will be evaluated with left
5495 associativity, thus using the same syntax that is known for the
5497 It is also possible to form groups of conditions and lists by enclosing
5498 them in pairs of brackets
5499 .Ql [\ \&.\&.\&.\ ] ,
5500 which may be interlocked within each other, and also be joined via
5504 The results of individual conditions and entire groups may be modified
5505 via unary operators: the unary operator
5507 will reverse the result.
5509 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5510 # (This not in v15, there [ -n "$debug"]!)
5514 if [ "$ttycharset" == UTF-8 ] || \e
5515 [ "$ttycharset" @i== UTF8 ]
5516 echo *ttycharset* is UTF-8, the former case-sensitive!
5519 if [ "${t1}" == "${t2}" ]
5520 echo These two variables are equal
5522 if [ "$features" =% +regex ] && \e
5523 [ "$TERM" @i=~ "^xterm\&.*" ]
5524 echo ..in an X terminal
5526 if [ [ true ] && [ [ "${debug}" != '' ] || \e
5527 [ "$verbose" != '' ] ] ]
5530 if true && [ "$debug" != '' ] || [ "${verbose}" != '' ]
5531 echo Left associativity, as is known from the shell
5540 Superseded by the multiplexer
5545 Shows the names of all available commands, alphabetically sorted.
5546 If given any non-whitespace argument the list will be shown in the order
5547 in which command prefixes are searched.
5548 \*(OP In conjunction with a set variable
5550 additional information will be provided for each command: the argument
5551 type will be indicated, the documentation string will be shown,
5552 and the set of command flags will show up:
5554 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql NEEDS_BOX"
5556 command supports the command modifier
5559 command supports the command modifier
5562 the error number is tracked in
5565 commands needs an active mailbox, a
5567 .It Ql "ok: batch/interactive"
5568 command may only be used in interactive or
5571 .It Ql "ok: send mode"
5572 command can be used in send mode.
5573 .It Ql "not ok: compose mode"
5574 command is not available when in compose mode.
5575 .It Ql "not ok: startup"
5576 command cannot be used during program startup, e.g., while loading
5577 .Sx "Resource files" .
5578 .It Ql "ok: subprocess"
5579 command is allowed to be used when running in a subprocess instance,
5580 e.g., from within a macro that is called via
5581 .Va on-compose-splice .
5583 The command produces
5592 This command can be used to localize changes to (linked)
5595 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
5596 meaning that their state will be reverted to the former one once the
5599 Just like the command modifier
5601 which provides block-scope localization for some commands (instead),
5602 it can only be used inside of macro definition blocks introduced by
5606 The covered scope of an
5608 is left once a different account is activated, and some macros, notably
5609 .Va folder-hook Ns s ,
5610 use their own specific notion of covered scope, here it will be extended
5611 until the folder is left again.
5614 This setting stacks up: i.e., if
5616 enables change localization and calls
5618 which explicitly resets localization, then any value changes within
5620 will still be reverted when the scope of
5623 (Caveats: if in this example
5625 changes to a different
5627 which sets some variables that are already covered by localizations,
5628 their scope will be extended, and in fact leaving the
5630 will (thus) restore settings in (likely) global scope which actually
5631 were defined in a local, macro private context!)
5634 This command takes one or two arguments, the optional first one
5635 specifies an attribute that may be one of
5637 which refers to the current scope and is thus the default,
5639 which causes any macro that is being
5641 ed to be started with localization enabled by default, as well as
5643 which (if enabled) disallows any called macro to turn off localization:
5644 like this it can be ensured that once the current scope regains control,
5645 any changes made in deeper levels have been reverted.
5646 The latter two are mutually exclusive, and neither affects
5648 The (second) argument is interpreted as a boolean (string, see
5649 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" )
5650 and states whether the given attribute shall be turned on or off.
5652 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5653 define temporary_settings {
5654 set possibly_global_option1
5656 set localized_option1
5657 set localized_option2
5659 set possibly_global_option2
5666 Reply to messages that come in via known
5669 .Pf ( Ic mlsubscribe )
5670 mailing lists, or pretend to do so (see
5671 .Sx "Mailing lists" ) :
5674 functionality this will actively resort and even remove message
5675 recipients in order to generate a message that is supposed to be sent to
5677 For example it will also implicitly generate a
5678 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
5679 header if that seems useful, regardless of the setting of the variable
5681 For more documentation please refer to
5682 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
5684 This may generate the errors
5685 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
5686 if no receiver has been specified,
5688 if some addressees where rejected by
5691 if no applicable messages have been given,
5693 if an I/O error occurs,
5695 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
5698 Any error stops processing of further messages.
5704 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
5705 recipient's address (instead of in
5710 (m) Takes a (list of) recipient address(es) as (an) argument(s),
5711 or asks on standard input if none were given;
5712 then collects the remaining mail content and sends it out.
5713 Unless the internal variable
5715 is set recipient addresses will be stripped from comments, names etc.
5716 For more documentation please refer to
5717 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
5719 This may generate the errors
5720 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
5721 if no receiver has been specified,
5723 if some addressees where rejected by
5726 if no applicable messages have been given,
5728 if multiple messages have been specified,
5730 if an I/O error occurs,
5732 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
5738 (mb) The given message list is to be sent to the
5740 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
5742 when \*(UA is quit; this is the default action unless the variable
5745 \*(ID This command can only be used in a
5747 .Sx "primary system mailbox" .
5751 .It Ic mimetype , unmimetype
5752 Without arguments the content of the MIME type cache will displayed;
5753 a more verbose listing will be produced if either of
5758 When given arguments they will be joined, interpreted as shown in
5759 .Sx "The mime.types files"
5761 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ) ,
5762 and the resulting entry will be added (prepended) to the cache.
5763 In any event MIME type sources are loaded first as necessary \(en
5764 .Va mimetypes-load-control
5765 can be used to fine-tune which sources are actually loaded.
5767 The latter command deletes all specifications of the given MIME type, thus
5768 .Ql ? unmimetype text/plain
5769 will remove all registered specifications for the MIME type
5773 will discard all existing MIME types, just as will
5775 but which also reenables cache initialization via
5776 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
5780 .It Ic mlist , unmlist
5781 The latter command removes all given mailing-lists, the special name
5783 can be used to remove all registered lists.
5784 The former will list all currently defined mailing lists (and their
5785 attributes, if any) when used without arguments; a more verbose listing
5786 will be produced if either of
5791 Otherwise all given arguments will be added and henceforth be recognized
5793 If the \*(OPal regular expression support is available then any argument
5794 which contains any of the
5796 regular expression characters
5800 will be interpreted as one, which allows matching of many addresses with
5801 a single expression.
5804 pair of commands manages subscription attributes of mailing-lists.
5808 \*(ID Only available in interactive mode, this command allows one to
5809 display MIME parts which require external MIME handler programs to run
5810 which do not integrate in \*(UAs normal
5813 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ) .
5814 (\*(ID No syntax to directly address parts, this restriction may vanish.)
5815 The user will be asked for each non-text part of the given message in
5816 turn whether the registered handler shall be used to display the part.
5820 .It Ic mlsubscribe , unmlsubscribe
5821 The latter command removes the subscription attribute from all given
5822 mailing-lists, the special name
5824 can be used to do so for any registered list.
5825 The former will list all currently defined mailing lists which have
5826 a subscription attribute when used without arguments; a more verbose
5827 listing will be produced if either of
5832 Otherwise this attribute will be set for all given mailing lists,
5833 newly creating them as necessary (as via
5842 but moves the messages to a file named after the local part of the
5843 sender address of the first message (instead of in
5850 but marks the messages for deletion if they were transferred
5857 but also displays header fields which would not pass the
5859 selection, and all MIME parts.
5867 on the given messages, even in non-interactive mode and as long as the
5868 standard output is a terminal.
5874 \*(OP When used without arguments or if
5876 has been given the content of the
5878 cache is shown, loading it first as necessary.
5881 then the cache will only be initialized and
5883 will remove its contents.
5884 Note that \*(UA will try to load the file only once, use
5885 .Ql Ic \&\&netrc Ns \:\0\:clear
5886 to unlock further attempts.
5891 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ;
5893 .Sx "The .netrc file"
5894 documents the file format in detail.
5898 Checks for new mail in the current folder without committing any changes
5900 If new mail is present, a message is shown.
5904 the headers of each new message are also shown.
5905 This command is not available for all mailbox types.
5913 Goes to the next message in sequence and types it.
5914 With an argument list, types the next matching message.
5928 If the current folder is accessed via a network connection, a
5930 command is sent, otherwise no operation is performed.
5936 but also displays header fields which would not pass the
5938 selection, and all MIME parts.
5946 on the given messages, even in non-interactive mode and as long as the
5947 standard output is a terminal.
5955 but also pipes header fields which would not pass the
5957 selection, and all parts of MIME
5958 .Ql multipart/alternative
5963 (pi) Takes a message list and a shell command
5964 and pipes the messages through the command.
5965 Without an argument the current message is piped through the command
5972 every message is followed by a formfeed character.
5993 (q) Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in
5996 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
5998 preserving all messages marked with
6002 or never referenced in the system
6004 and removing all other messages from the
6006 .Sx "primary system mailbox" .
6007 If new mail has arrived during the session,
6009 .Dq You have new mail
6011 If given while editing a mailbox file with the command line option
6013 then the edit file is rewritten.
6014 A return to the shell is effected,
6015 unless the rewrite of edit file fails,
6016 in which case the user can escape with the exit command.
6017 The optional status number argument will be passed through to
6019 \*(ID For now it can happen that the given status will be overwritten,
6020 later this will only occur if a later error needs to be reported onto an
6021 otherwise success indicating status.
6025 \*(NQ Read a line from standard input, or the channel set active via
6027 and assign the data, which will be split as indicated by
6029 to the given variables.
6030 The variable names are checked by the same rules as documented for
6032 and the same error codes will be seen in
6036 indicates the number of bytes read, it will be
6038 with the error number
6042 in case of I/O errors, or
6045 If there are more fields than variables, assigns successive fields to the
6046 last given variable.
6047 If there are less fields than variables, assigns the empty string to the
6049 .Bd -literal -offset indent
6052 ? echo "<$a> <$b> <$c>"
6054 ? wysh set ifs=:; read a b c;unset ifs
6055 hey2.0,:"'you ",:world!:mars.:
6056 ? echo $?/$^ERRNAME / <$a><$b><$c>
6057 0/NONE / <hey2.0,><"'you ",><world!:mars.:><><>
6062 \*(NQ Read anything from standard input, or the channel set active via
6064 and assign the data to the given variable.
6065 The variable name is checked by the same rules as documented for
6067 and the same error codes will be seen in
6071 indicates the number of bytes read, it will be
6073 with the error number
6077 in case of I/O errors, or
6080 \*(ID The input data length is restricted to 31-bits.
6084 \*(NQ Manages input channels for
6088 to be used to avoid complicated or impracticable code, like calling
6090 from within a macro in non-interactive mode.
6091 Without arguments, or when the first argument is
6093 a listing of all known channels is printed.
6094 Channels can otherwise be
6096 d, and existing channels can be
6100 d by giving the string used for creation.
6102 The channel name is expected to be a file descriptor number, or,
6103 if parsing the numeric fails, an input file name that undergoes
6104 .Sx "Filename transformations" .
6105 E.g. (this example requires a modern shell):
6106 .Bd -literal -offset indent
6107 $ LC_ALL=C printf 'echon "hey, "\enread a\enyou\enecho $a' |\e
6110 $ LC_ALL=C printf 'echon "hey, "\enread a\enecho $a' |\e
6111 LC_ALL=C 6<<< 'you' \*(uA -R#X'readctl create 6'
6125 Removes the named files or directories.
6126 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6127 including shell pathname wildcard pattern expansions
6129 are performed on the arguments.
6130 If a name refer to a mailbox, e.g., a Maildir mailbox, then a mailbox
6131 type specific removal will be performed, deleting the complete mailbox.
6132 The user is asked for confirmation in interactive mode.
6136 Takes the name of an existing folder
6137 and the name for the new folder
6138 and renames the first to the second one.
6139 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6140 including shell pathname wildcard pattern expansions
6142 are performed on both arguments.
6143 Both folders must be of the same type.
6147 (R) Replies to only the sender of each message of the given message
6148 list, by using the first message as the template to quote, for the
6152 will exchange this command with
6154 Unless the internal variable
6156 is set the recipient address will be stripped from comments, names etc.
6158 headers will be inspected if
6162 This may generate the errors
6163 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
6164 if no receiver has been specified,
6166 if some addressees where rejected by
6169 if no applicable messages have been given,
6171 if an I/O error occurs,
6173 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
6179 (r) Take a message and group-responds to it by addressing the sender
6180 and all recipients, subject to
6184 .Va followup-to-honour ,
6187 .Va recipients-in-cc
6188 influence response behaviour.
6189 Unless the internal variable
6191 is set recipient addresses will be stripped from comments, names etc.
6201 offers special support for replying to mailing lists.
6202 For more documentation please refer to
6203 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
6205 This may generate the errors
6206 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
6207 if no receiver has been specified,
6209 if some addressees where rejected by
6212 if no applicable messages have been given,
6214 if an I/O error occurs,
6216 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
6219 Any error stops processing of further messages.
6225 but initiates a group-reply regardless of the value of
6232 but responds to the sender only regardless of the value of
6239 but does not add any header lines.
6240 This is not a way to hide the sender's identity,
6241 but useful for sending a message again to the same recipients.
6245 Takes a list of messages and a user name
6246 and sends each message to the named user.
6248 and related header fields are prepended to the new copy of the message.
6251 is only performed if
6255 This may generate the errors
6256 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
6257 if no receiver has been specified,
6259 if some addressees where rejected by
6262 if no applicable messages have been given,
6264 if an I/O error occurs,
6266 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
6269 Any error stops processing of further messages.
6287 .It Ic respondsender
6293 (ret) Superseded by the multiplexer
6298 Only available inside the scope of a
6302 this will stop evaluation of any further macro content, and return
6303 execution control to the caller.
6304 The two optional parameters must be specified as positive decimal
6305 numbers and default to the value 0:
6306 the first argument specifies the signed 32-bit return value (stored in
6308 \*(ID and later extended to signed 64-bit),
6309 the second the signed 32-bit error number (stored in
6313 a non-0 exit status may cause the program to exit.
6319 but saves the messages in a file named after the local part of the
6320 sender of the first message instead of (in
6322 and) taking a filename argument; the variable
6324 is inspected to decide on the actual storage location.
6328 (s) Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in turn
6329 to the end of the file.
6330 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6331 including shell pathname wildcard pattern expansions
6333 is performed on the filename.
6334 If no filename is given, the
6336 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
6339 The filename in quotes, followed by the generated character count
6340 is echoed on the user's terminal.
6343 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
6344 the messages are marked for deletion.
6345 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6347 To filter the saved header fields to the desired subset use the
6349 slot of the white- and blacklisting command
6353 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6357 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6361 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6366 Takes a message specification (list) and displays a header summary of
6367 all matching messages, as via
6369 This command is an alias of
6372 .Sx "Specifying messages" .
6376 Takes a message list and marks all messages as having been read.
6382 (se, \*(NQ uns) The latter command will delete all given global
6383 variables, or only block-scope local ones if the
6385 command modifier has been used.
6386 The former, when used without arguments, will show all
6387 currently known variables, being more verbose if either of
6392 Remarks: this list mode will not automatically link-in known
6394 variables, but only explicit addressing will, e.g., via
6396 using a variable in an
6398 condition or a string passed to
6402 ting, as well as some program-internal use cases.
6405 Otherwise the given variables (and arguments) are set or adjusted.
6406 Arguments are of the form
6408 (no space before or after
6412 if there is no value, i.e., a boolean variable.
6413 If a name begins with
6417 the effect is the same as invoking the
6419 command with the remaining part of the variable
6420 .Pf ( Ql unset save ) .
6421 \*(ID In conjunction with the
6423 .Pf (or\0 Cm local )
6425 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
6426 can be used to quote arguments as necessary.
6427 \*(ID Otherwise quotation marks may be placed around any part of the
6428 assignment statement to quote blanks or tabs.
6431 When operating in global scope any
6433 that is known to map to an environment variable will automatically cause
6434 updates in the program environment (unsetting a variable in the
6435 environment requires corresponding system support) \(em use the command
6437 for further environmental control.
6438 If the command modifier
6440 has been used to alter the command to work in block-scope all variables
6441 have values (may they be empty), and creation of names which shadow
6442 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
6443 is actively prevented (\*(ID shadowing of linked
6445 variables and free-form versions of variable chains is not yet detected).
6450 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
6454 .Bd -literal -offset indent
6455 ? wysh set indentprefix=' -> '
6456 ? wysh set atab=$'\t' aspace=' ' zero=0
6462 Apply shell quoting rules to the given raw-data arguments.
6466 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
6467 The first argument specifies the operation:
6471 cause shell quoting to be applied to the remains of the line, and
6472 expanded away thereof, respectively.
6473 If the former is prefixed with a plus-sign, the quoted result will not
6474 be roundtrip enabled, and thus can be decoded only in the very same
6475 environment that was used to perform the encode; also see
6476 .Cd mle-quote-rndtrip .
6477 If the coding operation fails the error number
6480 .Va ^ERR Ns -CANCELED ,
6481 and the unmodified input is used as the result; the error number may
6482 change again due to output or result storage errors.
6486 \*(NQ (sh) Invokes an interactive version of the shell,
6487 and returns its exit status.
6491 .It Ic shortcut , unshortcut
6492 Without arguments the list of all currently defined shortcuts is
6493 shown, with one argument the expansion of the given shortcut.
6494 Otherwise all given arguments are treated as pairs of shortcuts and
6495 their expansions, creating new or changing already existing shortcuts,
6497 The latter command will remove all given shortcuts, the special name
6499 will remove all registered shortcuts.
6503 \*(NQ Shift the positional parameter stack (starting at
6505 by the given number (which must be a positive decimal),
6506 or 1 if no argument has been given.
6507 It is an error if the value exceeds the number of positional parameters.
6508 If the given number is 0, no action is performed, successfully.
6509 The stack as such can be managed via
6511 Note this command will fail in
6513 and hook macros unless the positional parameter stack has been
6514 explicitly created in the current context via
6521 but performs neither MIME decoding nor decryption, so that the raw
6522 message text is shown.
6526 (si) Shows the size in characters of each message of the given
6531 \*(NQ Sleep for the specified number of seconds (and optionally
6532 milliseconds), by default interruptably.
6533 If a third argument is given the sleep will be uninterruptible,
6534 otherwise the error number
6538 if the sleep has been interrupted.
6539 The command will fail and the error number will be
6540 .Va ^ERR Ns -OVERFLOW
6541 if the given duration(s) overflow the time datatype, and
6543 if the given durations are no valid integers.
6548 .It Ic sort , unsort
6549 The latter command disables sorted or threaded mode, returns to normal
6550 message order and, if the
6553 displays a header summary.
6554 The former command shows the current sorting criterion when used without
6555 an argument, but creates a sorted representation of the current folder
6556 otherwise, and changes the
6558 command and the addressing modes such that they refer to messages in
6560 Message numbers are the same as in regular mode.
6564 a header summary in the new order is also displayed.
6565 Automatic folder sorting can be enabled by setting the
6567 variable, as in, e.g.,
6568 .Ql set autosort=thread .
6569 Possible sorting criterions are:
6572 .Bl -tag -compact -width "subject"
6574 Sort the messages by their
6576 field, that is by the time they were sent.
6578 Sort messages by the value of their
6580 field, that is by the address of the sender.
6583 variable is set, the sender's real name (if any) is used.
6585 Sort the messages by their size.
6587 \*(OP Sort the message by their spam score, as has been classified by
6590 Sort the messages by their message status.
6592 Sort the messages by their subject.
6594 Create a threaded display.
6596 Sort messages by the value of their
6598 field, that is by the address of the recipient.
6601 variable is set, the recipient's real name (if any) is used.
6607 \*(NQ (so) The source command reads commands from the given file.
6608 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6610 If the given expanded argument ends with a vertical bar
6612 then the argument will instead be interpreted as a shell command and
6613 \*(UA will read the output generated by it.
6614 Dependent on the settings of
6618 and also dependent on whether the command modifier
6620 had been used, encountering errors will stop sourcing of the given input.
6623 cannot be used from within macros that execute as
6624 .Va folder-hook Ns s
6627 i.e., it can only be called from macros that were
6632 \*(NQ The difference to
6634 (beside not supporting pipe syntax aka shell command input) is that
6635 this command will not generate an error nor warn if the given file
6636 argument cannot be opened successfully.
6640 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and clears their
6646 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and causes the
6648 to forget it has ever used them to train its Bayesian filter.
6649 Unless otherwise noted the
6651 flag of the message is inspected to chose whether a message shall be
6659 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and informs the Bayesian filter of the
6663 This also clears the
6665 flag of the messages in question.
6669 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and rates them using the configured
6670 .Va spam-interface ,
6671 without modifying the messages, but setting their
6673 flag as appropriate; because the spam rating headers are lost the rate
6674 will be forgotten once the mailbox is left.
6675 Refer to the manual section
6677 for the complete picture of spam handling in \*(UA.
6681 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and sets their
6687 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and informs the Bayesian filter of the
6693 flag of the messages in question.
6709 slot for white- and blacklisting header fields.
6713 (to) Takes a message list and types out the first
6715 lines of each message on the users' terminal.
6716 Unless a special selection has been established for the
6720 command, the only header fields that are displayed are
6731 It is possible to apply compression to what is displayed by setting
6733 Messages are decrypted and converted to the terminal character set
6738 (tou) Takes a message list and marks the messages for saving in the
6740 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
6742 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command,
6745 command will display the following message instead of the current one.
6751 but also displays header fields which would not pass the
6753 selection, and all visualizable parts of MIME
6754 .Ql multipart/alternative
6759 (t) Takes a message list and types out each message on the users terminal.
6760 The display of message headers is selectable via
6762 For MIME multipart messages, all parts with a content type of
6764 all parts which have a registered MIME type handler (see
6765 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" )
6766 which produces plain text output, and all
6768 parts are shown, others are hidden except for their headers.
6769 Messages are decrypted and converted to the terminal character set
6773 can be used to display parts which are not displayable as plain text.
6816 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6820 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6825 Superseded by the multiplexer
6836 .It Ic unmlsubscribe
6847 Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been read.
6851 Superseded by the multiplexer
6855 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6859 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6881 Perform URL percent codec operations on the raw-data argument, rather
6882 according to RFC 3986.
6886 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) ,
6887 and manages the error number
6889 This is a character set agnostic and thus locale dependent operation,
6890 and it may decode bytes which are invalid in the current
6892 \*(ID This command does not know about URLs beside that.
6894 The first argument specifies the operation:
6898 perform plain URL percent en- and decoding, respectively.
6902 perform a slightly modified operation which should be better for
6903 pathnames: it does not allow a tilde
6905 and will neither accept hyphen-minus
6909 as an initial character.
6910 The remains of the line form the URL data which is to be converted.
6911 If the coding operation fails the error number
6914 .Va ^ERR Ns -CANCELED ,
6915 and the unmodified input is used as the result; the error number may
6916 change again due to output or result storage errors.
6920 \*(NQ Edit the values of or create the given variable(s) in the
6922 Boolean variables cannot be edited, and variables can also not be
6928 \*(NQ This command produces the same output as the listing mode of
6932 ity adjustments, but only for the given variables.
6936 \*(OP Takes a message list and verifies each message.
6937 If a message is not a S/MIME signed message,
6938 verification will fail for it.
6939 The verification process checks if the message was signed using a valid
6941 if the message sender's email address matches one of those contained
6942 within the certificate,
6943 and if the message content has been altered.
