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 [ attribute ... ] foreground background [ regexp ]
173 color index [ attribute ... ] foreground background [ pattern ]
174 color compose composeobject [ attribute ... ] foreground background
175 uncolor index pattern [ pattern ... ]
176 If your terminal supports color, these commands can be used to
178 assign foreground/background combinations to certain objects.
179 Valid objects are: attachment, body, bold, error, header, hdrde‐
180 fault, index, indicator, markers, message, normal, prompt,
181 quoted, quotedN, search, signature, status, tilde, tree, under‐
182 line. If the sidebar is enabled the following objects are also
183 valid: sidebar_divider, sidebar_flagged, sidebar_highlight,
184 sidebar_indicator, sidebar_new, sidebar_spoolfile. The body and
185 header objects allow you to restrict the colorization to a regu‐
186 lar expression. The index object permits you to select colored
187 messages by pattern.
188 Valid composeobjects include header, security_encrypt, secu‐
190 rity_sign, security_both, security_none.
191 Valid colors include: white, black, green, magenta, blue, cyan,
193 yellow, red, default, colorN.
194 Valid attributes include: none, bold, underline, reverse, and
196 standout.
197 mono object attribute [ regexp ]
199 mono index attribute [ pattern ]
200 For terminals which don't support color, you can still assign
202 attributes to objects.
203 [un]ignore pattern [ pattern ... ]
205 The ignore command permits you to specify header fields which
206 you usually don't wish to see. Any header field whose tag
207 begins with an “ignored” pattern will be ignored.
208 The unignore command permits you to define exceptions from the
210 above mentioned list of ignored headers.
211 lists [-group name] regexp [ regexp ... ]
213 unlists regexp [ regexp ... ]
214 subscribe [-group name] regexp [ regexp ... ]
215 unsubscribe regexp [ regexp ... ]
216 Mutt maintains two lists of mailing list address patterns, a
218 list of subscribed mailing lists, and a list of known mailing
219 lists. All subscribed mailing lists are known. Patterns use
220 regular expressions.
221 The lists command adds a mailing list address to the list of
223 known mailing lists. The unlists command removes a mailing list
224 from the lists of known and subscribed mailing lists. The sub‐
225 scribe command adds a mailing list to the lists of known and
226 subscribed mailing lists. The unsubscribe command removes it
227 from the list of subscribed mailing lists. The -group flag adds
228 all of the subsequent regular expressions to the named group.
229 mbox-hook [!]regexp mailbox
231 When mutt changes to a mail folder which matches regexp, mailbox
232 will be used as the “mbox” folder, i.e., read messages will be
233 moved to that folder when the mail folder is left.
234 The first matching mbox-hook applies.
236 mailboxes filename [ filename ... ]
238 unmailboxes [ * | filename ... ]
239 The mailboxes specifies folders which can receive mail and which
241 will be checked for new messages. When changing folders, press‐
242 ing space will cycle through folders with new mail. The unmail‐
243 boxes command is used to remove a file name from the list of
244 folders which can receive mail. If "*" is specified as the file
245 name, the list is emptied.
246 my_hdr string
248 unmy_hdr field
249 Using my_hdr, you can define headers which will be added to the
251 messages you compose. unmy_hdr will remove the given user-
252 defined headers.
253 hdr_order header1 header2 [ ... ]
255 With this command, you can specify an order in which mutt will
256 attempt to present headers to you when viewing messages.
257 save-hook [!]pattern filename
259 When a message matches pattern, the default file name when sav‐
260 ing it will be the given filename.
261 fcc-hook [!]pattern filename
263 When an outgoing message matches pattern, the default file name
264 for storing a copy (fcc) will be the given filename.
265 fcc-save-hook [!]pattern filename
267 This command is an abbreviation for identical fcc-hook and save-
268 hook commands.
269 send-hook [!]pattern command
271 When composing a message matching pattern, command is executed.
272 When multiple send-hooks match, they are executed in the order
273 in which they occur in the configuration file.
274 send2-hook [!]pattern command
276 Whenever a message matching pattern is changed (either by edit‐
277 ing it or by using the compose menu), command is executed. When
278 multiple send2-hooks match, they are executed in the order in
279 which they occur in the configuration file. Possible applica‐
280 tions include setting the $sendmail variable when a message's
281 from header is changed.
282 send2-hook execution is not triggered by use of enter-command
284 from the compose menu.
285 reply-hook [!]pattern command
287 When replying to a message matching pattern, command is exe‐
288 cuted. When multiple reply-hooks match, they are executed in
289 the order in which they occur in the configuration file, but all
290 reply-hooks are matched and executed before send-hooks, regard‐
291 less of their order in the configuration file.
292 crypt-hook regexp key-id
294 The crypt-hook command provides a method by which you can spec‐
295 ify the ID of the public key to be used when encrypting messages
296 to a certain recipient. The meaning of "key ID" is to be taken
297 broadly: This can be a different e-mail address, a numerical key
298 ID, or even just an arbitrary search string. You may use multi‐
299 ple crypt-hooks with the same regexp; multiple matching crypt-
300 hooks result in the use of multiple key-ids for a recipient.
301 index-format-hook name [!]pattern format-string
303 This command is used to inject format strings dynamically into
304 $index_format based on pattern matching against the current mes‐
305 sage.
306 The $index_format expando %@name@ specifies a placeholder for
308 the injection. Index-format-hooks with the same name are matched
309 using pattern against the current message. Matching is done in
310 the order specified in the .muttrc, with the first match being
311 used. The hook's format-string is then substituted and evalu‐
312 ated.
313 open-hook regexp "command"
315 close-hook regexp "command"
316 append-hook regexp "command"
317 These commands provide a way to handle compressed folders. The
319 given regexp specifies which folders are taken as compressed
320 (e.g. "\\.gz$"). The commands tell Mutt how to uncompress a
321 folder (open-hook), compress a folder (close-hook) or append a
322 compressed mail to a compressed folder (append-hook). The com‐
323 mand string is the printf(3) like format string, and it should
324 accept two parameters: %f, which is replaced with the (com‐
325 pressed) folder name, and %t which is replaced with the name of
326 the temporary folder to which to write.
327 push string
329 This command adds the named string to the keyboard buffer.
330 set [no|inv|&|?]variable[=value] [ ... ]
332 toggle variable [ ... ]
333 unset variable [ ... ]
334 reset variable [ ... ]
335 These commands are used to set and manipulate configuration
337 variables.
338 Mutt knows four basic types of variables: boolean, number,
340 string and quadoption. Boolean variables can be set (true),
341 unset (false), or toggled. Number variables can be assigned a
342 positive integer value.
343 String variables consist of any number of printable characters.
345 Strings must be enclosed in quotes if they contain spaces or
346 tabs. You may also use the “C” escape sequences \n and \t for
347 newline and tab, respectively.
348 Quadoption variables are used to control whether or not to be
350 prompted for certain actions, or to specify a default action. A
351 value of yes will cause the action to be carried out automati‐
352 cally as if you had answered yes to the question. Similarly, a
353 value of no will cause the the action to be carried out as if
354 you had answered “no.” A value of ask-yes will cause a prompt
355 with a default answer of “yes” and ask-no will provide a default
356 answer of “no.”
357 The reset command resets all given variables to the compile time
359 defaults. If you reset the special variable all, all variables
360 will reset to their compile time defaults.
361 source filename
363 The given file will be evaluated as a configuration file.
364 spam pattern format
366 nospam pattern
367 These commands define spam-detection patterns from external spam
369 filters, so that mutt can sort, limit, and search on ``spam
370 tags'' or ``spam attributes'', or display them in the index. See
371 the Mutt manual for details.
372 subjectrx pattern replacement
374 unsubjectrx [ * | pattern ]
375 subjectrx specifies a regular expression pattern which, if
377 detected in a message subject, causes the subject to be replaced
378 with the replacement value. The replacement is subject to sub‐
379 stitutions in the same way as for the spam command: %L for the
380 text to the left of the match, %R for text to the right of the
381 match, and %1 for the first subgroup in the match (etc). If you
382 simply want to erase the match, set it to “%L%R”. Any number of
383 subjectrx commands may coexist.
384 Note this well: the replacement value replaces the entire sub‐
386 ject, not just the match!
387 unsubjectrx removes a given subjectrx from the substitution
389 list. If * is used as the pattern, all substitutions will be
390 removed.
391 unhook [ * | hook-type ]
393 This command will remove all hooks of a given type, or all hooks
394 when “*” is used as an argument. hook-type can be any of the
395 -hook commands documented above.
396 mailto_allow header-field [ ... ]
398 unmailto_allow [ * | header-field ... ]
399 These commands allow the user to modify the list of allowed
401 header fields in a mailto: URL that Mutt will include in the the
402 generated message. By default the list contains only subject
403 and body, as specified by RFC2368.
404 echo message
406 Prints message to the message window. After printing the mes‐
407 sage, echo will pause for the number of seconds specified by
408 $sleep_time.
409
411 In various places with mutt, including some of the above mentioned hook
412 commands, you can specify patterns to match messages.
413 Constructing Patterns
415 A simple pattern consists of an operator of the form “~character”, pos‐
416 sibly followed by a parameter against which mutt is supposed to match
417 the object specified by this operator. For some characters, the ~ may
418 be replaced by another character to alter the behavior of the match.
419 These are described in the list of operators, below.
420 With some of these operators, the object to be matched consists of sev‐
422 eral e-mail addresses. In these cases, the object is matched if at
423 least one of these e-mail addresses matches. You can prepend a hat
424 (“^”) character to such a pattern to indicate that all addresses must
425 match in order to match the object.
426 You can construct complex patterns by combining simple patterns with
428 logical operators. Logical AND is specified by simply concatenating
429 two simple patterns, for instance “~C mutt-dev ~s bug”. Logical OR is
430 specified by inserting a vertical bar (“|”) between two patterns, for
431 instance “~C mutt-dev | ~s bug”. Additionally, you can negate a pat‐
432 tern by prepending a bang (“!”) character. For logical grouping, use
433 braces (“()”). Example: “!(~t mutt|~c mutt) ~f elkins”.
434 Simple Patterns
436 Mutt understands the following simple patterns:
437 ~A all messages
439 ~b EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the message body.
440 =b STRING If IMAP is enabled, like ~b but searches for STRING on the
441 server, rather than downloading each message and searching
442 it locally.
443 ~B EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the whole message.
444 =B STRING If IMAP is enabled, like ~B but searches for STRING on the
445 server, rather than downloading each message and searching
446 it locally.
447 ~c EXPR messages carbon-copied to EXPR
448 %c GROUP messages carbon-copied to any member of GROUP
449 ~C EXPR messages either to: or cc: EXPR
450 %C GROUP messages either to: or cc: to any member of GROUP
451 ~d MIN-MAX messages with “date-sent” in a Date range
452 ~D deleted messages
453 ~e EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the “Sender” field
454 %e GROUP messages which contain a member of GROUP in the “Sender”
455 field
456 ~E expired messages
457 ~f EXPR messages originating from EXPR
458 %f GROUP messages originating from any member of GROUP
459 ~F flagged messages
460 ~g PGP signed messages
461 ~G PGP encrypted messages
462 ~h EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the message header
463 =h STRING If IMAP is enabled, like ~h but searches for STRING on the
464 server, rather than downloading each message and searching
465 it locally. STRING must be of the form “header: substring”
466 ~H EXPR messages with spam tags matching EXPR
467 ~i EXPR messages which match EXPR in the “Message-ID” field
468 ~k messages containing PGP key material
469 ~l messages addressed to a known mailing list (defined by
470 either subscribe or list)
471 ~L EXPR messages either originated or received by EXPR
472 %L GROUP messages either originated or received by any member of
473 GROUP
474 ~m MIN-MAX message in the range MIN to MAX
475 ~M EXPR messages which contain a mime Content-Type matching EXPR
476 ~n MIN-MAX messages with a score in the range MIN to MAX
477 ~N new messages
478 ~O old messages
479 ~p messages addressed to you (consults $from, alternates, and
480 local account/hostname information)
481 ~P messages from you (consults $from, alternates, and local
482 account/hostname information)
483 ~Q messages which have been replied to
484 ~r MIN-MAX messages with “date-received” in a Date range
485 ~R read messages
486 ~s EXPR messages having EXPR in the “Subject” field.
487 ~S superseded messages
488 ~t EXPR messages addressed to EXPR
489 ~T tagged messages
490 ~u messages addressed to a subscribed mailing list (defined by
491 subscribe commands)
492 ~U unread messages
493 ~v message is part of a collapsed thread.
494 ~V cryptographically verified messages
495 ~x EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the “References” or “In-
496 Reply-To” field
497 ~X MIN-MAX messages with MIN - MAX attachments
498 ~y EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the “X-Label” field
499 ~z MIN-MAX messages with a size in the range MIN to MAX
500 ~= duplicated messages (see $duplicate_threads)
501 ~$ unreferenced message (requires threaded view)
502 ~(PATTERN) messages in threads containing messages matching a certain
503 pattern, e.g. all threads containing messages from you:
504 ~(~P)
505 ~<(PATTERN) messages whose immediate parent matches PATTERN, e.g.
506 replies to your messages: ~<(~P)
507 ~>(PATTERN) messages having an immediate child matching PATTERN, e.g.
508 messages you replied to: ~>(~P)
509 In the above, EXPR is a regular expression.
511 With the ~d, ~m, ~n, ~r, ~X, and ~z operators, you can also specify
513 ranges in the forms <MAX, >MIN, MIN-, and -MAX.
514 With the ~z operator, the suffixes “K” and “M” are allowed to specify
516 kilobyte and megabyte respectively.
517 The ~b, ~B, ~h, ~M, and ~X operators require reading each message in,
519 which can be much slower.
520 You can force Mutt to treat EXPR as a simple string instead of a regu‐
522 lar expression by using = instead of ~ in the pattern name.
523 Matching dates
525 The ~d and ~r operators are used to match date ranges, which are inter‐
526 preted to be given in your local time zone.
527 A date is of the form DD[/MM[/[cc]YY]], that is, a two-digit date,
529 optionally followed by a two-digit month, optionally followed by a year
530 specifications. Omitted fields default to the current month and year.
531 Mutt understands either two or four digit year specifications. When
533 given a two-digit year, mutt will interpret values less than 70 as
534 lying in the 21st century (i.e., “38” means 2038 and not 1938, and “00”
535 is interpreted as 2000), and values greater than or equal to 70 as
536 lying in the 20th century.
537 Note that this behavior is Y2K compliant, but that mutt does have a
539 Y2.07K problem.
540 If a date range consists of a single date, the operator in question
542 will match that precise date. If the date range consists of a dash
543 (“-”), followed by a date, this range will match any date before and up
544 to the date given. Similarly, a date followed by a dash matches the
545 date given and any later point of time. Two dates, separated by a
546 dash, match any date which lies in the given range of time.
547 You can also modify any absolute date by giving an error range. An
549 error range consists of one of the characters +, -, *, followed by a
550 positive number, followed by one of the unit characters y, m, w, or d,
551 specifying a unit of years, months, weeks, or days. + increases the
552 maximum date matched by the given interval of time, - decreases the
553 minimum date matched by the given interval of time, and * increases the
554 maximum date and decreases the minimum date matched by the given inter‐
555 val of time. It is possible to give multiple error margins, which
556 cumulate. Example: 1/1/2001-1w+2w*3d
557 You can also specify offsets relative to the current date. An offset
559 is specified as one of the characters <, >, =, followed by a positive
560 number, followed by one of the unit characters y, m, w, d, H, M, or S.
561 > matches dates which are older than the specified amount of time, an
562 offset which begins with the character < matches dates which are more
563 recent than the specified amount of time, and an offset which begins
564 with the character = matches points of time which are precisely the
565 given amount of time ago.
566
568 abort_noattach
569 Type: quadoption
570 Default: no
571 When the body of the message matches $abort_noattach_regexp and
573 there are no attachments, this quadoption controls whether to
574 abort sending the message.
575 abort_noattach_regexp
579 Type: regular expression
580 Default: “attach”
581 Specifies a regular expression to match against the body of the
583 message, to determine if an attachment was mentioned but mistak‐
584 enly forgotten. If it matches, $abort_noattach will be con‐
585 sulted to determine if message sending will be aborted.
586 Like other regular expressions in Mutt, the search is case sen‐
588 sitive if the pattern contains at least one upper case letter,
589 and case insensitive otherwise.
590 abort_nosubject
594 Type: quadoption
595 Default: ask-yes
596 If set to yes, when composing messages and no subject is given
598 at the subject prompt, composition will be aborted. If set to
599 no, composing messages with no subject given at the subject
600 prompt will never be aborted.
601 abort_unmodified
605 Type: quadoption
606 Default: yes
607 If set to yes, composition will automatically abort after edit‐
609 ing the message body if no changes are made to the file (this
610 check only happens after the first edit of the file). When set
611 to no, composition will never be aborted.
612 alias_file
616 Type: path
617 Default: “~/.muttrc”
618 The default file in which to save aliases created by the <cre‐
620 ate-alias> function. Entries added to this file are encoded in
621 the character set specified by $config_charset if it is set or
622 the current character set otherwise.
623 Note: Mutt will not automatically source this file; you must
625 explicitly use the “source” command for it to be executed in
626 case this option points to a dedicated alias file.
627 The default for this option is the currently used muttrc file,
629 or “~/.muttrc” if no user muttrc was found.
630 alias_format
634 Type: string
635 Default: “%4n %2f %t %-10a %r”
636 Specifies the format of the data displayed for the “alias” menu.
638 The following printf(3)-style sequences are available:
639 %a alias name
640 %f flags - currently, a “d” for an alias marked for deletion
641 %n index number
642 %r address which alias expands to
643 %t character which indicates if the alias is tagged for
644 inclusion
645 allow_8bit
648 Type: boolean
649 Default: yes
650 Controls whether 8-bit data is converted to 7-bit using either
652 Quoted- Printable or Base64 encoding when sending mail.
653 allow_ansi
657 Type: boolean
658 Default: no
659 Controls whether ANSI color codes in messages (and color tags in
661 rich text messages) are to be interpreted. Messages containing
662 these codes are rare, but if this option is set, their text will
663 be colored accordingly. Note that this may override your color
664 choices, and even present a security problem, since a message
665 could include a line like
666 [-- PGP output follows ...
669 and give it the same color as your attachment color (see also
672 $crypt_timestamp).
673 arrow_cursor
677 Type: boolean
678 Default: no
679 When set, an arrow (“->”) will be used to indicate the current
681 entry in menus instead of highlighting the whole line. On slow
682 network or modem links this will make response faster because
683 there is less that has to be redrawn on the screen when moving
684 to the next or previous entries in the menu.
685 ascii_chars
689 Type: boolean
690 Default: no
691 If set, Mutt will use plain ASCII characters when displaying
693 thread and attachment trees, instead of the default ACS charac‐
694 ters.
695 askbcc
699 Type: boolean
700 Default: no
701 If set, Mutt will prompt you for blind-carbon-copy (Bcc) recipi‐
703 ents before editing an outgoing message.
704 askcc
708 Type: boolean
709 Default: no
710 If set, Mutt will prompt you for carbon-copy (Cc) recipients
712 before editing the body of an outgoing message.
713 assumed_charset
717 Type: string
718 Default: “”
719 This variable is a colon-separated list of character encoding
721 schemes for messages without character encoding indication.
722 Header field values and message body content without character
723 encoding indication would be assumed that they are written in
724 one of this list. By default, all the header fields and message
725 body without any charset indication are assumed to be in
726 “us-ascii”.
727 For example, Japanese users might prefer this:
729 set assumed_charset=”iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8”
732 However, only the first content is valid for the message body.
735 attach_charset
739 Type: string
740 Default: “”
741 This variable is a colon-separated list of character encoding
743 schemes for text file attachments. Mutt uses this setting to
744 guess which encoding files being attached are encoded in to con‐
745 vert them to a proper character set given in $send_charset.
