mailx1p

Send Mode

Send Mode can be used by applications or users to send messages from the text in standard input.

Receive Mode

Receive Mode is more oriented towards interactive users. Mail can be read and sent in this interactive mode.

When reading mail, mailx provides commands to facilitate saving, deleting, and responding to messages. When sending mail, mailx allows editing, reviewing, and other modification of the message as it is entered.

Incoming mail shall be stored in one or more unspecified locations for each user, collectively called the system mailbox for that user. When mailx is invoked in Receive Mode, the system mailbox shall be the default place to find new mail. As messages are read, they shall be marked to be moved to a secondary file for storage, unless specific action is taken. This secondary file is called the mbox and is normally located in the directory referred to by the HOME environment variable (see MBOX in the ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES section for a description of this file). Messages shall remain in this file until explicitly removed. When the -f option is used to read mail messages from secondary files, messages shall be retained in those files unless specifically removed. All three of these locations—system mailbox, mbox, and secondary file—are referred to in this section as simply ``mailboxes'', unless more specific identification is required.

Start-Up in mailx

At start-up time, mailx shall take the following steps in sequence:

1.

Establish all variables at their stated default values.

2.

Process command line options, overriding corresponding default values.

3.

Import any of the DEAD, EDITOR, MBOX, LISTER, PAGER, SHELL, or VISUAL variables that are present in the environment, overriding the corresponding default values.

4.

Read mailx commands from an unspecified system start-up file, unless the -n option is given, to initialize any internal mailx variables and aliases.

5.

Process the user start-up file of mailx commands named in the user MAILRC variable.

Most regular mailx commands are valid inside start-up files, the most common use being to set up initial display options and alias lists. The following commands shall be invalid in a start-up file: !, edit, hold, mail, preserve, reply, Reply, shell, visual, Copy, followup, and Followup. Any errors in a start-up file shall either cause mailx to terminate with a diagnostic message and a non-zero status or to continue after writing a diagnostic message, ignoring the remainder of the lines in the file.

A blank line in a start-up file shall be ignored.

Internal Variables in mailx

The following variables are internal mailx variables. Each internal variable can be set via the mailx set command at any time. The unset and set no name commands can be used to erase variables.

In the following list, variables shown as:

variable

represent Boolean values. Variables shown as:

variable=value

shall be assigned string or numeric values. For string values, the rules in Commands in mailx concerning filenames and quoting shall also apply.

The defaults specified here may be changed by the unspecified system start-up file unless the user specifies the -n option.

allnet

All network names whose login name components match shall be treated as identical. This shall cause the msglist message specifications to behave similarly. The default shall be noallnet. See also the alternates command and the metoo variable.

append

Append messages to the end of the mbox file upon termination instead of placing them at the beginning. The default shall be noappend. This variable shall not affect the save command when saving to mbox.

ask, asksub

Prompt for a subject line on outgoing mail if one is not specified on the command line with the -s option. The ask and asksub forms are synonyms; the system shall refer to asksub and noasksub in its messages, but shall accept ask and noask as user input to mean asksub and noasksub. It shall not be possible to set both ask and noasksub, or noask and asksub. The default shall be asksub, but no prompting shall be done if standard input is not a terminal.

askbcc

Prompt for the blind copy list. The default shall be noaskbcc.

askcc

Prompt for the copy list. The default shall be noaskcc.

autoprint

Enable automatic writing of messages after delete and undelete commands. The default shall be noautoprint.

bang

Enable the special-case treatment of <exclamation-mark> characters ('!') in escape command lines; see the escape command and Command Escapes in mailx. The default shall be nobang, disabling the expansion of '!' in the command argument to the ~! command and the ~<! command escape.

cmd=command

Set the default command to be invoked by the pipe command. The default shall be nocmd.

crt=number

Pipe messages having more than number lines through the command specified by the value of the PAGER variable. The default shall be nocrt. If it is set to null, the value used is implementation-defined.

debug

Enable verbose diagnostics for debugging. Messages are not delivered. The default shall be nodebug.

dot

When dot is set, a <period> on a line by itself during message input from a terminal shall also signify end-of-file (in addition to normal end-of-file). The default shall be nodot. If ignoreeof is set (see below), a setting of nodot shall be ignored and the <period> is the only method to terminate input mode.

escape=c

Set the command escape character to be the character 'c'. By default, the command escape character shall be <tilde>. If escape is unset, <tilde> shall be used; if it is set to null, command escaping shall be disabled.

flipr

Reverse the meanings of the R and r commands. The default shall be noflipr.

folder=directory

The default directory for saving mail files. User-specified filenames beginning with a <plus-sign> ('+') shall be expanded by preceding the filename with this directory name to obtain the real pathname. If directory does not start with a <slash> ('/'), the contents of HOME shall be prefixed to it. The default shall be nofolder. If folder is unset or set to null, user-specified filenames beginning with '+' shall refer to files in the current directory that begin with the literal '+' character. See also outfolder below. The folder value need not affect the processing of the files named in MBOX and DEAD.

header

Enable writing of the header summary when entering mailx in Receive Mode. The default shall be header.

hold

Preserve all messages that are read in the system mailbox instead of putting them in the mbox save file. The default shall be nohold.

ignore

Ignore interrupts while entering messages. The default shall be noignore.

ignoreeof

Ignore normal end-of-file during message input. Input can be terminated only by entering a <period> ('.') on a line by itself or by the ~. command escape. The default shall be noignoreeof. See also dot above.

indentprefix=string

A string that shall be added as a prefix to each line that is inserted into the message by the ~m command escape. This variable shall default to one <tab>.

keep

When a system mailbox, secondary mailbox, or mbox is empty, truncate it to zero length instead of removing it. The default shall be nokeep.

keepsave

Keep the messages that have been saved from the system mailbox into other files in the file designated by the variable MBOX, instead of deleting them. The default shall be nokeepsave.

metoo

Suppress the deletion of the login name of the user from the recipient list when replying to a message or sending to a group. The default shall be nometoo.

onehop

When responding to a message that was originally sent to several recipients, 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 recipients' addresses, improving efficiency in a network where all machines can send directly to all other machines (that is, one hop away). The default shall be noonehop.

outfolder

Cause the files used to record outgoing messages to be located in the directory specified by the folder variable unless the pathname is absolute. The default shall be nooutfolder. See the record variable.

page

Insert a <form-feed> after each message sent through the pipe created by the pipe command. The default shall be nopage.

prompt=string

Set the command-mode prompt to string. If string is null or if noprompt is set, no prompting shall occur. The default shall be to prompt with the string "? ".

quiet

Refrain from writing the opening message and version when entering mailx. The default shall be noquiet.

record=file

Record all outgoing mail in the file with the pathname file. The default shall be norecord. See also outfolder above.

save

Enable saving of messages in the dead-letter file on interrupt or delivery error. See the variable DEAD for the location of the dead-letter file. The default shall be save.

screen=number

Set the number of lines in a screenful of headers for the headers and z commands. If screen is not specified, a value based on the terminal type identified by the TERM environment variable, the window size, the baud rate, or some combination of these shall be used.

sendwait

Wait for the background mailer to finish before returning. The default shall be nosendwait.

showto

When the sender of the message was the user who is invoking mailx, write the information from the To: line instead of the From: line in the header summary. The default shall be noshowto.

sign=string

Set the variable inserted into the text of a message when the ~a command escape is given. The default shall be nosign. The character sequences '\t' and '\n' shall be recognized in the variable as <tab> and <newline> characters, respectively. (See also ~i in Command Escapes in mailx.)

Sign=string

Set the variable inserted into the text of a message when the ~A command escape is given. The default shall be noSign. The character sequences '\t' and '\n' shall be recognized in the variable as <tab> and <newline> characters, respectively.

toplines=number

Set the number of lines of the message to write with the top command. The default shall be 5.

Commands in mailx

The following mailx commands shall be provided. In the following list, header refers to lines from the message header, as shown in the OUTPUT FILES section. Header-line refers to lines within the header that begin with one or more non-white-space characters, immediately followed by a <colon> and white space and continuing until the next line beginning with a non-white-space character or an empty line. Header-field refers to the portion of a header line prior to the first <colon> in that line.

