X-Git-Url: https://git.llucax.com/software/mutt-debian.git/blobdiff_plain/14c29200cb58d3c4a0830265f2433849781858d0..76a54b65b4d405cea98a5d5b18d2030b4ed9b556:/doc/manual.xml.head diff --git a/doc/manual.xml.head b/doc/manual.xml.head index b751aaf..012eaeb 100644 --- a/doc/manual.xml.head +++ b/doc/manual.xml.head @@ -4,18 +4,18 @@ - The Mutt E-Mail Client - - MichaelElkins - me@cs.hmc.edu - - version @VERSION@ - - - - ``All mail clients suck. This one just sucks less.'' -me, circa 1995 - - +The Mutt E-Mail Client + +MichaelElkins +me@cs.hmc.edu + +version @VERSION@ + + + +All mail clients suck. This one just sucks less. -me, circa 1995 + + @@ -33,10 +33,8 @@ groups of messages. Mutt Home Page -http://www.mutt.org/ +The official homepage can be found at +http://www.mutt.org/. @@ -50,8 +48,6 @@ word subscribe in the body to list-name-request@mutt.org. - - @@ -74,13 +70,14 @@ word subscribe in the body to - - + -Note: all messages posted to mutt-announce are automatically -forwarded to mutt-users, so you do not need to be subscribed to both -lists. +All messages posted to +mutt-announce are automatically forwarded to +mutt-users, so you do not need to be subscribed to +both lists. + @@ -88,50 +85,127 @@ lists. Software Distribution Sites +Mutt releases can be downloaded from +ftp://ftp.mutt.org/mutt/. +For a list of mirror sites, please refer to +http://www.mutt.org/download.html. + - - + + + +Mutt online resources + + + +Bug Tracking System + -ftp://ftp.mutt.org/mutt/ +The official mutt bug tracking system can be found at +http://dev.mutt.org/ + - + +Wiki + + +An (unofficial) wiki can be found +at http://wiki.mutt.org/. + + + + +IRC + + +For the IRC user community, visit channel #mutt on +irc.freenode.net. + + + +USENET + -For a list of mirror sites, please refer to http://www.mutt.org/download.html. +For USENET, see the newsgroup comp.mail.mutt. + + + + - -IRC + +Contributing to Mutt + + +There are various ways to contribute to the Mutt project. + -Visit channel #mutt on -irc.freenode.net to chat with -other people interested in Mutt. +Especially for new users it may be helpful to meet other new and +experienced users to chat about Mutt, talk about problems and share +tricks. + + + +Since translations of Mutt into other languages are highly appreciated, +the mutt developers always look for skilled translators that help +improve and continue to maintain stale translations. + + + +For contributing code patches for new features and bug fixes, please +refer to the developer pages at +http://dev.mutt.org/ for more details. - -USENET + +Typograhical conventions + + +This section lists typographical conventions followed throughout this +manual. See table for typographical +conventions for special terms. + + + +Typographical conventions for special terms + + +ItemRefers to... + + +printf(3)UNIX manual pages, execute man 3 printf +<PageUp>named keys +<create-alias>named Mutt function +ˆGControl+G key combination +$mail_checkMutt configuration option + + +
+ + +Examples are presented as: + + + +mutt -v + -See the newsgroup comp.mail.mutt. +Within command synopsis, curly brackets ({}) denote a set +of options of which one is mandatory, square brackets +([]) denote optional arguments, three dots +denote that the argument may be repeated arbitrary times. @@ -140,8 +214,8 @@ url="news:comp.mail.mutt" Copyright -Mutt is Copyright (C) 1996-2005 Michael R. Elkins -me@cs.hmc.edu and others +Mutt is Copyright (C) 1996-2009 Michael R. Elkins +me@mutt.org and others. @@ -175,33 +249,81 @@ Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA. This section is intended as a brief overview of how to use Mutt. There are many other features which are described elsewhere in the manual. There is even more information available in the Mutt FAQ and various web -pages. See the Mutt Page for more details. +pages. See the Mutt homepage for more details. The keybindings described in this section are the defaults as distributed. Your local system administrator may have altered the defaults for your site. -You can always type ``?'' in any menu to display the current bindings. +You can always type ? in any menu to display the current bindings. -The first thing you need to do is invoke mutt, simply by typing mutt -at the command line. There are various command-line options, see +The first thing you need to do is invoke mutt, simply by typing mutt +at the command line. There are various command-line options, see either the mutt man page or the reference. - -Moving Around in Menus + +Core concepts + + +Mutt is a text-based application which interacts with users through +different menus which are mostly line-/entry-based or page-based. A +line-based menu is the so-called index menu (listing all messages of +the currently opened folder) or the alias menu (allowing you to +select recipients from a list). Examples for page-based menus are the +pager (showing one message at a time) or the help menu listing +all available key bindings. + + + +The user interface consists of a context sensitive help line at the top, +the menu's contents followed by a context sensitive status line and +finally the command line. The command line is used to display +informational and error messages as well as for prompts and for entering +interactive commands. + + + +Because Mutt allows for customizing almost all key bindings, there are +so-called functions which can be executed manually (using the +command line) or in macros. Macros allow the user to bind a sequence of +commands to a single key or a short key sequence instead of repeating a +sequence of actions over and over. + + + +Many commands (such as saving or copying a message to another folder) +can be applied to a single message or a set of messages (so-called +tagged messages). To help selecting messages, Mutt provides a rich +set of message patterns (such as recipients, sender, body contents, date +sent/received, etc.) which can be combined into complex expressions +using the boolean and and or +operations as well as negating. These patterns can also be used to (for +example) search for messages or to limit the index to show only matching +messages. + -Information is presented in menus, very similar to ELM, see -for common keys used to navigate menus in Mutt. +Mutt supports a hook concept which allows the user to execute +arbitrary configuration commands and functions in certain situations +such as entering a folder, starting a new message or replying to an +existing one. These hooks can be used to highly customize Mutt's +behaviour including managing multiple identities, customizing the +display for a folder or even implementing auto-archiving based on a +per-folder basis and much more. + + + +Moving Around in Menus + +The most important navigation keys common to all menus are shown in +. + Most common navigation keys @@ -210,20 +332,18 @@ for common keys used to navigate menus in Mutt. KeyFunctionDescription -j or Downnext-entrymove to the next entry -k or Upprevious-entrymove to the previous entry -z or PageDnpage-downgo to the next page -Z or PageUppage-upgo to the previous page -= or Homefirst-entryjump to the first entry -* or Endlast-entryjump to the last entry -qquitexit the current menu -?helplist all keybindings for the current menu +j or <Down><next-entry>move to the next entry +k or <Up><previous-entry>move to the previous entry +z or <PageDn><page-down>go to the next page +Z or <PageUp><page-up>go to the previous page += or <Home><first-entry>jump to the first entry +* or <End><last-entry>jump to the last entry +q<quit>exit the current menu +?<help>list all keybindings for the current menu
- - @@ -240,8 +360,6 @@ reference of available functions, their default key bindings, and short descriptions. - - Most common line editor keys @@ -249,39 +367,37 @@ short descriptions. KeyFunctionDescription -ˆA or <Home>bolmove to the start of the line -ˆB or <Left>backward-charmove back one char -Esc Bbackward-wordmove back one word -ˆD or <Delete>delete-chardelete the char under the cursor -ˆE or <End>eolmove to the end of the line -ˆF or <Right>forward-charmove forward one char -Esc Fforward-wordmove forward one word -<Tab>completecomplete filename or alias -ˆTcomplete-querycomplete address with query -ˆKkill-eoldelete to the end of the line -ESC dkill-eowdelete to the end ot the word -ˆWkill-wordkill the word in front of the cursor -ˆUkill-linedelete entire line -ˆVquote-charquote the next typed key -<Up>history-uprecall previous string from history -<Down>history-downrecall next string from history -<BackSpace>backspacekill the char in front of the cursor -Esc uupcase-wordconvert word to upper case -Esc ldowncase-wordconvert word to lower case -Esc ccapitalize-wordcapitalize the word +ˆA or <Home><bol>move to the start of the line +ˆB or <Left><backward-char>move back one char +Esc B<backward-word>move back one word +ˆD or <Delete><delete-char>delete the char under the cursor +ˆE or <End><eol>move to the end of the line +ˆF or <Right><forward-char>move forward one char +Esc F<forward-word>move forward one word +<Tab><complete>complete filename or alias +ˆT<complete-query>complete address with query +ˆK<kill-eol>delete to the end of the line +Esc d<kill-eow>delete to the end of the word +ˆW<kill-word>kill the word in front of the cursor +ˆU<kill-line>delete entire line +ˆV<quote-char>quote the next typed key +<Up><history-up>recall previous string from history +<Down><history-down>recall next string from history +<BackSpace><backspace>kill the char in front of the cursor +Esc u<upcase-word>convert word to upper case +Esc l<downcase-word>convert word to lower case +Esc c<capitalize-word>capitalize the wordˆGn/aabort<Return>n/afinish editing
- - You can remap the editor functions using the bind command. For example, to make -the Delete key delete the character in front of -the cursor rather than under, you could use +the <Delete> key delete the character in front of +the cursor rather than under, you could use: @@ -294,11 +410,13 @@ bind editor <delete> backspace History -The number of items in the built-in editor's history is controlled by -the $history variable. You may -cycle through them at an editor prompt by using the -history-up and/or history-down -commands. +Mutt maintains a history for the built-in editor. The number of items +is controlled by the $history +variable and can be made persistent using an external file specified +using $history_file. +You may cycle through them at an editor prompt by using the +<history-up> and/or +<history-down> commands. @@ -306,7 +424,6 @@ Mutt maintains several distinct history lists, one for each of the following categories: - muttrc commands addresses and aliases @@ -315,17 +432,12 @@ following categories: patterns everything else - Mutt automatically filters out repeated items from the history. It also mimics the behavior of some shells by ignoring items starting -with a space. - - - -The latter feature can be useful in macros to not clobber the history's -valuable entries with unwanted entries. +with a space. The latter feature can be useful in macros to not clobber +the history's valuable entries with unwanted entries. @@ -338,8 +450,8 @@ valuable entries with unwanted entries. Similar to many other mail clients, there are two modes in which mail is read in Mutt. The first is the index of messages in the mailbox, which is -called the ``index'' in Mutt. The second mode is the display of the -message contents. This is called the ``pager.'' +called the index in Mutt. The second mode is the display of the +message contents. This is called the pager. @@ -347,16 +459,16 @@ The next few sections describe the functions provided in each of these modes. - + The Message Index Common keys used to navigate through and manage messages in the index -are shown in . +are shown in . How messages are presented +in the index menu can be customized using the +$index_format variable. - - Most common message index keys @@ -365,10 +477,10 @@ are shown in . cchange to a different mailbox -ESC cchange to a folder in read-only mode +Esc cchange to a folder in read-only modeCcopy the current message to another mailbox -ESC Cdecode a message and copy it to a folder -ESC sdecode a message and save it to a folder +Esc Cdecode a message and copy it to a folder +Esc sdecode a message and save it to a folderDdelete messages matching a patternddelete the current messageFmark as important @@ -380,7 +492,7 @@ are shown in . ssave-message Ttag messages matching a pattern ttoggle the tag on a message -ESC ttoggle tag on entire message thread +Esc ttoggle tag on entire message thread Uundelete messages matching a pattern uundelete-message vview-attachments @@ -390,206 +502,78 @@ are shown in . @show the author's full e-mail address $save changes to mailbox /search -ESC /search-reverse +Esc /search-reverse ˆLclear and redraw the screen ˆTuntag messages matching a pattern
- - - -Status Flags - In addition to who sent the message and the subject, a short summary of the disposition of each message is printed beside the message number. -Zero or more of the following ``flags'' may appear, which mean: - - - - - - -D - - -message is deleted (is marked for deletion) - - - - -d - - -message have attachments marked for deletion - - - - -K - - -contains a PGP public key - - - - -N - - -message is new - - - - -O - - -message is old - - - - -P - - -message is PGP encrypted - - - - -r - - -message has been replied to - - - - -S - - -message is signed, and the signature is successfully verified - - - - -s - - -message is signed - - - - -! - - -message is flagged - - - - -* - - -message is tagged - - - - - - - -Some of the status flags can be turned on or off using - - - - - -set-flag (default: w) - - - - - -clear-flag (default: W) - - - - - +Zero or more of the flags in +may appear, some of which can be turned on or off using these functions: +<set-flag> and +<clear-flag> +bound by default to w and W respectively. -Furthermore, the following flags reflect who the message is addressed -to. They can be customized with the +Furthermore, the flags in reflect +who the message is addressed to. They can be customized with the $to_chars variable. - - - - -+ - - -message is to you and you only - - - - -T - - -message is to you, but also to or cc'ed to others - - - - -C - - -message is cc'ed to you - - - - -F - - -message is from you - - - - -L - - -message is sent to a subscribed mailing list - - - - - + +Message status flags + + +FlagDescription + + +Dmessage is deleted (is marked for deletion) +dmessage has attachments marked for deletion +Kcontains a PGP public key +Nmessage is new +Omessage is old +Pmessage is PGP encrypted +rmessage has been replied to +Smessage is signed, and the signature is successfully verified +smessage is signed +!message is flagged +*message is tagged + + +
- + +Message recipient flags + + +FlagDescription + + ++message is to you and you only +Tmessage is to you, but also to or cc'ed to others +Cmessage is cc'ed to you +Fmessage is from you +Lmessage is sent to a subscribed mailing list + + +
 - + The Pager -By default, Mutt uses its builtin pager to display the body of messages. +By default, Mutt uses its builtin pager to display the contents of messages. The pager is very similar to the Unix program less though not nearly as featureful. - - Most common pager keys @@ -604,29 +588,27 @@ featureful. Sskip beyond quoted text Ttoggle display of quoted text ?show keybindings -/search for a regular expression (pattern) -ESC /search backwards for a regular expression -\toggle search pattern coloring +/regular expression search +Esc /backward regular expression search +\toggle highlighting of search matches ˆjump to the top of the message
- - In addition to key bindings in , -many of the functions from the index are available in -the pager, such as delete-message or copy-message (this is one -advantage over using an external pager to view messages). +many of the functions from the index menu are also available in +the pager, such as <delete-message> or <copy-message> +(this is one advantage over using an external pager to view messages). Also, the internal pager supports a couple other advanced features. For -one, it will accept and translate the ``standard'' nroff sequences for +one, it will accept and translate the standard nroff sequences for bold and underline. These sequences are a series of either the letter, backspace (ˆH), the letter again for bold or the letter, backspace, -``_'' for denoting underline. Mutt will attempt to display these +_ for denoting underline. Mutt will attempt to display these in bold and underline respectively if your terminal supports them. If not, you can use the bold and underline color objects to specify a color or mono attribute for them. @@ -635,8 +617,14 @@ objects to specify a color or mono attribute for them. Additionally, the internal pager supports the ANSI escape sequences for character attributes. Mutt translates them into the correct color and -character settings. The sequences Mutt supports are -'\e[Ps;Ps;..Ps;m' +character settings. The sequences Mutt supports are: + + + +\e[Ps;Ps;..Ps;m + + + where Ps can be one of the codes shown in . @@ -648,7 +636,7 @@ where Ps can be one of the codes shown in Escape codeDescription -0All Attributes Off +0All attributes off 1Bold on 4Underline on 5Blink on @@ -679,14 +667,32 @@ where Ps can be one of the codes shown in -Mutt uses these attributes for handling text/enriched messages, and they -can also be used by an external autoview -script for highlighting purposes. Note: If you change the colors for your +Mutt uses these attributes for handling text/enriched +messages, and they can also be used by an external +autoview script for highlighting +purposes. + + + + +If you change the colors for your display, for example by changing the color associated with color2 for your xterm, then that color will be used instead of green. + - + + +Note that the search commands in the pager take regular expressions, +which are not quite the same as the more +complex patterns used by the search +command in the index. This is because the pager only performs simple +text search, whereas the index provides boolean filtering on several +aspects of messages. + + + + Threaded Mode @@ -697,8 +703,6 @@ a few additional functions available in the index and . - - Most common thread mode keys @@ -706,34 +710,34 @@ as shown in . KeyFunctionDescription -ˆDdelete-threaddelete all messages in the current thread -ˆUundelete-threadundelete all messages in the current thread -ˆNnext-threadjump to the start of the next thread -ˆPprevious-threadjump to the start of the previous thread -ˆRread-threadmark the current thread as read -ESC ddelete-subthreaddelete all messages in the current subthread -ESC uundelete-subthreadundelete all messages in the current subthread -ESC nnext-subthreadjump to the start of the next subthread -ESC pprevious-subthreadjump to the start of the previous subthread -ESC rread-subthreadmark the current subthread as read -ESC ttag-threadtoggle the tag on the current thread -ESC vcollapse-threadtoggle collapse for the current thread -ESC Vcollapse-alltoggle collapse for all threads -Pparent-messagejump to parent message in thread +ˆD<delete-thread>delete all messages in the current thread +ˆU<undelete-thread>undelete all messages in the current thread +ˆN<next-thread>jump to the start of the next thread +ˆP<previous-thread>jump to the start of the previous thread +ˆR<read-thread>mark the current thread as read +Esc d<delete-subthread>delete all messages in the current subthread +Esc u<undelete-subthread>undelete all messages in the current subthread +Esc n<next-subthread>jump to the start of the next subthread +Esc p<previous-subthread>jump to the start of the previous subthread +Esc r<read-subthread>mark the current subthread as read +Esc t<tag-thread>toggle the tag on the current thread +Esc v<collapse-thread>toggle collapse for the current thread +Esc V<collapse-all>toggle collapse for all threads +P<parent-message>jump to parent message in thread
