1 .\"@ nail.1 - S-nail(1) reference manual.
3 .\" Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Gunnar Ritter, Freiburg i. Br., Germany.
4 .\" Copyright (c) 2012 - 2017 Steffen (Daode) Nurpmeso <steffen@sdaoden.eu>.
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34 .\"@ S-nail(1): v14.9.0-pre3 / 2016-12-31
36 .ds VV \\%v14.9.0-pre3
46 .\" If not ~/.mailrc, it breaks POSIX compatibility. And adjust main.c.
51 .ds OU [no v15-compat]
52 .ds ID [v15 behaviour may differ]
53 .ds NQ [Only new quoting rules]
64 .Nd send and receive Internet mail
70 .\" Keep in SYNC: ./nail.1:"SYNOPSIS, main()
78 .Op Fl a Ar attachment
81 .Op Fl M Ar type | Fl m Ar file | Fl q Ar file | Fl t
83 .Op Fl S Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
88 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns Ar mta-option ...
97 .Op Fl S Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
100 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns Ar mta-option ...
108 .Op Fl L Ar spec-list
109 .Op Fl r Ar from-addr
110 .Op Fl S Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
113 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns Ar mta-option ...
118 .Mx -toc -tree html pdf ps xhtml
121 .\" .Sh DESCRIPTION {{{
124 .Bd -filled -compact -offset indent
125 .Sy Compatibility note:
126 S-nail (\*(UA) will wrap up into \%S-mailx in v15.0 (circa 2018).
127 Backward incompatibility has to be expected \(en
130 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
131 rules, for example, and shell metacharacters will become meaningful.
132 New and old behaviour is flagged \*(IN and \*(OU, and setting
135 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
136 will choose new behaviour when applicable.
137 \*(OB flags what will vanish, and enabling
141 enables obsoletion warnings.
145 \*(UA provides a simple and friendly environment for sending and
147 It is intended to provide the functionality of the POSIX
149 command, but is MIME capable and optionally offers extensions for
150 line editing, S/MIME, SMTP and POP3, among others.
151 \*(UA divides incoming mail into its constituent messages and allows
152 the user to deal with them in any order.
156 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
157 for manipulating messages and sending mail.
158 It provides the user simple editing capabilities to ease the composition
159 of outgoing messages, and increasingly powerful and reliable
160 non-interactive scripting capabilities.
162 .\" .Ss "Options" {{{
165 .Bl -tag -width ".It Fl BaNg"
168 Explicitly control which of the
170 shall be loaded: if the letter
172 is (case-insensitively) part of the
176 is loaded, likewise the letter
178 controls loading of the user's personal
180 file, whereas the letters
184 explicitly forbid loading of any resource files.
185 This option should be used by scripts: to avoid environmental noise they
188 from any configuration files and create a script-local environment,
189 explicitly setting any of the desired
190 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
193 This option overrides
200 command for the given user email
202 after program startup is complete (all resource files are loaded, any
204 setting is being established; only
206 commands have not been evaluated yet).
207 Being a special incarnation of
209 macros for the purpose of bundling longer-lived settings, activating
210 such an email account also switches to the accounts
212 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
217 .It Fl a Ar file Ns Op Ar =input-charset Ns Op Ar #output-charset
220 to the message (for compose mode opportunities refer to
224 .Sx "Filename transformations"
227 will be performed, but shell word expansion is restricted to the tilde
231 not be accessible but contain a
233 character, then anything before the
235 will be used as the filename, anything thereafter as a character set
238 If an input character set is specified,
239 .Mx -ix "character set specification"
240 but no output character set, then the given input character set is fixed
241 as-is, and no conversion will be applied;
242 giving the special string hyphen-minus
244 will be treated as if
246 has been specified (the default).
247 If an output character set has also been given then the conversion will
248 be performed exactly as specified and on-the-fly, not considering the
249 file's type and content.
250 As an exception, if the output character set is specified as hyphen-minus
252 then the default conversion algorithm (see
253 .Sx "Character sets" )
254 is applied (therefore no conversion is performed on-the-fly,
256 will be MIME-classified and its contents will be inspected first).
257 It is an error to specify anything but
259 if no character set conversion is available
261 does not include the term
266 (\*(OB: \*(UA will always use line-buffered output, to gain
267 line-buffered input even in batch mode enable batch mode via
272 Send a blind carbon copy to
274 ess, if the setting of
277 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
279 The option may be used multiple times.
281 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
285 Send carbon copies to the given receiver, if so allowed by
287 May be used multiple times.
292 the internal variable
294 which enables debug messages and disables message delivery,
295 among others; effectively turns almost any operation into a dry-run.
301 and thus discard messages with an empty message part body.
302 This command line option is \*(OB.
306 Just check if mail is present (in the specified or system
308 if yes, return an exit status of zero, a non-zero value otherwise.
309 To restrict the set of mails to consider in this evaluation a message
310 specification can be added with the option
315 Save the message to send in a file named after the local part of the
316 first recipient's address (instead of in
321 Read in the contents of the user's
323 (or the specified file) for processing;
324 when \*(UA is quit, it writes undeleted messages back to this file
330 argument will undergo some special
331 .Sx "Filename transformations"
336 is not a argument to the flag
338 but is instead taken from the command line after option processing has
342 that starts with a hyphen-minus, prefix with a relative path, as in
343 .Ql ./-hyphenbox.mbox .
347 Display a summary of the
349 of all messages in the specified mailbox or system
352 A configurable summary view is available via the
358 Show a short usage summary.
359 Because of widespread use a
361 argument will have the same effect.
367 to ignore tty interrupt signals.
370 .It Fl L Ar spec-list
371 Display a summary of all
373 of only those messages in the specified mailbox or the system
379 .Sx "Specifying messages"
386 option has been given in addition no header summary is produced,
387 but \*(UA will instead indicate via its exit status whether
393 note that any verbose output is suppressed in this mode and must instead
394 be enabled explicitly (e.g., by using the option
399 Special send mode that will flag standard input with the MIME
403 and use it as the main message body.
404 \*(ID Using this option will bypass processing of
405 .Va message-inject-head ,
408 .Va message-inject-tail .
414 Special send mode that will MIME classify the specified
416 and use it as the main message body.
417 \*(ID Using this option will bypass processing of
418 .Va message-inject-head ,
421 .Va message-inject-tail .
427 inhibit the initial display of message headers when reading mail or
428 editing a mail folder by calling
430 for the internal variable
435 Standard flag that inhibits reading the system wide
440 allows more control over the startup sequence; also see
441 .Sx "Resource files" .
445 Special send mode that will initialize the message body with the
446 contents of the specified
448 which may be standard input
450 only in non-interactive context.
456 Any folder opened will be in read-only mode.
460 .It Fl r Ar from-addr
461 The source address that appears in the
464 header of a message (or in the
467 header if the former contains multiple addresses) is not used for
468 relaying and delegating a message over the wire via SMTP, but instead an
469 envelope will enwrap the message content and provide the necessary
470 information (i.e., the RFC 5321 reverse-path, also used to report, e.g.,
471 delivery errors) to transmit the message to its destination(s).
472 Whereas said headers and internal variables will be used by \*(UA to
473 create the envelope if the builtin SMTP
475 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) is used, a file-based MTA will instead use the
476 identity of the message-originating user.
478 This command line option can be used to specify the reverse-path, to be
479 passed to a file-based
481 when a message is sent, via
482 .Ql -f Ar from-addr .
485 include a user name, then the address components will be separated and
486 the name part will be passed to a file-based
492 is also assigned to the internal variable
494 Many default installations and sites disallow explicit overriding of the
495 user identity which could be adjusted by this option, unless either
497 has been configured accordingly, or the user is member of a group with
498 special privileges, respectively.
500 If an empty string is passed as
502 then the content of the variable
504 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
506 will be evaluated and used for this purpose whenever the file-based
509 Note that \*(UA by default, without
511 that is, neither passes
515 command line options to a file-based MTA by itself, unless this
516 automatic deduction is enforced by
518 ing the internal variable
519 .Va r-option-implicit .
523 .It Fl S Ar var Ns Op = Ns value
527 iable and, in case of a non-boolean variable which has a value, assign
531 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
535 may be overwritten from within resource files,
536 the command line setting will be reestablished after all resource files
541 Specify the subject of the message to be sent.
542 Newline (NL) and carriage-return (CR) bytes are invalid and will be
543 normalized to space (SP) characters.
547 The message given (on standard input) is expected to contain, separated
548 from the message body by an empty line, a message header with
553 fields giving its recipients, which will be added to any recipients
554 specified on the command line.
555 If a message subject is specified via
557 then it will be used in favour of one given on the command line.
573 .Ql Mail-Followup-To: ,
574 by default created automatically dependent on message context, will
575 be used if specified (a special address massage will however still occur
577 Any other custom header field (also see
580 is passed through entirely
581 unchanged, and in conjunction with the option
583 it is possible to embed
584 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
592 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
595 appropriate privileges presumed; effectively identical to
605 will also show the list of
607 .Ql $ \*(uA -Xversion -Xx .
612 ting the internal variable
614 enables display of some informational context messages.
615 Using it twice increases the level of verbosity.
619 Add the given (or multiple for a multiline argument)
621 to the list of commands to be executed,
622 as a last step of program startup, before normal operation starts.
623 This is the only possibility to execute commands in non-interactive mode
624 when reading startup files is actively prohibited.
625 The commands will be evaluated as a unit, just as via
627 but different to that errors won't stop evaluation.
631 .Va batch-exit-on-error .
636 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
637 even if not in interactive mode.
638 This can be used to, e.g., automatically format the composed message
639 text before sending the message:
640 .Bd -literal -offset indent
641 $ ( echo 'line one. Word. Word2.'; \e
642 echo '~| /usr/bin/fmt -tuw66' ) |\e
643 LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ -Sttycharset=utf-8 -d~ bob@exam.ple
649 In batch mode the full set of commands is available, just like in
650 interactive mode, standard input is made line buffered, and diverse
651 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
652 are adjusted for batch necessities, e.g., it
668 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
669 is enabled in compose mode.
670 The following prepares an email message in a batched dry run:
671 .Bd -literal -offset indent
672 $ LC_ALL=C printf 'm bob\en~s ubject\enText\en~.\enx\en' | \e
673 LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ -d# -X'alias bob bob@exam.ple'
678 This flag forces termination of option processing in order to prevent
681 It also forcefully puts \*(UA into send mode, see
682 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
690 argument, as well as all receivers established by the command line options
694 are subject to checks established via
697 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" .
699 .Op Ar mta-option ...
701 arguments that are given at the end of the command line after a
703 separator will be passed through to a file-based
705 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) and persist for an entire (interactive) session
706 \(en if the setting of the internal variable
708 allows their recognition; no such constraints apply to the variable
712 .\" .Ss "A starter" {{{
715 \*(UA is a direct descendant of
717 Mail, a successor of the Research
720 .Dq was there from the start
723 It thus represents the user side of the
725 mail system, whereas the system side (Mail-Transfer-Agent, MTA) was
726 traditionally taken by
728 and most MTAs provide a binary of this name for compatibility purposes.
733 of \*(UA then the system side is not a mandatory precondition for mail
737 Because \*(UA strives for compliance with POSIX
739 it is likely that some configuration settings have to be adjusted before
740 using it is a smooth experience.
743 resource file bends those standard imposed settings of the
744 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
745 a bit towards more user friendliness and safety, however, e.g., it
750 in order to suppress the automatic moving of messages to
752 that would otherwise occur (see
753 .Sx "Message states" ) ,
756 to not remove empty system (MBOX) mailbox files in order not to mangle
757 file permissions when files eventually get recreated \(en
758 \*(UA will remove all empty (MBOX) mailbox files unless this variable is
761 .Pf ( Ev POSIXLY_CORRECT )
762 mode has been enabled.
763 The file mode creation mask is explicitly managed via
769 in order to synchronize \*(UA with the exit status report of the used
774 to enter interactive startup even if the initial mailbox is empty,
776 to allow editing of headers as well as
778 to not strip down addresses in compose mode, and
780 to include the message that is being responded to when
785 contains some more complete configuration examples.
788 .\" .Ss "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" {{{
789 .Ss "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode"
791 To send a message to one or more people, using a local or a builtin
793 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) transport to actually deliver the generated mail
794 message, \*(UA can be invoked with arguments which are the names of
795 people to whom the mail will be sent, and the command line options
799 can be used to add (blind) carbon copy receivers:
801 .Bd -literal -offset indent
803 $ \*(uA -s ubject -a ttach.txt bill@exam.ple
805 # But... try it in an isolated dry-run mode (-d) first
806 $ LC_ALL=C \*(uA -d -:/ -Ssendwait \e
807 -b bcc@exam.ple -c cc@exam.ple \e
808 -. '(Lovely) Bob <bob@exam.ple>' eric@exam.ple
811 $ LC_ALL=C \*(uA -d -:/ -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait \e
812 -S 'mta=smtps://mylogin@exam.ple:465' -Ssmtp-auth=login \e
813 -S 'from=scriptreply@exam.ple' \e
819 If standard input is a terminal rather than the message to be sent,
820 the user is expected to type in the message contents.
821 In this compose mode \*(UA treats lines beginning with the character
823 special \(en these are so-called
824 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ,
825 which can be used to read in files, process shell commands, add and edit
826 attachments and more; e.g., the command escape
828 will start the text editor to revise the message in its current state,
830 allows editing of the most important message headers, with
832 custom headers can be created (more specifically than with
835 gives an overview of most other available command escapes.
839 at the beginning of an empty line leaves compose mode and causes the
840 message to be sent, whereas typing
843 twice will abort the current letter (saving its contents in the file
854 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
855 can be used to alter default behavior.
856 E.g., messages are sent asynchronously, without supervision, unless the
859 is set, therefore send errors will not be recognizable until then.
864 will automatically startup a text editor when compose mode is entered,
866 allows editing of headers additionally to plain body content, whereas
870 will cause the user to be prompted actively for (blind) carbon-copy
871 recipients, respectively, if the given list is empty.
875 hook variables may be set to
877 d macros to automatically adjust some settings dependent
878 on receiver, sender or subject contexts, and via the
879 .Va on-compose-splice-shell
881 .Va on-compose-splice
882 variables, the latter also to be set to a
884 d macro, increasingly powerful mechanisms to perform automated message
885 adjustments are available.
888 Especially for using public mail provider accounts with the SMTP
890 it is often necessary to set
894 (even finer control via
895 .Va smtp-hostname ) ,
896 which also causes creation of
900 header fields (even if empty) unless
902 is set; saving a copy of sent messages in a
904 mailbox may be desirable \(en as for most mailbox
906 targets the value will undergo
907 .Sx "Filename transformations" .
910 for the purpose of arranging a complete environment of settings that can
911 be switched to with a single command or command line option may be
914 contains example configurations for sending messages via some of the
915 well-known public mail providers and also gives a compact overview on
916 how to setup a secure SSL/TLS environment).
921 sandbox dry-run tests first will prove correctness.
925 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
926 will spread light on the different ways of how to specify user email
927 account credentials, the
929 variable chains, and accessing protocol-specific resources,
932 goes into the details of character encoding and how to use them for
933 representing messages and MIME part contents by specifying them in
935 and reading the section
936 .Sx "The mime.types files"
937 should help to understand how the MIME-type of outgoing attachments are
938 classified, and what can be done for fine-tuning.
939 Over the wire an intermediate, configurable
940 .Pf content-transfer-\: Va encoding
941 may be applied to the raw message part data.
944 Message recipients (as specified on the command line or defined in
949 may not only be email addressees but can also be names of mailboxes and
950 even complete shell command pipe specifications.
953 is not set then only network addresses (see
955 for a description of mail addresses) and plain user names (including MTA
956 aliases) may be used, other types will be filtered out, giving a warning
960 can be used to generate standard compliant network addresses.
962 .\" When changing any of the following adjust any RECIPIENTADDRSPEC;
963 .\" grep the latter for the complete picture
967 is set then extended recipient addresses will optionally be accepted:
968 Any name which starts with a vertical bar
970 character specifies a command pipe \(en the command string following the
972 is executed and the message is sent to its standard input;
973 Likewise, any name that starts with the character solidus
975 or the character sequence dot solidus
977 is treated as a file, regardless of the remaining content;
978 likewise a name that solely consists of a hyphen-minus
980 Any other name which contains a commercial at
982 character is treated as a network address;
983 Any other name which starts with a plus sign
985 character specifies a mailbox name;
986 Any other name which contains a solidus
988 character but no exclamation mark
992 character before also specifies a mailbox name;
993 What remains is treated as a network address.
995 .Bd -literal -offset indent
996 $ echo bla | \*(uA -Sexpandaddr -s test ./mbox.mbox
997 $ echo bla | \*(uA -Sexpandaddr -s test '|cat >> ./mbox.mbox'
998 $ echo safe | LC_ALL=C \e
999 \*(uA -:/ -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait -Snosave \e
1000 -Sexpandaddr=fail,-all,+addr,failinvaddr -s test \e
1005 It is possible to create personal distribution lists via the
1007 command, so that, for instance, the user can send mail to
1009 and have it go to a group of people.
1010 These aliases have nothing in common with the system wide aliases that
1011 may be used by the MTA, which are subject to the
1015 and are often tracked in a file
1021 Personal aliases will be expanded by \*(UA before the message is sent,
1022 and are thus a convenient alternative to specifying each addressee by
1023 itself; they correlate with the active set of
1030 .Dl alias cohorts bill jkf mark kridle@ucbcory ~/mail/cohorts.mbox
1033 To avoid environmental noise scripts should
1035 \*(UA from any configuration files and create a script-local
1036 environment, ideally with the command line options
1038 to disable any configuration file in conjunction with repetitions of
1040 to specify variables:
1042 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1043 $ env LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ \e
1044 -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait -Snosave -Sttycharset=utf-8 \e
1045 -Sexpandaddr=fail,-all,failinvaddr \e
1046 -S 'mta=smtps://mylogin@exam.ple:465' -Ssmtp-auth=login \e
1047 -S 'from=scriptreply@exam.ple' \e
1048 -s 'subject' -a attachment_file \e
1049 -. "Recipient 1 <rec1@exam.ple>" rec2@exam.ple \e
1054 As shown, scripts can
1056 a locale environment, the above specifies the all-compatible 7-bit clean
1059 but will nonetheless take and send UTF-8 in the message text by using
1061 In interactive mode, which is introduced in the next section, messages
1062 can be sent by calling the
1064 command with a list of recipient addresses \(em the semantics are
1065 completely identical to non-interactive message sending:
1067 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1068 $ \*(uA -d -Squiet -Semptystart
1069 "/var/spool/mail/user": 0 messages
1070 ? mail "Recipient 1 <rec1@exam.ple>", rec2@exam.ple
1071 ? # Will do the right thing (tm)
1072 ? m rec1@exam.ple rec2@exam.ple
1076 .\" .Ss "On reading mail, and interactive mode" {{{
1077 .Ss "On reading mail, and interactive mode"
1079 When invoked without addressees \*(UA enters interactive mode in which
1081 When used like that the user's system
1085 for an in-depth description of the different mailbox types that exist)
1086 is read in and a one line header of each message therein is displayed.
1087 The visual style of this summary of
1089 can be adjusted through the variable
1091 and the possible sorting criterion via
1097 can be performed with the command
1099 If the initially opened mailbox is empty \*(UA will instead exit
1100 immediately (after displaying a message) unless the variable
1109 will give a listing of all available commands and
1111 will give a summary of some common ones.
1112 If the \*(OPal documentation strings are available one can type
1115 and see the actual expansion of
1117 and what its purpose is, i.e., commands can be abbreviated
1118 (note that POSIX defines some abbreviations, so that the alphabetical
1119 order of commands does not necessarily relate to the abbreviations; it is
1120 possible to define overwrites with the
1123 These commands can also produce a more
1128 Messages are given numbers (starting at 1) which uniquely identify
1129 messages; the current message \(en the
1131 \(en will either be the first new message, or the first unread message,
1132 or the first message of the mailbox; the internal variable
1134 will instead cause usage of the last message for this purpose.
1139 ful of header summaries containing the
1143 will display only the summaries of the given messages, defaulting to the
1147 Message content can be displayed with the command
1154 controls whether and when \*(UA will use the configured
1156 for display instead of directly writing to the user terminal
1158 the sole difference to the command
1160 which will always use the
1164 will instead only show the first
1166 of a message (maybe even compressed if
1171 By default the current message
1173 is displayed, but like with many other commands it is possible to give
1174 a fancy message specification (see
1175 .Sx "Specifying messages" ) ,
1178 will display all unread messages,
1183 will type the messages 1 and 5,
1185 will type the messages 1 through 5, and
1189 will display the last and the next message, respectively.
1192 (a more substantial alias for
1194 will display a header summary of the given message specification list
1195 instead of their content, e.g., the following will search for subjects:
1198 .Dl from "'@Some subject to search for'"
1201 In the default setup all header fields of a message will be
1203 d, but fields can be white- or blacklisted for a variety of
1204 applications by using the command
1206 e.g., to restrict display to a very restricted set:
1207 .Ql Ic \:headerpick Cd \:type retain add Ar \:from to cc subject .
1208 In order to display all header fields of a message regardless of
1209 currently active ignore or retain lists, use the commands
1213 Note that historically the global
1215 not only adjusts the list of displayed headers, but also sets
1219 Dependent upon the configuration a line editor (see the section
1220 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
1221 aims at making user experience with the many
1224 When reading the system
1230 specified a mailbox explicitly prefixed with the special
1232 modifier (propagating the mailbox to a
1234 .Sx "primary system mailbox" ) ,
1235 then messages which have been read will be moved to a
1237 .Sx "secondary mailbox" ,
1240 file, automatically when the mailbox is left, either by changing the
1241 active mailbox or by quitting \*(UA (also see
1242 .Sx "Message states" )
1243 \(en this automatic moving from a system or primary to the secondary
1244 mailbox is not performed when the variable
1249 After examining a message the user can also
1253 to the sender and all recipients or
1255 exclusively to the sender(s).
1256 Messages can also be
1258 ed (shorter alias is
1260 Note that when replying to or forwarding a message recipient addresses
1261 will be stripped from comments and names unless the internal variable
1264 Deletion causes \*(UA to forget about the message;
1265 This is not irreversible, though, one can
1267 the message by giving its number,
1268 or the \*(UA session can be ended by giving the
1273 To end a mail processing session one may either issue
1275 to cause a full program exit, which possibly includes
1276 automatic moving of read messages to
1278 as well as updating the \*(OPal line editor
1282 instead in order to prevent any of these actions.
1285 .\" .Ss "HTML mail and MIME attachments" {{{
1286 .Ss "HTML mail and MIME attachments"
1288 Messages which are HTML-only get more and more common and of course many
1289 messages come bundled with a bouquet of MIME attachments.
1290 Whereas \*(UA \*(OPally supports a simple HTML-to-text converter to deal
1291 with HTML messages (see
1292 .Sx "The mime.types files" ) ,
1293 it normally cannot deal with any of these itself, but instead programs
1294 need to become registered to deal with specific MIME types or file
1296 These programs may either prepare plain text versions of their input
1297 in order to enable \*(UA to display the content on the terminal,
1298 or display the content themselves, for example in a graphical window.
1301 To install an external handler program for a specific MIME type set an
1303 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
1304 variable; to instead define a handler for a specific file extension set
1307 variable \(en these handlers take precedence.
1308 \*(OPally \*(UA supports mail user agent configuration as defined in
1309 RFC 1524; this mechanism, documented in the section
1310 .Sx "The Mailcap files" ,
1311 will be queried for display or quote handlers if none of the former two
1312 .\" TODO v15-compat "will be" -> "is"
1313 did; it will be the sole source for handlers of other purpose.
1314 A last source for handlers may be the MIME type definition itself, if
1315 the \*(UA specific type-marker extension was used when defining the type
1318 (Many of the builtin MIME types do so by default.)
1322 .Va mime-counter-evidence
1323 can be set to improve dealing with faulty MIME part declarations as are
1324 often seen in real-life messages.
1325 E.g., to display a HTML message inline (that is, converted to a more
1326 fancy plain text representation than the builtin converter is capable to
1327 produce) with either of the text-mode browsers
1331 teach \*(UA about MathML documents and make it display them as plain
1332 text, and to open PDF attachments in an external PDF viewer,
1333 asynchronously and with some other magic attached:
1335 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1336 if [ "$features" !@ +filter-html-tagsoup ]
1337 #set pipe-text/html='elinks -force-html -dump 1'
1338 set pipe-text/html='lynx -stdin -dump -force_html'
1339 # Display HTML as plain text instead
1340 #set pipe-text/html=@
1342 mimetype '@ application/mathml+xml mathml'
1343 wysh set pipe-application/pdf='@&=@ \e
1344 trap "rm -f \e"${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}\e"" EXIT;\e
1345 trap "trap \e"\e" INT QUIT TERM; exit 1" INT QUIT TERM;\e
1346 mupdf "${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}"'
1350 Note: special care must be taken when using such commands as mail
1351 viruses may be distributed by this method: if messages of type
1352 .Ql application/x-sh
1353 or files with the extension
1355 were blindly filtered through the shell, for example, a message sender
1356 could easily execute arbitrary code on the system \*(UA is running on.
1357 For more on MIME, also in respect to sending of messages, see the
1359 .Sx "The mime.types files" ,
1360 .Sx "The Mailcap files"
1365 .\" .Ss "Mailing lists" {{{
1368 \*(UA offers some support to ease handling of mailing lists.
1371 promotes all given arguments to known mailing lists, and
1373 sets their subscription attribute, creating them first as necessary.
1378 automatically, but only resets the subscription attribute.)
1379 Using the commands without arguments will show (a subset of) all
1380 currently defined mailing lists.
1385 can be used to mark out messages with configured list addresses
1386 in the header display.
1389 \*(OPally mailing lists may also be specified as (extended) regular
1390 expressions, which allows matching of many addresses with a single
1392 However, all fully qualified list addresses are matched via a fast
1393 dictionary, whereas expressions are placed in (a) list(s) which is
1394 (are) matched sequentially.
1396 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1397 set followup-to followup-to-honour=ask-yes reply-to-honour=ask-yes
1398 wysh mlist a1@b1.c1 a2@b2.c2 '.*@lists\e.c3$'
1399 mlsubscribe a4@b4.c4 exact@lists.c3
1404 .Va followup-to-honour
1406 .Ql Mail-\:Followup-\:To:
1407 header is honoured when the message is being replied to (via
1413 controls whether this header is created when sending mails; it will be
1414 created automatically for a couple of reasons, too, like when the
1416 .Dq mailing list specific
1421 is used to respond to a message with its
1422 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
1426 A difference in between the handling of known and subscribed lists is
1427 that the address of the sender is usually not part of a generated
1428 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
1429 when addressing the latter, whereas it is for the former kind of lists.
1430 Usually because there are exceptions: say, if multiple lists are
1431 addressed and not all of them are subscribed lists.
1433 For convenience \*(UA will, temporarily, automatically add a list
1434 address that is presented in the
1436 header of a message that is being responded to to the list of known
1438 Shall that header have existed \*(UA will instead, dependent on the
1440 .Va reply-to-honour ,
1443 for this purpose in order to accept a list administrators' wish that
1444 is supposed to have been manifested like that (but only if it provides
1445 a single address which resides on the same domain as what is stated in
1449 .\" .Ss "Resource files" {{{
1450 .Ss "Resource files"
1452 Upon startup \*(UA reads in several resource files:
1454 .Bl -tag -width ".It Pa BaNg"
1457 System wide initialization file.
1458 Reading of this file can be suppressed, either by using the
1460 (and according argument) or
1462 command line options, or by setting the
1465 .Ev MAILX_NO_SYSTEM_RC .
1469 File giving initial commands.
1470 A different file can be chosen by setting the
1474 Reading of this file can be suppressed with the
1476 command line option.
1478 .It Va mailx-extra-rc
1479 Can be used to define an optional startup file to be read after all
1480 other resource files.
1481 It can be used to specify settings that are not understood by other
1483 implementations, for example.
1484 This variable is only honoured when defined in a resource file, e.g.,
1486 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" .
1490 The content of these files is interpreted as follows:
1493 .Bl -bullet -compact
1495 A lines' leading whitespace is removed.
1497 Empty lines are ignored.
1499 Any other line is interpreted as a command.
1500 It may be spread over multiple input lines if the newline character is
1502 by placing a reverse solidus character
1504 as the last character of the line; whereas any leading whitespace of
1505 follow lines is ignored, trailing whitespace before a escaped newline
1506 remains in the input.
1508 If the line (content) starts with the number sign
1510 then it is a comment-command \(en a real command! \(en and also ignored.
1511 This command is the only form of comment that is understood.
1515 Unless \*(UA is about to enter interactive mode syntax errors that occur
1516 while loading these files are treated as errors and cause program exit.
1517 More files with syntactically equal content can be
1519 The following, saved in a file, would be an examplary content:
1521 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1522 # This line is a comment command. And y\e
1523 es, it is really continued here.
1530 .\" .Ss "Character sets" {{{
1531 .Ss "Character sets"
1533 \*(OP \*(UA detects the character set of the terminal by using
1534 mechanisms that are controlled by the
1539 should give an overview); the \*(UA internal variable
1541 will be set to the detected terminal character set accordingly
1542 and will thus show up in the output of the commands
1548 However, a user supplied
1550 value is not overwritten by this detection mechanism: this
1552 must be used if the detection does not work properly,
1553 and it may be used to adjust the name of the locale character set.
1554 E.g., on BSD systems one may use a locale with the character set
1555 ISO8859-1, which is not a valid name for this character set; to be on
1556 the safe side, one may set
1558 to the correct name, which is ISO-8859-1.
1561 Note that changing the value does not mean much beside that,
1562 since several aspects of the real character set are implied by the
1563 locale environment of the system,
1564 and that stays unaffected by the content of an overwritten
1567 (This is mostly an issue when interactively using \*(UA, though.
1568 It is actually possible to send mail in a completely
1570 locale environment, an option that \*(UA's test-suite uses excessively.)
1573 If no character set conversion capabilities have been compiled into
1576 does not include the term
1580 will be the only supported character set,
1581 it is simply assumed that it can be used to exchange 8-bit messages
1582 (over the wire an intermediate
1583 .Pf content-transfer-\: Va encoding
1585 and the rest of this section does not apply;
1586 it may however still be necessary to explicitly set it if automatic
1587 detection fails, since in that case it defaults to the mentioned
1588 .\" (Keep in SYNC: ./nail.1:"Character sets", ./nail.h:CHARSET_*!)
1592 When reading messages, their text is converted into
1594 as necessary in order to display them on the users terminal.
1595 Unprintable characters and invalid byte sequences are detected
1596 and replaced by proper substitution characters.
1597 Character set mappings for source character sets can be established with
1600 which may be handy to work around faulty character set catalogues (e.g.,
1601 to add a missing LATIN1 to ISO-8859-1 mapping), or to enforce treatment
1602 of one character set as another one (e.g., to interpret LATIN1 as CP1252).
1604 .Va charset-unknown-8bit
1605 to deal with another hairy aspect of message interpretation.
1608 When sending messages all their parts and attachments are classified.
1609 Whereas no character set conversion is performed on those parts which
1610 appear to be binary data,
1611 the character set being used must be declared within the MIME header of
1612 an outgoing text part if it contains characters that do not conform to
1613 the set of characters that are allowed by the email standards.
1614 Permissible values for character sets can be declared using the
1618 which defines a catch-all last-resort fallback character set that is
1619 implicitly appended to the list of character sets in
1623 When replying to a message and the variable
1624 .Va reply-in-same-charset
1625 is set then the character set of the message being replied to is tried
1626 first (after mapping via
1627 .Ic charsetalias ) .
