1muttrc(5)                        User Manuals                        muttrc(5)
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NAME

6       muttrc - Configuration file for the Mutt Mail User Agent
7

DESCRIPTION

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
13       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
17       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
26       \ 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
31\\”  means  to insert a literal “\” into the line.  “\n” and “\r” have
32       their usual C meanings of linefeed and carriage-return, respectively.
33
34       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
38       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
42       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

COMMANDS

47       alias [-group name [...]] key address [, address [ ... ]]
48       unalias [ *  | key ]
49
50              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
59       group [-group name] [-rx EXPR [ ... ]] [-addr address [ ... ]]
60       ungroup [-group name ] [ * | [[-rx EXPR [ ... ]] [-addr address [ ... ]]]
61
62              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
73              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
77              Once defined, these address groups can be used  in  patterns  to
78              search for and limit the display to messages matching a group.
79
80       alternates [-group name] regexp [ regexp [ ... ]]
81       unalternates [ *  | regexp [ regexp [ ... ]] ]
82
83              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
91       alternative_order type[/subtype] [ ... ]
92       unalternative_order [ *  | type/subtype] [...]
93
94              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
101       attachments [ + | - ]disposition mime-type
102       unattachments [ + | - ]disposition mime-type
103       attachments ?
104       unattachments *
105
106              attachments specifies what kinds of  attachments  are  used  for
107              Mutt's attachment counting and searching support.
108
109              disposition  is  the attachment's Content-Disposition type - ei‐
110              ther inline or attachment. You can abbreviate this to I or A.
111
112              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
119              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
124              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
132              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
140       auto_view type[/subtype] [ ... ]
141       unauto_view type[/subtype] [ ... ]
142
143              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
149       mime_lookup type[/subtype] [ ... ]
150       unmime_lookup type[/subtype] [ ... ]
151
152              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
158       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
163              Valid maps are: generic, alias, attach, browser, editor,  index,
164              compose, pager, pgp, postpone, mix.
165
166              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
170       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
175       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
180       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
188              iconv-hook iso-8859-1 8859-1
189
190       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
198       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
203              When  several  folder-hooks  match a given mail folder, they are
204              executed in the order given in the configuration file.
205
206       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
211       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
216              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
228              Valid composeobjects  include  header,  security_encrypt,  secu‐
229              rity_sign, security_both, security_none.
230
231              Valid  colors include: white, black, green, magenta, blue, cyan,
232              yellow, red, default, colorN.
233
234              Valid attributes include: none, bold,  underline,  reverse,  and
235              standout.
236
237       mono object attribute [ regexp ]
238       mono index attribute [ pattern ]
239
240              For  terminals  which  don't support color, you can still assign
241              attributes to objects.
242
243       [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
248              The unignore command permits you to define exceptions  from  the
249              above mentioned list of ignored headers.
250
251       lists [-group name] regexp [ regexp ... ]
252       unlists regexp [ regexp ... ]
253       subscribe [-group name] regexp [ regexp ... ]
254       unsubscribe regexp [ regexp ... ]
255
256              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
261              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
269       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
274              The first matching mbox-hook applies.
275
276       mailboxes [[-notify | -nonotify]
277                  [-poll | -nopoll]
278                  [[-label label] | -nolabel]
279                  filename] [ ... ]
280       unmailboxes [ * | filename ... ]
281
282              The mailboxes specifies folders which can receive mail and which
283              will be checked for new messages.  When changing folders, press‐
284              ing space will cycle through folders with new mail.  The unmail‐
285              boxes  command  is  used  to remove a file name from the list of
286              folders which can receive mail.  If "*" is specified as the file
287              name, the list is emptied.
288
289       my_hdr string
290       unmy_hdr field
291
292              Using  my_hdr, you can define headers which will be added to the
293              messages you compose.  unmy_hdr will remove the  given  user-de‐
294              fined headers.
295
296       hdr_order header1 header2 [ ... ]
297              With  this  command, you can specify an order in which mutt will
298              attempt to present headers to you when viewing messages.
299
300       save-hook [!]pattern filename
301              When a message matches pattern, the default file name when  sav‐
302              ing it will be the given filename.
303
304       fcc-hook [!]pattern filename
305              When  an outgoing message matches pattern, the default file name
306              for storing a copy (fcc) will be the given filename.
307
308       fcc-save-hook [!]pattern filename
309              This command is an abbreviation for identical fcc-hook and save-
310              hook commands.
311
312       send-hook [!]pattern command
313              When  composing a message matching pattern, command is executed.
314              When multiple send-hooks match, they are executed in  the  order
315              in which they occur in the configuration file.
316
317       send2-hook [!]pattern command
318              Whenever  a message matching pattern is changed (either by edit‐
319              ing it or by using the compose menu), command is executed.  When
320              multiple  send2-hooks  match,  they are executed in the order in
321              which they occur in the configuration file.   Possible  applica‐
322              tions  include  setting  the $sendmail variable when a message's
323              from header is changed.
324
325              send2-hook execution is not triggered by  use  of  enter-command
326              from the compose menu.
327
328       reply-hook [!]pattern command
329              When  replying  to  a  message matching pattern, command is exe‐
330              cuted.  When multiple reply-hooks match, they  are  executed  in
331              the order in which they occur in the configuration file, but all
332              reply-hooks are matched and executed before send-hooks,  regard‐
333              less of their order in the configuration file.
334
335       crypt-hook regexp key-id
336              The  crypt-hook command provides a method by which you can spec‐
337              ify the ID of the public key to be used when encrypting messages
338              to  a certain recipient.  The meaning of "key ID" is to be taken
339              broadly: This can be a different e-mail address, a numerical key
340              ID, or even just an arbitrary search string.  You may use multi‐
341              ple crypt-hooks with the same regexp; multiple  matching  crypt-
342              hooks result in the use of multiple key-ids for a recipient.
343
344       index-format-hook name [!]pattern format-string
345              This  command  is used to inject format strings dynamically into
346              $index_format based on pattern matching against the current mes‐
347              sage.
348
349              The  $index_format  expando  %@name@ specifies a placeholder for
350              the injection. Index-format-hooks with the same name are matched
351              using  pattern  against the current message. Matching is done in
352              the order specified in the .muttrc, with the first  match  being
353              used.  The  hook's  format-string is then substituted and evalu‐
354              ated.
355
356       open-hook regexp "command"
357       close-hook regexp "command"
358       append-hook regexp "command"
359
360              These commands provide a way to handle compressed  folders.  The
361              given  regexp  specifies  which  folders are taken as compressed
362              (e.g.  "\\.gz$"). The commands tell Mutt  how  to  uncompress  a
363              folder  (open-hook),  compress a folder (close-hook) or append a
364              compressed mail to a compressed folder (append-hook).  The  com‐
365              mand  string  is the printf(3) like format string, and it should
366              accept two parameters: %f, which  is  replaced  with  the  (com‐
367              pressed)  folder name, and %t which is replaced with the name of
368              the temporary folder to which to write.
369
370       push string
371       exec function [ ... ]
372
373              push adds the named string to the keyboard buffer.  “exec  func‐
374              tion” is equivalent to “push <function>”.
375
376       run MuttLisp
377
378              The  run  command evaluates the MuttLisp argument. The output of
379              the MuttLisp is then executed as a Mutt command, as if  it  were
380              typed in the muttrc instead.
381
382       score pattern value
383       unscore [ * | pattern ... ]
384
385              The  score  commands  adds value to a message's score if pattern
386              matches it.  The unscore command removes score entries from  the
387              list.
388
389       set [no|inv|&|?]variable[=value] [ ... ]
390       toggle variable [ ... ]
391       unset variable [ ... ]
392       reset variable [ ... ]
393
394              These  commands  are  used  to  set and manipulate configuration
395              variables.
396
397              Mutt knows four  basic  types  of  variables:  boolean,  number,
398              string and quadoption.  Boolean variables can be set (true), un‐
399              set (false), or toggled. Number variables can be assigned a pos‐
400              itive integer value.
401
402              String  variables consist of any number of printable characters.
403              Strings must be enclosed in quotes if  they  contain  spaces  or
404              tabs.   You  may also use the “C” escape sequences \n and \t for
405              newline and tab, respectively.
406
407              Quadoption variables are used to control whether or  not  to  be
408              prompted for certain actions, or to specify a default action.  A
409              value of yes will cause the action to be carried  out  automati‐
410              cally  as if you had answered yes to the question.  Similarly, a
411              value of no will cause the action to be carried out  as  if  you
412              had answered “no.” A value of ask-yes will cause a prompt with a
413              default answer of “yes” and ask-no will provide a default answer
414              of “no.”
415
416              The reset command resets all given variables to the compile time
417              defaults.  If you reset the special variable all, all  variables
418              will reset to their compile time defaults.
419
420       setenv [?]variable [ value ]
421       unsetenv variable
422
423              These  alter  the  environment  that Mutt passes on to its child
424              processes.  You can also query  current  environment  values  by
425              prefixing a “?” character.
426
427       sidebar_whitelist mailbox [ mailbox ...]
428       unsidebar_whitelist [ * | mailbox ... ]
429
430              sidebar_whitelist  specifies  mailboxes that will always be dis‐
431              played in the sidebar, even if $sidebar_new_mail_only is set and
432              the mailbox does not contain new mail.
433
434              unsidebar_whitelist is used to remove a mailbox from the list of
435              whitelisted mailboxes. Use unsidebar_whitelist * to  remove  all
436              mailboxes.
437
438       source filename
439              The given file will be evaluated as a configuration file.
440
441       spam pattern format
442       nospam pattern
443
444              These commands define spam-detection patterns from external spam
445              filters, so that mutt can sort,  limit,  and  search  on  ``spam
446              tags'' or ``spam attributes'', or display them in the index. See
447              the Mutt manual for details.
448
449       subjectrx pattern replacement
450       unsubjectrx [ * | pattern ]
451
452              subjectrx specifies a regular expression pattern which,  if  de‐
453              tected  in  a message subject, causes the subject to be replaced
454              with the replacement value. The replacement is subject  to  sub‐
455              stitutions  in  the same way as for the spam command: %L for the
456              text to the left of the match, %R for text to the right  of  the
457              match,  and %1 for the first subgroup in the match (etc). If you
458              simply want to erase the match, set it to “%L%R”. Any number  of
459              subjectrx commands may coexist.
460
461              Note  this  well: the replacement value replaces the entire sub‐
462              ject, not just the match!
463
464              unsubjectrx removes a  given  subjectrx  from  the  substitution
465              list. If * is used as the pattern, all substitutions will be re‐
466              moved.
467
468       unhook [ *  | hook-type ]
469              This command will remove all hooks of a given type, or all hooks
470              when  “*”  is  used as an argument.  hook-type can be any of the
471              -hook commands documented above.
472
473       mailto_allow header-field [ ... ]
474       unmailto_allow [ * | header-field ... ]
475
476              These commands allow the user to  modify  the  list  of  allowed
477              header fields in a mailto: URL that Mutt will include in the the
478              generated message.  By default the list  contains  only  subject
479              and body, as specified by RFC2368.
480
481       echo message
482              Prints  message  to  the message window. After printing the mes‐
483              sage, echo will pause for the number  of  seconds  specified  by
484              $sleep_time.
485
486       cd directory
487              Changes the current working directory.
488

PATTERNS

490       In various places with mutt, including some of the above mentioned hook
491       commands, you can specify patterns to match messages.
492
493   Constructing Patterns
494       A simple pattern consists of a modifier of the form “~character”,  pos‐
495       sibly  followed  by a parameter against which mutt is supposed to match
496       the object specified by this modifier.  For some characters, the ~  may
497       be  replaced  by  another character to alter the behavior of the match.
498       These are described in the list of modifiers, below.
499
500       With some of these modifiers, the object to be matched consists of sev‐
501       eral  e-mail  addresses.   In  these cases, the object is matched if at
502       least one of these e-mail addresses matches.  You  can  prepend  a  hat
503       (“^”)  character  to such a pattern to indicate that all addresses must
504       match in order to match the object.
505
506       You can construct complex patterns by combining  simple  patterns  with
507       logical  operators.   Logical  AND is specified by simply concatenating
508       two simple patterns, for instance “~C mutt-dev ~s bug”.  Logical OR  is
509       specified  by  inserting a vertical bar (“|”) between two patterns, for
510       instance “~C mutt-dev | ~s bug”.  Additionally, you can negate  a  pat‐
511       tern  by  prepending a bang (“!”) character.  For logical grouping, use
512       braces (“()”). Example: “!(~t mutt|~c mutt) ~f elkins”.
513
514   Simple Patterns
515       Mutt understands the following simple patterns:
516
517       ~A          all messages
518       ~b EXPR     messages which contain EXPR in the message body.
519       =b STRING   If IMAP is enabled, like ~b but searches for STRING on  the
520                   server,  rather than downloading each message and searching
521                   it locally.
522       ~B EXPR     messages which contain EXPR in the whole message.
523       =B STRING   If IMAP is enabled, like ~B but searches for STRING on  the
524                   server,  rather than downloading each message and searching
525                   it locally.
526       ~c EXPR     messages carbon-copied to EXPR
527       %c GROUP    messages carbon-copied to any member of GROUP
528       ~C EXPR     messages either to: or cc: EXPR
529       %C GROUP    messages either to: or cc: to any member of GROUP
530       ~d MIN-MAX  messages with “date-sent” in a Date range
531       ~D          deleted messages
532       ~e EXPR     messages which contain EXPR in the “Sender” field
533       %e GROUP    messages which contain a member of GROUP  in  the  “Sender”
534                   field
535       ~E          expired messages
536       ~f EXPR     messages originating from EXPR
537       %f GROUP    messages originating from any member of GROUP
538       ~F          flagged messages
539       ~g          PGP signed messages
540       ~G          PGP encrypted messages
541       ~h EXPR     messages which contain EXPR in the message header
542       =h STRING   If  IMAP is enabled, like ~h but searches for STRING on the
543                   server, rather than downloading each message and  searching
544                   it locally.  STRING must be of the form “header: substring”
545       ~H EXPR     messages with spam tags matching EXPR
546       ~i EXPR     messages which match EXPR in the “Message-ID” field
547       ~k          messages containing PGP key material
548       ~l          messages  addressed to a known mailing list (defined by ei‐
549                   ther subscribe or list)
550       ~L EXPR     messages either originated or received by EXPR
551       %L GROUP    messages either originated or received  by  any  member  of
552                   GROUP
553       ~m MIN-MAX  message in the range MIN to MAX
554       ~M EXPR     messages which contain a mime Content-Type matching EXPR
555       ~n MIN-MAX  messages with a score in the range MIN to MAX
556       ~N          new messages
557       ~O          old messages
558       ~p          messages  addressed to you (consults $from, alternates, and
559                   local account/hostname information)
560       ~P          messages from you (consults $from,  alternates,  and  local
561                   account/hostname information)
562       ~Q          messages which have been replied to
563       ~r MIN-MAX  messages with “date-received” in a Date range
564       ~R          read messages
565       ~s EXPR     messages having EXPR in the “Subject” field.
566       ~S          superseded messages
567       ~t EXPR     messages addressed to EXPR
568       ~T          tagged messages
569       ~u          messages addressed to a subscribed mailing list (defined by
570                   subscribe commands)
571       ~U          unread messages
572       ~v          message is part of a collapsed thread.
573       ~V          cryptographically verified messages
574       ~x EXPR     messages which contain EXPR in the “References” or  “In-Re‐
575                   ply-To” field
576       ~X MIN-MAX  messages with MIN - MAX attachments
577       ~y EXPR     messages which contain EXPR in the “X-Label” field
578       ~z MIN-MAX  messages with a size in the range MIN to MAX
579       ~=          duplicated messages (see $duplicate_threads)
580       ~$          unreferenced message (requires threaded view)
581       ~(PATTERN)  messages  in threads containing messages matching a certain
582                   pattern, e.g. all threads  containing  messages  from  you:
583                   ~(~P)
584       ~<(PATTERN) messages  whose  immediate  parent  matches  PATTERN,  e.g.
585                   replies to your messages: ~<(~P)
586       ~>(PATTERN) messages having an immediate child matching  PATTERN,  e.g.
587                   messages you replied to: ~>(~P)
588
589       In the above, EXPR is a regular expression.
590
591       With  the  ~d,  ~m,  ~n, ~r, ~X, and ~z modifiers, you can also specify
592       ranges in the forms <MAX, >MIN, MIN-, and -MAX.
593
594       With the ~z modifier, the suffixes “K” and “M” are allowed  to  specify
595       kilobyte and megabyte respectively.
596
597       The  ~b,  ~B, ~h, ~M, and ~X modifiers require reading each message in,
598       which can be much slower.
599
600       You can force Mutt to treat EXPR as a simple string instead of a  regu‐
601       lar expression by using = instead of ~ in the pattern name.
602
603   Matching dates
604       The ~d and ~r modifiers are used to match date ranges, which are inter‐
605       preted to be given in your local time zone.
606
607       A date is of the form DD[/MM[/[cc]YY]], that is, a two-digit date,  op‐
608       tionally  followed  by a two-digit month, optionally followed by a year
609       specifications.  Omitted fields default to the current month and year.
610
611       Mutt understands either two or four digit  year  specifications.   When
612       given  a two-digit year, mutt will interpret values less than 70 as ly‐
613       ing in the 21st century (i.e., “38” means 2038 and not 1938,  and  “00”
614       is  interpreted as 2000), and values greater than or equal to 70 as ly‐
615       ing in the 20th century.
616
617       Note that this behavior is Y2K compliant, but that  mutt  does  have  a
618       Y2.07K problem.
619
620       Alternatively, you may use YYYYMMDD to specify a date.
621
622       If  a  date  range  consists of a single date, the modifier in question
623       will match that precise date.  If the date range  consists  of  a  dash
624       (“-”), followed by a date, this range will match any date before and up
625       to the date given.  Similarly, a date followed by a  dash  matches  the
626       date  given  and  any  later  point of time.  Two dates, separated by a
627       dash, match any date which lies in the given range of time.
628
629       You can also modify any absolute date by giving an error range.  An er‐
630       ror range consists of one of the characters +, -, *, followed by a pos‐
631       itive number, followed by one of the unit characters y,  m,  w,  or  d,
632       specifying  a  unit  of years, months, weeks, or days.  + increases the
633       maximum date matched by the given interval of  time,  -  decreases  the
634       minimum date matched by the given interval of time, and * increases the
635       maximum date and decreases the minimum date matched by the given inter‐
636       val  of time.  It is possible to give multiple error margins, which cu‐
637       mulate.  Example: 1/1/2001-1w+2w*3d
638
639       You can also specify offsets relative to the current date.   An  offset
640       is  specified  as one of the characters <, >, =, followed by a positive
641       number, followed by one of the unit characters y, m, w, d, H, M, or  S.
642       >  matches  dates which are older than the specified amount of time, an
643       offset which begins with the character < matches dates which  are  more
644       recent  than  the  specified amount of time, and an offset which begins
645       with the character = matches points of time  which  are  precisely  the
646       given amount of time ago.
647

CONFIGURATION VARIABLES

649       abort_noattach
650              Type: quadoption
651              Default: no
652
653              When  the body of the message matches $abort_noattach_regexp and
654              there are no attachments, this quadoption  controls  whether  to
655              abort sending the message.
656
657
658
659       abort_noattach_regexp
660              Type: regular expression
661              Default: “attach”
662
663              Specifies  a regular expression to match against the body of the
664              message, to determine if an attachment was mentioned but mistak‐
665              enly  forgotten.   If  it  matches, $abort_noattach will be con‐
666              sulted to determine if message sending will be aborted.
667
668              Like other regular expressions in Mutt, the search is case  sen‐
669              sitive  if  the pattern contains at least one upper case letter,
670              and case insensitive otherwise.
671
672
673
674       abort_nosubject
675              Type: quadoption
676              Default: ask-yes
677
678              If set to yes, when composing messages and no subject  is  given
679              at  the  subject prompt, composition will be aborted.  If set to
680              no, composing messages with no  subject  given  at  the  subject
681              prompt will never be aborted.
682
683
684
685       abort_unmodified
686              Type: quadoption
687              Default: yes
688
689              If  set to yes, composition will automatically abort after edit‐
690              ing the message body if no changes are made to  the  file  (this
691              check  only happens after the first edit of the file).  When set
692              to no, composition will never be aborted.
693
694
695
696       alias_file
697              Type: path
698              Default: “~/.muttrc”
699
700              The default file in which to save aliases created by  the  <cre‐
701              ate-alias>  function.  Entries added to this file are encoded in
702              the character set specified by $config_charset if it is  set  or
703              the current character set otherwise.
704
705              Note: Mutt will not automatically source this file; you must ex‐
706              plicitly use the “source” command for it to be executed in  case
707              this option points to a dedicated alias file.
708
709              The  default  for this option is the currently used muttrc file,
710              or “~/.muttrc” if no user muttrc was found.
711
712
713
714       alias_format
715              Type: string
716              Default: “%4n %2f %t %-10a   %r”
717
718              Specifies the format of the data displayed for the “alias” menu.
719              The following printf(3)-style sequences are available:
720              %a     alias name
721              %f     flags - currently, a “d” for an alias marked for deletion
722              %n     index number
723              %r     address which alias expands to
724              %t     character  which indicates if the alias is tagged for in‐
725                     clusion
726
727
728       allow_8bit
729              Type: boolean
730              Default: yes
731
732              Controls whether 8-bit data is converted to 7-bit  using  either
733              Quoted- Printable or Base64 encoding when sending mail.
734
735
736
737       allow_ansi
738              Type: boolean
739              Default: no
740
741              Controls whether ANSI color codes in messages (and color tags in
742              rich text messages) are to be interpreted.  Messages  containing
743              these codes are rare, but if this option is set, their text will
744              be colored accordingly. Note that this may override  your  color
745              choices,  and  even  present a security problem, since a message
746              could include a line like
747
748
749              [-- PGP output follows ...
750
751
752              and give it the same color as your attachment  color  (see  also
753              $crypt_timestamp).
754
755
756
757       arrow_cursor
758              Type: boolean
759              Default: no
760
761              When  set,  an arrow (“->”) will be used to indicate the current
762              entry in menus instead of highlighting the whole line.  On  slow
763              network  or  modem  links this will make response faster because
764              there is less that has to be redrawn on the screen  when  moving
765              to the next or previous entries in the menu.
766
767
768
769       ascii_chars
770              Type: boolean
771              Default: no
772
773              If  set,  Mutt  will  use plain ASCII characters when displaying
774              thread and attachment trees, instead of the default ACS  charac‐
775              ters.
776
777
778
779       askbcc
780              Type: boolean
781              Default: no
782
783              If set, Mutt will prompt you for blind-carbon-copy (Bcc) recipi‐
784              ents before editing an outgoing message.
785
786
787
788       askcc
789              Type: boolean
790              Default: no
791
792              If set, Mutt will prompt you for carbon-copy (Cc) recipients be‐
793              fore editing the body of an outgoing message.
794
795
796
797       assumed_charset
798              Type: string
799              Default: “”
800
801              This  variable  is  a colon-separated list of character encoding
802              schemes for  messages  without  character  encoding  indication.
803              Header  field  values and message body content without character
804              encoding indication would be assumed that they  are  written  in
805              one of this list.  By default, all the header fields and message
806              body without  any  charset  indication  are  assumed  to  be  in
807              “us-ascii”.
808
809              For example, Japanese users might prefer this:
810
811
812              set assumed_charset=”iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8”
813
814
815              However, only the first content is valid for the message body.
816
817
818
819       attach_charset
820              Type: string
821              Default: “”
822
823              This  variable  is  a colon-separated list of character encoding
824              schemes for text file attachments. Mutt  uses  this  setting  to
825              guess which encoding files being attached are encoded in to con‐
826              vert them to a proper character set given in $send_charset.
827
828              If unset, the value of $charset will be used instead.  For exam‐
829              ple,  the  following  configuration would work for Japanese text
830              handling:
831
832
833              set attach_charset=”iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8”
834
835
836              Note: for Japanese users, “iso-2022-*” must be put at  the  head
837              of the value as shown above if included.
838
839
840
841       attach_format
842              Type: string
843              Default: “%u%D%I %t%4n %T%.40d%> [%.7m/%.10M, %.6e%?C?, %C?, %s] ”
844
845              This  variable  describes  the  format of the “attachment” menu.
846              The following printf(3)-style sequences are understood:
847              %C     charset
848              %c     requires charset conversion (“n” or “c”)
849              %D     deleted flag
850              %d     description (if none, falls back to %F)
851              %e     MIME content-transfer-encoding
852              %F     filename in content-disposition header  (if  none,  falls
853                     back to %f)
854              %f     filename
855              %I     disposition (“I” for inline, “A” for attachment)
856              %m     major MIME type
857              %M     MIME subtype
858              %n     attachment number
859              %Q     “Q”, if MIME part qualifies for attachment counting
860              %s     size (see formatstrings-size)
861              %t     tagged flag
862              %T     graphic tree characters
863              %u     unlink (=to delete) flag
864              %X     number  of  qualifying  MIME  parts  in this part and its
865                     children (please see the “attachments” section for possi‐
866                     ble speed effects)
867              %>X    right justify the rest of the string and pad with charac‐
868                     ter “X”
869              %|X    pad to the end of the line with character “X”
870              %*X    soft-fill with character “X” as pad
871
872              For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the  $index_format  docu‐
873              mentation.