- - + -Note: Collapsing a thread displays only the first message +Collapsing a thread displays only the first message in the thread and hides the others. This is useful when threads contain so many messages that you can only see a handful of threads on the screen. See %M in $index_format. For example, you could use "%?M?(#%03M)&(%4l)?" in $index_format to optionally display the number of hidden messages if the thread is collapsed. + See also: $strict_threads. @@ -741,65 +745,76 @@ See also: $strict_threads. - + Miscellaneous Functions -create-alias (default: a) - +In addition, the index and pager +menus have these interesting functions: + + + + +<create-alias> (default: a) + + Creates a new alias based upon the current message (or prompts for a new one). Once editing is complete, an alias -command is added to the file specified by the $alias_file variable for future use. Note: -Specifying an $alias_file -does not add the aliases specified there-in, you must also source the file. +command is added to the file specified by +the $alias_file variable +for future use + -check-traditional-pgp (default: ESC P) - +Mutt does not read the $alias_file +upon startup so you must explicitly source the file. + + + + + +<check-traditional-pgp> (default: Esc P) + + This function will search the current message for content signed or -encrypted with PGP the "traditional" way, that is, without proper +encrypted with PGP the traditional way, that is, without proper MIME tagging. Technically, this function will temporarily change the MIME content types of the body parts containing PGP data; this -is similar to the edit-type function's +is similar to the <edit-type> function's effect. + + + + +<edit> (default: e) + + -display-toggle-weed (default: h) - - - - -Toggles the weeding of message header fields specified by ignore commands. - - - -edit (default: e) - - - - -This command (available in the ``index'' and ``pager'') allows you to +This command (available in the index and pager) allows you to edit the raw current message as it's present in the mail folder. After you have finished editing, the changed message will be appended to the current folder, and the original message will be -marked for deletion. - - - -edit-type - -(default: ˆE on the attachment menu, and in the pager and index menus; ˆT on the -compose menu) +marked for deletion; if the message is unchanged it won't be replaced. + + + + +<edit-type> (default: +ˆE on the attachment menu, and in the pager and index menus; +ˆT on the compose menu) + + This command is used to temporarily edit an attachment's content type to fix, for instance, bogus character set parameters. When @@ -815,45 +830,53 @@ Note that this command is also available on the com menu. There, it's used to fine-tune the properties of attachments you are going to send. + + - -enter-command (default: ``:'') - - - + + +<enter-command> (default: :) + + This command is used to execute any command you would normally put in a configuration file. A common use is to check the settings of variables, or in conjunction with macros to change settings on the fly. + + - -extract-keys (default: ˆK) - - - + + +<extract-keys> (default: ˆK) + + This command extracts PGP public keys from the current or tagged message(s) and adds them to your PGP public key ring. + + - -forget-passphrase (default: + + +<forget-passphrase> (default: ˆF) - - - + + This command wipes the passphrase(s) from memory. It is useful, if you misspelled the passphrase. + + - -list-reply (default: L) - - - + + +<list-reply> (default: L) + + Reply to the current or tagged message(s) by extracting any addresses which match the regular expressions given by the lists or subscribe @@ -863,25 +886,29 @@ configuration variable is set. Using this when replying to messages posted to mailing lists helps avoid duplicate copies being sent to the author of the message you are replying to. + + - -pipe-message (default: |) - - - + + +<pipe-message> (default: |) + + Asks for an external Unix command and pipes the current or tagged message(s) to it. The variables $pipe_decode, $pipe_split, $pipe_sep and $wait_key control the exact behavior of this function. + + + + +<resend-message> (default: Esc e) + + -resend-message (default: ESC e) - - - - -With resend-message, mutt takes the current message as a template for a +Mutt takes the current message as a template for a new message. This function is best described as "recall from arbitrary folders". It can conveniently be used to forward MIME messages while preserving the original mail structure. Note that the amount of headers @@ -892,43 +919,54 @@ variable. This function is also available from the attachment menu. You can use this to easily resend a message which was included with a bounce message -as a message/rfc822 body part. - - - -shell-escape (default: !) - +as a message/rfc822 body part. + + + + +<shell-escape> (default: !) + + Asks for an external Unix command and executes it. The $wait_key can be used to control whether Mutt will wait for a key to be pressed when the command returns (presumably to let the user read the output of the command), based on -the return status of the named command. - - - -toggle-quoted (default: T) - +the return status of the named command. If no command is given, an +interactive shell is executed. + + + + +<toggle-quoted> (default: T) + + -The pager uses the $quote_regexp variable to detect quoted text when +The pager uses the $quote_regexp variable to detect quoted text when displaying the body of the message. This function toggles the display of the quoted material in the message. It is particularly useful when -are interested in just the response and there is a large amount of +being interested in just the response and there is a large amount of quoted text in the way. + + + + +<skip-quoted> (default: S) + + -skip-quoted (default: S) - - - - -This function will go to the next line of non-quoted text which come +This function will go to the next line of non-quoted text which comes after a line of quoted text in the internal pager. + + + + @@ -937,13 +975,14 @@ after a line of quoted text in the internal pager. Sending Mail + +Introduction + The bindings shown in are available in the -index for sending messages. +index and pager to start a new message. - - Most common mail sending keys @@ -951,46 +990,48 @@ The bindings shown in are available in the KeyFunctionDescription -mcomposecompose a new message -rreplyreply to sender -ggroup-replyreply to all recipients -Llist-replyreply to mailing list address -fforwardforward message -bbouncebounce (remail) message -ESC kmail-keymail a PGP public key to someone +m<compose>compose a new message +r<reply>reply to sender +g<group-reply>reply to all recipients +L<list-reply>reply to mailing list address +f<forward>forward message +b<bounce>bounce (remail) message +Esc k<mail-key>mail a PGP public key to someone
- - -Bouncing a message sends the message as is to the recipient you -specify. Forwarding a message allows you to add comments or +Bouncing a message sends the message as-is to the recipient you +specify. Forwarding a message allows you to add comments or modify the message you are forwarding. These items are discussed -in greater detail in the next chapter ``Forwarding -and Bouncing Mail.'' +in greater detail in the next chapter Forwarding +and Bouncing Mail. Mutt will then enter the compose menu and prompt you for the -recipients to place on the ``To:'' header field. Next, it will ask -you for the ``Subject:'' field for the message, providing a default if +recipients to place on the To: header field. Next, it will ask +you for the Subject: field for the message, providing a default if you are replying to or forwarding a message. See also $askcc, $askbcc, $autoedit, -$bounce, +$bounce, $fast_reply, and $include for changing how Mutt asks these questions. -Mutt will then automatically start your $editor on the message body. If the $edit_headers variable is set, the headers will be at -the top of the message in your editor. Any messages you are replying -to will be added in sort order to the message, with appropriate $attribution, $indent_string and $post_indent_string. When forwarding a -message, if the $mime_forward +Mutt will then automatically start your $editor +on the message body. If the $edit_headers +variable is set, the headers will be at the top of the message in your editor. +Any messages you are replying to will be added in sort order to the message, +with appropriate $attribution, +$indent_string and +$post_indent_string. +When forwarding a message, if the $mime_forward variable is unset, a copy of the forwarded message will be included. If you have specified a $signature, it will be appended to the message. @@ -999,11 +1040,10 @@ will be appended to the message. Once you have finished editing the body of your mail message, you are returned to the compose menu providing the functions -show in . +shown in to modify, send or postpone the +message. - - Most common compose menu keys @@ -1011,58 +1051,75 @@ show in . KeyFunctionDescription -aattach-fileattach a file -Aattach-messageattach message(s) to the message -ESC kattach-keyattach a PGP public key -dedit-descriptionedit description on attachment -Ddetach-filedetach a file -tedit-toedit the To field -ESC fedit-fromedit the From field -redit-reply-toedit the Reply-To field -cedit-ccedit the Cc field -bedit-bccedit the Bcc field -ysend-messagesend the message -sedit-subjectedit the Subject -Ssmime-menuselect S/MIME options -fedit-fccspecify an ``Fcc'' mailbox -ppgp-menuselect PGP options -Ppostpone-messagepostpone this message until later -qquitquit (abort) sending the message -wwrite-fccwrite the message to a folder -iispellcheck spelling (if available on your system) -ˆFforget-passphrasewipe passphrase(s) from memory +a<attach-file>attach a file +A<attach-message>attach message(s) to the message +Esc k<attach-key>attach a PGP public key +d<edit-description>edit description on attachment +D<detach-file>detach a file +t<edit-to>edit the To field +Esc f<edit-from>edit the From field +r<edit-reply-to>edit the Reply-To field +c<edit-cc>edit the Cc field +b<edit-bcc>edit the Bcc field +y<send-message>send the message +s<edit-subject>edit the Subject +S<smime-menu>select S/MIME options +f<edit-fcc>specify an Fcc mailbox +p<pgp-menu>select PGP options +P<postpone-message>postpone this message until later +q<quit>quit (abort) sending the message +w<write-fcc>write the message to a folder +i<ispell>check spelling (if available on your system) +ˆF<forget-passphrase>wipe passphrase(s) from memory
+ +The compose menu is also used to edit the attachments for a message which can be either files +or other messages. The <attach-message> function to will prompt you for a folder to +attach messages from. You can now tag messages in that folder and they +will be attached to the message you are sending. + -Note: The attach-message function will prompt you for a folder to -attach messages from. You can now tag messages in that folder and they -will be attached to the message you are sending. Note that certain +Note that certain operations like composing a new mail, replying, forwarding, etc. are -not permitted when you are in that folder. The %r in $status_format will change to -a 'A' to indicate that you are in attach-message mode. +not permitted when you are in that folder. The %r in +$status_format will change to +a A to indicate that you are in attach-message mode. + + + - + Editing the message header -When editing the header of your outgoing message, there are a couple of -special features available. +When editing the header because of $edit_headers +being set, there are a several pseudo headers available which +will not be included in sent messages. + +Fcc: pseudo header + If you specify Fcc: filename -Mutt will pick up filename -just as if you had used the edit-fcc function in the compose menu. +as a header, Mutt will pick up filename +just as if you had used the <edit-fcc> function in the compose menu. + + + +Attach: pseudo header + You can also attach files to your message by specifying @@ -1072,37 +1129,48 @@ where filename is the file to attach and descript optional string to use as the description of the attached file. - -When replying to messages, if you remove the In-Reply-To: field from -the header field, Mutt will not generate a References: field, which -allows you to create a new message thread. - + + + +Pgp: pseudo header -Also see $edit_headers. +If you want to use PGP, you can specify - + +Pgp: [ E | S | S<id> ] - -Using Mutt with PGP + -If you want to use PGP, you can specify +E selects encryption, S selects signing and +S<id> selects signing with the given key, setting +$pgp_sign_as +permanently. - -Pgp: [ E | S | S<id> ] + - + +In-Reply-To: header -``E'' encrypts, ``S'' signs and -``S<id>'' signs with the given key, setting $pgp_sign_as permanently. +When replying to messages, the In-Reply-To: header contains the +Message-Id of the message(s) you reply to. If you remove its value, Mutt will not generate a +References: field, which allows you to create a new message thread, for example +to create a new message to a mailing list without having to enter the mailing list's address. + + + + + +Sending cryptographically signed/encrypted messages + -If you have told mutt to PGP encrypt a message, it will guide you +If you have told mutt to PGP or S/MIME encrypt a message, it will guide you through a key selection process when you try to send the message. Mutt will not ask you any questions about keys which have a certified user ID matching one of the message recipients' mail @@ -1121,18 +1189,19 @@ return to the compose screen. Once you have successfully finished the key selection, the message -will be encrypted using the selected public keys, and sent out. +will be encrypted using the selected public keys when sent out. -Most fields of the entries in the key selection menu (see also $pgp_entry_format) -have obvious meanings. But some explanations on the capabilities, flags, +Most fields of the entries in the key selection menu (see also $pgp_entry_format) +have obvious meanings. But some explanations on the capabilities, flags, and validity fields are in order. The flags sequence (%f) will expand to one of the flags in . + PGP key menu flags @@ -1149,44 +1218,42 @@ The flags sequence (%f) will expand to one of the flags in
- - The capabilities field (%c) expands to a two-character sequence representing a key's capabilities. The first character gives -the key's encryption capabilities: A minus sign (-) means -that the key cannot be used for encryption. A dot (.) means that -it's marked as a signature key in one of the user IDs, but may -also be used for encryption. The letter e indicates that +the key's encryption capabilities: A minus sign (-) means +that the key cannot be used for encryption. A dot (.) means that +it's marked as a signature key in one of the user IDs, but may +also be used for encryption. The letter e indicates that this key can be used for encryption. -The second character indicates the key's signing capabilities. Once -again, a ``-'' implies ``not for signing'', ``.'' implies +The second character indicates the key's signing capabilities. Once +again, a - implies not for signing, . implies that the key is marked as an encryption key in one of the user-ids, and -``s'' denotes a key which can be used for signing. +s denotes a key which can be used for signing. Finally, the validity field (%t) indicates how well-certified a user-id -is. A question mark (?) indicates undefined validity, a minus -character (-) marks an untrusted association, a space character -means a partially trusted association, and a plus character (+) +is. A question mark (?) indicates undefined validity, a minus +character (-) marks an untrusted association, a space character +means a partially trusted association, and a plus character (+) indicates complete validity. - -Sending anonymous messages via mixmaster. + +Sending anonymous messages via mixmaster -You may also have configured mutt to co-operate with Mixmaster, an +You may also have compiled mutt to co-operate with Mixmaster, an anonymous remailer. Mixmaster permits you to send your messages -anonymously using a chain of remailers. Mixmaster support in mutt is for -mixmaster version 2.04 (beta 45 appears to be the latest) and 2.03. -It does not support earlier versions or the later so-called version 3 betas, +anonymously using a chain of remailers. Mixmaster support in mutt is for +mixmaster version 2.04 (beta 45 appears to be the latest) and 2.03. +It does not support earlier versions or the later so-called version 3 betas, of which the latest appears to be called 2.9b23. @@ -1204,22 +1271,22 @@ the lower part, you see the currently selected chain of remailers. -You can navigate in the chain using the chain-prev and -chain-next functions, which are by default bound to the left +You can navigate in the chain using the <chain-prev> and +<chain-next> functions, which are by default bound to the left and right arrows and to the h and l keys (think vi keyboard bindings). To insert a remailer at the current chain -position, use the insert function. To append a remailer behind -the current chain position, use select-entry or append. +position, use the <insert> function. To append a remailer behind +the current chain position, use <select-entry> or <append>. You can also delete entries from the chain, using the corresponding function. Finally, to abandon your changes, leave the menu, or -accept them pressing (by default) the Return key. +<accept> them pressing (by default) the Return key. Note that different remailers do have different capabilities, indicated in the %c entry of the remailer menu lines (see $mix_entry_format). Most important is -the ``middleman'' capability, indicated by a capital ``M'': This +the middleman capability, indicated by a capital M: This means that the remailer in question cannot be used as the final element of a chain, but will only forward messages to other mixmaster remailers. For details on the other capabilities, please @@ -1228,10 +1295,10 @@ have a look at the mixmaster documentation. - + Sending format=flowed messages - + Concept @@ -1239,7 +1306,8 @@ have a look at the mixmaster documentation. for short) are text/plain messages that consist of paragraphs which a receiver's mail client may reformat to its own needs which mostly means to customize line lengths regardless of what the sender sent. Technically this is -achieved by letting lines of a ``flowable'' paragraph end in spaces. +achieved by letting lines of a flowable paragraph end in spaces +except for the last line. @@ -1250,17 +1318,15 @@ receiver decide completely how to view a message. - + Mutt support Mutt only supports setting the required format=flowed -MIME parameter on outgoing messages if the $text_flowed variable is set. It does not add the -trailing spaces nor does it provide any other feature related to -composing f=f messages (like reformatting -non-f=f parts of a reply to f=f -before calling the editor). +MIME parameter on outgoing messages if the $text_flowed +variable is set, specifically it does not add the +trailing spaces. @@ -1272,27 +1338,30 @@ the compose menu, mutt properly space-stuffes the message. all lines starting with a space -lines starting with the word ``From'' +lines starting with the word From followed by space -all lines starting with ``>'' which +all lines starting with > which is not intended to be a quote character + -All leading spaces are to be removed by receiving clients to restore -the original message. +Mutt only supports space-stuffing +for the first two types of lines but not for the third: It is impossible to +safely detect whether a leading > character starts a +quote or not. Furthermore, Mutt only applies space-stuffing +once after the initial edit is finished. + -Note that mutt only support space-stuffing -for the first two types of lines but not for the third: It is impossible to -safely detect whether a leading > character starts a -quote or not. +All leading spaces are to be removed by receiving clients to restore +the original message prior to further processing. - + Editor considerations @@ -1326,28 +1395,14 @@ fo-table for details. Bouncing and forwarding let you send an existing message to recipients -that you specify. Bouncing a message uses the $sendmail command to send a copy to alternative addresses as if -they were the message's original recipients. Forwarding a message, on -the other hand, allows you to modify the message before it is resent -(for example, by adding your own comments). The default key bindings -are shown in . - - - - - -Message forwarding/bouncing keys - - -KeyFunctionDescription - - -fforwardforward message -bbouncebounce (remail) message - - -
