1043 lines
29 KiB
Plaintext
1043 lines
29 KiB
Plaintext
.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1993
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.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
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.\"
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.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
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.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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.\" are met:
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.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
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.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
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.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
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.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
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.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
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.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
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.\" must display the following acknowledgement:
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.\" This product includes software developed by the University of
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.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
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.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
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.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
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.\" without specific prior written permission.
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.\"
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.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
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.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
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.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
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.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
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.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
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.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
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.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
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.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
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.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
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.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
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.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
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.\"
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.\" @(#)mail5.nr 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/8/93
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.\" $FreeBSD$
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.\"
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.bp
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.sh 1 "Additional features"
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.pp
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This section describes some additional commands useful for
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reading your mail, setting options, and handling lists of messages.
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.sh 2 "Message lists"
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.pp
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Several
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.i Mail
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commands accept a list of messages as an argument.
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Along with
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.b type
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and
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.b delete ,
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described in section 2,
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there is the
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.b from
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command, which prints the message headers associated with the
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message list passed to it.
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The
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.b from
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command is particularly useful in conjunction with some of the
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message list features described below.
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.pp
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A
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.i "message list"
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consists of a list of message numbers, ranges, and names,
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separated by spaces or tabs. Message numbers may be either
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decimal numbers, which directly specify messages, or one of the
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special characters
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.q \(ua
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.q "."
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or
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.q "$"
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to specify the first relevant, current, or last
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relevant message, respectively.
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.i Relevant
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here means, for most commands
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.q "not deleted"
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and
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.q "deleted"
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for the
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.b undelete
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command.
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.pp
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A range of messages consists of two message numbers (of the form
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described in the previous paragraph) separated by a dash.
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Thus, to print the first four messages, use
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.(l
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type 1\-4
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.)l
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and to print all the messages from the current message to the last
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message, use
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.(l
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type .\-$
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.)l
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.pp
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A
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.i name
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is a user name. The user names given in the message list are
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collected together and each message selected by other means
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is checked to make sure it was sent by one of the named users.
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If the message consists entirely of user names, then every
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message sent by one of those users that is
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.i relevant
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(in the sense described earlier)
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is selected. Thus, to print every message sent to you by
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.q root,
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do
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.(l
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type root
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.)l
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.pp
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As a shorthand notation, you can specify simply
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.q *
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to get every
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.i relevant
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(same sense)
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message. Thus,
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.(l
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type *
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.)l
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prints all undeleted messages,
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.(l
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delete *
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.)l
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deletes all undeleted messages, and
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.(l
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undelete *
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.)l
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undeletes all deleted messages.
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.pp
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You can search for the presence of a word in subject lines with
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.b / .
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For example, to print the headers of all messages that contain the
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word
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.q PASCAL,
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do:
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.(l
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from /pascal
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.)l
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Note that subject searching ignores upper/lower case differences.
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.sh 2 "List of commands"
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.pp
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This section describes all the
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.i Mail
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commands available when
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receiving mail.
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.ip "\fB\-\fP\ \ "
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The
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.rb \-
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command goes to the previous message and prints it. The
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.rb \-
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command may be given a decimal number
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.i n
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as an argument, in which case the
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.i n th
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previous message is gone to and printed.
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.ip "\fB?\fP\ \ "
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Prints a brief summary of commands.
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.ip "\fB!\fP\ \ "
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Used to preface a command to be executed by the shell.
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.ip "\fBPrint\fP\ \ "
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Like
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.b print ,
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but also print out ignored header fields. See also
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\fBprint\fP, \fBignore\fP and \fBretain\fP.
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\fBPrint\fP can be abbreviated to \fBP\fP.
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.ip "\fBReply\fP or \fBRespond\fP\ \ "
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Note the capital \fBR\fP in the name.
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Frame a reply to a one or more messages.
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The reply (or replies if you are using this on multiple messages)
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will be sent ONLY to the person who sent you the message
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(respectively, the set of people who sent the messages you are
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replying to).
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You can
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add people using the \fB~t\fP, \fB~c\fP and \fB~b\fP
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tilde escapes. The subject in your reply is formed by prefacing the
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subject in the original message with
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.q "Re:"
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unless it already began thus.
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If the original message included a
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.q "reply-to"
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header field, the reply will go
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.i only
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to the recipient named by
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.q "reply-to."
