1muttrc(5) User Manuals muttrc(5)
2
6 muttrc - Configuration file for the Mutt Mail User Agent
7
9 A mutt configuration file consists of a series of “commands”. Each
10 line of the file may contain one or more commands. When multiple com‐
11 mands are used, they must be separated by a semicolon (“;”).
12 The hash mark, or pound sign (“#”), is used as a “comment” character.
14 You can use it to annotate your initialization file. All text after the
15 comment character to the end of the line is ignored.
16 Single quotes (“'”) and double quotes (“"”) can be used to quote
18 strings which contain spaces or other special characters. The differ‐
19 ence between the two types of quotes is similar to that of many popular
20 shell programs, namely that a single quote is used to specify a literal
21 string (one that is not interpreted for shell variables or quoting with
22 a backslash [see next paragraph]), while double quotes indicate a
23 string which should be evaluated. For example, backticks are evaluated
24 inside of double quotes, but not single quotes.
25 \ quotes the next character, just as in shells such as bash and zsh.
27 For example, if want to put quotes (“"”) inside of a string, you can
28 use “\” to force the next character to be a literal instead of inter‐
29 preted character.
30 “\\” means to insert a literal “\” into the line. “\n” and “\r” have
32 their usual C meanings of linefeed and carriage-return, respectively.
33 A “\” at the end of a line can be used to split commands over multiple
35 lines, provided that the split points don't appear in the middle of
36 command names.
37 It is also possible to substitute the output of a Unix command in an
39 initialization file. This is accomplished by enclosing the command in
40 backticks (`command`).
41 UNIX environment variables can be accessed like the way it is done in
43 shells like sh and bash: Prepend the name of the variable by a dollar
44 (“$”) sign.
45
47 alias [-group name [...]] key address [, address [ ... ]]
48 unalias [ * | key ]
49 alias defines an alias key for the given addresses. Each address
51 will be resolved into either an email address (user@example.com)
52 or a named email address (User Name <user@example.com>). The ad‐
53 dress may be specified in either format, or in the format
54 “user@example.com (User Name)”. unalias removes the alias cor‐
55 responding to the given key or all aliases when “*” is used as
56 an argument. The optional -group argument to alias causes the
57 aliased address(es) to be added to the named group.
58 group [-group name] [-rx EXPR [ ... ]] [-addr address [ ... ]]
60 ungroup [-group name ] [ * | [[-rx EXPR [ ... ]] [-addr address [ ... ]]]
61 group is used to directly add either addresses or regular ex‐
63 pressions to the specified group or groups. The different cate‐
64 gories of arguments to the group command can be in any order.
65 The flags -rx and -addr specify what the following strings (that
66 cannot begin with a hyphen) should be interpreted as: either a
67 regular expression or an email address, respectively. ungroup
68 is used to remove addresses or regular expressions from the
69 specified group or groups. The syntax is similar to the group
70 command, however the special character * can be used to empty a
71 group of all of its contents.
72 These address groups can also be created implicitly by the
74 alias, lists, subscribe and alternates commands by specifying
75 the optional -group option.
76 Once defined, these address groups can be used in patterns to
78 search for and limit the display to messages matching a group.
79 alternates [-group name] regexp [ regexp [ ... ]]
81 unalternates [ * | regexp [ regexp [ ... ]] ]
82 alternates is used to inform mutt about alternate addresses
84 where you receive mail; you can use regular expressions to spec‐
85 ify alternate addresses. This affects mutt's idea about mes‐
86 sages from you, and messages addressed to you. unalternates re‐
87 moves a regular expression from the list of known alternates.
88 The -group flag causes all of the subsequent regular expressions
89 to be added to the named group.
90 alternative_order type[/subtype] [ ... ]
92 unalternative_order [ * | type/subtype] [...]
93 alternative_order command permits you to define an order of
95 preference which is used by mutt to determine which part of a
96 multipart/alternative body to display. A subtype of “*” matches
97 any subtype, as does an empty subtype. unalternative_order re‐
98 moves entries from the ordered list or deletes the entire list
99 when “*” is used as an argument.
100 attachments [ + | - ]disposition mime-type
102 unattachments [ + | - ]disposition mime-type
103 attachments ?
104 unattachments *
105 attachments specifies what kinds of attachments are used for
107 Mutt's attachment counting and searching support.
108 disposition is the attachment's Content-Disposition type - ei‐
110 ther inline or attachment. You can abbreviate this to I or A.
111 The first part of a message or multipart group, if inline, is
113 counted separately than other inline parts. Specify root or R
114 for disposition to count these as attachments. If this first
115 part is of type multipart/alternative, note that its top-level
116 inline parts are also counted via root disposition (if
117 $count_alternatives is set).
118 disposition is prefixed by either a + symbol or a - symbol. If
120 it's a +, you're saying that you want to allow this disposition
121 and MIME type to qualify. If it's a -, you're saying that this
122 disposition and MIME type is an exception to previous + rules.
123 mime-type is the MIME type of the attachment you want the com‐
125 mand to affect. A MIME type is always of the format major/minor,
126 where major describes the broad category of document you're
127 looking at, and minor describes the specific type within that
128 category. The major part of mime-type must be literal text (or
129 the special token *), but the minor part may be a regular ex‐
130 pression. (Therefore, */.* matches any MIME type.)
131 The MIME types you give to the attachments directive are a kind
133 of pattern. When you use the attachments directive, the patterns
134 you specify are added to a list. When you use unattachments, the
135 pattern is removed from the list. The patterns are not expanded
136 and matched to specific MIME types at this time - they're just
137 text in a list. They're only matched when actually evaluating a
138 message.
139 auto_view type[/subtype] [ ... ]
141 unauto_view type[/subtype] [ ... ]
142 This commands permits you to specify that mutt should automati‐
144 cally convert the given MIME types to text/plain when displaying
145 messages. For this to work, there must be a mailcap(5) entry
146 for the given MIME type with the copiousoutput flag set. A sub‐
147 type of “*” matches any subtype, as does an empty subtype.
148 mime_lookup type[/subtype] [ ... ]
150 unmime_lookup type[/subtype] [ ... ]
151 This command permits you to define a list of "data" MIME content
153 types for which mutt will try to determine the actual file type
154 from the file name, and not use a mailcap(5) entry given for the
155 original MIME type. For instance, you may add the applica‐
156 tion/octet-stream MIME type to this list.
157 bind map1,map2,... key function
159 This command binds the given key for the given map or maps to
160 the given function. Multiple maps may be specified by separating
161 them with commas (no whitespace is allowed).
162 Valid maps are: generic, alias, attach, browser, editor, index,
164 compose, pager, pgp, postpone, mix.
165 For more information on keys and functions, please consult the
167 Mutt Manual. Note that the function name is to be specified
168 without angle brackets.
169 account-hook [!]regexp command
171 This hook is executed whenever you access a remote mailbox. Use‐
172 ful to adjust configuration settings to different IMAP or POP
173 servers.
174 charset-hook alias charset
176 This command defines an alias for a character set. This is use‐
177 ful to properly display messages which are tagged with a charac‐
178 ter set name not known to mutt.
179 iconv-hook charset local-charset
181 This command defines a system-specific name for a character set.
182 This is useful when your system's iconv(3) implementation does
183 not understand MIME character set names (such as iso-8859-1),
184 but instead insists on being fed with implementation-specific
185 character set names (such as 8859-1). In this specific case,
186 you'd put this into your configuration file:
187 iconv-hook iso-8859-1 8859-1
189 message-hook [!]pattern command
191 Before mutt displays (or formats for replying or forwarding) a
192 message which matches the given pattern (or, when it is preceded
193 by an exclamation mark, does not match the pattern), the given
194 command is executed. When multiple message-hooks match, they
195 are executed in the order in which they occur in the configu‐
196 ration file.
197 folder-hook [!]regexp command
199 When mutt enters a folder which matches regexp (or, when regexp
200 is preceded by an exclamation mark, does not match regexp), the
201 given command is executed.
202 When several folder-hooks match a given mail folder, they are
204 executed in the order given in the configuration file.
205 macro map key sequence [ description ]
207 This command binds the given sequence of keys to the given key
208 in the given map or maps. For valid maps, see bind. To specify
209 multiple maps, put only a comma between the maps.
210 color object [ attribute ... ] foreground background [ regexp ]
212 color index [ attribute ... ] foreground background [ pattern ]
213 color compose composeobject [ attribute ... ] foreground background
214 uncolor index pattern [ pattern ... ]
215 If your terminal supports color, these commands can be used to
217 assign foreground/background combinations to certain objects.
218 Valid objects are: attachment, body, bold, error, header, hdrde‐
219 fault, index, indicator, markers, message, normal, prompt,
220 quoted, quotedN, search, signature, status, tilde, tree, under‐
221 line. If the sidebar is enabled the following objects are also
222 valid: sidebar_divider, sidebar_flagged, sidebar_highlight,
223 sidebar_indicator, sidebar_new, sidebar_spoolfile. The body and
224 header objects allow you to restrict the colorization to a regu‐
225 lar expression. The index object permits you to select colored
226 messages by pattern.
227 Valid composeobjects include header, security_encrypt, secu‐
229 rity_sign, security_both, security_none.
230 Valid colors include: white, black, green, magenta, blue, cyan,
232 yellow, red, default, colorN.
233 Valid attributes include: none, bold, underline, reverse, and
235 standout.
236 mono object attribute [ regexp ]
238 mono index attribute [ pattern ]
239 For terminals which don't support color, you can still assign
241 attributes to objects.
242 [un]ignore pattern [ pattern ... ]
244 The ignore command permits you to specify header fields which
245 you usually don't wish to see. Any header field whose tag be‐
246 gins with an “ignored” pattern will be ignored.
247 The unignore command permits you to define exceptions from the
249 above mentioned list of ignored headers.
250 lists [-group name] regexp [ regexp ... ]
252 unlists regexp [ regexp ... ]
253 subscribe [-group name] regexp [ regexp ... ]
254 unsubscribe regexp [ regexp ... ]
255 Mutt maintains two lists of mailing list address patterns, a
257 list of subscribed mailing lists, and a list of known mailing
258 lists. All subscribed mailing lists are known. Patterns use
259 regular expressions.
260 The lists command adds a mailing list address to the list of
262 known mailing lists. The unlists command removes a mailing list
263 from the lists of known and subscribed mailing lists. The sub‐
264 scribe command adds a mailing list to the lists of known and
265 subscribed mailing lists. The unsubscribe command removes it
266 from the list of subscribed mailing lists. The -group flag adds
267 all of the subsequent regular expressions to the named group.
268 mbox-hook [!]regexp mailbox
270 When mutt changes to a mail folder which matches regexp, mailbox
271 will be used as the “mbox” folder, i.e., read messages will be
272 moved to that folder when the mail folder is left.
273 The first matching mbox-hook applies.
275 mailboxes [[-notify | -nonotify]
277 [-poll | -nopoll]
278 [[-label label] | -nolabel]
279 filename] [ ... ]
280 unmailboxes [ * | filename ... ]
281 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 my_hdr string
290 unmy_hdr field
291 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 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 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 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 fcc-save-hook [!]pattern filename
309 This command is an abbreviation for identical fcc-hook and save-
310 hook commands.
311 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 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 send2-hook execution is not triggered by use of enter-command
326 from the compose menu.
327 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 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 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 The $index_format expando %@name@ specifies a placeholder for
350 the injection. Index-format-hooks with the same name are matched
351 using pattern against the current message. Matching is done in
352 the order specified in the .muttrc, with the first match being
353 used. The hook's format-string is then substituted and evalu‐
354 ated.
355 open-hook regexp "command"
357 close-hook regexp "command"
358 append-hook regexp "command"
359 These commands provide a way to handle compressed folders. The
361 given regexp specifies which folders are taken as compressed
362 (e.g. "\\.gz$"). 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 push string
371 exec function [ ... ]
372 push adds the named string to the keyboard buffer. “exec func‐
374 tion” is equivalent to “push <function>”.
375 run MuttLisp
377 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 score pattern value
383 unscore [ * | pattern ... ]
384 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 set [no|inv|&|?]variable[=value] [ ... ]
390 toggle variable [ ... ]
391 unset variable [ ... ]
392 reset variable [ ... ]
393 These commands are used to set and manipulate configuration
395 variables.
396 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 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 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 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 setenv [?]variable [ value ]
421 unsetenv variable
422 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 sidebar_whitelist mailbox [ mailbox ...]
428 unsidebar_whitelist [ * | mailbox ... ]
429 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 unsidebar_whitelist is used to remove a mailbox from the list of
435 whitelisted mailboxes. Use unsidebar_whitelist * to remove all
436 mailboxes.
437 source filename
439 The given file will be evaluated as a configuration file.
440 spam pattern format
442 nospam pattern
443 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 subjectrx pattern replacement
450 unsubjectrx [ * | pattern ]
451 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 Note this well: the replacement value replaces the entire sub‐
462 ject, not just the match!
463 unsubjectrx removes a given subjectrx from the substitution
465 list. If * is used as the pattern, all substitutions will be re‐
466 moved.
467 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 mailto_allow header-field [ ... ]
474 unmailto_allow [ * | header-field ... ]
475 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 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 cd directory
487 Changes the current working directory.
488
490 In various places with mutt, including some of the above mentioned hook
491 commands, you can specify patterns to match messages.
492 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 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 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 Simple Patterns
515 Mutt understands the following simple patterns:
516 ~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 In the above, EXPR is a regular expression.
590 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 With the ~z modifier, the suffixes “K” and “M” are allowed to specify
595 kilobyte and megabyte respectively.
596 The ~b, ~B, ~h, ~M, and ~X modifiers require reading each message in,
598 which can be much slower.
599 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 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 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 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 Note that this behavior is Y2K compliant, but that mutt does have a
618 Y2.07K problem.
619 Alternatively, you may use YYYYMMDD to specify a date.
621 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 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 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
649 abort_noattach
650 Type: quadoption
651 Default: no
652 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 abort_noattach_regexp
660 Type: regular expression
661 Default: “attach”
662 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 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 abort_nosubject
675 Type: quadoption
676 Default: ask-yes
677 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 abort_unmodified
686 Type: quadoption
687 Default: yes
688 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 alias_file
697 Type: path
698 Default: “~/.muttrc”
699 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 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 The default for this option is the currently used muttrc file,
710 or “~/.muttrc” if no user muttrc was found.
711 alias_format
715 Type: string
716 Default: “%4n %2f %t %-10a %r”
717 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 allow_8bit
729 Type: boolean
730 Default: yes
731 Controls whether 8-bit data is converted to 7-bit using either
733 Quoted- Printable or Base64 encoding when sending mail.
734 allow_ansi
738 Type: boolean
739 Default: no
740 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 [-- PGP output follows ...
750 and give it the same color as your attachment color (see also
753 $crypt_timestamp).
754 arrow_cursor
758 Type: boolean
759 Default: no
760 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 ascii_chars
770 Type: boolean
771 Default: no
772 If set, Mutt will use plain ASCII characters when displaying
774 thread and attachment trees, instead of the default ACS charac‐
775 ters.
776 askbcc
780 Type: boolean
781 Default: no
782 If set, Mutt will prompt you for blind-carbon-copy (Bcc) recipi‐
784 ents before editing an outgoing message.
785 askcc
789 Type: boolean
790 Default: no
791 If set, Mutt will prompt you for carbon-copy (Cc) recipients be‐
793 fore editing the body of an outgoing message.
794 assumed_charset
798 Type: string
799 Default: “”
800 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 For example, Japanese users might prefer this:
810 set assumed_charset=”iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8”
813 However, only the first content is valid for the message body.
816 attach_charset
820 Type: string
821 Default: “”
822 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 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 set attach_charset=”iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8”
834 Note: for Japanese users, “iso-2022-*” must be put at the head
837 of the value as shown above if included.
838 attach_format
842 Type: string
843 Default: “%u%D%I %t%4n %T%.40d%> [%.7m/%.10M, %.6e%?C?, %C?, %s] ”
844 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 For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the $index_format docu‐
873 mentation.
874 attach_save_charset_convert
878 Type: quadoption
879 Default: ask-yes
880 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 attach_save_dir
889 Type: path
890 Default: “”
891 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 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 attach_sep
903 Type: string
904 Default: “\n”
905 The separator to add between attachments when operating (saving,
907 printing, piping, etc) on a list of tagged attachments.
