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 v14.9.10 / 2018-03-25
44 .ds VD \\%~/dead.letter
48 .ds vS /etc/mime.types
56 .ds OU [no v15-compat]
57 .ds ID [v15 behaviour may differ]
58 .ds NQ [Only new quoting rules]
62 .if !d str-Lb-libterminfo \
63 .ds str-Lb-libterminfo Terminal Information Library (libterminfo, \-lterminfo)
72 .Nd send and receive Internet mail
78 .\" Keep in SYNC: ./nail.1:"SYNOPSIS, main()
84 .Op : Ns Fl a Ar attachment Ns \&:
85 .Op : Ns Fl b Ar bcc-addr Ns \&:
86 .Op : Ns Fl C Ar """custom:\0header""" Ns \&:
87 .Op : Ns Fl c Ar cc-addr Ns \&:
88 .Op Fl M Ar type | Fl m Ar file | Fl q Ar file | Fl t
91 .Fl S\0 Ns Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value Ns
94 .Op : Ns Fl X Ar cmd Ns \&:
96 .Pf : Ar to-addr Ns \&:
97 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns : Ns Ar mta-option Ns \&:
105 .Op : Ns Fl C Ar """custom:\0header""" Ns \&:
107 .Op Fl r Ar from-addr
109 .Fl S Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value Ns
112 .Op : Ns Fl X Ar cmd Ns \&:
113 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns : Ns Ar mta-option Ns \&:
120 .Op : Ns Fl C Ar """custom:\0header""" Ns \&:
123 .Op Fl r Ar from-addr
125 .Fl S Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value Ns
127 .Op : Ns Fl X Ar cmd Ns \&:
129 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns : Ns Ar mta-option Ns \&:
135 .Fl V | Fl Fl version
140 .Mx -toc -tree html pdf ps xhtml
143 .\" .Sh DESCRIPTION {{{
146 .Bd -filled -compact -offset indent
147 .Sy Compatibility note:
148 S-nail (\*(UA) will wrap up into \%S-mailx in v15.0 (circa 2020).
149 Backward incompatibility has to be expected \(en
152 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
153 rules, for example, and shell metacharacters will become meaningful.
154 New and old behaviour is flagged \*(IN and \*(OU, and setting
157 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
158 will choose new behaviour when applicable.
159 \*(OB flags what will vanish, and enabling
163 enables obsoletion warnings.
167 \*(UA provides a simple and friendly environment for sending and
169 It is intended to provide the functionality of the POSIX
171 command, but is MIME capable and optionally offers extensions for
172 line editing, S/MIME, SMTP and POP3, among others.
173 \*(UA divides incoming mail into its constituent messages and allows
174 the user to deal with them in any order.
178 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
179 for manipulating messages and sending mail.
180 It provides the user simple editing capabilities to ease the composition
181 of outgoing messages, and increasingly powerful and reliable
182 non-interactive scripting capabilities.
184 .\" .Ss "Options" {{{
187 .Bl -tag -width ".It Fl BaNg"
190 Explicitly control which of the
194 d (loaded): if the letter
196 is (case-insensitively) part of the
200 is sourced, likewise the letter
202 controls sourcing of the user's personal
204 file, whereas the letters
208 explicitly forbid sourcing of any resource files.
209 Scripts should use this option: to avoid environmental noise they should
211 from any configuration and create a script-specific environment, setting
213 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
216 and running configurating commands via
218 This option overrides
225 command for the given user email
227 after program startup is complete (all resource files are loaded, any
229 setting is being established; only
231 commands have not been evaluated yet).
232 Being a special incarnation of
234 macros for the purpose of bundling longer-lived
236 tings, activating such an email account also switches to the accounts
238 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
241 If the operation fails the program will exit if it is used
242 non-interactively, or if any of
249 .It Fl a Ar file Ns Op Ar =input-charset Ns Op Ar #output-charset
252 to the message (for compose mode opportunities refer to
256 .Sx "Filename transformations"
259 will be performed, except that shell variables are not expanded.
262 not be accessible but contain a
264 character, then anything before the last
266 will be used as the filename, anything thereafter as a character set
269 If an input character set is specified,
270 .Mx -ix "character set specification"
271 but no output character set, then the given input character set is fixed
272 as-is, and no conversion will be applied;
273 giving the empty string or the special string hyphen-minus
275 will be treated as if
277 has been specified (the default).
279 If an output character set has also been given then the conversion will
280 be performed exactly as specified and on-the-fly, not considering the
281 file type and content.
282 As an exception, if the output character set is specified as the empty
283 string or hyphen-minus
285 then the default conversion algorithm (see
286 .Sx "Character sets" )
287 is applied (therefore no conversion is performed on-the-fly,
289 will be MIME-classified and its contents will be inspected first) \(em
290 without support for character set conversions
292 does not include the term
294 only this argument is supported.
297 (\*(OB: \*(UA will always use line-buffered output, to gain
298 line-buffered input even in batch mode enable batch mode via
303 Send a blind carbon copy to
310 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
315 The option may be used multiple times.
317 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
320 .It Fl C Ar """field: body"""
321 Create a custom header which persists for an entire session.
322 A custom header consists of the field name followed by a colon
324 and the field content body, e.g.,
325 .Ql -C """Blah: Neminem laede; imo omnes, quantum potes, juva""" .
326 Standard header field names cannot be overwritten by custom headers.
327 Runtime adjustable custom headers are available via the variable
332 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ,
333 is the most flexible and powerful option to manage message headers.
334 This option may be used multiple times.
340 except it places the argument in the list of carbon copies.
350 Almost enable a sandbox mode with the internal variable
352 the same can be achieved via
353 .Ql Fl S Va \&\&debug
355 .Ql Ic set Va \&\&debug .
361 and thus discard messages with an empty message part body.
365 Just check if mail is present (in the system
367 or the one specified via
369 if yes, return an exit status of zero, a non-zero value otherwise.
370 To restrict the set of mails to consider in this evaluation a message
371 specification can be added with the option
376 Save the message to send in a file named after the local part of the
377 first recipient's address (instead of in
382 Read in the contents of the user's
384 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
386 (or the specified file) for processing;
387 when \*(UA is quit, it writes undeleted messages back to this file
393 argument will undergo some special
394 .Sx "Filename transformations"
399 is not an argument to the flag
401 but is instead taken from the command line after option processing has
405 that starts with a hyphen-minus, prefix with a relative path, as in
406 .Ql ./-hyphenbox.mbox .
412 and exit; a configurable summary view is available via the
418 Show a short usage summary.
424 to ignore tty interrupt signals.
430 of all messages that match the given
434 .Sx "Specifying messages"
439 option has been given in addition no header summary is produced,
440 but \*(UA will instead indicate via its exit status whether
446 note that any verbose output is suppressed in this mode and must instead
447 be enabled explicitly (e.g., by using the option
452 Special send mode that will flag standard input with the MIME
456 and use it as the main message body.
457 \*(ID Using this option will bypass processing of
458 .Va message-inject-head
460 .Va message-inject-tail .
466 Special send mode that will MIME classify the specified
468 and use it as the main message body.
469 \*(ID Using this option will bypass processing of
470 .Va message-inject-head
472 .Va message-inject-tail .
478 inhibit the initial display of message headers when reading mail or
483 for the internal variable
488 Standard flag that inhibits reading the system wide
493 allows more control over the startup sequence; also see
494 .Sx "Resource files" .
498 Special send mode that will initialize the message body with the
499 contents of the specified
501 which may be standard input
503 only in non-interactive context.
513 opened will be in read-only mode.
517 .It Fl r Ar from-addr
518 Whereas the source address that appears in the
520 header of a message (or in the
522 header if the former contains multiple addresses) is honoured by the
523 built-in SMTP transport, it is not used by a file-based
525 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) for the RFC 5321 reverse-path used for relaying
526 and delegating a message to its destination(s), for delivery errors
527 etc., but it instead uses the local identity of the initiating user.
530 When this command line option is used the given
532 will be assigned to the internal variable
534 but in addition the command line option
535 .Fl \&\&f Ar from-addr
536 will be passed to a file-based
538 whenever a message is sent.
541 include a user name the address components will be separated and
542 the name part will be passed to a file-based
548 If an empty string is passed as
550 then the content of the variable
552 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
554 will be evaluated and used for this purpose whenever the file-based
563 command line options are used when contacting a file-based MTA, unless
564 this automatic deduction is enforced by
566 ing the internal variable
567 .Va r-option-implicit .
570 Remarks: many default installations and sites disallow overriding the
571 local user identity like this unless either the MTA has been configured
572 accordingly or the user is member of a group with special privileges.
573 Passing an invalid address will cause an error.
577 .It Fl S Ar var Ns Op = Ns value
579 (or, with a prefix string
582 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
585 iable and optionally assign
587 if supported; \*(ID the entire expression is evaluated as if specified
588 within dollar-single-quotes (see
589 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" )
590 if the internal variable
593 If the operation fails the program will exit if any of
598 Settings established via
600 cannot be changed from within
602 or an account switch initiated by
604 They will become mutable again before commands registered via
610 Specify the subject of the message to be sent.
611 Newline (NL) and carriage-return (CR) bytes are invalid and will be
612 normalized to space (SP) characters.
616 The message given (on standard input) is expected to contain, separated
617 from the message body by an empty line, one or multiple message headers.
618 Headers can span multiple consecutive lines if follow lines start with
619 any amount of whitespace.
620 A line starting with the number sign
622 in the first column is ignored.
623 Message recipients can be given via the message headers
629 they will be added to any recipients specified on the command line,
630 and are likewise subject to
633 If a message subject is specified via
635 then it will be used in favour of one given on the command line.
637 More optional headers are
651 .Ql Mail-Followup-To: ,
652 by default created automatically dependent on message context, will
653 be used if specified (a special address massage will however still occur
655 Any other custom header field (also see
660 is passed through entirely
661 unchanged, and in conjunction with the options
665 it is possible to embed
666 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
674 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
677 appropriate privileges presumed; effectively identical to
678 .Ql Fl \&\&f Ns \0%user .
687 will also show the list of
689 .Ql $ \*(uA -Xversion -Xx .
694 ting the internal variable
696 enables display of some informational context messages.
697 Using it twice increases the level of verbosity.
701 Add the given (or multiple for a multiline argument)
703 to the list of commands to be executed,
704 as a last step of program startup, before normal operation starts.
705 This is the only possibility to execute commands in non-interactive mode
706 when reading startup files has been disabled.
707 The commands will be evaluated as a unit, just as via
717 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
718 in compose mode even in non-interactive use cases.
719 This can be used to, e.g., automatically format the composed message
720 text before sending the message:
721 .Bd -literal -offset indent
722 $ ( echo 'line one. Word. Word2.';\e
723 echo '~| /usr/bin/fmt -tuw66' ) |\e
724 LC_ALL=C \*(uA -d~:/ -Sttycharset=utf-8 bob@exam.ple
729 Enables batch mode: standard input is made line buffered, the complete
730 set of (interactive) commands is available, processing of
731 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
732 is enabled in compose mode, and diverse
733 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
734 are adjusted for batch necessities, exactly as if done via
750 The following prepares an email message in a batched dry run:
751 .Bd -literal -offset indent
752 $ LC_ALL=C printf 'm bob\en~s ubject\enText\en~.\enx\en' |\e
753 LC_ALL=C \*(uA -d#:/ -X'alias bob bob@exam.ple'
758 This flag forces termination of option processing in order to prevent
761 It also forcefully puts \*(UA into send mode, see
762 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
768 arguments and all receivers established via
772 are subject to the checks established by
775 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ;
776 they all support the flag
780 allows their recognition all
782 arguments given at the end of the command line after a
784 separator will be passed through to a file-based
786 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) and persist for the entire session.
788 constraints do not apply to the content of
792 .\" .Ss "A starter" {{{
795 \*(UA is a direct descendant of
797 Mail, itself a successor of the Research
800 .Dq was there from the start
803 It thus represents the user side of the
805 mail system, whereas the system side (Mail-Transfer-Agent, MTA) was
806 traditionally taken by
808 and most MTAs provide a binary of this name for compatibility purposes.
813 of \*(UA then the system side is not a mandatory precondition for mail
817 Because \*(UA strives for compliance with POSIX
819 it is likely that some configuration settings have to be adjusted before
820 using it is a smooth experience.
821 (Rather complete configuration examples can be found in the section
826 .Sx "Resource files" )
827 template bends those standard imposed settings of the
828 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
829 a bit towards more user friendliness and safety, however.
837 in order to suppress the automatic moving of messages to the
839 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
841 that would otherwise occur (see
842 .Sx "Message states" ) ,
845 to not remove empty system MBOX mailbox files (or all empty such files if
847 .Pf a.k.a.\0 Ev POSIXLY_CORRECT
848 mode has been enabled) to avoid mangling of file permissions when files
849 eventually get recreated.
853 in order to synchronize \*(UA with the exit status report of the used
860 to enter interactive startup even if the initial mailbox is empty,
862 to allow editing of headers as well as
864 to not strip down addresses in compose mode, and
866 to include the message that is being responded to when
868 ing, which is indented by an
870 that also deviates from standard imposed settings.
871 .Va mime-counter-evidence
872 is fully enabled, too.
876 The file mode creation mask can be managed explicitly via the variable
878 Sufficient system support provided symbolic links will not be followed
879 when files are opened for writing.
880 Files and shell pipe output can be
882 d for evaluation, also during startup from within the
883 .Sx "Resource files" .
886 .\" .Ss "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" {{{
887 .Ss "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode"
889 To send a message to one or more people, using a local or built-in
891 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) transport to actually deliver the generated mail
892 message, \*(UA can be invoked with arguments which are the names of
893 people to whom the mail will be sent, and the command line options
897 can be used to add (blind) carbon copy receivers:
899 .Bd -literal -offset indent
901 $ \*(uA -s ubject -a ttach.txt bill@exam.ple
903 # But... try it in an isolated dry-run mode (-d) first
904 $ LC_ALL=C \*(uA -d -:/ -Ssendwait -Sttycharset=utf8 \e
905 -b bcc@exam.ple -c cc@exam.ple \e
907 '(Lovely) Bob <bob@exam.ple>' eric@exam.ple
910 $ LC_ALL=C \*(uA -d -:/ -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait -Sttycharset=utf8 \e
911 -S mta=smtps://mylogin@exam.ple:465 -Ssmtp-auth=none \e
912 -S from=scriptreply@exam.ple \e
918 If standard input is a terminal rather than the message to be sent,
919 the user is expected to type in the message contents.
920 In this compose mode \*(UA treats lines beginning with the character
922 special \(en these are so-called
923 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ,
924 which can be used to read in files, process shell commands, add and edit
925 attachments and more; e.g.,
933 respectively, to revise the message in its current state,
935 allows editing of the most important message headers, with the potent
937 custom headers can be created, for example (more specifically than with
942 gives an overview of most other available command escapes.
947 will leave compose mode and send the message once it is completed.
948 Aborting letter composition is possible with either of
952 the latter of which will save the message in the file denoted by
961 can also be achieved by typing end-of-transmission (EOT) via
964 at the beginning of an empty line, and
966 is always reachable by typing end-of-text (ETX) twice via
974 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
975 can be used to alter default behavior.
976 E.g., messages are sent asynchronously, without supervision, unless the
979 is set, therefore send errors will not be recognizable until then.
984 will automatically startup an editor when compose mode is entered, and
985 editing of headers additionally to plain body content can be enabled via
987 \*(ID some, but not all headers can be created, edited or deleted in an
992 will cause the user to be prompted actively for (blind) carbon-copy
993 recipients, respectively, and (the default)
995 will request confirmation whether the message shall be sent.
998 The envelope sender address is defined by
1000 explicitly defining an originating
1002 may be desirable, especially with the built-in SMTP Mail-Transfer-Agent
1004 .Sx "Character sets"
1005 for outgoing message and MIME part content are configurable via
1007 whereas input data is assumed to be in
1009 Message data will be passed over the wire in a
1011 MIME parts a.k.a. attachments need to be assigned a
1013 usually taken out of
1014 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
1015 Saving a copy of sent messages in a
1017 mailbox may be desirable \(en as for most mailbox
1019 targets the value will undergo
1020 .Sx "Filename transformations" .
1025 sandbox dry-run tests will prove correctness.
1028 Message recipients (as specified on the command line or defined in
1035 filtering, and may not only be email addressees but can also be names of
1036 mailboxes and even complete shell command pipe specifications.
1039 is not set then only network addresses (see
1041 for a description of mail addresses) and plain user names (including MTA
1042 aliases) may be used, other types will be filtered out, giving a warning
1044 A network address that contains no domain-, but only a valid local user
1046 in angle brackets will be automatically expanded to a valid address when
1048 is set to a non-empty value; setting it to the empty value instructs
1051 will perform the necessary expansion.
1054 may help to generate standard compliant network addresses.
1056 .\" When changing any of the following adjust any RECIPIENTADDRSPEC;
1057 .\" grep the latter for the complete picture
1061 is set then an extended set of recipient addresses will be accepted:
1062 Any name that starts with a vertical bar
1064 character specifies a command pipe \(en the command string following the
1066 is executed and the message is sent to its standard input;
1067 Likewise, any name that consists only of hyphen-minus
1069 or starts with the character solidus
1071 or the character sequence dot solidus
1073 is treated as a file, regardless of the remaining content.
1074 Any other name which contains a commercial at
1076 character is a network address;
1077 Any other name which starts with a plus sign
1079 character is a mailbox name;
1080 Any other name which contains a solidus
1082 character but no exclamation mark
1086 character before is also a mailbox name;
1087 What remains is treated as a network address.
1089 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1090 $ echo bla | \*(uA -Sexpandaddr -s test ./mbox.mbox
1091 $ echo bla | \*(uA -Sexpandaddr -s test '|cat >> ./mbox.mbox'
1092 $ echo safe | LC_ALL=C \e
1093 \*(uA -:/ -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait -Sttycharset=utf8 \e
1094 -Sexpandaddr=fail,-all,+addr,failinvaddr -s test \e
1099 To create file-carbon-copies the special recipient header
1101 may be used as often as desired.
1102 Its entire value (or body in standard terms) is interpreted as a
1104 target, after having been subject to
1105 .Sx "Filename transformations" .
1106 Beside using the command escape
1110 header) this is the only way to create a file-carbon-copy without
1111 introducing an ambiguity regarding the interpretation of the address,
1112 e.g., to use file names with leading vertical bars or commercial ats.
1113 Like all other recipients
1115 is subject to the checks of
1119 It is possible to create personal distribution lists via the
1121 command, so that, for instance, the user can send mail to
1123 and have it go to a group of people.
1124 Different to the alias mechanism of a local
1126 which is often tracked in a file
1130 and the names of which are subject to the
1134 personal aliases will be expanded by \*(UA before the message is sent.
1135 They are thus a convenient alternative to specifying each addressee by
1136 itself, correlate with the active set of
1142 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1143 ? alias cohorts bill jkf mark kridle@ucbcory ~/cohorts.mbox
1144 ? alias mark mark@exam.ple
1148 .Va on-compose-enter , on-compose-leave
1150 .Va on-compose-cleanup
1151 hook variables may be set to
1153 d macros to automatically adjust some settings dependent
1154 on receiver, sender or subject contexts, and via the
1155 .Va on-compose-splice
1157 .Va on-compose-splice-shell
1158 variables, the former also to be set to a
1160 d macro, increasingly powerful mechanisms to perform automated message
1161 adjustments, including signature creation, are available.
1162 (\*(ID These hooks work for commands which newly create messages, namely
1163 .Ic forward , mail , reply
1168 for now provide only the hooks
1171 .Va on-resend-cleanup . )
1174 For the purpose of arranging a complete environment of settings that can
1175 be switched to with a single command or command line option there are
1177 Alternatively it is also possible to use a flat configuration, making use
1178 of so-called variable chains which automatically pick
1182 context-dependent variable variants: for example addressing
1183 .Ql Ic File Ns \& pop3://yaa@exam.ple
1185 .Va \&\&pop3-no-apop-yaa@exam.ple ,
1186 .Va \&\&pop3-no-apop-exam.ple
1191 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
1193 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" .
1196 To avoid environmental noise scripts should
1198 \*(UA from any configuration files and create a script-local
1199 environment, ideally with the command line options
1201 to disable any configuration file in conjunction with repetitions of
1203 to specify variables:
1205 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1206 $ env LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ \e
1207 -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait -Sttycharset=utf-8 \e
1208 -Sexpandaddr=fail,-all,failinvaddr \e
1209 -S mta=smtps://mylogin@exam.ple:465 -Ssmtp-auth=login \e
1210 -S from=scriptreply@exam.ple \e
1211 -s 'Subject to go' -a attachment_file \e
1213 'Recipient 1 <rec1@exam.ple>' rec2@exam.ple \e
1218 As shown, scripts can
1220 a locale environment, the above specifies the all-compatible 7-bit clean
1223 but will nonetheless take and send UTF-8 in the message text by using
1225 In interactive mode, which is introduced in the next section, messages
1226 can be sent by calling the
1228 command with a list of recipient addresses:
1230 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1231 $ \*(uA -d -Squiet -Semptystart
1232 "/var/spool/mail/user": 0 messages
1233 ? mail "Recipient 1 <rec1@exam.ple>", rec2@exam.ple
1235 ? # Will do the right thing (tm)
1236 ? m rec1@exam.ple rec2@exam.ple
1240 .\" .Ss "On reading mail, and interactive mode" {{{
1241 .Ss "On reading mail, and interactive mode"
1243 When invoked without addressees \*(UA enters interactive mode in which
1245 When used like that the user's system
1247 (for more on mailbox types please see the command
1249 is read in and a one line header of each message therein is displayed if
1253 The visual style of this summary of
1255 can be adjusted through the variable
1257 and the possible sorting criterion via
1263 can be performed with the command
1265 If the initially opened mailbox is empty \*(UA will instead exit
1266 immediately (after displaying a message) unless the variable
1275 will give a listing of all available commands and
1277 will \*(OPally give a summary of some common ones.
1278 If the \*(OPal documentation strings are available (see
1283 and see the actual expansion of
1285 and what its purpose is, i.e., commands can be abbreviated
1286 (note that POSIX defines some abbreviations, so that the alphabetical
1287 order of commands does not necessarily relate to the abbreviations; it is
1288 however possible to define overwrites with
1289 .Ic commandalias ) .
1290 These commands can also produce a more
1295 Messages are given numbers (starting at 1) which uniquely identify
1296 messages; the current message \(en the
1298 \(en will either be the first new message, or the first unread message,
1299 or the first message of the mailbox; the internal variable
1301 will instead cause usage of the last message for this purpose.
1306 ful of header summaries containing the
1310 will display only the summaries of the given messages, defaulting to the
1314 Message content can be displayed with the command
1321 controls whether and when \*(UA will use the configured
1323 for display instead of directly writing to the user terminal
1325 the sole difference to the command
1327 which will always use the
1331 will instead only show the first
1333 of a message (maybe even compressed if
1336 Message display experience may improve by setting and adjusting
1337 .Va mime-counter-evidence ,
1339 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" .
1342 By default the current message
1344 is displayed, but like with many other commands it is possible to give
1345 a fancy message specification (see
1346 .Sx "Specifying messages" ) ,
1349 will display all unread messages,
1354 will type the messages 1 and 5,
1356 will type the messages 1 through 5, and
1360 will display the previous and the next message, respectively.
1363 (a more substantial alias for
1365 will display a header summary of the given message specification list
1366 instead of their content, e.g., the following will search for subjects:
1369 .Dl ? from "'@Some subject to search for'"
1372 In the default setup all header fields of a message will be
1374 d, but fields can be white- or blacklisted for a variety of
1375 applications by using the command
1377 e.g., to restrict their display to a very restricted set for
1379 .Ql Ic \:headerpick Cd \:type retain Ar \:from to cc subject .
1380 In order to display all header fields of a message regardless of
1381 currently active ignore or retain lists, use the commands
1386 will show the raw message content.
1387 Note that historically the global
1389 not only adjusts the list of displayed headers, but also sets
1393 Dependent upon the configuration a line editor (see the section
1394 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
1395 aims at making the user experience with the many
1398 When reading the system
1404 specified a mailbox explicitly prefixed with the special
1406 modifier (to propagate it to a
1408 .Sx "primary system mailbox" ) ,
1409 then messages which have been read
1410 .Pf (see\0 Sx "Message states" )
1411 will be automatically moved to a
1413 .Sx "secondary mailbox" ,
1416 file, when the mailbox is left, either by changing the active mailbox or
1417 by quitting \*(UA \(en this automatic moving from a system- or primary-
1418 to the secondary mailbox is not performed when the variable
1421 Messages can also be explicitly
1423 d to other mailboxes, whereas
1425 keeps the original message.
1427 can be used to write out data content of specific parts of messages.
1430 After examining a message the user can
1432 to the sender and all recipients (which will also be placed in
1435 .Va recipients-in-cc
1438 exclusively to the sender(s).
1441 knows how to apply a special addressee massage, see
1442 .Sx "Mailing lists" .
1444 ing a message will allow editing the new message: the original message
1445 will be contained in the message body, adjusted according to
1451 messages: the former will add a series of
1453 headers, whereas the latter will not; different to newly created
1454 messages editing is not possible and no copy will be saved even with
1456 unless the additional variable
1459 When sending, replying or forwarding messages comments and full names
1460 will be stripped from recipient addresses unless the internal variable
1465 Of course messages can be
1467 and they can spring into existence again via
1469 or when the \*(UA session is ended via the
1473 commands to perform a quick program termation.
1474 To end a mail processing session regulary and perform a full program
1475 exit one may issue the command
1477 It will, among others, move read messages to the
1479 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
1481 as necessary, discard deleted messages in the current mailbox,
1482 and update the \*(OPal (see
1488 .\" .Ss "HTML mail and MIME attachments" {{{
1489 .Ss "HTML mail and MIME attachments"
1491 Messages which are HTML-only become more and more common, and of course
1492 many messages come bundled with a bouquet of MIME (Multipurpose Internet
1493 Mail Extensions) parts.
1494 To get a notion of MIME types \*(UA has a default set of types built-in,
1495 onto which the content of
1496 .Sx "The mime.types files"
1497 will be added (as configured and allowed by
1498 .Va mimetypes-load-control ) .
1499 Types can also become registered with the command
1501 To improve interaction with faulty MIME part declarations which are
1502 often seen in real-life messages, setting
1503 .Va mime-counter-evidence
1504 will allow verification of the given assertion, and possible provision
1505 of an alternative, better MIME type.
1508 Whereas \*(UA \*(OPally supports a simple HTML-to-text filter for
1509 displaying HTML messages, it cannot handle MIME types other than plain
1511 Instead programs need to become registered to deal with specific MIME
1512 types or file extensions.
1513 These programs may either prepare plain text versions of their input in
1514 order to enable \*(UA to integrate their output neatlessly in its own
1515 message visualization (a mode which is called
1516 .Cd copiousoutput ) ,
1517 or display the content themselves, for example in an external graphical
1518 window: such handlers will only be considered by and for the command
1522 To install a handler program for a specific MIME type an according
1523 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
1524 variable needs to be set; to instead define a handler for a specific
1525 file extension the respective
1527 variable can be used \(en these handlers take precedence.
1528 \*(OPally \*(UA supports mail user agent configuration as defined in
1529 RFC 1524; this mechanism (see
1530 .Sx "The Mailcap files" )
1531 will be queried for display or quote handlers if none of the former two
1532 .\" TODO v15-compat "will be" -> "is"
1533 did; it will be the sole source for handlers of other purpose.
1534 A last source for handlers is the MIME type definition itself, if
1535 a type-marker has been registered with the command
1537 which many of the built-in MIME types do.
1540 For example, to display a HTML message inline (converted to a more fancy
1541 plain text representation than the built-in filter is capable to produce)
1542 with either of the text-mode browsers
1546 teach \*(UA about MathML documents and make it display them as plain
1547 text, and to open PDF attachments in an external PDF viewer,
1548 asynchronously and with some other magic attached:
1550 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1551 ? if [ "$features" !% +filter-html-tagsoup ]
1552 ? #set pipe-text/html='@* elinks -force-html -dump 1'
1553 ? set pipe-text/html='@* lynx -stdin -dump -force_html'
1554 ? # Display HTML as plain text instead
1555 ? #set pipe-text/html=@
1557 ? mimetype @ application/mathml+xml mathml
1558 ? wysh set pipe-application/pdf='@&=@ \e
1559 trap "rm -f \e"${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}\e"" EXIT;\e
1560 trap "trap \e"\e" INT QUIT TERM; exit 1" INT QUIT TERM;\e
1561 mupdf "${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}"'
1565 .\" .Ss "Mailing lists" {{{
1568 \*(UA offers some support to ease handling of mailing lists.
1571 promotes all given arguments to known mailing lists, and
1573 sets their subscription attribute, creating them first as necessary.
1578 automatically, but only resets the subscription attribute.)
1579 Using the commands without arguments will show (a subset of) all
1580 currently defined mailing lists.
1585 can be used to mark out messages with configured list addresses
1590 If the \*(OPal regular expression support is available a mailing list
1591 specification that contains any of the
1593 regular expression characters
1597 will be interpreted as one, which allows matching of many addresses with
1598 a single expression.
1599 However, all fully qualified list addresses are matched via a fast
1600 dictionary, whereas expressions are placed in (a) list(s) which is
1601 (are) matched sequentially.
1603 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1604 ? set followup-to followup-to-honour=ask-yes \e
1605 reply-to-honour=ask-yes
1606 ? wysh mlist a1@b1.c1 a2@b2.c2 '.*@lists\e.c3$'
1607 ? mlsubscribe a4@b4.c4 exact@lists.c3
1612 .Va followup-to-honour
1614 .Ql Mail-\:Followup-\:To:
1615 header is honoured when the message is being replied to (via
1621 controls whether this header is created when sending mails; it will be
1622 created automatically for a couple of reasons, too, like when the
1624 .Dq mailing list specific
1629 is used to respond to a message with its
1630 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
1634 A difference in between the handling of known and subscribed lists is
1635 that the address of the user is usually not part of a generated
1636 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
1637 when addressing the latter, whereas it is for the former kind of lists.
1638 Usually because there are exceptions: say, if multiple lists are
1639 addressed and not all of them are subscribed lists.
1641 For convenience \*(UA will, temporarily, automatically add a list
1642 address that is presented in the
1644 header of a message that is being responded to to the list of known
1646 Shall that header have existed \*(UA will instead, dependent on the
1648 .Va reply-to-honour ,
1651 for this purpose (if it provides a single address which resides on the
1652 same domain as what is stated in
1654 in order to accept a list administrator's wish that is supposed to have
1655 been manifested like that.
1658 .\" .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME" {{{
1659 .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
1661 \*(OP S/MIME provides two central mechanisms:
1662 message signing and message encryption.
1663 A signed message contains some data in addition to the regular text.
1664 The data can be used to verify that the message has been sent using
1665 a valid certificate, that the sender address matches that in the
1666 certificate, and that the message text has not been altered.
1667 Signing a message does not change its regular text;
1668 it can be read regardless of whether the recipients software is able to
1670 It is thus usually possible to sign all outgoing messages if so desired.
1673 Encryption, in contrast, makes the message text invisible for all people
1674 except those who have access to the secret decryption key.
1675 To encrypt a message, the specific recipients public encryption key
1677 It is therefore not possible to send encrypted mail to people unless their
1678 key has been retrieved from either previous communication or public key
1680 A message should always be signed before it is encrypted.
1683 A central concept to S/MIME is that of the certification authority (CA).
1684 A CA is a trusted institution that issues certificates.
1685 For each of these certificates it can be verified that it really
1686 originates from the CA, provided that the CA's own certificate is
1688 A set of CA certificates is usually delivered and installed together
1689 with the cryptographical library that is used on the local system.
1690 Therefore reasonable security for S/MIME on the Internet is provided if
1691 the source that provides that library installation is trusted.
1692 It is also possible to use a specific pool of trusted certificates.
1694 .Va smime-ca-no-defaults
1695 should be set to avoid using the default certificate pool, and
1699 should be pointed to a trusted pool of certificates.
1700 A certificate cannot be more secure than the method its CA certificate
1701 has been retrieved with.
1704 This trusted pool of certificates is used by the command
1706 to ensure that the given S/MIME messages can be trusted.
1707 If so, verified sender certificates that were embedded in signed
1708 messages can be saved locally with the command
1710 and used by \*(UA to encrypt further communication with these senders:
1712 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1714 ? set smime-encrypt-USER@HOST=FILENAME \e
1715 smime-cipher-USER@HOST=AES256
1719 To sign outgoing messages, in order to allow receivers to verify the
1720 origin of these messages, a personal S/MIME certificate is required.
1721 \*(UA supports password-protected personal certificates (and keys), see
1722 .Va smime-sign-cert .
1724 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
1725 gives an overview of the possible sources of user credentials, and
1726 .Sx "S/MIME step by step"
1727 shows examplarily how a private S/MIME certificate can be obtained.
1728 In general, if such a private key plus certificate
1730 is available, all that needs to be done is to set some variables:
1732 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1733 ? set smime-sign-cert=ME@exam.ple.paired \e
1734 smime-sign-digest=SHA512 \e
1739 Variables of interest for S/MIME in general are
1742 .Va smime-ca-flags ,
1743 .Va smime-ca-no-defaults ,
1745 .Va smime-crl-file .
1746 For S/MIME signing of interest are
1748 .Va smime-sign-cert ,
1749 .Va smime-sign-include-certs
1751 .Va smime-sign-digest .
1752 Additional variables of interest for S/MIME en- and decryption:
1755 .Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST .
1758 \*(ID Note that neither S/MIME signing nor encryption applies to
1759 message subjects or other header fields yet.
1760 Thus they may not contain sensitive information for encrypted messages,
1761 and cannot be trusted even if the message content has been verified.
1762 When sending signed messages,
1763 it is recommended to repeat any important header information in the
1767 .\" .Ss "On URL syntax and credential lookup" {{{
1768 .Ss "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
1770 \*(IN For accessing protocol-specific resources usage of Uniform
1771 Resource Locators (URL, RFC 1738) has become omnipresent.
1772 \*(UA expects and understands URLs in the following form;
1775 denote optional parts, optional either because there also exist other
1776 ways to define the information in question or because support of the
1777 part is protocol-specific, e.g.,
1779 is used by the \*(OPal Maildir directory and the IMAP protocol, but not
1784 are specified they must be given in URL percent encoded form (RFC 3986;
1790 .Dl PROTOCOL://[USER[:PASSWORD]@]server[:port][/path]
1793 Note that these \*(UA URLs most often do not conform to any real
1794 standard, but instead represent a normalized variant of RFC 1738 \(en
1795 they are not used in data exchange but only meant as a compact,
1796 easy-to-use way of defining and representing information in
1797 a well-known notation.
1800 Many internal variables of \*(UA exist in multiple versions, called
1801 variable chains for the rest of this document: the plain
1806 .Ql variable-USER@HOST .
1813 had been specified in the respective URL, otherwise it refers to the plain
1819 that had been found when doing the user chain lookup as is described
1822 will never be in URL percent encoded form, whether it came from an URL
1823 or not; i.e., variable chain name extensions of
1824 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
1825 must not be URL percent encoded.
1828 For example, whether an hypothetical URL
1829 .Ql smtp://hey%3Ayou@our.house
1830 had been given that includes a user, or whether the URL was
1831 .Ql smtp://our.house
1832 and the user had been found differently, to lookup the variable chain
1833 .Va smtp-use-starttls
1834 \*(UA first looks for whether
1835 .Ql smtp-\:use-\:starttls-\:hey:you@our.house
1836 is defined, then whether
1837 .Ql smtp-\:use-\:starttls-\:our.house
1838 exists before finally ending up looking at the plain variable itself.
1841 \*(UA obeys the following logic scheme when dealing with the
1842 necessary credential information of an account:
1848 has been given in the URL the variables
1853 If no such variable(s) can be found then \*(UA will,
1854 when enforced by the \*(OPal variables
1855 .Va netrc-lookup-HOST
1859 .Sx "The .netrc file"
1862 specific entry which provides a
1864 name: this lookup will only succeed if unambiguous (one possible matching
1868 If there is still no
1870 then \*(UA will fall back to the user who is supposed to run \*(UA,
1871 the identity of which has been fixated during \*(UA startup and is
1872 known to be a valid user on the current host.
1875 Authentication: unless otherwise noted this will lookup the
1876 .Va PROTOCOL-auth-USER@HOST , PROTOCOL-auth-HOST , PROTOCOL-auth
1877 variable chain, falling back to a protocol-specific default should this
1883 has been given in the URL, then if the
1885 has been found through the \*(OPal
1887 that may have already provided the password, too.
1888 Otherwise the variable chain
1889 .Va password-USER@HOST , password-HOST , password
1890 is looked up and used if existent.
1892 Afterwards the complete \*(OPal variable chain
1893 .Va netrc-lookup-USER@HOST , netrc-lookup-HOST , netrc-lookup
1897 cache is searched for a password only (multiple user accounts for
1898 a single machine may exist as well as a fallback entry without user
1899 but with a password).
1901 If at that point there is still no password available, but the
1902 (protocols') chosen authentication type requires a password, then in
1903 interactive mode the user will be prompted on the terminal.
1908 S/MIME verification works relative to the values found in the
1912 header field(s), which means that the values of
1913 .Va smime-sign , smime-sign-cert , smime-sign-include-certs
1915 .Va smime-sign-digest
1916 will not be looked up using the
1920 chains from above but instead use the corresponding values from the
1921 message that is being worked on.
1922 In unusual cases multiple and different
1926 combinations may therefore be involved \(en on the other hand those
1927 unusual cases become possible.
1928 The usual case is as short as:
1930 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1931 set mta=smtp://USER:PASS@HOST smtp-use-starttls \e
1932 smime-sign smime-sign-cert=+smime.pair
1938 contains complete example configurations.
1941 .\" .Ss "Encrypted network communication" {{{
1942 .Ss "Encrypted network communication"
1944 SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) a.k.a. its successor TLS (Transport Layer
1945 Security) are protocols which aid in securing communication by providing
1946 a safely initiated and encrypted network connection.
1947 A central concept of TLS is that of certificates: as part of each
1948 network connection setup a (set of) certificates will be exchanged, and
1949 by using those the identity of the network peer can be cryptographically
1950 verified; if possible the TLS/SNI (ServerNameIndication) extension will
1951 be enabled in order to allow servers fine-grained control over the
1952 certificates being used.
1953 TLS works by using a locally installed pool of trusted certificates,
1954 and verifying the connection peer succeeds if that provides
1955 a certificate which has been issued or is trusted by any certificate in
1956 the trusted local pool.
1959 The local pool of trusted so-called CA (Certification Authority)
1960 certificates is usually delivered with the used TLS library, and
1961 will be selected automatically.
1962 It is also possible to use a specific pool of trusted certificates.
1964 .Va tls-ca-no-defaults
1965 should be set to avoid using the default certificate pool, and
1967 and/or (with special preparation)
1969 should be pointed to a trusted pool of certificates.
1970 A certificate cannot be more secure than the method its CA certificate
1971 has been retrieved with.
1972 For inspection or other purposes, the certificate of a server (as seen
1973 when connecting to it) can be fetched like this:
1975 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1976 $ </dev/null openssl s_client -showcerts -connect \e
1977 the-server.example:pop3s 2>&1 | tee log.txt
1981 \*(UA also supports a mode of operation in which certificates are not
1982 at all matched against a local pool of CA certificates.
