1 .\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993
2 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
4 .\" Gunnar Ritter. All rights reserved.
5 .\" Copyright (c) 2012 - 2013 Steffen "Daode" Nurpmeso <sdaoden@users.sf.net>.
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41 .ds UV \\%S-nail dirty
45 .\" If not ~/.mailrc, it breaks POSIX compatibility. And adjust main.c.
55 .Nd send and receive Internet mail
63 .Op Fl a Ar attachment
66 .Op Fl O Ar mta-option
67 .Op Fl q Ar quote-file
69 .Op Fl S Ar variable Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
77 .Op Fl S Ar variable Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
84 .Op Fl S Ar variable Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
91 \*(UA is a mail processing system with a command syntax reminiscent of
93 with lines replaced by messages.
94 It is intended to provide the functionality of the POSIX
96 command and offers (mostly optional) extensions for line editing, IDNA,
97 MIME, S/MIME, SMTP, POP3 and IMAP.
98 It is usable as a mail batch language.
100 In the following list of supported command line options,
108 are implemented by means of setting the respective option, as via
111 .Bl -tag -width ".Fl A Ar account"
115 command (see below) for
117 after the startup files have been read.
119 Attach the given file to the message.
120 The same filename conventions as described in the section
124 Make standard input and standard output line-buffered.
126 Send blind carbon copies to the given list of addresses.
128 below goes into more detail on that.
130 Send carbon copies to the given list of addresses.
138 variable, which enables debug messages and disables message delivery.
139 Note that this is not a real `sandbox' mode.
143 variable and thus discard messages with an empty message part body.
144 This is useful for sending messages from scripts.
146 Just check if mail is present in the system mailbox.
147 If yes, return an exit status of zero, a non-zero value otherwise.
149 Save the message to send in a file named after the local part of the
150 first recipient's address.
152 Read in the contents of the user's mbox (or the specified file)
154 when \*(UA is quit, it writes undeleted messages back to this file.
157 is interpreted as described for the
162 is not a direct argument to the flag
164 but is instead taken from the command line after option processing has
167 Print header summaries for all messages and exit.
171 variable to ignore tty interrupt signals.
175 variable and thus inhibits the initial display of message headers when
176 reading mail or editing a mail folder.
178 Inhibits reading \*(UR upon startup.
179 This option should be activated for \*(UA scripts that are invoked on
180 more than one machine, because the contents of that file may differ
182 (The same behaviour can be achieved by setting the
183 .Ev NAIL_NO_SYSTEM_RC
184 environment variable.)
185 .It Fl O Ar mta-option
186 Pass the given option through to the mail-transfer-agent (MTA).
187 This option has no effect when mail is send via SMTP.
189 .Ns ` Ns Li "-O-h -Onumber" Ns '
190 to specify the hop count for an old
192 Options set like that persist for an entire (interactive) session.
194 Start the message with the contents of the specified file.
195 May be given in send mode only.
197 Opens any folders read-only.
199 Sets the envelope sender address by passing an
201 option to the MTA when a message is send.
204 argument is given it'll be checked for validity and then fixated to
205 the given value, but otherwise the content of the variable
207 will be used for that purpose \(en i.e., it'll be passed through to
210 option whenever a message is send.
211 A valid non-empty value will also be set as if an additional
212 .Ns ` Ns Li "-Sfrom=VALUE" Ns '
213 option had been used and therefore affect sending of messages via SMTP
214 (as a consideration for `From:').
215 .It Fl S Ar variable Ns Op = Ns value
216 Sets the internal option
218 and, in case of a value option, assigns
221 Even though options set via
223 may be overwritten from within resource files,
224 the command line setting will be reestablished after all resources have
227 Specify the subject on the command line
228 (be careful to quote subjects containing spaces).
230 The message to be sent is expected to contain a message header with
231 `To:', `Cc:', or `Bcc:' fields giving its recipients and `Subject:'
232 giving the subject of the message.
233 Recipients and subject specified on the command line are ignored.
235 Read the system mailbox of
237 (appropriate privileges presumed), and `assume to be'
239 in some aspects, e.g. in respect to expansions of `%' etc.
243 Print \*(UA's version and exit.
247 option, which enables more verbose messages.
249 Enable tilde escapes even if not in interactive mode.
251 This sets multiple options to prepare \*(UA for working in batch mode
252 (most likely in non-interactive mode):
258 it also enables processing of tilde escapes.
259 E.g., the following should send an email message to `alias'.
261 .Dl printf 'm alias\en~s Subject\enBody\en.\enx\en' | \
262 MAILRC=/dev/null s-nail -n -#
267 To send a message to one or more people,
268 \*(UA can be invoked with arguments which are the names of people to
269 whom the mail will be sent.
272 es, plain addresses or full address specifications including user names
274 in which case care for proper quoting may be necessary.
275 If this manual refers to a \fIlist of addresses\fR,
276 then \*(UA expects a comma-separated list of such names.
278 .Sx "Recipient address specifications"
279 below explains the interpretation of names in more detail.
280 The user is then expected to type in his message, followed by a
282 at the beginning of a line.
284 .Sx "Replying to or originating mail"
285 describes some features of \*(UA available to help when composing
290 In normal usage \*(UA is given no arguments and checks the user's mail
291 out of the post office,
292 then prints out a one line header of each message found.
293 The current message is initially the first message (numbered 1) and can
296 command, which can be abbreviated `p'.
297 The commands `p+' and `p\-' move forward to the next and backward to the
298 previous message, respectively, and messages can be addressed directly
299 by specifying their message number, as in `p 1'.
302 .Ss "Disposing of mail"
303 After examining a message the user can
308 Deletion causes the \*(UA program to forget about the message.
309 This is not irreversible;
312 (`u') the message by giving its number,
313 or the \*(UA session can be ended by giving the
316 Deleted messages will, however, usually disappear never to be seen
320 .Ss "Specifying messages"
321 Commands such as print and delete can be given a list of message numbers
322 as arguments to apply to a number of messages at once.
324 .Ns ` Ns Li "delete 1 2" Ns '
325 deletes messages 1 and 2,
327 .Ns ` Ns Li "delete 1-5" Ns '
328 will delete the messages 1 through 5.
329 In sorted or threaded mode (see the
334 .Ns ` Ns Li "delete 1-5" Ns '
335 will delete the messages that are located between (and including)
336 messages 1 through 5 in the sorted/threaded order, as shown in the
338 The following special message names exist:
340 .Bl -tag -width ".It .Ar :n:u"
344 All old messages (any not in state read or new).
348 All deleted messages (for the
354 All `flagged' messages.
356 All answered messages
361 All messages marked as draft.
363 \*(OP All messages classified as spam.
367 The message that was previously the current message.
369 The parent message of the current message,
370 that is the message with the Message-ID given in the `In-Reply-To:' field
371 or the last entry of the `References:' field of the current message.
373 The next previous undeleted message,
374 or the next previous deleted message for the
377 In sorted/threaded mode,
378 the next previous such message in the sorted/threaded order.
380 The next undeleted message,
381 or the next deleted message for the
384 In sorted/threaded mode,
385 the next such message in the sorted/threaded order.
387 The first undeleted message,
388 or the first deleted message for the
391 In sorted/threaded mode,
392 the first such message in the sorted/threaded order.
395 In sorted/threaded mode,
396 the last message in the sorted/threaded order.
399 selects the message addressed with
403 is any other message specification,
404 and all messages from the thread that begins at it.
405 Otherwise it is identical to
410 the thread beginning with the current message is selected.
414 All messages that were included in the message list for the previous
416 .It Ar / Ns Ar string
417 All messages that contain
419 in the subject field (case ignored).
426 the string from the previous specification of that type is used again.
430 By default, this is a case-sensitive search for the complete email
435 only the local part of the addresses is evaluated for the comparison.
439 a case-sensitive search for the complete real name of a sender is
442 .Ns ` Ns Li "(from address)" Ns '
443 expression can be used instead if substring matches are desired.
445 All messages that satisfy the given IMAP-style SEARCH
447 This addressing mode is available with all types of folders;
448 for folders not located on IMAP servers,
449 or for servers unable to execute the SEARCH command,
450 \*(UA will perform the search locally.
451 Strings must be enclosed by double quotes `"' in their entirety
452 if they contain white space or parentheses;
454 only backslash `\e' is recognized as an escape character.
455 All string searches are case-insensitive.
456 When the description indicates that the `envelope' representation of an
457 address field is used,
458 this means that the search string is checked against both a list
461 .Dl ( \*q Ns name Ns \*q \*q Ns source Ns \*q \*q Ns \
462 local-part Ns \*q \*q Ns domain-part Ns \*q )
465 and the addresses without real names from the respective header field.
466 Criteria can be nested using parentheses.
467 .It Ar ( criterion1 criterion2 ... criterionN )
468 All messages that satisfy all of the given criteria.
469 .It Ar ( or criterion1 criterion2 )
470 All messages that satisfy either
475 To connect more than two criteria using `or',
476 (or) specifications have to be nested using additional parentheses,
478 .Ns ` Ns Li "(or a (or b c))" Ns ',
480 .Ns ` Ns Li "(or a b c)" Ns '
482 .Ns ` Ns Li "((a or b) and c)" Ns '.
483 For a simple `or' operation of independent criteria on the lowest
485 it is possible to achieve similar effects by using three separate
487 .Ns ` Ns Li "(a) (b) (c)" Ns '.
488 .It Ar ( not criterion )
489 All messages that do not satisfy
491 .It Ar ( bcc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
492 All messages that contain
494 in the `envelope' representation of the `Bcc:' field.
495 .It Ar ( cc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
496 All messages that contain
498 in the `envelope' representation of the `Cc:' field.
499 .It Ar ( from \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
500 All messages that contain
502 in the `envelope' representation of the `From:' field.
503 .It Ar ( subject \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
504 All messages that contain
506 in the `Subject:' field.
507 .It Ar ( to \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
508 All messages that contain
510 in the `envelope' representation of the `To:' field.
511 .It Ar ( header name \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
512 All messages that contain
517 .It Ar ( body \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
518 All messages that contain
521 .It Ar ( text \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
522 All messages that contain
524 in their header or body.
525 .It Ar ( larger size )
526 All messages that are larger than
529 .It Ar ( smaller size )
530 All messages that are smaller than
533 .It Ar ( before date )
534 All messages that were received before
536 which must be in the form
537 .Li "d[d]-mon-yyyy" ,
538 where `d' denotes the day of the month as one or two digits,
539 `mon' is the name of the month \(en one of
540 `Jan', `Feb', `Mar', `Apr', `May', `Jun',
541 `Jul', `Aug', `Sep', `Oct', `Nov', or `Dec',
542 and `yyyy' is the year as four digits, e.g., "28-Dec-2012".
544 All messages that were received on the specified date.
545 .It Ar ( since date )
546 All messages that were received since the specified date.
547 .It Ar ( sentbefore date )
548 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
549 .It Ar ( senton date )
550 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
551 .It Ar ( sentsince date )
552 All messages that were sent since the specified date.
554 The same criterion as for the previous search.
555 This specification cannot be used as part of another criterion.
556 If the previous command line contained more than one independent
557 criterion then the last of those criteria is used.
560 A practical method to read a set of messages is to issue a
562 command with the search criteria first to check for appropriate messages,
563 and to read each single message then by typing ``' repeatedly.
566 .Ss "Replying to or originating mail"
569 can be used to set up a response to a message,
570 sending it back to the person who it was from.
571 Text the user types in, up to an end-of-file,
572 defines the contents of the message.
573 While the user is composing a message \*(UA treats lines beginning with
574 the character `~' specially.
575 For instance, typing `~m' (alone on a line) will place a copy of the
576 current message into the response right shifting it by a tabstop
580 Other escapes will set up subject fields,
581 add and delete recipients to the message,
583 and allow the user to escape to an editor to revise the message
584 or to a shell to run some commands.
585 (These options are given in the summary below.)
588 .Ss "Ending a mail processing session"
589 The user can end a \*(UA session by issuing the
592 Messages which have been examined go to the user's mbox file unless they
594 in which case they are discarded.
595 Unexamined messages go back to the post office.
601 .Ss "Personal and systemwide distribution lists"
602 It is also possible to create personal distribution lists so that,
603 for instance, the user can send mail to `cohorts'
604 and have it go to a group of people.
605 Such lists can be defined via the
607 command by, e.g., placing lines like
609 .Dl alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory
611 in the file \*(ur in the user's home directory.
614 without arguments lists all the currently known aliases.
616 System wide distribution lists can be created by editing
623 which are kept in a different syntax and will be used by the MTA
624 (mail-transfer-agent) rather than by \*(UA.
625 Personal aliases will be expanded by \*(UA before the message is sent.
626 System wide aliases are not expanded when the mail is sent by \*(UA,
627 but any reply returned to the machine will have the system wide alias
628 expanded as all mail goes through the MTA.
631 .Ss "Recipient address specifications"
632 When an address is used to name a recipient (in `To:', `Cc:', or `Bcc:'),
633 names of local mail folders and pipes to external commands may also be
634 specified \(en the message text is then written to them.
635 The rules are: Any name which starts with a `|' (vertical bar) character
636 specifies a pipe \(en the command string following the `|' is executed
637 and the message is sent to its standard input;
638 any other name which contains a `@' (at sign) character is treated as
640 any other name which starts with a `+' (plus sign) character specifies
642 any other name which contains a `/' (slash) character but no `!'
643 (exclamation mark) or `%' (percent sign) character before also specifies
645 what remains is treated as a mail address.
646 Compressed folders are handled as described for the
651 .Ss "Network mail (Internet / ARPA, UUCP, Berknet)"
654 for a description of network addresses.
655 If support for IDNA (internationalized domain names for applications)
656 has been compiled into \*(UA,
657 then the domain name part of network addresses will be converted via
658 IDNA mechanisms as necessary, effectively treating it as a name in the
662 for the complete picture about character sets.
664 \*(UA has a number of options which can be set in the \*(ur file
665 to alter its behavior; e.g.,
670 .Ic "set idna-disable"
671 will disable the mentioned IDNA conversion even if support is available.
672 (These options are summarized below.)
676 For any outgoing attachment \*(UA tries to determine the content type.
677 It does this by reading MIME type files whose lines have the following
680 .Dl type/subtype extension [extension ...]
682 where `type/subtype' are strings describing the file contents,
683 and `extension' is the part of a filename starting after the last dot.
684 Any line not immediately beginning with an ASCII alphabetical character
687 .Va mimetypes-load-control
688 can be used to control the sources of MIME types, and the
690 command can be used to show the list of mime types known to \*(UA.
691 If there is a match with the `extension' of the file to attach,
692 the given `type/subtype' pair is used.
693 Otherwise, or if the filename has no extension,
694 the content types `text/plain' or `application/octet-stream' are used,
695 dependent upon file content inspection.
