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     MAIL(C)		      XENIX System V		       MAIL(C)

     Name
	  mail - Sends, reads or disposes of mail.

     Syntax
	  mail [[-u user] [-f mailbox]] [-e] [-R] [-i] [ users ...]

	  mail [-s subject] [-i] [ user ...]

     Description
	  mail is a mail processing system that supports composing of
	  messages, and sending and receiving of mail between multiple
	  users.  When sending mail, a user is the name of a user or
	  of an alias assigned to a machine or to a group of users.

	  Options include:

	  -u user
	       Tells mail to read the system mailbox belonging to the
	       specified user.

	  -f mailbox
	       Tells mail to read the specified mailbox instead of the
	       default user's system mailbox.

	  -e   Allows escapes from compose mode when input comes from
	       a file.

	  -R   Makes the mail session ``read-only'' by preventing
	       alteration of the mailbox being read.  Useful when
	       accessing system-wide mailboxes.

	  -i   Tells mail to ignore interrupts sent from the terminal.
	       This is useful when reading or sending mail over
	       telephone lines where ``noise'' may produce unwanted
	       interrupts.

	  -s subject
	       Specifies subject as the text of the Subject:  field
	       for the message being sent.

	Sending mail
	  To send a message to one or more other people, invoke mail
	  with arguments which are the names of people to send to. You
	  are then expected to type in your message, followed by a
	  Ctrl-D at the beginning of a line.

	Reading Mail
	  To read mail, invoke mail with no arguments. This will check
	  your mail out of the system-wide directory so that you can
	  read and dispose of the messages sent to you.	 A message
	  header is printed out for each message in your mailbox.  The
	  current message is initially the last numbered message and

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     MAIL(C)		      XENIX System V		       MAIL(C)

	  can be printed using the print command (which can be
	  abbreviated p).  You can move among the messages much as you
	  move between lines in ed, with the commands + and - moving
	  backwards and forwards, and simple numbers typing the
	  addressed message.

	  If new mail arrives during the mail session, you can read in
	  the new messages with the restart command.

	  Note that you can configure your environment so that you are
	  notified whenever new mail is sent to you.  To do so, you
	  would have to set the MAIL environment variable if you are
	  using the Bourne shell or the mail shell variable if you are
	  using the C-shell.  For more information, see ``The Shell''
	  chapter of the
	   User's Guide and csh(C) in the  User's Reference.

	Disposing of Mail
	  After examining a message, you can delete (d) the message or
	  reply (r) to it.  Deletion causes the mail program to forget
	  about the message.  This is not irreversible, the message
	  can be undeleted (u) by giving its number, or the mail
	  session can be aborted by giving the exit (x) command.
	  Deleted messages will, however, disappear.

	Specifying Messages
	  Commands such as print and delete often can be given a list
	  of message numbers as arguments to apply to a number of
	  messages at once.  Thus ``delete 1 2'' deletes messages 1
	  and 2, while ``delete 1-5'' deletes messages 1 through 5.
	  The special name ``*'' addresses all messages, and ``$''
	  addresses the last message; thus the command top which
	  prints the first few lines of a message could be used in
	  ``top *'' to print the first few lines of all messages.

	Replying to or Originating Mail
	  You can use the reply command to set up a response to a
	  message, sending it back to the person who sent it.  Then
	  you can enter in the text of the reply, and press Ctrl-D to
	  send it.  While you are composing a message, mail treats
	  lines beginning with a tilde (~) as special.	For instance,
	  typing ``~m'' alone on a line, places a copy of the current
	  message into the response, right shifting it by one tabstop.
	  Other escapes set up subject fields, add and delete
	  recipients to the message, and allow you to escape to an
	  editor to revise the message or to a shell to run some
	  commands.  (These options are given in the summary below.)

	Ending a Mail Session
	  You can end a mail session with the quit (q) command.
	  Messages that have been examined go to your mbox file unless
	  they have been deleted, in which case they are discarded.

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     MAIL(C)		      XENIX System V		       MAIL(C)

	  Unexamined messages go back to the post office.  The -f
	  option causes mail to read in the contents of your mbox (or
	  the specified file) for processing; when you quit, mail
	  writes undeleted messages back to this file.	The -i option
	  causes mail to ignore interrupts.

	Using Aliases and Distribution Lists
	  It is also possible to create a personal distribution list.
	  For instance, you can send mail to ``cohorts'' and have it
	  go to a group of people.  Such lists can be defined by
	  placing a line like

	       alias cohorts bill bob barry bobo betty beth bobbi

	  in the file .mailrc in your home directory.  The current
	  list of such aliases can be displayed by the alias (a)
	  command in mail.  System-wide distribution lists can be
	  created by editing /usr/lib/mail/aliases, see aliases(M);
	  these are kept in a slightly different syntax.  In mail you
	  send, personal aliases will be expanded in mail sent to
	  others so that they will be able to reply to the recipients.
	  System-wide aliases are not expanded when the mail is sent,
	  but any reply returned to the machine will have the system-
	  wide alias expanded.

	  mail has a number of options which can be set in the .mailrc
	  file to alter its behavior; thus ``set askcc'' enables the
	  ``askcc'' feature.  (These options are summarized below.)