746 If unset, the value of $charset will be used instead. For exam‐
748 ple, the following configuration would work for Japanese text
749 handling:
750 set attach_charset=”iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8”
753 Note: for Japanese users, “iso-2022-*” must be put at the head
756 of the value as shown above if included.
757 attach_format
761 Type: string
762 Default: “%u%D%I %t%4n %T%.40d%> [%.7m/%.10M, %.6e%?C?, %C?, %s] ”
763 This variable describes the format of the “attachment” menu.
765 The following printf(3)-style sequences are understood:
766 %C charset
767 %c requires charset conversion (“n” or “c”)
768 %D deleted flag
769 %d description (if none, falls back to %F)
770 %e MIME content-transfer-encoding
771 %F filename in content-disposition header (if none, falls
772 back to %f)
773 %f filename
774 %I disposition (“I” for inline, “A” for attachment)
775 %m major MIME type
776 %M MIME subtype
777 %n attachment number
778 %Q “Q”, if MIME part qualifies for attachment counting
779 %s size (see formatstrings-size)
780 %t tagged flag
781 %T graphic tree characters
782 %u unlink (=to delete) flag
783 %X number of qualifying MIME parts in this part and its
784 children (please see the “attachments” section for possi‐
785 ble speed effects)
786 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with charac‐
787 ter “X”
788 %|X pad to the end of the line with character “X”
789 %*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
790 For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the $index_format docu‐
792 mentation.
793 attach_sep
797 Type: string
798 Default: “\n”
799 The separator to add between attachments when operating (saving,
801 printing, piping, etc) on a list of tagged attachments.
802 attach_split
806 Type: boolean
807 Default: yes
808 If this variable is unset, when operating (saving, printing,
810 piping, etc) on a list of tagged attachments, Mutt will concate‐
811 nate the attachments and will operate on them as a single
812 attachment. The $attach_sep separator is added after each
813 attachment. When set, Mutt will operate on the attachments one
814 by one.
815 attribution
819 Type: string
820 Default: “On %d, %n wrote:”
821 This is the string that will precede a message which has been
823 included in a reply. For a full listing of defined
824 printf(3)-like sequences see the section on $index_format.
825 attribution_locale
829 Type: string
830 Default: “”
831 The locale used by strftime(3) to format dates in the attribu‐
833 tion string. Legal values are the strings your system accepts
834 for the locale environment variable $LC_TIME.
835 This variable is to allow the attribution date format to be cus‐
837 tomized by recipient or folder using hooks. By default, Mutt
838 will use your locale environment, so there is no need to set
839 this except to override that default.
840 auto_subscribe
844 Type: boolean
845 Default: no
846 When set, Mutt assumes the presence of a List-Post header means
848 the recipient is subscribed to the list. Unless the mailing
849 list is in the “unsubscribe” or “unlist” lists, it will be added
850 to the “subscribe” list. Parsing and checking these things
851 slows header reading down, so this option is disabled by
852 default.
853 auto_tag
857 Type: boolean
858 Default: no
859 When set, functions in the index menu which affect a message
861 will be applied to all tagged messages (if there are any). When
862 unset, you must first use the <tag-prefix> function (bound to
863 “;” by default) to make the next function apply to all tagged
864 messages.
865 autocrypt
869 Type: boolean
870 Default: no
871 When set, enables autocrypt, which provides passive encryption
873 protection with keys exchanged via headers. See “autocryptdoc”
874 for more details. (Autocrypt only)
875 autocrypt_acct_format
879 Type: string
880 Default: “%4n %-30a %20p %10s”
881 This variable describes the format of the “autocrypt account”
883 menu. The following printf(3)-style sequences are understood
884 %a email address
885 %k gpg keyid
886 %n current entry number
887 %p prefer-encrypt flag
888 %s status flag (active/inactive)
889 (Autocrypt only)
891 autocrypt_dir
895 Type: path
896 Default: “~/.mutt/autocrypt”
897 This variable sets where autocrypt files are stored, including
899 the GPG keyring and sqlite database. See “autocryptdoc” for
900 more details. (Autocrypt only)
901 autocrypt_reply
905 Type: boolean
906 Default: yes
907 When set, replying to an autocrypt email automatically enables
909 autocrypt in the reply. You may want to unset this if you're
910 using the same key for autocrypt as normal web-of-trust, so that
911 autocrypt isn't forced on for all encrypted replies. (Autocrypt
912 only)
913 autoedit
917 Type: boolean
918 Default: no
919 When set along with $edit_headers, Mutt will skip the initial
921 send-menu (prompting for subject and recipients) and allow you
922 to immediately begin editing the body of your message. The
923 send-menu may still be accessed once you have finished editing
924 the body of your message.
925 Note: when this option is set, you cannot use send-hooks that
927 depend on the recipients when composing a new (non-reply) mes‐
928 sage, as the initial list of recipients is empty.
929 Also see $fast_reply.
931 beep
935 Type: boolean
936 Default: yes
937 When this variable is set, mutt will beep when an error occurs.
939 beep_new
943 Type: boolean
944 Default: no
945 When this variable is set, mutt will beep whenever it prints a
947 message notifying you of new mail. This is independent of the
948 setting of the $beep variable.
949 bounce
953 Type: quadoption
954 Default: ask-yes
955 Controls whether you will be asked to confirm bouncing messages.
957 If set to yes you don't get asked if you want to bounce a mes‐
958 sage. Setting this variable to no is not generally useful, and
959 thus not recommended, because you are unable to bounce messages.
960 bounce_delivered
964 Type: boolean
965 Default: yes
966 When this variable is set, mutt will include Delivered-To head‐
968 ers when bouncing messages. Postfix users may wish to unset
969 this variable.
970 braille_friendly
974 Type: boolean
975 Default: no
976 When this variable is set, mutt will place the cursor at the
978 beginning of the current line in menus, even when the
979 $arrow_cursor variable is unset, making it easier for blind per‐
980 sons using Braille displays to follow these menus. The option
981 is unset by default because many visual terminals don't permit
982 making the cursor invisible.
983 browser_abbreviate_mailboxes
987 Type: boolean
988 Default: yes
989 When this variable is set, mutt will abbreviate mailbox names in
991 the browser mailbox list, using '~' and '=' shortcuts.
992 The default ”alpha” setting of $sort_browser uses locale-based
994 sorting (using strcoll(3)), which ignores some punctuation.
995 This can lead to some situations where the order doesn't make
996 intuitive sense. In those cases, it may be desirable to unset
997 this variable.
998 browser_sticky_cursor
1002 Type: boolean
1003 Default: yes
1004 When this variable is set, the browser will attempt to keep the
1006 cursor on the same mailbox when performing various functions.
1007 These include moving up a directory, toggling between mailboxes
1008 and directory listing, creating/renaming a mailbox, toggling
1009 subscribed mailboxes, and entering a new mask.
1010 certificate_file
1014 Type: path
1015 Default: “~/.mutt_certificates”
1016 This variable specifies the file where the certificates you
1018 trust are saved. When an unknown certificate is encountered, you
1019 are asked if you accept it or not. If you accept it, the cer‐
1020 tificate can also be saved in this file and further connections
1021 are automatically accepted.
1022 You can also manually add CA certificates in this file. Any
1024 server certificate that is signed with one of these CA certifi‐
1025 cates is also automatically accepted.
1026 Example:
1028 set certificate_file=~/.mutt/certificates
1031 change_folder_next
1036 Type: boolean
1037 Default: no
1038 When this variable is set, the <change-folder> function mailbox
1040 suggestion will start at the next folder in your “mailboxes”
1041 list, instead of starting at the first folder in the list.
1042 charset
1046 Type: string
1047 Default: “”
1048 Character set your terminal uses to display and enter textual
1050 data. It is also the fallback for $send_charset.
1051 Upon startup Mutt tries to derive this value from environment
1053 variables such as $LC_CTYPE or $LANG.
1054 Note: It should only be set in case Mutt isn't able to determine
1056 the character set used correctly.
1057 check_mbox_size
1061 Type: boolean
1062 Default: no
1063 When this variable is set, mutt will use file size attribute
1065 instead of access time when checking for new mail in mbox and
1066 mmdf folders.
1067 This variable is unset by default and should only be enabled
1069 when new mail detection for these folder types is unreliable or
1070 doesn't work.
1071 Note that enabling this variable should happen before any “mail‐
1073 boxes” directives occur in configuration files regarding mbox or
1074 mmdf folders because mutt needs to determine the initial new
1075 mail status of such a mailbox by performing a fast mailbox scan
1076 when it is defined. Afterwards the new mail status is tracked
1077 by file size changes.
1078 check_new
1082 Type: boolean
1083 Default: yes
1084 Note: this option only affects maildir and MH style mailboxes.
1086 When set, Mutt will check for new mail delivered while the mail‐
1088 box is open. Especially with MH mailboxes, this operation can
1089 take quite some time since it involves scanning the directory
1090 and checking each file to see if it has already been looked at.
1091 If this variable is unset, no check for new mail is performed
1092 while the mailbox is open.
1093 collapse_unread
1097 Type: boolean
1098 Default: yes
1099 When unset, Mutt will not collapse a thread if it contains any
1101 unread messages.
1102 compose_format
1106 Type: string
1107 Default: “-- Mutt: Compose [Approx. msg size: %l Atts: %a]%>-”
1108 Controls the format of the status line displayed in the “com‐
1110 pose” menu. This string is similar to $status_format, but has
1111 its own set of printf(3)-like sequences:
1112 %a total number of attachments
1113 %h local hostname
1114 %l approximate size (in bytes) of the current message (see
1115 formatstrings-size)
1116 %v Mutt version string
1117 See the text describing the $status_format option for more
1119 information on how to set $compose_format.
1120 config_charset
1124 Type: string
1125 Default: “”
1126 When defined, Mutt will recode commands in rc files from this
1128 encoding to the current character set as specified by $charset
1129 and aliases written to $alias_file from the current character
1130 set.
1131 Please note that if setting $charset it must be done before set‐
1133 ting $config_charset.
1134 Recoding should be avoided as it may render unconvertable char‐
1136 acters as question marks which can lead to undesired side
1137 effects (for example in regular expressions).
1138 confirmappend
1142 Type: boolean
1143 Default: yes
1144 When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when appending mes‐
1146 sages to an existing mailbox.
1147 confirmcreate
1151 Type: boolean
1152 Default: yes
1153 When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when saving messages
1155 to a mailbox which does not yet exist before creating it.
1156 connect_timeout
1160 Type: number
1161 Default: 30
1162 Causes Mutt to timeout a network connection (for IMAP, POP or
1164 SMTP) after this many seconds if the connection is not able to
1165 be established. A negative value causes Mutt to wait indefi‐
1166 nitely for the connection attempt to succeed.
1167 content_type
1171 Type: string
1172 Default: “text/plain”
1173 Sets the default Content-Type for the body of newly composed
1175 messages.
1176 copy
1180 Type: quadoption
1181 Default: yes
1182 This variable controls whether or not copies of your outgoing
1184 messages will be saved for later references. Also see $record,
1185 $save_name, $force_name and “fcc-hook”.
1186 count_alternatives
1190 Type: boolean
1191 Default: no
1192 When set, Mutt will recurse inside multipart/alternatives while
1194 performing attachment searching and counting (see attachments).
1195 Traditionally, multipart/alternative parts have simply repre‐
1197 sented different encodings of the main content of the email.
1198 Unfortunately, some mail clients have started to place email
1199 attachments inside one of alternatives. Setting this will allow
1200 Mutt to find and count matching attachments hidden there, and
1201 include them in the index via %X or through ~X pattern matching.
1202 crypt_autoencrypt
1206 Type: boolean
1207 Default: no
1208 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to PGP
1210 encrypt outgoing messages. This is probably only useful in con‐
1211 nection to the “send-hook” command. It can be overridden by use
1212 of the pgp menu, when encryption is not required or signing is
1213 requested as well. If $smime_is_default is set, then OpenSSL is
1214 used instead to create S/MIME messages and settings can be over‐
1215 ridden by use of the smime menu instead. (Crypto only)
1216 crypt_autopgp
1220 Type: boolean
1221 Default: yes
1222 This variable controls whether or not mutt may automatically
1224 enable PGP encryption/signing for messages. See also
1225 $crypt_autoencrypt, $crypt_replyencrypt, $crypt_autosign,
1226 $crypt_replysign and $smime_is_default.
1227 crypt_autosign
1231 Type: boolean
1232 Default: no
1233 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to cryp‐
1235 tographically sign outgoing messages. This can be overridden by
1236 use of the pgp menu, when signing is not required or encryption
1237 is requested as well. If $smime_is_default is set, then OpenSSL
1238 is used instead to create S/MIME messages and settings can be
1239 overridden by use of the smime menu instead of the pgp menu.
1240 (Crypto only)
1241 crypt_autosmime
1245 Type: boolean
1246 Default: yes
1247 This variable controls whether or not mutt may automatically
1249 enable S/MIME encryption/signing for messages. See also
1250 $crypt_autoencrypt, $crypt_replyencrypt, $crypt_autosign,
1251 $crypt_replysign and $smime_is_default.
1252 crypt_confirmhook
1256 Type: boolean
1257 Default: yes
1258 If set, then you will be prompted for confirmation of keys when
1260 using the crypt-hook command. If unset, no such confirmation
1261 prompt will be presented. This is generally considered unsafe,
1262 especially where typos are concerned.
1263 crypt_opportunistic_encrypt
1267 Type: boolean
1268 Default: no
1269 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to automatically enable
1271 and disable encryption, based on whether all message recipient
1272 keys can be located by Mutt.
1273 When this option is enabled, Mutt will enable/disable encryption
1275 each time the TO, CC, and BCC lists are edited. If $edit_head‐
1276 ers is set, Mutt will also do so each time the message is
1277 edited.
1278 While this is set, encryption can't be manually enabled/dis‐
1280 abled. The pgp or smime menus provide a selection to temporar‐
1281 ily disable this option for the current message.
1282 If $crypt_autoencrypt or $crypt_replyencrypt enable encryption
1284 for a message, this option will be disabled for that message.
1285 It can be manually re-enabled in the pgp or smime menus.
1286 (Crypto only)
1287 crypt_protected_headers_read
1291 Type: boolean
1292 Default: yes
1293 When set, Mutt will display protected headers (”Memory Hole”) in
1295 the pager, and will update the index and header cache with
1296 revised headers. Protected headers are stored inside the
1297 encrypted or signed part of an an email, to prevent disclosure
1298 or tampering. For more information see
1299 https://github.com/autocrypt/memoryhole. Currently Mutt only
1300 supports the Subject header.
1301 Encrypted messages using protected headers often substitute the
1303 exposed Subject header with a dummy value (see $crypt_pro‐
1304 tected_headers_subject). Mutt will update its concept of the
1305 correct subject after the message is opened, i.e. via the <dis‐
1306 play-message> function. If you reply to a message before open‐
1307 ing it, Mutt will end up using the dummy Subject header, so be
1308 sure to open such a message first. (Crypto only)
1309 crypt_protected_headers_save
1313 Type: boolean
1314 Default: no
1315 When $crypt_protected_headers_read is set, and a message with a
1317 protected Subject is opened, Mutt will save the updated Subject
1318 into the header cache by default. This allows searching/limit‐
1319 ing based on the protected Subject header if the mailbox is
1320 re-opened, without having to re-open the message each time.
1321 However, for mbox/mh mailbox types, or if header caching is not
1322 set up, you would need to re-open the message each time the
1323 mailbox was reopened before you could see or search/limit on the
1324 protected subject again.
1325 When this variable is set, Mutt additionally saves the protected
1327 Subject back in the clear-text message headers. This provides
1328 better usability, but with the tradeoff of reduced security.
1329 The protected Subject header, which may have previously been
1330 encrypted, is now stored in clear-text in the message headers.
1331 Copying the message elsewhere, via Mutt or external tools, could
1332 expose this previously encrypted data. Please make sure you
1333 understand the consequences of this before you enable this vari‐
1334 able. (Crypto only)
1335 crypt_protected_headers_subject
1339 Type: string
1340 Default: “Encrypted subject”
1341 When $crypt_protected_headers_write is set, and the message is
1343 marked for encryption, this will be substituted into the Subject
1344 field in the message headers. To prevent a subject from being
1345 substituted, unset this variable, or set it to the empty string.
1346 (Crypto only)
1347 crypt_protected_headers_write
1351 Type: boolean
1352 Default: no
1353 When set, Mutt will generate protected headers (”Memory Hole”)
1355 for signed and encrypted emails. Protected headers are stored
1356 inside the encrypted or signed part of an an email, to prevent
1357 disclosure or tampering. For more information see
1358 https://github.com/autocrypt/memoryhole. Currently Mutt only
1359 supports the Subject header. (Crypto only)
1360 crypt_replyencrypt
1364 Type: boolean
1365 Default: yes
1366 If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL encrypt replies to messages
1368 which are encrypted. (Crypto only)
1369 crypt_replysign
1373 Type: boolean
1374 Default: no
1375 If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL sign replies to messages
1377 which are signed.
1378 Note: this does not work on messages that are encrypted and
1380 signed! (Crypto only)
1381 crypt_replysignencrypted
1385 Type: boolean
1386 Default: no
1387 If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL sign replies to messages
1389 which are encrypted. This makes sense in combination with
1390 $crypt_replyencrypt, because it allows you to sign all messages
1391 which are automatically encrypted. This works around the prob‐
1392 lem noted in $crypt_replysign, that mutt is not able to find out
1393 whether an encrypted message is also signed. (Crypto only)
1394 crypt_timestamp
1398 Type: boolean
1399 Default: yes
1400 If set, mutt will include a time stamp in the lines surrounding
1402 PGP or S/MIME output, so spoofing such lines is more difficult.
1403 If you are using colors to mark these lines, and rely on these,
1404 you may unset this setting. (Crypto only)
1405 crypt_use_gpgme
1409 Type: boolean
1410 Default: no
1411 This variable controls the use of the GPGME-enabled crypto back‐
1413 ends. If it is set and Mutt was built with gpgme support, the
1414 gpgme code for S/MIME and PGP will be used instead of the clas‐
1415 sic code. Note that you need to set this option in .muttrc; it
1416 won't have any effect when used interactively.
1417 Note that the GPGME backend does not support creating old-style
1419 inline (traditional) PGP encrypted or signed messages (see
1420 $pgp_autoinline).
1421 crypt_use_pka
1425 Type: boolean
1426 Default: no
1427 Controls whether mutt uses PKA (see
1429 http://www.g10code.de/docs/pka-intro.de.pdf) during signature
1430 verification (only supported by the GPGME backend).
1431 crypt_verify_sig
1435 Type: quadoption
1436 Default: yes
1437 If “yes”, always attempt to verify PGP or S/MIME signatures. If
1439 “ask-*”, ask whether or not to verify the signature. If “no”,
1440 never attempt to verify cryptographic signatures. (Crypto only)
1441 date_format
1445 Type: string
1446 Default: “!%a, %b %d, %Y at %I:%M:%S%p %Z”
1447 This variable controls the format of the date printed by the
1449 “%d” sequence in $index_format. This is passed to the strf‐
1450 time(3) function to process the date, see the man page for the
1451 proper syntax.
1452 Unless the first character in the string is a bang (“!”), the
1454 month and week day names are expanded according to the locale.
1455 If the first character in the string is a bang, the bang is dis‐
1456 carded, and the month and week day names in the rest of the
1457 string are expanded in the C locale (that is in US English).
1458 default_hook
1462 Type: string
1463 Default: “~f %s !~P | (~P ~C %s)”
1464 This variable controls how “message-hook”, “reply-hook”, “send-
1466 hook”, “send2-hook”, “save-hook”, and “fcc-hook” will be inter‐
1467 preted if they are specified with only a simple regexp, instead
1468 of a matching pattern. The hooks are expanded when they are
1469 declared, so a hook will be interpreted according to the value
1470 of this variable at the time the hook is declared.
1471 The default value matches if the message is either from a user
1473 matching the regular expression given, or if it is from you (if
1474 the from address matches “alternates”) and is to or cc'ed to a
1475 user matching the given regular expression.