697 .Va mime-allow-text-controls .
701 \*(UA normally detects the character set of the terminal by using
702 mechanisms that are controlled by the `LC_CTYPE' locale setting,
703 if such are supported; the variable
705 will be set to the detected terminal character set and will thus
706 show up in the output of the command
711 value is not overwritten by this detection mechanism;
712 this feature must be used if the detection doesn't work properly,
713 and it may be used to adjust the name of the locale character set.
714 E.g., on BSD systems one may use a locale with the character set
715 `ISO8859-1', which is not a valid name for this character set;
716 to be on the safe side, one may set
718 to the correct name, `ISO-8859-1'.
720 Note that changing the value doesn't mean much beside that,
721 since several aspects of the real character set are implied by the
722 locale environment of the system,
723 and that stays unaffected by the content of an overwritten
726 (This is mostly an issue when interactively using \*(UA, though.
727 It is actually possible to send mail in a completely "faked" locale
730 If no character set conversion capabilities have been compiled into
733 library has been found), then
735 will be the only supported character set,
736 and it is simply assumed that it can be used to exchange 8 bit messages,
737 and the rest of this section does not apply;
738 it may however still be necessary to explicitly set it if automatic
739 detection fails, since in that case it defaults to `ISO-8859-1'.
741 When reading messages, their text is converted into
743 as necessary in order to display them on the users terminal.
744 Unprintable characters and illegal byte sequences are detected
745 and replaced by proper substitution characters
748 was set once \*(UA was started).
750 When sending messages all their parts and attachments are classified.
751 Whereas no character set conversion is performed on those parts which
752 appear to be binary data,
753 the character set being used must be declared within the MIME header of
754 an outgoing text part if it contains characters that do not conform to
755 the set of characters that are allowed by the email standards.
756 Permissible values for character sets can be declared using the
758 variable, which is expected to contain a (comma-separated list of)
759 character set (names), and the
761 variable, which is used as a catch-all last-resort fallback.
763 All the specified character sets are tried in order unless the
764 conversion of the part or attachment succeeds.
765 If none of the tried (8 bit) character sets is capable to represent the
766 content of the part or attachment,
767 then the message will not be sent and its text will be saved to
769 Note that some character set conversions will never fail, even if the
770 result is incorrect; e.g., `ISO-8859-1' is capable to represent any
773 In general, if the message `Cannot convert from a to b' appears, either
774 some characters are not appropriate for the currently selected
775 (terminal) character set,
776 or the needed conversion is not supported by the system.
777 In the first case, it is necessary to set an appropriate `LC_CTYPE'
778 locale and/or the variable
781 The best results are usually achieved when \*(UA is run in a UTF-8
782 locale on a UTF-8 capable terminal,
783 in which case the full Unicode spectrum of characters is available.
784 In this setup characters from various countries can be displayed,
785 while it is still possible to use more simple character sets for sending
786 to retain maximum compatibility with older mail clients.
789 .Ss "Command line editor"
790 \*(OP \*(UA can be configured to support a command line editor and
791 command history lists which are saved in between sessions.
792 One may link against fully-fledged external libraries
793 .Ns ( Ns Xr readline 3 ,
795 ) or use the \*(UA command line editor instead, which should work in all
796 environments which comply to ISO C (ISO/IEC 9899:1990/Amendment 1:1995).
798 Regardless of the actually used command line editor history entries
799 will be created for lines entered in command mode only, and creation of
800 such an entry can be forcefully suppressed by starting the line with
802 Note that history handling is by itself an optional feature and may
803 therefore not be available.
804 For more information see the documentation of the options
806 .Va line-editor-disable ,
811 The builtin \*(UA command line editor supports the following operations;
812 the notation `^-character' stands for the combination of the `control'
813 key plus the mentioned character, e.g., `^A' means "hold control key
814 while adding an A key on top of it":
815 .Bl -tag -width "^M^"
817 Go to the start of the line.
819 Move the cursor backward one character.
821 Forward delete the character under the cursor;
822 quits \*(UA if used on the empty line, unless the
826 Go to the end of the line.
828 Move the cursor forward one character.
830 Cancel current operation, full reset.
831 If there is an active history search or tabulator expansion then this
832 command will first reset that, reverting to the former line content;
833 thus a second reset is needed for a full reset in this case.
834 In all cases \*(UA will reset a possibly used multibyte character input
837 The same as `backspace': backward delete one character.
839 \*(OP The same as `horizontal tabulator': try to expand the "word"
841 Here "expansion" refers to the \*(UA expansion, as documented for
843 and thus includes shell word expansion (as a last step).
844 I.e., this is \*(UA "expansion", not what one usually expects from
847 The same as `RETURN': complete this line of input.
849 Delete all characters from the cursor to the end of the line.
853 \*(OP Go to the next history entry.
855 \*(OP Go to the previous history entry.
857 \*(OP Complete the current line from (the remaining older) history entries.
859 The same as `^A' followed by `^K'.
861 Delete the characters from the one preceding the cursor to the preceding
864 Move the cursor forward one word boundary.
866 Move the cursor backward one word boundary.
869 If problems with commands that are based upon rightwise movement are
870 encountered, adjustments of the option
871 .Va line-editor-cursor-right
872 may solve the problem, as documented for it.
876 Each command is typed on a line by itself,
877 and may take arguments following the command word.
878 The command need not be typed in its entirety \(en
879 the first command which matches the typed prefix is used.
882 prints a sorted list of available commands, and the command
884 when given an argument, will show a documentation string for the
886 .Ns ` Ns Ic ? Ns Ar unc Ns ' ;
887 documentation strings are however \*(OP.)
889 For commands which take message lists as arguments,
890 if no message list is given,
891 then the next message forward which satisfies the command's requirements
893 If there are no messages forward of the current message,
894 the search proceeds backwards,
895 and if there are no good messages at all,
896 \*(UA types `no applicable messages' and aborts the command.
897 If the command begins with a `#' (number sign) character,
900 The arguments to commands can be quoted, using the following methods:
901 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
903 An argument can be enclosed between paired double-quotes `"argument"' or
904 single-quotes `'argument'';
905 any white space, shell word expansion, or backslash characters (except
906 as described next) within the quotes are treated literally as part of
908 A double-quote will be treated literally within single-quotes and vice
910 Inside such a quoted string the actually used quote character can be
911 used nonetheless by escaping it with a backslash `\\', as in
914 An argument that is not enclosed in quotes, as above, can usually still
915 contain space characters if those spaces are backslash-escaped.
917 A backslash outside of the enclosing quotes is discarded
918 and the following character is treated literally as part of the argument.
920 An unquoted backslash at the end of a command line is discarded and the
921 next line continues the command.
924 Filenames, where expected, are subsequently subjected to the following
925 transformations, in sequence:
926 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
928 If the filename begins with an unquoted plus sign, and the
931 the plus sign will be replaced by the value of the
933 variable followed by a slash.
936 variable is unset or is set to null, the filename will be unchanged.
938 Shell word expansions are applied to the filename.
939 If more than a single pathname results from this expansion and the
940 command is expecting one file, an error results.
944 The following commands are provided:
945 .Bl -tag -width ".Ic account"
947 Interprets the remainder of the word as a macro name and passes it
951 .Ns ` Ns Ic ~ Ns Ar mymacro Ns '
952 is a shorter synonym for
953 .Ns ` Ns Ic call Ar mymacro Ns ' .
955 Print out the preceding message.
956 If given a numeric argument n,
957 goes to the n'th previous message and prints it.
959 Prints a brief summary of commands.
960 \*(OP Given an argument a synopsis for the command in question is
963 Executes the shell (see
967 ) command which follows.
973 (ac) Creates, selects or lists an email account.
974 An account is formed by a group of commands,
975 primarily of those to set variables.
977 of which the second is a `{',
978 the first argument gives an account name,
979 and the following lines create a group of commands for that account
980 until a line containing a single `}' appears.
981 With one argument the previously created group of commands for the
982 account name is executed, and a
984 command is executed for the system mailbox or inbox of that account.
985 Without arguments the list of accounts and their contents are printed.
987 .Bd -literal -offset indent
989 set folder=imaps://mylogin@imap.myisp.example
991 set from="myname@myisp.example (My Name)"
992 set smtp=smtp.myisp.example
996 creates an account named `myisp' which can later be selected by
997 specifying `account myisp'.
998 The special account `null' (case-insensitive) always exists.
1000 (a) With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined aliases.
1001 With one argument, prints out that alias.
1002 With more than one argument,
1003 creates a new alias or changes an old one.
1005 (alt) The alternates command is useful if the user has accounts on
1007 It can be used to inform \*(UA that the listed addresses all belong to
1009 When replying to messages \*(UA will not send a copy of the message
1010 to any of the addresses listed on the alternates list.
1011 If the alternates command is given with no argument,
1012 the current set of alternate names is displayed.
1014 (ans) Takes a message list and marks each message as having been
1016 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
1017 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
1018 and makes them specially addressable.
1020 \*(OP Only applicable to cached IMAP mailboxes;
1021 takes a message list and reads the specified messages into the IMAP
1024 Calls a macro (see the
1031 \*(OP Only applicable to S/MIME signed messages.
1032 Takes a message list and a file name and saves the certificates
1033 contained within the message signatures to the named file in both
1034 human-readable and PEM format.
1035 The certificates can later be used to send encrypted messages to the
1036 respective message senders by setting
1037 .Va smime-encrypt-user@host
1040 (ch) Changes the user's working directory to the specified one,
1041 or to the user's login directory, if none was given.
1044 Only applicable to threaded mode.
1045 Takes a message list and makes all replies to these messages invisible
1046 in header summaries,
1047 unless they are in state `new'.
1049 \*(OP (conn) If operating in disconnected mode on an IMAP mailbox,
1050 switch to online mode and connect to the mail server while retaining the
1052 See the description of the
1054 variable for more information.
1056 (c) The copy command does the same thing that
1058 does except that it does not mark the given messages for deletion when
1060 Compressed files and IMAP mailboxes are handled as described for the
1066 but saves the messages in a file named after the local part of the
1067 sender address of the first message.
1069 Print the current working directory.
1071 \*(OP (dec) For unencrypted messages,
1072 this command is identical to
1074 Encrypted messages are first decrypted, if possible, and then copied.
1076 \*OP (Dec) Similar to
1078 but saves the messages in a file named after the local part of the
1079 sender address of the first message.
1081 (def) Defines a macro.
1082 A macro definition is a sequence of commands in the following form:
1083 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1092 A defined macro can be explicitly invoked using
1096 or it can be implicitly invoked by setting the
1099 .Va folder-hook-fullname
1102 Prints the currently defined macros including their contents.
1104 (d) Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted.
1105 Deleted messages will not be saved in `mbox',
1106 nor will they be available for most other commands.
1111 \*(OP (disco) If operating in online mode on an IMAP mailbox,
1112 switch to disconnected mode while retaining the mailbox status.
1113 See the description of the
1116 A list of messages may optionally be given as argument;
1117 the respective messages are then read into the cache before the
1118 connection is closed.
1119 Thus `disco *' makes the entire mailbox available for disconnected use.
1120 .It Ic dp Ns \ or Ic dt
1121 Deletes the current message and prints the next message.
1122 If there is no next message, \*(UA says `at EOF'.
1124 Takes a message list and marks each given message as a draft.
1125 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
1126 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
1127 and makes them specially addressable.
1129 Echoes its arguments,
1130 resolving special names as documented for the command
1132 The escape sequences `\ea', `\eb', `\ec', `\ef', `\en', `\er', `\et',
1133 `\ev', `\e\e', and `\e0octal-num\fR' are interpreted just as they are by
1135 (proper quoting provided).
1137 (e) Point the text editor at each message from the given list in turn.
1138 Modified contents are discarded unless the
1142 Marks the end of the then-part of an if statement and the beginning of
1143 the part to take effect if the condition of the if statement is false.
1145 Marks the end of an if statement.
1147 (ex or x) Effects an immediate return to the Shell without modifying the
1148 user's system mailbox, his `mbox' file, or his edit file in
1154 (fl) Takes a message list and marks the messages as `flagged' for
1155 urgent/special attention.
1156 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
1157 it just causes messages to be highlighted in the header summary,
1158 and makes them specially addressable.
1160 With no arguments, list the names of the folders in the folder directory.
1161 With an existing folder as an argument,
1162 lists the names of folders below the named folder;
1163 e.\|g. the command `folders @' lists the folders on the base level of
1164 the current IMAP server.
1165 See also the variable
1166 .Va imap-list-depth .
1168 (fold) The folder command switches to a new mail file or folder.
1169 With no arguments, it tells the user which file he is currently reading.
1170 If an argument is given, it will write out changes (such as deletions)
1171 the user has made in the current file and read in the new file.
1172 Some special conventions are recognized for the
1175 .Bl -tag -offset indent -width ".Ar %:filespec"
1177 (number sign) means the previous file,
1179 (percent sign) means the invoking user's system mailbox
1184 means the system mailbox of `user'
1185 (and never the value of
1187 regardless of its actual setting),
1189 (ampersand) means the invoking user's `mbox' file (see
1193 means a `file' in the
1197 expands to the same value as `filespec',
1198 but the file is handled as a system mailbox by, e.g., the
1205 If the name matches one of the strings defined with the command
1207 it is replaced by its long form and expanded.
1208 If the name ends with `.gz' or `.bz2' it is treated as being compressed
1214 Likewise, if `name' does not exist,
1215 but either `name.gz' or `name.bz2' does,
1216 then the compressed file is used.
1217 If `name' refers to a directory with the subdirectories `tmp', `new',
1218 and `cur', then it is treated as a folder in `maildir' format.
1221 .Dl protocol://[user@]host[:port][/file]
1223 is taken as an Internet mailbox specification.
1224 The (optionally) supported protocols are `imap' (IMAP v4r1), `imaps'
1225 (IMAP with SSL/TLS encrypted transport), `pop3' (POP3) and `pop3s' (POP3
1226 with SSL/TLS encrypted transport).
1227 If `user' contains special characters, in particular `/' or `%',
1228 they must be escaped in URL notation, as `%2F' or `%25'.
1229 The optional `file' part applies to IMAP only;
1230 if it is omitted, the default `INBOX' is used.
1232 If \*(UA is connected to an IMAP server,
1233 a name of the form `@mailbox' refers to the `mailbox' on that server,
1234 but otherwise a `@' prefix has no special meaning.
1238 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
1239 recipient's address.
1243 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
1244 recipient's address.
1248 but responds to all recipients regardless of the
1253 .It Ic followupsender
1256 but responds to the sender only regardless of the
1262 (fwd) Takes a message and the address of a recipient
1263 and forwards the message to him.
1264 The text of the original message is included in the new one,
1265 with the value of the
1267 variable printed before.