1983 Instead a message digest will be calculated for the certificate
1984 presented by the connection peer, and be compared against
1986 (a variable chain that picks up
1990 context-dependent variable variants), and the connection will succeed if
1991 the calculated digest equals the expected one.
1992 The used message digest can be configured via (the chain)
1993 .Va tls-fingerprint-digest .
1999 It depends on the used protocol whether encrypted communication is
2000 possible, and which configuration steps have to be taken to enable it.
2001 Some protocols, e.g., POP3S, are implicitly encrypted, others, like
2002 POP3, can upgrade a plain text connection if so requested.
2003 For example, to use the
2005 that POP3 offers (a member of) the variable (chain)
2006 .Va pop3-use-starttls
2009 .Bd -literal -offset indent
2010 shortcut encpop1 pop3s://pop1.exam.ple
2012 shortcut encpop2 pop3://pop2.exam.ple
2013 set pop3-use-starttls-pop2.exam.ple
2015 set mta=smtps://smtp.exam.ple:465
2016 set mta=smtp://smtp.exam.ple smtp-use-starttls
2020 Normally that is all there is to do, given that TLS libraries try to
2021 provide safe defaults, plenty of knobs however exist to adjust settings.
2022 For example certificate verification settings can be fine-tuned via
2024 and the TLS configuration basics are accessible via
2025 .Va tls-config-pairs ,
2026 for example to specify the allowed protocols or cipher lists that
2027 a communication channel may use.
2028 In the past hints on how to restrict the set of protocols to highly
2029 secure ones were indicated, but as of the time of this writing the list
2030 of protocols or ciphers may need to become relaxed in order to be able
2031 to connect to some servers; the following example allows connecting to a
2033 that uses OpenSSL 0.9.8za from June 2014 (refer to
2034 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
2035 for more on variable chains):
2037 .Bd -literal -offset indent
2038 wysh set tls-config-pairs-lion@exam.ple='MinProtocol=TLSv1.1,\e
2039 CipherString=TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:\e
2040 ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA:\e
2041 DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:@STRENGTH'
2047 can be used and should be referred to when creating a custom cipher list.
2048 Variables of interest for TLS in general are
2052 .Va tls-ca-no-defaults ,
2053 .Va tls-config-file ,
2054 .Va tls-config-module ,
2055 .Va tls-config-pairs ,
2063 .\" .Ss "Character sets" {{{
2064 .Ss "Character sets"
2066 \*(OP \*(UA detects the character set of the terminal by using
2067 mechanisms that are controlled by the
2069 environment variable
2074 in that order, see there).
2075 The internal variable
2077 will be set to the detected terminal character set accordingly,
2078 and will thus show up in the output of commands like, e.g.,
2084 However, the user may give
2086 a value during startup, making it possible to send mail in a completely
2088 locale environment, an option which can be used to generate and send,
2089 e.g., 8-bit UTF-8 input data in a pure 7-bit US-ASCII
2091 environment (an example of this can be found in the section
2092 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" ) .
2093 Changing the value does not mean much beside that, because several
2094 aspects of the real character set are implied by the locale environment
2095 of the system, which stays unaffected by
2099 Messages and attachments which consist of 7-bit clean data will be
2100 classified as consisting of
2103 This is a problem if the
2105 character set is a multibyte character set that is also 7-bit clean.
2106 For example, the Japanese character set ISO-2022-JP is 7-bit clean but
2107 capable to encode the rich set of Japanese Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana
2108 characters: in order to notify receivers of this character set the mail
2109 message must be MIME encoded so that the character set ISO-2022-JP can
2111 To achieve this, the variable
2113 must be set to ISO-2022-JP.
2114 (Today a better approach regarding email is the usage of UTF-8, which
2115 uses 8-bit bytes for non-US-ASCII data.)
2118 If the \*(OPal character set conversion capabilities are not available
2120 does not include the term
2124 will be the only supported character set,
2125 it is simply assumed that it can be used to exchange 8-bit messages
2126 (over the wire an intermediate, configurable
2129 and the rest of this section does not apply;
2130 it may however still be necessary to explicitly set it if automatic
2131 detection fails, since in that case it defaults to
2132 .\" (Keep in SYNC: ./nail.1:"Character sets", ./config.h:CHARSET_*!)
2133 LATIN1 a.k.a. ISO-8859-1 unless the operating system environment is
2134 known to always and exclusively support UTF-8 locales.
2137 \*(OP When reading messages, their text is converted into
2139 as necessary in order to display them on the user's terminal.
2140 Unprintable characters and invalid byte sequences are detected
2141 and replaced by proper substitution characters.
2142 Character set mappings for source character sets can be established with
2145 which may be handy to work around faulty character set catalogues (e.g.,
2146 to add a missing LATIN1 to ISO-8859-1 mapping), or to enforce treatment
2147 of one character set as another one (e.g., to interpret LATIN1 as CP1252).
2149 .Va charset-unknown-8bit
2150 to deal with another hairy aspect of message interpretation.
2153 When sending messages their parts and attachments are classified.
2154 Whereas no character set conversion is performed on those parts which
2155 appear to be binary data,
2156 the character set being used must be declared within the MIME header of
2157 an outgoing text part if it contains characters that do not conform to
2158 the set of characters that are allowed by the email standards.
2159 Permissible values for character sets used in outgoing messages can be
2164 which defines a catch-all last-resort fallback character set that is
2165 implicitly appended to the list of character sets in
2169 When replying to a message and the variable
2170 .Va reply-in-same-charset
2171 is set, then the character set of the message being replied to
2172 is tried first (still being a subject of
2173 .Ic charsetalias ) .
2174 And it is also possible to make \*(UA work even more closely related to
2175 the current locale setting automatically by using the variable
2176 .Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset ,
2177 please see there for more information.
2180 All the specified character sets are tried in order unless the
2181 conversion of the part or attachment succeeds.
2182 If none of the tried (8-bit) character sets is capable to represent the
2183 content of the part or attachment,
2184 then the message will not be send and its text will optionally be
2188 In general, if a message saying
2189 .Dq cannot convert from a to b
2190 appears, either some characters are not appropriate for the currently
2191 selected (terminal) character set,
2192 or the needed conversion is not supported by the system.
2193 In the first case, it is necessary to set an appropriate
2195 locale and/or the variable
2199 The best results are usually achieved when \*(UA is run in a UTF-8
2200 locale on an UTF-8 capable terminal, in which case the full Unicode
2201 spectrum of characters is available.
2202 In this setup characters from various countries can be displayed,
2203 while it is still possible to use more simple character sets for sending
2204 to retain maximum compatibility with older mail clients.
2207 On the other hand the POSIX standard defines a locale-independent 7-bit
2208 .Dq portable character set
2209 that should be used when overall portability is an issue, the even more
2210 restricted subset named
2211 .Dq portable filename character set
2212 consists of A-Z, a-z, 0-9, period
2220 .\" .Ss "Message states" {{{
2221 .Ss "Message states"
2223 \*(UA differentiates in between several message states; the current
2224 state will be reflected in the summary of
2231 .Sx "Specifying messages"
2232 dependent on their state is possible.
2233 When operating on the system
2237 .Sx "primary system mailbox" ,
2238 special actions, like the automatic moving of messages to the
2240 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
2242 may be applied when the mailbox is left (also implicitly by program
2243 termination, unless the command
2245 was used) \(en however, because this may be irritating to users which
2248 mail-user-agents, the provided global
2250 template sets the internal
2254 variables in order to suppress this behaviour.
2256 .Bl -hang -width ".It Ql new"
2258 Message has neither been viewed nor moved to any other state.
2259 Such messages are retained even in the
2261 .Sx "primary system mailbox" .
2264 Message has neither been viewed nor moved to any other state, but the
2265 message was present already when the mailbox has been opened last:
2266 Such messages are retained even in the
2268 .Sx "primary system mailbox" .
2271 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
2290 will always try to automatically
2296 logical message, and may thus mark multiple messages as read, the
2298 command will do so if the internal variable
2304 command is used, messages that are in a
2306 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
2309 state when the mailbox is left will be saved in the
2311 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
2313 unless the internal variable
2318 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
2324 can be used to access such messages.
2327 The message has been processed by a
2329 command and it will be retained in its current location.
2332 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
2338 command is used, messages that are in a
2340 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
2343 state when the mailbox is left will be deleted; they will be saved in the
2345 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
2347 when the internal variable
2353 In addition to these message states, flags which otherwise have no
2354 technical meaning in the mail system except allowing special ways of
2355 addressing them when
2356 .Sx "Specifying messages"
2357 can be set on messages.
2358 These flags are saved with messages and are thus persistent, and are
2359 portable between a set of widely used MUAs.
2361 .Bl -hang -width ".It Ic answered"
2363 Mark messages as having been answered.
2365 Mark messages as being a draft.
2367 Mark messages which need special attention.
2371 .\" .Ss "Specifying messages" {{{
2372 .Ss "Specifying messages"
2375 .Sx "Message list arguments" ,
2383 can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply to a number
2384 of messages at once.
2387 deletes messages 1 and 2,
2390 will delete the messages 1 through 5.
2391 In sorted or threaded mode (see the
2395 will delete the messages that are located between (and including)
2396 messages 1 through 5 in the sorted/threaded order, as shown in the
2399 The following special message names exist:
2402 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ar BaNg"
2404 The current message, the so-called
2408 The message that was previously the current message.
2411 The parent message of the current message,
2412 that is the message with the Message-ID given in the
2414 field or the last entry of the
2416 field of the current message.
2419 The previous undeleted message, or the previous deleted message for the
2425 ed mode, the previous such message in the according order.
2428 The next undeleted message, or the next deleted message for the
2434 ed mode, the next such message in the according order.
2437 The first undeleted message,
2438 or the first deleted message for the
2444 ed mode, the first such message in the according order.
2447 The last message; In
2451 ed mode, the last such message in the according order.
2458 mode, selects the message addressed with
2462 is any other message specification,
2463 and all messages from the thread that begins at it.
2464 Otherwise it is identical to
2469 the thread beginning with the current message is selected.
2474 All messages that were included in the
2475 .Sx "Message list arguments"
2476 of the previous command.
2479 An inclusive range of message numbers.
2480 Selectors that may also be used as endpoints include any of
2485 .Dq any substring matches
2488 header, which will match addresses (too) even if
2490 is set (and POSIX says
2491 .Dq any address as shown in a header summary shall be matchable in this form ) ;
2494 variable is set, only the local part of the address is evaluated
2495 for the comparison, not ignoring case, and the setting of
2497 is completely ignored.
2498 For finer control and match boundaries use the
2502 .It Ar / Ns Ar string
2503 All messages that contain
2505 in the subject field (case ignored according to locale).
2512 the string from the previous specification of that type is used again.
2515 .It Xo Op Ar @ Ns Ar name-list Ns
2518 All messages that contain the given case-insensitive search
2520 ession; If the \*(OPal regular expression support is available
2522 will be interpreted as (an extended) one if any of the
2524 regular expression characters
2529 .Ar @ Ns Ar name-list
2530 part is missing the search is restricted to the subject field body,
2533 specifies a comma-separated list of header fields to search, e.g.,
2536 .Dl '@to,from,cc@Someone i ought to know'
2539 In order to search for a string that includes a
2541 (commercial at) character the
2543 is effectively non-optional, but may be given as the empty string.
2544 Also, specifying an empty search
2546 ession will effectively test for existence of the given header fields.
2547 Some special header fields may be abbreviated:
2561 respectively and case-insensitively.
2562 \*(OPally, and just like
2565 will be interpreted as (an extended) regular expression if any of the
2567 regular expression characters is seen.
2574 can be used to search in (all of) the header(s) of the message, and the
2583 will perform full text searches \(en whereas the former searches only
2584 the body, the latter also searches the message header (\*(ID this mode
2585 yet brute force searches over the entire decoded content of messages,
2586 including administrativa strings).
2589 This specification performs full text comparison, but even with
2590 regular expression support it is almost impossible to write a search
2591 expression that safely matches only a specific address domain.
2592 To request that the body content of the header is treated as a list of
2593 addresses, and to strip those down to the plain email address which the
2594 search expression is to be matched against, prefix the effective
2600 .Dl @~f@@a\e.safe\e.domain\e.match$
2604 All messages of state or with matching condition
2608 is one or multiple of the following colon modifiers:
2610 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar :M"
2613 messages (cf. the variable
2614 .Va markanswered ) .
2626 Messages with receivers that match
2630 Messages with receivers that match
2637 Old messages (any not in state
2645 \*(OP Messages with unsure spam classification (see
2646 .Sx "Handling spam" ) .
2648 \*(OP Messages classified as spam.
2660 \*(OP IMAP-style SEARCH expressions may also be used.
2661 This addressing mode is available with all types of mailbox
2663 s; \*(UA will perform the search locally as necessary.
2664 Strings must be enclosed by double quotes
2666 in their entirety if they contain whitespace or parentheses;
2667 within the quotes, only reverse solidus
2669 is recognized as an escape character.
2670 All string searches are case-insensitive.
2671 When the description indicates that the
2673 representation of an address field is used,
2674 this means that the search string is checked against both a list
2677 .Bd -literal -offset indent
2678 (\*qname\*q \*qsource\*q \*qlocal-part\*q \*qdomain-part\*q)
2683 and the addresses without real names from the respective header field.
2684 These search expressions can be nested using parentheses, see below for
2688 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar _n_u"
2689 .It Ar ( criterion )
2690 All messages that satisfy the given
2692 .It Ar ( criterion1 criterion2 ... criterionN )
2693 All messages that satisfy all of the given criteria.
2695 .It Ar ( or criterion1 criterion2 )
2696 All messages that satisfy either
2701 To connect more than two criteria using
2703 specifications have to be nested using additional parentheses,
2705 .Ql (or a (or b c)) ,
2709 .Ql ((a or b) and c) .
2712 operation of independent criteria on the lowest nesting level,
2713 it is possible to achieve similar effects by using three separate
2717 .It Ar ( not criterion )
2718 All messages that do not satisfy
2720 .It Ar ( bcc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2721 All messages that contain
2723 in the envelope representation of the
2726 .It Ar ( cc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2727 All messages that contain
2729 in the envelope representation of the
2732 .It Ar ( from \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2733 All messages that contain
2735 in the envelope representation of the
2738 .It Ar ( subject \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2739 All messages that contain
2744 .It Ar ( to \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2745 All messages that contain
2747 in the envelope representation of the
2750 .It Ar ( header name \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2751 All messages that contain
2756 .It Ar ( body \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2757 All messages that contain
2760 .It Ar ( text \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2761 All messages that contain
2763 in their header or body.
2764 .It Ar ( larger size )
2765 All messages that are larger than
2768 .It Ar ( smaller size )
2769 All messages that are smaller than
2773 .It Ar ( before date )
2774 All messages that were received before
2776 which must be in the form
2780 denotes the day of the month as one or two digits,
2782 is the name of the month \(en one of
2783 .Ql Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec ,
2786 is the year as four digits, e.g.,
2790 All messages that were received on the specified date.
2791 .It Ar ( since date )
2792 All messages that were received since the specified date.
2793 .It Ar ( sentbefore date )
2794 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
2795 .It Ar ( senton date )
2796 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
2797 .It Ar ( sentsince date )
2798 All messages that were sent since the specified date.
2800 The same criterion as for the previous search.
2801 This specification cannot be used as part of another criterion.
2802 If the previous command line contained more than one independent
2803 criterion then the last of those criteria is used.
2807 .\" .Ss "On terminal control and line editor" {{{
2808 .Ss "On terminal control and line editor"
2810 \*(OP Terminal control will be realized through one of the standard
2812 libraries, either the
2814 or, alternatively, the
2816 both of which will be initialized to work with the environment variable
2818 Terminal control will enhance or enable interactive usage aspects, e.g.,
2819 .Sx "Coloured display" ,
2820 and extend behaviour of the Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE), which may learn the
2821 byte-sequences of keys like the cursor- and function-keys.
2824 The internal variable
2826 can be used to overwrite settings or to learn (correct(ed)) keycodes.
2827 Actual library interaction can be disabled completely by setting
2828 .Va termcap-disable ;
2830 will be queried regardless, which is true even if the \*(OPal library
2831 support has not been enabled at configuration time as long as some other
2832 \*(OP which (may) query terminal control sequences has been enabled.
2833 \*(UA can be told to enter an alternative exclusive screen, the
2834 so-called ca-mode, by setting
2835 .Va termcap-ca-mode ;
2836 this requires sufficient terminal support, and the used
2838 may also need special configuration, dependent on the value of
2842 \*(OP The built-in Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE) should work in all
2843 environments which comply to the ISO C standard
2845 and will support wide glyphs if possible (the necessary functionality
2846 had been removed from ISO C, but was included in
2848 Usage of a line editor in interactive mode can be prevented by setting
2849 .Va line-editor-disable .
2850 Especially if the \*(OPal terminal control support is missing setting
2851 entries in the internal variable
2853 will help shall the MLE misbehave, see there for more.
2854 The MLE can support a little bit of
2860 feature is available then input from line editor prompts will be saved
2861 in a history list that can be searched in and be expanded from.
2862 Such saving can be prevented by prefixing input with any amount of
2864 Aspects of history, like allowed content and maximum size, as well as
2865 whether history shall be saved persistently, can be configured with the
2869 .Va history-gabby-persist
2874 The MLE supports a set of editing and control commands.
2875 By default (as) many (as possible) of these will be assigned to a set of
2876 single-letter control codes, which should work on any terminal (and can
2877 be generated by holding the
2879 key while pressing the key of desire, e.g.,
2883 command is available then the MLE commands can also be accessed freely
2884 by assigning the command name, which is shown in parenthesis in the list
2885 below, to any desired key-sequence, and the MLE will instead and also use
2887 to establish its built-in key bindings
2888 (more of them if the \*(OPal terminal control is available),
2889 an action which can then be suppressed completely by setting
2890 .Va line-editor-no-defaults .
2891 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
2892 notation is used in the following;
2893 combinations not mentioned either cause job control signals or do not
2894 generate a (unique) keycode:
2898 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql \eBa"
2900 Go to the start of the line
2902 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-home ) .
2905 Move the cursor backward one character
2907 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-bwd ) .
2910 Forward delete the character under the cursor;
2911 quits \*(UA if used on the empty line unless the internal variable
2915 .Pf ( Cd mle-del-fwd ) .
2918 Go to the end of the line
2920 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-end ) .
2923 Move the cursor forward one character
2925 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-fwd ) .
2928 Cancel current operation, full reset.
2929 If there is an active history search or tabulator expansion then this
2930 command will first reset that, reverting to the former line content;
2931 thus a second reset is needed for a full reset in this case
2933 .Pf ( Cd mle-reset ) .
2936 Backspace: backward delete one character
2938 .Pf ( Cd mle-del-bwd ) .
2942 Horizontal tabulator:
2943 try to expand the word before the cursor, supporting the usual
2944 .Sx "Filename transformations"
2946 .Pf ( Cd mle-complete ;
2948 .Cd mle-quote-rndtrip ) .
2952 commit the current line
2954 .Pf ( Cd mle-commit ) .
2957 Cut all characters from the cursor to the end of the line
2959 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-end ) .
2964 .Pf ( Cd mle-repaint ) .
2967 \*(OP Go to the next history entry
2969 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-fwd ) .
2972 (\*(OPally context-dependent) Invokes the command
2976 \*(OP Go to the previous history entry
2978 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-bwd ) .
2981 Toggle roundtrip mode shell quotes, where produced,
2984 .Pf ( Cd mle-quote-rndtrip ) .
2985 This setting is temporary, and will be forgotten once the command line
2986 is committed; also see
2990 \*(OP Complete the current line from (the remaining) older history entries
2992 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-srch-bwd ) .
2995 \*(OP Complete the current line from (the remaining) newer history entries
2997 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-srch-fwd ) .
3000 Paste the snarf buffer
3002 .Pf ( Cd mle-paste ) .
3010 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-line ) .
3013 Prompts for a Unicode character (hexadecimal number without prefix, see
3017 .Pf ( Cd mle-prompt-char ) .
3018 Note this command needs to be assigned to a single-letter control code
3019 in order to become recognized and executed during input of
3020 a key-sequence (only three single-letter control codes can be used for
3021 that shortcut purpose); this control code is then special-treated and
3022 thus cannot be part of any other sequence (because it will trigger the
3024 function immediately).
3027 Cut the characters from the one preceding the cursor to the preceding
3030 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-word-bwd ) .
3033 Move the cursor forward one word boundary
3035 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-word-fwd ) .
3038 Move the cursor backward one word boundary
3040 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-word-bwd ) .
3043 Escape: reset a possibly used multibyte character input state machine
3044 and \*(OPally a lingering, incomplete key binding
3046 .Pf ( Cd mle-cancel ) .
3047 This command needs to be assigned to a single-letter control code in
3048 order to become recognized and executed during input of a key-sequence
3049 (only three single-letter control codes can be used for that shortcut
3051 This control code may also be part of a multi-byte sequence, but if
3052 a sequence is active and the very control code is currently also an
3053 expected input, then the active sequence takes precedence and will
3054 consume the control code.
3057 (\*(OPally context-dependent) Invokes the command
3061 (\*(OPally context-dependent) Invokes the command
3065 (\*(OPally context-dependent) Invokes the command
3069 Cut the characters from the one after the cursor to the succeeding word
3072 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-word-fwd ) .
3079 Move the cursor forward one screen width
3081 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-screen-fwd ) .
3084 Move the cursor backward one screen width
3086 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-screen-bwd ) .
3089 \*(OP Move the cursor home and clear the screen
3091 .Pf ( Cd mle-clear-screen ) .
3098 this will immediately reset a possibly active search etc.
3103 ring the audible bell.
3107 .\" .Ss "Coloured display" {{{
3108 .Ss "Coloured display"
3110 \*(OP \*(UA can be configured to support a coloured display and font
3111 attributes by emitting ANSI a.k.a. ISO 6429 SGR (select graphic
3112 rendition) escape sequences.
3113 Usage of colours and font attributes solely depends upon the
3114 capability of the detected terminal type that is defined by the
3115 environment variable
3117 and which can be fine-tuned by the user via the internal variable
3121 On top of what \*(UA knows about the terminal the boolean variable
3123 defines whether the actually applicable colour and font attribute
3124 sequences should also be generated when output is going to be paged
3125 through the external program defined by the environment variable
3130 This is not enabled by default because different pager programs need
3131 different command line switches or other configuration in order to
3132 support those sequences.
3133 \*(UA however knows about some widely used pagers and in a clean
3134 environment it is often enough to simply set
3136 please refer to that variable for more on this topic.
3139 Colours and font attributes can be managed with the multiplexer command
3143 can be used to remove mappings of a given colour type.
3146 is set then any active usage of colour and font attribute sequences
3147 is suppressed without affecting possibly established
3150 Since colours are only available in interactive mode, it may make
3151 sense to conditionalize the colour setup by encapsulating it with
3154 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3155 if terminal && [ "$features" =% +colour ]
3156 colour iso view-msginfo ft=bold,fg=green
3157 colour iso view-header ft=bold,fg=red from,subject
3158 colour iso view-header fg=red
3160 uncolour iso view-header from,subject
3161 colour iso view-header ft=bold,fg=magenta,bg=cyan
3162 colour 256 view-header ft=bold,fg=208,bg=230 "subject,from"
3163 colour mono view-header ft=bold
3164 colour mono view-header ft=bold,ft=reverse subject,from
3169 .\" .Ss "Handling spam" {{{
3172 \*(OP \*(UA can make use of several spam interfaces for the purpose of
3173 identification of, and, in general, dealing with spam messages.
3174 A precondition of most commands in order to function is that the
3176 variable is set to one of the supported interfaces.
3177 .Sx "Specifying messages"
3178 that have been identified as spam is possible via their (volatile)
3184 specifications, and their
3186 entries will be used when displaying the
3194 rates the given messages and sets their
3197 If the spam interface offers spam scores these can be shown in
3206 will interact with the Bayesian filter of the chosen interface and learn
3207 the given messages as
3211 respectively; the last command can be used to cause
3213 of messages; it adheres to their current
3215 state and thus reverts previous teachings.
3220 will simply set and clear, respectively, the mentioned volatile
3222 message flag, without any interface interaction.
3231 requires a running instance of the
3233 server in order to function, started with the option
3235 shall Bayesian filter learning be possible.
3237 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3238 $ spamd -i localhost:2142 -i /tmp/.spamsock -d [-L] [-l]
3239 $ spamd --listen=localhost:2142 --listen=/tmp/.spamsock \e
3240 --daemonize [--local] [--allow-tell]
3244 Thereafter \*(UA can make use of these interfaces:
3246 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3247 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=spamc -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
3248 -Sspamc-command=/usr/local/bin/spamc \e
3249 -Sspamc-arguments="-U /tmp/.spamsock" -Sspamc-user=
3251 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=spamc -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
3252 -Sspamc-command=/usr/local/bin/spamc \e
3253 -Sspamc-arguments="-d localhost -p 2142" -Sspamc-user=
3257 Using the generic filter approach allows usage of programs like
3259 Here is an example, requiring it to be accessible via
3262 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3263 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=filter -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
3264 -Sspamfilter-ham="bogofilter -n" \e
3265 -Sspamfilter-noham="bogofilter -N" \e
3266 -Sspamfilter-nospam="bogofilter -S" \e
3267 -Sspamfilter-rate="bogofilter -TTu 2>/dev/null" \e
3268 -Sspamfilter-spam="bogofilter -s" \e
3269 -Sspamfilter-rate-scanscore="1;^(.+)$"
3273 Because messages must exist on local storage in order to be scored (or
3274 used for Bayesian filter training), it is possibly a good idea to
3275 perform the local spam check last.
3276 Spam can be checked automatically when opening specific folders by
3277 setting a specialized form of the internal variable
3280 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3281 define spamdelhook {
3283 spamset (header x-dcc-brand-metrics "bulk")
3284 # Server-side spamassassin(1)
3285 spamset (header x-spam-flag "YES")
3286 del :s # TODO we HAVE to be able to do `spamrate :u ! :sS'
3292 set folder-hook-SOMEFOLDER=spamdelhook
3296 See also the documentation for the variables
3297 .Va spam-interface , spam-maxsize ,
3298 .Va spamc-command , spamc-arguments , spamc-user ,
3299 .Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , spamfilter-nospam , \
3302 .Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore .
3305 .\" }}} (DESCRIPTION)
3308 .\" .Sh COMMANDS {{{
3311 \*(UA reads input in lines.
3312 An unquoted reverse solidus
3314 at the end of a command line
3316 the newline character: it is discarded and the next line of input is
3317 used as a follow-up line, with all leading whitespace removed;
3318 once an entire line is completed, the whitespace characters
3319 .Cm space , tabulator , newline
3320 as well as those defined by the variable
3322 are removed from the beginning and end.
3323 Placing any whitespace characters at the beginning of a line will
3324 prevent a possible addition of the command line to the \*(OPal
3328 The beginning of such input lines is then scanned for the name of
3329 a known command: command names may be abbreviated, in which case the
3330 first command that matches the given prefix will be used.
3331 .Sx "Command modifiers"
3332 may prefix a command in order to modify its behaviour.
3333 A name may also be a
3335 which will become expanded until no more expansion is possible.
3336 Once the command that shall be executed is known, the remains of the
3337 input line will be interpreted according to command-specific rules,
3338 documented in the following.
3341 This behaviour is different to the
3343 ell, which is a programming language with syntactic elements of clearly
3344 defined semantics, and therefore capable to sequentially expand and
3345 evaluate individual elements of a line.
3346 \*(UA will never be able to handle
3347 .Ql ? set one=value two=$one
3348 in a single statement, because the variable assignment is performed by
3356 can be used to show the list of all commands, either alphabetically
3357 sorted or in prefix search order (these do not match, also because the
3358 POSIX standard prescribes a set of abbreviations).
3359 \*(OPally the command
3363 when given an argument, will show a documentation string for the
3364 command matching the expanded argument, as in
3366 which should be a shorthand of
3368 with these documentation strings both commands support a more
3370 listing mode which includes the argument type of the command and other
3371 information which applies; a handy suggestion might thus be:
3373 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3375 # Before v15: need to enable sh(1)ell-style on _entire_ line!
3376 localopts yes;wysh set verbose;ignerr eval "${@}";return ${?}
3378 ? commandalias xv '\ecall __xv'
3382 .\" .Ss "Command modifiers" {{{
3383 .Ss "Command modifiers"
3385 Commands may be prefixed by one or multiple command modifiers.
3386 Some command modifiers can be used with a restricted set of commands
3391 will (\*(OPally) show which modifiers apply.
3395 The modifier reverse solidus
3398 to be placed first, prevents
3400 expansions on the remains of the line, e.g.,
3402 will always evaluate the command
3404 even if an (command)alias of the same name exists.
3406 content may itself contain further command modifiers, including
3407 an initial reverse solidus to prevent further expansions.
3413 indicates that any error generated by the following command should be
3414 ignored by the state machine and not cause a program exit with enabled
3416 or for the standardized exit cases in
3421 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
3422 will be set to the real exit status of the command regardless.
3427 will alter the called command to apply changes only temporarily,
3428 local to block-scope, and can thus only be used inside of a
3433 Specifying it implies the modifier
3435 Block-scope settings will not be inherited by macros deeper in the
3437 chain, and will be garbage collected once the current block is left.
3438 To record and unroll changes in the global scope use the command
3444 does yet not implement any functionality.
3449 does yet not implement any functionality.
3452 Some commands support the
3455 modifier: if used, they expect the name of a variable, which can itself
3456 be a variable, i.e., shell expansion is applied, as their first
3457 argument, and will place their computation result in it instead of the
3458 default location (it is usually written to standard output).
3460 The given name will be tested for being a valid
3462 variable name, and may therefore only consist of upper- and lowercase
3463 characters, digits, and the underscore; the hyphen-minus may be used as
3464 a non-portable extension; digits may not be used as first, hyphen-minus
3465 may not be used as last characters.
3466 In addition the name may either not be one of the known
3467 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
3468 or must otherwise refer to a writable (non-boolean) value variable.
3469 The actual put operation may fail nonetheless, e.g., if the variable
3470 expects a number argument only a number will be accepted.
3471 Any error during these operations causes the command as such to fail,
3472 and the error number
3475 .Va ^ERR Ns -NOTSUP ,
3480 but some commands deviate from the latter, which is documented.
3483 Last, but not least, the modifier
3486 can be used for some old and established commands to choose the new
3487 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
3488 rules over the traditional
3489 .Sx "Old-style argument quoting" .
3493 .\" .Ss "Message list arguments" {{{
3494 .Ss "Message list arguments"
3496 Some commands expect arguments that represent messages (actually
3497 their symbolic message numbers), as has been documented above under
3498 .Sx "Specifying messages"
3500 If no explicit message list has been specified, the next message
3501 forward that satisfies the commands requirements will be used,
3502 and if there are no messages forward of the current message,
3503 the search proceeds backwards;
3504 if there are no good messages at all to be found, an error message is
3505 shown and the command is aborted.
3508 .\" .Ss "Old-style argument quoting" {{{
3509 .Ss "Old-style argument quoting"
3511 \*(ID This section documents the old, traditional style of quoting
3512 non-message-list arguments to commands which expect this type of
3513 arguments: whereas still used by the majority of such commands, the new
3514 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
3515 may be available even for those via
3518 .Sx "Command modifiers" .
3519 Nonetheless care must be taken, because only new commands have been
3520 designed with all the capabilities of the new quoting rules in mind,
3521 which can, e.g., generate control characters.
3524 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
3526 An argument can be enclosed between paired double-quotes
3531 any whitespace, shell word expansion, or reverse solidus characters
3532 (except as described next) within the quotes are treated literally as
3533 part of the argument.
3534 A double-quote will be treated literally within single-quotes and vice
3536 Inside such a quoted string the actually used quote character can be
3537 used nonetheless by escaping it with a reverse solidus
3543 An argument that is not enclosed in quotes, as above, can usually still
3544 contain space characters if those spaces are reverse solidus escaped, as in
3548 A reverse solidus outside of the enclosing quotes is discarded
3549 and the following character is treated literally as part of the argument.
3553 .\" .Ss "Shell-style argument quoting" {{{
3554 .Ss "Shell-style argument quoting"
3556 Commands which do not expect message-list arguments use
3558 ell-style, and therefore POSIX standardized, argument parsing and
3560 \*(ID Most new commands only support these new rules and are flagged
3561 \*(NQ, some elder ones can use them with the command modifier
3563 in the future only this type of argument quoting will remain.
3566 A command line is parsed from left to right and an input token is
3567 completed whenever an unquoted, otherwise ignored, metacharacter is seen.
3568 Metacharacters are vertical bar
3574 as well as all characters from the variable
3577 .Cm space , tabulator , newline .
3578 The additional metacharacters left and right parenthesis
3580 and less-than and greater-than signs
3584 supports are not used, and are treated as ordinary characters: for one
3585 these characters are a vivid part of email addresses, and it seems
3586 highly unlikely that their function will become meaningful to \*(UA.
3588 .Bd -filled -offset indent
3589 .Sy Compatibility note:
3590 \*(ID Please note that even many new-style commands do not yet honour
3592 to parse their arguments: whereas the
3594 ell is a language with syntactic elements of clearly defined semantics,
3595 \*(UA parses entire input lines and decides on a per-command base what
3596 to do with the rest of the line.
3597 This also means that whenever an unknown command is seen all that \*(UA
3598 can do is cancellation of the processing of the remains of the line.
3600 It also often depends on an actual subcommand of a multiplexer command
3601 how the rest of the line should be treated, and until v15 we are not
3602 capable to perform this deep inspection of arguments.
3603 Nonetheless, at least the following commands which work with positional
3604 parameters fully support
3606 for an almost shell-compatible field splitting:
3607 .Ic call , call_if , read , vpospar , xcall .
3611 Any unquoted number sign
3613 at the beginning of a new token starts a comment that extends to the end
3614 of the line, and therefore ends argument processing.
3615 An unquoted dollar sign
3617 will cause variable expansion of the given name, which must be a valid
3619 ell-style variable name (see
3621 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
3624 (shell) variables can be accessed through this mechanism, brace
3625 enclosing the name is supported (i.e., to subdivide a token).
3628 Whereas the metacharacters
3629 .Cm space , tabulator , newline
3630 only complete an input token, vertical bar
3636 also act as control operators and perform control functions.
3637 For now supported is semicolon
3639 which terminates a single command, therefore sequencing the command line
3640 and making the remainder of the line a subject to reevaluation.
3641 With sequencing, multiple command argument types and quoting rules may
3642 therefore apply to a single line, which can become problematic before
3643 v15: e.g., the first of the following will cause surprising results.
3646 .Dl ? echo one; set verbose; echo verbose=$verbose.
3647 .Dl ? echo one; wysh set verbose; echo verbose=$verbose.
3650 Quoting is a mechanism that will remove the special meaning of
3651 metacharacters and reserved words, and will prevent expansion.
3652 There are four quoting mechanisms: the escape character, single-quotes,
3653 double-quotes and dollar-single-quotes:
3656 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
3658 The literal value of any character can be preserved by preceding it
3659 with the escape character reverse solidus
3663 Arguments which are enclosed in
3664 .Ql 'single-\:quotes'
3665 retain their literal value.
3666 A single-quote cannot occur within single-quotes.
3669 The literal value of all characters enclosed in
3670 .Ql \(dqdouble-\:quotes\(dq
3671 is retained, with the exception of dollar sign
3673 which will cause variable expansion, as above, backquote (grave accent)
3675 (which not yet means anything special), reverse solidus
3677 which will escape any of the characters dollar sign
3679 (to prevent variable expansion), backquote (grave accent)
3683 (to prevent ending the quote) and reverse solidus
3685 (to prevent escaping, i.e., to embed a reverse solidus character as-is),
3686 but has no special meaning otherwise.
3689 Arguments enclosed in
3690 .Ql $'dollar-\:single-\:quotes'
3691 extend normal single quotes in that reverse solidus escape sequences are
3692 expanded as follows:
3694 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".Ql \eNNN"
3696 bell control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 BEL).
3698 backspace control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 BS).
3700 escape control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 ESC).
3704 form feed control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 FF).
3706 line feed control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 LF).
3708 carriage return control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 CR).
3710 horizontal tabulator control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 HT).
3712 vertical tabulator control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 VT).
3714 emits a reverse solidus character.
3718 double quote (escaping is optional).
3720 eight-bit byte with the octal value
3722 (one to three octal digits), optionally prefixed by an additional
3724 A 0 byte will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
3726 eight-bit byte with the hexadecimal value
3728 (one or two hexadecimal characters, no prefix, see
3730 A 0 byte will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
3732 the Unicode / ISO-10646 character with the hexadecimal codepoint value
3734 (one to eight hexadecimal characters) \(em note that Unicode defines the
3735 maximum codepoint ever to be supported as
3740 This escape is only supported in locales that support Unicode (see
3741 .Sx "Character sets" ) ,
3742 in other cases the sequence will remain unexpanded unless the given code
3743 point is ASCII compatible or (if the \*(OPal character set conversion is
3744 available) can be represented in the current locale.
3745 The character NUL will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
3749 except it takes only one to four hexadecimal characters.
3751 Emits the non-printable (ASCII and compatible) C0 control codes
3752 0 (NUL) to 31 (US), and 127 (DEL).
3753 Printable representations of ASCII control codes can be created by
3754 mapping them to a different, visible part of the ASCII character set.
3755 Adding the number 64 achieves this for the codes 0 to 31, e.g., 7 (BEL):
3756 .Ql 7 + 64 = 71 = G .
3757 The real operation is a bitwise logical XOR with 64 (bit 7 set, see
3759 thus also covering code 127 (DEL), which is mapped to 63 (question mark):
3760 .Ql ? vexpr ^ 127 64 .
3762 Whereas historically circumflex notation has often been used for
3763 visualization purposes of control codes, e.g.,
3765 the reverse solidus notation has been standardized:
3767 Some control codes also have standardized (ISO-10646, ISO C) aliases,
3768 as shown above (e.g.,
3772 whenever such an alias exists it will be used for display purposes.
3773 The control code NUL
3775 a non-standard extension) will suppress further output for the remains
3776 of the token (which may extend beyond the current quote), or, depending
3777 on the context, the remains of all arguments for the current command.
3779 Non-standard extension: expand the given variable name, as above.
3780 Brace enclosing the name is supported.
3782 Not yet supported, just to raise awareness: Non-standard extension.
3789 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3790 ? echo 'Quotes '${HOME}' and 'tokens" differ!"# no comment
3791 ? echo Quotes ${HOME} and tokens differ! # comment
3792 ? echo Don"'"t you worry$'\ex21' The sun shines on us. $'\eu263A'
3796 .\" .Ss "Raw data arguments for codec commands" {{{
3797 .Ss "Raw data arguments for codec commands"
3799 A special set of commands, which all have the string
3801 in their name, e.g.,
3805 take raw string data as input, which means that the content of the
3806 command input line is passed completely unexpanded and otherwise
3807 unchanged: like this the effect of the actual codec is visible without
3808 any noise of possible shell quoting rules etc., i.e., the user can input
3809 one-to-one the desired or questionable data.
