| ~(PATTERN) | messages in threads
+Table 4.4. Pattern modifiers | Pattern modifier | Description |
|---|
| ~A | all messages | | ~b EXPR | messages which contain EXPR in the message body | | =b STRING | messages which contain STRING in the message body. If IMAP is enabled, searches for STRING on the server, rather than downloading each message and searching it locally. | | ~B EXPR | messages which contain EXPR in the whole message | | ~c EXPR | messages carbon-copied to EXPR | | %c GROUP | messages carbon-copied to any member of GROUP | | ~C EXPR | messages either to: or cc: EXPR | | %C GROUP | messages either to: or cc: to any member of GROUP | | ~d [MIN]-[MAX] | messages with âdate-sentâ in a Date range | | ~D | deleted messages | | ~e EXPR | messages which contains EXPR in the âSenderâ field | | %e GROUP | messages which contain a member of GROUP in the âSenderâ field | | ~E | expired messages | | ~F | flagged messages | | ~f EXPR | messages originating from EXPR | | %f GROUP | messages originating from any member of GROUP | | ~g | cryptographically signed messages | | ~G | cryptographically encrypted messages | | ~h EXPR | messages which contain EXPR in the message header | | ~H EXPR | messages with a spam attribute matching EXPR | | ~i EXPR | messages which match EXPR in the âMessage-IDâ field | | ~k | messages which contain PGP key material | | ~L EXPR | messages either originated or received by EXPR | | %L GROUP | message either originated or received by any member of GROUP | | ~l | messages addressed to a known mailing list | | ~m [MIN]-[MAX] | messages in the range MIN to MAX *) | | ~n [MIN]-[MAX] | messages with a score in the range MIN to MAX *) | | ~N | new messages | | ~O | old messages | | ~p | messages addressed to you (consults alternates) | | ~P | messages from you (consults alternates) | | ~Q | messages which have been replied to | | ~r [MIN]-[MAX] | messages with âdate-receivedâ in a Date range | | ~R | read messages | | ~s EXPR | messages having EXPR in the âSubjectâ field. | | ~S | superseded messages | | ~t EXPR | messages addressed to EXPR | | ~T | tagged messages | | ~u | messages addressed to a subscribed mailing list | | ~U | unread messages | | ~v | messages part of a collapsed thread. | | ~V | cryptographically verified messages | | ~x EXPR | messages which contain EXPR in the âReferencesâ or âIn-Reply-Toâ field | | ~X [MIN]-[MAX] | messages with MIN to MAX attachments *) | | ~y EXPR | messages which contain EXPR in the âX-Labelâ field | | ~z [MIN]-[MAX] | messages with a size in the range MIN to MAX *) **) | | ~= | duplicated messages (see $duplicate_threads) | | ~$ | unreferenced messages (requires threaded view) | | ~(PATTERN) | messages in threads
containing messages matching PATTERN, e.g. all
threads containing messages from you: ~(~P) |
-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 (â\â),
-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 (â\\â). You can force mutt to treat EXPR as a simple string
-instead of a regular expression by using = instead of Ë in the
-pattern name. For example, =b *.* will find all messages that contain
-the literal string â*.*â. 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.
-
-*) The forms â<[MAX]â, â>[MIN]â,
-â[MIN]-â and â-[MAX]â
-are allowed, too.
- Note
-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 â^â.
-This example matches all mails which only has recipients from Germany.
-
+Where EXPR is a regular expression, and GROUP is an
+address group.
+
+*) The forms â<[MAX]â,
+â>[MIN]â,
+â[MIN]-â and
+â-[MAX]â are allowed, too.
+
+**) The suffixes âKâ and âMâ are allowed to
+specify kilobyte and megabyte respectively.
+
+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 (â\â), 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
+(â\\â). 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 â*.*â. 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
+âheader: substringâ 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 â^â. This example matches all mails which only has
+recipients from Germany.