1628 And it is also possible to make \*(UA work even more closely related to
1629 the current locale setting automatically by using the variable
1630 .Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset ,
1631 please see there for more information.
1634 All the specified character sets are tried in order unless the
1635 conversion of the part or attachment succeeds.
1636 If none of the tried (8-bit) character sets is capable to represent the
1637 content of the part or attachment,
1638 then the message will not be sent and its text will optionally be
1642 In general, if the message
1643 .Dq Cannot convert from a to b
1644 appears, either some characters are not appropriate for the currently
1645 selected (terminal) character set,
1646 or the needed conversion is not supported by the system.
1647 In the first case, it is necessary to set an appropriate
1649 locale and/or the variable
1653 The best results are usually achieved when \*(UA is run in a UTF-8
1654 locale on a UTF-8 capable terminal, in which case the full Unicode
1655 spectrum of characters is available.
1656 In this setup characters from various countries can be displayed,
1657 while it is still possible to use more simple character sets for sending
1658 to retain maximum compatibility with older mail clients.
1661 On the other hand the POSIX standard defines a locale-independent 7-bit
1662 .Dq portable character set
1663 that should be used when overall portability is an issue, the even more
1664 restricted subset named
1665 .Dq portable filename character set
1666 consisting of A-Z, a-z, 0-9, period
1674 .\" .Ss "Message states" {{{
1675 .Ss "Message states"
1677 \*(UA differentiates in between several different message states;
1678 the current state will be reflected in header summary displays if
1680 is configured to do so (via the internal variable
1682 and messages can also be selected and be acted upon depending on their
1684 .Sx "Specifying messages" ) .
1685 When operating on the system
1689 .Sx "primary system mailbox" ,
1690 special actions, like the automatic moving of messages to the
1692 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
1694 may be applied when the mailbox is left (also implicitly via
1695 a successful exit of \*(UA, but not if the special command
1697 is used) \(en however, because this may be irritating to users which
1700 mail-user-agents, the default global
1706 variables in order to suppress this behaviour.
1708 .Bl -hang -width ".It Ql new"
1710 Message has neither been viewed nor moved to any other state.
1711 Such messages are retained even in the
1713 .Sx "primary system mailbox" .
1716 Message has neither been viewed nor moved to any other state, but the
1717 message was present already when the mailbox has been opened last:
1718 Such messages are retained even in the
1720 .Sx "primary system mailbox" .
1723 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
1742 will always try to automatically
1748 logical message, and may thus mark multiple messages as read, the
1750 command will do so if the internal variable
1755 command is used, messages that are in a
1757 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
1760 state when the mailbox is left will be saved in
1762 unless the internal variable
1767 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
1773 can be used to access such messages.
1776 The message has been processed by a
1778 command and it will be retained in its current location.
1781 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
1787 command is used, messages that are in a
1789 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
1792 state when the mailbox is left will be deleted; they will be saved in
1794 when the internal variable
1800 In addition to these message states, flags which otherwise have no
1801 technical meaning in the mail system except allowing special ways of
1802 addressing them when
1803 .Sx "Specifying messages"
1804 can be set on messages.
1805 These flags are saved with messages and are thus persistent, and are
1806 portable between a set of widely used MUAs.
1808 .Bl -hang -width ".It Ic answered"
1810 Mark messages as having been answered.
1812 Mark messages as being a draft.
1814 Mark messages which need special attention.
1818 .\" .Ss "Specifying messages" {{{
1819 .Ss "Specifying messages"
1826 can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply to a number
1827 of messages at once.
1830 deletes messages 1 and 2,
1833 will delete the messages 1 through 5.
1834 In sorted or threaded mode (see the
1838 will delete the messages that are located between (and including)
1839 messages 1 through 5 in the sorted/threaded order, as shown in the
1842 The following special message names exist:
1845 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ar BaNg"
1847 The current message, the so-called
1851 The message that was previously the current message.
1854 The parent message of the current message,
1855 that is the message with the Message-ID given in the
1857 field or the last entry of the
1859 field of the current message.
1862 The next previous undeleted message,
1863 or the next previous deleted message for the
1866 In sorted/threaded mode,
1867 the next previous such message in the sorted/threaded order.
1870 The next undeleted message,
1871 or the next deleted message for the
1874 In sorted/threaded mode,
1875 the next such message in the sorted/threaded order.
1878 The first undeleted message,
1879 or the first deleted message for the
1882 In sorted/threaded mode,
1883 the first such message in the sorted/threaded order.
1887 In sorted/threaded mode,
1888 the last message in the sorted/threaded order.
1892 selects the message addressed with
1896 is any other message specification,
1897 and all messages from the thread that begins at it.
1898 Otherwise it is identical to
1903 the thread beginning with the current message is selected.
1908 All messages that were included in the
1909 .Sx "Message list arguments"
1910 of the previous command.
1913 An inclusive range of message numbers.
1914 Selectors that may also be used as endpoints include any of
1919 .Dq any substring matches
1922 header, which will match addresses (too) even if
1924 is set (and POSIX says
1925 .Dq any address as shown in a header summary shall be matchable in this form ) ;
1928 variable is set, only the local part of the address is evaluated
1929 for the comparison, not ignoring case, and the setting of
1931 is completely ignored.
1932 For finer control and match boundaries use the
1936 .It Ar / Ns Ar string
1937 All messages that contain
1939 in the subject field (case ignored).
1946 the string from the previous specification of that type is used again.
1948 .It Xo Op Ar @ Ns Ar name-list Ns
1951 All messages that contain the given case-insensitive search
1953 ession; if the \*(OPal regular expression (see
1955 support is available
1957 will be interpreted as (an extended) one if any of the
1959 (extended) regular expression characters is seen: in this case this
1960 should match strings correctly which are in the locale
1964 .Ar @ Ns Ar name-list
1965 part is missing, the search is restricted to the subject field body,
1968 specifies a comma-separated list of header fields to search, as in
1970 .Dl '@to,from,cc@Someone i ought to know'
1972 In order to search for a string that includes a
1974 (commercial at) character the
1976 is effectively non-optional, but may be given as the empty string.
1977 Some special header fields may be abbreviated:
1991 respectively and case-insensitively.
1996 can be used to search in (all of) the header(s) of the message, and the
2005 can be used to perform full text searches \(en whereas the former
2006 searches only the body, the latter also searches the message header.
2008 This message specification performs full text comparison, but even with
2009 regular expression support it is almost impossible to write a search
2010 expression that savely matches only a specific address domain.
2011 To request that the content of the header is treated as a list of
2012 addresses, and to strip those down to the plain email address which the
2013 search expression is to be matched against, prefix the header name
2014 (abbreviation) with a tilde
2017 .Dl @~f@@a\e.safe\e.domain\e.match$
2020 All messages of state
2024 is one or multiple of the following colon modifiers:
2026 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar :M"
2031 Old messages (any not in state
2053 messages (cf. the variable
2054 .Va markanswered ) .
2059 \*(OP Messages classified as spam (see
2060 .Sx "Handling spam" . )
2062 \*(OP Messages with unsure spam classification.
2068 \*(OP IMAP-style SEARCH expressions may also be used.
2069 This addressing mode is available with all types of folders;
2070 \*(UA will perform the search locally as necessary.
2071 Strings must be enclosed by double quotes
2073 in their entirety if they contain white space or parentheses;
2074 within the quotes, only reverse solidus
2076 is recognized as an escape character.
2077 All string searches are case-insensitive.
2078 When the description indicates that the
2080 representation of an address field is used,
2081 this means that the search string is checked against both a list
2084 .Bd -literal -offset indent
2085 (\*qname\*q \*qsource\*q \*qlocal-part\*q \*qdomain-part\*q)
2090 and the addresses without real names from the respective header field.
2091 These search expressions can be nested using parentheses, see below for
2095 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar _n_u"
2096 .It Ar ( criterion )
2097 All messages that satisfy the given
2099 .It Ar ( criterion1 criterion2 ... criterionN )
2100 All messages that satisfy all of the given criteria.
2102 .It Ar ( or criterion1 criterion2 )
2103 All messages that satisfy either
2108 To connect more than two criteria using
2110 specifications have to be nested using additional parentheses,
2112 .Ql (or a (or b c)) ,
2116 .Ql ((a or b) and c) .
2119 operation of independent criteria on the lowest nesting level,
2120 it is possible to achieve similar effects by using three separate
2124 .It Ar ( not criterion )
2125 All messages that do not satisfy
2127 .It Ar ( bcc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2128 All messages that contain
2130 in the envelope representation of the
2133 .It Ar ( cc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2134 All messages that contain
2136 in the envelope representation of the
2139 .It Ar ( from \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2140 All messages that contain
2142 in the envelope representation of the
2145 .It Ar ( subject \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2146 All messages that contain
2151 .It Ar ( to \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2152 All messages that contain
2154 in the envelope representation of the
2157 .It Ar ( header name \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2158 All messages that contain
2163 .It Ar ( body \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2164 All messages that contain
2167 .It Ar ( text \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2168 All messages that contain
2170 in their header or body.
2171 .It Ar ( larger size )
2172 All messages that are larger than
2175 .It Ar ( smaller size )
2176 All messages that are smaller than
2180 .It Ar ( before date )
2181 All messages that were received before
2183 which must be in the form
2187 denotes the day of the month as one or two digits,
2189 is the name of the month \(en one of
2190 .Ql Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec ,
2193 is the year as four digits, e.g.,
2197 All messages that were received on the specified date.
2198 .It Ar ( since date )
2199 All messages that were received since the specified date.
2200 .It Ar ( sentbefore date )
2201 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
2202 .It Ar ( senton date )
2203 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
2204 .It Ar ( sentsince date )
2205 All messages that were sent since the specified date.
2207 The same criterion as for the previous search.
2208 This specification cannot be used as part of another criterion.
2209 If the previous command line contained more than one independent
2210 criterion then the last of those criteria is used.
2214 .\" .Ss "On URL syntax and credential lookup" {{{
2215 .Ss "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
2217 \*(IN For accessing protocol-specific resources usage of Uniform
2218 Resource Locators (URL, RFC 1738) has become omnipresent.
2219 \*(UA expects and understands URLs in the following form;
2222 denote optional parts, optional either because there also exist other
2223 ways to define the information in question or because support of the
2224 part is protocol-specific (e.g.,
2226 is used by the IMAP protocol but not by POP3);
2231 are specified they must be given in URL percent encoded form (RFC 3986;
2237 .Dl PROTOCOL://[USER[:PASSWORD]@]server[:port][/path]
2240 Note that these \*(UA URLs most often do not conform to any real
2241 standard, but instead represent a normalized variant of RFC 1738 \(en
2242 they are not used in data exchange but only meant as a compact,
2243 easy-to-use way of defining and representing information in
2244 a well-known notation.
2247 Many internal variables of \*(UA exist in multiple versions, called
2248 variable chains for the rest of this document: the plain
2253 .Ql variable-USER@HOST .
2260 had been specified in the respective URL, otherwise it refers to the plain
2266 that had been found when doing the user chain lookup as is described
2269 will never be in URL percent encoded form, whether it came from an URL
2270 or not; i.e., variable chain name extensions of
2271 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
2272 must not be URL percent encoded.
2275 For example, whether an hypothetical URL
2276 .Ql smtp://hey%3Ayou@our.house
2277 had been given that includes a user, or whether the URL was
2278 .Ql smtp://our.house
2279 and the user had been found differently, to lookup the variable chain
2280 .Va smtp-use-starttls
2281 \*(UA first looks for whether
2282 .Ql smtp-\:use-\:starttls-\:hey:you@our.house
2283 is defined, then whether
2284 .Ql smtp-\:use-\:starttls-\:our.house
2285 exists before finally ending up looking at the plain variable itself.
2288 \*(UA obeys the following logic scheme when dealing with the
2289 necessary credential information of an account:
2295 has been given in the URL the variables
2299 are looked up; if no such variable(s) can be found then \*(UA will,
2300 when enforced by the \*(OPal variables
2301 .Va netrc-lookup-HOST
2308 specific entry which provides a
2310 name: this lookup will only succeed if unambiguous (one possible matching
2313 It is possible to load encrypted
2318 If there is still no
2320 then \*(UA will fall back to the user who is supposed to run \*(UA,
2321 the identity of which has been fixated during \*(UA startup and is
2322 known to be a valid user on the current host.
2325 Authentication: unless otherwise noted this will lookup the
2326 .Va PROTOCOL-auth-USER@HOST , PROTOCOL-auth-HOST , PROTOCOL-auth
2327 variable chain, falling back to a protocol-specific default should this
2333 has been given in the URL, then if the
2335 has been found through the \*(OPal
2337 that may have already provided the password, too.
2338 Otherwise the variable chain
2339 .Va password-USER@HOST , password-HOST , password
2340 is looked up and used if existent.
2342 Afterwards the complete \*(OPal variable chain
2343 .Va netrc-lookup-USER@HOST , netrc-lookup-HOST , netrc-lookup
2347 cache is searched for a password only (multiple user accounts for
2348 a single machine may exist as well as a fallback entry without user
2349 but with a password).
2351 If at that point there is still no password available, but the
2352 (protocols') chosen authentication type requires a password, then in
2353 interactive mode the user will be prompted on the terminal.
2358 S/MIME verification works relative to the values found in the
2362 header field(s), which means that the values of
2363 .Va smime-sign , smime-sign-cert , smime-sign-include-certs
2365 .Va smime-sign-message-digest
2366 will not be looked up using the
2370 chains from above but instead use the corresponding values from the
2371 message that is being worked on.
2372 In unusual cases multiple and different
2376 combinations may therefore be involved \(en on the other hand those
2377 unusual cases become possible.
2378 The usual case is as short as:
2381 .Dl set mta=smtp://USER:PASS@HOST smtp-use-starttls \e
2382 .Dl \ \ \ \ smime-sign smime-sign-cert=+smime.pair
2387 contains complete example configurations.
2390 .\" .Ss "On terminal control and line editor" {{{
2391 .Ss "On terminal control and line editor"
2393 \*(OP Terminal control will be realized through one of the standard
2395 libraries, either the
2397 or, alternatively, the
2399 both of which will be initialized to work with the environment variable
2401 Terminal control will enhance or enable interactive usage aspects, e.g.,
2402 .Sx "Coloured display" ,
2403 and extend behaviour of the Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE), which may learn the
2404 byte-sequences of keys like the cursor and function keys, and which will
2405 automatically enter the so-called
2407 alternative screen shall the terminal support it.
2408 The internal variable
2410 can be used to overwrite settings or to learn (correct(ed)) keycodes.
2411 Actual interaction with the chosen library can be disabled completely by
2412 setting the internal variable
2413 .Va termcap-disable ;
2415 will be queried regardless, even if the \*(OPal support for the
2416 libraries has not been enabled at configuration time.
2419 \*(OP The builtin \*(UA Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE) should work in all
2420 environments which comply to the ISO C standard
2422 and will support wide glyphs if possible (the necessary functionality
2423 had been removed from ISO C, but was included in
2425 Prevent usage of a line editor in interactive mode by setting the
2427 .Va line-editor-disable .
2428 Especially if the \*(OPal terminal control support is missing setting
2429 entries in the internal variable
2431 will help shall the MLE misbehave, see there for more.
2432 The MLE can support a little bit of
2438 feature is available then input from line editor prompts will be saved
2439 in a history list that can be searched in and be expanded from.
2440 Such saving can be prevented by prefixing input with any amount of
2442 Aspects of history, like allowed content and maximum size, as well as
2443 whether history shall be saved persistently, can be configured with the
2447 .Va history-gabby-persist
2452 The MLE supports a set of editing and control commands.
2453 By default (as) many (as possible) of these will be assigned to a set of
2454 single-letter control codes, which should work on any terminal (and can
2455 be generated by holding the
2457 key while pressing the key of desire, e.g.,
2461 command is available then the MLE commands can also be accessed freely
2462 by assigning the command name, which is shown in parenthesis in the list
2463 below, to any desired key-sequence, and the MLE will instead and also use
2465 to establish its builtin key bindings
2466 (more of them if the \*(OPal terminal control is available),
2467 an action which can then be suppressed completely by setting
2468 .Va line-editor-no-defaults .
2469 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
2470 notation is used in the following;
2471 combinations not mentioned either cause job control signals or do not
2472 generate a (unique) keycode:
2476 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql Ba"
2478 Go to the start of the line
2480 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-home ) .
2483 Move the cursor backward one character
2485 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-bwd ) .
2488 Forward delete the character under the cursor;
2489 quits \*(UA if used on the empty line unless the internal variable
2493 .Pf ( Cd mle-del-fwd ) .
2496 Go to the end of the line
2498 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-end ) .
2501 Move the cursor forward one character
2503 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-fwd ) .
2506 Cancel current operation, full reset.
2507 If there is an active history search or tabulator expansion then this
2508 command will first reset that, reverting to the former line content;
2509 thus a second reset is needed for a full reset in this case
2511 .Pf ( Cd mle-reset ) .
2514 Backspace: backward delete one character
2516 .Pf ( Cd mle-del-bwd ) .
2520 Horizontal tabulator:
2521 try to expand the word before the cursor, supporting the usual
2522 .Sx "Filename transformations"
2524 .Pf ( Cd mle-complete ) .
2526 .Cd mle-quote-rndtrip .
2530 commit the current line
2532 .Pf ( Cd mle-commit ) .
2535 Cut all characters from the cursor to the end of the line
2537 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-end ) .
2542 .Pf ( Cd mle-repaint ) .
2545 \*(OP Go to the next history entry
2547 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-fwd ) .
2550 (\*(OPally context-dependent) Invokes the command
2554 \*(OP Go to the previous history entry
2556 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-bwd ) .
2559 Toggle roundtrip mode shell quotes, where produced,
2562 .Pf ( Cd mle-quote-rndtrip ) .
2563 This setting is temporary, and will be forgotten once the command line
2564 is committed; also see
2568 \*(OP Complete the current line from (the remaining) older history entries
2570 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-srch-bwd ) .
2573 \*(OP Complete the current line from (the remaining) newer history entries
2575 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-srch-fwd ) .
2578 Paste the snarf buffer
2580 .Pf ( Cd mle-paste ) .
2588 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-line ) .
2591 Prompts for a Unicode character (its hexadecimal number) to be inserted
2593 .Pf ( Cd mle-prompt-char ) .
2594 Note this command needs to be assigned to a single-letter control code
2595 in order to become recognized and executed during input of
2596 a key-sequence (only three single-letter control codes can be used for
2597 that shortcut purpose); this control code is special-treated and cannot
2598 be part of any other sequence, because any occurrence will perform the
2600 function immediately.
2603 Cut the characters from the one preceding the cursor to the preceding
2606 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-word-bwd ) .
2609 Move the cursor forward one word boundary
2611 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-word-fwd ) .
2614 Move the cursor backward one word boundary
2616 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-word-bwd ) .
2619 Escape: reset a possibly used multibyte character input state machine
2620 and \*(OPally a lingering, incomplete key binding
2622 .Pf ( Cd mle-cancel ) .
2623 This command needs to be assigned to a single-letter control code in
2624 order to become recognized and executed during input of a key-sequence
2625 (only three single-letter control codes can be used for that shortcut
2627 This control code may also be part of a multi-byte sequence, but if
2628 a sequence is active and the very control code is currently also an
2629 expected input, then it will first be consumed by the active sequence.
2632 (\*(OPally context-dependent) Invokes the command
2636 (\*(OPally context-dependent) Invokes the command
2640 (\*(OPally context-dependent) Invokes the command
2644 Cut the characters from the one after the cursor to the succeeding word
2647 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-word-fwd ) .
2658 this will immediately reset a possibly active search etc.
2663 ring the audible bell.
2667 .\" .Ss "Coloured display" {{{
2668 .Ss "Coloured display"
2670 \*(OP \*(UA can be configured to support a coloured display and font
2671 attributes by emitting ANSI / ISO 6429 SGR (select graphic rendition)
2673 Usage of colours and font attributes solely depends upon the
2674 capability of the detected terminal type that is defined by the
2675 environment variable
2677 and which can be fine-tuned by the user via the internal variable
2681 On top of what \*(UA knows about the terminal the boolean variable
2683 defines whether the actually applicable colour and font attribute
2684 sequences should also be generated when output is going to be paged
2685 through the external program defined by the environment variable
2690 This is not enabled by default because different pager programs need
2691 different command line switches or other configuration in order to
2692 support those sequences.
2693 \*(UA however knows about some widely used pagers and in a clean
2694 environment it is often enough to simply set
2696 please refer to that variable for more on this topic.
2701 is set then any active usage of colour and font attribute sequences
2702 is suppressed, but without affecting possibly established
2707 To define and control colours and font attributes a single multiplexer
2708 command family exists:
2710 shows or defines colour mappings for the given colour type (e.g.,
2713 can be used to remove mappings of a given colour type.
2714 Since colours are only available in interactive mode, it may make
2715 sense to conditionalize the colour setup by encapsulating it with
2718 .Bd -literal -offset indent
2719 if terminal && $features =@ +colour
2720 colour iso view-msginfo ft=bold,fg=green
2721 colour iso view-header ft=bold,fg=red "from,subject"
2722 colour iso view-header fg=red
2724 uncolour iso view-header from,subject
2725 colour iso view-header ft=bold,fg=magenta,bg=cyan
2726 colour 256 view-header ft=bold,fg=208,bg=230 subject,from
2727 colour mono view-header ft=bold
2728 colour mono view-header ft=bold,ft=reverse subject,from
2732 .\" }}} (DESCRIPTION)
2735 .\" .Sh COMMANDS {{{
2738 Each command is typed on a line by itself,
2739 and may take arguments following the command word.
2740 An unquoted reverse solidus
2742 at the end of a command line
2744 the newline character: it is discarded and the next line of input is
2745 used as a follow-up line, with all leading whitespace removed;
2746 once the entire command line is completed, the processing that is
2747 documented in the following begins.
2750 Command names may be abbreviated, in which case the first command that
2751 matches the given prefix will be used.
2754 can be used to show the list of all commands, either alphabetically
2755 sorted or in prefix search order (these do not match, also because the
2756 POSIX standard prescribes a set of abbreviations).
2757 \*(OPally the command
2761 when given an argument, will show a documentation string for the
2762 command matching the expanded argument, as in
2764 which should be a shorthand of
2766 with these documentation strings both commands support a more
2768 listing mode which includes the argument type of the command and other
2769 information which applies; a handy suggestion might thus be:
2771 .Bd -literal -offset indent
2773 # Be careful to choose sh(1)ell-style on _entire_ line!
2774 localopts 1;wysh set verbose;ignerr eval "${@}";return ${?}
2776 ? ghost xv '\ecall __xv'
2780 .\" .Ss "Command modifiers" {{{
2781 .Ss "Command modifiers"
2783 Commands may be prefixed by one or multiple command modifiers.
2788 The modifier reverse solidus
2791 to be placed first, prevents
2793 expansions on the remains of the line, e.g.,
2795 will always evaluate the command
2797 even if a ghost of the same name exists.
2799 content may itself contain further command modifiers, including
2800 an initial reverse solidus to prevent further expansions.
2806 indicates that any error generated by the following command should be
2807 ignored by the state machine, via, e.g.,
2808 .Va batch-exit-on-error .
2811 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
2812 will be set to the real exit status of the command regardless.
2815 Some commands support the
2818 modifier: if used, they expect the name of a variable, which can itself
2819 be a variable, i.e., shell expansion is applied, as their first
2820 argument, and will place their computation result in it instead of the
2821 default location (it is usually written to standard output).
2822 The given name will be tested for being a valid
2824 variable name, and may therefore only consist of upper- and lowercase
2825 characters, digits, and the underscore; the hyphen-minus may be used as
2826 a non-portable extension; digits may not be used as first, hyphen-minus
2827 may not be used as last characters.
2828 In addition the name may either not be one of the known
2829 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
2830 or must otherwise refer to a writable (non-boolean) value variable.
2831 It is a hard error that is tracked in
2833 if any of these tests fail.
2834 The actual put operation may fail nonetheless, e.g., if the variable
2835 expects a number argument only a number will be accepted.
2836 Some commands may report this as a hard failure in
2838 but most will use the soft exit status
2840 to indicate these failures.
2843 Last, but not least, the modifier
2846 can be used for some old and established commands to choose the new
2847 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
2848 rules over the traditional
2849 .Sx "Old-style argument quoting" .
2853 .\" .Ss "Message list arguments" {{{
2854 .Ss "Message list arguments"
2856 Some commands expect arguments that represent messages (actually
2857 their symbolic message numbers), as has been documented above under
2858 .Sx "Specifying messages"
2860 If no explicit message list has been specified, the next message
2861 forward that satisfies the command's requirements will be used,
2862 and if there are no messages forward of the current message,
2863 the search proceeds backwards;
2864 if there are no good messages at all to be found, an error message is
2865 shown and the command is aborted.
2868 .\" .Ss "Old-style argument quoting" {{{
2869 .Ss "Old-style argument quoting"
2871 \*(ID This section documents the old, traditional style of quoting
2872 non-message-list arguments to commands which expect this type of
2873 arguments: whereas still used by the majority of such commands, the new
2874 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
2875 may be available even for those via
2878 .Sx "Command modifiers" .
2879 Nonetheless care must be taken, because only new commands have been
2880 designed with all the capabilities of the new quoting rules in mind,
2881 which can, e.g., generate control characters.
2884 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
2886 An argument can be enclosed between paired double-quotes
2891 any white space, shell word expansion, or reverse solidus characters
2892 (except as described next) within the quotes are treated literally as
2893 part of the argument.
2894 A double-quote will be treated literally within single-quotes and vice
2896 Inside such a quoted string the actually used quote character can be
2897 used nonetheless by escaping it with a reverse solidus
2903 An argument that is not enclosed in quotes, as above, can usually still
2904 contain space characters if those spaces are reverse solidus escaped, as in
2908 A reverse solidus outside of the enclosing quotes is discarded
2909 and the following character is treated literally as part of the argument.
2913 .\" .Ss "Shell-style argument quoting" {{{
2914 .Ss "Shell-style argument quoting"
2916 Commands which don't expect message-list arguments use
2918 ell-style, and therefore POSIX standardized, argument parsing and
2920 \*(ID Most new commands only support these new rules and are flagged
2921 \*(NQ, some elder ones can use them with the command modifier
2923 in the future only this type of argument quoting will remain.
2926 A command line is parsed from left to right and an input token is
2927 completed whenever an unquoted, otherwise ignored, metacharacter is seen.
2928 Metacharacters are vertical bar
2935 .Cm space , tabulator , newline .
2936 The additional metacharacters left and right parenthesis
2938 and less-than and greater-than signs
2942 supports are not used, and are treated as ordinary characters: for one
2943 these characters are a vivid part of email addresses, and it also seems
2944 highly unlikely that their function will become meaningful to \*(UA.
2947 Any unquoted number sign
2949 at the beginning of a new token starts a comment that extends to the end
2950 of the line, and therefore ends argument processing.
2951 An unquoted dollar sign
2953 will cause variable expansion of the given name, which must be a valid
2955 ell-style variable name (see
2957 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
2960 (shell) variables can be accessed through this mechanism, brace
2961 enclosing the name is supported (i.e., to subdivide a token).
2964 Whereas the metacharacters
2965 .Cm space , tabulator , newline
2966 only complete an input token, vertical bar
2972 also act as control operators and perform control functions.
2973 For now supported is semicolon
2975 which terminates a single command, therefore sequencing the command line
2976 and making the remainder of the line a subject to reevaluation.
2977 With sequencing, multiple command argument types and quoting rules may
2978 therefore apply to a single line, which can become problematic before
2979 v15: e.g., the first of the following will cause surprising results.
2982 .Dl ? echo one; set verbose; echo verbose=$verbose.
2983 .Dl ? echo one; wysh set verbose; echo verbose=$verbose.
2986 Quoting is a mechanism that will remove the special meaning of
2987 metacharacters and reserved words, and will prevent expansion.
2988 There are four quoting mechanisms: the escape character, single-quotes,
2989 double-quotes and dollar-single-quotes:
2992 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
2994 The literal value of any character can be preserved by preceding it
2995 with the escape character reverse solidus
2999 Arguments which are enclosed in
3000 .Ql 'single-\:quotes'
3001 retain their literal value.
3002 A single-quote cannot occur within single-quotes.
3005 The literal value of all characters enclosed in
3006 .Ql \(dqdouble-\:quotes\(dq
3007 is retained, with the exception of dollar sign
3009 which will cause variable expansion, as above, backquote (grave accent)
3011 (which not yet means anything special), reverse solidus
3013 which will escape any of the characters dollar sign
3015 (to prevent variable expansion), backquote (grave accent)
3019 (to prevent ending the quote) and reverse solidus
3021 (to prevent escaping, i.e., to embed a reverse solidus character as-is),
3022 but has no special meaning otherwise.
3025 Arguments enclosed in
3026 .Ql $'dollar-\:single-\:quotes'
3027 extend normal single quotes in that reverse solidus escape sequences are
3028 expanded as follows:
3030 .Bl -tag -compact -width "Ql \eNNN"
3036 an escape character.
3038 an escape character.
3050 emits a reverse solidus character.
3054 double quote (escaping is optional).
3056 eight-bit byte with the octal value
3058 (one to three octal digits), optionally prefixed by an additional
3060 A 0 byte will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
3062 eight-bit byte with the hexadecimal value
3064 (one or two hexadecimal characters).
3065 A 0 byte will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
3067 the Unicode / ISO-10646 character with the hexadecimal codepoint value
3069 (one to eight hexadecimal digits) \(em note that Unicode defines the
3070 maximum codepoint ever to be supported as
3075 This escape is only supported in locales which support Unicode (see
3076 .Sx "Character sets" ) ,
3077 in other cases the sequence will remain unexpanded unless the given code
3078 point is ASCII compatible or can be represented in the current locale.
3079 The character NUL will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
3083 except it takes only one to four hexadecimal digits.
3085 Emits the non-printable (ASCII and compatible) C0 control codes
3086 0 (NUL) to 31 (US), and 127 (DEL).
3087 Printable representations of ASCII control codes can be created by
3088 mapping them to a different part of the ASCII character set, which is
3089 possible by adding the number 64 for the codes 0 to 31, e.g., 7 (BEL) is
3090 .Ql 7 + 64 = 71 = G .
3091 The real operation is a bitwise logical XOR with 64 (bit 7 set, see
3093 thus also covering code 127 (DEL), which is mapped to 63 (question mark):
3094 .Ql ? vexpr ^ 127 64 .
3096 Whereas historically circumflex notation has often been used for
3097 visualization purposes of control codes, e.g.,
3099 the reverse solidus notation has been standardized:
3101 Some control codes also have standardized (ISO 10646, ISO C) aliases,
3102 as shown above (e.g.,
3106 whenever such an alias exists it will be used for display purposes.
3107 The control code NUL
3109 a non-standard extension) ends argument processing without producing
3112 Non-standard extension: expand the given variable name, as above.
3113 Brace enclosing the name is supported.
3115 Not yet supported, just to raise awareness: Non-standard extension.
3122 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3123 echo 'Quotes '${HOME}' and 'tokens" differ!"# no comment
3124 echo Quotes ${HOME} and tokens differ! # comment
3125 echo Don"'"t you worry$'\ex21' The sun shines on us. $'\eu263A'
3129 .\" .Ss "Raw data arguments for codec commands" {{{
3130 .Ss "Raw data arguments for codec commands"
3132 A special set of commands, which all have the string
3134 in their name, e.g.,
3138 take raw string data as input, which means that the content of the
3139 command input line is passed completely unexpanded and otherwise
3140 unchanged: like this the effect of the actual codec is visible without
3141 any noise of possible shell quoting rules etc., i.e., the user can input
3142 one-to-one the desired or questionable data.
