1 .\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993
2 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
4 .\" Gunnar Ritter. All rights reserved.
5 .\" Copyright (c) 2012 - 2013 Steffen "Daode" Nurpmeso <sdaoden@users.sf.net>.
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41 .ds UV \\%S-nail dirty
45 .\" If not ~/.mailrc, it breaks POSIX compatibility. And adjust main.c.
55 .Nd send and receive Internet mail
63 .Op Fl a Ar attachment
66 .Op Fl O Ar mta-option
67 .Op Fl q Ar quote-file
69 .Op Fl S Ar variable Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
77 .Op Fl S Ar variable Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
84 .Op Fl S Ar variable Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
90 \*(UA is a mail processing system with a command syntax reminiscent of
92 with lines replaced by messages.
93 It is intended to provide the functionality of the POSIX
95 command and offers (mostly optional) extensions for line editing, IDNA,
96 MIME, S/MIME, SMTP, POP3 and IMAP.
97 It is usable as a mail batch language.
99 In the following list of supported command line options,
107 are implemented by means of setting the respective option, as via
110 .Bl -tag -width ".Fl A Ar account"
114 command (see below) for
116 after the startup files have been read.
118 Attach the given file to the message.
119 The same filename conventions as described in the section
123 Make standard input and standard output line-buffered.
125 Send blind carbon copies to the given list of addresses.
127 below goes into more detail on that.
129 Send carbon copies to the given list of addresses.
137 variable, which enables debug messages and disables message delivery.
138 Note that this is not a real `sandbox' mode.
142 variable and thus discard messages with an empty message part body.
143 This is useful for sending messages from scripts.
145 Just check if mail is present in the system mailbox.
146 If yes, return an exit status of zero, a non-zero value otherwise.
148 Save the message to send in a file named after the local part of the
149 first recipient's address.
151 Read in the contents of the user's mbox (or the specified file)
153 when \*(UA is quit, it writes undeleted messages back to this file.
156 is interpreted as described for the
161 is not a direct argument to the flag
163 but is instead taken from the command line after option processing has
166 Print header summaries for all messages and exit.
170 variable to ignore tty interrupt signals.
174 variable and thus inhibits the initial display of message headers when
175 reading mail or editing a mail folder.
177 Inhibits reading \*(UR upon startup.
178 This option should be activated for \*(UA scripts that are invoked on
179 more than one machine, because the contents of that file may differ
181 (The same behaviour can be achieved by setting the
182 .Ev NAIL_NO_SYSTEM_RC
183 environment variable.)
184 .It Fl O Ar mta-option
185 Pass the given option through to the mail-transfer-agent (MTA).
186 This option has no effect when mail is send via SMTP.
188 .Ns ` Ns Li "-O-h -Onumber" Ns '
189 to specify the hop count for an old
191 Options set like that persist for an entire (interactive) session.
193 Start the message with the contents of the specified file.
194 May be given in send mode only.
196 Opens any folders read-only.
198 Sets the envelope sender address by passing an
200 option to the MTA when a message is send.
203 argument is given it'll be checked for validity and then fixated to
204 the given value, but otherwise the content of the variable
206 will be used for that purpose \(en i.e., it'll be passed through to
209 option whenever a message is send.
210 A valid non-empty value will also be set as if an additional
211 .Ns ` Ns Li "-Sfrom=VALUE" Ns '
212 option had been used and therefore affect sending of messages via SMTP
213 (as a consideration for `From:').
214 .It Fl S Ar variable Ns Op = Ns value
215 Sets the internal option
217 and, in case of a value option, assigns
220 Even though options set via
222 may be overwritten from within resource files,
223 the command line setting will be reestablished after all resources have
226 Specify the subject on the command line
227 (be careful to quote subjects containing spaces).
229 The message to be sent is expected to contain a message header with
230 `To:', `Cc:', or `Bcc:' fields giving its recipients and `Subject:'
231 giving the subject of the message.
232 Recipients and subject specified on the command line are ignored.
234 Read the system mailbox of
236 (appropriate privileges presumed), and `assume to be'
238 in some aspects, e.g. in respect to expansions of `%' etc.
242 Print \*(UA's version and exit.
246 option, which enables more verbose messages.
248 Enable tilde escapes even if not in interactive mode.
250 This sets multiple options to prepare \*(UA for working in batch mode
251 (most likely in non-interactive mode):
261 it also enables processing of tilde escapes.
262 E.g., the following should send an email message to `alias'.
264 .Dl printf 'm alias\en~s Subject\enBody\en.\enx\en' | \
265 MAILRC=/dev/null s-nail -n -#
270 To send a message to one or more people,
271 \*(UA can be invoked with arguments which are the names of people to
272 whom the mail will be sent.
275 es, plain addresses or full address specifications including user names
277 in which case care for proper quoting may be necessary.
278 If this manual refers to a \fIlist of addresses\fR,
279 then \*(UA expects a comma-separated list of such names.
281 .Sx "Recipient address specifications"
282 below explains the interpretation of names in more detail.
283 The user is then expected to type in his message, followed by a
285 at the beginning of a line.
287 .Sx "Replying to or originating mail"
288 describes some features of \*(UA available to help when composing
293 In normal usage \*(UA is given no arguments and checks the user's mail
294 out of the post office,
295 then prints out a one line header of each message found.
296 The current message is initially the first message (numbered 1) and can
299 command, which can be abbreviated `p'.
300 The commands `p+' and `p\-' move forward to the next and backward to the
301 previous message, respectively, and messages can be addressed directly
302 by specifying their message number, as in `p 1'.
305 .Ss "Disposing of mail"
306 After examining a message the user can
311 Deletion causes the \*(UA program to forget about the message.
312 This is not irreversible;
315 (`u') the message by giving its number,
316 or the \*(UA session can be ended by giving the
319 Deleted messages will, however, usually disappear never to be seen
323 .Ss "Specifying messages"
324 Commands such as print and delete can be given a list of message numbers
325 as arguments to apply to a number of messages at once.
327 .Ns ` Ns Li "delete 1 2" Ns '
328 deletes messages 1 and 2,
330 .Ns ` Ns Li "delete 1-5" Ns '
331 will delete the messages 1 through 5.
332 In sorted or threaded mode (see the
337 .Ns ` Ns Li "delete 1-5" Ns '
338 will delete the messages that are located between (and including)
339 messages 1 through 5 in the sorted/threaded order, as shown in the
341 The following special message names exist:
343 .Bl -tag -width ".It .Ar :n:u"
347 All old messages (any not in state read or new).
351 All deleted messages (for the
357 All `flagged' messages.
359 All answered messages
364 All messages marked as draft.
366 \*(OP All messages classified as spam.
370 The message that was previously the current message.
372 The parent message of the current message,
373 that is the message with the Message-ID given in the `In-Reply-To:' field
374 or the last entry of the `References:' field of the current message.
376 The next previous undeleted message,
377 or the next previous deleted message for the
380 In sorted/threaded mode,
381 the next previous such message in the sorted/threaded order.
383 The next undeleted message,
384 or the next deleted message for the
387 In sorted/threaded mode,
388 the next such message in the sorted/threaded order.
390 The first undeleted message,
391 or the first deleted message for the
394 In sorted/threaded mode,
395 the first such message in the sorted/threaded order.
398 In sorted/threaded mode,
399 the last message in the sorted/threaded order.
402 selects the message addressed with
406 is any other message specification,
407 and all messages from the thread that begins at it.
408 Otherwise it is identical to
413 the thread beginning with the current message is selected.
417 All messages that were included in the message list for the previous
419 .It Ar / Ns Ar string
420 All messages that contain
422 in the subject field (case ignored).
429 the string from the previous specification of that type is used again.
433 By default, this is a case-sensitive search for the complete email
438 only the local part of the addresses is evaluated for the comparison.
442 a case-sensitive search for the complete real name of a sender is
445 .Ns ` Ns Li "(from address)" Ns '
446 expression can be used instead if substring matches are desired.
448 All messages that satisfy the given IMAP-style SEARCH
450 This addressing mode is available with all types of folders;
451 for folders not located on IMAP servers,
452 or for servers unable to execute the SEARCH command,
453 \*(UA will perform the search locally.
454 Strings must be enclosed by double quotes `"' in their entirety
455 if they contain white space or parentheses;
457 only backslash `\e' is recognized as an escape character.
458 All string searches are case-insensitive.
459 When the description indicates that the `envelope' representation of an
460 address field is used,
461 this means that the search string is checked against both a list
464 .Dl ( \*q Ns name Ns \*q \*q Ns source Ns \*q \*q Ns \
465 local-part Ns \*q \*q Ns domain-part Ns \*q )
468 and the addresses without real names from the respective header field.
469 Criteria can be nested using parentheses.
470 .It Ar ( criterion1 criterion2 ... criterionN )
471 All messages that satisfy all of the given criteria.
472 .It Ar ( or criterion1 criterion2 )
473 All messages that satisfy either
478 To connect more than two criteria using `or',
479 (or) specifications have to be nested using additional parentheses,
481 .Ns ` Ns Li "(or a (or b c))" Ns ',
483 .Ns ` Ns Li "(or a b c)" Ns '
485 .Ns ` Ns Li "((a or b) and c)" Ns '.
486 For a simple `or' operation of independent criteria on the lowest
488 it is possible to achieve similar effects by using three separate
490 .Ns ` Ns Li "(a) (b) (c)" Ns '.
491 .It Ar ( not criterion )
492 All messages that do not satisfy
494 .It Ar ( bcc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
495 All messages that contain
497 in the `envelope' representation of the `Bcc:' field.
498 .It Ar ( cc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
499 All messages that contain
501 in the `envelope' representation of the `Cc:' field.
502 .It Ar ( from \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
503 All messages that contain
505 in the `envelope' representation of the `From:' field.
506 .It Ar ( subject \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
507 All messages that contain
509 in the `Subject:' field.
510 .It Ar ( to \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
511 All messages that contain
513 in the `envelope' representation of the `To:' field.
514 .It Ar ( header name \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
515 All messages that contain
520 .It Ar ( body \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
521 All messages that contain
524 .It Ar ( text \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
525 All messages that contain
527 in their header or body.
528 .It Ar ( larger size )
529 All messages that are larger than
532 .It Ar ( smaller size )
533 All messages that are smaller than
536 .It Ar ( before date )
537 All messages that were received before
539 which must be in the form
540 .Li "d[d]-mon-yyyy" ,
541 where `d' denotes the day of the month as one or two digits,
542 `mon' is the name of the month \(en one of
543 `Jan', `Feb', `Mar', `Apr', `May', `Jun',
544 `Jul', `Aug', `Sep', `Oct', `Nov', or `Dec',
545 and `yyyy' is the year as four digits, e.g., "28-Dec-2012".
547 All messages that were received on the specified date.
548 .It Ar ( since date )
549 All messages that were received since the specified date.
550 .It Ar ( sentbefore date )
551 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
552 .It Ar ( senton date )
553 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
554 .It Ar ( sentsince date )
555 All messages that were sent since the specified date.
557 The same criterion as for the previous search.
558 This specification cannot be used as part of another criterion.
559 If the previous command line contained more than one independent
560 criterion then the last of those criteria is used.
563 \*(OP An IMAP-style search can be turned into a case-insensitive regular
564 expression search (see
566 ) in its entirety by using a slash `/' as the first character after the
567 opening parenthesis, as in
568 .Bd -literal -offset indent
569 ? f (/or subject ^\\[S-nail (subject ^\\[nail-devel))
572 On the lowest nesting level each expression is treated by itself:
573 .Bd -literal -offset indent
574 ? f (/subject ^\\[S-nail) (/subject ^\\[nail-devel)
577 Of course, now that we have regular expression support those should be
578 written much more efficiently as
579 .Bd -literal -offset indent
580 ? f (/subject "^\\\\[(S-nail|nail-devel)")
583 Note that regular expression searches are always performed on local
584 storage, messages will be downloaded first as necessary.
587 .Ss "Replying to or originating mail"
590 can be used to set up a response to a message,
591 sending it back to the person who it was from.
592 Text the user types in, up to an end-of-file,
593 defines the contents of the message.
594 While the user is composing a message \*(UA treats lines beginning with
595 the character `~' specially.
596 For instance, typing `~m' (alone on a line) will place a copy of the
597 current message into the response right shifting it by a tabstop
601 Other escapes will set up subject fields,
602 add and delete recipients to the message,
604 and allow the user to escape to an editor to revise the message
605 or to a shell to run some commands.
606 (These options are given in the summary below.)
609 .Ss "Ending a mail processing session"
610 The user can end a \*(UA session by issuing the
613 Messages which have been examined go to the user's mbox file unless they
615 in which case they are discarded.
616 Unexamined messages go back to the post office.
620 When command line history is tracked, an updated history file is
622 None of these actions is performed when the command
624 (`x') is used instead of
629 .Ss "Personal and systemwide distribution lists"
630 It is possible to create personal distribution lists so that,
631 for instance, the user can send mail to `cohorts'
632 and have it go to a group of people.
633 Such lists can be defined via the
635 command by, e.g., placing lines like
637 .Dl alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory
639 in the file \*(ur in the user's home directory.
642 without arguments lists all the currently known aliases.
644 Please note that this mechanism has nothing in common with the system
645 wide aliases that may be used by the local MTA (mail-transfer-agent)
646 and are often tracked in a file
653 Personal aliases will be expanded by \*(UA before the message is sent.
654 They are a convenient alternative to specifying each addressee by
658 .Ss "Recipient address specifications"
659 When an address is used to name a recipient (in `To:', `Cc:', or `Bcc:'),
660 names of local mail folders and pipes to external commands may also be
661 specified \(en the message text is then written to them.
662 The rules are: Any name which starts with a `|' (vertical bar) character
663 specifies a pipe \(en the command string following the `|' is executed
664 and the message is sent to its standard input;
665 any other name which contains a `@' (at sign) character is treated as
667 any other name which starts with a `+' (plus sign) character specifies
669 any other name which contains a `/' (slash) character but no `!'
670 (exclamation mark) or `%' (percent sign) character before also specifies
672 what remains is treated as a mail address.
673 Compressed folders are handled as described for the
678 .Ss "Network mail (Internet / ARPA, UUCP, Berknet)"
681 for a description of network addresses.
682 If support for IDNA (internationalized domain names for applications)
683 has been compiled into \*(UA,
684 then the domain name part of network addresses will be converted via
685 IDNA mechanisms as necessary, effectively treating it as a name in the
689 for the complete picture about character sets.
691 \*(UA has a number of options which can be set in the \*(ur file
692 to alter its behavior; e.g.,
697 .Ic "set idna-disable"
698 will disable the mentioned IDNA conversion even if support is available.
699 (These options are summarized below.)
703 For any outgoing attachment \*(UA tries to determine the content type.
704 It does this by reading MIME type files whose lines have the following
707 .Dl type/subtype extension [extension ...]
709 where `type/subtype' are strings describing the file contents,
710 and `extension' is the part of a filename starting after the last dot.
711 Any line not immediately beginning with an ASCII alphabetical character
714 .Va mimetypes-load-control
715 can be used to control the sources of MIME types, and the
717 command can be used to show the list of mime types known to \*(UA.
718 If there is a match with the `extension' of the file to attach,
719 the given `type/subtype' pair is used.