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You type in your message using the same conventions available to you
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through the
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.b mail
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command.
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The
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.b Reply
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command is especially useful for replying to messages that were sent
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to enormous distribution groups when you really just want to
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send a message to the originator. Use it often.
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\fBReply\fP (and \fBRespond\fP) can be abbreviated to \fBR\fP.
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.ip "\fBType\fP\ \ "
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Identical to the
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.b Print
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command.
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\fBType\fP can be abbreviated to \fBT\fP.
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.ip "\fBalias\fP\ \ "
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Define a name to stand for a set of other names.
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This is used when you want to send messages to a certain
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group of people and want to avoid retyping their names.
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For example
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.(l
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alias project john sue willie kathryn
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.)l
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creates an alias
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.i project
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which expands to the four people John, Sue, Willie, and Kathryn.
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If no arguments are given, all currently-defined aliases are printed.
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If one argument is given, that alias is printed (if it exists).
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\fBAlias\fP can be abbreviated to \fBa\fP.
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.ip "\fBalternates\fP\ \ "
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If you have accounts on several machines, you may find it convenient
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to use the /usr/lib/aliases on all the machines except one to direct
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your mail to a single account.
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The
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.b alternates
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command is used to inform
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.i Mail
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that each of these other addresses is really
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.i you .
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.i Alternates
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takes a list of user names and remembers that they are all actually you.
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When you
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.b reply
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to messages that were sent to one of these alternate names,
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.i Mail
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will not bother to send a copy of the message to this other address (which
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would simply be directed back to you by the alias mechanism).
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If
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.i alternates
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is given no argument, it lists the current set of alternate names.
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.b Alternates
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is usually used in the .mailrc file.
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\fBAlternates\fP can be abbreviated to \fBalt\fP.
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.ip "\fBchdir\fP\ \ "
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The
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.b chdir
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command allows you to change your current directory.
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.b Chdir
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takes a single argument, which is taken to be the pathname of
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the directory to change to. If no argument is given,
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.b chdir
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changes to your home directory.
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\fBChdir\fP can be abbreviated to \fBc\fP.
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.ip "\fBcopy\fP\ \ "
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The
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.b copy
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command does the same thing that
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.b save
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does, except that it does not mark the messages it is used on
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for deletion when you quit.
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\fBCopy\fP can be abbreviated to \fBco\fP.
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.ip "\fBdelete\fP\ \ "
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Deletes a list of messages. Deleted messages can be reclaimed
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with the
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.b undelete
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command.
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|
\fBDelete\fP can be abbreviated to \fBd\fP.
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.ip "\fBdp\fP or \fBdt\fP\ \ "
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|
These
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commands delete the current message and print the next message.
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|
They are useful for quickly reading and disposing of mail.
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|
If there is no next message, \fImail\fP says ``at EOF.''
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|
.ip "\fBedit\fP\ \ "
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|
To edit individual messages using the text editor, the
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.b edit
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command is provided. The
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.b edit
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command takes a list of messages as described under the
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.b type
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command and processes each by writing it into the file
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Message\c
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.i x
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where
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.i x
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is the message number being edited and executing the text editor on it.
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When you have edited the message to your satisfaction, write the message
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out and quit, upon which
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.i Mail
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will read the message back and remove the file.
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.b Edit
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can be abbreviated to
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.b e .
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|
.ip "\fBelse\fP\ \ "
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Marks the end of the then-part of an
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.b if
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statement and the beginning of the
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part to take effect if the condition of the
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.b if
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statement is false.
|
|
.ip "\fBendif\fP\ \ "
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Marks the end of an
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.b if
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statement.
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|
.ip "\fBexit\fP or \fBxit\fP\ \ "
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|
Leave
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.i Mail
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without updating the system mailbox or the file your were reading.
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Thus, if you accidentally delete several messages, you can use
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.b exit
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|
to avoid scrambling your mailbox.
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|
\fBExit\fP can be abbreviated to \fBex\fP or \fBx\fP.
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.ip "\fBfile\fP\ \ "
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The same as
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.b folder .
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\fBFile\fP can be abbreviated to \fBfi\fP.