1272 commands specify which header fields are included in the new message.
1273 Only the first part of a multipart message is included unless the
1274 .Va forward-as-attachment
1279 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the
1280 recipient's address.
1282 (f) Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers,
1283 piped through the pager if the output does not fit on the screen.
1285 Specifies which header fields are to be ignored with the command
1287 This command has no effect when the
1288 .Va forward-as-attachment
1291 Specifies which header fields are to be retained with the command
1296 This command has no effect when the
1297 .Va forward-as-attachment
1300 Without arguments it lists all currently defined command aliases,
1302 With two arguments it defines a new command alias: the first argument is
1303 the name under which the second should be accessible.
1304 The content of the second argument can be just about anything.
1305 A ghost can be used everywhere a normal command can be used, but always
1306 takes precedence; any arguments that are given to the command alias are
1307 joined onto the alias content, and the resulting string forms the
1308 command line that is, in effect, executed.
1312 .Dl ? ghost ls '!ls -latro'
1315 (h) Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18-message group.
1316 If a `+' argument is given the next 18-message group is printed,
1317 likewise the previous is printed if the argument was `-'.
1321 (ho, also preserve) Takes a message list and marks each message therein
1322 to be saved in the user's system mailbox instead of in `mbox'.
1323 Does not override the
1326 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command,
1329 command issued after
1331 will display the following message, not the current one.
1333 Commands in \*(UA's startup files can be executed conditionally
1334 depending on whether the user is sending or receiving mail with the if
1336 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1342 An else form is also available:
1343 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1351 Note that the only allowed conditions are `receive', `send' and `term'
1352 (execute if standard input is a tty).
1354 Add the list of header fields named to the ignored list.
1355 Header fields in the ignore list are not printed on the terminal when
1356 a message is printed.
1357 This command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated
1363 commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including
1365 It lists the current set of ignored fields if no arguments were given.
1367 \*(OP Sends command strings directly to the current IMAP server.
1368 \*(UA operates always in IMAP `selected state' on the current mailbox;
1369 commands that change this will produce undesirable results and should be
1371 Useful IMAP commands are:
1372 .Bl -tag -offset indent -width ".Ic getquotearoot"
1374 Takes the name of an IMAP mailbox as an argument and creates it.
1376 (RFC 2087) Takes the name of an IMAP mailbox as an argument
1377 and prints the quotas that apply to the mailbox.
1378 Not all IMAP servers support this command.
1380 (RFC 2342) Takes no arguments and prints the Personal Namespaces,
1381 the Other User's Namespaces and the Shared Namespaces.
1382 Each namespace type is printed in parentheses;
1383 if there are multiple namespaces of the same type,
1384 inner parentheses separate them.
1385 For each namespace a prefix and a hierarchy separator is listed.
1386 Not all IMAP servers support this command.
1392 Prints the names of all available commands, alphabetically sorted.
1394 Can only be used inside of a macro definition block introduced by
1398 and is interpreted as a boolean (value `0' means false, everything
1400 Any option setting that is performed after `localopts' has been turned
1401 on will be reset to the value it had before the macro has been called
1402 (or the `account' is switched).
1403 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1404 define temporary_settings {
1414 Note that these options stack upon each other, i.e., if macro1 sets
1415 `localopts' and calls macro2, which explicitly resets `localopts', then
1416 any values set within macro2 will still be cleaned up by macro1.
1420 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
1421 recipient's address.
1423 (m) Takes a (list of) recipient address(es) as (an) argument(s),
1424 or asks on standard input if none were given;
1425 then collects the remaining mail content and sends it out.
1427 The given message list is to be sent to `mbox' when \*(UA is quit.
1428 This is the default action unless the
1431 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command,
1434 command issued after
1436 will display the following message, not the current one.
1445 In the former case all sources are loaded first as necessary.
1447 .Va mimetypes-load-control
1448 option can be used to fine-tune loading of the sources.
1452 but marks the messages for deletion if they were transferred
1455 Takes a message list and invokes the
1457 on that list, printing a form-feed (`\\f') in between messages.
1461 but also prints ignored header fields and all MIME parts.
1465 but moves the messages to a file named after the local part of the
1466 sender address of the first message.
1468 Checks for new mail in the current folder without committing any changes
1470 If new mail is present, a message is printed.
1474 the headers of each new message are also printed.
1476 (n) (like `+' or `ENTER') Goes to the next message in sequence
1478 With an argument list, types the next matching message.
1489 If the current folder is located on an IMAP or POP3 server,
1490 a `NOOP' command is sent.
1491 Otherwise, no operation is performed.
1495 but also pipes ignored header fields and all parts of MIME
1496 `multipart/alternative' messages.
1498 (pi) Takes a message list and a shell command
1499 and pipes the messages through the command.
1500 Without an argument the current message is piped through the command
1507 every message is followed by a formfeed character.
1514 but also prints out ignored header fields and all parts of MIME
1515 `multipart/alternative' messages.
1522 (p) Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's
1524 If the message is a MIME multipart message,
1525 all parts with a content type of `text' or `message' are shown,
1526 the other are hidden except for their headers.
1527 Messages are decrypted and converted to the terminal character set
1530 (q) Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in
1531 the current `mbox', preserving all messages marked with
1535 or never referenced in his system mailbox,
1536 and removing all other messages from his system mailbox.
1537 If new mail has arrived during the session,
1538 the message `You have new mail' is given.
1539 If given while editing a mailbox file with the command line flag
1541 then the edit file is rewritten.
1542 A return to the shell is effected,
1543 unless the rewrite of edit file fails,
1544 in which case the user can escape with the exit command.
1552 (rem) Removes the named folders.
1553 The user is asked for confirmation in interactive mode.
1555 (ren) Takes the name of an existing folder
1556 and the name for the new folder
1557 and renames the first to the second one.
1558 Both folders must be of the same type
1559 and must be located on the current server for IMAP.
1561 (R) Reply to originator.
1562 Does not reply to other recipients of the original message.
1564 (r) Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all recipients
1565 of the specified messages.
1566 The default message must not be deleted.
1570 but responds to all recipients regardless of the
1578 but responds to the sender only regardless of the
1586 but does not add any header lines.
1587 This is not a way to hide the sender's identity,
1588 but useful for sending a message again to the same recipients.
1590 Takes a list of messages and a user name
1591 and sends each message to the named user.
1592 `Resent-From:' and related header fields are prepended to the new copy
1603 .It Ic respondsender
1607 Add the list of header fields named to the retained list.
1608 Only the header fields in the retain list are shown on the terminal when
1609 a message is printed, all other header fields are suppressed.
1614 commands can be used to print a message in its entirety.
1615 The current set of retained fields is shown if
1617 is used without arguments.
1621 but saves the messages in a file named after the local part of the
1622 sender of the first message instead of taking a filename argument.
1624 (s) Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in turn
1625 to the end of the file.
1626 If no filename is given, the `mbox' file is used.
1627 The filename in quotes, followed by the line count and character count
1628 is echoed on the user's terminal.
1629 If editing a system mailbox the messages are marked for deletion.
1630 Compressed files and IMAP mailboxes are handled as described for the
1632 command line option above.
1645 Header fields thus marked are filtered out when saving a message by
1647 or when automatically saving to `mbox'.
1648 This command should only be applied to header fields that do not contain
1649 information needed to decode the message,
1650 as MIME content fields do.
1651 If saving messages on an IMAP account ignoring fields makes it
1652 impossible to copy the data directly on the server,
1653 thus operation usually becomes much slower.
1663 Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved with a message when
1666 or when automatically saving to `mbox'.
1670 The use of this command is strongly discouraged since it may strip
1671 header fields that are needed to decode the message correctly.
1673 (se) With no arguments, prints all variable values.
1674 Otherwise, sets an option.
1675 Arguments are of the form `option=value' (no space before or after `='),
1676 or plain `option' if there is no value.
1677 Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment
1678 statement to quote blanks or tabs, e.g.,
1680 .Dl set indentprefix="->"
1682 If an argument begins with `no', as in `set nosave',
1683 the effect is the same as invoking the
1685 command with the remaining part of the variable (`unset save').
1687 Takes a message list and marks all messages as having been read.
1689 (sh) Invokes an interactive version of the shell.
1691 Defines a shortcut name and its string for expansion,
1692 as described for the
1695 If used without arguments the currently defined shortcuts are printed.
1699 but performs neither MIME decoding nor decryption so that the raw
1700 message text is shown.
1702 Print the size in characters of each message of the given message-list.
1704 Create a sorted representation of the current folder,
1707 command and the addressing modes such that they refer to messages in the
1709 Message numbers are the same as in regular mode.
1713 a header summary in the new order is also printed.
1714 Possible sorting criteria are:
1715 .Bl -tag -offset indent -width "subject"
1717 Sort the messages by their `Date:' field,
1718 that is by the time they were sent.
1720 Sort messages by the value of their `From:' field,
1721 that is by the address of the sender.
1725 the sender's real name (if any) is used.
1727 Sort the messages by their size.
1729 \*(OP Sort the message by their spam score, as has been classified via
1733 Sort the messages by their message status (new, read, old, etc.).
1735 Sort the messages by their subject.
1737 Create a threaded order,
1741 Sort messages by the value of their `To:' field,
1742 that is by the address of the recipient.
1746 the recipient's real name (if any) is used.
1749 If no argument is given,
1750 the current sorting criterion is printed.
1752 The source command reads commands from a file.
1754 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and clears their `is-spam' flag.
1756 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and forces the spam detector to forget it
1757 has ever used them to train its Bayesian filter, wether as `ham' or
1760 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and teaches them to the spam detector as
1762 This also clears the `is-spam' flag of the messages in question.
1764 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and rates them using the configured spam
1765 detector, setting their `is-spam' flag as appropriate.
1766 Note that the messages are not modified, and due to that the rating will
1767 get lost once the mailbox is left.
1768 Refer to the manual section
1770 for the complete picture of spam handling in \*(UA.
1772 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and sets their `is-spam' flag.
1774 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and teaches them to the spam detector as
1776 This also sets the `is-spam' flag of the messages in question.
1778 (th) Create a threaded representation of the current folder,
1779 i.\|e. indent messages that are replies to other messages in the header
1780 display and change the
1782 command and the addressing modes such that they refer to messages in the
1784 Message numbers are the same as in unthreaded mode.
1788 a header summary in threaded order is also printed.
1790 Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each.
1791 The number of lines printed is controlled by the variable
1793 and defaults to five.
1795 Takes a message list and marks the messages for saving in `mbox'.
1796 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command,
1799 command issued after `mbox' will display the following message instead
1802 (T) Identical to the
1809 Takes a list of names defined by alias commands
1810 and discards the remembered groups of users.
1812 Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been answered.
1814 (unc) Only applicable to threaded mode.
1815 Takes a message list and makes the message and all replies to it visible
1816 in header summaries again.
1817 When a message becomes the current message,
1818 it is automatically made visible.
1819 Also when a message with collapsed replies is printed,
1820 all of these are automatically uncollapsed.
1822 Undefines each of the named macros.
1823 It is not an error to use a name that does not belong to
1824 one of the currently defined macros.
1826 (u) Takes a message list and marks each message as not being deleted.
1828 Takes a message list and
1829 .Ns un Ns Ic draft Ns
1832 Takes a message list and marks each message as not being
1835 Removes the header field names from the list of ignored fields for the
1839 Removes the header field names from the list of retained fields for the
1843 Remove an existing command
1846 Removes the header field names from the list of ignored fields.
1851 (U) Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been read.
1853 Removes the header field names from the list of retained fields.
1855 Removes the header field names from the list of ignored fields for
1858 Removes the header field names from the list of retained fields for
1861 Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values;
1865 Deletes the shortcut names given as arguments.
1867 Disable sorted or threaded mode
1873 return to normal message order and,
1877 print a header summary.
1882 \*(OP (verif) Takes a message list and verifies each message.
1883 If a message is not an S/MIME signed message,
1884 verification will fail for it.
1885 The verification process checks if the message was signed using a valid
1887 if the message sender's email address matches one of those contained
1888 within the certificate,
1889 and if the message content has been altered.
1891 (v) Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message.
1892 Modified contents are discarded unless the
1896 (w) For conventional messages the body without all headers is written.
1897 The output is decrypted and converted to its native format as necessary.
1898 If the output file exists, the text is appended.
1899 If a message is in MIME multipart format its first part is written to
1900 the specified file as for conventional messages,
1901 and the user is asked for a filename to save each other part.
1902 For convience saving of each part may be skipped by giving an empty value;
1903 the same result can also be achieved by writing it to
1905 For the second and subsequent parts a leading `|' character causes the
1906 part to be piped to the remainder of the user input interpreted as
1908 otherwise the user input is expanded as usually for folders,
1909 e.g., tilde expansion is performed.
1910 In non-interactive mode, only the parts of the multipart message
1911 that have a filename given in the part header are written,
1912 the others are discarded.
1913 The original message is never marked for deletion in the originating
1916 the contents of the destination file are overwritten if the file
1918 No special handling of compressed files is performed.
1923 \*(UA presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the
1926 This command scrolls to the next window of messages.
1927 If an argument is given,
1928 it specifies the window to use.
1929 A number prefixed by `+' or `\-' indicates
1930 that the window is calculated in relation to the current position.
1931 A number without a prefix specifies an absolute window number,
1932 and a `$' lets \*(UA scroll to the last window of messages.
1936 but scrolls to the next or previous window that contains at least one
1937 new or `flagged' message.
1942 Here is a summary of the tilde escapes,
1943 which are used to perform special functions when composing messages.
1944 Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning of lines.
1945 The name `tilde escape' is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual
1946 escape character can be set by the option
1948 .Bl -tag -width ".Ic ~< filename"
1950 Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single `~'.
1951 (If the escape character has been changed,
1952 that character must be doubled
1953 in order to send it at the beginning of a line.)
1954 .It Ic ~! Ar command
1955 Execute the indicated shell
1957 then return to the message.
1959 Same effect as typing the end-of-file character.
1960 .It Ic ~: Ar \*(UA-command Ns \ or Ic ~_ Ar \*(UA-command
1961 Execute the given \*(UA command.
1962 Not all commands, however, are allowed.
1964 Write a summary of command escapes.
1965 .It Ic ~< Ar filename
1968 .It Ic ~<! Ar command
1970 is executed using the shell.
1971 Its standard output is inserted into the message.
1972 .It Ic ~@ Op Ar filename...
1973 With no arguments, edit the attachment list interactively.
1974 If an attachment's file name is left empty,
1975 that attachment is deleted from the list.
1976 When the end of the attachment list is reached,
1977 \*(UA will ask for further attachments until an empty name is given.
1978 If a given file name solely consists of the number sign `#' followed
1979 by a valid message number of the currently active mailbox, the given
1980 message is attached as a MIME `message/rfc822' and the rest of this
1981 section does not apply.