720 Otherwise, or if the filename has no extension,
721 the content types `text/plain' or `application/octet-stream' are used,
722 dependent upon file content inspection.
724 .Va mime-allow-text-controls .
728 \*(UA normally detects the character set of the terminal by using
729 mechanisms that are controlled by the `LC_CTYPE' locale setting,
730 if such are supported; the variable
732 will be set to the detected terminal character set and will thus
733 show up in the output of the command
738 value is not overwritten by this detection mechanism;
739 this feature must be used if the detection doesn't work properly,
740 and it may be used to adjust the name of the locale character set.
741 E.g., on BSD systems one may use a locale with the character set
742 `ISO8859-1', which is not a valid name for this character set;
743 to be on the safe side, one may set
745 to the correct name, `ISO-8859-1'.
747 Note that changing the value doesn't mean much beside that,
748 since several aspects of the real character set are implied by the
749 locale environment of the system,
750 and that stays unaffected by the content of an overwritten
753 (This is mostly an issue when interactively using \*(UA, though.
754 It is actually possible to send mail in a completely "faked" locale
757 If no character set conversion capabilities have been compiled into
760 library has been found), then
762 will be the only supported character set,
763 and it is simply assumed that it can be used to exchange 8 bit messages,
764 and the rest of this section does not apply;
765 it may however still be necessary to explicitly set it if automatic
766 detection fails, since in that case it defaults to `ISO-8859-1'.
768 When reading messages, their text is converted into
770 as necessary in order to display them on the users terminal.
771 Unprintable characters and illegal byte sequences are detected
772 and replaced by proper substitution characters
775 was set once \*(UA was started).
777 When sending messages all their parts and attachments are classified.
778 Whereas no character set conversion is performed on those parts which
779 appear to be binary data,
780 the character set being used must be declared within the MIME header of
781 an outgoing text part if it contains characters that do not conform to
782 the set of characters that are allowed by the email standards.
783 Permissible values for character sets can be declared using the
785 variable, which is expected to contain a (comma-separated list of)
786 character set (names), and the
788 variable, which is used as a catch-all last-resort fallback.
790 All the specified character sets are tried in order unless the
791 conversion of the part or attachment succeeds.
792 If none of the tried (8 bit) character sets is capable to represent the
793 content of the part or attachment,
794 then the message will not be sent and its text will be saved to
796 Note that some character set conversions will never fail, even if the
797 result is incorrect; e.g., `ISO-8859-1' is capable to represent any
800 In general, if the message `Cannot convert from a to b' appears, either
801 some characters are not appropriate for the currently selected
802 (terminal) character set,
803 or the needed conversion is not supported by the system.
804 In the first case, it is necessary to set an appropriate `LC_CTYPE'
805 locale and/or the variable
808 The best results are usually achieved when \*(UA is run in a UTF-8
809 locale on a UTF-8 capable terminal,
810 in which case the full Unicode spectrum of characters is available.
811 In this setup characters from various countries can be displayed,
812 while it is still possible to use more simple character sets for sending
813 to retain maximum compatibility with older mail clients.
816 .Ss "Command line editor"
817 \*(OP \*(UA can be configured to support a command line editor and
818 command history lists which are saved in between sessions.
819 One may link against fully-fledged external libraries
820 .Ns ( Ns Xr readline 3 ,
822 ) or use the \*(UA command line editor instead, which should work in all
823 environments which comply to ISO C (ISO/IEC 9899:1990/Amendment 1:1995).
824 When an external library is used, interactive behaviour of \*(UA relies
825 on that library and may not correspond one-to-one to what is described
828 Regardless of the actually used command line editor history entries
829 will be created for lines entered in command mode only, and creation of
830 such an entry can be forcefully suppressed by starting the line with
832 Note that history handling is by itself an optional feature and may
833 therefore not be available.
834 For more information see the documentation of the options
836 .Va line-editor-disable ,
841 The builtin \*(UA command line editor supports the following operations;
842 the notation `^-character' stands for the combination of the `control'
843 key plus the mentioned character, e.g., `^A' means "hold control key
844 while adding an A key on top of it":
845 .Bl -tag -width "^M^"
847 Go to the start of the line.
849 Move the cursor backward one character.
851 Forward delete the character under the cursor;
852 quits \*(UA if used on the empty line, unless the
856 Go to the end of the line.
858 Move the cursor forward one character.
860 Cancel current operation, full reset.
861 If there is an active history search or tabulator expansion then this
862 command will first reset that, reverting to the former line content;
863 thus a second reset is needed for a full reset in this case.
864 In all cases \*(UA will reset a possibly used multibyte character input
867 The same as `backspace': backward delete one character.
869 \*(OP The same as `horizontal tabulator': try to expand the "word"
871 Here "expansion" refers to the \*(UA expansion, as documented for
873 and thus includes shell word expansion (as a last step).
874 I.e., this is \*(UA "expansion", not what one usually expects from
877 The same as `RETURN': complete this line of input.
879 Delete all characters from the cursor to the end of the line.
883 \*(OP Go to the next history entry.
885 \*(OP Go to the previous history entry.
887 \*(OP Complete the current line from (the remaining older) history entries.
889 The same as `^A' followed by `^K'.
891 Delete the characters from the one preceding the cursor to the preceding
894 Move the cursor forward one word boundary.
896 Move the cursor backward one word boundary.
899 If problems with commands that are based upon rightwise movement are
900 encountered, adjustments of the option
901 .Va line-editor-cursor-right
902 may solve the problem, as documented for it.
905 .Ss "Coloured message display"
906 \*(OP \*(UA can be configured to support coloured message display.
907 Colours are used only when the
909 environment variable is set and the terminal type can be found in
911 Beyond that, if a command requires to output through the
917 must be mentioned in the variable
919 otherwise no colours will be used regardless of the actual terminal type.
921 "Coloured message display" can be configured through font attributes
922 (`ft=' \(en `bold', `invers' and `underline'), foreground (`fg=') and
923 background (`bg=') colours (`black', `blue', `green', `red', `brown',
924 `magenta', `cyan' and `white').
925 Multiple specifications can be joined in a comma separated list, as in
927 .Dl set colour-msginfo="ft=bold,fg=magenta,bg=cyan"
929 Options to be set are
931 .Va colour-partinfo ,
937 .Va colour-user-headers ,
938 which is a list of headers to be colourized via
940 instead of the default
942 To forcefully disable colours, set
947 Each command is typed on a line by itself,
948 and may take arguments following the command word.
949 The command need not be typed in its entirety \(en
950 the first command which matches the typed prefix is used.
953 prints a sorted list of available commands, and the command
955 when given an argument, will show a documentation string for the
957 .Ns ` Ns Ic ? Ns Ar unc Ns ' ;
958 documentation strings are however \*(OP.)
960 For commands which take message lists as arguments,
961 if no message list is given,
962 then the next message forward which satisfies the command's requirements
964 If there are no messages forward of the current message,
965 the search proceeds backwards,
966 and if there are no good messages at all,
967 \*(UA types `no applicable messages' and aborts the command.
968 If the command begins with a `#' (number sign) character,
971 The arguments to commands can be quoted, using the following methods:
972 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
974 An argument can be enclosed between paired double-quotes `"argument"' or
975 single-quotes `'argument'';
976 any white space, shell word expansion, or backslash characters (except
977 as described next) within the quotes are treated literally as part of
979 A double-quote will be treated literally within single-quotes and vice
981 Inside such a quoted string the actually used quote character can be
982 used nonetheless by escaping it with a backslash `\\', as in
985 An argument that is not enclosed in quotes, as above, can usually still
986 contain space characters if those spaces are backslash-escaped.
988 A backslash outside of the enclosing quotes is discarded
989 and the following character is treated literally as part of the argument.
991 An unquoted backslash at the end of a command line is discarded and the
992 next line continues the command.
995 Filenames, where expected, are subsequently subjected to the following
996 transformations, in sequence:
997 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
999 If the filename begins with an unquoted plus sign, and the
1001 variable is defined,
1002 the plus sign will be replaced by the value of the
1004 variable followed by a slash.
1007 variable is unset or is set to null, the filename will be unchanged.
1009 Shell word expansions are applied to the filename.
1010 If more than a single pathname results from this expansion and the
1011 command is expecting one file, an error results.
1015 The following commands are provided:
1016 .Bl -tag -width ".Ic account"
1018 Interprets the remainder of the word as a macro name and passes it
1022 .Ns ` Ns Ic ~ Ns Ar mymacro Ns '
1023 is a shorter synonym for
1024 .Ns ` Ns Ic call Ar mymacro Ns ' .
1026 Print out the preceding message.
1027 If given a numeric argument n,
1028 goes to the n'th previous message and prints it.
1030 Prints a brief summary of commands.
1031 \*(OP Given an argument a synopsis for the command in question is
1034 Executes the shell (see
1038 ) command which follows.
1044 (ac) Creates, selects or lists an email account.
1045 An account is formed by a group of commands,
1046 primarily of those to set variables.
1048 of which the second is a `{',
1049 the first argument gives an account name,
1050 and the following lines create a group of commands for that account
1051 until a line containing a single `}' appears.
1052 With one argument the previously created group of commands for the
1053 account name is executed, and a
1055 command is executed for the system mailbox or inbox of that account.
1056 Without arguments the list of accounts and their contents are printed.
1058 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1060 set folder=imaps://mylogin@imap.myisp.example
1062 set from="myname@myisp.example (My Name)"
1063 set smtp=smtp.myisp.example
1067 creates an account named `myisp' which can later be selected by
1068 specifying `account myisp'.
1069 The special account `null' (case-insensitive) always exists.
1071 (a) With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined aliases.
1072 With one argument, prints out that alias.
1073 With more than one argument,
1074 creates a new alias or changes an old one.
1076 (alt) The alternates command is useful if the user has accounts on
1078 It can be used to inform \*(UA that the listed addresses all belong to
1080 When replying to messages \*(UA will not send a copy of the message
1081 to any of the addresses listed on the alternates list.
1082 If the alternates command is given with no argument,
1083 the current set of alternate names is displayed.
1085 (ans) Takes a message list and marks each message as having been
1087 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
1088 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
1089 and makes them specially addressable.
1091 \*(OP Only applicable to cached IMAP mailboxes;
1092 takes a message list and reads the specified messages into the IMAP
1095 Calls a macro (see the
1102 \*(OP Only applicable to S/MIME signed messages.
1103 Takes a message list and a file name and saves the certificates
1104 contained within the message signatures to the named file in both
1105 human-readable and PEM format.
1106 The certificates can later be used to send encrypted messages to the
1107 respective message senders by setting
1108 .Va smime-encrypt-user@host
1111 (ch) Changes the user's working directory to the specified one,
1112 or to the user's login directory, if none was given.
1115 Only applicable to threaded mode.
1116 Takes a message list and makes all replies to these messages invisible
1117 in header summaries,
1118 unless they are in state `new'.
1120 \*(OP (conn) If operating in disconnected mode on an IMAP mailbox,
1121 switch to online mode and connect to the mail server while retaining the
1123 See the description of the
1125 variable for more information.
1127 (c) The copy command does the same thing that
1129 does except that it does not mark the given messages for deletion when
1131 Compressed files and IMAP mailboxes are handled as described for the
1137 but saves the messages in a file named after the local part of the
1138 sender address of the first message.
1140 Print the current working directory.
1142 \*(OP (dec) For unencrypted messages,
1143 this command is identical to
1145 Encrypted messages are first decrypted, if possible, and then copied.
1147 \*OP (Dec) Similar to
1149 but saves the messages in a file named after the local part of the
1150 sender address of the first message.
1152 (def) Defines a macro.
1153 A macro definition is a sequence of commands in the following form:
1154 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1163 A defined macro can be explicitly invoked using
1167 or it can be implicitly invoked by setting the
1170 .Va folder-hook-fullname
1173 Prints the currently defined macros including their contents.
1175 (d) Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted.
1176 Deleted messages will not be saved in `mbox',
1177 nor will they be available for most other commands.
1182 \*(OP (disco) If operating in online mode on an IMAP mailbox,
1183 switch to disconnected mode while retaining the mailbox status.
1184 See the description of the
1187 A list of messages may optionally be given as argument;
1188 the respective messages are then read into the cache before the
1189 connection is closed.
1190 Thus `disco *' makes the entire mailbox available for disconnected use.
1191 .It Ic dp Ns \ or Ic dt
1192 Deletes the current message and prints the next message.
1193 If there is no next message, \*(UA says `at EOF'.
1195 Takes a message list and marks each given message as a draft.
1196 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
1197 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
1198 and makes them specially addressable.
1200 Echoes its arguments,
1201 resolving special names as documented for the command
1203 The escape sequences `\ea', `\eb', `\ec', `\ef', `\en', `\er', `\et',
1204 `\ev', `\e\e', and `\e0octal-num\fR' are interpreted just as they are by
1206 (proper quoting provided).
1208 (e) Point the text editor at each message from the given list in turn.
1209 Modified contents are discarded unless the
1213 Marks the end of the then-part of an if statement and the beginning of
1214 the part to take effect if the condition of the if statement is false.
1216 Marks the end of an if statement.
1218 (ex or x) Effects an immediate return to the Shell without modifying the
1219 user's system mailbox, his `mbox' file, or his edit file in
1221 as well as a possibly tracked command line editor history file.
1223 Print the list of features that have been compiled into \*(UA.
1228 (fl) Takes a message list and marks the messages as `flagged' for
1229 urgent/special attention.
1230 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
1231 it just causes messages to be highlighted in the header summary,
1232 and makes them specially addressable.
1234 With no arguments, list the names of the folders in the folder directory.
1235 With an existing folder as an argument,
1236 lists the names of folders below the named folder;
1237 e.\|g. the command `folders @' lists the folders on the base level of
1238 the current IMAP server.
1239 See also the variable
1240 .Va imap-list-depth .
1242 (fold) The folder command switches to a new mail file or folder.
1243 With no arguments, it tells the user which file he is currently reading.
1244 If an argument is given, it will write out changes (such as deletions)
1245 the user has made in the current file and read in the new file.
1246 Some special conventions are recognized for the
1249 .Bl -tag -offset indent -width ".Ar %:filespec"
1251 (number sign) means the previous file,
1253 (percent sign) means the invoking user's system mailbox
1258 means the system mailbox of `user'
1259 (and never the value of
1261 regardless of its actual setting),
1263 (ampersand) means the invoking user's `mbox' file (see
1267 means a `file' in the
1271 expands to the same value as `filespec',
1272 but the file is handled as a system mailbox by, e.g., the
1279 If the name matches one of the strings defined with the command
1281 it is replaced by its long form and expanded.
1282 If the name ends with `.gz' or `.bz2' it is treated as being compressed
1288 Likewise, if `name' does not exist,
1289 but either `name.gz' or `name.bz2' does,
1290 then the compressed file is used.
1291 If `name' refers to a directory with the subdirectories `tmp', `new',
1292 and `cur', then it is treated as a folder in `maildir' format.
1295 .Dl protocol://[user@]host[:port][/file]
1297 is taken as an Internet mailbox specification.
1298 The (optionally) supported protocols are `imap' (IMAP v4r1), `imaps'
1299 (IMAP with SSL/TLS encrypted transport), `pop3' (POP3) and `pop3s' (POP3
1300 with SSL/TLS encrypted transport).
