1muttrc(5) User Manuals muttrc(5)
2
6 muttrc - Configuration file for the Mutt Mail User Agent
7
9 A mutt configuration file consists of a series of “commands”. Each
10 line of the file may contain one or more commands. When multiple com‐
11 mands are used, they must be separated by a semicolon (“;”).
12 The hash mark, or pound sign (“#”), is used as a “comment” character.
14 You can use it to annotate your initialization file. All text after the
15 comment character to the end of the line is ignored.
16 Single quotes (“'”) and double quotes (“"”) can be used to quote
18 strings which contain spaces or other special characters. The differ‐
19 ence between the two types of quotes is similar to that of many popular
20 shell programs, namely that a single quote is used to specify a literal
21 string (one that is not interpreted for shell variables or quoting with
22 a backslash [see next paragraph]), while double quotes indicate a
23 string which should be evaluated. For example, backticks are evaluated
24 inside of double quotes, but not single quotes.
25 \ quotes the next character, just as in shells such as bash and zsh.
27 For example, if want to put quotes (“"”) inside of a string, you can
28 use “\” to force the next character to be a literal instead of inter‐
29 preted character.
30 “\\” means to insert a literal “\” into the line. “\n” and “\r” have
32 their usual C meanings of linefeed and carriage-return, respectively.
33 A “\” at the end of a line can be used to split commands over multiple
35 lines, provided that the split points don't appear in the middle of
36 command names.
37 It is also possible to substitute the output of a Unix command in an
39 initialization file. This is accomplished by enclosing the command in
40 backticks (`command`).
41 UNIX environment variables can be accessed like the way it is done in
43 shells like sh and bash: Prepend the name of the variable by a dollar
44 (“$”) sign.
45
47 alias [-group name [...]] key address [, address [ ... ]]
48 unalias [ * | key ]
49 alias defines an alias key for the given addresses. Each address
51 will be resolved into either an email address (user@example.com)
52 or a named email address (User Name <user@example.com>). The ad‐
53 dress 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 ex‐
63 pressions to the specified group or groups. The different cate‐
64 gories of arguments to the group command can be in any order.
65 The flags -rx and -addr specify what the following strings (that
66 cannot begin with a hyphen) should be interpreted as: either a
67 regular expression or an email address, respectively. ungroup
68 is used to remove addresses or regular expressions from the
69 specified group or groups. The syntax is similar to the group
70 command, however the special character * can be used to empty a
71 group of all of its contents.
72 These address groups can also be created implicitly by the
74 alias, lists, subscribe and alternates commands by specifying
75 the optional -group option.
76 Once defined, these address groups can be used in patterns to
78 search for and limit the display to messages matching a group.
79 alternates [-group name] regexp [ regexp [ ... ]]
81 unalternates [ * | regexp [ regexp [ ... ]] ]
82 alternates is used to inform mutt about alternate addresses
84 where you receive mail; you can use regular expressions to spec‐
85 ify alternate addresses. This affects mutt's idea about mes‐
86 sages from you, and messages addressed to you. unalternates re‐
87 moves 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 re‐
98 moves entries from the ordered list or deletes the entire list
99 when “*” is used as an argument.
100 attachments [ + | - ]disposition mime-type
102 unattachments [ + | - ]disposition mime-type
103 attachments ?
104 unattachments *
105 attachments specifies what kinds of attachments are used for
107 Mutt's attachment counting and searching support.
108 disposition is the attachment's Content-Disposition type - ei‐
110 ther inline or attachment. You can abbreviate this to I or A.
111 The first part of a message or multipart group, if inline, is
113 counted separately than other inline parts. Specify root or R
114 for disposition to count these as attachments. If this first
115 part is of type multipart/alternative, note that its top-level
116 inline parts are also counted via root disposition (if
117 $count_alternatives is set).
118 disposition is prefixed by either a + symbol or a - symbol. If
120 it's a +, you're saying that you want to allow this disposition
121 and MIME type to qualify. If it's a -, you're saying that this
122 disposition and MIME type is an exception to previous + rules.
123 mime-type is the MIME type of the attachment you want the com‐
125 mand to affect. A MIME type is always of the format major/minor,
126 where major describes the broad category of document you're
127 looking at, and minor describes the specific type within that
128 category. The major part of mime-type must be literal text (or
129 the special token *), but the minor part may be a regular ex‐
130 pression. (Therefore, */.* matches any MIME type.)
131 The MIME types you give to the attachments directive are a kind
133 of pattern. When you use the attachments directive, the patterns
134 you specify are added to a list. When you use unattachments, the
135 pattern is removed from the list. The patterns are not expanded
136 and matched to specific MIME types at this time - they're just
137 text in a list. They're only matched when actually evaluating a
138 message.
139 auto_view type[/subtype] [ ... ]
141 unauto_view type[/subtype] [ ... ]
142 This commands permits you to specify that mutt should automati‐
144 cally convert the given MIME types to text/plain when displaying
145 messages. For this to work, there must be a mailcap(5) entry
146 for the given MIME type with the copiousoutput flag set. A sub‐
147 type of “*” matches any subtype, as does an empty subtype.
148 mime_lookup type[/subtype] [ ... ]
150 unmime_lookup type[/subtype] [ ... ]
151 This command permits you to define a list of "data" MIME content
153 types for which mutt will try to determine the actual file type
154 from the file name, and not use a mailcap(5) entry given for the
155 original MIME type. For instance, you may add the applica‐
156 tion/octet-stream MIME type to this list.
157 bind map1,map2,... key function
159 This command binds the given key for the given map or maps to
160 the given function. Multiple maps may be specified by separating
161 them with commas (no whitespace is allowed).
162 Valid maps are: generic, alias, attach, browser, editor, index,
164 compose, pager, pgp, postpone, mix.
165 For more information on keys and functions, please consult the
167 Mutt Manual. Note that the function name is to be specified
168 without angle brackets.
169 account-hook [!]regexp command
171 This hook is executed whenever you access a remote mailbox. Use‐
172 ful to adjust configuration settings to different IMAP or POP
173 servers.
174 charset-hook alias charset
176 This command defines an alias for a character set. This is use‐
177 ful to properly display messages which are tagged with a charac‐
178 ter set name not known to mutt.
179 iconv-hook charset local-charset
181 This command defines a system-specific name for a character set.
182 This is useful when your system's iconv(3) implementation does
183 not understand MIME character set names (such as iso-8859-1),
184 but instead insists on being fed with implementation-specific
185 character set names (such as 8859-1). In this specific case,
186 you'd put this into your configuration file:
187 iconv-hook iso-8859-1 8859-1
189 message-hook [!]pattern command
191 Before mutt displays (or formats for replying or forwarding) a
192 message which matches the given pattern (or, when it is preceded
193 by an exclamation mark, does not match the pattern), the given
194 command is executed. When multiple message-hooks match, they
195 are executed in the order in which they occur in the configu‐
196 ration file.
197 folder-hook [!]regexp command
199 When mutt enters a folder which matches regexp (or, when regexp
200 is preceded by an exclamation mark, does not match regexp), the
201 given command is executed.
202 When several folder-hooks match a given mail folder, they are
204 executed in the order given in the configuration file.
205 macro map key sequence [ description ]
207 This command binds the given sequence of keys to the given key
208 in the given map or maps. For valid maps, see bind. To specify
209 multiple maps, put only a comma between the maps.
210 color object [ attribute ... ] foreground background [ regexp ]
212 color index [ attribute ... ] foreground background [ pattern ]
213 color compose composeobject [ attribute ... ] foreground background
214 uncolor index pattern [ pattern ... ]
215 If your terminal supports color, these commands can be used to
217 assign foreground/background combinations to certain objects.
218 Valid objects are: attachment, body, bold, error, header, hdrde‐
219 fault, index, indicator, markers, message, normal, prompt,
220 quoted, quotedN, search, signature, status, tilde, tree, under‐
221 line. If the sidebar is enabled the following objects are also
222 valid: sidebar_divider, sidebar_flagged, sidebar_highlight,
223 sidebar_indicator, sidebar_new, sidebar_spoolfile. The body and
224 header objects allow you to restrict the colorization to a regu‐
225 lar expression. The index object permits you to select colored
226 messages by pattern.
227 Valid composeobjects include header, security_encrypt, secu‐
229 rity_sign, security_both, security_none.
230 Valid colors include: white, black, green, magenta, blue, cyan,
232 yellow, red, default, colorN.
233 Valid attributes include: none, bold, underline, reverse, and
235 standout.
236 mono object attribute [ regexp ]
238 mono index attribute [ pattern ]
239 For terminals which don't support color, you can still assign
241 attributes to objects.
242 [un]ignore pattern [ pattern ... ]
244 The ignore command permits you to specify header fields which
245 you usually don't wish to see. Any header field whose tag be‐
246 gins with an “ignored” pattern will be ignored.
247 The unignore command permits you to define exceptions from the
249 above mentioned list of ignored headers.
250 lists [-group name] regexp [ regexp ... ]
252 unlists regexp [ regexp ... ]
253 subscribe [-group name] regexp [ regexp ... ]
254 unsubscribe regexp [ regexp ... ]
255 Mutt maintains two lists of mailing list address patterns, a
257 list of subscribed mailing lists, and a list of known mailing
258 lists. All subscribed mailing lists are known. Patterns use
259 regular expressions.
260 The lists command adds a mailing list address to the list of
262 known mailing lists. The unlists command removes a mailing list
263 from the lists of known and subscribed mailing lists. The sub‐
264 scribe command adds a mailing list to the lists of known and
265 subscribed mailing lists. The unsubscribe command removes it
266 from the list of subscribed mailing lists. The -group flag adds
267 all of the subsequent regular expressions to the named group.
268 mbox-hook [!]regexp mailbox
270 When mutt changes to a mail folder which matches regexp, mailbox
271 will be used as the “mbox” folder, i.e., read messages will be
272 moved to that folder when the mail folder is left.
273 The first matching mbox-hook applies.
275 mailboxes [[-poll | -nopoll] [[-label label] | -nolabel] filename] [ ... ]
277 unmailboxes [ * | filename ... ]
278 The mailboxes specifies folders which can receive mail and which
280 will be checked for new messages. When changing folders, press‐
281 ing space will cycle through folders with new mail. The unmail‐
282 boxes command is used to remove a file name from the list of
283 folders which can receive mail. If "*" is specified as the file
284 name, the list is emptied.
285 my_hdr string
287 unmy_hdr field
288 Using my_hdr, you can define headers which will be added to the
290 messages you compose. unmy_hdr will remove the given user-de‐
291 fined headers.
292 hdr_order header1 header2 [ ... ]
294 With this command, you can specify an order in which mutt will
295 attempt to present headers to you when viewing messages.
296 save-hook [!]pattern filename
298 When a message matches pattern, the default file name when sav‐
299 ing it will be the given filename.
300 fcc-hook [!]pattern filename
302 When an outgoing message matches pattern, the default file name
303 for storing a copy (fcc) will be the given filename.
304 fcc-save-hook [!]pattern filename
306 This command is an abbreviation for identical fcc-hook and save-
307 hook commands.
308 send-hook [!]pattern command
310 When composing a message matching pattern, command is executed.
311 When multiple send-hooks match, they are executed in the order
312 in which they occur in the configuration file.
313 send2-hook [!]pattern command
315 Whenever a message matching pattern is changed (either by edit‐
316 ing it or by using the compose menu), command is executed. When
317 multiple send2-hooks match, they are executed in the order in
318 which they occur in the configuration file. Possible applica‐
319 tions include setting the $sendmail variable when a message's
320 from header is changed.
321 send2-hook execution is not triggered by use of enter-command
323 from the compose menu.
324 reply-hook [!]pattern command
326 When replying to a message matching pattern, command is exe‐
327 cuted. When multiple reply-hooks match, they are executed in
328 the order in which they occur in the configuration file, but all
329 reply-hooks are matched and executed before send-hooks, regard‐
330 less of their order in the configuration file.
331 crypt-hook regexp key-id
333 The crypt-hook command provides a method by which you can spec‐
334 ify the ID of the public key to be used when encrypting messages
335 to a certain recipient. The meaning of "key ID" is to be taken
336 broadly: This can be a different e-mail address, a numerical key
337 ID, or even just an arbitrary search string. You may use multi‐
338 ple crypt-hooks with the same regexp; multiple matching crypt-
339 hooks result in the use of multiple key-ids for a recipient.
340 index-format-hook name [!]pattern format-string
342 This command is used to inject format strings dynamically into
343 $index_format based on pattern matching against the current mes‐
344 sage.
345 The $index_format expando %@name@ specifies a placeholder for
347 the injection. Index-format-hooks with the same name are matched
348 using pattern against the current message. Matching is done in
349 the order specified in the .muttrc, with the first match being
350 used. The hook's format-string is then substituted and evalu‐
351 ated.
352 open-hook regexp "command"
354 close-hook regexp "command"
355 append-hook regexp "command"
356 These commands provide a way to handle compressed folders. The
358 given regexp specifies which folders are taken as compressed
359 (e.g. "\\.gz$"). The commands tell Mutt how to uncompress a
360 folder (open-hook), compress a folder (close-hook) or append a
361 compressed mail to a compressed folder (append-hook). The com‐
362 mand string is the printf(3) like format string, and it should
363 accept two parameters: %f, which is replaced with the (com‐
364 pressed) folder name, and %t which is replaced with the name of
365 the temporary folder to which to write.
366 push string
368 exec function [ ... ]
369 push adds the named string to the keyboard buffer. “exec func‐
371 tion” is equivalent to “push <function>”.
372 run MuttLisp
374 The run command evaluates the MuttLisp argument. The output of
376 the MuttLisp is then executed as a Mutt command, as if it were
377 typed in the muttrc instead.
378 score pattern value
380 unscore [ * | pattern ... ]
381 The score commands adds value to a message's score if pattern
383 matches it. The unscore command removes score entries from the
384 list.
385 set [no|inv|&|?]variable[=value] [ ... ]
387 toggle variable [ ... ]
388 unset variable [ ... ]
389 reset variable [ ... ]
390 These commands are used to set and manipulate configuration
392 variables.
393 Mutt knows four basic types of variables: boolean, number,
395 string and quadoption. Boolean variables can be set (true), un‐
396 set (false), or toggled. Number variables can be assigned a pos‐
397 itive integer value.
398 String variables consist of any number of printable characters.
400 Strings must be enclosed in quotes if they contain spaces or
401 tabs. You may also use the “C” escape sequences \n and \t for
402 newline and tab, respectively.
403 Quadoption variables are used to control whether or not to be
405 prompted for certain actions, or to specify a default action. A
406 value of yes will cause the action to be carried out automati‐
407 cally as if you had answered yes to the question. Similarly, a
408 value of no will cause the action to be carried out as if you
409 had answered “no.” A value of ask-yes will cause a prompt with a
410 default answer of “yes” and ask-no will provide a default answer
411 of “no.”
412 The reset command resets all given variables to the compile time
414 defaults. If you reset the special variable all, all variables
415 will reset to their compile time defaults.
416 setenv [?]variable [ value ]
418 unsetenv variable
419 These alter the environment that Mutt passes on to its child
421 processes. You can also query current environment values by
422 prefixing a “?” character.
423 sidebar_whitelist mailbox [ mailbox ...]
425 unsidebar_whitelist [ * | mailbox ... ]
426 sidebar_whitelist specifies mailboxes that will always be dis‐
428 played in the sidebar, even if $sidebar_new_mail_only is set and
429 the mailbox does not contain new mail.
430 unsidebar_whitelist is used to remove a mailbox from the list of
432 whitelisted mailboxes. Use unsidebar_whitelist * to remove all
433 mailboxes.
434 source filename
436 The given file will be evaluated as a configuration file.
437 spam pattern format
439 nospam pattern
440 These commands define spam-detection patterns from external spam
442 filters, so that mutt can sort, limit, and search on ``spam
443 tags'' or ``spam attributes'', or display them in the index. See
444 the Mutt manual for details.
445 subjectrx pattern replacement
447 unsubjectrx [ * | pattern ]
448 subjectrx specifies a regular expression pattern which, if de‐
450 tected in a message subject, causes the subject to be replaced
451 with the replacement value. The replacement is subject to sub‐
452 stitutions in the same way as for the spam command: %L for the
453 text to the left of the match, %R for text to the right of the
454 match, and %1 for the first subgroup in the match (etc). If you
455 simply want to erase the match, set it to “%L%R”. Any number of
456 subjectrx commands may coexist.
457 Note this well: the replacement value replaces the entire sub‐
459 ject, not just the match!
460 unsubjectrx removes a given subjectrx from the substitution
462 list. If * is used as the pattern, all substitutions will be re‐
463 moved.
464 unhook [ * | hook-type ]
466 This command will remove all hooks of a given type, or all hooks
467 when “*” is used as an argument. hook-type can be any of the
468 -hook commands documented above.
469 mailto_allow header-field [ ... ]
471 unmailto_allow [ * | header-field ... ]
472 These commands allow the user to modify the list of allowed
474 header fields in a mailto: URL that Mutt will include in the the
475 generated message. By default the list contains only subject
476 and body, as specified by RFC2368.
477 echo message
479 Prints message to the message window. After printing the mes‐
480 sage, echo will pause for the number of seconds specified by
481 $sleep_time.
482 cd directory
484 Changes the current working directory.
485
487 In various places with mutt, including some of the above mentioned hook
488 commands, you can specify patterns to match messages.
489 Constructing Patterns
491 A simple pattern consists of a modifier of the form “~character”, pos‐
492 sibly followed by a parameter against which mutt is supposed to match
493 the object specified by this modifier. For some characters, the ~ may
494 be replaced by another character to alter the behavior of the match.
495 These are described in the list of modifiers, below.
496 With some of these modifiers, the object to be matched consists of sev‐
498 eral e-mail addresses. In these cases, the object is matched if at
499 least one of these e-mail addresses matches. You can prepend a hat
500 (“^”) character to such a pattern to indicate that all addresses must
501 match in order to match the object.
502 You can construct complex patterns by combining simple patterns with
504 logical operators. Logical AND is specified by simply concatenating
505 two simple patterns, for instance “~C mutt-dev ~s bug”. Logical OR is
506 specified by inserting a vertical bar (“|”) between two patterns, for
507 instance “~C mutt-dev | ~s bug”. Additionally, you can negate a pat‐
508 tern by prepending a bang (“!”) character. For logical grouping, use
509 braces (“()”). Example: “!(~t mutt|~c mutt) ~f elkins”.
510 Simple Patterns
512 Mutt understands the following simple patterns:
513 ~A all messages
515 ~b EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the message body.
516 =b STRING If IMAP is enabled, like ~b but searches for STRING on the
517 server, rather than downloading each message and searching
518 it locally.
519 ~B EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the whole message.
520 =B STRING If IMAP is enabled, like ~B but searches for STRING on the
521 server, rather than downloading each message and searching
522 it locally.
523 ~c EXPR messages carbon-copied to EXPR
524 %c GROUP messages carbon-copied to any member of GROUP
525 ~C EXPR messages either to: or cc: EXPR
526 %C GROUP messages either to: or cc: to any member of GROUP
527 ~d MIN-MAX messages with “date-sent” in a Date range
528 ~D deleted messages
529 ~e EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the “Sender” field
530 %e GROUP messages which contain a member of GROUP in the “Sender”
531 field
532 ~E expired messages
533 ~f EXPR messages originating from EXPR
534 %f GROUP messages originating from any member of GROUP
535 ~F flagged messages
536 ~g PGP signed messages
537 ~G PGP encrypted messages
538 ~h EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the message header
539 =h STRING If IMAP is enabled, like ~h but searches for STRING on the
540 server, rather than downloading each message and searching
541 it locally. STRING must be of the form “header: substring”
542 ~H EXPR messages with spam tags matching EXPR
543 ~i EXPR messages which match EXPR in the “Message-ID” field
544 ~k messages containing PGP key material
545 ~l messages addressed to a known mailing list (defined by ei‐
546 ther subscribe or list)
547 ~L EXPR messages either originated or received by EXPR
548 %L GROUP messages either originated or received by any member of
549 GROUP
550 ~m MIN-MAX message in the range MIN to MAX
551 ~M EXPR messages which contain a mime Content-Type matching EXPR
552 ~n MIN-MAX messages with a score in the range MIN to MAX
553 ~N new messages
554 ~O old messages
555 ~p messages addressed to you (consults $from, alternates, and
556 local account/hostname information)
557 ~P messages from you (consults $from, alternates, and local
558 account/hostname information)
559 ~Q messages which have been replied to
560 ~r MIN-MAX messages with “date-received” in a Date range
561 ~R read messages
562 ~s EXPR messages having EXPR in the “Subject” field.
563 ~S superseded messages
564 ~t EXPR messages addressed to EXPR
565 ~T tagged messages
566 ~u messages addressed to a subscribed mailing list (defined by
567 subscribe commands)
568 ~U unread messages
569 ~v message is part of a collapsed thread.
570 ~V cryptographically verified messages
571 ~x EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the “References” or “In-Re‐
572 ply-To” field
573 ~X MIN-MAX messages with MIN - MAX attachments
574 ~y EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the “X-Label” field
575 ~z MIN-MAX messages with a size in the range MIN to MAX
576 ~= duplicated messages (see $duplicate_threads)
577 ~$ unreferenced message (requires threaded view)
578 ~(PATTERN) messages in threads containing messages matching a certain
579 pattern, e.g. all threads containing messages from you:
580 ~(~P)
581 ~<(PATTERN) messages whose immediate parent matches PATTERN, e.g.
582 replies to your messages: ~<(~P)
583 ~>(PATTERN) messages having an immediate child matching PATTERN, e.g.
584 messages you replied to: ~>(~P)
585 In the above, EXPR is a regular expression.
587 With the ~d, ~m, ~n, ~r, ~X, and ~z modifiers, you can also specify
589 ranges in the forms <MAX, >MIN, MIN-, and -MAX.
