1muttrc(5) User Manuals muttrc(5)
2
6 muttrc - Configuration file for the Mutt Mail User Agent
7
9 A mutt configuration file consists of a series of “commands”. Each
10 line of the file may contain one or more commands. When multiple com‐
11 mands are used, they must be separated by a semicolon (“;”).
12 The hash mark, or pound sign (“#”), is used as a “comment” character.
14 You can use it to annotate your initialization file. All text after the
15 comment character to the end of the line is ignored.
16 Single quotes (“'”) and double quotes (“"”) can be used to quote
18 strings which contain spaces or other special characters. The differ‐
19 ence between the two types of quotes is similar to that of many popular
20 shell programs, namely that a single quote is used to specify a literal
21 string (one that is not interpreted for shell variables or quoting with
22 a backslash [see next paragraph]), while double quotes indicate a
23 string which should be evaluated. For example, backticks are evaluated
24 inside of double quotes, but not single quotes.
25 \ quotes the next character, just as in shells such as bash and zsh.
27 For example, if want to put quotes (“"”) inside of a string, you can
28 use “\” to force the next character to be a literal instead of inter‐
29 preted character.
30 “\\” means to insert a literal “\” into the line. “\n” and “\r” have
32 their usual C meanings of linefeed and carriage-return, respectively.
33 A “\” at the end of a line can be used to split commands over multiple
35 lines, provided that the split points don't appear in the middle of
36 command names.
37 It is also possible to substitute the output of a Unix command in an
39 initialization file. This is accomplished by enclosing the command in
40 backticks (`command`).
41 UNIX environment variables can be accessed like the way it is done in
43 shells like sh and bash: Prepend the name of the variable by a dollar
44 (“$”) sign.
45
47 alias [-group name [...]] key address [, address [ ... ]]
48 unalias [ * | key ]
49 alias defines an alias key for the given addresses. Each address
51 will be resolved into either an email address (user@example.com)
52 or a named email address (User Name <user@example.com>). The
53 address may be specified in either format, or in the format
54 “user@example.com (User Name)”. unalias removes the alias cor‐
55 responding to the given key or all aliases when “*” is used as
56 an argument. The optional -group argument to alias causes the
57 aliased address(es) to be added to the named group.
58 group [-group name] [-rx EXPR [ ... ]] [-addr address [ ... ]]
60 ungroup [-group name ] [ * | [[-rx EXPR [ ... ]] [-addr address [ ... ]]]
61 group is used to directly add either addresses or regular
63 expressions to the specified group or groups. The different cat‐
64 egories of arguments to the group command can be in any order.
65 The flags -rx and -addr specify what the following strings (that
66 cannot begin with a hyphen) should be interpreted as: either a
67 regular expression or an email address, respectively. ungroup
68 is used to remove addresses or regular expressions from the
69 specified group or groups. The syntax is similar to the group
70 command, however the special character * can be used to empty a
71 group of all of its contents.
72 These address groups can also be created implicitly by the
74 alias, lists, subscribe and alternates commands by specifying
75 the optional -group option.
76 Once defined, these address groups can be used in patterns to
78 search for and limit the display to messages matching a group.
79 alternates [-group name] regexp [ regexp [ ... ]]
81 unalternates [ * | regexp [ regexp [ ... ]] ]
82 alternates is used to inform mutt about alternate addresses
84 where you receive mail; you can use regular expressions to spec‐
85 ify alternate addresses. This affects mutt's idea about mes‐
86 sages from you, and messages addressed to you. unalternates
87 removes a regular expression from the list of known alternates.
88 The -group flag causes all of the subsequent regular expressions
89 to be added to the named group.
90 alternative_order type[/subtype] [ ... ]
92 unalternative_order [ * | type/subtype] [...]
93 alternative_order command permits you to define an order of
95 preference which is used by mutt to determine which part of a
96 multipart/alternative body to display. A subtype of “*” matches
97 any subtype, as does an empty subtype. unalternative_order
98 removes entries from the ordered list or deletes the entire list
99 when “*” is used as an argument.
100 auto_view type[/subtype] [ ... ]
102 unauto_view type[/subtype] [ ... ]
103 This commands permits you to specify that mutt should automati‐
105 cally convert the given MIME types to text/plain when displaying
106 messages. For this to work, there must be a mailcap(5) entry
107 for the given MIME type with the copiousoutput flag set. A sub‐
108 type of “*” matches any subtype, as does an empty subtype.
109 mime_lookup type[/subtype] [ ... ]
111 unmime_lookup type[/subtype] [ ... ]
112 This command permits you to define a list of "data" MIME content
114 types for which mutt will try to determine the actual file type
115 from the file name, and not use a mailcap(5) entry given for the
116 original MIME type. For instance, you may add the applica‐
117 tion/octet-stream MIME type to this list.
118 bind map1,map2,... key function
120 This command binds the given key for the given map or maps to
121 the given function. Multiple maps may be specified by separating
122 them with commas (no whitespace is allowed).
123 Valid maps are: generic, alias, attach, browser, editor, index,
125 compose, pager, pgp, postpone, mix.
126 For more information on keys and functions, please consult the
128 Mutt Manual. Note that the function name is to be specified
129 without angle brackets.
130 account-hook [!]regexp command
132 This hook is executed whenever you access a remote mailbox. Use‐
133 ful to adjust configuration settings to different IMAP or POP
134 servers.
135 charset-hook alias charset
137 This command defines an alias for a character set. This is use‐
138 ful to properly display messages which are tagged with a charac‐
139 ter set name not known to mutt.
140 iconv-hook charset local-charset
142 This command defines a system-specific name for a character set.
143 This is useful when your system's iconv(3) implementation does
144 not understand MIME character set names (such as iso-8859-1),
145 but instead insists on being fed with implementation-specific
146 character set names (such as 8859-1). In this specific case,
147 you'd put this into your configuration file:
148 iconv-hook iso-8859-1 8859-1
150 message-hook [!]pattern command
152 Before mutt displays (or formats for replying or forwarding) a
153 message which matches the given pattern (or, when it is preceded
154 by an exclamation mark, does not match the pattern), the given
155 command is executed. When multiple message-hooks match, they
156 are executed in the order in which they occur in the configu‐
157 ration file.
158 folder-hook [!]regexp command
160 When mutt enters a folder which matches regexp (or, when regexp
161 is preceded by an exclamation mark, does not match regexp), the
162 given command is executed.
163 When several folder-hooks match a given mail folder, they are
165 executed in the order given in the configuration file.
166 macro map key sequence [ description ]
168 This command binds the given sequence of keys to the given key
169 in the given map or maps. For valid maps, see bind. To specify
170 multiple maps, put only a comma between the maps.
171 color object foreground background [ regexp ]
173 color index foreground background [ pattern ]
174 uncolor index pattern [ pattern ... ]
175 If your terminal supports color, these commands can be used to
177 assign foreground/background combinations to certain objects.
178 Valid objects are: attachment, body, bold, header, hdrdefault,
179 index, indicator, markers, message, normal, quoted, quotedN,
180 search, signature, status, tilde, tree, underline. The body and
181 header objects allow you to restrict the colorization to a regu‐
182 lar expression. The index object permits you to select colored
183 messages by pattern.
184 Valid colors include: white, black, green, magenta, blue, cyan,
186 yellow, red, default, colorN.
187 mono object attribute [ regexp ]
189 mono index attribute [ pattern ]
190 For terminals which don't support color, you can still assign
192 attributes to objects. Valid attributes include: none, bold,
193 underline, reverse, and standout.
194 [un]ignore pattern [ pattern ... ]
196 The ignore command permits you to specify header fields which
197 you usually don't wish to see. Any header field whose tag
198 begins with an “ignored” pattern will be ignored.
199 The unignore command permits you to define exceptions from the
201 above mentioned list of ignored headers.
202 lists [-group name] regexp [ regexp ... ]
204 unlists regexp [ regexp ... ]
205 subscribe [-group name] regexp [ regexp ... ]
206 unsubscribe regexp [ regexp ... ]
207 Mutt maintains two lists of mailing list address patterns, a
209 list of subscribed mailing lists, and a list of known mailing
210 lists. All subscribed mailing lists are known. Patterns use
211 regular expressions.
212 The lists command adds a mailing list address to the list of
214 known mailing lists. The unlists command removes a mailing list
215 from the lists of known and subscribed mailing lists. The sub‐
216 scribe command adds a mailing list to the lists of known and
217 subscribed mailing lists. The unsubscribe command removes it
218 from the list of subscribed mailing lists. The -group flag adds
219 all of the subsequent regular expressions to the named group.
220 mbox-hook [!]pattern mailbox
222 When mutt changes to a mail folder which matches pattern, mail‐
223 box will be used as the “mbox” folder, i.e., read messages will
224 be moved to that folder when the mail folder is left.
225 The first matching mbox-hook applies.
227 mailboxes filename [ filename ... ]
229 unmailboxes [ * | filename ... ]
230 The mailboxes specifies folders which can receive mail and which
232 will be checked for new messages. When changing folders, press‐
233 ing space will cycle through folders with new mail. The unmail‐
234 boxes command is used to remove a file name from the list of
235 folders which can receive mail. If "*" is specified as the file
236 name, the list is emptied.
237 my_hdr string
239 unmy_hdr field
240 Using my_hdr, you can define headers which will be added to the
242 messages you compose. unmy_hdr will remove the given user-
243 defined headers.
244 hdr_order header1 header2 [ ... ]
246 With this command, you can specify an order in which mutt will
247 attempt to present headers to you when viewing messages.
248 save-hook [!]pattern filename
250 When a message matches pattern, the default file name when sav‐
251 ing it will be the given filename.
252 fcc-hook [!]pattern filename
254 When an outgoing message matches pattern, the default file name
255 for storing a copy (fcc) will be the given filename.
256 fcc-save-hook [!]pattern filename
258 This command is an abbreviation for identical fcc-hook and save-
259 hook commands.
260 send-hook [!]pattern command
262 When composing a message matching pattern, command is executed.
263 When multiple send-hooks match, they are executed in the order
264 in which they occur in the configuration file.
265 send2-hook [!]pattern command
267 Whenever a message matching pattern is changed (either by edit‐
268 ing it or by using the compose menu), command is executed. When
269 multiple send2-hooks match, they are executed in the order in
270 which they occur in the configuration file. Possible applica‐
271 tions include setting the $sendmail variable when a message's
272 from header is changed.
273 send2-hook execution is not triggered by use of enter-command
275 from the compose menu.
276 reply-hook [!]pattern command
278 When replying to a message matching pattern, command is exe‐
279 cuted. When multiple reply-hooks match, they are executed in
280 the order in which they occur in the configuration file, but all
281 reply-hooks are matched and executed before send-hooks, regard‐
282 less of their order in the configuration file.
283 crypt-hook pattern key-id
285 The crypt-hook command provides a method by which you can spec‐
286 ify the ID of the public key to be used when encrypting messages
287 to a certain recipient. The meaning of "key ID" is to be taken
288 broadly: This can be a different e-mail address, a numerical key
289 ID, or even just an arbitrary search string.
290 push string
292 This command adds the named string to the keyboard buffer.
293 set [no|inv|&|?]variable[=value] [ ... ]
295 toggle variable [ ... ]
296 unset variable [ ... ]
297 reset variable [ ... ]
298 These commands are used to set and manipulate configuration
300 variables.
301 Mutt knows four basic types of variables: boolean, number,
303 string and quadoption. Boolean variables can be set (true),
304 unset (false), or toggled. Number variables can be assigned a
305 positive integer value.
306 String variables consist of any number of printable characters.
308 Strings must be enclosed in quotes if they contain spaces or
309 tabs. You may also use the “C” escape sequences \n and \t for
310 newline and tab, respectively.
311 Quadoption variables are used to control whether or not to be
313 prompted for certain actions, or to specify a default action. A
314 value of yes will cause the action to be carried out automati‐
315 cally as if you had answered yes to the question. Similarly, a
316 value of no will cause the the action to be carried out as if
317 you had answered “no.” A value of ask-yes will cause a prompt
318 with a default answer of “yes” and ask-no will provide a default
319 answer of “no.”
320 The reset command resets all given variables to the compile time
322 defaults. If you reset the special variable all, all variables
323 will reset to their compile time defaults.
324 source filename
326 The given file will be evaluated as a configuration file.
327 spam pattern format
329 nospam pattern
330 These commands define spam-detection patterns from external spam
331 filters, so that mutt can sort, limit, and search on ``spam
332 tags'' or ``spam attributes'', or display them in the index. See
333 the Mutt manual for details.
334 unhook [ * | hook-type ]
336 This command will remove all hooks of a given type, or all hooks
337 when “*” is used as an argument. hook-type can be any of the
338 -hook commands documented above.
339
341 In various places with mutt, including some of the above mentioned hook
342 commands, you can specify patterns to match messages.
343 Constructing Patterns
345 A simple pattern consists of an operator of the form “~character”, pos‐
346 sibly followed by a parameter against which mutt is supposed to match
347 the object specified by this operator. For some characters, the ~ may
348 be replaced by another character to alter the behavior of the match.
349 These are described in the list of operators, below.
350 With some of these operators, the object to be matched consists of sev‐
352 eral e-mail addresses. In these cases, the object is matched if at
353 least one of these e-mail addresses matches. You can prepend a hat
354 (“^”) character to such a pattern to indicate that all addresses must
355 match in order to match the object.
356 You can construct complex patterns by combining simple patterns with
358 logical operators. Logical AND is specified by simply concatenating
359 two simple patterns, for instance “~C mutt-dev ~s bug”. Logical OR is
360 specified by inserting a vertical bar (“|”) between two patterns, for
361 instance “~C mutt-dev | ~s bug”. Additionally, you can negate a pat‐
362 tern by prepending a bang (“!”) character. For logical grouping, use
363 braces (“()”). Example: “!(~t mutt|~c mutt) ~f elkins”.
364 Simple Patterns
366 Mutt understands the following simple patterns:
367 ~A all messages
369 ~b EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the message body.
370 =b STRING messages which contain STRING in the message body. If IMAP
371 is enabled, searches for STRING on the server, rather than
372 downloading each message and searching it locally.
373 ~B EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the whole message.
374 ~c EXPR messages carbon-copied to EXPR
375 %c GROUP messages carbon-copied to any member of GROUP
376 ~C EXPR messages either to: or cc: EXPR
377 %C GROUP messages either to: or cc: to any member of GROUP
378 ~d MIN-MAX messages with “date-sent” in a Date range
379 ~D deleted messages
380 ~e EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the “Sender” field
381 %e GROUP messages which contain a member of GROUP in the “Sender”
382 field
383 ~E expired messages
384 ~f EXPR messages originating from EXPR
385 %f GROUP messages originating from any member of GROUP
386 ~F flagged messages
387 ~g PGP signed messages
388 ~G PGP encrypted messages
389 ~h EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the message header
390 ~H EXPR messages with spam tags matching EXPR
391 ~i EXPR messages which match EXPR in the “Message-ID” field
392 ~k messages containing PGP key material
393 ~l messages addressed to a known mailing list (defined by
394 either subscribe or list)
395 ~L EXPR messages either originated or received by EXPR
396 %L GROUP messages either originated or received by any member of
397 GROUP
398 ~m MIN-MAX message in the range MIN to MAX
399 ~n MIN-MAX messages with a score in the range MIN to MAX
400 ~N new messages
401 ~O old messages
402 ~p messages addressed to you (as defined by alternates)
403 ~P messages from you (as defined by alternates)
404 ~Q messages which have been replied to
405 ~r MIN-MAX messages with “date-received” in a Date range
406 ~R read messages
407 ~s EXPR messages having EXPR in the “Subject” field.
