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User Commands mailx(1)
NAME
mailx - interactive message processing system
SYNOPSIS
mailx [-BdeHiInNURvV~] [ -f
[file | +folder] ] [-T file] [-u user]
mailx [-BdFintUv~] [-b bcc] [-c cc] [-h number] [-r address]
[-s subject] recipient...
/usr/ucb/mail ...
/usr/ucb/Mail ...
DESCRIPTION
The mail utilities listed above provide a comfortable, flex-
ible environment for sending and receiving mail messages
electronically.
When reading mail, the mail utilities provide commands to
facilitate saving, deleting, and responding to messages.
When sending mail, the mail utilities allow editing, review-
ing and other modification of the message as it is entered.
Incoming mail is stored in a standard file for each user,
called the mailbox for that user. When the mail utilities
are called to read messages, the mailbox is the default
place to find them. As messages are read, they are marked to
be moved to a secondary file for storage, unless specific
action is taken, so that the messages need not be seen
again.This secondary file is called the mbox and is normally
located in the user's HOME directory (see MBOX in ENVIRON-
MENT VARIABLES for a description of this file). Messages can
be saved in other secondary files named by the user. Mes-
sages remain in a secondary file until forcibly removed.
The user can access a secondary file by using the -f option.
Messages in the secondary file can then be read or otherwise
processed using the same Commands as in the primary mailbox.
This gives rise within these pages to the notion of a
current mailbox.
OPTIONS
On the command line options start with a dash (-). Any other
arguments are taken to be destinations (recipients). If no
recipients are specified, mailx attempts to read messages
from the mailbox.
-B Do not buffer standard input or standard
output.
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User Commands mailx(1)
-b bcc Set the blind carbon copy list to bcc. bcc
should be enclosed in quotes if it contains
more than one name.
-c cc Set the carbon copy list to cc. cc should be
enclosed in quotes if it contains more than
one name.
-d Turn on debugging output. (Neither particu-
larly interesting nor recommended.)
-e Test for the presence of mail. mailx prints
nothing and exits with a successful return
code if there is mail to read.
-F Record the message in a file named after the
first recipient. Overrides the record vari-
able, if set (see Internal Variables).
-f [file] Read messages from file instead of mailbox.
If no file is specified, the mbox is used.
-f [ +folder] Use the file folder in the folder directory
(same as the folder command). The name of
this directory is listed in the folder vari-
able.
-H Print header summary only.
-h number The number of network "hops" made so far.
This is provided for network software to
avoid infinite delivery loops. This option
and its argument are passed to the delivery
program.
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User Commands mailx(1)
-I Include the newsgroup and article-id header
lines when printing mail messages. This
option requires the -f option to be speci-
fied.
-i Ignore interrupts. See also ignore in Inter-
nal Variables.
-N Do not print initial header summary.
-n Do not initialize from the system default
mailx.rc or Mail.rc file. See USAGE.
-r address Use address as the return address when
invoking the delivery program. All tilde
commands are disabled. This option and its
argument is passed to the delivery program.
-s subject Set the Subject header field to subject.
subject should be enclosed in quotes if it
contains embedded white space.
-T file Message-id and article-id header lines are
recorded in file after the message is read.
This option also sets the -I option.
-t Scan the input for To:, Cc:, and Bcc:
fields. Any recipients on the command line
will be ignored.
-U Convert UUCP-style addresses to internet
standards. Overrides the conv environment
variable.
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User Commands mailx(1)
-u user Read user's mailbox. This is only effective
if user's mailbox is not read protected.
-V Print the mailx version number and exit.
-v Pass the -v flag to sendmail(1M).
-~ Interpret tilde escapes in the input even if
not reading from a tty.
OPERANDS
The following operands are supported:
recipient Addressee of message.
USAGE
Starting Mail
At startup time, mailx executes the system startup file
/etc/mail/mailx.rc. If invoked as mail or Mail, the system
startup file /etc/mail/Mail.rc is used instead.
The system startup file sets up initial display options and
alias lists and assigns values to some internal variables.
These variables are flags and valued parameters which are
set and cleared using the set and unset commands. See Inter-
nal Variables.
With the following exceptions, regular commands are legal
inside startup files: !, Copy, edit, followup, Followup,
hold, mail, preserve, reply, Reply, shell, and visual. An
error in the startup file causes the remaining lines in the
file to be ignored.
After executing the system startup file, the mail utilities
execute the optional personal startup file $HOME/.mailrc,
wherein the user can override the values of the internal
variables as set by the system startup file.
If the -n option is specified, however, the mail utilities
do not execute the system startup file.
