1 The Mutt Next Generation E-Mail Client
15 Michael Elinks on mutt, circa 1995: ``All mail clients suck. This one just
18 Sven Guckes on mutt, ca. 2003: ``But it still sucks!''
20 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
32 4. Software Distribution Sites
44 1.1. Screens and Menus
76 3. Moving Around in Menus
78 4. Editing Input Fields
80 5. Reading Mail - The Index and Pager
82 5.1. The Message Index
88 5.4. Miscellaneous Functions
92 6.1. Composing new messages
96 6.3. Editing the message header
98 6.4. Using Mutt-ng with PGP
100 6.5. Sending anonymous messages via mixmaster
102 7. Forwarding and Bouncing Mail
108 1. Locations of Configuration Files
110 2. Basic Syntax of Initialization Files
112 3. Expansion within variables
114 3.1. Commands' Output
116 3.2. Environment Variables
118 3.3. Configuration Variables
120 3.4. Self-Defined Variables
122 3.5. Pre-Defined Variables
124 3.6. Type Conversions
126 4. Defining/Using aliases
128 5. Changing the default key bindings
130 6. Defining aliases for character sets
132 7. Setting variables based upon mailbox
136 9. Using color and mono video attributes
138 10. Ignoring (weeding) unwanted message headers
140 11. Alternative addresses
146 12.2. Receiving: Display Setup
150 12.4. Additional Notes
154 14. Using Multiple spool mailboxes
156 15. Defining mailboxes which receive mail
158 16. User defined headers
160 17. Defining the order of headers when viewing messages
162 18. Specify default save filename
164 19. Specify default Fcc: mailbox when composing
166 20. Specify default save filename and default Fcc: mailbox at
169 21. Change settings based upon message recipients
171 22. Change settings before formatting a message
173 23. Choosing the cryptographic key of the recipient
175 24. Adding key sequences to the keyboard buffer
177 25. Executing functions
183 28. Setting variables
185 29. Reading initialization commands from another file
195 31.3. Conditional parts
197 32. Obsolete Variables
201 1. Regular Expressions
205 2.1. Complex Patterns
207 2.2. Patterns and Dates
213 3.2. Conditional Expansion
215 3.3. Modifications and Padding
221 5.1. Message Matching in Hooks
225 7. External Address Queries
231 10. Handling Mailing Lists
235 11.1. Linking threads
237 11.2. Breaking threads
239 12. Delivery Status Notification (DSN) Support
241 13. POP3 Support (OPTIONAL)
243 14. IMAP Support (OPTIONAL)
245 14.1. The Folder Browser
249 15. NNTP Support (OPTIONAL)
253 16. SMTP Support (OPTIONAL)
255 17. Managing multiple IMAP/POP/NNTP accounts (OPTIONAL)
257 18. Start a WWW Browser on URLs (EXTERNAL)
259 19. Compressed folders Support (OPTIONAL)
261 19.1. Open a compressed mailbox for reading
263 19.2. Write a compressed mailbox
265 19.3. Append a message to a compressed mailbox
267 19.4. Encrypted folders
269 5. Mutt-ng's MIME Support
271 1. Using MIME in Mutt
273 1.1. Viewing MIME messages in the pager
275 1.2. The Attachment Menu
277 1.3. The Compose Menu
279 2. MIME Type configuration with mime.types
281 3. MIME Viewer configuration with mailcap
283 3.1. The Basics of the mailcap file
285 3.2. Secure use of mailcap
287 3.3. Advanced mailcap Usage
289 3.4. Example mailcap files
293 5. MIME Multipart/Alternative
297 6. Security Considerations
305 3.1. Message-ID: headers
307 3.2. mailto:-style links
309 4. External applications
317 1. Command line options
321 3. Configuration Commands
323 4. Configuration variables
355 2.1. Default Menu Movement Keys
357 2.2. Built-In Editor Functions
359 2.3. Default Index Menu Bindings
361 2.4. Default Pager Menu Bindings
363 2.5. ANSI Escape Sequences
367 2.7. Default Thread Function Bindings
369 2.8. Default Mail Composition Bindings
371 2.9. Default Compose Menu Bindings
373 2.10. PGP Key Menu Flags
375 3.1. Alternative Key Names
377 4.1. Default Sidebar Function Bindings
379 7.1. Mutt-NG Command Line Options
383 7.3. Obsolete Variables
385 Chapter 1. Introduction
395 4. Software Distribution Sites
405 Mutt-ng is a small but very powerful text-based MIME mail client. Mutt-ng
406 is highly configurable, and is well suited to the mail power user with
407 advanced features like key bindings, keyboard macros, mail threading,
408 regular expression searches and a powerful pattern matching language for
409 selecting groups of messages.
411 This documentation additionally contains documentation to Mutt-NG ,a fork
412 from Mutt with the goal to fix all the little annoyances of Mutt, to
413 integrate all the Mutt patches that are floating around in the web, and to
414 add other new features. Features specific to Mutt-ng will be discussed in
415 an extra section. Don't be confused when most of the documentation talk
416 about Mutt and not Mutt-ng, Mutt-ng contains all Mutt features, plus many
421 http://www.muttng.org
425 o <mutt-ng-users@lists.berlios.de>: This is where the mutt-ng user
428 o <mutt-ng-devel@lists.berlios.de>: The development mailing list for
431 4. Software Distribution Sites
433 So far, there are no official releases of Mutt-ng, but you can download
434 daily snapshots from http://mutt-ng.berlios.de/snapshots/
438 Visit channel #muttng on irc.freenode.net (www.freenode.net) to chat with
439 other people interested in Mutt-ng.
443 If you want to read fresh news about the latest development in Mutt-ng,
444 and get informed about stuff like interesting, Mutt-ng-related articles
445 and packages for your favorite distribution, you can read and/or subscribe
446 to our Mutt-ng development weblog.
450 Mutt is Copyright (C) 1996-2000 Michael R. Elkins <me@cs.hmc.edu> and
453 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
454 under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free
455 Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option)
458 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
459 WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY
460 or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License
463 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
464 with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59
465 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA.
467 Chapter 2. Getting Started
473 1.1. Screens and Menus
505 3. Moving Around in Menus
507 4. Editing Input Fields
509 5. Reading Mail - The Index and Pager
511 5.1. The Message Index
517 5.4. Miscellaneous Functions
521 6.1. Composing new messages
525 6.3. Editing the message header
527 6.4. Using Mutt-ng with PGP
529 6.5. Sending anonymous messages via mixmaster
531 7. Forwarding and Bouncing Mail
537 1.1. Screens and Menus
539 mutt-ng offers different screens of which every has its special purpose:
541 o The index displays the contents of the currently opened mailbox.
543 o The pager is responsible for displaying messages, that is, the header,
544 the body and all attached parts.
546 o The file browser offers operations on and displays information of all
547 folders mutt-ng should watch for mail.
549 o The sidebar offers a permanent view of which mailboxes contain how
550 many total, new and/or flagged mails.
552 o The help screen lists for all currently available commands how to
553 invoke them as well as a short description.
555 o The compose menu is a comfortable interface take last actions before
556 sending mail: change subjects, attach files, remove attachements, etc.
558 o The attachement menu gives a summary and the tree structure of the
559 attachements of the current message.
561 o The alias menu lists all or a fraction of the aliases a user has
564 o The key menu used in connection with encryption lets users choose the
565 right key to encrypt with.
567 When mutt-ng is started without any further options, it'll open the users
568 default mailbox and display the index.
572 Mutt-ng does not feature an internal configuration interface or menu due
573 to the simple fact that this would be too complex to handle (currently
574 there are several hundred variables which fine-tune the behaviour.)
576 Mutt-ng is configured using configuration files which allow users to add
577 comments or manage them via version control systems to ease maintenance.
579 Also, mutt-ng comes with a shell script named grml-muttng kindly
580 contributed by users which really helps and eases the creation of a user's
581 configuration file. When downloading the source code via a snapshot or via
582 subversion, it can be found in the contrib directory.
586 Mutt-ng offers great flexibility due to the use of functions: internally,
587 every action a user can make mutt-ng perform is named ``function.'' Those
588 functions are assigned to keys (or even key sequences) and may be
589 completely adjusted to user's needs. The basic idea is that the impatient
590 users get a very intuitive interface to start off with and advanced users
591 virtually get no limits to adjustments.