408 ~S superseded messages
409 ~t EXPR messages addressed to EXPR
410 ~T tagged messages
411 ~u messages addressed to a subscribed mailing list (defined by
412 subscribe commands)
413 ~U unread messages
414 ~v message is part of a collapsed thread.
415 ~V cryptographically verified messages
416 ~x EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the “References” or “In-
417 Reply-To” field
418 ~X MIN-MAX messages with MIN - MAX attachments
419 ~y EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the “X-Label” field
420 ~z MIN-MAX messages with a size in the range MIN to MAX
421 ~= duplicated messages (see $duplicate_threads)
422 ~$ unreferenced message (requires threaded view)
423 ~(PATTERN) messages in threads containing messages matching a certain
424 pattern, e.g. all threads containing messages from you:
425 ~(~P)
426 In the above, EXPR is a regular expression.
428 With the ~d, ~m, ~n, ~r, ~X, and ~z operators, you can also specify
430 ranges in the forms <MAX, >MIN, MIN-, and -MAX.
431 With the ~z operator, the suffixes “K” and “M” are allowed to specify
433 kilobyte and megabyte respectively.
434 Matching dates
436 The ~d and ~r operators are used to match date ranges, which are inter‐
437 preted to be given in your local time zone.
438 A date is of the form DD[/MM[/[cc]YY]], that is, a two-digit date,
440 optionally followed by a two-digit month, optionally followed by a year
441 specifications. Omitted fields default to the current month and year.
442 Mutt understands either two or four digit year specifications. When
444 given a two-digit year, mutt will interpret values less than 70 as
445 lying in the 21st century (i.e., “38” means 2038 and not 1938, and “00”
446 is interpreted as 2000), and values greater than or equal to 70 as
447 lying in the 20th century.
448 Note that this behavior is Y2K compliant, but that mutt does have a
450 Y2.07K problem.
451 If a date range consists of a single date, the operator in question
453 will match that precise date. If the date range consists of a dash
454 (“-”), followed by a date, this range will match any date before and up
455 to the date given. Similarly, a date followed by a dash matches the
456 date given and any later point of time. Two dates, separated by a
457 dash, match any date which lies in the given range of time.
458 You can also modify any absolute date by giving an error range. An
460 error range consists of one of the characters +, -, *, followed by a
461 positive number, followed by one of the unit characters y, m, w, or d,
462 specifying a unit of years, months, weeks, or days. + increases the
463 maximum date matched by the given interval of time, - decreases the
464 minimum date matched by the given interval of time, and * increases the
465 maximum date and decreases the minimum date matched by the given inter‐
466 val of time. It is possible to give multiple error margins, which
467 cumulate. Example: 1/1/2001-1w+2w*3d
468 You can also specify offsets relative to the current date. An offset
470 is specified as one of the characters <, >, =, followed by a positive
471 number, followed by one of the unit characters y, m, w, or d. >
472 matches dates which are older than the specified amount of time, an
473 offset which begins with the character < matches dates which are more
474 recent than the specified amount of time, and an offset which begins
475 with the character = matches points of time which are precisely the
476 given amount of time ago.
477
479 abort_nosubject
480 Type: quadoption
481 Default: ask-yes
482 If set to yes, when composing messages and no subject is given
484 at the subject prompt, composition will be aborted. If set to
485 no, composing messages with no subject given at the subject
486 prompt will never be aborted.
487 abort_unmodified
491 Type: quadoption
492 Default: yes
493 If set to yes, composition will automatically abort after edit‐
495 ing the message body if no changes are made to the file (this
496 check only happens after the first edit of the file). When set
497 to no, composition will never be aborted.
498 alias_file
502 Type: path
503 Default: “~/.muttrc”
504 The default file in which to save aliases created by the <cre‐
506 ate-alias> function. Entries added to this file are encoded in
507 the character set specified by $config_charset if it is set or
508 the current character set otherwise.
509 Note: Mutt will not automatically source this file; you must
511 explicitly use the “source” command for it to be executed in
512 case this option points to a dedicated alias file.
513 The default for this option is the currently used muttrc file,
515 or “~/.muttrc” if no user muttrc was found.
516 alias_format
520 Type: string
521 Default: “%4n %2f %t %-10a %r”
522 Specifies the format of the data displayed for the “alias” menu.
524 The following printf(3)-style sequences are available:
525 %a alias name
526 %f flags - currently, a “d” for an alias marked for deletion
527 %n index number
528 %r address which alias expands to
529 %t character which indicates if the alias is tagged for
530 inclusion
531 allow_8bit
534 Type: boolean
535 Default: yes
536 Controls whether 8-bit data is converted to 7-bit using either
538 Quoted- Printable or Base64 encoding when sending mail.
539 allow_ansi
543 Type: boolean
544 Default: no
545 Controls whether ANSI color codes in messages (and color tags in
547 rich text messages) are to be interpreted. Messages containing
548 these codes are rare, but if this option is set, their text will
549 be colored accordingly. Note that this may override your color
550 choices, and even present a security problem, since a message
551 could include a line like
552 [-- PGP output follows ...
555 and give it the same color as your attachment color (see also
559 $crypt_timestamp).
560 arrow_cursor
564 Type: boolean
565 Default: no
566 When set, an arrow (“->”) will be used to indicate the current
568 entry in menus instead of highlighting the whole line. On slow
569 network or modem links this will make response faster because
570 there is less that has to be redrawn on the screen when moving
571 to the next or previous entries in the menu.
572 ascii_chars
576 Type: boolean
577 Default: no
578 If set, Mutt will use plain ASCII characters when displaying
580 thread and attachment trees, instead of the default ACS charac‐
581 ters.
582 askbcc
586 Type: boolean
587 Default: no
588 If set, Mutt will prompt you for blind-carbon-copy (Bcc) recipi‐
590 ents before editing an outgoing message.
591 askcc
595 Type: boolean
596 Default: no
597 If set, Mutt will prompt you for carbon-copy (Cc) recipients
599 before editing the body of an outgoing message.
600 assumed_charset
604 Type: string
605 Default: “”
606 This variable is a colon-separated list of character encoding
608 schemes for messages without character encoding indication.
609 Header field values and message body content without character
610 encoding indication would be assumed that they are written in
611 one of this list. By default, all the header fields and message
612 body without any charset indication are assumed to be in
613 “us-ascii”.
614 For example, Japanese users might prefer this:
616 set assumed_charset=”iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8”
619 However, only the first content is valid for the message body.
623 attach_charset
627 Type: string
628 Default: “”
629 This variable is a colon-separated list of character encoding
631 schemes for text file attachments. Mutt uses this setting to
632 guess which encoding files being attached are encoded in to con‐
633 vert them to a proper character set given in $send_charset.
634 If unset, the value of $charset will be used instead. For exam‐
636 ple, the following configuration would work for Japanese text
637 handling:
638 set attach_charset=”iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8”
641 Note: for Japanese users, “iso-2022-*” must be put at the head
645 of the value as shown above if included.
646 attach_format
650 Type: string
651 Default: “%u%D%I %t%4n %T%.40d%> [%.7m/%.10M, %.6e%?C?, %C?, %s] ”
652 This variable describes the format of the “attachment” menu.
654 The following printf(3)-style sequences are understood:
655 %C charset
656 %c requires charset conversion (“n” or “c”)
657 %D deleted flag
658 %d description
659 %e MIME content-transfer-encoding
660 %f filename
661 %I disposition (“I” for inline, “A” for attachment)
662 %m major MIME type
663 %M MIME subtype
664 %n attachment number
665 %Q “Q”, if MIME part qualifies for attachment counting
666 %s size
667 %t tagged flag
668 %T graphic tree characters
669 %u unlink (=to delete) flag
670 %X number of qualifying MIME parts in this part and its
671 children (please see the “attachments” section for possi‐
672 ble speed effects)
673 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with charac‐
674 ter “X”
675 %|X pad to the end of the line with character “X”
676 %*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
677 For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the $index_format docu‐
679 mentation.
680 attach_sep
684 Type: string
685 Default: “\n”
686 The separator to add between attachments when operating (saving,
688 printing, piping, etc) on a list of tagged attachments.
689 attach_split
693 Type: boolean
694 Default: yes
695 If this variable is unset, when operating (saving, printing,
697 piping, etc) on a list of tagged attachments, Mutt will concate‐
698 nate the attachments and will operate on them as a single
699 attachment. The $attach_sep separator is added after each
700 attachment. When set, Mutt will operate on the attachments one
701 by one.
702 attribution
706 Type: string
707 Default: “On %d, %n wrote:”
708 This is the string that will precede a message which has been
710 included in a reply. For a full listing of defined
711 printf(3)-like sequences see the section on $index_format.
712 auto_tag
716 Type: boolean
717 Default: no
718 When set, functions in the index menu which affect a message
720 will be applied to all tagged messages (if there are any). When
721 unset, you must first use the <tag-prefix> function (bound to
722 “;” by default) to make the next function apply to all tagged
723 messages.
724 autoedit
728 Type: boolean
729 Default: no
730 When set along with $edit_headers, Mutt will skip the initial
732 send-menu (prompting for subject and recipients) and allow you
733 to immediately begin editing the body of your message. The
734 send-menu may still be accessed once you have finished editing
735 the body of your message.
736 Note: when this option is set, you cannot use send-hooks that
738 depend on the recipients when composing a new (non-reply) mes‐
739 sage, as the initial list of recipients is empty.
740 Also see $fast_reply.
742 beep
746 Type: boolean
747 Default: yes
748 When this variable is set, mutt will beep when an error occurs.
750 beep_new
754 Type: boolean
755 Default: no
756 When this variable is set, mutt will beep whenever it prints a
758 message notifying you of new mail. This is independent of the
759 setting of the $beep variable.
760 bounce
764 Type: quadoption
765 Default: ask-yes
766 Controls whether you will be asked to confirm bouncing messages.
768 If set to yes you don't get asked if you want to bounce a mes‐
769 sage. Setting this variable to no is not generally useful, and
770 thus not recommended, because you are unable to bounce messages.
771 bounce_delivered
775 Type: boolean
776 Default: yes
777 When this variable is set, mutt will include Delivered-To head‐
779 ers when bouncing messages. Postfix users may wish to unset
780 this variable.
781 braille_friendly
785 Type: boolean
786 Default: no
787 When this variable is set, mutt will place the cursor at the
789 beginning of the current line in menus, even when the
790 $arrow_cursor variable is unset, making it easier for blind per‐
791 sons using Braille displays to follow these menus. The option
792 is unset by default because many visual terminals don't permit
793 making the cursor invisible.
794 certificate_file
798 Type: path
799 Default: “~/.mutt_certificates”
800 This variable specifies the file where the certificates you
802 trust are saved. When an unknown certificate is encountered, you
803 are asked if you accept it or not. If you accept it, the cer‐
804 tificate can also be saved in this file and further connections
805 are automatically accepted.
806 You can also manually add CA certificates in this file. Any
808 server certificate that is signed with one of these CA certifi‐
809 cates is also automatically accepted.
810 Example:
812 set certificate_file=~/.mutt/certificates
815 charset
821 Type: string
822 Default: “”
823 Character set your terminal uses to display and enter textual
825 data. It is also the fallback for $send_charset.
826 Upon startup Mutt tries to derive this value from environment
828 variables such as $LC_CTYPE or $LANG.
829 Note: It should only be set in case Mutt isn't able to determine
831 the character set used correctly.
832 check_mbox_size
836 Type: boolean
837 Default: no
838 When this variable is set, mutt will use file size attribute
840 instead of access time when checking for new mail in mbox and
841 mmdf folders.
842 This variable is unset by default and should only be enabled
844 when new mail detection for these folder types is unreliable or
845 doesn't work.
846 Note that enabling this variable should happen before any “mail‐
848 boxes” directives occur in configuration files regarding mbox or
849 mmdf folders because mutt needs to determine the initial new
850 mail status of such a mailbox by performing a fast mailbox scan
851 when it is defined. Afterwards the new mail status is tracked
852 by file size changes.
853 check_new
857 Type: boolean
858 Default: yes
859 Note: this option only affects maildir and MH style mailboxes.
861 When set, Mutt will check for new mail delivered while the mail‐
863 box is open. Especially with MH mailboxes, this operation can
864 take quite some time since it involves scanning the directory
865 and checking each file to see if it has already been looked at.
866 If this variable is unset, no check for new mail is performed
867 while the mailbox is open.
868 collapse_unread
872 Type: boolean
873 Default: yes
874 When unset, Mutt will not collapse a thread if it contains any
876 unread messages.
877 compose_format
881 Type: string
882 Default: “-- Mutt: Compose [Approx. msg size: %l Atts: %a]%>-”
883 Controls the format of the status line displayed in the “com‐
885 pose” menu. This string is similar to $status_format, but has
886 its own set of printf(3)-like sequences:
887 %a total number of attachments
888 %h local hostname
889 %l approximate size (in bytes) of the current message
890 %v Mutt version string
891 See the text describing the $status_format option for more
893 information on how to set $compose_format.
894 config_charset
898 Type: string
899 Default: “”
900 When defined, Mutt will recode commands in rc files from this
902 encoding to the current character set as specified by $charset
903 and aliases written to $alias_file from the current character
904 set.
905 Please note that if setting $charset it must be done before set‐
907 ting $config_charset.
908 Recoding should be avoided as it may render unconvertable char‐
910 acters as question marks which can lead to undesired side
911 effects (for example in regular expressions).
912 confirmappend
916 Type: boolean
917 Default: yes
918 When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when appending mes‐
920 sages to an existing mailbox.
921 confirmcreate
925 Type: boolean
926 Default: yes
927 When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when saving messages
929 to a mailbox which does not yet exist before creating it.
930 connect_timeout
934 Type: number
935 Default: 30
936 Causes Mutt to timeout a network connection (for IMAP, POP or
938 SMTP) after this many seconds if the connection is not able to
939 be established. A negative value causes Mutt to wait indefi‐
940 nitely for the connection attempt to succeed.
941 content_type
945 Type: string
946 Default: “text/plain”
947 Sets the default Content-Type for the body of newly composed
949 messages.
950 copy
954 Type: quadoption
955 Default: yes
956 This variable controls whether or not copies of your outgoing
958 messages will be saved for later references. Also see $record,
959 $save_name, $force_name and “fcc-hook”.
960 crypt_autoencrypt
964 Type: boolean
965 Default: no
966 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to PGP
968 encrypt outgoing messages. This is probably only useful in con‐
969 nection to the “send-hook” command. It can be overridden by use
970 of the pgp menu, when encryption is not required or signing is
971 requested as well. If $smime_is_default is set, then OpenSSL is
972 used instead to create S/MIME messages and settings can be over‐
973 ridden by use of the smime menu instead. (Crypto only)
974 crypt_autopgp
978 Type: boolean
979 Default: yes
980 This variable controls whether or not mutt may automatically
982 enable PGP encryption/signing for messages. See also
983 $crypt_autoencrypt, $crypt_replyencrypt, $crypt_autosign,
984 $crypt_replysign and $smime_is_default.
985 crypt_autosign
989 Type: boolean
990 Default: no
991 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to cryp‐
993 tographically sign outgoing messages. This can be overridden by
994 use of the pgp menu, when signing is not required or encryption
995 is requested as well. If $smime_is_default is set, then OpenSSL
996 is used instead to create S/MIME messages and settings can be
997 overridden by use of the smime menu instead of the pgp menu.