908 attach_split
912 Type: boolean
913 Default: yes
914 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 attribution
924 Type: string (localized)
925 Default: “On %d, %n wrote:”
926 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 attribution_locale
934 Type: string
935 Default: “”
936 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 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 auto_subscribe
949 Type: boolean
950 Default: no
951 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 auto_tag
962 Type: boolean
963 Default: no
964 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 autocrypt
974 Type: boolean
975 Default: no
976 When set, enables autocrypt, which provides passive encryption
978 protection with keys exchanged via headers. See “autocryptdoc”
979 for more details. (Autocrypt only)
980 autocrypt_acct_format
984 Type: string
985 Default: “%4n %-30a %20p %10s”
986 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 (Autocrypt only)
996 autocrypt_dir
1000 Type: path
1001 Default: “~/.mutt/autocrypt”
1002 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 autocrypt_reply
1010 Type: boolean
1011 Default: yes
1012 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 autoedit
1022 Type: boolean
1023 Default: no
1024 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 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 Also see $fast_reply.
1036 background_edit
1040 Type: boolean
1041 Default: no
1042 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 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 For more details, see “bgedit” (”Background Editing” in the man‐
1056 ual).
1057 background_confirm_quit
1061 Type: boolean
1062 Default: yes
1063 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 background_format
1071 Type: string
1072 Default: “%10S %7p %s”
1073 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 beep
1086 Type: boolean
1087 Default: yes
1088 When this variable is set, mutt will beep when an error occurs.
1090 beep_new
1094 Type: boolean
1095 Default: no
1096 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 bounce
1104 Type: quadoption
1105 Default: ask-yes
1106 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 bounce_delivered
1115 Type: boolean
1116 Default: yes
1117 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 braille_friendly
1125 Type: boolean
1126 Default: no
1127 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 browser_abbreviate_mailboxes
1138 Type: boolean
1139 Default: yes
1140 When this variable is set, mutt will abbreviate mailbox names in
1142 the browser mailbox list, using '~' and '=' shortcuts.
1143 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 browser_sticky_cursor
1153 Type: boolean
1154 Default: yes
1155 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 certificate_file
1165 Type: path
1166 Default: “~/.mutt_certificates”
1167 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 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 Example:
1179 set certificate_file=~/.mutt/certificates
1182 (OpenSSL and GnuTLS only)
1185 change_folder_next
1189 Type: boolean
1190 Default: no
1191 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 charset
1199 Type: string
1200 Default: “”
1201 Character set your terminal uses to display and enter textual
1203 data. It is also the fallback for $send_charset.
1204 Upon startup Mutt tries to derive this value from environment
1206 variables such as $LC_CTYPE or $LANG.
1207 Note: It should only be set in case Mutt isn't able to determine
1209 the character set used correctly.
1210 check_mbox_size
1214 Type: boolean
1215 Default: no
1216 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 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 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 check_new
1235 Type: boolean
1236 Default: yes
1237 Note: this option only affects maildir and MH style mailboxes.
1239 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 collapse_unread
1250 Type: boolean
1251 Default: yes
1252 When unset, Mutt will not collapse a thread if it contains any
1254 unread messages.
1255 compose_confirm_detach_first
1259 Type: boolean
1260 Default: yes
1261 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 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 compose_format
1274 Type: string (localized)
1275 Default: “-- Mutt: Compose [Approx. msg size: %l Atts: %a]%>-”
1276 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 See the text describing the $status_format option for more in‐
1287 formation on how to set $compose_format.
1288 config_charset
1292 Type: string
1293 Default: “”
1294 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 Please note that if setting $charset it must be done before set‐
1301 ting $config_charset.
1302 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 confirmappend
1310 Type: boolean
1311 Default: yes
1312 When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when appending mes‐
1314 sages to an existing mailbox.
1315 confirmcreate
1319 Type: boolean
1320 Default: yes
1321 When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when saving messages
1323 to a mailbox which does not yet exist before creating it.
1324 connect_timeout
1328 Type: number
1329 Default: 30
1330 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 content_type
1339 Type: string
1340 Default: “text/plain”
1341 Sets the default Content-Type for the body of newly composed
1343 messages.
1344 copy
1348 Type: quadoption
1349 Default: yes
1350 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 copy_decode_weed
1358 Type: boolean
1359 Default: no
1360 Controls whether Mutt will weed headers when invoking the <de‐
1362 code-copy> or <decode-save> functions.
1363 count_alternatives
1367 Type: boolean
1368 Default: no
1369 When set, Mutt will recurse inside multipart/alternatives while
1371 performing attachment searching and counting (see attachments).
1372 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 cursor_overlay
1383 Type: boolean
1384 Default: no
1385 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 crypt_autoencrypt
1394 Type: boolean
1395 Default: no
1396 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 crypt_autopgp
1408 Type: boolean
1409 Default: yes
1410 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 crypt_autosign
1419 Type: boolean
1420 Default: no
1421 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 crypt_autosmime
1433 Type: boolean
1434 Default: yes
1435 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 crypt_confirmhook
1444 Type: boolean
1445 Default: yes
1446 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 crypt_opportunistic_encrypt
1455 Type: boolean
1456 Default: no
1457 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 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 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 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 crypt_opportunistic_encrypt_strong_keys
1479 Type: boolean
1480 Default: no
1481 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 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 crypt_protected_headers_read
1497 Type: boolean
1498 Default: yes
1499 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 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 crypt_protected_headers_save
1518 Type: boolean
1519 Default: no
1520 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 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 crypt_protected_headers_subject
1544 Type: string
1545 Default: “...”
1546 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 crypt_protected_headers_write
1556 Type: boolean
1557 Default: no
1558 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 crypt_replyencrypt
1569 Type: boolean
1570 Default: yes
1571 If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL encrypt replies to messages
1573 which are encrypted. (Crypto only)
1574 crypt_replysign
1578 Type: boolean
1579 Default: no
1580 If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL sign replies to messages
1582 which are signed.
1583 Note: this does not work on messages that are encrypted and
1585 signed! (Crypto only)
1586 crypt_replysignencrypted
1590 Type: boolean
1591 Default: no
1592 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 crypt_timestamp
1603 Type: boolean
1604 Default: yes
1605 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 crypt_use_gpgme
1614 Type: boolean
1615 Default: no
1616 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 Note that the GPGME backend does not support creating old-style
1624 inline (traditional) PGP encrypted or signed messages (see
1625 $pgp_autoinline).
1626 crypt_use_pka
1630 Type: boolean
1631 Default: no
1632 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 crypt_verify_sig
1640 Type: quadoption
1641 Default: yes
1642 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 date_format
1650 Type: string
1651 Default: “!%a, %b %d, %Y at %I:%M:%S%p %Z”
1652 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 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 default_hook
1667 Type: string
1668 Default: “~f %s !~P | (~P ~C %s)”
1669 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 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 delete
1685 Type: quadoption
1686 Default: ask-yes
1687 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 This option is ignored for maildir-style mailboxes when
1694 $maildir_trash is set.
1695 delete_untag
1699 Type: boolean
1700 Default: yes
1701 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 digest_collapse
1709 Type: boolean
1710 Default: yes
1711 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 display_filter
1719 Type: path
1720 Default: “”
1721 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 dotlock_program
1730 Type: path
1731 Default: “/usr/bin/mutt_dotlock”
1732 Contains the path of the mutt_dotlock(1) binary to be used by
1734 mutt.
1735 dsn_notify
1739 Type: string
1740 Default: “”
1741 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 Example:
1750 set dsn_notify=”failure,delay”
1753 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 dsn_return
1765 Type: string
1766 Default: “”
1767 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 Example:
1773 set dsn_return=hdrs
1776 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 duplicate_threads
1788 Type: boolean
1789 Default: yes
1790 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 edit_headers
1799 Type: boolean
1800 Default: no
1801 This option allows you to edit the header of your outgoing mes‐
1803 sages along with the body of your message.
1804 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 Note that changes made to the References: and Date: headers are
1813 ignored for interoperability reasons.
1814 editor
1818 Type: path
1819 Default: “”
1820 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 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 The resulting string is then executed by running
1831 sh -c 'string'
1834 where string is the expansion of $editor described above.
1837 encode_from
1841 Type: boolean
1842 Default: no
1843 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 entropy_file
1854 Type: path
1855 Default: “”
1856 The file which includes random data that is used to initialize
1858 SSL library functions. (OpenSSL only)
1859 envelope_from_address
1863 Type: e-mail address
1864 Default: “”
1865 Manually sets the envelope sender for outgoing messages. This
1867 value is ignored if $use_envelope_from is unset.
1868 error_history
1872 Type: number
1873 Default: 30
1874 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 escape
1883 Type: string
1884 Default: “~”
1885 Escape character to use for functions in the built-in editor.
1887 fast_reply
1891 Type: boolean
1892 Default: no
1893 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 Note: this variable has no effect when the $autoedit variable is
1899 set.
1900 fcc_attach
1904 Type: quadoption
1905 Default: yes
1906 This variable controls whether or not attachments on outgoing
1908 messages are saved along with the main body of your message.
1909 Note: $fcc_before_send forces the default (set) behavior of this
1911 option.
1912 fcc_before_send
1916 Type: boolean
1917 Default: no
1918 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 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 fcc_clear
1932 Type: boolean
1933 Default: no
1934 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 Note: $fcc_before_send forces the default (unset) behavior of
1940 this option. (PGP only)
1941 See also $pgp_self_encrypt, $smime_self_encrypt.
1943 fcc_delimiter
1947 Type: string
1948 Default: “”
1949 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 See $record, “fcc-hook”, and “fcc-save-hook”.
1955 flag_safe
1959 Type: boolean
1960 Default: no
1961 If set, flagged messages cannot be deleted.
1963 folder
1967 Type: path
1968 Default: “~/Mail”
1969 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 folder_format
1980 Type: string
1981 Default: “%2C %t %N %F %2l %-8.8u %-8.8g %8s %d %f”
1982 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 For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the $index_format docu‐
2006 mentation.
2007 * = can be optionally printed if nonzero
2009 %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 followup_to
2017 Type: boolean
2018 Default: yes
2019 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 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 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 force_name
2041 Type: boolean
2042 Default: no
2043 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 Also see the $record variable.
2049 forward_attachments
2053 Type: quadoption
2054 Default: ask-yes
2055 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 forward_attribution_intro
2065 Type: string (localized)
2066 Default: “----- Forwarded message from %f -----”
2067 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 forward_attribution_trailer
2076 Type: string (localized)
2077 Default: “----- End forwarded message -----”
2078 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 forward_decode
2087 Type: boolean
2088 Default: yes
2089 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 forward_decrypt
2098 Type: quadoption
2099 Default: yes
2100 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 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 forward_edit
2112 Type: quadoption
2113 Default: yes
2114 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 forward_format
2123 Type: string
2124 Default: “[%a: %s]”
2125 This variable controls the default subject when forwarding a
2127 message. It uses the same format sequences as the $index_format
2128 variable.
2129 forward_quote
2133 Type: boolean
2134 Default: no
2135 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 from
2143 Type: e-mail address
2144 Default: “”
2145 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 This setting defaults to the contents of the environment vari‐
2151 able $EMAIL.
2152 gecos_mask
2156 Type: regular expression
2157 Default: “^[^,]*”
2158 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 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 hdrs
2175 Type: boolean
2176 Default: yes
2177 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 header
2187 Type: boolean
2188 Default: no
2189 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 header_cache
2197 Type: path
2198 Default: “”
2199 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 Header caching can greatly improve speed when opening POP, IMAP
2208 MH or Maildir folders, see “caching” for details.
2209 header_cache_compress
2213 Type: boolean
2214 Default: yes
2215 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 header_cache_pagesize
2227 Type: number (long)
2228 Default: 16384
2229 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 header_color_partial
2238 Type: boolean
2239 Default: no
2240 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 One use of this option might be to apply color to just the
2246 header labels.
2247 See “color” for more details.
2249 help
2253 Type: boolean
2254 Default: yes
2255 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 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 hidden_host
2269 Type: boolean
2270 Default: no
2271 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 hide_limited
2280 Type: boolean
2281 Default: no
2282 When set, mutt will not show the presence of messages that are
2284 hidden by limiting, in the thread tree.
2285 hide_missing
2289 Type: boolean
2290 Default: yes
2291 When set, mutt will not show the presence of missing messages in
2293 the thread tree.
2294 hide_thread_subject
2298 Type: boolean
2299 Default: yes
2300 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 hide_top_limited
2308 Type: boolean
2309 Default: no
2310 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 hide_top_missing
2319 Type: boolean
2320 Default: yes
2321 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 history
2329 Type: number
2330 Default: 10
2331 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 history_file
2339 Type: path
2340 Default: “~/.mutthistory”
2341 The file in which Mutt will save its history.
2343 Also see $save_history.
2345 history_remove_dups
2349 Type: boolean
2350 Default: no
2351 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 honor_disposition
2360 Type: boolean
2361 Default: no
2362 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 If unset, Mutt will render all MIME parts it can properly trans‐
2369 form to plain text.
2370 honor_followup_to
2374 Type: quadoption
2375 Default: yes
2376 This variable controls whether or not a Mail-Followup-To header
2378 is honored when group-replying to a message.
2379 hostname
2383 Type: string
2384 Default: “”
2385 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 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 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 Also see $use_domain and $hidden_host.
2406 idn_decode
2410 Type: boolean
2411 Default: yes
2412 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 idn_encode
2420 Type: boolean
2421 Default: yes
2422 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 ignore_linear_white_space
2430 Type: boolean
2431 Default: no
2432 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 ignore_list_reply_to
2440 Type: boolean
2441 Default: no
2442 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 imap_authenticators
2456 Type: string
2457 Default: “”
2458 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 Example:
2468 set imap_authenticators=”gssapi:cram-md5:login”
2471 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 imap_check_subscribed
2481 Type: boolean
2482 Default: no
2483 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 imap_condstore
2492 Type: boolean
2493 Default: no
2494 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 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 imap_deflate
2507 Type: boolean
2508 Default: no
2509 When set, mutt will use the COMPRESS=DEFLATE extension (RFC
2511 4978) if advertised by the server.
2512 In general a good compression efficiency can be achieved, which
2514 speeds up reading large mailboxes also on fairly good connec‐
2515 tions.
2516 imap_delim_chars
2520 Type: string
2521 Default: “/.”
2522 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 imap_fetch_chunk_size
2531 Type: number (long)
2532 Default: 0
2533 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 imap_headers
2544 Type: string
2545 Default: “”
2546 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 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 imap_idle
2561 Type: boolean
2562 Default: no
2563 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 imap_keepalive
2573 Type: number
2574 Default: 300
2575 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 imap_list_subscribed
2588 Type: boolean
2589 Default: no
2590 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 imap_login
2598 Type: string
2599 Default: “”
2600 Your login name on the IMAP server.
2602 This variable defaults to the value of $imap_user.
2604 imap_oauth_refresh_command
2608 Type: string
2609 Default: “”
2610 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 imap_pass
2619 Type: string
2620 Default: “”
2621 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 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 imap_passive
2633 Type: boolean
2634 Default: yes
2635 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 imap_peek
2645 Type: boolean
2646 Default: yes
2647 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 imap_pipeline_depth
2656 Type: number
2657 Default: 15
2658 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 Note: Changes to this variable have no effect on open connec‐
2667 tions.
2668 imap_poll_timeout
2672 Type: number
2673 Default: 15
2674 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 imap_qresync
2683 Type: boolean
2684 Default: no
2685 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 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 imap_servernoise
2697 Type: boolean
2698 Default: yes
2699 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 imap_user
2709 Type: string
2710 Default: “”
2711 The name of the user whose mail you intend to access on the IMAP
2713 server.
2714 This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
2716 implicit_autoview
2720 Type: boolean
2721 Default: no
2722 If set to “yes”, mutt will look for a mailcap entry with the
2724 “copiousoutput” 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 include
2732 Type: quadoption
2733 Default: ask-yes
2734 Controls whether or not a copy of the message(s) you are reply‐
2736 ing to is included in your reply.