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.ip "\fBfolders\fP\ \ "
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List the names of the folders in your folder directory.
|
|
.ip "\fBfolder\fP\ \ "
|
|
The
|
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.b folder
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command switches to a new mail file or folder. With no arguments, it
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tells you which file you are currently reading. If you give
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it an argument, it will write out changes (such as deletions)
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you have made in the current file and read the new file.
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Some special conventions are recognized for the name:
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.(b
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.TS
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center;
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c c
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l a.
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Name Meaning
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_
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# Previous file read
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% Your system mailbox
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%name \fIName\fP's system mailbox
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& Your ~/mbox file
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+folder A file in your folder directory
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.TE
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.)b
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\fBFolder\fP can be abbreviated to \fBfo\fP.
|
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.ip "\fBfrom\fP\ \ "
|
|
The
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.b from
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command takes a list of messages and prints out the header lines for each one;
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hence
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.(l
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|
from joe
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.)l
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is the easy way to display all the message headers from \*(lqjoe.\*(rq
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\fBFrom\fP can be abbreviated to \fBf\fP.
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.ip "\fBheaders\fP\ \ "
|
|
When you start up
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.i Mail
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to read your mail, it lists the message headers that you have.
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These headers tell you who each message is from, when they were
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received, how many lines and characters each message is, and the
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.q "Subject:"
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header field of each message, if present. In addition,
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.i Mail
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tags the message header of each message that has been the object
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of the
|
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.b preserve
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command with a
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.q P.
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Messages that have been
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.b saved
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or
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.b written
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|
are flagged with a
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.q *.
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Finally,
|
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.b deleted
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messages are not printed at all. If you wish to reprint the current
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list of message headers, you can do so with the
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.b headers
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command. The
|
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.b headers
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command (and thus the initial header listing)
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|
only lists the first so many message headers.
|
|
The number of headers listed depends on the speed of your
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terminal.
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This can be overridden by specifying the number of headers you
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want with the
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.i window
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option.
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.i Mail
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maintains a notion of the current
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.q window
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into your messages for the purposes of printing headers.
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|
Use the
|
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.b z
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command to move forward and back a window.
|
|
You can move
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|
.i Mail's
|
|
notion of the current window directly to a particular message by
|
|
using, for example,
|
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.(l
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headers 40
|
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.)l
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|
to move
|
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.i Mail's
|
|
attention to the messages around message 40.
|
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If a ``+'' argument is given, then the next screenful of message headers is
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printed, and if a ``\-'' argument is given, the previous screenful of message
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headers is printed.
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\fBHeaders\fP can be abbreviated to \fBh\fP.
|
|
.ip "\fBhelp\fP\ \ "
|
|
Print a brief and usually out of date help message about the commands
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|
in
|
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.i Mail .
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|
The
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.i man
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|
page for
|
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.i mail
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|
is usually more up-to-date than either the help message or this manual.
|
|
It is also a synonym for \fB?\fP.
|
|
.ip "\fBhold\fP\ \ "
|
|
Arrange to hold a list of messages in the system mailbox, instead
|
|
of moving them to the file
|
|
.i mbox
|
|
in your home directory. If you set the binary option
|
|
.i hold ,
|
|
this will happen by default.
|
|
It does not override the \fBdelete\fP command.
|
|
\fBHold\fP can be abbreviated to \fBho\fP.
|
|
.ip "\fBif\fP\ \ "
|
|
Commands in your
|
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.q .mailrc
|
|
file can be executed conditionally depending on whether you are
|
|
sending or receiving mail with the
|
|
.b if
|
|
command. For example, you can do:
|
|
.(l
|
|
if receive
|
|
\fIcommands\fP...
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endif
|
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.)l
|
|
An
|
|
.b else
|
|
form is also available:
|
|
.(l
|
|
if send
|
|
\fIcommands\fP...
