NAME
mail - send and receive mail

SYNOPSIS
mail [ -v ] [ -i ] [ -n ] [ -s subject ] [ user ... ]
mail [ -v ] [ -i ] [ -n ] -f [ name ]
mail [ -v ] [ -i ] [ -n ] -u user

INTRODUCTION
Mail is a intelligent mail processing system, which has a command
syntax reminiscent of ed with lines replaced by messages.

The -v flag puts mail into verbose mode; the details of delivery
are displayed on the users terminal. The -i flag causes tty
interrupt signals to be ignored. This is particularly useful when
using mail on noisy phone lines. The -n flag inhibits the reading
of /usr/lib/Mail.rc.

Sending mail. To send a message to one or more people, mail can be
invoked with arguments which are the names of people to whom the
mail will be sent. You are then expected to type in your message,
followed by an EOT (control-D) at the beginning of a line. A
subject may be specified on the command line by using the -s flag.
(Only the first argument after the -s flag is used as a subject; be
careful to quote subjects containing spaces.) The section below,
labeled Replying to or originating mail, describes some features of
mail available to help you compose your letter.

Reading mail. In normal usage mail is given no arguments and
checks your mail out of the post office, then prints out a one line
header of each message there. The current message is initially the
first message (numbered 1) and can be printed using the print
command (which can be abbreviated p). You can move among the
messages much as you move between lines in ed, with the commands
‘+’ and ‘-’ moving backwards and forwards, and simple numbers.

Disposing of mail. After examining a message you can delete (d)
the message or reply (r) to it. Deletion causes the mail program
to forget about the message. This is not irreversible; the message
can be undeleted (u) by giving its number, or the mail session can
be aborted by giving the exit (x) command. Deleted messages will,
however, usually disappear never to be seen again.

Specifying messages. Commands such as print and delete can be
given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply to a number
of messages at once. Thus "delete 1 2" deletes messages 1 and 2,
while "delete 1-5" deletes messages 1 through 5. The special
name "*" addresses all messages, and "$" addresses the last
message; thus the command top which prints the first few lines of a
message could be used in "top *" to print the first few lines of
all messages.

Replying to or originating mail. You can use the reply command to
set up a response to a message, sending it back to the person who
it was from. Text you then type in, up to an end-of-file, defines
the contents of the message. While you are composing a message,
mail treats lines beginning with the character ‘~’ specially. For
instance, typing "~m" (alone on a line) will place a copy of the
current message into the response right shifting it by a tabstop.
Other escapes will set up subject fields, add and delete recipients
to the message and allow you to escape to an editor to revise the
message or to a shell to run some commands. (These options are
given in the summary below.)

Ending a mail processing session. You can end a mail session with
the quit (q) command. Messages which have been examined go to your
mbox file unless they have been deleted in which case they are
discarded. Unexamined messages go back to the post office. The -f
option causes mail to read in the contents of your mbox (or the
specified file) for processing; when you quit, mail writes
undeleted messages back to this file. The -u flag is a short way
of doing "mail -f /usr/spool/mail/user".

Personal and systemwide distribution lists. It is also possible to
create a personal distribution lists so that, for instance, you can
send mail to "cohorts" and have it go to a group of people. Such
lists can be defined by placing a line like

alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory

in the file .mailrc in your home directory. The current list of
such aliases can be displayed with the alias (a) command in mail.
System wide distribution lists can be created by editing
/etc/aliases, see aliases(5) and sendmail(8); these are kept in a
different syntax. In mail you send, personal aliases will be
expanded in mail sent to others so that they will be able to reply
to the recipients. System wide aliases are not expanded when the
mail is sent, but any reply returned to the machine will have the
system wide alias expanded as all mail goes through sendmail.

Network mail (ARPA, UUCP, Berknet) See mailaddr(7) for a
description of network addresses.

Mail has a number of options which can be set in the .mailrc file
to alter its behavior; thus "set askcc" enables the "askcc"
feature. (These options are summarized below.)

SUMMARY
(Adapted from the "Mail Reference Manual" (see MachTen Unix Basics
manual))

Each command is typed on a line by itself, and may take arguments
following the command word. The command need not be typed in its
entirety - the first command which matches the typed prefix is
used. For commands which take message lists as arguments, if no
message list is given, then the next message forward which
satisfies the command’s requirements is used. If there are no
messages forward of the current message, the search proceeds
backwards, and if there are no good messages at all, mail types
"No applicable messages" and aborts the command.

- Goes to the previous message and prints it out. If
given a numeric argument n, goes to the n-th previous
message and prints it.

? Prints a brief summary of commands.

! Executes the UNIX shell command which follows.

Print (P) Like print but also prints out ignored header
fields. See also print , ignore and retain.

Reply (R) Reply to originator. Does not reply to other
recipients of the original message.