2737 include_encrypted
2741 Type: boolean
2742 Default: no
2743 Controls whether or not Mutt includes separately encrypted at‐
2745 tachment contents when replying.
2746 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 include_onlyfirst
2756 Type: boolean
2757 Default: no
2758 Controls whether or not Mutt includes only the first attachment
2760 of the message you are replying.
2761 indent_string
2765 Type: string
2766 Default: “> ”
2767 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 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 This option is a format string, please see the description of
2778 $index_format for supported printf(3)-style sequences.
2779 index_format
2783 Type: string
2784 Default: “%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%?l?%4l&%4c?) %s”
2785 This variable allows you to customize the message index display
2787 to your personal taste.
2788 “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 [4m(1) not at part of a
2842 thread tree, [4m(2) at the top of a thread, or [4m(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 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 “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 Note that these expandos are supported in “save-hook”, “fcc-
2884 hook”, “fcc-save-hook”, and “index-format-hook”.
2885 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 ispell
2894 Type: path
2895 Default: “/usr/bin/hunspell”
2896 How to invoke ispell (GNU's spell-checking software).
2898 keep_flagged
2902 Type: boolean
2903 Default: no
2904 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 local_date_header
2912 Type: boolean
2913 Default: yes
2914 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 mail_check
2922 Type: number
2923 Default: 5
2924 This variable configures how often (in seconds) mutt should look
2926 for new mail. Also see the $timeout variable.
2927 mail_check_recent
2931 Type: boolean
2932 Default: yes
2933 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 mail_check_stats
2942 Type: boolean
2943 Default: no
2944 When set, mutt will periodically calculate message statistics of
2946 a mailbox while polling for new mail. It will check for unread,
2947 flagged, and total message counts. (Note: IMAP mailboxes only
2948 support unread and total counts).
2949 Because this operation is more performance intensive, it de‐
2951 faults to unset, and has a separate option,
2952 $mail_check_stats_interval, to control how often to update these
2953 counts.
2954 Message statistics can also be explicitly calculated by invoking
2956 the <check-stats> function.
2957 mail_check_stats_interval
2961 Type: number
2962 Default: 60
2963 When $mail_check_stats is set, this variable configures how of‐
2965 ten (in seconds) mutt will update message counts.
2966 mailcap_path
2970 Type: string
2971 Default: “”
2972 This variable specifies which files to consult when attempting
2974 to display MIME bodies not directly supported by Mutt. The de‐
2975 fault value is generated during startup: see the “mailcap” sec‐
2976 tion of the manual.
2977 mailcap_sanitize
2981 Type: boolean
2982 Default: yes
2983 If set, mutt will restrict possible characters in mailcap % ex‐
2985 pandos to a well-defined set of safe characters. This is the
2986 safe setting, but we are not sure it doesn't break some more ad‐
2987 vanced MIME stuff.
2988 DON'T CHANGE THIS SETTING UNLESS YOU ARE REALLY SURE WHAT YOU
2990 ARE DOING!
2991 maildir_header_cache_verify
2995 Type: boolean
2996 Default: yes
2997 Check for Maildir unaware programs other than mutt having modi‐
2999 fied maildir files when the header cache is in use. This incurs
3000 one stat(2) per message every time the folder is opened (which
3001 can be very slow for NFS folders).
3002 maildir_trash
3006 Type: boolean
3007 Default: no
3008 If set, messages marked as deleted will be saved with the
3010 maildir trashed flag instead of unlinked. Note: this only ap‐
3011 plies to maildir-style mailboxes. Setting it will have no ef‐
3012 fect on other mailbox types.
3013 maildir_check_cur
3017 Type: boolean
3018 Default: no
3019 If set, mutt will poll both the new and cur directories of a
3021 maildir folder for new messages. This might be useful if other
3022 programs interacting with the folder (e.g. dovecot) are moving
3023 new messages to the cur directory. Note that setting this op‐
3024 tion may slow down polling for new messages in large folders,
3025 since mutt has to scan all cur messages.
3026 mark_macro_prefix
3030 Type: string
3031 Default: “'”
3032 Prefix for macros created using mark-message. A new macro auto‐
3034 matically generated with <mark-message>a will be composed from
3035 this prefix and the letter a.
3036 mark_old
3040 Type: boolean
3041 Default: yes
3042 Controls whether or not mutt marks new unread messages as old if
3044 you exit a mailbox without reading them. With this option set,
3045 the next time you start mutt, the messages will show up with an
3046 “O” next to them in the index menu, indicating that they are
3047 old.
3048 markers
3052 Type: boolean
3053 Default: yes
3054 Controls the display of wrapped lines in the internal pager. If
3056 set, a “+” marker is displayed at the beginning of wrapped
3057 lines.
3058 Also see the $smart_wrap variable.
3060 mask
3064 Type: regular expression
3065 Default: “!^\.[^.]”
3066 A regular expression used in the file browser, optionally pre‐
3068 ceded by the not operator “!”. Only files whose names match
3069 this mask will be shown. The match is always case-sensitive.
3070 mbox
3074 Type: path
3075 Default: “~/mbox”
3076 This specifies the folder into which read mail in your
3078 $spoolfile folder will be appended.
3079 Also see the $move variable.
3081 mbox_type
3085 Type: folder magic
3086 Default: mbox
3087 The default mailbox type used when creating new folders. May be
3089 any of “mbox”, “MMDF”, “MH” and “Maildir”. This is overridden by
3090 the -m command-line option.
3091 menu_context
3095 Type: number
3096 Default: 0
3097 This variable controls the number of lines of context that are
3099 given when scrolling through menus. (Similar to $pager_context.)
3100 menu_move_off
3104 Type: boolean
3105 Default: yes
3106 When unset, the bottom entry of menus will never scroll up past
3108 the bottom of the screen, unless there are less entries than
3109 lines. When set, the bottom entry may move off the bottom.
3110 menu_scroll
3114 Type: boolean
3115 Default: no
3116 When set, menus will be scrolled up or down one line when you
3118 attempt to move across a screen boundary. If unset, the screen
3119 is cleared and the next or previous page of the menu is dis‐
3120 played (useful for slow links to avoid many redraws).
3121 message_cache_clean
3125 Type: boolean
3126 Default: no
3127 If set, mutt will clean out obsolete entries from the message
3129 cache when the mailbox is synchronized. You probably only want
3130 to set it every once in a while, since it can be a little slow
3131 (especially for large folders).
3132 message_cachedir
3136 Type: path
3137 Default: “”
3138 Set this to a directory and mutt will cache copies of messages
3140 from your IMAP and POP servers here. You are free to remove en‐
3141 tries at any time.
3142 When setting this variable to a directory, mutt needs to fetch
3144 every remote message only once and can perform regular expres‐
3145 sion searches as fast as for local folders.
3146 Also see the $message_cache_clean variable.
3148 message_format
3152 Type: string
3153 Default: “%s”
3154 This is the string displayed in the “attachment” menu for at‐
3156 tachments of type message/rfc822. For a full listing of defined
3157 printf(3)-like sequences see the section on $index_format.
3158 message_id_format
3162 Type: string
3163 Default: “<%z@%f>”
3164 This variable describes the format of the Message-ID generated
3166 when sending messages. Mutt 2.0 introduced a more compact for‐
3167 mat, but this variable allows the ability to choose your own
3168 format. The value may end in “|” to invoke an external filter.
3169 See formatstrings-filters.
3170 Please note that the Message-ID value follows a strict syntax,
3172 and you are responsible for ensuring correctness if you change
3173 this from the default. In particular, the value must follow the
3174 syntax in RFC 5322: “”<” id-left ”@” id-right ”>””. No spaces
3175 are allowed, and id-left should follow the dot-atom-text syntax
3176 in the RFC. The id-right should generally be left at %f.
3177 The old Message-ID format can be used by setting this to:
3179 “<%Y%02m%02d%02H%02M%02S.G%c%p@%f>”
3180 The following printf(3)-style sequences are understood:
3182 %c step counter looping from “A” to “Z”
3183 %d current day of the month (GMT)
3184 %f $hostname
3185 %H current hour using a 24-hour clock (GMT)
3186 %m current month number (GMT)
3187 %M current minute of the hour (GMT)
3188 %p pid of the running mutt process
3189 %r 3 bytes of pseudorandom data encoded in Base64
3190 %S current second of the minute (GMT)
3191 %x 1 byte of pseudorandom data hex encoded (example: '1b')
3192 %Y current year using 4 digits (GMT)
3193 %z 4 byte timestamp + 8 bytes of pseudorandom data encoded
3194 in Base64
3195 meta_key
3198 Type: boolean
3199 Default: no
3200 If set, forces Mutt to interpret keystrokes with the high bit
3202 (bit 8) set as if the user had pressed the Esc key and whatever
3203 key remains after having the high bit removed. For example, if
3204 the key pressed has an ASCII value of 0xf8, then this is treated
3205 as if the user had pressed Esc then “x”. This is because the
3206 result of removing the high bit from 0xf8 is 0x78, which is the
3207 ASCII character “x”.
3208 metoo
3212 Type: boolean
3213 Default: no
3214 If unset, Mutt will remove your address (see the “alternates”
3216 command) from the list of recipients when replying to a message.
3217 mh_purge
3221 Type: boolean
3222 Default: no
3223 When unset, mutt will mimic mh's behavior and rename deleted
3225 messages to ,<old file name> in mh folders instead of really
3226 deleting them. This leaves the message on disk but makes pro‐
3227 grams reading the folder ignore it. If the variable is set, the
3228 message files will simply be deleted.
3229 This option is similar to $maildir_trash for Maildir folders.
3231 mh_seq_flagged
3235 Type: string
3236 Default: “flagged”
3237 The name of the MH sequence used for flagged messages.
3239 mh_seq_replied
3243 Type: string
3244 Default: “replied”
3245 The name of the MH sequence used to tag replied messages.
3247 mh_seq_unseen
3251 Type: string
3252 Default: “unseen”
3253 The name of the MH sequence used for unseen messages.
3255 mime_forward
3259 Type: quadoption
3260 Default: no
3261 When set, the message you are forwarding will be attached as a
3263 separate message/rfc822 MIME part instead of included in the
3264 main body of the message. This is useful for forwarding MIME
3265 messages so the receiver can properly view the message as it was
3266 delivered to you. If you like to switch between MIME and not
3267 MIME from mail to mail, set this variable to “ask-no” or
3268 “ask-yes”.
3269 Also see $forward_decode and $mime_forward_decode.
3271 mime_forward_decode
3275 Type: boolean
3276 Default: no
3277 Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain
3279 when forwarding a message while $mime_forward is set. Otherwise
3280 $forward_decode is used instead.
3281 mime_forward_rest
3285 Type: quadoption
3286 Default: yes
3287 When forwarding multiple attachments of a MIME message from the
3289 attachment menu, attachments which cannot be decoded in a rea‐
3290 sonable manner will be attached to the newly composed message if
3291 this option is set.
3292 mime_type_query_command
3296 Type: string
3297 Default: “”
3298 This specifies a command to run, to determine the mime type of a
3300 new attachment when composing a message. Unless
3301 $mime_type_query_first is set, this will only be run if the at‐
3302 tachment's extension is not found in the mime.types file.
3303 The string may contain a “%s”, which will be substituted with
3305 the attachment filename. Mutt will add quotes around the string
3306 substituted for “%s” automatically according to shell quoting
3307 rules, so you should avoid adding your own. If no “%s” is found
3308 in the string, Mutt will append the attachment filename to the
3309 end of the string.
3310 The command should output a single line containing the attach‐
3312 ment's mime type.
3313 Suggested values are “xdg-mime query filetype” or “file -bi”.
3315 mime_type_query_first
3319 Type: boolean
3320 Default: no
3321 When set, the $mime_type_query_command will be run before the
3323 mime.types lookup.
3324 mix_entry_format
3328 Type: string
3329 Default: “%4n %c %-16s %a”
3330 This variable describes the format of a remailer line on the
3332 mixmaster chain selection screen. The following printf(3)-like
3333 sequences are supported:
3334 %n The running number on the menu.
3335 %c Remailer capabilities.
3336 %s The remailer's short name.
3337 %a The remailer's e-mail address.
3338 (Mixmaster only)
3340 mixmaster
3344 Type: path
3345 Default: “mixmaster”
3346 This variable contains the path to the Mixmaster binary on your
3348 system. It is used with various sets of parameters to gather
3349 the list of known remailers, and to finally send a message
3350 through the mixmaster chain. (Mixmaster only)
3351 move
3355 Type: quadoption
3356 Default: no
3357 Controls whether or not Mutt will move read messages from your
3359 spool mailbox to your $mbox mailbox, or as a result of a “mbox-
3360 hook” command.
3361 muttlisp_inline_eval
3365 Type: boolean
3366 Default: no
3367 If set, Mutt will evaluate bare parenthesis arguments to com‐
3369 mands as MuttLisp expressions.
3370 narrow_tree
3374 Type: boolean
3375 Default: no
3376 This variable, when set, makes the thread tree narrower, allow‐
3378 ing deeper threads to fit on the screen.
3379 net_inc
3383 Type: number
3384 Default: 10
3385 Operations that expect to transfer a large amount of data over
3387 the network will update their progress every $net_inc kilobytes.
3388 If set to 0, no progress messages will be displayed.
3389 See also $read_inc, $write_inc and $net_inc.
3391 new_mail_command
3395 Type: path
3396 Default: “”
3397 If set, Mutt will call this command after a new message is re‐
3399 ceived. See the $status_format documentation for the values
3400 that can be formatted into this command.
3401 pager
3405 Type: path
3406 Default: “builtin”
3407 This variable specifies which pager you would like to use to
3409 view messages. The value “builtin” means to use the built-in
3410 pager, otherwise this variable should specify the pathname of
3411 the external pager you would like to use.
3412 The string may contain a “%s”, which will be substituted with
3414 the generated message filename. Mutt will add quotes around the
3415 string substituted for “%s” automatically according to shell
3416 quoting rules, so you should avoid adding your own. If no “%s”
3417 is found in the string, Mutt will append the message filename to
3418 the end of the string.
3419 Using an external pager may have some disadvantages: Additional
3421 keystrokes are necessary because you can't call mutt functions
3422 directly from the pager, and screen resizes cause lines longer
3423 than the screen width to be badly formatted in the help menu.
3424 When using an external pager, also see $prompt_after which de‐
3426 faults set.
3427 pager_context
3431 Type: number
3432 Default: 0
3433 This variable controls the number of lines of context that are
3435 given when displaying the next or previous page in the internal
3436 pager. By default, Mutt will display the line after the last
3437 one on the screen at the top of the next page (0 lines of con‐
3438 text).
3439 This variable also specifies the amount of context given for
3441 search results. If positive, this many lines will be given be‐
3442 fore a match, if 0, the match will be top-aligned.
3443 pager_format
3447 Type: string
3448 Default: “-%Z- %C/%m: %-20.20n %s%* -- (%P)”
3449 This variable controls the format of the one-line message “sta‐
3451 tus” displayed before each message in either the internal or an
3452 external pager. The valid sequences are listed in the $in‐
3453 dex_format section.
3454 pager_index_lines
3458 Type: number
3459 Default: 0
3460 Determines the number of lines of a mini-index which is shown
3462 when in the pager. The current message, unless near the top or
3463 bottom of the folder, will be roughly one third of the way down
3464 this mini-index, giving the reader the context of a few messages
3465 before and after the message. This is useful, for example, to
3466 determine how many messages remain to be read in the current
3467 thread. One of the lines is reserved for the status bar from
3468 the index, so a setting of 6 will only show 5 lines of the ac‐
3469 tual index. A value of 0 results in no index being shown. If
3470 the number of messages in the current folder is less than
3471 $pager_index_lines, then the index will only use as many lines
3472 as it needs.
3473 pager_skip_quoted_context
3477 Type: number
3478 Default: 0
3479 Determines the number of lines of context to show before the un‐
3481 quoted text when using <skip-quoted>. When set to a positive
3482 number at most that many lines of the previous quote are dis‐
3483 played. If the previous quote is shorter the whole quote is dis‐
3484 played.
3485 pager_stop
3489 Type: boolean
3490 Default: no
3491 When set, the internal-pager will not move to the next message
3493 when you are at the end of a message and invoke the <next-page>
3494 function.