+ Example 4.1. Matching all addresses in address lists
-Mutt supports two versions of so called âsimple searchesâ which are
-issued if the query entered for searching, limiting and similar
-operations does not seem to be a valid pattern (i.e. it does not contain
-one of these characters: âËâ, â=â or â%â). If the query is
-supposed to contain one of these special characters, they must be escaped
-by prepending a backslash (â\â).
+
+Mutt supports two versions of so called âsimple
+searchesâ. These are issued if the query entered for searching,
+limiting and similar operations does not seem to contain a valid pattern
+modifier (i.e. it does not contain one of these characters:
+â~â, â=â or â%â). If the query is
+supposed to contain one of these special characters, they must be
+escaped by prepending a backslash (â\â).
The first type is by checking whether the query string equals
a keyword case-insensitively from Table 4.5, âSimple search keywordsâ:
If that is the case, Mutt will use the shown pattern modifier instead.
If a keyword would conflict with your search keyword, you need to turn
it into a regular expression to avoid matching the keyword table. For
-example, if you want to find all messages matching âflagâ
-(using $simple_search)
+example, if you want to find all messages matching âflagâ
+(using $simple_search)
but don't want to match flagged messages, simply search for
-â[f]lagâ.
+â[f]lagâ.
Table 4.5. Simple search keywords | Keyword | Pattern modifier |
|---|
| all | ~A | | . | ~A | | ^ | ~A | | del | ~D | | flag | ~F | | new | ~N | | old | ~O | | repl | ~Q | | read | ~R | | tag | ~T | | unread | ~U |
-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.
-
+The second type of simple search is to build a complex search pattern
+using $simple_search as a
+template. Mutt will insert your query properly quoted and search for the
+composed complex query.
+ 3.3. Nesting and Boolean Operators
Logical AND is performed by specifying more than one criterion. For
example:
~t mutt ~f elkins
-would select messages which contain the word âmuttâ in the list of
-recipients and that have the word âelkinsâ in the âFromâ header
-field.
-
-Mutt also recognizes the following operators to create more complex search
-patterns:
-
-! -- logical NOT operator
-
-| -- logical OR operator
-
-() -- logical grouping operator
+would select messages which contain the word âmuttâ in the
+list of recipients and that have the word
+âelkinsâ in the âFromâ header field.
+
+Mutt also recognizes the following operators to create more complex
+search patterns:
+
+! â logical NOT operator
+
+| â logical OR operator
+
+() â logical grouping operator
-Here is an example illustrating a complex search pattern. This pattern will
-select all messages which do not contain âmuttâ in the âToâ or âCcâ
-field and which are from âelkinsâ.
- Example 4.1. Using boolean operators in patterns
+Here is an example illustrating a complex search pattern. This pattern
+will select all messages which do not contain âmuttâ in the
+âToâ or âCcâ field and which are from
+âelkinsâ.
+Example 4.2. Using boolean operators in patterns
!(~t mutt|~c mutt) ~f elkins
-Here is an example using white space in the regular expression (note
-the ' and " delimiters). For this to match, the mail's subject must
-match the â^Junk +From +Me$â and it must be from either âJim +Somebodyâ
-or âEd +SomeoneElseâ:
+Here is an example using white space in the regular expression (note the
+â'â and â"â delimiters). For this to match,
+the mail's subject must match the â^Junk +From +Me$â and it
+must be from either âJim +Somebodyâ or âEd
++SomeoneElseâ:
- '~s "^Junk +From +Me$" ~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)"
-
-Without the quotes, the parenthesis wouldn't end.
-This would be separated to two OR'd patterns: Ëf me@(mutt\.org
-and cs\.hmc\.edu). They are never what you want.
-
-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:
+'~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)" 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.
+
+Mutt supports two types of dates, absolute and
+relative.