Type (T) Identical to the Print command.

alias (a) With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined
aliases. With one argument, prints out that alias.
With more than one argument, creates an new or changes
an on old alias.

alternates (alt) The alternates command is useful if you have
accounts on several machines. It can be used to inform
mail that the listed addresses are really you. When you
reply to messages, mail will not send a copy of the
message to any of the addresses listed on the
alternates list. If the alternates command is given
with no argument, the current set of alternate names is
displayed.

chdir (c) Changes the user’s working directory to that
specified, if given. If no directory is given, then
changes to the user’s login directory.

copy (co) The copy command does the same thing that save
does, except that it does not mark the messages it is
used on for deletion when you quit.

delete (d) Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them
all as deleted. Deleted messages will not be saved in
mbox, nor will they be available for most other
commands.

dp (also dt) Deletes the current message and prints the
next message. If there is no next message, mail says
"at EOF."

edit (e) Takes a list of messages and points the text editor
at each one in turn. On return from the editor, the
message is read back in.

exit (ex or x) Effects an immediate return to the Shell
without modifying the user’s system mailbox, his mbox
file, or his edit file in -f.

file (fi) The same as folder.

folders List the names of the folders in your folder directory.

folder (fo) The folder command switches to a new mail file or
folder. With no arguments, it tells you which file you
are currently reading. If you give it an argument, it
will write out changes (such as deletions) you have
made in the current file and read in the new file. Some
special conventions are recognized for the name. #
means the previous file, % means your system mailbox,
%user means user’s system mailbox, & means your ~/mbox
file, and +folder means a file in your folder
directory.

from (f) Takes a list of messages and prints their message
headers.

headers (h) Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18
message group. If a "+" argument is given, then the
next 18 message group is printed, and if a "-"
argument is given, the previous 18 message group is
printed.

help A synonym for ?

hold (ho, also preserve) Takes a message list and marks each
message therein to be saved in the user’s system
mailbox instead of in mbox. Does not override the
delete command.

ignore N.B.: Ignore has been superseded by retain.
Add the list of header fields named to the ignored
list. Header fields in the ignore list are not printed
on your terminal when you print a message. This command
is very handy for suppression of certain machine-
generated header fields. The Type and Print commands
can be used to print a message in its entirety,
including ignored fields. If ignore is executed with no
arguments, it lists the current set of ignored fields.

mail (m) Takes as argument login names and distribution
group names and sends mail to those people.

mbox Indicate that a list of messages be sent to mbox in
your home directory when you quit. This is the default
action for messages if you do not have the hold option
set.

next (n like + or CR) Goes to the next message in sequence
and types it. With an argument list, types the next
matching message.

preserve (pre) A synonym for hold.

print (p) Takes a message list and types out each message on
the user’s terminal.

quit (q) Terminates the session, saving all undeleted,
unsaved messages in the user’s mbox file in his login
directory, preserving all messages marked with hold or
preserve or never referenced in his system mailbox, and
removing all other messages from his system mailbox.
If new mail has arrived during the session, the message
"You have new mail" is given. If given while editing
a mailbox file with the -f flag, then the edit file is
rewritten. A return to the Shell is effected, unless
the rewrite of edit file fails, in which case the user
can escape with the exit command.

reply (r) Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender
and all recipients of the specified message. The
default message must not be deleted.

respond A synonym for reply.

retain Add the list of header fields named to the retained
list. Only the header fields in the retain list are
shown on your terminal when you print a message. All
other header fields are suppressed. The Type and Print
commands can be used to print a message in its
entirety. If retain is executed with no arguments, it
lists the current set of retained fields.

save (s) Takes a message list and a filename and appends
each message in turn to the end of the file. The
filename in quotes, followed by the line count and
character count is echoed on the user’s terminal.

set (se) With no arguments, prints all variable values.
Otherwise, sets option. Arguments are of the form
"option=value" (no space before or after =) or
"option."

shell (sh) Invokes an interactive version of the shell.

size Takes a message list and prints out the size in
characters of each message.

source (so) The source command reads mail commands from a
file.

top Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of
each. The number of lines printed is controlled by the
variable toplines and defaults to five.

type (t) A synonym for print.

unalias Takes a list of names defined by alias commands and
discards the remembered groups of users. The group
names no longer have any significance.

undelete (u) Takes a message list and marks each message as not
being deleted.

unread (U) Takes a message list and marks each message as not
having been read.

unset Takes a list of option names and discards their
remembered values; the inverse of set.

visual (v) Takes a message list and invokes the display editor
on each message.

write (w) Similar to save, except that only the message body
(without the header) is saved. Extremely useful for
such tasks as sending and receiving source program text
over the message system.

xit (x) A synonym for exit.

z Mail presents message headers in windowfuls as
described under the headers command. You can move
mail’s attention forward to the next window with the z
command. Also, you can move to the previous window by
using z-.

