X-Git-Url: https://git.llucax.com/software/mutt-debian.git/blobdiff_plain/19304f7c526fbe36ba0db2fb80bcaf3bd974d81d..939639fcf1dad1b8f3a85d641f41d11c49281f3c:/doc/manual.txt?ds=inline diff --git a/doc/manual.txt b/doc/manual.txt index 1a01e39..659b0ac 100644 --- a/doc/manual.txt +++ b/doc/manual.txt @@ -4,11 +4,11 @@ Michael Elkins -version 1.5.19 (2009-01-05) +version 1.5.21 (2010-09-15) Abstract -?All mail clients suck. This one just sucks less.? -me, circa 1995 +?All mail clients suck. This one just sucks less.? ? me, circa 1995 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@ -18,162 +18,200 @@ Table of Contents 1. Mutt Home Page 2. Mailing Lists - 3. Software Distribution Sites - 4. Mutt online resources + 3. Getting Mutt + 4. Mutt Online Resources 5. Contributing to Mutt - 6. Typograhical conventions + 6. Typographical Conventions 7. Copyright 2. Getting Started - 1. Core concepts - 2. Moving Around in Menus - 3. Editing Input Fields + 1. Core Concepts + 2. Screens and Menus - 3.1. Introduction - 3.2. History + 2.1. Index + 2.2. Pager + 2.3. File Browser + 2.4. Help + 2.5. Compose Menu + 2.6. Alias Menu + 2.7. Attachment Menu - 4. Reading Mail - The Index and Pager + 3. Moving Around in Menus + 4. Editing Input Fields - 4.1. The Message Index - 4.2. The Pager - 4.3. Threaded Mode - 4.4. Miscellaneous Functions + 4.1. Introduction + 4.2. History - 5. Sending Mail + 5. Reading Mail - 5.1. Introduction - 5.2. Editing the message header - 5.3. Sending cryptographically signed/encrypted messages - 5.4. Sending anonymous messages via mixmaster - 5.5. Sending format=flowed messages + 5.1. The Message Index + 5.2. The Pager + 5.3. Threaded Mode + 5.4. Miscellaneous Functions - 6. Forwarding and Bouncing Mail - 7. Postponing Mail + 6. Sending Mail + + 6.1. Introduction + 6.2. Editing the Message Header + 6.3. Sending Cryptographically Signed/Encrypted Messages + 6.4. Sending Format=Flowed Messages + + 7. Forwarding and Bouncing Mail + 8. Postponing Mail 3. Configuration - 1. Location of initialization files + 1. Location of Initialization Files 2. Syntax of Initialization Files - 3. Address groups - 4. Defining/Using aliases - 5. Changing the default key bindings - 6. Defining aliases for character sets - 7. Setting variables based upon mailbox - 8. Keyboard macros - 9. Using color and mono video attributes - 10. Message header display - 11. Alternative addresses - 12. Mailing lists - 13. Using Multiple spool mailboxes - 14. Monitoring incoming mail - 15. User defined headers - 16. Specify default save mailbox - 17. Specify default Fcc: mailbox when composing - 18. Specify default save filename and default Fcc: mailbox at once - 19. Change settings based upon message recipients - 20. Change settings before formatting a message - 21. Choosing the cryptographic key of the recipient - 22. Adding key sequences to the keyboard buffer - 23. Executing functions + 3. Address Groups + 4. Defining/Using Aliases + 5. Changing the Default Key Bindings + 6. Defining Aliases for Character Sets + 7. Setting Variables Based Upon Mailbox + 8. Keyboard Macros + 9. Using Color and Mono Video Attributes + 10. Message Header Display + + 10.1. Header Display + 10.2. Selecting Headers + 10.3. Ordering Displayed Headers + + 11. Alternative Addresses + 12. Mailing Lists + 13. Using Multiple Spool Mailboxes + 14. Monitoring Incoming Mail + 15. User-Defined Headers + 16. Specify Default Save Mailbox + 17. Specify Default Fcc: Mailbox When Composing + 18. Specify Default Save Filename and Default Fcc: Mailbox at Once + 19. Change Settings Based Upon Message Recipients + 20. Change Settings Before Formatting a Message + 21. Choosing the Cryptographic Key of the Recipient + 22. Adding Key Sequences to the Keyboard Buffer + 23. Executing Functions 24. Message Scoring - 25. Spam detection + 25. Spam Detection 26. Setting and Querying Variables - 26.1. Commands - 26.2. User-defined variables + 26.1. Variable Types + 26.2. Commands + 26.3. User-Defined Variables + 26.4. Type Conversions - 27. Reading initialization commands from another file - 28. Removing hooks + 27. Reading Initialization Commands From Another File + 28. Removing Hooks 29. Format Strings 29.1. Basic usage - 29.2. Filters + 29.2. Conditionals + 29.3. Filters + 29.4. Padding 4. Advanced Usage - 1. Regular Expressions - 2. Patterns: Searching, Limiting and Tagging + 1. Character Set Handling + 2. Regular Expressions + 3. Patterns: Searching, Limiting and Tagging + + 3.1. Pattern Modifier + 3.2. Simple Searches + 3.3. Nesting and Boolean Operators + 3.4. Searching by Date + + 4. Using Tags + 5. Using Hooks - 2.1. Pattern Modifier - 2.2. Simple Patterns - 2.3. Complex Patterns - 2.4. Searching by Date + 5.1. Message Matching in Hooks - 3. Using Tags - 4. Using Hooks + 6. External Address Queries + 7. Mailbox Formats + 8. Mailbox Shortcuts + 9. Handling Mailing Lists + 10. New Mail Detection - 4.1. Message Matching in Hooks + 10.1. How New Mail Detection Works + 10.2. Polling For New Mail - 5. External Address Queries - 6. Mailbox Formats - 7. Mailbox Shortcuts - 8. Handling Mailing Lists - 9. Handling multiple folders - 10. Editing threads + 11. Editing Threads - 10.1. Linking threads - 10.2. Breaking threads + 11.1. Linking Threads + 11.2. Breaking Threads - 11. Delivery Status Notification (DSN) Support - 12. Start a WWW Browser on URLs + 12. Delivery Status Notification (DSN) Support + 13. Start a WWW Browser on URLs + 14. Miscellany 5. Mutt's MIME Support 1. Using MIME in Mutt - 1.1. Viewing MIME messages in the pager - 1.2. The Attachment Menu - 1.3. The Compose Menu + 1.1. MIME Overview + 1.2. Viewing MIME Messages in the Pager + 1.3. The Attachment Menu + 1.4. The Compose Menu - 2. MIME Type configuration with mime.types - 3. MIME Viewer configuration with mailcap + 2. MIME Type Configuration with mime.types + 3. MIME Viewer Configuration with Mailcap - 3.1. The Basics of the mailcap file - 3.2. Secure use of mailcap - 3.3. Advanced mailcap Usage - 3.4. Example mailcap files + 3.1. The Basics of the Mailcap File + 3.2. Secure Use of Mailcap + 3.3. Advanced Mailcap Usage + 3.4. Example Mailcap Files 4. MIME Autoview 5. MIME Multipart/Alternative 6. Attachment Searching and Counting 7. MIME Lookup -6. Optional features +6. Optional Features - 1. General notes + 1. General Notes - 1.1. Enabling/disabling features - 1.2. URL syntax + 1.1. Enabling/Disabling Features + 1.2. URL Syntax 2. SSL/TLS Support 3. POP3 Support 4. IMAP Support - 4.1. The Folder Browser + 4.1. The IMAP Folder Browser 4.2. Authentication 5. SMTP Support - 6. Managing multiple accounts - 7. Local caching + 6. Managing Multiple Accounts + 7. Local Caching + + 7.1. Header Caching + 7.2. Body Caching + 7.3. Cache Directories + 7.4. Maintenance + + 8. Exact Address Generation + 9. Sending Anonymous Messages via Mixmaster + +7. Security Considerations + + 1. Passwords + 2. Temporary Files + 3. Information Leaks - 7.1. Header caching - 7.2. Body caching - 7.3. Maintenance + 3.1. Message-Id: headers + 3.2. mailto:-style Links - 8. Exact address generation + 4. External Applications -7. Performance tuning +8. Performance Tuning - 1. Reading and writing mailboxes - 2. Reading messages from remote folders - 3. Searching and limiting + 1. Reading and Writing Mailboxes + 2. Reading Messages from Remote Folders + 3. Searching and Limiting -8. Reference +9. Reference - 1. Command line options + 1. Command-Line Options 2. Configuration Commands - 3. Configuration variables + 3. Configuration Variables 3.1. abort_nosubject 3.2. abort_unmodified @@ -191,18 +229,18 @@ Table of Contents 3.14. attach_sep 3.15. attach_split 3.16. attribution - 3.17. autoedit - 3.18. auto_tag + 3.17. auto_tag + 3.18. autoedit 3.19. beep 3.20. beep_new 3.21. bounce 3.22. bounce_delivered 3.23. braille_friendly - 3.24. check_mbox_size + 3.24. certificate_file 3.25. charset - 3.26. check_new - 3.27. collapse_unread - 3.28. uncollapse_jump + 3.26. check_mbox_size + 3.27. check_new + 3.28. collapse_unread 3.29. compose_format 3.30. config_charset 3.31. confirmappend @@ -210,314 +248,321 @@ Table of Contents 3.33. connect_timeout 3.34. content_type 3.35. copy - 3.36. crypt_use_gpgme - 3.37. crypt_use_pka - 3.38. crypt_autopgp + 3.36. crypt_autoencrypt + 3.37. crypt_autopgp + 3.38. crypt_autosign 3.39. crypt_autosmime - 3.40. date_format - 3.41. default_hook - 3.42. delete - 3.43. delete_untag - 3.44. digest_collapse - 3.45. display_filter - 3.46. dotlock_program - 3.47. dsn_notify - 3.48. dsn_return - 3.49. duplicate_threads - 3.50. edit_headers - 3.51. editor - 3.52. encode_from - 3.53. envelope_from_address - 3.54. escape - 3.55. fast_reply - 3.56. fcc_attach - 3.57. fcc_clear - 3.58. folder - 3.59. folder_format - 3.60. followup_to - 3.61. force_name - 3.62. forward_decode - 3.63. forward_edit - 3.64. forward_format - 3.65. forward_quote - 3.66. from - 3.67. gecos_mask - 3.68. hdrs - 3.69. header - 3.70. help - 3.71. hidden_host - 3.72. hide_limited - 3.73. hide_missing - 3.74. hide_thread_subject - 3.75. hide_top_limited - 3.76. hide_top_missing - 3.77. history - 3.78. history_file - 3.79. honor_followup_to - 3.80. hostname - 3.81. ignore_linear_white_space - 3.82. ignore_list_reply_to - 3.83. imap_authenticators - 3.84. imap_check_subscribed - 3.85. imap_delim_chars - 3.86. imap_headers - 3.87. imap_idle - 3.88. imap_keepalive - 3.89. imap_list_subscribed - 3.90. imap_login - 3.91. imap_pass - 3.92. imap_passive - 3.93. imap_peek - 3.94. imap_pipeline_depth - 3.95. imap_servernoise - 3.96. imap_user - 3.97. implicit_autoview - 3.98. include - 3.99. include_onlyfirst - 3.100. indent_string - 3.101. index_format - 3.102. ispell - 3.103. keep_flagged - 3.104. locale - 3.105. mail_check - 3.106. mailcap_path - 3.107. mailcap_sanitize - 3.108. header_cache - 3.109. maildir_header_cache_verify - 3.110. header_cache_pagesize - 3.111. header_cache_compress - 3.112. maildir_trash - 3.113. mark_old - 3.114. markers - 3.115. mask - 3.116. mbox - 3.117. mbox_type - 3.118. metoo - 3.119. menu_context - 3.120. menu_move_off - 3.121. menu_scroll - 3.122. meta_key - 3.123. mh_purge - 3.124. mh_seq_flagged - 3.125. mh_seq_replied - 3.126. mh_seq_unseen - 3.127. mime_forward - 3.128. mime_forward_decode - 3.129. mime_forward_rest - 3.130. mix_entry_format - 3.131. mixmaster - 3.132. move + 3.40. crypt_replyencrypt + 3.41. crypt_replysign + 3.42. crypt_replysignencrypted + 3.43. crypt_timestamp + 3.44. crypt_use_gpgme + 3.45. crypt_use_pka + 3.46. crypt_verify_sig + 3.47. date_format + 3.48. default_hook + 3.49. delete + 3.50. delete_untag + 3.51. digest_collapse + 3.52. display_filter + 3.53. dotlock_program + 3.54. dsn_notify + 3.55. dsn_return + 3.56. duplicate_threads + 3.57. edit_headers + 3.58. editor + 3.59. encode_from + 3.60. entropy_file + 3.61. envelope_from_address + 3.62. escape + 3.63. fast_reply + 3.64. fcc_attach + 3.65. fcc_clear + 3.66. folder + 3.67. folder_format + 3.68. followup_to + 3.69. force_name + 3.70. forward_decode + 3.71. forward_decrypt + 3.72. forward_edit + 3.73. forward_format + 3.74. forward_quote + 3.75. from + 3.76. gecos_mask + 3.77. hdrs + 3.78. header + 3.79. header_cache + 3.80. header_cache_compress + 3.81. header_cache_pagesize + 3.82. help + 3.83. hidden_host + 3.84. hide_limited + 3.85. hide_missing + 3.86. hide_thread_subject + 3.87. hide_top_limited + 3.88. hide_top_missing + 3.89. history + 3.90. history_file + 3.91. honor_disposition + 3.92. honor_followup_to + 3.93. hostname + 3.94. ignore_linear_white_space + 3.95. ignore_list_reply_to + 3.96. imap_authenticators + 3.97. imap_check_subscribed + 3.98. imap_delim_chars + 3.99. imap_headers + 3.100. imap_idle + 3.101. imap_keepalive + 3.102. imap_list_subscribed + 3.103. imap_login + 3.104. imap_pass + 3.105. imap_passive + 3.106. imap_peek + 3.107. imap_pipeline_depth + 3.108. imap_servernoise + 3.109. imap_user + 3.110. implicit_autoview + 3.111. include + 3.112. include_onlyfirst + 3.113. indent_string + 3.114. index_format + 3.115. ispell + 3.116. keep_flagged + 3.117. locale + 3.118. mail_check + 3.119. mail_check_recent + 3.120. mailcap_path + 3.121. mailcap_sanitize + 3.122. maildir_header_cache_verify + 3.123. maildir_trash + 3.124. mark_old + 3.125. markers + 3.126. mask + 3.127. mbox + 3.128. mbox_type + 3.129. menu_context + 3.130. menu_move_off + 3.131. menu_scroll + 3.132. message_cache_clean 3.133. message_cachedir - 3.134. message_cache_clean - 3.135. message_format - 3.136. narrow_tree - 3.137. net_inc - 3.138. pager - 3.139. pager_context - 3.140. pager_format - 3.141. pager_index_lines - 3.142. pager_stop - 3.143. crypt_autosign - 3.144. crypt_autoencrypt - 3.145. pgp_ignore_subkeys - 3.146. crypt_replyencrypt - 3.147. crypt_replysign - 3.148. crypt_replysignencrypted - 3.149. crypt_timestamp - 3.150. pgp_use_gpg_agent - 3.151. crypt_verify_sig - 3.152. smime_is_default - 3.153. smime_ask_cert_label - 3.154. smime_decrypt_use_default_key - 3.155. pgp_entry_format - 3.156. pgp_good_sign - 3.157. pgp_check_exit - 3.158. pgp_long_ids - 3.159. pgp_retainable_sigs - 3.160. pgp_autoinline - 3.161. pgp_replyinline - 3.162. pgp_show_unusable - 3.163. pgp_sign_as - 3.164. pgp_strict_enc - 3.165. pgp_timeout - 3.166. pgp_sort_keys - 3.167. pgp_mime_auto - 3.168. pgp_auto_decode - 3.169. pgp_decode_command - 3.170. pgp_getkeys_command - 3.171. pgp_verify_command - 3.172. pgp_decrypt_command - 3.173. pgp_clearsign_command - 3.174. pgp_sign_command - 3.175. pgp_encrypt_sign_command - 3.176. pgp_encrypt_only_command - 3.177. pgp_import_command - 3.178. pgp_export_command - 3.179. pgp_verify_key_command - 3.180. pgp_list_secring_command - 3.181. pgp_list_pubring_command - 3.182. forward_decrypt - 3.183. smime_timeout - 3.184. smime_encrypt_with - 3.185. smime_keys - 3.186. smime_ca_location - 3.187. smime_certificates - 3.188. smime_decrypt_command - 3.189. smime_verify_command - 3.190. smime_verify_opaque_command - 3.191. smime_sign_command - 3.192. smime_sign_opaque_command - 3.193. smime_encrypt_command - 3.194. smime_pk7out_command - 3.195. smime_get_cert_command - 3.196. smime_get_signer_cert_command - 3.197. smime_import_cert_command - 3.198. smime_get_cert_email_command - 3.199. smime_default_key - 3.200. ssl_client_cert - 3.201. ssl_force_tls - 3.202. ssl_starttls - 3.203. certificate_file - 3.204. ssl_usesystemcerts - 3.205. entropy_file - 3.206. ssl_use_sslv2 - 3.207. ssl_use_sslv3 - 3.208. ssl_use_tlsv1 - 3.209. ssl_min_dh_prime_bits - 3.210. ssl_ca_certificates_file - 3.211. pipe_split - 3.212. pipe_decode - 3.213. pipe_sep - 3.214. pop_authenticators - 3.215. pop_auth_try_all - 3.216. pop_checkinterval - 3.217. pop_delete - 3.218. pop_host - 3.219. pop_last - 3.220. pop_reconnect - 3.221. pop_user - 3.222. pop_pass - 3.223. post_indent_string - 3.224. postpone - 3.225. postponed - 3.226. preconnect - 3.227. print - 3.228. print_command - 3.229. print_decode - 3.230. print_split - 3.231. prompt_after - 3.232. query_command - 3.233. query_format - 3.234. quit - 3.235. quote_regexp - 3.236. read_inc - 3.237. read_only - 3.238. realname - 3.239. recall - 3.240. record - 3.241. reply_regexp - 3.242. reply_self - 3.243. reply_to - 3.244. resolve - 3.245. reverse_alias - 3.246. reverse_name - 3.247. reverse_realname - 3.248. rfc2047_parameters - 3.249. save_address - 3.250. save_empty - 3.251. save_history - 3.252. save_name - 3.253. score - 3.254. score_threshold_delete - 3.255. score_threshold_flag - 3.256. score_threshold_read - 3.257. send_charset - 3.258. sendmail - 3.259. sendmail_wait - 3.260. shell - 3.261. sig_dashes - 3.262. sig_on_top - 3.263. signature - 3.264. simple_search - 3.265. smart_wrap - 3.266. smileys - 3.267. sleep_time - 3.268. smtp_authenticators - 3.269. smtp_pass - 3.270. smtp_url - 3.271. sort - 3.272. sort_alias - 3.273. sort_aux - 3.274. sort_browser - 3.275. sort_re - 3.276. spam_separator - 3.277. spoolfile - 3.278. status_chars - 3.279. status_format - 3.280. status_on_top - 3.281. strict_threads - 3.282. suspend - 3.283. text_flowed - 3.284. thread_received - 3.285. thorough_search - 3.286. tilde - 3.287. time_inc - 3.288. timeout - 3.289. tmpdir - 3.290. to_chars - 3.291. tunnel - 3.292. use_8bitmime - 3.293. use_domain - 3.294. use_envelope_from - 3.295. use_from - 3.296. use_idn - 3.297. use_ipv6 - 3.298. user_agent - 3.299. visual - 3.300. wait_key - 3.301. weed - 3.302. wrap - 3.303. wrap_search - 3.304. wrapmargin - 3.305. write_inc - 3.306. write_bcc + 3.134. message_format + 3.135. meta_key + 3.136. metoo + 3.137. mh_purge + 3.138. mh_seq_flagged + 3.139. mh_seq_replied + 3.140. mh_seq_unseen + 3.141. mime_forward + 3.142. mime_forward_decode + 3.143. mime_forward_rest + 3.144. mix_entry_format + 3.145. mixmaster + 3.146. move + 3.147. narrow_tree + 3.148. net_inc + 3.149. pager + 3.150. pager_context + 3.151. pager_format + 3.152. pager_index_lines + 3.153. pager_stop + 3.154. pgp_auto_decode + 3.155. pgp_autoinline + 3.156. pgp_check_exit + 3.157. pgp_clearsign_command + 3.158. pgp_decode_command + 3.159. pgp_decrypt_command + 3.160. pgp_encrypt_only_command + 3.161. pgp_encrypt_sign_command + 3.162. pgp_entry_format + 3.163. pgp_export_command + 3.164. pgp_getkeys_command + 3.165. pgp_good_sign + 3.166. pgp_ignore_subkeys + 3.167. pgp_import_command + 3.168. pgp_list_pubring_command + 3.169. pgp_list_secring_command + 3.170. pgp_long_ids + 3.171. pgp_mime_auto + 3.172. pgp_replyinline + 3.173. pgp_retainable_sigs + 3.174. pgp_show_unusable + 3.175. pgp_sign_as + 3.176. pgp_sign_command + 3.177. pgp_sort_keys + 3.178. pgp_strict_enc + 3.179. pgp_timeout + 3.180. pgp_use_gpg_agent + 3.181. pgp_verify_command + 3.182. pgp_verify_key_command + 3.183. pipe_decode + 3.184. pipe_sep + 3.185. pipe_split + 3.186. pop_auth_try_all + 3.187. pop_authenticators + 3.188. pop_checkinterval + 3.189. pop_delete + 3.190. pop_host + 3.191. pop_last + 3.192. pop_pass + 3.193. pop_reconnect + 3.194. pop_user + 3.195. post_indent_string + 3.196. postpone + 3.197. postponed + 3.198. preconnect + 3.199. print + 3.200. print_command + 3.201. print_decode + 3.202. print_split + 3.203. prompt_after + 3.204. query_command + 3.205. query_format + 3.206. quit + 3.207. quote_regexp + 3.208. read_inc + 3.209. read_only + 3.210. realname + 3.211. recall + 3.212. record + 3.213. reply_regexp + 3.214. reply_self + 3.215. reply_to + 3.216. resolve + 3.217. reverse_alias + 3.218. reverse_name + 3.219. reverse_realname + 3.220. rfc2047_parameters + 3.221. save_address + 3.222. save_empty + 3.223. save_history + 3.224. save_name + 3.225. score + 3.226. score_threshold_delete + 3.227. score_threshold_flag + 3.228. score_threshold_read + 3.229. search_context + 3.230. send_charset + 3.231. sendmail + 3.232. sendmail_wait + 3.233. shell + 3.234. sig_dashes + 3.235. sig_on_top + 3.236. signature + 3.237. simple_search + 3.238. sleep_time + 3.239. smart_wrap + 3.240. smileys + 3.241. smime_ask_cert_label + 3.242. smime_ca_location + 3.243. smime_certificates + 3.244. smime_decrypt_command + 3.245. smime_decrypt_use_default_key + 3.246. smime_default_key + 3.247. smime_encrypt_command + 3.248. smime_encrypt_with + 3.249. smime_get_cert_command + 3.250. smime_get_cert_email_command + 3.251. smime_get_signer_cert_command + 3.252. smime_import_cert_command + 3.253. smime_is_default + 3.254. smime_keys + 3.255. smime_pk7out_command + 3.256. smime_sign_command + 3.257. smime_sign_opaque_command + 3.258. smime_timeout + 3.259. smime_verify_command + 3.260. smime_verify_opaque_command + 3.261. smtp_authenticators + 3.262. smtp_pass + 3.263. smtp_url + 3.264. sort + 3.265. sort_alias + 3.266. sort_aux + 3.267. sort_browser + 3.268. sort_re + 3.269. spam_separator + 3.270. spoolfile + 3.271. ssl_ca_certificates_file + 3.272. ssl_client_cert + 3.273. ssl_force_tls + 3.274. ssl_min_dh_prime_bits + 3.275. ssl_starttls + 3.276. ssl_use_sslv2 + 3.277. ssl_use_sslv3 + 3.278. ssl_use_tlsv1 + 3.279. ssl_usesystemcerts + 3.280. ssl_verify_dates + 3.281. ssl_verify_host + 3.282. status_chars + 3.283. status_format + 3.284. status_on_top + 3.285. strict_threads + 3.286. suspend + 3.287. text_flowed + 3.288. thorough_search + 3.289. thread_received + 3.290. tilde + 3.291. time_inc + 3.292. timeout + 3.293. tmpdir + 3.294. to_chars + 3.295. tunnel + 3.296. uncollapse_jump + 3.297. use_8bitmime + 3.298. use_domain + 3.299. use_envelope_from + 3.300. use_from + 3.301. use_idn + 3.302. use_ipv6 + 3.303. user_agent + 3.304. visual + 3.305. wait_key + 3.306. weed + 3.307. wrap + 3.308. wrap_headers + 3.309. wrap_search + 3.310. wrapmargin + 3.311. write_bcc + 3.312. write_inc 4. Functions - 4.1. generic menu - 4.2. index menu - 4.3. pager menu - 4.4. alias menu - 4.5. query menu - 4.6. attach menu - 4.7. compose menu - 4.8. postpone menu - 4.9. browser menu - 4.10. pgp menu - 4.11. smime menu - 4.12. mix menu - 4.13. editor menu - -9. Miscellany + 4.1. Generic Menu + 4.2. Index Menu + 4.3. Pager Menu + 4.4. Alias Menu + 4.5. Query Menu + 4.6. Attachment Menu + 4.7. Compose Menu + 4.8. Postpone Menu + 4.9. Browser Menu + 4.10. Pgp Menu + 4.11. Smime Menu + 4.12. Mixmaster Menu + 4.13. Editor Menu + +10. Miscellany 1. Acknowledgements - 2. About this document + 2. About This Document List of Tables 1.1. Typographical conventions for special terms -2.1. Most common navigation keys -2.2. Most common line editor keys -2.3. Most common message index keys -2.4. Message status flags -2.5. Message recipient flags -2.6. Most common pager keys -2.7. ANSI escape sequences -2.8. Color sequences -2.9. Most common thread mode keys -2.10. Most common mail sending keys -2.11. Most common compose menu keys -2.12. PGP key menu flags +2.1. Most common navigation keys in entry-based menus +2.2. Most common navigation keys in page-based menus +2.3. Most common line editor keys +2.4. Most common message index keys +2.5. Message status flags +2.6. Message recipient flags +2.7. Most common pager keys +2.8. ANSI escape sequences +2.9. Color sequences +2.10. Most common thread mode keys +2.11. Most common mail sending keys +2.12. Most common compose menu keys +2.13. PGP key menu flags 3.1. Symbolic key names 4.1. POSIX regular expression character classes 4.2. Regular expression repetition operators @@ -525,43 +570,51 @@ List of Tables 4.4. Pattern modifiers 4.5. Simple search keywords 4.6. Date units -8.1. Command line options -8.2. Default generic function bindings -8.3. Default index function bindings -8.4. Default pager function bindings -8.5. Default alias function bindings -8.6. Default query function bindings -8.7. Default attach function bindings -8.8. Default compose function bindings -8.9. Default postpone function bindings -8.10. Default browser function bindings -8.11. Default pgp function bindings -8.12. Default smime function bindings -8.13. Default mix function bindings -8.14. Default editor function bindings +4.7. Mailbox shortcuts +5.1. Supported MIME types +9.1. Command line options +9.2. Default Generic Menu Bindings +9.3. Default Index Menu Bindings +9.4. Default Pager Menu Bindings +9.5. Default Alias Menu Bindings +9.6. Default Query Menu Bindings +9.7. Default Attachment Menu Bindings +9.8. Default Compose Menu Bindings +9.9. Default Postpone Menu Bindings +9.10. Default Browser Menu Bindings +9.11. Default Pgp Menu Bindings +9.12. Default Smime Menu Bindings +9.13. Default Mixmaster Menu Bindings +9.14. Default Editor Menu Bindings List of Examples 3.1. Multiple configuration commands per line 3.2. Commenting configuration files -3.3. Escaping quotes in congfiguration files -3.4. Using external command's output in configuration files -3.5. Using environment variables in configuration files -3.6. Configuring external alias files -3.7. Setting sort method based on mailbox name -3.8. Header weeding -3.9. Configuring header display order -3.10. Defining custom headers -3.11. Using %-expandos in save-hook -3.12. Embedding push in folder-hook -3.13. Configuring spam detection -3.14. Using user-defined variables for config file readability -3.15. Using user-defined variables for backing up other config option values -3.16. Deferring user-defined variable expansion to runtime -3.17. Using external filters in format strings -4.1. Using boolean operators in patterns -4.2. Combining send-hook and my_hdr -5.1. Attachment counting +3.3. Escaping quotes in configuration files +3.4. Splitting long configuration commands over several lines +3.5. Using external command's output in configuration files +3.6. Using environment variables in configuration files +3.7. Configuring external alias files +3.8. Setting sort method based on mailbox name +3.9. Header weeding +3.10. Configuring header display order +3.11. Defining custom headers +3.12. Using %-expandos in save-hook +3.13. Embedding push in folder-hook +3.14. Configuring spam detection +3.15. Using user-defined variables for config file readability +3.16. Using user-defined variables for backing up other config option values +3.17. Deferring user-defined variable expansion to runtime +3.18. Type conversions using variables +3.19. Using external filters in format strings +4.1. Matching all addresses in address lists +4.2. Using boolean operators in patterns +4.3. Specifying a ?default? hook +5.1. mime.types +5.2. Attachment counting +6.1. URLs +6.2. Managing multiple accounts Chapter 1. Introduction @@ -569,10 +622,10 @@ Table of Contents 1. Mutt Home Page 2. Mailing Lists -3. Software Distribution Sites -4. Mutt online resources +3. Getting Mutt +4. Mutt Online Resources 5. Contributing to Mutt -6. Typograhical conventions +6. Typographical Conventions 7. Copyright Mutt is a small but very powerful text-based MIME mail client. Mutt is highly @@ -589,27 +642,28 @@ The official homepage can be found at http://www.mutt.org/. To subscribe to one of the following mailing lists, send a message with the word subscribe in the body to list-name-request@mutt.org. - * -- low traffic list for announcements + * ? low traffic list for announcements - * -- help, bug reports and feature requests + * ? help, bug reports and feature requests - * -- development mailing list - -Note + * ? development mailing list All messages posted to mutt-announce are automatically forwarded to mutt-users, so you do not need to be subscribed to both lists. -3. Software Distribution Sites +3. Getting Mutt 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. -4. Mutt online resources +For nightly tarballs and version control access, please refer to the Mutt +development site. + +4. Mutt Online Resources Bug Tracking System - The official mutt bug tracking system can be found at http://dev.mutt.org/ + The official Mutt bug tracking system can be found at http://bugs.mutt.org/ Wiki @@ -631,13 +685,13 @@ 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 +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. -6. Typograhical conventions +6. Typographical Conventions This section lists typographical conventions followed throughout this manual. See table Table 1.1, ?Typographical conventions for special terms? for @@ -657,6 +711,8 @@ Table 1.1. Typographical conventions for special terms |^G |Control+G key combination | |--------------+---------------------------------------| |$mail_check |Mutt configuration option | +|--------------+---------------------------------------| +|$HOME |environment variable | +------------------------------------------------------+ @@ -670,7 +726,7 @@ denote that the argument may be repeated arbitrary times. 7. Copyright -Mutt is Copyright (C) 1996-2009 Michael R. Elkins and others. +Mutt is Copyright ? 1996-2009 Michael R. Elkins and others. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software @@ -689,30 +745,39 @@ Chapter 2. Getting Started Table of Contents -1. Core concepts -2. Moving Around in Menus -3. Editing Input Fields +1. Core Concepts +2. Screens and Menus - 3.1. Introduction - 3.2. History + 2.1. Index + 2.2. Pager + 2.3. File Browser + 2.4. Help + 2.5. Compose Menu + 2.6. Alias Menu + 2.7. Attachment Menu -4. Reading Mail - The Index and Pager +3. Moving Around in Menus +4. Editing Input Fields - 4.1. The Message Index - 4.2. The Pager - 4.3. Threaded Mode - 4.4. Miscellaneous Functions + 4.1. Introduction + 4.2. History -5. Sending Mail +5. Reading Mail - 5.1. Introduction - 5.2. Editing the message header - 5.3. Sending cryptographically signed/encrypted messages - 5.4. Sending anonymous messages via mixmaster - 5.5. Sending format=flowed messages + 5.1. The Message Index + 5.2. The Pager + 5.3. Threaded Mode + 5.4. Miscellaneous Functions -6. Forwarding and Bouncing Mail -7. Postponing Mail +6. Sending Mail + + 6.1. Introduction + 6.2. Editing the Message Header + 6.3. Sending Cryptographically Signed/Encrypted Messages + 6.4. Sending Format=Flowed Messages + +7. Forwarding and Bouncing Mail +8. Postponing Mail 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 @@ -723,11 +788,11 @@ 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. -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 +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. -1. Core concepts +1. 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 @@ -741,6 +806,11 @@ 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. +Mutt is configured through variables which, if the user wants to permanently +use a non-default value, are written to configuration files. Mutt supports a +rich config file syntax to make even complex configuration files readable and +commentable. + 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 @@ -758,16 +828,99 @@ messages or to limit the index to show only matching messages. 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 +be used to highly customize Mutt's behavior including managing multiple identities, customizing the display for a folder or even implementing auto-archiving based on a per-folder basis and much more. -2. Moving Around in Menus +Besides an interactive mode, Mutt can also be used as a command-line tool only +send messages. It also supports a mailx(1)-compatible interface, see Table 9.1, +?Command line options? for a complete list of command-line options. + +2. Screens and Menus + +2.1. Index + +The index is the screen that you usually see first when you start Mutt. It +gives an overview over your emails in the currently opened mailbox. By default, +this is your system mailbox. The information you see in the index is a list of +emails, each with its number on the left, its flags (new email, important +email, email that has been forwarded or replied to, tagged email, ...), the +date when email was sent, its sender, the email size, and the subject. +Additionally, the index also shows thread hierarchies: when you reply to an +email, and the other person replies back, you can see the other person's email +in a "sub-tree" below. This is especially useful for personal email between a +group of people or when you've subscribed to mailing lists. + +2.2. Pager + +The pager is responsible for showing the email content. On the top of the pager +you have an overview over the most important email headers like the sender, the +recipient, the subject, and much more information. How much information you +actually see depends on your configuration, which we'll describe below. + +Below the headers, you see the email body which usually contains the message. +If the email contains any attachments, you will see more information about them +below the email body, or, if the attachments are text files, you can view them +directly in the pager. + +To give the user a good overview, it is possible to configure Mutt to show +different things in the pager with different colors. Virtually everything that +can be described with a regular expression can be colored, e.g. URLs, email +addresses or smileys. + +2.3. File Browser + +The file browser is the interface to the local or remote file system. When +selecting a mailbox to open, the browser allows custom sorting of items, +limiting the items shown by a regular expression and a freely adjustable format +of what to display in which way. It also allows for easy navigation through the +file system when selecting file(s) to attach to a message, select multiple +files to attach and many more. + +2.4. Help + +The help screen is meant to offer a quick help to the user. It lists the +current configuration of key bindings and their associated commands including a +short description, and currently unbound functions that still need to be +associated with a key binding (or alternatively, they can be called via the +Mutt command prompt). + +2.5. Compose Menu + +The compose menu features a split screen containing the information which +really matter before actually sending a message by mail: who gets the message +as what (recipients and who gets what kind of copy). Additionally, users may +set security options like deciding whether to sign, encrypt or sign and encrypt +a message with/for what keys. Also, it's used to attach messages, to re-edit +any attachment including the message itself. + +2.6. Alias Menu + +The alias menu is used to help users finding the recipients of messages. For +users who need to contact many people, there's no need to remember addresses or +names completely because it allows for searching, too. The alias mechanism and +thus the alias menu also features grouping several addresses by a shorter +nickname, the actual alias, so that users don't have to select each single +recipient manually. + +2.7. Attachment Menu + +As will be later discussed in detail, Mutt features a good and stable MIME +implementation, that is, it supports sending and receiving messages of +arbitrary MIME types. The attachment menu displays a message's structure in +detail: what content parts are attached to which parent part (which gives a +true tree structure), which type is of what type and what size. Single parts +may saved, deleted or modified to offer great and easy access to message's +internals. -The most important navigation keys common to all menus are shown in Table 2.1, -?Most common navigation keys?. +3. Moving Around in Menus -Table 2.1. Most common navigation keys +The most important navigation keys common to line- or entry-based menus are +shown in Table 2.1, ?Most common navigation keys in entry-based menus? and in +Table 2.2, ?Most common navigation keys in page-based menus? for page-based +menus. + +Table 2.1. Most common navigation keys in entry-based menus +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Key | Function | Description | @@ -790,16 +943,35 @@ Table 2.1. Most common navigation keys +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ -3. Editing Input Fields +Table 2.2. Most common navigation keys in page-based menus + ++-------------------------------------------------------------+ +| Key | Function | Description | +|----------------------+---------------+----------------------| +|J or | |scroll down one line | +|----------------------+---------------+----------------------| +| ||scroll up one line | +|----------------------+---------------+----------------------| +|K, or | |move to the next page | +|----------------------+---------------+----------------------| +|- or ||move the previous page| +|----------------------+---------------+----------------------| +| | |move to the top | +|----------------------+---------------+----------------------| +| | |move to the bottom | ++-------------------------------------------------------------+ + + +4. Editing Input Fields -3.1. Introduction +4.1. Introduction Mutt has a built-in line editor for inputting text, e.g. email addresses or filenames. The keys used to manipulate text input are very similar to those of -Emacs. See Table 2.2, ?Most common line editor keys? for a full reference of +Emacs. See Table 2.3, ?Most common line editor keys? for a full reference of available functions, their default key bindings, and short descriptions. -Table 2.2. Most common line editor keys +Table 2.3. Most common line editor keys +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Key | Function | Description | @@ -856,17 +1028,19 @@ you could use: bind editor backspace -3.2. History +4.2. History 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 and/or commands. +editor prompt by using the and/or commands. But +notice that Mutt does not remember the currently entered text, it only cycles +through history and wraps around at the end or beginning. Mutt maintains several distinct history lists, one for each of the following categories: - * muttrc commands + * .muttrc commands * addresses and aliases @@ -878,27 +1052,27 @@ categories: * 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. +Mutt automatically filters out consecutively 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. -4. Reading Mail - The Index and Pager +5. Reading Mail 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.? +in Mutt. The first is a list of messages in the mailbox, which is called the +?index? menu in Mutt. The second mode is the display of the message contents. +This is called the ?pager.? The next few sections describe the functions provided in each of these modes. -4.1. The Message Index +5.1. The Message Index Common keys used to navigate through and manage messages in the index are shown -in Table 2.3, ?Most common message index keys?. How messages are presented in +in Table 2.4, ?Most common message index keys?. How messages are presented in the index menu can be customized using the $index_format variable. -Table 2.3. Most common message index keys +Table 2.4. Most common message index keys +----------------------------------------------------+ | Key | Description | @@ -965,14 +1139,14 @@ Table 2.3. Most common message index keys 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 ?flags? in Table 2.4, ?Message status flags? may appear, some of which +of the ?flags? in Table 2.5, ?Message status flags? may appear, some of which can be turned on or off using these functions: and bound by default to ?w? and ?W? respectively. -Furthermore, the flags in Table 2.5, ?Message recipient flags? reflect who the +Furthermore, the flags in Table 2.6, ?Message recipient flags? reflect who the message is addressed to. They can be customized with the $to_chars variable. -Table 2.4. Message status flags +Table 2.5. Message status flags +------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Flag| Description | @@ -998,19 +1172,23 @@ Table 2.4. Message status flags |! |message is flagged | |----+-------------------------------------------------------------| |* |message is tagged | +|----+-------------------------------------------------------------| +|n |thread contains new messages (only if collapsed) | +|----+-------------------------------------------------------------| +|o |thread contains old messages (only if collapsed) | +------------------------------------------------------------------+ -Table 2.5. Message recipient flags +Table 2.6. Message recipient flags +------------------------------------------------------+ |Flag| Description | |----+-------------------------------------------------| |+ |message is to you and you only | |----+-------------------------------------------------| -|T |message is to you, but also to or cc'ed to others| +|T |message is to you, but also to or CC'ed to others| |----+-------------------------------------------------| -|C |message is cc'ed to you | +|C |message is CC'ed to you | |----+-------------------------------------------------| |F |message is from you | |----+-------------------------------------------------| @@ -1018,13 +1196,14 @@ Table 2.5. Message recipient flags +------------------------------------------------------+ -4.2. The Pager +5.2. The Pager -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 +By default, Mutt uses its built-in pager to display the contents of messages +(an external pager such as less(1) can be configured, see $pager variable). The +pager is very similar to the Unix program less(1) though not nearly as featureful. -Table 2.6. Most common pager keys +Table 2.7. Most common pager keys +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Key | Description | @@ -1053,14 +1232,14 @@ Table 2.6. Most common pager keys +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ -In addition to key bindings in Table 2.6, ?Most common pager keys?, many of the +In addition to key bindings in Table 2.7, ?Most common pager keys?, many of the functions from the index menu are also available in the pager, such as or (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 bold and -underline. These sequences are a series of either the letter, backspace (^H), +underline. These sequences are a series of either the letter, backspace (?^H?), the letter again for bold or the letter, backspace, ?_? 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 @@ -1072,9 +1251,9 @@ settings. The sequences Mutt supports are: \e[Ps;Ps;..Ps;m -where Ps can be one of the codes shown in Table 2.7, ?ANSI escape sequences?. +where Ps can be one of the codes shown in Table 2.8, ?ANSI escape sequences?. -Table 2.7. ANSI escape sequences +Table 2.8. ANSI escape sequences +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Escape code| Description | @@ -1089,13 +1268,13 @@ Table 2.7. ANSI escape sequences |-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------| |7 |Reverse video on | |-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------| -|3 |Foreground color is (see Table 2.8, ?Color sequences?)| +|3 |Foreground color is (see Table 2.9, ?Color sequences?)| |-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------| -|4 |Background color is (see Table 2.8, ?Color sequences?)| +|4 |Background color is (see Table 2.9, ?Color sequences?)| +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ -Table 2.8. Color sequences +Table 2.9. Color sequences +-------------------+ |Color code | Color | @@ -1131,16 +1310,21 @@ Note 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. +the index. This is because patterns are used to select messages by criteria +whereas the pager already displays a selected message. -4.3. Threaded Mode +5.3. Threaded Mode -When the mailbox is sorted by threads, there are a few additional functions -available in the index and pager modes as shown in Table 2.9, ?Most common -thread mode keys?. +So-called ?threads? provide a hierarchy of messages where replies are linked to +their parent message(s). This organizational form is extremely useful in +mailing lists where different parts of the discussion diverge. Mutt displays +threads as a tree structure. -Table 2.9. Most common thread mode keys +In Mutt, when a mailbox is sorted by threads, there are a few additional +functions available in the index and pager modes as shown in Table 2.10, ?Most +common thread mode keys?. + +Table 2.10. Most common thread mode keys +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Key | Function | Description | @@ -1175,17 +1359,18 @@ Table 2.9. Most common thread mode keys +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ -Note - 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. +you could use ?%?M?(#%03M)&(%4l)?? in $index_format to optionally display the +number of hidden messages if the thread is collapsed. The %??& +? syntax is explained in detail in format string conditionals. -See also: $strict_threads. +Technically, every reply should contain a list of its parent messages in the +thread tree, but not all do. In these cases, Mutt groups them by subject which +can be controlled using the $strict_threads variable. -4.4. Miscellaneous Functions +5.4. Miscellaneous Functions In addition, the index and pager menus have these interesting functions: @@ -1293,14 +1478,14 @@ In addition, the index and pager menus have these interesting functions: This function will go to the next line of non-quoted text which comes after a line of quoted text in the internal pager. -5. Sending Mail +6. Sending Mail -5.1. Introduction +6.1. Introduction -The bindings shown in Table 2.10, ?Most common mail sending keys? are available +The bindings shown in Table 2.11, ?Most common mail sending keys? are available in the index and pager to start a new message. -Table 2.10. Most common mail sending keys +Table 2.11. Most common mail sending keys +----------------------------------------------------+ | Key | Function | Description | @@ -1323,28 +1508,49 @@ Table 2.10. Most common mail sending keys 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. These items are discussed in greater detail in the next section ? 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 you are replying to or forwarding a -message. See also $askcc, $askbcc, $autoedit, $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 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. +place on the ?To:? header field when you hit m to start a new message. Next, it +will ask you for the ?Subject:? field for the message, providing a default if +you are replying to or forwarding a message. You again have the chance to +adjust recipients, subject, and security settings right before actually sending +the message. See also $askcc, $askbcc, $autoedit, $bounce, $fast_reply, and +$include for changing how and if Mutt asks these questions. + +When replying, Mutt fills these fields with proper values depending on the +reply type. The types of replying supported are: + +Simple reply + + Reply to the author directly. + +Group reply + + Reply to the author as well to all recipients except you; this consults + alternates. + +List reply + + Reply to all mailing list addresses found, either specified via + configuration or auto-detected. See Section 12, ?Mailing Lists? for + details. + +After getting recipients for new messages, forwards or replies, 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. Once you have finished editing the body of your mail message, you are returned -to the compose menu providing the functions shown in Table 2.11, ?Most common +to the compose menu providing the functions shown in Table 2.12, ?Most common compose menu keys? to modify, send or postpone the message. -Table 2.11. Most common compose menu keys +Table 2.12. Most common compose menu keys +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Key | Function | Description | @@ -1402,42 +1608,58 @@ 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. -5.2. Editing the message header +6.2. Editing the Message Header 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. +pseudo headers available which will not be included in sent messages but +trigger special Mutt behavior. + +6.2.1. Fcc: Pseudo Header + +If you specify + +Fcc: filename -5.2.1. Fcc: pseudo header +as a header, Mutt will pick up filename just as if you had used the +function in the compose menu. It can later be changed from the compose menu. -If you specify Fcc: filename as a header, Mutt will pick up filename just as if -you had used the function in the compose menu. +6.2.2. Attach: Pseudo Header -5.2.2. Attach: pseudo header +You can also attach files to your message by specifying -You can also attach files to your message by specifying Attach: filename [ -description ] where filename is the file to attach and description is an -optional string to use as the description of the attached file. +Attach: filename [ description ] -5.2.3. Pgp: pseudo header +where filename is the file to attach and description is an optional string to +use as the description of the attached file. Spaces in filenames have to be +escaped using backslash (?\?). The file can be removed as well as more added +from the compose menu. + +6.2.3. Pgp: Pseudo Header If you want to use PGP, you can specify Pgp: [ E | S | S ] ?E? selects encryption, ?S? selects signing and ?S? selects signing with -the given key, setting $pgp_sign_as permanently. +the given key, setting $pgp_sign_as permanently. The selection can later be +changed in the compose menu. -5.2.4. In-Reply-To: header +6.2.4. In-Reply-To: Header 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. +the message(s) you reply to. If you remove or modify 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. + +If you intend to start a new thread by replying, please make really sure you +remove the In-Reply-To: header in your editor. Otherwise, though you'll produce +a technically valid reply, some netiquette guardians will be annoyed by this +so-called ?thread hijacking?. -5.3. Sending cryptographically signed/encrypted messages +6.3. Sending Cryptographically Signed/Encrypted Messages -If you have told mutt to PGP or S/MIME 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 addresses. However, there may be situations in @@ -1445,9 +1667,9 @@ which there are several keys, weakly certified user ID fields, or where no matching keys can be found. In these cases, you are dropped into a menu with a list of keys from which you -can select one. When you quit this menu, or mutt can't find any matching keys, +can select one. When you quit this menu, or Mutt can't find any matching keys, you are prompted for a user ID. You can, as usually, abort this prompt using ^ -G. When you do so, mutt will return to the compose screen. +G. When you do so, Mutt will return to the compose screen. Once you have successfully finished the key selection, the message will be encrypted using the selected public keys when sent out. @@ -1456,10 +1678,10 @@ 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 Table 2.12, ?PGP key -menu flags?. +The flags sequence (?%f?) will expand to one of the flags in Table 2.13, ?PGP +key menu flags?. -Table 2.12. PGP key menu flags +Table 2.13. PGP key menu flags +-------------------------------------------------------+ |Flag| Description | @@ -1474,8 +1696,8 @@ Table 2.12. PGP key menu flags +-------------------------------------------------------+ -The capabilities field (%c) expands to a two-character sequence representing a -key's capabilities. The first character gives the key's encryption +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 @@ -1486,47 +1708,14 @@ The second character indicates the key's signing capabilities. Once again, a encryption key in one of the user-ids, and ?s? denotes a key which can be used for signing. -Finally, the validity field (%t) indicates how well-certified a user-id is. A +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 (?+?) indicates complete validity. -5.4. Sending anonymous messages via mixmaster - -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, of which the latest appears to be called -2.9b23. - -To use it, you'll have to obey certain restrictions. Most important, you cannot -use the Cc and Bcc headers. To tell Mutt to use mixmaster, you have to select a -remailer chain, using the mix function on the compose menu. - -The chain selection screen is divided into two parts. In the (larger) upper -part, you get a list of remailers you may use. In the lower part, you see the -currently selected chain of remailers. - -You can navigate in the chain using the and -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 function. To append a remailer behind the -current chain position, use or . You can also delete -entries from the chain, using the corresponding function. Finally, to abandon -your changes, leave the menu, or 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 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 have a look at the mixmaster documentation. - -5.5. Sending format=flowed messages +6.4. Sending Format=Flowed Messages -5.5.1. Concept +6.4.1. Concept format=flowed-style messages (or f=f for short) are text/plain messages that consist of paragraphs which a receiver's mail client may reformat to its own @@ -1534,18 +1723,18 @@ 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 except for the last line. -While for text-mode clients like mutt it's the best way to assume only a +While for text-mode clients like Mutt it's the best way to assume only a standard 80x25 character cell terminal, it may be desired to let the receiver decide completely how to view a message. -5.5.2. Mutt support +6.4.2. Mutt Support Mutt only supports setting the required format=flowed MIME parameter on outgoing messages if the $text_flowed variable is set, specifically it does not add the trailing spaces. After editing the initial message text and before entering the compose menu, -mutt properly space-stuffes the message. Space-stuffing is required by RfC3676 +Mutt properly space-stuffs the message. Space-stuffing is required by RfC3676 defining format=flowed and means to prepend a space to: * all lines starting with a space @@ -1564,9 +1753,9 @@ the initial edit is finished. All leading spaces are to be removed by receiving clients to restore the original message prior to further processing. -5.5.3. Editor considerations +6.4.3. Editor Considerations -As mutt provides no additional features to compose f=f messages, it's +As Mutt provides no additional features to compose f=f messages, it's completely up to the user and his editor to produce proper messages. Please consider your editor's documentation if you intend to send f=f messages. @@ -1577,7 +1766,7 @@ properly space-stuffed. For example, vim provides the w flag for its formatoptions setting to assist in creating f=f messages, see :help fo-table for details. -6. Forwarding and Bouncing Mail +7. Forwarding and Bouncing Mail Bouncing and forwarding let you send an existing message to recipients that you specify. Bouncing a message sends a verbatim copy of a message to alternative @@ -1601,7 +1790,7 @@ variable, unless $mime_forward is set. Editing the message to forward follows the same procedure as sending or replying to a message does. -7. Postponing Mail +8. Postponing Mail At times it is desirable to delay sending a message that you have already begun to compose. When the function is used in the compose menu, @@ -1628,44 +1817,53 @@ Chapter 3. Configuration Table of Contents -1. Location of initialization files +1. Location of Initialization Files 2. Syntax of Initialization Files -3. Address groups -4. Defining/Using aliases -5. Changing the default key bindings -6. Defining aliases for character sets -7. Setting variables based upon mailbox -8. Keyboard macros -9. Using color and mono video attributes -10. Message header display -11. Alternative addresses -12. Mailing lists -13. Using Multiple spool mailboxes -14. Monitoring incoming mail -15. User defined headers -16. Specify default save mailbox -17. Specify default Fcc: mailbox when composing -18. Specify default save filename and default Fcc: mailbox at once -19. Change settings based upon message recipients -20. Change settings before formatting a message -21. Choosing the cryptographic key of the recipient -22. Adding key sequences to the keyboard buffer -23. Executing functions +3. Address Groups +4. Defining/Using Aliases +5. Changing the Default Key Bindings +6. Defining Aliases for Character Sets +7. Setting Variables Based Upon Mailbox +8. Keyboard Macros +9. Using Color and Mono Video Attributes +10. Message Header Display + + 10.1. Header Display + 10.2. Selecting Headers + 10.3. Ordering Displayed Headers + +11. Alternative Addresses +12. Mailing Lists +13. Using Multiple Spool Mailboxes +14. Monitoring Incoming Mail +15. User-Defined Headers +16. Specify Default Save Mailbox +17. Specify Default Fcc: Mailbox When Composing +18. Specify Default Save Filename and Default Fcc: Mailbox at Once +19. Change Settings Based Upon Message Recipients +20. Change Settings Before Formatting a Message +21. Choosing the Cryptographic Key of the Recipient +22. Adding Key Sequences to the Keyboard Buffer +23. Executing Functions 24. Message Scoring -25. Spam detection +25. Spam Detection 26. Setting and Querying Variables - 26.1. Commands - 26.2. User-defined variables + 26.1. Variable Types + 26.2. Commands + 26.3. User-Defined Variables + 26.4. Type Conversions -27. Reading initialization commands from another file -28. Removing hooks +27. Reading Initialization Commands From Another File +28. Removing Hooks 29. Format Strings 29.1. Basic usage - 29.2. Filters + 29.2. Conditionals + 29.3. Filters + 29.4. Padding -1. Location of initialization files +1. Location of Initialization Files 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 @@ -1674,17 +1872,17 @@ Mutt is first invoked, it will attempt to read the ?system? configuration file 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. +subdirectory named .mutt, Mutt tries to load a file named .mutt/muttrc. .muttrc is the file where you will usually place your commands to configure Mutt. -In addition, mutt supports version specific configuration files that are parsed +In addition, Mutt supports version specific configuration files that are parsed instead of the default files as explained above. For instance, if your system has a Muttrc-0.88 file in the system configuration directory, and you are -running version 0.88 of mutt, this file will be sourced instead of the Muttrc +running version 0.88 of Mutt, this file will be sourced instead of the Muttrc file. The same is true of the user configuration file, if you have a file -.muttrc-0.88.6 in your home directory, when you run mutt version 0.88.6, it +.