874
875
876
877       attach_save_charset_convert
878              Type: quadoption
879              Default: ask-yes
880
881              When  saving  received  text-type  attachments,  this quadoption
882              prompts to convert the character set if the encoding of the  at‐
883              tachment (or $assumed_charset if none is specified) differs from
884              charset.
885
886
887
888       attach_save_dir
889              Type: path
890              Default: “”
891
892              The default directory to save attachments from the  “attachment”
893              menu.   If  it doesn't exist, Mutt will prompt to create the di‐
894              rectory before saving.
895
896              If the path is invalid (e.g.  not  a  directory,  or  cannot  be
897              chdir'ed  to),  Mutt  will fall back to using the current direc‐
898              tory.
899
900
901
902       attach_sep
903              Type: string
904              Default: “\n”
905
906              The separator to add between attachments when operating (saving,
907              printing, piping, etc) on a list of tagged attachments.
908
909
910
911       attach_split
912              Type: boolean
913              Default: yes
914
915              If  this  variable  is  unset, when operating (saving, printing,
916              piping, etc) on a list of tagged attachments, Mutt will concate‐
917              nate  the  attachments  and will operate on them as a single at‐
918              tachment. The $attach_sep separator is added after each  attach‐
919              ment. When set, Mutt will operate on the attachments one by one.
920
921
922
923       attribution
924              Type: string (localized)
925              Default: “On %d, %n wrote:”
926
927              This  is  the  string that will precede a message which has been
928              included  in  a  reply.   For  a   full   listing   of   defined
929              printf(3)-like sequences see the section on $index_format.
930
931
932
933       attribution_locale
934              Type: string
935              Default: “”
936
937              The  locale  used by strftime(3) to format dates in the attribu‐
938              tion string.  Legal values are the strings your  system  accepts
939              for the locale environment variable $LC_TIME.
940
941              This variable is to allow the attribution date format to be cus‐
942              tomized by recipient or folder using hooks.   By  default,  Mutt
943              will  use  your  locale  environment, so there is no need to set
944              this except to override that default.
945
946
947
948       auto_subscribe
949              Type: boolean
950              Default: no
951
952              When set, Mutt assumes the presence of a List-Post header  means
953              the  recipient  is  subscribed  to the list.  Unless the mailing
954              list is in the “unsubscribe” or “unlist” lists, it will be added
955              to  the  “subscribe”  list.   Parsing  and checking these things
956              slows header reading down, so this option  is  disabled  by  de‐
957              fault.
958
959
960
961       auto_tag
962              Type: boolean
963              Default: no
964
965              When  set,  functions  in  the index menu which affect a message
966              will be applied to all tagged messages (if there are any).  When
967              unset,  you  must  first use the <tag-prefix> function (bound to
968              “;” by default) to make the next function apply  to  all  tagged
969              messages.
970
971
972
973       autocrypt
974              Type: boolean
975              Default: no
976
977              When  set,  enables autocrypt, which provides passive encryption
978              protection with keys exchanged via headers.  See  “autocryptdoc”
979              for more details.  (Autocrypt only)
980
981
982
983       autocrypt_acct_format
984              Type: string
985              Default: “%4n %-30a %20p %10s”
986
987              This  variable  describes  the format of the “autocrypt account”
988              menu.  The following printf(3)-style sequences are understood
989              %a     email address
990              %k     gpg keyid
991              %n     current entry number
992              %p     prefer-encrypt flag
993              %s     status flag (active/inactive)
994
995              (Autocrypt only)
996
997
998
999       autocrypt_dir
1000              Type: path
1001              Default: “~/.mutt/autocrypt”
1002
1003              This variable sets where autocrypt files are  stored,  including
1004              the  GPG  keyring  and  sqlite database.  See “autocryptdoc” for
1005              more details.  (Autocrypt only)
1006
1007
1008
1009       autocrypt_reply
1010              Type: boolean
1011              Default: yes
1012
1013              When set, replying to an autocrypt email  automatically  enables
1014              autocrypt  in  the  reply.  You may want to unset this if you're
1015              using the same key for autocrypt as normal web-of-trust, so that
1016              autocrypt isn't forced on for all encrypted replies.  (Autocrypt
1017              only)
1018
1019
1020
1021       autoedit
1022              Type: boolean
1023              Default: no
1024
1025              When set along with $edit_headers, Mutt will  skip  the  initial
1026              send-menu  (prompting  for subject and recipients) and allow you
1027              to immediately begin editing the  body  of  your  message.   The
1028              send-menu  may  still be accessed once you have finished editing
1029              the body of your message.
1030
1031              Note: when this option is set, you cannot  use  send-hooks  that
1032              depend  on  the recipients when composing a new (non-reply) mes‐
1033              sage, as the initial list of recipients is empty.
1034
1035              Also see $fast_reply.
1036
1037
1038
1039       background_edit
1040              Type: boolean
1041              Default: no
1042
1043              When set, Mutt will run $editor in the background during message
1044              composition.  A landing page will display, waiting for the $edi‐
1045              tor to exit.  The landing page may be exited,  allowing  perusal
1046              of  the  mailbox,  or  even  for  other messages to be composed.
1047              Backgrounded  sessions  may  be  returned  to  via  the   <back‐
1048              ground-compose-menu> function.
1049
1050              For  background editing to work properly, $editor must be set to
1051              an editor that does not try to use the Mutt terminal: for  exam‐
1052              ple  a graphical editor, or a script launching (and waiting for)
1053              the editor in another Gnu Screen window.
1054
1055              For more details, see “bgedit” (”Background Editing” in the man‐
1056              ual).
1057
1058
1059
1060       background_confirm_quit
1061              Type: boolean
1062              Default: yes
1063
1064              When set, if there are any background edit sessions, you will be
1065              prompted to confirm exiting  Mutt,  in  addition  to  the  $quit
1066              prompt.
1067
1068
1069
1070       background_format
1071              Type: string
1072              Default: “%10S %7p %s”
1073
1074              This  variable  describes the format of the “background compose”
1075              menu.  The following printf(3)-style sequences are understood:
1076              %i     parent message id (for replies and forwarded messages)
1077              %n     the running number on the menu
1078              %p     pid of the $editor process
1079              %r     comma separated list of “To:” recipients
1080              %R     comma separated list of “Cc:” recipients
1081              %s     subject of the message
1082              %S     status of the $editor process: running/finished
1083
1084
1085       beep
1086              Type: boolean
1087              Default: yes
1088
1089              When this variable is set, mutt will beep when an error occurs.
1090
1091
1092
1093       beep_new
1094              Type: boolean
1095              Default: no
1096
1097              When this variable is set, mutt will beep whenever it  prints  a
1098              message  notifying  you of new mail.  This is independent of the
1099              setting of the $beep variable.
1100
1101
1102
1103       bounce
1104              Type: quadoption
1105              Default: ask-yes
1106
1107              Controls whether you will be asked to confirm bouncing messages.
1108              If  set  to yes you don't get asked if you want to bounce a mes‐
1109              sage. Setting this variable to no is not generally  useful,  and
1110              thus not recommended, because you are unable to bounce messages.
1111
1112
1113
1114       bounce_delivered
1115              Type: boolean
1116              Default: yes
1117
1118              When  this variable is set, mutt will include Delivered-To head‐
1119              ers when bouncing messages.  Postfix users  may  wish  to  unset
1120              this variable.
1121
1122
1123
1124       braille_friendly
1125              Type: boolean
1126              Default: no
1127
1128              When this variable is set, mutt will place the cursor at the be‐
1129              ginning of the current line in menus, even when the  $arrow_cur‐
1130              sor  variable is unset, making it easier for blind persons using
1131              Braille displays to follow these menus.  The option is unset  by
1132              default  because  many  visual terminals don't permit making the
1133              cursor invisible.
1134
1135
1136
1137       browser_abbreviate_mailboxes
1138              Type: boolean
1139              Default: yes
1140
1141              When this variable is set, mutt will abbreviate mailbox names in
1142              the browser mailbox list, using '~' and '=' shortcuts.
1143
1144              The  default  ”alpha” setting of $sort_browser uses locale-based
1145              sorting (using  strcoll(3)),  which  ignores  some  punctuation.
1146              This  can  lead  to some situations where the order doesn't make
1147              intuitive sense.  In those cases, it may be desirable  to  unset
1148              this variable.
1149
1150
1151
1152       browser_sticky_cursor
1153              Type: boolean
1154              Default: yes
1155
1156              When  this variable is set, the browser will attempt to keep the
1157              cursor on the same mailbox when  performing  various  functions.
1158              These  include moving up a directory, toggling between mailboxes
1159              and directory listing,  creating/renaming  a  mailbox,  toggling
1160              subscribed mailboxes, and entering a new mask.
1161
1162
1163
1164       certificate_file
1165              Type: path
1166              Default: “~/.mutt_certificates”
1167
1168              This  variable  specifies  the  file  where the certificates you
1169              trust are saved. When an unknown certificate is encountered, you
1170              are  asked  if  you accept it or not. If you accept it, the cer‐
1171              tificate can also be saved in this file and further  connections
1172              are automatically accepted.
1173
1174              You  can  also  manually  add  CA certificates in this file. Any
1175              server certificate that is signed with one of these CA  certifi‐
1176              cates is also automatically accepted.
1177
1178              Example:
1179
1180
1181              set certificate_file=~/.mutt/certificates
1182
1183
1184              (OpenSSL and GnuTLS only)
1185
1186
1187
1188       change_folder_next
1189              Type: boolean
1190              Default: no
1191
1192              When  this variable is set, the <change-folder> function mailbox
1193              suggestion will start at the next  folder  in  your  “mailboxes”
1194              list, instead of starting at the first folder in the list.
1195
1196
1197
1198       charset
1199              Type: string
1200              Default: “”
1201
1202              Character  set  your  terminal uses to display and enter textual
1203              data.  It is also the fallback for $send_charset.
1204
1205              Upon startup Mutt tries to derive this  value  from  environment
1206              variables such as $LC_CTYPE or $LANG.
1207
1208              Note: It should only be set in case Mutt isn't able to determine
1209              the character set used correctly.
1210
1211
1212
1213       check_mbox_size
1214              Type: boolean
1215              Default: no
1216
1217              When this variable is set, mutt will use file size attribute in‐
1218              stead of access time when checking for new mail in mbox and mmdf
1219              folders.
1220
1221              This variable is unset by default and  should  only  be  enabled
1222              when  new mail detection for these folder types is unreliable or
1223              doesn't work.
1224
1225              Note that enabling this variable should happen before any “mail‐
1226              boxes” directives occur in configuration files regarding mbox or
1227              mmdf folders because mutt needs to  determine  the  initial  new
1228              mail  status of such a mailbox by performing a fast mailbox scan
1229              when it is defined.  Afterwards the new mail status  is  tracked
1230              by file size changes.
1231
1232
1233
1234       check_new
1235              Type: boolean
1236              Default: yes
1237
1238              Note: this option only affects maildir and MH style mailboxes.
1239
1240              When set, Mutt will check for new mail delivered while the mail‐
1241              box is open.  Especially with MH mailboxes, this  operation  can
1242              take  quite  some  time since it involves scanning the directory
1243              and checking each file to see if it has already been looked  at.
1244              If  this  variable  is unset, no check for new mail is performed
1245              while the mailbox is open.
1246
1247
1248
1249       collapse_unread
1250              Type: boolean
1251              Default: yes
1252
1253              When unset, Mutt will not collapse a thread if it  contains  any
1254              unread messages.
1255
1256
1257
1258       compose_confirm_detach_first
1259              Type: boolean
1260              Default: yes
1261
1262              When  set,  Mutt will prompt for confirmation when trying to use
1263              <detach-file> on the first entry in the compose menu.   This  is
1264              to  help prevent irreversible loss of the typed message by acci‐
1265              dentally hitting 'D' in the menu.
1266
1267              Note: Mutt only prompts for the first entry.   It  doesn't  keep
1268              track  of  which message is the typed message if the entries are
1269              reordered, or if the first entry was already deleted.
1270
1271
1272
1273       compose_format
1274              Type: string (localized)
1275              Default: “-- Mutt: Compose  [Approx. msg size: %l   Atts: %a]%>-”
1276
1277              Controls the format of the status line displayed  in  the  “com‐
1278              pose”  menu.   This string is similar to $status_format, but has
1279              its own set of printf(3)-like sequences:
1280              %a     total number of attachments
1281              %h     local hostname
1282              %l     approximate size (in bytes) of the current  message  (see
1283                     formatstrings-size)
1284              %v     Mutt version string
1285
1286              See  the  text describing the $status_format option for more in‐
1287              formation on how to set $compose_format.
1288
1289
1290
1291       config_charset
1292              Type: string
1293              Default: “”
1294
1295              When defined, Mutt will recode commands in rc  files  from  this
1296              encoding  to  the current character set as specified by $charset
1297              and aliases written to $alias_file from  the  current  character
1298              set.
1299
1300              Please note that if setting $charset it must be done before set‐
1301              ting $config_charset.
1302
1303              Recoding should be avoided as it may render unconvertable  char‐
1304              acters  as  question  marks which can lead to undesired side ef‐
1305              fects (for example in regular expressions).
1306
1307
1308
1309       confirmappend
1310              Type: boolean
1311              Default: yes
1312
1313              When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when appending  mes‐
1314              sages to an existing mailbox.
1315
1316
1317
1318       confirmcreate
1319              Type: boolean
1320              Default: yes
1321
1322              When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when saving messages
1323              to a mailbox which does not yet exist before creating it.
1324
1325
1326
1327       connect_timeout
1328              Type: number
1329              Default: 30
1330
1331              Causes Mutt to timeout a network connection (for  IMAP,  POP  or
1332              SMTP)  after  this many seconds if the connection is not able to
1333              be established.  A negative value causes Mutt  to  wait  indefi‐
1334              nitely for the connection attempt to succeed.
1335
1336
1337
1338       content_type
1339              Type: string
1340              Default: “text/plain”
1341
1342              Sets  the  default  Content-Type  for the body of newly composed
1343              messages.
1344
1345
1346
1347       copy
1348              Type: quadoption
1349              Default: yes
1350
1351              This variable controls whether or not copies  of  your  outgoing
1352              messages  will be saved for later references.  Also see $record,
1353              $save_name, $force_name and “fcc-hook”.
1354
1355
1356
1357       copy_decode_weed
1358              Type: boolean
1359              Default: no
1360
1361              Controls whether Mutt will weed headers when invoking  the  <de‐
1362              code-copy> or <decode-save> functions.
1363
1364
1365
1366       count_alternatives
1367              Type: boolean
1368              Default: no
1369
1370              When  set, Mutt will recurse inside multipart/alternatives while
1371              performing attachment searching and counting (see attachments).
1372
1373              Traditionally, multipart/alternative parts  have  simply  repre‐
1374              sented  different  encodings  of  the main content of the email.
1375              Unfortunately, some mail clients have started to place email at‐
1376              tachments  inside  one of alternatives.  Setting this will allow
1377              Mutt to find and count matching attachments  hidden  there,  and
1378              include them in the index via %X or through ~X pattern matching.
1379
1380
1381
1382       cursor_overlay
1383              Type: boolean
1384              Default: no
1385
1386              When  set,  Mutt will overlay the indicator, tree, sidebar_high‐
1387              light, and sidebar_indicator colors onto the currently  selected
1388              line.  This will allow default colors in those to be overridden,
1389              and for attributes to be merged between the layers.
1390
1391
1392
1393       crypt_autoencrypt
1394              Type: boolean
1395              Default: no
1396
1397              Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt  to  PGP
1398              encrypt outgoing messages.  This is probably only useful in con‐
1399              nection to the “send-hook” command.  It can be overridden by use
1400              of  the  pgp menu, when encryption is not required or signing is
1401              requested as well.  If $smime_is_default is set, then OpenSSL is
1402              used instead to create S/MIME messages and settings can be over‐
1403              ridden by use of the smime menu instead.  (Crypto only)
1404
1405
1406
1407       crypt_autopgp
1408              Type: boolean
1409              Default: yes
1410
1411              This variable controls whether or not mutt may automatically en‐
1412              able  PGP  encryption/signing for messages.  See also $crypt_au‐
1413              toencrypt,  $crypt_replyencrypt,   $crypt_autosign,   $crypt_re‐
1414              plysign and $smime_is_default.
1415
1416
1417
1418       crypt_autosign
1419              Type: boolean
1420              Default: no
1421
1422              Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to cryp‐
1423              tographically sign outgoing messages.  This can be overridden by
1424              use  of the pgp menu, when signing is not required or encryption
1425              is requested as well. If $smime_is_default is set, then  OpenSSL
1426              is  used  instead  to create S/MIME messages and settings can be
1427              overridden by use of the smime menu instead  of  the  pgp  menu.
1428              (Crypto only)
1429
1430
1431
1432       crypt_autosmime
1433              Type: boolean
1434              Default: yes
1435
1436              This variable controls whether or not mutt may automatically en‐
1437              able S/MIME encryption/signing for messages. See also $crypt_au‐
1438              toencrypt,   $crypt_replyencrypt,   $crypt_autosign,  $crypt_re‐
1439              plysign and $smime_is_default.
1440
1441
1442
1443       crypt_confirmhook
1444              Type: boolean
1445              Default: yes
1446
1447              If set, then you will be prompted for confirmation of keys  when
1448              using  the  crypt-hook  command.  If unset, no such confirmation
1449              prompt will be presented.  This is generally considered  unsafe,
1450              especially where typos are concerned.
1451
1452
1453
1454       crypt_opportunistic_encrypt
1455              Type: boolean
1456              Default: no
1457
1458              Setting  this  variable  will cause Mutt to automatically enable
1459              and disable encryption, based on whether all  message  recipient
1460              keys can be located by Mutt.
1461
1462              When this option is enabled, Mutt will enable/disable encryption
1463              each time the TO, CC, and BCC lists are edited.  If  $edit_head‐
1464              ers  is  set,  Mutt  will  also  do  so each time the message is
1465              edited.
1466
1467              While this is set, encryption  can't  be  manually  enabled/dis‐
1468              abled.   The pgp or smime menus provide a selection to temporar‐
1469              ily disable this option for the current message.
1470
1471              If $crypt_autoencrypt or $crypt_replyencrypt  enable  encryption
1472              for  a  message,  this option will be disabled for that message.
1473              It can be  manually  re-enabled  in  the  pgp  or  smime  menus.
1474              (Crypto only)
1475
1476
1477
1478       crypt_opportunistic_encrypt_strong_keys
1479              Type: boolean
1480              Default: no
1481
1482              When set, this modifies the behavior of $crypt_opportunistic_en‐
1483              crypt to only search for ”strong keys”, that is, keys with  full
1484              validity  according  to  the web-of-trust algorithm.  A key with
1485              marginal or no validity will not  enable  opportunistic  encryp‐
1486              tion.
1487
1488              For S/MIME, the behavior depends on the backend.  Classic S/MIME
1489              will filter for certificates with the 't' (trusted) flag in  the
1490              .index  file.   The  GPGME  backend will use the same filters as
1491              with OpenPGP, and depends on GPGME's  logic  for  assigning  the
1492              GPGME_VALIDITY_FULL and GPGME_VALIDITY_ULTIMATE validity flag.
1493
1494
1495
1496       crypt_protected_headers_read
1497              Type: boolean
1498              Default: yes
1499
1500              When  set, Mutt will display protected headers in the pager, and
1501              will update the index and header  cache  with  revised  headers.
1502              Protected headers are stored inside the encrypted or signed part
1503              of an an email, to prevent disclosure or  tampering.   For  more
1504              information  see https://github.com/autocrypt/protected-headers.
1505              Currently Mutt only supports the Subject header.
1506
1507              Encrypted messages using protected headers often substitute  the
1508              exposed  Subject  header  with  a  dummy  value (see $crypt_pro‐
1509              tected_headers_subject).  Mutt will update its  concept  of  the
1510              correct  subject after the message is opened, i.e. via the <dis‐
1511              play-message> function.  If you reply to a message before  open‐
1512              ing  it,  Mutt will end up using the dummy Subject header, so be
1513              sure to open such a message first.  (Crypto only)
1514
1515
1516
1517       crypt_protected_headers_save
1518              Type: boolean
1519              Default: no
1520
1521              When $crypt_protected_headers_read is set, and a message with  a
1522              protected  Subject is opened, Mutt will save the updated Subject
1523              into the header cache by default.  This allows  searching/limit‐
1524              ing  based  on  the  protected  Subject header if the mailbox is
1525              re-opened, without having to  re-open  the  message  each  time.
1526              However,  for mbox/mh mailbox types, or if header caching is not
1527              set up, you would need to re-open  the  message  each  time  the
1528              mailbox was reopened before you could see or search/limit on the
1529              protected subject again.
1530
1531              When this variable is set, Mutt additionally saves the protected
1532              Subject  back  in the clear-text message headers.  This provides
1533              better usability, but with the  tradeoff  of  reduced  security.
1534              The protected Subject header, which may have previously been en‐
1535              crypted, is now stored in clear-text  in  the  message  headers.
1536              Copying the message elsewhere, via Mutt or external tools, could
1537              expose this previously encrypted data.  Please make sure you un‐
1538              derstand  the  consequences of this before you enable this vari‐
1539              able.  (Crypto only)
1540
1541
1542
1543       crypt_protected_headers_subject
1544              Type: string
1545              Default: “...”
1546
1547              When $crypt_protected_headers_write is set, and the  message  is
1548              marked for encryption, this will be substituted into the Subject
1549              field in the message headers.  To prevent a subject  from  being
1550              substituted, unset this variable, or set it to the empty string.
1551              (Crypto only)
1552
1553
1554
1555       crypt_protected_headers_write
1556              Type: boolean
1557              Default: no
1558
1559              When set, Mutt will generate protected headers  for  signed  and
1560              encrypted  emails.   Protected headers are stored inside the en‐
1561              crypted or signed part of an an email, to prevent disclosure  or
1562              tampering.   For  more  information  see  https://github.com/au
1563              tocrypt/protected-headers.  Currently  Mutt  only  supports  the
1564              Subject header.  (Crypto only)
1565
1566
1567
1568       crypt_replyencrypt
1569              Type: boolean
1570              Default: yes
1571
1572              If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL encrypt replies to messages
1573              which are encrypted.  (Crypto only)
1574
1575
1576
1577       crypt_replysign
1578              Type: boolean
1579              Default: no
1580
1581              If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL sign  replies  to  messages
1582              which are signed.
1583
1584              Note:  this  does  not  work  on messages that are encrypted and
1585              signed!  (Crypto only)
1586
1587
1588
1589       crypt_replysignencrypted
1590              Type: boolean
1591              Default: no
1592
1593              If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL sign  replies  to  messages
1594              which  are  encrypted.  This  makes  sense  in  combination with
1595              $crypt_replyencrypt, because it allows you to sign all  messages
1596              which  are automatically encrypted.  This works around the prob‐
1597              lem noted in $crypt_replysign, that mutt is not able to find out
1598              whether an encrypted message is also signed.  (Crypto only)
1599
1600
1601
1602       crypt_timestamp
1603              Type: boolean
1604              Default: yes
1605
1606              If  set, mutt will include a time stamp in the lines surrounding
1607              PGP or S/MIME output, so spoofing such lines is more  difficult.
1608              If  you are using colors to mark these lines, and rely on these,
1609              you may unset this setting.  (Crypto only)
1610
1611
1612
1613       crypt_use_gpgme
1614              Type: boolean
1615              Default: no
1616
1617              This variable controls the use of the GPGME-enabled crypto back‐
1618              ends.   If  it is set and Mutt was built with gpgme support, the
1619              gpgme code for S/MIME and PGP will be used instead of the  clas‐
1620              sic  code.  Note that you need to set this option in .muttrc; it
1621              won't have any effect when used interactively.
1622
1623              Note that the GPGME backend does not support creating  old-style
1624              inline  (traditional)  PGP  encrypted  or  signed  messages (see
1625              $pgp_autoinline).
1626
1627
1628
1629       crypt_use_pka
1630              Type: boolean
1631              Default: no
1632
1633              Controls      whether       mutt       uses       PKA       (see
1634              http://www.g10code.de/docs/pka-intro.de.pdf)   during  signature
1635              verification (only supported by the GPGME backend).
1636
1637
1638
1639       crypt_verify_sig
1640              Type: quadoption
1641              Default: yes
1642
1643              If “yes”, always attempt to verify PGP or S/MIME signatures.  If
1644              “ask-*”,  ask  whether or not to verify the signature.  If “no”,
1645              never attempt to verify cryptographic signatures.  (Crypto only)
1646
1647
1648
1649       date_format
1650              Type: string
1651              Default: “!%a, %b %d, %Y at %I:%M:%S%p %Z”
1652
1653              This variable controls the format of the  date  printed  by  the
1654              “%d”  sequence  in  $index_format.   This is passed to the strf‐
1655              time(3) function to process the date, see the man page  for  the
1656              proper syntax.
1657
1658              Unless  the  first  character in the string is a bang (“!”), the
1659              month and week day names are expanded according to  the  locale.
1660              If the first character in the string is a bang, the bang is dis‐
1661              carded, and the month and week day names  in  the  rest  of  the
1662              string are expanded in the C locale (that is in US English).
1663
1664
1665
1666       default_hook
1667              Type: string
1668              Default: “~f %s !~P | (~P ~C %s)”
1669
1670              This  variable controls how “message-hook”, “reply-hook”, “send-
1671              hook”, “send2-hook”, “save-hook”, and “fcc-hook” will be  inter‐
1672              preted  if they are specified with only a simple regexp, instead
1673              of a matching pattern.  The hooks are expanded when they are de‐
1674              clared,  so a hook will be interpreted according to the value of
1675              this variable at the time the hook is declared.
