32v 1m mail
MAIL(1) UNIX Programmer's Manual MAIL(1)
Contents
NAME
mail - send or receive mail among users
SYNOPSIS
mail [ + ] [ -i ] [ person ] ... mail [ + ] [ -i ] -f file
DESCRIPTION
Mail with no argument prints a user's mail, message-by-message, in last-in, first-out order; the optional argument + causes first-in, first-out order. For each message, it reads a line from the standard input to direct disposition of the message.
newline Go on to next message.
d Delete message and go on to the next.
p Print message again.
- Go back to previous message.
s [ file ] ... Save the message in the named files (`mbox' default).
w [ file ] ... Save the message, without a header, in the named files (`mbox' default).
m [ person ] ... Mail the message to the named persons (yourself is default).
EOT (control-D) Put unexamined mail back in the mailbox and stop.
q Same as EOT.
!command Escape to the Shell to do command.
- Print a command summary.
An interrupt normally causes termination of the command; the mail file is unchanged. The optional argument -i causes mail to continue after interrupts.
When persons are named, mail takes the standard input up to an end-of-file (or a line with just `.') and adds it to each person's `mail' file. The message is preceded by the sender's name and a postmark. Lines that look like postmarks are prepended with `>'. A person is usually a user name recognized by login(1). To denote a recipient on a remote system, prefix person by the system name and exclamation mark (see uucp(1)).
The -f option causes the named file, e.g. `mbox', to be printed as if it were the mail file.
When a user logs in he is informed of the presence of mail.
FILES
/etc/passwd to identify sender and locate persons /usr/spool/mail/* incoming mail for user * mbox saved mail /tmp/ma*temp file /usr/spool/mail/*.lock lock for mail directory dead.letter unmailable text
SEE ALSO
BUGS
Race conditions sometimes result in a failure to remove a lock file.
Normally anybody can read your mail. An installation can overcome this by making mail a set-user-id command that owns the mail directory.
