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Using the UNIX Mail Program |
The UNIX mail program is a basic e-mail program. It allows the sending and receiving of text-only e-mail. It is not MIME-compliant, and therefore is not suitable for sending binary files such as images, word processor documents, or spreadsheets. For such items, use the Pine mail program, or one of the graphical mail clients such as Netscape 7 or Outlook Express 6. See Other Mail Programs for more information.
For incoming mail, there are commands to read, save, delete, and reply to messages. For sending mail, you can edit, review, and make other changes to a message as it is composed, and then send it to one or more individuals, or to a list of people.
| Text style: | Usage: |
| italic | keywords, glossary entries and text that is emphasized. |
| bold | text that is emphasized. |
| fixed | a computer response or prompt as shown on screen. |
| bold fixed | commands you type in (commands should be typed in lower case-unless otherwise indicated). |
| italic fixed | substituting a required variable or command. |
To send e-mail to a person you need to know the person's login name and host computer system. This is known as the person's e-mail address. To send mail type:
Mail login-name@hostname
Note:To call the UNIX Mail program in the WAM or Glue UNIX systems, you must issue the Mail command with an uppercase M. Using a lowercase m will call a different mail program. In the OIT cluster, you may use either upper or lowercase.
Suppose you want to send mail to John Smith whose e-mail address is jsmith@wam.umd.edu. At the UNIX prompt you would type:
and press Return. Here, jsmith is the login name and wam.umd.edu is the address of the host computer, or system, on which John has an account.
Note: To get more information about using UNIX on the OIT cluster, refer to Introduction to the OIT UNIX system.
It is not necessary to include the system address if the person you are sending mail to has an account on the machine from which you are sending mail. If sending mail from your WAM account to another WAM account holder, you only type:
and press Return. Otherwise, you need the full e-mail address.
For help in sending mail to an e-mail address that doesn't look like an Internet address, contact the Help Desk at 301.405.1500 between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday-Friday.
After you issue the Mail command, the mail program will prompt you for the subject of your mail. If you wish to include a subject, type it and press Return; if you don't want a subject, press Return only. The mail program will then prompt you with Cc: to send a carbon copy of the mail item. If you want to send a copy of the message to someone else, enter their login name/address or aliases (see Using Mail Aliases) at the Cc: prompt. If you do not want to send any carbon copies, press Return.
You are now placed in the mail program's message editor. As you type your message, remember to press Return at the end of each line.
Note: If you do not press Return at the end of each line, it may appear as though the system is inserting Returns but, in fact, this is not the case. If you do not press Return your keyboard will lock up after 256 keystrokes, thus preventing you from continuing.
If you make mistakes while typing your message and wish to correct them, use the Delete (or Del) key to erase them. You must make your corrections before pressing Return.
Several functions can be invoked by typing a ~ (tilde) followed by an option character at the beginning of a blank line:
| ~? | gives you a list of the tilde escapes that are available. |
| ~v or ~e | ("visual" or "editor") each of these options, used at the beginning of a line, will invoke editors to create, modify, or add to your message. Editors make it possible to correct lines other than the one you are typing, move text, and perform other word processing operations that aren't possible with the message editor in the mail program. |
If you have not customized your EDITOR or VISUAL environment variables, on the OIT Cluster you'll get by default:
| ~v | the vi editor. |
| ~e | the ex editor. |
On WAM and Glue, the default editor for both is pico.
When you finish with your text and are ready to send the mail, save the text and exit from the editor using the commands appropriate for that editor.
If you have customized your EDITOR or VISUAL environment variables, use the commands appropriate to that editor.
For more information about text editors, see the documents at http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/documentation.
Note: On WAM and Glue, the default .environment file contains lines which you can uncomment and comment out to change from pico to vi.