3143 To gain a level of expansion, the entire command line can be
3147 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3148 ? vput shcodec res encode /usr/Sch\[:o]nes Wetter/heute.txt
3150 $'/usr/Sch\eu00F6nes Wetter/heute.txt'
3152 $'/usr/Sch\eu00F6nes Wetter/heute.txt'
3153 ? eval shcodec d $res
3154 /usr/Sch\[:o]nes Wetter/heute.txt
3158 .\" .Ss "Filename transformations" {{{
3159 .Ss "Filename transformations"
3161 Filenames, where expected, and unless documented otherwise, are
3162 subsequently subject to the following filename transformations, in
3165 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
3167 If the given name is a registered
3169 it will be replaced with the expanded shortcut.
3172 The filename is matched against the following patterns or strings:
3174 .Bl -hang -compact -width ".Ar %user"
3176 (Number sign) is expanded to the previous file.
3178 (Percent sign) is replaced by the invoking
3179 .Mx -ix "primary system mailbox"
3180 user's primary system mailbox, which either is the (itself expandable)
3182 if that is set, the standardized absolute pathname indicated by
3184 if that is set, or a builtin compile-time default otherwise.
3186 Expands to the primary system mailbox of
3188 (and never the value of
3190 regardless of its actual setting).
3192 (Ampersand) is replaced with the invoking users
3193 .Mx -ix "secondary mailbox"
3194 secondary mailbox, the
3201 directory (if that variable is set).
3203 Expands to the same value as
3205 but has special meaning when used with, e.g., the command
3207 the file will be treated as a primary system mailbox by, e.g., the
3211 commands, meaning that messages that have been read in the current
3212 session will be moved to the
3214 mailbox instead of simply being flagged as read.
3218 Meta expansions are applied to the resulting filename, as applicable to
3219 the resulting file access protocol (also see
3220 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ) .
3221 If the fully expanded filename results in multiple pathnames and the
3222 command is expecting only one file, an error results.
3224 For the file-protocol, a leading tilde
3226 character will be replaced by the expansion of
3228 except when followed by a valid user name, in which case the home
3229 directory of the given user is used instead.
3235 will be replaced by the expansion of the variable, if possible;
3236 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
3239 (shell) variables can be accessed through this mechanism, and the usual
3240 escape mechanism has to be applied to prevent interpretation.
3242 In interactive context, in order to allow simple value acceptance (via
3244 arguments will usually be displayed in a properly quoted form, e.g., a file
3245 .Ql diet\e is \ecurd.txt
3247 .Ql 'diet\e is \ecurd.txt' .
3251 .\" .Ss "Commands" {{{
3254 The following commands are available:
3256 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ic BaNg"
3261 command which follows, replacing unescaped exclamation marks with the
3262 previously executed command if the internal variable
3268 The comment-command causes the entire line to be ignored.
3270 this really is a normal command which' purpose is to discard its
3273 indicating special character, which means that, e.g., trailing comments
3274 on a line are not possible.
3278 Goes to the next message in sequence and types it
3284 Display the preceding message, or the n'th previous message if given
3285 a numeric argument n.
3289 Show the current message number (the
3294 Show a brief summary of commands.
3295 \*(OP Given an argument a synopsis for the command in question is
3296 shown instead; commands can be abbreviated in general and this command
3297 can be used to see the full expansion of an abbreviation including the
3298 synopsis, try, e.g.,
3303 and see how the output changes.
3304 This mode also supports a more
3306 output, which will provide the informations documented for
3317 \*(NQ Interprets the remainder of the word as a macro name and passes
3322 is a shorter synonym for
3323 .Ql call Ar mymacro .
3327 (ac) Creates, selects or lists (an) account(s).
3328 Accounts are special incarnations of
3330 macros and group commands and variable settings which together usually
3331 arrange the environment for the purpose of creating an email account.
3332 Different to normal macros settings which are covered by
3334 \(en here by default enabled! \(en will not be reverted before the
3339 (case-insensitive) always exists, and all but it can be deleted via
3342 Without arguments a listing of all defined accounts is shown.
3343 With one argument the given account is activated: the system
3345 of that account will be activated (as via
3347 a possibly installed
3349 will be run, and the internal variable
3352 The two argument form is identical to defining a macro as via
3354 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3356 set folder=~/mail inbox=+syste.mbox record=+sent.mbox
3357 set from='(My Name) myname@myisp.example'
3358 set mta=smtp://mylogin@smtp.myisp.example
3364 Perform email address codec transformations on raw-data argument, rather
3365 according to email standards (RFC 5322; \*(ID will furtherly improve).
3369 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
3370 The return status is tracked via
3372 The first argument must be either
3376 and specifies the operation to perform on the rest of the line.
3377 Decoding will show how a standard-compliant MUA will display the given
3378 argument, which should be a prepared address.
3379 Please be aware that most MUAs have difficulties with the address
3380 standards, and vary wildly when (comments) in parenthesis,
3382 strings, or quoted-pairs, as below, become involved.
3383 \*(ID \*(UA currently does not perform decoding when displaying addresses.
3385 Encoding supports three different modes, lesser automated versions can be
3386 chosen by prefixing one or two plus signs: the standard imposes
3387 a special meaning on some characters, which thus have to be transformed
3388 to so-called quoted-pairs by pairing them with a reverse solidus
3390 in order to remove the special meaning; this might change interpretation
3391 of the entire argument from what has been desired, however!
3392 Specify one plus sign to remark that double quotation marks are not be
3393 turned into quoted-pairs, and two for also leaving any user-specified
3394 reverse solidus alone.
3395 The result will always be valid, if a successful exit status is reported.
3396 \*(ID Addresses need to be specified in between angle brackets
3399 if the construct becomes more difficult, otherwise the current parser
3400 will fail; it is not smart enough to guess right.
3401 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3402 ? addrc enc "Hey, you",<diet@exam.ple>\e out\e there
3403 "\e"Hey, you\e", \e\e out\e\e there" <diet@exam.ple>
3404 ? addrc d "\e"Hey, you\e", \e\e out\e\e there" <diet@exam.ple>
3405 "Hey, you", \e out\e there <diet@exam.ple>
3410 (a) Aliases are a method of creating personal distribution lists that
3411 map a single alias name to none to multiple real receivers;
3412 these aliases become expanded after message composing is completed; to
3413 delete aliases, use the command
3415 With no arguments the command shows all currently defined aliases.
3416 With one argument, shows the expansion of the given alias.
3417 With more than one argument, creates or appends to the alias name given
3418 as the first argument the remaining arguments.
3419 Alias names are restricted to alphabetic characters, digits, the
3420 underscore, hyphen-minus, the number sign, colon, commercial at and
3421 period, the last character can also be the dollar sign:
3422 .Ql [[:alnum:]_#:@.-]+$? .
3426 (alt) Manage a list of alternate addresses or names of the active user,
3427 members of which will be removed from recipient lists when replying to
3430 variable is not set).
3431 Without arguments the current set of alternates is displayed, otherwise
3432 the set of alternate names is replaced by the given arguments, and the
3435 is updated accordingly.
3439 Takes a message list and marks each message as having been answered.
3440 Messages will be marked answered when being
3442 to automatically if the
3446 .Sx "Message states" .
3451 \*(OP\*(NQ The bind command extends the MLE (see
3452 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
3453 with freely configurable key bindings.
3454 With one argument all bindings for the given context are shown,
3455 specifying an asterisk
3457 will show the bindings of all contexts; a more verbose listing will be
3458 produced if either of
3463 With two or more arguments a binding is (re)established:
3464 the first argument is the context to which the binding shall apply,
3465 the second argument is a comma-separated list of the
3467 which form the binding, and any remaining arguments form the expansion.
3468 To indicate that a binding shall not be auto-committed, but that the
3469 expansion shall instead be furtherly editable by the user, a commercial at
3471 (that will be removed) can be placed last in the expansion, from which
3472 leading and trailing whitespace will finally be removed.
3473 Reverse solidus cannot be used as the last character of expansion.
3476 Contexts define when a binding applies, i.e., a binding will not be seen
3477 unless the context for which it is defined for is currently active.
3478 This is not true for the shared binding
3480 which is the foundation for all other bindings and as such always
3481 applies, its bindings, however, only apply secondarily.
3482 The available contexts are the shared
3486 context which is used in all not otherwise documented situations, and
3488 which applies to compose mode only.
3492 which form the binding are specified as a comma-separated list of
3493 byte-sequences, where each list entry corresponds to one key(press).
3494 \*(OPally a list entry may, indicated by a leading colon character
3496 also refer to the name of a terminal capability;
3497 several dozen names will be compiled into \*(UA and may be specified
3500 or, if existing, by their
3502 name, regardless of the actually used terminal control library.
3503 It is however possible to use any capability, as long as the name is
3504 resolvable by the control library or defined in the internal variable
3506 Input sequences are not case-normalized, so that an exact match is
3507 required to update or remove a binding.
3510 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3511 bind base $'\eE',d mle-snarf-word-fwd # Esc(ape)
3512 bind base $'\eE',$'\ec?' mle-snarf-word-bwd # Esc, Delete
3513 bind default $'\ecA',:khome,w 'echo An editable binding@'
3514 bind default a,b,c rm -rf / @ # Another editable binding
3515 bind default :kf1 File %
3516 bind compose :kf1 ~e
3520 Note that the entire comma-separated list is first parsed (over) as a
3521 shell-token with whitespace as the field separator, before being parsed
3522 and expanded for real with comma as the field separator, therefore
3523 whitespace needs to be properly quoted, see
3524 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" .
3525 Using Unicode reverse solidus escape sequences renders a binding
3526 defunctional if the locale does not support Unicode (see
3527 .Sx "Character sets" ) ,
3528 and using terminal capabilities does so if no terminal control support
3529 is (currently) available.
3532 The following terminal capability names are builtin and can be used in
3534 or (if available) the two-letter
3536 notation regardless of the actually used library.
3537 See the respective manual for a list of capabilities.
3540 can be used to show all the capabilities of
3542 or the given terminal type;
3545 flag will also show supported (non-standard) extensions.
3548 .Bl -tag -compact -width kcuuf_or_kcuuf
3549 .It Cd kbs Ns \0or Cd kb
3551 .It Cd kdch1 Ns \0or Cd kD
3553 .It Cd kDC Ns \0or Cd *4
3554 \(em shifted variant.
3555 .It Cd kel Ns \0or Cd kE
3556 Clear to end of line.
3557 .It Cd kext Ns \0or Cd @9
3559 .It Cd kich1 Ns \0or Cd kI
3561 .It Cd kIC Ns \0or Cd #3
3562 \(em shifted variant.
3563 .It Cd khome Ns \0or Cd kh
3565 .It Cd kHOM Ns \0or Cd #2
3566 \(em shifted variant.
3567 .It Cd kend Ns \0or Cd @7
3569 .It Cd knp Ns \0or Cd kN
3571 .It Cd kpp Ns \0or Cd kP
3573 .It Cd kcub1 Ns \0or Cd kl
3574 Left cursor (with more modifiers: see below).
3575 .It Cd kLFT Ns \0or Cd #4
3576 \(em shifted variant.
3577 .It Cd kcuf1 Ns \0or Cd kr
3578 Right cursor (ditto).
3579 .It Cd kRIT Ns \0or Cd %i
3580 \(em shifted variant.
3581 .It Cd kcud1 Ns \0or Cd kd
3582 Down cursor (ditto).
3584 \(em shifted variant (only terminfo).
3585 .It Cd kcuu1 Ns \0or Cd ku
3588 \(em shifted variant (only terminfo).
3589 .It Cd kf0 Ns \0or Cd k0
3591 Add one for each function key up to
3596 .It Cd kf10 Ns \0or Cd k;
3598 .It Cd kf11 Ns \0or Cd F1
3600 Add one for each function key up to
3608 Some terminals support key-modifier combination extensions, e.g.,
3610 For example, the delete key,
3612 in its shifted variant, the name is mutated to
3614 then a number is appended for the states
3626 .Ql Shift+Alt+Control
3628 The same for the left cursor key,
3630 .Cd KLFT , KLFT3 , KLFT4 , KLFT5 , KLFT6 , KLFT7 , KLFT8 .
3633 Key bindings can be removed with the command
3635 It is advisable to use an initial escape or other control character (e.g.,
3637 for bindings which describe user key combinations (as opposed to purely
3638 terminal capability based ones), in order to avoid ambiguities whether
3639 input belongs to key sequences or not; it also reduces search time.
3642 may help shall keys and sequences be falsely recognized.
3647 \*(NQ Calls the given macro, which must have been created via
3649 Parameters given to macros are implicitly local to the macro's scope, and
3650 may be accessed via the special parameter syntax that is known from the
3657 Positional parameters may be removed by
3659 ing them off the stack.
3660 Macro execution can be terminated at any time by calling
3663 Calling macros recursively will at some time excess the stack size
3664 limit, causing a hard program abortion; if recursively calling a macro
3665 is the last command of the current macro, consider to use the command
3667 which will first release all resources of the current macro before
3668 replacing the current macro with the called one.
3669 Numeric and string operations can be performed via
3673 may be helpful to recreate argument lists.
3674 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3676 echo Parameter 1 of ${#} is ${1}, all: ${*} / ${@}
3679 call exmac Hello macro exmac!
3686 if the given macro has been created via
3688 but doesn't fail nor warn if the macro doesn't exist.
3692 (ch) Change the working directory to
3694 or the given argument.
3700 \*(OP Only applicable to S/MIME signed messages.
3701 Takes a message list and a file name and saves the certificates
3702 contained within the message signatures to the named file in both
3703 human-readable and PEM format.
3704 The certificates can later be used to send encrypted messages to the
3705 respective message senders by setting
3706 .Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST
3711 .It Ic charsetalias , uncharsetalias
3712 \*(NQ Manage (character set conversion) character set alias mappings,
3713 as documented in the section
3714 .Sx "Character sets" .
3715 Character set aliases are expanded recursively, but no expansion is
3716 performed on values of the user-settable variables, e.g.,
3718 These are effectively no-operations if character set conversion
3719 is not available (i.e., no
3723 Without arguments the list of all currently defined aliases is shown.
3724 Otherwise all given arguments are treated as pairs of character sets and
3725 their desired target alias name, creating new or changing already
3726 existing aliases, as necessary.
3728 The latter deletes all aliases given as arguments, the special argument
3730 will remove all aliases.
3734 (ch) Change the working directory to
3736 or the given argument.
3742 Only applicable to threaded mode.
3743 Takes a message list and makes all replies to these messages invisible
3744 in header summaries, unless they are in state
3750 \*(OP\*(NQ Manage colour mappings of and for a
3751 .Sx "Coloured display" .
3752 The type of colour is given as the (case-insensitive) first argument,
3753 which must be one of
3755 for 256-colour terminals,
3760 for the standard 8-colour ANSI / ISO 6429 color palette and
3764 for monochrome terminals.
3765 Monochrome terminals cannot deal with colours, but only (some) font
3769 Without further arguments the list of all currently defined mappings
3770 for the given colour type is shown (as a special case giving
3774 will show the mappings of all types).
3775 Otherwise the second argument defines the mappable slot, and the third
3776 argument a (comma-separated list of) colour and font attribute
3777 specification(s), and the optional fourth argument can be used to
3778 specify a precondition: if conditioned mappings exist they are tested in
3779 (creation) order unless a (case-insensitive) match has been found, and
3780 the default mapping (if any has been established) will only be chosen as
3782 The types of precondition available depend on the mappable slot (see
3783 .Sx "Coloured display"
3784 for some examples), the following of which exist:
3787 Mappings prefixed with
3789 are used for the \*(OPal builtin Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE, see
3790 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
3791 and do not support preconditions.
3793 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
3795 This mapping is used for the position indicator that is visible when
3796 a line cannot be fully displayed on the screen.
3803 Mappings prefixed with
3805 are used in header summaries, and they all understand the preconditions
3807 (the current message) and
3809 for elder messages (only honoured in conjunction with
3810 .Va datefield-markout-older ) .
3812 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
3814 This mapping is used for the
3816 that can be created with the
3820 formats of the variable
3823 For the complete header summary line except the
3825 and the thread structure.
3827 For the thread structure which can be created with the
3829 format of the variable
3834 Mappings prefixed with
3836 are used when displaying messages.
3838 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
3840 This mapping is used for so-called
3842 lines, which are MBOX file format specific header lines.
3845 A comma-separated list of headers to which the mapping applies may be
3846 given as a precondition; if the \*(OPal regular expression support is
3847 available then if any of the
3849 (extended) regular expression characters is seen the precondition will
3850 be evaluated as (an extended) one.
3852 For the introductional message info line.
3853 .It Ar view-partinfo
3854 For MIME part info lines.
3858 The following (case-insensitive) colour definitions and font attributes
3859 are understood, multiple of which can be specified in a comma-separated
3869 It is possible (and often applicable) to specify multiple font
3870 attributes for a single mapping.
3873 foreground colour attribute:
3883 To specify a 256-color mode a decimal number colour specification in
3884 the range 0 to 255, inclusive, is supported, and interpreted as follows:
3886 .Bl -tag -compact -width "999 - 999"
3888 the standard ISO 6429 colors, as above.
3890 high intensity variants of the standard colors.
3892 216 colors in tuples of 6.
3894 grayscale from black to white in 24 steps.
3896 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3898 fg() { printf "\e033[38;5;${1}m($1)"; }
3899 bg() { printf "\e033[48;5;${1}m($1)"; }
3901 while [ $i -lt 256 ]; do fg $i; i=$(($i + 1)); done
3902 printf "\e033[0m\en"
3904 while [ $i -lt 256 ]; do bg $i; i=$(($i + 1)); done
3905 printf "\e033[0m\en"
3909 background colour attribute (see
3911 for possible values).
3915 Mappings may be removed with the command
3917 For a generic overview see the section
3918 .Sx "Coloured display" .
3923 (C) Copy messages to files whose names are derived from the author of
3924 the respective message and do not mark them as being saved;
3925 otherwise identical to
3930 (c) Copy messages to the named file and do not mark them as being saved;
3931 otherwise identical to
3936 Show the name of the current working directory, as reported by
3941 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
3942 The return status is tracked via
3947 \*(OP For unencrypted messages this command is identical to
3949 Encrypted messages are first decrypted, if possible, and then copied.
3953 \*(OP For unencrypted messages this command is identical to
3955 Encrypted messages are first decrypted, if possible, and then copied.
3959 Without arguments the current list of macros, including their content,
3960 is shown, otherwise a macro is defined.
3961 A macro definition is a sequence of commands in the following form:
3962 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3971 A defined macro can be invoked explicitly by using the
3975 commands, or implicitly if a macro hook is triggered, e.g., a
3977 It is possible to localize adjustments, like creation, deletion and
3979 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
3982 command; the scope which is localized depends on how (i.e.,
3984 normal macro, folder hook, hook,
3986 switch) the macro is invoked.
3987 Execution of a macro body can be stopped from within by calling
3991 ed macro, given positional parameters can be
3994 Macros can be deleted via
3999 (d) Marks the given message list as
4001 Deleted messages will neither be saved in
4003 nor will they be available for most other commands.
4006 variable is set, automatically
4019 Superseded by the multiplexer
4025 Delete the given messages and automatically
4029 if one exists, regardless of the setting of
4036 up or down by one message when given
4040 argument, respectively.
4044 Takes a message list and marks each given message as a draft.
4046 .Sx "Message states" .
4050 \*(NQ (ec) Echoes arguments to standard output and writes a trailing
4051 newline, whereas the otherwise identical
4054 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
4056 .Sx "Filename transformations"
4057 are applied to the expanded arguments.
4063 except that is echoes to standard error.
4071 but does not write a trailing newline.
4077 but does not write a trailing newline.
4081 (e) Point the text editor (as defined in
4083 at each message from the given list in turn.
4084 Modified contents are discarded unless the
4091 .Ic if Ns / Ns Ic elif Ns / Ns Ic else Ns / Ns Ic endif
4092 conditional \(em if the condition of a preceding
4094 was false, check the following condition and execute the following block
4095 if it evaluates true.
4100 .Ic if Ns / Ns Ic elif Ns / Ns Ic else Ns / Ns Ic endif
4101 conditional \(em if none of the conditions of the preceding
4105 commands was true, the
4111 (en) Marks the end of an
4112 .Ic if Ns / Ns Ic elif Ns / Ns Ic else Ns / Ns Ic endif
4113 conditional execution block.
4118 \*(NQ \*(UA has a strict notion about which variables are
4119 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
4120 and which are managed in the program
4122 Since some of the latter are a vivid part of \*(UAs functioning,
4123 however, they are transparently integrated into the normal handling of
4124 internal variables via
4128 To integrate other environment variables of choice into this
4129 transparent handling, and also to export internal variables into the
4130 process environment where they normally are not, a
4132 needs to become established with this command, as in, e.g.,
4135 .Dl environ link PERL5LIB from TZ
4138 Afterwards changing such variables with
4140 will cause automatic updates of the program environment, and therefore
4141 be inherited by newly created child processes.
4142 Sufficient system support provided (it was in BSD as early as 1987, and
4143 is standardized since Y2K) removing such variables with
4145 will remove them also from the program environment, but in any way
4146 the knowledge they ever have been
4149 Note this implies that
4151 may cause loss of links.
4156 will remove an existing link, but leaves the variables as such intact.
4157 Additionally the subcommands
4161 are provided, which work exactly the same as the documented commands
4165 but (additionally) link the variable(s) with the program environment and
4166 thus immediately export them to, or remove them from (if possible),
4167 respectively, the program environment.
4172 \*(OP Since \*(UA uses the console as a user interface it can happen
4173 that messages scroll by too fast to become recognized.
4174 Optionally an error message ring queue is available which stores
4175 duplicates of any error message and notifies the user in interactive
4176 sessions whenever a new error has occurred.
4177 The queue is finite: if its maximum size is reached any new message
4178 replaces the eldest.
4181 can be used to manage this message queue: if given
4183 or no argument the queue will be displayed and cleared,
4185 will only clear all messages from the queue.
4189 \*(NQ Construct a command by concatenating the arguments, separated with
4190 a single space character, and then evaluate the result.
4191 This command passes through the status of the evaluated command.
4194 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4196 # Like this, sh(1)ell-stylish from begin to end: works!
4197 # Result status ends up in $!, then
4198 localopts 1;wysh set verbose;ignerr eval "${@}";return ${?}
4200 ghost xv '\ecall xverbose'
4213 call yyy '~xxx' "b\e$'\et'u ' "
4221 (ex or x) Exit from \*(UA without changing the active mailbox and skip
4222 any saving of messages in
4224 as well as a possibly tracked line editor history file.
4230 but open the mailbox read-only.
4235 (fi) The file command switches to a new mailbox.
4236 Without arguments it shows status information of the current mailbox.
4237 If an argument is given, it will write out changes (such as deletions)
4238 the user has made, open a new mailbox and update the internal variables
4239 .Va mailbox-resolved
4241 .Va mailbox-display .
4242 .Sx "Filename transformations"
4243 will be applied to the
4248 If the name ends with
4253 it is treated as being compressed with
4258 respectively, and transparently handled through an intermediate
4259 (un)compression step (using a temporary file) with the according
4260 facility, sufficient support provided.
4261 Likewise, if the named file does not exist, but a file with one of the
4262 mentioned compression extensions does, then the name is automatically
4263 expanded and the compressed file is used.
4266 Otherwise, if the name ends with an extension for which
4267 .Va file-hook-load-EXTENSION
4269 .Va file-hook-save-EXTENSION
4270 variables are set, then the given hooks will be used to load and save
4272 and \*(UA will work with an intermediate temporary file.
4274 MBOX files (flat file-based mailboxes) are generally locked during file
4275 operations in order to avoid inconsistencies due to concurrent
4277 \*(OPal Mailbox files which \*(UA treats as the system
4282 .Sx "primary system mailbox" Ns
4283 es in general will also be protected by so-called dotlock files, the
4284 traditional way of mail spool file locking: for any file
4288 will be created for the duration of the synchronization \(em
4289 as necessary a privilege-separated dotlock child process will be used
4290 to accommodate for necessary privilege adjustments in order to create
4291 the dotlock file in the same directory
4292 and with the same user and group identities as the file of interest.
4295 \*(UA by default uses tolerant POSIX rules when reading MBOX database
4296 files, but it will detect invalid message boundaries in this mode and
4297 complain (even more with
4299 if any is seen: in this case
4301 can be used to create a valid MBOX database from the invalid input.
4306 refers to a directory with the subdirectories
4311 then it is treated as a folder in
4313 format; \*(ID the variable
4315 can be used to control the format of yet non-existent folders.
4319 .Dl \*(IN protocol://[user[:password]@]host[:port][/path]
4320 .Dl \*(OU protocol://[user@]host[:port][/path]
4323 is taken as an Internet mailbox specification.
4324 The \*(OPally supported protocols are
4328 (POP3 with SSL/TLS encrypted transport).
4331 part is valid only for IMAP; there it defaults to
4333 Also see the section
4334 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
4339 contains special characters, in particular
4343 they must be escaped in URL notation \(en the command
4345 can be used to show the necessary conversion.
4350 Takes a message list and marks the messages as flagged for
4351 urgent/special attention.
4353 .Sx "Message states" .
4362 With no arguments, list the names of the folders in the folder directory.
4363 With an existing folder as an argument,
4364 lists the names of folders below the named folder.
4370 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
4371 recipient's address (instead of in
4378 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
4379 recipient's address (instead of in
4386 but responds to all recipients regardless of the
4391 .It Ic followupsender
4394 but responds to the sender only regardless of the
4410 (f) Takes a list of message specifications and displays a summary of
4411 their message headers, exactly as via
4413 An alias of this command is
4416 .Sx "Specifying messages" .
4422 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the
4423 recipient's address (instead of in
4428 Takes a message and the address of a recipient
4429 and forwards the message to him.
4430 The text of the original message is included in the new one,
4431 with the value of the
4433 variable preceding it.
4434 To filter the included header fields to the desired subset use the
4436 slot of the white- and blacklisting command
4438 Only the first part of a multipart message is included unless
4439 .Va forward-as-attachment ,
4440 and recipient addresses will be stripped from comments, names etc.
4441 unless the internal variable
4447 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
4452 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
4457 Define or list command aliases, so-called ghosts.
4458 A ghost can be used everywhere a normal command can be used, but always
4459 takes precedence: any arguments that are given to the command alias are
4460 joined onto the alias content, and the resulting string forms the
4461 command line that is, in effect, executed.
4462 Command ghosts can be removed with
4464 Without arguments a list of all currently known aliases is shown.
4465 With one argument the expansion of the given alias is shown.
4467 With two or more arguments a command alias is defined or updated: the
4468 first argument is the name under which the remaining command line should
4469 be accessible, the content of which can be just about anything.
4470 A ghost may itself expand to another ghost, but to avoid expansion loops
4471 further expansion will be prevented if a ghost refers to itself or if an
4472 expansion depth limit is reached.
4473 Explicit expansion prevention is available via reverse solidus
4476 .Sx "Command modifiers" .
4477 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4479 \*(uA: `ghost': no such alias: xx
4482 ghost xx "echo hello,"
4492 \*(NQ Multiplexer command to establish white- and blacklisting
4493 selections of header fields for a variety of applications.
4494 Without arguments the set of contexts that have settings is displayed.
4495 When given arguments, the first argument is the context to which the
4496 command applies, one of (case-insensitively)
4498 for display purposes (via, e.g.,
4501 for selecting which headers shall be stored persistently when
4507 ing messages (note that MIME related etc. header fields should not be
4508 ignored in order to not destroy usability of the message in this case),
4510 for stripping down messages when
4512 ing message (has no effect if
4513 .Va forward-as-attachment
4516 for defining user-defined set of fields for the command
4520 The current settings of the given context are displayed if only the
4521 first argument is given.
4522 A second argument denotes the type of restriction that is to be chosen,
4523 it may be (a case-insensitive prefix of)
4527 for white- and blacklisting purposes, respectively.
4528 Establishing a whitelist suppresses inspection of the corresponding
4530 If no further argument is given the current settings of the given type
4534 With four or more arguments the third denotes the action to be applied,
4539 for addition of fields, and
4543 for removal of fields from the given type of the given context.
4544 The fourth, and any following arguments are expected to specify the
4545 fields of desire, or \*(OPally, regular expression matches ought to
4547 The special wildcard field (asterisk,
4549 will establish a (fast) shorthand setting which covers all fields, or
4550 remove all fields in one operation, respectively.
4555 (h) Show the current group of headers, the size of which depends on
4558 and the style of which can be adjusted with the variable
4560 If a message-specification is given the group of headers containing the
4561 first message therein is shown and the message at the top of the screen
4576 the list of history entries;
4579 argument selects and evaluates the respective history entry,
4580 which will become the new history top; a negative number is used as an
4581 offset to the current command, e.g.,
4583 will select the last command, the history top.
4584 The default mode if no arguments are given is
4591 Takes a message list and marks each message therein to be saved in the
4596 Does not override the
4599 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command, because a
4601 command issued after
4603 will display the following message, not the current one.
4608 (i) Part of the nestable
4609 .Ic if Ns / Ns Ic elif Ns / Ns Ic else Ns / Ns Ic endif
4610 conditional execution construct \(em if the given condition is true then
4611 the encapsulated block is executed.
4612 POSIX only supports the (case-insensitive) conditions
4617 end, all remaining conditions are non-portable extensions; note that
4618 falsely specified conditions cause the execution of the entire
4619 conditional construct until the (matching) closing
4621 command to be suppressed.
4622 The syntax of the nestable
4624 conditional execution construct requires that each condition and syntax
4625 element is surrounded by whitespace.
4627 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4636 The (case-insensitive) condition
4638 erminal will evaluate to true if the standard input is a terminal, i.e.,
4639 in interactive sessions.
4640 Another condition can be any boolean value (see the section
4641 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
4642 for textual boolean representations) to mark an enwrapped block as
4645 .Dq always execute .
4646 It is possible to check
4647 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
4650 variables for existence or compare their expansion against a user given
4651 value or another variable by using the
4653 .Pf ( Dq variable next )
4654 conditional trigger character;
4655 a variable on the right hand side may be signalled using the same
4657 The variable names may be enclosed in a pair of matching braces.
4660 Integer operators treat the left and right hand side as integral numbers
4661 and compare them arithmetically.
4662 It is an error if any of the operands is not a valid integer, an empty
4663 operand is treated as if it were 0.
4664 Available operators are
4668 (less than or equal to),
4674 (greater than or equal to), and
4679 String operators compare the left and right hand side 8-bit byte-wise,
4680 ignoring case according to the rules of the US-ASCII encoding
4681 (therefore, dependent on the active locale, possibly producing false
4682 results for strings in the locale encoding).
4683 An unset variable is treated as the empty string.
4684 Available operators are
4688 (less than or equal to),
4694 (greater than or equal to),
4698 (is substring of) and
4700 (is not substring of).
4703 When the \*(OPal regular expression support is available, the additional
4709 They treat the right hand side as an extended regular expression that is
4710 matched case-insensitively and according to the active
4712 locale, meaning that strings in the locale encoding should be matched
4716 Conditions can be joined via AND-OR lists (where the AND operator is
4718 and the OR operator is
4720 which have equal precedence and will be evaluated with left
4721 associativity, thus using the same syntax that is known for the
4723 It is also possible to form groups of conditions and lists by enclosing
4724 them in pairs of brackets
4725 .Ql [\ \&.\&.\&.\ ] ,
4726 which may be interlocked within each other, and also be joined via
4730 The results of individual conditions and entire groups may be modified
4731 via unary operators: the unary operator
4733 will reverse the result.
4735 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4739 if [ "$ttycharset" == UTF-8 ] || [ "$ttycharset" == UTF8 ]
4740 echo *ttycharset* is set to UTF-8, case-insensitively
4743 if [ "${t1}" == "${t2}" ]
4744 echo These two variables are equal
4746 # This is a string test, -ge was added for v14.9.0
4747 if [ "$version-major" >= 15 ]
4748 echo Running a new version..
