Node:Reading Mail, Next:Mail Variables, Previous:Composing Mail, Up:mail

Reading mail

To read messages from a given mailbox, use one of the following ways of invoking mail:

mail

To read messages from your system mailbox.

mail --file

To read messages from your mailbox ($HOME/mbox).

mail --file=path_to_mailbox

To read messages from the specified mailbox.

mail --user=user

To read messages from the system mailbox belonging to user.

Please note, that usual mailbox permissions won't allow you to use the last variant of invocation, unless you are a super-user. Similarly, the last but one variant is also greatly affected by the permissions the target mailbox has.

Unless you have started mail with --norc command line option, it will read the contents of the system-wide configuration file. Then it reads the contents of user configuration file, if any. For detailed description of these files, see Mail Configuration Files. After this initial setup, mail displays the first page of header lines and enters interactive mode. In interactive mode, mail displays its prompt (?, if not set otherwise) and executes the commands the user enters.

• Quitting the Program:
• Obtaining Online Help:
• Moving Within a Mailbox:
• Changing mailbox/directory:
• Controlling Header Display:
• Displaying Information:
• Displaying Messages:
• Marking Messages:
• Disposing of Messages:
• Saving Messages:
• Editing Messages:
• Scripting:
• Aliasing:
• Replying:
• Incorporating New Mail:
• Shell Escapes: