1 .\"@ nail.1 - S-nail(1) reference manual.
3 .\" Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Gunnar Ritter, Freiburg i. Br., Germany.
4 .\" Copyright (c) 2012 - 2018 Steffen (Daode) Nurpmeso <steffen@sdaoden.eu>.
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34 .\"@ S-nail v14.9.10 / 2018-03-25
44 .ds VD \\%~/dead.letter
48 .ds vS /etc/mime.types
56 .ds OU [no v15-compat]
57 .ds ID [v15 behaviour may differ]
58 .ds NQ [Only new quoting rules]
62 .if !d str-Lb-libterminfo \
63 .ds str-Lb-libterminfo Terminal Information Library (libterminfo, \-lterminfo)
72 .Nd send and receive Internet mail
78 .\" Keep in SYNC: ./nail.1:"SYNOPSIS, main()
87 .Op : Ns Fl a Ar attachment Ns \&:
88 .Op : Ns Fl b Ar bcc-addr Ns \&:
89 .Op : Ns Fl C Ar """custom:\0header""" Ns \&:
90 .Op : Ns Fl c Ar cc-addr Ns \&:
91 .Op Fl M Ar type | Fl m Ar file | Fl q Ar file | Fl t
94 .Fl S Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value Ns
97 .Op : Ns Fl X Ar cmd Ns \&:
99 .Pf : Ar to-addr Ns \&:
100 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns : Ns Ar mta-option Ns \&:
108 .Op : Ns Fl C Ar """custom:\0header""" Ns \&:
110 .Op Fl r Ar from-addr
112 .Fl S Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value Ns
115 .Op : Ns Fl X Ar cmd Ns \&:
116 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns : Ns Ar mta-option Ns \&:
123 .Op : Ns Fl C Ar """custom:\0header""" Ns \&:
126 .Op Fl r Ar from-addr
128 .Fl S Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value Ns
130 .Op : Ns Fl X Ar cmd Ns \&:
132 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns : Ns Ar mta-option Ns \&:
138 .Mx -toc -tree html pdf ps xhtml
141 .\" .Sh DESCRIPTION {{{
144 .Bd -filled -compact -offset indent
145 .Sy Compatibility note:
146 S-nail (\*(UA) will wrap up into \%S-mailx in v15.0 (circa 2020).
147 Backward incompatibility has to be expected \(en
150 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
151 rules, for example, and shell metacharacters will become meaningful.
152 New and old behaviour is flagged \*(IN and \*(OU, and setting
155 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
156 will choose new behaviour when applicable.
157 \*(OB flags what will vanish, and enabling
161 enables obsoletion warnings.
165 \*(UA provides a simple and friendly environment for sending and
167 It is intended to provide the functionality of the POSIX
169 command, but is MIME capable and optionally offers extensions for
170 line editing, S/MIME, SMTP and POP3, among others.
171 \*(UA divides incoming mail into its constituent messages and allows
172 the user to deal with them in any order.
176 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
177 for manipulating messages and sending mail.
178 It provides the user simple editing capabilities to ease the composition
179 of outgoing messages, and increasingly powerful and reliable
180 non-interactive scripting capabilities.
182 .\" .Ss "Options" {{{
185 .Bl -tag -width ".It Fl BaNg"
188 Explicitly control which of the
192 d (loaded): if the letter
194 is (case-insensitively) part of the
198 is sourced, likewise the letter
200 controls sourcing of the user's personal
202 file, whereas the letters
206 explicitly forbid sourcing of any resource files.
207 Scripts should use this option: to avoid environmental noise they should
209 from any configuration and create a script-specific environment, setting
211 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
214 and running configurating commands via
216 This option overrides
223 command for the given user email
225 after program startup is complete (all resource files are loaded, any
227 setting is being established; only
229 commands have not been evaluated yet).
230 Being a special incarnation of
232 macros for the purpose of bundling longer-lived
234 tings, activating such an email account also switches to the accounts
236 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
239 If the operation fails the program will exit if it is used
240 non-interactively, or if any of
247 .It Fl a Ar file Ns Op Ar =input-charset Ns Op Ar #output-charset
250 to the message (for compose mode opportunities refer to
254 .Sx "Filename transformations"
257 will be performed, except that shell variables are not expanded.
260 not be accessible but contain a
262 character, then anything before the last
264 will be used as the filename, anything thereafter as a character set
267 If an input character set is specified,
268 .Mx -ix "character set specification"
269 but no output character set, then the given input character set is fixed
270 as-is, and no conversion will be applied;
271 giving the empty string or the special string hyphen-minus
273 will be treated as if
275 has been specified (the default).
277 If an output character set has also been given then the conversion will
278 be performed exactly as specified and on-the-fly, not considering the
279 file type and content.
280 As an exception, if the output character set is specified as the empty
281 string or hyphen-minus
283 then the default conversion algorithm (see
284 .Sx "Character sets" )
285 is applied (therefore no conversion is performed on-the-fly,
287 will be MIME-classified and its contents will be inspected first) \(em
288 without support for character set conversions
290 does not include the term
292 only this argument is supported.
295 (\*(OB: \*(UA will always use line-buffered output, to gain
296 line-buffered input even in batch mode enable batch mode via
301 Send a blind carbon copy to
308 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
310 The option may be used multiple times.
312 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
315 .It Fl C Ar """field: body"""
316 Create a custom header which persists for an entire session.
317 A custom header consists of the field name followed by a colon
319 and the field content body, e.g.,
320 .Ql -C """Blah: Neminem laede; imo omnes, quantum potes, juva""" .
321 Standard header field names cannot be overwritten by custom headers.
322 Runtime adjustable custom headers are available via the variable
327 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ,
328 is the most flexible and powerful option to manage message headers.
329 This option may be used multiple times.
333 Send carbon copies to the given receiver, if so allowed by
335 May be used multiple times.
345 Almost enable a sandbox mode with the internal variable
347 the same can be achieved via
348 .Ql Fl S Va \&\&debug
350 .Ql Ic set Va \&\&debug .
356 and thus discard messages with an empty message part body.
360 Just check if mail is present (in the system
362 or the one specified via
364 if yes, return an exit status of zero, a non-zero value otherwise.
365 To restrict the set of mails to consider in this evaluation a message
366 specification can be added with the option
371 Save the message to send in a file named after the local part of the
372 first recipient's address (instead of in
377 Read in the contents of the user's
379 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
381 (or the specified file) for processing;
382 when \*(UA is quit, it writes undeleted messages back to this file
388 argument will undergo some special
389 .Sx "Filename transformations"
394 is not an argument to the flag
396 but is instead taken from the command line after option processing has
400 that starts with a hyphen-minus, prefix with a relative path, as in
401 .Ql ./-hyphenbox.mbox .
407 and exit; a configurable summary view is available via the
413 Show a short usage summary.
419 to ignore tty interrupt signals.
425 of all messages that match the given
429 .Sx "Specifying messages"
434 option has been given in addition no header summary is produced,
435 but \*(UA will instead indicate via its exit status whether
441 note that any verbose output is suppressed in this mode and must instead
442 be enabled explicitly (e.g., by using the option
447 Special send mode that will flag standard input with the MIME
451 and use it as the main message body.
452 \*(ID Using this option will bypass processing of
453 .Va message-inject-head
455 .Va message-inject-tail .
461 Special send mode that will MIME classify the specified
463 and use it as the main message body.
464 \*(ID Using this option will bypass processing of
465 .Va message-inject-head
467 .Va message-inject-tail .
473 inhibit the initial display of message headers when reading mail or
478 for the internal variable
483 Standard flag that inhibits reading the system wide
488 allows more control over the startup sequence; also see
489 .Sx "Resource files" .
493 Special send mode that will initialize the message body with the
494 contents of the specified
496 which may be standard input
498 only in non-interactive context.
508 opened will be in read-only mode.
512 .It Fl r Ar from-addr
513 Whereas the source address that appears in the
515 header of a message (or in the
517 header if the former contains multiple addresses) is honoured by the
518 builtin SMTP transport, it is not used by a file-based
520 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) for the RFC 5321 reverse-path used for relaying
521 and delegating a message to its destination(s), for delivery errors
522 etc., but it instead uses the local identity of the initiating user.
525 When this command line option is used the given
527 will be assigned to the internal variable
529 but in addition the command line option
530 .Fl \&\&f Ar from-addr
531 will be passed to a file-based
533 whenever a message is sent.
536 include a user name the address components will be separated and
537 the name part will be passed to a file-based
543 If an empty string is passed as
545 then the content of the variable
547 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
549 will be evaluated and used for this purpose whenever the file-based
558 command line options are used when contacting a file-based MTA, unless
559 this automatic deduction is enforced by
561 ing the internal variable
562 .Va r-option-implicit .
565 Remarks: many default installations and sites disallow overriding the
566 local user identity like this unless either the MTA has been configured
567 accordingly or the user is member of a group with special privileges.
568 Passing an invalid address will cause an error.
572 .It Fl S Ar var Ns Op = Ns value
574 (or, with a prefix string
577 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
580 iable and optionally assign
582 if supported; \*(ID the entire expression is evaluated as if specified
583 within dollar-single-quotes (see
584 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" )
585 if the internal variable
588 If the operation fails the program will exit if any of
593 Settings established via
595 cannot be changed from within
597 or an account switch initiated by
599 They will become mutable again before commands registered via
605 Specify the subject of the message to be sent.
606 Newline (NL) and carriage-return (CR) bytes are invalid and will be
607 normalized to space (SP) characters.
611 The message given (on standard input) is expected to contain, separated
612 from the message body by an empty line, a message header with
617 fields giving its recipients, which will be added to any recipients
618 specified on the command line.
619 If a message subject is specified via
621 then it will be used in favour of one given on the command line.
637 .Ql Mail-Followup-To: ,
638 by default created automatically dependent on message context, will
639 be used if specified (a special address massage will however still occur
641 Any other custom header field (also see
646 is passed through entirely
647 unchanged, and in conjunction with the options
651 it is possible to embed
652 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
660 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
663 appropriate privileges presumed; effectively identical to
664 .Ql Fl \&\&f Ns \0%user .
673 will also show the list of
675 .Ql $ \*(uA -Xversion -Xx .
680 ting the internal variable
682 enables display of some informational context messages.
683 Using it twice increases the level of verbosity.
687 Add the given (or multiple for a multiline argument)
689 to the list of commands to be executed,
690 as a last step of program startup, before normal operation starts.
691 This is the only possibility to execute commands in non-interactive mode
692 when reading startup files has been disabled.
693 The commands will be evaluated as a unit, just as via
703 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
704 in compose mode even in non-interactive use cases.
705 This can be used to, e.g., automatically format the composed message
706 text before sending the message:
707 .Bd -literal -offset indent
708 $ ( echo 'line one. Word. Word2.';\e
709 echo '~| /usr/bin/fmt -tuw66' ) |\e
710 LC_ALL=C \*(uA -d~:/ -Sttycharset=utf-8 bob@exam.ple
715 Enables batch mode: standard input is made line buffered, the complete
716 set of (interactive) commands is available, processing of
717 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
718 is enabled in compose mode, and diverse
719 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
720 are adjusted for batch necessities, exactly as if done via
736 The following prepares an email message in a batched dry run:
737 .Bd -literal -offset indent
738 $ LC_ALL=C printf 'm bob\en~s ubject\enText\en~.\enx\en' |\e
739 LC_ALL=C \*(uA -d#:/ -X'alias bob bob@exam.ple'
744 This flag forces termination of option processing in order to prevent
747 It also forcefully puts \*(UA into send mode, see
748 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
754 arguments and all receivers established via
758 are subject to the checks established by
761 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" .
764 allows their recognition all
766 arguments given at the end of the command line after a
768 separator will be passed through to a file-based
770 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) and persist for the entire session.
772 constraints do not apply to the content of
776 .\" .Ss "A starter" {{{
779 \*(UA is a direct descendant of
781 Mail, itself a successor of the Research
784 .Dq was there from the start
787 It thus represents the user side of the
789 mail system, whereas the system side (Mail-Transfer-Agent, MTA) was
790 traditionally taken by
792 and most MTAs provide a binary of this name for compatibility purposes.
797 of \*(UA then the system side is not a mandatory precondition for mail
801 Because \*(UA strives for compliance with POSIX
803 it is likely that some configuration settings have to be adjusted before
804 using it is a smooth experience.
805 (Rather complete configuration examples can be found in the section
810 .Sx "Resource files" )
811 template bends those standard imposed settings of the
812 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
813 a bit towards more user friendliness and safety, however.
821 in order to suppress the automatic moving of messages to the
823 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
825 that would otherwise occur (see
826 .Sx "Message states" ) ,
829 to not remove empty system MBOX mailbox files (or all empty such files if
831 .Pf a.k.a.\0 Ev POSIXLY_CORRECT
832 mode has been enabled) to avoid mangling of file permissions when files
833 eventually get recreated.
837 in order to synchronize \*(UA with the exit status report of the used
844 to enter interactive startup even if the initial mailbox is empty,
846 to allow editing of headers as well as
848 to not strip down addresses in compose mode, and
850 to include the message that is being responded to when
852 ing, which is indented by an
854 that also deviates from standard imposed settings.
855 .Va mime-counter-evidence
856 is fully enabled, too.
860 The file mode creation mask can be managed explicitly via the variable
862 Sufficient system support provided symbolic links will not be followed
863 when files are opened for writing.
864 Files and shell pipe output can be
866 d for evaluation, also during startup from within the
867 .Sx "Resource files" .
870 .\" .Ss "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" {{{
871 .Ss "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode"
873 To send a message to one or more people, using a local or built-in
875 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) transport to actually deliver the generated mail
876 message, \*(UA can be invoked with arguments which are the names of
877 people to whom the mail will be sent, and the command line options
881 can be used to add (blind) carbon copy receivers:
883 .Bd -literal -offset indent
885 $ \*(uA -s ubject -a ttach.txt bill@exam.ple
887 # But... try it in an isolated dry-run mode (-d) first
888 $ LC_ALL=C \*(uA -d -:/ -Ssendwait -Sttycharset=utf8 \e
889 -b bcc@exam.ple -c cc@exam.ple \e
891 '(Lovely) Bob <bob@exam.ple>' eric@exam.ple
894 $ LC_ALL=C \*(uA -d -:/ -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait -Sttycharset=utf8 \e
895 -S mta=smtps://mylogin@exam.ple:465 -Ssmtp-auth=none \e
896 -S from=scriptreply@exam.ple \e
902 If standard input is a terminal rather than the message to be sent,
903 the user is expected to type in the message contents.
904 In this compose mode \*(UA treats lines beginning with the character
906 special \(en these are so-called
907 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ,
908 which can be used to read in files, process shell commands, add and edit
909 attachments and more; e.g.,
917 respectively, to revise the message in its current state,
919 allows editing of the most important message headers, with the potent
921 custom headers can be created, for example (more specifically than with
926 \*(OPally gives an overview of most other available command escapes.
929 will leave compose mode and send the message once it is completed.
930 Aborting letter composition is possible with either of
934 the latter of which will save the message in the file denoted by
943 can also be achieved by typing end-of-transmission (EOT) via
946 at the beginning of an empty line, and
948 is always reachable by typing end-of-text (ETX) twice via
956 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
957 can be used to alter default behavior.
958 E.g., messages are sent asynchronously, without supervision, unless the
961 is set, therefore send errors will not be recognizable until then.
966 will automatically startup an editor when compose mode is entered,
968 allows editing of headers additionally to plain body content,
972 will cause the user to be prompted actively for (blind) carbon-copy
973 recipients, respectively, and (the default)
975 will request confirmation whether the message shall be sent.
978 The envelope sender address is defined by
980 explicitly defining an originating
982 may be desirable, especially with the builtin SMTP Mail-Transfer-Agent
985 for outgoing message and MIME part content are configurable via
987 whereas input data is assumed to be in
989 Message data will be passed over the wire in a
991 MIME parts a.k.a. attachments need to be assigned a
994 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
995 Saving a copy of sent messages in a
997 mailbox may be desirable \(en as for most mailbox
999 targets the value will undergo
1000 .Sx "Filename transformations" .
1005 sandbox dry-run tests will prove correctness.
1008 Message recipients (as specified on the command line or defined in
1013 may not only be email addressees but can also be names of mailboxes and
1014 even complete shell command pipe specifications.
1017 is not set then only network addresses (see
1019 for a description of mail addresses) and plain user names (including MTA
1020 aliases) may be used, other types will be filtered out, giving a warning
1022 A network address that contains no domain-, but only a valid local user
1024 in angle brackets will be automatically expanded to a valid address when
1026 is set to a non-empty value; setting it to the empty value instructs
1029 will perform the necessary expansion.
1032 may help to generate standard compliant network addresses.
1034 .\" When changing any of the following adjust any RECIPIENTADDRSPEC;
1035 .\" grep the latter for the complete picture
1039 is set then an extended set of recipient addresses will be accepted:
1040 Any name that starts with a vertical bar
1042 character specifies a command pipe \(en the command string following the
1044 is executed and the message is sent to its standard input;
1045 Likewise, any name that starts with the character solidus
1047 or the character sequence dot solidus
1049 is treated as a file, regardless of the remaining content;
1050 likewise a name that solely consists of a hyphen-minus
1052 Any other name which contains a commercial at
1054 character is treated as a network address;
1055 Any other name which starts with a plus sign
1057 character specifies a mailbox name;
1058 Any other name which contains a solidus
1060 character but no exclamation mark
1064 character before also specifies a mailbox name;
1065 What remains is treated as a network address.
1067 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1068 $ echo bla | \*(uA -Sexpandaddr -s test ./mbox.mbox
1069 $ echo bla | \*(uA -Sexpandaddr -s test '|cat >> ./mbox.mbox'
1070 $ echo safe | LC_ALL=C \e
1071 \*(uA -:/ -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait -Sttycharset=utf8 \e
1072 -Sexpandaddr=fail,-all,+addr,failinvaddr -s test \e
1077 It is possible to create personal distribution lists via the
1079 command, so that, for instance, the user can send mail to
1081 and have it go to a group of people.
1082 Different to the alias mechanism of a local
1084 which is often tracked in a file
1088 and the names of which are subject to the
1092 personal aliases will be expanded by \*(UA before the message is sent.
1093 They are thus a convenient alternative to specifying each addressee by
1094 itself, correlate with the active set of
1100 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1101 ? alias cohorts bill jkf mark kridle@ucbcory ~/cohorts.mbox
1102 ? alias mark mark@exam.ple
1106 .Va on-compose-enter , on-compose-leave
1108 .Va on-compose-cleanup
1109 hook variables may be set to
1111 d macros to automatically adjust some settings dependent
1112 on receiver, sender or subject contexts, and via the
1113 .Va on-compose-splice
1115 .Va on-compose-splice-shell
1116 variables, the former also to be set to a
1118 d macro, increasingly powerful mechanisms to perform automated message
1119 adjustments, including signature creation, are available.
1120 (\*(ID These hooks work for commands which newly create messages, namely
1121 .Ic forward , mail , reply
1126 for now provide only the hooks
1129 .Va on-resend-cleanup . )
1132 For the purpose of arranging a complete environment of settings that can
1133 be switched to with a single command or command line option there are
1135 Alternatively it is also possible to use a flat configuration, making use
1136 of so-called variable chains which automatically pick
1140 context-dependent variable variants: for example addressing
1141 .Ql Ic File Ns \& pop3://yaa@exam.ple
1143 .Va \&\&pop3-no-apop-yaa@exam.ple ,
1144 .Va \&\&pop3-no-apop-exam.ple
1149 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
1151 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" .
1154 To avoid environmental noise scripts should
1156 \*(UA from any configuration files and create a script-local
1157 environment, ideally with the command line options
1159 to disable any configuration file in conjunction with repetitions of
1161 to specify variables:
1163 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1164 $ env LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ \e
1165 -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait -Sttycharset=utf-8 \e
1166 -Sexpandaddr=fail,-all,failinvaddr \e
1167 -S mta=smtps://mylogin@exam.ple:465 -Ssmtp-auth=login \e
1168 -S from=scriptreply@exam.ple \e
1169 -s 'Subject to go' -a attachment_file \e
1171 'Recipient 1 <rec1@exam.ple>' rec2@exam.ple \e
1176 As shown, scripts can
1178 a locale environment, the above specifies the all-compatible 7-bit clean
1181 but will nonetheless take and send UTF-8 in the message text by using
1183 In interactive mode, which is introduced in the next section, messages
1184 can be sent by calling the
1186 command with a list of recipient addresses:
1188 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1189 $ \*(uA -d -Squiet -Semptystart
1190 "/var/spool/mail/user": 0 messages
1191 ? mail "Recipient 1 <rec1@exam.ple>", rec2@exam.ple
1193 ? # Will do the right thing (tm)
1194 ? m rec1@exam.ple rec2@exam.ple
1198 .\" .Ss "On reading mail, and interactive mode" {{{
1199 .Ss "On reading mail, and interactive mode"
1201 When invoked without addressees \*(UA enters interactive mode in which
1203 When used like that the user's system
1205 (for more on mailbox types please see the command
1207 is read in and a one line header of each message therein is displayed if
1211 The visual style of this summary of
1213 can be adjusted through the variable
1215 and the possible sorting criterion via
1221 can be performed with the command
1223 If the initially opened mailbox is empty \*(UA will instead exit
1224 immediately (after displaying a message) unless the variable
1233 will give a listing of all available commands and
1235 will \*(OPally give a summary of some common ones.
1236 If the \*(OPal documentation strings are available (see
1241 and see the actual expansion of
1243 and what its purpose is, i.e., commands can be abbreviated
1244 (note that POSIX defines some abbreviations, so that the alphabetical
1245 order of commands does not necessarily relate to the abbreviations; it is
1246 however possible to define overwrites with
1247 .Ic commandalias ) .
1248 These commands can also produce a more
1253 Messages are given numbers (starting at 1) which uniquely identify
1254 messages; the current message \(en the
1256 \(en will either be the first new message, or the first unread message,
1257 or the first message of the mailbox; the internal variable
1259 will instead cause usage of the last message for this purpose.
1264 ful of header summaries containing the
1268 will display only the summaries of the given messages, defaulting to the
1272 Message content can be displayed with the command
1279 controls whether and when \*(UA will use the configured
1281 for display instead of directly writing to the user terminal
1283 the sole difference to the command
1285 which will always use the
1289 will instead only show the first
1291 of a message (maybe even compressed if
1294 Message display experience may improve by setting and adjusting
1295 .Va mime-counter-evidence ,
1297 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" .
1300 By default the current message
1302 is displayed, but like with many other commands it is possible to give
1303 a fancy message specification (see
1304 .Sx "Specifying messages" ) ,
1307 will display all unread messages,
1312 will type the messages 1 and 5,
1314 will type the messages 1 through 5, and
1318 will display the previous and the next message, respectively.
1321 (a more substantial alias for
1323 will display a header summary of the given message specification list
1324 instead of their content, e.g., the following will search for subjects:
1327 .Dl ? from "'@Some subject to search for'"
1330 In the default setup all header fields of a message will be
1332 d, but fields can be white- or blacklisted for a variety of
1333 applications by using the command
1335 e.g., to restrict their display to a very restricted set for
1337 .Ql Ic \:headerpick Cd \:type retain Ar \:from to cc subject .
1338 In order to display all header fields of a message regardless of
1339 currently active ignore or retain lists, use the commands
1344 will show the raw message content.
1345 Note that historically the global
1347 not only adjusts the list of displayed headers, but also sets
1351 Dependent upon the configuration a line editor (see the section
1352 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
1353 aims at making the user experience with the many
1356 When reading the system
1362 specified a mailbox explicitly prefixed with the special
1364 modifier (to propagate it to a
1366 .Sx "primary system mailbox" ) ,
1367 then messages which have been read
1368 .Pf (see\0 Sx "Message states" )
1369 will be automatically moved to a
1371 .Sx "secondary mailbox" ,
1374 file, when the mailbox is left, either by changing the active mailbox or
1375 by quitting \*(UA \(en this automatic moving from a system- or primary-
1376 to the secondary mailbox is not performed when the variable
1379 Messages can also be explicitly
1381 d to other mailboxes, whereas
1383 keeps the original message.
1385 can be used to write out data content of specific parts of messages.
1388 After examining a message the user can
1390 to the sender and all recipients (which will also be placed in
1393 .Va recipients-in-cc
1396 exclusively to the sender(s).
1399 knows how to apply a special addressee massage, see
1400 .Sx "Mailing lists" .
1402 ing a message will allow editing the new message: the original message
1403 will be contained in the message body, adjusted according to
1409 messages: the former will add a series of
1411 headers, whereas the latter will not; different to newly created
1412 messages editing is not possible and no copy will be saved even with
1414 unless the additional variable
1417 When sending, replying or forwarding messages comments and full names
1418 will be stripped from recipient addresses unless the internal variable
1423 Of course messages can be
1425 and they can spring into existence again via
1427 or when the \*(UA session is ended via the
1431 commands to perform a quick program termation.
1432 To end a mail processing session regulary and perform a full program
1433 exit one may issue the command
1435 It will, among others, move read messages to the
1437 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
1439 as necessary, discard deleted messages in the current mailbox,
1440 and update the \*(OPal (see
1446 .\" .Ss "HTML mail and MIME attachments" {{{
1447 .Ss "HTML mail and MIME attachments"
1449 Messages which are HTML-only become more and more common, and of course
1450 many messages come bundled with a bouquet of MIME (Multipurpose Internet
1451 Mail Extensions) parts.
1452 To get a notion of MIME types \*(UA has a default set of types built-in,
1453 onto which the content of
1454 .Sx "The mime.types files"
1455 will be added (as configured and allowed by
1456 .Va mimetypes-load-control ) .
1457 Types can also become registered with the command
1459 To improve interaction with faulty MIME part declarations which are
1460 often seen in real-life messages, setting
1461 .Va mime-counter-evidence
1462 will allow verification of the given assertion, and possible provision
1463 of an alternative, better MIME type.
1466 Whereas \*(UA \*(OPally supports a simple HTML-to-text filter for
1467 displaying HTML messages, it cannot handle MIME types other than plain
1469 Instead programs need to become registered to deal with specific MIME
1470 types or file extensions.
1471 These programs may either prepare plain text versions of their input in
1472 order to enable \*(UA to integrate their output neatlessly in its own
1473 message visualization (a mode which is called
1474 .Cd copiousoutput ) ,
1475 or display the content themselves, for example in an external graphical
1476 window: such handlers will only be considered by and for the command
1480 To install a handler program for a specific MIME type an according
1481 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
1482 variable needs to be set; to instead define a handler for a specific
1483 file extension the respective
1485 variable can be used \(en these handlers take precedence.
1486 \*(OPally \*(UA supports mail user agent configuration as defined in
1487 RFC 1524; this mechanism (see
1488 .Sx "The Mailcap files" )
1489 will be queried for display or quote handlers if none of the former two
1490 .\" TODO v15-compat "will be" -> "is"
1491 did; it will be the sole source for handlers of other purpose.
1492 A last source for handlers is the MIME type definition itself, if
1493 a type-marker has been registered with the command
1495 which many of the built-in MIME types do.
1498 For example, to display a HTML message inline (converted to a more fancy
1499 plain text representation than the built-in filter is capable to produce)
1500 with either of the text-mode browsers
1504 teach \*(UA about MathML documents and make it display them as plain
1505 text, and to open PDF attachments in an external PDF viewer,
1506 asynchronously and with some other magic attached:
1508 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1509 ? if [ "$features" !% +filter-html-tagsoup ]
1510 ? #set pipe-text/html='@* elinks -force-html -dump 1'
1511 ? set pipe-text/html='@* lynx -stdin -dump -force_html'
1512 ? # Display HTML as plain text instead
1513 ? #set pipe-text/html=@
1515 ? mimetype @ application/mathml+xml mathml
1516 ? wysh set pipe-application/pdf='@&=@ \e
1517 trap "rm -f \e"${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}\e"" EXIT;\e
1518 trap "trap \e"\e" INT QUIT TERM; exit 1" INT QUIT TERM;\e
1519 mupdf "${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}"'
1523 .\" .Ss "Mailing lists" {{{
1526 \*(UA offers some support to ease handling of mailing lists.
1529 promotes all given arguments to known mailing lists, and
1531 sets their subscription attribute, creating them first as necessary.
1536 automatically, but only resets the subscription attribute.)
1537 Using the commands without arguments will show (a subset of) all
1538 currently defined mailing lists.
1543 can be used to mark out messages with configured list addresses
1548 If the \*(OPal regular expression support is available a mailing list
1549 specification that contains any of the
1551 regular expression characters
1555 will be interpreted as one, which allows matching of many addresses with
1556 a single expression.
1557 However, all fully qualified list addresses are matched via a fast
1558 dictionary, whereas expressions are placed in (a) list(s) which is
1559 (are) matched sequentially.
1561 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1562 ? set followup-to followup-to-honour=ask-yes \e
1563 reply-to-honour=ask-yes
1564 ? wysh mlist a1@b1.c1 a2@b2.c2 '.*@lists\e.c3$'
1565 ? mlsubscribe a4@b4.c4 exact@lists.c3
1570 .Va followup-to-honour
1572 .Ql Mail-\:Followup-\:To:
1573 header is honoured when the message is being replied to (via
1579 controls whether this header is created when sending mails; it will be
1580 created automatically for a couple of reasons, too, like when the
1582 .Dq mailing list specific
1587 is used to respond to a message with its
1588 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
1592 A difference in between the handling of known and subscribed lists is
1593 that the address of the user is usually not part of a generated
1594 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
1595 when addressing the latter, whereas it is for the former kind of lists.
1596 Usually because there are exceptions: say, if multiple lists are
1597 addressed and not all of them are subscribed lists.
1599 For convenience \*(UA will, temporarily, automatically add a list
1600 address that is presented in the
1602 header of a message that is being responded to to the list of known
1604 Shall that header have existed \*(UA will instead, dependent on the
1606 .Va reply-to-honour ,
1609 for this purpose (if it provides a single address which resides on the
1610 same domain as what is stated in
1612 in order to accept a list administrator's wish that is supposed to have
1613 been manifested like that.
1616 .\" .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME" {{{
1617 .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
1619 \*(OP S/MIME provides two central mechanisms:
1620 message signing and message encryption.
1621 A signed message contains some data in addition to the regular text.
1622 The data can be used to verify that the message has been sent using
1623 a valid certificate, that the sender address matches that in the
1624 certificate, and that the message text has not been altered.
1625 Signing a message does not change its regular text;
1626 it can be read regardless of whether the recipients software is able to
1628 It is thus usually possible to sign all outgoing messages if so desired.
1631 Encryption, in contrast, makes the message text invisible for all people
1632 except those who have access to the secret decryption key.
1633 To encrypt a message, the specific recipients public encryption key
1635 It is therefore not possible to send encrypted mail to people unless their
1636 key has been retrieved from either previous communication or public key
1638 A message should always be signed before it is encrypted.
1641 A central concept to S/MIME is that of the certification authority (CA).
1642 A CA is a trusted institution that issues certificates.
1643 For each of these certificates it can be verified that it really
1644 originates from the CA, provided that the CA's own certificate is
1646 A set of CA certificates is usually delivered and installed together
1647 with the cryptographical library that is used on the local system.
1648 Therefore reasonable security for S/MIME on the Internet is provided if
1649 the source that provides that library installation is trusted.
1650 It is also possible to use a specific pool of trusted certificates.
1652 .Va smime-ca-no-defaults
1653 should be set to avoid using the default certificate pool, and
1657 should be pointed to a trusted pool of certificates.
1658 A certificate cannot be more secure than the method its CA certificate
1659 has been retrieved with.
1662 This trusted pool of certificates is used by the command
1664 to ensure that the given S/MIME messages can be trusted.
1665 If so, verified sender certificates that were embedded in signed
1666 messages can be saved locally with the command
1668 and used by \*(UA to encrypt further communication with these senders:
1670 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1672 ? set smime-encrypt-USER@HOST=FILENAME \e
1673 smime-cipher-USER@HOST=AES256
1677 To sign outgoing messages in order to allow receivers to verify the
1678 origin of these messages a personal S/MIME certificate is required.
1679 \*(UA supports password-protected personal certificates (and keys),
1680 for more on this, and its automatization, please see the section
1681 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
1683 .Sx "S/MIME step by step"
1684 shows examplarily how such a private certificate can be obtained.
1685 In general, if such a private key plus certificate
1687 is available, all that needs to be done is to set some variables:
1689 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1690 ? set smime-sign-cert=ME@exam.ple.paired \e
1691 smime-sign-message-digest=SHA512 \e
1696 Variables of interest for S/MIME in general are
1699 .Va smime-ca-flags ,
1700 .Va smime-ca-no-defaults ,
1702 .Va smime-crl-file .
1703 For S/MIME signing of interest are
1705 .Va smime-sign-cert ,
1706 .Va smime-sign-include-certs
1708 .Va smime-sign-message-digest .
1709 Additional variables of interest for S/MIME en- and decryption:
1712 .Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST .
1715 \*(ID Note that neither S/MIME signing nor encryption applies to
1716 message subjects or other header fields yet.
1717 Thus they may not contain sensitive information for encrypted messages,
1718 and cannot be trusted even if the message content has been verified.
1719 When sending signed messages,
1720 it is recommended to repeat any important header information in the
1724 .\" .Ss "On URL syntax and credential lookup" {{{
1725 .Ss "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
1727 \*(IN For accessing protocol-specific resources usage of Uniform
1728 Resource Locators (URL, RFC 1738) has become omnipresent.
1729 \*(UA expects and understands URLs in the following form;
1732 denote optional parts, optional either because there also exist other
1733 ways to define the information in question or because support of the
1734 part is protocol-specific, e.g.,
1736 is used by the local maildir and the IMAP protocol, but not by POP3;
1741 are specified they must be given in URL percent encoded form (RFC 3986;
1747 .Dl PROTOCOL://[USER[:PASSWORD]@]server[:port][/path]
1750 Note that these \*(UA URLs most often do not conform to any real
1751 standard, but instead represent a normalized variant of RFC 1738 \(en
1752 they are not used in data exchange but only meant as a compact,
1753 easy-to-use way of defining and representing information in
1754 a well-known notation.
1757 Many internal variables of \*(UA exist in multiple versions, called
1758 variable chains for the rest of this document: the plain
1763 .Ql variable-USER@HOST .
1770 had been specified in the respective URL, otherwise it refers to the plain
1776 that had been found when doing the user chain lookup as is described
1779 will never be in URL percent encoded form, whether it came from an URL
1780 or not; i.e., variable chain name extensions of
1781 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
1782 must not be URL percent encoded.
1785 For example, whether an hypothetical URL
1786 .Ql smtp://hey%3Ayou@our.house
1787 had been given that includes a user, or whether the URL was
1788 .Ql smtp://our.house
1789 and the user had been found differently, to lookup the variable chain
1790 .Va smtp-use-starttls
1791 \*(UA first looks for whether
1792 .Ql smtp-\:use-\:starttls-\:hey:you@our.house
1793 is defined, then whether
1794 .Ql smtp-\:use-\:starttls-\:our.house
1795 exists before finally ending up looking at the plain variable itself.
1798 \*(UA obeys the following logic scheme when dealing with the
1799 necessary credential information of an account:
1805 has been given in the URL the variables
1810 If no such variable(s) can be found then \*(UA will,
1811 when enforced by the \*(OPal variables
1812 .Va netrc-lookup-HOST
1816 .Sx "The .netrc file"
1819 specific entry which provides a
1821 name: this lookup will only succeed if unambiguous (one possible matching
1825 If there is still no
1827 then \*(UA will fall back to the user who is supposed to run \*(UA,
1828 the identity of which has been fixated during \*(UA startup and is
1829 known to be a valid user on the current host.
1832 Authentication: unless otherwise noted this will lookup the
1833 .Va PROTOCOL-auth-USER@HOST , PROTOCOL-auth-HOST , PROTOCOL-auth
1834 variable chain, falling back to a protocol-specific default should this
1840 has been given in the URL, then if the
1842 has been found through the \*(OPal
1844 that may have already provided the password, too.
1845 Otherwise the variable chain
1846 .Va password-USER@HOST , password-HOST , password
1847 is looked up and used if existent.
1849 Afterwards the complete \*(OPal variable chain
1850 .Va netrc-lookup-USER@HOST , netrc-lookup-HOST , netrc-lookup
1854 cache is searched for a password only (multiple user accounts for
1855 a single machine may exist as well as a fallback entry without user
1856 but with a password).
1858 If at that point there is still no password available, but the
1859 (protocols') chosen authentication type requires a password, then in
1860 interactive mode the user will be prompted on the terminal.
1865 S/MIME verification works relative to the values found in the
1869 header field(s), which means that the values of
1870 .Va smime-sign , smime-sign-cert , smime-sign-include-certs
1872 .Va smime-sign-message-digest
1873 will not be looked up using the
1877 chains from above but instead use the corresponding values from the
1878 message that is being worked on.
1879 In unusual cases multiple and different
1883 combinations may therefore be involved \(en on the other hand those
1884 unusual cases become possible.
1885 The usual case is as short as:
1887 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1888 set mta=smtp://USER:PASS@HOST smtp-use-starttls \e
1889 smime-sign smime-sign-cert=+smime.pair
1895 contains complete example configurations.
1898 .\" .Ss "Encrypted network communication" {{{
1899 .Ss "Encrypted network communication"
1901 SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) a.k.a. its successor TLS (Transport Layer
1902 Security) are protocols which aid in securing communication by providing
1903 a safely initiated and encrypted network connection.
1904 A central concept of SSL/TLS is that of certificates: as part of each
1905 network connection setup a (set of) certificates will be exchanged, and
1906 by using those the identity of the network peer can be cryptographically
1907 verified; if possible the TLS/SNI (ServerNameIndication) extension will
1908 be enabled in order to allow servers fine-grained control over the
1909 certificates being used.
1910 SSL/TLS works by using a locally installed pool of trusted certificates,
1911 and verifying the connection peer succeeds if that provides
1912 a certificate which has been issued or is trusted by any certificate in
1913 the trusted local pool.
1916 The local pool of trusted so-called CA (Certification Authority)
1917 certificates is usually delivered with the used SSL/TLS library, and
1918 will be selected automatically.
1919 It is also possible to use a specific pool of trusted certificates.
1921 .Va ssl-ca-no-defaults
1922 should be set to avoid using the default certificate pool, and
1924 and/or (with special preparation)
1926 should be pointed to a trusted pool of certificates.
1927 A certificate cannot be more secure than the method its CA certificate
1928 has been retrieved with.
1931 It depends on the used protocol whether encrypted communication is
1932 possible, and which configuration steps have to be taken to enable it.
1933 Some protocols, e.g., POP3S, are implicitly encrypted, others, like
1934 POP3, can upgrade a plain text connection if so requested.
1935 For example, to use the
1937 that POP3 offers (a member of) the variable (chain)
1938 .Va pop3-use-starttls
1941 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1942 shortcut encpop1 pop3s://pop1.exam.ple
1944 shortcut encpop2 pop3://pop2.exam.ple
1945 set pop3-use-starttls-pop2.exam.ple
1947 set mta=smtps://smtp.exam.ple:465
1948 set mta=smtp://smtp.exam.ple smtp-use-starttls
1952 Normally that is all there is to do, given that SSL/TLS libraries try to
1953 provide safe defaults, plenty of knobs however exist to adjust settings.
1954 For example certificate verification settings can be fine-tuned via
1956 and the SSL/TLS configuration basics are accessible via
1957 .Va ssl-config-pairs ,
1958 for example to specify the allowed protocols or cipher lists that
1959 a communication channel may use.
1960 In the past hints on how to restrict the set of protocols to highly
1961 secure ones were indicated, but as of the time of this writing the list
1962 of protocols or ciphers may need to become relaxed in order to be able
1963 to connect to some servers; the following example allows connecting to a
1965 that uses OpenSSL 0.9.8za from June 2014 (refer to
1966 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
1967 for more on variable chains):
1969 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1970 wysh set ssl-config-pairs-lion@exam.ple='MinProtocol=TLSv1.1,\e
1971 CipherString=TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:\e
1972 ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA:\e
1973 DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:@STRENGTH'
1979 can be used and should be referred to when creating a custom cipher list.
1980 Variables of interest for SSL/TLS in general are
1984 .Va ssl-ca-no-defaults ,
1985 .Va ssl-config-file ,
1986 .Va ssl-config-module ,
1987 .Va ssl-config-pairs ,
1995 .\" .Ss "Character sets" {{{
1996 .Ss "Character sets"
1998 \*(OP \*(UA detects the character set of the terminal by using
1999 mechanisms that are controlled by the
2001 environment variable
2006 in that order, see there).
2007 The internal variable
2009 will be set to the detected terminal character set accordingly,
2010 and will thus show up in the output of commands like, e.g.,
2016 However, the user may give
2018 a value during startup, making it possible to send mail in a completely
2020 locale environment, an option which can be used to generate and send,
2021 e.g., 8-bit UTF-8 input data in a pure 7-bit US-ASCII
2023 environment (an example of this can be found in the section
2024 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" ) .
2025 Changing the value does not mean much beside that, because several
2026 aspects of the real character set are implied by the locale environment
2027 of the system, which stays unaffected by
2031 Messages and attachments which consist of 7-bit clean data will be
2032 classified as consisting of
2035 This is a problem if the
2037 character set is a multibyte character set that is also 7-bit clean.
2038 For example, the Japanese character set ISO-2022-JP is 7-bit clean but
2039 capable to encode the rich set of Japanese Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana
2040 characters: in order to notify receivers of this character set the mail
2041 message must be MIME encoded so that the character set ISO-2022-JP can
2043 To achieve this, the variable
2045 must be set to ISO-2022-JP.
2046 (Today a better approach regarding email is the usage of UTF-8, which
2047 uses 8-bit bytes for non-US-ASCII data.)
2050 If the \*(OPal character set conversion capabilities are not available
2052 does not include the term
2056 will be the only supported character set,
2057 it is simply assumed that it can be used to exchange 8-bit messages
2058 (over the wire an intermediate, configurable
2061 and the rest of this section does not apply;
2062 it may however still be necessary to explicitly set it if automatic
2063 detection fails, since in that case it defaults to
2064 .\" (Keep in SYNC: ./nail.1:"Character sets", ./config.h:CHARSET_*!)
2065 LATIN1 a.k.a. ISO-8859-1 unless the operating system environment is
2066 known to always and exclusively support UTF-8 locales.
2069 \*(OP When reading messages, their text is converted into
2071 as necessary in order to display them on the user's terminal.
2072 Unprintable characters and invalid byte sequences are detected
2073 and replaced by proper substitution characters.
2074 Character set mappings for source character sets can be established with
2077 which may be handy to work around faulty character set catalogues (e.g.,
2078 to add a missing LATIN1 to ISO-8859-1 mapping), or to enforce treatment
2079 of one character set as another one (e.g., to interpret LATIN1 as CP1252).
2081 .Va charset-unknown-8bit
2082 to deal with another hairy aspect of message interpretation.
2085 When sending messages their parts and attachments are classified.
2086 Whereas no character set conversion is performed on those parts which
2087 appear to be binary data,
2088 the character set being used must be declared within the MIME header of
2089 an outgoing text part if it contains characters that do not conform to
2090 the set of characters that are allowed by the email standards.
2091 Permissible values for character sets used in outgoing messages can be
2096 which defines a catch-all last-resort fallback character set that is
2097 implicitly appended to the list of character sets in
2101 When replying to a message and the variable
2102 .Va reply-in-same-charset
2103 is set, then the character set of the message being replied to
2104 is tried first (still being a subject of
2105 .Ic charsetalias ) .
2106 And it is also possible to make \*(UA work even more closely related to
2107 the current locale setting automatically by using the variable
2108 .Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset ,
2109 please see there for more information.
2112 All the specified character sets are tried in order unless the
2113 conversion of the part or attachment succeeds.
2114 If none of the tried (8-bit) character sets is capable to represent the
2115 content of the part or attachment,
2116 then the message will not be send and its text will optionally be
2120 In general, if a message saying
2121 .Dq cannot convert from a to b
2122 appears, either some characters are not appropriate for the currently
2123 selected (terminal) character set,
2124 or the needed conversion is not supported by the system.
2125 In the first case, it is necessary to set an appropriate
2127 locale and/or the variable
2131 The best results are usually achieved when \*(UA is run in a UTF-8
2132 locale on an UTF-8 capable terminal, in which case the full Unicode
2133 spectrum of characters is available.
2134 In this setup characters from various countries can be displayed,
2135 while it is still possible to use more simple character sets for sending
2136 to retain maximum compatibility with older mail clients.
2139 On the other hand the POSIX standard defines a locale-independent 7-bit
2140 .Dq portable character set
2141 that should be used when overall portability is an issue, the even more
2142 restricted subset named
2143 .Dq portable filename character set
2144 consists of A-Z, a-z, 0-9, period
2152 .\" .Ss "Message states" {{{
2153 .Ss "Message states"
2155 \*(UA differentiates in between several message states; the current
2156 state will be reflected in the summary of
2163 .Sx "Specifying messages"
2164 dependent on their state is possible.
2165 When operating on the system
2169 .Sx "primary system mailbox" ,
2170 special actions, like the automatic moving of messages to the
2172 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
2174 may be applied when the mailbox is left (also implicitly by program
2175 termination, unless the command
2177 was used) \(en however, because this may be irritating to users which
2180 mail-user-agents, the provided global
2182 template sets the internal
2186 variables in order to suppress this behaviour.
2188 .Bl -hang -width ".It Ql new"
2190 Message has neither been viewed nor moved to any other state.
2191 Such messages are retained even in the
2193 .Sx "primary system mailbox" .
2196 Message has neither been viewed nor moved to any other state, but the
2197 message was present already when the mailbox has been opened last:
2198 Such messages are retained even in the
2200 .Sx "primary system mailbox" .
2203 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
2222 will always try to automatically
2228 logical message, and may thus mark multiple messages as read, the
2230 command will do so if the internal variable
2236 command is used, messages that are in a
2238 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
2241 state when the mailbox is left will be saved in the
2243 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
2245 unless the internal variable
2250 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
2256 can be used to access such messages.
2259 The message has been processed by a
2261 command and it will be retained in its current location.
2264 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
2270 command is used, messages that are in a
2272 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
2275 state when the mailbox is left will be deleted; they will be saved in the
2277 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
2279 when the internal variable
2285 In addition to these message states, flags which otherwise have no
2286 technical meaning in the mail system except allowing special ways of
2287 addressing them when
2288 .Sx "Specifying messages"
2289 can be set on messages.
2290 These flags are saved with messages and are thus persistent, and are
2291 portable between a set of widely used MUAs.
2293 .Bl -hang -width ".It Ic answered"
2295 Mark messages as having been answered.
2297 Mark messages as being a draft.
2299 Mark messages which need special attention.
2303 .\" .Ss "Specifying messages" {{{
2304 .Ss "Specifying messages"
2307 .Sx "Message list arguments" ,
2315 can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply to a number
2316 of messages at once.
2319 deletes messages 1 and 2,
2322 will delete the messages 1 through 5.
2323 In sorted or threaded mode (see the
2327 will delete the messages that are located between (and including)
2328 messages 1 through 5 in the sorted/threaded order, as shown in the
2331 The following special message names exist:
2334 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ar BaNg"
2336 The current message, the so-called
2340 The message that was previously the current message.
2343 The parent message of the current message,
2344 that is the message with the Message-ID given in the
2346 field or the last entry of the
2348 field of the current message.
2351 The previous undeleted message, or the previous deleted message for the
2357 ed mode, the previous such message in the according order.
2360 The next undeleted message, or the next deleted message for the
2366 ed mode, the next such message in the according order.
2369 The first undeleted message,
2370 or the first deleted message for the
2376 ed mode, the first such message in the according order.
2379 The last message; In
2383 ed mode, the last such message in the according order.
2390 mode, selects the message addressed with
2394 is any other message specification,
2395 and all messages from the thread that begins at it.
2396 Otherwise it is identical to
2401 the thread beginning with the current message is selected.
2406 All messages that were included in the
2407 .Sx "Message list arguments"
2408 of the previous command.
2411 An inclusive range of message numbers.
2412 Selectors that may also be used as endpoints include any of
2417 .Dq any substring matches
2420 header, which will match addresses (too) even if
2422 is set (and POSIX says
2423 .Dq any address as shown in a header summary shall be matchable in this form ) ;
2426 variable is set, only the local part of the address is evaluated
2427 for the comparison, not ignoring case, and the setting of
2429 is completely ignored.
2430 For finer control and match boundaries use the
2434 .It Ar / Ns Ar string
2435 All messages that contain
2437 in the subject field (case ignored according to locale).
2444 the string from the previous specification of that type is used again.
2447 .It Xo Op Ar @ Ns Ar name-list Ns
2450 All messages that contain the given case-insensitive search
2452 ession; If the \*(OPal regular expression support is available
2454 will be interpreted as (an extended) one if any of the
2456 regular expression characters
2461 .Ar @ Ns Ar name-list
2462 part is missing the search is restricted to the subject field body,
2465 specifies a comma-separated list of header fields to search, e.g.,
2468 .Dl '@to,from,cc@Someone i ought to know'
2471 In order to search for a string that includes a
2473 (commercial at) character the
2475 is effectively non-optional, but may be given as the empty string.
2476 Also, specifying an empty search
2478 ession will effectively test for existence of the given header fields.
2479 Some special header fields may be abbreviated:
2493 respectively and case-insensitively.
2494 \*(OPally, and just like
2497 will be interpreted as (an extended) regular expression if any of the
2499 regular expression characters is seen.
2506 can be used to search in (all of) the header(s) of the message, and the
2515 will perform full text searches \(en whereas the former searches only
2516 the body, the latter also searches the message header (\*(ID this mode
2517 yet brute force searches over the entire decoded content of messages,
2518 including administrativa strings).
2521 This specification performs full text comparison, but even with
2522 regular expression support it is almost impossible to write a search
2523 expression that safely matches only a specific address domain.
2524 To request that the body content of the header is treated as a list of
2525 addresses, and to strip those down to the plain email address which the
2526 search expression is to be matched against, prefix the effective
2532 .Dl @~f@@a\e.safe\e.domain\e.match$
2536 All messages of state or with matching condition
2540 is one or multiple of the following colon modifiers:
2542 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar :M"
2545 messages (cf. the variable
2546 .Va markanswered ) .
2558 Messages with receivers that match
2562 Messages with receivers that match
2569 Old messages (any not in state
2577 \*(OP Messages with unsure spam classification (see
2578 .Sx "Handling spam" ) .
2580 \*(OP Messages classified as spam.
2592 \*(OP IMAP-style SEARCH expressions may also be used.
2593 This addressing mode is available with all types of mailbox
2595 s; \*(UA will perform the search locally as necessary.
2596 Strings must be enclosed by double quotes
2598 in their entirety if they contain whitespace or parentheses;
2599 within the quotes, only reverse solidus
2601 is recognized as an escape character.
2602 All string searches are case-insensitive.
2603 When the description indicates that the
2605 representation of an address field is used,
2606 this means that the search string is checked against both a list
2609 .Bd -literal -offset indent
2610 (\*qname\*q \*qsource\*q \*qlocal-part\*q \*qdomain-part\*q)
2615 and the addresses without real names from the respective header field.
2616 These search expressions can be nested using parentheses, see below for
2620 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar _n_u"
2621 .It Ar ( criterion )
2622 All messages that satisfy the given
2624 .It Ar ( criterion1 criterion2 ... criterionN )
2625 All messages that satisfy all of the given criteria.
2627 .It Ar ( or criterion1 criterion2 )
2628 All messages that satisfy either
2633 To connect more than two criteria using
2635 specifications have to be nested using additional parentheses,
2637 .Ql (or a (or b c)) ,
2641 .Ql ((a or b) and c) .
2644 operation of independent criteria on the lowest nesting level,
2645 it is possible to achieve similar effects by using three separate
2649 .It Ar ( not criterion )
2650 All messages that do not satisfy
2652 .It Ar ( bcc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2653 All messages that contain
2655 in the envelope representation of the
2658 .It Ar ( cc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2659 All messages that contain
2661 in the envelope representation of the
2664 .It Ar ( from \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2665 All messages that contain
2667 in the envelope representation of the
2670 .It Ar ( subject \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2671 All messages that contain
2676 .It Ar ( to \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2677 All messages that contain
2679 in the envelope representation of the
2682 .It Ar ( header name \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2683 All messages that contain
2688 .It Ar ( body \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2689 All messages that contain
2692 .It Ar ( text \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2693 All messages that contain
2695 in their header or body.
2696 .It Ar ( larger size )
2697 All messages that are larger than
2700 .It Ar ( smaller size )
2701 All messages that are smaller than
2705 .It Ar ( before date )
2706 All messages that were received before
2708 which must be in the form
2712 denotes the day of the month as one or two digits,
2714 is the name of the month \(en one of
2715 .Ql Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec ,
2718 is the year as four digits, e.g.,
2722 All messages that were received on the specified date.
2723 .It Ar ( since date )
2724 All messages that were received since the specified date.
2725 .It Ar ( sentbefore date )
2726 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
2727 .It Ar ( senton date )
2728 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
2729 .It Ar ( sentsince date )
2730 All messages that were sent since the specified date.
2732 The same criterion as for the previous search.
2733 This specification cannot be used as part of another criterion.
2734 If the previous command line contained more than one independent
2735 criterion then the last of those criteria is used.
2739 .\" .Ss "On terminal control and line editor" {{{
2740 .Ss "On terminal control and line editor"
2742 \*(OP Terminal control will be realized through one of the standard
2744 libraries, either the
2746 or, alternatively, the
2748 both of which will be initialized to work with the environment variable
2750 Terminal control will enhance or enable interactive usage aspects, e.g.,
2751 .Sx "Coloured display" ,
2752 and extend behaviour of the Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE), which may learn the
2753 byte-sequences of keys like the cursor- and function-keys.
2756 The internal variable
2758 can be used to overwrite settings or to learn (correct(ed)) keycodes.
2759 Actual library interaction can be disabled completely by setting
2760 .Va termcap-disable ;
2762 will be queried regardless, which is true even if the \*(OPal library
2763 support has not been enabled at configuration time as long as some other
2764 \*(OP which (may) query terminal control sequences has been enabled.
2765 \*(UA can be told to enter an alternative exclusive screen, the
2766 so-called ca-mode, by setting
2767 .Va termcap-ca-mode ;
2768 this requires sufficient terminal support, and the used
2770 may also need special configuration, dependent on the value of
2774 \*(OP The built-in Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE) should work in all
2775 environments which comply to the ISO C standard
2777 and will support wide glyphs if possible (the necessary functionality
2778 had been removed from ISO C, but was included in
2780 Usage of a line editor in interactive mode can be prevented by setting
2781 .Va line-editor-disable .
2782 Especially if the \*(OPal terminal control support is missing setting
2783 entries in the internal variable
2785 will help shall the MLE misbehave, see there for more.
2786 The MLE can support a little bit of
2792 feature is available then input from line editor prompts will be saved
2793 in a history list that can be searched in and be expanded from.
2794 Such saving can be prevented by prefixing input with any amount of
2796 Aspects of history, like allowed content and maximum size, as well as
2797 whether history shall be saved persistently, can be configured with the
2801 .Va history-gabby-persist
2806 The MLE supports a set of editing and control commands.
2807 By default (as) many (as possible) of these will be assigned to a set of
2808 single-letter control codes, which should work on any terminal (and can
2809 be generated by holding the
2811 key while pressing the key of desire, e.g.,
2815 command is available then the MLE commands can also be accessed freely
2816 by assigning the command name, which is shown in parenthesis in the list
2817 below, to any desired key-sequence, and the MLE will instead and also use
2819 to establish its built-in key bindings
2820 (more of them if the \*(OPal terminal control is available),
2821 an action which can then be suppressed completely by setting
2822 .Va line-editor-no-defaults .
2823 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
2824 notation is used in the following;
2825 combinations not mentioned either cause job control signals or do not
2826 generate a (unique) keycode:
2830 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql \eBa"
2832 Go to the start of the line
2834 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-home ) .
2837 Move the cursor backward one character
2839 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-bwd ) .
2842 Forward delete the character under the cursor;
2843 quits \*(UA if used on the empty line unless the internal variable
2847 .Pf ( Cd mle-del-fwd ) .
2850 Go to the end of the line
2852 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-end ) .
2855 Move the cursor forward one character
2857 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-fwd ) .
2860 Cancel current operation, full reset.
2861 If there is an active history search or tabulator expansion then this
2862 command will first reset that, reverting to the former line content;
2863 thus a second reset is needed for a full reset in this case
2865 .Pf ( Cd mle-reset ) .
2868 Backspace: backward delete one character
2870 .Pf ( Cd mle-del-bwd ) .
2874 Horizontal tabulator:
2875 try to expand the word before the cursor, supporting the usual
2876 .Sx "Filename transformations"
2878 .Pf ( Cd mle-complete ;
2880 .Cd mle-quote-rndtrip ) .
2884 commit the current line
2886 .Pf ( Cd mle-commit ) .
2889 Cut all characters from the cursor to the end of the line
2891 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-end ) .
2896 .Pf ( Cd mle-repaint ) .
2899 \*(OP Go to the next history entry
2901 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-fwd ) .
2904 (\*(OPally context-dependent) Invokes the command
2908 \*(OP Go to the previous history entry
2910 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-bwd ) .
2913 Toggle roundtrip mode shell quotes, where produced,
2916 .Pf ( Cd mle-quote-rndtrip ) .
2917 This setting is temporary, and will be forgotten once the command line
2918 is committed; also see
2922 \*(OP Complete the current line from (the remaining) older history entries
2924 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-srch-bwd ) .
2927 \*(OP Complete the current line from (the remaining) newer history entries
2929 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-srch-fwd ) .
2932 Paste the snarf buffer
2934 .Pf ( Cd mle-paste ) .
2942 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-line ) .
2945 Prompts for a Unicode character (hexadecimal number without prefix, see
2949 .Pf ( Cd mle-prompt-char ) .
2950 Note this command needs to be assigned to a single-letter control code
2951 in order to become recognized and executed during input of
2952 a key-sequence (only three single-letter control codes can be used for
2953 that shortcut purpose); this control code is then special-treated and
2954 thus cannot be part of any other sequence (because it will trigger the
2956 function immediately).
2959 Cut the characters from the one preceding the cursor to the preceding
2962 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-word-bwd ) .
2965 Move the cursor forward one word boundary
2967 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-word-fwd ) .
2970 Move the cursor backward one word boundary
2972 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-word-bwd ) .
2975 Escape: reset a possibly used multibyte character input state machine
2976 and \*(OPally a lingering, incomplete key binding
2978 .Pf ( Cd mle-cancel ) .
2979 This command needs to be assigned to a single-letter control code in
2980 order to become recognized and executed during input of a key-sequence
2981 (only three single-letter control codes can be used for that shortcut
2983 This control code may also be part of a multi-byte sequence, but if
2984 a sequence is active and the very control code is currently also an
2985 expected input, then the active sequence takes precedence and will
2986 consume the control code.
2989 (\*(OPally context-dependent) Invokes the command
2993 (\*(OPally context-dependent) Invokes the command
2997 (\*(OPally context-dependent) Invokes the command
3001 Cut the characters from the one after the cursor to the succeeding word
3004 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-word-fwd ) .
3015 this will immediately reset a possibly active search etc.
3020 ring the audible bell.
3024 .\" .Ss "Coloured display" {{{
3025 .Ss "Coloured display"
3027 \*(OP \*(UA can be configured to support a coloured display and font
3028 attributes by emitting ANSI a.k.a. ISO 6429 SGR (select graphic
3029 rendition) escape sequences.
3030 Usage of colours and font attributes solely depends upon the
3031 capability of the detected terminal type that is defined by the
3032 environment variable
3034 and which can be fine-tuned by the user via the internal variable
3038 On top of what \*(UA knows about the terminal the boolean variable
3040 defines whether the actually applicable colour and font attribute
3041 sequences should also be generated when output is going to be paged
3042 through the external program defined by the environment variable
3047 This is not enabled by default because different pager programs need
3048 different command line switches or other configuration in order to
3049 support those sequences.
3050 \*(UA however knows about some widely used pagers and in a clean
3051 environment it is often enough to simply set
3053 please refer to that variable for more on this topic.
3056 Colours and font attributes can be managed with the multiplexer command
3060 can be used to remove mappings of a given colour type.
3063 is set then any active usage of colour and font attribute sequences
3064 is suppressed without affecting possibly established
3067 Since colours are only available in interactive mode, it may make
3068 sense to conditionalize the colour setup by encapsulating it with
3071 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3072 if terminal && [ "$features" =% +colour ]
3073 colour iso view-msginfo ft=bold,fg=green
3074 colour iso view-header ft=bold,fg=red from,subject
3075 colour iso view-header fg=red
3077 uncolour iso view-header from,subject
3078 colour iso view-header ft=bold,fg=magenta,bg=cyan
3079 colour 256 view-header ft=bold,fg=208,bg=230 "subject,from"
3080 colour mono view-header ft=bold
3081 colour mono view-header ft=bold,ft=reverse subject,from
3086 .\" .Ss "Handling spam" {{{
3089 \*(OP \*(UA can make use of several spam interfaces for the purpose of
3090 identification of, and, in general, dealing with spam messages.
3091 A precondition of most commands in order to function is that the
3093 variable is set to one of the supported interfaces.
3094 .Sx "Specifying messages"
3095 that have been identified as spam is possible via their (volatile)
3101 specifications, and their
3103 entries will be used when displaying the
3111 rates the given messages and sets their
3114 If the spam interface offers spam scores these can be shown in
3123 will interact with the Bayesian filter of the chosen interface and learn
3124 the given messages as
3128 respectively; the last command can be used to cause
3130 of messages; it adheres to their current
3132 state and thus reverts previous teachings.
3137 will simply set and clear, respectively, the mentioned volatile
3139 message flag, without any interface interaction.
3148 requires a running instance of the
3150 server in order to function, started with the option
3152 shall Bayesian filter learning be possible.
3154 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3155 $ spamd -i localhost:2142 -i /tmp/.spamsock -d [-L] [-l]
3156 $ spamd --listen=localhost:2142 --listen=/tmp/.spamsock \e
3157 --daemonize [--local] [--allow-tell]
3161 Thereafter \*(UA can make use of these interfaces:
3163 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3164 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=spamc -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
3165 -Sspamc-command=/usr/local/bin/spamc \e
3166 -Sspamc-arguments="-U /tmp/.spamsock" -Sspamc-user=
3168 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=spamc -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
3169 -Sspamc-command=/usr/local/bin/spamc \e
3170 -Sspamc-arguments="-d localhost -p 2142" -Sspamc-user=
3174 Using the generic filter approach allows usage of programs like
3176 Here is an example, requiring it to be accessible via
3179 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3180 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=filter -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
3181 -Sspamfilter-ham="bogofilter -n" \e
3182 -Sspamfilter-noham="bogofilter -N" \e
3183 -Sspamfilter-nospam="bogofilter -S" \e
3184 -Sspamfilter-rate="bogofilter -TTu 2>/dev/null" \e
3185 -Sspamfilter-spam="bogofilter -s" \e
3186 -Sspamfilter-rate-scanscore="1;^(.+)$"
3190 Because messages must exist on local storage in order to be scored (or
3191 used for Bayesian filter training), it is possibly a good idea to
3192 perform the local spam check last.
3193 Spam can be checked automatically when opening specific folders by
3194 setting a specialized form of the internal variable
3197 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3198 define spamdelhook {
3200 spamset (header x-dcc-brand-metrics "bulk")
3201 # Server-side spamassassin(1)
3202 spamset (header x-spam-flag "YES")
3203 del :s # TODO we HAVE to be able to do `spamrate :u ! :sS'
3209 set folder-hook-SOMEFOLDER=spamdelhook
3213 See also the documentation for the variables
3214 .Va spam-interface , spam-maxsize ,
3215 .Va spamc-command , spamc-arguments , spamc-user ,
3216 .Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , spamfilter-nospam , \
3219 .Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore .
3222 .\" }}} (DESCRIPTION)
3225 .\" .Sh COMMANDS {{{
3228 \*(UA reads input in lines.
3229 An unquoted reverse solidus
3231 at the end of a command line
3233 the newline character: it is discarded and the next line of input is
3234 used as a follow-up line, with all leading whitespace removed;
3235 once an entire line is completed, the whitespace characters
3236 .Cm space , tabulator , newline
3237 as well as those defined by the variable
3239 are removed from the beginning and end.
3240 Placing any whitespace characters at the beginning of a line will
3241 prevent a possible addition of the command line to the \*(OPal
3245 The beginning of such input lines is then scanned for the name of
3246 a known command: command names may be abbreviated, in which case the
3247 first command that matches the given prefix will be used.
3248 .Sx "Command modifiers"
3249 may prefix a command in order to modify its behaviour.
3250 A name may also be a
3252 which will become expanded until no more expansion is possible.
3253 Once the command that shall be executed is known, the remains of the
3254 input line will be interpreted according to command-specific rules,
3255 documented in the following.
3258 This behaviour is different to the
3260 ell, which is a programming language with syntactic elements of clearly
3261 defined semantics, and therefore capable to sequentially expand and
3262 evaluate individual elements of a line.
3263 \*(UA will never be able to handle
3264 .Ql ? set one=value two=$one
3265 in a single statement, because the variable assignment is performed by
3273 can be used to show the list of all commands, either alphabetically
3274 sorted or in prefix search order (these do not match, also because the
3275 POSIX standard prescribes a set of abbreviations).
3276 \*(OPally the command
3280 when given an argument, will show a documentation string for the
3281 command matching the expanded argument, as in
3283 which should be a shorthand of
3285 with these documentation strings both commands support a more
3287 listing mode which includes the argument type of the command and other
3288 information which applies; a handy suggestion might thus be:
3290 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3292 # Before v15: need to enable sh(1)ell-style on _entire_ line!
3293 localopts yes;wysh set verbose;ignerr eval "${@}";return ${?}
3295 ? commandalias xv '\ecall __xv'
3299 .\" .Ss "Command modifiers" {{{
3300 .Ss "Command modifiers"
3302 Commands may be prefixed by one or multiple command modifiers.
3303 Some command modifiers can be used with a restricted set of commands
3308 will (\*(OPally) show which modifiers apply.
3312 The modifier reverse solidus
3315 to be placed first, prevents
3317 expansions on the remains of the line, e.g.,
3319 will always evaluate the command
3321 even if an (command)alias of the same name exists.
3323 content may itself contain further command modifiers, including
3324 an initial reverse solidus to prevent further expansions.
3330 indicates that any error generated by the following command should be
3331 ignored by the state machine and not cause a program exit with enabled
3333 or for the standardized exit cases in
3338 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
3339 will be set to the real exit status of the command regardless.
3344 will alter the called command to apply changes only temporarily,
3345 local to block-scope, and can thus only be used inside of a
3350 Specifying it implies the modifier
3352 Block-scope settings will not be inherited by macros deeper in the
3354 chain, and will be garbage collected once the current block is left.
3355 To record and unroll changes in the global scope use the command
3361 does yet not implement any functionality.
3366 does yet not implement any functionality.
3369 Some commands support the
3372 modifier: if used, they expect the name of a variable, which can itself
3373 be a variable, i.e., shell expansion is applied, as their first
3374 argument, and will place their computation result in it instead of the
3375 default location (it is usually written to standard output).
3377 The given name will be tested for being a valid
3379 variable name, and may therefore only consist of upper- and lowercase
3380 characters, digits, and the underscore; the hyphen-minus may be used as
3381 a non-portable extension; digits may not be used as first, hyphen-minus
3382 may not be used as last characters.
3383 In addition the name may either not be one of the known
3384 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
3385 or must otherwise refer to a writable (non-boolean) value variable.
3386 The actual put operation may fail nonetheless, e.g., if the variable
3387 expects a number argument only a number will be accepted.
3388 Any error during these operations causes the command as such to fail,
3389 and the error number
3392 .Va ^ERR Ns -NOTSUP ,
3397 but some commands deviate from the latter, which is documented.
3400 Last, but not least, the modifier
3403 can be used for some old and established commands to choose the new
3404 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
3405 rules over the traditional
3406 .Sx "Old-style argument quoting" .
3410 .\" .Ss "Message list arguments" {{{
3411 .Ss "Message list arguments"
3413 Some commands expect arguments that represent messages (actually
3414 their symbolic message numbers), as has been documented above under
3415 .Sx "Specifying messages"
3417 If no explicit message list has been specified, the next message
3418 forward that satisfies the commands requirements will be used,
3419 and if there are no messages forward of the current message,
3420 the search proceeds backwards;
3421 if there are no good messages at all to be found, an error message is
3422 shown and the command is aborted.
3425 .\" .Ss "Old-style argument quoting" {{{
3426 .Ss "Old-style argument quoting"
3428 \*(ID This section documents the old, traditional style of quoting
3429 non-message-list arguments to commands which expect this type of
3430 arguments: whereas still used by the majority of such commands, the new
3431 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
3432 may be available even for those via
3435 .Sx "Command modifiers" .
3436 Nonetheless care must be taken, because only new commands have been
3437 designed with all the capabilities of the new quoting rules in mind,
3438 which can, e.g., generate control characters.
3441 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
3443 An argument can be enclosed between paired double-quotes
3448 any whitespace, shell word expansion, or reverse solidus characters
3449 (except as described next) within the quotes are treated literally as
3450 part of the argument.
3451 A double-quote will be treated literally within single-quotes and vice
3453 Inside such a quoted string the actually used quote character can be
3454 used nonetheless by escaping it with a reverse solidus
3460 An argument that is not enclosed in quotes, as above, can usually still
3461 contain space characters if those spaces are reverse solidus escaped, as in
3465 A reverse solidus outside of the enclosing quotes is discarded
3466 and the following character is treated literally as part of the argument.
3470 .\" .Ss "Shell-style argument quoting" {{{
3471 .Ss "Shell-style argument quoting"
3473 Commands which do not expect message-list arguments use
3475 ell-style, and therefore POSIX standardized, argument parsing and
3477 \*(ID Most new commands only support these new rules and are flagged
3478 \*(NQ, some elder ones can use them with the command modifier
3480 in the future only this type of argument quoting will remain.
3483 A command line is parsed from left to right and an input token is
3484 completed whenever an unquoted, otherwise ignored, metacharacter is seen.
3485 Metacharacters are vertical bar
3491 as well as all characters from the variable
3494 .Cm space , tabulator , newline .
3495 The additional metacharacters left and right parenthesis
3497 and less-than and greater-than signs
3501 supports are not used, and are treated as ordinary characters: for one
3502 these characters are a vivid part of email addresses, and it seems
3503 highly unlikely that their function will become meaningful to \*(UA.
3505 .Bd -filled -offset indent
3506 .Sy Compatibility note:
3507 \*(ID Please note that even many new-style commands do not yet honour
3509 to parse their arguments: whereas the
3511 ell is a language with syntactic elements of clearly defined semantics,
3512 \*(UA parses entire input lines and decides on a per-command base what
3513 to do with the rest of the line.
3514 This also means that whenever an unknown command is seen all that \*(UA
3515 can do is cancellation of the processing of the remains of the line.
3517 It also often depends on an actual subcommand of a multiplexer command
3518 how the rest of the line should be treated, and until v15 we are not
3519 capable to perform this deep inspection of arguments.
3520 Nonetheless, at least the following commands which work with positional
3521 parameters fully support
3523 for an almost shell-compatible field splitting:
3524 .Ic call , call_if , read , vpospar , xcall .
3528 Any unquoted number sign
3530 at the beginning of a new token starts a comment that extends to the end
3531 of the line, and therefore ends argument processing.
3532 An unquoted dollar sign
3534 will cause variable expansion of the given name, which must be a valid
3536 ell-style variable name (see
3538 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
3541 (shell) variables can be accessed through this mechanism, brace
3542 enclosing the name is supported (i.e., to subdivide a token).
3545 Whereas the metacharacters
3546 .Cm space , tabulator , newline
3547 only complete an input token, vertical bar
3553 also act as control operators and perform control functions.
3554 For now supported is semicolon
3556 which terminates a single command, therefore sequencing the command line
3557 and making the remainder of the line a subject to reevaluation.
3558 With sequencing, multiple command argument types and quoting rules may
3559 therefore apply to a single line, which can become problematic before
3560 v15: e.g., the first of the following will cause surprising results.
3563 .Dl ? echo one; set verbose; echo verbose=$verbose.
3564 .Dl ? echo one; wysh set verbose; echo verbose=$verbose.
3567 Quoting is a mechanism that will remove the special meaning of
3568 metacharacters and reserved words, and will prevent expansion.
3569 There are four quoting mechanisms: the escape character, single-quotes,
3570 double-quotes and dollar-single-quotes:
3573 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
3575 The literal value of any character can be preserved by preceding it
3576 with the escape character reverse solidus
3580 Arguments which are enclosed in
3581 .Ql 'single-\:quotes'
3582 retain their literal value.
3583 A single-quote cannot occur within single-quotes.
3586 The literal value of all characters enclosed in
3587 .Ql \(dqdouble-\:quotes\(dq
3588 is retained, with the exception of dollar sign
3590 which will cause variable expansion, as above, backquote (grave accent)
3592 (which not yet means anything special), reverse solidus
3594 which will escape any of the characters dollar sign
3596 (to prevent variable expansion), backquote (grave accent)
3600 (to prevent ending the quote) and reverse solidus
3602 (to prevent escaping, i.e., to embed a reverse solidus character as-is),
3603 but has no special meaning otherwise.
3606 Arguments enclosed in
3607 .Ql $'dollar-\:single-\:quotes'
3608 extend normal single quotes in that reverse solidus escape sequences are
3609 expanded as follows:
3611 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".Ql \eNNN"
3613 bell control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 BEL).
3615 backspace control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 BS).
3617 escape control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 ESC).
3621 form feed control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 FF).
3623 line feed control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 LF).
3625 carriage return control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 CR).
3627 horizontal tabulator control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 HT).
3629 vertical tabulator control character (ASCII and ISO-10646 VT).
3631 emits a reverse solidus character.
3635 double quote (escaping is optional).
3637 eight-bit byte with the octal value
3639 (one to three octal digits), optionally prefixed by an additional
3641 A 0 byte will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
3643 eight-bit byte with the hexadecimal value
3645 (one or two hexadecimal characters, no prefix, see
3647 A 0 byte will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
3649 the Unicode / ISO-10646 character with the hexadecimal codepoint value
3651 (one to eight hexadecimal characters) \(em note that Unicode defines the
3652 maximum codepoint ever to be supported as
3657 This escape is only supported in locales that support Unicode (see
3658 .Sx "Character sets" ) ,
3659 in other cases the sequence will remain unexpanded unless the given code
3660 point is ASCII compatible or (if the \*(OPal character set conversion is
3661 available) can be represented in the current locale.
3662 The character NUL will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
3666 except it takes only one to four hexadecimal characters.
3668 Emits the non-printable (ASCII and compatible) C0 control codes
3669 0 (NUL) to 31 (US), and 127 (DEL).
3670 Printable representations of ASCII control codes can be created by
3671 mapping them to a different, visible part of the ASCII character set.
3672 Adding the number 64 achieves this for the codes 0 to 31, e.g., 7 (BEL):
3673 .Ql 7 + 64 = 71 = G .
3674 The real operation is a bitwise logical XOR with 64 (bit 7 set, see
3676 thus also covering code 127 (DEL), which is mapped to 63 (question mark):
3677 .Ql ? vexpr ^ 127 64 .
3679 Whereas historically circumflex notation has often been used for
3680 visualization purposes of control codes, e.g.,
3682 the reverse solidus notation has been standardized:
3684 Some control codes also have standardized (ISO-10646, ISO C) aliases,
3685 as shown above (e.g.,
3689 whenever such an alias exists it will be used for display purposes.
3690 The control code NUL
3692 a non-standard extension) will suppress further output for the remains
3693 of the token (which may extend beyond the current quote), or, depending
3694 on the context, the remains of all arguments for the current command.
3696 Non-standard extension: expand the given variable name, as above.
3697 Brace enclosing the name is supported.
3699 Not yet supported, just to raise awareness: Non-standard extension.
3706 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3707 ? echo 'Quotes '${HOME}' and 'tokens" differ!"# no comment
3708 ? echo Quotes ${HOME} and tokens differ! # comment
3709 ? echo Don"'"t you worry$'\ex21' The sun shines on us. $'\eu263A'
3713 .\" .Ss "Raw data arguments for codec commands" {{{
3714 .Ss "Raw data arguments for codec commands"
3716 A special set of commands, which all have the string
3718 in their name, e.g.,
3722 take raw string data as input, which means that the content of the
3723 command input line is passed completely unexpanded and otherwise
3724 unchanged: like this the effect of the actual codec is visible without
3725 any noise of possible shell quoting rules etc., i.e., the user can input
3726 one-to-one the desired or questionable data.