4749 if [ "$features" =@ +regex ]
4750 if [ "$TERM" =~ "^xterm\&.*" ]
4751 echo ..in an X terminal
4754 if [ [ true ] && [ [ "${debug}" != '' ] || \e
4755 [ "$verbose" != '' ] ] ]
4758 if true && [ "$debug" != '' ] || [ "${verbose}" != '' ]
4759 echo Left associativity, as is known from the shell
4761 if ! ! true && ! [ ! "$debug" && ! "$verbose" ]
4762 echo Unary operator support
4772 Superseded by the multiplexer
4777 Shows the names of all available commands, alphabetically sorted.
4778 If given any non-whitespace argument the list will be shown in the order
4779 in which command prefixes are searched.
4780 \*(OP In conjunction with a set variable
4782 additional information will be provided for each command: the argument
4783 type will be indicated, the documentation string will be shown,
4784 and the set of command flags will show up:
4786 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql BaNg"
4787 .It Ql "vput modifier"
4788 command supports the command modifier
4790 .It Ql "status in *!*"
4791 the soft exit status is tracked in
4794 commands needs an active mailbox, a
4796 .It Ql "ok: batch or interactive"
4797 command may only be used in interactive or
4800 .It Ql "ok: send mode"
4801 command can be used in send mode.
4802 .It Ql "not ok: compose mode"
4803 command is not available when in compose-mode.
4804 .It Ql "not ok: during startup"
4805 command cannot be used during program startup, e.g., while loading
4806 .Sx "Resource files" .
4807 .It Ql "ok: in subprocess"
4808 command is allowed to be used when running in a subprocess instance,
4809 e.g., from within a macro that is called via
4810 .Va on-compose-splice .
4815 This command can be used to localize changes to variables, meaning that
4816 their state will be reverted to the former one once the covered scope
4818 It can only be used inside of macro definition blocks introduced by
4822 and is interpreted as a boolean (string, see
4823 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ) ;
4826 of an account is left once it is switched off again.
4827 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4828 define temporary_settings {
4829 set possibly_global_option1
4834 set possibly_global_option2
4843 enables change localization and calls
4845 which explicitly resets localization, then any value changes within
4847 will still be reverted by
4849 \*(ID Once the outermost level, the one which enabled localization
4850 first, is left, but no earlier, all adjustments will be unrolled.
4851 \*(ID Likewise worth knowing, if in this example
4853 changes to a different
4855 which sets some variables that are yet covered by localizations, their
4856 scope will be extended, and in fact leaving the
4858 will (thus) restore settings in (likely) global scope which actually
4859 were defined in a local, private context.
4863 Reply to messages that come in via known
4866 .Pf ( Ic mlsubscribe )
4867 mailing lists, or pretend to do so (see
4868 .Sx "Mailing lists" ) :
4871 functionality this will actively resort and even remove message
4872 recipients in order to generate a message that is supposed to be sent to
4874 For example it will also implicitly generate a
4875 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
4876 header if that seems useful, regardless of the setting of the variable
4883 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
4884 recipient's address (instead of in
4889 (m) Takes a (list of) recipient address(es) as (an) argument(s),
4890 or asks on standard input if none were given;
4891 then collects the remaining mail content and sends it out.
4895 (mb) The given message list is to be sent to
4897 when \*(UA is quit; this is the default action unless the variable
4900 \*(ID This command can only be used in a
4902 .Sx "primary system mailbox" .
4906 Without any arguments the content of the MIME type cache will displayed.
4907 Otherwise each argument defines a complete MIME type specification of
4908 a type that shall be added (prepended) to the cache.
4909 In any event MIME type sources are loaded first as necessary \(en
4910 .Va mimetypes-load-control
4911 can be used to fine-tune which sources are actually loaded.
4912 Refer to the section on
4913 .Sx "The mime.types files"
4914 for more on MIME type specifications and this topic in general.
4915 MIME type unregistration and cache resets can be triggered with
4920 Without arguments the list of all currently defined mailing lists
4921 (and their attributes, if any) is shown; a more verbose listing will be
4922 produced if either of
4927 Otherwise all given arguments (which need not be quoted except for
4928 whitespace) will be added and henceforth be recognized as mailing lists.
4929 Mailing lists may be removed via the command
4932 If the \*(OPal regular expression support is available then mailing
4933 lists may also be specified as (extended) regular expressions (see
4939 Without arguments the list of all currently defined mailing lists which
4940 have a subscription attribute is shown; a more verbose listing will be
4941 produced if either of
4946 Otherwise this attribute will be set for all given mailing lists,
4947 newly creating them as necessary (as via
4949 Subscription attributes may be removed via the command
4958 but moves the messages to a file named after the local part of the
4959 sender address of the first message (instead of in
4966 but marks the messages for deletion if they were transferred
4973 but also displays header fields which would not pass the
4975 selection, and all MIME parts.
4983 on the given messages, even in non-interactive mode and as long as the
4984 standard output is a terminal.
4990 \*(OP When used without arguments or if
4992 has been given the content of the
4994 cache is shown, loading it first as necessary.
4997 then the cache will only be initialized and
4999 will remove its contents.
5000 Note that \*(UA will try to load the file only once, use
5001 .Ql Ic \&\&netrc Ns \:\0\:clear
5002 to unlock further attempts.
5007 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ;
5009 .Sx "The .netrc file"
5010 documents the file format in detail.
5014 Checks for new mail in the current folder without committing any changes
5016 If new mail is present, a message is shown.
5020 the headers of each new message are also shown.
5021 This command is not available for all mailbox types.
5029 Goes to the next message in sequence and types it.
5030 With an argument list, types the next matching message.
5044 If the current folder is accessed via a network connection, a
5046 command is sent, otherwise no operation is performed.
5052 but also displays header fields which would not pass the
5054 selection, and all MIME parts.
5062 on the given messages, even in non-interactive mode and as long as the
5063 standard output is a terminal.
5071 but also pipes header fields which would not pass the
5073 selection, and all parts of MIME
5074 .Ql multipart/alternative
5079 (pi) Takes a message list and a shell command
5080 and pipes the messages through the command.
5081 Without an argument the current message is piped through the command
5088 every message is followed by a formfeed character.
5109 (q) Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in
5112 preserving all messages marked with
5116 or never referenced in the system
5118 and removing all other messages from the
5120 .Sx "primary system mailbox" .
5121 If new mail has arrived during the session,
5123 .Dq You have new mail
5125 If given while editing a mailbox file with the command line option
5127 then the edit file is rewritten.
5128 A return to the shell is effected,
5129 unless the rewrite of edit file fails,
5130 in which case the user can escape with the exit command.
5134 \*(NQ Read a line from standard input, and assign the splitted and
5135 trimmed line data to the given variables.
5136 The variable names are checked by the same rules as documented for
5138 If there are more fields than variables, assign successive fields to the
5139 last given variable.
5140 If there are less fields than variables, assign the empty string to the
5142 The return status is tracked via
5144 even though variable names are checked errors may still happen if it is
5145 tried to set, e.g., strings to variables which expect number settings;
5146 it thus only happens if names are used which have special meaning to \*(UA.
5147 \*(ID This command will likely be extended towards more
5149 compatibility: for now splitting always occurs at whitespace, reverse
5150 solidus newline escaping is always supported, and the \*(OPal line
5151 editing features are always available when on an interactive terminal.
5152 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5155 ? echo "<$a> <$b> <$c>"
5171 Removes the named files or directories.
5172 If a name refer to a mailbox, e.g., a Maildir mailbox, then a mailbox
5173 type specific removal will be performed, deleting the complete mailbox.
5174 The user is asked for confirmation in interactive mode.
5178 Takes the name of an existing folder
5179 and the name for the new folder
5180 and renames the first to the second one.
5181 Both folders must be of the same type.
5185 (R) Reply to originator.
5186 Does not reply to other recipients of the original message.
5188 will exchange this command with
5190 Unless the internal variable
5192 is set the recipient address will be stripped from comments, names etc.
5196 (r) Take a message and group-responds to it by addressing the sender
5199 .Va followup-to-honour ,
5202 .Va recipients-in-cc
5203 influence response behaviour.
5206 offers special support for replying to mailing lists.
5207 Unless the internal variable
5209 is set recipient addresses will be stripped from comments, names etc.
5222 but initiates a group-reply regardless of the value of
5229 but responds to the sender only regardless of the value of
5236 but does not add any header lines.
5237 This is not a way to hide the sender's identity,
5238 but useful for sending a message again to the same recipients.
5242 Takes a list of messages and a user name
5243 and sends each message to the named user.
5245 and related header fields are prepended to the new copy of the message.
5263 .It Ic respondsender
5269 (ret) Superseded by the multiplexer
5274 Only available inside the scope of a
5278 this will stop evaluation of any further macro content, and return
5279 execution control to the caller.
5280 If no arguments are specified, the return value, which will be stored in
5282 as well as the macro command exit status, which is made available in
5285 If only the return value is given the command exit status will be 0.
5286 Both optional parameters must be specified as unsigned (positive)
5289 \*(ID Notes: any non-0 command exit status is treated as a hard error
5290 by the state machinery, and will be propagated up and cause, e.g.,
5291 a file inclusion via
5293 to fail; this two argument form likely is a temporary hack that will
5300 but saves the messages in a file named after the local part of the
5301 sender of the first message instead of (in
5303 and) taking a filename argument.
5307 (s) Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in turn
5308 to the end of the file.
5309 If no filename is given, the
5312 The filename in quotes, followed by the generated character count
5313 is echoed on the user's terminal.
5316 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
5317 the messages are marked for deletion.
5318 .Sx "Filename transformations"
5323 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
5328 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
5333 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
5338 Takes a message specification (list) and displays a header summary of
5339 all matching messages, as via
5341 This command is an alias of
5344 .Sx "Specifying messages" .
5348 Takes a message list and marks all messages as having been read.
5352 (se) Without arguments this command shows all internal variables which
5353 are currently known to \*(UA (they have been set).
5354 A more verbose listing will be produced if either of
5358 are set, in which case variables may be preceded with a comment line
5359 that gives some context of what \*(UA knows about the given variable.
5361 Otherwise the given variables (and arguments) are set or adjusted.
5362 Arguments are of the form
5364 (no space before or after
5368 if there is no value, i.e., a boolean variable.
5369 Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment
5370 statement to quote blanks or tabs, e.g.,
5372 .Dl set indentprefix='->'
5374 If an argument begins with
5378 the effect is the same as invoking the
5380 command with the remaining part of the variable
5381 .Pf ( Ql unset save ) .
5385 that is known to map to an environment variable will automatically cause
5386 updates in the program environment (unsetting a variable in the
5387 environment requires corresponding system support).
5388 Please use the command
5390 for further environmental control.
5395 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
5401 Apply shell quoting rules to the given raw-data arguments.
5405 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
5406 The return status is tracked via
5408 The first argument specifies the operation:
5412 cause shell quoting to be applied to the remains of the line, and
5413 expanded away thereof, respectively.
5414 If the former is prefixed with a plus-sign, the quoted result will not
5415 be roundtrip enabled, and thus can be decoded only in the very same
5416 environment that was used to perform the encode; also see
5417 .Cd mle-quote-rndtrip .
5421 (sh) Invokes an interactive version of the shell.
5425 Without arguments the list of all currently defined shortcuts is
5427 Otherwise all given arguments are treated as pairs of shortcuts and
5428 their expansions, creating new or changing already existing shortcuts,
5430 Shortcuts can be removed with the command
5435 Only available inside the scope of a
5437 ed macro, this will shift the positional parameters (starting at
5439 by the given number (which must be an unsigned, positive, decimal),
5440 or 1 if no argument has been given.
5441 It is an error if the value exceeds the number of positional parameters.
5442 If the given number is 0, no action is performed, successfully.
5448 but performs neither MIME decoding nor decryption, so that the raw
5449 message text is shown.
5453 (si) Shows the size in characters of each message of the given
5458 Shows the current sorting criterion when used without an argument.
5459 Otherwise creates a sorted representation of the current folder,
5462 command and the addressing modes such that they refer to messages in
5464 Message numbers are the same as in regular mode.
5468 a header summary in the new order is also displayed.
5469 Automatic folder sorting can be enabled by setting the
5471 variable, as in, e.g.,
5472 .Ql set autosort=thread .
5473 Possible sorting criterions are:
5475 .Bl -tag -compact -width "subject"
5477 Sort the messages by their
5479 field, that is by the time they were sent.
5481 Sort messages by the value of their
5483 field, that is by the address of the sender.
5486 variable is set, the sender's real name (if any) is used.
5488 Sort the messages by their size.
5490 \*(OP Sort the message by their spam score, as has been classified by
5493 Sort the messages by their message status.
5495 Sort the messages by their subject.
5497 Create a threaded display.
5499 Sort messages by the value of their
5501 field, that is by the address of the recipient.
5504 variable is set, the recipient's real name (if any) is used.
5509 \*(NQ (so) The source command reads commands from the given file.
5510 .Sx "Filename transformations"
5512 If the given expanded argument ends with a vertical bar
5514 then the argument will instead be interpreted as a shell command and
5515 \*(UA will read the output generated by it.
5516 Interpretation of commands read is stopped when an error is encountered.
5519 cannot be used from within macros that execute as
5520 .Va folder-hook Ns s
5523 i.e., it can only be called from macros that were
5528 \*(NQ The difference to
5530 (beside not supporting pipe syntax aka shell command input) is that
5531 this command will not generate an error nor warn if the given file
5532 argument cannot be opened successfully.
5536 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and clears their
5542 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and causes the
5544 to forget it has ever used them to train its Bayesian filter.
5545 Unless otherwise noted the
5547 flag of the message is inspected to chose whether a message shall be
5555 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and informs the Bayesian filter of the
5559 This also clears the
5561 flag of the messages in question.
5565 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and rates them using the configured
5566 .Va spam-interface ,
5567 without modifying the messages, but setting their
5569 flag as appropriate; because the spam rating headers are lost the rate
5570 will be forgotten once the mailbox is left.
5571 Refer to the manual section
5573 for the complete picture of spam handling in \*(UA.
5577 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and sets their
5583 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and informs the Bayesian filter of the
5589 flag of the messages in question.
5598 Create a threaded representation of the current folder,
5599 i.\|e. indent messages that are replies to other messages in the header
5600 display and change the
5602 command and the addressing modes such that they refer to messages in the
5604 Message numbers are the same as in unthreaded mode.
5608 a header summary in threaded order is also displayed.
5617 slot for white- and blacklisting header fields.
5621 (to) Takes a message list and types out the first
5623 lines of each message on the users' terminal.
5624 Unless a special selection has been established for the
5628 command, the only header fields that are displayed are
5639 It is possible to apply compression to what is displayed by setting
5641 Messages are decrypted and converted to the terminal character set
5646 (tou) Takes a message list and marks the messages for saving in
5648 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command,
5651 command will display the following message instead of the current one.
5657 but also displays header fields which would not pass the
5659 selection, and all parts of MIME
5660 .Ql multipart/alternative
5665 (t) Takes a message list and types out each message on the users'
5669 For MIME multipart messages, all parts with a content type of
5673 are shown, the other are hidden except for their headers.
5674 Messages are decrypted and converted to the terminal character set
5679 Delete all given accounts.
5680 An error message is shown if a given account is not defined.
5683 will discard all existing accounts.
5687 (una) Takes a list of names defined by alias commands
5688 and discards the remembered groups of users.
5691 will discard all existing aliases.
5695 Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been answered.
5701 ing, specified by its context and input sequence, both of which may be
5702 specified as a wildcard (asterisk,
5706 will remove all bindings of all contexts.
5710 Only applicable to threaded mode.
5711 Takes a message list and makes the message and all replies to it visible
5712 in header summaries again.
5713 When a message becomes the current message,
5714 it is automatically made visible.
5715 Also when a message with collapsed replies is displayed,
5716 all of these are automatically uncollapsed.
5722 mapping for the given colour type (see
5724 for a list of types) and mapping; if the optional precondition argument
5725 is used then only the exact tuple of mapping and precondition is removed.
5728 will remove all mappings (no precondition allowed).
5730 .Sx "Coloured display"
5731 for the general picture.
5735 Undefine all given macros.
5736 An error message is shown if a given macro is not defined.
5739 will discard all existing macros.
5743 (u) Takes a message list and marks each message as not being deleted.
5746 variable is set, the last message restored will be
5748 d automatically; if no message list had been specified then the usual
5749 search for a visible message is performed, as documented for
5751 showing only the next input prompt if the search fails.
5759 Takes a message list and
5765 Takes a message list and marks each message as not being
5770 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
5775 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
5780 Remove all the given command
5784 will remove all ghosts.
5788 Superseded by the multiplexer
5793 Delete all given MIME types, e.g.,
5794 .Ql unmimetype text/plain
5795 will remove all registered specifications for the MIME type
5799 will discard all existing MIME types, just as will
5801 but which also reenables cache initialization via
5802 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
5806 Forget about all the given mailing lists.
5809 will remove all lists.
5814 .It Ic unmlsubscribe
5815 Remove the subscription attribute from all given mailing lists.
5818 will clear the attribute from all lists which have it set.
5829 Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been read.
5833 Superseded by the multiplexer
5838 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
5843 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
5848 \*(NQ (uns) Takes a list of internal variable names and discards their
5849 remembered values; the reverse of
5858 s given as arguments, the special argument
5860 will remove all shortcuts.
5864 Disable sorted or threaded mode
5870 return to normal message order and,
5874 displays a header summary.
5884 Perform URL percent codec operations on the raw-data argument, rather
5885 according to RFC 3986.
5889 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
5890 The return status is tracked via
5892 This is a character set agnostic and thus locale dependent operation,
5893 and it may decode bytes which are invalid in the current locale, unless
5894 the input solely consists of characters in the portable character set, see
5895 .Sx "Character sets" .
5896 \*(ID This command does not about URLs beside that.
5898 The first argument specifies the operation:
5902 perform plain URL percent en- and decoding, respectively.
5906 perform a slightly modified operation which should be better for
5907 pathnames: it does not allow a tilde
5909 and will neither accept hyphen-minus
5913 as an initial character.
5914 The remains of the line form the URL data which is to be converted.
5918 \*(NQ Edit the values of or create the given variable(s) in the
5920 Boolean variables cannot be edited, and variables can also not be
5926 \*(NQ This command produces the same output as the listing mode of
5930 ity adjustments, but only for the given variables.
5934 \*(OP Takes a message list and verifies each message.
5935 If a message is not a S/MIME signed message,
5936 verification will fail for it.
5937 The verification process checks if the message was signed using a valid
5939 if the message sender's email address matches one of those contained
5940 within the certificate,
5941 and if the message content has been altered.
5954 \*(NQ Evaluate arguments according to a given operator.
5955 This is a multiplexer command which can be used to perform signed 64-bit
5956 numeric calculations as well as string operations.
5957 It uses polish notation, i.e., the operator is the first argument and
5958 defines the number and type, and the meaning of the remaining arguments.
5959 An empty argument is replaced with a 0 if a number is expected.
5963 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
5964 The return status is tracked via
5966 the result that is shown in case of (soft) errors is
5968 In general only invalid use cases cause hard errors which are reflected in
5970 and affect the state machine.
5973 Numeric operations work on one or two signed 64-bit integers.
5974 One integer is expected by assignment (equals sign
5976 which does nothing but parsing the argument, thus detecting validity and
5977 possible overflow conditions, and unary not (tilde
5979 which creates the bitwise complement.
5980 Two integers are used by addition (plus sign
5982 subtraction (hyphen-minus
5984 multiplication (asterisk
5988 and modulo (percent sign
5990 as well as for the bitwise operators logical or (vertical bar
5993 bitwise and (ampersand
5996 bitwise xor (circumflex
5998 the bitwise signed left- and right shifts
6001 as well as for the unsigned right shift
6005 All numeric operators can be suffixed with a commercial at
6009 this will turn the operation into a saturated one, which means that
6010 overflow errors and division and modulo by zero are still reflected in
6011 the return status, but the result will linger at the minimum or maximum
6012 possible value, instead of overflowing (or trapping).
6013 For the bitwise shifts, the saturated maximum is 63.
6014 If in saturated mode the overflow occurs during parsing the numbers,
6015 then the actual operation will not be performed but the given maximum
6016 value is used as the result immediately.
6019 String operations that take one argument are
6021 which queries the length of the given argument,
6023 which calculates the Chris Torek hash of the given string, and
6025 which performs the usual
6026 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
6027 on its argument, as well as
6029 which generates a random string of the given length, or of
6031 bytes (a constant from
6033 if the value 0 is given; the random string will be base64url encoded
6034 according to RFC 4648, and thus be usable as a file name.
6037 String operations with two or more arguments are
6039 which searches in the first for the second argument, and shows the
6040 resulting 0-based offset shall it have been found,
6042 which is identical to
6044 but works case-insensitively according to the rules of the ASCII
6047 will show a substring of its first argument:
6048 the second argument is the 0-based starting offset, the optional third
6049 argument can be used to specify the length of the desired substring,
6050 by default the entire string is used;
6051 this operation tries to work around faulty arguments, but the (soft)
6052 return status will still reflect them (set
6059 will try to match the first argument with the regular expression given
6060 in the second argument, as does
6062 but which is case-insensitive.
6063 These operators match according to the active
6065 locale and thus should match correctly strings in the locale encoding.
6066 If the optional third argument has been given then instead of showing
6067 the match offset a replacement operation is performed:
6068 the third argument is treated as if specified via dollar-single-quote
6070 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" ) ,
6071 and any occurrence of a positional parameter, e.g.,
6073 is replaced by the corresponding match group of the regular expression.
6075 .Bd -literal -offset indent
6076 ? vexpr -@ +1 -9223372036854775808
6077 ? vput vexpr res ir bananarama (.*)nana(.*) '\e${1}au\e$2'
6084 (v) Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message.
6085 Modified contents are discarded unless the
6091 (w) For conventional messages the body without all headers is written.
6092 The original message is never marked for deletion in the originating
6094 The output is decrypted and converted to its native format as necessary.
6095 If the output file exists, the text is appended.
6096 If a message is in MIME multipart format its first part is written to
6097 the specified file as for conventional messages, handling of the remains
6098 depends on the execution mode.
6099 No special handling of compressed files is performed.
6101 In interactive mode the user is consecutively asked for the filenames of
6102 the processed parts.
6103 For convience saving of each part may be skipped by giving an empty
6104 value, the same result as writing it to
6106 Shell piping the part content by specifying a leading vertical bar
6108 character for the filename is supported.
6109 Other user input undergoes the usual
6110 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
6111 and contents of the destination file are overwritten if the file
6114 \*(ID In non-interactive mode any part which does not specify a filename
6115 is ignored, and suspicious parts of filenames of the remaining parts are
6116 URL percent encoded (as via
6118 to prevent injection of malicious character sequences, resulting in
6119 a filename that will be written into the current directory.
6120 Existing files will not be overwritten, instead the part number or
6121 a dot are appended after a number sign
6123 to the name until file creation succeeds (or fails due to other
6128 \*(NQ This command works only inside of a
6130 ed macro: the sole difference to
6132 is that the new macro is executed in place of the current one, which
6133 will not regain control; all resources of the current macro will be
6134 released before control is given to the replacer.
6143 \*(NQ \*(UA presents message headers in
6145 fuls as described under the
6148 Without arguments this command scrolls to the next window of messages,
6149 likewise if the argument is
6153 scrolls to the last,
6155 scrolls to the first, and
6160 A number argument prefixed by
6164 indicates that the window is calculated in relation to the current
6165 position, and a number without a prefix specifies an absolute position.
6171 but scrolls to the next or previous window that contains at least one
6181 .\" .Sh COMMAND ESCAPES {{{
6182 .Sh "COMMAND ESCAPES"
6184 Here is a summary of the command escapes available in compose mode,
6185 which are used to perform special functions when composing messages.
6186 Command escapes are only recognized at the beginning of lines.
6187 The actual escape character can be set via the internal variable
6189 it defaults to the tilde
6193 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ic BaNg"
6196 Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single
6198 (If the escape character has been changed,
6199 that character must be doubled
6200 in order to send it at the beginning of a line.)
6203 .It Ic ~! Ar command
6204 Execute the indicated shell
6206 which follows, replacing unescaped exclamation marks with the previously
6207 executed command if the internal variable
6209 is set, then return to the message.
6213 Same effect as typing the end-of-file character.
6216 .It Ic ~: Ar \*(UA-command Ns \0or Ic ~_ Ar \*(UA-command
6217 Execute the given \*(UA command.
6218 Not all commands, however, are allowed.
6222 Write a summary of command escapes.
6225 .It Ic ~< Ar filename
6230 .It Ic ~<! Ar command
6232 is executed using the shell.
6233 Its standard output is inserted into the message.
6236 .It Ic ~@ Op Ar filename...
6237 Append or edit the list of attachments.
6240 arguments is expected (see
6241 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" ;
6242 any token-separating commas are ignored), to be
6243 interpreted as documented for the command line option
6245 with the message number exception as below.
6248 arguments the attachment list is edited, entry by entry;
6249 if a filename is left empty, that attachment is deleted from the list;
6250 once the end of the list is reached either new attachments may be
6251 entered or the session can be quit by committing an empty
6254 For each mode, if a given file name solely consists of the number sign
6256 followed by a valid message number of the currently active mailbox, then
6257 the given message is attached as a MIME
6259 part (note the number sign is the comment character and must be quoted).
6263 Inserts the string contained in the
6266 .Ql Ic ~i Ns \0Sign ) .
6271 ting the variable(s) instead!) The escape sequences tabulator
6279 Inserts the string contained in the
6282 .Ql Ic ~i Ns \0sign ) .
6287 ting the variable(s) instead!) The escape sequences tabulator
6294 .It Ic ~b Ar name ...
6295 Add the given names to the list of blind carbon copy recipients.
6298 .It Ic ~c Ar name ...
6299 Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients.
6303 Read the file specified by the
6305 variable into the message.
6309 Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far.
6310 After the editing session is finished,
6311 the user may continue appending text to the message.
6314 .It Ic ~F Ar messages
6315 Read the named messages into the message being sent, including all
6316 message headers and MIME parts.
6317 If no messages are specified, read in the current message.
6320 .It Ic ~f Ar messages
6321 Read the named messages into the message being sent.
6322 If no messages are specified, read in the current message.
6323 Strips down the list of header fields according to the
6325 white- and blacklist selection of
6327 For MIME multipart messages,
6328 only the first displayable part is included.
6332 Edit the message header fields
6337 by typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit the field.
6338 The default values for these fields originate from the
6346 Edit the message header fields
6352 by typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit the field.
6355 .It Ic ~i Ar variable
6356 Insert the value of the specified variable into the message,
6357 adding a newline character at the end.
6358 The message remains unaltered if the variable is unset or empty.
6363 ting the variable(s) instead!) The escape sequences tabulator
6370 .It Ic ~M Ar messages
6371 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
6374 If no messages are specified, read the current message.
6377 .It Ic ~m Ar messages
6378 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
6381 If no messages are specified, read the current message.
6382 Strips down the list of header fields according to the
6384 white- and blacklist selection of
6386 For MIME multipart messages,
6387 only the first displayable part is included.
6391 Display the message collected so far,
6392 prefaced by the message header fields
6393 and followed by the attachment list, if any.
6397 Abort the message being sent,
6398 copying it to the file specified by the
6405 .It Ic ~R Ar filename
6408 but indent each line that has been read by
6412 .It Ic ~r Ar filename Op Ar HERE-delimiter
6413 Read the named file into the message.
6415 can also be a hyphen-minus
6417 in which case standard input is used, e.g., for pasting purposes.
6418 Only in this latter mode
6420 may be given: if it is data will be read in until the given
6422 is seen on a line by itself, and encountering EOF is an error; the
6424 is a required argument in non-interactive mode;
6425 note that variables expansion is performed on the delimiter.
6429 Cause the named string to become the current subject field.
6430 Newline (NL) and carriage-return (CR) bytes are invalid and will be
6431 normalized to space (SP) characters.
6434 .It Ic ~t Ar name ...
6435 Add the given name(s) to the direct recipient list.
6438 .It Ic ~U Ar messages
6439 Read in the given / current message(s) excluding all headers, indented by
6443 .It Ic ~u Ar messages
6444 Read in the given / current message(s), excluding all headers.
6448 Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the
6450 environment variable) on the message collected so far.
6451 Usually, the alternate editor will be a screen editor.
6452 After the editor is quit,
6453 the user may resume appending text to the end of the message.
6456 .It Ic ~w Ar filename
6457 Write the message onto the named file.
6459 the message is appended to it.
6465 except that the message is not saved at all.
6468 .It Ic ~| Ar command
6469 Pipe the message through the specified filter command.
6470 If the command gives no output or terminates abnormally,
6471 retain the original text of the message.
6474 is often used as a rejustifying filter.
6478 .It Ic ~^ Ar cmd Op Ar subcmd Op Ar arg3 Op Ar arg4
6479 Low-level command ment for scripted message access, i.e., for
6480 .Va on-compose-splice-shell
6482 .Va on-compose-splice .
6483 The used protocol is likely subject to changes, and therefore the
6484 mentioned hooks receive the used protocol version as an initial line.
6485 In general the first field of a response line represents a status code
6486 which specifies whether a command was successful or not, whether result
6487 data is to be expected, and if, the format of the result data.
6488 The status codes are:
6491 .Bl -tag -compact -width _210_
6493 Status ok; the remains of the line are the result.
6495 Status ok; the rest of the line is optionally used for more status.
6496 What follows are lines of result addresses, terminated by an empty line.
6497 The address lines consist of two fields, the first of which is the
6498 plain address, e.g.,
6500 separated by a single ASCII SP space from the second which contains the
6501 unstripped address, even if that is identical to the first field, e.g.,
6502 .Ql (Lovely) Bob <bob@exam.ple> .
6504 Status ok; the rest of the line is optionally used for more status.
6505 What follows are lines of furtherly unspecified string content,
6506 terminated by an empty line.
6507 (All the input, including the empty line, must be consumed before
6508 further commands can be issued.)
6510 Syntax error; invalid command.
6512 Syntax error in parameters or arguments.
6514 Error: an argument fails verification.
6515 For example an invalid address has been specified.
6517 Error: an otherwise valid argument is rendered invalid due to context.
6518 For example, a second address is added to a header which may consist of
6519 a single address only.
6523 If a command indicates failure then the message will have remained
6525 Most commands can fail with
6527 if required arguments are missing (false command usage).
6528 The following commands are supported, and, as usual, case-insensitive:
6531 .Bl -hang -width header
6533 This command allows listing, inspection, and editing of message headers.
6534 The second argument specifies the subcommand to apply, one of:
6537 .Bl -hang -compact -width remove
6539 Without a third argument a list of all yet existing headers is given via
6541 this command is the default command of
6543 if no second argument has been given.
6544 A third argument restricts output to the given header only, which may
6547 if no such field is defined.
6550 Shows the content of the header given as the third argument.
6551 Dependent on the header type this may respond with
6555 any failure results in
6559 This will remove all instances of the header given as the third
6564 if no such header can be found.
6567 Create a new or an additional instance of the header given in the third
6568 argument, with the header body content as given in the fourth argument
6569 (the remains of the line).
6572 if the third argument specifies a free-form header field name that is
6573 invalid, or if body content extraction fails to succeed,
6575 if any extracted address does not pass syntax and/or security checks, and
6577 to indicate prevention of excessing a single-instance header \(em note that
6579 can be appended to (a space separator will be added automatically first).
6581 is returned upon success.
6586 This command allows listing, removal and addition of message attachments.
6587 The second argument specifies the subcommand to apply, one of:
6590 .Bl -hang -compact -width remove
6592 List all attachments via
6596 if no attachments exist.