6956 \*(NQ Evaluate arguments according to a given operator.
6957 This is a multiplexer command which can be used to perform signed 64-bit
6958 numeric calculations as well as byte string and string operations.
6959 It uses polish notation, i.e., the operator is the first argument and
6960 defines the number and type, and the meaning of the remaining arguments.
6961 An empty argument is replaced with a 0 if a number is expected.
6965 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
6968 The result that is shown in case of errors is always
6970 for usage errors and numeric operations, and the empty string for byte
6971 string and string operations;
6972 if the latter two fail to provide result data for
6974 errors, e.g., when a search operation failed, they also set the
6977 .Va ^ERR Ns -NODATA .
6978 Except when otherwise noted numeric arguments are parsed as signed 64-bit
6979 numbers, and errors will be reported in the error number
6981 as the numeric error
6982 .Va ^ERR Ns -RANGE .
6985 Numeric operations work on one or two signed 64-bit integers.
6986 Numbers prefixed with
6990 are interpreted as hexadecimal (base 16) numbers, whereas
6992 indicates octal (base 8), and
6996 denote binary (base 2) numbers.
6997 It is possible to use any base in between 2 and 36, inclusive, with the
6999 notation, where the base is given as an unsigned decimal number, e.g.,
7001 is a different way of specifying a hexadecimal number.
7002 Unsigned interpretation of a number can be enforced by prefixing a
7004 (case-insensitively), e.g.,
7006 this is not necessary for power-of-two bases (2, 4, 8, 16 and 32),
7007 which will be interpreted as unsigned by default, but it still makes
7008 a difference regarding overflow detection and overflow constant.
7009 It is possible to enforce signed interpretation by (instead) prefixing a
7011 (case-insensitively).
7014 One integer is expected by assignment (equals sign
7016 which does nothing but parsing the argument, thus detecting validity and
7017 possible overflow conditions, and unary not (tilde
7019 which creates the bitwise complement.
7020 Two integers are used by addition (plus sign
7022 subtraction (hyphen-minus
7024 multiplication (asterisk
7028 and modulo (percent sign
7030 as well as for the bitwise operators logical or (vertical bar
7033 bitwise and (ampersand
7036 bitwise xor (circumflex
7038 the bitwise signed left- and right shifts
7041 as well as for the unsigned right shift
7045 Another numeric operation is
7047 which takes a number base in between 2 and 36, inclusive, and will act
7048 on the second number given just the same as what equals sign
7050 does, but the number result will be formatted in the base given.
7053 All numeric operators can be prefixed with a commercial at
7057 this will turn the operation into a saturated one, which means that
7058 overflow errors and division and modulo by zero are no longer reported
7059 via the exit status, but the result will linger at the minimum or
7060 maximum possible value, instead of overflowing (or trapping).
7061 This is true also for the argument parse step.
7062 For the bitwise shifts, the saturated maximum is 63.
7063 Any caught overflow will be reported via the error number
7066 .Va ^ERR Ns -OVERFLOW .
7067 .Bd -literal -offset indent
7068 ? vexpr @- +1 -9223372036854775808
7069 ? echo $?/$!/$^ERRNAME
7073 Character set agnostic string functions have no notion of locale
7074 settings and character sets.
7076 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm random"
7079 .Sx "Filename transformations"
7082 Generates a random string of the given length, or of
7084 bytes (a constant from
7086 if the value 0 is given; the random string will be base64url encoded
7087 according to RFC 4648, and thus be usable as a (portable) filename.
7091 Byte string operations work on 8-bit bytes and have no notion of locale
7092 settings and character sets, effectively assuming ASCII data.
7095 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm length"
7097 Queries the length of the given argument.
7100 Calculates the Chris Torek hash of the given argument.
7103 Byte-searches in the first for the second argument.
7104 Shows the resulting 0-based offset shall it have been found.
7109 but works case-insensitively according to the rules of the ASCII
7113 Creates a substring of its first argument.
7114 The second argument is the 0-based starting offset, a negative one
7115 counts from the end;
7116 the optional third argument specifies the length of the desired result,
7117 a negative length leaves off the given number of bytes at the end of the
7118 original string, by default the entire string is used;
7119 this operation tries to work around faulty arguments (set
7121 for error logs), but reports them via the error number
7124 .Va ^ERR Ns -OVERFLOW .
7127 Trim away whitespace characters from both ends of the argument.
7130 Trim away whitespace characters from the begin of the argument.
7133 Trim away whitespace characters from the end of the argument.
7138 String operations work, sufficient support provided, according to the
7139 active user's locale encoding and character set (see
7140 .Sx "Character sets" ) .
7143 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm regex"
7145 (One-way) Converts the argument to something safely printable on the
7149 \*(OP A string operation that will try to match the first argument with
7150 the regular expression given as the second argument.
7151 If the optional third argument has been given then instead of showing
7152 the match offset a replacement operation is performed: the third
7153 argument is treated as if specified within dollar-single-quote (see
7154 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" ) ,
7155 and any occurrence of a positional parameter, e.g.,
7157 is replaced by the corresponding match group of the regular expression:
7158 .Bd -literal -offset indent
7159 ? vput vexpr res regex bananarama \e
7160 (.*)NanA(.*) '\e${1}au\e$2'
7161 ? echo $?/$!/$^ERRNAME: $res
7165 On otherwise identical case-insensitive equivalent to
7167 .Bd -literal -offset indent
7168 ? vput vexpr res ire bananarama \e
7169 (.*)NanA(.*) '\e${1}au\e$2'
7170 ? echo $?/$!/$^ERRNAME: $res
7177 \*(NQ Manage the positional parameter stack (see
7181 If the first argument is
7183 then the positional parameter stack of the current context, or the
7184 global one, if there is none, is cleared.
7187 then the remaining arguments will be used to (re)create the stack,
7188 if the parameter stack size limit is excessed an
7189 .Va ^ERR Ns -OVERFLOW
7193 If the first argument is
7195 a round-trip capable representation of the stack contents is created,
7196 with each quoted parameter separated from each other with the first
7199 and followed by the first character of
7201 if that is not empty and not identical to the first.
7202 If that results in no separation at all a
7208 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
7209 I.e., the subcommands
7213 can be used (in conjunction with
7215 to (re)create an argument stack from and to a single variable losslessly.
7217 .Bd -literal -offset indent
7218 ? vpospar set hey, "'you ", world!
7219 ? echo $#: <${1}><${2}><${3}>
7220 ? vput vpospar x quote
7222 ? echo $#: <${1}><${2}><${3}>
7223 ? eval vpospar set ${x}
7224 ? echo $#: <${1}><${2}><${3}>
7230 (v) Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message.
7231 Modified contents are discarded unless the
7233 variable is set, and are not used unless the mailbox can be written to
7234 and the editor returns a successful exit status.
7238 (w) For conventional messages the body without all headers is written.
7239 The original message is never marked for deletion in the originating
7241 The output is decrypted and converted to its native format as necessary.
7242 If the output file exists, the text is appended.
7243 If a message is in MIME multipart format its first part is written to
7244 the specified file as for conventional messages, handling of the remains
7245 depends on the execution mode.
7246 No special handling of compressed files is performed.
7248 In interactive mode the user is consecutively asked for the filenames of
7249 the processed parts.
7250 For convience saving of each part may be skipped by giving an empty
7251 value, the same result as writing it to
7253 Shell piping the part content by specifying a leading vertical bar
7255 character for the filename is supported.
7256 Other user input undergoes the usual
7257 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
7258 including shell pathname wildcard pattern expansions
7260 and shell variable expansion for the message as such, not the individual
7261 parts, and contents of the destination file are overwritten if the file
7264 \*(ID In non-interactive mode any part which does not specify a filename
7265 is ignored, and suspicious parts of filenames of the remaining parts are
7266 URL percent encoded (as via
7268 to prevent injection of malicious character sequences, resulting in
7269 a filename that will be written into the current directory.
7270 Existing files will not be overwritten, instead the part number or
7271 a dot are appended after a number sign
7273 to the name until file creation succeeds (or fails due to other
7278 \*(NQ The sole difference to
7280 is that the new macro is executed in place of the current one, which
7281 will not regain control: all resources of the current macro will be
7283 This implies that any setting covered by
7285 will be forgotten and covered variables will become cleaned up.
7286 If this command is not used from within a
7288 ed macro it will silently be (a more expensive variant of)
7298 \*(NQ \*(UA presents message headers in
7300 fuls as described under the
7303 Without arguments this command scrolls to the next window of messages,
7304 likewise if the argument is
7308 scrolls to the last,
7310 scrolls to the first, and
7315 A number argument prefixed by
7319 indicates that the window is calculated in relation to the current
7320 position, and a number without a prefix specifies an absolute position.
7326 but scrolls to the next or previous window that contains at least one
7337 .\" .Sh COMMAND ESCAPES {{{
7338 .Sh "COMMAND ESCAPES"
7340 Here is a summary of the command escapes available in compose mode,
7341 which are used to perform special functions when composing messages.
7342 Command escapes are only recognized at the beginning of lines, and
7343 consist of a trigger (escape) and a command character.
7344 The actual escape character can be set via the internal variable
7346 it defaults to the tilde
7348 Otherwise ignored whitespace characters following the escape character
7349 will prevent a possible addition of the command line to the \*(OPal
7353 Unless otherwise noted all compose mode command escapes ensure proper
7354 updates of the variables which represent the error number
7360 is set they will, unless stated otherwise, error out message compose
7361 mode and cause a progam exit if an operation fails.
7362 It is however possible to place the character hyphen-minus
7364 after (possible whitespace following) the escape character, which has an
7365 effect equivalent to the command modifier
7367 If the \*(OPal key bindings are available it is possible to create
7369 ings specifically for the compose mode.
7372 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ic BaNg"
7375 Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single
7377 (If the escape character has been changed,
7378 that character must be doubled instead.)
7381 .It Ic ~! Ar command
7382 Execute the indicated shell
7384 which follows, replacing unescaped exclamation marks with the previously
7385 executed command if the internal variable
7387 is set, then return to the message.
7391 End compose mode and send the message.
7393 .Va on-compose-splice-shell
7395 .Va on-compose-splice ,
7396 in order, will be called when set, after which
7398 will be checked, a set
7399 .Va on-compose-leave
7400 hook will be called,
7404 will be joined in if set,
7406 will be honoured in interactive mode, finally a given
7407 .Va message-inject-tail
7408 will be incorporated, after which the compose mode is left.
7411 .It Ic ~: Ar \*(UA-command Ns \0or Ic ~_ Ar \*(UA-command
7412 Execute the given \*(UA command.
7413 Not all commands, however, are allowed.
7416 .It Ic ~< Ar filename
7421 .It Ic ~<! Ar command
7423 is executed using the shell.
7424 Its standard output is inserted into the message.
7428 Write a summary of command escapes.
7431 .It Ic ~@ Op Ar filename...
7432 Append or edit the list of attachments.
7433 Does not manage the error number
7439 instead if this is a concern).
7442 arguments is expected as shell tokens (see
7443 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" ;
7444 token-separating commas are ignored, too), to be
7445 interpreted as documented for the command line option
7447 with the message number exception as below.
7451 arguments the attachment list is edited, entry by entry;
7452 if a filename is left empty, that attachment is deleted from the list;
7453 once the end of the list is reached either new attachments may be
7454 entered or the session can be quit by committing an empty
7458 For all modes, if a given filename solely consists of the number sign
7460 followed by a valid message number of the currently active mailbox, then
7461 the given message is attached as a
7464 The number sign must be quoted to avoid misinterpretation with the shell
7468 .It Ic ~| Ar command
7469 Pipe the message through the specified filter command.
7470 If the command gives no output or terminates abnormally,
7471 retain the original text of the message.
7474 is often used as a rejustifying filter.
7478 .It Ic ~^ Ar cmd Op Ar subcmd Op Ar arg3 Op Ar arg4
7479 Low-level command meant for scripted message access, i.e., for
7480 .Va on-compose-splice
7482 .Va on-compose-splice-shell .
7483 The used protocol is likely subject to changes, and therefore the
7484 mentioned hooks receive the used protocol version as an initial line.
7485 In general the first field of a response line represents a status code
7486 which specifies whether a command was successful or not, whether result
7487 data is to be expected, and if, the format of the result data.
7488 Does not manage the error number
7492 because errors are reported via the protocol
7493 (hard errors like I/O failures cannot be handled).
7494 This command has read-only access to several virtual pseudo headers in
7495 the \*(UA private namespace, which may not exist (except for the first):
7499 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Va BaNg"
7500 .It Ql Mailx-Command:
7501 The name of the command that generates the message, one of
7509 .It Ql Mailx-Raw-To:
7510 .It Ql Mailx-Raw-Cc:
7511 .It Ql Mailx-Raw-Bcc:
7512 Represent the frozen initial state of these headers before any
7513 transformation (e.g.,
7516 .Va recipients-in-cc
7519 .It Ql Mailx-Orig-From:
7520 .It Ql Mailx-Orig-To:
7521 .It Ql Mailx-Orig-Cc:
7522 .It Ql Mailx-Orig-Bcc:
7523 The values of said headers of the original message which has been
7525 .Ic reply , forward , resend .
7529 The status codes are:
7533 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql 210"
7535 Status ok; the remains of the line are the result.
7538 Status ok; the rest of the line is optionally used for more status.
7539 What follows are lines of result addresses, terminated by an empty line.
7540 The address lines consist of two fields, the first of which is the
7541 plain address, e.g.,
7543 separated by a single ASCII SP space from the second which contains the
7544 unstripped address, even if that is identical to the first field, e.g.,
7545 .Ql (Lovely) Bob <bob@exam.ple> .
7546 All the input, including the empty line, must be consumed before further
7547 commands can be issued.
7550 Status ok; the rest of the line is optionally used for more status.
7551 What follows are lines of furtherly unspecified string content,
7552 terminated by an empty line.
7553 All the input, including the empty line, must be consumed before further
7554 commands can be issued.
7557 Syntax error; invalid command.
7560 Syntax error in parameters or arguments.
7563 Error: an argument fails verification.
7564 For example an invalid address has been specified, or an attempt was
7565 made to modify anything in \*(UA's own namespace.
7568 Error: an otherwise valid argument is rendered invalid due to context.
7569 For example, a second address is added to a header which may consist of
7570 a single address only.
7575 If a command indicates failure then the message will have remained
7577 Most commands can fail with
7579 if required arguments are missing (false command usage).
7580 The following (case-insensitive) commands are supported:
7583 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm header"
7585 This command allows listing, inspection, and editing of message headers.
7586 Header name case is not normalized, and case-insensitive comparison
7587 should be used when matching names.
7588 The second argument specifies the subcommand to apply, one of:
7590 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm remove"
7592 Without a third argument a list of all yet existing headers is given via
7594 this command is the default command of
7596 if no second argument has been given.
7597 A third argument restricts output to the given header only, which may
7600 if no such field is defined.
7603 Shows the content of the header given as the third argument.
7604 Dependent on the header type this may respond with
7608 any failure results in
7612 This will remove all instances of the header given as the third
7617 if no such header can be found, and
7619 on \*(UA namespace violations.
7622 This will remove from the header given as the third argument the
7623 instance at the list position (counting from one!) given with the fourth
7628 if the list position argument is not a number or on \*(UA namespace
7631 if no such header instance exists.
7634 Create a new or an additional instance of the header given in the third
7635 argument, with the header body content as given in the fourth argument
7636 (the remains of the line).
7639 if the third argument specifies a free-form header field name that is
7640 invalid, or if body content extraction fails to succeed,
7642 if any extracted address does not pass syntax and/or security checks or
7643 on \*(UA namespace violations, and
7645 to indicate prevention of excessing a single-instance header \(em note that
7647 can be appended to (a space separator will be added automatically first).
7650 is returned upon success, followed by the name of the header and the list
7651 position of the newly inserted instance.
7652 The list position is always 1 for single-instance header fields.
7653 All free-form header fields are managed in a single list.
7658 This command allows listing, removal and addition of message attachments.
7659 The second argument specifies the subcommand to apply, one of:
7661 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm remove"
7663 List all attachments via
7667 if no attachments exist.
7668 This command is the default command of
7670 if no second argument has been given.
7673 This will remove the attachment given as the third argument, and report
7677 if no such attachment can be found.
7678 If there exists any path component in the given argument, then an exact
7679 match of the path which has been used to create the attachment is used
7680 directly, but if only the basename of that path matches then all
7681 attachments are traversed to find an exact match first, and the removal
7682 occurs afterwards; if multiple basenames match, a
7685 Message attachments are treated as absolute pathnames.
7687 If no path component exists in the given argument, then all attachments
7688 will be searched for
7690 parameter matches as well as for matches of the basename of the path
7691 which has been used when the attachment has been created; multiple
7696 This will interpret the third argument as a number and remove the
7697 attachment at that list position (counting from one!), reporting
7701 if the argument is not a number or
7703 if no such attachment exists.
7706 Adds the attachment given as the third argument, specified exactly as
7707 documented for the command line option
7709 and supporting the message number extension as documented for
7713 upon success, with the index of the new attachment following,
7715 if the given file cannot be opened,
7717 if an on-the-fly performed character set conversion fails, otherwise
7719 is reported; this is also reported if character set conversion is
7720 requested but not available.
7723 This uses the same search mechanism as described for
7725 and prints any known attributes of the first found attachment via
7729 if no such attachment can be found.
7730 The attributes are written as lines of keyword and value tuples, the
7731 keyword being separated from the rest of the line with an ASCII SP space
7735 This uses the same search mechanism as described for
7737 and is otherwise identical to
7740 .It Cm attribute-set
7741 This uses the same search mechanism as described for
7743 and will assign the attribute given as the fourth argument, which is
7744 expected to be a value tuple of keyword and other data, separated by
7745 a ASCII SP space or TAB tabulator character.
7746 If the value part is empty, then the given attribute is removed, or
7747 reset to a default value if existence of the attribute is crucial.
7751 upon success, with the index of the found attachment following,
7753 for message attachments or if the given keyword is invalid, and
7755 if no such attachment can be found.
7756 The following keywords may be used (case-insensitively):
7758 .Bl -hang -compact -width ".It Ql filename"
7760 Sets the filename of the MIME part, i.e., the name that is used for
7761 display and when (suggesting a name for) saving (purposes).
7762 .It Ql content-description
7763 Associate some descriptive information to the attachment's content, used
7764 in favour of the plain filename by some MUAs.
7766 May be used for uniquely identifying MIME entities in several contexts;
7767 this expects a special reference address format as defined in RFC 2045
7770 upon address content verification failure.
7772 Defines the media type/subtype of the part, which is managed
7773 automatically, but can be overwritten.
7774 .It Ql content-disposition
7775 Automatically set to the string
7779 .It Cm attribute-set-at
7780 This uses the same search mechanism as described for
7782 and is otherwise identical to
7791 .Ql Ic ~i Ns \| Va Sign .
7796 .Ql Ic ~i Ns \| Va sign .
7799 .It Ic ~b Ar name ...
7800 Add the given names to the list of blind carbon copy recipients.
7803 .It Ic ~c Ar name ...
7804 Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients.
7808 Read the file specified by the
7810 variable into the message.
7814 Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far.
7815 After the editing session is finished,
7816 the user may continue appending text to the message.
7819 .It Ic ~F Ar messages
7820 Read the named messages into the message being sent, including all
7821 message headers and MIME parts.
7822 If no messages are specified, read in the current message, the
7826 .It Ic ~f Ar messages
7827 Read the named messages into the message being sent.
7828 If no messages are specified, read in the current message, the
7830 Strips down the list of header fields according to the
7832 white- and blacklist selection of
7834 For MIME multipart messages,
7835 only the first displayable part is included.
7839 Edit the message header fields
7844 by typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit the field.
7845 The default values for these fields originate from the
7853 Edit the message header fields
7859 by typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit the field.
7862 .It Ic ~I Ar variable
7863 Insert the value of the specified variable into the message.
7864 The message remains unaltered if the variable is unset or empty.
7865 Any embedded character sequences
7867 horizontal tabulator and
7869 line feed are expanded in
7871 mode; otherwise the expansion should occur at
7873 time by using the command modifier
7877 .It Ic ~i Ar variable
7878 Insert the value of the specified variable followed by a newline
7879 character into the message.
7880 The message remains unaltered if the variable is unset or empty.
7881 Any embedded character sequences
7883 horizontal tabulator and
7885 line feed are expanded in
7887 mode; otherwise the expansion should occur at
7889 time by using the command modifier
7893 .It Ic ~M Ar messages
7894 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
7897 If no messages are specified, read the current message, the
7901 .It Ic ~m Ar messages
7902 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
7905 If no messages are specified, read the current message, the
7907 Strips down the list of header fields according to the
7909 white- and blacklist selection of
7911 For MIME multipart messages,
7912 only the first displayable part is included.
7916 Display the message collected so far,
7917 prefaced by the message header fields
7918 and followed by the attachment list, if any.
7922 Abort the message being sent,
7923 copying it to the file specified by the
7930 .It Ic ~R Ar filename
7933 but indent each line that has been read by
7937 .It Ic ~r Ar filename Op Ar HERE-delimiter
7938 Read the named file, object to the usual
7939 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
7940 into the message; if (the expanded)
7944 then standard input is used, e.g., for pasting purposes.
7945 Only in this latter mode
7947 may be given: if it is data will be read in until the given
7949 is seen on a line by itself, and encountering EOF is an error; the
7951 is a required argument in non-interactive mode; if it is single-quote
7952 quoted then the pasted content will not be expanded, \*(ID otherwise
7953 a future version of \*(UA may perform shell-style expansion on the content.
7957 Cause the named string to become the current subject field.
7958 Newline (NL) and carriage-return (CR) bytes are invalid and will be
7959 normalized to space (SP) characters.
7962 .It Ic ~t Ar name ...
7963 Add the given name(s) to the direct recipient list.
7966 .It Ic ~U Ar messages
7967 Read in the given / current message(s) excluding all headers, indented by
7971 .It Ic ~u Ar messages
7972 Read in the given / current message(s), excluding all headers.
7976 Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the
7978 environment variable) on the message collected so far.
7979 Usually, the alternate editor will be a screen editor.
7980 After the editor is quit,
7981 the user may resume appending text to the end of the message.
7984 .It Ic ~w Ar filename
7985 Write the message onto the named file, which is object to the usual
7986 .Sx "Filename transformations" .
7988 the message is appended to it.
7994 except that the message is not saved at all.
8000 .\" .Sh INTERNAL VARIABLES {{{
8001 .Sh "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
8003 Internal \*(UA variables are controlled via the
8007 commands; prefixing a variable name with the string
8011 has the same effect as using
8017 Creation or editing of variables can be performed in the
8022 will give more insight on the given variable(s), and
8024 when called without arguments, will show a listing of all variables.
8025 Both commands support a more
8028 Some well-known variables will also become inherited from the
8031 implicitly, others can be imported explicitly with the command
8033 and henceforth share said properties.
8036 Two different kinds of internal variables exist, and both of which can
8038 There are boolean variables, which can only be in one of the two states
8042 and value variables with a(n optional) string value.
8043 For the latter proper quoting is necessary upon assignment time, the
8044 introduction of the section
8046 documents the supported quoting rules.
8048 .Bd -literal -offset indent
8049 ? wysh set one=val\e 1 two="val 2" \e
8050 three='val "3"' four=$'val \e'4\e''; \e
8051 varshow one two three four; \e
8052 unset one two three four
8056 Dependent upon the actual option string values may become interpreted as
8057 colour names, command specifications, normal text, etc.
8058 They may be treated as numbers, in which case decimal values are
8059 expected if so documented, but otherwise any numeric format and
8060 base that is valid and understood by the
8062 command may be used, too.
