to denote the start of a new message (this is often referred to as the
``From_'' line).
_M_M_D_F. This is a variant of the _m_b_o_x format. Each message is
surrounded
by lines containing ``^A^A^A^A'' (four control-A's).
_M_H. A radical departure from _m_b_o_x and _M_M_D_F, a mailbox
consists of a
directory and each message is stored in a separate file. The filename
indicates the message number (however, this is may not correspond to
the message number Mutt displays). Deleted messages are renamed with a
comma (,) prepended to the filename. _N_o_t_e_: Mutt detects this type
of
mailbox by looking for either .mh_sequences or .xmhcache (needed to
distinguish normal directories from MH mailboxes).
_M_a_i_l_d_i_r. The newest of the mailbox formats, used by the Qmail
MTA (a
replacement for sendmail). Similar to _M_H, except that it adds three
subdirectories of the mailbox: _t_m_p, _n_e_w and _c_u_r. Filenames
for the
messages are chosen in such a way they are unique, even when two
programs are writing the mailbox over NFS, which means that no file
locking is needed.
7. Mailbox Shortcuts
There are a number of built in shortcuts which refer to specific
mailboxes. These shortcuts can be used anywhere you are prompted for a
file or mailbox path.
* ! -- refers to your $$ssppoooollffiillee (incoming) mailbox
* > -- refers to your $$mmbbooxx file
* < -- refers to your $$rreeccoorrdd file
* ^ -- refers to the current mailbox
* - or !! -- refers to the file you've last visited
* ~ -- refers to your home directory
* = or + -- refers to your $$ffoollddeerr directory
* @_a_l_i_a_s -- refers to the ddeeffaauulltt ssaavvee
ffoollddeerr as determined by the
address of the alias
8. Handling Mailing Lists
Mutt has a few configuration options that make dealing with large
amounts of mail easier. The first thing you must do is to let Mutt know
what addresses you consider to be mailing lists (technically this does
not have to be a mailing list, but that is what it is most often used
for), and what lists you are subscribed to. This is accomplished
through the use of the lliissttss aanndd
ssuubbssccrriibbee commands in your muttrc.
Now that Mutt knows what your mailing lists are, it can do several
things, the first of which is the ability to show the name of a list
through which you received a message (i.e., of a subscribed list) in
the _i_n_d_e_x menu display. This is useful to distinguish between
personal
and list mail in the same mailbox. In the
$$iinnddeexx__ffoorrmmaatt variable, the
escape ``%L'' will return the string ``To <list>'' when ``list''
appears in the ``To'' field, and ``Cc <list>'' when it appears in the
``Cc'' field (otherwise it returns the name of the author).
Often times the ``To'' and ``Cc'' fields in mailing list messages tend
to get quite large. Most people do not bother to remove the author of
the message they are reply to from the list, resulting in two or more
copies being sent to that person. The ``list-reply'' function, which by
default is bound to ``L'' in the _i_n_d_e_x menu and _p_a_g_e_r,
helps reduce the
clutter by only replying to the known mailing list addresses instead of
all recipients (except as specified by Mail-Followup-To, see below).
Mutt also supports the Mail-Followup-To header. When you send a message
to a list of recipients which includes one or several subscribed
mailing lists, and if the $$ffoolllloowwuupp__ttoo option is
set, mutt will
generate a Mail-Followup-To header which contains all the recipients to
whom you send this message, but not your address. This indicates that
group-replies or list-replies (also known as ``followups'') to this
message should only be sent to the original recipients of the message,
and not separately to you - you'll receive your copy through one of the
mailing lists you are subscribed to.
Conversely, when group-replying or list-replying to a message which has
a Mail-Followup-To header, mutt will respect this header if the
$$hhoonnoorr__ffoolllloowwuupp__ttoo configuration
variable is set. Using list-reply will
in this case also make sure that the reply goes to the mailing list,
even if it's not specified in the list of recipients in the
Mail-Followup-To.
Note that, when header editing is enabled, you can create a
Mail-Followup-To header manually. Mutt will only auto-generate this
header if it doesn't exist when you send the message.
The other method some mailing list admins use is to generate a
``Reply-To'' field which points back to the mailing list address rather
than the author of the message. This can create problems when trying to
reply directly to the author in private, since most mail clients will
automatically reply to the address given in the ``Reply-To'' field.
Mutt uses the $$rreeppllyy__ttoo variable to help decide which
address to use.
If set to _a_s_k_-_y_e_s or _a_s_k_-_n_o, you will be prompted
as to whether or not
you would like to use the address given in the ``Reply-To'' field, or
reply directly to the address given in the ``From'' field. When set to
_y_e_s, the ``Reply-To'' field will be used when present.
The ``X-Label:'' header field can be used to further identify mailing
lists or list subject matter (or just to annotate messages
individually). The $$iinnddeexx__ffoorrmmaatt variable's ``%y''
and ``%Y'' escapes
can be used to expand ``X-Label:'' fields in the index, and Mutt's
pattern-matcher can match regular expressions to ``X-Label:'' fields
with the ``~y'' selector. ``X-Label:'' is not a standard message header
field, but it can easily be inserted by procmail and other mail
filtering agents.
Lastly, Mutt has the ability to ssoorrtt the mailbox into
tthhrreeaaddss. A thread
is a group of messages which all relate to the same subject. This is
usually organized into a tree-like structure where a message and all of
its replies are represented graphically. If you've ever used a threaded
news client, this is the same concept. It makes dealing with large
volume mailing lists easier because you can easily delete uninteresting
threads and quickly find topics of value.
9. Editing threads
Mutt has the ability to dynamically restructure threads that are broken
either by misconfigured software or bad behavior from some
correspondents. This allows to clean your mailboxes formats) from these
annoyances which make it hard to follow a discussion.
9.1. Linking threads
Some mailers tend to "forget" to correctly set the "In-Reply-To:" and
"References:" headers when replying to a message. This results in
broken discussions because Mutt has not enough information to guess the
correct threading. You can fix this by tagging the reply, then moving
to the parent message and using the ``link-threads'' function (bound to
& by default). The reply will then be connected to this "parent"
message.
You can also connect multiple children at once, tagging them and using
the tag-prefix command (';') or the auto_tag option.
9.2. Breaking threads
On mailing lists, some people are in the bad habit of starting a new
discussion by hitting "reply" to any message from the list and changing
the subject to a totally unrelated one. You can fix such threads by
using the ``break-thread'' function (bound by default to #), which will
turn the subthread starting from the current message into a whole
different thread.
10. Delivery Status Notification (DSN) Support
RFC1894 defines a set of MIME content types for relaying information
about the status of electronic mail messages. These can be thought of
as ``return receipts.'' Berkeley sendmail 8.8.x currently has some
command line options in which the mail client can make requests as to
what type of status messages should be returned.
To support this, there are two variables. $$ddssnn__nnoottiiffyy
is used to
request receipts for different results (such as failed message, message
delivered, etc.). $$ddssnn__rreettuurrnn requests how much of
your message should
be returned with the receipt (headers or full message). Refer to the
man page on sendmail for more details on DSN.
11. Start a WWW Browser on URLs (EXTERNAL)
If a message contains URLs (_u_n_i_f_i_e_d_
_r_e_s_o_u_r_c_e_ _l_o_c_a_t_o_r = address in the
WWW space like
_h_t_t_p_:_/_/_w_w_w_._m_u_t_t_._o_r_g_/), it is efficient
to get a menu
with all the URLs and start a WWW browser on one of them. This
functionality is provided by the external urlview program which can be
retrieved at
ffttpp::////ffttpp..mmuutttt..oorrgg//mmuutttt//ccoonnttrriibb//
and the configuration
commands:
macro index \cb |urlview\n
macro pager \cb |urlview\n
Chapter 5. Mutt's MIME Support
_T_a_b_l_e_ _o_f_ _C_o_n_t_e_n_t_s
11.. UUssiinngg MMIIMMEE iinn MMuutttt
11..11.. VViieewwiinngg MMIIMMEE
mmeessssaaggeess iinn tthhee ppaaggeerr
11..22.. TThhee AAttttaacchhmmeenntt MMeennuu
11..33.. TThhee CCoommppoossee MMeennuu
22.. MMIIMMEE TTyyppee
ccoonnffiigguurraattiioonn wwiitthh
mmiimmee..ttyyppeess
33.. MMIIMMEE VViieewweerr
ccoonnffiigguurraattiioonn wwiitthh mmaaiillccaapp
33..11.. TThhee BBaassiiccss ooff tthhee
mmaaiillccaapp ffiillee
33..22.. SSeeccuurree uussee ooff
mmaaiillccaapp
33..33.. AAddvvaanncceedd mmaaiillccaapp
UUssaaggee
33..44.. EExxaammppllee mmaaiillccaapp
ffiilleess
44.. MMIIMMEE AAuuttoovviieeww
55.. MMIIMMEE
MMuullttiippaarrtt//AAlltteerrnnaattiivvee
66.. AAttttaacchhmmeenntt SSeeaarrcchhiinngg
aanndd CCoouunnttiinngg
77.. MMIIMMEE LLooookkuupp
Quite a bit of effort has been made to make Mutt the premier text-mode
MIME MUA. Every effort has been made to provide the functionality that
the discerning MIME user requires, and the conformance to the standards
wherever possible. When configuring Mutt for MIME, there are two extra
types of configuration files which Mutt uses. One is the mime.types
file, which contains the mapping of file extensions to IANA MIME types.
The other is the mailcap file, which specifies the external commands to
use for handling specific MIME types.
1. Using MIME in Mutt
There are three areas/menus in Mutt which deal with MIME, they are the
pager (while viewing a message), the attachment menu and the compose
menu.
1.1. Viewing MIME messages in the pager
When you select a message from the index and view it in the pager, Mutt
decodes the message to a text representation. Mutt internally supports
a number of MIME types, including text/plain, text/enriched,
message/rfc822, and message/news. In addition, the export controlled
version of Mutt recognizes a variety of PGP MIME types, including
PGP/MIME and application/pgp.
Mutt will denote attachments with a couple lines describing them. These
lines are of the form:
[-- Attachment #1: Description --]
[-- Type: text/plain, Encoding: 7bit, Size: 10000 --]
Where the Description is the description or filename given for the
attachment, and the Encoding is one of
7bit/8bit/quoted-printable/base64/binary.
If Mutt cannot deal with a MIME type, it will display a message like:
[-- image/gif is unsupported (use 'v' to view this part) --]
1.2. The Attachment Menu
The default binding for view-attachments is `v', which displays the
attachment menu for a message. The attachment menu displays a list of
the attachments in a message. From the attachment menu, you can save,
print, pipe, delete, and view attachments. You can apply these
operations to a group of attachments at once, by tagging the
attachments and by using the ``tag-prefix'' operator. You can also
reply to the current message from this menu, and only the current
attachment (or the attachments tagged) will be quoted in your reply.
You can view attachments as text, or view them using the mailcap viewer
definition.
Finally, you can apply the usual message-related functions (like
rreesseenndd--mmeessssaaggee, and the reply and forward
functions) to attachments of
type message/rfc822.
See the help on the attachment menu for more information.
1.3. The Compose Menu
The compose menu is the menu you see before you send a message. It
allows you to edit the recipient list, the subject, and other aspects
of your message. It also contains a list of the attachments of your
message, including the main body. From this menu, you can print, copy,
filter, pipe, edit, compose, review, and rename an attachment or a list
of tagged attachments. You can also modifying the attachment
information, notably the type, encoding and description.
Attachments appear as follows:
- 1 [text/plain, 7bit, 1K] /tmp/mutt-euler-8082-0 <no description>
2 [applica/x-gunzip, base64, 422K] ~/src/mutt-0.85.tar.gz <no description>
The '-' denotes that Mutt will delete the file after sending (or
postponing, or canceling) the message. It can be toggled with the
toggle-unlink command (default: u). The next field is the MIME
content-type, and can be changed with the edit-type command (default:
^T). The next field is the encoding for the attachment, which allows a
binary message to be encoded for transmission on 7bit links. It can be
changed with the edit-encoding command (default: ^E). The next field is
the size of the attachment, rounded to kilobytes or megabytes. The next
field is the filename, which can be changed with the rename-file
command (default: R). The final field is the description of the
attachment, and can be changed with the edit-description command
(default: d).
2. MIME Type configuration with mime.types
When you add an attachment to your mail message, Mutt searches your
personal mime.types file at ${HOME}/.mime.types, and then the system
mime.types file at /usr/local/share/mutt/mime.types or /etc/mime.types
The mime.types file consist of lines containing a MIME type and a space
separated list of extensions. For example:
application/postscript ps eps
application/pgp pgp
audio/x-aiff aif aifc aiff
A sample mime.types file comes with the Mutt distribution, and should
contain most of the MIME types you are likely to use.
If Mutt can not determine the mime type by the extension of the file
you attach, it will look at the file. If the file is free of binary
information, Mutt will assume that the file is plain text, and mark it
as text/plain. If the file contains binary information, then Mutt will
mark it as application/octet-stream. You can change the MIME type that
Mutt assigns to an attachment by using the edit-type command from the
compose menu (default: ^T). The MIME type is actually a major mime type
followed by the sub-type, separated by a '/'. 6 major types:
application, text, image, video, audio, and model have been approved
after various internet discussions. Mutt recognizes all of these if the
appropriate entry is found in the mime.types file. It also recognizes
other major mime types, such as the chemical type that is widely used
in the molecular modeling community to pass molecular data in various
forms to various molecular viewers. Non-recognized mime types should
only be used if the recipient of the message is likely to be expecting
such attachments.
3. MIME Viewer configuration with mailcap
Mutt supports RFC 1524 MIME Configuration, in particular the Unix
specific format specified in Appendix A of RFC 1524. This file format
is commonly referred to as the mailcap format. Many MIME compliant
programs utilize the mailcap format, allowing you to specify handling
for all MIME types in one place for all programs. Programs known to use
this format include Netscape, XMosaic, lynx and metamail.
In order to handle various MIME types that Mutt can not handle
internally, Mutt parses a series of external configuration files to
find an external handler. The default search string for these files is
a colon delimited list containing the following files:
1. $HOME/.mailcap
2. $PKGDATADIR/mailcap
3. $SYSCONFDIR/mailcap
4. /etc/mailcap
5. /usr/etc/mailcap
6. /usr/local/etc/mailcap
where $HOME is your home directory. The $PKGDATADIR and the $SYSCONFDIR
directories depend on where mutt is installed: the former is the
default for shared data, the latter for system configuration files.
The default search path can be obtained by running the following
command:
mutt -nF /dev/null -Q mailcap_path
In particular, the metamail distribution will install a mailcap file,
usually as /usr/local/etc/mailcap, which contains some baseline
entries.
3.1. The Basics of the mailcap file
A mailcap file consists of a series of lines which are comments, blank,
or definitions.
A comment line consists of a # character followed by anything you want.
A blank line is blank.
A definition line consists of a content type, a view command, and any
number of optional fields. Each field of a definition line is divided
by a semicolon ';' character.
The content type is specified in the MIME standard type/subtype method.
For example, text/plain, text/html, image/gif, etc. In addition, the
mailcap format includes two formats for wildcards, one using the
special '*' subtype, the other is the implicit wild, where you only
include the major type. For example, image/*, or video, will match all
image types and video types, respectively.
The view command is a Unix command for viewing the type specified.
There are two different types of commands supported. The default is to
send the body of the MIME message to the command on stdin. You can
change this behavior by using %s as a parameter to your view command.
This will cause Mutt to save the body of the MIME message to a
temporary file, and then call the view command with the %s replaced by
the name of the temporary file. In both cases, Mutt will turn over the
terminal to the view program until the program quits, at which time
Mutt will remove the temporary file if it exists.
So, in the simplest form, you can send a text/plain message to the
external pager more on stdin:
text/plain; more
Or, you could send the message as a file:
text/plain; more %s
Perhaps you would like to use lynx to interactively view a text/html
message:
text/html; lynx %s
In this case, lynx does not support viewing a file from stdin, so you
must use the %s syntax. _N_o_t_e_: _S_o_m_e_ _o_l_d_e_r_
_v_e_r_s_i_o_n_s_ _o_f_ _l_y_n_x_ _c_o_n_t_a_i_n_
_a_ _b_u_g
_w_h_e_r_e_ _t_h_e_y_ _w_i_l_l_ _c_h_e_c_k_
_t_h_e_ _m_a_i_l_c_a_p_ _f_i_l_e_ _f_o_r_ _a_
_v_i_e_w_e_r_ _f_o_r_ _t_e_x_t_/_h_t_m_l_._ _T_h_e_y
_w_i_l_l_ _f_i_n_d_ _t_h_e_ _l_i_n_e_ _w_h_i_c_h_
_c_a_l_l_s_ _l_y_n_x_,_ _a_n_d_ _r_u_n_ _i_t_._
_T_h_i_s_ _c_a_u_s_e_s_ _l_y_n_x_ _t_o
_c_o_n_t_i_n_u_o_u_s_l_y_ _s_p_a_w_n_
_i_t_s_e_l_f_ _t_o_ _v_i_e_w_ _t_h_e_ _o_b_j_e_c_t_.
On the other hand, maybe you don't want to use lynx interactively, you
just want to have it convert the text/html to text/plain, then you can
use:
text/html; lynx -dump %s | more
Perhaps you wish to use lynx to view text/html files, and a pager on
all other text formats, then you would use the following:
text/html; lynx %s
text/*; more
This is the simplest form of a mailcap file.
3.2. Secure use of mailcap
The interpretation of shell meta-characters embedded in MIME parameters
can lead to security problems in general. Mutt tries to quote
parameters in expansion of %s syntaxes properly, and avoids risky
characters by substituting them, see the
$$mmaaiillccaapp__ssaanniittiizzee variable.
Although mutt's procedures to invoke programs with mailcap seem to be
safe, there are other applications parsing mailcap, maybe taking less
care of it. Therefore you should pay attention to the following rules:
_K_e_e_p_ _t_h_e_ _%_-_e_x_p_a_n_d_o_s_ _a_w_a_y_
_f_r_o_m_ _s_h_e_l_l_ _q_u_o_t_i_n_g_. Don't quote them with
single or double quotes. Mutt does this for you, the right way, as
should any other program which interprets mailcap. Don't put them into
backtick expansions. Be highly careful with eval statements, and avoid
them if possible at all. Trying to fix broken behavior with quotes
introduces new leaks - there is no alternative to correct quoting in
the first place.
If you have to use the %-expandos' values in context where you need
quoting or backtick expansions, put that value into a shell variable
and reference the shell variable where necessary, as in the following
example (using $charset inside the backtick expansion is safe, since it
is not itself subject to any further expansion):
text/test-mailcap-bug; cat %s; copiousoutput; test=charset=%{charset} \
&& test "`echo $charset | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]'`" != iso-8859-1
3.3. Advanced mailcap Usage
3.3.1. Optional Fields
In addition to the required content-type and view command fields, you
can add semi-colon ';' separated fields to set flags and other options.
Mutt recognizes the following optional fields:
copiousoutput
This flag tells Mutt that the command passes possibly large
amounts of text on stdout. This causes Mutt to invoke a pager
(either the internal pager or the external pager defined by the
pager variable) on the output of the view command. Without this
flag, Mutt assumes that the command is interactive. One could
use this to replace the pipe to more in the lynx -dump example
in the Basic section:
text/html; lynx -dump %s ; copiousoutput
This will cause lynx to format the text/html output as
text/plain and Mutt will use your standard pager to display the
results.
needsterminal
Mutt uses this flag when viewing attachments with
aauuttoo__vviieeww, in
order to decide whether it should honor the setting of the
$$wwaaiitt__kkeeyy variable or not. When an attachment is
viewed using an
interactive program, and the corresponding mailcap entry has a
_n_e_e_d_s_t_e_r_m_i_n_a_l flag, Mutt will use
$$wwaaiitt__kkeeyy and the exit status
of the program to decide if it will ask you to press a key after
the external program has exited. In all other situations it will
not prompt you for a key.
compose=<command>
This flag specifies the command to use to create a new
attachment of a specific MIME type. Mutt supports this from the
compose menu.
composetyped=<command>
This flag specifies the command to use to create a new
attachment of a specific MIME type. This command differs from
the compose command in that mutt will expect standard MIME
headers on the data. This can be used to specify parameters,
filename, description, etc. for a new attachment. Mutt supports
this from the compose menu.
print=<command>
This flag specifies the command to use to print a specific MIME
type. Mutt supports this from the attachment and compose menus.
edit=<command>
This flag specifies the command to use to edit a specific MIME
type. Mutt supports this from the compose menu, and also uses it
to compose new attachments. Mutt will default to the defined
editor for text attachments.
nametemplate=<template>
This field specifies the format for the file denoted by %s in
the command fields. Certain programs will require a certain file
extension, for instance, to correctly view a file. For instance,
lynx will only interpret a file as text/html if the file ends in
.html. So, you would specify lynx as a text/html viewer with a
line in the mailcap file like:
text/html; lynx %s; nametemplate=%s.html
test=<command>
This field specifies a command to run to test whether this
mailcap entry should be used. The command is defined with the
command expansion rules defined in the next section. If the
command returns 0, then the test passed, and Mutt uses this
entry. If the command returns non-zero, then the test failed,
and Mutt continues searching for the right entry. _N_o_t_e_:
_t_h_e
_c_o_n_t_e_n_t_-_t_y_p_e_ _m_u_s_t_
_m_a_t_c_h_ _b_e_f_o_r_e_ _M_u_t_t_
_p_e_r_f_o_r_m_s_ _t_h_e_ _t_e_s_t_. For
example:
text/html; netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)' ; test=RunningX
text/html; lynx %s
In this example, Mutt will run the program RunningX which will
return 0 if the X Window manager is running, and non-zero if it
isn't. If RunningX returns 0, then Mutt will call netscape to
display the text/html object. If RunningX doesn't return 0, then
Mutt will go on to the next entry and use lynx to display the
text/html object.
3.3.2. Search Order
When searching for an entry in the mailcap file, Mutt will search for
the most useful entry for its purpose. For instance, if you are
attempting to print an image/gif, and you have the following entries in
your mailcap file, Mutt will search for an entry with the print
command:
image/*; xv %s
image/gif; ; print= anytopnm %s | pnmtops | lpr; \
nametemplate=%s.gif
Mutt will skip the image/* entry and use the image/gif entry with the
print command.
In addition, you can use this with aauuttoo__vviieeww to denote two
commands for
viewing an attachment, one to be viewed automatically, the other to be
viewed interactively from the attachment menu. In addition, you can
then use the test feature to determine which viewer to use
interactively depending on your environment.
text/html; netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)' ; test=RunningX
text/html; lynx %s; nametemplate=%s.html
text/html; lynx -dump %s; nametemplate=%s.html; copiousoutput
For aauuttoo__vviieeww, Mutt will choose the third entry because of
the
copiousoutput tag. For interactive viewing, Mutt will run the program
RunningX to determine if it should use the first entry. If the program
returns non-zero, Mutt will use the second entry for interactive
viewing.