1676
1677              The default value matches if the message is either from  a  user
1678              matching  the regular expression given, or if it is from you (if
1679              the from address matches “alternates”) and is to or cc'ed  to  a
1680              user matching the given regular expression.
1681
1682
1683
1684       delete
1685              Type: quadoption
1686              Default: ask-yes
1687
1688              Controls whether or not messages are really deleted when closing
1689              or synchronizing a mailbox.  If set to yes, messages marked  for
1690              deleting will automatically be purged without prompting.  If set
1691              to no, messages marked for deletion will be kept in the mailbox.
1692
1693              This  option  is  ignored  for  maildir-style   mailboxes   when
1694              $maildir_trash is set.
1695
1696
1697
1698       delete_untag
1699              Type: boolean
1700              Default: yes
1701
1702              If  this  option  is  set, mutt will untag messages when marking
1703              them for deletion.  This  applies  when  you  either  explicitly
1704              delete a message, or when you save it to another folder.
1705
1706
1707
1708       digest_collapse
1709              Type: boolean
1710              Default: yes
1711
1712              If this option is set, mutt's received-attachments menu will not
1713              show the subparts of individual messages in a  multipart/digest.
1714              To see these subparts, press “v” on that menu.
1715
1716
1717
1718       display_filter
1719              Type: path
1720              Default: “”
1721
1722              When  set,  specifies a command used to filter messages.  When a
1723              message is viewed it  is  passed  as  standard  input  to  $dis‐
1724              play_filter,  and the filtered message is read from the standard
1725              output.
1726
1727
1728
1729       dotlock_program
1730              Type: path
1731              Default: “/usr/bin/mutt_dotlock”
1732
1733              Contains the path of the mutt_dotlock(1) binary to  be  used  by
1734              mutt.
1735
1736
1737
1738       dsn_notify
1739              Type: string
1740              Default: “”
1741
1742              This  variable  sets  the  request  for when notification is re‐
1743              turned.  The string consists of a comma separated list (no  spa‐
1744              ces!)  of  one or more of the following: never, to never request
1745              notification, failure, to request notification  on  transmission
1746              failure, delay, to be notified of message delays, success, to be
1747              notified of successful transmission.
1748
1749              Example:
1750
1751
1752              set dsn_notify=”failure,delay”
1753
1754
1755              Note: when using $sendmail for delivery, you should  not  enable
1756              this  unless you are either using Sendmail 8.8.x or greater or a
1757              MTA providing a sendmail(1)-compatible interface supporting  the
1758              -N  option  for  DSN. For SMTP delivery, DSN support is auto-de‐
1759              tected so that it depends on the server whether DSN will be used
1760              or not.
1761
1762
1763
1764       dsn_return
1765              Type: string
1766              Default: “”
1767
1768              This  variable  controls how much of your message is returned in
1769              DSN messages.  It may be set to either hdrs to return  just  the
1770              message header, or full to return the full message.
1771
1772              Example:
1773
1774
1775              set dsn_return=hdrs
1776
1777
1778              Note:  when  using $sendmail for delivery, you should not enable
1779              this unless you are either using Sendmail 8.8.x or greater or  a
1780              MTA  providing a sendmail(1)-compatible interface supporting the
1781              -R option for DSN. For SMTP delivery, DSN  support  is  auto-de‐
1782              tected so that it depends on the server whether DSN will be used
1783              or not.
1784
1785
1786
1787       duplicate_threads
1788              Type: boolean
1789              Default: yes
1790
1791              This variable controls  whether  mutt,  when  $sort  is  set  to
1792              threads, threads messages with the same Message-Id together.  If
1793              it is set, it will indicate that it thinks they  are  duplicates
1794              of each other with an equals sign in the thread tree.
1795
1796
1797
1798       edit_headers
1799              Type: boolean
1800              Default: no
1801
1802              This  option allows you to edit the header of your outgoing mes‐
1803              sages along with the body of your message.
1804
1805              Although the compose menu may have localized header labels,  the
1806              labels  passed to your editor will be standard RFC 2822 headers,
1807              (e.g. To:, Cc:, Subject:).  Headers added in  your  editor  must
1808              also be RFC 2822 headers, or one of the pseudo headers listed in
1809              “edit-header”.  Mutt will not understand  localized  header  la‐
1810              bels, just as it would not when parsing an actual email.
1811
1812              Note  that changes made to the References: and Date: headers are
1813              ignored for interoperability reasons.
1814
1815
1816
1817       editor
1818              Type: path
1819              Default: “”
1820
1821              This variable specifies which editor is used by  mutt.   It  de‐
1822              faults  to  the  value  of  the $VISUAL, or $EDITOR, environment
1823              variable, or to the string “vi” if neither of those are set.
1824
1825              The $editor string may contain a %s escape, which  will  be  re‐
1826              placed  by  the name of the file to be edited.  If the %s escape
1827              does not appear in $editor, a space and the name  to  be  edited
1828              are appended.
1829
1830              The resulting string is then executed by running
1831
1832
1833              sh -c 'string'
1834
1835
1836              where string is the expansion of $editor described above.
1837
1838
1839
1840       encode_from
1841              Type: boolean
1842              Default: no
1843
1844              When  set,  mutt will quoted-printable encode messages when they
1845              contain the string “From ” (note the trailing space) in the  be‐
1846              ginning  of  a line.  This is useful to avoid the tampering cer‐
1847              tain mail delivery and transport agents tend to do with messages
1848              (in  order  to  prevent tools from misinterpreting the line as a
1849              mbox message separator).
1850
1851
1852
1853       entropy_file
1854              Type: path
1855              Default: “”
1856
1857              The file which includes random data that is used  to  initialize
1858              SSL library functions. (OpenSSL only)
1859
1860
1861
1862       envelope_from_address
1863              Type: e-mail address
1864              Default: “”
1865
1866              Manually  sets  the envelope sender for outgoing messages.  This
1867              value is ignored if $use_envelope_from is unset.
1868
1869
1870
1871       error_history
1872              Type: number
1873              Default: 30
1874
1875              This variable controls the size (in  number  of  strings  remem‐
1876              bered)  of  the  error messages displayed by mutt.  These can be
1877              shown with the <error-history> function.  The history is cleared
1878              each time this variable is set.
1879
1880
1881
1882       escape
1883              Type: string
1884              Default: “~”
1885
1886              Escape character to use for functions in the built-in editor.
1887
1888
1889
1890       fast_reply
1891              Type: boolean
1892              Default: no
1893
1894              When  set,  the  initial  prompt  for recipients and subject are
1895              skipped when replying to messages, and the  initial  prompt  for
1896              subject is skipped when forwarding messages.
1897
1898              Note: this variable has no effect when the $autoedit variable is
1899              set.
1900
1901
1902
1903       fcc_attach
1904              Type: quadoption
1905              Default: yes
1906
1907              This variable controls whether or not  attachments  on  outgoing
1908              messages are saved along with the main body of your message.
1909
1910              Note: $fcc_before_send forces the default (set) behavior of this
1911              option.
1912
1913
1914
1915       fcc_before_send
1916              Type: boolean
1917              Default: no
1918
1919              When this variable is set, FCCs will occur  before  sending  the
1920              message.   Before sending, the message cannot be manipulated, so
1921              it will be stored  the  exact  same  as  sent:  $fcc_attach  and
1922              $fcc_clear will be ignored (using their default values).
1923
1924              When  unset,  the default, FCCs will occur after sending.  Vari‐
1925              ables $fcc_attach and $fcc_clear will be respected, allowing  it
1926              to  be  stored  without attachments or encryption/signing if de‐
1927              sired.
1928
1929
1930
1931       fcc_clear
1932              Type: boolean
1933              Default: no
1934
1935              When this variable is set, FCCs will be stored  unencrypted  and
1936              unsigned,  even  when  the  actual  message  is encrypted and/or
1937              signed.
1938
1939              Note: $fcc_before_send forces the default  (unset)  behavior  of
1940              this option.  (PGP only)
1941
1942              See also $pgp_self_encrypt, $smime_self_encrypt.
1943
1944
1945
1946       fcc_delimiter
1947              Type: string
1948              Default: “”
1949
1950              When  specified, this allows the ability to Fcc to more than one
1951              mailbox.  The fcc value will be split by this delimiter and Mutt
1952              will evaluate each part as a mailbox separately.
1953
1954              See $record, “fcc-hook”, and “fcc-save-hook”.
1955
1956
1957
1958       flag_safe
1959              Type: boolean
1960              Default: no
1961
1962              If set, flagged messages cannot be deleted.
1963
1964
1965
1966       folder
1967              Type: path
1968              Default: “~/Mail”
1969
1970              Specifies  the default location of your mailboxes.  A “+” or “=”
1971              at the beginning of a pathname will be expanded to the value  of
1972              this  variable.  Note that if you change this variable (from the
1973              default) value you need to make sure that the assignment  occurs
1974              before  you  use “+” or “=” for any other variables since expan‐
1975              sion takes place when handling the “mailboxes” command.
1976
1977
1978
1979       folder_format
1980              Type: string
1981              Default: “%2C %t %N %F %2l %-8.8u %-8.8g %8s %d %f”
1982
1983              This variable allows you to customize the file  browser  display
1984              to  your  personal taste.  This string is similar to $index_for‐
1985              mat, but has its own set of printf(3)-like sequences:
1986              %C     current file number
1987              %d     date/time folder was last modified
1988              %D     date/time folder was last modified using $date_format.
1989              %f     filename (“/” is appended to directory names, “@” to sym‐
1990                     bolic links and “*” to executable files)
1991              %F     file permissions
1992              %g     group name (or numeric gid, if missing)
1993              %l     number of hard links
1994              %m     number of messages in the mailbox *
1995              %n     number of unread messages in the mailbox *
1996              %N     N if mailbox has new mail, blank otherwise
1997              %s     size in bytes (see formatstrings-size)
1998              %t     “*” if the file is tagged, blank otherwise
1999              %u     owner name (or numeric uid, if missing)
2000              %>X    right justify the rest of the string and pad with charac‐
2001                     ter “X”
2002              %|X    pad to the end of the line with character “X”
2003              %*X    soft-fill with character “X” as pad
2004
2005              For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the  $index_format  docu‐
2006              mentation.
2007
2008              * = can be optionally printed if nonzero
2009
2010              %m,  %n,  and %N only work for monitored mailboxes.  %m requires
2011              $mail_check_stats to be set.  %n requires  $mail_check_stats  to
2012              be set (except for IMAP mailboxes).
2013
2014
2015
2016       followup_to
2017              Type: boolean
2018              Default: yes
2019
2020              Controls  whether or not the “Mail-Followup-To:” header field is
2021              generated when sending mail.  When set, Mutt will generate  this
2022              field  when  you are replying to a known mailing list, specified
2023              with the “subscribe” or “lists” commands.
2024
2025              This field has two purposes.  First, preventing you from receiv‐
2026              ing  duplicate  copies  of replies to messages which you send to
2027              mailing lists, and second, ensuring that you do get a reply sep‐
2028              arately  for  any  messages sent to known lists to which you are
2029              not subscribed.
2030
2031              The header will contain only the list's address  for  subscribed
2032              lists,  and both the list address and your own email address for
2033              unsubscribed lists.  Without this header, a group reply to  your
2034              message  sent to a subscribed list will be sent to both the list
2035              and your address, resulting in two copies of the same email  for
2036              you.
2037
2038
2039
2040       force_name
2041              Type: boolean
2042              Default: no
2043
2044              This  variable  is  similar to $save_name, except that Mutt will
2045              store a copy of your outgoing message by the username of the ad‐
2046              dress you are sending to even if that mailbox does not exist.
2047
2048              Also see the $record variable.
2049
2050
2051
2052       forward_attachments
2053              Type: quadoption
2054              Default: ask-yes
2055
2056              When  forwarding  inline  (i.e.  $mime_forward unset or answered
2057              with “no” and $forward_decode set), attachments which cannot  be
2058              decoded  in  a  reasonable  manner will be attached to the newly
2059              composed message if this quadoption  is  set  or  answered  with
2060              “yes”.
2061
2062
2063
2064       forward_attribution_intro
2065              Type: string (localized)
2066              Default: “----- Forwarded message from %f -----”
2067
2068              This  is  the  string that will precede a message which has been
2069              forwarded in the main body of a message (when  $mime_forward  is
2070              unset).   For a full listing of defined printf(3)-like sequences
2071              see the section on $index_format.  See also $attribution_locale.
2072
2073
2074
2075       forward_attribution_trailer
2076              Type: string (localized)
2077              Default: “----- End forwarded message -----”
2078
2079              This is the string that will follow a  message  which  has  been
2080              forwarded  in  the main body of a message (when $mime_forward is
2081              unset).  For a full listing of defined printf(3)-like  sequences
2082              see the section on $index_format.  See also $attribution_locale.
2083
2084
2085
2086       forward_decode
2087              Type: boolean
2088              Default: yes
2089
2090              Controls  the  decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain
2091              when forwarding a message.  The message header is  also  RFC2047
2092              decoded.  This variable is only used, if $mime_forward is unset,
2093              otherwise $mime_forward_decode is used instead.
2094
2095
2096
2097       forward_decrypt
2098              Type: quadoption
2099              Default: yes
2100
2101              This quadoption controls the handling of encrypted messages when
2102              forwarding  or  attaching  a  message.   When set to or answered
2103              “yes”, the outer layer of encryption is stripped off.
2104
2105              This variable is used if $mime_forward  is  set  and  $mime_for‐
2106              ward_decode  is unset.  It is also used when attaching a message
2107              via <attach-message> in the compose menu.  (PGP only)
2108
2109
2110
2111       forward_edit
2112              Type: quadoption
2113              Default: yes
2114
2115              This quadoption controls whether or not the  user  is  automati‐
2116              cally  placed in the editor when forwarding messages.  For those
2117              who always want to forward with no modification, use  a  setting
2118              of “no”.
2119
2120
2121
2122       forward_format
2123              Type: string
2124              Default: “[%a: %s]”
2125
2126              This  variable  controls  the  default subject when forwarding a
2127              message.  It uses the same format sequences as the $index_format
2128              variable.
2129
2130
2131
2132       forward_quote
2133              Type: boolean
2134              Default: no
2135
2136              When  set,  forwarded  messages included in the main body of the
2137              message (when $mime_forward is unset) will be quoted using  $in‐
2138              dent_string.
2139
2140
2141
2142       from
2143              Type: e-mail address
2144              Default: “”
2145
2146              When set, this variable contains a default from address.  It can
2147              be overridden using “my_hdr” (including from a “send-hook”)  and
2148              $reverse_name.  This variable is ignored if $use_from is unset.
2149
2150              This  setting  defaults to the contents of the environment vari‐
2151              able $EMAIL.
2152
2153
2154
2155       gecos_mask
2156              Type: regular expression
2157              Default: “^[^,]*”
2158
2159              A regular expression used by mutt to parse the GECOS field of  a
2160              password entry when expanding the alias.  The default value will
2161              return the string up to the first “,” encountered.  If the GECOS
2162              field  contains  a  string  like  “lastname, firstname” then you
2163              should set it to “.*”.
2164
2165              This can be useful if you see the following  behavior:  you  ad‐
2166              dress  an  e-mail  to user ID “stevef” whose full name is “Steve
2167              Franklin”.    If   mutt   expands   “stevef”   to    “”Franklin”
2168              stevef@foo.bar” then you should set the $gecos_mask to a regular
2169              expression that will match the whole name so  mutt  will  expand
2170              “Franklin” to “Franklin, Steve”.
2171
2172
2173
2174       hdrs
2175              Type: boolean
2176              Default: yes
2177
2178              When  unset,  the  header  fields normally added by the “my_hdr”
2179              command are not created.  This variable  must  be  unset  before
2180              composing a new message or replying in order to take effect.  If
2181              set, the user defined header fields are added to every new  mes‐
2182              sage.
2183
2184
2185
2186       header
2187              Type: boolean
2188              Default: no
2189
2190              When set, this variable causes Mutt to include the header of the
2191              message you are replying to into the  edit  buffer.   The  $weed
2192              setting applies.
2193
2194
2195
2196       header_cache
2197              Type: path
2198              Default: “”
2199
2200              This  variable points to the header cache database.  If pointing
2201              to a directory Mutt will contain a header  cache  database  file
2202              per  folder,  if  pointing  to a file that file will be a single
2203              global header cache. By default it is unset so no header caching
2204              will be used.  If pointing to a directory, it must be created in
2205              advance.
2206
2207              Header caching can greatly improve speed when opening POP,  IMAP
2208              MH or Maildir folders, see “caching” for details.
2209
2210
2211
2212       header_cache_compress
2213              Type: boolean
2214              Default: yes
2215
2216              When  mutt  is compiled with qdbm, tokyocabinet, or kyotocabinet
2217              as header cache backend,  this  option  determines  whether  the
2218              database  will  be  compressed.  Compression results in database
2219              files roughly being one fifth of the usual  diskspace,  but  the
2220              decompression can result in a slower opening of cached folder(s)
2221              which in general is still much faster than  opening  non  header
2222              cached folders.
2223
2224
2225
2226       header_cache_pagesize
2227              Type: number (long)
2228              Default: 16384
2229
2230              When  mutt  is  compiled  with either gdbm or bdb4 as the header
2231              cache backend, this option changes the database page size.   Too
2232              large  or too small values can waste space, memory, or CPU time.
2233              The default should be more or less optimal for most use cases.
2234
2235
2236
2237       header_color_partial
2238              Type: boolean
2239              Default: no
2240
2241              When set, color header regexps behave like color  body  regexps:
2242              color  is applied to the exact text matched by the regexp.  When
2243              unset, color is applied to the entire header.
2244
2245              One use of this option might be  to  apply  color  to  just  the
2246              header labels.
2247
2248              See “color” for more details.
2249
2250
2251
2252       help
2253              Type: boolean
2254              Default: yes
2255
2256              When set, help lines describing the bindings for the major func‐
2257              tions provided by each menu are displayed on the first  line  of
2258              the screen.
2259
2260              Note:  The  binding will not be displayed correctly if the func‐
2261              tion is bound to a sequence  rather  than  a  single  keystroke.
2262              Also,  the  help line may not be updated if a binding is changed
2263              while Mutt is running.  Since this variable is  primarily  aimed
2264              at new users, neither of these should present a major problem.
2265
2266
2267
2268       hidden_host
2269              Type: boolean
2270              Default: no
2271
2272              When  set,  mutt will skip the host name part of $hostname vari‐
2273              able when adding the domain part to  addresses.   This  variable
2274              does  not  affect the generation of Message-IDs, and it will not
2275              lead to the cut-off of first-level domains.
2276
2277
2278
2279       hide_limited
2280              Type: boolean
2281              Default: no
2282
2283              When set, mutt will not show the presence of messages  that  are
2284              hidden by limiting, in the thread tree.
2285
2286
2287
2288       hide_missing
2289              Type: boolean
2290              Default: yes
2291
2292              When set, mutt will not show the presence of missing messages in
2293              the thread tree.
2294
2295
2296
2297       hide_thread_subject
2298              Type: boolean
2299              Default: yes
2300
2301              When set, mutt will not show the  subject  of  messages  in  the
2302              thread  tree that have the same subject as their parent or clos‐
2303              est previously displayed sibling.
2304
2305
2306
2307       hide_top_limited
2308              Type: boolean
2309              Default: no
2310
2311              When set, mutt will not show the presence of messages  that  are
2312              hidden  by  limiting,  at the top of threads in the thread tree.
2313              Note that when $hide_limited is set, this option  will  have  no
2314              effect.
2315
2316
2317
2318       hide_top_missing
2319              Type: boolean
2320              Default: yes
2321
2322              When set, mutt will not show the presence of missing messages at
2323              the  top  of  threads  in  the  thread  tree.   Note  that  when
2324              $hide_missing is set, this option will have no effect.
2325
2326
2327
2328       history
2329              Type: number
2330              Default: 10
2331
2332              This  variable  controls  the  size (in number of strings remem‐
2333              bered) of the string history buffer per category. The buffer  is
2334              cleared each time the variable is set.
2335
2336
2337
2338       history_file
2339              Type: path
2340              Default: “~/.mutthistory”
2341
2342              The file in which Mutt will save its history.
2343
2344              Also see $save_history.
2345
2346
2347
2348       history_remove_dups
2349              Type: boolean
2350              Default: no
2351
2352              When  set,  all of the string history will be scanned for dupli‐
2353              cates when a new entry is added.  Duplicate entries in the $his‐
2354              tory_file  will  also  be  removed  when it is periodically com‐
2355              pacted.
2356
2357
2358
2359       honor_disposition
2360              Type: boolean
2361              Default: no
2362
2363              When set, Mutt will not display attachments with  a  disposition
2364              of “attachment” inline even if it could render the part to plain
2365              text. These MIME parts can only be viewed  from  the  attachment
2366              menu.
2367
2368              If unset, Mutt will render all MIME parts it can properly trans‐
2369              form to plain text.
2370
2371
2372
2373       honor_followup_to
2374              Type: quadoption
2375              Default: yes
2376
2377              This variable controls whether or not a Mail-Followup-To  header
2378              is honored when group-replying to a message.
2379
2380
2381
2382       hostname
2383              Type: string
2384              Default: “”
2385
2386              Specifies  the  fully-qualified  hostname  of the system mutt is
2387              running on containing the host's name and the DNS domain it  be‐
2388              longs  to.  It  is used as the domain part (after “@”) for local
2389              email addresses as well as Message-Id headers.
2390
2391              Its value is determined at startup as follows: the node's  host‐
2392              name  is  first determined by the uname(3) function.  The domain
2393              is then looked up using the  gethostname(2)  and  getaddrinfo(3)
2394              functions.   If  those calls are unable to determine the domain,
2395              the full value returned by uname is used.  Optionally, Mutt  can
2396              be  compiled  with  a fixed domain name in which case a detected
2397              one is not used.
2398
2399              Starting in Mutt 2.0, the operations described in  the  previous
2400              paragraph  are  performed after the muttrc is processed, instead
2401              of beforehand.  This way, if the DNS operations are creating de‐
2402              lays  at  startup,  you  can avoid those by manually setting the
2403              value in your muttrc.
2404
2405              Also see $use_domain and $hidden_host.
2406
2407
2408
2409       idn_decode
2410              Type: boolean
2411              Default: yes
2412
2413              When set, Mutt will show you international domain names decoded.
2414              Note:  You  can  use  IDNs  for addresses even if this is unset.
2415              This variable only affects decoding. (IDN only)
2416
2417
2418
2419       idn_encode
2420              Type: boolean
2421              Default: yes
2422
2423              When set, Mutt will encode international domain names using IDN.
2424              Unset this if your SMTP server can handle newer (RFC 6531) UTF-8
2425              encoded domains. (IDN only)
2426
2427
2428
2429       ignore_linear_white_space
2430              Type: boolean
2431              Default: no
2432
2433              This option replaces linear-white-space between encoded-word and
2434              text  to  a  single space to prevent the display of MIME-encoded
2435              “Subject:” field from being divided into multiple lines.
2436
2437
2438
2439       ignore_list_reply_to
2440              Type: boolean
2441              Default: no
2442
2443              Affects the behavior of the <reply> function  when  replying  to
2444              messages  from  mailing  lists (as defined by the “subscribe” or
2445              “lists” commands).  When set, if the “Reply-To:” field is set to
2446              the  same  value  as the “To:” field, Mutt assumes that the “Re‐
2447              ply-To:” field was set by the mailing list to automate responses
2448              to  the  list, and will ignore this field.  To direct a response
2449              to the mailing list when this option is set, use  the  <list-re‐
2450              ply>  function;  <group-reply> will reply to both the sender and
2451              the list.
2452
2453
2454
2455       imap_authenticators
2456              Type: string
2457              Default: “”
2458
2459              This is a colon-delimited list of  authentication  methods  mutt
2460              may  attempt  to  use  to log in to an IMAP server, in the order
2461              mutt should try them.  Authentication methods are either “login”
2462              or  the right side of an IMAP “AUTH=xxx” capability string, e.g.
2463              “digest-md5”, “gssapi” or “cram-md5”. This option is case-insen‐
2464              sitive.  If it's unset (the default) mutt will try all available
2465              methods, in order from most-secure to least-secure.
2466
2467              Example:
2468
2469
2470              set imap_authenticators=”gssapi:cram-md5:login”
2471
2472
2473              Note: Mutt will only fall back to other  authentication  methods
2474              if  the  previous methods are unavailable. If a method is avail‐
2475              able but authentication fails, mutt will not connect to the IMAP
2476              server.
2477
2478
2479
2480       imap_check_subscribed
2481              Type: boolean
2482              Default: no
2483
2484              When  set,  mutt  will  fetch the set of subscribed folders from
2485              your server on connection, and add them to the set of  mailboxes
2486              it  polls  for  new  mail  just  as if you had issued individual
2487              “mailboxes” commands.
2488
2489
2490
2491       imap_condstore
2492              Type: boolean
2493              Default: no
2494
2495              When set, mutt will use the CONDSTORE extension  (RFC  7162)  if
2496              advertised  by the server.  Mutt's current implementation is ba‐
2497              sic, used only for initial message fetching and flag updates.
