1MHMAIL(1)                   General Commands Manual                  MHMAIL(1)
2
3
4

NAME

6       mhmail - send or read mail non-interactively with nmh
7

SYNOPSIS

9       mhmail [-help] [-version] [-to] addrs ...  [-attach file] [-body text]
10            [-cc addrs ...]  [-from addr] [-headerfield name:value] [-subject
11            subject] [-resent] [switches for post ... | -profile [switches for
12            send ...]]  [-send | -nosend]
13
14       mhmail with no arguments is equivalent to inc
15

DESCRIPTION

17       mhmail is intended as a replacement, compatible with nmh, for the stan‐
18       dard  Berkeley  mail  program (mail or mailx).  nmh is intended for the
19       use of programs such as cron, which expect to send mail  automatically.
20       It  is also used by some nmh commands to mail error notifications.  Al‐
21       though mhmail can be used interactively, it is  recommended  that  comp
22       and send be used instead, to send messages.
23
24       When  invoked  without arguments, mhmail simply invokes inc to incorpo‐
25       rate new messages from the user's mail drop.
26
27       When one or more addresses are specified, a message is  read  from  the
28       standard input and spooled to a temporary file.  mhmail then invokes by
29       default, with the name of the temporary file as its argument, to by de‐
30       fault,  with  the name of the temporary file as its argument to deliver
31       the message to the specified address.
32
33       The -subject switch can be used to specify the “Subject:” field of  the
34       message.  “Subject:” field of the message.
35
36       The  -resent  switch  indicates that the message body is a fully formed
37       message that will be resent, as dist would do.  For example:
38
39            mhmail u2@example.com -resent <`mhpath cur`
40
41       By default, mhmail will read the message to be sent from  the  standard
42       input.   You  can  specify  the text of the message at the command line
43       with the -body text switch.  If the standard input has zero length, mh‐
44       mail  will  not send the message and return with status 1.  You can use
45       the switch -body “” to force an empty message.
46
47       Normally, addresses appearing as arguments are put in the “To:”  field.
48       At  least one such address is required when sending a message, i.e., if
49       any other switches are supplied.  If the -cc switch is  used,  all  ad‐
50       dresses following it, even if there are intervening switches other than
51       -to, are placed in the “cc:” field.  The optional -to switch can appear
52       in  front  of  any  addresses  to  signify their placement in the “To:”
53       field.  The -to and -cc switches may be given multiple times.
54
55       By using -from addr, you can specify the “From:” header of  the  draft.
56       If  no  -from switch is used when sending, mhmail will supply a “From:”
57       header field using the sender's local mailbox, see localmbox in mh-for‐
58       mat(5).  Naturally, post will fill in the “Sender:” header correctly.
59
60       The  -headerfield name:value switch adds a header field with the speci‐
61       fied name and value to the message.  (The value  is  called  the  field
62       body  in  RFC  2822,  but  that's  too easily confused with the message
63       body.)  There need not be a space after the colon  that  separates  the
64       name  and  value in the argument to this switch.  It is usually best to
65       enclose the argument in quotes to  protect  it  from  the  shell.   The
66       -headerfield  switch may be given multiple times to add multiple header
67       fields, for example,
68
69            mhmail -from sender@example.com \
70            -headerfield 'MIME-Version:1.0' \
71            -headerfield 'Content-Type:text/plain; charset=utf-8' \
72            -headerfield 'Content-Transfer-Encoding:8bit' \
73            recipient@example.com
74
75       Note about this example:  the -attach switch  causes  MIME-Version  and
76       Content-Type headers to be added to the message.
77
78       The  -profile  switch  instructs  mhmail to use send instead of post to
79       send the message.  This allows use of the user's context and aliases.
80
81       The -attach file switch attaches the specified  file  to  the  message.
82       Use  of -attach enables -profile because mhmail uses send to handle the
83       attachment.  It is usually best to enclose the argument  in  quotes  to
84       protect  it  from  the shell.  The -attach switch may be given multiple
85       times to add multiple attachments.
86
87       The -nosend option shows the draft file that would  be  posted/sent  on
88       the command's standard output but does not post or send it.  -send pro‐
89       vides the default behavior of posting or sending the message.   It  can
90       be used to disable -nosend, for example, when using a shell alias.
91
92       All  other switches are passed to post if -profile is not used, or send
93       if -profile is used.
94

FILES

96       /usr/bin/inc               Program to incorporate mail drop into folder
97       /usr/libexec/nmh/post      Program to deliver a message
98       /tmp/mhmail*               Temporary copy of message
99

PROFILE COMPONENTS

101       mhmail does not consult the user's .mh_profile
102

SEE ALSO

104       dist(1), send(1), mh-format(5), send(1), post(8)
105

DEFAULTS

107       `-from localmbox'
108       `-profile' is enabled by default only with -attach
109       `-send'
110

CONTEXT

112       If inc is invoked, then inc's context changes occur.  With the -profile
113       switch,  the context of send is used.  mhmail does not read the context
114       file itself.
115
116
117
118nmh-1.8                           2012-07-01                         MHMAIL(1)
Impressum