998 (Crypto only)
999 crypt_autosmime
1003 Type: boolean
1004 Default: yes
1005 This variable controls whether or not mutt may automatically
1007 enable S/MIME encryption/signing for messages. See also
1008 $crypt_autoencrypt, $crypt_replyencrypt, $crypt_autosign,
1009 $crypt_replysign and $smime_is_default.
1010 crypt_replyencrypt
1014 Type: boolean
1015 Default: yes
1016 If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL encrypt replies to messages
1018 which are encrypted. (Crypto only)
1019 crypt_replysign
1023 Type: boolean
1024 Default: no
1025 If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL sign replies to messages
1027 which are signed.
1028 Note: this does not work on messages that are encrypted and
1030 signed! (Crypto only)
1031 crypt_replysignencrypted
1035 Type: boolean
1036 Default: no
1037 If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL sign replies to messages
1039 which are encrypted. This makes sense in combination with
1040 $crypt_replyencrypt, because it allows you to sign all messages
1041 which are automatically encrypted. This works around the prob‐
1042 lem noted in $crypt_replysign, that mutt is not able to find out
1043 whether an encrypted message is also signed. (Crypto only)
1044 crypt_timestamp
1048 Type: boolean
1049 Default: yes
1050 If set, mutt will include a time stamp in the lines surrounding
1052 PGP or S/MIME output, so spoofing such lines is more difficult.
1053 If you are using colors to mark these lines, and rely on these,
1054 you may unset this setting. (Crypto only)
1055 crypt_use_gpgme
1059 Type: boolean
1060 Default: no
1061 This variable controls the use of the GPGME-enabled crypto back‐
1063 ends. If it is set and Mutt was built with gpgme support, the
1064 gpgme code for S/MIME and PGP will be used instead of the clas‐
1065 sic code. Note that you need to set this option in .muttrc; it
1066 won't have any effect when used interactively.
1067 crypt_use_pka
1071 Type: boolean
1072 Default: no
1073 Controls whether mutt uses PKA (see
1075 http://www.g10code.de/docs/pka-intro.de.pdf) during signature
1076 verification (only supported by the GPGME backend).
1077 crypt_verify_sig
1081 Type: quadoption
1082 Default: yes
1083 If “yes”, always attempt to verify PGP or S/MIME signatures. If
1085 “ask-*”, ask whether or not to verify the signature. If “no”,
1086 never attempt to verify cryptographic signatures. (Crypto only)
1087 date_format
1091 Type: string
1092 Default: “!%a, %b %d, %Y at %I:%M:%S%p %Z”
1093 This variable controls the format of the date printed by the
1095 “%d” sequence in $index_format. This is passed to the strf‐
1096 time(3) function to process the date, see the man page for the
1097 proper syntax.
1098 Unless the first character in the string is a bang (“!”), the
1100 month and week day names are expanded according to the locale
1101 specified in the variable $locale. If the first character in the
1102 string is a bang, the bang is discarded, and the month and week
1103 day names in the rest of the string are expanded in the C locale
1104 (that is in US English).
1105 default_hook
1109 Type: string
1110 Default: “~f %s !~P | (~P ~C %s)”
1111 This variable controls how “message-hook”, “reply-hook”, “send-
1113 hook”, “send2-hook”, “save-hook”, and “fcc-hook” will be inter‐
1114 preted if they are specified with only a simple regexp, instead
1115 of a matching pattern. The hooks are expanded when they are
1116 declared, so a hook will be interpreted according to the value
1117 of this variable at the time the hook is declared.
1118 The default value matches if the message is either from a user
1120 matching the regular expression given, or if it is from you (if
1121 the from address matches “alternates”) and is to or cc'ed to a
1122 user matching the given regular expression.
1123 delete
1127 Type: quadoption
1128 Default: ask-yes
1129 Controls whether or not messages are really deleted when closing
1131 or synchronizing a mailbox. If set to yes, messages marked for
1132 deleting will automatically be purged without prompting. If set
1133 to no, messages marked for deletion will be kept in the mailbox.
1134 delete_untag
1138 Type: boolean
1139 Default: yes
1140 If this option is set, mutt will untag messages when marking
1142 them for deletion. This applies when you either explicitly
1143 delete a message, or when you save it to another folder.
1144 digest_collapse
1148 Type: boolean
1149 Default: yes
1150 If this option is set, mutt's received-attachments menu will not
1152 show the subparts of individual messages in a multipart/digest.
1153 To see these subparts, press “v” on that menu.
1154 display_filter
1158 Type: path
1159 Default: “”
1160 When set, specifies a command used to filter messages. When a
1162 message is viewed it is passed as standard input to $dis‐
1163 play_filter, and the filtered message is read from the standard
1164 output.
1165 dsn_notify
1169 Type: string
1170 Default: “”
1171 This variable sets the request for when notification is
1173 returned. The string consists of a comma separated list (no
1174 spaces!) of one or more of the following: never, to never
1175 request notification, failure, to request notification on trans‐
1176 mission failure, delay, to be notified of message delays, suc‐
1177 cess, to be notified of successful transmission.
1178 Example:
1180 set dsn_notify=”failure,delay”
1183 Note: when using $sendmail for delivery, you should not enable
1187 this unless you are either using Sendmail 8.8.x or greater or a
1188 MTA providing a sendmail(1)-compatible interface supporting the
1189 -N option for DSN. For SMTP delivery, DSN support is
1190 auto-detected so that it depends on the server whether DSN will
1191 be used or not.
1192 dsn_return
1196 Type: string
1197 Default: “”
1198 This variable controls how much of your message is returned in
1200 DSN messages. It may be set to either hdrs to return just the
1201 message header, or full to return the full message.
1202 Example:
1204 set dsn_return=hdrs
1207 Note: when using $sendmail for delivery, you should not enable
1211 this unless you are either using Sendmail 8.8.x or greater or a
1212 MTA providing a sendmail(1)-compatible interface supporting the
1213 -R option for DSN. For SMTP delivery, DSN support is
1214 auto-detected so that it depends on the server whether DSN will
1215 be used or not.
1216 duplicate_threads
1220 Type: boolean
1221 Default: yes
1222 This variable controls whether mutt, when $sort is set to
1224 threads, threads messages with the same Message-Id together. If
1225 it is set, it will indicate that it thinks they are duplicates
1226 of each other with an equals sign in the thread tree.
1227 edit_headers
1231 Type: boolean
1232 Default: no
1233 This option allows you to edit the header of your outgoing mes‐
1235 sages along with the body of your message.
1236 Note that changes made to the References: and Date: headers are
1238 ignored for interoperability reasons.
1239 editor
1243 Type: path
1244 Default: “”
1245 This variable specifies which editor is used by mutt. It
1247 defaults to the value of the $VISUAL, or $EDITOR, environment
1248 variable, or to the string “vi” if neither of those are set.
1249 encode_from
1253 Type: boolean
1254 Default: no
1255 When set, mutt will quoted-printable encode messages when they
1257 contain the string “From ” (note the trailing space) in the
1258 beginning of a line. This is useful to avoid the tampering cer‐
1259 tain mail delivery and transport agents tend to do with messages
1260 (in order to prevent tools from misinterpreting the line as a
1261 mbox message separator).
1262 envelope_from_address
1266 Type: e-mail address
1267 Default: “”
1268 Manually sets the envelope sender for outgoing messages. This
1270 value is ignored if $use_envelope_from is unset.
1271 escape
1275 Type: string
1276 Default: “~”
1277 Escape character to use for functions in the built-in editor.
1279 fast_reply
1283 Type: boolean
1284 Default: no
1285 When set, the initial prompt for recipients and subject are
1287 skipped when replying to messages, and the initial prompt for
1288 subject is skipped when forwarding messages.
1289 Note: this variable has no effect when the $autoedit variable is
1291 set.
1292 fcc_attach
1296 Type: quadoption
1297 Default: yes
1298 This variable controls whether or not attachments on outgoing
1300 messages are saved along with the main body of your message.
1301 fcc_clear
1305 Type: boolean
1306 Default: no
1307 When this variable is set, FCCs will be stored unencrypted and
1309 unsigned, even when the actual message is encrypted and/or
1310 signed. (PGP only)
1311 folder
1315 Type: path
1316 Default: “~/Mail”
1317 Specifies the default location of your mailboxes. A “+” or “=”
1319 at the beginning of a pathname will be expanded to the value of
1320 this variable. Note that if you change this variable (from the
1321 default) value you need to make sure that the assignment occurs
1322 before you use “+” or “=” for any other variables since expan‐
1323 sion takes place when handling the “mailboxes” command.
1324 folder_format
1328 Type: string
1329 Default: “%2C %t %N %F %2l %-8.8u %-8.8g %8s %d %f”
1330 This variable allows you to customize the file browser display
1332 to your personal taste. This string is similar to $index_for‐
1333 mat, but has its own set of printf(3)-like sequences:
1334 %C current file number
1335 %d date/time folder was last modified
1336 %D date/time folder was last modified using $date_format.
1337 %f filename (“/” is appended to directory names, “@” to sym‐
1338 bolic links and “*” to executable files)
1339 %F file permissions
1340 %g group name (or numeric gid, if missing)
1341 %l number of hard links
1342 %N N if folder has new mail, blank otherwise
1343 %s size in bytes
1344 %t “*” if the file is tagged, blank otherwise
1345 %u owner name (or numeric uid, if missing)
1346 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with charac‐
1347 ter “X”
1348 %|X pad to the end of the line with character “X”
1349 %*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
1350 For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the $index_format docu‐
1352 mentation.
1353 followup_to
1357 Type: boolean
1358 Default: yes
1359 Controls whether or not the “Mail-Followup-To:” header field is
1361 generated when sending mail. When set, Mutt will generate this
1362 field when you are replying to a known mailing list, specified
1363 with the “subscribe” or “lists” commands.
1364 This field has two purposes. First, preventing you from receiv‐
1366 ing duplicate copies of replies to messages which you send to
1367 mailing lists, and second, ensuring that you do get a reply sep‐
1368 arately for any messages sent to known lists to which you are
1369 not subscribed.
1370 The header will contain only the list's address for subscribed
1372 lists, and both the list address and your own email address for
1373 unsubscribed lists. Without this header, a group reply to your
1374 message sent to a subscribed list will be sent to both the list
1375 and your address, resulting in two copies of the same email for
1376 you.
1377 force_name
1381 Type: boolean
1382 Default: no
1383 This variable is similar to $save_name, except that Mutt will
1385 store a copy of your outgoing message by the username of the
1386 address you are sending to even if that mailbox does not exist.
1387 Also see the $record variable.
1389 forward_decode
1393 Type: boolean
1394 Default: yes
1395 Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain
1397 when forwarding a message. The message header is also RFC2047
1398 decoded. This variable is only used, if $mime_forward is unset,
1399 otherwise $mime_forward_decode is used instead.
1400 forward_decrypt
1404 Type: boolean
1405 Default: yes
1406 Controls the handling of encrypted messages when forwarding a
1408 message. When set, the outer layer of encryption is stripped
1409 off. This variable is only used if $mime_forward is set and
1410 $mime_forward_decode is unset. (PGP only)
1411 forward_edit
1415 Type: quadoption
1416 Default: yes
1417 This quadoption controls whether or not the user is automati‐
1419 cally placed in the editor when forwarding messages. For those
1420 who always want to forward with no modification, use a setting
1421 of “no”.
1422 forward_format
1426 Type: string
1427 Default: “[%a: %s]”
1428 This variable controls the default subject when forwarding a
1430 message. It uses the same format sequences as the $index_format
1431 variable.
1432 forward_quote
1436 Type: boolean
1437 Default: no
1438 When set, forwarded messages included in the main body of the
1440 message (when $mime_forward is unset) will be quoted using
1441 $indent_string.
1442 from
1446 Type: e-mail address
1447 Default: “”
1448 When set, this variable contains a default from address. It can
1450 be overridden using “my_hdr” (including from a “send-hook”) and
1451 $reverse_name. This variable is ignored if $use_from is unset.
1452 This setting defaults to the contents of the environment vari‐
1454 able $EMAIL.
1455 gecos_mask
1459 Type: regular expression
1460 Default: “^[^,]*”
1461 A regular expression used by mutt to parse the GECOS field of a
1463 password entry when expanding the alias. The default value will
1464 return the string up to the first “,” encountered. If the GECOS
1465 field contains a string like “lastname, firstname” then you
1466 should set it to “.*”.
1467 This can be useful if you see the following behavior: you
1469 address an e-mail to user ID “stevef” whose full name is “Steve
1470 Franklin”. If mutt expands “stevef” to “”Franklin”
1471 stevef@foo.bar” then you should set the $gecos_mask to a regular
1472 expression that will match the whole name so mutt will expand
1473 “Franklin” to “Franklin, Steve”.
1474 hdrs
1478 Type: boolean
1479 Default: yes
1480 When unset, the header fields normally added by the “my_hdr”
1482 command are not created. This variable must be unset before
1483 composing a new message or replying in order to take effect. If
1484 set, the user defined header fields are added to every new mes‐
1485 sage.
1486 header
1490 Type: boolean
1491 Default: no
1492 When set, this variable causes Mutt to include the header of the
1494 message you are replying to into the edit buffer. The $weed
1495 setting applies.
1496 header_cache
1500 Type: path
1501 Default: “”
1502 This variable points to the header cache database. If pointing
1504 to a directory Mutt will contain a header cache database file
1505 per folder, if pointing to a file that file will be a single
1506 global header cache. By default it is unset so no header caching
1507 will be used.
1508 Header caching can greatly improve speed when opening POP, IMAP
1510 MH or Maildir folders, see “caching” for details.
1511 header_cache_compress
1515 Type: boolean
1516 Default: yes
1517 When mutt is compiled with qdbm or tokyocabinet as header cache
1519 backend, this option determines whether the database will be
1520 compressed. Compression results in database files roughly being
1521 one fifth of the usual diskspace, but the decompression can
1522 result in a slower opening of cached folder(s) which in general
1523 is still much faster than opening non header cached folders.
1524 help
1528 Type: boolean
1529 Default: yes
1530 When set, help lines describing the bindings for the major func‐
1532 tions provided by each menu are displayed on the first line of
1533 the screen.
1534 Note: The binding will not be displayed correctly if the func‐
1536 tion is bound to a sequence rather than a single keystroke.
1537 Also, the help line may not be updated if a binding is changed
1538 while Mutt is running. Since this variable is primarily aimed
1539 at new users, neither of these should present a major problem.
1540 hidden_host
1544 Type: boolean
1545 Default: no
1546 When set, mutt will skip the host name part of $hostname vari‐
1548 able when adding the domain part to addresses. This variable
1549 does not affect the generation of Message-IDs, and it will not
1550 lead to the cut-off of first-level domains.
1551 hide_limited
1555 Type: boolean
1556 Default: no
1557 When set, mutt will not show the presence of messages that are
1559 hidden by limiting, in the thread tree.
1560 hide_missing
1564 Type: boolean
1565 Default: yes
1566 When set, mutt will not show the presence of missing messages in
1568 the thread tree.
1569 hide_thread_subject
1573 Type: boolean
1574 Default: yes
1575 When set, mutt will not show the subject of messages in the
1577 thread tree that have the same subject as their parent or clos‐
1578 est previously displayed sibling.
1579 hide_top_limited
1583 Type: boolean
1584 Default: no
1585 When set, mutt will not show the presence of messages that are
1587 hidden by limiting, at the top of threads in the thread tree.
