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# Mailx Notes                                                             #
# Anuradha Weeraman, 20 August 2000                                       #
# $Id: mailx.txt,v 1.2 2004/06/02 21:23:35 anuradha Exp $                 #
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Syntax :
	mail [-iInv] [-s subject] [-c cc_addr] [-b bcc_addr] to-addr ...
	[- sendmail_options ...]
	mail [-iInNv] -f [name]
	mail [-iInNv] [-u user]

Examples :
	mail addie
	mail melissa@misty.acme.com
	mail friend@beta
	mail curly larry moe melissa@misty.acme.com
	mail curly larry moe < notice
	mail -s "Do you want free money?" addie

Pressing ^D while entering the message will send it off to the recipients.
Typing a period (.) on a single line by itself will do the same.

While typing a message, if you feel to discard it, press ^C twice and the
contents will be dumped to 'dead.letter' and program is ended.

	mail -v -s "New time for the meeting" melissa@misty.acme.com

As the email is being typed, mail understands certain commands preceded
by the tilde escape character. These commands have to be typed on the
lines by themselves. These commands are :

	COMMAND		DESCRIPTION
	~?		help: display summary of tilde escapes
	~b address	add addresses to the "Blind Copy" line
	~c address	add addresses to "Copy" line
	~d		read in contents of "dead.letter" file
	~e		invoke text editor
	~f messages	read in old messages
	~h		edit header lines
	~m messages	read in old messages
	~p		display (print) current message
	~q		quit (same as pressing intr key twice)
	~r file		read in contents of a file
	~s subject	change "Subject" line
	~t address	add new addresses to the "To" line
	~v		invoke the visual editor (usually same as ~e)
	~w file		write current message to a file
	~! command	execute shell command
	~| command	pipe current message through filter

By using "~| fmt" the contents of the letter can be nicely formatted
to fit the width of the screen.

Emails can also be sent to files rather than specific user ids. This
is a good way to keep records. Use the / in specifying the filename.

	mail curly larry moe ./stooges

Mail can be also sent to programs. If you have the program "broadcast"
you can send a message to everyone on the system by

	mail '|broadcast'

There are three ways to know if you have received any mail.

1.	Type 'mail'. This will start the mail program. If you have
	any mail, it will be displayed.

2.	If you have the program 'from', it will display headers of
	your email.

3.	You can activate the program biff by typing 'biff y' and it
	will notify you of any email on arrival including a summary.

Mail is usually stored in "/usr/spool/mail/userid". On some linux
systems this directory is symlinked to "/var/spool/mail/". This is
known as the system mailbox. When you read mail, the mail is transferred
to a file called mbox in your home directory. Mail can be forced to
open another file other than the system mailbox using the -f switch.

	mail -f /home/anuradha/mbox

THE MAIL COMMANDS

ABBREVIATIONS	FULL NAME	DESCRIPTION

Stopping Mail
q		quit		quit mail
x		exit		quit mail, neglect any changes

Help
?		-		display summary of important commands
l		list		list names of all available commands

Headers
h		headers		display header summaries
z		-		show next set of header summaries
z-		-		show previous set of header summaries

Displaying Messages
+		-		display the next message
-		-		display the previous message
<Return>	-		display the next message
number		-		display message #number
n		next		display the next message
p		print		display (print) messages
to		top		display top few lines of messages

Replying and Mailing
m		mail		send new message to specified userid
r		reply		reply to sender & all other recipients
R		Reply		reply to sender only

Processing a Message
d		delete		delete messages
dp		-		delete current msg, display next msg
e		edit		use text editor on messages
pre		preserve	keep messages in system mailbox
s		save		save messages to specified file
u		undelete	undelete previously-deleted messages
w		write		same as s, only do not save header

Shell Commands
!		-		execute a single shell command
sh		shell		pause mail, start a new shell

When using ~m and vi to reply to a message, type ":%s/<Tab>/>> /" to
include >> at the beginning of the lines of the message and continue with
your message.

To type a new message, use 'm'.

	m harley

MESSAGE LISTS

To delete messages 3 to 5 :
	d 3-5

To display all the messages from root :
	p root

To delete all messages :
	d *

Specification		Meaning
. [a period]		the current message
n			message number n
n-m			all messages from n to m inclusive
^ [a circumflex]	the first message
$ [a dollar sign]	the last message
* [an asterisk]		all messages
userid			all messages from specified userid
/pattern		all messages containing pattern in subject
:n			all new messages
:o			all old messages
:r			all messages that have been read
:u			all messages that are still unread

Command			Meaning
p .			display the current message
p 3			display message 3
p 3-5			display messages 3 through 5 inclusive
p ^			display the first message
p $			display the last message
p *			display all messages
p harley		display messages from userid harley
p /hello		display messages with "hello" in subject
p :n			display new messages
p :o			display old messages
p :r			display messages that have been read
p :u			display messages that are still unread

Customizing mail using the .mailrc file

Syntax :
	alias name address ...

	alias melissa melissa@misty.acme.com
	alias lprp '|lpr -p'
	alias workgroup al bill carol dave emily melissa

The last command makes a single alias to several mail boxes

	Option		Meaning
	ask		prompt for the "Subject" line of each message
	askcc		prompt for the "Copy" line of each message
	autoprint	after deleting, display the next message
	verbose		show details of mail delivery (same as -v option)
	Replyall	reverse the sense of the r and R commands

The set and unset commands turn an option on or off respectively.

	set ask
	unset askcc