3727 To gain a level of expansion, the entire command line can be
3731 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3732 ? vput shcodec res encode /usr/Sch\[:o]nes Wetter/heute.txt
3734 $'/usr/Sch\eu00F6nes Wetter/heute.txt'
3736 $'/usr/Sch\eu00F6nes Wetter/heute.txt'
3737 ? eval shcodec d $res
3738 /usr/Sch\[:o]nes Wetter/heute.txt
3742 .\" .Ss "Filename transformations" {{{
3743 .Ss "Filename transformations"
3745 Filenames, where expected, and unless documented otherwise, are
3746 subsequently subject to the following filename transformations, in
3749 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
3751 If the given name is a registered
3753 it will be replaced with the expanded shortcut.
3756 The filename is matched against the following patterns or strings:
3758 .Bl -hang -compact -width ".Ar %user"
3760 (Number sign) is expanded to the previous file.
3762 (Percent sign) is replaced by the invoking
3763 .Mx -ix "primary system mailbox"
3764 user's primary system mailbox, which either is the (itself expandable)
3766 if that is set, the standardized absolute pathname indicated by
3768 if that is set, or a built-in compile-time default otherwise.
3770 Expands to the primary system mailbox of
3772 (and never the value of
3774 regardless of its actual setting).
3776 (Ampersand) is replaced with the invoking user's
3777 .Mx -ix "secondary mailbox"
3778 secondary mailbox, the
3785 directory (if that variable is set).
3787 Expands to the same value as
3789 but has special meaning when used with, e.g., the command
3791 the file will be treated as a primary system mailbox by, e.g., the
3795 commands, meaning that messages that have been read in the current
3796 session will be moved to the
3798 mailbox instead of simply being flagged as read.
3802 Meta expansions may be applied to the resulting filename, as allowed by
3803 the operation and applicable to the resulting access protocol (also see
3804 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ) .
3805 For the file-protocol, a leading tilde
3807 character will be replaced by the expansion of
3809 except when followed by a valid user name, in which case the home
3810 directory of the given user is used instead.
3812 A shell expansion as if specified in double-quotes (see
3813 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" )
3814 may be applied, so that any occurrence of
3818 will be replaced by the expansion of the variable, if possible;
3819 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
3822 (shell) variables can be accessed through this mechanism.
3824 Shell pathname wildcard pattern expansions
3826 may be applied as documented.
3827 If the fully expanded filename results in multiple pathnames and the
3828 command is expecting only one file, an error results.
3830 In interactive context, in order to allow simple value acceptance (via
3832 arguments will usually be displayed in a properly quoted form, e.g., a file
3833 .Ql diet\e is \ecurd.txt
3835 .Ql 'diet\e is \ecurd.txt' .
3839 .\" .Ss "Commands" {{{
3842 The following commands are available:
3844 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ic BaNg"
3851 command which follows, replacing unescaped exclamation marks with the
3852 previously executed command if the internal variable
3855 This command supports
3858 .Sx "Command modifiers" ,
3859 and manages the error number
3861 A 0 or positive exit status
3863 reflects the exit status of the command, negative ones that
3864 an error happened before the command was executed, or that the program
3865 did not exit cleanly, but, e.g., due to a signal: the error number is
3866 .Va ^ERR Ns -CHILD ,
3870 In conjunction with the
3872 modifier the following special cases exist:
3873 a negative exit status occurs if the collected data could not be stored
3874 in the given variable, which is a
3876 error that should otherwise not occur.
3877 .Va ^ERR Ns -CANCELED
3878 indicates that no temporary file could be created to collect the command
3879 output at first glance.
3880 In case of catchable out-of-memory situations
3882 will occur and \*(UA will try to store the empty string, just like with
3883 all other detected error conditions.
3888 The comment-command causes the entire line to be ignored.
3890 this really is a normal command which' purpose is to discard its
3893 indicating special character, which means that, e.g., trailing comments
3894 on a line are not possible (except for commands which use
3895 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" ) .
3899 Goes to the next message in sequence and types it
3905 Display the preceding message, or the n'th previous message if given
3906 a numeric argument n.
3910 Show the current message number (the
3915 \*(OP Show a brief summary of commands.
3916 \*(OP Given an argument a synopsis for the command in question is
3917 shown instead; commands can be abbreviated in general and this command
3918 can be used to see the full expansion of an abbreviation including the
3919 synopsis, try, e.g.,
3924 and see how the output changes.
3925 This mode also supports a more
3927 output, which will provide the information documented for
3938 .It Ic account , unaccount
3939 (ac, una) Creates, selects or lists (an) account(s).
3940 Accounts are special incarnations of
3942 macros and group commands and variable settings which together usually
3943 arrange the environment for the purpose of creating an email account.
3944 Different to normal macros settings which are covered by
3946 \(en here by default enabled! \(en will not be reverted before the
3951 (case-insensitive) always exists, and all but it can be deleted by the
3952 latter command, and in one operation with the special name
3954 Also for all but it a possibly set
3955 .Va on-account-cleanup
3956 hook is called once they are left.
3958 Without arguments a listing of all defined accounts is shown.
3959 With one argument the given account is activated: the system
3961 of that account will be activated (as via
3963 a possibly installed
3965 will be run, and the internal variable
3968 The two argument form is identical to defining a macro as via
3970 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3972 set folder=~/mail inbox=+syste.mbox record=+sent.mbox
3973 set from='(My Name) myname@myisp.example'
3974 set mta=smtp://mylogin@smtp.myisp.example
3981 Perform email address codec transformations on raw-data argument, rather
3982 according to email standards (RFC 5322; \*(ID will furtherly improve).
3986 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) ,
3987 and manages the error number
3989 The first argument must be either
3990 .Ar [+[+[+]]]e[ncode] ,
3995 and specifies the operation to perform on the rest of the line.
3998 Decoding will show how a standard-compliant MUA will display the given
3999 argument, which should be an email address.
4000 Please be aware that most MUAs have difficulties with the address
4001 standards, and vary wildly when (comments) in parenthesis,
4003 strings, or quoted-pairs, as below, become involved.
4004 \*(ID \*(UA currently does not perform decoding when displaying addresses.
4007 Skinning is identical to decoding but only outputs the plain address,
4008 without any string, comment etc. components.
4009 Another difference is that it may fail with the error number
4013 if decoding fails to find a(n) (valid) email address, in which case the
4014 unmodified input will be output again.
4018 first performs a skin operation, and thereafter checks a valid
4019 address for whether it is a registered mailing list (see
4023 eventually reporting that state in the error number
4026 .Va ^ERR Ns -EXIST .
4027 (This state could later become overwritten by an I/O error, though.)
4030 Encoding supports four different modes, lesser automated versions can be
4031 chosen by prefixing one, two or three plus signs: the standard imposes
4032 a special meaning on some characters, which thus have to be transformed
4033 to so-called quoted-pairs by pairing them with a reverse solidus
4035 in order to remove the special meaning; this might change interpretation
4036 of the entire argument from what has been desired, however!
4037 Specify one plus sign to remark that parenthesis shall be left alone,
4038 two for not turning double quotation marks into quoted-pairs, and three
4039 for also leaving any user-specified reverse solidus alone.
4040 The result will always be valid, if a successful exit status is reported
4041 (\*(ID the current parser fails this assertion for some constructs).
4042 \*(ID Addresses need to be specified in between angle brackets
4045 if the construct becomes more difficult, otherwise the current parser
4046 will fail; it is not smart enough to guess right.
4048 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4049 ? addrc enc "Hey, you",<diet@exam.ple>\e out\e there
4050 "\e"Hey, you\e", \e\e out\e\e there" <diet@exam.ple>
4051 ? addrc d "\e"Hey, you\e", \e\e out\e\e there" <diet@exam.ple>
4052 "Hey, you", \e out\e there <diet@exam.ple>
4053 ? addrc s "\e"Hey, you\e", \e\e out\e\e there" <diet@exam.ple>
4060 .It Ic alias , unalias
4061 (a, una) Aliases are a method of creating personal distribution lists
4062 that map a single alias name to none to multiple real receivers;
4063 these aliases become expanded after message composing is completed.
4064 The latter command removes the given list of aliases, the special name
4066 will discard all existing aliases.
4068 The former command shows all currently defined aliases when used without
4069 arguments, and with one argument the expansion of the given alias.
4070 With more than one argument, creates or appends to the alias name given
4071 as the first argument the remaining arguments.
4072 Alias names adhere to the Postfix MTA
4074 rules and are thus restricted to alphabetic characters, digits, the
4075 underscore, hyphen-minus, the number sign, colon and commercial at,
4076 the last character can also be the dollar sign; the regular expression:
4077 .Ql [[:alnum:]_#:@-]+$? .
4078 .\" ALIASCOLON next sentence
4079 \*(ID Unfortunately the colon is currently not supported, as it
4080 interferes with normal address parsing rules.
4081 As extensions the exclamation mark
4086 .Dq any character that has the high bit set
4088 .\" ALIASCOLON next sentence
4089 \*(ID Such high bit characters will likely cause warnings at the moment
4090 for the same reasons why colon is unsupported.
4094 .It Ic alternates , unalternates
4095 \*(NQ (alt) Manage a list of alternate addresses or names of the active
4096 user, members of which will be removed from recipient lists (except one).
4097 The latter command removes the given list of alternates, the special name
4099 will discard all existing alternate names.
4101 The former command manages the error number
4103 It shows the current set of alternates when used without arguments; in
4104 this mode only it also supports
4107 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
4108 Otherwise the given arguments (after being checked for validity) are
4109 appended to the list of alternate names; in
4111 mode they replace that list instead.
4112 There is a set of implicit alternates which is formed of the values of
4121 .It Ic answered , unanswered
4122 Take a message lists and mark each message as (not) having been answered.
4123 Messages will be marked answered when being
4125 to automatically if the
4129 .Sx "Message states" .
4134 .It Ic bind , unbind
4135 \*(OP\*(NQ The bind command extends the MLE (see
4136 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
4137 with freely configurable key bindings.
4138 The latter command removes from the given context the given key binding,
4139 both of which may be specified as a wildcard
4143 will remove all bindings of all contexts.
4144 Due to initialization order unbinding will not work for built-in key
4145 bindings upon program startup, however: please use
4146 .Va line-editor-no-defaults
4147 for this purpose instead.
4150 With one argument the former command shows all key bindings for the
4151 given context, specifying an asterisk
4153 will show the bindings of all contexts; a more verbose listing will be
4154 produced if either of
4159 With two or more arguments a binding is (re)established:
4160 the first argument is the context to which the binding shall apply,
4161 the second argument is a comma-separated list of the
4163 which form the binding, and any remaining arguments form the expansion.
4164 To indicate that a binding shall not be auto-committed, but that the
4165 expansion shall instead be furtherly editable by the user, a commercial at
4167 (that will be removed) can be placed last in the expansion, from which
4168 leading and trailing whitespace will finally be removed.
4169 Reverse solidus cannot be used as the last character of expansion.
4172 Contexts define when a binding applies, i.e., a binding will not be seen
4173 unless the context for which it is defined for is currently active.
4174 This is not true for the shared binding
4176 which is the foundation for all other bindings and as such always
4177 applies, its bindings, however, only apply secondarily.
4178 The available contexts are the shared
4182 context which is used in all not otherwise documented situations, and
4184 which applies to compose mode only.
4188 which form the binding are specified as a comma-separated list of
4189 byte-sequences, where each list entry corresponds to one key(press).
4190 A list entry may, indicated by a leading colon character
4192 also refer to the name of a terminal capability; several dozen names
4193 will be compiled in and may be specified either by their
4195 or, if existing, by their
4197 name, regardless of the actually used \*(OPal terminal control library.
4198 It is possible to use any capability, as long as the name is resolvable
4199 by the \*(OPal control library or was defined via the internal variable
4201 Input sequences are not case-normalized, so that an exact match is
4202 required to update or remove a binding.
4205 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4206 ? bind base $'\eE',d mle-snarf-word-fwd # Esc(ape)
4207 ? bind base $'\eE',$'\ec?' mle-snarf-word-bwd # Esc,Delete
4208 ? bind default $'\ecA',:khome,w 'echo Editable binding@'
4209 ? bind default a,b,c rm -irf / @ # Also editable
4210 ? bind default :kf1 File %
4211 ? bind compose :kf1 ~v
4215 Note that the entire comma-separated list is first parsed (over) as a
4216 shell-token with whitespace as the field separator, before being parsed
4217 and expanded for real with comma as the field separator, therefore
4218 whitespace needs to be properly quoted, see
4219 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" .
4220 Using Unicode reverse solidus escape sequences renders a binding
4221 defunctional if the locale does not support Unicode (see
4222 .Sx "Character sets" ) ,
4223 and using terminal capabilities does so if no (corresponding) terminal
4224 control support is (currently) available.
4227 The following terminal capability names are built-in and can be used in
4229 or (if available) the two-letter
4232 See the respective manual for a list of capabilities.
4235 can be used to show all the capabilities of
4237 or the given terminal type;
4240 flag will also show supported (non-standard) extensions.
4243 .Bl -tag -compact -width kcuuf_or_kcuuf
4244 .It Cd kbs Ns \0or Cd kb
4246 .It Cd kdch1 Ns \0or Cd kD
4248 .It Cd kDC Ns \0or Cd *4
4249 \(em shifted variant.
4250 .It Cd kel Ns \0or Cd kE
4251 Clear to end of line.
4252 .It Cd kext Ns \0or Cd @9
4254 .It Cd kich1 Ns \0or Cd kI
4256 .It Cd kIC Ns \0or Cd #3
4257 \(em shifted variant.
4258 .It Cd khome Ns \0or Cd kh
4260 .It Cd kHOM Ns \0or Cd #2
4261 \(em shifted variant.
4262 .It Cd kend Ns \0or Cd @7
4264 .It Cd knp Ns \0or Cd kN
4266 .It Cd kpp Ns \0or Cd kP
4268 .It Cd kcub1 Ns \0or Cd kl
4269 Left cursor (with more modifiers: see below).
4270 .It Cd kLFT Ns \0or Cd #4
4271 \(em shifted variant.
4272 .It Cd kcuf1 Ns \0or Cd kr
4273 Right cursor (ditto).
4274 .It Cd kRIT Ns \0or Cd %i
4275 \(em shifted variant.
4276 .It Cd kcud1 Ns \0or Cd kd
4277 Down cursor (ditto).
4279 \(em shifted variant (only terminfo).
4280 .It Cd kcuu1 Ns \0or Cd ku
4283 \(em shifted variant (only terminfo).
4284 .It Cd kf0 Ns \0or Cd k0
4286 Add one for each function key up to
4291 .It Cd kf10 Ns \0or Cd k;
4293 .It Cd kf11 Ns \0or Cd F1
4295 Add one for each function key up to
4303 Some terminals support key-modifier combination extensions, e.g.,
4305 For example, the delete key,
4307 in its shifted variant, the name is mutated to
4309 then a number is appended for the states
4321 .Ql Shift+Alt+Control
4323 The same for the left cursor key,
4325 .Cd KLFT , KLFT3 , KLFT4 , KLFT5 , KLFT6 , KLFT7 , KLFT8 .
4328 It is advisable to use an initial escape or other control character (e.g.,
4330 for bindings which describe user key combinations (as opposed to purely
4331 terminal capability based ones), in order to avoid ambiguities whether
4332 input belongs to key sequences or not; it also reduces search time.
4335 may help shall keys and sequences be falsely recognized.
4340 \*(NQ Calls the given macro, which must have been created via
4345 Calling macros recursively will at some time excess the stack size
4346 limit, causing a hard program abortion; if recursively calling a macro
4347 is the last command of the current macro, consider to use the command
4349 which will first release all resources of the current macro before
4350 replacing the current macro with the called one.
4351 Numeric and string operations can be performed via
4355 may be helpful to recreate argument lists.
4362 if the given macro has been created via
4364 but does not fail nor warn if the macro does not exist.
4368 (ch) Change the working directory to
4370 or the given argument.
4376 \*(OP Only applicable to S/MIME signed messages.
4377 Takes a message list and a filename and saves the certificates
4378 contained within the message signatures to the named file in both
4379 human-readable and PEM format.
4380 The certificates can later be used to send encrypted messages to the
4381 respective message senders by setting
4382 .Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST
4387 .It Ic charsetalias , uncharsetalias
4388 \*(NQ Manage alias mappings for (conversion of)
4389 .Sx "Character sets" .
4390 Mappings are ineffective if character set conversion is not available
4394 Expansion happens recursively, but expansion is not performed for
4395 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
4399 The latter command deletes all aliases given as arguments,
4400 all aliases can be deleted at once with the special argument
4402 The former shows the list of all currently defined aliases if used
4403 without arguments, the expansion of the given alias with one argument.
4404 Otherwise all given arguments are treated as pairs of character sets and
4405 their desired target alias name, creating new or changing already
4406 existing aliases, as necessary.
4410 (ch) Change the working directory to
4412 or the given argument.
4418 .It Ic collapse , uncollapse
4424 Takes a message list and makes all replies to these messages invisible
4425 in header summaries, except for
4429 Also when a message with collapsed replies is displayed,
4430 all of these are automatically uncollapsed.
4431 The latter command undoes collapsing.
4434 .\" FIXME review until this point
4437 .It Ic colour , uncolour
4438 \*(OP\*(NQ Manage colour mappings of and for a
4439 .Sx "Coloured display" .
4440 The type of colour is given as the (case-insensitive) first argument,
4441 which must be one of
4443 for 256-colour terminals,
4448 for the standard 8-colour ANSI / ISO 6429 colour palette and
4452 for monochrome terminals.
4453 Monochrome terminals cannot deal with colours, but only (some) font
4457 Without further arguments the list of all currently defined mappings
4458 for the given colour type is shown (as a special case giving
4462 will show the mappings of all types).
4463 Otherwise the second argument defines the mappable slot, and the third
4464 argument a (comma-separated list of) colour and font attribute
4465 specification(s), and the optional fourth argument can be used to
4466 specify a precondition: if conditioned mappings exist they are tested in
4467 (creation) order unless a (case-insensitive) match has been found, and
4468 the default mapping (if any has been established) will only be chosen as
4470 The types of precondition available depend on the mappable slot (see
4471 .Sx "Coloured display"
4472 for some examples), the following of which exist:
4475 Mappings prefixed with
4477 are used for the \*(OPal built-in Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE, see
4478 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
4479 and do not support preconditions.
4481 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
4483 This mapping is used for the position indicator that is visible when
4484 a line cannot be fully displayed on the screen.
4491 Mappings prefixed with
4493 are used in header summaries, and they all understand the preconditions
4495 (the current message) and
4497 for elder messages (only honoured in conjunction with
4498 .Va datefield-markout-older ) .
4500 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
4502 This mapping is used for the
4504 that can be created with the
4508 formats of the variable
4511 For the complete header summary line except the
4513 and the thread structure.
4515 For the thread structure which can be created with the
4517 format of the variable
4522 Mappings prefixed with
4524 are used when displaying messages.
4526 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
4528 This mapping is used for so-called
4530 lines, which are MBOX file format specific header lines.
4533 A comma-separated list of headers to which the mapping applies may be
4534 given as a precondition; if the \*(OPal regular expression support is
4535 available then if any of the
4537 (extended) regular expression characters is seen the precondition will
4538 be evaluated as (an extended) one.
4540 For the introductional message info line.
4541 .It Ar view-partinfo
4542 For MIME part info lines.
4546 The following (case-insensitive) colour definitions and font attributes
4547 are understood, multiple of which can be specified in a comma-separated
4557 It is possible (and often applicable) to specify multiple font
4558 attributes for a single mapping.
4561 foreground colour attribute:
4571 To specify a 256-colour mode a decimal number colour specification in
4572 the range 0 to 255, inclusive, is supported, and interpreted as follows:
4574 .Bl -tag -compact -width "999 - 999"
4576 the standard ISO 6429 colours, as above.
4578 high intensity variants of the standard colours.
4580 216 colours in tuples of 6.
4582 grayscale from black to white in 24 steps.
4584 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4586 fg() { printf "\e033[38;5;${1}m($1)"; }
4587 bg() { printf "\e033[48;5;${1}m($1)"; }
4589 while [ $i -lt 256 ]; do fg $i; i=$(($i + 1)); done
4590 printf "\e033[0m\en"
4592 while [ $i -lt 256 ]; do bg $i; i=$(($i + 1)); done
4593 printf "\e033[0m\en"
4597 background colour attribute (see
4599 for possible values).
4605 will remove for the given colour type (the special type
4607 selects all) the given mapping; if the optional precondition argument is
4608 given only the exact tuple of mapping and precondition is removed.
4611 will remove all mappings (no precondition allowed), thus
4613 will remove all established mappings.
4618 .It Ic commandalias , uncommandalias
4619 \*(NQ Define or list, and remove, respectively, command aliases.
4620 An (command)alias can be used everywhere a normal command can be used,
4621 but always takes precedence: any arguments that are given to the command
4622 alias are joined onto the alias expansion, and the resulting string
4623 forms the command line that is, in effect, executed.
4624 The latter command removes all given aliases, the special name
4626 will remove all existing aliases.
4627 When used without arguments the former shows a list of all currently
4628 known aliases, with one argument only the expansion of the given one.
4630 With two or more arguments a command alias is defined or updated: the
4631 first argument is the name under which the remaining command line should
4632 be accessible, the content of which can be just about anything.
4633 An alias may itself expand to another alias, but to avoid expansion loops
4634 further expansion will be prevented if an alias refers to itself or if
4635 an expansion depth limit is reached.
4636 Explicit expansion prevention is available via reverse solidus
4639 .Sx "Command modifiers" .
4640 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4642 \*(uA: `commandalias': no such alias: xx
4643 ? commandalias xx echo hello,
4645 commandalias xx 'echo hello,'
4654 (C) Copy messages to files whose names are derived from the author of
4655 the respective message and do not mark them as being saved;
4656 otherwise identical to
4661 (c) Copy messages to the named file and do not mark them as being saved;
4662 otherwise identical to
4667 Show the name of the current working directory, as reported by
4672 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
4673 The return status is tracked via
4678 \*(OP For unencrypted messages this command is identical to
4680 Encrypted messages are first decrypted, if possible, and then copied.
4684 \*(OP For unencrypted messages this command is identical to
4686 Encrypted messages are first decrypted, if possible, and then copied.
4691 .It Ic define , undefine
4692 The latter command deletes the given macro, the special name
4694 will discard all existing macros.
4695 Deletion of (a) macro(s) can be performed from within running (a)
4696 macro(s), including self-deletion.
4697 Without arguments the former command prints the current list of macros,
4698 including their content, otherwise it it defines a macro, replacing an
4699 existing one of the same name as applicable.
4702 A defined macro can be invoked explicitly by using the
4707 commands, or implicitly if a macro hook is triggered, e.g., a
4709 Execution of a macro body can be stopped from within by calling
4713 Temporary macro block-scope variables can be created or deleted with the
4715 command modifier in conjunction with the commands
4720 To enforce unrolling of changes made to (global)
4721 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
4724 can be used instead; its covered scope depends on how (i.e.,
4726 normal macro, folder hook, hook,
4728 switch) the macro is invoked.
4733 ed macro, the given positional parameters are implicitly local
4734 to the macro's scope, and may be accessed via the variables
4740 and any other positive unsigned decimal number less than or equal to
4742 Positional parameters can be
4744 ed, or become completely replaced, removed etc. via
4747 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4757 echo Parameter 1 of ${#} is ${1}, all: ${*} / ${@}
4760 call exmac Hello macro exmac!
4761 echo ${?}/${!}/${^ERRNAME}
4767 .It Ic delete , undelete
4768 (d, u) Marks the given message list as being or not being
4770 respectively; if no argument has been specified then the usual search
4771 for a visible message is performed, as documented for
4772 .Sx "Message list arguments" ,
4773 showing only the next input prompt if the search fails.
4774 Deleted messages will neither be saved in the
4776 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
4778 nor will they be available for most other commands.
4781 variable is set, the new
4783 or the last message restored, respectively, is automatically
4793 Superseded by the multiplexer
4799 Delete the given messages and automatically
4803 if one exists, regardless of the setting of
4810 up or down by one message when given
4814 argument, respectively.
4818 .It Ic draft , undraft
4819 Take message lists and mark each given message as being draft, or not
4820 being draft, respectively, as documented in the section
4821 .Sx "Message states" .
4825 \*(NQ (ec) Echoes arguments to standard output and writes a trailing
4826 newline, whereas the otherwise identical
4829 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
4831 .Sx "Filename transformations"
4832 are applied to the expanded arguments.
4833 This command also supports
4836 .Sx "Command modifiers" ,
4837 and manages the error number
4839 if data is stored in a variable then the return value reflects the
4840 length of the result string in case of success and is
4848 except that is echoes to standard error.
4851 In interactive sessions the \*(OPal message ring queue for
4853 will be used instead, if available and
4861 but does not write or store a trailing newline.
4867 but does not write or store a trailing newline.
4873 at each message from the given list in turn.
4874 Modified contents are discarded unless the
4876 variable is set, and are not used unless the mailbox can be written to
4877 and the editor returns a successful exit status.
4879 can be used instead for a more display oriented editor.
4884 .Ic if Ns \0/\: Ic elif Ns \0/\: Ic else Ns \0/\: Ic endif
4885 conditional \(em if the condition of a preceding
4887 was false, check the following condition and execute the following block
4888 if it evaluates true.
4893 .Ic if Ns \0/\: Ic elif Ns \0/\: Ic else Ns \0/\: Ic endif
4894 conditional \(em if none of the conditions of the preceding
4898 commands was true, the
4904 (en) Marks the end of an
4905 .Ic if Ns \0/\: Ic elif Ns \0/\: Ic else Ns \0/\: Ic endif
4906 conditional execution block.
4911 \*(NQ \*(UA has a strict notion about which variables are
4912 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
4913 and which are managed in the program
4915 Since some of the latter are a vivid part of \*(UAs functioning,
4916 however, they are transparently integrated into the normal handling of
4917 internal variables via
4921 To integrate other environment variables of choice into this
4922 transparent handling, and also to export internal variables into the
4923 process environment where they normally are not, a
4925 needs to become established with this command, as in, e.g.,
4928 .Dl environ link PERL5LIB TZ
4931 Afterwards changing such variables with
4933 will cause automatic updates of the program environment, and therefore
4934 be inherited by newly created child processes.
4935 Sufficient system support provided (it was in BSD as early as 1987, and
4936 is standardized since Y2K) removing such variables with
4938 will remove them also from the program environment, but in any way
4939 the knowledge they ever have been
4942 Note that this implies that
4944 may cause loss of such links.
4949 will remove an existing link, but leaves the variables as such intact.
4950 Additionally the subcommands
4954 are provided, which work exactly the same as the documented commands
4958 but (additionally un)link the variable(s) with the program environment
4959 and thus immediately export them to, or remove them from (if possible),
4960 respectively, the program environment.
4965 \*(OP Since \*(UA uses the console as a user interface it can happen
4966 that messages scroll by too fast to become recognized.
4967 An error message ring queue is available which stores duplicates of any
4968 error message and notifies the user in interactive sessions whenever
4969 a new error has occurred.
4970 The queue is finite: if its maximum size is reached any new message
4971 replaces the eldest.
4974 can be used to manage this message queue: if given
4976 or no argument the queue will be displayed and cleared,
4978 will only clear all messages from the queue.
4982 \*(NQ Construct a command by concatenating the arguments, separated with
4983 a single space character, and then evaluate the result.
4984 This command passes through the exit status
4988 of the evaluated command; also see
4990 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5001 call yyy '\ecall xxx' "b\e$'\et'u ' "
5009 (ex or x) Exit from \*(UA without changing the active mailbox and skip
5010 any saving of messages in the
5012 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
5014 as well as a possibly tracked line editor
5016 The optional status number argument will be passed through to
5018 \*(ID For now it can happen that the given status will be overwritten,
5019 later this will only occur if a later error needs to be reported onto an
5020 otherwise success indicating status.
5026 but open the mailbox read-only.
5031 (fi) The file command switches to a new mailbox.
5032 Without arguments it shows status information of the current mailbox.
5033 If an argument is given, it will write out changes (such as deletions)
5034 the user has made, open a new mailbox, update the internal variables
5035 .Va mailbox-resolved
5037 .Va mailbox-display ,
5038 and optionally display a summary of
5045 .Sx "Filename transformations"
5046 will be applied to the
5050 prefixes are, i.e., URL syntax is understood, e.g.,
5051 .Ql maildir:///tmp/mdirbox :
5052 if a protocol prefix is used the mailbox type is fixated and neither
5053 the auto-detection (read on) nor the
5056 \*(OPally URLs can also be used to access network resources, which may
5057 be accessed securely via
5058 .Sx "Encrypted network communication"
5059 if so supported, and it is possible to proxy all network traffic over
5060 a SOCKS5 server given via
5064 .Dl \*(IN protocol://[user[:password]@]host[:port][/path]
5065 .Dl \*(OU protocol://[user@]host[:port][/path]
5068 \*(OPally supported network protocols are
5072 (POP3 with SSL/TLS encrypted transport),
5078 part is valid only for IMAP; there it defaults to
5080 Network URLs require a special encoding as documented in the section
5081 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
5084 If the resulting file protocol (MBOX database)
5086 is located on a local filesystem then the list of all registered
5088 s is traversed in order to see whether a transparent intermediate
5089 conversion step is necessary to handle the given mailbox, in which case
5090 \*(UA will use the found hook to load and save data into and from
5091 a temporary file, respectively.
5092 Changing hooks will not affect already opened mailboxes.
5093 For example, the following creates hooks for the
5095 compression tool and a combined compressed and encrypted format:
5097 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5099 gzip 'gzip -dc' 'gzip -c' \e
5100 zst.pgp 'gpg -d | zstd -dc' 'zstd -19 -zc | gpg -e'
5104 MBOX databases will always be protected via file-region locks
5106 during file operations in order to avoid inconsistencies due to
5107 concurrent modifications.
5108 \*(OPal In addition mailbox files treated as the system
5113 .Sx "primary system mailbox" Ns
5114 es in general will also be protected by so-called dotlock files,
5115 the traditional way of mail spool file locking: for any file
5119 will be created for the duration of the synchronization \(em
5120 as necessary a privilege-separated dotlock child process will be used
5121 to accommodate for necessary privilege adjustments in order to create
5122 the dotlock file in the same directory
5123 and with the same user and group identities as the file of interest.
5124 Possible dotlock creation errors can be catched by setting
5125 .Va dotlock-ignore-error .
5128 \*(UA by default uses tolerant POSIX rules when reading MBOX database
5129 files, but it will detect invalid message boundaries in this mode and
5130 complain (even more with
5132 if any is seen: in this case
5134 can be used to create a valid MBOX database from the invalid input.
5137 If no protocol has been fixated, and
5139 refers to a directory with the subdirectories
5144 then it is treated as a folder in
5147 The maildir format stores each message in its own file, and has been
5148 designed so that file locking is not necessary when reading or writing
5152 \*(ID If no protocol has been fixated and no existing file has
5153 been found, the variable
5155 controls the format of mailboxes yet to be created.
5160 .It Ic filetype , unfiletype
5161 \*(NQ Define or list, and remove, respectively, file handler hooks,
5162 which provide (shell) commands that enable \*(UA to load and save MBOX
5163 files from and to files with the registered file extensions;
5164 it will use an intermediate temporary file to store the plain data.
5165 The latter command removes the hooks for all given extensions,
5167 will remove all existing handlers.
5169 When used without arguments the former shows a list of all currently
5170 defined file hooks, with one argument the expansion of the given alias.
5171 Otherwise three arguments are expected, the first specifying the file
5172 extension for which the hook is meant, and the second and third defining
5173 the load- and save commands, respectively, to deal with the file type,
5174 both of which must read from standard input and write to standard
5176 Changing hooks will not affect already opened mailboxes (\*(ID except below).
5177 \*(ID For now too much work is done, and files are oftened read in twice
5178 where once would be sufficient: this can cause problems if a filetype is
5179 changed while such a file is opened; this was already so with the
5180 built-in support of .gz etc. in Heirloom, and will vanish in v15.
5181 \*(ID For now all handler strings are passed to the
5182 .Ev SHELL for evaluation purposes; in the future a
5184 prefix to load and save commands may mean to bypass this shell instance:
5185 placing a leading space will avoid any possible misinterpretations.
5186 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5187 ? filetype bz2 'bzip2 -dc' 'bzip2 -zc' \e
5188 gz 'gzip -dc' 'gzip -c' xz 'xz -dc' 'xz -zc' \e
5189 zst 'zstd -dc' 'zstd -19 -zc' \e
5190 zst.pgp 'gpg -d | zstd -dc' 'zstd -19 -zc | gpg -e'
5191 ? set record=+sent.zst.pgp
5196 .It Ic flag , unflag
5197 Take message lists and mark the messages as being flagged, or not being
5198 flagged, respectively, for urgent/special attention.
5200 .Sx "Message states" .
5209 With no arguments, list the names of the folders in the folder directory.
5210 With an existing folder as an argument,
5211 lists the names of folders below the named folder.
5217 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
5218 recipient's address (instead of in
5225 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
5226 recipient's address (instead of in
5233 but responds to all recipients regardless of the
5238 .It Ic followupsender
5241 but responds to the sender only regardless of the
5249 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the
5250 recipient's address (instead of in
5255 Takes a message and the address of a recipient
5256 and forwards the message to him.
5257 The text of the original message is included in the new one,
5258 with the value of the
5259 .Va forward-inject-head
5260 variable preceding it.
5261 To filter the included header fields to the desired subset use the
5263 slot of the white- and blacklisting command
5265 Only the first part of a multipart message is included unless
5266 .Va forward-as-attachment ,
5267 and recipient addresses will be stripped from comments, names
5268 etc. unless the internal variable
5272 This may generate the errors
5273 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
5274 if no receiver has been specified,
5276 if some addressees where rejected by
5279 if no applicable messages have been given,
5281 if multiple messages have been specified,
5283 if an I/O error occurs,
5285 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
5291 (f) Takes a list of message specifications and displays a summary of
5292 their message headers, exactly as via
5294 making the first message of the result the new
5296 (the last message if
5299 An alias of this command is
5302 .Sx "Specifying messages" .
5313 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
5317 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
5320 .It Ic ghost , unghost
5323 .Ic uncommandalias .
5327 .It Ic headerpick , unheaderpick
5328 \*(NQ Multiplexer command to manage white- and blacklisting
5329 selections of header fields for a variety of applications.
5330 Without arguments the set of contexts that have settings is displayed.
5331 When given arguments, the first argument is the context to which the
5332 command applies, one of (case-insensitive)
5334 for display purposes (via, e.g.,
5337 for selecting which headers shall be stored persistently when
5343 ing messages (note that MIME related etc. header fields should not be
5344 ignored in order to not destroy usability of the message in this case),
5346 for stripping down messages when
5348 ing message (has no effect if
5349 .Va forward-as-attachment
5352 for defining user-defined set of fields for the command
5355 The current settings of the given context are displayed if it is the
5357 A second argument denotes the type of restriction that is to be chosen,
5358 it may be (a case-insensitive prefix of)
5362 for white- and blacklisting purposes, respectively.
5363 Establishing a whitelist suppresses inspection of the corresponding
5366 If no further argument is given the current settings of the given type
5367 will be displayed, otherwise the remaining arguments specify header
5368 fields, which \*(OPally may be given as regular expressions, to be added
5370 The special wildcard field (asterisk,
5372 will establish a (fast) shorthand setting which covers all fields.
5374 The latter command always takes three or more arguments and can be used
5375 to remove selections, i.e., from the given context, the given type of
5376 list, all the given headers will be removed, the special argument
5378 will remove all headers.
5382 (h) Show the current group of headers, the size of which depends on
5385 and the style of which can be adjusted with the variable
5387 If a message-specification is given the group of headers containing the
5388 first message therein is shown and the message at the top of the screen
5391 the last message is targeted if
5402 \*(OP Without arguments or when given
5404 all history entries are shown (this mode also supports a more
5408 will replace the list of entries with the content of
5412 will dump the current list to said file, replacing former content.
5414 will delete all history entries.
5415 The argument can also be a signed decimal
5417 which will select and evaluate the respective history entry, and move it
5418 to the top of the history; a negative number is used as an offset to the
5419 current command, e.g.,
5421 will select the last command, the history top.
5423 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor"
5424 for more on this topic.
5430 Takes a message list and marks each message therein to be saved in the
5435 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
5437 Does not override the
5440 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command, because a
5442 command issued after
5444 will display the following message, not the current one.
5449 (i) Part of the nestable
5450 .Ic if Ns \0/\: Ic elif Ns \0/\: Ic else Ns \0/\: Ic endif
5451 conditional execution construct \(em if the given condition is true then
5452 the encapsulated block is executed.
5453 The POSIX standards supports the (case-insensitive) conditions
5458 end, all remaining conditions are non-portable extensions.
5459 \*(ID These commands do not yet use
5460 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
5461 and therefore do not know about input tokens, so that syntax
5462 elements have to be surrounded by whitespace; in v15 \*(UA will inspect
5463 all conditions bracket group wise and consider the tokens, representing
5464 values and operators, therein, which also means that variables will
5465 already have been expanded at that time (just like in the shell).
5467 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5476 The (case-insensitive) condition
5478 erminal will evaluate to true if the standard input is a terminal, i.e.,
5479 in interactive sessions.
5480 Another condition can be any boolean value (see the section
5481 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
5482 for textual boolean representations) to mark an enwrapped block as
5485 .Dq always execute .
5486 (It shall be remarked that a faulty condition skips all branches until
5491 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
5492 will be used, and this command will simply interpret expanded tokens.)
5493 It is possible to check
5494 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
5497 variables for existence or compare their expansion against a user given
5498 value or another variable by using the
5500 .Pf ( Dq variable next )
5501 conditional trigger character;
5502 a variable on the right hand side may be signalled using the same
5504 Variable names may be enclosed in a pair of matching braces.
5505 When this mode has been triggered, several operators are available:
5508 Integer operators treat the arguments on the left and right hand side of
5509 the operator as integral numbers and compare them arithmetically.
5510 It is an error if any of the operands is not a valid integer, an empty
5511 argument (which implies it had been quoted) is treated as if it were 0.