1588 Note that when $hide_limited is set, this option will have no
1589 effect.
1590 hide_top_missing
1594 Type: boolean
1595 Default: yes
1596 When set, mutt will not show the presence of missing messages at
1598 the top of threads in the thread tree. Note that when
1599 $hide_missing is set, this option will have no effect.
1600 history
1604 Type: number
1605 Default: 10
1606 This variable controls the size (in number of strings remem‐
1608 bered) of the string history buffer per category. The buffer is
1609 cleared each time the variable is set.
1610 history_file
1614 Type: path
1615 Default: “~/.mutthistory”
1616 The file in which Mutt will save its history.
1618 honor_disposition
1622 Type: boolean
1623 Default: no
1624 When set, Mutt will not display attachments with a disposition
1626 of “attachment” inline even if it could render the part to plain
1627 text. These MIME parts can only be viewed from the attachment
1628 menu.
1629 If unset, Mutt will render all MIME parts it can properly trans‐
1631 form to plain text.
1632 honor_followup_to
1636 Type: quadoption
1637 Default: yes
1638 This variable controls whether or not a Mail-Followup-To header
1640 is honored when group-replying to a message.
1641 hostname
1645 Type: string
1646 Default: “”
1647 Specifies the fully-qualified hostname of the system mutt is
1649 running on containing the host's name and the DNS domain it
1650 belongs to. It is used as the domain part (after “@”) for local
1651 email addresses as well as Message-Id headers.
1652 Its value is determined at startup as follows: If the node's
1654 name as returned by the uname(3) function contains the hostname
1655 and the domain, these are used to construct $hostname. If there
1656 is no domain part returned, Mutt will look for a “domain” or
1657 “search” line in /etc/resolv.conf to determine the domain.
1658 Optionally, Mutt can be compiled with a fixed domain name in
1659 which case a detected one is not used.
1660 Also see $use_domain and $hidden_host.
1662 ignore_linear_white_space
1666 Type: boolean
1667 Default: no
1668 This option replaces linear-white-space between encoded-word and
1670 text to a single space to prevent the display of MIME-encoded
1671 “Subject:” field from being divided into multiple lines.
1672 ignore_list_reply_to
1676 Type: boolean
1677 Default: no
1678 Affects the behavior of the <reply> function when replying to
1680 messages from mailing lists (as defined by the “subscribe” or
1681 “lists” commands). When set, if the “Reply-To:” field is set to
1682 the same value as the “To:” field, Mutt assumes that the
1683 “Reply-To:” field was set by the mailing list to automate
1684 responses to the list, and will ignore this field. To direct a
1685 response to the mailing list when this option is set, use the
1686 <list-reply> function; <group-reply> will reply to both the
1687 sender and the list.
1688 imap_authenticators
1692 Type: string
1693 Default: “”
1694 This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt
1696 may attempt to use to log in to an IMAP server, in the order
1697 mutt should try them. Authentication methods are either “login”
1698 or the right side of an IMAP “AUTH=xxx” capability string, e.g.
1699 “digest-md5”, “gssapi” or “cram-md5”. This option is case-insen‐
1700 sitive. If it's unset (the default) mutt will try all available
1701 methods, in order from most-secure to least-secure.
1702 Example:
1704 set imap_authenticators=”gssapi:cram-md5:login”
1707 Note: Mutt will only fall back to other authentication methods
1711 if the previous methods are unavailable. If a method is avail‐
1712 able but authentication fails, mutt will not connect to the IMAP
1713 server.
1714 imap_check_subscribed
1718 Type: boolean
1719 Default: no
1720 When set, mutt will fetch the set of subscribed folders from
1722 your server on connection, and add them to the set of mailboxes
1723 it polls for new mail just as if you had issued individual
1724 “mailboxes” commands.
1725 imap_delim_chars
1729 Type: string
1730 Default: “/.”
1731 This contains the list of characters which you would like to
1733 treat as folder separators for displaying IMAP paths. In partic‐
1734 ular it helps in using the “=” shortcut for your folder vari‐
1735 able.
1736 imap_headers
1740 Type: string
1741 Default: “”
1742 Mutt requests these header fields in addition to the default
1744 headers (“Date:”, “From:”, “Subject:”, “To:”, “Cc:”, “Mes‐
1745 sage-Id:”, “References:”, “Content-Type:”, “Content-Descrip‐
1746 tion:”, “In-Reply-To:”, “Reply-To:”, “Lines:”, “List-Post:”,
1747 “X-Label:”) from IMAP servers before displaying the index menu.
1748 You may want to add more headers for spam detection.
1749 Note: This is a space separated list, items should be uppercase
1751 and not contain the colon, e.g. “X-BOGOSITY X-SPAM-STATUS” for
1752 the “X-Bogosity:” and “X-Spam-Status:” header fields.
1753 imap_idle
1757 Type: boolean
1758 Default: no
1759 When set, mutt will attempt to use the IMAP IDLE extension to
1761 check for new mail in the current mailbox. Some servers (dovecot
1762 was the inspiration for this option) react badly to mutt's
1763 implementation. If your connection seems to freeze up periodi‐
1764 cally, try unsetting this.
1765 imap_keepalive
1769 Type: number
1770 Default: 900
1771 This variable specifies the maximum amount of time in seconds
1773 that mutt will wait before polling open IMAP connections, to
1774 prevent the server from closing them before mutt has finished
1775 with them. The default is well within the RFC-specified minimum
1776 amount of time (30 minutes) before a server is allowed to do
1777 this, but in practice the RFC does get violated every now and
1778 then. Reduce this number if you find yourself getting discon‐
1779 nected from your IMAP server due to inactivity.
1780 imap_list_subscribed
1784 Type: boolean
1785 Default: no
1786 This variable configures whether IMAP folder browsing will look
1788 for only subscribed folders or all folders. This can be toggled
1789 in the IMAP browser with the <toggle-subscribed> function.
1790 imap_login
1794 Type: string
1795 Default: “”
1796 Your login name on the IMAP server.
1798 This variable defaults to the value of $imap_user.
1800 imap_pass
1804 Type: string
1805 Default: “”
1806 Specifies the password for your IMAP account. If unset, Mutt
1808 will prompt you for your password when you invoke the
1809 <imap-fetch-mail> function or try to open an IMAP folder.
1810 Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a
1812 fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your mut‐
1813 trc even if you are the only one who can read the file.
1814 imap_passive
1818 Type: boolean
1819 Default: yes
1820 When set, mutt will not open new IMAP connections to check for
1822 new mail. Mutt will only check for new mail over existing IMAP
1823 connections. This is useful if you don't want to be prompted to
1824 user/password pairs on mutt invocation, or if opening the con‐
1825 nection is slow.
1826 imap_peek
1830 Type: boolean
1831 Default: yes
1832 When set, mutt will avoid implicitly marking your mail as read
1834 whenever you fetch a message from the server. This is generally
1835 a good thing, but can make closing an IMAP folder somewhat
1836 slower. This option exists to appease speed freaks.
1837 imap_pipeline_depth
1841 Type: number
1842 Default: 15
1843 Controls the number of IMAP commands that may be queued up
1845 before they are sent to the server. A deeper pipeline reduces
1846 the amount of time mutt must wait for the server, and can make
1847 IMAP servers feel much more responsive. But not all servers cor‐
1848 rectly handle pipelined commands, so if you have problems you
1849 might want to try setting this variable to 0.
1850 Note: Changes to this variable have no effect on open connec‐
1852 tions.
1853 imap_servernoise
1857 Type: boolean
1858 Default: yes
1859 When set, mutt will display warning messages from the IMAP
1861 server as error messages. Since these messages are often harm‐
1862 less, or generated due to configuration problems on the server
1863 which are out of the users' hands, you may wish to suppress them
1864 at some point.
1865 imap_user
1869 Type: string
1870 Default: “”
1871 The name of the user whose mail you intend to access on the IMAP
1873 server.
1874 This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
1876 implicit_autoview
1880 Type: boolean
1881 Default: no
1882 If set to “yes”, mutt will look for a mailcap entry with the
1884 “copiousoutput” flag set for every MIME attachment it doesn't
1885 have an internal viewer defined for. If such an entry is found,
1886 mutt will use the viewer defined in that entry to convert the
1887 body part to text form.
1888 include
1892 Type: quadoption
1893 Default: ask-yes
1894 Controls whether or not a copy of the message(s) you are reply‐
1896 ing to is included in your reply.
1897 include_onlyfirst
1901 Type: boolean
1902 Default: no
1903 Controls whether or not Mutt includes only the first attachment
1905 of the message you are replying.
1906 indent_string
1910 Type: string
1911 Default: “> ”
1912 Specifies the string to prepend to each line of text quoted in a
1914 message to which you are replying. You are strongly encouraged
1915 not to change this value, as it tends to agitate the more fanat‐
1916 ical netizens.
1917 The value of this option is ignored if $text_flowed is set, too
1919 because the quoting mechanism is strictly defined for for‐
1920 mat=flowed.
1921 This option is a format string, please see the description of
1923 $index_format for supported printf(3)-style sequences.
1924 index_format
1928 Type: string
1929 Default: “%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%?l?%4l&%4c?) %s”
1930 This variable allows you to customize the message index display
1932 to your personal taste.
1933 “Format strings” are similar to the strings used in the C func‐
1935 tion printf(3) to format output (see the man page for more
1936 details). The following sequences are defined in Mutt:
1937 %a address of the author
1938 %A reply-to address (if present; otherwise: address of
1939 author)
1940 %b filename of the original message folder (think mailbox)
1941 %B the list to which the letter was sent, or else the folder
1942 name (%b).
1943 %c number of characters (bytes) in the message
1944 %C current message number
1945 %d date and time of the message in the format specified by
1946 $date_format converted to sender's time zone
1947 %D date and time of the message in the format specified by
1948 $date_format converted to the local time zone
1949 %e current message number in thread
1950 %E number of messages in current thread
1951 %f sender (address + real name), either From: or
1952 Return-Path:
1953 %F author name, or recipient name if the message is from you
1954 %H spam attribute(s) of this message
1955 %i message-id of the current message
1956 %l number of lines in the message (does not work with
1957 maildir, mh, and possibly IMAP folders)
1958 %L If an address in the “To:” or “Cc:” header field matches
1959 an address defined by the users “subscribe” command, this
1960 displays ”To <list-name>”, otherwise the same as %F.
1961 %m total number of message in the mailbox
1962 %M number of hidden messages if the thread is collapsed.
1963 %N message score
1964 %n author's real name (or address if missing)
1965 %O original save folder where mutt would formerly have
1966 stashed the message: list name or recipient name if not
1967 sent to a list
1968 %P progress indicator for the built-in pager (how much of
1969 the file has been displayed)
1970 %s subject of the message
1971 %S status of the message (“N”/“D”/“d”/“!”/“r”/*)
1972 %t “To:” field (recipients)
1973 %T the appropriate character from the $to_chars string
1974 %u user (login) name of the author
1975 %v first name of the author, or the recipient if the message
1976 is from you
1977 %X number of attachments (please see the “attachments” sec‐
1978 tion for possible speed effects)
1979 %y “X-Label:” field, if present
1980 %Y “X-Label:” field, if present, and [4m(1) not at part of a
1981 thread tree, [4m(2) at the top of a thread, or [4m(3)
1982 “X-Label:” is different from preceding message's
1983 “X-Label:”.
1984 %Z message status flags
1985 %{fmt} the date and time of the message is converted to sender's
1986 time zone, and “fmt” is expanded by the library function
1987 strftime(3); a leading bang disables locales
1988 %[fmt] the date and time of the message is converted to the
1989 local time zone, and “fmt” is expanded by the library
1990 function strftime(3); a leading bang disables locales
1991 %(fmt) the local date and time when the message was received.
1992 “fmt” is expanded by the library function strftime(3); a
1993 leading bang disables locales
1994 %<fmt> the current local time. “fmt” is expanded by the library
1995 function strftime(3); a leading bang disables locales.
1996 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with charac‐
1997 ter “X”
1998 %|X pad to the end of the line with character “X”
1999 %*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
2000 “Soft-fill” deserves some explanation: Normal right-justifica‐
2002 tion will print everything to the left of the “%>”, displaying
2003 padding and whatever lies to the right only if there's room. By
2004 contrast, soft-fill gives priority to the right-hand side, guar‐
2005 anteeing space to display it and showing padding only if there's
2006 still room. If necessary, soft-fill will eat text leftwards to
2007 make room for rightward text.
2008 Note that these expandos are supported in “save-hook”, “fcc-
2010 hook” and “fcc-save-hook”, too.
2011 ispell
2015 Type: path
2016 Default: “/usr/bin/hunspell”
2017 How to invoke ispell (GNU's spell-checking software).
2019 keep_flagged
2023 Type: boolean
2024 Default: no
2025 If set, read messages marked as flagged will not be moved from
2027 your spool mailbox to your $mbox mailbox, or as a result of a
2028 “mbox-hook” command.
2029 locale
2033 Type: string
2034 Default: “C”
2035 The locale used by strftime(3) to format dates. Legal values are
2037 the strings your system accepts for the locale environment vari‐
2038 able $LC_TIME.
2039 mail_check
2043 Type: number
2044 Default: 5
2045 This variable configures how often (in seconds) mutt should look
2047 for new mail. Also see the $timeout variable.
2048 mail_check_recent
2052 Type: boolean
2053 Default: yes
2054 When set, Mutt will only notify you about new mail that has been
2056 received since the last time you opened the mailbox. When
2057 unset, Mutt will notify you if any new mail exists in the mail‐
2058 box, regardless of whether you have visited it recently.
2059 When $mark_old is set, Mutt does not consider the mailbox to
2061 contain new mail if only old messages exist.
2062 mailcap_path
2066 Type: string
2067 Default: “”
2068 This variable specifies which files to consult when attempting
2070 to display MIME bodies not directly supported by Mutt.
2071 mailcap_sanitize
2075 Type: boolean
2076 Default: yes
2077 If set, mutt will restrict possible characters in mailcap %
2079 expandos to a well-defined set of safe characters. This is the
2080 safe setting, but we are not sure it doesn't break some more
2081 advanced MIME stuff.
2082 DON'T CHANGE THIS SETTING UNLESS YOU ARE REALLY SURE WHAT YOU
2084 ARE DOING!
2085 maildir_header_cache_verify
2089 Type: boolean
2090 Default: yes
2091 Check for Maildir unaware programs other than mutt having modi‐
2093 fied maildir files when the header cache is in use. This incurs
2094 one stat(2) per message every time the folder is opened (which
2095 can be very slow for NFS folders).
2096 maildir_trash
2100 Type: boolean
2101 Default: no
2102 If set, messages marked as deleted will be saved with the
2104 maildir trashed flag instead of unlinked. Note: this only
2105 applies to maildir-style mailboxes. Setting it will have no
2106 effect on other mailbox types.
2107 mark_old
2111 Type: boolean
2112 Default: yes
2113 Controls whether or not mutt marks new unread messages as old if
2115 you exit a mailbox without reading them. With this option set,
2116 the next time you start mutt, the messages will show up with an
2117 “O” next to them in the index menu, indicating that they are
2118 old.
2119 markers
2123 Type: boolean
2124 Default: yes
2125 Controls the display of wrapped lines in the internal pager. If
2127 set, a “+” marker is displayed at the beginning of wrapped
2128 lines.
2129 Also see the $smart_wrap variable.
2131 mask
2135 Type: regular expression
2136 Default: “!^\.[^.]”
2137 A regular expression used in the file browser, optionally pre‐
2139 ceded by the not operator “!”. Only files whose names match
2140 this mask will be shown. The match is always case-sensitive.