1983 If character set conversion has been compiled into \*(UA, then this mode
1984 gives the user the option to specify input and output character sets,
1985 unless the file extension indicates binary content, in which case \*(UA
1986 asks wether this step shall be skipped for the attachment in question.
1987 If not skipped, then the charset that succeeds to represent the
1988 attachment data will be used in the `charset=' MIME parameter of the
1992 If input and output character sets are specified, then the conversion is
1993 performed on the fly.
1994 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
1996 If only an output character set is specified, then the input is assumed
1999 charset and will be converted to the given output charset on the fly.
2000 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
2002 If no character sets are specified at all then the algorithm that is
2003 documented in the section
2004 .Sx "Character sets"
2005 is applied, but directly and on the fly.
2006 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
2008 Finally, if an input-, but no output character set is specified, then no
2009 conversion is ever performed, but the `charset=' MIME parameter will
2010 still be set to the user input.
2013 Without character set conversion support, \*(UA will ask for the input
2014 character set only, and it'll set the `charset=' MIME parameter to the
2015 given input, if any;
2016 if no user input is seen then the
2018 character set will be used for the `charset=' parameter instead.
2019 Note that the file extension check isn't performed in this mode, since
2020 no conversion will take place anyway.
2022 Note that in non-interactive mode, for reproduceabilities sake, there
2023 will always be two questions for each attachment, regardless of wether
2024 character set conversion is available and what the file extension is.
2025 The first asks for the filename, and the second asks for the input
2026 character set to be passed through to the `charset=' MIME parameter;
2027 no conversion will be tried if there is input to the latter question,
2028 otherwise the usual conversion algorithm, as above, is applied.
2029 For message attachments, the answer to the second question is completely
2034 arguments are specified,
2035 they are treated as a comma separated list of files,
2036 which are all expanded and appended to the end of the attachment list.
2037 (Filenames with commas, or with leading or trailing whitespace can only
2038 be added via the command line or the first method.
2039 Message attachments can only be added via the first method;
2040 filenames which clash with message numbers can only be added via the
2041 command line or the second method.)
2042 In this mode the (text) attachments are assumed to be in
2044 encoding, and will be evaluated as documented in the section
2045 .Sx "Character sets" .
2047 Inserts the string contained in the
2049 variable (same as `~i Sign').
2050 The escape sequences `\et' (tabulator) and `\en' (newline) are understood.
2052 Inserts the string contained in the
2054 variable (same as `~i sign').
2055 The escape sequences `\et' (tabulator) and `\en' (newline) are understood.
2056 .It Ic ~b Ar name ...
2057 Add the given names to the list of blind carbon copy recipients.
2058 .It Ic ~c Ar name ...
2059 Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients.
2061 Read the file specified by the
2063 variable into the message.
2065 Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far.
2066 After the editing session is finished,
2067 the user may continue appending text to the message.
2068 .It Ic ~f Ar messages
2069 Read the named messages into the message being sent.
2070 If no messages are specified,
2071 read in the current message.
2072 Message headers currently being ignored (by the
2076 command) are not included.
2077 For MIME multipart messages,
2078 only the first printable part is included.
2079 .It Ic ~F Ar messages
2080 Identical to `~f', except that all message headers and MIME parts are
2083 Edit the message header fields `To:', `Cc:', `Bcc:', and `Subject:' by
2084 typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit the field.
2086 Edit the message header fields `From:', `Reply-To:', `Sender:' and
2087 `Organization:' in the same manner as described for
2089 The default values for these fields originate from the
2096 .It Ic ~i Ar variable
2097 Insert the value of the specified variable into the message,
2098 adding a newline character at the end.
2099 The message remains unaltered if the variable is unset or empty.
2100 The escape sequences `\et' (tabulator) and `\en' (newline) are understood.
2101 .It Ic ~m Ar messages
2102 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
2103 indented by a tab or by the value of
2105 If no messages are specified,
2106 read the current message.
2107 Message headers currently being ignored (by the
2111 commands) are not included.
2112 For MIME multipart messages,
2113 only the first printable part is included.
2114 .It Ic ~M Ar messages
2115 Identical to `~m', except that all message headers and MIME parts are
2118 Print out the message collected so far,
2119 prefaced by the message header fields
2120 and followed by the attachment list, if any.
2122 Abort the message being sent,
2123 copying it to the file specified by the
2128 .It Ic ~r Ar filename
2129 Read the named file into the message.
2131 Cause the named string to become the current subject field.
2132 .It Ic ~t Ar name ...
2133 Add the given name(s) to the direct recipient list.
2135 Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the
2137 option) on the message collected so far.
2138 Usually, the alternate editor will be a screen editor.
2139 After the editor is quit,
2140 the user may resume appending text to the end of the message.
2141 .It Ic ~w Ar filename
2142 Write the message onto the named file.
2144 the message is appended to it.
2146 Same as `~q', except that the message is not saved at all.
2147 .It Ic ~| Ar command
2148 Pipe the message through the specified filter command.
2149 If the command gives no output or terminates abnormally,
2150 retain the original text of the message.
2153 is often used as a rejustifying filter.
2157 .Ss "Variable options"
2158 Options are controlled via
2162 commands, see the corresponding entries for a syntax description.
2163 An option is also set if it is passed to \*(UA as part of the program
2164 environment (this is not restricted to specific variables as in the
2166 A value given in a startup file overrides a value imported from the
2168 Options may be either binary, in which case it is only significant to
2169 see whether they are set or not;
2170 or string, in which case the actual value is of interest.
2173 .Ss "Binary options"
2174 The binary options include the following:
2175 .Bl -tag -width ".Va autoprint"
2176 .It Va add-file-recipients
2177 When file or pipe recipients have been specified,
2178 mention them in the corresponding address fields of the message instead
2179 of silently stripping them from their recipient list.
2180 By default such addressees are not mentioned.
2182 Causes only the local part to be evaluated
2183 when comparing addresses.
2185 Causes messages saved in mbox to be appended to the end rather than
2187 This should always be set.
2188 .It Va ask Ns \ or Va asksub
2189 Causes \*(UA to prompt for the subject of each message sent.
2190 If the user responds with simply a newline,
2191 no subject field will be sent.
2193 Causes the prompts for `Cc:' and `Bcc:' lists to appear after the
2194 message has been edited.
2196 If set, \*(UA asks for files to attach at the end of each message.
2197 An empty line finalizes the list.
2199 Causes the user to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients (at
2200 the end of each message if
2205 An empty line finalizes the list.
2207 Causes the user to be prompted for additional blind carbon copy
2208 recipients (at the end of each message if
2213 An empty line finalizes the list.
2215 \*(OP Causes the user to be prompted if the message is to be signed at
2216 the end of each message.
2219 variable is ignored when this variable is set.
2221 Causes threads to be collapsed automatically when threaded mode is
2229 Causes the delete command to behave like `dp -';
2230 thus, after deleting a message the next one will be typed automatically.
2232 Causes threaded mode (see the
2234 command) to be entered automatically when a folder is opened.
2236 Enables the substitution of `!' by the contents of the last command line
2238 .It Va batch-exit-on-error
2239 If the batch mode has been enabled via the
2241 command line option, then this variable will be consulted whenever \*(UA
2242 completes one operation (returns to the command prompt); if it is set
2243 then \*(UA will terminate if the last operation generated an error.
2245 Causes automatic display of a header summary after executing a
2249 Sets some cosmetical features to traditional BSD style;
2250 has the same affect as setting
2252 and all other variables prefixed with `bsd';
2253 it also changes the meaning of the \*(UA specific `\\&'
2257 Changes the letters printed in the first column of a header summary
2258 to traditional BSD style.
2260 Changes the display of columns in a header summary to traditional BSD
2263 Changes some informational messages to traditional BSD style.
2265 Causes the `Subject:' field to appear immediately after the `To:' field
2266 in message headers and with the `~h' tilde command.
2268 Changes the output format of the
2270 command to traditional BSD style.
2272 Prints debugging messages and disables the actual delivery of messages.
2275 this option is intended for \*(UA development only.
2277 \*(OP When an IMAP mailbox is selected and this variable is set,
2278 no connection to the server is initiated.
2279 Instead, data is obtained from the local cache (see
2282 Mailboxes that are not present in the cache
2283 and messages that have not yet entirely been fetched from the server
2285 to fetch all messages in a mailbox at once,
2287 .Ns ` Ns Li copy * /dev/null Ns '
2288 can be used while still in
2291 Changes that are made to IMAP mailboxes in disconnected mode are queued
2292 and committed later when a connection to that server is opened in online
2294 This procedure is not completely reliable since it cannot be guaranteed
2295 that the IMAP unique identifiers (UIDs) on the server still match the
2296 ones in the cache at that time.
2299 when this problem occurs.
2300 .It Va disconnected-user@host
2301 The specified account is handled as described for the
2304 but other accounts are not affected.
2306 The binary option dot causes \*(UA to interpret a period alone on a line
2307 as the terminator of a message the user is sending.
2309 If this variable is set then the editor is started automatically when
2310 composing a message in an interactive mode,
2311 as if the `~e' tilde command had been specified.
2314 variable is implied for this automatically spawned editor session.
2316 When a message is edited while being composed,
2317 its header is included in the editable text.
2318 The `To:', `Cc:', `Bcc:', `Subject:', `From:', `Reply-To:', `Sender:',
2319 and 'Organization:' fields are accepted within the header,
2320 other fields are ignored.
2322 If set, an empty mailbox file is not removed.
2323 This may improve the interoperability with other mail user agents
2324 when using a common folder directory.
2326 If the mailbox is empty \*(UA normally prints `No mail for user' and
2328 If this option is set \*(UA starts even with an empty mailbox.
2334 commands and vice-versa.
2335 .It Va forward-as-attachment
2336 Original messages are normally sent as inline text with the
2339 and only the first part of a multipart message is included.
2340 With this option messages are sent as MIME `message/rfc822' attachments
2341 with all of their parts included.
2346 options are ignored when the
2347 .Va forward-as-attachment
2350 When replying to a message \*(UA normally removes the comment parts of
2352 which by convention contain the full names of the recipients.
2353 If this variable is set such stripping is not performed,
2354 and comments are retained.
2356 Causes the header summary to be written at startup and after commands
2357 that affect the number of messages or the order of messages in the
2358 current folder; enabled by default.
2360 This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox by default.
2362 \*(OP Can be used to turn off the automatic conversion of domain names
2363 according to the rules of IDNA (internationalized domain names for
2365 Since the IDNA code assumes domain names are specified with the
2367 character set, an UTF-8 locale charset is required to represent
2368 all possible international domain names (before conversion, that is).
2370 Causes interrupt signals from the terminal to be ignored
2373 An option related to
2377 which makes \*(UA refuse to accept a `control-D' as the end of a message.
2378 This option also applies to \*(UA command mode.
2379 .It Va imap-use-starttls
2380 \*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a `STARTTLS' command to make an unencrypted
2381 IMAP session SSL/TLS encrypted.
2382 This functionality is not supported by all servers,
2383 and is not used if the session is already encrypted by the IMAPS method.
2384 .It Va imap-use-starttls-user@host
2386 .Va imap-use-starttls
2387 for a specific account.
2389 This option causes \*(UA to truncate the user's system mailbox instead
2390 of deleting it when it is empty.
2391 This should always be set since it prevents malicious users from
2392 creating fake mail folders in a world-writable spool directory.
2394 When a message is saved it is usually discarded from the originating
2395 folder when \*(UA is quit.
2396 Setting this option causes all saved message to be retained.
2397 .It Va line-editor-disable
2398 Turn off any enhanced command line editing capabilities (see
2399 .Sx "Command line editor"
2402 When a message is replied to and this variable is set,
2403 it is marked as having been answered.
2404 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
2405 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
2406 and makes them specially addressable.
2407 .It Va message-id-disable
2408 By setting this option the generation of `Message-ID:' can be completely
2409 suppressed, effectively leaving this task up to the mail-transfer-agent
2410 (MTA) or the SMTP server.
2411 (According to RFC 5321 your SMTP server is not required to add this
2412 field by itself, so you should ensure that it accepts messages without
2415 Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender,
2416 the sender is removed from the expansion.
2417 Setting this option causes the sender to be included in the group.
2418 .It Va mime-allow-text-controls
2419 When sending messages, each part of the message is MIME-inspected in
2420 order to classify the `Content-Type:' and `Content-Transfer-Encoding:'
2421 that is required to send this part over mail transport, i.e.,
2422 a computation rather similar to what the
2424 command produces when used with the
2428 This classification however treats text files which are encoded in
2429 UTF-16 (often found for HTML files) and similar character sets as binary
2430 octet-streams, forcefully changing any `text/plain' or `text/html'
2431 specification to `application/octet-stream';
2432 if that actually happens, then a yet unset charset MIME parameter is set
2433 to `binary', effectively making it impossible for the receiving MUA to
2434 automatically interpret the contents of the part.
2436 If this option is set, and the data was unambiguously identified as text
2437 data at first glance (by a `.txt' or `.html' file extension), then the
2438 original `Content-Type:' will not be overwritten.
2439 .It Va mime-counter-evidence
2440 Normally the `Content-Type:' field is used to decide how to treat
2441 a messages MIME part.
2442 Some MUAs however don't use
2444 or a similar mechanism to correctly classify content,
2445 but simply specify `application/octet-stream',
2446 even for plain text attachments like `text/diff'.
2447 If this variable is set then \*(UA will use the file extension of
2448 attachments to classify such MIME message parts, if possible.
2450 Checks for new mail in the current folder each time the prompt is
2452 For IMAP mailboxes the server is then polled for new mail,
2453 which may result in delayed operation if the connection to the server is
2455 A `maildir' folder must be re-scanned to determine if new mail has
2458 If this variable is set to the special value `nopoll' an IMAP server is
2459 not actively asked for new mail,
2460 but new mail may still be detected and announced with any other IMAP
2461 command that is sent to the server.
2462 A `maildir' folder is not scanned, then.
2464 In either case the IMAP server may send notifications about messages
2465 that have been deleted on the server by another process or client.
2466 In this case, `Expunged X messages' is printed regardless of this
2468 and message numbers may have changed.
2470 Setting this option is the same as using the command line option
2473 Causes the filename given in the
2476 and the sender-based filenames for the
2480 commands to be interpreted relative to the directory given in the
2482 variable rather than to the current directory,
2483 unless it is set to an absolute pathname.
2485 If set, each message the
2487 command prints out is followed by a formfeed character.
2489 Send messages to the
2491 command without performing MIME and character set conversions.
2492 .It Va pop3-bulk-load
2493 \*(OP When accessing a POP3 server \*(UA loads the headers of the
2494 messages, and only requests the message bodies on user request.