8065 There also exists a special kind of string value, the
8066 .Dq boolean string ,
8067 which must either be a decimal integer (in which case
8071 and any other value is true) or any of the (case-insensitive) strings
8077 for a false boolean and
8083 for a true boolean; a special kind of boolean string is the
8085 which is a boolean string that can optionally be prefixed with the
8086 (case-insensitive) term
8090 which causes prompting of the user in interactive mode, with the given
8091 boolean as the default value.
8094 Variable chains extend a plain
8099 .Ql variable-USER@HOST
8107 had been specified in the contextual Uniform Resource Locator URL, see
8108 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
8109 Even though this mechanism is based on URLs no URL percent encoding may
8110 be applied to neither of
8114 variable chains need to be specified using raw data;
8115 the mentioned section contains examples.
8116 Variables which support chains are explicitly documented as such, and
8117 \*(UA treats the base name of any such variable special, meaning that
8118 users should not create custom names like
8120 in order to avoid false classifications and treatment of such variables.
8122 .\" .Ss "Initial settings" {{{
8123 .\" (Keep in SYNC: ./nail.h:okeys, ./nail.rc, ./nail.1:"Initial settings")
8124 .Ss "Initial settings"
8126 The standard POSIX 2008/Cor 2-2016 mandates the following initial
8132 .Pf no Va autoprint ,
8146 .Pf no Va ignoreeof ,
8148 .Pf no Va keepsave ,
8150 .Pf no Va outfolder ,
8158 .Pf no Va sendwait ,
8167 Notes: \*(UA does not support the
8169 variable \(en use command line options or
8171 to pass options through to a
8173 And the default global
8175 file, which is loaded unless the
8177 (with according argument) or
8179 command line options have been used, or the
8180 .Ev MAILX_NO_SYSTEM_RC
8181 environment variable is set (see
8182 .Sx "Resource files" )
8183 bends those initial settings a bit, e.g., it sets the variables
8188 to name a few, establishes a default
8190 selection etc., and should thus be taken into account.
8193 .\" .Ss "Variables" {{{
8196 .Bl -tag -width ".It Va BaNg"
8200 \*(RO The exit status of the last command, or the
8205 This status has a meaning in the state machine: in conjunction with
8207 any non-0 exit status will cause a program exit, and in
8209 mode any error while loading (any of the) resource files will have the
8213 .Sx "Command modifiers" ,
8214 can be used to instruct the state machine to ignore errors.
8218 \*(RO The current error number
8219 .Pf ( Xr errno 3 ) ,
8220 which is set after an error occurred; it is also available via
8222 and the error name and documentation string can be queried via
8226 \*(ID This machinery is new and the error number is only really usable
8227 if a command explicitly states that it manages the variable
8229 for others errno will be used in case of errors, or
8231 if that is 0: it thus may or may not reflect the real error.
8232 The error number may be set with the command
8238 \*(RO This is a multiplexer variable which performs dynamic expansion of
8239 the requested state or condition, of which there are:
8242 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Va BaNg"
8246 .It Va ^ERR , ^ERRDOC , ^ERRNAME
8247 The number, documentation, and name of the current
8249 respectively, which is usually set after an error occurred.
8250 \*(ID This machinery is new and is usually reliable only if a command
8251 explicitly states that it manages the variable
8253 which is effectively identical to
8255 Each of those variables can be suffixed with a hyphen minus followed by
8256 a name or number, in which case the expansion refers to the given error.
8257 Note this is a direct mapping of (a subset of) the system error values:
8258 .Bd -literal -offset indent
8260 eval echo \e$1: \e$^ERR-$1:\e
8261 \e$^ERRNAME-$1: \e$^ERRDOC-$1
8262 vput vexpr i + "$1" 1
8274 \*(RO Expands all positional parameters (see
8276 separated by the first character of the value of
8278 \*(ID The special semantics of the equally named special parameter of the
8280 are not yet supported.
8284 \*(RO Expands all positional parameters (see
8286 separated by a space character.
8287 If placed in double quotation marks, each positional parameter is
8288 properly quoted to expand to a single parameter again.
8292 \*(RO Expands to the number of positional parameters, i.e., the size of
8293 the positional parameter stack in decimal.
8297 \*(RO Inside the scope of a
8301 ed macro this expands to the name of the calling macro, or to the empty
8302 string if the macro is running from top-level.
8303 For the \*(OPal regular expression search and replace operator of
8305 this expands to the entire matching expression.
8306 It represents the program name in global context.
8310 \*(RO Access of the positional parameter stack.
8311 All further parameters can be accessed with this syntax, too, e.g.,
8314 etc.; positional parameters can be shifted off the stack by calling
8316 The parameter stack contains, e.g., the arguments of a
8320 d macro, the matching groups of the \*(OPal regular expression search
8321 and replace expression of
8323 and can be explicitly created or overwritten with the command
8328 \*(RO Is set to the active
8332 .It Va add-file-recipients
8333 \*(BO When file or pipe recipients have been specified,
8334 mention them in the corresponding address fields of the message instead
8335 of silently stripping them from their recipient list.
8336 By default such addressees are not mentioned.
8340 \*(BO Causes only the local part to be evaluated
8341 when comparing addresses.
8345 \*(BO Causes messages saved in the
8347 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
8349 to be appended to the end rather than prepended.
8350 This should always be set.
8354 \*(BO Causes the prompts for
8358 lists to appear after the message has been edited.
8362 \*(BO If set, \*(UA asks for files to attach at the end of each message.
8363 An empty line finalizes the list.
8367 \*(BO Causes the user to be prompted for carbon copy recipients
8368 (at the end of each message if
8376 \*(BO Causes the user to be prompted for blind carbon copy
8377 recipients (at the end of each message if
8385 \*(BO Causes the user to be prompted for confirmation to send the
8386 message or reenter compose mode after having been shown an envelope
8388 This is by default enabled.
8392 \*(BO\*(OP Causes the user to be prompted if the message is to be
8393 signed at the end of each message.
8396 variable is ignored when this variable is set.
8400 .\" The alternative *ask* is not documented on purpose
8401 \*(BO Causes \*(UA to prompt for the subject upon entering compose mode
8402 unless a subject already exists.
8406 A sequence of characters to display in the
8410 as shown in the display of
8412 each for one type of messages (see
8413 .Sx "Message states" ) ,
8414 with the default being
8417 .Ql NU\ \ *HMFAT+\-$~
8420 variable is set, in the following order:
8422 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql _"
8444 start of a collapsed thread.
8446 an uncollapsed thread (TODO ignored for now).
8450 classified as possible spam.
8456 Specifies a list of recipients to which a blind carbon copy of each
8457 outgoing message will be sent automatically.
8461 Specifies a list of recipients to which a carbon copy of each outgoing
8462 message will be sent automatically.
8466 \*(BO Causes threads to be collapsed automatically when threaded mode
8473 \*(BO Enable automatic
8475 ing of a(n existing)
8481 commands, e.g., the message that becomes the new
8483 is shown automatically, as via
8490 Causes sorted mode (see the
8492 command) to be entered automatically with the value of this variable as
8493 sorting method when a folder is opened, e.g.,
8494 .Ql set autosort=thread .
8498 \*(BO Enables the substitution of all not (reverse-solidus) escaped
8501 characters by the contents of the last executed command for the
8503 shell escape command and
8505 one of the compose mode
8506 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
8507 If this variable is not set no reverse solidus stripping is performed.
8511 \*(OP Terminals generate multi-byte sequences for certain forms of
8512 input, for example for function and other special keys.
8513 Some terminals however do not write these multi-byte sequences as
8514 a whole, but byte-by-byte, and the latter is what \*(UA actually reads.
8515 This variable specifies the timeout in milliseconds that the MLE (see
8516 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
8517 waits for more bytes to arrive unless it considers a sequence
8523 \*(BO Sets some cosmetical features to traditional BSD style;
8524 has the same affect as setting
8526 and all other variables prefixed with
8528 it also changes the behaviour of
8530 (which does not exist in BSD).
8534 \*(BO Changes the letters shown in the first column of a header
8535 summary to traditional BSD style.
8539 \*(BO Changes the display of columns in a header summary to traditional
8544 \*(BO Changes some informational messages to traditional BSD style.
8550 field to appear immediately after the
8552 field in message headers and with the
8554 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
8558 .It Va build-os , build-osenv
8559 \*(RO The operating system \*(UA has been build for, usually taken from
8565 respectively, the former being lowercased.
8569 The value that should appear in the
8573 MIME header fields when no character set conversion of the message data
8575 This defaults to US-ASCII, and the chosen character set should be
8576 US-ASCII compatible.
8580 \*(OP The default 8-bit character set that is used as an implicit last
8581 member of the variable
8583 This defaults to UTF-8 if character set conversion capabilities are
8584 available, and to ISO-8859-1 otherwise, in which case the only supported
8587 and this variable is effectively ignored.
8588 Refer to the section
8589 .Sx "Character sets"
8590 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
8593 .It Va charset-unknown-8bit
8594 \*(OP RFC 1428 specifies conditions when internet mail gateways shall
8596 the content of a mail message by using a character set with the name
8598 Because of the unclassified nature of this character set \*(UA will not
8599 be capable to convert this character set to any other character set.
8600 If this variable is set any message part which uses the character set
8602 is assumed to really be in the character set given in the value,
8603 otherwise the (final) value of
8605 is used for this purpose.
8607 This variable will also be taken into account if a MIME type (see
8608 .Sx "The mime.types files" )
8609 of a MIME message part that uses the
8611 character set is forcefully treated as text.
8615 The default value for the
8620 .It Va colour-disable
8621 \*(BO\*(OP Forcefully disable usage of colours.
8622 Also see the section
8623 .Sx "Coloured display" .
8627 \*(BO\*(OP Whether colour shall be used for output that is paged through
8629 Note that pagers may need special command line options, e.g.,
8637 in order to support colours.
8638 Often doing manual adjustments is unnecessary since \*(UA may perform
8639 adjustments dependent on the value of the environment variable
8641 (see there for more).
8645 .It Va contact-mail , contact-web
8646 \*(RO Addresses for contact per email and web, respectively, e.g., for
8647 bug reports, suggestions, or help regarding \*(UA.
8648 The former can be used directly:
8649 .Ql ? Ns \| Ic eval Ns \| Ic mail Ns \| $contact-mail .
8653 In a(n interactive) terminal session, then if this valued variable is
8654 set it will be used as a threshold to determine how many lines the given
8655 output has to span before it will be displayed via the configured
8659 can be forced by setting this to the value
8661 setting it without a value will deduce the current height of the
8662 terminal screen to compute the threshold (see
8667 \*(ID At the moment this uses the count of lines of the message in wire
8668 format, which, dependent on the
8670 of the message, is unrelated to the number of display lines.
8671 (The software is old and historically the relation was a given thing.)
8675 Define a set of custom headers to be injected into newly composed or
8677 A custom header consists of the field name followed by a colon
8679 and the field content body.
8680 Standard header field names cannot be overwritten by a custom header.
8681 Different to the command line option
8683 the variable value is interpreted as a comma-separated list of custom
8684 headers: to include commas in header bodies they need to become escaped
8685 with reverse solidus
8687 Headers can be managed more freely in compose mode via
8690 .Dl ? set customhdr='Hdr1: Body1-1\e, Body1-2, Hdr2: Body2'
8694 Controls the appearance of the
8696 date and time format specification of the
8698 variable, that is used, for example, when viewing the summary of
8700 If unset, then the local receiving date is used and displayed
8701 unformatted, otherwise the message sending
8703 It is possible to assign a
8705 format string and control formatting, but embedding newlines via the
8707 format is not supported, and will result in display errors.
8709 .Ql %Y-%m-%d %H:%M ,
8711 .Va datefield-markout-older .
8714 .It Va datefield-markout-older
8715 Only used in conjunction with
8717 Can be used to create a visible distinction of messages dated more than
8718 a day in the future, or older than six months, a concept comparable to the
8720 option of the POSIX utility
8722 If set to the empty string, then the plain month, day and year of the
8724 will be displayed, but a
8726 format string to control formatting can be assigned.
8732 \*(BO Enables debug messages and obsoletion warnings, disables the
8733 actual delivery of messages and also implies
8739 .It Va disposition-notification-send
8741 .Ql Disposition-Notification-To:
8742 header (RFC 3798) with the message.
8746 .\" TODO .It Va disposition-notification-send-HOST
8748 .\".Va disposition-notification-send
8749 .\" for SMTP accounts on a specific host.
8750 .\" TODO .It Va disposition-notification-send-USER@HOST
8752 .\".Va disposition-notification-send
8753 .\"for a specific account.
8757 \*(BO When dot is set, a period
8759 on a line by itself during message input in (interactive or batch
8761 compose mode will be treated as end-of-message (in addition to the
8762 normal end-of-file condition).
8763 This behaviour is implied in
8769 .It Va dotlock-ignore-error
8770 \*(BO\*(OP Synchronization of mailboxes which \*(UA treats as
8772 .Sx "primary system mailbox" Ns
8773 es (see, e.g., the notes on
8774 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
8775 as well as the documentation of
8777 will be protected with so-called dotlock files\(emthe traditional mail
8778 spool file locking method\(emin addition to system file locking.
8779 Because \*(UA ships with a privilege-separated dotlock creation program
8780 that should always be able to create such a dotlock file there is no
8781 good reason to ignore dotlock file creation errors, and thus these are
8782 fatal unless this variable is set.
8786 \*(BO If this variable is set then the editor is started automatically
8787 when a message is composed in interactive mode, as if the
8789 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
8793 variable is implied for this automatically spawned editor session.
8797 \*(BO When a message is edited while being composed,
8798 its header is included in the editable text.
8802 \*(BO When entering interactive mode \*(UA normally writes
8803 .Dq \&No mail for user
8804 and exits immediately if a mailbox is empty or does not exist.
8805 If this variable is set \*(UA starts even with an empty or non-existent
8806 mailbox (the latter behaviour furtherly depends upon
8812 \*(BO Let each command with a non-0 exit status, including every
8816 s a non-0 status, cause a program exit unless prefixed by
8819 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
8821 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ,
8822 but which use a different modifier for ignoring the error.
8823 Please refer to the variable
8825 for more on this topic.
8829 The first character of this value defines the escape character for
8830 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
8832 The default value is the character tilde
8834 If set to the empty string, command escapes are disabled.
8838 If not set then file and command pipeline targets are not allowed,
8839 and any such address will be filtered out, giving a warning message.
8840 If set without a value then all possible recipient address
8841 specifications will be accepted \(en see the section
8842 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode"
8844 To accept them, but only in interactive mode, or when tilde commands
8845 were enabled explicitly by using one of the command line options
8849 set this to the (case-insensitive) value
8851 (it actually acts like
8852 .Ql restrict,-all,+name,+addr ,
8853 so that care for ordering issues must be taken) .
8855 In fact the value is interpreted as a comma-separated list of values.
8858 then the existence of disallowed specifications is treated as a hard
8859 send error instead of only filtering them out.
8860 The remaining values specify whether a specific type of recipient
8861 address specification is allowed (optionally indicated by a plus sign
8863 prefix) or disallowed (prefixed with a hyphen-minus
8867 addresses all possible address specifications,
8871 command pipeline targets,
8873 plain user names and (MTA) aliases and
8876 These kind of values are interpreted in the given order, so that
8877 .Ql restrict,\:fail,\:+file,\:-all,\:+addr
8878 will cause hard errors for any non-network address recipient address
8879 unless \*(UA is in interactive mode or has been started with the
8883 command line option; in the latter case(s) any address may be used, then.
8885 Historically invalid network addressees are silently stripped off.
8886 To change this so that any encountered invalid email address causes
8887 a hard error it must be ensured that
8889 is an entry in the above list.
8890 Setting this automatically enables network addressees
8891 (it actually acts like
8892 .Ql failinvaddr,+addr ,
8893 so that care for ordering issues must be taken) .
8897 Unless this variable is set additional
8899 (Mail-Transfer-Agent)
8900 arguments from the command line, as can be given after a
8902 separator, results in a program termination with failure status.
8903 The same can be accomplished by using the special (case-insensitive) value
8905 A lesser strict variant is the otherwise identical
8907 which does accept such arguments in interactive mode, or if tilde
8908 commands were enabled explicitly by using one of the command line options
8912 The empty value will allow unconditional usage.
8916 \*(RO String giving a list of optional features.
8917 Features are preceded with a plus sign
8919 if they are available, with a hyphen-minus
8922 The output of the command
8924 will include this information in a more pleasant output.
8928 \*(BO This setting reverses the meanings of a set of reply commands,
8929 turning the lowercase variants, which by default address all recipients
8930 included in the header of a message
8931 .Pf ( Ic reply , respond , followup )
8932 into the uppercase variants, which by default address the sender only
8933 .Pf ( Ic Reply , Respond , Followup )
8936 .Ic replysender , respondsender , followupsender
8938 .Ic replyall , respondall , followupall
8939 are not affected by the current setting of
8944 The default path under which mailboxes are to be saved:
8945 filenames that begin with the plus sign
8947 will have the plus sign replaced with the value of this variable if set,
8948 otherwise the plus sign will remain unchanged when doing
8949 .Sx "Filename transformations" ;
8952 for more on this topic.
8953 The value supports a subset of transformations itself, and if the
8954 non-empty value does not start with a solidus
8958 will be prefixed automatically.
8959 Once the actual value is evaluated first, the internal variable
8961 will be updated for caching purposes.
8964 .It Va folder-hook-FOLDER , Va folder-hook
8967 macro which will be called whenever a
8970 The macro will also be invoked when new mail arrives,
8971 but message lists for commands executed from the macro
8972 only include newly arrived messages then.
8974 are activated by default in a folder hook, causing the covered settings
8975 to be reverted once the folder is left again.
8977 The specialized form will override the generic one if
8979 matches the file that is opened.
8980 Unlike other folder specifications, the fully expanded name of a folder,
8981 without metacharacters, is used to avoid ambiguities.
8982 However, if the mailbox resides under
8986 specification is tried in addition, e.g., if
8990 (and thus relative to the user's home directory) then
8991 .Pa /home/usr1/mail/sent
8993 .Ql folder-hook-/home/usr1/mail/sent
8994 first, but then followed by
8995 .Ql folder-hook-+sent .
8998 .It Va folder-resolved
8999 \*(RO Set to the fully resolved path of
9001 once that evaluation has occurred; rather internal.
9005 \*(BO Controls whether a
9006 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
9007 header is generated when sending messages to known mailing lists.
9009 .Va followup-to-honour
9011 .Ic mlist , mlsubscribe , reply
9016 .It Va followup-to-honour
9018 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
9019 header is honoured when group-replying to a message via
9023 This is a quadoption; if set without a value it defaults to
9033 .It Va forward-as-attachment
9034 \*(BO Original messages are normally sent as inline text with the
9037 and only the first part of a multipart message is included.
9038 With this setting enabled messages are sent as unmodified MIME
9040 attachments with all of their parts included.
9043 .It Va forward-inject-head
9044 The string to put before the text of a message with the
9046 command instead of the default
9047 .Dq -------- Original Message -------- .
9048 No heading is put if it is set to the empty string.
9049 This variable is ignored if the
9050 .Va forward-as-attachment
9056 The address (or a list of addresses) to put into the
9058 field of the message header, quoting RFC 5322:
9059 the author(s) of the message, that is, the mailbox(es) of the person(s)
9060 or system(s) responsible for the writing of the message.
9061 According to that RFC setting the
9063 variable is required if
9065 contains more than one address.
9068 ing to messages these addresses are handled as if they were in the
9073 If a file-based MTA is used, then
9075 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
9077 can nonetheless be enforced to appear as the envelope sender address at
9078 the MTA protocol level (the RFC 5321 reverse-path), either by using the
9080 command line option (with an empty argument; see there for the complete
9081 picture on this topic), or by setting the internal variable
9082 .Va r-option-implicit .
9085 If the machine's hostname is not valid at the Internet (for example at
9086 a dialup machine) then either this variable or
9090 adds even more fine-tuning capabilities with
9091 .Va smtp-hostname ) ,
9092 have to be set; if so the message and MIME part related unique ID fields
9096 will be created (except when disallowed by
9097 .Va message-id-disable
9104 \*(BO Due to historical reasons comments and name parts of email
9105 addresses are removed by default when sending mail, replying to or
9106 forwarding a message.
9107 If this variable is set such stripping is not performed.
9110 \*(OB Predecessor of
9111 .Va forward-inject-head .
9115 \*(BO Causes the header summary to be written at startup and after
9116 commands that affect the number of messages or the order of messages in
9121 mode a header summary will also be displayed on folder changes.
9122 The command line option
9130 A format string to use for the summary of
9132 similar to the ones used for
9135 Format specifiers in the given string start with a percent sign
9137 and may be followed by an optional decimal number indicating the field
9138 width \(em if that is negative, the field is to be left-aligned.
9139 Valid format specifiers are:
9142 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql _%%_"
9144 A plain percent sign.
9147 a space character but for the current message
9149 for which it expands to
9153 a space character but for the current message
9155 for which it expands to
9158 \*(OP The spam score of the message, as has been classified via the
9161 Shows only a replacement character if there is no spam support.
9163 Message attribute character (status flag); the actual content can be
9167 The date found in the
9169 header of the message when
9171 is set (the default), otherwise the date when the message was received.
9172 Formatting can be controlled by assigning a
9177 The indenting level in threaded mode.
9179 The address of the message sender.
9181 The message thread tree structure.
9182 (Note that this format does not support a field width.)
9184 The number of lines of the message, if available.
9188 The number of octets (bytes) in the message, if available.
9190 Message subject (if any).
9192 Message subject (if any) in double quotes.
9194 Message recipient flags: is the addressee of the message a known or
9195 subscribed mailing list \(en see
9200 The position in threaded/sorted order.
9204 .Ql %>\&%a\&%m\ %-18f\ %16d\ %4l/%\-5o\ %i%-s ,
9206 .Ql %>\&%a\&%m\ %20-f\ \ %16d\ %3l/%\-5o\ %i%-S
9217 .It Va headline-bidi
9218 Bidirectional text requires special treatment when displaying headers,
9219 because numbers (in dates or for file sizes etc.) will not affect the
9220 current text direction, in effect resulting in ugly line layouts when
9221 arabic or other right-to-left text is to be displayed.
9222 On the other hand only a minority of terminals is capable to correctly
9223 handle direction changes, so that user interaction is necessary for
9225 Note that extended host system support is required nonetheless, e.g.,
9226 detection of the terminal character set is one precondition;
9227 and this feature only works in an Unicode (i.e., UTF-8) locale.
9229 In general setting this variable will cause \*(UA to encapsulate text
9230 fields that may occur when displaying
9232 (and some other fields, like dynamic expansions in
9234 with special Unicode control sequences;
9235 it is possible to fine-tune the terminal support level by assigning
9237 no value (or any value other than
9242 will make \*(UA assume that the terminal is capable to properly deal
9243 with Unicode version 6.3, in which case text is embedded in a pair of
9244 U+2068 (FIRST STRONG ISOLATE) and U+2069 (POP DIRECTIONAL ISOLATE)
9246 In addition no space on the line is reserved for these characters.
9248 Weaker support is chosen by using the value
9250 (Unicode 6.3, but reserve the room of two spaces for writing the control
9251 sequences onto the line).
9256 select Unicode 1.1 support (U+200E, LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK); the latter
9257 again reserves room for two spaces in addition.
9261 \*(OP If a line editor is available then this can be set to
9262 name the (expandable) path of the location of a permanent
9268 .It Va history-gabby
9269 \*(BO\*(OP Add more entries to the
9271 as is normally done.
9274 .It Va history-gabby-persist
9275 \*(BO\*(OP \*(UA's own MLE will not save the additional
9277 entries in persistent storage unless this variable is set.