2141 mbox
2145 Type: path
2146 Default: “~/mbox”
2147 This specifies the folder into which read mail in your
2149 $spoolfile folder will be appended.
2150 Also see the $move variable.
2152 mbox_type
2156 Type: folder magic
2157 Default: mbox
2158 The default mailbox type used when creating new folders. May be
2160 any of “mbox”, “MMDF”, “MH” and “Maildir”. This is overridden by
2161 the -m command-line option.
2162 menu_context
2166 Type: number
2167 Default: 0
2168 This variable controls the number of lines of context that are
2170 given when scrolling through menus. (Similar to $pager_context.)
2171 menu_move_off
2175 Type: boolean
2176 Default: yes
2177 When unset, the bottom entry of menus will never scroll up past
2179 the bottom of the screen, unless there are less entries than
2180 lines. When set, the bottom entry may move off the bottom.
2181 menu_scroll
2185 Type: boolean
2186 Default: no
2187 When set, menus will be scrolled up or down one line when you
2189 attempt to move across a screen boundary. If unset, the screen
2190 is cleared and the next or previous page of the menu is dis‐
2191 played (useful for slow links to avoid many redraws).
2192 message_cache_clean
2196 Type: boolean
2197 Default: no
2198 If set, mutt will clean out obsolete entries from the message
2200 cache when the mailbox is synchronized. You probably only want
2201 to set it every once in a while, since it can be a little slow
2202 (especially for large folders).
2203 message_cachedir
2207 Type: path
2208 Default: “”
2209 Set this to a directory and mutt will cache copies of messages
2211 from your IMAP and POP servers here. You are free to remove
2212 entries at any time.
2213 When setting this variable to a directory, mutt needs to fetch
2215 every remote message only once and can perform regular expres‐
2216 sion searches as fast as for local folders.
2217 Also see the $message_cache_clean variable.
2219 message_format
2223 Type: string
2224 Default: “%s”
2225 This is the string displayed in the “attachment” menu for
2227 attachments of type message/rfc822. For a full listing of
2228 defined printf(3)-like sequences see the section on $index_for‐
2229 mat.
2230 meta_key
2234 Type: boolean
2235 Default: no
2236 If set, forces Mutt to interpret keystrokes with the high bit
2238 (bit 8) set as if the user had pressed the Esc key and whatever
2239 key remains after having the high bit removed. For example, if
2240 the key pressed has an ASCII value of 0xf8, then this is treated
2241 as if the user had pressed Esc then “x”. This is because the
2242 result of removing the high bit from 0xf8 is 0x78, which is the
2243 ASCII character “x”.
2244 metoo
2248 Type: boolean
2249 Default: no
2250 If unset, Mutt will remove your address (see the “alternates”
2252 command) from the list of recipients when replying to a message.
2253 mh_purge
2257 Type: boolean
2258 Default: no
2259 When unset, mutt will mimic mh's behavior and rename deleted
2261 messages to ,<old file name> in mh folders instead of really
2262 deleting them. This leaves the message on disk but makes pro‐
2263 grams reading the folder ignore it. If the variable is set, the
2264 message files will simply be deleted.
2265 This option is similar to $maildir_trash for Maildir folders.
2267 mh_seq_flagged
2271 Type: string
2272 Default: “flagged”
2273 The name of the MH sequence used for flagged messages.
2275 mh_seq_replied
2279 Type: string
2280 Default: “replied”
2281 The name of the MH sequence used to tag replied messages.
2283 mh_seq_unseen
2287 Type: string
2288 Default: “unseen”
2289 The name of the MH sequence used for unseen messages.
2291 mime_forward
2295 Type: quadoption
2296 Default: no
2297 When set, the message you are forwarding will be attached as a
2299 separate message/rfc822 MIME part instead of included in the
2300 main body of the message. This is useful for forwarding MIME
2301 messages so the receiver can properly view the message as it was
2302 delivered to you. If you like to switch between MIME and not
2303 MIME from mail to mail, set this variable to “ask-no” or
2304 “ask-yes”.
2305 Also see $forward_decode and $mime_forward_decode.
2307 mime_forward_decode
2311 Type: boolean
2312 Default: no
2313 Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain
2315 when forwarding a message while $mime_forward is set. Otherwise
2316 $forward_decode is used instead.
2317 mime_forward_rest
2321 Type: quadoption
2322 Default: yes
2323 When forwarding multiple attachments of a MIME message from the
2325 attachment menu, attachments which cannot be decoded in a rea‐
2326 sonable manner will be attached to the newly composed message if
2327 this option is set.
2328 move
2332 Type: quadoption
2333 Default: no
2334 Controls whether or not Mutt will move read messages from your
2336 spool mailbox to your $mbox mailbox, or as a result of a “mbox-
2337 hook” command.
2338 narrow_tree
2342 Type: boolean
2343 Default: no
2344 This variable, when set, makes the thread tree narrower, allow‐
2346 ing deeper threads to fit on the screen.
2347 net_inc
2351 Type: number
2352 Default: 10
2353 Operations that expect to transfer a large amount of data over
2355 the network will update their progress every $net_inc kilobytes.
2356 If set to 0, no progress messages will be displayed.
2357 See also $read_inc, $write_inc and $net_inc.
2359 pager
2363 Type: path
2364 Default: “builtin”
2365 This variable specifies which pager you would like to use to
2367 view messages. The value “builtin” means to use the built-in
2368 pager, otherwise this variable should specify the pathname of
2369 the external pager you would like to use.
2370 Using an external pager may have some disadvantages: Additional
2372 keystrokes are necessary because you can't call mutt functions
2373 directly from the pager, and screen resizes cause lines longer
2374 than the screen width to be badly formatted in the help menu.
2375 pager_context
2379 Type: number
2380 Default: 0
2381 This variable controls the number of lines of context that are
2383 given when displaying the next or previous page in the internal
2384 pager. By default, Mutt will display the line after the last
2385 one on the screen at the top of the next page (0 lines of con‐
2386 text).
2387 This variable also specifies the amount of context given for
2389 search results. If positive, this many lines will be given
2390 before a match, if 0, the match will be top-aligned.
2391 pager_format
2395 Type: string
2396 Default: “-%Z- %C/%m: %-20.20n %s%* -- (%P)”
2397 This variable controls the format of the one-line message “sta‐
2399 tus” displayed before each message in either the internal or an
2400 external pager. The valid sequences are listed in the
2401 $index_format section.
2402 pager_index_lines
2406 Type: number
2407 Default: 0
2408 Determines the number of lines of a mini-index which is shown
2410 when in the pager. The current message, unless near the top or
2411 bottom of the folder, will be roughly one third of the way down
2412 this mini-index, giving the reader the context of a few messages
2413 before and after the message. This is useful, for example, to
2414 determine how many messages remain to be read in the current
2415 thread. One of the lines is reserved for the status bar from
2416 the index, so a setting of 6 will only show 5 lines of the
2417 actual index. A value of 0 results in no index being shown. If
2418 the number of messages in the current folder is less than
2419 $pager_index_lines, then the index will only use as many lines
2420 as it needs.
2421 pager_stop
2425 Type: boolean
2426 Default: no
2427 When set, the internal-pager will not move to the next message
2429 when you are at the end of a message and invoke the <next-page>
2430 function.
2431 pgp_auto_decode
2435 Type: boolean
2436 Default: no
2437 If set, mutt will automatically attempt to decrypt traditional
2439 PGP messages whenever the user performs an operation which ordi‐
2440 narily would result in the contents of the message being oper‐
2441 ated on. For example, if the user displays a pgp-traditional
2442 message which has not been manually checked with the <check-tra‐
2443 ditional-pgp> function, mutt will automatically check the mes‐
2444 sage for traditional pgp.
2445 pgp_autoinline
2449 Type: boolean
2450 Default: no
2451 This option controls whether Mutt generates old-style inline
2453 (traditional) PGP encrypted or signed messages under certain
2454 circumstances. This can be overridden by use of the pgp menu,
2455 when inline is not required.
2456 Note that Mutt might automatically use PGP/MIME for messages
2458 which consist of more than a single MIME part. Mutt can be con‐
2459 figured to ask before sending PGP/MIME messages when inline
2460 (traditional) would not work.
2461 Also see the $pgp_mime_auto variable.
2463 Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is
2465 strongly deprecated. (PGP only)
2466 pgp_check_exit
2470 Type: boolean
2471 Default: yes
2472 If set, mutt will check the exit code of the PGP subprocess when
2474 signing or encrypting. A non-zero exit code means that the sub‐
2475 process failed. (PGP only)
2476 pgp_clearsign_command
2480 Type: string
2481 Default: “”
2482 This format is used to create an old-style “clearsigned” PGP
2484 message. Note that the use of this format is strongly depre‐
2485 cated.
2486 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
2488 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
2489 pgp_decode_command
2493 Type: string
2494 Default: “”
2495 This format strings specifies a command which is used to decode
2497 application/pgp attachments.
2498 The PGP command formats have their own set of printf(3)-like
2500 sequences:
2501 %p Expands to PGPPASSFD=0 when a pass phrase is needed, to
2502 an empty string otherwise. Note: This may be used with a
2503 %? construct.
2504 %f Expands to the name of a file containing a message.
2505 %s Expands to the name of a file containing the signature
2506 part
2507 of a multipart/signed attachment when verify‐
2508 ing it.
2509 %a The value of $pgp_sign_as.
2510 %r One or more key IDs.
2511 For examples on how to configure these formats for the various
2513 versions of PGP which are floating around, see the pgp and gpg
2514 sample configuration files in the samples/ subdirectory which
2515 has been installed on your system alongside the documentation.
2516 (PGP only)
2517 pgp_decrypt_command
2521 Type: string
2522 Default: “”
2523 This command is used to decrypt a PGP encrypted message.
2525 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
2527 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
2528 pgp_encrypt_only_command
2532 Type: string
2533 Default: “”
2534 This command is used to encrypt a body part without signing it.
2536 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
2538 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
2539 pgp_encrypt_sign_command
2543 Type: string
2544 Default: “”
2545 This command is used to both sign and encrypt a body part.
2547 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
2549 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
2550 pgp_entry_format
2554 Type: string
2555 Default: “%4n %t%f %4l/0x%k %-4a %2c %u”
2556 This variable allows you to customize the PGP key selection menu
2558 to your personal taste. This string is similar to $index_format,
2559 but has its own set of printf(3)-like sequences:
2560 %n number
2561 %k key id
2562 %u user id
2563 %a algorithm
2564 %l key length
2565 %f flags
2566 %c capabilities
2567 %t trust/validity of the key-uid association
2568 %[<s>] date of the key where <s> is an strftime(3) expression
2569 (PGP only)
2571 pgp_export_command
2575 Type: string
2576 Default: “”
2577 This command is used to export a public key from the user's key
2579 ring.
2580 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
2582 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
2583 pgp_getkeys_command
2587 Type: string
2588 Default: “”
2589 This command is invoked whenever mutt will need public key
2591 information. Of the sequences supported by $pgp_decode_command,
2592 %r is the only printf(3)-like sequence used with this format.
2593 (PGP only)
2594 pgp_good_sign
2598 Type: regular expression
2599 Default: “”
2600 If you assign a text to this variable, then a PGP signature is
2602 only considered verified if the output from $pgp_verify_command
2603 contains the text. Use this variable if the exit code from the
2604 command is 0 even for bad signatures. (PGP only)
2605 pgp_ignore_subkeys
2609 Type: boolean
2610 Default: yes
2611 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to ignore OpenPGP subkeys.
2613 Instead, the principal key will inherit the subkeys' capabili‐
2614 ties. Unset this if you want to play interesting key selection
2615 games. (PGP only)
2616 pgp_import_command
2620 Type: string
2621 Default: “”
2622 This command is used to import a key from a message into the
2624 user's public key ring.
2625 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
2627 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
2628 pgp_list_pubring_command
2632 Type: string
2633 Default: “”
2634 This command is used to list the public key ring's contents.
2636 The output format must be analogous to the one used by
2637 gpg --list-keys --with-colons.
2640 This format is also generated by the pgpring utility which comes
2644 with mutt.
2645 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
2647 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
2648 pgp_list_secring_command
2652 Type: string
2653 Default: “”
2654 This command is used to list the secret key ring's contents.
2656 The output format must be analogous to the one used by:
2657 gpg --list-keys --with-colons.
2660 This format is also generated by the pgpring utility which comes
2664 with mutt.
2665 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
2667 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
2668 pgp_long_ids
2672 Type: boolean
2673 Default: no
2674 If set, use 64 bit PGP key IDs, if unset use the normal 32 bit
2676 key IDs. (PGP only)
2677 pgp_mime_auto
2681 Type: quadoption
2682 Default: ask-yes
2683 This option controls whether Mutt will prompt you for automati‐
2685 cally sending a (signed/encrypted) message using PGP/MIME when
2686 inline (traditional) fails (for any reason).
2687 Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is
2689 strongly deprecated. (PGP only)
2690 pgp_replyinline
2694 Type: boolean
2695 Default: no
2696 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to cre‐
2698 ate an inline (traditional) message when replying to a message
2699 which is PGP encrypted/signed inline. This can be overridden by
2700 use of the pgp menu, when inline is not required. This option
2701 does not automatically detect if the (replied-to) message is
2702 inline; instead it relies on Mutt internals for previously
2703 checked/flagged messages.
2704 Note that Mutt might automatically use PGP/MIME for messages
2706 which consist of more than a single MIME part. Mutt can be con‐
2707 figured to ask before sending PGP/MIME messages when inline
2708 (traditional) would not work.
2709 Also see the $pgp_mime_auto variable.
2711 Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is
2713 strongly deprecated. (PGP only)
2714 pgp_retainable_sigs
2718 Type: boolean
2719 Default: no
2720 If set, signed and encrypted messages will consist of nested
2722 multipart/signed and multipart/encrypted body parts.
2723 This is useful for applications like encrypted and signed mail‐
2725 ing lists, where the outer layer (multipart/encrypted) can be
2726 easily removed, while the inner multipart/signed part is
2727 retained. (PGP only)
2728 pgp_show_unusable
2732 Type: boolean
2733 Default: yes
2734 If set, mutt will display non-usable keys on the PGP key selec‐
2736 tion menu. This includes keys which have been revoked, have
2737 expired, or have been marked as “disabled” by the user. (PGP
2738 only)
2739 pgp_sign_as
2743 Type: string
2744 Default: “”
2745 If you have more than one key pair, this option allows you to
2747 specify which of your private keys to use. It is recommended
2748 that you use the keyid form to specify your key (e.g.
2749 0x00112233). (PGP only)
2750 pgp_sign_command
2754 Type: string
2755 Default: “”
2756 This command is used to create the detached PGP signature for a
2758 multipart/signed PGP/MIME body part.
2759 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
2761 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
2762 pgp_sort_keys
2766 Type: sort order
2767 Default: address
2768 Specifies how the entries in the pgp menu are sorted. The fol‐
2770 lowing are legal values:
2771 address
2772 sort alphabetically by user id
2773 keyid sort alphabetically by key id
2774 date sort by key creation date
2775 trust sort by the trust of the key
2776 If you prefer reverse order of the above values, prefix it with
2778 “reverse-”. (PGP only)
2779 pgp_strict_enc
2783 Type: boolean
2784 Default: yes
2785 If set, Mutt will automatically encode PGP/MIME signed messages
2787 as quoted-printable. Please note that unsetting this variable
2788 may lead to problems with non-verifyable PGP signatures, so only
2789 change this if you know what you are doing. (PGP only)
2790 pgp_timeout
2794 Type: number
2795 Default: 300
2796 The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will
2798 expire if not used. (PGP only)
2799 pgp_use_gpg_agent
2803 Type: boolean
2804 Default: no
2805 If set, mutt will use a possibly-running gpg-agent(1) process.
2807 (PGP only)
2808 pgp_verify_command
2812 Type: string
2813 Default: “”
2814 This command is used to verify PGP signatures.
2816 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
2818 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
2819 pgp_verify_key_command
2823 Type: string
2824 Default: “”
2825 This command is used to verify key information from the key
2827 selection menu.