590 With the ~z modifier, the suffixes “K” and “M” are allowed to specify
592 kilobyte and megabyte respectively.
593 The ~b, ~B, ~h, ~M, and ~X modifiers require reading each message in,
595 which can be much slower.
596 You can force Mutt to treat EXPR as a simple string instead of a regu‐
598 lar expression by using = instead of ~ in the pattern name.
599 Matching dates
601 The ~d and ~r modifiers are used to match date ranges, which are inter‐
602 preted to be given in your local time zone.
603 A date is of the form DD[/MM[/[cc]YY]], that is, a two-digit date, op‐
605 tionally followed by a two-digit month, optionally followed by a year
606 specifications. Omitted fields default to the current month and year.
607 Mutt understands either two or four digit year specifications. When
609 given a two-digit year, mutt will interpret values less than 70 as ly‐
610 ing in the 21st century (i.e., “38” means 2038 and not 1938, and “00”
611 is interpreted as 2000), and values greater than or equal to 70 as ly‐
612 ing in the 20th century.
613 Note that this behavior is Y2K compliant, but that mutt does have a
615 Y2.07K problem.
616 Alternatively, you may use YYYYMMDD to specify a date.
618 If a date range consists of a single date, the modifier in question
620 will match that precise date. If the date range consists of a dash
621 (“-”), followed by a date, this range will match any date before and up
622 to the date given. Similarly, a date followed by a dash matches the
623 date given and any later point of time. Two dates, separated by a
624 dash, match any date which lies in the given range of time.
625 You can also modify any absolute date by giving an error range. An er‐
627 ror range consists of one of the characters +, -, *, followed by a pos‐
628 itive number, followed by one of the unit characters y, m, w, or d,
629 specifying a unit of years, months, weeks, or days. + increases the
630 maximum date matched by the given interval of time, - decreases the
631 minimum date matched by the given interval of time, and * increases the
632 maximum date and decreases the minimum date matched by the given inter‐
633 val of time. It is possible to give multiple error margins, which cu‐
634 mulate. Example: 1/1/2001-1w+2w*3d
635 You can also specify offsets relative to the current date. An offset
637 is specified as one of the characters <, >, =, followed by a positive
638 number, followed by one of the unit characters y, m, w, d, H, M, or S.
639 > matches dates which are older than the specified amount of time, an
640 offset which begins with the character < matches dates which are more
641 recent than the specified amount of time, and an offset which begins
642 with the character = matches points of time which are precisely the
643 given amount of time ago.
644
646 abort_noattach
647 Type: quadoption
648 Default: no
649 When the body of the message matches $abort_noattach_regexp and
651 there are no attachments, this quadoption controls whether to
652 abort sending the message.
653 abort_noattach_regexp
657 Type: regular expression
658 Default: “attach”
659 Specifies a regular expression to match against the body of the
661 message, to determine if an attachment was mentioned but mistak‐
662 enly forgotten. If it matches, $abort_noattach will be con‐
663 sulted to determine if message sending will be aborted.
664 Like other regular expressions in Mutt, the search is case sen‐
666 sitive if the pattern contains at least one upper case letter,
667 and case insensitive otherwise.
668 abort_nosubject
672 Type: quadoption
673 Default: ask-yes
674 If set to yes, when composing messages and no subject is given
676 at the subject prompt, composition will be aborted. If set to
677 no, composing messages with no subject given at the subject
678 prompt will never be aborted.
679 abort_unmodified
683 Type: quadoption
684 Default: yes
685 If set to yes, composition will automatically abort after edit‐
687 ing the message body if no changes are made to the file (this
688 check only happens after the first edit of the file). When set
689 to no, composition will never be aborted.
690 alias_file
694 Type: path
695 Default: “~/.muttrc”
696 The default file in which to save aliases created by the <cre‐
698 ate-alias> function. Entries added to this file are encoded in
699 the character set specified by $config_charset if it is set or
700 the current character set otherwise.
701 Note: Mutt will not automatically source this file; you must ex‐
703 plicitly use the “source” command for it to be executed in case
704 this option points to a dedicated alias file.
705 The default for this option is the currently used muttrc file,
707 or “~/.muttrc” if no user muttrc was found.
708 alias_format
712 Type: string
713 Default: “%4n %2f %t %-10a %r”
714 Specifies the format of the data displayed for the “alias” menu.
716 The following printf(3)-style sequences are available:
717 %a alias name
718 %f flags - currently, a “d” for an alias marked for deletion
719 %n index number
720 %r address which alias expands to
721 %t character which indicates if the alias is tagged for in‐
722 clusion
723 allow_8bit
726 Type: boolean
727 Default: yes
728 Controls whether 8-bit data is converted to 7-bit using either
730 Quoted- Printable or Base64 encoding when sending mail.
731 allow_ansi
735 Type: boolean
736 Default: no
737 Controls whether ANSI color codes in messages (and color tags in
739 rich text messages) are to be interpreted. Messages containing
740 these codes are rare, but if this option is set, their text will
741 be colored accordingly. Note that this may override your color
742 choices, and even present a security problem, since a message
743 could include a line like
744 [-- PGP output follows ...
747 and give it the same color as your attachment color (see also
750 $crypt_timestamp).
751 arrow_cursor
755 Type: boolean
756 Default: no
757 When set, an arrow (“->”) will be used to indicate the current
759 entry in menus instead of highlighting the whole line. On slow
760 network or modem links this will make response faster because
761 there is less that has to be redrawn on the screen when moving
762 to the next or previous entries in the menu.
763 ascii_chars
767 Type: boolean
768 Default: no
769 If set, Mutt will use plain ASCII characters when displaying
771 thread and attachment trees, instead of the default ACS charac‐
772 ters.
773 askbcc
777 Type: boolean
778 Default: no
779 If set, Mutt will prompt you for blind-carbon-copy (Bcc) recipi‐
781 ents before editing an outgoing message.
782 askcc
786 Type: boolean
787 Default: no
788 If set, Mutt will prompt you for carbon-copy (Cc) recipients be‐
790 fore editing the body of an outgoing message.
791 assumed_charset
795 Type: string
796 Default: “”
797 This variable is a colon-separated list of character encoding
799 schemes for messages without character encoding indication.
800 Header field values and message body content without character
801 encoding indication would be assumed that they are written in
802 one of this list. By default, all the header fields and message
803 body without any charset indication are assumed to be in
804 “us-ascii”.
805 For example, Japanese users might prefer this:
807 set assumed_charset=”iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8”
810 However, only the first content is valid for the message body.
813 attach_charset
817 Type: string
818 Default: “”
819 This variable is a colon-separated list of character encoding
821 schemes for text file attachments. Mutt uses this setting to
822 guess which encoding files being attached are encoded in to con‐
823 vert them to a proper character set given in $send_charset.
824 If unset, the value of $charset will be used instead. For exam‐
826 ple, the following configuration would work for Japanese text
827 handling:
828 set attach_charset=”iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8”
831 Note: for Japanese users, “iso-2022-*” must be put at the head
834 of the value as shown above if included.
835 attach_format
839 Type: string
840 Default: “%u%D%I %t%4n %T%.40d%> [%.7m/%.10M, %.6e%?C?, %C?, %s] ”
841 This variable describes the format of the “attachment” menu.
843 The following printf(3)-style sequences are understood:
844 %C charset
845 %c requires charset conversion (“n” or “c”)
846 %D deleted flag
847 %d description (if none, falls back to %F)
848 %e MIME content-transfer-encoding
849 %F filename in content-disposition header (if none, falls
850 back to %f)
851 %f filename
852 %I disposition (“I” for inline, “A” for attachment)
853 %m major MIME type
854 %M MIME subtype
855 %n attachment number
856 %Q “Q”, if MIME part qualifies for attachment counting
857 %s size (see formatstrings-size)
858 %t tagged flag
859 %T graphic tree characters
860 %u unlink (=to delete) flag
861 %X number of qualifying MIME parts in this part and its
862 children (please see the “attachments” section for possi‐
863 ble speed effects)
864 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with charac‐
865 ter “X”
866 %|X pad to the end of the line with character “X”
867 %*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
868 For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the $index_format docu‐
870 mentation.
871 attach_save_dir
875 Type: path
876 Default: “”
877 The default directory to save attachments from the “attachment”
879 menu. If it doesn't exist, Mutt will prompt to create the di‐
880 rectory before saving.
881 If the path is invalid (e.g. not a directory, or cannot be
883 chdir'ed to), Mutt will fall back to using the current direc‐
884 tory.
885 attach_sep
889 Type: string
890 Default: “\n”
891 The separator to add between attachments when operating (saving,
893 printing, piping, etc) on a list of tagged attachments.
894 attach_split
898 Type: boolean
899 Default: yes
900 If this variable is unset, when operating (saving, printing,
902 piping, etc) on a list of tagged attachments, Mutt will concate‐
903 nate the attachments and will operate on them as a single at‐
904 tachment. The $attach_sep separator is added after each attach‐
905 ment. When set, Mutt will operate on the attachments one by one.
906 attribution
910 Type: string (localized)
911 Default: “On %d, %n wrote:”
912 This is the string that will precede a message which has been
914 included in a reply. For a full listing of defined
915 printf(3)-like sequences see the section on $index_format.
916 attribution_locale
920 Type: string
921 Default: “”
922 The locale used by strftime(3) to format dates in the attribu‐
924 tion string. Legal values are the strings your system accepts
925 for the locale environment variable $LC_TIME.
926 This variable is to allow the attribution date format to be cus‐
928 tomized by recipient or folder using hooks. By default, Mutt
929 will use your locale environment, so there is no need to set
930 this except to override that default.
931 auto_subscribe
935 Type: boolean
936 Default: no
937 When set, Mutt assumes the presence of a List-Post header means
939 the recipient is subscribed to the list. Unless the mailing
940 list is in the “unsubscribe” or “unlist” lists, it will be added
941 to the “subscribe” list. Parsing and checking these things
942 slows header reading down, so this option is disabled by de‐
943 fault.
944 auto_tag
948 Type: boolean
949 Default: no
950 When set, functions in the index menu which affect a message
952 will be applied to all tagged messages (if there are any). When
953 unset, you must first use the <tag-prefix> function (bound to
954 “;” by default) to make the next function apply to all tagged
955 messages.
956 autocrypt
960 Type: boolean
961 Default: no
962 When set, enables autocrypt, which provides passive encryption
964 protection with keys exchanged via headers. See “autocryptdoc”
965 for more details. (Autocrypt only)
966 autocrypt_acct_format
970 Type: string
971 Default: “%4n %-30a %20p %10s”
972 This variable describes the format of the “autocrypt account”
974 menu. The following printf(3)-style sequences are understood
975 %a email address
976 %k gpg keyid
977 %n current entry number
978 %p prefer-encrypt flag
979 %s status flag (active/inactive)
980 (Autocrypt only)
982 autocrypt_dir
986 Type: path
987 Default: “~/.mutt/autocrypt”
988 This variable sets where autocrypt files are stored, including
990 the GPG keyring and sqlite database. See “autocryptdoc” for
991 more details. (Autocrypt only)
992 autocrypt_reply
996 Type: boolean
997 Default: yes
998 When set, replying to an autocrypt email automatically enables
1000 autocrypt in the reply. You may want to unset this if you're
1001 using the same key for autocrypt as normal web-of-trust, so that
1002 autocrypt isn't forced on for all encrypted replies. (Autocrypt
1003 only)
1004 autoedit
1008 Type: boolean
1009 Default: no
1010 When set along with $edit_headers, Mutt will skip the initial
1012 send-menu (prompting for subject and recipients) and allow you
1013 to immediately begin editing the body of your message. The
1014 send-menu may still be accessed once you have finished editing
1015 the body of your message.
1016 Note: when this option is set, you cannot use send-hooks that
1018 depend on the recipients when composing a new (non-reply) mes‐
1019 sage, as the initial list of recipients is empty.
1020 Also see $fast_reply.
1022 background_edit
1026 Type: boolean
1027 Default: no
1028 When set, Mutt will run $editor in the background during message
1030 composition. A landing page will display, waiting for the $edi‐
1031 tor to exit. The landing page may be exited, allowing perusal
1032 of the mailbox, or even for other messages to be composed.
1033 Backgrounded sessions may be returned to via the <back‐
1034 ground-compose-menu> function.
1035 For background editing to work properly, $editor must be set to
1037 an editor that does not try to use the Mutt terminal: for exam‐
1038 ple a graphical editor, or a script launching (and waiting for)
1039 the editor in another Gnu Screen window.
1040 For more details, see “bgedit” (”Background Editing” in the man‐
1042 ual).
1043 background_confirm_quit
1047 Type: boolean
1048 Default: yes
1049 When set, if there are any background edit sessions, you will be
1051 prompted to confirm exiting Mutt, in addition to the $quit
1052 prompt.
1053 background_format
1057 Type: string
1058 Default: “%10S %7p %s”
1059 This variable describes the format of the “background compose”
1061 menu. The following printf(3)-style sequences are understood:
1062 %i parent message id (for replies and forwarded messages)
1063 %n the running number on the menu
1064 %p pid of the $editor process
1065 %r comma separated list of “To:” recipients
1066 %R comma separated list of “Cc:” recipients
1067 %s subject of the message
1068 %S status of the $editor process: running/finished
1069 beep
1072 Type: boolean
1073 Default: yes
1074 When this variable is set, mutt will beep when an error occurs.
1076 beep_new
1080 Type: boolean
1081 Default: no
1082 When this variable is set, mutt will beep whenever it prints a
1084 message notifying you of new mail. This is independent of the
1085 setting of the $beep variable.
1086 bounce
1090 Type: quadoption
1091 Default: ask-yes
1092 Controls whether you will be asked to confirm bouncing messages.
1094 If set to yes you don't get asked if you want to bounce a mes‐
1095 sage. Setting this variable to no is not generally useful, and
1096 thus not recommended, because you are unable to bounce messages.
1097 bounce_delivered
1101 Type: boolean
1102 Default: yes
1103 When this variable is set, mutt will include Delivered-To head‐
1105 ers when bouncing messages. Postfix users may wish to unset
1106 this variable.
1107 braille_friendly
1111 Type: boolean
1112 Default: no
1113 When this variable is set, mutt will place the cursor at the be‐
1115 ginning of the current line in menus, even when the $arrow_cur‐
1116 sor variable is unset, making it easier for blind persons using
1117 Braille displays to follow these menus. The option is unset by
1118 default because many visual terminals don't permit making the
1119 cursor invisible.
1120 browser_abbreviate_mailboxes
1124 Type: boolean
1125 Default: yes
1126 When this variable is set, mutt will abbreviate mailbox names in
1128 the browser mailbox list, using '~' and '=' shortcuts.
1129 The default ”alpha” setting of $sort_browser uses locale-based
1131 sorting (using strcoll(3)), which ignores some punctuation.
1132 This can lead to some situations where the order doesn't make
1133 intuitive sense. In those cases, it may be desirable to unset
1134 this variable.
1135 browser_sticky_cursor
1139 Type: boolean
1140 Default: yes
1141 When this variable is set, the browser will attempt to keep the
1143 cursor on the same mailbox when performing various functions.
1144 These include moving up a directory, toggling between mailboxes
1145 and directory listing, creating/renaming a mailbox, toggling
1146 subscribed mailboxes, and entering a new mask.
1147 certificate_file
1151 Type: path
1152 Default: “~/.mutt_certificates”
1153 This variable specifies the file where the certificates you
1155 trust are saved. When an unknown certificate is encountered, you
1156 are asked if you accept it or not. If you accept it, the cer‐
1157 tificate can also be saved in this file and further connections
1158 are automatically accepted.
1159 You can also manually add CA certificates in this file. Any
1161 server certificate that is signed with one of these CA certifi‐
1162 cates is also automatically accepted.
1163 Example:
1165 set certificate_file=~/.mutt/certificates
1168 change_folder_next
1173 Type: boolean
1174 Default: no
1175 When this variable is set, the <change-folder> function mailbox
1177 suggestion will start at the next folder in your “mailboxes”
1178 list, instead of starting at the first folder in the list.
1179 charset
1183 Type: string
1184 Default: “”
1185 Character set your terminal uses to display and enter textual
1187 data. It is also the fallback for $send_charset.
1188 Upon startup Mutt tries to derive this value from environment
1190 variables such as $LC_CTYPE or $LANG.
1191 Note: It should only be set in case Mutt isn't able to determine
1193 the character set used correctly.
1194 check_mbox_size
1198 Type: boolean
1199 Default: no
1200 When this variable is set, mutt will use file size attribute in‐
1202 stead of access time when checking for new mail in mbox and mmdf
1203 folders.
1204 This variable is unset by default and should only be enabled
1206 when new mail detection for these folder types is unreliable or
1207 doesn't work.
1208 Note that enabling this variable should happen before any “mail‐
1210 boxes” directives occur in configuration files regarding mbox or
1211 mmdf folders because mutt needs to determine the initial new
1212 mail status of such a mailbox by performing a fast mailbox scan
1213 when it is defined. Afterwards the new mail status is tracked
1214 by file size changes.
1215 check_new
1219 Type: boolean
1220 Default: yes
1221 Note: this option only affects maildir and MH style mailboxes.
1223 When set, Mutt will check for new mail delivered while the mail‐
1225 box is open. Especially with MH mailboxes, this operation can
1226 take quite some time since it involves scanning the directory
1227 and checking each file to see if it has already been looked at.
1228 If this variable is unset, no check for new mail is performed
1229 while the mailbox is open.
1230 collapse_unread
1234 Type: boolean
1235 Default: yes
1236 When unset, Mutt will not collapse a thread if it contains any
1238 unread messages.
1239 compose_format
1243 Type: string (localized)
1244 Default: “-- Mutt: Compose [Approx. msg size: %l Atts: %a]%>-”
1245 Controls the format of the status line displayed in the “com‐
1247 pose” menu. This string is similar to $status_format, but has
1248 its own set of printf(3)-like sequences:
1249 %a total number of attachments
1250 %h local hostname
1251 %l approximate size (in bytes) of the current message (see
1252 formatstrings-size)
1253 %v Mutt version string
1254 See the text describing the $status_format option for more in‐
1256 formation on how to set $compose_format.
1257 config_charset
1261 Type: string
1262 Default: “”
1263 When defined, Mutt will recode commands in rc files from this
1265 encoding to the current character set as specified by $charset
1266 and aliases written to $alias_file from the current character
1267 set.
1268 Please note that if setting $charset it must be done before set‐
1270 ting $config_charset.
1271 Recoding should be avoided as it may render unconvertable char‐
1273 acters as question marks which can lead to undesired side ef‐
1274 fects (for example in regular expressions).
1275 confirmappend
1279 Type: boolean
1280 Default: yes
1281 When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when appending mes‐
1283 sages to an existing mailbox.
1284 confirmcreate
1288 Type: boolean
1289 Default: yes
1290 When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when saving messages
1292 to a mailbox which does not yet exist before creating it.
1293 connect_timeout
1297 Type: number
1298 Default: 30
1299 Causes Mutt to timeout a network connection (for IMAP, POP or
1301 SMTP) after this many seconds if the connection is not able to
1302 be established. A negative value causes Mutt to wait indefi‐
1303 nitely for the connection attempt to succeed.
1304 content_type
1308 Type: string
1309 Default: “text/plain”
1310 Sets the default Content-Type for the body of newly composed
1312 messages.
1313 copy
1317 Type: quadoption
1318 Default: yes
1319 This variable controls whether or not copies of your outgoing
1321 messages will be saved for later references. Also see $record,
1322 $save_name, $force_name and “fcc-hook”.
1323 copy_decode_weed
1327 Type: boolean
1328 Default: no
1329 Controls whether Mutt will weed headers when invoking the <de‐
1331 code-copy> or <decode-save> functions.
1332 count_alternatives
1336 Type: boolean
1337 Default: no
1338 When set, Mutt will recurse inside multipart/alternatives while
1340 performing attachment searching and counting (see attachments).
1341 Traditionally, multipart/alternative parts have simply repre‐
1343 sented different encodings of the main content of the email.
1344 Unfortunately, some mail clients have started to place email at‐
1345 tachments inside one of alternatives. Setting this will allow
1346 Mutt to find and count matching attachments hidden there, and
1347 include them in the index via %X or through ~X pattern matching.
1348 cursor_overlay
1352 Type: boolean
1353 Default: no
1354 When set, Mutt will overlay the indicator, tree, sidebar_high‐
1356 light, and sidebar_indicator colors onto the currently selected
1357 line. This will allow default colors in those to be overridden,
1358 and for attributes to be merged between the layers.
1359 crypt_autoencrypt
1363 Type: boolean
1364 Default: no
1365 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to PGP
1367 encrypt outgoing messages. This is probably only useful in con‐
1368 nection to the “send-hook” command. It can be overridden by use
1369 of the pgp menu, when encryption is not required or signing is
1370 requested as well. If $smime_is_default is set, then OpenSSL is
1371 used instead to create S/MIME messages and settings can be over‐
1372 ridden by use of the smime menu instead. (Crypto only)
1373 crypt_autopgp
1377 Type: boolean
1378 Default: yes
1379 This variable controls whether or not mutt may automatically en‐
1381 able PGP encryption/signing for messages. See also $crypt_au‐
1382 toencrypt, $crypt_replyencrypt, $crypt_autosign, $crypt_re‐
1383 plysign and $smime_is_default.
1384 crypt_autosign
1388 Type: boolean
1389 Default: no
1390 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to cryp‐
1392 tographically sign outgoing messages. This can be overridden by
1393 use of the pgp menu, when signing is not required or encryption
1394 is requested as well. If $smime_is_default is set, then OpenSSL
1395 is used instead to create S/MIME messages and settings can be
1396 overridden by use of the smime menu instead of the pgp menu.
1397 (Crypto only)
1398 crypt_autosmime
1402 Type: boolean
1403 Default: yes
1404 This variable controls whether or not mutt may automatically en‐
1406 able S/MIME encryption/signing for messages. See also $crypt_au‐
1407 toencrypt, $crypt_replyencrypt, $crypt_autosign, $crypt_re‐
1408 plysign and $smime_is_default.