595 Mutt-ng has two basic concepts of user interaction:
597 1. There is one dedicated line on the screen used to query the user for
598 input, issue any command, query variables and display error and
599 informational messages. As for every type of user input, this requires
600 manual action leading to the need of input.
602 2. The automatized interface for interaction are the so called hooks.
603 Hooks specify actions the user wants to be performed at well-defined
604 situations: what to do when entering which folder, what to do when
605 displaying or replying to what kind of message, etc. These are
606 optional, i.e. a user doesn't need to specify them but can do so.
610 Although mutt-ng has many functionality built-in, many features can be
611 delegated to external tools to increase flexibility: users can define
612 programs to filter a message through before displaying, users can use any
613 program they want for displaying a message, message types (such as PDF or
614 PostScript) for which mutt-ng doesn't have a built-in filter can be
615 rendered by arbitrary tools and so forth. Although mutt-ng has an alias
616 mechanism built-in, it features using external tools to query for nearly
617 every type of addresses from sources like LDAP, databases or just the list
618 of locally known users.
622 Mutt-ng has a built-in pattern matching ``language'' which is as widely
623 used as possible to present a consistent interface to users. The same
624 ``pattern terms'' can be used for searching, scoring, message selection
631 The index is the screen that you usually see first when you start mutt-ng.
632 It gives an overview over your emails in the currently opened mailbox. By
633 default, this is your system mailbox. The information you see in the index
634 is a list of emails, each with its number on the left, its flags (new
635 email, important email, email that has been forwarded or replied to,
636 tagged email, ...), the date when email was sent, its sender, the email
637 size, and the subject. Additionally, the index also shows thread
638 hierarchies: when you reply to an email, and the other person replies
639 back, you can see the other's person email in a "sub-tree" below. This is
640 especially useful for personal email between a group of people or when
641 you've subscribed to mailing lists.
645 The pager is responsible for showing the email content. On the top of the
646 pager you have an overview over the most important email headers like the
647 sender, the recipient, the subject, and much more information. How much
648 information you actually see depends on your configuration, which we'll
651 Below the headers, you see the email body which usually contains the
652 message. If the email contains any attachments, you will see more
653 information about them below the email body, or, if the attachments are
654 text files, you can view them directly in the pager.
656 To give the user a good overview, it is possible to configure mutt-ng to
657 show different things in the pager with different colors. Virtually
658 everything that can be described with a regular expression can be colored,
659 e.g. URLs, email addresses or smileys.
663 The file browser is the interface to the local or remote file system. When
664 selecting a mailbox to open, the browser allows custom sorting of items,
665 limiting the items shown by a regular expression and a freely adjustable
666 format of what to display in which way. It also allows for easy navigation
667 through the file system when selecting file(s) to attach to a message,
668 select multiple files to attach and many more.
672 The sidebar comes in handy to manage mails which are spread over different
673 folders. All folders users setup mutt-ng to watch for new mail will be
674 listed. The listing includes not only the name but also the number of
675 total messages, the number of new and flagged messages. Items with new
676 mail may be colored different from those with flagged mail, items may be
677 shortened or compress if they're they to long to be printed in full form
678 so that by abbreviated names, user still now what the name stands for.
682 The help screen is meant to offer a quick help to the user. It lists the
683 current configuration of key bindings and their associated commands
684 including a short description, and currently unbound functions that still
685 need to be associated with a key binding (or alternatively, they can be
686 called via the mutt-ng command prompt).
690 The compose menu features a split screen containing the information which
691 really matter before actually sending a message by mail or posting an
692 article to a newsgroup: who gets the message as what (recipient,
693 newsgroup, who gets what kind of copy). Additionally, users may set
694 security options like deciding whether to sign, encrypt or sign and
695 encrypt a message with/for what keys.
697 Also, it's used to attach messages, news articles or files to a message,
698 to re-edit any attachment including the message itself.
702 The alias menu is used to help users finding the recipients of messages.
703 For users who need to contact many people, there's no need to remember
704 addresses or names completely because it allows for searching, too. The
705 alias mechanism and thus the alias menu also features grouping several
706 addresses by a shorter nickname, the actual alias, so that users don't
707 have to select each single recipient manually.
711 As will be later discussed in detail, mutt-ng features a good and stable
712 MIME implementation, that is, is greatly supports sending and receiving
713 messages of arbitrary type. The attachment menu displays a message's
714 structure in detail: what content parts are attached to which parent part
715 (which gives a true tree structure), which type is of what type and what
716 size. Single parts may saved, deleted or modified to offer great and easy
717 access to message's internals.
723 3. Moving Around in Menus
725 Information is presented in menus, very similar to ELM. Here is a
726 tableshowing the common keys used to navigate menus in Mutt-ng.
728 Table 2.1. Default Menu Movement Keys
730 +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
731 | Key | Function | Description |
732 |-------------+----------------+-----------------------------------------|
733 | j or Down | next-entry | move to the next entry |
734 |-------------+----------------+-----------------------------------------|
735 | k or Up | previous-entry | move to the previous entry |
736 |-------------+----------------+-----------------------------------------|
737 | z or PageDn | page-down | go to the next page |
738 |-------------+----------------+-----------------------------------------|
739 | Z or PageUp | page-up | go to the previous page |
740 |-------------+----------------+-----------------------------------------|
741 | = or Home | first-entry | jump to the first entry |
742 |-------------+----------------+-----------------------------------------|
743 | * or End | last-entry | jump to the last entry |
744 |-------------+----------------+-----------------------------------------|
745 | q | quit | exit the current menu |
746 |-------------+----------------+-----------------------------------------|
747 | ? | help | list all key bindings for the current |
749 +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
751 4. Editing Input Fields
753 Mutt-ng has a builtin line editor which is used as the primary way to
754 input textual data such as email addresses or filenames. The keys used to
755 move around while editing are very similar to those of Emacs.
757 Table 2.2. Built-In Editor Functions
759 +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
760 | Key | Function | Description |
761 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
762 | ^A or <Home> | bol | move to the start of the line |
763 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
764 | ^B or <Left> | backward-char | move back one char |
765 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
766 | Esc B | backward-word | move back one word |
767 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
768 | ^D or <Delete> | delete-char | delete the char under the cursor |
769 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
770 | ^E or <End> | eol | move to the end of the line |
771 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
772 | ^F or <Right> | forward-char | move forward one char |
773 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
774 | Esc F | forward-word | move forward one word |
775 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
776 | <Tab> | complete | complete filename or alias |
777 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
778 | ^T | complete-query | complete address with query |
779 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
780 | ^K | kill-eol | delete to the end of the line |
781 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
782 | ESC d | kill-eow | delete to the end of the word |
783 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
784 | ^W | kill-word | kill the word in front of the |
786 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
787 | ^U | kill-line | delete entire line |
788 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
789 | ^V | quote-char | quote the next typed key |
790 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
791 | <Up> | history-up | recall previous string from history |
792 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
793 | <Down> | history-down | recall next string from history |
794 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
795 | <BackSpace> | backspace | kill the char in front of the |
797 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
798 | Esc u | upcase-word | convert word to upper case |
799 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
800 | Esc l | downcase-word | convert word to lower case |
801 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
802 | Esc c | capitalize-word | capitalize the word |
803 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
805 |----------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------|
806 | <Return> | n/a | finish editing |
807 +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
809 You can remap the editor functions using the bind command. For example, to
810 make the Delete key delete the character in front of the cursor rather
811 than under, you could use
813 bind editor <delete> backspace
815 5. Reading Mail - The Index and Pager
817 Similar to many other mail clients, there are two modes in which mail
818 isread in Mutt-ng. The first is the index of messages in the mailbox,
819 which is called the ``index'' in Mutt-ng. The second mode is the display
820 of the message contents. This is called the ``pager.''