If you prefer to use a different editor from the default, you can set either ~v or ~e (or both) to call that editor. All you have to know is where the editor you want to use is located on your system. You can find this out by using the UNIX which command. For instance, if you wanted to use the emacs editor, you could find out where it is by typing:
On Glue, OIT UNIX cluster, or WAM, a pathname is displayed:
You would then use this information to type one of the following commands at the UNIX prompt before you start the mail program to have either ~e or ~v automatically put you into emacs:
| for ~e: | setenv EDITOR /usr/local/bin/emacs |
| for ~v: | setenv VISUAL /usr/local/bin/emacs |
If, instead of typing the setenv command, you place it in the appropriate startup file (~/.environment on WAM/Glue or appropriate shell configuration file of the cluster, i.e. .cshrc), your chosen editor will always be available using the appropriate ~-option. You can also do this by putting one of the following commands in your .mailrc file (along with any other mailer set commands you think would be useful).
| for ~e: | set EDITOR=/usr/local/bin/emacs |
| for ~v: | set VISUAL=/usr/local/bin/emacs |
If you are using one of these special editors, the ~-options described in this document (which are part of the mail program's message editor) will not work until you leave that special editor.
| ~h | allows changes to your message header (i.e., you can change the To: (recipient) and Cc: (carbon copy) lists and also change the Subject: line). |
| ~m message# | places a mail message you've received from someone else into your current mail message (Reading your messages for a description of a message number). The inserted message is shifted to the right by a tab - usually about 8 spaces. This may make the text a bit difficult for the recipient to read, since lines that are shifted beyond 80 columns will wrap around on the reader's screen, looking like this: |
Here is your note accompanying the forwarded message And here is the forwarded message, which is in- dented 8 spaces and then wraps around into the empty area where the indentation is, making it hard to read
An alternative approach is to save the message you want to forward, and put it into a file using the s command (see Saving Mail Messages). When you write to the person to whom you wish to forward the message, you can place it in the e-mail with the ~r option (see below), which doesn't indent it. For clarity, it also helps to use a separator to indicate where your mail ends and the appended message begins:
-------------- forwarded message
| ~r filename | reads all contents of the file known as filename into your current message following the line you just typed before the ~r. |
| ~s new-subject | changes the subject line to new-subject (it can be more than one word). |
| ~t users | adds users to the To: list (the list of people receiving your message); users can be any combination of login-name@mailaddresses and aliases (see Using Mail Aliases). |
| ~w filename |
writes (saves) your message to the
file known as filename.
For example, ~w bob.feb12 would save the current message to a file called bob.feb12. |
| ~! command | executes a UNIX command, but does not put the output in your mail message. |
| ~~ | includes a single tilde as the first character of a line. |
Once the message has been entered and is ready to be mailed (be sure to exit any editors you may have called with ~e or ~v), there are two ways by which to send the mail and then exit the mail program. In either case, first press Return to place the cursor on a blank line. Then, either press Ctrl-d (hold down the Ctrl (Control) key and type d), or type a period (.) in column 1 and press Return.
If you decide that you want to quit the mail program without sending your message, press Ctrl-c twice. This command can not be issued while you are in an editor. After pressing Ctrl-c the first time, the mail program will prompt you to confirm that you wish to exit without sending your message. The message will be saved in a file named dead.letter in your home directory. This is useful if you decide to send the mail message later. If you abort another mail message, the mail program overwrites the previous contents of the dead.letter file; so, if you wish to keep the contents of the first file, you should either rename it or move it to another directory.
While using the mail program to read mail messages, you can also send a mail message. Refer to Other Mail Commands, for details.
If there are mail messages waiting for you when you log in to your UNIX account, you will see the message:
You have mail
On the OIT cluster, you are automatically placed into the mail program. On other machines, enter the program by typing:
at the system prompt followed by pressing Return. A "new mail has arrived" message appears (if you received new mail while reading mail already in your mailbox).
When you first start the mail program, it tells you how many messages are waiting and then displays the header information for each message. The header information lists the mail address of the sender, the date and time the message was sent, the number of lines and characters in the message, and as much of the message's subject line as will fit on the screen.
The illustration in the next section indicates what a typical UNIX mail account would display indicating three new (N) mail messages and one old mail message which was unread (U).