- +that you specify. Bouncing a message sends a verbatim copy of a message +to alternative addresses as if they were the message's original +recipients specified in the Bcc header. +Forwarding a message, on the other hand, allows you to modify the message +before it is resent (for example, by adding your own comments). Bouncing +is done using the <bounce> function and forwarding +using the <forward> function bound to b and f +respectively. @@ -1357,7 +1412,7 @@ attachment, depending on the value of the $m like in the pager, can be controlled by the $forward_decode and $mime_forward_decode variables, respectively. The desired forwarding format may depend on the content, therefore $mime_forward is a quadoption which, for -example, can be set to ``ask-no''. +example, can be set to ask-no. @@ -1377,7 +1432,7 @@ replying to a message does. At times it is desirable to delay sending a message that you have -already begun to compose. When the postpone-message function is +already begun to compose. When the <postpone-message> function is used in the compose menu, the body of your message and attachments are stored in the mailbox specified by the $postponed variable. This means that you can recall the message even if you exit Mutt and then restart it at a later time. @@ -1385,19 +1440,21 @@ message even if you exit Mutt and then restart it at a later time. Once a message is postponed, there are several ways to resume it. From the -command line you can use the ``-p'' option, or if you compose a new +command line you can use the -p option, or if you compose a new message from the index or pager you will be prompted if postponed messages exist. If multiple messages are currently postponed, the postponed menu will pop up and you can select which message you would like to resume. + -Note: If you postpone a reply to a message, the reply setting of +If you postpone a reply to a message, the reply setting of the message is only updated when you actually finish the message and send it. Also, you must be in the same folder with the message you replied to for the status of the message to be updated. + See also the $postpone quad-option. @@ -1410,17 +1467,20 @@ See also the $postpone quad-option. Configuration + +Location of initialization files + -While the default configuration (or ``preferences'') make Mutt +While the default configuration (or preferences) make Mutt usable right out of the box, it is often desirable to tailor Mutt to suit your own tastes. When Mutt is first invoked, it will attempt to -read the ``system'' configuration file (defaults set by your local -system administrator), unless the ``-n'' command line option is specified. This file is typically +read the system configuration file (defaults set by your local +system administrator), unless the -n command line option is specified. This file is typically /usr/local/share/mutt/Muttrc or /etc/Muttrc. Mutt will next look for a file named .muttrc in your home directory. If this file does not exist and your home directory has a subdirectory named .mutt, mutt try to load a file named -.mutt/muttrc. +.mutt/muttrc. @@ -1436,34 +1496,41 @@ sourced instead of the Muttrc file. The same is true of the configuration file, if you have a file .muttrc-0.88.6 in your home directory, when you run mutt version 0.88.6, it will source this file instead of the default .muttrc file. The version number is the -same which is visible using the ``-v'' command line switch or using the show-version key (default: +same which is visible using the -v command line switch or using the show-version key (default: V) from the index menu. + + Syntax of Initialization Files An initialization file consists of a series of commands. Each line of the file may contain one or more commands. -When multiple commands are used, they must be separated by a semicolon (;). +When multiple commands are used, they must be separated by a semicolon +(;). + + +Multiple configuration commands per line set realname='Mutt user' ; ignore x- + + The hash mark, or pound sign -(``#''), is used as a ``comment'' character. You can use it to +(#), is used as a comment character. You can use it to annotate your initialization file. All text after the comment character to the end of the line is ignored. For example, - - + +Commenting configuration files my_hdr X-Disclaimer: Why are you listening to me? # This is a comment - - + Single quotes (') and double quotes (") can be used to quote strings @@ -1472,25 +1539,27 @@ the two types of quotes is similar to that of many popular shell programs, namely that a single quote is used to specify a literal string (one that is not interpreted for shell variables or quoting with a backslash [see next paragraph]), while double quotes indicate a string for which -should be evaluated. For example, backtics are evaluated inside of double +should be evaluated. For example, backticks are evaluated inside of double quotes, but not for single quotes. \ quotes the next character, just as in shells such as bash and zsh. -For example, if want to put quotes ``"'' inside of a string, you can use -``\'' to force the next character to be a literal instead of interpreted +For example, if want to put quotes " inside of a string, you can use +\ to force the next character to be a literal instead of interpreted character. + + +Escaping quotes in congfiguration files set realname="Michael \"MuttDude\" Elkins" - - + -``\\'' means to insert a literal ``\'' into the line. -``\n'' and ``\r'' have their usual C meanings of linefeed and +\\ means to insert a literal \ into the line. +\n and \r have their usual C meanings of linefeed and carriage-return, respectively. @@ -1503,30 +1572,44 @@ middle of command names. It is also possible to substitute the output of a Unix command in an initialization file. This is accomplished by enclosing the command in -backquotes (``). For example, +backticks (``). For example, + + +Using external command's output in configuration files my_hdr X-Operating-System: `uname -a` + -The output of the Unix command ``uname -a'' will be substituted before the -line is parsed. Note that since initialization files are line oriented, only + +The output of the Unix command uname -a will be substituted before the +line is parsed. + + + + +Since initialization files are line oriented, only the first line of output from the Unix command will be substituted. + Both environment variables and mutt variables can be accessed by -prepending ``$'' to the name of the variable. For example, +prepending $ to the name of the variable. For example, + +Using environment variables in configuration files set record=+sent_on_$HOSTNAME + will cause mutt to save outgoing messages to a folder named -``sent_on_kremvax'' if the environment variable HOSTNAME is set to -``kremvax.'' (See $record for +sent_on_kremvax if the environment variable HOSTNAME is set to +kremvax. (See $record for details.) @@ -1542,14 +1625,84 @@ The commands understood by mutt are explained in the next paragraphs. For a complete list, see the command reference. + +All configuration files are expected to be in the current locale as +specified by the $charset variable +which doesn't have a default value since it's determined by Mutt at startup. +If a configuration file is not encoded in the same character set the +$config_charset +variable should be used: all lines starting with the next are recoded +from $config_charset to $charset. + + + +This mechanism should be avoided if possible as it has the +following implications: + + + + +These variables should be set early in a configuration +file with $charset preceding $config_charset so Mutt +know what character set to convert to. + +If $config_charset is set, it should be set +in each configuration file because the value is global and not +per configuration file. + +Because Mutt first recodes a line before it attempts to parse it, +a conversion introducing question marks or other characters as +part of errors (unconvertable characters, transliteration) may introduce syntax +errors or silently change the meaning of certain tokens (e.g. inserting +question marks into regular expressions). + + + Address groups - -Usage: group [ -group name [ ... ] ] [ -rx EXPR [ ... ] ] [ -addr EXPR [ ... ] ] - +Usage: + + +group + + +name + + + + +expr + + + +expr + + + + + +ungroup + + +name + + + +* + + + +expr + + + +expr + + + group is used to directly add either addresses or @@ -1562,7 +1715,7 @@ expression or an email address, respectively. -These address groups can also be created implicitely by the +These address groups can also be created implicitly by the alias, lists, subscribe and alternates commands by specifying the @@ -1575,10 +1728,6 @@ Once defined, these address groups can be used in display to messages matching a group. - -Usage: ungroup [ -group name [ ... ] ] [ * | [ [ -rx EXPR [ ... ] ] [ -addr EXPR [ ... ] ] ] - - ungroup is used to remove addresses or regular expressions from the specified group or groups. The syntax is similar to @@ -1592,20 +1741,37 @@ contents. Defining/Using aliases - -Usage: alias [ -group name [ ... ] ] key address [ , address, ... ] - +Usage: + + +alias + + +name + + +key + + +address + + +address + + It's usually very cumbersome to remember or type out the address of someone -you are communicating with. Mutt allows you to create ``aliases'' which map +you are communicating with. Mutt allows you to create aliases which map a short string to a full address. + -Note: if you want to create an alias for more than -one address, you must separate the addresses with a comma (``,''). +If you want to create an alias for more than +one address, you must separate the addresses with a comma (,). + The optional -group argument to @@ -1614,22 +1780,30 @@ the named group. -To remove an alias or aliases (``*'' means all aliases): +To remove an alias or aliases (* means all aliases): - -unalias [ * | key ... ] - - - + +unalias + + +name + + + +* + + +key + + + alias muttdude me@cs.hmc.edu (Michael Elkins) alias theguys manny, moe, jack - - Unlike other mailers, Mutt doesn't require aliases to be defined in a special file. The alias command can appear anywhere in @@ -1638,7 +1812,7 @@ you can have all aliases defined in your muttrc. -On the other hand, the create-alias +On the other hand, the <create-alias> function can use only one file, the one pointed to by the $alias_file variable (which is ˜/.muttrc by default). This file is not special either, in the sense that Mutt will happily append aliases to any file, but in @@ -1649,15 +1823,14 @@ order for the new aliases to take effect you need to explicitly +Configuring external alias files source /usr/local/share/Mutt.aliases source ~/.mail_aliases set alias_file=~/.mail_aliases - - + To use aliases, you merely use the alias at any place in mutt where mutt @@ -1677,8 +1850,8 @@ multiple addresses. In the alias menu, you can select as many aliases as you want with the -select-entry key (default: RET), and use the exit key -(default: q) to return to the address prompt. +select-entry key (default: <Return>), and use the +exit key (default: q) to return to the address prompt. @@ -1686,9 +1859,20 @@ In the alias menu, you can select as many aliases as you want with the Changing the default key bindings - -Usage: bind map key function - +Usage: + + +bind + +map + + +key + + +function + + This command allows you to change the default key bindings (operation @@ -1701,7 +1885,6 @@ be specified by separating them with commas (no additional whitespace is allowed). The currently defined maps are: - @@ -1781,7 +1964,16 @@ listings. pgp -The pgp menu is used to select the OpenPGP keys used for encrypting outgoing +The pgp menu is used to select the OpenPGP keys used to encrypt outgoing +messages. + + + + +smime + + +The smime menu is used to select the OpenSSL certificates used to encrypt outgoing messages. @@ -1795,23 +1987,38 @@ recalling a message the user was composing, but saved until later. - + +query + + +The query menu is the browser for results returned by +$query_command. + + + + +mix + + +The mixmaster screen is used to select remailer options for outgoing +messages (if Mutt is compiled with Mixmaster support). + + + key is the key (or key sequence) you wish to bind. To specify a control character, use the sequence \Cx, where x is the letter of the control character (for example, to specify control-A use -``\Ca''). Note that the case of x as well as \C is +\Ca). Note that the case of x as well as \C is ignored, so that \CA, \Ca, \cA and \ca are all equivalent. An alternative form is to specify the key as a three digit -octal number prefixed with a ``\'' (for example \177 is +octal number prefixed with a \ (for example \177 is equivalent to \c?). In addition, key may be a symbolic name as shown in . - - Symbolic key names @@ -1846,16 +2053,14 @@ be a symbolic name as shown in .
- - key does not need to be enclosed in quotes unless it contains a -space (`` ''). +space ( ) or semi-colon (;). function specifies which action to take when key is pressed. -For a complete list of functions, see the reference. The special function noop unbinds the specified key +For a complete list of functions, see the reference. The special function <noop> unbinds the specified key sequence. @@ -1864,12 +2069,27 @@ sequence. Defining aliases for character sets - - -Usage: charset-hook alias charset -Usage: iconv-hook charset local-charset - - +Usage: + + +charset-hook + +alias + + +charset + + + + +iconv-hook + +charset + + +local-charset + + The charset-hook command defines an alias for a character set. @@ -1889,9 +2109,17 @@ for character sets. Setting variables based upon mailbox - -Usage: folder-hook [!]regexp command - +Usage: + + +folder-hook + +[!]regexp + + +command + + It is often desirable to change settings based on which mailbox you are @@ -1902,68 +2130,87 @@ matches multiple folder-hook's, they are executed in the order given in the muttrc. + -Note: if you use the ``!'' shortcut for $spoolfile at the beginning of the pattern, you must place it +If you use the ! shortcut for $spoolfile at the beginning of the pattern, you must place it inside of double or single quotes in order to distinguish it from the logical not operator for the expression. + + -Note that the settings are not restored when you leave the mailbox. +Settings are not restored when you leave the mailbox. For example, a command action to perform is to change the sorting method based upon the mailbox being read: - - + folder-hook mutt set sort=threads - - However, the sorting method is not restored to its previous value when reading a different mailbox. To specify a default command, use the -pattern ``.'': +pattern . before other folder-hooks adjusting a value on a per-folder basis +because folder-hooks are evaluated in the order given in the configuration file. +The following example will set the sort variable +to date-sent for all folders but to threads +for all folders containing mutt in their name. - - + +Setting sort method based on mailbox name folder-hook . set sort=date-sent +folder-hook mutt set sort=threads - - + Keyboard macros - -Usage: macro menu key sequence [ description ] - +Usage: + + +macro + +menu + + +key + + +sequence + + +description + + Macros are useful when you would like a single key to perform a series of actions. When you press key in menu menu, Mutt will behave as if you had typed sequence. So if you have a common sequence of commands you type, you can create a macro to execute those commands with a single -key. +key or fewer keys. -menu is the map which the macro will be bound. +menu is the map which the macro will be bound in. Multiple maps may be specified by separating multiple menu arguments by commas. Whitespace may not be used in between the menu arguments and the commas separating them. -key and sequence are expanded by the same rules as the key bindings. There are some additions however. The +key and sequence are expanded by the same rules as the +key bindings with some additions. The first is that control characters in sequence can also be specified -as ˆx. In order to get a caret (`ˆ'') you need to use +as ˆx. In order to get a caret (ˆ) you need to use ˆˆ. Secondly, to specify a certain key such as up or to invoke a function directly, you can use the format <key name> and <function name>. For a listing of key @@ -1984,23 +2231,84 @@ Optionally you can specify a descriptive text after sequence + -Note: Macro definitions (if any) listed in the help screen(s), are +Macro definitions (if any) listed in the help screen(s), are silently truncated at the screen width, and are not wrapped. + Using color and mono video attributes - - -Usage: color object foreground background [ regexp ] -Usage: color index foreground background pattern -Usage: uncolor index pattern [ pattern ... ] - - +Usage: + + +color + +object + + +foreground + + +background + + + + +color + + + + + + + + + +foreground + + +background + + +regexp + + + + +color + + + + +foreground + + +background + + +pattern + + + + +uncolor + + + + + +* + + +pattern + + + If your terminal supports color, you can spice up Mutt by creating your own @@ -2010,203 +2318,51 @@ possible to only specify one or the other). -object can be one of: - - - - - - - - -attachment - - - - - -body (match regexp in the body of messages) - - - - - -bold (hiliting bold patterns in the body of messages) - - - - - -error (error messages printed by Mutt) - - - - - -header (match regexp in the message header) - - - - - -hdrdefault (default color of the message header in the pager) - - - - - -index (match pattern in the message index) - - - - - -indicator (arrow or bar used to indicate the current item in a menu) - - - - - -markers (the ``+'' markers at the beginning of wrapped lines in the pager) - - - - - -message (informational messages) - - - - - -normal - - - - - -quoted (text matching $quote_regexp in the body of a message) - - - - - -quoted1, quoted2, ..., quotedN (higher levels of quoting) - - - - - -search (hiliting of words in the pager) - - - - - -signature - - - - - -status (mode lines used to display info about the mailbox or message) - - - - - -tilde (the ``˜'' used to pad blank lines in the pager) - - - - - -tree (thread tree drawn in the message index and attachment menu) +header and body match regexp +in the header/body of a message, index matches pattern +(see ) in the message index. - - -underline (hiliting underlined patterns in the body of messages) +object can be one of: - + +attachment +bold (hiliting bold patterns in the body of messages) +error (error messages printed by Mutt) +hdrdefault (default color of the message header in the pager) +indicator (arrow or bar used to indicate the current item in a menu) +markers (the + markers at the beginning of wrapped lines in the pager) +message (informational messages) +normal +quoted (text matching $quote_regexp in the body of a message) +quoted1, quoted2, ..., quotedN (higher levels of quoting) +search (hiliting of words in the pager) +signaturestatus (mode lines used to display info about the mailbox or message) +tilde (the ˜ used to pad blank lines in the pager) +tree (thread tree drawn in the message index and attachment menu) +underline (hiliting underlined patterns in the body of messages) - - foreground and background can be one of the following: - - - - - -white - - - - - -black - - - - - -green - - - - - -magenta - - - - - -blue - - - - - -cyan - - - - - -yellow - - - - - -red - - - - - -default - - - - - -colorx - +white +black +green +magenta +blue +cyan +yellow +red +default +colorx - - - foreground can optionally be prefixed with the keyword bright to make the foreground color boldfaced (e.g., brightred). @@ -2220,27 +2376,27 @@ the COLORFGBG environment variable to the default colors of terminal for this to work; for example (for Bourne-like shells): - - set COLORFGBG="green;black" export COLORFGBG - - + -Note: The S-Lang library requires you to use the lightgray +The S-Lang library requires you to use the lightgray and brown keywords instead of white and yellow when setting this variable. + + -Note: The uncolor command can be applied to the index object only. It +The uncolor command can be applied to the index object only. It removes entries from the list. You must specify the same pattern -specified in the color