6597 This command is the default command of
6599 if no second argument has been given.
6602 This will remove the attachment given as the third argument, and report
6606 if no such attachment can be found.
6607 If there exists any path component in the given argument, then an exact
6608 match of the path which has been used to create the attachment is used
6609 directly, but if only the basename of that path matches then all
6610 attachments are traversed to find an exact match first, and the removal
6611 occurs afterwards; if multiple basenames match, a
6614 Message attachments are treated as absolute pathnames.
6616 If no path component exists in the given argument, then all attachments
6617 will be searched for
6619 parameter matches as well as for matches of the basename of the path
6620 which has been used when the attachment has been created; multiple
6625 This will interpret the third argument as a number and remove the
6626 attachment at that list position (counting from one!), reporting
6630 if the argument is not a number or
6632 if no such attachment exists.
6635 Adds the attachment given as the third argument, specified exactly as
6636 documented for the command line option
6638 and supporting the message number extension as documented for
6642 upon success, with the index of the new attachment following,
6644 if the given file cannot be opened,
6646 if an on-the-fly performed character set conversion fails, otherwise
6648 is reported; this is also reported if character set conversion is
6649 requested but not available.
6652 This uses the same search mechanism as described for
6654 and prints any known attributes of the first found attachment via
6658 if no such attachment can be found.
6659 The attributes are written as lines of keyword and value tuples, the
6660 keyword being separated from the rest of the line with an ASCII SP space
6664 This uses the same search mechanism as described for
6666 and is otherwise identical to
6669 .It Ar attribute-set
6670 This uses the same search mechanism as described for
6672 and will assign the attribute given as the fourth argument, which is
6673 expected to be a value tuple of keyword and other data, separated by
6674 a ASCII SP space or TAB tabulator character.
6675 If the value part is empty, then the given attribute is removed, or
6676 reset to a default value if existence of the attribute is crucial.
6679 upon success, with the index of the found attachment following,
6681 for message attachments or if the given keyword is invalid, and
6683 if no such attachment can be found.
6684 The following keywords may be used (case-insensitively):
6686 .Bl -hang -compact -width ".Ql filename"
6688 Sets the filename of the MIME part, i.e., the name that is used for
6689 display and when (suggesting a name for) saving (purposes).
6690 .It Ql content-description
6691 Associate some descriptive information to the attachment's content, used
6692 in favour of the plain filename by some MUAs.
6694 May be used for uniquely identifying MIME entities in several contexts;
6695 this expects a special reference address format as defined in RFC 2045
6698 upon address content verification failure.
6700 Specifies the media type and subtype of the part; managed automatically.
6701 .It Ql content-disposition
6702 Automatically set to the string
6706 .It Ar attribute-set-at
6707 This uses the same search mechanism as described for
6709 and is otherwise identical to
6719 .\" .Sh INTERNAL VARIABLES {{{
6720 .Sh "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
6722 Internal \*(UA variables are controlled via the
6726 commands; prefixing a variable name with the string
6730 has the same effect as using
6736 Creation or editing of variables can be performed in the
6741 will give more insight on the given variable(s), and
6743 when called without arguments, will show a listing of all variables.
6744 Both commands support a more
6747 Some well-known variables will also become inherited from the
6750 implicitly, others can be explicitly imported with the command
6752 and henceforth share said properties.
6755 Two different kind of internal variables exist.
6756 There are boolean variables, which can only be in one of the two states
6760 and value variables with a(n optional) string value.
6761 For the latter proper quoting is necessary upon assignment time, the
6762 introduction of the section
6764 documents the supported quoting rules.
6766 .Bd -literal -offset indent
6767 wysh set one=val\e 1 two="val 2" \e
6768 three='val "3"' four=$'val \e'4\e''; \e
6769 varshow one two three four; \e
6770 unset one two three four
6774 Dependent upon the actual option the string values will be interpreted
6775 as numbers, colour names, normal text etc., but there also exists
6776 a special kind of string value, the
6777 .Dq boolean string ,
6778 which must either be a decimal integer (in which case
6782 and any other value is true) or any of the (case-insensitive) strings
6788 for a false boolean and
6794 for a true boolean; a special kind of boolean string is the
6796 which is a boolean string that can optionally be prefixed with the
6797 (case-insensitive) term
6801 which causes prompting of the user in interactive mode, with the given
6802 boolean as the default value.
6804 .\" .Ss "Initial settings" {{{
6805 .\" (Keep in SYNC: ./nail.h:okeys, ./nail.rc, ./nail.1:"Initial settings")
6806 .Ss "Initial settings"
6808 The standard POSIX 2008/Cor 2-2016 mandates the following initial
6814 .Pf no Va autoprint ,
6828 .Pf no Va ignoreeof ,
6830 .Pf no Va keepsave ,
6832 .Pf no Va outfolder ,
6840 .Pf no Va sendwait ,
6849 Notes: \*(UA does not support the
6851 variable \(en use command line options or
6853 to pass options through to a
6855 And the default global
6857 file, which is loaded unless the
6859 (with according argument) or
6861 command line options have been used, or the
6862 .Ev MAILX_NO_SYSTEM_RC
6863 environment variable is set (see
6864 .Sx "Resource files" )
6865 bends those initial settings a bit, e.g., it sets the variables
6870 to name a few, establishes a default
6872 selection etc., and should thus be taken into account.
6875 .\" .Ss "Variables" {{{
6878 .Bl -tag -width ".It Va BaNg"
6882 \*(RO The (hard) exit status of the last command.
6883 This exit status has a meaning for the state machine, in parts
6884 prescribed by the POSIX standard, and, e.g., for
6887 .Va batch-exit-on-error .
6888 This is why \*(UA also knows about a
6890 exit status, which is tracked in
6897 exit status of the last command, which, different to
6899 has no meaning for the state machine, and can therefore easily transport
6900 different error-indicating values.
6901 It is directly addressable with the command
6913 \*(RO This is a multiplexer variable which performs dynamic expansion of
6914 the requested state or condition, of which there are:
6917 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Va BaNg"
6921 .It Va ^ERR , ^ERRDOC , ^ERRNAME
6922 The number, documentation, and name of the current
6924 respectively, which is usually set after an error occurred.
6925 \*(ID This machinery is new and is usually reliable only if a command
6926 explicitly states that it manages
6928 Each of those variables can be suffixed with a hyphen minus followed by
6929 a name or number, in which case the expansion refers to the given error.
6930 Note this is a direct mapping of (a subset of) the system error values:
6931 .Bd -literal -offset indent
6933 eval echo \e$1: \e$^ERR-$1: ERR-\e$^ERRNAME-$1: \e$^ERRDOC-$1
6934 vput vexpr i + "$1" 1
6946 \*(RO Only available inside the scope of a
6948 ed macro, this will expand to all parameters of the macro, separated by
6950 \*(ID The special semantics of the equally named special parameter of the
6952 are not yet supported.
6956 \*(RO Only available inside the scope of a
6958 ed macro, this will expand to all parameters of the macro, separated by
6960 \*(ID The special semantics of the equally named special parameter of the
6962 are not yet supported.
6966 \*(RO Only available inside the scope of a
6968 ed macro, this will expand to the number of positional parameters in
6973 \*(RO Available inside the scope of a
6977 ed macro, this expands to the name of the calling macro, or to the empty
6978 string if the macro is running from top-level.
6979 For the \*(OPal regular expression search and replace operator of
6981 this expands to the entire matching expression.
6985 \*(RO Available inside the scope of a
6989 ed macro, this will access the first positional parameter passed.
6990 All further parameters can be accessed with this syntax, too, e.g.,
6993 etc.; positional parameters can be shifted off the stack by calling
6995 Positional parameters are also accessible in the \*(OPal regular
6996 expression search and replace expression of
7001 \*(RO Is set to the active
7005 .It Va add-file-recipients
7006 \*(BO When file or pipe recipients have been specified,
7007 mention them in the corresponding address fields of the message instead
7008 of silently stripping them from their recipient list.
7009 By default such addressees are not mentioned.
7013 \*(BO Causes only the local part to be evaluated
7014 when comparing addresses.
7018 \*(RO Is set to the list of
7023 \*(BO Causes messages saved in
7025 to be appended to the end rather than prepended.
7026 This should always be set.
7030 \*(BO Causes \*(UA to prompt for the subject of each message sent.
7031 If the user responds with simply a newline,
7032 no subject field will be sent.
7036 \*(BO Causes the prompts for
7040 lists to appear after the message has been edited.
7044 \*(BO If set, \*(UA asks for files to attach at the end of each message,
7045 shall the list be found empty at that time.
7046 An empty line finalizes the list.
7050 \*(BO Causes the user to be prompted for carbon copy recipients
7051 (at the end of each message if
7055 are set) shall the list be found empty (at that time).
7056 An empty line finalizes the list.
7060 \*(BO Causes the user to be prompted for blind carbon copy
7061 recipients (at the end of each message if
7065 are set) shall the list be found empty (at that time).
7066 An empty line finalizes the list.
7070 \*(BO\*(OP Causes the user to be prompted if the message is to be
7071 signed at the end of each message.
7074 variable is ignored when this variable is set.
7078 \*(BO Alternative name for
7083 A sequence of characters to display in the
7087 as shown in the display of
7089 each for one type of messages (see
7090 .Sx "Message states" ) ,
7091 with the default being
7094 .Ql NU\ \ *HMFAT+\-$~
7097 variable is set, in the following order:
7099 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql _"
7121 start of a collapsed thread.
7123 an uncollapsed thread (TODO ignored for now).
7127 classified as possible spam.
7133 Specifies a list of recipients to which a blind carbon copy of each
7134 outgoing message will be sent automatically.
7138 Specifies a list of recipients to which a carbon copy of each outgoing
7139 message will be sent automatically.
7143 \*(BO Causes threads to be collapsed automatically when threaded mode
7150 \*(BO Enable automatic
7152 ing of a(n existing)
7158 commands, e.g., the message that becomes the new
7160 is shown automatically, as via
7167 \*(BO\*(OB Causes threaded mode (see the
7169 command) to be entered automatically when a folder is opened.
7171 .Ql autosort=thread .
7175 Causes sorted mode (see the
7177 command) to be entered automatically with the value of this variable as
7178 sorting method when a folder is opened, e.g.,
7179 .Ql set autosort=thread .
7183 \*(BO Enables the substitution of all not (reverse-solidus) escaped
7186 characters by the contents of the last executed command for the
7188 shell escape command and
7190 one of the compose mode
7191 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
7192 If this variable is not set no reverse solidus stripping is performed.
7195 .It Va batch-exit-on-error
7196 If the batch mode has been enabled via the
7198 command line option, then this variable will be consulted whenever \*(UA
7199 completes one operation.
7200 It is ment as a convenient alternative to manually testing
7202 If any value is set, a number is expected; if it is
7204 then each failed operation will cause \*(UA to exit.
7206 \*(ID If it is set without a value, then only top-level operations that
7208 .Dq on the command-prompt ,
7209 i.e., neither in running macros nor from within source files etc., are
7210 considered, unless a main operation that directly affects the return
7211 value, like, e.g., a failed
7213 command, is affected; this mode of operation is likely to change in v15,
7214 and tests should be performed to see whether the desired effect is seen.
7218 \*(OP Terminals generate multi-byte sequences for certain forms of
7219 input, for example for function and other special keys.
7220 Some terminals however do not write these multi-byte sequences as
7221 a whole, but byte-by-byte, and the latter is what \*(UA actually reads.
7222 This variable specifies the timeout in milliseconds that the MLE (see
7223 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
7224 waits for more bytes to arrive unless it considers a sequence
7230 \*(BO Causes automatic display of a header summary after executing a
7232 command, and thus complements the standard variable
7234 which controls header summary display on program startup.
7235 It is only meaningful if
7241 \*(BO Sets some cosmetical features to traditional BSD style;
7242 has the same affect as setting
7244 and all other variables prefixed with
7246 it also changes the behaviour of
7248 (which does not exist in BSD).
7252 \*(BO Changes the letters shown in the first column of a header
7253 summary to traditional BSD style.
7257 \*(BO Changes the display of columns in a header summary to traditional
7262 \*(BO Changes some informational messages to traditional BSD style.
7268 field to appear immediately after the
7270 field in message headers and with the
7272 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
7276 The value that should appear in the
7280 MIME header fields when no character set conversion of the message data
7282 This defaults to US-ASCII, and the chosen character set should be
7283 US-ASCII compatible.
7287 \*(OP The default 8-bit character set that is used as an implicit last
7288 member of the variable
7290 This defaults to UTF-8 if character set conversion capabilities are
7291 available, and to ISO-8859-1 otherwise, in which case the only supported
7294 and this variable is effectively ignored.
7295 Refer to the section
7296 .Sx "Character sets"
7297 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
7300 .It Va charset-unknown-8bit
7301 \*(OP RFC 1428 specifies conditions when internet mail gateways shall
7303 the content of a mail message by using a character set with the name
7305 Because of the unclassified nature of this character set \*(UA will not
7306 be capable to convert this character set to any other character set.
7307 If this variable is set any message part which uses the character set
7309 is assumed to really be in the character set given in the value,
7310 otherwise the (final) value of
7312 is used for this purpose.
7314 This variable will also be taken into account if a MIME type (see
7315 .Sx "The mime.types files" )
7316 of a MIME message part that uses the
7318 character set is forcefully treated as text.
7322 The default value for the
7327 .It Va colour-disable
7328 \*(BO\*(OP Forcefully disable usage of colours.
7329 Also see the section
7330 .Sx "Coloured display" .
7334 \*(BO\*(OP Whether colour shall be used for output that is paged through
7336 Note that pagers may need special command line options, e.g.,
7344 in order to support colours.
7345 Often doing manual adjustments is unnecessary since \*(UA may perform
7346 adjustments dependent on the value of the environment variable
7348 (see there for more).
7352 In a(n interactive) terminal session, then if this valued variable is
7353 set it will be used as a threshold to determine how many lines the given
7354 output has to span before it will be displayed via the configured
7358 can be forced by setting this to the value
7360 setting it without a value will deduce the current height of the
7361 terminal screen to compute the treshold (see
7366 \*(ID At the moment this uses the count of lines of the message in wire
7367 format, which, dependent on the
7369 of the message, is unrelated to the number of display lines.
7370 (The software is old and historically the relation was a given thing.)
7374 Define a set of custom headers to be injected into newly composed or
7375 forwarded messages; it is also possible to create custom headers in
7378 which can be automated by setting one of the hooks
7379 .Va on-compose-splice-shell
7381 .Va on-compose-splice .
7382 The value is interpreted as a comma-separated list of custom headers to
7383 be injected, to include commas in the header bodies escape them with
7385 \*(ID Overwriting of automatically managed headers is neither supported
7388 .Dl set customhdr='Hdr1: Body1-1\e, Body1-2, Hdr2: Body2'
7392 Controls the appearance of the
7394 date and time format specification of the
7396 variable, that is used, for example, when viewing the summary of
7398 If unset, then the local receiving date is used and displayed
7399 unformatted, otherwise the message sending
7401 It is possible to assign a
7403 format string and control formatting, but embedding newlines via the
7405 format is not supported, and will result in display errors.
7407 .Ql %Y-%m-%d %H:%M ,
7409 .Va datefield-markout-older .
7412 .It Va datefield-markout-older
7413 Only used in conjunction with
7415 Can be used to create a visible distinction of messages dated more than
7416 a day in the future, or older than six months, a concept comparable to the
7418 option of the POSIX utility
7420 If set to the empty string, then the plain month, day and year of the
7422 will be displayed, but a
7424 format string to control formatting can be assigned.
7430 \*(BO Enables debug messages and obsoletion warnings, disables the
7431 actual delivery of messages and also implies
7437 .It Va disposition-notification-send
7439 .Ql Disposition-Notification-To:
7440 header (RFC 3798) with the message.
7444 .\" TODO .It Va disposition-notification-send-HOST
7446 .\".Va disposition-notification-send
7447 .\" for SMTP accounts on a specific host.
7448 .\" TODO .It Va disposition-notification-send-USER@HOST
7450 .\".Va disposition-notification-send
7451 .\"for a specific account.
7455 \*(BO When dot is set, a period
7457 on a line by itself during message input in (interactive) compose mode
7458 will be treated as end-of-message (in addition to the normal end-of-file
7467 .It Va dotlock-ignore-error
7468 \*(BO\*(OP Synchronization of mailboxes which \*(UA treats as
7470 .Sx "primary system mailbox" Ns
7471 es (see, e.g., the notes on
7472 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
7473 as well as the documentation of
7475 will be protected with so-called dotlock files\(emthe traditional mail
7476 spool file locking method\(emin addition to system file locking.
7477 Because \*(UA ships with a privilege-separated dotlock creation program
7478 that should always be able to create such a dotlock file there is no
7479 good reason to ignore dotlock file creation errors, and thus these are
7480 fatal unless this variable is set.
7484 \*(BO If this variable is set then the editor is started automatically
7485 when a message is composed in interactive mode, as if the
7487 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
7491 variable is implied for this automatically spawned editor session.
7495 \*(BO When a message is edited while being composed,
7496 its header is included in the editable text.
7506 fields are accepted within the header, other fields are ignored.
7510 \*(BO When entering interactive mode \*(UA normally writes
7511 .Dq \&No mail for user
7512 and exits immediately if a mailbox is empty or does not exist.
7513 If this variable is set \*(UA starts even with an empty or nonexistent
7514 mailbox (the latter behaviour furtherly depends upon
7521 .Ql Content-Transfer-Encoding
7522 to use in outgoing text messages and message parts, where applicable.
7523 (7-bit clean text messages are sent as-is, without a transfer encoding.)
7526 .Bl -tag -compact -width "_%%_"
7529 8-bit transport effectively causes the raw data be passed through
7530 unchanged, but may cause problems when transferring mail messages over
7531 channels that are not ESMTP (RFC 1869) compliant.
7532 Also, several input data constructs are not allowed by the
7533 specifications and may cause a different transfer-encoding to be used.
7534 .It Ql quoted-printable
7536 Quoted-printable encoding is 7-bit clean and has the property that ASCII
7537 characters are passed through unchanged, so that an english message can
7538 be read as-is; it is also acceptible for other single-byte locales that
7539 share many characters with ASCII, like, e.g., ISO-8859-1.
7540 The encoding will cause a large overhead for messages in other character
7541 sets: e.g., it will require up to twelve (12) bytes to encode a single
7542 UTF-8 character of four (4) bytes.
7544 .Pf (Or\0 Ql b64 . )
7545 The default encoding, it is 7-bit clean and will always be used for
7547 This encoding has a constant input:output ratio of 3:4, regardless of
7548 the character set of the input data it will encode three bytes of input
7549 to four bytes of output.
7550 This transfer-encoding is not human readable without performing
7556 If defined, the first character of the value of this variable
7557 gives the character to use in place of tilde
7560 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
7561 If set to the empty string, command escapes are disabled.
7565 If not set then file and command pipeline targets are not allowed,
7566 and any such address will be filtered out, giving a warning message.
7567 If set without a value then all possible recipient address
7568 specifications will be accepted \(en see the section
7569 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode"
7571 To accept them, but only in interactive mode, or when tilde commands
7572 were enabled explicitly by using one of the command line options
7576 set this to the (case-insensitive) value
7578 (it actually acts like
7579 .Ql restrict,-all,+name,+addr ,
7580 so that care for ordering issues must be taken) .
7582 In fact the value is interpreted as a comma-separated list of values.
7585 then the existence of disallowed specifications is treated as a hard
7586 send error instead of only filtering them out.
7587 The remaining values specify whether a specific type of recipient
7588 address specification is allowed (optionally indicated by a plus sign
7590 prefix) or disallowed (prefixed with a hyphen-minus
7594 addresses all possible address specifications,
7598 command pipeline targets,
7600 plain user names and (MTA) aliases (\*(OB
7602 may be used as an alternative syntax to
7607 These kind of values are interpreted in the given order, so that
7608 .Ql restrict,\:fail,\:+file,\:-all,\:+addr
7609 will cause hard errors for any non-network address recipient address
7610 unless \*(UA is in interactive mode or has been started with the
7614 command line option; in the latter case(s) any address may be used, then.
7616 Historically invalid network addressees are silently stripped off.
7617 To change this and ensure that any encountered invalid email address
7618 instead causes a hard error, ensure the string
7620 is an entry in the above list.
7621 Setting this automatically enables network addressees
7622 (it actually acts like
7623 .Ql failinvaddr,+addr ,
7624 so that care for ordering issues must be taken) .
7628 Unless this variable is set additional
7630 (Mail-Transfer-Agent)
7631 arguments from the command line, as can be given after a
7633 separator, are ignored due to safety reasons.
7634 However, if set to the special (case-insensitive) value
7636 then the presence of additional MTA arguments is treated as a hard
7637 error that causes \*(UA to exit with failure status.
7638 A lesser strict variant is the otherwise identical
7640 which does accept such arguments in interactive mode, or if tilde
7641 commands were enabled explicitly by using one of the command line options
7648 \*(RO String giving a list of features \*(UA, preceded with a plus sign
7650 if the feature is available, and a hyphen-minus
7653 The output of the command
7655 will include this information.
7659 \*(BO This setting reverses the meanings of a set of reply commands,
7660 turning the lowercase variants, which by default address all recipients
7661 included in the header of a message
7662 .Pf ( Ic reply , respond , followup )
7663 into the uppercase variants, which by default address the sender only
7664 .Pf ( Ic Reply , Respond , Followup )
7667 .Ic replysender , respondsender , followupsender
7669 .Ic replyall , respondall , followupall
7670 are not affected by the current setting of
7675 .It Va file-hook-load-EXTENSION , file-hook-save-EXTENSION
7676 It is possible to install file hooks which will be used by the
7678 command in order to be able to transparently handle (through an
7679 intermediate temporary file) files with specific
7681 s: the variable values can include shell snippets and are expected to
7682 write data to standard output / read data from standard input,
7684 \*(ID The variables may not be changed while there is a mailbox
7686 .Bd -literal -offset indent
7687 set file-hook-load-xy='echo >&2 XY-LOAD; gzip -cd' \e
7688 file-hook-save-xy='echo >&2 XY-SAVE; gzip -c' \e
7689 record=+null-sent.xy
7694 The default path under which mailboxes are to be saved:
7695 file names that begin with the plus sign
7697 will have the plus sign replaced with the value of this variable if set,
7698 otherwise the plus sign will remain unchanged when doing
7699 .Sx "Filename transformations" ;
7702 for more on this topic.
7703 The value supports a subset of transformations itself, and if the
7704 non-empty value does not start with a solidus
7708 will be prefixed automatically.
7709 Once the actual value is evaluated first, the internal variable
7711 will be updated for caching purposes.
7715 This variable can be set to the name of a
7717 macro which will be called whenever a
7720 The macro will also be invoked when new mail arrives,
7721 but message lists for commands executed from the macro
7722 only include newly arrived messages then.
7724 are activated by default in a folder hook, causing the covered settings
7725 to be reverted once the folder is left again.
7728 Macro behaviour, including option localization, will change in v15.
7729 One should be aware of that and possibly embed version checks in the
7730 used resource file(s).
7733 .It Va folder-hook-FOLDER
7738 Unlike other folder specifications, the fully expanded name of a folder,
7739 without metacharacters, is used to avoid ambiguities.
7740 However, if the mailbox resides under
7744 specification is tried in addition, e.g., if
7748 (and thus relative to the user's home directory) then
7749 .Pa /home/usr1/mail/sent
7751 .Ql folder-hook-/home/usr1/mail/sent
7752 first, but then followed by
7753 .Ql folder-hook-+sent .
7756 .It Va folder-resolved
7757 \*(RO Set to the fully resolved path of
7759 once that evaluation has occurred; rather internal.
7763 \*(BO Controls whether a
7764 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
7765 header is generated when sending messages to known mailing lists.
7767 .Va followup-to-honour
7769 .Ic mlist , mlsubscribe , reply
7774 .It Va followup-to-honour
7776 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
7777 header is honoured when group-replying to a message via
7781 This is a quadoption; if set without a value it defaults to
7791 .It Va forward-as-attachment
7792 \*(BO Original messages are normally sent as inline text with the
7795 and only the first part of a multipart message is included.
7796 With this setting enabled messages are sent as unmodified MIME
7798 attachments with all of their parts included.
7802 The address (or a list of addresses) to put into the
7804 field of the message header, quoting RFC 5322:
7805 the author(s) of the message, that is, the mailbox(es) of the person(s)
7806 or system(s) responsible for the writing of the message.
7809 ing to messages these addresses are handled as if they were in the
7813 If the machine's hostname is not valid at the Internet (for example at
7814 a dialup machine) then either this variable or
7816 (\*(IN and with a defined SMTP protocol in
7819 adds even more fine-tuning capabilities),
7823 contains more than one address,
7826 variable is required (according to the standard RFC 5322).
7828 If a file-based MTA is used, then
7830 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
7832 can nonetheless be enforced to appear as the envelope sender address at
7833 the MTA protocol level (the RFC 5321 reverse-path), either by using the
7835 command line option (with an empty argument; see there for the complete
7836 picture on this topic), or by setting the internal variable
7837 .Va r-option-implicit .
7841 \*(BO When replying to or forwarding a message \*(UA normally removes
7842 the comment and name parts of email addresses.
7843 If this variable is set such stripping is not performed,
7844 and comments, names etc. are retained.
7848 The string to put before the text of a message with the
7852 .Va forward-as-attachment
7855 .Dq -------- Original Message --------
7856 if unset; No heading is put if it is set to the empty string.
7860 \*(BO Causes the header summary to be written at startup and after
7861 commands that affect the number of messages or the order of messages in
7862 the current folder; enabled by default.
7863 The command line option
7869 complements this and controls header summary display on folder changes.
7874 A format string to use for the summary of
7876 similar to the ones used for
7879 Format specifiers in the given string start with a percent sign
7881 and may be followed by an optional decimal number indicating the field
7882 width \(em if that is negative, the field is to be left-aligned.
7883 Valid format specifiers are:
7886 .Bl -tag -compact -width "_%%_"
7888 A plain percent sign.
7891 a space character but for the current message
7893 for which it expands to
7897 a space character but for the current message
7899 for which it expands to
7902 \*(OP The spam score of the message, as has been classified via the
7905 Shows only a replacement character if there is no spam support.
7907 Message attribute character (status flag); the actual content can be
7911 The date found in the
7913 header of the message when
7915 is set (the default), otherwise the date when the message was received.
7916 Formatting can be controlled by assigning a
7921 The indenting level in threaded mode.
7923 The address of the message sender.
7925 The message thread tree structure.
7926 (Note that this format does not support a field width.)
7928 The number of lines of the message, if available.
7932 The number of octets (bytes) in the message, if available.
7934 Message subject (if any).
7936 Message subject (if any) in double quotes.
7938 Message recipient flags: is the addressee of the message a known or
7939 subscribed mailing list \(en see
7944 The position in threaded/sorted order.
7948 .Ql %>\&%a\&%m\ %-18f\ %16d\ %4l/%\-5o\ %i%-s ,
7950 .Ql %>\&%a\&%m\ %20-f\ \ %16d\ %3l/%\-5o\ %i%-S
7961 .It Va headline-bidi
7962 Bidirectional text requires special treatment when displaying headers,
7963 because numbers (in dates or for file sizes etc.) will not affect the
7964 current text direction, in effect resulting in ugly line layouts when
7965 arabic or other right-to-left text is to be displayed.
7966 On the other hand only a minority of terminals is capable to correctly
7967 handle direction changes, so that user interaction is necessary for
7969 Note that extended host system support is required nonetheless, e.g.,
7970 detection of the terminal character set is one precondition;
7971 and this feature only works in an Unicode (i.e., UTF-8) locale.
7973 In general setting this variable will cause \*(UA to encapsulate text
7974 fields that may occur when displaying
7976 (and some other fields, like dynamic expansions in
7978 with special Unicode control sequences;
7979 it is possible to fine-tune the terminal support level by assigning
7981 no value (or any value other than
7986 will make \*(UA assume that the terminal is capable to properly deal
7987 with Unicode version 6.3, in which case text is embedded in a pair of
7988 U+2068 (FIRST STRONG ISOLATE) and U+2069 (POP DIRECTIONAL ISOLATE)
7990 In addition no space on the line is reserved for these characters.
7992 Weaker support is chosen by using the value
7994 (Unicode 6.3, but reserve the room of two spaces for writing the control
7995 sequences onto the line).
8000 select Unicode 1.1 support (U+200E, LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK); the latter
8001 again reserves room for two spaces in addition.
8005 \*(OP If a line editor is available then this can be set to
8006 name the (expandable) path of the location of a permanent history file.
8011 .It Va history-gabby
8012 \*(BO\*(OP Add more entries to the history as is normally done.
8015 .It Va history-gabby-persist
8016 \*(BO\*(OP \*(UA's own MLE will not save the additional
8018 entries in persistent storage unless this variable is set.
8019 On the other hand it will not loose the knowledge of whether
8020 a persistent entry was gabby or not.
8026 \*(OP Setting this variable imposes a limit on the number of concurrent
8028 If set to the value 0 then no further history entries will be added, and
8029 loading and incorporation of the
8031 upon program startup can also be suppressed by doing this.
8032 Runtime changes will not be reflected, but will affect the number of
8033 entries saved to permanent storage.
8037 \*(BO This setting controls whether messages are held in the system
8039 and it is set by default.
8043 Use this string as hostname when expanding local addresses instead of
8044 the value obtained from
8048 It is used, e.g., in
8052 fields, as well as when generating
8054 MIME part related unique ID fields.
8055 Setting it to the empty string will cause the normal hostname to be
8056 used, but nonetheless enables creation of said ID fields.
8057 \*(IN in conjunction with the builtin SMTP
8060 also influences the results:
8061 one should produce some test messages with the desired combination of
8070 \*(BO\*(OP Can be used to turn off the automatic conversion of domain
8071 names according to the rules of IDNA (internationalized domain names
8073 Since the IDNA code assumes that domain names are specified with the
8075 character set, an UTF-8 locale charset is required to represent all
8076 possible international domain names (before conversion, that is).
8080 \*(BO Ignore interrupt signals from the terminal while entering
8081 messages; instead echo them as
8083 characters and discard the current line.
8087 \*(BO Ignore end-of-file conditions
8088 .Pf ( Ql control-D )
8089 in compose mode on message input and in interactive command input.
8090 If set an interactive command input session can only be left by
8091 explicitly using one of the commands
8095 and message input in compose mode can only be terminated by entering
8098 on a line by itself or by using the
8100 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ;
8102 overrides a setting of
8107 If this is set to a non-empty string it will specify the users
8109 .Sx "primary system mailbox" ,
8112 and the system-dependent default, and (thus) be used to replace
8115 .Sx "Filename transformations" ;
8118 for more on this topic.
8119 The value supports a subset of transformations itself.
8127 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
8130 option for indenting messages,
8131 in place of the normal tabulator character
8133 which is the default.
8134 Be sure to quote the value if it contains spaces or tabs.
8138 \*(BO If set, an empty system (MBOX) mailbox file is not removed.
8139 Note that, in conjunction with
8142 .Ev POSIXLY_CORRECT )
8143 any empty file will be removed unless this variable is set.
8144 This may improve the interoperability with other mail user agents
8145 when using a common folder directory, and prevents malicious users
8146 from creating fake mailboxes in a world-writable spool directory.
8147 \*(ID Only local regular (MBOX) files are covered, Maildir or other
8148 mailbox types will never be removed, even if empty.
8151 .It Va keep-content-length
8152 \*(BO When (editing messages and) writing
8154 mailbox files \*(UA can be told to keep the
8158 header fields that some MUAs generate by setting this variable.