1409 crypt_confirmhook
1413 Type: boolean
1414 Default: yes
1415 If set, then you will be prompted for confirmation of keys when
1417 using the crypt-hook command. If unset, no such confirmation
1418 prompt will be presented. This is generally considered unsafe,
1419 especially where typos are concerned.
1420 crypt_opportunistic_encrypt
1424 Type: boolean
1425 Default: no
1426 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to automatically enable
1428 and disable encryption, based on whether all message recipient
1429 keys can be located by Mutt.
1430 When this option is enabled, Mutt will enable/disable encryption
1432 each time the TO, CC, and BCC lists are edited. If $edit_head‐
1433 ers is set, Mutt will also do so each time the message is
1434 edited.
1435 While this is set, encryption can't be manually enabled/dis‐
1437 abled. The pgp or smime menus provide a selection to temporar‐
1438 ily disable this option for the current message.
1439 If $crypt_autoencrypt or $crypt_replyencrypt enable encryption
1441 for a message, this option will be disabled for that message.
1442 It can be manually re-enabled in the pgp or smime menus.
1443 (Crypto only)
1444 crypt_opportunistic_encrypt_strong_keys
1448 Type: boolean
1449 Default: no
1450 When set, this modifies the behavior of $crypt_opportunistic_en‐
1452 crypt to only search for ”strong keys”, that is, keys with full
1453 validity according to the web-of-trust algorithm. A key with
1454 marginal or no validity will not enable opportunistic encryp‐
1455 tion.
1456 For S/MIME, the behavior depends on the backend. Classic S/MIME
1458 will filter for certificates with the 't' (trusted) flag in the
1459 .index file. The GPGME backend will use the same filters as
1460 with OpenPGP, and depends on GPGME's logic for assigning the
1461 GPGME_VALIDITY_FULL and GPGME_VALIDITY_ULTIMATE validity flag.
1462 crypt_protected_headers_read
1466 Type: boolean
1467 Default: yes
1468 When set, Mutt will display protected headers in the pager, and
1470 will update the index and header cache with revised headers.
1471 Protected headers are stored inside the encrypted or signed part
1472 of an an email, to prevent disclosure or tampering. For more
1473 information see https://github.com/autocrypt/protected-headers.
1474 Currently Mutt only supports the Subject header.
1475 Encrypted messages using protected headers often substitute the
1477 exposed Subject header with a dummy value (see $crypt_pro‐
1478 tected_headers_subject). Mutt will update its concept of the
1479 correct subject after the message is opened, i.e. via the <dis‐
1480 play-message> function. If you reply to a message before open‐
1481 ing it, Mutt will end up using the dummy Subject header, so be
1482 sure to open such a message first. (Crypto only)
1483 crypt_protected_headers_save
1487 Type: boolean
1488 Default: no
1489 When $crypt_protected_headers_read is set, and a message with a
1491 protected Subject is opened, Mutt will save the updated Subject
1492 into the header cache by default. This allows searching/limit‐
1493 ing based on the protected Subject header if the mailbox is
1494 re-opened, without having to re-open the message each time.
1495 However, for mbox/mh mailbox types, or if header caching is not
1496 set up, you would need to re-open the message each time the
1497 mailbox was reopened before you could see or search/limit on the
1498 protected subject again.
1499 When this variable is set, Mutt additionally saves the protected
1501 Subject back in the clear-text message headers. This provides
1502 better usability, but with the tradeoff of reduced security.
1503 The protected Subject header, which may have previously been en‐
1504 crypted, is now stored in clear-text in the message headers.
1505 Copying the message elsewhere, via Mutt or external tools, could
1506 expose this previously encrypted data. Please make sure you un‐
1507 derstand the consequences of this before you enable this vari‐
1508 able. (Crypto only)
1509 crypt_protected_headers_subject
1513 Type: string
1514 Default: “...”
1515 When $crypt_protected_headers_write is set, and the message is
1517 marked for encryption, this will be substituted into the Subject
1518 field in the message headers. To prevent a subject from being
1519 substituted, unset this variable, or set it to the empty string.
1520 (Crypto only)
1521 crypt_protected_headers_write
1525 Type: boolean
1526 Default: no
1527 When set, Mutt will generate protected headers for signed and
1529 encrypted emails. Protected headers are stored inside the en‐
1530 crypted or signed part of an an email, to prevent disclosure or
1531 tampering. For more information see https://github.com/au‐
1532 tocrypt/protected-headers. Currently Mutt only supports the
1533 Subject header. (Crypto only)
1534 crypt_replyencrypt
1538 Type: boolean
1539 Default: yes
1540 If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL encrypt replies to messages
1542 which are encrypted. (Crypto only)
1543 crypt_replysign
1547 Type: boolean
1548 Default: no
1549 If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL sign replies to messages
1551 which are signed.
1552 Note: this does not work on messages that are encrypted and
1554 signed! (Crypto only)
1555 crypt_replysignencrypted
1559 Type: boolean
1560 Default: no
1561 If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL sign replies to messages
1563 which are encrypted. This makes sense in combination with
1564 $crypt_replyencrypt, because it allows you to sign all messages
1565 which are automatically encrypted. This works around the prob‐
1566 lem noted in $crypt_replysign, that mutt is not able to find out
1567 whether an encrypted message is also signed. (Crypto only)
1568 crypt_timestamp
1572 Type: boolean
1573 Default: yes
1574 If set, mutt will include a time stamp in the lines surrounding
1576 PGP or S/MIME output, so spoofing such lines is more difficult.
1577 If you are using colors to mark these lines, and rely on these,
1578 you may unset this setting. (Crypto only)
1579 crypt_use_gpgme
1583 Type: boolean
1584 Default: no
1585 This variable controls the use of the GPGME-enabled crypto back‐
1587 ends. If it is set and Mutt was built with gpgme support, the
1588 gpgme code for S/MIME and PGP will be used instead of the clas‐
1589 sic code. Note that you need to set this option in .muttrc; it
1590 won't have any effect when used interactively.
1591 Note that the GPGME backend does not support creating old-style
1593 inline (traditional) PGP encrypted or signed messages (see
1594 $pgp_autoinline).
1595 crypt_use_pka
1599 Type: boolean
1600 Default: no
1601 Controls whether mutt uses PKA (see
1603 http://www.g10code.de/docs/pka-intro.de.pdf) during signature
1604 verification (only supported by the GPGME backend).
1605 crypt_verify_sig
1609 Type: quadoption
1610 Default: yes
1611 If “yes”, always attempt to verify PGP or S/MIME signatures. If
1613 “ask-*”, ask whether or not to verify the signature. If “no”,
1614 never attempt to verify cryptographic signatures. (Crypto only)
1615 date_format
1619 Type: string
1620 Default: “!%a, %b %d, %Y at %I:%M:%S%p %Z”
1621 This variable controls the format of the date printed by the
1623 “%d” sequence in $index_format. This is passed to the strf‐
1624 time(3) function to process the date, see the man page for the
1625 proper syntax.
1626 Unless the first character in the string is a bang (“!”), the
1628 month and week day names are expanded according to the locale.
1629 If the first character in the string is a bang, the bang is dis‐
1630 carded, and the month and week day names in the rest of the
1631 string are expanded in the C locale (that is in US English).
1632 default_hook
1636 Type: string
1637 Default: “~f %s !~P | (~P ~C %s)”
1638 This variable controls how “message-hook”, “reply-hook”, “send-
1640 hook”, “send2-hook”, “save-hook”, and “fcc-hook” will be inter‐
1641 preted if they are specified with only a simple regexp, instead
1642 of a matching pattern. The hooks are expanded when they are de‐
1643 clared, so a hook will be interpreted according to the value of
1644 this variable at the time the hook is declared.
1645 The default value matches if the message is either from a user
1647 matching the regular expression given, or if it is from you (if
1648 the from address matches “alternates”) and is to or cc'ed to a
1649 user matching the given regular expression.
1650 delete
1654 Type: quadoption
1655 Default: ask-yes
1656 Controls whether or not messages are really deleted when closing
1658 or synchronizing a mailbox. If set to yes, messages marked for
1659 deleting will automatically be purged without prompting. If set
1660 to no, messages marked for deletion will be kept in the mailbox.
1661 delete_untag
1665 Type: boolean
1666 Default: yes
1667 If this option is set, mutt will untag messages when marking
1669 them for deletion. This applies when you either explicitly
1670 delete a message, or when you save it to another folder.
1671 digest_collapse
1675 Type: boolean
1676 Default: yes
1677 If this option is set, mutt's received-attachments menu will not
1679 show the subparts of individual messages in a multipart/digest.
1680 To see these subparts, press “v” on that menu.
1681 display_filter
1685 Type: path
1686 Default: “”
1687 When set, specifies a command used to filter messages. When a
1689 message is viewed it is passed as standard input to $dis‐
1690 play_filter, and the filtered message is read from the standard
1691 output.
1692 dotlock_program
1696 Type: path
1697 Default: “/usr/bin/mutt_dotlock”
1698 Contains the path of the mutt_dotlock(1) binary to be used by
1700 mutt.
1701 dsn_notify
1705 Type: string
1706 Default: “”
1707 This variable sets the request for when notification is re‐
1709 turned. The string consists of a comma separated list (no spa‐
1710 ces!) of one or more of the following: never, to never request
1711 notification, failure, to request notification on transmission
1712 failure, delay, to be notified of message delays, success, to be
1713 notified of successful transmission.
1714 Example:
1716 set dsn_notify=”failure,delay”
1719 Note: when using $sendmail for delivery, you should not enable
1722 this unless you are either using Sendmail 8.8.x or greater or a
1723 MTA providing a sendmail(1)-compatible interface supporting the
1724 -N option for DSN. For SMTP delivery, DSN support is auto-de‐
1725 tected so that it depends on the server whether DSN will be used
1726 or not.
1727 dsn_return
1731 Type: string
1732 Default: “”
1733 This variable controls how much of your message is returned in
1735 DSN messages. It may be set to either hdrs to return just the
1736 message header, or full to return the full message.
1737 Example:
1739 set dsn_return=hdrs
1742 Note: when using $sendmail for delivery, you should not enable
1745 this unless you are either using Sendmail 8.8.x or greater or a
1746 MTA providing a sendmail(1)-compatible interface supporting the
1747 -R option for DSN. For SMTP delivery, DSN support is auto-de‐
1748 tected so that it depends on the server whether DSN will be used
1749 or not.
1750 duplicate_threads
1754 Type: boolean
1755 Default: yes
1756 This variable controls whether mutt, when $sort is set to
1758 threads, threads messages with the same Message-Id together. If
1759 it is set, it will indicate that it thinks they are duplicates
1760 of each other with an equals sign in the thread tree.
1761 edit_headers
1765 Type: boolean
1766 Default: no
1767 This option allows you to edit the header of your outgoing mes‐
1769 sages along with the body of your message.
1770 Although the compose menu may have localized header labels, the
1772 labels passed to your editor will be standard RFC 2822 headers,
1773 (e.g. To:, Cc:, Subject:). Headers added in your editor must
1774 also be RFC 2822 headers, or one of the pseudo headers listed in
1775 “edit-header”. Mutt will not understand localized header la‐
1776 bels, just as it would not when parsing an actual email.
1777 Note that changes made to the References: and Date: headers are
1779 ignored for interoperability reasons.
1780 editor
1784 Type: path
1785 Default: “”
1786 This variable specifies which editor is used by mutt. It de‐
1788 faults to the value of the $VISUAL, or $EDITOR, environment
1789 variable, or to the string “vi” if neither of those are set.
1790 The $editor string may contain a %s escape, which will be re‐
1792 placed by the name of the file to be edited. If the %s escape
1793 does not appear in $editor, a space and the name to be edited
1794 are appended.
1795 The resulting string is then executed by running
1797 sh -c 'string'
1800 where string is the expansion of $editor described above.
1803 encode_from
1807 Type: boolean
1808 Default: no
1809 When set, mutt will quoted-printable encode messages when they
1811 contain the string “From ” (note the trailing space) in the be‐
1812 ginning of a line. This is useful to avoid the tampering cer‐
1813 tain mail delivery and transport agents tend to do with messages
1814 (in order to prevent tools from misinterpreting the line as a
1815 mbox message separator).
1816 entropy_file
1820 Type: path
1821 Default: “”
1822 The file which includes random data that is used to initialize
1824 SSL library functions.
1825 envelope_from_address
1829 Type: e-mail address
1830 Default: “”
1831 Manually sets the envelope sender for outgoing messages. This
1833 value is ignored if $use_envelope_from is unset.
1834 error_history
1838 Type: number
1839 Default: 30
1840 This variable controls the size (in number of strings remem‐
1842 bered) of the error messages displayed by mutt. These can be
1843 shown with the <error-history> function. The history is cleared
1844 each time this variable is set.
1845 escape
1849 Type: string
1850 Default: “~”
1851 Escape character to use for functions in the built-in editor.
1853 fast_reply
1857 Type: boolean
1858 Default: no
1859 When set, the initial prompt for recipients and subject are
1861 skipped when replying to messages, and the initial prompt for
1862 subject is skipped when forwarding messages.
1863 Note: this variable has no effect when the $autoedit variable is
1865 set.
1866 fcc_attach
1870 Type: quadoption
1871 Default: yes
1872 This variable controls whether or not attachments on outgoing
1874 messages are saved along with the main body of your message.
1875 fcc_before_send
1879 Type: boolean
1880 Default: no
1881 When this variable is set, FCCs will occur before sending the
1883 message. Before sending, the message cannot be manipulated, so
1884 it will be stored the exact same as sent: $fcc_attach and
1885 $fcc_clear will be ignored (using their default values).
1886 When unset, the default, FCCs will occur after sending. Vari‐
1888 ables $fcc_attach and $fcc_clear will be respected, allowing it
1889 to be stored without attachments or encryption/signing if de‐
1890 sired.
1891 fcc_clear
1895 Type: boolean
1896 Default: no
1897 When this variable is set, FCCs will be stored unencrypted and
1899 unsigned, even when the actual message is encrypted and/or
1900 signed. (PGP only)
1901 fcc_delimiter
1905 Type: string
1906 Default: “”
1907 When specified, this allows the ability to Fcc to more than one
1909 mailbox. The fcc value will be split by this delimiter and Mutt
1910 will evaluate each part as a mailbox separately.
1911 See $record, “fcc-hook”, and “fcc-save-hook”.
1913 flag_safe
1917 Type: boolean
1918 Default: no
1919 If set, flagged messages cannot be deleted.
1921 folder
1925 Type: path
1926 Default: “~/Mail”
1927 Specifies the default location of your mailboxes. A “+” or “=”
1929 at the beginning of a pathname will be expanded to the value of
1930 this variable. Note that if you change this variable (from the
1931 default) value you need to make sure that the assignment occurs
1932 before you use “+” or “=” for any other variables since expan‐
1933 sion takes place when handling the “mailboxes” command.
1934 folder_format
1938 Type: string
1939 Default: “%2C %t %N %F %2l %-8.8u %-8.8g %8s %d %f”
1940 This variable allows you to customize the file browser display
1942 to your personal taste. This string is similar to $index_for‐
1943 mat, but has its own set of printf(3)-like sequences:
1944 %C current file number
1945 %d date/time folder was last modified
1946 %D date/time folder was last modified using $date_format.
1947 %f filename (“/” is appended to directory names, “@” to sym‐
1948 bolic links and “*” to executable files)
1949 %F file permissions
1950 %g group name (or numeric gid, if missing)
1951 %l number of hard links
1952 %m number of messages in the mailbox *
1953 %n number of unread messages in the mailbox *
1954 %N N if mailbox has new mail, blank otherwise
1955 %s size in bytes (see formatstrings-size)
1956 %t “*” if the file is tagged, blank otherwise
1957 %u owner name (or numeric uid, if missing)
1958 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with charac‐
1959 ter “X”
1960 %|X pad to the end of the line with character “X”
1961 %*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
1962 For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the $index_format docu‐
1964 mentation.
1965 * = can be optionally printed if nonzero
1967 %m, %n, and %N only work for monitored mailboxes. %m requires
1969 $mail_check_stats to be set. %n requires $mail_check_stats to
1970 be set (except for IMAP mailboxes).
1971 followup_to
1975 Type: boolean
1976 Default: yes
1977 Controls whether or not the “Mail-Followup-To:” header field is
1979 generated when sending mail. When set, Mutt will generate this
1980 field when you are replying to a known mailing list, specified
1981 with the “subscribe” or “lists” commands.
1982 This field has two purposes. First, preventing you from receiv‐
1984 ing duplicate copies of replies to messages which you send to
1985 mailing lists, and second, ensuring that you do get a reply sep‐
1986 arately for any messages sent to known lists to which you are
1987 not subscribed.
1988 The header will contain only the list's address for subscribed
1990 lists, and both the list address and your own email address for
1991 unsubscribed lists. Without this header, a group reply to your
1992 message sent to a subscribed list will be sent to both the list
1993 and your address, resulting in two copies of the same email for
1994 you.
1995 force_name
1999 Type: boolean
2000 Default: no
2001 This variable is similar to $save_name, except that Mutt will
2003 store a copy of your outgoing message by the username of the ad‐
2004 dress you are sending to even if that mailbox does not exist.
2005 Also see the $record variable.
2007 forward_attachments
2011 Type: quadoption
2012 Default: ask-yes
2013 When forwarding inline (i.e. $mime_forward unset or answered
2015 with “no” and $forward_decode set), attachments which cannot be
2016 decoded in a reasonable manner will be attached to the newly
2017 composed message if this quadoption is set or answered with
2018 “yes”.
2019 forward_attribution_intro
2023 Type: string (localized)
2024 Default: “----- Forwarded message from %f -----”
2025 This is the string that will precede a message which has been
2027 forwarded in the main body of a message (when $mime_forward is
2028 unset). For a full listing of defined printf(3)-like sequences
2029 see the section on $index_format. See also $attribution_locale.
2030 forward_attribution_trailer
2034 Type: string (localized)
2035 Default: “----- End forwarded message -----”
2036 This is the string that will follow a message which has been
2038 forwarded in the main body of a message (when $mime_forward is
2039 unset). For a full listing of defined printf(3)-like sequences
2040 see the section on $index_format. See also $attribution_locale.
2041 forward_decode
2045 Type: boolean
2046 Default: yes
2047 Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain
2049 when forwarding a message. The message header is also RFC2047
2050 decoded. This variable is only used, if $mime_forward is unset,
2051 otherwise $mime_forward_decode is used instead.
2052 forward_decrypt
2056 Type: boolean
2057 Default: yes
2058 Controls the handling of encrypted messages when forwarding a
2060 message. When set, the outer layer of encryption is stripped
2061 off. This variable is only used if $mime_forward is set and
2062 $mime_forward_decode is unset. (PGP only)
2063 forward_edit
2067 Type: quadoption
2068 Default: yes
2069 This quadoption controls whether or not the user is automati‐
2071 cally placed in the editor when forwarding messages. For those
2072 who always want to forward with no modification, use a setting
2073 of “no”.
2074 forward_format
2078 Type: string
2079 Default: “[%a: %s]”
2080 This variable controls the default subject when forwarding a
2082 message. It uses the same format sequences as the $index_format
2083 variable.
2084 forward_quote
2088 Type: boolean
2089 Default: no
2090 When set, forwarded messages included in the main body of the
2092 message (when $mime_forward is unset) will be quoted using $in‐
2093 dent_string.
2094 from
2098 Type: e-mail address
2099 Default: “”
2100 When set, this variable contains a default from address. It can
2102 be overridden using “my_hdr” (including from a “send-hook”) and
2103 $reverse_name. This variable is ignored if $use_from is unset.
2104 This setting defaults to the contents of the environment vari‐
2106 able $EMAIL.
2107 gecos_mask
2111 Type: regular expression
2112 Default: “^[^,]*”
2113 A regular expression used by mutt to parse the GECOS field of a
2115 password entry when expanding the alias. The default value will
2116 return the string up to the first “,” encountered. If the GECOS
2117 field contains a string like “lastname, firstname” then you
2118 should set it to “.*”.
2119 This can be useful if you see the following behavior: you ad‐
2121 dress an e-mail to user ID “stevef” whose full name is “Steve
2122 Franklin”. If mutt expands “stevef” to “”Franklin”
2123 stevef@foo.bar” then you should set the $gecos_mask to a regular
2124 expression that will match the whole name so mutt will expand
2125 “Franklin” to “Franklin, Steve”.
2126 hdrs
2130 Type: boolean
2131 Default: yes
2132 When unset, the header fields normally added by the “my_hdr”
2134 command are not created. This variable must be unset before
2135 composing a new message or replying in order to take effect. If
2136 set, the user defined header fields are added to every new mes‐
2137 sage.
2138 header
2142 Type: boolean
2143 Default: no
2144 When set, this variable causes Mutt to include the header of the
2146 message you are replying to into the edit buffer. The $weed
2147 setting applies.
2148 header_cache
2152 Type: path
2153 Default: “”
2154 This variable points to the header cache database. If pointing
2156 to a directory Mutt will contain a header cache database file
2157 per folder, if pointing to a file that file will be a single
2158 global header cache. By default it is unset so no header caching
2159 will be used.
2160 Header caching can greatly improve speed when opening POP, IMAP
2162 MH or Maildir folders, see “caching” for details.
2163 header_cache_compress
2167 Type: boolean
2168 Default: yes
2169 When mutt is compiled with qdbm, tokyocabinet, or kyotocabinet
2171 as header cache backend, this option determines whether the
2172 database will be compressed. Compression results in database
2173 files roughly being one fifth of the usual diskspace, but the
2174 decompression can result in a slower opening of cached folder(s)
2175 which in general is still much faster than opening non header
2176 cached folders.
2177 header_cache_pagesize
2181 Type: number (long)
2182 Default: 16384
2183 When mutt is compiled with either gdbm or bdb4 as the header
2185 cache backend, this option changes the database page size. Too
2186 large or too small values can waste space, memory, or CPU time.
2187 The default should be more or less optimal for most use cases.
2188 header_color_partial
2192 Type: boolean
2193 Default: no
2194 When set, color header regexps behave like color body regexps:
2196 color is applied to the exact text matched by the regexp. When
2197 unset, color is applied to the entire header.
2198 One use of this option might be to apply color to just the
2200 header labels.
2201 See “color” for more details.
2203 help
2207 Type: boolean
2208 Default: yes
2209 When set, help lines describing the bindings for the major func‐
2211 tions provided by each menu are displayed on the first line of
2212 the screen.
2213 Note: The binding will not be displayed correctly if the func‐
2215 tion is bound to a sequence rather than a single keystroke.
2216 Also, the help line may not be updated if a binding is changed
2217 while Mutt is running. Since this variable is primarily aimed
2218 at new users, neither of these should present a major problem.
2219 hidden_host
2223 Type: boolean
2224 Default: no
2225 When set, mutt will skip the host name part of $hostname vari‐
2227 able when adding the domain part to addresses. This variable
2228 does not affect the generation of Message-IDs, and it will not
2229 lead to the cut-off of first-level domains.
2230 hide_limited
2234 Type: boolean
2235 Default: no
2236 When set, mutt will not show the presence of messages that are
2238 hidden by limiting, in the thread tree.
2239 hide_missing
2243 Type: boolean
2244 Default: yes
2245 When set, mutt will not show the presence of missing messages in
2247 the thread tree.
2248 hide_thread_subject
2252 Type: boolean
2253 Default: yes
2254 When set, mutt will not show the subject of messages in the
2256 thread tree that have the same subject as their parent or clos‐
2257 est previously displayed sibling.
2258 hide_top_limited
2262 Type: boolean
2263 Default: no
2264 When set, mutt will not show the presence of messages that are
2266 hidden by limiting, at the top of threads in the thread tree.
2267 Note that when $hide_limited is set, this option will have no
2268 effect.
2269 hide_top_missing
2273 Type: boolean
2274 Default: yes
2275 When set, mutt will not show the presence of missing messages at
2277 the top of threads in the thread tree. Note that when
2278 $hide_missing is set, this option will have no effect.
2279 history
2283 Type: number
2284 Default: 10
2285 This variable controls the size (in number of strings remem‐
2287 bered) of the string history buffer per category. The buffer is
2288 cleared each time the variable is set.
2289 history_file
2293 Type: path
2294 Default: “~/.mutthistory”
2295 The file in which Mutt will save its history.
2297 Also see $save_history.
2299 history_remove_dups
2303 Type: boolean
2304 Default: no
2305 When set, all of the string history will be scanned for dupli‐
2307 cates when a new entry is added. Duplicate entries in the $his‐
2308 tory_file will also be removed when it is periodically com‐
2309 pacted.
2310 honor_disposition
2314 Type: boolean
2315 Default: no
2316 When set, Mutt will not display attachments with a disposition
2318 of “attachment” inline even if it could render the part to plain
2319 text. These MIME parts can only be viewed from the attachment
2320 menu.
2321 If unset, Mutt will render all MIME parts it can properly trans‐
2323 form to plain text.
2324 honor_followup_to
2328 Type: quadoption
2329 Default: yes
2330 This variable controls whether or not a Mail-Followup-To header
2332 is honored when group-replying to a message.
2333 hostname
2337 Type: string
2338 Default: “”
2339 Specifies the fully-qualified hostname of the system mutt is
2341 running on containing the host's name and the DNS domain it be‐
2342 longs to. It is used as the domain part (after “@”) for local
2343 email addresses as well as Message-Id headers.
2344 Its value is determined at startup as follows: the node's host‐
2346 name is first determined by the uname(3) function. The domain
2347 is then looked up using the gethostname(2) and getaddrinfo(3)
2348 functions. If those calls are unable to determine the domain,
2349 the full value returned by uname is used. Optionally, Mutt can
2350 be compiled with a fixed domain name in which case a detected
2351 one is not used.
2352 Starting in Mutt 2.0, the operations described in the previous
2354 paragraph are performed after the muttrc is processed, instead
2355 of beforehand. This way, if the DNS operations are creating de‐
2356 lays at startup, you can avoid those by manually setting the
2357 value in your muttrc.
2358 Also see $use_domain and $hidden_host.
2360 idn_decode
2364 Type: boolean
2365 Default: yes
2366 When set, Mutt will show you international domain names decoded.
2368 Note: You can use IDNs for addresses even if this is unset.
2369 This variable only affects decoding. (IDN only)
2370 idn_encode
2374 Type: boolean
2375 Default: yes
2376 When set, Mutt will encode international domain names using IDN.
2378 Unset this if your SMTP server can handle newer (RFC 6531) UTF-8
2379 encoded domains. (IDN only)
2380 ignore_linear_white_space
2384 Type: boolean
2385 Default: no
2386 This option replaces linear-white-space between encoded-word and
2388 text to a single space to prevent the display of MIME-encoded
2389 “Subject:” field from being divided into multiple lines.
2390 ignore_list_reply_to
2394 Type: boolean
2395 Default: no
2396 Affects the behavior of the <reply> function when replying to
2398 messages from mailing lists (as defined by the “subscribe” or
2399 “lists” commands). When set, if the “Reply-To:” field is set to
2400 the same value as the “To:” field, Mutt assumes that the “Re‐
2401 ply-To:” field was set by the mailing list to automate responses
2402 to the list, and will ignore this field. To direct a response
2403 to the mailing list when this option is set, use the <list-re‐
2404 ply> function; <group-reply> will reply to both the sender and
2405 the list.
2406 imap_authenticators
2410 Type: string
2411 Default: “”
2412 This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt
2414 may attempt to use to log in to an IMAP server, in the order
2415 mutt should try them. Authentication methods are either “login”
2416 or the right side of an IMAP “AUTH=xxx” capability string, e.g.
2417 “digest-md5”, “gssapi” or “cram-md5”. This option is case-insen‐
2418 sitive. If it's unset (the default) mutt will try all available
2419 methods, in order from most-secure to least-secure.
2420 Example:
2422 set imap_authenticators=”gssapi:cram-md5:login”
2425 Note: Mutt will only fall back to other authentication methods
2428 if the previous methods are unavailable. If a method is avail‐
2429 able but authentication fails, mutt will not connect to the IMAP
2430 server.
2431 imap_check_subscribed
2435 Type: boolean
2436 Default: no
2437 When set, mutt will fetch the set of subscribed folders from
2439 your server on connection, and add them to the set of mailboxes
2440 it polls for new mail just as if you had issued individual
2441 “mailboxes” commands.
2442 imap_condstore
2446 Type: boolean
2447 Default: no
2448 When set, mutt will use the CONDSTORE extension (RFC 7162) if
2450 advertised by the server. Mutt's current implementation is ba‐
2451 sic, used only for initial message fetching and flag updates.
2452 For some IMAP servers, enabling this will slightly speed up
2454 downloading initial messages. Unfortunately, Gmail is not one
2455 those, and displays worse performance when enabled. Your
2456 mileage may vary.
2457 imap_deflate
2461 Type: boolean
2462 Default: no
2463 When set, mutt will use the COMPRESS=DEFLATE extension (RFC
2465 4978) if advertised by the server.
2466 In general a good compression efficiency can be achieved, which
2468 speeds up reading large mailboxes also on fairly good connec‐
2469 tions.
2470 imap_delim_chars
2474 Type: string
2475 Default: “/.”
2476 This contains the list of characters which you would like to
2478 treat as folder separators for displaying IMAP paths. In partic‐
2479 ular it helps in using the “=” shortcut for your folder vari‐
2480 able.
2481 imap_fetch_chunk_size
2485 Type: number (long)
2486 Default: 0
2487 When set to a value greater than 0, new headers will be down‐
2489 loaded in groups of this many headers per request. If you have
2490 a very large mailbox, this might prevent a timeout and discon‐
2491 nect when opening the mailbox, by sending a FETCH per set of
2492 this many headers, instead of a single FETCH for all new head‐
2493 ers.
2494 imap_headers
2498 Type: string
2499 Default: “”
2500 Mutt requests these header fields in addition to the default
2502 headers (“Date:”, “From:”, “Sender:”, “Subject:”, “To:”, “Cc:”,
2503 “Message-Id:”, “References:”, “Content-Type:”, “Content-Descrip‐
2504 tion:”, “In-Reply-To:”, “Reply-To:”, “Lines:”, “List-Post:”,
2505 “X-Label:”) from IMAP servers before displaying the index menu.
2506 You may want to add more headers for spam detection.
2507 Note: This is a space separated list, items should be uppercase
2509 and not contain the colon, e.g. “X-BOGOSITY X-SPAM-STATUS” for
2510 the “X-Bogosity:” and “X-Spam-Status:” header fields.
2511 imap_idle
2515 Type: boolean
2516 Default: no
2517 When set, mutt will attempt to use the IMAP IDLE extension to
2519 check for new mail in the current mailbox. Some servers (dovecot
2520 was the inspiration for this option) react badly to mutt's im‐
2521 plementation. If your connection seems to freeze up periodi‐
2522 cally, try unsetting this.
2523 imap_keepalive
2527 Type: number
2528 Default: 300
2529 This variable specifies the maximum amount of time in seconds
2531 that mutt will wait before polling open IMAP connections, to
2532 prevent the server from closing them before mutt has finished
2533 with them. The default is well within the RFC-specified minimum
2534 amount of time (30 minutes) before a server is allowed to do
2535 this, but in practice the RFC does get violated every now and
2536 then. Reduce this number if you find yourself getting discon‐
2537 nected from your IMAP server due to inactivity.
2538 imap_list_subscribed
2542 Type: boolean
2543 Default: no
2544 This variable configures whether IMAP folder browsing will look
2546 for only subscribed folders or all folders. This can be toggled
2547 in the IMAP browser with the <toggle-subscribed> function.
2548 imap_login
2552 Type: string
2553 Default: “”
2554 Your login name on the IMAP server.
2556 This variable defaults to the value of $imap_user.
2558 imap_oauth_refresh_command
2562 Type: string
2563 Default: “”
2564 The command to run to generate an OAUTH refresh token for autho‐
2566 rizing your connection to your IMAP server. This command will
2567 be run on every connection attempt that uses the OAUTHBEARER au‐
2568 thentication mechanism. See “oauth” for details.
2569 imap_pass
2573 Type: string
2574 Default: “”
2575 Specifies the password for your IMAP account. If unset, Mutt
2577 will prompt you for your password when you invoke the
2578 <imap-fetch-mail> function or try to open an IMAP folder.
2579 Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a
2581 fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your mut‐
2582 trc even if you are the only one who can read the file.
2583 imap_passive
2587 Type: boolean
2588 Default: yes
2589 When set, mutt will not open new IMAP connections to check for
2591 new mail. Mutt will only check for new mail over existing IMAP
2592 connections. This is useful if you don't want to be prompted
2593 for user/password pairs on mutt invocation, or if opening the
2594 connection is slow.
2595 imap_peek
2599 Type: boolean
2600 Default: yes
2601 When set, mutt will avoid implicitly marking your mail as read
2603 whenever you fetch a message from the server. This is generally
2604 a good thing, but can make closing an IMAP folder somewhat
2605 slower. This option exists to appease speed freaks.
2606 imap_pipeline_depth
2610 Type: number
2611 Default: 15
2612 Controls the number of IMAP commands that may be queued up be‐
2614 fore they are sent to the server. A deeper pipeline reduces the
2615 amount of time mutt must wait for the server, and can make IMAP
2616 servers feel much more responsive. But not all servers correctly
2617 handle pipelined commands, so if you have problems you might
2618 want to try setting this variable to 0.
2619 Note: Changes to this variable have no effect on open connec‐
2621 tions.
2622 imap_poll_timeout
2626 Type: number
2627 Default: 15
2628 This variable specifies the maximum amount of time in seconds
2630 that mutt will wait for a response when polling IMAP connections
2631 for new mail, before timing out and closing the connection. Set
2632 to 0 to disable timing out.
2633 imap_qresync
2637 Type: boolean
2638 Default: no
2639 When set, mutt will use the QRESYNC extension (RFC 7162) if ad‐
2641 vertised by the server. Mutt's current implementation is basic,
2642 used only for initial message fetching and flag updates.
2643 Note: this feature is currently experimental. If you experience
2645 strange behavior, such as duplicate or missing messages please
2646 file a bug report to let us know.
2647 imap_servernoise
2651 Type: boolean
2652 Default: yes
2653 When set, mutt will display warning messages from the IMAP
2655 server as error messages. Since these messages are often harm‐
2656 less, or generated due to configuration problems on the server
2657 which are out of the users' hands, you may wish to suppress them
2658 at some point.
2659 imap_user
2663 Type: string
2664 Default: “”
2665 The name of the user whose mail you intend to access on the IMAP
2667 server.
2668 This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
2670 implicit_autoview
2674 Type: boolean
2675 Default: no
2676 If set to “yes”, mutt will look for a mailcap entry with the
2678 “copiousoutput” flag set for every MIME attachment it doesn't
2679 have an internal viewer defined for. If such an entry is found,
2680 mutt will use the viewer defined in that entry to convert the
2681 body part to text form.
2682 include
2686 Type: quadoption
2687 Default: ask-yes
2688 Controls whether or not a copy of the message(s) you are reply‐
2690 ing to is included in your reply.
2691 include_encrypted
2695 Type: boolean
2696 Default: no
2697 Controls whether or not Mutt includes separately encrypted at‐
2699 tachment contents when replying.
2700 This variable was added to prevent accidental exposure of en‐
2702 crypted contents when replying to an attacker. If a previously
2703 encrypted message were attached by the attacker, they could
2704 trick an unwary recipient into decrypting and including the mes‐
2705 sage in their reply.
2706 include_onlyfirst
2710 Type: boolean
2711 Default: no
2712 Controls whether or not Mutt includes only the first attachment
2714 of the message you are replying.
2715 indent_string
2719 Type: string
2720 Default: “> ”
2721 Specifies the string to prepend to each line of text quoted in a
2723 message to which you are replying. You are strongly encouraged
2724 not to change this value, as it tends to agitate the more fanat‐
2725 ical netizens.
2726 The value of this option is ignored if $text_flowed is set, be‐
2728 cause the quoting mechanism is strictly defined for for‐
2729 mat=flowed.
2730 This option is a format string, please see the description of
2732 $index_format for supported printf(3)-style sequences.
2733 index_format
2737 Type: string
2738 Default: “%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%?l?%4l&%4c?) %s”
2739 This variable allows you to customize the message index display
2741 to your personal taste.
2742 “Format strings” are similar to the strings used in the C func‐
2744 tion printf(3) to format output (see the man page for more de‐
2745 tails). For an explanation of the %? construct, see the $sta‐
2746 tus_format description. The following sequences are defined in
2747 Mutt:
2748 %a address of the author
2749 %A reply-to address (if present; otherwise: address of au‐
2750 thor)
2751 %b filename of the original message folder (think mailbox)
2752 %B the list to which the letter was sent, or else the folder
2753 name (%b).
2754 %c number of characters (bytes) in the message (see format‐
2755 strings-size)
2756 %C current message number
2757 %d date and time of the message in the format specified by
2758 $date_format converted to sender's time zone
2759 %D date and time of the message in the format specified by
2760 $date_format converted to the local time zone
2761 %e current message number in thread
2762 %E number of messages in current thread
2763 %f sender (address + real name), either From: or Re‐
2764 turn-Path:
2765 %F author name, or recipient name if the message is from you
2766 %H spam attribute(s) of this message
2767 %i message-id of the current message
2768 %l number of lines in the unprocessed message (may not work
2769 with maildir, mh, and IMAP folders)
2770 %L If an address in the “To:” or “Cc:” header field matches
2771 an address defined by the users “subscribe” command, this
2772 displays ”To <list-name>”, otherwise the same as %F.
2773 %m total number of message in the mailbox
2774 %M number of hidden messages if the thread is collapsed.
2775 %N message score
2776 %n author's real name (or address if missing)
2777 %O original save folder where mutt would formerly have
2778 stashed the message: list name or recipient name if not
2779 sent to a list
2780 %P progress indicator for the built-in pager (how much of
2781 the file has been displayed)
2782 %r comma separated list of “To:” recipients
2783 %R comma separated list of “Cc:” recipients
2784 %s subject of the message
2785 %S single character status of the message
2786 (“N”/“O”/“D”/“d”/“!”/“r”/“*”)
2787 %t “To:” field (recipients)
2788 %T the appropriate character from the $to_chars string
2789 %u user (login) name of the author
2790 %v first name of the author, or the recipient if the message
2791 is from you
2792 %X number of attachments (please see the “attachments” sec‐
2793 tion for possible speed effects)
2794 %y “X-Label:” field, if present
2795 %Y “X-Label:” field, if present, and [4m(1) not at part of a
2796 thread tree, [4m(2) at the top of a thread, or [4m(3) “X-La‐
2797 bel:” is different from preceding message's “X-Label:”.
2798 %Z a three character set of message status flags. the first
2799 character is new/read/replied flags
2800 (“n”/“o”/“r”/“O”/“N”). the second is deleted or encryp‐
2801 tion flags (“D”/“d”/“S”/“P”/“s”/“K”). the third is ei‐
2802 ther tagged/flagged (“*”/“!”), or one of the characters
2803 listed in $to_chars.
2804 %@name@
2805 insert and evaluate format-string from the matching “in‐
2806 dex-format-hook” command
2807 %{fmt} the date and time of the message is converted to sender's
2808 time zone, and “fmt” is expanded by the library function
2809 strftime(3); a leading bang disables locales
2810 %[fmt] the date and time of the message is converted to the lo‐
2811 cal time zone, and “fmt” is expanded by the library func‐
2812 tion strftime(3); a leading bang disables locales
2813 %(fmt) the local date and time when the message was received.
2814 “fmt” is expanded by the library function strftime(3); a
2815 leading bang disables locales
2816 %<fmt> the current local time. “fmt” is expanded by the library
2817 function strftime(3); a leading bang disables locales.
2818 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with charac‐
2819 ter “X”
2820 %|X pad to the end of the line with character “X”
2821 %*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
2822 Note that for mbox/mmdf, “%l” applies to the unprocessed mes‐
2824 sage, and for maildir/mh, the value comes from the “Lines:”
2825 header field when present (the meaning is normally the same).
2826 Thus the value depends on the encodings used in the different
2827 parts of the message and has little meaning in practice.
2828 “Soft-fill” deserves some explanation: Normal right-justifica‐
2830 tion will print everything to the left of the “%>”, displaying
2831 padding and whatever lies to the right only if there's room. By
2832 contrast, soft-fill gives priority to the right-hand side, guar‐
2833 anteeing space to display it and showing padding only if there's
2834 still room. If necessary, soft-fill will eat text leftwards to
2835 make room for rightward text.
2836 Note that these expandos are supported in “save-hook”, “fcc-
2838 hook”, “fcc-save-hook”, and “index-format-hook”.
2839 They are also supported in the configuration variables $attribu‐
2841 tion, $forward_attribution_intro, $forward_attribution_trailer,
2842 $forward_format, $indent_string, $message_format, $pager_format,
2843 and $post_indent_string.
2844 ispell
2848 Type: path
2849 Default: “/usr/bin/hunspell”
2850 How to invoke ispell (GNU's spell-checking software).
2852 keep_flagged
2856 Type: boolean
2857 Default: no
2858 If set, read messages marked as flagged will not be moved from
2860 your spool mailbox to your $mbox mailbox, or as a result of a
2861 “mbox-hook” command.
2862 mail_check
2866 Type: number
2867 Default: 5
2868 This variable configures how often (in seconds) mutt should look
2870 for new mail. Also see the $timeout variable.
2871 mail_check_recent
2875 Type: boolean
2876 Default: yes
2877 When set, Mutt will only notify you about new mail that has been
2879 received since the last time you opened the mailbox. When un‐
2880 set, Mutt will notify you if any new mail exists in the mailbox,
2881 regardless of whether you have visited it recently.
2882 When $mark_old is set, Mutt does not consider the mailbox to
2884 contain new mail if only old messages exist.
2885 mail_check_stats
2889 Type: boolean
2890 Default: no
2891 When set, mutt will periodically calculate message statistics of
2893 a mailbox while polling for new mail. It will check for unread,
2894 flagged, and total message counts. Because this operation is
2895 more performance intensive, it defaults to unset, and has a sep‐
2896 arate option, $mail_check_stats_interval, to control how often
2897 to update these counts.
2898 Message statistics can also be explicitly calculated by invoking
2900 the <check-stats> function.
2901 mail_check_stats_interval
2905 Type: number
2906 Default: 60
2907 When $mail_check_stats is set, this variable configures how of‐
2909 ten (in seconds) mutt will update message counts.
2910 mailcap_path
2914 Type: string
2915 Default: “”
2916 This variable specifies which files to consult when attempting
2918 to display MIME bodies not directly supported by Mutt. The de‐
2919 fault value is generated during startup: see the “mailcap” sec‐
2920 tion of the manual.
2921 mailcap_sanitize
2925 Type: boolean
2926 Default: yes
2927 If set, mutt will restrict possible characters in mailcap % ex‐
2929 pandos to a well-defined set of safe characters. This is the
2930 safe setting, but we are not sure it doesn't break some more ad‐
2931 vanced MIME stuff.
2932 DON'T CHANGE THIS SETTING UNLESS YOU ARE REALLY SURE WHAT YOU
2934 ARE DOING!
2935 maildir_header_cache_verify
2939 Type: boolean
2940 Default: yes
2941 Check for Maildir unaware programs other than mutt having modi‐
2943 fied maildir files when the header cache is in use. This incurs
2944 one stat(2) per message every time the folder is opened (which
2945 can be very slow for NFS folders).
2946 maildir_trash
2950 Type: boolean
2951 Default: no
2952 If set, messages marked as deleted will be saved with the
2954 maildir trashed flag instead of unlinked. Note: this only ap‐
2955 plies to maildir-style mailboxes. Setting it will have no ef‐
2956 fect on other mailbox types.
2957 maildir_check_cur
2961 Type: boolean
2962 Default: no
2963 If set, mutt will poll both the new and cur directories of a
2965 maildir folder for new messages. This might be useful if other
2966 programs interacting with the folder (e.g. dovecot) are moving
2967 new messages to the cur directory. Note that setting this op‐
2968 tion may slow down polling for new messages in large folders,
2969 since mutt has to scan all cur messages.
2970 mark_macro_prefix
2974 Type: string
2975 Default: “'”
2976 Prefix for macros created using mark-message. A new macro auto‐
2978 matically generated with <mark-message>a will be composed from
2979 this prefix and the letter a.
2980 mark_old
2984 Type: boolean
2985 Default: yes
2986 Controls whether or not mutt marks new unread messages as old if
2988 you exit a mailbox without reading them. With this option set,
2989 the next time you start mutt, the messages will show up with an
2990 “O” next to them in the index menu, indicating that they are
2991 old.
2992 markers
2996 Type: boolean
2997 Default: yes
2998 Controls the display of wrapped lines in the internal pager. If
3000 set, a “+” marker is displayed at the beginning of wrapped
3001 lines.
3002 Also see the $smart_wrap variable.
3004 mask
3008 Type: regular expression
3009 Default: “!^\.[^.]”
3010 A regular expression used in the file browser, optionally pre‐
3012 ceded by the not operator “!”. Only files whose names match
3013 this mask will be shown. The match is always case-sensitive.
3014 mbox
3018 Type: path
3019 Default: “~/mbox”
3020 This specifies the folder into which read mail in your
3022 $spoolfile folder will be appended.
3023 Also see the $move variable.
3025 mbox_type
3029 Type: folder magic
3030 Default: mbox
3031 The default mailbox type used when creating new folders. May be
3033 any of “mbox”, “MMDF”, “MH” and “Maildir”. This is overridden by
3034 the -m command-line option.
3035 menu_context
3039 Type: number
3040 Default: 0
3041 This variable controls the number of lines of context that are
3043 given when scrolling through menus. (Similar to $pager_context.)
3044 menu_move_off
3048 Type: boolean
3049 Default: yes
3050 When unset, the bottom entry of menus will never scroll up past
3052 the bottom of the screen, unless there are less entries than
3053 lines. When set, the bottom entry may move off the bottom.
3054 menu_scroll
3058 Type: boolean
3059 Default: no
3060 When set, menus will be scrolled up or down one line when you
3062 attempt to move across a screen boundary. If unset, the screen
3063 is cleared and the next or previous page of the menu is dis‐
3064 played (useful for slow links to avoid many redraws).
3065 message_cache_clean
3069 Type: boolean
3070 Default: no
3071 If set, mutt will clean out obsolete entries from the message
3073 cache when the mailbox is synchronized. You probably only want
3074 to set it every once in a while, since it can be a little slow
3075 (especially for large folders).
3076 message_cachedir
3080 Type: path
3081 Default: “”
3082 Set this to a directory and mutt will cache copies of messages
3084 from your IMAP and POP servers here. You are free to remove en‐
3085 tries at any time.
3086 When setting this variable to a directory, mutt needs to fetch
3088 every remote message only once and can perform regular expres‐
3089 sion searches as fast as for local folders.
3090 Also see the $message_cache_clean variable.
3092 message_format
3096 Type: string
3097 Default: “%s”
3098 This is the string displayed in the “attachment” menu for at‐
3100 tachments of type message/rfc822. For a full listing of defined
3101 printf(3)-like sequences see the section on $index_format.
3102 meta_key
3106 Type: boolean
3107 Default: no
3108 If set, forces Mutt to interpret keystrokes with the high bit
3110 (bit 8) set as if the user had pressed the Esc key and whatever
3111 key remains after having the high bit removed. For example, if
3112 the key pressed has an ASCII value of 0xf8, then this is treated
3113 as if the user had pressed Esc then “x”. This is because the
3114 result of removing the high bit from 0xf8 is 0x78, which is the
3115 ASCII character “x”.
3116 metoo
3120 Type: boolean
3121 Default: no
3122 If unset, Mutt will remove your address (see the “alternates”
3124 command) from the list of recipients when replying to a message.
3125 mh_purge
3129 Type: boolean
3130 Default: no
3131 When unset, mutt will mimic mh's behavior and rename deleted
3133 messages to ,<old file name> in mh folders instead of really
3134 deleting them. This leaves the message on disk but makes pro‐
3135 grams reading the folder ignore it. If the variable is set, the
3136 message files will simply be deleted.
3137 This option is similar to $maildir_trash for Maildir folders.
3139 mh_seq_flagged
3143 Type: string
3144 Default: “flagged”
3145 The name of the MH sequence used for flagged messages.
3147 mh_seq_replied
3151 Type: string
3152 Default: “replied”
3153 The name of the MH sequence used to tag replied messages.
3155 mh_seq_unseen
3159 Type: string
3160 Default: “unseen”
3161 The name of the MH sequence used for unseen messages.
3163 mime_forward
3167 Type: quadoption
3168 Default: no
3169 When set, the message you are forwarding will be attached as a
3171 separate message/rfc822 MIME part instead of included in the
3172 main body of the message. This is useful for forwarding MIME
3173 messages so the receiver can properly view the message as it was
3174 delivered to you. If you like to switch between MIME and not
3175 MIME from mail to mail, set this variable to “ask-no” or
3176 “ask-yes”.
3177 Also see $forward_decode and $mime_forward_decode.
3179 mime_forward_decode
3183 Type: boolean
3184 Default: no
3185 Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain
3187 when forwarding a message while $mime_forward is set. Otherwise
3188 $forward_decode is used instead.
3189 mime_forward_rest
3193 Type: quadoption
3194 Default: yes
3195 When forwarding multiple attachments of a MIME message from the
3197 attachment menu, attachments which cannot be decoded in a rea‐
3198 sonable manner will be attached to the newly composed message if
3199 this option is set.
3200 mime_type_query_command
3204 Type: string
3205 Default: “”
3206 This specifies a command to run, to determine the mime type of a
3208 new attachment when composing a message. Unless
3209 $mime_type_query_first is set, this will only be run if the at‐
3210 tachment's extension is not found in the mime.types file.
3211 The string may contain a “%s”, which will be substituted with
3213 the attachment filename. Mutt will add quotes around the string
3214 substituted for “%s” automatically according to shell quoting
3215 rules, so you should avoid adding your own. If no “%s” is found
3216 in the string, Mutt will append the attachment filename to the
3217 end of the string.
3218 The command should output a single line containing the attach‐
3220 ment's mime type.
3221 Suggested values are “xdg-mime query filetype” or “file -bi”.
3223 mime_type_query_first
3227 Type: boolean
3228 Default: no
3229 When set, the $mime_type_query_command will be run before the
3231 mime.types lookup.
3232 mix_entry_format
3236 Type: string
3237 Default: “%4n %c %-16s %a”
3238 This variable describes the format of a remailer line on the
3240 mixmaster chain selection screen. The following printf(3)-like
3241 sequences are supported:
3242 %n The running number on the menu.
3243 %c Remailer capabilities.
3244 %s The remailer's short name.
3245 %a The remailer's e-mail address.
3246 mixmaster
3249 Type: path
3250 Default: “mixmaster”
3251 This variable contains the path to the Mixmaster binary on your
3253 system. It is used with various sets of parameters to gather
3254 the list of known remailers, and to finally send a message
3255 through the mixmaster chain.
3256 move
3260 Type: quadoption
3261 Default: no
3262 Controls whether or not Mutt will move read messages from your
3264 spool mailbox to your $mbox mailbox, or as a result of a “mbox-
3265 hook” command.
3266 muttlisp_inline_eval
3270 Type: boolean
3271 Default: no
3272 If set, Mutt will evaluate bare parenthesis arguments to com‐
3274 mands as MuttLisp expressions.
3275 narrow_tree
3279 Type: boolean
3280 Default: no
3281 This variable, when set, makes the thread tree narrower, allow‐
3283 ing deeper threads to fit on the screen.
3284 net_inc
3288 Type: number
3289 Default: 10
3290 Operations that expect to transfer a large amount of data over
3292 the network will update their progress every $net_inc kilobytes.
3293 If set to 0, no progress messages will be displayed.
3294 See also $read_inc, $write_inc and $net_inc.
3296 new_mail_command
3300 Type: path
3301 Default: “”
3302 If set, Mutt will call this command after a new message is re‐
3304 ceived. See the $status_format documentation for the values
3305 that can be formatted into this command.
3306 pager
3310 Type: path
3311 Default: “builtin”
3312 This variable specifies which pager you would like to use to
3314 view messages. The value “builtin” means to use the built-in
3315 pager, otherwise this variable should specify the pathname of
3316 the external pager you would like to use.
3317 Using an external pager may have some disadvantages: Additional
3319 keystrokes are necessary because you can't call mutt functions
3320 directly from the pager, and screen resizes cause lines longer
3321 than the screen width to be badly formatted in the help menu.
3322 When using an external pager, also see $prompt_after which de‐
3324 faults set.
3325 pager_context
3329 Type: number
3330 Default: 0
3331 This variable controls the number of lines of context that are
3333 given when displaying the next or previous page in the internal
3334 pager. By default, Mutt will display the line after the last
3335 one on the screen at the top of the next page (0 lines of con‐
3336 text).
3337 This variable also specifies the amount of context given for
3339 search results. If positive, this many lines will be given be‐
3340 fore a match, if 0, the match will be top-aligned.
3341 pager_format
3345 Type: string
3346 Default: “-%Z- %C/%m: %-20.20n %s%* -- (%P)”
3347 This variable controls the format of the one-line message “sta‐
3349 tus” displayed before each message in either the internal or an
3350 external pager. The valid sequences are listed in the $in‐
3351 dex_format section.
3352 pager_index_lines
3356 Type: number
3357 Default: 0
3358 Determines the number of lines of a mini-index which is shown
3360 when in the pager. The current message, unless near the top or
3361 bottom of the folder, will be roughly one third of the way down
3362 this mini-index, giving the reader the context of a few messages
3363 before and after the message. This is useful, for example, to
3364 determine how many messages remain to be read in the current
3365 thread. One of the lines is reserved for the status bar from
3366 the index, so a setting of 6 will only show 5 lines of the ac‐
3367 tual index. A value of 0 results in no index being shown. If
3368 the number of messages in the current folder is less than
3369 $pager_index_lines, then the index will only use as many lines
3370 as it needs.
3371 pager_stop
3375 Type: boolean
3376 Default: no
3377 When set, the internal-pager will not move to the next message
3379 when you are at the end of a message and invoke the <next-page>
3380 function.
3381 pattern_format
3385 Type: string
3386 Default: “%2n %-15e %d”
3387 This variable describes the format of the “pattern completion”
3389 menu. The following printf(3)-style sequences are understood:
3390 %d pattern description
3391 %e pattern expression
3392 %n index number
3393 pgp_auto_decode
3395 Type: boolean
3396 Default: no
3397 If set, mutt will automatically attempt to decrypt traditional
3399 PGP messages whenever the user performs an operation which ordi‐
3400 narily would result in the contents of the message being oper‐
3401 ated on. For example, if the user displays a pgp-traditional
3402 message which has not been manually checked with the <check-tra‐
3403 ditional-pgp> function, mutt will automatically check the mes‐
3404 sage for traditional pgp.
3405 pgp_autoinline
3409 Type: boolean
3410 Default: no
3411 This option controls whether Mutt generates old-style inline
3413 (traditional) PGP encrypted or signed messages under certain
3414 circumstances. This can be overridden by use of the pgp menu,
3415 when inline is not required. The GPGME backend does not support
3416 this option.
3417 Note that Mutt might automatically use PGP/MIME for messages
3419 which consist of more than a single MIME part. Mutt can be con‐
3420 figured to ask before sending PGP/MIME messages when inline
3421 (traditional) would not work.
3422 Also see the $pgp_mime_auto variable.
3424 Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is
3426 strongly deprecated. (PGP only)
3427 pgp_check_exit
3431 Type: boolean
3432 Default: yes
3433 If set, mutt will check the exit code of the PGP subprocess when
3435 signing or encrypting. A non-zero exit code means that the sub‐
3436 process failed. (PGP only)
3437 pgp_check_gpg_decrypt_status_fd
3441 Type: boolean
3442 Default: yes
3443 If set, mutt will check the status file descriptor output of
3445 $pgp_decrypt_command and $pgp_decode_command for GnuPG status
3446 codes indicating successful decryption. This will check for the
3447 presence of DECRYPTION_OKAY, absence of DECRYPTION_FAILED, and
3448 that all PLAINTEXT occurs between the BEGIN_DECRYPTION and
3449 END_DECRYPTION status codes.
3450 If unset, mutt will instead match the status fd output against
3452 $pgp_decryption_okay. (PGP only)
3453 pgp_clearsign_command
3457 Type: string
3458 Default: “”
3459 This format is used to create an old-style “clearsigned” PGP
3461 message. Note that the use of this format is strongly depre‐
3462 cated.
3463 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3465 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3466 pgp_decode_command
3470 Type: string
3471 Default: “”
3472 This format strings specifies a command which is used to decode
3474 application/pgp attachments.
3475 The PGP command formats have their own set of printf(3)-like se‐
3477 quences:
3478 %p Expands to PGPPASSFD=0 when a pass phrase is needed, to
3479 an empty string otherwise. Note: This may be used with a
3480 %? construct.
3481 %f Expands to the name of a file containing a message.
3482 %s Expands to the name of a file containing the signature
3483 part
3484 of a multipart/signed attachment when verify‐
3485 ing it.
3486 %a The value of $pgp_sign_as if set, otherwise the value of
3487 $pgp_default_key.
3488 %r One or more key IDs (or fingerprints if available).
3489 For examples on how to configure these formats for the various
3491 versions of PGP which are floating around, see the pgp and gpg
3492 sample configuration files in the samples/ subdirectory which
3493 has been installed on your system alongside the documentation.
3494 (PGP only)
3495 pgp_decrypt_command
3499 Type: string
3500 Default: “”
3501 This command is used to decrypt a PGP encrypted message.
3503 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3505 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3506 pgp_decryption_okay
3510 Type: regular expression
3511 Default: “”
3512 If you assign text to this variable, then an encrypted PGP mes‐
3514 sage is only considered successfully decrypted if the output
3515 from $pgp_decrypt_command contains the text. This is used to
3516 protect against a spoofed encrypted message, with multipart/en‐
3517 crypted headers but containing a block that is not actually en‐
3518 crypted. (e.g. simply signed and ascii armored text).
3519 Note that if $pgp_check_gpg_decrypt_status_fd is set, this vari‐
3521 able is ignored. (PGP only)
3522 pgp_default_key
3526 Type: string
3527 Default: “”
3528 This is the default key-pair to use for PGP operations. It will
3530 be used for encryption (see $postpone_encrypt and $pgp_self_en‐
3531 crypt).
3532 It will also be used for signing unless $pgp_sign_as is set.
3534 The (now deprecated) pgp_self_encrypt_as is an alias for this
3536 variable, and should no longer be used. (PGP only)
3537 pgp_encrypt_only_command
3541 Type: string
3542 Default: “”
3543 This command is used to encrypt a body part without signing it.
3545 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3547 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3548 pgp_encrypt_sign_command
3552 Type: string
3553 Default: “”
3554 This command is used to both sign and encrypt a body part.
3556 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3558 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3559 pgp_entry_format
3563 Type: string
3564 Default: “%4n %t%f %4l/0x%k %-4a %2c %u”
3565 This variable allows you to customize the PGP key selection menu
3567 to your personal taste. This string is similar to $index_format,
3568 but has its own set of printf(3)-like sequences:
3569 %n number
3570 %k key id
3571 %u user id
3572 %a algorithm
3573 %l key length
3574 %f flags
3575 %c capabilities
3576 %t trust/validity of the key-uid association
3577 %[<s>] date of the key where <s> is an strftime(3) expression
3578 (PGP only)
3580 pgp_export_command
3584 Type: string
3585 Default: “”
3586 This command is used to export a public key from the user's key
3588 ring.
3589 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3591 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3592 pgp_getkeys_command
3596 Type: string
3597 Default: “”
3598 This command is invoked whenever Mutt needs to fetch the public
3600 key associated with an email address. Of the sequences sup‐
3601 ported by $pgp_decode_command, %r is the only printf(3)-like se‐
3602 quence used with this format. Note that in this case, %r ex‐
3603 pands to the email address, not the public key ID (the key ID is
3604 unknown, which is why Mutt is invoking this command). (PGP
3605 only)
3606 pgp_good_sign
3610 Type: regular expression
3611 Default: “”
3612 If you assign a text to this variable, then a PGP signature is
3614 only considered verified if the output from $pgp_verify_command
3615 contains the text. Use this variable if the exit code from the
3616 command is 0 even for bad signatures. (PGP only)
3617 pgp_ignore_subkeys
3621 Type: boolean
3622 Default: yes
3623 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to ignore OpenPGP subkeys.
3625 Instead, the principal key will inherit the subkeys' capabili‐
3626 ties. Unset this if you want to play interesting key selection
3627 games. (PGP only)
3628 pgp_import_command
3632 Type: string
3633 Default: “”
3634 This command is used to import a key from a message into the
3636 user's public key ring.
3637 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3639 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3640 pgp_list_pubring_command
3644 Type: string
3645 Default: “”
3646 This command is used to list the public key ring's contents.
3648 The output format must be analogous to the one used by
3649 gpg --list-keys --with-colons --with-fingerprint
3652 This format is also generated by the mutt_pgpring utility which
3655 comes with mutt.
3656 Note: gpg's fixed-list-mode option should not be used. It pro‐
3658 duces a different date format which may result in mutt showing
3659 incorrect key generation dates.
3660 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3662 possible printf(3)-like sequences. Note that in this case, %r
3663 expands to the search string, which is a list of one or more
3664 quoted values such as email address, name, or keyid. (PGP only)
3665 pgp_list_secring_command
3669 Type: string
3670 Default: “”
3671 This command is used to list the secret key ring's contents.
3673 The output format must be analogous to the one used by:
3674 gpg --list-keys --with-colons --with-fingerprint
3677 This format is also generated by the mutt_pgpring utility which
3680 comes with mutt.
3681 Note: gpg's fixed-list-mode option should not be used. It pro‐
3683 duces a different date format which may result in mutt showing
3684 incorrect key generation dates.
3685 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3687 possible printf(3)-like sequences. Note that in this case, %r
3688 expands to the search string, which is a list of one or more
3689 quoted values such as email address, name, or keyid. (PGP only)
3690 pgp_long_ids
3694 Type: boolean
3695 Default: yes
3696 If set, use 64 bit PGP key IDs, if unset use the normal 32 bit
3698 key IDs. NOTE: Internally, Mutt has transitioned to using fin‐
3699 gerprints (or long key IDs as a fallback). This option now only
3700 controls the display of key IDs in the key selection menu and a
3701 few other places. (PGP only)
3702 pgp_mime_auto
3706 Type: quadoption
3707 Default: ask-yes
3708 This option controls whether Mutt will prompt you for automati‐
3710 cally sending a (signed/encrypted) message using PGP/MIME when
3711 inline (traditional) fails (for any reason).
3712 Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is
3714 strongly deprecated. (PGP only)
3715 pgp_replyinline
3719 Type: boolean
3720 Default: no
3721 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to cre‐
3723 ate an inline (traditional) message when replying to a message
3724 which is PGP encrypted/signed inline. This can be overridden by
3725 use of the pgp menu, when inline is not required. This option
3726 does not automatically detect if the (replied-to) message is in‐
3727 line; instead it relies on Mutt internals for previously
3728 checked/flagged messages.
3729 Note that Mutt might automatically use PGP/MIME for messages
3731 which consist of more than a single MIME part. Mutt can be con‐
3732 figured to ask before sending PGP/MIME messages when inline
3733 (traditional) would not work.
3734 Also see the $pgp_mime_auto variable.
3736 Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is
3738 strongly deprecated. (PGP only)
3739 pgp_retainable_sigs
3743 Type: boolean
3744 Default: no
3745 If set, signed and encrypted messages will consist of nested
3747 multipart/signed and multipart/encrypted body parts.
3748 This is useful for applications like encrypted and signed mail‐
3750 ing lists, where the outer layer (multipart/encrypted) can be
3751 easily removed, while the inner multipart/signed part is re‐
3752 tained. (PGP only)
3753 pgp_self_encrypt
3757 Type: boolean
3758 Default: yes
3759 When set, PGP encrypted messages will also be encrypted using
3761 the key in $pgp_default_key. (PGP only)
3762 pgp_show_unusable
3766 Type: boolean
3767 Default: yes
3768 If set, mutt will display non-usable keys on the PGP key selec‐
3770 tion menu. This includes keys which have been revoked, have ex‐
3771 pired, or have been marked as “disabled” by the user. (PGP
3772 only)
3773 pgp_sign_as
3777 Type: string
3778 Default: “”
3779 If you have a different key pair to use for signing, you should
3781 set this to the signing key. Most people will only need to set
3782 $pgp_default_key. It is recommended that you use the keyid form
3783 to specify your key (e.g. 0x00112233). (PGP only)
3784 pgp_sign_command
3788 Type: string
3789 Default: “”
3790 This command is used to create the detached PGP signature for a
3792 multipart/signed PGP/MIME body part.
