2.4.1 Invoking mail

General usage of mail program is:

           mail [option...] [address...]

If [address...] part is present, mail switches to mail sending mode, otherwise it operates in mail reading mode.

The program uses following option groups: See mailbox.

Mail understands following command line options:

-e

--exist

Return true if the mailbox contains some messages. Return false otherwise. This is useful for writing shell scripts.

-E command

--exec=command

Execute command before opening the mailbox. Any number of --exec options can be given. The commands will be executed after sourcing configuration files (see Mail Configuration Files), but before opening the mailbox.

--exec

-f[file]

--file[=file]

Operate on mailbox file. If this option is not specified, the default is user's system mailbox. If it is specified without argument, the default is $HOME/mbox. Please note, that there should be no whitespace between the short variant of the option (-f), and its parameter. Similarly, when using long option (--file), its argument must be preceded by equal sign.

-F

--byname

Save messages according to sender. Currently this option is not implemented.

-H

--headers

Print header summary to stdout and exit.

-i

--ignore

Ignore interrupts.

-m path

--mail-spool=path

Set path to the mailspool directory

-n

--norc

Do not read the system-wide mailrc file. See Mail Configuration Files.

-N

--nosum

Do not display initial header summary.

-p

--print

-r

--read

Print all mail to standard output. It is equivalent to issuing following commands after starting ‘mail -N’:

          print *
          quit
     

-q

--quit

Cause interrupts to terminate program.

-s subj

--subject=subj

Send a message with a Subject of subj. Valid only in sending mode.

-t

--to

Switch to sending mode.

-u user

--user=user

Operate on user's mailbox. This is equivalent to:

          mail -f/spool_path/user
     

with spool_path being the full path to your mailspool directory
(/var/spool/mail or /var/mail on most systems).

-?

--help

Display a help message.

--usage

Display a short usage summary.

-V

--version

Print program version and exit.