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|
else
|
|
\fIcommands\fP...
|
|
endif
|
|
.)l
|
|
Note that the only allowed conditions are
|
|
.b receive
|
|
and
|
|
.b send .
|
|
.ip "\fBignore\fP \ \ "
|
|
.b N.B.:
|
|
.i Ignore
|
|
has been superseded by
|
|
.i retain.
|
|
.br
|
|
Add the list of header fields named to the
|
|
.i "ignore list" .
|
|
Header fields in the ignore list are not printed on your
|
|
terminal when you print a message. This allows you to suppress
|
|
printing of certain machine-generated header fields, such as
|
|
.i Via
|
|
which are not usually of interest. The
|
|
.b Type
|
|
and
|
|
.b Print
|
|
commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including
|
|
ignored fields.
|
|
If
|
|
.b ignore
|
|
is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of ignored fields.
|
|
.ip "\fBlist\fP\ \ "
|
|
List the valid
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
commands.
|
|
\fBList\fP can be abbreviated to \fBl\fP.
|
|
.\".ip \fBlocal\fP
|
|
.\"Define a list of local names for this host. This command is useful
|
|
.\"when the host is known by more than one name. Names in the list
|
|
.\"may be qualified be the domain of the host. The first name on the local
|
|
.\"list is the
|
|
.\".i distinguished
|
|
.\"name of the host.
|
|
.\"The names on the local list are used by
|
|
.\".i Mail
|
|
.\"to decide which addresses are local to the host.
|
|
.\"For example:
|
|
.\".(l
|
|
.\"local ucbarpa.BERKELEY.ARPA arpa.BERKELEY.ARPA \\
|
|
.\" arpavax.BERKELEY.ARPA r.BERKELEY.ARPA \\
|
|
.\" ucb-arpa.ARPA
|
|
.\".)l
|
|
.\"From this list we see that
|
|
.\".i "fred@ucbarpa.BERKELEY.ARPA",
|
|
.\".i "harold@arpa.BERKELEY",
|
|
.\"and
|
|
.\".i "larry@r"
|
|
.\"are all addresses of users on the local host.
|
|
.\"The
|
|
.\".b local
|
|
.\"command is usually not used be general users since it is designed for
|
|
.\"local configuration; it is usually found in the file /etc/mail.rc.
|
|
.ip "\fBmail\fP\ \ "
|
|
Send mail to one or more people. If you have the
|
|
.i ask
|
|
option set,
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
will prompt you for a subject to your message. Then you
|
|
can type in your message, using tilde escapes as described in
|
|
section 4 to edit, print, or modify your message. To signal your
|
|
satisfaction with the message and send it, type control-d at the
|
|
beginning of a line, or a . alone on a line if you set the option
|
|
.i dot .
|
|
To abort the message, type two interrupt characters (\s-2RUBOUT\s0
|
|
by default) in a row or use the
|
|
.b ~q
|
|
escape.
|
|
The \fBmail\fP command can be abbreviated to \fBm\fP.
|
|
.ip "\fBmbox\fP\ \ "
|
|
Indicate that a list of messages be sent to
|
|
.i mbox
|
|
in your home directory when you quit. This is the default
|
|
action for messages if you do
|
|
.i not
|
|
have the
|
|
.i hold
|
|
option set.
|
|
.ip "\fBnext\fP or \fB+\fP\ \ "
|
|
The
|
|
.b next
|
|
command goes to the next message and types it. If given a message list,
|
|
.b next
|
|
goes to the first such message and types it. Thus,
|
|
.(l
|
|
next root
|
|
.)l
|
|
goes to the next message sent by
|
|
.q root
|
|
and types it. The
|
|
.b next
|
|
command can be abbreviated to simply a newline, which means that one
|
|
can go to and type a message by simply giving its message number or
|
|
one of the magic characters
|
|
.q "^"
|
|
.q "."
|
|
or
|
|
.q "$".
|
|
Thus,
|
|
.(l
|
|
\&.
|
|
.)l
|
|
prints the current message and
|
|
.(l
|
|
4
|
|
.)l
|
|
prints message 4, as described previously.
|
|
\fBNext\fP can be abbreviated to \fBn\fP.
|
|
.ip "\fBpreserve\fP\ \ "
|
|
Same as
|
|
.b hold .
|
|
Cause a list of messages to be held in your system mailbox when you quit.
|
|
\fBPreserve\fP can be abbreviated to \fBpre\fP.
|
|
.ip "\fBprint\fP\ \ "
|
|
Print the specified messages. If the
|
|
.b crt
|
|
variable is set, messages longer than the number of lines it indicates
|
|
are paged through the command specified by the \fBPAGER\fP variable.
|
|
The \fBprint\fP command can be abbreviated to \fBp\fP.