     Summary
	  Each mail command is entered on a line by itself, and may
	  take arguments following the command word. The command need
	  not be entered in its entirety; the first command which
	  matches the typed prefix is used.  For the commands that
	  take message lists as arguments; if no message list is
	  given, then the next message forward that satisfies the
	  command's requirements is used. If there are no messages
	  forward of the current message, the search proceeds
	  backwards, and if there are no messages at all, mail types
	  ``No applicable messages'' and aborts the command.

	  -	      Goes to the previous message and prints it out.
		      If given a numeric argument n, goes to the nth
		      previous message and prints it.

	  +	      Goes to the next message and prints it out.  If
		      given a numeric argument n, goes to the nth next
		      message and prints it.

	  RETURN      Goes to the next message and prints it out.

	  ?	      Prints a brief summary of commands.

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     MAIL(C)		      XENIX System V		       MAIL(C)

	  !	      Executes the shell command which follows.

	  =	      Prints out the current message number.

	  ^	      Prints out the first message.

	  $	      Prints out the last message.

	  alias	      (a) With no arguments, prints out all
		      currently-defined aliases.  With one argument,
		      prints out that alias.  With more than one
		      argument, adds the users named in the second and
		      later arguments to the alias named in the first
		      argument.

	  Alias users Prints system-wide list of aliases for users.
		      At least one user must be specified.

	  cd	      (c) Changes the user's working directory to that
		      specified, if given. If no directory is given,
		      then changes to the user's login directory.

	  delete      (d) Takes a list of messages as an argument and
		      marks them all as deleted.  Deleted messages are
		      not retained in the system mailbox after a quit,
		      nor are they available to any command other than
		      the undelete command.

	  dp	      Deletes the current message and prints the next
		      message.	If there is no next message, mail says
		      ``no more messages.''

	  echo path   Expands shell metacharacters.

	  edit	      (e) Takes a list of messages and points the text
		      editor at each one in turn. On return from the
		      editor, the message is read back in.

	  exit	      (x) Effects an immediate return to the shell
		      without modifying the user's system mailbox, his
		      mbox file, or his edit file in -f.

	  file	      (fi) Prints the name of the file mail is
		      reading. If it is a mailbox, the name of the
		      owner is returned.

	  forward     (f) Forwards the current message to the named
		      users. Current message is indented within
		      forwarded message.

	  Forward     (F) Forwards the current message to the named
		      users. Current message is not indented within

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     MAIL(C)		      XENIX System V		       MAIL(C)

		      forwarded message.

	  headers     (h) Lists the current range of headers, which is
		      an 18 message group. If a ``+'' argument is
		      given, then the next 18 message group is
		      printed, and if a ``-'' argument is given, the
		      previous 18 message group is printed.  Both
		      ``+'' and ``-'' may take a number to view a
		      particular window.  If a message-list is given,
		      it prints the specified headers.

	  hold	      (ho) Takes a message list and marks each message
		      therein to be saved in the user's system mailbox
		      instead of in mbox. Use only when the switch
		      autombox is set.	Does not override the delete
		      command.

	  list	      Prints list of mail commands.

	  lpr	      (l) Prints out each message in a message-list on
		      the lineprinter.

	  mail	      (m) Takes as arguments login names and
		      distribution group names and sends mail to those
		      people.

	  mbox	      (mb) Marks messages in a message list so that
		      they are saved in the user mailbox after leaving
		      mail.

	  move mesg-list mesg-num
		      Places the messages specified in mesg-list after
		      the message specified in mesg-num. If mesg-num
		      is 0, mesg-list moves to the top of the mailbox.

	  next	      (n like + or RETURN) Goes to the next message in
		      sequence and prints it.  With an argument list,
		      types the next matching message.

	  print	      (p) Prints out each message in a message-list on
		      the terminal display.

	  quit	      (q) Terminates the session, retaining all
		      undeleted, unsaved messages in the system
		      mailbox and removing all other messages.
		      Messages marked with a star (*) are saved;
		      messages marked with an ``M'' are saved in the
		      user 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 -f flag, then the mailbox file is
		      rewritten. The user returns to the shell, unless

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     MAIL(C)		      XENIX System V		       MAIL(C)

		      the rewrite of the mailbox file fails, in which
		      case the user can escape with the exit command.

	  reply	      (r) Takes a message list and sends mail to each
		      message author.  The default message must not be
		      deleted.

