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, backquotes are evalu‐
24 ated 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 backquotes (`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 implicitely 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.
129 account-hook [!]regexp command
131 This hook is executed whenever you access a remote mailbox. Use‐
132 ful to adjust configuration settings to different IMAP or POP
133 servers.
134 charset-hook alias charset
136 This command defines an alias for a character set. This is use‐
137 ful to properly display messages which are tagged with a charac‐
138 ter set name not known to mutt.
139 iconv-hook charset local-charset
141 This command defines a system-specific name for a character set.
142 This is useful when your system's iconv(3) implementation does
143 not understand MIME character set names (such as iso-8859-1),
144 but instead insists on being fed with implementation-specific
145 character set names (such as 8859-1). In this specific case,
146 you'd put this into your configuration file:
147 iconv-hook iso-8859-1 8859-1
149 message-hook [!]pattern command
151 Before mutt displays (or formats for replying or forwarding) a
152 message which matches the given pattern (or, when it is preceded
153 by an exclamation mark, does not match the pattern), the given
154 command is executed. When multiple message-hooks match, they
155 are executed in the order in which they occur in the configu‐
156 ration file.
157 folder-hook [!]regexp command
159 When mutt enters a folder which matches regexp (or, when regexp
160 is preceded by an exclamation mark, does not match regexp), the
161 given command is executed.
162 When several folder-hooks match a given mail folder, they are
164 executed in the order given in the configuration file.
165 macro map key sequence [ description ]
167 This command binds the given sequence of keys to the given key
168 in the given map or maps. For valid maps, see bind. To specify
169 multiple maps, put only a comma between the maps.
170 color object foreground background [ regexp ]
172 color index foreground background [ pattern ]
173 uncolor index pattern [ pattern ... ]
174 If your terminal supports color, these commands can be used to
176 assign foreground/backgound combinations to certain objects.
177 Valid objects are: attachment, body, bold, header, hdrdefault,
178 index, indicator, markers, message, normal, quoted, quotedN,
179 search, signature, status, tilde, tree, underline. The body and
180 header objects allow you to restrict the colorization to a regu‐
181 lar expression. The index object permits you to select colored
182 messages by pattern.
183 Valid colors include: white, black, green, magenta, blue, cyan,
185 yellow, red, default, colorN.
186 mono object attribute [ regexp ]
188 mono index attribute [ pattern ]
189 For terminals which don't support color, you can still assign
191 attributes to objects. Valid attributes include: none, bold,
192 underline, reverse, and standout.
193 [un]ignore pattern [ pattern ... ]
195 The ignore command permits you to specify header fields which
196 you usually don't wish to see. Any header field whose tag
197 begins with an “ignored” pattern will be ignored.
198 The unignore command permits you to define exceptions from the
200 above mentioned list of ignored headers.
201 lists [-group name] regexp [ regexp ... ]
203 unlists regexp [ regexp ... ]
204 subscribe [-group name] regexp [ regexp ... ]
205 unsubscribe regexp [ regexp ... ]
206 Mutt maintains two lists of mailing list address patterns, a
208 list of subscribed mailing lists, and a list of known mailing
209 lists. All subscribed mailing lists are known. Patterns use
210 regular expressions.
211 The lists command adds a mailing list address to the list of
213 known mailing lists. The unlists command removes a mailing list
214 from the lists of known and subscribed mailing lists. The sub‐
215 scribe command adds a mailing list to the lists of known and
216 subscribed mailing lists. The unsubscribe command removes it
217 from the list of subscribed mailing lists. The -group flag adds
218 all of the subsequent regular expressions to the named group.
219 mbox-hook [!]pattern mailbox
221 When mutt changes to a mail folder which matches pattern, mail‐
222 box will be used as the “mbox” folder, i.e., read messages will
223 be moved to that folder when the mail folder is left.
224 The first matching mbox-hook applies.
226 mailboxes filename [ filename ... ]
228 unmailboxes [ * | filename ... ]
229 The mailboxes specifies folders which can receive mail and which
231 will be checked for new messages. When changing folders, press‐
232 ing space will cycle through folders with new mail. The unmail‐
233 boxes command is used to remove a file name from the list of
234 folders which can receive mail. If "*" is specified as the file
235 name, the list is emptied.
236 my_hdr string
238 unmy_hdr field
239 Using my_hdr, you can define headers which will be added to the
241 messages you compose. unmy_hdr will remove the given user-
242 defined headers.
243 hdr_order header1 header2 [ ... ]
245 With this command, you can specify an order in which mutt will
246 attempt to present headers to you when viewing messages.
247 save-hook [!]pattern filename
249 When a message matches pattern, the default file name when sav‐
250 ing it will be the given filename.
251 fcc-hook [!]pattern filename
253 When an outgoing message matches pattern, the default file name
254 for storing a copy (fcc) will be the given filename.
255 fcc-save-hook [!]pattern filename
257 This command is an abbreviation for identical fcc-hook and save-
258 hook commands.
259 send-hook [!]pattern command
261 When composing a message matching pattern, command is executed.
262 When multiple send-hooks match, they are executed in the order
263 in which they occur in the configuration file.
264 send2-hook [!]pattern command
266 Whenever a message matching pattern is changed (either by edit‐
267 ing it or by using the compose menu), command is executed. When
268 multiple send2-hooks match, they are executed in the order in
269 which they occur in the configuration file. Possible applica‐
270 tions include setting the $sendmail variable when a message's
271 from header is changed.
272 send2-hook execution is not triggered by use of enter-command
274 from the compose menu.
275 reply-hook [!]pattern command
277 When replying to a message matching pattern, command is exe‐
278 cuted. When multiple reply-hooks match, they are executed in
279 the order in which they occur in the configuration file, but all
280 reply-hooks are matched and executed before send-hooks, regard‐
281 less of their order in the configuration file.
282 crypt-hook pattern key-id
284 The crypt-hook command provides a method by which you can spec‐
285 ify the ID of the public key to be used when encrypting messages
286 to a certain recipient. The meaning of "key ID" is to be taken
287 broadly: This can be a different e-mail address, a numerical key
288 ID, or even just an arbitrary search string.
289 push string
291 This command adds the named string to the keyboard buffer.
292 set [no|inv|&|?]variable[=value] [ ... ]
294 toggle variable [ ... ]
295 unset variable [ ... ]
296 reset variable [ ... ]
297 These commands are used to set and manipulate configuration
299 varibles.
300 Mutt knows four basic types of variables: boolean, number,
302 string and quadoption. Boolean variables can be set (true),
303 unset (false), or toggled. Number variables can be assigned a
304 positive integer value.
305 String variables consist of any number of printable characters.
307 Strings must be enclosed in quotes if they contain spaces or
308 tabs. You may also use the “C” escape sequences \n and \t for
309 newline and tab, respectively.
310 Quadoption variables are used to control whether or not to be
312 prompted for certain actions, or to specify a default action. A
313 value of yes will cause the action to be carried out automati‐
314 cally as if you had answered yes to the question. Similarly, a
315 value of no will cause the the action to be carried out as if
316 you had answered “no.” A value of ask-yes will cause a prompt
317 with a default answer of “yes” and ask-no will provide a default
318 answer of “no.”
319 The reset command resets all given variables to the compile time
321 defaults. If you reset the special variable all, all variables
322 will reset to their compile time defaults.
323 source filename
325 The given file will be evaluated as a configuration file.
326 spam pattern format
328 nospam pattern
329 These commands define spam-detection patterns from external spam
330 filters, so that mutt can sort, limit, and search on ``spam
331 tags'' or ``spam attributes'', or display them in the index. See
332 the Mutt manual for details.
333 unhook [ * | hook-type ]
335 This command will remove all hooks of a given type, or all hooks
336 when “*” is used as an argument. hook-type can be any of the
337 -hook commands documented above.
338
340 In various places with mutt, including some of the abovementioned hook
341 commands, you can specify patterns to match messages.
342 Constructing Patterns
344 A simple pattern consists of an operator of the form “~character”, pos‐
345 sibly followed by a parameter against which mutt is supposed to match
346 the object specified by this operator. For some characters, the ~ may
347 be replaced by another character to alter the behavior of the match.
348 These are described in the list of operators, below.
349 With some of these operators, the object to be matched consists of sev‐
351 eral e-mail addresses. In these cases, the object is matched if at
352 least one of these e-mail addresses matches. You can prepend a hat
353 (“^”) character to such a pattern to indicate that all addresses must
354 match in order to match the object.
355 You can construct complex patterns by combining simple patterns with
357 logical operators. Logical AND is specified by simply concatenating
358 two simple patterns, for instance “~C mutt-dev ~s bug”. Logical OR is
359 specified by inserting a vertical bar (“|”) between two patterns, for
360 instance “~C mutt-dev | ~s bug”. Additionally, you can negate a pat‐
361 tern by prepending a bang (“!”) character. For logical grouping, use
362 braces (“()”). Example: “!(~t mutt|~c mutt) ~f elkins”.
363 Simple Patterns
365 Mutt understands the following simple patterns:
366 ~A all messages
368 ~b EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the message body.
369 =b STRING messages which contain STRING in the message body. If IMAP
370 is enabled, searches for STRING on the server, rather than
371 downloading each message and searching it locally.
372 ~B EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the whole message.
373 ~c EXPR messages carbon-copied to EXPR
374 %c GROUP messages carbon-copied to any member of GROUP
375 ~C EXPR messages either to: or cc: EXPR
376 %C GROUP messages either to: or cc: to any member of GROUP
377 ~d MIN-MAX messages with “date-sent” in a Date range
378 ~D deleted messages
379 ~e EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the “Sender” field
380 %e GROUP messages which contain a member of GROUP in the “Sender”
381 field
382 ~E expired messages
383 ~f EXPR messages originating from EXPR
384 %f GROUP messages originating form any member of GROUP
385 ~F flagged messages
386 ~g PGP signed messages
387 ~G PGP encrypted messages
388 ~h EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the message header
389 ~H EXPR messages with spam tags matching EXPR
390 ~i EXPR messages which match EXPR in the “Message-ID” field
391 ~k messages containing PGP key material
392 ~l messages addressed to a known mailing list (defined by
393 either subscribe or list)
394 ~L EXPR messages either originated or received by EXPR
395 %L GROUP messages either originated or received by any member of
396 GROUP
397 ~m MIN-MAX message in the range MIN to MAX
398 ~n MIN-MAX messages with a score in the range MIN to MAX
399 ~N new messages
400 ~O old messages
401 ~p messages addressed to you (as defined by alternates)
402 ~P messages from you (as defined by alternates)
403 ~Q messages which have been replied to
404 ~r MIN-MAX messages with “date-received” in a Date range
405 ~R read messages
406 ~s EXPR messages having EXPR in the “Subject” field.
407 ~S superseded messages
408 ~t EXPR messages addressed to EXPR
409 ~T tagged messages
410 ~u messages addressed to a subscribed mailing list (defined by
411 subscribe commands)
412 ~U unread messages
413 ~v message is part of a collapsed thread.
414 ~V cryptographically verified messages
415 ~x EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the “References” field
416 ~X MIN-MAX messages with MIN - MAX attachments
417 ~y EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the “X-Label” field
418 ~z MIN-MAX messages with a size in the range MIN to MAX
419 ~= duplicated messages (see $duplicate_threads)
420 ~$ unreferenced message (requries threaded view)
421 ~(PATTERN) messages in threads containing messages matching a certain
422 pattern, e.g. all threads containing messages from you:
423 ~(~P)
424 In the above, EXPR is a regular expression.
426 With the ~m, ~n, ~X, and ~z operators, you can also specify ranges in
428 the forms <MAX, >MIN, MIN-, and -MAX.
429 Matching dates
431 The ~d and ~r operators are used to match date ranges, which are inter‐
432 preted to be given in your local time zone.
433 A date is of the form DD[/MM[/[cc]YY]], that is, a two-digit date,
435 optionally followed by a two-digit month, optionally followed by a year
436 specifications. Omitted fields default to the current month and year.
437 Mutt understands either two or four digit year specifications. When
439 given a two-digit year, mutt will interpret values less than 70 as
440 lying in the 21st century (i.e., “38” means 2038 and not 1938, and “00”
441 is interpreted as 2000), and values greater than or equal to 70 as
442 lying in the 20th century.
443 Note that this behaviour is Y2K compliant, but that mutt does have a
445 Y2.07K problem.
446 If a date range consists of a single date, the operator in question
448 will match that precise date. If the date range consists of a dash
449 (“-”), followed by a date, this range will match any date before and up
450 to the date given. Similarly, a date followed by a dash matches the
451 date given and any later point of time. Two dates, separated by a
452 dash, match any date which lies in the given range of time.
453 You can also modify any absolute date by giving an error range. An
455 error range consists of one of the characters +, -, *, followed by a
456 positive number, followed by one of the unit characters y, m, w, or d,
457 specifying a unit of years, months, weeks, or days. + increases the
458 maximum date matched by the given interval of time, - decreases the
459 minimum date matched by the given interval of time, and * increases the
460 maximum date and decreases the minimum date matched by the given inter‐
461 val of time. It is possible to give multiple error margins, which
462 cumulate. Example: 1/1/2001-1w+2w*3d
463 You can also specify offsets relative to the current date. An offset
465 is specified as one of the characters <, >, =, followed by a positive
466 number, followed by one of the unit characters y, m, w, or d. >
467 matches dates which are older than the specified amount of time, an
468 offset which begins with the character < matches dates which are more
469 recent than the specified amount of time, and an offset which begins
470 with the character = matches points of time which are precisely the
471 given amount of time ago.