3495 pattern_format
3499 Type: string
3500 Default: “%2n %-15e %d”
3501 This variable describes the format of the “pattern completion”
3503 menu. The following printf(3)-style sequences are understood:
3504 %d pattern description
3505 %e pattern expression
3506 %n index number
3507 pgp_auto_decode
3509 Type: boolean
3510 Default: no
3511 If set, mutt will automatically attempt to decrypt traditional
3513 PGP messages whenever the user performs an operation which ordi‐
3514 narily would result in the contents of the message being oper‐
3515 ated on. For example, if the user displays a pgp-traditional
3516 message which has not been manually checked with the <check-tra‐
3517 ditional-pgp> function, mutt will automatically check the mes‐
3518 sage for traditional pgp.
3519 pgp_autoinline
3523 Type: boolean
3524 Default: no
3525 This option controls whether Mutt generates old-style inline
3527 (traditional) PGP encrypted or signed messages under certain
3528 circumstances. This can be overridden by use of the pgp menu,
3529 when inline is not required. The GPGME backend does not support
3530 this option.
3531 Note that Mutt might automatically use PGP/MIME for messages
3533 which consist of more than a single MIME part. Mutt can be con‐
3534 figured to ask before sending PGP/MIME messages when inline
3535 (traditional) would not work.
3536 Also see the $pgp_mime_auto variable.
3538 Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is
3540 strongly deprecated. (PGP only)
3541 pgp_check_exit
3545 Type: boolean
3546 Default: yes
3547 If set, mutt will check the exit code of the PGP subprocess when
3549 signing or encrypting. A non-zero exit code means that the sub‐
3550 process failed. (PGP only)
3551 pgp_check_gpg_decrypt_status_fd
3555 Type: boolean
3556 Default: yes
3557 If set, mutt will check the status file descriptor output of
3559 $pgp_decrypt_command and $pgp_decode_command for GnuPG status
3560 codes indicating successful decryption. This will check for the
3561 presence of DECRYPTION_OKAY, absence of DECRYPTION_FAILED, and
3562 that all PLAINTEXT occurs between the BEGIN_DECRYPTION and
3563 END_DECRYPTION status codes.
3564 If unset, mutt will instead match the status fd output against
3566 $pgp_decryption_okay. (PGP only)
3567 pgp_clearsign_command
3571 Type: string
3572 Default: “”
3573 This format is used to create an old-style “clearsigned” PGP
3575 message. Note that the use of this format is strongly depre‐
3576 cated.
3577 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3579 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3580 pgp_decode_command
3584 Type: string
3585 Default: “”
3586 This format strings specifies a command which is used to decode
3588 application/pgp attachments.
3589 The PGP command formats have their own set of printf(3)-like se‐
3591 quences:
3592 %p Expands to PGPPASSFD=0 when a pass phrase is needed, to
3593 an empty string otherwise. Note: This may be used with a
3594 %? construct.
3595 %f Expands to the name of a file containing a message.
3596 %s Expands to the name of a file containing the signature
3597 part
3598 of a multipart/signed attachment when verify‐
3599 ing it.
3600 %a The value of $pgp_sign_as if set, otherwise the value of
3601 $pgp_default_key.
3602 %r One or more key IDs (or fingerprints if available).
3603 For examples on how to configure these formats for the various
3605 versions of PGP which are floating around, see the pgp and gpg
3606 sample configuration files in the samples/ subdirectory which
3607 has been installed on your system alongside the documentation.
3608 (PGP only)
3609 pgp_decrypt_command
3613 Type: string
3614 Default: “”
3615 This command is used to decrypt a PGP encrypted message.
3617 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3619 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3620 pgp_decryption_okay
3624 Type: regular expression
3625 Default: “”
3626 If you assign text to this variable, then an encrypted PGP mes‐
3628 sage is only considered successfully decrypted if the output
3629 from $pgp_decrypt_command contains the text. This is used to
3630 protect against a spoofed encrypted message, with multipart/en‐
3631 crypted headers but containing a block that is not actually en‐
3632 crypted. (e.g. simply signed and ascii armored text).
3633 Note that if $pgp_check_gpg_decrypt_status_fd is set, this vari‐
3635 able is ignored. (PGP only)
3636 pgp_default_key
3640 Type: string
3641 Default: “”
3642 This is the default key-pair to use for PGP operations. It will
3644 be used for encryption (see $postpone_encrypt and $pgp_self_en‐
3645 crypt).
3646 It will also be used for signing unless $pgp_sign_as is set.
3648 The (now deprecated) pgp_self_encrypt_as is an alias for this
3650 variable, and should no longer be used. (PGP only)
3651 pgp_encrypt_only_command
3655 Type: string
3656 Default: “”
3657 This command is used to encrypt a body part without signing it.
3659 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3661 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3662 pgp_encrypt_sign_command
3666 Type: string
3667 Default: “”
3668 This command is used to both sign and encrypt a body part.
3670 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3672 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3673 pgp_entry_format
3677 Type: string
3678 Default: “%4n %t%f %4l/0x%k %-4a %2c %u”
3679 This variable allows you to customize the PGP key selection menu
3681 to your personal taste. This string is similar to $index_format,
3682 but has its own set of printf(3)-like sequences:
3683 %n number
3684 %k key id
3685 %u user id
3686 %a algorithm
3687 %l key length
3688 %f flags
3689 %c capabilities
3690 %t trust/validity of the key-uid association
3691 %[<s>] date of the key where <s> is an strftime(3) expression
3692 (PGP only)
3694 pgp_export_command
3698 Type: string
3699 Default: “”
3700 This command is used to export a public key from the user's key
3702 ring.
3703 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3705 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3706 pgp_getkeys_command
3710 Type: string
3711 Default: “”
3712 This command is invoked whenever Mutt needs to fetch the public
3714 key associated with an email address. Of the sequences sup‐
3715 ported by $pgp_decode_command, %r is the only printf(3)-like se‐
3716 quence used with this format. Note that in this case, %r ex‐
3717 pands to the email address, not the public key ID (the key ID is
3718 unknown, which is why Mutt is invoking this command). (PGP
3719 only)
3720 pgp_good_sign
3724 Type: regular expression
3725 Default: “”
3726 If you assign a text to this variable, then a PGP signature is
3728 only considered verified if the output from $pgp_verify_command
3729 contains the text. Use this variable if the exit code from the
3730 command is 0 even for bad signatures. (PGP only)
3731 pgp_ignore_subkeys
3735 Type: boolean
3736 Default: yes
3737 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to ignore OpenPGP subkeys.
3739 Instead, the principal key will inherit the subkeys' capabili‐
3740 ties. Unset this if you want to play interesting key selection
3741 games. (PGP only)
3742 pgp_import_command
3746 Type: string
3747 Default: “”
3748 This command is used to import a key from a message into the
3750 user's public key ring.
3751 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3753 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3754 pgp_list_pubring_command
3758 Type: string
3759 Default: “”
3760 This command is used to list the public key ring's contents.
3762 The output format must be analogous to the one used by
3763 gpg --list-keys --with-colons --with-fingerprint
3766 This format is also generated by the mutt_pgpring utility which
3769 comes with mutt.
3770 Note: gpg's fixed-list-mode option should not be used. It pro‐
3772 duces a different date format which may result in mutt showing
3773 incorrect key generation dates.
3774 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3776 possible printf(3)-like sequences. Note that in this case, %r
3777 expands to the search string, which is a list of one or more
3778 quoted values such as email address, name, or keyid. (PGP only)
3779 pgp_list_secring_command
3783 Type: string
3784 Default: “”
3785 This command is used to list the secret key ring's contents.
3787 The output format must be analogous to the one used by:
3788 gpg --list-keys --with-colons --with-fingerprint
3791 This format is also generated by the mutt_pgpring utility which
3794 comes with mutt.
3795 Note: gpg's fixed-list-mode option should not be used. It pro‐
3797 duces a different date format which may result in mutt showing
3798 incorrect key generation dates.
3799 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3801 possible printf(3)-like sequences. Note that in this case, %r
3802 expands to the search string, which is a list of one or more
3803 quoted values such as email address, name, or keyid. (PGP only)
3804 pgp_long_ids
3808 Type: boolean
3809 Default: yes
3810 If set, use 64 bit PGP key IDs, if unset use the normal 32 bit
3812 key IDs. NOTE: Internally, Mutt has transitioned to using fin‐
3813 gerprints (or long key IDs as a fallback). This option now only
3814 controls the display of key IDs in the key selection menu and a
3815 few other places. (PGP only)
3816 pgp_mime_auto
3820 Type: quadoption
3821 Default: ask-yes
3822 This option controls whether Mutt will prompt you for automati‐
3824 cally sending a (signed/encrypted) message using PGP/MIME when
3825 inline (traditional) fails (for any reason).
3826 Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is
3828 strongly deprecated. (PGP only)
3829 pgp_replyinline
3833 Type: boolean
3834 Default: no
3835 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to cre‐
3837 ate an inline (traditional) message when replying to a message
3838 which is PGP encrypted/signed inline. This can be overridden by
3839 use of the pgp menu, when inline is not required. This option
3840 does not automatically detect if the (replied-to) message is in‐
3841 line; instead it relies on Mutt internals for previously
3842 checked/flagged messages.
3843 Note that Mutt might automatically use PGP/MIME for messages
3845 which consist of more than a single MIME part. Mutt can be con‐
3846 figured to ask before sending PGP/MIME messages when inline
3847 (traditional) would not work.
3848 Also see the $pgp_mime_auto variable.
3850 Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is
3852 strongly deprecated. (PGP only)
3853 pgp_retainable_sigs
3857 Type: boolean
3858 Default: no
3859 If set, signed and encrypted messages will consist of nested
3861 multipart/signed and multipart/encrypted body parts.
3862 This is useful for applications like encrypted and signed mail‐
3864 ing lists, where the outer layer (multipart/encrypted) can be
3865 easily removed, while the inner multipart/signed part is re‐
3866 tained. (PGP only)
3867 pgp_self_encrypt
3871 Type: boolean
3872 Default: yes
3873 When set, PGP encrypted messages will also be encrypted using
3875 the key in $pgp_default_key. (PGP only)
3876 pgp_show_unusable
3880 Type: boolean
3881 Default: yes
3882 If set, mutt will display non-usable keys on the PGP key selec‐
3884 tion menu. This includes keys which have been revoked, have ex‐
3885 pired, or have been marked as “disabled” by the user. (PGP
3886 only)
3887 pgp_sign_as
3891 Type: string
3892 Default: “”
3893 If you have a different key pair to use for signing, you should
3895 set this to the signing key. Most people will only need to set
3896 $pgp_default_key. It is recommended that you use the keyid form
3897 to specify your key (e.g. 0x00112233). (PGP only)
3898 pgp_sign_command
3902 Type: string
3903 Default: “”
3904 This command is used to create the detached PGP signature for a
3906 multipart/signed PGP/MIME body part.
3907 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3909 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3910 pgp_sort_keys
3914 Type: sort order
3915 Default: address
3916 Specifies how the entries in the pgp menu are sorted. The fol‐
3918 lowing are legal values:
3919 address
3920 sort alphabetically by user id
3921 keyid sort alphabetically by key id
3922 date sort by key creation date
3923 trust sort by the trust of the key
3924 If you prefer reverse order of the above values, prefix it with
3926 “reverse-”. (PGP only)
3927 pgp_strict_enc
3931 Type: boolean
3932 Default: yes
3933 If set, Mutt will automatically encode PGP/MIME signed messages
3935 as quoted-printable. Please note that unsetting this variable
3936 may lead to problems with non-verifyable PGP signatures, so only
3937 change this if you know what you are doing. (PGP only)
3938 pgp_timeout
3942 Type: number (long)
3943 Default: 300
3944 The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will ex‐
3946 pire if not used. (PGP only)
3947 pgp_use_gpg_agent
3951 Type: boolean
3952 Default: no
3953 If set, mutt expects a gpg-agent(1) process will handle private
3955 key passphrase prompts. If unset, mutt will prompt for the
3956 passphrase and pass it via stdin to the pgp command.
3957 Note that as of version 2.1, GnuPG automatically spawns an agent
3959 and requires the agent be used for passphrase management. Since
3960 that version is increasingly prevalent, this variable now de‐
3961 faults set.
3962 Mutt works with a GUI or curses pinentry program. A TTY pinen‐
3964 try should not be used.
3965 If you are using an older version of GnuPG without an agent run‐
3967 ning, or another encryption program without an agent, you will
3968 need to unset this variable. (PGP only)
3969 pgp_verify_command
3973 Type: string
3974 Default: “”
3975 This command is used to verify PGP signatures.
3977 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3979 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3980 pgp_verify_key_command
3984 Type: string
3985 Default: “”
3986 This command is used to verify key information from the key se‐
3988 lection menu.
3989 This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for
3991 possible printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
3992 pipe_decode
3996 Type: boolean
3997 Default: no
3998 Used in connection with the <pipe-message> function. When un‐
4000 set, Mutt will pipe the messages without any preprocessing. When
4001 set, Mutt will attempt to decode the messages first.
4002 Also see $pipe_decode_weed, which controls whether headers will
4004 be weeded when this is set.
4005 pipe_decode_weed
4009 Type: boolean
4010 Default: yes
4011 For <pipe-message>, when $pipe_decode is set, this further con‐
4013 trols whether Mutt will weed headers.
4014 pipe_sep
4018 Type: string
4019 Default: “\n”
4020 The separator to add between messages when piping a list of
4022 tagged messages to an external Unix command.
4023 pipe_split
4027 Type: boolean
4028 Default: no
4029 Used in connection with the <pipe-message> function following
4031 <tag-prefix>. If this variable is unset, when piping a list of
4032 tagged messages Mutt will concatenate the messages and will pipe
4033 them all concatenated. When set, Mutt will pipe the messages
4034 one by one. In both cases the messages are piped in the current
4035 sorted order, and the $pipe_sep separator is added after each
4036 message.
4037 pop_auth_try_all
4041 Type: boolean
4042 Default: yes
4043 If set, Mutt will try all available authentication methods.
4045 When unset, Mutt will only fall back to other authentication
4046 methods if the previous methods are unavailable. If a method is
4047 available but authentication fails, Mutt will not connect to the
4048 POP server.
4049 pop_authenticators
4053 Type: string
4054 Default: “”
4055 This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt
4057 may attempt to use to log in to an POP server, in the order mutt
4058 should try them. Authentication methods are either “user”,
4059 “apop” or any SASL mechanism, e.g. “digest-md5”, “gssapi” or
4060 “cram-md5”. This option is case-insensitive. If this option is
4061 unset (the default) mutt will try all available methods, in or‐
4062 der from most-secure to least-secure.
4063 Example:
4065 set pop_authenticators=”digest-md5:apop:user”
4068 pop_checkinterval
4073 Type: number
4074 Default: 60
4075 This variable configures how often (in seconds) mutt should look
4077 for new mail in the currently selected mailbox if it is a POP
4078 mailbox.
4079 pop_delete
4083 Type: quadoption
4084 Default: ask-no
4085 If set, Mutt will delete successfully downloaded messages from
4087 the POP server when using the <fetch-mail> function. When un‐
4088 set, Mutt will download messages but also leave them on the POP
4089 server.
4090 pop_host
4094 Type: string
4095 Default: “”
4096 The name of your POP server for the <fetch-mail> function. You
4098 can also specify an alternative port, username and password,
4099 i.e.:
4100 [pop[s]://][username[:password]@]popserver[:port]
4103 where “[...]” denotes an optional part.
4106 pop_last
4110 Type: boolean
4111 Default: no
4112 If this variable is set, mutt will try to use the “LAST” POP
4114 command for retrieving only unread messages from the POP server
4115 when using the <fetch-mail> function.
4116 pop_oauth_refresh_command
4120 Type: string
4121 Default: “”
4122 The command to run to generate an OAUTH refresh token for autho‐
4124 rizing your connection to your POP server. This command will be
4125 run on every connection attempt that uses the OAUTHBEARER au‐
4126 thentication mechanism. See “oauth” for details.
4127 pop_pass
4131 Type: string
4132 Default: “”
4133 Specifies the password for your POP account. If unset, Mutt
4135 will prompt you for your password when you open a POP mailbox.
4136 Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a
4138 fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your mut‐
4139 trc even if you are the only one who can read the file.