1301 If `user' contains special characters, in particular `/' or `%',
1302 they must be escaped in URL notation, as `%2F' or `%25'.
1303 The optional `file' part applies to IMAP only;
1304 if it is omitted, the default `INBOX' is used.
1306 If \*(UA is connected to an IMAP server,
1307 a name of the form `@mailbox' refers to the `mailbox' on that server,
1308 but otherwise a `@' prefix has no special meaning.
1312 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
1313 recipient's address.
1317 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
1318 recipient's address.
1322 but responds to all recipients regardless of the
1327 .It Ic followupsender
1330 but responds to the sender only regardless of the
1336 (fwd) Takes a message and the address of a recipient
1337 and forwards the message to him.
1338 The text of the original message is included in the new one,
1339 with the value of the
1341 variable printed before.
1346 commands specify which header fields are included in the new message.
1347 Only the first part of a multipart message is included unless the
1348 .Va forward-as-attachment
1353 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the
1354 recipient's address.
1356 (f) Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers,
1357 piped through the pager if the output does not fit on the screen.
1359 Specifies which header fields are to be ignored with the command
1361 This command has no effect when the
1362 .Va forward-as-attachment
1365 Specifies which header fields are to be retained with the command
1370 This command has no effect when the
1371 .Va forward-as-attachment
1374 Without arguments it lists all currently defined command aliases,
1376 With two arguments it defines a new command alias: the first argument is
1377 the name under which the second should be accessible.
1378 The content of the second argument can be just about anything.
1379 A ghost can be used everywhere a normal command can be used, but always
1380 takes precedence; any arguments that are given to the command alias are
1381 joined onto the alias content, and the resulting string forms the
1382 command line that is, in effect, executed.
1386 .Dl ? ghost ls '!ls -latro'
1389 (h) Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18-message group.
1390 If a `+' argument is given the next 18-message group is printed,
1391 likewise the previous is printed if the argument was `-'.
1395 (ho, also preserve) Takes a message list and marks each message therein
1396 to be saved in the user's system mailbox instead of in `mbox'.
1397 Does not override the
1400 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command,
1403 command issued after
1405 will display the following message, not the current one.
1407 Commands in \*(UA's startup files can be executed conditionally by
1408 testing conditions via the command `if', as in:
1409 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1417 Note that the only allowed conditions are `[Rr]eceive', `[Ss]end',
1418 `[Tt]erm' (execute if standard input is a tty), as well as `0' (never
1419 execute) and `1' (always execute).
1420 In addition it is possible to condionalize upon wether an option is set,
1421 or set to a specific value, by using the `$' conditional trigger, e.g.:
1422 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1426 if $encoding == "UTF-8"
1429 if $encoding != "UTF-8"
1434 The first form simply checks wether an option is set, the other two also
1435 perform value content comparison (equality and non-equality,
1436 respectively); an unset value is treated as the empty string, then.
1438 Add the list of header fields named to the ignored list.
1439 Header fields in the ignore list are not printed on the terminal when
1440 a message is printed.
1441 This command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated
1447 commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including
1449 It lists the current set of ignored fields if no arguments were given.
1451 \*(OP Sends command strings directly to the current IMAP server.
1452 \*(UA operates always in IMAP `selected state' on the current mailbox;
1453 commands that change this will produce undesirable results and should be
1455 Useful IMAP commands are:
1456 .Bl -tag -offset indent -width ".Ic getquotearoot"
1458 Takes the name of an IMAP mailbox as an argument and creates it.
1460 (RFC 2087) Takes the name of an IMAP mailbox as an argument
1461 and prints the quotas that apply to the mailbox.
1462 Not all IMAP servers support this command.
1464 (RFC 2342) Takes no arguments and prints the Personal Namespaces,
1465 the Other User's Namespaces and the Shared Namespaces.
1466 Each namespace type is printed in parentheses;
1467 if there are multiple namespaces of the same type,
1468 inner parentheses separate them.
1469 For each namespace a prefix and a hierarchy separator is listed.
1470 Not all IMAP servers support this command.
1476 Prints the names of all available commands, alphabetically sorted.
1478 Can only be used inside of a macro definition block introduced by
1482 and is interpreted as a boolean (value `0' means false, everything
1484 Any option that had been set while `localopts' was in effect will be
1485 reverted to its former value once the block is left / the `account'
1487 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1488 define temporary_settings {
1498 Note that these options stack upon each other, i.e., if macro1 sets
1499 `localopts' and calls macro2, which explicitly resets `localopts', then
1500 any values set within macro2 will still be cleaned up by macro1.
1504 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
1505 recipient's address.
1507 (m) Takes a (list of) recipient address(es) as (an) argument(s),
1508 or asks on standard input if none were given;
1509 then collects the remaining mail content and sends it out.
1511 The given message list is to be sent to `mbox' when \*(UA is quit.
1512 This is the default action unless the
1515 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command,
1518 command issued after
1520 will display the following message, not the current one.
1529 In the former case all sources are loaded first as necessary.
1531 .Va mimetypes-load-control
1532 option can be used to fine-tune loading of the sources.
1536 but marks the messages for deletion if they were transferred
1539 Takes a message list and invokes the
1541 on that list, printing a form-feed (`\\f') in between messages.
1545 but also prints ignored header fields and all MIME parts.
1549 but moves the messages to a file named after the local part of the
1550 sender address of the first message.
1552 Checks for new mail in the current folder without committing any changes
1554 If new mail is present, a message is printed.
1558 the headers of each new message are also printed.
1560 (n) (like `+' or `ENTER') Goes to the next message in sequence
1562 With an argument list, types the next matching message.
1573 If the current folder is located on an IMAP or POP3 server,
1574 a `NOOP' command is sent.
1575 Otherwise, no operation is performed.
1579 but also pipes ignored header fields and all parts of MIME
1580 `multipart/alternative' messages.
1582 (pi) Takes a message list and a shell command
1583 and pipes the messages through the command.
1584 Without an argument the current message is piped through the command
1591 every message is followed by a formfeed character.
1598 but also prints out ignored header fields and all parts of MIME
1599 `multipart/alternative' messages.
1606 (p) Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's
1608 If the message is a MIME multipart message,
1609 all parts with a content type of `text' or `message' are shown,
1610 the other are hidden except for their headers.
1611 Messages are decrypted and converted to the terminal character set
1614 (q) Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in
1615 the current `mbox', preserving all messages marked with
1619 or never referenced in his system mailbox,
1620 and removing all other messages from his system mailbox.
1621 If new mail has arrived during the session,
1622 the message `You have new mail' is given.
1623 If given while editing a mailbox file with the command line flag
1625 then the edit file is rewritten.
1626 A return to the shell is effected,
1627 unless the rewrite of edit file fails,
1628 in which case the user can escape with the exit command.
1636 (rem) Removes the named folders.
1637 The user is asked for confirmation in interactive mode.
1639 (ren) Takes the name of an existing folder
1640 and the name for the new folder
1641 and renames the first to the second one.
1642 Both folders must be of the same type
1643 and must be located on the current server for IMAP.
1645 (R) Reply to originator.
1646 Does not reply to other recipients of the original message.
1648 (r) Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all recipients
1649 of the specified messages.
1650 The default message must not be deleted.
1654 but responds to all recipients regardless of the
1662 but responds to the sender only regardless of the
1670 but does not add any header lines.
1671 This is not a way to hide the sender's identity,
1672 but useful for sending a message again to the same recipients.
1674 Takes a list of messages and a user name
1675 and sends each message to the named user.
1676 `Resent-From:' and related header fields are prepended to the new copy
1687 .It Ic respondsender
1691 Add the list of header fields named to the retained list.
1692 Only the header fields in the retain list are shown on the terminal when
1693 a message is printed, all other header fields are suppressed.
1698 commands can be used to print a message in its entirety.
1699 The current set of retained fields is shown if
1701 is used without arguments.
1705 but saves the messages in a file named after the local part of the
1706 sender of the first message instead of taking a filename argument.
1708 (s) Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in turn
1709 to the end of the file.
1710 If no filename is given, the `mbox' file is used.
1711 The filename in quotes, followed by the line count and character count
1712 is echoed on the user's terminal.
1713 If editing a system mailbox the messages are marked for deletion.
1714 Compressed files and IMAP mailboxes are handled as described for the
1716 command line option above.
1729 Header fields thus marked are filtered out when saving a message by
1731 or when automatically saving to `mbox'.
1732 This command should only be applied to header fields that do not contain
1733 information needed to decode the message,
1734 as MIME content fields do.
1735 If saving messages on an IMAP account ignoring fields makes it
1736 impossible to copy the data directly on the server,
1737 thus operation usually becomes much slower.
1747 Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved with a message when
1750 or when automatically saving to `mbox'.
1754 The use of this command is strongly discouraged since it may strip
1755 header fields that are needed to decode the message correctly.
1757 (se) With no arguments, prints all variable values.
1758 Otherwise, sets an option.
1759 Arguments are of the form `option=value' (no space before or after `='),
1760 or plain `option' if there is no value.
1761 Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment
1762 statement to quote blanks or tabs, e.g.,
1764 .Dl set indentprefix="->"
1766 If an argument begins with `no', as in `set nosave',
1767 the effect is the same as invoking the
1769 command with the remaining part of the variable (`unset save').
1771 Takes a message list and marks all messages as having been read.
1773 (sh) Invokes an interactive version of the shell.
1775 Defines a shortcut name and its string for expansion,
1776 as described for the
1779 If used without arguments the currently defined shortcuts are printed.
1783 but performs neither MIME decoding nor decryption so that the raw
1784 message text is shown.
1786 Print the size in characters of each message of the given message-list.
1788 Create a sorted representation of the current folder,
1791 command and the addressing modes such that they refer to messages in the
1793 Message numbers are the same as in regular mode.
1797 a header summary in the new order is also printed.
1798 Possible sorting criteria are:
1799 .Bl -tag -offset indent -width "subject"
1801 Sort the messages by their `Date:' field,
1802 that is by the time they were sent.
1804 Sort messages by the value of their `From:' field,
1805 that is by the address of the sender.
1809 the sender's real name (if any) is used.
1811 Sort the messages by their size.
1813 \*(OP Sort the message by their spam score, as has been classified via
1817 Sort the messages by their message status (new, read, old, etc.).
1819 Sort the messages by their subject.
1821 Create a threaded order,
1825 Sort messages by the value of their `To:' field,
1826 that is by the address of the recipient.
1830 the recipient's real name (if any) is used.
1833 If no argument is given,
1834 the current sorting criterion is printed.
1836 The source command reads commands from a file.
1838 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and clears their `is-spam' flag.
1840 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and forces the spam detector to forget it
1841 has ever used them to train its Bayesian filter, wether as `ham' or
1844 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and teaches them to the spam detector as
1846 This also clears the `is-spam' flag of the messages in question.
1848 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and rates them using the configured spam
1849 detector, setting their `is-spam' flag as appropriate.
1850 Note that the messages are not modified, and due to that the rating will
1851 get lost once the mailbox is left.
1852 Refer to the manual section
1854 for the complete picture of spam handling in \*(UA.
1856 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and sets their `is-spam' flag.
1858 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and teaches them to the spam detector as
1860 This also sets the `is-spam' flag of the messages in question.
1862 (th) Create a threaded representation of the current folder,
1863 i.\|e. indent messages that are replies to other messages in the header
1864 display and change the
1866 command and the addressing modes such that they refer to messages in the
1868 Message numbers are the same as in unthreaded mode.
1872 a header summary in threaded order is also printed.
1874 Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each.
1875 The number of lines printed is controlled by the variable
1877 and defaults to five.
1879 Takes a message list and marks the messages for saving in `mbox'.
1880 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command,
1883 command issued after `mbox' will display the following message instead
1886 (T) Identical to the
1893 Takes a list of names defined by alias commands
1894 and discards the remembered groups of users.
1896 Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been answered.
1898 (unc) Only applicable to threaded mode.
1899 Takes a message list and makes the message and all replies to it visible
1900 in header summaries again.
1901 When a message becomes the current message,
1902 it is automatically made visible.
1903 Also when a message with collapsed replies is printed,
1904 all of these are automatically uncollapsed.
1906 Undefines each of the named macros.
1907 It is not an error to use a name that does not belong to
1908 one of the currently defined macros.
1910 (u) Takes a message list and marks each message as not being deleted.
1912 Takes a message list and
1913 .Ns un Ns Ic draft Ns
1916 Takes a message list and marks each message as not being
1919 Removes the header field names from the list of ignored fields for the
1923 Removes the header field names from the list of retained fields for the
1927 Remove an existing command
1930 Removes the header field names from the list of ignored fields.
1935 (U) Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been read.
1937 Removes the header field names from the list of retained fields.
1939 Removes the header field names from the list of ignored fields for
1942 Removes the header field names from the list of retained fields for
1945 Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values;
1949 Deletes the shortcut names given as arguments.
1951 Disable sorted or threaded mode
1957 return to normal message order and,
1961 print a header summary.
1966 \*(OP (verif) Takes a message list and verifies each message.
1967 If a message is not an S/MIME signed message,
1968 verification will fail for it.
1969 The verification process checks if the message was signed using a valid
1971 if the message sender's email address matches one of those contained
1972 within the certificate,
1973 and if the message content has been altered.
1975 (v) Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message.
1976 Modified contents are discarded unless the
1980 (w) For conventional messages the body without all headers is written.
1981 The output is decrypted and converted to its native format as necessary.
1982 If the output file exists, the text is appended.
1983 If a message is in MIME multipart format its first part is written to
1984 the specified file as for conventional messages,
1985 and the user is asked for a filename to save each other part.
1986 For convience saving of each part may be skipped by giving an empty value;
1987 the same result can also be achieved by writing it to
1989 For the second and subsequent parts a leading `|' character causes the
1990 part to be piped to the remainder of the user input interpreted as
1992 otherwise the user input is expanded as usually for folders,
1993 e.g., tilde expansion is performed.
1994 In non-interactive mode, only the parts of the multipart message
1995 that have a filename given in the part header are written,
1996 the others are discarded.
1997 The original message is never marked for deletion in the originating
2000 the contents of the destination file are overwritten if the file
2002 No special handling of compressed files is performed.
2007 \*(UA presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the
2010 This command scrolls to the next window of messages.
2011 If an argument is given,
2012 it specifies the window to use.
2013 A number prefixed by `+' or `\-' indicates
2014 that the window is calculated in relation to the current position.
2015 A number without a prefix specifies an absolute window number,
2016 and a `$' lets \*(UA scroll to the last window of messages.
2020 but scrolls to the next or previous window that contains at least one
2021 new or `flagged' message.
2026 Here is a summary of the tilde escapes,
2027 which are used to perform special functions when composing messages.
2028 Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning of lines.
2029 The name `tilde escape' is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual
2030 escape character can be set by the option
2032 .Bl -tag -width ".Ic ~< filename"
2034 Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single `~'.
2035 (If the escape character has been changed,
2036 that character must be doubled
2037 in order to send it at the beginning of a line.)
2038 .It Ic ~! Ar command
2039 Execute the indicated shell
2041 then return to the message.