472
474 abort_nosubject
475 Type: quadoption
476 Default: ask-yes
477 If set to yes, when composing messages and no subject is given
479 at the subject prompt, composition will be aborted. If set to
480 no, composing messages with no subject given at the subject
481 prompt will never be aborted.
482 abort_unmodified
486 Type: quadoption
487 Default: yes
488 If set to yes, composition will automatically abort after edit‐
490 ing the message body if no changes are made to the file (this
491 check only happens after the first edit of the file). When set
492 to no, composition will never be aborted.
493 alias_file
497 Type: path
498 Default: “~/.muttrc”
499 The default file in which to save aliases created by the “cre‐
501 ate-alias” function.
502 Note: Mutt will not automatically source this file; you must
504 explicitly use the “source” command for it to be executed.
505 The default for this option is the currently used muttrc file,
507 or “~/.muttrc” if no user muttrc was found.
508 alias_format
512 Type: string
513 Default: “%4n %2f %t %-10a %r”
514 Specifies the format of the data displayed for the `alias' menu.
516 The following printf(3)-style sequences are available:
517 %a alias name
519 %f flags - currently, a ”d” for an alias marked for deletion
520 %n index number
521 %r address which alias expands to
522 %t character which indicates if the alias is tagged for
523 inclusion
524 allow_8bit
527 Type: boolean
528 Default: yes
529 Controls whether 8-bit data is converted to 7-bit using either
531 Quoted- Printable or Base64 encoding when sending mail.
532 allow_ansi
536 Type: boolean
537 Default: no
538 Controls whether ANSI color codes in messages (and color tags in
540 rich text messages) are to be interpreted. Messages containing
541 these codes are rare, but if this option is set, their text will
542 be colored accordingly. Note that this may override your color
543 choices, and even present a security problem, since a message
544 could include a line like ”[-- PGP output follows ...” and give
545 it the same color as your attachment color.
546 arrow_cursor
550 Type: boolean
551 Default: no
552 When set, an arrow (“->”) will be used to indicate the current
554 entry in menus instead of highlighting the whole line. On slow
555 network or modem links this will make response faster because
556 there is less that has to be redrawn on the screen when moving
557 to the next or previous entries in the menu.
558 ascii_chars
562 Type: boolean
563 Default: no
564 If set, Mutt will use plain ASCII characters when displaying
566 thread and attachment trees, instead of the default ACS charac‐
567 ters.
568 askbcc
572 Type: boolean
573 Default: no
574 If set, Mutt will prompt you for blind-carbon-copy (Bcc) recipi‐
576 ents before editing an outgoing message.
577 askcc
581 Type: boolean
582 Default: no
583 If set, Mutt will prompt you for carbon-copy (Cc) recipients
585 before editing the body of an outgoing message.
586 assumed_charset
590 Type: string
591 Default: “”
592 This variable is a colon-separated list of character encoding
594 schemes for messages without character encoding indication.
595 Header field values and message body content without character
596 encoding indication would be assumed that they are written in
597 one of this list. By default, all the header fields and message
598 body without any charset indication are assumed to be in ”us-
599 ascii”.
600 For example, Japanese users might prefer this:
602 set assumed_charset=”iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8”
604 However, only the first content is valid for the message body.
606 attach_charset
610 Type: string
611 Default: “”
612 This variable is a colon-separated list of character encoding
614 schemes for text file attachments. If unset, $charset value
615 will be used instead. For example, the following configuration
616 would work for Japanese text handling:
617 set attach_charset=”iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8”
619 Note: ”iso-2022-*” must be put at the head of the value as shown
621 above if included.
622 attach_format
626 Type: string
627 Default: “%u%D%I %t%4n %T%.40d%> [%.7m/%.10M, %.6e%?C?, %C?, %s] ”
628 This variable describes the format of the `attachment' menu.
630 The following printf-style sequences are understood:
631 %C charset
633 %c requires charset conversion (n or c)
634 %D deleted flag
635 %d description
636 %e MIME content-transfer-encoding
637 %f filename
638 %I disposition (I=inline, A=attachment)
639 %m major MIME type
640 %M MIME subtype
641 %n attachment number
642 %Q ”Q”, if MIME part qualifies for attachment counting
643 %s size
644 %t tagged flag
645 %T graphic tree characters
646 %u unlink (=to delete) flag
647 %X number of qualifying MIME parts in this part and its
648 children (please see the “attachments” section for possi‐
649 ble speed effects)
650 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with charac‐
651 ter ”X”
652 %|X pad to the end of the line with character ”X”
653 %*X soft-fill with character ”X” as pad
654 For an explanation of `soft-fill', see the “$index_format” docu‐
656 mentation.
657 attach_sep
661 Type: string
662 Default: “\n”
663 The separator to add between attachments when operating (saving,
665 printing, piping, etc) on a list of tagged attachments.
666 attach_split
670 Type: boolean
671 Default: yes
672 If this variable is unset, when operating (saving, printing,
674 piping, etc) on a list of tagged attachments, Mutt will concate‐
675 nate the attachments and will operate on them as a single
676 attachment. The “$attach_sep” separator is added after each
677 attachment. When set, Mutt will operate on the attachments one
678 by one.
679 attribution
683 Type: string
684 Default: “On %d, %n wrote:”
685 This is the string that will precede a message which has been
687 included in a reply. For a full listing of defined
688 printf()-like sequences see the section on “$index_format”.
689 autoedit
693 Type: boolean
694 Default: no
695 When set along with “$edit_headers”, Mutt will skip the initial
697 send-menu and allow you to immediately begin editing the body of
698 your message. The send-menu may still be accessed once you have
699 finished editing the body of your message.
700 Also see “$fast_reply”.
702 auto_tag
706 Type: boolean
707 Default: no
708 When set, functions in the index menu which affect a message
710 will be applied to all tagged messages (if there are any). When
711 unset, you must first use the tag-prefix function (default: ”;”)
712 to make the next function apply to all tagged messages.
713 beep
717 Type: boolean
718 Default: yes
719 When this variable is set, mutt will beep when an error occurs.
721 beep_new
725 Type: boolean
726 Default: no
727 When this variable is set, mutt will beep whenever it prints a
729 message notifying you of new mail. This is independent of the
730 setting of the “$beep” variable.
731 bounce
735 Type: quadoption
736 Default: ask-yes
737 Controls whether you will be asked to confirm bouncing messages.
739 If set to yes you don't get asked if you want to bounce a mes‐
740 sage. Setting this variable to no is not generally useful, and
741 thus not recommended, because you are unable to bounce messages.
742 bounce_delivered
746 Type: boolean
747 Default: yes
748 When this variable is set, mutt will include Delivered-To head‐
750 ers when bouncing messages. Postfix users may wish to unset
751 this variable.
752 braille_friendly
756 Type: boolean
757 Default: no
758 When this variable is set, mutt will place the cursor at the
760 beginning of the current line in menus, even when the arrow_cur‐
761 sor variable is unset, making it easier for blind persons using
762 Braille displays to follow these menus. The option is disabled
763 by default because many visual terminals don't permit making the
764 cursor invisible.
765 check_mbox_size
769 Type: boolean
770 Default: no
771 When this variable is set, mutt will use file size attribute
773 instead of access time when checking for new mail.
774 charset
778 Type: string
779 Default: “”
780 Character set your terminal uses to display and enter textual
782 data. It is also the fallback for $send_charset.
783 check_new
787 Type: boolean
788 Default: yes
789 Note: this option only affects maildir and MH style mailboxes.
791 When set, Mutt will check for new mail delivered while the mail‐
793 box is open. Especially with MH mailboxes, this operation can
794 take quite some time since it involves scanning the directory
795 and checking each file to see if it has already been looked at.
796 If check_new is unset, no check for new mail is performed while
797 the mailbox is open.
798 collapse_unread
802 Type: boolean
803 Default: yes
804 When unset, Mutt will not collapse a thread if it contains any
806 unread messages.
807 uncollapse_jump
811 Type: boolean
812 Default: no
813 When set, Mutt will jump to the next unread message, if any,
815 when the current thread is uncollapsed.
816 compose_format
820 Type: string
821 Default: “-- Mutt: Compose [Approx. msg size: %l Atts: %a]%>-”
822 Controls the format of the status line displayed in the Compose
824 menu. This string is similar to “$status_format”, but has its
825 own set of printf()-like sequences:
826 %a total number of attachments
828 %h local hostname
829 %l approximate size (in bytes) of the current message
830 %v Mutt version string
831 See the text describing the “$status_format” option for more
833 information on how to set “$compose_format”.
834 config_charset
838 Type: string
839 Default: “”
840 When defined, Mutt will recode commands in rc files from this
842 encoding.
843 confirmappend
847 Type: boolean
848 Default: yes
849 When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when appending mes‐
851 sages to an existing mailbox.
852 confirmcreate
856 Type: boolean
857 Default: yes
858 When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when saving messages
860 to a mailbox which does not yet exist before creating it.
861 connect_timeout
865 Type: number
866 Default: 30
867 Causes Mutt to timeout a network connection (for IMAP or POP)
869 after this many seconds if the connection is not able to be
870 established. A negative value causes Mutt to wait indefinitely
871 for the connection to succeed.
872 content_type
876 Type: string
877 Default: “text/plain”
878 Sets the default Content-Type for the body of newly composed
880 messages.
881 copy
885 Type: quadoption
886 Default: yes
887 This variable controls whether or not copies of your outgoing
889 messages will be saved for later references. Also see
890 “$record”, “$save_name”, “$force_name” and “fcc-hook”.
891 crypt_use_gpgme
895 Type: boolean
896 Default: no
897 This variable controls the use of the GPGME-enabled crypto back‐
899 ends. If it is set and Mutt was built with gpgme support, the
900 gpgme code for S/MIME and PGP will be used instead of the clas‐
901 sic code. Note that you need to set this option in .muttrc; it
902 won't have any effect when used interactively.
903 crypt_use_pka
907 Type: boolean
908 Default: no
909 (http://www.g10code.de/docs/pka-intro.de.pdf) during signature
911 verification (only supported by the GPGME backend).
912 crypt_autopgp
916 Type: boolean
917 Default: yes
918 This variable controls whether or not mutt may automatically
920 enable PGP encryption/signing for messages. See also
921 “$crypt_autoencrypt”, “$crypt_replyencrypt”, “$crypt_autosign”,
922 “$crypt_replysign” and “$smime_is_default”.
923 crypt_autosmime
927 Type: boolean
928 Default: yes
929 This variable controls whether or not mutt may automatically
931 enable S/MIME encryption/signing for messages. See also
932 “$crypt_autoencrypt”, “$crypt_replyencrypt”, “$crypt_autosign”,
933 “$crypt_replysign” and “$smime_is_default”.
934 date_format
938 Type: string
939 Default: “!%a, %b %d, %Y at %I:%M:%S%p %Z”
940 This variable controls the format of the date printed by the
942 “%d” sequence in “$index_format”. This is passed to the strf‐
943 time call to process the date. See the man page for strftime(3)
944 for the proper syntax.
945 Unless the first character in the string is a bang (“!”), the
947 month and week day names are expanded according to the locale
948 specified in the variable “$locale”. If the first character in
949 the string is a bang, the bang is discarded, and the month and
950 week day names in the rest of the string are expanded in the C
951 locale (that is in US English).
952 default_hook
956 Type: string
957 Default: “~f %s !~P | (~P ~C %s)”
958 This variable controls how message-hooks, reply-hooks, send-
960 hooks, send2-hooks, save-hooks, and fcc-hooks will be inter‐
961 preted if they are specified with only a simple regexp, instead
962 of a matching pattern. The hooks are expanded when they are
963 declared, so a hook will be interpreted according to the value
964 of this variable at the time the hook is declared. The default
965 value matches if the message is either from a user matching the
966 regular expression given, or if it is from you (if the from
967 address matches “alternates”) and is to or cc'ed to a user
968 matching the given regular expression.
969 delete
973 Type: quadoption
974 Default: ask-yes
975 Controls whether or not messages are really deleted when closing
977 or synchronizing a mailbox. If set to yes, messages marked for
978 deleting will automatically be purged without prompting. If set
979 to no, messages marked for deletion will be kept in the mailbox.
980 delete_untag
984 Type: boolean
985 Default: yes
986 If this option is set, mutt will untag messages when marking
988 them for deletion. This applies when you either explicitly
989 delete a message, or when you save it to another folder.
990 digest_collapse
994 Type: boolean
995 Default: yes
996 If this option is set, mutt's received-attachments menu will not
998 show the subparts of individual messages in a multipart/digest.
999 To see these subparts, press 'v' on that menu.
1000 display_filter
1004 Type: path
1005 Default: “”
1006 When set, specifies a command used to filter messages. When a
1008 message is viewed it is passed as standard input to $dis‐
1009 play_filter, and the filtered message is read from the standard
1010 output.
1011 dsn_notify
1015 Type: string
1016 Default: “”
1017 Note: you should not enable this unless you are using Sendmail
1019 8.8.x or greater.
1020 This variable sets the request for when notification is
1022 returned. The string consists of a comma separated list (no
1023 spaces!) of one or more of the following: never, to never
1024 request notification, failure, to request notification on trans‐
1025 mission failure, delay, to be notified of message delays, suc‐
1026 cess, to be notified of successful transmission.
1027 Example: set dsn_notify=”failure,delay”
1029 dsn_return
1033 Type: string
1034 Default: “”
1035 Note: you should not enable this unless you are using Sendmail
1037 8.8.x or greater.
1038 This variable controls how much of your message is returned in
1040 DSN messages. It may be set to either hdrs to return just the
1041 message header, or full to return the full message.