4140 pop_reconnect
4144 Type: quadoption
4145 Default: ask-yes
4146 Controls whether or not Mutt will try to reconnect to the POP
4148 server if the connection is lost.
4149 pop_user
4153 Type: string
4154 Default: “”
4155 Your login name on the POP server.
4157 This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
4159 post_indent_string
4163 Type: string
4164 Default: “”
4165 Similar to the $attribution variable, Mutt will append this
4167 string after the inclusion of a message which is being replied
4168 to. For a full listing of defined printf(3)-like sequences see
4169 the section on $index_format.
4170 postpone
4174 Type: quadoption
4175 Default: ask-yes
4176 Controls whether or not messages are saved in the $postponed
4178 mailbox when you elect not to send immediately.
4179 Also see the $recall variable.
4181 postponed
4185 Type: path
4186 Default: “~/postponed”
4187 Mutt allows you to indefinitely “postpone sending a message”
4189 which you are editing. When you choose to postpone a message,
4190 Mutt saves it in the mailbox specified by this variable.
4191 Also see the $postpone variable.
4193 postpone_encrypt
4197 Type: boolean
4198 Default: no
4199 When set, postponed messages that are marked for encryption will
4201 be self-encrypted. Mutt will first try to encrypt using the
4202 value specified in $pgp_default_key or $smime_default_key. If
4203 those are not set, it will try the deprecated $postpone_en‐
4204 crypt_as. (Crypto only)
4205 postpone_encrypt_as
4209 Type: string
4210 Default: “”
4211 This is a deprecated fall-back variable for $postpone_encrypt.
4213 Please use $pgp_default_key or $smime_default_key. (Crypto
4214 only)
4215 preconnect
4219 Type: string
4220 Default: “”
4221 If set, a shell command to be executed if mutt fails to estab‐
4223 lish a connection to the server. This is useful for setting up
4224 secure connections, e.g. with ssh(1). If the command returns a
4225 nonzero status, mutt gives up opening the server. Example:
4226 set preconnect=”ssh -f -q -L 1234:mailhost.net:143 mailhost.net \
4229 sleep 20 < /dev/null > /dev/null”
4230 Mailbox “foo” on “mailhost.net” can now be reached as “{local‐
4233 host:1234}foo”.
4234 Note: For this example to work, you must be able to log in to
4236 the remote machine without having to enter a password.
4237 print
4241 Type: quadoption
4242 Default: ask-no
4243 Controls whether or not Mutt really prints messages. This is
4245 set to “ask-no” by default, because some people accidentally hit
4246 “p” often.
4247 print_command
4251 Type: path
4252 Default: “lpr”
4253 This specifies the command pipe that should be used to print
4255 messages.
4256 print_decode
4260 Type: boolean
4261 Default: yes
4262 Used in connection with the <print-message> function. If this
4264 option is set, the message is decoded before it is passed to the
4265 external command specified by $print_command. If this option is
4266 unset, no processing will be applied to the message when print‐
4267 ing it. The latter setting may be useful if you are using some
4268 advanced printer filter which is able to properly format e-mail
4269 messages for printing.
4270 Also see $print_decode_weed, which controls whether headers will
4272 be weeded when this is set.
4273 print_decode_weed
4277 Type: boolean
4278 Default: yes
4279 For <print-message>, when $print_decode is set, this further
4281 controls whether Mutt will weed headers.
4282 print_split
4286 Type: boolean
4287 Default: no
4288 Used in connection with the <print-message> function. If this
4290 option is set, the command specified by $print_command is exe‐
4291 cuted once for each message which is to be printed. If this op‐
4292 tion is unset, the command specified by $print_command is exe‐
4293 cuted only once, and all the messages are concatenated, with a
4294 form feed as the message separator.
4295 Those who use the enscript(1) program's mail-printing mode will
4297 most likely want to set this option.
4298 prompt_after
4302 Type: boolean
4303 Default: yes
4304 If you use an external $pager, setting this variable will cause
4306 Mutt to prompt you for a command when the pager exits rather
4307 than returning to the index menu. If unset, Mutt will return to
4308 the index menu when the external pager exits.
4309 query_command
4313 Type: path
4314 Default: “”
4315 This specifies the command Mutt will use to make external ad‐
4317 dress queries. The string may contain a “%s”, which will be
4318 substituted with the query string the user types. Mutt will add
4319 quotes around the string substituted for “%s” automatically ac‐
4320 cording to shell quoting rules, so you should avoid adding your
4321 own. If no “%s” is found in the string, Mutt will append the
4322 user's query to the end of the string. See “query” for more in‐
4323 formation.
4324 query_format
4328 Type: string
4329 Default: “%4c %t %-25.25a %-25.25n %?e?(%e)?”
4330 This variable describes the format of the “query” menu. The fol‐
4332 lowing printf(3)-style sequences are understood:
4333 %a destination address
4334 %c current entry number
4335 %e extra information *
4336 %n destination name
4337 %t “*” if current entry is tagged, a space otherwise
4338 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with “X”
4339 %|X pad to the end of the line with “X”
4340 %*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
4341 For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the $index_format docu‐
4343 mentation.
4344 * = can be optionally printed if nonzero, see the $status_format
4346 documentation.
4347 quit
4351 Type: quadoption
4352 Default: yes
4353 This variable controls whether “quit” and “exit” actually quit
4355 from mutt. If this option is set, they do quit, if it is unset,
4356 they have no effect, and if it is set to ask-yes or ask-no, you
4357 are prompted for confirmation when you try to quit.
4358 quote_regexp
4362 Type: regular expression
4363 Default: “^([ \t]*[|>:}#])+”
4364 A regular expression used in the internal pager to determine
4366 quoted sections of text in the body of a message. Quoted text
4367 may be filtered out using the <toggle-quoted> command, or col‐
4368 ored according to the “color quoted” family of directives.
4369 Higher levels of quoting may be colored differently (“color
4371 quoted1”, “color quoted2”, etc.). The quoting level is deter‐
4372 mined by removing the last character from the matched text and
4373 recursively reapplying the regular expression until it fails to
4374 produce a match.
4375 Match detection may be overridden by the $smileys regular ex‐
4377 pression.
4378 read_inc
4382 Type: number
4383 Default: 10
4384 If set to a value greater than 0, Mutt will display which mes‐
4386 sage it is currently on when reading a mailbox or when perform‐
4387 ing search actions such as search and limit. The message is
4388 printed after this many messages have been read or searched
4389 (e.g., if set to 25, Mutt will print a message when it is at
4390 message 25, and then again when it gets to message 50). This
4391 variable is meant to indicate progress when reading or searching
4392 large mailboxes which may take some time. When set to 0, only a
4393 single message will appear before the reading the mailbox.
4394 Also see the $write_inc, $net_inc and $time_inc variables and
4396 the “tuning” section of the manual for performance considera‐
4397 tions.
4398 read_only
4402 Type: boolean
4403 Default: no
4404 If set, all folders are opened in read-only mode.
4406 realname
4410 Type: string
4411 Default: “”
4412 This variable specifies what “real” or “personal” name should be
4414 used when sending messages.
4415 By default, this is the GECOS field from /etc/passwd. Note that
4417 this variable will not be used when the user has set a real name
4418 in the $from variable.
4419 recall
4423 Type: quadoption
4424 Default: ask-yes
4425 Controls whether or not Mutt recalls postponed messages when
4427 composing a new message.
4428 Setting this variable to yes is not generally useful, and thus
4430 not recommended. Note that the <recall-message> function can be
4431 used to manually recall postponed messages.
4432 Also see $postponed variable.
4434 record
4438 Type: path
4439 Default: “~/sent”
4440 This specifies the file into which your outgoing messages should
4442 be appended. (This is meant as the primary method for saving a
4443 copy of your messages, but another way to do this is using the
4444 “my_hdr” command to create a “Bcc:” field with your email ad‐
4445 dress in it.)
4446 The value of $record is overridden by the $force_name and
4448 $save_name variables, and the “fcc-hook” command. Also see
4449 $copy and $write_bcc.
4450 Multiple mailboxes may be specified if $fcc_delimiter is set to
4452 a string delimiter.
4453 reflow_space_quotes
4457 Type: boolean
4458 Default: yes
4459 This option controls how quotes from format=flowed messages are
4461 displayed in the pager and when replying (with $text_flowed un‐
4462 set). When set, this option adds spaces after each level of
4463 quote marks, turning ”>>>foo” into ”> > > foo”.
4464 Note: If $reflow_text is unset, this option has no effect.
4466 Also, this option does not affect replies when $text_flowed is
4467 set.
4468 reflow_text
4472 Type: boolean
4473 Default: yes
4474 When set, Mutt will reformat paragraphs in text/plain parts
4476 marked format=flowed. If unset, Mutt will display paragraphs
4477 unaltered from how they appear in the message body. See RFC3676
4478 for details on the format=flowed format.
4479 Also see $reflow_wrap, and $wrap.
4481 reflow_wrap
4485 Type: number
4486 Default: 78
4487 This variable controls the maximum paragraph width when refor‐
4489 matting text/plain parts when $reflow_text is set. When the
4490 value is 0, paragraphs will be wrapped at the terminal's right
4491 margin. A positive value sets the paragraph width relative to
4492 the left margin. A negative value set the paragraph width rela‐
4493 tive to the right margin.
4494 Also see $wrap.
4496 reply_regexp
4500 Type: regular expression (localized)
4501 Default: “^(re)(\[[0-9]+\])*:[ \t]*”
4502 A regular expression used to recognize reply messages when
4504 threading and replying. The default value corresponds to the
4505 standard Latin ”Re:” prefix.
4506 This value may have been localized by the translator for your
4508 locale, adding other prefixes that are common in the locale. You
4509 can add your own prefixes by appending inside ”^(re)”. For ex‐
4510 ample: ”^(re|se)” or ”^(re|aw|se)”.
4511 The second parenthesized expression matches zero or more brack‐
4513 eted numbers following the prefix, such as ”Re[1]: ”. The ini‐
4514 tial ”\\[” means a literal left-bracket character. Note the
4515 backslash must be doubled when used inside a double quoted
4516 string in the muttrc. ”[0-9]+” means one or more numbers.
4517 ”\\]” means a literal right-bracket. Finally the whole paren‐
4518 thesized expression has a ”*” suffix, meaning it can occur zero
4519 or more times.
4520 The last part matches a colon followed by an optional space or
4522 tab. Note ”\t” is converted to a literal tab inside a double
4523 quoted string. If you use a single quoted string, you would
4524 have to type an actual tab character, and would need to convert
4525 the double-backslashes to single backslashes.
4526 Note: the result of this regexp match against the subject is
4528 stored in the header cache. Mutt isn't smart enough to invali‐
4529 date a header cache entry based on changing $reply_regexp, so if
4530 you aren't seeing correct values in the index, try temporarily
4531 turning off the header cache. If that fixes the problem, then
4532 once the variable is set to your liking, remove your stale
4533 header cache files and turn the header cache back on.
4534 reply_self
4538 Type: boolean
4539 Default: no
4540 If unset and you are replying to a message sent by you, Mutt
4542 will assume that you want to reply to the recipients of that
4543 message rather than to yourself.
4544 Also see the “alternates” command.
4546 reply_to
4550 Type: quadoption
4551 Default: ask-yes
4552 If set, when replying to a message, Mutt will use the address
4554 listed in the Reply-to: header as the recipient of the reply.
4555 If unset, it will use the address in the From: header field in‐
4556 stead. This option is useful for reading a mailing list that
4557 sets the Reply-To: header field to the list address and you want
4558 to send a private message to the author of a message.
4559 resolve
4563 Type: boolean
4564 Default: yes
4565 When set, the cursor will be automatically advanced to the next
4567 (possibly undeleted) message whenever a command that modifies
4568 the current message is executed.
4569 resume_draft_files
4573 Type: boolean
4574 Default: no
4575 If set, draft files (specified by -H on the command line) are
4577 processed similarly to when resuming a postponed message. Re‐
4578 cipients are not prompted for; send-hooks are not evaluated; no
4579 alias expansion takes place; user-defined headers and signatures
4580 are not added to the message.
4581 resume_edited_draft_files
4585 Type: boolean
4586 Default: yes
4587 If set, draft files previously edited (via -E -H on the command
4589 line) will have $resume_draft_files automatically set when they
4590 are used as a draft file again.
4591 The first time a draft file is saved, mutt will add a header,
4593 X-Mutt-Resume-Draft to the saved file. The next time the draft
4594 file is read in, if mutt sees the header, it will set $re‐
4595 sume_draft_files.
4596 This option is designed to prevent multiple signatures, user-de‐
4598 fined headers, and other processing effects from being made mul‐
4599 tiple times to the draft file.
4600 reverse_alias
4604 Type: boolean
4605 Default: no
4606 This variable controls whether or not Mutt will display the
4608 “personal” name from your aliases in the index menu if it finds
4609 an alias that matches the message's sender. For example, if you
4610 have the following alias:
4611 alias juser abd30425@somewhere.net (Joe User)
4614 and then you receive mail which contains the following header:
4617 From: abd30425@somewhere.net
4620 It would be displayed in the index menu as “Joe User” instead of
4623 “abd30425@somewhere.net.” This is useful when the person's
4624 e-mail address is not human friendly.
4625 reverse_name
4629 Type: boolean
4630 Default: no
4631 It may sometimes arrive that you receive mail to a certain ma‐
4633 chine, move the messages to another machine, and reply to some
4634 the messages from there. If this variable is set, the default
4635 From: line of the reply messages is built using the address
4636 where you received the messages you are replying to if that ad‐
4637 dress matches your “alternates”. If the variable is unset, or
4638 the address that would be used doesn't match your “alternates”,
4639 the From: line will use your address on the current machine.
4640 Also see the “alternates” command and $reverse_realname.
4642 reverse_realname
4646 Type: boolean
4647 Default: yes
4648 This variable fine-tunes the behavior of the $reverse_name fea‐
4650 ture.
4651 When it is unset, Mutt will remove the real name part of a
4653 matching address. This allows the use of the email address
4654 without having to also use what the sender put in the real name
4655 field.
4656 When it is set, Mutt will use the matching address as-is.
4658 In either case, a missing real name will be filled in afterwards
4660 using the value of $realname.
4661 rfc2047_parameters
4665 Type: boolean
4666 Default: yes
4667 When this variable is set, Mutt will decode RFC2047-encoded MIME
4669 parameters. You want to set this variable when mutt suggests you
4670 to save attachments to files named like:
4671 =?iso-8859-1?Q?file=5F=E4=5F991116=2Ezip?=
4674 When this variable is set interactively, the change won't be ac‐
4677 tive until you change folders.
4678 Note that this use of RFC2047's encoding is explicitly prohib‐
4680 ited by the standard, but nevertheless encountered in the wild.
4681 Also note that setting this parameter will not have the effect
4683 that mutt generates this kind of encoding. Instead, mutt will
4684 unconditionally use the encoding specified in RFC2231.
4685 save_address
4689 Type: boolean
4690 Default: no
4691 If set, mutt will take the sender's full address when choosing a
4693 default folder for saving a mail. If $save_name or $force_name
4694 is set too, the selection of the Fcc folder will be changed as
4695 well.
4696 save_empty
4700 Type: boolean
4701 Default: yes
4702 When unset, mailboxes which contain no saved messages will be
4704 removed when closed (the exception is $spoolfile which is never
4705 removed). If set, mailboxes are never removed.
4706 Note: This only applies to mbox and MMDF folders, Mutt does not
4708 delete MH and Maildir directories.
4709 save_history
4713 Type: number
4714 Default: 0
4715 This variable controls the size of the history (per category)
4717 saved in the $history_file file.
4718 save_name
4722 Type: boolean
4723 Default: no
4724 This variable controls how copies of outgoing messages are
4726 saved. When set, a check is made to see if a mailbox specified
4727 by the recipient address exists (this is done by searching for a
4728 mailbox in the $folder directory with the username part of the
4729 recipient address). If the mailbox exists, the outgoing message
4730 will be saved to that mailbox, otherwise the message is saved to
4731 the $record mailbox.
4732 Also see the $force_name variable.
4734 score
4738 Type: boolean
4739 Default: yes
4740 When this variable is unset, scoring is turned off. This can be
4742 useful to selectively disable scoring for certain folders when
4743 the $score_threshold_delete variable and related are used.
