mail(1)mail(1)NAME
mail, binmail - Sends and displays messages
SYNOPSIS
Reading Mail
mail [-epq] [-bhr] [-f file]
binmail [-epq] [-bhr] [-f file]
Sending Mail
mail [-d] [-r name] [-h N] user... [< file]
binmail [-d] [-r name] [-h N] user... [< file]
STANDARDS
Interfaces documented on this reference page conform to industry stan‐
dards as follows:
mail: XCU5.0
binmail: XCU5.0
Refer to the standards(5) reference page for more information about
industry standards and associated tags.
OPTIONS
Reading Mail
You can use the following options when invoking the mail command to
read mail: Does not display any messages. This option causes mail to
return an exit value of 0 (zero) if the user has mail and an exit value
of 1 if the user has no mail. Saves mail to and reads mail from file
instead of the default mail file, /usr/spool/mail/user. Displays mail
without prompting for a disposition code. This option does not delete,
copy, or forward any messages. Causes mail to exit when you press the
Interrupt key sequence. Normally, pressing the Interrupt key sequence
stops only the message being displayed. (In this case, the next message
sometimes does not display until you enter the p subcommand.) Displays
mail in first-in, first-out order. The default is last-in, first-out.
Alternate and obsolete form of the -b option.
If -r is the first option specified and more arguments follow,
send mail mode is assumed. Alternate and obsolete form of the
-b option.
If -h is the first option specified and more arguments follow,
send mail mode is assumed.
Sending Mail
You can use the following options when invoking the mail command to
send mail: Sets the hop count to N. The hop count is incremented every
time the mail is processed. When it reaches a limit, the mail is
returned with an error message, the victim of an aliasing loop. If you
do not specify this option, received lines in the message are counted.
Sets the name of the From: user field (that is, the sender of the
mail). The -r option can only be used by trusted users (normally root,
daemon, and network) or if the person you are trying to become is the
same as the person you are. Informs binmail to actually deliver the
mail instead of passing it off to the sendmail program for delivery.
DESCRIPTION
The mail command writes to standard output all stored mail addressed to
your login name, one message at a time, or sends a mail message to
another user or users. Another name for the mail command is binmail.
Following each message, mail prompts you with a ? question mark. Press
<Return> to display the current mail message, or enter one of the sub‐
commands that control the disposition of the message.
When sending mail, you specify users, and then mail reads a message
from standard input until you press the End-of-File key sequence or
enter a line containing only a . (dot). It prefixes this message with
the sender's name and the date and time of the message (its postmark)
and adds this message to the file /usr/spool/mail/user for each user
specified on the command line.
Usually, user is a name recognized by the login command. If the system
does not recognize one or more of the specified users or if mail is
interrupted during input, mail saves messages in the file
$HOME/dead.letter to allow for editing and resending.
The action of mail can be modified in two ways by manipulating
/usr/spool/mail/user: The default permission assignment for other users
is read-only. If you change this permission assignment to read/write
or to All Permissions Denied, the system preserves the file, even when
it is empty, in order to maintain the desired permissions; you will not
be able to remove the file. You can edit the file to contain the fol‐
lowing as its first line:
Forward to person
This causes all messages sent to user to be sent to person
instead. The Forward to feature is especially useful for sending
all of a person's mail to a particular machine in a network
environment.
To specify a recipient on a remote system, prefix the system name and
an ! (exclamation mark) to user. See the uucp command for a detailed
discussion of how to address remote systems. Also see mailx and send‐
mail for other network connections.
Tru64 UNIX provides locking for the mailbox files. The style of lock‐
ing used depends on how it is set in the rc.config.common file. For
more information, see mail_manual_setup(7).
Subcommands
The following subcommands control message disposition. Displays the
next mail message. Displays the previous message. Deletes the current
message and displays the next message. Displays the current message
again. Saves the message in file instead of in the default mail file
$HOME/mbox. Saves the message, without its postmark, in file instead
of in the default mail file, $HOME/mbox. Forwards the current message
to users. If the forward was successful, deletes that message and then
displays the next message. Writes any mail not yet deleted to
/usr/spool/mail/user and exits. Pressing the End-of-File key sequence
has the same effect. Exit, leaving the mail file unchanged. Runs the
specified command. Displays a subcommand summary. Displays a subcom‐
mand summary.
NOTES
The mail utility is marked LEGACY in XCU Issue 5.
The binmail program is not RFC 822 compliant. This affects messages
that begin withlines that look like header lines. Header lines begin
with a string followed by a colon (:) (such as those found in the
/etc/passwd file). Use mailx command to send such messages, or make
sure the message is preceded by a blank line.
EXIT STATUS
For information about exit values, see the OPTIONS section.
EXAMPLES
To display your mail, enter: mail
After the most recent message is displayed, a ? (question mark)
indicates that mail is waiting for one of the subcommands
explained previously (+, -, d, p, and so on). Enter help or an
* (asterisk) to list the subcommands available. If the End-of-
File key sequence is <Ctrl-d>, you send mail to other users by
entering: mail tom rachel Do not forget the meeting tomorrow at
9:30. <Ctrl-d>
In this example, the system mails the message Do not forget the
meeting tomorrow at 9:30. to the users tom and rachel. The End-
of-File key sequence (in this case, <Ctrl-d>) indicates the end
of the message, but it is not sent with the text. To send a
file to another user, enter: mail fran < proposal
This command sends the contents of the file proposal to fran.
To save a message to the default mail file, enter: mail
This command displays each message mailed to you. Press <Return>
after the ? prompt until the desired message is displayed.
When the appropriate message is displayed, enter: s
The message is saved in the default mail file, $HOME/mbox. To
save a message to a specific file, enter: mail
This command displays each message mailed to you. Press <Return>
after the ? prompt until the desired message is displayed. When
the appropriate message is displayed, enter: s mycopy
This command saves the message in a file named mycopy in the
current directory, rather than in the default mail file.
FILES
Holds saved mail. Holds unmailable text. Contains user information.
Holds incoming mail for user. Lock for mail directory. (Note: this
file is not created if lockf is used for locking.
SEE ALSO
Commands: login(1), mailx(1), sendmail(8), write(1), uucp(1)mail(1)