2043 Same effect as typing the end-of-file character.
2044 .It Ic ~: Ar \*(UA-command Ns \ or Ic ~_ Ar \*(UA-command
2045 Execute the given \*(UA command.
2046 Not all commands, however, are allowed.
2048 Write a summary of command escapes.
2049 .It Ic ~< Ar filename
2052 .It Ic ~<! Ar command
2054 is executed using the shell.
2055 Its standard output is inserted into the message.
2056 .It Ic ~@ Op Ar filename...
2057 With no arguments, edit the attachment list interactively.
2058 If an attachment's file name is left empty,
2059 that attachment is deleted from the list.
2060 When the end of the attachment list is reached,
2061 \*(UA will ask for further attachments until an empty name is given.
2062 If a given file name solely consists of the number sign `#' followed
2063 by a valid message number of the currently active mailbox, the given
2064 message is attached as a MIME `message/rfc822' and the rest of this
2065 section does not apply.
2067 If character set conversion has been compiled into \*(UA, then this mode
2068 gives the user the option to specify input and output character sets,
2069 unless the file extension indicates binary content, in which case \*(UA
2070 asks wether this step shall be skipped for the attachment in question.
2071 If not skipped, then the charset that succeeds to represent the
2072 attachment data will be used in the `charset=' MIME parameter of the
2076 If input and output character sets are specified, then the conversion is
2077 performed on the fly.
2078 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
2080 If only an output character set is specified, then the input is assumed
2083 charset and will be converted to the given output charset on the fly.
2084 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
2086 If no character sets are specified at all then the algorithm that is
2087 documented in the section
2088 .Sx "Character sets"
2089 is applied, but directly and on the fly.
2090 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
2092 Finally, if an input-, but no output character set is specified, then no
2093 conversion is ever performed, but the `charset=' MIME parameter will
2094 still be set to the user input.
2097 Without character set conversion support, \*(UA will ask for the input
2098 character set only, and it'll set the `charset=' MIME parameter to the
2099 given input, if any;
2100 if no user input is seen then the
2102 character set will be used for the `charset=' parameter instead.
2103 Note that the file extension check isn't performed in this mode, since
2104 no conversion will take place anyway.
2106 Note that in non-interactive mode, for reproduceabilities sake, there
2107 will always be two questions for each attachment, regardless of wether
2108 character set conversion is available and what the file extension is.
2109 The first asks for the filename, and the second asks for the input
2110 character set to be passed through to the `charset=' MIME parameter;
2111 no conversion will be tried if there is input to the latter question,
2112 otherwise the usual conversion algorithm, as above, is applied.
2113 For message attachments, the answer to the second question is completely
2118 arguments are specified,
2119 they are treated as a comma separated list of files,
2120 which are all expanded and appended to the end of the attachment list.
2121 (Filenames with commas, or with leading or trailing whitespace can only
2122 be added via the command line or the first method.
2123 Message attachments can only be added via the first method;
2124 filenames which clash with message numbers can only be added via the
2125 command line or the second method.)
2126 In this mode the (text) attachments are assumed to be in
2128 encoding, and will be evaluated as documented in the section
2129 .Sx "Character sets" .
2131 Inserts the string contained in the
2133 variable (same as `~i Sign').
2134 The escape sequences `\et' (tabulator) and `\en' (newline) are understood.
2136 Inserts the string contained in the
2138 variable (same as `~i sign').
2139 The escape sequences `\et' (tabulator) and `\en' (newline) are understood.
2140 .It Ic ~b Ar name ...
2141 Add the given names to the list of blind carbon copy recipients.
2142 .It Ic ~c Ar name ...
2143 Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients.
2145 Read the file specified by the
2147 variable into the message.
2149 Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far.
2150 After the editing session is finished,
2151 the user may continue appending text to the message.
2152 .It Ic ~f Ar messages
2153 Read the named messages into the message being sent.
2154 If no messages are specified,
2155 read in the current message.
2156 Message headers currently being ignored (by the
2160 command) are not included.
2161 For MIME multipart messages,
2162 only the first printable part is included.
2163 .It Ic ~F Ar messages
2164 Identical to `~f', except that all message headers and MIME parts are
2167 Edit the message header fields `To:', `Cc:', `Bcc:', and `Subject:' by
2168 typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit the field.
2170 Edit the message header fields `From:', `Reply-To:', `Sender:' and
2171 `Organization:' in the same manner as described for
2173 The default values for these fields originate from the
2180 .It Ic ~i Ar variable
2181 Insert the value of the specified variable into the message,
2182 adding a newline character at the end.
2183 The message remains unaltered if the variable is unset or empty.
2184 The escape sequences `\et' (tabulator) and `\en' (newline) are understood.
2185 .It Ic ~m Ar messages
2186 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
2187 indented by a tab or by the value of
2189 If no messages are specified,
2190 read the current message.
2191 Message headers currently being ignored (by the
2195 commands) are not included.
2196 For MIME multipart messages,
2197 only the first printable part is included.
2198 .It Ic ~M Ar messages
2199 Identical to `~m', except that all message headers and MIME parts are
2202 Print out the message collected so far,
2203 prefaced by the message header fields
2204 and followed by the attachment list, if any.
2206 Abort the message being sent,
2207 copying it to the file specified by the
2212 .It Ic ~r Ar filename
2213 Read the named file into the message.
2215 Cause the named string to become the current subject field.
2216 .It Ic ~t Ar name ...
2217 Add the given name(s) to the direct recipient list.
2219 Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the
2221 option) on the message collected so far.
2222 Usually, the alternate editor will be a screen editor.
2223 After the editor is quit,
2224 the user may resume appending text to the end of the message.
2225 .It Ic ~w Ar filename
2226 Write the message onto the named file.
2228 the message is appended to it.
2230 Same as `~q', except that the message is not saved at all.
2231 .It Ic ~| Ar command
2232 Pipe the message through the specified filter command.
2233 If the command gives no output or terminates abnormally,
2234 retain the original text of the message.
2237 is often used as a rejustifying filter.
2241 .Ss "Variable options"
2242 Options are controlled via
2246 commands, see the corresponding entries for a syntax description.
2247 An option is also set if it is passed to \*(UA as part of the program
2248 environment (this is not restricted to specific variables as in the
2250 A value given in a startup file overrides a value imported from the
2252 Options may be either binary, in which case it is only significant to
2253 see whether they are set or not;
2254 or string, in which case the actual value is of interest.
2257 .Ss "Binary options"
2258 The binary options include the following:
2259 .Bl -tag -width ".Va autoprint"
2260 .It Va add-file-recipients
2261 When file or pipe recipients have been specified,
2262 mention them in the corresponding address fields of the message instead
2263 of silently stripping them from their recipient list.
2264 By default such addressees are not mentioned.
2266 Causes only the local part to be evaluated
2267 when comparing addresses.
2269 Causes messages saved in mbox to be appended to the end rather than
2271 This should always be set.
2272 .It Va ask Ns \ or Va asksub
2273 Causes \*(UA to prompt for the subject of each message sent.
2274 If the user responds with simply a newline,
2275 no subject field will be sent.
2277 Causes the prompts for `Cc:' and `Bcc:' lists to appear after the
2278 message has been edited.
2280 If set, \*(UA asks for files to attach at the end of each message.
2281 An empty line finalizes the list.
2283 Causes the user to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients (at
2284 the end of each message if
2289 An empty line finalizes the list.
2291 Causes the user to be prompted for additional blind carbon copy
2292 recipients (at the end of each message if
2297 An empty line finalizes the list.
2299 \*(OP Causes the user to be prompted if the message is to be signed at
2300 the end of each message.
2303 variable is ignored when this variable is set.
2305 Causes threads to be collapsed automatically when threaded mode is
2310 Causes the delete command to behave like `dp -';
2311 thus, after deleting a message the next one will be typed automatically.
2313 Causes threaded mode (see the
2315 command) to be entered automatically when a folder is opened.
2317 Enables the substitution of `!' by the contents of the last command line
2319 .It Va batch-exit-on-error
2320 If the batch mode has been enabled via the
2322 command line option, then this variable will be consulted whenever \*(UA
2323 completes one operation (returns to the command prompt); if it is set
2324 then \*(UA will terminate if the last operation generated an error.
2326 Causes automatic display of a header summary after executing a
2330 Sets some cosmetical features to traditional BSD style;
2331 has the same affect as setting
2333 and all other variables prefixed with `bsd';
2334 it also changes the meaning of the \*(UA specific `\\&'
2338 Changes the letters printed in the first column of a header summary
2339 to traditional BSD style.
2341 Changes the display of columns in a header summary to traditional BSD
2344 Changes some informational messages to traditional BSD style.
2346 Causes the `Subject:' field to appear immediately after the `To:' field
2347 in message headers and with the `~h' tilde command.
2349 Changes the output format of the
2351 command to traditional BSD style.
2352 .It Va colour-disable
2353 \*(OP Forcefully disable usage of colours.
2354 Also see the section
2355 .Sx "Coloured message display" .
2357 Prints debugging messages and disables the actual delivery of messages.
2360 this option is intended for \*(UA development only.
2362 \*(OP When an IMAP mailbox is selected and this variable is set,
2363 no connection to the server is initiated.
2364 Instead, data is obtained from the local cache (see
2367 Mailboxes that are not present in the cache
2368 and messages that have not yet entirely been fetched from the server
2370 to fetch all messages in a mailbox at once,
2372 .Ns ` Ns Li copy * /dev/null Ns '
2373 can be used while still in
2376 Changes that are made to IMAP mailboxes in disconnected mode are queued
2377 and committed later when a connection to that server is opened in online
2379 This procedure is not completely reliable since it cannot be guaranteed
2380 that the IMAP unique identifiers (UIDs) on the server still match the
2381 ones in the cache at that time.
2384 when this problem occurs.
2385 .It Va disconnected-user@host
2386 The specified account is handled as described for the
2389 but other accounts are not affected.
2391 The binary option dot causes \*(UA to interpret a period alone on a line
2392 as the terminator of a message the user is sending.
2394 If this variable is set then the editor is started automatically when
2395 composing a message in an interactive mode,
2396 as if the `~e' tilde command had been specified.
2399 variable is implied for this automatically spawned editor session.
2401 When a message is edited while being composed,
2402 its header is included in the editable text.
2403 The `To:', `Cc:', `Bcc:', `Subject:', `From:', `Reply-To:', `Sender:',
2404 and 'Organization:' fields are accepted within the header,
2405 other fields are ignored.
2407 If set, an empty mailbox file is not removed.
2408 This may improve the interoperability with other mail user agents
2409 when using a common folder directory.
2411 If the mailbox is empty \*(UA normally prints `No mail for user' and
2413 If this option is set \*(UA starts even with an empty mailbox.
2419 commands and vice-versa.
2420 .It Va forward-as-attachment
2421 Original messages are normally sent as inline text with the
2424 and only the first part of a multipart message is included.
2425 With this option messages are sent as MIME `message/rfc822' attachments
2426 with all of their parts included.
2431 options are ignored when the
2432 .Va forward-as-attachment
2435 When replying to a message \*(UA normally removes the comment parts of
2437 which by convention contain the full names of the recipients.
2438 If this variable is set such stripping is not performed,
2439 and comments are retained.
2441 Causes the header summary to be written at startup and after commands
2442 that affect the number of messages or the order of messages in the
2443 current folder; enabled by default.
2445 This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox by default.
2447 \*(OP Can be used to turn off the automatic conversion of domain names
2448 according to the rules of IDNA (internationalized domain names for
2450 Since the IDNA code assumes domain names are specified with the
2452 character set, an UTF-8 locale charset is required to represent
2453 all possible international domain names (before conversion, that is).
2455 Causes interrupt signals from the terminal to be ignored
2458 An option related to
2462 which makes \*(UA refuse to accept a `control-D' as the end of a message.
2463 This option also applies to \*(UA command mode.
2464 .It Va imap-use-starttls
2465 \*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a `STARTTLS' command to make an unencrypted
2466 IMAP session SSL/TLS encrypted.
2467 This functionality is not supported by all servers,
2468 and is not used if the session is already encrypted by the IMAPS method.
2469 .It Va imap-use-starttls-user@host
2471 .Va imap-use-starttls
2472 for a specific account.
2474 This option causes \*(UA to truncate the user's system mailbox instead
2475 of deleting it when it is empty.
2476 This should always be set since it prevents malicious users from
2477 creating fake mail folders in a world-writable spool directory.
2479 When a message is saved it is usually discarded from the originating
2480 folder when \*(UA is quit.
2481 Setting this option causes all saved message to be retained.
2482 .It Va line-editor-disable
2483 Turn off any enhanced command line editing capabilities (see
2484 .Sx "Command line editor"
2487 When a message is replied to and this variable is set,
2488 it is marked as having been answered.
2489 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
2490 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
2491 and makes them specially addressable.
2492 .It Va message-id-disable
2493 By setting this option the generation of `Message-ID:' can be completely
2494 suppressed, effectively leaving this task up to the mail-transfer-agent
2495 (MTA) or the SMTP server.
2496 (According to RFC 5321 your SMTP server is not required to add this
2497 field by itself, so you should ensure that it accepts messages without
2500 Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender,
2501 the sender is removed from the expansion.
2502 Setting this option causes the sender to be included in the group.
2503 .It Va mime-allow-text-controls
2504 When sending messages, each part of the message is MIME-inspected in
2505 order to classify the `Content-Type:' and `Content-Transfer-Encoding:'
2506 that is required to send this part over mail transport, i.e.,
2507 a computation rather similar to what the
2509 command produces when used with the
2513 This classification however treats text files which are encoded in
2514 UTF-16 (often found for HTML files) and similar character sets as binary
2515 octet-streams, forcefully changing any `text/plain' or `text/html'
2516 specification to `application/octet-stream';
2517 if that actually happens, then a yet unset charset MIME parameter is set
2518 to `binary', effectively making it impossible for the receiving MUA to
2519 automatically interpret the contents of the part.
2521 If this option is set, and the data was unambiguously identified as text
2522 data at first glance (by a `.txt' or `.html' file extension), then the
2523 original `Content-Type:' will not be overwritten.
2524 .It Va mime-counter-evidence
2525 Normally the `Content-Type:' field is used to decide how to treat
2526 a messages MIME part.
2527 Some MUAs however don't use
2529 or a similar mechanism to correctly classify content,
2530 but simply specify `application/octet-stream',
2531 even for plain text attachments like `text/diff'.
2532 If this variable is set then \*(UA will use the file extension of
2533 attachments to classify such MIME message parts, if possible.
2535 Setting this option is the same as using the command line option
2538 Causes the filename given in the
2541 and the sender-based filenames for the
2545 commands to be interpreted relative to the directory given in the
2547 variable rather than to the current directory,
2548 unless it is set to an absolute pathname.
2550 If set, each message the
2552 command prints out is followed by a formfeed character.
2554 Send messages to the
2556 command without performing MIME and character set conversions.
2557 .It Va pop3-bulk-load
2558 \*(OP When accessing a POP3 server \*(UA loads the headers of the
2559 messages, and only requests the message bodies on user request.
2560 For the POP3 protocol this means that the message headers will be
2562 If this option is set then \*(UA will download only complete messages
2563 from POP3 servers instead.
2566 a macro that temporarily sets this option, then accesses a POP3 account
2567 that is known to only get small text messages, and then unsets this
2570 \*(OP Unless this variable is set the `APOP' authentication method
2571 will be used when connecting to a POP3 server that advertises support.
2572 The advantage of APOP over `USER/PASS' authentication is that the
2573 password is not sent in clear text over the wire and that only a single
2574 packet is sent for the user/password tuple.
2575 .It Va pop3-no-apop-user@host
2576 Disables usage of the `APOP' authentication method (see
2578 for a specific account.
2579 .It Va pop3-use-starttls
2580 \*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a `STLS' command to make an unencrypted POP3
2581 session SSL/TLS encrypted.
2582 This functionality is not supported by all servers,
2583 and is not used if the session is already encrypted by the POP3S method.
2584 .It Va pop3-use-starttls-user@host
2586 .Va pop3-use-starttls
2587 for a specific account.
2588 .It Va print-all-chars
2589 This option causes all characters to be considered printable.
2590 It is only effective if given in a startup file.
2591 With this option set some character sequences in messages may put the
2592 user's terminal in an undefined state when printed;
2593 it should only be used as a last resort if no working system locale can
2595 .It Va print-alternatives
2596 When a MIME message part of type `multipart/alternative' is displayed
2597 and it contains a subpart of type `text/plain',
2598 other parts are normally discarded.
2599 Setting this variable causes all subparts to be displayed,
2600 just as if the surrounding part was of type `multipart/mixed'.
2602 Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked.
2603 .It Va quote-as-attachment
2604 If this is set, then the original message is added in its entirety
2605 as a `message/rfc822' MIME attachment when replying to a message.
2606 Note this works regardless of the setting of
2608 .It Va recipients-in-cc
2609 On group replies, specify only the sender of the original mail in `To:'
2610 and mention it's other recipients in the secondary `Cc:'.
2611 .It Va record-resent
2612 If both this variable and the
2619 commands save messages to the
2621 folder as it is normally only done for newly composed messages.
2622 .It Va reply-in-same-charset
2623 If this variable is set \*(UA first tries to use the same character set
2624 of the original message for replies.
2625 If this fails, the mechanism described in
2626 .Sx "Character sets"
2627 is evaluated as usual.
2629 Reverses the sense of
2634 .It Va rfc822-body-from_
2635 This variable can be used to force the display of a so-called `From_'
2636 line for messages that are embedded into an envelope mail via the
2637 `message/rfc822' MIME mechanism.
2639 When the user aborts a message with two `RUBOUT' (interrupt) characters,
2640 \*(UA will copy the partial letter to the file
2642 This option is set by default.
2643 .It Va searchheaders
2644 Expand message-list specifiers in the form `/x:y' to all messages
2645 containing the substring `y' in the header field `x'.
2646 The string search is case insensitive.
2647 .It Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
2648 \*(OP If this variable is set, but
2650 is not, then \*(UA acts as if
2652 had been set to the value of the variable
2654 In effect this combination passes through the message data in the
2655 character set of the current locale (given that
2657 hasn't been set manually), i.e., without converting it to the
2659 fallback character set.
2660 Thus, mail message text will be in `ISO-8859-1' encoding when send from
2661 within a `ISO-8859-1' locale, and in `UTF-8' encoding when send from
2662 within an `UTF-8' locale.
2664 When sending a message wait until the MTA exits before accepting further
2666 If the MTA returns a non-zero exit status,
2667 the exit status of \*(ua will also be non-zero.
2669 Setting this option causes \*(UA to start at the last message instead of
2670 the first one when opening a mail folder.
2672 Causes \*(UA to use the sender's real name instead of the plain address
2673 in the header field summary and in message specifications.
2675 Causes the recipient of the message to be shown in the header summary
2676 if the message was sent by the user.
2677 .It Va skipemptybody
2678 If an outgoing message does not contain any text in its first or only
2680 do not send it but discard it silently (see also the command line option
2683 .It Va smime-force-encryption
2684 \*(OP Causes \*(UA to refuse sending unencrypted messages.
2686 \*(OP S/MIME sign outgoing messages with the user's private key.
2687 Signing a message enables a recipient to verify that the sender used
2688 a valid certificate,
2689 that the email addresses in the certificate match those in the message
2690 header and that the message content has not been altered.
2691 It does not change the message text,
2692 and people will be able to read the message as usual.
2693 .It Va smime-no-default-ca
2694 \*(OP Don't load default CA locations when verifying S/MIME signed
2696 .It Va smtp-use-starttls
2697 \*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a `STARTTLS' command to make an SMTP session
2699 Not all servers support this command \(en because of common
2700 implementation defects it can't be automatically determined whether
2701 a server supports it or not.
2702 .It Va ssl-no-default-ca
2703 \*(OP Don't load default CA locations to verify SSL/TLS server
2706 \*(OP Accept SSLv2 connections.
2707 These are normally not allowed because this protocol version is insecure.
2708 .It Va keep-content-length
2709 When (editing messages and) writing MBOX mailbox files \*(UA can be told
2710 to keep the `Content-Length:' and `Lines:' header fields that some MUAs
2711 generate by setting this variable.
2712 Since \*(UA does neither use nor update these non-standardized header
2713 fields (which in itself shows one of their conceptual problems),
2714 stripping them should increase interoperability in between MUAs that
2715 work with with same mailbox files.
2716 Note that, if this is not set but
2717 .Va writebackedited ,
2718 as below, is, a possibly performed automatic stripping of these header
2719 fields already marks the message as being modified.
2721 Setting the option verbose is the same as using the command line option
2723 When \*(UA runs in verbose mode details of the actual message delivery
2724 and protocol conversations for IMAP, POP3, and SMTP,
2725 as well as of other internal processes,
2726 are displayed on the user's terminal.
2727 This is sometimes useful to debug problems.
2728 \*(UA prints all data that is sent to remote servers in clear texts,
2729 including passwords,
2730 so care should be taken that no unauthorized option can view the screen
2731 if this option is enabled.
2732 .It Va writebackedited
2733 If this variable is set messages modified using the
2737 commands are written back to the current folder when it is quit;
2738 it is only honoured for writable folders in `mbox' format, though.
2739 Note that the editor will be pointed to the raw message content in that
2740 case, i.e., neither MIME decoding nor decryption will have been
2742 and proper RFC 4155 `From ' quoting of newly added or edited content is
2743 also left as an excercise to the user.
2748 The value options include the following:
2749 .Bl -tag -width ".Va autoprint"
2751 A sequence of characters to print in the `attribute' column of a header
2753 each for one type of messages in the following order:
2754 new (N), unread but old (U), new but read (R), read and old (O), saved
2755 (S), preserved (P), mboxed (M), flagged (F), answered (A), draft (T),
2756 start of a collapsed thread (+), collapsed (\-), classified as spam ($).
2757 The default is `NUROSPMFAT+\-$',
2758 or `NU\ \ *HMFAT+\-$' if
2762 environment variable are set.
2764 Specifies a list of recipients to which a blind carbon copy of each
2765 outgoing message will be sent automatically.
2767 Specifies a list of recipients to which a carbon copy of each outgoing
2768 message will be sent automatically.
2773 Causes sorted mode (see the
2775 command) to be entered automatically with the value of this option as
2776 sorting method when a folder is opened.
2778 The value that should appear in the `charset=' parameter of
2779 `Content-Type:' MIME header fields when no character set conversion of
2780 the message data was performed.
2781 This defaults to `US-ASCII', and the chosen character set should be
2782 `US-ASCII' compatible.
2784 \*(OP The default 8 bit character set that is used if
2786 is not set or no character set therein was capable to represent the
2787 content of a message.
2788 Defaults to `UTF-8'.
2789 If no character set conversion capabilities are available in \*(UA then
2790 the only supported character set is
2792 Refer to the section
2793 .Sx "Character sets"
2794 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
2796 The default value for the
2800 \*(OP The colour specification for so-called `From_' lines.
2802 .Sx "Coloured message display"
2803 for the format of the value.
2804 .It Va colour-header
2805 \*(OP The colour specification for header lines.
2807 .Sx "Coloured message display"
2808 for the format of the value.
2809 .It Va colour-msginfo
2810 \*(OP The colour specification for the introductional message info line.
2812 .Sx "Coloured message display"
2813 for the format of the value.
2814 .It Va colour-pagers
2815 \*(OP A comma-separated list of
2817 s for which coloured message display can be used.
2818 Note that only a substring comparison is performed, meaning that the
2819 string `lesser' will match the string `less'.
2821 .Sx "Coloured message display"
2823 The default is set to the sole string `less'.
2824 .It Va colour-partinfo
2825 \*(OP The colour specification for MIME part info lines.
2827 .Sx "Coloured message display"
2828 for the format of the value.
2830 \*(OP A comma-separated list of
2832 inals for which coloured message display can be used.
2835 .Dl cons25,linux,rxvt,rxvt-unicode,\:sun,\:vt100,\:vt220,\:\
2836 wsvt25,\:xterm,\:xterm-color
2837 .It Va colour-uheader
2838 \*(OP The colour specification for those header lines that have been
2840 .Va colour-user-headers
2843 .Sx "Coloured message display"
2844 for the format of the value.
2845 .It Va colour-user-headers
2846 A comma separated list of (case-insensitive) header names which should
2847 be colourized with the alternative
2850 The default value is `from,subject'.
2852 The valued option crt is used as a threshold to determine how long
2853 a message must be before
2858 is set without a value then the height of the terminal screen stored in
2859 the system is used to compute the threshold (see
2865 The name of the file to use for saving aborted messages.
2866 This defaults to `dead.letter' in the user's home directory.
2868 The date in a header summary is normally the date of the mailbox `From\ '
2869 line of the message.
2870 If this variable is set, then the date as given in the `Date:' field is
2871 used, converted to local time.
2872 It is possible to control the display of the date by assigning a value,
2875 function will be used to format the date accordingly.
2876 Please read your system manual for the available formats.
2877 Note that the `%n' format should not be used, because \*(UA doesn't
2878 take embedded newlines into account when calculating how many lines fit
2880 .It Va datefield-markout-older
2881 This option, when set in addition to
2883 modifies the display of messages that are not really current in a way
2884 that is rather comparable to the
2889 The interpretation of the value is identical to what has been described
2893 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
2898 A default editor is used if this value is not defined.
2900 The default MIME encoding to use in outgoing text messages and message
2902 Valid values are the default `quoted-printable', `8bit' and `base64'.
2903 `8bit' may cause problems with mail transfers that are not ESMTP
2905 If there is no need to encode a message,
2906 `7bit' transfer mode is always used regardless of this variable.
2907 Binary data is always encoded as `base64'.
2909 If defined, the first character of this option
2910 gives the character to use in place of `~' to denote tilde escapes.
2912 The name of the directory to use for storing folders of messages.
2913 All folder names that begin with `+' refer to files below it.
2914 The same special conventions as documented for the
2916 command may be used when specifying a new value for
2918 but be aware that the expansion is fully performed immediately.
2919 E.g., if the expanded name refers to an IMAP account, all names that
2920 begin with `+' refer to IMAP mailboxes below the
2924 Note: some IMAP servers do not accept the creation of mailboxes in
2925 the hierarchy base, but require that they are created as subfolders of
2926 `INBOX' \(en with such servers a folder name of the form
2928 .Dl imaps://mylogin@imap.myisp.example/INBOX.
2930 should be used (the last character is the server's hierarchy delimiter).
2931 Folder names prefixed by `+' will then refer to folders below `INBOX',
2932 while folder names prefixed by `@' refer to folders below the hierarchy
2936 namespace command for a method to detect the appropriate prefix and
2939 When a folder is opened and this variable is set,
2940 the macro corresponding to the value of this variable is executed.
2941 The macro is also invoked when new mail arrives,
2942 but message lists for commands executed from the macro
2943 only include newly arrived messages then.
2944 .It Va folder-hook-fullname
2945 When a folder named `fullname' is opened,
2946 the macro corresponding to the value of this variable is executed.
2947 Unlike other folder specifications,
2948 the fully expanded name of a folder, without metacharacters,
2949 is used to avoid ambiguities.
2950 The macro specified with
2952 is not executed if this variable is effective for a folder
2955 ed from within the actually executed macro).
2957 The address (or a list of addresses) to put into the `From:' field of
2959 If replying to messages these addresses are handled as if they were in
2963 If the machine's hostname is not valid at the Internet (for example at
2964 a dialup machine), then either this variable or
2969 contains more than one address,
2972 variable must also be set.
2974 The string to print before the text of a message with the
2978 .Va forward-as-attachment
2980 Defaults to `-------- Original Message --------' if unset.
2981 No heading is printed if it is set to the empty string.
2983 A format string to use for the header summary,
2987 A `%' character introduces a format specifier.
2988 It may be followed by a number indicating the field width.
2989 If the (possibly implicitly implied) field width is negative, the field
2990 is to be left-aligned.
2991 Valid format specifiers are:
2992 .Bl -tag -offset indent -width "%%"
2996 The date when the message was received.
2998 The indenting level in threaded mode.
3000 The address of the message sender.
3002 The message thread structure.
3003 (Note that this format doesn't support a field width.)
3005 The number of lines of the message.
3009 The number of octets (bytes) in the message.
3011 Message subject (if any).
3013 Message subject (if any) in double quotes.
3015 The position in threaded/sorted order.
3017 A `>' for the current message, otherwise ` '.
3019 A `<' for the current message, otherwise ` '.
3021 The spam score of the message, as has been classified via the command
3027 The default is `%>\&%a\&%m\ %-18f\ %16d\ %4l/%\-5o\ %i%-s',
3028 or `%>\&%a\&%m\ %20-f\ \ %16d\ %3l/%\-5o\ %i%-S' if
3032 Use this string as hostname when expanding local addresses instead of
3033 the value obtained from
3037 i.e., in `Message-ID:' and `From:' fields.
3040 transport is not used then it is normally the responsibility of the MTA
3041 to create these fields; you should produce some test messages with the
3042 desired combination of
3049 \*(OP Sets the IMAP authentication method.
3050 Valid values are `login' for the usual password-based authentication
3052 `cram-md5', which is a password-based authentication that does not send
3053 the password over the network in clear text,
3054 and `gssapi' for GSSAPI-based authentication.
3055 .It Va imap-auth-user@host
3056 Sets the IMAP authentication method for a specific account.
3058 \*(OP Enables caching of IMAP mailboxes.
3059 The value of this variable must point to a directory that is either
3060 existent or can be created by \*(UA.
3061 All contents of the cache can be deleted by \*(UA at any time;
3062 it is not safe to make assumptions about them.
3063 .It Va imap-keepalive
3064 \*(OP IMAP servers may close the connection after a period of
3065 inactivity; the standard requires this to be at least 30 minutes,
3066 but practical experience may vary.
3067 Setting this variable to a numeric `value' greater than 0 causes
3068 a `NOOP' command to be sent each `value' seconds if no other operation
3070 .It Va imap-list-depth
3071 \*(OP When retrieving the list of folders on an IMAP server, the
3073 command stops after it has reached a certain depth to avoid possible
3075 The value of this variable sets the maximum depth allowed.
3077 If the folder separator on the current IMAP server is a slash `/',
3078 this variable has no effect and the
3080 command does not descend to subfolders.
3082 String used by the `~m' and `~M' tilde escapes and by the
3084 option for indenting messages,
3085 in place of the normal tab character (`^I').
3086 Be sure to quote the value if it contains spaces or tabs.
3088 Pathname of the directory lister to use in the
3090 command when operating on local mailboxes.