3793 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3795 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3796 pgp_sort_keys
3800 Type: sort order
3801 Default: address
3802 Specifies how the entries in the pgp menu are sorted. The fol‐
3804 lowing are legal values:
3805 address
3806 sort alphabetically by user id
3807 keyid sort alphabetically by key id
3808 date sort by key creation date
3809 trust sort by the trust of the key
3810 If you prefer reverse order of the above values, prefix it with
3812 “reverse-”. (PGP only)
3813 pgp_strict_enc
3817 Type: boolean
3818 Default: yes
3819 If set, Mutt will automatically encode PGP/MIME signed messages
3821 as quoted-printable. Please note that unsetting this variable
3822 may lead to problems with non-verifyable PGP signatures, so only
3823 change this if you know what you are doing. (PGP only)
3824 pgp_timeout
3828 Type: number (long)
3829 Default: 300
3830 The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will ex‐
3832 pire if not used. (PGP only)
3833 pgp_use_gpg_agent
3837 Type: boolean
3838 Default: no
3839 If set, mutt expects a gpg-agent(1) process will handle private
3841 key passphrase prompts. If unset, mutt will prompt for the
3842 passphrase and pass it via stdin to the pgp command.
3843 Note that as of version 2.1, GnuPG automatically spawns an agent
3845 and requires the agent be used for passphrase management. Since
3846 that version is increasingly prevalent, this variable now de‐
3847 faults set.
3848 Mutt works with a GUI or curses pinentry program. A TTY pinen‐
3850 try should not be used.
3851 If you are using an older version of GnuPG without an agent run‐
3853 ning, or another encryption program without an agent, you will
3854 need to unset this variable. (PGP only)
3855 pgp_verify_command
3859 Type: string
3860 Default: “”
3861 This command is used to verify PGP signatures.
3863 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3865 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3866 pgp_verify_key_command
3870 Type: string
3871 Default: “”
3872 This command is used to verify key information from the key se‐
3874 lection menu.
3875 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3877 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3878 pipe_decode
3882 Type: boolean
3883 Default: no
3884 Used in connection with the <pipe-message> function. When un‐
3886 set, Mutt will pipe the messages without any preprocessing. When
3887 set, Mutt will attempt to decode the messages first.
3888 Also see $pipe_decode_weed, which controls whether headers will
3890 be weeded when this is set.
3891 pipe_decode_weed
3895 Type: boolean
3896 Default: yes
3897 For <pipe-message>, when $pipe_decode is set, this further con‐
3899 trols whether Mutt will weed headers.
3900 pipe_sep
3904 Type: string
3905 Default: “\n”
3906 The separator to add between messages when piping a list of
3908 tagged messages to an external Unix command.
3909 pipe_split
3913 Type: boolean
3914 Default: no
3915 Used in connection with the <pipe-message> function following
3917 <tag-prefix>. If this variable is unset, when piping a list of
3918 tagged messages Mutt will concatenate the messages and will pipe
3919 them all concatenated. When set, Mutt will pipe the messages
3920 one by one. In both cases the messages are piped in the current
3921 sorted order, and the $pipe_sep separator is added after each
3922 message.
3923 pop_auth_try_all
3927 Type: boolean
3928 Default: yes
3929 If set, Mutt will try all available authentication methods.
3931 When unset, Mutt will only fall back to other authentication
3932 methods if the previous methods are unavailable. If a method is
3933 available but authentication fails, Mutt will not connect to the
3934 POP server.
3935 pop_authenticators
3939 Type: string
3940 Default: “”
3941 This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt
3943 may attempt to use to log in to an POP server, in the order mutt
3944 should try them. Authentication methods are either “user”,
3945 “apop” or any SASL mechanism, e.g. “digest-md5”, “gssapi” or
3946 “cram-md5”. This option is case-insensitive. If this option is
3947 unset (the default) mutt will try all available methods, in or‐
3948 der from most-secure to least-secure.
3949 Example:
3951 set pop_authenticators=”digest-md5:apop:user”
3954 pop_checkinterval
3959 Type: number
3960 Default: 60
3961 This variable configures how often (in seconds) mutt should look
3963 for new mail in the currently selected mailbox if it is a POP
3964 mailbox.
3965 pop_delete
3969 Type: quadoption
3970 Default: ask-no
3971 If set, Mutt will delete successfully downloaded messages from
3973 the POP server when using the <fetch-mail> function. When un‐
3974 set, Mutt will download messages but also leave them on the POP
3975 server.
3976 pop_host
3980 Type: string
3981 Default: “”
3982 The name of your POP server for the <fetch-mail> function. You
3984 can also specify an alternative port, username and password,
3985 i.e.:
3986 [pop[s]://][username[:password]@]popserver[:port]
3989 where “[...]” denotes an optional part.
3992 pop_last
3996 Type: boolean
3997 Default: no
3998 If this variable is set, mutt will try to use the “LAST” POP
4000 command for retrieving only unread messages from the POP server
4001 when using the <fetch-mail> function.
4002 pop_oauth_refresh_command
4006 Type: string
4007 Default: “”
4008 The command to run to generate an OAUTH refresh token for autho‐
4010 rizing your connection to your POP server. This command will be
4011 run on every connection attempt that uses the OAUTHBEARER au‐
4012 thentication mechanism. See “oauth” for details.
4013 pop_pass
4017 Type: string
4018 Default: “”
4019 Specifies the password for your POP account. If unset, Mutt
4021 will prompt you for your password when you open a POP mailbox.
4022 Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a
4024 fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your mut‐
4025 trc even if you are the only one who can read the file.
4026 pop_reconnect
4030 Type: quadoption
4031 Default: ask-yes
4032 Controls whether or not Mutt will try to reconnect to the POP
4034 server if the connection is lost.
4035 pop_user
4039 Type: string
4040 Default: “”
4041 Your login name on the POP server.
4043 This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
4045 post_indent_string
4049 Type: string
4050 Default: “”
4051 Similar to the $attribution variable, Mutt will append this
4053 string after the inclusion of a message which is being replied
4054 to. For a full listing of defined printf(3)-like sequences see
4055 the section on $index_format.
4056 postpone
4060 Type: quadoption
4061 Default: ask-yes
4062 Controls whether or not messages are saved in the $postponed
4064 mailbox when you elect not to send immediately.
4065 Also see the $recall variable.
4067 postponed
4071 Type: path
4072 Default: “~/postponed”
4073 Mutt allows you to indefinitely “postpone sending a message”
4075 which you are editing. When you choose to postpone a message,
4076 Mutt saves it in the mailbox specified by this variable.
4077 Also see the $postpone variable.
4079 postpone_encrypt
4083 Type: boolean
4084 Default: no
4085 When set, postponed messages that are marked for encryption will
4087 be self-encrypted. Mutt will first try to encrypt using the
4088 value specified in $pgp_default_key or $smime_default_key. If
4089 those are not set, it will try the deprecated $postpone_en‐
4090 crypt_as. (Crypto only)
4091 postpone_encrypt_as
4095 Type: string
4096 Default: “”
4097 This is a deprecated fall-back variable for $postpone_encrypt.
4099 Please use $pgp_default_key or $smime_default_key. (Crypto
4100 only)
4101 preconnect
4105 Type: string
4106 Default: “”
4107 If set, a shell command to be executed if mutt fails to estab‐
4109 lish a connection to the server. This is useful for setting up
4110 secure connections, e.g. with ssh(1). If the command returns a
4111 nonzero status, mutt gives up opening the server. Example:
4112 set preconnect=”ssh -f -q -L 1234:mailhost.net:143 mailhost.net \
4115 sleep 20 < /dev/null > /dev/null”
4116 Mailbox “foo” on “mailhost.net” can now be reached as “{local‐
4119 host:1234}foo”.
4120 Note: For this example to work, you must be able to log in to
4122 the remote machine without having to enter a password.
4123 print
4127 Type: quadoption
4128 Default: ask-no
4129 Controls whether or not Mutt really prints messages. This is
4131 set to “ask-no” by default, because some people accidentally hit
4132 “p” often.
4133 print_command
4137 Type: path
4138 Default: “lpr”
4139 This specifies the command pipe that should be used to print
4141 messages.
4142 print_decode
4146 Type: boolean
4147 Default: yes
4148 Used in connection with the <print-message> function. If this
4150 option is set, the message is decoded before it is passed to the
4151 external command specified by $print_command. If this option is
4152 unset, no processing will be applied to the message when print‐
4153 ing it. The latter setting may be useful if you are using some
4154 advanced printer filter which is able to properly format e-mail
4155 messages for printing.
4156 Also see $print_decode_weed, which controls whether headers will
4158 be weeded when this is set.
4159 print_decode_weed
4163 Type: boolean
4164 Default: yes
4165 For <print-message>, when $print_decode is set, this further
4167 controls whether Mutt will weed headers.
4168 print_split
4172 Type: boolean
4173 Default: no
4174 Used in connection with the <print-message> function. If this
4176 option is set, the command specified by $print_command is exe‐
4177 cuted once for each message which is to be printed. If this op‐
4178 tion is unset, the command specified by $print_command is exe‐
4179 cuted only once, and all the messages are concatenated, with a
4180 form feed as the message separator.
4181 Those who use the enscript(1) program's mail-printing mode will
4183 most likely want to set this option.
4184 prompt_after
4188 Type: boolean
4189 Default: yes
4190 If you use an external $pager, setting this variable will cause
4192 Mutt to prompt you for a command when the pager exits rather
4193 than returning to the index menu. If unset, Mutt will return to
4194 the index menu when the external pager exits.
4195 query_command
4199 Type: path
4200 Default: “”
4201 This specifies the command Mutt will use to make external ad‐
4203 dress queries. The string may contain a “%s”, which will be
4204 substituted with the query string the user types. Mutt will add
4205 quotes around the string substituted for “%s” automatically ac‐
4206 cording to shell quoting rules, so you should avoid adding your
4207 own. If no “%s” is found in the string, Mutt will append the
4208 user's query to the end of the string. See “query” for more in‐
4209 formation.
4210 query_format
4214 Type: string
4215 Default: “%4c %t %-25.25a %-25.25n %?e?(%e)?”
4216 This variable describes the format of the “query” menu. The fol‐
4218 lowing printf(3)-style sequences are understood:
4219 %a destination address
4220 %c current entry number
4221 %e extra information *
4222 %n destination name
4223 %t “*” if current entry is tagged, a space otherwise
4224 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with “X”
4225 %|X pad to the end of the line with “X”
4226 %*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
4227 For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the $index_format docu‐
4229 mentation.
4230 * = can be optionally printed if nonzero, see the $status_format
4232 documentation.
4233 quit
4237 Type: quadoption
4238 Default: yes
4239 This variable controls whether “quit” and “exit” actually quit
4241 from mutt. If this option is set, they do quit, if it is unset,
4242 they have no effect, and if it is set to ask-yes or ask-no, you
4243 are prompted for confirmation when you try to quit.
4244 quote_regexp
4248 Type: regular expression
4249 Default: “^([ \t]*[|>:}#])+”
4250 A regular expression used in the internal pager to determine
4252 quoted sections of text in the body of a message. Quoted text
4253 may be filtered out using the <toggle-quoted> command, or col‐
4254 ored according to the “color quoted” family of directives.
4255 Higher levels of quoting may be colored differently (“color
4257 quoted1”, “color quoted2”, etc.). The quoting level is deter‐
4258 mined by removing the last character from the matched text and
4259 recursively reapplying the regular expression until it fails to
4260 produce a match.
4261 Match detection may be overridden by the $smileys regular ex‐
4263 pression.
4264 read_inc
4268 Type: number
4269 Default: 10
4270 If set to a value greater than 0, Mutt will display which mes‐
4272 sage it is currently on when reading a mailbox or when perform‐
4273 ing search actions such as search and limit. The message is
4274 printed after this many messages have been read or searched
4275 (e.g., if set to 25, Mutt will print a message when it is at
4276 message 25, and then again when it gets to message 50). This
4277 variable is meant to indicate progress when reading or searching
4278 large mailboxes which may take some time. When set to 0, only a
4279 single message will appear before the reading the mailbox.
4280 Also see the $write_inc, $net_inc and $time_inc variables and
4282 the “tuning” section of the manual for performance considera‐
4283 tions.
4284 read_only
4288 Type: boolean
4289 Default: no
4290 If set, all folders are opened in read-only mode.
4292 realname
4296 Type: string
4297 Default: “”
4298 This variable specifies what “real” or “personal” name should be
4300 used when sending messages.
4301 By default, this is the GECOS field from /etc/passwd. Note that
4303 this variable will not be used when the user has set a real name
4304 in the $from variable.
4305 recall
4309 Type: quadoption
4310 Default: ask-yes
4311 Controls whether or not Mutt recalls postponed messages when
4313 composing a new message.
4314 Setting this variable to yes is not generally useful, and thus
4316 not recommended. Note that the <recall-message> function can be
4317 used to manually recall postponed messages.
4318 Also see $postponed variable.
4320 record
4324 Type: path
4325 Default: “~/sent”
4326 This specifies the file into which your outgoing messages should
4328 be appended. (This is meant as the primary method for saving a
4329 copy of your messages, but another way to do this is using the
4330 “my_hdr” command to create a “Bcc:” field with your email ad‐
4331 dress in it.)
4332 The value of $record is overridden by the $force_name and
4334 $save_name variables, and the “fcc-hook” command. Also see
4335 $copy and $write_bcc.
4336 Multiple mailboxes may be specified if $fcc_delimiter is set to
4338 a string delimiter.
4339 reflow_space_quotes
4343 Type: boolean
4344 Default: yes
4345 This option controls how quotes from format=flowed messages are
4347 displayed in the pager and when replying (with $text_flowed un‐
4348 set). When set, this option adds spaces after each level of
4349 quote marks, turning ”>>>foo” into ”> > > foo”.
4350 Note: If $reflow_text is unset, this option has no effect.
4352 Also, this option does not affect replies when $text_flowed is
4353 set.
4354 reflow_text
4358 Type: boolean
4359 Default: yes
4360 When set, Mutt will reformat paragraphs in text/plain parts
4362 marked format=flowed. If unset, Mutt will display paragraphs
4363 unaltered from how they appear in the message body. See RFC3676
4364 for details on the format=flowed format.
4365 Also see $reflow_wrap, and $wrap.
4367 reflow_wrap
4371 Type: number
4372 Default: 78
4373 This variable controls the maximum paragraph width when refor‐
4375 matting text/plain parts when $reflow_text is set. When the
4376 value is 0, paragraphs will be wrapped at the terminal's right
4377 margin. A positive value sets the paragraph width relative to
4378 the left margin. A negative value set the paragraph width rela‐
4379 tive to the right margin.
4380 Also see $wrap.
4382 reply_regexp
4386 Type: regular expression
4387 Default: “^(re([\[0-9\]+])*|aw):[ \t]*”
4388 A regular expression used to recognize reply messages when
4390 threading and replying. The default value corresponds to the
4391 English ”Re:” and the German ”Aw:”.
4392 reply_self
4396 Type: boolean
4397 Default: no
4398 If unset and you are replying to a message sent by you, Mutt
4400 will assume that you want to reply to the recipients of that
4401 message rather than to yourself.
4402 Also see the “alternates” command.
4404 reply_to
4408 Type: quadoption
4409 Default: ask-yes
4410 If set, when replying to a message, Mutt will use the address
4412 listed in the Reply-to: header as the recipient of the reply.
4413 If unset, it will use the address in the From: header field in‐
4414 stead. This option is useful for reading a mailing list that
4415 sets the Reply-To: header field to the list address and you want
4416 to send a private message to the author of a message.
4417 resolve
4421 Type: boolean
4422 Default: yes
4423 When set, the cursor will be automatically advanced to the next
4425 (possibly undeleted) message whenever a command that modifies
4426 the current message is executed.
4427 resume_draft_files
4431 Type: boolean
4432 Default: no
4433 If set, draft files (specified by -H on the command line) are
4435 processed similarly to when resuming a postponed message. Re‐
4436 cipients are not prompted for; send-hooks are not evaluated; no
4437 alias expansion takes place; user-defined headers and signatures
4438 are not added to the message.
4439 resume_edited_draft_files
4443 Type: boolean
4444 Default: yes
4445 If set, draft files previously edited (via -E -H on the command
4447 line) will have $resume_draft_files automatically set when they
4448 are used as a draft file again.
4449 The first time a draft file is saved, mutt will add a header,
4451 X-Mutt-Resume-Draft to the saved file. The next time the draft
4452 file is read in, if mutt sees the header, it will set $re‐
4453 sume_draft_files.
4454 This option is designed to prevent multiple signatures, user-de‐
4456 fined headers, and other processing effects from being made mul‐
4457 tiple times to the draft file.
4458 reverse_alias
4462 Type: boolean
4463 Default: no
4464 This variable controls whether or not Mutt will display the
4466 “personal” name from your aliases in the index menu if it finds
4467 an alias that matches the message's sender. For example, if you
4468 have the following alias:
4469 alias juser abd30425@somewhere.net (Joe User)
4472 and then you receive mail which contains the following header:
4475 From: abd30425@somewhere.net
4478 It would be displayed in the index menu as “Joe User” instead of
4481 “abd30425@somewhere.net.” This is useful when the person's
4482 e-mail address is not human friendly.
4483 reverse_name
4487 Type: boolean
4488 Default: no
4489 It may sometimes arrive that you receive mail to a certain ma‐
4491 chine, move the messages to another machine, and reply to some
4492 the messages from there. If this variable is set, the default
4493 From: line of the reply messages is built using the address
4494 where you received the messages you are replying to if that ad‐
4495 dress matches your “alternates”. If the variable is unset, or
4496 the address that would be used doesn't match your “alternates”,
4497 the From: line will use your address on the current machine.
4498 Also see the “alternates” command and $reverse_realname.
4500 reverse_realname
4504 Type: boolean
4505 Default: yes
4506 This variable fine-tunes the behavior of the $reverse_name fea‐
4508 ture.
4509 When it is unset, Mutt will remove the real name part of a
4511 matching address. This allows the use of the email address
4512 without having to also use what the sender put in the real name
4513 field.
4514 When it is set, Mutt will use the matching address as-is.
4516 In either case, a missing real name will be filled in afterwards
4518 using the value of $realname.
4519 rfc2047_parameters
4523 Type: boolean
4524 Default: no
4525 When this variable is set, Mutt will decode RFC2047-encoded MIME
4527 parameters. You want to set this variable when mutt suggests you
4528 to save attachments to files named like:
4529 =?iso-8859-1?Q?file=5F=E4=5F991116=2Ezip?=
4532 When this variable is set interactively, the change won't be ac‐
4535 tive until you change folders.
4536 Note that this use of RFC2047's encoding is explicitly prohib‐
4538 ited by the standard, but nevertheless encountered in the wild.
4539 Also note that setting this parameter will not have the effect
4541 that mutt generates this kind of encoding. Instead, mutt will
4542 unconditionally use the encoding specified in RFC2231.
4543 save_address
4547 Type: boolean
4548 Default: no
4549 If set, mutt will take the sender's full address when choosing a
4551 default folder for saving a mail. If $save_name or $force_name
4552 is set too, the selection of the Fcc folder will be changed as
4553 well.
4554 save_empty
4558 Type: boolean
4559 Default: yes
4560 When unset, mailboxes which contain no saved messages will be
4562 removed when closed (the exception is $spoolfile which is never
4563 removed). If set, mailboxes are never removed.
4564 Note: This only applies to mbox and MMDF folders, Mutt does not
4566 delete MH and Maildir directories.
4567 save_history
4571 Type: number
4572 Default: 0
4573 This variable controls the size of the history (per category)
4575 saved in the $history_file file.
4576 save_name
4580 Type: boolean
4581 Default: no
4582 This variable controls how copies of outgoing messages are
4584 saved. When set, a check is made to see if a mailbox specified
4585 by the recipient address exists (this is done by searching for a
4586 mailbox in the $folder directory with the username part of the
4587 recipient address). If the mailbox exists, the outgoing message
4588 will be saved to that mailbox, otherwise the message is saved to
4589 the $record mailbox.
4590 Also see the $force_name variable.
4592 score
4596 Type: boolean
4597 Default: yes
4598 When this variable is unset, scoring is turned off. This can be
4600 useful to selectively disable scoring for certain folders when
4601 the $score_threshold_delete variable and related are used.
4602 score_threshold_delete
4606 Type: number
4607 Default: -1
4608 Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than
4610 the value of this variable are automatically marked for deletion
4611 by mutt. Since mutt scores are always greater than or equal to
4612 zero, the default setting of this variable will never mark a
4613 message for deletion.
4614 score_threshold_flag
4618 Type: number
4619 Default: 9999
4620 Messages which have been assigned a score greater than or equal
4622 to this variable's value are automatically marked ”flagged”.
4623 score_threshold_read
4627 Type: number
4628 Default: -1
4629 Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than
4631 the value of this variable are automatically marked as read by
4632 mutt. Since mutt scores are always greater than or equal to
4633 zero, the default setting of this variable will never mark a
4634 message read.
4635 search_context
4639 Type: number
4640 Default: 0
4641 For the pager, this variable specifies the number of lines shown
4643 before search results. By default, search results will be
4644 top-aligned.
4645 send_charset
4649 Type: string
4650 Default: “us-ascii:iso-8859-1:utf-8”
4651 A colon-delimited list of character sets for outgoing messages.
4653 Mutt will use the first character set into which the text can be
4654 converted exactly. If your $charset is not “iso-8859-1” and re‐
4655 cipients may not understand “UTF-8”, it is advisable to include
4656 in the list an appropriate widely used standard character set
4657 (such as “iso-8859-2”, “koi8-r” or “iso-2022-jp”) either instead
4658 of or after “iso-8859-1”.
4659 In case the text cannot be converted into one of these exactly,
4661 mutt uses $charset as a fallback.
4662 send_multipart_alternative
4666 Type: quadoption
4667 Default: no
4668 If set, Mutt will generate a multipart/alternative container and
4670 an alternative part using the filter script specified in
4671 $send_multipart_alternative_filter. See the section “MIME Mul‐
4672 tipart/Alternative” (alternative-order).
4673 Note that enabling multipart/alternative is not compatible with
4675 inline PGP encryption. Mutt will prompt to use PGP/MIME in that
4676 case.
