MHMAIL(1mh) MHMAIL(1mh)
NAME
mhmail - send or read mail non-interactively with nmh
SYNOPSIS
mhmail [-help] [-version] [-to] addrs ... [-attach file] [-body text] [-cc addrs ...]
[-from addr] [-headerfield name:value] [-subject subject] [-resent] [switches for
post ... | -profile [switches for send ...]] [-send | -nosend]
mhmail with no arguments is equivalent to inc
DESCRIPTION
mhmail is intended as a replacement, compatible with nmh, for the standard Berkeley mail
program (mail or mailx). nmh is intended for the use of programs such as cron, which ex-
pect to send mail automatically. It is also used by some nmh commands to mail error noti-
fications. Although mhmail can be used interactively, it is recommended that comp and
send be used instead, to send messages.
When invoked without arguments, mhmail simply invokes inc to incorporate new messages from
the user's mail drop.
When one or more addresses are specified, a message is read from the standard input and
spooled to a temporary file. mhmail then invokes by default, with the name of the tempo-
rary file as its argument, to by default, with the name of the temporary file as its argu-
ment to deliver the message to the specified address.
The -subject switch can be used to specify the "Subject:" field of the message. "Sub-
ject:" field of the message.
The -resent switch indicates that the message body is a fully formed message that will be
resent, as dist would do. For example:
mhmail u2 AT example.com -resent < `mhpath cur`
By default, mhmail will read the message to be sent from the standard input. You can
specify the text of the message at the command line with the -body text switch. If the
standard input has zero length, mhmail will not send the message and return with status 1.
You can use the switch -body "" to force an empty message.
Normally, addresses appearing as arguments are put in the "To:" field. At least one such
address is required when sending a message, i.e., if any other switches are supplied. If
the -cc switch is used, all addresses following it, even if there are intervening switches
other than -to, are placed in the "cc:" field. The optional -to switch can appear in
front of any addresses to signify their placement in the "To:" field. The -to and -cc
switches may be given multiple times.
By using -from addr, you can specify the "From:" header of the draft. If no -from switch
is used when sending, mhmail will supply a "From:" header field using the sender's local
mailbox, see localmbox in mh-format(5). Naturally, post will fill in the "Sender:" header
correctly.
The -headerfield name:value switch adds a header field with the specified name and value
to the message. (The value is called the field body in RFC 2822, but that's too easily
confused with the message body.) There need not be a space after the colon that separates
the name and value in the argument to this switch. It is usually best to enclose the ar-
gument in quotes to protect it from the shell. The -headerfield switch may be given mul-
tiple times to add multiple header fields, for example,
mhmail -from sender AT example.com \
-headerfield 'MIME-Version:1.0' \
-headerfield 'Content-Type:text/plain; charset=utf-8' \
-headerfield 'Content-Transfer-Encoding:8bit' \
recipient AT example.com
Note about this example: the -attach switch causes MIME-Version and Content-Type headers
to be added to the message.
The -profile switch instructs mhmail to use send instead of post to send the message.
This allows use of the user's context and aliases.
The -attach file switch attaches the specified file to the message. Use of -attach en-
ables -profile because mhmail uses send to handle the attachment. It is usually best to
enclose the argument in quotes to protect it from the shell. The -attach switch may be
given multiple times to add multiple attachments.
The -nosend option shows the draft file that would be posted/sent on the command's stan-
dard output but does not post or send it. -send provides the default behavior of posting
or sending the message. It can be used to disable -nosend, for example, when using a
shell alias.
All other switches are passed to post if -profile is not used, or send if -profile is
used.
FILES
/usr/bin/mh/inc Program to incorporate mail drop into folder
/usr/lib/mh/post Program to deliver a message
/tmp/mhmail* Temporary copy of message
SEE ALSO
dist(1), send(1), mh-format(5), send(1), post(8)
DEFAULTS
`-from localmbox'
`-profile' is enabled by default only with -attach
`-send'
CONTEXT
If inc is invoked, then inc's context changes occur. With the -profile switch, the con-
text of send is used. mhmail does not read the context file itself, so an entry for it
will be ignored.
nmh-1.7.1 2012-07-01 MHMAIL(1mh)
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