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: V) from the index menu. @@ -1693,7 +1891,7 @@ show-version key (default: V) from the index menu. 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 (;). +separated by a semicolon (?;?). Example 3.1. Multiple configuration commands per line @@ -1702,14 +1900,14 @@ set realname='Mutt user' ; ignore x- The hash mark, or pound sign (?#?), 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, +character to the end of the line is ignored. Example 3.2. 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 which +Single quotes (?'?) and double quotes (?"?) can be used to quote strings which contain spaces or other special characters. The difference between 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 @@ -1717,11 +1915,11 @@ for shell variables or quoting with a backslash [see next paragraph]), while double quotes indicate a string for which 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 +?\? 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 character. -Example 3.3. Escaping quotes in congfiguration files +Example 3.3. Escaping quotes in configuration files set realname="Michael \"MuttDude\" Elkins" @@ -1729,43 +1927,47 @@ set realname="Michael \"MuttDude\" Elkins" ?\\? means to insert a literal ?\? into the line. ?\n? and ?\r? have their usual C meanings of linefeed and carriage-return, respectively. -A \ at the end of a line can be used to split commands over multiple lines, -provided that the split points don't appear in the middle of command names. +A ?\? at the end of a line can be used to split commands over multiple lines as +it ?escapes? the line end, provided that the split points don't appear in the +middle of command names. Lines are first concatenated before interpretation so +that a multi-line can be commented by commenting out the first line only. -It is also possible to substitute the output of a Unix command in an -initialization file. This is accomplished by enclosing the command in backticks -(``). For example, +Example 3.4. Splitting long configuration commands over several lines -Example 3.4. Using external command's output in configuration files +set status_format="some very \ +long value split \ +over several lines" -my_hdr X-Operating-System: `uname -a` +It is also possible to substitute the output of a Unix command in an +initialization file. This is accomplished by enclosing the command in backticks +(``). In Example 3.5, ?Using external command's output in configuration files?, +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. -The output of the Unix command ?uname -a? will be substituted before the line -is parsed. +Example 3.5. Using external command's output in configuration files -Note +my_hdr X-Operating-System: `uname -a` -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 ?$? +Both environment variables and Mutt variables can be accessed by prepending ?$? to the name of the variable. For example, -Example 3.5. Using environment variables in configuration files +Example 3.6. Using environment variables in configuration files set record=+sent_on_$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 +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 details.) Mutt expands the variable when it is assigned, not when it is used. If the value of a variable on the right-hand side of an assignment changes after the assignment, the variable on the left-hand side will not be affected. -The commands understood by mutt are explained in the next paragraphs. For a +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 @@ -1778,7 +1980,7 @@ 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. + preceding $config_charset so Mutt knows 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. @@ -1789,35 +1991,59 @@ implications: silently change the meaning of certain tokens (e.g. inserting question marks into regular expressions). -3. Address groups +3. Address Groups Usage: group [ -group name ...] { -rx expr ... | -addr expr ... } - ungroup [ -group name ...] { * | -rx expr ... | -addr expr ... } -group is used to directly add either addresses or regular expressions to the -specified group or groups. The different categories of arguments to the group -command can be in any order. The flags -rx and -addr specify what the following -strings (that cannot begin with a hyphen) should be interpreted as: either a -regular expression or an email address, respectively. +Mutt supports grouping addresses logically into named groups. An address or +address pattern can appear in several groups at the same time. These groups can +be used in patterns (for searching, limiting and tagging) and in hooks by using +group patterns. This can be useful to classify mail and take certain actions +depending on in what groups the message is. For example, the mutt user's +mailing list would fit into the categories ?mailing list? and ?mutt-related?. +Using send-hook, the sender can be set to a dedicated one for writing mailing +list messages, and the signature could be set to a mutt-related one for writing +to a mutt list ? for other lists, the list sender setting still applies but a +different signature can be selected. Or, given a group only containing +recipients known to accept encrypted mail, ?auto-encryption? can be achieved +easily. + +The group command is used to directly add either addresses or regular +expressions to the specified group or groups. The different categories of +arguments to the group command can be in any order. The flags -rx and -addr +specify what the following strings (that cannot begin with a hyphen) should be +interpreted as: either a regular expression or an email address, respectively. These address groups can also be created implicitly by the alias, lists, -subscribe and alternates commands by specifying the optional -group option. +subscribe and alternates commands by specifying the optional -group option. For +example, + +alternates -group me address1 address2 +alternates -group me -group work address3 -Once defined, these address groups can be used in patterns to search for and -limit the display to messages matching a group. +would create a group named ?me? which contains all your addresses and a group +named ?work? which contains only your work address address3. Besides many other +possibilities, this could be used to automatically mark your own messages in a +mailing list folder as read or use a special signature for work-related +messages. -ungroup is used to remove addresses or regular expressions from the specified -group or groups. The syntax is similar to the group command, however the -special character * can be used to empty a group of all of its contents. +The ungroup command is used to remove addresses or regular expressions from the +specified group or groups. The syntax is similar to the group command, however +the special character * can be used to empty a group of all of its contents. As +soon as a group gets empty because all addresses and regular expressions have +been removed, it'll internally be removed, too (i.e. there cannot be an empty +group). When removing regular expressions from a group, the pattern must be +specified exactly as given to the group command or -group argument. -4. Defining/Using aliases +4. Defining/Using Aliases Usage: alias [ -group name ...] key address [ address ...] +unalias [ -group name ...] { * | key ... } 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 a short @@ -1833,47 +2059,43 @@ added to the named group. To remove an alias or aliases (?*? means all aliases): -unalias [ -group 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 a configuration file, as long as this file is sourced. Consequently, you can have multiple alias files, or you -can have all aliases defined in your muttrc. +can have all aliases defined in your .muttrc. On the other hand, the function can use only one file, the one -pointed to by the $alias_file variable (which is ?/.muttrc by default). This +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 order for the new aliases to take effect you need to explicitly source this file too. -For example: - -Example 3.6. Configuring external alias files +Example 3.7. 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 +To use aliases, you merely use the alias at any place in Mutt where Mutt prompts for addresses, such as the To: or Cc: prompt. You can also enter aliases in your editor at the appropriate headers if you have the $edit_headers variable set. In addition, at the various address prompts, you can use the tab character to -expand a partial alias to the full alias. If there are multiple matches, mutt +expand a partial alias to the full alias. If there are multiple matches, Mutt will bring up a menu with the matching aliases. In order to be presented with -the full list of aliases, you must hit tab with out a partial alias, such as at +the full list of aliases, you must hit tab without a partial alias, such as at the beginning of the prompt or after a comma denoting multiple addresses. In the alias menu, you can select as many aliases as you want with the select-entry key (default: ), and use the exit key (default: q) to return to the address prompt. -5. Changing the default key bindings +5. Changing the Default Key Bindings Usage: @@ -1897,8 +2119,8 @@ generic alias The alias menu is the list of your personal aliases as defined in your - muttrc. It is the mapping from a short alias name to the full email address - (es) of the recipient(s). + .muttrc. It is the mapping from a short alias name to the full email + address(es) of the recipient(s). attach @@ -1911,7 +2133,8 @@ browser editor - The editor is the line-based editor the user enters text data. + The editor is used to allow the user to enter a single line of text, such + as the To or Subject prompts in the compose menu. index @@ -2011,30 +2234,31 @@ Table 3.1. Symbolic key names +---------------------------------+ -key does not need to be enclosed in quotes unless it contains a space (???) or +key does not need to be enclosed in quotes unless it contains a 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 unbinds the -specified key sequence. +list of functions, see the reference. Note that the bind expects function to be +specified without angle brackets. + +The special function unbinds the specified key sequence. -6. Defining aliases for character sets +6. Defining Aliases for Character Sets Usage: charset-hook alias charset - iconv-hook charset local-charset The charset-hook command defines an alias for a character set. This is useful to properly display messages which are tagged with a character set name not -known to mutt. +known to Mutt. The iconv-hook command defines a system-specific name for a character set. This is helpful when your systems character conversion library insists on using strange, system-specific names for character sets. -7. Setting variables based upon mailbox +7. Setting Variables Based Upon Mailbox Usage: @@ -2044,7 +2268,7 @@ It is often desirable to change settings based on which mailbox you are reading. The folder-hook command provides a method by which you can execute any configuration command. regexp is a regular expression specifying in which mailboxes to execute command before loading. If a mailbox matches multiple -folder-hook's, they are executed in the order given in the muttrc. +folder-hooks, they are executed in the order given in the .muttrc. Note @@ -2058,22 +2282,23 @@ 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 +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 ?.? 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. +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. -Example 3.7. Setting sort method based on mailbox name +Example 3.8. Setting sort method based on mailbox name -folder-hook . set sort=date-sent -folder-hook mutt set sort=threads +folder-hook . "set sort=date-sent" +folder-hook mutt "set sort=threads" -8. Keyboard macros +8. Keyboard Macros Usage: @@ -2102,24 +2327,21 @@ and also facilitates defining of macros in files used by more than one user (e.g., the system Muttrc). Optionally you can specify a descriptive text after sequence, which is shown in -the help screens. +the help screens if they contain a description. Note Macro definitions (if any) listed in the help screen(s), are silently truncated at the screen width, and are not wrapped. -9. Using color and mono video attributes +9. Using Color and Mono Video Attributes Usage: color object foreground background - color { header | body } foreground background regexp - color index foreground background pattern - -uncolor index { * | pattern ... } +uncolor { index | header | body } { * | pattern ... } If your terminal supports color, you can spice up Mutt by creating your own color scheme. To define the color of an object (type of information), you must @@ -2127,14 +2349,14 @@ specify both a foreground color and a background color (it is not possible to only specify one or the other). header and body match regexp in the header/body of a message, index matches -pattern (see Section 2, ?Patterns: Searching, Limiting and Tagging?) in the +pattern (see Section 3, ?Patterns: Searching, Limiting and Tagging?) in the message index. object can be one of: * attachment - * bold (hiliting bold patterns in the body of messages) + * bold (highlighting bold patterns in the body of messages) * error (error messages printed by Mutt) @@ -2152,17 +2374,17 @@ object can be one of: * quoted1, quoted2, ..., quotedN (higher levels of quoting) - * search (hiliting of words in the pager) + * search (highlighting 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) + * 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) + * underline (highlighting underlined patterns in the body of messages) foreground and background can be one of the following: @@ -2191,7 +2413,7 @@ foreground color boldfaced (e.g., brightred). If your terminal supports it, the special keyword default can be used as a transparent color. The value brightdefault is also valid. If Mutt is linked -against the S-Lang library, you also need to set the COLORFGBG environment +against the S-Lang library, you also need to set the $COLORFGBG environment variable to the default colors of your terminal for this to work; for example (for Bourne-like shells): @@ -2205,28 +2427,23 @@ of white and yellow when setting this variable. Note -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 a special token which means to clear -the color index list of all entries. +The uncolor command can be applied to the index, header and body objects 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 a special token +which means to clear the color list of all entries. -Mutt also recognizes the keywords color0, color1, ?, colorN-1 (N being the +Mutt also recognizes the keywords color0, color1, ..., colorN-1 (N being the number of colors supported by your terminal). This is useful when you remap the colors for your display (for example by changing the color associated with color2 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: +attributes through the use of the ?mono? command. Usage: mono object attribute - mono { header | body } attribute regexp - mono index attribute pattern - -unmono index { * | pattern ... } +unmono { index | header | body } { * | pattern ... } For object, see the color command. attribute can be one of the following: @@ -2240,12 +2457,20 @@ For object, see the color command. attribute can be one of the following: * standout -10. Message header display +10. Message Header Display + +10.1. Header Display + +When displaying a message in the pager, Mutt folds long header lines at $wrap +columns. Though there're precise rules about where to break and how, Mutt +always folds headers using a tab for readability. (Note that the sending side +is not affected by this, Mutt tries to implement standards compliant folding.) + +10.2. Selecting Headers Usage: ignore pattern [ pattern ...] - unignore { * | pattern ... } Messages often have many header fields added by automatic processing systems, @@ -2262,9 +2487,7 @@ For example, if you do ?ignore x-? it is possible to ?unignore x-mailer?. ?unignore *? will remove all tokens from the ignore list. -For example: - -Example 3.8. Header weeding +Example 3.9. Header weeding # Sven's draconian header weeding ignore * @@ -2273,40 +2496,40 @@ unignore organization organisation x-mailer: x-newsreader: x-mailing-list: unignore posted-to: +10.3. Ordering Displayed Headers + Usage: hdr_order header [ header ...] - unhdr_order { * | header ... } -With the hdr_order command you can specify an order in which mutt will attempt +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. -Example 3.9. Configuring header display order +Example 3.10. Configuring header display order hdr_order From Date: From: To: Cc: Subject: -11. Alternative addresses +11. Alternative Addresses Usage: alternates [ -group name ...] regexp [ regexp ...] - unalternates [ -group name ...] { * | regexp ... } -With various functions, mutt will treat messages differently, depending on +With various functions, Mutt will treat messages differently, depending on whether you sent them or whether you received them from someone else. For -instance, when replying to a message that you sent to a different party, mutt +instance, when replying to a message that you sent to a different party, Mutt will automatically suggest to send the response to the original message's -recipients -- responding to yourself won't make much sense in many cases. (See +recipients ? responding to yourself won't make much sense in many cases. (See $reply_to.) Many users receive e-mail under a number of different addresses. To fully use -mutt's features here, the program must be able to recognize what e-mail +Mutt's features here, the program must be able to recognize what e-mail addresses you receive mail under. That's the purpose of the alternates command: It takes a list of regular expressions, each of which can identify an address under which you receive e-mail. @@ -2317,7 +2540,7 @@ possible to avoid mismatches. For example, if you specify: alternates user@example -mutt will consider ?some-user@example? as being your address, too which may not +Mutt will consider ?some-user@example? as being your address, too which may not be desired. As a solution, in such cases addresses should be specified as: alternates '^user@example$' @@ -2336,25 +2559,25 @@ 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. -12. Mailing lists +12. Mailing Lists Usage: lists [ -group name ...] regexp [ regexp ...] - -unlists [ -group name ...] { * | regexp ... } - +unlists { * | regexp ... } subscribe [ -group name ...] regexp [ regexp ...] - -unsubscribe [ -group name ...] { * | regexp ... } +unsubscribe { * | 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 - 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. +and which mailing lists you are subscribed to. Mutt also has limited support +for auto-detecting mailing lists: it supports parsing mailto: links in the +common List-Post: header which has the same effect as specifying the list +address via the lists command (except the group feature). Once you have done +this, the 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 @@ -2362,37 +2585,41 @@ 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 $followup_to configuration -variable. +variable since it's common practice on some mailing lists to send Cc upon +replies (which is more a group- than a list-reply). More precisely, Mutt maintains lists of patterns for the addresses of known and subscribed mailing lists. Every subscribed mailing list is known. To mark a -mailing list as known, use the ?lists? command. To mark it as subscribed, use -?subscribe?. +mailing list as known, use the list command. To mark it as subscribed, use +subscribe. You can use regular expressions with both commands. To mark all messages sent -to a specific bug report's address on mutt's bug tracking system as list mail, -for instance, you could say ?subscribe [0-9]*@bugs.guug.de?. Often, it's -sufficient to just give a portion of the list's e-mail address. +to a specific bug report's address on Debian's bug tracking system as list +mail, for instance, you could say + +subscribe [0-9]*.