After the header information for the messages has been displayed, you can read or issue mail commands at the mail program prompt (&).
Some systems use the ">" symbol at the beginning of a line which indicates this particular message is the default message (i.e., the message that will be manipulated if you do not specify a particular message number). This message is the one referred to in the explanations below as the "current message".
To read a particular mail message, type the number of that message at the mail prompt (&) and press Return. For instance, to read the message from akins@umd5.umd.edu below, type 2 at the & prompt and press Return:
& 2
Mail $Revision: 4.2.4.2 $ Type ? for help.. Type ? for help. "/usr/spool/mail/userid":4 messages 3 new U 1 jdoe@umd5.umd.edu Tue Aug 27 11:56 12/4182 >N 2 akins@umd5.umd.edu Wed Aug 28 09:12 13/33 "Good N 3 johndoe Wed Aug 28 13:40 16/360 N 4 johndoe Thu Aug 29 10:14 82/1697 "lunch today?" &
The mail message will be displayed on your screen. If the message is more than one screen long, the program will display a single screenful at a time. A -MORE- message will appear at the bottom of the screen to tell you that additional information exists. To view the rest of the message, press the space bar. Refer to the Using Set Commands section in this document for information on scrolling through text that appears on your screen.
If after reading any one mail item you wish to see the list of messages again, type h at the & prompt and press Return.
To respond to an e-mail message that you have received, use one of mail's two reply commands r or R. Both commands are issued by typing the command followed by the number of the e-mail message to which you wish to reply. For example:
& r 2
would reply to message number two. If a reply command is issued without a message number, a reply is generated for the current message.
| r | reply is sent to the original sender and all other recipients of the original mail message. |
| R | reply is sent to the original sender only, not other recipients. |
The above commands differ only in who will receive the reply message. Remember the difference between the two reply commands. For example, if you are replying to a mail message sent by your professor to the entire class, you might prefer that only the professor receive your reply. Since the r and R commands are system dependant, the roles can change.
If you read your mail and take no further action, then when you exit from the mail program all of your messages will remain in your system mail file. The next time you read mail, the old messages will appear with any new mail you receive.
You should save whatever mail you want to keep and make sure that all mail is deleted as soon as possible. On most systems, mail is held in a common area, and one person's accumulation of large volumes of mail potentially jeopardizes the ability of others to get mail. (On WAM and Glue, on the other hand, mail storage space comes out of your own personal quota, which you can handle in whatever manner is convenient for you.)
The mail program's keepsave setting determines whether mail that you save elsewhere is automatically deleted or not. Some systems at the University have keepsave set to retain mail after you save it; others have it unset to delete such mail. You can check this with the set command, and, if you prefer, change it.
To save a mail message in a file, you must issue the save command (s), followed by the numbers of the messages you wish to save and the name of the file you wish to save them in. There is no standard file-you must give a file name.
& s message_list filename
When using the save command, the message_list can specify several message numbers, a single message number, a range of numbers, or no message number. If you do not specify a message number, the "current" message is saved to the file. For example, to save two messages (numbers 3 and 4) in a file named johnmail, type:
& s 3 4 johnmail
Once you have read and/or saved a message, it is important to remember to delete it (if it is still there). The delete (d) command is used for this purpose. Simply type the delete command followed by the message numbers of the messages you wish to delete.
& d message_list
For example:
& d 3 4
This will delete messages 3 and 4 (which you saved previously in a file named johnmail). A range of numbers can be deleted by using a hyphen. To delete messages 1 through 20 you would type the command as follows:
& d 1-20
There is an undelete (u) command that you can use to reactivate messages which have been deleted; however the undelete command only works if you have not yet exited the mail program. After exiting the mail program, any messages that have been deleted cannot be retrieved.
There are two ways to exit the mail program:
Type q and press Return. This exits the mail program and removes any deleted or saved messages so that the next time you read your mail, the deleted and saved messages will not appear.