3093 .It Va line-editor-cursor-right
3094 \*(OP If the builtin command line editor is used, actions which are
3095 based on rightwise movement may not work on some terminals.
3096 If you encounter such problems, set this variable to the terminal
3097 control sequence that is necessary to move the cursor one column to the
3099 The default is `\\033[C', which should work for most terminals.
3100 Less often occur `\\033OC' and `\\014'.
3101 Note that `ESCAPE' and other control character have to be written as
3102 shell-style escape sequences, e.g., `\\033' for `ESCAPE'.
3104 Is used as the user's mailbox, if set.
3105 Otherwise, a system-dependent default is used.
3106 Supports a logical subset of the special conventions that are documented
3113 The name of the mbox file.
3114 Supports a logical subset of the special conventions that are documented
3120 The fallback default is `mbox' in the user's home directory.
3121 .It Va mimetypes-load-control
3122 This option can be used to control which of the
3124 MIME type databases are loaded by \*(UA.
3125 If the letter `u' (or `U') is part of this options value, then the
3128 file will be loaded (if it exists);
3129 likewise the letter `s' (or `S') controls loading of the system wide
3130 .Pa /etc/mime.types .
3131 If this option is not set \*(UA will try to load both files instead.
3132 Incorporation of the MIME types that are compiled into \*(UA cannot be
3134 .It Va NAIL_EXTRA_RC
3135 The name of an optional startup file to be read after \*(ur.
3136 This variable is ignored if it is imported from the environment;
3137 it has an effect only if it is set in \*(UR or \*(ur to allow bypassing
3138 the configuration with, e.g., `MAILRC=/dev/null'.
3139 Use this file for commands that are not understood by other \*(UA
3142 A string to put at the beginning of each new message.
3143 The escape sequences `\et' (tabulator) and `\en' (newline) are understood.
3144 .It Va NAIL_HISTFILE
3145 \*(OP If a command line editor is available then this can be set to
3146 name the (expandable) path of the location of a permanent history file.
3147 .It Va NAIL_HISTSIZE
3148 \*(OP If a command line editor is available this value restricts the
3149 amount of history entries that are saved into a set and valid
3151 A value of less than 0 disables this feature;
3152 note that loading and incorporation of
3154 upon program startup can also be suppressed by doing this.
3155 An unset or invalid value, or 0, causes a default value to be used.
3156 Dependent on the available command line editor this will also define the
3157 number of history entries in memory;
3158 it is also editor-specific wether runtime updates of this value will be
3161 A string to put at the end of each new message.
3162 The escape sequences `\et' (tabulator) and `\en' (newline) are understood.
3164 If this variable has the value `maildir',
3165 newly created local folders will be in `maildir' format.
3167 Checks for new mail in the current folder each time the prompt is
3169 For IMAP mailboxes the server is then polled for new mail,
3170 which may result in delayed operation if the connection to the server is
3172 A `maildir' folder must be re-scanned to determine if new mail has
3175 If this variable is set to the special value `nopoll' an IMAP server is
3176 not actively asked for new mail,
3177 but new mail may still be detected and announced with any other IMAP
3178 command that is sent to the server.
3179 A `maildir' folder is not scanned, then.
3181 In either case the IMAP server may send notifications about messages
3182 that have been deleted on the server by another process or client.
3183 In this case, `Expunged X messages' is printed regardless of this
3185 and message numbers may have changed.
3187 The value to put into the `Organization:' field of the message header.
3189 Pathname of the program to use in the more command or when the
3192 The default paginator is
3194 .It Va password-user@host
3195 Set the password for `user' when connecting to `host'.
3196 If no such variable is defined for a host,
3197 the user will be asked for a password on standard input.
3198 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
3199 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
3200 .It Va pipe-content/subcontent
3201 When a MIME message part of `content/subcontent' type is displayed or
3203 its text is filtered through the value of this variable interpreted as
3206 The special value `@' can be used to force interpretation of the message
3207 part as plain text, e.g., `set pipe-application/pgp-signature=@' will
3208 henceforth treat signatures as plain text and display them "as is".
3210 Also, if a normal shell command is prefixed with `@', then the command
3211 will only be used to prepare the MIME message part if the message is
3212 displayed by itself, but not when multiple messages are displayed at
3215 Finally, if a normal shell command is prefixed with `@&', then, in
3216 addition to what has been described for the plain `@' shell command
3217 prefix, the command will be run asynchronously, i.e., without blocking
3218 \*(UA, which may be a handy way to display a, e.g., PDF file while also
3219 continuing to read the mail message.
3221 Special care must be taken when using such commands as mail viruses may
3222 be distributed by this method;
3223 if messages of type `application/x-sh' were filtered through the shell,
3225 a message sender could easily execute arbitrary code on the system \*(UA
3227 .It Va pop3-keepalive
3228 \*(OP POP3 servers close the connection after a period of inactivity;
3229 the standard requires this to be at least 10 minutes,
3230 but practical experience may vary.
3231 Setting this variable to a numeric `value' greater than 0 causes
3232 a `NOOP' command to be sent each `value' seconds if no other operation
3235 The string printed when a command is accepted.
3236 Prompting may be prevented by either setting this to the null string
3239 The same XSI escape sequences that are understood by the
3241 command may be used within
3244 In addition, the following \*(UA specific additional sequences are
3246 `\\&', which expands to `?' unless
3248 is set, in which case it expands to `&';
3249 note that "\\& " is the default value for
3251 `\\?', which will expand to `1' if the last command failed, and to `0'
3253 `\\$', which will expand to the name of the currently active
3255 if any, and to the empty string otherwise,
3256 and `\\@', which will expand to the name of the currently active mailbox.
3257 (Note that the prompt buffer is size-limited, excess is cut off.)
3259 When a newer version of the
3261 .Sx "Command line editor"
3262 is used, any escape sequence must itself be encapsulated with another
3263 escape character for usage with the
3265 mechanism: \*(UA configures the control character `\\01' for this.
3267 If set, \*(UA starts a replying message with the original message
3268 prefixed by the value of the variable
3270 Normally, a heading consisting of `Fromheaderfield wrote:' is printed
3271 before the quotation.
3272 If the string `noheading' is assigned to the
3274 variable, this heading is omitted.
3275 If the string `headers' is assigned, the headers selected by the
3276 .Ic ignore Ns / Ns Ic retain
3277 commands are printed above the message body,
3280 acts like an automatic `~m' tilde escape command, then.
3281 If the string `allheaders' is assigned, all headers are printed above
3282 the message body and all MIME parts are included,
3285 act like an automatic `~M' command.
3287 .Va quote-as-attachment .
3289 \*(OP Can be set in addition to
3291 Setting this turns on a more fancy quotation algorithm in that leading
3292 quotation characters are compressed and overlong lines are folded.
3294 can be set to either one or two (space separated) numeric values,
3295 which are interpreted as the maximum (goal) and the minimum line length,
3296 respectively, in a spirit rather equal to the
3298 program, but line-, not paragraph-based.
3299 If not set explicitly the minimum will reflect the goal algorithmically.
3300 The goal can't be smaller than the length of
3302 plus some additional pad.
3303 Necessary adjustments take place silently.
3305 If defined, gives the pathname of the folder used to record all outgoing
3307 If not defined, then outgoing mail is not saved.
3308 When saving to this folder fails the message is not sent,
3309 but instead saved to
3312 A list of addresses to put into the `Reply-To:' field of the message
3314 Members of this list are handled as if they were in the
3318 When \*(UA initially prints the message headers it determines the number
3319 to print by looking at the speed of the terminal.
3320 The faster the terminal, the more it prints.
3321 This option overrides this calculation and specifies how many message
3322 headers are printed.
3323 This number is also used for scrolling with the
3327 \*(OP A comma-separated list of character set names that can be used in
3328 outgoing Internet mail.
3329 If no character set conversion capabilities are compiled into \*(UA then
3330 the only supported charset is
3333 .Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
3334 and refer to the section
3335 .Sx "Character sets"
3336 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
3338 An address that is put into the `Sender:' field of outgoing messages.
3339 This field needs not normally be present.
3340 It is, however, required if the `From:' field contains more than one
3342 It can also be used to indicate that a message was sent on behalf of
3343 someone else \(en in this case, `From:' should contain the address
3344 of the person that took responsibility for the message,
3345 and `Sender:' should contain the address of the person that actually
3349 address is handled as if it were in the
3353 To use an alternate mail delivery system,
3354 set this option to the full pathname of the program to use.
3355 It may be necessary to set
3356 .Va sendmail-progname
3358 .It Va sendmail-progname
3359 Many systems use a so-called
3361 environment to ensure compatibility with
3363 This works by inspecting the name that was used to invoke the mail
3365 If this variable is set then the mailwrapper (the program that is
3366 actually executed when calling `sendmail') will treat its contents as
3368 The default is `sendmail'.
3370 Pathname of the shell to use in the
3372 command and the `~!' tilde escape.
3373 A default shell is used if this option is not defined.
3375 A string for use with the `~A' tilde escape.
3377 A string for use with the `~a' tilde escape.
3379 Must correspond to the name of a readable file if set.
3380 The file's content is then appended to each singlepart message
3381 and to the first part of each multipart message.
3382 Be warned that there is no possibility to edit the signature for an
3385 \*(OP Specifies a directory with CA certificates in PEM (Privacy
3386 Enhanced Mail) format for verification of S/MIME signed messages.
3387 .It Va smime-ca-file
3388 \*(OP Specifies a file with CA certificates in PEM format for
3389 verification of S/MIME signed messages.
3390 .It Va smime-cipher-user@host
3391 \*(OP Specifies a cipher to use when generating S/MIME encrypted
3392 messages for `user@host'.
3393 Valid ciphers are `rc2-40' (RC2 with 40 bits), `rc2-64' (RC2 with 64
3394 bits), `des' (DES, 56 bits) and `des-ede3' (3DES, 112/168 bits).
3395 The default is 3DES.
3396 It is not recommended to use the other ciphers unless a recipient's
3397 client is actually unable to handle 3DES since they are comparatively
3399 .It Va smime-crl-file
3400 \*(OP Specifies a file that contains a CRL in PEM format to use when
3401 verifying S/MIME messages.
3402 .It Va smime-crl-dir
3403 \*(OP Specifies a directory that contains files with CRLs in PEM format
3404 to use when verifying S/MIME messages.
3405 .It Va smime-encrypt-user@host
3406 \*(OP If this variable is set, messages to `user@host' are encrypted
3408 The value of the variable must be set to the name of a file that
3409 contains a certificate in PEM format.
3411 If a message is sent to multiple recipients,
3412 each of them for whom a corresponding variable is set will receive an
3413 individually encrypted message;
3414 other recipients will continue to receive the message in plain text
3416 .Va smime-force-encryption
3418 It is recommended to sign encrypted messages, i.e., to also set the
3421 .It Va smime-sign-cert
3422 \*(OP Points to a file in PEM format that contains the user's private
3423 key as well as his certificate.
3424 Both are used with S/MIME for signing and decrypting messages.
3425 .It Va smime-sign-cert-user@host
3428 for the specific addresses.
3429 When signing messages and the value of the
3431 variable is set to `user@host', the specific file is used.
3432 When decrypting messages,
3433 their recipient fields (`To:' and `Cc:') are searched for addresses
3434 for which such a variable is set.
3435 \*(UA always uses the first address that matches,
3436 so if the same message is sent to more than one of the user's addresses
3437 using different encryption keys, decryption might fail.
3438 .It Va smime-sign-include-certs
3439 \*(OP If used, this must be set to a comma-separated list of files,
3440 each of which containing a single certificate in PEM format to be
3441 included in the S/MIME message in addition to the
3444 This is most useful for long certificate chains if it is desired to aid
3445 the receiving party's verification process.
3446 .It Va smime-sign-include-certs-user@host
3448 .Va smime-sign-include-certs
3449 for the specific addresses.
3450 Refer to the discussion of
3451 .Va smime-sign-cert-user@host
3452 for more on this topic.
3454 \*(OP Normally \*(UA invokes
3456 directly to transfer messages.
3459 variable is set, a SMTP connection to the server specified by the value
3460 of this variable is used instead.
3461 If the SMTP server does not use the standard port, a value of
3462 `server:port' can be given, with `port' as a name or as a number.
3464 There are two possible methods to get SSL/TLS encrypted SMTP sessions:
3465 First, the `STARTTLS' command can be used to encrypt a session after it
3467 but before any user-related data has been sent; see
3468 .Va smtp-use-starttls
3470 Second, some servers accept sessions that are encrypted from begin on.
3471 This mode is configured by assigning `smtps://server[:port]' to the
3475 The SMTP transfer is executed in a child process, which runs
3476 asynchronously unless either the
3481 If it receives a TERM signal, it will abort and save the message to
3484 \*(OP Sets the SMTP authentication method.
3485 If set to `login', or if unset and
3487 is set, `AUTH LOGIN' is used.
3488 If set to `cram-md5', `AUTH CRAM-MD5' is used;
3489 if set to `plain', `AUTH PLAIN' is used.
3490 Otherwise, no SMTP authentication is performed.
3491 .It Va smtp-auth-user@host
3494 for specific values of sender addresses, dependend upon the variable
3496 .It Va smtp-auth-password
3497 \*(OP Sets the global password for `SMTP AUTH'.
3498 Both user and password have to be given for `AUTH LOGIN' and
3500 .It Va smtp-auth-password-user@host
3502 .Va smtp-auth-password
3503 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
3505 .It Va smtp-auth-user
3506 \*(OP Sets the global user name for `SMTP AUTH'.
3507 Both user and password have to be given for `AUTH LOGIN' and
3509 If this variable is set but neither
3510 .Va smtp-auth-password
3512 .Va smtp-auth-password-user@host
3514 \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal.
3515 .It Va smtp-auth-user-user@host
3518 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
3521 \*(OP The path to the spam detector.
3522 Note that the path is not expanded, but used "as is".
3523 A fallback path will have been compiled into the \*(UA binary if the
3525 executable had been found during compilation.
3527 \*(OP Can be used to specify the host on which
3529 listens for connections; if not set, defaults to `localhost'.
3531 \*(OP Spam detectors like
3533 decline to work with messages which exceed a specific size;
3534 if this variable is set then \*(UA won't even try to pass messages which
3535 exceed the given limit.
3536 The default is 420000 bytes.
3538 \*(OP Can be used to explicitly specify the port on which
3540 listens for connections.
3542 \*(OP If the spam detector listens on a path-based UNIX domain socket,
3543 then setting this variable to the fully qualified path will force its
3544 usage for communication.
3546 \*(OP This can be used to support multiple, per-used configuration files
3547 of the spam detector.
3548 Note that \*(UA doesn't automatically set this to reflect a possibly set
3552 \*(OP Specifies a directory with CA certificates in PEM (Pricacy
3553 Enhanced Mail) for verification of of SSL/TLS server certificates.
3555 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
3556 for more information.
3558 \*(OP Specifies a file with CA certificates in PEM format for
3559 verification of SSL/TLS server certificates.
3561 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
3562 for more information.
3564 \*(OP Sets the file name for a SSL/TLS client certificate required by
3566 .It Va ssl-cert-user@host
3567 Sets an account-specific file name for a SSL/TLS client certificate
3568 required by some servers.