2498
2499              For some IMAP servers, enabling  this  will  slightly  speed  up
2500              downloading  initial  messages.  Unfortunately, Gmail is not one
2501              those,  and  displays  worse  performance  when  enabled.   Your
2502              mileage may vary.
2503
2504
2505
2506       imap_deflate
2507              Type: boolean
2508              Default: no
2509
2510              When  set,  mutt  will  use  the COMPRESS=DEFLATE extension (RFC
2511              4978) if advertised by the server.
2512
2513              In general a good compression efficiency can be achieved,  which
2514              speeds  up  reading  large mailboxes also on fairly good connec‐
2515              tions.
2516
2517
2518
2519       imap_delim_chars
2520              Type: string
2521              Default: “/.”
2522
2523              This contains the list of characters which  you  would  like  to
2524              treat as folder separators for displaying IMAP paths. In partic‐
2525              ular it helps in using the “=” shortcut for  your  folder  vari‐
2526              able.
2527
2528
2529
2530       imap_fetch_chunk_size
2531              Type: number (long)
2532              Default: 0
2533
2534              When  set  to  a value greater than 0, new headers will be down‐
2535              loaded in groups of this many headers per request.  If you  have
2536              a  very  large mailbox, this might prevent a timeout and discon‐
2537              nect when opening the mailbox, by sending a  FETCH  per  set  of
2538              this  many  headers, instead of a single FETCH for all new head‐
2539              ers.
2540
2541
2542
2543       imap_headers
2544              Type: string
2545              Default: “”
2546
2547              Mutt requests these header fields in  addition  to  the  default
2548              headers  (“Date:”, “From:”, “Sender:”, “Subject:”, “To:”, “Cc:”,
2549              “Message-Id:”, “References:”, “Content-Type:”, “Content-Descrip‐
2550              tion:”,  “In-Reply-To:”,  “Reply-To:”,  “Lines:”,  “List-Post:”,
2551              “X-Label:”) from IMAP servers before displaying the index  menu.
2552              You may want to add more headers for spam detection.
2553
2554              Note:  This is a space separated list, items should be uppercase
2555              and not contain the colon, e.g. “X-BOGOSITY  X-SPAM-STATUS”  for
2556              the “X-Bogosity:” and “X-Spam-Status:” header fields.
2557
2558
2559
2560       imap_idle
2561              Type: boolean
2562              Default: no
2563
2564              When  set,  mutt  will attempt to use the IMAP IDLE extension to
2565              check for new mail in the current mailbox. Some servers (dovecot
2566              was  the  inspiration for this option) react badly to mutt's im‐
2567              plementation. If your connection seems  to  freeze  up  periodi‐
2568              cally, try unsetting this.
2569
2570
2571
2572       imap_keepalive
2573              Type: number
2574              Default: 300
2575
2576              This  variable  specifies  the maximum amount of time in seconds
2577              that mutt will wait before polling  open  IMAP  connections,  to
2578              prevent  the  server  from closing them before mutt has finished
2579              with them. The default is well within the RFC-specified  minimum
2580              amount  of  time  (30  minutes) before a server is allowed to do
2581              this, but in practice the RFC does get violated  every  now  and
2582              then.  Reduce  this  number if you find yourself getting discon‐
2583              nected from your IMAP server due to inactivity.
2584
2585
2586
2587       imap_list_subscribed
2588              Type: boolean
2589              Default: no
2590
2591              This variable configures whether IMAP folder browsing will  look
2592              for only subscribed folders or all folders.  This can be toggled
2593              in the IMAP browser with the <toggle-subscribed> function.
2594
2595
2596
2597       imap_login
2598              Type: string
2599              Default: “”
2600
2601              Your login name on the IMAP server.
2602
2603              This variable defaults to the value of $imap_user.
2604
2605
2606
2607       imap_oauth_refresh_command
2608              Type: string
2609              Default: “”
2610
2611              The command to run to generate an OAUTH refresh token for autho‐
2612              rizing  your  connection to your IMAP server.  This command will
2613              be run on every connection attempt that uses the OAUTHBEARER au‐
2614              thentication mechanism.  See “oauth” for details.
2615
2616
2617
2618       imap_pass
2619              Type: string
2620              Default: “”
2621
2622              Specifies  the  password  for your IMAP account.  If unset, Mutt
2623              will  prompt  you  for  your  password  when  you   invoke   the
2624              <imap-fetch-mail> function or try to open an IMAP folder.
2625
2626              Warning:  you  should  only  use  this  option when you are on a
2627              fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your  mut‐
2628              trc even if you are the only one who can read the file.
2629
2630
2631
2632       imap_passive
2633              Type: boolean
2634              Default: yes
2635
2636              When  set,  mutt will not open new IMAP connections to check for
2637              new mail.  Mutt will only check for new mail over existing  IMAP
2638              connections.   This  is  useful if you don't want to be prompted
2639              for user/password pairs on mutt invocation, or  if  opening  the
2640              connection is slow.
2641
2642
2643
2644       imap_peek
2645              Type: boolean
2646              Default: yes
2647
2648              When  set,  mutt will avoid implicitly marking your mail as read
2649              whenever you fetch a message from the server. This is  generally
2650              a  good  thing,  but  can  make  closing an IMAP folder somewhat
2651              slower. This option exists to appease speed freaks.
2652
2653
2654
2655       imap_pipeline_depth
2656              Type: number
2657              Default: 15
2658
2659              Controls the number of IMAP commands that may be queued  up  be‐
2660              fore  they are sent to the server. A deeper pipeline reduces the
2661              amount of time mutt must wait for the server, and can make  IMAP
2662              servers feel much more responsive. But not all servers correctly
2663              handle pipelined commands, so if you  have  problems  you  might
2664              want to try setting this variable to 0.
2665
2666              Note:  Changes  to  this variable have no effect on open connec‐
2667              tions.
2668
2669
2670
2671       imap_poll_timeout
2672              Type: number
2673              Default: 15
2674
2675              This variable specifies the maximum amount of  time  in  seconds
2676              that mutt will wait for a response when polling IMAP connections
2677              for new mail, before timing out and closing the connection.  Set
2678              to 0 to disable timing out.
2679
2680
2681
2682       imap_qresync
2683              Type: boolean
2684              Default: no
2685
2686              When  set, mutt will use the QRESYNC extension (RFC 7162) if ad‐
2687              vertised by the server.  Mutt's current implementation is basic,
2688              used only for initial message fetching and flag updates.
2689
2690              Note: this feature is currently experimental.  If you experience
2691              strange behavior, such as duplicate or missing  messages  please
2692              file a bug report to let us know.
2693
2694
2695
2696       imap_servernoise
2697              Type: boolean
2698              Default: yes
2699
2700              When  set,  mutt  will  display  warning  messages from the IMAP
2701              server as error messages. Since these messages are  often  harm‐
2702              less,  or  generated due to configuration problems on the server
2703              which are out of the users' hands, you may wish to suppress them
2704              at some point.
2705
2706
2707
2708       imap_user
2709              Type: string
2710              Default: “”
2711
2712              The name of the user whose mail you intend to access on the IMAP
2713              server.
2714
2715              This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
2716
2717
2718
2719       implicit_autoview
2720              Type: boolean
2721              Default: no
2722
2723              If set to “yes”, mutt will look for a  mailcap  entry  with  the
2724copiousoutput”  flag  set  for every MIME attachment it doesn't
2725              have an internal viewer defined for.  If such an entry is found,
2726              mutt  will  use  the viewer defined in that entry to convert the
2727              body part to text form.
2728
2729
2730
2731       include
2732              Type: quadoption
2733              Default: ask-yes
2734
2735              Controls whether or not a copy of the message(s) you are  reply‐
2736              ing to is included in your reply.
2737
2738
2739
2740       include_encrypted
2741              Type: boolean
2742              Default: no
2743
2744              Controls  whether  or not Mutt includes separately encrypted at‐
2745              tachment contents when replying.
2746
2747              This variable was added to prevent accidental  exposure  of  en‐
2748              crypted  contents when replying to an attacker.  If a previously
2749              encrypted message were attached  by  the  attacker,  they  could
2750              trick an unwary recipient into decrypting and including the mes‐
2751              sage in their reply.
2752
2753
2754
2755       include_onlyfirst
2756              Type: boolean
2757              Default: no
2758
2759              Controls whether or not Mutt includes only the first  attachment
2760              of the message you are replying.
2761
2762
2763
2764       indent_string
2765              Type: string
2766              Default: “> ”
2767
2768              Specifies the string to prepend to each line of text quoted in a
2769              message to which you are replying.  You are strongly  encouraged
2770              not to change this value, as it tends to agitate the more fanat‐
2771              ical netizens.
2772
2773              The value of this option is ignored if $text_flowed is set,  be‐
2774              cause  the  quoting  mechanism  is  strictly  defined  for  for‐
2775              mat=flowed.
2776
2777              This option is a format string, please see  the  description  of
2778              $index_format for supported printf(3)-style sequences.
2779
2780
2781
2782       index_format
2783              Type: string
2784              Default: “%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%?l?%4l&%4c?) %s”
2785
2786              This  variable allows you to customize the message index display
2787              to your personal taste.
2788
2789              “Format strings” are similar to the strings used in the C  func‐
2790              tion  printf(3)  to format output (see the man page for more de‐
2791              tails).  For an explanation of the %? construct, see  the  $sta‐
2792              tus_format  description.  The following sequences are defined in
2793              Mutt:
2794              %a     address of the author
2795              %A     reply-to address (if present; otherwise: address  of  au‐
2796                     thor)
2797              %b     filename of the original message folder (think mailbox)
2798              %B     the list to which the letter was sent, or else the folder
2799                     name (%b).
2800              %c     number of characters (bytes) in the message (see  format‐
2801                     strings-size)
2802              %C     current message number
2803              %d     date  and  time of the message in the format specified by
2804                     $date_format converted to sender's time zone
2805              %D     date and time of the message in the format  specified  by
2806                     $date_format converted to the local time zone
2807              %e     current message number in thread
2808              %E     number of messages in current thread
2809              %f     sender  (address  +  real  name),  either  From:  or  Re‐
2810                     turn-Path:
2811              %F     author name, or recipient name if the message is from you
2812              %H     spam attribute(s) of this message
2813              %i     message-id of the current message
2814              %l     number of lines in the unprocessed message (may not  work
2815                     with maildir, mh, and IMAP folders)
2816              %L     If  an address in the “To:” or “Cc:” header field matches
2817                     an address defined by the users “subscribe” command, this
2818                     displays ”To <list-name>”, otherwise the same as %F.
2819              %m     total number of message in the mailbox
2820              %M     number of hidden messages if the thread is collapsed.
2821              %N     message score
2822              %n     author's real name (or address if missing)
2823              %O     original  save  folder  where  mutt  would  formerly have
2824                     stashed the message: list name or recipient name  if  not
2825                     sent to a list
2826              %P     progress  indicator  for  the built-in pager (how much of
2827                     the file has been displayed)
2828              %r     comma separated list of “To:” recipients
2829              %R     comma separated list of “Cc:” recipients
2830              %s     subject of the message
2831              %S     single    character     status     of     the     message
2832                     (“N”/“O”/“D”/“d”/“!”/“r”/“*”)
2833              %t     “To:” field (recipients)
2834              %T     the appropriate character from the $to_chars string
2835              %u     user (login) name of the author
2836              %v     first name of the author, or the recipient if the message
2837                     is from you
2838              %X     number of attachments (please see the “attachments”  sec‐
2839                     tion for possible speed effects)
2840              %y     “X-Label:” field, if present
2841              %Y     “X-Label:”  field,  if  present, and (1) not at part of a
2842                     thread tree, (2) at the top of a thread,  or  (3)  “X-La‐
2843                     bel:” is different from preceding message's “X-Label:”.
2844              %Z     a three character set of message status flags.  the first
2845                     character        is        new/read/replied         flags
2846                     (“n”/“o”/“r”/“O”/“N”).   the second is deleted or encryp‐
2847                     tion flags (“D”/“d”/“S”/“P”/“s”/“K”).  the third  is  ei‐
2848                     ther  tagged/flagged  (“*”/“!”), or one of the characters
2849                     listed in $to_chars.
2850              %@name@
2851                     insert and evaluate format-string from the matching  “in‐
2852                     dex-format-hook” command
2853              %{fmt} the date and time of the message is converted to sender's
2854                     time zone, and “fmt” is expanded by the library  function
2855                     strftime(3); a leading bang disables locales
2856              %[fmt] the  date and time of the message is converted to the lo‐
2857                     cal time zone, and “fmt” is expanded by the library func‐
2858                     tion strftime(3); a leading bang disables locales
2859              %(fmt) the  local  date  and time when the message was received.
2860                     “fmt” is expanded by the library function strftime(3);  a
2861                     leading bang disables locales
2862              %<fmt> the  current local time. “fmt” is expanded by the library
2863                     function strftime(3); a leading bang disables locales.
2864              %>X    right justify the rest of the string and pad with charac‐
2865                     ter “X”
2866              %|X    pad to the end of the line with character “X”
2867              %*X    soft-fill with character “X” as pad
2868
2869              Note  that  for  mbox/mmdf, “%l” applies to the unprocessed mes‐
2870              sage, and for maildir/mh, the  value  comes  from  the  “Lines:”
2871              header  field  when  present (the meaning is normally the same).
2872              Thus the value depends on the encodings used  in  the  different
2873              parts of the message and has little meaning in practice.
2874
2875              “Soft-fill”  deserves  some explanation: Normal right-justifica‐
2876              tion will print everything to the left of the  “%>”,  displaying
2877              padding  and whatever lies to the right only if there's room. By
2878              contrast, soft-fill gives priority to the right-hand side, guar‐
2879              anteeing space to display it and showing padding only if there's
2880              still room. If necessary, soft-fill will eat text  leftwards  to
2881              make room for rightward text.
2882
2883              Note  that  these  expandos  are supported in “save-hook”, “fcc-
2884              hook”, “fcc-save-hook”, and “index-format-hook”.
2885
2886              They are also supported in the configuration variables $attribu‐
2887              tion,  $forward_attribution_intro, $forward_attribution_trailer,
2888              $forward_format, $indent_string, $message_format, $pager_format,
2889              and $post_indent_string.
2890
2891
2892
2893       ispell
2894              Type: path
2895              Default: “/usr/bin/hunspell”
2896
2897              How to invoke ispell (GNU's spell-checking software).
2898
2899
2900
2901       keep_flagged
2902              Type: boolean
2903              Default: no
2904
2905              If  set,  read messages marked as flagged will not be moved from
2906              your spool mailbox to your $mbox mailbox, or as a  result  of  a
2907              “mbox-hook” command.
2908
2909
2910
2911       local_date_header
2912              Type: boolean
2913              Default: yes
2914
2915              If set, the date in the Date header of emails that you send will
2916              be in your local timezone. If unset a UTC date will be used  in‐
2917              stead to avoid leaking information about your current location.
2918
2919
2920
2921       mail_check
2922              Type: number
2923              Default: 5
2924
2925              This variable configures how often (in seconds) mutt should look
2926              for new mail. Also see the $timeout variable.
2927
2928
2929
2930       mail_check_recent
2931              Type: boolean
2932              Default: yes
2933
2934              When set, Mutt will only notify you about new mail that has been
2935              received  since  the last time you opened the mailbox.  When un‐
2936              set, Mutt will notify you if any new mail exists in the mailbox,
2937              regardless of whether you have visited it recently.
2938
2939              When  $mark_old  is  set,  Mutt does not consider the mailbox to
2940              contain new mail if only old messages exist.
2941
2942
2943
2944       mail_check_stats
2945              Type: boolean
2946              Default: no
2947
2948              When set, mutt will periodically calculate message statistics of
2949              a mailbox while polling for new mail.  It will check for unread,
2950              flagged, and total message counts.  (Note: IMAP  mailboxes  only
2951              support unread and total counts).
2952
2953              Because  this  operation  is  more performance intensive, it de‐
2954              faults    to    unset,    and    has    a    separate    option,
2955              $mail_check_stats_interval, to control how often to update these
2956              counts.
2957
2958              Message statistics can also be explicitly calculated by invoking
2959              the <check-stats> function.
2960
2961
2962
2963       mail_check_stats_interval
2964              Type: number
2965              Default: 60
2966
2967              When  $mail_check_stats is set, this variable configures how of‐
2968              ten (in seconds) mutt will update message counts.
2969
2970
2971
2972       mailcap_path
2973              Type: string
2974              Default: “”
2975
2976              This variable specifies which files to consult  when  attempting
2977              to  display MIME bodies not directly supported by Mutt.  The de‐
2978              fault value is generated during startup: see the “mailcap”  sec‐
2979              tion of the manual.
2980
2981
2982
2983       mailcap_sanitize
2984              Type: boolean
2985              Default: yes
2986
2987              If  set, mutt will restrict possible characters in mailcap % ex‐
2988              pandos to a well-defined set of safe characters.   This  is  the
2989              safe setting, but we are not sure it doesn't break some more ad‐
2990              vanced MIME stuff.
2991
2992              DON'T CHANGE THIS SETTING UNLESS YOU ARE REALLY  SURE  WHAT  YOU
2993              ARE DOING!
2994
2995
2996
2997       maildir_header_cache_verify
2998              Type: boolean
2999              Default: yes
3000
3001              Check  for Maildir unaware programs other than mutt having modi‐
3002              fied maildir files when the header cache is in use.  This incurs
3003              one  stat(2)  per message every time the folder is opened (which
3004              can be very slow for NFS folders).
3005
3006
3007
3008       maildir_trash
3009              Type: boolean
3010              Default: no
3011
3012              If set, messages marked  as  deleted  will  be  saved  with  the
3013              maildir  trashed  flag instead of unlinked.  Note: this only ap‐
3014              plies to maildir-style mailboxes.  Setting it will have  no  ef‐
3015              fect on other mailbox types.
3016
3017
3018
3019       maildir_check_cur
3020              Type: boolean
3021              Default: no
3022
3023              If  set,  mutt  will  poll both the new and cur directories of a
3024              maildir folder for new messages.  This might be useful if  other
3025              programs  interacting  with the folder (e.g. dovecot) are moving
3026              new messages to the cur directory.  Note that setting  this  op‐
3027              tion  may  slow  down polling for new messages in large folders,
3028              since mutt has to scan all cur messages.
3029
3030
3031
3032       mark_macro_prefix
3033              Type: string
3034              Default: “'”
3035
3036              Prefix for macros created using mark-message.  A new macro auto‐
3037              matically  generated  with <mark-message>a will be composed from
3038              this prefix and the letter a.
3039
3040
3041
3042       mark_old
3043              Type: boolean
3044              Default: yes
3045
3046              Controls whether or not mutt marks new unread messages as old if
3047              you  exit a mailbox without reading them.  With this option set,
3048              the next time you start mutt, the messages will show up with  an
3049              “O”  next  to  them  in the index menu, indicating that they are
3050              old.
3051
3052
3053
3054       markers
3055              Type: boolean
3056              Default: yes
3057
3058              Controls the display of wrapped lines in the internal pager.  If
3059              set,  a  “+”  marker  is  displayed  at the beginning of wrapped
3060              lines.
3061
3062              Also see the $smart_wrap variable.
3063
3064
3065
3066       mask
3067              Type: regular expression
3068              Default: “!^\.[^.]”
3069
3070              A regular expression used in the file browser,  optionally  pre‐
3071              ceded  by  the  not  operator “!”.  Only files whose names match
3072              this mask will be shown. The match is always case-sensitive.
3073
3074
3075
3076       mbox
3077              Type: path
3078              Default: “~/mbox”
3079
3080              This  specifies  the  folder  into  which  read  mail  in   your
3081              $spoolfile folder will be appended.
3082
3083              Also see the $move variable.
3084
3085
3086
3087       mbox_type
3088              Type: folder magic
3089              Default: mbox
3090
3091              The  default mailbox type used when creating new folders. May be
3092              any of “mbox”, “MMDF”, “MH” and “Maildir”. This is overridden by
3093              the -m command-line option.
3094
3095
3096
3097       menu_context
3098              Type: number
3099              Default: 0
3100
3101              This  variable  controls the number of lines of context that are
3102              given when scrolling through menus. (Similar to $pager_context.)
3103
3104
3105
3106       menu_move_off
3107              Type: boolean
3108              Default: yes
3109
3110              When unset, the bottom entry of menus will never scroll up  past
3111              the  bottom  of  the  screen, unless there are less entries than
3112              lines.  When set, the bottom entry may move off the bottom.
3113
3114
3115
3116       menu_scroll
3117              Type: boolean
3118              Default: no
3119
3120              When set, menus will be scrolled up or down one  line  when  you
3121              attempt  to move across a screen boundary.  If unset, the screen
3122              is cleared and the next or previous page of  the  menu  is  dis‐
3123              played (useful for slow links to avoid many redraws).
3124
3125
3126
3127       message_cache_clean
3128              Type: boolean
3129              Default: no
3130
3131              If  set,  mutt  will clean out obsolete entries from the message
3132              cache when the mailbox is synchronized. You probably  only  want
3133              to  set  it every once in a while, since it can be a little slow
3134              (especially for large folders).
3135
3136
3137
3138       message_cachedir
3139              Type: path
3140              Default: “”
3141
3142              Set this to a directory and mutt will cache copies  of  messages
3143              from  your IMAP and POP servers here. You are free to remove en‐
3144              tries at any time.
3145
3146              When setting this variable to a directory, mutt needs  to  fetch
3147              every  remote  message only once and can perform regular expres‐
3148              sion searches as fast as for local folders.
3149
3150              Also see the $message_cache_clean variable.
3151
3152
3153
3154       message_format
3155              Type: string
3156              Default: “%s”
3157
3158              This is the string displayed in the “attachment”  menu  for  at‐
3159              tachments of type message/rfc822.  For a full listing of defined
3160              printf(3)-like sequences see the section on $index_format.
3161
3162
3163
3164       message_id_format
3165              Type: string
3166              Default: “<%z@%f>”
3167
3168              This variable describes the format of the  Message-ID  generated
3169              when  sending messages.  Mutt 2.0 introduced a more compact for‐
3170              mat, but this variable allows the ability  to  choose  your  own
3171              format.   The value may end in “|” to invoke an external filter.
3172              See formatstrings-filters.
3173
3174              Please note that the Message-ID value follows a  strict  syntax,
3175              and  you  are responsible for ensuring correctness if you change
3176              this from the default.  In particular, the value must follow the
3177              syntax  in  RFC 5322: “”<” id-left ”@” id-right ”>””.  No spaces
3178              are allowed, and id-left should follow the dot-atom-text  syntax
3179              in the RFC.  The id-right should generally be left at %f.
3180
3181              The  old  Message-ID  format  can  be  used  by setting this to:
3182<%Y%02m%02d%02H%02M%02S.G%c%p@%f>
3183
3184              The following printf(3)-style sequences are understood:
3185              %c     step counter looping from “A” to “Z”
3186              %d     current day of the month (GMT)
3187              %f     $hostname
3188              %H     current hour using a 24-hour clock (GMT)
3189              %m     current month number (GMT)
3190              %M     current minute of the hour (GMT)
3191              %p     pid of the running mutt process
3192              %r     3 bytes of pseudorandom data encoded in Base64
3193              %S     current second of the minute (GMT)
3194              %x     1 byte of pseudorandom data hex encoded (example: '1b')
3195              %Y     current year using 4 digits (GMT)
3196              %z     4 byte timestamp + 8 bytes of pseudorandom  data  encoded
3197                     in Base64
3198
3199
3200       meta_key
3201              Type: boolean
3202              Default: no
3203
3204              If  set,  forces  Mutt to interpret keystrokes with the high bit
3205              (bit 8) set as if the user had pressed the Esc key and  whatever
3206              key  remains after having the high bit removed.  For example, if
3207              the key pressed has an ASCII value of 0xf8, then this is treated
3208              as  if  the  user had pressed Esc then “x”.  This is because the
3209              result of removing the high bit from 0xf8 is 0x78, which is  the
3210              ASCII character “x”.
3211
3212
3213
3214       metoo
3215              Type: boolean
3216              Default: no
3217
3218              If  unset,  Mutt  will remove your address (see the “alternates”
3219              command) from the list of recipients when replying to a message.
3220
3221
3222
3223       mh_purge
3224              Type: boolean
3225              Default: no
3226
3227              When unset, mutt will mimic mh's  behavior  and  rename  deleted
3228              messages  to  ,<old  file  name> in mh folders instead of really
3229              deleting them. This leaves the message on disk  but  makes  pro‐
3230              grams  reading the folder ignore it. If the variable is set, the
3231              message files will simply be deleted.
3232
3233              This option is similar to $maildir_trash for Maildir folders.
3234
3235
3236
3237       mh_seq_flagged
3238              Type: string
3239              Default: “flagged”
3240
3241              The name of the MH sequence used for flagged messages.
3242
3243
3244
3245       mh_seq_replied
3246              Type: string
3247              Default: “replied”
3248
3249              The name of the MH sequence used to tag replied messages.
3250
3251
3252
3253       mh_seq_unseen
3254              Type: string
3255              Default: “unseen”
3256
3257              The name of the MH sequence used for unseen messages.
3258
3259
3260
3261       mime_forward
3262              Type: quadoption
3263              Default: no
3264
3265              When set, the message you are forwarding will be attached  as  a
3266              separate  message/rfc822  MIME  part  instead of included in the
3267              main body of the message.  This is useful  for  forwarding  MIME
3268              messages so the receiver can properly view the message as it was
3269              delivered to you. If you like to switch  between  MIME  and  not
3270              MIME  from  mail  to  mail,  set  this  variable  to “ask-no” or
3271              “ask-yes”.