1042 Example: set dsn_return=hdrs
1044 duplicate_threads
1048 Type: boolean
1049 Default: yes
1050 This variable controls whether mutt, when sorting by threads,
1052 threads messages with the same message-id together. If it is
1053 set, it will indicate that it thinks they are duplicates of each
1054 other with an equals sign in the thread diagram.
1055 edit_headers
1059 Type: boolean
1060 Default: no
1061 This option allows you to edit the header of your outgoing mes‐
1063 sages along with the body of your message.
1064 editor
1068 Type: path
1069 Default: “”
1070 This variable specifies which editor is used by mutt. It
1072 defaults to the value of the VISUAL, or EDITOR, environment
1073 variable, or to the string ”vi” if neither of those are set.
1074 encode_from
1078 Type: boolean
1079 Default: no
1080 When set, mutt will quoted-printable encode messages when they
1082 contain the string ”From ” in the beginning of a line. Useful
1083 to avoid the tampering certain mail delivery and transport
1084 agents tend to do with messages.
1085 envelope_from_address
1089 Type: e-mail address
1090 Default: “”
1091 Manually sets the envelope sender for outgoing messages. This
1093 value is ignored if “$use_envelope_from” is unset.
1094 escape
1098 Type: string
1099 Default: “~”
1100 Escape character to use for functions in the builtin editor.
1102 fast_reply
1106 Type: boolean
1107 Default: no
1108 When set, the initial prompt for recipients and subject are
1110 skipped when replying to messages, and the initial prompt for
1111 subject is skipped when forwarding messages.
1112 Note: this variable has no effect when the “$autoedit” variable
1114 is set.
1115 fcc_attach
1119 Type: boolean
1120 Default: yes
1121 This variable controls whether or not attachments on outgoing
1123 messages are saved along with the main body of your message.
1124 fcc_clear
1128 Type: boolean
1129 Default: no
1130 When this variable is set, FCCs will be stored unencrypted and
1132 unsigned, even when the actual message is encrypted and/or
1133 signed. (PGP only)
1134 folder
1138 Type: path
1139 Default: “~/Mail”
1140 Specifies the default location of your mailboxes. A `+' or `='
1142 at the beginning of a pathname will be expanded to the value of
1143 this variable. Note that if you change this variable from the
1144 default value you need to make sure that the assignment occurs
1145 before you use `+' or `=' for any other variables since expan‐
1146 sion takes place during the `set' command.
1147 folder_format
1151 Type: string
1152 Default: “%2C %t %N %F %2l %-8.8u %-8.8g %8s %d %f”
1153 This variable allows you to customize the file browser display
1155 to your personal taste. This string is similar to “$index_for‐
1156 mat”, but has its own set of printf()-like sequences:
1157 %C current file number
1159 %d date/time folder was last modified
1160 %f filename
1161 %F file permissions
1162 %g group name (or numeric gid, if missing)
1163 %l number of hard links
1164 %N N if folder has new mail, blank otherwise
1165 %s size in bytes
1166 %t * if the file is tagged, blank otherwise
1167 %u owner name (or numeric uid, if missing)
1168 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with charac‐
1169 ter ”X”
1170 %|X pad to the end of the line with character ”X”
1171 %*X soft-fill with character ”X” as pad
1172 For an explanation of `soft-fill', see the “$index_format” docu‐
1174 mentation.
1175 followup_to
1179 Type: boolean
1180 Default: yes
1181 Controls whether or not the Mail-Followup-To header field is
1183 generated when sending mail. When set, Mutt will generate this
1184 field when you are replying to a known mailing list, specified
1185 with the “subscribe” or “lists” commands.
1186 This field has two purposes. First, preventing you from receiv‐
1188 ing duplicate copies of replies to messages which you send to
1189 mailing lists, and second, ensuring that you do get a reply sep‐
1190 arately for any messages sent to known lists to which you are
1191 not subscribed. The header will contain only the list's address
1192 for subscribed lists, and both the list address and your own
1193 email address for unsubscribed lists. Without this header, a
1194 group reply to your message sent to a subscribed list will be
1195 sent to both the list and your address, resulting in two copies
1196 of the same email for you.
1197 force_name
1201 Type: boolean
1202 Default: no
1203 This variable is similar to “$save_name”, except that Mutt will
1205 store a copy of your outgoing message by the username of the
1206 address you are sending to even if that mailbox does not exist.
1207 Also see the “$record” variable.
1209 forward_decode
1213 Type: boolean
1214 Default: yes
1215 Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain
1217 when forwarding a message. The message header is also RFC2047
1218 decoded. This variable is only used, if “$mime_forward” is
1219 unset, otherwise “$mime_forward_decode” is used instead.
1220 forward_edit
1224 Type: quadoption
1225 Default: yes
1226 This quadoption controls whether or not the user is automati‐
1228 cally placed in the editor when forwarding messages. For those
1229 who always want to forward with no modification, use a setting
1230 of “no”.
1231 forward_format
1235 Type: string
1236 Default: “[%a: %s]”
1237 This variable controls the default subject when forwarding a
1239 message. It uses the same format sequences as the “$index_for‐
1240 mat” variable.
1241 forward_quote
1245 Type: boolean
1246 Default: no
1247 When set forwarded messages included in the main body of the
1249 message (when “$mime_forward” is unset) will be quoted using
1250 “$indent_string”.
1251 from
1255 Type: e-mail address
1256 Default: “”
1257 When set, this variable contains a default from address. It can
1259 be overridden using my_hdr (including from send-hooks) and
1260 “$reverse_name”. This variable is ignored if “$use_from” is
1261 unset.
1262 Defaults to the contents of the environment variable EMAIL.
1264 gecos_mask
1268 Type: regular expression
1269 Default: “^[^,]*”
1270 A regular expression used by mutt to parse the GECOS field of a
1272 password entry when expanding the alias. By default the regular
1273 expression is set to ”^[^,]*” which will return the string up to
1274 the first ”,” encountered. If the GECOS field contains a string
1275 like ”lastname, firstname” then you should set the
1276 gecos_mask=”.*”.
1277 This can be useful if you see the following behavior: you
1279 address a e-mail to user ID stevef whose full name is Steve
1280 Franklin. If mutt expands stevef to ”Franklin” stevef@foo.bar
1281 then you should set the gecos_mask to a regular expression that
1282 will match the whole name so mutt will expand ”Franklin” to
1283 ”Franklin, Steve”.
1284 hdrs
1288 Type: boolean
1289 Default: yes
1290 When unset, the header fields normally added by the “my_hdr”
1292 command are not created. This variable must be unset before
1293 composing a new message or replying in order to take effect. If
1294 set, the user defined header fields are added to every new mes‐
1295 sage.
1296 header
1300 Type: boolean
1301 Default: no
1302 When set, this variable causes Mutt to include the header of the
1304 message you are replying to into the edit buffer. The “$weed”
1305 setting applies.
1306 help
1310 Type: boolean
1311 Default: yes
1312 When set, help lines describing the bindings for the major func‐
1314 tions provided by each menu are displayed on the first line of
1315 the screen.
1316 Note: The binding will not be displayed correctly if the func‐
1318 tion is bound to a sequence rather than a single keystroke.
1319 Also, the help line may not be updated if a binding is changed
1320 while Mutt is running. Since this variable is primarily aimed
1321 at new users, neither of these should present a major problem.
1322 hidden_host
1326 Type: boolean
1327 Default: no
1328 When set, mutt will skip the host name part of “$hostname” vari‐
1330 able when adding the domain part to addresses. This variable
1331 does not affect the generation of Message-IDs, and it will not
1332 lead to the cut-off of first-level domains.
1333 hide_limited
1337 Type: boolean
1338 Default: no
1339 When set, mutt will not show the presence of messages that are
1341 hidden by limiting, in the thread tree.
1342 hide_missing
1346 Type: boolean
1347 Default: yes
1348 When set, mutt will not show the presence of missing messages in
1350 the thread tree.
1351 hide_thread_subject
1355 Type: boolean
1356 Default: yes
1357 When set, mutt will not show the subject of messages in the
1359 thread tree that have the same subject as their parent or clos‐
1360 est previously displayed sibling.
1361 hide_top_limited
1365 Type: boolean
1366 Default: no
1367 When set, mutt will not show the presence of messages that are
1369 hidden by limiting, at the top of threads in the thread tree.
1370 Note that when $hide_limited is set, this option will have no
1371 effect.
1372 hide_top_missing
1376 Type: boolean
1377 Default: yes
1378 When set, mutt will not show the presence of missing messages at
1380 the top of threads in the thread tree. Note that when
1381 $hide_missing is set, this option will have no effect.
1382 history
1386 Type: number
1387 Default: 10
1388 This variable controls the size (in number of strings remem‐
1390 bered) of the string history buffer. The buffer is cleared each
1391 time the variable is set.
1392 history_file
1396 Type: path
1397 Default: “~/.mutthistory”
1398 The file in which Mutt will save its history.
1400 honor_followup_to
1404 Type: quadoption
1405 Default: yes
1406 This variable controls whether or not a Mail-Followup-To header
1408 is honored when group-replying to a message.
1409 hostname
1413 Type: string
1414 Default: “”
1415 Specifies the hostname to use after the “@” in local e-mail
1417 addresses. This overrides the compile time definition obtained
1418 from /etc/resolv.conf.
1419 ignore_linear_white_space
1423 Type: boolean
1424 Default: no
1425 This option replaces linear-white-space between encoded-word and
1427 *text to a single space to prevent the display of MIME-encoded
1428 “Subject” field from being divided into multiple lines.
1429 ignore_list_reply_to
1433 Type: boolean
1434 Default: no
1435 Affects the behaviour of the reply function when replying to
1437 messages from mailing lists. When set, if the “Reply-To:” field
1438 is set to the same value as the “To:” field, Mutt assumes that
1439 the “Reply-To:” field was set by the mailing list to automate
1440 responses to the list, and will ignore this field. To direct a
1441 response to the mailing list when this option is set, use the
1442 list-reply function; group-reply will reply to both the sender
1443 and the list.
1444 imap_authenticators
1448 Type: string
1449 Default: “”
1450 This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt
1452 may attempt to use to log in to an IMAP server, in the order
1453 mutt should try them. Authentication methods are either 'login'
1454 or the right side of an IMAP 'AUTH=xxx' capability string, eg
1455 'digest-md5', 'gssapi' or 'cram-md5'. This parameter is case-
1456 insensitive. If this parameter is unset (the default) mutt will
1457 try all available methods, in order from most-secure to least-
1458 secure.
1459 Example: set imap_authenticators=”gssapi:cram-md5:login”
1461 Note: Mutt will only fall back to other authentication methods
1463 if the previous methods are unavailable. If a method is avail‐
1464 able but authentication fails, mutt will not connect to the IMAP
1465 server.
1466 imap_check_subscribed
1470 Type: boolean
1471 Default: no
1472 When set, mutt will fetch the set of subscribed folders from
1474 your server on connection, and add them to the set of mailboxes
1475 it polls for new mail. See also the “mailboxes” command.
1476 imap_delim_chars
1480 Type: string
1481 Default: “/.”
1482 This contains the list of characters which you would like to
1484 treat as folder separators for displaying IMAP paths. In partic‐
1485 ular it helps in using the '=' shortcut for your folder vari‐
1486 able.
1487 imap_headers
1491 Type: string
1492 Default: “”
1493 Mutt requests these header fields in addition to the default
1495 headers (”DATE FROM SUBJECT TO CC MESSAGE-ID REFERENCES CONTENT-
1496 TYPE CONTENT-DESCRIPTION IN-REPLY-TO REPLY-TO LINES X-LABEL”)
1497 from IMAP servers before displaying the index menu. You may want
1498 to add more headers for spam detection. Note: This is a space
1499 separated list.
1500 imap_idle
1504 Type: boolean
1505 Default: no
1506 When set, mutt will attempt to use the IMAP IDLE extension to
1508 check for new mail in the current mailbox. Some servers (dovecot
1509 was the inspiration for this option) react badly to mutt's
1510 implementation. If your connection seems to freeze up periodi‐
1511 cally, try unsetting this.
1512 imap_keepalive
1516 Type: number
1517 Default: 900
1518 This variable specifies the maximum amount of time in seconds
1520 that mutt will wait before polling open IMAP connections, to
1521 prevent the server from closing them before mutt has finished
1522 with them. The default is well within the RFC-specified minimum
1523 amount of time (30 minutes) before a server is allowed to do
1524 this, but in practice the RFC does get violated every now and
1525 then. Reduce this number if you find yourself getting discon‐
1526 nected from your IMAP server due to inactivity.
1527 imap_list_subscribed
1531 Type: boolean
1532 Default: no
1533 This variable configures whether IMAP folder browsing will look
1535 for only subscribed folders or all folders. This can be toggled
1536 in the IMAP browser with the toggle-subscribed function.
1537 imap_login
1541 Type: string
1542 Default: “”
1543 Your login name on the IMAP server.
1545 This variable defaults to the value of imap_user.
1547 imap_pass
1551 Type: string
1552 Default: “”
1553 Specifies the password for your IMAP account. If unset, Mutt
1555 will prompt you for your password when you invoke the fetch-mail
1556 function. Warning: you should only use this option when you are
1557 on a fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your
1558 muttrc even if you are the only one who can read the file.
1559 imap_passive
1563 Type: boolean
1564 Default: yes
1565 When set, mutt will not open new IMAP connections to check for
1567 new mail. Mutt will only check for new mail over existing IMAP
1568 connections. This is useful if you don't want to be prompted to
1569 user/password pairs on mutt invocation, or if opening the con‐
1570 nection is slow.