3571 for the specified account.
3572 .It Va ssl-cipher-list
3573 \*(OP Specifies a list of ciphers for SSL/TLS connections.
3576 for more information.
3578 \*(OP Specifies a file that contains a CRL in PEM format to use when
3579 verifying SSL/TLS server certificates.
3581 \*(OP Specifies a directory that contains files with CRLs in PEM format
3582 to use when verifying SSL/TLS server certificates.
3584 \*(OP Sets the file name for the private key of a SSL/TLS client
3586 If unset, the name of the certificate file is used.
3587 The file is expected to be in PEM format.
3588 .It Va ssl-key-user@host
3589 Sets an account-specific file name for the private key of a SSL/TLS
3593 for the specified account.
3595 \*(OP Selects a SSL/TLS protocol version;
3596 \*(UA accepts the values `ssl2', `ssl3', `tls1', `tls1.1' and `tls1.2',
3597 though it depends on the OpenSSL library that is found on the system
3598 what is truly supported.
3599 If unset, the method is selected automatically, if possible
3600 (this process usually tries to use the most secure method possible).
3601 This approach is also taken if the chosen value is not supported by the
3602 OpenSSL library, in which case an error message will be printed first.
3603 .It Va ssl-method-user@host
3606 for a specific account.
3608 \*(OP Gives the pathname to an entropy daemon socket, see
3610 .It Va ssl-rand-file
3611 \*(OP Gives the pathname to a file with entropy data, see
3612 .Xr RAND_load_file 3 .
3613 If the file is a regular file writable by the invoking user,
3614 new data is written to it after it has been loaded.
3616 \*(OP Sets the action to be performed if an error occurs during SSL/TLS
3617 server certificate validation.
3619 `strict' (fail and close connection immediately),
3620 `ask' (ask whether to continue on standard input),
3621 `warn' (print a warning and continue),
3622 `ignore' (do not perform validation).
3623 The default is `ask'.
3624 .It Va ssl-verify-user@host
3627 for a specific account.
3629 If only set without an assigned value, then this option inhibits the
3630 generation of the `Message-Id:' and `User-Agent:' header fields that
3631 include obvious references to \*(UA.
3632 There are two pitfalls associated with this:
3633 First, the message id of outgoing messages is not known anymore.
3634 Second, an expert may still use the remaining information in the header
3635 to track down the originating mail user agent.
3636 If set to the value `noagent', then the mentioned `Message-Id:'
3637 suppression doesn't occur.
3639 If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out
3640 with the top command;
3641 normally, the first five lines are printed.
3643 The character set of the terminal \*(UA operates on,
3644 and the one and only supported character set that \*(UA can use if no
3645 character set conversion capabilities have been compiled into it,
3646 in which case it defaults to `ISO-8859-1' unless it can deduce a value
3647 from the `LC_CTYPE' locale environment.
3648 Refer to the section
3649 .Sx "Character sets"
3650 for the complete picture about character sets.
3652 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
3654 command and `~v' tilde escape.
3660 Besides the variables described above,
3661 \*(UA uses the following environment variables:
3662 .Bl -tag -width ".It Va MAILRC"
3664 The user's preferred width in column positions for the terminal screen
3665 or window (only used during startup).
3667 The user's home directory.
3668 .It Va LANG , Va LC_ALL , Va LC_COLLATE , Va LC_CTYPE , Va LC_MESSAGES
3672 \*(OP When a pager is started, this variable is set to the string
3673 `FRXi' unless it already exists in the environment, in which case it is
3676 The user's preferred number of lines on a page or the vertical screen or
3677 window size in lines (only used during startup).
3679 Is used as a startup file instead of \*(ur if set.
3680 When \*(UA scripts are invoked on behalf of other users,
3681 this variable should be set to
3683 to avoid side-effects from reading their configuration files.
3685 If this variable is set and
3687 is not, it is treated as a startup configuration file and read.
3688 .It Va NAIL_NO_SYSTEM_RC
3689 If this variable is set then reading of \*(UR at startup is inhibited,
3690 i.e., the same effect is achieved as if \*(UA had been started up with
3694 Changes the letters printed in the first column of a header summary.
3696 \*(OP The terminal type for which output is to be prepared.
3698 Used as directory for temporary files instead of
3702 Can be used to force identification as
3704 i.e., identical to the
3706 command line option.
3712 .Bl -tag -width ".It Pa /etc/mime.types"
3714 File giving initial commands.
3716 System wide initialization file.
3717 .It Pa ~/.mime.types
3718 Personal MIME types.
3719 .It Pa /etc/mime.types
3720 System wide MIME types.
3728 .Ss "Getting started"
3729 The \*(UA command has two distinct usages, according to whether one
3730 wants to send or receive mail.
3731 Sending mail is simple: to send a message to a user whose email address
3732 is, say, `<bill@host.example>', use the shell command:
3734 .Dl $ \*(ua bill@host.example
3736 then type your message.
3737 \*(UA will prompt you for a message `Subject:' first;
3738 after that, lines typed by you form the body of the message.
3739 When you reach the end of the message,
3740 type an EOT (`control\-D') at the beginning of a line,
3741 which will cause \*(UA to echo `EOT' and return you to the shell.
3743 If, while you are composing the message you decide that you do not wish
3744 to send it after all, you can abort the letter by typing two `RUBOUT'
3745 (interrupt) characters.
3746 Typing a single `RUBOUT' causes \*(UA to print
3747 .Ns ` Ns Li (Interrupt -- one more to kill letter) Ns '.
3748 Typing a second `RUBOUT' causes \*(UA to save your partial letter on the
3751 and abort the letter.
3752 Once you have sent mail to someone, there is no way to undo the act, so
3755 If you want to send the same message to several other people,
3756 you can list their email addresses on the command line.
3757 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3758 $ \*(ua sam@workstation.example bob@server.example
3760 Tuition fees are due next Friday. Don't forget!
3766 will sendout to `<sam@workstation.example>' and `<bob@server.example>'.
3767 To read your mail, simply type
3771 \*(UA will respond by typing its version number and date and then
3772 listing the messages you have waiting.
3773 Then it will type a prompt and await your command.
3774 The messages are assigned numbers starting with 1 \(en you refer to the
3775 messages with these numbers.
3776 \*(UA keeps track of which messages are `new' (have been sent since you
3777 last read your mail) and `read' (have been read by you).
3778 New messages have an `N' next to them in the header listing and old,
3779 but unread messages have a `U' next to them.
3780 \*(UA keeps track of new/old and read/unread messages by putting a
3781 header field called `Status' into your messages.
3783 To look at a specific message, use the
3785 command, which may be abbreviated to simply `t'.
3786 For example, if you had the following messages:
3787 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3788 O 1 drfoo@myhost.example Wed Sep 1 19:52 5/421 "Fees"
3789 O 2 sam@friends.example Thu Sep 2 00:08 30/895
3792 you could examine the first message by giving the command:
3796 which might cause \*(UA to respond with, for example:
3797 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3798 [-- Message 1 -- 5 lines, 421 bytes --]:
3799 From drfoo@myhost.example Wed Sep 1 19:52:25 2004
3803 Tuition fees are due next Wednesday. Don't forget!
3806 Many \*(UA commands that operate on messages take a message number as an
3807 argument, just as the shown
3810 For these commands, there is a notion of a current message.
3811 When you enter the \*(UA program,
3812 the current message is initially the first (or the first recent) one.
3813 Thus, you can often omit the message number and use, for example, `t` to
3814 type the current message.
3815 As a further shorthand, you can type a message by simply giving its
3816 message number \(en hence `1` would type the first message.
3818 Frequently, it is useful to read the messages in your mailbox in order,
3820 You can read the next message in \*(UA by simply typing a newline.
3821 As a special case, you can type a newline as your first command to
3822 \*(UA to type the first message.
3824 If, after typing a message, you wish to immediately send a reply,
3825 you can do so with the command
3829 takes a message number as an argument.
3830 \*(UA then begins a message addressed to the user who sent you the
3831 message and let you type in your letter in reply, followed by
3832 a `<control-D>' at the beginning of a line, as before.
3834 Note that \*(UA copies the subject header from the original message.
3835 This is useful in that correspondence about a particular matter will
3836 tend to retain the same subject heading, making it easy to recognize.
3837 If there are other header fields in the message, like `Cc:',
3838 the information found will also be used.
3840 Sometimes you will receive a message that has been sent to several
3841 people and wish to reply only to the person who sent it.
3843 (with a capital `R') replies to a message, but sends a copy to the
3846 If you wish, while reading your mail, to send a message to someone,
3847 but not as a reply to one of your messages, you can send the message
3850 command, which takes as arguments the names of the recipients you wish
3852 For example, to send a message to `<frank@machine.example>':
3854 .Dl mail frank@machine.example
3856 To delete a message from the mail folder, you can use the command
3858 In addition to not saving deleted messages,
3859 \*(UA will not let you type them, either.
3860 The effect is to make the message disappear altogether, along with its
3863 Many features of \*(UA can be tailored to your liking with the
3865 command; it has two forms, depending on whether you are setting
3866 a `binary' or a `valued' option.
3867 Binary options are either on or off \(en for example, the
3869 option informs \*(UA that each time you send a message, you want it to
3870 prompt you for a `Cc:' header to be included in the message.
3873 option, you would type
3877 Valued options are values which \*(UA uses to adapt to your tastes.
3880 option tells \*(UA where to save messages sent by you,
3881 and is specified by, e.g.,
3885 Note that no spaces are allowed in `set record=Sent'.
3887 \*(UA includes a simple facility for maintaining groups of messages
3888 together in folders.
3889 To use the folder facility, you must tell \*(UA where you wish to keep
3891 Each folder of messages will be a single file.
3892 For convenience, all of your folders are kept in a single directory of
3894 To tell \*(UA where your folder directory is, put a line of the form
3896 .Dl set folder=letters
3899 If, as in the example above, your folder directory does not begin with
3900 a `/', \*(UA will assume that your folder directory is to be found
3901 starting from your home directory.
3903 Anywhere a file name is expected, you can use a folder name, preceded
3905 For example, to put a message into a folder with the
3907 command, you can use:
3911 to save the current message in the `classwork' folder.
3912 If the `classwork' folder does not yet exist, it will be created.
3913 Note that messages which are saved with the
3915 command are automatically removed from your system mailbox.
3917 In order to make a copy of a message in a folder without causing
3918 that message to be removed from your system mailbox, use the
3920 command, which is identical in all other respects to the
3927 can be used to direct \*(UA to the contents of a different folder.
3930 .Dl folder +classwork
3932 directs \*(UA to read the contents of the `classwork' folder.
3933 All of the commands that you can use on your system mailbox are also
3934 applicable to folders, including
3939 To inquire which folder you are currently editing, use `folder' without
3941 And to list your current set of folders, use the
3947 command is available to print out a brief summary of the most important
3950 While typing in a message to be sent to others it is often useful to be
3951 able to invoke the text editor on the partial message, print the
3952 message, execute a shell command, or do some other auxiliary function.
3953 \*(UA provides these capabilities through `tilde escapes',
3954 which consist of a tilde (`~') at the beginning of a line, followed by
3955 a single character which indicates the function to be performed.
3956 For example, to print the text of the message so far, use:
3960 which will print a line of dashes, the recipients of your message, and
3961 the text of the message so far.
3962 A list of the most important tilde escapes is available with `~?'.
3965 .Ss "IMAP or POP3 client setup"
3966 \*(OP First you need the following data from your ISP:
3967 the host name of the IMAP or POP3 server,
3968 user name and password for this server,
3969 and a notice whether the server uses SSL/TLS encryption.
3970 Assuming the SSL/TLS secured host name of your IMAP account is
3971 `server.myisp.example' and your user name for that server is `mylogin',
3972 you could refer to this account using the
3976 command line option with
3978 .Dl imaps://mylogin@server.myisp.example
3980 (This string is not necessarily the same as your Internet mail address.)
3981 Even if the server does not accept IMAPS or POP3S connections,
3982 it is possible that it supports the `STARTTLS' method of upgrading
3983 already connected, but not yet authenticated sessions to use SSL/TLS
3985 The only reliable method to see if this works is to try it; enter one of
3987 .Dl set imap-use-starttls
3988 .Dl set pop3-use-starttls
3990 before you initiate the connection, dependent on the actual protocol.
3992 As you probably want messages to be deleted from this account
3993 after saving them, prefix it with `%:'.
3996 command can be used to avoid typing that many characters every time you
3999 .Dl shortcut myisp %:imaps://mylogin@server.myisp.example
4001 You might want to put this string into a startup file.
4003 is one of those commands that are specific to \*(UA and will thus
4004 confuse other implementations of POSIX
4006 so it should possibly not be placed in \*(ur.
4009 .Dl set NAIL_EXTRA_RC=.\*(uarc
4011 in \*(ur and create a file
4013 containing all the commands that are specific to \*(UA.
4014 You can then access your remote mailbox by invoking
4018 on the command line, or by executing
4023 If you want to use more than one IMAP mailbox on a server,
4024 or if you want to use the IMAP server for mail storage too, the
4026 command (which is also \*(UA-specific) is possibly more appropriate.
4027 You can put the following in
4029 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4031 set folder=imaps://mylogin@server.myisp.example
4032 set record=+Sent MBOX=+mbox outfolder
4036 and can then access incoming mail for this account by invoking
4037 `\*(ua \-A myisp' on the command line or by executing `ac myisp' within
4039 After that, a command like `copy 1 +otherfolder' will refer to
4040 `otherfolder' on the IMAP server.
4041 In particular, `fi &' will change to the `mbox' folder,
4042 and `fi +Sent' will show your recorded sent mail,
4043 with both folders located on the IMAP server.
4045 \*(UA will ask you for a password string each time you connect to
4047 If you can reasonably trust the security of your workstation,
4048 you can give this password in the startup file as
4050 .Dl set password-mylogin@server.myisp.example="SECRET"
4052 You should change the permissions of this file to 0600, see
4055 \*(UA supports different authentication methods for both IMAP and POP3.
4056 If Kerberos is used at your location,
4057 you can try to activate (the optional) GSSAPI-based authentication via
4059 .Dl set imap-auth=gssapi
4061 The advantage of this method is that \*(UA doesn't need to know your
4062 password at all, nor does it have to send sensitive data over the network.
4063 If that isn't possible, try to use authentication methods that at least
4064 avoid sending the password in clear over the wire, which is especially
4065 important if SSL/TLS cannot be used, e.g.,
4067 .Dl set imap-auth=cram-md5
4069 For POP3 \*(UA will try to use the `APOP' mechanism automatically unless
4070 explicitly disabled.
4071 If the server does not offer any such authentication methods,
4072 conventional user/password based authentication must be used.
4073 It is sometimes helpful, especially when setting up an account or when
4074 there are authentification problems, to enable verbosity by setting the
4076 option \(en \*(UA will display all data sent to the server in clear text
4077 on the screen when this option is set.
4078 (Because this may also include passwords you should take care that no
4079 unauthorized person can look at your terminal when this option is set.)
4081 If you regularly use the same workstation to access IMAP accounts,
4082 you can greatly enhance performance by enabling local caching of IMAP
4084 For any message that has been fully or partially fetched from the server,
4085 a local copy is made and is used when the message is accessed again,
4086 so most data is transferred over the network once only.