1476 delete
1480 Type: quadoption
1481 Default: ask-yes
1482 Controls whether or not messages are really deleted when closing
1484 or synchronizing a mailbox. If set to yes, messages marked for
1485 deleting will automatically be purged without prompting. If set
1486 to no, messages marked for deletion will be kept in the mailbox.
1487 delete_untag
1491 Type: boolean
1492 Default: yes
1493 If this option is set, mutt will untag messages when marking
1495 them for deletion. This applies when you either explicitly
1496 delete a message, or when you save it to another folder.
1497 digest_collapse
1501 Type: boolean
1502 Default: yes
1503 If this option is set, mutt's received-attachments menu will not
1505 show the subparts of individual messages in a multipart/digest.
1506 To see these subparts, press “v” on that menu.
1507 display_filter
1511 Type: path
1512 Default: “”
1513 When set, specifies a command used to filter messages. When a
1515 message is viewed it is passed as standard input to $dis‐
1516 play_filter, and the filtered message is read from the standard
1517 output.
1518 dotlock_program
1522 Type: path
1523 Default: “/usr/bin/mutt_dotlock”
1524 Contains the path of the mutt_dotlock(8) binary to be used by
1526 mutt.
1527 dsn_notify
1531 Type: string
1532 Default: “”
1533 This variable sets the request for when notification is
1535 returned. The string consists of a comma separated list (no
1536 spaces!) of one or more of the following: never, to never
1537 request notification, failure, to request notification on trans‐
1538 mission failure, delay, to be notified of message delays, suc‐
1539 cess, to be notified of successful transmission.
1540 Example:
1542 set dsn_notify=”failure,delay”
1545 Note: when using $sendmail for delivery, you should not enable
1548 this unless you are either using Sendmail 8.8.x or greater or a
1549 MTA providing a sendmail(1)-compatible interface supporting the
1550 -N option for DSN. For SMTP delivery, DSN support is
1551 auto-detected so that it depends on the server whether DSN will
1552 be used or not.
1553 dsn_return
1557 Type: string
1558 Default: “”
1559 This variable controls how much of your message is returned in
1561 DSN messages. It may be set to either hdrs to return just the
1562 message header, or full to return the full message.
1563 Example:
1565 set dsn_return=hdrs
1568 Note: when using $sendmail for delivery, you should not enable
1571 this unless you are either using Sendmail 8.8.x or greater or a
1572 MTA providing a sendmail(1)-compatible interface supporting the
1573 -R option for DSN. For SMTP delivery, DSN support is
1574 auto-detected so that it depends on the server whether DSN will
1575 be used or not.
1576 duplicate_threads
1580 Type: boolean
1581 Default: yes
1582 This variable controls whether mutt, when $sort is set to
1584 threads, threads messages with the same Message-Id together. If
1585 it is set, it will indicate that it thinks they are duplicates
1586 of each other with an equals sign in the thread tree.
1587 edit_headers
1591 Type: boolean
1592 Default: no
1593 This option allows you to edit the header of your outgoing mes‐
1595 sages along with the body of your message.
1596 Although the compose menu may have localized header labels, the
1598 labels passed to your editor will be standard RFC 2822 headers,
1599 (e.g. To:, Cc:, Subject:). Headers added in your editor must
1600 also be RFC 2822 headers, or one of the pseudo headers listed in
1601 “edit-header”. Mutt will not understand localized header
1602 labels, just as it would not when parsing an actual email.
1603 Note that changes made to the References: and Date: headers are
1605 ignored for interoperability reasons.
1606 editor
1610 Type: path
1611 Default: “”
1612 This variable specifies which editor is used by mutt. It
1614 defaults to the value of the $VISUAL, or $EDITOR, environment
1615 variable, or to the string “vi” if neither of those are set.
1616 The $editor string may contain a %s escape, which will be
1618 replaced by the name of the file to be edited. If the %s escape
1619 does not appear in $editor, a space and the name to be edited
1620 are appended.
1621 The resulting string is then executed by running
1623 sh -c 'string'
1626 where string is the expansion of $editor described above.
1629 encode_from
1633 Type: boolean
1634 Default: no
1635 When set, mutt will quoted-printable encode messages when they
1637 contain the string “From ” (note the trailing space) in the
1638 beginning of a line. This is useful to avoid the tampering cer‐
1639 tain mail delivery and transport agents tend to do with messages
1640 (in order to prevent tools from misinterpreting the line as a
1641 mbox message separator).
1642 entropy_file
1646 Type: path
1647 Default: “”
1648 The file which includes random data that is used to initialize
1650 SSL library functions.
1651 envelope_from_address
1655 Type: e-mail address
1656 Default: “”
1657 Manually sets the envelope sender for outgoing messages. This
1659 value is ignored if $use_envelope_from is unset.
1660 error_history
1664 Type: number
1665 Default: 30
1666 This variable controls the size (in number of strings remem‐
1668 bered) of the error messages displayed by mutt. These can be
1669 shown with the <error-history> function. The history is cleared
1670 each time this variable is set.
1671 escape
1675 Type: string
1676 Default: “~”
1677 Escape character to use for functions in the built-in editor.
1679 fast_reply
1683 Type: boolean
1684 Default: no
1685 When set, the initial prompt for recipients and subject are
1687 skipped when replying to messages, and the initial prompt for
1688 subject is skipped when forwarding messages.
1689 Note: this variable has no effect when the $autoedit variable is
1691 set.
1692 fcc_attach
1696 Type: quadoption
1697 Default: yes
1698 This variable controls whether or not attachments on outgoing
1700 messages are saved along with the main body of your message.
1701 fcc_before_send
1705 Type: boolean
1706 Default: no
1707 When this variable is set, FCCs will occur before sending the
1709 message. Before sending, the message cannot be manipulated, so
1710 it will be stored the exact same as sent: $fcc_attach and
1711 $fcc_clear will be ignored (using their default values).
1712 When unset, the default, FCCs will occur after sending. Vari‐
1714 ables $fcc_attach and $fcc_clear will be respected, allowing it
1715 to be stored without attachments or encryption/signing if
1716 desired.
1717 fcc_clear
1721 Type: boolean
1722 Default: no
1723 When this variable is set, FCCs will be stored unencrypted and
1725 unsigned, even when the actual message is encrypted and/or
1726 signed. (PGP only)
1727 flag_safe
1731 Type: boolean
1732 Default: no
1733 If set, flagged messages cannot be deleted.
1735 folder
1739 Type: path
1740 Default: “~/Mail”
1741 Specifies the default location of your mailboxes. A “+” or “=”
1743 at the beginning of a pathname will be expanded to the value of
1744 this variable. Note that if you change this variable (from the
1745 default) value you need to make sure that the assignment occurs
1746 before you use “+” or “=” for any other variables since expan‐
1747 sion takes place when handling the “mailboxes” command.
1748 folder_format
1752 Type: string
1753 Default: “%2C %t %N %F %2l %-8.8u %-8.8g %8s %d %f”
1754 This variable allows you to customize the file browser display
1756 to your personal taste. This string is similar to $index_for‐
1757 mat, but has its own set of printf(3)-like sequences:
1758 %C current file number
1759 %d date/time folder was last modified
1760 %D date/time folder was last modified using $date_format.
1761 %f filename (“/” is appended to directory names, “@” to sym‐
1762 bolic links and “*” to executable files)
1763 %F file permissions
1764 %g group name (or numeric gid, if missing)
1765 %l number of hard links
1766 %m number of messages in the mailbox *
1767 %n number of unread messages in the mailbox *
1768 %N N if mailbox has new mail, blank otherwise
1769 %s size in bytes (see formatstrings-size)
1770 %t “*” if the file is tagged, blank otherwise
1771 %u owner name (or numeric uid, if missing)
1772 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with charac‐
1773 ter “X”
1774 %|X pad to the end of the line with character “X”
1775 %*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
1776 For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the $index_format docu‐
1778 mentation.
1779 * = can be optionally printed if nonzero
1781 %m, %n, and %N only work for monitored mailboxes. %m requires
1783 $mail_check_stats to be set. %n requires $mail_check_stats to
1784 be set (except for IMAP mailboxes).
1785 followup_to
1789 Type: boolean
1790 Default: yes
1791 Controls whether or not the “Mail-Followup-To:” header field is
1793 generated when sending mail. When set, Mutt will generate this
1794 field when you are replying to a known mailing list, specified
1795 with the “subscribe” or “lists” commands.
1796 This field has two purposes. First, preventing you from receiv‐
1798 ing duplicate copies of replies to messages which you send to
1799 mailing lists, and second, ensuring that you do get a reply sep‐
1800 arately for any messages sent to known lists to which you are
1801 not subscribed.
1802 The header will contain only the list's address for subscribed
1804 lists, and both the list address and your own email address for
1805 unsubscribed lists. Without this header, a group reply to your
1806 message sent to a subscribed list will be sent to both the list
1807 and your address, resulting in two copies of the same email for
1808 you.
1809 force_name
1813 Type: boolean
1814 Default: no
1815 This variable is similar to $save_name, except that Mutt will
1817 store a copy of your outgoing message by the username of the
1818 address you are sending to even if that mailbox does not exist.
1819 Also see the $record variable.
1821 forward_attachments
1825 Type: quadoption
1826 Default: ask-yes
1827 When forwarding inline (i.e. $mime_forward unset or answered
1829 with “no” and $forward_decode set), attachments which cannot be
1830 decoded in a reasonable manner will be attached to the newly
1831 composed message if this quadoption is set or answered with
1832 “yes”.
1833 forward_attribution_intro
1837 Type: string
1838 Default: “----- Forwarded message from %f -----”
1839 This is the string that will precede a message which has been
1841 forwarded in the main body of a message (when $mime_forward is
1842 unset). For a full listing of defined printf(3)-like sequences
1843 see the section on $index_format. See also $attribution_locale.
1844 forward_attribution_trailer
1848 Type: string
1849 Default: “----- End forwarded message -----”
1850 This is the string that will follow a message which has been
1852 forwarded in the main body of a message (when $mime_forward is
1853 unset). For a full listing of defined printf(3)-like sequences
1854 see the section on $index_format. See also $attribution_locale.
1855 forward_decode
1859 Type: boolean
1860 Default: yes
1861 Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain
1863 when forwarding a message. The message header is also RFC2047
1864 decoded. This variable is only used, if $mime_forward is unset,
1865 otherwise $mime_forward_decode is used instead.
1866 forward_decrypt
1870 Type: boolean
1871 Default: yes
1872 Controls the handling of encrypted messages when forwarding a
1874 message. When set, the outer layer of encryption is stripped
1875 off. This variable is only used if $mime_forward is set and
1876 $mime_forward_decode is unset. (PGP only)
1877 forward_edit
1881 Type: quadoption
1882 Default: yes
1883 This quadoption controls whether or not the user is automati‐
1885 cally placed in the editor when forwarding messages. For those
1886 who always want to forward with no modification, use a setting
1887 of “no”.
1888 forward_format
1892 Type: string
1893 Default: “[%a: %s]”
1894 This variable controls the default subject when forwarding a
1896 message. It uses the same format sequences as the $index_format
1897 variable.
1898 forward_quote
1902 Type: boolean
1903 Default: no
1904 When set, forwarded messages included in the main body of the
1906 message (when $mime_forward is unset) will be quoted using
1907 $indent_string.
1908 from
1912 Type: e-mail address
1913 Default: “”
1914 When set, this variable contains a default from address. It can
1916 be overridden using “my_hdr” (including from a “send-hook”) and
1917 $reverse_name. This variable is ignored if $use_from is unset.
1918 This setting defaults to the contents of the environment vari‐
1920 able $EMAIL.
1921 gecos_mask
1925 Type: regular expression
1926 Default: “^[^,]*”
1927 A regular expression used by mutt to parse the GECOS field of a
1929 password entry when expanding the alias. The default value will
1930 return the string up to the first “,” encountered. If the GECOS
1931 field contains a string like “lastname, firstname” then you
1932 should set it to “.*”.
1933 This can be useful if you see the following behavior: you
1935 address an e-mail to user ID “stevef” whose full name is “Steve
1936 Franklin”. If mutt expands “stevef” to “”Franklin”
1937 stevef@foo.bar” then you should set the $gecos_mask to a regular
1938 expression that will match the whole name so mutt will expand
1939 “Franklin” to “Franklin, Steve”.
1940 hdrs
1944 Type: boolean
1945 Default: yes
1946 When unset, the header fields normally added by the “my_hdr”
1948 command are not created. This variable must be unset before
1949 composing a new message or replying in order to take effect. If
1950 set, the user defined header fields are added to every new mes‐
1951 sage.
1952 header
1956 Type: boolean
1957 Default: no
1958 When set, this variable causes Mutt to include the header of the
1960 message you are replying to into the edit buffer. The $weed
1961 setting applies.
1962 header_cache
1966 Type: path
1967 Default: “”
1968 This variable points to the header cache database. If pointing
1970 to a directory Mutt will contain a header cache database file
1971 per folder, if pointing to a file that file will be a single
1972 global header cache. By default it is unset so no header caching
1973 will be used.
1974 Header caching can greatly improve speed when opening POP, IMAP
1976 MH or Maildir folders, see “caching” for details.
1977 header_cache_compress
1981 Type: boolean
1982 Default: yes
1983 When mutt is compiled with qdbm, tokyocabinet, or kyotocabinet
1985 as header cache backend, this option determines whether the
1986 database will be compressed. Compression results in database
1987 files roughly being one fifth of the usual diskspace, but the
1988 decompression can result in a slower opening of cached folder(s)
1989 which in general is still much faster than opening non header
1990 cached folders.
1991 header_cache_pagesize
1995 Type: number (long)
1996 Default: 16384
1997 When mutt is compiled with either gdbm or bdb4 as the header
1999 cache backend, this option changes the database page size. Too
2000 large or too small values can waste space, memory, or CPU time.
2001 The default should be more or less optimal for most use cases.
2002 header_color_partial
2006 Type: boolean
2007 Default: no
2008 When set, color header regexps behave like color body regexps:
2010 color is applied to the exact text matched by the regexp. When
2011 unset, color is applied to the entire header.
2012 One use of this option might be to apply color to just the
2014 header labels.
2015 See “color” for more details.
2017 help
2021 Type: boolean
2022 Default: yes
2023 When set, help lines describing the bindings for the major func‐
2025 tions provided by each menu are displayed on the first line of
2026 the screen.
2027 Note: The binding will not be displayed correctly if the func‐
2029 tion is bound to a sequence rather than a single keystroke.
2030 Also, the help line may not be updated if a binding is changed
2031 while Mutt is running. Since this variable is primarily aimed
2032 at new users, neither of these should present a major problem.
2033 hidden_host
2037 Type: boolean
2038 Default: no
2039 When set, mutt will skip the host name part of $hostname vari‐
2041 able when adding the domain part to addresses. This variable
2042 does not affect the generation of Message-IDs, and it will not
2043 lead to the cut-off of first-level domains.
2044 hide_limited
2048 Type: boolean
2049 Default: no
2050 When set, mutt will not show the presence of messages that are
2052 hidden by limiting, in the thread tree.
2053 hide_missing
2057 Type: boolean
2058 Default: yes
2059 When set, mutt will not show the presence of missing messages in
2061 the thread tree.
2062 hide_thread_subject
2066 Type: boolean
2067 Default: yes
2068 When set, mutt will not show the subject of messages in the
2070 thread tree that have the same subject as their parent or clos‐
2071 est previously displayed sibling.
2072 hide_top_limited
2076 Type: boolean
2077 Default: no
2078 When set, mutt will not show the presence of messages that are
2080 hidden by limiting, at the top of threads in the thread tree.
2081 Note that when $hide_limited is set, this option will have no
2082 effect.
2083 hide_top_missing
2087 Type: boolean
2088 Default: yes
2089 When set, mutt will not show the presence of missing messages at
2091 the top of threads in the thread tree. Note that when
2092 $hide_missing is set, this option will have no effect.
2093 history
2097 Type: number
2098 Default: 10
2099 This variable controls the size (in number of strings remem‐
2101 bered) of the string history buffer per category. The buffer is
2102 cleared each time the variable is set.
2103 history_file
2107 Type: path
2108 Default: “~/.mutthistory”
2109 The file in which Mutt will save its history.
2111 Also see $save_history.
2113 history_remove_dups
2117 Type: boolean
2118 Default: no
2119 When set, all of the string history will be scanned for dupli‐
2121 cates when a new entry is added. Duplicate entries in the $his‐
2122 tory_file will also be removed when it is periodically com‐
2123 pacted.
2124 honor_disposition
2128 Type: boolean
2129 Default: no
2130 When set, Mutt will not display attachments with a disposition
2132 of “attachment” inline even if it could render the part to plain
2133 text. These MIME parts can only be viewed from the attachment
2134 menu.
2135 If unset, Mutt will render all MIME parts it can properly trans‐
2137 form to plain text.
2138 honor_followup_to
2142 Type: quadoption
2143 Default: yes
2144 This variable controls whether or not a Mail-Followup-To header
2146 is honored when group-replying to a message.
2147 hostname
2151 Type: string
2152 Default: “”
2153 Specifies the fully-qualified hostname of the system mutt is
2155 running on containing the host's name and the DNS domain it
2156 belongs to. It is used as the domain part (after “@”) for local
2157 email addresses as well as Message-Id headers.
2158 Its value is determined at startup as follows: the node's host‐
2160 name is first determined by the uname(3) function. The domain
2161 is then looked up using the gethostname(2) and getaddrinfo(3)
2162 functions. If those calls are unable to determine the domain,
2163 the full value returned by uname is used. Optionally, Mutt can
2164 be compiled with a fixed domain name in which case a detected
2165 one is not used.
2166 Also see $use_domain and $hidden_host.
2168 idn_decode
2172 Type: boolean
2173 Default: yes
2174 When set, Mutt will show you international domain names decoded.
2176 Note: You can use IDNs for addresses even if this is unset.
2177 This variable only affects decoding. (IDN only)
2178 idn_encode
2182 Type: boolean
2183 Default: yes
2184 When set, Mutt will encode international domain names using IDN.
2186 Unset this if your SMTP server can handle newer (RFC 6531) UTF-8
2187 encoded domains. (IDN only)
2188 ignore_linear_white_space
2192 Type: boolean
2193 Default: no
2194 This option replaces linear-white-space between encoded-word and
2196 text to a single space to prevent the display of MIME-encoded
2197 “Subject:” field from being divided into multiple lines.
2198 ignore_list_reply_to
2202 Type: boolean
2203 Default: no
2204 Affects the behavior of the <reply> function when replying to
2206 messages from mailing lists (as defined by the “subscribe” or
2207 “lists” commands). When set, if the “Reply-To:” field is set to
2208 the same value as the “To:” field, Mutt assumes that the
2209 “Reply-To:” field was set by the mailing list to automate
2210 responses to the list, and will ignore this field. To direct a
2211 response to the mailing list when this option is set, use the
2212 <list-reply> function; <group-reply> will reply to both the
2213 sender and the list.
2214 imap_authenticators
2218 Type: string
2219 Default: “”
2220 This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt
2222 may attempt to use to log in to an IMAP server, in the order
2223 mutt should try them. Authentication methods are either “login”
2224 or the right side of an IMAP “AUTH=xxx” capability string, e.g.
2225 “digest-md5”, “gssapi” or “cram-md5”. This option is case-insen‐
2226 sitive. If it's unset (the default) mutt will try all available
2227 methods, in order from most-secure to least-secure.
2228 Example:
2230 set imap_authenticators=”gssapi:cram-md5:login”
2233 Note: Mutt will only fall back to other authentication methods
2236 if the previous methods are unavailable. If a method is avail‐
2237 able but authentication fails, mutt will not connect to the IMAP
2238 server.
2239 imap_check_subscribed
2243 Type: boolean
2244 Default: no
2245 When set, mutt will fetch the set of subscribed folders from
2247 your server on connection, and add them to the set of mailboxes
2248 it polls for new mail just as if you had issued individual
2249 “mailboxes” commands.
2250 imap_condstore
2254 Type: boolean
2255 Default: no
2256 When set, mutt will use the CONDSTORE extension (RFC 7162) if
2258 advertised by the server. Mutt's current implementation is
2259 basic, used only for initial message fetching and flag updates.
2260 For some IMAP servers, enabling this will slightly speed up
2262 downloading initial messages. Unfortunately, Gmail is not one
2263 those, and displays worse performance when enabled. Your
2264 mileage may vary.
2265 imap_delim_chars
2269 Type: string
2270 Default: “/.”
2271 This contains the list of characters which you would like to
2273 treat as folder separators for displaying IMAP paths. In partic‐
2274 ular it helps in using the “=” shortcut for your folder vari‐
2275 able.
2276 imap_fetch_chunk_size
2280 Type: number (long)
2281 Default: 0
2282 When set to a value greater than 0, new headers will be down‐
2284 loaded in sets of this size. If you have a very large mailbox,
2285 this might prevent a timeout and disconnect when opening the
2286 mailbox, by sending a FETCH per set of this size instead of a
2287 single FETCH for all new headers.
2288 imap_headers
2292 Type: string
2293 Default: “”
2294 Mutt requests these header fields in addition to the default
2296 headers (“Date:”, “From:”, “Sender:”, “Subject:”, “To:”, “Cc:”,
2297 “Message-Id:”, “References:”, “Content-Type:”, “Content-Descrip‐
2298 tion:”, “In-Reply-To:”, “Reply-To:”, “Lines:”, “List-Post:”,
2299 “X-Label:”) from IMAP servers before displaying the index menu.
2300 You may want to add more headers for spam detection.
2301 Note: This is a space separated list, items should be uppercase
2303 and not contain the colon, e.g. “X-BOGOSITY X-SPAM-STATUS” for
2304 the “X-Bogosity:” and “X-Spam-Status:” header fields.
2305 imap_idle
2309 Type: boolean
2310 Default: no
2311 When set, mutt will attempt to use the IMAP IDLE extension to
2313 check for new mail in the current mailbox. Some servers (dovecot
2314 was the inspiration for this option) react badly to mutt's
2315 implementation. If your connection seems to freeze up periodi‐
2316 cally, try unsetting this.
2317 imap_keepalive
2321 Type: number
2322 Default: 300
2323 This variable specifies the maximum amount of time in seconds
2325 that mutt will wait before polling open IMAP connections, to
2326 prevent the server from closing them before mutt has finished
2327 with them. The default is well within the RFC-specified minimum
2328 amount of time (30 minutes) before a server is allowed to do
2329 this, but in practice the RFC does get violated every now and
2330 then. Reduce this number if you find yourself getting discon‐
2331 nected from your IMAP server due to inactivity.
2332 imap_list_subscribed
2336 Type: boolean
2337 Default: no
2338 This variable configures whether IMAP folder browsing will look
2340 for only subscribed folders or all folders. This can be toggled
2341 in the IMAP browser with the <toggle-subscribed> function.
2342 imap_login
2346 Type: string
2347 Default: “”
2348 Your login name on the IMAP server.
2350 This variable defaults to the value of $imap_user.
2352 imap_oauth_refresh_command
2356 Type: string
2357 Default: “”
2358 The command to run to generate an OAUTH refresh token for autho‐
2360 rizing your connection to your IMAP server. This command will
2361 be run on every connection attempt that uses the OAUTHBEARER
2362 authentication mechanism. See “oauth” for details.
2363 imap_pass
2367 Type: string
2368 Default: “”
2369 Specifies the password for your IMAP account. If unset, Mutt
2371 will prompt you for your password when you invoke the
2372 <imap-fetch-mail> function or try to open an IMAP folder.
2373 Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a
2375 fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your mut‐
2376 trc even if you are the only one who can read the file.
2377 imap_passive
2381 Type: boolean
2382 Default: yes
2383 When set, mutt will not open new IMAP connections to check for
2385 new mail. Mutt will only check for new mail over existing IMAP
2386 connections. This is useful if you don't want to be prompted
2387 for user/password pairs on mutt invocation, or if opening the
2388 connection is slow.
2389 imap_peek
2393 Type: boolean
2394 Default: yes
2395 When set, mutt will avoid implicitly marking your mail as read
2397 whenever you fetch a message from the server. This is generally
2398 a good thing, but can make closing an IMAP folder somewhat
2399 slower. This option exists to appease speed freaks.
2400 imap_pipeline_depth
2404 Type: number
2405 Default: 15
2406 Controls the number of IMAP commands that may be queued up
2408 before they are sent to the server. A deeper pipeline reduces
2409 the amount of time mutt must wait for the server, and can make
2410 IMAP servers feel much more responsive. But not all servers cor‐
2411 rectly handle pipelined commands, so if you have problems you
2412 might want to try setting this variable to 0.
2413 Note: Changes to this variable have no effect on open connec‐
2415 tions.
2416 imap_poll_timeout
2420 Type: number
2421 Default: 15
2422 This variable specifies the maximum amount of time in seconds
2424 that mutt will wait for a response when polling IMAP connections
2425 for new mail, before timing out and closing the connection. Set
2426 to 0 to disable timing out.
2427 imap_qresync
2431 Type: boolean
2432 Default: no
2433 When set, mutt will use the QRESYNC extension (RFC 7162) if
2435 advertised by the server. Mutt's current implementation is
2436 basic, used only for initial message fetching and flag updates.
2437 Note: this feature is currently experimental. If you experience
2439 strange behavior, such as duplicate or missing messages please
2440 file a bug report to let us know.
2441 imap_servernoise
2445 Type: boolean
2446 Default: yes
2447 When set, mutt will display warning messages from the IMAP
2449 server as error messages. Since these messages are often harm‐
2450 less, or generated due to configuration problems on the server
2451 which are out of the users' hands, you may wish to suppress them
2452 at some point.
2453 imap_user
2457 Type: string
2458 Default: “”
2459 The name of the user whose mail you intend to access on the IMAP
2461 server.
2462 This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
2464 implicit_autoview
2468 Type: boolean
2469 Default: no
2470 If set to “yes”, mutt will look for a mailcap entry with the
2472 “copiousoutput” flag set for every MIME attachment it doesn't
2473 have an internal viewer defined for. If such an entry is found,
2474 mutt will use the viewer defined in that entry to convert the
2475 body part to text form.
2476 include
2480 Type: quadoption
2481 Default: ask-yes
2482 Controls whether or not a copy of the message(s) you are reply‐
2484 ing to is included in your reply.
2485 include_encrypted
2489 Type: boolean
2490 Default: no
2491 Controls whether or not Mutt includes separately encrypted
2493 attachment contents when replying.
2494 This variable was added to prevent accidental exposure of
2496 encrypted contents when replying to an attacker. If a previ‐
2497 ously encrypted message were attached by the attacker, they
2498 could trick an unwary recipient into decrypting and including
2499 the message in their reply.
2500 include_onlyfirst
2504 Type: boolean
2505 Default: no
2506 Controls whether or not Mutt includes only the first attachment
2508 of the message you are replying.
2509 indent_string
2513 Type: string
2514 Default: “> ”
2515 Specifies the string to prepend to each line of text quoted in a
2517 message to which you are replying. You are strongly encouraged
2518 not to change this value, as it tends to agitate the more fanat‐
2519 ical netizens.
2520 The value of this option is ignored if $text_flowed is set,
2522 because the quoting mechanism is strictly defined for for‐
2523 mat=flowed.
2524 This option is a format string, please see the description of
2526 $index_format for supported printf(3)-style sequences.
2527 index_format
2531 Type: string
2532 Default: “%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%?l?%4l&%4c?) %s”
2533 This variable allows you to customize the message index display
2535 to your personal taste.
2536 “Format strings” are similar to the strings used in the C func‐
2538 tion printf(3) to format output (see the man page for more
2539 details). For an explanation of the %? construct, see the $sta‐
2540 tus_format description. The following sequences are defined in
2541 Mutt:
2542 %a address of the author
2543 %A reply-to address (if present; otherwise: address of
2544 author)
2545 %b filename of the original message folder (think mailbox)
2546 %B the list to which the letter was sent, or else the folder
2547 name (%b).
2548 %c number of characters (bytes) in the message (see format‐
2549 strings-size)
2550 %C current message number
2551 %d date and time of the message in the format specified by
2552 $date_format converted to sender's time zone
2553 %D date and time of the message in the format specified by
2554 $date_format converted to the local time zone
2555 %e current message number in thread
2556 %E number of messages in current thread
2557 %f sender (address + real name), either From: or
2558 Return-Path:
2559 %F author name, or recipient name if the message is from you
2560 %H spam attribute(s) of this message
2561 %i message-id of the current message
2562 %l number of lines in the unprocessed message (may not work
2563 with maildir, mh, and IMAP folders)
2564 %L If an address in the “To:” or “Cc:” header field matches
2565 an address defined by the users “subscribe” command, this
2566 displays ”To <list-name>”, otherwise the same as %F.
2567 %m total number of message in the mailbox
2568 %M number of hidden messages if the thread is collapsed.
2569 %N message score
2570 %n author's real name (or address if missing)
2571 %O original save folder where mutt would formerly have
2572 stashed the message: list name or recipient name if not
2573 sent to a list
2574 %P progress indicator for the built-in pager (how much of
2575 the file has been displayed)
2576 %r comma separated list of “To:” recipients
2577 %R comma separated list of “Cc:” recipients
2578 %s subject of the message
2579 %S single character status of the message
2580 (“N”/“O”/“D”/“d”/“!”/“r”/“*”)
2581 %t “To:” field (recipients)
2582 %T the appropriate character from the $to_chars string
2583 %u user (login) name of the author
2584 %v first name of the author, or the recipient if the message
2585 is from you
2586 %X number of attachments (please see the “attachments” sec‐
2587 tion for possible speed effects)
2588 %y “X-Label:” field, if present
2589 %Y “X-Label:” field, if present, and [4m(1) not at part of a
2590 thread tree, [4m(2) at the top of a thread, or [4m(3)
2591 “X-Label:” is different from preceding message's
2592 “X-Label:”.
2593 %Z a three character set of message status flags. the first
2594 character is new/read/replied flags
2595 (“n”/“o”/“r”/“O”/“N”). the second is deleted or encryp‐
2596 tion flags (“D”/“d”/“S”/“P”/“s”/“K”). the third is
2597 either tagged/flagged (“*”/“!”), or one of the characters
2598 listed in $to_chars.
2599 %@name@
2600 insert and evaluate format-string from the matching
2601 “index-format-hook” command
2602 %{fmt} the date and time of the message is converted to sender's
2603 time zone, and “fmt” is expanded by the library function
2604 strftime(3); a leading bang disables locales
2605 %[fmt] the date and time of the message is converted to the
2606 local time zone, and “fmt” is expanded by the library
2607 function strftime(3); a leading bang disables locales
2608 %(fmt) the local date and time when the message was received.
2609 “fmt” is expanded by the library function strftime(3); a
2610 leading bang disables locales
2611 %<fmt> the current local time. “fmt” is expanded by the library
2612 function strftime(3); a leading bang disables locales.
2613 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with charac‐
2614 ter “X”
2615 %|X pad to the end of the line with character “X”
2616 %*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
2617 Note that for mbox/mmdf, “%l” applies to the unprocessed mes‐
2619 sage, and for maildir/mh, the value comes from the “Lines:”
2620 header field when present (the meaning is normally the same).
2621 Thus the value depends on the encodings used in the different
2622 parts of the message and has little meaning in practice.
2623 “Soft-fill” deserves some explanation: Normal right-justifica‐
2625 tion will print everything to the left of the “%>”, displaying
2626 padding and whatever lies to the right only if there's room. By
2627 contrast, soft-fill gives priority to the right-hand side, guar‐
2628 anteeing space to display it and showing padding only if there's
2629 still room. If necessary, soft-fill will eat text leftwards to
2630 make room for rightward text.
2631 Note that these expandos are supported in “save-hook”, “fcc-
2633 hook”, “fcc-save-hook”, and “index-format-hook”.
2634 They are also supported in the configuration variables $attribu‐
2636 tion, $forward_attribution_intro, $forward_attribution_trailer,
2637 $forward_format, $indent_string, $message_format, $pager_format,
2638 and $post_indent_string.
2639 ispell
2643 Type: path
2644 Default: “/usr/bin/hunspell”
2645 How to invoke ispell (GNU's spell-checking software).
2647 keep_flagged
2651 Type: boolean
2652 Default: no
2653 If set, read messages marked as flagged will not be moved from
2655 your spool mailbox to your $mbox mailbox, or as a result of a
2656 “mbox-hook” command.
2657 mail_check
2661 Type: number
2662 Default: 5
2663 This variable configures how often (in seconds) mutt should look
2665 for new mail. Also see the $timeout variable.
2666 mail_check_recent
2670 Type: boolean
2671 Default: yes
2672 When set, Mutt will only notify you about new mail that has been
2674 received since the last time you opened the mailbox. When
2675 unset, Mutt will notify you if any new mail exists in the mail‐
2676 box, regardless of whether you have visited it recently.
2677 When $mark_old is set, Mutt does not consider the mailbox to
2679 contain new mail if only old messages exist.
2680 mail_check_stats
2684 Type: boolean
2685 Default: no
2686 When set, mutt will periodically calculate message statistics of
2688 a mailbox while polling for new mail. It will check for unread,
2689 flagged, and total message counts. Because this operation is
2690 more performance intensive, it defaults to unset, and has a sep‐
2691 arate option, $mail_check_stats_interval, to control how often
2692 to update these counts.
2693 Message statistics can also be explicitly calculated by invoking
2695 the <check-stats> function.
2696 mail_check_stats_interval
2700 Type: number
2701 Default: 60
2702 When $mail_check_stats is set, this variable configures how
2704 often (in seconds) mutt will update message counts.
2705 mailcap_path
2709 Type: string
2710 Default: “”
2711 This variable specifies which files to consult when attempting
2713 to display MIME bodies not directly supported by Mutt. The
2714 default value is generated during startup: see the “mailcap”
2715 section of the manual.
2716 mailcap_sanitize
2720 Type: boolean
2721 Default: yes
2722 If set, mutt will restrict possible characters in mailcap %
2724 expandos to a well-defined set of safe characters. This is the
2725 safe setting, but we are not sure it doesn't break some more
2726 advanced MIME stuff.
2727 DON'T CHANGE THIS SETTING UNLESS YOU ARE REALLY SURE WHAT YOU
2729 ARE DOING!
2730 maildir_header_cache_verify
2734 Type: boolean
2735 Default: yes
2736 Check for Maildir unaware programs other than mutt having modi‐
2738 fied maildir files when the header cache is in use. This incurs
2739 one stat(2) per message every time the folder is opened (which
2740 can be very slow for NFS folders).
2741 maildir_trash
2745 Type: boolean
2746 Default: no
2747 If set, messages marked as deleted will be saved with the
2749 maildir trashed flag instead of unlinked. Note: this only
2750 applies to maildir-style mailboxes. Setting it will have no
2751 effect on other mailbox types.
2752 maildir_check_cur
2756 Type: boolean
2757 Default: no
2758 If set, mutt will poll both the new and cur directories of a
2760 maildir folder for new messages. This might be useful if other
2761 programs interacting with the folder (e.g. dovecot) are moving
2762 new messages to the cur directory. Note that setting this
2763 option may slow down polling for new messages in large folders,
2764 since mutt has to scan all cur messages.
2765 mark_macro_prefix
2769 Type: string
2770 Default: “'”
2771 Prefix for macros created using mark-message. A new macro auto‐
2773 matically generated with <mark-message>a will be composed from
2774 this prefix and the letter a.
2775 mark_old
2779 Type: boolean
2780 Default: yes
2781 Controls whether or not mutt marks new unread messages as old if
2783 you exit a mailbox without reading them. With this option set,
2784 the next time you start mutt, the messages will show up with an
2785 “O” next to them in the index menu, indicating that they are
2786 old.
2787 markers
2791 Type: boolean
2792 Default: yes
2793 Controls the display of wrapped lines in the internal pager. If
2795 set, a “+” marker is displayed at the beginning of wrapped
2796 lines.
2797 Also see the $smart_wrap variable.
2799 mask
2803 Type: regular expression
2804 Default: “!^\.[^.]”
2805 A regular expression used in the file browser, optionally pre‐
2807 ceded by the not operator “!”. Only files whose names match
2808 this mask will be shown. The match is always case-sensitive.
2809 mbox
2813 Type: path
2814 Default: “~/mbox”
2815 This specifies the folder into which read mail in your
2817 $spoolfile folder will be appended.
2818 Also see the $move variable.
2820 mbox_type
2824 Type: folder magic
2825 Default: mbox
2826 The default mailbox type used when creating new folders. May be
2828 any of “mbox”, “MMDF”, “MH” and “Maildir”. This is overridden by
2829 the -m command-line option.
2830 menu_context
2834 Type: number
2835 Default: 0
2836 This variable controls the number of lines of context that are
2838 given when scrolling through menus. (Similar to $pager_context.)
2839 menu_move_off
2843 Type: boolean
2844 Default: yes
2845 When unset, the bottom entry of menus will never scroll up past
2847 the bottom of the screen, unless there are less entries than
2848 lines. When set, the bottom entry may move off the bottom.
2849 menu_scroll
2853 Type: boolean
2854 Default: no
2855 When set, menus will be scrolled up or down one line when you
2857 attempt to move across a screen boundary. If unset, the screen
2858 is cleared and the next or previous page of the menu is dis‐
2859 played (useful for slow links to avoid many redraws).
2860 message_cache_clean
2864 Type: boolean
2865 Default: no
2866 If set, mutt will clean out obsolete entries from the message
2868 cache when the mailbox is synchronized. You probably only want
2869 to set it every once in a while, since it can be a little slow
2870 (especially for large folders).
2871 message_cachedir
2875 Type: path
2876 Default: “”
2877 Set this to a directory and mutt will cache copies of messages
2879 from your IMAP and POP servers here. You are free to remove
2880 entries at any time.
2881 When setting this variable to a directory, mutt needs to fetch
2883 every remote message only once and can perform regular expres‐
2884 sion searches as fast as for local folders.
2885 Also see the $message_cache_clean variable.
2887 message_format
2891 Type: string
2892 Default: “%s”
2893 This is the string displayed in the “attachment” menu for
2895 attachments of type message/rfc822. For a full listing of
2896 defined printf(3)-like sequences see the section on $index_for‐
2897 mat.
2898 meta_key
2902 Type: boolean
2903 Default: no
2904 If set, forces Mutt to interpret keystrokes with the high bit
2906 (bit 8) set as if the user had pressed the Esc key and whatever
2907 key remains after having the high bit removed. For example, if
2908 the key pressed has an ASCII value of 0xf8, then this is treated
2909 as if the user had pressed Esc then “x”. This is because the
2910 result of removing the high bit from 0xf8 is 0x78, which is the
2911 ASCII character “x”.
2912 metoo
2916 Type: boolean
2917 Default: no
2918 If unset, Mutt will remove your address (see the “alternates”
2920 command) from the list of recipients when replying to a message.
2921 mh_purge
2925 Type: boolean
2926 Default: no
2927 When unset, mutt will mimic mh's behavior and rename deleted
2929 messages to ,<old file name> in mh folders instead of really
2930 deleting them. This leaves the message on disk but makes pro‐
2931 grams reading the folder ignore it. If the variable is set, the
2932 message files will simply be deleted.
2933 This option is similar to $maildir_trash for Maildir folders.
2935 mh_seq_flagged
2939 Type: string
2940 Default: “flagged”
2941 The name of the MH sequence used for flagged messages.
2943 mh_seq_replied
2947 Type: string
2948 Default: “replied”
2949 The name of the MH sequence used to tag replied messages.
2951 mh_seq_unseen
2955 Type: string
2956 Default: “unseen”
2957 The name of the MH sequence used for unseen messages.
2959 mime_forward
2963 Type: quadoption
2964 Default: no
2965 When set, the message you are forwarding will be attached as a
2967 separate message/rfc822 MIME part instead of included in the
2968 main body of the message. This is useful for forwarding MIME
2969 messages so the receiver can properly view the message as it was
2970 delivered to you. If you like to switch between MIME and not
2971 MIME from mail to mail, set this variable to “ask-no” or
2972 “ask-yes”.