4677 send_multipart_alternative_filter
4681 Type: path
4682 Default: “”
4683 This specifies a filter script, which will convert the main
4685 (composed) message of the email to an alternative format. The
4686 message will be piped to the filter's stdin. The expected out‐
4687 put of the filter is the generated mime type, e.g. text/html,
4688 followed by a blank line, and then the converted content. See
4689 the section “MIME Multipart/Alternative” (alternative-order).
4690 sendmail
4694 Type: path
4695 Default: “/usr/sbin/sendmail -oem -oi”
4696 Specifies the program and arguments used to deliver mail sent by
4698 Mutt. Mutt expects that the specified program interprets addi‐
4699 tional arguments as recipient addresses. Mutt appends all re‐
4700 cipients after adding a -- delimiter (if not already present).
4701 Additional flags, such as for $use_8bitmime, $use_envelope_from,
4702 $dsn_notify, or $dsn_return will be added before the delimiter.
4703 See also: $write_bcc.
4705 sendmail_wait
4709 Type: number
4710 Default: 0
4711 Specifies the number of seconds to wait for the $sendmail
4713 process to finish before giving up and putting delivery in the
4714 background.
4715 Mutt interprets the value of this variable as follows:
4717 >0 number of seconds to wait for sendmail to finish before
4718 continuing
4719 0 wait forever for sendmail to finish
4720 <0 always put sendmail in the background without waiting
4721 Note that if you specify a value other than 0, the output of the
4723 child process will be put in a temporary file. If there is some
4724 error, you will be informed as to where to find the output.
4725 shell
4729 Type: path
4730 Default: “”
4731 Command to use when spawning a subshell. By default, the user's
4733 login shell from /etc/passwd is used.
4734 sidebar_delim_chars
4738 Type: string
4739 Default: “/.”
4740 This contains the list of characters which you would like to
4742 treat as folder separators for displaying paths in the sidebar.
4743 Local mail is often arranged in directories: `dir1/dir2/mail‐
4745 box'.
4746 set sidebar_delim_chars='/'
4749 IMAP mailboxes are often named: `folder1.folder2.mailbox'.
4752 set sidebar_delim_chars='.'
4755 See also: $sidebar_short_path, $sidebar_folder_indent, $side‐
4758 bar_indent_string.
4759 sidebar_divider_char
4763 Type: string
4764 Default: “|”
4765 This specifies the characters to be drawn between the sidebar
4767 (when visible) and the other Mutt panels. ASCII and Unicode
4768 line-drawing characters are supported.
4769 sidebar_folder_indent
4773 Type: boolean
4774 Default: no
4775 Set this to indent mailboxes in the sidebar.
4777 See also: $sidebar_short_path, $sidebar_indent_string, $side‐
4779 bar_delim_chars.
4780 sidebar_format
4784 Type: string
4785 Default: “%B%* %n”
4786 This variable allows you to customize the sidebar display. This
4788 string is similar to $index_format, but has its own set of
4789 printf(3)-like sequences:
4790 %B Name of the mailbox
4791 %S * Size of mailbox (total number of messages)
4792 %N * Number of unread messages in the mailbox
4793 %n N if mailbox has new mail, blank otherwise
4794 %F * Number of Flagged messages in the mailbox
4795 %! “!” : one flagged message; “!!” : two flagged messages;
4796 “n!” : n flagged messages (for n > 2). Otherwise prints
4797 nothing.
4798 %d * @ Number of deleted messages
4799 %L * @ Number of messages after limiting
4800 %t * @ Number of tagged messages
4801 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with “X”
4802 %|X pad to the end of the line with “X”
4803 %*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
4804 * = Can be optionally printed if nonzero @ = Only applicable to
4806 the current folder
4807 In order to use %S, %N, %F, and %!, $mail_check_stats must be
4809 set. When thus set, a suggested value for this option is
4810 ”%B%?F? [%F]?%* %?N?%N/?%S”.
4811 sidebar_indent_string
4815 Type: string
4816 Default: “ ”
4817 This specifies the string that is used to indent mailboxes in
4819 the sidebar. It defaults to two spaces.
4820 See also: $sidebar_short_path, $sidebar_folder_indent, $side‐
4822 bar_delim_chars.
4823 sidebar_new_mail_only
4827 Type: boolean
4828 Default: no
4829 When set, the sidebar will only display mailboxes containing
4831 new, or flagged, mail.
4832 See also: sidebar_whitelist.
4834 sidebar_next_new_wrap
4838 Type: boolean
4839 Default: no
4840 When set, the <sidebar-next-new> command will not stop and the
4842 end of the list of mailboxes, but wrap around to the beginning.
4843 The <sidebar-prev-new> command is similarly affected, wrapping
4844 around to the end of the list.
4845 sidebar_relative_shortpath_indent
4849 Type: boolean
4850 Default: no
4851 When set, this option changes how $sidebar_short_path and $side‐
4853 bar_folder_indent perform shortening and indentation: both will
4854 look at the previous sidebar entries and shorten/indent relative
4855 to the most recent parent.
4856 An example of this option set/unset for mailboxes listed in this
4858 order, with $sidebar_short_path=yes, $sidebar_folder_indent=yes,
4859 and $sidebar_indent_string=”→”:
4860 mailbox
4861 set unset
4862 =a.b =a.b →b
4863 =a.b.c.d
4864 →c.d →→→d
4865 =a.b.e →e →→e
4866 The second line illustrates most clearly. With this option set,
4868 =a.b.c.d is shortened relative to =a.b, becoming c.d; it is also
4869 indented one place relative to =a.b. With this option unset
4870 =a.b.c.d is always shortened to the last part of the mailbox, d
4871 and is indented three places, with respect to $folder (repre‐
4872 sented by '=').
4873 When set, the third line will also be indented and shortened
4875 relative to the first line.
4876 sidebar_short_path
4880 Type: boolean
4881 Default: no
4882 By default the sidebar will show the mailbox's path, relative to
4884 the $folder variable. Setting sidebar_shortpath=yes will shorten
4885 the names relative to the previous name. Here's an example:
4886 shortpath=no
4887 shortpath=yes shortpath=yes, folderindent=yes, in‐
4888 dentstr=”..”
4889 fruit fruit fruit
4890 fruit.apple
4891 apple ..apple
4892 fruit.banana
4893 banana ..banana
4894 fruit.cherry
4895 cherry ..cherry
4896 See also: $sidebar_delim_chars, $sidebar_folder_indent, $side‐
4898 bar_indent_string.
4899 sidebar_sort_method
4903 Type: sort order
4904 Default: order
4905 Specifies how to sort mailbox entries in the sidebar. By de‐
4907 fault, the entries are sorted alphabetically. Valid values:
4908 ‐ alpha (alphabetically)
4909 ‐ count (all message count)
4910 ‐ flagged (flagged message count)
4911 ‐ name (alphabetically)
4912 ‐ new (unread message count)
4913 ‐ path (alphabetically)
4914 ‐ unread (unread message count)
4915 ‐ unsorted
4916 You may optionally use the “reverse-” prefix to specify reverse
4918 sorting order (example: “set sidebar_sort_method=reverse-al‐
4919 pha”).
4920 sidebar_use_mailbox_shortcuts
4924 Type: boolean
4925 Default: no
4926 When set, sidebar mailboxes will be displayed with mailbox
4928 shortcut prefixes ”=” or ”~”.
4929 When unset, the sidebar will trim off a matching $folder prefix
4931 but otherwise not use mailbox shortcuts.
4932 sidebar_visible
4936 Type: boolean
4937 Default: no
4938 This specifies whether or not to show sidebar. The sidebar shows
4940 a list of all your mailboxes.
4941 See also: $sidebar_format, $sidebar_width
4943 sidebar_width
4947 Type: number
4948 Default: 30
4949 This controls the width of the sidebar. It is measured in
4951 screen columns. For example: sidebar_width=20 could display 20
4952 ASCII characters, or 10 Chinese characters.
4953 sig_dashes
4957 Type: boolean
4958 Default: yes
4959 If set, a line containing “-- ” (note the trailing space) will
4961 be inserted before your $signature. It is strongly recommended
4962 that you not unset this variable unless your signature contains
4963 just your name. The reason for this is because many software
4964 packages use “-- \n” to detect your signature. For example,
4965 Mutt has the ability to highlight the signature in a different
4966 color in the built-in pager.
4967 sig_on_top
4971 Type: boolean
4972 Default: no
4973 If set, the signature will be included before any quoted or for‐
4975 warded text. It is strongly recommended that you do not set
4976 this variable unless you really know what you are doing, and are
4977 prepared to take some heat from netiquette guardians.
4978 signature
4982 Type: path
4983 Default: “~/.signature”
4984 Specifies the filename of your signature, which is appended to
4986 all outgoing messages. If the filename ends with a pipe (“|”),
4987 it is assumed that filename is a shell command and input should
4988 be read from its standard output.
4989 simple_search
4993 Type: string
4994 Default: “~f %s | ~s %s”
4995 Specifies how Mutt should expand a simple search into a real
4997 search pattern. A simple search is one that does not contain
4998 any of the “~” pattern modifiers. See “patterns” for more in‐
4999 formation on search patterns.
5000 For example, if you simply type “joe” at a search or limit
5002 prompt, Mutt will automatically expand it to the value specified
5003 by this variable by replacing “%s” with the supplied string.
5004 For the default value, “joe” would be expanded to: “~f joe | ~s
5005 joe”.
5006 size_show_bytes
5010 Type: boolean
5011 Default: no
5012 If set, message sizes will display bytes for values less than 1
5014 kilobyte. See formatstrings-size.
5015 size_show_fractions
5019 Type: boolean
5020 Default: yes
5021 If set, message sizes will be displayed with a single decimal
5023 value for sizes from 0 to 10 kilobytes and 1 to 10 megabytes.
5024 See formatstrings-size.
5025 size_show_mb
5029 Type: boolean
5030 Default: yes
5031 If set, message sizes will display megabytes for values greater
5033 than or equal to 1 megabyte. See formatstrings-size.
5034 size_units_on_left
5038 Type: boolean
5039 Default: no
5040 If set, message sizes units will be displayed to the left of the
5042 number. See formatstrings-size.
5043 sleep_time
5047 Type: number
5048 Default: 1
5049 Specifies time, in seconds, to pause while displaying certain
5051 informational messages, while moving from folder to folder and
5052 after expunging messages from the current folder. The default
5053 is to pause one second, so a value of zero for this option sup‐
5054 presses the pause.
5055 smart_wrap
5059 Type: boolean
5060 Default: yes
5061 Controls the display of lines longer than the screen width in
5063 the internal pager. If set, long lines are wrapped at a word
5064 boundary. If unset, lines are simply wrapped at the screen
5065 edge. Also see the $markers variable.
5066 smileys
5070 Type: regular expression
5071 Default: “(>From )|(:[-^]?[][)(><}{|/DP])”
5072 The pager uses this variable to catch some common false posi‐
5074 tives of $quote_regexp, most notably smileys and not consider a
5075 line quoted text if it also matches $smileys. This mostly hap‐
5076 pens at the beginning of a line.
5077 smime_ask_cert_label
5081 Type: boolean
5082 Default: yes
5083 This flag controls whether you want to be asked to enter a label
5085 for a certificate about to be added to the database or not. It
5086 is set by default. (S/MIME only)
5087 smime_ca_location
5091 Type: path
5092 Default: “”
5093 This variable contains the name of either a directory, or a file
5095 which contains trusted certificates for use with OpenSSL.
5096 (S/MIME only)
5097 smime_certificates
5101 Type: path
5102 Default: “”
5103 Since for S/MIME there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, mutt
5105 has to handle storage and retrieval of keys by itself. This is
5106 very basic right now, and keys and certificates are stored in
5107 two different directories, both named as the hash-value re‐
5108 trieved from OpenSSL. There is an index file which contains
5109 mailbox-address keyid pairs, and which can be manually edited.
5110 This option points to the location of the certificates. (S/MIME
5111 only)
5112 smime_decrypt_command
5116 Type: string
5117 Default: “”
5118 This format string specifies a command which is used to decrypt
5120 application/x-pkcs7-mime attachments.
5121 The OpenSSL command formats have their own set of printf(3)-like
5123 sequences similar to PGP's:
5124 %f Expands to the name of a file containing a message.
5125 %s Expands to the name of a file containing the signature
5126 part
5127 of a multipart/signed attachment when verify‐
5128 ing it.
5129 %k The key-pair specified with $smime_default_key
5130 %c One or more certificate IDs.
5131 %a The algorithm used for encryption.
5132 %d The message digest algorithm specified with
5133 $smime_sign_digest_alg.
5134 %C CA location: Depending on whether $smime_ca_location
5135 points to a directory or file, this expands to
5136 “-CApath $smime_ca_location” or “-CAfile
5137 $smime_ca_location”.
5138 For examples on how to configure these formats, see the smime.rc
5140 in the samples/ subdirectory which has been installed on your
5141 system alongside the documentation. (S/MIME only)
5142 smime_decrypt_use_default_key
5146 Type: boolean
5147 Default: yes
5148 If set (default) this tells mutt to use the default key for de‐
5150 cryption. Otherwise, if managing multiple certificate-key-pairs,
5151 mutt will try to use the mailbox-address to determine the key to
5152 use. It will ask you to supply a key, if it can't find one.
5153 (S/MIME only)
5154 smime_default_key
5158 Type: string
5159 Default: “”
5160 This is the default key-pair to use for S/MIME operations, and
5162 must be set to the keyid (the hash-value that OpenSSL generates)
5163 to work properly.
5164 It will be used for encryption (see $postpone_encrypt and
5166 $smime_self_encrypt). If GPGME is enabled, this is the key id
5167 displayed by gpgsm.
5168 It will be used for decryption unless $smime_decrypt_use_de‐
5170 fault_key is unset.
5171 It will also be used for signing unless $smime_sign_as is set.
5173 The (now deprecated) smime_self_encrypt_as is an alias for this
5175 variable, and should no longer be used. (S/MIME only)
5176 smime_encrypt_command
5180 Type: string
5181 Default: “”
5182 This command is used to create encrypted S/MIME messages.
5184 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5186 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5187 smime_encrypt_with
5191 Type: string
5192 Default: “aes256”
5193 This sets the algorithm that should be used for encryption.
5195 Valid choices are “aes128”, “aes192”, “aes256”, “des”, “des3”,
5196 “rc2-40”, “rc2-64”, “rc2-128”. (S/MIME only)
5197 smime_get_cert_command
5201 Type: string
5202 Default: “”
5203 This command is used to extract X509 certificates from a PKCS7
5205 structure.
5206 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5208 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5209 smime_get_cert_email_command
5213 Type: string
5214 Default: “”
5215 This command is used to extract the mail address(es) used for
5217 storing X509 certificates, and for verification purposes (to
5218 check whether the certificate was issued for the sender's mail‐
5219 box).
5220 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5222 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5223 smime_get_signer_cert_command
5227 Type: string
5228 Default: “”
5229 This command is used to extract only the signers X509 certifi‐
5231 cate from a S/MIME signature, so that the certificate's owner
5232 may get compared to the email's “From:” field.
5233 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5235 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5236 smime_import_cert_command
5240 Type: string
5241 Default: “”
5242 This command is used to import a certificate via smime_keys.
5244 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5246 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5247 smime_is_default
5251 Type: boolean
5252 Default: no
5253 The default behavior of mutt is to use PGP on all auto-sign/en‐
5255 cryption operations. To override and to use OpenSSL instead this
5256 must be set. However, this has no effect while replying, since
5257 mutt will automatically select the same application that was
5258 used to sign/encrypt the original message. (Note that this
5259 variable can be overridden by unsetting $crypt_autosmime.)
5260 (S/MIME only)
5261 smime_keys
5265 Type: path
5266 Default: “”
5267 Since for S/MIME there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, mutt
5269 has to handle storage and retrieval of keys/certs by itself.
5270 This is very basic right now, and stores keys and certificates
5271 in two different directories, both named as the hash-value re‐
5272 trieved from OpenSSL. There is an index file which contains
5273 mailbox-address keyid pair, and which can be manually edited.
5274 This option points to the location of the private keys. (S/MIME
5275 only)
5276 smime_pk7out_command
5280 Type: string
5281 Default: “”
5282 This command is used to extract PKCS7 structures of S/MIME sig‐
5284 natures, in order to extract the public X509 certificate(s).
5285 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5287 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5288 smime_self_encrypt
5292 Type: boolean
5293 Default: yes
5294 When set, S/MIME encrypted messages will also be encrypted using
5296 the certificate in $smime_default_key. (S/MIME only)
5297 smime_sign_as
5301 Type: string
5302 Default: “”
5303 If you have a separate key to use for signing, you should set
5305 this to the signing key. Most people will only need to set
5306 $smime_default_key. (S/MIME only)
5307 smime_sign_command
5311 Type: string
5312 Default: “”
5313 This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type multi‐
5315 part/signed, which can be read by all mail clients.
5316 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5318 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. NOTE: %c and %k will de‐
5319 fault to $smime_sign_as if set, otherwise $smime_default_key.
5320 (S/MIME only)
5321 smime_sign_digest_alg
5325 Type: string
5326 Default: “sha256”
5327 This sets the algorithm that should be used for the signature
5329 message digest. Valid choices are “md5”, “sha1”, “sha224”,
5330 “sha256”, “sha384”, “sha512”. (S/MIME only)
5331 smime_sign_opaque_command
5335 Type: string
5336 Default: “”
5337 This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type appli‐
5339 cation/x-pkcs7-signature, which can only be handled by mail
5340 clients supporting the S/MIME extension.
5341 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5343 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5344 smime_timeout
5348 Type: number (long)
5349 Default: 300
5350 The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will ex‐
5352 pire if not used. (S/MIME only)
5353 smime_verify_command
5357 Type: string
5358 Default: “”
5359 This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type multi‐
5361 part/signed.
5362 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5364 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5365 smime_verify_opaque_command
5369 Type: string
5370 Default: “”
5371 This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type appli‐
5373 cation/x-pkcs7-mime.
5374 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5376 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5377 smtp_authenticators
5381 Type: string
5382 Default: “”
5383 This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt
5385 may attempt to use to log in to an SMTP server, in the order
5386 mutt should try them. Authentication methods are any SASL mech‐
5387 anism, e.g. “digest-md5”, “gssapi” or “cram-md5”. This option
5388 is case-insensitive. If it is “unset” (the default) mutt will
5389 try all available methods, in order from most-secure to
5390 least-secure.
5391 Example:
5393 set smtp_authenticators=”digest-md5:cram-md5”
5396 smtp_oauth_refresh_command
5401 Type: string
5402 Default: “”
5403 The command to run to generate an OAUTH refresh token for autho‐
5405 rizing your connection to your SMTP server. This command will
5406 be run on every connection attempt that uses the OAUTHBEARER au‐
5407 thentication mechanism. See “oauth” for details.
5408 smtp_pass
5412 Type: string
5413 Default: “”
5414 Specifies the password for your SMTP account. If unset, Mutt
5416 will prompt you for your password when you first send mail via
5417 SMTP. See $smtp_url to configure mutt to send mail via SMTP.
5418 Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a
5420 fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your mut‐
5421 trc even if you are the only one who can read the file.
5422 smtp_url
5426 Type: string
5427 Default: “”
5428 Defines the SMTP smarthost where sent messages should relayed
5430 for delivery. This should take the form of an SMTP URL, e.g.:
5431 smtp[s]://[user[:pass]@]host[:port]
5434 where “[...]” denotes an optional part. Setting this variable
5437 overrides the value of the $sendmail variable.
5438 Also see $write_bcc.
5440 sort
5444 Type: sort order
5445 Default: date
5446 Specifies how to sort messages in the “index” menu. Valid val‐
5448 ues are:
5449 ‐ date or date-sent
5450 ‐ date-received
5451 ‐ from
5452 ‐ mailbox-order (unsorted)
5453 ‐ score
5454 ‐ size
5455 ‐ spam
5456 ‐ subject
5457 ‐ threads
5458 ‐ to
5459 You may optionally use the “reverse-” prefix to specify reverse
5461 sorting order (example: “set sort=reverse-date-sent”).
5462 sort_alias
5466 Type: sort order
5467 Default: alias
5468 Specifies how the entries in the “alias” menu are sorted. The
5470 following are legal values:
5471 ‐ address (sort alphabetically by email address)
5472 ‐ alias (sort alphabetically by alias name)
5473 ‐ unsorted (leave in order specified in .muttrc)
5474 sort_aux
5477 Type: sort order
5478 Default: date
5479 This provides a secondary sort for messages in the “index” menu,
5481 used when the $sort value is equal for two messages.
5482 When sorting by threads, this variable controls how threads are
5484 sorted in relation to other threads, and how the branches of the
5485 thread trees are sorted. This can be set to any value that
5486 $sort can, except “threads” (in that case, mutt will just use
5487 “date-sent”). You can also specify the “last-” prefix in addi‐
5488 tion to the “reverse-” prefix, but “last-” must come after “re‐
5489 verse-”. The “last-” prefix causes messages to be sorted
5490 against its siblings by which has the last descendant, using the
5491 rest of $sort_aux as an ordering. For instance,
5492 set sort_aux=last-date-received
5495 would mean that if a new message is received in a thread, that
5498 thread becomes the last one displayed (or the first, if you have
5499 “set sort=reverse-threads”.)
5500 Note: For reversed-threads $sort order, $sort_aux is reversed
5502 again (which is not the right thing to do, but kept to not break
5503 any existing configuration setting).
5504 sort_browser
5508 Type: sort order
5509 Default: alpha
5510 Specifies how to sort entries in the file browser. By default,
5512 the entries are sorted alphabetically. Valid values:
5513 ‐ alpha (alphabetically)
5514 ‐ count
5515 ‐ date
5516 ‐ size
5517 ‐ unread
5518 ‐ unsorted
5519 You may optionally use the “reverse-” prefix to specify reverse
5521 sorting order (example: “set sort_browser=reverse-date”).