3810 To gain a level of expansion, the entire command line can be
3814 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3815 ? vput shcodec res encode /usr/Sch\[:o]nes Wetter/heute.txt
3817 $'/usr/Sch\eu00F6nes Wetter/heute.txt'
3819 $'/usr/Sch\eu00F6nes Wetter/heute.txt'
3820 ? eval shcodec d $res
3821 /usr/Sch\[:o]nes Wetter/heute.txt
3825 .\" .Ss "Filename transformations" {{{
3826 .Ss "Filename transformations"
3828 Filenames, where expected, and unless documented otherwise, are
3829 subsequently subject to the following filename transformations, in
3832 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
3834 If the given name is a registered
3836 it will be replaced with the expanded shortcut.
3839 The filename is matched against the following patterns or strings:
3841 .Bl -hang -compact -width ".Ar %user"
3843 (Number sign) is expanded to the previous file.
3845 (Percent sign) is replaced by the invoking
3846 .Mx -ix "primary system mailbox"
3847 user's primary system mailbox, which either is the (itself expandable)
3849 if that is set, the standardized absolute pathname indicated by
3851 if that is set, or a built-in compile-time default otherwise.
3853 Expands to the primary system mailbox of
3855 (and never the value of
3857 regardless of its actual setting).
3859 (Ampersand) is replaced with the invoking user's
3860 .Mx -ix "secondary mailbox"
3861 secondary mailbox, the
3868 directory (if that variable is set).
3870 Expands to the same value as
3872 but has special meaning when used with, e.g., the command
3874 the file will be treated as a primary system mailbox by, e.g., the
3878 commands, meaning that messages that have been read in the current
3879 session will be moved to the
3881 mailbox instead of simply being flagged as read.
3885 Meta expansions may be applied to the resulting filename, as allowed by
3886 the operation and applicable to the resulting access protocol (also see
3887 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ) .
3888 For the file-protocol, a leading tilde
3890 character will be replaced by the expansion of
3892 except when followed by a valid user name, in which case the home
3893 directory of the given user is used instead.
3895 A shell expansion as if specified in double-quotes (see
3896 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" )
3897 may be applied, so that any occurrence of
3901 will be replaced by the expansion of the variable, if possible;
3902 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
3905 (shell) variables can be accessed through this mechanism.
3907 Shell pathname wildcard pattern expansions
3909 may be applied as documented.
3910 If the fully expanded filename results in multiple pathnames and the
3911 command is expecting only one file, an error results.
3913 In interactive context, in order to allow simple value acceptance (via
3915 arguments will usually be displayed in a properly quoted form, e.g., a file
3916 .Ql diet\e is \ecurd.txt
3918 .Ql 'diet\e is \ecurd.txt' .
3922 .\" .Ss "Commands" {{{
3925 The following commands are available:
3927 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ic BaNg"
3934 command which follows, replacing unescaped exclamation marks with the
3935 previously executed command if the internal variable
3938 This command supports
3941 .Sx "Command modifiers" ,
3942 and manages the error number
3944 A 0 or positive exit status
3946 reflects the exit status of the command, negative ones that
3947 an error happened before the command was executed, or that the program
3948 did not exit cleanly, but, e.g., due to a signal: the error number is
3949 .Va ^ERR Ns -CHILD ,
3953 In conjunction with the
3955 modifier the following special cases exist:
3956 a negative exit status occurs if the collected data could not be stored
3957 in the given variable, which is a
3959 error that should otherwise not occur.
3960 .Va ^ERR Ns -CANCELED
3961 indicates that no temporary file could be created to collect the command
3962 output at first glance.
3963 In case of catchable out-of-memory situations
3965 will occur and \*(UA will try to store the empty string, just like with
3966 all other detected error conditions.
3971 The comment-command causes the entire line to be ignored.
3973 this really is a normal command which' purpose is to discard its
3976 indicating special character, which means that, e.g., trailing comments
3977 on a line are not possible (except for commands which use
3978 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" ) .
3982 Goes to the next message in sequence and types it
3988 Display the preceding message, or the n'th previous message if given
3989 a numeric argument n.
3993 Show the current message number (the
3998 \*(OP Show a brief summary of commands.
3999 \*(OP Given an argument a synopsis for the command in question is
4000 shown instead; commands can be abbreviated in general and this command
4001 can be used to see the full expansion of an abbreviation including the
4002 synopsis, try, e.g.,
4007 and see how the output changes.
4008 This mode also supports a more
4010 output, which will provide the information documented for
4021 .It Ic account , unaccount
4022 (ac, una) Creates, selects or lists (an) account(s).
4023 Accounts are special incarnations of
4025 macros and group commands and variable settings which together usually
4026 arrange the environment for the purpose of creating an email account.
4027 Different to normal macros settings which are covered by
4029 \(en here by default enabled! \(en will not be reverted before the
4034 (case-insensitive) always exists, and all but it can be deleted by the
4035 latter command, and in one operation with the special name
4037 Also for all but it a possibly set
4038 .Va on-account-cleanup
4039 hook is called once they are left.
4041 Without arguments a listing of all defined accounts is shown.
4042 With one argument the given account is activated: the system
4044 of that account will be activated (as via
4046 a possibly installed
4048 will be run, and the internal variable
4051 The two argument form is identical to defining a macro as via
4053 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4055 set folder=~/mail inbox=+syste.mbox record=+sent.mbox
4056 set from='(My Name) myname@myisp.example'
4057 set mta=smtp://mylogin@smtp.myisp.example
4064 Perform email address codec transformations on raw-data argument, rather
4065 according to email standards (RFC 5322; \*(ID will furtherly improve).
4069 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) ,
4070 and manages the error number
4072 The first argument must be either
4073 .Ar [+[+[+]]]e[ncode] ,
4078 and specifies the operation to perform on the rest of the line.
4081 Decoding will show how a standard-compliant MUA will display the given
4082 argument, which should be an email address.
4083 Please be aware that most MUAs have difficulties with the address
4084 standards, and vary wildly when (comments) in parenthesis,
4086 strings, or quoted-pairs, as below, become involved.
4087 \*(ID \*(UA currently does not perform decoding when displaying addresses.
4090 Skinning is identical to decoding but only outputs the plain address,
4091 without any string, comment etc. components.
4092 Another difference is that it may fail with the error number
4096 if decoding fails to find a(n) (valid) email address, in which case the
4097 unmodified input will be output again.
4101 first performs a skin operation, and thereafter checks a valid
4102 address for whether it is a registered mailing list (see
4106 eventually reporting that state in the error number
4109 .Va ^ERR Ns -EXIST .
4110 (This state could later become overwritten by an I/O error, though.)
4113 Encoding supports four different modes, lesser automated versions can be
4114 chosen by prefixing one, two or three plus signs: the standard imposes
4115 a special meaning on some characters, which thus have to be transformed
4116 to so-called quoted-pairs by pairing them with a reverse solidus
4118 in order to remove the special meaning; this might change interpretation
4119 of the entire argument from what has been desired, however!
4120 Specify one plus sign to remark that parenthesis shall be left alone,
4121 two for not turning double quotation marks into quoted-pairs, and three
4122 for also leaving any user-specified reverse solidus alone.
4123 The result will always be valid, if a successful exit status is reported
4124 (\*(ID the current parser fails this assertion for some constructs).
4125 \*(ID Addresses need to be specified in between angle brackets
4128 if the construct becomes more difficult, otherwise the current parser
4129 will fail; it is not smart enough to guess right.
4131 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4132 ? addrc enc "Hey, you",<diet@exam.ple>\e out\e there
4133 "\e"Hey, you\e", \e\e out\e\e there" <diet@exam.ple>
4134 ? addrc d "\e"Hey, you\e", \e\e out\e\e there" <diet@exam.ple>
4135 "Hey, you", \e out\e there <diet@exam.ple>
4136 ? addrc s "\e"Hey, you\e", \e\e out\e\e there" <diet@exam.ple>
4143 .It Ic alias , unalias
4144 (a, una) Aliases are a method of creating personal distribution lists
4145 that map a single alias name to none to multiple real receivers;
4146 these aliases become expanded after message composing is completed.
4147 The latter command removes the given list of aliases, the special name
4149 will discard all existing aliases.
4151 The former command shows all currently defined aliases when used without
4152 arguments, and with one argument the expansion of the given alias.
4153 With more than one argument, creates or appends to the alias name given
4154 as the first argument the remaining arguments.
4155 Alias names adhere to the Postfix MTA
4157 rules and are thus restricted to alphabetic characters, digits, the
4158 underscore, hyphen-minus, the number sign, colon and commercial at,
4159 the last character can also be the dollar sign; the regular expression:
4160 .Ql [[:alnum:]_#:@-]+$? .
4161 .\" ALIASCOLON next sentence
4162 \*(ID Unfortunately the colon is currently not supported, as it
4163 interferes with normal address parsing rules.
4164 As extensions the exclamation mark
4169 .Dq any character that has the high bit set
4171 .\" ALIASCOLON next sentence
4172 \*(ID Such high bit characters will likely cause warnings at the moment
4173 for the same reasons why colon is unsupported.
4177 .It Ic alternates , unalternates
4178 \*(NQ (alt) Manage a list of alternate addresses or names of the active
4179 user, members of which will be removed from recipient lists (except one).
4180 There is a set of implicit alternates which is formed of the values of
4190 The latter command removes the given list of alternates, the special name
4192 will discard all existing alternate names.
4194 The former command manages the error number
4196 It shows the current set of alternates when used without arguments; in
4197 this mode only it also supports
4200 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
4201 Otherwise the given arguments (after being checked for validity) are
4202 appended to the list of alternate names; in
4204 mode they replace that list instead.
4208 .It Ic answered , unanswered
4209 Take a message lists and mark each message as (not) having been answered.
4210 Messages will be marked answered when being
4212 to automatically if the
4216 .Sx "Message states" .
4221 .It Ic bind , unbind
4222 \*(OP\*(NQ The bind command extends the MLE (see
4223 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
4224 with freely configurable key bindings.
4225 The latter command removes from the given context the given key binding,
4226 both of which may be specified as a wildcard
4230 will remove all bindings of all contexts.
4231 Due to initialization order unbinding will not work for built-in key
4232 bindings upon program startup, however: please use
4233 .Va line-editor-no-defaults
4234 for this purpose instead.
4237 With one argument the former command shows all key bindings for the
4238 given context, specifying an asterisk
4240 will show the bindings of all contexts; a more verbose listing will be
4241 produced if either of
4246 With two or more arguments a binding is (re)established:
4247 the first argument is the context to which the binding shall apply,
4248 the second argument is a comma-separated list of the
4250 which form the binding, and any remaining arguments form the expansion.
4251 To indicate that a binding shall not be auto-committed, but that the
4252 expansion shall instead be furtherly editable by the user, a commercial at
4254 (that will be removed) can be placed last in the expansion, from which
4255 leading and trailing whitespace will finally be removed.
4256 Reverse solidus cannot be used as the last character of expansion.
4259 Contexts define when a binding applies, i.e., a binding will not be seen
4260 unless the context for which it is defined for is currently active.
4261 This is not true for the shared binding
4263 which is the foundation for all other bindings and as such always
4264 applies, its bindings, however, only apply secondarily.
4265 The available contexts are the shared
4269 context which is used in all not otherwise documented situations, and
4271 which applies to compose mode only.
4275 which form the binding are specified as a comma-separated list of
4276 byte-sequences, where each list entry corresponds to one key(press).
4277 A list entry may, indicated by a leading colon character
4279 also refer to the name of a terminal capability; several dozen names
4280 will be compiled in and may be specified either by their
4282 or, if existing, by their
4284 name, regardless of the actually used \*(OPal terminal control library.
4285 It is possible to use any capability, as long as the name is resolvable
4286 by the \*(OPal control library or was defined via the internal variable
4288 Input sequences are not case-normalized, so that an exact match is
4289 required to update or remove a binding.
4292 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4293 ? bind base $'\eE',d mle-snarf-word-fwd # Esc(ape)
4294 ? bind base $'\eE',$'\ec?' mle-snarf-word-bwd # Esc,Delete
4295 ? bind default $'\ecA',:khome,w 'echo Editable binding@'
4296 ? bind default a,b,c rm -irf / @ # Also editable
4297 ? bind default :kf1 File %
4298 ? bind compose :kf1 ~v
4302 Note that the entire comma-separated list is first parsed (over) as a
4303 shell-token with whitespace as the field separator, before being parsed
4304 and expanded for real with comma as the field separator, therefore
4305 whitespace needs to be properly quoted, see
4306 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" .
4307 Using Unicode reverse solidus escape sequences renders a binding
4308 defunctional if the locale does not support Unicode (see
4309 .Sx "Character sets" ) ,
4310 and using terminal capabilities does so if no (corresponding) terminal
4311 control support is (currently) available.
4314 The following terminal capability names are built-in and can be used in
4316 or (if available) the two-letter
4319 See the respective manual for a list of capabilities.
4322 can be used to show all the capabilities of
4324 or the given terminal type;
4327 flag will also show supported (non-standard) extensions.
4330 .Bl -tag -compact -width kcuuf_or_kcuuf
4331 .It Cd kbs Ns \0or Cd kb
4333 .It Cd kdch1 Ns \0or Cd kD
4335 .It Cd kDC Ns \0or Cd *4
4336 \(em shifted variant.
4337 .It Cd kel Ns \0or Cd kE
4338 Clear to end of line.
4339 .It Cd kext Ns \0or Cd @9
4341 .It Cd kich1 Ns \0or Cd kI
4343 .It Cd kIC Ns \0or Cd #3
4344 \(em shifted variant.
4345 .It Cd khome Ns \0or Cd kh
4347 .It Cd kHOM Ns \0or Cd #2
4348 \(em shifted variant.
4349 .It Cd kend Ns \0or Cd @7
4351 .It Cd knp Ns \0or Cd kN
4353 .It Cd kpp Ns \0or Cd kP
4355 .It Cd kcub1 Ns \0or Cd kl
4356 Left cursor (with more modifiers: see below).
4357 .It Cd kLFT Ns \0or Cd #4
4358 \(em shifted variant.
4359 .It Cd kcuf1 Ns \0or Cd kr
4360 Right cursor (ditto).
4361 .It Cd kRIT Ns \0or Cd %i
4362 \(em shifted variant.
4363 .It Cd kcud1 Ns \0or Cd kd
4364 Down cursor (ditto).
4366 \(em shifted variant (only terminfo).
4367 .It Cd kcuu1 Ns \0or Cd ku
4370 \(em shifted variant (only terminfo).
4371 .It Cd kf0 Ns \0or Cd k0
4373 Add one for each function key up to
4378 .It Cd kf10 Ns \0or Cd k;
4380 .It Cd kf11 Ns \0or Cd F1
4382 Add one for each function key up to
4390 Some terminals support key-modifier combination extensions, e.g.,
4392 For example, the delete key,
4394 in its shifted variant, the name is mutated to
4396 then a number is appended for the states
4408 .Ql Shift+Alt+Control
4410 The same for the left cursor key,
4412 .Cd KLFT , KLFT3 , KLFT4 , KLFT5 , KLFT6 , KLFT7 , KLFT8 .
4415 It is advisable to use an initial escape or other control character (e.g.,
4417 for bindings which describe user key combinations (as opposed to purely
4418 terminal capability based ones), in order to avoid ambiguities whether
4419 input belongs to key sequences or not; it also reduces search time.
4422 may help shall keys and sequences be falsely recognized.
4427 \*(NQ Calls the given macro, which must have been created via
4432 Calling macros recursively will at some time excess the stack size
4433 limit, causing a hard program abortion; if recursively calling a macro
4434 is the last command of the current macro, consider to use the command
4436 which will first release all resources of the current macro before
4437 replacing the current macro with the called one.
4438 Numeric and string operations can be performed via
4442 may be helpful to recreate argument lists.
4449 if the given macro has been created via
4451 but does not fail nor warn if the macro does not exist.
4455 (ch) Change the working directory to
4457 or the given argument.
4463 \*(OP Only applicable to S/MIME signed messages.
4464 Takes a message list and a filename and saves the certificates
4465 contained within the message signatures to the named file in both
4466 human-readable and PEM format.
4467 The certificates can later be used to send encrypted messages to the
4468 respective message senders by setting
4469 .Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST
4474 .It Ic charsetalias , uncharsetalias
4475 \*(NQ Manage alias mappings for (conversion of)
4476 .Sx "Character sets" .
4477 Mappings are ineffective if character set conversion is not available
4481 Expansion happens recursively, but expansion is not performed for
4482 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
4486 The latter command deletes all aliases given as arguments,
4487 all aliases can be deleted at once with the special argument
4489 The former shows the list of all currently defined aliases if used
4490 without arguments, the expansion of the given alias with one argument.
4491 Otherwise all given arguments are treated as pairs of character sets and
4492 their desired target alias name, creating new or changing already
4493 existing aliases, as necessary.
4497 (ch) Change the working directory to
4499 or the given argument.
4505 .It Ic collapse , uncollapse
4511 Takes a message list and makes all replies to these messages invisible
4512 in header summaries, except for
4516 Also when a message with collapsed replies is displayed,
4517 all of these are automatically uncollapsed.
4518 The latter command undoes collapsing.
4521 .\" FIXME review until this point
4524 .It Ic colour , uncolour
4525 \*(OP\*(NQ Manage colour mappings of and for a
4526 .Sx "Coloured display" .
4527 The type of colour is given as the (case-insensitive) first argument,
4528 which must be one of
4530 for 256-colour terminals,
4535 for the standard 8-colour ANSI / ISO 6429 colour palette and
4539 for monochrome terminals.
4540 Monochrome terminals cannot deal with colours, but only (some) font
4544 Without further arguments the list of all currently defined mappings
4545 for the given colour type is shown (as a special case giving
4549 will show the mappings of all types).
4550 Otherwise the second argument defines the mappable slot, and the third
4551 argument a (comma-separated list of) colour and font attribute
4552 specification(s), and the optional fourth argument can be used to
4553 specify a precondition: if conditioned mappings exist they are tested in
4554 (creation) order unless a (case-insensitive) match has been found, and
4555 the default mapping (if any has been established) will only be chosen as
4557 The types of precondition available depend on the mappable slot (see
4558 .Sx "Coloured display"
4559 for some examples), the following of which exist:
4562 Mappings prefixed with
4564 are used for the \*(OPal built-in Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE, see
4565 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
4566 and do not support preconditions.
4568 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
4570 This mapping is used for the position indicator that is visible when
4571 a line cannot be fully displayed on the screen.
4578 Mappings prefixed with
4580 are used in header summaries, and they all understand the preconditions
4582 (the current message) and
4584 for elder messages (only honoured in conjunction with
4585 .Va datefield-markout-older ) .
4587 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
4589 This mapping is used for the
4591 that can be created with the
4595 formats of the variable
4598 For the complete header summary line except the
4600 and the thread structure.
4602 For the thread structure which can be created with the
4604 format of the variable
4609 Mappings prefixed with
4611 are used when displaying messages.
4613 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
4615 This mapping is used for so-called
4617 lines, which are MBOX file format specific header lines.
4620 A comma-separated list of headers to which the mapping applies may be
4621 given as a precondition; if the \*(OPal regular expression support is
4622 available then if any of the
4624 (extended) regular expression characters is seen the precondition will
4625 be evaluated as (an extended) one.
4627 For the introductional message info line.
4628 .It Ar view-partinfo
4629 For MIME part info lines.
4633 The following (case-insensitive) colour definitions and font attributes
4634 are understood, multiple of which can be specified in a comma-separated
4644 It is possible (and often applicable) to specify multiple font
4645 attributes for a single mapping.
4648 foreground colour attribute:
4658 To specify a 256-colour mode a decimal number colour specification in
4659 the range 0 to 255, inclusive, is supported, and interpreted as follows:
4661 .Bl -tag -compact -width "999 - 999"
4663 the standard ISO 6429 colours, as above.
4665 high intensity variants of the standard colours.
4667 216 colours in tuples of 6.
4669 grayscale from black to white in 24 steps.
4671 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4673 fg() { printf "\e033[38;5;${1}m($1)"; }
4674 bg() { printf "\e033[48;5;${1}m($1)"; }
4676 while [ $i -lt 256 ]; do fg $i; i=$(($i + 1)); done
4677 printf "\e033[0m\en"
4679 while [ $i -lt 256 ]; do bg $i; i=$(($i + 1)); done
4680 printf "\e033[0m\en"
4684 background colour attribute (see
4686 for possible values).
4692 will remove for the given colour type (the special type
4694 selects all) the given mapping; if the optional precondition argument is
4695 given only the exact tuple of mapping and precondition is removed.
4698 will remove all mappings (no precondition allowed), thus
4700 will remove all established mappings.
4705 .It Ic commandalias , uncommandalias
4706 \*(NQ Define or list, and remove, respectively, command aliases.
4707 An (command)alias can be used everywhere a normal command can be used,
4708 but always takes precedence: any arguments that are given to the command
4709 alias are joined onto the alias expansion, and the resulting string
4710 forms the command line that is, in effect, executed.
4711 The latter command removes all given aliases, the special name
4713 will remove all existing aliases.
4714 When used without arguments the former shows a list of all currently
4715 known aliases, with one argument only the expansion of the given one.
4717 With two or more arguments a command alias is defined or updated: the
4718 first argument is the name under which the remaining command line should
4719 be accessible, the content of which can be just about anything.
4720 An alias may itself expand to another alias, but to avoid expansion loops
4721 further expansion will be prevented if an alias refers to itself or if
4722 an expansion depth limit is reached.
4723 Explicit expansion prevention is available via reverse solidus
4726 .Sx "Command modifiers" .
4727 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4729 \*(uA: `commandalias': no such alias: xx
4730 ? commandalias xx echo hello,
4732 commandalias xx 'echo hello,'
4741 (C) Copy messages to files whose names are derived from the author of
4742 the respective message and do not mark them as being saved;
4743 otherwise identical to
4748 (c) Copy messages to the named file and do not mark them as being saved;
4749 otherwise identical to
4754 Show the name of the current working directory, as reported by
4759 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
4760 The return status is tracked via
4765 \*(OP For unencrypted messages this command is identical to
4767 Encrypted messages are first decrypted, if possible, and then copied.
4771 \*(OP For unencrypted messages this command is identical to
4773 Encrypted messages are first decrypted, if possible, and then copied.
4778 .It Ic define , undefine
4779 The latter command deletes the given macro, the special name
4781 will discard all existing macros.
4782 Deletion of (a) macro(s) can be performed from within running (a)
4783 macro(s), including self-deletion.
4784 Without arguments the former command prints the current list of macros,
4785 including their content, otherwise it it defines a macro, replacing an
4786 existing one of the same name as applicable.
4789 A defined macro can be invoked explicitly by using the
4794 commands, or implicitly if a macro hook is triggered, e.g., a
4796 Execution of a macro body can be stopped from within by calling
4800 Temporary macro block-scope variables can be created or deleted with the
4802 command modifier in conjunction with the commands
4807 To enforce unrolling of changes made to (global)
4808 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
4811 can be used instead; its covered scope depends on how (i.e.,
4813 normal macro, folder hook, hook,
4815 switch) the macro is invoked.
4820 ed macro, the given positional parameters are implicitly local
4821 to the macro's scope, and may be accessed via the variables
4827 and any other positive unsigned decimal number less than or equal to
4829 Positional parameters can be
4831 ed, or become completely replaced, removed etc. via
4834 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4844 echo Parameter 1 of ${#} is ${1}, all: ${*} / ${@}
4847 call exmac Hello macro exmac!
4848 echo ${?}/${!}/${^ERRNAME}
4854 .It Ic delete , undelete
4855 (d, u) Marks the given message list as being or not being
4857 respectively; if no argument has been specified then the usual search
4858 for a visible message is performed, as documented for
4859 .Sx "Message list arguments" ,
4860 showing only the next input prompt if the search fails.
4861 Deleted messages will neither be saved in the
4863 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
4865 nor will they be available for most other commands.
4868 variable is set, the new
4870 or the last message restored, respectively, is automatically
4880 Superseded by the multiplexer
4886 Delete the given messages and automatically
4890 if one exists, regardless of the setting of
4897 up or down by one message when given
4901 argument, respectively.
4905 .It Ic draft , undraft
4906 Take message lists and mark each given message as being draft, or not
4907 being draft, respectively, as documented in the section
4908 .Sx "Message states" .
4912 \*(NQ (ec) Echoes arguments to standard output and writes a trailing
4913 newline, whereas the otherwise identical
4916 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
4918 .Sx "Filename transformations"
4919 are applied to the expanded arguments.
4920 This command also supports
4923 .Sx "Command modifiers" ,
4924 and manages the error number
4926 if data is stored in a variable then the return value reflects the
4927 length of the result string in case of success and is
4935 except that is echoes to standard error.
4938 In interactive sessions the \*(OPal message ring queue for
4940 will be used instead, if available and
4948 but does not write or store a trailing newline.
4954 but does not write or store a trailing newline.
4960 at each message from the given list in turn.
4961 Modified contents are discarded unless the
4963 variable is set, and are not used unless the mailbox can be written to
4964 and the editor returns a successful exit status.
4966 can be used instead for a more display oriented editor.
4971 .Ic if Ns \0/\: Ic elif Ns \0/\: Ic else Ns \0/\: Ic endif
4972 conditional \(em if the condition of a preceding
4974 was false, check the following condition and execute the following block
4975 if it evaluates true.
4980 .Ic if Ns \0/\: Ic elif Ns \0/\: Ic else Ns \0/\: Ic endif
4981 conditional \(em if none of the conditions of the preceding
4985 commands was true, the
4991 (en) Marks the end of an
4992 .Ic if Ns \0/\: Ic elif Ns \0/\: Ic else Ns \0/\: Ic endif
4993 conditional execution block.
4998 \*(NQ \*(UA has a strict notion about which variables are
4999 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
5000 and which are managed in the program
5002 Since some of the latter are a vivid part of \*(UAs functioning,
5003 however, they are transparently integrated into the normal handling of
5004 internal variables via
5008 To integrate other environment variables of choice into this
5009 transparent handling, and also to export internal variables into the
5010 process environment where they normally are not, a
5012 needs to become established with this command, as in, e.g.,
5015 .Dl environ link PERL5LIB TZ
5018 Afterwards changing such variables with
5020 will cause automatic updates of the program environment, and therefore
5021 be inherited by newly created child processes.
5022 Sufficient system support provided (it was in BSD as early as 1987, and
5023 is standardized since Y2K) removing such variables with
5025 will remove them also from the program environment, but in any way
5026 the knowledge they ever have been
5029 Note that this implies that
5031 may cause loss of such links.
5036 will remove an existing link, but leaves the variables as such intact.
5037 Additionally the subcommands
5041 are provided, which work exactly the same as the documented commands
5045 but (additionally un)link the variable(s) with the program environment
5046 and thus immediately export them to, or remove them from (if possible),
5047 respectively, the program environment.
5052 \*(OP Since \*(UA uses the console as a user interface it can happen
5053 that messages scroll by too fast to become recognized.
5054 An error message ring queue is available which stores duplicates of any
5055 error message and notifies the user in interactive sessions whenever
5056 a new error has occurred.
5057 The queue is finite: if its maximum size is reached any new message
5058 replaces the eldest.
5061 can be used to manage this message queue: if given
5063 or no argument the queue will be displayed and cleared,
5065 will only clear all messages from the queue.
5069 \*(NQ Construct a command by concatenating the arguments, separated with
5070 a single space character, and then evaluate the result.
5071 This command passes through the exit status
5075 of the evaluated command; also see
5077 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5088 call yyy '\ecall xxx' "b\e$'\et'u ' "
5096 (ex or x) Exit from \*(UA without changing the active mailbox and skip
5097 any saving of messages in the
5099 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
5101 as well as a possibly tracked line editor
5103 The optional status number argument will be passed through to
5105 \*(ID For now it can happen that the given status will be overwritten,
5106 later this will only occur if a later error needs to be reported onto an
5107 otherwise success indicating status.
5113 but open the mailbox read-only.
5118 (fi) The file command switches to a new mailbox.
5119 Without arguments it shows status information of the current mailbox.
5120 If an argument is given, it will write out changes (such as deletions)
5121 the user has made, open a new mailbox, update the internal variables
5122 .Va mailbox-resolved
5124 .Va mailbox-display ,
5125 and optionally display a summary of
5132 .Sx "Filename transformations"
5133 will be applied to the
5137 prefixes are, i.e., URL syntax is understood, e.g.,
5138 .Ql mbox:///tmp/mdirbox :
5139 if a protocol prefix is used the mailbox type is fixated and neither
5140 the auto-detection (read on) nor the
5143 \*(OPally URLs can also be used to access network resources, which may
5144 be accessed securely via
5145 .Sx "Encrypted network communication"
5146 if so supported, and it is possible to proxy all network traffic over
5147 a SOCKS5 server given via
5151 .Dl \*(IN protocol://[user[:password]@]host[:port][/path]
5152 .Dl \*(OU protocol://[user@]host[:port][/path]
5155 \*(OPally supported network protocols are
5159 (POP3 with TLS encrypted transport),
5165 part is valid only for IMAP; there it defaults to
5167 Network URLs require a special encoding as documented in the section
5168 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
5171 If the resulting file protocol (MBOX database)
5173 is located on a local filesystem then the list of all registered
5175 s is traversed in order to see whether a transparent intermediate
5176 conversion step is necessary to handle the given mailbox, in which case
5177 \*(UA will use the found hook to load and save data into and from
5178 a temporary file, respectively.
5179 Changing hooks will not affect already opened mailboxes.
5180 For example, the following creates hooks for the
5182 compression tool and a combined compressed and encrypted format:
5184 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5186 gzip 'gzip -dc' 'gzip -c' \e
5187 zst.pgp 'gpg -d | zstd -dc' 'zstd -19 -zc | gpg -e'
5191 MBOX databases will always be protected via file-region locks
5193 during file operations in order to avoid inconsistencies due to
5194 concurrent modifications.
5195 .Mx -ix "dotlock files"
5196 \*(OP In addition mailbox files treated as the system
5201 .Sx "primary system mailbox" Ns
5202 es in general will also be protected by so-called dotlock files,
5203 the traditional way of mail spool file locking: for any file
5207 will be created for the duration of the synchronization \(em
5208 as necessary an external privileged dotlock helper will be used
5209 to create the dotlock file in the same directory and with the same user
5210 and group identities as the file of interest.
5212 can be used to turn off additional dotlock files, shall the need arise.
5215 \*(UA by default uses tolerant POSIX rules when reading MBOX database
5216 files, but it will detect invalid message boundaries in this mode and
5217 complain (even more with
5219 if any is seen: in this case
5221 can be used to create a valid MBOX database from the invalid input.
5224 \*(OP If no protocol has been fixated, and
5226 refers to a directory with the subdirectories
5231 then it is treated as a folder in
5234 The maildir format stores each message in its own file, and has been
5235 designed so that file locking is not necessary when reading or writing
5239 \*(ID If no protocol has been fixated and no existing file has
5240 been found, the variable
5242 controls the format of mailboxes yet to be created.
5247 .It Ic filetype , unfiletype
5248 \*(NQ Define or list, and remove, respectively, file handler hooks,
5249 which provide (shell) commands that enable \*(UA to load and save MBOX
5250 files from and to files with the registered file extensions;
5251 it will use an intermediate temporary file to store the plain data.
5252 The latter command removes the hooks for all given extensions,
5254 will remove all existing handlers.
5256 When used without arguments the former shows a list of all currently
5257 defined file hooks, with one argument the expansion of the given alias.
5258 Otherwise three arguments are expected, the first specifying the file
5259 extension for which the hook is meant, and the second and third defining
5260 the load- and save commands, respectively, to deal with the file type,
5261 both of which must read from standard input and write to standard
5263 Changing hooks will not affect already opened mailboxes (\*(ID except below).
5264 \*(ID For now too much work is done, and files are oftened read in twice
5265 where once would be sufficient: this can cause problems if a filetype is
5266 changed while such a file is opened; this was already so with the
5267 built-in support of .gz etc. in Heirloom, and will vanish in v15.
5268 \*(ID For now all handler strings are passed to the
5269 .Ev SHELL for evaluation purposes; in the future a
5271 prefix to load and save commands may mean to bypass this shell instance:
5272 placing a leading space will avoid any possible misinterpretations.
5273 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5274 ? filetype bz2 'bzip2 -dc' 'bzip2 -zc' \e
5275 gz 'gzip -dc' 'gzip -c' xz 'xz -dc' 'xz -zc' \e
5276 zst 'zstd -dc' 'zstd -19 -zc' \e
5277 zst.pgp 'gpg -d | zstd -dc' 'zstd -19 -zc | gpg -e'
5278 ? set record=+sent.zst.pgp
5283 .It Ic flag , unflag
5284 Take message lists and mark the messages as being flagged, or not being
5285 flagged, respectively, for urgent/special attention.
5287 .Sx "Message states" .
5296 With no arguments, list the names of the folders in the folder directory.
5297 With an existing folder as an argument,
5298 lists the names of folders below the named folder.
5304 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
5305 recipient's address (instead of in
5312 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
5313 recipient's address (instead of in
5320 but responds to all recipients regardless of the
5325 .It Ic followupsender
5328 but responds to the sender only regardless of the
5336 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the
5337 recipient's address (instead of in
5342 Takes a message and the address of a recipient
5343 and forwards the message to him.
5344 The text of the original message is included in the new one,
5345 with the value of the
5346 .Va forward-inject-head
5347 variable preceding, and the value of
5348 .Va forward-inject-tail
5350 To filter the included header fields to the desired subset use the
5352 slot of the white- and blacklisting command
5354 Only the first part of a multipart message is included unless
5355 .Va forward-as-attachment ,
5356 and recipient addresses will be stripped from comments, names
5357 etc. unless the internal variable
5361 This may generate the errors
5362 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
5363 if no receiver has been specified,
5365 if some addressees where rejected by
5368 if no applicable messages have been given,
5370 if multiple messages have been specified,
5372 if an I/O error occurs,
5374 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
5380 (f) Takes a list of message specifications and displays a summary of
5381 their message headers, exactly as via
5383 making the first message of the result the new
5385 (the last message if
5388 An alias of this command is
5391 .Sx "Specifying messages" .
5402 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
5406 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
5409 .It Ic ghost , unghost
5412 .Ic uncommandalias .
5416 .It Ic headerpick , unheaderpick
5417 \*(NQ Multiplexer command to manage white- and blacklisting
5418 selections of header fields for a variety of applications.
5419 Without arguments the set of contexts that have settings is displayed.
5420 When given arguments, the first argument is the context to which the
5421 command applies, one of (case-insensitive)
5423 for display purposes (via, e.g.,
5426 for selecting which headers shall be stored persistently when
5432 ing messages (note that MIME related etc. header fields should not be
5433 ignored in order to not destroy usability of the message in this case),
5435 for stripping down messages when
5437 ing message (has no effect if
5438 .Va forward-as-attachment
5441 for defining user-defined set of fields for the command
5444 The current settings of the given context are displayed if it is the
5446 A second argument denotes the type of restriction that is to be chosen,
5447 it may be (a case-insensitive prefix of)
5451 for white- and blacklisting purposes, respectively.
5452 Establishing a whitelist suppresses inspection of the corresponding
5455 If no further argument is given the current settings of the given type
5456 will be displayed, otherwise the remaining arguments specify header
5457 fields, which \*(OPally may be given as regular expressions, to be added
5459 The special wildcard field (asterisk,
5461 will establish a (fast) shorthand setting which covers all fields.
5463 The latter command always takes three or more arguments and can be used
5464 to remove selections, i.e., from the given context, the given type of
5465 list, all the given headers will be removed, the special argument
5467 will remove all headers.
5471 (h) Show the current group of headers, the size of which depends on
5474 and the style of which can be adjusted with the variable
5476 If a message-specification is given the group of headers containing the
5477 first message therein is shown and the message at the top of the screen
5480 the last message is targeted if
5491 \*(OP Without arguments or when given
5493 all history entries are shown (this mode also supports a more
5497 will replace the list of entries with the content of
5501 will dump the current list to said file, replacing former content.
5503 will delete all history entries.
5504 The argument can also be a signed decimal
5506 which will select and evaluate the respective history entry, and move it
5507 to the top of the history; a negative number is used as an offset to the
5508 current command, e.g.,
5510 will select the last command, the history top.
5512 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor"
5513 for more on this topic.
5519 Takes a message list and marks each message therein to be saved in the
5524 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
5526 Does not override the
5529 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command, because a
5531 command issued after
5533 will display the following message, not the current one.
5538 (i) Part of the nestable
5539 .Ic if Ns \0/\: Ic elif Ns \0/\: Ic else Ns \0/\: Ic endif
5540 conditional execution construct \(em if the given condition is true then
5541 the encapsulated block is executed.
5542 The POSIX standards supports the (case-insensitive) conditions
5547 end, all remaining conditions are non-portable extensions.
5548 \*(ID These commands do not yet use
5549 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
5550 and therefore do not know about input tokens, so that syntax
5551 elements have to be surrounded by whitespace; in v15 \*(UA will inspect
5552 all conditions bracket group wise and consider the tokens, representing
5553 values and operators, therein, which also means that variables will
5554 already have been expanded at that time (just like in the shell).
5556 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5565 The (case-insensitive) condition
5567 erminal will evaluate to true if the standard input is a terminal, i.e.,
5568 in interactive sessions.
5569 Another condition can be any boolean value (see the section
5570 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
5571 for textual boolean representations) to mark an enwrapped block as
5574 .Dq always execute .
5575 (It shall be remarked that a faulty condition skips all branches until
5580 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
5581 will be used, and this command will simply interpret expanded tokens.)
5582 It is possible to check
5583 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
5586 variables for existence or compare their expansion against a user given
5587 value or another variable by using the
5589 .Pf ( Dq variable next )
5590 conditional trigger character;
5591 a variable on the right hand side may be signalled using the same
5593 Variable names may be enclosed in a pair of matching braces.
5594 When this mode has been triggered, several operators are available:
5597 Integer operators treat the arguments on the left and right hand side of
5598 the operator as integral numbers and compare them arithmetically.
5599 It is an error if any of the operands is not a valid integer, an empty
5600 argument (which implies it had been quoted) is treated as if it were 0.
5601 Available operators are
5605 (less than or equal to),
5611 (greater than or equal to), and
5616 String data operators compare the left and right hand side according to
5617 their textual content.
5618 Unset variables are treated as the empty string.
5619 The behaviour of string operators can be adjusted by prefixing the
5620 operator with the modifier trigger commercial at
5622 followed by none to multiple modifiers: for now supported is
5624 which turns the comparison into a case-insensitive one: this is
5625 implied if no modifier follows the trigger.
5628 Available string operators are
5632 (less than or equal to),
5638 (greater than or equal to),
5642 (is substring of) and
5644 (is not substring of).
5645 By default these operators work on bytes and (therefore) do not take
5646 into account character set specifics.
5647 If the case-insensitivity modifier has been used, case is ignored
5648 according to the rules of the US-ASCII encoding, i.e., bytes are
5652 When the \*(OPal regular expression support is available, the additional
5658 They treat the right hand side as an extended regular expression that is
5659 matched according to the active locale (see
5660 .Sx "Character sets" ) ,
5661 i.e., character sets should be honoured correctly.