822 The next few sections describe the functions provided in each of these
825 5.1. The Message Index
827 Table 2.3. Default Index Menu Bindings
829 +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
830 | Key | Function | Description |
831 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
832 | c | | change to a different mailbox |
833 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
834 | ESC c | | change to a folder in read-only mode |
835 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
836 | C | | copy the current message to another mailbox |
837 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
838 | ESC C | | decode a message and copy it to a folder |
839 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
840 | ESC s | | decode a message and save it to a folder |
841 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
842 | D | | delete messages matching a pattern |
843 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
844 | d | | delete the current message |
845 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
846 | F | | mark as important |
847 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
848 | l | | show messages matching a pattern |
849 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
850 | N | | mark message as new |
851 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
852 | o | | change the current sort method |
853 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
854 | O | | reverse sort the mailbox |
855 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
856 | q | | save changes and exit |
857 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
858 | s | | save-message |
859 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
860 | T | | tag messages matching a pattern |
861 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
862 | t | | toggle the tag on a message |
863 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
864 | ESC t | | toggle tag on entire message thread |
865 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
866 | U | | undelete messages matching a pattern |
867 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
868 | u | | undelete-message |
869 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
870 | v | | view-attachments |
871 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
872 | x | | abort changes and exit |
873 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
874 | <Return> | | display-message |
875 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
876 | <Tab> | | jump to the next new message |
877 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
878 | @ | | show the author's full e-mail address |
879 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
880 | $ | | save changes to mailbox |
881 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
883 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
884 | ESC / | | search-reverse |
885 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
886 | ^L | | clear and redraw the screen |
887 |----------+----------+---------------------------------------------|
888 | ^T | | untag messages matching a pattern |
889 +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
893 In addition to who sent the message and the subject, a short summary of
894 the disposition of each message is printed beside the message number. Zero
895 or more of the following ``flags'' may appear, which mean:
899 message is deleted (is marked for deletion)
903 message have attachments marked for deletion
907 contains a PGP public key
919 message is PGP encrypted
923 message has been replied to
927 message is signed, and the signature is succesfully verified
941 Some of the status flags can be turned on or off using
943 o set-flag (default: w)
945 o clear-flag (default: W)
947 Furthermore, the following flags reflect who the message is addressed to.
948 They can be customized with the $to_chars variable.
952 message is to you and you only
956 message is to you, but also to or cc'ed to others
960 message is cc'ed to you
968 message is sent to a subscribed mailing list
972 By default, Mutt-ng uses its builtin pager to display the body of
973 messages. The pager is very similar to the Unix program less though not
974 nearly as featureful.
976 Table 2.4. Default Pager Menu Bindings
978 +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
979 | Key | Function | Description |
980 |----------+----------+--------------------------------------------------|
981 | <Return> | | go down one line |
982 |----------+----------+--------------------------------------------------|
983 | <Space> | | display the next page (or next message if at the |
984 | | | end of a message) |
985 |----------+----------+--------------------------------------------------|
986 | - | | go back to the previous page |
987 |----------+----------+--------------------------------------------------|
988 | n | | search for next match |
989 |----------+----------+--------------------------------------------------|
990 | S | | skip beyond quoted text |
991 |----------+----------+--------------------------------------------------|
992 | T | | toggle display of quoted text |
993 |----------+----------+--------------------------------------------------|
994 | ? | | show key bindings |
995 |----------+----------+--------------------------------------------------|
996 | / | | search for a regular expression (pattern) |
997 |----------+----------+--------------------------------------------------|
998 | ESC / | | search backwards for a regular expression |
999 |----------+----------+--------------------------------------------------|
1000 | \ | | toggle search pattern coloring |
1001 |----------+----------+--------------------------------------------------|
1002 | ^ | | jump to the top of the message |
1003 +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
1005 In addition, many of the functions from the index are available in the
1006 pager, such as delete-message or copy-message (this is one advantage over
1007 using an external pager to view messages).
1009 Also, the internal pager supports a couple other advanced features. For
1010 one, it will accept and translate the ``standard'' nroff sequences forbold
1011 and underline. These sequences are a series of either the letter,
1012 backspace (^H), the letter again for bold or the letter, backspace, ``_''
1013 for denoting underline. Mutt-ng will attempt to display these in bold and
1014 underline respectively if your terminal supports them. If not, you can use
1015 the bold and underline color objects to specify a color or mono attribute
1018 Additionally, the internal pager supports the ANSI escape sequences for
1019 character attributes. Mutt-ng translates them into the correct color and
1020 character settings. The sequences Mutt-ng supports are: ESC [
1021 Ps;Ps;Ps;...;Ps m (see table below for possible values for Ps).
1023 Table 2.5. ANSI Escape Sequences
1025 +-------------------------------------------------+
1026 | Value | Attribute |
1027 |-------+-----------------------------------------|
1028 | 0 | All Attributes Off |
1029 |-------+-----------------------------------------|
1031 |-------+-----------------------------------------|
1032 | 4 | Underline on |
1033 |-------+-----------------------------------------|
1035 |-------+-----------------------------------------|
1036 | 7 | Reverse video on |
1037 |-------+-----------------------------------------|
1038 | 3x | Foreground color is x (see table below) |
1039 |-------+-----------------------------------------|
1040 | 4x | Background color is x (see table below) |
1041 +-------------------------------------------------+
1043 Table 2.6. ANSI Colors
1045 +------------------+
1047 |--------+---------|
1049 |--------+---------|
1051 |--------+---------|
1053 |--------+---------|
1055 |--------+---------|
1057 |--------+---------|
1059 |--------+---------|
1061 |--------+---------|
1063 +------------------+
1065 Mutt-ng uses these attributes for handling text/enriched messages, and
1066 they can also be used by an external autoview script for highlighting
1067 purposes. Note: If you change the colors for your display, for example by
1068 changing the color associated with color2 for your xterm, then that color
1069 will be used instead of green.
1073 When the mailbox is sorted by threads ,there are a few additional
1074 functions available in the index and pager modes.
1076 Table 2.7. Default Thread Function Bindings
1078 +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
1079 | Key | Function | Description |
1080 |-------+--------------------+-------------------------------------------|
1081 | ^D | delete-thread | delete all messages in the current thread |
1082 |-------+--------------------+-------------------------------------------|
1083 | ^U | undelete-thread | undelete all messages in the current |
1085 |-------+--------------------+-------------------------------------------|
1086 | ^N | next-thread | jump to the start of the next thread |
1087 |-------+--------------------+-------------------------------------------|
1088 | ^P | previous-thread | jump to the start of the previous thread |
1089 |-------+--------------------+-------------------------------------------|
1090 | ^R | read-thread | mark the current thread as read |
1091 |-------+--------------------+-------------------------------------------|
1092 | ESC d | delete-subthread | delete all messages in the current |
1094 |-------+--------------------+-------------------------------------------|
1095 | ESC u | undelete-subthread | undelete all messages in the current |
1097 |-------+--------------------+-------------------------------------------|
1098 | ESC n | next-subthread | jump to the start of the next subthread |
1099 |-------+--------------------+-------------------------------------------|
1100 | ESC p | previous-subthread | jump to the start of the previous |
1102 |-------+--------------------+-------------------------------------------|
1103 | ESC r | read-subthread | mark the current subthread as read |
1104 |-------+--------------------+-------------------------------------------|
1105 | ESC t | tag-thread | toggle the tag on the current thread |
1106 |-------+--------------------+-------------------------------------------|
1107 | ESC v | collapse-thread | toggle collapse for the current thread |
1108 |-------+--------------------+-------------------------------------------|
1109 | ESC V | collapse-all | toggle collapse for all threads |
1110 |-------+--------------------+-------------------------------------------|
1111 | P | parent-message | jump to parent message in thread |
1112 +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
1114 Note: Collapsing a thread displays only the first message in the thread
1115 and hides the others. This is useful when threads contain so many messages
1116 that you can only see a handful of threads onthe screen. See %M in
1117 index-format . For example, you could use "%?M?(#%03M)&(%4l)?" in
1118 index-format to optionally display the number of hidden messages if the
1119 thread is collapsed.
1121 See also: strict-threads.
1123 5.4. Miscellaneous Functions
1125 create-alias (default: a)
1127 Creates a new alias based upon the current message (or prompts for a new
1128 one). Once editing is complete, an alias command is added to the file
1129 specified by the alias-file variable for future use. Note: Specifying an
1130 alias-file does not add the aliases specified there-in, you must also
1133 check-traditional-pgp (default: ESC P)
1135 This function will search the current message for content signed or
1136 encrypted with PGP the "traditional" way, that is, without proper MIME
1137 tagging. Technically, this function will temporarily change the MIME
1138 content types of the body parts containing PGP data; this is similar to
1139 the edit-type function's effect.