5522 sort_re
5526 Type: boolean
5527 Default: yes
5528 This variable is only useful when sorting by threads with
5530 $strict_threads unset. In that case, it changes the heuristic
5531 mutt uses to thread messages by subject. With $sort_re set,
5532 mutt will only attach a message as the child of another message
5533 by subject if the subject of the child message starts with a
5534 substring matching the setting of $reply_regexp. With $sort_re
5535 unset, mutt will attach the message whether or not this is the
5536 case, as long as the non-$reply_regexp parts of both messages
5537 are identical.
5538 spam_separator
5542 Type: string
5543 Default: “,”
5544 This variable controls what happens when multiple spam headers
5546 are matched: if unset, each successive header will overwrite any
5547 previous matches value for the spam label. If set, each succes‐
5548 sive match will append to the previous, using this variable's
5549 value as a separator.
5550 spoolfile
5554 Type: path
5555 Default: “”
5556 If your spool mailbox is in a non-default place where Mutt can‐
5558 not find it, you can specify its location with this variable.
5559 Mutt will initially set this variable to the value of the envi‐
5560 ronment variable $MAIL or $MAILDIR if either is defined.
5561 ssl_ca_certificates_file
5565 Type: path
5566 Default: “/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt”
5567 This variable specifies a file containing trusted CA certifi‐
5569 cates. Any server certificate that is signed with one of these
5570 CA certificates is also automatically accepted. (GnuTLS only)
5571 Example:
5573 set ssl_ca_certificates_file=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
5576 ssl_client_cert
5581 Type: path
5582 Default: “”
5583 The file containing a client certificate and its associated pri‐
5585 vate key.
5586 ssl_force_tls
5590 Type: boolean
5591 Default: yes
5592 If this variable is set, Mutt will require that all connections
5594 to remote servers be encrypted. Furthermore it will attempt to
5595 negotiate TLS even if the server does not advertise the capabil‐
5596 ity, since it would otherwise have to abort the connection any‐
5597 way. This option supersedes $ssl_starttls.
5598 ssl_min_dh_prime_bits
5602 Type: number
5603 Default: 0
5604 This variable specifies the minimum acceptable prime size (in
5606 bits) for use in any Diffie-Hellman key exchange. A value of 0
5607 will use the default from the GNUTLS library. (GnuTLS only)
5608 ssl_starttls
5612 Type: quadoption
5613 Default: yes
5614 If set (the default), mutt will attempt to use STARTTLS on
5616 servers advertising the capability. When unset, mutt will not
5617 attempt to use STARTTLS regardless of the server's capabilities.
5618 Note that STARTTLS is subject to many kinds of attacks, includ‐
5620 ing the ability of a machine-in-the-middle to suppress the ad‐
5621 vertising of support. Setting $ssl_force_tls is recommended if
5622 you rely on STARTTLS.
5623 ssl_use_sslv2
5627 Type: boolean
5628 Default: no
5629 If set , Mutt will use SSLv2 when communicating with servers
5631 that request it. N.B. As of 2011, SSLv2 is considered insecure,
5632 and using is inadvisable. See
5633 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6176 . (OpenSSL only)
5634 ssl_use_sslv3
5638 Type: boolean
5639 Default: no
5640 If set , Mutt will use SSLv3 when communicating with servers
5642 that request it. N.B. As of 2015, SSLv3 is considered insecure,
5643 and using it is inadvisable. See
5644 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7525 .
5645 ssl_use_tlsv1
5649 Type: boolean
5650 Default: no
5651 If set , Mutt will use TLSv1.0 when communicating with servers
5653 that request it. N.B. As of 2015, TLSv1.0 is considered inse‐
5654 cure, and using it is inadvisable. See
5655 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7525 .
5656 ssl_use_tlsv1_1
5660 Type: boolean
5661 Default: no
5662 If set , Mutt will use TLSv1.1 when communicating with servers
5664 that request it. N.B. As of 2015, TLSv1.1 is considered inse‐
5665 cure, and using it is inadvisable. See
5666 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7525 .
5667 ssl_use_tlsv1_2
5671 Type: boolean
5672 Default: yes
5673 If set , Mutt will use TLSv1.2 when communicating with servers
5675 that request it.
5676 ssl_use_tlsv1_3
5680 Type: boolean
5681 Default: yes
5682 If set , Mutt will use TLSv1.3 when communicating with servers
5684 that request it.
5685 ssl_usesystemcerts
5689 Type: boolean
5690 Default: yes
5691 If set to yes, mutt will use CA certificates in the system-wide
5693 certificate store when checking if a server certificate is
5694 signed by a trusted CA. (OpenSSL only)
5695 ssl_verify_dates
5699 Type: boolean
5700 Default: yes
5701 If set (the default), mutt will not automatically accept a
5703 server certificate that is either not yet valid or already ex‐
5704 pired. You should only unset this for particular known hosts,
5705 using the <account-hook> function.
5706 ssl_verify_host
5710 Type: boolean
5711 Default: yes
5712 If set (the default), mutt will not automatically accept a
5714 server certificate whose host name does not match the host used
5715 in your folder URL. You should only unset this for particular
5716 known hosts, using the <account-hook> function.
5717 ssl_verify_partial_chains
5721 Type: boolean
5722 Default: no
5723 This option should not be changed from the default unless you
5725 understand what you are doing.
5726 Setting this variable to yes will permit verifying partial cer‐
5728 tification chains, i. e. a certificate chain where not the root,
5729 but an intermediate certificate CA, or the host certificate, are
5730 marked trusted (in $certificate_file), without marking the root
5731 signing CA as trusted.
5732 (OpenSSL 1.0.2b and newer only).
5734 ssl_ciphers
5738 Type: string
5739 Default: “@SYSTEM”
5740 Contains a colon-separated list of ciphers to use when using
5742 SSL. For OpenSSL, see ciphers(1) for the syntax of the string.
5743 For GnuTLS, this option will be used in place of ”NORMAL” at the
5745 start of the priority string. See gnutls_priority_init(3) for
5746 the syntax and more details. (Note: GnuTLS version 2.1.7 or
5747 higher is required.)
5748 status_chars
5752 Type: string
5753 Default: “-*%A”
5754 Controls the characters used by the “%r” indicator in $sta‐
5756 tus_format. The first character is used when the mailbox is un‐
5757 changed. The second is used when the mailbox has been changed,
5758 and it needs to be resynchronized. The third is used if the
5759 mailbox is in read-only mode, or if the mailbox will not be
5760 written when exiting that mailbox (You can toggle whether to
5761 write changes to a mailbox with the <toggle-write> operation,
5762 bound by default to “%”). The fourth is used to indicate that
5763 the current folder has been opened in attach- message mode (Cer‐
5764 tain operations like composing a new mail, replying, forwarding,
5765 etc. are not permitted in this mode).
5766 status_format
5770 Type: string (localized)
5771 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?%?B? Back:%B?%?l? %l?]---(%s/%S)-%>-(%P)---”
5772 Controls the format of the status line displayed in the “index”
5774 menu. This string is similar to $index_format, but has its own
5775 set of printf(3)-like sequences:
5776 %b number of mailboxes with new mail *
5777 %B number of backgrounded editing sessions *
5778 %d number of deleted messages *
5779 %f the full pathname of the current mailbox
5780 %F number of flagged messages *
5781 %h local hostname
5782 %l size (in bytes) of the current mailbox (see format‐
5783 strings-size) *
5784 %L size (in bytes) of the messages shown (i.e., which match
5785 the current limit) (see formatstrings-size) *
5786 %m the number of messages in the mailbox *
5787 %M the number of messages shown (i.e., which match the cur‐
5788 rent limit) *
5789 %n number of new messages in the mailbox *
5790 %o number of old unread messages *
5791 %p number of postponed messages *
5792 %P percentage of the way through the index
5793 %r modified/read-only/won't-write/attach-message indicator,
5794 according to $status_chars
5795 %R number of read messages *
5796 %s current sorting mode ($sort)
5797 %S current aux sorting method ($sort_aux)
5798 %t number of tagged messages *
5799 %u number of unread messages *
5800 %v Mutt version string
5801 %V currently active limit pattern, if any *
5802 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with “X”
5803 %|X pad to the end of the line with “X”
5804 %*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
5805 For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the $index_format docu‐
5807 mentation.
5808 * = can be optionally printed if nonzero
5810 Some of the above sequences can be used to optionally print a
5812 string if their value is nonzero. For example, you may only
5813 want to see the number of flagged messages if such messages ex‐
5814 ist, since zero is not particularly meaningful. To optionally
5815 print a string based upon one of the above sequences, the fol‐
5816 lowing construct is used:
5817 %?<sequence_char>?<optional_string>?
5819 where sequence_char is a character from the table above, and op‐
5821 tional_string is the string you would like printed if se‐
5822 quence_char is nonzero. optional_string may contain other se‐
5823 quences as well as normal text, but you may not nest optional
5824 strings.
5825 Here is an example illustrating how to optionally print the num‐
5827 ber of new messages in a mailbox:
5828 %?n?%n new messages.?
5830 You can also switch between two strings using the following con‐
5832 struct:
5833 %?<sequence_char>?<if_string>&<else_string>?
5835 If the value of sequence_char is non-zero, if_string will be ex‐
5837 panded, otherwise else_string will be expanded.
5838 You can force the result of any printf(3)-like sequence to be
5840 lowercase by prefixing the sequence character with an underscore
5841 (“_”) sign. For example, if you want to display the local host‐
5842 name in lowercase, you would use: “%_h”.
5843 If you prefix the sequence character with a colon (“:”) charac‐
5845 ter, mutt will replace any dots in the expansion by underscores.
5846 This might be helpful with IMAP folders that don't like dots in
5847 folder names.
5848 status_on_top
5852 Type: boolean
5853 Default: no
5854 Setting this variable causes the “status bar” to be displayed on
5856 the first line of the screen rather than near the bottom. If
5857 $help is set, too it'll be placed at the bottom.
5858 strict_threads
5862 Type: boolean
5863 Default: no
5864 If set, threading will only make use of the “In-Reply-To” and
5866 “References:” fields when you $sort by message threads. By de‐
5867 fault, messages with the same subject are grouped together in
5868 “pseudo threads.”. This may not always be desirable, such as in
5869 a personal mailbox where you might have several unrelated mes‐
5870 sages with the subjects like “hi” which will get grouped to‐
5871 gether. See also $sort_re for a less drastic way of controlling
5872 this behavior.
5873 suspend
5877 Type: boolean
5878 Default: yes
5879 When unset, mutt won't stop when the user presses the terminal's
5881 susp key, usually “^Z”. This is useful if you run mutt inside an
5882 xterm using a command like “xterm -e mutt”.
5883 text_flowed
5887 Type: boolean
5888 Default: no
5889 When set, mutt will generate “format=flowed” bodies with a con‐
5891 tent type of “text/plain; format=flowed”. This format is easier
5892 to handle for some mailing software, and generally just looks
5893 like ordinary text. To actually make use of this format's fea‐
5894 tures, you'll need support in your editor.
5895 The option only controls newly composed messages. Postponed
5897 messages, resent messages, and draft messages (via -H on the
5898 command line) will use the content-type of the source message.
5899 Note that $indent_string is ignored when this option is set.
5901 thorough_search
5905 Type: boolean
5906 Default: yes
5907 Affects the ~b and ~h search operations described in section
5909 “patterns”. If set, the headers and body/attachments of mes‐
5910 sages to be searched are decoded before searching. If unset,
5911 messages are searched as they appear in the folder.
5912 Users searching attachments or for non-ASCII characters should
5914 set this value because decoding also includes MIME parsing/de‐
5915 coding and possible character set conversions. Otherwise mutt
5916 will attempt to match against the raw message received (for ex‐
5917 ample quoted-printable encoded or with encoded headers) which
5918 may lead to incorrect search results.
5919 thread_received
5923 Type: boolean
5924 Default: no
5925 When set, mutt uses the date received rather than the date sent
5927 to thread messages by subject.
5928 tilde
5932 Type: boolean
5933 Default: no
5934 When set, the internal-pager will pad blank lines to the bottom
5936 of the screen with a tilde (“~”).
5937 time_inc
5941 Type: number
5942 Default: 0
5943 Along with $read_inc, $write_inc, and $net_inc, this variable
5945 controls the frequency with which progress updates are dis‐
5946 played. It suppresses updates less than $time_inc milliseconds
5947 apart. This can improve throughput on systems with slow termi‐
5948 nals, or when running mutt on a remote system.
5949 Also see the “tuning” section of the manual for performance con‐
5951 siderations.
5952 timeout
5956 Type: number
5957 Default: 600
5958 When Mutt is waiting for user input either idling in menus or in
5960 an interactive prompt, Mutt would block until input is present.
5961 Depending on the context, this would prevent certain operations
5962 from working, like checking for new mail or keeping an IMAP con‐
5963 nection alive.
5964 This variable controls how many seconds Mutt will at most wait
5966 until it aborts waiting for input, performs these operations and
5967 continues to wait for input.
5968 A value of zero or less will cause Mutt to never time out.
5970 tmpdir
5974 Type: path
5975 Default: “”
5976 This variable allows you to specify where Mutt will place its
5978 temporary files needed for displaying and composing messages.
5979 If this variable is not set, the environment variable $TMPDIR is
5980 used. If $TMPDIR is not set then “/tmp” is used.
5981 to_chars
5985 Type: string
5986 Default: “ +TCFL”
5987 Controls the character used to indicate mail addressed to you.
5989 The first character is the one used when the mail is not ad‐
5990 dressed to your address. The second is used when you are the
5991 only recipient of the message. The third is when your address
5992 appears in the “To:” header field, but you are not the only re‐
5993 cipient of the message. The fourth character is used when your
5994 address is specified in the “Cc:” header field, but you are not
5995 the only recipient. The fifth character is used to indicate
5996 mail that was sent by you. The sixth character is used to indi‐
5997 cate when a mail was sent to a mailing-list you subscribe to.
5998 trash
6002 Type: path
6003 Default: “”
6004 If set, this variable specifies the path of the trash folder
6006 where the mails marked for deletion will be moved, instead of
6007 being irremediably purged.
6008 NOTE: When you delete a message in the trash folder, it is re‐
6010 ally deleted, so that you have a way to clean the trash.
6011 ts_icon_format
6015 Type: string (localized)
6016 Default: “M%?n?AIL&ail?”
6017 Controls the format of the icon title, as long as “$ts_enabled”
6019 is set. This string is identical in formatting to the one used
6020 by “$status_format”.
6021 ts_enabled
6025 Type: boolean
6026 Default: no
6027 Controls whether mutt tries to set the terminal status line and
6029 icon name. Most terminal emulators emulate the status line in
6030 the window title.
6031 ts_status_format
6035 Type: string (localized)
6036 Default: “Mutt with %?m?%m messages&no messages?%?n? [%n NEW]?”
6037 Controls the format of the terminal status line (or window ti‐
6039 tle), provided that “$ts_enabled” has been set. This string is
6040 identical in formatting to the one used by “$status_format”.
6041 tunnel
6045 Type: string
6046 Default: “”
6047 Setting this variable will cause mutt to open a pipe to a com‐
6049 mand instead of a raw socket. You may be able to use this to set
6050 up preauthenticated connections to your IMAP/POP3/SMTP server.
6051 Example:
6052 set tunnel=”ssh -q mailhost.net /usr/local/libexec/imapd”
6055 Note: For this example to work you must be able to log in to the
6058 remote machine without having to enter a password.
6059 When set, Mutt uses the tunnel for all remote connections.
6061 Please see “account-hook” in the manual for how to use different
6062 tunnel commands per connection.
6063 tunnel_is_secure
6067 Type: boolean
6068 Default: yes
6069 When set, Mutt will assume the $tunnel connection does not need
6071 STARTTLS to be enabled. It will also allow IMAP PREAUTH server
6072 responses inside a tunnel to proceed. This is appropriate if
6073 $tunnel uses ssh or directly invokes the server locally.
6074 When unset, Mutt will negotiate STARTTLS according to the
6076 ssl_starttls and ssl_force_tls variables. If ssl_force_tls is
6077 set, Mutt will abort connecting if an IMAP server responds with
6078 PREAUTH. This setting is appropriate if $tunnel does not pro‐
6079 vide security and could be tampered with by attackers.
6080 uncollapse_jump
6084 Type: boolean
6085 Default: no
6086 When set, Mutt will jump to the next unread message, if any,
6088 when the current thread is uncollapsed.
6089 uncollapse_new
6093 Type: boolean
6094 Default: yes
6095 When set, Mutt will automatically uncollapse any collapsed
6097 thread that receives a new message. When unset, collapsed
6098 threads will remain collapsed. the presence of the new message
6099 will still affect index sorting, though.
6100 use_8bitmime
6104 Type: boolean
6105 Default: no
6106 Warning: do not set this variable unless you are using a version
6108 of sendmail which supports the -B8BITMIME flag (such as sendmail
6109 8.8.x) or you may not be able to send mail.
6110 When set, Mutt will invoke $sendmail with the -B8BITMIME flag
6112 when sending 8-bit messages to enable ESMTP negotiation.
6113 use_domain
6117 Type: boolean
6118 Default: yes
6119 When set, Mutt will qualify all local addresses (ones without
6121 the “@host” portion) with the value of $hostname. If unset, no
6122 addresses will be qualified.
6123 use_envelope_from
6127 Type: boolean
6128 Default: no
6129 When set, mutt will set the envelope sender of the message. If
6131 $envelope_from_address is set, it will be used as the sender ad‐
6132 dress. If unset, mutt will attempt to derive the sender from the
6133 “From:” header.
6134 Note that this information is passed to sendmail command using
6136 the -f command line switch. Therefore setting this option is not
6137 useful if the $sendmail variable already contains -f or if the
6138 executable pointed to by $sendmail doesn't support the -f
6139 switch.
6140 use_from
6144 Type: boolean
6145 Default: yes
6146 When set, Mutt will generate the “From:” header field when send‐
6148 ing messages. If unset, no “From:” header field will be gener‐
6149 ated unless the user explicitly sets one using the “my_hdr” com‐
6150 mand.
6151 use_ipv6
6155 Type: boolean
6156 Default: yes
6157 When set, Mutt will look for IPv6 addresses of hosts it tries to
6159 contact. If this option is unset, Mutt will restrict itself to
6160 IPv4 addresses. Normally, the default should work.
6161 user_agent
6165 Type: boolean
6166 Default: no
6167 When set, mutt will add a “User-Agent:” header to outgoing mes‐
6169 sages, indicating which version of mutt was used for composing
6170 them.
6171 visual
6175 Type: path
6176 Default: “”
6177 Specifies the visual editor to invoke when the “~v” command is
6179 given in the built-in editor.
6180 wait_key
6184 Type: boolean
6185 Default: yes
6186 Controls whether Mutt will ask you to press a key after an ex‐
6188 ternal command has been invoked by these functions: <shell-es‐
6189 cape>, <pipe-message>, <pipe-entry>, <print-message>, and
6190 <print-entry> commands.
6191 It is also used when viewing attachments with “auto_view”, pro‐
6193 vided that the corresponding mailcap entry has a needsterminal
6194 flag, and the external program is interactive.
6195 When set, Mutt will always ask for a key. When unset, Mutt will
6197 wait for a key only if the external command returned a non-zero
6198 status.
6199 weed
6203 Type: boolean
6204 Default: yes
6205 When set, mutt will weed headers when displaying, forwarding, or
6207 replying to messages.
6208 Also see $copy_decode_weed, $pipe_decode_weed, $print_de‐
6210 code_weed.
6211 wrap
6215 Type: number
6216 Default: 0
6217 When set to a positive value, mutt will wrap text at $wrap char‐
6219 acters. When set to a negative value, mutt will wrap text so
6220 that there are $wrap characters of empty space on the right side
6221 of the terminal. Setting it to zero makes mutt wrap at the ter‐
6222 minal width.
6223 Also see $reflow_wrap.
6225 wrap_headers
6229 Type: number
6230 Default: 78
6231 This option specifies the number of characters to use for wrap‐
6233 ping an outgoing message's headers. Allowed values are between
6234 78 and 998 inclusive.
6235 Note: This option usually shouldn't be changed. RFC5233 recom‐
6237 mends a line length of 78 (the default), so please only change
6238 this setting when you know what you're doing.
6239 wrap_search
6243 Type: boolean
6244 Default: yes
6245 Controls whether searches wrap around the end.
6247 When set, searches will wrap around the first (or last) item.
6249 When unset, incremental searches will not wrap.
6250 wrapmargin
6254 Type: number
6255 Default: 0
6256 (DEPRECATED) Equivalent to setting $wrap with a negative value.
6258 write_bcc
6262 Type: boolean
6263 Default: no
6264 Controls whether mutt writes out the “Bcc:” header when prepar‐
6266 ing messages to be sent. Some MTAs, such as Exim and Courier,
6267 do not strip the “Bcc:” header; so it is advisable to leave this
6268 unset unless you have a particular need for the header to be in
6269 the sent message.
6270 If mutt is set to deliver directly via SMTP (see $smtp_url),
6272 this option does nothing: mutt will never write out the “Bcc:”
6273 header in this case.
6274 Note this option only affects the sending of messages. Fcc'ed
6276 copies of a message will always contain the “Bcc:” header if one
6277 exists.
6278 write_inc
6282 Type: number
6283 Default: 10
6284 When writing a mailbox, a message will be printed every
6286 $write_inc messages to indicate progress. If set to 0, only a
6287 single message will be displayed before writing a mailbox.
6288 Also see the $read_inc, $net_inc and $time_inc variables and the
6290 “tuning” section of the manual for performance considerations.
6291
6295 iconv(1), iconv(3), mailcap(5), maildir(5), mbox(5), mutt(1),
6296 printf(3), regex(7), strftime(3)
6297 The Mutt Manual
6299 The Mutt home page: http://www.mutt.org/
6301
6303 Michael Elkins, and others. Use <mutt-dev@mutt.org> to contact the de‐
6304 velopers.
6305Unix January 2019 muttrc(5)