2973 Also see $forward_decode and $mime_forward_decode.
2975 mime_forward_decode
2979 Type: boolean
2980 Default: no
2981 Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain
2983 when forwarding a message while $mime_forward is set. Otherwise
2984 $forward_decode is used instead.
2985 mime_forward_rest
2989 Type: quadoption
2990 Default: yes
2991 When forwarding multiple attachments of a MIME message from the
2993 attachment menu, attachments which cannot be decoded in a rea‐
2994 sonable manner will be attached to the newly composed message if
2995 this option is set.
2996 mime_type_query_command
3000 Type: string
3001 Default: “”
3002 This specifies a command to run, to determine the mime type of a
3004 new attachment when composing a message. Unless
3005 $mime_type_query_first is set, this will only be run if the
3006 attachment's extension is not found in the mime.types file.
3007 The string may contain a “%s”, which will be substituted with
3009 the attachment filename. Mutt will add quotes around the string
3010 substituted for “%s” automatically according to shell quoting
3011 rules, so you should avoid adding your own. If no “%s” is found
3012 in the string, Mutt will append the attachment filename to the
3013 end of the string.
3014 The command should output a single line containing the attach‐
3016 ment's mime type.
3017 Suggested values are “xdg-mime query filetype” or “file -bi”.
3019 mime_type_query_first
3023 Type: boolean
3024 Default: no
3025 When set, the $mime_type_query_command will be run before the
3027 mime.types lookup.
3028 mix_entry_format
3032 Type: string
3033 Default: “%4n %c %-16s %a”
3034 This variable describes the format of a remailer line on the
3036 mixmaster chain selection screen. The following printf(3)-like
3037 sequences are supported:
3038 %n The running number on the menu.
3039 %c Remailer capabilities.
3040 %s The remailer's short name.
3041 %a The remailer's e-mail address.
3042 mixmaster
3045 Type: path
3046 Default: “mixmaster”
3047 This variable contains the path to the Mixmaster binary on your
3049 system. It is used with various sets of parameters to gather
3050 the list of known remailers, and to finally send a message
3051 through the mixmaster chain.
3052 move
3056 Type: quadoption
3057 Default: no
3058 Controls whether or not Mutt will move read messages from your
3060 spool mailbox to your $mbox mailbox, or as a result of a “mbox-
3061 hook” command.
3062 narrow_tree
3066 Type: boolean
3067 Default: no
3068 This variable, when set, makes the thread tree narrower, allow‐
3070 ing deeper threads to fit on the screen.
3071 net_inc
3075 Type: number
3076 Default: 10
3077 Operations that expect to transfer a large amount of data over
3079 the network will update their progress every $net_inc kilobytes.
3080 If set to 0, no progress messages will be displayed.
3081 See also $read_inc, $write_inc and $net_inc.
3083 new_mail_command
3087 Type: path
3088 Default: “”
3089 If set, Mutt will call this command after a new message is
3091 received. See the $status_format documentation for the values
3092 that can be formatted into this command.
3093 pager
3097 Type: path
3098 Default: “builtin”
3099 This variable specifies which pager you would like to use to
3101 view messages. The value “builtin” means to use the built-in
3102 pager, otherwise this variable should specify the pathname of
3103 the external pager you would like to use.
3104 Using an external pager may have some disadvantages: Additional
3106 keystrokes are necessary because you can't call mutt functions
3107 directly from the pager, and screen resizes cause lines longer
3108 than the screen width to be badly formatted in the help menu.
3109 When using an external pager, also see $prompt_after which
3111 defaults set.
3112 pager_context
3116 Type: number
3117 Default: 0
3118 This variable controls the number of lines of context that are
3120 given when displaying the next or previous page in the internal
3121 pager. By default, Mutt will display the line after the last
3122 one on the screen at the top of the next page (0 lines of con‐
3123 text).
3124 This variable also specifies the amount of context given for
3126 search results. If positive, this many lines will be given
3127 before a match, if 0, the match will be top-aligned.
3128 pager_format
3132 Type: string
3133 Default: “-%Z- %C/%m: %-20.20n %s%* -- (%P)”
3134 This variable controls the format of the one-line message “sta‐
3136 tus” displayed before each message in either the internal or an
3137 external pager. The valid sequences are listed in the
3138 $index_format section.
3139 pager_index_lines
3143 Type: number
3144 Default: 0
3145 Determines the number of lines of a mini-index which is shown
3147 when in the pager. The current message, unless near the top or
3148 bottom of the folder, will be roughly one third of the way down
3149 this mini-index, giving the reader the context of a few messages
3150 before and after the message. This is useful, for example, to
3151 determine how many messages remain to be read in the current
3152 thread. One of the lines is reserved for the status bar from
3153 the index, so a setting of 6 will only show 5 lines of the
3154 actual index. A value of 0 results in no index being shown. If
3155 the number of messages in the current folder is less than
3156 $pager_index_lines, then the index will only use as many lines
3157 as it needs.
3158 pager_stop
3162 Type: boolean
3163 Default: no
3164 When set, the internal-pager will not move to the next message
3166 when you are at the end of a message and invoke the <next-page>
3167 function.
3168 pgp_auto_decode
3172 Type: boolean
3173 Default: no
3174 If set, mutt will automatically attempt to decrypt traditional
3176 PGP messages whenever the user performs an operation which ordi‐
3177 narily would result in the contents of the message being oper‐
3178 ated on. For example, if the user displays a pgp-traditional
3179 message which has not been manually checked with the <check-tra‐
3180 ditional-pgp> function, mutt will automatically check the mes‐
3181 sage for traditional pgp.
3182 pgp_autoinline
3186 Type: boolean
3187 Default: no
3188 This option controls whether Mutt generates old-style inline
3190 (traditional) PGP encrypted or signed messages under certain
3191 circumstances. This can be overridden by use of the pgp menu,
3192 when inline is not required. The GPGME backend does not support
3193 this option.
3194 Note that Mutt might automatically use PGP/MIME for messages
3196 which consist of more than a single MIME part. Mutt can be con‐
3197 figured to ask before sending PGP/MIME messages when inline
3198 (traditional) would not work.
3199 Also see the $pgp_mime_auto variable.
3201 Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is
3203 strongly deprecated. (PGP only)
3204 pgp_check_exit
3208 Type: boolean
3209 Default: yes
3210 If set, mutt will check the exit code of the PGP subprocess when
3212 signing or encrypting. A non-zero exit code means that the sub‐
3213 process failed. (PGP only)
3214 pgp_check_gpg_decrypt_status_fd
3218 Type: boolean
3219 Default: yes
3220 If set, mutt will check the status file descriptor output of
3222 $pgp_decrypt_command and $pgp_decode_command for GnuPG status
3223 codes indicating successful decryption. This will check for the
3224 presence of DECRYPTION_OKAY, absence of DECRYPTION_FAILED, and
3225 that all PLAINTEXT occurs between the BEGIN_DECRYPTION and
3226 END_DECRYPTION status codes.
3227 If unset, mutt will instead match the status fd output against
3229 $pgp_decryption_okay. (PGP only)
3230 pgp_clearsign_command
3234 Type: string
3235 Default: “”
3236 This format is used to create an old-style “clearsigned” PGP
3238 message. Note that the use of this format is strongly depre‐
3239 cated.
3240 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3242 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3243 pgp_decode_command
3247 Type: string
3248 Default: “”
3249 This format strings specifies a command which is used to decode
3251 application/pgp attachments.
3252 The PGP command formats have their own set of printf(3)-like
3254 sequences:
3255 %p Expands to PGPPASSFD=0 when a pass phrase is needed, to
3256 an empty string otherwise. Note: This may be used with a
3257 %? construct.
3258 %f Expands to the name of a file containing a message.
3259 %s Expands to the name of a file containing the signature
3260 part
3261 of a multipart/signed attachment when verify‐
3262 ing it.
3263 %a The value of $pgp_sign_as if set, otherwise the value of
3264 $pgp_default_key.
3265 %r One or more key IDs (or fingerprints if available).
3266 For examples on how to configure these formats for the various
3268 versions of PGP which are floating around, see the pgp and gpg
3269 sample configuration files in the samples/ subdirectory which
3270 has been installed on your system alongside the documentation.
3271 (PGP only)
3272 pgp_decrypt_command
3276 Type: string
3277 Default: “”
3278 This command is used to decrypt a PGP encrypted message.
3280 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3282 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3283 pgp_decryption_okay
3287 Type: regular expression
3288 Default: “”
3289 If you assign text to this variable, then an encrypted PGP mes‐
3291 sage is only considered successfully decrypted if the output
3292 from $pgp_decrypt_command contains the text. This is used to
3293 protect against a spoofed encrypted message, with multi‐
3294 part/encrypted headers but containing a block that is not actu‐
3295 ally encrypted. (e.g. simply signed and ascii armored text).
3296 Note that if $pgp_check_gpg_decrypt_status_fd is set, this vari‐
3298 able is ignored. (PGP only)
3299 pgp_default_key
3303 Type: string
3304 Default: “”
3305 This is the default key-pair to use for PGP operations. It will
3307 be used for encryption (see $postpone_encrypt and
3308 $pgp_self_encrypt).
3309 It will also be used for signing unless $pgp_sign_as is set.
3311 The (now deprecated) pgp_self_encrypt_as is an alias for this
3313 variable, and should no longer be used. (PGP only)
3314 pgp_encrypt_only_command
3318 Type: string
3319 Default: “”
3320 This command is used to encrypt a body part without signing it.
3322 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3324 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3325 pgp_encrypt_sign_command
3329 Type: string
3330 Default: “”
3331 This command is used to both sign and encrypt a body part.
3333 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3335 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3336 pgp_entry_format
3340 Type: string
3341 Default: “%4n %t%f %4l/0x%k %-4a %2c %u”
3342 This variable allows you to customize the PGP key selection menu
3344 to your personal taste. This string is similar to $index_format,
3345 but has its own set of printf(3)-like sequences:
3346 %n number
3347 %k key id
3348 %u user id
3349 %a algorithm
3350 %l key length
3351 %f flags
3352 %c capabilities
3353 %t trust/validity of the key-uid association
3354 %[<s>] date of the key where <s> is an strftime(3) expression
3355 (PGP only)
3357 pgp_export_command
3361 Type: string
3362 Default: “”
3363 This command is used to export a public key from the user's key
3365 ring.
3366 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3368 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3369 pgp_getkeys_command
3373 Type: string
3374 Default: “”
3375 This command is invoked whenever Mutt needs to fetch the public
3377 key associated with an email address. Of the sequences sup‐
3378 ported by $pgp_decode_command, %r is the only printf(3)-like
3379 sequence used with this format. Note that in this case, %r
3380 expands to the email address, not the public key ID (the key ID
3381 is unknown, which is why Mutt is invoking this command). (PGP
3382 only)
3383 pgp_good_sign
3387 Type: regular expression
3388 Default: “”
3389 If you assign a text to this variable, then a PGP signature is
3391 only considered verified if the output from $pgp_verify_command
3392 contains the text. Use this variable if the exit code from the
3393 command is 0 even for bad signatures. (PGP only)
3394 pgp_ignore_subkeys
3398 Type: boolean
3399 Default: yes
3400 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to ignore OpenPGP subkeys.
3402 Instead, the principal key will inherit the subkeys' capabili‐
3403 ties. Unset this if you want to play interesting key selection
3404 games. (PGP only)
3405 pgp_import_command
3409 Type: string
3410 Default: “”
3411 This command is used to import a key from a message into the
3413 user's public key ring.
3414 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3416 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3417 pgp_list_pubring_command
3421 Type: string
3422 Default: “”
3423 This command is used to list the public key ring's contents.
3425 The output format must be analogous to the one used by
3426 gpg --list-keys --with-colons --with-fingerprint
3429 This format is also generated by the mutt_pgpring utility which
3432 comes with mutt.
3433 Note: gpg's fixed-list-mode option should not be used. It pro‐
3435 duces a different date format which may result in mutt showing
3436 incorrect key generation dates.
3437 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3439 possible printf(3)-like sequences. Note that in this case, %r
3440 expands to the search string, which is a list of one or more
3441 quoted values such as email address, name, or keyid. (PGP only)
3442 pgp_list_secring_command
3446 Type: string
3447 Default: “”
3448 This command is used to list the secret key ring's contents.
3450 The output format must be analogous to the one used by:
3451 gpg --list-keys --with-colons --with-fingerprint
3454 This format is also generated by the mutt_pgpring utility which
3457 comes with mutt.
3458 Note: gpg's fixed-list-mode option should not be used. It pro‐
3460 duces a different date format which may result in mutt showing
3461 incorrect key generation dates.
3462 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3464 possible printf(3)-like sequences. Note that in this case, %r
3465 expands to the search string, which is a list of one or more
3466 quoted values such as email address, name, or keyid. (PGP only)
3467 pgp_long_ids
3471 Type: boolean
3472 Default: yes
3473 If set, use 64 bit PGP key IDs, if unset use the normal 32 bit
3475 key IDs. NOTE: Internally, Mutt has transitioned to using fin‐
3476 gerprints (or long key IDs as a fallback). This option now only
3477 controls the display of key IDs in the key selection menu and a
3478 few other places. (PGP only)
3479 pgp_mime_auto
3483 Type: quadoption
3484 Default: ask-yes
3485 This option controls whether Mutt will prompt you for automati‐
3487 cally sending a (signed/encrypted) message using PGP/MIME when
3488 inline (traditional) fails (for any reason).
3489 Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is
3491 strongly deprecated. (PGP only)
3492 pgp_replyinline
3496 Type: boolean
3497 Default: no
3498 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to cre‐
3500 ate an inline (traditional) message when replying to a message
3501 which is PGP encrypted/signed inline. This can be overridden by
3502 use of the pgp menu, when inline is not required. This option
3503 does not automatically detect if the (replied-to) message is
3504 inline; instead it relies on Mutt internals for previously
3505 checked/flagged messages.
3506 Note that Mutt might automatically use PGP/MIME for messages
3508 which consist of more than a single MIME part. Mutt can be con‐
3509 figured to ask before sending PGP/MIME messages when inline
3510 (traditional) would not work.
3511 Also see the $pgp_mime_auto variable.
3513 Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is
3515 strongly deprecated. (PGP only)
3516 pgp_retainable_sigs
3520 Type: boolean
3521 Default: no
3522 If set, signed and encrypted messages will consist of nested
3524 multipart/signed and multipart/encrypted body parts.
3525 This is useful for applications like encrypted and signed mail‐
3527 ing lists, where the outer layer (multipart/encrypted) can be
3528 easily removed, while the inner multipart/signed part is
3529 retained. (PGP only)
3530 pgp_self_encrypt
3534 Type: boolean
3535 Default: yes
3536 When set, PGP encrypted messages will also be encrypted using
3538 the key in $pgp_default_key. (PGP only)
3539 pgp_show_unusable
3543 Type: boolean
3544 Default: yes
3545 If set, mutt will display non-usable keys on the PGP key selec‐
3547 tion menu. This includes keys which have been revoked, have
3548 expired, or have been marked as “disabled” by the user. (PGP
3549 only)
3550 pgp_sign_as
3554 Type: string
3555 Default: “”
3556 If you have a different key pair to use for signing, you should
3558 set this to the signing key. Most people will only need to set
3559 $pgp_default_key. It is recommended that you use the keyid form
3560 to specify your key (e.g. 0x00112233). (PGP only)
3561 pgp_sign_command
3565 Type: string
3566 Default: “”
3567 This command is used to create the detached PGP signature for a
3569 multipart/signed PGP/MIME body part.
3570 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3572 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3573 pgp_sort_keys
3577 Type: sort order
3578 Default: address
3579 Specifies how the entries in the pgp menu are sorted. The fol‐
3581 lowing are legal values:
3582 address
3583 sort alphabetically by user id
3584 keyid sort alphabetically by key id
3585 date sort by key creation date
3586 trust sort by the trust of the key
3587 If you prefer reverse order of the above values, prefix it with
3589 “reverse-”. (PGP only)
3590 pgp_strict_enc
3594 Type: boolean
3595 Default: yes
3596 If set, Mutt will automatically encode PGP/MIME signed messages
3598 as quoted-printable. Please note that unsetting this variable
3599 may lead to problems with non-verifyable PGP signatures, so only
3600 change this if you know what you are doing. (PGP only)
3601 pgp_timeout
3605 Type: number (long)
3606 Default: 300
3607 The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will
3609 expire if not used. (PGP only)
3610 pgp_use_gpg_agent
3614 Type: boolean
3615 Default: no
3616 If set, mutt expects a gpg-agent(1) process will handle private
3618 key passphrase prompts. If unset, mutt will prompt for the
3619 passphrase and pass it via stdin to the pgp command.
3620 Note that as of version 2.1, GnuPG automatically spawns an agent
3622 and requires the agent be used for passphrase management. Since
3623 that version is increasingly prevalent, this variable now
3624 defaults set.
3625 Mutt works with a GUI or curses pinentry program. A TTY pinen‐
3627 try should not be used.
3628 If you are using an older version of GnuPG without an agent run‐
3630 ning, or another encryption program without an agent, you will
3631 need to unset this variable. (PGP only)
3632 pgp_verify_command
3636 Type: string
3637 Default: “”
3638 This command is used to verify PGP signatures.
3640 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3642 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3643 pgp_verify_key_command
3647 Type: string
3648 Default: “”
3649 This command is used to verify key information from the key
3651 selection menu.
3652 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3654 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3655 pipe_decode
3659 Type: boolean
3660 Default: no
3661 Used in connection with the <pipe-message> command. When unset,
3663 Mutt will pipe the messages without any preprocessing. When set,
3664 Mutt will weed headers and will attempt to decode the messages
3665 first.
3666 pipe_sep
3670 Type: string
3671 Default: “\n”
3672 The separator to add between messages when piping a list of
3674 tagged messages to an external Unix command.
3675 pipe_split
3679 Type: boolean
3680 Default: no
3681 Used in connection with the <pipe-message> function following
3683 <tag-prefix>. If this variable is unset, when piping a list of
3684 tagged messages Mutt will concatenate the messages and will pipe
3685 them all concatenated. When set, Mutt will pipe the messages
3686 one by one. In both cases the messages are piped in the current
3687 sorted order, and the $pipe_sep separator is added after each
3688 message.
3689 pop_auth_try_all
3693 Type: boolean
3694 Default: yes
3695 If set, Mutt will try all available authentication methods.
3697 When unset, Mutt will only fall back to other authentication
3698 methods if the previous methods are unavailable. If a method is
3699 available but authentication fails, Mutt will not connect to the
3700 POP server.
3701 pop_authenticators
3705 Type: string
3706 Default: “”
3707 This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt
3709 may attempt to use to log in to an POP server, in the order mutt
3710 should try them. Authentication methods are either “user”,
3711 “apop” or any SASL mechanism, e.g. “digest-md5”, “gssapi” or
3712 “cram-md5”. This option is case-insensitive. If this option is
3713 unset (the default) mutt will try all available methods, in
3714 order from most-secure to least-secure.
3715 Example:
3717 set pop_authenticators=”digest-md5:apop:user”
3720 pop_checkinterval
3725 Type: number
3726 Default: 60
3727 This variable configures how often (in seconds) mutt should look
3729 for new mail in the currently selected mailbox if it is a POP
3730 mailbox.
3731 pop_delete
3735 Type: quadoption
3736 Default: ask-no
3737 If set, Mutt will delete successfully downloaded messages from
3739 the POP server when using the <fetch-mail> function. When
3740 unset, Mutt will download messages but also leave them on the
3741 POP server.
3742 pop_host
3746 Type: string
3747 Default: “”
3748 The name of your POP server for the <fetch-mail> function. You
3750 can also specify an alternative port, username and password,
3751 i.e.:
3752 [pop[s]://][username[:password]@]popserver[:port]
3755 where “[...]” denotes an optional part.