|
|
.ip "\fBquit\fP\ \ "
|
|
Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved and unwritten messages
|
|
in the user's \fImbox\fP file in their login directory
|
|
(messages marked as having been read), preserving all
|
|
messages marked with \fBhold\fP or \fBpreserve\fP or never referenced
|
|
in their system mailbox.
|
|
Any messages that were deleted, saved, written or saved to \fImbox\fP are
|
|
removed from their 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 \fB\-f\fP 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 \fBexit\fP command.
|
|
\fBQuit\fP can be abbreviated to \fBq\fP.
|
|
.ip "\fBreply\fP or \fBrespond\fP\ \ "
|
|
Frame a reply to a single message.
|
|
The reply will be sent to the
|
|
person who sent you the message (to which you are replying), plus all
|
|
the people who received the original message, except you. You can
|
|
add people using the \fB~t\fP, \fB~c\fP and \fB~b\fP
|
|
tilde escapes. The subject in your reply is formed by prefacing the
|
|
subject in the original message with
|
|
.q "Re:"
|
|
unless it already began thus.
|
|
If the original message included a
|
|
.q "reply-to"
|
|
header field, the reply will go
|
|
.i only
|
|
to the recipient named by
|
|
.q "reply-to."
|
|
You type in your message using the same conventions available to you
|
|
through the
|
|
.b mail
|
|
command.
|
|
The \fBreply\fP (and \fBrespond\fP) command can be abbreviated to \fBr\fP.
|
|
.ip "\fBretain\fP\ \ "
|
|
Add the list of header fields named to the \fIretained list\fP.
|
|
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
|
|
.b Type
|
|
and
|
|
.b Print
|
|
commands can be used to print a message in its entirety.
|
|
If
|
|
.b retain
|
|
is executed with no arguments, it lists the current set of
|
|
retained fields.
|
|
.ip "\fBsave\fP\ \ "
|
|
It is often useful to be able to save messages on related topics
|
|
in a file. The
|
|
.b save
|
|
command gives you the ability to do this. The
|
|
.b save
|
|
command takes as an argument a list of message numbers, followed by
|
|
the name of the file in which to save the messages. The messages
|
|
are appended to the named file, thus allowing one to keep several
|
|
messages in the file, stored in the order they were put there.
|
|
The filename in quotes, followed by the line
|
|
count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal.
|
|
An example of the
|
|
.b save
|
|
command relative to our running example is:
|
|
.(l
|
|
s 1 2 tuitionmail
|
|
.)l
|
|
.b Saved
|
|
messages are not automatically saved in
|
|
.i mbox
|
|
at quit time, nor are they selected by the
|
|
.b next
|
|
command described above, unless explicitly specified.
|
|
\fBSave\fP can be abbreviated to \fBs\fP.
|
|
.ip "\fBset\fP\ \ "
|
|
Set an option or give an option a value. Used to customize
|
|
.i Mail .
|
|
Section 5.3 contains a list of the options. Options can be
|
|
.i binary ,
|
|
in which case they are
|
|
.i on
|
|
or
|
|
.i off ,
|
|
or
|
|
.i valued .
|
|
To set a binary option
|
|
.i option
|
|
.i on ,
|
|
do
|
|
.(l
|
|
set option
|
|
.)l
|
|
To give the valued option
|
|
.i option
|
|
the value
|
|
.i value ,
|
|
do
|
|
.(l
|
|
set option=value
|
|
.)l
|
|
There must be no space before or after the ``='' sign.
|
|
If no arguments are given, all variable values are printed.
|
|
Several options can be specified in a single
|
|
.b set
|
|
command.
|
|
\fBSet\fP can be abbreviated to \fBse\fP.
|
|
.ip "\fBshell\fP\ \ "
|
|
The
|
|
.b shell
|
|
command allows you to
|
|
escape to the shell.
|
|
.b Shell
|
|
invokes an interactive shell and allows you to type commands to it.
|
|
When you leave the shell, you will return to
|
|
.i Mail .
|
|
The shell used is a default assumed by
|
|
.i Mail ;
|
|
you can override this default by setting the valued option
|
|
.q SHELL,
|
|
eg:
|
|
.(l
|
|
set SHELL=/bin/csh
|
|
.)l
|
|
\fBShell\fP can be abbreviated to \fBsh\fP.