*@bugs.debian.org + +as it's often sufficient to just give a portion of the list's e-mail address. Specify as much of the address as you need to to remove ambiguity. For example, if you've subscribed to the Mutt mailing list, you will receive mail addressed to mutt-users@mutt.org. So, to tell Mutt that this is a mailing list, you could -add ?lists mutt-users@? to your initialization file. To tell mutt that you are -subscribed to it, add ?subscribe mutt-users? to your initialization file -instead. If you also happen to get mail from someone whose address is -mutt-users@example.com, you could use ?lists ^mutt-users@mutt\\.org$? or -?subscribe ^mutt-users@mutt\\.org$? to match only mail from the actual list. +add lists mutt-users@ to your initialization file. To tell Mutt that you are +subscribed to it, add subscribe mutt-users to your initialization file instead. +If you also happen to get mail from someone whose address is +mutt-users@example.com, you could use lists ^mutt-users@mutt\\.org$ or +subscribe ^mutt-users@mutt\\.org$ to match only mail from the actual list. The -group flag adds all of the subsequent regular expressions to the named -group. +address group in addition to adding to the specified address list. 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?. +on the list of known mailing lists, use unsubscribe. -13. Using Multiple spool mailboxes +13. Using Multiple Spool Mailboxes Usage: @@ -2406,12 +2633,11 @@ mailbox specifies where mail should be saved when read. Unlike some of the other hook commands, only the first matching pattern is used (it is not possible to save read mail in more than a single mailbox). -14. Monitoring incoming mail +14. Monitoring Incoming Mail Usage: mailboxes mailbox [ mailbox ...] - unmailboxes { * | mailbox ... } This command specifies folders which can receive mail and which will be checked @@ -2419,13 +2645,13 @@ for new messages periodically. 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 URL. The URL syntax is described in Section 1.2, ?URL syntax?, POP and +folder URL. The URL syntax is described in Section 1.2, ?URL Syntax?, POP and IMAP are described in Section 3, ?POP3 Support? and Section 4, ?IMAP Support? respectively. Mutt provides a number of advanced features for handling (possibly many) -folders and new mail within them, please refer to Section 9, ?Handling multiple -folders? for details (including in what situations and how often Mutt checks +folders and new mail within them, please refer to Section 10, ?New Mail +Detection? 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 @@ -2436,44 +2662,31 @@ 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 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 relative to -the directory from where mutt was started which may not always be desired. - -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. 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. +should be set before the mailboxes command. If none of these shortcuts are +used, a local path should be absolute as otherwise Mutt tries to find it +relative to the directory from where Mutt was started which may not always be +desired. -15. User defined headers +15. User-Defined Headers 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. +added to every message you send and appear in the editor if $edit_headers is +set. For example, if you would like to add an ?Organization:? header field to all of -your outgoing messages, you can put the command +your outgoing messages, you can put the command something like shown in +Example 3.11, ?Defining custom headers? in your .muttrc. -Example 3.10. Defining custom headers +Example 3.11. 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 @@ -2491,7 +2704,7 @@ example, to remove all ?To? and ?Cc? header fields, you could use: unmy_hdr to cc -16. Specify default save mailbox +16. Specify Default Save Mailbox Usage: @@ -2504,9 +2717,7 @@ Matching in Hooks for information on the exact format. To provide more flexibility and good defaults, Mutt applies the expandos of $index_format to mailbox after it was expanded. -Examples: - -Example 3.11. Using %-expandos in save-hook +Example 3.12. Using %-expandos in save-hook # default: save all to ~/Mail/ save-hook . ~/Mail/%F @@ -2520,7 +2731,7 @@ save-hook aol\\.com$ +spam Also see the fcc-save-hook command. -17. Specify default Fcc: mailbox when composing +17. Specify Default Fcc: Mailbox When Composing Usage: @@ -2536,12 +2747,12 @@ $index_format to mailbox after it was expanded. See Message Matching in Hooks for information on the exact format of pattern. -Example: fcc-hook [@.]aol\\.com$ +spammers +fcc-hook [@.]aol\\.com$ +spammers -The above will save a copy of all messages going to the aol.com domain to the +...will save a copy of all messages going to the aol.com domain to the `+spammers' mailbox by default. Also see the fcc-save-hook command. -18. Specify default save filename and default Fcc: mailbox at once +18. Specify Default Save Filename and Default Fcc: Mailbox at Once Usage: @@ -2551,14 +2762,12 @@ This command is a shortcut, equivalent to doing both a fcc-hook and a save-hook with its arguments, including %-expansion on mailbox according to $index_format . -19. Change settings based upon message recipients +19. Change Settings Based Upon Message Recipients Usage: reply-hook [!]pattern command - send-hook [!]pattern command - send2-hook [!]pattern command These commands can be used to execute arbitrary configuration commands based @@ -2581,7 +2790,7 @@ executed after send-hook, and can, e.g., be used to set parameters such as the $sendmail variable depending on the message's sender address. For each type of send-hook or reply-hook, when multiple matches occur, commands -are executed in the order they are specified in the muttrc (for that type of +are executed in the order they are specified in the .muttrc (for that type of hook). Example: send-hook mutt "set mime_forward signature=''" @@ -2594,11 +2803,12 @@ Note 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 subject, don't have any effect on the -current message when executed from a send-hook. +cause any send-hook to be executed, similarly if $autoedit is set (as then the +initial list of recipients is empty). 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. -20. Change settings before formatting a message +20. Change Settings Before Formatting a Message Usage: @@ -2608,7 +2818,7 @@ This command can be used to execute arbitrary configuration commands before viewing or formatting a message based upon information about the message. command is executed if the pattern matches the message to be displayed. When multiple matches occur, commands are executed in the order they are specified -in the muttrc. +in the .muttrc. See Message Matching in Hooks for information on the exact format of pattern. @@ -2617,7 +2827,7 @@ Example: message-hook ~A 'set pager=builtin' message-hook '~f freshmeat-news' 'set pager="less \"+/^ subject: .*\""' -21. Choosing the cryptographic key of the recipient +21. Choosing the Cryptographic Key of the Recipient Usage: @@ -2633,7 +2843,7 @@ of the public key to be used when encrypting messages to a certain recipient. 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. -22. Adding key sequences to the keyboard buffer +22. Adding Key Sequences to the Keyboard Buffer Usage: @@ -2642,16 +2852,31 @@ push string This command adds the named string to the keyboard buffer. The string may contain control characters, key names and function names like the sequence 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: +commands at startup, or when entering certain folders. For example, +Example 3.13, ?Embedding push in folder-hook? shows how to automatically +collapse all threads when entering a folder. -Example 3.12. Embedding push in folder-hook +Example 3.13. Embedding push in folder-hook folder-hook . 'push ' -23. Executing functions +For using functions like shown in the example, it's important to use angle +brackets (??) to make Mutt recognize the input as a function name. +Otherwise it will simulate individual just keystrokes, i.e. ?push collapse-all? +would be interpreted as if you had typed ?c?, followed by ?o?, followed by ?l?, +..., which is not desired and may lead to very unexpected behavior. + +Keystrokes can be used, too, but are less portable because of potentially +changed key bindings. With default bindings, this is equivalent to the above +example: + +folder-hook . 'push \eV' + +because it simulates that Esc+V was pressed (which is the default binding of +). + +23. Executing Functions Usage: @@ -2665,15 +2890,14 @@ function reference. ?exec function? is equivalent to ?push ?. Usage: score pattern value - unscore { * | pattern ... } The score commands adds value to a message's score if pattern matches it. pattern is a string in the format described in the patterns section (note: For efficiency reasons, patterns which scan information not available in the index, -such as ?b, ?B or ?h, may not be used). value is a positive or negative +such as ~b, ~B or ~h, may not be used). value is a positive or negative integer. A message's final score is the sum total of all matching score -entries. However, you may optionally prefix value with an equal sign (=) to +entries. However, you may optionally prefix value with an equal sign (?=?) to cause evaluation to stop at a particular entry if there is a match. Negative final scores are rounded up to 0. @@ -2681,12 +2905,11 @@ 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 of all score entries. -25. Spam detection +25. Spam Detection Usage: spam pattern format - nospam { * | pattern } Mutt has generalized support for external spam-scoring filters. By defining @@ -2700,23 +2923,28 @@ 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 below.) The appearance of this attribute is entirely up to you, +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 sub-expression contained within parentheses.) %1 is replaced with the first back-reference in the regex, %2 with the second, etc. +To match spam tags, mutt needs the corresponding header information which is +always the case for local and POP folders but not for IMAP in the default +configuration. Depending on the spam header to be analyzed, $imap_headers may +need to be adjusted. + If you're using multiple spam filters, a message can have more than one spam-related header. You can define spam patterns for each filter you use. If a message matches two or more of these patterns, and the $spam_separator variable is set to a string, then the message's spam tag will consist of all the format strings joined together, with the value of $spam_separator separating them. -For example, suppose I use DCC, SpamAssassin, and PureMessage. I might define -these spam settings: +For example, suppose one uses DCC, SpamAssassin, and PureMessage, then the +configuration might look like in Example 3.14, ?Configuring spam detection?. -Example 3.13. Configuring spam detection +Example 3.14. Configuring spam detection spam "X-DCC-.*-Metrics:.*(....)=many" "90+/DCC-%1" spam "X-Spam-Status: Yes" "90+/SA" @@ -2724,10 +2952,10 @@ 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 +If then a message is received 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 +characters before ?=many? in a DCC report indicate the checksum used ? in this case, ?Fuz2?.) If the $spam_separator variable is unset, then each spam pattern match @@ -2735,23 +2963,23 @@ supersedes the previous one. Instead of getting joined format strings, you'll get only the last one to match. The spam tag is what will be displayed in the index when you use %H in the -$index_format variable. It's also the string that the ?H pattern-matching +$index_format variable. It's also the string that the ~H pattern-matching expression matches against for and functions. And it's what sorting by spam attribute will use as a sort key. That's a pretty complicated example, and most people's actual environments will have only one spam filter. The simpler your configuration, the more effective -mutt can be, especially when it comes to sorting. +Mutt can be, especially when it comes to sorting. -Generally, when you sort by spam tag, mutt will sort lexically -- that is, by +Generally, when you sort by spam tag, Mutt will sort lexically ? that is, by ordering strings alphanumerically. However, if a spam tag begins with a number, -mutt will sort numerically first, and lexically only when two numbers are equal +Mutt will sort numerically first, and lexically 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 +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 effective when you can -coerce your filter to give you a raw number. But in case you can't, mutt can +coerce your filter to give you a raw number. But in case you can't, Mutt can still do something useful. The nospam command can be used to write exceptions to spam patterns. If a @@ -2768,25 +2996,73 @@ This might be the default action if you use spam and nospam in conjunction with a folder-hook. You can have as many spam or nospam commands as you like. You can even do your -own primitive spam detection within mutt -- for example, if you consider all +own primitive spam detection within Mutt ? for example, if you consider all mail from MAILER-DAEMON to be spam, you can use a spam command like this: spam "^From: .*MAILER-DAEMON" "999" 26. Setting and Querying Variables -26.1. Commands +26.1. Variable Types + +Mutt supports these types of configuration variables: + +boolean + + A boolean expression, either ?yes? or ?no?. + +number + + A signed integer number in the range -32768 to 32767. + +string + + Arbitrary text. + +path + + A specialized string for representing paths including support for mailbox + shortcuts (see Section 8, ?Mailbox Shortcuts?) as well as tilde (?~?) for a + user's home directory and more. + +quadoption + + Like a boolean but triggers a prompt when set to ?ask-yes? or ?ask-no? with + ?yes? and ?no? preselected respectively. + +sort order + + A specialized string allowing only particular words as values depending on + the variable. + +regular expression + + A regular expression, see Section 2, ?Regular Expressions? for an + introduction. + +folder magic + + Specifies the type of folder to use: mbox, mmdf, mh or maildir. Currently + only used to determine the type for newly created folders. + +e-mail address + + An e-mail address either with or without realname. The older + ?user@example.org (Joe User)? form is supported but strongly deprecated. + +user-defined + + Arbitrary text, see Section 26.3, ?User-Defined Variables? for details. + +26.2. Commands The following commands are available to manipulate and query variables: Usage: set { [ no | inv ] 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 @@ -2830,11 +3106,11 @@ variable with ?