1141 display-toggle-weed (default: h)
1143 Toggles the weeding of message header fields specified by ignore commands.
1147 This command (available in the ``index'' and ``pager'') allows you to edit
1148 the raw current message as it's present in the mail folder. After you have
1149 finished editing, the changed message will be appended to the current
1150 folder, and the original message will be marked for deletion.
1152 edit-type (default: ^E on the attachment menu, and in the pager and index
1153 menus; ^T on the compose menu)
1155 This command is used to temporarily edit an attachment's content type to
1156 fix, for instance, bogus character set parameters. When invoked from the
1157 index or from the pager, you'll have the opportunity to edit the top-level
1158 attachment's content type. On the attach-menu, you can change any
1159 attachment's content type. These changes are not persistent, and get lost
1160 upon changing folders.
1162 Note that this command is also available on the compose-menu .There, it's
1163 used to fine-tune the properties of attachments you are going to send.
1165 enter-command (default: ``:'')
1167 This command is used to execute any command you would normally put in a
1168 configuration file. A common use is to check the settings of variables, or
1169 in conjunction with macro to change settings on the fly.
1171 extract-keys (default: ^K)
1173 This command extracts PGP public keys from the current or tagged
1174 message(s) and adds them to your PGP public key ring.
1176 forget-passphrase (default: ^F)
1178 This command wipes the passphrase(s) from memory. It is useful, if you
1179 misspelled the passphrase.
1181 list-reply (default: L)
1183 Reply to the current or tagged message(s) by extracting any addresses
1184 which match the regular expressions given by the lists commands, but also
1185 honor any Mail-Followup-To header(s) if the honor-followup-to
1186 configuration variable is set. Using this when replying to messages posted
1187 to mailing lists helps avoid duplicate copies being sent to the author of
1188 the message you are replying to.
1190 pipe-message (default: |)
1192 Asks for an external Unix command and pipes the current or tagged
1193 message(s) to it. The variables pipe-decode ,pipe-split, pipe-sep and
1194 wait-key control the exact behavior of this function.
1196 resend-message (default: ESC e)
1198 With resend-message, mutt takes the current message as a template for a
1199 new message. This function is best described as "recall from arbitrary
1200 folders". It can conveniently be used to forward MIME messages while
1201 preserving the original mail structure. Note that the amount of headers
1202 included here depends on the value of the weed variable.
1204 This function is also available from the attachment menu. You can use this
1205 to easily resend a message which was included with a bounce message as a
1206 message/rfc822 body part.
1208 shell-escape (default: !)
1210 Asks for an external Unix command and executes it. The wait-key can be
1211 used to control whether Mutt-ng will wait for a key to be pressed when the
1212 command returns (presumably to let the user read the output of the
1213 command), based on the return status of the named command.
1215 toggle-quoted (default: T)
1217 The pager uses the quote-regexp variable to detect quoted text when
1218 displaying the body of the message. This function toggles the displayof
1219 the quoted material in the message. It is particularly useful when are
1220 interested in just the response and there is a large amount of quoted text
1223 skip-quoted (default: S)
1225 This function will go to the next line of non-quoted text which come after
1226 a line of quoted text in the internal pager.
1230 The following bindings are available in the index for sending messages.
1232 Table 2.8. Default Mail Composition Bindings
1234 +--------------------------------------------------------+
1235 | Key | Function | Description |
1236 |-------+-------------+----------------------------------|
1237 | m | compose | compose a new message |
1238 |-------+-------------+----------------------------------|
1239 | r | reply | reply to sender |
1240 |-------+-------------+----------------------------------|
1241 | g | group-reply | reply to all recipients |
1242 |-------+-------------+----------------------------------|
1243 | L | list-reply | reply to mailing list address |
1244 |-------+-------------+----------------------------------|
1245 | f | forward | forward message |
1246 |-------+-------------+----------------------------------|
1247 | b | bounce | bounce (remail) message |
1248 |-------+-------------+----------------------------------|
1249 | ESC k | mail-key | mail a PGP public key to someone |
1250 +--------------------------------------------------------+
1252 Bouncing a message sends the message as is to the recipient you specify.
1253 Forwarding a message allows you to add comments or modify the message you
1254 are forwarding. These items are discussed in greater detail in the next
1255 chapter forwarding-mail .
1257 6.1. Composing new messages
1259 When you want to send an email using mutt-ng, simply press m on your
1260 keyboard. Then, mutt-ng asks for the recipient via a prompt in the last
1266 After you've finished entering the recipient(s), press return. If you want
1267 to send an email to more than one recipient, separate the email addresses
1268 using the comma ",". Mutt-ng then asks you for the email subject. Again,
1269 press return after you've entered it. After that, mutt-ng got the most
1270 important information from you, and starts up an editor where you can then
1273 The editor that is called is selected in the following way: you can e.g.
1274 set it in the mutt-ng configuration:
1276 set editor = "vim +/^$/ -c ':set tw=72'"
1278 set editor = "emacs"
1281 If you don't set your preferred editor in your configuration, mutt-ng
1282 first looks whether the environment variable $VISUAL is set, and if so, it
1283 takes its value as editor command. Otherwise, it has a look at $EDITOR and
1284 takes its value if it is set. If no editor command can be found, mutt-ng
1285 simply assumes vi to be the default editor, since it's the most widespread
1286 editor in the Unix world and it's pretty safe to assume that it is
1287 installed and available.
1289 When you've finished entering your message, save it and quit your editor.
1290 Mutt-ng will then present you with a summary screen, the compose menu. On
1291 the top, you see a summary of the most important available key commands.
1292 Below that, you see the sender, the recipient(s), Cc and/or Bcc
1293 recipient(s), the subject, the reply-to address, and optionally
1294 information where the sent email will be stored and whether it should be
1295 digitally signed and/or encrypted.
1297 Below that, you see a list of "attachments". The mail you've just entered
1298 before is also an attachment, but due to its special type (it's plain
1299 text), it will be displayed as the normal message on the receiver's side.
1301 At this point, you can add more attachments, pressing a, you can edit the
1302 recipient addresses, pressing t for the "To:" field, c for the "Cc:"
1303 field, and b for the "Bcc: field. You can also edit the subject the
1304 subject by simply pressing s or the email message that you've entered
1305 before by pressing e. You will then again return to the editor. You can
1306 even edit the sender, by pressing <esc>f, but this shall only be used with
1309 Alternatively, you can configure mutt-ng in a way that most of the above
1310 settings can be edited using the editor. Therefore, you only need to add
1311 the following to your configuration:
1316 Once you have finished editing the body of your mail message, you are
1317 returned to the compose menu. The following options are available:
1319 Table 2.9. Default Compose Menu Bindings
1321 +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
1322 | Key | Function | Description |
1323 |-------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
1324 | a | attach-file | attach a file |
1325 |-------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
1326 | A | attach-message | attach message(s) to the message |
1327 |-------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
1328 | ESC k | attach-key | attach a PGP public key |
1329 |-------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
1330 | d | edit-description | edit description on attachment |
1331 |-------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
1332 | D | detach-file | detach a file |
1333 |-------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
1334 | t | edit-to | edit the To field |
1335 |-------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
1336 | ESC f | edit-from | edit the From field |
1337 |-------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
1338 | r | edit-reply-to | edit the Reply-To field |
1339 |-------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
1340 | c | edit-cc | edit the Cc field |
1341 |-------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
1342 | b | edit-bcc | edit the Bcc field |
1343 |-------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
1344 | y | send-message | send the message |
1345 |-------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
1346 | s | edit-subject | edit the Subject |
1347 |-------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
1348 | S | smime-menu | select S/MIME options |
1349 |-------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
1350 | f | edit-fcc | specify an ``Fcc'' mailbox |
1351 |-------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
1352 | p | pgp-menu | select PGP options |
1353 |-------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
1354 | P | postpone-message | postpone this message until later |
1355 |-------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
1356 | q | quit | quit (abort) sending the message |
1357 |-------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
1358 | w | write-fcc | write the message to a folder |
1359 |-------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
1360 | i | ispell | check spelling (if available on your |
1362 |-------+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
1363 | ^F | forget-passphrase | wipe passphrase(s) from memory |
1364 +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
1366 Note: The attach-message function will prompt you for a folder to attach
1367 messages from. You can now tag messages in that folder and theywill be
1368 attached to the message you are sending. Note that certainoperations like
1369 composing a new mail, replying, forwarding, etc. are not permitted when
1370 you are in that folder. The %r in status-format will change to a 'A' to
1371 indicate that you are in attach-message mode.
1375 6.2.1. Simple Replies
1377 When you want to reply to an email message, select it in the index menu
1378 and then press r. Mutt-ng's behaviour is then similar to the behaviour
1379 when you compose a message: first, you will be asked for the recipient,
1380 then for the subject, and then, mutt-ng will start the editor with the
1381 quote attribution and the quoted message. This can e.g. look like the
1384 On Mon, Mar 07, 2005 at 05:02:12PM +0100, Michael Svensson wrote:
1385 > Bill, can you please send last month's progress report to Mr.
1386 > Morgan? We also urgently need the cost estimation for the new
1387 > production server that we want to set up before our customer's
1388 > project will go live.
1391 You can start editing the email message. It is strongly recommended to put
1392 your answer below the quoted text and to only quote what is really
1393 necessary and that you refer to. Putting your answer on top of the quoted
1394 message, is, although very widespread, very often not considered to be a
1395 polite way to answer emails.
1397 The quote attribution is configurable, by default it is set to
1399 set attribution = "On %d, %n wrote:"
1402 It can also be set to something more compact, e.g.
1404 set attribution = "attribution="* %n <%a> [%(%y-%m-%d %H:%M)]:"
1407 The example above results in the following attribution:
1409 * Michael Svensson <svensson@foobar.com> [05-03-06 17:02]:
1410 > Bill, can you please send last month's progress report to Mr.
1411 > Morgan? We also urgently need the cost estimation for the new
1412 > production server that we want to set up before our customer's
1413 > project will go live.
1416 Generally, try to keep your attribution short yet information-rich. It is
1417 not the right place for witty quotes, long "attribution" novels or
1418 anything like that: the right place for such things is - if at all - the
1419 email signature at the very bottom of the message.
1421 When you're done with writing your message, save and quit the editor. As
1422 before, you will return to the compose menu, which is used in the same way
1425 6.2.2. Group Replies
1427 In the situation where a group of people uses email as a discussion, most
1428 of the emails will have one or more recipients, and probably several "Cc:"
1429 recipients. The group reply functionalityensures that when you press g
1430 instead of r to do a reply, each and every recipient that is contained in
1431 the original message will receive a copy of the message, either as normal
1432 recipient or as "Cc:" recipient.
1436 When you use mailing lists, it's generally better to send your reply to a
1437 message only to the list instead of the list and the original author. To
1438 make this easy to use, mutt-ng features list replies.
1440 To do a list reply, simply press L. If the email contains a
1441 Mail-Followup-To: header, its value will be used as reply address.
1442 Otherwise, mutt-ng searches through all mail addresses in the original
1443 message and tries to match them a list of regular expressions which can be
1444 specified using the lists command. If any of the regular expression
1445 matches, a mailing list address has been found, and it will be used as
1448 lists linuxevent@luga\.at vuln-dev@ mutt-ng-users@
1451 Nowadays, most mailing list software like GNU Mailman adds a
1452 Mail-Followup-To: header to their emails anyway, so setting lists is
1453 hardly ever necessary in practice.
1455 6.3. Editing the message header
1457 When editing the header of your outgoing message, there are a couple of
1458 special features available.
1460 If you specify Fcc: filename Mutt-ng will pick up filename just as if you
1461 had used the edit-fcc function in the compose menu.
1463 You can also attach files to your message by specifying Attach: filename [
1464 description ] where filename is the file to attach and description is an
1465 optional string to use as the description of the attached file.
1467 When replying to messages, if you remove the In-Reply-To: field from the
1468 header field, Mutt-ng will not generate a References: field, which allows
1469 you to create a new message thread.
1471 Also see edit-headers.
1473 6.4. Using Mutt-ng with PGP
1475 If you want to use PGP, you can specify
1477 Pgp: [ E | S | S<id> ]
1479 ``E'' encrypts, ``S'' signs and ``S<id>'' signs with the given key,
1480 setting pgp-sign-as permanently.
1482 If you have told mutt to PGP encrypt a message, it will guide you through
1483 a key selection process when you try to send the message. Mutt-ng will not
1484 ask you any questions about keys which have a certified user ID matching
1485 one of the message recipients' mail addresses. However, there may be
1486 situations in which there are several keys, weakly certified user ID
1487 fields, or where no matching keys can be found.
1489 In these cases, you are dropped into a menu with a list of keys from which
1490 you can select one. When you quit this menu, or mutt can't find any
1491 matching keys, you are prompted for a user ID. You can, as usually, abort
1492 this prompt using ^G. When you do so, mutt will return to the compose
1495 Once you have successfully finished the key selection, the message will be
1496 encrypted using the selected public keys, and sent out.
1498 Most fields of the entries in the key selection menu (see also
1499 pgp-entry-format ) have obvious meanings. But some explanations on the
1500 capabilities, flags, and validity fields are in order.
1502 The flags sequence (%f) will expand to one of the following flags:
1504 Table 2.10. PGP Key Menu Flags
1506 +-----------------------------------------------------------+
1507 | Flag | Description |
1508 |------+----------------------------------------------------|
1509 | R | The key has been revoked and can't be used. |
1510 |------+----------------------------------------------------|
1511 | X | The key is expired and can't be used. |
1512 |------+----------------------------------------------------|
1513 | d | You have marked the key as disabled. |
1514 |------+----------------------------------------------------|
1515 | c | There are unknown critical self-signature packets. |
1516 +-----------------------------------------------------------+
1518 The capabilities field (%c) expands to a two-character
1519 sequencerepresenting a key's capabilities. The first character gives the
1520 key's encryption capabilities: A minus sign (- )means that the key cannot
1521 be used for encryption. A dot (. )means that it's marked as a signature
1522 key in one of the user IDs, but may also be used for encryption. The
1523 letter e indicates that this key can be used for encryption.
1525 The second character indicates the key's signing capabilities. Once again,
1526 a ``-'' implies ``not for signing'', ``.'' implies that the key is marked
1527 as an encryption key in one of the user-ids, and ``s'' denotes a key which
1528 can be used for signing.
1530 Finally, the validity field (%t) indicates how well-certified a user-id
1531 is. A question mark (?) indicates undefined validity, a minus character
1532 (-) marks an untrusted association, a space character means a partially
1533 trusted association, and a plus character (+ ) indicates complete
1536 6.5. Sending anonymous messages via mixmaster
1538 You may also have configured mutt to co-operate with Mixmaster, an
1539 anonymous remailer. Mixmaster permits you to send your messages
1540 anonymously using a chain of remailers. Mixmaster support in mutt is for
1541 mixmaster version 2.04 (beta 45 appears to be the latest) and 2.03. It
1542 does not support earlier versions or the later so-called version 3 betas,
1543 of which the latest appears to be called 2.9b23.
1545 To use it, you'll have to obey certain restrictions. Most important, you
1546 cannot use the Cc and Bcc headers. To tell Mutt-ng to use mixmaster, you
1547 have to select a remailer chain, using the mix function on the compose
1550 The chain selection screen is divided into two parts. In the (larger)
1551 upper part, you get a list of remailers you may use. In the lower part,
1552 you see the currently selected chain of remailers.
1554 You can navigate in the chain using the chain-prev and chain-next
1555 functions, which are by default bound to the left and right arrows and to
1556 the h and l keys (think vi keyboard bindings). To insert a remailer at the
1557 current chain position, use the insert function. To append a remailer
1558 behind the current chain position, use select-entry or append . You can
1559 also delete entries from the chain, using the corresponding function.
1560 Finally, to abandon your changes, leave the menu, or accept them pressing
1561 (by default) the Return key.
1563 Note that different remailers do have different capabilities, indicated in
1564 the %c entry of the remailer menu lines (see mix-entry-format). Most
1565 important is the ``middleman'' capability, indicated by a capital ``M'':
1566 This means that the remailer in question cannot be used as the final
1567 element of a chain, but will only forward messages to other mixmaster
1568 remailers. For details on the other capabilities, please have a look at
1569 the mixmaster documentation.
