# man > mhmail(1mh) [_MHMAIL_(1mh)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/MHMAIL/1mh/markdown) [_MHMAIL_(1mh)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/MHMAIL/1mh/markdown) ## 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 pro‐ gram (**mail **or **mailx**). **nmh **is intended for the use of programs such as **cron**, which expect to send mail automatically. It is also used by some **nmh **commands to mail error notifications. Although **mhmail **can be used interactively, it is recommended that **comp **and **send **be used in‐ stead, 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 temporary file as its argument, to by default, with the name of the temporary file as its argument to deliver the message to the specified address. The **-subject **switch can be used to specify the “Subject:” field of the message. “Subject:” field of the message. The **-resent **switch indicates that the message body is a fully formed message that will be re‐ sent, as **dist **would do. For example: mhmail -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 in‐ put 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 ad‐ dress is required when sending a message, i.e., if any other switches are supplied. If the ### -cc 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 mail‐ box, see _localmbox_ in [_mh-format_(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mh-format/5/markdown). Naturally, **post **will fill in the “Sender:” header cor‐ rectly. 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 argument in quotes to protect it from the shell. The **-headerfield **switch may be given multiple times to add multiple header fields, for example, mhmail -from \ -headerfield 'MIME-Version:1.0' \ -headerfield 'Content-Type:text/plain; charset=utf-8' \ -headerfield 'Content-Transfer-Encoding:8bit' \ 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 **enables ### -profile the argument in quotes to protect it from the shell. The **-attach **switch may be given multi‐ ple times to add multiple attachments. The **-nosend **option shows the draft file that would be posted/sent on the command's standard output but does not post or send it. **-send **provides the default behavior of posting or send‐ ing 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 ## PROFILE COMPONENTS **mhmail **does _not_ consult the user's _.mh_profile_ ## SEE ALSO [_dist_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/dist/1/markdown), [_send_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/send/1/markdown), [_mh-format_(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mh-format/5/markdown), [_send_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/send/1/markdown), [_post_(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/post/8/markdown) ## 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 context of **send **is used. **mhmail **does not read the context file itself. nmh-1.8 2012-07-01 [_MHMAIL_(1mh)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/MHMAIL/1mh/markdown)