Type x and press Return. This exits the mail program but does not remove any deleted or saved messages. All messages will show up when you next call up the mail program.
There are many other commands you can use to manipulate your mail messages. Some of the most useful mail commands are briefly described in this section.
In the following descriptions, a message_list may consist of a single mail message number, a list of message numbers separated by spaces, a range of message numbers whose numbers are separated by a hyphen (e.g., 2-4), or a combination of any of these. For example:
d 3
d 3 5 6
d 3-5
d 3-5 7 10-14
If a message_list is not given, the mail program uses the current message.
A user_list consists only of user names and mail addresses separated by spaces, such as:
m jdoe@wam.umd.edu carol@umd5.umd.edu
| Command | Explanation |
| ? | displays a list of some of the mail commands. |
| ! command | executes a UNIX command then returns to the mail program. |
| d msg. # | deletes the # message. |
| e message_list | edits listed messages with the EDITOR text editor (see Editing Your Message). |
| h | displays header information for the twenty most recent active mail messages. |
| m user_list | sends a mail message to the listed users (this works the same as sending mail from the command line). |
| n | displays the next message. |
| q | exits the mail program and removes any deleted or saved messages. The next time you read mail, the deleted and saved messages will not appear. |
| r msg. # | replies to the message numbered #. The subject line is the same as the original message #, but a "Re:" will be prefixed to show that it is a reply. Reply is sent to the original sender and all other recipients of the original message. |
| R msg. # |
sends a reply only to the original
sender. This is similar to the r
msg command.
Note: The r and R commands act as described above on some systems (WAM and the UNIX cluster), and the opposite way on others (Glue-where you can set the replyall setting, not available on most other systems, to reverse their meaning if you wish-see Using Set Commands). It is a good idea to do a man mail command on your system to make sure you know how these two commands behave. |
| s msg.# filename | saves the numbered message to a file. |
| u message_list |
undeletes listed message(s). Note: The undelete command only restores messages if you have not yet quit the mail program. If you have quit the mail program, deleted messages cannot be restored. |
| v message_list | edits listed messages with the VISUAL text editor. |
| x or ex | exits the mail program, but does not remove deleted or saved messages from the mail file. |
The UNIX mail program allows you to customize your mail environment to make it easier to send and receive mail. These commands can be issued from the mail prompt (&) or made automatic by placing them in a file named .mailrc in your home directory.
The mail program provides a timesaving feature called alias. Aliases are abbreviated names that represent the mail address of a single user or several users. They allow you to send mail to a group of people quickly without requiring you to remember all of their individual mail addresses, or to a single user with a long or difficult-to-remember address. The alias command is used to define aliases. For example, a simple alias could look like:
alias rob rob@wam.umd.edu
and a group alias could look like:
alias class rob@umd5.umd.edu mark sue@wam.umd.edu
The latter would create an alias named class that consists of the three class members listed. A group alias can consist of actual addresses, aliases or a combination of both. If you use the alias command to define an alias while in the mail program, it will exist until you exit the mail program; if you put the alias command in your .mailrc file, it will be available every time you send mail.
To use a mail alias after you create it, substitute the alias name for the login name and mail address you would normally provide when sending mail. For example:
Mail class
sends mail to all the users listed under the alias class in the .mailrc file.
If you have more names in your alias list than will fit on one 80-column line, you have three options:
Many mail program options can be set with the mail program set command. These options can be used temporarily by issuing the set command while using the mail program, or permanently by placing the desired set commands in your .mailrc. The default system options for the mail program are set in the file /etc/mail/Mail.rc for WAM/Glue and /usr/share/lib/Mail.rc on the cluster. You can set additional options, or unset system defaults with the unset command, in your .mailrc.
Set command options are either binary or valued. Binary set options are either set or not set (on or off), there is no value associated with them; valued set options are set to a particular value. Binary options can be set simply by using the set command and the option name.
set option
For example:
set keepsave
Binary options can be unset by using the unset command and the option name. For example:
unset askcc
Valued options are set using the set command with a slightly different format.
set option=value
For example:
set crt=24
would signal the mail program that you are working within a 24 line screen and it will pause every screenful of text accordingly.