1571 7. Forwarding and Bouncing Mail
1573 Often, it is necessary to forward mails to other people. Therefore,
1574 mutt-ng supports forwarding messages in two different ways.
1576 The first one is regular forwarding, as you probably know it from other
1577 mail clients. You simply press f, enter the recipient email address, the
1578 subject of the forwarded email, and then you can edit the message to be
1579 forwarded in the editor. The forwarded message is separated from the rest
1580 of the message via the two following markers:
1582 ----- Forwarded message from Lucas User <luser@example.com> -----
1584 From: Lucas User <luser@example.com>
1585 Date: Thu, 02 Dec 2004 03:08:34 +0100
1586 To: Michael Random <mrandom@example.com>
1587 Subject: Re: blackmail
1589 Pay me EUR 50,000.- cash or your favorite stuffed animal will die
1592 ----- End forwarded message -----
1595 When you're done with editing the mail, save and quit the editor, and you
1596 will return to the compose menu, the same menu you also encounter when
1597 composing or replying to mails.
1599 The second mode of forwarding emails with mutt-ng is the so-called
1600 bouncing: when you bounce an email to another address, it will be sent in
1601 practically the same format you send it (except for headers that are
1602 created during transporting the message). To bounce a message, press b and
1603 enter the recipient email address. By default, you are then asked whether
1604 you really want to bounce the message to the specified recipient. If you
1605 answer with yes, the message will then be bounced.
1607 To the recipient, the bounced email will look as if he got it like a
1608 regular email where he was Bcc: recipient. The only possibility to find
1609 out whether it was a bounced email is to carefully study the email headers
1610 and to find out which host really sent the email.
1614 At times it is desirable to delay sending a message that you have already
1615 begun to compose. When the postpone-message function is used in the
1616 compose menu, the body of your message and attachments are stored in the
1617 mailbox specified by the postponed variable. This means that you can
1618 recall the message even if you exit Mutt-ng and then restart it at a later
1621 Once a message is postponed, there are several ways to resume it. From the
1622 command line you can use the ``-p'' option, or if you compose a new
1623 message from the index or pager you will be prompted if postponed messages
1624 exist. If multiple messages are currently postponed, the postponed menu
1625 will pop up and you can select which message you would like to resume.
1627 Note: If you postpone a reply to a message, the reply setting of the
1628 message is only updated when you actually finish the message and send it.
1629 Also, you must be in the same folder with the message you replied to for
1630 the status of the message to be updated.
1632 See also the postpone quad-option.
1634 Chapter 3. Configuration
1638 1. Locations of Configuration Files
1640 2. Basic Syntax of Initialization Files
1642 3. Expansion within variables
1644 3.1. Commands' Output
1646 3.2. Environment Variables
1648 3.3. Configuration Variables
1650 3.4. Self-Defined Variables
1652 3.5. Pre-Defined Variables
1654 3.6. Type Conversions
1656 4. Defining/Using aliases
1658 5. Changing the default key bindings
1660 6. Defining aliases for character sets
1662 7. Setting variables based upon mailbox
1666 9. Using color and mono video attributes
1668 10. Ignoring (weeding) unwanted message headers
1670 11. Alternative addresses
1676 12.2. Receiving: Display Setup
1680 12.4. Additional Notes
1684 14. Using Multiple spool mailboxes
1686 15. Defining mailboxes which receive mail
1688 16. User defined headers
1690 17. Defining the order of headers when viewing messages
1692 18. Specify default save filename
1694 19. Specify default Fcc: mailbox when composing
1696 20. Specify default save filename and default Fcc: mailbox at once
1698 21. Change settings based upon message recipients
1700 22. Change settings before formatting a message
1702 23. Choosing the cryptographic key of the recipient
1704 24. Adding key sequences to the keyboard buffer
1706 25. Executing functions
1712 28. Setting variables
1714 29. Reading initialization commands from another file
1720 31.1. Character Sets
1722 31.2. Modularization
1724 31.3. Conditional parts
1726 32. Obsolete Variables
1728 1. Locations of Configuration Files
1730 While the default configuration (or ``preferences'') make Mutt-ng usable
1731 right out of the box, it is often desirable to tailor Mutt-ng to suit your
1732 own tastes. When Mutt-ng is first invoked, it will attempt to read the
1733 ``system'' configuration file (defaults set by your local system
1734 administrator), unless the ``-n'' commandline option is specified. This
1735 file is typically /usr/local/share/muttng/Muttngrc or /etc/Muttngrc ,
1736 Mutt-ng users will find this file in /usr/local/share/muttng/Muttrc or
1737 /etc/Muttngrc. Mutt will next look for a file named .muttrc in your home
1738 directory, Mutt-ng will look for .muttngrc. If this file does not exist
1739 and your home directory has a subdirectory named .mutt , mutt try to load
1740 a file named .muttng/muttngrc.
1742 .muttrc (or .muttngrc for Mutt-ng) is the file where you will usually
1743 place your commands to configure Mutt-ng.
1745 2. Basic Syntax of Initialization Files
1747 An initialization file consists of a series of commands .Each line of the
1748 file may contain one or more commands. When multiple commands are used,
1749 they must be separated by a semicolon (;).
1751 set realname='Mutt-ng user' ; ignore x-
1754 The hash mark, or pound sign (``#''), is used as a ``comment'' character.
1755 You can use it to annotate your initialization file. All text after the
1756 comment character to the end of the line is ignored. For example,
1758 my_hdr X-Disclaimer: Why are you listening to me? # This is a comment
1761 Single quotes (') and double quotes (") can be used to quote strings which
1762 contain spaces or other special characters. The difference between the two
1763 types of quotes is similar to that of many popular shell programs, namely
1764 that a single quote is used to specify a literal string (one that is not
1765 interpreted for shell variables or quoting with a backslash [see next
1766 paragraph]), while double quotes indicate a string for which should be
1767 evaluated. For example, backtics are evaluated inside of double quotes,
1768 but not for single quotes.
1770 \ quotes the next character, just as in shells such as bash and zsh. For
1771 example, if want to put quotes ``"'' inside of a string, you can use ``\''
1772 to force the next character to be a literal instead of interpreted
1775 set realname="Michael \"MuttDude\" Elkins"
1778 ``\\'' means to insert a literal ``\'' into the line. ``\n'' and ``\r''
1779 have their usual C meanings of linefeed and carriage-return, respectively.
1781 A \ at the end of a line can be used to split commands over multiple
1782 lines, provided that the split points don't appear in the middle of
1785 Please note that, unlike the various shells, mutt-ng interprets a ``\'' at
1786 the end of a line also in comments. This allows you to disable a command
1787 split over multiple lines with only one ``#''.
1790 set realname="Michael \"MuttDude\" Elkins"
1793 When testing your config files, beware the following caveat. The backslash
1794 at the end of the commented line extends the current line with the next
1795 line - then referred to as a ``continuation line''. As the first line is
1796 commented with a hash (#) all following continuation lines are also part
1797 of a comment and therefore are ignored, too. So take care of comments when
1798 continuation lines are involved within your setup files!
1809 line1 ``continues'' until line4. however, the part after the # is a
1810 comment which includes line3 and line4. line5 is a new line of its own and
1811 thus is interpreted again.
1813 The commands understood by mutt are explained in the next paragraphs. For
1814 a complete list, see the commands.
1816 3. Expansion within variables
1818 Besides just assign static content to variables, there's plenty of ways of
1819 adding external and more or less dynamic content.
1821 3.1. Commands' Output
1823 It is possible to substitute the output of a Unix command in an
1824 initialization file. This is accomplished by enclosing the command in
1825 backquotes (``) as in, for example:
1827 my_hdr X-Operating-System: `uname -a`
1830 The output of the Unix command ``uname -a'' will be substituted before the
1831 line is parsed. Note that since initialization files are line oriented,
1832 only the first line of output from the Unix command will be substituted.
1834 3.2. Environment Variables
1836 UNIX environments can be accessed like the way it is done in shells like
1837 sh and bash: Prepend the name of the environment by a ``$'' sign. For
1840 set record=+sent_on_$HOSTNAME
1843 sets the record variable to the string +sent_on_ and appends the value of
1844 the evironment variable $HOSTNAME.