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User Commands mailx(1)
Many system administrators include the commands
set appenddeadletter
unset replyall
unset pipeignore
in the system startup files (to be compatible with past
Solaris behavior), but this does not meet standards require-
ments for mailx. To get standard behavior for mailx, users
should use the -n option or include the following commands
in a personal startup file:
unset appenddeadletter
set replyall
set pipeignore
When reading mail, the mail utilities are in command mode. A
header summary of the first several messages is displayed,
followed by a prompt indicating the mail utilities can
accept regular commands (see Commands below). When sending
mail, the mail utilities are in input mode. If no subject is
specified on the command line, and the asksub variable is
set, a prompt for the subject is printed.
As the message is typed, the mail utilities read the message
and store it in a temporary file. Commands may be entered by
beginning a line with the tilde (~) escape character fol-
lowed by a single command letter and optional arguments. See
Tilde Escapes for a summary of these commands.
Reading Mail
Each message is assigned a sequential number, and there is
at any time the notion of a current message, marked by a
right angle bracket (>) in the header summary. Many commands
take an optional list of messages (message-list) to operate
on. In most cases, the current message is set to the
highest-numbered message in the list after the command is
finished executing.
The default for message-list is the current message. A
message-list is a list of message identifiers separated by
spaces, which may include:
n Message number n.
. The current message.
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User Commands mailx(1)
^ The first undeleted message.
$ The last message.
* All messages.
+ The next undeleted message.
- The previous undeleted message.
n-m An inclusive range of message numbers.
user All messages from user.
/string All messages with string in the Subject line
(case ignored).
:c All messages of type c, where c is one of:
d deleted messages
n new messages
o old messages
r read messages
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User Commands mailx(1)
u unread messages
Notice that the context of the command
determines whether this type of message
specification makes sense.
Other arguments are usually arbitrary strings whose usage
depends on the command involved. Filenames, where expected,
are expanded using the normal shell conventions (see sh(1)).
Special characters are recognized by certain commands and
are documented with the commands below.
Sending Mail
Recipients listed on the command line may be of three types:
login names, shell commands, or alias groups. Login names
may be any network address, including mixed network address-
ing. If mail is found to be undeliverable, an attempt is
made to return it to the sender's mailbox. If the recipient
name begins with a pipe symbol ( | ), the rest of the name
is taken to be a shell command to pipe the message through.
This provides an automatic interface with any program that
reads the standard input, such as lp(1) for recording outgo-
ing mail on paper. Alias groups are set by the alias command
(see Commands below) or in a system startup file (for exam-
ple, $HOME/.mailrc). Aliases are lists of recipients of any
type.
Forwarding Mail
To forward a specific message, include it in a message to
the desired recipients with the ~f or ~m tilde escapes. See
Tilde Escapes below. To forward mail automatically, add a
comma-separated list of addresses for additional recipients
to the .forward file in your home directory. This is dif-
ferent from the format of the alias command, which takes a
space-separated list instead. Note: Forwarding addresses
must be valid, or the messages will "bounce." You cannot,
for instance, reroute your mail to a new host by forwarding
it to your new address if it is not yet listed in the NIS
aliases domain.
Commands
Regular commands are of the form
[ command ] [ message-list ] [ arguments ]
In input mode, commands are recognized by the escape charac-
ter, tilde(~), and lines not treated as commands are taken
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User Commands mailx(1)
as input for the message. If no command is specified in com-
mand mode, next is assumed. The following is a complete list
of mailx commands:
!shell-command
Escape to the shell. See SHELL in ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES.
# comment
NULL command (comment). Useful in mailrc files.
=
Print the current message number.
?
Prints a summary of commands.
alias alias name ...
group alias name ...
Declare an alias for the given names. The names are sub-
stituted when alias is used as a recipient. Useful in
the mailrc file. With no arguments, the command displays
the list of defined aliases.
alternates name ...
Declare a list of alternate names for your login. When
responding to a message, these names are removed from
the list of recipients for the response. With no argu-
ments, print the current list of alternate names. See
also allnet in Internal Variables.
cd [directory]
chdir [directory]
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User Commands mailx(1)
Change directory. If directory is not specified, $HOME
is used.
copy [file]
copy [message-list] file
Copy messages to the file without marking the messages
as saved. Otherwise equivalent to the save command.
Copy [message-list]
Save the specified messages in a file whose name is
derived from the author of the message to be saved,
without marking the messages as saved. Otherwise
equivalent to the Save command.
delete [message-list]
Delete messages from the mailbox. If autoprint is set,
the next message after the last one deleted is printed
(see Internal Variables).
discard [header-field...]
ignore [header-field...]