Several options can be set on a single line, such as:
set append dot ask hold askcc crt=24
You can see a list of the binary options that are on/set and value options that have a value by simply typing:
set
Some of the more useful set options are briefly described below. Valued set options are indicated as such, all other options are binary.
| Set option | Function |
| ask | prompts you for a subject whenever you mail a message. |
| askcc | prompts you for a carbon copy list whenever you mail a message. |
| crt | tells the mail program how many lines long your terminal screen is so that mail messages are displayed appropriately. The system default is 24 lines. (crt is a valued option.) |
| dot | allows you to use a . (period) alone on a line to send your message and quit the mail program. |
| EDITOR |
specifies the text editor to
invoke when the ~e or e commands
are used to edit a mail message.
EDITOR is a valued option. Remember to
specify the full pathname.
On WAM and the OIT cluster, the paths for the emacs and vi editors are:
/usr/ucb/vi |
| hold | messages that have been read but not deleted or saved are left in your system mail file. |
| keepsave | messages that have been saved to a file and are left in your system mail file instead of being deleted. |
| metoo | allows you to receive a copy of the message. |
| noheader | header information for messages in your system mail file is not displayed when you start the mail program. |
| record | specifies the name of a file to which all outgoing mail messages are appended (record is a valued option). |
| replyall | (Glue and Sun workstations) reverse the meaning of R and r to be like other systems in which r replies to all recipients and R replies to author. |
| save | aborted messages are saved in the dead.letter file. |
| VISUAL | specifies what text editor is invoked when the ~v or v commands are used to edit a mail message. VISUAL is a valued option. Remember to give the full path name of the editor as mentioned previously in the EDITOR description above. |
If you have accounts on several computer systems, and you would like to be able to read your e-mail on only one system, you can forward your mail from your UNIX account to another computer system. To do this, simply create a file named .forward in your home directory that contains your e-mail address on the other system. For example, if you have a UNIX cluster account and a WAM account, and you wish to forward all your mail to the WAM system, use a text editor to create a .forward file on the cluster that contains the line:
your-loginname@wam.umd.edu
As long as the .forward file exists on the cluster, all mail sent there will be forwarded to the WAM system. To stop mail forwarding, simply delete or rename the .forward file.
Note: If you wish to forward mail from your WAM or Glue account to your cluster account, you must place the .forward file in your mail directory.
The standard UNIX Berkeley mail program described here is only one of many mail programs. Other easier to use mail programs with more or better features are available. Most of the publicly available UNIX systems at the University have mailers available.
One example is the Pine mail program. Pine is the more popular of the mail programs because it can be used from any kind of computer. It has many advanced features including a graphical interface for reading mail, a help utility, and the ability to "attach" files to mail messages. To use it, type pine at the UNIX prompt.
Another example is the mail-handler (mh) system. The mh system is a group of independent programs that are called separately from the Unix prompt to perform mail handling functions - sending mail, or retrieving, reading, saving, replying to and forwarding incoming mail. The mh mail handler has facilities to set up aliases and can send blind carbon copies to others within the mail program. Each mail item is maintained as an individual file and can be placed in a folder (directory) of choice.
Graphical mail clients, such as Netscape 7 or Outlook Express 6, are a convenient way to check your e-mail, and are the preferred alternative to Berkeley mail and Pine. See http://www.helpdesk.umd.edu/documents/0/690 for more information about which client would work best for you.
On-line help is available via the man command. From the UNIX prompt, type man mail to view the on-line manual entry for the mail program.
Documents on the basics of the three OIT-supported text editors, Using the Vi Text Editor,Using the Emacs Text Editor, and Using the Pico Text Editor are available on-line.
For assistance with the standard Berkeley mailer described in this document call or visit the Help Desk (CSS, room 1400, 301.405.1500), Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Last Date Modified: 01-18-05 - JLG