&? this has the same behavior as the reset command. With the reset command there exists the special variable ?all?, which allows you to reset all variables to their system defaults. -26.2. User-defined variables +26.3. User-Defined Variables -26.2.1. Introduction +26.3.1. Introduction -Along with the variables listed in the Configuration variables section, mutt +Along with the variables listed in the Configuration variables section, Mutt supports user-defined variables with names starting with my_ as in, for example, my_cfgdir. @@ -2845,12 +3121,12 @@ Since user-defined variables are expanded in the same way that environment variables are (except for the shell-escape command and backtick expansion), this feature can be used to make configuration files more readable. -26.2.2. Examples +26.3.2. Examples The following example defines and uses the variable my_cfgdir to abbreviate the calls of the source command: -Example 3.14. Using user-defined variables for config file readability +Example 3.15. Using user-defined variables for config file readability set my_cfgdir = $HOME/mutt/config @@ -2864,7 +3140,7 @@ 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 $delete is restored. -Example 3.15. Using user-defined variables for backing up other config option +Example 3.16. Using user-defined variables for backing up other config option values macro pager ,x '\ @@ -2874,7 +3150,7 @@ macro pager ,x '\ set delete=$my_delete' -Since mutt expands such values already when parsing the configuration file(s), +Since Mutt expands such values already when parsing the configuration file(s), the value of $my_delete in the last example would be the value of $delete exactly as it was at that point during parsing the configuration file. If another statement would change the value for $delete later in the same or @@ -2882,7 +3158,7 @@ another file, it would have no effect on $my_delete. However, the expansion can be deferred to runtime, as shown in the next example, when escaping the dollar sign. -Example 3.16. Deferring user-defined variable expansion to runtime +Example 3.17. Deferring user-defined variable expansion to runtime macro pager "\ set my_old_pager_stop=\$pager_stop pager_stop\ @@ -2892,25 +3168,71 @@ macro pager "\ Note that there is a space between and the set configuration -command, preventing mutt from recording the macro's commands into its history. +command, preventing Mutt from recording the macro's commands into its history. + +26.4. Type Conversions + +Variables are always assigned string values which Mutt parses into its internal +representation according to the type of the variable, for example an integer +number for numeric types. For all queries (including $-expansion) the value is +converted from its internal type back into string. As a result, any variable +can be assigned any value given that its content is valid for the target. This +also counts for custom variables which are of type string. In case of parsing +errors, Mutt will print error messages. Example 3.18, ?Type conversions using +variables? demonstrates type conversions. + +Example 3.18. Type conversions using variables + +set my_lines = "5" # value is string "5" +set pager_index_lines = $my_lines # value is integer 5 + +set my_sort = "date-received" # value is string "date-received" +set sort = "last-$my_sort" # value is sort last-date-received + +set my_inc = $read_inc # value is string "10" (default of $read_inc) +set my_foo = $my_inc # value is string "10" -27. Reading initialization commands from another file + +These assignments are all valid. If, however, the value of $my_lines would have +been ?five? (or something else that cannot be parsed into a number), the +assignment to $pager_index_lines would have produced an error message. + +Type conversion applies to all configuration commands which take arguments. But +please note that every expanded value of a variable is considered just a single +token. A working example is: + +set my_pattern = "~A" +set my_number = "10" + +# same as: score ~A +10 +score $my_pattern +$my_number + +What does not work is: + +set my_mx = "+mailbox1 +mailbox2" +mailboxes $my_mx +mailbox3 + +because the value of $my_mx is interpreted as a single mailbox named ?+mailbox1 ++mailbox2? and not two distinct mailboxes. + +27. Reading Initialization Commands From Another File Usage: source filename This command allows the inclusion of initialization commands from other files. -For example, I place all of my aliases in ?/.mail_aliases so that I can make my -?/.muttrc readable and keep my aliases private. +For example, I place all of my aliases in ~/.mail_aliases so that I can make my +~/.muttrc readable and keep my aliases private. -If the filename begins with a tilde (???), it will be expanded to the path of +If the filename begins with a tilde (?~?), it will be expanded to the path of your home directory. -If the filename ends with a vertical bar (|), then filename is considered to be -an executable program from which to read input (eg. source ?/bin/myscript|). +If the filename ends with a vertical bar (?|?), then filename is considered to +be an executable program from which to read input (e.g. source ~/bin/myscript +|). -28. Removing hooks +28. Removing Hooks Usage: @@ -2925,9 +3247,9 @@ remove all hooks of a specific type by saying something like unhook send-hook. 29.1. 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, and it's quite possible you already know how to use them. +the Mutt configuration, especially in the $index_format, $pager_format, +$status_format, and other related variables. These can be very straightforward, +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 @@ -2942,19 +3264,19 @@ to specify the 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 will be padded out with +occupy ? if it's naturally smaller than that, it will be padded out with spaces. If a decimal point and another number follow, that's the maximum space -allowable -- the string will not be permitted to exceed that width, no matter +allowable ? the string will not be permitted to exceed that width, no matter its natural size. Each of these three elements is optional, so that all these -are legal format strings: %-12s %4c %.15F %-12.15L +are legal format strings: %-12s, %4c, %.15F and %-12.15L. Mutt adds some other modifiers to format strings. If you use an equals symbol (=) as a numeric prefix (like the minus above), it will force the string to be centered within its minimum space range. For example, %=14y will reserve 14 -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 ?. +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 ?. There are two very little-known modifiers that affect the way that an expando is replaced. If there is an underline (?_?) character between any format @@ -2962,7 +3284,33 @@ modifiers (as above) and the expando letter, it will expands in all lower case. And if you use a colon (?:?), it will replace all decimal points with underlines. -29.2. Filters +29.2. Conditionals + +Depending on the format string variable, some of its sequences can be used to +optionally print a string if their value is nonzero. For example, you may only +want to see the number of flagged messages if such messages exist, since zero +is not particularly meaningful. To optionally print a string based upon one of +the above sequences, the following construct is used: + +%??? + +where sequence_char is an expando, and optional_string is the string you would +like printed if sequence_char is nonzero. optional_string may contain other +sequences as well as normal text, but you may not nest optional strings. + +Here is an example illustrating how to optionally print the number of new +messages in a mailbox in $status_format: + +%?n?%n new messages.? + +You can also switch between two strings using the following construct: + +%??&? + +If the value of sequence_char is non-zero, if_string will be expanded, +otherwise else_string will be expanded. + +29.3. Filters 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 @@ -2973,50 +3321,149 @@ a replacement format string including % expandos. All % expandos in a format string are expanded before the script is called so that: -Example 3.17. Using external filters in format strings +Example 3.19. Using external filters in format strings set status_format="script.sh '%r %f (%L)'|" -will make mutt expand %r, %f and %L before calling the script. The example also +will make Mutt expand %r, %f and %L before calling the script. The example also shows that arguments can be quoted: the script will receive the expanded string between the single quotes as the only argument. A practical example is the mutt_xtitle script installed in the samples -subdirectory of the mutt documentation: it can be used as filter for +subdirectory of the Mutt documentation: it can be used as filter for $status_format to set the current terminal's title, if supported. -Chapter 4. Advanced Usage +29.4. Padding -Table of Contents +In most format strings, Mutt supports different types of padding using special +%-expandos: + +%|X + + When this occurs, Mutt will fill the rest of the line with the character X. + For example, filling the rest of the line with dashes is done by setting: + + set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: %?n?%n&no? new messages %|-" + +%>X -1. Regular Expressions -2. Patterns: Searching, Limiting and Tagging + Since the previous expando stops at the end of line, there must be a way to + fill the gap between two items via the %>X expando: it puts as many + characters X in between two items so that the rest of the line will be + right-justified. For example, to not put the version string and hostname + the above example on the left but on the right and fill the gap with + spaces, one might use (note the space after %>): - 2.1. Pattern Modifier - 2.2. Simple Patterns - 2.3. Complex Patterns - 2.4. Searching by Date + set status_format = "%B: %?n?%n&no? new messages %> (%v on %h)" -3. Using Tags -4. Using Hooks +%*X - 4.1. Message Matching in Hooks + Normal right-justification will print everything to the left of the %>, + displaying padding and whatever lies to the right only if there's room. By + contrast, ?soft-fill? gives priority to the right-hand side, guaranteeing + space to display it and showing padding only if there's still room. If + necessary, soft-fill will eat text leftwards to make room for rightward + text. For example, to right-justify the subject making sure as much as + possible of it fits on screen, one might use (note two spaces after %* : + the second ensures there's a space between the truncated right-hand side + and the subject): -5. External Address Queries -6. Mailbox Formats -7. Mailbox Shortcuts -8. Handling Mailing Lists -9. Handling multiple folders -10. Editing threads + set index_format="%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%?l?%4l&%4c?)%* %s" - 10.1. Linking threads - 10.2. Breaking threads +Chapter 4. Advanced Usage -11. Delivery Status Notification (DSN) Support -12. Start a WWW Browser on URLs +Table of Contents -1. Regular Expressions +1. Character Set Handling +2. Regular Expressions +3. Patterns: Searching, Limiting and Tagging + + 3.1. Pattern Modifier + 3.2. Simple Searches + 3.3. Nesting and Boolean Operators + 3.4. Searching by Date + +4. Using Tags +5. Using Hooks + + 5.1. Message Matching in Hooks + +6. External Address Queries +7. Mailbox Formats +8. Mailbox Shortcuts +9. Handling Mailing Lists +10. New Mail Detection + + 10.1. How New Mail Detection Works + 10.2. Polling For New Mail + +11. Editing Threads + + 11.1. Linking Threads + 11.2. Breaking Threads + +12. Delivery Status Notification (DSN) Support +13. Start a WWW Browser on URLs +14. Miscellany + +1. Character Set Handling + +A ?character set? is basically a mapping between bytes and glyphs and implies a +certain character encoding scheme. For example, for the ISO 8859 family of +character sets, an encoding of 8bit per character is used. For the Unicode +character set, different character encodings may be used, UTF-8 being the most +popular. In UTF-8, a character is represented using a variable number of bytes +ranging from 1 to 4. + +Since Mutt is a command-line tool run from a shell, and delegates certain tasks +to external tools (such as an editor for composing/editing messages), all of +these tools need to agree on a character set and encoding. There exists no way +to reliably deduce the character set a plain text file has. Interoperability is +gained by the use of well-defined environment variables. The full set can be +printed by issuing locale on the command line. + +Upon startup, Mutt determines the character set on its own using routines that +inspect locale-specific environment variables. Therefore, it is generally not +necessary to set the $charset variable in Mutt. It may even be +counter-productive as Mutt uses system and library functions that derive the +character set themselves and on which Mutt has no influence. It's safest to let +Mutt work out the locale setup itself. + +If you happen to work with several character sets on a regular basis, it's +highly advisable to use Unicode and an UTF-8 locale. Unicode can represent +nearly all characters in a message at the same time. When not using a Unicode +locale, it may happen that you receive messages with characters not +representable in your locale. When displaying such a message, or replying to or +forwarding it, information may get lost possibly rendering the message unusable +(not only for you but also for the recipient, this breakage is not reversible +as lost information cannot be guessed). + +A Unicode locale makes all conversions superfluous which eliminates the risk of +conversion errors. It also eliminates potentially wrong expectations about the +character set between Mutt and external programs. + +The terminal emulator used also must be properly configured for the current +locale. Terminal emulators usually do not derive the locale from environment +variables, they need to be configured separately. If the terminal is +incorrectly configured, Mutt may display random and unexpected characters +(question marks, octal codes, or just random glyphs), format strings may not +work as expected, you may not be abled to enter non-ascii characters, and +possible more. Data is always represented using bytes and so a correct setup is +very important as to the machine, all character sets ?look? the same. + +Warning: A mismatch between what system and library functions think the locale +is and what Mutt was told what the locale is may make it behave badly with +non-ascii input: it will fail at seemingly random places. This warning is to be +taken seriously since not only local mail handling may suffer: sent messages +may carry wrong character set information the receiver has too deal with. The +need to set $charset directly in most cases points at terminal and environment +variable setup problems, not Mutt problems. + +A list of officially assigned and known character sets can be found at IANA, a +list of locally supported locales can be obtained by running locale -a. + +2. Regular Expressions All string patterns in Mutt including those in more complex patterns must be specified using regular expressions (regexp) in the ?POSIX extended? syntax @@ -3028,8 +3475,8 @@ letter, and case insensitive otherwise. Note -Note that ?\? must be quoted if used for a regular expression in an -initialization command: ?\\?. +?\? must be quoted if used for a regular expression in an initialization +command: ?\\?. A regular expression is a pattern that describes a set of strings. Regular expressions are constructed analogously to arithmetic expressions, by using @@ -3037,10 +3484,10 @@ various operators to combine smaller expressions. Note -Note that the regular expression can be enclosed/delimited by either " or ' -which is useful if the regular expression includes a white-space character. See -Syntax of Initialization Files for more information on " and ' delimiter -processing. To match a literal " or ' you must preface it with \ (backslash). +The regular expression can be enclosed/delimited by either " or ' which is +useful if the regular expression includes a white-space character. See Syntax +of Initialization Files 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 a single character. Most characters, including all letters and digits, are regular @@ -3124,8 +3571,9 @@ Equivalence Classes 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 ??? ??? and ?e?. In this - case, [[=e=]] is a regexp that matches any of ???, ??? and ?e?. + the name ?e? might be used to represent all of ?e? with grave (???), ?e? + with acute (???) and ?e?. In this case, [[=e=]] is a regexp that matches + any of: ?e? with grave (???), ?e? with acute (???) and ?e?. A regular expression matching a single character may be followed by one of several repetition operators described in Table 4.2, ?Regular expression @@ -3166,9 +3614,9 @@ override these precedence rules. Note -If you compile Mutt with the GNU rx package, the following operators may also -be used in regular expressions as described in Table 4.3, ?GNU regular -expression extensions?. +If you compile Mutt with the included regular expression engine, the following +operators may also be used in regular expressions as described in Table 4.3, +?GNU regular expression extensions?. Table 4.3. GNU regular expression extensions @@ -3198,7 +3646,9 @@ Table 4.3. GNU regular expression extensions 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. -2. Patterns: Searching, Limiting and Tagging +3. Patterns: Searching, Limiting and Tagging + +3.1. Pattern Modifier Many of Mutt's commands allow you to specify a pattern to match (limit, tag-pattern, delete-pattern, etc.). Table 4.4, ?Pattern modifiers? shows @@ -3300,14 +3750,15 @@ Table 4.4. Pattern modifiers |---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------| |~V |cryptographically verified messages | |---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------| -|~x EXPR |messages which contain EXPR in the ?References? field | +|~x EXPR |messages which contain EXPR in the ?References? or ?In-Reply-To? | +| |field | |---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------| |~X [MIN]-|messages with MIN to MAX attachments *) | |[MAX] | | |---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------| |~y EXPR |messages which contain EXPR in the ?X-Label? field | |---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------| -|~z [MIN]-|messages with a size in the range MIN to MAX *) | +|~z [MIN]-|messages with a size in the range MIN to MAX *) **) | |[MAX] | | |---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------| |~= |duplicated messages (see $duplicate_threads) | @@ -3319,41 +3770,45 @@ Table 4.4. Pattern modifiers +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ -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 (?\?), 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 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 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: 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 its value. +Where EXPR is a regular expression, and GROUP is an address group. *) The forms ?<[MAX]?, ?>[MIN]?, ?[MIN]-? and ?-[MAX]? are allowed, too. -2.1. Pattern Modifier - -Note +**) The suffixes ?K? and ?M? are allowed to specify kilobyte and megabyte +respectively. -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 -?^?. This example matches all mails which only has recipients from Germany. +Special attention has to be payed when using regular expressions inside of +patterns. Specifically, 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 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 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: 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 its value. + +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 ?^?. This +example matches all mails which only has recipients from Germany. + +Example 4.1. Matching all addresses in address lists ^~C \.de$ -2.2. Simple Patterns -Mutt supports two versions of so called ?simple searches? which are issued if +3.2. Simple Searches + +Mutt supports two versions of so called ?simple searches?. These 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 supposed to contain one of these special -characters, they must be escaped by prepending a backslash (?\?). +to contain a valid pattern modifier (i.e. it does not contain 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 (?