|
|
.ip "\fBsize\fP\ \ "
|
|
Takes a message list and prints out the size in characters of each
|
|
message.
|
|
.ip "\fBsource\fP\ \ "
|
|
The
|
|
.b source
|
|
command reads
|
|
.i mail
|
|
commands from a file. It is useful when you are trying to fix your
|
|
.q .mailrc
|
|
file and you need to re-read it.
|
|
\fBSource\fP can be abbreviated to \fBso\fP.
|
|
.ip "\fBtop\fP\ \ "
|
|
The
|
|
.b top
|
|
command takes a message list and prints the first five lines
|
|
of each addressed message.
|
|
If you wish, you can change the number of lines that
|
|
.b top
|
|
prints out by setting the valued option
|
|
.q "toplines."
|
|
On a CRT terminal,
|
|
.(l
|
|
set toplines=10
|
|
.)l
|
|
might be preferred.
|
|
\fBTop\fP can be abbreviated to \fBto\fP.
|
|
.ip "\fBtype\fP\ \ "
|
|
Same as \fBprint\fP.
|
|
Takes a message list and types out each message on the terminal.
|
|
The \fBtype\fP command can be abbreviated to \fBt\fP.
|
|
.ip "\fBundelete\fP \ \"
|
|
Takes a message list and marks each message as \fInot\fP
|
|
being deleted.
|
|
\fBUndelete\fP can be abbreviated to \fBu\fP.
|
|
.ip "\fBunread\fP\ \ "
|
|
Takes a message list and marks each message as
|
|
.i not
|
|
having been read.
|
|
\fBUnread\fP can be abbreviated to \fBU\fP.
|
|
.ip "\fBunset\fP\ \ "
|
|
Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values;
|
|
the inverse of \fBset\fP .
|
|
.ip "\fBvisual\fP\ \ "
|
|
It is often useful to be able to invoke one of two editors,
|
|
based on the type of terminal one is using. To invoke
|
|
a display oriented editor, you can use the
|
|
.b visual
|
|
command. The operation of the
|
|
.b visual
|
|
command is otherwise identical to that of the
|
|
.b edit
|
|
command.
|
|
.ne 2v+\n(psu
|
|
.sp \n(psu
|
|
Both the
|
|
.b edit
|
|
and
|
|
.b visual
|
|
commands assume some default text editors. These default editors
|
|
can be overridden by the valued options
|
|
.q EDITOR
|
|
and
|
|
.q VISUAL
|
|
for the standard and screen editors. You might want to do:
|
|
.(l
|
|
set EDITOR=/usr/bin/ex VISUAL=/usr/bin/vi
|
|
.)l
|
|
\fBVisual\fP can be abbreviated to \fBv\fP.
|
|
.ip "\fBwrite\fP\ \ "
|
|
The
|
|
.b save
|
|
command always writes the entire message, including the headers,
|
|
into the file. If you want to write just the message itself, you
|
|
can use the
|
|
.b write
|
|
command. The
|
|
.b write
|
|
command has the same syntax as the
|
|
.b save
|
|
command, and can be abbreviated to simply
|
|
.b w .
|
|
Thus, we could write the second message by doing:
|
|
.(l
|
|
w 2 file.c
|
|
.)l
|
|
As suggested by this example, the
|
|
.b write
|
|
command is useful for such tasks as sending and receiving
|
|
source program text over the message system.
|
|
The filename in quotes, followed by the line
|
|
count and character count is echoed on the user's terminal.
|
|
.ip "\fBz\fP\ \ "
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
presents message headers in windowfuls as described under
|
|
the
|
|
.b headers
|
|
command.
|
|
You can move
|
|
.i Mail's
|
|
attention forward to the next window by giving the
|
|
.(l
|
|
z+
|
|
.)l
|
|
command. Analogously, you can move to the previous window with:
|
|
.(l
|
|
z\-
|
|
.)l
|
|
.sh 2 "Custom options"
|
|
.pp
|
|
Throughout this manual, we have seen examples of binary and valued options.
|
|
This section describes each of the options in alphabetical order, including
|
|
some that you have not seen yet.
|
|
To avoid confusion, please note that the options are either
|
|
all lower case letters or all upper case letters. When I start a sentence
|
|
such as:
|
|
.q "Ask"
|
|
causes
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
to prompt you for a subject header,
|
|
I am only capitalizing
|
|
.q ask
|
|
as a courtesy to English.