+
+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
-If you omit the minimum (first) date, and just specify â-DD/MM/YYâ, all
-messages before the given date will be selected. If you omit the maximum
-(second) date, and specify âDD/MM/YY-â, all messages after the given
-date will be selected. If you specify a single date with no dash (â-â),
-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, âDate unitsâ. As a special case, you can replace the
-sign by a â*â character, which is equivalent to giving identical plus and minus error margins.
+If you omit the minimum (first) date, and just specify
+â-DD/MM/YYâ, all messages before the
+given date will be selected. If you omit the maximum (second) date, and
+specify âDD/MM/YY-â, all messages
+after the given date will be selected. If you
+specify a single date with no dash (â-â), only messages
+sent on the given date will be selected.
+
+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, âDate unitsâ. As a special case, you can replace the sign
+by a â*â character, which is equivalent to giving identical
+plus and minus error margins.
Table 4.6. Date units | Unit | Description |
|---|
| y | Years | | m | Months | | w | Weeks | | d | Days |
-Example: To select any messages two weeks around January 15, 2001,
-you'd use the following pattern:
+Example: To select any messages two weeks around January 15, 2001, you'd
+use the following pattern:
Limit to messages matching: ~d 15/1/2001*2w
-
-Relative. This type of date is relative to the current date, and may
-be specified as:
-
->offset (messages older than offset units)
-
-<offset (messages newer than offset units)
-
-=offset (messages exactly offset units old)
+
+This type of date is relative to the current date, and may be specified
+as:
+
+>offset for messages older than
+offset units
+
+<offset for messages newer than
+offset units
+
+=offset for messages exactly
+offset units old
-offset is specified as a positive number with one of the units from Table 4.6, âDate unitsâ.
+offset is specified as a positive number with one
+of the units from Table 4.6, âDate unitsâ.
Example: to select messages less than 1 month old, you would use
Limit to messages matching: ~d <1m
- Note
+ Note
All dates used when searching are relative to the
-local time zone, so unless you change the setting of your $index_format to include a
-%[...] format, these are not the dates shown
-in the main index.
-
-Sometimes it is desirable to perform an operation on a group of
-messages all at once rather than one at a time. An example might be
-to save messages to a mailing list to a separate folder, or to
-delete all messages with a given subject. To tag all messages
-matching a pattern, use the <tag-pattern> function, which is bound to
-âshift-Tâ by default. Or you can select individual messages by
-hand using the <tag-message> function, which is bound to âtâ by
-default. See patterns for Mutt's pattern
-matching syntax.
+local time zone, so unless you change the setting
+of your $index_format to include a
+%[...] format, these are not the
+dates shown in the main index.
+
+Sometimes it is desirable to perform an operation on a group of messages
+all at once rather than one at a time. An example might be to save
+messages to a mailing list to a separate folder, or to delete all
+messages with a given subject. To tag all messages matching a pattern,
+use the <tag-pattern> function, which is bound
+to âshift-Tâ by default. Or you can select individual
+messages by hand using the <tag-message>
+function, which is bound to âtâ by default. See patterns for Mutt's pattern matching syntax.
Once you have tagged the desired messages, you can use the
-âtag-prefixâ operator, which is the â;â (semicolon) key by default.
-When the âtag-prefixâ operator is used, the next operation will
-be applied to all tagged messages if that operation can be used in that
-manner. If the $auto_tag
-variable is set, the next operation applies to the tagged messages
-automatically, without requiring the âtag-prefixâ.
-
-In macros or push commands,
-you can use the âtag-prefix-condâ operator. If there are no tagged
-messages, mutt will "eat" the rest of the macro to abort it's execution.
-Mutt will stop "eating" the macro when it encounters the âend-condâ
-operator; after this operator the rest of the macro will be executed as
-normal.
-
-A hook is a concept found in many other programs which allows you to
-execute arbitrary commands before performing some operation. For example,
-you may wish to tailor your configuration based upon which mailbox you are
-reading, or to whom you are sending mail. In the Mutt world, a hook
-consists of a regular expression or
-pattern along with a
-configuration option/command. See
+âtag-prefixâ operator, which is the â;â
+(semicolon) key by default. When the âtag-prefixâ operator
+is used, the next operation will be applied to all
+tagged messages if that operation can be used in that manner. If the
+$auto_tag variable is set, the next
+operation applies to the tagged messages automatically, without
+requiring the âtag-prefixâ.
+
+In macros or push commands, you can use the
+<tag-prefix-cond> operator. If there are no
+tagged messages, Mutt will âeatâ the rest of the macro to
+abort it's execution. Mutt will stop âeatingâ the macro
+when it encounters the <end-cond> operator;
+after this operator the rest of the macro will be executed as normal.
+
+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:
- 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 interface. Using the $query_command variable, you specify the wrapper
-command to use. For example:
+ph/qi, 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
@@ -374,236 +479,307 @@ 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 a query from the index menu using the <query> function (default: Q).
-This will prompt for a query, then bring up the query menu which will
-list the matching responses. From the query menu, you can select
-addresses to create aliases, or to mail. You can tag multiple addresses
-to mail, start a new query, or have a new query appended to the current
+There are two mechanisms for accessing the query function of Mutt. One
+is to do a query from the index menu using the
+<query> function (default: Q). This will
+prompt for a query, then bring up the query menu which will list the
+matching responses. From the query menu, you can select addresses to
+create aliases, or to mail. You can tag multiple addresses to mail,
+start a new query, or have a 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 <complete-query> 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 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 will activate the query
-menu. At the query menu, you can select one or more addresses to be
-added to the prompt.
-
-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.
-
-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:
+entry, you can use the <complete-query>
+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 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 will activate the query menu. At the query menu, you
+can select one or more addresses to be added to the prompt.
+
+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 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
-âFrom_â line).
-
-MMDF. This is a variant of the mbox format. Each message is
-surrounded by lines containing â^A^A^A^Aâ (four control-A's).
-
-MH. A radical departure from mbox and MMDF, a mailbox
+âFrom_â 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 â^A^A^A^Aâ (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 filename. Mutt
-detects this type of mailbox by looking for either .mh_sequences
-or .xmhcache (needed to distinguish normal directories from MH
-mailboxes).
-
-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.
-
-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.
-
-! -- refers to your $spoolfile (incoming) mailbox
-
-> -- refers to your $mbox file
-
-< -- refers to your $record file
-
-^ -- refers to the current mailbox
-
-- or !! -- refers to the file you've last visited
-
-Ë -- refers to your home directory
-
-= or + -- refers to your $folder directory
-
-@alias -- refers to the default save folder as determined by the address of the alias
-
8. Handling Mailing Lists
+renamed with a comma (â,â) prepended to the filename. Mutt
+detects this type of mailbox by looking for either
+.mh_sequences 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, âHeader Cachingâ 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 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.
+
+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 or in path-related configuration variables. Note
+that these only work at the beginning of a string.
+ Table 4.7. Mailbox shortcuts | 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 |
+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:
+
+folder-hook . 'set record=^' 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.
+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.
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 â%Lâ
-will return the string âTo <list>â when âlistâ appears in the
-âToâ field, and âCc <list>â when it appears in the âCcâ
-field (otherwise it returns the name of the author).
-
-Often times the âToâ and âCcâ fields in mailing list messages
-tend to get quite large. Most people do not bother to remove the
-author of the message they reply to from the list, resulting in
-two or more copies being sent to that person. The <list-reply>
-function, which by default is bound to âLâ in the index menu
-and pager, helps reduce the clutter by only replying to the
-known mailing list addresses instead of all recipients (except as
+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 expando
+â%Lâ will print the string âTo <list>â
+when âlistâ appears in the âToâ field, and
+âCc <list>â when it appears in the âCcâ
+field (otherwise it prints the name of the author).