8159 Since \*(UA does neither use nor update these non-standardized header
8160 fields (which in itself shows one of their conceptual problems),
8161 stripping them should increase interoperability in between MUAs that
8162 work with with same mailbox files.
8163 Note that, if this is not set but
8164 .Va writebackedited ,
8165 as below, is, a possibly performed automatic stripping of these header
8166 fields already marks the message as being modified.
8170 \*(BO When a message is saved it is usually discarded from the
8171 originating folder when \*(UA is quit.
8172 This setting causes all saved message to be retained.
8175 .It Va line-editor-disable
8176 \*(BO Turn off any enhanced line editing capabilities (see
8177 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor"
8181 .It Va line-editor-no-defaults
8182 \*(BO\*(OP Do not establish any default key binding.
8185 .It Va mailbox-display
8186 \*(RO The name of the current mailbox
8188 possibly abbreviated for display purposes.
8191 .It Va mailbox-resolved
8192 \*(RO The fully resolved path of the current mailbox.
8195 .It Va mailx-extra-rc
8196 An additional startup file that is loaded as the last of the
8197 .Sx "Resource files" .
8198 Use this file for commands that are not understood by other POSIX
8200 implementations, i.e., mostly anything which is not covered by
8201 .Sx "Initial settings" .
8205 \*(BO When a message is replied to and this variable is set,
8206 it is marked as having been
8209 .Sx "Message states" .
8213 \*(BO If this is set then when opening MBOX mailbox files \*(UA will not
8214 use the tolerant POSIX rules for detecting message boundaries (so-called
8216 lines), as it does by default for compatibility reasons, but the more
8217 strict rules that have been defined in RFC 4155.
8218 When saving to MBOX mailboxes this indicates when so-called
8220 quoting is to be applied \(em note this is never necessary for any
8221 message newly generated by \*(UA, it only applies to messages generated
8222 by buggy or malicious MUAs.
8223 (\*(UA will use a proper
8227 lines cannot be misinterpreted as message boundaries.)
8229 This should not be set normally, but may be handy when \*(UA complains
8230 about having seen invalid
8232 lines when opening a MBOX: in this case temporarily setting this
8233 variable, re-opening the mailbox in question, unsetting this variable
8234 again and then invoking
8235 .Ql copy * SOME-FILE
8236 will perform proper, POSIX-compliant
8238 quoting for all detected messages, resulting in a valid MBOX mailbox.
8242 \*(BO Internal development variable.
8245 .It Va message-id-disable
8246 \*(BO By setting this variable the generation of
8248 can be completely suppressed, effectively leaving this task up to the
8250 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) or the SMTP server.
8251 (According to RFC 5321 a SMTP server is not required to add this
8252 field by itself, so it should be ensured that it accepts messages without
8254 This variable also affects automatic generation of
8259 .It Va message-inject-head
8260 A string to put at the beginning of each new message.
8261 The escape sequences tabulator
8268 .It Va message-inject-tail
8269 A string to put at the end of each new message.
8270 The escape sequences tabulator
8278 \*(BO Usually, when an
8280 expansion contains the sender, the sender is removed from the expansion.
8281 Setting this option suppresses these removals.
8286 option to be passed through to the
8288 (Mail-Transfer-Agent); though most of the modern MTAs no longer document
8289 this flag, no MTA is known which does not support it (for historical
8293 .It Va mime-allow-text-controls
8294 \*(BO When sending messages, each part of the message is MIME-inspected
8295 in order to classify the
8298 .Ql Content-Transfer-Encoding:
8301 that is required to send this part over mail transport, i.e.,
8302 a computation rather similar to what the
8304 command produces when used with the
8308 This classification however treats text files which are encoded in
8309 UTF-16 (seen for HTML files) and similar character sets as binary
8310 octet-streams, forcefully changing any
8315 .Ql application/octet-stream :
8316 If that actually happens a yet unset charset MIME parameter is set to
8318 effectively making it impossible for the receiving MUA to automatically
8319 interpret the contents of the part.
8321 If this variable is set, and the data was unambiguously identified as
8322 text data at first glance (by a
8326 file extension), then the original
8328 will not be overwritten.
8331 .It Va mime-alternative-favour-rich
8332 \*(BO If this variable is set then rich MIME alternative parts (e.g.,
8333 HTML) will be preferred in favour of included plain text versions when
8334 displaying messages, provided that a handler exists which produces
8335 output that can be (re)integrated into \*(UA's normal visual display.
8336 (E.g., at the time of this writing some newsletters ship their full
8337 content only in the rich HTML part, whereas the plain text part only
8338 contains topic subjects.)
8341 .It Va mime-counter-evidence
8344 field is used to decide how to handle MIME parts.
8345 Some MUAs however do not use
8347 or a similar mechanism to correctly classify content, but simply specify
8348 .Ql application/octet-stream ,
8349 even for plain text attachments like
8351 If this variable is set then \*(UA will try to classify such MIME
8352 message parts on its own, if possible, for example via a possibly
8353 existing attachment filename.
8354 A non-empty value may also be given, in which case a number is expected,
8355 actually a carrier of bits.
8356 Creating the bit-carrying number is a simple addition:
8357 .Bd -literal -offset indent
8358 ? !echo Value should be set to $((2 + 4 + 8))
8359 Value should be set to 14
8362 .Bl -bullet -compact
8364 If bit two is set (2) then the detected
8366 content-type will be carried along with the message and be used for
8368 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
8369 is responsible for the MIME part, shall that question arise;
8370 when displaying such a MIME part the part-info will indicate the
8371 overridden content-type by showing a plus sign
8374 If bit three is set (4) then the counter-evidence is always produced
8375 and a positive result will be used as the MIME type, even forcefully
8376 overriding the parts given MIME type.
8378 If bit four is set (8) then as a last resort the actual content of
8379 .Ql application/octet-stream
8380 parts will be inspected, so that data which looks like plain text can be
8385 .It Va mimetypes-load-control
8386 Can be used to control which of the
8388 databases are loaded by \*(UA, as furtherly described in the section
8389 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
8392 is part of the option value, then the user's personal
8394 file will be loaded (if it exists); likewise the letter
8396 controls loading of the system wide
8397 .Pa /etc/mime.types ;
8398 directives found in the user file take precedence, letter matching is
8400 If this variable is not set \*(UA will try to load both files.
8401 Incorporation of the \*(UA-builtin MIME types cannot be suppressed,
8402 but they will be matched last (the order can be listed via
8405 More sources can be specified by using a different syntax: if the
8406 value string contains an equals sign
8408 then it is instead parsed as a comma-separated list of the described
8411 pairs; the given filenames will be expanded and loaded, and their
8412 content may use the extended syntax that is described in the section
8413 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
8414 Directives found in such files always take precedence (are prepended to
8415 the MIME type cache).
8420 To choose an alternate Mail-Transfer-Agent, set this option to either
8421 the full pathname of an executable (optionally prefixed with a
8423 protocol indicator), or \*(OPally a SMTP protocol URL, e.g., \*(IN
8425 .Dl smtps?://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
8428 .Ql [smtp://]server[:port] . )
8429 The default has been chosen at compie time.
8430 All supported data transfers are executed in child processes, which
8431 run asynchronously, and without supervision, unless either the
8436 If such a child receives a TERM signal, it will abort and
8443 For a file-based MTA it may be necessary to set
8445 in in order to choose the right target of a modern
8448 It will be passed command line arguments from several possible sources:
8451 if set, from the command line if given and the variable
8454 Argument processing of the MTA will be terminated with a
8459 The otherwise occurring implicit usage of the following MTA command
8460 line arguments can be disabled by setting the boolean variable
8461 .Va mta-no-default-arguments
8462 (which will also disable passing
8466 (for not treating a line with only a dot
8468 character as the end of input),
8476 variable is set); in conjunction with the
8478 command line option \*(UA will also (not) pass
8484 \*(OP \*(UA can send mail over SMTP network connections to a single
8485 defined SMTP smarthost, the access URL of which has to be assigned to
8487 To use this mode it is helpful to read
8488 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
8489 It may be necessary to set the
8491 variable in order to use a specific combination of
8496 with some mail providers.
8499 .Bl -bullet -compact
8501 The plain SMTP protocol (RFC 5321) that normally lives on the
8502 server port 25 and requires setting the
8503 .Va smtp-use-starttls
8504 variable to enter a SSL/TLS encrypted session state.
8505 Assign a value like \*(IN
8506 .Ql smtp://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
8508 .Ql smtp://server[:port] )
8509 to choose this protocol.
8511 The so-called SMTPS which is supposed to live on server port 465
8512 and is automatically SSL/TLS secured.
8513 Unfortunately it never became a standardized protocol and may thus not
8514 be supported by your hosts network service database
8515 \(en in fact the port number has already been reassigned to other
8518 SMTPS is nonetheless a commonly offered protocol and thus can be
8519 chosen by assigning a value like \*(IN
8520 .Ql smtps://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
8522 .Ql smtps://server[:port] ) ;
8523 due to the mentioned problems it is usually necessary to explicitly
8528 Finally there is the SUBMISSION protocol (RFC 6409), which usually
8529 lives on server port 587 and is practically identically to the SMTP
8530 protocol from \*(UA's point of view beside that; it requires setting the
8531 .Va smtp-use-starttls
8532 variable to enter a SSL/TLS secured session state.
8533 Assign a value like \*(IN
8534 .Ql submission://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
8536 .Ql submission://server[:port] ) .
8541 .It Va mta-arguments
8542 Arguments to pass through to a file-based
8544 can be given via this variable, which is parsed according to
8545 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
8546 into an array of arguments, and which will be joined onto MTA options
8547 from other sources, and then passed individually to the MTA:
8549 .Dl wysh set mta-arguments='-t -X \&"/tmp/my log\&"'
8552 .It Va mta-no-default-arguments
8553 \*(BO Unless this variable is set \*(UA will pass some well known
8554 standard command line options to a file-based
8556 (Mail-Transfer-Agent), see there for more.
8560 Many systems use a so-called
8562 environment to ensure compatibility with
8564 This works by inspecting the name that was used to invoke the mail
8566 If this variable is set then the mailwrapper (the program that is
8567 actually executed when calling the file-based
8569 will treat its contents as that name.
8574 .It Va netrc-lookup-USER@HOST , netrc-lookup-HOST , netrc-lookup
8575 \*(BO\*(IN\*(OP Used to control usage of the users
8577 file for lookup of account credentials, as documented in the section
8578 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
8582 .Sx "The .netrc file"
8583 documents the file format.
8595 then \*(UA will read the output of a shell pipe instead of the users
8597 file if this variable is set (to the desired shell command).
8598 This can be used to, e.g., store
8602 .Dl set netrc-pipe='gpg -qd ~/.netrc.pgp'
8606 If this variable has the value
8608 newly created local folders will be in Maildir format.
8612 Checks for new mail in the current folder each time the prompt is shown.
8613 A Maildir folder must be re-scanned to determine if new mail has arrived.
8614 If this variable is set to the special value
8616 then a Maildir folder will not be rescanned completely, but only
8617 timestamp changes are detected.
8621 .It Va on-compose-splice-shell , on-compose-splice
8622 These hooks run once the normal compose mode is finished, but before the
8623 .Va on-compose-leave
8624 macro hook is called, the
8627 Both hooks will be executed in a subprocess, with their input and output
8628 connected to \*(UA such that they can act as if they would be an
8630 The difference in between them is that the former is a
8632 command, whereas the latter is a normal \*(UA macro, but which is
8633 restricted to a small set of commands (the
8637 will indicate said capability), just enough for the purpose of
8638 controlling the real \*(UA instance sufficiently.
8640 are enabled for these hooks (in the parent process), causing any setting
8641 to be forgotten after the message has been sent.
8643 During execution of these hooks \*(UA will temporarily forget whether it
8644 has been started in interactive mode, (a restricted set of)
8645 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
8646 will always be available, and for guaranteed reproduceabilities sake
8648 will be set to its default.
8649 The compose mode command
8651 has been especially designed for scriptability (via these hooks).
8652 The first line the hook will read on its standard input is the protocol
8653 version of said command escape, currently
8655 backward incompatible protocol changes are to be expected in the
8656 future, and it is advisable to make use of the protocol version.
8657 Care must be taken to avoid deadlocks because of unexpected control
8658 flow: if both involved processes wait for more input to happen at the
8659 same time, or one doesn't expect more input but the other is stuck
8660 waiting for consumption of its output.
8661 .Bd -literal -offset indent
8662 wysh set on-compose-splice-shell=$'\e
8664 printf "hello $version! Headers: ";\e
8665 echo \e'~^header list\e';\e
8666 read status result;\e
8667 echo "status=$status result=$result";\e
8670 set on-compose-splice=ocsm
8673 echo Splice protocol version is $ver
8674 echo '~^h l'; read hl; vput vexpr es substr "${hl}" 0 1
8676 echoerr 'Cannot read header list'; echo '~x'
8678 if [ "$hl" !@ ' cc' ]
8679 echo '~^h i cc Diet is your <mirr.or>'; read es;\e
8680 vput vexpr es substr "${es}" 0 1
8682 echoerr 'Cannot insert Cc: header'; echo '~x'
8690 .It Va on-compose-enter , on-compose-leave
8691 Macro hooks which will be executed before compose mode is entered, and
8692 after composing has been finished (but before the
8694 is injected, etc.), respectively.
8696 are enabled for these hooks, causing any setting to be forgotten after
8697 the message has been sent.
8698 The following (read-only) variables will be set temporarily during
8699 execution of the macros:
8701 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Va compose_subject"
8704 .It Va compose-sender
8706 .It Va compose-to , compose-cc , compose-bcc
8707 The list of receiver addresses as a space-separated list.
8708 .It Va compose-subject
8714 \*(BO Causes the filename given in the
8717 and the sender-based filenames for the
8721 commands to be interpreted relative to the directory given in the
8723 variable rather than to the current directory,
8724 unless it is set to an absolute pathname.
8728 \*(BO If set, each message feed through the command given for
8730 is followed by a formfeed character
8734 .It Va password-USER@HOST , password-HOST , password
8735 \*(IN Variable chain that sets a password, which is used in case none has
8736 been given in the protocol and account-specific URL;
8737 as a last resort \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal if
8738 the authentication method requires a password.
8739 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
8740 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
8742 .It Va password-USER@HOST
8743 \*(OU (see the chain above for \*(IN)
8744 Set the password for
8748 If no such variable is defined for a host,
8749 the user will be asked for a password on standard input.
8750 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
8751 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
8755 \*(BO Send messages to the
8757 command without performing MIME and character set conversions.
8761 .It Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
8762 When a MIME message part of type
8764 (case-insensitive) is displayed or quoted,
8765 its text is filtered through the value of this variable interpreted as
8769 forces interpretation of the message part as plain text, e.g.,
8770 .Ql set pipe-application/xml=@
8771 will henceforth display XML
8773 (The same could also be achieved by adding a MIME type marker with the
8776 And \*(OPally MIME type handlers may be defined via
8777 .Sx "The Mailcap files"
8778 \(em corresponding flag strings are shown in parenthesis below.)
8783 can in fact be used to adjust usage and behaviour of a following shell
8784 command specification by appending trigger characters to it, e.g., the
8785 following hypothetical command specification could be used:
8786 .Bd -literal -offset indent
8787 set pipe-X/Y='@*!++=@vim ${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}'
8791 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql __"
8793 Simply by using the special
8795 prefix the MIME type (shell command) handler will only be invoked to
8796 display or convert the MIME part if the message is addressed directly
8797 and alone by itself.
8798 Use this trigger to disable this and always invoke the handler
8799 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-always ) .
8802 If set the handler will not be invoked when a message is to be quoted,
8803 but only when it will be displayed
8804 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-noquote ) .
8807 The command will be run asynchronously, i.e., without blocking \*(UA,
8808 which may be a handy way to display a, e.g., PDF file while also
8809 continuing to read the mail message
8810 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-async ) .
8811 Asynchronous execution implies
8815 The command must be run on an interactive terminal, \*(UA will
8816 temporarily release the terminal to it
8817 .Pf ( Cd needsterminal ) .
8818 This flag is mutual exclusive with
8820 will only be used in interactive mode and implies
8824 Request creation of a zero-sized temporary file, the absolute pathname
8825 of which will be made accessible via the environment variable
8826 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY
8827 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-tmpfile ) .
8828 If this trigger is given twice then the file will be unlinked
8829 automatically by \*(UA when the command loop is entered again at latest
8830 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink ) .
8831 (Do not use this for asynchronous handlers.)
8834 Normally the MIME part content is passed to the handler via standard
8835 input; if this flag is set then the data will instead be written into
8836 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY
8837 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill ) ,
8838 the creation of which is implied; note however that in order to cause
8839 deletion of the temporary file you still have to use two plus signs
8844 To avoid ambiguities with normal shell command content you can use
8845 another commercial at to forcefully terminate interpretation of
8846 remaining characters.
8847 (Any character not in this list will have the same effect.)
8851 Some information about the MIME part to be displayed is embedded into
8852 the environment of the shell command:
8855 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ev _AIL__ILENAME__ENERATED"
8857 .It Ev MAILX_CONTENT
8858 The MIME content-type of the part, if known, the empty string otherwise.
8861 .It Ev MAILX_CONTENT_EVIDENCE
8863 .Va mime-counter-evidence
8864 includes the carry-around-bit (2), then this will be set to the detected
8865 MIME content-type; not only then identical to
8866 .Ev \&\&MAILX_CONTENT
8870 .It Ev MAILX_FILENAME
8871 The filename, if any is set, the empty string otherwise.
8874 .It Ev MAILX_FILENAME_GENERATED
8878 .It Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY
8879 If temporary file creation has been requested through the command prefix
8880 this variable will be set and contain the absolute pathname of the
8886 .It Va pipe-EXTENSION
8887 This is identical to
8888 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
8891 (normalized to lowercase using character mappings of the ASCII charset)
8892 names a file extension, e.g.,
8894 Handlers registered using this method take precedence.
8897 .It Va pop3-auth-USER@HOST , pop3-auth-HOST , pop3-auth
8898 \*(OP\*(IN Variable chain that sets the POP3 authentication method.
8899 The only possible value as of now is
8901 which is thus the default.
8904 .Mx Va pop3-bulk-load
8905 .It Va pop3-bulk-load-USER@HOST , pop3-bulk-load-HOST , pop3-bulk-load
8906 \*(BO\*(OP When accessing a POP3 server \*(UA loads the headers of
8907 the messages, and only requests the message bodies on user request.
8908 For the POP3 protocol this means that the message headers will be
8910 If this variable is set then \*(UA will download only complete messages
8911 from the given POP3 server(s) instead.
8913 .Mx Va pop3-keepalive
8914 .It Va pop3-keepalive-USER@HOST , pop3-keepalive-HOST , pop3-keepalive
8915 \*(OP POP3 servers close the connection after a period of inactivity;
8916 the standard requires this to be at least 10 minutes,
8917 but practical experience may vary.
8918 Setting this variable to a numeric value greater than
8922 command to be sent each value seconds if no other operation is performed.
8925 .It Va pop3-no-apop-USER@HOST , pop3-no-apop-HOST , pop3-no-apop
8926 \*(BO\*(OP Unless this variable is set the
8928 authentication method will be used when connecting to a POP3 server that
8932 is that the password is not sent in clear text over the wire and that
8933 only a single packet is sent for the user/password tuple.
8935 .Va pop3-no-apop-HOST
8938 .Mx Va pop3-use-starttls
8939 .It Va pop3-use-starttls-USER@HOST , pop3-use-starttls-HOST , pop3-use-starttls
8940 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a
8942 command to make an unencrypted POP3 session SSL/TLS encrypted.
8943 This functionality is not supported by all servers,
8944 and is not used if the session is already encrypted by the POP3S method.
8946 .Va pop3-use-starttls-HOST
8951 \*(BO This flag enables POSIX mode, which changes behaviour of \*(UA
8952 where that deviates from standardized behaviour.
8953 It will be set implicitly before the
8954 .Sx "Resource files"
8955 are loaded if the environment variable
8957 is set, and adjusting any of those two will be reflected by the other
8961 .It Va print-alternatives
8962 \*(BO When a MIME message part of type
8963 .Ql multipart/alternative
8964 is displayed and it contains a subpart of type
8966 other parts are normally discarded.
8967 Setting this variable causes all subparts to be displayed,
8968 just as if the surrounding part was of type
8969 .Ql multipart/mixed .
8973 The string used as a prompt in interactive mode.
8974 Whenever the variable is evaluated the value is expanded as via
8975 dollar-single-quote expansion (see
8976 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" ) .
8977 This (post-assignment, i.e., second) expansion can be used to embed
8978 status information, for example
8983 .Va mailbox-display .
8985 In order to embed characters which should not be counted when
8986 calculating the visual width of the resulting string, enclose the
8987 characters of interest in a pair of reverse solidus escaped brackets:
8989 a slot for coloured prompts is also available with the \*(OPal command
8991 Prompting may be prevented by setting this to the null string
8993 .Ql set noprompt ) .
8997 This string is used for secondary prompts, but is otherwise identical to
9004 \*(BO Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked.
9008 If set, \*(UA starts a replying message with the original message
9009 prefixed by the value of the variable
9011 Normally, a heading consisting of
9012 .Dq Fromheaderfield wrote:
9013 is put before the quotation.
9018 variable, this heading is omitted.
9021 is assigned, only the headers selected by the
9024 selection are put above the message body,
9027 acts like an automatic
9029 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
9033 is assigned, all headers are put above the message body and all MIME
9034 parts are included, making
9036 act like an automatic
9039 .Va quote-as-attachment .
9042 .It Va quote-as-attachment
9043 \*(BO Add the original message in its entirety as a
9045 MIME attachment when replying to a message.
9046 Note this works regardless of the setting of
9051 \*(OP Can be set in addition to
9053 Setting this turns on a more fancy quotation algorithm in that leading
9054 quotation characters are compressed and overlong lines are folded.
9056 can be set to either one or two (space separated) numeric values,
9057 which are interpreted as the maximum (goal) and the minimum line length,
9058 respectively, in a spirit rather equal to the
9060 program, but line-, not paragraph-based.
9061 If not set explicitly the minimum will reflect the goal algorithmically.
9062 The goal cannot be smaller than the length of
9064 plus some additional pad.
9065 Necessary adjustments take place silently.
9068 .It Va r-option-implicit
9069 \*(BO Setting this option evaluates the contents of
9071 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
9073 and passes the results onto the used (file-based) MTA as described for the
9075 option (empty argument case).
9078 .It Va recipients-in-cc
9079 \*(BO On group replies, specify only the sender of the original mail in
9081 and mention the other recipients in the secondary
9083 By default all recipients of the original mail will be addressed via
9088 If defined, gives the pathname of the folder used to record all outgoing
9090 If not defined, then outgoing mail is not saved.
9091 When saving to this folder fails the message is not sent,
9092 but instead saved to
9096 .It Va record-resent
9097 \*(BO If both this variable and the
9104 commands save messages to the
9106 folder as it is normally only done for newly composed messages.
9109 .It Va reply-in-same-charset
9110 \*(BO If this variable is set \*(UA first tries to use the same
9111 character set of the original message for replies.
9112 If this fails, the mechanism described in
9113 .Sx "Character sets"
9114 is evaluated as usual.
9117 .It Va reply-strings
9118 Can be set to a comma-separated list of (case-insensitive according to
9119 ASCII rules) strings which shall be recognized in addition to the
9122 reply message indicators \(en builtin are
9124 which is mandated by RFC 5322, as well as the german
9129 which often has been seen in the wild;
9130 I.e., the separating colon has to be specified explicitly.
9134 A list of addresses to put into the
9136 field of the message header.
9137 Members of this list are handled as if they were in the
9142 .It Va reply-to-honour
9145 header is honoured when replying to a message via
9149 This is a quadoption; if set without a value it defaults to
9153 .It Va rfc822-body-from_
9154 \*(BO This variable can be used to force displaying a so-called
9156 line for messages that are embedded into an envelope mail via the
9158 MIME mechanism, for more visual convenience.
9162 \*(BO Enable saving of (partial) messages in
9164 upon interrupt or delivery error.
9168 The number of lines that represents a
9177 line display and scrolling via
9179 If this variable is not set \*(UA falls back to a calculation based upon
9180 the detected terminal window size and the baud rate: the faster the
9181 terminal, the more will be shown.
9182 Overall screen dimensions and pager usage is influenced by the
9183 environment variables
9191 .It Va searchheaders
9192 \*(BO Expand message-list specifiers in the form
9194 to all messages containing the substring
9198 The string search is case insensitive.
9202 \*(OP A comma-separated list of character set names that can be used in
9203 outgoing internet mail.
9204 The value of the variable
9206 is automatically appended to this list of character sets.
9207 If no character set conversion capabilities are compiled into \*(UA then
9208 the only supported charset is
9211 .Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
9212 and refer to the section
9213 .Sx "Character sets"
9214 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
9217 .It Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
9218 \*(BO\*(OP If this variable is set, but
9220 is not, then \*(UA acts as if
9222 had been set to the value of the variable
9224 In effect this combination passes through the message data in the
9225 character set of the current locale (given that
9227 has not been set manually), i.e., without converting it to the
9229 fallback character set.
9230 Thus, mail message text will be in ISO-8859-1 encoding when send from
9231 within a ISO-8859-1 locale, and in UTF-8 encoding when send from within
9233 If no character set conversion capabilities are available in \*(UA then
9234 the only supported character set is
9239 An address that is put into the
9241 field of outgoing messages, quoting RFC 5322: the mailbox of the agent
9242 responsible for the actual transmission of the message.
9243 This field should normally not be used unless the
9245 field contains more than one address, on which case it is required.
9248 address is handled as if it were in the
9252 .Va r-option-implicit .
9256 \*(OB Predecessor of
9260 .It Va sendmail-arguments
9261 \*(OB Predecessor of
9265 .It Va sendmail-no-default-arguments
9266 \*(OB\*(BO Predecessor of
9267 .Va mta-no-default-arguments .
9270 .It Va sendmail-progname
9271 \*(OB Predecessor of
9276 \*(BO When sending a message wait until the
9278 (including the builtin SMTP one) exits before accepting further commands.
9280 with this variable set errors reported by the MTA will be recognizable!
9281 If the MTA returns a non-zero exit status,
9282 the exit status of \*(UA will also be non-zero.
9286 \*(BO This setting causes \*(UA to start at the last message
9287 instead of the first one when opening a mail folder.
9291 \*(BO Causes \*(UA to use the sender's real name instead of the plain
9292 address in the header field summary and in message specifications.
9296 \*(BO Causes the recipient of the message to be shown in the header
9297 summary if the message was sent by the user.
9301 The string to expand
9304 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ) .
9308 The string to expand
9311 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ) .
9315 Must correspond to the name of a readable file if set.
9316 The file's content is then appended to each singlepart message
9317 and to the first part of each multipart message.
9318 Be warned that there is no possibility to edit the signature for an
9322 .It Va skipemptybody
9323 \*(BO If an outgoing message does not contain any text in its first or
9324 only message part, do not send it but discard it silently (see also the
9330 .It Va smime-ca-dir , smime-ca-file
9331 \*(OP Specify the location of trusted CA certificates in PEM (Privacy
9332 Enhanced Mail) format as a directory and a file, respectively, for the
9333 purpose of verification of S/MIME signed messages.
9334 It is possible to set both, the file will be loaded immediately, the
9335 directory will be searched whenever no match has yet been found.
9336 The set of CA certificates which are built into the SSL/TLS library can
9337 be explicitly turned off by setting
9338 .Va smime-ca-no-defaults ,
9339 and further fine-tuning is possible via
9340 .Va smime-ca-flags .
9343 .It Va smime-ca-flags
9344 \*(OP Can be used to fine-tune behaviour of the X509 CA certificate
9345 storage, and the certificate verification that is used.
9346 The actual values and their meanings are documented for
9350 .It Va smime-ca-no-defaults
9351 \*(BO\*(OP Do not load the default CA locations that are built into the
9352 used to SSL/TLS library to verify S/MIME signed messages.
9355 .It Va smime-cipher-USER@HOST , smime-cipher
9356 \*(OP Specifies the cipher to use when generating S/MIME encrypted
9357 messages (for the specified account).
9358 RFC 5751 mandates a default of
9361 Possible values are (case-insensitive and) in decreasing cipher strength:
9369 (DES EDE3 CBC, 168 bits; default if
9371 is not available) and
9375 The actually available cipher algorithms depend on the cryptographic
9376 library that \*(UA uses.
9377 \*(OP Support for more cipher algorithms may be available through
9378 dynamic loading via, e.g.,
9379 .Xr EVP_get_cipherbyname 3
9380 (OpenSSL) if \*(UA has been compiled to support this.
9383 .It Va smime-crl-dir
9384 \*(OP Specifies a directory that contains files with CRLs in PEM format
9385 to use when verifying S/MIME messages.
9388 .It Va smime-crl-file
9389 \*(OP Specifies a file that contains a CRL in PEM format to use when
9390 verifying S/MIME messages.
9393 .It Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST
9394 \*(OP If this variable is set, messages send to the given receiver are
9395 encrypted before sending.
9396 The value of the variable must be set to the name of a file that
9397 contains a certificate in PEM format.
9399 If a message is sent to multiple recipients,
9400 each of them for whom a corresponding variable is set will receive an
9401 individually encrypted message;
9402 other recipients will continue to receive the message in plain text
9404 .Va smime-force-encryption
9406 It is recommended to sign encrypted messages, i.e., to also set the
9411 .It Va smime-force-encryption
9412 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to refuse sending unencrypted messages.
9416 \*(BO\*(OP S/MIME sign outgoing messages with the user's private key
9417 and include the user's certificate as a MIME attachment.
9418 Signing a message enables a recipient to verify that the sender used
9419 a valid certificate,
9420 that the email addresses in the certificate match those in the message
9421 header and that the message content has not been altered.
9422 It does not change the message text,
9423 and people will be able to read the message as usual.
9425 .Va smime-sign-cert , smime-sign-include-certs
9427 .Va smime-sign-message-digest .
9429 .Mx Va smime-sign-cert
9430 .It Va smime-sign-cert-USER@HOST , smime-sign-cert
9431 \*(OP Points to a file in PEM format.
9432 For the purpose of signing and decryption this file needs to contain the
9433 user's private key, followed by his certificate.
9437 is always derived from the value of
9439 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
9441 For the purpose of encryption the recipient's public encryption key
9442 (certificate) is expected; the command
9444 can be used to save certificates of signed messages (the section
9445 .Sx "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
9446 gives some details).
9447 This mode of operation is usually driven by the specialized form.
9449 When decrypting messages the account is derived from the recipient
9454 of the message, which are searched for addresses for which such
9456 \*(UA always uses the first address that matches,
9457 so if the same message is sent to more than one of the user's addresses
9458 using different encryption keys, decryption might fail.
9460 For signing and decryption purposes it is possible to use encrypted
9461 keys, and the pseudo-host(s)
9462 .Ql USER@HOST.smime-cert-key
9465 .Ql USER@HOST.smime-cert-cert
9466 for the certificate stored in the same file)
9467 will be used for performing any necessary password lookup,
9468 therefore the lookup can be automatized via the mechanisms described in
9469 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
9470 For example, the hypothetical address
9472 could be driven with a private key / certificate pair path defined in
9473 .Va \&\&smime-sign-cert-bob@exam.ple ,
9474 and needed passwords would then be looked up via the pseudo hosts
9475 .Ql bob@exam.ple.smime-cert-key
9477 .Ql bob@exam.ple.smime-cert-cert ) .
9478 To include intermediate certificates, use
9479 .Va smime-sign-include-certs .