command for it to be removed. The pattern ``*'' is +specified in the color command for it to be removed. The pattern * is a special token which means to clear the color index list of all entries. + Mutt also recognizes the keywords color0, color1, …, @@ -2252,93 +2408,138 @@ for your xterm), since color names may then lose their normal meaning. If your terminal does not support color, it is still possible change the video -attributes through the use of the ``mono'' command: - - - - -Usage: mono <object> <attribute> [ regexp ] -Usage: mono index attribute pattern -Usage: unmono index pattern [ pattern ... ] - - - - -where attribute is one of the following: +attributes through the use of the mono command: + + + +Usage: + + +mono + +object + + +attribute + + + + +mono + + + + + + + + + +attribute + + +regexp + + + + +mono + + + + +attribute + + +pattern + + + + +unmono + + + + + +* + + +pattern + + + + + +For object, see the color command. attribute +can be one of the following: - - - - - -none - - - - - -bold - - - - - -underline - - - - - -reverse - - - - - -standout - - - +none +bold +underline +reverse +standout - - -Ignoring (weeding) unwanted message headers - - -Usage: [un]ignore pattern [ pattern ... ] - +Message header display + +Usage: + + +ignore + +pattern + + +pattern + + + + +unignore + + +* + + +pattern + + + Messages often have many header fields added by automatic processing systems, or which may not seem useful to display on the screen. This command allows -you to specify header fields which you don't normally want to see. +you to specify header fields which you don't normally want to see in the pager. You do not need to specify the full header field name. For example, -``ignore content-'' will ignore all header fields that begin with the pattern -``content-''. ``ignore *'' will ignore all headers. +ignore content- will ignore all header fields that begin with the pattern +content-. ignore * will ignore all headers. -To remove a previously added token from the list, use the ``unignore'' command. -The ``unignore'' command will make Mutt display headers with the given pattern. -For example, if you do ``ignore x-'' it is possible to ``unignore x-mailer''. +To remove a previously added token from the list, use the unignore command. +The unignore command will make Mutt display headers with the given pattern. +For example, if you do ignore x- it is possible to unignore x-mailer. -``unignore *'' will remove all tokens from the ignore list. +unignore * will remove all tokens from the ignore list. For example: + + +Header weeding # Sven's draconian header weeding ignore * @@ -2346,18 +2547,86 @@ unignore from date subject to cc unignore organization organisation x-mailer: x-newsreader: x-mailing-list: unignore posted-to: + + + +Usage: + +hdr_order + +header + + +header + + + + +unhdr_order + + +* + + +header + + + + + +With the hdr_order command you can specify an order in +which mutt will attempt to present these headers to you when viewing messages. + + + +unhdr_order * will clear all previous headers from the order list, +thus removing the header order effects set by the system-wide startup file. + +Configuring header display order + +hdr_order From Date: From: To: Cc: Subject: + + + Alternative addresses - -Usage: [un]alternates [ -group name [ ... ] ] regexp [ regexp ... ] - - +Usage: + + +alternates + + +name + + +regexp + + +regexp + + + + +unalternates + + +name + + + +* + + +regexp + + + With various functions, mutt will treat messages differently, @@ -2388,7 +2657,7 @@ alternates user@example -mutt will consider ``some-user@example'' as +mutt will consider some-user@example as being your address, too which may not be desired. As a solution, in such cases addresses should be specified as: @@ -2416,7 +2685,7 @@ To remove a regular expression from the alternates list, use Likewise, if the regexp for an alternates command matches an entry on the unalternates list, that unalternates entry will be removed. If the regexp for unalternates -is ``*'', all entries on alternates will be removed. +is *, all entries on alternates will be removed. @@ -2424,38 +2693,101 @@ is ``*'', all entries on alternates will Mailing lists - - -Usage: [un]lists [ -group name [ ... ] ] regexp [ regexp ... ] -Usage: [un]subscribe [ -group name [ ... ] ] regexp [ regexp ... ] - - + +Usage: + + +lists + + +name + + +regexp + + +regexp + + + + +unlists + + +name + + + +* + + +regexp + + + + + +subscribe + + +name + + +regexp + + +regexp + + + + +unsubscribe + + +name + + + +* + + +regexp + + + Mutt has a few nice features for handling mailing lists. In order to take advantage of them, you must specify which addresses belong to mailing lists, and which mailing -lists you are subscribed to. Once you have done this, the list-reply function will work for all known lists. +lists you are subscribed to. Once you have done this, the <list-reply> function will work for all known lists. Additionally, when you send a message to a subscribed list, mutt will add a Mail-Followup-To header to tell other users' mail user agents -not to send copies of replies to your personal address. Note that -the Mail-Followup-To header is a non-standard extension which is not +not to send copies of replies to your personal address. + + + + +The Mail-Followup-To header is a non-standard extension which is not supported by all mail user agents. Adding it is not bullet-proof against receiving personal CCs of list messages. Also note that the generation -of the Mail-Followup-To header is controlled by the $followup_to configuration variable. +of the Mail-Followup-To header is controlled by the +$followup_to +configuration variable. + More precisely, Mutt maintains lists of patterns for the addresses of known and subscribed mailing lists. Every subscribed mailing -list is known. To mark a mailing list as known, use the ``lists'' -command. To mark it as subscribed, use ``subscribe''. +list is known. To mark a mailing list as known, use the lists +command. To mark it as subscribed, use subscribe. You can use regular expressions with both commands. To mark all messages sent to a specific bug report's address on mutt's bug tracking system as list mail, for instance, you could say -``subscribe [0-9]*@bugs.guug.de''. Often, it's sufficient to just +subscribe [0-9]*@bugs.guug.de. Often, it's sufficient to just give a portion of the list's e-mail address. @@ -2463,13 +2795,13 @@ give a portion of the list's e-mail address. Specify as much of the address as you need to to remove ambiguity. For example, if you've subscribed to the Mutt mailing list, you will receive mail addressed to mutt-users@mutt.org. So, to tell Mutt -that this is a mailing list, you could add ``lists mutt-users@'' to your +that this is a mailing list, you could add lists mutt-users@ to your initialization file. To tell mutt that you are subscribed to it, -add ``subscribe mutt-users'' to your initialization file instead. +add subscribe mutt-users to your initialization file instead. If you also happen to get mail from someone whose address is mutt-users@example.com, you could use -``lists ^mutt-users@mutt\\.org$'' -or ``subscribe ^mutt-users@mutt\\.org$'' to +lists ^mutt-users@mutt\\.org$ +or subscribe ^mutt-users@mutt\\.org$ to match only mail from the actual list. @@ -2479,14 +2811,14 @@ to the named group. -The ``unlists'' command is used to remove a token from the list of -known and subscribed mailing-lists. Use ``unlists *'' to remove all +The unlists command is used to remove a token from the list of +known and subscribed mailing-lists. Use unlists * to remove all tokens. To remove a mailing list from the list of subscribed mailing lists, -but keep it on the list of known mailing lists, use ``unsubscribe''. +but keep it on the list of known mailing lists, use unsubscribe. @@ -2494,15 +2826,23 @@ but keep it on the list of known mailing lists, use ``unsubscribe''. Using Multiple spool mailboxes - -Usage: mbox-hook [!]pattern mailbox - +Usage: + + +mbox-hook + +[!]pattern + + +mailbox + + This command is used to move read messages from a specified mailbox to a different mailbox automatically when you quit or change folders. pattern is a regular expression specifying the mailbox to treat as a -``spool'' mailbox and mailbox specifies where mail should be saved when +spool mailbox and mailbox specifies where mail should be saved when read. @@ -2517,68 +2857,86 @@ mailbox). Monitoring incoming mail - -Usage: [un]mailboxes folder [ folder ... ] - +Usage: + + +mailboxes + +mailbox + + +mailbox + + + + +unmailboxes + + +* + + +mailbox + + + This command specifies folders which can receive mail and -which will be checked for new messages. By default, the -main menu status bar displays how many of these folders have -new messages. +which will be checked for new messages periodically. -folder can either be a local file or directory +folder can either be a local file or directory (Mbox/Mmdf or Maildir/Mh). If Mutt was built with POP and/or IMAP -support, folder can also be a POP/IMAP folder +support, folder can also be a POP/IMAP folder URL. The URL syntax is described in , POP and IMAP are described in and respectively. -When changing folders, pressing space will cycle -through folders with new mail. - - - -Pressing TAB in the directory browser will bring up a menu showing the files -specified by the mailboxes command, and indicate which contain new -messages. Mutt will automatically enter this mode when invoked from the -command line with the -y option. +Mutt provides a number of advanced features for handling (possibly many) +folders and new mail within them, please refer to + for details (including in what +situations and how often Mutt checks for new mail). -The ``unmailboxes'' command is used to remove a token from the list -of folders which receive mail. Use ``unmailboxes *'' to remove all +The unmailboxes command is used to remove a token from the list +of folders which receive mail. Use unmailboxes * to remove all tokens. + -Note: the folders in the mailboxes command are resolved when -the command is executed, so if these names contain shortcut characters (such as ``='' and ``!''), any variable -definition that affect these characters (like $folder and $spoolfile) -should be executed before the mailboxes command. If +The folders in the mailboxes command are resolved when +the command is executed, so if these names contain shortcut characters (such as = and !), any variable +definition that affects these characters (like $folder and $spoolfile) +should be set before the mailboxes command. If none of these shorcuts are used, a local path should be absolute as -otherwise mutt tries to find it within the current working directory +otherwise mutt tries to find it relative to the directory from where mutt was started which may not always be desired. + -For local folders, new mail is detected by comparing access and/or -modification times of files and folders. The interval in which Mutt -checks for new mail is defined by -$mail_check. - - - -Special care is required with Mbox and Mmdf -folders as Mutt assumes such a folder has new mail if it wasn't +For Mbox and Mmdf folders, new mail is detected by comparing access and/or +modification times of files: Mutt assumes a folder has new mail if it wasn't accessed after it was last modified. Utilities like biff or frm or any other program which accesses the mailbox might cause Mutt to never detect new mail for that mailbox if they do not properly reset the -access time. Backup tools are another common reason for updated access times. +access time. Other possible causes of Mutt not detecting new mail in these folders +are backup tools (updating access times) or filesystems mounted without +access time update support. + + + +In cases where new mail detection for Mbox or Mmdf folders appears to be +unreliable, the +$check_mbox_size +option can be used to make Mutt track and consult file sizes for new +mail detection instead. @@ -2586,96 +2944,90 @@ access time. Backup tools are another common reason for updated access times. User defined headers - -Usage: - -my_hdr string - -unmy_hdr field [ field ... ] - - - -The ``my_hdr'' command allows you to create your own header +Usage: + + +my_hdr + +string + + + + +unmy_hdr + + +* + + +field + + + + + +The my_hdr command allows you to create your own header fields which will be added to every message you send. -For example, if you would like to add an ``Organization:'' header field to +For example, if you would like to add an Organization: header field to all of your outgoing messages, you can put the command - -my_hdr Organization: A Really Big Company, Anytown, USA - + +Defining custom headers + +my_hdr Organization: A Really Big Company, Anytown, USA + + in your .muttrc. + -Note: space characters are not allowed between the keyword and -the colon (``:''). The standard for electronic mail (RFC822) says that +Space characters are not allowed between the keyword and +the colon (:). The standard for electronic mail (RFC2822) says that space is illegal there, so Mutt enforces the rule. + If you would like to add a header field to a single message, you should either set the $edit_headers variable, -or use the edit-headers function (default: ``E'') in the send-menu so +or use the <edit-headers> function (default: E) in the compose menu so that you can edit the header of your message along with the body. -To remove user defined header fields, use the ``unmy_hdr'' -command. You may specify an asterisk (``*'') to remove all header -fields, or the fields to remove. For example, to remove all ``To'' and -``Cc'' header fields, you could use: +To remove user defined header fields, use the unmy_hdr +command. You may specify an asterisk (*) to remove all header +fields, or the fields to remove. For example, to remove all To and +Cc header fields, you could use: - -unmy_hdr to cc - + +unmy_hdr to cc + - -Defining the order of headers when viewing messages + +Specify default save mailbox - -Usage: hdr_order header1 header2 header3 - - - -With this command, you can specify an order in which mutt will attempt -to present headers to you when viewing messages. - - - -``unhdr_order *'' will clear all previous headers from the order list, -thus removing the header order effects set by the system-wide startup -file. - - - - - -hdr_order From Date: From: To: Cc: Subject: - - - +Usage: - - - -Specify default save mailbox - - -Usage: save-hook [!]pattern mailbox - + +save-hook + +[!]pattern + + +mailbox + + This command is used to override the default mailbox used when saving @@ -2694,18 +3046,19 @@ expandos of $index_format to Examples: - - + +Using %-expandos in <literal>save-hook</literal> # default: save all to ~/Mail/<author name> save-hook . ~/Mail/%F -# save from me@turing.cs.hmc.edu/me@cs.hmc.edu to $folder/elinks + +# save from me@turing.cs.hmc.edu and me@cs.hmc.edu to $folder/elkins save-hook me@(turing\\.)?cs\\.hmc\\.edu$ +elkins + # save from aol.com to $folder/spam save-hook aol\\.com$ +spam - - + Also see the fcc-save-hook command. @@ -2716,9 +3069,17 @@ Also see the fcc-save-hook command. Specify default Fcc: mailbox when composing - -Usage: fcc-hook [!]pattern mailbox - +Usage: + + +fcc-hook + +[!]pattern + + +mailbox + + This command is used to save outgoing mail in a mailbox other than @@ -2752,9 +3113,17 @@ the `+spammers' mailbox by default. Also see the Specify default save filename and default Fcc: mailbox at once - -Usage: fcc-save-hook [!]pattern mailbox - +Usage: + + +fcc-save-hook + +[!]pattern + + +mailbox + + This command is a shortcut, equivalent to doing both a fcc-hook @@ -2768,28 +3137,61 @@ to $index_format. Change settings based upon message recipients + + + +Usage: + + +reply-hook + +[!]pattern + + +command + + + + +send-hook + +[!]pattern + + +command + + + + +send2-hook + +[!]pattern + + +command + + + - -Usage: reply-hook [!]pattern command -Usage: send-hook [!]pattern command -Usage: send2-hook [!]pattern command - +These commands can be used to execute arbitrary configuration commands based +upon recipients of the message. pattern is used to match +the message, see for details. command +is executed when pattern matches. -These commands can be used to execute arbitrary configuration commands based -upon recipients of the message. pattern is a regular expression -matching the desired address. command is executed when regexp -matches recipients of the message. +reply-hook is matched against the message you are replying to, +instead of the message you are sending. send-hook is +matched against all messages, both new +and replies. + -reply-hook is matched against the message you are replying -to, instead of the message you are sending. send-hook is -matched against all messages, both new and replies. Note: reply-hooks are matched before the send-hook, regardless of the order specified in the user's configuration file. + send2-hook is matched every time a message is changed, either @@ -2805,10 +3207,6 @@ occur, commands are executed in the order they are specified in the muttrc (for that type of hook). - -See for information on the exact format of pattern. - - Example: send-hook mutt "set mime_forward signature=''" @@ -2820,23 +3218,33 @@ variables in order to change the language of the attributions and signatures based upon the recipients. + -Note: the send-hook's are only executed ONCE after getting the initial +send-hook's are only executed once after getting the initial list of recipients. Adding a recipient after replying or editing the -message will NOT cause any send-hook to be executed. Also note that -my_hdr commands which modify recipient headers, or the message's +message will not cause any send-hook to be executed. Also note that +my_hdr commands which modify recipient headers, or the message's subject, don't have any effect on the current message when executed from a send-hook. + Change settings before formatting a message - -Usage: message-hook [!]pattern command - +Usage: + + +message-hook + +[!]pattern + + +command + + This command can be used to execute arbitrary configuration commands @@ -2853,35 +3261,42 @@ information on the exact format of pattern. Example: + message-hook ~A 'set pager=builtin' message-hook '~f freshmeat-news' 'set pager="less \"+/^ subject: .*\""' - - Choosing the cryptographic key of the recipient - -Usage: crypt-hook pattern keyid - +Usage: + + +crypt-hook + +pattern + + +keyid + + -When encrypting messages with PGP or OpenSSL, you may want to associate a certain +When encrypting messages with PGP/GnuPG or OpenSSL, you may want to associate a certain key with a given e-mail address automatically, either because the recipient's public key can't be deduced from the destination address, or because, for some reasons, you need to override the key Mutt would -normally use. The crypt-hook command provides a method by which you can -specify the ID of the public key to be used when encrypting messages to -a certain recipient. +normally use. The crypt-hook command provides a +method by which you can specify the ID of the public key to be used +when encrypting messages to a certain recipient. -The meaning of "key id" is to be taken broadly in this context: You +The meaning of keyid is to be taken broadly in this context: You can either put a numerical key ID here, an e-mail address, or even just a real name. @@ -2891,9 +3306,14 @@ just a real name. Adding key sequences to the keyboard buffer - -Usage: push string - +Usage: + + +push + +string + + This command adds the named string to the keyboard buffer. The string may @@ -2902,25 +3322,36 @@ string in the macro command. You may use it to automatically run a sequence of commands at startup, or when entering certain folders. For example, the following command will automatically collapse all threads when entering a folder: + + +Embedding <literal>push</literal> in <literal>folder-hook</literal> folder-hook . 