3.3.3. Command Expansion
The various commands defined in the mailcap files are passed to the
/bin/sh shell using the system() function. Before the command is passed
to /bin/sh -c, it is parsed to expand various special parameters with
information from Mutt. The keywords Mutt expands are:
%s
As seen in the basic mailcap section, this variable is expanded
to a filename specified by the calling program. This file
contains the body of the message to view/print/edit or where the
composing program should place the results of composition. In
addition, the use of this keyword causes Mutt to not pass the
body of the message to the view/print/edit program on stdin.
%t
Mutt will expand %t to the text representation of the content
type of the message in the same form as the first parameter of
the mailcap definition line, ie text/html or image/gif.
%{<parameter>}
Mutt will expand this to the value of the specified parameter
from the Content-Type: line of the mail message. For instance,
if Your mail message contains:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
then Mutt will expand %{charset} to iso-8859-1. The default
metamail mailcap file uses this feature to test the charset to
spawn an xterm using the right charset to view the message.
\%
This will be replaced by a %
Mutt does not currently support the %F and %n keywords specified in RFC
1524. The main purpose of these parameters is for multipart messages,
which is handled internally by Mutt.
3.4. Example mailcap files
This mailcap file is fairly simple and standard:
# I'm always running X :)
video/*; xanim %s > /dev/null
image/*; xv %s > /dev/null
# I'm always running netscape (if my computer had more memory, maybe)
text/html; netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)'
This mailcap file shows quite a number of examples:
# Use xanim to view all videos Xanim produces a header on startup,
# send that to /dev/null so I don't see it
video/*; xanim %s > /dev/null
# Send html to a running netscape by remote
text/html; netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)'; test=RunningNetscape
# If I'm not running netscape but I am running X, start netscape on the
# object
text/html; netscape %s; test=RunningX
# Else use lynx to view it as text
text/html; lynx %s
# This version would convert the text/html to text/plain
text/html; lynx -dump %s; copiousoutput
# I use enscript to print text in two columns to a page
text/*; more %s; print=enscript -2Gr %s
# Netscape adds a flag to tell itself to view jpegs internally
image/jpeg;xv %s; x-mozilla-flags=internal
# Use xv to view images if I'm running X
# In addition, this uses the \ to extend the line and set my editor
# for images
image/*;xv %s; test=RunningX; \
edit=xpaint %s
# Convert images to text using the netpbm tools
image/*; (anytopnm %s | pnmscale -xysize 80 46 | ppmtopgm | pgmtopbm |
pbmtoascii -1x2 ) 2>&1 ; copiousoutput
# Send excel spreadsheets to my NT box
application/ms-excel; open.pl %s
4. MIME Autoview
In addition to explicitly telling Mutt to view an attachment with the
MIME viewer defined in the mailcap file, Mutt has support for
automatically viewing MIME attachments while in the pager.
To work, you must define a viewer in the mailcap file which uses the
copiousoutput option to denote that it is non-interactive. Usually, you
also use the entry to convert the attachment to a text representation
which you can view in the pager.
You then use the auto_view muttrc command to list the content-types
that you wish to view automatically.
For instance, if you set auto_view to:
auto_view text/html application/x-gunzip \
application/postscript image/gif application/x-tar-gz
Mutt could use the following mailcap entries to automatically view
attachments of these types.
text/html; lynx -dump %s; copiousoutput; nametemplate=%s.html
image/*; anytopnm %s | pnmscale -xsize 80 -ysize 50 | ppmtopgm | \
pgmtopbm | pbmtoascii ; copiousoutput
application/x-gunzip; gzcat; copiousoutput
application/x-tar-gz; gunzip -c %s | tar -tf - ; copiousoutput
application/postscript; ps2ascii %s; copiousoutput
``unauto_view'' can be used to remove previous entries from the
autoview list. This can be used with message-hook to autoview messages
based on size, etc. ``unauto_view *'' will remove all previous entries.
5. MIME Multipart/Alternative
Mutt has some heuristics for determining which attachment of a
multipart/alternative type to display. First, mutt will check the
alternative_order list to determine if one of the available types is
preferred. The alternative_order list consists of a number of mimetypes
in order, including support for implicit and explicit wildcards, for
example:
alternative_order text/enriched text/plain text application/postscript image/*
Next, mutt will check if any of the types have a defined
aauuttoo__vviieeww, and
use that. Failing that, Mutt will look for any text type. As a last
attempt, mutt will look for any type it knows how to handle.
To remove a MIME type from the alternative_order list, use the
unalternative_order command.
6. Attachment Searching and Counting
If you ever lose track of attachments in your mailboxes, Mutt's
attachment-counting and -searching support might be for you. You can
make your message index display the number of qualifying attachments in
each message, or search for messages by attachment count. You also can
configure what kinds of attachments qualify for this feature with the
attachments and unattachments commands.
In order to provide this information, mutt needs to fully MIME-parse
all messages affected first. This can slow down operation especially
for remote mail folders such as IMAP because all messages have to be
downloaded first regardless whether the user really wants to view them
or not.
The syntax is:
attachments {+|-}disposition mime-type
unattachments {+|-}disposition mime-type
attachments ?
Disposition is the attachment's Content-disposition type -- either
"inline" or "attachment". You can abbreviate this to I or A.
Disposition is prefixed by either a + symbolor a - symbol. If it's a +,
you're saying that you want to allow this disposition and MIME type to
qualify. If it's a -, you're saying that this disposition and MIME type
is an exception to previous + rules. There are examples below of how
this is useful.
Mime-type is, unsurprisingly, the MIME type of the attachment you want
to affect. A MIME type is always of the format "major/minor", where
"major" describes the broad category of document you're looking at, and
"minor" describes the specific type within that category. The major
part of mim-type must be literal text (or the special token "*"), but
the minor part may be a regular expression. (Therefore, "*/.*" matches
any MIME type.)
The MIME types you give to the attachments directive are a kind of
pattern. When you use the attachments directive, the patterns you
specify are added to a list. When you use unattachments, the pattern is
removed from the list. The patterns are not expanded and matched to
specific MIME types at this time -- they're just text in a list.
They're only matched when actually evaluating a message.
Some examples might help to illustrate. The examples that are not
commented out define the default configuration of the lists.
## Removing a pattern from a list removes that pattern literally. It
## does not remove any type matching the pattern.
##
## attachments +A */.*
## attachments +A image/jpeg
## unattachments +A */.*
##
## This leaves "attached" image/jpeg files on the allowed attachments
## list. It does not remove all items, as you might expect, because the
## second */.* is not a matching expression at this time.
##
## Remember: "unattachments" only undoes what "attachments" has done!
## It does not trigger any matching on actual messages.
## Qualify any MIME part with an "attachment" disposition, EXCEPT for
## text/x-vcard and application/pgp parts. (PGP parts are already known
## to mutt, and can be searched for with ~g, ~G, and ~k.)
##
## I've added x-pkcs7 to this, since it functions (for S/MIME)
## analogously to PGP signature attachments. S/MIME isn't supported
## in a stock mutt build, but we can still treat it specially here.
##
attachments +A */.*
attachments -A text/x-vcard application/pgp.*
attachments -A application/x-pkcs7-.*
## Discount all MIME parts with an "inline" disposition, unless they're
## text/plain. (Why inline a text/plain part unless it's external to the
## message flow?)
##
attachments +I text/plain
## These two lines make Mutt qualify MIME containers. (So, for example,
## a message/rfc822 forward will count as an attachment.) The first
## line is unnecessary if you already have "attach-allow */.*", of
## course. These are off by default! The MIME elements contained
## within a message/* or multipart/* are still examined, even if the
## containers themseves don't qualify.
##
#attachments +A message/.* multipart/.*
#attachments +I message/.* multipart/.*
## You probably don't really care to know about deleted attachments.
attachments -A message/external-body
attachments -I message/external-body
"attachments ?" will list your current settings in Muttrc format, so
that it can be pasted elsewhere.
7. MIME Lookup
Mutt's mime_lookup list specifies a list of mime-types that should not
be treated according to their mailcap entry. This option is designed to
deal with binary types such as application/octet-stream. When an
attachment's mime-type is listed in mime_lookup, then the extension of
the filename will be compared to the list of extensions in the
mime.types file. The mime-type associated with this extension will then
be used to process the attachment according to the rules in the mailcap
file and according to any other configuration options (such as
auto_view) specified. Common usage would be:
mime_lookup application/octet-stream application/X-Lotus-Manuscript
In addition, the unmime_lookup command may be used to disable this
feature for any particular mime-type if it had been set, for example,
in a global muttrc.
Chapter 6. Optional features
_T_a_b_l_e_ _o_f_ _C_o_n_t_e_n_t_s
11.. GGeenneerraall nnootteess
11..11.. EEnnaabblliinngg//ddiissaabblliinngg
ffeeaattuurreess
11..22.. UURRLL ssyynnttaaxx
22.. SSSSLL//TTLLSS SSuuppppoorrtt
33.. PPOOPP33 SSuuppppoorrtt
44.. IIMMAAPP SSuuppppoorrtt
44..11.. TThhee FFoollddeerr BBrroowwsseerr
44..22.. AAuutthheennttiiccaattiioonn
55.. SSMMTTPP SSuuppppoorrtt
66.. MMaannaaggiinngg mmuullttiippllee
aaccccoouunnttss
77.. LLooccaall ccaacchhiinngg
77..11.. HHeeaaddeerr ccaacchhiinngg
77..22.. BBooddyy ccaacchhiinngg
1. General notes
1.1. Enabling/disabling features
Mutt supports several of optional features which can be enabled or
disabled at compile-time by giving the _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e script
certain
arguments. These are listed in the ``Optional features'' section of the
_c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e_ _-_-_h_e_l_p output.
Which features are enabled or disabled can later be determined from the
output of mutt -v. If a compile option starts with ``+'' it is enabled
and disabled if prefixed with ``-''. For example, if mutt was compiled
using GnuTLS for encrypted communication instead of OpenSSL, mutt -v
would contain:
-USE_SSL_OPENSSL +USE_SSL_GNUTLS
1.2. URL syntax
Mutt optionally supports the IMAP, POP3 and SMTP protocols which
require to access servers using URLs. The canonical syntax for
specifying URLs in mutt is (an item enclosed in [] means it is optional
and may be omitted):
proto[s]://[username[:passwo...@]server[:port]/[path]
proto is the communication protocol: imap for IMAP, pop for POP3 and
smtp for SMTP. If ``s'' for ``secure communication'' is appended, mutt
will attempt to establish an encrypted communication using SSL or TLS.
If no explicit port is given, mutt will use the system's default for
the given protocol.
Since all protocols by mutt support authentication, the username may be
given directly in the URL instead of using the pop_user or imap_user
variables. A password can be given, too but is not recommended if the
URL is specified in a configuration file on disk.
The optional path is only relevant for IMAP.
For IMAP for example, you can select an alternative port by specifying
it with the server: imap://imapserver:port/INBOX. You can also specify
different username for each folder:
imap://username at imapserver[:port]/INBOX or
imap://username2 at imapserver[:port]/path/to/folder. Replacing imap:// by
imaps:// would make mutt attempt to conect using SSL or TLS on a
different port to encrypt the communication.
2. SSL/TLS Support
If mutt is compiled with IMAP, POP3 and/or SMTP support, it can also be
compiled with support for SSL or TLS using either OpenSSL or GnuTLS (
by running the _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e script with the
_-_-_e_n_a_b_l_e_-_s_s_l_=_._._. option for
OpenSSL or _-_-_e_n_a_b_l_e_-_g_n_u_t_l_s_=_._._. for
GnuTLS). Mutt can then attempt to
encrypt communication with remote servers if these protocols are
suffixed with ``s'' for ``secure communication''.
3. POP3 Support
If Mutt was compiled with POP3 support (by running the
_c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e script
with the _-_-_e_n_a_b_l_e_-_p_o_p flag), it has the ability to
work with mailboxes
located on a remote POP3 server and fetch mail for local browsing.
Remote POP3 servers can be accessed using URLs with the pop protocol
for unencrypted and pops for encrypted communication, see
SSeeccttiioonn 11..22,,
""UURRLL ssyynnttaaxx"" for details.
Polling for new mail is more expensive over POP3 than locally. For this
reason the frequency at which Mutt will check for mail remotely can be
controlled by the $$ppoopp__cchheecckkiinntteerrvvaall
variable, which defaults to every
60 seconds.
Another way to access your POP3 mail is the _f_e_t_c_h_-_m_a_i_l
function
(default: G). It allows to connect to $$ppoopp__hhoosstt, fetch all
your new
mail and place it in the local $$ssppoooollffiillee. After this
point, Mutt runs
exactly as if the mail had always been local.
_N_o_t_e_: If you only need to fetch all messages to a local mailbox you
should consider using a specialized program, such as fetchmail, getmail
or similar.
4. IMAP Support
If Mutt was compiled with IMAP support (by running the
_c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e script
with the _-_-_e_n_a_b_l_e_-_i_m_a_p flag), it has the ability
to work with folders
located on a remote IMAP server.
You can access the remote inbox by selecting the folder by its URL (see
SSeeccttiioonn 11..22,, ""UURRLL ssyynnttaaxx""
for details) using the imap or imaps
protocol. Alternatively, a pine-compatible notation is also supported,
ie {[usern...@]imapserver[:port][/ssl]}path/to/folder
Note that not all servers use ``/'' as the hierarchy separator. Mutt
should correctly notice which separator is being used by the server and
convert paths accordingly.
When browsing folders on an IMAP server, you can toggle whether to look
at only the folders you are subscribed to, or all folders with the
_t_o_g_g_l_e_-_s_u_b_s_c_r_i_b_e_d command. See also the
$$iimmaapp__lliisstt__ssuubbssccrriibbeedd variable.
Polling for new mail on an IMAP server can cause noticeable delays. So,
you'll want to carefully tune the $$mmaaiill__cchheecckk and
$$ttiimmeeoouutt variables.
Personally I use
set mail_check=90
set timeout=15
with relatively good results over my slow modem line.
Note that if you are using mbox as the mail store on UW servers prior
to v12.250, the server has been reported to disconnect a client if
another client selects the same folder.
4.1. The Folder Browser
As of version 1.2, mutt supports browsing mailboxes on an IMAP server.
This is mostly the same as the local file browser, with the following
differences:
* In lieu of file permissions, mutt displays the string "IMAP",
possibly followed by the symbol "+", indicating that the entry
contains both messages and subfolders. On Cyrus-like servers
folders will often contain both messages and subfolders.
* For the case where an entry can contain both messages and
subfolders, the selection key (bound to enter by default) will
choose to descend into the subfolder view. If you wish to view the
messages in that folder, you must use view-file instead (bound to
space by default).
* You can create, delete and rename mailboxes with the
create-mailbox, delete-mailbox, and rename-mailbox commands
(default bindings: C, d and r, respectively). You may also
subscribe and unsubscribe to mailboxes (normally these are bound to
s and u, respectively).
4.2. Authentication
Mutt supports four authentication methods with IMAP servers: SASL,
GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, and LOGIN (there is a patch by Grant Edwards to add
NTLM authentication for you poor exchange users out there, but it has
yet to be integrated into the main tree). There is also support for the
pseudo-protocol ANONYMOUS, which allows you to log in to a public IMAP
server without having an account. To use ANONYMOUS, simply make your
username blank or "anonymous".
SASL is a special super-authenticator, which selects among several
protocols (including GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, ANONYMOUS, and DIGEST-MD5) the
most secure method available on your host and the server. Using some of
these methods (including DIGEST-MD5 and possibly GSSAPI), your entire
session will be encrypted and invisible to those teeming network
snoops. It is the best option if you have it. To use it, you must have
the Cyrus SASL library installed on your system and compile mutt with
the _-_-_w_i_t_h_-_s_a_s_l flag.
Mutt will try whichever methods are compiled in and available on the
server, in the following order: SASL, ANONYMOUS, GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5,
LOGIN.
There are a few variables which control authentication:
* $$iimmaapp__uusseerr - controls the username under which you
request
authentication on the IMAP server, for all authenticators. This is
overridden by an explicit username in the mailbox path (ie by using
a mailbox name of the form {user at host}).
* $$iimmaapp__ppaassss - a password which you may preset, used
by all
authentication methods where a password is needed.
* $$iimmaapp__aauutthheennttiiccaattoorrss - a
colon-delimited list of IMAP
authentication methods to try, in the order you wish to try them.
If specified, this overrides mutt's default (attempt everything, in
the order listed above).
5. SMTP Support
Besides supporting traditional mail delivery through a
sendmail-compatible program, mutt supports delivery through SMTP if it
was configured and built with --enable-smtp.
If the configuration variable $$ssmmttpp__uurrll is set, mutt will
contact the
given SMTP server to deliver messages; if it is unset, mutt will use
the program specified by $$sseennddmmaaiill.
For details on the URL syntax, please see SSeeccttiioonn
11..22,, ""UURRLL ssyynnttaaxx"".
The built-in SMTP support supports encryption (the smtps protocol using
SSL or TLS) as well as SMTP authentication using SASL. The
authentication mechanisms for SASL are specified in
$$ssmmttpp__aauutthheennttiiccaattoorrss defaulting to
an empty list which makes mutt try
all available methods from most-secure to least-secure.
6. Managing multiple accounts
If you happen to have accounts on multiple IMAP, POP and/or SMTP
servers, you may find managing all the authentication settings
inconvenient and error-prone. The account-hook command may help. This
hook works like folder-hook but is invoked whenever you access a remote
mailbox (including inside the folder browser), not just when you open
the mailbox.
Some examples:
account-hook . 'unset imap_user; unset imap_pass; unset tunnel'
account-hook imap://host1/ 'set imap_user=me1 imap_pass=foo'
account-hook imap://host2/ 'set tunnel="ssh host2 /usr/libexec/imapd"'
account-hook smtp://user at host3/ 'set tunnel="ssh host3 /usr/libexec/smtpd"'
7. Local caching
Mutt contains two types of local caching: _(_1_) the so-called ``header
caching'' and _(_2_) the so-called ``body caching'' which are both
described in this section.
These are optional which means they're not enabled by default. Details
on how to enable either of these techniques are given in the following
subsections.
7.1. Header caching
Mutt provides optional support for caching message headers for the
following types of folders: IMAP, POP, Maildir and MH. Header caching
greatly improves speed because for remote folders, headers usually only
need to be downloaded once. For Maildir and MH, reading the headers
from a single file is much faster than looking at possibly thousands of
single files (since Maildir and MH use one file per message.)
Header caching can be enabled via the configure script and the
_-_-_e_n_a_b_l_e_-_h_c_a_c_h_e option. It's not turned on by
default because external
database libraries are required: one of qdbm, gdbm or bdb must be
present.
If enabled, $$hheeaaddeerr__ccaacchhee can be used to either
point to a file or a
directory. If set to point to a file, one database file for all folders
will be used (which may result in lower performance), but one file per
folder if it points to a directory.
For the one-file-per-folder case, database files will be named by MD5
sums. They may be safely removed if a system is short on space. You can
compute the name of the header cache file for a particular folder
through a command like the following:
$ printf '%s' '/path/to/folder' | md5sum
$ printf '%s' 'imaps://user at host/path/to/folder' | md5sum
$ printf '%s' 'pops://user at host' | md5sum
The md5sum command may also be named md5, depending on your operating
system.
7.2. Body caching
In addition to caching message headers only, mutt can also cache whole
message bodies. This results in faster display of messages for POP and
IMAP folders because messages usually have to be downloaded only once.
If the configure script is called with _-_-_e_n_a_b_l_e_-_p_o_p
and/or
_-_-_e_n_a_b_l_e_-_i_m_a_p, body caching will be built in as it
does not require
additional software packages such as database libraries.
For configuration, the variable
$$mmeessssaaggee__ccaacchheeddiirr must point to a
directory. There, mutt will create a hierarchy of subdirectories named
like: proto:user at hostname where proto is either ``pop'' or ``imap.''
Within there for each folder, mutt stores messages in single files
(just like Maildir) so that with manual symlink creation these cache
directories can be examined with mutt as read-only Maildir folders.
All files can be removed as needed if the consumed disk space becomes
an issue as mutt will silently fetch missing items again.
Chapter 7. Performance tuning
_T_a_b_l_e_ _o_f_ _C_o_n_t_e_n_t_s
11.. RReeaaddiinngg aanndd wwrriittiinngg
mmaaiillbbooxxeess
22.. RReeaaddiinngg mmeessssaaggeess ffrroomm
rreemmoottee ffoollddeerrss
33.. SSeeaarrcchhiinngg aanndd lliimmiittiinngg
1. Reading and writing mailboxes
Mutt's performance when reading mailboxes can be improved in two ways:
1. For remote folders (IMAP and POP) as well as folders using
one-file-per message storage (Maildir and MH), mutt's performance
can be greatly improved using hheeaaddeerr
ccaacchhiinngg. Using a single
database per folder may further increase performance.
2. Mutt provides the $$rreeaadd__iinncc and
$$wwrriittee__iinncc variables to specify at
which rate to update progress counters. If these values are too
low, mutt may spend more time on updating the progress counter than
it spends on actually reading/writing folders.
For example, when opening a maildir folder with a few thousand
messages, the default value for $$rreeaadd__iinncc may be too
low. It can be
tuned on on a folder-basis using ffoollddeerr--hhooookkss:
# use very high $read_inc to speed up reading hcache'd maildirs
folder-hook . 'set read_inc=1000'
# use lower value for reading slower remote IMAP folders
folder-hook ^imap 'set read_inc=100'
# use even lower value for reading even slower remote POP folders
folder-hook ^pop 'set read_inc=1'
2. Reading messages from remote folders
Reading messages from remote folders such as IMAP an POP can be slow
especially for large mailboxes since mutt only caches a very limited
number of recently viewed messages (usually 10) per session (so that it
will be gone for the next session.)
To improve performance and permanently cache whole messages, please
refer to mutt's so-called bbooddyy ccaacchhiinngg for details.
3. Searching and limiting
When searching mailboxes either via a search or a limit action, for
some patterns mutt distinguishes between regular expression and string
searches. For regular expressions, patterns are prefixed with ``~'' and
with ``='' for string searches.
Even though a regular expression search is fast, it's several times
slower than a pure string search which is noticable especially on large
folders. As a consequence, a string search should be used instead of a
regular expression search if the user already knows enough about the
search pattern.
For example, when limiting a large folder to all messages sent to or by
an author, it's much faster to search for the initial part of an e-mail
address via =Luser@ instead of ~Luser at . This is especially true for
searching message bodies since a larger amount of input has to be
searched.
Please note that string search is an exact case-sensitive search while
a regular expression search with only lower-case letters performs a
case-insensitive search.