2828 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
2830 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
2831 pipe_decode
2835 Type: boolean
2836 Default: no
2837 Used in connection with the <pipe-message> command. When unset,
2839 Mutt will pipe the messages without any preprocessing. When set,
2840 Mutt will weed headers and will attempt to decode the messages
2841 first.
2842 pipe_sep
2846 Type: string
2847 Default: “\n”
2848 The separator to add between messages when piping a list of
2850 tagged messages to an external Unix command.
2851 pipe_split
2855 Type: boolean
2856 Default: no
2857 Used in connection with the <pipe-message> function following
2859 <tag-prefix>. If this variable is unset, when piping a list of
2860 tagged messages Mutt will concatenate the messages and will pipe
2861 them all concatenated. When set, Mutt will pipe the messages
2862 one by one. In both cases the messages are piped in the current
2863 sorted order, and the $pipe_sep separator is added after each
2864 message.
2865 pop_auth_try_all
2869 Type: boolean
2870 Default: yes
2871 If set, Mutt will try all available authentication methods.
2873 When unset, Mutt will only fall back to other authentication
2874 methods if the previous methods are unavailable. If a method is
2875 available but authentication fails, Mutt will not connect to the
2876 POP server.
2877 pop_authenticators
2881 Type: string
2882 Default: “”
2883 This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt
2885 may attempt to use to log in to an POP server, in the order mutt
2886 should try them. Authentication methods are either “user”,
2887 “apop” or any SASL mechanism, e.g. “digest-md5”, “gssapi” or
2888 “cram-md5”. This option is case-insensitive. If this option is
2889 unset (the default) mutt will try all available methods, in
2890 order from most-secure to least-secure.
2891 Example:
2893 set pop_authenticators=”digest-md5:apop:user”
2896 pop_checkinterval
2902 Type: number
2903 Default: 60
2904 This variable configures how often (in seconds) mutt should look
2906 for new mail in the currently selected mailbox if it is a POP
2907 mailbox.
2908 pop_delete
2912 Type: quadoption
2913 Default: ask-no
2914 If set, Mutt will delete successfully downloaded messages from
2916 the POP server when using the <fetch-mail> function. When
2917 unset, Mutt will download messages but also leave them on the
2918 POP server.
2919 pop_host
2923 Type: string
2924 Default: “”
2925 The name of your POP server for the <fetch-mail> function. You
2927 can also specify an alternative port, username and password,
2928 i.e.:
2929 [pop[s]://][username[:password]@]popserver[:port]
2932 where “[...]” denotes an optional part.
2936 pop_last
2940 Type: boolean
2941 Default: no
2942 If this variable is set, mutt will try to use the “LAST” POP
2944 command for retrieving only unread messages from the POP server
2945 when using the <fetch-mail> function.
2946 pop_pass
2950 Type: string
2951 Default: “”
2952 Specifies the password for your POP account. If unset, Mutt
2954 will prompt you for your password when you open a POP mailbox.
2955 Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a
2957 fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your mut‐
2958 trc even if you are the only one who can read the file.
2959 pop_reconnect
2963 Type: quadoption
2964 Default: ask-yes
2965 Controls whether or not Mutt will try to reconnect to the POP
2967 server if the connection is lost.
2968 pop_user
2972 Type: string
2973 Default: “”
2974 Your login name on the POP server.
2976 This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
2978 post_indent_string
2982 Type: string
2983 Default: “”
2984 Similar to the $attribution variable, Mutt will append this
2986 string after the inclusion of a message which is being replied
2987 to.
2988 postpone
2992 Type: quadoption
2993 Default: ask-yes
2994 Controls whether or not messages are saved in the $postponed
2996 mailbox when you elect not to send immediately.
2997 Also see the $recall variable.
2999 postponed
3003 Type: path
3004 Default: “~/postponed”
3005 Mutt allows you to indefinitely “postpone sending a message”
3007 which you are editing. When you choose to postpone a message,
3008 Mutt saves it in the mailbox specified by this variable.
3009 Also see the $postpone variable.
3011 preconnect
3015 Type: string
3016 Default: “”
3017 If set, a shell command to be executed if mutt fails to estab‐
3019 lish a connection to the server. This is useful for setting up
3020 secure connections, e.g. with ssh(1). If the command returns a
3021 nonzero status, mutt gives up opening the server. Example:
3022 set preconnect=”ssh -f -q -L 1234:mailhost.net:143 mailhost.net \
3025 sleep 20 < /dev/null > /dev/null”
3026 Mailbox “foo” on “mailhost.net” can now be reached as “{local‐
3030 host:1234}foo”.
3031 Note: For this example to work, you must be able to log in to
3033 the remote machine without having to enter a password.
3034 print
3038 Type: quadoption
3039 Default: ask-no
3040 Controls whether or not Mutt really prints messages. This is
3042 set to “ask-no” by default, because some people accidentally hit
3043 “p” often.
3044 print_command
3048 Type: path
3049 Default: “lpr”
3050 This specifies the command pipe that should be used to print
3052 messages.
3053 print_decode
3057 Type: boolean
3058 Default: yes
3059 Used in connection with the <print-message> command. If this
3061 option is set, the message is decoded before it is passed to the
3062 external command specified by $print_command. If this option is
3063 unset, no processing will be applied to the message when print‐
3064 ing it. The latter setting may be useful if you are using some
3065 advanced printer filter which is able to properly format e-mail
3066 messages for printing.
3067 print_split
3071 Type: boolean
3072 Default: no
3073 Used in connection with the <print-message> command. If this
3075 option is set, the command specified by $print_command is exe‐
3076 cuted once for each message which is to be printed. If this
3077 option is unset, the command specified by $print_command is exe‐
3078 cuted only once, and all the messages are concatenated, with a
3079 form feed as the message separator.
3080 Those who use the enscript(1) program's mail-printing mode will
3082 most likely want to set this option.
3083 prompt_after
3087 Type: boolean
3088 Default: yes
3089 If you use an external $pager, setting this variable will cause
3091 Mutt to prompt you for a command when the pager exits rather
3092 than returning to the index menu. If unset, Mutt will return to
3093 the index menu when the external pager exits.
3094 query_command
3098 Type: path
3099 Default: “”
3100 This specifies the command Mutt will use to make external
3102 address queries. The string may contain a “%s”, which will be
3103 substituted with the query string the user types. Mutt will add
3104 quotes around the string substituted for “%s” automatically
3105 according to shell quoting rules, so you should avoid adding
3106 your own. If no “%s” is found in the string, Mutt will append
3107 the user's query to the end of the string. See “query” for more
3108 information.
3109 query_format
3113 Type: string
3114 Default: “%4c %t %-25.25a %-25.25n %?e?(%e)?”
3115 This variable describes the format of the “query” menu. The fol‐
3117 lowing printf(3)-style sequences are understood:
3118 %a destination address
3119 %c current entry number
3120 %e extra information *
3121 %n destination name
3122 %t “*” if current entry is tagged, a space otherwise
3123 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with “X”
3124 %|X pad to the end of the line with “X”
3125 %*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
3126 For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the $index_format docu‐
3128 mentation.
3129 * = can be optionally printed if nonzero, see the $status_format
3131 documentation.
3132 quit
3136 Type: quadoption
3137 Default: yes
3138 This variable controls whether “quit” and “exit” actually quit
3140 from mutt. If this option is set, they do quit, if it is unset,
3141 they have no effect, and if it is set to ask-yes or ask-no, you
3142 are prompted for confirmation when you try to quit.
3143 quote_regexp
3147 Type: regular expression
3148 Default: “^([ \t]*[|>:}#])+”
3149 A regular expression used in the internal pager to determine
3151 quoted sections of text in the body of a message. Quoted text
3152 may be filtered out using the <toggle-quoted> command, or col‐
3153 ored according to the “color quoted” family of directives.
3154 Higher levels of quoting may be colored differently (“color
3156 quoted1”, “color quoted2”, etc.). The quoting level is deter‐
3157 mined by removing the last character from the matched text and
3158 recursively reapplying the regular expression until it fails to
3159 produce a match.
3160 Match detection may be overridden by the $smileys regular
3162 expression.
3163 read_inc
3167 Type: number
3168 Default: 10
3169 If set to a value greater than 0, Mutt will display which mes‐
3171 sage it is currently on when reading a mailbox or when perform‐
3172 ing search actions such as search and limit. The message is
3173 printed after this many messages have been read or searched
3174 (e.g., if set to 25, Mutt will print a message when it is at
3175 message 25, and then again when it gets to message 50). This
3176 variable is meant to indicate progress when reading or searching
3177 large mailboxes which may take some time. When set to 0, only a
3178 single message will appear before the reading the mailbox.
3179 Also see the $write_inc, $net_inc and $time_inc variables and
3181 the “tuning” section of the manual for performance considera‐
3182 tions.
3183 read_only
3187 Type: boolean
3188 Default: no
3189 If set, all folders are opened in read-only mode.
3191 realname
3195 Type: string
3196 Default: “”
3197 This variable specifies what “real” or “personal” name should be
3199 used when sending messages.
3200 By default, this is the GECOS field from /etc/passwd. Note that
3202 this variable will not be used when the user has set a real name
3203 in the $from variable.
3204 recall
3208 Type: quadoption
3209 Default: ask-yes
3210 Controls whether or not Mutt recalls postponed messages when
3212 composing a new message.
3213 Setting this variable to is not generally useful, and thus not
3215 recommended.
3216 Also see $postponed variable.
3218 record
3222 Type: path
3223 Default: “~/sent”
3224 This specifies the file into which your outgoing messages should
3226 be appended. (This is meant as the primary method for saving a
3227 copy of your messages, but another way to do this is using the
3228 “my_hdr” command to create a “Bcc:” field with your email
3229 address in it.)
3230 The value of $record is overridden by the $force_name and
3232 $save_name variables, and the “fcc-hook” command.
3233 reply_regexp
3237 Type: regular expression
3238 Default: “^(re([\[0-9\]+])*|aw):[ \t]*”
3239 A regular expression used to recognize reply messages when
3241 threading and replying. The default value corresponds to the
3242 English ”Re:” and the German ”Aw:”.
3243 reply_self
3247 Type: boolean
3248 Default: no
3249 If unset and you are replying to a message sent by you, Mutt
3251 will assume that you want to reply to the recipients of that
3252 message rather than to yourself.
3253 Also see the “alternates” command.
3255 reply_to
3259 Type: quadoption
3260 Default: ask-yes
3261 If set, when replying to a message, Mutt will use the address
3263 listed in the Reply-to: header as the recipient of the reply.
3264 If unset, it will use the address in the From: header field
3265 instead. This option is useful for reading a mailing list that
3266 sets the Reply-To: header field to the list address and you want
3267 to send a private message to the author of a message.
3268 resolve
3272 Type: boolean
3273 Default: yes
3274 When set, the cursor will be automatically advanced to the next
3276 (possibly undeleted) message whenever a command that modifies
3277 the current message is executed.
3278 reverse_alias
3282 Type: boolean
3283 Default: no
3284 This variable controls whether or not Mutt will display the
3286 “personal” name from your aliases in the index menu if it finds
3287 an alias that matches the message's sender. For example, if you
3288 have the following alias:
3289 alias juser abd30425@somewhere.net (Joe User)
3292 and then you receive mail which contains the following header:
3296 From: abd30425@somewhere.net
3299 It would be displayed in the index menu as “Joe User” instead of
3303 “abd30425@somewhere.net.” This is useful when the person's
3304 e-mail address is not human friendly.
3305 reverse_name
3309 Type: boolean
3310 Default: no
3311 It may sometimes arrive that you receive mail to a certain
3313 machine, move the messages to another machine, and reply to some
3314 the messages from there. If this variable is set, the default
3315 From: line of the reply messages is built using the address
3316 where you received the messages you are replying to if that
3317 address matches your “alternates”. If the variable is unset, or
3318 the address that would be used doesn't match your “alternates”,
3319 the From: line will use your address on the current machine.
3320 Also see the “alternates” command.
3322 reverse_realname
3326 Type: boolean
3327 Default: yes
3328 This variable fine-tunes the behavior of the $reverse_name fea‐
3330 ture. When it is set, mutt will use the address from incoming
3331 messages as-is, possibly including eventual real names. When it
3332 is unset, mutt will override any such real names with the set‐
3333 ting of the $realname variable.
3334 rfc2047_parameters
3338 Type: boolean
3339 Default: no
3340 When this variable is set, Mutt will decode RFC2047-encoded MIME
3342 parameters. You want to set this variable when mutt suggests you
3343 to save attachments to files named like:
3344 =?iso-8859-1?Q?file=5F=E4=5F991116=2Ezip?=
3347 When this variable is set interactively, the change won't be
3351 active until you change folders.
3352 Note that this use of RFC2047's encoding is explicitly prohib‐
3354 ited by the standard, but nevertheless encountered in the wild.
3355 Also note that setting this parameter will not have the effect
3357 that mutt generates this kind of encoding. Instead, mutt will
3358 unconditionally use the encoding specified in RFC2231.
3359 save_address
3363 Type: boolean
3364 Default: no
3365 If set, mutt will take the sender's full address when choosing a
3367 default folder for saving a mail. If $save_name or $force_name
3368 is set too, the selection of the Fcc folder will be changed as
3369 well.
3370 save_empty
3374 Type: boolean
3375 Default: yes
3376 When unset, mailboxes which contain no saved messages will be
3378 removed when closed (the exception is $spoolfile which is never
3379 removed). If set, mailboxes are never removed.
3380 Note: This only applies to mbox and MMDF folders, Mutt does not
3382 delete MH and Maildir directories.
3383 save_history
3387 Type: number
3388 Default: 0
3389 This variable controls the size of the history (per category)
3391 saved in the $history_file file.
3392 save_name
3396 Type: boolean
3397 Default: no
3398 This variable controls how copies of outgoing messages are
3400 saved. When set, a check is made to see if a mailbox specified
3401 by the recipient address exists (this is done by searching for a
3402 mailbox in the $folder directory with the username part of the
3403 recipient address). If the mailbox exists, the outgoing message
3404 will be saved to that mailbox, otherwise the message is saved to
3405 the $record mailbox.
3406 Also see the $force_name variable.
3408 score
3412 Type: boolean
3413 Default: yes
3414 When this variable is unset, scoring is turned off. This can be
3416 useful to selectively disable scoring for certain folders when
3417 the $score_threshold_delete variable and related are used.
3418 score_threshold_delete
3422 Type: number
3423 Default: -1
3424 Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than
3426 the value of this variable are automatically marked for deletion
3427 by mutt. Since mutt scores are always greater than or equal to
3428 zero, the default setting of this variable will never mark a
3429 message for deletion.
3430 score_threshold_flag
3434 Type: number
3435 Default: 9999
3436 Messages which have been assigned a score greater than or equal
3438 to this variable's value are automatically marked ”flagged”.