'push <collapse-all>' - + Executing functions - -Usage: exec function [ function ... ] - +Usage: + + +exec + +function + + +function + + This command can be used to execute any function. Functions are listed in the function reference. -``exec function'' is equivalent to ``push <function>''. +exec function is equivalent to push <function>. @@ -2928,12 +3359,29 @@ listed in the function reference. Message Scoring - - -Usage: score pattern value -Usage: unscore pattern [ pattern ... ] - - +Usage: + + +score + +pattern + + +value + + + + +unscore + + +* + + +pattern + + + The score commands adds value to a message's score if pattern @@ -2949,7 +3397,7 @@ a match. Negative final scores are rounded up to 0. The unscore command removes score entries from the list. You must specify the same pattern specified in the score command for it to be -removed. The pattern ``*'' is a special token which means to clear the list +removed. The pattern * is a special token which means to clear the list of all score entries. @@ -2958,12 +3406,29 @@ of all score entries. Spam detection - - -Usage: spam pattern format -Usage: nospam pattern - - +Usage: + + +spam + +pattern + + +format + + + + +nospam + + +* + + +pattern + + + Mutt has generalized support for external spam-scoring filters. @@ -2979,12 +3444,12 @@ to display spam tags only when they are defined for a given message.) Your first step is to define your external filter's spam patterns using the spam command. pattern should be a regular expression that matches a header in a mail message. If any message in the mailbox -matches this regular expression, it will receive a ``spam tag'' or -``spam attribute'' (unless it also matches a nospam pattern -- see +matches this regular expression, it will receive a spam tag or +spam attribute (unless it also matches a nospam pattern -- see below.) The appearance of this attribute is entirely up to you, and is governed by the format parameter. format can be any static text, but it also can include back-references from the pattern -expression. (A regular expression ``back-reference'' refers to a +expression. (A regular expression back-reference refers to a sub-expression contained within parentheses.) %1 is replaced with the first back-reference in the regex, %2 with the second, etc. @@ -3002,22 +3467,24 @@ them. For example, suppose I use DCC, SpamAssassin, and PureMessage. I might define these spam settings: + + +Configuring spam detection spam "X-DCC-.*-Metrics:.*(....)=many" "90+/DCC-%1" spam "X-Spam-Status: Yes" "90+/SA" spam "X-PerlMX-Spam: .*Probability=([0-9]+)%" "%1/PM" set spam_separator=", " - - + -If I then received a message that DCC registered with ``many'' hits -under the ``Fuz2'' checksum, and that PureMessage registered with a +If I then received a message that DCC registered with many hits +under the Fuz2 checksum, and that PureMessage registered with a 97% probability of being spam, that message's spam tag would read -90+/DCC-Fuz2, 97/PM. (The four characters before ``=many'' in a -DCC report indicate the checksum used -- in this case, ``Fuz2''.) +90+/DCC-Fuz2, 97/PM. (The four characters before =many in a +DCC report indicate the checksum used -- in this case, Fuz2.) @@ -3030,7 +3497,7 @@ joined format strings, you'll get only the last one to matc The spam tag is what will be displayed in the index when you use %H in the $index_format variable. It's also the string that the ˜H pattern-matching expression matches against for -search and limit functions. And it's what sorting by spam +<search> and <limit> functions. And it's what sorting by spam attribute will use as a sort key. @@ -3049,8 +3516,8 @@ only when two numbers are equal in value. (This is like UNIX's sort -n.) A message with no spam attributes at all -- that is, one that didn't match any of your spam patterns -- is sorted at lowest priority. Numbers are sorted next, beginning with 0 and ranging -upward. Finally, non-numeric strings are sorted, with ``a'' taking lower -priority than ``z''. Clearly, in general, sorting by spam tags is most +upward. Finally, non-numeric strings are sorted, with a taking lower +priority than z. Clearly, in general, sorting by spam tags is most effective when you can coerce your filter to give you a raw number. But in case you can't, mutt can still do something useful. @@ -3068,7 +3535,7 @@ If the pattern given to nospam is exactl remove the entry from the spam list, instead of adding an exception. Likewise, if the pattern for a spam command matches an entry on the nospam list, that nospam entry will be removed. If the -pattern for nospam is ``*'', all entries on both lists +pattern for nospam is *, all entries on both lists will be removed. This might be the default action if you use spam and nospam in conjunction with a folder-hook. @@ -3080,14 +3547,10 @@ example, if you consider all mail from MAILER-DAEMON to be sp you can use a spam command like this: - - spam "^From: .*MAILER-DAEMON" "999" - - @@ -3100,41 +3563,74 @@ spam "^From: .*MAILER-DAEMON" "999" The following commands are available to manipulate and query variables: - - -Usage: set [no|inv]variable[=value] [ variable ... ] -Usage: toggle variable [variable ... ] -Usage: unset variable [variable ... ] -Usage: reset variable [variable ... ] - - +Usage: + + +set + + + + + + +variable + + +variable=value + + + + + + +toggle + +variable + + +variable + + + + +unset + +variable + + +variable + + + + +reset + +variable + + +variable + + This command is used to set (and unset) configuration variables. There are four basic types of variables: boolean, number, string and quadoption. boolean variables can be set (true) or unset (false). number variables can be assigned a positive integer value. - - - -string variables consist of any number of printable characters. -strings must be enclosed in quotes if they contain spaces or tabs. You -may also use the ``C'' escape sequences \n and \t for -newline and tab, respectively. - - - +string variables consist of any number of printable characters and +must be enclosed in quotes if they contain spaces or tabs. You +may also use the escape sequences \n and \t for newline and tab, respectively. quadoption variables are used to control whether or not to be prompted for certain actions, or to specify a default action. A value of yes will cause the action to be carried out automatically as if you had answered yes to the question. Similarly, a value of no will cause the -action to be carried out as if you had answered ``no.'' A value of -ask-yes will cause a prompt with a default answer of ``yes'' and -ask-no will provide a default answer of ``no.'' +action to be carried out as if you had answered no. A value of +ask-yes will cause a prompt with a default answer of yes and +ask-no will provide a default answer of no. -Prefixing a variable with ``no'' will unset it. Example: set noaskbcc. +Prefixing a variable with no will unset it. Example: set noaskbcc. @@ -3154,33 +3650,29 @@ specified variables. -Using the enter-command function in the index menu, you can query the +Using the <enter-command> function in the index menu, you can query the value of a variable by prefixing the name of the variable with a question mark: - - set ?allow_8bit - - -The question mark is actually only required for boolean and quadoption +The question mark is actually only required for boolean and quadoption variables. The reset command resets all given variables to the compile time defaults (hopefully mentioned in this manual). If you use the command -set and prefix the variable with ``&'' this has the same +set and prefix the variable with & this has the same behavior as the reset command. -With the reset command there exists the special variable ``all'', +With the reset command there exists the special variable all, which allows you to reset all variables to their system defaults. @@ -3201,17 +3693,18 @@ example, my_cfgdir. -The set command creates a -custom $my_ variable and changes its -value. The unset and reset +The set command either creates a +custom my_ variable or changes its +value if it does exist already. The unset and reset commands remove the variable entirely. Since user-defined variables are expanded in the same way that environment variables are (except for -the shell-escape command), this -feature can be used to make configuration files more readable. +the shell-escape command and +backtick expansion), this feature can be used to make configuration +files more readable. @@ -3220,11 +3713,12 @@ feature can be used to make configuration files more readable. Examples -The following example defines and uses the variable my_cfgdir +The following example defines and uses the variable my_cfgdir to abbreviate the calls of the source command: - + +Using user-defined variables for config file readability set my_cfgdir = $HOME/mutt/config @@ -3232,18 +3726,19 @@ source $my_cfgdir/hooks source $my_cfgdir/macros # more source commands... - + A custom variable can also be used in macros to backup the current value -of another variable. In the following example, the value of the +of another variable. In the following example, the value of the $delete is changed temporarily while its original value is saved as my_delete. After the macro has executed all commands, the original value of $delete is restored. - + +Using user-defined variables for backing up other config option values macro pager ,x '\ <enter-command>set my_delete=$delete<enter>\ @@ -3251,7 +3746,7 @@ macro pager ,x '\ ...\ <enter-command>set delete=$my_delete<enter>' - + Since mutt expands such values already when parsing the configuration @@ -3265,7 +3760,8 @@ be deferred to runtime, as shown in the next example, when escaping the dollar sign. - + +Deferring user-defined variable expansion to runtime macro pager <PageDown> "\ <enter-command> set my_old_pager_stop=\$pager_stop pager_stop<Enter>\ @@ -3273,7 +3769,7 @@ macro pager <PageDown> "\ <enter-command> set pager_stop=\$my_old_pager_stop<Enter>\ <enter-command> unset my_old_pager_stop<Enter>" - + Note that there is a space @@ -3291,9 +3787,14 @@ recording the macro's commands into its history. Reading initialization commands from another file - -Usage: source filename - +Usage: + + +source + +filename + + This command allows the inclusion of initialization commands @@ -3303,7 +3804,7 @@ from other files. For example, I place all of my aliases in -If the filename begins with a tilde (``˜''), it will be expanded to the +If the filename begins with a tilde (˜), it will be expanded to the path of your home directory. @@ -3318,13 +3819,23 @@ considered to be an executable program from which to read input (eg. Removing hooks - -Usage: unhook [ * | hook-type ] - +Usage: + + +unhook + + +* + + +hook-type + + + This command permits you to flush hooks you have previously defined. -You can either remove all hooks by giving the ``*'' character as an +You can either remove all hooks by giving the * character as an argument, or you can remove all hooks of a specific type by saying something like unhook send-hook. @@ -3334,16 +3845,16 @@ something like unhook send-hook. Format Strings - + Basic usage Format strings are a general concept you'll find in several locations through the mutt configuration, especially in the -$index_format", -$pager_format", -$status_format", -and other ``*_format'' variables. These can be very straightforward, +$index_format, +$pager_format, +$status_format, +and other *_format variables. These can be very straightforward, and it's quite possible you already know how to use them. @@ -3351,19 +3862,19 @@ and it's quite possible you already know how to use them. The most basic format string element is a percent symbol followed by another character. For example, %s represents a message's Subject: header in the $index_format" variable. The -``expandos'' available are documented with each format variable, but +linkend="index-format">$index_format variable. The +expandos available are documented with each format variable, but there are general modifiers available with all formatting expandos, too. Those are our concern here. -Some of the modifers are borrowed right out of C (though you might -know them from Perl, Python, shell, or another langugage). These are +Some of the modifiers are borrowed right out of C (though you might +know them from Perl, Python, shell, or another language). These are the [-]m.n modifiers, as in %-12.12s. As with such programming languages, these modifiers allow you to specify the -minumum and maximum size of the resulting string, as well as its -justification. If the ``-'' sign follows the percent, the string will +minimum and maximum size of the resulting string, as well as its +justification. If the - sign follows the percent, the string will be left-justified instead of right-justified. If there's a number immediately following that, it's the minimum amount of space the formatted string will occupy -- if it's naturally smaller than that, it @@ -3387,24 +3898,24 @@ characters for the %y expansion -- that's the X-Label: header, in $index_format. If the expansion results in a string less than 14 characters, it will be centered in a 14-character space. If the X-Label for a message were "test", that -expansion would look like `` test ''. +expansion would look like test . There are two very little-known modifiers that affect the way that an -expando is replaced. If there is an underline (``_'') character +expando is replaced. If there is an underline (_) character between any format modifiers (as above) and the expando letter, it will -expands in all lower case. And if you use a colon (``:''), it will +expands in all lower case. And if you use a colon (:), it will replace all decimal points with underlines. - + Filters -Any format string ending in a vertical bar (``|'') will be +Any format string ending in a vertical bar (|) will be expanded and piped through the first word in the string, using spaces as separator. The string returned will be used for display. If the returned string ends in %, it will be passed through @@ -3417,9 +3928,12 @@ All % expandos in a format string are expanded before the script is called so that: + +Using external filters in format strings set status_format="script.sh '%r %f (%L)'|" + will make mutt expand %r, @@ -3452,17 +3966,23 @@ terminal's title, if supported. All string patterns in Mutt including those in more complex patterns must be specified -using regular expressions (regexp) in the ``POSIX extended'' syntax (which +using regular expressions (regexp) in the POSIX extended syntax (which is more or less the syntax used by egrep and GNU awk). For your convenience, we have included below a brief description of this syntax. The search is case sensitive if the pattern contains at least one upper -case letter, and case insensitive otherwise. Note that ``\'' +case letter, and case insensitive otherwise. + + + + +Note that \ must be quoted if used for a regular expression in an initialization -command: ``\\''. +command: \\. + A regular expression is a pattern that describes a set of strings. @@ -3470,6 +3990,7 @@ Regular expressions are constructed analogously to arithmetic expressions, by using various operators to combine smaller expressions. + Note that the regular expression can be enclosed/delimited by either " or ' which is useful if the regular expression includes a white-space @@ -3477,6 +3998,7 @@ character. See for more information on " and ' delimiter processing. To match a literal " or ' you must preface it with \ (backslash). + The fundamental building blocks are the regular expressions that match @@ -3486,142 +4008,68 @@ special meaning may be quoted by preceding it with a backslash. -The period ``.'' matches any single character. The caret ``ˆ'' and -the dollar sign ``$'' are metacharacters that respectively match +The period . matches any single character. The caret ˆ and +the dollar sign $ are metacharacters that respectively match the empty string at the beginning and end of a line. -A list of characters enclosed by ``['' and ``]'' matches any +A list of characters enclosed by [ and ] matches any single character in that list; if the first character of the list -is a caret ``ˆ'' then it matches any character not in the +is a caret ˆ then it matches any character not in the list. For example, the regular expression [0123456789] matches any single digit. A range of ASCII characters may be specified by giving the first and last characters, separated by a hyphen -``-''. Most metacharacters lose their special meaning inside -lists. To include a literal ``]'' place it first in the list. -Similarly, to include a literal ``ˆ'' place it anywhere but first. -Finally, to include a literal hyphen ``-'' place it last. +-. Most metacharacters lose their special meaning inside +lists. To include a literal ] place it first in the list. +Similarly, to include a literal ˆ place it anywhere but first. +Finally, to include a literal hyphen - place it last. Certain named classes of characters are predefined. Character classes -consist of ``[:'', a keyword denoting the class, and ``:]''. -The following classes are defined by the POSIX standard: +consist of [:, a keyword denoting the class, and :]. +The following classes are defined by the POSIX standard in + - - + +POSIX regular expression character classes + + +Character classDescription + + +[:alnum:]Alphanumeric characters +[:alpha:]Alphabetic characters +[:blank:]Space or tab characters +[:cntrl:]Control characters +[:digit:]Numeric characters +[:graph:]Characters that are both printable and visible. (A space is printable, but not visible, while an a is both) +[:lower:]Lower-case alphabetic characters +[:print:]Printable characters (characters that are not control characters) +[:punct:]Punctuation characters (characters that are not letter, digits, control characters, or space characters) +[:space:]Space characters (such as space, tab and formfeed, to name a few) +[:upper:]Upper-case alphabetic characters +[:xdigit:]Characters that are hexadecimal digits + + +
- -[:alnum:] - - -Alphanumeric characters. - - - - -[:alpha:] - - -Alphabetic characters. - - - - -[:blank:] - - -Space or tab characters. - - - - -[:cntrl:] - - -Control characters. - - - - -[:digit:] - - -Numeric characters. - - - - -[:graph:] - - -Characters that are both printable and visible. (A space is printable, -but not visible, while an ``a'' is both.) - - - - -[:lower:] - - -Lower-case alphabetic characters. - - - - -[:print:] - - -Printable characters (characters that are not control characters.) - - - - -[:punct:] - - -Punctuation characters (characters that are not letter, digits, control -characters, or space characters). - - - - -[:space:] - - -Space characters (such as space, tab and formfeed, to name a few). - - - - -[:upper:] - -Upper-case alphabetic characters. - - - - -[:xdigit:] - - -Characters that are hexadecimal digits. - - - - +A character class is only valid in a regular expression inside the +brackets of a character list. + -A character class is only valid in a regular expression inside the -brackets of a character list. Note that the brackets in these +Note that the brackets in these class names are part of the symbolic names, and must be included -in addition to the brackets delimiting the bracket list. For +in addition to the brackets delimiting the bracket list. For example, [[:digit:]] is equivalent to [0-9]. + Two additional special sequences can appear in character lists. These @@ -3631,7 +4079,6 @@ as well as several characters that are equivalent for collating or sorting purposes: - @@ -3639,10 +4086,10 @@ sorting purposes: A collating symbol is a multi-character collating element enclosed in -``[.'' and ``.]''. For example, if ``ch'' is a collating +[. and .]. For example, if ch is a collating element, then [[.ch.]] is a regexp that matches this collating element, while [ch] is a regexp that -matches either ``c'' or ``h''. +matches either c or h. @@ -3651,84 +4098,38 @@ matches either ``c'' or ``h''. An equivalence class is a locale-specific name for a list of -characters that are equivalent. The name is enclosed in ``[='' -and ``=]''. For example, the name ``e'' might be used to -represent all of ``è'' ``é'' and ``e''. In this case, +characters that are equivalent. The name is enclosed in [= +and =]. For example, the name e might be used to +represent all of è é and e. In this case, [[=e=]] is a regexp that matches any of -``è'', ``é'' and ``e''. +è, é and e. - A regular expression matching a single character may be followed by one -of several repetition operators: +of several repetition operators described in . - - - - -? - - -The preceding item is optional and matched at most once. - - - - -* - - -The preceding item will be matched zero or more times. - - - - -+ - - -The preceding item will be matched one or more times. - - - - -{n} - - -The preceding item is matched exactly n times. - - - - -{n,} - - -The preceding item is matched n or more times. - - - - -{,m} - - -The preceding item is matched at most m times. - - - - -{n,m} - - -The preceding item is matched at least n times, but no more than -m times. - - - - - + +Regular expression repetition operators + + +OperatorDescription + + +?The preceding item is optional and matched at most once +*The preceding item will be matched zero or more times ++The preceding item will be matched one or more times +{n}The preceding item is matched exactly n times +{n,}The preceding item is matched n or more times +{,m}The preceding item is matched at most m times +{n,m}The preceding item is matched at least n times, but no more than m times + + +
