1MAIL(1)                     General Commands Manual                    MAIL(1)
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NAME

6       mail  -  send or receive mail among users
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SYNOPSIS

9       mail person ...
10       mail [ -r ] [ -q ] [ -p ] [ -f file ]
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DESCRIPTION

13       Mail  with  no  argument  prints  a user's mail, message-by-message, in
14       last-in, first-out order; the optional  argument  -r  causes  first-in,
15       first-out  order.  If the -p flag is given, the mail is printed with no
16       questions asked; otherwise, for each message, mail reads  a  line  from
17       the standard input to direct disposition of the message.
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19       newline
20              Go on to next message.
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22       d      Delete message and go on to the next.
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24       p      Print message again.
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26       -      Go back to previous message.
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28       s [ file ] ...
29              Save the message in the named files (`mbox' default).
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31       w [ file ] ...
32              Save  the  message, without a header, in the named files (`mbox'
33              default).
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35       m [ person ] ...
36              Mail the message to the named persons (yourself is default).
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38       EOT (control-D)
39              Put unexamined mail back in the mailbox and stop.
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41       q      Same as EOT.
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43       x      Exit, without changing the mailbox file.
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45       !command
46              Escape to the Shell to do command.
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48       ?      Print a command summary.
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50       An interrupt stops the printing of the current  letter.   The  optional
51       argument  −q  causes mail to exit after interrupts without changing the
52       mailbox.
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54       When persons are named, mail takes the standard input up to an  end-of-
55       file  (or  a  line  with just `.')  and adds it to each person's `mail'
56       file.  The message is preceded by the sender's  name  and  a  postmark.
57       Lines  that  look  like  postmarks are prepended with `>'.  A person is
58       usually a user name recognized by login(1).  To denote a recipient on a
59       remote  system,  prefix  person by the system name and exclamation mark
60       (see uucp(1)).
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62       The -f option causes the named file, e.g. `mbox', to be printed  as  if
63       it were the mail file.
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65       Each  user owns his own mailbox, which is by default generally readable
66       but not writable.  The command does not delete  an  empty  mailbox  nor
67       change its mode, so a user may make it unreadable if desired.
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69       When a user logs in he is informed of the presence of mail.
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FILES

72       /usr/spool/mail/*   mailboxes
73       /etc/passwd    to identify sender and locate persons
74       mbox      saved mail
75       /tmp/ma*  temp file
76       dead.letter    unmailable text
77       uux(1)
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SEE ALSO

80       xsend(1), write(1), uucp(1)
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BUGS

83       There  is  a  locking  mechanism  intended  to prevent two senders from
84       accessing the same mailbox, but it is not perfect and races are  possi‐
85       ble.
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