3758 pop_last
3762 Type: boolean
3763 Default: no
3764 If this variable is set, mutt will try to use the “LAST” POP
3766 command for retrieving only unread messages from the POP server
3767 when using the <fetch-mail> function.
3768 pop_oauth_refresh_command
3772 Type: string
3773 Default: “”
3774 The command to run to generate an OAUTH refresh token for autho‐
3776 rizing your connection to your POP server. This command will be
3777 run on every connection attempt that uses the OAUTHBEARER
3778 authentication mechanism. See “oauth” for details.
3779 pop_pass
3783 Type: string
3784 Default: “”
3785 Specifies the password for your POP account. If unset, Mutt
3787 will prompt you for your password when you open a POP mailbox.
3788 Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a
3790 fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your mut‐
3791 trc even if you are the only one who can read the file.
3792 pop_reconnect
3796 Type: quadoption
3797 Default: ask-yes
3798 Controls whether or not Mutt will try to reconnect to the POP
3800 server if the connection is lost.
3801 pop_user
3805 Type: string
3806 Default: “”
3807 Your login name on the POP server.
3809 This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
3811 post_indent_string
3815 Type: string
3816 Default: “”
3817 Similar to the $attribution variable, Mutt will append this
3819 string after the inclusion of a message which is being replied
3820 to. For a full listing of defined printf(3)-like sequences see
3821 the section on $index_format.
3822 postpone
3826 Type: quadoption
3827 Default: ask-yes
3828 Controls whether or not messages are saved in the $postponed
3830 mailbox when you elect not to send immediately.
3831 Also see the $recall variable.
3833 postponed
3837 Type: path
3838 Default: “~/postponed”
3839 Mutt allows you to indefinitely “postpone sending a message”
3841 which you are editing. When you choose to postpone a message,
3842 Mutt saves it in the mailbox specified by this variable.
3843 Also see the $postpone variable.
3845 postpone_encrypt
3849 Type: boolean
3850 Default: no
3851 When set, postponed messages that are marked for encryption will
3853 be self-encrypted. Mutt will first try to encrypt using the
3854 value specified in $pgp_default_key or $smime_default_key. If
3855 those are not set, it will try the deprecated $post‐
3856 pone_encrypt_as. (Crypto only)
3857 postpone_encrypt_as
3861 Type: string
3862 Default: “”
3863 This is a deprecated fall-back variable for $postpone_encrypt.
3865 Please use $pgp_default_key or $smime_default_key. (Crypto
3866 only)
3867 preconnect
3871 Type: string
3872 Default: “”
3873 If set, a shell command to be executed if mutt fails to estab‐
3875 lish a connection to the server. This is useful for setting up
3876 secure connections, e.g. with ssh(1). If the command returns a
3877 nonzero status, mutt gives up opening the server. Example:
3878 set preconnect=”ssh -f -q -L 1234:mailhost.net:143 mailhost.net \
3881 sleep 20 < /dev/null > /dev/null”
3882 Mailbox “foo” on “mailhost.net” can now be reached as “{local‐
3885 host:1234}foo”.
3886 Note: For this example to work, you must be able to log in to
3888 the remote machine without having to enter a password.
3889 print
3893 Type: quadoption
3894 Default: ask-no
3895 Controls whether or not Mutt really prints messages. This is
3897 set to “ask-no” by default, because some people accidentally hit
3898 “p” often.
3899 print_command
3903 Type: path
3904 Default: “lpr”
3905 This specifies the command pipe that should be used to print
3907 messages.
3908 print_decode
3912 Type: boolean
3913 Default: yes
3914 Used in connection with the <print-message> command. If this
3916 option is set, the message is decoded before it is passed to the
3917 external command specified by $print_command. If this option is
3918 unset, no processing will be applied to the message when print‐
3919 ing it. The latter setting may be useful if you are using some
3920 advanced printer filter which is able to properly format e-mail
3921 messages for printing.
3922 print_split
3926 Type: boolean
3927 Default: no
3928 Used in connection with the <print-message> command. If this
3930 option is set, the command specified by $print_command is exe‐
3931 cuted once for each message which is to be printed. If this
3932 option is unset, the command specified by $print_command is exe‐
3933 cuted only once, and all the messages are concatenated, with a
3934 form feed as the message separator.
3935 Those who use the enscript(1) program's mail-printing mode will
3937 most likely want to set this option.
3938 prompt_after
3942 Type: boolean
3943 Default: yes
3944 If you use an external $pager, setting this variable will cause
3946 Mutt to prompt you for a command when the pager exits rather
3947 than returning to the index menu. If unset, Mutt will return to
3948 the index menu when the external pager exits.
3949 query_command
3953 Type: path
3954 Default: “”
3955 This specifies the command Mutt will use to make external
3957 address queries. The string may contain a “%s”, which will be
3958 substituted with the query string the user types. Mutt will add
3959 quotes around the string substituted for “%s” automatically
3960 according to shell quoting rules, so you should avoid adding
3961 your own. If no “%s” is found in the string, Mutt will append
3962 the user's query to the end of the string. See “query” for more
3963 information.
3964 query_format
3968 Type: string
3969 Default: “%4c %t %-25.25a %-25.25n %?e?(%e)?”
3970 This variable describes the format of the “query” menu. The fol‐
3972 lowing printf(3)-style sequences are understood:
3973 %a destination address
3974 %c current entry number
3975 %e extra information *
3976 %n destination name
3977 %t “*” if current entry is tagged, a space otherwise
3978 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with “X”
3979 %|X pad to the end of the line with “X”
3980 %*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
3981 For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the $index_format docu‐
3983 mentation.
3984 * = can be optionally printed if nonzero, see the $status_format
3986 documentation.
3987 quit
3991 Type: quadoption
3992 Default: yes
3993 This variable controls whether “quit” and “exit” actually quit
3995 from mutt. If this option is set, they do quit, if it is unset,
3996 they have no effect, and if it is set to ask-yes or ask-no, you
3997 are prompted for confirmation when you try to quit.
3998 quote_regexp
4002 Type: regular expression
4003 Default: “^([ \t]*[|>:}#])+”
4004 A regular expression used in the internal pager to determine
4006 quoted sections of text in the body of a message. Quoted text
4007 may be filtered out using the <toggle-quoted> command, or col‐
4008 ored according to the “color quoted” family of directives.
4009 Higher levels of quoting may be colored differently (“color
4011 quoted1”, “color quoted2”, etc.). The quoting level is deter‐
4012 mined by removing the last character from the matched text and
4013 recursively reapplying the regular expression until it fails to
4014 produce a match.
4015 Match detection may be overridden by the $smileys regular
4017 expression.
4018 read_inc
4022 Type: number
4023 Default: 10
4024 If set to a value greater than 0, Mutt will display which mes‐
4026 sage it is currently on when reading a mailbox or when perform‐
4027 ing search actions such as search and limit. The message is
4028 printed after this many messages have been read or searched
4029 (e.g., if set to 25, Mutt will print a message when it is at
4030 message 25, and then again when it gets to message 50). This
4031 variable is meant to indicate progress when reading or searching
4032 large mailboxes which may take some time. When set to 0, only a
4033 single message will appear before the reading the mailbox.
4034 Also see the $write_inc, $net_inc and $time_inc variables and
4036 the “tuning” section of the manual for performance considera‐
4037 tions.
4038 read_only
4042 Type: boolean
4043 Default: no
4044 If set, all folders are opened in read-only mode.
4046 realname
4050 Type: string
4051 Default: “”
4052 This variable specifies what “real” or “personal” name should be
4054 used when sending messages.
4055 By default, this is the GECOS field from /etc/passwd. Note that
4057 this variable will not be used when the user has set a real name
4058 in the $from variable.
4059 recall
4063 Type: quadoption
4064 Default: ask-yes
4065 Controls whether or not Mutt recalls postponed messages when
4067 composing a new message.
4068 Setting this variable to yes is not generally useful, and thus
4070 not recommended. Note that the <recall-message> function can be
4071 used to manually recall postponed messages.
4072 Also see $postponed variable.
4074 record
4078 Type: path
4079 Default: “~/sent”
4080 This specifies the file into which your outgoing messages should
4082 be appended. (This is meant as the primary method for saving a
4083 copy of your messages, but another way to do this is using the
4084 “my_hdr” command to create a “Bcc:” field with your email
4085 address in it.)
4086 The value of $record is overridden by the $force_name and
4088 $save_name variables, and the “fcc-hook” command. Also see
4089 $copy and $write_bcc.
4090 reflow_space_quotes
4094 Type: boolean
4095 Default: yes
4096 This option controls how quotes from format=flowed messages are
4098 displayed in the pager and when replying (with $text_flowed
4099 unset). When set, this option adds spaces after each level of
4100 quote marks, turning ”>>>foo” into ”> > > foo”.
4101 Note: If $reflow_text is unset, this option has no effect.
4103 Also, this option does not affect replies when $text_flowed is
4104 set.
4105 reflow_text
4109 Type: boolean
4110 Default: yes
4111 When set, Mutt will reformat paragraphs in text/plain parts
4113 marked format=flowed. If unset, Mutt will display paragraphs
4114 unaltered from how they appear in the message body. See RFC3676
4115 for details on the format=flowed format.
4116 Also see $reflow_wrap, and $wrap.
4118 reflow_wrap
4122 Type: number
4123 Default: 78
4124 This variable controls the maximum paragraph width when refor‐
4126 matting text/plain parts when $reflow_text is set. When the
4127 value is 0, paragraphs will be wrapped at the terminal's right
4128 margin. A positive value sets the paragraph width relative to
4129 the left margin. A negative value set the paragraph width rela‐
4130 tive to the right margin.
4131 Also see $wrap.
4133 reply_regexp
4137 Type: regular expression
4138 Default: “^(re([\[0-9\]+])*|aw):[ \t]*”
4139 A regular expression used to recognize reply messages when
4141 threading and replying. The default value corresponds to the
4142 English ”Re:” and the German ”Aw:”.
4143 reply_self
4147 Type: boolean
4148 Default: no
4149 If unset and you are replying to a message sent by you, Mutt
4151 will assume that you want to reply to the recipients of that
4152 message rather than to yourself.
4153 Also see the “alternates” command.
4155 reply_to
4159 Type: quadoption
4160 Default: ask-yes
4161 If set, when replying to a message, Mutt will use the address
4163 listed in the Reply-to: header as the recipient of the reply.
4164 If unset, it will use the address in the From: header field
4165 instead. This option is useful for reading a mailing list that
4166 sets the Reply-To: header field to the list address and you want
4167 to send a private message to the author of a message.
4168 resolve
4172 Type: boolean
4173 Default: yes
4174 When set, the cursor will be automatically advanced to the next
4176 (possibly undeleted) message whenever a command that modifies
4177 the current message is executed.
4178 resume_draft_files
4182 Type: boolean
4183 Default: no
4184 If set, draft files (specified by -H on the command line) are
4186 processed similarly to when resuming a postponed message.
4187 Recipients are not prompted for; send-hooks are not evaluated;
4188 no alias expansion takes place; user-defined headers and signa‐
4189 tures are not added to the message.
4190 resume_edited_draft_files
4194 Type: boolean
4195 Default: yes
4196 If set, draft files previously edited (via -E -H on the command
4198 line) will have $resume_draft_files automatically set when they
4199 are used as a draft file again.
4200 The first time a draft file is saved, mutt will add a header,
4202 X-Mutt-Resume-Draft to the saved file. The next time the draft
4203 file is read in, if mutt sees the header, it will set
4204 $resume_draft_files.
4205 This option is designed to prevent multiple signatures,
4207 user-defined headers, and other processing effects from being
4208 made multiple times to the draft file.
4209 reverse_alias
4213 Type: boolean
4214 Default: no
4215 This variable controls whether or not Mutt will display the
4217 “personal” name from your aliases in the index menu if it finds
4218 an alias that matches the message's sender. For example, if you
4219 have the following alias:
4220 alias juser abd30425@somewhere.net (Joe User)
4223 and then you receive mail which contains the following header:
4226 From: abd30425@somewhere.net
4229 It would be displayed in the index menu as “Joe User” instead of
4232 “abd30425@somewhere.net.” This is useful when the person's
4233 e-mail address is not human friendly.
4234 reverse_name
4238 Type: boolean
4239 Default: no
4240 It may sometimes arrive that you receive mail to a certain
4242 machine, move the messages to another machine, and reply to some
4243 the messages from there. If this variable is set, the default
4244 From: line of the reply messages is built using the address
4245 where you received the messages you are replying to if that
4246 address matches your “alternates”. If the variable is unset, or
4247 the address that would be used doesn't match your “alternates”,
4248 the From: line will use your address on the current machine.
4249 Also see the “alternates” command and $reverse_realname.
4251 reverse_realname
4255 Type: boolean
4256 Default: yes
4257 This variable fine-tunes the behavior of the $reverse_name fea‐
4259 ture.
4260 When it is unset, Mutt will remove the real name part of a
4262 matching address. This allows the use of the email address
4263 without having to also use what the sender put in the real name
4264 field.
4265 When it is set, Mutt will use the matching address as-is.
4267 In either case, a missing real name will be filled in afterwards
4269 using the value of $realname.
4270 rfc2047_parameters
4274 Type: boolean
4275 Default: no
4276 When this variable is set, Mutt will decode RFC2047-encoded MIME
4278 parameters. You want to set this variable when mutt suggests you
4279 to save attachments to files named like:
4280 =?iso-8859-1?Q?file=5F=E4=5F991116=2Ezip?=
4283 When this variable is set interactively, the change won't be
4286 active until you change folders.
4287 Note that this use of RFC2047's encoding is explicitly prohib‐
4289 ited by the standard, but nevertheless encountered in the wild.
4290 Also note that setting this parameter will not have the effect
4292 that mutt generates this kind of encoding. Instead, mutt will
4293 unconditionally use the encoding specified in RFC2231.
4294 save_address
4298 Type: boolean
4299 Default: no
4300 If set, mutt will take the sender's full address when choosing a
4302 default folder for saving a mail. If $save_name or $force_name
4303 is set too, the selection of the Fcc folder will be changed as
4304 well.
4305 save_empty
4309 Type: boolean
4310 Default: yes
4311 When unset, mailboxes which contain no saved messages will be
4313 removed when closed (the exception is $spoolfile which is never
4314 removed). If set, mailboxes are never removed.
4315 Note: This only applies to mbox and MMDF folders, Mutt does not
4317 delete MH and Maildir directories.
4318 save_history
4322 Type: number
4323 Default: 0
4324 This variable controls the size of the history (per category)
4326 saved in the $history_file file.
4327 save_name
4331 Type: boolean
4332 Default: no
4333 This variable controls how copies of outgoing messages are
4335 saved. When set, a check is made to see if a mailbox specified
4336 by the recipient address exists (this is done by searching for a
4337 mailbox in the $folder directory with the username part of the
4338 recipient address). If the mailbox exists, the outgoing message
4339 will be saved to that mailbox, otherwise the message is saved to
4340 the $record mailbox.
4341 Also see the $force_name variable.
4343 score
4347 Type: boolean
4348 Default: yes
4349 When this variable is unset, scoring is turned off. This can be
4351 useful to selectively disable scoring for certain folders when
4352 the $score_threshold_delete variable and related are used.
4353 score_threshold_delete
4357 Type: number
4358 Default: -1
4359 Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than
4361 the value of this variable are automatically marked for deletion
4362 by mutt. Since mutt scores are always greater than or equal to
4363 zero, the default setting of this variable will never mark a
4364 message for deletion.
4365 score_threshold_flag
4369 Type: number
4370 Default: 9999
4371 Messages which have been assigned a score greater than or equal
4373 to this variable's value are automatically marked ”flagged”.
4374 score_threshold_read
4378 Type: number
4379 Default: -1
4380 Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than
4382 the value of this variable are automatically marked as read by
4383 mutt. Since mutt scores are always greater than or equal to
4384 zero, the default setting of this variable will never mark a
4385 message read.
4386 search_context
4390 Type: number
4391 Default: 0
4392 For the pager, this variable specifies the number of lines shown
4394 before search results. By default, search results will be
4395 top-aligned.
4396 send_charset
4400 Type: string
4401 Default: “us-ascii:iso-8859-1:utf-8”
4402 A colon-delimited list of character sets for outgoing messages.
4404 Mutt will use the first character set into which the text can be
4405 converted exactly. If your $charset is not “iso-8859-1” and
4406 recipients may not understand “UTF-8”, it is advisable to
4407 include in the list an appropriate widely used standard charac‐
4408 ter set (such as “iso-8859-2”, “koi8-r” or “iso-2022-jp”) either
4409 instead of or after “iso-8859-1”.
4410 In case the text cannot be converted into one of these exactly,
4412 mutt uses $charset as a fallback.
4413 send_multipart_alternative
4417 Type: quadoption
4418 Default: no
4419 If set, Mutt will generate a multipart/alternative container and
4421 an alternative part using the filter script specified in
4422 $send_multipart_alternative_filter. See the section “MIME Mul‐
4423 tipart/Alternative” (alternative-order).
4424 Note that enabling multipart/alternative is not compatible with
4426 inline PGP encryption. Mutt will prompt to use PGP/MIME in that
4427 case.
4428 send_multipart_alternative_filter
4432 Type: path
4433 Default: “”
4434 This specifies a filter script, which will convert the main
4436 (composed) message of the email to an alternative format. The
4437 message will be piped to the filter's stdin. The expected out‐
4438 put of the filter is the generated mime type, e.g. text/html,
4439 followed by a blank line, and then the converted content. See
4440 the section “MIME Multipart/Alternative” (alternative-order).
4441 sendmail
4445 Type: path
4446 Default: “/usr/sbin/sendmail -oem -oi”
4447 Specifies the program and arguments used to deliver mail sent by
4449 Mutt. Mutt expects that the specified program interprets addi‐
4450 tional arguments as recipient addresses. Mutt appends all
4451 recipients after adding a -- delimiter (if not already present).
4452 Additional flags, such as for $use_8bitmime, $use_envelope_from,
4453 $dsn_notify, or $dsn_return will be added before the delimiter.
4454 See also: $write_bcc.
4456 sendmail_wait
4460 Type: number
4461 Default: 0
4462 Specifies the number of seconds to wait for the $sendmail
4464 process to finish before giving up and putting delivery in the
4465 background.
4466 Mutt interprets the value of this variable as follows:
4468 >0 number of seconds to wait for sendmail to finish before
4469 continuing
4470 0 wait forever for sendmail to finish
4471 <0 always put sendmail in the background without waiting
4472 Note that if you specify a value other than 0, the output of the
4474 child process will be put in a temporary file. If there is some
4475 error, you will be informed as to where to find the output.
4476 shell
4480 Type: path
4481 Default: “”
4482 Command to use when spawning a subshell. By default, the user's
4484 login shell from /etc/passwd is used.
4485 sidebar_delim_chars
4489 Type: string
4490 Default: “/.”
4491 This contains the list of characters which you would like to
4493 treat as folder separators for displaying paths in the sidebar.
4494 Local mail is often arranged in directories: `dir1/dir2/mail‐
4496 box'.
4497 set sidebar_delim_chars='/'
4500 IMAP mailboxes are often named: `folder1.folder2.mailbox'.
4503 set sidebar_delim_chars='.'
4506 See also: $sidebar_short_path, $sidebar_folder_indent, $side‐
4509 bar_indent_string.
4510 sidebar_divider_char
4514 Type: string
4515 Default: “|”
4516 This specifies the characters to be drawn between the sidebar
4518 (when visible) and the other Mutt panels. ASCII and Unicode
4519 line-drawing characters are supported.
4520 sidebar_folder_indent
4524 Type: boolean
4525 Default: no
4526 Set this to indent mailboxes in the sidebar.
4528 See also: $sidebar_short_path, $sidebar_indent_string, $side‐
4530 bar_delim_chars.