3272
3273              Also see $forward_decode and $mime_forward_decode.
3274
3275
3276
3277       mime_forward_decode
3278              Type: boolean
3279              Default: no
3280
3281              Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages  into  text/plain
3282              when  forwarding a message while $mime_forward is set. Otherwise
3283              $forward_decode is used instead.
3284
3285
3286
3287       mime_forward_rest
3288              Type: quadoption
3289              Default: yes
3290
3291              When forwarding multiple attachments of a MIME message from  the
3292              attachment  menu,  attachments which cannot be decoded in a rea‐
3293              sonable manner will be attached to the newly composed message if
3294              this option is set.
3295
3296
3297
3298       mime_type_query_command
3299              Type: string
3300              Default: “”
3301
3302              This specifies a command to run, to determine the mime type of a
3303              new   attachment   when    composing    a    message.     Unless
3304              $mime_type_query_first  is set, this will only be run if the at‐
3305              tachment's extension is not found in the mime.types file.
3306
3307              The string may contain a “%s”, which will  be  substituted  with
3308              the attachment filename.  Mutt will add quotes around the string
3309              substituted for “%s” automatically according  to  shell  quoting
3310              rules, so you should avoid adding your own.  If no “%s” is found
3311              in the string, Mutt will append the attachment filename  to  the
3312              end of the string.
3313
3314              The  command  should output a single line containing the attach‐
3315              ment's mime type.
3316
3317              Suggested values are “xdg-mime query filetype” or “file -bi”.
3318
3319
3320
3321       mime_type_query_first
3322              Type: boolean
3323              Default: no
3324
3325              When set, the $mime_type_query_command will be  run  before  the
3326              mime.types lookup.
3327
3328
3329
3330       mix_entry_format
3331              Type: string
3332              Default: “%4n %c %-16s %a”
3333
3334              This  variable  describes  the  format of a remailer line on the
3335              mixmaster chain selection screen.  The following  printf(3)-like
3336              sequences are supported:
3337              %n     The running number on the menu.
3338              %c     Remailer capabilities.
3339              %s     The remailer's short name.
3340              %a     The remailer's e-mail address.
3341
3342              (Mixmaster only)
3343
3344
3345
3346       mixmaster
3347              Type: path
3348              Default: “mixmaster”
3349
3350              This  variable contains the path to the Mixmaster binary on your
3351              system.  It is used with various sets of  parameters  to  gather
3352              the  list  of  known  remailers,  and  to finally send a message
3353              through the mixmaster chain. (Mixmaster only)
3354
3355
3356
3357       move
3358              Type: quadoption
3359              Default: no
3360
3361              Controls whether or not Mutt will move read messages  from  your
3362              spool  mailbox to your $mbox mailbox, or as a result of a “mbox-
3363              hook” command.
3364
3365
3366
3367       muttlisp_inline_eval
3368              Type: boolean
3369              Default: no
3370
3371              If set, Mutt will evaluate bare parenthesis  arguments  to  com‐
3372              mands as MuttLisp expressions.
3373
3374
3375
3376       narrow_tree
3377              Type: boolean
3378              Default: no
3379
3380              This  variable, when set, makes the thread tree narrower, allow‐
3381              ing deeper threads to fit on the screen.
3382
3383
3384
3385       net_inc
3386              Type: number
3387              Default: 10
3388
3389              Operations that expect to transfer a large amount of  data  over
3390              the network will update their progress every $net_inc kilobytes.
3391              If set to 0, no progress messages will be displayed.
3392
3393              See also $read_inc, $write_inc and $net_inc.
3394
3395
3396
3397       new_mail_command
3398              Type: path
3399              Default: “”
3400
3401              If set, Mutt will call this command after a new message  is  re‐
3402              ceived.   See  the  $status_format  documentation for the values
3403              that can be formatted into this command.
3404
3405
3406
3407       pager
3408              Type: path
3409              Default: “builtin”
3410
3411              This variable specifies which pager you would  like  to  use  to
3412              view  messages.  The  value  “builtin” means to use the built-in
3413              pager, otherwise this variable should specify  the  pathname  of
3414              the external pager you would like to use.
3415
3416              The  string  may  contain a “%s”, which will be substituted with
3417              the generated message filename.  Mutt will add quotes around the
3418              string  substituted  for  “%s”  automatically according to shell
3419              quoting rules, so you should avoid adding your own.  If no  “%s”
3420              is found in the string, Mutt will append the message filename to
3421              the end of the string.
3422
3423              Using an external pager may have some disadvantages:  Additional
3424              keystrokes  are  necessary because you can't call mutt functions
3425              directly from the pager, and screen resizes cause  lines  longer
3426              than the screen width to be badly formatted in the help menu.
3427
3428              When  using  an external pager, also see $prompt_after which de‐
3429              faults set.
3430
3431
3432
3433       pager_context
3434              Type: number
3435              Default: 0
3436
3437              This variable controls the number of lines of context  that  are
3438              given  when displaying the next or previous page in the internal
3439              pager.  By default, Mutt will display the line  after  the  last
3440              one  on  the screen at the top of the next page (0 lines of con‐
3441              text).
3442
3443              This variable also specifies the amount  of  context  given  for
3444              search  results.  If positive, this many lines will be given be‐
3445              fore a match, if 0, the match will be top-aligned.
3446
3447
3448
3449       pager_format
3450              Type: string
3451              Default: “-%Z- %C/%m: %-20.20n   %s%*  -- (%P)”
3452
3453              This variable controls the format of the one-line message  “sta‐
3454              tus”  displayed before each message in either the internal or an
3455              external pager.  The valid sequences  are  listed  in  the  $in‐
3456              dex_format section.
3457
3458
3459
3460       pager_index_lines
3461              Type: number
3462              Default: 0
3463
3464              Determines  the  number  of lines of a mini-index which is shown
3465              when in the pager.  The current message, unless near the top  or
3466              bottom  of the folder, will be roughly one third of the way down
3467              this mini-index, giving the reader the context of a few messages
3468              before  and  after the message.  This is useful, for example, to
3469              determine how many messages remain to be  read  in  the  current
3470              thread.   One  of  the lines is reserved for the status bar from
3471              the index, so a setting of 6 will only show 5 lines of  the  ac‐
3472              tual  index.   A value of 0 results in no index being shown.  If
3473              the number of messages  in  the  current  folder  is  less  than
3474              $pager_index_lines,  then  the index will only use as many lines
3475              as it needs.
3476
3477
3478
3479       pager_skip_quoted_context
3480              Type: number
3481              Default: 0
3482
3483              Determines the number of lines of context to show before the un‐
3484              quoted  text  when  using  <skip-quoted>. When set to a positive
3485              number at most that many lines of the previous  quote  are  dis‐
3486              played. If the previous quote is shorter the whole quote is dis‐
3487              played.
3488
3489
3490
3491       pager_stop
3492              Type: boolean
3493              Default: no
3494
3495              When set, the internal-pager will not move to the  next  message
3496              when  you are at the end of a message and invoke the <next-page>
3497              function.
3498
3499
3500
3501       pattern_format
3502              Type: string
3503              Default: “%2n %-15e  %d”
3504
3505              This variable describes the format of the  “pattern  completion”
3506              menu. The following printf(3)-style sequences are understood:
3507              %d     pattern description
3508              %e     pattern expression
3509              %n     index number
3510
3511       pgp_auto_decode
3512              Type: boolean
3513              Default: no
3514
3515              If  set,  mutt will automatically attempt to decrypt traditional
3516              PGP messages whenever the user performs an operation which ordi‐
3517              narily  would  result in the contents of the message being oper‐
3518              ated on.  For example, if the user  displays  a  pgp-traditional
3519              message which has not been manually checked with the <check-tra‐
3520              ditional-pgp> function, mutt will automatically check  the  mes‐
3521              sage for traditional pgp.
3522
3523
3524
3525       pgp_autoinline
3526              Type: boolean
3527              Default: no
3528
3529              This  option  controls  whether  Mutt generates old-style inline
3530              (traditional) PGP encrypted or  signed  messages  under  certain
3531              circumstances.   This  can be overridden by use of the pgp menu,
3532              when inline is not required.  The GPGME backend does not support
3533              this option.
3534
3535              Note  that  Mutt  might  automatically use PGP/MIME for messages
3536              which consist of more than a single MIME part.  Mutt can be con‐
3537              figured  to  ask  before  sending  PGP/MIME messages when inline
3538              (traditional) would not work.
3539
3540              Also see the $pgp_mime_auto variable.
3541
3542              Also note  that  using  the  old-style  PGP  message  format  is
3543              strongly deprecated.  (PGP only)
3544
3545
3546
3547       pgp_check_exit
3548              Type: boolean
3549              Default: yes
3550
3551              If set, mutt will check the exit code of the PGP subprocess when
3552              signing or encrypting.  A non-zero exit code means that the sub‐
3553              process failed.  (PGP only)
3554
3555
3556
3557       pgp_check_gpg_decrypt_status_fd
3558              Type: boolean
3559              Default: yes
3560
3561              If  set,  mutt  will  check the status file descriptor output of
3562              $pgp_decrypt_command and $pgp_decode_command  for  GnuPG  status
3563              codes indicating successful decryption.  This will check for the
3564              presence of DECRYPTION_OKAY, absence of  DECRYPTION_FAILED,  and
3565              that  all  PLAINTEXT  occurs  between  the  BEGIN_DECRYPTION and
3566              END_DECRYPTION status codes.
3567
3568              If unset, mutt will instead match the status fd  output  against
3569              $pgp_decryption_okay.  (PGP only)
3570
3571
3572
3573       pgp_clearsign_command
3574              Type: string
3575              Default: “”
3576
3577              This  format  is  used  to create an old-style “clearsigned” PGP
3578              message.  Note that the use of this format  is  strongly  depre‐
3579              cated.
3580
3581              This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3582              possible printf(3)-like sequences.  (PGP only)
3583
3584
3585
3586       pgp_decode_command
3587              Type: string
3588              Default: “”
3589
3590              This format strings specifies a command which is used to  decode
3591              application/pgp attachments.
3592
3593              The PGP command formats have their own set of printf(3)-like se‐
3594              quences:
3595              %p     Expands to PGPPASSFD=0 when a pass phrase is  needed,  to
3596                     an  empty string otherwise. Note: This may be used with a
3597                     %? construct.
3598              %f     Expands to the name of a file containing a message.
3599              %s     Expands to the name of a file  containing  the  signature
3600                     part
3601                                of  a multipart/signed attachment when verify‐
3602                     ing it.
3603              %a     The value of $pgp_sign_as if set, otherwise the value  of
3604                     $pgp_default_key.
3605              %r     One or more key IDs (or fingerprints if available).
3606
3607              For  examples  on how to configure these formats for the various
3608              versions of PGP which are floating around, see the pgp  and  gpg
3609              sample  configuration  files  in the samples/ subdirectory which
3610              has been installed on your system alongside  the  documentation.
3611              (PGP only)
3612
3613
3614
3615       pgp_decrypt_command
3616              Type: string
3617              Default: “”
3618
3619              This command is used to decrypt a PGP encrypted message.
3620
3621              This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3622              possible printf(3)-like sequences.  (PGP only)
3623
3624
3625
3626       pgp_decryption_okay
3627              Type: regular expression
3628              Default: “”
3629
3630              If you assign text to this variable, then an encrypted PGP  mes‐
3631              sage  is  only  considered  successfully decrypted if the output
3632              from $pgp_decrypt_command contains the text.  This  is  used  to
3633              protect  against a spoofed encrypted message, with multipart/en‐
3634              crypted headers but containing a block that is not actually  en‐
3635              crypted.  (e.g. simply signed and ascii armored text).
3636
3637              Note that if $pgp_check_gpg_decrypt_status_fd is set, this vari‐
3638              able is ignored.  (PGP only)
3639
3640
3641
3642       pgp_default_key
3643              Type: string
3644              Default: “”
3645
3646              This is the default key-pair to use for PGP operations.  It will
3647              be  used for encryption (see $postpone_encrypt and $pgp_self_en‐
3648              crypt).
3649
3650              It will also be used for signing unless $pgp_sign_as is set.
3651
3652              The (now deprecated) pgp_self_encrypt_as is an  alias  for  this
3653              variable, and should no longer be used.  (PGP only)
3654
3655
3656
3657       pgp_encrypt_only_command
3658              Type: string
3659              Default: “”
3660
3661              This command is used to encrypt a body part without signing it.
3662
3663              This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3664              possible printf(3)-like sequences.  (PGP only)
3665
3666
3667
3668       pgp_encrypt_sign_command
3669              Type: string
3670              Default: “”
3671
3672              This command is used to both sign and encrypt a body part.
3673
3674              This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3675              possible printf(3)-like sequences.  (PGP only)
3676
3677
3678
3679       pgp_entry_format
3680              Type: string
3681              Default: “%4n %t%f %4l/0x%k %-4a %2c %u”
3682
3683              This variable allows you to customize the PGP key selection menu
3684              to your personal taste. This string is similar to $index_format,
3685              but has its own set of printf(3)-like sequences:
3686              %n     number
3687              %k     key id
3688              %u     user id
3689              %a     algorithm
3690              %l     key length
3691              %f     flags
3692              %c     capabilities
3693              %t     trust/validity of the key-uid association
3694              %[<s>] date of the key where <s> is an strftime(3) expression
3695
3696              (PGP only)
3697
3698
3699
3700       pgp_export_command
3701              Type: string
3702              Default: “”
3703
3704              This  command is used to export a public key from the user's key
3705              ring.
3706
3707              This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3708              possible printf(3)-like sequences.  (PGP only)
3709
3710
3711
3712       pgp_getkeys_command
3713              Type: string
3714              Default: “”
3715
3716              This  command is invoked whenever Mutt needs to fetch the public
3717              key associated with an email address.   Of  the  sequences  sup‐
3718              ported by $pgp_decode_command, %r is the only printf(3)-like se‐
3719              quence used with this format.  Note that in this  case,  %r  ex‐
3720              pands to the email address, not the public key ID (the key ID is
3721              unknown, which is why Mutt  is  invoking  this  command).   (PGP
3722              only)
3723
3724
3725
3726       pgp_good_sign
3727              Type: regular expression
3728              Default: “”
3729
3730              If  you  assign a text to this variable, then a PGP signature is
3731              only considered verified if the output from  $pgp_verify_command
3732              contains  the  text. Use this variable if the exit code from the
3733              command is 0 even for bad signatures.  (PGP only)
3734
3735
3736
3737       pgp_ignore_subkeys
3738              Type: boolean
3739              Default: yes
3740
3741              Setting this variable will cause Mutt to ignore OpenPGP subkeys.
3742              Instead,  the  principal key will inherit the subkeys' capabili‐
3743              ties.  Unset this if you want to play interesting key  selection
3744              games.  (PGP only)
3745
3746
3747
3748       pgp_import_command
3749              Type: string
3750              Default: “”
3751
3752              This  command  is  used  to import a key from a message into the
3753              user's public key ring.
3754
3755              This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3756              possible printf(3)-like sequences.  (PGP only)
3757
3758
3759
3760       pgp_list_pubring_command
3761              Type: string
3762              Default: “”
3763
3764              This  command  is  used  to list the public key ring's contents.
3765              The output format must be analogous to the one used by
3766
3767
3768              gpg --list-keys --with-colons --with-fingerprint
3769
3770
3771              This format is also generated by the mutt_pgpring utility  which
3772              comes with mutt.
3773
3774              Note:  gpg's fixed-list-mode option should not be used.  It pro‐
3775              duces a different date format which may result in  mutt  showing
3776              incorrect key generation dates.
3777
3778              This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3779              possible printf(3)-like sequences.  Note that in this  case,  %r
3780              expands  to  the  search  string, which is a list of one or more
3781              quoted values such as email address, name, or keyid.  (PGP only)
3782
3783
3784
3785       pgp_list_secring_command
3786              Type: string
3787              Default: “”
3788
3789              This command is used to list the  secret  key  ring's  contents.
3790              The output format must be analogous to the one used by:
3791
3792
3793              gpg --list-keys --with-colons --with-fingerprint
3794
3795
3796              This  format is also generated by the mutt_pgpring utility which
3797              comes with mutt.
3798
3799              Note: gpg's fixed-list-mode option should not be used.  It  pro‐
3800              duces  a  different date format which may result in mutt showing
3801              incorrect key generation dates.
3802
3803              This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3804              possible  printf(3)-like  sequences.  Note that in this case, %r
3805              expands to the search string, which is a list  of  one  or  more
3806              quoted values such as email address, name, or keyid.  (PGP only)
3807
3808
3809
3810       pgp_long_ids
3811              Type: boolean
3812              Default: yes
3813
3814              If  set,  use 64 bit PGP key IDs, if unset use the normal 32 bit
3815              key IDs.  NOTE: Internally, Mutt has transitioned to using  fin‐
3816              gerprints (or long key IDs as a fallback).  This option now only
3817              controls the display of key IDs in the key selection menu and  a
3818              few other places.  (PGP only)
3819
3820
3821
3822       pgp_mime_auto
3823              Type: quadoption
3824              Default: ask-yes
3825
3826              This  option controls whether Mutt will prompt you for automati‐
3827              cally sending a (signed/encrypted) message using  PGP/MIME  when
3828              inline (traditional) fails (for any reason).
3829
3830              Also  note  that  using  the  old-style  PGP  message  format is
3831              strongly deprecated.  (PGP only)
3832
3833
3834
3835       pgp_replyinline
3836              Type: boolean
3837              Default: no
3838
3839              Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to  cre‐
3840              ate  an  inline (traditional) message when replying to a message
3841              which is PGP encrypted/signed inline.  This can be overridden by
3842              use  of  the pgp menu, when inline is not required.  This option
3843              does not automatically detect if the (replied-to) message is in‐
3844              line;  instead  it  relies  on  Mutt  internals  for  previously
3845              checked/flagged messages.
3846
3847              Note that Mutt might automatically  use  PGP/MIME  for  messages
3848              which consist of more than a single MIME part.  Mutt can be con‐
3849              figured to ask before  sending  PGP/MIME  messages  when  inline
3850              (traditional) would not work.
3851
3852              Also see the $pgp_mime_auto variable.
3853
3854              Also  note  that  using  the  old-style  PGP  message  format is
3855              strongly deprecated.  (PGP only)
3856
3857
3858
3859       pgp_retainable_sigs
3860              Type: boolean
3861              Default: no
3862
3863              If set, signed and encrypted messages  will  consist  of  nested
3864              multipart/signed and multipart/encrypted body parts.
3865
3866              This  is useful for applications like encrypted and signed mail‐
3867              ing lists, where the outer layer  (multipart/encrypted)  can  be
3868              easily  removed,  while  the  inner multipart/signed part is re‐
3869              tained.  (PGP only)
3870
3871
3872
3873       pgp_self_encrypt
3874              Type: boolean
3875              Default: yes
3876
3877              When set, PGP encrypted messages will also  be  encrypted  using
3878              the key in $pgp_default_key.  (PGP only)
3879
3880
3881
3882       pgp_show_unusable
3883              Type: boolean
3884              Default: yes
3885
3886              If  set, mutt will display non-usable keys on the PGP key selec‐
3887              tion menu.  This includes keys which have been revoked, have ex‐
3888              pired,  or  have  been  marked  as “disabled” by the user.  (PGP
3889              only)
3890
3891
3892
3893       pgp_sign_as
3894              Type: string
3895              Default: “”
3896
3897              If you have a different key pair to use for signing, you  should
3898              set  this to the signing key.  Most people will only need to set
3899              $pgp_default_key.  It is recommended that you use the keyid form
3900              to specify your key (e.g. 0x00112233).  (PGP only)
3901
3902
3903
3904       pgp_sign_command
3905              Type: string
3906              Default: “”
3907
3908              This  command is used to create the detached PGP signature for a
3909              multipart/signed PGP/MIME body part.
3910
3911              This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3912              possible printf(3)-like sequences.  (PGP only)
3913
3914
3915
3916       pgp_sort_keys
3917              Type: sort order
3918              Default: address
3919
3920              Specifies  how  the entries in the pgp menu are sorted. The fol‐
3921              lowing are legal values:
3922              address
3923                     sort alphabetically by user id
3924              keyid  sort alphabetically by key id
3925              date   sort by key creation date
3926              trust  sort by the trust of the key
3927
3928              If you prefer reverse order of the above values, prefix it  with
3929              “reverse-”.  (PGP only)
3930
3931
3932
3933       pgp_strict_enc
3934              Type: boolean
3935              Default: yes
3936
3937              If  set, Mutt will automatically encode PGP/MIME signed messages
3938              as quoted-printable.  Please note that unsetting  this  variable
3939              may lead to problems with non-verifyable PGP signatures, so only
3940              change this if you know what you are doing.  (PGP only)
3941
3942
3943
3944       pgp_timeout
3945              Type: number (long)
3946              Default: 300
3947
3948              The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase  will  ex‐
3949              pire if not used.  (PGP only)
3950
3951
3952
3953       pgp_use_gpg_agent
3954              Type: boolean
3955              Default: no
3956
3957              If  set, mutt expects a gpg-agent(1) process will handle private
3958              key passphrase prompts.  If unset,  mutt  will  prompt  for  the
3959              passphrase and pass it via stdin to the pgp command.
3960
3961              Note that as of version 2.1, GnuPG automatically spawns an agent
3962              and requires the agent be used for passphrase management.  Since
3963              that  version  is  increasingly prevalent, this variable now de‐
3964              faults set.
3965
3966              Mutt works with a GUI or curses pinentry program.  A TTY  pinen‐
3967              try should not be used.
3968
3969              If you are using an older version of GnuPG without an agent run‐
3970              ning, or another encryption program without an agent,  you  will
3971              need to unset this variable.  (PGP only)
3972
3973
3974
3975       pgp_verify_command
3976              Type: string
3977              Default: “”
3978
3979              This command is used to verify PGP signatures.
3980
3981              This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3982              possible printf(3)-like sequences.  (PGP only)
3983
3984
3985
3986       pgp_verify_key_command
3987              Type: string
3988              Default: “”
3989
3990              This command is used to verify key information from the key  se‐
3991              lection menu.
3992
3993              This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3994              possible printf(3)-like sequences.  (PGP only)
3995
3996
3997
3998       pipe_decode
3999              Type: boolean
4000              Default: no
4001
4002              Used in connection with the <pipe-message> function.   When  un‐
4003              set, Mutt will pipe the messages without any preprocessing. When
4004              set, Mutt will attempt to decode the messages first.
4005
4006              Also see $pipe_decode_weed, which controls whether headers  will
4007              be weeded when this is set.
4008
4009
4010
4011       pipe_decode_weed
4012              Type: boolean
4013              Default: yes
4014
4015              For  <pipe-message>, when $pipe_decode is set, this further con‐
4016              trols whether Mutt will weed headers.
4017
4018
4019
4020       pipe_sep
4021              Type: string
4022              Default: “\n”
4023
4024              The separator to add between messages  when  piping  a  list  of
4025              tagged messages to an external Unix command.
4026
4027
4028
4029       pipe_split
4030              Type: boolean
4031              Default: no
4032
4033              Used  in  connection  with the <pipe-message> function following
4034              <tag-prefix>.  If this variable is unset, when piping a list  of
4035              tagged messages Mutt will concatenate the messages and will pipe
4036              them all concatenated.  When set, Mutt will  pipe  the  messages
4037              one by one.  In both cases the messages are piped in the current
4038              sorted order, and the $pipe_sep separator is  added  after  each
4039              message.
4040
4041
4042
4043       pop_auth_try_all
4044              Type: boolean
4045              Default: yes
4046
4047              If  set,  Mutt  will  try  all available authentication methods.
4048              When unset, Mutt will only fall  back  to  other  authentication
4049              methods  if the previous methods are unavailable. If a method is
4050              available but authentication fails, Mutt will not connect to the
4051              POP server.
4052
4053
4054
4055       pop_authenticators
4056              Type: string
4057              Default: “”
4058
4059              This  is  a  colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt
4060              may attempt to use to log in to an POP server, in the order mutt
4061              should  try  them.   Authentication  methods  are either “user”,
4062              “apop” or any SASL mechanism,  e.g.  “digest-md5”,  “gssapi”  or
4063              “cram-md5”.   This option is case-insensitive. If this option is
4064              unset (the default) mutt will try all available methods, in  or‐
4065              der from most-secure to least-secure.
4066
4067              Example:
4068
4069
4070              set pop_authenticators=”digest-md5:apop:user”
4071
4072
4073
4074
4075       pop_checkinterval
4076              Type: number
4077              Default: 60
4078
4079              This variable configures how often (in seconds) mutt should look
4080              for new mail in the currently selected mailbox if it  is  a  POP
4081              mailbox.
4082
4083
4084
4085       pop_delete
4086              Type: quadoption
4087              Default: ask-no
4088
4089              If  set,  Mutt will delete successfully downloaded messages from
4090              the POP server when using the <fetch-mail> function.   When  un‐
4091              set,  Mutt will download messages but also leave them on the POP
4092              server.
4093
4094
4095
4096       pop_host
4097              Type: string
4098              Default: “”
4099
4100              The name of your POP server for the <fetch-mail> function.   You
4101              can  also  specify  an  alternative port, username and password,
4102              i.e.:
4103
4104
4105              [pop[s]://][username[:password]@]popserver[:port]
4106
4107
4108              where “[...]” denotes an optional part.
4109
4110
4111
4112       pop_last
4113              Type: boolean
4114              Default: no
4115
4116              If this variable is set, mutt will try to  use  the  “LAST”  POP
4117              command  for retrieving only unread messages from the POP server
4118              when using the <fetch-mail> function.
4119
4120
4121
4122       pop_oauth_refresh_command
4123              Type: string
4124              Default: “”
4125
4126              The command to run to generate an OAUTH refresh token for autho‐
4127              rizing your connection to your POP server.  This command will be
4128              run on every connection attempt that uses  the  OAUTHBEARER  au‐
4129              thentication mechanism.  See “oauth” for details.
4130
4131
4132
4133       pop_pass
4134              Type: string
4135              Default: “”
4136
4137              Specifies  the  password  for  your POP account.  If unset, Mutt
4138              will prompt you for your password when you open a POP mailbox.
4139
4140              Warning: you should only use this  option  when  you  are  on  a
4141              fairly  secure machine, because the superuser can read your mut‐
4142              trc even if you are the only one who can read the file.
4143
4144
4145
4146       pop_reconnect
4147              Type: quadoption
4148              Default: ask-yes
4149
4150              Controls whether or not Mutt will try to reconnect  to  the  POP
4151              server if the connection is lost.
4152
4153
4154
4155       pop_user
4156              Type: string
4157              Default: “”
4158
4159              Your login name on the POP server.
4160
4161              This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
4162
4163
4164
4165       post_indent_string
4166              Type: string
4167              Default: “”
4168
4169              Similar  to  the  $attribution  variable,  Mutt will append this
4170              string after the inclusion of a message which is  being  replied
4171              to.   For a full listing of defined printf(3)-like sequences see
4172              the section on $index_format.
4173
4174
4175
4176       postpone
4177              Type: quadoption
4178              Default: ask-yes
4179
4180              Controls whether or not messages are  saved  in  the  $postponed
4181              mailbox when you elect not to send immediately.
4182
4183              Also see the $recall variable.
4184
4185
4186
4187       postponed
4188              Type: path
4189              Default: “~/postponed”
4190
4191              Mutt  allows  you  to  indefinitely “postpone sending a message”
4192              which you are editing.  When you choose to postpone  a  message,
4193              Mutt saves it in the mailbox specified by this variable.
4194
4195              Also see the $postpone variable.
4196
4197
4198
4199       postpone_encrypt
4200              Type: boolean
4201              Default: no
4202
4203              When set, postponed messages that are marked for encryption will
4204              be self-encrypted.  Mutt will first try  to  encrypt  using  the
4205              value  specified  in $pgp_default_key or $smime_default_key.  If
4206              those are not set, it  will  try  the  deprecated  $postpone_en‐
4207              crypt_as.  (Crypto only)
4208
4209
4210
4211       postpone_encrypt_as
4212              Type: string
4213              Default: “”
4214
4215              This  is  a deprecated fall-back variable for $postpone_encrypt.
4216              Please  use  $pgp_default_key  or  $smime_default_key.   (Crypto
4217              only)
4218
4219
4220
4221       preconnect
4222              Type: string
4223              Default: “”
4224
4225              If  set,  a shell command to be executed if mutt fails to estab‐
4226              lish a connection to the server. This is useful for  setting  up
4227              secure  connections,  e.g. with ssh(1). If the command returns a
4228              nonzero status, mutt gives up opening the server. Example:
4229
4230
4231              set preconnect=”ssh -f -q -L 1234:mailhost.net:143 mailhost.net \
4232              sleep 20 < /dev/null > /dev/null”
4233
4234
4235              Mailbox “foo” on “mailhost.net” can now be reached  as  “{local‐
4236              host:1234}foo”.
4237
4238              Note:  For  this  example to work, you must be able to log in to
4239              the remote machine without having to enter a password.
4240
4241
4242
4243       print
4244              Type: quadoption
4245              Default: ask-no
4246
4247              Controls whether or not Mutt really prints  messages.   This  is
4248              set to “ask-no” by default, because some people accidentally hit
4249              “p” often.
4250
4251
4252
4253       print_command
4254              Type: path
4255              Default: “lpr”
4256
4257              This specifies the command pipe that should  be  used  to  print
4258              messages.
4259
4260
4261
4262       print_decode
4263              Type: boolean
4264              Default: yes
4265
4266              Used  in  connection with the <print-message> function.  If this
4267              option is set, the message is decoded before it is passed to the
4268              external command specified by $print_command.  If this option is
4269              unset, no processing will be applied to the message when  print‐
4270              ing  it.  The latter setting may be useful if you are using some
4271              advanced printer filter which is able to properly format  e-mail
4272              messages for printing.
4273
4274              Also see $print_decode_weed, which controls whether headers will
4275              be weeded when this is set.
4276
4277
4278
4279       print_decode_weed
4280              Type: boolean
4281              Default: yes
4282
4283              For <print-message>, when $print_decode  is  set,  this  further
4284              controls whether Mutt will weed headers.
4285
4286
4287
4288       print_split
4289              Type: boolean
4290              Default: no
4291
4292              Used  in  connection with the <print-message> function.  If this
4293              option is set, the command specified by $print_command  is  exe‐
4294              cuted once for each message which is to be printed.  If this op‐
4295              tion is unset, the command specified by $print_command  is  exe‐
4296              cuted  only  once, and all the messages are concatenated, with a
4297              form feed as the message separator.
4298
4299              Those who use the enscript(1) program's mail-printing mode  will
4300              most likely want to set this option.
4301
4302
4303
4304       prompt_after
4305              Type: boolean
4306              Default: yes
4307
4308              If  you use an external $pager, setting this variable will cause
4309              Mutt to prompt you for a command when  the  pager  exits  rather
4310              than returning to the index menu.  If unset, Mutt will return to
4311              the index menu when the external pager exits.
4312
4313
4314
4315       query_command
4316              Type: path
4317              Default: “”
4318
4319              This specifies the command Mutt will use to  make  external  ad‐
4320              dress  queries.   The  string  may contain a “%s”, which will be
4321              substituted with the query string the user types.  Mutt will add
4322              quotes  around the string substituted for “%s” automatically ac‐
4323              cording to shell quoting rules, so you should avoid adding  your
4324              own.   If  no  “%s” is found in the string, Mutt will append the
4325              user's query to the end of the string.  See “query” for more in‐
4326              formation.
4327
4328
4329
4330       query_format
4331              Type: string
4332              Default: “%4c %t %-25.25a %-25.25n %?e?(%e)?”
4333
4334              This variable describes the format of the “query” menu. The fol‐
4335              lowing printf(3)-style sequences are understood:
4336              %a     destination address
4337              %c     current entry number
4338              %e     extra information *
4339              %n     destination name
4340              %t     “*” if current entry is tagged, a space otherwise
4341              %>X    right justify the rest of the string and pad with “X”
4342              %|X    pad to the end of the line with “X”
4343              %*X    soft-fill with character “X” as pad
4344
4345              For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the  $index_format  docu‐
4346              mentation.
4347
4348              * = can be optionally printed if nonzero, see the $status_format
4349              documentation.
4350
4351
4352
4353       quit
4354              Type: quadoption
4355              Default: yes
4356
4357              This variable controls whether “quit” and “exit”  actually  quit
4358              from mutt.  If this option is set, they do quit, if it is unset,
4359              they have no effect, and if it is set to ask-yes or ask-no,  you
4360              are prompted for confirmation when you try to quit.
4361
4362
4363
4364       quote_regexp
4365              Type: regular expression
4366              Default: “^([ \t]*[|>:}#])+”
4367
4368              A  regular  expression  used  in the internal pager to determine
4369              quoted sections of text in the body of a  message.  Quoted  text
4370              may  be  filtered out using the <toggle-quoted> command, or col‐
4371              ored according to the “color quoted” family of directives.
4372
4373              Higher levels of quoting  may  be  colored  differently  (“color
4374              quoted1”,  “color  quoted2”,  etc.). The quoting level is deter‐
4375              mined by removing the last character from the matched  text  and
4376              recursively  reapplying the regular expression until it fails to
4377              produce a match.
4378
4379              Match detection may be overridden by the  $smileys  regular  ex‐
4380              pression.
4381
4382
4383
4384       read_inc
4385              Type: number
4386              Default: 10
4387
4388              If  set  to a value greater than 0, Mutt will display which mes‐
4389              sage it is currently on when reading a mailbox or when  perform‐
4390              ing  search  actions  such  as  search and limit. The message is
4391              printed after this many messages  have  been  read  or  searched
4392              (e.g.,  if  set  to  25, Mutt will print a message when it is at
4393              message 25, and then again when it gets to  message  50).   This
4394              variable is meant to indicate progress when reading or searching
4395              large mailboxes which may take some time.  When set to 0, only a
4396              single message will appear before the reading the mailbox.
4397
4398              Also  see  the  $write_inc, $net_inc and $time_inc variables and
4399              the “tuning” section of the manual  for  performance  considera‐
4400              tions.
4401
4402
4403
4404       read_only
4405              Type: boolean
4406              Default: no
4407
4408              If set, all folders are opened in read-only mode.
4409
4410
4411
4412       realname
4413              Type: string
4414              Default: “”
4415
4416              This variable specifies what “real” or “personal” name should be
4417              used when sending messages.
4418
4419              By default, this is the GECOS field from /etc/passwd.  Note that
4420              this variable will not be used when the user has set a real name
4421              in the $from variable.
4422
4423
4424
4425       recall
4426              Type: quadoption
4427              Default: ask-yes
4428
4429              Controls whether or not Mutt  recalls  postponed  messages  when
4430              composing a new message.
4431
4432              Setting  this  variable to yes is not generally useful, and thus
4433              not recommended.  Note that the <recall-message> function can be
4434              used to manually recall postponed messages.
4435
4436              Also see $postponed variable.
4437
4438
4439
4440       record
4441              Type: path
4442              Default: “~/sent”
4443
4444              This specifies the file into which your outgoing messages should
4445              be appended.  (This is meant as the primary method for saving  a
4446              copy  of  your messages, but another way to do this is using the
4447              “my_hdr” command to create a “Bcc:” field with  your  email  ad‐
4448              dress in it.)
4449
4450              The  value  of  $record  is  overridden  by  the $force_name and
4451              $save_name variables, and  the  “fcc-hook”  command.   Also  see
4452              $copy and $write_bcc.
4453
4454              Multiple  mailboxes may be specified if $fcc_delimiter is set to
4455              a string delimiter.
4456
4457
4458
4459       reflow_space_quotes
4460              Type: boolean
4461              Default: yes
4462
4463              This option controls how quotes from format=flowed messages  are
4464              displayed  in the pager and when replying (with $text_flowed un‐
4465              set).  When set, this option adds spaces  after  each  level  of
4466              quote marks, turning ”>>>foo” into ”> > > foo”.
4467
4468              Note:  If  $reflow_text  is  unset,  this  option has no effect.
4469              Also, this option does not affect replies when  $text_flowed  is
4470              set.
4471
4472
4473
4474       reflow_text
4475              Type: boolean
4476              Default: yes
4477
4478              When  set,  Mutt  will  reformat  paragraphs in text/plain parts
4479              marked format=flowed.  If unset, Mutt  will  display  paragraphs
4480              unaltered from how they appear in the message body.  See RFC3676
4481              for details on the format=flowed format.
4482
4483              Also see $reflow_wrap, and $wrap.
4484
4485
4486
4487       reflow_wrap
4488              Type: number
4489              Default: 78
4490
4491              This variable controls the maximum paragraph width  when  refor‐
4492              matting  text/plain  parts  when  $reflow_text is set.  When the
4493              value is 0, paragraphs will be wrapped at the  terminal's  right
4494              margin.   A  positive value sets the paragraph width relative to
4495              the left margin.  A negative value set the paragraph width rela‐
4496              tive to the right margin.
4497
4498              Also see $wrap.
4499
4500
4501
4502       reply_regexp
4503              Type: regular expression (localized)
4504              Default: “^(re)(\[[0-9]+\])*:[ \t]*”
4505
4506              A  regular  expression  used  to  recognize  reply messages when
4507              threading and replying. The default  value  corresponds  to  the
4508              standard Latin ”Re:” prefix.
4509
4510              This  value  may  have been localized by the translator for your
4511              locale, adding other prefixes that are common in the locale. You
4512              can  add your own prefixes by appending inside ”^(re)”.  For ex‐
4513              ample: ”^(re|se)” or ”^(re|aw|se)”.
4514
4515              The second parenthesized expression matches zero or more  brack‐
4516              eted  numbers following the prefix, such as ”Re[1]: ”.  The ini‐
4517              tial ”\\[” means a literal  left-bracket  character.   Note  the
4518              backslash  must  be  doubled  when  used  inside a double quoted
4519              string in the muttrc.   ”[0-9]+”  means  one  or  more  numbers.
4520              ”\\]”  means  a literal right-bracket.  Finally the whole paren‐
4521              thesized expression has a ”*” suffix, meaning it can occur  zero
4522              or more times.
4523
4524              The  last  part matches a colon followed by an optional space or
4525              tab.  Note ”\t” is converted to a literal tab  inside  a  double
4526              quoted  string.   If  you  use a single quoted string, you would
4527              have to type an actual tab character, and would need to  convert
4528              the double-backslashes to single backslashes.
4529
4530              Note:  the  result  of  this regexp match against the subject is
4531              stored in the header cache.  Mutt isn't smart enough to  invali‐
4532              date a header cache entry based on changing $reply_regexp, so if
4533              you aren't seeing correct values in the index,  try  temporarily
4534              turning  off  the header cache.  If that fixes the problem, then
4535              once the variable is set  to  your  liking,  remove  your  stale
4536              header cache files and turn the header cache back on.
4537
4538
4539
4540       reply_self
4541              Type: boolean
4542              Default: no
4543
4544              If  unset  and  you  are replying to a message sent by you, Mutt
4545              will assume that you want to reply to  the  recipients  of  that
4546              message rather than to yourself.
4547
4548              Also see the “alternates” command.
4549
4550
4551
4552       reply_to
4553              Type: quadoption
4554              Default: ask-yes
4555
4556              If  set,  when  replying to a message, Mutt will use the address
4557              listed in the Reply-to: header as the recipient  of  the  reply.
4558              If  unset, it will use the address in the From: header field in‐
4559              stead.  This option is useful for reading a  mailing  list  that
4560              sets the Reply-To: header field to the list address and you want
4561              to send a private message to the author of a message.
4562
4563
4564
4565       resolve
4566              Type: boolean
4567              Default: yes
4568
4569              When set, the cursor will be automatically advanced to the  next
4570              (possibly  undeleted)  message  whenever a command that modifies
4571              the current message is executed.
4572
4573
4574
4575       resume_draft_files
4576              Type: boolean
4577              Default: no
4578
4579              If set, draft files (specified by -H on the  command  line)  are
4580              processed  similarly  to when resuming a postponed message.  Re‐
4581              cipients are not prompted for; send-hooks are not evaluated;  no
4582              alias expansion takes place; user-defined headers and signatures
4583              are not added to the message.
4584
4585
4586
4587       resume_edited_draft_files
4588              Type: boolean
4589              Default: yes
4590
4591              If set, draft files previously edited (via -E -H on the  command
4592              line)  will have $resume_draft_files automatically set when they
4593              are used as a draft file again.
4594
4595              The first time a draft file is saved, mutt will  add  a  header,
4596              X-Mutt-Resume-Draft  to the saved file.  The next time the draft
4597              file is read in, if mutt sees  the  header,  it  will  set  $re‐
4598              sume_draft_files.
4599
4600              This option is designed to prevent multiple signatures, user-de‐
4601              fined headers, and other processing effects from being made mul‐
4602              tiple times to the draft file.
4603
4604
4605
4606       reverse_alias
4607              Type: boolean
4608              Default: no
4609
4610              This  variable  controls  whether  or  not Mutt will display the
4611              “personal” name from your aliases in the index menu if it  finds
4612              an alias that matches the message's sender.  For example, if you
4613              have the following alias:
4614
4615
4616              alias juser abd30425@somewhere.net (Joe User)
4617
4618
4619              and then you receive mail which contains the following header:
4620
4621
4622              From: abd30425@somewhere.net
4623
4624
4625              It would be displayed in the index menu as “Joe User” instead of
4626              “abd30425@somewhere.net.”   This  is  useful  when  the person's
4627              e-mail address is not human friendly.
4628
4629
4630
4631       reverse_name
4632              Type: boolean
4633              Default: no
4634
4635              It may sometimes arrive that you receive mail to a  certain  ma‐
4636              chine,  move  the messages to another machine, and reply to some
4637              the messages from there.  If this variable is set,  the  default
4638              From:  line  of  the  reply  messages is built using the address
4639              where you received the messages you are replying to if that  ad‐
4640              dress  matches  your “alternates”.  If the variable is unset, or
4641              the address that would be used doesn't match your  “alternates”,
4642              the From: line will use your address on the current machine.
4643
4644              Also see the “alternates” command and $reverse_realname.
4645
4646
4647
4648       reverse_realname
4649              Type: boolean
4650              Default: yes
4651
4652              This  variable fine-tunes the behavior of the $reverse_name fea‐
4653              ture.
4654
4655              When it is unset, Mutt will remove  the  real  name  part  of  a
4656              matching  address.   This  allows  the  use of the email address
4657              without having to also use what the sender put in the real  name
4658              field.
4659
4660              When it is set, Mutt will use the matching address as-is.
4661
4662              In either case, a missing real name will be filled in afterwards
4663              using the value of $realname.
4664
4665
4666
4667       rfc2047_parameters
4668              Type: boolean
4669              Default: yes
4670
4671              When this variable is set, Mutt will decode RFC2047-encoded MIME
4672              parameters. You want to set this variable when mutt suggests you
4673              to save attachments to files named like:
4674
4675
4676              =?iso-8859-1?Q?file=5F=E4=5F991116=2Ezip?=
4677
4678
4679              When this variable is set interactively, the change won't be ac‐
4680              tive until you change folders.
4681
4682              Note  that  this use of RFC2047's encoding is explicitly prohib‐
4683              ited by the standard, but nevertheless encountered in the wild.
4684
4685              Also note that setting this parameter will not have  the  effect
4686              that  mutt  generates this kind of encoding.  Instead, mutt will
4687              unconditionally use the encoding specified in RFC2231.
4688
4689
4690
4691       save_address
4692              Type: boolean
4693              Default: no
4694
4695              If set, mutt will take the sender's full address when choosing a
4696              default  folder  for saving a mail. If $save_name or $force_name
4697              is set too, the selection of the Fcc folder will be  changed  as
4698              well.
4699
4700
4701
4702       save_empty
4703              Type: boolean
4704              Default: yes
4705
4706              When  unset,  mailboxes  which contain no saved messages will be
4707              removed when closed (the exception is $spoolfile which is  never
4708              removed).  If set, mailboxes are never removed.
4709
4710              Note:  This only applies to mbox and MMDF folders, Mutt does not
4711              delete MH and Maildir directories.
4712
4713
4714
4715       save_history
4716              Type: number
4717              Default: 0
4718
4719              This variable controls the size of the  history  (per  category)
4720              saved in the $history_file file.
4721
4722
4723
4724       save_name
4725              Type: boolean
4726              Default: no
4727
4728              This  variable  controls  how  copies  of  outgoing messages are
4729              saved.  When set, a check is made to see if a mailbox  specified
4730              by the recipient address exists (this is done by searching for a
4731              mailbox in the $folder directory with the username part  of  the
4732              recipient address).  If the mailbox exists, the outgoing message
4733              will be saved to that mailbox, otherwise the message is saved to
4734              the $record mailbox.
4735
4736              Also see the $force_name variable.
4737
4738
4739
4740       score
4741              Type: boolean
4742              Default: yes
4743
4744              When this variable is unset, scoring is turned off.  This can be
4745              useful to selectively disable scoring for certain  folders  when
4746              the $score_threshold_delete variable and related are used.
4747
4748
4749
4750       score_threshold_delete
4751              Type: number
4752              Default: -1
4753
4754              Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than
4755              the value of this variable are automatically marked for deletion
4756              by  mutt.  Since mutt scores are always greater than or equal to
4757              zero, the default setting of this variable  will  never  mark  a
4758              message for deletion.
4759
4760
4761
4762       score_threshold_flag
4763              Type: number
4764              Default: 9999
4765
4766              Messages  which have been assigned a score greater than or equal
4767              to this variable's value are automatically marked ”flagged”.
4768
4769
4770
4771       score_threshold_read
4772              Type: number
4773              Default: -1
4774
4775              Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than
4776              the  value  of this variable are automatically marked as read by
4777              mutt.  Since mutt scores are always greater  than  or  equal  to
4778              zero,  the  default  setting  of this variable will never mark a
4779              message read.
4780
4781
4782
4783       search_context
4784              Type: number
4785              Default: 0
4786
4787              For the pager, this variable specifies the number of lines shown
4788              before  search  results.  By  default,  search  results  will be
4789              top-aligned.
4790
4791
4792
4793       send_charset
4794              Type: string
4795              Default: “us-ascii:iso-8859-1:utf-8”
4796
4797              A colon-delimited list of character sets for outgoing  messages.
4798              Mutt will use the first character set into which the text can be
4799              converted exactly.  If your $charset is not “iso-8859-1” and re‐
4800              cipients  may not understand “UTF-8”, it is advisable to include
4801              in the list an appropriate widely used  standard  character  set
4802              (such as “iso-8859-2”, “koi8-r” or “iso-2022-jp”) either instead
4803              of or after “iso-8859-1”.
4804
4805              In case the text cannot be converted into one of these  exactly,
4806              mutt uses $charset as a fallback.
4807
4808
4809
4810       send_multipart_alternative
4811              Type: quadoption
4812              Default: no
4813
4814              If set, Mutt will generate a multipart/alternative container and
4815              an  alternative  part  using  the  filter  script  specified  in
4816              $send_multipart_alternative_filter.   See the section “MIME Mul‐
4817              tipart/Alternative” (alternative-order).
4818
4819              Note that enabling multipart/alternative is not compatible  with
4820              inline PGP encryption.  Mutt will prompt to use PGP/MIME in that
4821              case.
4822
4823
4824
4825       send_multipart_alternative_filter
4826              Type: path
4827              Default: “”
4828
4829              This specifies a filter script,  which  will  convert  the  main
4830              (composed)  message  of the email to an alternative format.  The
4831              message will be piped to the filter's stdin.  The expected  out‐
4832              put  of  the  filter is the generated mime type, e.g. text/html,
4833              followed by a blank line, and then the converted  content.   See
4834              the section “MIME Multipart/Alternative” (alternative-order).
4835
4836
4837
4838       sendmail
4839              Type: path
4840              Default: “/usr/sbin/sendmail -oem -oi”
4841
4842              Specifies the program and arguments used to deliver mail sent by
4843              Mutt.  Mutt expects that the specified program interprets  addi‐
4844              tional  arguments  as recipient addresses.  Mutt appends all re‐
4845              cipients after adding a -- delimiter (if not  already  present).
4846              Additional flags, such as for $use_8bitmime, $use_envelope_from,
4847              $dsn_notify, or $dsn_return will be added before the delimiter.
4848
4849              Note: This command is invoked differently from most  other  com‐
4850              mands  in  Mutt.  It is tokenized by space, and invoked directly
4851              via execvp(3) with an array of arguments - so commands or  argu‐
4852              ments  with  spaces in them are not supported.  The shell is not
4853              used to run the command, so shell quoting is also not supported.
4854
4855              See also: $write_bcc.
4856
4857
4858
4859       sendmail_wait
4860              Type: number
4861              Default: 0
4862
4863              Specifies the number  of  seconds  to  wait  for  the  $sendmail
4864              process  to  finish before giving up and putting delivery in the
4865              background.
4866
4867              Mutt interprets the value of this variable as follows:
4868              >0     number of seconds to wait for sendmail to  finish  before
4869                     continuing
4870              0      wait forever for sendmail to finish
4871              <0     always put sendmail in the background without waiting
4872
4873              Note that if you specify a value other than 0, the output of the
4874              child process will be put in a temporary file.  If there is some
4875              error, you will be informed as to where to find the output.
4876
4877
4878
4879       shell
4880              Type: path
4881              Default: “”
4882
4883              Command to use when spawning a subshell.  By default, the user's
4884              login shell from /etc/passwd is used.
4885
4886
4887
4888       sidebar_delim_chars
4889              Type: string
4890              Default: “/.”
4891
4892              This contains the list of characters which  you  would  like  to
4893              treat as folder separators for displaying paths in the sidebar.
4894
4895              Local  mail  is  often arranged in directories: `dir1/dir2/mail‐
4896              box'.
4897
4898
4899              set sidebar_delim_chars='/'
4900
4901
4902              IMAP mailboxes are often named: `folder1.folder2.mailbox'.
4903
4904
4905              set sidebar_delim_chars='.'
4906
4907
4908              See also:  $sidebar_short_path,  $sidebar_folder_indent,  $side‐
4909              bar_indent_string.
4910
4911
4912
4913       sidebar_divider_char
4914              Type: string
4915              Default: “|”
4916
4917              This  specifies  the  characters to be drawn between the sidebar
4918              (when visible) and the other  Mutt  panels.  ASCII  and  Unicode
4919              line-drawing characters are supported.
4920
4921
4922
4923       sidebar_folder_indent
4924              Type: boolean
4925              Default: no
4926
4927              Set this to indent mailboxes in the sidebar.
4928
4929              See  also:  $sidebar_short_path,  $sidebar_indent_string, $side‐
4930              bar_delim_chars.