9481 .Mx Va smime-sign-include-certs
9482 .It Va smime-sign-include-certs-USER@HOST , smime-sign-include-certs
9483 \*(OP If used, this is supposed to a consist of a comma-separated list
9484 of files, each of which containing a single certificate in PEM format to
9485 be included in the S/MIME message in addition to the
9488 This can be used to include intermediate certificates of the certificate
9489 authority, in order to allow the receiver's S/MIME implementation to
9490 perform a verification of the entire certificate chain, starting from
9491 a local root certificate, over the intermediate certificates, down to the
9492 .Va smime-sign-cert .
9493 Even though top level certificates may also be included in the chain,
9494 they won't be used for the verification on the receiver's side.
9496 For the purpose of the mechanisms involved here,
9498 refers to the content of the internal variable
9500 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
9503 .Ql USER@HOST.smime-include-certs
9504 will be used for performing password lookups for these certificates,
9505 shall they have been given one, therefore the lookup can be automatized
9506 via the mechanisms described in
9507 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
9509 .Mx Va smime-sign-message-digest
9510 .It Va smime-sign-message-digest-USER@HOST , smime-sign-message-digest
9511 \*(OP Specifies the message digest to use when signing S/MIME messages.
9512 RFC 5751 mandates a default of
9514 Possible values are (case-insensitive and) in decreasing cipher strength:
9522 The actually available message digest algorithms depend on the
9523 cryptographic library that \*(UA uses.
9524 \*(OP Support for more message digest algorithms may be available
9525 through dynamic loading via, e.g.,
9526 .Xr EVP_get_digestbyname 3
9527 (OpenSSL) if \*(UA has been compiled to support this.
9528 Remember that for this
9530 refers to the variable
9532 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
9537 \*(OB\*(OP To use the builtin SMTP transport, specify a SMTP URL in
9539 \*(ID For compatibility reasons a set
9541 is used in preference of
9545 .It Va smtp-auth-USER@HOST , smtp-auth-HOST , smtp-auth
9546 \*(OP Variable chain that controls the SMTP
9548 authentication method, possible values are
9554 as well as the \*(OPal methods
9560 method does not need any user credentials,
9562 requires a user name and all other methods require a user name and
9570 .Va smtp-auth-password
9572 .Va smtp-auth-user ) .
9577 .Va smtp-auth-USER@HOST :
9578 may override dependent on sender address in the variable
9581 .It Va smtp-auth-password
9582 \*(OP\*(OU Sets the global fallback password for SMTP authentication.
9583 If the authentication method requires a password, but neither
9584 .Va smtp-auth-password
9586 .Va smtp-auth-password-USER@HOST
9588 \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal.
9590 .It Va smtp-auth-password-USER@HOST
9592 .Va smtp-auth-password
9593 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
9596 .It Va smtp-auth-user
9597 \*(OP\*(OU Sets the global fallback user name for SMTP authentication.
9598 If the authentication method requires a user name, but neither
9601 .Va smtp-auth-user-USER@HOST
9603 \*(UA will ask for a user name on the user's terminal.
9605 .It Va smtp-auth-user-USER@HOST
9608 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
9612 .It Va smtp-hostname
9613 \*(OP\*(IN Normally \*(UA uses the variable
9615 to derive the necessary
9617 information in order to issue a
9624 can be used to use the
9626 from the SMTP account
9633 from the content of this variable (or, if that is the empty string,
9635 or the local hostname as a last resort).
9636 This often allows using an address that is itself valid but hosted by
9637 a provider other than which (in
9639 is about to send the message.
9640 Setting this variable also influences generated
9646 .Mx Va smtp-use-starttls
9647 .It Va smtp-use-starttls-USER@HOST , smtp-use-starttls-HOST , smtp-use-starttls
9648 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a
9650 command to make an SMTP
9652 session SSL/TLS encrypted, i.e., to enable transport layer security.
9656 .It Va spam-interface
9657 \*(OP In order to use any of the spam-related commands (like, e.g.,
9659 the desired spam interface must be defined by setting this variable.
9660 Please refer to the manual section
9662 for the complete picture of spam handling in \*(UA.
9663 All or none of the following interfaces may be available:
9665 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ql _ilte_"
9671 .Pf ( Lk http://spamassassin.apache.org SpamAssassin )
9673 Different to the generic filter interface \*(UA will automatically add
9674 the correct arguments for a given command and has the necessary
9675 knowledge to parse the program's output.
9678 will have been compiled into the \*(UA binary if
9683 Shall it be necessary to define a specific connection type (rather than
9684 using a configuration file for that), the variable
9686 can be used as in, e.g.,
9687 .Ql -d server.example.com -p 783 .
9688 It is also possible to specify a per-user configuration via
9690 Note that this interface does not inspect the
9692 flag of a message for the command
9696 generic spam filter support via freely configurable hooks.
9697 This interface is meant for programs like
9699 and requires according behaviour in respect to the hooks' exit
9700 status for at least the command
9703 meaning a message is spam,
9707 for unsure and any other return value indicating a hard error);
9708 since the hooks can include shell code snippets diverting behaviour
9709 can be intercepted as necessary.
9711 .Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , spamfilter-nospam , \
9714 .Va spamfilter-spam ;
9717 contains examples for some programs.
9718 The process environment of the hooks will have the variable
9719 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_GENERATED
9721 Note that spam score support for
9723 is not supported unless the \*(OPtional regular expression support is
9725 .Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore
9732 \*(OP Messages that exceed this size will not be passed through to the
9734 .Va spam-interface .
9735 If unset or 0, the default of 420000 bytes is used.
9738 .It Va spamc-command
9739 \*(OP The path to the
9743 .Va spam-interface .
9744 Note that the path is not expanded, but used
9746 A fallback path will have been compiled into the \*(UA binary if the
9747 executable had been found during compilation.
9750 .It Va spamc-arguments
9751 \*(OP Even though \*(UA deals with most arguments for the
9754 automatically, it may at least sometimes be desirable to specify
9755 connection-related ones via this variable, e.g.,
9756 .Ql -d server.example.com -p 783 .
9760 \*(OP Specify a username for per-user configuration files for the
9762 .Va spam-interface .
9763 If this is set to the empty string then \*(UA will use the name of the
9772 .It Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , \
9773 spamfilter-nospam , spamfilter-rate , spamfilter-spam
9774 \*(OP Command and argument hooks for the
9776 .Va spam-interface .
9779 contains examples for some programs.
9782 .It Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore
9783 \*(OP Because of the generic nature of the
9786 spam scores are not supported for it by default, but if the \*(OPnal
9787 regular expression support is available then setting this variable can
9788 be used to overcome this restriction.
9789 It is interpreted as follows: first a number (digits) is parsed that
9790 must be followed by a semicolon
9792 and an extended regular expression.
9793 Then the latter is used to parse the first output line of the
9795 hook, and, in case the evaluation is successful, the group that has been
9796 specified via the number is interpreted as a floating point scan score.
9800 .It Va ssl-ca-dir , ssl-ca-file
9801 \*(OP Specify the location of trusted CA certificates in PEM (Privacy
9802 Enhanced Mail) format as a directory and a file, respectively, for the
9803 purpose of verification of SSL/TLS server certificates.
9804 It is possible to set both, the file will be loaded immediately, the
9805 directory will be searched whenever no match has yet been found.
9806 The set of CA certificates which are built into the SSL/TLS library can
9807 be explicitly turned off by setting
9808 .Va ssl-ca-no-defaults ,
9809 and further fine-tuning is possible via
9812 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
9813 for more information.
9818 \*(OP Can be used to fine-tune behaviour of the X509 CA certificate
9819 storage, and the certificate verification that is used (also see
9821 The value is expected to consist of a comma-separated list of
9822 configuration directives, with any intervening whitespace being ignored.
9823 The directives directly map to flags that can be passed to
9824 .Xr X509_STORE_set_flags 3 ,
9825 which are usually defined in a file
9826 .Pa openssl/x509_vfy.h ,
9827 and the availability of which depends on the used SSL/TLS library
9828 version: a directive without mapping is ignored (error log subject to
9830 Directives currently understood (case-insensitively) include:
9833 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Cd BaNg"
9834 .It Cd no-alt-chains
9835 If the initial chain is not trusted, do not attempt to build an
9837 Setting this flag will make OpenSSL certificate verification match that
9838 of older OpenSSL versions, before automatic building and checking of
9839 alternative chains has been implemented; also see
9841 .It Cd no-check-time
9842 Do not check certificate/CRL validity against current time.
9843 .It Cd partial-chain
9844 By default partial, incomplete chains which cannot be verified up to the
9845 chain top, a self-signed root certificate, will not verify.
9846 With this flag set, a chain succeeds to verify if at least one signing
9847 certificate of the chain is in any of the configured trusted stores of
9849 The OpenSSL manual page
9850 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
9851 gives some advise how to manage your own trusted store of CA certificates.
9853 Disable workarounds for broken certificates.
9854 .It Cd trusted-first
9855 Try building a chain using issuers in the trusted store first to avoid
9856 problems with server-sent legacy intermediate certificates.
9857 Newer versions of OpenSSL support alternative chain checking and enable
9858 it by default, resulting in the same behaviour; also see
9864 .It Va ssl-ca-no-defaults
9865 \*(BO\*(OP Do not load the default CA locations that are built into the
9866 used to SSL/TLS library to verify SSL/TLS server certificates.
9869 .It Va ssl-cert-USER@HOST , ssl-cert-HOST , ssl-cert
9870 \*(OP Variable chain that sets the file name for a SSL/TLS client
9871 certificate required by some servers.
9872 This is a direct interface to the
9876 function of the OpenSSL library, if available.
9878 .Mx Va ssl-cipher-list
9879 .It Va ssl-cipher-list-USER@HOST , ssl-cipher-list-HOST , ssl-cipher-list
9880 \*(OP Specifies a list of ciphers for SSL/TLS connections.
9881 This is a direct interface to the
9885 function of the OpenSSL library, if available; see
9887 for more information.
9888 By default \*(UA does not set a list of ciphers, in effect using a
9890 specific cipher (protocol standards ship with a list of acceptable
9891 ciphers), possibly cramped to what the actually used SSL/TLS library
9892 supports \(en the manual section
9893 .Sx "An example configuration"
9894 also contains a SSL/TLS use case.
9897 .It Va ssl-config-file
9898 \*(OP If this variable is set \*(UA will call
9899 .Xr CONF_modules_load_file 3
9900 to allow OpenSSL to be configured according to the host system wide
9902 If a non-empty value is given then this will be used to specify the
9903 configuration file to be used instead of the global OpenSSL default;
9904 note that in this case it is an error if the file cannot be loaded.
9905 The application name will always be passed as
9910 .It Va ssl-crl-dir , ssl-crl-file
9911 \*(OP Specify a directory / a file, respectively that contains a CRL in
9912 PEM format to use when verifying SSL/TLS server certificates.
9915 .It Va ssl-key-USER@HOST , ssl-key-HOST , ssl-key
9916 \*(OP Variable chain that sets the file name for the private key of
9917 a SSL/TLS client certificate.
9918 If unset, the name of the certificate file is used.
9919 The file is expected to be in PEM format.
9920 This is a direct interface to the
9924 function of the OpenSSL library, if available.
9927 .It Va ssl-method-USER@HOST , ssl-method-HOST , ssl-method
9928 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the newer and more flexible
9930 instead: if both values are set,
9932 will take precedence!
9933 Can be set to the following values, the actually used
9935 specification to which it is mapped is shown in parenthesis:
9937 .Pf ( Ql -ALL, TLSv1.2 ) ,
9939 .Pf ( Ql -ALL, TLSv1.1 ) ,
9941 .Pf ( Ql -ALL, TLSv1 )
9944 .Pf ( Ql -ALL, SSLv3 ) ;
9949 and thus includes the SSLv3 protocol.
9950 Note that SSLv2 is no longer supported at all.
9953 .It Va ssl-protocol-USER@HOST , ssl-protocol-HOST , ssl-protocol
9954 \*(OP Specify the used SSL/TLS protocol.
9955 This is a direct interface to the
9959 function of the OpenSSL library, if available;
9960 otherwise an \*(UA internal parser is used which understands the
9961 following subset of (case-insensitive) command strings:
9967 as well as the special value
9969 Multiple specifications may be given via a comma-separated list which
9970 ignores any whitespace.
9973 plus sign prefix will enable a protocol, a
9975 hyphen-minus prefix will disable it, so that
9977 will enable only the TLSv1.2 protocol.
9979 It depends upon the used TLS/SSL library which protocols are actually
9980 supported and which protocols are used if
9982 is not set, but note that SSLv2 is no longer supported at all and
9984 Especially for older protocols explicitly securing
9986 may be worthwile, see
9987 .Sx "An example configuration" .
9991 \*(OP Gives the pathname to an entropy daemon socket, see
9993 Not all SSL/TLS libraries support this.
9996 .It Va ssl-rand-file
9997 \*(OP Gives the filename to a file with random entropy data, see
9998 .Xr RAND_load_file 3 .
9999 If this variable is not set, or set to the empty string, or if the
10000 .Sx "Filename transformations"
10002 .Xr RAND_file_name 3
10003 will be used to create the filename if, and only if,
10005 documents that the SSL PRNG is not yet sufficiently seeded.
10006 If \*(UA successfully seeded the SSL PRNG then it will update the file
10007 .Pf ( Xr RAND_write_file 3 ) .
10008 This variable is only used if
10010 is not set (or not supported by the SSL/TLS library).
10013 .It Va ssl-verify-USER@HOST , ssl-verify-HOST , ssl-verify
10014 \*(OP Variable chain that sets the action to be performed if an error
10015 occurs during SSL/TLS server certificate validation against the
10016 specified or default trust stores
10019 or the SSL/TLS library builtin defaults (unless usage disallowed via
10020 .Va ssl-ca-no-defaults ) ,
10021 and as fine-tuned via
10023 Valid (case-insensitive) values are
10025 (fail and close connection immediately),
10027 (ask whether to continue on standard input),
10029 (show a warning and continue),
10031 (do not perform validation).
10037 If only set without an assigned value, then this setting inhibits the
10043 header fields that include obvious references to \*(UA.
10044 There are two pitfalls associated with this:
10045 First, the message id of outgoing messages is not known anymore.
10046 Second, an expert may still use the remaining information in the header
10047 to track down the originating mail user agent.
10048 If set to the value
10054 suppression does not occur.
10059 (\*(OP) This specifies a comma-separated list of
10064 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" ,
10065 escape commas with reverse solidus) to be used to overwrite or define
10067 Note that this variable will only be queried once at program startup and
10068 can thus only be specified in resource files or on the command line.
10071 String capabilities form
10073 pairs and are expected unless noted otherwise.
10074 Numerics have to be notated as
10076 where the number is expected in normal decimal notation.
10077 Finally, booleans do not have any value but indicate a true or false
10078 state simply by being defined or not; this indeed means that \*(UA
10079 does not support undefining an existing boolean.
10080 String capability values will undergo some expansions before use:
10081 for one notations like
10084 .Ql control-LETTER ,
10085 and for clarification purposes
10087 can be used to specify
10089 (the control notation
10091 could lead to misreadings when a left bracket follows, which it does for
10092 the standard CSI sequence);
10093 finally three letter octal sequences, as in
10096 To specify that a terminal supports 256-colours, and to define sequences
10097 that home the cursor and produce an audible bell, one might write:
10099 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10100 set termcap='Co#256,home=\eE[H,bel=^G'
10104 The following terminal capabilities are or may be meaningful for the
10105 operation of the builtin line editor or \*(UA in general:
10108 .Bl -tag -compact -width yay
10110 .It Cd colors Ns \0or Cd Co
10112 numeric capability specifying the maximum number of colours.
10113 Note that \*(UA does not actually care about the terminal beside that,
10114 but always emits ANSI / ISO 6429 escape sequences.
10117 .It Cd rmcup Ns \0or Cd te Ns \0/ Cd smcup Ns \0or Cd ti
10120 .Cd enter_ca_mode ,
10121 respectively: exit and enter the alternative screen
10123 effectively turning \*(UA into a fullscreen application.
10124 To disable that, set (at least) one to the empty string.
10126 .It Cd smkx Ns \0or Cd ks Ns \0/ Cd rmkx Ns \0or Cd ke
10130 respectively: enable and disable the keypad.
10131 This is always enabled if available, because it seems even keyboards
10132 without keypads generate other key codes for, e.g., cursor keys in that
10133 case, and only if enabled we see the codes that we are interested in.
10135 .It Cd ed Ns \0or Cd cd
10139 .It Cd clear Ns \0or Cd cl
10141 clear the screen and home cursor.
10142 (Will be simulated via
10147 .It Cd home Ns \0or Cd ho
10152 .It Cd el Ns \0or Cd ce
10154 clear to the end of line.
10155 (Will be simulated via
10157 plus repetitions of space characters.)
10159 .It Cd hpa Ns \0or Cd ch
10160 .Cd column_address :
10161 move the cursor (to the given column parameter) in the current row.
10162 (Will be simulated via
10168 .Cd carriage_return :
10169 move to the first column in the current row.
10170 The default builtin fallback is
10173 .It Cd cub1 Ns \0or Cd le
10175 move the cursor left one space (non-destructively).
10176 The default builtin fallback is
10179 .It Cd cuf1 Ns \0or Cd nd
10181 move the cursor right one space (non-destructively).
10182 The default builtin fallback is
10184 which is used by most terminals.
10192 Many more capabilities which describe key-sequences are documented for
10196 .It Va termcap-disable
10197 \*(OP Disable any interaction with a terminal control library.
10198 If set only some generic fallback builtins and possibly the content of
10200 describe the terminal to \*(UA.
10202 that this variable will only be queried once at program startup and can
10203 thus only be specified in resource files or on the command line.
10207 If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be displayed
10210 if unset, the first five lines are printed, if set to 0 the variable
10213 If the value is negative then its absolute value will be used for
10214 unsigned right shifting (see
10222 \*(BO If set then the
10224 command series will strip adjacent empty lines and quotations.
10228 The character set of the terminal \*(UA operates on,
10229 and the one and only supported character set that \*(UA can use if no
10230 character set conversion capabilities have been compiled into it,
10231 in which case it defaults to ISO-8859-1 unless it can deduce a value
10234 locale environment.
10235 It defaults to UTF-8 if conversion is available.
10236 Refer to the section
10237 .Sx "Character sets"
10238 for the complete picture about character sets.
10241 .It Va typescript-mode
10242 \*(BO A special multiplex variable that disables all variables and
10243 settings which result in behaviour that interferes with running \*(UA in
10246 .Va colour-disable ,
10247 .Va line-editor-disable
10248 and (before startup completed only)
10249 .Va termcap-disable .
10250 Unsetting it does not restore the former state of the covered settings.
10254 For a safety-by-default policy \*(UA sets its process
10258 but this variable can be used to override that:
10259 set it to an empty value to do not change the (current) setting,
10260 otherwise the process file mode creation mask is updated to the new value.
10261 Child processes inherit the process file mode creation mask.
10264 .It Va user-HOST , user
10265 \*(IN Variable chain that sets a global fallback user name, which is
10266 used in case none has been given in the protocol and account-specific
10268 This variable defaults to the name of the user who runs \*(UA.
10272 \*(BO Setting this enables upward compatibility with \*(UA
10273 version 15.0 in respect to which configuration options are available and
10274 how they are handled.
10275 This manual uses \*(IN and \*(OU to refer to the new and the old way of
10276 doing things, respectively.
10280 \*(BO This setting, also controllable via the command line option
10282 causes \*(UA to be more verbose, e.g., it will display obsoletion
10283 warnings and SSL/TLS certificate chains.
10284 Even though marked \*(BO this option may be set twice in order to
10285 increase the level of verbosity even more, in which case even details of
10286 the actual message delivery and protocol conversations are shown.
10289 is sufficient to disable verbosity as such.
10295 .It Va version , version-major , version-minor , version-update
10296 \*(RO \*(UA version information: the first variable contains a string
10297 containing the complete version identification, the latter three contain
10298 only digits: the major, minor and update version numbers.
10299 The output of the command
10301 will include this information.
10304 .It Va writebackedited
10305 If this variable is set messages modified using the
10309 commands are written back to the current folder when it is quit;
10310 it is only honoured for writable folders in MBOX format, though.
10311 Note that the editor will be pointed to the raw message content in that
10312 case, i.e., neither MIME decoding nor decryption will have been
10313 performed, and proper RFC 4155
10315 quoting of newly added or edited content is also left as an excercise to
10318 .\" }}} (Variables)
10319 .\" }}} (INTERNAL VARIABLES)
10322 .\" .Sh ENVIRONMENT {{{
10326 .Dq environment variable
10327 should be considered an indication that these variables are either
10328 standardized as vivid parts of process environments, or that they are
10329 commonly found in there.
10330 The process environment is inherited from the
10332 once \*(UA is started, and unless otherwise explicitly noted handling of
10333 the following variables transparently integrates into that of the
10334 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
10335 from \*(UA's point of view.
10336 This means that, e.g., they can be managed via
10340 causing automatic program environment updates (to be inherited by
10341 newly created child processes).
10344 In order to transparently integrate other environment variables equally
10345 they need to be imported (linked) with the command
10347 This command can also be used to set and unset non-integrated
10348 environment variables from scratch, sufficient system support provided.
10349 The following example, applicable to a POSIX shell, sets the
10351 environment variable for \*(UA only, and beforehand exports the
10353 in order to affect any further processing in the running shell:
10355 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10356 $ EDITOR="vim -u ${HOME}/.vimrc"
10358 $ COLUMNS=80 \*(uA -R
10361 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ev BaNg"
10364 The user's preferred width in column positions for the terminal screen
10366 Queried and used once on program startup, actively managed for child
10367 processes and the MLE (see
10368 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
10369 in interactive mode thereafter.
10373 The name of the (mailbox)
10375 to use for saving aborted messages if
10377 is set; this defaults to
10384 is set no output will be generated, otherwise the contents of the file
10389 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
10393 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
10394 A default editor is used if this value is not defined.
10398 The user's home directory.
10399 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
10406 .It Ev LANG , LC_ALL , LC_COLLATE , LC_CTYPE , LC_MESSAGES
10410 .Sx "Character sets" .
10414 The user's preferred number of lines on a page or the vertical screen
10415 or window size in lines.
10416 Queried and used once on program startup, actively managed for child
10417 processes in interactive mode thereafter.
10421 Pathname of the directory lister to use in the
10423 command when operating on local mailboxes.
10426 (path search through
10431 Upon startup \*(UA will actively ensure that this variable refers to the
10432 name of the user who runs \*(UA, in order to be able to pass a verified
10433 name to any newly created child process.
10437 Is used as the users
10439 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
10443 This is assumed to be an absolute pathname.
10447 \*(OP Overrides the default path search for
10448 .Sx "The Mailcap files" ,
10449 which is defined in the standard RFC 1524 as
10450 .Ql ~/.mailcap:\:/etc/mailcap:\:/usr/etc/mailcap:\:/usr/local/etc/mailcap .
10451 .\" TODO we should have a mailcaps-default virtual RDONLY option!
10452 (\*(UA makes it a configuration option, however.)
10453 Note this is not a search path, but a path search.
10457 Is used as a startup file instead of
10460 When \*(UA scripts are invoked on behalf of other users,
10461 either this variable should be set to
10465 command line option should be used in order to avoid side-effects from
10466 reading their configuration files.
10467 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
10470 .It Ev MAILX_NO_SYSTEM_RC
10471 If this variable is set then reading of
10473 at startup is inhibited, i.e., the same effect is achieved as if \*(UA
10474 had been started up with the option
10476 (and according argument) or
10478 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
10482 The name of the users mbox file.
10483 A logical subset of the special
10484 .Sx "Filename transformations"
10488 The fallback default is
10495 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
10496 is used as the file to save messages from the
10498 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
10499 that have been read.
10501 .Sx "Message states" .
10505 \*(IN\*(OP This variable overrides the default location of the user's
10511 Pathname of the program to use for backing the command
10515 variable enforces usage of a pager for output.
10516 The default paginator is
10518 (path search through
10521 \*(UA inspects the contents of this variable: if its contains the string
10523 then a non-existing environment variable
10530 dependent on whether terminal control support is available and whether
10531 that supports full (alternative) screen mode or not (also see
10532 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" ) .
10536 will optionally be set to
10543 A colon-separated list of directories that is searched by the shell when
10544 looking for commands, e.g.,
10545 .Ql /bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin .
10548 .It Ev POSIXLY_CORRECT
10549 This variable is automatically looked for upon startup, see
10555 The shell to use for the commands
10560 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
10561 and when starting subprocesses.
10562 A default shell is used if this environment variable is not defined.
10565 .It Ev SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
10566 If set, this specifies a time in seconds since the Unix epoch
10567 (1970-01-01) to be used in place of the current time.
10568 This is for the sake of reproduceability of tests, to be used during
10569 development or by software packagers.
10573 \*(OP The terminal type for which output is to be prepared.
10574 For extended colour and font control please refer to
10575 .Sx "Coloured display" ,
10576 and for terminal management in general to
10577 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" .
10581 Used as directory for temporary files instead of
10584 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment,
10585 but \*(UA will ensure at startup that this environment variable is
10586 updated to contain a usable temporary directory.
10592 (see there), but this variable is not standardized, should therefore not
10593 be used, and is only corrected if already set.
10597 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
10601 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
10609 .Bl -tag -width ".It Pa BaNg"
10611 File giving initial commands.
10614 System wide initialization file.
10618 \*(OP Personal MIME type handler definition file, see
10619 .Sx "The Mailcap files" .
10620 (RFC 1524 location, the actual path is a configuration option.)
10623 .It Pa /etc/mailcap
10624 \*(OP System wide MIME type handler definition file, see
10625 .Sx "The Mailcap files" .
10626 (RFC 1524 location, the actual path is a configuration option.)
10629 .It Pa ~/.mime.types
10630 Personal MIME types, see
10631 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
10634 .It Pa /etc/mime.types
10635 System wide MIME types, see
10636 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
10640 \*(IN\*(OP The default location of the users
10642 file \(en the section
10643 .Sx "The .netrc file"
10644 documents the file format.
10647 .\" .Ss "The mime.types files" {{{
10648 .Ss "The mime.types files"
10650 When sending messages \*(UA tries to determine the content type of all
10652 When displaying message content or attachments \*(UA uses the content
10653 type to decide whether it can directly display data or whether it needs
10654 to deal with content handlers.
10655 It learns about M(ultipurpose) I(nternet) M(ail) E(xtensions) types and
10656 how to treat them by reading
10658 files, the loading of which can be controlled by setting the variable
10659 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
10662 can also be used to deal with MIME types.)
10664 files have the following syntax:
10667 .Dl type/subtype extension [extension ...]
10672 are strings describing the file contents, and one or multiple
10674 s, separated by whitespace, name the part of a filename starting after
10675 the last dot (of interest).
10676 Comments may be introduced anywhere on a line with a number sign
10678 causing the remaining line to be discarded.
10680 \*(UA also supports an extended, non-portable syntax in specially
10681 crafted files, which can be loaded via the alternative value syntax of
10682 .Va mimetypes-load-control
10683 and prepends an optional
10687 .Dl [type-marker ]type/subtype extension [extension ...]
10690 The following type markers are supported:
10693 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar _n_u"
10695 Treat message parts with this content as plain text.
10700 Treat message parts with this content as HTML tagsoup.
10701 If the \*(OPal HTML-tagsoup-to-text converter is not available treat
10702 the content as plain text instead.
10706 but instead of falling back to plain text require an explicit content
10707 handler to be defined.
10712 for sending messages:
10714 .Va mime-allow-text-controls ,
10715 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
10716 For reading etc. messages:
10717 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ,
10718 .Sx "The Mailcap files" ,
10720 .Va mime-counter-evidence ,
10721 .Va mimetypes-load-control ,
10722 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE ,
10723 .Va pipe-EXTENSION .
10726 .\" .Ss "The Mailcap files" {{{
10727 .Ss "The Mailcap files"
10729 .\" TODO MAILCAP DISABLED
10730 .Sy This feature is not available in v14.9.0, sorry!
10732 .Dq User Agent Configuration Mechanism
10733 which \*(UA \*(OPally supports.
10734 It defines a file format to be used to inform mail user agent programs
10735 about the locally-installed facilities for handling various data
10736 formats, i.e., about commands and how they can be used to display, edit
10737 etc. MIME part contents, as well as a default path search that includes
10738 multiple possible locations of
10742 environment variable that can be used to overwrite that (repeating here
10743 that it is not a search path, but instead a path search specification).
10744 Any existing files will be loaded in sequence, appending any content to
10745 the list of MIME type handler directives.
10749 files consist of a set of newline separated entries.
10750 Comment lines start with a number sign
10752 (in the first column!) and are ignored.
10753 Empty lines are also ignored.
10754 All other lines form individual entries that must adhere to the syntax
10756 To extend a single entry (not comment) its line can be continued on
10757 follow lines if newline characters are
10759 by preceding them with the reverse solidus character
10761 The standard does not specify how leading whitespace of follow lines
10762 is to be treated, therefore \*(UA retains it.
10766 entries consist of a number of semicolon
10768 separated fields, and the reverse solidus
10770 character can be used to escape any following character including
10771 semicolon and itself.
10772 The first two fields are mandatory and must occur in the specified
10773 order, the remaining fields are optional and may appear in any order.
10774 Leading and trailing whitespace of content is ignored (removed).
10777 The first field defines the MIME
10779 the entry is about to handle (case-insensitively, and no reverse solidus
10780 escaping is possible in this field).
10781 If the subtype is specified as an asterisk
10783 the entry is meant to match all subtypes of the named type, e.g.,
10785 would match any audio type.
10786 The second field defines the shell command which shall be used to
10788 MIME parts of the given type; it is implicitly called the
10795 shell commands message (MIME part) data is passed via standard input
10796 unless the given shell command includes one or more instances of the
10799 in which case these instances will be replaced with a temporary filename
10800 and the data will have been stored in the file that is being pointed to.
10803 shell commands data is assumed to be generated on standard output unless
10804 the given command includes (one ore multiple)
10806 In any case any given
10808 format is replaced with a(n already) properly quoted filename.
10809 Note that when a command makes use of a temporary file via
10811 then \*(UA will remove it again, as if the
10812 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile ,
10813 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill
10815 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
10816 flags had been set; see below for more.
10819 The optional fields either define a shell command or an attribute (flag)
10820 value, the latter being a single word and the former being a keyword
10821 naming the field followed by an equals sign
10823 succeeded by a shell command, and as usual for any
10825 content any whitespace surrounding the equals sign will be removed, too.
10826 Optional fields include the following:
10829 .Bl -tag -width ".It Cd BaNg"
10831 A program that can be used to compose a new body or body part in the
10833 (Currently unused.)
10835 .It Cd composetyped
10838 field, but is to be used when the composing program needs to specify the
10840 header field to be applied to the composed data.
10841 (Currently unused.)
10844 A program that can be used to edit a body or body part in the given
10846 (Currently unused.)
10849 A program that can be used to print a message or body part in the given
10851 (Currently unused.)
10854 Specifies a program to be run to test some condition, e.g., the machine
10855 architecture, or the window system in use, to determine whether or not
10856 this mailcap entry applies.
10857 If the test fails, a subsequent mailcap entry should be sought; also see
10858 .Cd x-mailx-test-once .
10860 .It Cd needsterminal
10861 This flag field indicates that the given shell command must be run on
10862 an interactive terminal.
10863 \*(UA will temporarily release the terminal to the given command in
10864 interactive mode, in non-interactive mode this entry will be entirely
10865 ignored; this flag implies
10866 .Cd x-mailx-noquote .
10868 .It Cd copiousoutput
10869 A flag field which indicates that the output of the
10871 command will be an extended stream of textual output that can be
10872 (re)integrated into \*(UA's normal visual display.
10873 It is mutually exclusive with
10876 .Cd x-mailx-always .