For each of the commands listed below, the command can be entered as the abbreviation (those characters in the Synopsis command word preceding the '['), the full command (all characters shown for the command word, omitting the '[' and ']'), or any truncation of the full command down to the abbreviation. For example, the exit command (shown as ex[it] in the Synopsis) can be entered as ex, exi, or exit.

The arguments to commands can be quoted, using the following methods:

*

An argument can be enclosed between paired double-quotes ("") or single-quotes (''); any white space, shell word expansion, or <backslash> characters within the quotes shall be treated literally as part of the argument. A double-quote shall be treated literally within single-quotes and vice versa. These special properties of the <quotation-mark> characters shall occur only when they are paired at the beginning and end of the argument.

*

A <backslash> outside of the enclosing quotes shall be discarded and the following character treated literally as part of the argument.

*

An unquoted <backslash> at the end of a command line shall be discarded and the next line shall continue the command.

Filenames, where expected, shall be subjected to the following transformations, in sequence:

*

If the filename begins with an unquoted <plus-sign>, and the folder variable is defined (see the folder variable), the <plus-sign> shall be replaced by the value of the folder variable followed by a <slash>. If the folder variable is unset or is set to null, the filename shall be unchanged.

*

Shell word expansions shall be applied to the filename (see Section 2.6, Word Expansions). If more than a single pathname results from this expansion and the command is expecting one file, the effects are unspecified.

Declare Aliases

Synopsis:

a[lias] [alias [address...]]
g[roup] [alias [address...]]

Add the given addresses to the alias specified by alias. The names shall be substituted when alias is used as a recipient address specified by the user in an outgoing message (that is, other recipients addressed indirectly through the reply command shall not be substituted in this manner). Mail address alias substitution shall apply only when the alias string is used as a full address; for example, when hlj is an alias, [email protected] does not trigger the alias substitution. If no arguments are given, write a listing of the current aliases to standard output. If only an alias argument is given, write a listing of the specified alias to standard output. These listings need not reflect the same order of addresses that were entered.

Declare Alternatives

Synopsis:

alt[ernates] name...

(See also the metoo variable.) Declare a list of alternative names for the user's login. When responding to a message, these names shall be removed from the list of recipients for the response. The comparison of names shall be in a case-insensitive manner. With no arguments, alternates shall write the current list of alternative names.

Change Current Directory

Synopsis:

cd [directory]
ch[dir] [directory]

Change directory. If directory is not specified, the contents of HOME shall be used.

Copy Messages

Synopsis:

c[opy] [file]
c[opy] [msglist] file
C[opy] [msglist]

Copy messages to the file named by the pathname file without marking the messages as saved. Otherwise, it shall be equivalent to the save command.

In the capitalized form, 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, it shall be equivalent to the Save command.

Delete Messages

Synopsis:

d[elete] [msglist]

Mark messages for deletion from the mailbox. The deletions shall not occur until mailx quits (see the quit command) or changes mailboxes (see the folder command). If autoprint is set and there are messages remaining after the delete command, the current message shall be written as described for the print command (see the print command); otherwise, the mailx prompt shall be written.

Discard Header Fields

Synopsis:

di[scard] [header-field...]
ig[nore] [header-field...]

Suppress the specified header fields when writing messages. Specified header-fields shall be added to the list of suppressed header fields. Examples of header fields to ignore are status and cc. The fields shall be included when the message is saved. The Print and Type commands shall override this command. The comparison of header fields shall be in a case-insensitive manner. If no arguments are specified, write a list of the currently suppressed header fields to standard output; the listing need not reflect the same order of header fields that were entered.

If both retain and discard commands are given, discard commands shall be ignored.

Delete Messages and Display

Synopsis:

dp [msglist]
dt [msglist]

Delete the specified messages as described for the delete command, except that the autoprint variable shall have no effect, and the current message shall be written only if it was set to a message after the last message deleted by the command. Otherwise, an informational message to the effect that there are no further messages in the mailbox shall be written, followed by the mailx prompt.

Echo a String

Synopsis:

ec[ho] string ...

Echo the given strings, equivalent to the shell echo utility.

Edit Messages

Synopsis:

e[dit] [msglist]

Edit the given messages. The messages shall be placed in a temporary file and the utility named by the EDITOR variable is invoked to edit each file in sequence. The default EDITOR is unspecified.

The edit command does not modify the contents of those messages in the mailbox.