3439 score_threshold_read
3443 Type: number
3444 Default: -1
3445 Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than
3447 the value of this variable are automatically marked as read by
3448 mutt. Since mutt scores are always greater than or equal to
3449 zero, the default setting of this variable will never mark a
3450 message read.
3451 search_context
3455 Type: number
3456 Default: 0
3457 For the pager, this variable specifies the number of lines shown
3459 before search results. By default, search results will be
3460 top-aligned.
3461 send_charset
3465 Type: string
3466 Default: “us-ascii:iso-8859-1:utf-8”
3467 A colon-delimited list of character sets for outgoing messages.
3469 Mutt will use the first character set into which the text can be
3470 converted exactly. If your $charset is not “iso-8859-1” and
3471 recipients may not understand “UTF-8”, it is advisable to
3472 include in the list an appropriate widely used standard charac‐
3473 ter set (such as “iso-8859-2”, “koi8-r” or “iso-2022-jp”) either
3474 instead of or after “iso-8859-1”.
3475 In case the text cannot be converted into one of these exactly,
3477 mutt uses $charset as a fallback.
3478 sendmail
3482 Type: path
3483 Default: “/usr/sbin/sendmail -oem -oi”
3484 Specifies the program and arguments used to deliver mail sent by
3486 Mutt. Mutt expects that the specified program interprets addi‐
3487 tional arguments as recipient addresses.
3488 sendmail_wait
3492 Type: number
3493 Default: 0
3494 Specifies the number of seconds to wait for the $sendmail
3496 process to finish before giving up and putting delivery in the
3497 background.
3498 Mutt interprets the value of this variable as follows:
3500 >0 number of seconds to wait for sendmail to finish before
3501 continuing
3502 0 wait forever for sendmail to finish
3503 <0 always put sendmail in the background without waiting
3504 Note that if you specify a value other than 0, the output of the
3506 child process will be put in a temporary file. If there is some
3507 error, you will be informed as to where to find the output.
3508 shell
3512 Type: path
3513 Default: “”
3514 Command to use when spawning a subshell. By default, the user's
3516 login shell from /etc/passwd is used.
3517 sig_dashes
3521 Type: boolean
3522 Default: yes
3523 If set, a line containing “-- ” (note the trailing space) will
3525 be inserted before your $signature. It is strongly recommended
3526 that you not unset this variable unless your signature contains
3527 just your name. The reason for this is because many software
3528 packages use “-- \n” to detect your signature. For example,
3529 Mutt has the ability to highlight the signature in a different
3530 color in the built-in pager.
3531 sig_on_top
3535 Type: boolean
3536 Default: no
3537 If set, the signature will be included before any quoted or for‐
3539 warded text. It is strongly recommended that you do not set
3540 this variable unless you really know what you are doing, and are
3541 prepared to take some heat from netiquette guardians.
3542 signature
3546 Type: path
3547 Default: “~/.signature”
3548 Specifies the filename of your signature, which is appended to
3550 all outgoing messages. If the filename ends with a pipe (“|”),
3551 it is assumed that filename is a shell command and input should
3552 be read from its standard output.
3553 simple_search
3557 Type: string
3558 Default: “~f %s | ~s %s”
3559 Specifies how Mutt should expand a simple search into a real
3561 search pattern. A simple search is one that does not contain
3562 any of the “~” pattern operators. See “patterns” for more
3563 information on search patterns.
3564 For example, if you simply type “joe” at a search or limit
3566 prompt, Mutt will automatically expand it to the value specified
3567 by this variable by replacing “%s” with the supplied string.
3568 For the default value, “joe” would be expanded to: “~f joe | ~s
3569 joe”.
3570 sleep_time
3574 Type: number
3575 Default: 1
3576 Specifies time, in seconds, to pause while displaying certain
3578 informational messages, while moving from folder to folder and
3579 after expunging messages from the current folder. The default
3580 is to pause one second, so a value of zero for this option sup‐
3581 presses the pause.
3582 smart_wrap
3586 Type: boolean
3587 Default: yes
3588 Controls the display of lines longer than the screen width in
3590 the internal pager. If set, long lines are wrapped at a word
3591 boundary. If unset, lines are simply wrapped at the screen
3592 edge. Also see the $markers variable.
3593 smileys
3597 Type: regular expression
3598 Default: “(>From )|(:[-^]?[][)(><}{|/DP])”
3599 The pager uses this variable to catch some common false posi‐
3601 tives of $quote_regexp, most notably smileys and not consider a
3602 line quoted text if it also matches $smileys. This mostly hap‐
3603 pens at the beginning of a line.
3604 smime_ask_cert_label
3608 Type: boolean
3609 Default: yes
3610 This flag controls whether you want to be asked to enter a label
3612 for a certificate about to be added to the database or not. It
3613 is set by default. (S/MIME only)
3614 smime_ca_location
3618 Type: path
3619 Default: “”
3620 This variable contains the name of either a directory, or a file
3622 which contains trusted certificates for use with OpenSSL.
3623 (S/MIME only)
3624 smime_certificates
3628 Type: path
3629 Default: “”
3630 Since for S/MIME there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, mutt
3632 has to handle storage and retrieval of keys by itself. This is
3633 very basic right now, and keys and certificates are stored in
3634 two different directories, both named as the hash-value
3635 retrieved from OpenSSL. There is an index file which contains
3636 mailbox-address keyid pairs, and which can be manually edited.
3637 This option points to the location of the certificates. (S/MIME
3638 only)
3639 smime_decrypt_command
3643 Type: string
3644 Default: “”
3645 This format string specifies a command which is used to decrypt
3647 application/x-pkcs7-mime attachments.
3648 The OpenSSL command formats have their own set of printf(3)-like
3650 sequences similar to PGP's:
3651 %f Expands to the name of a file containing a message.
3652 %s Expands to the name of a file containing the signature
3653 part
3654 of a multipart/signed attachment when verify‐
3655 ing it.
3656 %k The key-pair specified with $smime_default_key
3657 %c One or more certificate IDs.
3658 %a The algorithm used for encryption.
3659 %C CA location: Depending on whether $smime_ca_location
3660 points to a directory or file, this expands to
3661 “-CApath $smime_ca_location” or “-CAfile
3662 $smime_ca_location”.
3663 For examples on how to configure these formats, see the smime.rc
3665 in the samples/ subdirectory which has been installed on your
3666 system alongside the documentation. (S/MIME only)
3667 smime_decrypt_use_default_key
3671 Type: boolean
3672 Default: yes
3673 If set (default) this tells mutt to use the default key for
3675 decryption. Otherwise, if managing multiple certifi‐
3676 cate-key-pairs, mutt will try to use the mailbox-address to
3677 determine the key to use. It will ask you to supply a key, if it
3678 can't find one. (S/MIME only)
3679 smime_default_key
3683 Type: string
3684 Default: “”
3685 This is the default key-pair to use for signing. This must be
3687 set to the keyid (the hash-value that OpenSSL generates) to work
3688 properly (S/MIME only)
3689 smime_encrypt_command
3693 Type: string
3694 Default: “”
3695 This command is used to create encrypted S/MIME messages.
3697 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
3699 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
3700 smime_encrypt_with
3704 Type: string
3705 Default: “”
3706 This sets the algorithm that should be used for encryption.
3708 Valid choices are “des”, “des3”, “rc2-40”, “rc2-64”, “rc2-128”.
3709 If unset, “3des” (TripleDES) is used. (S/MIME only)
3710 smime_get_cert_command
3714 Type: string
3715 Default: “”
3716 This command is used to extract X509 certificates from a PKCS7
3718 structure.
3719 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
3721 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
3722 smime_get_cert_email_command
3726 Type: string
3727 Default: “”
3728 This command is used to extract the mail address(es) used for
3730 storing X509 certificates, and for verification purposes (to
3731 check whether the certificate was issued for the sender's mail‐
3732 box).
3733 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
3735 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
3736 smime_get_signer_cert_command
3740 Type: string
3741 Default: “”
3742 This command is used to extract only the signers X509 certifi‐
3744 cate from a S/MIME signature, so that the certificate's owner
3745 may get compared to the email's “From:” field.
3746 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
3748 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
3749 smime_import_cert_command
3753 Type: string
3754 Default: “”
3755 This command is used to import a certificate via smime_keys.
3757 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
3759 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
3760 smime_is_default
3764 Type: boolean
3765 Default: no
3766 The default behavior of mutt is to use PGP on all
3768 auto-sign/encryption operations. To override and to use OpenSSL
3769 instead this must be set. However, this has no effect while
3770 replying, since mutt will automatically select the same applica‐
3771 tion that was used to sign/encrypt the original message. (Note
3772 that this variable can be overridden by unsetting
3773 $crypt_autosmime.) (S/MIME only)
3774 smime_keys
3778 Type: path
3779 Default: “”
3780 Since for S/MIME there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, mutt
3782 has to handle storage and retrieval of keys/certs by itself.
3783 This is very basic right now, and stores keys and certificates
3784 in two different directories, both named as the hash-value
3785 retrieved from OpenSSL. There is an index file which contains
3786 mailbox-address keyid pair, and which can be manually edited.
3787 This option points to the location of the private keys. (S/MIME
3788 only)
3789 smime_pk7out_command
3793 Type: string
3794 Default: “”
3795 This command is used to extract PKCS7 structures of S/MIME sig‐
3797 natures, in order to extract the public X509 certificate(s).
3798 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
3800 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
3801 smime_sign_command
3805 Type: string
3806 Default: “”
3807 This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type multi‐
3809 part/signed, which can be read by all mail clients.
3810 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
3812 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
3813 smime_sign_opaque_command
3817 Type: string
3818 Default: “”
3819 This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type appli‐
3821 cation/x-pkcs7-signature, which can only be handled by mail
3822 clients supporting the S/MIME extension.
3823 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
3825 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
3826 smime_timeout
3830 Type: number
3831 Default: 300
3832 The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will
3834 expire if not used. (S/MIME only)
3835 smime_verify_command
3839 Type: string
3840 Default: “”
3841 This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type multi‐
3843 part/signed.
3844 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
3846 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
3847 smime_verify_opaque_command
3851 Type: string
3852 Default: “”
3853 This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type appli‐
3855 cation/x-pkcs7-mime.
3856 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
3858 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
3859 smtp_authenticators
3863 Type: string
3864 Default: “”
3865 This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt
3867 may attempt to use to log in to an SMTP server, in the order
3868 mutt should try them. Authentication methods are any SASL mech‐
3869 anism, e.g. “digest-md5”, “gssapi” or “cram-md5”. This option
3870 is case-insensitive. If it is “unset” (the default) mutt will
3871 try all available methods, in order from most-secure to
3872 least-secure.
3873 Example:
3875 set smtp_authenticators=”digest-md5:cram-md5”
3878 smtp_pass
3884 Type: string
3885 Default: “”
3886 Specifies the password for your SMTP account. If unset, Mutt
3888 will prompt you for your password when you first send mail via
3889 SMTP. See $smtp_url to configure mutt to send mail via SMTP.
3890 Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a
3892 fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your mut‐
3893 trc even if you are the only one who can read the file.
3894 smtp_url
3898 Type: string
3899 Default: “”
3900 Defines the SMTP smarthost where sent messages should relayed
3902 for delivery. This should take the form of an SMTP URL, e.g.:
3903 smtp[s]://[user[:pass]@]host[:port]
3906 where “[...]” denotes an optional part. Setting this variable
3910 overrides the value of the $sendmail variable.
3911 sort
3915 Type: sort order
3916 Default: date
3917 Specifies how to sort messages in the “index” menu. Valid val‐
3919 ues are:
3920 ‐ date or date-sent
3921 ‐ date-received
3922 ‐ from
3923 ‐ mailbox-order (unsorted)
3924 ‐ score
3925 ‐ size
3926 ‐ spam
3927 ‐ subject
3928 ‐ threads
3929 ‐ to
3930 You may optionally use the “reverse-” prefix to specify reverse
3932 sorting order (example: “set sort=reverse-date-sent”).
3933 sort_alias
3937 Type: sort order
3938 Default: alias
3939 Specifies how the entries in the “alias” menu are sorted. The
3941 following are legal values:
3942 ‐ address (sort alphabetically by email address)
3943 ‐ alias (sort alphabetically by alias name)
3944 ‐ unsorted (leave in order specified in .muttrc)
3945 sort_aux
3948 Type: sort order
3949 Default: date
3950 When sorting by threads, this variable controls how threads are
3952 sorted in relation to other threads, and how the branches of the
3953 thread trees are sorted. This can be set to any value that
3954 $sort can, except “threads” (in that case, mutt will just use
3955 “date-sent”). You can also specify the “last-” prefix in addi‐
3956 tion to the “reverse-” prefix, but “last-” must come after
3957 “reverse-”. The “last-” prefix causes messages to be sorted
3958 against its siblings by which has the last descendant, using the
3959 rest of $sort_aux as an ordering. For instance,
3960 set sort_aux=last-date-received
3963 would mean that if a new message is received in a thread, that
3967 thread becomes the last one displayed (or the first, if you have
3968 “set sort=reverse-threads”.)
3969 Note: For reversed $sort order $sort_aux is reversed again
3971 (which is not the right thing to do, but kept to not break any
3972 existing configuration setting).
3973 sort_browser
3977 Type: sort order
3978 Default: alpha
3979 Specifies how to sort entries in the file browser. By default,
3981 the entries are sorted alphabetically. Valid values:
3982 ‐ alpha (alphabetically)
3983 ‐ date
3984 ‐ size
3985 ‐ unsorted
3986 You may optionally use the “reverse-” prefix to specify reverse
3988 sorting order (example: “set sort_browser=reverse-date”).
3989 sort_re
3993 Type: boolean
3994 Default: yes
3995 This variable is only useful when sorting by threads with
3997 $strict_threads unset. In that case, it changes the heuristic
3998 mutt uses to thread messages by subject. With $sort_re set,
3999 mutt will only attach a message as the child of another message
4000 by subject if the subject of the child message starts with a
4001 substring matching the setting of $reply_regexp. With $sort_re
4002 unset, mutt will attach the message whether or not this is the
4003 case, as long as the non-$reply_regexp parts of both messages
4004 are identical.
4005 spam_separator
4009 Type: string
4010 Default: “,”
4011 This variable controls what happens when multiple spam headers
4013 are matched: if unset, each successive header will overwrite any
4014 previous matches value for the spam label. If set, each succes‐
4015 sive match will append to the previous, using this variable's
4016 value as a separator.
4017 spoolfile
4021 Type: path
4022 Default: “”
4023 If your spool mailbox is in a non-default place where Mutt can‐
4025 not find it, you can specify its location with this variable.
4026 Mutt will initially set this variable to the value of the envi‐
4027 ronment variable $MAIL or $MAILDIR if either is defined.
4028 ssl_ca_certificates_file
4032 Type: path
4033 Default: “/etc/pki/tls/certs/ca-bundle.crt”
4034 This variable specifies a file containing trusted CA certifi‐
4036 cates. Any server certificate that is signed with one of these
4037 CA certificates is also automatically accepted.
4038 Example:
4040 set ssl_ca_certificates_file=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
4043 ssl_client_cert
4049 Type: path
4050 Default: “”
4051 The file containing a client certificate and its associated pri‐
4053 vate key.
4054 ssl_force_tls
4058 Type: boolean
4059 Default: no
4060 If this variable is set, Mutt will require that all connections
4062 to remote servers be encrypted. Furthermore it will attempt to
4063 negotiate TLS even if the server does not advertise the capabil‐
4064 ity, since it would otherwise have to abort the connection any‐
4065 way. This option supersedes $ssl_starttls.