2495 For the POP3 protocol this means that the message headers will be
2497 If this option is set then \*(UA will download only complete messages
2498 from POP3 servers instead.
2501 a macro that temporarily sets this option, then accesses a POP3 account
2502 that is known to only get small text messages, and then unsets this
2505 \*(OP Unless this variable is set the `APOP' authentication method
2506 will be used when connecting to a POP3 server that advertises support.
2507 The advantage of APOP over `USER/PASS' authentication is that the
2508 password is not sent in clear text over the wire and that only a single
2509 packet is sent for the user/password tuple.
2510 .It Va pop3-no-apop-user@host
2511 Disables usage of the `APOP' authentication method (see
2513 for a specific account.
2514 .It Va pop3-use-starttls
2515 \*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a `STLS' command to make an unencrypted POP3
2516 session SSL/TLS encrypted.
2517 This functionality is not supported by all servers,
2518 and is not used if the session is already encrypted by the POP3S method.
2519 .It Va pop3-use-starttls-user@host
2521 .Va pop3-use-starttls
2522 for a specific account.
2523 .It Va print-all-chars
2524 This option causes all characters to be considered printable.
2525 It is only effective if given in a startup file.
2526 With this option set some character sequences in messages may put the
2527 user's terminal in an undefined state when printed;
2528 it should only be used as a last resort if no working system locale can
2530 .It Va print-alternatives
2531 When a MIME message part of type `multipart/alternative' is displayed
2532 and it contains a subpart of type `text/plain',
2533 other parts are normally discarded.
2534 Setting this variable causes all subparts to be displayed,
2535 just as if the surrounding part was of type `multipart/mixed'.
2537 Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked.
2538 .It Va quote-as-attachment
2539 If this is set, then the original message is added in its entirety
2540 as a `message/rfc822' MIME attachment when replying to a message.
2541 Note this works regardless of the setting of
2543 .It Va recipients-in-cc
2544 On group replies, specify only the sender of the original mail in `To:'
2545 and mention it's other recipients in the secondary `Cc:'.
2546 .It Va record-resent
2547 If both this variable and the
2554 commands save messages to the
2556 folder as it is normally only done for newly composed messages.
2557 .It Va reply-in-same-charset
2558 If this variable is set \*(UA first tries to use the same character set
2559 of the original message for replies.
2560 If this fails, the mechanism described in
2561 .Sx "Character sets"
2562 is evaluated as usual.
2564 Reverses the sense of
2569 .It Va rfc822-body-from_
2570 This variable can be used to force the display of a so-called `From_'
2571 line for messages that are embedded into an envelope mail via the
2572 `message/rfc822' MIME mechanism.
2574 When the user aborts a message with two `RUBOUT' (interrupt) characters,
2575 \*(UA will copy the partial letter to the file
2577 This option is set by default.
2578 .It Va searchheaders
2579 Expand message-list specifiers in the form `/x:y' to all messages
2580 containing the substring `y' in the header field `x'.
2581 The string search is case insensitive.
2582 .It Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
2583 \*(OP If this variable is set, but
2585 is not, then \*(UA acts as if
2587 had been set to the value of the variable
2589 In effect this combination passes through the message data in the
2590 character set of the current locale (given that
2592 hasn't been set manually), i.e., without converting it to the
2594 fallback character set.
2595 Thus, mail message text will be in `ISO-8859-1' encoding when send from
2596 within a `ISO-8859-1' locale, and in `UTF-8' encoding when send from
2597 within an `UTF-8' locale.
2599 When sending a message wait until the MTA exits before accepting further
2601 If the MTA returns a non-zero exit status,
2602 the exit status of \*(ua will also be non-zero.
2604 Setting this option causes \*(UA to start at the last message instead of
2605 the first one when opening a mail folder.
2607 Causes \*(UA to use the sender's real name instead of the plain address
2608 in the header field summary and in message specifications.
2610 Causes the recipient of the message to be shown in the header summary
2611 if the message was sent by the user.
2612 .It Va skipemptybody
2613 If an outgoing message does not contain any text in its first or only
2615 do not send it but discard it silently (see also the command line option
2618 .It Va smime-force-encryption
2619 \*(OP Causes \*(UA to refuse sending unencrypted messages.
2621 \*(OP S/MIME sign outgoing messages with the user's private key.
2622 Signing a message enables a recipient to verify that the sender used
2623 a valid certificate,
2624 that the email addresses in the certificate match those in the message
2625 header and that the message content has not been altered.
2626 It does not change the message text,
2627 and people will be able to read the message as usual.
2628 .It Va smime-no-default-ca
2629 \*(OP Don't load default CA locations when verifying S/MIME signed
2631 .It Va smtp-use-starttls
2632 \*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a `STARTTLS' command to make an SMTP session
2634 Not all servers support this command \(en because of common
2635 implementation defects it can't be automatically determined whether
2636 a server supports it or not.
2637 .It Va ssl-no-default-ca
2638 \*(OP Don't load default CA locations to verify SSL/TLS server
2641 \*(OP Accept SSLv2 connections.
2642 These are normally not allowed because this protocol version is insecure.
2643 .It Va keep-content-length
2644 When (editing messages and) writing MBOX mailbox files \*(UA can be told
2645 to keep the `Content-Length:' and `Lines:' header fields that some MUAs
2646 generate by setting this variable.
2647 Since \*(UA does neither use nor update these non-standardized header
2648 fields (which in itself shows one of their conceptual problems),
2649 stripping them should increase interoperability in between MUAs that
2650 work with with same mailbox files.
2651 Note that, if this is not set but
2652 .Va writebackedited ,
2653 as below, is, a possibly performed automatic stripping of these header
2654 fields already marks the message as being modified.
2656 Setting the option verbose is the same as using the command line option
2658 When \*(UA runs in verbose mode details of the actual message delivery
2659 and protocol conversations for IMAP, POP3, and SMTP,
2660 as well as of other internal processes,
2661 are displayed on the user's terminal.
2662 This is sometimes useful to debug problems.
2663 \*(UA prints all data that is sent to remote servers in clear texts,
2664 including passwords,
2665 so care should be taken that no unauthorized option can view the screen
2666 if this option is enabled.
2667 .It Va writebackedited
2668 If this variable is set messages modified using the
2672 commands are written back to the current folder when it is quit;
2673 it is only honoured for writable folders in `mbox' format, though.
2674 Note that the editor will be pointed to the raw message content in that
2675 case, i.e., neither MIME decoding nor decryption will have been
2677 and proper RFC 4155 `From ' quoting of newly added or edited content is
2678 also left as an excercise to the user.
2683 The value options include the following:
2684 .Bl -tag -width ".Va autoprint"
2686 A sequence of characters to print in the `attribute' column of a header
2688 each for one type of messages in the following order:
2689 new (N), unread but old (U), new but read (R), read and old (O), saved
2690 (S), preserved (P), mboxed (M), flagged (F), answered (A), draft (T),
2691 start of a collapsed thread (+), collapsed (\-), classified as spam ($).
2692 The default is `NUROSPMFAT+\-$',
2693 or `NU\ \ *HMFAT+\-$' if
2697 environment variable are set.
2699 Specifies a list of recipients to which a blind carbon copy of each
2700 outgoing message will be sent automatically.
2702 Specifies a list of recipients to which a carbon copy of each outgoing
2703 message will be sent automatically.
2705 Causes sorted mode (see the
2707 command) to be entered automatically with the value of this option as
2708 sorting method when a folder is opened.
2710 The value that should appear in the `charset=' parameter of
2711 `Content-Type:' MIME header fields when no character set conversion of
2712 the message data was performed.
2713 This defaults to `US-ASCII', and the chosen character set should be
2714 `US-ASCII' compatible.
2716 \*(OP The default 8 bit character set that is used if
2718 is not set or no character set therein was capable to represent the
2719 content of a message.
2720 Defaults to `UTF-8'.
2721 If no character set conversion capabilities are available in \*(UA then
2722 the only supported character set is
2724 Refer to the section
2725 .Sx "Character sets"
2726 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
2728 The default value for the
2732 The valued option crt is used as a threshold to determine how long
2733 a message must be before
2738 is set without a value then the height of the terminal screen stored in
2739 the system is used to compute the threshold (see
2745 The name of the file to use for saving aborted messages.
2746 This defaults to `dead.letter' in the user's home directory.
2748 The date in a header summary is normally the date of the mailbox `From\ '
2749 line of the message.
2750 If this variable is set, then the date as given in the `Date:' field is
2751 used, converted to local time.
2752 It is possible to control the display of the date by assigning a value,
2755 function will be used to format the date accordingly.
2756 Please read your system manual for the available formats.
2757 Note that the `%n' format should not be used, because \*(UA doesn't
2758 take embedded newlines into account when calculating how many lines fit
2760 .It Va datefield-markout-older
2761 This option, when set in addition to
2763 modifies the display of messages that are not really current in a way
2764 that is rather comparable to the
2769 The interpretation of the value is identical to what has been described
2773 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
2778 A default editor is used if this value is not defined.
2780 The default MIME encoding to use in outgoing text messages and message
2782 Valid values are the default `quoted-printable', `8bit' and `base64'.
2783 `8bit' may cause problems with mail transfers that are not ESMTP
2785 If there is no need to encode a message,
2786 `7bit' transfer mode is always used regardless of this variable.
2787 Binary data is always encoded as `base64'.
2789 If defined, the first character of this option
2790 gives the character to use in place of `~' to denote tilde escapes.
2792 The name of the directory to use for storing folders of messages.
2793 All folder names that begin with `+' refer to files below it.
2794 The same special conventions as documented for the
2796 command may be used when specifying a new value for
2798 but be aware that the expansion is fully performed immediately.
2799 E.g., if the expanded name refers to an IMAP account, all names that
2800 begin with `+' refer to IMAP mailboxes below the
2804 Note: some IMAP servers do not accept the creation of mailboxes in
2805 the hierarchy base, but require that they are created as subfolders of
2806 `INBOX' \(en with such servers a folder name of the form
2808 .Dl imaps://mylogin@imap.myisp.example/INBOX.
2810 should be used (the last character is the server's hierarchy delimiter).
2811 Folder names prefixed by `+' will then refer to folders below `INBOX',
2812 while folder names prefixed by `@' refer to folders below the hierarchy
2816 namespace command for a method to detect the appropriate prefix and
2819 When a folder is opened and this variable is set,
2820 the macro corresponding to the value of this variable is executed.
2821 The macro is also invoked when new mail arrives,
2822 but message lists for commands executed from the macro
2823 only include newly arrived messages then.
2824 .It Va folder-hook-fullname
2825 When a folder named `fullname' is opened,
2826 the macro corresponding to the value of this variable is executed.
2827 Unlike other folder specifications,
2828 the fully expanded name of a folder, without metacharacters,
2829 is used to avoid ambiguities.
2830 The macro specified with
2832 is not executed if this variable is effective for a folder
2835 ed from within the actually executed macro).
2837 The address (or a list of addresses) to put into the `From:' field of
2839 If replying to messages these addresses are handled as if they were in
2843 If the machine's hostname is not valid at the Internet (for example at
2844 a dialup machine), then either this variable or
2849 contains more than one address,
2852 variable must also be set.
2854 The string to print before the text of a message with the
2858 .Va forward-as-attachment
2860 Defaults to `-------- Original Message --------' if unset.
2861 No heading is printed if it is set to the empty string.
2863 A format string to use for the header summary,
2867 A `%' character introduces a format specifier.
2868 It may be followed by a number indicating the field width.
2869 If the (possibly implicitly implied) field width is negative, the field
2870 is to be left-aligned.
2871 Valid format specifiers are:
2872 .Bl -tag -offset indent -width "%%"
2876 The date when the message was received.
2878 The indenting level in threaded mode.
2880 The address of the message sender.
2882 The message thread structure.
2883 (Note that this format doesn't support a field width.)
2885 The number of lines of the message.
2889 The number of octets (bytes) in the message.
2891 Message subject (if any).
2893 Message subject (if any) in double quotes.
2895 The position in threaded/sorted order.
2897 A `>' for the current message, otherwise ` '.
2899 A `<' for the current message, otherwise ` '.
2901 The spam score of the message, as has been classified via the command
2907 The default is `%>\&%a\&%m\ %-18f\ %16d\ %4l/%\-5o\ %i%-s',
2908 or `%>\&%a\&%m\ %20-f\ \ %16d\ %3l/%\-5o\ %i%-S' if
2912 Use this string as hostname when expanding local addresses instead of
2913 the value obtained from
2917 i.e., in `Message-ID:' and `From:' fields.
2920 transport is not used then it is normally the responsibility of the MTA
2921 to create these fields; you should produce some test messages with the
2922 desired combination of
2929 \*(OP Sets the IMAP authentication method.
2930 Valid values are `login' for the usual password-based authentication
2932 `cram-md5', which is a password-based authentication that does not send
2933 the password over the network in clear text,
2934 and `gssapi' for GSSAPI-based authentication.
2935 .It Va imap-auth-user@host
2936 Sets the IMAP authentication method for a specific account.
2938 \*(OP Enables caching of IMAP mailboxes.
2939 The value of this variable must point to a directory that is either
2940 existent or can be created by \*(UA.
2941 All contents of the cache can be deleted by \*(UA at any time;
2942 it is not safe to make assumptions about them.
2943 .It Va imap-keepalive
2944 \*(OP IMAP servers may close the connection after a period of
2945 inactivity; the standard requires this to be at least 30 minutes,
2946 but practical experience may vary.
2947 Setting this variable to a numeric `value' greater than 0 causes
2948 a `NOOP' command to be sent each `value' seconds if no other operation
2950 .It Va imap-list-depth
2951 \*(OP When retrieving the list of folders on an IMAP server, the
2953 command stops after it has reached a certain depth to avoid possible
2955 The value of this variable sets the maximum depth allowed.
2957 If the folder separator on the current IMAP server is a slash `/',
2958 this variable has no effect and the
2960 command does not descend to subfolders.
2962 String used by the `~m' and `~M' tilde escapes and by the
2964 option for indenting messages,
2965 in place of the normal tab character (`^I').
2966 Be sure to quote the value if it contains spaces or tabs.
2968 Pathname of the directory lister to use in the
2970 command when operating on local mailboxes.
2973 .It Va line-editor-cursor-right
2974 \*(OP If the builtin command line editor is used, actions which are
2975 based on rightwise movement may not work on some terminals.
2976 If you encounter such problems, set this variable to the terminal
2977 control sequence that is necessary to move the cursor one column to the
2979 The default is `\\033[C', which should work for most terminals.
2980 Less often occur `\\033OC' and `\\014'.
2981 Note that `ESCAPE' and other control character have to be written as
2982 shell-style escape sequences, e.g., `\\033' for `ESCAPE'.
2984 Is used as the user's mailbox, if set.
2985 Otherwise, a system-dependent default is used.
2986 Supports a logical subset of the special conventions that are documented
2993 The name of the mbox file.
2994 Supports a logical subset of the special conventions that are documented
3000 The fallback default is `mbox' in the user's home directory.
3001 .It Va mimetypes-load-control
3002 This option can be used to control which of the
3004 MIME type databases are loaded by \*(UA.
3005 If the letter `u' (or `U') is part of this options value, then the
3008 file will be loaded (if it exists);
3009 likewise the letter `s' (or `S') controls loading of the system wide
3010 .Pa /etc/mime.types .
3011 If this option is not set \*(UA will try to load both files instead.
3012 Incorporation of the MIME types that are compiled into \*(UA cannot be
3014 .It Va NAIL_EXTRA_RC
3015 The name of an optional startup file to be read after \*(ur.
3016 This variable is ignored if it is imported from the environment;
3017 it has an effect only if it is set in \*(UR or \*(ur to allow bypassing
3018 the configuration with, e.g., `MAILRC=/dev/null'.
3019 Use this file for commands that are not understood by other \*(UA
3022 A string to put at the beginning of each new message.
3023 The escape sequences `\et' (tabulator) and `\en' (newline) are understood.
3024 .It Va NAIL_HISTFILE
3025 \*(OP If a command line editor is available then this can be set to
3026 name the (expandable) path of the location of a permanent history file.
3027 .It Va NAIL_HISTSIZE
3028 \*(OP If a command line editor is available this value restricts the
3029 amount of history entries that are saved into a set and valid
3031 A value of less than 0 disables this feature;
3032 note that loading and incorporation of
3034 upon program startup can also be suppressed by doing this.
3035 An unset or invalid value, or 0, causes a default value to be used.
3036 Dependent on the available command line editor this will also define the
3037 number of history entries in memory;
3038 it is also editor-specific wether runtime updates of this value will be
3041 A string to put at the end of each new message.
3042 The escape sequences `\et' (tabulator) and `\en' (newline) are understood.
3044 If this variable has the value `maildir',
3045 newly created local folders will be in `maildir' format.
3047 The value to put into the `Organization:' field of the message header.
3049 Pathname of the program to use in the more command or when the
3052 The default paginator is
3054 .It Va password-user@host
3055 Set the password for `user' when connecting to `host'.
3056 If no such variable is defined for a host,
3057 the user will be asked for a password on standard input.
3058 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
3059 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
3060 .It Va pipe-content/subcontent
3061 When a MIME message part of `content/subcontent' type is displayed or
3063 its text is filtered through the value of this variable interpreted as
3066 The special value `@' can be used to force interpretation of the message
3067 part as plain text, e.g., `set pipe-application/pgp-signature=@' will
3068 henceforth treat signatures as plain text and display them "as is".
3070 Also, if a normal shell command is prefixed with `@', then the command
3071 will only be used to prepare the MIME message part if the message is
3072 displayed by itself, but not when multiple messages are displayed at
3075 Finally, if a normal shell command is prefixed with `@&', then, in
3076 addition to what has been described for the plain `@' shell command
3077 prefix, the command will be run asynchronously, i.e., without blocking
3078 \*(UA, which may be a handy way to display a, e.g., PDF file while also
3079 continuing to read the mail message.
3081 Special care must be taken when using such commands as mail viruses may
3082 be distributed by this method;
3083 if messages of type `application/x-sh' were filtered through the shell,
3085 a message sender could easily execute arbitrary code on the system \*(UA
3087 .It Va pop3-keepalive
3088 \*(OP POP3 servers close the connection after a period of inactivity;
3089 the standard requires this to be at least 10 minutes,
3090 but practical experience may vary.
3091 Setting this variable to a numeric `value' greater than 0 causes
3092 a `NOOP' command to be sent each `value' seconds if no other operation
3095 The string printed when a command is accepted.
3096 Prompting may be prevented by either setting this to the null string
3099 The same XSI escape sequences that are understood by the
3101 command may be used within
3104 In addition, the following \*(UA specific additional sequences are
3106 `\\&', which expands to `?' unless
3108 is set, in which case it expands to `&';
3109 note that "\\& " is the default value for
3111 `\\?', which will expand to `1' if the last command failed, and to `0'
3113 `\\$', which will expand to the name of the currently active
3115 if any, and to the empty string otherwise,
3116 and `\\@', which will expand to the name of the currently active mailbox.
3117 (Note that the prompt buffer is size-limited, excess is cut off.)
3119 When a newer version of the
3121 .Sx "Command line editor"
3122 is used, any escape sequence must itself be encapsulated with another
3123 escape character for usage with the
3125 mechanism: \*(UA configures the control character `\\01' for this.
3127 If set, \*(UA starts a replying message with the original message
3128 prefixed by the value of the variable
3130 Normally, a heading consisting of `Fromheaderfield wrote:' is printed
3131 before the quotation.
3132 If the string `noheading' is assigned to the
3134 variable, this heading is omitted.
3135 If the string `headers' is assigned, the headers selected by the
3136 .Ic ignore Ns / Ns Ic retain
3137 commands are printed above the message body,
3140 acts like an automatic `~m' tilde escape command, then.
3141 If the string `allheaders' is assigned, all headers are printed above
3142 the message body and all MIME parts are included,
3145 act like an automatic `~M' command.
3147 .Va quote-as-attachment .
3149 \*(OP Can be set in addition to
3151 Setting this turns on a more fancy quotation algorithm in that leading
3152 quotation characters are compressed and overlong lines are folded.
3154 can be set to either one or two (space separated) numeric values,
3155 which are interpreted as the maximum (goal) and the minimum line length,
3156 respectively, in a spirit rather equal to the
3158 program, but line-, not paragraph-based.
3159 If not set explicitly the minimum will reflect the goal algorithmically.
3160 The goal can't be smaller than the length of
3162 plus some additional pad.
3163 Necessary adjustments take place silently.
3165 If defined, gives the pathname of the folder used to record all outgoing
3167 If not defined, then outgoing mail is not saved.
3168 When saving to this folder fails the message is not sent,
3169 but instead saved to
3172 A list of addresses to put into the `Reply-To:' field of the message
3174 Members of this list are handled as if they were in the
3178 When \*(UA initially prints the message headers it determines the number
3179 to print by looking at the speed of the terminal.
3180 The faster the terminal, the more it prints.
3181 This option overrides this calculation and specifies how many message
3182 headers are printed.
3183 This number is also used for scrolling with the
3187 \*(OP A comma-separated list of character set names that can be used in
3188 outgoing Internet mail.
3189 If no character set conversion capabilities are compiled into \*(UA then
3190 the only supported charset is
3193 .Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
3194 and refer to the section
3195 .Sx "Character sets"
3196 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
3198 An address that is put into the `Sender:' field of outgoing messages.
3199 This field needs not normally be present.
3200 It is, however, required if the `From:' field contains more than one
3202 It can also be used to indicate that a message was sent on behalf of
3203 someone else \(en in this case, `From:' should contain the address
3204 of the person that took responsibility for the message,
3205 and `Sender:' should contain the address of the person that actually
3209 address is handled as if it were in the
3213 To use an alternate mail delivery system,
3214 set this option to the full pathname of the program to use.
3215 It may be necessary to set
3216 .Va sendmail-progname
3218 .It Va sendmail-progname
3219 Many systems use a so-called
3221 environment to ensure compatibility with
3223 This works by inspecting the name that was used to invoke the mail
3225 If this variable is set then the mailwrapper (the program that is
3226 actually executed when calling `sendmail') will treat its contents as
3228 The default is `sendmail'.
3230 Pathname of the shell to use in the
3232 command and the `~!' tilde escape.
3233 A default shell is used if this option is not defined.
3235 A string for use with the `~A' tilde escape.
3237 A string for use with the `~a' tilde escape.
3239 Must correspond to the name of a readable file if set.
3240 The file's content is then appended to each singlepart message
3241 and to the first part of each multipart message.
3242 Be warned that there is no possibility to edit the signature for an
3245 \*(OP Specifies a directory with CA certificates in PEM (Privacy
3246 Enhanced Mail) format for verification of S/MIME signed messages.
3247 .It Va smime-ca-file
3248 \*(OP Specifies a file with CA certificates in PEM format for
3249 verification of S/MIME signed messages.
3250 .It Va smime-cipher-user@host
3251 \*(OP Specifies a cipher to use when generating S/MIME encrypted
3252 messages for `user@host'.
3253 Valid ciphers are `rc2-40' (RC2 with 40 bits), `rc2-64' (RC2 with 64
3254 bits), `des' (DES, 56 bits) and `des-ede3' (3DES, 112/168 bits).
3255 The default is 3DES.
3256 It is not recommended to use the other ciphers unless a recipient's
3257 client is actually unable to handle 3DES since they are comparatively
3259 .It Va smime-crl-file
3260 \*(OP Specifies a file that contains a CRL in PEM format to use when
3261 verifying S/MIME messages.
3262 .It Va smime-crl-dir
3263 \*(OP Specifies a directory that contains files with CRLs in PEM format
3264 to use when verifying S/MIME messages.
3265 .It Va smime-encrypt-user@host
3266 \*(OP If this variable is set, messages to `user@host' are encrypted
3268 The value of the variable must be set to the name of a file that
3269 contains a certificate in PEM format.
3271 If a message is sent to multiple recipients,
3272 each of them for whom a corresponding variable is set will receive an
3273 individually encrypted message;
3274 other recipients will continue to receive the message in plain text
3276 .Va smime-force-encryption
3278 It is recommended to sign encrypted messages, i.e., to also set the
3281 .It Va smime-sign-cert
3282 \*(OP Points to a file in PEM format that contains the user's private
3283 key as well as his certificate.
3284 Both are used with S/MIME for signing and decrypting messages.
3285 .It Va smime-sign-cert-user@host
3288 for the specific addresses.
3289 When signing messages and the value of the
3291 variable is set to `user@host', the specific file is used.
3292 When decrypting messages,
3293 their recipient fields (`To:' and `Cc:') are searched for addresses
3294 for which such a variable is set.
3295 \*(UA always uses the first address that matches,
3296 so if the same message is sent to more than one of the user's addresses
3297 using different encryption keys, decryption might fail.
3298 .It Va smime-sign-include-certs
3299 \*(OP If used, this must be set to a comma-separated list of files,
3300 each of which containing a single certificate in PEM format to be
3301 included in the S/MIME message in addition to the
3304 This is most useful for long certificate chains if it is desired to aid
3305 the receiving party's verification process.
3306 .It Va smime-sign-include-certs-user@host
3308 .Va smime-sign-include-certs
3309 for the specific addresses.
3310 Refer to the discussion of
3311 .Va smime-sign-cert-user@host
3312 for more on this topic.
3314 \*(OP Normally \*(UA invokes
3316 directly to transfer messages.
3319 variable is set, a SMTP connection to the server specified by the value
3320 of this variable is used instead.
3321 If the SMTP server does not use the standard port, a value of
3322 `server:port' can be given, with `port' as a name or as a number.
3324 There are two possible methods to get SSL/TLS encrypted SMTP sessions:
3325 First, the `STARTTLS' command can be used to encrypt a session after it
3327 but before any user-related data has been sent; see
3328 .Va smtp-use-starttls
3330 Second, some servers accept sessions that are encrypted from begin on.
3331 This mode is configured by assigning `smtps://server[:port]' to the
3335 The SMTP transfer is executed in a child process, which runs
3336 asynchronously unless either the
3341 If it receives a TERM signal, it will abort and save the message to
3344 \*(OP Sets the SMTP authentication method.
3345 If set to `login', or if unset and
3347 is set, `AUTH LOGIN' is used.
3348 If set to `cram-md5', `AUTH CRAM-MD5' is used;
3349 if set to `plain', `AUTH PLAIN' is used.
3350 Otherwise, no SMTP authentication is performed.
3351 .It Va smtp-auth-user@host
3354 for specific values of sender addresses, dependend upon the variable
3356 .It Va smtp-auth-password
3357 \*(OP Sets the global password for `SMTP AUTH'.
3358 Both user and password have to be given for `AUTH LOGIN' and
3360 .It Va smtp-auth-password-user@host
3362 .Va smtp-auth-password
3363 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
3365 .It Va smtp-auth-user
3366 \*(OP Sets the global user name for `SMTP AUTH'.
3367 Both user and password have to be given for `AUTH LOGIN' and
3369 If this variable is set but neither
3370 .Va smtp-auth-password
3372 .Va smtp-auth-password-user@host
3374 \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal.
3375 .It Va smtp-auth-user-user@host
3378 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
3381 \*(OP The path to the spam detector.
3382 Note that the path is not expanded, but used "as is".
3383 A fallback path will have been compiled into the \*(UA binary if the
3385 executable had been found during compilation.
3387 \*(OP Can be used to specify the host on which
3389 listens for connections; if not set, defaults to `localhost'.
3391 \*(OP Spam detectors like
3393 decline to work with messages which exceed a specific size;
3394 if this variable is set then \*(UA won't even try to pass messages which
3395 exceed the given limit.
3396 The default is 420000 bytes.
3398 \*(OP Can be used to explicitly specify the port on which
3400 listens for connections.
3402 \*(OP If the spam detector listens on a path-based UNIX domain socket,
3403 then setting this variable to the fully qualified path will force its
3404 usage for communication.
3406 \*(OP This can be used to support multiple, per-used configuration files
3407 of the spam detector.
3408 Note that \*(UA doesn't automatically set this to reflect a possibly set
3412 \*(OP Specifies a directory with CA certificates in PEM (Pricacy
3413 Enhanced Mail) for verification of of SSL/TLS server certificates.
3415 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
3416 for more information.
3418 \*(OP Specifies a file with CA certificates in PEM format for
3419 verification of SSL/TLS server certificates.
3421 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
3422 for more information.
3424 \*(OP Sets the file name for a SSL/TLS client certificate required by
3426 .It Va ssl-cert-user@host
3427 Sets an account-specific file name for a SSL/TLS client certificate
3428 required by some servers.
3431 for the specified account.
3432 .It Va ssl-cipher-list
3433 \*(OP Specifies a list of ciphers for SSL/TLS connections.
3436 for more information.
3438 \*(OP Specifies a file that contains a CRL in PEM format to use when
3439 verifying SSL/TLS server certificates.
3441 \*(OP Specifies a directory that contains files with CRLs in PEM format
3442 to use when verifying SSL/TLS server certificates.
3444 \*(OP Sets the file name for the private key of a SSL/TLS client
3446 If unset, the name of the certificate file is used.
3447 The file is expected to be in PEM format.
3448 .It Va ssl-key-user@host
3449 Sets an account-specific file name for the private key of a SSL/TLS
3453 for the specified account.