1571 imap_peek
1575 Type: boolean
1576 Default: yes
1577 When set, mutt will avoid implicitly marking your mail as read
1579 whenever you fetch a message from the server. This is generally
1580 a good thing, but can make closing an IMAP folder somewhat
1581 slower. This option exists to appease speed freaks.
1582 imap_servernoise
1586 Type: boolean
1587 Default: yes
1588 When set, mutt will display warning messages from the IMAP
1590 server as error messages. Since these messages are often harm‐
1591 less, or generated due to configuration problems on the server
1592 which are out of the users' hands, you may wish to suppress them
1593 at some point.
1594 imap_user
1598 Type: string
1599 Default: “”
1600 The name of the user whose mail you intend to access on the IMAP
1602 server.
1603 This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
1605 implicit_autoview
1609 Type: boolean
1610 Default: no
1611 If set to “yes”, mutt will look for a mailcap entry with the
1613 copiousoutput flag set for every MIME attachment it doesn't have
1614 an internal viewer defined for. If such an entry is found, mutt
1615 will use the viewer defined in that entry to convert the body
1616 part to text form.
1617 include
1621 Type: quadoption
1622 Default: ask-yes
1623 Controls whether or not a copy of the message(s) you are reply‐
1625 ing to is included in your reply.
1626 include_onlyfirst
1630 Type: boolean
1631 Default: no
1632 Controls whether or not Mutt includes only the first attachment
1634 of the message you are replying.
1635 indent_string
1639 Type: string
1640 Default: “> ”
1641 Specifies the string to prepend to each line of text quoted in a
1643 message to which you are replying. You are strongly encouraged
1644 not to change this value, as it tends to agitate the more fanat‐
1645 ical netizens.
1646 This option is a format string, please see the description of
1648 “$index_format” for supported printf()-style sequences.
1649 index_format
1653 Type: string
1654 Default: “%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%?l?%4l&%4c?) %s”
1655 This variable allows you to customize the message index display
1657 to your personal taste.
1658 “Format strings” are similar to the strings used in the “C”
1660 function printf to format output (see the man page for more
1661 detail). The following sequences are defined in Mutt:
1662 %a address of the author
1664 %A reply-to address (if present; otherwise: address of
1665 author)
1666 %b filename of the original message folder (think mailBox)
1667 %B the list to which the letter was sent, or else the folder
1668 name (%b).
1669 %c number of characters (bytes) in the message
1670 %C current message number
1671 %d date and time of the message in the format specified by
1672 “date_format” converted to sender's time zone
1673 %D date and time of the message in the format specified by
1674 “date_format” converted to the local time zone
1675 %e current message number in thread
1676 %E number of messages in current thread
1677 %f entire From: line (address + real name)
1678 %F author name, or recipient name if the message is from you
1679 %H spam attribute(s) of this message
1680 %i message-id of the current message
1681 %l number of lines in the message (does not work with
1682 maildir, mh, and possibly IMAP folders)
1683 %L If an address in the To or CC header field matches an
1684 address defined by the users “subscribe” command, this
1685 displays ”To <list-name>”, otherwise the same as %F.
1686 %m total number of message in the mailbox
1687 %M number of hidden messages if the thread is collapsed.
1688 %N message score
1689 %n author's real name (or address if missing)
1690 %O (_O_riginal save folder) Where mutt would formerly have
1691 stashed the message: list name or recipient name if no
1692 list
1693 %P progress indicator for the builtin pager (how much of the
1694 file has been displayed)
1695 %s subject of the message
1696 %S status of the message (N/D/d/!/r/*)
1697 %t `to:' field (recipients)
1698 %T the appropriate character from the $to_chars string
1699 %u user (login) name of the author
1700 %v first name of the author, or the recipient if the message
1701 is from you
1702 %X number of attachments (please see the “attachments” sec‐
1703 tion for possible speed effects)
1704 %y `x-label:' field, if present
1705 %Y `x-label' field, if present, and (1) not at part of a
1706 thread tree, (2) at the top of a thread, or (3) `x-label'
1707 is different from preceding message's `x-label'.
1708 %Z message status flags
1709 %{fmt} the date and time of the message is converted to sender's
1710 time zone, and “fmt” is expanded by the library function
1711 “strftime”; a leading bang disables locales
1712 %[fmt] the date and time of the message is converted to the
1713 local time zone, and “fmt” is expanded by the library
1714 function “strftime”; a leading bang disables locales
1715 %(fmt) the local date and time when the message was received.
1716 “fmt” is expanded by the library function “strftime”; a
1717 leading bang disables locales
1718 %<fmt> the current local time. “fmt” is expanded by the library
1719 function “strftime”; a leading bang disables locales.
1720 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with charac‐
1721 ter ”X”
1722 %|X pad to the end of the line with character ”X”
1723 %*X soft-fill with character ”X” as pad
1724 `Soft-fill' deserves some explanation. Normal right-justifica‐
1726 tion will print everything to the left of the %>, displaying
1727 padding and the whatever lies to the right only if there's room.
1728 By contrast, soft-fill gives priority to the right-hand side,
1729 guaranteeing space to display it and showing padding only if
1730 there's still room. If necessary, soft-fill will eat text left‐
1731 wards to make room for rightward text.
1732 See also: “$to_chars”.
1734 ispell
1738 Type: path
1739 Default: “ispell”
1740 How to invoke ispell (GNU's spell-checking software).
1742 keep_flagged
1746 Type: boolean
1747 Default: no
1748 If set, read messages marked as flagged will not be moved from
1750 your spool mailbox to your “$mbox” mailbox, or as a result of a
1751 “mbox-hook” command.
1752 locale
1756 Type: string
1757 Default: “C”
1758 The locale used by strftime(3) to format dates. Legal values are
1760 the strings your system accepts for the locale variable LC_TIME.
1761 mail_check
1765 Type: number
1766 Default: 5
1767 This variable configures how often (in seconds) mutt should look
1769 for new mail.
1770 mailcap_path
1774 Type: string
1775 Default: “”
1776 This variable specifies which files to consult when attempting
1778 to display MIME bodies not directly supported by Mutt.
1779 mailcap_sanitize
1783 Type: boolean
1784 Default: yes
1785 If set, mutt will restrict possible characters in mailcap %
1787 expandos to a well-defined set of safe characters. This is the
1788 safe setting, but we are not sure it doesn't break some more
1789 advanced MIME stuff.
1790 DON'T CHANGE THIS SETTING UNLESS YOU ARE REALLY SURE WHAT YOU
1792 ARE DOING!
1793 header_cache
1797 Type: path
1798 Default: “”
1799 The header_cache variable points to the header cache database.
1801 If header_cache points to a directory it will contain a header
1802 cache database per folder. If header_cache points to a file
1803 that file will be a single global header cache. By default it is
1804 unset so no header caching will be used.
1805 maildir_header_cache_verify
1809 Type: boolean
1810 Default: yes
1811 Check for Maildir unaware programs other than mutt having modi‐
1813 fied maildir files when the header cache is in use. This incurs
1814 one stat(2) per message every time the folder is opened.
1815 header_cache_pagesize
1819 Type: string
1820 Default: “16384”
1821 When mutt is compiled with either gdbm or bdb4 as the header
1823 cache backend, this option changes the database page size. Too
1824 large or too small values can waste space, memory, or CPU time.
1825 The default should be more or less optimal for most use cases.
1826 maildir_trash
1830 Type: boolean
1831 Default: no
1832 If set, messages marked as deleted will be saved with the
1834 maildir (T)rashed flag instead of unlinked. NOTE: this only
1835 applies to maildir-style mailboxes. Setting it will have no
1836 effect on other mailbox types.
1837 mark_old
1841 Type: boolean
1842 Default: yes
1843 Controls whether or not mutt marks new unread messages as old if
1845 you exit a mailbox without reading them. With this option set,
1846 the next time you start mutt, the messages will show up with an
1847 ”O” next to them in the index menu, indicating that they are
1848 old.
1849 markers
1853 Type: boolean
1854 Default: yes
1855 Controls the display of wrapped lines in the internal pager. If
1857 set, a “+” marker is displayed at the beginning of wrapped
1858 lines. Also see the “$smart_wrap” variable.
1859 mask
1863 Type: regular expression
1864 Default: “!^\.[^.]”
1865 A regular expression used in the file browser, optionally pre‐
1867 ceded by the not operator “!”. Only files whose names match
1868 this mask will be shown. The match is always case-sensitive.
1869 mbox
1873 Type: path
1874 Default: “~/mbox”
1875 This specifies the folder into which read mail in your
1877 “$spoolfile” folder will be appended.
1878 mbox_type
1882 Type: folder magic
1883 Default: mbox
1884 The default mailbox type used when creating new folders. May be
1886 any of mbox, MMDF, MH and Maildir.
1887 metoo
1891 Type: boolean
1892 Default: no
1893 If unset, Mutt will remove your address (see the “alternates”
1895 command) from the list of recipients when replying to a message.
1896 menu_context
1900 Type: number
1901 Default: 0
1902 This variable controls the number of lines of context that are
1904 given when scrolling through menus. (Similar to “$pager_con‐
1905 text”.)
1906 menu_move_off
1910 Type: boolean
1911 Default: yes
1912 When unset, the bottom entry of menus will never scroll up past
1914 the bottom of the screen, unless there are less entries than
1915 lines. When set, the bottom entry may move off the bottom.
1916 menu_scroll
1920 Type: boolean
1921 Default: no
1922 When set, menus will be scrolled up or down one line when you
1924 attempt to move across a screen boundary. If unset, the screen
1925 is cleared and the next or previous page of the menu is dis‐
1926 played (useful for slow links to avoid many redraws).
1927 meta_key
1931 Type: boolean
1932 Default: no
1933 If set, forces Mutt to interpret keystrokes with the high bit
1935 (bit 8) set as if the user had pressed the ESC key and whatever
1936 key remains after having the high bit removed. For example, if
1937 the key pressed has an ASCII value of 0xf8, then this is treated
1938 as if the user had pressed ESC then “x”. This is because the
1939 result of removing the high bit from “0xf8” is “0x78”, which is
1940 the ASCII character “x”.
1941 mh_purge
1945 Type: boolean
1946 Default: no
1947 When unset, mutt will mimic mh's behaviour and rename deleted
1949 messages to ,<old file name> in mh folders instead of really
1950 deleting them. If the variable is set, the message files will
1951 simply be deleted.
1952 mh_seq_flagged
1956 Type: string
1957 Default: “flagged”
1958 The name of the MH sequence used for flagged messages.
1960 mh_seq_replied
1964 Type: string
1965 Default: “replied”
1966 The name of the MH sequence used to tag replied messages.
1968 mh_seq_unseen
1972 Type: string
1973 Default: “unseen”
1974 The name of the MH sequence used for unseen messages.
1976 mime_forward
1980 Type: quadoption
1981 Default: no
1982 When set, the message you are forwarding will be attached as a
1984 separate MIME part instead of included in the main body of the
1985 message. This is useful for forwarding MIME messages so the
1986 receiver can properly view the message as it was delivered to
1987 you. If you like to switch between MIME and not MIME from mail
1988 to mail, set this variable to ask-no or ask-yes.
1989 Also see “$forward_decode” and “$mime_forward_decode”.
1991 mime_forward_decode
1995 Type: boolean
1996 Default: no
1997 Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain
1999 when forwarding a message while “$mime_forward” is set. Other‐
2000 wise “$forward_decode” is used instead.
2001 mime_forward_rest
2005 Type: quadoption
2006 Default: yes
2007 When forwarding multiple attachments of a MIME message from the
2009 recvattach menu, attachments which cannot be decoded in a rea‐
2010 sonable manner will be attached to the newly composed message if
2011 this option is set.
2012 move
2016 Type: quadoption
2017 Default: ask-no
2018 Controls whether or not Mutt will move read messages from your
2020 spool mailbox to your “$mbox” mailbox, or as a result of a
2021 “mbox-hook” command.
2022 message_cachedir
2026 Type: path
2027 Default: “”
2028 Set this to a directory and mutt will cache copies of messages
2030 from your IMAP and POP servers here. You are free to remove
2031 entries at any time, for instance if stale entries accumulate
2032 because you have deleted messages with another mail client.
2033 message_cache_clean
2037 Type: boolean
2038 Default: no
2039 If set, mutt will clean out obsolete entries from the cache when
2041 the mailbox is synchronized. You probably only want to set it
2042 every once in a while, since it can be a little slow.
2043 message_format
2047 Type: string
2048 Default: “%s”
2049 This is the string displayed in the “attachment” menu for
2051 attachments of type message/rfc822. For a full listing of
2052 defined printf()-like sequences see the section on “$index_for‐
2053 mat”.
2054 narrow_tree
2058 Type: boolean
2059 Default: no
2060 This variable, when set, makes the thread tree narrower, allow‐
2062 ing deeper threads to fit on the screen.
2063 net_inc
2067 Type: number
2068 Default: 10
2069 Operations that expect to transfer a large amount of data over
2071 the network will update their progress every net_inc kilobytes.
2072 If set to 0, no progress messages will be displayed.
2073 See also “$read_inc” and “$write_inc”.
2075 pager
2079 Type: path
2080 Default: “builtin”
2081 This variable specifies which pager you would like to use to
2083 view messages. builtin means to use the builtin pager, other‐
2084 wise this variable should specify the pathname of the external
2085 pager you would like to use.
2086 Using an external pager may have some disadvantages: Additional
2088 keystrokes are necessary because you can't call mutt functions
2089 directly from the pager, and screen resizes cause lines longer
2090 than the screen width to be badly formatted in the help menu.