Suppress printing of the specified header fields when
displaying messages on the screen. Examples of header
fields to ignore are Status and Received. The fields are
included when the message is saved, unless the alwaysig-
nore variable is set. The More, Page, Print, and Type
commands override this command. If no header is speci-
fied, the current list of header fields being ignored is
printed. See also the undiscard and unignore commands.
dp [message-list]
dt [message-list]
Delete the specified messages from the mailbox and print
the next message after the last one deleted. Roughly
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User Commands mailx(1)
equivalent to a delete command followed by a print com-
mand.
echo string ...
Echo the given strings (like echo(1)).
edit [message-list]
Edit the given messages. Each message is placed in a
temporary file and the program named by the EDITOR vari-
able is invoked to edit it (see ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES).
Default editor is ed(1).
exit
xit
Exit from mailx, without changing the mailbox. No mes-
sages are saved in the mbox (see also quit).
field [message-list] header-file
Display the value of the header field in the specified
message.
file [file]
folder [file]
Quit from the current file of messages and read in the
specified file. Several special characters are recog-
nized when used as file names:
% the current mailbox.
%user the mailbox for user.
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User Commands mailx(1)
# the previous mail file.
& the current mbox.
+file The named file in the folder directory (listed
in the folder variable).
With no arguments, print the name of the current mail
file, and the number of messages and characters it con-
tains.
folders
Print the names of the files in the directory set by the
folder variable (see Internal Variables).
Followup [message]
Respond to a message, recording the response in a file
whose name is derived from the author of the message.
Overrides the record variable, if set. If the replyall
variable is set, the actions of Followup and followup
are reversed. See also the followup, Save, and Copy com-
mands and outfolder in Internal Variables, and the
Starting Mail section in USAGE above.
followup [message-list]
Respond to the first message in the message-list, send-
ing the message to the author of each message in the
message-list. The subject line is taken from the first
message and the response is recorded in a file whose
name is derived from the author of the first message. If
the replyall variable is set, the actions of followup
and Followup are reversed. See also the Followup, Save,
and Copy commands and outfolder in Internal Variables,
and the Starting Mail section in USAGE above.
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User Commands mailx(1)
from [message-list]
Print the header summary for the specified messages. If
no messages are specified, print the header summary for
the current message.
group alias name ...
alias alias name ...
Declare an alias for the given names. The names are sub-
stituted when alias is used as a recipient. Useful in
the mailrc file.
headers [message]
Print the page of headers which includes the message
specified. The screen variable sets the number of
headers per page (see Internal Variables). See also the
z command.
help
Print a summary of commands.
hold [message-list]
preserve [message-list]
Hold the specified messages in the mailbox.
if s | r | t
mail-commands
else
mail-commands
endif
Conditional execution, where s executes following mail-
commands, up to an else or endif, if the program is in
send mode, r causes the mail-commands to be executed
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User Commands mailx(1)
only in receive mode, and t causes the mail-commands to
be executed only if mailx is being run from a terminal.
Useful in the mailrc file.
inc
Incorporate messages that arrive while you are reading
the system mailbox. The new messages are added to the
message list in the current mail session. This command
does not commit changes made during the session, and
prior messages are not renumbered.
ignore [header-field ...]
discard [header-field ...]
Suppress printing of the specified header fields when
displaying messages on the screen. Examples of header
fields to ignore are Status and Cc. All fields are
included when the message is saved. The More, Page,
Print and Type commands override this command. If no
header is specified, the current list of header fields
being ignored is printed. See also the undiscard and
unignore commands.
list
Print all commands available. No explanation is given.
load
[message] file The specified message is replaced by the
message in the named file. file should contain a single
mail message including mail headers (as saved by the
save command).
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User Commands mailx(1)
mail recipient ...
Mail a message to the specified recipients.
Mail recipient
Mail a message to the specified recipients, and record
it in a file whose name is derived from the author of
the message. Overrides the record variable, if set. See
also the Save and Copy commands and outfolder in Inter-
nal Variables.
mbox [message-list]
Arrange for the given messages to end up in the standard
mbox save file when mailx terminates normally. See MBOX
in ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES for a description of this file.
See also the exit and quit commands.
more [message-list]
page [message-list]
Print the specified messages. If crt is set, the mes-
sages longer than the number of lines specified by the
crt variable are paged through the command specified by
the PAGER variable. The default command is pg(1) or if
the bsdcompat variable is set, the default is more(1).
See ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES. Same as the print and type
commands.
More [message-list]
Page [message-list]
Print the specified messages on the screen, including
all header fields. Overrides suppression of fields by
the ignore command. Same as the Print and Type commands.
new [message-list]
New [message-list]
unread [message-list]
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User Commands mailx(1)
Unread
[message-list] Take a message list and mark each message
as not having been read.
next [message]
Go to the next message matching message. If message is
not supplied, this command finds the next message that
was not deleted or saved. A message-list may be speci-
fied, but in this case the first valid message in the
list is the only one used. This is useful for jumping to
the next message from a specific user, since the name
would be taken as a command in the absence of a real
command. See the discussion of message-list above for a
description of possible message specifications.
pipe [message-list] [shell-command]
| [message-list] [shell-command]
Pipe the message through the given shell-command. The
message is treated as if it were read. If no arguments
are given, the current message is piped through the com-
mand specified by the value of the cmd variable. If the
page variable is set, a form feed character is inserted
after each message (see Internal Variables).
preserve [message-list]
hold [message-list]
Preserve the specified messages in the mailbox.
print [message-list]
type [message-list]
Print the specified messages. If crt is set, the mes-
sages longer than the number of lines specified by the
crt variable are paged through the command specified by
the PAGER variable. The default command is pg(1) or if
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User Commands mailx(1)
the bsdcompat variable is set, the default is more(1).
See ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES. Same as the more and page
commands.
Print [message-list]
Type [message-list]
Print the specified messages on the screen, including
all header fields. Overrides suppression of fields by
the ignore command. Same as the More and Page commands.
put [file]
put [message-list] file
Save the specified message in the given file. Use the
same conventions as the print command for which header
fields are ignored.
Put [file]
Put [message-list] file
Save the specified message in the given file. Overrides
suppression of fields by the ignore command.
quit
Exit from mailx, storing messages that were read in mbox
and unread messages in the mailbox. Messages that have
been explicitly saved in a file are deleted unless the
keepsave variable is set.
reply [message-list]
respond [message-list]
replysender [message-list]
Send a response to the author of each message in the
message-list. The subject line is taken from the first
message. If record is set to a file, a copy of the
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 19 Sep 2001 16
User Commands mailx(1)
reply is added to that file. If the replyall variable is
set, the actions of Reply/Respond and reply/respond are
reversed. The replysender command is not affected by the
replyall variable, but sends each reply only to the
sender of each message. See the Starting Mail section in
USAGE above.
Reply [message]
Respond [message]
replyall [message]
Reply to the specified message, including all other
recipients of that message. If the variable record is
set to a file, a copy of the reply added to that file.
If the replyall variable is set, the actions of
Reply/Respond and reply/respond are reversed. The
replyall command is not affected by the replyall vari-
able, but always sends the reply to all recipients of
the message. See the Starting Mail section in USAGE
above.
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 set of retained
fields specified by the retain command overrides any
list of ignored fields specified by the ignore command.
The Type and Print commands can be used to print a mes-
sage in its entirety. If retain is executed with no
arguments, it lists the current set of retained fields.
Save [message-list]
Save the specified messages in a file whose name is
derived from the author of the first message. The name
of the file is taken to be the author's name with all
network addressing stripped off. See also the Copy, fol-
lowup, and Followup commands and outfolder in Internal
Variables.
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User Commands mailx(1)
save [file]
save [message-list] file
Save the specified messages in the given file. The file
is created if it does not exist. The file defaults to
mbox. The message is deleted from the mailbox when mailx
terminates unless keepsave is set (see also Internal
Variables and the exit and quit commands).
set
set variable
set variable=string
set variable=number
Define a variable. To assign a value to variable,
separate the variable name from the value by an `='
(there must be no space before or after the `='). A
variable may be given a null, string, or numeric value.
To embed SPACE characters within a value, enclose it in
quotes.
With no arguments, set displays all defined variables
and any values they might have. See Internal Variables
for a description of all predefined mail variables.
shell
Invoke an interactive shell. See also SHELL in ENVIRON-
MENT VARIABLES.
size [message-list]
Print the size in characters of the specified messages.
source file
Read commands from the given file and return to command
mode.
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 19 Sep 2001 18
User Commands mailx(1)
top [message-list]
Print the top few lines of the specified messages. If
the toplines variable is set, it is taken as the number
of lines to print (see Internal Variables). The default
is 5.
touch [message-list]
Touch the specified messages. If any message in
message-list is not specifically saved in a file, it is
placed in the mbox, or the file specified in the MBOX
environment variable, upon normal termination. See exit
and quit.
Type [message-list]
Print [message-list]
Print the specified messages on the screen, including
all header fields. Overrides suppression of fields by
the ignore command.
type [message-list]
print [message-list]
Print the specified messages. If crt is set, the mes-
sages longer than the number of lines specified by the
crt variable are paged through the command specified by
the PAGER variable. The default command is pg(1). See
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES.
unalias [alias] ...
ungroup [alias] ...
Remove the definitions of the specified aliases.
undelete [message-list]
Restore the specified deleted messages. Will only
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User Commands mailx(1)
restore messages deleted in the current mail session. If
autoprint is set, the last message of those restored is
printed (see Internal Variables).
undiscard [header-field...]
unignore [header-field...]
Remove the specified header fields from the list being
ignored. If no header fields are specified, all header
fields are removed from the list being ignored.
unretain [header-field...]
Remove the specified header fields from the list being
retained. If no header fields are specified, all header
fields are removed from the list being retained.
unread [message-list]
Unread [message-list] Same as the new command.
unset variable...
Erase the specified variables. If the variable was
imported from the environment (that is, an environment
variable or exported shell variable), it cannot be unset
from within mailx.
version
Print the current version and release date of the mailx
utility.
visual [message-list]
Edit the given messages with a screen editor. Each mes-
sages is placed in a temporary file and the program
named by the VISUAL variable is invoked to edit it (see
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 19 Sep 2001 20
User Commands mailx(1)
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES). Notice that the default visual
editor is vi.
write [message-list] file
Write the given messages on the specified file, minus
the header and trailing blank line. Otherwise equivalent
to the save command.
xit
exit
Exit from mailx, without changing the mailbox. No mes-
sages are saved in the mbox (see also quit).
z[+|-]
Scroll the header display forward or backward one
screen-full. The number of headers displayed is set by
the screen variable (see Internal Variables).
Tilde Escapes
The following tilde escape commands can be used when compos-
ing mail to send. These may be entered only from input mode,
by beginning a line with the tilde escape character (~). See
escape in Internal Variables for changing this special char-
acter. The escape character can be entered as text by typing
it twice.
~!shell-command Escape to the shell. If present, run
shell-command.
~. Simulate end of file (terminate mes-
sage input).
~:mail-command Perform the command-level request.
~_mail-command Valid only when sending a message
while reading mail.
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User Commands mailx(1)
~? Print a summary of tilde escapes.
~A Insert the autograph string Sign
into the message (see Internal Vari-
ables).
~a Insert the autograph string sign
into the message (see Internal Vari-
ables).
~b name ... Add the names to the blind carbon
copy (Bcc) list. This is like the
carbon copy (Cc) list, except that
the names in the Bcc list are not
shown in the header of the mail mes-
sage.
~c name ... Add the names to the carbon copy
(Cc) list.
~d Read in the dead-letter file. See
DEAD in ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES for a
description of this file.
~e Invoke the editor on the partial
message. See also EDITOR in ENVIRON-
MENT VARIABLES.
~f [message-list] Forward the specified message, or
the current message being read.
Valid only when sending a message
while reading mail. The messages are
inserted into the message without
alteration (as opposed to the ~m
escape).
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User Commands mailx(1)
~F [message-list] Forward the specified message, or
the current message being read,
including all header fields. Over-
rides the suppression of fields by
the ignore command.
~h Prompt for Subject line and To, Cc,
and Bcc lists. If the field is
displayed with an initial value, it
may be edited as if you had just
typed it.
~i variable Insert the value of the named vari-
able into the text of the message.
For example, ~A is equivalent to `~i
Sign.' Environment variables set and
exported in the shell are also
accessible by ~i.
~m [message-list] Insert the listed messages, or the
current message being read into the
letter. Valid only when sending a
message while reading mail. The text
of the message is shifted to the
right, and the string contained in
the indentprefix variable is
inserted as the leftmost characters
of each line. If indentprefix is not
set, a TAB character is inserted
into each line.
~M [message-list] Insert the listed messages, or the
current message being read, includ-
ing the header fields, into the
letter. Valid only when sending a
message while reading mail. The text
of the message is shifted to the
right, and the string contained in
the indentprefix variable is
inserted as the leftmost characters
of each line. If indentprefix is not
set, a TAB character is inserted
into each line. Overrides the
suppression of fields by the ignore
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User Commands mailx(1)
command.
~p Print the message being entered.
~q Quit from input mode by simulating
an interrupt. If the body of the
message is not null, the partial
message is saved in dead-letter. See
DEAD in ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES for a
description of this file.
~R Mark message for return receipt.
~r file Read in the specified file. If the
~< file argument begins with an exclamation
~< ! shell-command point (!), the rest of the string is
taken as an arbitrary shell command
and is executed, with the standard
output inserted into the message.
~s string ... Set the subject line to string.
~t name ... Add the given names to the To list.
~v Invoke a preferred screen editor on
the partial message. The default
visual editor is vi(1). See also
VISUAL in ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES.
~w file Write the message into the given
file, without the header.
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 19 Sep 2001 24
User Commands mailx(1)
~x Exit as with ~q except the message
is not saved in dead-letter.
~| shell-command Pipe the body of the message through
the given shell-command. If the
shell-command returns a successful
exit status, the output of the com-
mand replaces the message.
Internal Variables
The following variables are internal variables. They may be
imported from the execution environment or set using the set
command at any time. The unset command may be used to erase
variables.
allnet All network names whose last com-
ponent (login name) match are
treated as identical. This causes
the message-list message specifica-
tions to behave similarly. Disabled
by default. See also the alternates
command and the metoo and fuzzymatch
variables.
alwaysignore Ignore header fields with ignore
everywhere, not just during print or
type. Affects the save, Save, copy,
Copy, top, pipe, and write commands,
and the ~m and ~f tilde escapes.
Enabled by default.
append Upon termination, append messages to
the end of the mbox file instead of
prepending them. Although disabled
by default, append is set in the
system startup file (which can be
suppressed with the -n command line
option).
appenddeadletter Append to the deadletter file rather
than overwrite it. Although disabled
by default, appenddeadletter is
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 19 Sep 2001 25
User Commands mailx(1)
frequently set in the system startup
file. See Starting Mail in USAGE
above.
askbcc Prompt for the Bcc list after the
Subject is entered if it is not
specified on the command line with
the -b option. Disabled by default.
askcc Prompt for the Cc list after the
Subject is entered if it is not
specified on the command line with
the -c option. Disabled by default.
asksub Prompt for subject if it is not
specified on the command line with
the -s option. Enabled by default.
autoinc Automatically incorporate new mes-
sages into the current session as
they arrive. This has an affect
similar to issuing the inc command
every time the command prompt is
displayed. Disabled by default, but
autoinc is set in the default system
startup file for mailx; it is not
set for /usr/ucb/mail or
/usr/ucb/Mail.
autoprint Enable automatic printing of mes-
sages after delete and undelete com-
mands. Disabled by default.
bang Enable the special-casing of excla-
mation points (!) in shell escape
command lines as in vi(1). Disabled
by default.
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 19 Sep 2001 26
User Commands mailx(1)
bsdcompat Set automatically if mailx is
invoked as mail or Mail. Causes
mailx to use /etc/mail/Mail.rc as
the system startup file. Changes the
default pager to more(1).
cmd=shell-command Set the default command for the pipe
command. No default value.
conv=conversion Convert uucp addresses to the speci-
fied address style, which can be
either:
internet This requires a mail
delivery program
conforming to the
RFC822 standard for
electronic mail
addressing.
optimize Remove loops in
uucp(1C) address
paths (typically
generated by the
reply command). No
rerouting is per-
formed; mail has no
knowledge of UUCP
routes or connec-
tions.
Conversion is disabled by default.
See also sendmail(1M) and the -U
command-line option.
crt[=number] Pipe messages having more than
number lines through the command
specified by the value of the PAGER
variable ( pg(1) or more(1) by
default). If number is not speci-
fied, the current window size is
used. Disabled by default.
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 19 Sep 2001 27
User Commands mailx(1)
debug Enable verbose diagnostics for
debugging. Messages are not
delivered. Disabled by default.
dot Take a period on a line by itself,
or EOF during input from a terminal
as end-of-file. Disabled by default,
but dot is set in the system startup
file (which can be suppressed with
the -n command line option).
fcc By default, mailx will treat any
address containing a slash ("/")
character as a local "send to file"
address. By unsetting this option,
this behavior is disabled. Enabled
by default.
flipr Reverse the effect of the
followup/Followup and reply/Reply
command pairs. If both flipr and
replyall are set, the effect is as
if neither was set.
from Extract the author listed in the
header summary from the From: header
instead of the UNIX From line.
Enabled by default.
fuzzymatch The from command searches for mes-
sages from the indicated sender. By
default, the full sender address
must be specified. By setting this
option, only a sub-string of the
sender address need be specified.
Disabled by default.
escape=c Substitute c for the ~ escape char-
acter. Takes effect with next mes-
sage sent.