5512 Available operators are
5516 (less than or equal to),
5522 (greater than or equal to), and
5527 String data operators compare the left and right hand side according to
5528 their textual content.
5529 Unset variables are treated as the empty string.
5530 The behaviour of string operators can be adjusted by prefixing the
5531 operator with the modifier trigger commercial at
5533 followed by none to multiple modifiers: for now supported is
5535 which turns the comparison into a case-insensitive one: this is
5536 implied if no modifier follows the trigger.
5539 Available string operators are
5543 (less than or equal to),
5549 (greater than or equal to),
5553 (is substring of) and
5555 (is not substring of).
5556 By default these operators work on bytes and (therefore) do not take
5557 into account character set specifics.
5558 If the case-insensitivity modifier has been used, case is ignored
5559 according to the rules of the US-ASCII encoding, i.e., bytes are
5563 When the \*(OPal regular expression support is available, the additional
5569 They treat the right hand side as an extended regular expression that is
5570 matched according to the active locale (see
5571 .Sx "Character sets" ) ,
5572 i.e., character sets should be honoured correctly.
5575 Conditions can be joined via AND-OR lists (where the AND operator is
5577 and the OR operator is
5579 which have equal precedence and will be evaluated with left
5580 associativity, thus using the same syntax that is known for the
5582 It is also possible to form groups of conditions and lists by enclosing
5583 them in pairs of brackets
5584 .Ql [\ \&.\&.\&.\ ] ,
5585 which may be interlocked within each other, and also be joined via
5589 The results of individual conditions and entire groups may be modified
5590 via unary operators: the unary operator
5592 will reverse the result.
5594 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5595 # (This not in v15, there [ -n "$debug"]!)
5599 if [ "$ttycharset" == UTF-8 ] || \e
5600 [ "$ttycharset" @i== UTF8 ]
5601 echo *ttycharset* is UTF-8, the former case-sensitive!
5604 if [ "${t1}" == "${t2}" ]
5605 echo These two variables are equal
5607 if [ "$features" =% +regex ] && \e
5608 [ "$TERM" @i=~ "^xterm\&.*" ]
5609 echo ..in an X terminal
5611 if [ [ true ] && [ [ "${debug}" != '' ] || \e
5612 [ "$verbose" != '' ] ] ]
5615 if true && [ "$debug" != '' ] || [ "${verbose}" != '' ]
5616 echo Left associativity, as is known from the shell
5625 Superseded by the multiplexer
5630 Shows the names of all available commands, alphabetically sorted.
5631 If given any non-whitespace argument the list will be shown in the order
5632 in which command prefixes are searched.
5633 \*(OP In conjunction with a set variable
5635 additional information will be provided for each command: the argument
5636 type will be indicated, the documentation string will be shown,
5637 and the set of command flags will show up:
5639 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql NEEDS_BOX"
5641 command supports the command modifier
5644 command supports the command modifier
5647 the error number is tracked in
5650 commands needs an active mailbox, a
5652 .It Ql "ok: batch/interactive"
5653 command may only be used in interactive or
5656 .It Ql "ok: send mode"
5657 command can be used in send mode.
5658 .It Ql "not ok: compose mode"
5659 command is not available when in compose mode.
5660 .It Ql "not ok: startup"
5661 command cannot be used during program startup, e.g., while loading
5662 .Sx "Resource files" .
5663 .It Ql "ok: subprocess"
5664 command is allowed to be used when running in a subprocess instance,
5665 e.g., from within a macro that is called via
5666 .Va on-compose-splice .
5668 The command produces
5677 This command can be used to localize changes to (linked)
5680 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
5681 meaning that their state will be reverted to the former one once the
5684 Just like the command modifier
5686 which provides block-scope localization for some commands (instead),
5687 it can only be used inside of macro definition blocks introduced by
5691 The covered scope of an
5693 is left once a different account is activated, and some macros, notably
5694 .Va folder-hook Ns s ,
5695 use their own specific notion of covered scope, here it will be extended
5696 until the folder is left again.
5699 This setting stacks up: i.e., if
5701 enables change localization and calls
5703 which explicitly resets localization, then any value changes within
5705 will still be reverted when the scope of
5708 (Caveats: if in this example
5710 changes to a different
5712 which sets some variables that are already covered by localizations,
5713 their scope will be extended, and in fact leaving the
5715 will (thus) restore settings in (likely) global scope which actually
5716 were defined in a local, macro private context!)
5719 This command takes one or two arguments, the optional first one
5720 specifies an attribute that may be one of
5722 which refers to the current scope and is thus the default,
5724 which causes any macro that is being
5726 ed to be started with localization enabled by default, as well as
5728 which (if enabled) disallows any called macro to turn off localization:
5729 like this it can be ensured that once the current scope regains control,
5730 any changes made in deeper levels have been reverted.
5731 The latter two are mutually exclusive, and neither affects
5733 The (second) argument is interpreted as a boolean (string, see
5734 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" )
5735 and states whether the given attribute shall be turned on or off.
5737 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5738 define temporary_settings {
5739 set possibly_global_option1
5741 set localized_option1
5742 set localized_option2
5744 set possibly_global_option2
5751 Reply to messages that come in via known
5754 .Pf ( Ic mlsubscribe )
5755 mailing lists, or pretend to do so (see
5756 .Sx "Mailing lists" ) :
5759 functionality this will actively resort and even remove message
5760 recipients in order to generate a message that is supposed to be sent to
5762 For example it will also implicitly generate a
5763 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
5764 header if that seems useful, regardless of the setting of the variable
5766 For more documentation please refer to
5767 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
5769 This may generate the errors
5770 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
5771 if no receiver has been specified,
5773 if some addressees where rejected by
5776 if no applicable messages have been given,
5778 if an I/O error occurs,
5780 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
5783 Any error stops processing of further messages.
5789 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
5790 recipient's address (instead of in
5795 (m) Takes a (list of) recipient address(es) as (an) argument(s),
5796 or asks on standard input if none were given;
5797 then collects the remaining mail content and sends it out.
5798 Unless the internal variable
5800 is set recipient addresses will be stripped from comments, names etc.
5801 For more documentation please refer to
5802 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
5804 This may generate the errors
5805 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
5806 if no receiver has been specified,
5808 if some addressees where rejected by
5811 if no applicable messages have been given,
5813 if multiple messages have been specified,
5815 if an I/O error occurs,
5817 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
5823 (mb) The given message list is to be sent to the
5825 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
5827 when \*(UA is quit; this is the default action unless the variable
5830 \*(ID This command can only be used in a
5832 .Sx "primary system mailbox" .
5836 .It Ic mimetype , unmimetype
5837 Without arguments the content of the MIME type cache will displayed;
5838 a more verbose listing will be produced if either of
5843 When given arguments they will be joined, interpreted as shown in
5844 .Sx "The mime.types files"
5846 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ) ,
5847 and the resulting entry will be added (prepended) to the cache.
5848 In any event MIME type sources are loaded first as necessary \(en
5849 .Va mimetypes-load-control
5850 can be used to fine-tune which sources are actually loaded.
5852 The latter command deletes all specifications of the given MIME type, thus
5853 .Ql ? unmimetype text/plain
5854 will remove all registered specifications for the MIME type
5858 will discard all existing MIME types, just as will
5860 but which also reenables cache initialization via
5861 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
5865 .It Ic mlist , unmlist
5866 The latter command removes all given mailing lists, the special name
5868 can be used to remove all registered lists.
5869 The former will list all currently defined mailing lists (and their
5870 attributes, if any) when used without arguments; a more verbose listing
5871 will be produced if either of
5876 Otherwise all given arguments will be added and henceforth be recognized
5878 If the \*(OPal regular expression support is available then any argument
5879 which contains any of the
5881 regular expression characters
5885 will be interpreted as one, which allows matching of many addresses with
5886 a single expression.
5889 pair of commands manages subscription attributes of mailing lists.
5893 \*(ID Only available in interactive mode, this command allows one to
5894 display MIME parts which require external MIME handler programs to run
5895 which do not integrate in \*(UAs normal
5898 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ) .
5899 (\*(ID No syntax to directly address parts, this restriction may vanish.)
5900 The user will be asked for each non-text part of the given message in
5901 turn whether the registered handler shall be used to display the part.
5905 .It Ic mlsubscribe , unmlsubscribe
5906 The latter command removes the subscription attribute from all given
5907 mailing lists, the special name
5909 can be used to do so for any registered list.
5910 The former will list all currently defined mailing lists which have
5911 a subscription attribute when used without arguments; a more verbose
5912 listing will be produced if either of
5917 Otherwise this attribute will be set for all given mailing lists,
5918 newly creating them as necessary (as via
5927 but moves the messages to a file named after the local part of the
5928 sender address of the first message (instead of in
5935 but marks the messages for deletion if they were transferred
5942 but also displays header fields which would not pass the
5944 selection, and all MIME parts.
5952 on the given messages, even in non-interactive mode and as long as the
5953 standard output is a terminal.
5959 \*(OP When used without arguments or if
5961 has been given the content of the
5963 cache is shown, loading it first as necessary.
5966 then the cache will only be initialized and
5968 will remove its contents.
5969 Note that \*(UA will try to load the file only once, use
5970 .Ql Ic \&\&netrc Ns \:\0\:clear
5971 to unlock further attempts.
5976 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ;
5978 .Sx "The .netrc file"
5979 documents the file format in detail.
5983 Checks for new mail in the current folder without committing any changes
5985 If new mail is present, a message is shown.
5989 the headers of each new message are also shown.
5990 This command is not available for all mailbox types.
5998 Goes to the next message in sequence and types it.
5999 With an argument list, types the next matching message.
6013 If the current folder is accessed via a network connection, a
6015 command is sent, otherwise no operation is performed.
6021 but also displays header fields which would not pass the
6023 selection, and all MIME parts.
6031 on the given messages, even in non-interactive mode and as long as the
6032 standard output is a terminal.
6040 but also pipes header fields which would not pass the
6042 selection, and all parts of MIME
6043 .Ql multipart/alternative
6048 (pi) Takes a message list and a shell command
6049 and pipes the messages through the command.
6050 Without an argument the current message is piped through the command
6057 every message is followed by a formfeed character.
6078 (q) Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in
6081 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
6083 preserving all messages marked with
6087 or never referenced in the system
6089 and removing all other messages from the
6091 .Sx "primary system mailbox" .
6092 If new mail has arrived during the session,
6094 .Dq You have new mail
6096 If given while editing a mailbox file with the command line option
6098 then the edit file is rewritten.
6099 A return to the shell is effected,
6100 unless the rewrite of edit file fails,
6101 in which case the user can escape with the exit command.
6102 The optional status number argument will be passed through to
6104 \*(ID For now it can happen that the given status will be overwritten,
6105 later this will only occur if a later error needs to be reported onto an
6106 otherwise success indicating status.
6110 \*(NQ Read a line from standard input, or the channel set active via
6112 and assign the data, which will be split as indicated by
6114 to the given variables.
6115 The variable names are checked by the same rules as documented for
6117 and the same error codes will be seen in
6121 indicates the number of bytes read, it will be
6123 with the error number
6127 in case of I/O errors, or
6130 If there are more fields than variables, assigns successive fields to the
6131 last given variable.
6132 If there are less fields than variables, assigns the empty string to the
6134 .Bd -literal -offset indent
6137 ? echo "<$a> <$b> <$c>"
6139 ? wysh set ifs=:; read a b c;unset ifs
6140 hey2.0,:"'you ",:world!:mars.:
6141 ? echo $?/$^ERRNAME / <$a><$b><$c>
6142 0/NONE / <hey2.0,><"'you ",><world!:mars.:><><>
6147 \*(NQ Read anything from standard input, or the channel set active via
6149 and assign the data to the given variable.
6150 The variable name is checked by the same rules as documented for
6152 and the same error codes will be seen in
6156 indicates the number of bytes read, it will be
6158 with the error number
6162 in case of I/O errors, or
6165 \*(ID The input data length is restricted to 31-bits.
6169 \*(NQ Manages input channels for
6173 to be used to avoid complicated or impracticable code, like calling
6175 from within a macro in non-interactive mode.
6176 Without arguments, or when the first argument is
6178 a listing of all known channels is printed.
6179 Channels can otherwise be
6181 d, and existing channels can be
6185 d by giving the string used for creation.
6187 The channel name is expected to be a file descriptor number, or,
6188 if parsing the numeric fails, an input file name that undergoes
6189 .Sx "Filename transformations" .
6190 E.g. (this example requires a modern shell):
6191 .Bd -literal -offset indent
6192 $ LC_ALL=C printf 'echon "hey, "\enread a\enyou\enecho $a' |\e
6195 $ LC_ALL=C printf 'echon "hey, "\enread a\enecho $a' |\e
6196 LC_ALL=C 6<<< 'you' \*(uA -R#X'readctl create 6'
6210 Removes the named files or directories.
6211 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6212 including shell pathname wildcard pattern expansions
6214 are performed on the arguments.
6215 If a name refer to a mailbox, e.g., a Maildir mailbox, then a mailbox
6216 type specific removal will be performed, deleting the complete mailbox.
6217 The user is asked for confirmation in interactive mode.
6221 Takes the name of an existing folder
6222 and the name for the new folder
6223 and renames the first to the second one.
6224 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6225 including shell pathname wildcard pattern expansions
6227 are performed on both arguments.
6228 Both folders must be of the same type.
6232 (R) Replies to only the sender of each message of the given message
6233 list, by using the first message as the template to quote, for the
6237 will exchange this command with
6239 Unless the internal variable
6241 is set the recipient address will be stripped from comments, names etc.
6243 headers will be inspected if
6247 This may generate the errors
6248 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
6249 if no receiver has been specified,
6251 if some addressees where rejected by
6254 if no applicable messages have been given,
6256 if an I/O error occurs,
6258 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
6264 (r) Take a message and group-responds to it by addressing the sender
6265 and all recipients, subject to
6269 .Va followup-to-honour ,
6272 .Va recipients-in-cc
6273 influence response behaviour.
6274 Unless the internal variable
6276 is set recipient addresses will be stripped from comments, names etc.
6286 offers special support for replying to mailing lists.
6287 For more documentation please refer to
6288 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
6290 This may generate the errors
6291 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
6292 if no receiver has been specified,
6294 if some addressees where rejected by
6297 if no applicable messages have been given,
6299 if an I/O error occurs,
6301 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
6304 Any error stops processing of further messages.
6310 but initiates a group-reply regardless of the value of
6317 but responds to the sender only regardless of the value of
6324 but does not add any header lines.
6325 This is not a way to hide the sender's identity,
6326 but useful for sending a message again to the same recipients.
6330 Takes a list of messages and a user name
6331 and sends each message to the named user.
6333 and related header fields are prepended to the new copy of the message.
6336 is only performed if
6340 This may generate the errors
6341 .Va ^ERR Ns -DESTADDRREQ
6342 if no receiver has been specified,
6344 if some addressees where rejected by
6347 if no applicable messages have been given,
6349 if an I/O error occurs,
6351 if a necessary character set conversion fails, and
6354 Any error stops processing of further messages.
6372 .It Ic respondsender
6378 (ret) Superseded by the multiplexer
6383 Only available inside the scope of a
6387 this will stop evaluation of any further macro content, and return
6388 execution control to the caller.
6389 The two optional parameters must be specified as positive decimal
6390 numbers and default to the value 0:
6391 the first argument specifies the signed 32-bit return value (stored in
6393 \*(ID and later extended to signed 64-bit),
6394 the second the signed 32-bit error number (stored in
6398 a non-0 exit status may cause the program to exit.
6404 but saves the messages in a file named after the local part of the
6405 sender of the first message instead of (in
6407 and) taking a filename argument; the variable
6409 is inspected to decide on the actual storage location.
6413 (s) Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in turn
6414 to the end of the file.
6415 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6416 including shell pathname wildcard pattern expansions
6418 is performed on the filename.
6419 If no filename is given, the
6421 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
6424 The filename in quotes, followed by the generated character count
6425 is echoed on the user's terminal.
6428 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
6429 the messages are marked for deletion.
6430 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6432 To filter the saved header fields to the desired subset use the
6434 slot of the white- and blacklisting command
6438 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6442 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6446 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6451 Takes a message specification (list) and displays a header summary of
6452 all matching messages, as via
6454 This command is an alias of
6457 .Sx "Specifying messages" .
6461 Takes a message list and marks all messages as having been read.
6467 (se, \*(NQ uns) The latter command will delete all given global
6468 variables, or only block-scope local ones if the
6470 command modifier has been used.
6471 The former, when used without arguments, will show all
6472 currently known variables, being more verbose if either of
6477 Remarks: this list mode will not automatically link-in known
6479 variables, but only explicit addressing will, e.g., via
6481 using a variable in an
6483 condition or a string passed to
6487 ting, as well as some program-internal use cases.
6490 Otherwise the given variables (and arguments) are set or adjusted.
6491 Arguments are of the form
6493 (no space before or after
6497 if there is no value, i.e., a boolean variable.
6498 If a name begins with
6502 the effect is the same as invoking the
6504 command with the remaining part of the variable
6505 .Pf ( Ql unset save ) .
6506 \*(ID In conjunction with the
6508 .Pf (or\0 Cm local )
6510 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
6511 can be used to quote arguments as necessary.
6512 \*(ID Otherwise quotation marks may be placed around any part of the
6513 assignment statement to quote blanks or tabs.
6516 When operating in global scope any
6518 that is known to map to an environment variable will automatically cause
6519 updates in the program environment (unsetting a variable in the
6520 environment requires corresponding system support) \(em use the command
6522 for further environmental control.
6523 If the command modifier
6525 has been used to alter the command to work in block-scope all variables
6526 have values (may they be empty), and creation of names which shadow
6527 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
6528 is actively prevented (\*(ID shadowing of linked
6530 variables and free-form versions of variable chains is not yet detected).
6534 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
6538 .Bd -literal -offset indent
6539 ? wysh set indentprefix=' -> '
6540 ? wysh set atab=$'\t' aspace=' ' zero=0
6546 Apply shell quoting rules to the given raw-data arguments.
6550 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
6551 The first argument specifies the operation:
6555 cause shell quoting to be applied to the remains of the line, and
6556 expanded away thereof, respectively.
6557 If the former is prefixed with a plus-sign, the quoted result will not
6558 be roundtrip enabled, and thus can be decoded only in the very same
6559 environment that was used to perform the encode; also see
6560 .Cd mle-quote-rndtrip .
6561 If the coding operation fails the error number
6564 .Va ^ERR Ns -CANCELED ,
6565 and the unmodified input is used as the result; the error number may
6566 change again due to output or result storage errors.
6570 \*(NQ (sh) Invokes an interactive version of the shell,
6571 and returns its exit status.
6575 .It Ic shortcut , unshortcut
6576 Without arguments the list of all currently defined shortcuts is
6577 shown, with one argument the expansion of the given shortcut.
6578 Otherwise all given arguments are treated as pairs of shortcuts and
6579 their expansions, creating new or changing already existing shortcuts,
6581 The latter command will remove all given shortcuts, the special name
6583 will remove all registered shortcuts.
6587 \*(NQ Shift the positional parameter stack (starting at
6589 by the given number (which must be a positive decimal),
6590 or 1 if no argument has been given.
6591 It is an error if the value exceeds the number of positional parameters.
6592 If the given number is 0, no action is performed, successfully.
6593 The stack as such can be managed via
6595 Note this command will fail in
6597 and hook macros unless the positional parameter stack has been
6598 explicitly created in the current context via
6605 but performs neither MIME decoding nor decryption, so that the raw
6606 message text is shown.
6610 (si) Shows the size in characters of each message of the given
6615 \*(NQ Sleep for the specified number of seconds (and optionally
6616 milliseconds), by default interruptably.
6617 If a third argument is given the sleep will be uninterruptible,
6618 otherwise the error number
6622 if the sleep has been interrupted.
6623 The command will fail and the error number will be
6624 .Va ^ERR Ns -OVERFLOW
6625 if the given duration(s) overflow the time datatype, and
6627 if the given durations are no valid integers.
6632 .It Ic sort , unsort
6633 The latter command disables sorted or threaded mode, returns to normal
6634 message order and, if the
6637 displays a header summary.
6638 The former command shows the current sorting criterion when used without
6639 an argument, but creates a sorted representation of the current folder
6640 otherwise, and changes the
6642 command and the addressing modes such that they refer to messages in
6644 Message numbers are the same as in regular mode.
6648 a header summary in the new order is also displayed.
6649 Automatic folder sorting can be enabled by setting the
6651 variable, as in, e.g.,
6652 .Ql set autosort=thread .
6653 Possible sorting criterions are:
6656 .Bl -tag -compact -width "subject"
6658 Sort the messages by their
6660 field, that is by the time they were sent.
6662 Sort messages by the value of their
6664 field, that is by the address of the sender.
6667 variable is set, the sender's real name (if any) is used.
6669 Sort the messages by their size.
6671 \*(OP Sort the message by their spam score, as has been classified by
6674 Sort the messages by their message status.
6676 Sort the messages by their subject.
6678 Create a threaded display.
6680 Sort messages by the value of their
6682 field, that is by the address of the recipient.
6685 variable is set, the recipient's real name (if any) is used.
6691 \*(NQ (so) The source command reads commands from the given file.
6692 .Sx "Filename transformations"
6694 If the given expanded argument ends with a vertical bar
6696 then the argument will instead be interpreted as a shell command and
6697 \*(UA will read the output generated by it.
6698 Dependent on the settings of
6702 and also dependent on whether the command modifier
6704 had been used, encountering errors will stop sourcing of the given input.
6707 cannot be used from within macros that execute as
6708 .Va folder-hook Ns s
6711 i.e., it can only be called from macros that were
6716 \*(NQ The difference to
6718 (beside not supporting pipe syntax aka shell command input) is that
6719 this command will not generate an error nor warn if the given file
6720 argument cannot be opened successfully.
6724 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and clears their
6730 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and causes the
6732 to forget it has ever used them to train its Bayesian filter.
6733 Unless otherwise noted the
6735 flag of the message is inspected to chose whether a message shall be
6743 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and informs the Bayesian filter of the
6747 This also clears the
6749 flag of the messages in question.
6753 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and rates them using the configured
6754 .Va spam-interface ,
6755 without modifying the messages, but setting their
6757 flag as appropriate; because the spam rating headers are lost the rate
6758 will be forgotten once the mailbox is left.
6759 Refer to the manual section
6761 for the complete picture of spam handling in \*(UA.
6765 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and sets their
6771 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and informs the Bayesian filter of the
6777 flag of the messages in question.
6793 slot for white- and blacklisting header fields.
6797 (to) Takes a message list and types out the first
6799 lines of each message on the user's terminal.
6800 Unless a special selection has been established for the
6804 command, the only header fields that are displayed are
6815 It is possible to apply compression to what is displayed by setting
6817 Messages are decrypted and converted to the terminal character set
6822 (tou) Takes a message list and marks the messages for saving in the
6824 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
6826 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command,
6829 command will display the following message instead of the current one.
6835 but also displays header fields which would not pass the
6837 selection, and all visualizable parts of MIME
6838 .Ql multipart/alternative
6843 (t) Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's terminal.
6844 The display of message headers is selectable via
6846 For MIME multipart messages, all parts with a content type of
6848 all parts which have a registered MIME type handler (see
6849 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" )
6850 which produces plain text output, and all
6852 parts are shown, others are hidden except for their headers.
6853 Messages are decrypted and converted to the terminal character set
6857 can be used to display parts which are not displayable as plain text.
6900 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6904 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6909 Superseded by the multiplexer
6920 .It Ic unmlsubscribe
6931 Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been read.
6935 Superseded by the multiplexer
6939 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6943 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
6965 Perform URL percent codec operations on the raw-data argument, rather
6966 according to RFC 3986.
6970 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) ,
6971 and manages the error number
6973 This is a character set agnostic and thus locale dependent operation,
6974 and it may decode bytes which are invalid in the current
6976 \*(ID This command does not know about URLs beside that.
6978 The first argument specifies the operation:
6982 perform plain URL percent en- and decoding, respectively.
6986 perform a slightly modified operation which should be better for
6987 pathnames: it does not allow a tilde
6989 and will neither accept hyphen-minus
6993 as an initial character.
6994 The remains of the line form the URL data which is to be converted.
6995 If the coding operation fails the error number
6998 .Va ^ERR Ns -CANCELED ,
6999 and the unmodified input is used as the result; the error number may
7000 change again due to output or result storage errors.
7004 \*(NQ This command produces the same output as the listing mode of
7008 ity adjustments, but only for the given variables.
7012 \*(OP Takes a message list and verifies each message.
7013 If a message is not a S/MIME signed message,
7014 verification will fail for it.
7015 The verification process checks if the message was signed using a valid
7017 if the message sender's email address matches one of those contained
7018 within the certificate,
7019 and if the message content has been altered.
7027 of \*(UA, as well as the build and running system environment.
7031 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
7036 \*(NQ Evaluate arguments according to a given operator.
7037 This is a multiplexer command which can be used to perform signed 64-bit
7038 numeric calculations as well as byte string and string operations.
7039 It uses polish notation, i.e., the operator is the first argument and
7040 defines the number and type, and the meaning of the remaining arguments.
7041 An empty argument is replaced with a 0 if a number is expected.
7045 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
7048 The result that is shown in case of errors is always
7050 for usage errors and numeric operations, and the empty string for byte
7051 string and string operations;
7052 if the latter two fail to provide result data for
7054 errors, e.g., when a search operation failed, they also set the
7057 .Va ^ERR Ns -NODATA .
7058 Except when otherwise noted numeric arguments are parsed as signed 64-bit
7059 numbers, and errors will be reported in the error number
7061 as the numeric error
7062 .Va ^ERR Ns -RANGE .
7065 Numeric operations work on one or two signed 64-bit integers.
7066 Numbers prefixed with
7070 are interpreted as hexadecimal (base 16) numbers, whereas
7072 indicates octal (base 8), and
7076 denote binary (base 2) numbers.
7077 It is possible to use any base in between 2 and 36, inclusive, with the
7079 notation, where the base is given as an unsigned decimal number, e.g.,
7081 is a different way of specifying a hexadecimal number.
7082 Unsigned interpretation of a number can be enforced by prefixing a
7084 (case-insensitively), e.g.,
7086 this is not necessary for power-of-two bases (2, 4, 8, 16 and 32),
7087 which will be interpreted as unsigned by default, but it still makes
7088 a difference regarding overflow detection and overflow constant.
7089 It is possible to enforce signed interpretation by (instead) prefixing a
7091 (case-insensitively).
7094 One integer is expected by assignment (equals sign
7096 which does nothing but parsing the argument, thus detecting validity and
7097 possible overflow conditions, and unary not (tilde
7099 which creates the bitwise complement.
7100 Two integers are used by addition (plus sign
7102 subtraction (hyphen-minus
7104 multiplication (asterisk
7108 and modulo (percent sign
7110 as well as for the bitwise operators logical or (vertical bar
7113 bitwise and (ampersand
7116 bitwise xor (circumflex
7118 the bitwise signed left- and right shifts
7121 as well as for the unsigned right shift
7125 Another numeric operation is
7127 which takes a number base in between 2 and 36, inclusive, and will act
7128 on the second number given just the same as what equals sign
7130 does, but the number result will be formatted in the base given.
7133 All numeric operators can be prefixed with a commercial at
7137 this will turn the operation into a saturated one, which means that
7138 overflow errors and division and modulo by zero are no longer reported
7139 via the exit status, but the result will linger at the minimum or
7140 maximum possible value, instead of overflowing (or trapping).
7141 This is true also for the argument parse step.
7142 For the bitwise shifts, the saturated maximum is 63.
7143 Any catched overflow will be reported via the error number
7146 .Va ^ERR Ns -OVERFLOW .
7147 .Bd -literal -offset indent
7148 ? vexpr @- +1 -9223372036854775808
7149 ? echo $?/$!/$^ERRNAME
7153 Character set agnostic string functions have no notion of locale
7154 settings and character sets.
7156 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm random"
7159 .Sx "Filename transformations"
7162 Generates a random string of the given length, or of
7164 bytes (a constant from
7166 if the value 0 is given; the random string will be base64url encoded
7167 according to RFC 4648, and thus be usable as a (portable) filename.
7171 Byte string operations work on 8-bit bytes and have no notion of locale
7172 settings and character sets, effectively assuming ASCII data.
7175 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm length"
7177 Queries the length of the given argument.
7180 Calculates the Chris Torek hash of the given argument.
7183 Byte-searches in the first for the second argument.
7184 Shows the resulting 0-based offset shall it have been found.
7189 but works case-insensitively according to the rules of the ASCII
7193 Creates a substring of its first argument.
7194 The second argument is the 0-based starting offset, a negative one
7195 counts from the end;
7196 the optional third argument specifies the length of the desired result,
7197 a negative length leaves off the given number of bytes at the end of the
7198 original string, by default the entire string is used;
7199 this operation tries to work around faulty arguments (set
7201 for error logs), but reports them via the error number
7204 .Va ^ERR Ns -OVERFLOW .
7207 Trim away whitespace characters from both ends of the argument.
7210 Trim away whitespace characters from the begin of the argument.
7213 Trim away whitespace characters from the end of the argument.
7218 String operations work, sufficient support provided, according to the
7219 active user's locale encoding and character set (see
7220 .Sx "Character sets" ) .
7223 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm regex"
7225 (One-way) Converts the argument to something safely printable on the
7229 \*(OP A string operation that will try to match the first argument with
7230 the regular expression given as the second argument.
7231 If the optional third argument has been given then instead of showing
7232 the match offset a replacement operation is performed: the third
7233 argument is treated as if specified within dollar-single-quote (see
7234 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" ) ,
7235 and any occurrence of a positional parameter, e.g.,
7237 is replaced by the corresponding match group of the regular expression:
7238 .Bd -literal -offset indent
7239 ? vput vexpr res regex bananarama \e
7240 (.*)NanA(.*) '\e${1}au\e$2'
7241 ? echo $?/$!/$^ERRNAME: $res
7245 On otherwise identical case-insensitive equivalent to
7247 .Bd -literal -offset indent
7248 ? vput vexpr res ire bananarama \e
7249 (.*)NanA(.*) '\e${1}au\e$2'
7250 ? echo $?/$!/$^ERRNAME: $res
7257 \*(NQ Manage the positional parameter stack (see
7261 If the first argument is
7263 then the positional parameter stack of the current context, or the
7264 global one, if there is none, is cleared.
7267 then the remaining arguments will be used to (re)create the stack,
7268 if the parameter stack size limit is excessed an
7269 .Va ^ERR Ns -OVERFLOW
7273 If the first argument is
7275 a round-trip capable representation of the stack contents is created,
7276 with each quoted parameter separated from each other with the first
7279 and followed by the first character of
7281 if that is not empty and not identical to the first.
7282 If that results in no separation at all a
7288 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
7289 I.e., the subcommands
7293 can be used (in conjunction with
7295 to (re)create an argument stack from and to a single variable losslessly.
7297 .Bd -literal -offset indent
7298 ? vpospar set hey, "'you ", world!
7299 ? echo $#: <${1}><${2}><${3}>
7300 ? vput vpospar x quote
7302 ? echo $#: <${1}><${2}><${3}>
7303 ? eval vpospar set ${x}
7304 ? echo $#: <${1}><${2}><${3}>
7310 (v) Takes a message list and invokes the
7312 display editor on each message.
7313 Modified contents are discarded unless the
7315 variable is set, and are not used unless the mailbox can be written to
7316 and the editor returns a successful exit status.
7318 can be used instead for a less display oriented editor.
7322 (w) For conventional messages the body without all headers is written.
7323 The original message is never marked for deletion in the originating
7325 The output is decrypted and converted to its native format as necessary.
7326 If the output file exists, the text is appended.
7327 If a message is in MIME multipart format its first part is written to
7328 the specified file as for conventional messages, handling of the remains
7329 depends on the execution mode.
7330 No special handling of compressed files is performed.
7332 In interactive mode the user is consecutively asked for the filenames of
7333 the processed parts.
7334 For convience saving of each part may be skipped by giving an empty
7335 value, the same result as writing it to
7337 Shell piping the part content by specifying a leading vertical bar
7339 character for the filename is supported.
7340 Other user input undergoes the usual
7341 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
7342 including shell pathname wildcard pattern expansions
7344 and shell variable expansion for the message as such, not the individual
7345 parts, and contents of the destination file are overwritten if the file
7348 \*(ID In non-interactive mode any part which does not specify a filename
7349 is ignored, and suspicious parts of filenames of the remaining parts are
7350 URL percent encoded (as via
7352 to prevent injection of malicious character sequences, resulting in
7353 a filename that will be written into the current directory.
7354 Existing files will not be overwritten, instead the part number or
7355 a dot are appended after a number sign
7357 to the name until file creation succeeds (or fails due to other
7362 \*(NQ The sole difference to
7364 is that the new macro is executed in place of the current one, which
7365 will not regain control: all resources of the current macro will be
7367 This implies that any setting covered by
7369 will be forgotten and covered variables will become cleaned up.
7370 If this command is not used from within a
7372 ed macro it will silently be (a more expensive variant of)
7382 \*(NQ \*(UA presents message headers in
7384 fuls as described under the
7387 Without arguments this command scrolls to the next window of messages,
7388 likewise if the argument is
7392 scrolls to the last,
7394 scrolls to the first, and
7399 A number argument prefixed by
7403 indicates that the window is calculated in relation to the current
7404 position, and a number without a prefix specifies an absolute position.
7410 but scrolls to the next or previous window that contains at least one
7421 .\" .Sh COMMAND ESCAPES {{{
7422 .Sh "COMMAND ESCAPES"
7424 Here is a summary of the command escapes available in compose mode,
7425 which are used to perform special functions when composing messages.
7426 Command escapes are only recognized at the beginning of lines, and
7427 consist of a trigger (escape) and a command character.
7428 The actual escape character can be set via the internal variable
7430 it defaults to the tilde
7432 Otherwise ignored whitespace characters following the escape character
7433 will prevent a possible addition of the command line to the \*(OPal
7437 Unless otherwise noted all compose mode command escapes ensure proper
7438 updates of the variables which represent the error number
7444 is set they will, unless stated otherwise, error out message compose
7445 mode and cause a program exit if an operation fails.
7446 It is however possible to place the character hyphen-minus
7448 after (possible whitespace following) the escape character, which has an
7449 effect equivalent to the command modifier
7451 If the \*(OPal key bindings are available it is possible to create
7453 ings specifically for the compose mode.
7456 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ic BaNg"
7459 Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single
7461 (If the escape character has been changed,
7462 that character must be doubled instead.)
7465 .It Ic ~! Ar command
7466 Execute the indicated shell
7468 which follows, replacing unescaped exclamation marks with the previously
7469 executed command if the internal variable
7471 is set, then return to the message.
7475 End compose mode and send the message.
7477 .Va on-compose-splice-shell
7479 .Va on-compose-splice ,
7480 in order, will be called when set, after which
7482 will be checked, a set
7483 .Va on-compose-leave
7484 hook will be called,
7488 will be joined in if set,
7490 will be honoured in interactive mode, finally a given
7491 .Va message-inject-tail
7492 will be incorporated, after which the compose mode is left.
7495 .It Ic ~: Ar \*(UA-command Ns \0or Ic ~_ Ar \*(UA-command
7496 Execute the given \*(UA command.
7497 Not all commands, however, are allowed.
7500 .It Ic ~< Ar filename
7505 .It Ic ~<! Ar command
7507 is executed using the shell.
7508 Its standard output is inserted into the message.
7512 \*(OP Write a summary of command escapes.
7515 .It Ic ~@ Op Ar filename...
7516 Append or edit the list of attachments.
7517 Does not manage the error number
7523 instead if this is a concern).
7526 arguments is expected as shell tokens (see
7527 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" ;
7528 token-separating commas are ignored, too), to be
7529 interpreted as documented for the command line option
7531 with the message number exception as below.
7535 arguments the attachment list is edited, entry by entry;
7536 if a filename is left empty, that attachment is deleted from the list;
7537 once the end of the list is reached either new attachments may be
7538 entered or the session can be quit by committing an empty
7541 In non-interactive mode or in batch mode
7543 the list of attachments is effectively not edited but instead recreated;
7544 again, an empty input ends list creation.
7546 For all modes, if a given filename solely consists of the number sign
7548 followed by a valid message number of the currently active mailbox, then
7549 the given message is attached as a
7552 The number sign must be quoted to avoid misinterpretation with the shell
7556 .It Ic ~| Ar command
7557 Pipe the message through the specified filter command.
7558 If the command gives no output or terminates abnormally,
7559 retain the original text of the message.
7562 is often used as a rejustifying filter.
7566 .It Ic ~^ Ar cmd Op Ar subcmd Op Ar arg3 Op Ar arg4
7567 Low-level command meant for scripted message access, i.e., for
7568 .Va on-compose-splice
7570 .Va on-compose-splice-shell .
7571 The used protocol is likely subject to changes, and therefore the
7572 mentioned hooks receive the used protocol version as an initial line.
7573 In general the first field of a response line represents a status code
7574 which specifies whether a command was successful or not, whether result
7575 data is to be expected, and if, the format of the result data.
7576 Does not manage the error number
7580 because errors are reported via the protocol
7581 (hard errors like I/O failures cannot be handled).
7582 This command has read-only access to several virtual pseudo headers in
7583 the \*(UA private namespace, which may not exist (except for the first):
7587 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Va BaNg"
7588 .It Ql Mailx-Command:
7589 The name of the command that generates the message, one of
7597 .It Ql Mailx-Raw-To:
7598 .It Ql Mailx-Raw-Cc:
7599 .It Ql Mailx-Raw-Bcc:
7600 Represent the frozen initial state of these headers before any
7601 transformation (e.g.,
7604 .Va recipients-in-cc
7607 .It Ql Mailx-Orig-From:
7608 .It Ql Mailx-Orig-To:
7609 .It Ql Mailx-Orig-Cc:
7610 .It Ql Mailx-Orig-Bcc:
7611 The values of said headers of the original message which has been
7613 .Ic reply , forward , resend .
7617 The status codes are:
7621 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql 210"
7623 Status ok; the remains of the line are the result.
7626 Status ok; the rest of the line is optionally used for more status.
7627 What follows are lines of result addresses, terminated by an empty line.
7628 The address lines consist of two fields, the first of which is the
7629 plain address, e.g.,
7631 separated by a single ASCII SP space from the second which contains the
7632 unstripped address, even if that is identical to the first field, e.g.,
7633 .Ql (Lovely) Bob <bob@exam.ple> .