4531 sidebar_format
4535 Type: string
4536 Default: “%B%* %n”
4537 This variable allows you to customize the sidebar display. This
4539 string is similar to $index_format, but has its own set of
4540 printf(3)-like sequences:
4541 %B Name of the mailbox
4542 %S * Size of mailbox (total number of messages)
4543 %N * Number of unread messages in the mailbox
4544 %n N if mailbox has new mail, blank otherwise
4545 %F * Number of Flagged messages in the mailbox
4546 %! “!” : one flagged message; “!!” : two flagged messages;
4547 “n!” : n flagged messages (for n > 2). Otherwise prints
4548 nothing.
4549 %d * @ Number of deleted messages
4550 %L * @ Number of messages after limiting
4551 %t * @ Number of tagged messages
4552 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with “X”
4553 %|X pad to the end of the line with “X”
4554 %*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
4555 * = Can be optionally printed if nonzero @ = Only applicable to
4557 the current folder
4558 In order to use %S, %N, %F, and %!, $mail_check_stats must be
4560 set. When thus set, a suggested value for this option is
4561 ”%B%?F? [%F]?%* %?N?%N/?%S”.
4562 sidebar_indent_string
4566 Type: string
4567 Default: “ ”
4568 This specifies the string that is used to indent mailboxes in
4570 the sidebar. It defaults to two spaces.
4571 See also: $sidebar_short_path, $sidebar_folder_indent, $side‐
4573 bar_delim_chars.
4574 sidebar_new_mail_only
4578 Type: boolean
4579 Default: no
4580 When set, the sidebar will only display mailboxes containing
4582 new, or flagged, mail.
4583 See also: sidebar_whitelist.
4585 sidebar_next_new_wrap
4589 Type: boolean
4590 Default: no
4591 When set, the <sidebar-next-new> command will not stop and the
4593 end of the list of mailboxes, but wrap around to the beginning.
4594 The <sidebar-prev-new> command is similarly affected, wrapping
4595 around to the end of the list.
4596 sidebar_relative_shortpath_indent
4600 Type: boolean
4601 Default: no
4602 When set, this option changes how $sidebar_short_path and $side‐
4604 bar_folder_indent perform shortening and indentation: both will
4605 look at the previous sidebar entries and shorten/indent relative
4606 to the most recent parent.
4607 An example of this option set/unset for mailboxes listed in this
4609 order, with $sidebar_short_path=yes, $sidebar_folder_indent=yes,
4610 and $sidebar_indent_string=”→”:
4611 mailbox
4612 set unset
4613 =a.b =a.b →b
4614 =a.b.c.d
4615 →c.d →→→d
4616 =a.b.e →e →→e
4617 The second line illustrates most clearly. With this option set,
4619 =a.b.c.d is shortened relative to =a.b, becoming c.d; it is also
4620 indented one place relative to =a.b. With this option unset
4621 =a.b.c.d is always shortened to the last part of the mailbox, d
4622 and is indented three places, with respect to $folder (repre‐
4623 sented by '=').
4624 When set, the third line will also be indented and shortened
4626 relative to the first line.
4627 sidebar_short_path
4631 Type: boolean
4632 Default: no
4633 By default the sidebar will show the mailbox's path, relative to
4635 the $folder variable. Setting sidebar_shortpath=yes will shorten
4636 the names relative to the previous name. Here's an example:
4637 shortpath=no
4638 shortpath=yes shortpath=yes, folderindent=yes,
4639 indentstr=”..”
4640 fruit fruit fruit
4641 fruit.apple
4642 apple ..apple
4643 fruit.banana
4644 banana ..banana
4645 fruit.cherry
4646 cherry ..cherry
4647 See also: $sidebar_delim_chars, $sidebar_folder_indent, $side‐
4649 bar_indent_string.
4650 sidebar_sort_method
4654 Type: sort order
4655 Default: order
4656 Specifies how to sort entries in the file browser. By default,
4658 the entries are sorted alphabetically. Valid values:
4659 ‐ alpha (alphabetically)
4660 ‐ count (all message count)
4661 ‐ flagged (flagged message count)
4662 ‐ name (alphabetically)
4663 ‐ new (unread message count)
4664 ‐ path (alphabetically)
4665 ‐ unread (unread message count)
4666 ‐ unsorted
4667 You may optionally use the “reverse-” prefix to specify reverse
4669 sorting order (example: “set sort_browser=reverse-date”).
4670 sidebar_use_mailbox_shortcuts
4674 Type: boolean
4675 Default: no
4676 When set, sidebar mailboxes will be displayed with mailbox
4678 shortcut prefixes ”=” or ”~”.
4679 When unset, the sidebar will trim off a matching $folder prefix
4681 but otherwise not use mailbox shortcuts.
4682 sidebar_visible
4686 Type: boolean
4687 Default: no
4688 This specifies whether or not to show sidebar. The sidebar shows
4690 a list of all your mailboxes.
4691 See also: $sidebar_format, $sidebar_width
4693 sidebar_width
4697 Type: number
4698 Default: 30
4699 This controls the width of the sidebar. It is measured in
4701 screen columns. For example: sidebar_width=20 could display 20
4702 ASCII characters, or 10 Chinese characters.
4703 sig_dashes
4707 Type: boolean
4708 Default: yes
4709 If set, a line containing “-- ” (note the trailing space) will
4711 be inserted before your $signature. It is strongly recommended
4712 that you not unset this variable unless your signature contains
4713 just your name. The reason for this is because many software
4714 packages use “-- \n” to detect your signature. For example,
4715 Mutt has the ability to highlight the signature in a different
4716 color in the built-in pager.
4717 sig_on_top
4721 Type: boolean
4722 Default: no
4723 If set, the signature will be included before any quoted or for‐
4725 warded text. It is strongly recommended that you do not set
4726 this variable unless you really know what you are doing, and are
4727 prepared to take some heat from netiquette guardians.
4728 signature
4732 Type: path
4733 Default: “~/.signature”
4734 Specifies the filename of your signature, which is appended to
4736 all outgoing messages. If the filename ends with a pipe (“|”),
4737 it is assumed that filename is a shell command and input should
4738 be read from its standard output.
4739 simple_search
4743 Type: string
4744 Default: “~f %s | ~s %s”
4745 Specifies how Mutt should expand a simple search into a real
4747 search pattern. A simple search is one that does not contain
4748 any of the “~” pattern operators. See “patterns” for more
4749 information on search patterns.
4750 For example, if you simply type “joe” at a search or limit
4752 prompt, Mutt will automatically expand it to the value specified
4753 by this variable by replacing “%s” with the supplied string.
4754 For the default value, “joe” would be expanded to: “~f joe | ~s
4755 joe”.
4756 size_show_bytes
4760 Type: boolean
4761 Default: no
4762 If set, message sizes will display bytes for values less than 1
4764 kilobyte. See formatstrings-size.
4765 size_show_fractions
4769 Type: boolean
4770 Default: yes
4771 If set, message sizes will be displayed with a single decimal
4773 value for sizes from 0 to 10 kilobytes and 1 to 10 megabytes.
4774 See formatstrings-size.
4775 size_show_mb
4779 Type: boolean
4780 Default: yes
4781 If set, message sizes will display megabytes for values greater
4783 than or equal to 1 megabyte. See formatstrings-size.
4784 size_units_on_left
4788 Type: boolean
4789 Default: no
4790 If set, message sizes units will be displayed to the left of the
4792 number. See formatstrings-size.
4793 sleep_time
4797 Type: number
4798 Default: 1
4799 Specifies time, in seconds, to pause while displaying certain
4801 informational messages, while moving from folder to folder and
4802 after expunging messages from the current folder. The default
4803 is to pause one second, so a value of zero for this option sup‐
4804 presses the pause.
4805 smart_wrap
4809 Type: boolean
4810 Default: yes
4811 Controls the display of lines longer than the screen width in
4813 the internal pager. If set, long lines are wrapped at a word
4814 boundary. If unset, lines are simply wrapped at the screen
4815 edge. Also see the $markers variable.
4816 smileys
4820 Type: regular expression
4821 Default: “(>From )|(:[-^]?[][)(><}{|/DP])”
4822 The pager uses this variable to catch some common false posi‐
4824 tives of $quote_regexp, most notably smileys and not consider a
4825 line quoted text if it also matches $smileys. This mostly hap‐
4826 pens at the beginning of a line.
4827 smime_ask_cert_label
4831 Type: boolean
4832 Default: yes
4833 This flag controls whether you want to be asked to enter a label
4835 for a certificate about to be added to the database or not. It
4836 is set by default. (S/MIME only)
4837 smime_ca_location
4841 Type: path
4842 Default: “”
4843 This variable contains the name of either a directory, or a file
4845 which contains trusted certificates for use with OpenSSL.
4846 (S/MIME only)
4847 smime_certificates
4851 Type: path
4852 Default: “”
4853 Since for S/MIME there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, mutt
4855 has to handle storage and retrieval of keys by itself. This is
4856 very basic right now, and keys and certificates are stored in
4857 two different directories, both named as the hash-value
4858 retrieved from OpenSSL. There is an index file which contains
4859 mailbox-address keyid pairs, and which can be manually edited.
4860 This option points to the location of the certificates. (S/MIME
4861 only)
4862 smime_decrypt_command
4866 Type: string
4867 Default: “”
4868 This format string specifies a command which is used to decrypt
4870 application/x-pkcs7-mime attachments.
4871 The OpenSSL command formats have their own set of printf(3)-like
4873 sequences similar to PGP's:
4874 %f Expands to the name of a file containing a message.
4875 %s Expands to the name of a file containing the signature
4876 part
4877 of a multipart/signed attachment when verify‐
4878 ing it.
4879 %k The key-pair specified with $smime_default_key
4880 %c One or more certificate IDs.
4881 %a The algorithm used for encryption.
4882 %d The message digest algorithm specified with
4883 $smime_sign_digest_alg.
4884 %C CA location: Depending on whether $smime_ca_location
4885 points to a directory or file, this expands to
4886 “-CApath $smime_ca_location” or “-CAfile
4887 $smime_ca_location”.
4888 For examples on how to configure these formats, see the smime.rc
4890 in the samples/ subdirectory which has been installed on your
4891 system alongside the documentation. (S/MIME only)
4892 smime_decrypt_use_default_key
4896 Type: boolean
4897 Default: yes
4898 If set (default) this tells mutt to use the default key for
4900 decryption. Otherwise, if managing multiple certifi‐
4901 cate-key-pairs, mutt will try to use the mailbox-address to
4902 determine the key to use. It will ask you to supply a key, if it
4903 can't find one. (S/MIME only)
4904 smime_default_key
4908 Type: string
4909 Default: “”
4910 This is the default key-pair to use for S/MIME operations, and
4912 must be set to the keyid (the hash-value that OpenSSL generates)
4913 to work properly.
4914 It will be used for encryption (see $postpone_encrypt and
4916 $smime_self_encrypt).
4917 It will be used for decryption unless
4919 $smime_decrypt_use_default_key is unset.
4920 It will also be used for signing unless $smime_sign_as is set.
4922 The (now deprecated) smime_self_encrypt_as is an alias for this
4924 variable, and should no longer be used. (S/MIME only)
4925 smime_encrypt_command
4929 Type: string
4930 Default: “”
4931 This command is used to create encrypted S/MIME messages.
4933 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
4935 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
4936 smime_encrypt_with
4940 Type: string
4941 Default: “aes256”
4942 This sets the algorithm that should be used for encryption.
4944 Valid choices are “aes128”, “aes192”, “aes256”, “des”, “des3”,
4945 “rc2-40”, “rc2-64”, “rc2-128”. (S/MIME only)
4946 smime_get_cert_command
4950 Type: string
4951 Default: “”
4952 This command is used to extract X509 certificates from a PKCS7
4954 structure.
4955 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
4957 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
4958 smime_get_cert_email_command
4962 Type: string
4963 Default: “”
4964 This command is used to extract the mail address(es) used for
4966 storing X509 certificates, and for verification purposes (to
4967 check whether the certificate was issued for the sender's mail‐
4968 box).
4969 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
4971 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
4972 smime_get_signer_cert_command
4976 Type: string
4977 Default: “”
4978 This command is used to extract only the signers X509 certifi‐
4980 cate from a S/MIME signature, so that the certificate's owner
4981 may get compared to the email's “From:” field.
4982 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
4984 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
4985 smime_import_cert_command
4989 Type: string
4990 Default: “”
4991 This command is used to import a certificate via smime_keys.
4993 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
4995 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
4996 smime_is_default
5000 Type: boolean
5001 Default: no
5002 The default behavior of mutt is to use PGP on all
5004 auto-sign/encryption operations. To override and to use OpenSSL
5005 instead this must be set. However, this has no effect while
5006 replying, since mutt will automatically select the same applica‐
5007 tion that was used to sign/encrypt the original message. (Note
5008 that this variable can be overridden by unsetting
5009 $crypt_autosmime.) (S/MIME only)
5010 smime_keys
5014 Type: path
5015 Default: “”
5016 Since for S/MIME there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, mutt
5018 has to handle storage and retrieval of keys/certs by itself.
5019 This is very basic right now, and stores keys and certificates
5020 in two different directories, both named as the hash-value
5021 retrieved from OpenSSL. There is an index file which contains
5022 mailbox-address keyid pair, and which can be manually edited.
5023 This option points to the location of the private keys. (S/MIME
5024 only)
5025 smime_pk7out_command
5029 Type: string
5030 Default: “”
5031 This command is used to extract PKCS7 structures of S/MIME sig‐
5033 natures, in order to extract the public X509 certificate(s).
5034 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5036 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5037 smime_self_encrypt
5041 Type: boolean
5042 Default: yes
5043 When set, S/MIME encrypted messages will also be encrypted using
5045 the certificate in $smime_default_key. (S/MIME only)
5046 smime_sign_as
5050 Type: string
5051 Default: “”
5052 If you have a separate key to use for signing, you should set
5054 this to the signing key. Most people will only need to set
5055 $smime_default_key. (S/MIME only)
5056 smime_sign_command
5060 Type: string
5061 Default: “”
5062 This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type multi‐
5064 part/signed, which can be read by all mail clients.
5065 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5067 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. NOTE: %c and %k will
5068 default to $smime_sign_as if set, otherwise $smime_default_key.
5069 (S/MIME only)
5070 smime_sign_digest_alg
5074 Type: string
5075 Default: “sha256”
5076 This sets the algorithm that should be used for the signature
5078 message digest. Valid choices are “md5”, “sha1”, “sha224”,
5079 “sha256”, “sha384”, “sha512”. (S/MIME only)
5080 smime_sign_opaque_command
5084 Type: string
5085 Default: “”
5086 This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type appli‐
5088 cation/x-pkcs7-signature, which can only be handled by mail
5089 clients supporting the S/MIME extension.
5090 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5092 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5093 smime_timeout
5097 Type: number (long)
5098 Default: 300
5099 The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will
5101 expire if not used. (S/MIME only)
5102 smime_verify_command
5106 Type: string
5107 Default: “”
5108 This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type multi‐
5110 part/signed.
5111 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5113 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5114 smime_verify_opaque_command
5118 Type: string
5119 Default: “”
5120 This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type appli‐
5122 cation/x-pkcs7-mime.
5123 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5125 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5126 smtp_authenticators
5130 Type: string
5131 Default: “”
5132 This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt
5134 may attempt to use to log in to an SMTP server, in the order
5135 mutt should try them. Authentication methods are any SASL mech‐
5136 anism, e.g. “digest-md5”, “gssapi” or “cram-md5”. This option
5137 is case-insensitive. If it is “unset” (the default) mutt will
5138 try all available methods, in order from most-secure to
5139 least-secure.
5140 Example:
5142 set smtp_authenticators=”digest-md5:cram-md5”
5145 smtp_oauth_refresh_command
5150 Type: string
5151 Default: “”
5152 The command to run to generate an OAUTH refresh token for autho‐
5154 rizing your connection to your SMTP server. This command will
5155 be run on every connection attempt that uses the OAUTHBEARER
5156 authentication mechanism. See “oauth” for details.
5157 smtp_pass
5161 Type: string
5162 Default: “”
5163 Specifies the password for your SMTP account. If unset, Mutt
5165 will prompt you for your password when you first send mail via
5166 SMTP. See $smtp_url to configure mutt to send mail via SMTP.
5167 Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a
5169 fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your mut‐
5170 trc even if you are the only one who can read the file.
5171 smtp_url
5175 Type: string
5176 Default: “”
5177 Defines the SMTP smarthost where sent messages should relayed
5179 for delivery. This should take the form of an SMTP URL, e.g.:
5180 smtp[s]://[user[:pass]@]host[:port]
5183 where “[...]” denotes an optional part. Setting this variable
5186 overrides the value of the $sendmail variable.
5187 Also see $write_bcc.
5189 sort
5193 Type: sort order
5194 Default: date
5195 Specifies how to sort messages in the “index” menu. Valid val‐
5197 ues are:
5198 ‐ date or date-sent
5199 ‐ date-received
5200 ‐ from
5201 ‐ mailbox-order (unsorted)
5202 ‐ score
5203 ‐ size
5204 ‐ spam
5205 ‐ subject
5206 ‐ threads
5207 ‐ to
5208 You may optionally use the “reverse-” prefix to specify reverse
5210 sorting order (example: “set sort=reverse-date-sent”).
5211 sort_alias
5215 Type: sort order
5216 Default: alias
5217 Specifies how the entries in the “alias” menu are sorted. The
5219 following are legal values:
5220 ‐ address (sort alphabetically by email address)
5221 ‐ alias (sort alphabetically by alias name)
5222 ‐ unsorted (leave in order specified in .muttrc)
5223 sort_aux
5226 Type: sort order
5227 Default: date
5228 This provides a secondary sort for messages in the “index” menu,
5230 used when the $sort value is equal for two messages.
5231 When sorting by threads, this variable controls how threads are
5233 sorted in relation to other threads, and how the branches of the
5234 thread trees are sorted. This can be set to any value that
5235 $sort can, except “threads” (in that case, mutt will just use
5236 “date-sent”). You can also specify the “last-” prefix in addi‐
5237 tion to the “reverse-” prefix, but “last-” must come after
5238 “reverse-”. The “last-” prefix causes messages to be sorted
5239 against its siblings by which has the last descendant, using the
5240 rest of $sort_aux as an ordering. For instance,
5241 set sort_aux=last-date-received
5244 would mean that if a new message is received in a thread, that
5247 thread becomes the last one displayed (or the first, if you have
5248 “set sort=reverse-threads”.)
5249 Note: For reversed-threads $sort order, $sort_aux is reversed
5251 again (which is not the right thing to do, but kept to not break
5252 any existing configuration setting).
5253 sort_browser
5257 Type: sort order
5258 Default: alpha
5259 Specifies how to sort entries in the file browser. By default,
5261 the entries are sorted alphabetically. Valid values:
5262 ‐ alpha (alphabetically)
5263 ‐ count
5264 ‐ date
5265 ‐ size
5266 ‐ unread
5267 ‐ unsorted
5268 You may optionally use the “reverse-” prefix to specify reverse
5270 sorting order (example: “set sort_browser=reverse-date”).
5271 sort_re
5275 Type: boolean
5276 Default: yes
5277 This variable is only useful when sorting by threads with
5279 $strict_threads unset. In that case, it changes the heuristic
5280 mutt uses to thread messages by subject. With $sort_re set,
5281 mutt will only attach a message as the child of another message
5282 by subject if the subject of the child message starts with a
5283 substring matching the setting of $reply_regexp. With $sort_re
5284 unset, mutt will attach the message whether or not this is the
5285 case, as long as the non-$reply_regexp parts of both messages
5286 are identical.
5287 spam_separator
5291 Type: string
5292 Default: “,”
5293 This variable controls what happens when multiple spam headers
5295 are matched: if unset, each successive header will overwrite any
5296 previous matches value for the spam label. If set, each succes‐
5297 sive match will append to the previous, using this variable's
5298 value as a separator.