9278 On the other hand it will not loose the knowledge of whether
9279 a persistent entry was gabby or not.
9285 \*(OP Setting this variable imposes a limit on the number of concurrent
9288 If set to the value 0 then no further history entries will be added,
9289 and loading and incorporation of the
9291 upon program startup can also be suppressed by doing this.
9292 Runtime changes will not be reflected, but will affect the number of
9293 entries saved to permanent storage.
9297 \*(BO This setting controls whether messages are held in the system
9299 and it is set by default.
9303 Used instead of the value obtained from
9307 as the hostname when expanding local addresses, e.g., in
9311 or this variable Is set the message and MIME part related unique ID fields
9315 will be created (except when disallowed by
9316 .Va message-id-disable
9319 Setting it to the empty string will cause the normal hostname to be
9320 used, but nonetheless enables creation of said ID fields.
9321 \*(IN in conjunction with the built-in SMTP
9324 also influences the results:
9325 one should produce some test messages with the desired combination of
9334 \*(BO\*(OP Can be used to turn off the automatic conversion of domain
9335 names according to the rules of IDNA (internationalized domain names
9337 Since the IDNA code assumes that domain names are specified with the
9339 character set, an UTF-8 locale charset is required to represent all
9340 possible international domain names (before conversion, that is).
9344 The input field separator that is used (\*(ID by some functions) to
9345 determine where to split input data.
9347 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It MMM"
9349 Unsetting is treated as assigning the default value,
9352 If set to the empty value, no field splitting will be performed.
9354 If set to a non-empty value, all whitespace characters are extracted
9355 and assigned to the variable
9359 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It MMM"
9362 will be ignored at the beginning and end of input.
9363 Diverging from POSIX shells default whitespace is removed in addition,
9364 which is owed to the entirely different line content extraction rules.
9366 Each occurrence of a character of
9368 will cause field-splitting, any adjacent
9370 characters will be skipped.
9375 \*(RO Automatically deduced from the whitespace characters in
9380 \*(BO Ignore interrupt signals from the terminal while entering
9381 messages; instead echo them as
9383 characters and discard the current line.
9387 \*(BO Ignore end-of-file conditions
9388 .Pf ( Ql control-D )
9389 in compose mode on message input and in interactive command input.
9390 If set an interactive command input session can only be left by
9391 explicitly using one of the commands
9395 and message input in compose mode can only be terminated by entering
9398 on a line by itself or by using the
9400 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ;
9401 Setting this implies the behaviour that
9409 If this is set to a non-empty string it will specify the users
9411 .Sx "primary system mailbox" ,
9414 and the system-dependent default, and (thus) be used to replace
9417 .Sx "Filename transformations" ;
9420 for more on this topic.
9421 The value supports a subset of transformations itself.
9429 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
9432 option for indenting messages,
9433 in place of the POSIX mandated default tabulator character
9440 \*(BO If set, an empty
9442 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
9443 file is not removed.
9444 Note that, in conjunction with
9446 mode any empty file will be removed unless this variable is set.
9447 This may improve the interoperability with other mail user agents
9448 when using a common folder directory, and prevents malicious users
9449 from creating fake mailboxes in a world-writable spool directory.
9450 \*(ID Only local regular (MBOX) files are covered, Maildir or other
9451 mailbox types will never be removed, even if empty.
9454 .It Va keep-content-length
9455 \*(BO When (editing messages and) writing MBOX mailbox files \*(UA can
9460 header fields that some MUAs generate by setting this variable.
9461 Since \*(UA does neither use nor update these non-standardized header
9462 fields (which in itself shows one of their conceptual problems),
9463 stripping them should increase interoperability in between MUAs that
9464 work with with same mailbox files.
9465 Note that, if this is not set but
9466 .Va writebackedited ,
9467 as below, is, a possibly performed automatic stripping of these header
9468 fields already marks the message as being modified.
9469 \*(ID At some future time \*(UA will be capable to rewrite and apply an
9471 to modified messages, and then those fields will be stripped silently.
9475 \*(BO When a message is saved it is usually discarded from the
9476 originating folder when \*(UA is quit.
9477 This setting causes all saved message to be retained.
9480 .It Va line-editor-disable
9481 \*(BO Turn off any enhanced line editing capabilities (see
9482 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor"
9486 .It Va line-editor-no-defaults
9487 \*(BO\*(OP Do not establish any default key binding.
9491 Error log message prefix string
9492 .Pf ( Ql "\*(uA: " ) .
9495 .It Va mailbox-display
9496 \*(RO The name of the current mailbox
9498 possibly abbreviated for display purposes.
9501 .It Va mailbox-resolved
9502 \*(RO The fully resolved path of the current mailbox.
9505 .It Va mailx-extra-rc
9506 An additional startup file that is loaded as the last of the
9507 .Sx "Resource files" .
9508 Use this file for commands that are not understood by other POSIX
9510 implementations, i.e., mostly anything which is not covered by
9511 .Sx "Initial settings" .
9515 \*(BO When a message is replied to and this variable is set,
9516 it is marked as having been
9519 .Sx "Message states" .
9523 \*(BO When opening MBOX mailbox databases \*(UA by default uses tolerant
9524 POSIX rules for detecting message boundaries (so-called
9526 lines) due to compatibility reasons, instead of the stricter rules that
9527 have been standardized in RFC 4155.
9528 This behaviour can be switched to the stricter RFC 4155 rules by
9529 setting this variable.
9530 (This is never necessary for any message newly generated by \*(UA,
9531 it only applies to messages generated by buggy or malicious MUAs, or may
9532 occur in old MBOX databases: \*(UA itself will choose a proper
9534 to avoid false interpretation of
9536 content lines in the MBOX database.)
9538 This may temporarily be handy when \*(UA complains about invalid
9540 lines when opening a MBOX: in this case setting this variable and
9541 re-opening the mailbox in question may correct the result.
9542 If so, copying the entire mailbox to some other file, as in
9543 .Ql copy * SOME-FILE ,
9544 will perform proper, all-compatible
9546 quoting for all detected messages, resulting in a valid MBOX mailbox.
9547 Finally the variable can be unset again:
9548 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9550 localopts yes; wysh set mbox-rfc4155;\e
9551 wysh File "${1}"; eval copy * "${2}"
9553 call mboxfix /tmp/bad.mbox /tmp/good.mbox
9558 \*(BO Internal development variable.
9561 .It Va message-id-disable
9562 \*(BO By setting this variable the generation of
9566 message and MIME part headers can be completely suppressed, effectively
9567 leaving this task up to the
9569 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) or the SMTP server.
9570 Note that according to RFC 5321 a SMTP server is not required to add this
9571 field by itself, so it should be ensured that it accepts messages without
9575 .It Va message-inject-head
9576 A string to put at the beginning of each new message, followed by a newline.
9577 \*(OB The escape sequences tabulator
9581 are understood (use the
9585 ting the variable(s) instead).
9588 .It Va message-inject-tail
9589 A string to put at the end of each new message, followed by a newline.
9590 \*(OB The escape sequences tabulator
9594 are understood (use the
9598 ting the variable(s) instead).
9602 \*(BO Usually, when an
9604 expansion contains the sender, the sender is removed from the expansion.
9605 Setting this option suppresses these removals.
9610 option to be passed through to the
9612 (Mail-Transfer-Agent); though most of the modern MTAs no longer document
9613 this flag, no MTA is known which does not support it (for historical
9617 .It Va mime-allow-text-controls
9618 \*(BO When sending messages, each part of the message is MIME-inspected
9619 in order to classify the
9622 .Ql Content-Transfer-Encoding:
9625 that is required to send this part over mail transport, i.e.,
9626 a computation rather similar to what the
9628 command produces when used with the
9632 This classification however treats text files which are encoded in
9633 UTF-16 (seen for HTML files) and similar character sets as binary
9634 octet-streams, forcefully changing any
9639 .Ql application/octet-stream :
9640 If that actually happens a yet unset charset MIME parameter is set to
9642 effectively making it impossible for the receiving MUA to automatically
9643 interpret the contents of the part.
9645 If this variable is set, and the data was unambiguously identified as
9646 text data at first glance (by a
9650 file extension), then the original
9652 will not be overwritten.
9655 .It Va mime-alternative-favour-rich
9656 \*(BO If this variable is set then rich MIME alternative parts (e.g.,
9657 HTML) will be preferred in favour of included plain text versions when
9658 displaying messages, provided that a handler exists which produces
9659 output that can be (re)integrated into \*(UA's normal visual display.
9660 (E.g., at the time of this writing some newsletters ship their full
9661 content only in the rich HTML part, whereas the plain text part only
9662 contains topic subjects.)
9665 .It Va mime-counter-evidence
9668 field is used to decide how to handle MIME parts.
9669 Some MUAs, however, do not use
9670 .Sx "The mime.types files"
9672 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" )
9673 or a similar mechanism to correctly classify content, but specify an
9674 unspecific MIME type
9675 .Pf ( Ql application/octet-stream )
9676 even for plain text attachments.
9677 If this variable is set then \*(UA will try to re-classify such MIME
9678 message parts, if possible, for example via a possibly existing
9679 attachment filename.
9680 A non-empty value may also be given, in which case a number is expected,
9681 actually a carrier of bits, best specified as a binary value, e.g.,
9684 .Bl -bullet -compact
9686 If bit two is set (counting from 1, decimal 2) then the detected
9688 will be carried along with the message and be used for deciding which
9689 MIME handler is to be used, for example;
9690 when displaying such a MIME part the part-info will indicate the
9691 overridden content-type by showing a plus sign
9694 If bit three is set (decimal 4) then the counter-evidence is always
9695 produced and a positive result will be used as the MIME type, even
9696 forcefully overriding the parts given MIME type.
9698 If bit four is set (decimal 8) as a last resort the actual content of
9699 .Ql application/octet-stream
9700 parts will be inspected, so that data which looks like plain text can be
9702 This mode is even more relaxed when data is to be displayed to the user
9703 or used as a message quote (data consumers which mangle data for display
9704 purposes, which includes masking of control characters, for example).
9708 .It Va mime-encoding
9710 .Ql Content-Transfer-Encoding
9711 to use in outgoing text messages and message parts, where applicable.
9712 (7-bit clean text messages are sent as-is, without a transfer encoding.)
9715 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql _%%_"
9718 8-bit transport effectively causes the raw data be passed through
9719 unchanged, but may cause problems when transferring mail messages over
9720 channels that are not ESMTP (RFC 1869) compliant.
9721 Also, several input data constructs are not allowed by the
9722 specifications and may cause a different transfer-encoding to be used.
9723 .It Ql quoted-printable
9725 Quoted-printable encoding is 7-bit clean and has the property that ASCII
9726 characters are passed through unchanged, so that an english message can
9727 be read as-is; it is also acceptable for other single-byte locales that
9728 share many characters with ASCII, like, e.g., ISO-8859-1.
9729 The encoding will cause a large overhead for messages in other character
9730 sets: e.g., it will require up to twelve (12) bytes to encode a single
9731 UTF-8 character of four (4) bytes.
9732 It is the default encoding.
9734 .Pf (Or\0 Ql b64 . )
9735 This encoding is 7-bit clean and will always be used for binary data.
9736 This encoding has a constant input:output ratio of 3:4, regardless of
9737 the character set of the input data it will encode three bytes of input
9738 to four bytes of output.
9739 This transfer-encoding is not human readable without performing
9744 .It Va mimetypes-load-control
9745 Can be used to control which of
9746 .Sx "The mime.types files"
9747 are loaded: if the letter
9749 is part of the option value, then the user's personal
9751 file will be loaded (if it exists); likewise the letter
9753 controls loading of the system wide
9754 .Pa /etc/mime.types ;
9755 directives found in the user file take precedence, letter matching is
9757 If this variable is not set \*(UA will try to load both files.
9758 Incorporation of the \*(UA-built-in MIME types cannot be suppressed,
9759 but they will be matched last (the order can be listed via
9762 More sources can be specified by using a different syntax: if the
9763 value string contains an equals sign
9765 then it is instead parsed as a comma-separated list of the described
9768 pairs; the given filenames will be expanded and loaded, and their
9769 content may use the extended syntax that is described in the section
9770 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
9771 Directives found in such files always take precedence (are prepended to
9772 the MIME type cache).
9777 To choose an alternate Mail-Transfer-Agent, set this option to either
9778 the full pathname of an executable (optionally prefixed with the protocol
9780 or \*(OPally a SMTP a.k.a. SUBMISSION protocol URL, e.g., \*(IN
9782 .Dl smtps?://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
9785 .Ql [smtp://]server[:port] . )
9786 The default has been chosen at compile time.
9787 All supported data transfers are executed in child processes, which
9788 run asynchronously and without supervision unless either the
9793 If such a child receives a TERM signal, it will abort and
9800 For a file-based MTA it may be necessary to set
9802 in in order to choose the right target of a modern
9805 It will be passed command line arguments from several possible sources:
9808 if set, from the command line if given and the variable
9811 Argument processing of the MTA will be terminated with a
9816 The otherwise occurring implicit usage of the following MTA command
9817 line arguments can be disabled by setting the boolean variable
9818 .Va mta-no-default-arguments
9819 (which will also disable passing
9823 (for not treating a line with only a dot
9825 character as the end of input),
9833 variable is set); in conjunction with the
9835 command line option \*(UA will also (not) pass
9841 \*(OPally \*(UA can send mail over SMTP a.k.a. SUBMISSION network
9842 connections to a single defined smart host by setting this variable to
9843 a SMTP or SUBMISSION URL (see
9844 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ) .
9845 An authentication scheme can be specified via the variable chain
9847 Encrypted network connections are \*(OPally available, the section
9848 .Sx "Encrypted network communication"
9849 should give an overview and provide links to more information on this.
9850 Note that with some mail providers it may be necessary to set the
9852 variable in order to use a specific combination of
9857 \*(UA also supports forwarding of all network traffic over a specified
9859 The following SMTP variants may be used:
9863 The plain SMTP protocol (RFC 5321) that normally lives on the
9864 server port 25 and requires setting the
9865 .Va smtp-use-starttls
9866 variable to enter a SSL/TLS encrypted session state.
9867 Assign a value like \*(IN
9868 .Ql smtp://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
9870 .Ql smtp://server[:port] )
9871 to choose this protocol.
9873 The so-called SMTPS which is supposed to live on server port 465
9874 and is automatically SSL/TLS secured.
9875 Unfortunately it never became a standardized protocol and may thus not
9876 be supported by your hosts network service database
9877 \(en in fact the port number has already been reassigned to other
9880 SMTPS is nonetheless a commonly offered protocol and thus can be
9881 chosen by assigning a value like \*(IN
9882 .Ql smtps://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
9884 .Ql smtps://server[:port] ) ;
9885 due to the mentioned problems it is usually necessary to explicitly
9890 The SUBMISSION protocol (RFC 6409) lives on server port 587 and
9891 is identically to the SMTP protocol from \*(UA's point of view;
9893 .Va smtp-use-starttls
9894 to enter a SSL/TLS secured session state; e.g., \*(IN
9895 .Ql submission://[user[:password]@]server[:port] .
9897 The SUBMISSIONS protocol (RFC 8314) that lives on server port 465 and is
9898 SSL/TLS secured by default.
9899 It can be chosen by assigning a value like \*(IN
9900 .Ql submissions://[user[:password]@]server[:port] .
9901 Due to the problems mentioned for SMTPS above and the fact that
9902 SUBMISSIONS is new and a successor that lives on the same port as the
9903 historical engineering mismanagement named SMTPS, it is usually
9904 necessary to explicitly specify the port as
9910 .It Va mta-arguments
9911 Arguments to pass through to a file-based
9913 can be given via this variable, which is parsed according to
9914 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
9915 into an array of arguments, and which will be joined onto MTA options
9916 from other sources, and then passed individually to the MTA:
9917 .Ql ? wysh set mta-arguments='-t -X \&"/tmp/my log\&"' .
9920 .It Va mta-no-default-arguments
9921 \*(BO Unless this variable is set \*(UA will pass some well known
9922 standard command line options to a file-based
9924 (Mail-Transfer-Agent), see there for more.
9927 .It Va mta-no-receiver-arguments
9928 \*(BO By default a file-based
9930 will be passed all receiver addresses on the command line.
9931 This variable can be set to suppress any such argument.
9935 Many systems use a so-called
9937 environment to ensure compatibility with
9939 This works by inspecting the name that was used to invoke the mail
9941 If this variable is set then the mailwrapper (the program that is
9942 actually executed when calling the file-based
9944 will treat its contents as that name.
9947 .It Va netrc-lookup-USER@HOST , netrc-lookup-HOST , netrc-lookup
9948 \*(BO\*(IN\*(OP Used to control usage of the users
9950 file for lookup of account credentials, as documented in the section
9951 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
9955 .Sx "The .netrc file"
9956 documents the file format.
9968 then \*(UA will read the output of a shell pipe instead of the users
9970 file if this variable is set (to the desired shell command).
9971 This can be used to, e.g., store
9974 .Ql ? set netrc-pipe='gpg -qd ~/.netrc.pgp' .
9978 If this variable has the value
9980 newly created local folders will be in Maildir instead of MBOX format.
9984 Checks for new mail in the current folder each time the prompt is shown.
9985 A Maildir folder must be re-scanned to determine if new mail has arrived.
9986 If this variable is set to the special value
9988 then a Maildir folder will not be rescanned completely, but only
9989 timestamp changes are detected.
9993 \*(BO Causes the filename given in the
9996 and the sender-based filenames for the
10000 commands to be interpreted relative to the directory given in the
10002 variable rather than to the current directory,
10003 unless it is set to an absolute pathname.
10005 .Mx Va on-account-cleanup
10006 .It Va on-account-cleanup-ACCOUNT , Va on-account-cleanup
10007 Macro hook which will be called once an
10009 is left, as the very last step before unrolling per-account
10011 This hook is run even in case of fatal errors, and it is advisable to
10012 perform only absolutely necessary actions, like cleaning up
10015 The specialized form is used in favour of the generic one if found.
10018 .It Va on-compose-cleanup
10019 Macro hook which will be called after the message has been sent (or not,
10020 in case of failures), as the very last step before unrolling compose mode
10022 This hook is run even in case of fatal errors, and it is advisable to
10023 perform only absolutely necessary actions, like cleaning up
10027 For compose mode hooks that may affect the message content please see
10028 .Va on-compose-enter , on-compose-leave , on-compose-splice .
10029 \*(ID This hook exists because
10030 .Ic alias , alternates , commandalias , shortcut ,
10031 to name a few, are not covered by
10033 changes applied in compose mode will continue to be in effect thereafter.
10038 .It Va on-compose-enter , on-compose-leave
10039 Macro hooks which will be called once compose mode is entered,
10040 and after composing has been finished, but before a set
10041 .Va message-inject-tail
10042 has been injected etc., respectively.
10044 are enabled for these hooks, and changes on variables will be forgotten
10045 after the message has been sent.
10046 .Va on-compose-cleanup
10047 can be used to perform other necessary cleanup steps.
10049 The following (read-only) variables will be set temporarily during
10050 execution of the macros to represent respective message headers, to
10051 the empty string otherwise; most of them correspond to according virtual
10052 message headers that can be accessed via
10055 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
10057 .Va on-compose-splice
10061 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Va mailx_subject"
10062 .It Va mailx-command
10063 The command that generates the message.
10064 .It Va mailx-subject
10068 .It Va mailx-sender
10070 .It Va mailx-to , mailx-cc , mailx-bcc
10071 The list of receiver addresses as a space-separated list.
10072 .It Va mailx-raw-to , mailx-raw-cc , mailx-raw-bcc
10073 The list of receiver addresses before any mangling (due to, e.g.,
10076 .Va recipients-in-cc )
10077 as a space-separated list.
10078 .It Va mailx-orig-from
10079 When replying, forwarding or resending, this will be set to the
10081 of the given message.
10082 .It Va mailx-orig-to , mailx-orig-cc , mailx-orig-bcc
10083 When replying, forwarding or resending, this will be set to the
10084 receivers of the given message.
10088 Here is am example that injects a signature via
10089 .Va message-inject-tail ;
10091 .Va on-compose-splice
10092 to simply inject the file of desire via
10096 may be a better approach.
10098 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10100 vput ! i cat ~/.mysig
10102 vput vexpr message-inject-tail trim-end $i
10106 readctl create ~/.mysig
10110 vput vexpr message-inject-tail trim-end $i
10112 readctl remove ~/.mysig
10115 set on-compose-leave=t_ocl
10121 .It Va on-compose-splice , on-compose-splice-shell
10122 These hooks run once the normal compose mode is finished, but before the
10123 .Va on-compose-leave
10124 macro hook is called, the
10125 .Va message-inject-tail
10127 Both hooks will be executed in a subprocess, with their input and output
10128 connected to \*(UA such that they can act as if they would be an
10130 The difference in between them is that the latter is a
10132 command, whereas the former is a normal \*(UA macro, but which is
10133 restricted to a small set of commands (the
10137 will indicate said capability).
10139 are enabled for these hooks (in the parent process), causing any setting
10140 to be forgotten after the message has been sent;
10141 .Va on-compose-cleanup
10142 can be used to perform other cleanup as necessary.
10145 During execution of these hooks \*(UA will temporarily forget whether it
10146 has been started in interactive mode, (a restricted set of)
10147 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
10148 will always be available, and for guaranteed reproducibilities sake
10152 will be set to their defaults.
10153 The compose mode command
10155 has been especially designed for scriptability (via these hooks).
10156 The first line the hook will read on its standard input is the protocol
10157 version of said command escape, currently
10159 backward incompatible protocol changes have to be expected.
10162 Care must be taken to avoid deadlocks and other false control flow:
10163 if both involved processes wait for more input to happen at the
10164 same time, or one does not expect more input but the other is stuck
10165 waiting for consumption of its output, etc.
10166 There is no automatic synchronization of the hook: it will not be
10167 stopped automatically just because it, e.g., emits
10169 The hooks will however receive a termination signal if the parent enters
10170 an error condition.
10171 \*(ID Protection against and interaction with signals is not yet given;
10172 it is likely that in the future these scripts will be placed in an
10173 isolated session, which is signalled in its entirety as necessary.
10175 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10176 define ocs_signature {
10178 echo '~< ~/.mysig' # '~<! fortune pathtofortunefile'
10180 set on-compose-splice=ocs_signature
10182 wysh set on-compose-splice-shell=$'\e
10184 printf "hello $version! Headers: ";\e
10185 echo \e'~^header list\e';\e
10186 read status result;\e
10187 echo "status=$status result=$result";\e
10192 echo Splice protocol version is $version
10193 echo '~^h l'; read hl; vput vexpr es substring "${hl}" 0 1
10195 echoerr 'Cannot read header list'; echo '~x'; xit
10197 if [ "$hl" @i!% ' cc' ]
10198 echo '~^h i cc Diet is your <mirr.or>'; read es;\e
10199 vput vexpr es substring "${es}" 0 1
10201 echoerr 'Cannot insert Cc: header'; echo '~x'
10202 # (no xit, macro finishs anyway)
10206 set on-compose-splice=ocsm
10211 .It Va on-resend-cleanup
10213 .Va on-compose-cleanup ,
10214 but is only triggered by
10218 .It Va on-resend-enter
10220 .Va on-compose-enter ,
10221 but is only triggered by
10226 \*(BO If set, each message feed through the command given for
10228 is followed by a formfeed character
10232 .It Va password-USER@HOST , password-HOST , password
10233 \*(IN Variable chain that sets a password, which is used in case none has
10234 been given in the protocol and account-specific URL;
10235 as a last resort \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal if
10236 the authentication method requires a password.