Chapter 8. Reference
_T_a_b_l_e_ _o_f_ _C_o_n_t_e_n_t_s
11.. CCoommmmaanndd lliinnee ooppttiioonnss
22.. CCoonnffiigguurraattiioonn CCoommmmaannddss
33.. CCoonnffiigguurraattiioonn
vvaarriiaabblleess
33..11.. aabboorrtt__nnoossuubbjjeecctt
33..22.. aabboorrtt__uunnmmooddiiffiieedd
33..33.. aalliiaass__ffiillee
33..44.. aalliiaass__ffoorrmmaatt
33..55.. aallllooww__88bbiitt
33..66.. aallllooww__aannssii
33..77.. aarrrrooww__ccuurrssoorr
33..88.. aasscciiii__cchhaarrss
33..99.. aasskkbbcccc
33..1100.. aasskkcccc
33..1111.. aassssuummeedd__cchhaarrsseett
33..1122.. aattttaacchh__cchhaarrsseett
33..1133.. aattttaacchh__ffoorrmmaatt
33..1144.. aattttaacchh__sseepp
33..1155.. aattttaacchh__sspplliitt
33..1166.. aattttrriibbuuttiioonn
33..1177.. aauuttooeeddiitt
33..1188.. aauuttoo__ttaagg
33..1199.. bbeeeepp
33..2200.. bbeeeepp__nneeww
33..2211.. bboouunnccee
33..2222.. bboouunnccee__ddeelliivveerreedd
33..2233.. bbrraaiillllee__ffrriieennddllyy
33..2244.. cchheecckk__mmbbooxx__ssiizzee
33..2255.. cchhaarrsseett
33..2266.. cchheecckk__nneeww
33..2277.. ccoollllaappssee__uunnrreeaadd
33..2288.. uunnccoollllaappssee__jjuummpp
33..2299.. ccoommppoossee__ffoorrmmaatt
33..3300.. ccoonnffiigg__cchhaarrsseett
33..3311.. ccoonnffiirrmmaappppeenndd
33..3322.. ccoonnffiirrmmccrreeaattee
33..3333.. ccoonnnneecctt__ttiimmeeoouutt
33..3344.. ccoonntteenntt__ttyyppee
33..3355.. ccooppyy
33..3366.. ccrryypptt__uussee__ggppggmmee
33..3377.. ccrryypptt__uussee__ppkkaa
33..3388.. ccrryypptt__aauuttooppggpp
33..3399.. ccrryypptt__aauuttoossmmiimmee
33..4400.. ddaattee__ffoorrmmaatt
33..4411.. ddeeffaauulltt__hhooookk
33..4422.. ddeelleettee
33..4433.. ddeelleettee__uunnttaagg
33..4444.. ddiiggeesstt__ccoollllaappssee
33..4455.. ddiissppllaayy__ffiilltteerr
33..4466.. ddoottlloocckk__pprrooggrraamm
33..4477.. ddssnn__nnoottiiffyy
33..4488.. ddssnn__rreettuurrnn
33..4499.. dduupplliiccaattee__tthhrreeaaddss
33..5500.. eeddiitt__hheeaaddeerrss
33..5511.. eeddiittoorr
33..5522.. eennccooddee__ffrroomm
33..5533..
eennvveellooppee__ffrroomm__aaddddrreessss
33..5544.. eessccaappee
33..5555.. ffaasstt__rreeppllyy
33..5566.. ffcccc__aattttaacchh
33..5577.. ffcccc__cclleeaarr
33..5588.. ffoollddeerr
33..5599.. ffoollddeerr__ffoorrmmaatt
33..6600.. ffoolllloowwuupp__ttoo
33..6611.. ffoorrccee__nnaammee
33..6622.. ffoorrwwaarrdd__ddeeccooddee
33..6633.. ffoorrwwaarrdd__eeddiitt
33..6644.. ffoorrwwaarrdd__ffoorrmmaatt
33..6655.. ffoorrwwaarrdd__qquuoottee
33..6666.. ffrroomm
33..6677.. ggeeccooss__mmaasskk
33..6688.. hhddrrss
33..6699.. hheeaaddeerr
33..7700.. hheellpp
33..7711.. hhiiddddeenn__hhoosstt
33..7722.. hhiiddee__lliimmiitteedd
33..7733.. hhiiddee__mmiissssiinngg
33..7744..
hhiiddee__tthhrreeaadd__ssuubbjjeecctt
33..7755.. hhiiddee__ttoopp__lliimmiitteedd
33..7766.. hhiiddee__ttoopp__mmiissssiinngg
33..7777.. hhiissttoorryy
33..7788.. hhiissttoorryy__ffiillee
33..7799.. hhoonnoorr__ffoolllloowwuupp__ttoo
33..8800.. hhoossttnnaammee
33..8811..
iiggnnoorree__lliinneeaarr__wwhhiittee__ssppaaccee
33..8822..
iiggnnoorree__lliisstt__rreeppllyy__ttoo
33..8833..
iimmaapp__aauutthheennttiiccaattoorrss
33..8844..
iimmaapp__cchheecckk__ssuubbssccrriibbeedd
33..8855.. iimmaapp__ddeelliimm__cchhaarrss
33..8866.. iimmaapp__hheeaaddeerrss
33..8877.. iimmaapp__iiddllee
33..8888.. iimmaapp__kkeeeeppaalliivvee
33..8899..
iimmaapp__lliisstt__ssuubbssccrriibbeedd
33..9900.. iimmaapp__llooggiinn
33..9911.. iimmaapp__ppaassss
33..9922.. iimmaapp__ppaassssiivvee
33..9933.. iimmaapp__ppeeeekk
33..9944.. iimmaapp__sseerrvveerrnnooiissee
33..9955.. iimmaapp__uusseerr
33..9966.. iimmpplliicciitt__aauuttoovviieeww
33..9977.. iinncclluuddee
33..9988.. iinncclluuddee__oonnllyyffiirrsstt
33..9999.. iinnddeenntt__ssttrriinngg
33..110000.. iinnddeexx__ffoorrmmaatt
33..110011.. iissppeellll
33..110022.. kkeeeepp__ffllaaggggeedd
33..110033.. llooccaallee
33..110044.. mmaaiill__cchheecckk
33..110055.. mmaaiillccaapp__ppaatthh
33..110066.. mmaaiillccaapp__ssaanniittiizzee
33..110077.. hheeaaddeerr__ccaacchhee
33..110088..
mmaaiillddiirr__hheeaaddeerr__ccaacchhee__vveerriiffyy
33..110099..
hheeaaddeerr__ccaacchhee__ppaaggeessiizzee
33..111100..
hheeaaddeerr__ccaacchhee__ccoommpprreessss
33..111111.. mmaaiillddiirr__ttrraasshh
33..111122.. mmaarrkk__oolldd
33..111133.. mmaarrkkeerrss
33..111144.. mmaasskk
33..111155.. mmbbooxx
33..111166.. mmbbooxx__ttyyppee
33..111177.. mmeettoooo
33..111188.. mmeennuu__ccoonntteexxtt
33..111199.. mmeennuu__mmoovvee__ooffff
33..112200.. mmeennuu__ssccrroollll
33..112211.. mmeettaa__kkeeyy
33..112222.. mmhh__ppuurrggee
33..112233.. mmhh__sseeqq__ffllaaggggeedd
33..112244.. mmhh__sseeqq__rreepplliieedd
33..112255.. mmhh__sseeqq__uunnsseeeenn
33..112266.. mmiimmee__ffoorrwwaarrdd
33..112277..
mmiimmee__ffoorrwwaarrdd__ddeeccooddee
33..112288.. mmiimmee__ffoorrwwaarrdd__rreesstt
33..112299.. mmiixx__eennttrryy__ffoorrmmaatt
33..113300.. mmiixxmmaasstteerr
33..113311.. mmoovvee
33..113322.. mmeessssaaggee__ccaacchheeddiirr
33..113333..
mmeessssaaggee__ccaacchhee__cclleeaann
33..113344.. mmeessssaaggee__ffoorrmmaatt
33..113355.. nnaarrrrooww__ttrreeee
33..113366.. nneett__iinncc
33..113377.. ppaaggeerr
33..113388.. ppaaggeerr__ccoonntteexxtt
33..113399.. ppaaggeerr__ffoorrmmaatt
33..114400.. ppaaggeerr__iinnddeexx__lliinneess
33..114411.. ppaaggeerr__ssttoopp
33..114422.. ccrryypptt__aauuttoossiiggnn
33..114433.. ccrryypptt__aauuttooeennccrryypptt
33..114444..
ppggpp__iiggnnoorree__ssuubbkkeeyyss
33..114455..
ccrryypptt__rreeppllyyeennccrryypptt
33..114466.. ccrryypptt__rreeppllyyssiiggnn
33..114477..
ccrryypptt__rreeppllyyssiiggnneennccrryypptteedd
33..114488.. ccrryypptt__ttiimmeessttaammpp
33..114499.. ppggpp__uussee__ggppgg__aaggeenntt
33..115500.. ccrryypptt__vveerriiffyy__ssiigg
33..115511.. ssmmiimmee__iiss__ddeeffaauulltt
33..115522..
ssmmiimmee__aasskk__cceerrtt__llaabbeell
33..115533..
ssmmiimmee__ddeeccrryypptt__uussee__ddeeffaauulltt__kkeeyy
33..115544.. ppggpp__eennttrryy__ffoorrmmaatt
33..115555.. ppggpp__ggoooodd__ssiiggnn
33..115566.. ppggpp__cchheecckk__eexxiitt
33..115577.. ppggpp__lloonngg__iiddss
33..115588..
ppggpp__rreettaaiinnaabbllee__ssiiggss
33..115599.. ppggpp__aauuttooiinnlliinnee
33..116600.. ppggpp__rreeppllyyiinnlliinnee
33..116611.. ppggpp__sshhooww__uunnuussaabbllee
33..116622.. ppggpp__ssiiggnn__aass
33..116633.. ppggpp__ssttrriicctt__eenncc
33..116644.. ppggpp__ttiimmeeoouutt
33..116655.. ppggpp__ssoorrtt__kkeeyyss
33..116666.. ppggpp__mmiimmee__aauuttoo
33..116677.. ppggpp__aauuttoo__ddeeccooddee
33..116688..
ppggpp__ddeeccooddee__ccoommmmaanndd
33..116699..
ppggpp__ggeettkkeeyyss__ccoommmmaanndd
33..117700..
ppggpp__vveerriiffyy__ccoommmmaanndd
33..117711..
ppggpp__ddeeccrryypptt__ccoommmmaanndd
33..117722..
ppggpp__cclleeaarrssiiggnn__ccoommmmaanndd
33..117733.. ppggpp__ssiiggnn__ccoommmmaanndd
33..117744..
ppggpp__eennccrryypptt__ssiiggnn__ccoommmmaanndd
33..117755..
ppggpp__eennccrryypptt__oonnllyy__ccoommmmaanndd
33..117766..
ppggpp__iimmppoorrtt__ccoommmmaanndd
33..117777..
ppggpp__eexxppoorrtt__ccoommmmaanndd
33..117788..
ppggpp__vveerriiffyy__kkeeyy__ccoommmmaanndd
33..117799..
ppggpp__lliisstt__sseeccrriinngg__ccoommmmaanndd
33..118800..
ppggpp__lliisstt__ppuubbrriinngg__ccoommmmaanndd
33..118811.. ffoorrwwaarrdd__ddeeccrryypptt
33..118822.. ssmmiimmee__ttiimmeeoouutt
33..118833..
ssmmiimmee__eennccrryypptt__wwiitthh
33..118844.. ssmmiimmee__kkeeyyss
33..118855.. ssmmiimmee__ccaa__llooccaattiioonn
33..118866..
ssmmiimmee__cceerrttiiffiiccaatteess
33..118877..
ssmmiimmee__ddeeccrryypptt__ccoommmmaanndd
33..118888..
ssmmiimmee__vveerriiffyy__ccoommmmaanndd
33..118899..
ssmmiimmee__vveerriiffyy__ooppaaqquuee__ccoommmmaanndd
33..119900..
ssmmiimmee__ssiiggnn__ccoommmmaanndd
33..119911..
ssmmiimmee__ssiiggnn__ooppaaqquuee__ccoommmmaanndd
33..119922..
ssmmiimmee__eennccrryypptt__ccoommmmaanndd
33..119933..
ssmmiimmee__ppkk77oouutt__ccoommmmaanndd
33..119944..
ssmmiimmee__ggeett__cceerrtt__ccoommmmaanndd
33..119955..
ssmmiimmee__ggeett__ssiiggnneerr__cceerrtt__ccoommmmaanndd
33..119966..
ssmmiimmee__iimmppoorrtt__cceerrtt__ccoommmmaanndd
33..119977..
ssmmiimmee__ggeett__cceerrtt__eemmaaiill__ccoommmmaanndd
33..119988.. ssmmiimmee__ddeeffaauulltt__kkeeyy
33..119999.. ssssll__cclliieenntt__cceerrtt
33..220000.. ssssll__ffoorrccee__ttllss
33..220011.. ssssll__ssttaarrttttllss
33..220022.. cceerrttiiffiiccaattee__ffiillee
33..220033..
ssssll__uusseessyysstteemmcceerrttss
33..220044.. eennttrrooppyy__ffiillee
33..220055.. ssssll__uussee__ssssllvv22
33..220066.. ssssll__uussee__ssssllvv33
33..220077.. ssssll__uussee__ttllssvv11
33..220088..
ssssll__mmiinn__ddhh__pprriimmee__bbiittss
33..220099..
ssssll__ccaa__cceerrttiiffiiccaatteess__ffiillee
33..221100.. ppiippee__sspplliitt
33..221111.. ppiippee__ddeeccooddee
33..221122.. ppiippee__sseepp
33..221133..
ppoopp__aauutthheennttiiccaattoorrss
33..221144.. ppoopp__aauutthh__ttrryy__aallll
33..221155.. ppoopp__cchheecckkiinntteerrvvaall
33..221166.. ppoopp__ddeelleettee
33..221177.. ppoopp__hhoosstt
33..221188.. ppoopp__llaasstt
33..221199.. ppoopp__rreeccoonnnneecctt
33..222200.. ppoopp__uusseerr
33..222211.. ppoopp__ppaassss
33..222222..
ppoosstt__iinnddeenntt__ssttrriinngg
33..222233.. ppoossttppoonnee
33..222244.. ppoossttppoonneedd
33..222255.. pprreeccoonnnneecctt
33..222266.. pprriinntt
33..222277.. pprriinntt__ccoommmmaanndd
33..222288.. pprriinntt__ddeeccooddee
33..222299.. pprriinntt__sspplliitt
33..223300.. pprroommpptt__aafftteerr
33..223311.. qquueerryy__ccoommmmaanndd
33..223322.. qquuiitt
33..223333.. qquuoottee__rreeggeexxpp
33..223344.. rreeaadd__iinncc
33..223355.. rreeaadd__oonnllyy
33..223366.. rreeaallnnaammee
33..223377.. rreeccaallll
33..223388.. rreeccoorrdd
33..223399.. rreeppllyy__rreeggeexxpp
33..224400.. rreeppllyy__sseellff
33..224411.. rreeppllyy__ttoo
33..224422.. rreessoollvvee
33..224433.. rreevveerrssee__aalliiaass
33..224444.. rreevveerrssee__nnaammee
33..224455.. rreevveerrssee__rreeaallnnaammee
33..224466..
rrffcc22004477__ppaarraammeetteerrss
33..224477.. ssaavvee__aaddddrreessss
33..224488.. ssaavvee__eemmppttyy
33..224499.. ssaavvee__hhiissttoorryy
33..225500.. ssaavvee__nnaammee
33..225511.. ssccoorree
33..225522..
ssccoorree__tthhrreesshhoolldd__ddeelleettee
33..225533..
ssccoorree__tthhrreesshhoolldd__ffllaagg
33..225544..
ssccoorree__tthhrreesshhoolldd__rreeaadd
33..225555.. sseenndd__cchhaarrsseett
33..225566.. sseennddmmaaiill
33..225577.. sseennddmmaaiill__wwaaiitt
33..225588.. sshheellll
33..225599.. ssiigg__ddaasshheess
33..226600.. ssiigg__oonn__ttoopp
33..226611.. ssiiggnnaattuurree
33..226622.. ssiimmppllee__sseeaarrcchh
33..226633.. ssmmaarrtt__wwrraapp
33..226644.. ssmmiilleeyyss
33..226655.. sslleeeepp__ttiimmee
33..226666.. ssmmttpp__ppaassss
33..226677.. ssmmttpp__uurrll
33..226688.. ssoorrtt
33..226699.. ssoorrtt__aalliiaass
33..227700.. ssoorrtt__aauuxx
33..227711.. ssoorrtt__bbrroowwsseerr
33..227722.. ssoorrtt__rree
33..227733.. ssppaamm__sseeppaarraattoorr
33..227744.. ssppoooollffiillee
33..227755.. ssttaattuuss__cchhaarrss
33..227766.. ssttaattuuss__ffoorrmmaatt
33..227777.. ssttaattuuss__oonn__ttoopp
33..227788.. ssttrriicctt__tthhrreeaaddss
33..227799.. ssuussppeenndd
33..228800.. tteexxtt__fflloowweedd
33..228811.. tthhrreeaadd__rreecceeiivveedd
33..228822.. tthhoorroouugghh__sseeaarrcchh
33..228833.. ttiillddee
33..228844.. ttiimmeeoouutt
33..228855.. ttmmppddiirr
33..228866.. ttoo__cchhaarrss
33..228877.. ttuunnnneell
33..228888.. uussee__88bbiittmmiimmee
33..228899.. uussee__ddoommaaiinn
33..229900.. uussee__eennvveellooppee__ffrroomm
33..229911.. uussee__ffrroomm
33..229922.. uussee__iiddnn
33..229933.. uussee__iippvv66
33..229944.. uusseerr__aaggeenntt
33..229955.. vviissuuaall
33..229966.. wwaaiitt__kkeeyy
33..229977.. wweeeedd
33..229988.. wwrraapp
33..229999.. wwrraapp__sseeaarrcchh
33..330000.. wwrraappmmaarrggiinn
33..330011.. wwrriittee__iinncc
33..330022.. wwrriittee__bbcccc
44.. FFuunnccttiioonnss
44..11.. ggeenneerriicc
44..22.. iinnddeexx
44..33.. ppaaggeerr
44..44.. aalliiaass
44..55.. qquueerryy
44..66.. aattttaacchh
44..77.. ccoommppoossee
44..88.. ppoossttppoonnee
44..99.. bbrroowwsseerr
44..1100.. ppggpp
44..1111.. ssmmiimmee
44..1122.. mmiixx
44..1133.. eeddiittoorr
1. Command line options
Running mutt with no arguments will make Mutt attempt to read your
spool mailbox. However, it is possible to read other mailboxes and to
send messages from the command line as well.
_T_a_b_l_e_ _8_._1_._ _C_o_m_m_a_n_d_ _l_i_n_e_
_o_p_t_i_o_n_s
Option Description
-A expand an alias
-a attach a file to a message
-b specify a blind carbon-copy (BCC) address
-c specify a carbon-copy (Cc) address
-D print the value of all mutt variables to stdout
-e specify a config command to be run after initialization files are
read
-f specify a mailbox to load
-F specify an alternate file to read initialization commands
-h print help on command line options
-H specify a draft file from which to read a header and body
-i specify a file to include in a message composition
-m specify a default mailbox type
-n do not read the system Muttrc
-p recall a postponed message
-Q query a configuration variable
-R open mailbox in read-only mode
-s specify a subject (enclose in quotes if it contains spaces)
-v show version number and compile-time definitions
-x simulate the mailx(1) compose mode
-y show a menu containing the files specified by the mailboxes command
-z exit immediately if there are no messages in the mailbox
-Z open the first folder with new message,exit immediately if none
To read messages in a mailbox
mutt [ -nz ] [ -F _m_u_t_t_r_c ] [ -m _t_y_p_e ] [ -f
_m_a_i_l_b_o_x ]
To compose a new message
mutt [ -n ] [ -F _m_u_t_t_r_c ] [ -a _f_i_l_e ] [ -c
_a_d_d_r_e_s_s ] [ -i _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e ] [
-s _s_u_b_j_e_c_t ] [ [ _f_i_l_e ... ] -- ] _a_d_d_r_e_s_s
[ _a_d_d_r_e_s_s ... ]
Mutt also supports a ``batch'' mode to send prepared messages. Simply
redirect input from the file you wish to send. For example,
mutt -s "data set for run #2" professor at bigschool.edu < ~/run2.dat
This command will send a message to ``professor at bigschool.edu'' with a
subject of ``data set for run #2''. In the body of the message will be
the contents of the file ``~/run2.dat''.
All files passed with -a _f_i_l_e will be attached as a MIME part to the
message. To attach several files, use ``--'' to separate files and
recipient addresses: mutt -a *.png -- some at one.org
2. Configuration Commands
The following are the commands understood by mutt.
* aaccccoouunntt--hhooookk _p_a_t_t_e_r_n
_c_o_m_m_a_n_d
* aalliiaass [ -group _n_a_m_e [ ... ] ] _k_e_y
_a_d_d_r_e_s_s [ , _a_d_d_r_e_s_s, ... ]
* uunnaalliiaass [ * | _k_e_y ... ]
* aalltteerrnnaatteess [ -group _n_a_m_e [ ... ] ]
_r_e_g_e_x_p [ _r_e_g_e_x_p ... ]
* uunnaalltteerrnnaatteess [ * | _r_e_g_e_x_p ... ]
* aalltteerrnnaattiivvee--oorrddeerr
_m_i_m_e_t_y_p_e [ _m_i_m_e_t_y_p_e ... ]
* uunnaalltteerrnnaattiivvee--oorrddeerr
_m_i_m_e_t_y_p_e [ _m_i_m_e_t_y_p_e ... ]
* aauuttoo__vviieeww _m_i_m_e_t_y_p_e [
_m_i_m_e_t_y_p_e ... ]
* uunnaauuttoo__vviieeww _m_i_m_e_t_y_p_e [
_m_i_m_e_t_y_p_e ... ]
* bbiinndd _m_a_p _k_e_y _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n
* cchhaarrsseett--hhooookk _a_l_i_a_s
_c_h_a_r_s_e_t
* iiccoonnvv--hhooookk _c_h_a_r_s_e_t
_l_o_c_a_l_-_c_h_a_r_s_e_t
* ccoolloorr _o_b_j_e_c_t _f_o_r_e_g_r_o_u_n_d
_b_a_c_k_g_r_o_u_n_d [ _r_e_g_e_x_p ]
* uunnccoolloorr _i_n_d_e_x _p_a_t_t_e_r_n [
_p_a_t_t_e_r_n ... ]
* eexxeecc _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n [ _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n ... ]
* ffcccc--hhooookk _p_a_t_t_e_r_n _m_a_i_l_b_o_x
* ffcccc--ssaavvee--hhooookk _p_a_t_t_e_r_n
_m_a_i_l_b_o_x
* ffoollddeerr--hhooookk _p_a_t_t_e_r_n
_c_o_m_m_a_n_d
* hhddrr__oorrddeerr _h_e_a_d_e_r [ _h_e_a_d_e_r ... ]
* uunnhhddrr__oorrddeerr _h_e_a_d_e_r [
_h_e_a_d_e_r ... ]
* iiggnnoorree _p_a_t_t_e_r_n [ _p_a_t_t_e_r_n ... ]
* uunniiggnnoorree _p_a_t_t_e_r_n [ _p_a_t_t_e_r_n
... ]
* lliissttss [ -group _n_a_m_e [ ... ] ] _r_e_g_e_x_p [
_r_e_g_e_x_p ... ]
* uunnlliissttss _r_e_g_e_x_p [ _r_e_g_e_x_p ... ]
* mmaaccrroo _m_e_n_u _k_e_y _s_e_q_u_e_n_c_e [
_d_e_s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n ]
* mmaaiillbbooxxeess _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e [
_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e ... ]
* mmbbooxx--hhooookk _p_a_t_t_e_r_n _m_a_i_l_b_o_x
* mmeessssaaggee--hhooookk _p_a_t_t_e_r_n
_c_o_m_m_a_n_d
* mmiimmee__llooookkuupp _m_i_m_e_t_y_p_e [
_m_i_m_e_t_y_p_e ... ]
* uunnmmiimmee__llooookkuupp _m_i_m_e_t_y_p_e [
_m_i_m_e_t_y_p_e ... ]
* mmoonnoo _o_b_j_e_c_t_ _a_t_t_r_i_b_u_t_e [
_r_e_g_e_x_p ]
* uunnmmoonnoo _i_n_d_e_x _p_a_t_t_e_r_n [
_p_a_t_t_e_r_n ... ]
* mmyy__hhddrr _s_t_r_i_n_g
* uunnmmyy__hhddrr _f_i_e_l_d [ _f_i_e_l_d ... ]
* ccrryypptt--hhooookk _p_a_t_t_e_r_n _k_e_y_-_i_d
* ppuusshh _s_t_r_i_n_g
* rreesseett _v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e [_v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e ... ]
* ssaavvee--hhooookk _r_e_g_e_x_p _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e
* ssccoorree _p_a_t_t_e_r_n _v_a_l_u_e
* uunnssccoorree _p_a_t_t_e_r_n [ _p_a_t_t_e_r_n ... ]
* rreeppllyy--hhooookk _p_a_t_t_e_r_n
_c_o_m_m_a_n_d
* sseenndd--hhooookk _p_a_t_t_e_r_n _c_o_m_m_a_n_d
* sseenndd22--hhooookk _p_a_t_t_e_r_n
_c_o_m_m_a_n_d
* sseett [no|inv]_v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e[=_v_a_l_u_e] [
_v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e ... ]
* uunnsseett _v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e [_v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e ... ]
* ssoouurrccee _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e
* ssppaamm _p_a_t_t_e_r_n _f_o_r_m_a_t
* nnoossppaamm _p_a_t_t_e_r_n
* ssuubbssccrriibbee [ -group _n_a_m_e [ ... ] ]
_r_e_g_e_x_p [ _r_e_g_e_x_p ... ]
* uunnssuubbssccrriibbee _r_e_g_e_x_p [
_r_e_g_e_x_p ... ]
* ttooggggllee _v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e [_v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e
... ]
* uunnhhooookk _h_o_o_k_-_t_y_p_e
3. Configuration variables
3.1. abort_nosubject
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes
If set to _y_e_s, when composing messages and no subject is given at the
subject prompt, composition will be aborted. If set to _n_o, composing
messages with no subject given at the subject prompt will never be
aborted.
3.2. abort_unmodified
Type: quadoption
Default: yes
If set to _y_e_s, composition will automatically abort after editing the
message body if no changes are made to the file (this check only
happens after the _f_i_r_s_t edit of the file). When set to _n_o,
composition
will never be aborted.
3.3. alias_file
Type: path
Default: "~/.muttrc"
The default file in which to save aliases created by the
``ccrreeaattee--aalliiaass'' function.
_N_o_t_e_: Mutt will not automatically source this file; you must
explicitly
use the ``ssoouurrccee'' command for it to be executed.
The default for this option is the currently used muttrc file, or
``~/.muttrc'' if no user muttrc was found.
3.4. alias_format
Type: string
Default: "%4n %2f %t %-10a %r"
Specifies the format of the data displayed for the `alias' menu. The
following printf(3)-style sequences are available:
%a
alias name
%f
flags - currently, a "d" for an alias marked for deletion
%n
index number
%r
address which alias expands to
%t
character which indicates if the alias is tagged for inclusion
3.5. allow_8bit
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls whether 8-bit data is converted to 7-bit using either Quoted-
Printable or Base64 encoding when sending mail.
3.6. allow_ansi
Type: boolean
Default: no
Controls whether ANSI color codes in messages (and color tags in rich
text messages) are to be interpreted. Messages containing these codes
are rare, but if this option is set, their text will be colored
accordingly. Note that this may override your color choices, and even
present a security problem, since a message could include a line like
"[-- PGP output follows ..." and give it the same color as your
attachment color.
3.7. arrow_cursor
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, an arrow (``->'') will be used to indicate the current entry
in menus instead of highlighting the whole line. On slow network or
modem links this will make response faster because there is less that
has to be redrawn on the screen when moving to the next or previous
entries in the menu.
3.8. ascii_chars
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, Mutt will use plain ASCII characters when displaying thread and
attachment trees, instead of the default _A_C_S characters.
3.9. askbcc
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, Mutt will prompt you for blind-carbon-copy (Bcc) recipients
before editing an outgoing message.
3.10. askcc
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, Mutt will prompt you for carbon-copy (Cc) recipients before
editing the body of an outgoing message.
3.11. assumed_charset
Type: string
Default: ""
This variable is a colon-separated list of character encoding schemes
for messages without character encoding indication. Header field values
and message body content without character encoding indication would be
assumed that they are written in one of this list. By default, all the
header fields and message body without any charset indication are
assumed to be in "us-ascii".
For example, Japanese users might prefer this:
set assumed_charset="iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8"
However, only the first content is valid for the message body.
3.12. attach_charset
Type: string
Default: ""
This variable is a colon-separated list of character encoding schemes
for text file attachments. If unset, $$cchhaarrsseett value will be
used
instead. For example, the following configuration would work for
Japanese text handling:
set attach_charset="iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8"
Note: "iso-2022-*" must be put at the head of the value as shown above
if included.
3.13. attach_format
Type: string
Default: "%u%D%I %t%4n %T%.40d%> [%.7m/%.10M, %.6e%?C?, %C?, %s] "
This variable describes the format of the `attachment' menu. The
following printf-style sequences are understood:
%C
charset
%c
requires charset conversion (n or c)
%D
deleted flag
%d
description
%e
MIME content-transfer-encoding
%f
filename
%I
disposition (I=inline, A=attachment)
%m
major MIME type
%M
MIME subtype
%n
attachment number
%Q
"Q", if MIME part qualifies for attachment counting
%s
size
%t
tagged flag
%T
graphic tree characters
%u
unlink (=to delete) flag
%X
number of qualifying MIME parts in this part and its children
(please see the ``aattttaacchhmmeennttss'' section for
possible speed
effects)
%>X
right justify the rest of the string and pad with character "X"
%|X
pad to the end of the line with character "X"
%*X
soft-fill with character "X" as pad
For an explanation of `soft-fill', see the
``$$iinnddeexx__ffoorrmmaatt''
documentation.
3.14. attach_sep
Type: string
Default: "\n"
The separator to add between attachments when operating (saving,
printing, piping, etc) on a list of tagged attachments.
3.15. attach_split
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If this variable is unset, when operating (saving, printing, piping,
etc) on a list of tagged attachments, Mutt will concatenate the
attachments and will operate on them as a single attachment. The
``$$aattttaacchh__sseepp'' separator is added after each
attachment. When set,
Mutt will operate on the attachments one by one.
3.16. attribution
Type: string
Default: "On %d, %n wrote:"
This is the string that will precede a message which has been included
in a reply. For a full listing of defined printf()-like sequences see
the section on ``$$iinnddeexx__ffoorrmmaatt''.
3.17. autoedit
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set along with ``$$eeddiitt__hheeaaddeerrss'', Mutt will
skip the initial
send-menu and allow you to immediately begin editing the body of your
message. The send-menu may still be accessed once you have finished
editing the body of your message.
Also see ``$$ffaasstt__rreeppllyy''.
3.18. auto_tag
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, functions in the _i_n_d_e_x menu which affect a message will
be
applied to all tagged messages (if there are any). When unset, you must
first use the tag-prefix function (default: ";") to make the next
function apply to all tagged messages.
3.19. beep
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When this variable is set, mutt will beep when an error occurs.
3.20. beep_new
Type: boolean
Default: no
When this variable is set, mutt will beep whenever it prints a message
notifying you of new mail. This is independent of the setting of the
``$$bbeeeepp'' variable.
3.21. bounce
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes
Controls whether you will be asked to confirm bouncing messages. If set
to _y_e_s you don't get asked if you want to bounce a message. Setting
this variable to _n_o is not generally useful, and thus not recommended,
because you are unable to bounce messages.
3.22. bounce_delivered
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When this variable is set, mutt will include Delivered-To headers when
bouncing messages. Postfix users may wish to unset this variable.
3.23. braille_friendly
Type: boolean
Default: no
When this variable is set, mutt will place the cursor at the beginning
of the current line in menus, even when the arrow_cursor variable is
unset, making it easier for blind persons using Braille displays to
follow these menus. The option is disabled by default because many
visual terminals don't permit making the cursor invisible.
3.24. check_mbox_size
Type: boolean
Default: no
When this variable is set, mutt will use file size attribute instead of
access time when checking for new mail.
3.25. charset
Type: string
Default: ""
Character set your terminal uses to display and enter textual data. It
is also the fallback for $$sseenndd__cchhaarrsseett.
3.26. check_new
Type: boolean
Default: yes
_N_o_t_e_: this option only affects _m_a_i_l_d_i_r and _M_H
style mailboxes.
When _s_e_t, Mutt will check for new mail delivered while the mailbox is
open. Especially with MH mailboxes, this operation can take quite some
time since it involves scanning the directory and checking each file to
see if it has already been looked at. If _c_h_e_c_k___n_e_w is
_u_n_s_e_t, no check
for new mail is performed while the mailbox is open.
3.27. collapse_unread
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When _u_n_s_e_t, Mutt will not collapse a thread if it contains any
unread
messages.
3.28. uncollapse_jump
Type: boolean
Default: no
When _s_e_t, Mutt will jump to the next unread message, if any, when the
current thread is _u_ncollapsed.
3.29. compose_format
Type: string
Default: "-- Mutt: Compose [Approx. msg size: %l Atts: %a]%>-"
Controls the format of the status line displayed in the
_C_o_m_p_o_s_e menu.
This string is similar to ``$$ssttaattuuss__ffoorrmmaatt'',
but has its own set of
printf()-like sequences:
%a
total number of attachments
%h
local hostname
%l
approximate size (in bytes) of the current message
%v
Mutt version string
See the text describing the ``$$ssttaattuuss__ffoorrmmaatt''
option for more
information on how to set ``$$ccoommppoossee__ffoorrmmaatt''.
3.30. config_charset
Type: string
Default: ""
When defined, Mutt will recode commands in rc files from this encoding.
3.31. confirmappend
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when appending messages to
an existing mailbox.
3.32. confirmcreate
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when saving messages to a
mailbox which does not yet exist before creating it.
3.33. connect_timeout
Type: number
Default: 30
Causes Mutt to timeout a network connection (for IMAP or POP) after
this many seconds if the connection is not able to be established. A
negative value causes Mutt to wait indefinitely for the connection to
succeed.
3.34. content_type
Type: string
Default: "text/plain"
Sets the default Content-Type for the body of newly composed messages.
3.35. copy
Type: quadoption
Default: yes
This variable controls whether or not copies of your outgoing messages
will be saved for later references. Also see ``$$rreeccoorrdd'',
``$$ssaavvee__nnaammee'', ``$$ffoorrccee__nnaammee''
and ``ffcccc--hhooookk''.
3.36. crypt_use_gpgme
Type: boolean
Default: no
This variable controls the use of the GPGME-enabled crypto backends. If
it is set and Mutt was built with gpgme support, the gpgme code for
S/MIME and PGP will be used instead of the classic code. Note that you
need to set this option in .muttrc; it won't have any effect when used
interactively.
3.37. crypt_use_pka
Type: boolean
Default: no
(http://www.g10code.de/docs/pka-intro.de.pdf) during signature
verification (only supported by the GPGME backend).
3.38. crypt_autopgp
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variable controls whether or not mutt may automatically enable PGP
encryption/signing for messages. See also
``$$ccrryypptt__aauuttooeennccrryypptt'',
``$$ccrryypptt__rreeppllyyeennccrryypptt'',
``$$ccrryypptt__aauuttoossiiggnn'',
``$$ccrryypptt__rreeppllyyssiiggnn'' and
``$$ssmmiimmee__iiss__ddeeffaauulltt''.
3.39. crypt_autosmime
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variable controls whether or not mutt may automatically enable
S/MIME encryption/signing for messages. See also
``$$ccrryypptt__aauuttooeennccrryypptt'',
``$$ccrryypptt__rreeppllyyeennccrryypptt'',
``$$ccrryypptt__aauuttoossiiggnn'',
``$$ccrryypptt__rreeppllyyssiiggnn'' and
``$$ssmmiimmee__iiss__ddeeffaauulltt''.
3.40. date_format
Type: string
Default: "!%a, %b %d, %Y at %I:%M:%S%p %Z"
This variable controls the format of the date printed by the ``%d''
sequence in ``$$iinnddeexx__ffoorrmmaatt''. This is passed to
the _s_t_r_f_t_i_m_e call to
process the date. See the man page for _s_t_r_f_t_i_m_e_(_3_) for
the proper
syntax.
Unless the first character in the string is a bang (``!''), the month
and week day names are expanded according to the locale specified in
the variable ``$$llooccaallee''. If the first character in the string
is a
bang, the bang is discarded, and the month and week day names in the
rest of the string are expanded in the _C locale (that is in US
English).
3.41. default_hook
Type: string
Default: "~f %s !~P | (~P ~C %s)"
This variable controls how message-hooks, reply-hooks, send-hooks,
send2-hooks, save-hooks, and fcc-hooks will be interpreted if they are
specified with only a simple regexp, instead of a matching pattern. The
hooks are expanded when they are declared, so a hook will be
interpreted according to the value of this variable at the time the
hook is declared. The default value matches if the message is either
from a user matching the regular expression given, or if it is from you
(if the from address matches ``alternates'') and is to or cc'ed to a
user matching the given regular expression.
3.42. delete
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes
Controls whether or not messages are really deleted when closing or
synchronizing a mailbox. If set to _y_e_s, messages marked for deleting
will automatically be purged without prompting. If set to _n_o, messages
marked for deletion will be kept in the mailbox.
3.43. delete_untag
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If this option is _s_e_t, mutt will untag messages when marking them for
deletion. This applies when you either explicitly delete a message, or
when you save it to another folder.
3.44. digest_collapse
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If this option is _s_e_t, mutt's received-attachments menu will not show
the subparts of individual messages in a multipart/digest. To see these
subparts, press 'v' on that menu.
3.45. display_filter
Type: path
Default: ""
When set, specifies a command used to filter messages. When a message
is viewed it is passed as standard input to
$$ddiissppllaayy__ffiilltteerr, and the
filtered message is read from the standard output.
3.46. dotlock_program
Type: path
Default: "/home/talley/dist/SunOS/i386/5.11/pkgs/mutt-1.5.17/bin/mutt_d
otlock"
Contains the path of the mutt_dotlock (8) binary to be used by mutt.
3.47. dsn_notify
Type: string
Default: ""
_N_o_t_e_: you should not enable this unless you are using Sendmail
8.8.x or
greater.
This variable sets the request for when notification is returned. The
string consists of a comma separated list (no spaces!) of one or more
of the following: _n_e_v_e_r, to never request notification,
_f_a_i_l_u_r_e, to
request notification on transmission failure, _d_e_l_a_y, to be
notified of
message delays, _s_u_c_c_e_s_s, to be notified of successful
transmission.
Example: set dsn_notify="failure,delay"
3.48. dsn_return
Type: string
Default: ""
_N_o_t_e_: you should not enable this unless you are using Sendmail
8.8.x or
greater.
This variable controls how much of your message is returned in DSN
messages. It may be set to either _h_d_r_s to return just the message
header, or _f_u_l_l to return the full message.
Example: set dsn_return=hdrs
3.49. duplicate_threads
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variable controls whether mutt, when sorting by threads, threads
messages with the same message-id together. If it is set, it will
indicate that it thinks they are duplicates of each other with an
equals sign in the thread diagram.
3.50. edit_headers
Type: boolean
Default: no
This option allows you to edit the header of your outgoing messages
along with the body of your message.
3.51. editor
Type: path
Default: ""
This variable specifies which editor is used by mutt. It defaults to
the value of the VISUAL, or EDITOR, environment variable, or to the
string "vi" if neither of those are set.
3.52. encode_from
Type: boolean
Default: no
When _s_e_t, mutt will quoted-printable encode messages when they contain
the string "From " in the beginning of a line. Useful to avoid the
tampering certain mail delivery and transport agents tend to do with
messages.
3.53. envelope_from_address
Type: e-mail address
Default: ""
Manually sets the _e_n_v_e_l_o_p_e sender for outgoing messages.
This value is
ignored if ``$$uussee__eennvveellooppee__ffrroomm'' is
unset.
3.54. escape
Type: string
Default: "~"
Escape character to use for functions in the builtin editor.
3.55. fast_reply
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, the initial prompt for recipients and subject are skipped
when replying to messages, and the initial prompt for subject is
skipped when forwarding messages.
_N_o_t_e_: this variable has no effect when the
``$$aauuttooeeddiitt'' variable is
set.
3.56. fcc_attach
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variable controls whether or not attachments on outgoing messages
are saved along with the main body of your message.
3.57. fcc_clear
Type: boolean
Default: no
When this variable is set, FCCs will be stored unencrypted and
unsigned, even when the actual message is encrypted and/or signed. (PGP
only)
3.58. folder
Type: path
Default: "~/Mail"
Specifies the default location of your mailboxes. A `+' or `=' at the
beginning of a pathname will be expanded to the value of this variable.
Note that if you change this variable from the default value you need
to make sure that the assignment occurs _b_e_f_o_r_e you use `+' or
`=' for
any other variables since expansion takes place during the `set'
command.
3.59. folder_format
Type: string
Default: "%2C %t %N %F %2l %-8.8u %-8.8g %8s %d %f"
This variable allows you to customize the file browser display to your
personal taste. This string is similar to
``$$iinnddeexx__ffoorrmmaatt'', but has
its own set of printf()-like sequences:
%C
current file number
%d
date/time folder was last modified
%f
filename
%F
file permissions
%g
group name (or numeric gid, if missing)
%l
number of hard links
%N
N if folder has new mail, blank otherwise
%s
size in bytes
%t
* if the file is tagged, blank otherwise
%u
owner name (or numeric uid, if missing)
%>X
right justify the rest of the string and pad with character "X"
%|X
pad to the end of the line with character "X"
%*X
soft-fill with character "X" as pad
For an explanation of `soft-fill', see the
``$$iinnddeexx__ffoorrmmaatt''
documentation.
3.60. followup_to
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls whether or not the _M_a_i_l_-_F_o_l_l_o_w_u_p_-_T_o
header field is generated
when sending mail. When _s_e_t, Mutt will generate this field when you are
replying to a known mailing list, specified with the ``subscribe'' or
``lliissttss'' commands.
This field has two purposes. First, preventing you from receiving
duplicate copies of replies to messages which you send to mailing
lists, and second, ensuring that you do get a reply separately for any
messages sent to known lists to which you are not subscribed. The
header will contain only the list's address for subscribed lists, and
both the list address and your own email address for unsubscribed
lists. Without this header, a group reply to your message sent to a
subscribed list will be sent to both the list and your address,
resulting in two copies of the same email for you.
3.61. force_name
Type: boolean
Default: no
This variable is similar to ``$$ssaavvee__nnaammee'', except that
Mutt will store
a copy of your outgoing message by the username of the address you are
sending to even if that mailbox does not exist.
Also see the ``$$rreeccoorrdd'' variable.
3.62. forward_decode
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain when
forwarding a message. The message header is also RFC2047 decoded. This
variable is only used, if ``$$mmiimmee__ffoorrwwaarrdd'' is
_u_n_s_e_t, otherwise
``$$mmiimmee__ffoorrwwaarrdd__ddeeccooddee'' is used
instead.
3.63. forward_edit
Type: quadoption
Default: yes
This quadoption controls whether or not the user is automatically
placed in the editor when forwarding messages. For those who always
want to forward with no modification, use a setting of ``no''.
3.64. forward_format
Type: string
Default: "[%a: %s]"
This variable controls the default subject when forwarding a message.
It uses the same format sequences as the
``$$iinnddeexx__ffoorrmmaatt'' variable.
3.65. forward_quote
Type: boolean
Default: no
When _s_e_t forwarded messages included in the main body of the message
(when ``$$mmiimmee__ffoorrwwaarrdd'' is _u_n_s_e_t) will
be quoted using
``$$iinnddeenntt__ssttrriinngg''.
3.66. from
Type: e-mail address
Default: ""
When set, this variable contains a default from address. It can be
overridden using my_hdr (including from send-hooks) and
``$$rreevveerrssee__nnaammee''. This variable is ignored if
``$$uussee__ffrroomm'' is unset.
Defaults to the contents of the environment variable EMAIL.
3.67. gecos_mask
Type: regular expression
Default: "^[^,]*"
A regular expression used by mutt to parse the GECOS field of a
password entry when expanding the alias. By default the regular
expression is set to "^[^,]*" which will return the string up to the
first "," encountered. If the GECOS field contains a string like
"lastname, firstname" then you should set the gecos_mask=".*".
This can be useful if you see the following behavior: you address a
e-mail to user ID stevef whose full name is Steve Franklin. If mutt
expands stevef to "Franklin" stevef at foo.bar then you should set the
gecos_mask to a regular expression that will match the whole name so
mutt will expand "Franklin" to "Franklin, Steve".
3.68. hdrs
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When unset, the header fields normally added by the ``mmyy__hhddrr''
command
are not created. This variable _m_u_s_t be unset before composing a new
message or replying in order to take effect. If set, the user defined
header fields are added to every new message.
3.69. header
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, this variable causes Mutt to include the header of the
message you are replying to into the edit buffer. The ``$$wweeeedd''
setting
applies.
3.70. help
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, help lines describing the bindings for the major functions
provided by each menu are displayed on the first line of the screen.
_N_o_t_e_: The binding will not be displayed correctly if the function
is
bound to a sequence rather than a single keystroke. Also, the help line
may not be updated if a binding is changed while Mutt is running. Since
this variable is primarily aimed at new users, neither of these should
present a major problem.
3.71. hidden_host
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will skip the host name part of
``$$hhoossttnnaammee'' variable
when adding the domain part to addresses. This variable does not affect
the generation of Message-IDs, and it will not lead to the cut-off of
first-level domains.
3.72. hide_limited
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will not show the presence of messages that are hidden
by limiting, in the thread tree.
3.73. hide_missing
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, mutt will not show the presence of missing messages in the
thread tree.
3.74. hide_thread_subject
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, mutt will not show the subject of messages in the thread tree
that have the same subject as their parent or closest previously
displayed sibling.
3.75. hide_top_limited
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will not show the presence of messages that are hidden
by limiting, at the top of threads in the thread tree. Note that when
$$hhiiddee__lliimmiitteedd is set, this option will have no
effect.
3.76. hide_top_missing
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, mutt will not show the presence of missing messages at the
top of threads in the thread tree. Note that when
$$hhiiddee__mmiissssiinngg is set,
this option will have no effect.
3.77. history
Type: number
Default: 10
This variable controls the size (in number of strings remembered) of
the string history buffer. The buffer is cleared each time the variable
is set.
3.78. history_file
Type: path
Default: "~/.mutthistory"
The file in which Mutt will save its history.
3.79. honor_followup_to
Type: quadoption
Default: yes
This variable controls whether or not a Mail-Followup-To header is
honored when group-replying to a message.
3.80. hostname
Type: string
Default: ""
Specifies the hostname to use after the ``@'' in local e-mail
addresses. This overrides the compile time definition obtained from
/etc/resolv.conf.
3.81. ignore_linear_white_space
Type: boolean
Default: no
This option replaces linear-white-space between encoded-word and *text
to a single space to prevent the display of MIME-encoded ``Subject''
field from being divided into multiple lines.
3.82. ignore_list_reply_to
Type: boolean
Default: no
Affects the behaviour of the _r_e_p_l_y function when replying to
messages
from mailing lists. When set, if the ``Reply-To:'' field is set to the
same value as the ``To:'' field, Mutt assumes that the ``Reply-To:''
field was set by the mailing list to automate responses to the list,
and will ignore this field. To direct a response to the mailing list
when this option is set, use the _l_i_s_t_-_r_e_p_l_y function;
_g_r_o_u_p_-_r_e_p_l_y will
reply to both the sender and the list.
3.83. imap_authenticators
Type: string
Default: ""
This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt may
attempt to use to log in to an IMAP server, in the order mutt should
try them. Authentication methods are either 'login' or the right side
of an IMAP 'AUTH=xxx' capability string, eg 'digest-md5', 'gssapi' or
'cram-md5'. This parameter is case-insensitive. If this parameter is
_u_n_s_e_t (the default) mutt will try all available methods, in order
from
most-secure to least-secure.
Example: set imap_authenticators="gssapi:cram-md5:login"
_N_o_t_e_: Mutt will only fall back to other authentication methods if
the
previous methods are unavailable. If a method is available but
authentication fails, mutt will not connect to the IMAP server.
3.84. imap_check_subscribed
Type: boolean
Default: no
When _s_e_t, mutt will fetch the set of subscribed folders from your
server on connection, and add them to the set of mailboxes it polls for
new mail. See also the ``mmaaiillbbooxxeess'' command.
3.85. imap_delim_chars
Type: string
Default: "/."
This contains the list of characters which you would like to treat as
folder separators for displaying IMAP paths. In particular it helps in
using the '=' shortcut for your _f_o_l_d_e_r variable.
3.86. imap_headers
Type: string
Default: ""
Mutt requests these header fields in addition to the default headers
("DATE FROM SUBJECT TO CC MESSAGE-ID REFERENCES CONTENT-TYPE
CONTENT-DESCRIPTION IN-REPLY-TO REPLY-TO LINES X-LABEL") from IMAP
servers before displaying the index menu. You may want to add more
headers for spam detection. _N_o_t_e_: This is a space separated list.
3.87. imap_idle
Type: boolean
Default: no
When _s_e_t, mutt will attempt to use the IMAP IDLE extension to check for
new mail in the current mailbox. Some servers (dovecot was the
inspiration for this option) react badly to mutt's implementation. If
your connection seems to freeze up periodically, try unsetting this.
3.88. imap_keepalive
Type: number
Default: 900
This variable specifies the maximum amount of time in seconds that mutt
will wait before polling open IMAP connections, to prevent the server
from closing them before mutt has finished with them. The default is
well within the RFC-specified minimum amount of time (30 minutes)
before a server is allowed to do this, but in practice the RFC does get
violated every now and then. Reduce this number if you find yourself
getting disconnected from your IMAP server due to inactivity.
3.89. imap_list_subscribed
Type: boolean
Default: no
This variable configures whether IMAP folder browsing will look for
only subscribed folders or all folders. This can be toggled in the IMAP
browser with the _t_o_g_g_l_e_-_s_u_b_s_c_r_i_b_e_d
function.
3.90. imap_login
Type: string
Default: ""
Your login name on the IMAP server.
This variable defaults to the value of _i_m_a_p___u_s_e_r.
3.91. imap_pass
Type: string
Default: ""
Specifies the password for your IMAP account. If _u_n_s_e_t, Mutt will
prompt you for your password when you invoke the fetch-mail function.
_W_a_r_n_i_n_g: you should only use this option when you are on a
fairly
secure machine, because the superuser can read your muttrc even if you
are the only one who can read the file.
3.92. imap_passive
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When _s_e_t, mutt will not open new IMAP connections to check for new
mail. Mutt will only check for new mail over existing IMAP connections.
This is useful if you don't want to be prompted to user/password pairs
on mutt invocation, or if opening the connection is slow.
3.93. imap_peek
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When _s_e_t, mutt will avoid implicitly marking your mail as read whenever
you fetch a message from the server. This is generally a good thing,
but can make closing an IMAP folder somewhat slower. This option exists
to appease speed freaks.
3.94. imap_servernoise
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When _s_e_t, mutt will display warning messages from the IMAP server as
error messages. Since these messages are often harmless, or generated
due to configuration problems on the server which are out of the users'
hands, you may wish to suppress them at some point.
3.95. imap_user
Type: string
Default: ""
The name of the user whose mail you intend to access on the IMAP
server.
This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
3.96. implicit_autoview
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set to ``yes'', mutt will look for a mailcap entry with the
copiousoutput flag set for _e_v_e_r_y MIME attachment it doesn't have an
internal viewer defined for. If such an entry is found, mutt will use
the viewer defined in that entry to convert the body part to text form.
3.97. include
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes
Controls whether or not a copy of the message(s) you are replying to is
included in your reply.
3.98. include_onlyfirst
Type: boolean
Default: no
Controls whether or not Mutt includes only the first attachment of the
message you are replying.
3.99. indent_string
Type: string
Default: "> "
Specifies the string to prepend to each line of text quoted in a
message to which you are replying. You are strongly encouraged not to
change this value, as it tends to agitate the more fanatical netizens.
This option is a format string, please see the description of
``$$iinnddeexx__ffoorrmmaatt'' for supported printf()-style
sequences.
3.100. index_format
Type: string
Default: "%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%?l?%4l&%4c?) %s"
This variable allows you to customize the message index display to your
personal taste.
``Format strings'' are similar to the strings used in the ``C''
function printf to format output (see the man page for more detail).
The following sequences are defined in Mutt:
%a
address of the author
%A
reply-to address (if present; otherwise: address of author)
%b
filename of the original message folder (think mailBox)
%B
the list to which the letter was sent, or else the folder name
(%b).
%c
number of characters (bytes) in the message
%C
current message number
%d
date and time of the message in the format specified by
``date_format'' converted to sender's time zone
%D
date and time of the message in the format specified by
``date_format'' converted to the local time zone
%e
current message number in thread
%E
number of messages in current thread
%f
entire From: line (address + real name)
%F
author name, or recipient name if the message is from you
%H
spam attribute(s) of this message
%i
message-id of the current message
%l
number of lines in the message (does not work with maildir, mh,
and possibly IMAP folders)
%L
If an address in the To or CC header field matches an address
defined by the users ``subscribe'' command, this displays "To
<list-name>", otherwise the same as %F.
%m
total number of message in the mailbox
%M
number of hidden messages if the thread is collapsed.
%N
message score
%n
author's real name (or address if missing)
%O
(_O_riginal save folder) Where mutt would formerly have stashed
the message: list name or recipient name if no list
%P
progress indicator for the builtin pager (how much of the file
has been displayed)
%s
subject of the message
%S
status of the message (N/D/d/!/r/*)
%t
`to:' field (recipients)
%T
the appropriate character from the $$ttoo__cchhaarrss string
%u
user (login) name of the author
%v
first name of the author, or the recipient if the message is
from you
%X
number of attachments (please see the
``aattttaacchhmmeennttss'' section
for possible speed effects)
%y
`x-label:' field, if present
%Y
`x-label' field, if present, and (1) not at part of a thread
tree, (2) at the top of a thread, or (3) `x-label' is different
from preceding message's `x-label'.
%Z
message status flags
%{fmt}
the date and time of the message is converted to sender's time
zone, and ``fmt'' is expanded by the library function
``strftime''; a leading bang disables locales
%[fmt]
the date and time of the message is converted to the local time
zone, and ``fmt'' is expanded by the library function
``strftime''; a leading bang disables locales
%(fmt)
the local date and time when the message was received. ``fmt''
is expanded by the library function ``strftime''; a leading bang
disables locales
%<fmt>
the current local time. ``fmt'' is expanded by the library
function ``strftime''; a leading bang disables locales.
%>X
right justify the rest of the string and pad with character "X"
%|X
pad to the end of the line with character "X"
%*X
soft-fill with character "X" as pad
`Soft-fill' deserves some explanation. Normal right-justification will
print everything to the left of the %>, displaying padding and the
whatever lies to the right only if there's room. By contrast, soft-fill
gives priority to the right-hand side, guaranteeing space to display it
and showing padding only if there's still room. If necessary, soft-fill
will eat text leftwards to make room for rightward text.
See also: ``$$ttoo__cchhaarrss''.
3.101. ispell
Type: path
Default: "ispell"
How to invoke ispell (GNU's spell-checking software).
3.102. keep_flagged
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, read messages marked as flagged will not be moved from your
spool mailbox to your ``$$mmbbooxx'' mailbox, or as a result of a
``mmbbooxx--hhooookk'' command.
3.103. locale
Type: string
Default: "C"
The locale used by _s_t_r_f_t_i_m_e_(_3_) to format dates. Legal
values are the
strings your system accepts for the locale variable _L_C___T_I_M_E.
3.104. mail_check
Type: number
Default: 5
This variable configures how often (in seconds) mutt should look for
new mail.
3.105. mailcap_path
Type: string
Default: ""
This variable specifies which files to consult when attempting to
display MIME bodies not directly supported by Mutt.
3.106. mailcap_sanitize
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If set, mutt will restrict possible characters in mailcap % expandos to
a well-defined set of safe characters. This is the safe setting, but we
are not sure it doesn't break some more advanced MIME stuff.
_D_O_N_'_T_ _C_H_A_N_G_E_ _T_H_I_S_
_S_E_T_T_I_N_G_ _U_N_L_E_S_S_ _Y_O_U_ _A_R_E_
_R_E_A_L_L_Y_ _S_U_R_E_ _W_H_A_T_ _Y_O_U_ _A_R_E
_D_O_I_N_G_!
3.107. header_cache
Type: path
Default: ""
The header_cache variable points to the header cache database. If
header_cache points to a directory it will contain a header cache
database per folder. If header_cache points to a file that file will be
a single global header cache. By default it is unset so no header
caching will be used.
3.108. maildir_header_cache_verify
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Check for Maildir unaware programs other than mutt having modified
maildir files when the header cache is in use. This incurs one stat(2)
per message every time the folder is opened.
3.109. header_cache_pagesize
Type: string
Default: "16384"
When mutt is compiled with either gdbm or bdb4 as the header cache
backend, this option changes the database page size. Too large or too
small values can waste space, memory, or CPU time. The default should
be more or less optimal for most use cases.
3.110. header_cache_compress
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When mutt is compiled with qdbm as header cache backend, this option
determines whether the database will be compressed. Compression results
in database files roughly being one fifth of the usual diskspace, but
the uncompression can result in a slower opening of cached folder(s).
3.111. maildir_trash
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, messages marked as deleted will be saved with the maildir
(T)rashed flag instead of unlinked. _N_O_T_E_: this only applies to
maildir-style mailboxes. Setting it will have no effect on other
mailbox types.
3.112. mark_old
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls whether or not mutt marks _n_e_w _u_n_r_e_a_d messages as
_o_l_d if you
exit a mailbox without reading them. With this option set, the next
time you start mutt, the messages will show up with an "O" next to them
in the index menu, indicating that they are old.
3.113. markers
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls the display of wrapped lines in the internal pager. If set, a
``+'' marker is displayed at the beginning of wrapped lines. Also see
the ``$$ssmmaarrtt__wwrraapp'' variable.
3.114. mask
Type: regular expression
Default: "!^\.[^.]"
A regular expression used in the file browser, optionally preceded by
the _n_o_t operator ``!''. Only files whose names match this mask will be
shown. The match is always case-sensitive.
3.115. mbox
Type: path
Default: "~/mbox"
This specifies the folder into which read mail in your
``$$ssppoooollffiillee''
folder will be appended.
3.116. mbox_type
Type: folder magic
Default: mbox
The default mailbox type used when creating new folders. May be any of
mbox, MMDF, MH and Maildir.
3.117. metoo
Type: boolean
Default: no
If unset, Mutt will remove your address (see the ``alternates''
command) from the list of recipients when replying to a message.
3.118. menu_context
Type: number
Default: 0
This variable controls the number of lines of context that are given
when scrolling through menus. (Similar to
``$$ppaaggeerr__ccoonntteexxtt''.)
3.119. menu_move_off
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When _u_n_s_e_t, the bottom entry of menus will never scroll up past the
bottom of the screen, unless there are less entries than lines. When
_s_e_t, the bottom entry may move off the bottom.
3.120. menu_scroll
Type: boolean
Default: no
When _s_e_t, menus will be scrolled up or down one line when you attempt
to move across a screen boundary. If _u_n_s_e_t, the screen is cleared
and
the next or previous page of the menu is displayed (useful for slow
links to avoid many redraws).
3.121. meta_key
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, forces Mutt to interpret keystrokes with the high bit (bit 8)
set as if the user had pressed the ESC key and whatever key remains
after having the high bit removed. For example, if the key pressed has
an ASCII value of 0xf8, then this is treated as if the user had pressed
ESC then ``x''. This is because the result of removing the high bit
from ``0xf8'' is ``0x78'', which is the ASCII character ``x''.
3.122. mh_purge
Type: boolean
Default: no
When unset, mutt will mimic mh's behaviour and rename deleted messages
to _,_<_o_l_d_ _f_i_l_e_ _n_a_m_e_> in mh folders instead of
really deleting them. If
the variable is set, the message files will simply be deleted.
3.123. mh_seq_flagged
Type: string
Default: "flagged"
The name of the MH sequence used for flagged messages.
3.124. mh_seq_replied
Type: string
Default: "replied"
The name of the MH sequence used to tag replied messages.
3.125. mh_seq_unseen
Type: string
Default: "unseen"
The name of the MH sequence used for unseen messages.
3.126. mime_forward
Type: quadoption
Default: no
When set, the message you are forwarding will be attached as a separate
MIME part instead of included in the main body of the message. This is
useful for forwarding MIME messages so the receiver can properly view
the message as it was delivered to you. If you like to switch between
MIME and not MIME from mail to mail, set this variable to ask-no or
ask-yes.
Also see ``$$ffoorrwwaarrdd__ddeeccooddee'' and
``$$mmiimmee__ffoorrwwaarrdd__ddeeccooddee''.
3.127. mime_forward_decode
Type: boolean
Default: no
Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain when
forwarding a message while ``$$mmiimmee__ffoorrwwaarrdd'' is
_s_e_t. Otherwise
``$$ffoorrwwaarrdd__ddeeccooddee'' is used instead.
3.128. mime_forward_rest
Type: quadoption
Default: yes
When forwarding multiple attachments of a MIME message from the
recvattach menu, attachments which cannot be decoded in a reasonable
manner will be attached to the newly composed message if this option is
set.
3.129. mix_entry_format
Type: string
Default: "%4n %c %-16s %a"
This variable describes the format of a remailer line on the mixmaster
chain selection screen. The following printf-like sequences are
supported:
%n
The running number on the menu.
%c
Remailer capabilities.
%s
The remailer's short name.
%a
The remailer's e-mail address.
3.130. mixmaster
Type: path
Default: "mixmaster"
This variable contains the path to the Mixmaster binary on your system.
It is used with various sets of parameters to gather the list of known
remailers, and to finally send a message through the mixmaster chain.
3.131. move
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-no
Controls whether or not Mutt will move read messages from your spool
mailbox to your ``$$mmbbooxx'' mailbox, or as a result of a
``mmbbooxx--hhooookk''
command.
3.132. message_cachedir
Type: path
Default: ""
Set this to a directory and mutt will cache copies of messages from
your IMAP and POP servers here. You are free to remove entries at any
time, for instance if stale entries accumulate because you have deleted
messages with another mail client.
3.133. message_cache_clean
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, mutt will clean out obsolete entries from the cache when the
mailbox is synchronized. You probably only want to set it every once in
a while, since it can be a little slow.
3.134. message_format
Type: string
Default: "%s"
This is the string displayed in the ``attachment'' menu for attachments
of type message/rfc822. For a full listing of defined printf()-like
sequences see the section on ``$$iinnddeexx__ffoorrmmaatt''.
3.135. narrow_tree
Type: boolean
Default: no
This variable, when set, makes the thread tree narrower, allowing
deeper threads to fit on the screen.
3.136. net_inc
Type: number
Default: 10
Operations that expect to transfer a large amount of data over the
network will update their progress every _n_e_t___i_n_c kilobytes. If
set to
0, no progress messages will be displayed.
See also ``$$rreeaadd__iinncc'' and
``$$wwrriittee__iinncc''.
3.137. pager
Type: path
Default: "builtin"
This variable specifies which pager you would like to use to view
messages. builtin means to use the builtin pager, otherwise this
variable should specify the pathname of the external pager you would
like to use.
Using an external pager may have some disadvantages: Additional
keystrokes are necessary because you can't call mutt functions directly
from the pager, and screen resizes cause lines longer than the screen
width to be badly formatted in the help menu.
3.138. pager_context
Type: number
Default: 0
This variable controls the number of lines of context that are given
when displaying the next or previous page in the internal pager. By
default, Mutt will display the line after the last one on the screen at
the top of the next page (0 lines of context).
3.139. pager_format
Type: string
Default: "-%Z- %C/%m: %-20.20n %s%* -- (%P)"
This variable controls the format of the one-line message ``status''
displayed before each message in either the internal or an external
pager. The valid sequences are listed in the
``$$iinnddeexx__ffoorrmmaatt'' section.
3.140. pager_index_lines
Type: number
Default: 0
Determines the number of lines of a mini-index which is shown when in
the pager. The current message, unless near the top or bottom of the
folder, will be roughly one third of the way down this mini-index,
giving the reader the context of a few messages before and after the
message. This is useful, for example, to determine how many messages
remain to be read in the current thread. One of the lines is reserved
for the status bar from the index, so a
_p_a_g_e_r___i_n_d_e_x___l_i_n_e_s of 6 will
only show 5 lines of the actual index. A value of 0 results in no index
being shown. If the number of messages in the current folder is less
than _p_a_g_e_r___i_n_d_e_x___l_i_n_e_s, then the index
will only use as many lines as
it needs.
3.141. pager_stop
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, the internal-pager will _n_o_t move to the next message when you
are at the end of a message and invoke the _n_e_x_t_-_p_a_g_e
function.
3.142. crypt_autosign
Type: boolean
Default: no
Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to
cryptographically sign outgoing messages. This can be overridden by use
of the _p_g_p_-_m_e_n_u, when signing is not required or encryption
is
requested as well. If
``$$ssmmiimmee__iiss__ddeeffaauulltt'' is set, then OpenSSL is
used instead to create S/MIME messages and settings can be overridden
by use of the _s_m_i_m_e_-_m_e_n_u. (Crypto only)
3.143. crypt_autoencrypt
Type: boolean
Default: no
Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to PGP encrypt
outgoing messages. This is probably only useful in connection to the
_s_e_n_d_-_h_o_o_k command. It can be overridden by use of the
_p_g_p_-_m_e_n_u, when
encryption is not required or signing is requested as well. IF
``$$ssmmiimmee__iiss__ddeeffaauulltt'' is set, then OpenSSL
is used instead to create
S/MIME messages and settings can be overridden by use of the
_s_m_i_m_e_-_m_e_n_u. (Crypto only)
3.144. pgp_ignore_subkeys
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Setting this variable will cause Mutt to ignore OpenPGP subkeys.
Instead, the principal key will inherit the subkeys' capabilities.
Unset this if you want to play interesting key selection games. (PGP
only)
3.145. crypt_replyencrypt
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL encrypt replies to messages which
are encrypted. (Crypto only)
3.146. crypt_replysign
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL sign replies to messages which are
signed.
_N_o_t_e_: this does not work on messages that are encrypted _a_n_d
signed!
(Crypto only)
3.147. crypt_replysignencrypted
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL sign replies to messages which are
encrypted. This makes sense in combination with
``$$ccrryypptt__rreeppllyyeennccrryypptt'', because it
allows you to sign all messages
which are automatically encrypted. This works around the problem noted
in ``$$ccrryypptt__rreeppllyyssiiggnn'', that mutt is not
able to find out whether an
encrypted message is also signed. (Crypto only)
3.148. crypt_timestamp
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If set, mutt will include a time stamp in the lines surrounding PGP or
S/MIME output, so spoofing such lines is more difficult. If you are
using colors to mark these lines, and rely on these, you may unset this
setting. (Crypto only)
3.149. pgp_use_gpg_agent
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, mutt will use a possibly-running gpg-agent process. (PGP only)
3.150. crypt_verify_sig
Type: quadoption
Default: yes
If ``yes'', always attempt to verify PGP or S/MIME signatures. If
``ask'', ask whether or not to verify the signature. If ``no'', never
attempt to verify cryptographic signatures. (Crypto only)
3.151. smime_is_default
Type: boolean
Default: no
The default behaviour of mutt is to use PGP on all auto-sign/encryption
operations. To override and to use OpenSSL instead this must be set.
However, this has no effect while replying, since mutt will
automatically select the same application that was used to sign/encrypt
the original message. (Note that this variable can be overridden by
unsetting $$ccrryypptt__aauuttoossmmiimmee.) (S/MIME only)
3.152. smime_ask_cert_label
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This flag controls whether you want to be asked to enter a label for a
certificate about to be added to the database or not. It is set by
default. (S/MIME only)
3.153. smime_decrypt_use_default_key
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If set (default) this tells mutt to use the default key for decryption.