1846 Note: There will be no warning if an environment variable is not defined.
1847 The result will of the expansion will then be empty.
1849 3.3. Configuration Variables
1851 As for environment variables, the values of all configuration variables as
1852 string can be used in the same way, too. For example,
1854 set imap_home_namespace = $folder
1857 would set the value of imap-home-namespace to the value to which folder is
1860 Note: There're no logical links established in such cases so that the the
1861 value for imap-home-namespace won't change even if folder gets changed.
1863 Note: There will be no warning if a configuration variable is not defined
1864 or is empty. The result will of the expansion will then be empty.
1866 3.4. Self-Defined Variables
1868 Mutt-ng flexibly allows users to define their own variables. To avoid
1869 conflicts with the standard set and to prevent misleading error messages,
1870 there's a reserved namespace for them: all user-defined variables must be
1871 prefixed with user_ and can be used just like any ordinary configuration
1872 or environment variable.
1874 For example, to view the manual, users can either define two macros like
1877 macro generic <F1> "!less -r /path/to/manual" "Show manual"
1878 macro pager <F1> "!less -r /path/to/manual" "Show manual"
1881 for generic, pager and index .The alternative is to define a custom
1884 set user_manualcmd = "!less -r /path/to_manual"
1885 macro generic <F1> "$user_manualcmd<enter>" "Show manual"
1886 macro pager <F1> "$user_manualcmd<enter>" "Show manual"
1887 macro index <F1> "$user_manualcmd<enter>" "Show manual"
1890 to re-use the command sequence as in:
1892 macro index <F2> "$user_manualcmd | grep '\^[ ]\\+~. '" "Show Patterns"
1895 Using this feature, arbitrary sequences can be defined once and recalled
1896 and reused where necessary. More advanced scenarios could include to save
1897 a variable's value at the beginning of macro sequence and restore it at
1900 When the variable is first defined, the first value it gets assigned is
1901 also the initial value to which it can be reset using the reset command.
1903 The complete removal is done via the unset keyword.
1905 After the following sequence:
1911 the variable $user_foo has a current value of 666 and an initial of 42.
1917 will show 666. After doing the reset via
1922 a following query will give 42 as the result. After unsetting it via
1927 any query or operation (except the noted expansion within other
1928 statements) will lead to an error message.
1930 3.5. Pre-Defined Variables
1932 In order to allow users to share one setup over a number of different
1933 machines without having to change its contents, there's a number of
1934 pre-defined variables. These are prefixed with muttng_ and are read-only,
1935 i.e. they cannot be set, unset or reset. The reference chapter lists all
1936 available variables.
1938 Please consult the local copy of your manual for their values as they may
1939 differ from different manual sources. Where the manual is installed in can
1940 be queried (already using such a variable) by running:
1942 muttng -Q muttng_docdir
1945 To extend the example for viewing the manual via self-defined variables,
1946 it can be made more readable and more portable by changing the real path
1949 set user_manualcmd = '!less -r /path/to_manual'
1954 set user_manualcmd = "!less -r $muttng_docdir/manual.txt"
1957 which works everywhere if a manual is installed.
1959 Please note that by the type of quoting, muttng determines when to expand
1960 these values: when it finds double quotes, the value will be expanded
1961 during reading the setup files but when it finds single quotes, it'll
1962 expand it at runtime as needed.
1964 For example, the statement
1966 folder-hook . "set user_current_folder = $muttng_folder_name"
1969 will be already be translated to the following when reading the startup
1972 folder-hook . "set user_current_folder = some_folder"
1975 with some_folder being the name of the first folder muttng opens. On the
1978 folder-hook . 'set user_current_folder = $muttng_folder_name'
1981 will be executed at runtime because of the single quotes so that
1982 user_current_folder will always have the value of the currently opened
1985 A more practical example is:
1987 folder-hook . 'source ~/.mutt/score-$muttng_folder_name'
1990 which can be used to source files containing score commands depending on
1991 the folder the user enters.
1993 3.6. Type Conversions
1995 A note about variable's types during conversion: internally values are
1996 stored in internal types but for any dump/query or set operation they're
1997 converted to and from string. That means that there's no need to worry
1998 about types when referencing any variable. As an example, the following
1999 can be used without harm (besides makeing muttng very likely behave
2003 set folder = $read_inc
2004 set read_inc = $folder
2005 set user_magic_number = 42
2006 set folder = $user_magic_number
2009 4. Defining/Using aliases
2011 Usage: alias key address [ , address, ... ]
2013 It's usually very cumbersome to remember or type out the address of
2014 someone you are communicating with. Mutt-ng allows you to create
2015 ``aliases'' which map a short string to a full address.
2017 Note: if you want to create an alias for a group (by specifying more than
2018 one address), you must separate the addresses with a comma (``,'').
2020 To remove an alias or aliases (``*'' means all aliases):
2022 unalias [ * | key ... ]
2024 alias muttdude me@cs.hmc.edu (Michael Elkins)
2025 alias theguys manny, moe, jack
2028 Unlike other mailers, Mutt-ng doesn't require aliases to be defined in a
2029 special file. The alias command can appear anywhere in a configuration
2030 file, as long as this file is source .Consequently, you can have multiple
2031 alias files, or you can have all aliases defined in your muttrc.
2033 On the other hand, the create-alias function can use only one file, the
2034 one pointed to by the alias-file variable (which is ˜/.muttrc by
2035 default). This file is not special either, in the sense that Mutt-ng will
2036 happily append aliases to any file, but in order for the new aliases to
2037 take effect you need to explicitly source this file too.
2041 source /usr/local/share/Mutt-ng.aliases
2042 source ~/.mail_aliases
2043 set alias_file=~/.mail_aliases
2046 To use aliases, you merely use the alias at any place in mutt where
2047 muttprompts for addresses, such as the To: or Cc: prompt. You can also
2048 enter aliases in your editor at the appropriate headers if you have the
2049 edit-headers variable set.
2051 In addition, at the various address prompts, you can use the tab character
2052 to expand a partial alias to the full alias. If there are multiple
2053 matches, mutt will bring up a menu with the matching aliases. In order to
2054 be presented with the full list of aliases, you must hit tab with out a
2055 partial alias, such as at the beginning of the prompt or after a comma
2056 denoting multiple addresses.
2058 In the alias menu, you can select as many aliases as you want with the
2059 select-entry key (default: RET), and use the exit key (default: q) to
2060 return to the address prompt.
2062 5. Changing the default key bindings
2064 Usage: bind map key function
2066 This command allows you to change the default key bindings (operation
2067 invoked when pressing a key).
2069 map specifies in which menu the binding belongs. Multiple maps may be
2070 specified by separating them with commas (no additional whitespace
2071 isallowed). The currently defined maps are:
2075 This is not a real menu, but is used as a fallback for all of the
2076 other menus except for the pager and editor modes. If a key is not
2077 defined in another menu, Mutt-ng will look for a binding to use in
2078 this menu. This allows you to bind a key to a certain function in
2079 multiple menus instead of having multiple bind statements to
2080 accomplish the same task.
2084 The alias menu is the list of your personal aliases as defined in
2085 your muttrc. It is the mapping from a short alias name to the full
2086 email address(es) of the recipient(s).
2090 The attachment menu is used to access the attachments on received
2095 The browser is used for both browsing the local directory
2096 structure, and for listing all of your incoming mailboxes.
2100 The editor is the line-based editor the user enters text data.
2104 The index is the list of messages contained in a mailbox.
2108 The compose menu is the screen used when sending a new message.
2112 The pager is the mode used to display message/attachment data, and
2117 The pgp menu is used to select the OpenPGP keys used for
2118 encrypting outgoing messages.