+
+Often times the âToâ and âCcâ fields in
+mailing list messages tend to get quite large. Most people do not bother
+to remove the author of the message they reply to from the list,
+resulting in two or more copies being sent to that person. The
+<list-reply> function, which by default is
+bound to âLâ in the index menu and
+pager, helps reduce the clutter by only replying to
+the known mailing list addresses instead of all recipients (except as
specified by Mail-Followup-To, see below).
-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 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 âfollowupsâ) to this
-message should only be sent to the original recipients of the
+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 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 âfollowupsâ)
+to this message should only be sent to the original recipients of the
message, and not separately to you - you'll receive your copy through
one of the mailing lists you are subscribed to.
-Conversely, when group-replying or list-replying to a message which
-has a 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.
- Note
+Conversely, when group-replying or list-replying to a message which has
+a 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.
+ Note
When header editing is enabled, you can create a
-Mail-Followup-To header manually. Mutt will only auto-generate
-this header if it doesn't exist when you send the message.
+Mail-Followup-To header manually. Mutt will only
+auto-generate this header if it doesn't exist when you send the message.
The other method some mailing list admins use is to generate a
-âReply-Toâ field which points back to the mailing list address rather
-than the author of the message. This can create problems when trying
-to reply directly to the author in private, since most mail clients
-will automatically reply to the address given in the âReply-Toâ
-field. Mutt uses the $reply_to
-variable to help decide which address to use. If set to ask-yes or
-ask-no, you will be
-prompted as to whether or not you would like to use the address given in
-the âReply-Toâ field, or reply directly to the address given in the
-âFromâ field. When set to yes, the âReply-Toâ field will be used when
-present.
-
-The âX-Label:â header field can be used to further identify mailing
-lists or list subject matter (or just to annotate messages
-individually). The $index_format variable's â%yâ and
-â%Yâ escapes can be used to expand âX-Label:â fields in the
-index, and Mutt's pattern-matcher can match regular expressions to
-âX-Label:â fields with the âËyâ selector. âX-Label:â is not a
-standard message header field, but it can easily be inserted by procmail
-and other mail filtering agents.
-
-Lastly, Mutt has the ability to sort the mailbox into
-threads. A thread is a group of messages which all relate to the same
-subject. This is usually organized into a tree-like structure where a
-message and all of its replies are represented graphically. If you've ever
-used a threaded news client, this is the same concept. It makes dealing
-with large volume mailing lists easier because you can easily delete
-uninteresting threads and quickly find topics of value.
- 9. Handling multiple folders
-Mutt supports setups with multiple folders, allowing all of them to
-be monitored for new mail (see Section 14, âMonitoring incoming mailâ for details).
-
-When in the index menu and being idle (also see
-$timeout), Mutt periodically checks
-for new mail in all folders which have been configured via the
-mailboxes command. The interval depends on the folder
-type: for local/IMAP folders it consults
-$mail_check and
-$pop_checkinterval
-for POP folders.
-
-Outside the index menu the directory browser supports checking
-for new mail using the <check-new> function which is
-unbound by default. Pressing TAB will bring up a
-menu showing the files specified by the mailboxes command,
-and indicate which contain new messages. Mutt will automatically enter this
-mode when invoked from the command line with the -y option.
+âReply-Toâ field which points back to the mailing list
+address rather than the author of the message. This can create problems
+when trying to reply directly to the author in private, since most mail
+clients will automatically reply to the address given in the
+âReply-Toâ field. Mutt uses the $reply_to variable to help decide which
+address to use. If set to ask-yes or
+ask-no, you will be prompted as to whether or not
+you would like to use the address given in the âReply-Toâ
+field, or reply directly to the address given in the âFromâ
+field. When set to yes, the
+âReply-Toâ field will be used when present.