10237 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
10238 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
10240 .It Va password-USER@HOST
10241 \*(OU (see the chain above for \*(IN)
10242 Set the password for
10246 If no such variable is defined for a host,
10247 the user will be asked for a password on standard input.
10248 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
10249 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
10253 \*(BO Send messages to the
10255 command without performing MIME and character set conversions.
10259 .It Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
10260 When a MIME message part of type
10262 (case-insensitive) is displayed or quoted,
10263 its text is filtered through the value of this variable interpreted as
10265 Note that only parts which can be displayed inline as plain text (see
10266 .Cd copiousoutput )
10267 are displayed unless otherwise noted, other MIME parts will only be
10268 considered by and for the command
10272 The special value commercial at
10274 forces interpretation of the message part as plain text, e.g.,
10275 .Ql set pipe-application/xml=@
10276 will henceforth display XML
10278 (The same could also be achieved by adding a MIME type marker with the
10281 And \*(OPally MIME type handlers may be defined via
10282 .Sx "The Mailcap files"
10283 \(em these directives,
10285 has already been used, should be referred to for further documentation.
10290 can in fact be used as a trigger character to adjust usage and behaviour
10291 of a following shell command specification more thoroughly by appending
10292 more special characters which refer to further mailcap directives, e.g.,
10293 the following hypothetical command specification could be used:
10295 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10296 ? set pipe-X/Y='@!++=@vim ${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}'
10300 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql __"
10302 The command produces plain text to be integrated in \*(UAs output:
10303 .Cd copiousoutput .
10306 If set the handler will not be invoked when a message is to be quoted,
10307 but only when it will be displayed:
10308 .Cd x-mailx-noquote .
10311 Run the command asynchronously, i.e., without blocking \*(UA:
10312 .Cd x-mailx-async .
10315 The command must be run on an interactive terminal, \*(UA will
10316 temporarily release the terminal to it:
10317 .Cd needsterminal .
10320 Request creation of a zero-sized temporary file, the absolute pathname
10321 of which will be made accessible via the environment variable
10322 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY :
10323 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile .
10324 If given twice then the file will be unlinked automatically by \*(UA
10325 when the command loop is entered again at latest:
10326 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink .
10329 Normally the MIME part content is passed to the handler via standard
10330 input; if this flag is set then the data will instead be written into
10331 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY
10332 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill ) ,
10333 the creation of which is implied; note however that in order to cause
10334 deletion of the temporary file you still have to use two plus signs
10339 To avoid ambiguities with normal shell command content you can use
10340 another commercial at to forcefully terminate interpretation of
10341 remaining characters.
10342 (Any character not in this list will have the same effect.)
10346 Some information about the MIME part to be displayed is embedded into
10347 the environment of the shell command:
10350 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ev _AIL__ILENAME__ENERATED"
10352 .It Ev MAILX_CONTENT
10353 The MIME content-type of the part, if known, the empty string otherwise.
10356 .It Ev MAILX_CONTENT_EVIDENCE
10358 .Va mime-counter-evidence
10359 includes the carry-around-bit (2), then this will be set to the detected
10360 MIME content-type; not only then identical to
10361 .Ev \&\&MAILX_CONTENT
10365 .It Ev MAILX_EXTERNAL_BODY_URL
10367 .Ql message/external-body access-type=url
10368 will store the access URL in this variable, it is empty otherwise.
10371 .It Ev MAILX_FILENAME
10372 The filename, if any is set, the empty string otherwise.
10375 .It Ev MAILX_FILENAME_GENERATED
10379 .It Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY
10380 If temporary file creation has been requested through the command prefix
10381 this variable will be set and contain the absolute pathname of the
10387 .It Va pipe-EXTENSION
10388 This is identical to
10389 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
10392 (normalized to lowercase using character mappings of the ASCII charset)
10393 names a file extension, e.g.,
10395 Handlers registered using this method take precedence.
10398 .It Va pop3-auth-USER@HOST , pop3-auth-HOST , pop3-auth
10399 \*(OP\*(IN Variable chain that sets the POP3 authentication method.
10400 The only possible value as of now is
10402 which is thus the default.
10404 .Mx Va pop3-bulk-load
10405 .It Va pop3-bulk-load-USER@HOST , pop3-bulk-load-HOST , pop3-bulk-load
10406 \*(BO\*(OP When accessing a POP3 server \*(UA loads the headers of
10407 the messages, and only requests the message bodies on user request.
10408 For the POP3 protocol this means that the message headers will be
10410 If this variable is set then \*(UA will download only complete messages
10411 from the given POP3 server(s) instead.
10413 .Mx Va pop3-keepalive
10414 .It Va pop3-keepalive-USER@HOST , pop3-keepalive-HOST , pop3-keepalive
10415 \*(OP POP3 servers close the connection after a period of inactivity;
10416 the standard requires this to be at least 10 minutes,
10417 but practical experience may vary.
10418 Setting this variable to a numeric value greater than
10422 command to be sent each value seconds if no other operation is performed.
10424 .Mx Va pop3-no-apop
10425 .It Va pop3-no-apop-USER@HOST , pop3-no-apop-HOST , pop3-no-apop
10426 \*(BO\*(OP Unless this variable is set the
10428 authentication method will be used when connecting to a POP3 server that
10429 advertises support.
10432 is that the password is not sent in clear text over the wire and that
10433 only a single packet is sent for the user/password tuple.
10435 .Va pop3-no-apop-HOST
10438 .Mx Va pop3-use-starttls
10439 .It Va pop3-use-starttls-USER@HOST , pop3-use-starttls-HOST , pop3-use-starttls
10440 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a
10442 command to make an unencrypted POP3 session SSL/TLS encrypted.
10443 This functionality is not supported by all servers,
10444 and is not used if the session is already encrypted by the POP3S method.
10446 .Va pop3-use-starttls-HOST
10452 \*(BO This flag enables POSIX mode, which changes behaviour of \*(UA
10453 where that deviates from standardized behaviour.
10454 It will be set implicitly before the
10455 .Sx "Resource files"
10456 are loaded if the environment variable
10457 .Ev POSIXLY_CORRECT
10458 is set, and adjusting any of those two will be reflected by the other
10460 The following behaviour is covered and enforced by this mechanism:
10463 .Bl -bullet -compact
10465 In non-interactive mode, any error encountered while loading resource
10466 files during program startup will cause a program exit, whereas in
10467 interactive mode such errors will stop loading of the currently loaded
10468 (stack of) file(s, i.e., recursively).
10469 These exits can be circumvented on a per-command base by using
10472 .Sx "Command modifiers" ,
10473 for each command which shall be allowed to fail.
10477 will replace the list of alternate addresses instead of appending to it.
10480 The variable inserting
10481 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
10487 will expand embedded character sequences
10489 horizontal tabulator and
10492 \*(ID For compatibility reasons this step will always be performed.
10495 Upon changing the active
10499 will be displayed even if
10506 implies the behaviour described by
10512 is extended to cover any empty mailbox, not only empty
10514 .Sx "primary system mailbox" Ns
10515 es: they will be removed when they are left in empty state otherwise.
10520 .It Va print-alternatives
10521 \*(BO When a MIME message part of type
10522 .Ql multipart/alternative
10523 is displayed and it contains a subpart of type
10525 other parts are normally discarded.
10526 Setting this variable causes all subparts to be displayed,
10527 just as if the surrounding part was of type
10528 .Ql multipart/mixed .
10532 The string used as a prompt in interactive mode.
10533 Whenever the variable is evaluated the value is treated as if specified
10534 within dollar-single-quotes (see
10535 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" ) .
10536 This (post-assignment, i.e., second) expansion can be used to embed
10537 status information, for example
10542 .Va mailbox-display .
10544 In order to embed characters which should not be counted when
10545 calculating the visual width of the resulting string, enclose the
10546 characters of interest in a pair of reverse solidus escaped brackets:
10548 a slot for coloured prompts is also available with the \*(OPal command
10550 Prompting may be prevented by setting this to the null string
10552 .Ql set noprompt ) .
10556 This string is used for secondary prompts, but is otherwise identical to
10563 \*(BO Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked.
10567 If set, \*(UA starts a replying message with the original message
10568 prefixed by the value of the variable
10570 Normally, a heading consisting of
10571 .Dq Fromheaderfield wrote:
10572 is put before the quotation.
10577 variable, this heading is omitted.
10580 is assigned, only the headers selected by the
10583 selection are put above the message body,
10586 acts like an automatic
10588 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
10592 is assigned, all headers are put above the message body and all MIME
10593 parts are included, making
10595 act like an automatic
10598 .Va quote-as-attachment .
10601 .It Va quote-as-attachment
10602 \*(BO Add the original message in its entirety as a
10604 MIME attachment when replying to a message.
10605 Note this works regardless of the setting of
10610 Can be set to a string consisting of non-whitespace ASCII characters
10611 which shall be treated as quotation leaders, the default being
10616 \*(OP Can be set in addition to
10618 Setting this turns on a more fancy quotation algorithm in that leading
10619 quotation characters
10620 .Pf ( Va quote-chars )
10621 are compressed and overlong lines are folded.
10623 can be set to either one or two (space separated) numeric values,
10624 which are interpreted as the maximum (goal) and the minimum line length,
10625 respectively, in a spirit rather equal to the
10627 program, but line-, not paragraph-based.
10628 If not set explicitly the minimum will reflect the goal algorithmically.
10629 The goal cannot be smaller than the length of
10631 plus some additional pad.
10632 Necessary adjustments take place silently.
10635 .It Va r-option-implicit
10636 \*(BO Setting this option evaluates the contents of
10638 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
10640 and passes the results onto the used (file-based) MTA as described for the
10642 option (empty argument case).
10645 .It Va recipients-in-cc
10652 are by default merged into the new
10654 If this variable is set, only the original
10658 the rest is merged into
10663 Unless this variable is defined, no copies of outgoing mail will be saved.
10664 If defined it gives the pathname, subject to the usual
10665 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
10666 of a folder where all new, replied-to or forwarded messages are saved:
10667 when saving to this folder fails the message is not sent, but instead
10671 The standard defines that relative (fully expanded) paths are to be
10672 interpreted relative to the current directory
10674 to force interpretation relative to
10677 needs to be set in addition.
10680 .It Va record-files
10681 \*(BO If this variable is set the meaning of
10683 will be extended to cover messages which target only file and pipe
10686 These address types will not appear in recipient lists unless
10687 .Va add-file-recipients
10691 .It Va record-resent
10692 \*(BO If this variable is set the meaning of
10694 will be extended to also cover the
10701 .It Va reply-in-same-charset
10702 \*(BO If this variable is set \*(UA first tries to use the same
10703 character set of the original message for replies.
10704 If this fails, the mechanism described in
10705 .Sx "Character sets"
10706 is evaluated as usual.
10709 .It Va reply-strings
10710 Can be set to a comma-separated list of (case-insensitive according to
10711 ASCII rules) strings which shall be recognized in addition to the
10712 built-in strings as
10714 reply message indicators \(en built-in are
10716 which is mandated by RFC 5322, as well as the german
10721 which often has been seen in the wild;
10722 I.e., the separating colon has to be specified explicitly.
10726 A list of addresses to put into the
10728 field of the message header.
10729 Members of this list are handled as if they were in the
10738 .It Va reply-to-honour
10741 header is honoured when replying to a message via
10745 This is a quadoption; if set without a value it defaults to
10749 .It Va rfc822-body-from_
10750 \*(BO This variable can be used to force displaying a so-called
10752 line for messages that are embedded into an envelope mail via the
10754 MIME mechanism, for more visual convenience.
10758 \*(BO Enable saving of (partial) messages in
10760 upon interrupt or delivery error.
10764 The number of lines that represents a
10773 line display and scrolling via
10775 If this variable is not set \*(UA falls back to a calculation based upon
10776 the detected terminal window size and the baud rate: the faster the
10777 terminal, the more will be shown.
10778 Overall screen dimensions and pager usage is influenced by the
10779 environment variables
10787 .It Va searchheaders
10788 \*(BO Expand message-list specifiers in the form
10790 to all messages containing the substring
10792 in the header field
10794 The string search is case insensitive.
10797 .It Va sendcharsets
10798 \*(OP A comma-separated list of character set names that can be used in
10799 outgoing internet mail.
10800 The value of the variable
10802 is automatically appended to this list of character sets.
10803 If no character set conversion capabilities are compiled into \*(UA then
10804 the only supported charset is
10807 .Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
10808 and refer to the section
10809 .Sx "Character sets"
10810 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
10813 .It Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
10814 \*(BO\*(OP If this variable is set, but
10816 is not, then \*(UA acts as if
10818 had been set to the value of the variable
10820 In effect this combination passes through the message data in the
10821 character set of the current locale encoding:
10822 therefore mail message text will be (assumed to be) in ISO-8859-1
10823 encoding when send from within a ISO-8859-1 locale, and in UTF-8
10824 encoding when send from within an UTF-8 locale.
10828 never comes into play as
10830 is implicitly assumed to be 8-bit and capable to represent all files the
10831 user may specify (as is the case when no character set conversion
10832 support is available in \*(UA and the only supported character set is
10834 .Sx "Character sets" ) .
10835 This might be a problem for scripts which use the suggested
10837 setting, since in this case the character set is US-ASCII by definition,
10838 so that it is better to also override
10844 An address that is put into the
10846 field of outgoing messages, quoting RFC 5322: the mailbox of the agent
10847 responsible for the actual transmission of the message.
10848 This field should normally not be used unless the
10850 field contains more than one address, on which case it is required.
10853 address is handled as if it were in the
10857 .Va r-option-implicit .
10860 \*(OB Predecessor of
10863 .It Va sendmail-arguments
10864 \*(OB Predecessor of
10865 .Va mta-arguments .
10867 .It Va sendmail-no-default-arguments
10868 \*(OB\*(BO Predecessor of
10869 .Va mta-no-default-arguments .
10871 .It Va sendmail-progname
10872 \*(OB Predecessor of
10877 \*(BO When sending a message wait until the
10879 (including the built-in SMTP one) exits before accepting further commands.
10881 with this variable set errors reported by the MTA will be recognizable!
10882 If the MTA returns a non-zero exit status,
10883 the exit status of \*(UA will also be non-zero.
10887 \*(BO This setting causes \*(UA to start at the last message
10888 instead of the first one when opening a mail folder.
10892 \*(BO Causes \*(UA to use the sender's real name instead of the plain
10893 address in the header field summary and in message specifications.
10897 \*(BO Causes the recipient of the message to be shown in the header
10898 summary if the message was sent by the user.
10905 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
10907 .Va message-inject-tail ,
10908 .Va on-compose-leave
10910 .Va on-compose-splice .
10917 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
10919 .Va message-inject-tail ,
10920 .Va on-compose-leave
10922 .Va on-compose-splice .
10927 .Va on-compose-splice
10929 .Va on-compose-splice-shell
10931 .Va on-compose-leave
10933 .Va message-inject-tail
10937 .It Va skipemptybody
10938 \*(BO If an outgoing message does not contain any text in its first or
10939 only message part, do not send it but discard it silently (see also the
10940 command line option
10945 .It Va smime-ca-dir , smime-ca-file
10946 \*(OP Specify the location of trusted CA certificates in PEM (Privacy
10947 Enhanced Mail) format as a directory and a file, respectively, for the
10948 purpose of verification of S/MIME signed messages.
10949 It is possible to set both, the file will be loaded immediately, the
10950 directory will be searched whenever no match has yet been found.
10951 The set of CA certificates which are built into the SSL/TLS library can
10952 be explicitly turned off by setting
10953 .Va smime-ca-no-defaults ,
10954 and further fine-tuning is possible via
10955 .Va smime-ca-flags .
10958 .It Va smime-ca-flags
10959 \*(OP Can be used to fine-tune behaviour of the X509 CA certificate
10960 storage, and the certificate verification that is used.
10961 The actual values and their meanings are documented for
10965 .It Va smime-ca-no-defaults
10966 \*(BO\*(OP Do not load the default CA locations that are built into the
10967 used to SSL/TLS library to verify S/MIME signed messages.
10969 .Mx Va smime-cipher
10970 .It Va smime-cipher-USER@HOST , smime-cipher
10971 \*(OP Specifies the cipher to use when generating S/MIME encrypted
10972 messages (for the specified account).
10973 RFC 5751 mandates a default of
10976 Possible values are (case-insensitive and) in decreasing cipher strength:
10984 (DES EDE3 CBC, 168 bits; default if
10986 is not available) and
10988 (DES CBC, 56 bits).
10990 The actually available cipher algorithms depend on the cryptographic
10991 library that \*(UA uses.
10992 \*(OP Support for more cipher algorithms may be available through
10993 dynamic loading via, e.g.,
10994 .Xr EVP_get_cipherbyname 3
10995 (OpenSSL) if \*(UA has been compiled to support this.
10998 .It Va smime-crl-dir
10999 \*(OP Specifies a directory that contains files with CRLs in PEM format
11000 to use when verifying S/MIME messages.
11003 .It Va smime-crl-file
11004 \*(OP Specifies a file that contains a CRL in PEM format to use when
11005 verifying S/MIME messages.
11008 .It Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST
11009 \*(OP If this variable is set, messages send to the given receiver are
11010 encrypted before sending.
11011 The value of the variable must be set to the name of a file that
11012 contains a certificate in PEM format.
11014 If a message is sent to multiple recipients,
11015 each of them for whom a corresponding variable is set will receive an
11016 individually encrypted message;
11017 other recipients will continue to receive the message in plain text
11019 .Va smime-force-encryption
11021 It is recommended to sign encrypted messages, i.e., to also set the
11026 .It Va smime-force-encryption
11027 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to refuse sending unencrypted messages.
11031 \*(BO\*(OP S/MIME sign outgoing messages with the user's private key
11032 and include the user's certificate as a MIME attachment.
11033 Signing a message enables a recipient to verify that the sender used
11034 a valid certificate,
11035 that the email addresses in the certificate match those in the message
11036 header and that the message content has not been altered.
11037 It does not change the message text,
11038 and people will be able to read the message as usual.
11040 .Va smime-sign-cert , smime-sign-include-certs
11042 .Va smime-sign-message-digest .
11044 .Mx Va smime-sign-cert
11045 .It Va smime-sign-cert-USER@HOST , smime-sign-cert
11046 \*(OP Points to a file in PEM format.
11047 For the purpose of signing and decryption this file needs to contain the
11048 user's private key, followed by his certificate.
11050 For message signing
11052 is always derived from the value of
11054 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
11056 For the purpose of encryption the recipient's public encryption key
11057 (certificate) is expected; the command
11059 can be used to save certificates of signed messages (the section
11060 .Sx "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
11061 gives some details).
11062 This mode of operation is usually driven by the specialized form.
11064 When decrypting messages the account is derived from the recipient
11069 of the message, which are searched for addresses for which such
11071 \*(UA always uses the first address that matches,
11072 so if the same message is sent to more than one of the user's addresses
11073 using different encryption keys, decryption might fail.
11075 For signing and decryption purposes it is possible to use encrypted
11076 keys, and the pseudo-host(s)
11077 .Ql USER@HOST.smime-cert-key
11078 for the private key
11080 .Ql USER@HOST.smime-cert-cert
11081 for the certificate stored in the same file)
11082 will be used for performing any necessary password lookup,
11083 therefore the lookup can be automated via the mechanisms described in
11084 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
11085 For example, the hypothetical address
11087 could be driven with a private key / certificate pair path defined in
11088 .Va \&\&smime-sign-cert-bob@exam.ple ,
11089 and needed passwords would then be looked up via the pseudo hosts
11090 .Ql bob@exam.ple.smime-cert-key
11092 .Ql bob@exam.ple.smime-cert-cert ) .
11093 To include intermediate certificates, use
11094 .Va smime-sign-include-certs .
11096 .Mx Va smime-sign-include-certs
11097 .It Va smime-sign-include-certs-USER@HOST , smime-sign-include-certs
11098 \*(OP If used, this is supposed to a consist of a comma-separated list
11099 of files, each of which containing a single certificate in PEM format to
11100 be included in the S/MIME message in addition to the
11101 .Va smime-sign-cert
11103 This can be used to include intermediate certificates of the certificate
11104 authority, in order to allow the receiver's S/MIME implementation to
11105 perform a verification of the entire certificate chain, starting from
11106 a local root certificate, over the intermediate certificates, down to the
11107 .Va smime-sign-cert .
11108 Even though top level certificates may also be included in the chain,
11109 they won't be used for the verification on the receiver's side.
11111 For the purpose of the mechanisms involved here,
11113 refers to the content of the internal variable
11115 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
11118 .Ql USER@HOST.smime-include-certs
11119 will be used for performing password lookups for these certificates,
11120 shall they have been given one, therefore the lookup can be automated
11121 via the mechanisms described in
11122 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
11124 .Mx Va smime-sign-message-digest
11125 .It Va smime-sign-message-digest-USER@HOST , smime-sign-message-digest
11126 \*(OP Specifies the message digest to use when signing S/MIME messages.
11127 RFC 5751 mandates a default of
11129 Possible values are (case-insensitive and) in decreasing cipher strength:
11137 The actually available message digest algorithms depend on the
11138 cryptographic library that \*(UA uses.
11139 \*(OP Support for more message digest algorithms may be available
11140 through dynamic loading via, e.g.,
11141 .Xr EVP_get_digestbyname 3
11142 (OpenSSL) if \*(UA has been compiled to support this.
11143 Remember that for this
11145 refers to the variable
11147 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
11151 \*(OB\*(OP To use the built-in SMTP transport, specify a SMTP URL in
11153 \*(ID For compatibility reasons a set
11155 is used in preference of
11159 .It Va smtp-auth-USER@HOST , smtp-auth-HOST , smtp-auth
11160 \*(OP Variable chain that controls the SMTP
11162 authentication method, possible values are
11168 as well as the \*(OPal methods
11174 method does not need any user credentials,
11176 requires a user name and all other methods require a user name and
11184 .Va smtp-auth-password
11186 .Va smtp-auth-user ) .
11191 .Va smtp-auth-USER@HOST :
11192 may override dependent on sender address in the variable
11195 .It Va smtp-auth-password
11196 \*(OP\*(OU Sets the global fallback password for SMTP authentication.
11197 If the authentication method requires a password, but neither
11198 .Va smtp-auth-password
11200 .Va smtp-auth-password-USER@HOST
11202 \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal.
11204 .It Va smtp-auth-password-USER@HOST
11206 .Va smtp-auth-password
11207 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
11210 .It Va smtp-auth-user
11211 \*(OP\*(OU Sets the global fallback user name for SMTP authentication.
11212 If the authentication method requires a user name, but neither
11215 .Va smtp-auth-user-USER@HOST
11217 \*(UA will ask for a user name on the user's terminal.
11219 .It Va smtp-auth-user-USER@HOST
11222 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
11226 .It Va smtp-hostname
11227 \*(OP\*(IN Normally \*(UA uses the variable
11229 to derive the necessary
11231 information in order to issue a
11238 can be used to use the
11240 from the SMTP account
11247 from the content of this variable (or, if that is the empty string,
11249 or the local hostname as a last resort).
11250 This often allows using an address that is itself valid but hosted by
11251 a provider other than which (in
11253 is about to send the message.
11254 Setting this variable also influences generated
11260 .Mx Va smtp-use-starttls
11261 .It Va smtp-use-starttls-USER@HOST , smtp-use-starttls-HOST , smtp-use-starttls
11262 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a
11264 command to make an SMTP
11266 session SSL/TLS encrypted, i.e., to enable transport layer security.
11269 .It Va socks-proxy-USER@HOST , socks-proxy-HOST , socks-proxy
11270 \*(OP If this is set to the hostname (SOCKS URL) of a SOCKS5 server then
11271 \*(UA will proxy all of its network activities through it.
