MAIL(1) MAIL(1) NAME mail - send or receive mail among users SYNOPSIS mail person ... mail [ -r ] [ -q ] [ -p ] [ -f file ] DESCRIPTION Mail with no argument prints a user's mail, message-by- message, in last-in, first-out order; the optional argument -r causes first-in, first-out order. If the -p flag is given, the mail is printed with no questions asked; other- wise, for each message, mail 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. x Exit, without changing the mailbox file. !command Escape to the Shell to do command. ? Print a command summary. An interrupt stops the printing of the current letter. The optional argument -q causes mail to exit after interrupts without changing the mailbox. MAIL(1) MAIL(1) 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 post- marks 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 exclama- tion mark (see uucp(1)). The -f option causes the named file, e.g. `mbox', to be printed as if it were the mail file. Each user owns his own mailbox, which is by default gener- ally readable but not writable. The command does not delete an empty mailbox nor change its mode, so a user may make it unreadable if desired. When a user logs in he is informed of the presence of mail. FILES /usr/spool/mail/* mailboxes /etc/passwd to identify sender and locate persons mbox saved mail /tmp/ma* temp file dead.letter unmailable text uux(1) SEE ALSO xsend(1), write(1), uucp(1) BUGS There is a locking mechanism intended to prevent two senders from accessing the same mailbox, but it is not perfect and races are possible.