7634 All the input, including the empty line, must be consumed before further
7635 commands can be issued.
7638 Status ok; the rest of the line is optionally used for more status.
7639 What follows are lines of furtherly unspecified string content,
7640 terminated by an empty line.
7641 All the input, including the empty line, must be consumed before further
7642 commands can be issued.
7645 Syntax error; invalid command.
7648 Syntax error in parameters or arguments.
7651 Error: an argument fails verification.
7652 For example an invalid address has been specified, or an attempt was
7653 made to modify anything in \*(UA's own namespace.
7656 Error: an otherwise valid argument is rendered invalid due to context.
7657 For example, a second address is added to a header which may consist of
7658 a single address only.
7663 If a command indicates failure then the message will have remained
7665 Most commands can fail with
7667 if required arguments are missing (false command usage).
7668 The following (case-insensitive) commands are supported:
7671 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm header"
7673 This command allows listing, inspection, and editing of message headers.
7674 Header name case is not normalized, and case-insensitive comparison
7675 should be used when matching names.
7676 The second argument specifies the subcommand to apply, one of:
7678 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm remove"
7680 Without a third argument a list of all yet existing headers is given via
7682 this command is the default command of
7684 if no second argument has been given.
7685 A third argument restricts output to the given header only, which may
7688 if no such field is defined.
7691 Shows the content of the header given as the third argument.
7692 Dependent on the header type this may respond with
7696 any failure results in
7700 This will remove all instances of the header given as the third
7705 if no such header can be found, and
7707 on \*(UA namespace violations.
7710 This will remove from the header given as the third argument the
7711 instance at the list position (counting from one!) given with the fourth
7716 if the list position argument is not a number or on \*(UA namespace
7719 if no such header instance exists.
7722 Create a new or an additional instance of the header given in the third
7723 argument, with the header body content as given in the fourth argument
7724 (the remains of the line).
7727 if the third argument specifies a free-form header field name that is
7728 invalid, or if body content extraction fails to succeed,
7730 if any extracted address does not pass syntax and/or security checks or
7731 on \*(UA namespace violations, and
7733 to indicate prevention of excessing a single-instance header \(em note that
7735 can be appended to (a space separator will be added automatically first).
7738 is returned upon success, followed by the name of the header and the list
7739 position of the newly inserted instance.
7740 The list position is always 1 for single-instance header fields.
7741 All free-form header fields are managed in a single list.
7746 This command allows listing, removal and addition of message attachments.
7747 The second argument specifies the subcommand to apply, one of:
7749 .Bl -hang -width ".It Cm remove"
7751 List all attachments via
7755 if no attachments exist.
7756 This command is the default command of
7758 if no second argument has been given.
7761 This will remove the attachment given as the third argument, and report
7765 if no such attachment can be found.
7766 If there exists any path component in the given argument, then an exact
7767 match of the path which has been used to create the attachment is used
7768 directly, but if only the basename of that path matches then all
7769 attachments are traversed to find an exact match first, and the removal
7770 occurs afterwards; if multiple basenames match, a
7773 Message attachments are treated as absolute pathnames.
7775 If no path component exists in the given argument, then all attachments
7776 will be searched for
7778 parameter matches as well as for matches of the basename of the path
7779 which has been used when the attachment has been created; multiple
7784 This will interpret the third argument as a number and remove the
7785 attachment at that list position (counting from one!), reporting
7789 if the argument is not a number or
7791 if no such attachment exists.
7794 Adds the attachment given as the third argument, specified exactly as
7795 documented for the command line option
7797 and supporting the message number extension as documented for
7801 upon success, with the index of the new attachment following,
7803 if the given file cannot be opened,
7805 if an on-the-fly performed character set conversion fails, otherwise
7807 is reported; this is also reported if character set conversion is
7808 requested but not available.
7811 This uses the same search mechanism as described for
7813 and prints any known attributes of the first found attachment via
7817 if no such attachment can be found.
7818 The attributes are written as lines of keyword and value tuples, the
7819 keyword being separated from the rest of the line with an ASCII SP space
7823 This uses the same search mechanism as described for
7825 and is otherwise identical to
7828 .It Cm attribute-set
7829 This uses the same search mechanism as described for
7831 and will assign the attribute given as the fourth argument, which is
7832 expected to be a value tuple of keyword and other data, separated by
7833 a ASCII SP space or TAB tabulator character.
7834 If the value part is empty, then the given attribute is removed, or
7835 reset to a default value if existence of the attribute is crucial.
7839 upon success, with the index of the found attachment following,
7841 for message attachments or if the given keyword is invalid, and
7843 if no such attachment can be found.
7844 The following keywords may be used (case-insensitively):
7846 .Bl -hang -compact -width ".It Ql filename"
7848 Sets the filename of the MIME part, i.e., the name that is used for
7849 display and when (suggesting a name for) saving (purposes).
7850 .It Ql content-description
7851 Associate some descriptive information to the attachment's content, used
7852 in favour of the plain filename by some MUAs.
7854 May be used for uniquely identifying MIME entities in several contexts;
7855 this expects a special reference address format as defined in RFC 2045
7858 upon address content verification failure.
7860 Defines the media type/subtype of the part, which is managed
7861 automatically, but can be overwritten.
7862 .It Ql content-disposition
7863 Automatically set to the string
7867 .It Cm attribute-set-at
7868 This uses the same search mechanism as described for
7870 and is otherwise identical to
7879 .Ql Ic ~i Ns \| Va Sign .
7884 .Ql Ic ~i Ns \| Va sign .
7887 .It Ic ~b Ar name ...
7888 Add the given names to the list of blind carbon copy recipients.
7891 .It Ic ~c Ar name ...
7892 Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients.
7896 Read the file specified by the
7898 variable into the message.
7904 on the message collected so far, then return to compose mode.
7906 can be used for a more display oriented editor.
7909 .It Ic ~F Ar messages
7910 Read the named messages into the message being sent, including all
7911 message headers and MIME parts.
7912 If no messages are specified, read in the current message, the
7916 .It Ic ~f Ar messages
7917 Read the named messages into the message being sent.
7918 If no messages are specified, read in the current message, the
7920 Strips down the list of header fields according to the
7922 white- and blacklist selection of
7924 For MIME multipart messages,
7925 only the first displayable part is included.
7929 Edit the message header fields
7934 by typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit the field.
7935 The default values for these fields originate from the
7943 Edit the message header fields
7949 by typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit the field.
7952 .It Ic ~I Ar variable
7953 Insert the value of the specified variable into the message.
7954 The message remains unaltered if the variable is unset or empty.
7955 Any embedded character sequences
7957 horizontal tabulator and
7959 line feed are expanded in
7961 mode; otherwise the expansion should occur at
7963 time by using the command modifier
7967 .It Ic ~i Ar variable
7968 Insert the value of the specified variable followed by a newline
7969 character into the message.
7970 The message remains unaltered if the variable is unset or empty.
7971 Any embedded character sequences
7973 horizontal tabulator and
7975 line feed are expanded in
7977 mode; otherwise the expansion should occur at
7979 time by using the command modifier
7983 .It Ic ~M Ar messages
7984 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
7987 If no messages are specified, read the current message, the
7991 .It Ic ~m Ar messages
7992 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
7995 If no messages are specified, read the current message, the
7997 Strips down the list of header fields according to the
7999 white- and blacklist selection of
8001 For MIME multipart messages,
8002 only the first displayable part is included.
8006 Display the message collected so far,
8007 prefaced by the message header fields
8008 and followed by the attachment list, if any.
8012 Abort the message being sent,
8013 copying it to the file specified by the
8020 .It Ic ~R Ar filename
8023 but indent each line that has been read by
8027 .It Ic ~r Ar filename Op Ar HERE-delimiter
8028 Read the named file, object to the usual
8029 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
8030 into the message; if (the expanded)
8034 then standard input is used, e.g., for pasting purposes.
8035 Only in this latter mode
8037 may be given: if it is data will be read in until the given
8039 is seen on a line by itself, and encountering EOF is an error; the
8041 is a required argument in non-interactive mode; if it is single-quote
8042 quoted then the pasted content will not be expanded, \*(ID otherwise
8043 a future version of \*(UA may perform shell-style expansion on the content.
8047 Cause the named string to become the current subject field.
8048 Newline (NL) and carriage-return (CR) bytes are invalid and will be
8049 normalized to space (SP) characters.
8052 .It Ic ~t Ar name ...
8053 Add the given name(s) to the direct recipient list.
8056 .It Ic ~U Ar messages
8057 Read in the given / current message(s) excluding all headers, indented by
8061 .It Ic ~u Ar messages
8062 Read in the given / current message(s), excluding all headers.
8068 editor on the message collected so far, then return to compose mode.
8070 can be used for a less display oriented editor.
8073 .It Ic ~w Ar filename
8074 Write the message onto the named file, which is object to the usual
8075 .Sx "Filename transformations" .
8077 the message is appended to it.
8083 except that the message is not saved at all.
8089 .\" .Sh INTERNAL VARIABLES {{{
8090 .Sh "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
8092 Internal \*(UA variables are controlled via the
8096 commands; prefixing a variable name with the string
8100 has the same effect as using
8107 will give more insight on the given variable(s), and
8109 when called without arguments, will show a listing of all variables.
8110 Both commands support a more
8113 Some well-known variables will also become inherited from the
8116 implicitly, others can be imported explicitly with the command
8118 and henceforth share said properties.
8121 Two different kinds of internal variables exist, and both of which can
8123 There are boolean variables, which can only be in one of the two states
8127 and value variables with a(n optional) string value.
8128 For the latter proper quoting is necessary upon assignment time, the
8129 introduction of the section
8131 documents the supported quoting rules.
8133 .Bd -literal -offset indent
8134 ? wysh set one=val\e 1 two="val 2" \e
8135 three='val "3"' four=$'val \e'4\e''; \e
8136 varshow one two three four; \e
8137 unset one two three four
8141 Dependent upon the actual option string values may become interpreted as
8142 colour names, command specifications, normal text, etc.
8143 They may be treated as numbers, in which case decimal values are
8144 expected if so documented, but otherwise any numeric format and
8145 base that is valid and understood by the
8147 command may be used, too.
8150 There also exists a special kind of string value, the
8151 .Dq boolean string ,
8152 which must either be a decimal integer (in which case
8156 and any other value is true) or any of the (case-insensitive) strings
8162 for a false boolean and
8168 for a true boolean; a special kind of boolean string is the
8170 which is a boolean string that can optionally be prefixed with the
8171 (case-insensitive) term
8175 which causes prompting of the user in interactive mode, with the given
8176 boolean as the default value.
8179 Variable chains extend a plain
8184 .Ql variable-USER@HOST
8192 had been specified in the contextual Uniform Resource Locator URL, see
8193 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
8194 Even though this mechanism is based on URLs no URL percent encoding may
8195 be applied to neither of
8199 variable chains need to be specified using raw data;
8200 the mentioned section contains examples.
8201 Variables which support chains are explicitly documented as such, and
8202 \*(UA treats the base name of any such variable special, meaning that
8203 users should not create custom names like
8205 in order to avoid false classifications and treatment of such variables.
8207 .\" .Ss "Initial settings" {{{
8208 .\" (Keep in SYNC: ./nail.h:okeys, ./nail.rc, ./nail.1:"Initial settings")
8209 .Ss "Initial settings"
8211 The standard POSIX 2008/Cor 2-2016 mandates the following initial
8217 .Pf no Va autoprint ,
8231 .Pf no Va ignoreeof ,
8233 .Pf no Va keepsave ,
8235 .Pf no Va outfolder ,
8243 .Pf no Va sendwait ,
8252 Notes: \*(UA does not support the
8254 variable \(en use command line options or
8256 to pass options through to a
8258 And the default global
8260 file, which is loaded unless the
8262 (with according argument) or
8264 command line options have been used, or the
8265 .Ev MAILX_NO_SYSTEM_RC
8266 environment variable is set (see
8267 .Sx "Resource files" )
8268 bends those initial settings a bit, e.g., it sets the variables
8273 to name a few, establishes a default
8275 selection etc., and should thus be taken into account.
8278 .\" .Ss "Variables" {{{
8281 .Bl -tag -width ".It Va BaNg"
8285 \*(RO The exit status of the last command, or the
8290 This status has a meaning in the state machine: in conjunction with
8292 any non-0 exit status will cause a program exit, and in
8294 mode any error while loading (any of the) resource files will have the
8298 .Sx "Command modifiers" ,
8299 can be used to instruct the state machine to ignore errors.
8303 \*(RO The current error number
8304 .Pf ( Xr errno 3 ) ,
8305 which is set after an error occurred; it is also available via
8307 and the error name and documentation string can be queried via
8311 \*(ID This machinery is new and the error number is only really usable
8312 if a command explicitly states that it manages the variable
8314 for others errno will be used in case of errors, or
8316 if that is 0: it thus may or may not reflect the real error.
8317 The error number may be set with the command
8323 \*(RO This is a multiplexer variable which performs dynamic expansion of
8324 the requested state or condition, of which there are:
8327 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Va BaNg"
8331 .It Va ^ERR , ^ERRDOC , ^ERRNAME
8332 The number, documentation, and name of the current
8334 respectively, which is usually set after an error occurred.
8335 The documentation is an \*(OP, the name is used if not available.
8336 \*(ID This machinery is new and is usually reliable only if a command
8337 explicitly states that it manages the variable
8339 which is effectively identical to
8341 Each of those variables can be suffixed with a hyphen minus followed by
8342 a name or number, in which case the expansion refers to the given error.
8343 Note this is a direct mapping of (a subset of) the system error values:
8344 .Bd -literal -offset indent
8346 eval echo \e$1: \e$^ERR-$1:\e
8347 \e$^ERRNAME-$1: \e$^ERRDOC-$1
8348 vput vexpr i + "$1" 1
8360 \*(RO Expands all positional parameters (see
8362 separated by the first character of the value of
8364 \*(ID The special semantics of the equally named special parameter of the
8366 are not yet supported.
8370 \*(RO Expands all positional parameters (see
8372 separated by a space character.
8373 If placed in double quotation marks, each positional parameter is
8374 properly quoted to expand to a single parameter again.
8378 \*(RO Expands to the number of positional parameters, i.e., the size of
8379 the positional parameter stack in decimal.
8383 \*(RO Inside the scope of a
8387 ed macro this expands to the name of the calling macro, or to the empty
8388 string if the macro is running from top-level.
8389 For the \*(OPal regular expression search and replace operator of
8391 this expands to the entire matching expression.
8392 It represents the program name in global context.
8396 \*(RO Access of the positional parameter stack.
8397 All further parameters can be accessed with this syntax, too, e.g.,
8400 etc.; positional parameters can be shifted off the stack by calling
8402 The parameter stack contains, e.g., the arguments of a
8406 d macro, the matching groups of the \*(OPal regular expression search
8407 and replace expression of
8409 and can be explicitly created or overwritten with the command
8414 \*(RO Is set to the active
8418 .It Va add-file-recipients
8419 \*(BO When file or pipe recipients have been specified,
8420 mention them in the corresponding address fields of the message instead
8421 of silently stripping them from their recipient list.
8422 By default such addressees are not mentioned.
8426 \*(BO Causes only the local part to be evaluated
8427 when comparing addresses.
8431 \*(BO Causes messages saved in the
8433 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
8435 to be appended to the end rather than prepended.
8436 This should always be set.
8440 \*(BO Causes the prompts for
8444 lists to appear after the message has been edited.
8448 \*(BO If set, \*(UA asks for files to attach at the end of each message.
8449 An empty line finalizes the list.
8453 \*(BO Causes the user to be prompted for carbon copy recipients
8454 (at the end of each message if
8462 \*(BO Causes the user to be prompted for blind carbon copy
8463 recipients (at the end of each message if
8471 \*(BO Causes the user to be prompted for confirmation to send the
8472 message or reenter compose mode after having been shown an envelope
8474 This is by default enabled.
8478 \*(BO\*(OP Causes the user to be prompted if the message is to be
8479 signed at the end of each message.
8482 variable is ignored when this variable is set.
8486 .\" The alternative *ask* is not documented on purpose
8487 \*(BO Causes \*(UA to prompt for the subject upon entering compose mode
8488 unless a subject already exists.
8492 A sequence of characters to display in the
8496 as shown in the display of
8498 each for one type of messages (see
8499 .Sx "Message states" ) ,
8500 with the default being
8503 .Ql NU\ \ *HMFAT+\-$~
8506 variable is set, in the following order:
8508 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql _"
8530 start of a collapsed thread.
8532 an uncollapsed thread (TODO ignored for now).
8536 classified as possible spam.
8542 Specifies a list of recipients to which a blind carbon copy of each
8543 outgoing message will be sent automatically.
8547 Specifies a list of recipients to which a carbon copy of each outgoing
8548 message will be sent automatically.
8552 \*(BO Causes threads to be collapsed automatically when .Ql thread Ns
8555 mode is entered (see the
8561 \*(BO Enable automatic
8563 ing of a(n existing)
8569 commands, e.g., the message that becomes the new
8571 is shown automatically, as via
8578 Causes sorted mode (see the
8580 command) to be entered automatically with the value of this variable as
8581 sorting method when a folder is opened, e.g.,
8582 .Ql set autosort=thread .
8586 \*(BO Enables the substitution of all not (reverse-solidus) escaped
8589 characters by the contents of the last executed command for the
8591 shell escape command and
8593 one of the compose mode
8594 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
8595 If this variable is not set no reverse solidus stripping is performed.
8599 \*(OP Terminals generate multi-byte sequences for certain forms of
8600 input, for example for function and other special keys.
8601 Some terminals however do not write these multi-byte sequences as
8602 a whole, but byte-by-byte, and the latter is what \*(UA actually reads.
8603 This variable specifies the timeout in milliseconds that the MLE (see
8604 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
8605 waits for more bytes to arrive unless it considers a sequence
8611 \*(BO Sets some cosmetical features to traditional BSD style;
8612 has the same affect as setting
8614 and all other variables prefixed with
8616 it also changes the behaviour of
8618 (which does not exist in BSD).
8622 \*(BO Changes the letters shown in the first column of a header
8623 summary to traditional BSD style.
8627 \*(BO Changes the display of columns in a header summary to traditional
8632 \*(BO Changes some informational messages to traditional BSD style.
8638 field to appear immediately after the
8640 field in message headers and with the
8642 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
8646 .It Va build-os , build-osenv
8647 \*(RO The operating system \*(UA has been build for, usually taken from
8653 respectively, the former being lowercased.
8657 The value that should appear in the
8661 MIME header fields when no character set conversion of the message data
8663 This defaults to US-ASCII, and the chosen character set should be
8664 US-ASCII compatible.
8668 \*(OP The default 8-bit character set that is used as an implicit last
8669 member of the variable
8671 This defaults to UTF-8 if character set conversion capabilities are
8672 available, and to ISO-8859-1 otherwise (unless the operating system
8673 environment is known to always and exclusively support UTF-8 locales),
8674 in which case the only supported character set is
8676 and this variable is effectively ignored.
8677 Refer to the section
8678 .Sx "Character sets"
8679 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
8682 .It Va charset-unknown-8bit
8683 \*(OP RFC 1428 specifies conditions when internet mail gateways shall
8685 the content of a mail message by using a character set with the name
8687 Because of the unclassified nature of this character set \*(UA will not
8688 be capable to convert this character set to any other character set.
8689 If this variable is set any message part which uses the character set
8691 is assumed to really be in the character set given in the value,
8692 otherwise the (final) value of
8694 is used for this purpose.
8696 This variable will also be taken into account if a MIME type (see
8697 .Sx "The mime.types files" )
8698 of a MIME message part that uses the
8700 character set is forcefully treated as text.
8704 The default value for the
8709 .It Va colour-disable
8710 \*(BO\*(OP Forcefully disable usage of colours.
8711 Also see the section
8712 .Sx "Coloured display" .
8716 \*(BO\*(OP Whether colour shall be used for output that is paged through
8718 Note that pagers may need special command line options, e.g.,
8726 in order to support colours.
8727 Often doing manual adjustments is unnecessary since \*(UA may perform
8728 adjustments dependent on the value of the environment variable
8730 (see there for more).
8734 .It Va contact-mail , contact-web
8735 \*(RO Addresses for contact per email and web, respectively, e.g., for
8736 bug reports, suggestions, or help regarding \*(UA.
8737 The former can be used directly:
8738 .Ql ? Ns \| Ic eval Ns \| Ic mail Ns \| $contact-mail .
8742 In a(n interactive) terminal session, then if this valued variable is
8743 set it will be used as a threshold to determine how many lines the given
8744 output has to span before it will be displayed via the configured
8748 can be forced by setting this to the value
8750 setting it without a value will deduce the current height of the
8751 terminal screen to compute the threshold (see
8756 \*(ID At the moment this uses the count of lines of the message in wire
8757 format, which, dependent on the
8759 of the message, is unrelated to the number of display lines.
8760 (The software is old and historically the relation was a given thing.)
8764 Define a set of custom headers to be injected into newly composed or
8766 A custom header consists of the field name followed by a colon
8768 and the field content body.
8769 Standard header field names cannot be overwritten by a custom header.
8770 Different to the command line option
8772 the variable value is interpreted as a comma-separated list of custom
8773 headers: to include commas in header bodies they need to become escaped
8774 with reverse solidus
8776 Headers can be managed more freely in compose mode via
8779 .Dl ? set customhdr='Hdr1: Body1-1\e, Body1-2, Hdr2: Body2'
8783 Controls the appearance of the
8785 date and time format specification of the
8787 variable, that is used, for example, when viewing the summary of
8789 If unset, then the local receiving date is used and displayed
8790 unformatted, otherwise the message sending
8792 It is possible to assign a
8794 format string and control formatting, but embedding newlines via the
8796 format is not supported, and will result in display errors.
8798 .Ql %Y-%m-%d %H:%M ,
8800 .Va datefield-markout-older .
8803 .It Va datefield-markout-older
8804 Only used in conjunction with
8806 Can be used to create a visible distinction of messages dated more than
8807 a day in the future, or older than six months, a concept comparable to the
8809 option of the POSIX utility
8811 If set to the empty string, then the plain month, day and year of the
8813 will be displayed, but a
8815 format string to control formatting can be assigned.
8821 \*(BO Enables debug messages and obsoletion warnings, disables the
8822 actual delivery of messages and also implies
8828 .It Va disposition-notification-send
8830 .Ql Disposition-Notification-To:
8831 header (RFC 3798) with the message.
8835 .\" TODO .It Va disposition-notification-send-HOST
8837 .\".Va disposition-notification-send
8838 .\" for SMTP accounts on a specific host.
8839 .\" TODO .It Va disposition-notification-send-USER@HOST
8841 .\".Va disposition-notification-send
8842 .\"for a specific account.
8846 \*(BO When dot is set, a period
8848 on a line by itself during message input in (interactive or batch
8850 compose mode will be treated as end-of-message (in addition to the
8851 normal end-of-file condition).
8852 This behaviour is implied in
8858 .It Va dotlock-ignore-error
8859 \*(BO\*(OP Synchronization of mailboxes which \*(UA treats as
8861 .Sx "primary system mailbox" Ns
8862 es (see, e.g., the notes on
8863 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
8864 as well as the documentation of
8866 will be protected with so-called dotlock files\(emthe traditional mail
8867 spool file locking method\(emin addition to system file locking.
8868 Because \*(UA ships with a privilege-separated dotlock creation program
8869 that should always be able to create such a dotlock file there is no
8870 good reason to ignore dotlock file creation errors, and thus these are
8871 fatal unless this variable is set.
8875 If this variable is set then the editor is started automatically when
8876 a message is composed in interactive mode.
8877 If the value starts with the letter
8879 then this acts as if
8883 .Pf (see\0 Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" )
8887 variable is implied for this automatically spawned editor session.
8891 \*(BO When a message is edited while being composed,
8892 its header is included in the editable text.
8896 \*(BO When entering interactive mode \*(UA normally writes
8897 .Dq \&No mail for user
8898 and exits immediately if a mailbox is empty or does not exist.
8899 If this variable is set \*(UA starts even with an empty or non-existent
8900 mailbox (the latter behaviour furtherly depends upon
8906 \*(BO Let each command with a non-0 exit status, including every
8910 s a non-0 status, cause a program exit unless prefixed by
8913 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) .
8915 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ,
8916 but which use a different modifier for ignoring the error.
8917 Please refer to the variable
8919 for more on this topic.
8923 The first character of this value defines the escape character for
8924 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
8926 The default value is the character tilde
8928 If set to the empty string, command escapes are disabled.
8932 If not set then file and command pipeline targets are not allowed,
8933 and any such address will be filtered out, giving a warning message.
8934 If set without a value then all possible recipient address
8935 specifications will be accepted \(en see the section
8936 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode"
8938 To accept them, but only in interactive mode, or when tilde commands
8939 were enabled explicitly by using one of the command line options
8943 set this to the (case-insensitive) value
8945 (it actually acts like
8946 .Ql restrict,-all,+name,+addr ,
8947 so that care for ordering issues must be taken) .
8949 In fact the value is interpreted as a comma-separated list of values.
8952 then the existence of disallowed specifications is treated as a hard
8953 send error instead of only filtering them out.
8954 The remaining values specify whether a specific type of recipient
8955 address specification is allowed (optionally indicated by a plus sign
8957 prefix) or disallowed (prefixed with a hyphen-minus
8961 addresses all possible address specifications,
8965 command pipeline targets,
8967 plain user names and (MTA) aliases and
8970 These kind of values are interpreted in the given order, so that
8971 .Ql restrict,\:fail,\:+file,\:-all,\:+addr
8972 will cause hard errors for any non-network address recipient address
8973 unless \*(UA is in interactive mode or has been started with the
8977 command line option; in the latter case(s) any address may be used, then.
8979 Historically invalid network addressees are silently stripped off.
8980 To change this so that any encountered invalid email address causes
8981 a hard error it must be ensured that
8983 is an entry in the above list.
8984 Setting this automatically enables network addressees
8985 (it actually acts like
8986 .Ql failinvaddr,+addr ,
8987 so that care for ordering issues must be taken) .
8991 Unless this variable is set additional
8993 (Mail-Transfer-Agent)
8994 arguments from the command line, as can be given after a
8996 separator, results in a program termination with failure status.
8997 The same can be accomplished by using the special (case-insensitive) value
8999 A lesser strict variant is the otherwise identical
9001 which does accept such arguments in interactive mode, or if tilde
9002 commands were enabled explicitly by using one of the command line options
9006 The empty value will allow unconditional usage.
9010 \*(RO String giving a list of optional features.
9011 Features are preceded with a plus sign
9013 if they are available, with a hyphen-minus
9016 The output of the command
9018 will include this information in a more pleasant output.
9022 \*(BO This setting reverses the meanings of a set of reply commands,
9023 turning the lowercase variants, which by default address all recipients
9024 included in the header of a message
9025 .Pf ( Ic reply , respond , followup )
9026 into the uppercase variants, which by default address the sender only
9027 .Pf ( Ic Reply , Respond , Followup )
9030 .Ic replysender , respondsender , followupsender
9032 .Ic replyall , respondall , followupall
9033 are not affected by the current setting of
9038 The default path under which mailboxes are to be saved:
9039 filenames that begin with the plus sign
9041 will have the plus sign replaced with the value of this variable if set,
9042 otherwise the plus sign will remain unchanged when doing
9043 .Sx "Filename transformations" ;
9046 for more on this topic.
9047 The value supports a subset of transformations itself, and if the
9048 non-empty value does not start with a solidus
9052 will be prefixed automatically.
9053 Once the actual value is evaluated first, the internal variable
9055 will be updated for caching purposes.
9058 .It Va folder-hook-FOLDER , Va folder-hook
9061 macro which will be called whenever a
9064 The macro will also be invoked when new mail arrives,
9065 but message lists for commands executed from the macro
9066 only include newly arrived messages then.
9068 are activated by default in a folder hook, causing the covered settings
9069 to be reverted once the folder is left again.
9071 The specialized form will override the generic one if
9073 matches the file that is opened.
9074 Unlike other folder specifications, the fully expanded name of a folder,
9075 without metacharacters, is used to avoid ambiguities.
9076 However, if the mailbox resides under
9080 specification is tried in addition, e.g., if
9084 (and thus relative to the user's home directory) then
9085 .Pa /home/usr1/mail/sent
9087 .Ql folder-hook-/home/usr1/mail/sent
9088 first, but then followed by
9089 .Ql folder-hook-+sent .
9092 .It Va folder-resolved
9093 \*(RO Set to the fully resolved path of
9095 once that evaluation has occurred; rather internal.
9099 \*(BO Controls whether a
9100 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
9101 header is generated when sending messages to known mailing lists.
9103 .Va followup-to-honour
9105 .Ic mlist , mlsubscribe , reply
9110 .It Va followup-to-honour
9112 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
9113 header is honoured when group-replying to a message via
9117 This is a quadoption; if set without a value it defaults to
9127 .It Va forward-as-attachment
9128 \*(BO Original messages are normally sent as inline text with the
9131 and only the first part of a multipart message is included.
9132 With this setting enabled messages are sent as unmodified MIME
9134 attachments with all of their parts included.
9137 .It Va forward-inject-head
9138 The string to put before the text of a message with the
9140 command instead of the default
9141 .Dq -------- Original Message -------- .
9142 No heading is put if it is set to the empty string.
9143 This variable is ignored if the
9144 .Va forward-as-attachment
9150 The address (or a list of addresses) to put into the
9152 field of the message header, quoting RFC 5322:
9153 the author(s) of the message, that is, the mailbox(es) of the person(s)
9154 or system(s) responsible for the writing of the message.
9155 According to that RFC setting the
9157 variable is required if
9159 contains more than one address.
9162 ing to messages these addresses are handled as if they were in the
9167 If a file-based MTA is used, then
9169 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
9171 can nonetheless be enforced to appear as the envelope sender address at
9172 the MTA protocol level (the RFC 5321 reverse-path), either by using the
9174 command line option (with an empty argument; see there for the complete
9175 picture on this topic), or by setting the internal variable
9176 .Va r-option-implicit .
9179 If the machine's hostname is not valid at the Internet (for example at
9180 a dialup machine) then either this variable or
9184 adds even more fine-tuning capabilities with
9185 .Va smtp-hostname ) ,
9186 have to be set; if so the message and MIME part related unique ID fields
9190 will be created (except when disallowed by
9191 .Va message-id-disable
9198 \*(BO Due to historical reasons comments and name parts of email
9199 addresses are removed by default when sending mail, replying to or
9200 forwarding a message.
9201 If this variable is set such stripping is not performed.
9204 \*(OB Predecessor of
9205 .Va forward-inject-head .
9209 \*(BO Causes the header summary to be written at startup and after
9210 commands that affect the number of messages or the order of messages in
9215 mode a header summary will also be displayed on folder changes.
9216 The command line option
9224 A format string to use for the summary of
9226 similar to the ones used for
9229 Format specifiers in the given string start with a percent sign
9231 and may be followed by an optional decimal number indicating the field
9232 width \(em if that is negative, the field is to be left-aligned.
9233 Valid format specifiers are:
9236 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql _%%_"
9238 A plain percent sign.
9241 a space character but for the current message
9243 for which it expands to
9246 .Va headline-plain ) .
9249 a space character but for the current message
9251 for which it expands to
9254 .Va headline-plain ) .
9256 \*(OP The spam score of the message, as has been classified via the
9259 Shows only a replacement character if there is no spam support.
9261 Message attribute character (status flag); the actual content can be
9265 The date found in the
9267 header of the message when
9269 is set (the default), otherwise the date when the message was received.
9270 Formatting can be controlled by assigning a
9275 The indenting level in
9281 The address of the message sender.
9283 The message thread tree structure.
9284 (Note that this format does not support a field width, and honours
9285 .Va headline-plain . )
9287 The number of lines of the message, if available.
9291 The number of octets (bytes) in the message, if available.
9293 Message subject (if any).
9295 Message subject (if any) in double quotes.
9297 Message recipient flags: is the addressee of the message a known or
9298 subscribed mailing list \(en see
9303 The position in threaded/sorted order.
9305 The value 0 except in an IMAP mailbox,
9306 where it expands to the UID of the message.
9310 .Ql %>\&%a\&%m\ %-18f\ %16d\ %4l/%\-5o\ %i%-s ,
9312 .Ql %>\&%a\&%m\ %20-f\ \ %16d\ %3l/%\-5o\ %i%-S
9324 .It Va headline-bidi
9325 Bidirectional text requires special treatment when displaying headers,
9326 because numbers (in dates or for file sizes etc.) will not affect the
9327 current text direction, in effect resulting in ugly line layouts when
9328 arabic or other right-to-left text is to be displayed.
9329 On the other hand only a minority of terminals is capable to correctly
9330 handle direction changes, so that user interaction is necessary for
9332 Note that extended host system support is required nonetheless, e.g.,
9333 detection of the terminal character set is one precondition;
9334 and this feature only works in an Unicode (i.e., UTF-8) locale.
9336 In general setting this variable will cause \*(UA to encapsulate text
9337 fields that may occur when displaying
9339 (and some other fields, like dynamic expansions in
9341 with special Unicode control sequences;
9342 it is possible to fine-tune the terminal support level by assigning
9344 no value (or any value other than
9349 will make \*(UA assume that the terminal is capable to properly deal
9350 with Unicode version 6.3, in which case text is embedded in a pair of
9351 U+2068 (FIRST STRONG ISOLATE) and U+2069 (POP DIRECTIONAL ISOLATE)
9353 In addition no space on the line is reserved for these characters.
9355 Weaker support is chosen by using the value
9357 (Unicode 6.3, but reserve the room of two spaces for writing the control
9358 sequences onto the line).
9363 select Unicode 1.1 support (U+200E, LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK); the latter
9364 again reserves room for two spaces in addition.
9367 .It Va headline-plain
9368 \*(BO On Unicode (UTF-8) aware terminals enhanced graphical symbols are
9369 used by default for certain entries of
9371 If this variable is set only basic US-ASCII symbols will be used.
9375 \*(OP If a line editor is available then this can be set to
9376 name the (expandable) path of the location of a permanent
9382 .It Va history-gabby
9383 \*(BO\*(OP Add more entries to the
9385 as is normally done.
9388 .It Va history-gabby-persist
9389 \*(BO\*(OP \*(UA's own MLE will not save the additional
9391 entries in persistent storage unless this variable is set.
9392 On the other hand it will not loose the knowledge of whether
9393 a persistent entry was gabby or not.
9399 \*(OP Setting this variable imposes a limit on the number of concurrent
9402 If set to the value 0 then no further history entries will be added,
9403 and loading and incorporation of the
9405 upon program startup can also be suppressed by doing this.
9406 Runtime changes will not be reflected, but will affect the number of
9407 entries saved to permanent storage.
9411 \*(BO This setting controls whether messages are held in the system
9413 and it is set by default.
9417 Used instead of the value obtained from
9421 as the hostname when expanding local addresses, e.g., in
9424 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" ,
9425 especially for expansion of network addresses that contain domain-less
9426 valid user names in angle brackets).
9429 or this variable Is set the message and MIME part related unique ID fields
9433 will be created (except when disallowed by
9434 .Va message-id-disable
9437 If the \*(OPal IDNA support is available (see
9439 variable assignment is aborted when a necessary conversion fails.
9441 Setting it to the empty string will cause the normal hostname to be
9442 used, but nonetheless enables creation of said ID fields.
9443 \*(IN in conjunction with the built-in SMTP
9446 also influences the results:
9447 one should produce some test messages with the desired combination of
9456 \*(BO\*(OP Can be used to turn off the automatic conversion of domain
9457 names according to the rules of IDNA (internationalized domain names
9459 Since the IDNA code assumes that domain names are specified with the
9461 character set, an UTF-8 locale charset is required to represent all
9462 possible international domain names (before conversion, that is).
9466 The input field separator that is used (\*(ID by some functions) to
9467 determine where to split input data.
9469 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It MMM"
9471 Unsetting is treated as assigning the default value,
9474 If set to the empty value, no field splitting will be performed.
9476 If set to a non-empty value, all whitespace characters are extracted
9477 and assigned to the variable
9481 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It MMM"
9484 will be ignored at the beginning and end of input.
9485 Diverging from POSIX shells default whitespace is removed in addition,
9486 which is owed to the entirely different line content extraction rules.
9488 Each occurrence of a character of
9490 will cause field-splitting, any adjacent
9492 characters will be skipped.
9497 \*(RO Automatically deduced from the whitespace characters in
9502 \*(BO Ignore interrupt signals from the terminal while entering
9503 messages; instead echo them as
9505 characters and discard the current line.
9509 \*(BO Ignore end-of-file conditions
9510 .Pf ( Ql control-D )
9511 in compose mode on message input and in interactive command input.
9512 If set an interactive command input session can only be left by
9513 explicitly using one of the commands
9517 and message input in compose mode can only be terminated by entering
9520 on a line by itself or by using the
9522 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ;
9523 Setting this implies the behaviour that
9531 If this is set to a non-empty string it will specify the user's
9533 .Sx "primary system mailbox" ,
9536 and the system-dependent default, and (thus) be used to replace
9539 .Sx "Filename transformations" ;
9542 for more on this topic.
9543 The value supports a subset of transformations itself.
9551 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
9554 option for indenting messages,
9555 in place of the POSIX mandated default tabulator character
9562 \*(BO If set, an empty
9564 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
9565 file is not removed.
9566 Note that, in conjunction with
9568 mode any empty file will be removed unless this variable is set.
9569 This may improve the interoperability with other mail user agents
9570 when using a common folder directory, and prevents malicious users
9571 from creating fake mailboxes in a world-writable spool directory.
9572 \*(ID Only local regular (MBOX) files are covered, Maildir or other
9573 mailbox types will never be removed, even if empty.
9576 .It Va keep-content-length
9577 \*(BO When (editing messages and) writing MBOX mailbox files \*(UA can
9582 header fields that some MUAs generate by setting this variable.
9583 Since \*(UA does neither use nor update these non-standardized header
9584 fields (which in itself shows one of their conceptual problems),
9585 stripping them should increase interoperability in between MUAs that
9586 work with with same mailbox files.
9587 Note that, if this is not set but
9588 .Va writebackedited ,
9589 as below, is, a possibly performed automatic stripping of these header
9590 fields already marks the message as being modified.
9591 \*(ID At some future time \*(UA will be capable to rewrite and apply an
9593 to modified messages, and then those fields will be stripped silently.