4744 score_threshold_delete
4748 Type: number
4749 Default: -1
4750 Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than
4752 the value of this variable are automatically marked for deletion
4753 by mutt. Since mutt scores are always greater than or equal to
4754 zero, the default setting of this variable will never mark a
4755 message for deletion.
4756 score_threshold_flag
4760 Type: number
4761 Default: 9999
4762 Messages which have been assigned a score greater than or equal
4764 to this variable's value are automatically marked ”flagged”.
4765 score_threshold_read
4769 Type: number
4770 Default: -1
4771 Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than
4773 the value of this variable are automatically marked as read by
4774 mutt. Since mutt scores are always greater than or equal to
4775 zero, the default setting of this variable will never mark a
4776 message read.
4777 search_context
4781 Type: number
4782 Default: 0
4783 For the pager, this variable specifies the number of lines shown
4785 before search results. By default, search results will be
4786 top-aligned.
4787 send_charset
4791 Type: string
4792 Default: “us-ascii:iso-8859-1:utf-8”
4793 A colon-delimited list of character sets for outgoing messages.
4795 Mutt will use the first character set into which the text can be
4796 converted exactly. If your $charset is not “iso-8859-1” and re‐
4797 cipients may not understand “UTF-8”, it is advisable to include
4798 in the list an appropriate widely used standard character set
4799 (such as “iso-8859-2”, “koi8-r” or “iso-2022-jp”) either instead
4800 of or after “iso-8859-1”.
4801 In case the text cannot be converted into one of these exactly,
4803 mutt uses $charset as a fallback.
4804 send_multipart_alternative
4808 Type: quadoption
4809 Default: no
4810 If set, Mutt will generate a multipart/alternative container and
4812 an alternative part using the filter script specified in
4813 $send_multipart_alternative_filter. See the section “MIME Mul‐
4814 tipart/Alternative” (alternative-order).
4815 Note that enabling multipart/alternative is not compatible with
4817 inline PGP encryption. Mutt will prompt to use PGP/MIME in that
4818 case.
4819 send_multipart_alternative_filter
4823 Type: path
4824 Default: “”
4825 This specifies a filter script, which will convert the main
4827 (composed) message of the email to an alternative format. The
4828 message will be piped to the filter's stdin. The expected out‐
4829 put of the filter is the generated mime type, e.g. text/html,
4830 followed by a blank line, and then the converted content. See
4831 the section “MIME Multipart/Alternative” (alternative-order).
4832 sendmail
4836 Type: path
4837 Default: “/usr/sbin/sendmail -oem -oi”
4838 Specifies the program and arguments used to deliver mail sent by
4840 Mutt. Mutt expects that the specified program interprets addi‐
4841 tional arguments as recipient addresses. Mutt appends all re‐
4842 cipients after adding a -- delimiter (if not already present).
4843 Additional flags, such as for $use_8bitmime, $use_envelope_from,
4844 $dsn_notify, or $dsn_return will be added before the delimiter.
4845 Note: This command is invoked differently from most other com‐
4847 mands in Mutt. It is tokenized by space, and invoked directly
4848 via execvp(3) with an array of arguments - so commands or argu‐
4849 ments with spaces in them are not supported. The shell is not
4850 used to run the command, so shell quoting is also not supported.
4851 See also: $write_bcc.
4853 sendmail_wait
4857 Type: number
4858 Default: 0
4859 Specifies the number of seconds to wait for the $sendmail
4861 process to finish before giving up and putting delivery in the
4862 background.
4863 Mutt interprets the value of this variable as follows:
4865 >0 number of seconds to wait for sendmail to finish before
4866 continuing
4867 0 wait forever for sendmail to finish
4868 <0 always put sendmail in the background without waiting
4869 Note that if you specify a value other than 0, the output of the
4871 child process will be put in a temporary file. If there is some
4872 error, you will be informed as to where to find the output.
4873 shell
4877 Type: path
4878 Default: “”
4879 Command to use when spawning a subshell. By default, the user's
4881 login shell from /etc/passwd is used.
4882 sidebar_delim_chars
4886 Type: string
4887 Default: “/.”
4888 This contains the list of characters which you would like to
4890 treat as folder separators for displaying paths in the sidebar.
4891 Local mail is often arranged in directories: `dir1/dir2/mail‐
4893 box'.
4894 set sidebar_delim_chars='/'
4897 IMAP mailboxes are often named: `folder1.folder2.mailbox'.
4900 set sidebar_delim_chars='.'
4903 See also: $sidebar_short_path, $sidebar_folder_indent, $side‐
4906 bar_indent_string.
4907 sidebar_divider_char
4911 Type: string
4912 Default: “|”
4913 This specifies the characters to be drawn between the sidebar
4915 (when visible) and the other Mutt panels. ASCII and Unicode
4916 line-drawing characters are supported.
4917 sidebar_folder_indent
4921 Type: boolean
4922 Default: no
4923 Set this to indent mailboxes in the sidebar.
4925 See also: $sidebar_short_path, $sidebar_indent_string, $side‐
4927 bar_delim_chars.
4928 sidebar_format
4932 Type: string
4933 Default: “%B%* %n”
4934 This variable allows you to customize the sidebar display. This
4936 string is similar to $index_format, but has its own set of
4937 printf(3)-like sequences:
4938 %B Name of the mailbox
4939 %S * Size of mailbox (total number of messages)
4940 %N * Number of unread messages in the mailbox
4941 %n N if mailbox has new mail, blank otherwise
4942 %F * Number of Flagged messages in the mailbox
4943 %! “!” : one flagged message; “!!” : two flagged messages;
4944 “n!” : n flagged messages (for n > 2). Otherwise prints
4945 nothing.
4946 %d * @ Number of deleted messages
4947 %L * @ Number of messages after limiting
4948 %t * @ Number of tagged messages
4949 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with “X”
4950 %|X pad to the end of the line with “X”
4951 %*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
4952 * = Can be optionally printed if nonzero @ = Only applicable to
4954 the current folder
4955 In order to use %S, %N, %F, and %!, $mail_check_stats must be
4957 set. When thus set, a suggested value for this option is
4958 ”%B%?F? [%F]?%* %?N?%N/?%S”.
4959 sidebar_indent_string
4963 Type: string
4964 Default: “ ”
4965 This specifies the string that is used to indent mailboxes in
4967 the sidebar. It defaults to two spaces.
4968 See also: $sidebar_short_path, $sidebar_folder_indent, $side‐
4970 bar_delim_chars.
4971 sidebar_new_mail_only
4975 Type: boolean
4976 Default: no
4977 When set, the sidebar will only display mailboxes containing
4979 new, or flagged, mail.
4980 See also: sidebar_whitelist.
4982 sidebar_next_new_wrap
4986 Type: boolean
4987 Default: no
4988 When set, the <sidebar-next-new> command will not stop and the
4990 end of the list of mailboxes, but wrap around to the beginning.
4991 The <sidebar-prev-new> command is similarly affected, wrapping
4992 around to the end of the list.
4993 sidebar_relative_shortpath_indent
4997 Type: boolean
4998 Default: no
4999 When set, this option changes how $sidebar_short_path and $side‐
5001 bar_folder_indent perform shortening and indentation: both will
5002 look at the previous sidebar entries and shorten/indent relative
5003 to the most recent parent.
5004 An example of this option set/unset for mailboxes listed in this
5006 order, with $sidebar_short_path=yes, $sidebar_folder_indent=yes,
5007 and $sidebar_indent_string=”→”:
5008 mailbox
5009 set unset
5010 =a.b =a.b →b
5011 =a.b.c.d
5012 →c.d →→→d
5013 =a.b.e →e →→e
5014 The second line illustrates most clearly. With this option set,
5016 =a.b.c.d is shortened relative to =a.b, becoming c.d; it is also
5017 indented one place relative to =a.b. With this option unset
5018 =a.b.c.d is always shortened to the last part of the mailbox, d
5019 and is indented three places, with respect to $folder (repre‐
5020 sented by '=').
5021 When set, the third line will also be indented and shortened
5023 relative to the first line.
5024 sidebar_short_path
5028 Type: boolean
5029 Default: no
5030 By default the sidebar will show the mailbox's path, relative to
5032 the $folder variable. Setting sidebar_shortpath=yes will shorten
5033 the names relative to the previous name. Here's an example:
5034 shortpath=no
5035 shortpath=yes shortpath=yes, folderindent=yes, in‐
5036 dentstr=”..”
5037 fruit fruit fruit
5038 fruit.apple
5039 apple ..apple
5040 fruit.banana
5041 banana ..banana
5042 fruit.cherry
5043 cherry ..cherry
5044 See also: $sidebar_delim_chars, $sidebar_folder_indent, $side‐
5046 bar_indent_string.
5047 sidebar_sort_method
5051 Type: sort order
5052 Default: unsorted
5053 Specifies how to sort mailbox entries in the sidebar. By de‐
5055 fault, the entries are sorted alphabetically. Valid values:
5056 ‐ alpha (alphabetically)
5057 ‐ count (all message count)
5058 ‐ flagged (flagged message count)
5059 ‐ name (alphabetically)
5060 ‐ new (unread message count)
5061 ‐ path (alphabetically)
5062 ‐ unread (unread message count)
5063 ‐ unsorted
5064 You may optionally use the “reverse-” prefix to specify reverse
5066 sorting order (example: “set sidebar_sort_method=reverse-al‐
5067 pha”).
5068 sidebar_use_mailbox_shortcuts
5072 Type: boolean
5073 Default: no
5074 When set, sidebar mailboxes will be displayed with mailbox
5076 shortcut prefixes ”=” or ”~”.
5077 When unset, the sidebar will trim off a matching $folder prefix
5079 but otherwise not use mailbox shortcuts.
5080 sidebar_visible
5084 Type: boolean
5085 Default: no
5086 This specifies whether or not to show sidebar. The sidebar shows
5088 a list of all your mailboxes.
5089 See also: $sidebar_format, $sidebar_width
5091 sidebar_width
5095 Type: number
5096 Default: 30
5097 This controls the width of the sidebar. It is measured in
5099 screen columns. For example: sidebar_width=20 could display 20
5100 ASCII characters, or 10 Chinese characters.
5101 sig_dashes
5105 Type: boolean
5106 Default: yes
5107 If set, a line containing “-- ” (note the trailing space) will
5109 be inserted before your $signature. It is strongly recommended
5110 that you not unset this variable unless your signature contains
5111 just your name. The reason for this is because many software
5112 packages use “-- \n” to detect your signature. For example,
5113 Mutt has the ability to highlight the signature in a different
5114 color in the built-in pager.
5115 sig_on_top
5119 Type: boolean
5120 Default: no
5121 If set, the signature will be included before any quoted or for‐
5123 warded text. It is strongly recommended that you do not set
5124 this variable unless you really know what you are doing, and are
5125 prepared to take some heat from netiquette guardians.
5126 signature
5130 Type: path
5131 Default: “~/.signature”
5132 Specifies the filename of your signature, which is appended to
5134 all outgoing messages. If the filename ends with a pipe (“|”),
5135 it is assumed that filename is a shell command and input should
5136 be read from its standard output.
5137 simple_search
5141 Type: string
5142 Default: “~f %s | ~s %s”
5143 Specifies how Mutt should expand a simple search into a real
5145 search pattern. A simple search is one that does not contain
5146 any of the “~” pattern modifiers. See “patterns” for more in‐
5147 formation on search patterns.
5148 For example, if you simply type “joe” at a search or limit
5150 prompt, Mutt will automatically expand it to the value specified
5151 by this variable by replacing “%s” with the supplied string.
5152 For the default value, “joe” would be expanded to: “~f joe | ~s
5153 joe”.
5154 size_show_bytes
5158 Type: boolean
5159 Default: no
5160 If set, message sizes will display bytes for values less than 1
5162 kilobyte. See formatstrings-size.
5163 size_show_fractions
5167 Type: boolean
5168 Default: yes
5169 If set, message sizes will be displayed with a single decimal
5171 value for sizes from 0 to 10 kilobytes and 1 to 10 megabytes.
5172 See formatstrings-size.
5173 size_show_mb
5177 Type: boolean
5178 Default: yes
5179 If set, message sizes will display megabytes for values greater
5181 than or equal to 1 megabyte. See formatstrings-size.
5182 size_units_on_left
5186 Type: boolean
5187 Default: no
5188 If set, message sizes units will be displayed to the left of the
5190 number. See formatstrings-size.
5191 sleep_time
5195 Type: number
5196 Default: 1
5197 Specifies time, in seconds, to pause while displaying certain
5199 informational messages, while moving from folder to folder and
5200 after expunging messages from the current folder. The default
5201 is to pause one second, so a value of zero for this option sup‐
5202 presses the pause.
5203 smart_wrap
5207 Type: boolean
5208 Default: yes
5209 Controls the display of lines longer than the screen width in
5211 the internal pager. If set, long lines are wrapped at a word
5212 boundary. If unset, lines are simply wrapped at the screen
5213 edge. Also see the $markers variable.
5214 smileys
5218 Type: regular expression
5219 Default: “(>From )|(:[-^]?[][)(><}{|/DP])”
5220 The pager uses this variable to catch some common false posi‐
5222 tives of $quote_regexp, most notably smileys and not consider a
5223 line quoted text if it also matches $smileys. This mostly hap‐
5224 pens at the beginning of a line.
5225 smime_ask_cert_label
5229 Type: boolean
5230 Default: yes
5231 This flag controls whether you want to be asked to enter a label
5233 for a certificate about to be added to the database or not. It
5234 is set by default. (S/MIME only)
5235 smime_ca_location
5239 Type: path
5240 Default: “”
5241 This variable contains the name of either a directory, or a file
5243 which contains trusted certificates for use with OpenSSL.
5244 (S/MIME only)
5245 smime_certificates
5249 Type: path
5250 Default: “”
5251 Since for S/MIME there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, mutt
5253 has to handle storage and retrieval of keys by itself. This is
5254 very basic right now, and keys and certificates are stored in
5255 two different directories, both named as the hash-value re‐
5256 trieved from OpenSSL. There is an index file which contains
5257 mailbox-address keyid pairs, and which can be manually edited.
5258 This option points to the location of the certificates. (S/MIME
5259 only)
5260 smime_decrypt_command
5264 Type: string
5265 Default: “”
5266 This format string specifies a command which is used to decrypt
5268 application/x-pkcs7-mime attachments.
5269 The OpenSSL command formats have their own set of printf(3)-like
5271 sequences similar to PGP's:
5272 %f Expands to the name of a file containing a message.
5273 %s Expands to the name of a file containing the signature
5274 part
5275 of a multipart/signed attachment when verify‐
5276 ing it.
5277 %k The key-pair specified with $smime_default_key
5278 %c One or more certificate IDs.
5279 %a The algorithm used for encryption.
5280 %d The message digest algorithm specified with
5281 $smime_sign_digest_alg.
5282 %C CA location: Depending on whether $smime_ca_location
5283 points to a directory or file, this expands to
5284 “-CApath $smime_ca_location” or “-CAfile
5285 $smime_ca_location”.
5286 For examples on how to configure these formats, see the smime.rc
5288 in the samples/ subdirectory which has been installed on your
5289 system alongside the documentation. (S/MIME only)
5290 smime_decrypt_use_default_key
5294 Type: boolean
5295 Default: yes
5296 If set (default) this tells mutt to use the default key for de‐
5298 cryption. Otherwise, if managing multiple certificate-key-pairs,
5299 mutt will try to use the mailbox-address to determine the key to
5300 use. It will ask you to supply a key, if it can't find one.
5301 (S/MIME only)
5302 smime_default_key
5306 Type: string
5307 Default: “”
5308 This is the default key-pair to use for S/MIME operations, and
5310 must be set to the keyid (the hash-value that OpenSSL generates)
5311 to work properly.
5312 It will be used for encryption (see $postpone_encrypt and
5314 $smime_self_encrypt). If GPGME is enabled, this is the key id
5315 displayed by gpgsm.
5316 It will be used for decryption unless $smime_decrypt_use_de‐
5318 fault_key is unset.
