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Command line options

General usage of `mail' program is:

      mail [OPTION...] [address...]

If [address...] part is present, `mail' switches to mail sending mode, otherwise it operates in mail reading mode.

`Mail' understands following command line options:

`-e'

`--exist'

Return true if the mailbox contains some messages. Return false otherwise. This is useful for writing shell scripts.

`-f[FILE]'

`--file[=FILE]'

Operate on mailbox FILE. If this option is not specified, the default is user's system mailbox. If it is specified without argument, the default is $HOME/mbox. Please note, that there should be no whitespace between the short variant of the option (`-f'), and its parameter. Similarly, when using long option (`--file'), its argument must be preceded by equal sign.

`-F'

`--byname'

Save messages according to sender. Currently this option is not implemented.

`-H'

`--headers'

Print header summary to stdout and exit.

`-i'

`--ignore'

Ignore interrupts.

`-n'

`--norc'

Do not read the system-wide mailrc file. See section Personal and system-wide configuration files.

`-N'

`--nosum'

Do not display initial header summary.

`-p'

`--print'

`-r'

`--read'

Print all mail to standard output. It is equivalent to issuing following commands after starting `mail -N':

 print *
 quit

`-q'

`--quit'

Cause interrupts to terminate program.

`-s SUBJ'

`--subject=SUBJ'

Send a message with a Subject of SUBJ. Valid only in sending mode.

`-t'

`--to'

Switch to sending mode.

`-u USER'

`--user=USER'

Operate on USER's mailbox. This is equivalent to:

        mail -f/spool_path/USER

with spool_path being the full path to your mailspool directory (`/var/spool/mail' or `/var/mail' on most systems).

`-?'

`--help'

Display a help message.

`--usage'

Display a short usage summary.

`-V'

`--version'

Print program version and exit.

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