9597 \*(BO When a message is saved it is usually discarded from the
9598 originating folder when \*(UA is quit.
9599 This setting causes all saved message to be retained.
9602 .It Va line-editor-disable
9603 \*(BO Turn off any enhanced line editing capabilities (see
9604 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor"
9608 .It Va line-editor-no-defaults
9609 \*(BO\*(OP Do not establish any default key binding.
9613 Error log message prefix string
9614 .Pf ( Ql "\*(uA: " ) .
9617 .It Va mailbox-display
9618 \*(RO The name of the current mailbox
9620 possibly abbreviated for display purposes.
9623 .It Va mailbox-resolved
9624 \*(RO The fully resolved path of the current mailbox.
9627 .It Va mailx-extra-rc
9628 An additional startup file that is loaded as the last of the
9629 .Sx "Resource files" .
9630 Use this file for commands that are not understood by other POSIX
9632 implementations, i.e., mostly anything which is not covered by
9633 .Sx "Initial settings" .
9637 \*(BO When a message is replied to and this variable is set,
9638 it is marked as having been
9641 .Sx "Message states" .
9645 \*(BO When opening MBOX mailbox databases \*(UA by default uses tolerant
9646 POSIX rules for detecting message boundaries (so-called
9648 lines) due to compatibility reasons, instead of the stricter rules that
9649 have been standardized in RFC 4155.
9650 This behaviour can be switched to the stricter RFC 4155 rules by
9651 setting this variable.
9652 (This is never necessary for any message newly generated by \*(UA,
9653 it only applies to messages generated by buggy or malicious MUAs, or may
9654 occur in old MBOX databases: \*(UA itself will choose a proper
9656 to avoid false interpretation of
9658 content lines in the MBOX database.)
9660 This may temporarily be handy when \*(UA complains about invalid
9662 lines when opening a MBOX: in this case setting this variable and
9663 re-opening the mailbox in question may correct the result.
9664 If so, copying the entire mailbox to some other file, as in
9665 .Ql copy * SOME-FILE ,
9666 will perform proper, all-compatible
9668 quoting for all detected messages, resulting in a valid MBOX mailbox.
9669 Finally the variable can be unset again:
9670 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9672 localopts yes; wysh set mbox-rfc4155;\e
9673 wysh File "${1}"; eval copy * "${2}"
9675 call mboxfix /tmp/bad.mbox /tmp/good.mbox
9680 \*(BO Internal development variable.
9683 .It Va message-id-disable
9684 \*(BO By setting this variable the generation of
9688 message and MIME part headers can be completely suppressed, effectively
9689 leaving this task up to the
9691 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) or the SMTP server.
9692 Note that according to RFC 5321 a SMTP server is not required to add this
9693 field by itself, so it should be ensured that it accepts messages without
9697 .It Va message-inject-head
9698 A string to put at the beginning of each new message, followed by a newline.
9699 \*(OB The escape sequences tabulator
9703 are understood (use the
9707 ting the variable(s) instead).
9710 .It Va message-inject-tail
9711 A string to put at the end of each new message, followed by a newline.
9712 \*(OB The escape sequences tabulator
9716 are understood (use the
9720 ting the variable(s) instead).
9724 \*(BO Usually, when an
9726 expansion contains the sender, the sender is removed from the expansion.
9727 Setting this option suppresses these removals.
9732 option to be passed through to the
9734 (Mail-Transfer-Agent); though most of the modern MTAs no longer document
9735 this flag, no MTA is known which does not support it (for historical
9739 .It Va mime-allow-text-controls
9740 \*(BO When sending messages, each part of the message is MIME-inspected
9741 in order to classify the
9744 .Ql Content-Transfer-Encoding:
9747 that is required to send this part over mail transport, i.e.,
9748 a computation rather similar to what the
9750 command produces when used with the
9754 This classification however treats text files which are encoded in
9755 UTF-16 (seen for HTML files) and similar character sets as binary
9756 octet-streams, forcefully changing any
9761 .Ql application/octet-stream :
9762 If that actually happens a yet unset charset MIME parameter is set to
9764 effectively making it impossible for the receiving MUA to automatically
9765 interpret the contents of the part.
9767 If this variable is set, and the data was unambiguously identified as
9768 text data at first glance (by a
9772 file extension), then the original
9774 will not be overwritten.
9777 .It Va mime-alternative-favour-rich
9778 \*(BO If this variable is set then rich MIME alternative parts (e.g.,
9779 HTML) will be preferred in favour of included plain text versions when
9780 displaying messages, provided that a handler exists which produces
9781 output that can be (re)integrated into \*(UA's normal visual display.
9782 (E.g., at the time of this writing some newsletters ship their full
9783 content only in the rich HTML part, whereas the plain text part only
9784 contains topic subjects.)
9787 .It Va mime-counter-evidence
9790 field is used to decide how to handle MIME parts.
9791 Some MUAs, however, do not use
9792 .Sx "The mime.types files"
9794 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" )
9795 or a similar mechanism to correctly classify content, but specify an
9796 unspecific MIME type
9797 .Pf ( Ql application/octet-stream )
9798 even for plain text attachments.
9799 If this variable is set then \*(UA will try to re-classify such MIME
9800 message parts, if possible, for example via a possibly existing
9801 attachment filename.
9802 A non-empty value may also be given, in which case a number is expected,
9803 actually a carrier of bits, best specified as a binary value, e.g.,
9806 .Bl -bullet -compact
9808 If bit two is set (counting from 1, decimal 2) then the detected
9810 will be carried along with the message and be used for deciding which
9811 MIME handler is to be used, for example;
9812 when displaying such a MIME part the part-info will indicate the
9813 overridden content-type by showing a plus sign
9816 If bit three is set (decimal 4) then the counter-evidence is always
9817 produced and a positive result will be used as the MIME type, even
9818 forcefully overriding the parts given MIME type.
9820 If bit four is set (decimal 8) as a last resort the actual content of
9821 .Ql application/octet-stream
9822 parts will be inspected, so that data which looks like plain text can be
9824 This mode is even more relaxed when data is to be displayed to the user
9825 or used as a message quote (data consumers which mangle data for display
9826 purposes, which includes masking of control characters, for example).
9830 .It Va mime-encoding
9832 .Ql Content-Transfer-Encoding
9833 to use in outgoing text messages and message parts, where applicable.
9834 (7-bit clean text messages are sent as-is, without a transfer encoding.)
9837 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql _%%_"
9840 8-bit transport effectively causes the raw data be passed through
9841 unchanged, but may cause problems when transferring mail messages over
9842 channels that are not ESMTP (RFC 1869) compliant.
9843 Also, several input data constructs are not allowed by the
9844 specifications and may cause a different transfer-encoding to be used.
9845 .It Ql quoted-printable
9847 Quoted-printable encoding is 7-bit clean and has the property that ASCII
9848 characters are passed through unchanged, so that an english message can
9849 be read as-is; it is also acceptable for other single-byte locales that
9850 share many characters with ASCII, like, e.g., ISO-8859-1.
9851 The encoding will cause a large overhead for messages in other character
9852 sets: e.g., it will require up to twelve (12) bytes to encode a single
9853 UTF-8 character of four (4) bytes.
9854 It is the default encoding.
9856 .Pf (Or\0 Ql b64 . )
9857 This encoding is 7-bit clean and will always be used for binary data.
9858 This encoding has a constant input:output ratio of 3:4, regardless of
9859 the character set of the input data it will encode three bytes of input
9860 to four bytes of output.
9861 This transfer-encoding is not human readable without performing
9866 .It Va mimetypes-load-control
9867 Can be used to control which of
9868 .Sx "The mime.types files"
9869 are loaded: if the letter
9871 is part of the option value, then the user's personal
9873 file will be loaded (if it exists); likewise the letter
9875 controls loading of the system wide
9877 directives found in the user file take precedence, letter matching is
9879 If this variable is not set \*(UA will try to load both files.
9880 Incorporation of the \*(UA-built-in MIME types cannot be suppressed,
9881 but they will be matched last (the order can be listed via
9884 More sources can be specified by using a different syntax: if the
9885 value string contains an equals sign
9887 then it is instead parsed as a comma-separated list of the described
9890 pairs; the given filenames will be expanded and loaded, and their
9891 content may use the extended syntax that is described in the section
9892 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
9893 Directives found in such files always take precedence (are prepended to
9894 the MIME type cache).
9899 To choose an alternate Mail-Transfer-Agent, set this option to either
9900 the full pathname of an executable (optionally prefixed with the protocol
9902 or \*(OPally a SMTP a.k.a. SUBMISSION protocol URL, e.g., \*(IN
9904 .Dl smtps?://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
9907 .Ql [smtp://]server[:port] . )
9908 The default has been chosen at compile time.
9909 All supported data transfers are executed in child processes, which
9910 run asynchronously and without supervision unless either the
9915 If such a child receives a TERM signal, it will abort and
9922 For a file-based MTA it may be necessary to set
9924 in in order to choose the right target of a modern
9927 It will be passed command line arguments from several possible sources:
9930 if set, from the command line if given and the variable
9933 Argument processing of the MTA will be terminated with a
9938 The otherwise occurring implicit usage of the following MTA command
9939 line arguments can be disabled by setting the boolean variable
9940 .Va mta-no-default-arguments
9941 (which will also disable passing
9945 (for not treating a line with only a dot
9947 character as the end of input),
9955 variable is set); in conjunction with the
9957 command line option \*(UA will also (not) pass
9963 \*(OPally \*(UA can send mail over SMTP a.k.a. SUBMISSION network
9964 connections to a single defined smart host by setting this variable to
9965 a SMTP or SUBMISSION URL (see
9966 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ) .
9967 An authentication scheme can be specified via the variable chain
9969 Encrypted network connections are \*(OPally available, the section
9970 .Sx "Encrypted network communication"
9971 should give an overview and provide links to more information on this.
9972 Note that with some mail providers it may be necessary to set the
9974 variable in order to use a specific combination of
9979 \*(UA also supports forwarding of all network traffic over a specified
9981 The following SMTP variants may be used:
9985 The plain SMTP protocol (RFC 5321) that normally lives on the
9986 server port 25 and requires setting the
9987 .Va smtp-use-starttls
9988 variable to enter a SSL/TLS encrypted session state.
9989 Assign a value like \*(IN
9990 .Ql smtp://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
9992 .Ql smtp://server[:port] )
9993 to choose this protocol.
9995 The so-called SMTPS which is supposed to live on server port 465
9996 and is automatically SSL/TLS secured.
9997 Unfortunately it never became a standardized protocol and may thus not
9998 be supported by your hosts network service database
9999 \(en in fact the port number has already been reassigned to other
10002 SMTPS is nonetheless a commonly offered protocol and thus can be
10003 chosen by assigning a value like \*(IN
10004 .Ql smtps://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
10006 .Ql smtps://server[:port] ) ;
10007 due to the mentioned problems it is usually necessary to explicitly
10008 specify the port as
10012 The SUBMISSION protocol (RFC 6409) lives on server port 587 and
10013 is identically to the SMTP protocol from \*(UA's point of view;
10014 it requires setting
10015 .Va smtp-use-starttls
10016 to enter a SSL/TLS secured session state; e.g., \*(IN
10017 .Ql submission://[user[:password]@]server[:port] .
10019 The SUBMISSIONS protocol (RFC 8314) that lives on server port 465 and is
10020 SSL/TLS secured by default.
10021 It can be chosen by assigning a value like \*(IN
10022 .Ql submissions://[user[:password]@]server[:port] .
10023 Due to the problems mentioned for SMTPS above and the fact that
10024 SUBMISSIONS is new and a successor that lives on the same port as the
10025 historical engineering mismanagement named SMTPS, it is usually
10026 necessary to explicitly specify the port as
10032 .It Va mta-arguments
10033 Arguments to pass through to a file-based
10035 can be given via this variable, which is parsed according to
10036 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting"
10037 into an array of arguments, and which will be joined onto MTA options
10038 from other sources, and then passed individually to the MTA:
10039 .Ql ? wysh set mta-arguments='-t -X \&"/tmp/my log\&"' .
10042 .It Va mta-no-default-arguments
10043 \*(BO Unless this variable is set \*(UA will pass some well known
10044 standard command line options to a file-based
10046 (Mail-Transfer-Agent), see there for more.
10049 .It Va mta-no-receiver-arguments
10050 \*(BO By default a file-based
10052 will be passed all receiver addresses on the command line.
10053 This variable can be set to suppress any such argument.
10057 Many systems use a so-called
10059 environment to ensure compatibility with
10061 This works by inspecting the name that was used to invoke the mail
10063 If this variable is set then the mailwrapper (the program that is
10064 actually executed when calling the file-based
10066 will treat its contents as that name.
10068 .Mx Va netrc-lookup
10069 .It Va netrc-lookup-USER@HOST , netrc-lookup-HOST , netrc-lookup
10070 \*(BO\*(IN\*(OP Used to control usage of the user's
10072 file for lookup of account credentials, as documented in the section
10073 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
10074 and for the command
10077 .Sx "The .netrc file"
10078 documents the file format.
10090 then \*(UA will read the output of a shell pipe instead of the user's
10092 file if this variable is set (to the desired shell command).
10093 This can be used to, e.g., store
10096 .Ql ? set netrc-pipe='gpg -qd ~/.netrc.pgp' .
10100 If this variable has the value
10102 newly created local folders will be in Maildir instead of MBOX format.
10106 Checks for new mail in the current folder each time the prompt is shown.
10107 A Maildir folder must be re-scanned to determine if new mail has arrived.
10108 If this variable is set to the special value
10110 then a Maildir folder will not be rescanned completely, but only
10111 timestamp changes are detected.
10115 \*(BO Causes the filename given in the
10118 and the sender-based filenames for the
10122 commands to be interpreted relative to the directory given in the
10124 variable rather than to the current directory,
10125 unless it is set to an absolute pathname.
10127 .Mx Va on-account-cleanup
10128 .It Va on-account-cleanup-ACCOUNT , Va on-account-cleanup
10129 Macro hook which will be called once an
10131 is left, as the very last step before unrolling per-account
10133 This hook is run even in case of fatal errors, and it is advisable to
10134 perform only absolutely necessary actions, like cleaning up
10137 The specialized form is used in favour of the generic one if found.
10140 .It Va on-compose-cleanup
10141 Macro hook which will be called after the message has been sent (or not,
10142 in case of failures), as the very last step before unrolling compose mode
10144 This hook is run even in case of fatal errors, and it is advisable to
10145 perform only absolutely necessary actions, like cleaning up
10149 For compose mode hooks that may affect the message content please see
10150 .Va on-compose-enter , on-compose-leave , on-compose-splice .
10151 \*(ID This hook exists because
10152 .Ic alias , alternates , commandalias , shortcut ,
10153 to name a few, are not covered by
10155 changes applied in compose mode will continue to be in effect thereafter.
10160 .It Va on-compose-enter , on-compose-leave
10161 Macro hooks which will be called once compose mode is entered,
10162 and after composing has been finished, but before a set
10163 .Va message-inject-tail
10164 has been injected etc., respectively.
10166 are enabled for these hooks, and changes on variables will be forgotten
10167 after the message has been sent.
10168 .Va on-compose-cleanup
10169 can be used to perform other necessary cleanup steps.
10171 The following (read-only) variables will be set temporarily during
10172 execution of the macros to represent respective message headers, to
10173 the empty string otherwise; most of them correspond to according virtual
10174 message headers that can be accessed via
10177 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
10179 .Va on-compose-splice
10183 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Va mailx_subject"
10184 .It Va mailx-command
10185 The command that generates the message.
10186 .It Va mailx-subject
10190 .It Va mailx-sender
10192 .It Va mailx-to , mailx-cc , mailx-bcc
10193 The list of receiver addresses as a space-separated list.
10194 .It Va mailx-raw-to , mailx-raw-cc , mailx-raw-bcc
10195 The list of receiver addresses before any mangling (due to, e.g.,
10198 .Va recipients-in-cc )
10199 as a space-separated list.
10200 .It Va mailx-orig-from
10201 When replying, forwarding or resending, this will be set to the
10203 of the given message.
10204 .It Va mailx-orig-to , mailx-orig-cc , mailx-orig-bcc
10205 When replying, forwarding or resending, this will be set to the
10206 receivers of the given message.
10210 Here is am example that injects a signature via
10211 .Va message-inject-tail ;
10213 .Va on-compose-splice
10214 to simply inject the file of desire via
10218 may be a better approach.
10220 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10222 vput ! i cat ~/.mysig
10224 vput vexpr message-inject-tail trim-end $i
10228 readctl create ~/.mysig
10232 vput vexpr message-inject-tail trim-end $i
10234 readctl remove ~/.mysig
10237 set on-compose-leave=t_ocl
10243 .It Va on-compose-splice , on-compose-splice-shell
10244 These hooks run once the normal compose mode is finished, but before the
10245 .Va on-compose-leave
10246 macro hook is called, the
10247 .Va message-inject-tail
10249 Both hooks will be executed in a subprocess, with their input and output
10250 connected to \*(UA such that they can act as if they would be an
10252 The difference in between them is that the latter is a
10254 command, whereas the former is a normal \*(UA macro, but which is
10255 restricted to a small set of commands (the
10259 will indicate said capability).
10261 are enabled for these hooks (in the parent process), causing any setting
10262 to be forgotten after the message has been sent;
10263 .Va on-compose-cleanup
10264 can be used to perform other cleanup as necessary.
10267 During execution of these hooks \*(UA will temporarily forget whether it
10268 has been started in interactive mode, (a restricted set of)
10269 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
10270 will always be available, and for guaranteed reproducibilities sake
10274 will be set to their defaults.
10275 The compose mode command
10277 has been especially designed for scriptability (via these hooks).
10278 The first line the hook will read on its standard input is the protocol
10279 version of said command escape, currently
10281 backward incompatible protocol changes have to be expected.
10284 Care must be taken to avoid deadlocks and other false control flow:
10285 if both involved processes wait for more input to happen at the
10286 same time, or one does not expect more input but the other is stuck
10287 waiting for consumption of its output, etc.
10288 There is no automatic synchronization of the hook: it will not be
10289 stopped automatically just because it, e.g., emits
10291 The hooks will however receive a termination signal if the parent enters
10292 an error condition.
10293 \*(ID Protection against and interaction with signals is not yet given;
10294 it is likely that in the future these scripts will be placed in an
10295 isolated session, which is signalled in its entirety as necessary.
10297 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10298 define ocs_signature {
10300 echo '~< ~/.mysig' # '~<! fortune pathtofortunefile'
10302 set on-compose-splice=ocs_signature
10304 wysh set on-compose-splice-shell=$'\e
10306 printf "hello $version! Headers: ";\e
10307 echo \e'~^header list\e';\e
10308 read status result;\e
10309 echo "status=$status result=$result";\e
10314 echo Splice protocol version is $version
10315 echo '~^h l'; read hl; vput vexpr es substring "${hl}" 0 1
10317 echoerr 'Cannot read header list'; echo '~x'; xit
10319 if [ "$hl" @i!% ' cc' ]
10320 echo '~^h i cc Diet is your <mirr.or>'; read es;\e
10321 vput vexpr es substring "${es}" 0 1
10323 echoerr 'Cannot insert Cc: header'; echo '~x'
10324 # (no xit, macro finishs anyway)
10328 set on-compose-splice=ocsm
10333 .It Va on-resend-cleanup
10335 .Va on-compose-cleanup ,
10336 but is only triggered by
10340 .It Va on-resend-enter
10342 .Va on-compose-enter ,
10343 but is only triggered by
10348 \*(BO If set, each message feed through the command given for
10350 is followed by a formfeed character
10354 .It Va password-USER@HOST , password-HOST , password
10355 \*(IN Variable chain that sets a password, which is used in case none has
10356 been given in the protocol and account-specific URL;
10357 as a last resort \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal if
10358 the authentication method requires a password.
10359 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
10360 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
10362 .It Va password-USER@HOST
10363 \*(OU (see the chain above for \*(IN)
10364 Set the password for
10368 If no such variable is defined for a host,
10369 the user will be asked for a password on standard input.
10370 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
10371 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
10375 \*(BO Send messages to the
10377 command without performing MIME and character set conversions.
10381 .It Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
10382 When a MIME message part of type
10384 (case-insensitive) is displayed or quoted,
10385 its text is filtered through the value of this variable interpreted as
10387 Note that only parts which can be displayed inline as plain text (see
10388 .Cd copiousoutput )
10389 are displayed unless otherwise noted, other MIME parts will only be
10390 considered by and for the command
10394 The special value commercial at
10396 forces interpretation of the message part as plain text, e.g.,
10397 .Ql set pipe-application/xml=@
10398 will henceforth display XML
10400 (The same could also be achieved by adding a MIME type marker with the
10403 And \*(OPally MIME type handlers may be defined via
10404 .Sx "The Mailcap files"
10405 \(em these directives,
10407 has already been used, should be referred to for further documentation.
10412 can in fact be used as a trigger character to adjust usage and behaviour
10413 of a following shell command specification more thoroughly by appending
10414 more special characters which refer to further mailcap directives, e.g.,
10415 the following hypothetical command specification could be used:
10417 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10418 ? set pipe-X/Y='@!++=@vim ${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}'
10422 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql __"
10424 The command produces plain text to be integrated in \*(UAs output:
10425 .Cd copiousoutput .
10428 If set the handler will not be invoked when a message is to be quoted,
10429 but only when it will be displayed:
10430 .Cd x-mailx-noquote .
10433 Run the command asynchronously, i.e., without blocking \*(UA:
10434 .Cd x-mailx-async .
10437 The command must be run on an interactive terminal, \*(UA will
10438 temporarily release the terminal to it:
10439 .Cd needsterminal .
10442 Request creation of a zero-sized temporary file, the absolute pathname
10443 of which will be made accessible via the environment variable
10444 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY :
10445 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile .
10446 If given twice then the file will be unlinked automatically by \*(UA
10447 when the command loop is entered again at latest:
10448 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink .
10451 Normally the MIME part content is passed to the handler via standard
10452 input; if this flag is set then the data will instead be written into
10453 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY
10454 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill ) ,
10455 the creation of which is implied; note however that in order to cause
10456 deletion of the temporary file you still have to use two plus signs
10461 To avoid ambiguities with normal shell command content you can use
10462 another commercial at to forcefully terminate interpretation of
10463 remaining characters.
10464 (Any character not in this list will have the same effect.)
10468 Some information about the MIME part to be displayed is embedded into
10469 the environment of the shell command:
10472 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ev _AIL__ILENAME__ENERATED"
10474 .It Ev MAILX_CONTENT
10475 The MIME content-type of the part, if known, the empty string otherwise.
10478 .It Ev MAILX_CONTENT_EVIDENCE
10480 .Va mime-counter-evidence
10481 includes the carry-around-bit (2), then this will be set to the detected
10482 MIME content-type; not only then identical to
10483 .Ev \&\&MAILX_CONTENT
10487 .It Ev MAILX_EXTERNAL_BODY_URL
10489 .Ql message/external-body access-type=url
10490 will store the access URL in this variable, it is empty otherwise.
10491 URL targets should not be activated automatically, without supervision.
10494 .It Ev MAILX_FILENAME
10495 The filename, if any is set, the empty string otherwise.
10498 .It Ev MAILX_FILENAME_GENERATED
10502 .It Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY
10503 If temporary file creation has been requested through the command prefix
10504 this variable will be set and contain the absolute pathname of the
10510 .It Va pipe-EXTENSION
10511 This is identical to
10512 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
10515 (normalized to lowercase using character mappings of the ASCII charset)
10516 names a file extension, e.g.,
10518 Handlers registered using this method take precedence.
10521 .It Va pop3-auth-USER@HOST , pop3-auth-HOST , pop3-auth
10522 \*(OP\*(IN Variable chain that sets the POP3 authentication method.
10523 The only possible value as of now is
10525 which is thus the default.
10527 .Mx Va pop3-bulk-load
10528 .It Va pop3-bulk-load-USER@HOST , pop3-bulk-load-HOST , pop3-bulk-load
10529 \*(BO\*(OP When accessing a POP3 server \*(UA loads the headers of
10530 the messages, and only requests the message bodies on user request.
10531 For the POP3 protocol this means that the message headers will be
10533 If this variable is set then \*(UA will download only complete messages
10534 from the given POP3 server(s) instead.
10536 .Mx Va pop3-keepalive
10537 .It Va pop3-keepalive-USER@HOST , pop3-keepalive-HOST , pop3-keepalive
10538 \*(OP POP3 servers close the connection after a period of inactivity;
10539 the standard requires this to be at least 10 minutes,
10540 but practical experience may vary.
10541 Setting this variable to a numeric value greater than
10545 command to be sent each value seconds if no other operation is performed.
10547 .Mx Va pop3-no-apop
10548 .It Va pop3-no-apop-USER@HOST , pop3-no-apop-HOST , pop3-no-apop
10549 \*(BO\*(OP Unless this variable is set the
10551 authentication method will be used when connecting to a POP3 server that
10552 advertises support.
10555 is that the password is not sent in clear text over the wire and that
10556 only a single packet is sent for the user/password tuple.
10558 .Va pop3-no-apop-HOST
10561 .Mx Va pop3-use-starttls
10562 .It Va pop3-use-starttls-USER@HOST , pop3-use-starttls-HOST , pop3-use-starttls
10563 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a
10565 command to make an unencrypted POP3 session SSL/TLS encrypted.
10566 This functionality is not supported by all servers,
10567 and is not used if the session is already encrypted by the POP3S method.
10569 .Va pop3-use-starttls-HOST
10575 \*(BO This flag enables POSIX mode, which changes behaviour of \*(UA
10576 where that deviates from standardized behaviour.
10577 It will be set implicitly before the
10578 .Sx "Resource files"
10579 are loaded if the environment variable
10580 .Ev POSIXLY_CORRECT
10581 is set, and adjusting any of those two will be reflected by the other
10583 The following behaviour is covered and enforced by this mechanism:
10586 .Bl -bullet -compact
10588 In non-interactive mode, any error encountered while loading resource
10589 files during program startup will cause a program exit, whereas in
10590 interactive mode such errors will stop loading of the currently loaded
10591 (stack of) file(s, i.e., recursively).
10592 These exits can be circumvented on a per-command base by using
10595 .Sx "Command modifiers" ,
10596 for each command which shall be allowed to fail.
10600 will replace the list of alternate addresses instead of appending to it.
10603 The variable inserting
10604 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
10610 will expand embedded character sequences
10612 horizontal tabulator and
10615 \*(ID For compatibility reasons this step will always be performed.
10618 Upon changing the active
10622 will be displayed even if
10629 implies the behaviour described by
10635 is extended to cover any empty mailbox, not only empty
10637 .Sx "primary system mailbox" Ns
10638 es: they will be removed when they are left in empty state otherwise.
10643 .It Va print-alternatives
10644 \*(BO When a MIME message part of type
10645 .Ql multipart/alternative
10646 is displayed and it contains a subpart of type
10648 other parts are normally discarded.
10649 Setting this variable causes all subparts to be displayed,
10650 just as if the surrounding part was of type
10651 .Ql multipart/mixed .
10655 The string used as a prompt in interactive mode.
10656 Whenever the variable is evaluated the value is treated as if specified
10657 within dollar-single-quotes (see
10658 .Sx "Shell-style argument quoting" ) .
10659 This (post-assignment, i.e., second) expansion can be used to embed
10660 status information, for example
10665 .Va mailbox-display .
10667 In order to embed characters which should not be counted when
10668 calculating the visual width of the resulting string, enclose the
10669 characters of interest in a pair of reverse solidus escaped brackets:
10671 a slot for coloured prompts is also available with the \*(OPal command
10673 Prompting may be prevented by setting this to the null string
10675 .Ql set noprompt ) .
10679 This string is used for secondary prompts, but is otherwise identical to
10686 \*(BO Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked.
10690 If set, \*(UA starts a replying message with the original message
10691 prefixed by the value of the variable
10693 Normally, a heading consisting of
10694 .Dq Fromheaderfield wrote:
10695 is put before the quotation.
10700 variable, this heading is omitted.
10703 is assigned, only the headers selected by the
10706 selection are put above the message body,
10709 acts like an automatic
10711 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
10715 is assigned, all headers are put above the message body and all MIME
10716 parts are included, making
10718 act like an automatic
10721 .Va quote-as-attachment .
10724 .It Va quote-as-attachment
10725 \*(BO Add the original message in its entirety as a
10727 MIME attachment when replying to a message.
10728 Note this works regardless of the setting of
10733 Can be set to a string consisting of non-whitespace ASCII characters
10734 which shall be treated as quotation leaders, the default being
10739 \*(OP Can be set in addition to
10741 Setting this turns on a more fancy quotation algorithm in that leading
10742 quotation characters
10743 .Pf ( Va quote-chars )
10744 are compressed and overlong lines are folded.
10746 can be set to either one or two (space separated) numeric values,
10747 which are interpreted as the maximum (goal) and the minimum line length,
10748 respectively, in a spirit rather equal to the
10750 program, but line-, not paragraph-based.
10751 If not set explicitly the minimum will reflect the goal algorithmically.
10752 The goal cannot be smaller than the length of
10754 plus some additional pad.
10755 Necessary adjustments take place silently.
10758 .It Va r-option-implicit
10759 \*(BO Setting this option evaluates the contents of
10761 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
10763 and passes the results onto the used (file-based) MTA as described for the
10765 option (empty argument case).
10768 .It Va recipients-in-cc
10775 are by default merged into the new
10777 If this variable is set, only the original
10781 the rest is merged into
10786 Unless this variable is defined, no copies of outgoing mail will be saved.
10787 If defined it gives the pathname, subject to the usual
10788 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
10789 of a folder where all new, replied-to or forwarded messages are saved:
10790 when saving to this folder fails the message is not sent, but instead
10794 The standard defines that relative (fully expanded) paths are to be
10795 interpreted relative to the current directory
10797 to force interpretation relative to
10800 needs to be set in addition.
10803 .It Va record-files
10804 \*(BO If this variable is set the meaning of
10806 will be extended to cover messages which target only file and pipe
10809 These address types will not appear in recipient lists unless
10810 .Va add-file-recipients
10814 .It Va record-resent
10815 \*(BO If this variable is set the meaning of
10817 will be extended to also cover the
10824 .It Va reply-in-same-charset
10825 \*(BO If this variable is set \*(UA first tries to use the same
10826 character set of the original message for replies.
10827 If this fails, the mechanism described in
10828 .Sx "Character sets"
10829 is evaluated as usual.
10832 .It Va reply-strings
10833 Can be set to a comma-separated list of (case-insensitive according to
10834 ASCII rules) strings which shall be recognized in addition to the
10835 built-in strings as
10837 reply message indicators \(en built-in are
10839 which is mandated by RFC 5322, as well as the german
10844 which often has been seen in the wild;
10845 I.e., the separating colon has to be specified explicitly.
10849 A list of addresses to put into the
10851 field of the message header.
10852 Members of this list are handled as if they were in the
10861 .It Va reply-to-honour
10864 header is honoured when replying to a message via
10868 This is a quadoption; if set without a value it defaults to
10872 .It Va rfc822-body-from_
10873 \*(BO This variable can be used to force displaying a so-called
10875 line for messages that are embedded into an envelope mail via the
10877 MIME mechanism, for more visual convenience.
10881 \*(BO Enable saving of (partial) messages in
10883 upon interrupt or delivery error.
10887 The number of lines that represents a
10896 line display and scrolling via
10898 If this variable is not set \*(UA falls back to a calculation based upon
10899 the detected terminal window size and the baud rate: the faster the
10900 terminal, the more will be shown.
10901 Overall screen dimensions and pager usage is influenced by the
10902 environment variables
10910 .It Va searchheaders
10911 \*(BO Expand message-list specifiers in the form
10913 to all messages containing the substring
10915 in the header field
10917 The string search is case insensitive.
10920 .It Va sendcharsets
10921 \*(OP A comma-separated list of character set names that can be used in
10922 outgoing internet mail.
10923 The value of the variable
10925 is automatically appended to this list of character sets.
10926 If no character set conversion capabilities are compiled into \*(UA then
10927 the only supported charset is
10930 .Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
10931 and refer to the section
10932 .Sx "Character sets"
10933 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
10936 .It Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
10937 \*(BO\*(OP If this variable is set, but
10939 is not, then \*(UA acts as if
10941 had been set to the value of the variable
10943 In effect this combination passes through the message data in the
10944 character set of the current locale encoding:
10945 therefore mail message text will be (assumed to be) in ISO-8859-1
10946 encoding when send from within a ISO-8859-1 locale, and in UTF-8
10947 encoding when send from within an UTF-8 locale.
10951 never comes into play as
10953 is implicitly assumed to be 8-bit and capable to represent all files the
10954 user may specify (as is the case when no character set conversion
10955 support is available in \*(UA and the only supported character set is
10957 .Sx "Character sets" ) .
10958 This might be a problem for scripts which use the suggested
10960 setting, since in this case the character set is US-ASCII by definition,
10961 so that it is better to also override
10967 An address that is put into the
10969 field of outgoing messages, quoting RFC 5322: the mailbox of the agent
10970 responsible for the actual transmission of the message.
10971 This field should normally not be used unless the
10973 field contains more than one address, on which case it is required.
10976 address is handled as if it were in the
10980 .Va r-option-implicit .
10983 \*(OB Predecessor of
10986 .It Va sendmail-arguments
10987 \*(OB Predecessor of
10988 .Va mta-arguments .
10990 .It Va sendmail-no-default-arguments
10991 \*(OB\*(BO Predecessor of
10992 .Va mta-no-default-arguments .
10994 .It Va sendmail-progname
10995 \*(OB Predecessor of
11000 \*(BO When sending a message wait until the
11002 (including the built-in SMTP one) exits before accepting further commands.
11004 with this variable set errors reported by the MTA will be recognizable!
11005 If the MTA returns a non-zero exit status,
11006 the exit status of \*(UA will also be non-zero.
11010 \*(BO This setting causes \*(UA to start at the last message
11011 instead of the first one when opening a mail folder, as well as with
11018 \*(BO Causes \*(UA to use the sender's real name instead of the plain
11019 address in the header field summary and in message specifications.
11023 \*(BO Causes the recipient of the message to be shown in the header
11024 summary if the message was sent by the user.
11031 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
11033 .Va message-inject-tail ,
11034 .Va on-compose-leave
11036 .Va on-compose-splice .
11043 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
11045 .Va message-inject-tail ,
11046 .Va on-compose-leave
11048 .Va on-compose-splice .
11053 .Va on-compose-splice
11055 .Va on-compose-splice-shell
11057 .Va on-compose-leave
11059 .Va message-inject-tail
11063 .It Va skipemptybody
11064 \*(BO If an outgoing message does not contain any text in its first or
11065 only message part, do not send it but discard it silently (see also the
11066 command line option
11071 .It Va smime-ca-dir , smime-ca-file
11072 \*(OP Specify the location of trusted CA certificates in PEM (Privacy
11073 Enhanced Mail) for the purpose of verification of S/MIME signed messages.
11075 documents the necessary preparation steps to use the former.
11076 The set of CA certificates which are built into the SSL/TLS library can
11077 be explicitly turned off by setting
11078 .Va smime-ca-no-defaults ,
11079 and further fine-tuning is possible via
11080 .Va smime-ca-flags .
11083 .It Va smime-ca-flags
11084 \*(OP Can be used to fine-tune behaviour of the X509 CA certificate
11085 storage, and the certificate verification that is used.
11086 The actual values and their meanings are documented for
11090 .It Va smime-ca-no-defaults
11091 \*(BO\*(OP Do not load the default CA locations that are built into the
11092 used to SSL/TLS library to verify S/MIME signed messages.
11094 .Mx Va smime-cipher
11095 .It Va smime-cipher-USER@HOST , smime-cipher
11096 \*(OP Specifies the cipher to use when generating S/MIME encrypted
11097 messages (for the specified account).
11098 RFC 5751 mandates a default of
11101 Possible values are (case-insensitive and) in decreasing cipher strength:
11109 (DES EDE3 CBC, 168 bits; default if
11111 is not available) and
11113 (DES CBC, 56 bits).
11115 The actually available cipher algorithms depend on the cryptographic
11116 library that \*(UA uses.
11117 \*(OP Support for more cipher algorithms may be available through
11118 dynamic loading via, e.g.,
11119 .Xr EVP_get_cipherbyname 3
11120 (OpenSSL) if \*(UA has been compiled to support this.
11123 .It Va smime-crl-dir
11124 \*(OP Specifies a directory that contains files with CRLs in PEM format
11125 to use when verifying S/MIME messages.
11128 .It Va smime-crl-file
11129 \*(OP Specifies a file that contains a CRL in PEM format to use when
11130 verifying S/MIME messages.
11133 .It Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST
11134 \*(OP If this variable is set, messages send to the given receiver are
11135 encrypted before sending.
11136 The value of the variable must be set to the name of a file that
11137 contains a certificate in PEM format.
11139 If a message is sent to multiple recipients,
11140 each of them for whom a corresponding variable is set will receive an
11141 individually encrypted message;
11142 other recipients will continue to receive the message in plain text
11144 .Va smime-force-encryption
11146 It is recommended to sign encrypted messages, i.e., to also set the
11151 .It Va smime-force-encryption
11152 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to refuse sending unencrypted messages.
11156 \*(BO\*(OP S/MIME sign outgoing messages with the user's private key
11157 and include the user's certificate as a MIME attachment.
11158 Signing a message enables a recipient to verify that the sender used
11159 a valid certificate,
11160 that the email addresses in the certificate match those in the message
11161 header and that the message content has not been altered.
11162 It does not change the message text,
11163 and people will be able to read the message as usual.
11165 .Va smime-sign-cert , smime-sign-include-certs
11167 .Va smime-sign-message-digest .
11169 .Mx Va smime-sign-cert
11170 .It Va smime-sign-cert-USER@HOST , smime-sign-cert
11171 \*(OP Points to a file in PEM format.
11172 For the purpose of signing and decryption this file needs to contain the
11173 user's private key, followed by his certificate.
11175 For message signing
11177 is always derived from the value of
11179 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
11181 For the purpose of encryption the recipient's public encryption key
11182 (certificate) is expected; the command
11184 can be used to save certificates of signed messages (the section
11185 .Sx "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
11186 gives some details).
11187 This mode of operation is usually driven by the specialized form.
11189 When decrypting messages the account is derived from the recipient
11194 of the message, which are searched for addresses for which such
11196 \*(UA always uses the first address that matches,
11197 so if the same message is sent to more than one of the user's addresses
11198 using different encryption keys, decryption might fail.
11200 For signing and decryption purposes it is possible to use encrypted
11201 keys, and the pseudo-host(s)
11202 .Ql USER@HOST.smime-cert-key
11203 for the private key
11205 .Ql USER@HOST.smime-cert-cert
11206 for the certificate stored in the same file)
11207 will be used for performing any necessary password lookup,
11208 therefore the lookup can be automated via the mechanisms described in
11209 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
11210 For example, the hypothetical address
11212 could be driven with a private key / certificate pair path defined in
11213 .Va \&\&smime-sign-cert-bob@exam.ple ,
11214 and needed passwords would then be looked up via the pseudo hosts
11215 .Ql bob@exam.ple.smime-cert-key
11217 .Ql bob@exam.ple.smime-cert-cert ) .
11218 To include intermediate certificates, use
11219 .Va smime-sign-include-certs .
11221 .Mx Va smime-sign-include-certs
11222 .It Va smime-sign-include-certs-USER@HOST , smime-sign-include-certs
11223 \*(OP If used, this is supposed to a consist of a comma-separated list
11224 of files, each of which containing a single certificate in PEM format to
11225 be included in the S/MIME message in addition to the
11226 .Va smime-sign-cert
11228 This can be used to include intermediate certificates of the certificate
11229 authority, in order to allow the receiver's S/MIME implementation to
11230 perform a verification of the entire certificate chain, starting from
11231 a local root certificate, over the intermediate certificates, down to the
11232 .Va smime-sign-cert .
11233 Even though top level certificates may also be included in the chain,
11234 they won't be used for the verification on the receiver's side.
11236 For the purpose of the mechanisms involved here,
11238 refers to the content of the internal variable
11240 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
11243 .Ql USER@HOST.smime-include-certs
11244 will be used for performing password lookups for these certificates,
11245 shall they have been given one, therefore the lookup can be automated
11246 via the mechanisms described in
11247 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
11249 .Mx Va smime-sign-message-digest
11250 .It Va smime-sign-message-digest-USER@HOST , smime-sign-message-digest
11251 \*(OP Specifies the message digest to use when signing S/MIME messages.
11252 RFC 5751 mandates a default of
11254 Possible values are (case-insensitive and) in decreasing cipher strength:
11262 The actually available message digest algorithms depend on the
11263 cryptographic library that \*(UA uses.
11264 \*(OP Support for more message digest algorithms may be available
11265 through dynamic loading via, e.g.,
11266 .Xr EVP_get_digestbyname 3
11267 (OpenSSL) if \*(UA has been compiled to support this.
11268 Remember that for this
11270 refers to the variable
11272 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
11276 \*(OB\*(OP To use the built-in SMTP transport, specify a SMTP URL in
11278 \*(ID For compatibility reasons a set
11280 is used in preference of
11284 .It Va smtp-auth-USER@HOST , smtp-auth-HOST , smtp-auth
11285 \*(OP Variable chain that controls the SMTP
11287 authentication method, possible values are
11293 as well as the \*(OPal methods
11299 method does not need any user credentials,
11301 requires a user name and all other methods require a user name and
11309 .Va smtp-auth-password
11311 .Va smtp-auth-user ) .
11316 .Va smtp-auth-USER@HOST :
11317 may override dependent on sender address in the variable
11320 .It Va smtp-auth-password
11321 \*(OP\*(OU Sets the global fallback password for SMTP authentication.
11322 If the authentication method requires a password, but neither
11323 .Va smtp-auth-password
11325 .Va smtp-auth-password-USER@HOST
11327 \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal.
11329 .It Va smtp-auth-password-USER@HOST
11331 .Va smtp-auth-password
11332 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
11335 .It Va smtp-auth-user
11336 \*(OP\*(OU Sets the global fallback user name for SMTP authentication.
11337 If the authentication method requires a user name, but neither
11340 .Va smtp-auth-user-USER@HOST
11342 \*(UA will ask for a user name on the user's terminal.
11344 .It Va smtp-auth-user-USER@HOST
11347 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
11351 .It Va smtp-hostname
11352 \*(OP\*(IN Normally \*(UA uses the variable
11354 to derive the necessary
11356 information in order to issue a
11363 can be used to use the
11365 from the SMTP account
11372 from the content of this variable (or, if that is the empty string,
11374 or the local hostname as a last resort).
11375 This often allows using an address that is itself valid but hosted by
11376 a provider other than which (in
11378 is about to send the message.
11379 Setting this variable also influences generated
11384 If the \*(OPal IDNA support is available (see
11386 variable assignment is aborted when a necessary conversion fails.
11388 .Mx Va smtp-use-starttls
11389 .It Va smtp-use-starttls-USER@HOST , smtp-use-starttls-HOST , smtp-use-starttls
11390 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a
11392 command to make an SMTP
11394 session SSL/TLS encrypted, i.e., to enable transport layer security.
11397 .It Va socks-proxy-USER@HOST , socks-proxy-HOST , socks-proxy
11398 \*(OP If this is set to the hostname (SOCKS URL) of a SOCKS5 server then
11399 \*(UA will proxy all of its network activities through it.
11400 This can be used to proxy SMTP, POP3 etc. network traffic through the
11401 Tor anonymizer, for example.
11402 The following would create a local SOCKS proxy on port 10000 that
11403 forwards to the machine
11405 and from which the network traffic is actually instantiated:
11406 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11407 # Create local proxy server in terminal 1 forwarding to HOST
11408 $ ssh -D 10000 USER@HOST
11409 # Then, start a client that uses it in terminal 2
11410 $ \*(uA -Ssocks-proxy-USER@HOST=localhost:10000
11414 .It Va spam-interface
11415 \*(OP In order to use any of the spam-related commands (like, e.g.,
11417 the desired spam interface must be defined by setting this variable.
11418 Please refer to the manual section
11419 .Sx "Handling spam"
11420 for the complete picture of spam handling in \*(UA.
11421 All or none of the following interfaces may be available:
11423 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ql _ilte_"
11429 .Pf ( Lk http://spamassassin.apache.org SpamAssassin )
11431 Different to the generic filter interface \*(UA will automatically add
11432 the correct arguments for a given command and has the necessary
11433 knowledge to parse the program's output.
11434 A default value for
11436 will have been compiled into the \*(UA binary if
11440 during compilation.
11441 Shall it be necessary to define a specific connection type (rather than
11442 using a configuration file for that), the variable
11443 .Va spamc-arguments
11444 can be used as in, e.g.,
11445 .Ql -d server.example.com -p 783 .
11446 It is also possible to specify a per-user configuration via
11448 Note that this interface does not inspect the
11450 flag of a message for the command
11454 generic spam filter support via freely configurable hooks.
11455 This interface is meant for programs like
11457 and requires according behaviour in respect to the hooks' exit
11458 status for at least the command
11461 meaning a message is spam,
11465 for unsure and any other return value indicating a hard error);
11466 since the hooks can include shell code snippets diverting behaviour
11467 can be intercepted as necessary.
11469 .Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , spamfilter-nospam , \
11472 .Va spamfilter-spam ;
11474 .Sx "Handling spam"
11475 contains examples for some programs.
11476 The process environment of the hooks will have the variable
11477 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_GENERATED
11479 Note that spam score support for
11481 is not supported unless the \*(OPtional regular expression support is
11483 .Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore
11489 .It Va spam-maxsize
11490 \*(OP Messages that exceed this size will not be passed through to the
11492 .Va spam-interface .
11493 If unset or 0, the default of 420000 bytes is used.
11496 .It Va spamc-command
11497 \*(OP The path to the
11501 .Va spam-interface .
11502 Note that the path is not expanded, but used
11504 A fallback path will have been compiled into the \*(UA binary if the
11505 executable had been found during compilation.
11508 .It Va spamc-arguments
11509 \*(OP Even though \*(UA deals with most arguments for the
11512 automatically, it may at least sometimes be desirable to specify
11513 connection-related ones via this variable, e.g.,
11514 .Ql -d server.example.com -p 783 .
11518 \*(OP Specify a username for per-user configuration files for the
11520 .Va spam-interface .
11521 If this is set to the empty string then \*(UA will use the name of the
11530 .It Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , \
11531 spamfilter-nospam , spamfilter-rate , spamfilter-spam
11532 \*(OP Command and argument hooks for the
11534 .Va spam-interface .
11536 .Sx "Handling spam"
11537 contains examples for some programs.
11540 .It Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore
11541 \*(OP Because of the generic nature of the
11544 spam scores are not supported for it by default, but if the \*(OPnal
11545 regular expression support is available then setting this variable can
11546 be used to overcome this restriction.
11547 It is interpreted as follows: first a number (digits) is parsed that
11548 must be followed by a semicolon
11550 and an extended regular expression.
11551 Then the latter is used to parse the first output line of the
11552 .Va spamfilter-rate
11553 hook, and, in case the evaluation is successful, the group that has been
11554 specified via the number is interpreted as a floating point scan score.
11558 .It Va ssl-ca-dir-USER@HOST , ssl-ca-dir-HOST , ssl-ca-dir ,\
11559 ssl-ca-file-USER@HOST , ssl-ca-file-HOST , ssl-ca-file
11560 \*(OP Directory and file, respectively, pools of trusted CA certificates
11561 in PEM (Privacy Enhanced Mail) format, for the purpose of verification
11562 of SSL/TLS server certificates.
11563 Concurrent use is possible, the file is loaded once needed first, the
11564 directory lookup is performed anew as a last resort whenever necessary.
11565 The CA certificate pool built into the SSL/TLS library can be disabled via
11566 .Va ssl-ca-no-defaults ,
11567 further fine-tuning is possible via
11569 Note the directory search variant requires the certificate files to
11570 adhere special filename conventions, please see
11571 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
11578 .Mx Va ssl-ca-flags
11579 .It Va ssl-ca-flags-USER@HOST , ssl-ca-flags-HOST , ssl-ca-flags
11580 \*(OP Can be used to fine-tune behaviour of the X509 CA certificate
11581 storage, and the certificate verification that is used (also see
11583 The value is expected to consist of a comma-separated list of
11584 configuration directives, with any intervening whitespace being ignored.
11585 The directives directly map to flags that can be passed to
11586 .Xr X509_STORE_set_flags 3 ,
11587 which are usually defined in a file
11588 .Pa openssl/x509_vfy.h ,
11589 and the availability of which depends on the used SSL/TLS library
11590 version: a directive without mapping is ignored (error log subject to
11592 Directives currently understood (case-insensitively) include:
11595 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Cd BaNg"
11596 .It Cd no-alt-chains
11597 If the initial chain is not trusted, do not attempt to build an
11599 Setting this flag will make OpenSSL certificate verification match that
11600 of older OpenSSL versions, before automatic building and checking of
11601 alternative chains has been implemented; also see
11602 .Cd trusted-first .
11603 .It Cd no-check-time
11604 Do not check certificate/CRL validity against current time.
11605 .It Cd partial-chain
11606 By default partial, incomplete chains which cannot be verified up to the
11607 chain top, a self-signed root certificate, will not verify.
11608 With this flag set, a chain succeeds to verify if at least one signing
11609 certificate of the chain is in any of the configured trusted stores of
11611 The OpenSSL manual page
11612 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
11613 gives some advise how to manage your own trusted store of CA certificates.
11615 Disable workarounds for broken certificates.
11616 .It Cd trusted-first
11617 Try building a chain using issuers in the trusted store first to avoid
11618 problems with server-sent legacy intermediate certificates.
11619 Newer versions of OpenSSL support alternative chain checking and enable
11620 it by default, resulting in the same behaviour; also see
11621 .Cd no-alt-chains .
11625 .Mx Va ssl-ca-no-defaults
11626 .It Va ssl-ca-no-defaults-USER@HOST , ssl-ca-no-defaults-HOST ,\
11628 \*(BO\*(OP Do not load the default CA locations that are built into the
11629 used to SSL/TLS library to verify SSL/TLS server certificates.
11632 .It Va ssl-cert-USER@HOST , ssl-cert-HOST , ssl-cert
11633 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11636 .Va ssl-config-pairs .
11638 .Mx Va ssl-cipher-list
11639 .It Va ssl-cipher-list-USER@HOST , ssl-cipher-list-HOST , ssl-cipher-list
11640 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11643 .Va ssl-config-pairs .
11646 .It Va ssl-config-file
11647 \*(OP If this variable is set
11648 .Xr CONF_modules_load_file 3
11650 .Ql +modules-load-file
11653 is used to allow resource file based configuration of the SSL/TLS library.
11654 This happens once the library is used first, which may also be early
11655 during startup (logged with
11657 If a non-empty value is given then the given file, after performing
11658 .Sx "Filename transformations" ,
11659 will be used instead of the global OpenSSL default, and it is an error
11660 if the file cannot be loaded.
11661 The application name will always be passed as
11663 Some SSL/TLS libraries support application-specific configuration via
11664 resource files loaded like this, please see
11665 .Va ssl-config-module .
11667 .Mx Va ssl-config-module
11668 .It Va ssl-config-module-USER@HOST , ssl-config-module-HOST ,\
11670 \*(OP If file based application-specific configuration via
11671 .Va ssl-config-file
11672 is available, announced as
11676 indicating availability of
11677 .Xr SSL_CTX_config 3 ,
11678 then, it becomes possible to use a central SSL/TLS configuration file
11679 for all programs, including \*(uA, e.g.:
11680 .Bd -literal -offset indent
11681 # Register a configuration section for \*(uA
11682 \*(uA = mailx_master
11683 # The top configuration section creates a relation
11684 # in between dynamic SSL configuration and an actual
11685 # program specific configuration section
11687 ssl_conf = mailx_ssl_config
11688 # Well that actual program specific configuration section
11689 # now can map individual ssl-config-module names to sections,
11690 # e.g., ssl-config-module=account_xy
11692 account_xy = mailx_account_xy
11693 account_yz = mailx_account_yz
11695 MinProtocol = TLSv1.2
11698 CipherString = TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:
11699 MinProtocol = TLSv1.1
11704 .Mx Va ssl-config-pairs
11705 .It Va ssl-config-pairs-USER@HOST , ssl-config-pairs-HOST , ssl-config-pairs
11706 \*(OP The value of this variable chain will be interpreted as
11707 a comma-separated list of directive/value pairs.
11708 Directives and values need to be separated by equals signs
11710 any whitespace surrounding pair members is removed.
11711 Keys are (usually) case-insensitive.
11712 Different to when placing these pairs in a
11713 .Va ssl-config-module
11715 .Va ssl-config-file ,
11718 need to be escaped with a reverse solidus
11720 when included in pairs; also different: if the equals sign
11722 is preceded with an asterisk
11724 .Sx "Filename transformations"
11725 will be performed on the value; it is an error if these fail.
11726 Unless proper support is announced by
11728 .Pf ( Ql +conf-ctx )
11729 only the keys below are supported, otherwise the pairs will be used
11730 directly as arguments to the function
11731 .Xr SSL_CONF_cmd 3 .
11734 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Cd C_rtificate"
11736 Filename of a SSL/TLS client certificate (chain) required by some servers.
11737 Fallback support via
11738 .Xr SSL_CTX_use_certificate_chain_file 3 .
11739 .Sx "Filename transformations"
11741 .\" v15compat: remove the next sentence
11743 if you use this you need to specify the private key via
11748 .It Cd CipherString
11749 A list of ciphers for SSL/TLS connections, see
11751 By default no list of ciphers is set, resulting in a
11752 .Cd Protocol Ns - Ns
11753 specific list of ciphers (the protocol standards define lists of
11754 acceptable ciphers; possibly cramped by the used SSL/TLS library).
11755 Fallback support via
11756 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_cipher_list 3 .
11758 .It Cd Ciphersuites
11759 A list of ciphers used for TLSv1.3 connections, see
11761 These will be joined onto the list of ciphers from
11766 .Ql +ctx-set-ciphersuites ,
11768 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_ciphersuites 3 .
11771 A list of supported elliptic curves, if applicable.
11772 By default no curves are set.
11773 Fallback support via
11774 .Xr SSL_CTX_set1_curves_list 3 ,
11777 .It Cd MaxProtocol , MinProtocol
11778 The maximum and minimum supported SSL/TLS versions, respectively.
11782 .Ql +ctx-set-maxmin-proto ,
11784 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_max_proto_version 3
11786 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_min_proto_version 3 ;
11787 these fallbacks use an internal parser which understands the strings
11793 and the special value
11795 which disables the given limit.
11798 Various flags to set.
11800 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_options 3 ,
11801 in which case any other value but (exactly)
11803 results in an error.
11806 Filename of the private key in PEM format of a SSL/TLS client certificate.
11807 If unset, the name of the certificate file is used.
11808 .Sx "Filename transformations"
11811 .Xr SSL_CTX_use_PrivateKey_file 3 .
11812 .\" v15compat: remove the next sentence
11814 if you use this you need to specify the certificate (chain) via
11820 The used SSL/TLS protocol.
11826 .Ql ctx-set-maxmin-proto
11833 .Xr SSL_CTX_set_options 3 ,
11834 driven via an internal parser which understands the strings
11840 and the special value
11842 Multiple protocols may be given as a comma-separated list, any
11843 whitespace is ignored, an optional plus sign
11845 prefix enables, a hyphen-minus
11847 prefix disables a protocol, so that
11849 enables only the TLSv1.2 protocol.
11855 .It Va ssl-crl-dir , ssl-crl-file
11856 \*(OP Specify a directory / a file, respectively that contains a CRL in
11857 PEM format to use when verifying SSL/TLS server certificates.
11860 .It Va ssl-curves-USER@HOST , ssl-curves-HOST , ssl-curves
11861 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11864 .Va ssl-config-pairs .
11867 .It Va ssl-features
11868 \*(OP\*(RO This expands to a comma separated list of the TLS/SSL library
11869 identity and optional TLS/SSL library features.
11870 Currently supported identities are
11874 (OpenSSL v1.1.x series)
11877 (elder OpenSSL series, other clones).
11878 Optional features are preceded with a plus sign
11880 when available, and with a hyphen-minus
11883 .Ql modules-load-file
11884 .Pf ( Va ssl-config-file ) ,
11886 .Pf ( Va ssl-config-pairs ) ,
11888 .Pf ( Va ssl-config-module ) ,
11889 .Ql ctx-set-maxmin-proto
11890 .Pf ( Va ssl-config-pairs )
11893 .Pf ( Va ssl-rand-egd ) .
11896 .It Va ssl-key-USER@HOST , ssl-key-HOST , ssl-key
11897 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11900 .Va ssl-config-pairs .
11902 .It Va ssl-method-USER@HOST , ssl-method-HOST , ssl-method
11903 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11906 .Va ssl-config-pairs .
11908 .Mx Va ssl-protocol
11909 .It Va ssl-protocol-USER@HOST , ssl-protocol-HOST , ssl-protocol
11910 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the
11913 .Va ssl-config-pairs .
11916 .It Va ssl-rand-egd
11917 \*(OP Gives the pathname to an entropy daemon socket, see
11919 Not all SSL/TLS libraries support this,
11921 announces availability with
11925 .It Va ssl-rand-file
11926 \*(OP Gives the filename to a file with random entropy data, see
11927 .Xr RAND_load_file 3 .
11928 If this variable is not set, or set to the empty string, or if the
11929 .Sx "Filename transformations"
11931 .Xr RAND_file_name 3
11932 will be used to create the filename.
11933 If the SSL PRNG was seeded successfully
11934 The file will be updated
11935 .Pf ( Xr RAND_write_file 3 )
11936 if and only if seeding and buffer stirring succeeds.
11937 This variable is only used if
11939 is not set (or not supported by the SSL/TLS library).
11942 .It Va ssl-verify-USER@HOST , ssl-verify-HOST , ssl-verify
11943 \*(OP Variable chain that sets the action to be performed if an error
11944 occurs during SSL/TLS server certificate validation against the
11945 specified or default trust stores
11948 or the SSL/TLS library built-in defaults (unless usage disallowed via
11949 .Va ssl-ca-no-defaults ) ,
11950 and as fine-tuned via
11952 Valid (case-insensitive) values are
11954 (fail and close connection immediately),
11956 (ask whether to continue on standard input),
11958 (show a warning and continue),
11960 (do not perform validation).
11966 If only set without an assigned value, then this setting inhibits the
11972 header fields that include obvious references to \*(UA.
11973 There are two pitfalls associated with this:
11974 First, the message id of outgoing messages is not known anymore.
11975 Second, an expert may still use the remaining information in the header
11976 to track down the originating mail user agent.
11977 If set to the value
11983 suppression does not occur.
11986 .It Va system-mailrc
11987 \*(RO The compiled in path of the system wide initialization file
11989 .Sx "Resource files" :
11995 (\*(OP) This specifies a comma-separated list of
12000 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" ,
12001 escape commas with reverse solidus) to be used to overwrite or define
12004 this variable will only be queried once at program startup and can
12005 thus only be specified in resource files or on the command line.
12008 String capabilities form
12010 pairs and are expected unless noted otherwise.
12011 Numerics have to be notated as
12013 where the number is expected in normal decimal notation.
12014 Finally, booleans do not have any value but indicate a true or false
12015 state simply by being defined or not; this indeed means that \*(UA
12016 does not support undefining an existing boolean.
12017 String capability values will undergo some expansions before use:
12018 for one notations like
12021 .Ql control-LETTER ,
12022 and for clarification purposes
12024 can be used to specify
12026 (the control notation
12028 could lead to misreadings when a left bracket follows, which it does for
12029 the standard CSI sequence);
12030 finally three letter octal sequences, as in
12033 To specify that a terminal supports 256-colours, and to define sequences
12034 that home the cursor and produce an audible bell, one might write:
12036 .Bd -literal -offset indent
12037 ? set termcap='Co#256,home=\eE[H,bel=^G'
12041 The following terminal capabilities are or may be meaningful for the
12042 operation of the built-in line editor or \*(UA in general:
12045 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Cd yay"
12047 .It Cd colors Ns \0or Cd Co
12049 numeric capability specifying the maximum number of colours.
12050 Note that \*(UA does not actually care about the terminal beside that,
12051 but always emits ANSI / ISO 6429 escape sequences.
12054 .It Cd rmcup Ns \0or Cd te Ns \0/ Cd smcup Ns \0or Cd ti
12057 .Cd enter_ca_mode ,
12058 respectively: exit and enter the alternative screen ca-mode,
12059 effectively turning \*(UA into a fullscreen application.
12060 This must be enabled explicitly by setting
12061 .Va termcap-ca-mode .
12063 .It Cd smkx Ns \0or Cd ks Ns \0/ Cd rmkx Ns \0or Cd ke
12067 respectively: enable and disable the keypad.
12068 This is always enabled if available, because it seems even keyboards
12069 without keypads generate other key codes for, e.g., cursor keys in that
12070 case, and only if enabled we see the codes that we are interested in.
12072 .It Cd ed Ns \0or Cd cd
12076 .It Cd clear Ns \0or Cd cl
12078 clear the screen and home cursor.
12079 (Will be simulated via
12084 .It Cd home Ns \0or Cd ho
12089 .It Cd el Ns \0or Cd ce
12091 clear to the end of line.
12092 (Will be simulated via
12094 plus repetitions of space characters.)
12096 .It Cd hpa Ns \0or Cd ch
12097 .Cd column_address :
12098 move the cursor (to the given column parameter) in the current row.
12099 (Will be simulated via
12105 .Cd carriage_return :
12106 move to the first column in the current row.
12107 The default built-in fallback is
12110 .It Cd cub1 Ns \0or Cd le
12112 move the cursor left one space (non-destructively).
12113 The default built-in fallback is
12116 .It Cd cuf1 Ns \0or Cd nd
12118 move the cursor right one space (non-destructively).
12119 The default built-in fallback is
12121 which is used by most terminals.
12129 Many more capabilities which describe key-sequences are documented for
12134 .It Va termcap-ca-mode
12135 \*(OP Allow usage of the
12139 terminal capabilities, see
12142 this variable will only be queried once at program startup and can
12143 thus only be specified in resource files or on the command line.
12146 .It Va termcap-disable
12147 \*(OP Disable any interaction with a terminal control library.
12148 If set only some generic fallback built-ins and possibly the content of
12150 describe the terminal to \*(UA.
12152 this variable will only be queried once at program startup and can
12153 thus only be specified in resource files or on the command line.
12157 If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be displayed
12160 if unset, the first five lines are printed, if set to 0 the variable
12163 If the value is negative then its absolute value will be used for
12164 unsigned right shifting (see
12172 \*(BO If set then the
12174 command series will strip adjacent empty lines and quotations.
12178 The character set of the terminal \*(UA operates on,
12179 and the one and only supported character set that \*(UA can use if no
12180 character set conversion capabilities have been compiled into it,
12181 in which case it defaults to ISO-8859-1.
12182 Otherwise it defaults to UTF-8.
12183 Sufficient locale support provided the default will be preferably
12184 deduced from the locale environment if that is set (e.g.,
12186 see there for more); runtime locale changes will be reflected by
12188 except during the program startup phase and if
12190 had been used to freeze the given value.
12191 Refer to the section
12192 .Sx "Character sets"
12193 for the complete picture about character sets.
12196 .It Va typescript-mode
12197 \*(BO A special multiplex variable that disables all variables and
12198 settings which result in behaviour that interferes with running \*(UA in
12201 .Va colour-disable ,
12202 .Va line-editor-disable
12203 and (before startup completed only)
12204 .Va termcap-disable .
12205 Unsetting it does not restore the former state of the covered settings.
12209 For a safe-by-default policy the process file mode creation mask
12213 on program startup by default.
12214 Child processes inherit the file mode creation mask of their parent, and
12215 by setting this variable to an empty value no change will be applied,
12216 and the inherited value will be used.
12217 Otherwise the given value will be made the new file mode creation mask.
12220 .It Va user-HOST , user
12221 \*(IN Variable chain that sets a global fallback user name, which is
12222 used in case none has been given in the protocol and account-specific
12224 This variable defaults to the name of the user who runs \*(UA.
12228 \*(BO Setting this enables upward compatibility with \*(UA
12229 version 15.0 in respect to which configuration options are available and
12230 how they are handled.
12231 This manual uses \*(IN and \*(OU to refer to the new and the old way of
12232 doing things, respectively.
12236 \*(BO This setting, also controllable via the command line option
12238 causes \*(UA to be more verbose, e.g., it will display obsoletion
12239 warnings and SSL/TLS certificate chains.
12240 Even though marked \*(BO this option may be set twice in order to
12241 increase the level of verbosity even more, in which case even details of
12242 the actual message delivery and protocol conversations are shown.
12245 is sufficient to disable verbosity as such.
12252 .It Va version , version-date , \
12253 version-hexnum , version-major , version-minor , version-update
12254 \*(RO \*(UA version information: the first variable is a string with
12255 the complete version identification, the second the release date in ISO
12256 8601 notation without time.
12257 The third is a 32-bit hexadecimal number with the upper 8 bits storing
12258 the major, followed by the minor and update version numbers which occupy
12260 The latter three variables contain only decimal digits: the major, minor
12261 and update version numbers.
12262 The output of the command
12264 will include this information.
12267 .It Va writebackedited
12268 If this variable is set messages modified using the
12272 commands are written back to the current folder when it is quit;
12273 it is only honoured for writable folders in MBOX format, though.
12274 Note that the editor will be pointed to the raw message content in that
12275 case, i.e., neither MIME decoding nor decryption will have been
12276 performed, and proper RFC 4155
12278 quoting of newly added or edited content is also left as an exercise to
12281 .\" }}} (Variables)
12283 .\" }}} (INTERNAL VARIABLES)
12286 .\" .Sh ENVIRONMENT {{{
12290 .Dq environment variable
12291 should be considered an indication that these variables are either
12292 standardized as vivid parts of process environments, or that they are
12293 commonly found in there.
12294 The process environment is inherited from the
12296 once \*(UA is started, and unless otherwise explicitly noted handling of
12297 the following variables transparently integrates into that of the
12298 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
12299 from \*(UA's point of view.
12300 This means that, e.g., they can be managed via
12304 causing automatic program environment updates (to be inherited by
12305 newly created child processes).
12308 In order to transparently integrate other environment variables equally
12309 they need to be imported (linked) with the command
12311 This command can also be used to set and unset non-integrated
12312 environment variables from scratch, sufficient system support provided.
12313 The following example, applicable to a POSIX shell, sets the
12315 environment variable for \*(UA only, and beforehand exports the
12317 in order to affect any further processing in the running shell:
12319 .Bd -literal -offset indent
12320 $ EDITOR="vim -u ${HOME}/.vimrc"
12322 $ COLUMNS=80 \*(uA -R
12325 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ev BaNg"
12328 The user's preferred width in column positions for the terminal screen
12330 Queried and used once on program startup, actively managed for child
12331 processes and the MLE (see
12332 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
12333 in interactive mode thereafter.
12334 Ignored in non-interactive mode, which always uses 80 columns, unless in
12340 The name of the (mailbox)
12342 to use for saving aborted messages if
12344 is set; this defaults to
12348 is set no output will be generated, otherwise the contents of the file
12353 Pathname of the text editor to use for the
12357 .Pf (see\0 Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ) ;
12359 is used for a more display oriented editor.
12363 The user's home directory.
12364 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
12365 The calling user's home directory will be used instead if this directory
12366 does not exist, is not accessible or cannot be read;
12367 it will always be used for the root user.
12368 (No test for being writable is performed to allow usage by
12369 non-privileged users within read-only jails, but dependent on the
12370 variable settings this directory is a default write target, e.g. for
12378 .It Ev LC_ALL , LC_CTYPE , LANG
12379 \*(OP The (names in lookup order of the)
12383 which indicates the used
12384 .Sx "Character sets" .
12385 Runtime changes trigger automatic updates of the entire locale system,
12386 which includes updating
12388 (except during startup if the variable has been frozen via
12393 The user's preferred number of lines on a page or the vertical screen
12394 or window size in lines.
12395 Queried and used once on program startup, actively managed for child
12396 processes in interactive mode thereafter.
12397 Ignored in non-interactive mode, which always uses 24 lines, unless in
12403 Pathname of the directory lister to use in the
12405 command when operating on local mailboxes.
12408 (path search through
12413 Upon startup \*(UA will actively ensure that this variable refers to the
12414 name of the user who runs \*(UA, in order to be able to pass a verified
12415 name to any newly created child process.
12419 Is used as the user's
12421 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
12425 This is assumed to be an absolute pathname.
12429 \*(OP Overrides the default path search for
12430 .Sx "The Mailcap files" ,
12431 which is defined in the standard RFC 1524 as
12432 .Ql ~/.mailcap:\:/etc/mailcap:\:/usr/etc/mailcap:\:/usr/local/etc/mailcap .
12433 .\" TODO we should have a mailcaps-default virtual RDONLY option!
12434 (\*(UA makes it a configuration option, however.)
12435 Note this is not a search path, but a path search.
12439 Is used as a startup file instead of
12442 In order to avoid side-effects from configuration files scripts should
12443 either set this variable to
12447 command line option should be used.
12450 .It Ev MAILX_NO_SYSTEM_RC
12451 If this variable is set then reading of
12454 .Va system-mailrc )
12455 at startup is inhibited, i.e., the same effect is achieved as if \*(UA
12456 had been started up with the option
12458 (and according argument) or
12460 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
12464 The name of the user's
12466 .Sx "secondary mailbox"
12468 A logical subset of the special
12469 .Sx "Filename transformations"
12475 Traditionally this MBOX is used as the file to save messages from the
12477 .Sx "primary system mailbox"
12478 that have been read.
12480 .Sx "Message states" .
12484 \*(IN\*(OP This variable overrides the default location of the user's
12490 Pathname of the program to use for backing the command
12494 variable enforces usage of a pager for output.
12495 The default paginator is
12497 (path search through
12500 \*(UA inspects the contents of this variable: if its contains the string
12502 then a non-existing environment variable
12509 will optionally be set to
12516 A colon-separated list of directories that is searched by the shell when
12517 looking for commands, e.g.,
12518 .Ql /bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin .
12521 .It Ev POSIXLY_CORRECT
12522 This variable is automatically looked for upon startup, see
12528 The shell to use for the commands
12533 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
12534 and when starting subprocesses.
12535 A default shell is used if this environment variable is not defined.
12538 .It Ev SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
12539 Specifies a time in seconds since the Unix epoch (1970-01-01) to be
12540 used in place of the current time.
12541 This variable is looked up upon program startup, and its existence will
12542 switch \*(UA to a reproducible mode
12543 .Pf ( Lk https://reproducible-builds.org )
12544 which uses deterministic random numbers, a special fixated pseudo
12547 This operation mode is used for development and by software packagers.
12548 \*(ID Currently an invalid setting is only ignored, rather than causing
12549 a program abortion.
12551 .Dl $ SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH=`date +%s` \*(uA
12555 \*(OP The terminal type for which output is to be prepared.
12556 For extended colour and font control please refer to
12557 .Sx "Coloured display" ,
12558 and for terminal management in general to
12559 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" .
12563 Except for the root user this variable defines the directory for
12564 temporary files to be used instead of
12566 (or the given compile-time constant) if set, existent, accessible as
12567 well as read- and writable.
12568 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment,
12569 but \*(UA will ensure at startup that this environment variable is
12570 updated to contain a usable temporary directory.
12576 (see there), but this variable is not standardized, should therefore not
12577 be used, and is only corrected if already set.
12581 Pathname of the text editor to use for the
12585 .Pf (see\0 Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ) ;
12587 is used for a less display oriented editor.
12597 .Bl -tag -width ".It Pa BaNg"
12599 User-specific file giving initial commands, one of the
12600 .Sx "Resource files" .
12601 The actual value is read from
12605 System wide initialization file, one of the
12606 .Sx "Resource files" .
12607 The actual value is read from
12608 .Va system-mailrc .
12612 \*(OP Personal MIME type handler definition file, see
12613 .Sx "The Mailcap files" .
12614 This location is part of the RFC 1524 standard search path, which is
12615 a configuration option and can be overridden via
12619 .It Pa /etc/mailcap
12620 \*(OP System wide MIME type handler definition file, see
12621 .Sx "The Mailcap files" .
12622 This location is part of the RFC 1524 standard search path, which is
12623 a configuration option and can be overridden via
12627 The default value for
12632 Personal MIME types, see
12633 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
12637 System wide MIME types, see
12638 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
12642 \*(IN\*(OP The default location of the user's
12644 file \(en the section
12645 .Sx "The .netrc file"
12646 documents the file format.
12647 The actually used path can be overridden via
12657 .\" .Ss "Resource files" {{{
12658 .Ss "Resource files"
12660 Upon startup \*(UA reads in several resource files, in order:
12662 .Bl -tag -width ".It Pa BaNg"
12665 System wide initialization file
12666 .Pf ( Va system-mailrc ) .
12667 Reading of this file can be suppressed, either by using the
12669 (and according argument) or
12671 command line options, or by setting the
12674 .Ev MAILX_NO_SYSTEM_RC .
12678 File giving initial commands.
12679 A different file can be chosen by setting the
12683 Reading of this file can be suppressed with the
12685 command line option.
12687 .It Va mailx-extra-rc
12688 Defines a startup file to be read after all other resource files.
12689 It can be used to specify settings that are not understood by other
12691 implementations, for example.
12692 This variable is only honoured when defined in a resource file, e.g.,
12694 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" .
12698 The content of these files is interpreted as follows:
12701 .Bl -bullet -compact
12703 The whitespace characters space, tabulator and newline,
12704 as well as those defined by the variable
12706 are removed from the beginning and end of input lines.
12708 Empty lines are ignored.
12710 Any other line is interpreted as a command.
12711 It may be spread over multiple input lines if the newline character is
12713 by placing a reverse solidus character
12715 as the last character of the line; whereas any leading whitespace of
12716 follow lines is ignored, trailing whitespace before a escaped newline
12717 remains in the input.
12719 If the line (content) starts with the number sign
12721 then it is a comment-command and also ignored.
12722 (The comment-command is a real command, which does nothing, and
12723 therefore the usual follow lines mechanism applies!)
12727 Unless \*(UA is about to enter interactive mode syntax errors that occur
12728 while loading these files are treated as errors and cause program exit.
12729 More files with syntactically equal content can be
12731 The following, saved in a file, would be an examplary content:
12733 .Bd -literal -offset indent
12734 # This line is a comment command. And y\e
12735 es, it is really continued here.
12742 .\" .Ss "The mime.types files" {{{
12743 .Ss "The mime.types files"
12746 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments"
12747 \*(UA needs to learn about MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions)
12748 media types in order to classify message and attachment content.
12749 One source for them are
12751 files, the loading of which can be controlled by setting the variable
12752 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
12753 Another is the command
12755 which also offers access to \*(UAs MIME type cache.
12757 files have the following syntax:
12759 .Bd -literal -offset indent
12760 type/subtype extension [extension ...]
12761 # E.g., text/html html htm
12767 define the MIME media type, as standardized in RFC 2046:
12769 is used to declare the general type of data, while the
12771 specifies a specific format for that type of data.
12772 One or multiple filename
12774 s, separated by whitespace, can be bound to the media type format.
12775 Comments may be introduced anywhere on a line with a number sign
12777 causing the remaining line to be discarded.
12779 \*(UA also supports an extended, non-portable syntax in especially
12780 crafted files, which can be loaded via the alternative value syntax of
12781 .Va mimetypes-load-control ,
12782 and prepends an optional
12786 .Dl [type-marker ]type/subtype extension [extension ...]
12789 The following type markers are supported:
12792 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar _n_u"
12794 Treat message parts with this content as plain text.
12799 Treat message parts with this content as HTML tagsoup.
12800 If the \*(OPal HTML-tagsoup-to-text converter is not available treat
12801 the content as plain text instead.
12805 but instead of falling back to plain text require an explicit content
12806 handler to be defined.
12808 If no handler can be found a text message is displayed which says so.
12809 This can be annoying, for example signatures serve a contextual purpose,
12810 their content is of no use by itself.
12811 This marker will avoid displaying the text message.
12816 for sending messages:
12818 .Va mime-allow-text-controls ,
12819 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
12820 For reading etc. messages:
12821 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ,
12822 .Sx "The Mailcap files" ,
12824 .Va mime-counter-evidence ,
12825 .Va mimetypes-load-control ,
12826 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE ,
12827 .Va pipe-EXTENSION .
12830 .\" .Ss "The Mailcap files" {{{
12831 .Ss "The Mailcap files"
12833 .\" TODO MAILCAP DISABLED
12834 .Sy This feature is not available in v14.9.0, sorry!