11272 This can be used to proxy SMTP, POP3 etc. network traffic through the
11273 Tor anonymizer, for example.
11274 The following would create a local SOCKS proxy on port 10000 that
11275 forwards to the machine
11277 and from which the network traffic is actually instantiated:
11278 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11279 # Create local proxy server in terminal 1 forwarding to HOST
11280 $ ssh -D 10000 USER@HOST
11281 # Then, start a client that uses it in terminal 2
11282 $ \*(uA -Ssocks-proxy-USER@HOST=localhost:10000
11286 .It Va spam-interface
11287 \*(OP In order to use any of the spam-related commands (like, e.g.,
11289 the desired spam interface must be defined by setting this variable.
11290 Please refer to the manual section
11291 .Sx "Handling spam"
11292 for the complete picture of spam handling in \*(UA.
11293 All or none of the following interfaces may be available:
11295 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ql _ilte_"
11301 .Pf ( Lk http://spamassassin.apache.org SpamAssassin )
11303 Different to the generic filter interface \*(UA will automatically add
11304 the correct arguments for a given command and has the necessary
11305 knowledge to parse the program's output.
11306 A default value for
11308 will have been compiled into the \*(UA binary if
11312 during compilation.
11313 Shall it be necessary to define a specific connection type (rather than
11314 using a configuration file for that), the variable
11315 .Va spamc-arguments
11316 can be used as in, e.g.,
11317 .Ql -d server.example.com -p 783 .
11318 It is also possible to specify a per-user configuration via
11320 Note that this interface does not inspect the
11322 flag of a message for the command
11326 generic spam filter support via freely configurable hooks.
11327 This interface is meant for programs like
11329 and requires according behaviour in respect to the hooks' exit
11330 status for at least the command
11333 meaning a message is spam,
11337 for unsure and any other return value indicating a hard error);
11338 since the hooks can include shell code snippets diverting behaviour
11339 can be intercepted as necessary.
11341 .Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , spamfilter-nospam , \
11344 .Va spamfilter-spam ;
11346 .Sx "Handling spam"
11347 contains examples for some programs.
11348 The process environment of the hooks will have the variable
11349 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_GENERATED
11351 Note that spam score support for
11353 is not supported unless the \*(OPtional regular expression support is
11355 .Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore
11361 .It Va spam-maxsize
11362 \*(OP Messages that exceed this size will not be passed through to the
11364 .Va spam-interface .
11365 If unset or 0, the default of 420000 bytes is used.
11368 .It Va spamc-command
11369 \*(OP The path to the
11373 .Va spam-interface .
11374 Note that the path is not expanded, but used
11376 A fallback path will have been compiled into the \*(UA binary if the
11377 executable had been found during compilation.
11380 .It Va spamc-arguments
11381 \*(OP Even though \*(UA deals with most arguments for the
11384 automatically, it may at least sometimes be desirable to specify
11385 connection-related ones via this variable, e.g.,
11386 .Ql -d server.example.com -p 783 .
11390 \*(OP Specify a username for per-user configuration files for the
11392 .Va spam-interface .
11393 If this is set to the empty string then \*(UA will use the name of the
11402 .It Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , \
11403 spamfilter-nospam , spamfilter-rate , spamfilter-spam
11404 \*(OP Command and argument hooks for the
11406 .Va spam-interface .
11408 .Sx "Handling spam"
11409 contains examples for some programs.
11412 .It Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore
11413 \*(OP Because of the generic nature of the
11416 spam scores are not supported for it by default, but if the \*(OPnal
11417 regular expression support is available then setting this variable can
11418 be used to overcome this restriction.
11419 It is interpreted as follows: first a number (digits) is parsed that
11420 must be followed by a semicolon
11422 and an extended regular expression.
11423 Then the latter is used to parse the first output line of the
11424 .Va spamfilter-rate
11425 hook, and, in case the evaluation is successful, the group that has been
11426 specified via the number is interpreted as a floating point scan score.
11430 .It Va ssl-ca-dir-USER@HOST , ssl-ca-dir-HOST , ssl-ca-dir ,\
11431 ssl-ca-file-USER@HOST , ssl-ca-file-HOST , ssl-ca-file
11432 \*(OP Specify the location of trusted CA certificates in PEM (Privacy
11433 Enhanced Mail) format as a directory and a file, respectively, for the
11434 purpose of verification of SSL/TLS server certificates.
11435 It is possible to set both, the file will be loaded immediately, the
11436 directory will be searched whenever no match has yet been found.
11437 The set of CA certificates which are built into the SSL/TLS library can
11438 be explicitly turned off by setting
11439 .Va ssl-ca-no-defaults ,
11440 and further fine-tuning is possible via
11443 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
11444 for more information.
11445 \*(UA will try to use the TLS/SNI (ServerNameIndication) extension when
11446 establishing TLS connections to servers identified with hostnames.
11449 .Mx Va ssl-ca-flags
11450 .It Va ssl-ca-flags-USER@HOST , ssl-ca-flags-HOST , ssl-ca-flags
11451 \*(OP Can be used to fine-tune behaviour of the X509 CA certificate
11452 storage, and the certificate verification that is used (also see
11454 The value is expected to consist of a comma-separated list of
11455 configuration directives, with any intervening whitespace being ignored.
11456 The directives directly map to flags that can be passed to
11457 .Xr X509_STORE_set_flags 3 ,
11458 which are usually defined in a file
11459 .Pa openssl/x509_vfy.h ,
11460 and the availability of which depends on the used SSL/TLS library
11461 version: a directive without mapping is ignored (error log subject to
11463 Directives currently understood (case-insensitively) include:
11466 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Cd BaNg"
11467 .It Cd no-alt-chains
11468 If the initial chain is not trusted, do not attempt to build an
11470 Setting this flag will make OpenSSL certificate verification match that
11471 of older OpenSSL versions, before automatic building and checking of
11472 alternative chains has been implemented; also see
11473 .Cd trusted-first .
11474 .It Cd no-check-time
11475 Do not check certificate/CRL validity against current time.
11476 .It Cd partial-chain
11477 By default partial, incomplete chains which cannot be verified up to the
11478 chain top, a self-signed root certificate, will not verify.
11479 With this flag set, a chain succeeds to verify if at least one signing
11480 certificate of the chain is in any of the configured trusted stores of
11482 The OpenSSL manual page
11483 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
11484 gives some advise how to manage your own trusted store of CA certificates.
11486 Disable workarounds for broken certificates.
11487 .It Cd trusted-first
11488 Try building a chain using issuers in the trusted store first to avoid
11489 problems with server-sent legacy intermediate certificates.
11490 Newer versions of OpenSSL support alternative chain checking and enable
11491 it by default, resulting in the same behaviour; also see
11492 .Cd no-alt-chains .
11496 .Mx Va ssl-ca-no-defaults
11497 .It Va ssl-ca-no-defaults-USER@HOST , ssl-ca-no-defaults-HOST ,\
11499 \*(BO\*(OP Do not load the default CA locations that are built into the
11500 used to SSL/TLS library to verify SSL/TLS server certificates.
11503 .It Va ssl-cert-USER@HOST , ssl-cert-HOST , ssl-cert
11504 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11507 .Va ssl-config-pairs .
11509 .Mx Va ssl-cipher-list
11510 .It Va ssl-cipher-list-USER@HOST , ssl-cipher-list-HOST , ssl-cipher-list
11511 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11514 .Va ssl-config-pairs .
11517 .It Va ssl-config-file
11518 \*(OP If this variable is set
11519 .Xr CONF_modules_load_file 3
11521 .Ql +modules-load-file
11524 is used to allow resource file based configuration of the SSL/TLS library.
11525 This happens once the library is used first, which may also be early
11526 during startup (logged with
11528 If a non-empty value is given then the given file, after performing
11529 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
11530 will be used instead of the global OpenSSL default, and it is an error
11531 if the file cannot be loaded.
11532 The application name will always be passed as
11534 Some SSL/TLS libraries support application-specific configuration via
11535 resource files loaded like this, please see
11536 .Va ssl-config-module .
11538 .Mx Va ssl-config-module
11539 .It Va ssl-config-module-USER@HOST , ssl-config-module-HOST ,\
11541 \*(OP If file based application-specific configuration via
11542 .Va ssl-config-file
11543 is available, announced as
11547 indicating availability of
11548 .Xr SSL_CTX_config 3 ,
11549 then, it becomes possible to use a central SSL/TLS configuration file
11550 for all programs, including \*(uA, e.g.:
11551 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11552 # Register a configuration section for \*(uA
11553 \*(uA = mailx_master
11554 # The top configuration section creates a relation
11555 # in between dynamic SSL configuration and an actual
11556 # program specific configuration section
11558 ssl_conf = mailx_ssl_config
11559 # Well that actual program specific configuration section
11560 # now can map individual ssl-config-module names to sections,
11561 # e.g., ssl-config-module=account_xy
11563 account_xy = mailx_account_xy
11564 account_yz = mailx_account_yz
11566 MinProtocol = TLSv1.2
11569 CipherString = TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:
11570 MinProtocol = TLSv1.1
11575 .Mx Va ssl-config-pairs
11576 .It Va ssl-config-pairs-USER@HOST , ssl-config-pairs-HOST , ssl-config-pairs
11577 \*(OP The value of this variable chain will be interpreted as
11578 a comma-separated list of directive/value pairs.
11579 Different to when placing these pairs in a
11580 .Va ssl-config-module
11582 .Va ssl-config-file
11585 need to be escaped with a reverse solidus
11587 when included in pairs.
11588 Just likewise directives and values need to be separated by equals signs
11590 any whitespace surrounding pair members is removed.
11591 Keys are (usually) case-insensitive.
11592 Unless proper support is announced by
11594 .Pf ( Ql +conf-ctx )
11595 only the keys below are supported, otherwise the pairs will be used
11596 directly as arguments to the function
11597 .Xr SSL_CONF_cmd 3 .
11600 may be preceded with an asterisk
11603 .Sx "Filename transformations"
11604 shall be performed on the value; it is an error if these fail.
11607 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Cd C_rtificate"
11609 Filename of a SSL/TLS client certificate (chain) required by some servers.
11610 Fallback support via
11611 .Xr SSL_CTX_use_certificate_chain_file 3 .
11612 .Sx "Filename transformations"
11614 .\" v15compat: remove the next sentence
11616 if you use this you need to specify the private key via
11622 A list of ciphers for SSL/TLS connections, see
11624 By default no list of ciphers is set, resulting in a
11625 .Cd Protocol Ns - Ns
11626 specific list of ciphers (the protocol standards define lists of
11627 acceptable ciphers; possibly cramped by the used SSL/TLS library).
11628 Fallback support via
11629 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_cipher_list 3 .
11632 A list of supported elliptic curves, if applicable.
11633 By default no curves are set.
11634 Fallback support via
11635 .Xr SSL_CTX_set1_curves_list 3 ,
11638 .It Cd MaxProtocol , MinProtocol
11639 The maximum and minimum supported SSL/TLS versions, respectively.
11640 Optional fallback support via
11641 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_max_proto_version 3
11643 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_min_proto_version 3
11647 .Ql +ctx-set-maxmin-proto ,
11648 otherwise this directive results in an error.
11649 The fallback uses an internal parser which understands the strings
11654 and the special value
11656 which disables the given limit.
11659 Various flags to set.
11661 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_options 3 ,
11662 in which case any other value but (exactly)
11664 results in an error.
11667 Filename of the private key in PEM format of a SSL/TLS client certificate.
11668 If unset, the name of the certificate file is used.
11669 .Sx "Filename transformations"
11672 .Xr SSL_CTX_use_PrivateKey_file 3 .
11673 .\" v15compat: remove the next sentence
11675 if you use this you need to specify the certificate (chain) via
11681 The used SSL/TLS protocol.
11687 .Ql ctx-set-maxmin-proto
11694 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_options 3 ,
11695 driven via an internal parser which understands the strings
11700 and the special value
11702 Multiple protocols may be given as a comma-separated list, any
11703 whitespace is ignored, an optional plus sign
11705 prefix enables, a hyphen-minus
11707 prefix disables a protocol, so that
11709 enables only the TLSv1.2 protocol.
11715 .It Va ssl-crl-dir , ssl-crl-file
11716 \*(OP Specify a directory / a file, respectively that contains a CRL in
11717 PEM format to use when verifying SSL/TLS server certificates.
11720 .It Va ssl-curves-USER@HOST , ssl-curves-HOST , ssl-curves
11721 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11724 .Va ssl-config-pairs .
11727 .It Va ssl-features
11728 \*(OP\*(RO This expands to a comma separated list of the TLS/SSL library
11729 identity and optional TLS/SSL library features.
11730 Currently supported identities are
11734 (OpenSSL v1.1.x series)
11737 (elder OpenSSL series, other clones).
11738 Optional features are preceded with a plus sign
11740 when available, and with a hyphen-minus
11743 .Ql modules-load-file
11744 .Pf ( Va ssl-config-file ) ,
11746 .Pf ( Va ssl-config-pairs ) ,
11748 .Pf ( Va ssl-config-module ) ,
11749 .Ql ctx-set-maxmin-proto
11750 .Pf ( Va ssl-config-pairs )
11753 .Pf ( Va ssl-rand-egd ) .
11756 .It Va ssl-key-USER@HOST , ssl-key-HOST , ssl-key
11757 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11760 .Va ssl-config-pairs .
11762 .It Va ssl-method-USER@HOST , ssl-method-HOST , ssl-method
11763 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11766 .Va ssl-config-pairs .
11768 .Mx Va ssl-protocol
11769 .It Va ssl-protocol-USER@HOST , ssl-protocol-HOST , ssl-protocol
11770 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11773 .Va ssl-config-pairs .
11776 .It Va ssl-rand-egd
11777 \*(OP Gives the pathname to an entropy daemon socket, see
11779 Not all SSL/TLS libraries support this,
11781 announces availability with
11785 .It Va ssl-rand-file
11786 \*(OP Gives the filename to a file with random entropy data, see
11787 .Xr RAND_load_file 3 .
11788 If this variable is not set, or set to the empty string, or if the
11789 .Sx "Filename transformations"
11791 .Xr RAND_file_name 3
11792 will be used to create the filename.
11793 If the SSL PRNG was seeded successfully
11794 The file will be updated
11795 .Pf ( Xr RAND_write_file 3 )
11796 if and only if seeding and buffer stirring succeeds.
11797 This variable is only used if
11799 is not set (or not supported by the SSL/TLS library).
11802 .It Va ssl-verify-USER@HOST , ssl-verify-HOST , ssl-verify
11803 \*(OP Variable chain that sets the action to be performed if an error
11804 occurs during SSL/TLS server certificate validation against the
11805 specified or default trust stores
11808 or the SSL/TLS library built-in defaults (unless usage disallowed via
11809 .Va ssl-ca-no-defaults ) ,
11810 and as fine-tuned via
11812 Valid (case-insensitive) values are
11814 (fail and close connection immediately),
11816 (ask whether to continue on standard input),
11818 (show a warning and continue),
11820 (do not perform validation).
11826 If only set without an assigned value, then this setting inhibits the
11832 header fields that include obvious references to \*(UA.
11833 There are two pitfalls associated with this:
11834 First, the message id of outgoing messages is not known anymore.
11835 Second, an expert may still use the remaining information in the header
11836 to track down the originating mail user agent.
11837 If set to the value
11843 suppression does not occur.
11848 (\*(OP) This specifies a comma-separated list of
11853 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" ,
11854 escape commas with reverse solidus) to be used to overwrite or define
11857 this variable will only be queried once at program startup and can
11858 thus only be specified in resource files or on the command line.
11861 String capabilities form
11863 pairs and are expected unless noted otherwise.
11864 Numerics have to be notated as
11866 where the number is expected in normal decimal notation.
11867 Finally, booleans do not have any value but indicate a true or false
11868 state simply by being defined or not; this indeed means that \*(UA
11869 does not support undefining an existing boolean.
11870 String capability values will undergo some expansions before use:
11871 for one notations like
11874 .Ql control-LETTER ,
11875 and for clarification purposes
11877 can be used to specify
11879 (the control notation
11881 could lead to misreadings when a left bracket follows, which it does for
11882 the standard CSI sequence);
11883 finally three letter octal sequences, as in
11886 To specify that a terminal supports 256-colours, and to define sequences
11887 that home the cursor and produce an audible bell, one might write:
11889 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11890 ? set termcap='Co#256,home=\eE[H,bel=^G'
11894 The following terminal capabilities are or may be meaningful for the
11895 operation of the built-in line editor or \*(UA in general:
11898 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Cd yay"
11900 .It Cd colors Ns \0or Cd Co
11902 numeric capability specifying the maximum number of colours.
11903 Note that \*(UA does not actually care about the terminal beside that,
11904 but always emits ANSI / ISO 6429 escape sequences.
11907 .It Cd rmcup Ns \0or Cd te Ns \0/ Cd smcup Ns \0or Cd ti
11910 .Cd enter_ca_mode ,
11911 respectively: exit and enter the alternative screen ca-mode,
11912 effectively turning \*(UA into a fullscreen application.
11913 This must be enabled explicitly by setting
11914 .Va termcap-ca-mode .
11916 .It Cd smkx Ns \0or Cd ks Ns \0/ Cd rmkx Ns \0or Cd ke
11920 respectively: enable and disable the keypad.
11921 This is always enabled if available, because it seems even keyboards
11922 without keypads generate other key codes for, e.g., cursor keys in that
11923 case, and only if enabled we see the codes that we are interested in.
11925 .It Cd ed Ns \0or Cd cd
11929 .It Cd clear Ns \0or Cd cl
11931 clear the screen and home cursor.
11932 (Will be simulated via
11937 .It Cd home Ns \0or Cd ho
11942 .It Cd el Ns \0or Cd ce
11944 clear to the end of line.
11945 (Will be simulated via
11947 plus repetitions of space characters.)
11949 .It Cd hpa Ns \0or Cd ch
11950 .Cd column_address :
11951 move the cursor (to the given column parameter) in the current row.
11952 (Will be simulated via
11958 .Cd carriage_return :
11959 move to the first column in the current row.
11960 The default built-in fallback is
11963 .It Cd cub1 Ns \0or Cd le
11965 move the cursor left one space (non-destructively).
11966 The default built-in fallback is
11969 .It Cd cuf1 Ns \0or Cd nd
11971 move the cursor right one space (non-destructively).
11972 The default built-in fallback is
11974 which is used by most terminals.
11982 Many more capabilities which describe key-sequences are documented for
11987 .It Va termcap-ca-mode
11988 \*(OP Allow usage of the
11992 terminal capabilities, effectively turning \*(UA into a fullscreen
11993 application, as documented for
11996 this variable will only be queried once at program startup and can
11997 thus only be specified in resource files or on the command line.
12000 .It Va termcap-disable
12001 \*(OP Disable any interaction with a terminal control library.
12002 If set only some generic fallback built-ins and possibly the content of
12004 describe the terminal to \*(UA.
12006 this variable will only be queried once at program startup and can
12007 thus only be specified in resource files or on the command line.
12011 If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be displayed
12014 if unset, the first five lines are printed, if set to 0 the variable
12017 If the value is negative then its absolute value will be used for
12018 unsigned right shifting (see
12026 \*(BO If set then the
12028 command series will strip adjacent empty lines and quotations.
12032 The character set of the terminal \*(UA operates on,
12033 and the one and only supported character set that \*(UA can use if no
12034 character set conversion capabilities have been compiled into it,
12035 in which case it defaults to ISO-8859-1.
12036 Otherwise it defaults to UTF-8.
12037 Sufficient locale support provided the default will be preferably
12038 deduced from the locale environment if that is set (e.g.,
12040 see there for more); runtime locale changes will be reflected by
12042 except during the program startup phase and if
12044 had been used to freeze the given value.
12045 Refer to the section
12046 .Sx "Character sets"
12047 for the complete picture about character sets.
12050 .It Va typescript-mode
12051 \*(BO A special multiplex variable that disables all variables and
12052 settings which result in behaviour that interferes with running \*(UA in
12055 .Va colour-disable ,
12056 .Va line-editor-disable
12057 and (before startup completed only)
12058 .Va termcap-disable .
12059 Unsetting it does not restore the former state of the covered settings.
12063 For a safe-by-default policy the process file mode creation mask
12067 on program startup by default.
12068 Child processes inherit the file mode creation mask of their parent, and
12069 by setting this variable to an empty value no change will be applied,
12070 and the inherited value will be used.
12071 Otherwise the given value will be made the new file mode creation mask.
12074 .It Va user-HOST , user
12075 \*(IN Variable chain that sets a global fallback user name, which is
12076 used in case none has been given in the protocol and account-specific
12078 This variable defaults to the name of the user who runs \*(UA.
12082 \*(BO Setting this enables upward compatibility with \*(UA
12083 version 15.0 in respect to which configuration options are available and
12084 how they are handled.
12085 This manual uses \*(IN and \*(OU to refer to the new and the old way of
12086 doing things, respectively.
12090 \*(BO This setting, also controllable via the command line option
12092 causes \*(UA to be more verbose, e.g., it will display obsoletion
12093 warnings and SSL/TLS certificate chains.
12094 Even though marked \*(BO this option may be set twice in order to
12095 increase the level of verbosity even more, in which case even details of
12096 the actual message delivery and protocol conversations are shown.
12099 is sufficient to disable verbosity as such.
12106 .It Va version , version-date , \
12107 version-hexnum , version-major , version-minor , version-update
12108 \*(RO \*(UA version information: the first variable is a string with
12109 the complete version identification, the second the release date in ISO
12110 8601 notation without time.
12111 The third is a 32-bit hexadecimal number with the upper 8 bits storing
12112 the major, followed by the minor and update version numbers which occupy
12114 The latter three variables contain only decimal digits: the major, minor
12115 and update version numbers.
12116 The output of the command
12118 will include this information.
12121 .It Va writebackedited
12122 If this variable is set messages modified using the
12126 commands are written back to the current folder when it is quit;
12127 it is only honoured for writable folders in MBOX format, though.
12128 Note that the editor will be pointed to the raw message content in that
12129 case, i.e., neither MIME decoding nor decryption will have been
12130 performed, and proper RFC 4155
12132 quoting of newly added or edited content is also left as an exercise to
12135 .\" }}} (Variables)
12137 .\" }}} (INTERNAL VARIABLES)
12140 .\" .Sh ENVIRONMENT {{{
12144 .Dq environment variable
12145 should be considered an indication that these variables are either
12146 standardized as vivid parts of process environments, or that they are
12147 commonly found in there.
12148 The process environment is inherited from the
12150 once \*(UA is started, and unless otherwise explicitly noted handling of
12151 the following variables transparently integrates into that of the
12152 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
12153 from \*(UA's point of view.
12154 This means that, e.g., they can be managed via
12158 causing automatic program environment updates (to be inherited by
12159 newly created child processes).
12162 In order to transparently integrate other environment variables equally
12163 they need to be imported (linked) with the command
12165 This command can also be used to set and unset non-integrated
12166 environment variables from scratch, sufficient system support provided.
12167 The following example, applicable to a POSIX shell, sets the
12169 environment variable for \*(UA only, and beforehand exports the
12171 in order to affect any further processing in the running shell:
12173 .Bd -literal -offset indent
12174 $ EDITOR="vim -u ${HOME}/.vimrc"
12176 $ COLUMNS=80 \*(uA -R
12179 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ev BaNg"
12182 The user's preferred width in column positions for the terminal screen
12184 Queried and used once on program startup, actively managed for child
12185 processes and the MLE (see
12186 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
12187 in interactive mode thereafter.
12188 Ignored in non-interactive mode, which always uses 80 columns, unless in
12194 The name of the (mailbox)
12196 to use for saving aborted messages if
12198 is set; this defaults to
12205 is set no output will be generated, otherwise the contents of the file
12210 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
12214 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
12215 A default editor is used if this value is not defined.
12219 The user's home directory.
12220 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
12221 The calling user's home directory will be used instead if this directory
12222 does not exist, is not accessible or cannot be read;
12223 it will always be used for the root user.