Here is a summary of the tilde escapes, which are used when
composing messages to perform special functions. Tilde escapes are
only recognized at the beginning of lines. The name
"tilde escape" is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape
character can be set by the option escape.

~!command Execute the indicated shell command, then return to the
message.

~b name ... Add the given names to the list of carbon copy
recipients but do not make the names visible in the Cc:
line ("blind" carbon copy).

~c name ... Add the given names to the list of carbon copy
recipients.

~d Read the file "dead.letter" from your home directory
into the message.

~e Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far.
After the editing session is finished, you may continue
appending text to the message.

~f messages Read the named messages into the message being sent.
If no messages are specified, read in the current
message.

~h Edit the message header fields by typing each one in
turn and allowing the user to append text to the end or
modify the field by using the current terminal erase
and kill characters.

~m messages Read the named messages into the message being sent,
shifted right one tab. If no messages are specified,
read the current message.

~p Print out the message collected so far, prefaced by the
message header fields.

~q Abort the message being sent, copying the message to
"dead.letter" in your home directory if save is set.

~r filename Read the named file into the message.

~s string Cause the named string to become the current subject
field.

~t name ... Add the given names to the direct recipient list.

~v Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the VISUAL
option) on the message collected so far. Usually, the
alternate editor will be a screen editor. After you
quit the editor, you may resume appending text to the
end of your message.

~w filename Write the message onto the named file.

~|command Pipe the message through the command as a filter. If
the command gives no output or terminates abnormally,
retain the original text of the message. The command
fmt(1) is often used as command to rejustify the
message.

~~string Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a
single ~. If you have changed the escape character,
then you should double that character in order to send
it.

Options are controlled via the set and unset commands. Options may
be either binary, in which case it is only significant to see
whether they are set or not; or string, in which case the actual
value is of interest. The binary options include the following:

append Causes messages saved in mbox to be appended to the
end rather than prepended. (This is set in
/usr/lib/Mail.rc on version 7 systems.)

ask Causes mail to prompt you for the subject of each
message you send. If you respond with simply a
newline, no subject field will be sent.

askcc Causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy
recipients at the end of each message. Responding
with a newline indicates your satisfaction with the
current list.

autoprint Causes the delete command to behave like dp - thus,
after deleting a message, the next one will be typed
automatically.

debug Setting the binary option debug is the same as
specifying -d on the command line and causes mail to
output all sorts of information useful for debugging
mail.

dot The binary option dot causes mail to interpret a
period alone on a line as the terminator of a
message you are sending.

hold This option is used to hold messages in the system
mailbox by default.

ignore Causes interrupt signals from your terminal to be
ignored and echoed as @’s.

ignoreeof An option related to dot is ignoreeof which makes
mail refuse to accept a control-d as the end of a
message. Ignoreeof also applies to mail command
mode.

metoo Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the
sender, the sender is removed from the expansion.
Setting this option causes the sender to be included
in the group.

nosave Normally, when you abort a message with two RUBOUT,
mail copies the partial letter to the file
"dead.letter" in your home directory. Setting the
binary option nosave prevents this.

Replyall Reverses the sense of reply and Reply commands.

quiet Suppresses the printing of the version when first
invoked.

verbose Setting the option verbose is the same as using the
-v flag on the command line. When mail runs in
verbose mode, the actual delivery of messages is
displayed on he users terminal.

The following options have string values:

EDITOR Pathname of the text editor to use in the edit
command and ~e escape. If not defined, then a
default editor is used.

PAGER Pathname of the program to use in the more command
or when crt variable is set. A default paginator is
used if this option is not defined.

SHELL Pathname of the shell to use in the ! command and
the ~! escape. A default shell is used if this
option is not defined.

VISUAL Pathname of the text editor to use in the visual
command and ~v escape.

crt The valued option crt is used as a threshold to
determine how long a message must be before PAGER is
used to read it.

escape If defined, the first character of this option gives
the character to use in the place of ~ to denote
escapes.

folder The name of the directory to use for storing folders
of messages. If this name begins with a ‘/’, mail
considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise,
the folder directory is found relative to your home
directory.

record If defined, gives the pathname of the file used to
record all outgoing mail. If not defined, then
outgoing mail is not so saved.

toplines If defined, gives the number of lines of a message
to be printed out with the top command; normally,
the first five lines are printed.

FILES
/usr/spool/mail/* post office
~/mbox your old mail
~/.mailrc file giving initial mail commands
/tmp/R# temporary for editor escape
/usr/lib/Mail.help* help files
/usr/lib/Mail.rc system initialization file
Message* temporary for editing messages

SEE ALSO
binmail(1), fmt(1), newaliases(1), aliases(5), mailaddr(7),
sendmail(8)
"The Mail Reference Manual" (see MachTen Unix Basics manual)

BUGS
There are many flags that are not documented here. Most are not
useful to the general user.
Usually, mail is just a link to Mail, which can be confusing.

AUTHOR
Kurt Shoens