Exit

Synopsis:

ex[it]
x[it]

Exit from mailx without changing the mailbox. No messages shall be saved in the mbox (see also quit).

Change Folder

Synopsis:

fi[le] [file]
fold[er] [file]

Quit (see the quit command) from the current file of messages and read in the file named by the pathname file. If no argument is given, the name and status of the current mailbox shall be written.

Several unquoted special characters shall be recognized when used as file names, with the following substitutions:

The default file shall be the current mailbox.

Display List of Folders

Synopsis:

folders

Write the names of the files in the directory set by the folder variable. The command specified by the LISTER environment variable shall be used (see the ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES section).

Follow Up Specified Messages

Synopsis:

fo[llowup] [message]
F[ollowup] [msglist]

In the lowercase form, respond to a message, recording the response in a file whose name is derived from the author of the message. See also the save and copy commands and outfolder.

In the capitalized form, respond to the first message in the msglist, sending the message to the author of each message in the msglist. The subject line shall be taken from the first message and the response shall be recorded in a file whose name is derived from the author of the first message. See also the Save and Copy commands and outfolder.

Both forms shall override the record variable, if set.

Display Header Summary for Specified Messages

Synopsis:

f[rom] [msglist]

Write the header summary for the specified messages.

Display Header Summary

Synopsis:

h[eaders] [message]

Write the page of headers that includes the message specified. If the message argument is not specified, the current message shall not change. However, if the message argument is specified, the current message shall become the message that appears at the top of the page of headers that includes the message specified. The screen variable sets the number of headers per page. See also the z command.

Help

Synopsis:

hel[p]
?

Write a summary of commands.

Hold Messages

Synopsis:

ho[ld] [msglist]
pre[serve] [msglist]

Mark the messages in msglist to be retained in the mailbox when mailx terminates. This shall override any commands that might previously have marked the messages to be deleted. During the current invocation of mailx, only the delete, dp, or dt commands shall remove the preserve marking of a message.

Execute Commands Conditionally

Synopsis:

i[f] s|r
mail-commands
el[se]
mail-commands
en[dif]

Execute commands conditionally, where if s executes the following mail-commands, up to an else or endif, if the program is in Send Mode, and if r shall cause the mail-commands to be executed only in Receive Mode.

List Available Commands

Synopsis:

l[ist]

Write a list of all commands available. No explanation shall be given.

Mail a Message

Synopsis:

m[ail] address...

Mail a message to the specified addresses or aliases.

Direct Messages to mbox

Synopsis:

mb[ox] [msglist]

Arrange for the given messages to end up in the mbox save file when mailx terminates normally. See MBOX. See also the exit and quit commands.

Process Next Specified Message

Synopsis:

n[ext] [message]

If the current message has not been written (for example, by the print command) since mailx started or since any other message was the current message, behave as if the print command was entered. Otherwise, if there is an undeleted message after the current message, make it the current message and behave as if the print command was entered. Otherwise, an informational message to the effect that there are no further messages in the mailbox shall be written, followed by the mailx prompt. Should the current message location be the result of an immediately preceding hold, mbox, preserve, or touch command, next will act as if the current message has already been written.

Pipe Message

Synopsis:

pi[pe] [[msglist] command]
| [[msglist] command]

Pipe the messages through the given command by invoking the command interpreter specified by SHELL with two arguments: -c and command. (See also sh -c.) The application shall ensure that the command is given as a single argument. Quoting, described previously, can be used to accomplish this. If no arguments are given, the current message shall be piped through the command specified by the value of the cmd variable. If the page variable is set, a <form-feed> shall be inserted after each message.

Display Message with Headers

Synopsis:

P[rint] [msglist]
T[ype] [msglist]

Write the specified messages, including all header lines, to standard output. Override suppression of lines by the discard, ignore, and retain commands. If crt is set, the messages longer than the number of lines specified by the crt variable shall be paged through the command specified by the PAGER environment variable.

Display Message

Synopsis:

p[rint] [msglist]
t[ype] [msglist]

Write the specified messages to standard output. If crt is set, the messages longer than the number of lines specified by the crt variable shall be paged through the command specified by the PAGER environment variable.

