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mail(1)								       mail(1)

NAME
       mail, rmail - send mail to users or read mail

SYNOPSIS
       file]

       person ...

       person ...

   Remarks:
       See mailx(1) and elm(1) for an enhanced user mail interface.

DESCRIPTION
       The  command, when used without arguments, prints the user's mail, mes‐
       sage-by-message, in last-in, first-out order.

       For each message, prints a prompt and reads a line  from	 the  standard
       input to determine the disposition of the message.  Commands that auto‐
       matically proceed to the next message exit from if already on the  last
       message.

   Commands
       supports the following commands:

	      <new-line>     Go	 on  to next message.  Exit if already on last
			     message.

	      Same as <new-line>.

	      Same as <new-line>.

	      Delete message and go on to next message.

	      Print message again.

	      Go back to previous message.

	      Save message in the named
			     files (default is mark the message	 for  deletion
			     from  the	user's	mailfile,  and proceed to next
			     message.

	      Same	     as

	      Save message without its header (the ``From ...'' line),
			     in the named files (default is mark  the  message
			     for deletion, and go on to next message.

	      Mail the message to each named
			     person,  mark the message for deletion, and go on
			     to next message.

	      Put undeleted mail back in the
			     and stop.

	      Same as

	      Abort.	     Leave original unchanged and stop.

	      Escape to the command interpreter and execute
			     command.

	      Print a command summary.

	      Same as

   Command-Line Options
       The following command-line options alter printing of the mail:

	      Cause messages to be printed in first-in, first-out order.

	      Suppresses printing of mail and returns the exit value:

				  0 = Mail present
				  1 = No mail
				  2 = Other error

	      Prints all mail without prompting for disposition.

	      Causes	     to terminate if an interrupt is  received.	  Nor‐
			     mally an interrupt only causes the termination of
			     the printing of the current message.

	      Same as

	      Causes	     to use file (for example, instead of the  default
			     mailfile.

	      Causes the outbound message to be preceded by each
			     person  the mail is sent to.  A person is usually
			     a user name recognized by (see login(1)).	 If  a
			     person  being  sent mail is not recognized, or if
			     is interrupted during input,  the	file  will  be
			     saved  to allow editing and resending.  Note that
			     is regarded as a temporary file  in  that	it  is
			     recreated every time needed, erasing the previous
			     contents of

	      Causes	     to deliver mail  directly.	  This	isolates  from
			     making  routing  decisions,  and  allows it to be
			     used as a local delivery agent.   Typically  this
			     option  is	 used  by auto-routing facilities when
			     they deliver mail locally.

       When persons are named, takes the standard input up to  an  end-of-file
       (or  up	to  a  line  consisting of just a and adds it to each person's
       mailfile.  The message is preceded by the sender's name and a postmark.

       To denote a recipient on a remote system, prefix person by  the	system
       name  and  exclamation  mark (see uucp(1)).  Everything after the first
       exclamation mark in person is interpreted by  the  remote  system.   In
       particular,  if	person	contains  additional exclamation marks, it can
       denote a sequence of machines through which the message is to  be  sent
       on  the	way to its ultimate destination.  For example, specifying as a
       recipient's name causes the message to be sent to user on system System
       then  interprets	 that  destination as a request to send the message to
       user on system This might be useful, for instance, if the sending  sys‐
       tem  can access system but not system does not use if the remote system
       is the local system name (i.e., localsystem!user).

       The can be manipulated in two ways to alter the function of  The	 other
       permissions  of	the file can be read-write, read-only, or neither read
       nor write to allow different levels of privacy.	If  changed  to	 other
       than the default, the file is preserved, even when empty, to perpetuate
       the desired permissions.	 The file can also contain the first line:

	      person

       which causes all mail sent to the owner of the to be forwarded to  per‐
       son.   This  is especially useful for forwarding all of a person's mail
       to a given machine in a multiple-machine	 environment.	In  order  for
       forwarding to work properly the should have "mail" as group ID, and the
       group permission should be read-write.

       only permits the sending of mail.  uses as a security precaution.

       When a user logs in, the command can be used to detect the presence  of
       mail,  if any, and so indicate.	When terminating, produces a notifica‐
       tion message if new mail arrived while was running.

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
   Environment Variables
       determines the format and contents  of  the  displayed  date  and  time
       strings.

       If  is  not specified in the environment or is set to the empty string,
       the value of is used as a default for each unspecified or  empty	 vari‐
       able.   If is not specified or is set to the empty string, a default of
       "C" (see lang(5)) is used instead of If any internationalization	 vari‐
       able  contains  an invalid setting, behaves as if all internationaliza‐
       tion variables are set to "C".  See environ(5).

       When set, the environment variable specifies a directory to be used for
       temporary files, overriding the default directory

   International Code Set Support
       Between	HP-UX  systems, single- and multi-byte character code sets are
       supported within mail text.  Headers are restricted to characters  from
       the 7-bit USASCII code set (see ascii(5)).

WARNINGS
       Conditions sometimes result in a failure to remove a lock file.

       After  an  interrupt,  the  next	 message may not be printed.  To force
       printing, type a

       Lines that look like postmarks in the message (that  is,	 ``From ...'')
       are preceded by

       treats  a  line	consisting  solely of a dot as the end of the message,
       except when the command is used.

       The maximum allowable line length in mail messages is 8 times  that  of
       bytes  as  defined  in If line length exceeds this limit, truncates the
       line starting at beginning-of-line, and uses  only  the	trailing  8  *
       characters.

       Using  two separate mail programs to access the same mail file simulta‐
       neously (usually inadvertently from two	separate  windows)  can	 cause
       unpredictable results.

       Some sites that have programs that adhere strictly to RFC-822 will fail
       to deliver a message if any of the recipient fields below is missing.

       You can add the RFC-822 commands into the mail  program	buffer/editor.
       For instance:

FILES
       Lock for mail directory
       Unmailable text
       Temporary file
       Variable containing path name of
       Saved mail
       To identify sender and locate persons
       Directory for incoming mail
				(mode group ID
       Incoming mail for	user; that is, the mailfile (mode group ID

SEE ALSO
       login(1), mailx(1), uucp(1), write(1).

STANDARDS CONFORMANCE
								       mail(1)
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