Otherwise, if manage multiple certificate-key-pairs, mutt will try to
use the mailbox-address to determine the key to use. It will ask you to
supply a key, if it can't find one. (S/MIME only)
3.154. pgp_entry_format
Type: string
Default: "%4n %t%f %4l/0x%k %-4a %2c %u"
This variable allows you to customize the PGP key selection menu to
your personal taste. This string is similar to
``$$iinnddeexx__ffoorrmmaatt'', but
has its own set of printf()-like sequences:
%n
number
%k
key id
%u
user id
%a
algorithm
%l
key length
%f
flags
%c
capabilities
%t
trust/validity of the key-uid association
%[<s>]
date of the key where <s> is an strftime(3) expression
(PGP only)
3.155. pgp_good_sign
Type: regular expression
Default: ""
If you assign a text to this variable, then a PGP signature is only
considered verified if the output from
$$ppggpp__vveerriiffyy__ccoommmmaanndd contains the
text. Use this variable if the exit code from the command is 0 even for
bad signatures. (PGP only)
3.156. pgp_check_exit
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If set, mutt will check the exit code of the PGP subprocess when
signing or encrypting. A non-zero exit code means that the subprocess
failed. (PGP only)
3.157. pgp_long_ids
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, use 64 bit PGP key IDs. Unset uses the normal 32 bit Key IDs.
(PGP only)
3.158. pgp_retainable_sigs
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, signed and encrypted messages will consist of nested
multipart/signed and multipart/encrypted body parts.
This is useful for applications like encrypted and signed mailing
lists, where the outer layer (multipart/encrypted) can be easily
removed, while the inner multipart/signed part is retained. (PGP only)
3.159. pgp_autoinline
Type: boolean
Default: no
This option controls whether Mutt generates old-style inline
(traditional) PGP encrypted or signed messages under certain
circumstances. This can be overridden by use of the
_p_g_p_-_m_e_n_u, when
inline is not required.
Note that Mutt might automatically use PGP/MIME for messages which
consist of more than a single MIME part. Mutt can be configured to ask
before sending PGP/MIME messages when inline (traditional) would not
work. See also: ``$$ppggpp__mmiimmee__aauuttoo''.
Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is
_s_t_r_o_n_g_l_y
_d_e_p_r_e_c_a_t_e_d. (PGP only)
3.160. pgp_replyinline
Type: boolean
Default: no
Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to create an
inline (traditional) message when replying to a message which is PGP
encrypted/signed inline. This can be overridden by use of the
_p_g_p_-_m_e_n_u,
when inline is not required. This option does not automatically detect
if the (replied-to) message is inline; instead it relies on Mutt
internals for previously checked/flagged messages.
Note that Mutt might automatically use PGP/MIME for messages which
consist of more than a single MIME part. Mutt can be configured to ask
before sending PGP/MIME messages when inline (traditional) would not
work. See also: ``$$ppggpp__mmiimmee__aauuttoo''.
Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is
_s_t_r_o_n_g_l_y
_d_e_p_r_e_c_a_t_e_d. (PGP only)
3.161. pgp_show_unusable
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If set, mutt will display non-usable keys on the PGP key selection
menu. This includes keys which have been revoked, have expired, or have
been marked as ``disabled'' by the user. (PGP only)
3.162. pgp_sign_as
Type: string
Default: ""
If you have more than one key pair, this option allows you to specify
which of your private keys to use. It is recommended that you use the
keyid form to specify your key (e.g., ``0x00112233''). (PGP only)
3.163. pgp_strict_enc
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If set, Mutt will automatically encode PGP/MIME signed messages as
_q_u_o_t_e_d_-_p_r_i_n_t_a_b_l_e. Please note that unsetting
this variable may lead to
problems with non-verifyable PGP signatures, so only change this if you
know what you are doing. (PGP only)
3.164. pgp_timeout
Type: number
Default: 300
The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will expire if
not used. (PGP only)
3.165. pgp_sort_keys
Type: sort order
Default: address
Specifies how the entries in the `pgp keys' menu are sorted. The
following are legal values:
address
sort alphabetically by user id
keyid
sort alphabetically by key id
date
sort by key creation date
trust
sort by the trust of the key
If you prefer reverse order of the above values, prefix it with
`reverse-'. (PGP only)
3.166. pgp_mime_auto
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes
This option controls whether Mutt will prompt you for automatically
sending a (signed/encrypted) message using PGP/MIME when inline
(traditional) fails (for any reason).
Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is
_s_t_r_o_n_g_l_y
_d_e_p_r_e_c_a_t_e_d. (PGP only)
3.167. pgp_auto_decode
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, mutt will automatically attempt to decrypt traditional PGP
messages whenever the user performs an operation which ordinarily would
result in the contents of the message being operated on. For example,
if the user displays a pgp-traditional message which has not been
manually checked with the check-traditional-pgp function, mutt will
automatically check the message for traditional pgp.
3.168. pgp_decode_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This format strings specifies a command which is used to decode
application/pgp attachments.
The PGP command formats have their own set of printf-like sequences:
%p
Expands to PGPPASSFD=0 when a pass phrase is needed, to an empty
string otherwise. Note: This may be used with a %? construct.
%f
Expands to the name of a file containing a message.
%s
Expands to the name of a file containing the signature part of a
multipart/signed attachment when verifying it.
%a
The value of $$ppggpp__ssiiggnn__aass.
%r
One or more key IDs.
For examples on how to configure these formats for the various versions
of PGP which are floating around, see the pgp*.rc and gpg.rc files in
the samples/ subdirectory which has been installed on your system
alongside the documentation. (PGP only)
3.169. pgp_getkeys_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is invoked whenever mutt will need public key information.
%r is the only printf-like sequence used with this format. (PGP only)
3.170. pgp_verify_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is used to verify PGP signatures. (PGP only)
3.171. pgp_decrypt_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is used to decrypt a PGP encrypted message. (PGP only)
3.172. pgp_clearsign_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This format is used to create a old-style "clearsigned" PGP message.
Note that the use of this format is _s_t_r_o_n_g_l_y
_d_e_p_r_e_c_a_t_e_d. (PGP only)
3.173. pgp_sign_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is used to create the detached PGP signature for a
multipart/signed PGP/MIME body part. (PGP only)
3.174. pgp_encrypt_sign_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is used to both sign and encrypt a body part. (PGP only)
3.175. pgp_encrypt_only_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is used to encrypt a body part without signing it. (PGP
only)
3.176. pgp_import_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is used to import a key from a message into the user's
public key ring. (PGP only)
3.177. pgp_export_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is used to export a public key from the user's key ring.
(PGP only)
3.178. pgp_verify_key_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is used to verify key information from the key selection
menu. (PGP only)
3.179. pgp_list_secring_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is used to list the secret key ring's contents. The output
format must be analogous to the one used by gpg --list-keys
--with-colons.
This format is also generated by the pgpring utility which comes with
mutt. (PGP only)
3.180. pgp_list_pubring_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is used to list the public key ring's contents. The output
format must be analogous to the one used by gpg --list-keys
--with-colons.
This format is also generated by the pgpring utility which comes with
mutt. (PGP only)
3.181. forward_decrypt
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls the handling of encrypted messages when forwarding a message.
When set, the outer layer of encryption is stripped off. This variable
is only used if ``$$mmiimmee__ffoorrwwaarrdd'' is _s_e_t and
``$$mmiimmee__ffoorrwwaarrdd__ddeeccooddee''
is _u_n_s_e_t. (PGP only)
3.182. smime_timeout
Type: number
Default: 300
The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will expire if
not used. (S/MIME only)
3.183. smime_encrypt_with
Type: string
Default: ""
This sets the algorithm that should be used for encryption. Valid
choices are "des", "des3", "rc2-40", "rc2-64", "rc2-128". If unset
"3des" (TripleDES) is used. (S/MIME only)
3.184. smime_keys
Type: path
Default: ""
Since there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, mutt has to handle
storage ad retrieval of keys/certs by itself. This is very basic right
now, and stores keys and certificates in two different directories,
both named as the hash-value retrieved from OpenSSL. There is an index
file which contains mailbox-address keyid pair, and which can be
manually edited. This one points to the location of the private keys.
(S/MIME only)
3.185. smime_ca_location
Type: path
Default: ""
This variable contains the name of either a directory, or a file which
contains trusted certificates for use with OpenSSL. (S/MIME only)
3.186. smime_certificates
Type: path
Default: ""
Since there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, mutt has to handle
storage and retrieval of keys by itself. This is very basic right now,
and keys and certificates are stored in two different directories, both
named as the hash-value retrieved from OpenSSL. There is an index file
which contains mailbox-address keyid pairs, and which can be manually
edited. This one points to the location of the certificates. (S/MIME
only)
3.187. smime_decrypt_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This format string specifies a command which is used to decrypt
application/x-pkcs7-mime attachments.
The OpenSSL command formats have their own set of printf-like sequences
similar to PGP's:
%f
Expands to the name of a file containing a message.
%s
Expands to the name of a file containing the signature part of a
multipart/signed attachment when verifying it.
%k
The key-pair specified with
$$ssmmiimmee__ddeeffaauulltt__kkeeyy
%c
One or more certificate IDs.
%a
The algorithm used for encryption.
%C
CA location: Depending on whether
$$ssmmiimmee__ccaa__llooccaattiioonn points to a
directory or file, this expands to "-CApath
$$ssmmiimmee__ccaa__llooccaattiioonn"
or "-CAfile $$ssmmiimmee__ccaa__llooccaattiioonn".
For examples on how to configure these formats, see the smime.rc in the
samples/ subdirectory which has been installed on your system alongside
the documentation. (S/MIME only)
3.188. smime_verify_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type
multipart/signed. (S/MIME only)
3.189. smime_verify_opaque_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type
application/x-pkcs7-mime. (S/MIME only)
3.190. smime_sign_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type
multipart/signed, which can be read by all mail clients. (S/MIME only)
3.191. smime_sign_opaque_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type
application/x-pkcs7-signature, which can only be handled by mail
clients supporting the S/MIME extension. (S/MIME only)
3.192. smime_encrypt_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is used to create encrypted S/MIME messages. (S/MIME only)
3.193. smime_pk7out_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is used to extract PKCS7 structures of S/MIME signatures,
in order to extract the public X509 certificate(s). (S/MIME only)
3.194. smime_get_cert_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is used to extract X509 certificates from a PKCS7
structure. (S/MIME only)
3.195. smime_get_signer_cert_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is used to extract only the signers X509 certificate from
a S/MIME signature, so that the certificate's owner may get compared to
the email's 'From'-field. (S/MIME only)
3.196. smime_import_cert_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is used to import a certificate via smime_keys. (S/MIME
only)
3.197. smime_get_cert_email_command
Type: string
Default: ""
This command is used to extract the mail address(es) used for storing
X509 certificates, and for verification purposes (to check whether the
certificate was issued for the sender's mailbox). (S/MIME only)
3.198. smime_default_key
Type: string
Default: ""
This is the default key-pair to use for signing. This must be set to
the keyid (the hash-value that OpenSSL generates) to work properly
(S/MIME only)
3.199. ssl_client_cert
Type: path
Default: ""
The file containing a client certificate and its associated private
key.
3.200. ssl_force_tls
Type: boolean
Default: no
If this variable is set, Mutt will require that all connections to
remote servers be encrypted. Furthermore it will attempt to negotiate
TLS even if the server does not advertise the capability, since it
would otherwise have to abort the connection anyway. This option
supersedes ``$$ssssll__ssttaarrttttllss''.
3.201. ssl_starttls
Type: quadoption
Default: yes
If set (the default), mutt will attempt to use STARTTLS on servers
advertising the capability. When unset, mutt will not attempt to use
STARTTLS regardless of the server's capabilities.
3.202. certificate_file
Type: path
Default: "~/.mutt_certificates"
This variable specifies the file where the certificates you trust are
saved. When an unknown certificate is encountered, you are asked if you
accept it or not. If you accept it, the certificate can also be saved
in this file and further connections are automatically accepted.
You can also manually add CA certificates in this file. Any server
certificate that is signed with one of these CA certificates are also
automatically accepted.
Example: set certificate_file=~/.mutt/certificates
3.203. ssl_usesystemcerts
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If set to _y_e_s, mutt will use CA certificates in the system-wide
certificate store when checking if server certificate is signed by a
trusted CA.
3.204. entropy_file
Type: path
Default: ""
The file which includes random data that is used to initialize SSL
library functions.
3.205. ssl_use_sslv2
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variables specifies whether to attempt to use SSLv2 in the SSL
authentication process.
3.206. ssl_use_sslv3
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variables specifies whether to attempt to use SSLv3 in the SSL
authentication process.
3.207. ssl_use_tlsv1
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variables specifies whether to attempt to use TLSv1 in the SSL
authentication process.
3.208. ssl_min_dh_prime_bits
Type: number
Default: 0
This variable specifies the minimum acceptable prime size (in bits) for
use in any Diffie-Hellman key exchange. A value of 0 will use the
default from the GNUTLS library.
3.209. ssl_ca_certificates_file
Type: path
Default: ""
This variable specifies a file containing trusted CA certificates. Any
server certificate that is signed with one of these CA certificates are
also automatically accepted.
Example: set
ssl_ca_certificates_file=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
3.210. pipe_split
Type: boolean
Default: no
Used in connection with the _p_i_p_e_-_m_e_s_s_a_g_e command and
the ``tag-
prefix'' operator. If this variable is unset, when piping a list of
tagged messages Mutt will concatenate the messages and will pipe them
as a single folder. When set, Mutt will pipe the messages one by one.
In both cases the messages are piped in the current sorted order, and
the ``$$ppiippee__sseepp'' separator is added after each message.
3.211. pipe_decode
Type: boolean
Default: no
Used in connection with the _p_i_p_e_-_m_e_s_s_a_g_e command.
When unset, Mutt will
pipe the messages without any preprocessing. When set, Mutt will weed
headers and will attempt to PGP/MIME decode the messages first.
3.212. pipe_sep
Type: string
Default: "\n"
The separator to add between messages when piping a list of tagged
messages to an external Unix command.
3.213. pop_authenticators
Type: string
Default: ""
This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt may
attempt to use to log in to an POP server, in the order mutt should try
them. Authentication methods are either 'user', 'apop' or any SASL
mechanism, eg 'digest-md5', 'gssapi' or 'cram-md5'. This parameter is
case-insensitive. If this parameter is unset (the default) mutt will
try all available methods, in order from most-secure to least-secure.
Example: set pop_authenticators="digest-md5:apop:user"
3.214. pop_auth_try_all
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If set, Mutt will try all available methods. When unset, Mutt will only
fall back to other authentication methods if the previous methods are
unavailable. If a method is available but authentication fails, Mutt
will not connect to the POP server.
3.215. pop_checkinterval
Type: number
Default: 60
This variable configures how often (in seconds) mutt should look for
new mail in the currently selected mailbox if it is a POP mailbox.
3.216. pop_delete
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-no
If set, Mutt will delete successfully downloaded messages from the POP
server when using the fetch-mail function. When unset, Mutt will
download messages but also leave them on the POP server.
3.217. pop_host
Type: string
Default: ""
The name of your POP server for the fetch-mail function. You can also
specify an alternative port, username and password, ie:
[pop[s]://][username[:passwo...@]popserver[:port]
3.218. pop_last
Type: boolean
Default: no
If this variable is set, mutt will try to use the "LAST" POP command
for retrieving only unread messages from the POP server when using the
fetch-mail function.
3.219. pop_reconnect
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes
Controls whether or not Mutt will try to reconnect to POP server if the
connection is lost.
3.220. pop_user
Type: string
Default: ""
Your login name on the POP server.
This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
3.221. pop_pass
Type: string
Default: ""
Specifies the password for your POP account. If unset, Mutt will prompt
you for your password when you open POP mailbox. _W_a_r_n_i_n_g: you
should
only use this option when you are on a fairly secure machine, because
the superuser can read your muttrc even if you are the only one who can
read the file.
3.222. post_indent_string
Type: string
Default: ""
Similar to the ``$$aattttrriibbuuttiioonn'' variable, Mutt will
append this string
after the inclusion of a message which is being replied to.
3.223. postpone
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes
Controls whether or not messages are saved in the
``$$ppoossttppoonneedd''
mailbox when you elect not to send immediately.
3.224. postponed
Type: path
Default: "~/postponed"
Mutt allows you to indefinitely ``ppoossttppoonnee sending a
message'' which
you are editing. When you choose to postpone a message, Mutt saves it
in the mailbox specified by this variable. Also see the
``$$ppoossttppoonnee''
variable.
3.225. preconnect
Type: string
Default: ""
If set, a shell command to be executed if mutt fails to establish a
connection to the server. This is useful for setting up secure
connections, e.g. with ssh(1). If the command returns a nonzero status,
mutt gives up opening the server. Example:
preconnect="ssh -f -q -L 1234:mailhost.net:143 mailhost.net sleep 20 <
/dev/null > /dev/null"
Mailbox 'foo' on mailhost.net can now be reached as
'{localhost:1234}foo'.
NOTE: For this example to work, you must be able to log in to the
remote machine without having to enter a password.
3.226. print
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-no
Controls whether or not Mutt really prints messages. This is set to
_a_s_k_-_n_o by default, because some people accidentally hit ``p''
often
(like me).
3.227. print_command
Type: path
Default: "lpr"
This specifies the command pipe that should be used to print messages.
3.228. print_decode
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Used in connection with the print-message command. If this option is
set, the message is decoded before it is passed to the external command
specified by $$pprriinntt__ccoommmmaanndd. If this option is
unset, no processing
will be applied to the message when printing it. The latter setting may
be useful if you are using some advanced printer filter which is able
to properly format e-mail messages for printing.
3.229. print_split
Type: boolean
Default: no
Used in connection with the print-message command. If this option is
set, the command specified by $$pprriinntt__ccoommmmaanndd is
executed once for each
message which is to be printed. If this option is unset, the command
specified by $$pprriinntt__ccoommmmaanndd is executed only
once, and all the messages
are concatenated, with a form feed as the message separator.
Those who use the _e_n_s_c_r_i_p_t(1) program's mail-printing mode
will most
likely want to set this option.
3.230. prompt_after
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If you use an _e_x_t_e_r_n_a_l ``$$ppaaggeerr'', setting this
variable will cause
Mutt to prompt you for a command when the pager exits rather than
returning to the index menu. If unset, Mutt will return to the index
menu when the external pager exits.
3.231. query_command
Type: path
Default: ""
This specifies the command that mutt will use to make external address
queries. The string should contain a %s, which will be substituted with
the query string the user types. See ``qquueerryy'' for more
information.
3.232. quit
Type: quadoption
Default: yes
This variable controls whether ``quit'' and ``exit'' actually quit from
mutt. If it set to yes, they do quit, if it is set to no, they have no
effect, and if it is set to ask-yes or ask-no, you are prompted for
confirmation when you try to quit.
3.233. quote_regexp
Type: regular expression
Default: "^([ \t]*[|>:}#])+"
A regular expression used in the internal-pager to determine quoted
sections of text in the body of a message.
_N_o_t_e_: In order to use the _q_u_o_t_e_d_x patterns in the
internal pager, you
need to set this to a regular expression that matches _e_x_a_c_t_l_y
the quote
characters at the beginning of quoted lines.
3.234. read_inc
Type: number
Default: 10
If set to a value greater than 0, Mutt will display which message it is
currently on when reading a mailbox or when performing search actions
such as search and limit. The message is printed after
_r_e_a_d___i_n_c
messages have been read or searched (e.g., if set to 25, Mutt will
print a message when it is at message 25, and then again when it gets
to message 50). This variable is meant to indicate progress when
reading or searching large mailboxes which may take some time. When set
to 0, only a single message will appear before the reading the mailbox.
Also see the ``$$wwrriittee__iinncc'' variable and the ``Tuning''
section of the
manual for performance considerations.
3.235. read_only
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, all folders are opened in read-only mode.
3.236. realname
Type: string
Default: ""
This variable specifies what "real" or "personal" name should be used
when sending messages.
By default, this is the GECOS field from /etc/passwd. Note that this
variable will _n_o_t be used when the user has set a real name in the
$$ffrroomm variable.
3.237. recall
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes
Controls whether or not Mutt recalls postponed messages when composing
a new message. Also see ``$$ppoossttppoonneedd''.
Setting this variable to ``yes'' is not generally useful, and thus not
recommended.
3.238. record
Type: path
Default: "~/sent"
This specifies the file into which your outgoing messages should be
appended. (This is meant as the primary method for saving a copy of
your messages, but another way to do this is using the ``mmyy__hhddrr''
command to create a _B_c_c_: field with your email address in it.)
The value of $$rreeccoorrdd is overridden by the
``$$ffoorrccee__nnaammee'' and
``$$ssaavvee__nnaammee'' variables, and the
``ffcccc--hhooookk'' command.
3.239. reply_regexp
Type: regular expression
Default: "^(re([\[0-9\]+])*|aw):[ \t]*"
A regular expression used to recognize reply messages when threading
and replying. The default value corresponds to the English "Re:" and
the German "Aw:".
3.240. reply_self
Type: boolean
Default: no
If unset and you are replying to a message sent by you, Mutt will
assume that you want to reply to the recipients of that message rather
than to yourself.
3.241. reply_to
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes
If set, when replying to a message, Mutt will use the address listed in
the Reply-to: header as the recipient of the reply. If unset, it will
use the address in the From: header field instead. This option is
useful for reading a mailing list that sets the Reply-To: header field
to the list address and you want to send a private message to the
author of a message.
3.242. resolve
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, the cursor will be automatically advanced to the next
(possibly undeleted) message whenever a command that modifies the
current message is executed.
3.243. reverse_alias
Type: boolean
Default: no
This variable controls whether or not Mutt will display the "personal"
name from your aliases in the index menu if it finds an alias that
matches the message's sender. For example, if you have the following
alias:
alias juser abd30425 at somewhere.net (Joe User)
and then you receive mail which contains the following header:
From: abd30...@somewhere.net
It would be displayed in the index menu as ``Joe User'' instead of
``abd30425 at somewhere.net.'' This is useful when the person's e-mail
address is not human friendly (like CompuServe addresses).
3.244. reverse_name
Type: boolean
Default: no
It may sometimes arrive that you receive mail to a certain machine,
move the messages to another machine, and reply to some the messages
from there. If this variable is set, the default _F_r_o_m_: line of the
reply messages is built using the address where you received the
messages you are replying to _i_f that address matches your alternates.
If the variable is unset, or the address that would be used doesn't
match your alternates, the _F_r_o_m_: line will use your address on the
current machine.
3.245. reverse_realname
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variable fine-tunes the behaviour of the
rreevveerrssee__nnaammee feature.
When it is set, mutt will use the address from incoming messages as-is,
possibly including eventual real names. When it is unset, mutt will
override any such real names with the setting of the
rreeaallnnaammee variable.
3.246. rfc2047_parameters
Type: boolean
Default: no
When this variable is set, Mutt will decode RFC-2047-encoded MIME
parameters. You want to set this variable when mutt suggests you to
save attachments to files named like this:
=?iso-8859-1?Q?file=5F=E4=5F991116=2Ezip?=
When this variable is set interactively, the change doesn't have the
desired effect before you have changed folders.
Note that this use of RFC 2047's encoding is explicitly, prohibited by
the standard, but nevertheless encountered in the wild. Also note that
setting this parameter will _n_o_t have the effect that mutt
_g_e_n_e_r_a_t_e_s
this kind of encoding. Instead, mutt will unconditionally use the
encoding specified in RFC 2231.