Quit

Synopsis:

q[uit]
end-of-file

Terminate mailx, storing messages that were read in mbox (if the current mailbox is the system mailbox and unless hold is set), deleting messages that have been explicitly saved (unless keepsave is set), discarding messages that have been deleted, and saving all remaining messages in the mailbox.

Reply to a Message List

Synopsis:

R[eply] [msglist]
R[espond] [msglist]

Mail a reply message to the sender of each message in the msglist. The subject line shall be formed by concatenating Re: <space> (unless it already begins with that string) and the subject from the first message. If record is set to a filename, the response shall be saved at the end of that file.

See also the flipr variable.

Reply to a Message

Synopsis:

r[eply] [message]
r[espond] [message]

Mail a reply message to all recipients included in the header of the message. The subject line shall be formed by concatenating Re: <space> (unless it already begins with that string) and the subject from the message. If record is set to a filename, the response shall be saved at the end of that file.

See also the flipr variable.

Retain Header Fields

Synopsis:

ret[ain] [header-field...]

Retain the specified header fields when writing messages. This command shall override all discard and ignore commands. The comparison of header fields shall be in a case-insensitive manner. If no arguments are specified, write a list of the currently retained header fields to standard output; the listing need not reflect the same order of header fields that were entered.

Save Messages

Synopsis:

s[ave] [file]
s[ave] [msglist] file
S[ave] [msglist]

Save the specified messages in the file named by the pathname file, or the mbox if the file argument is omitted. The file shall be created if it does not exist; otherwise, the messages shall be appended to the file. The message shall be put in the state saved, and shall behave as specified in the description of the saved state when the current mailbox is exited by the quit or file command.

In the capitalized form, save the specified messages in a file whose name is derived from the author of the first message. The name of the file shall be taken to be the author's name with all network addressing stripped off. See also the Copy, followup, and Followup commands and outfolder variable.

Set Variables

Synopsis:

se[t] [name[=[string]] ...] [name=number ...] [noname ...]

Define one or more variables called name. The variable can be given a null, string, or numeric value. Quoting and <backslash>-escapes can occur anywhere in string, as described previously, as if the string portion of the argument were the entire argument. The forms name and name= shall be equivalent to name="" for variables that take string values. The set command without arguments shall write a list of all defined variables and their values. The no name form shall be equivalent to unset name.

Invoke a Shell

Synopsis:

sh[ell]

Invoke an interactive command interpreter (see also SHELL).

Display Message Size

Synopsis:

si[ze] [msglist]

Write the size in bytes of each of the specified messages.

Read mailx Commands From a File

Synopsis:

so[urce] file

Read and execute commands from the file named by the pathname file and return to command mode.

Display Beginning of Messages

Synopsis:

to[p] [msglist]

Write the top few lines of each of the specified messages. If the toplines variable is set, it is taken as the number of lines to write. The default shall be 5.

Touch Messages

Synopsis:

tou[ch] [msglist]

Touch the specified messages. If any message in msglist is not specifically deleted nor saved in a file, it shall be placed in the mbox upon normal termination. See exit and quit.

Delete Aliases

Synopsis:

una[lias] [alias]...

Delete the specified alias names. If a specified alias does not exist, the results are unspecified.

Undelete Messages

Synopsis:

u[ndelete] [msglist]

Change the state of the specified messages from deleted to read. If autoprint is set, the last message of those restored shall be written. If msglist is not specified, the message shall be selected as follows:

*

If there are any deleted messages that follow the current message, the first of these shall be chosen.

*

Otherwise, the last deleted message that also precedes the current message shall be chosen.

Unset Variables

Synopsis:

uns[et] name...

Cause the specified variables to be erased.

Edit Message with Full-Screen Editor

Synopsis:

v[isual] [msglist]

Edit the given messages with a screen editor. Each message shall be placed in a temporary file, and the utility named by the VISUAL variable shall be invoked to edit each file in sequence. The default editor shall be vi.

The visual command does not modify the contents of those messages in the mailbox.

Write Messages to a File

Synopsis:

w[rite] [msglist] file

Write the given messages to the file specified by the pathname file, minus the message header. Otherwise, it shall be equivalent to the save command.

Scroll Header Display

Synopsis:

z[+|-]

Scroll the header display forward (if '+' is specified or if no option is specified) or backward (if '-' is specified) one screenful. The number of headers written shall be set by the screen variable.