4931
4932
4933
4934       sidebar_format
4935              Type: string
4936              Default: “%B%*  %n”
4937
4938              This variable allows you to customize the sidebar display.  This
4939              string  is  similar  to  $index_format,  but  has its own set of
4940              printf(3)-like sequences:
4941              %B     Name of the mailbox
4942              %S     * Size of mailbox (total number of messages)
4943              %N     * Number of unread messages in the mailbox
4944              %n     N if mailbox has new mail, blank otherwise
4945              %F     * Number of Flagged messages in the mailbox
4946              %!     “!” : one flagged message; “!!” : two  flagged  messages;
4947                     “n!”  : n flagged messages (for n > 2).  Otherwise prints
4948                     nothing.
4949              %d     * @ Number of deleted messages
4950              %L     * @ Number of messages after limiting
4951              %t     * @ Number of tagged messages
4952              %>X    right justify the rest of the string and pad with “X”
4953              %|X    pad to the end of the line with “X”
4954              %*X    soft-fill with character “X” as pad
4955
4956              * = Can be optionally printed if nonzero @ = Only applicable  to
4957              the current folder
4958
4959              In  order  to  use %S, %N, %F, and %!, $mail_check_stats must be
4960              set.  When thus set,  a  suggested  value  for  this  option  is
4961              ”%B%?F? [%F]?%* %?N?%N/?%S”.
4962
4963
4964
4965       sidebar_indent_string
4966              Type: string
4967              Default: “  ”
4968
4969              This  specifies  the  string that is used to indent mailboxes in
4970              the sidebar.  It defaults to two spaces.
4971
4972              See also:  $sidebar_short_path,  $sidebar_folder_indent,  $side‐
4973              bar_delim_chars.
4974
4975
4976
4977       sidebar_new_mail_only
4978              Type: boolean
4979              Default: no
4980
4981              When  set,  the  sidebar  will only display mailboxes containing
4982              new, or flagged, mail.
4983
4984              See also: sidebar_whitelist.
4985
4986
4987
4988       sidebar_next_new_wrap
4989              Type: boolean
4990              Default: no
4991
4992              When set, the <sidebar-next-new> command will not stop  and  the
4993              end  of the list of mailboxes, but wrap around to the beginning.
4994              The <sidebar-prev-new> command is similarly  affected,  wrapping
4995              around to the end of the list.
4996
4997
4998
4999       sidebar_relative_shortpath_indent
5000              Type: boolean
5001              Default: no
5002
5003              When set, this option changes how $sidebar_short_path and $side‐
5004              bar_folder_indent perform shortening and indentation: both  will
5005              look at the previous sidebar entries and shorten/indent relative
5006              to the most recent parent.
5007
5008              An example of this option set/unset for mailboxes listed in this
5009              order, with $sidebar_short_path=yes, $sidebar_folder_indent=yes,
5010              and $sidebar_indent_string=”→”:
5011              mailbox
5012                     set unset
5013              =a.b   =a.b →b
5014              =a.b.c.d
5015                     →c.d →→→d
5016              =a.b.e →e →→e
5017
5018              The second line illustrates most clearly.  With this option set,
5019              =a.b.c.d is shortened relative to =a.b, becoming c.d; it is also
5020              indented one place relative to =a.b.   With  this  option  unset
5021              =a.b.c.d  is always shortened to the last part of the mailbox, d
5022              and is indented three places, with respect  to  $folder  (repre‐
5023              sented by '=').
5024
5025              When  set,  the  third  line will also be indented and shortened
5026              relative to the first line.
5027
5028
5029
5030       sidebar_short_path
5031              Type: boolean
5032              Default: no
5033
5034              By default the sidebar will show the mailbox's path, relative to
5035              the $folder variable. Setting sidebar_shortpath=yes will shorten
5036              the names relative to the previous name. Here's an example:
5037              shortpath=no
5038                     shortpath=yes   shortpath=yes,   folderindent=yes,    in‐
5039                     dentstr=”..”
5040              fruit  fruit fruit
5041              fruit.apple
5042                     apple ..apple
5043              fruit.banana
5044                     banana ..banana
5045              fruit.cherry
5046                     cherry ..cherry
5047
5048              See  also:  $sidebar_delim_chars, $sidebar_folder_indent, $side‐
5049              bar_indent_string.
5050
5051
5052
5053       sidebar_sort_method
5054              Type: sort order
5055              Default: unsorted
5056
5057              Specifies how to sort mailbox entries in the  sidebar.   By  de‐
5058              fault, the entries are sorted alphabetically.  Valid values:
5059              ‐ alpha (alphabetically)
5060              ‐ count (all message count)
5061              ‐ flagged (flagged message count)
5062              ‐ name (alphabetically)
5063              ‐ new (unread message count)
5064              ‐ path (alphabetically)
5065              ‐ unread (unread message count)
5066              ‐ unsorted
5067
5068              You  may optionally use the “reverse-” prefix to specify reverse
5069              sorting  order  (example:  “set  sidebar_sort_method=reverse-al‐
5070              pha”).
5071
5072
5073
5074       sidebar_use_mailbox_shortcuts
5075              Type: boolean
5076              Default: no
5077
5078              When  set,  sidebar  mailboxes  will  be  displayed with mailbox
5079              shortcut prefixes ”=” or ”~”.
5080
5081              When unset, the sidebar will trim off a matching $folder  prefix
5082              but otherwise not use mailbox shortcuts.
5083
5084
5085
5086       sidebar_visible
5087              Type: boolean
5088              Default: no
5089
5090              This specifies whether or not to show sidebar. The sidebar shows
5091              a list of all your mailboxes.
5092
5093              See also: $sidebar_format, $sidebar_width
5094
5095
5096
5097       sidebar_width
5098              Type: number
5099              Default: 30
5100
5101              This controls the width of  the  sidebar.   It  is  measured  in
5102              screen  columns.  For example: sidebar_width=20 could display 20
5103              ASCII characters, or 10 Chinese characters.
5104
5105
5106
5107       sig_dashes
5108              Type: boolean
5109              Default: yes
5110
5111              If set, a line containing “-- ” (note the trailing  space)  will
5112              be  inserted before your $signature.  It is strongly recommended
5113              that you not unset this variable unless your signature  contains
5114              just  your  name.   The reason for this is because many software
5115              packages use “-- \n” to detect  your  signature.   For  example,
5116              Mutt  has  the ability to highlight the signature in a different
5117              color in the built-in pager.
5118
5119
5120
5121       sig_on_top
5122              Type: boolean
5123              Default: no
5124
5125              If set, the signature will be included before any quoted or for‐
5126              warded  text.   It  is  strongly recommended that you do not set
5127              this variable unless you really know what you are doing, and are
5128              prepared to take some heat from netiquette guardians.
5129
5130
5131
5132       signature
5133              Type: path
5134              Default: “~/.signature”
5135
5136              Specifies  the  filename of your signature, which is appended to
5137              all outgoing messages.   If the filename ends with a pipe (“|”),
5138              it  is assumed that filename is a shell command and input should
5139              be read from its standard output.
5140
5141
5142
5143       simple_search
5144              Type: string
5145              Default: “~f %s | ~s %s”
5146
5147              Specifies how Mutt should expand a simple  search  into  a  real
5148              search  pattern.   A  simple search is one that does not contain
5149              any of the “~” pattern modifiers.  See “patterns” for  more  in‐
5150              formation on search patterns.
5151
5152              For  example,  if  you  simply  type  “joe” at a search or limit
5153              prompt, Mutt will automatically expand it to the value specified
5154              by  this  variable  by  replacing “%s” with the supplied string.
5155              For the default value, “joe” would be expanded to: “~f joe |  ~s
5156              joe”.
5157
5158
5159
5160       size_show_bytes
5161              Type: boolean
5162              Default: no
5163
5164              If  set, message sizes will display bytes for values less than 1
5165              kilobyte.  See formatstrings-size.
5166
5167
5168
5169       size_show_fractions
5170              Type: boolean
5171              Default: yes
5172
5173              If set, message sizes will be displayed with  a  single  decimal
5174              value  for  sizes  from 0 to 10 kilobytes and 1 to 10 megabytes.
5175              See formatstrings-size.
5176
5177
5178
5179       size_show_mb
5180              Type: boolean
5181              Default: yes
5182
5183              If set, message sizes will display megabytes for values  greater
5184              than or equal to 1 megabyte.  See formatstrings-size.
5185
5186
5187
5188       size_units_on_left
5189              Type: boolean
5190              Default: no
5191
5192              If set, message sizes units will be displayed to the left of the
5193              number.  See formatstrings-size.
5194
5195
5196
5197       sleep_time
5198              Type: number
5199              Default: 1
5200
5201              Specifies time, in seconds, to pause  while  displaying  certain
5202              informational  messages,  while moving from folder to folder and
5203              after expunging messages from the current folder.   The  default
5204              is  to pause one second, so a value of zero for this option sup‐
5205              presses the pause.
5206
5207
5208
5209       smart_wrap
5210              Type: boolean
5211              Default: yes
5212
5213              Controls the display of lines longer than the  screen  width  in
5214              the  internal  pager.  If  set, long lines are wrapped at a word
5215              boundary.  If unset, lines are  simply  wrapped  at  the  screen
5216              edge. Also see the $markers variable.
5217
5218
5219
5220       smileys
5221              Type: regular expression
5222              Default: “(>From )|(:[-^]?[][)(><}{|/DP])”
5223
5224              The  pager  uses  this variable to catch some common false posi‐
5225              tives of $quote_regexp, most notably smileys and not consider  a
5226              line  quoted  text if it also matches $smileys. This mostly hap‐
5227              pens at the beginning of a line.
5228
5229
5230
5231       smime_ask_cert_label
5232              Type: boolean
5233              Default: yes
5234
5235              This flag controls whether you want to be asked to enter a label
5236              for  a  certificate about to be added to the database or not. It
5237              is set by default.  (S/MIME only)
5238
5239
5240
5241       smime_ca_location
5242              Type: path
5243              Default: “”
5244
5245              This variable contains the name of either a directory, or a file
5246              which  contains  trusted  certificates  for  use  with  OpenSSL.
5247              (S/MIME only)
5248
5249
5250
5251       smime_certificates
5252              Type: path
5253              Default: “”
5254
5255              Since for S/MIME there is no pubring/secring as with  PGP,  mutt
5256              has  to  handle storage and retrieval of keys by itself. This is
5257              very basic right now, and keys and certificates  are  stored  in
5258              two  different  directories,  both  named  as the hash-value re‐
5259              trieved from OpenSSL. There is  an  index  file  which  contains
5260              mailbox-address  keyid  pairs, and which can be manually edited.
5261              This option points to the location of the certificates.  (S/MIME
5262              only)
5263
5264
5265
5266       smime_decrypt_command
5267              Type: string
5268              Default: “”
5269
5270              This  format string specifies a command which is used to decrypt
5271              application/x-pkcs7-mime attachments.
5272
5273              The OpenSSL command formats have their own set of printf(3)-like
5274              sequences similar to PGP's:
5275              %f     Expands to the name of a file containing a message.
5276              %s     Expands  to  the  name of a file containing the signature
5277                     part
5278                                of a multipart/signed attachment when  verify‐
5279                     ing it.
5280              %k     The key-pair specified with $smime_default_key
5281              %c     One or more certificate IDs.
5282              %a     The algorithm used for encryption.
5283              %d     The    message    digest    algorithm    specified   with
5284                     $smime_sign_digest_alg.
5285              %C     CA location:  Depending on whether $smime_ca_location
5286                                points to a directory or file, this expands to
5287                                “-CApath   $smime_ca_location”   or   “-CAfile
5288                     $smime_ca_location”.
5289
5290              For examples on how to configure these formats, see the smime.rc
5291              in the samples/ subdirectory which has been  installed  on  your
5292              system alongside the documentation.  (S/MIME only)
5293
5294
5295
5296       smime_decrypt_use_default_key
5297              Type: boolean
5298              Default: yes
5299
5300              If  set (default) this tells mutt to use the default key for de‐
5301              cryption. Otherwise, if managing multiple certificate-key-pairs,
5302              mutt will try to use the mailbox-address to determine the key to
5303              use. It will ask you to supply a key,  if  it  can't  find  one.
5304              (S/MIME only)
5305
5306
5307
5308       smime_default_key
5309              Type: string
5310              Default: “”
5311
5312              This  is  the default key-pair to use for S/MIME operations, and
5313              must be set to the keyid (the hash-value that OpenSSL generates)
5314              to work properly.
5315
5316              It  will  be  used  for  encryption  (see  $postpone_encrypt and
5317              $smime_self_encrypt). If GPGME is enabled, this is  the  key  id
5318              displayed by gpgsm.
5319
5320              It  will  be  used  for decryption unless $smime_decrypt_use_de‐
5321              fault_key is unset.
5322
5323              It will also be used for signing unless $smime_sign_as is set.
5324
5325              The (now deprecated) smime_self_encrypt_as is an alias for  this
5326              variable, and should no longer be used.  (S/MIME only)
5327
5328
5329
5330       smime_encrypt_command
5331              Type: string
5332              Default: “”
5333
5334              This command is used to create encrypted S/MIME messages.
5335
5336              This  is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5337              for possible printf(3)-like sequences.  (S/MIME only)
5338
5339
5340
5341       smime_encrypt_with
5342              Type: string
5343              Default: “aes256”
5344
5345              This sets the algorithm that  should  be  used  for  encryption.
5346              Valid  choices  are “aes128”, “aes192”, “aes256”, “des”, “des3”,
5347              “rc2-40”, “rc2-64”, “rc2-128”.  (S/MIME only)
5348
5349
5350
5351       smime_get_cert_command
5352              Type: string
5353              Default: “”
5354
5355              This command is used to extract X509 certificates from  a  PKCS7
5356              structure.
5357
5358              This  is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5359              for possible printf(3)-like sequences.  (S/MIME only)
5360
5361
5362
5363       smime_get_cert_email_command
5364              Type: string
5365              Default: “”
5366
5367              This command is used to extract the mail  address(es)  used  for
5368              storing  X509  certificates,  and  for verification purposes (to
5369              check whether the certificate was issued for the sender's  mail‐
5370              box).
5371
5372              This  is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5373              for possible printf(3)-like sequences.  (S/MIME only)
5374
5375
5376
5377       smime_get_signer_cert_command
5378              Type: string
5379              Default: “”
5380
5381              This command is used to extract only the signers  X509  certifi‐
5382              cate  from  a  S/MIME signature, so that the certificate's owner
5383              may get compared to the email's “From:” field.
5384
5385              This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command  command
5386              for possible printf(3)-like sequences.  (S/MIME only)
5387
5388
5389
5390       smime_import_cert_command
5391              Type: string
5392              Default: “”
5393
5394              This command is used to import a certificate via smime_keys.
5395
5396              This  is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5397              for possible printf(3)-like sequences.  (S/MIME only)
5398
5399
5400
5401       smime_is_default
5402              Type: boolean
5403              Default: no
5404
5405              The default behavior of mutt is to use PGP on all  auto-sign/en‐
5406              cryption operations. To override and to use OpenSSL instead this
5407              must be set.  However, this has no effect while replying,  since
5408              mutt  will  automatically  select  the same application that was
5409              used to sign/encrypt the  original  message.   (Note  that  this
5410              variable  can  be  overridden  by  unsetting  $crypt_autosmime.)
5411              (S/MIME only)
5412
5413
5414
5415       smime_keys
5416              Type: path
5417              Default: “”
5418
5419              Since for S/MIME there is no pubring/secring as with  PGP,  mutt
5420              has  to  handle  storage  and retrieval of keys/certs by itself.
5421              This is very basic right now, and stores keys  and  certificates
5422              in  two  different directories, both named as the hash-value re‐
5423              trieved from OpenSSL. There is  an  index  file  which  contains
5424              mailbox-address  keyid  pair,  and which can be manually edited.
5425              This option points to the location of the private keys.  (S/MIME
5426              only)
5427
5428
5429
5430       smime_pk7out_command
5431              Type: string
5432              Default: “”
5433
5434              This  command is used to extract PKCS7 structures of S/MIME sig‐
5435              natures, in order to extract the public X509 certificate(s).
5436
5437              This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command  command
5438              for possible printf(3)-like sequences.  (S/MIME only)
5439
5440
5441
5442       smime_self_encrypt
5443              Type: boolean
5444              Default: yes
5445
5446              When set, S/MIME encrypted messages will also be encrypted using
5447              the certificate in $smime_default_key.  (S/MIME only)
5448
5449
5450
5451       smime_sign_as
5452              Type: string
5453              Default: “”
5454
5455              If you have a separate key to use for signing,  you  should  set
5456              this  to  the  signing  key.  Most  people will only need to set
5457              $smime_default_key.  (S/MIME only)
5458
5459
5460
5461       smime_sign_command
5462              Type: string
5463              Default: “”
5464
5465              This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type multi‐
5466              part/signed, which can be read by all mail clients.
5467
5468              This  is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5469              for possible printf(3)-like sequences.  NOTE: %c and %k will de‐
5470              fault  to  $smime_sign_as  if set, otherwise $smime_default_key.
5471              (S/MIME only)
5472
5473
5474
5475       smime_sign_digest_alg
5476              Type: string
5477              Default: “sha256”
5478
5479              This sets the algorithm that should be used  for  the  signature
5480              message  digest.   Valid  choices  are  “md5”, “sha1”, “sha224”,
5481              “sha256”, “sha384”, “sha512”.  (S/MIME only)
5482
5483
5484
5485       smime_sign_opaque_command
5486              Type: string
5487              Default: “”
5488
5489              This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type appli‐
5490              cation/x-pkcs7-signature,  which  can  only  be  handled by mail
5491              clients supporting the S/MIME extension.
5492
5493              This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command  command
5494              for possible printf(3)-like sequences.  (S/MIME only)
5495
5496
5497
5498       smime_timeout
5499              Type: number (long)
5500              Default: 300
5501
5502              The  number  of seconds after which a cached passphrase will ex‐
5503              pire if not used.  (S/MIME only)
5504
5505
5506
5507       smime_verify_command
5508              Type: string
5509              Default: “”
5510
5511              This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type  multi‐
5512              part/signed.
5513
5514              This  is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5515              for possible printf(3)-like sequences.  (S/MIME only)
5516
5517
5518
5519       smime_verify_opaque_command
5520              Type: string
5521              Default: “”
5522
5523              This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type  appli‐
5524              cation/x-pkcs7-mime.
5525
5526              This  is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5527              for possible printf(3)-like sequences.  (S/MIME only)
5528
5529
5530
5531       smtp_authenticators
5532              Type: string
5533              Default: “”
5534
5535              This is a colon-delimited list of  authentication  methods  mutt
5536              may  attempt  to  use  to log in to an SMTP server, in the order
5537              mutt should try them.  Authentication methods are any SASL mech‐
5538              anism,  e.g.  “digest-md5”, “gssapi” or “cram-md5”.  This option
5539              is case-insensitive. If it is “unset” (the  default)  mutt  will
5540              try   all  available  methods,  in  order  from  most-secure  to
5541              least-secure.
5542
5543              Example:
5544
5545
5546              set smtp_authenticators=”digest-md5:cram-md5”
5547
5548
5549
5550
5551       smtp_oauth_refresh_command
5552              Type: string
5553              Default: “”
5554
5555              The command to run to generate an OAUTH refresh token for autho‐
5556              rizing  your  connection to your SMTP server.  This command will
5557              be run on every connection attempt that uses the OAUTHBEARER au‐
5558              thentication mechanism.  See “oauth” for details.
5559
5560
5561
5562       smtp_pass
5563              Type: string
5564              Default: “”
5565
5566              Specifies  the  password  for your SMTP account.  If unset, Mutt
5567              will prompt you for your password when you first send  mail  via
5568              SMTP.  See $smtp_url to configure mutt to send mail via SMTP.
5569
5570              Warning:  you  should  only  use  this  option when you are on a
5571              fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your  mut‐
5572              trc even if you are the only one who can read the file.
5573
5574
5575
5576       smtp_url
5577              Type: string
5578              Default: “”
5579
5580              Defines  the  SMTP  smarthost where sent messages should relayed
5581              for delivery. This should take the form of an SMTP URL, e.g.:
5582
5583
5584              smtp[s]://[user[:pass]@]host[:port]
5585
5586
5587              where “[...]” denotes an optional part.  Setting  this  variable
5588              overrides the value of the $sendmail variable.
5589
5590              Also see $write_bcc.
5591
5592
5593
5594       sort
5595              Type: sort order
5596              Default: date
5597
5598              Specifies  how to sort messages in the “index” menu.  Valid val‐
5599              ues are:
5600              ‐ date or date-sent
5601              ‐ date-received
5602              ‐ from
5603              ‐ mailbox-order (unsorted)
5604              ‐ score
5605              ‐ size
5606              ‐ spam
5607              ‐ subject
5608              ‐ threads
5609              ‐ to
5610
5611              You may optionally use the “reverse-” prefix to specify  reverse
5612              sorting order (example: “set sort=reverse-date-sent”).
5613
5614              For  values  except  “threads”,  this  provides the primary sort
5615              method.  When two message sort values are equal, $sort_aux  will
5616              be used for a secondary sort.
5617
5618              When  set  to  “threads”, Mutt threads messages in the index. It
5619              uses the variable $sort_thread_groups to  sort  between  threads
5620              (at  the  top/root level), and $sort_aux to sort sub-threads and
5621              children.
5622
5623
5624
5625       sort_alias
5626              Type: sort order
5627              Default: alias
5628
5629              Specifies how the entries in the “alias” menu are  sorted.   The
5630              following are legal values:
5631              ‐ address (sort alphabetically by email address)
5632              ‐ alias (sort alphabetically by alias name)
5633              ‐ unsorted (leave in order specified in .muttrc)
5634
5635
5636       sort_aux
5637              Type: sort order
5638              Default: date
5639
5640              For  non-threaded  mode, this provides a secondary sort for mes‐
5641              sages in the “index” menu, used when the $sort  value  is  equal
5642              for two messages.
5643
5644              When sorting by threads, this variable controls how the branches
5645              of the thread trees are sorted.  This can be set  to  any  value
5646              that  $sort  can, except “threads” (in that case, mutt will just
5647              use “date-sent”).  You can also specify the  “last-”  prefix  in
5648              addition  to  the “reverse-” prefix, but “last-” must come after
5649              “reverse-”.  The “last-” prefix causes  messages  to  be  sorted
5650              against its siblings by which has the last descendant, using the
5651              rest of $sort_aux as an ordering.  For instance,
5652
5653
5654              set sort_aux=last-date-received
5655
5656
5657              would mean that if a new message is received  in  a  sub-thread,
5658              that sub-thread becomes the last one displayed.
5659
5660              Note:  For  reversed-threads  $sort order, $sort_aux is reversed
5661              again (which is not the right thing to do, but kept to not break
5662              any existing configuration setting).
5663
5664
5665
5666       sort_browser
5667              Type: sort order
5668              Default: alpha
5669
5670              Specifies  how to sort entries in the file browser.  By default,
5671              the entries are sorted alphabetically.  Valid values:
5672              ‐ alpha (alphabetically)
5673              ‐ count
5674              ‐ date
5675              ‐ size
5676              ‐ unread
5677              ‐ unsorted
5678
5679              You may optionally use the “reverse-” prefix to specify  reverse
5680              sorting order (example: “set sort_browser=reverse-date”).
5681
5682
5683
5684       sort_browser_mailboxes
5685              Type: sort order
5686              Default: unsorted
5687
5688              Specifies  how  to  sort entries in the mailbox browser.  By de‐
5689              fault, the entries are unsorted, displayed in the same order  as
5690              listed in the “mailboxes” command.  Valid values:
5691              ‐ alpha (alphabetically)
5692              ‐ count
5693              ‐ date
5694              ‐ size
5695              ‐ unread
5696              ‐ unsorted
5697
5698              You  may optionally use the “reverse-” prefix to specify reverse
5699              sorting order (example: “set  sort_browser_mailboxes=reverse-al‐
5700              pha”).
5701
5702
5703
5704       sort_re
5705              Type: boolean
5706              Default: yes
5707
5708              This  variable  is  only  useful  when  sorting  by threads with
5709              $strict_threads unset.  In that case, it changes  the  heuristic
5710              mutt  uses  to  thread  messages by subject.  With $sort_re set,
5711              mutt will only attach a message as the child of another  message
5712              by  subject  if  the  subject of the child message starts with a
5713              substring matching the setting of $reply_regexp.  With  $sort_re
5714              unset,  mutt  will attach the message whether or not this is the
5715              case, as long as the non-$reply_regexp parts  of  both  messages
5716              are identical.
5717
5718
5719
5720       sort_thread_groups
5721              Type: sort order
5722              Default: aux
5723
5724              When  sorting by threads, this variable controls how threads are
5725              sorted in relation to other threads  (at  the  top/root  level).
5726              This  can  be set to any value that $sort can, except “threads”.
5727              You can also specify the “last-” prefix in addition to the  “re‐
5728              verse-”  prefix,  but  “last-”  must come after “reverse-”.  The
5729              “last-” prefix causes messages to be sorted against its siblings
5730              by   which   has   the   last  descendant,  using  the  rest  of
5731              $sort_thread_groups as an ordering.
5732
5733              For backward compatibility, the default value  is  “aux”,  which
5734              means  to  use  $sort_aux for top-level thread sorting too.  The
5735              value “aux” does not respect “last-” or “reverse-” prefixes,  it
5736              simply delegates sorting directly to $sort_aux.