5299 spoolfile
5303 Type: path
5304 Default: “”
5305 If your spool mailbox is in a non-default place where Mutt can‐
5307 not find it, you can specify its location with this variable.
5308 Mutt will initially set this variable to the value of the envi‐
5309 ronment variable $MAIL or $MAILDIR if either is defined.
5310 ssl_ca_certificates_file
5314 Type: path
5315 Default: “/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt”
5316 This variable specifies a file containing trusted CA certifi‐
5318 cates. Any server certificate that is signed with one of these
5319 CA certificates is also automatically accepted. (GnuTLS only)
5320 Example:
5322 set ssl_ca_certificates_file=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
5325 ssl_client_cert
5330 Type: path
5331 Default: “”
5332 The file containing a client certificate and its associated pri‐
5334 vate key.
5335 ssl_force_tls
5339 Type: boolean
5340 Default: no
5341 If this variable is set, Mutt will require that all connections
5343 to remote servers be encrypted. Furthermore it will attempt to
5344 negotiate TLS even if the server does not advertise the capabil‐
5345 ity, since it would otherwise have to abort the connection any‐
5346 way. This option supersedes $ssl_starttls.
5347 ssl_min_dh_prime_bits
5351 Type: number
5352 Default: 0
5353 This variable specifies the minimum acceptable prime size (in
5355 bits) for use in any Diffie-Hellman key exchange. A value of 0
5356 will use the default from the GNUTLS library. (GnuTLS only)
5357 ssl_starttls
5361 Type: quadoption
5362 Default: yes
5363 If set (the default), mutt will attempt to use STARTTLS on
5365 servers advertising the capability. When unset, mutt will not
5366 attempt to use STARTTLS regardless of the server's capabilities.
5367 ssl_use_sslv2
5371 Type: boolean
5372 Default: no
5373 If set , Mutt will use SSLv2 when communicating with servers
5375 that request it. N.B. As of 2011, SSLv2 is considered insecure,
5376 and using is inadvisable. See
5377 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6176 . (OpenSSL only)
5378 ssl_use_sslv3
5382 Type: boolean
5383 Default: no
5384 If set , Mutt will use SSLv3 when communicating with servers
5386 that request it. N.B. As of 2015, SSLv3 is considered insecure,
5387 and using it is inadvisable. See
5388 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7525 .
5389 ssl_use_tlsv1
5393 Type: boolean
5394 Default: no
5395 If set , Mutt will use TLSv1.0 when communicating with servers
5397 that request it. N.B. As of 2015, TLSv1.0 is considered inse‐
5398 cure, and using it is inadvisable. See
5399 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7525 .
5400 ssl_use_tlsv1_1
5404 Type: boolean
5405 Default: no
5406 If set , Mutt will use TLSv1.1 when communicating with servers
5408 that request it. N.B. As of 2015, TLSv1.1 is considered inse‐
5409 cure, and using it is inadvisable. See
5410 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7525 .
5411 ssl_use_tlsv1_2
5415 Type: boolean
5416 Default: yes
5417 If set , Mutt will use TLSv1.2 when communicating with servers
5419 that request it.
5420 ssl_use_tlsv1_3
5424 Type: boolean
5425 Default: yes
5426 If set , Mutt will use TLSv1.3 when communicating with servers
5428 that request it.
5429 ssl_usesystemcerts
5433 Type: boolean
5434 Default: yes
5435 If set to yes, mutt will use CA certificates in the system-wide
5437 certificate store when checking if a server certificate is
5438 signed by a trusted CA. (OpenSSL only)
5439 ssl_verify_dates
5443 Type: boolean
5444 Default: yes
5445 If set (the default), mutt will not automatically accept a
5447 server certificate that is either not yet valid or already
5448 expired. You should only unset this for particular known hosts,
5449 using the <account-hook> function.
5450 ssl_verify_host
5454 Type: boolean
5455 Default: yes
5456 If set (the default), mutt will not automatically accept a
5458 server certificate whose host name does not match the host used
5459 in your folder URL. You should only unset this for particular
5460 known hosts, using the <account-hook> function.
5461 ssl_verify_partial_chains
5465 Type: boolean
5466 Default: no
5467 This option should not be changed from the default unless you
5469 understand what you are doing.
5470 Setting this variable to yes will permit verifying partial cer‐
5472 tification chains, i. e. a certificate chain where not the root,
5473 but an intermediate certificate CA, or the host certificate, are
5474 marked trusted (in $certificate_file), without marking the root
5475 signing CA as trusted.
5476 (OpenSSL 1.0.2b and newer only).
5478 ssl_ciphers
5482 Type: string
5483 Default: “@SYSTEM”
5484 Contains a colon-seperated list of ciphers to use when using
5486 SSL. For OpenSSL, see ciphers(1) for the syntax of the string.
5487 For GnuTLS, this option will be used in place of ”NORMAL” at the
5489 start of the priority string. See gnutls_priority_init(3) for
5490 the syntax and more details. (Note: GnuTLS version 2.1.7 or
5491 higher is required.)
5492 status_chars
5496 Type: string
5497 Default: “-*%A”
5498 Controls the characters used by the “%r” indicator in $sta‐
5500 tus_format. The first character is used when the mailbox is
5501 unchanged. The second is used when the mailbox has been changed,
5502 and it needs to be resynchronized. The third is used if the
5503 mailbox is in read-only mode, or if the mailbox will not be
5504 written when exiting that mailbox (You can toggle whether to
5505 write changes to a mailbox with the <toggle-write> operation,
5506 bound by default to “%”). The fourth is used to indicate that
5507 the current folder has been opened in attach- message mode (Cer‐
5508 tain operations like composing a new mail, replying, forwarding,
5509 etc. are not permitted in this mode).
5510 status_format
5514 Type: string
5515 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)---”
5516 Controls the format of the status line displayed in the “index”
5518 menu. This string is similar to $index_format, but has its own
5519 set of printf(3)-like sequences:
5520 %b number of mailboxes with new mail *
5521 %d number of deleted messages *
5522 %f the full pathname of the current mailbox
5523 %F number of flagged messages *
5524 %h local hostname
5525 %l size (in bytes) of the current mailbox (see format‐
5526 strings-size) *
5527 %L size (in bytes) of the messages shown (i.e., which match
5528 the current limit) (see formatstrings-size) *
5529 %m the number of messages in the mailbox *
5530 %M the number of messages shown (i.e., which match the cur‐
5531 rent limit) *
5532 %n number of new messages in the mailbox *
5533 %o number of old unread messages *
5534 %p number of postponed messages *
5535 %P percentage of the way through the index
5536 %r modified/read-only/won't-write/attach-message indicator,
5537 according to $status_chars
5538 %R number of read messages *
5539 %s current sorting mode ($sort)
5540 %S current aux sorting method ($sort_aux)
5541 %t number of tagged messages *
5542 %u number of unread messages *
5543 %v Mutt version string
5544 %V currently active limit pattern, if any *
5545 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with “X”
5546 %|X pad to the end of the line with “X”
5547 %*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
5548 For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the $index_format docu‐
5550 mentation.
5551 * = can be optionally printed if nonzero
5553 Some of the above sequences can be used to optionally print a
5555 string if their value is nonzero. For example, you may only
5556 want to see the number of flagged messages if such messages
5557 exist, since zero is not particularly meaningful. To optionally
5558 print a string based upon one of the above sequences, the fol‐
5559 lowing construct is used:
5560 %?<sequence_char>?<optional_string>?
5562 where sequence_char is a character from the table above, and
5564 optional_string is the string you would like printed if
5565 sequence_char is nonzero. optional_string may contain other
5566 sequences as well as normal text, but you may not nest optional
5567 strings.
5568 Here is an example illustrating how to optionally print the num‐
5570 ber of new messages in a mailbox:
5571 %?n?%n new messages.?
5573 You can also switch between two strings using the following con‐
5575 struct:
5576 %?<sequence_char>?<if_string>&<else_string>?
5578 If the value of sequence_char is non-zero, if_string will be
5580 expanded, otherwise else_string will be expanded.
5581 You can force the result of any printf(3)-like sequence to be
5583 lowercase by prefixing the sequence character with an underscore
5584 (“_”) sign. For example, if you want to display the local host‐
5585 name in lowercase, you would use: “%_h”.
5586 If you prefix the sequence character with a colon (“:”) charac‐
5588 ter, mutt will replace any dots in the expansion by underscores.
5589 This might be helpful with IMAP folders that don't like dots in
5590 folder names.
5591 status_on_top
5595 Type: boolean
5596 Default: no
5597 Setting this variable causes the “status bar” to be displayed on
5599 the first line of the screen rather than near the bottom. If
5600 $help is set, too it'll be placed at the bottom.
5601 strict_threads
5605 Type: boolean
5606 Default: no
5607 If set, threading will only make use of the “In-Reply-To” and
5609 “References:” fields when you $sort by message threads. By
5610 default, messages with the same subject are grouped together in
5611 “pseudo threads.”. This may not always be desirable, such as in
5612 a personal mailbox where you might have several unrelated mes‐
5613 sages with the subjects like “hi” which will get grouped
5614 together. See also $sort_re for a less drastic way of control‐
5615 ling this behavior.
5616 suspend
5620 Type: boolean
5621 Default: yes
5622 When unset, mutt won't stop when the user presses the terminal's
5624 susp key, usually “^Z”. This is useful if you run mutt inside an
5625 xterm using a command like “xterm -e mutt”.
5626 text_flowed
5630 Type: boolean
5631 Default: no
5632 When set, mutt will generate “format=flowed” bodies with a con‐
5634 tent type of “text/plain; format=flowed”. This format is easier
5635 to handle for some mailing software, and generally just looks
5636 like ordinary text. To actually make use of this format's fea‐
5637 tures, you'll need support in your editor.
5638 The option only controls newly composed messages. Postponed
5640 messages, resent messages, and draft messages (via -H on the
5641 command line) will use the content-type of the source message.
5642 Note that $indent_string is ignored when this option is set.
5644 thorough_search
5648 Type: boolean
5649 Default: yes
5650 Affects the ~b and ~h search operations described in section
5652 “patterns”. If set, the headers and body/attachments of mes‐
5653 sages to be searched are decoded before searching. If unset,
5654 messages are searched as they appear in the folder.
5655 Users searching attachments or for non-ASCII characters should
5657 set this value because decoding also includes MIME pars‐
5658 ing/decoding and possible character set conversions. Otherwise
5659 mutt will attempt to match against the raw message received (for
5660 example quoted-printable encoded or with encoded headers) which
5661 may lead to incorrect search results.
5662 thread_received
5666 Type: boolean
5667 Default: no
5668 When set, mutt uses the date received rather than the date sent
5670 to thread messages by subject.
5671 tilde
5675 Type: boolean
5676 Default: no
5677 When set, the internal-pager will pad blank lines to the bottom
5679 of the screen with a tilde (“~”).
5680 time_inc
5684 Type: number
5685 Default: 0
5686 Along with $read_inc, $write_inc, and $net_inc, this variable
5688 controls the frequency with which progress updates are dis‐
5689 played. It suppresses updates less than $time_inc milliseconds
5690 apart. This can improve throughput on systems with slow termi‐
5691 nals, or when running mutt on a remote system.
5692 Also see the “tuning” section of the manual for performance con‐
5694 siderations.
5695 timeout
5699 Type: number
5700 Default: 600
5701 When Mutt is waiting for user input either idling in menus or in
5703 an interactive prompt, Mutt would block until input is present.
5704 Depending on the context, this would prevent certain operations
5705 from working, like checking for new mail or keeping an IMAP con‐
5706 nection alive.
5707 This variable controls how many seconds Mutt will at most wait
5709 until it aborts waiting for input, performs these operations and
5710 continues to wait for input.
5711 A value of zero or less will cause Mutt to never time out.
5713 tmpdir
5717 Type: path
5718 Default: “”
5719 This variable allows you to specify where Mutt will place its
5721 temporary files needed for displaying and composing messages.
5722 If this variable is not set, the environment variable $TMPDIR is
5723 used. If $TMPDIR is not set then “/tmp” is used.
5724 to_chars
5728 Type: string
5729 Default: “ +TCFL”
5730 Controls the character used to indicate mail addressed to you.
5732 The first character is the one used when the mail is not
5733 addressed to your address. The second is used when you are the
5734 only recipient of the message. The third is when your address
5735 appears in the “To:” header field, but you are not the only
5736 recipient of the message. The fourth character is used when
5737 your address is specified in the “Cc:” header field, but you are
5738 not the only recipient. The fifth character is used to indicate
5739 mail that was sent by you. The sixth character is used to indi‐
5740 cate when a mail was sent to a mailing-list you subscribe to.
5741 trash
5745 Type: path
5746 Default: “”
5747 If set, this variable specifies the path of the trash folder
5749 where the mails marked for deletion will be moved, instead of
5750 being irremediably purged.
5751 NOTE: When you delete a message in the trash folder, it is
5753 really deleted, so that you have a way to clean the trash.
5754 ts_icon_format
5758 Type: string
5759 Default: “M%?n?AIL&ail?”
5760 Controls the format of the icon title, as long as “$ts_enabled”
5762 is set. This string is identical in formatting to the one used
5763 by “$status_format”.
5764 ts_enabled
5768 Type: boolean
5769 Default: no
5770 Controls whether mutt tries to set the terminal status line and
5772 icon name. Most terminal emulators emulate the status line in
5773 the window title.
5774 ts_status_format
5778 Type: string
5779 Default: “Mutt with %?m?%m messages&no messages?%?n? [%n NEW]?”
5780 Controls the format of the terminal status line (or window
5782 title), provided that “$ts_enabled” has been set. This string is
5783 identical in formatting to the one used by “$status_format”.
5784 tunnel
5788 Type: string
5789 Default: “”
5790 Setting this variable will cause mutt to open a pipe to a com‐
5792 mand instead of a raw socket. You may be able to use this to set
5793 up preauthenticated connections to your IMAP/POP3/SMTP server.
5794 Example:
5795 set tunnel=”ssh -q mailhost.net /usr/local/libexec/imapd”
5798 Note: For this example to work you must be able to log in to the
5801 remote machine without having to enter a password.
5802 When set, Mutt uses the tunnel for all remote connections.
5804 Please see “account-hook” in the manual for how to use different
5805 tunnel commands per connection.
5806 uncollapse_jump
5810 Type: boolean
5811 Default: no
5812 When set, Mutt will jump to the next unread message, if any,
5814 when the current thread is uncollapsed.
5815 uncollapse_new
5819 Type: boolean
5820 Default: yes
5821 When set, Mutt will automatically uncollapse any collapsed
5823 thread that receives a new message. When unset, collapsed
5824 threads will remain collapsed. the presence of the new message
5825 will still affect index sorting, though.
5826 use_8bitmime
5830 Type: boolean
5831 Default: no
5832 Warning: do not set this variable unless you are using a version
5834 of sendmail which supports the -B8BITMIME flag (such as sendmail
5835 8.8.x) or you may not be able to send mail.
5836 When set, Mutt will invoke $sendmail with the -B8BITMIME flag
5838 when sending 8-bit messages to enable ESMTP negotiation.
5839 use_domain
5843 Type: boolean
5844 Default: yes
5845 When set, Mutt will qualify all local addresses (ones without
5847 the “@host” portion) with the value of $hostname. If unset, no
5848 addresses will be qualified.
5849 use_envelope_from
5853 Type: boolean
5854 Default: no
5855 When set, mutt will set the envelope sender of the message. If
5857 $envelope_from_address is set, it will be used as the sender
5858 address. If unset, mutt will attempt to derive the sender from
5859 the “From:” header.
5860 Note that this information is passed to sendmail command using
5862 the -f command line switch. Therefore setting this option is not
5863 useful if the $sendmail variable already contains -f or if the
5864 executable pointed to by $sendmail doesn't support the -f
5865 switch.
5866 use_from
5870 Type: boolean
5871 Default: yes
5872 When set, Mutt will generate the “From:” header field when send‐
5874 ing messages. If unset, no “From:” header field will be gener‐
5875 ated unless the user explicitly sets one using the “my_hdr” com‐
5876 mand.
5877 use_ipv6
5881 Type: boolean
5882 Default: yes
5883 When set, Mutt will look for IPv6 addresses of hosts it tries to
5885 contact. If this option is unset, Mutt will restrict itself to
5886 IPv4 addresses. Normally, the default should work.
5887 user_agent
5891 Type: boolean
5892 Default: no
5893 When set, mutt will add a “User-Agent:” header to outgoing mes‐
5895 sages, indicating which version of mutt was used for composing
5896 them.
5897 visual
5901 Type: path
5902 Default: “”
5903 Specifies the visual editor to invoke when the “~v” command is
5905 given in the built-in editor.
5906 wait_key
5910 Type: boolean
5911 Default: yes
5912 Controls whether Mutt will ask you to press a key after an
5914 external command has been invoked by these functions:
5915 <shell-escape>, <pipe-message>, <pipe-entry>, <print-message>,
5916 and <print-entry> commands.
5917 It is also used when viewing attachments with “auto_view”, pro‐
5919 vided that the corresponding mailcap entry has a needsterminal
5920 flag, and the external program is interactive.
5921 When set, Mutt will always ask for a key. When unset, Mutt will
5923 wait for a key only if the external command returned a non-zero
5924 status.
5925 weed
5929 Type: boolean
5930 Default: yes
5931 When set, mutt will weed headers when displaying, forwarding,
5933 printing, or replying to messages.
5934 wrap
5938 Type: number
5939 Default: 0
5940 When set to a positive value, mutt will wrap text at $wrap char‐
5942 acters. When set to a negative value, mutt will wrap text so
5943 that there are $wrap characters of empty space on the right side
5944 of the terminal. Setting it to zero makes mutt wrap at the ter‐
5945 minal width.
5946 Also see $reflow_wrap.
5948 wrap_headers
5952 Type: number
5953 Default: 78
5954 This option specifies the number of characters to use for wrap‐
5956 ping an outgoing message's headers. Allowed values are between
5957 78 and 998 inclusive.
5958 Note: This option usually shouldn't be changed. RFC5233 recom‐
5960 mends a line length of 78 (the default), so please only change
5961 this setting when you know what you're doing.
5962 wrap_search
5966 Type: boolean
5967 Default: yes
5968 Controls whether searches wrap around the end.
5970 When set, searches will wrap around the first (or last) item.
5972 When unset, incremental searches will not wrap.
5973 wrapmargin
5977 Type: number
5978 Default: 0
5979 (DEPRECATED) Equivalent to setting $wrap with a negative value.
5981 write_bcc
5985 Type: boolean
5986 Default: no
5987 Controls whether mutt writes out the “Bcc:” header when prepar‐
5989 ing messages to be sent. Some MTAs, such as Exim and Courier,
5990 do not strip the “Bcc:” header; so it is advisable to leave this
5991 unset unless you have a particular need for the header to be in
5992 the sent message.
5993 If mutt is set to deliver directly via SMTP (see $smtp_url),
5995 this option does nothing: mutt will never write out the “Bcc:”
5996 header in this case.
5997 Note this option only affects the sending of messages. Fcc'ed
5999 copies of a message will always contain the “Bcc:” header if one
6000 exists.
6001 write_inc
6005 Type: number
6006 Default: 10
6007 When writing a mailbox, a message will be printed every
6009 $write_inc messages to indicate progress. If set to 0, only a
6010 single message will be displayed before writing a mailbox.
6011 Also see the $read_inc, $net_inc and $time_inc variables and the
6013 “tuning” section of the manual for performance considerations.
6014
6018 iconv(1), iconv(3), mailcap(5), maildir(5), mbox(5), mutt(1),
6019 printf(3), regex(7), strftime(3)
6020 The Mutt Manual
6022 The Mutt home page: http://www.mutt.org/
6024
6026 Michael Elkins, and others. Use <mutt-dev@mutt.org> to contact the
6027 developers.
6028Unix January 2019 muttrc(5)