\?). The first type is by checking whether the query string equals a keyword case-insensitively from Table 4.5, ?Simple search keywords?: If that is the @@ -3396,7 +3851,7 @@ The second type of simple search is to build a complex search pattern using $simple_search as a template. Mutt will insert your query properly quoted and search for the composed complex query. -2.3. Complex Patterns +3.3. Nesting and Boolean Operators Logical AND is performed by specifying more than one criterion. For example: @@ -3408,45 +3863,45 @@ and that have the word ?elkins? in the ?From? header field. Mutt also recognizes the following operators to create more complex search patterns: - * ! -- logical NOT operator + * ! ? logical NOT operator - * | -- logical OR operator + * | ? logical OR operator - * () -- logical grouping operator + * () ? logical grouping operator Here is an example illustrating a complex search pattern. This pattern will select all messages which do not contain ?mutt? in the ?To? or ?Cc? field and which are from ?elkins?. -Example 4.1. Using boolean operators in patterns +Example 4.2. Using boolean operators in patterns !(~t mutt|~c mutt) ~f elkins -Here is an example using white space in the regular expression (note the ' and -" delimiters). For this to match, the mail's subject must match the ?^Junk -+From +Me$? and it must be from either ?Jim +Somebody? or ?Ed +SomeoneElse?: +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 ?^ +Junk +From +Me$? and it must be from either ?Jim +Somebody? or ?Ed ++SomeoneElse?: - '~s "^Junk +From +Me$" ~f ("Jim +Somebody"|"Ed +SomeoneElse")' +'~s "^Junk +From +Me$" ~f ("Jim +Somebody"|"Ed +SomeoneElse")' Note 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)" +~f "me@(mutt\.org|cs\.hmc\.edu)" Without the quotes, the parenthesis wouldn't +end. This would be separated to two OR'd patterns: ~f me@(mutt\.org and cs\.hmc +\.edu). They are never what you want. -Without the quotes, the parenthesis wouldn't end. This would be separated to -two OR'd patterns: ?f me@(mutt\.org and cs\.hmc\.edu). They are never what you -want. - -2.4. Searching by Date +3.4. Searching by Date Mutt supports two types of dates, absolute and relative. -Absolute. Dates must be in DD/MM/YY format (month and year are optional, -defaulting to the current month and year). An example of a valid range of dates -is: +3.4.1. Absolute Dates + +Dates must be in DD/MM/YY format (month and year are 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 @@ -3456,11 +3911,10 @@ messages before the given date will be selected. If you omit the maximum 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 -Table 4.6, ?Date units?. As a special case, you can replace the sign by a ?*? -character, which is equivalent to giving identical plus and minus 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 Table 4.6, ?Date +units?. As a special case, you can replace the sign by a ?*? character, which +is equivalent to giving identical plus and minus error margins. Table 4.6. Date units @@ -3482,14 +3936,15 @@ 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: +3.4.2. Relative Dates - * >offset (messages older than offset units) +This type of date is relative to the current date, and may be specified as: - * offset for messages older than offset units - * =offset (messages exactly offset units old) + * 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 + operator; after this operator the rest of the macro will be executed as normal. -4. Using Hooks +5. Using Hooks 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 consists of a regular -expression or pattern along with a configuration option/command. See +expression or pattern along with a configuration option/command. See: + + * account-hook + + * charset-hook + + * crypt-hook + + * fcc-hook + + * fcc-save-hook * folder-hook - * send-hook + * iconv-hook + + * mbox-hook * message-hook - * save-hook + * reply-hook - * mbox-hook + * save-hook - * fcc-hook + * send-hook - * fcc-save-hook + * send2-hook for specific details on each type of hook available. Note 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: +the end of the current Mutt session. As this is generally not desired, a +?default? hook needs to be added before all other hooks of that type to restore +configuration defaults. -Example 4.2. Combining send-hook and my_hdr +Example 4.3. Specifying a ?default? hook send-hook . 'unmy_hdr From:' send-hook ~C'^b@b\.b$' my_hdr from: c@c.c -4.1. Message Matching in Hooks +In Example 4.3, ?Specifying a ?default? hook?, by default the value of $from +and $realname is not overridden. When sending messages either To: or Cc: to +, the From: header is changed to . + +5.1. Message Matching in Hooks Hooks that act upon messages (message-hook, reply-hook, send-hook, send2-hook, save-hook, fcc-hook) are evaluated in a slightly different manner. For the @@ -3575,7 +4046,7 @@ purposes you want to match different criteria. Mutt allows the use of the search pattern language for matching messages in hook commands. This works in exactly the same way as it would when limiting or searching the mailbox, except that you are restricted to those operators which -match information mutt extracts from the header of the message (i.e., from, to, +match information Mutt extracts from the header of the message (i.e., from, to, cc, date, subject, etc.). For example, if you wanted to set your return address based upon sending mail @@ -3592,14 +4063,14 @@ 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 $default_hook that is in effect at that time will be used. -5. External Address Queries +6. External Address Queries Mutt supports connecting to external directory databases such as LDAP, ph/qi, -bbdb, or NIS through a wrapper script which connects to mutt using a simple +bbdb, or NIS through a wrapper script which connects to Mutt using a simple interface. Using the $query_command variable, you specify the wrapper command to use. For example: -set query_command = "mutt_ldap_query.pl '%s'" +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 single line, each @@ -3614,7 +4085,7 @@ me@cs.hmc.edu Michael Elkins mutt dude 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 +There are two mechanisms for accessing the query function of Mutt. One is to do a query from the index menu using the 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 @@ -3624,82 +4095,111 @@ new query appended to the current 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 function (default: ^T) to run a query based on the current -address you have typed. Like aliases, mutt will look for what you have typed +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 in place. If there are multiple responses, mutt +Mutt will expand the address in place. If there are multiple responses, Mutt will activate the query menu. At the query menu, you can select one or more addresses to be added to the prompt. -6. Mailbox Formats +7. Mailbox Formats -Mutt supports reading and writing of four different mailbox formats: mbox, -MMDF, MH and Maildir. The mailbox type is autodetected, so there is no need to -use a flag for different mailbox types. When creating new mailboxes, Mutt uses -the default specified with the $mbox_type variable. +Mutt supports reading and writing of four different local mailbox formats: +mbox, MMDF, MH and Maildir. The mailbox type is auto detected, so there is no +need to use a flag for different mailbox types. When creating new mailboxes, +Mutt uses the default specified with the $mbox_type variable. A short +description of the formats follows. -mbox. This is the most widely used mailbox format for UNIX. All messages are -stored in a single file. Each message has a line of the form: +mbox. This is a widely used mailbox format for UNIX. All 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). +line). The mbox format requires mailbox locking, is prone to mailbox corruption +with concurrently writing clients or misinterpreted From_ lines. Depending on +the environment, new mail detection can be unreliable. Mbox folders are fast to +open and easy to archive. MMDF. This is a variant of the mbox format. Each message is surrounded by lines -containing ?^A^A^A^A? (four control-A's). +containing ?^A^A^A^A? (four times control-A's). The same problems as for mbox +apply (also with finding the right message separator as four control-A's may +appear in message bodies). MH. A radical departure from mbox and MMDF, a mailbox 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 +displays). Deleted messages are 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). +or .xmhcache files (needed to distinguish normal directories from MH +mailboxes). MH is more robust with concurrent clients writing the mailbox, but +still may suffer from lost flags; message corruption is less likely to occur +than with mbox/mmdf. It's usually slower to open compared to mbox/mmdf since +many small files have to be read (Mutt provides Section 7.1, ?Header Caching? +to greatly speed this process up). Depending on the environment, MH is not very +disk-space efficient. Maildir. The newest of the mailbox formats, used by the Qmail MTA (a replacement for sendmail). Similar to MH, except that it adds three subdirectories of the mailbox: tmp, new and cur. Filenames for the messages are chosen in such a way they are unique, even when two programs are writing the -mailbox over NFS, which means that no file locking is needed. +mailbox over NFS, which means that no file locking is needed and corruption is +very unlikely. Maildir maybe slower to open without caching in Mutt, it too is +not very disk-space efficient depending on the environment. Since no additional +files are used for metadata (which is embedded in the message filenames) and +Maildir is locking-free, it's easy to sync across different machines using +file-level synchronization tools. -7. Mailbox Shortcuts +8. Mailbox Shortcuts There are a number of built in shortcuts which refer to specific mailboxes. These shortcuts can be used anywhere you are prompted for a file or mailbox -path. +path or in path-related configuration variables. Note that these only work at +the beginning of a string. - * ! -- refers to your $spoolfile (incoming) mailbox +Table 4.7. Mailbox shortcuts - * > -- refers to your $mbox file - - * < -- refers to your $record file - - * ^ -- refers to the current mailbox - - * - or !! -- refers to the file you've last visited ++-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ +|Shortcut| Refers to... | +|--------+--------------------------------------------------------------------| +|! |your $spoolfile (incoming) mailbox | +|--------+--------------------------------------------------------------------| +|> |your $mbox file | +|--------+--------------------------------------------------------------------| +|< |your $record file | +|--------+--------------------------------------------------------------------| +|^ |the current mailbox | +|--------+--------------------------------------------------------------------| +|- or !! |the file you've last visited | +|--------+--------------------------------------------------------------------| +|~ |your home directory | +|--------+--------------------------------------------------------------------| +|= or + |your $folder directory | +|--------+--------------------------------------------------------------------| +|@alias |to the default save folder as determined by the address of the alias| ++-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ - * ? -- refers to your home directory - * = or + -- refers to your $folder directory +For example, to store a copy of outgoing messages in the folder they were +composed in, a folder-hook can be used to set $record: - * @alias -- refers to the default save folder as determined by the address of - the alias +folder-hook . 'set record=^' -8. Handling Mailing Lists +9. Handling Mailing Lists Mutt has a few configuration options that make dealing with large amounts of mail easier. The first thing you must do is to let Mutt know what addresses you consider to be mailing lists (technically this does not have to be a mailing list, but that is what it is most often used for), and what lists you are subscribed to. This is accomplished through the use of the lists and subscribe -commands in your muttrc. +commands in your .muttrc. 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 ? +the $index_format variable, the expando ?%L? will print the string ?To ? when ?list? appears in the ?To? field, and ?Cc ? when it appears in the -?Cc? field (otherwise it returns the name of the author). +?Cc? field (otherwise it prints the name of the author). 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 reply @@ -3711,7 +4211,7 @@ see below). Mutt also supports the Mail-Followup-To header. When you send 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 +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 message should only be sent to the original recipients of @@ -3719,7 +4219,7 @@ the message, and not separately to you - you'll receive your copy through one of the mailing lists you are subscribed to. Conversely, when group-replying or list-replying to a message which has a -Mail-Followup-To header, mutt will respect this header if the +Mail-Followup-To header, Mutt will respect this header if the $honor_followup_to configuration variable is set. Using list-reply will in this case also make sure that the reply goes to the mailing list, even if it's not specified in the list of recipients in the Mail-Followup-To. @@ -3742,11 +4242,11 @@ the ?Reply-To? field will be used when present. The ?X-Label:? header field can be used to further identify mailing lists or list subject matter (or just to annotate messages individually). The -$index_format variable's ?%y? and ?%Y? escapes can be used to expand ?X-Label:? -fields in the index, and Mutt's pattern-matcher can match regular expressions -to ?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. +$index_format variable's ?%y? and ?%Y? expandos 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 +standard message header field, but it can easily be inserted by procmail and +other mail filtering agents. Lastly, Mutt has the ability to sort the mailbox into threads. A thread is a group of messages which all relate to the same subject. This is usually @@ -3756,20 +4256,56 @@ the same concept. It makes dealing with large volume mailing lists easier because you can easily delete uninteresting threads and quickly find topics of value. -9. Handling multiple folders +10. New Mail Detection Mutt supports setups with multiple folders, allowing all of them to be -monitored for new mail (see Section 14, ?Monitoring incoming mail? for +monitored for new mail (see Section 14, ?Monitoring Incoming Mail? 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. +10.1. How New Mail Detection Works -Outside the index menu the directory browser supports checking for new mail -using the function which is unbound by default. Pressing TAB will -bring up a menu showing the files specified by the mailboxes command, and +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. 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 (for Linux systems, see the relatime option). + +Note + +Contrary to older Mutt releases, it now maintains the new mail status of a +folder by properly resetting the access time if the folder contains at least +one message which is neither read, nor deleted, nor marked as old. + +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 which won't work for +size-neutral changes. + +New mail for Maildir is assumed if there is one message in the new/ +subdirectory which is not marked deleted (see $maildir_trash). For MH folders, +a mailbox is considered having new mail if there's at least one message in the +?unseen? sequence as specified by $mh_seq_unseen. + +Mutt does not poll POP3 folders for new mail, it only periodically checks the +currently opened folder (if it's a POP3 folder). + +For IMAP, by default Mutt uses recent message counts provided by the server to +detect new mail. If the $imap_idle option is set, it'll use the IMAP IDLE +extension if advertised by the server. + +10.2. Polling For New Mail + +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 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. @@ -3778,40 +4314,42 @@ For the pager, index and directory browser menus, Mutt contains the 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. +in the status bar, please refer to the $status_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. +mailboxes list containing new mail (if any), pressing will cycle +through folders with new mail. The (by default unbound) function + in the index can be used to immediately open the next +folder with unread mail (if any). -10. Editing threads +11. Editing Threads Mutt has the ability to dynamically restructure threads that are broken either by misconfigured software or bad behavior from some correspondents. This allows -to clean your mailboxes formats) from these annoyances which make it hard to -follow a discussion. +to clean your mailboxes from these annoyances which make it hard to follow a +discussion. -10.1. Linking threads +11.1. Linking Threads -Some mailers tend to "forget" to correctly set the "In-Reply-To:" and -"References:" headers when replying to a message. This results in broken +Some mailers tend to ?forget? to correctly set the ?In-Reply-To:? and +?References:? headers when replying to a message. This results in broken 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 function (bound to & by default). The -reply will then be connected to this "parent" message. +reply will then be connected to this parent message. You can also connect multiple children at once, tagging them and using the -tag-prefix command (';') or the auto_tag option. + command (?;?) or the $auto_tag option. -10.2. Breaking threads +11.2. 