2091 pager_context
2095 Type: number
2096 Default: 0
2097 This variable controls the number of lines of context that are
2099 given when displaying the next or previous page in the internal
2100 pager. By default, Mutt will display the line after the last
2101 one on the screen at the top of the next page (0 lines of con‐
2102 text).
2103 pager_format
2107 Type: string
2108 Default: “-%Z- %C/%m: %-20.20n %s%* -- (%P)”
2109 This variable controls the format of the one-line message “sta‐
2111 tus” displayed before each message in either the internal or an
2112 external pager. The valid sequences are listed in the
2113 “$index_format” section.
2114 pager_index_lines
2118 Type: number
2119 Default: 0
2120 Determines the number of lines of a mini-index which is shown
2122 when in the pager. The current message, unless near the top or
2123 bottom of the folder, will be roughly one third of the way down
2124 this mini-index, giving the reader the context of a few messages
2125 before and after the message. This is useful, for example, to
2126 determine how many messages remain to be read in the current
2127 thread. One of the lines is reserved for the status bar from
2128 the index, so a pager_index_lines of 6 will only show 5 lines of
2129 the actual index. A value of 0 results in no index being shown.
2130 If the number of messages in the current folder is less than
2131 pager_index_lines, then the index will only use as many lines as
2132 it needs.
2133 pager_stop
2137 Type: boolean
2138 Default: no
2139 When set, the internal-pager will not move to the next message
2141 when you are at the end of a message and invoke the next-page
2142 function.
2143 crypt_autosign
2147 Type: boolean
2148 Default: no
2149 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to cryp‐
2151 tographically sign outgoing messages. This can be overridden by
2152 use of the pgp-menu, when signing is not required or encryption
2153 is requested as well. If “$smime_is_default” is set, then
2154 OpenSSL is used instead to create S/MIME messages and settings
2155 can be overridden by use of the smime-menu. (Crypto only)
2156 crypt_autoencrypt
2160 Type: boolean
2161 Default: no
2162 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to PGP
2164 encrypt outgoing messages. This is probably only useful in con‐
2165 nection to the send-hook command. It can be overridden by use
2166 of the pgp-menu, when encryption is not required or signing is
2167 requested as well. IF “$smime_is_default” is set, then OpenSSL
2168 is used instead to create S/MIME messages and settings can be
2169 overridden by use of the smime-menu. (Crypto only)
2170 pgp_ignore_subkeys
2174 Type: boolean
2175 Default: yes
2176 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to ignore OpenPGP subkeys.
2178 Instead, the principal key will inherit the subkeys' capabili‐
2179 ties. Unset this if you want to play interesting key selection
2180 games. (PGP only)
2181 crypt_replyencrypt
2185 Type: boolean
2186 Default: yes
2187 If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL encrypt replies to messages
2189 which are encrypted. (Crypto only)
2190 crypt_replysign
2194 Type: boolean
2195 Default: no
2196 If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL sign replies to messages
2198 which are signed.
2199 Note: this does not work on messages that are encrypted and
2201 signed! (Crypto only)
2202 crypt_replysignencrypted
2206 Type: boolean
2207 Default: no
2208 If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL sign replies to messages
2210 which are encrypted. This makes sense in combination with
2211 “$crypt_replyencrypt”, because it allows you to sign all mes‐
2212 sages which are automatically encrypted. This works around the
2213 problem noted in “$crypt_replysign”, that mutt is not able to
2214 find out whether an encrypted message is also signed. (Crypto
2215 only)
2216 crypt_timestamp
2220 Type: boolean
2221 Default: yes
2222 If set, mutt will include a time stamp in the lines surrounding
2224 PGP or S/MIME output, so spoofing such lines is more difficult.
2225 If you are using colors to mark these lines, and rely on these,
2226 you may unset this setting. (Crypto only)
2227 pgp_use_gpg_agent
2231 Type: boolean
2232 Default: no
2233 If set, mutt will use a possibly-running gpg-agent process.
2235 (PGP only)
2236 crypt_verify_sig
2240 Type: quadoption
2241 Default: yes
2242 If “yes”, always attempt to verify PGP or S/MIME signatures. If
2244 “ask”, ask whether or not to verify the signature. If “no”,
2245 never attempt to verify cryptographic signatures. (Crypto only)
2246 smime_is_default
2250 Type: boolean
2251 Default: no
2252 The default behaviour of mutt is to use PGP on all auto-
2254 sign/encryption operations. To override and to use OpenSSL
2255 instead this must be set. However, this has no effect while
2256 replying, since mutt will automatically select the same applica‐
2257 tion that was used to sign/encrypt the original message. (Note
2258 that this variable can be overridden by unsetting
2259 $crypt_autosmime.) (S/MIME only)
2260 smime_ask_cert_label
2264 Type: boolean
2265 Default: yes
2266 This flag controls whether you want to be asked to enter a label
2268 for a certificate about to be added to the database or not. It
2269 is set by default. (S/MIME only)
2270 smime_decrypt_use_default_key
2274 Type: boolean
2275 Default: yes
2276 If set (default) this tells mutt to use the default key for
2278 decryption. Otherwise, if manage multiple certificate-key-pairs,
2279 mutt will try to use the mailbox-address to determine the key to
2280 use. It will ask you to supply a key, if it can't find one.
2281 (S/MIME only)
2282 pgp_entry_format
2286 Type: string
2287 Default: “%4n %t%f %4l/0x%k %-4a %2c %u”
2288 This variable allows you to customize the PGP key selection menu
2290 to your personal taste. This string is similar to “$index_for‐
2291 mat”, but has its own set of printf()-like sequences:
2292 %n number
2294 %k key id
2295 %u user id
2296 %a algorithm
2297 %l key length
2298 %f flags
2299 %c capabilities
2300 %t trust/validity of the key-uid association
2301 %[<s>] date of the key where <s> is an strftime(3) expression
2302 (PGP only)
2304 pgp_good_sign
2308 Type: regular expression
2309 Default: “”
2310 If you assign a text to this variable, then a PGP signature is
2312 only considered verified if the output from $pgp_verify_command
2313 contains the text. Use this variable if the exit code from the
2314 command is 0 even for bad signatures. (PGP only)
2315 pgp_check_exit
2319 Type: boolean
2320 Default: yes
2321 If set, mutt will check the exit code of the PGP subprocess when
2323 signing or encrypting. A non-zero exit code means that the sub‐
2324 process failed. (PGP only)
2325 pgp_long_ids
2329 Type: boolean
2330 Default: no
2331 If set, use 64 bit PGP key IDs. Unset uses the normal 32 bit Key
2333 IDs. (PGP only)
2334 pgp_retainable_sigs
2338 Type: boolean
2339 Default: no
2340 If set, signed and encrypted messages will consist of nested
2342 multipart/signed and multipart/encrypted body parts.
2343 This is useful for applications like encrypted and signed mail‐
2345 ing lists, where the outer layer (multipart/encrypted) can be
2346 easily removed, while the inner multipart/signed part is
2347 retained. (PGP only)
2348 pgp_autoinline
2352 Type: boolean
2353 Default: no
2354 This option controls whether Mutt generates old-style inline
2356 (traditional) PGP encrypted or signed messages under certain
2357 circumstances. This can be overridden by use of the pgp-menu,
2358 when inline is not required.
2359 Note that Mutt might automatically use PGP/MIME for messages
2361 which consist of more than a single MIME part. Mutt can be con‐
2362 figured to ask before sending PGP/MIME messages when inline
2363 (traditional) would not work. See also: “$pgp_mime_auto”.
2364 Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is
2366 strongly deprecated. (PGP only)
2367 pgp_replyinline
2371 Type: boolean
2372 Default: no
2373 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to cre‐
2375 ate an inline (traditional) message when replying to a message
2376 which is PGP encrypted/signed inline. This can be overridden by
2377 use of the pgp-menu, when inline is not required. This option
2378 does not automatically detect if the (replied-to) message is
2379 inline; instead it relies on Mutt internals for previously
2380 checked/flagged messages.
2381 Note that Mutt might automatically use PGP/MIME for messages
2383 which consist of more than a single MIME part. Mutt can be con‐
2384 figured to ask before sending PGP/MIME messages when inline
2385 (traditional) would not work. See also: “$pgp_mime_auto”.
2386 Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is
2388 strongly deprecated. (PGP only)
2389 pgp_show_unusable
2393 Type: boolean
2394 Default: yes
2395 If set, mutt will display non-usable keys on the PGP key selec‐
2397 tion menu. This includes keys which have been revoked, have
2398 expired, or have been marked as “disabled” by the user. (PGP
2399 only)
2400 pgp_sign_as
2404 Type: string
2405 Default: “”
2406 If you have more than one key pair, this option allows you to
2408 specify which of your private keys to use. It is recommended
2409 that you use the keyid form to specify your key (e.g.,
2410 “0x00112233”). (PGP only)
2411 pgp_strict_enc
2415 Type: boolean
2416 Default: yes
2417 If set, Mutt will automatically encode PGP/MIME signed messages
2419 as quoted-printable. Please note that unsetting this variable
2420 may lead to problems with non-verifyable PGP signatures, so only
2421 change this if you know what you are doing. (PGP only)
2422 pgp_timeout
2426 Type: number
2427 Default: 300
2428 The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will
2430 expire if not used. (PGP only)
2431 pgp_sort_keys
2435 Type: sort order
2436 Default: address
2437 Specifies how the entries in the `pgp keys' menu are sorted. The
2439 following are legal values:
2440 address
2442 sort alphabetically by user id
2443 keyid sort alphabetically by key id
2444 date sort by key creation date
2445 trust sort by the trust of the key
2446 If you prefer reverse order of the above values, prefix it with
2448 `reverse-'. (PGP only)
2449 pgp_mime_auto
2453 Type: quadoption
2454 Default: ask-yes
2455 This option controls whether Mutt will prompt you for automati‐
2457 cally sending a (signed/encrypted) message using PGP/MIME when
2458 inline (traditional) fails (for any reason).
2459 Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is
2461 strongly deprecated. (PGP only)
2462 pgp_auto_decode
2466 Type: boolean
2467 Default: no
2468 If set, mutt will automatically attempt to decrypt traditional
2470 PGP messages whenever the user performs an operation which ordi‐
2471 narily would result in the contents of the message being oper‐
2472 ated on. For example, if the user displays a pgp-traditional
2473 message which has not been manually checked with the check-tra‐
2474 ditional-pgp function, mutt will automatically check the message
2475 for traditional pgp.
2476 pgp_decode_command
2480 Type: string
2481 Default: “”
2482 This format strings specifies a command which is used to decode
2484 application/pgp attachments.
2485 The PGP command formats have their own set of printf-like
2487 sequences:
2488 %p Expands to PGPPASSFD=0 when a pass phrase is needed, to
2490 an empty string otherwise. Note: This may be used with a
2491 %? construct.
2492 %f Expands to the name of a file containing a message.
2493 %s Expands to the name of a file containing the signature
2494 part
2495 of a multipart/signed attachment when verify‐
2496 ing it.
2497 %a The value of $pgp_sign_as.
2498 %r One or more key IDs.
2499 For examples on how to configure these formats for the various
2501 versions of PGP which are floating around, see the pgp*.rc and
2502 gpg.rc files in the samples/ subdirectory which has been
2503 installed on your system alongside the documentation. (PGP
2504 only)
2505 pgp_getkeys_command
2509 Type: string
2510 Default: “”
2511 This command is invoked whenever mutt will need public key
2513 information. %r is the only printf-like sequence used with this
2514 format. (PGP only)
2515 pgp_verify_command
2519 Type: string
2520 Default: “”
2521 This command is used to verify PGP signatures. (PGP only)
2523 pgp_decrypt_command
2527 Type: string
2528 Default: “”
2529 This command is used to decrypt a PGP encrypted message. (PGP
2531 only)
2532 pgp_clearsign_command
2536 Type: string
2537 Default: “”
2538 This format is used to create a old-style ”clearsigned” PGP mes‐
2540 sage. Note that the use of this format is strongly deprecated.
2541 (PGP only)
2542 pgp_sign_command
2546 Type: string
2547 Default: “”
2548 This command is used to create the detached PGP signature for a
2550 multipart/signed PGP/MIME body part. (PGP only)
2551 pgp_encrypt_sign_command
2555 Type: string
2556 Default: “”
2557 This command is used to both sign and encrypt a body part. (PGP
2559 only)
2560 pgp_encrypt_only_command
2564 Type: string
2565 Default: “”
2566 This command is used to encrypt a body part without signing it.
2568 (PGP only)
2569 pgp_import_command
2573 Type: string
2574 Default: “”
2575 This command is used to import a key from a message into the
2577 user's public key ring. (PGP only)
2578 pgp_export_command
2582 Type: string
2583 Default: “”
2584 This command is used to export a public key from the user's key
2586 ring. (PGP only)
2587 pgp_verify_key_command
2591 Type: string
2592 Default: “”
2593 This command is used to verify key information from the key
2595 selection menu. (PGP only)
2596 pgp_list_secring_command
2600 Type: string
2601 Default: “”
2602 This command is used to list the secret key ring's contents.
2604 The output format must be analogous to the one used by gpg
2605 --list-keys --with-colons.
2606 This format is also generated by the pgpring utility which comes
2608 with mutt. (PGP only)
2609 pgp_list_pubring_command
2613 Type: string
2614 Default: “”
2615 This command is used to list the public key ring's contents.
2617 The output format must be analogous to the one used by gpg
2618 --list-keys --with-colons.
2619 This format is also generated by the pgpring utility which comes
2621 with mutt. (PGP only)
2622 forward_decrypt
2626 Type: boolean
2627 Default: yes
2628 Controls the handling of encrypted messages when forwarding a
2630 message. When set, the outer layer of encryption is stripped
2631 off. This variable is only used if “$mime_forward” is set and
2632 “$mime_forward_decode” is unset. (PGP only)
2633 smime_timeout
2637 Type: number
2638 Default: 300
2639 The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will
2641 expire if not used. (S/MIME only)
2642 smime_encrypt_with
2646 Type: string
2647 Default: “”
2648 This sets the algorithm that should be used for encryption.
2650 Valid choices are ”des”, ”des3”, ”rc2-40”, ”rc2-64”, ”rc2-128”.
2651 If unset ”3des” (TripleDES) is used. (S/MIME only)
2652 smime_keys
2656 Type: path
2657 Default: “”
2658 Since there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, mutt has to han‐
2660 dle storage ad retrieval of keys/certs by itself. This is very
2661 basic right now, and stores keys and certificates in two differ‐
2662 ent directories, both named as the hash-value retrieved from
2663 OpenSSL. There is an index file which contains mailbox-address
2664 keyid pair, and which can be manually edited. This one points to
2665 the location of the private keys. (S/MIME only)
2666 smime_ca_location
2670 Type: path
2671 Default: “”
2672 This variable contains the name of either a directory, or a file
2674 which contains trusted certificates for use with OpenSSL.
2675 (S/MIME only)
2676 smime_certificates
2680 Type: path
2681 Default: “”
2682 Since there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, mutt has to han‐
2684 dle storage and retrieval of keys by itself. This is very basic
2685 right now, and keys and certificates are stored in two different
2686 directories, both named as the hash-value retrieved from
2687 OpenSSL. There is an index file which contains mailbox-address
2688 keyid pairs, and which can be manually edited. This one points
2689 to the location of the certificates. (S/MIME only)
2690 smime_decrypt_command
2694 Type: string
2695 Default: “”
2696 This format string specifies a command which is used to decrypt
2698 application/x-pkcs7-mime attachments.
2699 The OpenSSL command formats have their own set of printf-like
2701 sequences similar to PGP's:
2702 %f Expands to the name of a file containing a message.
2704 %s Expands to the name of a file containing the signature
2705 part
2706 of a multipart/signed attachment when verify‐
2707 ing it.
2708 %k The key-pair specified with $smime_default_key
2709 %c One or more certificate IDs.
2710 %a The algorithm used for encryption.
2711 %C CA location: Depending on whether $smime_ca_location
2712 points to a directory or file, this expands to
2713 ”-CApath $smime_ca_location” or ”-CAfile
2714 $smime_ca_location”.
2715 For examples on how to configure these formats, see the smime.rc
2717 in the samples/ subdirectory which has been installed on your
2718 system alongside the documentation. (S/MIME only)
2719 smime_verify_command
2723 Type: string
2724 Default: “”
2725 This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type multi‐
2727 part/signed. (S/MIME only)
2728 smime_verify_opaque_command
2732 Type: string
2733 Default: “”
2734 This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type appli‐
2736 cation/x-pkcs7-mime. (S/MIME only)
2737 smime_sign_command
2741 Type: string
2742 Default: “”
2743 This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type multi‐
2745 part/signed, which can be read by all mail clients. (S/MIME
2746 only)
2747 smime_sign_opaque_command
2751 Type: string
2752 Default: “”
2753 This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type appli‐
2755 cation/x-pkcs7-signature, which can only be handled by mail
2756 clients supporting the S/MIME extension. (S/MIME only)
2757 smime_encrypt_command
2761 Type: string
2762 Default: “”
2763 This command is used to create encrypted S/MIME messages.
2765 (S/MIME only)
2766 smime_pk7out_command
2770 Type: string
2771 Default: “”
2772 This command is used to extract PKCS7 structures of S/MIME sig‐
2774 natures, in order to extract the public X509 certificate(s).
2775 (S/MIME only)
2776 smime_get_cert_command
2780 Type: string
2781 Default: “”
2782 This command is used to extract X509 certificates from a PKCS7
2784 structure. (S/MIME only)
2785 smime_get_signer_cert_command
2789 Type: string
2790 Default: “”
2791 This command is used to extract only the signers X509 certifi‐
2793 cate from a S/MIME signature, so that the certificate's owner
2794 may get compared to the email's 'From'-field. (S/MIME only)
2795 smime_import_cert_command
2799 Type: string
2800 Default: “”
2801 This command is used to import a certificate via smime_keys.
2803 (S/MIME only)
2804 smime_get_cert_email_command
2808 Type: string
2809 Default: “”
2810 This command is used to extract the mail address(es) used for
2812 storing X509 certificates, and for verification purposes (to
2813 check whether the certificate was issued for the sender's mail‐
2814 box). (S/MIME only)
2815 smime_default_key
2819 Type: string
2820 Default: “”
2821 This is the default key-pair to use for signing. This must be
2823 set to the keyid (the hash-value that OpenSSL generates) to work
2824 properly (S/MIME only)
2825 ssl_force_tls
2829 Type: boolean
2830 Default: no
2831 If this variable is set, Mutt will require that all connections
2833 to remote servers be encrypted. Furthermore it will attempt to
2834 negotiate TLS even if the server does not advertise the capabil‐
2835 ity, since it would otherwise have to abort the connection any‐
2836 way. This option supersedes “$ssl_starttls”.
2837 ssl_starttls
2841 Type: quadoption
2842 Default: yes
2843 If set (the default), mutt will attempt to use STARTTLS on
2845 servers advertising the capability. When unset, mutt will not
2846 attempt to use STARTTLS regardless of the server's capabilities.
2847 certificate_file
2851 Type: path
2852 Default: “~/.mutt_certificates”
2853 This variable specifies the file where the certificates you
2855 trust are saved. When an unknown certificate is encountered, you
2856 are asked if you accept it or not. If you accept it, the cer‐
2857 tificate can also be saved in this file and further connections
2858 are automatically accepted.
2859 You can also manually add CA certificates in this file. Any
2861 server certificate that is signed with one of these CA certifi‐
2862 cates are also automatically accepted.
2863 Example: set certificate_file=~/.mutt/certificates
2865 ssl_use_sslv3
2869 Type: boolean
2870 Default: yes
2871 This variables specifies whether to attempt to use SSLv3 in the
2873 SSL authentication process.
2874 ssl_use_tlsv1
2878 Type: boolean
2879 Default: yes
2880 This variables specifies whether to attempt to use TLSv1 in the
2882 SSL authentication process.
2883 ssl_min_dh_prime_bits
2887 Type: number
2888 Default: 0
2889 This variable specifies the minimum acceptable prime size (in
2891 bits) for use in any Diffie-Hellman key exchange. A value of 0
2892 will use the default from the GNUTLS library.
2893 ssl_ca_certificates_file
2897 Type: path
2898 Default: “”
2899 This variable specifies a file containing trusted CA certifi‐
2901 cates. Any server certificate that is signed with one of these
2902 CA certificates are also automatically accepted.
2903 Example: set ssl_ca_certificates_file=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certifi‐
2905 cates.crt
2906 pipe_split
2910 Type: boolean
2911 Default: no
2912 Used in connection with the pipe-message command and the “tag-
2914 prefix” operator. If this variable is unset, when piping a list
2915 of tagged messages Mutt will concatenate the messages and will
2916 pipe them as a single folder. When set, Mutt will pipe the mes‐
2917 sages one by one. In both cases the messages are piped in the
2918 current sorted order, and the “$pipe_sep” separator is added
2919 after each message.
2920 pipe_decode
2924 Type: boolean
2925 Default: no
2926 Used in connection with the pipe-message command. When unset,
2928 Mutt will pipe the messages without any preprocessing. When set,
2929 Mutt will weed headers and will attempt to PGP/MIME decode the
2930 messages first.
2931 pipe_sep
2935 Type: string
2936 Default: “\n”
2937 The separator to add between messages when piping a list of
2939 tagged messages to an external Unix command.
2940 pop_authenticators
2944 Type: string
2945 Default: “”
2946 This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt
2948 may attempt to use to log in to an POP server, in the order mutt
2949 should try them. Authentication methods are either 'user',
2950 'apop' or any SASL mechanism, eg 'digest-md5', 'gssapi' or
2951 'cram-md5'. This parameter is case-insensitive. If this parame‐
2952 ter is unset (the default) mutt will try all available methods,
2953 in order from most-secure to least-secure.
2954 Example: set pop_authenticators=”digest-md5:apop:user”
2956 pop_auth_try_all
2960 Type: boolean
2961 Default: yes
2962 If set, Mutt will try all available methods. When unset, Mutt
2964 will only fall back to other authentication methods if the pre‐
2965 vious methods are unavailable. If a method is available but
2966 authentication fails, Mutt will not connect to the POP server.
2967 pop_checkinterval
2971 Type: number
2972 Default: 60
2973 This variable configures how often (in seconds) mutt should look
2975 for new mail in the currently selected mailbox if it is a POP
2976 mailbox.
2977 pop_delete
2981 Type: quadoption
2982 Default: ask-no
2983 If set, Mutt will delete successfully downloaded messages from
2985 the POP server when using the fetch-mail function. When unset,
2986 Mutt will download messages but also leave them on the POP
2987 server.
2988 pop_host
2992 Type: string
2993 Default: “”
2994 The name of your POP server for the fetch-mail function. You
2996 can also specify an alternative port, username and password, ie:
2997 [pop[s]://][username[:password]@]popserver[:port]
2999 pop_last
3003 Type: boolean
3004 Default: no
3005 If this variable is set, mutt will try to use the ”LAST” POP
3007 command for retrieving only unread messages from the POP server
3008 when using the fetch-mail function.
3009 pop_reconnect
3013 Type: quadoption
3014 Default: ask-yes
3015 Controls whether or not Mutt will try to reconnect to POP server
3017 if the connection is lost.
3018 pop_user
3022 Type: string
3023 Default: “”
3024 Your login name on the POP server.
3026 This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
3028 pop_pass
3032 Type: string
3033 Default: “”
3034 Specifies the password for your POP account. If unset, Mutt
3036 will prompt you for your password when you open POP mailbox.
3037 Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a
3038 fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your mut‐
3039 trc even if you are the only one who can read the file.
3040 post_indent_string
3044 Type: string
3045 Default: “”
3046 Similar to the “$attribution” variable, Mutt will append this
3048 string after the inclusion of a message which is being replied
3049 to.
3050 postpone
3054 Type: quadoption
3055 Default: ask-yes
3056 Controls whether or not messages are saved in the “$postponed”
3058 mailbox when you elect not to send immediately.
3059 postponed
3063 Type: path
3064 Default: “~/postponed”
3065 Mutt allows you to indefinitely “postpone sending a message”
3067 which you are editing. When you choose to postpone a message,
3068 Mutt saves it in the mailbox specified by this variable. Also
3069 see the “$postpone” variable.
3070 preconnect
3074 Type: string
3075 Default: “”
3076 If set, a shell command to be executed if mutt fails to estab‐
3078 lish a connection to the server. This is useful for setting up
3079 secure connections, e.g. with ssh(1). If the command returns a
3080 nonzero status, mutt gives up opening the server. Example:
3081 preconnect=”ssh -f -q -L 1234:mailhost.net:143 mailhost.net
3083 sleep 20 < /dev/null > /dev/null”
3084 Mailbox 'foo' on mailhost.net can now be reached as '{local‐
3086 host:1234}foo'.
3087 NOTE: For this example to work, you must be able to log in to
3089 the remote machine without having to enter a password.
3090 print
3094 Type: quadoption
3095 Default: ask-no
3096 Controls whether or not Mutt really prints messages. This is
3098 set to ask-no by default, because some people accidentally hit
3099 “p” often (like me).
3100 print_command
3104 Type: path
3105 Default: “lpr”
3106 This specifies the command pipe that should be used to print
3108 messages.
3109 print_decode
3113 Type: boolean
3114 Default: yes
3115 Used in connection with the print-message command. If this
3117 option is set, the message is decoded before it is passed to the
3118 external command specified by $print_command. If this option is
3119 unset, no processing will be applied to the message when print‐
3120 ing it. The latter setting may be useful if you are using some
3121 advanced printer filter which is able to properly format e-mail
3122 messages for printing.
3123 print_split
3127 Type: boolean
3128 Default: no
3129 Used in connection with the print-message command. If this
3131 option is set, the command specified by $print_command is exe‐
3132 cuted once for each message which is to be printed. If this
3133 option is unset, the command specified by $print_command is exe‐
3134 cuted only once, and all the messages are concatenated, with a
3135 form feed as the message separator.
3136 Those who use the enscript(1) program's mail-printing mode will
3138 most likely want to set this option.
3139 prompt_after
3143 Type: boolean
3144 Default: yes
3145 If you use an external “$pager”, setting this variable will
3147 cause Mutt to prompt you for a command when the pager exits
3148 rather than returning to the index menu. If unset, Mutt will
3149 return to the index menu when the external pager exits.
3150 query_command
3154 Type: path
3155 Default: “”
3156 This specifies the command that mutt will use to make external
3158 address queries. The string should contain a %s, which will be
3159 substituted with the query string the user types. See “query”
3160 for more information.
3161 quit
3165 Type: quadoption
3166 Default: yes
3167 This variable controls whether “quit” and “exit” actually quit
3169 from mutt. If it set to yes, they do quit, if it is set to no,
3170 they have no effect, and if it is set to ask-yes or ask-no, you
3171 are prompted for confirmation when you try to quit.
3172 quote_regexp
3176 Type: regular expression
3177 Default: “^([ \t]*[|>:}#])+”
3178 A regular expression used in the internal-pager to determine
3180 quoted sections of text in the body of a message.
3181 Note: In order to use the quotedx patterns in the internal
3183 pager, you need to set this to a regular expression that matches
3184 exactly the quote characters at the beginning of quoted lines.
3185 read_inc
3189 Type: number
3190 Default: 10
3191 If set to a value greater than 0, Mutt will display which mes‐
3193 sage it is currently on when reading a mailbox or when perform‐
3194 ing search actions such as search and limit. The message is
3195 printed after read_inc messages have been read or searched
3196 (e.g., if set to 25, Mutt will print a message when it is at
3197 message 25, and then again when it gets to message 50). This
3198 variable is meant to indicate progress when reading or searching
3199 large mailboxes which may take some time. When set to 0, only a
3200 single message will appear before the reading the mailbox.
3201 Also see the “$write_inc” variable and the “Tuning” section of
3203 the manual for performance considerations.
3204 read_only
3208 Type: boolean
3209 Default: no
3210 If set, all folders are opened in read-only mode.
3212 realname
3216 Type: string
3217 Default: “”
3218 This variable specifies what ”real” or ”personal” name should be
3220 used when sending messages.
3221 By default, this is the GECOS field from /etc/passwd. Note that
3223 this variable will not be used when the user has set a real name
3224 in the $from variable.
3225 recall
3229 Type: quadoption
3230 Default: ask-yes
3231 Controls whether or not Mutt recalls postponed messages when
3233 composing a new message. Also see “$postponed”.
3234 Setting this variable to “yes” is not generally useful, and thus
3236 not recommended.
3237 record
3241 Type: path
3242 Default: “~/sent”
3243 This specifies the file into which your outgoing messages should
3245 be appended. (This is meant as the primary method for saving a
3246 copy of your messages, but another way to do this is using the
3247 “my_hdr” command to create a Bcc: field with your email address
3248 in it.)
3249 The value of $record is overridden by the “$force_name” and
3251 “$save_name” variables, and the “fcc-hook” command.
3252 reply_regexp
3256 Type: regular expression
3257 Default: “^(re([\[0-9\]+])*|aw):[ \t]*”
3258 A regular expression used to recognize reply messages when
3260 threading and replying. The default value corresponds to the
3261 English ”Re:” and the German ”Aw:”.
3262 reply_self
3266 Type: boolean
3267 Default: no
3268 If unset and you are replying to a message sent by you, Mutt
3270 will assume that you want to reply to the recipients of that
3271 message rather than to yourself.
3272 reply_to
3276 Type: quadoption
3277 Default: ask-yes
3278 If set, when replying to a message, Mutt will use the address
3280 listed in the Reply-to: header as the recipient of the reply.
3281 If unset, it will use the address in the From: header field
3282 instead. This option is useful for reading a mailing list that
3283 sets the Reply-To: header field to the list address and you want
3284 to send a private message to the author of a message.
3285 resolve
3289 Type: boolean
3290 Default: yes
3291 When set, the cursor will be automatically advanced to the next
3293 (possibly undeleted) message whenever a command that modifies
3294 the current message is executed.
3295 reverse_alias
3299 Type: boolean
3300 Default: no
3301 This variable controls whether or not Mutt will display the
3303 ”personal” name from your aliases in the index menu if it finds
3304 an alias that matches the message's sender. For example, if you
3305 have the following alias:
3306 alias juser abd30425@somewhere.net (Joe User)
3308 and then you receive mail which contains the following header:
3312 From: abd30425@somewhere.net
3314 It would be displayed in the index menu as “Joe User” instead of
3318 “abd30425@somewhere.net.” This is useful when the person's e-
3319 mail address is not human friendly (like CompuServe addresses).
3320 reverse_name
3324 Type: boolean
3325 Default: no
3326 It may sometimes arrive that you receive mail to a certain
3328 machine, move the messages to another machine, and reply to some
3329 the messages from there. If this variable is set, the default
3330 From: line of the reply messages is built using the address
3331 where you received the messages you are replying to if that
3332 address matches your alternates. If the variable is unset, or
3333 the address that would be used doesn't match your alternates,
3334 the From: line will use your address on the current machine.
3335 reverse_realname
3339 Type: boolean
3340 Default: yes
3341 This variable fine-tunes the behaviour of the reverse_name fea‐
3343 ture. When it is set, mutt will use the address from incoming
3344 messages as-is, possibly including eventual real names. When it
3345 is unset, mutt will override any such real names with the set‐
3346 ting of the realname variable.
3347 rfc2047_parameters
3351 Type: boolean
3352 Default: no
3353 When this variable is set, Mutt will decode RFC-2047-encoded
3355 MIME parameters. You want to set this variable when mutt sug‐
3356 gests you to save attachments to files named like this:
3357 =?iso-8859-1?Q?file=5F=E4=5F991116=2Ezip?=
3358 When this variable is set interactively, the change doesn't have
3360 the desired effect before you have changed folders.
3361 Note that this use of RFC 2047's encoding is explicitly, prohib‐
3363 ited by the standard, but nevertheless encountered in the wild.
3364 Also note that setting this parameter will not have the effect
3365 that mutt generates this kind of encoding. Instead, mutt will
3366 unconditionally use the encoding specified in RFC 2231.
3367 save_address
3371 Type: boolean
3372 Default: no
3373 If set, mutt will take the sender's full address when choosing a
3375 default folder for saving a mail. If “$save_name” or
3376 “$force_name” is set too, the selection of the fcc folder will
3377 be changed as well.
3378 save_empty
3382 Type: boolean
3383 Default: yes
3384 When unset, mailboxes which contain no saved messages will be
3386 removed when closed (the exception is “$spoolfile” which is
3387 never removed). If set, mailboxes are never removed.
3388 Note: This only applies to mbox and MMDF folders, Mutt does not
3390 delete MH and Maildir directories.
3391 save_history
3395 Type: number
3396 Default: 0
3397 This variable controls the size of the history saved in the
3399 “$history_file” file.
3400 save_name
3404 Type: boolean
3405 Default: no
3406 This variable controls how copies of outgoing messages are
3408 saved. When set, a check is made to see if a mailbox specified
3409 by the recipient address exists (this is done by searching for a
3410 mailbox in the “$folder” directory with the username part of the
3411 recipient address). If the mailbox exists, the outgoing message
3412 will be saved to that mailbox, otherwise the message is saved to
3413 the “$record” mailbox.
3414 Also see the “$force_name” variable.
3416 score
3420 Type: boolean
3421 Default: yes
3422 When this variable is unset, scoring is turned off. This can be
3424 useful to selectively disable scoring for certain folders when
3425 the “$score_threshold_delete” variable and friends are used.
3426 score_threshold_delete
3430 Type: number
3431 Default: -1
3432 Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than
3434 the value of this variable are automatically marked for deletion
3435 by mutt. Since mutt scores are always greater than or equal to
3436 zero, the default setting of this variable will never mark a
3437 message for deletion.
3438 score_threshold_flag
3442 Type: number
3443 Default: 9999
3444 Messages which have been assigned a score greater than or equal
3446 to this variable's value are automatically marked ”flagged”.
3447 score_threshold_read
3451 Type: number
3452 Default: -1
3453 Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than
3455 the value of this variable are automatically marked as read by
3456 mutt. Since mutt scores are always greater than or equal to
3457 zero, the default setting of this variable will never mark a
3458 message read.
3459 send_charset
3463 Type: string
3464 Default: “us-ascii:iso-8859-1:utf-8”
3465 A colon-delimited list of character sets for outgoing messages.
3467 Mutt will use the first character set into which the text can be
3468 converted exactly. If your “$charset” is not iso-8859-1 and
3469 recipients may not understand UTF-8, it is advisable to include
3470 in the list an appropriate widely used standard character set
3471 (such as iso-8859-2, koi8-r or iso-2022-jp) either instead of or
3472 after ”iso-8859-1”.
3473 In case the text cannot be converted into one of these exactly,
3475 mutt uses “$charset” as a fallback.
3476 sendmail
3480 Type: path
3481 Default: “/usr/sbin/sendmail -oem -oi”
3482 Specifies the program and arguments used to deliver mail sent by
3484 Mutt. Mutt expects that the specified program interprets addi‐
3485 tional arguments as recipient addresses.
3486 sendmail_wait
3490 Type: number
3491 Default: 0
3492 Specifies the number of seconds to wait for the “$sendmail”
3494 process to finish before giving up and putting delivery in the
3495 background.
3496 Mutt interprets the value of this variable as follows:
3498 >0 number of seconds to wait for sendmail to finish before
3499 continuing
3500 0 wait forever for sendmail to finish
3501 <0 always put sendmail in the background without waiting
3502 Note that if you specify a value other than 0, the output of the
3504 child process will be put in a temporary file. If there is some
3505 error, you will be informed as to where to find the output.
3506 shell
3510 Type: path
3511 Default: “”
3512 Command to use when spawning a subshell. By default, the user's
3514 login shell from /etc/passwd is used.
3515 sig_dashes
3519 Type: boolean
3520 Default: yes
3521 If set, a line containing “-- ” will be inserted before your
3523 “$signature”. It is strongly recommended that you not unset
3524 this variable unless your “signature” contains just your name.
3525 The reason for this is because many software packages use “--
3526 \n” to detect your signature. For example, Mutt has the ability
3527 to highlight the signature in a different color in the builtin
3528 pager.
3529 sig_on_top
3533 Type: boolean
3534 Default: no
3535 If set, the signature will be included before any quoted or for‐
3537 warded text. It is strongly recommended that you do not set
3538 this variable unless you really know what you are doing, and are
3539 prepared to take some heat from netiquette guardians.
3540 signature
3544 Type: path
3545 Default: “~/.signature”
3546 Specifies the filename of your signature, which is appended to
3548 all outgoing messages. If the filename ends with a pipe (“|”),
3549 it is assumed that filename is a shell command and input should
3550 be read from its stdout.
3551 simple_search
3555 Type: string
3556 Default: “~f %s | ~s %s”
3557 Specifies how Mutt should expand a simple search into a real
3559 search pattern. A simple search is one that does not contain
3560 any of the ~ operators. See “patterns” for more information on
3561 search patterns.
3562 For example, if you simply type joe at a search or limit prompt,
3564 Mutt will automatically expand it to the value specified by this
3565 variable. For the default value it would be:
3566 ~f joe | ~s joe
3568 smart_wrap
3572 Type: boolean
3573 Default: yes
3574 Controls the display of lines longer than the screen width in
3576 the internal pager. If set, long lines are wrapped at a word
3577 boundary. If unset, lines are simply wrapped at the screen
3578 edge. Also see the “$markers” variable.
3579 smileys
3583 Type: regular expression
3584 Default: “(>From )|(:[-^]?[][)(><}{|/DP])”
3585 The pager uses this variable to catch some common false posi‐
3587 tives of “$quote_regexp”, most notably smileys in the beginning
3588 of a line
3589 sleep_time
3593 Type: number
3594 Default: 1
3595 Specifies time, in seconds, to pause while displaying certain
3597 informational messages, while moving from folder to folder and
3598 after expunging messages from the current folder. The default
3599 is to pause one second, so a value of zero for this option sup‐
3600 presses the pause.
3601 smtp_authenticators
3605 Type: string
3606 Default: “”
3607 This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt
3609 may attempt to use to log in to an SMTP server, in the order
3610 mutt should try them. Authentication methods are any SASL mech‐
3611 anism, eg “digest-md5”, “gssapi” or “cram-md5”. This parameter
3612 is case-insensitive. If this parameter is unset (the default)
3613 mutt will try all available methods, in order from most-secure
3614 to least-secure.
3615 Example: set smtp_authenticators=”digest-md5:cram-md5”
3617 smtp_pass
3621 Type: string
3622 Default: “”
3623 Specifies the password for your SMTP account. If unset, Mutt
3625 will prompt you for your password when you first send mail via
3626 SMTP. See “smtp_url” to configure mutt to send mail via SMTP.
3627 Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a
3628 fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your mut‐
3629 trc even if you are the only one who can read the file.
3630 smtp_url
3634 Type: string
3635 Default: “”
3636 Defines the SMTP “smart” host where sent messages should relayed
3638 for delivery. This should take the form of an SMTP URL, eg:
3639 smtp[s]://[user[:pass]@]host[:port]/
3641 Setting this variable overrides the value of the “$sendmail”
3643 variable.
3644 sort
3648 Type: sort order
3649 Default: date
3650 Specifies how to sort messages in the index menu. Valid values
3652 are:
3653 date or date-sent
3655 date-received
3656 from
3657 mailbox-order (unsorted)
3658 score
3659 size
3660 spam
3661 subject
3662 threads
3663 to
3664 You may optionally use the reverse- prefix to specify reverse
3668 sorting order (example: set sort=reverse-date-sent).
3669 sort_alias
3673 Type: sort order
3674 Default: alias
3675 Specifies how the entries in the `alias' menu are sorted. The
3677 following are legal values:
3678 address (sort alphabetically by email address)
3680 alias (sort alphabetically by alias name)
3681 unsorted (leave in order specified in .muttrc)
3682 sort_aux
3688 Type: sort order
3689 Default: date
3690 When sorting by threads, this variable controls how threads are
3692 sorted in relation to other threads, and how the branches of the
3693 thread trees are sorted. This can be set to any value that
3694 “$sort” can, except threads (in that case, mutt will just use
3695 date-sent). You can also specify the last- prefix in addition
3696 to the reverse- prefix, but last- must come after reverse-. The
3697 last- prefix causes messages to be sorted against its siblings
3698 by which has the last descendant, using the rest of sort_aux as
3699 an ordering. For instance, set sort_aux=last- date-received
3700 would mean that if a new message is received in a thread, that
3701 thread becomes the last one displayed (or the first, if you have
3702 set sort=reverse-threads.) Note: For reversed “$sort” order
3703 $sort_aux is reversed again (which is not the right thing to do,
3704 but kept to not break any existing configuration setting).