12836 .Dq User Agent Configuration Mechanism
12837 which \*(UA \*(OPally supports (see
12838 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ) .
12839 It defines a file format to be used to inform mail user agent programs
12840 about the locally-installed facilities for handling various data
12841 formats, i.e., about commands and how they can be used to display, edit
12842 et cetera MIME part contents, as well as a default path search that
12843 includes multiple possible locations of
12847 environment variable that can be used to overwrite that (repeating here
12848 that it is not a search path, but instead a path search specification).
12849 Any existing files will be loaded in sequence, appending any content to
12850 the list of MIME type handler directives.
12854 files consist of a set of newline separated entries.
12855 Comment lines start with a number sign
12857 (in the first column!) and are ignored.
12858 Empty lines are also ignored.
12859 All other lines form individual entries that must adhere to the syntax
12861 To extend a single entry (not comment) its line can be continued on
12862 follow lines if newline characters are
12864 by preceding them with the reverse solidus character
12866 The standard does not specify how leading whitespace of follow lines
12867 is to be treated, therefore \*(UA retains it.
12871 entries consist of a number of semicolon
12873 separated fields, and the reverse solidus
12875 character can be used to escape any following character including
12876 semicolon and itself.
12877 The first two fields are mandatory and must occur in the specified
12878 order, the remaining fields are optional and may appear in any order.
12879 Leading and trailing whitespace of content is ignored (removed).
12882 The first field defines the MIME
12884 the entry is about to handle (case-insensitively, and no reverse solidus
12885 escaping is possible in this field).
12886 If the subtype is specified as an asterisk
12888 the entry is meant to match all subtypes of the named type, e.g.,
12890 would match any audio type.
12891 The second field defines the shell command which shall be used to
12893 MIME parts of the given type; it is implicitly called the
12900 shell commands message (MIME part) data is passed via standard input
12901 unless the given shell command includes one or more instances of the
12904 in which case these instances will be replaced with a temporary filename
12905 and the data will have been stored in the file that is being pointed to.
12908 shell commands data is assumed to be generated on standard output unless
12909 the given command includes (one ore multiple)
12911 In any case any given
12913 format is replaced with a(n already) properly quoted filename.
12914 Note that when a command makes use of a temporary file via
12916 then \*(UA will remove it again, as if the
12917 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile ,
12918 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill
12920 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
12921 flags had been set; see below for more.
12924 The optional fields either define a shell command or an attribute (flag)
12925 value, the latter being a single word and the former being a keyword
12926 naming the field followed by an equals sign
12928 succeeded by a shell command, and as usual for any
12930 content any whitespace surrounding the equals sign will be removed, too.
12931 Optional fields include the following:
12934 .Bl -tag -width ".It Cd BaNg"
12936 A program that can be used to compose a new body or body part in the
12938 (Currently unused.)
12940 .It Cd composetyped
12943 field, but is to be used when the composing program needs to specify the
12945 header field to be applied to the composed data.
12946 (Currently unused.)
12949 A program that can be used to edit a body or body part in the given
12951 (Currently unused.)
12954 A program that can be used to print a message or body part in the given
12956 (Currently unused.)
12959 Specifies a program to be run to test some condition, e.g., the machine
12960 architecture, or the window system in use, to determine whether or not
12961 this mailcap entry applies.
12962 If the test fails, a subsequent mailcap entry should be sought; also see
12963 .Cd x-mailx-test-once .
12966 .It Cd needsterminal
12967 This flag field indicates that the given shell command must be run on
12968 an interactive terminal.
12969 \*(UA will temporarily release the terminal to the given command in
12970 interactive mode, in non-interactive mode this entry will be entirely
12971 ignored; this flag implies
12972 .Cd x-mailx-noquote .
12975 .It Cd copiousoutput
12976 A flag field which indicates that the output of the
12978 command will be an extended stream of textual output that can be
12979 (re)integrated into \*(UA's normal visual display.
12980 It is mutually exclusive with
12981 .Cd needsterminal .
12983 .It Cd textualnewlines
12984 A flag field which indicates that this type of data is line-oriented and
12985 that, if encoded in
12987 all newlines should be converted to canonical form (CRLF) before
12988 encoding, and will be in that form after decoding.
12989 (Currently unused.)
12991 .It Cd nametemplate
12992 This field gives a filename format, in which
12994 will be replaced by a random string, the joined combination of which
12995 will be used as the filename denoted by
12996 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY .
12997 One could specify that a GIF file being passed to an image viewer should
12998 have a name ending in
13001 .Ql nametemplate=%s.gif .
13002 Note that \*(UA ignores the name template unless that solely specifies
13003 a filename suffix that consists of (ASCII) alphabetic and numeric
13004 characters, the underscore and dot only.
13007 Names a file, in X11 bitmap (xbm) format, which points to an appropriate
13008 icon to be used to visually denote the presence of this kind of data.
13009 This field is not used by \*(UA.
13012 A textual description that describes this type of data.
13015 .It Cd x-mailx-even-if-not-interactive
13016 An extension flag test field \(em by default handlers without
13018 are entirely ignored in non-interactive mode, but if this flag is set
13019 then their use will be considered.
13020 It is an error if this flag is set for commands that use the flag
13021 .Cd needsterminal .
13024 .It Cd x-mailx-noquote
13025 An extension flag field that indicates that even a
13028 command shall not be used to generate message quotes
13029 (as it would be by default).
13032 .It Cd x-mailx-async
13033 Extension flag field that denotes that the given
13035 command shall be executed asynchronously, without blocking \*(UA.
13036 Cannot be used in conjunction with
13037 .Cd needsterminal .
13040 .It Cd x-mailx-test-once
13041 Extension flag which denotes whether the given
13043 command shall be evaluated once only and the (boolean) result be cached.
13044 This is handy if some global unchanging condition is to be queried, like
13045 .Dq running under the X Window System .
13048 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile
13049 Extension flag field that requests creation of a zero-sized temporary
13050 file, the name of which is to be placed in the environment variable
13051 .Ev MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY .
13052 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
13057 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill
13058 Normally the MIME part content is passed to the handler via standard
13059 input; if this flag is set then the data will instead be written into
13061 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile .
13062 In order to cause deletion of the temporary file you will have to set
13063 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
13065 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
13070 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
13071 Extension flag field that requests that the temporary file shall be
13072 deleted automatically when the command loop is entered again at latest.
13073 (Do not use this for asynchronous handlers.)
13074 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
13076 format, or in conjunction with
13077 .Cd x-mailx-async ,
13078 or without also setting
13079 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile
13081 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill .
13084 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-keep
13087 implies the three tmpfile related flags above, but if you want, e.g.,
13089 and deal with the temporary file yourself, you can add in this flag to
13091 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink .
13096 The standard includes the possibility to define any number of additional
13097 entry fields, prefixed by
13099 Flag fields apply to the entire
13101 entry \(em in some unusual cases, this may not be desirable, but
13102 differentiation can be accomplished via separate entries, taking
13103 advantage of the fact that subsequent entries are searched if an earlier
13104 one does not provide enough information.
13107 command needs to specify the
13111 command shall not, the following will help out the latter (with enabled
13115 level \*(UA will show information about handler evaluation):
13117 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13118 application/postscript; ps-to-terminal %s; needsterminal
13119 application/postscript; ps-to-terminal %s; compose=idraw %s
13123 In fields any occurrence of the format string
13125 will be replaced by the
13128 Named parameters from the
13130 field may be placed in the command execution line using
13132 followed by the parameter name and a closing
13135 The entire parameter should appear as a single command line argument,
13136 regardless of embedded spaces; thus:
13138 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13140 Content-type: multipart/mixed; boundary=42
13143 multipart/*; /usr/local/bin/showmulti \e
13144 %t %{boundary} ; composetyped = /usr/local/bin/makemulti
13146 # Executed shell command
13147 /usr/local/bin/showmulti multipart/mixed 42
13151 .\" TODO v15: Mailcap: %n,%F
13152 Note that \*(UA does not support handlers for multipart MIME parts as
13153 shown in this example (as of today).
13154 \*(UA does not support the additional formats
13158 An example file, also showing how to properly deal with the expansion of
13160 which includes any quotes that are necessary to make it a valid shell
13161 argument by itself and thus will cause undesired behaviour when placed
13162 in additional user-provided quotes:
13164 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13166 text/richtext; richtext %s; copiousoutput
13168 text/x-perl; perl -cWT %s
13170 application/pdf; \e
13172 trap "rm -f ${infile}" EXIT\e; \e
13173 trap "exit 75" INT QUIT TERM\e; \e
13175 x-mailx-async; x-mailx-tmpfile-keep
13177 application/*; echo "This is \e"%t\e" but \e
13178 is 50 \e% Greek to me" \e; < %s head -c 1024 | cat -vet; \e
13179 copiousoutput; x-mailx-noquote
13184 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ,
13185 .Sx "The mime.types files" ,
13188 .Va mime-counter-evidence ,
13189 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE ,
13190 .Va pipe-EXTENSION .
13193 .\" .Ss "The .netrc file" {{{
13194 .Ss "The .netrc file"
13198 file contains user credentials for machine accounts.
13199 The default location
13201 may be overridden by the
13203 environment variable.
13204 It is possible to load encrypted
13206 files by using an appropriate value in
13210 The file consists of space, tabulator or newline separated tokens.
13211 \*(UA implements a parser that supports a superset of the original BSD
13212 syntax, but users should nonetheless be aware of portability glitches
13213 of that file format, shall their
13215 be usable across multiple programs and platforms:
13218 .Bl -bullet -compact
13220 BSD does not support single, but only double quotation marks, e.g.,
13221 .Ql password="pass with spaces" .
13223 BSD (only?) supports escaping of single characters via a reverse solidus
13224 (e.g., a space can be escaped via
13226 in- as well as outside of a quoted string.
13228 BSD does not require a final quotation mark of the last user input token.
13230 The original BSD (Berknet) parser also supported a format which allowed
13231 tokens to be separated with commas \(en whereas at least Hewlett-Packard
13232 still seems to support this syntax, \*(UA does not!
13234 As a non-portable extension some widely-used programs support
13235 shell-style comments: if an input line starts, after any amount of
13236 whitespace, with a number sign
13238 then the rest of the line is ignored.
13240 Whereas other programs may require that the
13242 file is accessible by only the user if it contains a
13244 token for any other
13248 \*(UA will always require these strict permissions.
13252 Of the following list of supported tokens \*(UA only uses (and caches)
13257 At runtime the command
13259 can be used to control \*(UA's
13263 .Bl -tag -width ".It Cd BaNg"
13264 .It Cd machine Ar name
13265 The hostname of the entries' machine, lowercase-normalized by \*(UA
13267 Any further file content, until either end-of-file or the occurrence
13272 first-class token is bound (only related) to the machine
13275 As an extension that should not be the cause of any worries
13276 \*(UA supports a single wildcard prefix for
13278 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13279 machine *.example.com login USER password PASS
13280 machine pop3.example.com login USER password PASS
13281 machine smtp.example.com login USER password PASS
13287 .Ql pop3.example.com ,
13291 .Ql local.smtp.example.com .
13292 Note that in the example neither
13293 .Ql pop3.example.com
13295 .Ql smtp.example.com
13296 will be matched by the wildcard, since the exact matches take
13297 precedence (it is however faster to specify it the other way around).
13300 This is the same as
13302 except that it is a fallback entry that is used shall none of the
13303 specified machines match; only one default token may be specified,
13304 and it must be the last first-class token.
13306 .It Cd login Ar name
13307 The user name on the remote machine.
13309 .It Cd password Ar string
13310 The user's password on the remote machine.
13312 .It Cd account Ar string
13313 Supply an additional account password.
13314 This is merely for FTP purposes.
13316 .It Cd macdef Ar name
13318 A macro is defined with the specified
13320 it is formed from all lines beginning with the next line and continuing
13321 until a blank line is (consecutive newline characters are) encountered.
13324 entries cannot be utilized by multiple machines, too, but must be
13325 defined following the
13327 they are intended to be used with.)
13330 exists, it is automatically run as the last step of the login process.
13331 This is merely for FTP purposes.
13338 .\" .Sh EXAMPLES {{{
13341 .\" .Ss "An example configuration" {{{
13342 .Ss "An example configuration"
13344 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13345 # This example assumes v15.0 compatibility mode
13348 # Request strict SSL/TLS transport security checks
13349 set ssl-verify=strict
13351 # Where are the up-to-date SSL/TLS certificates?
13352 # (Since we manage up-to-date ones explicitly, do not use any,
13353 # possibly outdated, default certificates shipped with OpenSSL)
13354 #set ssl-ca-dir=/etc/ssl/certs
13355 set ssl-ca-file=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
13356 set ssl-ca-no-defaults
13357 #set ssl-ca-flags=partial-chain
13358 wysh set smime-ca-file="${ssl-ca-file}" \e
13359 smime-ca-no-defaults #smime-ca-flags="${ssl-ca-flags}"
13361 # This could be outsourced to a central configuration file via
13362 # ssl-config-file plus ssl-config-module if the used library allows.
13363 # CipherString: explicitly define the list of ciphers, which may
13364 # improve security, especially with protocols older than TLS v1.2.
13365 # See ciphers(1). Possibly best to only use ssl-cipher-list-HOST
13366 # (or -USER@HOST), as necessary, again..
13367 # Note that TLSv1.3 uses Ciphersuites= instead, which will join
13368 # with CipherString (if protocols older than v1.3 are allowed)
13369 # Curves: especially with TLSv1.3 curves selection may be desired.
13370 # MinProtocol,MaxProtocol: do not use protocols older than TLS v1.2.
13371 # Change this only when the remote server does not support it:
13372 # maybe use chain support via ssl-config-pairs-HOST / -USER@HOST
13373 # to define such explicit exceptions, then, e.g.
13374 # MinProtocol=TLSv1.1
13375 if [ "$ssl-features" =% +ctx-set-maxmin-proto ]
13376 wysh set ssl-config-pairs='\e
13377 CipherString=TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:@STRENGTH,\e
13378 Curves=P-521:P-384:P-256,\e
13379 MinProtocol=TLSv1.1'
13381 wysh set ssl-config-pairs='\e
13382 CipherString=TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:@STRENGTH,\e
13383 Curves=P-521:P-384:P-256,\e
13384 Protocol=-ALL\e,+TLSv1.1 \e, +TLSv1.2\e, +TLSv1.3'
13387 # Essential setting: select allowed character sets
13388 set sendcharsets=utf-8,iso-8859-1
13390 # A very kind option: when replying to a message, first try to
13391 # use the same encoding that the original poster used herself!
13392 set reply-in-same-charset
13394 # When replying, do not merge From: and To: of the original message
13395 # into To:. Instead old From: -> new To:, old To: -> merge Cc:.
13396 set recipients-in-cc
13398 # When sending messages, wait until the Mail-Transfer-Agent finishs.
13399 # Only like this you will be able to see errors reported through the
13400 # exit status of the MTA (including the built-in SMTP one)!
13403 # Only use built-in MIME types, no mime.types(5) files
13404 set mimetypes-load-control
13406 # Default directory where we act in (relative to $HOME)
13408 # A leading "+" (often) means: under *folder*
13409 # *record* is used to save copies of sent messages
13410 set MBOX=+mbox.mbox DEAD=+dead.txt \e
13411 record=+sent.mbox record-files record-resent
13413 # Make "file mymbox" and "file myrec" go to..
13414 shortcut mymbox %:+mbox.mbox myrec +sent.mbox
13416 # Not really optional, e.g., for S/MIME
13417 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
13419 # It may be necessary to set hostname and/or smtp-hostname
13420 # if the "SERVER" of mta and "domain" of from do not match.
13421 # The `urlencode' command can be used to encode USER and PASS
13422 set mta=(smtps?|submission)://[USER[:PASS]@]SERVER[:PORT] \e
13423 smtp-auth=login/plain... \e
13426 # Never refuse to start into interactive mode, and more
13428 colour-pager crt= \e
13429 followup-to followup-to-honour=ask-yes fullnames \e
13430 history-file=+.\*(uAhist history-size=-1 history-gabby \e
13431 mime-counter-evidence=0b1111 \e
13432 prompt='?\e$?!\e$!/\e$^ERRNAME[\e$account#\e$mailbox-display]? ' \e
13433 reply-to-honour=ask-yes \e
13436 # Only include the selected header fields when typing messages
13437 headerpick type retain from_ date from to cc subject \e
13438 message-id mail-followup-to reply-to
13439 # ...when forwarding messages
13440 headerpick forward retain subject date from to cc
13441 # ...when saving message, etc.
13442 #headerpick save ignore ^Original-.*$ ^X-.*$
13444 # Some mailing lists
13445 mlist '@xyz-editor\e.xyz$' '@xyzf\e.xyz$'
13446 mlsubscribe '^xfans@xfans\e.xyz$'
13448 # Handle a few file extensions (to store MBOX databases)
13449 filetype bz2 'bzip2 -dc' 'bzip2 -zc' \e
13450 gz 'gzip -dc' 'gzip -c' xz 'xz -dc' 'xz -zc' \e
13451 zst 'zstd -dc' 'zstd -19 -zc' \e
13452 zst.pgp 'gpg -d | zstd -dc' 'zstd -19 -zc | gpg -e'
13454 # A real life example of a very huge free mail provider
13455 # Instead of directly placing content inside `account',
13456 # we `define' a macro: like that we can switch "accounts"
13457 # from within *on-compose-splice*, for example!
13459 set folder=~/spool/XooglX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
13460 set from='Your Name <address@examp.ple>'
13462 set pop3-no-apop-pop.gmXil.com
13463 shortcut pop %:pop3s://pop.gmXil.com
13464 shortcut imap %:imaps://imap.gmXil.com
13465 # Or, entirely IMAP based setup
13466 #set folder=imaps://imap.gmail.com record="+[Gmail]/Sent Mail" \e
13467 # imap-cache=~/spool/cache
13469 set mta=smtp://USER:PASS@smtp.gmXil.com smtp-use-starttls
13471 set mta=smtps://USER:PASS@smtp.gmail.com:465
13477 # Here is a pretty large one which does not allow sending mails
13478 # if there is a domain name mismatch on the SMTP protocol level,
13479 # which would bite us if the value of from does not match, e.g.,
13480 # for people who have a sXXXXeforge project and want to speak
13481 # with the mailing list under their project account (in from),
13482 # still sending the message through their normal mail provider
13484 set folder=~/spool/XandeX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
13485 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
13487 shortcut pop %:pop3s://pop.yaXXex.com
13488 shortcut imap %:imaps://imap.yaXXex.com
13490 set mta=smtps://USER:PASS@smtp.yaXXex.com:465 \e
13491 hostname=yaXXex.com smtp-hostname=
13497 # Create some new commands so that, e.g., `ls /tmp' will..
13498 commandalias lls '!ls ${LS_COLOUR_FLAG} -aFlrS'
13499 commandalias llS '!ls ${LS_COLOUR_FLAG} -aFlS'
13501 set pipe-message/external-body='@* echo $MAILX_EXTERNAL_BODY_URL'
13503 # We do not support gpg(1) directly yet. But simple --clearsign'd
13504 # message parts can be dealt with as follows:
13507 wysh set pipe-text/plain=$'@*#++=@\e
13508 < "${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}" awk \e
13509 -v TMPFILE="${MAILX_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}" \e'\e
13511 /^-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----/,/^$/ {\e
13514 print "--- GPG --verify ---";\e
13515 system("gpg --verify " TMPFILE " 2>&1");\e
13516 print "--- GPG --verify ---";\e
13520 /^-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----/,\e
13521 /^-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----/{\e
13528 commandalias V '\e'call V
13532 When storing passwords in
13534 appropriate permissions should be set on this file with
13535 .Ql $ chmod 0600 \*(ur .
13538 is available user credentials can be stored in the central
13540 file instead; e.g., here is a different version of the example account
13541 that sets up SMTP and POP3:
13543 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13545 set folder=~/spool/XandeX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
13546 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
13548 # Load an encrypted ~/.netrc by uncommenting the next line
13549 #set netrc-pipe='gpg -qd ~/.netrc.pgp'
13551 set mta=smtps://smtp.yXXXXx.ru:465 \e
13552 smtp-hostname= hostname=yXXXXx.com
13553 set pop3-keepalive=240 pop3-no-apop-pop.yXXXXx.ru
13554 commandalias xp fi pop3s://pop.yXXXXx.ru
13566 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13567 machine *.yXXXXx.ru login USER password PASS
13571 This configuration should now work just fine:
13574 .Dl $ echo text | \*(uA -dvv -AXandeX -s Subject user@exam.ple
13577 .\" .Ss "S/MIME step by step" {{{
13578 .Ss "S/MIME step by step"
13580 \*(OP The first thing you need for participating in S/MIME message
13581 exchange is your personal certificate, including a private key.
13582 The certificate contains public information, in particular your name and
13583 your email address(es), and the public key that is used by others to
13584 encrypt messages for you,
13585 and to verify signed messages they supposedly received from you.
13586 The certificate is included in each signed message you send.
13587 The private key must be kept secret.
13588 It is used to decrypt messages that were previously encrypted with your
13589 public key, and to sign messages.
13592 For personal use it is recommended that you get a S/MIME certificate
13593 from one of the major CAs on the Internet using your WWW browser.
13594 Many CAs offer such certificates for free.
13596 .Lk https://www.CAcert.org
13597 which issues client and server certificates to members of their
13598 community for free; their root certificate
13599 .Pf ( Lk https://\:www.cacert.org/\:certs/\:root.crt )
13600 is often not in the default set of trusted CA root certificates, though,
13601 which means you will have to download their root certificate separately
13602 and ensure it is part of our S/MIME certificate validation chain by
13605 or as a vivid member of the
13606 .Va smime-ca-file .
13607 But let us take a step-by-step tour on how to setup S/MIME with
13608 a certificate from CAcert.org despite this situation!
13611 First of all you will have to become a member of the CAcert.org
13612 community, simply by registrating yourself via the web interface.
13613 Once you are, create and verify all email addresses you want to be able
13614 to create signed and encrypted messages for/with using the corresponding
13615 entries of the web interface.
13616 Now ready to create S/MIME certificates, so let us create a new
13617 .Dq client certificate ,
13618 ensure to include all email addresses that should be covered by the
13619 certificate in the following web form, and also to use your name as the
13623 Create a private key and a certificate request on your local computer
13624 (please see the manual pages of the used commands for more in-depth
13625 knowledge on what the used arguments etc. do):
13628 .Dl $ openssl req -nodes -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout key.pem -out creq.pem
13631 Afterwards copy-and-paste the content of
13633 into the certificate-request (CSR) field of the web form on the
13634 CAcert.org website (you may need to unfold some
13635 .Dq advanced options
13636 to see the corresponding text field).
13637 This last step will ensure that your private key (which never left your
13638 box) and the certificate belong together (through the public key that
13639 will find its way into the certificate via the certificate-request).
13640 You are now ready and can create your CAcert certified certificate.
13641 Download and store or copy-and-paste it as
13646 In order to use your new S/MIME setup a combined private key/public key
13647 (certificate) file has to be created:
13650 .Dl $ cat key.pem pub.crt > ME@HERE.com.paired
13653 This is the file \*(UA will work with.
13654 If you have created your private key with a passphrase then \*(UA will
13655 ask you for it whenever a message is signed or decrypted.
13656 Set the following variables to henceforth use S/MIME (setting
13658 is of interest for verification only):
13660 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13661 ? set smime-ca-file=ALL-TRUSTED-ROOT-CERTS-HERE \e
13662 smime-sign-cert=ME@HERE.com.paired \e
13663 smime-sign-message-digest=SHA256 \e
13669 .\" .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or SSL/TLS" {{{
13670 .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or SSL/TLS"
13672 \*(OP Certification authorities (CAs) issue certificate revocation
13673 lists (CRLs) on a regular basis.
13674 These lists contain the serial numbers of certificates that have been
13675 declared invalid after they have been issued.
13676 Such usually happens because the private key for the certificate has
13678 because the owner of the certificate has left the organization that is
13679 mentioned in the certificate, etc.
13680 To seriously use S/MIME or SSL/TLS verification,
13681 an up-to-date CRL is required for each trusted CA.
13682 There is otherwise no method to distinguish between valid and
13683 invalidated certificates.
13684 \*(UA currently offers no mechanism to fetch CRLs, nor to access them on
13685 the Internet, so they have to be retrieved by some external mechanism.
13688 \*(UA accepts CRLs in PEM format only;
13689 CRLs in DER format must be converted, like, e.\|g.:
13692 .Dl $ openssl crl \-inform DER \-in crl.der \-out crl.pem
13695 To tell \*(UA about the CRLs, a directory that contains all CRL files
13696 (and no other files) must be created.
13701 variables, respectively, must then be set to point to that directory.
13702 After that, \*(UA requires a CRL to be present for each CA that is used
13703 to verify a certificate.
13712 In general it is a good idea to turn on
13718 twice) if something does not work well.
13719 Very often a diagnostic message can be produced that leads to the
13720 problems' solution.
13722 .\" .Ss "\*(UA shortly hangs on startup" {{{
13723 .Ss "\*(UA shortly hangs on startup"
13725 This can have two reasons, one is the necessity to wait for a file lock
13726 and cannot be helped, the other being that \*(UA calls the function
13728 in order to query the nodename of the box (sometimes the real one is
13729 needed instead of the one represented by the internal variable
13731 One may have varying success by ensuring that the real hostname and
13735 or, more generally, that the name service is properly setup \(en
13738 return the expected value?
13739 Does this local hostname have a domain suffix?
13740 RFC 6762 standardized the link-local top-level domain
13742 try again after adding an (additional) entry with this extension.
13745 .\" .Ss "I cannot login to Google mail aka GMail" {{{
13746 .Ss "I cannot login to Google mail aka GMail"
13748 Since 2014 some free service providers classify programs as
13750 unless they use a special authentication method (OAuth 2.0) which
13751 was not standardized for non-HTTP protocol authentication token query
13752 until August 2015 (RFC 7628).
13755 Different to Kerberos / GSSAPI, which is developed since the mid of the
13756 1980s, where a user can easily create a local authentication ticket for
13757 her- and himself with the locally installed
13759 program, that protocol has no such local part but instead requires
13760 a world-wide-web query to create or fetch a token; since there is no
13761 local cache this query would have to be performed whenever \*(UA is
13762 invoked (in interactive sessions situation may differ).
13765 \*(UA does not support OAuth.
13766 Because of this it is necessary to declare \*(UA a
13767 .Dq less secure app
13768 (on the providers account web page) in order to read and send mail.
13769 However, it also seems possible to take the following steps instead:
13774 give the provider the number of a mobile phone,
13777 .Dq 2-Step Verification ,
13779 create an application specific password (16 characters), and
13781 use that special password instead of the real Google account password in
13782 \*(UA (for more on that see the section
13783 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ) .
13787 .\" .Ss "Not \(dqdefunctional\(dq, but the editor key does not work" {{{
13788 .Ss "Not \(dqdefunctional\(dq, but the editor key does not work"
13790 It can happen that the terminal library (see
13791 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor",
13794 reports different codes than the terminal really sends, in which case
13795 \*(UA will tell that a key binding is functional, but will not be able to
13796 recognize it because the received data does not match anything expected.
13797 Especially without the \*(OPal terminal capability library support one
13798 reason for this may be that the (possibly even non-existing) keypad
13799 is not turned on and the resulting layout reports the keypad control
13800 codes for the normal keyboard keys.
13805 ings will show the byte sequences that are expected.
13808 To overcome the situation, use, e.g., the program
13810 in conjunction with the command line option
13812 if available, to see the byte sequences which are actually produced
13813 by keypresses, and use the variable
13815 to make \*(UA aware of them.
13816 E.g., the terminal this is typed on produces some false sequences, here
13817 an example showing the shifted home key:
13819 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13822 # 1B 5B=[ 31=1 3B=; 32=2 48=H
13827 ? \*(uA -v -Stermcap='kHOM=\eE[H'
13834 .\" .Ss "Can \*(UA git-send-email?" {{{
13835 .Ss "Can \*(UA git-send-email?"
13838 Put (at least parts of) the following in your
13841 .Bd -literal -offset indent
13843 smtpserver = /usr/bin/s-mailx
13844 smtpserveroption = -t
13845 #smtpserveroption = -Sexpandaddr
13846 smtpserveroption = -Athe-account-you-need
13849 suppressfrom = false
13850 assume8bitEncoding = UTF-8
13853 chainreplyto = true
13864 .\" .Sh "IMAP CLIENT" {{{
13867 \*(OPally there is IMAP client support available.
13868 This part of the program is obsolete and will vanish in v15 with the
13869 large MIME and I/O layer rewrite, because it uses old-style blocking I/O
13870 and makes excessive use of signal based long code jumps.
13871 Support can hopefully be readded later based on a new-style I/O, with
13872 SysV signal handling.
13873 In fact the IMAP support had already been removed from the codebase, but
13874 was reinstantiated on user demand: in effect the IMAP code is at the
13875 level of \*(UA v14.8.16 (with
13877 being the sole exception), and should be treated with some care.
13884 protocol prefixes, and an IMAP-based
13887 IMAP URLs (paths) undergo inspections and possible transformations
13888 before use (and the command
13890 can be used to manually apply them to any given argument).
13891 Hierarchy delimiters are normalized, a step which is configurable via the
13893 variable chain, but defaults to the first seen delimiter otherwise.
13894 \*(UA supports internationalised IMAP names, and en- and decodes the
13895 names from and to the
13897 as necessary and possible.
13898 If a mailbox name is expanded (see
13899 .Sx "Filename transformations" )
13900 to an IMAP mailbox, all names that begin with `+' then refer to IMAP
13901 mailboxes below the
13903 target box, while folder names prefixed by `@' refer to folders below
13904 the hierarchy base, e.g., the following lists all folders below the
13905 current one when in an IMAP mailbox:
13909 Note: some IMAP servers do not accept the creation of mailboxes in
13910 the hierarchy base, but require that they are created as subfolders of
13911 `INBOX' \(en with such servers a folder name of the form
13913 .Dl imaps://mylogin@imap.myisp.example/INBOX.
13915 should be used (the last character is the server's hierarchy
13917 The following IMAP-specific commands exist:
13920 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ic BaNg"
13923 Only applicable to cached IMAP mailboxes;
13924 takes a message list and reads the specified messages into the IMAP
13929 If operating in disconnected mode on an IMAP mailbox,
13930 switch to online mode and connect to the mail server while retaining
13931 the mailbox status.
13932 See the description of the
13934 variable for more information.
13938 If operating in online mode on an IMAP mailbox,
13939 switch to disconnected mode while retaining the mailbox status.
13940 See the description of the
13943 A list of messages may optionally be given as argument;
13944 the respective messages are then read into the cache before the
13945 connection is closed, thus
13947 makes the entire mailbox available for disconnected use.
13951 Sends command strings directly to the current IMAP server.
13952 \*(UA operates always in IMAP `selected state' on the current mailbox;
13953 commands that change this will produce undesirable results and should be
13955 Useful IMAP commands are:
13956 .Bl -tag -offset indent -width ".Ic getquotearoot"
13958 Takes the name of an IMAP mailbox as an argument and creates it.
13960 (RFC 2087) Takes the name of an IMAP mailbox as an argument
13961 and prints the quotas that apply to the mailbox.
13962 Not all IMAP servers support this command.
13964 (RFC 2342) Takes no arguments and prints the Personal Namespaces,
13965 the Other User's Namespaces and the Shared Namespaces.
13966 Each namespace type is printed in parentheses;
13967 if there are multiple namespaces of the same type,
13968 inner parentheses separate them.
13969 For each namespace a prefix and a hierarchy separator is listed.
13970 Not all IMAP servers support this command.
13975 Perform IMAP path transformations.
13979 .Sx "Command modifiers" ) ,
13980 and manages the error number
13982 The first argument specifies the operation:
13984 normalizes hierarchy delimiters (see
13986 and converts the strings from the locale
13988 to the internationalized variant used by IMAP,
13990 performs the reverse operation.
13995 The following IMAP-specific internal variables exist:
13998 .Bl -tag -width ".It Va BaNg"
14000 .It Va disconnected
14001 \*(BO When an IMAP mailbox is selected and this variable is set,
14002 no connection to the server is initiated.
14003 Instead, data is obtained from the local cache (see
14006 Mailboxes that are not present in the cache
14007 and messages that have not yet entirely been fetched from the server
14009 to fetch all messages in a mailbox at once,
14011 .No ` Ns Li copy * /dev/null Ns '
14012 can be used while still in connected mode.
14013 Changes that are made to IMAP mailboxes in disconnected mode are queued
14014 and committed later when a connection to that server is made.
14015 This procedure is not completely reliable since it cannot be guaranteed
14016 that the IMAP unique identifiers (UIDs) on the server still match the
14017 ones in the cache at that time.
14020 when this problem occurs.
14022 .It Va disconnected-USER@HOST
14023 The specified account is handled as described for the
14026 but other accounts are not affected.
14029 .It Va imap-auth-USER@HOST , imap-auth
14030 Sets the IMAP authentication method.
14031 Valid values are `login' for the usual password-based authentication
14033 `cram-md5', which is a password-based authentication that does not send
14034 the password over the network in clear text,
14035 and `gssapi' for GSS-API based authentication.
14039 Enables caching of IMAP mailboxes.
14040 The value of this variable must point to a directory that is either
14041 existent or can be created by \*(UA.
14042 All contents of the cache can be deleted by \*(UA at any time;
14043 it is not safe to make assumptions about them.
14046 .It Va imap-delim-USER@HOST , imap-delim-HOST , imap-delim
14047 The hierarchy separator used by the IMAP server.
14048 Whenever an IMAP path is specified it will undergo normalization.
14049 One of the normalization steps is the squeezing and adjustment of
14050 hierarchy separators.
14051 If this variable is set, any occurrence of any character of the given
14052 value that exists in the path will be replaced by the first member of
14053 the value; an empty value will cause the default to be used, it is
14055 If not set, we will reuse the first hierarchy separator character that
14056 is discovered in a user-given mailbox name.
14058 .Mx Va imap-keepalive
14059 .It Va imap-keepalive-USER@HOST , imap-keepalive-HOST , imap-keepalive
14060 IMAP servers may close the connection after a period of
14061 inactivity; the standard requires this to be at least 30 minutes,
14062 but practical experience may vary.
14063 Setting this variable to a numeric `value' greater than 0 causes
14064 a `NOOP' command to be sent each `value' seconds if no other operation
14068 .It Va imap-list-depth
14069 When retrieving the list of folders on an IMAP server, the
14071 command stops after it has reached a certain depth to avoid possible
14073 The value of this variable sets the maximum depth allowed.
14075 If the folder separator on the current IMAP server is a slash `/',
14076 this variable has no effect and the
14078 command does not descend to subfolders.
14080 .Mx Va imap-use-starttls
14081 .It Va imap-use-starttls-USER@HOST , imap-use-starttls-HOST , imap-use-starttls
14082 Causes \*(UA to issue a `STARTTLS' command to make an unencrypted
14083 IMAP session SSL/TLS encrypted.
14084 This functionality is not supported by all servers,
14085 and is not used if the session is already encrypted by the IMAPS method.
14091 .\" .Sh "SEE ALSO" {{{
14101 .Xr spamassassin 1 ,
14110 .Xr mailwrapper 8 ,
14116 .\" .Sh HISTORY {{{
14119 M. Douglas McIlroy writes in his article
14120 .Dq A Research UNIX Reader: Annotated Excerpts \
14121 from the Programmer's Manual, 1971-1986
14124 command already appeared in First Edition
14128 .Bd -ragged -offset indent
14129 Electronic mail was there from the start.
14130 Never satisfied with its exact behavior, everybody touched it at one
14131 time or another: to assure the safety of simultaneous access, to improve
14132 privacy, to survive crashes, to exploit uucp, to screen out foreign
14133 freeloaders, or whatever.
14134 Not until v7 did the interface change (Thompson).
14135 Later, as mail became global in its reach, Dave Presotto took charge and
14136 brought order to communications with a grab-bag of external networks
14142 Mail was written in 1978 by Kurt Shoens and developed as part of the
14145 distribution until 1995.
14146 Mail has then seen further development in open source
14148 variants, noticeably by Christos Zoulas in
14150 Based upon this Nail, later Heirloom Mailx, was developed by Gunnar
14151 Ritter in the years 2000 until 2008.
14152 Since 2012 S-nail is maintained by Steffen (Daode) Nurpmeso.
14153 This man page is derived from
14154 .Dq The Mail Reference Manual
14155 that was originally written by Kurt Shoens.
14163 .An "Kurt Shoens" ,
14164 .An "Edward Wang" ,
14165 .An "Keith Bostic" ,
14166 .An "Christos Zoulas" ,
14167 .An "Gunnar Ritter" .
14168 \*(UA is developed by
14169 .An "Steffen Nurpmeso" Aq steffen@sdaoden.eu .
14172 .\" .Sh CAVEATS {{{
14175 \*(ID Interrupting an operation via
14179 from anywhere else but a command prompt is very problematic and likely
14180 to leave the program in an undefined state: many library functions
14181 cannot deal with the
14183 that this software (still) performs; even though efforts have been taken
14184 to address this, no sooner but in v15 it will have been worked out:
14185 interruptions have not been disabled in order to allow forceful breakage
14186 of hanging network connections, for example (all this is unrelated to
14190 The SMTP and POP3 protocol support of \*(UA is very basic.
14191 Also, if it fails to contact its upstream SMTP server, it will not make
14192 further attempts to transfer the message at a later time (setting
14197 If this is a concern, it might be better to set up a local SMTP server
14198 that is capable of message queuing.
14205 After deleting some message of a POP3 mailbox the header summary falsely
14206 claims that there are no messages to display, one needs to perform
14207 a scroll or dot movement to restore proper state.
14213 mode a power user may encounter crashes very occasionally (this is may
14218 in the source repository lists future directions.
14221 Please report bugs to the
14223 address, e.g., from within \*(uA:
14224 .\" v15-compat: drop eval as `mail' will expand variable?
14225 .Ql ? Ns \| Ic eval Ns \| Ic mail Ns \| $contact-mail .
14226 Including the output of the command
14228 may be helpful, e.g.,
14230 .Bd -literal -offset indent
14231 ? vput version xy; wysh set escape=!; eval mail $contact-mail
14238 Information on the web at
14239 .Ql $ \*(uA -X 'echo Ns \| $ Ns Va contact-web Ns ' -Xx .