3.247. save_address
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, mutt will take the sender's full address when choosing a
default folder for saving a mail. If ``$$ssaavvee__nnaammee'' or
``$$ffoorrccee__nnaammee''
is set too, the selection of the fcc folder will be changed as well.
3.248. save_empty
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When unset, mailboxes which contain no saved messages will be removed
when closed (the exception is ``$$ssppoooollffiillee'' which is
never removed).
If set, mailboxes are never removed.
_N_o_t_e_: This only applies to mbox and MMDF folders, Mutt does not
delete
MH and Maildir directories.
3.249. save_history
Type: number
Default: 0
This variable controls the size of the history saved in the
``$$hhiissttoorryy__ffiillee'' file.
3.250. save_name
Type: boolean
Default: no
This variable controls how copies of outgoing messages are saved. When
set, a check is made to see if a mailbox specified by the recipient
address exists (this is done by searching for a mailbox in the
``$$ffoollddeerr'' directory with the _u_s_e_r_n_a_m_e part
of the recipient address).
If the mailbox exists, the outgoing message will be saved to that
mailbox, otherwise the message is saved to the ``$$rreeccoorrdd''
mailbox.
Also see the ``$$ffoorrccee__nnaammee'' variable.
3.251. score
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When this variable is _u_n_s_e_t, scoring is turned off. This can be
useful
to selectively disable scoring for certain folders when the
``$$ssccoorree__tthhrreesshhoolldd__ddeelleettee''
variable and friends are used.
3.252. score_threshold_delete
Type: number
Default: -1
Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than the
value of this variable are automatically marked for deletion by mutt.
Since mutt scores are always greater than or equal to zero, the default
setting of this variable will never mark a message for deletion.
3.253. score_threshold_flag
Type: number
Default: 9999
Messages which have been assigned a score greater than or equal to this
variable's value are automatically marked "flagged".
3.254. score_threshold_read
Type: number
Default: -1
Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than the
value of this variable are automatically marked as read by mutt. Since
mutt scores are always greater than or equal to zero, the default
setting of this variable will never mark a message read.
3.255. send_charset
Type: string
Default: "us-ascii:iso-8859-1:utf-8"
A colon-delimited list of character sets for outgoing messages. Mutt
will use the first character set into which the text can be converted
exactly. If your ``$$cchhaarrsseett'' is not iso-8859-1 and
recipients may not
understand UTF-8, it is advisable to include in the list an appropriate
widely used standard character set (such as iso-8859-2, koi8-r or
iso-2022-jp) either instead of or after "iso-8859-1".
In case the text cannot be converted into one of these exactly, mutt
uses ``$$cchhaarrsseett'' as a fallback.
3.256. sendmail
Type: path
Default: "/home/talley/dist/SunOS/i386/5.9/sbin/sendmail -oem -oi"
Specifies the program and arguments used to deliver mail sent by Mutt.
Mutt expects that the specified program interprets additional arguments
as recipient addresses.
3.257. sendmail_wait
Type: number
Default: 0
Specifies the number of seconds to wait for the
``$$sseennddmmaaiill'' process
to finish before giving up and putting delivery in the background.
Mutt interprets the value of this variable as follows:
>0
number of seconds to wait for sendmail to finish before
continuing
0
wait forever for sendmail to finish
<0
always put sendmail in the background without waiting
Note that if you specify a value other than 0, the output of the child
process will be put in a temporary file. If there is some error, you
will be informed as to where to find the output.
3.258. shell
Type: path
Default: ""
Command to use when spawning a subshell. By default, the user's login
shell from /etc/passwd is used.
3.259. sig_dashes
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If set, a line containing ``-- '' will be inserted before your
``$$ssiiggnnaattuurree''. It is _s_t_r_o_n_g_l_y
recommended that you not unset this
variable unless your ``signature'' contains just your name. The reason
for this is because many software packages use ``-- \n'' to detect your
signature. For example, Mutt has the ability to highlight the signature
in a different color in the builtin pager.
3.260. sig_on_top
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, the signature will be included before any quoted or forwarded
text. It is _s_t_r_o_n_g_l_y recommended that you do not set this
variable
unless you really know what you are doing, and are prepared to take
some heat from netiquette guardians.
3.261. signature
Type: path
Default: "~/.signature"
Specifies the filename of your signature, which is appended to all
outgoing messages. If the filename ends with a pipe (``|''), it is
assumed that filename is a shell command and input should be read from
its stdout.
3.262. simple_search
Type: string
Default: "~f %s | ~s %s"
Specifies how Mutt should expand a simple search into a real search
pattern. A simple search is one that does not contain any of the ~
operators. See ``ppaatttteerrnnss'' for more information on search
patterns.
For example, if you simply type joe at a search or limit prompt, Mutt
will automatically expand it to the value specified by this variable.
For the default value it would be:
~f joe | ~s joe
3.263. smart_wrap
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls the display of lines longer than the screen width in the
internal pager. If set, long lines are wrapped at a word boundary. If
unset, lines are simply wrapped at the screen edge. Also see the
``$$mmaarrkkeerrss'' variable.
3.264. smileys
Type: regular expression
Default: "(>From )|(:[-^]?[][)(><}{|/DP])"
The _p_a_g_e_r uses this variable to catch some common false positives
of
``$$qquuoottee__rreeggeexxpp'', most notably smileys in the
beginning of a line
3.265. sleep_time
Type: number
Default: 1
Specifies time, in seconds, to pause while displaying certain
informational messages, while moving from folder to folder and after
expunging messages from the current folder. The default is to pause one
second, so a value of zero for this option suppresses the pause.
3.266. smtp_pass
Type: string
Default: ""
Specifies the password for your SMTP account. If _u_n_s_e_t, Mutt will
prompt you for your password when you first send mail via SMTP. See
``ssmmttpp__uurrll'' to configure mutt to send mail via SMTP.
_W_a_r_n_i_n_g: you
should only use this option when you are on a fairly secure machine,
because the superuser can read your muttrc even if you are the only one
who can read the file.
3.267. smtp_url
Type: string
Default: ""
Defines the SMTP ``smart'' host where sent messages should relayed for
delivery. This should take the form of an SMTP URL, eg:
smtp[s]://[user[:pa...@]host[:port]/
Setting this variable overrides the value of the
``$$sseennddmmaaiill''
variable.
3.268. sort
Type: sort order
Default: date
Specifies how to sort messages in the _i_n_d_e_x menu. Valid values are:
date or date-sent
date-received
from
mailbox-order (unsorted)
score
size
spam
subject
threads
to
You may optionally use the reverse- prefix to specify reverse sorting
order (example: set sort=reverse-date-sent).
3.269. sort_alias
Type: sort order
Default: alias
Specifies how the entries in the `alias' menu are sorted. The following
are legal values:
address (sort alphabetically by email address)
alias (sort alphabetically by alias name)
unsorted (leave in order specified in .muttrc)
3.270. sort_aux
Type: sort order
Default: date
When sorting by threads, this variable controls how threads are sorted
in relation to other threads, and how the branches of the thread trees
are sorted. This can be set to any value that ``$$ssoorrtt'' can, except
threads (in that case, mutt will just use date-sent). You can also
specify the last- prefix in addition to the reverse- prefix, but last-
must come after reverse-. The last- prefix causes messages to be sorted
against its siblings by which has the last descendant, using the rest
of sort_aux as an ordering. For instance, set sort_aux=last-
date-received would mean that if a new message is received in a thread,
that thread becomes the last one displayed (or the first, if you have
set sort=reverse-threads.) Note: For reversed ``$$ssoorrtt'' order
$$ssoorrtt__aauuxx
is reversed again (which is not the right thing to do, but kept to not
break any existing configuration setting).
3.271. sort_browser
Type: sort order
Default: alpha
Specifies how to sort entries in the file browser. By default, the
entries are sorted alphabetically. Valid values:
alpha (alphabetically)
date
size
unsorted
You may optionally use the reverse- prefix to specify reverse sorting
order (example: set sort_browser=reverse-date).
3.272. sort_re
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variable is only useful when sorting by threads with
``$$ssttrriicctt__tthhrreeaaddss'' unset. In that case, it
changes the heuristic mutt
uses to thread messages by subject. With sort_re set, mutt will only
attach a message as the child of another message by subject if the
subject of the child message starts with a substring matching the
setting of ``$$rreeppllyy__rreeggeexxpp''. With sort_re unset,
mutt will attach the
message whether or not this is the case, as long as the
non-``$$rreeppllyy__rreeggeexxpp'' parts of both messages are
identical.
3.273. spam_separator
Type: string
Default: ","
``ssppaamm__sseeppaarraattoorr'' controls what happens when
multiple spam headers are
matched: if unset, each successive header will overwrite any previous
matches value for the spam label. If set, each successive match will
append to the previous, using ``ssppaamm__sseeppaarraattoorr''
as a separator.
3.274. spoolfile
Type: path
Default: ""
If your spool mailbox is in a non-default place where Mutt cannot find
it, you can specify its location with this variable. Mutt will
automatically set this variable to the value of the environment
variable $MAIL if it is not set.
3.275. status_chars
Type: string
Default: "-*%A"
Controls the characters used by the "%r" indicator in
``$$ssttaattuuss__ffoorrmmaatt''. The first character is used
when the mailbox is
unchanged. The second is used when the mailbox has been changed, and it
needs to be resynchronized. The third is used if the mailbox is in
read-only mode, or if the mailbox will not be written when exiting that
mailbox (You can toggle whether to write changes to a mailbox with the
toggle-write operation, bound by default to "%"). The fourth is used to
indicate that the current folder has been opened in attach- message
mode (Certain operations like composing a new mail, replying,
forwarding, etc. are not permitted in this mode).
3.276. status_format
Type: string
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?%?l? %l?]---(%s/%
S)-%>-(%P)---"
Controls the format of the status line displayed in the _i_n_d_e_x menu.
This string is similar to ``$$iinnddeexx__ffoorrmmaatt'', but
has its own set of
printf()-like sequences:
%b
number of mailboxes with new mail *
%d
number of deleted messages *
%f
the full pathname of the current mailbox
%F
number of flagged messages *
%h
local hostname
%l
size (in bytes) of the current mailbox *
%L
size (in bytes) of the messages shown (i.e., which match the
current limit) *
%m
the number of messages in the mailbox *
%M
the number of messages shown (i.e., which match the current
limit) *
%n
number of new messages in the mailbox *
%o
number of old unread messages *
%p
number of postponed messages *
%P
percentage of the way through the index
%r
modified/read-only/won't-write/attach-message indicator,
according to $$ssttaattuuss__cchhaarrss
%s
current sorting mode ($$ssoorrtt)
%S
current aux sorting method ($$ssoorrtt__aauuxx)
%t
number of tagged messages *
%u
number of unread messages *
%v
Mutt version string
%V
currently active limit pattern, if any *
%>X
right justify the rest of the string and pad with "X"
%|X
pad to the end of the line with "X"
%*X
soft-fill with character "X" as pad
For an explanation of `soft-fill', see the
``$$iinnddeexx__ffoorrmmaatt''
documentation.
* = can be optionally printed if nonzero
Some of the above sequences can be used to optionally print a string if
their value is nonzero. For example, you may only want to see the
number of flagged messages if such messages exist, since zero is not
particularly meaningful. To optionally print a string based upon one of
the above sequences, the following construct is used:
%?<sequence_char>?<optional_string>?
where _s_e_q_u_e_n_c_e___c_h_a_r is a character from the table
above, and
_o_p_t_i_o_n_a_l___s_t_r_i_n_g is the string you would like
printed if _s_e_q_u_e_n_c_e___c_h_a_r
is nonzero. _o_p_t_i_o_n_a_l___s_t_r_i_n_g _m_a_y contain
other sequences as well as
normal text, but you may _n_o_t nest optional strings.
Here is an example illustrating how to optionally print the number of
new messages in a mailbox: %?n?%n new messages.?
You can also switch between two strings using the following construct:
%?<sequence_char>?<if_string>&<else_string>?
If the value of _s_e_q_u_e_n_c_e___c_h_a_r is non-zero,
_i_f___s_t_r_i_n_g will be expanded,
otherwise _e_l_s_e___s_t_r_i_n_g will be expanded.
You can force the result of any printf-like sequence to be lowercase by
prefixing the sequence character with an underscore (_) sign. For
example, if you want to display the local hostname in lowercase, you
would use: %_h
If you prefix the sequence character with a colon (:) character, mutt
will replace any dots in the expansion by underscores. This might be
helpful with IMAP folders that don't like dots in folder names.
3.277. status_on_top
Type: boolean
Default: no
Setting this variable causes the ``status bar'' to be displayed on the
first line of the screen rather than near the bottom.
3.278. strict_threads
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, threading will only make use of the ``In-Reply-To'' and
``References'' fields when you ``$$ssoorrtt'' by message threads. By
default, messages with the same subject are grouped together in
``pseudo threads.''. This may not always be desirable, such as in a
personal mailbox where you might have several unrelated messages with
the subject ``hi'' which will get grouped together. See also
``$$ssoorrtt__rree'' for a less drastic way of controlling this
behaviour.
3.279. suspend
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When _u_n_s_e_t, mutt won't stop when the user presses the terminal's
_s_u_s_p
key, usually ``control-Z''. This is useful if you run mutt inside an
xterm using a command like xterm -e mutt.
3.280. text_flowed
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will generate text/plain; format=flowed attachments.
This format is easier to handle for some mailing software, and
generally just looks like ordinary text. To actually make use of this
format's features, you'll need support in your editor.
Note that $$iinnddeenntt__ssttrriinngg is ignored when this
option is set.
3.281. thread_received
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt uses the date received rather than the date sent to
thread messages by subject.
3.282. thorough_search
Type: boolean
Default: no
Affects the _~_b and _~_h search operations described in section
``ppaatttteerrnnss'' above. If set, the headers and attachments of
messages to
be searched are decoded before searching. If unset, messages are
searched as they appear in the folder.
3.283. tilde
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, the internal-pager will pad blank lines to the bottom of the
screen with a tilde (~).
3.284. timeout
Type: number
Default: 600
This variable controls the _n_u_m_b_e_r_ _o_f_
_s_e_c_o_n_d_s Mutt will wait for a key
to be pressed in the main menu before timing out and checking for new
mail. A value of zero or less will cause Mutt to never time out.
3.285. tmpdir
Type: path
Default: ""
This variable allows you to specify where Mutt will place its temporary
files needed for displaying and composing messages. If this variable is
not set, the environment variable TMPDIR is used. If TMPDIR is not set
then "/tmp" is used.
3.286. to_chars
Type: string
Default: " +TCFL"
Controls the character used to indicate mail addressed to you. The
first character is the one used when the mail is NOT addressed to your
address (default: space). The second is used when you are the only
recipient of the message (default: +). The third is when your address
appears in the TO header field, but you are not the only recipient of
the message (default: T). The fourth character is used when your
address is specified in the CC header field, but you are not the only
recipient. The fifth character is used to indicate mail that was sent
by _y_o_u. The sixth character is used to indicate when a mail was sent to
a mailing-list you subscribe to (default: L).
3.287. tunnel
Type: string
Default: ""
Setting this variable will cause mutt to open a pipe to a command
instead of a raw socket. You may be able to use this to set up
preauthenticated connections to your IMAP/POP3 server. Example:
tunnel="ssh -q mailhost.net /usr/local/libexec/imapd"
NOTE: For this example to work you must be able to log in to the remote
machine without having to enter a password.
3.288. use_8bitmime
Type: boolean
Default: no
_W_a_r_n_i_n_g_: do not set this variable unless you are using a
version of
sendmail which supports the -B8BITMIME flag (such as sendmail 8.8.x) or
you may not be able to send mail.
When _s_e_t, Mutt will invoke ``$$sseennddmmaaiill'' with the
-B8BITMIME flag when
sending 8-bit messages to enable ESMTP negotiation.
3.289. use_domain
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, Mutt will qualify all local addresses (ones without the @host
portion) with the value of ``$$hhoossttnnaammee''. If
_u_n_s_e_t, no addresses will
be qualified.
3.290. use_envelope_from
Type: boolean
Default: no
When _s_e_t, mutt will set the _e_n_v_e_l_o_p_e sender of the
message. If
``$$eennvveellooppee__ffrroomm__aaddddrreessss'' is
set, it will be used as the sender
address. If not, mutt will attempt to derive the sender from the
"From:" header.
Note that this information is passed to sendmail command using the "-f"
command line switch. Therefore setting this option is not useful if the
``$$sseennddmmaaiill'' variable already contains "-f" or if the
executable
pointed to by $$sseennddmmaaiill doesn't support the "-f" switch.
3.291. use_from
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When _s_e_t, Mutt will generate the `From:' header field when sending
messages. If _u_n_s_e_t, no `From:' header field will be generated
unless
the user explicitly sets one using the ``mmyy__hhddrr'' command.
3.292. use_idn
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When _s_e_t, Mutt will show you international domain names decoded. Note:
You can use IDNs for addresses even if this is _u_n_s_e_t. This variable
only affects decoding.
3.293. use_ipv6
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When _s_e_t, Mutt will look for IPv6 addresses of hosts it tries to
contact. If this option is unset, Mutt will restrict itself to IPv4
addresses. Normally, the default should work.
3.294. user_agent
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When _s_e_t, mutt will add a "User-Agent" header to outgoing messages,
indicating which version of mutt was used for composing them.
3.295. visual
Type: path
Default: ""
Specifies the visual editor to invoke when the _~_v command is given in
the builtin editor.
3.296. wait_key
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls whether Mutt will ask you to press a key after _s_h_e_l_l_-_
_e_s_c_a_p_e,
_p_i_p_e_-_m_e_s_s_a_g_e, _p_i_p_e_-_e_n_t_r_y,
_p_r_i_n_t_-_m_e_s_s_a_g_e, and _p_r_i_n_t_-_e_n_t_r_y
commands.
It is also used when viewing attachments with
``aauuttoo__vviieeww'', provided
that the corresponding mailcap entry has a
_n_e_e_d_s_t_e_r_m_i_n_a_l flag, and the
external program is interactive.
When set, Mutt will always ask for a key. When unset, Mutt will wait
for a key only if the external command returned a non-zero status.
3.297. weed
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, mutt will weed headers when displaying, forwarding, printing,
or replying to messages.
3.298. wrap
Type: number
Default: 0
When set to a positive value, mutt will wrap text at $$wwrraapp
characters.
When set to a negative value, mutt will wrap text so that there are
$$wwrraapp characters of empty space on the right side of the terminal.
3.299. wrap_search
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls whether searches wrap around the end of the mailbox.
When set, searches will wrap around the first (or last) message. When
unset, searches will not wrap.
3.300. wrapmargin
Type: number
Default: 0
(DEPRECATED) Equivalent to setting wwrraapp with a negative value.
3.301. write_inc
Type: number
Default: 10
When writing a mailbox, a message will be printed every
_w_r_i_t_e___i_n_c
messages to indicate progress. If set to 0, only a single message will
be displayed before writing a mailbox.
Also see the ``$$rreeaadd__iinncc'' variable.
3.302. write_bcc
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls whether mutt writes out the Bcc header when preparing messages
to be sent. Exim users may wish to unset this. If mutt is set to
deliver directly via SMTP (see ``$$ssmmttpp__uurrll''), this option
does
nothing: mutt will never write out the BCC header in this case.
4. Functions
The following is the list of available functions listed by the mapping
in which they are available. The default key setting is given, and an
explanation of what the function does. The key bindings of these
functions can be changed with the bbiinndd command.
4.1. generic
The _g_e_n_e_r_i_c menu is not a real menu, but specifies common
functions
(such as movement) available in all menus except for _p_a_g_e_r and
_e_d_i_t_o_r.
Changing settings for this menu will affect the default bindings for
all menus (except as noted).