	  Reply	      (R) Takes a message list and sends mail to each
		      message author and each member of the message
		      just like the mail command. The default message
		      must not be deleted.

	  restart     Reads in messages that arrived during the
		      current mail session.

	  save	      (s) Takes a message list and a filename and
		      appends each message in turn to the end of the
		      file. The filename, in quotation marks, followed
		      by the line count and character count is echoed
		      on the user's terminal.

	  set	      (se) With no arguments, prints all variable
		      values. Otherwise, sets option. Arguments are of
		      the form ``option=value'' or ``option''.

	  shell	      (sh) Invokes an interactive version of the
		      shell.

	  size	      (si) Takes a message list and prints out the
		      size in characters of each message.

	  source      (so) Reads mail commands from the file given as
		      its only argument.

	  string string mesg-list
		      Searches for string in mesg-list. If no mesg-
		      list is specified, all undeleted messages are
		      searched. Case is ignored in search.

	  top	      (t) Takes a message list and prints the top few
		      lines of each. The number of lines printed is
		      controlled by the variable toplines and defaults
		      to six.

	  undelete    (u) Takes a message list and marks each one as
		      not being deleted.

	  unset	      (uns) Takes a list of option names and discards
		      their remembered values; the inverse of set.

	  visual      (v) Takes a message list and invokes vi on each
		      message.

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     MAIL(C)		      XENIX System V		       MAIL(C)

	  whois	      Looks up a list of target mail recipients and
		      prints the real names or descriptions of each
		      recipient.  If the first character of the first
		      argument is alphabetic, the arguments are looked
		      up without change.  Otherwise, the arguments are
		      assumed to be a message list, in the format
		      specified in the Mail User's Guide.  For each
		      message in the list, the ``From'' person is
		      extracted from the header and added to the list
		      of users to be searched.

		      If a target mail recipient contains a machine
		      and user name, nothing is printed.  If it is a
		      private alias, ``private alias'' is printed. If
		      it is a global alias, the name or description of
		      the recipient is printed (contents of the $n
		      field in the alias file).	 If all of the above
		      fail, the user is looked up in /etc/passwd; if
		      the user is a local user, ``local user'' is
		      printed.	Finally, if none of the above tests
		      and searches succeed, ``unknown'' is printed.

	  write filename
		      (w) Saves the body of the message in the named
		      file.

	  Here is a summary of the compose escapes, which are used
	  when composing messages to perform special functions.
	  Compose escapes are only recognized at the beginning of
	  lines.

	  ~~string    Inserts the string of text in the message
		      prefaced by a single tilde (~). If you have
		      changed the escape character, then you should
		      double that character instead.

	  ~?	      Prints out help for compose escapes.

	  ~.	      Same as Ctrl-D on a new line.

	  ~!cmd	      Executes the indicated shell command, then
		      returns to the message.

	  ~|cmd	      Pipes the message through the command as a
		      filter. If the command gives no output or
		      terminates abnormally, retains the original text
		      of the message.

	  ~_ mail-command
		      Executes a mail command, then returns to compose
		      mode.

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     MAIL(C)		      XENIX System V		       MAIL(C)

	  ~: mail-command
		      Executes a mail command, then returns to compose
		      mode.

	  ~alias      Prints list of private aliases

	  ~alias aliasname
		      Prints names included in private aliasname.

	  ~Alias      Performs aliasing by first examining private
		      aliases and then system-wide aliases using all
		      three global alias files (aliases.hash,
		      faliases, and maliases).	Only the final result
		      is printed (non-local mail recipients will have
		      the complete delivery path printed).  The user
		      list is taken from header fields.

	  ~Alias users
		      Performs aliasing by first examining private
		      aliases and then system-wide aliases using all
		      three global alias files (aliases.hash,
		      faliases, and maliases).	Only the final result
		      is printed (non-local mail recipients will have
		      the complete delivery path printed). At least
		      one user must be specified.

	  ~b name ... Adds the given names to the list of blind carbon
		      copy recipients.

	  ~c name ... Adds the given names to the list of carbon copy
		      recipients.

	  ~cc name ...
		      Same as ~c above.

	  ~d	      Reads the file dead.letter from your home
		      directory into the message.

	  ~e	      Invokes the text editor on the message collected
		      so far.  After the editing session is finished,
		      you may continue appending text to the message.

	  ~h	      Edits the message header fields by typing each
		      one in turn and allowing the user to append text
		      to the end or modify the field with the current
		      terminal erase and kill characters.

	  ~m mesg-list
		      Reads the named messages into the message
		      buffer, shifted right one tab.  If no messages
		      are specified, reads the current message.

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     MAIL(C)		      XENIX System V		       MAIL(C)

	  ~M mesg-list
		      Reads the named messages into the message
		      buffer, with no indentation.  If no messages are
		      specified, reads the current message.