12224 (No test for being writable is performed to allow usage by
12225 non-privileged users within read-only jails, but dependent on the
12226 variable settings this directory is a default write target, e.g. for
12234 .It Ev LC_ALL , LC_CTYPE , LANG
12235 \*(OP The (names in lookup order of the)
12239 which indicates the used
12240 .Sx "Character sets" .
12241 Runtime changes trigger automatic updates of the entire locale system,
12242 which includes updating
12244 (except during startup if the variable has been frozen via
12249 The user's preferred number of lines on a page or the vertical screen
12250 or window size in lines.
12251 Queried and used once on program startup, actively managed for child
12252 processes in interactive mode thereafter.
12253 Ignored in non-interactive mode, which always uses 24 lines, unless in
12259 Pathname of the directory lister to use in the
12261 command when operating on local mailboxes.
12264 (path search through
12269 Upon startup \*(UA will actively ensure that this variable refers to the
12270 name of the user who runs \*(UA, in order to be able to pass a verified
12271 name to any newly created child process.
12275 Is used as the users
12277 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
12281 This is assumed to be an absolute pathname.
12285 \*(OP Overrides the default path search for
12286 .Sx "The Mailcap files" ,
12287 which is defined in the standard RFC 1524 as
12288 .Ql ~/.mailcap:\:/etc/mailcap:\:/usr/etc/mailcap:\:/usr/local/etc/mailcap .
12289 .\" TODO we should have a mailcaps-default virtual RDONLY option!
12290 (\*(UA makes it a configuration option, however.)
12291 Note this is not a search path, but a path search.
12295 Is used as a startup file instead of
12298 In order to avoid side-effects from configuration files scripts should
12299 either set this variable to
12303 command line option should be used.
12306 .It Ev MAILX_NO_SYSTEM_RC
12307 If this variable is set then reading of
12309 at startup is inhibited, i.e., the same effect is achieved as if \*(UA
12310 had been started up with the option
12312 (and according argument) or
12314 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
12318 The name of the users
12320 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
12322 A logical subset of the special
12323 .Sx "Filename transformations"
12329 Traditionally this MBOX is used as the file to save messages from the
12331 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
12332 that have been read.
12334 .Sx "Message states" .
12338 \*(IN\*(OP This variable overrides the default location of the user's
12344 Pathname of the program to use for backing the command
12348 variable enforces usage of a pager for output.
12349 The default paginator is
12351 (path search through
12354 \*(UA inspects the contents of this variable: if its contains the string
12356 then a non-existing environment variable
12363 will optionally be set to
12370 A colon-separated list of directories that is searched by the shell when
12371 looking for commands, e.g.,
12372 .Ql /bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin .
12375 .It Ev POSIXLY_CORRECT
12376 This variable is automatically looked for upon startup, see
12382 The shell to use for the commands
12387 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
12388 and when starting subprocesses.
12389 A default shell is used if this environment variable is not defined.
12392 .It Ev SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
12393 Specifies a time in seconds since the Unix epoch (1970-01-01) to be
12394 used in place of the current time.
12395 This variable is looked up upon program startup, and its existence will
12396 switch \*(UA to a reproducible mode
12397 .Pf ( Lk https://reproducible-builds.org )
12398 which uses deterministic random numbers, a special fixated pseudo
12401 This operation mode is used for development and by software packagers.
12402 \*(ID Currently an invalid setting is only ignored, rather than causing
12403 a program abortion.
12405 .Dl $ SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=`date +%s` \*(uA
12409 \*(OP The terminal type for which output is to be prepared.
12410 For extended colour and font control please refer to
12411 .Sx "Coloured display" ,
12412 and for terminal management in general to
12413 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" .
12417 Except for the root user this variable defines the directory for
12418 temporary files to be used instead of
12420 (or the given compile-time constant) if set, existent, accessible as
12421 well as read- and writable.
12422 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment,
12423 but \*(UA will ensure at startup that this environment variable is
12424 updated to contain a usable temporary directory.
12430 (see there), but this variable is not standardized, should therefore not
12431 be used, and is only corrected if already set.
12435 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
12439 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
12449 .Bl -tag -width ".It Pa BaNg"
12451 File giving initial commands, one of the
12452 .Sx "Resource files" .
12455 System wide initialization file, one of the
12456 .Sx "Resource files" .
12460 \*(OP Personal MIME type handler definition file, see
12461 .Sx "The Mailcap files" .
12462 This location is part of the RFC 1524 standard search path, which is
12463 a configuration option and can be overridden via
12467 .It Pa /etc/mailcap
12468 \*(OP System wide MIME type handler definition file, see
12469 .Sx "The Mailcap files" .
12470 This location is part of the RFC 1524 standard search path, which is
12471 a configuration option and can be overridden via
12475 The default value for
12477 The actually used path is a configuration option.
12480 .It Pa ~/.mime.types
12481 Personal MIME types, see
12482 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
12483 The actually used path is a configuration option.
12486 .It Pa /etc/mime.types
12487 System wide MIME types, see
12488 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
12489 The actually used path is a configuration option.
12493 \*(IN\*(OP The default location of the users
12495 file \(en the section
12496 .Sx "The .netrc file"
12497 documents the file format.
12498 The actually used path is a configuration option and can be overridden via
12505 The actually used path is a compile-time constant.
12509 .\" .Ss "Resource files" {{{
12510 .Ss "Resource files"
12512 Upon startup \*(UA reads in several resource files:
12514 .Bl -tag -width ".It Pa BaNg"
12517 System wide initialization file.
12518 Reading of this file can be suppressed, either by using the
12520 (and according argument) or
12522 command line options, or by setting the
12525 .Ev MAILX_NO_SYSTEM_RC .
12529 File giving initial commands.
12530 A different file can be chosen by setting the
12534 Reading of this file can be suppressed with the
12536 command line option.
12538 .It Va mailx-extra-rc
12539 Defines a startup file to be read after all other resource files.
12540 It can be used to specify settings that are not understood by other
12542 implementations, for example.
12543 This variable is only honoured when defined in a resource file, e.g.,
12545 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" .
12549 The content of these files is interpreted as follows:
12552 .Bl -bullet -compact
12554 The whitespace characters space, tabulator and newline,
12555 as well as those defined by the variable
12557 are removed from the beginning and end of input lines.
12559 Empty lines are ignored.
12561 Any other line is interpreted as a command.
12562 It may be spread over multiple input lines if the newline character is
12564 by placing a reverse solidus character
12566 as the last character of the line; whereas any leading whitespace of
12567 follow lines is ignored, trailing whitespace before a escaped newline
12568 remains in the input.
12570 If the line (content) starts with the number sign
12572 then it is a comment-command and also ignored.
12573 (The comment-command is a real command, which does nothing, and
12574 therefore the usual follow lines mechanism applies!)
12578 Unless \*(UA is about to enter interactive mode syntax errors that occur
12579 while loading these files are treated as errors and cause program exit.
12580 More files with syntactically equal content can be
12582 The following, saved in a file, would be an examplary content:
12584 .Bd -literal -offset indent
12585 # This line is a comment command. And y\e
12586 es, it is really continued here.
12593 .\" .Ss "The mime.types files" {{{
12594 .Ss "The mime.types files"
12597 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments"
12598 \*(UA needs to learn about MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions)
12599 media types in order to classify message and attachment content.
12600 One source for them are
12602 files, the loading of which can be controlled by setting the variable
12603 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
12604 Another is the command
12606 which also offers access to \*(UAs MIME type cache.
12608 files have the following syntax:
12610 .Bd -literal -offset indent
12611 type/subtype extension [extension ...]
12612 # E.g., text/html html htm
12618 define the MIME media type, as standardized in RFC 2046:
12620 is used to declare the general type of data, while the
12622 specifies a specific format for that type of data.
12623 One or multiple filename
12625 s, separated by whitespace, can be bound to the media type format.
12626 Comments may be introduced anywhere on a line with a number sign
12628 causing the remaining line to be discarded.
12630 \*(UA also supports an extended, non-portable syntax in especially
12631 crafted files, which can be loaded via the alternative value syntax of
12632 .Va mimetypes-load-control ,
12633 and prepends an optional
12637 .Dl [type-marker ]type/subtype extension [extension ...]
12640 The following type markers are supported:
12643 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar _n_u"
12645 Treat message parts with this content as plain text.
12650 Treat message parts with this content as HTML tagsoup.
12651 If the \*(OPal HTML-tagsoup-to-text converter is not available treat
12652 the content as plain text instead.
12656 but instead of falling back to plain text require an explicit content
12657 handler to be defined.
12659 If no handler can be found a text message is displayed which says so.
12660 This can be annoying, for example signatures serve a contextual purpose,
12661 their content is of no use by itself.
12662 This marker will avoid displaying the text message.
12667 for sending messages:
12669 .Va mime-allow-text-controls ,
12670 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
12671 For reading etc. messages:
12672 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ,
12673 .Sx "The Mailcap files" ,
12675 .Va mime-counter-evidence ,
12676 .Va mimetypes-load-control ,
12677 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE ,
12678 .Va pipe-EXTENSION .
12681 .\" .Ss "The Mailcap files" {{{
12682 .Ss "The Mailcap files"
12684 .\" TODO MAILCAP DISABLED
12685 .Sy This feature is not available in v14.9.0, sorry!
12687 .Dq User Agent Configuration Mechanism
12688 which \*(UA \*(OPally supports (see
12689 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ) .
12690 It defines a file format to be used to inform mail user agent programs
12691 about the locally-installed facilities for handling various data
12692 formats, i.e., about commands and how they can be used to display, edit
12693 et cetera MIME part contents, as well as a default path search that
12694 includes multiple possible locations of
12698 environment variable that can be used to overwrite that (repeating here
12699 that it is not a search path, but instead a path search specification).
12700 Any existing files will be loaded in sequence, appending any content to
12701 the list of MIME type handler directives.
12705 files consist of a set of newline separated entries.
12706 Comment lines start with a number sign
12708 (in the first column!) and are ignored.
12709 Empty lines are also ignored.
12710 All other lines form individual entries that must adhere to the syntax
12712 To extend a single entry (not comment) its line can be continued on
12713 follow lines if newline characters are
12715 by preceding them with the reverse solidus character
12717 The standard does not specify how leading whitespace of follow lines
12718 is to be treated, therefore \*(UA retains it.
12722 entries consist of a number of semicolon
12724 separated fields, and the reverse solidus
12726 character can be used to escape any following character including
12727 semicolon and itself.
12728 The first two fields are mandatory and must occur in the specified
12729 order, the remaining fields are optional and may appear in any order.
12730 Leading and trailing whitespace of content is ignored (removed).
12733 The first field defines the MIME
12735 the entry is about to handle (case-insensitively, and no reverse solidus
12736 escaping is possible in this field).
12737 If the subtype is specified as an asterisk
12739 the entry is meant to match all subtypes of the named type, e.g.,
12741 would match any audio type.
12742 The second field defines the shell command which shall be used to
12744 MIME parts of the given type; it is implicitly called the
12751 shell commands message (MIME part) data is passed via standard input
12752 unless the given shell command includes one or more instances of the
12755 in which case these instances will be replaced with a temporary filename
12756 and the data will have been stored in the file that is being pointed to.
12759 shell commands data is assumed to be generated on standard output unless
12760 the given command includes (one ore multiple)
12762 In any case any given
12764 format is replaced with a(n already) properly quoted filename.
12765 Note that when a command makes use of a temporary file via
12767 then \*(UA will remove it again, as if the
12768 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile ,
12769 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill
12771 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
12772 flags had been set; see below for more.
12775 The optional fields either define a shell command or an attribute (flag)
12776 value, the latter being a single word and the former being a keyword
12777 naming the field followed by an equals sign
12779 succeeded by a shell command, and as usual for any
12781 content any whitespace surrounding the equals sign will be removed, too.
12782 Optional fields include the following:
12785 .Bl -tag -width ".It Cd BaNg"
12787 A program that can be used to compose a new body or body part in the
12789 (Currently unused.)
12791 .It Cd composetyped
12794 field, but is to be used when the composing program needs to specify the
12796 header field to be applied to the composed data.
12797 (Currently unused.)
12800 A program that can be used to edit a body or body part in the given
12802 (Currently unused.)
12805 A program that can be used to print a message or body part in the given
12807 (Currently unused.)
12810 Specifies a program to be run to test some condition, e.g., the machine
12811 architecture, or the window system in use, to determine whether or not
12812 this mailcap entry applies.
12813 If the test fails, a subsequent mailcap entry should be sought; also see
12814 .Cd x-mailx-test-once .
12817 .It Cd needsterminal
12818 This flag field indicates that the given shell command must be run on
12819 an interactive terminal.
12820 \*(UA will temporarily release the terminal to the given command in
12821 interactive mode, in non-interactive mode this entry will be entirely
12822 ignored; this flag implies
12823 .Cd x-mailx-noquote .
12826 .It Cd copiousoutput
12827 A flag field which indicates that the output of the
12829 command will be an extended stream of textual output that can be
12830 (re)integrated into \*(UA's normal visual display.
12831 It is mutually exclusive with
12832 .Cd needsterminal .
12834 .It Cd textualnewlines
12835 A flag field which indicates that this type of data is line-oriented and
12836 that, if encoded in
12838 all newlines should be converted to canonical form (CRLF) before
12839 encoding, and will be in that form after decoding.
12840 (Currently unused.)
12842 .It Cd nametemplate
12843 This field gives a filename format, in which
12845 will be replaced by a random string, the joined combination of which
12846 will be used as the filename denoted by
12847 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY .
12848 One could specify that a GIF file being passed to an image viewer should
12849 have a name ending in
12852 .Ql nametemplate=%s.gif .
12853 Note that \*(UA ignores the name template unless that solely specifies
12854 a filename suffix that consists of (ASCII) alphabetic and numeric
12855 characters, the underscore and dot only.
12858 Names a file, in X11 bitmap (xbm) format, which points to an appropriate
12859 icon to be used to visually denote the presence of this kind of data.
12860 This field is not used by \*(UA.
12863 A textual description that describes this type of data.
12866 .It Cd x-mailx-even-if-not-interactive
12867 An extension flag test field \(em by default handlers without
12869 are entirely ignored in non-interactive mode, but if this flag is set
12870 then their use will be considered.
12871 It is an error if this flag is set for commands that use the flag
12872 .Cd needsterminal .
12875 .It Cd x-mailx-noquote
12876 An extension flag field that indicates that even a
12879 command shall not be used to generate message quotes
12880 (as it would be by default).
12883 .It Cd x-mailx-async
12884 Extension flag field that denotes that the given
12886 command shall be executed asynchronously, without blocking \*(UA.
12887 Cannot be used in conjunction with
12888 .Cd needsterminal .
12891 .It Cd x-mailx-test-once
12892 Extension flag which denotes whether the given
12894 command shall be evaluated once only and the (boolean) result be cached.
12895 This is handy if some global unchanging condition is to be queried, like
12896 .Dq running under the X Window System .
12899 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile
12900 Extension flag field that requests creation of a zero-sized temporary
12901 file, the name of which is to be placed in the environment variable
12902 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY .
12903 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
12908 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill
12909 Normally the MIME part content is passed to the handler via standard
12910 input; if this flag is set then the data will instead be written into
12912 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile .
12913 In order to cause deletion of the temporary file you will have to set
12914 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
12916 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
12921 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
12922 Extension flag field that requests that the temporary file shall be
12923 deleted automatically when the command loop is entered again at latest.
12924 (Do not use this for asynchronous handlers.)
12925 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
12927 format, or in conjunction with
12928 .Cd x-mailx-async ,
12929 or without also setting
12930 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile
12932 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill .
12935 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-keep
12938 implies the three tmpfile related flags above, but if you want, e.g.,
12940 and deal with the temporary file yourself, you can add in this flag to
12942 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink .
12947 The standard includes the possibility to define any number of additional
12948 entry fields, prefixed by
12950 Flag fields apply to the entire
12952 entry \(em in some unusual cases, this may not be desirable, but
12953 differentiation can be accomplished via separate entries, taking
12954 advantage of the fact that subsequent entries are searched if an earlier
12955 one does not provide enough information.
12958 command needs to specify the
12962 command shall not, the following will help out the latter (with enabled
12966 level \*(UA will show information about handler evaluation):
12968 .Bd -literal -offset indent
12969 application/postscript; ps-to-terminal %s; needsterminal
12970 application/postscript; ps-to-terminal %s; compose=idraw %s
12974 In fields any occurrence of the format string
12976 will be replaced by the
12979 Named parameters from the
12981 field may be placed in the command execution line using
12983 followed by the parameter name and a closing
12986 The entire parameter should appear as a single command line argument,
12987 regardless of embedded spaces; thus:
12989 .Bd -literal -offset indent
12991 Content-type: multipart/mixed; boundary=42
12994 multipart/*; /usr/local/bin/showmulti \e
12995 %t %{boundary} ; composetyped = /usr/local/bin/makemulti
12997 # Executed shell command
12998 /usr/local/bin/showmulti multipart/mixed 42
13002 .\" TODO v15: Mailcap: %n,%F
13003 Note that \*(UA does not support handlers for multipart MIME parts as
13004 shown in this example (as of today).
13005 \*(UA does not support the additional formats
13009 An example file, also showing how to properly deal with the expansion of
13011 which includes any quotes that are necessary to make it a valid shell
13012 argument by itself and thus will cause undesired behaviour when placed
13013 in additional user-provided quotes:
13015 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13017 text/richtext; richtext %s; copiousoutput
13019 text/x-perl; perl -cWT %s
13021 application/pdf; \e
13023 trap "rm -f ${infile}" EXIT\e; \e
13024 trap "exit 75" INT QUIT TERM\e; \e
13026 x-mailx-async; x-mailx-tmpfile-keep
13028 application/*; echo "This is \e"%t\e" but \e
13029 is 50 \e% Greek to me" \e; < %s head -c 1024 | cat -vET; \e
13030 copiousoutput; x-mailx-noquote
13035 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ,
13036 .Sx "The mime.types files" ,
13039 .Va mime-counter-evidence ,
13040 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE ,
13041 .Va pipe-EXTENSION .
13044 .\" .Ss "The .netrc file" {{{
13045 .Ss "The .netrc file"
13049 file contains user credentials for machine accounts.
13050 The default location in the user's
13052 directory may be overridden by the
13054 environment variable.
13055 The file consists of space, tabulator or newline separated tokens.
13056 \*(UA implements a parser that supports a superset of the original BSD
13057 syntax, but users should nonetheless be aware of portability glitches
13058 of that file format, shall their
13060 be usable across multiple programs and platforms:
13063 .Bl -bullet -compact
13065 BSD does not support single, but only double quotation marks, e.g.,
13066 .Ql password="pass with spaces" .
13068 BSD (only?) supports escaping of single characters via a reverse solidus
13069 (e.g., a space can be escaped via
13071 in- as well as outside of a quoted string.
13073 BSD does not require a final quotation mark of the last user input token.
13075 The original BSD (Berknet) parser also supported a format which allowed
13076 tokens to be separated with commas \(en whereas at least Hewlett-Packard
13077 still seems to support this syntax, \*(UA does not!
13079 As a non-portable extension some widely-used programs support
13080 shell-style comments: if an input line starts, after any amount of
13081 whitespace, with a number sign
13083 then the rest of the line is ignored.
13085 Whereas other programs may require that the
13087 file is accessible by only the user if it contains a
13089 token for any other
13093 \*(UA will always require these strict permissions.
13097 Of the following list of supported tokens \*(UA only uses (and caches)
13102 At runtime the command
13104 can be used to control \*(UA's
13108 .Bl -tag -width ".It Cd BaNg"
13109 .It Cd machine Ar name
13110 The hostname of the entries' machine, lowercase-normalized by \*(UA
13112 Any further file content, until either end-of-file or the occurrence
13117 first-class token is bound (only related) to the machine
13120 As an extension that should not be the cause of any worries
13121 \*(UA supports a single wildcard prefix for
13123 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13124 machine *.example.com login USER password PASS
13125 machine pop3.example.com login USER password PASS
13126 machine smtp.example.com login USER password PASS
13132 .Ql pop3.example.com ,
13136 .Ql local.smtp.example.com .
13137 Note that in the example neither
13138 .Ql pop3.example.com
13140 .Ql smtp.example.com
13141 will be matched by the wildcard, since the exact matches take
13142 precedence (it is however faster to specify it the other way around).
13145 This is the same as
13147 except that it is a fallback entry that is used shall none of the
13148 specified machines match; only one default token may be specified,
13149 and it must be the last first-class token.
13151 .It Cd login Ar name
13152 The user name on the remote machine.
13154 .It Cd password Ar string
13155 The user's password on the remote machine.
13157 .It Cd account Ar string
13158 Supply an additional account password.
13159 This is merely for FTP purposes.
13161 .It Cd macdef Ar name
13163 A macro is defined with the specified
13165 it is formed from all lines beginning with the next line and continuing
13166 until a blank line is (consecutive newline characters are) encountered.
13169 entries cannot be utilized by multiple machines, too, but must be
13170 defined following the
13172 they are intended to be used with.)
13175 exists, it is automatically run as the last step of the login process.
13176 This is merely for FTP purposes.
13183 .\" .Sh EXAMPLES {{{
13186 .\" .Ss "An example configuration" {{{
13187 .Ss "An example configuration"
13189 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13190 # This example assumes v15.0 compatibility mode
13193 # Request strict SSL/TLS transport security checks
13194 set ssl-verify=strict
13196 # Where are the up-to-date SSL/TLS certificates?
13197 # (Since we manage up-to-date ones explicitly, do not use any,
13198 # possibly outdated, default certificates shipped with OpenSSL)
13199 #set ssl-ca-dir=/etc/ssl/certs
13200 set ssl-ca-file=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
13201 set ssl-ca-no-defaults
13202 #set ssl-ca-flags=partial-chain
13203 wysh set smime-ca-file="${ssl-ca-file}" \e
13204 smime-ca-no-defaults #smime-ca-flags="${ssl-ca-flags}"
13206 # This could be outsourced to a central configuration file via
13207 # ssl-config-file plus ssl-config-module if the used library allows.
13208 # CipherList: explicitly define the list of ciphers, which may
13209 # improve security, especially with protocols older than TLS v1.2.
13210 # See ciphers(1). Possibly best to only use ssl-cipher-list-HOST
13211 # (or -USER@HOST), as necessary, again..
13212 # Curves: especially with TLSv1.3 curves selection may be desired.
13213 # MinProtocol,MaxProtocol: do not use protocols older than TLS v1.2.
13214 # Change this only when the remote server does not support it:
13215 # maybe use chain support via ssl-config-pairs-HOST / -USER@HOST
13216 # to define such explicit exceptions, then, e.g.
13217 # MinProtocol=TLSv1.1
13218 if [ "$ssl-features" =% +ctx-set-maxmin-proto ]
13219 wysh set ssl-config-pairs='\e
13220 CipherList=TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:@STRENGTH,\e
13221 Curves=P-521:P-384:P-256,\e
13222 MinProtocol=TLSv1.1'
13224 wysh set ssl-config-pairs='\e
13225 CipherList=TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:@STRENGTH,\e
13226 Curves=P-521:P-384:P-256,\e
13227 Protocol=-ALL\e,+TLSv1.1 \e, +TLSv1.2'
13230 # Essential setting: select allowed character sets
13231 set sendcharsets=utf-8,iso-8859-1
13233 # A very kind option: when replying to a message, first try to
13234 # use the same encoding that the original poster used herself!