+
+The âX-Label:â 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 â%yâ and â%Yâ expandos can be used
+to expand âX-Label:â fields in the index, and Mutt's
+pattern-matcher can match regular expressions to âX-Label:â
+fields with the â~yâ selector. âX-Label:â 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
+organized into a tree-like structure where a message and all of its
+replies are represented graphically. If you've ever used a threaded
+news client, this is 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.
+
+Mutt supports setups with multiple folders, allowing all of them to be
+monitored for new mail (see Section 14, âMonitoring Incoming Mailâ for details).
+ 10.1. How New Mail Detection Works
+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 âunseenâ 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 $pop_checkinterval for POP folders.
+
+Outside the index menu the directory browser supports checking for new
+mail using the <check-new> function which is
+unbound by default. Pressing TAB will bring up a menu showing the files
+specified by the mailboxes command, and indicate
+which contain new messages. Mutt will automatically enter this mode when
+invoked from the command line with the -y option.
For the pager, index and directory browser menus, Mutt contains the
-<buffy-list> function (bound to â.â by default)
-which will print a list of folders with new mail in the command line at
-the bottom of the screen.
+<buffy-list> function (bound to
+â.â by default) which will print a list of folders with new
+mail in the command line at the bottom of the screen.
For the index, by default Mutt displays the number of mailboxes with new
-mail in the status bar, please refer to the
-$index_format
-variable for details.
+mail 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.
-
+<Space> will cycle through folders with new
+mail. The (by default unbound) function
+<next-unread-mailbox> in the index can be used
+to immediately open the next folder with unread mail (if any).
+
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
+correspondents. This allows to clean your mailboxes from these
annoyances which make it hard to follow a discussion.
-
-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 <link-threads> function (bound to & by default). The
-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.
-
+
+Some mailers tend to âforgetâ to correctly set the
+âIn-Reply-To:â and âReferences:â 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 <link-threads> function (bound to & by
+default). The 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 (â;â) or
+the $auto_tag option.
+
On mailing lists, some people are in the bad habit of starting a new
-discussion by hitting "reply" to any message from the list and changing
-the subject to a totally unrelated one.
-You can fix such threads by using the <break-thread> function (bound
-by default to #), which will turn the subthread starting from the
+discussion by hitting âreplyâ to any message from the list
+and changing the subject to a totally unrelated one. You can fix such
+threads by using the <break-thread> function
+(bound 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
-âreturn receipts.â
+about the status of electronic mail messages. These can be thought of
+as âreturn receipts.â
-To support DSN, there are two variables. $dsn_notify is used to request receipts for
+To support DSN, there are two variables. $dsn_notify is used to request receipts for
different results (such as failed message, message delivered, etc.).
-$dsn_return requests how much
-of your message should be returned with the receipt (headers or full
-message).
-
-When using $sendmail for mail
-delivery, you need to use either Berkeley sendmail 8.8.x (or greater) a MTA
-supporting DSN command line options compatible to Sendmail: The -N and -R
-options can be used by the mail client to 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 $smtp_url, it depends on the
-capabilities announced by the server whether mutt will attempt to
-request DSN or not.
- 12. Start a WWW Browser on URLs
-If a message contains URLs, it is efficient to get
-a menu with all the URLs and start a WWW browser on one of them. This
-functionality is provided by the external urlview program which can be
-retrieved at
+$dsn_return requests how much of your
+message should be returned with the receipt (headers or full message).
+
+When using $sendmail for mail delivery,
+you need to use either Berkeley sendmail 8.8.x (or greater) a MTA
+supporting DSN command line options compatible to Sendmail: The -N and
+-R options can be used by the mail client to 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.
+ 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 external urlview program which can be retrieved at
ftp://ftp.mutt.org/mutt/contrib/
and the configuration commands:
macro index \cb |urlview\n
macro pager \cb |urlview\n
-
+
+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
+<joe@example.com> 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.
+
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