_T_a_b_l_e_ _8_._2_._ _D_e_f_a_u_l_t_
_g_e_n_e_r_i_c_ _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n_ _b_i_n_d_i_n_g_s
Function Default key Description
top-page H move to the top of the page
next-entry j move to the next entry
previous-entry k move to the previous entry
bottom-page L move to the bottom of the page
refresh ^L clear and redraw the screen
middle-page M move to the middle of the page
search-next n search for next match
exit q exit this menu
tag-entry t tag the current entry
next-page z move to the next page
previous-page Z move to the previous page
last-entry * move to the last entry
first-entry = move to the first entry
enter-command : enter a muttrc command
next-line > scroll down one line
previous-line < scroll up one line
half-up [ scroll up 1/2 page
half-down ] scroll down 1/2 page
help ? this screen
tag-prefix ; apply next function to tagged messages
tag-prefix-cond not bound apply next function ONLY to tagged messages
end-cond not bound end of conditional execution (noop)
shell-escape ! invoke a command in a subshell
select-entry RET select the current entry
search / search for a regular expression
search-reverse ESC / search backwards for a regular expression
search-opposite not bound search for next match in opposite direction
jump not bound jump to an index number
current-top not bound move entry to top of screen
current-middle not bound move entry to middle of screen
current-bottom not bound move entry to bottom of screen
what-key not bound display the keycode for a key press
4.2. index
_T_a_b_l_e_ _8_._3_._ _D_e_f_a_u_l_t_ _i_n_d_e_x_
_f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n_ _b_i_n_d_i_n_g_s
Function Default key Description
create-alias a create an alias from a message sender
bounce-message b remail a message to another user
break-thread # break the thread in two
change-folder c open a different folder
change-folder-readonly ESC c open a different folder in read only mode
next-unread-mailbox not bound open next mailbox with new mail
collapse-thread ESC v collapse/uncollapse current thread
collapse-all ESC V collapse/uncollapse all threads
copy-message C copy a message to a file/mailbox
decode-copy ESC C make decoded (text/plain) copy
decode-save ESC s make decoded copy (text/plain) and delete
delete-message d delete the current entry
delete-pattern D delete messages matching a pattern
delete-thread ^D delete all messages in thread
delete-subthread ESC d delete all messages in subthread
edit e edit the raw message
edit-type ^E edit attachment content type
forward-message f forward a message with comments
flag-message F toggle a message's 'important' flag
group-reply g reply to all recipients
fetch-mail G retrieve mail from POP server
imap-fetch-mail not bound force retrieval of mail from IMAP server
display-toggle-weed h display message and toggle header weeding
next-undeleted j move to the next undeleted message
previous-undeleted k move to the previous undeleted message
limit l show only messages matching a pattern
link-threads & link tagged message to the current one
list-reply L reply to specified mailing list
mail m compose a new mail message
toggle-new N toggle a message's 'new' flag
toggle-write % toggle whether the mailbox will be rewritten
next-thread ^N jump to the next thread
next-subthread ESC n jump to the next subthread
query Q query external program for addresses
quit q save changes to mailbox and quit
reply r reply to a message
show-limit ESC l show currently active limit pattern
sort-mailbox o sort messages
sort-reverse O sort messages in reverse order
print-message p print the current entry
previous-thread ^P jump to previous thread
previous-subthread ESC p jump to previous subthread
recall-message R recall a postponed message
read-thread ^R mark the current thread as read
read-subthread ESC r mark the current subthread as read
resend-message ESC e use the current message as a template for a new
one
save-message s save message/attachment to a file
tag-pattern T tag messages matching a pattern
tag-subthread not bound tag the current subthread
tag-thread ESC t tag the current thread
untag-pattern ^T untag messages matching a pattern
undelete-message u undelete the current entry
undelete-pattern U undelete messages matching a pattern
undelete-subthread ESC u undelete all messages in subthread
undelete-thread ^U undelete all messages in thread
view-attachments v show MIME attachments
show-version V show the Mutt version number and date
set-flag w set a status flag on a message
clear-flag W clear a status flag from a message
display-message RET display a message
buffy-list . list mailboxes with new mail
sync-mailbox $ save changes to mailbox
display-address @ display full address of sender
pipe-message | pipe message/attachment to a shell command
next-new not bound jump to the next new message
next-new-then-unread TAB jump to the next new or unread message
previous-new not bound jump to the previous new message
previous-new-then-unread ESC TAB jump to the previous new or unread
message
next-unread not bound jump to the next unread message
previous-unread not bound jump to the previous unread message
parent-message P jump to parent message in thread
extract-keys ^K extract supported public keys
forget-passphrase ^F wipe passphrase(s) from memory
check-traditional-pgp ESC P check for classic PGP
mail-key ESC k mail a PGP public key
decrypt-copy not bound make decrypted copy
decrypt-save not bound make decrypted copy and delete
4.3. pager
_T_a_b_l_e_ _8_._4_._ _D_e_f_a_u_l_t_ _p_a_g_e_r_
_f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n_ _b_i_n_d_i_n_g_s
Function Default key Description
break-thread # break the thread in two
create-alias a create an alias from a message sender
bounce-message b remail a message to another user
change-folder c open a different folder
change-folder-readonly ESC c open a different folder in read only mode
next-unread-mailbox not bound open next mailbox with new mail
copy-message C copy a message to a file/mailbox
decode-copy ESC C make decoded (text/plain) copy
delete-message d delete the current entry
delete-thread ^D delete all messages in thread
delete-subthread ESC d delete all messages in subthread
edit e edit the raw message
edit-type ^E edit attachment content type
forward-message f forward a message with comments
flag-message F toggle a message's 'important' flag
group-reply g reply to all recipients
imap-fetch-mail not bound force retrieval of mail from IMAP server
display-toggle-weed h display message and toggle header weeding
next-undeleted j move to the next undeleted message
next-entry J move to the next entry
previous-undeleted k move to the previous undeleted message
previous-entry K move to the previous entry
link-threads & link tagged message to the current one
list-reply L reply to specified mailing list
redraw-screen ^L clear and redraw the screen
mail m compose a new mail message
mark-as-new N toggle a message's 'new' flag
search-next n search for next match
next-thread ^N jump to the next thread
next-subthread ESC n jump to the next subthread
print-message p print the current entry
previous-thread ^P jump to previous thread
previous-subthread ESC p jump to previous subthread
quit Q save changes to mailbox and quit
exit q exit this menu
reply r reply to a message
recall-message R recall a postponed message
read-thread ^R mark the current thread as read
read-subthread ESC r mark the current subthread as read
resend-message ESC e use the current message as a template for a new
one
save-message s save message/attachment to a file
skip-quoted S skip beyond quoted text
decode-save ESC s make decoded copy (text/plain) and delete
tag-message t tag the current entry
toggle-quoted T toggle display of quoted text
undelete-message u undelete the current entry
undelete-subthread ESC u undelete all messages in subthread
undelete-thread ^U undelete all messages in thread
view-attachments v show MIME attachments
show-version V show the Mutt version number and date
search-toggle \\ toggle search pattern coloring
display-address @ display full address of sender
next-new not bound jump to the next new message
pipe-message | pipe message/attachment to a shell command
help ? this screen
next-page Space move to the next page
previous-page - move to the previous page
top ^ jump to the top of the message
sync-mailbox $ save changes to mailbox
shell-escape ! invoke a command in a subshell
enter-command : enter a muttrc command
buffy-list . list mailboxes with new mail
search / search for a regular expression
search-reverse ESC / search backwards for a regular expression
search-opposite not bound search for next match in opposite direction
next-line RET scroll down one line
jump not bound jump to an index number
next-unread not bound jump to the next unread message
previous-new not bound jump to the previous new message
previous-unread not bound jump to the previous unread message
half-up not bound scroll up 1/2 page
half-down not bound scroll down 1/2 page
previous-line not bound scroll up one line
bottom not bound jump to the bottom of the message
parent-message P jump to parent message in thread
check-traditional-pgp ESC P check for classic PGP
mail-key ESC k mail a PGP public key
extract-keys ^K extract supported public keys
forget-passphrase ^F wipe passphrase(s) from memory
decrypt-copy not bound make decrypted copy
decrypt-save not bound make decrypted copy and delete
4.4. alias
_T_a_b_l_e_ _8_._5_._ _D_e_f_a_u_l_t_ _a_l_i_a_s_
_f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n_ _b_i_n_d_i_n_g_s
Function Default key Description
delete-entry d delete the current entry
undelete-entry u undelete the current entry
4.5. query
_T_a_b_l_e_ _8_._6_._ _D_e_f_a_u_l_t_ _q_u_e_r_y_
_f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n_ _b_i_n_d_i_n_g_s
Function Default key Description
create-alias a create an alias from a message sender
mail m compose a new mail message
query Q query external program for addresses
query-append A append new query results to current results
4.6. attach
_T_a_b_l_e_ _8_._7_._ _D_e_f_a_u_l_t_
_a_t_t_a_c_h_ _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n_ _b_i_n_d_i_n_g_s
Function Default key Description
bounce-message b remail a message to another user
display-toggle-weed h display message and toggle header weeding
edit-type ^E edit attachment content type
print-entry p print the current entry
save-entry s save message/attachment to a file
pipe-entry | pipe message/attachment to a shell command
view-mailcap m force viewing of attachment using mailcap
reply r reply to a message
resend-message ESC e use the current message as a template for a new
one
group-reply g reply to all recipients
list-reply L reply to specified mailing list
forward-message f forward a message with comments
view-text T view attachment as text
view-attach RET view attachment using mailcap entry if necessary
delete-entry d delete the current entry
undelete-entry u undelete the current entry
collapse-parts v Toggle display of subparts
check-traditional-pgp ESC P check for classic PGP
extract-keys ^K extract supported public keys
forget-passphrase ^F wipe passphrase(s) from memory
4.7. compose
_T_a_b_l_e_ _8_._8_._ _D_e_f_a_u_l_t_
_c_o_m_p_o_s_e_ _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n_ _b_i_n_d_i_n_g_s
Function Default key Description
attach-file a attach file(s) to this message
attach-message A attach message(s) to this message
edit-bcc b edit the BCC list
edit-cc c edit the CC list
copy-file C save message/attachment to a file
detach-file D delete the current entry
toggle-disposition ^D toggle disposition between inline/attachment
edit-description d edit attachment description
edit-message e edit the message
edit-headers E edit the message with headers
edit-file ^X e edit the file to be attached
edit-encoding ^E edit attachment transfer-encoding
edit-from ESC f edit the from field
edit-fcc f enter a file to save a copy of this message in
filter-entry F filter attachment through a shell command
get-attachment G get a temporary copy of an attachment
display-toggle-weed h display message and toggle header weeding
ispell i run ispell on the message
print-entry l print the current entry
edit-mime m edit attachment using mailcap entry
new-mime n compose new attachment using mailcap entry
postpone-message P save this message to send later
edit-reply-to r edit the Reply-To field
rename-file R rename/move an attached file
edit-subject s edit the subject of this message
edit-to t edit the TO list
edit-type ^T edit attachment content type
write-fcc w write the message to a folder
toggle-unlink u toggle whether to delete file after sending it
toggle-recode not bound toggle recoding of this attachment
update-encoding U update an attachment's encoding info
view-attach RET view attachment using mailcap entry if necessary
send-message y send the message
pipe-entry | pipe message/attachment to a shell command
attach-key ESC k attach a PGP public key
pgp-menu p show PGP options
forget-passphrase ^F wipe passphrase(s) from memory
smime-menu S show S/MIME options
mix M send the message through a mixmaster remailer chain
4.8. postpone
_T_a_b_l_e_ _8_._9_._ _D_e_f_a_u_l_t_
_p_o_s_t_p_o_n_e_ _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n_ _b_i_n_d_i_n_g_s
Function Default key Description
delete-entry d delete the current entry
undelete-entry u undelete the current entry
4.9. browser
_T_a_b_l_e_ _8_._1_0_._ _D_e_f_a_u_l_t_
_b_r_o_w_s_e_r_ _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n_ _b_i_n_d_i_n_g_s
Function Default key Description
change-dir c change directories
display-filename @ display the currently selected file's name
enter-mask m enter a file mask
sort o sort messages
sort-reverse O sort messages in reverse order
select-new N select a new file in this directory
check-new not bound check mailboxes for new mail
toggle-mailboxes TAB toggle whether to browse mailboxes or all files
view-file Space view file
buffy-list . list mailboxes with new mail
create-mailbox C create a new mailbox (IMAP only)
delete-mailbox d delete the current mailbox (IMAP only)
rename-mailbox r rename the current mailbox (IMAP only)
subscribe s subscribe to current mailbox (IMAP only)
unsubscribe u unsubscribe from current mailbox (IMAP only)
toggle-subscribed T toggle view all/subscribed mailboxes (IMAP only)
4.10. pgp
_T_a_b_l_e_ _8_._1_1_._ _D_e_f_a_u_l_t_ _p_g_p_
_f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n_ _b_i_n_d_i_n_g_s
Function Default key Description
verify-key c verify a PGP public key
view-name % view the key's user id
4.11. smime
_T_a_b_l_e_ _8_._1_2_._ _D_e_f_a_u_l_t_
_s_m_i_m_e_ _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n_ _b_i_n_d_i_n_g_s
Function Default key Description
verify-key c verify a PGP public key
view-name % view the key's user id
4.12. mix
_T_a_b_l_e_ _8_._1_3_._ _D_e_f_a_u_l_t_ _m_i_x_
_f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n_ _b_i_n_d_i_n_g_s
Function Default key Description
accept RET Accept the chain constructed
append a Append a remailer to the chain
insert i Insert a remailer into the chain
delete d Delete a remailer from the chain
chain-prev left Select the previous element of the chain
chain-next right Select the next element of the chain
4.13. editor
_T_a_b_l_e_ _8_._1_4_._ _D_e_f_a_u_l_t_
_e_d_i_t_o_r_ _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n_ _b_i_n_d_i_n_g_s
Function Default key Description
bol ^A jump to the beginning of the line
backward-char ^B move the cursor one character to the left
backward-word ESC b move the cursor to the beginning of the word
capitalize-word ESC c capitalize the word
downcase-word ESC l convert the word to lower case
upcase-word ESC u convert the word to upper case
delete-char ^D delete the char under the cursor
eol ^E jump to the end of the line
forward-char ^F move the cursor one character to the right
forward-word ESC f move the cursor to the end of the word
backspace Backspace delete the char in front of the cursor
kill-eol ^K delete chars from cursor to end of line
kill-eow ESC d delete chars from the cursor to the end of the word
kill-line ^U delete all chars on the line
quote-char ^V quote the next typed key
kill-word ^W delete the word in front of the cursor
complete TAB complete filename or alias
complete-query ^T complete address with query
buffy-cycle Space cycle among incoming mailboxes
history-up not bound scroll up through the history list
history-down not bound scroll down through the history list
transpose-chars not bound transpose character under cursor with
previous
Chapter 9. Miscellany
_T_a_b_l_e_ _o_f_ _C_o_n_t_e_n_t_s
11.. AAcckknnoowwlleeddggeemmeennttss
22.. AAbboouutt tthhiiss ddooccuummeenntt
1. Acknowledgements
Kari Hurtta <kkaarrii..hhuurrtttt...@@ffmmii..ffii>
co-developed the original MIME parsing
code back in the ELM-ME days.
The following people have been very helpful to the development of Mutt:
Vikas Agnihotri <vviikkaass...@@wwrriitteemmee..ccoomm>,
Francois Berjon
<ffrraannccooiiss..bbeerrjjoo...@@aaaarr..aallccaatteell--aallsstthhoomm..ffrr>,
Aric Blumer <aarrii...@@ffoorree..ccoomm>,
John Capo <jj...@@iirrbbss..ccoomm>,
David Champion <ddgg...@@uucchhiiccaaggoo..eedduu>,
Brendan Cully <bbrreennddaa...@@kkuubbllaaii..ccoomm>,
Liviu Daia <ddaaii...@@ssttooiillooww..iimmaarr..rroo>,
Thomas E. Dickey
<ddiicckkee...@@hheerrnnddoonn44..hhiiss..ccoomm>,
David DeSimone <ffoo...@@ccoonnvveexx..hhpp..ccoomm>,
Nickolay N. Dudorov
<nnnn...@@wwiinntt..iittffss..nnsskk..ssuu>,
Ruslan Ermilov <rr...@@ffrreeeebbssdd..oorrgg>,
Edmund Grimley Evans <eeddmmuunndd...@@rraannoo..oorrgg>,
Michael Finken <ffiinnkkee...@@ccoonnwwaarree..ddee>,
Sven Guckes
<gguucckkee...@@mmaatthh..ffuu--bbeerrlliinn..ddee>,
Lars Hecking <llhheecckkiinn...@@nnmmrrcc..iiee>,
Mark Holloman <hhoolllloommaa...@@nnaannddoo..nneett>,
Andreas Holzmann
<hhoollzzmmaann...@@ffmmii..uunnii--ppaassssaauu..ddee>,
Marco d'Itri <mm...@@lliinnuuxx..iitt>,
Bj?rn Jacke <bbjjaacckk...@@ssuussee..ccoomm>,
Byrial Jensen <bbyyrriiaa...@@iimmaaggee..ddkk>,
David Jeske <jjeesskk...@@iiggccoomm..nneett>,
Christophe Kalt
<kkaall...@@hhuuggoo..iinntt--eevvrryy..ffrr>,
Tommi Komulainen
<ttoommmmii..kkoommuullaaiinnee...@@iikkii..ffii>,
Felix von Leitner (a.k.a ``Fefe'')
<lleeiittnnee...@@mmaatthh..ffuu--bbeerrlliinn..ddee>,
Brandon Long <bblloonn...@@ffiiccttiioonn..nneett>,
Jimmy M?kel? <jjmm...@@ffllaasshhbbaacckk..nneett>,
Lars Marowsky-Bree
<llmm...@@ppooiinntteerr..iinn--mmiinnddeenn..ddee>,
Thomas ``Mike'' Michlmayr
<mmiikk...@@ccoossyy..ssbbgg..aacc..aatt>,
Andrew W. Nosenko <aaww...@@bbccss..zzpp..uuaa>,
David O'Brien
<oobbrriiee...@@NNuuxxii..ccss..uuccddaavviiss..eedduu>,
Clint Olsen
<oollsseenn...@@iicchhiippss..iinntteell..ccoomm>,
Park Myeong Seok
<ppmm...@@rroommaannccee..kkaaiisstt..aacc..kkrr>,
Thomas Parmelan <ttoo...@@aannkkhh..ffrr..eeuu..oorrgg>,
Ollivier Robert
<rroobbeerrtt...@@kkeellttiiaa..ffrreeeenniixx..ffrr>,
Thomas Roessler
<rrooeessssllee...@@ddooeess--nnoott--eexxiisstt..oorrgg>,
Roland Rosenfeld <rroollaann...@@ssppiinnnnaakkeerr..ddee>,
TAKIZAWA Takashi
<ttaakk...@@lluunnaa..eemmaaiill..nnee..jjpp>,
Allain Thivillon
<aallllaaiinn..tthhiivviilllloo...@@aallmmaa..ffrr>,
Gero Treuner <ggeerr...@@7700tt..ddee>,
Vsevolod Volkov <vvvv...@@lluucckkyy..nneett>,
Ken Weinert <kkeenn...@@iihhss..ccoomm>
2. About this document
This document was written in DDooccBBooookk, and then rendered using
the GGnnoommee
XXSSLLTT ttoooollkkiitt.
-------------- next part --------------
$Id$
USING PGP FROM WITHIN MUTT
WARNING: The configuration interface has completely changed as of
0.96.3!
USERS' GUIDE
How do I use mutt with PGP, PGP5, or GnuPG?
-------------------------------------------
Go to the contrib subdirectory of the source tree. You'll find
three files there, pgp2.rc, pgp5.rc, and gpg.rc. These files
contain ready-to-use configurations for using mutt with pgp2, pgp5,
and gpg.
Include one of these files with your ~/.muttrc, and things should
work out fine.
You may wish to verify that all paths and the language parameters
given to the PGP binaries match your needs.
Frequently Asked Questions and Tips
-----------------------------------
Q: "People are sending PGP messages which mutt doesn't
recognize. What can I do?"
The new way is to leave headers alone and use mutt's
check-traditional-pgp function, which can detect PGP messages at
run-time, and adjust content-types.
The old way is to configure your mail filter so it fixes headers:
Add the following lines to your ~/.procmailrc (you are
using procmail, aren't you?):
------------------------------
##
## PGP
##
:0
* !^Content-Type: message/
* !^Content-Type: multipart/
* !^Content-Type: application/pgp
{
:0 fBw
* ^-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----
* ^-----END PGP MESSAGE-----
| formail \
-i "Content-Type: application/pgp; format=text; x-action=encrypt"
:0 fBw
* ^-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
* ^-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
* ^-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
| formail \
-i "Content-Type: application/pgp; format=text; x-action=sign"
}
------------------------------
For users of maildrop, "Mark Weinem"
<mark.weinem at unidui.uni-duisburg.de> suggests the following recipe:
------------------------------
BPGPM="-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----"
EPGPM="-----END PGP MESSAGE-----"
BPGPS="-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----"
EPGPS="-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----"
if (!/^Content-Type: message/ && !/^Content-Type: multipart/ \
&& !/^Content-Type: application\/pgp/)
{
if (/^$BPGPM/:b && /^$EPGPM/:b)
xfilter "reformail -A 'Content-Type: application/pgp; format=text; \
x-action=encrypt'"
if (/^$BPGPS/:b && /^$EPGPS/:b)
xfilter "reformail -A 'Content-Type: application/pgp; format=text; \
x-action=sign'"
}
------------------------------
Q: "I don't like that PGP/MIME stuff, but want to use the
old way of PGP-signing my mails. Can't you include
that with mutt?"
The old answer to this question used to be this:
No. Application/pgp is not really suited to a world with MIME,
non-textual body parts and similar things. Anyway, if you really
want to generate these old-style attachments, include the
following macro in your ~/.muttrc (line breaks for readability,
this is actually one line):
macro compose S "Fpgp +verbose=0 -fast
+clearsig=on\ny^T^Uapplication/pgp; format=text;
x-action=sign\n"
There's a new answer, though: Set the $pgp_create_traditional
configuration variable (it's a quad-option) to something different
from "no" (that's the default). Mutt will then try to use
application/pgp wherever it makes sense. In particular, it does
not make any sense with multiparts, or non-ASCII or non-text bodies.
In all other cases, PGP/MIME is used unconditionally.
Note that application/pgp is still strongly deprecated.
Q: "I don't like all the ^Gs and various other verbosity
PGP is presenting me with."
Roland Rosenfeld <roland at spinnaker.rhein.de> has found a quite
elegant solution to this problem: PGP has some pretty good foreign
language support. So we just introduce a language called "mutt"
which contains empty strings for the messages we don't want to see.
To use this, copy either language.txt or language50.txt (depending
on what PGP version you are using) to your $PGPPATH. Make sure the
PGP command formats pass "+language=pgp" to all the PGP binaries
(but not to pgpring!).
For PGP 2.6, a German version called "muttde" is available
as well.
Q: "My PGP signatures are being invalidated. BTW, I'm using Courier
MTA."
The author of the Courier MTA believes that the standard specifying
multipart/signed is broken. For that reason, he has chosen to
implement his MTA in a way which does not assure that
multipart/signed body parts are left untouched.
We suggest that you abandon courier and change to sendmail, postfix,
or exim.
BACKGROUND
Auxiliary Programs
------------------
Mutt needs two auxiliary programs for its PGP support: pgpewrap and
pgpring.
1. pgpring
pgpring is a key ring dumper. It extracts information from PGP's
binary key ring and emits it in an (almost) readable output format
understood by mutt's key selection routines. This output format
mimics the one used by the GNU Privacy Guard (GPG).
You'll need this program with PGP 2 and PGP 5.
Command line options:
-k <key ring> Dump the contents of the key ring specified
as an argument to -k.
-2, -5 Use the default key ring for PGP 2 or 5,
respectively.
-s Dump the secret key ring.
2. pgpewrap
This is a little C program which does some command line munging: The
first argument is a command to be executed. When pgpewrap
encounters a "--" (dash-dash) argument, it will interpret the next
argument as a prefix which is put in front of all following
arguments.
Example:
pgpewrap pgpe file -- -r a b c
will execute:
pgpe file -r a -r b -r c
This script is needed with PGP 5 and with GPG, since their command
line interfaces can't be properly served by mutt's format mechanism.
The Configuration Interface
---------------------------
As usual within mutt, the configuration interface for the PGP
commands relies on printf-like formats. For all PGP commands, the
following %-sequences are defined.
%p The empty string when no passphrase is needed,
the string "PGPPASSFD=0" if one is needed.
This is mostly used in conditional % sequences.
%f Most PGP commands operate on a single file or a file
containing a message. %f expands to this file's name.
%s When verifying signatures, there is another temporary file
containing the detached signature. %s expands to this
file's name.
%a In "signing" contexts, this expands to the value of the
configuration variable $pgp_sign_as. You probably need to
use this within a conditional % sequence.
%r In many contexts, mutt passes key IDs to pgp. %r expands to
a list of key IDs.
The following command formats are defined:
$pgp_decode_command Decode application/pgp messages. This
command operates with and without pass phrases.
$pgp_verify_command Verify a PGP/MIME signature.
$pgp_decrypt_command Decrypt a PGP/MIME encrypted MIME body.
This command always gets a pass phrase.
$pgp_sign_command Sign a PGP/MIME body. This command always
gets a pass phrase.
$pgp_encrypt_sign_command Encrypt and sign a MIME body. This
command always gets a pass phrase.
$pgp_encrypt_only_command Encrypt a MIME body, but don't sign it.
$pgp_import_command Import PGP keys from a file.
$pgp_export_command Export PGP keys to a file. The output must
be ASCII armored.
$pgp_verify_key_command Check a public key. This is used from the
key selection menu.
$pgp_list_secring_command List the secret keys matching some hints
given in %r.
$pgp_list_pubring_command List the public keys matching some hints
given in %r.
The passphrase is always passed on stdin; all commands must send
their output to stdout and stderr.
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