5737
5738              Note:  For  reversed-threads $sort order, $sort_thread_groups is
5739              reversed again (which is not the right thing to do, but kept  to
5740              not break any existing configuration setting).
5741
5742
5743
5744       spam_separator
5745              Type: string
5746              Default: “,”
5747
5748              This  variable  controls what happens when multiple spam headers
5749              are matched: if unset, each successive header will overwrite any
5750              previous  matches value for the spam label. If set, each succes‐
5751              sive match will append to the previous,  using  this  variable's
5752              value as a separator.
5753
5754
5755
5756       spoolfile
5757              Type: path
5758              Default: “”
5759
5760              If  your spool mailbox is in a non-default place where Mutt can‐
5761              not find it, you can specify its location  with  this  variable.
5762              Mutt  will initially set this variable to the value of the envi‐
5763              ronment variable $MAIL or $MAILDIR if either is defined.
5764
5765
5766
5767       ssl_ca_certificates_file
5768              Type: path
5769              Default: “/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt”
5770
5771              This variable specifies a file containing  trusted  CA  certifi‐
5772              cates.   Any server certificate that is signed with one of these
5773              CA certificates is also automatically accepted. (GnuTLS only)
5774
5775              Example:
5776
5777
5778              set ssl_ca_certificates_file=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
5779
5780
5781
5782
5783       ssl_client_cert
5784              Type: path
5785              Default: “”
5786
5787              The file containing a client certificate and its associated pri‐
5788              vate key.
5789
5790
5791
5792       ssl_force_tls
5793              Type: boolean
5794              Default: yes
5795
5796              If  this variable is set, Mutt will require that all connections
5797              to remote servers be encrypted. Furthermore it will  attempt  to
5798              negotiate TLS even if the server does not advertise the capabil‐
5799              ity, since it would otherwise have to abort the connection  any‐
5800              way. This option supersedes $ssl_starttls.
5801
5802
5803
5804       ssl_min_dh_prime_bits
5805              Type: number
5806              Default: 0
5807
5808              This  variable  specifies  the minimum acceptable prime size (in
5809              bits) for use in any Diffie-Hellman key exchange. A value  of  0
5810              will use the default from the GNUTLS library. (GnuTLS only)
5811
5812
5813
5814       ssl_starttls
5815              Type: quadoption
5816              Default: yes
5817
5818              If  set  (the  default),  mutt  will  attempt to use STARTTLS on
5819              servers advertising the capability. When unset,  mutt  will  not
5820              attempt to use STARTTLS regardless of the server's capabilities.
5821
5822              Note  that STARTTLS is subject to many kinds of attacks, includ‐
5823              ing the ability of a machine-in-the-middle to suppress  the  ad‐
5824              vertising  of support.  Setting $ssl_force_tls is recommended if
5825              you rely on STARTTLS.
5826
5827
5828
5829       ssl_use_sslv2
5830              Type: boolean
5831              Default: no
5832
5833              If set , Mutt will use SSLv2  when  communicating  with  servers
5834              that  request it. N.B. As of 2011, SSLv2 is considered insecure,
5835              and         using          is          inadvisable.          See
5836              https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6176 .  (OpenSSL only)
5837
5838
5839
5840       ssl_use_sslv3
5841              Type: boolean
5842              Default: no
5843
5844              If  set  ,  Mutt  will use SSLv3 when communicating with servers
5845              that request it. N.B. As of 2015, SSLv3 is considered  insecure,
5846              and        using        it       is       inadvisable.       See
5847              https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7525 .
5848
5849
5850
5851       ssl_use_tlsv1
5852              Type: boolean
5853              Default: no
5854
5855              If set , Mutt will use TLSv1.0 when communicating  with  servers
5856              that  request  it.  N.B. As of 2015, TLSv1.0 is considered inse‐
5857              cure,     and     using     it     is      inadvisable.      See
5858              https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7525 .
5859
5860
5861
5862       ssl_use_tlsv1_1
5863              Type: boolean
5864              Default: no
5865
5866              If  set  , Mutt will use TLSv1.1 when communicating with servers
5867              that request it. N.B. As of 2015, TLSv1.1  is  considered  inse‐
5868              cure,      and      using     it     is     inadvisable.     See
5869              https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7525 .
5870
5871
5872
5873       ssl_use_tlsv1_2
5874              Type: boolean
5875              Default: yes
5876
5877              If set , Mutt will use TLSv1.2 when communicating  with  servers
5878              that request it.
5879
5880
5881
5882       ssl_use_tlsv1_3
5883              Type: boolean
5884              Default: yes
5885
5886              If  set  , Mutt will use TLSv1.3 when communicating with servers
5887              that request it.
5888
5889
5890
5891       ssl_usesystemcerts
5892              Type: boolean
5893              Default: yes
5894
5895              If set to yes, mutt will use CA certificates in the  system-wide
5896              certificate  store  when  checking  if  a  server certificate is
5897              signed by a trusted CA. (OpenSSL only)
5898
5899
5900
5901       ssl_verify_dates
5902              Type: boolean
5903              Default: yes
5904
5905              If set (the default),  mutt  will  not  automatically  accept  a
5906              server  certificate  that is either not yet valid or already ex‐
5907              pired. You should only unset this for  particular  known  hosts,
5908              using the <account-hook> function.
5909
5910
5911
5912       ssl_verify_host
5913              Type: boolean
5914              Default: yes
5915
5916              If  set  (the  default),  mutt  will  not automatically accept a
5917              server certificate whose host name does not match the host  used
5918              in  your  folder  URL. You should only unset this for particular
5919              known hosts, using the <account-hook> function.
5920
5921
5922
5923       ssl_verify_host_override
5924              Type: string
5925              Default: “”
5926
5927              Defines an alternate host name to verify the server  certificate
5928              against.   This  should  not be set unless you are sure what you
5929              are doing, but it might be useful for  connection  to  a  .onion
5930              host without a properly configured host name in the certificate.
5931              See $ssl_verify_host.
5932
5933
5934
5935       ssl_verify_partial_chains
5936              Type: boolean
5937              Default: no
5938
5939              This option should not be changed from the  default  unless  you
5940              understand what you are doing.
5941
5942              Setting  this variable to yes will permit verifying partial cer‐
5943              tification chains, i. e. a certificate chain where not the root,
5944              but an intermediate certificate CA, or the host certificate, are
5945              marked trusted (in $certificate_file), without marking the  root
5946              signing CA as trusted.
5947
5948              (OpenSSL 1.0.2b and newer only).
5949
5950
5951
5952       ssl_ciphers
5953              Type: string
5954              Default: “@SYSTEM”
5955
5956              Contains  a  colon-separated  list  of ciphers to use when using
5957              SSL.  For OpenSSL, see ciphers(1) for the syntax of the string.
5958
5959              For GnuTLS, this option will be used in place of ”NORMAL” at the
5960              start  of  the priority string.  See gnutls_priority_init(3) for
5961              the syntax and more details.  (Note:  GnuTLS  version  2.1.7  or
5962              higher is required.)
5963
5964
5965
5966       status_chars
5967              Type: string
5968              Default: “-*%A”
5969
5970              Controls  the  characters  used  by  the “%r” indicator in $sta‐
5971              tus_format. The first character is used when the mailbox is  un‐
5972              changed.  The  second is used when the mailbox has been changed,
5973              and it needs to be resynchronized. The  third  is  used  if  the
5974              mailbox  is  in  read-only  mode,  or if the mailbox will not be
5975              written when exiting that mailbox (You  can  toggle  whether  to
5976              write  changes  to  a mailbox with the <toggle-write> operation,
5977              bound by default to “%”). The fourth is used  to  indicate  that
5978              the current folder has been opened in attach- message mode (Cer‐
5979              tain operations like composing a new mail, replying, forwarding,
5980              etc. are not permitted in this mode).
5981
5982
5983
5984       status_format
5985              Type: string (localized)
5986              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/%?T?%T/?%S)-%>-(%P)---”
5987
5988              Controls  the format of the status line displayed in the “index”
5989              menu.  This string is similar to $index_format, but has its  own
5990              set of printf(3)-like sequences:
5991              %b     number of mailboxes with new mail *
5992              %B     number of backgrounded editing sessions *
5993              %d     number of deleted messages *
5994              %f     the full pathname of the current mailbox
5995              %F     number of flagged messages *
5996              %h     local hostname
5997              %l     size  (in  bytes)  of  the  current  mailbox (see format‐
5998                     strings-size) *
5999              %L     size (in bytes) of the messages shown (i.e., which  match
6000                     the current limit) (see formatstrings-size) *
6001              %m     the number of messages in the mailbox *
6002              %M     the  number of messages shown (i.e., which match the cur‐
6003                     rent limit) *
6004              %n     number of new messages in the mailbox *
6005              %o     number of old unread messages *
6006              %p     number of postponed messages *
6007              %P     percentage of the way through the index
6008              %r     modified/read-only/won't-write/attach-message  indicator,
6009                     according to $status_chars
6010              %R     number of read messages *
6011              %s     current sorting mode ($sort)
6012              %S     current aux sorting method ($sort_aux)
6013              %t     number of tagged messages *
6014              %T     current thread group sorting method ($sort_thread_groups)
6015                     *
6016              %u     number of unread messages *
6017              %v     Mutt version string
6018              %V     currently active limit pattern, if any *
6019              %>X    right justify the rest of the string and pad with “X”
6020              %|X    pad to the end of the line with “X”
6021              %*X    soft-fill with character “X” as pad
6022
6023              For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the  $index_format  docu‐
6024              mentation.
6025
6026              * = can be optionally printed if nonzero
6027
6028              Some  of  the  above sequences can be used to optionally print a
6029              string if their value is nonzero.  For  example,  you  may  only
6030              want  to see the number of flagged messages if such messages ex‐
6031              ist, since zero is not particularly meaningful.   To  optionally
6032              print  a  string based upon one of the above sequences, the fol‐
6033              lowing construct is used:
6034
6035              %?<sequence_char>?<optional_string>?
6036
6037              where sequence_char is a character from the table above, and op‐
6038              tional_string  is  the  string  you  would  like  printed if se‐
6039              quence_char is nonzero.  optional_string may contain  other  se‐
6040              quences  as  well  as normal text, but you may not nest optional
6041              strings.
6042
6043              Here is an example illustrating how to optionally print the num‐
6044              ber of new messages in a mailbox:
6045
6046              %?n?%n new messages.?
6047
6048              You can also switch between two strings using the following con‐
6049              struct:
6050
6051              %?<sequence_char>?<if_string>&<else_string>?
6052
6053              If the value of sequence_char is non-zero, if_string will be ex‐
6054              panded, otherwise else_string will be expanded.
6055
6056              You  can  force  the result of any printf(3)-like sequence to be
6057              lowercase by prefixing the sequence character with an underscore
6058              (“_”) sign.  For example, if you want to display the local host‐
6059              name in lowercase, you would use: “%_h”.
6060
6061              If you prefix the sequence character with a colon (“:”)  charac‐
6062              ter, mutt will replace any dots in the expansion by underscores.
6063              This might be helpful with IMAP folders that don't like dots  in
6064              folder names.
6065
6066
6067
6068       status_on_top
6069              Type: boolean
6070              Default: no
6071
6072              Setting this variable causes the “status bar” to be displayed on
6073              the first line of the screen rather than  near  the  bottom.  If
6074              $help is set, too it'll be placed at the bottom.
6075
6076
6077
6078       strict_threads
6079              Type: boolean
6080              Default: no
6081
6082              If  set,  threading  will only make use of the “In-Reply-To” and
6083              “References:” fields when you $sort by message threads.  By  de‐
6084              fault,  messages  with  the same subject are grouped together in
6085              “pseudo threads.”. This may not always be desirable, such as  in
6086              a  personal  mailbox where you might have several unrelated mes‐
6087              sages with the subjects like “hi” which  will  get  grouped  to‐
6088              gether.  See also $sort_re for a less drastic way of controlling
6089              this behavior.
6090
6091
6092
6093       suspend
6094              Type: boolean
6095              Default: yes
6096
6097              When unset, mutt won't stop when the user presses the terminal's
6098              susp key, usually “^Z”. This is useful if you run mutt inside an
6099              xterm using a command like “xterm -e mutt”.
6100
6101
6102
6103       text_flowed
6104              Type: boolean
6105              Default: no
6106
6107              When set, mutt will generate “format=flowed” bodies with a  con‐
6108              tent type of “text/plain; format=flowed”.  This format is easier
6109              to handle for some mailing software, and  generally  just  looks
6110              like  ordinary text.  To actually make use of this format's fea‐
6111              tures, you'll need support in your editor.
6112
6113              The option only controls  newly  composed  messages.   Postponed
6114              messages,  resent  messages,  and  draft messages (via -H on the
6115              command line) will use the content-type of the source message.
6116
6117              Note that $indent_string is ignored when this option is set.
6118
6119
6120
6121       thorough_search
6122              Type: boolean
6123              Default: yes
6124
6125              Affects the ~b, ~B, and ~h search operations described  in  sec‐
6126              tion  “patterns”.   If  set, the headers and body/attachments of
6127              messages to be searched are decoded before searching. If  unset,
6128              messages are searched as they appear in the folder.
6129
6130              Users  searching  attachments or for non-ASCII characters should
6131              set this value because decoding also includes  MIME  parsing/de‐
6132              coding  and  possible  character set conversions. Otherwise mutt
6133              will attempt to match against the raw message received (for  ex‐
6134              ample  quoted-printable  encoded  or with encoded headers) which
6135              may lead to incorrect search results.
6136
6137
6138
6139       thread_received
6140              Type: boolean
6141              Default: no
6142
6143              When set, mutt uses the date received rather than the date  sent
6144              to thread messages by subject.
6145
6146
6147
6148       tilde
6149              Type: boolean
6150              Default: no
6151
6152              When  set, the internal-pager will pad blank lines to the bottom
6153              of the screen with a tilde (“~”).
6154
6155
6156
6157       time_inc
6158              Type: number
6159              Default: 0
6160
6161              Along with $read_inc, $write_inc, and  $net_inc,  this  variable
6162              controls  the  frequency  with  which  progress updates are dis‐
6163              played. It suppresses updates less than  $time_inc  milliseconds
6164              apart.  This  can improve throughput on systems with slow termi‐
6165              nals, or when running mutt on a remote system.
6166
6167              Also see the “tuning” section of the manual for performance con‐
6168              siderations.
6169
6170
6171
6172       timeout
6173              Type: number
6174              Default: 600
6175
6176              When Mutt is waiting for user input either idling in menus or in
6177              an interactive prompt, Mutt would block until input is  present.
6178              Depending  on the context, this would prevent certain operations
6179              from working, like checking for new mail or keeping an IMAP con‐
6180              nection alive.
6181
6182              This  variable  controls how many seconds Mutt will at most wait
6183              until it aborts waiting for input, performs these operations and
6184              continues to wait for input.
6185
6186              A value of zero or less will cause Mutt to never time out.
6187
6188
6189
6190       tmpdir
6191              Type: path
6192              Default: “”
6193
6194              This  variable  allows  you to specify where Mutt will place its
6195              temporary files needed for displaying  and  composing  messages.
6196              If this variable is not set, the environment variable $TMPDIR is
6197              used.  If $TMPDIR is not set then “/tmp” is used.
6198
6199
6200
6201       to_chars
6202              Type: string
6203              Default: “ +TCFL”
6204
6205              Controls the character used to indicate mail addressed  to  you.
6206              The  first  character  is  the one used when the mail is not ad‐
6207              dressed to your address.  The second is used when  you  are  the
6208              only  recipient  of the message.  The third is when your address
6209              appears in the “To:” header field, but you are not the only  re‐
6210              cipient  of the message.  The fourth character is used when your
6211              address is specified in the “Cc:” header field, but you are  not
6212              the  only  recipient.   The  fifth character is used to indicate
6213              mail that was sent by you.  The sixth character is used to indi‐
6214              cate when a mail was sent to a mailing-list you subscribe to.
6215
6216
6217
6218       trash
6219              Type: path
6220              Default: “”
6221
6222              If  set,  this  variable  specifies the path of the trash folder
6223              where the mails marked for deletion will be  moved,  instead  of
6224              being irremediably purged.
6225
6226              NOTE:  When  you delete a message in the trash folder, it is re‐
6227              ally deleted, so that you have a way to clean the trash.
6228
6229
6230
6231       ts_icon_format
6232              Type: string (localized)
6233              Default: “M%?n?AIL&ail?”
6234
6235              Controls the format of the icon title, as long as  “$ts_enabled”
6236              is  set.  This string is identical in formatting to the one used
6237              by “$status_format”.
6238
6239
6240
6241       ts_enabled
6242              Type: boolean
6243              Default: no
6244
6245              Controls whether mutt tries to set the terminal status line  and
6246              icon  name.   Most terminal emulators emulate the status line in
6247              the window title.
6248
6249
6250
6251       ts_status_format
6252              Type: string (localized)
6253              Default: “Mutt with %?m?%m messages&no messages?%?n? [%n NEW]?”
6254
6255              Controls the format of the terminal status line (or  window  ti‐
6256              tle),  provided  that “$ts_enabled” has been set. This string is
6257              identical in formatting to the one used by “$status_format”.
6258
6259
6260
6261       tunnel
6262              Type: string
6263              Default: “”
6264
6265              Setting this variable will cause mutt to open a pipe to  a  com‐
6266              mand instead of a raw socket. You may be able to use this to set
6267              up preauthenticated connections to your  IMAP/POP3/SMTP  server.
6268              Example:
6269
6270
6271              set tunnel=”ssh -q mailhost.net /usr/local/libexec/imapd”
6272
6273
6274              Note: For this example to work you must be able to log in to the
6275              remote machine without having to enter a password.
6276
6277              When set, Mutt uses  the  tunnel  for  all  remote  connections.
6278              Please see “account-hook” in the manual for how to use different
6279              tunnel commands per connection.
6280
6281
6282
6283       tunnel_is_secure
6284              Type: boolean
6285              Default: yes
6286
6287              When set, Mutt will assume the $tunnel connection does not  need
6288              STARTTLS  to be enabled.  It will also allow IMAP PREAUTH server
6289              responses inside a tunnel to proceed.  This  is  appropriate  if
6290              $tunnel uses ssh or directly invokes the server locally.
6291
6292              When  unset,  Mutt  will  negotiate  STARTTLS  according  to the
6293              ssl_starttls and ssl_force_tls variables.  If  ssl_force_tls  is
6294              set,  Mutt will abort connecting if an IMAP server responds with
6295              PREAUTH.  This setting is appropriate if $tunnel does  not  pro‐
6296              vide security and could be tampered with by attackers.
6297
6298
6299
6300       uncollapse_jump
6301              Type: boolean
6302              Default: no
6303
6304              When  set,  Mutt  will  jump to the next unread message, if any,
6305              when the current thread is uncollapsed.
6306
6307
6308
6309       uncollapse_new
6310              Type: boolean
6311              Default: yes
6312
6313              When set,  Mutt  will  automatically  uncollapse  any  collapsed
6314              thread  that  receives  a  newly delivered message.  When unset,
6315              collapsed threads will remain collapsed.  The  presence  of  the
6316              newly delivered message will still affect index sorting, though.
6317
6318
6319
6320       use_8bitmime
6321              Type: boolean
6322              Default: no
6323
6324              Warning: do not set this variable unless you are using a version
6325              of sendmail which supports the -B8BITMIME flag (such as sendmail
6326              8.8.x) or you may not be able to send mail.
6327
6328              When  set,  Mutt  will invoke $sendmail with the -B8BITMIME flag
6329              when sending 8-bit messages to enable ESMTP negotiation.
6330
6331
6332
6333       use_domain
6334              Type: boolean
6335              Default: yes
6336
6337              When set, Mutt will qualify all local  addresses  (ones  without
6338              the  “@host” portion) with the value of $hostname.  If unset, no
6339              addresses will be qualified.
6340
6341
6342
6343       use_envelope_from
6344              Type: boolean
6345              Default: no
6346
6347              When set, mutt will set the envelope sender of the message.   If
6348              $envelope_from_address is set, it will be used as the sender ad‐
6349              dress. If unset, mutt will attempt to derive the sender from the
6350              “From:” header.
6351
6352              Note  that  this information is passed to sendmail command using
6353              the -f command line switch. Therefore setting this option is not
6354              useful  if  the $sendmail variable already contains -f or if the
6355              executable pointed  to  by  $sendmail  doesn't  support  the  -f
6356              switch.
6357
6358
6359
6360       use_from
6361              Type: boolean
6362              Default: yes
6363
6364              When set, Mutt will generate the “From:” header field when send‐
6365              ing messages.  If unset, no “From:” header field will be  gener‐
6366              ated unless the user explicitly sets one using the “my_hdr” com‐
6367              mand.
6368
6369
6370
6371       use_ipv6
6372              Type: boolean
6373              Default: yes
6374
6375              When set, Mutt will look for IPv6 addresses of hosts it tries to
6376              contact.   If this option is unset, Mutt will restrict itself to
6377              IPv4 addresses.  Normally, the default should work.
6378
6379
6380
6381       user_agent
6382              Type: boolean
6383              Default: no
6384
6385              When set, mutt will add a “User-Agent:” header to outgoing  mes‐
6386              sages,  indicating  which version of mutt was used for composing
6387              them.
6388
6389
6390
6391       visual
6392              Type: path
6393              Default: “”
6394
6395              Specifies the visual editor to invoke when the “~v”  command  is
6396              given in the built-in editor.
6397
6398
6399
6400       wait_key
6401              Type: boolean
6402              Default: yes
6403
6404              Controls  whether  Mutt will ask you to press a key after an ex‐
6405              ternal command has been invoked by these  functions:  <shell-es‐
6406              cape>,   <pipe-message>,   <pipe-entry>,   <print-message>,  and
6407              <print-entry> commands.
6408
6409              It is also used when viewing attachments with “auto_view”,  pro‐
6410              vided  that  the corresponding mailcap entry has a needsterminal
6411              flag, and the external program is interactive.
6412
6413              When set, Mutt will always ask for a key. When unset, Mutt  will
6414              wait  for a key only if the external command returned a non-zero
6415              status.
6416
6417
6418
6419       weed
6420              Type: boolean
6421              Default: yes
6422
6423              When set, mutt will weed headers when displaying, forwarding, or
6424              replying to messages.
6425
6426              Also   see   $copy_decode_weed,   $pipe_decode_weed,  $print_de‐
6427              code_weed.
6428
6429
6430
6431       wrap
6432              Type: number
6433              Default: 0
6434
6435              When set to a positive value, mutt will wrap text at $wrap char‐
6436              acters.   When  set  to a negative value, mutt will wrap text so
6437              that there are $wrap characters of empty space on the right side
6438              of  the terminal. Setting it to zero makes mutt wrap at the ter‐
6439              minal width.
6440
6441              Also see $reflow_wrap.
6442
6443
6444
6445       wrap_headers
6446              Type: number
6447              Default: 78
6448
6449              This option specifies the number of characters to use for  wrap‐
6450              ping  an  outgoing message's headers. Allowed values are between
6451              78 and 998 inclusive.
6452
6453              Note: This option usually shouldn't be changed.  RFC5233  recom‐
6454              mends  a  line length of 78 (the default), so please only change
6455              this setting when you know what you're doing.
6456
6457
6458
6459       wrap_search
6460              Type: boolean
6461              Default: yes
6462
6463              Controls whether searches wrap around the end.
6464
6465              When set, searches will wrap around the first  (or  last)  item.
6466              When unset, incremental searches will not wrap.
6467
6468
6469
6470       wrapmargin
6471              Type: number
6472              Default: 0
6473
6474              (DEPRECATED) Equivalent to setting $wrap with a negative value.
6475
6476
6477
6478       write_bcc
6479              Type: boolean
6480              Default: no
6481
6482              Controls  whether mutt writes out the “Bcc:” header when prepar‐
6483              ing messages to be sent.  Some MTAs, such as Exim  and  Courier,
6484              do not strip the “Bcc:” header; so it is advisable to leave this
6485              unset unless you have a particular need for the header to be  in
6486              the sent message.
6487
6488              If  mutt  is  set  to deliver directly via SMTP (see $smtp_url),
6489              this option does nothing: mutt will never write out  the  “Bcc:”
6490              header in this case.
6491
6492              Note  this  option only affects the sending of messages.  Fcc'ed
6493              copies of a message will always contain the “Bcc:” header if one
6494              exists.
6495
6496
6497
6498       write_inc
6499              Type: number
6500              Default: 10
6501
6502              When  writing  a  mailbox,  a  message  will  be  printed  every
6503              $write_inc messages to indicate progress.  If set to 0,  only  a
6504              single message will be displayed before writing a mailbox.
6505
6506              Also see the $read_inc, $net_inc and $time_inc variables and the
6507              “tuning” section of the manual for performance considerations.
6508
6509
6510

SEE ALSO

6512       iconv(1),   iconv(3),   mailcap(5),   maildir(5),   mbox(5),   mutt(1),
6513       printf(3), regex(7), strftime(3)
6514
6515       The Mutt Manual
6516
6517       The Mutt home page: http://www.mutt.org/
6518

AUTHOR

6520       Michael Elkins, and others.  Use <mutt-dev@mutt.org> to contact the de‐
6521       velopers.
6522
6523
6524
6525Unix                             January 2019                        muttrc(5)
Impressum