10878 .It Cd textualnewlines
10879 A flag field which indicates that this type of data is line-oriented and
10880 that, if encoded in
10882 all newlines should be converted to canonical form (CRLF) before
10883 encoding, and will be in that form after decoding.
10884 (Currently unused.)
10886 .It Cd nametemplate
10887 This field gives a file name format, in which
10889 will be replaced by a random string, the joined combination of which
10890 will be used as the filename denoted by
10891 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY .
10892 One could specify that a GIF file being passed to an image viewer should
10893 have a name ending in
10896 .Ql nametemplate=%s.gif .
10897 Note that \*(UA ignores the name template unless that solely specifies
10898 a filename suffix that consists of (ASCII) alphabetic and numeric
10899 characters, the underscore and dot only.
10902 Names a file, in X11 bitmap (xbm) format, which points to an appropriate
10903 icon to be used to visually denote the presence of this kind of data.
10904 This field is not used by \*(UA.
10907 A textual description that describes this type of data.
10909 .It Cd x-mailx-always
10910 Extension flag field that denotes that the given
10912 command shall be executed even if multiple messages will be displayed
10914 Normally messages which require external viewers that produce output
10915 which does not integrate into \*(UA's visual display (i.e., do not have
10917 set) have to be addressed directly and individually.
10918 (To avoid cases where, e.g., a thousand PDF viewer instances are spawned
10921 .It Cd x-mailx-even-if-not-interactive
10922 An extension flag test field \(em by default handlers without
10924 are entirely ignored in non-interactive mode, but if this flag is set
10925 then their use will be considered.
10926 It is an error if this flag is set for commands that use the flag
10927 .Cd needsterminal .
10929 .It Cd x-mailx-noquote
10930 An extension flag field that indicates that even a
10933 command shall not be used to generate message quotes
10934 (as it would be by default).
10936 .It Cd x-mailx-async
10937 Extension flag field that denotes that the given
10939 command shall be executed asynchronously, without blocking \*(UA.
10940 Cannot be used in conjunction with
10941 .Cd needsterminal .
10943 .It Cd x-mailx-test-once
10944 Extension flag which denotes whether the given
10946 command shall be evaluated once only and the (boolean) result be cached.
10947 This is handy if some global unchanging condition is to be queried, like
10948 .Dq running under the X Window System .
10950 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile
10951 Extension flag field that requests creation of a zero-sized temporary
10952 file, the name of which is to be placed in the environment variable
10953 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY .
10954 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
10958 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill
10959 Normally the MIME part content is passed to the handler via standard
10960 input; if this flag is set then the data will instead be written into
10962 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile .
10963 In order to cause deletion of the temporary file you will have to set
10964 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
10966 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
10970 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
10971 Extension flag field that requests that the temporary file shall be
10972 deleted automatically when the command loop is entered again at latest.
10973 (Do not use this for asynchronous handlers.)
10974 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
10976 format, or without also setting
10977 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile
10979 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill .
10981 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-keep
10984 implies the three tmpfile related flags above, but if you want, e.g.,
10986 and deal with the temporary file yourself, you can add in this flag to
10988 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink .
10993 The standard includes the possibility to define any number of additional
10994 entry fields, prefixed by
10996 Flag fields apply to the entire
10998 entry \(em in some unusual cases, this may not be desirable, but
10999 differentiation can be accomplished via separate entries, taking
11000 advantage of the fact that subsequent entries are searched if an earlier
11001 one does not provide enough information.
11004 command needs to specify the
11008 command shall not, the following will help out the latter (with enabled
11012 level \*(UA will show information about handler evaluation):
11014 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11015 application/postscript; ps-to-terminal %s; needsterminal
11016 application/postscript; ps-to-terminal %s; compose=idraw %s
11020 In fields any occurrence of the format string
11022 will be replaced by the
11025 Named parameters from the
11027 field may be placed in the command execution line using
11029 followed by the parameter name and a closing
11032 The entire parameter should appear as a single command line argument,
11033 regardless of embedded spaces; thus:
11035 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11037 Content-type: multipart/mixed; boundary=42
11040 multipart/*; /usr/local/bin/showmulti \e
11041 %t %{boundary} ; composetyped = /usr/local/bin/makemulti
11043 # Executed shell command
11044 /usr/local/bin/showmulti multipart/mixed 42
11048 .\" TODO v15: Mailcap: %n,%F
11049 Note that \*(UA does not support handlers for multipart MIME parts as
11050 shown in this example (as of today).
11051 \*(UA does not support the additional formats
11055 An example file, also showing how to properly deal with the expansion of
11057 which includes any quotes that are necessary to make it a valid shell
11058 argument by itself and thus will cause undesired behaviour when placed
11059 in additional user-provided quotes:
11061 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11063 text/richtext; richtext %s; copiousoutput
11065 text/x-perl; perl -cWT %s
11067 application/pdf; \e
11069 trap "rm -f ${infile}" EXIT\e; \e
11070 trap "exit 75" INT QUIT TERM\e; \e
11072 x-mailx-async; x-mailx-tmpfile-keep
11074 application/*; echo "This is \e"%t\e" but \e
11075 is 50 \e% Greek to me" \e; < %s head -c 1024 | cat -vET; \e
11076 copiousoutput; x-mailx-noquote
11081 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ,
11082 .Sx "The mime.types files" ,
11085 .Va mime-counter-evidence ,
11086 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE ,
11087 .Va pipe-EXTENSION .
11090 .\" .Ss "The .netrc file" {{{
11091 .Ss "The .netrc file"
11095 file contains user credentials for machine accounts.
11096 The default location in the user's
11098 directory may be overridden by the
11100 environment variable.
11101 The file consists of space, tabulator or newline separated tokens.
11102 \*(UA implements a parser that supports a superset of the original BSD
11103 syntax, but users should nonetheless be aware of portability glitches
11104 of that file format, shall their
11106 be usable across multiple programs and platforms:
11109 .Bl -bullet -compact
11111 BSD does not support single, but only double quotation marks, e.g.,
11112 .Ql password="pass with spaces" .
11114 BSD (only?) supports escaping of single characters via a reverse solidus
11115 (e.g., a space can be escaped via
11117 in- as well as outside of a quoted string.
11119 BSD does not require a final quotation mark of the last user input token.
11121 The original BSD (Berknet) parser also supported a format which allowed
11122 tokens to be separated with commas \(en whereas at least Hewlett-Packard
11123 still seems to support this syntax, \*(UA does not!
11125 As a non-portable extension some widely-used programs support
11126 shell-style comments: if an input line starts, after any amount of
11127 whitespace, with a number sign
11129 then the rest of the line is ignored.
11131 Whereas other programs may require that the
11133 file is accessible by only the user if it contains a
11135 token for any other
11139 \*(UA will always require these strict permissions.
11143 Of the following list of supported tokens \*(UA only uses (and caches)
11148 At runtime the command
11150 can be used to control \*(UA's
11154 .Bl -tag -width ".It Cd BaNg"
11155 .It Cd machine Ar name
11156 The hostname of the entries' machine, lowercase-normalized by \*(UA
11158 Any further file content, until either end-of-file or the occurrence
11163 first-class token is bound (only related) to the machine
11166 As an extension that should not be the cause of any worries
11167 \*(UA supports a single wildcard prefix for
11169 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11170 machine *.example.com login USER password PASS
11171 machine pop3.example.com login USER password PASS
11172 machine smtp.example.com login USER password PASS
11178 .Ql pop3.example.com ,
11182 .Ql local.smtp.example.com .
11183 Note that in the example neither
11184 .Ql pop3.example.com
11186 .Ql smtp.example.com
11187 will be matched by the wildcard, since the exact matches take
11188 precedence (it is however faster to specify it the other way around).
11191 This is the same as
11193 except that it is a fallback entry that is used shall none of the
11194 specified machines match; only one default token may be specified,
11195 and it must be the last first-class token.
11197 .It Cd login Ar name
11198 The user name on the remote machine.
11200 .It Cd password Ar string
11201 The user's password on the remote machine.
11203 .It Cd account Ar string
11204 Supply an additional account password.
11205 This is merely for FTP purposes.
11207 .It Cd macdef Ar name
11209 A macro is defined with the specified
11211 it is formed from all lines beginning with the next line and continuing
11212 until a blank line is (consecutive newline characters are) encountered.
11215 entries cannot be utilized by multiple machines, too, but must be
11216 defined following the
11218 they are intended to be used with.)
11221 exists, it is automatically run as the last step of the login process.
11222 This is merely for FTP purposes.
11229 .\" .Sh EXAMPLES {{{
11232 .\" .Ss "An example configuration" {{{
11233 .Ss "An example configuration"
11235 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11236 # This example assumes v15.0 compatibility mode
11239 # Request strict transport security checks!
11240 set ssl-verify=strict
11242 # Where are the up-to-date SSL certificates?
11243 # (Since we manage up-to-date ones explicitly, do not use any,
11244 # possibly outdated, default certificates shipped with OpenSSL)
11245 #set ssl-ca-dir=/etc/ssl/certs
11246 set ssl-ca-file=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
11247 set ssl-ca-no-defaults
11248 #set ssl-ca-flags=partial-chain
11249 wysh set smime-ca-file="${ssl-ca-file}" \e
11250 smime-ca-no-defaults #smime-ca-flags="${ssl-ca-flags}"
11252 # Do not use protocols older than TLS v1.2.
11253 # Change this only when the remote server does not support it:
11254 # maybe use ssl-protocol-HOST (or -USER@HOST) syntax to define
11255 # such explicit exceptions, then, e.g.
11256 # set ssl-protocol-exam.ple='-ALL,+TLSv1.1'
11257 set ssl-protocol='-ALL,+TLSv1.2'
11259 # Explicitly define the list of ciphers, which may improve security,
11260 # especially with protocols older than TLS v1.2. See ciphers(1).
11261 # Including "@STRENGTH" will sort the final list by algorithm strength.
11262 # In reality it is possibly best to only use ssl-cipher-list-HOST
11263 # (or -USER@HOST), as necessary, again..
11264 set ssl-cipher-list=TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:@STRENGTH
11265 # TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA:\e
11266 DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:@STRENGTH
11267 # ALL:!aNULL:!eNULL:!MEDIUM:!LOW:!MD5:!RC4:!EXPORT:@STRENGTH
11269 # Essential setting: select allowed character sets
11270 set sendcharsets=utf-8,iso-8859-1
11272 # A very kind option: when replying to a message, first try to
11273 # use the same encoding that the original poster used herself!
11274 set reply-in-same-charset
11276 # When replying to or forwarding a message the comment and name
11277 # parts of email addresses are removed unless this variable is set
11280 # When sending messages, wait until the Mail-Transfer-Agent finishs.
11281 # Only like this you will be able to see errors reported through the
11282 # exit status of the MTA (including the builtin SMTP one)!
11285 # Only use builtin MIME types, no mime.types(5) files
11286 set mimetypes-load-control
11288 # Default directory where we act in (relative to $HOME)
11290 # A leading "+" (often) means: under *folder*
11291 # *record* is used to save copies of sent messages
11292 set MBOX=+mbox.mbox record=+sent.mbox DEAD=+dead.txt
11294 # Make "file mymbox" and "file myrec" go to..
11295 shortcut mymbox %:+mbox.mbox myrec +sent.mbox
11297 # Not really optional, e.g., for S/MIME
11298 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
11300 # It may be necessary to set hostname and/or smtp-hostname
11301 # if the "SERVER" of mta and "domain" of from do not match.
11302 # The `urlencode' command can be used to encode USER and PASS
11303 set mta=(smtps?|submission)://[USER[:PASS]@]SERVER[:PORT] \e
11304 smtp-auth=login/plain... \e
11307 # Never refuse to start into interactive mode, and more
11309 colour-pager crt= \e
11310 followup-to followup-to-honour=ask-yes \e
11311 history-file=+.\*(uAhist history-size=-1 history-gabby \e
11312 mime-counter-evidence=0xE \e
11313 prompt='?\e?!\e![\e${account}#\e${mailbox-display}]? ' \e
11314 reply-to-honour=ask-yes \e
11317 # Only include the selected header fields when typing messages
11318 headerpick type retain add from_ date from to cc subject \e
11319 message-id mail-followup-to reply-to
11320 # ...when forwarding messages
11321 headerpick forward retain add subject date from to cc
11322 # ...when saving message, etc.
11323 #headerpick save ignore add ^Original-.*$ ^X-.*$
11325 # Some mailing lists
11326 mlist '@xyz-editor\e.xyz$' '@xyzf\e.xyz$'
11327 mlsubscribe '^xfans@xfans\e.xyz$'
11329 # A real life example of a very huge free mail provider
11330 # Instead of directly placing content inside `account',
11331 # we `define' a macro: like that we can switch "accounts"
11332 # from within *on-compose-splice*, for example!
11334 set folder=~/spool/XooglX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
11335 set from='Your Name <address@examp.ple>'
11336 set mta=smtp://USER:PASS@smtp.gmXil.com smtp-use-starttls
11342 # Here is a pretty large one which does not allow sending mails
11343 # if there is a domain name mismatch on the SMTP protocol level,
11344 # which would bite us if the value of from does not match, e.g.,
11345 # for people who have a sXXXXeforge project and want to speak
11346 # with the mailing list under their project account (in from),
11347 # still sending the message through their normal mail provider
11349 set folder=~/spool/XandeX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
11350 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
11351 set mta=smtps://USER:PASS@smtp.yaXXex.ru:465 \e
11352 hostname=yaXXex.com smtp-hostname=
11358 # Create some new commands so that, e.g., `ls /tmp' will..
11359 wysh ghost lls '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFlrS'
11360 wysh ghost llS '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFlS'
11361 wysh ghost ls '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFrS'
11362 wysh ghost lS '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFS'
11363 wysh ghost lla '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFlr'
11364 wysh ghost llA '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFl'
11365 wysh ghost la '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFr'
11366 wysh ghost lA '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aF'
11367 wysh ghost ll '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFltr'
11368 wysh ghost lL '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFlt'
11369 wysh ghost l '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFtr'
11370 wysh ghost L '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFt'
11372 # We do not support gpg(1) directly yet. But simple --clearsign'd
11373 # message parts can be dealt with as follows:
11376 wysh set pipe-text/plain=$'@*#++=@\e
11377 < "${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}" awk \e
11378 -v TMPFILE="${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}" \e'\e
11380 /^-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----/,/^$/ {\e
11383 print "--- GPG --verify ---";\e
11384 system("gpg --verify " TMPFILE " 2>&1");\e
11385 print "--- GPG --verify ---";\e
11389 /^-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----/,\e
11390 /^-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----/{\e
11400 !printf 'Key IDs to gpg --recv-keys: ';\e
11402 gpg --recv-keys ${keyids};
11408 When storing passwords in
11410 appropriate permissions should be set on this file with
11411 .Ql $ chmod 0600 \*(ur .
11414 is available user credentials can be stored in the central
11416 file instead; e.g., here is a different version of the example account
11417 that sets up SMTP and POP3:
11419 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11421 set folder=~/spool/XandeX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
11422 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
11424 # Load an encrypted ~/.netrc by uncommenting the next line
11425 #set netrc-pipe='gpg -qd ~/.netrc.pgp'
11427 set mta=smtps://smtp.yXXXXx.ru:465 \e
11428 smtp-hostname= hostname=yXXXXx.com
11429 set pop3-keepalive=240 pop3-no-apop-pop.yXXXXx.ru
11430 ghost xp fi pop3s://pop.yXXXXx.ru
11442 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11443 machine *.yXXXXx.ru login USER password PASS
11447 This configuration should now work just fine:
11450 .Dl $ echo text | \*(uA -vv -AXandeX -s Subject user@exam.ple
11453 .\" .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME" {{{
11454 .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
11456 \*(OP S/MIME provides two central mechanisms:
11457 message signing and message encryption.
11458 A signed message contains some data in addition to the regular text.
11459 The data can be used to verify that the message was sent using a valid
11460 certificate, that the sender's address in the message header matches
11461 that in the certificate, and that the message text has not been altered.
11462 Signing a message does not change its regular text;
11463 it can be read regardless of whether the recipient's software is able to
11467 It is thus usually possible to sign all outgoing messages if so desired.
11468 Encryption, in contrast, makes the message text invisible for all people
11469 except those who have access to the secret decryption key.
11470 To encrypt a message, the specific recipient's public encryption key
11472 It is therefore not possible to send encrypted mail to people unless their
11473 key has been retrieved from either previous communication or public key
11475 A message should always be signed before it is encrypted.
11476 Otherwise, it is still possible that the encrypted message text is
11480 A central concept to S/MIME is that of the certification authority (CA).
11481 A CA is a trusted institution that issues certificates.
11482 For each of these certificates it can be verified that it really
11483 originates from the CA, provided that the CA's own certificate is
11485 A set of CA certificates is usually delivered with OpenSSL and installed
11487 If you trust the source of your OpenSSL software installation,
11488 this offers reasonable security for S/MIME on the Internet.
11490 .Va smime-ca-no-defaults
11491 to avoid using the default certificate and point
11495 to a trusted pool of certificates.
11496 In general, a certificate cannot be more secure than the method its CA
11497 certificate has been retrieved with.
11500 The first thing you need for participating in S/MIME message exchange is
11501 your personal certificate, including a private key.
11502 The certificate contains public information, in particular your name and
11503 your email address(es), and the public key that is used by others to
11504 encrypt messages for you,
11505 and to verify signed messages they supposedly received from you.
11506 The certificate is included in each signed message you send.
11507 The private key must be kept secret.
11508 It is used to decrypt messages that were previously encrypted with your
11509 public key, and to sign messages.
11512 For personal use it is recommended that you get a S/MIME certificate
11513 from one of the major CAs on the Internet using your WWW browser.
11514 Many CAs offer such certificates for free.
11516 .Lk https://www.CAcert.org
11517 which issues client and server certificates to members of their
11518 community for free; their root certificate
11519 .Pf ( Lk https://\:www.cacert.org/\:certs/\:root.crt )
11520 is often not in the default set of trusted CA root certificates, though,
11521 which means you will have to download their root certificate separately
11522 and ensure it is part of our S/MIME certificate validation chain by
11525 or as a vivid member of the
11526 .Va smime-ca-file .
11527 But let us take a step-by-step tour on how to setup S/MIME with
11528 a certificate from CAcert.org despite this situation!
11531 First of all you will have to become a member of the CAcert.org
11532 community, simply by registrating yourself via the web interface.
11533 Once you are, create and verify all email addresses you want to be able
11534 to create signed and encrypted messages for/with using the corresponding
11535 entries of the web interface.
11536 Now ready to create S/MIME certificates, so let us create a new
11537 .Dq client certificate ,
11538 ensure to include all email addresses that should be covered by the
11539 certificate in the following web form, and also to use your name as the
11543 Create a private key and a certificate request on your local computer
11544 (please see the manual pages of the used commands for more in-depth
11545 knowledge on what the used arguments etc. do):
11548 .Dl openssl req -nodes -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout key.pem -out creq.pem
11551 Afterwards copy-and-paste the content of
11553 into the certificate-request (CSR) field of the web form on the
11554 CAcert.org website (you may need to unfold some
11555 .Dq advanced options
11556 to see the corresponding text field).
11557 This last step will ensure that your private key (which never left your
11558 box) and the certificate belong together (through the public key that
11559 will find its way into the certificate via the certificate-request).
11560 You are now ready and can create your CAcert certified certificate.
11561 Download and store or copy-and-paste it as
11566 In order to use your new S/MIME setup a combined private key/public key
11567 (certificate) file has to be created:
11570 .Dl cat key.pem pub.crt > ME@HERE.com.paired
11573 This is the file \*(UA will work with.
11574 If you have created your private key with a passphrase then \*(UA will
11575 ask you for it whenever a message is signed or decrypted.
11576 Set the following variables to henceforth use S/MIME (setting
11578 is of interest for verification only):
11580 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11581 set smime-ca-file=ALL-TRUSTED-ROOT-CERTS-HERE \e
11582 smime-sign-cert=ME@HERE.com.paired \e
11583 smime-sign-message-digest=SHA256 \e
11588 From each signed message you send, the recipient can fetch your
11589 certificate and use it to send encrypted mail back to you.
11590 Accordingly if somebody sends you a signed message, you can do the same,
11593 command to check the validity of the certificate.
11596 Variables of interest for S/MIME signing:
11598 .Va smime-ca-file ,
11599 .Va smime-ca-flags ,
11600 .Va smime-ca-no-defaults ,
11601 .Va smime-crl-dir ,
11602 .Va smime-crl-file ,
11604 .Va smime-sign-cert ,
11605 .Va smime-sign-include-certs
11607 .Va smime-sign-message-digest .
11610 After it has been verified save the certificate via
11612 and tell \*(UA that it should use it for encryption for further
11613 communication with that somebody:
11615 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11617 set smime-encrypt-USER@HOST=FILENAME \e
11618 smime-cipher-USER@HOST=AES256
11622 Additional variables of interest for S/MIME en- and decryption:
11625 .Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST .
11628 You should carefully consider if you prefer to store encrypted messages
11630 If you do, anybody who has access to your mail folders can read them,
11631 but if you do not, you might be unable to read them yourself later if
11632 you happen to lose your private key.
11635 command saves messages in decrypted form, while the
11639 commands leave them encrypted.
11642 Note that neither S/MIME signing nor encryption applies to message
11643 subjects or other header fields yet.
11644 Thus they may not contain sensitive information for encrypted messages,
11645 and cannot be trusted even if the message content has been verified.
11646 When sending signed messages,
11647 it is recommended to repeat any important header information in the
11651 .\" .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or SSL/TLS" {{{
11652 .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or SSL/TLS"
11654 \*(OP Certification authorities (CAs) issue certificate revocation
11655 lists (CRLs) on a regular basis.
11656 These lists contain the serial numbers of certificates that have been
11657 declared invalid after they have been issued.
11658 Such usually happens because the private key for the certificate has
11660 because the owner of the certificate has left the organization that is
11661 mentioned in the certificate, etc.
11662 To seriously use S/MIME or SSL/TLS verification,
11663 an up-to-date CRL is required for each trusted CA.
11664 There is otherwise no method to distinguish between valid and
11665 invalidated certificates.
11666 \*(UA currently offers no mechanism to fetch CRLs, nor to access them on
11667 the Internet, so they have to be retrieved by some external mechanism.
11670 \*(UA accepts CRLs in PEM format only;
11671 CRLs in DER format must be converted, like, e.\|g.:
11674 .Dl $ openssl crl \-inform DER \-in crl.der \-out crl.pem
11677 To tell \*(UA about the CRLs, a directory that contains all CRL files
11678 (and no other files) must be created.
11683 variables, respectively, must then be set to point to that directory.
11684 After that, \*(UA requires a CRL to be present for each CA that is used
11685 to verify a certificate.
11688 .\" .Ss "Handling spam" {{{
11689 .Ss "Handling spam"
11691 \*(OP \*(UA can make use of several spam interfaces for the purpose of
11692 identification of, and, in general, dealing with spam messages.
11693 A precondition of most commands in order to function is that the
11695 variable is set to one of the supported interfaces.
11696 Once messages have been identified as spam their (volatile)
11698 state can be prompted: the
11702 message specifications will address respective messages and their
11704 entries will be used when displaying the
11706 in the header display.
11711 rates the given messages and sets their
11714 If the spam interface offers spam scores those can also be displayed in
11715 the header display by including the
11725 will interact with the Bayesian filter of the chosen interface and learn
11726 the given messages as
11730 respectively; the last command can be used to cause
11732 of messages; it adheres to their current
11734 state and thus reverts previous teachings.
11739 will simply set and clear, respectively, the mentioned volatile
11741 message flag, without any interface interaction.
11750 requires a running instance of the
11752 server in order to function, started with the option
11754 shall Bayesian filter learning be possible.
11756 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11757 $ spamd -i localhost:2142 -i /tmp/.spamsock -d [-L] [-l]
11758 $ spamd --listen=localhost:2142 --listen=/tmp/.spamsock \e
11759 --daemonize [--local] [--allow-tell]
11763 Thereafter \*(UA can make use of these interfaces:
11765 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11766 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=spamc -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
11767 -Sspamc-command=/usr/local/bin/spamc \e
11768 -Sspamc-arguments="-U /tmp/.spamsock" -Sspamc-user=
11770 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=spamc -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
11771 -Sspamc-command=/usr/local/bin/spamc \e
11772 -Sspamc-arguments="-d localhost -p 2142" -Sspamc-user=
11776 Using the generic filter approach allows usage of programs like
11778 Here is an example, requiring it to be accessible via
11781 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11782 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=filter -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
11783 -Sspamfilter-ham="bogofilter -n" \e
11784 -Sspamfilter-noham="bogofilter -N" \e
11785 -Sspamfilter-nospam="bogofilter -S" \e
11786 -Sspamfilter-rate="bogofilter -TTu 2>/dev/null" \e
11787 -Sspamfilter-spam="bogofilter -s" \e
11788 -Sspamfilter-rate-scanscore="1;^(.+)$"
11792 Because messages must exist on local storage in order to be scored (or
11793 used for Bayesian filter training), it is possibly a good idea to
11794 perform the local spam check last:
11796 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11797 define spamdelhook {
11799 spamset (header x-dcc-brand-metrics "bulk")
11800 # Server-side spamassassin(1)
11801 spamset (header x-spam-flag "YES")
11802 del :s # TODO we HAVE to be able to do `spamrate :u ! :sS'
11803 move :S +maybe-spam
11806 move :S +maybe-spam
11808 set folder-hook-FOLDER=spamdelhook
11812 See also the documentation for the variables
11813 .Va spam-interface , spam-maxsize ,
11814 .Va spamc-command , spamc-arguments , spamc-user ,
11815 .Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , spamfilter-nospam , \
11818 .Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore .
11826 In general it is a good idea to turn on
11832 twice) if something does not work well.
11833 Very often a diagnostic message can be produced that leads to the
11834 problems' solution.
11836 .\" .Ss "\*(UA shortly hangs on startup" {{{
11837 .Ss "\*(UA shortly hangs on startup"
11839 This can have two reasons, one is the necessity to wait for a file lock
11840 and cannot be helped, the other being that \*(UA calls the function
11842 in order to query the nodename of the box (sometimes the real one is
11843 needed instead of the one represented by the internal variable
11845 One may have varying success by ensuring that the real hostname and
11849 or, more generally, that the name service is properly setup \(en
11852 return the expected value?
11853 Does this local hostname has a domain suffix?
11854 RFC 6762 standardized the link-local top-level domain
11856 try again after adding an (additional) entry with this extension.
11859 .\" .Ss "\*(UA exits quick, and output is cleared away" {{{
11860 .Ss "\*(UA exits quick, and output is cleared away"
11862 When this happens even with
11864 set, then this most likely indicates a problem with the creation of
11865 so-called dotlock files: setting
11866 .Va dotlock-ignore-error
11867 should overcome this situation.
11868 This only avoids symptoms, it does not address the problem, though.
11869 Since the output is cleared away \*(UA has support for
11870 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" ,
11871 and switches to the
11873 which causes the output clearance: by doing
11874 .Ql set termcap='smcup='
11875 this mode can be suppressed, and by setting
11877 (twice) the actual problem should be reported.
11880 .\" .Ss "I cannot login to Google mail aka GMail" {{{
11881 .Ss "I cannot login to Google mail aka GMail"
11883 Since 2014 some free service providers classify programs as
11885 unless they use a special authentification method (OAuth 2.0) which
11886 was not standardized for non-HTTP protocol authentication token query
11887 until August 2015 (RFC 7628).
11890 Different to Kerberos / GSSAPI, which is developed since the mid of the
11891 1980s, where a user can easily create a local authentication ticket for
11892 her- and himself with the locally installed
11894 program, that protocol has no such local part but instead requires
11895 a world-wide-web query to create or fetch a token; since there is no
11896 local cache this query would have to be performed whenever \*(UA is
11897 invoked (in interactive sessions situation may differ).
11900 \*(UA does not support OAuth.
11901 Because of this it is necessary to declare \*(UA a
11902 .Dq less secure app
11903 (on the providers account web page) in order to read and send mail.
11904 However, it also seems possible to take the following steps instead:
11909 give the provider the number of a mobile phone,
11912 .Dq 2-Step Verification ,
11914 create an application specific password (16 characters), and
11916 use that special password instead of the real Google account password in
11917 \*(UA (for more on that see the section
11918 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ) .
11922 .\" .Ss "Not \(dqdefunctional\(dq, but the editor key does not work" {{{
11923 .Ss "Not \(dqdefunctional\(dq, but the editor key does not work"
11925 It can happen that the terminal library (see
11926 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor",
11929 reports different codes than the terminal really sends, in which case
11930 \*(UA will tell that a key binding is functional, but will not be able to
11931 recognize it because the received data does not match anything expected.
11936 ings will show the byte sequences that are expected.
11939 To overcome the situation, use, e.g., the program
11941 in conjunction with the command line option
11943 if available, to see the byte sequences which are actually produced
11944 by keypresses, and use the variable
11946 to make \*(UA aware of them.
11947 E.g., the terminal this is typed on produces some false sequences, here
11948 an example showing the shifted home key:
11950 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11953 # 1B 5B=[ 31=1 3B=; 32=2 48=H
11958 ? \*(uA -v -Stermcap='kHOM=\eE[H'
11967 .\" .Sh "SEE ALSO" {{{
11977 .Xr spamassassin 1 ,
11986 .Xr mailwrapper 8 ,
11991 .\" .Sh HISTORY {{{
11994 M. Douglas McIlroy writes in his article
11995 .Dq A Research UNIX Reader: Annotated Excerpts \
11996 from the Programmer's Manual, 1971-1986
11999 command already appeared in First Edition
12003 .Bd -ragged -offset indent
12004 Electronic mail was there from the start.
12005 Never satisfied with its exact behavior, everybody touched it at one
12006 time or another: to assure the safety of simultaneous access, to improve
12007 privacy, to survive crashes, to exploit uucp, to screen out foreign
12008 freeloaders, or whatever.
12009 Not until v7 did the interface change (Thompson).
12010 Later, as mail became global in its reach, Dave Presotto took charge and
12011 brought order to communications with a grab-bag of external networks
12017 Mail was written in 1978 by Kurt Shoens and developed as part of the
12020 distribution until 1995.
12021 Mail has then seen further development in open source
12023 variants, noticeably by Christos Zoulas in
12025 Based upon this Nail, later Heirloom Mailx, was developed by Gunnar
12026 Ritter in the years 2000 until 2008.
12027 Since 2012 S-nail is maintained by Steffen (Daode) Nurpmeso.
12028 This man page is derived from
12029 .Dq The Mail Reference Manual
12030 that was originally written by Kurt Shoens.
12036 .An "Kurt Shoens" ,
12037 .An "Edward Wang" ,
12038 .An "Keith Bostic" ,
12039 .An "Christos Zoulas" ,
12040 .An "Gunnar Ritter" ,
12041 .An "Steffen Nurpmeso" Aq Mt s-nail-users@lists.sourceforge.net
12043 .Mt s-mailx@sdaoden.eu ) .
12046 .\" .Sh CAVEATS {{{
12049 \*(ID Interrupting an operation via
12053 is often problematic: many library functions cannot deal with the
12055 that this software (still) performs.
12058 The SMTP and POP3 protocol support of \*(UA is very basic.
12059 Also, if it fails to contact its upstream SMTP server, it will not make
12060 further attempts to transfer the message at a later time (setting
12065 If this is a concern, it might be better to set up a local SMTP server
12066 that is capable of message queuing.
12072 After deleting some message of a POP3 mailbox the header summary falsely
12073 claims that there are no messages to display, one needs to perform
12074 a scroll or dot movement to restore proper state.
12076 In threaded display a power user may encounter crashes very
12077 occasionally (this is may and very).
12081 in the source repository lists future directions.