|
|
.ip "\fBEDITOR\fP\ \ "
|
|
The valued option
|
|
.q EDITOR
|
|
defines the pathname of the text editor to be used in the
|
|
.b edit
|
|
command and ~e. If not defined, a standard editor is used.
|
|
.ip "\fBPAGER\fP\ \ "
|
|
Pathname of the program to use for paginating output when
|
|
it exceeds \fIcrt\fP lines.
|
|
A default paginator is used if this option is not defined.
|
|
.ip "\fBSHELL\fP\ \ "
|
|
The valued option
|
|
.q SHELL
|
|
gives the path name of your shell. This shell is used for the
|
|
.b !
|
|
command and ~! escape. In addition, this shell expands
|
|
file names with shell metacharacters like * and ? in them.
|
|
.ip "\fBVISUAL\fP\ \ "
|
|
The valued option
|
|
.q VISUAL
|
|
defines the pathname of the screen editor to be used in the
|
|
.b visual
|
|
command
|
|
and ~v escape. A standard screen editor is used if you do not define one.
|
|
.ip "\fBappend\fP\ \ "
|
|
The
|
|
.q append
|
|
option is binary and
|
|
causes messages saved in
|
|
.i mbox
|
|
to be appended to the end rather than prepended.
|
|
Normally, \fIMail\fP will put messages in \fImbox\fP
|
|
in the same order that the system puts messages in your system mailbox.
|
|
By setting
|
|
.q append,
|
|
you are requesting that
|
|
.i mbox
|
|
be appended to regardless. It is in any event quicker to append.
|
|
.ip "\fBask\fP\ \ "
|
|
.q "Ask"
|
|
is a binary option which
|
|
causes
|
|
.i 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.
|
|
.ip "\fBaskcc\fP\ \ "
|
|
.q Askcc
|
|
is a binary option which
|
|
causes you to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients at the
|
|
end of each message. Responding with a newline shows your
|
|
satisfaction with the current list.
|
|
.ip "\fBautoprint\fP\ \ "
|
|
.q Autoprint
|
|
is a binary option which
|
|
causes the
|
|
.b delete
|
|
command to behave like
|
|
.b dp
|
|
\*- thus, after deleting a message, the next one will be typed
|
|
automatically. This is useful when quickly scanning and deleting
|
|
messages in your mailbox.
|
|
.ip "\fBcrt\fP \ \ "
|
|
The valued option
|
|
.q crt
|
|
is used as a threshold to determine how long a message must
|
|
be before
|
|
.b PAGER
|
|
is used to read it.
|
|
.ip "\fBdebug\fP \ \ "
|
|
The binary option
|
|
.q debug
|
|
causes debugging information to be displayed. Use of this
|
|
option is the same as using the \fB\-d\fP command line flag.
|
|
.ip "\fBdot\fP\ \ "
|
|
.q Dot
|
|
is a binary option which, if set, causes
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
to interpret a period alone on a line as the terminator
|
|
of the message you are sending.
|
|
.ip "\fBescape\fP\ \ "
|
|
To allow you to change the escape character used when sending
|
|
mail, you can set the valued option
|
|
.q escape.
|
|
Only the first character of the
|
|
.q escape
|
|
option is used, and it must be doubled if it is to appear as
|
|
the first character of a line of your message. If you change your escape
|
|
character, then ~ loses all its special meaning, and need no longer be doubled
|
|
at the beginning of a line.
|
|
.ip "\fBfolder\fP\ \ "
|
|
The name of the directory to use for storing folders of messages.
|
|
If this name begins with a `/'
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
considers it to be an absolute pathname; otherwise, the folder directory
|
|
is found relative to your home directory.
|
|
.ip "\fBhold\fP\ \ "
|
|
The binary option
|
|
.q hold
|
|
causes messages that have been read but not manually dealt with
|
|
to be held in the system mailbox. This prevents such messages from
|
|
being automatically swept into your \fImbox\fP file.
|
|
.ip "\fBignore\fP\ \ "
|
|
The binary option
|
|
.q ignore
|
|
causes \s-2RUBOUT\s0 characters from your terminal to be ignored and echoed
|
|
as @'s while you are sending mail. \s-2RUBOUT\s0 characters retain their
|
|
original meaning in
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
command mode.