5319 It will also be used for signing unless $smime_sign_as is set.
5321 The (now deprecated) smime_self_encrypt_as is an alias for this
5323 variable, and should no longer be used. (S/MIME only)
5324 smime_encrypt_command
5328 Type: string
5329 Default: “”
5330 This command is used to create encrypted S/MIME messages.
5332 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5334 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5335 smime_encrypt_with
5339 Type: string
5340 Default: “aes256”
5341 This sets the algorithm that should be used for encryption.
5343 Valid choices are “aes128”, “aes192”, “aes256”, “des”, “des3”,
5344 “rc2-40”, “rc2-64”, “rc2-128”. (S/MIME only)
5345 smime_get_cert_command
5349 Type: string
5350 Default: “”
5351 This command is used to extract X509 certificates from a PKCS7
5353 structure.
5354 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5356 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5357 smime_get_cert_email_command
5361 Type: string
5362 Default: “”
5363 This command is used to extract the mail address(es) used for
5365 storing X509 certificates, and for verification purposes (to
5366 check whether the certificate was issued for the sender's mail‐
5367 box).
5368 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5370 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5371 smime_get_signer_cert_command
5375 Type: string
5376 Default: “”
5377 This command is used to extract only the signers X509 certifi‐
5379 cate from a S/MIME signature, so that the certificate's owner
5380 may get compared to the email's “From:” field.
5381 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5383 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5384 smime_import_cert_command
5388 Type: string
5389 Default: “”
5390 This command is used to import a certificate via smime_keys.
5392 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5394 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5395 smime_is_default
5399 Type: boolean
5400 Default: no
5401 The default behavior of mutt is to use PGP on all auto-sign/en‐
5403 cryption operations. To override and to use OpenSSL instead this
5404 must be set. However, this has no effect while replying, since
5405 mutt will automatically select the same application that was
5406 used to sign/encrypt the original message. (Note that this
5407 variable can be overridden by unsetting $crypt_autosmime.)
5408 (S/MIME only)
5409 smime_keys
5413 Type: path
5414 Default: “”
5415 Since for S/MIME there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, mutt
5417 has to handle storage and retrieval of keys/certs by itself.
5418 This is very basic right now, and stores keys and certificates
5419 in two different directories, both named as the hash-value re‐
5420 trieved from OpenSSL. There is an index file which contains
5421 mailbox-address keyid pair, and which can be manually edited.
5422 This option points to the location of the private keys. (S/MIME
5423 only)
5424 smime_pk7out_command
5428 Type: string
5429 Default: “”
5430 This command is used to extract PKCS7 structures of S/MIME sig‐
5432 natures, in order to extract the public X509 certificate(s).
5433 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5435 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5436 smime_self_encrypt
5440 Type: boolean
5441 Default: yes
5442 When set, S/MIME encrypted messages will also be encrypted using
5444 the certificate in $smime_default_key. (S/MIME only)
5445 smime_sign_as
5449 Type: string
5450 Default: “”
5451 If you have a separate key to use for signing, you should set
5453 this to the signing key. Most people will only need to set
5454 $smime_default_key. (S/MIME only)
5455 smime_sign_command
5459 Type: string
5460 Default: “”
5461 This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type multi‐
5463 part/signed, which can be read by all mail clients.
5464 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5466 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. NOTE: %c and %k will de‐
5467 fault to $smime_sign_as if set, otherwise $smime_default_key.
5468 (S/MIME only)
5469 smime_sign_digest_alg
5473 Type: string
5474 Default: “sha256”
5475 This sets the algorithm that should be used for the signature
5477 message digest. Valid choices are “md5”, “sha1”, “sha224”,
5478 “sha256”, “sha384”, “sha512”. (S/MIME only)
5479 smime_sign_opaque_command
5483 Type: string
5484 Default: “”
5485 This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type appli‐
5487 cation/x-pkcs7-signature, which can only be handled by mail
5488 clients supporting the S/MIME extension.
5489 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5491 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5492 smime_timeout
5496 Type: number (long)
5497 Default: 300
5498 The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will ex‐
5500 pire if not used. (S/MIME only)
5501 smime_verify_command
5505 Type: string
5506 Default: “”
5507 This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type multi‐
5509 part/signed.
5510 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5512 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5513 smime_verify_opaque_command
5517 Type: string
5518 Default: “”
5519 This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type appli‐
5521 cation/x-pkcs7-mime.
5522 This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command
5524 for possible printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
5525 smtp_authenticators
5529 Type: string
5530 Default: “”
5531 This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt
5533 may attempt to use to log in to an SMTP server, in the order
5534 mutt should try them. Authentication methods are any SASL mech‐
5535 anism, e.g. “digest-md5”, “gssapi” or “cram-md5”. This option
5536 is case-insensitive. If it is “unset” (the default) mutt will
5537 try all available methods, in order from most-secure to
5538 least-secure.
5539 Example:
5541 set smtp_authenticators=”digest-md5:cram-md5”
5544 smtp_oauth_refresh_command
5549 Type: string
5550 Default: “”
5551 The command to run to generate an OAUTH refresh token for autho‐
5553 rizing your connection to your SMTP server. This command will
5554 be run on every connection attempt that uses the OAUTHBEARER au‐
5555 thentication mechanism. See “oauth” for details.
5556 smtp_pass
5560 Type: string
5561 Default: “”
5562 Specifies the password for your SMTP account. If unset, Mutt
5564 will prompt you for your password when you first send mail via
5565 SMTP. See $smtp_url to configure mutt to send mail via SMTP.
5566 Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a
5568 fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your mut‐
5569 trc even if you are the only one who can read the file.
5570 smtp_url
5574 Type: string
5575 Default: “”
5576 Defines the SMTP smarthost where sent messages should relayed
5578 for delivery. This should take the form of an SMTP URL, e.g.:
5579 smtp[s]://[user[:pass]@]host[:port]
5582 where “[...]” denotes an optional part. Setting this variable
5585 overrides the value of the $sendmail variable.
5586 Also see $write_bcc.
5588 sort
5592 Type: sort order
5593 Default: date
5594 Specifies how to sort messages in the “index” menu. Valid val‐
5596 ues are:
5597 ‐ date or date-sent
5598 ‐ date-received
5599 ‐ from
5600 ‐ mailbox-order (unsorted)
5601 ‐ score
5602 ‐ size
5603 ‐ spam
5604 ‐ subject
5605 ‐ threads
5606 ‐ to
5607 You may optionally use the “reverse-” prefix to specify reverse
5609 sorting order (example: “set sort=reverse-date-sent”).
5610 For values except “threads”, this provides the primary sort
5612 method. When two message sort values are equal, $sort_aux will
5613 be used for a secondary sort.
5614 When set to “threads”, Mutt threads messages in the index. It
5616 uses the variable $sort_thread_groups to sort between threads
5617 (at the top/root level), and $sort_aux to sort sub-threads and
5618 children.
5619 sort_alias
5623 Type: sort order
5624 Default: alias
5625 Specifies how the entries in the “alias” menu are sorted. The
5627 following are legal values:
5628 ‐ address (sort alphabetically by email address)
5629 ‐ alias (sort alphabetically by alias name)
5630 ‐ unsorted (leave in order specified in .muttrc)
5631 sort_aux
5634 Type: sort order
5635 Default: date
5636 For non-threaded mode, this provides a secondary sort for mes‐
5638 sages in the “index” menu, used when the $sort value is equal
5639 for two messages.
5640 When sorting by threads, this variable controls how the branches
5642 of the thread trees are sorted. This can be set to any value
5643 that $sort can, except “threads” (in that case, mutt will just
5644 use “date-sent”). You can also specify the “last-” prefix in
5645 addition to the “reverse-” prefix, but “last-” must come after
5646 “reverse-”. The “last-” prefix causes messages to be sorted
5647 against its siblings by which has the last descendant, using the
5648 rest of $sort_aux as an ordering. For instance,
5649 set sort_aux=last-date-received
5652 would mean that if a new message is received in a sub-thread,
5655 that sub-thread becomes the last one displayed.
5656 Note: For reversed-threads $sort order, $sort_aux is reversed
5658 again (which is not the right thing to do, but kept to not break
5659 any existing configuration setting).
5660 sort_browser
5664 Type: sort order
5665 Default: alpha
5666 Specifies how to sort entries in the file browser. By default,
5668 the entries are sorted alphabetically. Valid values:
5669 ‐ alpha (alphabetically)
5670 ‐ count
5671 ‐ date
5672 ‐ size
5673 ‐ unread
5674 ‐ unsorted
5675 You may optionally use the “reverse-” prefix to specify reverse
5677 sorting order (example: “set sort_browser=reverse-date”).
5678 sort_browser_mailboxes
5682 Type: sort order
5683 Default: unsorted
5684 Specifies how to sort entries in the mailbox browser. By de‐
5686 fault, the entries are unsorted, displayed in the same order as
5687 listed in the “mailboxes” command. Valid values:
5688 ‐ alpha (alphabetically)
5689 ‐ count
5690 ‐ date
5691 ‐ size
5692 ‐ unread
5693 ‐ unsorted
5694 You may optionally use the “reverse-” prefix to specify reverse
5696 sorting order (example: “set sort_browser_mailboxes=reverse-al‐
5697 pha”).
5698 sort_re
5702 Type: boolean
5703 Default: yes
5704 This variable is only useful when sorting by threads with
5706 $strict_threads unset. In that case, it changes the heuristic
5707 mutt uses to thread messages by subject. With $sort_re set,
5708 mutt will only attach a message as the child of another message
5709 by subject if the subject of the child message starts with a
5710 substring matching the setting of $reply_regexp. With $sort_re
5711 unset, mutt will attach the message whether or not this is the
5712 case, as long as the non-$reply_regexp parts of both messages
5713 are identical.
5714 sort_thread_groups
5718 Type: sort order
5719 Default: aux
5720 When sorting by threads, this variable controls how threads are
5722 sorted in relation to other threads (at the top/root level).
5723 This can be set to any value that $sort can, except “threads”.
5724 You can also specify the “last-” prefix in addition to the “re‐
5725 verse-” prefix, but “last-” must come after “reverse-”. The
5726 “last-” prefix causes messages to be sorted against its siblings
5727 by which has the last descendant, using the rest of
5728 $sort_thread_groups as an ordering.
5729 For backward compatibility, the default value is “aux”, which
5731 means to use $sort_aux for top-level thread sorting too. The
5732 value “aux” does not respect “last-” or “reverse-” prefixes, it
5733 simply delegates sorting directly to $sort_aux.
5734 Note: For reversed-threads $sort order, $sort_thread_groups is
5736 reversed again (which is not the right thing to do, but kept to
5737 not break any existing configuration setting).
5738 spam_separator
5742 Type: string
5743 Default: “,”
5744 This variable controls what happens when multiple spam headers
5746 are matched: if unset, each successive header will overwrite any
5747 previous matches value for the spam label. If set, each succes‐
5748 sive match will append to the previous, using this variable's
5749 value as a separator.
5750 spoolfile
5754 Type: path
5755 Default: “”
5756 If your spool mailbox is in a non-default place where Mutt can‐
5758 not find it, you can specify its location with this variable.
5759 Mutt will initially set this variable to the value of the envi‐
5760 ronment variable $MAIL or $MAILDIR if either is defined.
5761 ssl_ca_certificates_file
5765 Type: path
5766 Default: “/etc/ssl/certs/ca-bundle.crt”
5767 This variable specifies a file containing trusted CA certifi‐
5769 cates. Any server certificate that is signed with one of these
5770 CA certificates is also automatically accepted. (GnuTLS only)
5771 Example:
5773 set ssl_ca_certificates_file=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
5776 ssl_client_cert
5781 Type: path
5782 Default: “”
5783 The file containing a client certificate and its associated pri‐
5785 vate key.
5786 ssl_force_tls
5790 Type: boolean
5791 Default: yes
5792 If this variable is set, Mutt will require that all connections
5794 to remote servers be encrypted. Furthermore it will attempt to
5795 negotiate TLS even if the server does not advertise the capabil‐
5796 ity, since it would otherwise have to abort the connection any‐
5797 way. This option supersedes $ssl_starttls.
5798 ssl_min_dh_prime_bits
5802 Type: number
5803 Default: 0
5804 This variable specifies the minimum acceptable prime size (in
5806 bits) for use in any Diffie-Hellman key exchange. A value of 0
5807 will use the default from the GNUTLS library. (GnuTLS only)
5808 ssl_starttls
5812 Type: quadoption
5813 Default: yes
5814 If set (the default), mutt will attempt to use STARTTLS on
5816 servers advertising the capability. When unset, mutt will not
5817 attempt to use STARTTLS regardless of the server's capabilities.
5818 Note that STARTTLS is subject to many kinds of attacks, includ‐
5820 ing the ability of a machine-in-the-middle to suppress the ad‐
5821 vertising of support. Setting $ssl_force_tls is recommended if
5822 you rely on STARTTLS.
5823 ssl_use_sslv2
5827 Type: boolean
5828 Default: no
5829 If set , Mutt will use SSLv2 when communicating with servers
5831 that request it. N.B. As of 2011, SSLv2 is considered insecure,
5832 and using is inadvisable. See
5833 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6176 . (OpenSSL only)
5834 ssl_use_sslv3
5838 Type: boolean
5839 Default: no
5840 If set , Mutt will use SSLv3 when communicating with servers
5842 that request it. N.B. As of 2015, SSLv3 is considered insecure,
5843 and using it is inadvisable. See
5844 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7525 .
5845 ssl_use_tlsv1
5849 Type: boolean
5850 Default: no
5851 If set , Mutt will use TLSv1.0 when communicating with servers
5853 that request it. N.B. As of 2015, TLSv1.0 is considered inse‐
5854 cure, and using it is inadvisable. See
5855 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7525 .
5856 ssl_use_tlsv1_1
5860 Type: boolean
5861 Default: no
5862 If set , Mutt will use TLSv1.1 when communicating with servers
5864 that request it. N.B. As of 2015, TLSv1.1 is considered inse‐
5865 cure, and using it is inadvisable. See
5866 https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7525 .
5867 ssl_use_tlsv1_2
5871 Type: boolean
5872 Default: yes
5873 If set , Mutt will use TLSv1.2 when communicating with servers
5875 that request it.
5876 ssl_use_tlsv1_3
5880 Type: boolean
5881 Default: yes
5882 If set , Mutt will use TLSv1.3 when communicating with servers
5884 that request it.
5885 ssl_usesystemcerts
5889 Type: boolean
5890 Default: yes
5891 If set to yes, mutt will use CA certificates in the system-wide
5893 certificate store when checking if a server certificate is
5894 signed by a trusted CA. (OpenSSL only)
5895 ssl_verify_dates
5899 Type: boolean
5900 Default: yes
5901 If set (the default), mutt will not automatically accept a
5903 server certificate that is either not yet valid or already ex‐
5904 pired. You should only unset this for particular known hosts,
5905 using the <account-hook> function.
5906 ssl_verify_host
5910 Type: boolean
5911 Default: yes
5912 If set (the default), mutt will not automatically accept a
5914 server certificate whose host name does not match the host used
5915 in your folder URL. You should only unset this for particular
5916 known hosts, using the <account-hook> function.
5917 ssl_verify_host_override
5921 Type: string
5922 Default: “”
5923 Defines an alternate host name to verify the server certificate
5925 against. This should not be set unless you are sure what you
5926 are doing, but it might be useful for connection to a .onion
5927 host without a properly configured host name in the certificate.
5928 See $ssl_verify_host.
5929 ssl_verify_partial_chains
5933 Type: boolean
5934 Default: no
5935 This option should not be changed from the default unless you
5937 understand what you are doing.
5938 Setting this variable to yes will permit verifying partial cer‐
5940 tification chains, i. e. a certificate chain where not the root,
5941 but an intermediate certificate CA, or the host certificate, are
5942 marked trusted (in $certificate_file), without marking the root
5943 signing CA as trusted.
5944 (OpenSSL 1.0.2b and newer only).
5946 ssl_ciphers
5950 Type: string
5951 Default: “@SYSTEM”
5952 Contains a colon-separated list of ciphers to use when using
5954 SSL. For OpenSSL, see ciphers(1) for the syntax of the string.
5955 For GnuTLS, this option will be used in place of ”NORMAL” at the
5957 start of the priority string. See gnutls_priority_init(3) for
5958 the syntax and more details. (Note: GnuTLS version 2.1.7 or
5959 higher is required.)