3705 sort_browser
3709 Type: sort order
3710 Default: alpha
3711 Specifies how to sort entries in the file browser. By default,
3713 the entries are sorted alphabetically. Valid values:
3714 alpha (alphabetically)
3716 date
3717 size
3718 unsorted
3719 You may optionally use the reverse- prefix to specify reverse
3723 sorting order (example: set sort_browser=reverse-date).
3724 sort_re
3728 Type: boolean
3729 Default: yes
3730 This variable is only useful when sorting by threads with
3732 “$strict_threads” unset. In that case, it changes the heuristic
3733 mutt uses to thread messages by subject. With sort_re set, mutt
3734 will only attach a message as the child of another message by
3735 subject if the subject of the child message starts with a sub‐
3736 string matching the setting of “$reply_regexp”. With sort_re
3737 unset, mutt will attach the message whether or not this is the
3738 case, as long as the non-“$reply_regexp” parts of both messages
3739 are identical.
3740 spam_separator
3744 Type: string
3745 Default: “,”
3746 “spam_separator” controls what happens when multiple spam head‐
3748 ers are matched: if unset, each successive header will overwrite
3749 any previous matches value for the spam label. If set, each suc‐
3750 cessive match will append to the previous, using “spam_separa‐
3751 tor” as a separator.
3752 spoolfile
3756 Type: path
3757 Default: “”
3758 If your spool mailbox is in a non-default place where Mutt can‐
3760 not find it, you can specify its location with this variable.
3761 Mutt will automatically set this variable to the value of the
3762 environment variable $MAIL if it is not set.
3763 status_chars
3767 Type: string
3768 Default: “-*%A”
3769 Controls the characters used by the ”%r” indicator in “$sta‐
3771 tus_format”. The first character is used when the mailbox is
3772 unchanged. The second is used when the mailbox has been changed,
3773 and it needs to be resynchronized. The third is used if the
3774 mailbox is in read-only mode, or if the mailbox will not be
3775 written when exiting that mailbox (You can toggle whether to
3776 write changes to a mailbox with the toggle-write operation,
3777 bound by default to ”%”). The fourth is used to indicate that
3778 the current folder has been opened in attach- message mode (Cer‐
3779 tain operations like composing a new mail, replying, forwarding,
3780 etc. are not permitted in this mode).
3781 status_format
3785 Type: string
3786 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)---”
3787 Controls the format of the status line displayed in the index
3789 menu. This string is similar to “$index_format”, but has its
3790 own set of printf()-like sequences:
3791 %b number of mailboxes with new mail *
3793 %d number of deleted messages *
3794 %f the full pathname of the current mailbox
3795 %F number of flagged messages *
3796 %h local hostname
3797 %l size (in bytes) of the current mailbox *
3798 %L size (in bytes) of the messages shown (i.e., which match
3799 the current limit) *
3800 %m the number of messages in the mailbox *
3801 %M the number of messages shown (i.e., which match the cur‐
3802 rent limit) *
3803 %n number of new messages in the mailbox *
3804 %o number of old unread messages *
3805 %p number of postponed messages *
3806 %P percentage of the way through the index
3807 %r modified/read-only/won't-write/attach-message indicator,
3808 according to $status_chars
3809 %s current sorting mode ($sort)
3810 %S current aux sorting method ($sort_aux)
3811 %t number of tagged messages *
3812 %u number of unread messages *
3813 %v Mutt version string
3814 %V currently active limit pattern, if any *
3815 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with ”X”
3816 %|X pad to the end of the line with ”X”
3817 %*X soft-fill with character ”X” as pad
3818 For an explanation of `soft-fill', see the “$index_format” docu‐
3820 mentation.
3821 * = can be optionally printed if nonzero
3823 Some of the above sequences can be used to optionally print a
3825 string if their value is nonzero. For example, you may only
3826 want to see the number of flagged messages if such messages
3827 exist, since zero is not particularly meaningful. To optionally
3828 print a string based upon one of the above sequences, the fol‐
3829 lowing construct is used:
3830 %?<sequence_char>?<optional_string>?
3832 where sequence_char is a character from the table above, and
3834 optional_string is the string you would like printed if
3835 sequence_char is nonzero. optional_string may contain other
3836 sequences as well as normal text, but you may not nest optional
3837 strings.
3838 Here is an example illustrating how to optionally print the num‐
3840 ber of new messages in a mailbox: %?n?%n new messages.?
3841 You can also switch between two strings using the following con‐
3843 struct:
3844 %?<sequence_char>?<if_string>&<else_string>?
3846 If the value of sequence_char is non-zero, if_string will be
3848 expanded, otherwise else_string will be expanded.
3849 You can force the result of any printf-like sequence to be low‐
3851 ercase by prefixing the sequence character with an underscore
3852 (_) sign. For example, if you want to display the local host‐
3853 name in lowercase, you would use: %_h
3854 If you prefix the sequence character with a colon (:) character,
3856 mutt will replace any dots in the expansion by underscores. This
3857 might be helpful with IMAP folders that don't like dots in
3858 folder names.
3859 status_on_top
3863 Type: boolean
3864 Default: no
3865 Setting this variable causes the “status bar” to be displayed on
3867 the first line of the screen rather than near the bottom.
3868 strict_threads
3872 Type: boolean
3873 Default: no
3874 If set, threading will only make use of the “In-Reply-To” and
3876 “References” fields when you “$sort” by message threads. By
3877 default, messages with the same subject are grouped together in
3878 “pseudo threads.”. This may not always be desirable, such as in
3879 a personal mailbox where you might have several unrelated mes‐
3880 sages with the subject “hi” which will get grouped together. See
3881 also “$sort_re” for a less drastic way of controlling this be‐
3882 haviour.
3883 suspend
3887 Type: boolean
3888 Default: yes
3889 When unset, mutt won't stop when the user presses the terminal's
3891 susp key, usually “control-Z”. This is useful if you run mutt
3892 inside an xterm using a command like xterm -e mutt.
3893 text_flowed
3897 Type: boolean
3898 Default: no
3899 When set, mutt will generate text/plain; format=flowed attach‐
3901 ments. This format is easier to handle for some mailing soft‐
3902 ware, and generally just looks like ordinary text. To actually
3903 make use of this format's features, you'll need support in your
3904 editor.
3905 Note that $indent_string is ignored when this option is set.
3907 thread_received
3911 Type: boolean
3912 Default: no
3913 When set, mutt uses the date received rather than the date sent
3915 to thread messages by subject.
3916 thorough_search
3920 Type: boolean
3921 Default: no
3922 Affects the ~b and ~h search operations described in section
3924 “patterns” above. If set, the headers and attachments of mes‐
3925 sages to be searched are decoded before searching. If unset,
3926 messages are searched as they appear in the folder.
3927 tilde
3931 Type: boolean
3932 Default: no
3933 When set, the internal-pager will pad blank lines to the bottom
3935 of the screen with a tilde (~).
3936 timeout
3940 Type: number
3941 Default: 600
3942 This variable controls the number of seconds Mutt will wait for
3944 a key to be pressed in the main menu before timing out and
3945 checking for new mail. A value of zero or less will cause Mutt
3946 to never time out.
3947 tmpdir
3951 Type: path
3952 Default: “”
3953 This variable allows you to specify where Mutt will place its
3955 temporary files needed for displaying and composing messages.
3956 If this variable is not set, the environment variable TMPDIR is
3957 used. If TMPDIR is not set then ”/tmp” is used.
3958 to_chars
3962 Type: string
3963 Default: “ +TCFL”
3964 Controls the character used to indicate mail addressed to you.
3966 The first character is the one used when the mail is NOT
3967 addressed to your address (default: space). The second is used
3968 when you are the only recipient of the message (default: +).
3969 The third is when your address appears in the TO header field,
3970 but you are not the only recipient of the message (default: T).
3971 The fourth character is used when your address is specified in
3972 the CC header field, but you are not the only recipient. The
3973 fifth character is used to indicate mail that was sent by you.
3974 The sixth character is used to indicate when a mail was sent to
3975 a mailing-list you subscribe to (default: L).
3976 tunnel
3980 Type: string
3981 Default: “”
3982 Setting this variable will cause mutt to open a pipe to a com‐
3984 mand instead of a raw socket. You may be able to use this to set
3985 up preauthenticated connections to your IMAP/POP3 server. Exam‐
3986 ple:
3987 tunnel=”ssh -q mailhost.net /usr/local/libexec/imapd”
3989 NOTE: For this example to work you must be able to log in to the
3991 remote machine without having to enter a password.
3992 use_8bitmime
3996 Type: boolean
3997 Default: no
3998 Warning: do not set this variable unless you are using a version
4000 of sendmail which supports the -B8BITMIME flag (such as sendmail
4001 8.8.x) or you may not be able to send mail.
4002 When set, Mutt will invoke “$sendmail” with the -B8BITMIME flag
4004 when sending 8-bit messages to enable ESMTP negotiation.
4005 use_domain
4009 Type: boolean
4010 Default: yes
4011 When set, Mutt will qualify all local addresses (ones without
4013 the @host portion) with the value of “$hostname”. If unset, no
4014 addresses will be qualified.
4015 use_envelope_from
4019 Type: boolean
4020 Default: no
4021 When set, mutt will set the envelope sender of the message. If
4023 “$envelope_from_address” is set, it will be used as the sender
4024 address. If not, mutt will attempt to derive the sender from the
4025 ”From:” header.
4026 Note that this information is passed to sendmail command using
4028 the ”-f” command line switch. Therefore setting this option is
4029 not useful if the “$sendmail” variable already contains ”-f” or
4030 if the executable pointed to by $sendmail doesn't support the
4031 ”-f” switch.
4032 use_from
4036 Type: boolean
4037 Default: yes
4038 When set, Mutt will generate the `From:' header field when send‐
4040 ing messages. If unset, no `From:' header field will be gener‐
4041 ated unless the user explicitly sets one using the “my_hdr” com‐
4042 mand.
4043 use_idn
4047 Type: boolean
4048 Default: yes
4049 When set, Mutt will show you international domain names decoded.
4051 Note: You can use IDNs for addresses even if this is unset.
4052 This variable only affects decoding.
4053 use_ipv6
4057 Type: boolean
4058 Default: yes
4059 When set, Mutt will look for IPv6 addresses of hosts it tries to
4061 contact. If this option is unset, Mutt will restrict itself to
4062 IPv4 addresses. Normally, the default should work.
4063 user_agent
4067 Type: boolean
4068 Default: yes
4069 When set, mutt will add a ”User-Agent” header to outgoing mes‐
4071 sages, indicating which version of mutt was used for composing
4072 them.
4073 visual
4077 Type: path
4078 Default: “”
4079 Specifies the visual editor to invoke when the ~v command is
4081 given in the builtin editor.
4082 wait_key
4086 Type: boolean
4087 Default: yes
4088 Controls whether Mutt will ask you to press a key after shell-
4090 escape, pipe-message, pipe-entry, print-message, and print-entry
4091 commands.
4092 It is also used when viewing attachments with “auto_view”, pro‐
4094 vided that the corresponding mailcap entry has a needsterminal
4095 flag, and the external program is interactive.
4096 When set, Mutt will always ask for a key. When unset, Mutt will
4098 wait for a key only if the external command returned a non-zero
4099 status.
4100 weed
4104 Type: boolean
4105 Default: yes
4106 When set, mutt will weed headers when displaying, forwarding,
4108 printing, or replying to messages.
4109 wrap
4113 Type: number
4114 Default: 0
4115 When set to a positive value, mutt will wrap text at $wrap char‐
4117 acters. When set to a negative value, mutt will wrap text so
4118 that there are $wrap characters of empty space on the right side
4119 of the terminal.
4120 wrap_search
4124 Type: boolean
4125 Default: yes
4126 Controls whether searches wrap around the end of the mailbox.
4128 When set, searches will wrap around the first (or last) message.
4130 When unset, searches will not wrap.
4131 wrapmargin
4135 Type: number
4136 Default: 0
4137 (DEPRECATED) Equivalent to setting wrap with a negative value.
4139 write_inc
4143 Type: number
4144 Default: 10
4145 When writing a mailbox, a message will be printed every
4147 write_inc messages to indicate progress. If set to 0, only a
4148 single message will be displayed before writing a mailbox.
4149 Also see the “$read_inc” variable.
4151 write_bcc
4155 Type: boolean
4156 Default: yes
4157 Controls whether mutt writes out the Bcc header when preparing
4159 messages to be sent. Exim users may wish to unset this. If mutt
4160 is set to deliver directly via SMTP (see “$smtp_url”), this
4161 option does nothing: mutt will never write out the BCC header in
4162 this case.
4163
4167 iconv(1), iconv(3), mailcap(5), maildir(5), mbox(5), mutt(1),
4168 printf(3), regex(7), strftime(3)
4169 The Mutt Manual
4171 The Mutt home page: http://www.mutt.org/
4173
4175 Michael Elkins, and others. Use <mutt-dev@mutt.org> to contact the
4176 developers.
4177Unix September 2002 muttrc(5)