|
|
Setting the
|
|
.q ignore
|
|
option is equivalent to supplying the
|
|
.b \-i
|
|
flag on the command line as described in section 6.
|
|
.ip "\fBignoreeof\fP\ \ "
|
|
An option related to
|
|
.q dot
|
|
is
|
|
.q ignoreeof
|
|
which makes
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
refuse to accept a control\-d as the end of a message.
|
|
.q Ignoreeof
|
|
also applies to
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
command mode.
|
|
.ip "\fBkeep\fP\ \ "
|
|
The
|
|
.q keep
|
|
option causes
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
to truncate your system mailbox instead of deleting it when it
|
|
is empty. This is useful if you elect to protect your mailbox, which
|
|
you would do with the shell command:
|
|
.(l
|
|
chmod 600 /var/mail/yourname
|
|
.)l
|
|
where
|
|
.i yourname
|
|
is your login name. If you do not do this, anyone can probably read
|
|
your mail, although people usually don't.
|
|
.ip "\fBkeepsave\fP\ \ "
|
|
When you
|
|
.b save
|
|
a message,
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
usually discards it when you
|
|
.b quit .
|
|
To retain all saved messages, set the
|
|
.q keepsave
|
|
option.
|
|
.ip "\fBmetoo\fP\ \ "
|
|
When sending mail to an alias,
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
makes sure that if you are included in the alias, that mail will not
|
|
be sent to you. This is useful if a single alias is being used by
|
|
all members of the group. If however, you wish to receive a copy of
|
|
all the messages you send to the alias, you can set the binary option
|
|
.q metoo.
|
|
.ip "\fBnoheader\fP\ \ "
|
|
The binary option
|
|
.q noheader
|
|
suppresses the printing of the version and headers when
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
is first invoked. Setting this option is the same as using
|
|
.b \-N
|
|
on the command line.
|
|
.ip "\fBnosave\fP\ \ "
|
|
Normally,
|
|
when you abort a message with two \s-2RUBOUTs\s0,
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
copies the partial letter to the file
|
|
.q dead.letter
|
|
in your home directory. Setting the binary option
|
|
.q nosave
|
|
prevents this.
|
|
.ip "\fBReplyall\fP\ \ "
|
|
Reverses the sense of
|
|
.i reply
|
|
and
|
|
.i Reply
|
|
commands.
|
|
.ip "\fBquiet\fP\ \ "
|
|
The binary option
|
|
.q quiet
|
|
suppresses the printing of the version when
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
is first invoked,
|
|
as well as printing the for example
|
|
.q "Message 4:"
|
|
from the
|
|
.b type
|
|
command.
|
|
.ip "\fBrecord\fP\ \ "
|
|
If you love to keep records, then the
|
|
valued option
|
|
.q record
|
|
can be set to the name of a file to save your outgoing mail.
|
|
Each new message you send is appended to the end of the file.
|
|
.ip "\fBscreen\fP\ \ "
|
|
When
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
initially prints the message headers, it determines the number to
|
|
print by looking at the speed of your terminal. The faster your
|
|
terminal, the more it prints.
|
|
The valued option
|
|
.q screen
|
|
overrides this calculation and
|
|
specifies how many message headers you want printed.
|
|
This number is also used for scrolling with the
|
|
.b z
|
|
command.
|
|
.ip "\fBsendmail\fP\ \ "
|
|
To use an alternate mail delivery system, set the
|
|
.q sendmail
|
|
option to the full pathname of the program to use. Note: this is not
|
|
for everyone! Most people should use the default delivery system.
|
|
.ip "\fBtoplines\fP\ \ "
|
|
The valued option
|
|
.q toplines
|
|
defines the number of lines that the
|
|
.q top
|
|
command will print out instead of the default five lines.
|
|
.ip "\fBverbose\fP\ \ "
|
|
The binary option "verbose" causes
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
to invoke sendmail with the
|
|
.b \-v
|
|
flag, which causes it to go into verbose mode and announce expansion
|
|
of aliases, etc. Setting the "verbose" option is equivalent to
|
|
invoking
|
|
.i Mail
|
|
with the
|
|
.b \-v
|
|
flag as described in section 6.
|