Two regular expressions may be concatenated; the resulting regular @@ -3737,7 +4138,7 @@ that respectively match the concatenated subexpressions. -Two regular expressions may be joined by the infix operator ``|''; +Two regular expressions may be joined by the infix operator |; the resulting regular expression matches any string matching either subexpression. @@ -3748,84 +4149,35 @@ precedence over alternation. A whole subexpression may be enclosed in parentheses to override these precedence rules. + -Note: If you compile Mutt with the GNU rx package, the -following operators may also be used in regular expressions: +If you compile Mutt with the GNU rx package, the +following operators may also be used in regular expressions as described in . + - - + +GNU regular expression extensions + + +ExpressionDescription + + +\\yMatches the empty string at either the beginning or the end of a word +\\BMatches the empty string within a word +\\<Matches the empty string at the beginning of a word +\\>Matches the empty string at the end of a word +\\wMatches any word-constituent character (letter, digit, or underscore) +\\WMatches any character that is not word-constituent +\\`Matches the empty string at the beginning of a buffer (string) +\\'Matches the empty string at the end of a buffer + + +
- -\\y - - -Matches the empty string at either the beginning or the end of a word. - - - - -\\B - -Matches the empty string within a word. - - - - -\\< - - -Matches the empty string at the beginning of a word. - - - - -\\> - - -Matches the empty string at the end of a word. - - - - -\\w - - -Matches any word-constituent character (letter, digit, or underscore). - - - - -\\W - - -Matches any character that is not word-constituent. - - - - -\\` - - -Matches the empty string at the beginning of a buffer (string). - - - - -\\' - - -Matches the empty string at the end of a buffer. - - - - - - - -Please note however that these operators are not defined by POSIX, so -they may or may not be available in stock libraries on various systems. +Please note however that these operators are not defined by POSIX, so +they may or may not be available in stock libraries on various systems. @@ -3835,12 +4187,11 @@ they may or may not be available in stock libraries on various systems. Many of Mutt's commands allow you to specify a pattern to match -(limit, tag-pattern, delete-pattern, etc.). +(limit, tag-pattern, +delete-pattern, etc.). shows several ways to select messages. - - Pattern modifiers @@ -3849,76 +4200,74 @@ shows several ways to select messages. ~Aall messages -~b EXPRmessages which contain EXPR in the message body -=b STRINGmessages which contain STRING in the message body. If IMAP is enabled, searches for STRING on the server, rather than downloading each message and searching it locally. -~B EXPRmessages which contain EXPR in the whole message -~c EXPRmessages carbon-copied to EXPR -%c GROUPmessages carbon-copied to any member of GROUP -~C EXPRmessage is either to: or cc: EXPR -%C GROUPmessage is either to: or cc: to any member of GROUP -~d [MIN]-[MAX]messages with ``date-sent'' in a Date range +~b EXPRmessages which contain EXPR in the message body +=b STRINGmessages which contain STRING in the message body. If IMAP is enabled, searches for STRING on the server, rather than downloading each message and searching it locally. +~B EXPRmessages which contain EXPR in the whole message +~c EXPRmessages carbon-copied to EXPR +%c GROUPmessages carbon-copied to any member of GROUP +~C EXPRmessages either to: or cc: EXPR +%C GROUPmessages either to: or cc: to any member of GROUP +~d [MIN]-[MAX]messages with date-sent in a Date range~Ddeleted messages -~e EXPRmessage which contains EXPR in the ``Sender'' field -%e GROUPmessage which contain a member of GROUP in the ``Sender'' field +~e EXPRmessages which contains EXPR in the Sender field +%e GROUPmessages which contain a member of GROUP in the Sender field~Eexpired messages~Fflagged messages -~f EXPRmessages originating from EXPR -%f GROUPmessages originating from any member of GROUP +~f EXPRmessages originating from EXPR +%f GROUPmessages originating from any member of GROUP~gcryptographically signed messages~Gcryptographically encrypted messages -~h EXPRmessages which contain EXPR in the message header -~H EXPRmessages with a spam attribute matching EXPR -~i EXPRmessage which match EXPR in the ``Message-ID'' field -~kmessage contains PGP key material -~L EXPRmessage is either originated or received by EXPR -%L GROUPmessage is either originated or received by any member of GROUP -~lmessage is addressed to a known mailing list -~m [MIN]-[MAX]message in the range MIN to MAX *) -~n [MIN]-[MAX]messages with a score in the range MIN to MAX *) +~h EXPRmessages which contain EXPR in the message header +~H EXPRmessages with a spam attribute matching EXPR +~i EXPRmessages which match EXPR in the Message-ID field +~kmessages which contain PGP key material +~L EXPRmessages either originated or received by EXPR +%L GROUPmessage either originated or received by any member of GROUP +~lmessages addressed to a known mailing list +~m [MIN]-[MAX]messages in the range MIN to MAX *) +~n [MIN]-[MAX]messages with a score in the range MIN to MAX *)~Nnew messages~Oold messages -~pmessage is addressed to you (consults alternates) -~Pmessage is from you (consults alternates) +~pmessages addressed to you (consults alternates) +~Pmessages from you (consults alternates)~Qmessages which have been replied to -~r [MIN]-[MAX]messages with ``date-received'' in a Date range +~r [MIN]-[MAX]messages with date-received in a Date range~Rread messages -~s EXPRmessages having EXPR in the ``Subject'' field. +~s EXPRmessages having EXPR in the Subject field.~Ssuperseded messages -~t EXPRmessages addressed to EXPR +~t EXPRmessages addressed to EXPR~Ttagged messages -~umessage is addressed to a subscribed mailing list +~umessages addressed to a subscribed mailing list~Uunread messages -~vmessage is part of a collapsed thread. +~vmessages part of a collapsed thread.~Vcryptographically verified messages -~x EXPRmessages which contain EXPR in the `References' field -~X [MIN]-[MAX]messages with MIN to MAX attachments *) -~y EXPRmessages which contain EXPR in the `X-Label' field -~z [MIN]-[MAX]messages with a size in the range MIN to MAX *) -~=duplicated messages (see $duplicate_threads) +~x EXPRmessages which contain EXPR in the References field +~X [MIN]-[MAX]messages with MIN to MAX attachments *) +~y EXPRmessages which contain EXPR in the X-Label field +~z [MIN]-[MAX]messages with a size in the range MIN to MAX *) +~=duplicated messages (see $duplicate_threads)~$unreferenced messages (requires threaded view) -~(PATTERN)messages in threads -containing messages matching a certain pattern, e.g. all +~(PATTERN)messages in threads +containing messages matching PATTERN, e.g. all threads containing messages from you: ~(~P)
- - -Where EXPR is a +Where EXPR is a regular expression. Special attention has to be made when using regular expressions inside of patterns. Specifically, -Mutt's parser for these patterns will strip one level of backslash (\), +Mutt's parser for these patterns will strip one level of backslash (\), which is normally used for quoting. If it is your intention to use a backslash in the regular expression, you will need to use two backslashes -instead (\\). You can force mutt to treat EXPR as a simple string +instead (\\). You can force mutt to treat EXPR as a simple string instead of a regular expression by using = instead of ˜ in the -pattern name. For example, =b *.* will find all messages that contain -the literal string '*.*'. Simple string matches are less powerful than +pattern name. For example, =b *.* will find all messages that contain +the literal string *.*. Simple string matches are less powerful than regular expressions but can be considerably faster. This is especially true for IMAP folders, because string matches can be performed on the -server instead of by fetching every message. IMAP treats =h specially: +server instead of by fetching every message. IMAP treats =h specially: it must be of the form "header: substring" and will not partially match header names. The substring part may be omitted if you simply wish to find messages containing a particular header without regard to @@ -3926,42 +4275,40 @@ its value. -*) The forms <[MAX], >[MIN], -[MIN]- and -[MAX] +*) The forms <[MAX], >[MIN], +[MIN]- and -[MAX] are allowed, too. - + Pattern Modifier + -Note that patterns matching 'lists' of addresses (notably c,C,p,P and t) +Note that patterns matching 'lists' of addresses (notably c, C, p, P and t) match if there is at least one match in the whole list. If you want to make sure that all elements of that list match, you need to prefix your -pattern with ˆ. +pattern with ˆ. This example matches all mails which only has recipients from Germany. - - + ^~C \.de$ - - - + Simple Patterns -Mutt supports two versions of so called ``simple searches'' which are +Mutt supports two versions of so called simple searches which are issued if the query entered for searching, limiting and similar operations does not seem to be a valid pattern (i.e. it does not contain -one of these characters: ``~'', ``='' or ``%''). If the query is +one of these characters: ˜, = or %). If the query is supposed to contain one of these special characters, they must be escaped -by prepending a backslash (``\''). +by prepending a backslash (\). @@ -3970,10 +4317,10 @@ a keyword case-insensitively from : If that is the case, Mutt will use the shown pattern modifier instead. If a keyword would conflict with your search keyword, you need to turn it into a regular expression to avoid matching the keyword table. For -example, if you want to find all messages matching ``flag'' -(using $simple_search, -see below but not meaning flagged messages) simply search for -``[f]lag''. +example, if you want to find all messages matching flag +(using $simple_search) +but don't want to match flagged messages, simply search for +[f]lag. @@ -4007,7 +4354,7 @@ for the composed complex query. - + Complex Patterns @@ -4015,17 +4362,13 @@ Logical AND is performed by specifying more than one criterion. For example: - - ~t mutt ~f elkins - - -would select messages which contain the word ``mutt'' in the list of -recipients and that have the word ``elkins'' in the ``From'' header +would select messages which contain the word mutt in the list of +recipients and that have the word elkins in the From header field. @@ -4034,8 +4377,6 @@ Mutt also recognizes the following operators to create more complex search patterns: - - @@ -4058,61 +4399,48 @@ patterns: - - Here is an example illustrating a complex search pattern. This pattern will -select all messages which do not contain ``mutt'' in the ``To'' or ``Cc'' -field and which are from ``elkins''. +select all messages which do not contain mutt in the To or Cc +field and which are from elkins. - - + +Using boolean operators in patterns !(~t mutt|~c mutt) ~f elkins - - + Here is an example using white space in the regular expression (note the ' and " delimiters). For this to match, the mail's subject must -match the ``ˆJunk +From +Me$'' and it must be from either ``Jim +Somebody'' -or ``Ed +SomeoneElse'': +match the ˆJunk +From +Me$ and it must be from either Jim +Somebody +or Ed +SomeoneElse: - - '~s "^Junk +From +Me$" ~f ("Jim +Somebody"|"Ed +SomeoneElse")' - - + -Note that if a regular expression contains parenthesis, or a vertical bar +If a regular expression contains parenthesis, or a vertical bar ("|"), you must enclose the expression in double or single quotes since those characters are also used to separate different parts of Mutt's -pattern language. For example, - - - - - -~f "me@(mutt\.org|cs\.hmc\.edu)" - - +pattern language. For example: ~f "me@(mutt\.org|cs\.hmc\.edu)" + Without the quotes, the parenthesis wouldn't end. -This would be seperated to two OR'd patterns: ˜f me@(mutt\.org +This would be separated to two OR'd patterns: ˜f me@(mutt\.org and cs\.hmc\.edu). They are never what you want. - + Searching by Date @@ -4125,27 +4453,23 @@ optional, defaulting to the current month and year). An example of a valid range of dates is: - - Limit to messages matching: ~d 20/1/95-31/10 - - -If you omit the minimum (first) date, and just specify ``-DD/MM/YY'', all +If you omit the minimum (first) date, and just specify -DD/MM/YY, all messages before the given date will be selected. If you omit the maximum -(second) date, and specify ``DD/MM/YY-'', all messages after the given -date will be selected. If you specify a single date with no dash (``-''), -only messages sent on the given date will be selected. +(second) date, and specify DD/MM/YY-, all messages after the given +date will be selected. If you specify a single date with no dash (-), +only messages sent on the given date will be selected. Error Margins. You can add error margins to absolute dates. An error margin is a sign (+ or -), followed by a digit, followed by one of the units in . As a special case, you can replace the -sign by a ``*'' character, which is equivalent to giving identical plus and minus error margins. +sign by a * character, which is equivalent to giving identical plus and minus error margins.
@@ -4165,18 +4489,17 @@ sign by a ``*'' character, which is equivalent to giving identical plus and minu Example: To select any messages two weeks around January 15, 2001, -you'd use the following pattern: +you'd use the following pattern: + - Limit to messages matching: ~d 15/1/2001*2w - - Relative. This type of date is relative to the current date, and may be specified as: + @@ -4200,27 +4523,26 @@ be specified as: - - offset is specified as a positive number with one of the units from . Example: to select messages less than 1 month old, you would use + Limit to messages matching: ~d <1m - - + -Note: all dates used when searching are relative to the +All dates used when searching are relative to the local time zone, so unless you change the setting of your $index_format to include a %[...] format, these are not the dates shown in the main index. + @@ -4234,28 +4556,28 @@ Sometimes it is desirable to perform an operation on a group of messages all at once rather than one at a time. An example might be to save messages to a mailing list to a separate folder, or to delete all messages with a given subject. To tag all messages -matching a pattern, use the tag-pattern function, which is bound to -``shift-T'' by default. Or you can select individual messages by -hand using the ``tag-message'' function, which is bound to ``t'' by +matching a pattern, use the <tag-pattern> function, which is bound to +shift-T by default. Or you can select individual messages by +hand using the <tag-message> function, which is bound to t by default. See patterns for Mutt's pattern matching syntax. Once you have tagged the desired messages, you can use the -``tag-prefix'' operator, which is the ``;'' (semicolon) key by default. -When the ``tag-prefix'' operator is used, the next operation will +tag-prefix operator, which is the ; (semicolon) key by default. +When the tag-prefix operator is used, the next operation will be applied to all tagged messages if that operation can be used in that manner. If the $auto_tag variable is set, the next operation applies to the tagged messages -automatically, without requiring the ``tag-prefix''. +automatically, without requiring the tag-prefix. In macros or push commands, -you can use the ``tag-prefix-cond'' operator. If there are no tagged +you can use the tag-prefix-cond operator. If there are no tagged messages, mutt will "eat" the rest of the macro to abort it's execution. -Mutt will stop "eating" the macro when it encounters the ``end-cond'' +Mutt will stop "eating" the macro when it encounters the end-cond operator; after this operator the rest of the macro will be executed as normal. @@ -4266,7 +4588,7 @@ normal. Using Hooks -A hook is a concept borrowed from the EMACS editor which allows you to +A hook is a concept found in many other programs which allows you to execute arbitrary commands before performing some operation. For example, you may wish to tailor your configuration based upon which mailbox you are reading, or to whom you are sending mail. In the Mutt world, a hook @@ -4323,22 +4645,23 @@ configuration option/command. See for specific details on each type of hook available. + -Note: if a hook changes configuration settings, these changes remain +If a hook changes configuration settings, these changes remain effective until the end of the current mutt session. As this is generally not desired, a default hook needs to be added before all other hooks to restore configuration defaults. Here is an example with send-hook and the my_hdr directive: + - - + +Combining <literal>send-hook</literal> and <literal>my_hdr</literal> send-hook . 'unmy_hdr From:' send-hook ~C'^b@b\.b$' my_hdr from: c@c.c - - + Message Matching in Hooks @@ -4365,11 +4688,13 @@ the message (i.e., from, to, cc, date, subject, etc.). For example, if you wanted to set your return address based upon sending mail to a specific address, you could do something like: + send-hook '~t ^me@cs\.hmc\.edu$' 'my_hdr From: Mutt User <user@host>' + which would execute the given command when sending mail to me@cs.hmc.edu. @@ -4378,9 +4703,9 @@ which would execute the given command when sending mail to However, it is not required that you write the pattern to match using the full searching language. You can still specify a simple regular expression like the other hooks, in which case Mutt will translate your -pattern into the full language, using the translation specified by the +pattern into the full language, using the translation specified by the $default_hook variable. The -pattern is translated at the time the hook is declared, so the value of +pattern is translated at the time the hook is declared, so the value of $default_hook that is in effect at that time will be used. @@ -4399,14 +4724,10 @@ using a simple interface. Using the $query command to use. For example: - - set query_command = "mutt_ldap_query.pl '%s'" - - The wrapper script should accept the query on the command-line. It should return a one line message, then each matching response on a @@ -4417,6 +4738,7 @@ addresses, return a non-zero exit code and a one line error message. An example multiple response output: + Searching database ... 20 entries ... 