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 +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 function (bound by default to #), which will turn the subthread starting from the current message into a whole different thread. -11. Delivery Status Notification (DSN) Support +12. Delivery Status Notification (DSN) Support 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 @@ -3829,9 +4367,9 @@ make requests as to what type of status messages should be returned. Please consider your MTA documentation whether DSN is supported. For SMTP delivery using $smtp_url, it depends on the capabilities announced by -the server whether mutt will attempt to request DSN or not. +the server whether Mutt will attempt to request DSN or not. -12. Start a WWW Browser on URLs +13. Start a WWW Browser on URLs 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 @@ -3841,23 +4379,47 @@ contrib/ and the configuration commands: macro index \cb |urlview\n macro pager \cb |urlview\n +14. Miscellany + +This section documents various features that fit nowhere else. + +Address normalization + + Mutt normalizes all e-mail addresses to the simplest form possible. If an + address contains a realname, the form Joe User is used + and the pure e-mail address without angle brackets otherwise, i.e. just + joe@example.com. + + This normalization affects all headers Mutt generates including aliases. + +Initial folder selection + + The folder Mutt opens at startup is determined as follows: the folder + specified in the $MAIL environment variable if present. Otherwise, the + value of $MAILDIR is taken into account. If that isn't present either, Mutt + takes the user's mailbox in the mailspool as determined at compile-time + (which may also reside in the home directory). The $spoolfile setting + overrides this selection. Highest priority has the mailbox given with the + -f command line option. + Chapter 5. Mutt's MIME Support Table of Contents 1. Using MIME in Mutt - 1.1. Viewing MIME messages in the pager - 1.2. The Attachment Menu - 1.3. The Compose Menu + 1.1. MIME Overview + 1.2. Viewing MIME Messages in the Pager + 1.3. The Attachment Menu + 1.4. The Compose Menu -2. MIME Type configuration with mime.types -3. MIME Viewer configuration with mailcap +2. MIME Type Configuration with mime.types +3. MIME Viewer Configuration with Mailcap - 3.1. The Basics of the mailcap file - 3.2. Secure use of mailcap - 3.3. Advanced mailcap Usage - 3.4. Example mailcap files + 3.1. The Basics of the Mailcap File + 3.2. Secure Use of Mailcap + 3.3. Advanced Mailcap Usage + 3.4. Example Mailcap Files 4. MIME Autoview 5. MIME Multipart/Alternative @@ -3875,16 +4437,48 @@ types. 1. Using MIME in Mutt -There are three areas/menus in Mutt which deal with MIME, they are the pager -(while viewing a message), the attachment menu and the compose menu. - -1.1. Viewing MIME messages in the pager +1.1. MIME Overview + +MIME is short for ?Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension? and describes +mechanisms to internationalize and structure mail messages. Before the +introduction of MIME, messages had a single text part and were limited to +us-ascii header and content. With MIME, messages can have attachments (and even +attachments which itself have attachments and thus form a tree structure), +nearly arbitrary characters can be used for sender names, recipients and +subjects. + +Besides the handling of non-ascii characters in message headers, to Mutt the +most important aspect of MIME are so-called MIME types. These are constructed +using a major and minor type separated by a forward slash. These specify +details about the content that follows. Based upon these, Mutt decides how to +handle this part. The most popular major type is ?text? with minor types for +plain text, HTML and various other formats. Major types also exist for images, +audio, video and of course general application data (e.g. to separate +cryptographically signed data with a signature, send office documents, and in +general arbitrary binary data). There's also the multipart major type which +represents the root of a subtree of MIME parts. A list of supported MIME types +can be found in Table 5.1, ?Supported MIME types?. + +MIME also defines a set of encoding schemes for transporting MIME content over +the network: 7bit, 8bit, quoted-printable, base64 and binary. There're some +rules when to choose what for encoding headers and/or body (if needed), and +Mutt will in general make a good choice. + +Mutt does most of MIME encoding/decoding behind the scenes to form messages +conforming to MIME on the sending side. On reception, it can be flexibly +configured as to how what MIME structure is displayed (and if it's displayed): +these decisions are based on the content's MIME type. There are three areas/ +menus in dealing with MIME: the pager (while viewing a message), the attachment +menu and the compose menu. + +1.2. Viewing MIME Messages in the Pager When you select a message from the index and view it in the pager, Mutt decodes -the message to a text representation. Mutt internally supports a number of MIME -types, including text/plain, text/enriched, message/rfc822, and message/news. -In addition, the export controlled version of Mutt recognizes a variety of PGP -MIME types, including PGP/MIME and application/pgp. +as much of a message as possible to a text representation. Mutt internally +supports a number of MIME types, including the text major type (with all minor +types), the message/rfc822 (mail messages) type and some multipart types. In +addition, it recognizes a variety of PGP MIME types, including PGP/MIME and +application/pgp. Mutt will denote attachments with a couple lines describing them. These lines are of the form: @@ -3893,30 +4487,32 @@ are of the form: [-- 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. +and the Encoding is one of the already mentioned content encodings. If Mutt cannot deal with a MIME type, it will display a message like: [-- image/gif is unsupported (use 'v' to view this part) --] -1.2. The Attachment Menu +1.3. The Attachment Menu -The default binding for view-attachments is `v', which displays the 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 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. +The default binding for is ?v?, which displays the +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 +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 (the mailcap mechanism is explained later in detail). Finally, you can apply the usual message-related functions (like , and the and functions) to attachments of type message/rfc822. -See the help on the attachment menu for more information. +See table Table 9.7, ?Default Attachment Menu Bindings? for all available +functions. -1.3. The Compose Menu +1.4. The Compose Menu The compose menu is the menu you see before you send a message. It allows you to edit the recipient list, the subject, and other aspects of your message. It @@ -3926,66 +4522,101 @@ and rename an attachment or a list of tagged attachments. You can also modifying the attachment information, notably the type, encoding and description. -Attachments appear as follows: +Attachments appear as follows by default: - 1 [text/plain, 7bit, 1K] /tmp/mutt-euler-8082-0 2 [applica/x-gunzip, base64, 422K] ~/src/mutt-0.85.tar.gz -The '-' denotes that Mutt will delete the file after sending (or postponing, or -canceling) the message. It can be toggled with the toggle-unlink command +The ?-? denotes that Mutt will delete the file after sending (or postponing, or +canceling) the message. It can be toggled with the command (default: u). The next field is the MIME content-type, and can be changed with -the edit-type command (default: ^T). The next field is the encoding for the +the command (default: ^T). The next field is the encoding for the attachment, which allows a binary message to be encoded for transmission on -7bit links. It can be changed with the edit-encoding command (default: ^E). The -next field is the size of the attachment, rounded to kilobytes or megabytes. -The next field is the filename, which can be changed with the rename-file -command (default: R). The final field is the description of the attachment, and -can be changed with the edit-description command (default: d). - -2. MIME Type configuration with mime.types +7bit links. It can be changed with the command (default: ^E). +The next field is the size of the attachment, rounded to kilobytes or +megabytes. The next field is the filename, which can be changed with the + command (default: R). The final field is the description of the +attachment, and can be changed with the command (default: +d). See $attach_format for a full list of available expandos to format this +display to your needs. + +2. MIME Type Configuration with mime.types + +To get most out of MIME, it's important that a MIME part's content type matches +the content as closely as possible so that the recipient's client can +automatically select the right viewer for the content. However, there's no +reliable for Mutt to know how to detect every possible file type. Instead, it +uses a simple plain text mapping file that specifies what file extension +corresponds to what MIME type. This file is called mime.types. When you add an attachment to your mail message, Mutt searches your personal -mime.types file at ${HOME}/.mime.types, and then the system mime.types file at -/usr/local/share/mutt/mime.types or /etc/mime.types +mime.types file at $HOME/.mime.types, and then the system mime.types file at / +usr/local/share/mutt/mime.types or /etc/mime.types -The mime.types file consist of lines containing a MIME type and a space -separated list of extensions. For example: +Each line starts with the full MIME type, followed by a space and +space-separated list of file extensions. For example you could use: + +Example 5.1. mime.types application/postscript ps eps 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. -If Mutt can not determine the mime type by the extension of the file you +If Mutt can not determine the MIME type by the extension of the file you attach, it will look at the file. If the file is free of binary information, Mutt will assume that the file is plain text, and mark it as text/plain. If the file contains binary information, then Mutt will mark it as application/ octet-stream. You can change the MIME type that Mutt assigns to an attachment -by using the edit-type command from the compose menu (default: ^T). The MIME -type is actually a major mime type followed by the sub-type, separated by a '/ -'. 6 major types: application, text, image, video, audio, and model have been -approved after various internet discussions. Mutt recognizes all of these if -the appropriate entry is found in the mime.types file. It also recognizes other -major mime types, such as the chemical type that is widely used in the -molecular modeling community to pass molecular data in various forms to various -molecular viewers. Non-recognized mime types should only be used if the -recipient of the message is likely to be expecting such attachments. - -3. MIME Viewer configuration with mailcap +by using the command from the compose menu (default: ^T), see +Table 5.1, ?Supported MIME types? for supported major types. Mutt recognizes +all of these if the appropriate entry is found in the mime.types file. +Non-recognized mime types should only be used if the recipient of the message +is likely to be expecting such attachments. + +Table 5.1. Supported MIME types + ++------------------------------------------------------------------+ +|MIME major type|Standard| Description | +|---------------+--------+-----------------------------------------| +|application |yes |General application data | +|---------------+--------+-----------------------------------------| +|audio |yes |Audio data | +|---------------+--------+-----------------------------------------| +|image |yes |Image data | +|---------------+--------+-----------------------------------------| +|message |yes |Mail messages, message status information| +|---------------+--------+-----------------------------------------| +|model |yes |VRML and other modeling data | +|---------------+--------+-----------------------------------------| +|multipart |yes |Container for other MIME parts | +|---------------+--------+-----------------------------------------| +|text |yes |Text data | +|---------------+--------+-----------------------------------------| +|video |yes |Video data | +|---------------+--------+-----------------------------------------| +|chemical |no |Mostly molecular data | ++------------------------------------------------------------------+ + + +MIME types are not arbitrary, they need to be assigned by IANA. + +3. MIME Viewer Configuration with Mailcap Mutt supports RFC 1524 MIME Configuration, in particular the Unix specific format specified in Appendix A of RFC 1524. This file format is commonly -referred to as the mailcap format. Many MIME compliant programs utilize the +referred to as the ?mailcap? format. Many MIME compliant programs utilize the mailcap format, allowing you to specify handling for all MIME types in one -place for all programs. Programs known to use this format include Netscape, -XMosaic, lynx and metamail. +place for all programs. Programs known to use this format include Firefox, lynx +and metamail. -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: +In order to handle various MIME types that Mutt doesn't have built-in support +for, it 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: 1. $HOME/.mailcap @@ -4000,7 +4631,7 @@ the following files: 6. /usr/local/etc/mailcap where $HOME is your home directory. The $PKGDATADIR and the $SYSCONFDIR -directories depend on where mutt is installed: the former is the default for +directories depend on where Mutt is installed: the former is the default for shared data, the latter for system configuration files. The default search path can be obtained by running the following command: @@ -4010,7 +4641,7 @@ mutt -nF /dev/null -Q mailcap_path In particular, the metamail distribution will install a mailcap file, usually as /usr/local/etc/mailcap, which contains some baseline entries. -3.1. The Basics of the mailcap file +3.1. The Basics of the Mailcap File A mailcap file consists of a series of lines which are comments, blank, or definitions. @@ -4020,14 +4651,14 @@ A comment line consists of a # character followed by anything you want. A blank line is blank. A definition line consists of a content type, a view command, and any number of -optional fields. Each field of a definition line is divided by a semicolon ';' +optional fields. Each field of a definition line is divided by a semicolon ?;? character. -The content type is specified in the MIME standard type/subtype method. For +The content type is specified in the MIME standard ?type/subtype? notation. For example, text/plain, text/html, image/gif, etc. In addition, the mailcap format -includes two formats for wildcards, one using the special '*' subtype, the +includes two formats for wildcards, one using the special ?*? subtype, the other is the implicit wild, where you only include the major type. For example, -image/*, or video, will match all image types and video types, respectively. +image/*, or video will match all image types and video types, respectively. The view command is a Unix command for viewing the type specified. There are two different types of commands supported. The default is to send the body of @@ -4036,10 +4667,13 @@ the MIME message to the command on stdin. You can change this behavior by using of the MIME message to a temporary file, and then call the view command with the %s replaced by the name of the temporary file. In both cases, Mutt will turn over the terminal to the view program until the program quits, at which -time Mutt will remove the temporary file if it exists. +time Mutt will remove the temporary file if it exists. This means that mailcap +does not work out of the box with programs which detach themselves from the +terminal right after starting, like open on Mac OS X. In order to nevertheless +use these programs with mailcap, you probably need custom shell scripts. So, in the simplest form, you can send a text/plain message to the external -pager more on stdin: +pager more on standard input: text/plain; more @@ -4051,8 +4685,8 @@ 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. +In this case, lynx does not support viewing a file from standard input, so you +must use the %s syntax. Note @@ -4071,24 +4705,22 @@ text formats, then you would use the following: text/html; lynx %s text/*; more -This is the simplest form of a mailcap file. - -3.2. Secure use of mailcap +3.2. Secure Use of Mailcap The interpretation of shell meta-characters embedded in MIME parameters can lead to security problems in general. Mutt tries to quote parameters in expansion of %s syntaxes properly, and avoids risky characters by substituting them, see the $mailcap_sanitize variable. -Although mutt's procedures to invoke programs with mailcap seem to be safe, +Although Mutt's procedures to invoke programs with mailcap seem to be safe, there are other applications parsing mailcap, maybe taking less care of it. Therefore you should pay attention to the following rules: Keep the %-expandos away from shell quoting. Don't quote them with single or double quotes. Mutt does this for you, the right way, as should any other program which interprets mailcap. Don't put them into backtick expansions. Be -highly careful with eval statements, and avoid them if possible at all. Trying -to fix broken behavior with quotes introduces new leaks - there is no +highly careful with evil statements, and avoid them if possible at all. Trying +to fix broken behavior with quotes introduces new leaks ? there is no alternative to correct quoting in the first place. If you have to use the %-expandos' values in context where you need quoting or @@ -4100,28 +4732,32 @@ further expansion): text/test-mailcap-bug; cat %s; copiousoutput; test=charset=%{charset} \ && test "`echo $charset | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]'`" != iso-8859-1 -3.3. Advanced mailcap Usage +3.3. Advanced Mailcap Usage 3.3.1. 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 +semi-colon ?;? separated fields to set flags and other options. Mutt recognizes the following optional fields: copiousoutput This flag tells Mutt that the command passes possibly large amounts of text - on stdout. This causes Mutt to invoke a pager (either the internal 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: + on standard output. This causes Mutt to invoke a pager (either the internal + 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. + Note that when using the built-in pager, only entries with this flag will + be considered a handler for a MIME type ? all other entries will be + ignored. + needsterminal Mutt uses this flag when viewing attachments with auto_view, in order to @@ -4141,7 +4777,7 @@ composetyped= This flag specifies the command to use to create a new attachment of a specific MIME type. This command differs from the compose command in that - mutt will expect standard MIME headers on the data. This can be used to + Mutt will expect standard MIME headers on the data. This can be used to specify parameters, filename, description, etc. for a new attachment. Mutt supports this from the compose menu. @@ -4154,7 +4790,7 @@ edit= This flag specifies the command to use to edit a specific MIME type. Mutt supports this from the compose menu, and also uses it to compose new - attachments. Mutt will default to the defined editor for text attachments. + attachments. Mutt will default to the defined $editor for text attachments. nametemplate=