5664 Conditions can be joined via AND-OR lists (where the AND operator is
5666 and the OR operator is
5668 which have equal precedence and will be evaluated with left
5669 associativity, thus using the same syntax that is known for the
5671 It is also possible to form groups of conditions and lists by enclosing
5672 them in pairs of brackets
5673 .Ql [\ \&.\&.\&.\ ] ,
5674 which may be interlocked within each other, and also be joined via
5678 The results of individual conditions and entire groups may be modified
5679 via unary operators: the unary operator
5681 will reverse the result.
5683 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5684 # (This not in v15, there [ -n "$debug"]!)
5688 if [ "$ttycharset" == UTF-8 ] || \e
5689 [ "$ttycharset" @i== UTF8 ]
5690 echo *ttycharset* is UTF-8, the former case-sensitive!
5693 if [ "${t1}" == "${t2}" ]
5694 echo These two variables are equal
5696 if [ "$features" =% +regex ] && \e
5697 [ "$TERM" @i=~ "^xterm\&.*" ]
5698 echo ..in an X terminal
5700 if [ [ true ] && [ [ "${debug}" != '' ] || \e
5701 [ "$verbose" != '' ] ] ]
5704 if true && [ "$debug" != '' ] || [ "${verbose}" != '' ]
5705 echo Left associativity, as is known from the shell
5714 Superseded by the multiplexer
5719 Shows the names of all available commands, alphabetically sorted.
5720 If given any non-whitespace argument the list will be shown in the order
5721 in which command prefixes are searched.
5722 \*(OP In conjunction with a set variable
5724 additional information will be provided for each command: the argument
5725 type will be indicated, the documentation string will be shown,
5726 and the set of command flags will show up:
5728 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql NEEDS_BOX"
5730 command supports the command modifier
5733 command supports the command modifier
5736 the error number is tracked in
5739 whether the command needs an active mailbox, a
5742 indicators whether command is \&.\h'.3m'.\h'.3m'.
5743 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql SUBPROCESS"
5744 .It Ql batch/interactive
5745 usable in interactive or batch mode
5748 usable in send mode.
5750 allowed to be used when running in a subprocess instance,
5751 e.g., from within a macro that is called via
5752 .Va on-compose-splice .
5755 indicators whether command is not \&.\h'.3m'.\h'.3m'.
5756 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql COMPOSE_MODE"
5758 available in compose mode.
5760 available during program startup, e.g., in
5761 .Sx "Resource files" .
5764 The command produces
5773 This command can be used to localize changes to (linked)
5776 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
5777 meaning that their state will be reverted to the former one once the
5780 Just like the command modifier
5782 which provides block-scope localization for some commands (instead),
5783 it can only be used inside of macro definition blocks introduced by
5787 The covered scope of an
5789 is left once a different account is activated, and some macros, notably
5790 .Va folder-hook Ns s ,
5791 use their own specific notion of covered scope, here it will be extended
5792 until the folder is left again.
5795 This setting stacks up: i.e., if
5797 enables change localization and calls
5799 which explicitly resets localization, then any value changes within
5801 will still be reverted when the scope of
5804 (Caveats: if in this example
5806 changes to a different
5808 which sets some variables that are already covered by localizations,
5809 their scope will be extended, and in fact leaving the
5811 will (thus) restore settings in (likely) global scope which actually
5812 were defined in a local, macro private context!)
5815 This command takes one or two arguments, the optional first one
5816 specifies an attribute that may be one of
5818 which refers to the current scope and is thus the default,
5820 which causes any macro that is being
5822 ed to be started with localization enabled by default, as well as
5824 which (if enabled) disallows any called macro to turn off localization:
5825 like this it can be ensured that once the current scope regains control,
5826 any changes made in deeper levels have been reverted.
5827 The latter two are mutually exclusive, and neither affects
5829 The (second) argument is interpreted as a boolean (string, see
5830 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" )
5831 and states whether the given attribute shall be turned on or off.
5833 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5834 define temporary_settings {
5835 set possibly_global_option1
5837 set localized_option1
5838 set localized_option2
5840 set possibly_global_option2
5847 Reply to messages that come in via known
5850 .Pf ( Ic mlsubscribe )
5851 mailing lists, or pretend to do so (see
5852 .Sx "Mailing lists" ) :
5855 functionality this will actively resort and even remove message
5856 recipients in order to generate a message that is supposed to be sent to
5858 For example it will also implicitly generate a
5859 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
5860 header if that seems useful, regardless of the setting of the variable
5862 For more documentation please refer to
5863 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
5865 This may generate the errors
5866 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
5867 if no receiver has been specified,
5869 if some addressees where rejected by
5872 if no applicable messages have been given,
5874 if an I/O error occurs,
5876 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
5879 Occurance of some of the errors depend on the value of
5881 Any error stops processing of further messages.
5887 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
5888 recipient's address (instead of in
5893 (m) Takes a (list of) recipient address(es) as (an) argument(s),
5894 or asks on standard input if none were given;
5895 then collects the remaining mail content and sends it out.
5896 Unless the internal variable
5898 is set recipient addresses will be stripped from comments, names etc.
5899 For more documentation please refer to
5900 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
5902 This may generate the errors
5903 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
5904 if no receiver has been specified,
5906 if some addressees where rejected by
5909 if no applicable messages have been given,
5911 if multiple messages have been specified,
5913 if an I/O error occurs,
5915 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
5918 Occurance of some of the errors depend on the value of
5923 (mb) The given message list is to be sent to the
5925 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
5927 when \*(UA is quit; this is the default action unless the variable
5930 \*(ID This command can only be used in a
5932 .Sx "primary system mailbox" .
5936 .It Ic mimetype , unmimetype
5937 Without arguments the content of the MIME type cache will displayed;
5938 a more verbose listing will be produced if either of
5943 When given arguments they will be joined, interpreted as shown in
5944 .Sx "The mime.types files"
5946 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ) ,
5947 and the resulting entry will be added (prepended) to the cache.
5948 In any event MIME type sources are loaded first as necessary \(en
5949 .Va mimetypes-load-control
5950 can be used to fine-tune which sources are actually loaded.
5952 The latter command deletes all specifications of the given MIME type, thus
5953 .Ql ? unmimetype text/plain
5954 will remove all registered specifications for the MIME type
5958 will discard all existing MIME types, just as will
5960 but which also reenables cache initialization via
5961 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
5965 .It Ic mlist , unmlist
5966 The latter command removes all given mailing lists, the special name
5968 can be used to remove all registered lists.
5969 The former will list all currently defined mailing lists (and their
5970 attributes, if any) when used without arguments; a more verbose listing
5971 will be produced if either of
5976 Otherwise all given arguments will be added and henceforth be recognized
5978 If the \*(OPal regular expression support is available then any argument
5979 which contains any of the
5981 regular expression characters
5985 will be interpreted as one, which allows matching of many addresses with
5986 a single expression.
5989 pair of commands manages subscription attributes of mailing lists.
5993 \*(ID Only available in interactive mode, this command allows one to
5994 display MIME parts which require external MIME handler programs to run
5995 which do not integrate in \*(UAs normal
5998 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ) .
5999 (\*(ID No syntax to directly address parts, this restriction may vanish.)
6000 The user will be asked for each non-text part of the given message in
6001 turn whether the registered handler shall be used to display the part.
6005 .It Ic mlsubscribe , unmlsubscribe
6006 The latter command removes the subscription attribute from all given
6007 mailing lists, the special name
6009 can be used to do so for any registered list.
6010 The former will list all currently defined mailing lists which have
6011 a subscription attribute when used without arguments; a more verbose
6012 listing will be produced if either of
6017 Otherwise this attribute will be set for all given mailing lists,
6018 newly creating them as necessary (as via
6027 but moves the messages to a file named after the local part of the
6028 sender address of the first message (instead of in
6035 but marks the messages for deletion if they were transferred
6042 but also displays header fields which would not pass the
6044 selection, and all MIME parts.
6052 on the given messages, even in non-interactive mode and as long as the
6053 standard output is a terminal.
6059 \*(OP When used without arguments or if
6061 has been given the content of the
6063 cache is shown, loading it first as necessary.
6066 then the cache will only be initialized and
6068 will remove its contents.
6069 Note that \*(UA will try to load the file only once, use
6070 .Ql Ic \&\&netrc Ns \:\0\:clear
6071 to unlock further attempts.
6076 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ;
6078 .Sx "The .netrc file"
6079 documents the file format in detail.
6083 Checks for new mail in the current folder without committing any changes
6085 If new mail is present, a message is shown.
6089 the headers of each new message are also shown.
6090 This command is not available for all mailbox types.
6098 Goes to the next message in sequence and types it.
6099 With an argument list, types the next matching message.
6113 If the current folder is accessed via a network connection, a
6115 command is sent, otherwise no operation is performed.
6121 but also displays header fields which would not pass the
6123 selection, and all MIME parts.
6131 on the given messages, even in non-interactive mode and as long as the
6132 standard output is a terminal.
6140 but also pipes header fields which would not pass the
6142 selection, and all parts of MIME
6143 .Ql multipart/alternative
6148 (pi) Takes a message list and a shell command
6149 and pipes the messages through the command.
6150 Without an argument the current message is piped through the command
6157 every message is followed by a formfeed character.
6178 (q) Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in
6181 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
6183 preserving all messages marked with
6187 or never referenced in the system
6189 and removing all other messages from the
6191 .Sx "primary system mailbox" .
6192 If new mail has arrived during the session,
6194 .Dq You have new mail
6196 If given while editing a mailbox file with the command line option
6198 then the edit file is rewritten.
6199 A return to the shell is effected,
6200 unless the rewrite of edit file fails,
6201 in which case the user can escape with the exit command.
6202 The optional status number argument will be passed through to
6204 \*(ID For now it can happen that the given status will be overwritten,
6205 later this will only occur if a later error needs to be reported onto an
6206 otherwise success indicating status.
6210 \*(NQ Read a line from standard input, or the channel set active via
6212 and assign the data, which will be split as indicated by
6214 to the given variables.
6215 The variable names are checked by the same rules as documented for
6217 and the same error codes will be seen in
6221 indicates the number of bytes read, it will be
6223 with the error number
6227 in case of I/O errors, or
6230 If there are more fields than variables, assigns successive fields to the
6231 last given variable.
6232 If there are less fields than variables, assigns the empty string to the
6234 .Bd -literal -offset indent
6237 ? echo "<$a> <$b> <$c>"
6239 ? wysh set ifs=:; read a b c;unset ifs
6240 hey2.0,:"'you ",:world!:mars.:
6241 ? echo $?/$^ERRNAME / <$a><$b><$c>
6242 0/NONE / <hey2.0,><"'you ",><world!:mars.:><><>
6247 \*(NQ Read anything from standard input, or the channel set active via
6249 and assign the data to the given variable.
6250 The variable name is checked by the same rules as documented for
6252 and the same error codes will be seen in
6256 indicates the number of bytes read, it will be
6258 with the error number
6262 in case of I/O errors, or
6265 \*(ID The input data length is restricted to 31-bits.
6269 \*(NQ Manages input channels for
6273 to be used to avoid complicated or impracticable code, like calling
6275 from within a macro in non-interactive mode.
6276 Without arguments, or when the first argument is
6278 a listing of all known channels is printed.
6279 Channels can otherwise be
6281 d, and existing channels can be
6285 d by giving the string used for creation.
6287 The channel name is expected to be a file descriptor number, or,
6288 if parsing the numeric fails, an input file name that undergoes
6289 .Sx "Filename transformations" .
6290 E.g. (this example requires a modern shell):
6291 .Bd -literal -offset indent
6292 $ LC_ALL=C printf 'echon "hey, "\enread a\enyou\enecho $a' |\e
6295 $ LC_ALL=C printf 'echon "hey, "\enread a\enecho $a' |\e
6296 LC_ALL=C 6<<< 'you' \*(uA -R#X'readctl create 6'
6310 Removes the named files or directories.
6311 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6312 including shell pathname wildcard pattern expansions
6314 are performed on the arguments.
6315 If a name refer to a mailbox, e.g., a Maildir mailbox, then a mailbox
6316 type specific removal will be performed, deleting the complete mailbox.
6317 The user is asked for confirmation in interactive mode.
6321 Takes the name of an existing folder
6322 and the name for the new folder
6323 and renames the first to the second one.
6324 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6325 including shell pathname wildcard pattern expansions
6327 are performed on both arguments.
6328 Both folders must be of the same type.
6332 (R) Replies to only the sender of each message of the given message
6333 list, by using the first message as the template to quote, for the
6337 will exchange this command with
6339 Unless the internal variable
6341 is set the recipient address will be stripped from comments, names etc.
6343 headers will be inspected if
6347 This may generate the errors
6348 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
6349 if no receiver has been specified,
6351 if some addressees where rejected by
6354 if no applicable messages have been given,
6356 if an I/O error occurs,
6358 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
6361 Occurance of some of the errors depend on the value of
6366 (r) Take a message and group-responds to it by addressing the sender
6367 and all recipients, subject to
6371 .Va followup-to-honour ,
6374 .Va recipients-in-cc
6375 influence response behaviour.
6376 Unless the internal variable
6378 is set recipient addresses will be stripped from comments, names etc.
6388 offers special support for replying to mailing lists.
6389 For more documentation please refer to
6390 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
6392 This may generate the errors
6393 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
6394 if no receiver has been specified,
6396 if some addressees where rejected by
6399 if no applicable messages have been given,
6401 if an I/O error occurs,
6403 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
6406 Occurance of some of the errors depend on the value of
6408 Any error stops processing of further messages.
6414 but initiates a group-reply regardless of the value of
6421 but responds to the sender only regardless of the value of
6428 but does not add any header lines.
6429 This is not a way to hide the sender's identity,
6430 but useful for sending a message again to the same recipients.
6434 Takes a list of messages and a user name
6435 and sends each message to the named user.
6437 and related header fields are prepended to the new copy of the message.
6440 is only performed if
6444 This may generate the errors
6445 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
6446 if no receiver has been specified,
6448 if some addressees where rejected by
6451 if no applicable messages have been given,
6453 if an I/O error occurs,
6455 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
6458 Occurance of some of the errors depend on the value of
6460 Any error stops processing of further messages.
6478 .It Ic respondsender
6484 (ret) Superseded by the multiplexer
6489 Only available inside the scope of a
6493 this will stop evaluation of any further macro content, and return
6494 execution control to the caller.
6495 The two optional parameters must be specified as positive decimal
6496 numbers and default to the value 0:
6497 the first argument specifies the signed 32-bit return value (stored in
6499 \*(ID and later extended to signed 64-bit),
6500 the second the signed 32-bit error number (stored in
6504 a non-0 exit status may cause the program to exit.
6510 but saves the messages in a file named after the local part of the
6511 sender of the first message instead of (in
6513 and) taking a filename argument; the variable
6515 is inspected to decide on the actual storage location.
6519 (s) Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in turn
6520 to the end of the file.
6521 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6522 including shell pathname wildcard pattern expansions
6524 is performed on the filename.
6525 If no filename is given, the
6527 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
6530 The filename in quotes, followed by the generated character count
6531 is echoed on the user's terminal.
6534 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
6535 the messages are marked for deletion.
6536 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6538 To filter the saved header fields to the desired subset use the
6540 slot of the white- and blacklisting command
6544 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6548 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6552 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6557 Takes a message specification (list) and displays a header summary of
6558 all matching messages, as via
6560 This command is an alias of
6563 .Sx "Specifying messages" .
6567 Takes a message list and marks all messages as having been read.
6573 (se, \*(NQ uns) The latter command will delete all given global
6574 variables, or only block-scope local ones if the
6576 command modifier has been used.
6577 The former, when used without arguments, will show all
6578 currently known variables, being more verbose if either of
6583 Remarks: this list mode will not automatically link-in known
6585 variables, but only explicit addressing will, e.g., via
6587 using a variable in an
6589 condition or a string passed to
6593 ting, as well as some program-internal use cases.
6596 Otherwise the given variables (and arguments) are set or adjusted.
6597 Arguments are of the form
6599 (no space before or after
6603 if there is no value, i.e., a boolean variable.
6604 If a name begins with
6608 the effect is the same as invoking the
6610 command with the remaining part of the variable
6611 .Pf ( Ql unset save ) .
6612 \*(ID In conjunction with the
6614 .Pf (or\0 Cm local )
6616 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
6617 can be used to quote arguments as necessary.
6618 \*(ID Otherwise quotation marks may be placed around any part of the
6619 assignment statement to quote blanks or tabs.
6622 When operating in global scope any
6624 that is known to map to an environment variable will automatically cause
6625 updates in the program environment (unsetting a variable in the
6626 environment requires corresponding system support) \(em use the command
6628 for further environmental control.
6629 If the command modifier
6631 has been used to alter the command to work in block-scope all variables
6632 have values (may they be empty), and creation of names which shadow
6633 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
6634 is actively prevented (\*(ID shadowing of linked
6636 variables and free-form versions of variable chains is not yet detected).
6640 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
6644 .Bd -literal -offset indent
6645 ? wysh set indentprefix=' -> '
6646 ? wysh set atab=$'\t' aspace=' ' zero=0
6652 Apply shell quoting rules to the given raw-data arguments.
6656 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
6657 The first argument specifies the operation:
6661 cause shell quoting to be applied to the remains of the line, and
6662 expanded away thereof, respectively.
6663 If the former is prefixed with a plus-sign, the quoted result will not
6664 be roundtrip enabled, and thus can be decoded only in the very same
6665 environment that was used to perform the encode; also see
6666 .Cd mle-quote-rndtrip .
6667 If the coding operation fails the error number
6670 .Va ^ERR Ns -CANCELED ,
6671 and the unmodified input is used as the result; the error number may
6672 change again due to output or result storage errors.
6676 \*(NQ (sh) Invokes an interactive version of the shell,
6677 and returns its exit status.
6681 .It Ic shortcut , unshortcut
6682 Without arguments the list of all currently defined shortcuts is
6683 shown, with one argument the expansion of the given shortcut.
6684 Otherwise all given arguments are treated as pairs of shortcuts and
6685 their expansions, creating new or changing already existing shortcuts,
6687 The latter command will remove all given shortcuts, the special name
6689 will remove all registered shortcuts.
6693 \*(NQ Shift the positional parameter stack (starting at
6695 by the given number (which must be a positive decimal),
6696 or 1 if no argument has been given.
6697 It is an error if the value exceeds the number of positional parameters.
6698 If the given number is 0, no action is performed, successfully.
6699 The stack as such can be managed via
6701 Note this command will fail in
6703 and hook macros unless the positional parameter stack has been
6704 explicitly created in the current context via
6711 but performs neither MIME decoding nor decryption, so that the raw
6712 message text is shown.
6716 (si) Shows the size in characters of each message of the given
6721 \*(NQ Sleep for the specified number of seconds (and optionally
6722 milliseconds), by default interruptably.
6723 If a third argument is given the sleep will be uninterruptible,
6724 otherwise the error number
6728 if the sleep has been interrupted.
6729 The command will fail and the error number will be
6730 .Va ^ERR Ns -OVERFLOW
6731 if the given duration(s) overflow the time datatype, and
6733 if the given durations are no valid integers.
6738 .It Ic sort , unsort
6739 The latter command disables sorted or threaded mode, returns to normal
6740 message order and, if the
6743 displays a header summary.
6744 The former command shows the current sorting criterion when used without
6745 an argument, but creates a sorted representation of the current folder
6746 otherwise, and changes the
6748 command and the addressing modes such that they refer to messages in
6750 Message numbers are the same as in regular mode.
6754 a header summary in the new order is also displayed.
6755 Automatic folder sorting can be enabled by setting the
6757 variable, as in, e.g.,
6758 .Ql set autosort=thread .
6759 Possible sorting criterions are:
6762 .Bl -tag -compact -width "subject"
6764 Sort the messages by their
6766 field, that is by the time they were sent.
6768 Sort messages by the value of their
6770 field, that is by the address of the sender.
6773 variable is set, the sender's real name (if any) is used.
6775 Sort the messages by their size.
6777 \*(OP Sort the message by their spam score, as has been classified by
6780 Sort the messages by their message status.
6782 Sort the messages by their subject.
6784 Create a threaded display.
6786 Sort messages by the value of their
6788 field, that is by the address of the recipient.
6791 variable is set, the recipient's real name (if any) is used.
6797 \*(NQ (so) The source command reads commands from the given file.
6798 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6800 If the given expanded argument ends with a vertical bar
6802 then the argument will instead be interpreted as a shell command and
6803 \*(UA will read the output generated by it.
6804 Dependent on the settings of
6808 and also dependent on whether the command modifier
6810 had been used, encountering errors will stop sourcing of the given input.
6813 cannot be used from within macros that execute as
6814 .Va folder-hook Ns s
6817 i.e., it can only be called from macros that were
6822 \*(NQ The difference to
6824 (beside not supporting pipe syntax aka shell command input) is that
6825 this command will not generate an error nor warn if the given file
6826 argument cannot be opened successfully.
6830 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and clears their
6836 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and causes the
6838 to forget it has ever used them to train its Bayesian filter.
6839 Unless otherwise noted the
6841 flag of the message is inspected to chose whether a message shall be
6849 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and informs the Bayesian filter of the
6853 This also clears the
6855 flag of the messages in question.
6859 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and rates them using the configured
6860 .Va spam-interface ,
6861 without modifying the messages, but setting their
6863 flag as appropriate; because the spam rating headers are lost the rate
6864 will be forgotten once the mailbox is left.
6865 Refer to the manual section
6867 for the complete picture of spam handling in \*(UA.
6871 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and sets their
6877 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and informs the Bayesian filter of the
6883 flag of the messages in question.
6895 \*(NQ TLS information and management command multiplexer to aid in
6896 .Sx "Encrypted network communication" .
6899 if so documented (see
6900 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
6901 The result that is shown in case of errors is always the empty string,
6902 errors can be identified via the error number
6904 For example, string length overflows are catched and set
6907 .Va ^ERR Ns -OVERFLOW .
6908 Note this command of course honours the overall TLS configuration.
6909 .Bd -literal -offset indent
6910 ? vput tls result fingerprint pop3s://ex.am.ple
6911 ? echo $?/$!/$^ERRNAME: $result
6914 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm random"
6917 .Va tls-fingerprint-digest Ns
6918 ed fingerprint of the certificate of the given HOST
6919 .Pf ( Ql server:port ,
6920 where the port defaults to the HTTPS port, 443).
6922 is actively ignored for the runtime of this command.
6923 Only available if the term
6937 slot for white- and blacklisting header fields.
6941 (to) Takes a message list and types out the first
6943 lines of each message on the user's terminal.
6944 Unless a special selection has been established for the
6948 command, the only header fields that are displayed are
6959 It is possible to apply compression to what is displayed by setting
6961 Messages are decrypted and converted to the terminal character set
6966 (tou) Takes a message list and marks the messages for saving in the
6968 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
6970 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command,
6973 command will display the following message instead of the current one.
6979 but also displays header fields which would not pass the
6981 selection, and all visualizable parts of MIME
6982 .Ql multipart/alternative
6987 (t) Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal.
6988 The display of message headers is selectable via
6990 For MIME multipart messages, all parts with a content type of
6992 all parts which have a registered MIME type handler (see
6993 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" )
6994 which produces plain text output, and all
6996 parts are shown, others are hidden except for their headers.
6997 Messages are decrypted and converted to the terminal character set
7001 can be used to display parts which are not displayable as plain text.
7044 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
7048 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
7053 Superseded by the multiplexer
7064 .It Ic unmlsubscribe
7075 Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been read.
7079 Superseded by the multiplexer
7083 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
7087 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
7109 Perform URL percent codec operations on the raw-data argument, rather
7110 according to RFC 3986.
7114 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) ,
7115 and manages the error number
7117 This is a character set agnostic and thus locale dependent operation,
7118 and it may decode bytes which are invalid in the current
7120 \*(ID This command does not know about URLs beside that.
7122 The first argument specifies the operation:
7126 perform plain URL percent en- and decoding, respectively.
7130 perform a slightly modified operation which should be better for
7131 pathnames: it does not allow a tilde
7133 and will neither accept hyphen-minus
7137 as an initial character.
7138 The remains of the line form the URL data which is to be converted.
7139 If the coding operation fails the error number
7142 .Va ^ERR Ns -CANCELED ,
7143 and the unmodified input is used as the result; the error number may
7144 change again due to output or result storage errors.
7148 \*(NQ This command produces the same output as the listing mode of
7152 ity adjustments, but only for the given variables.
7156 \*(OP Takes a message list and verifies each message.
7157 If a message is not a S/MIME signed message,
7158 verification will fail for it.
7159 The verification process checks if the message was signed using a valid
7161 if the message sender's email address matches one of those contained
7162 within the certificate,
7163 and if the message content has been altered.
7171 of \*(UA, as well as the build and running system environment.
7172 This command can produce a more
7174 output, and supports
7177 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
7182 \*(NQ Evaluate arguments according to a given operator.
7183 This is a multiplexer command which can be used to perform signed 64-bit
7184 numeric calculations as well as byte string and string operations.
7185 It uses polish notation, i.e., the operator is the first argument and
7186 defines the number and type, and the meaning of the remaining arguments.
7187 An empty argument is replaced with a 0 if a number is expected.
7191 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
7194 The result that is shown in case of errors is always
7196 for usage errors and numeric operations, and the empty string for byte
7197 string and string operations;
7198 if the latter two fail to provide result data for
7200 errors, e.g., when a search operation failed, they also set the
7203 .Va ^ERR Ns -NODATA .
7204 Except when otherwise noted numeric arguments are parsed as signed 64-bit
7205 numbers, and errors will be reported in the error number
7207 as the numeric error
7208 .Va ^ERR Ns -RANGE .
7211 Numeric operations work on one or two signed 64-bit integers.
7212 Numbers prefixed with
7216 are interpreted as hexadecimal (base 16) numbers, whereas
7218 indicates octal (base 8), and
7222 denote binary (base 2) numbers.
7223 It is possible to use any base in between 2 and 36, inclusive, with the
7225 notation, where the base is given as an unsigned decimal number, e.g.,
7227 is a different way of specifying a hexadecimal number.
7228 Unsigned interpretation of a number can be enforced by prefixing a
7230 (case-insensitively), e.g.,
7232 this is not necessary for power-of-two bases (2, 4, 8, 16 and 32),
7233 which will be interpreted as unsigned by default, but it still makes
7234 a difference regarding overflow detection and overflow constant.
7235 It is possible to enforce signed interpretation by (instead) prefixing a
7237 (case-insensitively).
7240 One integer is expected by assignment (equals sign
7242 which does nothing but parsing the argument, thus detecting validity and
7243 possible overflow conditions, and unary not (tilde
7245 which creates the bitwise complement.
7246 Two integers are used by addition (plus sign
7248 subtraction (hyphen-minus
7250 multiplication (asterisk
7254 and modulo (percent sign
7256 as well as for the bitwise operators logical or (vertical bar
7259 bitwise and (ampersand
7262 bitwise xor (circumflex
7264 the bitwise signed left- and right shifts
7267 as well as for the unsigned right shift
7271 Another numeric operation is
7273 which takes a number base in between 2 and 36, inclusive, and will act
7274 on the second number given just the same as what equals sign
7276 does, but the number result will be formatted in the base given.
7279 All numeric operators can be prefixed with a commercial at
7283 this will turn the operation into a saturated one, which means that
7284 overflow errors and division and modulo by zero are no longer reported
7285 via the exit status, but the result will linger at the minimum or
7286 maximum possible value, instead of overflowing (or trapping).
7287 This is true also for the argument parse step.
7288 For the bitwise shifts, the saturated maximum is 63.
7289 Any catched overflow will be reported via the error number
7292 .Va ^ERR Ns -OVERFLOW .
7293 .Bd -literal -offset indent
7294 ? vexpr @- +1 -9223372036854775808
7295 ? echo $?/$!/$^ERRNAME
7299 Character set agnostic string functions have no notion of locale
7300 settings and character sets.
7302 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm random"
7305 .Sx "Filename transformations"
7308 Generates a random string of the given length, or of
7310 bytes (a constant from
7312 if the value 0 is given; the random string will be base64url encoded
7313 according to RFC 4648, and thus be usable as a (portable) filename.
7317 Byte string operations work on 8-bit bytes and have no notion of locale
7318 settings and character sets, effectively assuming ASCII data.
7321 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm length"
7323 Queries the length of the given argument.
7326 Calculates the Chris Torek hash of the given argument.
7329 Byte-searches in the first for the second argument.
7330 Shows the resulting 0-based offset shall it have been found.
7335 but works case-insensitively according to the rules of the ASCII
7339 Creates a substring of its first argument.
7340 The second argument is the 0-based starting offset, a negative one
7341 counts from the end;
7342 the optional third argument specifies the length of the desired result,
7343 a negative length leaves off the given number of bytes at the end of the
7344 original string, by default the entire string is used;
7345 this operation tries to work around faulty arguments (set
7347 for error logs), but reports them via the error number
7350 .Va ^ERR Ns -OVERFLOW .
7353 Trim away whitespace characters from both ends of the argument.
7356 Trim away whitespace characters from the begin of the argument.
7359 Trim away whitespace characters from the end of the argument.
7364 String operations work, sufficient support provided, according to the
7365 active user's locale encoding and character set (see
7366 .Sx "Character sets" ) .
7369 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm regex"
7371 (One-way) Converts the argument to something safely printable on the
7375 \*(OP A string operation that will try to match the first argument with
7376 the regular expression given as the second argument.
7377 If the optional third argument has been given then instead of showing
7378 the match offset a replacement operation is performed: the third
7379 argument is treated as if specified within dollar-single-quote (see
7380 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" ) ,
7381 and any occurrence of a positional parameter, e.g.,
7383 is replaced by the corresponding match group of the regular expression:
7384 .Bd -literal -offset indent
7385 ? vput vexpr res regex bananarama \e
7386 (.*)NanA(.*) '\e${1}au\e$2'
7387 ? echo $?/$!/$^ERRNAME: $res
7391 On otherwise identical case-insensitive equivalent to
7393 .Bd -literal -offset indent
7394 ? vput vexpr res ire bananarama \e
7395 (.*)NanA(.*) '\e${1}au\e$2'
7396 ? echo $?/$!/$^ERRNAME: $res
7403 \*(NQ Manage the positional parameter stack (see
7407 If the first argument is
7409 then the positional parameter stack of the current context, or the
7410 global one, if there is none, is cleared.
7413 then the remaining arguments will be used to (re)create the stack,
7414 if the parameter stack size limit is excessed an
7415 .Va ^ERR Ns -OVERFLOW
7419 If the first argument is
7421 a round-trip capable representation of the stack contents is created,
7422 with each quoted parameter separated from each other with the first
7425 and followed by the first character of
7427 if that is not empty and not identical to the first.
7428 If that results in no separation at all a
7434 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
7435 I.e., the subcommands
7439 can be used (in conjunction with
7441 to (re)create an argument stack from and to a single variable losslessly.
7443 .Bd -literal -offset indent
7444 ? vpospar set hey, "'you ", world!
7445 ? echo $#: <${1}><${2}><${3}>
7446 ? vput vpospar x quote
7448 ? echo $#: <${1}><${2}><${3}>
7449 ? eval vpospar set ${x}
7450 ? echo $#: <${1}><${2}><${3}>
7456 (v) Takes a message list and invokes the
7458 display editor on each message.
7459 Modified contents are discarded unless the
7461 variable is set, and are not used unless the mailbox can be written to
7462 and the editor returns a successful exit status.
7464 can be used instead for a less display oriented editor.
7468 (w) For conventional messages the body without all headers is written.
7469 The original message is never marked for deletion in the originating
7471 The output is decrypted and converted to its native format as necessary.
7472 If the output file exists, the text is appended.
7473 If a message is in MIME multipart format its first part is written to
7474 the specified file as for conventional messages, handling of the remains
7475 depends on the execution mode.
7476 No special handling of compressed files is performed.
7478 In interactive mode the user is consecutively asked for the filenames of
7479 the processed parts.
7480 For convience saving of each part may be skipped by giving an empty
7481 value, the same result as writing it to
7483 Shell piping the part content by specifying a leading vertical bar
7485 character for the filename is supported.
7486 Other user input undergoes the usual
7487 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
7488 including shell pathname wildcard pattern expansions
7490 and shell variable expansion for the message as such, not the individual
7491 parts, and contents of the destination file are overwritten if the file
7494 \*(ID In non-interactive mode any part which does not specify a filename
7495 is ignored, and suspicious parts of filenames of the remaining parts are
7496 URL percent encoded (as via
7498 to prevent injection of malicious character sequences, resulting in
7499 a filename that will be written into the current directory.
7500 Existing files will not be overwritten, instead the part number or
7501 a dot are appended after a number sign
7503 to the name until file creation succeeds (or fails due to other
7508 \*(NQ The sole difference to
7510 is that the new macro is executed in place of the current one, which
7511 will not regain control: all resources of the current macro will be
7513 This implies that any setting covered by
7515 will be forgotten and covered variables will become cleaned up.
7516 If this command is not used from within a
7518 ed macro it will silently be (a more expensive variant of)
7528 \*(NQ \*(UA presents message headers in
7530 fuls as described under the
7533 Without arguments this command scrolls to the next window of messages,
7534 likewise if the argument is
7538 scrolls to the last,
7540 scrolls to the first, and
7545 A number argument prefixed by
7549 indicates that the window is calculated in relation to the current
7550 position, and a number without a prefix specifies an absolute position.
7556 but scrolls to the next or previous window that contains at least one
7567 .\" .Sh COMMAND ESCAPES {{{
7568 .Sh "COMMAND ESCAPES"
7570 Command escapes are available in compose mode, and are used to perform
7571 special functions when composing messages.
7572 Command escapes are only recognized at the beginning of lines, and
7573 consist of a trigger (escape), and a command character.
7574 The actual escape character can be set via the internal variable
7576 it defaults to the tilde
7578 Otherwise ignored whitespace characters following the escape character
7579 will prevent a possible addition of the command line to the \*(OPal
7583 Unless otherwise noted all compose mode command escapes ensure proper
7584 updates of the variables which represent the error number
7590 is set they will, unless stated otherwise, error out message compose mode
7591 and cause a program exit if an operation fails;
7592 an effect equivalent to the command modifier
7594 can however be achieved by placing a hyphen-minus
7596 after (possible whitespace following) the escape character.
7597 If the \*(OPal key bindings are available it is possible to create
7599 ings specifically for the compose mode.
7602 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ic BaNg"
7605 Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single
7607 (If the escape character has been changed,
7608 that character must be doubled instead.)
7611 .It Ic ~! Ar command
7612 Execute the indicated shell
7614 which follows, replacing unescaped exclamation marks with the previously
7615 executed command if the internal variable
7617 is set, then return to the message.
7621 End compose mode and send the message.
7623 .Va on-compose-splice-shell
7625 .Va on-compose-splice ,
7626 in order, will be called when set, after which
7628 will be checked, a set
7629 .Va on-compose-leave
7630 hook will be called,
7634 will be joined in if set,
7636 will be honoured in interactive mode, finally a given
7637 .Va message-inject-tail
7638 will be incorporated, after which the compose mode is left.
7641 .It Ic ~: Ar \*(UA-command Ns \0or Ic ~_ Ar \*(UA-command
7642 Execute the given \*(UA command.
7643 Not all commands, however, are allowed.
7646 .It Ic ~< Ar filename
7651 .It Ic ~<! Ar command
7653 is executed using the shell.
7654 Its standard output is inserted into the message.
7658 \*(OP Write a summary of command escapes.
7661 .It Ic ~@ Op Ar filename...
7662 Append or edit the list of attachments.
7663 Does not manage the error number
7669 instead if this is a concern).
7670 The append mode expects a list of
7672 arguments as shell tokens (see
7673 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" ;
7674 token-separating commas are ignored, too), to be
7675 interpreted as documented for the command line option
7677 with the message number exception as below.
7681 arguments the attachment list is edited, entry by entry;
7682 if a filename is left empty, that attachment is deleted from the list;
7683 once the end of the list is reached either new attachments may be
7684 entered or the session can be quit by committing an empty
7687 In non-interactive mode or in batch mode
7689 the list of attachments is effectively not edited but instead recreated;
7690 again, an empty input ends list creation.
7692 For all modes, if a given filename solely consists of the number sign
7694 followed by either a valid message number of the currently active
7695 mailbox, or by a period
7697 referring to the current message of the active mailbox, the so-called
7699 then the given message is attached as a
7702 The number sign must be quoted to avoid misinterpretation with the shell
7706 .It Ic ~| Ar command
7707 Pipe the message text through the specified filter command.
7708 If the command gives no output or terminates abnormally,
7709 retain the original text of the message.
7712 is often used as a rejustifying filter.
7714 If the first character of the command is a vertical bar, then the entire
7715 message including header fields is subject to the filter command, e.g.,
7716 .Ql ~|| echo Fcc: /tmp/test; cat
7717 will prepend a file-carbon-copy message header.
7723 .It Ic ~^ Ar cmd Op Ar subcmd Op Ar arg3 Op Ar arg4
7724 Low-level command meant for scripted message access, i.e., for
7725 .Va on-compose-splice
7727 .Va on-compose-splice-shell .
7728 The used protocol is likely subject to changes, and therefore the
7729 mentioned hooks receive the used protocol version as an initial line.
7730 In general the first field of a response line represents a status code
7731 which specifies whether a command was successful or not, whether result
7732 data is to be expected, and if, the format of the result data.
7733 Does not manage the error number
7737 because errors are reported via the protocol
7738 (hard errors like I/O failures cannot be handled).
7739 This command has read-only access to several virtual pseudo headers in
7740 the \*(UA private namespace, which may not exist (except for the first):
7744 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Va BaNg"
7745 .It Ql Mailx-Command:
7746 The name of the command that generates the message, one of
7754 .It Ql Mailx-Raw-To:
7755 .It Ql Mailx-Raw-Cc:
7756 .It Ql Mailx-Raw-Bcc:
7757 Represent the frozen initial state of these headers before any
7758 transformation (e.g.,
7761 .Va recipients-in-cc
7764 .It Ql Mailx-Orig-From:
7765 .It Ql Mailx-Orig-To:
7766 .It Ql Mailx-Orig-Cc:
7767 .It Ql Mailx-Orig-Bcc:
7768 The values of said headers of the original message which has been
7770 .Ic reply , forward , resend .
7774 The status codes are:
7778 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql 210"
7780 Status ok; the remains of the line are the result.
7783 Status ok; the rest of the line is optionally used for more status.
7784 What follows are lines of result addresses, terminated by an empty line.
7785 The address lines consist of two fields, the first of which is the
7786 plain address, e.g.,
7788 separated by a single ASCII SP space from the second which contains the
7789 unstripped address, even if that is identical to the first field, e.g.,
7790 .Ql (Lovely) Bob <bob@exam.ple> .
7791 Non-network addressees, however, place a single-letter indicating
7792 the address type in the first field (hyphen-minus
7794 for files, vertical bar
7796 for pipes, and number sign
7798 for names: what is supposed to become expanded via
7800 ), and only the second field contains a value.
7801 All the input, including the empty line, must be consumed before further
7802 commands can be issued.
7805 Status ok; the rest of the line is optionally used for more status.
7806 What follows are lines of furtherly unspecified string content,
7807 terminated by an empty line.
7808 All the input, including the empty line, must be consumed before further
7809 commands can be issued.
7812 Syntax error; invalid command.
7815 Syntax error in parameters or arguments.
7818 Error: an argument fails verification.
7819 For example an invalid address has been specified (also see
7821 or an attempt was made to modify anything in \*(UA's own namespace.
7824 Error: an otherwise valid argument is rendered invalid due to context.
7825 For example, a second address is added to a header which may consist of
7826 a single address only.
7831 If a command indicates failure then the message will have remained
7833 Most commands can fail with
7835 if required arguments are missing (false command usage).
7836 The following (case-insensitive) commands are supported:
7839 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm header"
7841 This command allows listing, inspection, and editing of message headers.
7842 Header name case is not normalized, and case-insensitive comparison
7843 should be used when matching names.
7844 The second argument specifies the subcommand to apply, one of:
7846 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm remove"
7848 Without a third argument a list of all yet existing headers is given via
7850 this command is the default command of
7852 if no second argument has been given.
7853 A third argument restricts output to the given header only, which may
7856 if no such field is defined.
7859 Shows the content of the header given as the third argument.
7860 Dependent on the header type this may respond with
7864 any failure results in
7868 This will remove all instances of the header given as the third
7873 if no such header can be found, and
7875 on \*(UA namespace violations.
7878 This will remove from the header given as the third argument the
7879 instance at the list position (counting from one!) given with the fourth
7884 if the list position argument is not a number or on \*(UA namespace
7887 if no such header instance exists.
7890 Create a new or an additional instance of the header given in the third
7891 argument, with the header body content as given in the fourth argument
7892 (the remains of the line).
7895 if the third argument specifies a free-form header field name that is
7896 invalid, or if body content extraction fails to succeed,
7898 if any extracted address does not pass syntax and/or security checks or
7899 on \*(UA namespace violations, and
7901 to indicate prevention of excessing a single-instance header \(em note that
7903 can be appended to (a space separator will be added automatically first).
7906 is returned upon success, followed by the name of the header and the list
7907 position of the newly inserted instance.
7908 The list position is always 1 for single-instance header fields.
7909 All free-form header fields are managed in a single list.
7914 This command allows listing, removal and addition of message attachments.
7915 The second argument specifies the subcommand to apply, one of:
7917 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm remove"
7919 List all attachments via
7923 if no attachments exist.
7924 This command is the default command of
7926 if no second argument has been given.
7929 This will remove the attachment given as the third argument, and report
7933 if no such attachment can be found.
7934 If there exists any path component in the given argument, then an exact
7935 match of the path which has been used to create the attachment is used
7936 directly, but if only the basename of that path matches then all
7937 attachments are traversed to find an exact match first, and the removal
7938 occurs afterwards; if multiple basenames match, a
7941 Message attachments are treated as absolute pathnames.
7943 If no path component exists in the given argument, then all attachments
7944 will be searched for
7946 parameter matches as well as for matches of the basename of the path
7947 which has been used when the attachment has been created; multiple
7952 This will interpret the third argument as a number and remove the
7953 attachment at that list position (counting from one!), reporting
7957 if the argument is not a number or
7959 if no such attachment exists.
7962 Adds the attachment given as the third argument, specified exactly as
7963 documented for the command line option
7965 and supporting the message number extension as documented for
7969 upon success, with the index of the new attachment following,
7971 if the given file cannot be opened,
7973 if an on-the-fly performed character set conversion fails, otherwise
7975 is reported; this is also reported if character set conversion is
7976 requested but not available.
7979 This uses the same search mechanism as described for
7981 and prints any known attributes of the first found attachment via
7985 if no such attachment can be found.
7986 The attributes are written as lines of keyword and value tuples, the
7987 keyword being separated from the rest of the line with an ASCII SP space
7991 This uses the same search mechanism as described for
7993 and is otherwise identical to
7996 .It Cm attribute-set
7997 This uses the same search mechanism as described for
7999 and will assign the attribute given as the fourth argument, which is
8000 expected to be a value tuple of keyword and other data, separated by
8001 a ASCII SP space or TAB tabulator character.
8002 If the value part is empty, then the given attribute is removed, or
8003 reset to a default value if existence of the attribute is crucial.
8007 upon success, with the index of the found attachment following,
8009 for message attachments or if the given keyword is invalid, and
8011 if no such attachment can be found.
8012 The following keywords may be used (case-insensitively):
8014 .Bl -hang -compact -width ".It Ql filename"
8016 Sets the filename of the MIME part, i.e., the name that is used for
8017 display and when (suggesting a name for) saving (purposes).
8018 .It Ql content-description
8019 Associate some descriptive information to the attachment's content, used
8020 in favour of the plain filename by some MUAs.
8022 May be used for uniquely identifying MIME entities in several contexts;
8023 this expects a special reference address format as defined in RFC 2045
8026 upon address content verification failure.
8028 Defines the media type/subtype of the part, which is managed
8029 automatically, but can be overwritten.
8030 .It Ql content-disposition
8031 Automatically set to the string
8035 .It Cm attribute-set-at
8036 This uses the same search mechanism as described for
8038 and is otherwise identical to
8047 .Ql Ic ~i Ns \| Va Sign .
8052 .Ql Ic ~i Ns \| Va sign .
8055 .It Ic ~b Ar name ...
8056 Add the given names to the list of blind carbon copy recipients.
8059 .It Ic ~c Ar name ...
8060 Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients.
8064 Read the file specified by the
8066 variable into the message.
8072 on the message collected so far, then return to compose mode.
8074 can be used for a more display oriented editor, and
8076 offers a pipe-based editing approach.
8079 .It Ic ~F Ar messages
8080 Read the named messages into the message being sent, including all
8081 message headers and MIME parts.
8082 If no messages are specified, read in the current message, the
8086 .It Ic ~f Ar messages
8087 Read the named messages into the message being sent.
8088 If no messages are specified, read in the current message, the
8090 Strips down the list of header fields according to the
8092 white- and blacklist selection of
8094 For MIME multipart messages,
8095 only the first displayable part is included.
8099 Edit the message header fields
8104 by typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit the field.
8105 The default values for these fields originate from the
8113 Edit the message header fields
8119 by typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit the field.
8122 .It Ic ~I Ar variable
8123 Insert the value of the specified variable into the message.
8124 The message remains unaltered if the variable is unset or empty.
8125 Any embedded character sequences
8127 horizontal tabulator and
8129 line feed are expanded in
8131 mode; otherwise the expansion should occur at
8133 time (\*(ID by using the command modifier
8137 .It Ic ~i Ar variable
8140 but appends a newline character.
8143 .It Ic ~M Ar messages
8144 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
8147 If no messages are specified, read the current message, the
8151 .It Ic ~m Ar messages
8152 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
8155 If no messages are specified, read the current message, the
8157 Strips down the list of header fields according to the
8159 white- and blacklist selection of
8161 For MIME multipart messages,
8162 only the first displayable part is included.
8166 Display the message collected so far,
8167 prefaced by the message header fields
8168 and followed by the attachment list, if any.
8172 Read in the given / current message(s) according to the algorithm of
8177 Abort the message being sent,
8178 copying it to the file specified by the
8185 .It Ic ~R Ar filename
8188 but indent each line that has been read by
8192 .It Ic ~r Ar filename Op Ar HERE-delimiter
8193 Read the named file, object to the usual
8194 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
8195 into the message; if (the expanded)
8199 then standard input is used, e.g., for pasting purposes.
8200 Only in this latter mode
8202 may be given: if it is data will be read in until the given
8204 is seen on a line by itself, and encountering EOF is an error; the
8206 is a required argument in non-interactive mode; if it is single-quote
8207 quoted then the pasted content will not be expanded, \*(ID otherwise
8208 a future version of \*(UA may perform shell-style expansion on the content.
8212 Cause the named string to become the current subject field.
8213 Newline (NL) and carriage-return (CR) bytes are invalid and will be
8214 normalized to space (SP) characters.
8217 .It Ic ~t Ar name ...
8218 Add the given name(s) to the direct recipient list.
8221 .It Ic ~U Ar messages
8222 Read in the given / current message(s) excluding all headers, indented by
8226 .It Ic ~u Ar messages
8227 Read in the given / current message(s), excluding all headers.
8233 editor on the message collected so far, then return to compose mode.
8235 can be used for a less display oriented editor, and
8237 offers a pipe-based editing approach.
8240 .It Ic ~w Ar filename
8241 Write the message onto the named file, which is object to the usual
8242 .Sx "Filename transformations" .
8244 the message is appended to it.
8250 except that the message is not saved at all.
8256 .\" .Sh INTERNAL VARIABLES {{{
8257 .Sh "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
8259 Internal \*(UA variables are controlled via the
8263 commands; prefixing a variable name with the string
8267 has the same effect as using
8274 will give more insight on the given variable(s), and
8276 when called without arguments, will show a listing of all variables.
8277 Both commands support a more
8280 Some well-known variables will also become inherited from the
8283 implicitly, others can be imported explicitly with the command
8285 and henceforth share said properties.
8288 Two different kinds of internal variables exist, and both of which can
8290 There are boolean variables, which can only be in one of the two states
8294 and value variables with a(n optional) string value.
8295 For the latter proper quoting is necessary upon assignment time, the
8296 introduction of the section
8298 documents the supported quoting rules.
8300 .Bd -literal -offset indent
8301 ? wysh set one=val\e 1 two="val 2" \e
8302 three='val "3"' four=$'val \e'4\e''; \e
8303 varshow one two three four; \e
8304 unset one two three four
8308 Dependent upon the actual option string values may become interpreted as
8309 colour names, command specifications, normal text, etc.
8310 They may be treated as numbers, in which case decimal values are
8311 expected if so documented, but otherwise any numeric format and
8312 base that is valid and understood by the
8314 command may be used, too.
8317 There also exists a special kind of string value, the
8318 .Dq boolean string ,
8319 which must either be a decimal integer (in which case
8323 and any other value is true) or any of the (case-insensitive) strings
8329 for a false boolean and
8335 for a true boolean; a special kind of boolean string is the
8337 which is a boolean string that can optionally be prefixed with the
8338 (case-insensitive) term
8342 which causes prompting of the user in interactive mode, with the given
8343 boolean as the default value.
8346 Variable chains extend a plain
8351 .Ql variable-USER@HOST
8355 will be converted to all lowercase when looked up (but not when the
8356 variable is set or unset!), \*(OPally IDNA converted, and indeed means
8360 had been specified in the contextual Uniform Resource Locator URL, see
8361 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
8362 Even though this mechanism is based on URLs no URL percent encoding may
8363 be applied to neither of
8367 variable chains need to be specified using raw data;
8368 the mentioned section contains examples.
8369 Variables which support chains are explicitly documented as such, and
8370 \*(UA treats the base name of any such variable special, meaning that
8371 users should not create custom names like
8373 in order to avoid false classifications and treatment of such variables.
8375 .\" .Ss "Initial settings" {{{
8376 .\" (Keep in SYNC: ./nail.h:okeys, ./nail.rc, ./nail.1:"Initial settings")
8377 .Ss "Initial settings"
8379 The standard POSIX 2008/Cor 2-2016 mandates the following initial
8385 .Pf no Va autoprint ,
8399 .Pf no Va ignoreeof ,
8401 .Pf no Va keepsave ,
8403 .Pf no Va outfolder ,
8411 .Pf no Va sendwait ,
8420 Notes: \*(UA does not support the
8422 variable \(en use command line options or
8424 to pass options through to a
8426 And the default global
8428 file, which is loaded unless the
8430 (with according argument) or
8432 command line options have been used, or the
8433 .Ev MAILX_NO_SYSTEM_RC
8434 environment variable is set (see
8435 .Sx "Resource files" )
8436 bends those initial settings a bit, e.g., it sets the variables
8441 to name a few, establishes a default
8443 selection etc., and should thus be taken into account.
8446 .\" .Ss "Variables" {{{
8449 .Bl -tag -width ".It Va BaNg"
8453 \*(RO The exit status of the last command, or the
8458 This status has a meaning in the state machine: in conjunction with
8460 any non-0 exit status will cause a program exit, and in
8462 mode any error while loading (any of the) resource files will have the
8466 .Sx "Command modifiers" ,
8467 can be used to instruct the state machine to ignore errors.
8471 \*(RO The current error number
8472 .Pf ( Xr errno 3 ) ,
8473 which is set after an error occurred; it is also available via
8475 and the error name and documentation string can be queried via
8479 \*(ID This machinery is new and the error number is only really usable
8480 if a command explicitly states that it manages the variable
8482 for others errno will be used in case of errors, or
8484 if that is 0: it thus may or may not reflect the real error.
8485 The error number may be set with the command
8491 \*(RO This is a multiplexer variable which performs dynamic expansion of
8492 the requested state or condition, of which there are:
8495 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Va BaNg"
8499 .It Va ^ERR , ^ERRDOC , ^ERRNAME
8500 The number, documentation, and name of the current
8502 respectively, which is usually set after an error occurred.
8503 The documentation is an \*(OP, the name is used if not available.
8504 \*(ID This machinery is new and is usually reliable only if a command
8505 explicitly states that it manages the variable
8507 which is effectively identical to
8509 Each of those variables can be suffixed with a hyphen minus followed by
8510 a name or number, in which case the expansion refers to the given error.
8511 Note this is a direct mapping of (a subset of) the system error values:
8512 .Bd -literal -offset indent
8514 eval echo \e$1: \e$^ERR-$1:\e
8515 \e$^ERRNAME-$1: \e$^ERRDOC-$1
8516 vput vexpr i + "$1" 1
8528 \*(RO Expands all positional parameters (see
8530 separated by the first character of the value of
8532 \*(ID The special semantics of the equally named special parameter of the
8534 are not yet supported.
8538 \*(RO Expands all positional parameters (see
8540 separated by a space character.
8541 If placed in double quotation marks, each positional parameter is
8542 properly quoted to expand to a single parameter again.
8546 \*(RO Expands to the number of positional parameters, i.e., the size of
8547 the positional parameter stack in decimal.
8551 \*(RO Inside the scope of a
8555 ed macro this expands to the name of the calling macro, or to the empty
8556 string if the macro is running from top-level.
8557 For the \*(OPal regular expression search and replace operator of
8559 this expands to the entire matching expression.
8560 It represents the program name in global context.
8564 \*(RO Access of the positional parameter stack.
8565 All further parameters can be accessed with this syntax, too, e.g.,
8568 etc.; positional parameters can be shifted off the stack by calling
8570 The parameter stack contains, e.g., the arguments of a
8574 d macro, the matching groups of the \*(OPal regular expression search
8575 and replace expression of
8577 and can be explicitly created or overwritten with the command
8582 \*(RO Is set to the active
8586 .It Va add-file-recipients
8587 \*(BO When file or pipe recipients have been specified,
8588 mention them in the corresponding address fields of the message instead
8589 of silently stripping them from their recipient list.
8590 By default such addressees are not mentioned.
8594 \*(BO Causes only the local part to be evaluated
8595 when comparing addresses.
8599 \*(BO Causes messages saved in the
8601 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
8603 to be appended to the end rather than prepended.
8604 This should always be set.
8608 \*(BO Causes the prompts for
8612 lists to appear after the message has been edited.
8616 \*(BO If set, \*(UA asks for files to attach at the end of each message.
8617 An empty line finalizes the list.
8621 \*(BO Causes the user to be prompted for carbon copy recipients
8622 (at the end of each message if
8630 \*(BO Causes the user to be prompted for blind carbon copy
8631 recipients (at the end of each message if
8639 \*(BO Causes the user to be prompted for confirmation to send the
8640 message or reenter compose mode after having been shown an envelope
8642 This is by default enabled.
8646 \*(BO\*(OP Causes the user to be prompted if the message is to be
8647 signed at the end of each message.
8650 variable is ignored when this variable is set.
8654 .\" The alternative *ask* is not documented on purpose
8655 \*(BO Causes \*(UA to prompt for the subject upon entering compose mode
8656 unless a subject already exists.
8660 A sequence of characters to display in the
8664 as shown in the display of
8666 each for one type of messages (see
8667 .Sx "Message states" ) ,
8668 with the default being
8671 .Ql NU\ \ *HMFAT+\-$~
8674 variable is set, in the following order:
8676 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql _"
8698 start of a collapsed thread.
8700 an uncollapsed thread (TODO ignored for now).
8704 classified as possible spam.
8710 Specifies a list of recipients to which a blind carbon copy of each
8711 outgoing message will be sent automatically.
8715 Specifies a list of recipients to which a carbon copy of each outgoing
8716 message will be sent automatically.
8720 \*(BO Causes threads to be collapsed automatically when .Ql thread Ns
8723 mode is entered (see the
8729 \*(BO Enable automatic
8731 ing of a(n existing)
8737 commands, e.g., the message that becomes the new
8739 is shown automatically, as via
8746 Causes sorted mode (see the
8748 command) to be entered automatically with the value of this variable as
8749 sorting method when a folder is opened, e.g.,
8750 .Ql set autosort=thread .
8754 \*(BO Enables the substitution of all not (reverse-solidus) escaped
8757 characters by the contents of the last executed command for the
8759 shell escape command and
8761 one of the compose mode
8762 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
8763 If this variable is not set no reverse solidus stripping is performed.
8767 \*(OP Terminals generate multi-byte sequences for certain forms of
8768 input, for example for function and other special keys.
8769 Some terminals however do not write these multi-byte sequences as
8770 a whole, but byte-by-byte, and the latter is what \*(UA actually reads.
8771 This variable specifies the timeout in milliseconds that the MLE (see
8772 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
8773 waits for more bytes to arrive unless it considers a sequence
8779 \*(BO Sets some cosmetical features to traditional BSD style;
8780 has the same affect as setting
8782 and all other variables prefixed with
8784 it also changes the behaviour of
8786 (which does not exist in BSD).
8790 \*(BO Changes the letters shown in the first column of a header
8791 summary to traditional BSD style.
8795 \*(BO Changes the display of columns in a header summary to traditional
8800 \*(BO Changes some informational messages to traditional BSD style.
8806 field to appear immediately after the
8808 field in message headers and with the
8810 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
8816 .It Va build-cc , build-ld , build-os , build-rest
8817 \*(RO The build environment, including the compiler, the linker, the
8818 operating system \*(UA has been build for, usually taken from
8822 and then lowercased, as well as all the rest that may possibly be useful
8823 to include in a bug report, respectively.
8827 The value that should appear in the
8831 MIME header fields when no character set conversion of the message data
8833 This defaults to US-ASCII, and the chosen character set should be
8834 US-ASCII compatible.
8838 \*(OP The default 8-bit character set that is used as an implicit last
8839 member of the variable
8841 This defaults to UTF-8 if character set conversion capabilities are
8842 available, and to ISO-8859-1 otherwise (unless the operating system
8843 environment is known to always and exclusively support UTF-8 locales),
8844 in which case the only supported character set is
8846 and this variable is effectively ignored.
8847 Refer to the section
8848 .Sx "Character sets"
8849 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
8852 .It Va charset-unknown-8bit
8853 \*(OP RFC 1428 specifies conditions when internet mail gateways shall
8855 the content of a mail message by using a character set with the name
8857 Because of the unclassified nature of this character set \*(UA will not
8858 be capable to convert this character set to any other character set.
8859 If this variable is set any message part which uses the character set
8861 is assumed to really be in the character set given in the value,
8862 otherwise the (final) value of
8864 is used for this purpose.
8866 This variable will also be taken into account if a MIME type (see
8867 .Sx "The mime.types files" )
8868 of a MIME message part that uses the
8870 character set is forcefully treated as text.
8874 The default value for the
8879 .It Va colour-disable
8880 \*(BO\*(OP Forcefully disable usage of colours.
8881 Also see the section
8882 .Sx "Coloured display" .
8886 \*(BO\*(OP Whether colour shall be used for output that is paged through
8888 Note that pagers may need special command line options, e.g.,
8896 in order to support colours.
8897 Often doing manual adjustments is unnecessary since \*(UA may perform
8898 adjustments dependent on the value of the environment variable
8900 (see there for more).
8904 .It Va contact-mail , contact-web
8905 \*(RO Addresses for contact per email and web, respectively, e.g., for
8906 bug reports, suggestions, or help regarding \*(UA.
8907 The former can be used directly:
8908 .Ql ? Ns \| Ic eval Ns \| Ic mail Ns \| $contact-mail .
8912 In a(n interactive) terminal session, then if this valued variable is
8913 set it will be used as a threshold to determine how many lines the given
8914 output has to span before it will be displayed via the configured
8918 can be forced by setting this to the value
8920 setting it without a value will deduce the current height of the
8921 terminal screen to compute the threshold (see
8926 \*(ID At the moment this uses the count of lines of the message in wire
8927 format, which, dependent on the
8929 of the message, is unrelated to the number of display lines.
8930 (The software is old and historically the relation was a given thing.)
8934 Define a set of custom headers to be injected into newly composed or
8936 A custom header consists of the field name followed by a colon
8938 and the field content body.
8939 Standard header field names cannot be overwritten by a custom header.
8940 Different to the command line option
8942 the variable value is interpreted as a comma-separated list of custom
8943 headers: to include commas in header bodies they need to become escaped
8944 with reverse solidus
8946 Headers can be managed more freely in compose mode via
8949 .Dl ? set customhdr='Hdr1: Body1-1\e, Body1-2, Hdr2: Body2'
8953 Controls the appearance of the
8955 date and time format specification of the
8957 variable, that is used, for example, when viewing the summary of
8959 If unset, then the local receiving date is used and displayed
8960 unformatted, otherwise the message sending
8962 It is possible to assign a
8964 format string and control formatting, but embedding newlines via the
8966 format is not supported, and will result in display errors.
8968 .Ql %Y-%m-%d %H:%M ,
8970 .Va datefield-markout-older .
8973 .It Va datefield-markout-older
8974 Only used in conjunction with
8976 Can be used to create a visible distinction of messages dated more than
8977 a day in the future, or older than six months, a concept comparable to the
8979 option of the POSIX utility
8981 If set to the empty string, then the plain month, day and year of the
8983 will be displayed, but a
8985 format string to control formatting can be assigned.
8991 \*(BO Enables debug messages and obsoletion warnings, disables the
8992 actual delivery of messages and also implies
8998 .It Va disposition-notification-send
9000 .Ql Disposition-Notification-To:
9001 header (RFC 3798) with the message.
9005 .\" TODO .It Va disposition-notification-send-HOST
9007 .\".Va disposition-notification-send
9008 .\" for SMTP accounts on a specific host.
9009 .\" TODO .It Va disposition-notification-send-USER@HOST
9011 .\".Va disposition-notification-send
9012 .\"for a specific account.
9016 \*(BO When dot is set, a period
9018 on a line by itself during message input in (interactive or batch
9020 compose mode will be treated as end-of-message (in addition to the
9021 normal end-of-file condition).
9022 This behaviour is implied in
9028 .It Va dotlock-disable
9029 \*(BO\*(OP Disable creation of
9034 .It Va dotlock-ignore-error
9035 \*(OB\*(BO\*(OP Ignore failures when creating
9037 .Sx "dotlock files" .
9044 If this variable is set then the editor is started automatically when
9045 a message is composed in interactive mode.
9046 If the value starts with the letter
9048 then this acts as if
9052 .Pf (see\0 Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" )
9056 variable is implied for this automatically spawned editor session.
9060 \*(BO When a message is edited while being composed,
9061 its header is included in the editable text.
9065 \*(BO When entering interactive mode \*(UA normally writes
9066 .Dq \&No mail for user
9067 and exits immediately if a mailbox is empty or does not exist.
9068 If this variable is set \*(UA starts even with an empty or non-existent
9069 mailbox (the latter behaviour furtherly depends upon
9075 \*(BO Let each command with a non-0 exit status, including every
9079 s a non-0 status, cause a program exit unless prefixed by
9082 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
9084 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ,
9085 but which use a different modifier for ignoring the error.
9086 Please refer to the variable
9088 for more on this topic.
9092 The first character of this value defines the escape character for
9093 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
9095 The default value is the character tilde
9097 If set to the empty string, command escapes are disabled.
9101 If unset then file and command pipeline address targets are not allowed,
9102 and any such address will be filtered out, giving a warning message.
9103 If set then all possible recipient address specifications will be
9104 accepted unless a possible value content is more specific (also see
9105 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" ) ;
9106 if desired so only in interactive mode, or when tilde commands were
9107 enabled explicitly via
9111 the (case-insensitive) value
9113 can be used (this really acts like
9114 .Ql restrict,-all,+name,+addr ,
9115 so that care for ordering issues must be taken).
9117 The value is actually interpreted as a comma-separated list.
9120 the existence of disallowed addressees is treated as a hard send error
9121 instead of only causing them to be filtered out.
9122 Address targets can be added and subtracted by prefixing with a plus sign
9128 addresses all possible address specifications,
9132 command pipeline targets,
9134 plain user names and (MTA) aliases and
9137 Targets are interpreted in the given order, so that
9138 .Ql restrict,\:fail,\:+file,\:-all,\:+addr
9139 will cause hard errors for any non-network address recipient address
9140 unless \*(UA is in interactive mode or has been started with the
9144 command line option; in the latter case(s) any address may be used, then.
9146 Historically invalid network addressees were silently stripped off.
9147 To change this so that any encountered invalid email address causes
9148 a hard error it must be ensured that
9150 is an entry in the above list, which automatically enables network
9151 addressees; it really acts like
9152 .Ql failinvaddr,+addr ,
9153 so that care for ordering issues must be taken.
9156 is present a few address providers (for example
9158 and all recipients given on the command line) will be will evaluated as
9159 if specified within dollar-single-quotes (see
9160 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" ) .
9164 Unless this variable is set additional
9166 (Mail-Transfer-Agent)
9167 arguments from the command line, as can be given after a
9169 separator, results in a program termination with failure status.
9170 The same can be accomplished by using the special (case-insensitive) value
9172 A lesser strict variant is the otherwise identical
9174 which does accept such arguments in interactive mode, or if tilde
9175 commands were enabled explicitly by using one of the command line options
9179 The empty value will allow unconditional usage.
9183 \*(RO String giving a list of optional features.
9184 Features are preceded with a plus sign
9186 if they are available, with a hyphen-minus
9189 The output of the command
9191 will include this information in a more pleasant output.
9195 \*(BO This setting reverses the meanings of a set of reply commands,
9196 turning the lowercase variants, which by default address all recipients
9197 included in the header of a message
9198 .Pf ( Ic reply , respond , followup )
9199 into the uppercase variants, which by default address the sender only
9200 .Pf ( Ic Reply , Respond , Followup )
9203 .Ic replysender , respondsender , followupsender
9205 .Ic replyall , respondall , followupall
9206 are not affected by the current setting of
9211 The default path under which mailboxes are to be saved:
9212 filenames that begin with the plus sign
9214 will have the plus sign replaced with the value of this variable if set,
9215 otherwise the plus sign will remain unchanged when doing
9216 .Sx "Filename transformations" ;
9219 for more on this topic, and know about standard imposed implications of
9221 The value supports a subset of transformations itself, and if the
9222 non-empty value does not start with a solidus
9226 will be prefixed automatically.
9227 Once the actual value is evaluated first, the internal variable
9229 will be updated for caching purposes.
9232 .It Va folder-hook-FOLDER , Va folder-hook
9235 macro which will be called whenever a
9238 The macro will also be invoked when new mail arrives,
9239 but message lists for commands executed from the macro
9240 only include newly arrived messages then.
9242 are activated by default in a folder hook, causing the covered settings
9243 to be reverted once the folder is left again.
9245 The specialized form will override the generic one if
9247 matches the file that is opened.
9248 Unlike other folder specifications, the fully expanded name of a folder,
9249 without metacharacters, is used to avoid ambiguities.
9250 However, if the mailbox resides under
9254 specification is tried in addition, e.g., if
9258 (and thus relative to the user's home directory) then
9259 .Pa /home/usr1/mail/sent
9261 .Ql folder-hook-/home/usr1/mail/sent
9262 first, but then followed by
9263 .Ql folder-hook-+sent .
9266 .It Va folder-resolved
9267 \*(RO Set to the fully resolved path of
9269 once that evaluation has occurred; rather internal.
9273 \*(BO Controls whether a
9274 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
9275 header is generated when sending messages to known mailing lists.
9277 .Va followup-to-honour
9279 .Ic mlist , mlsubscribe , reply
9284 .It Va followup-to-honour
9286 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
9287 header is honoured when group-replying to a message via
9291 This is a quadoption; if set without a value it defaults to
9301 .It Va forward-as-attachment
9302 \*(BO Original messages are normally sent as inline text with the
9305 and only the first part of a multipart message is included.
9306 With this setting enabled messages are sent as unmodified MIME
9308 attachments with all of their parts included.
9312 .It Va forward-inject-head , forward-inject-tail
9313 The strings to put before and after the text of a message with the
9315 command, respectively.
9316 The former defaults to
9317 .Ql -------- Original Message --------\en .
9318 Special format directives in these strings will be expanded if possible,
9319 and if so configured the output will be folded according to
9321 for more please refer to
9322 .Va quote-inject-head .
9323 These variables are ignored if the
9324 .Va forward-as-attachment
9330 The address (or a list of addresses) to put into the
9332 field of the message header, quoting RFC 5322:
9333 the author(s) of the message, that is, the mailbox(es) of the person(s)
9334 or system(s) responsible for the writing of the message.
9335 According to that RFC setting the
9337 variable is required if
9339 contains more than one address.
9340 Dependent on the context these addresses are handled as if they were in
9345 If a file-based MTA is used, then
9347 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
9349 can nonetheless be enforced to appear as the envelope sender address at
9350 the MTA protocol level (the RFC 5321 reverse-path), either by using the
9352 command line option (with an empty argument; see there for the complete
9353 picture on this topic), or by setting the internal variable
9354 .Va r-option-implicit .
9357 If the machine's hostname is not valid at the Internet (for example at
9358 a dialup machine) then either this variable or
9362 adds even more fine-tuning capabilities with
9364 have to be set: if so the message and MIME part related unique ID fields
9368 will be created (except when disallowed by
9369 .Va message-id-disable
9376 \*(BO Due to historical reasons comments and name parts of email
9377 addresses are removed by default when sending mail, replying to or
9378 forwarding a message.
9379 If this variable is set such stripping is not performed.
9382 \*(OB Predecessor of
9383 .Va forward-inject-head .
9387 \*(BO Causes the header summary to be written at startup and after
9388 commands that affect the number of messages or the order of messages in
9393 mode a header summary will also be displayed on folder changes.
9394 The command line option
9402 A format string to use for the summary of
9404 Format specifiers in the given string start with a percent sign
9406 and may be followed by an optional decimal number indicating the field
9407 width \(em if that is negative, the field is to be left-aligned.
9408 Names and addresses are subject to modifications according to
9412 Valid format specifiers are:
9415 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql _%%_"
9417 A plain percent sign.
9420 a space character but for the current message
9422 for which it expands to
9425 .Va headline-plain ) .
9428 a space character but for the current message
9430 for which it expands to
9433 .Va headline-plain ) .
9435 \*(OP The spam score of the message, as has been classified via the
9438 Shows only a replacement character if there is no spam support.
9440 Message attribute character (status flag); the actual content can be
9444 The date found in the
9446 header of the message when
9448 is set (the default), otherwise the date when the message was received.
9449 Formatting can be controlled by assigning a
9454 .Va datefield-markout-older ) .
9456 The indenting level in
9462 The address of the message sender.
9464 The message thread tree structure.
9465 (Note that this format does not support a field width, and honours
9466 .Va headline-plain . )
9468 The number of lines of the message, if available.
9472 The number of octets (bytes) in the message, if available.
9474 Message subject (if any).
9476 Message subject (if any) in double quotes.
9478 Message recipient flags: is the addressee of the message a known or
9479 subscribed mailing list \(en see
9484 The position in threaded/sorted order.
9486 The value 0 except in an IMAP mailbox,
9487 where it expands to the UID of the message.
9491 .Ql %>\&%a\&%m\ %-18f\ %16d\ %4l/%\-5o\ %i%-s ,
9493 .Ql %>\&%a\&%m\ %20-f\ \ %16d\ %3l/%\-5o\ %i%-S
9505 .It Va headline-bidi
9506 Bidirectional text requires special treatment when displaying headers,
9507 because numbers (in dates or for file sizes etc.) will not affect the
9508 current text direction, in effect resulting in ugly line layouts when
9509 arabic or other right-to-left text is to be displayed.
9510 On the other hand only a minority of terminals is capable to correctly
9511 handle direction changes, so that user interaction is necessary for
9513 Note that extended host system support is required nonetheless, e.g.,
9514 detection of the terminal character set is one precondition;
9515 and this feature only works in an Unicode (i.e., UTF-8) locale.
9517 In general setting this variable will cause \*(UA to encapsulate text
9518 fields that may occur when displaying
9520 (and some other fields, like dynamic expansions in
9522 with special Unicode control sequences;
9523 it is possible to fine-tune the terminal support level by assigning
9525 no value (or any value other than
9530 will make \*(UA assume that the terminal is capable to properly deal
9531 with Unicode version 6.3, in which case text is embedded in a pair of
9532 U+2068 (FIRST STRONG ISOLATE) and U+2069 (POP DIRECTIONAL ISOLATE)
9534 In addition no space on the line is reserved for these characters.
9536 Weaker support is chosen by using the value
9538 (Unicode 6.3, but reserve the room of two spaces for writing the control
9539 sequences onto the line).
9544 select Unicode 1.1 support (U+200E, LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK); the latter
9545 again reserves room for two spaces in addition.
9548 .It Va headline-plain
9549 \*(BO On Unicode (UTF-8) aware terminals enhanced graphical symbols are
9550 used by default for certain entries of
9552 If this variable is set only basic US-ASCII symbols will be used.
9556 \*(OP If a line editor is available then this can be set to
9557 name the (expandable) path of the location of a permanent
9563 .It Va history-gabby
9564 \*(BO\*(OP Add more entries to the
9566 as is normally done.
9569 .It Va history-gabby-persist
9570 \*(BO\*(OP \*(UA's own MLE will not save the additional
9572 entries in persistent storage unless this variable is set.
9573 On the other hand it will not loose the knowledge of whether
9574 a persistent entry was gabby or not.
9580 \*(OP Setting this variable imposes a limit on the number of concurrent
9583 If set to the value 0 then no further history entries will be added,
9584 and loading and incorporation of the
9586 upon program startup can also be suppressed by doing this.
9587 Runtime changes will not be reflected before the
9589 is saved or loaded (again).
9593 \*(BO This setting controls whether messages are held in the system
9595 and it is set by default.
9599 Used instead of the value obtained from
9603 as the hostname when expanding local addresses, e.g., in
9606 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" ,
9607 especially for expansion of network addresses that contain domain-less
9608 valid user names in angle brackets).
9611 or this variable Is set the message and MIME part related unique ID fields
9615 will be created (except when disallowed by
9616 .Va message-id-disable
9619 If the \*(OPal IDNA support is available (see
9621 variable assignment is aborted when a necessary conversion fails.
9623 Setting it to the empty string will cause the normal hostname to be
9624 used, but nonetheless enables creation of said ID fields.
9625 \*(IN in conjunction with the built-in SMTP
9628 also influences the results:
9629 one should produce some test messages with the desired combination of
9638 \*(BO\*(OP Can be used to turn off the automatic conversion of domain
9639 names according to the rules of IDNA (internationalized domain names
9641 Since the IDNA code assumes that domain names are specified with the
9643 character set, an UTF-8 locale charset is required to represent all
9644 possible international domain names (before conversion, that is).
9648 The input field separator that is used (\*(ID by some functions) to
9649 determine where to split input data.
9651 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It MMM"
9653 Unsetting is treated as assigning the default value,
9656 If set to the empty value, no field splitting will be performed.
9658 If set to a non-empty value, all whitespace characters are extracted
9659 and assigned to the variable
9663 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It MMM"
9666 will be ignored at the beginning and end of input.
9667 Diverging from POSIX shells default whitespace is removed in addition,
9668 which is owed to the entirely different line content extraction rules.
9670 Each occurrence of a character of
9672 will cause field-splitting, any adjacent
9674 characters will be skipped.
9679 \*(RO Automatically deduced from the whitespace characters in
9684 \*(BO Ignore interrupt signals from the terminal while entering
9685 messages; instead echo them as
9687 characters and discard the current line.
9691 \*(BO Ignore end-of-file conditions
9692 .Pf ( Ql control-D )
9693 in compose mode on message input and in interactive command input.
9694 If set an interactive command input session can only be left by
9695 explicitly using one of the commands
9699 and message input in compose mode can only be terminated by entering
9702 on a line by itself or by using the
9704 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ;
9705 Setting this implies the behaviour that
9713 If this is set to a non-empty string it will specify the user's
9715 .Sx "primary system mailbox" ,
9718 and the system-dependent default, and (thus) be used to replace
9721 .Sx "Filename transformations" ;
9724 for more on this topic.
9725 The value supports a subset of transformations itself.
9733 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
9736 option for indenting messages,
9737 in place of the POSIX mandated default tabulator character
9744 \*(BO If set, an empty
9746 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
9747 file is not removed.
9748 Note that, in conjunction with
9750 mode any empty file will be removed unless this variable is set.
9751 This may improve the interoperability with other mail user agents
9752 when using a common folder directory, and prevents malicious users
9753 from creating fake mailboxes in a world-writable spool directory.
9754 \*(ID Only local regular (MBOX) files are covered, Maildir and other
9755 mailbox types will never be removed, even if empty.
9758 .It Va keep-content-length
9759 \*(BO When (editing messages and) writing MBOX mailbox files \*(UA can
9764 header fields that some MUAs generate by setting this variable.
9765 Since \*(UA does neither use nor update these non-standardized header
9766 fields (which in itself shows one of their conceptual problems),
9767 stripping them should increase interoperability in between MUAs that
9768 work with with same mailbox files.
9769 Note that, if this is not set but
9770 .Va writebackedited ,
9771 as below, is, a possibly performed automatic stripping of these header
9772 fields already marks the message as being modified.
9773 \*(ID At some future time \*(UA will be capable to rewrite and apply an
9775 to modified messages, and then those fields will be stripped silently.
9779 \*(BO When a message is saved it is usually discarded from the
9780 originating folder when \*(UA is quit.
9781 This setting causes all saved message to be retained.
9784 .It Va line-editor-disable
9785 \*(BO Turn off any enhanced line editing capabilities (see
9786 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor"
9790 .It Va line-editor-no-defaults
9791 \*(BO\*(OP Do not establish any default key binding.
9795 Error log message prefix string
9796 .Pf ( Ql "\*(uA: " ) .
9799 .It Va mailbox-display
9800 \*(RO The name of the current mailbox
9802 possibly abbreviated for display purposes.
9805 .It Va mailbox-resolved
9806 \*(RO The fully resolved path of the current mailbox.
9809 .It Va mailx-extra-rc
9810 An additional startup file that is loaded as the last of the
9811 .Sx "Resource files" .
9812 Use this file for commands that are not understood by other POSIX
9814 implementations, i.e., mostly anything which is not covered by
9815 .Sx "Initial settings" .
9819 \*(BO When a message is replied to and this variable is set,
9820 it is marked as having been
9823 .Sx "Message states" .
9827 \*(BO When opening MBOX mailbox databases \*(UA by default uses tolerant
9828 POSIX rules for detecting message boundaries (so-called
9830 lines) due to compatibility reasons, instead of the stricter rules that
9831 have been standardized in RFC 4155.