5960 status_chars
5964 Type: string
5965 Default: “-*%A”
5966 Controls the characters used by the “%r” indicator in $sta‐
5968 tus_format. The first character is used when the mailbox is un‐
5969 changed. The second is used when the mailbox has been changed,
5970 and it needs to be resynchronized. The third is used if the
5971 mailbox is in read-only mode, or if the mailbox will not be
5972 written when exiting that mailbox (You can toggle whether to
5973 write changes to a mailbox with the <toggle-write> operation,
5974 bound by default to “%”). The fourth is used to indicate that
5975 the current folder has been opened in attach- message mode (Cer‐
5976 tain operations like composing a new mail, replying, forwarding,
5977 etc. are not permitted in this mode).
5978 status_format
5982 Type: string (localized)
5983 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)---”
5984 Controls the format of the status line displayed in the “index”
5986 menu. This string is similar to $index_format, but has its own
5987 set of printf(3)-like sequences:
5988 %b number of mailboxes with new mail *
5989 %B number of backgrounded editing sessions *
5990 %d number of deleted messages *
5991 %f the full pathname of the current mailbox
5992 %F number of flagged messages *
5993 %h local hostname
5994 %l size (in bytes) of the current mailbox (see format‐
5995 strings-size) *
5996 %L size (in bytes) of the messages shown (i.e., which match
5997 the current limit) (see formatstrings-size) *
5998 %m the number of messages in the mailbox *
5999 %M the number of messages shown (i.e., which match the cur‐
6000 rent limit) *
6001 %n number of new messages in the mailbox *
6002 %o number of old unread messages *
6003 %p number of postponed messages *
6004 %P percentage of the way through the index
6005 %r modified/read-only/won't-write/attach-message indicator,
6006 according to $status_chars
6007 %R number of read messages *
6008 %s current sorting mode ($sort)
6009 %S current aux sorting method ($sort_aux)
6010 %t number of tagged messages *
6011 %T current thread group sorting method ($sort_thread_groups)
6012 *
6013 %u number of unread messages *
6014 %v Mutt version string
6015 %V currently active limit pattern, if any *
6016 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with “X”
6017 %|X pad to the end of the line with “X”
6018 %*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
6019 For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the $index_format docu‐
6021 mentation.
6022 * = can be optionally printed if nonzero
6024 Some of the above sequences can be used to optionally print a
6026 string if their value is nonzero. For example, you may only
6027 want to see the number of flagged messages if such messages ex‐
6028 ist, since zero is not particularly meaningful. To optionally
6029 print a string based upon one of the above sequences, the fol‐
6030 lowing construct is used:
6031 %?<sequence_char>?<optional_string>?
6033 where sequence_char is a character from the table above, and op‐
6035 tional_string is the string you would like printed if se‐
6036 quence_char is nonzero. optional_string may contain other se‐
6037 quences as well as normal text, but you may not nest optional
6038 strings.
6039 Here is an example illustrating how to optionally print the num‐
6041 ber of new messages in a mailbox:
6042 %?n?%n new messages.?
6044 You can also switch between two strings using the following con‐
6046 struct:
6047 %?<sequence_char>?<if_string>&<else_string>?
6049 If the value of sequence_char is non-zero, if_string will be ex‐
6051 panded, otherwise else_string will be expanded.
6052 You can force the result of any printf(3)-like sequence to be
6054 lowercase by prefixing the sequence character with an underscore
6055 (“_”) sign. For example, if you want to display the local host‐
6056 name in lowercase, you would use: “%_h”.
6057 If you prefix the sequence character with a colon (“:”) charac‐
6059 ter, mutt will replace any dots in the expansion by underscores.
6060 This might be helpful with IMAP folders that don't like dots in
6061 folder names.
6062 status_on_top
6066 Type: boolean
6067 Default: no
6068 Setting this variable causes the “status bar” to be displayed on
6070 the first line of the screen rather than near the bottom. If
6071 $help is set, too it'll be placed at the bottom.
6072 strict_threads
6076 Type: boolean
6077 Default: no
6078 If set, threading will only make use of the “In-Reply-To” and
6080 “References:” fields when you $sort by message threads. By de‐
6081 fault, messages with the same subject are grouped together in
6082 “pseudo threads.”. This may not always be desirable, such as in
6083 a personal mailbox where you might have several unrelated mes‐
6084 sages with the subjects like “hi” which will get grouped to‐
6085 gether. See also $sort_re for a less drastic way of controlling
6086 this behavior.
6087 suspend
6091 Type: boolean
6092 Default: yes
6093 When unset, mutt won't stop when the user presses the terminal's
6095 susp key, usually “^Z”. This is useful if you run mutt inside an
6096 xterm using a command like “xterm -e mutt”.
6097 text_flowed
6101 Type: boolean
6102 Default: no
6103 When set, mutt will generate “format=flowed” bodies with a con‐
6105 tent type of “text/plain; format=flowed”. This format is easier
6106 to handle for some mailing software, and generally just looks
6107 like ordinary text. To actually make use of this format's fea‐
6108 tures, you'll need support in your editor.
6109 The option only controls newly composed messages. Postponed
6111 messages, resent messages, and draft messages (via -H on the
6112 command line) will use the content-type of the source message.
6113 Note that $indent_string is ignored when this option is set.
6115 thorough_search
6119 Type: boolean
6120 Default: yes
6121 Affects the ~b, ~B, and ~h search operations described in sec‐
6123 tion “patterns”. If set, the headers and body/attachments of
6124 messages to be searched are decoded before searching. If unset,
6125 messages are searched as they appear in the folder.
6126 Users searching attachments or for non-ASCII characters should
6128 set this value because decoding also includes MIME parsing/de‐
6129 coding and possible character set conversions. Otherwise mutt
6130 will attempt to match against the raw message received (for ex‐
6131 ample quoted-printable encoded or with encoded headers) which
6132 may lead to incorrect search results.
6133 thread_received
6137 Type: boolean
6138 Default: no
6139 When set, mutt uses the date received rather than the date sent
6141 to thread messages by subject.
6142 tilde
6146 Type: boolean
6147 Default: no
6148 When set, the internal-pager will pad blank lines to the bottom
6150 of the screen with a tilde (“~”).
6151 time_inc
6155 Type: number
6156 Default: 0
6157 Along with $read_inc, $write_inc, and $net_inc, this variable
6159 controls the frequency with which progress updates are dis‐
6160 played. It suppresses updates less than $time_inc milliseconds
6161 apart. This can improve throughput on systems with slow termi‐
6162 nals, or when running mutt on a remote system.
6163 Also see the “tuning” section of the manual for performance con‐
6165 siderations.
6166 timeout
6170 Type: number
6171 Default: 600
6172 When Mutt is waiting for user input either idling in menus or in
6174 an interactive prompt, Mutt would block until input is present.
6175 Depending on the context, this would prevent certain operations
6176 from working, like checking for new mail or keeping an IMAP con‐
6177 nection alive.
6178 This variable controls how many seconds Mutt will at most wait
6180 until it aborts waiting for input, performs these operations and
6181 continues to wait for input.
6182 A value of zero or less will cause Mutt to never time out.
6184 tmpdir
6188 Type: path
6189 Default: “”
6190 This variable allows you to specify where Mutt will place its
6192 temporary files needed for displaying and composing messages.
6193 If this variable is not set, the environment variable $TMPDIR is
6194 used. If $TMPDIR is not set then “/tmp” is used.
6195 to_chars
6199 Type: string
6200 Default: “ +TCFL”
6201 Controls the character used to indicate mail addressed to you.
6203 The first character is the one used when the mail is not ad‐
6204 dressed to your address. The second is used when you are the
6205 only recipient of the message. The third is when your address
6206 appears in the “To:” header field, but you are not the only re‐
6207 cipient of the message. The fourth character is used when your
6208 address is specified in the “Cc:” header field, but you are not
6209 the only recipient. The fifth character is used to indicate
6210 mail that was sent by you. The sixth character is used to indi‐
6211 cate when a mail was sent to a mailing-list you subscribe to.
6212 trash
6216 Type: path
6217 Default: “”
6218 If set, this variable specifies the path of the trash folder
6220 where the mails marked for deletion will be moved, instead of
6221 being irremediably purged.
6222 NOTE: When you delete a message in the trash folder, it is re‐
6224 ally deleted, so that you have a way to clean the trash.
6225 ts_icon_format
6229 Type: string (localized)
6230 Default: “M%?n?AIL&ail?”
6231 Controls the format of the icon title, as long as “$ts_enabled”
6233 is set. This string is identical in formatting to the one used
6234 by “$status_format”.
6235 ts_enabled
6239 Type: boolean
6240 Default: no
6241 Controls whether mutt tries to set the terminal status line and
6243 icon name. Most terminal emulators emulate the status line in
6244 the window title.
6245 ts_status_format
6249 Type: string (localized)
6250 Default: “Mutt with %?m?%m messages&no messages?%?n? [%n NEW]?”
6251 Controls the format of the terminal status line (or window ti‐
6253 tle), provided that “$ts_enabled” has been set. This string is
6254 identical in formatting to the one used by “$status_format”.
6255 tunnel
6259 Type: string
6260 Default: “”
6261 Setting this variable will cause mutt to open a pipe to a com‐
6263 mand instead of a raw socket. You may be able to use this to set
6264 up preauthenticated connections to your IMAP/POP3/SMTP server.
6265 Example:
6266 set tunnel=”ssh -q mailhost.net /usr/local/libexec/imapd”
6269 Note: For this example to work you must be able to log in to the
6272 remote machine without having to enter a password.
6273 When set, Mutt uses the tunnel for all remote connections.
6275 Please see “account-hook” in the manual for how to use different
6276 tunnel commands per connection.
6277 tunnel_is_secure
6281 Type: boolean
6282 Default: yes
6283 When set, Mutt will assume the $tunnel connection does not need
6285 STARTTLS to be enabled. It will also allow IMAP PREAUTH server
6286 responses inside a tunnel to proceed. This is appropriate if
6287 $tunnel uses ssh or directly invokes the server locally.
6288 When unset, Mutt will negotiate STARTTLS according to the
6290 ssl_starttls and ssl_force_tls variables. If ssl_force_tls is
6291 set, Mutt will abort connecting if an IMAP server responds with
6292 PREAUTH. This setting is appropriate if $tunnel does not pro‐
6293 vide security and could be tampered with by attackers.
6294 uncollapse_jump
6298 Type: boolean
6299 Default: no
6300 When set, Mutt will jump to the next unread message, if any,
6302 when the current thread is uncollapsed.
6303 uncollapse_new
6307 Type: boolean
6308 Default: yes
6309 When set, Mutt will automatically uncollapse any collapsed
6311 thread that receives a newly delivered message. When unset,
6312 collapsed threads will remain collapsed. The presence of the
6313 newly delivered message will still affect index sorting, though.
6314 use_8bitmime
6318 Type: boolean
6319 Default: no
6320 Warning: do not set this variable unless you are using a version
6322 of sendmail which supports the -B8BITMIME flag (such as sendmail
6323 8.8.x) or you may not be able to send mail.
6324 When set, Mutt will invoke $sendmail with the -B8BITMIME flag
6326 when sending 8-bit messages to enable ESMTP negotiation.
6327 use_domain
6331 Type: boolean
6332 Default: yes
6333 When set, Mutt will qualify all local addresses (ones without
6335 the “@host” portion) with the value of $hostname. If unset, no
6336 addresses will be qualified.
6337 use_envelope_from
6341 Type: boolean
6342 Default: no
6343 When set, mutt will set the envelope sender of the message. If
6345 $envelope_from_address is set, it will be used as the sender ad‐
6346 dress. If unset, mutt will attempt to derive the sender from the
6347 “From:” header.
6348 Note that this information is passed to sendmail command using
6350 the -f command line switch. Therefore setting this option is not
6351 useful if the $sendmail variable already contains -f or if the
6352 executable pointed to by $sendmail doesn't support the -f
6353 switch.
6354 use_from
6358 Type: boolean
6359 Default: yes
6360 When set, Mutt will generate the “From:” header field when send‐
6362 ing messages. If unset, no “From:” header field will be gener‐
6363 ated unless the user explicitly sets one using the “my_hdr” com‐
6364 mand.
6365 use_ipv6
6369 Type: boolean
6370 Default: yes
6371 When set, Mutt will look for IPv6 addresses of hosts it tries to
6373 contact. If this option is unset, Mutt will restrict itself to
6374 IPv4 addresses. Normally, the default should work.
6375 user_agent
6379 Type: boolean
6380 Default: no
6381 When set, mutt will add a “User-Agent:” header to outgoing mes‐
6383 sages, indicating which version of mutt was used for composing
6384 them.
6385 visual
6389 Type: path
6390 Default: “”
6391 Specifies the visual editor to invoke when the “~v” command is
6393 given in the built-in editor.
6394 wait_key
6398 Type: boolean
6399 Default: yes
6400 Controls whether Mutt will ask you to press a key after an ex‐
6402 ternal command has been invoked by these functions: <shell-es‐
6403 cape>, <pipe-message>, <pipe-entry>, <print-message>, and
6404 <print-entry> commands.
6405 It is also used when viewing attachments with “auto_view”, pro‐
6407 vided that the corresponding mailcap entry has a needsterminal
6408 flag, and the external program is interactive.
6409 When set, Mutt will always ask for a key. When unset, Mutt will
6411 wait for a key only if the external command returned a non-zero
6412 status.
6413 weed
6417 Type: boolean
6418 Default: yes
6419 When set, mutt will weed headers when displaying, forwarding, or
6421 replying to messages.
6422 Also see $copy_decode_weed, $pipe_decode_weed, $print_de‐
6424 code_weed.
6425 wrap
6429 Type: number
6430 Default: 0
6431 When set to a positive value, mutt will wrap text at $wrap char‐
6433 acters. When set to a negative value, mutt will wrap text so
6434 that there are $wrap characters of empty space on the right side
6435 of the terminal. Setting it to zero makes mutt wrap at the ter‐
6436 minal width.
6437 Also see $reflow_wrap.
6439 wrap_headers
6443 Type: number
6444 Default: 78
6445 This option specifies the number of characters to use for wrap‐
6447 ping an outgoing message's headers. Allowed values are between
6448 78 and 998 inclusive.
6449 Note: This option usually shouldn't be changed. RFC5233 recom‐
6451 mends a line length of 78 (the default), so please only change
6452 this setting when you know what you're doing.
6453 wrap_search
6457 Type: boolean
6458 Default: yes
6459 Controls whether searches wrap around the end.
6461 When set, searches will wrap around the first (or last) item.
6463 When unset, incremental searches will not wrap.
6464 wrapmargin
6468 Type: number
6469 Default: 0
6470 (DEPRECATED) Equivalent to setting $wrap with a negative value.
6472 write_bcc
6476 Type: boolean
6477 Default: no
6478 Controls whether mutt writes out the “Bcc:” header when prepar‐
6480 ing messages to be sent. Some MTAs, such as Exim and Courier,
6481 do not strip the “Bcc:” header; so it is advisable to leave this
6482 unset unless you have a particular need for the header to be in
6483 the sent message.
6484 If mutt is set to deliver directly via SMTP (see $smtp_url),
6486 this option does nothing: mutt will never write out the “Bcc:”
6487 header in this case.
6488 Note this option only affects the sending of messages. Fcc'ed
6490 copies of a message will always contain the “Bcc:” header if one
6491 exists.
6492 write_inc
6496 Type: number
6497 Default: 10
6498 When writing a mailbox, a message will be printed every
6500 $write_inc messages to indicate progress. If set to 0, only a
6501 single message will be displayed before writing a mailbox.
6502 Also see the $read_inc, $net_inc and $time_inc variables and the
6504 “tuning” section of the manual for performance considerations.
6505
6509 iconv(1), iconv(3), mailcap(5), maildir(5), mbox(5), mutt(1),
6510 printf(3), regex(7), strftime(3)
6511 The Mutt Manual
6513 The Mutt home page: http://www.mutt.org/
6515
6517 Michael Elkins, and others. Use <mutt-dev@mutt.org> to contact the de‐
6518 velopers.
6519Unix January 2019 muttrc(5)