3 matching: @@ -4425,11 +4747,9 @@ blong@fiction.net Brandon Long mutt and more roessler@does-not-exist.org Thomas Roessler mutt pgp - - There are two mechanisms for accessing the query function of mutt. One -is to do a query from the index menu using the query function (default: Q). +is to do a query from the index menu using the <query> function (default: Q). This will prompt for a query, then bring up the query menu which will list the matching responses. From the query menu, you can select addresses to create aliases, or to mail. You can tag multiple addresses @@ -4440,7 +4760,7 @@ responses. The other mechanism for accessing the query function is for address completion, similar to the alias completion. In any prompt for address -entry, you can use the complete-query function (default: ˆT) to run a +entry, you can use the <complete-query> function (default: ˆT) to run a query based on the current address you have typed. Like aliases, mutt will look for what you have typed back to the last space or comma. If there is a single response for that query, mutt will expand the address @@ -4466,22 +4786,18 @@ mailboxes, Mutt uses the default specified with the &d messages are stored in a single file. Each message has a line of the form: - - From me@cs.hmc.edu Fri, 11 Apr 1997 11:44:56 PST - - to denote the start of a new message (this is often referred to as the -``From_'' line). +From_ line). MMDF. This is a variant of the mbox format. Each message is -surrounded by lines containing ``ˆAˆAˆAˆA'' (four control-A's). +surrounded by lines containing ˆAˆAˆAˆA (four control-A's). @@ -4489,7 +4805,7 @@ surrounded by lines containing ``ˆAˆAˆAˆA'' (four control-A' consists of a directory and each message is stored in a separate file. The filename indicates the message number (however, this is may not correspond to the message number Mutt displays). Deleted messages are -renamed with a comma (,) prepended to the filename. Note: Mutt +renamed with a comma (,) prepended to the filename. Mutt detects this type of mailbox by looking for either .mh_sequences or .xmhcache (needed to distinguish normal directories from MH mailboxes). @@ -4515,8 +4831,6 @@ These shortcuts can be used anywhere you are prompted for a file or mailbox path. - - @@ -4569,8 +4883,6 @@ path. - - @@ -4590,18 +4902,18 @@ Now that Mutt knows what your mailing lists are, it can do several things, the first of which is the ability to show the name of a list through which you received a message (i.e., of a subscribed list) in the index menu display. This is useful to distinguish between -personal and list mail in the same mailbox. In the $index_format variable, the escape ``%L'' -will return the string ``To <list>'' when ``list'' appears in the -``To'' field, and ``Cc <list>'' when it appears in the ``Cc'' +personal and list mail in the same mailbox. In the $index_format variable, the escape %L +will return the string To <list> when list appears in the +To field, and Cc <list> when it appears in the Cc field (otherwise it returns the name of the author). -Often times the ``To'' and ``Cc'' fields in mailing list messages +Often times the To and Cc fields in mailing list messages tend to get quite large. Most people do not bother to remove the -author of the message they are reply to from the list, resulting in -two or more copies being sent to that person. The ``list-reply'' -function, which by default is bound to ``L'' in the index menu +author of the message they reply to from the list, resulting in +two or more copies being sent to that person. The <list-reply> +function, which by default is bound to L in the index menu and pager, helps reduce the clutter by only replying to the known mailing list addresses instead of all recipients (except as specified by Mail-Followup-To, see below). @@ -4613,7 +4925,7 @@ a message to a list of recipients which includes one or several subscribed mailing lists, and if the $followup_to option is set, mutt will generate a Mail-Followup-To header which contains all the recipients to whom you send this message, but not your address. This indicates that -group-replies or list-replies (also known as ``followups'') to this +group-replies or list-replies (also known as followups) to this message should only be sent to the original recipients of the message, and not separately to you - you'll receive your copy through one of the mailing lists you are subscribed to. @@ -4628,34 +4940,36 @@ that the reply goes to the mailing list, even if it's not specified in the list of recipients in the Mail-Followup-To. + -Note that, when header editing is enabled, you can create a +When header editing is enabled, you can create a Mail-Followup-To header manually. Mutt will only auto-generate this header if it doesn't exist when you send the message. + The other method some mailing list admins use is to generate a -``Reply-To'' field which points back to the mailing list address rather +Reply-To field which points back to the mailing list address rather than the author of the message. This can create problems when trying to reply directly to the author in private, since most mail clients -will automatically reply to the address given in the ``Reply-To'' +will automatically reply to the address given in the Reply-To field. Mutt uses the $reply_to variable to help decide which address to use. If set to ask-yes or ask-no, you will be prompted as to whether or not you would like to use the address given in -the ``Reply-To'' field, or reply directly to the address given in the -``From'' field. When set to yes, the ``Reply-To'' field will be used when +the Reply-To field, or reply directly to the address given in the +From field. When set to yes, the Reply-To field will be used when present. -The ``X-Label:'' header field can be used to further identify mailing +The X-Label: header field can be used to further identify mailing lists or list subject matter (or just to annotate messages -individually). The $index_format variable's ``%y'' and -``%Y'' escapes can be used to expand ``X-Label:'' fields in the +individually). The $index_format variable's %y and +%Y escapes can be used to expand X-Label: fields in the index, and Mutt's pattern-matcher can match regular expressions to -``X-Label:'' fields with the ``˜y'' selector. ``X-Label:'' is not a +X-Label: fields with the ˜y selector. X-Label: is not a standard message header field, but it can easily be inserted by procmail and other mail filtering agents. @@ -4672,6 +4986,56 @@ uninteresting threads and quickly find topics of value. + +Handling multiple folders + + +Mutt supports setups with multiple folders, allowing all of them to +be monitored for new mail (see for details). + + + +When in the index menu and being idle (also see +$timeout), Mutt periodically checks +for new mail in all folders which have been configured via the +mailboxes command. The interval depends on the folder +type: for local/IMAP folders it consults +$mail_check and +$pop_checkinterval +for POP folders. + + + +Outside the index menu the directory browser supports checking +for new mail using the <check-new> function which is +unbound by default. Pressing TAB will bring up a +menu showing the files specified by the mailboxes command, +and indicate which contain new messages. Mutt will automatically enter this +mode when invoked from the command line with the -y option. + + + +For the pager, index and directory browser menus, Mutt contains the +<buffy-list> function (bound to . by default) +which will print a list of folders with new mail in the command line at +the bottom of the screen. + + + +For the index, by default Mutt displays the number of mailboxes with new +mail in the status bar, please refer to the +$index_format +variable for details. + + + +When changing folders, Mutt fills the prompt with the first folder from +the mailboxes list containing new mail (if any), pressing +space will cycle through folders with new mail. + + + + Editing threads @@ -4682,7 +5046,7 @@ correspondents. This allows to clean your mailboxes formats) from these annoyances which make it hard to follow a discussion. - + Linking threads @@ -4691,7 +5055,7 @@ Some mailers tend to "forget" to correctly set the "In-Reply-To:" and discussions because Mutt has not enough information to guess the correct threading. You can fix this by tagging the reply, then moving to the parent message -and using the ``link-threads'' function (bound to & by default). The +and using the <link-threads> function (bound to & by default). The reply will then be connected to this "parent" message. @@ -4702,14 +5066,14 @@ tag-prefix command (';') or the auto_tag option. - + Breaking threads On mailing lists, some people are in the bad habit of starting a new discussion by hitting "reply" to any message from the list and changing the subject to a totally unrelated one. -You can fix such threads by using the ``break-thread'' function (bound +You can fix such threads by using the <break-thread> function (bound by default to #), which will turn the subthread starting from the current message into a whole different thread. @@ -4724,7 +5088,7 @@ current message into a whole different thread. RFC1894 defines a set of MIME content types for relaying information about the status of electronic mail messages. These can be thought of as -``return receipts.'' +return receipts. @@ -4754,25 +5118,22 @@ request DSN or not. -Start a WWW Browser on URLs (EXTERNAL) +Start a WWW Browser on URLs -If a message contains URLs (unified resource locator = address in the -WWW space like http://www.mutt.org/), it is efficient to get +If a message contains URLs, it is efficient to get a menu with all the URLs and start a WWW browser on one of them. This functionality is provided by the external urlview program which can be -retrieved at ftp://ftp.mutt.org/mutt/contrib/ and the configuration commands: +retrieved at +ftp://ftp.mutt.org/mutt/contrib/ +and the configuration commands: + macro index \cb |urlview\n macro pager \cb |urlview\n - - @@ -4786,7 +5147,7 @@ MIME MUA. Every effort has been made to provide the functionality that the discerning MIME user requires, and the conformance to the standards wherever possible. When configuring Mutt for MIME, there are two extra types of configuration files which Mutt uses. One is the -mime.types file, which contains the mapping of file extensions to +mime.types file, which contains the mapping of file extensions to IANA MIME types. The other is the mailcap file, which specifies the external commands to use for handling specific MIME types. @@ -4800,7 +5161,7 @@ pager (while viewing a message), the attachment menu and the compose menu. - + Viewing MIME messages in the pager @@ -4815,12 +5176,14 @@ including PGP/MIME and application/pgp. Mutt will denote attachments with a couple lines describing them. These lines are of the form: + [-- Attachment #1: Description --] [-- Type: text/plain, Encoding: 7bit, Size: 10000 --] + Where the Description is the description or filename given for the attachment, and the Encoding is one of 7bit/8bit/quoted-printable/base64/binary. @@ -4828,13 +5191,12 @@ attachment, and the Encoding is one of If Mutt cannot deal with a MIME type, it will display a message like: + [-- image/gif is unsupported (use 'v' to view this part) --] - - @@ -4846,16 +5208,17 @@ attachment menu for a message. The attachment menu displays a list of the attachments in a message. From the attachment menu, you can save, print, pipe, delete, and view attachments. You can apply these operations to a group of attachments at once, by tagging the attachments -and by using the ``tag-prefix'' operator. You can also reply to the +and by using the tag-prefix operator. You can also reply to the current message from this menu, and only the current attachment (or the attachments tagged) will be quoted in your reply. You can view attachments as text, or view them using the mailcap viewer definition. -Finally, you can apply the usual message-related functions (like -resend-message, and the reply -and forward functions) to attachments of type message/rfc822. +Finally, you can apply the usual message-related functions (like +<resend-message>, and the +<reply> and <forward> +functions) to attachments of type message/rfc822. @@ -4879,14 +5242,13 @@ information, notably the type, encoding and description. Attachments appear as follows: + - 1 [text/plain, 7bit, 1K] /tmp/mutt-euler-8082-0 <no description> 2 [applica/x-gunzip, base64, 422K] ~/src/mutt-0.85.tar.gz <no description> - - The '-' denotes that Mutt will delete the file after sending (or postponing, or canceling) the message. It can be toggled with the @@ -4919,6 +5281,7 @@ the system mime.types file at /usr/local/share/mutt/mime.types The mime.types file consist of lines containing a MIME type and a space separated list of extensions. For example: + application/postscript ps eps @@ -4926,6 +5289,7 @@ application/pgp pgp audio/x-aiff aif aifc aiff + A sample mime.types file comes with the Mutt distribution, and should contain most of the MIME types you are likely to use. @@ -4940,17 +5304,17 @@ type that Mutt assigns to an attachment by using the edit-type - + MIME Viewer configuration with <literal>mailcap</literal> @@ -4967,6 +5331,7 @@ In order to handle various MIME types that Mutt can not handle internally, Mutt parses a series of external configuration files to find an external handler. The default search string for these files is a colon delimited list containing the following files: + $HOME/.mailcap @@ -4977,6 +5342,7 @@ is a colon delimited list containing the following files: /usr/local/etc/mailcap + where $HOME is your home directory. The $PKGDATADIR and the $SYSCONFDIR directories depend on where mutt @@ -4999,7 +5365,7 @@ usually as /usr/local/etc/mailcap, which contains some baseli entries. - + The Basics of the mailcap file @@ -5047,58 +5413,70 @@ will remove the temporary file if it exists. So, in the simplest form, you can send a text/plain message to the external pager more on stdin: + text/plain; more + Or, you could send the message as a file: + text/plain; more %s -Perhaps you would like to use lynx to interactively view a text/html + +Perhaps you would like to use lynx to interactively view a text/html message: + text/html; lynx %s + In this case, lynx does not support viewing a file from stdin, so you must use the %s syntax. -Note: Some older versions of lynx contain a bug where they + + + + +Some older versions of lynx contain a bug where they will check the mailcap file for a viewer for text/html. They will find the line which calls lynx, and run it. This causes lynx to continuously spawn itself to view the object. + On the other hand, maybe you don't want to use lynx interactively, you just want to have it convert the text/html to text/plain, then you can use: + text/html; lynx -dump %s | more - - Perhaps you wish to use lynx to view text/html files, and a pager on all other text formats, then you would use the following: + text/html; lynx %s text/*; more + This is the simplest form of a mailcap file. - + Secure use of mailcap @@ -5132,27 +5510,25 @@ example (using $charset inside the backtick expansion since it is not itself subject to any further expansion): - - text/test-mailcap-bug; cat %s; copiousoutput; test=charset=%{charset} \ && test "`echo $charset | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]'`" != iso-8859-1 - - - + Advanced mailcap Usage - + Optional Fields In addition to the required content-type and view command fields, you can add semi-colon ';' separated fields to set flags and other options. Mutt recognizes the following optional fields: + + @@ -5165,11 +5541,13 @@ pager or the external pager defined by the pager variable) on the output of the view command. Without this flag, Mutt assumes that the command is interactive. One could use this to replace the pipe to more in the lynx -dump example in the Basic section: + text/html; lynx -dump %s ; copiousoutput + This will cause lynx to format the text/html output as text/plain and Mutt will use your standard pager to display the results. @@ -5241,12 +5619,12 @@ for instance, to correctly view a file. For instance, lynx will only interpret a file as text/html if the file ends in .html. So, you would specify lynx as a text/html viewer with a line in the mailcap file like: + text/html; lynx %s; nametemplate=%s.html - @@ -5258,14 +5636,16 @@ entry should be used. The command is defined with the command expansion rules defined in the next section. If the command returns 0, then the test passed, and Mutt uses this entry. If the command returns non-zero, then the test failed, and Mutt continues searching for the right entry. -Note: the content-type must match before Mutt performs the test. +Note that the content-type must match before Mutt performs the test. For example: + text/html; netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)' ; test=RunningX text/html; lynx %s + In this example, Mutt will run the program RunningX which will return 0 if the X Window manager is running, and non-zero if it isn't. If RunningX returns 0, then Mutt will call netscape to display the @@ -5275,11 +5655,10 @@ to the next entry and use lynx to display the text/html object. - - + Search Order @@ -5288,6 +5667,7 @@ the most useful entry for its purpose. For instance, if you are attempting to print an image/gif, and you have the following entries in your mailcap file, Mutt will search for an entry with the print command: + image/*; xv %s @@ -5295,16 +5675,18 @@ image/gif; ; print= anytopnm %s | pnmtops | lpr; \ nametemplate=%s.gif + Mutt will skip the image/* entry and use the image/gif entry with the print command. -In addition, you can use this with auto_view +In addition, you can use this with auto_view to denote two commands for viewing an attachment, one to be viewed automatically, the other to be viewed interactively from the attachment menu. In addition, you can then use the test feature to determine which viewer to use interactively depending on your environment. + text/html; netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)' ; test=RunningX @@ -5312,6 +5694,7 @@ text/html; lynx %s; nametemplate=%s.html text/html; lynx -dump %s; nametemplate=%s.html; copiousoutput + For auto_view, Mutt will choose the third entry because of the copiousoutput tag. For interactive viewing, Mutt will run the program RunningX to determine if it should use the first @@ -5321,7 +5704,7 @@ for interactive viewing. - + Command Expansion @@ -5330,6 +5713,8 @@ The various commands defined in the mailcap files are passed to the command is passed to /bin/sh -c, it is parsed to expand various special parameters with information from Mutt. The keywords Mutt expands are: + + @@ -5363,11 +5748,13 @@ mailcap definition line, ie text/html or Mutt will expand this to the value of the specified parameter from the Content-Type: line of the mail message. For instance, if Your mail message contains: + Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 + then Mutt will expand %{charset} to iso-8859-1. The default metamail mailcap file uses this feature to test the charset to spawn an xterm using the right charset to view the message. @@ -5383,6 +5770,8 @@ This will be replaced by a % + + Mutt does not currently support the %F and %n keywords specified in RFC 1524. The main purpose of these parameters is for multipart messages, which is handled internally by Mutt. @@ -5392,30 +5781,27 @@ multipart messages, which is handled internally by Mutt. - + Example mailcap files This mailcap file is fairly simple and standard: + - + # I'm always running X :) video/*; xanim %s > /dev/null image/*; xv %s > /dev/null # I'm always running netscape (if my computer had more memory, maybe) text/html; netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)' - - - + This mailcap file shows quite a number of examples: - - - + # Use xanim to view all videos Xanim produces a header on startup, # send that to /dev/null so I don't see it video/*; xanim %s > /dev/null @@ -5451,9 +5837,7 @@ pbmtoascii -1x2 ) 2>&1 ; copiousoutput # Send excel spreadsheets to my NT box application/ms-excel; open.pl %s - - - + @@ -5469,7 +5853,7 @@ automatically viewing MIME attachments while in the pager. -To work, you must define a viewer in the mailcap file which uses the +To work, you must define a viewer in the mailcap file which uses the copiousoutput option to denote that it is non-interactive. Usually, you also use the entry to convert the attachment to a text representation which you can view in the pager. @@ -5482,17 +5866,17 @@ content-types that you wish to view automatically. For instance, if you set auto_view to: + auto_view text/html application/x-gunzip \ application/postscript image/gif application/x-tar-gz - - Mutt could use the following mailcap entries to automatically view attachments of these types. + text/html; lynx -dump %s; copiousoutput; nametemplate=%s.html @@ -5503,12 +5887,10 @@ application/x-tar-gz; gunzip -c %s | tar -tf - ; copiousoutput application/postscript; ps2ascii %s; copiousoutput - - -``unauto_view'' can be used to remove previous entries from the autoview list. +unauto_view can be used to remove previous entries from the autoview list. This can be used with message-hook to autoview messages based on size, etc. -``unauto_view *'' will remove all previous entries. +unauto_view * will remove all previous entries. @@ -5518,20 +5900,19 @@ This can be used with message-hook to autoview messages based on size, etc. Mutt has some heuristics for determining which attachment of a -multipart/alternative type to display. First, mutt will check the +multipart/alternative type to display. First, mutt will check the alternative_order list to determine if one of the available types is preferred. The alternative_order list consists of a number of mimetypes in order, including support for implicit and explicit wildcards, for example: + alternative_order text/enriched text/plain text application/postscript image/* - - -Next, mutt will check if any of the types have a defined +Next, mutt will check if any of the types have a defined auto_view, and use that. Failing that, Mutt will look for any text type. As a last attempt, mutt will look for any type it knows how to handle. @@ -5567,6 +5948,7 @@ or not. The syntax is: + attachments {+|-}disposition mime-type unattachments {+|-}disposition mime-type @@ -5575,11 +5957,12 @@ attachments ? Disposition is the attachment's Content-disposition type -- either -"inline" or "attachment". You can abbreviate this to I or A. +inline or attachment. +You can abbreviate this to I or A. -Disposition is prefixed by either a + symbolor a - symbol. If it's +Disposition is prefixed by either a + symbol or a - symbol. If it's a +, you're saying that you want to allow this disposition and MIME type to qualify. If it's a -, you're saying that this disposition and MIME type is an exception to previous + rules. There are examples @@ -5588,11 +5971,11 @@ below of how this is useful. Mime-type is, unsurprisingly, the MIME type of the attachment you want -to affect. A MIME type is always of the format "major/minor", where -"major" describes the broad category of document you're looking at, and -"minor" describes the specific type within that category. The major -part of mim-type must be literal text (or the special token "*"), but -the minor part may be a regular expression. (Therefore, "*/.*" matches +to affect. A MIME type is always of the format major/minor, where +major describes the broad category of document you're looking at, and +minor describes the specific type within that category. The major +part of mime-type must be literal text (or the special token *), but +the minor part may be a regular expression. (Therefore, */.* matches any MIME type.) @@ -5610,6 +5993,8 @@ Some examples might help to illustrate. The examples that are not commented out define the default configuration of the lists. + +Attachment counting ## Removing a pattern from a list removes that pattern literally. It ## does not remove any type matching the pattern. @@ -5658,10 +6043,12 @@ attachments +I text/plain attachments -A message/external-body attachments -I message/external-body + -"attachments ?" will list your current settings in Muttrc format, so -that it can be pasted elsewhere. +Entering the command attachments ? +as a command will list your current settings in Muttrc format, so that +it can be pasted elsewhere. @@ -5678,13 +6065,12 @@ be compared to the list of extensions in the mime.types file. The mime-type associated with this extension will then be used to process the attachment according to the rules in the mailcap file and according to any other configuration options (such as auto_view) specified. Common usage would be: + mime_lookup application/octet-stream application/X-Lotus-Manuscript - - In addition, the unmime_lookup command may be used to disable this feature for any particular mime-type if it had been set, for example, in a global @@ -5698,23 +6084,23 @@ muttrc. Optional features - + General notes - + Enabling/disabling features Mutt supports several of optional features which can be enabled or disabled at compile-time by giving the configure script -certain arguments. These are listed in the ``Optional features'' section of +certain arguments. These are listed in the Optional features section of the configure --help output. Which features are enabled or disabled can later be determined from the output of mutt -v. If a compile option starts with -``+'' it is enabled and disabled if prefixed with ``-''. For example, if ++ it is enabled and disabled if prefixed with -. For example, if mutt was compiled using GnuTLS for encrypted communication instead of OpenSSL, mutt -v would contain: @@ -5741,7 +6127,7 @@ proto[s]://[username[:password]@]server[:port]/[path] proto is the communication protocol: imap for IMAP, pop for POP3 and -smtp for SMTP. If ``s'' for ``secure communication'' +smtp for SMTP. If s for secure communication is appended, mutt will attempt to establish an encrypted communication using SSL or TLS. If no explicit port is given, mutt will use the system's default for the given protocol. @@ -5750,9 +6136,10 @@ system's default for the given protocol. Since all protocols by mutt support authentication, the username may be given directly in the URL instead of using the pop_user or -imap_user variables. A password can be given, too but -is not recommended if the URL is specified in a configuration file on -disk. +imap_user variables. It may contain the @ symbol +being used by many mail systems as part of the login name. A password can be +given, too but is not recommended if the URL is specified in a configuration +file on disk. @@ -5765,7 +6152,7 @@ server: imap://imapserver:port/INBOX. You can also specify di username for each folder: imap://username@imapserver[:port]/INBOX or imap://username2@imapserver[:port]/path/to/folder. Replacing imap:// by imaps:// -would make mutt attempt to conect using SSL or TLS on a different port +would make mutt attempt to connect using SSL or TLS on a different port to encrypt the communication. @@ -5779,11 +6166,11 @@ to encrypt the communication. If mutt is compiled with IMAP, POP3 and/or SMTP support, it can also be compiled with support for SSL or TLS using either OpenSSL or GnuTLS ( -by running the configure script with the +by running the configure script with the --enable-ssl=... option for OpenSSL or --enable-gnutls=... for GnuTLS). Mutt can then attempt to encrypt communication with remote servers if these protocols -are suffixed with ``s'' for ``secure communication''. +are suffixed with s for secure communication. @@ -5812,18 +6199,21 @@ controlled by the variable, which defaults to every 60 seconds. + -Another way to access your POP3 mail is the fetch-mail function +Another way to access your POP3 mail is the <fetch-mail$ function (default: G). It allows to connect to $pop_host, fetch all your new mail and place it in the local $spoolfile. After this point, Mutt runs exactly as if the mail had always been local. + -Note: If you only need to fetch all messages to a +If you only need to fetch all messages to a local mailbox you should consider using a specialized program, such as fetchmail, getmail or similar. + @@ -5845,7 +6235,7 @@ Alternatively, a pine-compatible notation is also supported, ie -Note that not all servers use ``/'' as the hierarchy separator. Mutt should +Note that not all servers use / as the hierarchy separator. Mutt should correctly notice which separator is being used by the server and convert paths accordingly. @@ -5853,7 +6243,7 @@ paths accordingly. When browsing folders on an IMAP server, you can toggle whether to look at only the folders you are subscribed to, or all folders with the -toggle-subscribed command. See also the +toggle-subscribed command. See also the $imap_list_subscribed variable. @@ -5864,28 +6254,33 @@ want to carefully tune the and $timeout variables. Personally I use + set mail_check=90 set timeout=15 + with relatively good results over my slow modem line. + Note that if you are using mbox as the mail store on UW servers prior to v12.250, the server has been reported to disconnect a client if another client selects the same folder. + - + The Folder Browser As of version 1.2, mutt supports browsing mailboxes on an IMAP server. This is mostly the same as the local file browser, with the following differences: + @@ -5895,7 +6290,7 @@ In lieu of file permissions, mutt displays the string "IMAP", possibly followed by the symbol "+", indicating that the entry contains both messages and subfolders. On Cyrus-like servers folders will often contain both messages and -subfolders. +subfolders. @@ -5922,11 +6317,9 @@ these are bound to s and u, respectively). - - - + Authentication @@ -5955,7 +6348,8 @@ in the following order: SASL, ANONYMOUS, GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, LOGIN. -There are a few variables which control authentication: +There are a few variables which control authentication: + @@ -5988,8 +6382,6 @@ listed above). - - @@ -6004,9 +6396,9 @@ was configured and built with --enable-smtp. -If the configuration variable +If the configuration variable $smtp_url is set, mutt -will contact the given SMTP server to deliver messages; if it is unset, +will contact the given SMTP server to deliver messages; if it is unset, mutt will use the program specified by $sendmail. @@ -6033,15 +6425,18 @@ you may find managing all the authentication settings inconvenient and error-prone. The account-hook command may help. This hook works like folder-hook but is invoked whenever you access a remote mailbox (including inside the folder browser), not just when you open the -mailbox. +mailbox which includes (for example) polling for new mail, storing Fcc +messages and saving messages to a folder. As a consequence, +account-hook should only be used to set connection-related settings such +as passwords or tunnel commands but not settings such as sender +address or name (because in general it should be considered unpredictable +which account-hook was last used). Some examples: - - account-hook . 'unset imap_user; unset imap_pass; unset tunnel' account-hook imap://host1/ 'set imap_user=me1 imap_pass=foo' @@ -6049,8 +6444,6 @@ account-hook imap://host2/ 'set tunnel="ssh host2 /usr/libexec/imapd"' account-hook smtp://user@host3/ 'set tunnel="ssh host3 /usr/libexec/smtpd"' - - @@ -6058,8 +6451,8 @@ account-hook smtp://user@host3/ 'set tunnel="ssh host3 /usr/libexec/smtpd"' Mutt contains two types of local caching: (1) -the so-called ``header caching'' and (2) the -so-called ``body caching'' which are both described in this section. +the so-called header caching and (2) the +so-called body caching which are both described in this section. @@ -6084,7 +6477,7 @@ thousands of single files (since Maildir and MH use one file per message.) Header caching can be enabled via the configure script and the --enable-hcache option. It's not turned on by default because external database libraries are required: one -of qdbm, gdbm or bdb must be present. +of tokyocabinet, qdbm, gdbm or bdb must be present. @@ -6105,11 +6498,9 @@ can compute the name of the header cache file for a particular local folder through a command like the following: - $ printf '%s' '/path/to/folder' | md5sum - The md5sum command may also be @@ -6140,7 +6531,7 @@ For configuration, the variable $message_cachedir must point to a directory. There, mutt will create a hierarchy of subdirectories named like: proto:user@hostname where -proto is either ``pop'' or ``imap.'' Within +proto is either pop or imap. Within there for each folder, mutt stores messages in single files (just like Maildir) so that with manual symlink creation these cache directories can be examined with mutt as read-only Maildir folders. @@ -6183,8 +6574,8 @@ it should not be set in general but only occasionally. Exact address generation -Mutt supports the ``Name <user@host>'' address syntax for reading and -writing messages, the older ``user@host (Name)'' syntax is only supported when +Mutt supports the Name <user@host> address syntax for reading and +writing messages, the older user@host (Name) syntax is only supported when reading messages. The --enable-exact-address switch can be given to configure to build it with write-support for the latter syntax. EXACT_ADDRESS in the output of @@ -6205,17 +6596,21 @@ for the latter syntax. EXACT_ADDRESS in the output of Mutt's performance when reading mailboxes can be improved in two ways: - - + + + For remote folders (IMAP and POP) as well as folders using one-file-per message storage (Maildir and MH), mutt's performance can be greatly improved using header caching. Using a single database per folder may further increase performance. - - + + + + + Mutt provides the $read_inc and $write_inc variables to specify at which rate to update progress @@ -6229,6 +6624,7 @@ thousand messages, the default value for $read_inc may be too low. It can be tuned on on a folder-basis using folder-hooks: + # use very high $read_inc to speed up reading hcache'd maildirs @@ -6237,10 +6633,9 @@ folder-hook . 'set read_inc=1000' folder-hook ^imap 'set read_inc=100' # use even lower value for reading even slower remote POP folders folder-hook ^pop 'set read_inc=1' - + - These settings work on a per-message basis. However, as messages may greatly differ in size and certain operations are much faster than others, @@ -6277,12 +6672,12 @@ please refer to mutt's so-called When searching mailboxes either via a search or a limit action, for some patterns mutt distinguishes between regular expression and string searches. For regular expressions, patterns are prefixed with -``˜'' and with ``='' for string searches. +˜ and with = for string searches. Even though a regular expression search is fast, it's several times -slower than a pure string search which is noticable especially on large +slower than a pure string search which is noticeable especially on large folders. As a consequence, a string search should be used instead of a regular expression search if the user already knows enough about the search pattern. @@ -6318,9 +6713,7 @@ mailbox. However, it is possible to read other mailboxes and to send messages from the command line as well. - - -
+
Command line options @@ -6353,27 +6746,62 @@ to send messages from the command line as well.
- - To read messages in a mailbox - -mutt [ -nz ] [ -F muttrc ] [ -m type ] [ -f mailbox ] - + +mutt + + +muttrc + + +type + + +mailbox + + To compose a new message - -mutt [ -n ] [ -F muttrc ] [ -a file ] [ -c address ] [ -i filename ] [ -s subject ] -[ [ file ... ] -- ] address [ address ... ] - - - -Mutt also supports a ``batch'' mode to send prepared messages. Simply redirect + +mutt + + +muttrc + + +file + + +address + + +filename + + +subject + + + +file + +-- + + +address + + +address + + + + +Mutt also supports a batch mode to send prepared messages. Simply redirect input from the file you wish to send. For example, @@ -6383,14 +6811,14 @@ input from the file you wish to send. For example, -This command will send a message to ``professor@bigschool.edu'' with a subject -of ``data set for run #2''. In the body of the message will be the contents -of the file ``˜/run2.dat''. +This command will send a message to professor@bigschool.edu with a subject +of data set for run #2. In the body of the message will be the contents +of the file ˜/run2.dat. All files passed with -a file will be attached as a MIME -part to the message. To attach several files, use ``--'' to separate files and +part to the message. To attach several files, use -- to separate files and recipient addresses: mutt -a *.png -- some@one.org @@ -6403,326 +6831,829 @@ recipient addresses: mutt -a *.png -- some@one.org The following are the commands understood by mutt. - - - - -account-hook pattern command - - - - -alias [ -group name [ ... ] ] key address [ , address, ... ] - - - - - -unalias [ * | key ... ] - - - - - -alternates [ -group name [ ... ] ] regexp [ regexp ... ] - - - - - -unalternates [ * | regexp ... ] - - - - - -alternative-order mimetype [ mimetype ... ] - - - - - -unalternative-order mimetype [ mimetype ... ] - - - - - -auto_view mimetype [ mimetype ... ] - - - - - -unauto_view mimetype [ mimetype ... ] - - - - - -bind map key function - - - - - -charset-hook alias charset - - - - - -iconv-hook charset local-charset - - - - - -color object foreground background [ regexp ] - - - - - -uncolor index pattern [ pattern ... ] - - - - - -exec function [ function ... ] - - - - - -fcc-hook pattern mailbox - - - - - -fcc-save-hook pattern mailbox - - - - - -folder-hook pattern command - - - - - -hdr_order header [ header ... ] - - - - - -unhdr_order header [ header ... ] - - - - - -ignore pattern [ pattern ... ] - - - - - -unignore pattern [ pattern ... ] - - - - - -lists [ -group name [ ... ] ] regexp [ regexp ... ] - - - - - -unlists regexp [ regexp ... ] - - - - - -macro menu key sequence [ description ] - - - - - -mailboxes filename [ filename ... ] - - - - - -mbox-hook pattern mailbox - - - - - -message-hook pattern command - - - - - -mime_lookup mimetype [ mimetype ... ] - - - - - -unmime_lookup mimetype [ mimetype ... ] - - - - - -mono object attribute [ regexp ] - - - - - -unmono index pattern [ pattern ... ] - - - - - -my_hdr string - - - - - -unmy_hdr field [ field ... ] - - - - - -crypt-hook pattern key-id - - - - - -push string - - - - - -reset variable [variable ... ] - - - - - -save-hook regexp filename - - - - - -score pattern value - - - - - -unscore pattern [ pattern ... ] - - - - - -reply-hook pattern command - - - - - -send-hook pattern command - - - - - -send2-hook pattern command - - - - - -set [no|inv]variable[=value] [ variable ... ] - - - - - -unset variable [variable ... ] - - - - - -source filename - - - - - -spam pattern format - - - - - -nospam pattern - - - - - -subscribe [ -group name [ ... ] ] regexp [ regexp ... ] - - - - - -unsubscribe regexp [ regexp ... ] - - - - - -toggle variable [variable ... ] - - - - - -unhook hook-type - + +account-hook + +pattern +command + + + + + + +alias + + +name + + +key + + +address + + +address + + + + + + +unalias + + +name + + + +* + + +key + + + + + + + +alternates + + +name + + +regexp + + +regexp + + + + + + +unalternates + + +name + + + +* + + +regexp + + + + + + + +alternative-order + +mimetype + + +mimetype + + + + + + +unalternative-order + + +* + + +mimetype + + + + + + + +auto-view + +mimetype + + +mimetype + + + + + + +unauto-view + + +* + + +mimetype + + + + + + + +bind + +map + + +key + + +function + + + + + + +charset-hook + +alias + + +charset + + + + + + +iconv-hook + +charset + + +local-charset + + + + + + +color + +object + + +foreground + + +background + + + +color + + + + + + + + + +foreground + + +background + + +regexp + + + +color + + + + +foreground + + +background + + +pattern + + + + + + +uncolor + + + + +pattern + + + + + + +exec + +function + + +function + + + + + + +fcc-hook + +[!]pattern + + +mailbox + + + + + + +fcc-save-hook + +[!]pattern + + +mailbox + + + + + + +folder-hook + +[!]regexp + + +command + + + + + + +group + + +name + + + + +expr + + + +expr + + + + + + + +ungroup + + +name + + + +* + + + +expr + + + +expr + + + + + + + +hdr_order + +header + + +header + + + + + + +unhdr_order + + +* + + +header + + + + + + + +ignore + +pattern + + +pattern + + + + + + +unignore + + +* + + +pattern + + + + + + + +lists + + +name + + +regexp + + +regexp + + + + + + +unlists + + +name + + + +* + + +regexp + + + + + + + +macro + +menu + + +key + + +sequence + + +description + + + + + + +mailboxes + +mailbox + + +mailbox + + + + + + +unmailboxes + + +* + + +mailbox + + + + + + + +mbox-hook + +[!]pattern + + +mailbox + + + + + + +message-hook + +[!]pattern + + +command + + + + + + +mime-lookup + +mimetype + + +mimetype + + + + + + +unmime-lookup + + +* + + +mimetype + + + + + + + +mono + +object + + +attribute + + + +mono + + + + + + + + + +attribute + + +regexp + + + +mono + + + + +attribute + + +pattern + + + + + + +unmono + + + + + +* + + +pattern + + + + + + + +my_hdr + +string + + + + + + +unmy_hdr + + +* + + +field + + + + + + + +crypt-hook + +pattern + + +keyid + + + + + + +push + +string + + + + + + +reset + +variable + + +variable + + + + + + +save-hook + +[!]pattern + + +mailbox + + + + + + +score + +pattern + + +value + + + + + + +unscore + + +* + + +pattern + + + + + + + +reply-hook + +[!]pattern + + +command + + + + + + +send-hook + +[!]pattern + + +command + + + + + + +send2-hook + +[!]pattern + + +command + + + + + + +set + + + + + + +variable + + +variable=value + + + + + + + + +unset + +variable + + +variable + + + + + + +source + +filename + + + + + + +spam + +pattern + + +format + + + + + + +nospam + + +* + + +pattern + + + + + + + +subscribe + + +name + + +regexp + + +regexp + + + + + + +unsubscribe + + +name + + + +* + + +regexp + + + + + + + +toggle + +variable + + +variable + + + + + + +unhook + + +* + + +hook-type + + + - -