Invoke Shell Command

Synopsis:

!command

Invoke the command interpreter specified by SHELL with two arguments: -c and command. (See also sh -c.) If the bang variable is set, each unescaped occurrence of '!' in command shall be replaced with the command executed by the previous ! command or ~! command escape.

Null Command

Synopsis:

# comment

This null command (comment) shall be ignored by mailx.

Display Current Message Number

Synopsis:

=

Write the current message number.

Command Escapes in mailx

The following commands can be entered only from input mode, by beginning a line with the escape character (by default, <tilde> ('~')). See the escape variable description for changing this special character. The format for the commands shall be:

<escape-character><command-char><separator>[<arguments>]

where the <separator> can be zero or more <blank> characters.

In the following descriptions, the application shall ensure that the argument command (but not mailx-command) is a shell command string. Any string acceptable to the command interpreter specified by the SHELL variable when it is invoked as SHELL -c command_string shall be valid. The command can be presented as multiple arguments (that is, quoting is not required).

Command escapes that are listed with msglist or mailx-command arguments are invalid in Send Mode and produce unspecified results.

~! command

Invoke the command interpreter specified by SHELL with two arguments: -c and command; and then return to input mode. If the bang variable is set, each unescaped occurrence of '!' in command shall be replaced with the command executed by the previous ! command or ~! command escape.

~.

Simulate end-of-file (terminate message input).

~: mailx-command, ~_ mailx-command

Perform the command-level request.

~?

Write a summary of command escapes.

~A

This shall be equivalent to ~i Sign.

~a

This shall be equivalent to ~i sign.

~b name...

Add the names to the blind carbon copy (Bcc) list.

~c name...

Add the names to the carbon copy (Cc) list.

~d

Read in the dead-letter file. See DEAD for a description of this file.

~e

Invoke the editor, as specified by the EDITOR environment variable, on the partial message.

~f [msglist]

Forward the specified messages. The specified messages shall be inserted into the current message without alteration. This command escape also shall insert message headers into the message with field selection affected by the discard, ignore, and retain commands.

~F [msglist]

This shall be the equivalent of the ~f command escape, except that all headers shall be included in the message, regardless of previous discard, ignore, and retain commands.

~h

If standard input is a terminal, prompt for a Subject line and the To, Cc, and Bcc lists. Other implementation-defined headers may also be presented for editing. If the field is written with an initial value, it can be edited as if it had just been typed.

~i string

Insert the value of the named variable, followed by a <newline>, into the text of the message. If the string is unset or null, the message shall not be changed.

~m [msglist]

Insert the specified messages into the message, prefixing non-empty lines with the string in the indentprefix variable. This command escape also shall insert message headers into the message, with field selection affected by the discard, ignore, and retain commands.

~M [msglist]

This shall be the equivalent of the ~m command escape, except that all headers shall be included in the message, regardless of previous discard, ignore, and retain commands.

~p

Write the message being entered. If the message is longer than crt lines (see Internal Variables in mailx), the output shall be paginated as described for the PAGER variable.

~q

Quit (see the quit command) from input mode by simulating an interrupt. If the body of the message is not empty, the partial message shall be saved in the dead-letter file. See DEAD for a description of this file.

~r file, ~< file, ~r !command, ~< !command

Read in the file specified by the pathname file. If the argument begins with an <exclamation-mark> ('!'), the rest of the string shall be taken as an arbitrary system command; the command interpreter specified by SHELL shall be invoked with two arguments: -c and command. The standard output of command shall be inserted into the message.

~s string

Set the subject line to string.

~t name...

Add the given names to the To list.

~v

Invoke the full-screen editor, as specified by the VISUAL environment variable, on the partial message.

~w file

Write the partial message, without the header, onto the file named by the pathname file. The file shall be created or the message shall be appended to it if the file exists.

~x

Exit as with ~q, except the message shall not be saved in the dead-letter file.

~| command

Pipe the body of the message through the given command by invoking the command interpreter specified by SHELL with two arguments: -c and command. If the command returns a successful exit status, the standard output of the command shall replace the message. Otherwise, the message shall remain unchanged. If the command fails, an error message giving the exit status shall be written.