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 19 Sep 2001 28
User Commands mailx(1)
folder=directory The directory for saving standard
mail files. User-specified file
names beginning with a plus (+) are
expanded by preceding the file name
with this directory name to obtain
the real file name. If directory
does not start with a slash (/),
$HOME is prepended to it. There is
no default for the folder variable.
See also outfolder below.
header Enable printing of the header sum-
mary when entering mailx. Enabled by
default.
hold Preserve all messages that are read
in the mailbox instead of putting
them in the standard mbox save file.
Disabled by default.
ignore Ignore interrupts while entering
messages. Handy for noisy dial-up
lines. Disabled by default.
ignoreeof Ignore end-of-file during message
input. Input must be terminated by a
period (.) on a line by itself or by
the ~. command. See also dot above.
Disabled by default.
indentprefix=string When indentprefix is set, string is
used to mark indented lines from
messages included with ~m. The
default is a TAB character.
keep When the mailbox is empty, truncate
it to zero length instead of remov-
ing it. Disabled by default.
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 19 Sep 2001 29
User Commands mailx(1)
iprompt=string The specified prompt string is
displayed before each line on input
is requested when sending a message.
keepsave Keep messages that have been saved
in other files in the mailbox
instead of deleting them. Disabled
by default.
makeremote When replying to all recipients of a
message, if an address does not
include a machine name, it is
assumed to be relative to the sender
of the message. Normally not needed
when dealing with hosts that support
RFC822.
metoo If your login appears as a reci-
pient, do not delete it from the
list. Disabled by default.
mustbang Force all mail addresses to be in
bang format.
onehop When responding to a message that
was originally sent to several reci-
pients, the other recipient
addresses are normally forced to be
relative to the originating author's
machine for the response. This flag
disables alteration of the reci-
pients' addresses, improving effi-
ciency in a network where all
machines can send directly to all
other machines (that is, one hop
away). Disabled by default.
outfolder Locate the files used to record out-
going messages in the directory
specified by the folder variable
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 19 Sep 2001 30
User Commands mailx(1)
unless the path name is absolute.
Disabled by default. See folder
above and the Save, Copy, followup,
and Followup commands.
page Used with the pipe command to insert
a form feed after each message sent
through the pipe. Disabled by
default.
pipeignore Omit ignored header when outputting
to the pipe command. Although dis-
abled by default, pipeignore is
frequently set in the system startup
file. See Starting Mail in USAGE
above.
postmark Your "real name" to be included in
the From line of messages you send.
By default this is derived from the
comment field in your passwd(4) file
entry.
prompt=string Set the command mode prompt to
string. Default is "? ", unless the
bsdcompat variable is set, then the
default is "&".
quiet Refrain from printing the opening
message and version when entering
mailx. Disabled by default.
record=file Record all outgoing mail in file.
Disabled by default. See also out-
folder above.
replyall Reverse the effect of the reply and
Reply and followup and Followup
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 19 Sep 2001 31
User Commands mailx(1)
commands. Although set by default,
replayall is frequently unset in the
system startup file. See flipr and
Starting Mail in USAGE above.
returnaddr=string The default sender address is that
of the current user. This variable
can be used to set the sender
address to any arbitrary value. Set
with caution.
save Enable saving of messages in dead-
letter on interrupt or delivery
error. See DEAD for a description of
this file. Enabled by default.
screen=number Sets the number of lines in a
screen-full of headers for the
headers command. number must be a
positive number.
The default is set according to baud
rate or window size. With a baud
rate less than 1200, number defaults
to 5, if baud rate is exactly 1200,
it defaults to 10. If you are in a
window, number defaults to the
default window size minus 4. Other-
wise, the default is 20.
sendmail=shell-command Alternate command for delivering
messages. Note: In addition to the
expected list of recipients, mail
also passes the -i and -m, flags to
the command. Since these flags are
not appropriate to other commands,
you may have to use a shell script
that strips them from the arguments
list before invoking the desired
command. Default is /usr/bin/rmail.
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 19 Sep 2001 32
User Commands mailx(1)
sendwait Wait for background mailer to finish
before returning. Disabled by
default.
showname Causes the message header display to
show the sender's real name (if
known) rather than their mail
address. Disabled by default, but
showname is set in the
/etc/mail/mailx.rc system startup
file for mailx.
showto When displaying the header summary
and the message is from you, print
the recipient's name instead of the
author's name.
sign=string The variable inserted into the text
of a message when the ~a (autograph)
command is given. No default (see
also ~i in Tilde Escapes).
`
Sign=string The variable inserted into the text
of a message when the ~A command is
given. No default (see also ~i in
Tilde Escapes).
toplines=number The number of lines of header to
print with the top command. Default
is 5.
verbose Invoke sendmail(1M) with the -v
flag.
translate The name of a program to translate
mail addresses. The program receives
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 19 Sep 2001 33
User Commands mailx(1)
mail addresses as arguments. The
program produces, on the standard
output, lines containing the follow-
ing data, in this order:
o the postmark for the sender
(see the postmark variable)
o translated mail addresses, one
per line, corresponding to the
program's arguments. Each
translated address will replace
the corresponding address in
the mail message being sent.
o a line containing only "y" or
"n". if the line contains "y"
the user will be asked to con-
firm that the message should be
sent.
The translate program will be
invoked for each mail message to be
sent. If the program exits with a
non-zero exit status, or fails to
produce enough output, the message
is not sent.
Large File Behavior
See largefile(5) for the description of the behavior of
mailx when encountering files greater than or equal to 2
Gbyte ( 2**31 bytes).
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
See environ(5) for descriptions of the following environment
variables that affect the execution of mailx: HOME, LANG,
LC_CTYPE, LC_TIME, LC_MESSAGES, NLSPATH, and TERM.
DEAD The name of the file in which to save par-
tial letters in case of untimely interrupt.
Default is $HOME/dead.letter.
EDITOR The command to run when the edit or ~e com-
mand is used. Default is ed(1).
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 19 Sep 2001 34
User Commands mailx(1)
LISTER The command (and options) to use when list-
ing the contents of the folder directory.
The default is ls(1).
MAIL The name of the initial mailbox file to read
(in lieu of the standard system mailbox).
The default is /var/mail/username .
MAILRC The name of the startup file. Default is
$HOME/.mailrc.
MAILX_HEAD The specified string is included at the
beginning of the body of each message that
is sent.
MAILX_TAIL The specified string is included at the end
of the body of each message that is sent.
MBOX The name of the file to save messages which
have been read. The exit command overrides
this function, as does saving the message
explicitly in another file. Default is
$HOME/mbox.
PAGER The command to use as a filter for paginat-
ing output. This can also be used to specify
the options to be used. Default is pg(1),
or if the bsdcompat variable is set, the
default is more(1). See Internal Variables.
SHELL The name of a preferred command interpreter.
Default is sh(1).
VISUAL The name of a preferred screen editor.
Default is vi(1).
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 19 Sep 2001 35
User Commands mailx(1)
EXIT STATUS
When the -e option is specified, the following exit values
are returned:
0 Mail was found.
>0 Mail was not found or an error occurred.
Otherwise, the following exit values are returned:
0 Successful completion. Notice that this status
implies that all messages were sent, but it gives
no assurances that any of them were actually
delivered.
>0 An error occurred
FILES
$HOME/.mailrc personal startup
file
$HOME/mbox secondary storage
file
$HOME/.Maillock lock file to prevent
multiple writers of
system mailbox
/etc/mail/mailx.rc optional system
startup file for
mailx only
/etc/mail/Mail.rc BSD compatibility
system-wide startup
file for
/usr/ucb/mail and
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 19 Sep 2001 36
User Commands mailx(1)
/usr/ucb/Mail
/tmp/R[emqsx]* temporary files
/usr/share/lib/mailx/mailx.help* help message files
/var/mail/* post office direc-
tory
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWcsu |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Interface Stability | Standard |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
biff(1B), echo(1), ed(1), ex(1), fmt(1), lp(1), ls(1),
mail(1), mail(1B), mailcompat(1), more(1), pg(1), sh(1),
uucp(1C), vacation(1), vi(1), newaliases(1M), sendmail(1M),
aliases(4), passwd(4), attributes(5), environ(5), large-
file(5), standards(5)
NOTES
Where shell-command is shown as valid, arguments are not
always allowed. Experimentation is recommended.
Internal variables imported from the execution environment
cannot be unset.
The full internet addressing is not fully supported by
mailx. The new standards need some time to settle down.
Replies do not always generate correct return addresses.
Try resending the errant reply with onehop set.
mailx does not lock your record file. So, if you use a
record file and send two or more messages simultaneously,
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 19 Sep 2001 37
User Commands mailx(1)
lines from the messages may be interleaved in the record
file.
The format for the alias command is a space-separated list
of recipients, while the format for an alias in either the
.forward or /etc/aliases is a comma-separated list.
To read mail on a workstation running Solaris 1.x when your
mail server is running Solaris 2.x, first execute the mail-
compat(1) program.
SunOS 5.10 Last change: 19 Sep 2001 38
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