4087 To enable the IMAP cache, select a local directory name and put
4089 .Dl set imap-cache=~/localdirectory
4091 in the (\*(UA-specific) startup file.
4092 All files within that directory can be overwritten or deleted by \*(UA
4094 so you should not use the directory to store other information.
4096 Once the cache contains some messages,
4097 it is not strictly necessary anymore to open a connection to the IMAP
4098 server to access them.
4099 When \*(UA is invoked with the option
4104 only cached data is used for any folder you open.
4105 Messages that have not yet been completely cached are not available
4106 then, but all other messages can be handled as usual.
4107 Changes made to IMAP mailboxes in
4109 mode are committed to the IMAP server next time it is used in
4112 Synchronizing the local status with the status on the server is thus
4113 partially within your responsibility;
4114 if you forget to initiate a connection to the server again before you
4115 leave your location,
4116 changes made on one workstation are not available on others.
4117 Also if you alter IMAP mailboxes from a workstation while uncommitted
4118 changes are still pending on another,
4119 the latter data may become invalid.
4120 The same might also happen because of internal server status changes.
4121 You should thus carefully evaluate this feature in your environment
4122 before you rely on it.
4124 Many servers will close the connection after a short period of
4125 inactivity \(en use one of
4127 .Dl set pop3-keepalive=30
4128 .Dl set imap-keepalive=240
4130 to send a keepalive message each 30 seconds for POP3,
4131 or each 4 minutes for IMAP.
4133 If you encounter problems connecting to a SSL/TLS server,
4138 variables (see the OpenSSL FAQ for more information) or specify the
4139 protocol version with
4141 Contact your ISP if you need a client certificate or if verification of
4142 the server certificate fails.
4143 If the failed certificate is indeed valid,
4144 fetch its CA certificate by executing the shell command
4146 .Dl $ </dev/null openssl s_client \-showcerts \-connect \e
4147 .Dl \ \ \ \ \ \ server.myisp.example:imaps 2>&1 | tee log.txt
4151 ) and put it into the file specified with
4153 The data you need is located at the end of the certificate chain
4154 within (and including) the `BEGIN CERTIFICATE'
4155 and `END CERTIFICATE' lines.
4156 Note that the example above is \fBinsecure\fR!
4157 One should use the `-verify' and `-CAfile' options of
4159 to be "on the safe side" regarding the fetched certificates.
4162 .Ss "Reading HTML mail"
4167 utility or another command-line web browser that can write plain text to
4170 .Dl set pipe-text/html="elinks -force-html -dump 1"
4171 .Dl set pipe-text/html="lynx -stdin -dump -force_html"
4173 will cause HTML message parts to be converted into a more friendly form.
4176 .Ss "Viewing PDF attachments"
4177 Most PDF viewers do not accept input directly from a pipe.
4178 It is thus necessary to store the attachment in a temporary file first:
4180 .Dl set pipe-application/pdf="@&cat >/tmp/\*(ua$$.pdf; \e
4181 .Dl \ \ \ \ \ \ acroread /tmp/\*(ua$$.pdf; rm /tmp/\*(ua$$.pdf"
4183 Note that security defects are discovered in PDF viewers from time to
4185 Automatical command execution like this can compromise your system
4187 in particular if you stay not always informed about such issues.
4190 .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
4191 \*(OP S/MIME provides two central mechanisms:
4192 message signing and message encryption.
4193 A signed message contains some data in addition to the regular text.
4194 The data can be used to verify that the message was sent using a valid
4195 certificate, that the sender's address in the message header matches
4196 that in the certificate, and that the message text has not been altered.
4197 Signing a message does not change its regular text;
4198 it can be read regardless of whether the recipient's software is able to
4200 It is thus usually possible to sign all outgoing messages if so desired.
4201 Encryption, in contrast, makes the message text invisible for all people
4202 except those who have access to the secret decryption key.
4203 To encrypt a message, the specific recipient's public encryption key
4205 It is thus not possible to send encrypted mail to people unless their
4206 key has been retrieved from either previous communication or public key
4208 A message should always be signed before it is encrypted.
4209 Otherwise, it is still possible that the encrypted message text is
4212 A central concept to S/MIME is that of the certification authority (CA).
4213 A CA is a trusted institution that issues certificates.
4214 For each of these certificates it can be verified that it really
4215 originates from the CA, provided that the CA's own certificate is
4217 A set of CA certificates is usually delivered with OpenSSL and installed
4219 If you trust the source of your OpenSSL software installation,
4220 this offers reasonable security for S/MIME on the Internet.
4221 In general, a certificate cannot be more secure than the method its CA
4222 certificate has been retrieved with, though.
4223 Thus if you download a CA certificate from the Internet,
4224 you can only trust the messages you verify using that certificate as
4225 much as you trust the download process.
4227 The first thing you need for participating in S/MIME message exchange is
4228 your personal certificate, including a private key.
4229 The certificate contains public information, in particular your name and
4230 your email address, and the public key that is used by others to encrypt
4232 and to verify signed messages they supposedly received from you.
4233 The certificate is included in each signed message you send.
4234 The private key must be kept secret.
4235 It is used to decrypt messages that were previously encrypted with your
4236 public key, and to sign messages.
4238 For personal use it is recommended that you get a S/MIME certificate
4239 from one of the major CAs on the Internet using your WWW browser.
4240 (Many CAs offer such certificates for free.)
4241 You will usually receive a combined certificate and private key in
4242 PKCS#12 format which \*(UA does not directly accept.
4243 To convert it to PEM format, use the following shell command:
4245 .Dl $ openssl pkcs12 \-in cert.p12 \-out cert.pem \-clcerts \-nodes
4247 If you omit the `\-nodes' parameter, you can specifiy an additional `PEM
4248 pass phrase' for protecting the private key.
4249 \*(UA will then ask you for that pass phrase each time it signs or
4253 .Dl set smime-sign-cert-myname@myisp.example=cert.pem
4255 to make this private key and certificate known to \*(UA.
4256 You can now sign outgoing messages.
4262 From each signed message you send,
4263 the recipient can fetch your certificate and use it to send encrypted
4265 Accordingly if somebody sends you a signed message, you can do the same.
4268 command to check the validity of the certificate.
4269 After that, retrieve the certificate and tell \*(UA that it should use
4272 .Dl certsave filename
4273 .Dl set smime-encrypt-user@host=filename
4275 You should carefully consider if you prefer to store encrypted messages
4277 If you do, anybody who has access to your mail folders can read them,
4278 but if you do not, you might be unable to read them yourself later if
4279 you happen to lose your private key.
4282 command saves messages in decrypted form, while the
4287 commands leave them encrypted.
4289 Note that neither S/MIME signing nor encryption applies to message
4290 subjects or other header fields.
4291 Thus they may not contain sensitive information for encrypted messages,
4292 and cannot be trusted even if the message content has been verified.
4293 When sending signed messages,
4294 it is recommended to repeat any important header information in the
4298 .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or SSL/TLS"
4299 \*(OP Certification authorities (CAs) issue certificate revocation
4300 lists (CRLs) on a regular basis.
4301 These lists contain the serial numbers of certificates that have been
4302 declared invalid after they have been issued.
4303 Such usually happens because the private key for the certificate has
4305 because the owner of the certificate has left the organization that is
4306 mentioned in the certificate, etc.
4307 To seriously use S/MIME or SSL/TLS verification,
4308 an up-to-date CRL is required for each trusted CA.
4309 There is otherwise no method to distinguish between valid and
4310 invalidated certificates.
4311 \*(UA currently offers no mechanism to fetch CRLs, nor to access them on
4312 the Internet, so you have to retrieve them by some external mechanism.
4314 \*(UA accepts CRLs in PEM format only;
4315 CRLs in DER format must be converted, like, e.\|g.:
4317 .Dl $ openssl crl \-inform DER \-in crl.der \-out crl.pem
4319 To tell \*(UA about the CRLs, a directory that contains all CRL files
4320 (and no other files) must be created.
4325 variables, respectively, must then be set to point to that directory.
4326 After that, \*(UA requires a CRL to be present for each CA that is used
4327 to verify a certificate.
4331 \*(OP \*(UA can make use of spam detection and learning facilities \(en
4332 more precisely, SpamAssassin (\%<http://spamassassin.apache.org>).
4333 A very comprehensive documentation of
4335 can be found at the O'Reilly Commons
4336 (\%<http://commons.oreilly.com/wiki/index.php/SpamAssassin>).
4338 Currently \*(UA supports interaction with
4340 only via its daemonized
4343 server / client pair, which means that, in order to detect and work
4344 with spam through \*(UA, an instance of the
4346 daemon must be running (the examples are equivalent):
4347 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4348 $ spamd -i localhost:2142 -i /tmp/.spamsock -d [-L] [-l]
4349 $ spamd --listen=localhost:2142 --listen=/tmp/.spamsock \\
4350 --daemonize [--local] [--allow-tell]
4355 should only listen on a local, path-based UNIX domain socket instead of
4356 offering its service over the network, it maybe necessary to use
4359 option instead of the shown
4361 In order to support training of the Bayesian classifier through \*(UA,
4363 must have been started with the
4369 is running \*(UA can classify messages by using the client side program,
4372 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4373 $ \*(ua -Sspam-command=/usr/local/bin/spamc \\
4374 -Sspam-socket=/tmp/.spamsock -Sspam-maxsize=500000
4377 The commands offered are
4381 which simply set an `is-spam' flag that can be used for, e.g., message
4384 which passes messages through to the spam detector in order to gain
4385 a spam score and conditionally set the `is-spam' flag accordingly,
4386 as well as the Bayesian filter related
4392 Because messages must exist on local storage in order to be scored (or
4393 used for Bayesian filter training), it is possibly a good idea to
4394 perform the local spam check last:
4395 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4396 define spamdelhook {
4398 spamset (header x-dcc-brand-metrics "bulk")
4399 # Server-side spamassassin(1)
4400 spamset (header x-spam-flag "YES")
4401 del :s # TODO we HAVE to be able to do `spamrate :u ! :s'
4402 # And finally the local spamc(1)
4406 set folder-hook-FOLDER=spamdelhook
4409 See also the documentation for the variables
4419 .Ss "Sending mail from scripts"
4420 If you want to send mail from scripts, you must be aware that \*(UA
4421 reads the user's configuration files by default.
4422 So unless your script is only intended for your own personal use
4423 (as, e.g., a cron job), you need to circumvent this:
4425 .Dl MAILRC=/dev/null \*(ua \-n
4427 You then need to create a script-local configuration for \*(UA.
4428 This can be done by either pointing the
4430 variable to a custom configuration file,
4431 by passing the configuration in environment variables,
4434 command line option to specify options.
4435 Since many configuration options are not valid shell variables, the
4437 command is useful if the approach via environment variables is used:
4438 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4439 env MAILRC=/dev/null from=scriptreply@domain smtp=host \e
4440 smtp-auth-user=login smtp-auth-password=secret \e
4441 smtp-auth=login \*(ua \-n \-s "subject" \e
4442 \-a attachment_file recipient@domain < content_file
4457 .Xr spamassassin 1 ,
4474 .Sh "IMPLEMENTATION NOTES"
4475 The character set conversion uses and relies upon the
4478 Its functionality differs widely between the various system environments
4481 Limitations with IMAP mailboxes are:
4482 It is not possible to edit messages, but it is possible to append them.
4483 Thus to edit a message, create a local copy of it, edit it, append it,
4484 and delete the original.
4485 The line count for the header display is only appropriate if the entire
4486 message has been downloaded from the server.
4487 The marking of messages as `new' is performed by the IMAP server;
4492 will not cause it to be reset, and if the
4493 .Va autoinc Ns / Ns Va newmail
4494 variables are unset, messages that arrived during a session will not be
4495 in state `new' anymore when the folder is opened again.
4496 Also if commands queued in disconnected mode are committed,
4497 the IMAP server will delete the `new' flag for all messages in the
4499 and new messages will appear as unread when it is selected for viewing
4501 The `flagged', `answered', and `draft' attributes are usually permanent,
4502 but some IMAP servers are known to drop them without notification.
4503 Message numbers may change with IMAP every time before the prompt is
4504 printed if \*(UA is notified by the server that messages have been
4505 deleted by some other client or process.
4506 In this case, `Expunged n messages' is printed, and message numbers may
4509 Limitations with POP3 mailboxes are:
4510 It is not possible to edit messages, they can only be copied and deleted.
4511 The line count for the header display is only appropriate if the entire
4512 message has been downloaded from the server.
4513 The status field of a message is maintained by the server between
4514 connections; some servers do not update it at all, and with a server
4515 that does, the `exit' command will not cause the message status to be
4517 The `newmail' command and the `newmail' variable have no effect.
4518 It is not possible to rename or to remove POP3 mailboxes.
4520 If a `RUBOUT' (interrupt) is typed while an IMAP or POP3 operation is in
4521 progress, \*(UA will wait until the operation can be safely aborted, and
4522 will then return to the command loop and print the prompt again.
4523 When a second `RUBOUT' is typed while \*(UA is waiting for the operation
4524 to complete, the operation itself will be cancelled.
4525 In this case, data that has not been fetched yet will have to be fetched
4526 before the next command can be performed.
4527 If the cancelled operation was using an SSL/TLS encrypted channel,
4528 an error in the SSL transport will very likely result and render the
4529 connection unusable.
4531 As \*(UA is a mail user agent, it provides only basic SMTP services.
4532 If it fails to contact its upstream SMTP server, it will not make
4533 further attempts to transfer the message at a later time,
4534 and it does not leave other information about this condition than an
4535 error message on the terminal and an entry in
4537 This is usually not a problem if the SMTP server is located in the same
4538 local network as the computer on which \*(UA is run.
4539 However, care should be taken when using a remote server of an ISP;
4540 it might be better to set up a local SMTP server then which just acts as
4543 \*(UA immediately contacts the SMTP server (or
4545 ) even when operating in
4548 It would not make much sense for \*(UA to defer outgoing mail since SMTP
4549 servers usually provide much more elaborated delay handling than \*(UA
4550 could perform as a client.
4551 Thus the recommended setup for sending mail in
4553 mode is to configure a local SMTP server such that it sends outgoing
4554 mail as soon as an external network connection is available again,
4555 i.e., to advise it to do that from a network startup script.
4560 A \fImail\fR command appeared in Version 1 AT&T Unix.
4561 Berkeley Mail was written in 1978 by Kurt Shoens.
4562 This man page is derived from from The Mail Reference Manual originally
4563 written by Kurt Shoens.
4564 "Heirloom Mailx" enhancements are maintained and documented by Gunnar
4566 "S-nail" is maintained and documented by Steffen "Daode" Nurpmeso.
4568 Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
4569 from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
4570 \(en Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
4571 Specifications Issue 6, Copyright \(co 2001-2003 by the Institute of
4572 Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group.
4573 In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original
4574 IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group
4575 Standard is the referee document.
4576 The original Standard can be obtained online at
4577 \%<http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html>.
4578 Redistribution of this material is permitted so long as this notice
4585 .An "Christos Zoulas" ,
4586 .An "Gunnar Ritter" ,
4587 .An Steffen Qo Daode Qc Nurpmeso Aq s-nail-users@lists.sourceforge.net
4592 Variables in the environment passed to \*(UA cannot be unset.