4066 ssl_min_dh_prime_bits
4070 Type: number
4071 Default: 0
4072 This variable specifies the minimum acceptable prime size (in
4074 bits) for use in any Diffie-Hellman key exchange. A value of 0
4075 will use the default from the GNUTLS library.
4076 ssl_starttls
4080 Type: quadoption
4081 Default: yes
4082 If set (the default), mutt will attempt to use STARTTLS on
4084 servers advertising the capability. When unset, mutt will not
4085 attempt to use STARTTLS regardless of the server's capabilities.
4086 ssl_use_sslv3
4090 Type: boolean
4091 Default: yes
4092 This variable specifies whether to attempt to use SSLv3 in the
4094 SSL authentication process.
4095 ssl_use_tlsv1
4099 Type: boolean
4100 Default: yes
4101 This variable specifies whether to attempt to use TLSv1 in the
4103 SSL authentication process.
4104 ssl_use_tlsv1_1
4108 Type: boolean
4109 Default: yes
4110 This variable specifies whether to attempt to use TLSv1.1 in the
4112 SSL authentication process.
4113 ssl_use_tlsv1_2
4117 Type: boolean
4118 Default: yes
4119 This variable specifies whether to attempt to use TLSv1.2 in the
4121 SSL authentication process.
4122 ssl_verify_dates
4126 Type: boolean
4127 Default: yes
4128 If set (the default), mutt will not automatically accept a
4130 server certificate that is either not yet valid or already
4131 expired. You should only unset this for particular known hosts,
4132 using the <account-hook> function.
4133 ssl_verify_host
4137 Type: boolean
4138 Default: yes
4139 If set (the default), mutt will not automatically accept a
4141 server certificate whose host name does not match the host used
4142 in your folder URL. You should only unset this for particular
4143 known hosts, using the <account-hook> function.
4144 status_chars
4148 Type: string
4149 Default: “-*%A”
4150 Controls the characters used by the “%r” indicator in $sta‐
4152 tus_format. The first character is used when the mailbox is
4153 unchanged. The second is used when the mailbox has been changed,
4154 and it needs to be resynchronized. The third is used if the
4155 mailbox is in read-only mode, or if the mailbox will not be
4156 written when exiting that mailbox (You can toggle whether to
4157 write changes to a mailbox with the <toggle-write> operation,
4158 bound by default to “%”). The fourth is used to indicate that
4159 the current folder has been opened in attach- message mode (Cer‐
4160 tain operations like composing a new mail, replying, forwarding,
4161 etc. are not permitted in this mode).
4162 status_format
4166 Type: string
4167 Default: “-%r-Mutt: %f [Msgs:%?M?%M/?%m%?n? New:%n?%?o? Old:%o?%?d? Del:%d?%?F? Flag:%F?%?t? Tag:%t?%?p? Post:%p?%?b? Inc:%b?%?l? %l?]---(%s/%S)-%>-(%P)---”
4168 Controls the format of the status line displayed in the “index”
4170 menu. This string is similar to $index_format, but has its own
4171 set of printf(3)-like sequences:
4172 %b number of mailboxes with new mail *
4173 %d number of deleted messages *
4174 %f the full pathname of the current mailbox
4175 %F number of flagged messages *
4176 %h local hostname
4177 %l size (in bytes) of the current mailbox *
4178 %L size (in bytes) of the messages shown (i.e., which match
4179 the current limit) *
4180 %m the number of messages in the mailbox *
4181 %M the number of messages shown (i.e., which match the cur‐
4182 rent limit) *
4183 %n number of new messages in the mailbox *
4184 %o number of old unread messages *
4185 %p number of postponed messages *
4186 %P percentage of the way through the index
4187 %r modified/read-only/won't-write/attach-message indicator,
4188 according to $status_chars
4189 %s current sorting mode ($sort)
4190 %S current aux sorting method ($sort_aux)
4191 %t number of tagged messages *
4192 %u number of unread messages *
4193 %v Mutt version string
4194 %V currently active limit pattern, if any *
4195 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with “X”
4196 %|X pad to the end of the line with “X”
4197 %*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
4198 For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the $index_format docu‐
4200 mentation.
4201 * = can be optionally printed if nonzero
4203 Some of the above sequences can be used to optionally print a
4205 string if their value is nonzero. For example, you may only
4206 want to see the number of flagged messages if such messages
4207 exist, since zero is not particularly meaningful. To optionally
4208 print a string based upon one of the above sequences, the fol‐
4209 lowing construct is used:
4210 %?<sequence_char>?<optional_string>?
4212 where sequence_char is a character from the table above, and
4214 optional_string is the string you would like printed if
4215 sequence_char is nonzero. optional_string may contain other
4216 sequences as well as normal text, but you may not nest optional
4217 strings.
4218 Here is an example illustrating how to optionally print the num‐
4220 ber of new messages in a mailbox:
4221 %?n?%n new messages.?
4223 You can also switch between two strings using the following con‐
4225 struct:
4226 %?<sequence_char>?<if_string>&<else_string>?
4228 If the value of sequence_char is non-zero, if_string will be
4230 expanded, otherwise else_string will be expanded.
4231 You can force the result of any printf(3)-like sequence to be
4233 lowercase by prefixing the sequence character with an underscore
4234 (“_”) sign. For example, if you want to display the local host‐
4235 name in lowercase, you would use: “%_h”.
4236 If you prefix the sequence character with a colon (“:”) charac‐
4238 ter, mutt will replace any dots in the expansion by underscores.
4239 This might be helpful with IMAP folders that don't like dots in
4240 folder names.
4241 status_on_top
4245 Type: boolean
4246 Default: no
4247 Setting this variable causes the “status bar” to be displayed on
4249 the first line of the screen rather than near the bottom. If
4250 $help is set, too it'll be placed at the bottom.
4251 strict_threads
4255 Type: boolean
4256 Default: no
4257 If set, threading will only make use of the “In-Reply-To” and
4259 “References:” fields when you $sort by message threads. By
4260 default, messages with the same subject are grouped together in
4261 “pseudo threads.”. This may not always be desirable, such as in
4262 a personal mailbox where you might have several unrelated mes‐
4263 sages with the subjects like “hi” which will get grouped
4264 together. See also $sort_re for a less drastic way of control‐
4265 ling this behavior.
4266 suspend
4270 Type: boolean
4271 Default: yes
4272 When unset, mutt won't stop when the user presses the terminal's
4274 susp key, usually “^Z”. This is useful if you run mutt inside an
4275 xterm using a command like “xterm -e mutt”.
4276 text_flowed
4280 Type: boolean
4281 Default: no
4282 When set, mutt will generate “format=flowed” bodies with a con‐
4284 tent type of “text/plain; format=flowed”. This format is easier
4285 to handle for some mailing software, and generally just looks
4286 like ordinary text. To actually make use of this format's fea‐
4287 tures, you'll need support in your editor.
4288 Note that $indent_string is ignored when this option is set.
4290 thorough_search
4294 Type: boolean
4295 Default: yes
4296 Affects the ~b and ~h search operations described in section
4298 “patterns”. If set, the headers and body/attachments of mes‐
4299 sages to be searched are decoded before searching. If unset,
4300 messages are searched as they appear in the folder.
4301 Users searching attachments or for non-ASCII characters should
4303 set this value because decoding also includes MIME pars‐
4304 ing/decoding and possible character set conversions. Otherwise
4305 mutt will attempt to match against the raw message received (for
4306 example quoted-printable encoded or with encoded headers) which
4307 may lead to incorrect search results.
4308 thread_received
4312 Type: boolean
4313 Default: no
4314 When set, mutt uses the date received rather than the date sent
4316 to thread messages by subject.
4317 tilde
4321 Type: boolean
4322 Default: no
4323 When set, the internal-pager will pad blank lines to the bottom
4325 of the screen with a tilde (“~”).
4326 time_inc
4330 Type: number
4331 Default: 0
4332 Along with $read_inc, $write_inc, and $net_inc, this variable
4334 controls the frequency with which progress updates are dis‐
4335 played. It suppresses updates less than $time_inc milliseconds
4336 apart. This can improve throughput on systems with slow termi‐
4337 nals, or when running mutt on a remote system.
4338 Also see the “tuning” section of the manual for performance con‐
4340 siderations.
4341 timeout
4345 Type: number
4346 Default: 600
4347 When Mutt is waiting for user input either idling in menus or in
4349 an interactive prompt, Mutt would block until input is present.
4350 Depending on the context, this would prevent certain operations
4351 from working, like checking for new mail or keeping an IMAP con‐
4352 nection alive.
4353 This variable controls how many seconds Mutt will at most wait
4355 until it aborts waiting for input, performs these operations and
4356 continues to wait for input.
4357 A value of zero or less will cause Mutt to never time out.
4359 tmpdir
4363 Type: path
4364 Default: “”
4365 This variable allows you to specify where Mutt will place its
4367 temporary files needed for displaying and composing messages.
4368 If this variable is not set, the environment variable $TMPDIR is
4369 used. If $TMPDIR is not set then “/var/tmp” is used.
4370 to_chars
4374 Type: string
4375 Default: “ +TCFL”
4376 Controls the character used to indicate mail addressed to you.
4378 The first character is the one used when the mail is not
4379 addressed to your address. The second is used when you are the
4380 only recipient of the message. The third is when your address
4381 appears in the “To:” header field, but you are not the only
4382 recipient of the message. The fourth character is used when
4383 your address is specified in the “Cc:” header field, but you are
4384 not the only recipient. The fifth character is used to indicate
4385 mail that was sent by you. The sixth character is used to indi‐
4386 cate when a mail was sent to a mailing-list you subscribe to.
4387 tunnel
4391 Type: string
4392 Default: “”
4393 Setting this variable will cause mutt to open a pipe to a com‐
4395 mand instead of a raw socket. You may be able to use this to set
4396 up preauthenticated connections to your IMAP/POP3/SMTP server.
4397 Example:
4398 set tunnel=”ssh -q mailhost.net /usr/local/libexec/imapd”
4401 Note: For this example to work you must be able to log in to the
4405 remote machine without having to enter a password.
4406 When set, Mutt uses the tunnel for all remote connections.
4408 Please see “account-hook” in the manual for how to use different
4409 tunnel commands per connection.
4410 uncollapse_jump
4414 Type: boolean
4415 Default: no
4416 When set, Mutt will jump to the next unread message, if any,
4418 when the current thread is uncollapsed.
4419 use_8bitmime
4423 Type: boolean
4424 Default: no
4425 Warning: do not set this variable unless you are using a version
4427 of sendmail which supports the -B8BITMIME flag (such as sendmail
4428 8.8.x) or you may not be able to send mail.
4429 When set, Mutt will invoke $sendmail with the -B8BITMIME flag
4431 when sending 8-bit messages to enable ESMTP negotiation.
4432 use_domain
4436 Type: boolean
4437 Default: yes
4438 When set, Mutt will qualify all local addresses (ones without
4440 the “@host” portion) with the value of $hostname. If unset, no
4441 addresses will be qualified.
4442 use_envelope_from
4446 Type: boolean
4447 Default: no
4448 When set, mutt will set the envelope sender of the message. If
4450 $envelope_from_address is set, it will be used as the sender
4451 address. If unset, mutt will attempt to derive the sender from
4452 the “From:” header.
4453 Note that this information is passed to sendmail command using
4455 the -f command line switch. Therefore setting this option is not
4456 useful if the $sendmail variable already contains -f or if the
4457 executable pointed to by $sendmail doesn't support the -f
4458 switch.
4459 use_from
4463 Type: boolean
4464 Default: yes
4465 When set, Mutt will generate the “From:” header field when send‐
4467 ing messages. If unset, no “From:” header field will be gener‐
4468 ated unless the user explicitly sets one using the “my_hdr” com‐
4469 mand.
4470 use_idn
4474 Type: boolean
4475 Default: yes
4476 When set, Mutt will show you international domain names decoded.
4478 Note: You can use IDNs for addresses even if this is unset.
4479 This variable only affects decoding.
4480 use_ipv6
4484 Type: boolean
4485 Default: yes
4486 When set, Mutt will look for IPv6 addresses of hosts it tries to
4488 contact. If this option is unset, Mutt will restrict itself to
4489 IPv4 addresses. Normally, the default should work.
4490 user_agent
4494 Type: boolean
4495 Default: yes
4496 When set, mutt will add a “User-Agent:” header to outgoing mes‐
4498 sages, indicating which version of mutt was used for composing
4499 them.
4500 visual
4504 Type: path
4505 Default: “”
4506 Specifies the visual editor to invoke when the “~v” command is
4508 given in the built-in editor.
4509 wait_key
4513 Type: boolean
4514 Default: yes
4515 Controls whether Mutt will ask you to press a key after an
4517 external command has been invoked by these functions:
4518 <shell-escape>, <pipe-message>, <pipe-entry>, <print-message>,
4519 and <print-entry> commands.
4520 It is also used when viewing attachments with “auto_view”, pro‐
4522 vided that the corresponding mailcap entry has a needsterminal
4523 flag, and the external program is interactive.
4524 When set, Mutt will always ask for a key. When unset, Mutt will
4526 wait for a key only if the external command returned a non-zero
4527 status.
4528 weed
4532 Type: boolean
4533 Default: yes
4534 When set, mutt will weed headers when displaying, forwarding,
4536 printing, or replying to messages.
4537 wrap
4541 Type: number
4542 Default: 0
4543 When set to a positive value, mutt will wrap text at $wrap char‐
4545 acters. When set to a negative value, mutt will wrap text so
4546 that there are $wrap characters of empty space on the right side
4547 of the terminal. Setting it to zero makes mutt wrap at the ter‐
4548 minal width.
4549 wrap_headers
4553 Type: number
4554 Default: 78
4555 This option specifies the number of characters to use for wrap‐
4557 ping an outgoing message's headers. Allowed values are between
4558 78 and 998 inclusive.
4559 Note: This option usually shouldn't be changed. RFC5233 recom‐
4561 mends a line length of 78 (the default), so please only change
4562 this setting when you know what you're doing.
4563 wrap_search
4567 Type: boolean
4568 Default: yes
4569 Controls whether searches wrap around the end.
4571 When set, searches will wrap around the first (or last) item.
4573 When unset, incremental searches will not wrap.
4574 wrapmargin
4578 Type: number
4579 Default: 0
4580 (DEPRECATED) Equivalent to setting $wrap with a negative value.
4582 write_bcc
4586 Type: boolean
4587 Default: yes
4588 Controls whether mutt writes out the “Bcc:” header when prepar‐
4590 ing messages to be sent. Exim users may wish to unset this. If
4591 mutt is set to deliver directly via SMTP (see $smtp_url), this
4592 option does nothing: mutt will never write out the “Bcc:” header
4593 in this case.
4594 write_inc
4598 Type: number
4599 Default: 10
4600 When writing a mailbox, a message will be printed every
4602 $write_inc messages to indicate progress. If set to 0, only a
4603 single message will be displayed before writing a mailbox.
4604 Also see the $read_inc, $net_inc and $time_inc variables and the
4606 “tuning” section of the manual for performance considerations.
4607
4611 iconv(1), iconv(3), mailcap(5), maildir(5), mbox(5), mutt(1),
4612 printf(3), regex(7), strftime(3)
4613 The Mutt Manual
4615 The Mutt home page: http://www.mutt.org/
4617
4619 Michael Elkins, and others. Use <mutt-dev@mutt.org> to contact the
4620 developers.
4621Unix September 2002 muttrc(5)