	  ~p	      Prints out the messages collected so far,
		      prefaced by the message header fields.

	  ~Print      Prints the real names or descriptions (in
		      parentheses) after each recipient in a header
		      field.

	  ~q	      Aborts the message being sent, copying the
		      message to dead.letter in your home directory if
		      save is set.

	  ~r filename Reads the named file into the message buffer.

	  ~Return name
		      Adds the given names to the Return-receipt-to
		      field.

	  ~s string   Causes the named string to become the current
		      subject field.

	  ~t name ... Adds the given names to the direct recipient
		      list.

	  ~v	      Invokes a visual editor (defined by the VISUAL
		      option) on the message buffer. After you quit
		      the editor, you may resume appending text to the
		      end of your message.

	  ~w filename Writes the body of the message to the named
		      file.

	  Options are controlled with the set and unset commands. An
	  option may be either a switch, in which case it is either on
	  or off, or a string, in which case the actual value is of
	  interest.  The switch options include the following:

	  askcc		 Causes you to be prompted for additional
			 carbon copy recipients at the end of each
			 message. Responding with a newline indicates
			 your satisfaction with the current list.

	  asksubject	 Causes mail to prompt you for the subject of
			 each message you send.	 If you respond with
			 simply a newline, no subject field is sent.

	  autombox	 Causes all examined messages to be saved in
			 the user mailbox unless deleted or saved.

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     MAIL(C)		      XENIX System V		       MAIL(C)

	  autoprint	 Causes the delete command to behave like dp -
			 thus, after deleting a message, the next one
			 will be entered automatically.

	  chron		 Causes messages to be displayed in
			 chronological order.

	  dot		 Permits use of dot (.) as the end of file
			 character when composing messages.

	  execmail	 Causes the underbar prompt to return before
			 mail is finished being sent.  This frees the
			 user to continue while mail performs mailing
			 functions in background.

	  ignore	 Causes interrupt signals from your terminal
			 to be ignored and echoed as at-signs (@).

	  mchron	 Causes messages to be listed in numerical
			 order (most recently received first), but
			 displayed in chronological order.

	  metoo		 Usually, when a group is expanded that
			 contains the sender, the sender is removed
			 from the expansion.  Setting this option
			 causes the sender to be included in the
			 group.

	  nosave	 Prevents aborted messages from being appended
			 to the file dead.letter in your home
			 directory on receipt of two interrupts (or a
			 ~q).

	  quiet		 Suppresses the printing of the version header
			 when first invoked.

	  verify	 Causes each target mail recipient to be
			 verified in the manner described in the whois
			 command.  This option permits errors made
			 while composing messages to be corrected or
			 ignored.

	  The following options have string values:

	  EDITOR	 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
			 edit command and ~e escape.  If not defined,
			 then a default editor (/bin/ed) is used.

	  SHELL		 Pathname of the shell to use in the ! command
			 and the ~! escape.  A default shell (/bin/sh)
			 is used if this option is not defined.

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     MAIL(C)		      XENIX System V		       MAIL(C)

	  VISUAL	 Pathname of the text editor (/bin/vi) to use
			 in the visual command and ~v escape.

	  escape	 If defined, the first character of this
			 option gives the character to use in the
			 place of the tilde (~) to denote escapes.

	  page=n	 Specifies the number of lines (n) to be
			 printed in a ``page'' of text when displaying
			 messages.

	  record	 If defined, gives the pathname of the file
			 used to record all outgoing mail.  If not
			 defined, then outgoing mail is not saved.

	  toplines	 If defined, gives the number of lines of a
			 message to be printed out with the top
			 command; normally, the first six lines are
			 printed.

     Files
	  /usr/spool/mail/*	   System mailboxes

	  $HOME/dead.letter	   File where undeliverable mail is
				   deposited

	  $HOME/mbox		   Your old mail

	  $HOME/.mailrc		   File giving initial mail commands

	  /usr/lib/mail/aliases	   System-wide aliases

	  /usr/lib/mail/aliases.hash
				   System-wide alias database

	  /usr/lib/mail/faliases   Forwarding aliases for the local
				   machine

	  /usr/lib/mail/maliases   Machine aliases

	  /usr/lib/mail/mailhelp.cmd
				   Help file

	  /usr/lib/mail/mailhelp.esc
				   Help file

	  /usr/lib/mail/mailhelp.set
				   Help file

	  /usr/lib/mail/mailrc	   System initialization file
				   (defaults)

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     MAIL(C)		      XENIX System V		       MAIL(C)

	  /usr/bin/mail		   The mail command

     See Also
	  aliases(M), aliashash(ADM), netutil(ADM)
	  Chapter 3, ``Mail,'' in the XENIX User's Guide.

     Credit
	  This utility was developed at the University of California
	  at  Berkeley and is used with permission.

     Page 12					      (printed 2/7/91)

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