9832 This behaviour can be switched to the stricter RFC 4155 rules by
9833 setting this variable.
9834 (This is never necessary for any message newly generated by \*(UA,
9835 it only applies to messages generated by buggy or malicious MUAs, or may
9836 occur in old MBOX databases: \*(UA itself will choose a proper
9838 to avoid false interpretation of
9840 content lines in the MBOX database.)
9842 This may temporarily be handy when \*(UA complains about invalid
9844 lines when opening a MBOX: in this case setting this variable and
9845 re-opening the mailbox in question may correct the result.
9846 If so, copying the entire mailbox to some other file, as in
9847 .Ql copy * SOME-FILE ,
9848 will perform proper, all-compatible
9850 quoting for all detected messages, resulting in a valid MBOX mailbox.
9851 Finally the variable can be unset again:
9852 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9854 localopts yes; wysh set mbox-rfc4155;\e
9855 wysh File "${1}"; eval copy * "${2}"
9857 call mboxfix /tmp/bad.mbox /tmp/good.mbox
9862 \*(BO Internal development variable.
9865 .It Va message-id-disable
9866 \*(BO By setting this variable the generation of
9870 message and MIME part headers can be completely suppressed, effectively
9871 leaving this task up to the
9873 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) or the SMTP server.
9874 Note that according to RFC 5321 a SMTP server is not required to add this
9875 field by itself, so it should be ensured that it accepts messages without
9879 .It Va message-inject-head
9880 A string to put at the beginning of each new message, followed by a newline.
9881 \*(OB The escape sequences tabulator
9885 are understood (use the
9889 ting the variable(s) instead).
9892 .It Va message-inject-tail
9893 A string to put at the end of each new message, followed by a newline.
9894 \*(OB The escape sequences tabulator
9898 are understood (use the
9902 ting the variable(s) instead).
9906 \*(BO Usually, when an
9908 expansion contains the sender, the sender is removed from the expansion.
9909 Setting this option suppresses these removals.
9914 option to be passed through to the
9916 (Mail-Transfer-Agent); though most of the modern MTAs no longer document
9917 this flag, no MTA is known which does not support it (for historical
9921 .It Va mime-allow-text-controls
9922 \*(BO When sending messages, each part of the message is MIME-inspected
9923 in order to classify the
9926 .Ql Content-Transfer-Encoding:
9929 that is required to send this part over mail transport, i.e.,
9930 a computation rather similar to what the
9932 command produces when used with the
9936 This classification however treats text files which are encoded in
9937 UTF-16 (seen for HTML files) and similar character sets as binary
9938 octet-streams, forcefully changing any
9943 .Ql application/octet-stream :
9944 If that actually happens a yet unset charset MIME parameter is set to
9946 effectively making it impossible for the receiving MUA to automatically
9947 interpret the contents of the part.
9949 If this variable is set, and the data was unambiguously identified as
9950 text data at first glance (by a
9954 file extension), then the original
9956 will not be overwritten.
9959 .It Va mime-alternative-favour-rich
9960 \*(BO If this variable is set then rich MIME alternative parts (e.g.,
9961 HTML) will be preferred in favour of included plain text versions when
9962 displaying messages, provided that a handler exists which produces
9963 output that can be (re)integrated into \*(UA's normal visual display.
9964 (E.g., at the time of this writing some newsletters ship their full
9965 content only in the rich HTML part, whereas the plain text part only
9966 contains topic subjects.)
9969 .It Va mime-counter-evidence
9972 field is used to decide how to handle MIME parts.
9973 Some MUAs, however, do not use
9974 .Sx "The mime.types files"
9976 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" )
9977 or a similar mechanism to correctly classify content, but specify an
9978 unspecific MIME type
9979 .Pf ( Ql application/octet-stream )
9980 even for plain text attachments.
9981 If this variable is set then \*(UA will try to re-classify such MIME
9982 message parts, if possible, for example via a possibly existing
9983 attachment filename.
9984 A non-empty value may also be given, in which case a number is expected,
9985 actually a carrier of bits, best specified as a binary value, e.g.,
9988 .Bl -bullet -compact
9990 If bit two is set (counting from 1, decimal 2) then the detected
9992 will be carried along with the message and be used for deciding which
9993 MIME handler is to be used, for example;
9994 when displaying such a MIME part the part-info will indicate the
9995 overridden content-type by showing a plus sign
9998 If bit three is set (decimal 4) then the counter-evidence is always
9999 produced and a positive result will be used as the MIME type, even
10000 forcefully overriding the parts given MIME type.
10002 If bit four is set (decimal 8) as a last resort the actual content of
10003 .Ql application/octet-stream
10004 parts will be inspected, so that data which looks like plain text can be
10006 This mode is even more relaxed when data is to be displayed to the user
10007 or used as a message quote (data consumers which mangle data for display
10008 purposes, which includes masking of control characters, for example).
10012 .It Va mime-encoding
10014 .Ql Content-Transfer-Encoding
10015 to use in outgoing text messages and message parts, where applicable.
10016 (7-bit clean text messages are sent as-is, without a transfer encoding.)
10019 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql _%%_"
10021 .Pf (Or\0 Ql 8b . )
10022 8-bit transport effectively causes the raw data be passed through
10023 unchanged, but may cause problems when transferring mail messages over
10024 channels that are not ESMTP (RFC 1869) compliant.
10025 Also, several input data constructs are not allowed by the
10026 specifications and may cause a different transfer-encoding to be used.
10027 .It Ql quoted-printable
10028 .Pf (Or\0 Ql qp . )
10029 Quoted-printable encoding is 7-bit clean and has the property that ASCII
10030 characters are passed through unchanged, so that an english message can
10031 be read as-is; it is also acceptable for other single-byte locales that
10032 share many characters with ASCII, like, e.g., ISO-8859-1.
10033 The encoding will cause a large overhead for messages in other character
10034 sets: e.g., it will require up to twelve (12) bytes to encode a single
10035 UTF-8 character of four (4) bytes.
10036 It is the default encoding.
10038 .Pf (Or\0 Ql b64 . )
10039 This encoding is 7-bit clean and will always be used for binary data.
10040 This encoding has a constant input:output ratio of 3:4, regardless of
10041 the character set of the input data it will encode three bytes of input
10042 to four bytes of output.
10043 This transfer-encoding is not human readable without performing
10048 .It Va mimetypes-load-control
10049 Can be used to control which of
10050 .Sx "The mime.types files"
10051 are loaded: if the letter
10053 is part of the option value, then the user's personal
10055 file will be loaded (if it exists); likewise the letter
10057 controls loading of the system wide
10059 directives found in the user file take precedence, letter matching is
10061 If this variable is not set \*(UA will try to load both files.
10062 Incorporation of the \*(UA-built-in MIME types cannot be suppressed,
10063 but they will be matched last (the order can be listed via
10066 More sources can be specified by using a different syntax: if the
10067 value string contains an equals sign
10069 then it is instead parsed as a comma-separated list of the described
10072 pairs; the given filenames will be expanded and loaded, and their
10073 content may use the extended syntax that is described in the section
10074 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
10075 Directives found in such files always take precedence (are prepended to
10076 the MIME type cache).
10081 To choose an alternate Mail-Transfer-Agent, set this option to either
10082 the full pathname of an executable (optionally prefixed with the protocol
10084 or \*(OPally a SMTP a.k.a. SUBMISSION protocol URL, e.g., \*(IN
10086 .Dl smtps?://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
10089 .Ql [smtp://]server[:port] . )
10090 The default has been chosen at compile time.
10091 All supported data transfers are executed in child processes, which
10092 run asynchronously and without supervision unless either the
10097 If such a child receives a TERM signal, it will abort and
10104 For a file-based MTA it may be necessary to set
10106 in in order to choose the right target of a modern
10109 It will be passed command line arguments from several possible sources:
10112 if set, from the command line if given and the variable
10115 Argument processing of the MTA will be terminated with a
10120 The otherwise occurring implicit usage of the following MTA command
10121 line arguments can be disabled by setting the boolean variable
10122 .Va mta-no-default-arguments
10123 (which will also disable passing
10127 (for not treating a line with only a dot
10129 character as the end of input),
10131 (shall the variable
10137 variable is set); in conjunction with the
10139 command line option \*(UA will also (not) pass
10141 as well as possibly
10145 \*(OPally \*(UA can send mail over SMTP a.k.a. SUBMISSION network
10146 connections to a single defined smart host by setting this variable to
10147 a SMTP or SUBMISSION URL (see
10148 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ) .
10149 An authentication scheme can be specified via the variable chain
10151 Encrypted network connections are \*(OPally available, the section
10152 .Sx "Encrypted network communication"
10153 should give an overview and provide links to more information on this.
10154 Note that with some mail providers it may be necessary to set the
10156 variable in order to use a specific combination of
10161 \*(UA also supports forwarding of all network traffic over a specified
10163 The following SMTP variants may be used:
10167 The plain SMTP protocol (RFC 5321) that normally lives on the
10168 server port 25 and requires setting the
10169 .Va smtp-use-starttls
10170 variable to enter a TLS encrypted session state.
10171 Assign a value like \*(IN
10172 .Ql smtp://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
10174 .Ql smtp://server[:port] )
10175 to choose this protocol.
10177 The so-called SMTPS which is supposed to live on server port 465
10178 and is automatically TLS secured.
10179 Unfortunately it never became a standardized protocol and may thus not
10180 be supported by your hosts network service database
10181 \(en in fact the port number has already been reassigned to other
10184 SMTPS is nonetheless a commonly offered protocol and thus can be
10185 chosen by assigning a value like \*(IN
10186 .Ql smtps://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
10188 .Ql smtps://server[:port] ) ;
10189 due to the mentioned problems it is usually necessary to explicitly
10190 specify the port as
10194 The SUBMISSION protocol (RFC 6409) lives on server port 587 and
10195 is identically to the SMTP protocol from \*(UA's point of view;
10196 it requires setting
10197 .Va smtp-use-starttls
10198 to enter a TLS secured session state; e.g., \*(IN
10199 .Ql submission://[user[:password]@]server[:port] .
10201 The SUBMISSIONS protocol (RFC 8314) that lives on server port 465 and is
10202 TLS secured by default.
10203 It can be chosen by assigning a value like \*(IN
10204 .Ql submissions://[user[:password]@]server[:port] .
10205 Due to the problems mentioned for SMTPS above and the fact that
10206 SUBMISSIONS is new and a successor that lives on the same port as the
10207 historical engineering mismanagement named SMTPS, it is usually
10208 necessary to explicitly specify the port as
10214 .It Va mta-arguments
10215 Arguments to pass through to a file-based
10217 can be given via this variable, which is parsed according to
10218 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
10219 into an array of arguments, and which will be joined onto MTA options
10220 from other sources, and then passed individually to the MTA:
10221 .Ql ? wysh set mta-arguments='-t -X \&"/tmp/my log\&"' .
10224 .It Va mta-no-default-arguments
10225 \*(BO Unless this variable is set \*(UA will pass some well known
10226 standard command line options to a file-based
10228 (Mail-Transfer-Agent), see there for more.
10231 .It Va mta-no-receiver-arguments
10232 \*(BO By default a file-based
10234 will be passed all receiver addresses on the command line.
10235 This variable can be set to suppress any such argument.
10239 Many systems use a so-called
10241 environment to ensure compatibility with
10243 This works by inspecting the name that was used to invoke the mail
10245 If this variable is set then the mailwrapper (the program that is
10246 actually executed when calling the file-based
10248 will treat its contents as that name.
10250 .Mx Va netrc-lookup
10251 .It Va netrc-lookup-USER@HOST , netrc-lookup-HOST , netrc-lookup
10252 \*(BO\*(IN\*(OP Used to control usage of the user's
10254 file for lookup of account credentials, as documented in the section
10255 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
10256 and for the command
10259 .Sx "The .netrc file"
10260 documents the file format.
10272 then \*(UA will read the output of a shell pipe instead of the user's
10274 file if this variable is set (to the desired shell command).
10275 This can be used to, e.g., store
10278 .Ql ? set netrc-pipe='gpg -qd ~/.netrc.pgp' .
10282 \*(OP If this variable has the value
10284 newly created local folders will be in Maildir instead of MBOX format.
10288 Checks for new mail in the current folder each time the prompt is shown.
10289 A Maildir folder must be re-scanned to determine if new mail has arrived.
10290 If this variable is set to the special value
10292 then a Maildir folder will not be rescanned completely, but only
10293 timestamp changes are detected.
10294 Maildir folders are \*(OPal.
10298 \*(BO Unless specified as absolute pathnames, causes the filename given
10302 and the sender-based filenames for the
10306 commands to be interpreted relative to the directory given in the
10308 variable rather than relative to the current directory.
10310 .Mx Va on-account-cleanup
10311 .It Va on-account-cleanup-ACCOUNT , Va on-account-cleanup
10312 Macro hook which will be called once an
10314 is left, as the very last step before unrolling per-account
10316 This hook is run even in case of fatal errors, and it is advisable to
10317 perform only absolutely necessary actions, like cleaning up
10320 The specialized form is used in favour of the generic one if found.
10323 .It Va on-compose-cleanup
10324 Macro hook which will be called after the message has been sent (or not,
10325 in case of failures), as the very last step before unrolling compose mode
10327 This hook is run even in case of fatal errors, and it is advisable to
10328 perform only absolutely necessary actions, like cleaning up
10332 For compose mode hooks that may affect the message content please see
10333 .Va on-compose-enter , on-compose-leave , on-compose-splice .
10334 \*(ID This hook exists because
10335 .Ic alias , alternates , commandalias , shortcut ,
10336 to name a few, are not covered by
10338 changes applied in compose mode will continue to be in effect thereafter.
10343 .It Va on-compose-enter , on-compose-leave
10344 Macro hooks which will be called once compose mode is entered,
10345 and after composing has been finished, but before a set
10346 .Va message-inject-tail
10347 has been injected etc., respectively.
10349 are enabled for these hooks, and changes on variables will be forgotten
10350 after the message has been sent.
10351 .Va on-compose-cleanup
10352 can be used to perform other necessary cleanup steps.
10354 The following (read-only) variables will be set temporarily during
10355 execution of the macros to represent respective message headers, to
10356 the empty string otherwise; most of them correspond to according virtual
10357 message headers that can be accessed via
10360 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
10362 .Va on-compose-splice
10366 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Va mailx_subject"
10367 .It Va mailx-command
10368 The command that generates the message.
10369 .It Va mailx-subject
10373 .It Va mailx-sender
10375 .It Va mailx-to , mailx-cc , mailx-bcc
10376 The list of receiver addresses as a space-separated list.
10377 .It Va mailx-raw-to , mailx-raw-cc , mailx-raw-bcc
10378 The list of receiver addresses before any mangling (due to, e.g.,
10381 .Va recipients-in-cc )
10382 as a space-separated list.
10383 .It Va mailx-orig-from
10384 When replying, forwarding or resending, this will be set to the
10386 of the given message.
10387 .It Va mailx-orig-to , mailx-orig-cc , mailx-orig-bcc
10388 When replying, forwarding or resending, this will be set to the
10389 receivers of the given message.
10393 Here is am example that injects a signature via
10394 .Va message-inject-tail ;
10396 .Va on-compose-splice
10397 to simply inject the file of desire via
10401 may be a better approach.
10403 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10405 vput ! i cat ~/.mysig
10407 vput vexpr message-inject-tail trim-end $i
10411 readctl create ~/.mysig
10415 vput vexpr message-inject-tail trim-end $i
10417 readctl remove ~/.mysig
10420 set on-compose-leave=t_ocl
10426 .It Va on-compose-splice , on-compose-splice-shell
10427 These hooks run once the normal compose mode is finished, but before the
10428 .Va on-compose-leave
10429 macro hook is called, the
10430 .Va message-inject-tail
10432 Both hooks will be executed in a subprocess, with their input and output
10433 connected to \*(UA such that they can act as if they would be an
10435 The difference in between them is that the latter is a
10437 command, whereas the former is a normal \*(UA macro, but which is
10438 restricted to a small set of commands (the
10442 will indicate said capability).
10444 are enabled for these hooks (in the parent process), causing any setting
10445 to be forgotten after the message has been sent;
10446 .Va on-compose-cleanup
10447 can be used to perform other cleanup as necessary.
10450 During execution of these hooks \*(UA will temporarily forget whether it
10451 has been started in interactive mode, (a restricted set of)
10452 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
10453 will always be available, and for guaranteed reproducibilities sake
10457 will be set to their defaults.
10458 The compose mode command
10460 has been especially designed for scriptability (via these hooks).
10461 The first line the hook will read on its standard input is the protocol
10462 version of said command escape, currently
10464 backward incompatible protocol changes have to be expected.
10467 Care must be taken to avoid deadlocks and other false control flow:
10468 if both involved processes wait for more input to happen at the
10469 same time, or one does not expect more input but the other is stuck
10470 waiting for consumption of its output, etc.
10471 There is no automatic synchronization of the hook: it will not be
10472 stopped automatically just because it, e.g., emits
10474 The hooks will however receive a termination signal if the parent enters
10475 an error condition.
10476 \*(ID Protection against and interaction with signals is not yet given;
10477 it is likely that in the future these scripts will be placed in an
10478 isolated session, which is signalled in its entirety as necessary.
10480 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10481 define ocs_signature {
10483 echo '~< ~/.mysig' # '~<! fortune pathtofortunefile'
10485 set on-compose-splice=ocs_signature
10487 wysh set on-compose-splice-shell=$'\e
10489 printf "hello $version! Headers: ";\e
10490 echo \e'~^header list\e';\e
10491 read status result;\e
10492 echo "status=$status result=$result";\e
10497 echo Splice protocol version is $version
10498 echo '~^h l'; read hl; vput vexpr es substring "${hl}" 0 1
10500 echoerr 'Cannot read header list'; echo '~x'; xit
10502 if [ "$hl" @i!% ' cc' ]
10503 echo '~^h i cc Diet is your <mirr.or>'; read es;\e
10504 vput vexpr es substring "${es}" 0 1
10506 echoerr 'Cannot insert Cc: header'; echo '~x'
10507 # (no xit, macro finishs anyway)
10511 set on-compose-splice=ocsm
10516 .It Va on-resend-cleanup
10518 .Va on-compose-cleanup ,
10519 but is only triggered by
10523 .It Va on-resend-enter
10525 .Va on-compose-enter ,
10526 but is only triggered by
10531 \*(BO If set, each message feed through the command given for
10533 is followed by a formfeed character
10537 .It Va password-USER@HOST , password-HOST , password
10538 \*(IN Variable chain that sets a password, which is used in case none has
10539 been given in the protocol and account-specific URL;
10540 as a last resort \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal if
10541 the authentication method requires a password.
10542 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
10543 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
10545 .It Va password-USER@HOST
10546 \*(OU (see the chain above for \*(IN)
10547 Set the password for
10551 If no such variable is defined for a host,
10552 the user will be asked for a password on standard input.
10553 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
10554 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
10558 \*(BO Send messages to the
10560 command without performing MIME and character set conversions.
10564 .It Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
10565 When a MIME message part of type
10567 (case-insensitive) is displayed or quoted,
10568 its text is filtered through the value of this variable interpreted as
10570 Note that only parts which can be displayed inline as plain text (see
10571 .Cd copiousoutput )
10572 are displayed unless otherwise noted, other MIME parts will only be
10573 considered by and for the command
10577 The special value commercial at
10579 forces interpretation of the message part as plain text, e.g.,
10580 .Ql set pipe-application/xml=@
10581 will henceforth display XML
10583 (The same could also be achieved by adding a MIME type marker with the
10586 And \*(OPally MIME type handlers may be defined via
10587 .Sx "The Mailcap files"
10588 \(em these directives,
10590 has already been used, should be referred to for further documentation.
10595 can in fact be used as a trigger character to adjust usage and behaviour
10596 of a following shell command specification more thoroughly by appending
10597 more special characters which refer to further mailcap directives, e.g.,
10598 the following hypothetical command specification could be used:
10600 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10601 ? set pipe-X/Y='@!++=@vim ${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}'
10605 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql __"
10607 The command produces plain text to be integrated in \*(UAs output:
10608 .Cd copiousoutput .
10611 If set the handler will not be invoked when a message is to be quoted,
10612 but only when it will be displayed:
10613 .Cd x-mailx-noquote .
10616 Run the command asynchronously, i.e., without blocking \*(UA:
10617 .Cd x-mailx-async .
10620 The command must be run on an interactive terminal, \*(UA will
10621 temporarily release the terminal to it:
10622 .Cd needsterminal .
10625 Request creation of a zero-sized temporary file, the absolute pathname
10626 of which will be made accessible via the environment variable
10627 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY :
10628 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile .
10629 If given twice then the file will be unlinked automatically by \*(UA
10630 when the command loop is entered again at latest:
10631 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink .
10634 Normally the MIME part content is passed to the handler via standard
10635 input; if this flag is set then the data will instead be written into
10636 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY
10637 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill ) ,
10638 the creation of which is implied; note however that in order to cause
10639 deletion of the temporary file you still have to use two plus signs
10644 To avoid ambiguities with normal shell command content you can use
10645 another commercial at to forcefully terminate interpretation of
10646 remaining characters.
10647 (Any character not in this list will have the same effect.)
10651 Some information about the MIME part to be displayed is embedded into
10652 the environment of the shell command:
10655 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ev _AIL__ILENAME__ENERATED"
10657 .It Ev MAILX_CONTENT
10658 The MIME content-type of the part, if known, the empty string otherwise.
10661 .It Ev MAILX_CONTENT_EVIDENCE
10663 .Va mime-counter-evidence
10664 includes the carry-around-bit (2), then this will be set to the detected
10665 MIME content-type; not only then identical to
10666 .Ev \&\&MAILX_CONTENT
10670 .It Ev MAILX_EXTERNAL_BODY_URL
10672 .Ql message/external-body access-type=url
10673 will store the access URL in this variable, it is empty otherwise.
10674 URL targets should not be activated automatically, without supervision.
10677 .It Ev MAILX_FILENAME
10678 The filename, if any is set, the empty string otherwise.
10681 .It Ev MAILX_FILENAME_GENERATED
10685 .It Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY
10686 If temporary file creation has been requested through the command prefix
10687 this variable will be set and contain the absolute pathname of the
10693 .It Va pipe-EXTENSION
10694 This is identical to
10695 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
10698 (normalized to lowercase using character mappings of the ASCII charset)
10699 names a file extension, e.g.,
10701 Handlers registered using this method take precedence.
10704 .It Va pop3-auth-USER@HOST , pop3-auth-HOST , pop3-auth
10705 \*(OP\*(IN Variable chain that sets the POP3 authentication method.
10706 The only possible value as of now is
10708 which is thus the default.
10710 .Mx Va pop3-bulk-load
10711 .It Va pop3-bulk-load-USER@HOST , pop3-bulk-load-HOST , pop3-bulk-load
10712 \*(BO\*(OP When accessing a POP3 server \*(UA loads the headers of
10713 the messages, and only requests the message bodies on user request.
10714 For the POP3 protocol this means that the message headers will be
10716 If this variable is set then \*(UA will download only complete messages
10717 from the given POP3 server(s) instead.
10719 .Mx Va pop3-keepalive
10720 .It Va pop3-keepalive-USER@HOST , pop3-keepalive-HOST , pop3-keepalive
10721 \*(OP POP3 servers close the connection after a period of inactivity;
10722 the standard requires this to be at least 10 minutes,
10723 but practical experience may vary.
10724 Setting this variable to a numeric value greater than
10728 command to be sent each value seconds if no other operation is performed.
10730 .Mx Va pop3-no-apop
10731 .It Va pop3-no-apop-USER@HOST , pop3-no-apop-HOST , pop3-no-apop
10732 \*(BO\*(OP Unless this variable is set the
10734 authentication method will be used when connecting to a POP3 server that
10735 advertises support.
10738 is that the password is not sent in clear text over the wire and that
10739 only a single packet is sent for the user/password tuple.
10741 .Va pop3-no-apop-HOST
10744 .Mx Va pop3-use-starttls
10745 .It Va pop3-use-starttls-USER@HOST , pop3-use-starttls-HOST , pop3-use-starttls
10746 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a
10748 command to make an unencrypted POP3 session TLS encrypted.
10749 This functionality is not supported by all servers,
10750 and is not used if the session is already encrypted by the POP3S method.
10752 .Va pop3-use-starttls-HOST
10758 \*(BO This flag enables POSIX mode, which changes behaviour of \*(UA
10759 where that deviates from standardized behaviour.
10760 It will be set implicitly before the
10761 .Sx "Resource files"
10762 are loaded if the environment variable
10763 .Ev POSIXLY_CORRECT
10764 is set, and adjusting any of those two will be reflected by the other
10766 The following behaviour is covered and enforced by this mechanism:
10769 .Bl -bullet -compact
10771 In non-interactive mode, any error encountered while loading resource
10772 files during program startup will cause a program exit, whereas in
10773 interactive mode such errors will stop loading of the currently loaded
10774 (stack of) file(s, i.e., recursively).
10775 These exits can be circumvented on a per-command base by using
10778 .Sx "Command modifiers" ,
10779 for each command which shall be allowed to fail.
10783 will replace the list of alternate addresses instead of appending to it.
10786 The variable inserting
10787 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
10793 will expand embedded character sequences
10795 horizontal tabulator and
10798 \*(ID For compatibility reasons this step will always be performed.
10801 Upon changing the active
10805 will be displayed even if
10812 implies the behaviour described by
10818 is extended to cover any empty mailbox, not only empty
10820 .Sx "primary system mailbox" Ns
10821 es: they will be removed when they are left in empty state otherwise.
10826 .It Va print-alternatives
10827 \*(BO When a MIME message part of type
10828 .Ql multipart/alternative
10829 is displayed and it contains a subpart of type
10831 other parts are normally discarded.
10832 Setting this variable causes all subparts to be displayed,
10833 just as if the surrounding part was of type
10834 .Ql multipart/mixed .
10838 The string used as a prompt in interactive mode.
10839 Whenever the variable is evaluated the value is treated as if specified
10840 within dollar-single-quotes (see
10841 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" ) .
10842 This (post-assignment, i.e., second) expansion can be used to embed
10843 status information, for example
10848 .Va mailbox-display .
10850 In order to embed characters which should not be counted when
10851 calculating the visual width of the resulting string, enclose the
10852 characters of interest in a pair of reverse solidus escaped brackets:
10854 a slot for coloured prompts is also available with the \*(OPal command
10856 Prompting may be prevented by setting this to the null string
10858 .Ql set noprompt ) .
10862 This string is used for secondary prompts, but is otherwise identical to
10869 \*(BO Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked.
10875 message is started with the quoted original message,
10876 the lines of which are prefixed by the value of the variable
10878 taking into account
10882 If set to the empty value, the quoted message will be preceded and
10883 followed by the expansions of the values of
10884 .Va quote-inject-head
10886 .Va quote-inject-tail ,
10888 None of the headers of the quoted message is included in the quote if
10891 and only the headers selected by the
10894 selection are put above the message body for
10896 whereas all headers and all MIME parts are included for
10899 .Va quote-as-attachment
10903 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
10906 .It Va quote-as-attachment
10907 \*(BO Add the original message in its entirety as a
10909 MIME attachment when replying to a message.
10910 Note this works regardless of the setting of
10915 Can be set to a string consisting of non-whitespace ASCII characters
10916 which shall be treated as quotation leaders, the default being
10921 \*(OP Can be set in addition to
10923 and creates a more fancy quotation in that leading quotation characters
10924 .Pf ( Va quote-chars )
10925 are compressed and overlong lines are folded.
10927 can be set to either one, two or three (space separated) numeric values,
10928 which are interpreted as the maximum (goal) and the minimum line length,
10929 respectively, in a spirit rather equal to the
10931 program, but line- instead of paragraph-based.
10932 The third value is used as the maximum line length instead of the first
10933 if no better break point can be found; it is ignored unless it is larger
10934 than the minimum and smaller than the maximum.
10935 If not set explicitly the minimum will reflect the goal algorithmically.
10936 The goal cannot be smaller than the length of
10938 plus some additional pad; necessary adjustments take place silently.
10943 .It Va quote-inject-head , quote-inject-tail
10944 The strings to put before and after the text of a
10946 d message, respectively.
10947 The former defaults to
10948 .Ql %f wrote:\en\en .
10949 Special format directives will be expanded if possible, and if so
10950 configured the output will be folded according to
10952 Format specifiers in the given strings start with a percent sign
10954 and expand values of the original message, unless noted otherwise.
10955 Note that names and addresses are not subject to the setting of
10957 Valid format specifiers are:
10960 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql _%%_"
10962 A plain percent sign.
10964 The address(es) of the sender(s).
10966 The date found in the
10968 header of the message when
10970 is set (the default), otherwise the date when the message was received.
10971 Formatting can be controlled by assigning a
10976 .Va datefield-markout-older ) .
10978 The full name(s) (name and address, as given) of the sender(s).
10983 The real name(s) of the sender(s) if there is one and
10985 allows usage, the address(es) otherwise.
10987 The senders real name(s) if there is one, the address(es) otherwise.
10992 .It Va r-option-implicit
10993 \*(BO Setting this option evaluates the contents of
10995 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
10997 and passes the results onto the used (file-based) MTA as described for the
10999 option (empty argument case).
11002 .It Va recipients-in-cc
11009 are by default merged into the new
11011 If this variable is set, only the original
11015 the rest is merged into
11020 Unless this variable is defined, no copies of outgoing mail will be saved.
11021 If defined it gives the pathname, subject to the usual
11022 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
11023 of a folder where all new, replied-to or forwarded messages are saved:
11024 when saving to this folder fails the message is not sent, but instead
11028 The standard defines that relative (fully expanded) paths are to be
11029 interpreted relative to the current directory
11031 to force interpretation relative to
11034 needs to be set in addition.
11037 .It Va record-files
11038 \*(BO If this variable is set the meaning of
11040 will be extended to cover messages which target only file and pipe
11043 These address types will not appear in recipient lists unless
11044 .Va add-file-recipients
11048 .It Va record-resent
11049 \*(BO If this variable is set the meaning of
11051 will be extended to also cover the
11058 .It Va reply-in-same-charset
11059 \*(BO If this variable is set \*(UA first tries to use the same
11060 character set of the original message for replies.
11061 If this fails, the mechanism described in
11062 .Sx "Character sets"
11063 is evaluated as usual.
11066 .It Va reply-strings
11067 Can be set to a comma-separated list of (case-insensitive according to
11068 ASCII rules) strings which shall be recognized in addition to the
11069 built-in strings as
11071 reply message indicators \(en built-in are
11073 which is mandated by RFC 5322, as well as the german
11078 which often has been seen in the wild;
11079 I.e., the separating colon has to be specified explicitly.
11083 A list of addresses to put into the
11085 field of the message header.
11086 Members of this list are handled as if they were in the
11095 .It Va reply-to-honour
11098 header is honoured when replying to a message via
11102 This is a quadoption; if set without a value it defaults to
11106 .It Va rfc822-body-from_
11107 \*(BO This variable can be used to force displaying a so-called
11109 line for messages that are embedded into an envelope mail via the
11111 MIME mechanism, for more visual convenience.
11115 \*(BO Enable saving of (partial) messages in
11117 upon interrupt or delivery error.
11121 The number of lines that represents a
11130 line display and scrolling via
11132 If this variable is not set \*(UA falls back to a calculation based upon
11133 the detected terminal window size and the baud rate: the faster the
11134 terminal, the more will be shown.
11135 Overall screen dimensions and pager usage is influenced by the
11136 environment variables
11144 .It Va searchheaders
11145 \*(BO Expand message-list specifiers in the form
11147 to all messages containing the substring
11149 in the header field
11151 The string search is case insensitive.
11154 .It Va sendcharsets
11155 \*(OP A comma-separated list of character set names that can be used in
11156 outgoing internet mail.
11157 The value of the variable
11159 is automatically appended to this list of character sets.
11160 If no character set conversion capabilities are compiled into \*(UA then
11161 the only supported charset is
11164 .Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
11165 and refer to the section
11166 .Sx "Character sets"
11167 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
11170 .It Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
11171 \*(BO\*(OP If this variable is set, but
11173 is not, then \*(UA acts as if
11175 had been set to the value of the variable
11177 In effect this combination passes through the message data in the
11178 character set of the current locale encoding:
11179 therefore mail message text will be (assumed to be) in ISO-8859-1
11180 encoding when send from within a ISO-8859-1 locale, and in UTF-8
11181 encoding when send from within an UTF-8 locale.
11185 never comes into play as
11187 is implicitly assumed to be 8-bit and capable to represent all files the
11188 user may specify (as is the case when no character set conversion
11189 support is available in \*(UA and the only supported character set is
11191 .Sx "Character sets" ) .
11192 This might be a problem for scripts which use the suggested
11194 setting, since in this case the character set is US-ASCII by definition,
11195 so that it is better to also override
11201 An address that is put into the
11203 field of outgoing messages, quoting RFC 5322: the mailbox of the agent
11204 responsible for the actual transmission of the message.
11205 This field should normally not be used unless the
11207 field contains more than one address, on which case it is required.
11208 Dependent on the context this address is handled as if it were in
11213 .Va r-option-implicit .
11216 \*(OB Predecessor of
11219 .It Va sendmail-arguments
11220 \*(OB Predecessor of
11221 .Va mta-arguments .
11223 .It Va sendmail-no-default-arguments
11224 \*(OB\*(BO Predecessor of
11225 .Va mta-no-default-arguments .
11227 .It Va sendmail-progname
11228 \*(OB Predecessor of
11233 \*(BO When sending a message wait until the
11235 (including the built-in SMTP one) exits before accepting further commands.
11237 with this variable set errors reported by the MTA will be recognizable!
11238 If the MTA returns a non-zero exit status,
11239 the exit status of \*(UA will also be non-zero.
11243 \*(BO This setting causes \*(UA to start at the last message
11244 instead of the first one when opening a mail folder, as well as with
11251 \*(BO Causes \*(UA to use the sender's real name instead of the plain
11252 address in the header field summary and in message specifications.
11256 \*(BO Causes the recipient of the message to be shown in the header
11257 summary if the message was sent by the user.
11264 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
11266 .Va message-inject-tail ,
11267 .Va on-compose-leave
11269 .Va on-compose-splice .
11276 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
11278 .Va message-inject-tail ,
11279 .Va on-compose-leave
11281 .Va on-compose-splice .
11286 .Va on-compose-splice
11288 .Va on-compose-splice-shell
11290 .Va on-compose-leave
11292 .Va message-inject-tail
11296 .It Va skipemptybody
11297 \*(BO If an outgoing message does not contain any text in its first or
11298 only message part, do not send it but discard it silently (see also the
11299 command line option
11304 .It Va smime-ca-dir , smime-ca-file
11305 \*(OP Specify the location of trusted CA certificates in PEM (Privacy
11306 Enhanced Mail) for the purpose of verification of S/MIME signed messages.
11308 documents the necessary preparation steps to use the former.
11309 The set of CA certificates which are built into the TLS library can
11310 be explicitly turned off by setting
11311 .Va smime-ca-no-defaults ,
11312 and further fine-tuning is possible via
11313 .Va smime-ca-flags .
11316 .It Va smime-ca-flags
11317 \*(OP Can be used to fine-tune behaviour of the X509 CA certificate
11318 storage, and the certificate verification that is used.
11319 The actual values and their meanings are documented for
11323 .It Va smime-ca-no-defaults
11324 \*(BO\*(OP Do not load the default CA locations that are built into the
11325 used to TLS library to verify S/MIME signed messages.
11327 .Mx Va smime-cipher
11328 .It Va smime-cipher-USER@HOST , smime-cipher
11329 \*(OP Specifies the cipher to use when generating S/MIME encrypted
11330 messages (for the specified account).
11331 RFC 5751 mandates a default of
11334 Possible values are (case-insensitive and) in decreasing cipher strength:
11342 (DES EDE3 CBC, 168 bits; default if
11344 is not available) and
11346 (DES CBC, 56 bits).
11348 The actually available cipher algorithms depend on the cryptographic
11349 library that \*(UA uses.
11350 \*(OP Support for more cipher algorithms may be available through
11351 dynamic loading via, e.g.,
11352 .Xr EVP_get_cipherbyname 3
11353 (OpenSSL) if \*(UA has been compiled to support this.
11356 .It Va smime-crl-dir
11357 \*(OP Specifies a directory that contains files with CRLs in PEM format
11358 to use when verifying S/MIME messages.
11361 .It Va smime-crl-file
11362 \*(OP Specifies a file that contains a CRL in PEM format to use when
11363 verifying S/MIME messages.
11366 .It Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST
11367 \*(OP If this variable is set, messages send to the given receiver are
11368 encrypted before sending.
11369 The value of the variable must be set to the name of a file that
11370 contains a certificate in PEM format.
11372 If a message is sent to multiple recipients,
11373 each of them for whom a corresponding variable is set will receive an
11374 individually encrypted message;
11375 other recipients will continue to receive the message in plain text
11377 .Va smime-force-encryption
11379 It is recommended to sign encrypted messages, i.e., to also set the
11384 .It Va smime-force-encryption
11385 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to refuse sending unencrypted messages.
11389 \*(BO\*(OP S/MIME sign outgoing messages with the user's private key
11390 and include the user's certificate as a MIME attachment.
11391 Signing a message enables a recipient to verify that the sender used
11392 a valid certificate,
11393 that the email addresses in the certificate match those in the message
11394 header and that the message content has not been altered.
11395 It does not change the message text,
11396 and people will be able to read the message as usual.
11398 .Va smime-sign-cert , smime-sign-include-certs
11400 .Va smime-sign-digest .
11402 .Mx Va smime-sign-cert
11403 .It Va smime-sign-cert-USER@HOST , smime-sign-cert
11404 \*(OP Points to a file in PEM format.
11405 For the purpose of signing and decryption this file needs to contain the
11406 user's private key, followed by his certificate.
11408 For message signing
11410 is always derived from the value of
11412 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
11414 For the purpose of encryption the recipient's public encryption key
11415 (certificate) is expected; the command
11417 can be used to save certificates of signed messages (the section
11418 .Sx "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
11419 gives some details).
11420 This mode of operation is usually driven by the specialized form.
11422 When decrypting messages the account is derived from the recipient
11427 of the message, which are searched for addresses for which such
11429 \*(UA always uses the first address that matches,
11430 so if the same message is sent to more than one of the user's addresses
11431 using different encryption keys, decryption might fail.
11433 For signing and decryption purposes it is possible to use encrypted
11434 keys, and the pseudo-host(s)
11435 .Ql USER@HOST.smime-cert-key
11436 for the private key
11438 .Ql USER@HOST.smime-cert-cert
11439 for the certificate stored in the same file)
11440 will be used for performing any necessary password lookup,
11441 therefore the lookup can be automated via the mechanisms described in
11442 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
11443 For example, the hypothetical address
11445 could be driven with a private key / certificate pair path defined in
11446 .Va \&\&smime-sign-cert-bob@exam.ple ,
11447 and needed passwords would then be looked up via the pseudo hosts
11448 .Ql bob@exam.ple.smime-cert-key
11450 .Ql bob@exam.ple.smime-cert-cert ) .
11451 To include intermediate certificates, use
11452 .Va smime-sign-include-certs .