3455 \*(OP Selects a SSL/TLS protocol version;
3456 \*(UA accepts the values `ssl2', `ssl3', `tls1', `tls1.1' and `tls1.2',
3457 though it depends on the OpenSSL library that is found on the system
3458 what is truly supported.
3459 If unset, the method is selected automatically, if possible
3460 (this process usually tries to use the most secure method possible).
3461 This approach is also taken if the chosen value is not supported by the
3462 OpenSSL library, in which case an error message will be printed first.
3463 .It Va ssl-method-user@host
3466 for a specific account.
3468 \*(OP Gives the pathname to an entropy daemon socket, see
3470 .It Va ssl-rand-file
3471 \*(OP Gives the pathname to a file with entropy data, see
3472 .Xr RAND_load_file 3 .
3473 If the file is a regular file writable by the invoking user,
3474 new data is written to it after it has been loaded.
3476 \*(OP Sets the action to be performed if an error occurs during SSL/TLS
3477 server certificate validation.
3479 `strict' (fail and close connection immediately),
3480 `ask' (ask whether to continue on standard input),
3481 `warn' (print a warning and continue),
3482 `ignore' (do not perform validation).
3483 The default is `ask'.
3484 .It Va ssl-verify-user@host
3487 for a specific account.
3489 If only set without an assigned value, then this option inhibits the
3490 generation of the `Message-Id:' and `User-Agent:' header fields that
3491 include obvious references to \*(UA.
3492 There are two pitfalls associated with this:
3493 First, the message id of outgoing messages is not known anymore.
3494 Second, an expert may still use the remaining information in the header
3495 to track down the originating mail user agent.
3496 If set to the value `noagent', then the mentioned `Message-Id:'
3497 suppression doesn't occur.
3499 If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out
3500 with the top command;
3501 normally, the first five lines are printed.
3503 The character set of the terminal \*(UA operates on,
3504 and the one and only supported character set that \*(UA can use if no
3505 character set conversion capabilities have been compiled into it,
3506 in which case it defaults to `ISO-8859-1' unless it can deduce a value
3507 from the `LC_CTYPE' locale environment.
3508 Refer to the section
3509 .Sx "Character sets"
3510 for the complete picture about character sets.
3512 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
3514 command and `~v' tilde escape.
3520 Besides the variables described above,
3521 \*(UA uses the following environment variables:
3522 .Bl -tag -width ".It Va MAILRC"
3524 The user's preferred width in column positions for the terminal screen
3525 or window (only used during startup).
3527 The user's home directory.
3528 .It Va LANG , Va LC_ALL , Va LC_COLLATE , Va LC_CTYPE , Va LC_MESSAGES
3532 The user's preferred number of lines on a page or the vertical screen or
3533 window size in lines (only used during startup).
3535 Is used as a startup file instead of \*(ur if set.
3536 When \*(UA scripts are invoked on behalf of other users,
3537 this variable should be set to
3539 to avoid side-effects from reading their configuration files.
3541 If this variable is set and
3543 is not, it is treated as a startup configuration file and read.
3544 .It Va NAIL_NO_SYSTEM_RC
3545 If this variable is set then reading of \*(UR at startup is inhibited,
3546 i.e., the same effect is achieved as if \*(UA had been started up with
3550 Changes the letters printed in the first column of a header summary.
3552 Used as directory for temporary files instead of
3556 Can be used to force identification as
3558 i.e., identical to the
3560 command line option.
3566 .Bl -tag -width ".It Pa /etc/mime.types"
3568 File giving initial commands.
3570 System wide initialization file.
3571 .It Pa ~/.mime.types
3572 Personal MIME types.
3573 .It Pa /etc/mime.types
3574 System wide MIME types.
3582 .Ss "Getting started"
3583 The \*(UA command has two distinct usages, according to whether one
3584 wants to send or receive mail.
3585 Sending mail is simple: to send a message to a user whose email address
3586 is, say, `<bill@host.example>', use the shell command:
3588 .Dl $ \*(ua bill@host.example
3590 then type your message.
3591 \*(UA will prompt you for a message `Subject:' first;
3592 after that, lines typed by you form the body of the message.
3593 When you reach the end of the message,
3594 type an EOT (`control\-D') at the beginning of a line,
3595 which will cause \*(UA to echo `EOT' and return you to the shell.
3597 If, while you are composing the message you decide that you do not wish
3598 to send it after all, you can abort the letter by typing two `RUBOUT'
3599 (interrupt) characters.
3600 Typing a single `RUBOUT' causes \*(UA to print
3601 .Ns ` Ns Li (Interrupt -- one more to kill letter) Ns '.
3602 Typing a second `RUBOUT' causes \*(UA to save your partial letter on the
3605 and abort the letter.
3606 Once you have sent mail to someone, there is no way to undo the act, so
3609 If you want to send the same message to several other people,
3610 you can list their email addresses on the command line.
3611 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3612 $ \*(ua sam@workstation.example bob@server.example
3614 Tuition fees are due next Friday. Don't forget!
3620 will sendout to `<sam@workstation.example>' and `<bob@server.example>'.
3621 To read your mail, simply type
3625 \*(UA will respond by typing its version number and date and then
3626 listing the messages you have waiting.
3627 Then it will type a prompt and await your command.
3628 The messages are assigned numbers starting with 1 \(en you refer to the
3629 messages with these numbers.
3630 \*(UA keeps track of which messages are `new' (have been sent since you
3631 last read your mail) and `read' (have been read by you).
3632 New messages have an `N' next to them in the header listing and old,
3633 but unread messages have a `U' next to them.
3634 \*(UA keeps track of new/old and read/unread messages by putting a
3635 header field called `Status' into your messages.
3637 To look at a specific message, use the
3639 command, which may be abbreviated to simply `t'.
3640 For example, if you had the following messages:
3641 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3642 O 1 drfoo@myhost.example Wed Sep 1 19:52 5/421 "Fees"
3643 O 2 sam@friends.example Thu Sep 2 00:08 30/895
3646 you could examine the first message by giving the command:
3650 which might cause \*(UA to respond with, for example:
3651 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3652 [-- Message 1 -- 5 lines, 421 bytes --]:
3653 From drfoo@myhost.example Wed Sep 1 19:52:25 2004
3657 Tuition fees are due next Wednesday. Don't forget!
3660 Many \*(UA commands that operate on messages take a message number as an
3661 argument, just as the shown
3664 For these commands, there is a notion of a current message.
3665 When you enter the \*(UA program,
3666 the current message is initially the first (or the first recent) one.
3667 Thus, you can often omit the message number and use, for example, `t` to
3668 type the current message.
3669 As a further shorthand, you can type a message by simply giving its
3670 message number \(en hence `1` would type the first message.
3672 Frequently, it is useful to read the messages in your mailbox in order,
3674 You can read the next message in \*(UA by simply typing a newline.
3675 As a special case, you can type a newline as your first command to
3676 \*(UA to type the first message.
3678 If, after typing a message, you wish to immediately send a reply,
3679 you can do so with the command
3683 takes a message number as an argument.
3684 \*(UA then begins a message addressed to the user who sent you the
3685 message and let you type in your letter in reply, followed by
3686 a `<control-D>' at the beginning of a line, as before.
3688 Note that \*(UA copies the subject header from the original message.
3689 This is useful in that correspondence about a particular matter will
3690 tend to retain the same subject heading, making it easy to recognize.
3691 If there are other header fields in the message, like `Cc:',
3692 the information found will also be used.
3694 Sometimes you will receive a message that has been sent to several
3695 people and wish to reply only to the person who sent it.
3697 (with a capital `R') replies to a message, but sends a copy to the
3700 If you wish, while reading your mail, to send a message to someone,
3701 but not as a reply to one of your messages, you can send the message
3704 command, which takes as arguments the names of the recipients you wish
3706 For example, to send a message to `<frank@machine.example>':
3708 .Dl mail frank@machine.example
3710 To delete a message from the mail folder, you can use the command
3712 In addition to not saving deleted messages,
3713 \*(UA will not let you type them, either.
3714 The effect is to make the message disappear altogether, along with its
3717 Many features of \*(UA can be tailored to your liking with the
3719 command; it has two forms, depending on whether you are setting
3720 a `binary' or a `valued' option.
3721 Binary options are either on or off \(en for example, the
3723 option informs \*(UA that each time you send a message, you want it to
3724 prompt you for a `Cc:' header to be included in the message.
3727 option, you would type
3731 Valued options are values which \*(UA uses to adapt to your tastes.
3734 option tells \*(UA where to save messages sent by you,
3735 and is specified by, e.g.,
3739 Note that no spaces are allowed in `set record=Sent'.
3741 \*(UA includes a simple facility for maintaining groups of messages
3742 together in folders.
3743 To use the folder facility, you must tell \*(UA where you wish to keep
3745 Each folder of messages will be a single file.
3746 For convenience, all of your folders are kept in a single directory of
3748 To tell \*(UA where your folder directory is, put a line of the form
3750 .Dl set folder=letters
3753 If, as in the example above, your folder directory does not begin with
3754 a `/', \*(UA will assume that your folder directory is to be found
3755 starting from your home directory.
3757 Anywhere a file name is expected, you can use a folder name, preceded
3759 For example, to put a message into a folder with the
3761 command, you can use:
3765 to save the current message in the `classwork' folder.
3766 If the `classwork' folder does not yet exist, it will be created.
3767 Note that messages which are saved with the
3769 command are automatically removed from your system mailbox.
3771 In order to make a copy of a message in a folder without causing
3772 that message to be removed from your system mailbox, use the
3774 command, which is identical in all other respects to the
3781 can be used to direct \*(UA to the contents of a different folder.
3784 .Dl folder +classwork
3786 directs \*(UA to read the contents of the `classwork' folder.
3787 All of the commands that you can use on your system mailbox are also
3788 applicable to folders, including
3793 To inquire which folder you are currently editing, use `folder' without
3795 And to list your current set of folders, use the
3801 command is available to print out a brief summary of the most important
3804 While typing in a message to be sent to others it is often useful to be
3805 able to invoke the text editor on the partial message, print the
3806 message, execute a shell command, or do some other auxiliary function.
3807 \*(UA provides these capabilities through `tilde escapes',
3808 which consist of a tilde (`~') at the beginning of a line, followed by
3809 a single character which indicates the function to be performed.
3810 For example, to print the text of the message so far, use:
3814 which will print a line of dashes, the recipients of your message, and
3815 the text of the message so far.
3816 A list of the most important tilde escapes is available with `~?'.
3819 .Ss "IMAP or POP3 client setup"
3820 \*(OP First you need the following data from your ISP:
3821 the host name of the IMAP or POP3 server,
3822 user name and password for this server,
3823 and a notice whether the server uses SSL/TLS encryption.
3824 Assuming the SSL/TLS secured host name of your IMAP account is
3825 `server.myisp.example' and your user name for that server is `mylogin',
3826 you could refer to this account using the
3830 command line option with
3832 .Dl imaps://mylogin@server.myisp.example
3834 (This string is not necessarily the same as your Internet mail address.)
3835 Even if the server does not accept IMAPS or POP3S connections,
3836 it is possible that it supports the `STARTTLS' method of upgrading
3837 already connected, but not yet authenticated sessions to use SSL/TLS
3839 The only reliable method to see if this works is to try it; enter one of
3841 .Dl set imap-use-starttls
3842 .Dl set pop3-use-starttls
3844 before you initiate the connection, dependent on the actual protocol.
3846 As you probably want messages to be deleted from this account
3847 after saving them, prefix it with `%:'.
3850 command can be used to avoid typing that many characters every time you
3853 .Dl shortcut myisp %:imaps://mylogin@server.myisp.example
3855 You might want to put this string into a startup file.
3857 is one of those commands that are specific to \*(UA and will thus
3858 confuse other implementations of POSIX
3860 so it should possibly not be placed in \*(ur.
3863 .Dl set NAIL_EXTRA_RC=.\*(uarc
3865 in \*(ur and create a file
3867 containing all the commands that are specific to \*(UA.
3868 You can then access your remote mailbox by invoking
3872 on the command line, or by executing
3877 If you want to use more than one IMAP mailbox on a server,
3878 or if you want to use the IMAP server for mail storage too, the
3880 command (which is also \*(UA-specific) is possibly more appropriate.
3881 You can put the following in
3883 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3885 set folder=imaps://mylogin@server.myisp.example
3886 set record=+Sent MBOX=+mbox outfolder
3890 and can then access incoming mail for this account by invoking
3891 `\*(ua \-A myisp' on the command line or by executing `ac myisp' within
3893 After that, a command like `copy 1 +otherfolder' will refer to
3894 `otherfolder' on the IMAP server.
3895 In particular, `fi &' will change to the `mbox' folder,
3896 and `fi +Sent' will show your recorded sent mail,
3897 with both folders located on the IMAP server.
3899 \*(UA will ask you for a password string each time you connect to
3901 If you can reasonably trust the security of your workstation,
3902 you can give this password in the startup file as
3904 .Dl set password-mylogin@server.myisp.example="SECRET"
3906 You should change the permissions of this file to 0600, see
3909 \*(UA supports different authentication methods for both IMAP and POP3.
3910 If Kerberos is used at your location,
3911 you can try to activate (the optional) GSSAPI-based authentication via
3913 .Dl set imap-auth=gssapi
3915 The advantage of this method is that \*(UA doesn't need to know your
3916 password at all, nor does it have to send sensitive data over the network.
3917 If that isn't possible, try to use authentication methods that at least
3918 avoid sending the password in clear over the wire, which is especially
3919 important if SSL/TLS cannot be used, e.g.,
3921 .Dl set imap-auth=cram-md5
3923 For POP3 \*(UA will try to use the `APOP' mechanism automatically unless
3924 explicitly disabled.
3925 If the server does not offer any such authentication methods,
3926 conventional user/password based authentication must be used.
3927 It is sometimes helpful, especially when setting up an account or when
3928 there are authentification problems, to enable verbosity by setting the
3930 option \(en \*(UA will display all data sent to the server in clear text
3931 on the screen when this option is set.
3932 (Because this may also include passwords you should take care that no
3933 unauthorized person can look at your terminal when this option is set.)
3935 If you regularly use the same workstation to access IMAP accounts,
3936 you can greatly enhance performance by enabling local caching of IMAP
3938 For any message that has been fully or partially fetched from the server,
3939 a local copy is made and is used when the message is accessed again,
3940 so most data is transferred over the network once only.
3941 To enable the IMAP cache, select a local directory name and put
3943 .Dl set imap-cache=~/localdirectory
3945 in the (\*(UA-specific) startup file.
3946 All files within that directory can be overwritten or deleted by \*(UA
3948 so you should not use the directory to store other information.
3950 Once the cache contains some messages,
3951 it is not strictly necessary anymore to open a connection to the IMAP
3952 server to access them.
3953 When \*(UA is invoked with the option
3958 only cached data is used for any folder you open.