13235 set reply-in-same-charset
13237 # When replying, do not merge From: and To: of the original message
13238 # into To:. Instead old From: -> new To:, old To: -> merge Cc:.
13239 set recipients-in-cc
13241 # When sending messages, wait until the Mail-Transfer-Agent finishs.
13242 # Only like this you will be able to see errors reported through the
13243 # exit status of the MTA (including the built-in SMTP one)!
13246 # Only use built-in MIME types, no mime.types(5) files
13247 set mimetypes-load-control
13249 # Default directory where we act in (relative to $HOME)
13251 # A leading "+" (often) means: under *folder*
13252 # *record* is used to save copies of sent messages
13253 set MBOX=+mbox.mbox DEAD=+dead.txt \e
13254 record=+sent.mbox record-files record-resent
13256 # Make "file mymbox" and "file myrec" go to..
13257 shortcut mymbox %:+mbox.mbox myrec +sent.mbox
13259 # Not really optional, e.g., for S/MIME
13260 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
13262 # It may be necessary to set hostname and/or smtp-hostname
13263 # if the "SERVER" of mta and "domain" of from do not match.
13264 # The `urlencode' command can be used to encode USER and PASS
13265 set mta=(smtps?|submission)://[USER[:PASS]@]SERVER[:PORT] \e
13266 smtp-auth=login/plain... \e
13269 # Never refuse to start into interactive mode, and more
13271 colour-pager crt= \e
13272 followup-to followup-to-honour=ask-yes fullnames \e
13273 history-file=+.\*(uAhist history-size=-1 history-gabby \e
13274 mime-counter-evidence=0b1111 \e
13275 prompt='?\e$?!\e$!/\e$^ERRNAME[\e$account#\e$mailbox-display]? ' \e
13276 reply-to-honour=ask-yes \e
13279 # Only include the selected header fields when typing messages
13280 headerpick type retain from_ date from to cc subject \e
13281 message-id mail-followup-to reply-to
13282 # ...when forwarding messages
13283 headerpick forward retain subject date from to cc
13284 # ...when saving message, etc.
13285 #headerpick save ignore ^Original-.*$ ^X-.*$
13287 # Some mailing lists
13288 mlist '@xyz-editor\e.xyz$' '@xyzf\e.xyz$'
13289 mlsubscribe '^xfans@xfans\e.xyz$'
13291 # Handle a few file extensions (to store MBOX databases)
13292 filetype bz2 'bzip2 -dc' 'bzip2 -zc' \e
13293 gz 'gzip -dc' 'gzip -c' xz 'xz -dc' 'xz -zc' \e
13294 zst 'zstd -dc' 'zstd -19 -zc' \e
13295 zst.pgp 'gpg -d | zstd -dc' 'zstd -19 -zc | gpg -e'
13297 # A real life example of a very huge free mail provider
13298 # Instead of directly placing content inside `account',
13299 # we `define' a macro: like that we can switch "accounts"
13300 # from within *on-compose-splice*, for example!
13302 set folder=~/spool/XooglX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
13303 set from='Your Name <address@examp.ple>'
13305 set pop3-no-apop-pop.gmXil.com
13306 shortcut pop %:pop3s://pop.gmXil.com
13307 shortcut imap %:imaps://imap.gmXil.com
13308 #set record="+[Gmail]/Sent Mail"
13309 # Select: File imaps://imap.gmXil.com/[Gmail]/Sent\e Mail
13311 set mta=smtp://USER:PASS@smtp.gmXil.com smtp-use-starttls
13313 set mta=smtps://USER:PASS@smtp.gmail.com:465
13319 # Here is a pretty large one which does not allow sending mails
13320 # if there is a domain name mismatch on the SMTP protocol level,
13321 # which would bite us if the value of from does not match, e.g.,
13322 # for people who have a sXXXXeforge project and want to speak
13323 # with the mailing list under their project account (in from),
13324 # still sending the message through their normal mail provider
13326 set folder=~/spool/XandeX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
13327 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
13329 shortcut pop %:pop3s://pop.yaXXex.com
13330 shortcut imap %:imaps://imap.yaXXex.com
13332 set mta=smtps://USER:PASS@smtp.yaXXex.com:465 \e
13333 hostname=yaXXex.com smtp-hostname=
13339 # Create some new commands so that, e.g., `ls /tmp' will..
13340 commandalias lls '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFlrS'
13341 commandalias llS '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFlS'
13343 set pipe-message/external-body='@* echo $MAILX_EXTERNAL_BODY_URL'
13345 # We do not support gpg(1) directly yet. But simple --clearsign'd
13346 # message parts can be dealt with as follows:
13349 wysh set pipe-text/plain=$'@*#++=@\e
13350 < "${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}" awk \e
13351 -v TMPFILE="${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}" \e'\e
13353 /^-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----/,/^$/ {\e
13356 print "--- GPG --verify ---";\e
13357 system("gpg --verify " TMPFILE " 2>&1");\e
13358 print "--- GPG --verify ---";\e
13362 /^-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----/,\e
13363 /^-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----/{\e
13370 commandalias V '\e'call V
13374 When storing passwords in
13376 appropriate permissions should be set on this file with
13377 .Ql $ chmod 0600 \*(ur .
13380 is available user credentials can be stored in the central
13382 file instead; e.g., here is a different version of the example account
13383 that sets up SMTP and POP3:
13385 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13387 set folder=~/spool/XandeX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
13388 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
13390 # Load an encrypted ~/.netrc by uncommenting the next line
13391 #set netrc-pipe='gpg -qd ~/.netrc.pgp'
13393 set mta=smtps://smtp.yXXXXx.ru:465 \e
13394 smtp-hostname= hostname=yXXXXx.com
13395 set pop3-keepalive=240 pop3-no-apop-pop.yXXXXx.ru
13396 commandalias xp fi pop3s://pop.yXXXXx.ru
13408 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13409 machine *.yXXXXx.ru login USER password PASS
13413 This configuration should now work just fine:
13416 .Dl $ echo text | \*(uA -dvv -AXandeX -s Subject user@exam.ple
13419 .\" .Ss "S/MIME step by step" {{{
13420 .Ss "S/MIME step by step"
13422 \*(OP The first thing you need for participating in S/MIME message
13423 exchange is your personal certificate, including a private key.
13424 The certificate contains public information, in particular your name and
13425 your email address(es), and the public key that is used by others to
13426 encrypt messages for you,
13427 and to verify signed messages they supposedly received from you.
13428 The certificate is included in each signed message you send.
13429 The private key must be kept secret.
13430 It is used to decrypt messages that were previously encrypted with your
13431 public key, and to sign messages.
13434 For personal use it is recommended that you get a S/MIME certificate
13435 from one of the major CAs on the Internet using your WWW browser.
13436 Many CAs offer such certificates for free.
13438 .Lk https://www.CAcert.org
13439 which issues client and server certificates to members of their
13440 community for free; their root certificate
13441 .Pf ( Lk https://\:www.cacert.org/\:certs/\:root.crt )
13442 is often not in the default set of trusted CA root certificates, though,
13443 which means you will have to download their root certificate separately
13444 and ensure it is part of our S/MIME certificate validation chain by
13447 or as a vivid member of the
13448 .Va smime-ca-file .
13449 But let us take a step-by-step tour on how to setup S/MIME with
13450 a certificate from CAcert.org despite this situation!
13453 First of all you will have to become a member of the CAcert.org
13454 community, simply by registrating yourself via the web interface.
13455 Once you are, create and verify all email addresses you want to be able
13456 to create signed and encrypted messages for/with using the corresponding
13457 entries of the web interface.
13458 Now ready to create S/MIME certificates, so let us create a new
13459 .Dq client certificate ,
13460 ensure to include all email addresses that should be covered by the
13461 certificate in the following web form, and also to use your name as the
13465 Create a private key and a certificate request on your local computer
13466 (please see the manual pages of the used commands for more in-depth
13467 knowledge on what the used arguments etc. do):
13470 .Dl $ openssl req -nodes -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout key.pem -out creq.pem
13473 Afterwards copy-and-paste the content of
13475 into the certificate-request (CSR) field of the web form on the
13476 CAcert.org website (you may need to unfold some
13477 .Dq advanced options
13478 to see the corresponding text field).
13479 This last step will ensure that your private key (which never left your
13480 box) and the certificate belong together (through the public key that
13481 will find its way into the certificate via the certificate-request).
13482 You are now ready and can create your CAcert certified certificate.
13483 Download and store or copy-and-paste it as
13488 In order to use your new S/MIME setup a combined private key/public key
13489 (certificate) file has to be created:
13492 .Dl $ cat key.pem pub.crt > ME@HERE.com.paired
13495 This is the file \*(UA will work with.
13496 If you have created your private key with a passphrase then \*(UA will
13497 ask you for it whenever a message is signed or decrypted.
13498 Set the following variables to henceforth use S/MIME (setting
13500 is of interest for verification only):
13502 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13503 ? set smime-ca-file=ALL-TRUSTED-ROOT-CERTS-HERE \e
13504 smime-sign-cert=ME@HERE.com.paired \e
13505 smime-sign-message-digest=SHA256 \e
13511 .\" .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or SSL/TLS" {{{
13512 .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or SSL/TLS"
13514 \*(OP Certification authorities (CAs) issue certificate revocation
13515 lists (CRLs) on a regular basis.
13516 These lists contain the serial numbers of certificates that have been
13517 declared invalid after they have been issued.
13518 Such usually happens because the private key for the certificate has
13520 because the owner of the certificate has left the organization that is
13521 mentioned in the certificate, etc.
13522 To seriously use S/MIME or SSL/TLS verification,
13523 an up-to-date CRL is required for each trusted CA.
13524 There is otherwise no method to distinguish between valid and
13525 invalidated certificates.
13526 \*(UA currently offers no mechanism to fetch CRLs, nor to access them on
13527 the Internet, so they have to be retrieved by some external mechanism.
13530 \*(UA accepts CRLs in PEM format only;
13531 CRLs in DER format must be converted, like, e.\|g.:
13534 .Dl $ openssl crl \-inform DER \-in crl.der \-out crl.pem
13537 To tell \*(UA about the CRLs, a directory that contains all CRL files
13538 (and no other files) must be created.
13543 variables, respectively, must then be set to point to that directory.
13544 After that, \*(UA requires a CRL to be present for each CA that is used
13545 to verify a certificate.
13554 In general it is a good idea to turn on
13560 twice) if something does not work well.
13561 Very often a diagnostic message can be produced that leads to the
13562 problems' solution.
13564 .\" .Ss "\*(UA shortly hangs on startup" {{{
13565 .Ss "\*(UA shortly hangs on startup"
13567 This can have two reasons, one is the necessity to wait for a file lock
13568 and cannot be helped, the other being that \*(UA calls the function
13570 in order to query the nodename of the box (sometimes the real one is
13571 needed instead of the one represented by the internal variable
13573 One may have varying success by ensuring that the real hostname and
13577 or, more generally, that the name service is properly setup \(en
13580 return the expected value?
13581 Does this local hostname have a domain suffix?
13582 RFC 6762 standardized the link-local top-level domain
13584 try again after adding an (additional) entry with this extension.
13587 .\" .Ss "I cannot login to Google mail aka GMail" {{{
13588 .Ss "I cannot login to Google mail aka GMail"
13590 Since 2014 some free service providers classify programs as
13592 unless they use a special authentication method (OAuth 2.0) which
13593 was not standardized for non-HTTP protocol authentication token query
13594 until August 2015 (RFC 7628).
13597 Different to Kerberos / GSSAPI, which is developed since the mid of the
13598 1980s, where a user can easily create a local authentication ticket for
13599 her- and himself with the locally installed
13601 program, that protocol has no such local part but instead requires
13602 a world-wide-web query to create or fetch a token; since there is no
13603 local cache this query would have to be performed whenever \*(UA is
13604 invoked (in interactive sessions situation may differ).
13607 \*(UA does not support OAuth.
13608 Because of this it is necessary to declare \*(UA a
13609 .Dq less secure app
13610 (on the providers account web page) in order to read and send mail.
13611 However, it also seems possible to take the following steps instead:
13616 give the provider the number of a mobile phone,
13619 .Dq 2-Step Verification ,
13621 create an application specific password (16 characters), and
13623 use that special password instead of the real Google account password in
13624 \*(UA (for more on that see the section
13625 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ) .
13629 .\" .Ss "Not \(dqdefunctional\(dq, but the editor key does not work" {{{
13630 .Ss "Not \(dqdefunctional\(dq, but the editor key does not work"
13632 It can happen that the terminal library (see
13633 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor",
13636 reports different codes than the terminal really sends, in which case
13637 \*(UA will tell that a key binding is functional, but will not be able to
13638 recognize it because the received data does not match anything expected.
13639 Especially without the \*(OPal terminal capability library support one
13640 reason for this may be that the (possibly even non-existing) keypad
13641 is not turned on and the resulting layout reports the keypad control
13642 codes for the normal keyboard keys.
13647 ings will show the byte sequences that are expected.
13650 To overcome the situation, use, e.g., the program
13652 in conjunction with the command line option
13654 if available, to see the byte sequences which are actually produced
13655 by keypresses, and use the variable
13657 to make \*(UA aware of them.
13658 E.g., the terminal this is typed on produces some false sequences, here
13659 an example showing the shifted home key:
13661 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13664 # 1B 5B=[ 31=1 3B=; 32=2 48=H
13669 ? \*(uA -v -Stermcap='kHOM=\eE[H'
13676 .\" .Ss "Can \*(UA git-send-email?" {{{
13677 .Ss "Can \*(UA git-send-email?"
13680 Put (at least parts of) the following in your
13683 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13685 smtpserver = /usr/bin/s-mailx
13686 smtpserveroption = -t
13687 #smtpserveroption = -Sexpandaddr
13688 smtpserveroption = -Athe-account-you-need
13691 suppressfrom = false
13692 assume8bitEncoding = UTF-8
13695 chainreplyto = true
13706 .\" .Sh "IMAP CLIENT" {{{
13709 \*(OPally there is IMAP client support available.
13710 This part of the program is obsolete and will vanish in v15 with the
13711 large MIME and I/O layer rewrite, because it uses old-style blocking I/O
13712 and makes excessive use of signal based long code jumps.
13713 Support can hopefully be readded later based on a new-style I/O, with
13714 SysV signal handling.
13715 In fact the IMAP support had already been removed from the codebase, but
13716 was reinstantiated on user demand: in effect the IMAP code is at the
13717 level of \*(UA v14.8.16 (with
13719 being the sole exception), and should be treated with some care.
13726 protocol prefixes, and an IMAP-based
13729 IMAP URLs (paths) undergo inspections and possible transformations
13730 before use (and the command
13732 can be used to manually apply them to any given argument).
13733 Hierarchy delimiters are normalized, a step which is configurable via the
13735 variable chain, but defaults to the first seen delimiter otherwise.
13736 \*(UA supports internationalised IMAP names, and en- and decodes the
13737 names from and to the
13739 as necessary and possible.
13740 If a mailbox name is expanded (see
13741 .Sx "Filename transformations" )
13742 to an IMAP mailbox, all names that begin with `+' then refer to IMAP
13743 mailboxes below the
13745 target box, while folder names prefixed by `@' refer to folders below
13746 the hierarchy base, e.g., the following lists all folders below the
13747 current one when in an IMAP mailbox:
13751 Note: some IMAP servers do not accept the creation of mailboxes in
13752 the hierarchy base, but require that they are created as subfolders of
13753 `INBOX' \(en with such servers a folder name of the form
13755 .Dl imaps://mylogin@imap.myisp.example/INBOX.
13757 should be used (the last character is the server's hierarchy
13759 The following IMAP-specific commands exist:
13762 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ic BaNg"
13765 Only applicable to cached IMAP mailboxes;
13766 takes a message list and reads the specified messages into the IMAP
13771 If operating in disconnected mode on an IMAP mailbox,
13772 switch to online mode and connect to the mail server while retaining
13773 the mailbox status.
13774 See the description of the
13776 variable for more information.
13780 If operating in online mode on an IMAP mailbox,
13781 switch to disconnected mode while retaining the mailbox status.
13782 See the description of the
13785 A list of messages may optionally be given as argument;
13786 the respective messages are then read into the cache before the
13787 connection is closed, thus
13789 makes the entire mailbox available for disconnected use.
13793 Sends command strings directly to the current IMAP server.
13794 \*(UA operates always in IMAP `selected state' on the current mailbox;
13795 commands that change this will produce undesirable results and should be
13797 Useful IMAP commands are:
13798 .Bl -tag -offset indent -width ".Ic getquotearoot"
13800 Takes the name of an IMAP mailbox as an argument and creates it.
13802 (RFC 2087) Takes the name of an IMAP mailbox as an argument
13803 and prints the quotas that apply to the mailbox.
13804 Not all IMAP servers support this command.
13806 (RFC 2342) Takes no arguments and prints the Personal Namespaces,
13807 the Other User's Namespaces and the Shared Namespaces.
13808 Each namespace type is printed in parentheses;
13809 if there are multiple namespaces of the same type,
13810 inner parentheses separate them.
13811 For each namespace a prefix and a hierarchy separator is listed.
13812 Not all IMAP servers support this command.
13817 Perform IMAP path transformations.
13821 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) ,
13822 and manages the error number
13824 The first argument specifies the operation:
13826 normalizes hierarchy delimiters (see
13828 and converts the strings from the locale
13830 to the internationalized variant used by IMAP,
13832 performs the reverse operation.
13837 The following IMAP-specific internal variables exist:
13840 .Bl -tag -width ".It Va BaNg"
13842 .It Va disconnected
13843 \*(BO When an IMAP mailbox is selected and this variable is set,
13844 no connection to the server is initiated.
13845 Instead, data is obtained from the local cache (see
13848 Mailboxes that are not present in the cache
13849 and messages that have not yet entirely been fetched from the server
13851 to fetch all messages in a mailbox at once,
13853 .No ` Ns Li copy * /dev/null Ns '
13854 can be used while still in connected mode.
13855 Changes that are made to IMAP mailboxes in disconnected mode are queued
13856 and committed later when a connection to that server is made.
13857 This procedure is not completely reliable since it cannot be guaranteed
13858 that the IMAP unique identifiers (UIDs) on the server still match the
13859 ones in the cache at that time.
13862 when this problem occurs.
13864 .It Va disconnected-USER@HOST
13865 The specified account is handled as described for the
13868 but other accounts are not affected.
13871 .It Va imap-auth-USER@HOST , imap-auth
13872 Sets the IMAP authentication method.
13873 Valid values are `login' for the usual password-based authentication
13875 `cram-md5', which is a password-based authentication that does not send
13876 the password over the network in clear text,
13877 and `gssapi' for GSS-API based authentication.
13881 Enables caching of IMAP mailboxes.
13882 The value of this variable must point to a directory that is either
13883 existent or can be created by \*(UA.
13884 All contents of the cache can be deleted by \*(UA at any time;
13885 it is not safe to make assumptions about them.
13888 .It Va imap-delim-USER@HOST , imap-delim-HOST , imap-delim
13889 The hierarchy separator used by the IMAP server.
13890 Whenever an IMAP path is specified it will undergo normalization.
13891 One of the normalization steps is the squeezing and adjustment of
13892 hierarchy separators.
13893 If this variable is set, any occurrence of any character of the given
13894 value that exists in the path will be replaced by the first member of
13895 the value; an empty value will cause the default to be used, it is
13897 If not set, we will reuse the first hierarchy separator character that
13898 is discovered in a user-given mailbox name.
13900 .Mx Va imap-keepalive
13901 .It Va imap-keepalive-USER@HOST , imap-keepalive-HOST , imap-keepalive
13902 IMAP servers may close the connection after a period of
13903 inactivity; the standard requires this to be at least 30 minutes,
13904 but practical experience may vary.
13905 Setting this variable to a numeric `value' greater than 0 causes
13906 a `NOOP' command to be sent each `value' seconds if no other operation
13910 .It Va imap-list-depth
13911 When retrieving the list of folders on an IMAP server, the
13913 command stops after it has reached a certain depth to avoid possible
13915 The value of this variable sets the maximum depth allowed.
13917 If the folder separator on the current IMAP server is a slash `/',
13918 this variable has no effect and the
13920 command does not descend to subfolders.
13922 .Mx Va imap-use-starttls
13923 .It Va imap-use-starttls-USER@HOST , imap-use-starttls-HOST , imap-use-starttls
13924 Causes \*(UA to issue a `STARTTLS' command to make an unencrypted
13925 IMAP session SSL/TLS encrypted.
13926 This functionality is not supported by all servers,
13927 and is not used if the session is already encrypted by the IMAPS method.
13933 .\" .Sh "SEE ALSO" {{{
13943 .Xr spamassassin 1 ,
13952 .Xr mailwrapper 8 ,
13958 .\" .Sh HISTORY {{{
13961 M. Douglas McIlroy writes in his article
13962 .Dq A Research UNIX Reader: Annotated Excerpts \
13963 from the Programmer's Manual, 1971-1986
13966 command already appeared in First Edition
13970 .Bd -ragged -offset indent
13971 Electronic mail was there from the start.
13972 Never satisfied with its exact behavior, everybody touched it at one
13973 time or another: to assure the safety of simultaneous access, to improve
13974 privacy, to survive crashes, to exploit uucp, to screen out foreign
13975 freeloaders, or whatever.
13976 Not until v7 did the interface change (Thompson).
13977 Later, as mail became global in its reach, Dave Presotto took charge and
13978 brought order to communications with a grab-bag of external networks
13984 Mail was written in 1978 by Kurt Shoens and developed as part of the
13987 distribution until 1995.
13988 Mail has then seen further development in open source
13990 variants, noticeably by Christos Zoulas in
13992 Based upon this Nail, later Heirloom Mailx, was developed by Gunnar
13993 Ritter in the years 2000 until 2008.
13994 Since 2012 S-nail is maintained by Steffen (Daode) Nurpmeso.
13995 This man page is derived from
13996 .Dq The Mail Reference Manual
13997 that was originally written by Kurt Shoens.
14005 .An "Kurt Shoens" ,
14006 .An "Edward Wang" ,
14007 .An "Keith Bostic" ,
14008 .An "Christos Zoulas" ,
14009 .An "Gunnar Ritter" .
14010 \*(UA is developed by
14011 .An "Steffen Nurpmeso" Aq steffen@sdaoden.eu .
14014 .\" .Sh CAVEATS {{{
14017 \*(ID Interrupting an operation via
14021 from anywhere else but a command prompt is very problematic and likely
14022 to leave the program in an undefined state: many library functions
14023 cannot deal with the
14025 that this software (still) performs; even though efforts have been taken
14026 to address this, no sooner but in v15 it will have been worked out:
14027 interruptions have not been disabled in order to allow forceful breakage
14028 of hanging network connections, for example (all this is unrelated to
14032 The SMTP and POP3 protocol support of \*(UA is very basic.
14033 Also, if it fails to contact its upstream SMTP server, it will not make
14034 further attempts to transfer the message at a later time (setting
14039 If this is a concern, it might be better to set up a local SMTP server
14040 that is capable of message queuing.
14047 After deleting some message of a POP3 mailbox the header summary falsely
14048 claims that there are no messages to display, one needs to perform
14049 a scroll or dot movement to restore proper state.
14051 In threaded display a power user may encounter crashes very
14052 occasionally (this is may and very).
14056 in the source repository lists future directions.
14059 Please report bugs to the
14061 address, e.g., from within \*(uA:
14062 .\" v15-compat: drop eval as `mail' will expand variable?
14063 .Ql ? Ns \| Ic eval Ns \| Ic mail Ns \| $contact-mail .
14064 More information is available on the web:
14065 .Ql $ \*(uA -X 'echo Ns \| $ Ns Va contact-web Ns ' -Xx .