11454 .Mx Va smime-sign-digest
11455 .It Va smime-sign-digest-USER@HOST , smime-sign-digest
11456 \*(OP Specifies the message digestto use when signing S/MIME messages.
11457 Please remember that for this use case
11459 refers to the variable
11461 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
11463 The available algorithms depend on the used cryptographic library, but
11464 at least one usable builtin algorithm is ensured as a default.
11465 If possible the standard RFC 5751 will be violated by using
11467 instead of the mandated
11469 due to security concerns.
11471 \*(UA will try to add built-in support for the following message
11472 digests, names are case-insensitive:
11479 as well as the widely available
11484 and the proposed insecure
11488 More digests may \*(OPally be available through dynamic loading via,
11489 e.g., the OpenSSL function
11490 .Xr EVP_get_digestbyname 3 .
11492 .Mx Va smime-sign-include-certs
11493 .It Va smime-sign-include-certs-USER@HOST , smime-sign-include-certs
11494 \*(OP If used, this is supposed to a consist of a comma-separated list
11495 of files, each of which containing a single certificate in PEM format to
11496 be included in the S/MIME message in addition to the
11497 .Va smime-sign-cert
11499 This can be used to include intermediate certificates of the certificate
11500 authority, in order to allow the receiver's S/MIME implementation to
11501 perform a verification of the entire certificate chain, starting from
11502 a local root certificate, over the intermediate certificates, down to the
11503 .Va smime-sign-cert .
11504 Even though top level certificates may also be included in the chain,
11505 they won't be used for the verification on the receiver's side.
11507 For the purpose of the mechanisms involved here,
11509 refers to the content of the internal variable
11511 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
11514 .Ql USER@HOST.smime-include-certs
11515 will be used for performing password lookups for these certificates,
11516 shall they have been given one, therefore the lookup can be automated
11517 via the mechanisms described in
11518 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
11520 .It Va smime-sign-message-digest-USER@HOST , smime-sign-message-digest
11521 \*(OB\*(OP Predecessor(s) of
11522 .Va smime-sign-digest .
11525 \*(OB\*(OP To use the built-in SMTP transport, specify a SMTP URL in
11527 \*(ID For compatibility reasons a set
11529 is used in preference of
11533 .It Va smtp-auth-USER@HOST , smtp-auth-HOST , smtp-auth
11534 \*(OP Variable chain that controls the SMTP
11536 authentication method, possible values are
11542 as well as the \*(OPal methods
11548 method does not need any user credentials,
11550 requires a user name and all other methods require a user name and
11558 .Va smtp-auth-password
11560 .Va smtp-auth-user ) .
11565 .Va smtp-auth-USER@HOST :
11566 may override dependent on sender address in the variable
11569 .It Va smtp-auth-password
11570 \*(OP\*(OU Sets the global fallback password for SMTP authentication.
11571 If the authentication method requires a password, but neither
11572 .Va smtp-auth-password
11574 .Va smtp-auth-password-USER@HOST
11576 \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal.
11578 .It Va smtp-auth-password-USER@HOST
11580 .Va smtp-auth-password
11581 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
11584 .It Va smtp-auth-user
11585 \*(OP\*(OU Sets the global fallback user name for SMTP authentication.
11586 If the authentication method requires a user name, but neither
11589 .Va smtp-auth-user-USER@HOST
11591 \*(UA will ask for a user name on the user's terminal.
11593 .It Va smtp-auth-user-USER@HOST
11596 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
11600 .It Va smtp-hostname
11601 \*(OP\*(IN Normally \*(UA uses the variable
11603 to derive the necessary
11605 information in order to issue a
11612 can be used to use the
11614 from the SMTP account
11621 from the content of this variable (or, if that is the empty string,
11623 or the local hostname as a last resort).
11624 This often allows using an address that is itself valid but hosted by
11625 a provider other than which (in
11627 is about to send the message.
11628 Setting this variable also influences generated
11633 If the \*(OPal IDNA support is available (see
11635 variable assignment is aborted when a necessary conversion fails.
11637 .Mx Va smtp-use-starttls
11638 .It Va smtp-use-starttls-USER@HOST , smtp-use-starttls-HOST , smtp-use-starttls
11639 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a
11641 command to make an SMTP
11643 session TLS encrypted, i.e., to enable transport layer security.
11646 .It Va socks-proxy-USER@HOST , socks-proxy-HOST , socks-proxy
11647 \*(OP If this is set to the hostname (SOCKS URL) of a SOCKS5 server then
11648 \*(UA will proxy all of its network activities through it.
11649 This can be used to proxy SMTP, POP3 etc. network traffic through the
11650 Tor anonymizer, for example.
11651 The following would create a local SOCKS proxy on port 10000 that
11652 forwards to the machine
11654 and from which the network traffic is actually instantiated:
11655 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11656 # Create local proxy server in terminal 1 forwarding to HOST
11657 $ ssh -D 10000 USER@HOST
11658 # Then, start a client that uses it in terminal 2
11659 $ \*(uA -Ssocks-proxy-USER@HOST=localhost:10000
11663 .It Va spam-interface
11664 \*(OP In order to use any of the spam-related commands (like, e.g.,
11666 the desired spam interface must be defined by setting this variable.
11667 Please refer to the manual section
11668 .Sx "Handling spam"
11669 for the complete picture of spam handling in \*(UA.
11670 All or none of the following interfaces may be available:
11672 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ql _ilte_"
11678 .Pf ( Lk http://spamassassin.apache.org SpamAssassin )
11680 Different to the generic filter interface \*(UA will automatically add
11681 the correct arguments for a given command and has the necessary
11682 knowledge to parse the program's output.
11683 A default value for
11685 will have been compiled into the \*(UA binary if
11689 during compilation.
11690 Shall it be necessary to define a specific connection type (rather than
11691 using a configuration file for that), the variable
11692 .Va spamc-arguments
11693 can be used as in, e.g.,
11694 .Ql -d server.example.com -p 783 .
11695 It is also possible to specify a per-user configuration via
11697 Note that this interface does not inspect the
11699 flag of a message for the command
11703 generic spam filter support via freely configurable hooks.
11704 This interface is meant for programs like
11706 and requires according behaviour in respect to the hooks' exit
11707 status for at least the command
11710 meaning a message is spam,
11714 for unsure and any other return value indicating a hard error);
11715 since the hooks can include shell code snippets diverting behaviour
11716 can be intercepted as necessary.
11718 .Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , spamfilter-nospam , \
11721 .Va spamfilter-spam ;
11723 .Sx "Handling spam"
11724 contains examples for some programs.
11725 The process environment of the hooks will have the variable
11726 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_GENERATED
11728 Note that spam score support for
11730 is not supported unless the \*(OPtional regular expression support is
11732 .Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore
11738 .It Va spam-maxsize
11739 \*(OP Messages that exceed this size will not be passed through to the
11741 .Va spam-interface .
11742 If unset or 0, the default of 420000 bytes is used.
11745 .It Va spamc-command
11746 \*(OP The path to the
11750 .Va spam-interface .
11751 Note that the path is not expanded, but used
11753 A fallback path will have been compiled into the \*(UA binary if the
11754 executable had been found during compilation.
11757 .It Va spamc-arguments
11758 \*(OP Even though \*(UA deals with most arguments for the
11761 automatically, it may at least sometimes be desirable to specify
11762 connection-related ones via this variable, e.g.,
11763 .Ql -d server.example.com -p 783 .
11767 \*(OP Specify a username for per-user configuration files for the
11769 .Va spam-interface .
11770 If this is set to the empty string then \*(UA will use the name of the
11779 .It Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , \
11780 spamfilter-nospam , spamfilter-rate , spamfilter-spam
11781 \*(OP Command and argument hooks for the
11783 .Va spam-interface .
11785 .Sx "Handling spam"
11786 contains examples for some programs.
11789 .It Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore
11790 \*(OP Because of the generic nature of the
11793 spam scores are not supported for it by default, but if the \*(OPnal
11794 regular expression support is available then setting this variable can
11795 be used to overcome this restriction.
11796 It is interpreted as follows: first a number (digits) is parsed that
11797 must be followed by a semicolon
11799 and an extended regular expression.
11800 Then the latter is used to parse the first output line of the
11801 .Va spamfilter-rate
11802 hook, and, in case the evaluation is successful, the group that has been
11803 specified via the number is interpreted as a floating point scan score.
11805 .It Va ssl-ca-dir-USER@HOST , ssl-ca-dir-HOST , ssl-ca-dir ,\
11806 ssl-ca-file-USER@HOST , ssl-ca-file-HOST , ssl-ca-file
11807 \*(OB\*(OP Predecessors of
11811 .It Va ssl-ca-flags-USER@HOST , ssl-ca-flags-HOST , ssl-ca-flags
11812 \*(OB\*(OP Predecessor of
11815 .It Va ssl-ca-no-defaults-USER@HOST , ssl-ca-no-defaults-HOST ,\
11817 \*(OB\*(BO\*(OP Predecessor of
11818 .Va tls-ca-no-defaults .
11820 .It Va ssl-cert-USER@HOST , ssl-cert-HOST , ssl-cert
11821 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11824 .Va tls-config-pairs .
11826 .It Va ssl-cipher-list-USER@HOST , ssl-cipher-list-HOST , ssl-cipher-list
11827 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11830 .Va tls-config-pairs .
11832 .It Va ssl-config-file
11833 \*(OB\*(OP Predecessor of
11834 .Va tls-config-file .
11836 .It Va ssl-config-module-USER@HOST , ssl-config-module-HOST ,\
11838 \*(OB\*(OP Predecessor of
11839 .Va tls-config-module .
11841 .It Va ssl-config-pairs-USER@HOST , ssl-config-pairs-HOST , ssl-config-pairs
11842 \*(OB\*(OP Predecessor of
11843 .Va tls-config-pairs .
11845 .It Va ssl-crl-dir , ssl-crl-file
11846 \*(OB\*(OP Predecessors of
11850 .It Va ssl-curves-USER@HOST , ssl-curves-HOST , ssl-curves
11851 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11854 .Va tls-config-pairs .
11856 .It Va ssl-features
11857 \*(OB\*(OP\*(RO Predecessor of
11860 .It Va ssl-key-USER@HOST , ssl-key-HOST , ssl-key
11861 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11864 .Va tls-config-pairs .
11866 .It Va ssl-method-USER@HOST , ssl-method-HOST , ssl-method
11867 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11870 .Va tls-config-pairs .
11872 .It Va ssl-protocol-USER@HOST , ssl-protocol-HOST , ssl-protocol
11873 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11876 .Va tls-config-pairs .
11878 .It Va ssl-rand-file
11879 \*(OB\*(OP Predecessor of
11880 .Va tls-rand-file .
11882 .It Va ssl-verify-USER@HOST , ssl-verify-HOST , ssl-verify
11883 \*(OB\*(OP Predecessor of
11888 If only set without an assigned value, then this setting inhibits the
11894 header fields that include obvious references to \*(UA.
11895 There are two pitfalls associated with this:
11896 First, the message id of outgoing messages is not known anymore.
11897 Second, an expert may still use the remaining information in the header
11898 to track down the originating mail user agent.
11899 If set to the value
11905 suppression does not occur.
11908 .It Va system-mailrc
11909 \*(RO The compiled in path of the system wide initialization file
11911 .Sx "Resource files" :
11917 (\*(OP) This specifies a comma-separated list of
11922 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" ,
11923 escape commas with reverse solidus) to be used to overwrite or define
11926 this variable will only be queried once at program startup and can
11927 thus only be specified in resource files or on the command line.
11930 String capabilities form
11932 pairs and are expected unless noted otherwise.
11933 Numerics have to be notated as
11935 where the number is expected in normal decimal notation.
11936 Finally, booleans do not have any value but indicate a true or false
11937 state simply by being defined or not; this indeed means that \*(UA
11938 does not support undefining an existing boolean.
11939 String capability values will undergo some expansions before use:
11940 for one notations like
11943 .Ql control-LETTER ,
11944 and for clarification purposes
11946 can be used to specify
11948 (the control notation
11950 could lead to misreadings when a left bracket follows, which it does for
11951 the standard CSI sequence);
11952 finally three letter octal sequences, as in
11955 To specify that a terminal supports 256-colours, and to define sequences
11956 that home the cursor and produce an audible bell, one might write:
11958 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11959 ? set termcap='Co#256,home=\eE[H,bel=^G'
11963 The following terminal capabilities are or may be meaningful for the
11964 operation of the built-in line editor or \*(UA in general:
11967 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Cd yay"
11969 .It Cd colors Ns \0or Cd Co
11971 numeric capability specifying the maximum number of colours.
11972 Note that \*(UA does not actually care about the terminal beside that,
11973 but always emits ANSI / ISO 6429 escape sequences.
11976 .It Cd rmcup Ns \0or Cd te Ns \0/ Cd smcup Ns \0or Cd ti
11979 .Cd enter_ca_mode ,
11980 respectively: exit and enter the alternative screen ca-mode,
11981 effectively turning \*(UA into a fullscreen application.
11982 This must be enabled explicitly by setting
11983 .Va termcap-ca-mode .
11985 .It Cd smkx Ns \0or Cd ks Ns \0/ Cd rmkx Ns \0or Cd ke
11989 respectively: enable and disable the keypad.
11990 This is always enabled if available, because it seems even keyboards
11991 without keypads generate other key codes for, e.g., cursor keys in that
11992 case, and only if enabled we see the codes that we are interested in.
11994 .It Cd ed Ns \0or Cd cd
11998 .It Cd clear Ns \0or Cd cl
12000 clear the screen and home cursor.
12001 (Will be simulated via
12006 .It Cd home Ns \0or Cd ho
12011 .It Cd el Ns \0or Cd ce
12013 clear to the end of line.
12014 (Will be simulated via
12016 plus repetitions of space characters.)
12018 .It Cd hpa Ns \0or Cd ch
12019 .Cd column_address :
12020 move the cursor (to the given column parameter) in the current row.
12021 (Will be simulated via
12027 .Cd carriage_return :
12028 move to the first column in the current row.
12029 The default built-in fallback is
12032 .It Cd cub1 Ns \0or Cd le
12034 move the cursor left one space (non-destructively).
12035 The default built-in fallback is
12038 .It Cd cuf1 Ns \0or Cd nd
12040 move the cursor right one space (non-destructively).
12041 The default built-in fallback is
12043 which is used by most terminals.
12051 Many more capabilities which describe key-sequences are documented for
12056 .It Va termcap-ca-mode
12057 \*(OP Allow usage of the
12061 terminal capabilities, see
12064 this variable will only be queried once at program startup and can
12065 thus only be specified in resource files or on the command line.
12068 .It Va termcap-disable
12069 \*(OP Disable any interaction with a terminal control library.
12070 If set only some generic fallback built-ins and possibly the content of
12072 describe the terminal to \*(UA.
12074 this variable will only be queried once at program startup and can
12075 thus only be specified in resource files or on the command line.
12079 .It Va tls-ca-dir-USER@HOST , tls-ca-dir-HOST , tls-ca-dir ,\
12080 tls-ca-file-USER@HOST , tls-ca-file-HOST , tls-ca-file
12081 \*(OP Directory and file, respectively, for pools of trusted CA
12082 certificates in PEM (Privacy Enhanced Mail) format, for the purpose of
12083 verification of TLS server certificates.
12084 Concurrent use is possible, the file is loaded once needed first, the
12085 directory lookup is performed anew as a last resort whenever necessary.
12086 The CA certificate pool built into the TLS library can be disabled via
12087 .Va tls-ca-no-defaults ,
12088 further fine-tuning is possible via
12090 Note the directory search variant requires the certificate files to
12091 adhere special filename conventions, please see
12092 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
12099 .Mx Va tls-ca-flags
12100 .It Va tls-ca-flags-USER@HOST , tls-ca-flags-HOST , tls-ca-flags
12101 \*(OP Can be used to fine-tune behaviour of the X509 CA certificate
12102 storage, and the certificate verification that is used (also see
12104 The value is expected to consist of a comma-separated list of
12105 configuration directives, with any intervening whitespace being ignored.
12106 The directives directly map to flags that can be passed to
12107 .Xr X509_STORE_set_flags 3 ,
12108 which are usually defined in a file
12109 .Pa openssl/x509_vfy.h ,
12110 and the availability of which depends on the used TLS library
12111 version: a directive without mapping is ignored (error log subject to
12113 Directives currently understood (case-insensitively) include:
12116 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Cd BaNg"
12117 .It Cd no-alt-chains
12118 If the initial chain is not trusted, do not attempt to build an
12120 Setting this flag will make OpenSSL certificate verification match that
12121 of older OpenSSL versions, before automatic building and checking of
12122 alternative chains has been implemented; also see
12123 .Cd trusted-first .
12124 .It Cd no-check-time
12125 Do not check certificate/CRL validity against current time.
12126 .It Cd partial-chain
12127 By default partial, incomplete chains which cannot be verified up to the
12128 chain top, a self-signed root certificate, will not verify.
12129 With this flag set, a chain succeeds to verify if at least one signing
12130 certificate of the chain is in any of the configured trusted stores of
12132 The OpenSSL manual page
12133 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
12134 gives some advise how to manage your own trusted store of CA certificates.
12136 Disable workarounds for broken certificates.
12137 .It Cd trusted-first
12138 Try building a chain using issuers in the trusted store first to avoid
12139 problems with server-sent legacy intermediate certificates.
12140 Newer versions of OpenSSL support alternative chain checking and enable
12141 it by default, resulting in the same behaviour; also see
12142 .Cd no-alt-chains .
12146 .Mx Va tls-ca-no-defaults
12147 .It Va tls-ca-no-defaults-USER@HOST , tls-ca-no-defaults-HOST ,\
12149 \*(BO\*(OP Do not load the default CA locations that are built into the
12150 used to TLS library to verify TLS server certificates.
12153 .It Va tls-config-file
12154 \*(OP If this variable is set
12155 .Xr CONF_modules_load_file 3
12157 .Ql +modules-load-file
12160 is used to allow resource file based configuration of the TLS library.
12161 This happens once the library is used first, which may also be early
12162 during startup (logged with
12164 If a non-empty value is given then the given file, after performing
12165 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
12166 will be used instead of the TLS libraries global default, and it is an
12167 error if the file cannot be loaded.
12168 The application name will always be passed as
12170 Some TLS libraries support application-specific configuration via
12171 resource files loaded like this, please see
12172 .Va tls-config-module .
12174 .Mx Va tls-config-module
12175 .It Va tls-config-module-USER@HOST , tls-config-module-HOST ,\
12177 \*(OP If file based application-specific configuration via
12178 .Va tls-config-file
12179 is available, announced as
12183 indicating availability of
12184 .Xr SSL_CTX_config 3 ,
12185 then, it becomes possible to use a central TLS configuration file
12186 for all programs, including \*(uA, e.g.:
12187 .Bd -literal -offset indent
12188 # Register a configuration section for \*(uA
12189 \*(uA = mailx_master
12190 # The top configuration section creates a relation
12191 # in between dynamic SSL configuration and an actual
12192 # program specific configuration section
12194 ssl_conf = mailx_tls_config
12195 # Well that actual program specific configuration section
12196 # now can map individual tls-config-module names to sections,
12197 # e.g., tls-config-module=account_xy
12199 account_xy = mailx_account_xy
12200 account_yz = mailx_account_yz
12202 MinProtocol = TLSv1.2
12205 CipherString = TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:
12206 MinProtocol = TLSv1.1
12211 .Mx Va tls-config-pairs
12212 .It Va tls-config-pairs-USER@HOST , tls-config-pairs-HOST , tls-config-pairs
12213 \*(OP The value of this variable chain will be interpreted as
12214 a comma-separated list of directive/value pairs.
12215 Directives and values need to be separated by equals signs
12217 any whitespace surrounding pair members is removed.
12218 Keys are (usually) case-insensitive.
12219 Different to when placing these pairs in a
12220 .Va tls-config-module
12222 .Va tls-config-file ,
12225 need to be escaped with a reverse solidus
12227 when included in pairs; also different: if the equals sign
12229 is preceded with an asterisk
12231 .Sx "Filename transformations"
12232 will be performed on the value; it is an error if these fail.
12233 Unless proper support is announced by
12235 .Pf ( Ql +conf-ctx )
12236 only the keys below are supported, otherwise the pairs will be used
12237 directly as arguments to the function
12238 .Xr SSL_CONF_cmd 3 .
12241 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Cd C_rtificate_"
12243 Filename of a TLS client certificate (chain) required by some servers.
12244 Fallback support via
12245 .Xr SSL_CTX_use_certificate_chain_file 3 .
12246 .Sx "Filename transformations"
12248 .\" v15compat: remove the next sentence
12250 if you use this you need to specify the private key via
12255 .It Cd CipherString
12256 A list of ciphers for TLS connections, see
12258 By default no list of ciphers is set, resulting in a
12259 .Cd Protocol Ns - Ns
12260 specific list of ciphers (the protocol standards define lists of
12261 acceptable ciphers; possibly cramped by the used TLS library).
12262 Fallback support via
12263 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_cipher_list 3 .
12265 .It Cd Ciphersuites
12266 A list of ciphers used for TLSv1.3 connections, see
12268 These will be joined onto the list of ciphers from
12273 .Ql +ctx-set-ciphersuites ,
12275 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_ciphersuites 3 .
12278 A list of supported elliptic curves, if applicable.
12279 By default no curves are set.
12280 Fallback support via
12281 .Xr SSL_CTX_set1_curves_list 3 ,
12284 .It Cd MaxProtocol , MinProtocol
12285 The maximum and minimum supported TLS versions, respectively.
12289 .Ql +ctx-set-maxmin-proto ,
12291 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_max_proto_version 3
12293 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_min_proto_version 3 ;
12294 these fallbacks use an internal parser which understands the strings
12300 and the special value
12302 which disables the given limit.
12305 Various flags to set.
12307 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_options 3 ,
12308 in which case any other value but (exactly)
12310 results in an error.
12313 Filename of the private key in PEM format of a TLS client certificate.
12314 If unset, the name of the certificate file is used.
12315 .Sx "Filename transformations"
12318 .Xr SSL_CTX_use_PrivateKey_file 3 .
12319 .\" v15compat: remove the next sentence
12321 if you use this you need to specify the certificate (chain) via
12327 The used TLS protocol.
12333 .Ql ctx-set-maxmin-proto
12340 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_options 3 ,
12341 driven via an internal parser which understands the strings
12347 and the special value
12349 Multiple protocols may be given as a comma-separated list, any
12350 whitespace is ignored, an optional plus sign
12352 prefix enables, a hyphen-minus
12354 prefix disables a protocol, so that
12356 enables only the TLSv1.2 protocol.
12362 .It Va tls-crl-dir , tls-crl-file
12363 \*(OP Specify a directory / a file, respectively, that contains a CRL in
12364 PEM format to use when verifying TLS server certificates.
12367 .It Va tls-features
12368 \*(OP\*(RO This expands to a comma separated list of the TLS library
12369 identity and optional SSL library features.
12370 Currently supported identities are
12374 (OpenSSL v1.1.x series)
12377 (elder OpenSSL series, other clones).
12378 Optional features are preceded with a plus sign
12380 when available, and with a hyphen-minus
12384 Currently known features are
12385 .Ql modules-load-file
12386 .Pf ( Va tls-config-file ) ,
12388 .Pf ( Va tls-config-pairs ) ,
12390 .Pf ( Va tls-config-module ) ,
12391 .Ql ctx-set-maxmin-proto
12392 .Pf ( Va tls-config-pairs ) ,
12393 .Ql ctx-set-ciphersuites
12397 .Va tls-config-pairs ) .
12399 .Mx Va tls-fingerprint
12400 .It Va tls-fingerprint-USER@HOST , tls-fingerprint-HOST , tls-fingerprint
12401 \*(OP It is possible to replace the verification of the connection
12402 peer certificate against the entire local pool of CAs (for more see
12403 .Sx "Encrypted network communication" )
12404 with the comparison against a precalculated certificate message digest,
12405 the so-called fingerprint, to be specified as the used
12406 .Va tls-fingerprint-digest .
12407 This fingerprint can be calculated with, e.g.,
12408 .Ql Ic tls Ns \:\0\:fingerprint HOST .
12410 .Mx Va tls-fingerprint-digest
12411 .It Va tls-fingerprint-digest-USER@HOST , tls-fingerprint-digest-HOST , \
12412 tls-fingerprint-digest
12413 \*(OP The message digest to be used when creating TLS certificate
12414 fingerprints, the defaults, if available, in test order, being
12417 For the complete list of digest algorithms refer to
12418 .Va smime-sign-digest .
12421 .It Va tls-rand-file
12422 \*(OP Gives the filename to a file with random entropy data, see
12423 .Xr RAND_load_file 3 .
12424 If this variable is not set, or set to the empty string, or if the
12425 .Sx "Filename transformations"
12427 .Xr RAND_file_name 3
12428 will be used to create the filename.
12429 If the SSL PRNG was seeded successfully
12430 The file will be updated
12431 .Pf ( Xr RAND_write_file 3 )
12432 if and only if seeding and buffer stirring succeeds.
12435 .It Va tls-verify-USER@HOST , tls-verify-HOST , tls-verify
12436 \*(OP Variable chain that sets the action to be performed if an error
12437 occurs during TLS server certificate validation against the
12438 specified or default trust stores
12441 or the TLS library built-in defaults (unless usage disallowed via
12442 .Va tls-ca-no-defaults ) ,
12443 and as fine-tuned via
12445 Valid (case-insensitive) values are
12447 (fail and close connection immediately),
12449 (ask whether to continue on standard input),
12451 (show a warning and continue),
12453 (do not perform validation).
12458 If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be displayed
12461 if unset, the first five lines are printed, if set to 0 the variable
12464 If the value is negative then its absolute value will be used for
12465 unsigned right shifting (see
12473 \*(BO If set then the
12475 command series will strip adjacent empty lines and quotations.
12479 The character set of the terminal \*(UA operates on,
12480 and the one and only supported character set that \*(UA can use if no
12481 character set conversion capabilities have been compiled into it,
12482 in which case it defaults to ISO-8859-1.
12483 Otherwise it defaults to UTF-8.
12484 Sufficient locale support provided the default will be preferably
12485 deduced from the locale environment if that is set (e.g.,
12487 see there for more); runtime locale changes will be reflected by
12489 except during the program startup phase and if
12491 had been used to freeze the given value.
12492 Refer to the section
12493 .Sx "Character sets"
12494 for the complete picture about character sets.
12497 .It Va typescript-mode
12498 \*(BO A special multiplex variable that disables all variables and
12499 settings which result in behaviour that interferes with running \*(UA in
12502 .Va colour-disable ,
12503 .Va line-editor-disable
12504 and (before startup completed only)
12505 .Va termcap-disable .
12506 Unsetting it does not restore the former state of the covered settings.
12510 For a safe-by-default policy the process file mode creation mask
12514 on program startup by default.
12515 Child processes inherit the file mode creation mask of their parent, and
12516 by setting this variable to an empty value no change will be applied,
12517 and the inherited value will be used.
12518 Otherwise the given value will be made the new file mode creation mask.
12521 .It Va user-HOST , user
12522 \*(IN Variable chain that sets a global fallback user name, which is
12523 used in case none has been given in the protocol and account-specific
12525 This variable defaults to the name of the user who runs \*(UA.
12529 \*(BO Setting this enables upward compatibility with \*(UA
12530 version 15.0 in respect to which configuration options are available and
12531 how they are handled.
12532 This manual uses \*(IN and \*(OU to refer to the new and the old way of
12533 doing things, respectively.
12537 \*(BO This setting, also controllable via the command line option
12539 causes \*(UA to be more verbose, e.g., it will display obsoletion
12540 warnings and TLS certificate chains.
12541 Even though marked \*(BO this option may be set twice in order to
12542 increase the level of verbosity even more, in which case even details of
12543 the actual message delivery and protocol conversations are shown.
12546 is sufficient to disable verbosity as such.
12553 .It Va version , version-date , \
12554 version-hexnum , version-major , version-minor , version-update
12555 \*(RO \*(UA version information: the first variable is a string with
12556 the complete version identification, the second the release date in ISO
12557 8601 notation without time.
12558 The third is a 32-bit hexadecimal number with the upper 8 bits storing
12559 the major, followed by the minor and update version numbers which occupy
12561 The latter three variables contain only decimal digits: the major, minor
12562 and update version numbers.
12563 The output of the command
12565 will include this information.
12568 .It Va writebackedited
12569 If this variable is set messages modified using the
12573 commands are written back to the current folder when it is quit;
12574 it is only honoured for writable folders in MBOX format, though.
12575 Note that the editor will be pointed to the raw message content in that
12576 case, i.e., neither MIME decoding nor decryption will have been
12577 performed, and proper RFC 4155
12579 quoting of newly added or edited content is also left as an exercise to
12582 .\" }}} (Variables)
12584 .\" }}} (INTERNAL VARIABLES)
12587 .\" .Sh ENVIRONMENT {{{
12591 .Dq environment variable
12592 should be considered an indication that these variables are either
12593 standardized as vivid parts of process environments, or that they are
12594 commonly found in there.
12595 The process environment is inherited from the
12597 once \*(UA is started, and unless otherwise explicitly noted handling of
12598 the following variables transparently integrates into that of the
12599 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
12600 from \*(UA's point of view.
12601 This means that, e.g., they can be managed via
12605 causing automatic program environment updates (to be inherited by
12606 newly created child processes).
12609 In order to transparently integrate other environment variables equally
12610 they need to be imported (linked) with the command
12612 This command can also be used to set and unset non-integrated
12613 environment variables from scratch, sufficient system support provided.
12614 The following example, applicable to a POSIX shell, sets the
12616 environment variable for \*(UA only, and beforehand exports the
12618 in order to affect any further processing in the running shell:
12620 .Bd -literal -offset indent
12621 $ EDITOR="vim -u ${HOME}/.vimrc"
12623 $ COLUMNS=80 \*(uA -R
12626 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ev BaNg"
12629 The user's preferred width in column positions for the terminal screen
12631 Queried and used once on program startup, actively managed for child
12632 processes and the MLE (see
12633 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
12634 in interactive mode thereafter.
12635 Ignored in non-interactive mode, which always uses 80 columns, unless in
12641 The name of the (mailbox)
12643 to use for saving aborted messages if
12645 is set; this defaults to
12649 is set no output will be generated, otherwise the contents of the file
12654 Pathname of the text editor to use for the
12658 .Pf (see\0 Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ) ;
12660 is used for a more display oriented editor.
12664 The user's home directory.
12665 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
12666 The calling user's home directory will be used instead if this directory
12667 does not exist, is not accessible or cannot be read;
12668 it will always be used for the root user.
12669 (No test for being writable is performed to allow usage by
12670 non-privileged users within read-only jails, but dependent on the
12671 variable settings this directory is a default write target, e.g. for
12679 .It Ev LC_ALL , LC_CTYPE , LANG
12680 \*(OP The (names in lookup order of the)
12684 which indicates the used
12685 .Sx "Character sets" .
12686 Runtime changes trigger automatic updates of the entire locale system,
12687 which includes updating
12689 (except during startup if the variable has been frozen via
12694 The user's preferred number of lines on a page or the vertical screen
12695 or window size in lines.
12696 Queried and used once on program startup, actively managed for child
12697 processes in interactive mode thereafter.
12698 Ignored in non-interactive mode, which always uses 24 lines, unless in
12704 Pathname of the directory lister to use in the
12706 command when operating on local mailboxes.
12709 (path search through
12714 Upon startup \*(UA will actively ensure that this variable refers to the
12715 name of the user who runs \*(UA, in order to be able to pass a verified
12716 name to any newly created child process.
12720 Is used as the user's
12722 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
12726 This is assumed to be an absolute pathname.
12730 \*(OP Overrides the default path search for
12731 .Sx "The Mailcap files" ,
12732 which is defined in the standard RFC 1524 as
12733 .Ql ~/.mailcap:\:/etc/mailcap:\:/usr/etc/mailcap:\:/usr/local/etc/mailcap .
12734 .\" TODO we should have a mailcaps-default virtual RDONLY option!
12735 (\*(UA makes it a configuration option, however.)
12736 Note this is not a search path, but a path search.
12740 Is used as a startup file instead of
12743 In order to avoid side-effects from configuration files scripts should
12744 either set this variable to
12748 command line option should be used.
12751 .It Ev MAILX_NO_SYSTEM_RC
12752 If this variable is set then reading of
12755 .Va system-mailrc )
12756 at startup is inhibited, i.e., the same effect is achieved as if \*(UA
12757 had been started up with the option
12759 (and according argument) or
12761 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
12765 The name of the user's
12767 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
12769 A logical subset of the special
12770 .Sx "Filename transformations"
12776 Traditionally this MBOX is used as the file to save messages from the
12778 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
12779 that have been read.
12781 .Sx "Message states" .
12785 \*(IN\*(OP This variable overrides the default location of the user's
12791 Pathname of the program to use for backing the command
12795 variable enforces usage of a pager for output.
12796 The default paginator is
12798 (path search through
12801 \*(UA inspects the contents of this variable: if its contains the string
12803 then a non-existing environment variable
12810 will optionally be set to
12817 A colon-separated list of directories that is searched by the shell when
12818 looking for commands, e.g.,
12819 .Ql /bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin .
12822 .It Ev POSIXLY_CORRECT
12823 This variable is automatically looked for upon startup, see
12829 The shell to use for the commands
12834 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
12835 and when starting subprocesses.
12836 A default shell is used if this environment variable is not defined.
12839 .It Ev SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
12840 Specifies a time in seconds since the Unix epoch (1970-01-01) to be
12841 used in place of the current time.
12842 This variable is looked up upon program startup, and its existence will
12843 switch \*(UA to a reproducible mode
12844 .Pf ( Lk https://reproducible-builds.org )
12845 which uses deterministic random numbers, a special fixated pseudo
12848 This operation mode is used for development and by software packagers.
12849 \*(ID Currently an invalid setting is only ignored, rather than causing
12850 a program abortion.
12852 .Dl $ SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=`date +%s` \*(uA
12856 \*(OP The terminal type for which output is to be prepared.
12857 For extended colour and font control please refer to
12858 .Sx "Coloured display" ,
12859 and for terminal management in general to
12860 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" .
12864 Except for the root user this variable defines the directory for
12865 temporary files to be used instead of
12867 (or the given compile-time constant) if set, existent, accessible as
12868 well as read- and writable.
12869 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment,
12870 but \*(UA will ensure at startup that this environment variable is
12871 updated to contain a usable temporary directory.
12877 (see there), but this variable is not standardized, should therefore not
12878 be used, and is only corrected if already set.
12882 Pathname of the text editor to use for the
12886 .Pf (see\0 Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ) ;
12888 is used for a less display oriented editor.
12898 .Bl -tag -width ".It Pa BaNg"
12900 User-specific file giving initial commands, one of the
12901 .Sx "Resource files" .
12902 The actual value is read from
12906 System wide initialization file, one of the
12907 .Sx "Resource files" .
12908 The actual value is read from
12909 .Va system-mailrc .
12913 \*(OP Personal MIME type handler definition file, see
12914 .Sx "The Mailcap files" .
12915 This location is part of the RFC 1524 standard search path, which is
12916 a configuration option and can be overridden via
12920 .It Pa /etc/mailcap
12921 \*(OP System wide MIME type handler definition file, see
12922 .Sx "The Mailcap files" .
12923 This location is part of the RFC 1524 standard search path, which is
12924 a configuration option and can be overridden via
12928 The default value for
12933 Personal MIME types, see
12934 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
12938 System wide MIME types, see
12939 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
12943 \*(IN\*(OP The default location of the user's
12945 file \(en the section
12946 .Sx "The .netrc file"
12947 documents the file format.
12948 The actually used path can be overridden via
12958 .\" .Ss "Resource files" {{{
12959 .Ss "Resource files"
12961 Upon startup \*(UA reads in several resource files, in order:
12963 .Bl -tag -width ".It Pa BaNg"
12966 System wide initialization file
12967 .Pf ( Va system-mailrc ) .
12968 Reading of this file can be suppressed, either by using the
12970 (and according argument) or
12972 command line options, or by setting the
12975 .Ev MAILX_NO_SYSTEM_RC .
12979 File giving initial commands.
12980 A different file can be chosen by setting the
12984 Reading of this file can be suppressed with the
12986 command line option.
12988 .It Va mailx-extra-rc
12989 Defines a startup file to be read after all other resource files.
12990 It can be used to specify settings that are not understood by other
12992 implementations, for example.
12993 This variable is only honoured when defined in a resource file, e.g.,
12995 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" .
12999 The content of these files is interpreted as follows:
13002 .Bl -bullet -compact
13004 The whitespace characters space, tabulator and newline,
13005 as well as those defined by the variable
13007 are removed from the beginning and end of input lines.
13009 Empty lines are ignored.
13011 Any other line is interpreted as a command.
13012 It may be spread over multiple input lines if the newline character is
13014 by placing a reverse solidus character
13016 as the last character of the line; whereas any leading whitespace of
13017 follow lines is ignored, trailing whitespace before a escaped newline
13018 remains in the input.
13020 If the line (content) starts with the number sign
13022 then it is a comment-command and also ignored.
13023 (The comment-command is a real command, which does nothing, and
13024 therefore the usual follow lines mechanism applies!)
13028 Unless \*(UA is about to enter interactive mode syntax errors that occur
13029 while loading these files are treated as errors and cause program exit.
13030 More files with syntactically equal content can be
13032 The following, saved in a file, would be an examplary content:
13034 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13035 # This line is a comment command. And y\e
13036 es, it is really continued here.
13043 .\" .Ss "The mime.types files" {{{
13044 .Ss "The mime.types files"
13047 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments"
13048 \*(UA needs to learn about MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions)
13049 media types in order to classify message and attachment content.
13050 One source for them are
13052 files, the loading of which can be controlled by setting the variable
13053 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
13054 Another is the command
13056 which also offers access to \*(UAs MIME type cache.
13058 files have the following syntax:
13060 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13061 type/subtype extension [extension ...]
13062 # E.g., text/html html htm
13068 define the MIME media type, as standardized in RFC 2046:
13070 is used to declare the general type of data, while the
13072 specifies a specific format for that type of data.
13073 One or multiple filename
13075 s, separated by whitespace, can be bound to the media type format.
13076 Comments may be introduced anywhere on a line with a number sign
13078 causing the remaining line to be discarded.
13080 \*(UA also supports an extended, non-portable syntax in especially
13081 crafted files, which can be loaded via the alternative value syntax of
13082 .Va mimetypes-load-control ,
13083 and prepends an optional
13087 .Dl [type-marker ]type/subtype extension [extension ...]
13090 The following type markers are supported:
13093 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar _n_u"
13095 Treat message parts with this content as plain text.
13100 Treat message parts with this content as HTML tagsoup.
13101 If the \*(OPal HTML-tagsoup-to-text converter is not available treat
13102 the content as plain text instead.
13106 but instead of falling back to plain text require an explicit content
13107 handler to be defined.
13109 If no handler can be found a text message is displayed which says so.
13110 This can be annoying, for example signatures serve a contextual purpose,
13111 their content is of no use by itself.
13112 This marker will avoid displaying the text message.
13117 for sending messages:
13119 .Va mime-allow-text-controls ,
13120 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
13121 For reading etc. messages:
13122 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ,
13123 .Sx "The Mailcap files" ,
13125 .Va mime-counter-evidence ,
13126 .Va mimetypes-load-control ,
13127 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE ,
13128 .Va pipe-EXTENSION .