3959 Messages that have not yet been completely cached are not available
3960 then, but all other messages can be handled as usual.
3961 Changes made to IMAP mailboxes in
3963 mode are committed to the IMAP server next time it is used in
3966 Synchronizing the local status with the status on the server is thus
3967 partially within your responsibility;
3968 if you forget to initiate a connection to the server again before you
3969 leave your location,
3970 changes made on one workstation are not available on others.
3971 Also if you alter IMAP mailboxes from a workstation while uncommitted
3972 changes are still pending on another,
3973 the latter data may become invalid.
3974 The same might also happen because of internal server status changes.
3975 You should thus carefully evaluate this feature in your environment
3976 before you rely on it.
3978 Many servers will close the connection after a short period of
3979 inactivity \(en use one of
3981 .Dl set pop3-keepalive=30
3982 .Dl set imap-keepalive=240
3984 to send a keepalive message each 30 seconds for POP3,
3985 or each 4 minutes for IMAP.
3987 If you encounter problems connecting to a SSL/TLS server,
3992 variables (see the OpenSSL FAQ for more information) or specify the
3993 protocol version with
3995 Contact your ISP if you need a client certificate or if verification of
3996 the server certificate fails.
3997 If the failed certificate is indeed valid,
3998 fetch its CA certificate by executing the shell command
4000 .Dl $ </dev/null openssl s_client \-showcerts \-connect \e
4001 .Dl \ \ \ \ \ \ server.myisp.example:imaps 2>&1 | tee log.txt
4005 ) and put it into the file specified with
4007 The data you need is located at the end of the certificate chain
4008 within (and including) the `BEGIN CERTIFICATE'
4009 and `END CERTIFICATE' lines.
4010 Note that the example above is \fBinsecure\fR!
4011 One should use the `-verify' and `-CAfile' options of
4013 to be "on the safe side" regarding the fetched certificates.
4016 .Ss "Reading HTML mail"
4021 utility or another command-line web browser that can write plain text to
4024 .Dl set pipe-text/html="elinks -force-html -dump 1"
4025 .Dl set pipe-text/html="lynx -stdin -dump -force_html"
4027 will cause HTML message parts to be converted into a more friendly form.
4030 .Ss "Viewing PDF attachments"
4031 Most PDF viewers do not accept input directly from a pipe.
4032 It is thus necessary to store the attachment in a temporary file first:
4034 .Dl set pipe-application/pdf="@&cat >/tmp/\*(ua$$.pdf; \e
4035 .Dl \ \ \ \ \ \ acroread /tmp/\*(ua$$.pdf; rm /tmp/\*(ua$$.pdf"
4037 Note that security defects are discovered in PDF viewers from time to
4039 Automatical command execution like this can compromise your system
4041 in particular if you stay not always informed about such issues.
4044 .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
4045 \*(OP S/MIME provides two central mechanisms:
4046 message signing and message encryption.
4047 A signed message contains some data in addition to the regular text.
4048 The data can be used to verify that the message was sent using a valid
4049 certificate, that the sender's address in the message header matches
4050 that in the certificate, and that the message text has not been altered.
4051 Signing a message does not change its regular text;
4052 it can be read regardless of whether the recipient's software is able to
4054 It is thus usually possible to sign all outgoing messages if so desired.
4055 Encryption, in contrast, makes the message text invisible for all people
4056 except those who have access to the secret decryption key.
4057 To encrypt a message, the specific recipient's public encryption key
4059 It is thus not possible to send encrypted mail to people unless their
4060 key has been retrieved from either previous communication or public key
4062 A message should always be signed before it is encrypted.
4063 Otherwise, it is still possible that the encrypted message text is
4066 A central concept to S/MIME is that of the certification authority (CA).
4067 A CA is a trusted institution that issues certificates.
4068 For each of these certificates it can be verified that it really
4069 originates from the CA, provided that the CA's own certificate is
4071 A set of CA certificates is usually delivered with OpenSSL and installed
4073 If you trust the source of your OpenSSL software installation,
4074 this offers reasonable security for S/MIME on the Internet.
4075 In general, a certificate cannot be more secure than the method its CA
4076 certificate has been retrieved with, though.
4077 Thus if you download a CA certificate from the Internet,
4078 you can only trust the messages you verify using that certificate as
4079 much as you trust the download process.
4081 The first thing you need for participating in S/MIME message exchange is
4082 your personal certificate, including a private key.
4083 The certificate contains public information, in particular your name and
4084 your email address, and the public key that is used by others to encrypt
4086 and to verify signed messages they supposedly received from you.
4087 The certificate is included in each signed message you send.
4088 The private key must be kept secret.
4089 It is used to decrypt messages that were previously encrypted with your
4090 public key, and to sign messages.
4092 For personal use it is recommended that you get a S/MIME certificate
4093 from one of the major CAs on the Internet using your WWW browser.
4094 (Many CAs offer such certificates for free.)
4095 You will usually receive a combined certificate and private key in
4096 PKCS#12 format which \*(UA does not directly accept.
4097 To convert it to PEM format, use the following shell command:
4099 .Dl $ openssl pkcs12 \-in cert.p12 \-out cert.pem \-clcerts \-nodes
4101 If you omit the `\-nodes' parameter, you can specifiy an additional `PEM
4102 pass phrase' for protecting the private key.
4103 \*(UA will then ask you for that pass phrase each time it signs or
4107 .Dl set smime-sign-cert-myname@myisp.example=cert.pem
4109 to make this private key and certificate known to \*(UA.
4110 You can now sign outgoing messages.
4116 From each signed message you send,
4117 the recipient can fetch your certificate and use it to send encrypted
4119 Accordingly if somebody sends you a signed message, you can do the same.
4122 command to check the validity of the certificate.
4123 After that, retrieve the certificate and tell \*(UA that it should use
4126 .Dl certsave filename
4127 .Dl set smime-encrypt-user@host=filename
4129 You should carefully consider if you prefer to store encrypted messages
4131 If you do, anybody who has access to your mail folders can read them,
4132 but if you do not, you might be unable to read them yourself later if
4133 you happen to lose your private key.
4136 command saves messages in decrypted form, while the
4141 commands leave them encrypted.
4143 Note that neither S/MIME signing nor encryption applies to message
4144 subjects or other header fields.
4145 Thus they may not contain sensitive information for encrypted messages,
4146 and cannot be trusted even if the message content has been verified.
4147 When sending signed messages,
4148 it is recommended to repeat any important header information in the
4152 .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or SSL/TLS"
4153 \*(OP Certification authorities (CAs) issue certificate revocation
4154 lists (CRLs) on a regular basis.
4155 These lists contain the serial numbers of certificates that have been
4156 declared invalid after they have been issued.
4157 Such usually happens because the private key for the certificate has
4159 because the owner of the certificate has left the organization that is
4160 mentioned in the certificate, etc.
4161 To seriously use S/MIME or SSL/TLS verification,
4162 an up-to-date CRL is required for each trusted CA.
4163 There is otherwise no method to distinguish between valid and
4164 invalidated certificates.
4165 \*(UA currently offers no mechanism to fetch CRLs, nor to access them on
4166 the Internet, so you have to retrieve them by some external mechanism.
4168 \*(UA accepts CRLs in PEM format only;
4169 CRLs in DER format must be converted, like, e.\|g.:
4171 .Dl $ openssl crl \-inform DER \-in crl.der \-out crl.pem
4173 To tell \*(UA about the CRLs, a directory that contains all CRL files
4174 (and no other files) must be created.
4179 variables, respectively, must then be set to point to that directory.
4180 After that, \*(UA requires a CRL to be present for each CA that is used
4181 to verify a certificate.
4185 \*(OP \*(UA can make use of spam detection and learning facilities \(en
4186 more precisely, SpamAssassin (\%<http://spamassassin.apache.org>).
4187 A very comprehensive documentation of
4189 can be found at the O'Reilly Commons
4190 (\%<http://commons.oreilly.com/wiki/index.php/SpamAssassin>).
4192 Currently \*(UA supports interaction with
4194 only via its daemonized
4197 server / client pair, which means that, in order to detect and work
4198 with spam through \*(UA, an instance of the
4200 daemon must be running (the examples are equivalent):
4201 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4202 $ spamd -i localhost:2142 -i /tmp/.spamsock -d [-L] [-l]
4203 $ spamd --listen=localhost:2142 --listen=/tmp/.spamsock \\
4204 --daemonize [--local] [--allow-tell]
4209 should only listen on a local, path-based UNIX domain socket instead of
4210 offering its service over the network, it maybe necessary to use
4213 option instead of the shown
4215 In order to support training of the Bayesian classifier through \*(UA,
4217 must have been started with the
4223 is running \*(UA can classify messages by using the client side program,
4226 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4227 $ \*(ua -Sspam-command=/usr/local/bin/spamc \\
4228 -Sspam-socket=/tmp/.spamsock -Sspam-maxsize=500000
4231 The commands offered are
4235 which simply set an `is-spam' flag that can be used for, e.g., message
4238 which passes messages through to the spam detector in order to gain
4239 a spam score and conditionally set the `is-spam' flag accordingly,
4240 as well as the Bayesian filter related
4246 Because messages must exist on local storage in order to be scored (or
4247 used for Bayesian filter training), it is possibly a good idea to
4248 perform the local spam check last:
4249 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4250 define spamdelhook {
4252 spamset (header x-dcc-brand-metrics "bulk")
4253 # Server-side spamassassin(1)
4254 spamset (header x-spam-flag "YES")
4255 del :s # TODO we HAVE to be able to do `spamrate :u ! :s'
4256 # And finally the local spamc(1)
4260 set folder-hook-FOLDER=spamdelhook
4263 See also the documentation for the variables
4273 .Ss "Sending mail from scripts"
4274 If you want to send mail from scripts, you must be aware that \*(UA
4275 reads the user's configuration files by default.
4276 So unless your script is only intended for your own personal use
4277 (as, e.g., a cron job), you need to circumvent this:
4279 .Dl MAILRC=/dev/null \*(ua \-n
4281 You then need to create a script-local configuration for \*(UA.
4282 This can be done by either pointing the
4284 variable to a custom configuration file,
4285 by passing the configuration in environment variables,
4288 command line option to specify options.
4289 Since many configuration options are not valid shell variables, the
4291 command is useful if the approach via environment variables is used:
4292 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4293 env MAILRC=/dev/null from=scriptreply@domain smtp=host \e
4294 smtp-auth-user=login smtp-auth-password=secret \e
4295 smtp-auth=login \*(ua \-n \-s "subject" \e
4296 \-a attachment_file recipient@domain < content_file
4310 .Xr spamassassin 1 ,
4326 .Sh "IMPLEMENTATION NOTES"
4327 The character set conversion uses and relies upon the
4330 Its functionality differs widely between the various system environments
4333 Limitations with IMAP mailboxes are:
4334 It is not possible to edit messages, but it is possible to append them.
4335 Thus to edit a message, create a local copy of it, edit it, append it,
4336 and delete the original.
4337 The line count for the header display is only appropriate if the entire
4338 message has been downloaded from the server.
4339 The marking of messages as `new' is performed by the IMAP server;
4344 will not cause it to be reset, and if the
4345 .Va autoinc Ns / Ns Va newmail
4346 variables are unset, messages that arrived during a session will not be
4347 in state `new' anymore when the folder is opened again.
4348 Also if commands queued in disconnected mode are committed,
4349 the IMAP server will delete the `new' flag for all messages in the
4351 and new messages will appear as unread when it is selected for viewing
4353 The `flagged', `answered', and `draft' attributes are usually permanent,
4354 but some IMAP servers are known to drop them without notification.
4355 Message numbers may change with IMAP every time before the prompt is
4356 printed if \*(UA is notified by the server that messages have been
4357 deleted by some other client or process.
4358 In this case, `Expunged n messages' is printed, and message numbers may
4361 Limitations with POP3 mailboxes are:
4362 It is not possible to edit messages, they can only be copied and deleted.
4363 The line count for the header display is only appropriate if the entire
4364 message has been downloaded from the server.
4365 The status field of a message is maintained by the server between
4366 connections; some servers do not update it at all, and with a server
4367 that does, the `exit' command will not cause the message status to be
4369 The `newmail' command and the `newmail' variable have no effect.
4370 It is not possible to rename or to remove POP3 mailboxes.
4372 If a `RUBOUT' (interrupt) is typed while an IMAP or POP3 operation is in
4373 progress, \*(UA will wait until the operation can be safely aborted, and
4374 will then return to the command loop and print the prompt again.
4375 When a second `RUBOUT' is typed while \*(UA is waiting for the operation
4376 to complete, the operation itself will be cancelled.
4377 In this case, data that has not been fetched yet will have to be fetched
4378 before the next command can be performed.
4379 If the cancelled operation was using an SSL/TLS encrypted channel,
4380 an error in the SSL transport will very likely result and render the
4381 connection unusable.
4383 As \*(UA is a mail user agent, it provides only basic SMTP services.
4384 If it fails to contact its upstream SMTP server, it will not make
4385 further attempts to transfer the message at a later time,
4386 and it does not leave other information about this condition than an
4387 error message on the terminal and an entry in
4389 This is usually not a problem if the SMTP server is located in the same
4390 local network as the computer on which \*(UA is run.
4391 However, care should be taken when using a remote server of an ISP;
4392 it might be better to set up a local SMTP server then which just acts as
4395 \*(UA immediately contacts the SMTP server (or
4397 ) even when operating in
4400 It would not make much sense for \*(UA to defer outgoing mail since SMTP
4401 servers usually provide much more elaborated delay handling than \*(UA
4402 could perform as a client.
4403 Thus the recommended setup for sending mail in
4405 mode is to configure a local SMTP server such that it sends outgoing
4406 mail as soon as an external network connection is available again,
4407 i.e., to advise it to do that from a network startup script.
4412 A \fImail\fR command appeared in Version 1 AT&T Unix.
4413 Berkeley Mail was written in 1978 by Kurt Shoens.
4414 This man page is derived from from The Mail Reference Manual originally
4415 written by Kurt Shoens.
4416 "Heirloom Mailx" enhancements are maintained and documented by Gunnar
4418 "S-nail" is maintained and documented by Steffen "Daode" Nurpmeso.
4420 Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
4421 from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
4422 \(en Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
4423 Specifications Issue 6, Copyright \(co 2001-2003 by the Institute of
4424 Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group.
4425 In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original
4426 IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group
4427 Standard is the referee document.
4428 The original Standard can be obtained online at
4429 \%<http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html>.
4430 Redistribution of this material is permitted so long as this notice
4437 .An "Christos Zoulas" ,
4438 .An "Gunnar Ritter" ,
4439 .An Steffen Qo Daode Qc Nurpmeso Aq s-nail-users@lists.sourceforge.net
4444 Variables in the environment passed to \*(UA cannot be unset.