13131 .\" .Ss "The Mailcap files" {{{
13132 .Ss "The Mailcap files"
13134 .\" TODO MAILCAP DISABLED
13135 .Sy This feature is not available in v14.9.0, sorry!
13137 .Dq User Agent Configuration Mechanism
13138 which \*(UA \*(OPally supports (see
13139 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ) .
13140 It defines a file format to be used to inform mail user agent programs
13141 about the locally-installed facilities for handling various data
13142 formats, i.e., about commands and how they can be used to display, edit
13143 et cetera MIME part contents, as well as a default path search that
13144 includes multiple possible locations of
13148 environment variable that can be used to overwrite that (repeating here
13149 that it is not a search path, but instead a path search specification).
13150 Any existing files will be loaded in sequence, appending any content to
13151 the list of MIME type handler directives.
13155 files consist of a set of newline separated entries.
13156 Comment lines start with a number sign
13158 (in the first column!) and are ignored.
13159 Empty lines are also ignored.
13160 All other lines form individual entries that must adhere to the syntax
13162 To extend a single entry (not comment) its line can be continued on
13163 follow lines if newline characters are
13165 by preceding them with the reverse solidus character
13167 The standard does not specify how leading whitespace of follow lines
13168 is to be treated, therefore \*(UA retains it.
13172 entries consist of a number of semicolon
13174 separated fields, and the reverse solidus
13176 character can be used to escape any following character including
13177 semicolon and itself.
13178 The first two fields are mandatory and must occur in the specified
13179 order, the remaining fields are optional and may appear in any order.
13180 Leading and trailing whitespace of content is ignored (removed).
13183 The first field defines the MIME
13185 the entry is about to handle (case-insensitively, and no reverse solidus
13186 escaping is possible in this field).
13187 If the subtype is specified as an asterisk
13189 the entry is meant to match all subtypes of the named type, e.g.,
13191 would match any audio type.
13192 The second field defines the shell command which shall be used to
13194 MIME parts of the given type; it is implicitly called the
13201 shell commands message (MIME part) data is passed via standard input
13202 unless the given shell command includes one or more instances of the
13205 in which case these instances will be replaced with a temporary filename
13206 and the data will have been stored in the file that is being pointed to.
13209 shell commands data is assumed to be generated on standard output unless
13210 the given command includes (one ore multiple)
13212 In any case any given
13214 format is replaced with a(n already) properly quoted filename.
13215 Note that when a command makes use of a temporary file via
13217 then \*(UA will remove it again, as if the
13218 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile ,
13219 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill
13221 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
13222 flags had been set; see below for more.
13225 The optional fields either define a shell command or an attribute (flag)
13226 value, the latter being a single word and the former being a keyword
13227 naming the field followed by an equals sign
13229 succeeded by a shell command, and as usual for any
13231 content any whitespace surrounding the equals sign will be removed, too.
13232 Optional fields include the following:
13235 .Bl -tag -width ".It Cd BaNg"
13237 A program that can be used to compose a new body or body part in the
13239 (Currently unused.)
13241 .It Cd composetyped
13244 field, but is to be used when the composing program needs to specify the
13246 header field to be applied to the composed data.
13247 (Currently unused.)
13250 A program that can be used to edit a body or body part in the given
13252 (Currently unused.)
13255 A program that can be used to print a message or body part in the given
13257 (Currently unused.)
13260 Specifies a program to be run to test some condition, e.g., the machine
13261 architecture, or the window system in use, to determine whether or not
13262 this mailcap entry applies.
13263 If the test fails, a subsequent mailcap entry should be sought; also see
13264 .Cd x-mailx-test-once .
13267 .It Cd needsterminal
13268 This flag field indicates that the given shell command must be run on
13269 an interactive terminal.
13270 \*(UA will temporarily release the terminal to the given command in
13271 interactive mode, in non-interactive mode this entry will be entirely
13272 ignored; this flag implies
13273 .Cd x-mailx-noquote .
13276 .It Cd copiousoutput
13277 A flag field which indicates that the output of the
13279 command will be an extended stream of textual output that can be
13280 (re)integrated into \*(UA's normal visual display.
13281 It is mutually exclusive with
13282 .Cd needsterminal .
13284 .It Cd textualnewlines
13285 A flag field which indicates that this type of data is line-oriented and
13286 that, if encoded in
13288 all newlines should be converted to canonical form (CRLF) before
13289 encoding, and will be in that form after decoding.
13290 (Currently unused.)
13292 .It Cd nametemplate
13293 This field gives a filename format, in which
13295 will be replaced by a random string, the joined combination of which
13296 will be used as the filename denoted by
13297 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY .
13298 One could specify that a GIF file being passed to an image viewer should
13299 have a name ending in
13302 .Ql nametemplate=%s.gif .
13303 Note that \*(UA ignores the name template unless that solely specifies
13304 a filename suffix that consists of (ASCII) alphabetic and numeric
13305 characters, the underscore and dot only.
13308 Names a file, in X11 bitmap (xbm) format, which points to an appropriate
13309 icon to be used to visually denote the presence of this kind of data.
13310 This field is not used by \*(UA.
13313 A textual description that describes this type of data.
13316 .It Cd x-mailx-even-if-not-interactive
13317 An extension flag test field \(em by default handlers without
13319 are entirely ignored in non-interactive mode, but if this flag is set
13320 then their use will be considered.
13321 It is an error if this flag is set for commands that use the flag
13322 .Cd needsterminal .
13325 .It Cd x-mailx-noquote
13326 An extension flag field that indicates that even a
13329 command shall not be used to generate message quotes
13330 (as it would be by default).
13333 .It Cd x-mailx-async
13334 Extension flag field that denotes that the given
13336 command shall be executed asynchronously, without blocking \*(UA.
13337 Cannot be used in conjunction with
13338 .Cd needsterminal .
13341 .It Cd x-mailx-test-once
13342 Extension flag which denotes whether the given
13344 command shall be evaluated once only and the (boolean) result be cached.
13345 This is handy if some global unchanging condition is to be queried, like
13346 .Dq running under the X Window System .
13349 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile
13350 Extension flag field that requests creation of a zero-sized temporary
13351 file, the name of which is to be placed in the environment variable
13352 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY .
13353 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
13358 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill
13359 Normally the MIME part content is passed to the handler via standard
13360 input; if this flag is set then the data will instead be written into
13362 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile .
13363 In order to cause deletion of the temporary file you will have to set
13364 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
13366 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
13371 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
13372 Extension flag field that requests that the temporary file shall be
13373 deleted automatically when the command loop is entered again at latest.
13374 (Do not use this for asynchronous handlers.)
13375 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
13377 format, or in conjunction with
13378 .Cd x-mailx-async ,
13379 or without also setting
13380 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile
13382 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill .
13385 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-keep
13388 implies the three tmpfile related flags above, but if you want, e.g.,
13390 and deal with the temporary file yourself, you can add in this flag to
13392 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink .
13397 The standard includes the possibility to define any number of additional
13398 entry fields, prefixed by
13400 Flag fields apply to the entire
13402 entry \(em in some unusual cases, this may not be desirable, but
13403 differentiation can be accomplished via separate entries, taking
13404 advantage of the fact that subsequent entries are searched if an earlier
13405 one does not provide enough information.
13408 command needs to specify the
13412 command shall not, the following will help out the latter (with enabled
13416 level \*(UA will show information about handler evaluation):
13418 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13419 application/postscript; ps-to-terminal %s; needsterminal
13420 application/postscript; ps-to-terminal %s; compose=idraw %s
13424 In fields any occurrence of the format string
13426 will be replaced by the
13429 Named parameters from the
13431 field may be placed in the command execution line using
13433 followed by the parameter name and a closing
13436 The entire parameter should appear as a single command line argument,
13437 regardless of embedded spaces; thus:
13439 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13441 Content-type: multipart/mixed; boundary=42
13444 multipart/*; /usr/local/bin/showmulti \e
13445 %t %{boundary} ; composetyped = /usr/local/bin/makemulti
13447 # Executed shell command
13448 /usr/local/bin/showmulti multipart/mixed 42
13452 .\" TODO v15: Mailcap: %n,%F
13453 Note that \*(UA does not support handlers for multipart MIME parts as
13454 shown in this example (as of today).
13455 \*(UA does not support the additional formats
13459 An example file, also showing how to properly deal with the expansion of
13461 which includes any quotes that are necessary to make it a valid shell
13462 argument by itself and thus will cause undesired behaviour when placed
13463 in additional user-provided quotes:
13465 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13467 text/richtext; richtext %s; copiousoutput
13469 text/x-perl; perl -cWT %s
13471 application/pdf; \e
13473 trap "rm -f ${infile}" EXIT\e; \e
13474 trap "exit 75" INT QUIT TERM\e; \e
13476 x-mailx-async; x-mailx-tmpfile-keep
13478 application/*; echo "This is \e"%t\e" but \e
13479 is 50 \e% Greek to me" \e; < %s head -c 1024 | cat -vet; \e
13480 copiousoutput; x-mailx-noquote
13485 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ,
13486 .Sx "The mime.types files" ,
13489 .Va mime-counter-evidence ,
13490 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE ,
13491 .Va pipe-EXTENSION .
13494 .\" .Ss "The .netrc file" {{{
13495 .Ss "The .netrc file"
13499 file contains user credentials for machine accounts.
13500 The default location
13502 may be overridden by the
13504 environment variable.
13505 It is possible to load encrypted
13507 files by using an appropriate value in
13511 The file consists of space, tabulator or newline separated tokens.
13512 \*(UA implements a parser that supports a superset of the original BSD
13513 syntax, but users should nonetheless be aware of portability glitches
13514 of that file format, shall their
13516 be usable across multiple programs and platforms:
13519 .Bl -bullet -compact
13521 BSD does not support single, but only double quotation marks, e.g.,
13522 .Ql password="pass with spaces" .
13524 BSD (only?) supports escaping of single characters via a reverse solidus
13525 (e.g., a space can be escaped via
13527 in- as well as outside of a quoted string.
13529 BSD does not require a final quotation mark of the last user input token.
13531 The original BSD (Berknet) parser also supported a format which allowed
13532 tokens to be separated with commas \(en whereas at least Hewlett-Packard
13533 still seems to support this syntax, \*(UA does not!
13535 As a non-portable extension some widely-used programs support
13536 shell-style comments: if an input line starts, after any amount of
13537 whitespace, with a number sign
13539 then the rest of the line is ignored.
13541 Whereas other programs may require that the
13543 file is accessible by only the user if it contains a
13545 token for any other
13549 \*(UA will always require these strict permissions.
13553 Of the following list of supported tokens \*(UA only uses (and caches)
13558 At runtime the command
13560 can be used to control \*(UA's
13564 .Bl -tag -width ".It Cd BaNg"
13565 .It Cd machine Ar name
13566 The hostname of the entries' machine, lowercase-normalized by \*(UA
13568 Any further file content, until either end-of-file or the occurrence
13573 first-class token is bound (only related) to the machine
13576 As an extension that should not be the cause of any worries
13577 \*(UA supports a single wildcard prefix for
13579 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13580 machine *.example.com login USER password PASS
13581 machine pop3.example.com login USER password PASS
13582 machine smtp.example.com login USER password PASS
13588 .Ql pop3.example.com ,
13592 .Ql local.smtp.example.com .
13593 Note that in the example neither
13594 .Ql pop3.example.com
13596 .Ql smtp.example.com
13597 will be matched by the wildcard, since the exact matches take
13598 precedence (it is however faster to specify it the other way around).
13601 This is the same as
13603 except that it is a fallback entry that is used shall none of the
13604 specified machines match; only one default token may be specified,
13605 and it must be the last first-class token.
13607 .It Cd login Ar name
13608 The user name on the remote machine.
13610 .It Cd password Ar string
13611 The user's password on the remote machine.
13613 .It Cd account Ar string
13614 Supply an additional account password.
13615 This is merely for FTP purposes.
13617 .It Cd macdef Ar name
13619 A macro is defined with the specified
13621 it is formed from all lines beginning with the next line and continuing
13622 until a blank line is (consecutive newline characters are) encountered.
13625 entries cannot be utilized by multiple machines, too, but must be
13626 defined following the
13628 they are intended to be used with.)
13631 exists, it is automatically run as the last step of the login process.
13632 This is merely for FTP purposes.
13639 .\" .Sh EXAMPLES {{{
13642 .\" .Ss "An example configuration" {{{
13643 .Ss "An example configuration"
13645 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13646 # This example assumes v15.0 compatibility mode
13649 # Request strict TLL transport layer security checks
13650 set tls-verify=strict
13652 # Where are the up-to-date TLS certificates?
13653 # (Since we manage up-to-date ones explicitly, do not use any,
13654 # possibly outdated, default certificates shipped with OpenSSL)
13655 #set tls-ca-dir=/etc/ssl/certs
13656 set tls-ca-file=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
13657 set tls-ca-no-defaults
13658 #set tls-ca-flags=partial-chain
13659 wysh set smime-ca-file="${tls-ca-file}" \e
13660 smime-ca-no-defaults #smime-ca-flags="${tls-ca-flags}"
13662 # This could be outsourced to a central configuration file via
13663 # tls-config-file plus tls-config-module if the used library allows.
13664 # CipherString: explicitly define the list of ciphers, which may
13665 # improve security, especially with protocols older than TLS v1.2.
13666 # See ciphers(1). Possibly best to only use tls-config-pairs-HOST
13667 # (or -USER@HOST), as necessary, again..
13668 # Note that TLSv1.3 uses Ciphersuites= instead, which will join
13669 # with CipherString (if protocols older than v1.3 are allowed)
13670 # Curves: especially with TLSv1.3 curves selection may be desired.
13671 # MinProtocol,MaxProtocol: do not use protocols older than TLS v1.2.
13672 # Change this only when the remote server does not support it:
13673 # maybe use chain support via tls-config-pairs-HOST / -USER@HOST
13674 # to define such explicit exceptions, then, e.g.
13675 # MinProtocol=TLSv1.1
13676 if [ "$tls-features" =% +ctx-set-maxmin-proto ]
13677 wysh set tls-config-pairs='\e
13678 CipherString=TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:@STRENGTH,\e
13679 Curves=P-521:P-384:P-256,\e
13680 MinProtocol=TLSv1.1'
13682 wysh set tls-config-pairs='\e
13683 CipherString=TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:@STRENGTH,\e
13684 Curves=P-521:P-384:P-256,\e
13685 Protocol=-ALL\e,+TLSv1.1 \e, +TLSv1.2\e, +TLSv1.3'
13688 # Essential setting: select allowed character sets
13689 set sendcharsets=utf-8,iso-8859-1
13691 # A very kind option: when replying to a message, first try to
13692 # use the same encoding that the original poster used herself!
13693 set reply-in-same-charset
13695 # When replying, do not merge From: and To: of the original message
13696 # into To:. Instead old From: -> new To:, old To: -> merge Cc:.
13697 set recipients-in-cc
13699 # When sending messages, wait until the Mail-Transfer-Agent finishs.
13700 # Only like this you will be able to see errors reported through the
13701 # exit status of the MTA (including the built-in SMTP one)!
13704 # Only use built-in MIME types, no mime.types(5) files
13705 set mimetypes-load-control
13707 # Default directory where we act in (relative to $HOME)
13709 # A leading "+" (often) means: under *folder*
13710 # *record* is used to save copies of sent messages
13711 set MBOX=+mbox.mbox DEAD=+dead.txt \e
13712 record=+sent.mbox record-files record-resent
13714 # Make "file mymbox" and "file myrec" go to..
13715 shortcut mymbox %:+mbox.mbox myrec +sent.mbox
13717 # Not really optional, e.g., for S/MIME
13718 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
13720 # It may be necessary to set hostname and/or smtp-hostname
13721 # if the "SERVER" of mta and "domain" of from do not match.
13722 # The `urlencode' command can be used to encode USER and PASS
13723 set mta=(smtps?|submission)://[USER[:PASS]@]SERVER[:PORT] \e
13724 smtp-auth=login/plain... \e
13727 # Never refuse to start into interactive mode, and more
13729 colour-pager crt= \e
13730 followup-to followup-to-honour=ask-yes fullnames \e
13731 history-file=+.\*(uAhist history-size=-1 history-gabby \e
13732 mime-counter-evidence=0b1111 \e
13733 prompt='?\e$?!\e$!/\e$^ERRNAME[\e$account#\e$mailbox-display]? ' \e
13734 reply-to-honour=ask-yes \e
13737 # Only include the selected header fields when typing messages
13738 headerpick type retain from_ date from to cc subject \e
13739 message-id mail-followup-to reply-to
13740 # ...when forwarding messages
13741 headerpick forward retain subject date from to cc
13742 # ...when saving message, etc.
13743 #headerpick save ignore ^Original-.*$ ^X-.*$
13745 # Some mailing lists
13746 mlist '@xyz-editor\e.xyz$' '@xyzf\e.xyz$'
13747 mlsubscribe '^xfans@xfans\e.xyz$'
13749 # Handle a few file extensions (to store MBOX databases)
13750 filetype bz2 'bzip2 -dc' 'bzip2 -zc' \e
13751 gz 'gzip -dc' 'gzip -c' xz 'xz -dc' 'xz -zc' \e
13752 zst 'zstd -dc' 'zstd -19 -zc' \e
13753 zst.pgp 'gpg -d | zstd -dc' 'zstd -19 -zc | gpg -e'
13755 # A real life example of a very huge free mail provider
13756 # Instead of directly placing content inside `account',
13757 # we `define' a macro: like that we can switch "accounts"
13758 # from within *on-compose-splice*, for example!
13760 set folder=~/spool/XooglX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
13761 set from='Your Name <address@examp.ple>'
13763 set pop3-no-apop-pop.gmXil.com
13764 shortcut pop %:pop3s://pop.gmXil.com
13765 shortcut imap %:imaps://imap.gmXil.com
13766 # Or, entirely IMAP based setup
13767 #set folder=imaps://imap.gmail.com record="+[Gmail]/Sent Mail" \e
13768 # imap-cache=~/spool/cache
13770 set mta=smtp://USER:PASS@smtp.gmXil.com smtp-use-starttls
13772 set mta=smtps://USER:PASS@smtp.gmail.com:465
13778 # Here is a pretty large one which does not allow sending mails
13779 # if there is a domain name mismatch on the SMTP protocol level,
13780 # which would bite us if the value of from does not match, e.g.,
13781 # for people who have a sXXXXeforge project and want to speak
13782 # with the mailing list under their project account (in from),
13783 # still sending the message through their normal mail provider
13785 set folder=~/spool/XandeX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
13786 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
13788 shortcut pop %:pop3s://pop.yaXXex.com
13789 shortcut imap %:imaps://imap.yaXXex.com
13791 set mta=smtps://USER:PASS@smtp.yaXXex.com:465 \e
13792 hostname=yaXXex.com smtp-hostname=
13798 # Create some new commands so that, e.g., `ls /tmp' will..
13799 commandalias lls '!ls ${LS_COLOUR_FLAG} -aFlrS'
13800 commandalias llS '!ls ${LS_COLOUR_FLAG} -aFlS'
13802 set pipe-message/external-body='@* echo $MAILX_EXTERNAL_BODY_URL'
13804 # We do not support gpg(1) directly yet. But simple --clearsign'd
13805 # message parts can be dealt with as follows:
13808 wysh set pipe-text/plain=$'@*#++=@\e
13809 < "${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}" awk \e
13810 -v TMPFILE="${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}" \e'\e
13812 /^-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----/,/^$/ {\e
13815 print "--- GPG --verify ---";\e
13816 system("gpg --verify " TMPFILE " 2>&1");\e
13817 print "--- GPG --verify ---";\e
13821 /^-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----/,\e
13822 /^-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----/{\e
13829 commandalias V '\e'call V
13833 When storing passwords in
13835 appropriate permissions should be set on this file with
13836 .Ql $ chmod 0600 \*(ur .
13839 is available user credentials can be stored in the central
13841 file instead; e.g., here is a different version of the example account
13842 that sets up SMTP and POP3:
13844 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13846 set folder=~/spool/XandeX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
13847 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
13849 # Load an encrypted ~/.netrc by uncommenting the next line
13850 #set netrc-pipe='gpg -qd ~/.netrc.pgp'
13852 set mta=smtps://smtp.yXXXXx.ru:465 \e
13853 smtp-hostname= hostname=yXXXXx.com
13854 set pop3-keepalive=240 pop3-no-apop-pop.yXXXXx.ru
13855 commandalias xp fi pop3s://pop.yXXXXx.ru
13867 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13868 machine *.yXXXXx.ru login USER password PASS
13872 This configuration should now work just fine:
13875 .Dl $ echo text | \*(uA -dvv -AXandeX -s Subject user@exam.ple
13878 .\" .Ss "S/MIME step by step" {{{
13879 .Ss "S/MIME step by step"
13881 \*(OP The first thing that is needed for
13882 .Sx "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
13883 is a personal certificate, and a private key.
13884 The certificate contains public information, in particular a name and
13885 email address(es), and the public key that can be used by others to
13886 encrypt messages for the certificate holder (the owner of the private
13889 signed messages generated with that certificate('s private key).
13890 Whereas the certificate is included in each signed message, the private
13891 key must be kept secret.
13892 It is used to decrypt messages that were previously encrypted with the
13893 public key, and to sign messages.
13896 For personal use it is recommended that get a S/MIME certificate from
13897 one of the major CAs on the Internet.
13898 Many CAs offer such certificates for free.
13899 Usually offered is a combined certificate and private key in PKCS#12
13900 format which \*(UA does not accept directly.
13901 To convert it to PEM format, the following shell command can be used;
13902 please read on for how to use these PEM files.
13904 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13905 $ openssl pkcs12 -in cert.p12 -out certpem.pem -clcerts -nodes
13907 $ openssl pkcs12 -in cert.p12 -out cert.pem -clcerts -nokeys
13908 $ openssl pkcs12 -in cert.p12 -out key.pem -nocerts -nodes
13913 .Lk https://www.CAcert.org
13914 which issues client and server certificates to members of their
13915 community for free; their root certificate
13916 .Pf ( Lk https://\:www.cacert.org/\:certs/\:root.crt )
13917 is often not in the default set of trusted CA root certificates, though,
13918 which means their root certificate has to be downloaded separately,
13919 and needs to be part of the S/MIME certificate validation chain by
13922 or as a vivid member of the
13923 .Va smime-ca-file .
13924 But let us take a step-by-step tour on how to setup S/MIME with
13925 a certificate from CAcert.org despite this situation!
13928 First of all you will have to become a member of the CAcert.org
13929 community, simply by registrating yourself via the web interface.
13930 Once you are, create and verify all email addresses you want to be able
13931 to create signed and encrypted messages for/with using the corresponding
13932 entries of the web interface.
13933 Now ready to create S/MIME certificates, so let us create a new
13934 .Dq client certificate ,
13935 ensure to include all email addresses that should be covered by the
13936 certificate in the following web form, and also to use your name as the
13940 Create a private key and a certificate request on your local computer
13941 (please see the manual pages of the used commands for more in-depth
13942 knowledge on what the used arguments etc. do):
13945 .Dl $ openssl req -nodes -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout key.pem -out creq.pem
13948 Afterwards copy-and-paste the content of
13950 into the certificate-request (CSR) field of the web form on the
13951 CAcert.org website (you may need to unfold some
13952 .Dq advanced options
13953 to see the corresponding text field).
13954 This last step will ensure that your private key (which never left your
13955 box) and the certificate belong together (through the public key that
13956 will find its way into the certificate via the certificate-request).
13957 You are now ready and can create your CAcert certified certificate.
13958 Download and store or copy-and-paste it as
13963 In order to use your new S/MIME setup a combined private key/public key
13964 (certificate) file has to be created:
13967 .Dl $ cat key.pem pub.crt > ME@HERE.com.paired
13970 This is the file \*(UA will work with.
13971 If you have created your private key with a passphrase then \*(UA will
13972 ask you for it whenever a message is signed or decrypted, unless this
13973 operation has been automatized as described in
13974 .Sx "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME" .
13975 Set the following variables to henceforth use S/MIME (setting
13977 is of interest for verification only):
13979 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13980 ? set smime-ca-file=ALL-TRUSTED-ROOT-CERTS-HERE \e
13981 smime-sign-cert=ME@HERE.com.paired \e
13982 smime-sign-digest=SHA512 \e
13988 .\" .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or TLS" {{{
13989 .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or TLS"
13991 \*(OP Certification authorities (CAs) issue certificate revocation
13992 lists (CRLs) on a regular basis.
13993 These lists contain the serial numbers of certificates that have been
13994 declared invalid after they have been issued.
13995 Such usually happens because the private key for the certificate has
13997 because the owner of the certificate has left the organization that is
13998 mentioned in the certificate, etc.
13999 To seriously use S/MIME or TLS verification,
14000 an up-to-date CRL is required for each trusted CA.
14001 There is otherwise no method to distinguish between valid and
14002 invalidated certificates.
14003 \*(UA currently offers no mechanism to fetch CRLs, nor to access them on
14004 the Internet, so they have to be retrieved by some external mechanism.
14007 \*(UA accepts CRLs in PEM format only;
14008 CRLs in DER format must be converted, like, e.\|g.:
14011 .Dl $ openssl crl \-inform DER \-in crl.der \-out crl.pem
14014 To tell \*(UA about the CRLs, a directory that contains all CRL files
14015 (and no other files) must be created.
14020 variables, respectively, must then be set to point to that directory.
14021 After that, \*(UA requires a CRL to be present for each CA that is used
14022 to verify a certificate.
14031 In general it is a good idea to turn on
14037 twice) if something does not work well.
14038 Very often a diagnostic message can be produced that leads to the
14039 problems' solution.
14041 .\" .Ss "\*(UA shortly hangs on startup" {{{
14042 .Ss "\*(UA shortly hangs on startup"
14044 This can have two reasons, one is the necessity to wait for a file lock
14045 and cannot be helped, the other being that \*(UA calls the function
14047 in order to query the nodename of the box (sometimes the real one is
14048 needed instead of the one represented by the internal variable
14050 One may have varying success by ensuring that the real hostname and
14054 or, more generally, that the name service is properly setup \(en
14057 return the expected value?
14058 Does this local hostname have a domain suffix?
14059 RFC 6762 standardized the link-local top-level domain
14061 try again after adding an (additional) entry with this extension.
14064 .\" .Ss "I cannot login to Google mail aka GMail" {{{
14065 .Ss "I cannot login to Google mail aka GMail"
14067 Since 2014 some free service providers classify programs as
14069 unless they use a special authentication method (OAuth 2.0) which
14070 was not standardized for non-HTTP protocol authentication token query
14071 until August 2015 (RFC 7628).
14074 Different to Kerberos / GSSAPI, which is developed since the mid of the
14075 1980s, where a user can easily create a local authentication ticket for
14076 her- and himself with the locally installed
14078 program, that protocol has no such local part but instead requires
14079 a world-wide-web query to create or fetch a token; since there is no
14080 local cache this query would have to be performed whenever \*(UA is
14081 invoked (in interactive sessions situation may differ).
14084 \*(UA does not support OAuth.
14085 Because of this it is necessary to declare \*(UA a
14086 .Dq less secure app
14087 (on the providers account web page) in order to read and send mail.
14088 However, it also seems possible to take the following steps instead:
14093 give the provider the number of a mobile phone,
14096 .Dq 2-Step Verification ,
14098 create an application specific password (16 characters), and
14100 use that special password instead of the real Google account password in
14101 \*(UA (for more on that see the section
14102 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ) .
14106 .\" .Ss "Not \(dqdefunctional\(dq, but the editor key does not work" {{{
14107 .Ss "Not \(dqdefunctional\(dq, but the editor key does not work"
14109 It can happen that the terminal library (see
14110 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor",
14113 reports different codes than the terminal really sends, in which case
14114 \*(UA will tell that a key binding is functional, but will not be able to
14115 recognize it because the received data does not match anything expected.
14116 Especially without the \*(OPal terminal capability library support one
14117 reason for this may be that the (possibly even non-existing) keypad
14118 is not turned on and the resulting layout reports the keypad control
14119 codes for the normal keyboard keys.
14124 ings will show the byte sequences that are expected.
14127 To overcome the situation, use, e.g., the program
14129 in conjunction with the command line option
14131 if available, to see the byte sequences which are actually produced
14132 by keypresses, and use the variable
14134 to make \*(UA aware of them.
14135 E.g., the terminal this is typed on produces some false sequences, here
14136 an example showing the shifted home key:
14138 .Bd -literal -offset indent
14141 # 1B 5B=[ 31=1 3B=; 32=2 48=H
14146 ? \*(uA -v -Stermcap='kHOM=\eE[H'
14153 .\" .Ss "Can \*(UA git-send-email?" {{{
14154 .Ss "Can \*(UA git-send-email?"
14157 Put (at least parts of) the following in your
14160 .Bd -literal -offset indent
14162 smtpserver = /usr/bin/s-mailx
14163 smtpserveroption = -t
14164 #smtpserveroption = -Sexpandaddr
14165 smtpserveroption = -Athe-account-you-need
14168 suppressfrom = false
14169 assume8bitEncoding = UTF-8
14172 chainreplyto = true
14183 .\" .Sh "IMAP CLIENT" {{{
14186 \*(OPally there is IMAP client support available.
14187 This part of the program is obsolete and will vanish in v15 with the
14188 large MIME and I/O layer rewrite, because it uses old-style blocking I/O
14189 and makes excessive use of signal based long code jumps.
14190 Support can hopefully be readded later based on a new-style I/O, with
14191 SysV signal handling.
14192 In fact the IMAP support had already been removed from the codebase, but
14193 was reinstantiated on user demand: in effect the IMAP code is at the
14194 level of \*(UA v14.8.16 (with
14196 being the sole exception), and should be treated with some care.
14203 protocol prefixes, and an IMAP-based
14206 IMAP URLs (paths) undergo inspections and possible transformations
14207 before use (and the command
14209 can be used to manually apply them to any given argument).
14210 Hierarchy delimiters are normalized, a step which is configurable via the
14212 variable chain, but defaults to the first seen delimiter otherwise.
14213 \*(UA supports internationalised IMAP names, and en- and decodes the
14214 names from and to the
14216 as necessary and possible.
14217 If a mailbox name is expanded (see
14218 .Sx "Filename transformations" )
14219 to an IMAP mailbox, all names that begin with `+' then refer to IMAP
14220 mailboxes below the
14222 target box, while folder names prefixed by `@' refer to folders below
14223 the hierarchy base, e.g., the following lists all folders below the
14224 current one when in an IMAP mailbox:
14228 Note: some IMAP servers do not accept the creation of mailboxes in
14229 the hierarchy base, but require that they are created as subfolders of
14230 `INBOX' \(en with such servers a folder name of the form
14232 .Dl imaps://mylogin@imap.myisp.example/INBOX.
14234 should be used (the last character is the server's hierarchy
14236 The following IMAP-specific commands exist:
14239 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ic BaNg"
14242 Only applicable to cached IMAP mailboxes;
14243 takes a message list and reads the specified messages into the IMAP
14248 If operating in disconnected mode on an IMAP mailbox,
14249 switch to online mode and connect to the mail server while retaining
14250 the mailbox status.
14251 See the description of the
14253 variable for more information.
14257 If operating in online mode on an IMAP mailbox,
14258 switch to disconnected mode while retaining the mailbox status.
14259 See the description of the
14262 A list of messages may optionally be given as argument;
14263 the respective messages are then read into the cache before the
14264 connection is closed, thus
14266 makes the entire mailbox available for disconnected use.
14270 Sends command strings directly to the current IMAP server.
14271 \*(UA operates always in IMAP `selected state' on the current mailbox;
14272 commands that change this will produce undesirable results and should be
14274 Useful IMAP commands are:
14275 .Bl -tag -offset indent -width ".Ic getquotearoot"
14277 Takes the name of an IMAP mailbox as an argument and creates it.
14279 (RFC 2087) Takes the name of an IMAP mailbox as an argument
14280 and prints the quotas that apply to the mailbox.
14281 Not all IMAP servers support this command.
14283 (RFC 2342) Takes no arguments and prints the Personal Namespaces,
14284 the Other User's Namespaces and the Shared Namespaces.
14285 Each namespace type is printed in parentheses;
14286 if there are multiple namespaces of the same type,
14287 inner parentheses separate them.
14288 For each namespace a prefix and a hierarchy separator is listed.
14289 Not all IMAP servers support this command.
14294 Perform IMAP path transformations.
14298 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) ,
14299 and manages the error number
14301 The first argument specifies the operation:
14303 normalizes hierarchy delimiters (see
14305 and converts the strings from the locale
14307 to the internationalized variant used by IMAP,
14309 performs the reverse operation.
14314 The following IMAP-specific internal variables exist:
14317 .Bl -tag -width ".It Va BaNg"
14319 .It Va disconnected
14320 \*(BO When an IMAP mailbox is selected and this variable is set,
14321 no connection to the server is initiated.
14322 Instead, data is obtained from the local cache (see
14325 Mailboxes that are not present in the cache
14326 and messages that have not yet entirely been fetched from the server
14328 to fetch all messages in a mailbox at once,
14330 .No ` Ns Li copy * /dev/null Ns '
14331 can be used while still in connected mode.
14332 Changes that are made to IMAP mailboxes in disconnected mode are queued
14333 and committed later when a connection to that server is made.
14334 This procedure is not completely reliable since it cannot be guaranteed
14335 that the IMAP unique identifiers (UIDs) on the server still match the
14336 ones in the cache at that time.
14339 when this problem occurs.
14341 .It Va disconnected-USER@HOST
14342 The specified account is handled as described for the
14345 but other accounts are not affected.
14348 .It Va imap-auth-USER@HOST , imap-auth
14349 Sets the IMAP authentication method.
14350 Valid values are `login' for the usual password-based authentication
14352 `cram-md5', which is a password-based authentication that does not send
14353 the password over the network in clear text,
14354 and `gssapi' for GSS-API based authentication.
14358 Enables caching of IMAP mailboxes.
14359 The value of this variable must point to a directory that is either
14360 existent or can be created by \*(UA.
14361 All contents of the cache can be deleted by \*(UA at any time;
14362 it is not safe to make assumptions about them.
14365 .It Va imap-delim-USER@HOST , imap-delim-HOST , imap-delim
14366 The hierarchy separator used by the IMAP server.
14367 Whenever an IMAP path is specified it will undergo normalization.
14368 One of the normalization steps is the squeezing and adjustment of
14369 hierarchy separators.
14370 If this variable is set, any occurrence of any character of the given
14371 value that exists in the path will be replaced by the first member of
14372 the value; an empty value will cause the default to be used, it is
14374 If not set, we will reuse the first hierarchy separator character that
14375 is discovered in a user-given mailbox name.
14377 .Mx Va imap-keepalive
14378 .It Va imap-keepalive-USER@HOST , imap-keepalive-HOST , imap-keepalive
14379 IMAP servers may close the connection after a period of
14380 inactivity; the standard requires this to be at least 30 minutes,
14381 but practical experience may vary.
14382 Setting this variable to a numeric `value' greater than 0 causes
14383 a `NOOP' command to be sent each `value' seconds if no other operation
14387 .It Va imap-list-depth
14388 When retrieving the list of folders on an IMAP server, the
14390 command stops after it has reached a certain depth to avoid possible
14392 The value of this variable sets the maximum depth allowed.
14394 If the folder separator on the current IMAP server is a slash `/',
14395 this variable has no effect and the
14397 command does not descend to subfolders.
14399 .Mx Va imap-use-starttls
14400 .It Va imap-use-starttls-USER@HOST , imap-use-starttls-HOST , imap-use-starttls
14401 Causes \*(UA to issue a `STARTTLS' command to make an unencrypted
14402 IMAP session TLS encrypted.
14403 This functionality is not supported by all servers,
14404 and is not used if the session is already encrypted by the IMAPS method.
14410 .\" .Sh "SEE ALSO" {{{
14420 .Xr spamassassin 1 ,
14429 .Xr mailwrapper 8 ,
14435 .\" .Sh HISTORY {{{
14438 M. Douglas McIlroy writes in his article
14439 .Dq A Research UNIX Reader: Annotated Excerpts \
14440 from the Programmer's Manual, 1971-1986
14443 command already appeared in First Edition
14447 .Bd -ragged -offset indent
14448 Electronic mail was there from the start.
14449 Never satisfied with its exact behavior, everybody touched it at one
14450 time or another: to assure the safety of simultaneous access, to improve
14451 privacy, to survive crashes, to exploit uucp, to screen out foreign
14452 freeloaders, or whatever.
14453 Not until v7 did the interface change (Thompson).
14454 Later, as mail became global in its reach, Dave Presotto took charge and
14455 brought order to communications with a grab-bag of external networks
14461 Mail was written in 1978 by Kurt Shoens and developed as part of the
14464 distribution until 1995.
14465 Mail has then seen further development in open source
14467 variants, noticeably by Christos Zoulas in
14469 Based upon this Nail, later Heirloom Mailx, was developed by Gunnar
14470 Ritter in the years 2000 until 2008.
14471 Since 2012 S-nail is maintained by Steffen (Daode) Nurpmeso.
14472 This man page is derived from
14473 .Dq The Mail Reference Manual
14474 that was originally written by Kurt Shoens.
14482 .An "Kurt Shoens" ,
14483 .An "Edward Wang" ,
14484 .An "Keith Bostic" ,
14485 .An "Christos Zoulas" ,
14486 .An "Gunnar Ritter" .
14487 \*(UA is developed by
14488 .An "Steffen Nurpmeso" Aq steffen@sdaoden.eu .
14491 .\" .Sh CAVEATS {{{
14494 \*(ID Interrupting an operation via
14498 from anywhere else but a command prompt is very problematic and likely
14499 to leave the program in an undefined state: many library functions
14500 cannot deal with the
14502 that this software (still) performs; even though efforts have been taken
14503 to address this, no sooner but in v15 it will have been worked out:
14504 interruptions have not been disabled in order to allow forceful breakage
14505 of hanging network connections, for example (all this is unrelated to
14509 The SMTP and POP3 protocol support of \*(UA is very basic.
14510 Also, if it fails to contact its upstream SMTP server, it will not make
14511 further attempts to transfer the message at a later time (setting
14516 If this is a concern, it might be better to set up a local SMTP server
14517 that is capable of message queuing.
14524 After deleting some message of a POP3 mailbox the header summary falsely
14525 claims that there are no messages to display, one needs to perform
14526 a scroll or dot movement to restore proper state.
14532 mode a power user may encounter crashes very occasionally (this is may
14537 in the source repository lists future directions.
14540 Please report bugs to the
14542 address, e.g., from within \*(uA:
14543 .\" v15-compat: drop eval as `mail' will expand variable?
14544 .Ql ? Ns \| Ic eval Ns \| Ic mail Ns \| $contact-mail .
14547 output of the command
14549 may be helpful, e.g.,
14551 .Bd -literal -offset indent
14552 ? wysh set escape=! verbose; vput version xy; unset verbose;\e
14553 eval mail $contact-mail
14560 Information on the web at
14561 .Ql $ \*(uA -X 'echo Ns \| $ Ns Va contact-web Ns ' -Xx .