2122 The postpone menu is similar to the index menu, except is used
2123 when recalling a message the user was composing, but saved until
2126 key is the key (or key sequence) you wish to bind. To specify a control
2127 character, use the sequence \Cx, where x is the letter of the control
2128 character (for example, to specify control-A use ``\Ca''). Note that the
2129 case of x as well as \C is ignored, so that \CA, \Ca, \cA and \ca are all
2130 equivalent. An alternative form is to specify the key as a three digit
2131 octal number prefixed with a ``\'' (for example \177 is equivalent to
2134 In addition, key may consist of:
2136 Table 3.1. Alternative Key Names
2138 +-----------------------------------+
2139 | Sequence | Description |
2140 |-------------+---------------------|
2142 |-------------+---------------------|
2144 |-------------+---------------------|
2145 | <backtab> | backtab / shift-tab |
2146 |-------------+---------------------|
2147 | \r | carriage return |
2148 |-------------+---------------------|
2150 |-------------+---------------------|
2152 |-------------+---------------------|
2154 |-------------+---------------------|
2156 |-------------+---------------------|
2157 | <down> | down arrow |
2158 |-------------+---------------------|
2159 | <left> | left arrow |
2160 |-------------+---------------------|
2161 | <right> | right arrow |
2162 |-------------+---------------------|
2163 | <pageup> | Page Up |
2164 |-------------+---------------------|
2165 | <pagedown> | Page Down |
2166 |-------------+---------------------|
2167 | <backspace> | Backspace |
2168 |-------------+---------------------|
2169 | <delete> | Delete |
2170 |-------------+---------------------|
2171 | <insert> | Insert |
2172 |-------------+---------------------|
2174 |-------------+---------------------|
2175 | <return> | Return |
2176 |-------------+---------------------|
2178 |-------------+---------------------|
2180 |-------------+---------------------|
2181 | <space> | Space bar |
2182 |-------------+---------------------|
2183 | <f1> | function key 1 |
2184 |-------------+---------------------|
2185 | <f10> | function key 10 |
2186 +-----------------------------------+
2188 key does not need to be enclosed in quotes unless it contains a space (``
2191 function specifies which action to take when key is pressed. For a
2192 complete list of functions, see the functions .The special function noop
2193 unbinds the specified key sequence.
2195 6. Defining aliases for character sets
2197 Usage: charset-hook alias charset Usage: iconv-hook charset local-charset
2199 The charset-hook command defines an alias for a character set. This is
2200 useful to properly display messages which are tagged with a character set
2201 name not known to mutt.
2203 The iconv-hook command defines a system-specific name for a character set.
2204 This is helpful when your systems character conversion library insists on
2205 using strange, system-specific names for character sets.
2207 7. Setting variables based upon mailbox
2209 Usage: folder-hook [!]regexp command
2211 It is often desirable to change settings based on which mailbox you are
2212 reading. The folder-hook command provides a method by which you can
2213 execute any configuration command. regexp is a regular expression
2214 specifying in which mailboxes to execute command before loading. If a
2215 mailbox matches multiple folder-hook's, they are executed in the order
2216 given in the muttrc.
2218 Note: if you use the ``!'' shortcut for spoolfile at the beginning of the
2219 pattern, you must place it inside of double or single quotes in order to
2220 distinguish it from the logical not operator for the expression.
2222 Note that the settings are not restored when you leave the mailbox. For
2223 example, a command action to perform is to change the sorting methodbased
2224 upon the mailbox being read:
2226 folder-hook mutt set sort=threads
2229 However, the sorting method is not restored to its previous value when
2230 reading a different mailbox. To specify a default command, use the pattern
2233 folder-hook . set sort=date-sent
2238 Usage: macro menu key sequence [ description ]
2240 Macros are useful when you would like a single key to perform a series of
2241 actions. When you press key in menu menu ,Mutt-ng will behave as if you
2242 had typed sequence. So if you have a common sequence of commands you type,
2243 you can create a macro to execute those commands with a singlekey.
2245 menu is the maps which the macro will be bound. Multiple maps may be
2246 specified by separating multiple menu arguments by commas. Whitespace may
2247 not be used in between the menu arguments and thecommas separating them.
2249 key and sequence are expanded by the same rules as the bind. There are
2250 some additions however. The first is that control characters in sequence
2251 can also be specified as ^x. In order to get a caret (`^'') you need to
2252 use ^^. Secondly, to specify a certain key such as up or to invoke a
2253 function directly, you can use the format <key name> and <function name>
2254 .For a listing of key names see the section on bind. Functions are listed
2257 The advantage with using function names directly is that the macros
2258 willwork regardless of the current key bindings, so they are not dependent
2259 on the user having particular key definitions. This makes them more
2260 robustand portable, and also facilitates defining of macros in files used
2261 by more than one user (eg. the system Muttngrc).
2263 Optionally you can specify a descriptive text after sequence, which is
2264 shown in the help screens.
2266 Note: Macro definitions (if any) listed in the help screen(s), are
2267 silently truncated at the screen width, and are not wrapped.
2269 9. Using color and mono video attributes
2271 Usage: color object foreground background [ regexp ] Usage: color index
2272 foreground background pattern Usage: uncolor index pattern [ pattern ... ]
2274 If your terminal supports color, you can spice up Mutt-ng by creating your
2275 own color scheme. To define the color of an object (type of information),
2276 you must specify both a foreground color and a background color (it is not
2277 possible to only specify one or the other).
2279 object can be one of:
2283 o body (match regexp in the body of messages)
2285 o bold (highlighting bold patterns in the body of messages)
2287 o error (error messages printed by Mutt-ng)
2289 o header (match regexp in the message header)
2291 o hdrdefault (default color of the message header in the pager)
2293 o index (match pattern in the message index)
2295 o indicator (arrow or bar used to indicate the current item in a menu)
2297 o markers (the ``+'' markers at the beginning of wrapped lines in the
2300 o message (informational messages)
2304 o quoted (text matching quote-regexp in the body of a message)
2306 o quoted1, quoted2, ..., quotedN (higher levels of quoting)
2308 o search (highlighting of words in the pager)
2312 o status (mode lines used to display info about the mailbox or message)
2314 o tilde (the ``˜'' used to pad blank lines in the pager)
2316 o tree (thread tree drawn in the message index and attachment menu)
2318 o underline (highlighting underlined patterns in the body of messages)
2320 foreground and background can be one of the following:
2342 foreground can optionally be prefixed with the keyword bright to make the
2343 foreground color boldfaced (e.g., brightred).
2345 If your terminal supports it, the special keyword default can be used as a
2346 transparent color. The value brightdefault is also valid. If Mutt-ng is
2347 linked against the S-Lang library, you also need to set the COLORFGBG
2348 environment variable to the default colors of your terminal for this to
2349 work; for example (for Bourne-like shells):
2351 set COLORFGBG="green;black"
2355 Note: The S-Lang library requires you to use the lightgray and brown
2356 keywords instead of white and yellow when setting this variable.
2358 Note: The uncolor command can be applied to the index object only. It
2359 removes entries from the list. You must specify the same pattern specified
2360 in the color command for it to be removed. The pattern ``*'' is a special
2361 token which means to clear the color index list of all entries.
2363 Mutt-ng also recognizes the keywords color0, color1 ,…, colorN-1 (N
2364 being the number of colors supported by your terminal). This is useful
2365 when you remap the colors for your display (for example by changing the
2366 color associated with color2 for your xterm), since color names may then
2367 lose their normal meaning.
2369 If your terminal does not support color, it is still possible change the
2370 video attributes through the use of the ``mono'' command:
2372 Usage: mono <object> <attribute> [ regexp ] Usage: mono index attribute
2373 pattern Usage: unmono index pattern [ pattern ... ]
2375 where attribute is one of the following:
2387 10. Ignoring (weeding) unwanted message headers
2389 Usage: [un]ignore pattern [ pattern ... ]
2391 Messages often have many header fields added by automatic processing
2392 systems, or which may not seem useful to display on the screen. This
2393 command allows you to specify header fields which you don't normally want
2396 You do not need to specify the full header field name. For example,
2397 ``ignore content-'' will ignore all header fields that begin with the
2398 pattern ``content-''. ``ignore *'' will ignore all headers.
2400 To remove a previously added token from the list, use the ``unignore''
2401 command. The ``unignore'' command will make Mutt-ng display headers with
2402 the given pattern. For example, if you do ``ignore x-'' it is possible to
2403 ``unignore x-mailer''.
2405 ``unignore *'' will remove all tokens from the ignore list.
2409 # Sven's draconian header weeding
2411 unignore from date subject to cc
2412 unignore organization organisation x-mailer: x-newsreader: x-mailing-list:
2416 11. Alternative addresses
2418 Usage: [un]alternates regexp [ regexp ... ]
2420 With various functions, mutt will treat messages differently, depending on
2421 whether you sent them or whether you received them from someone else. For
2422 instance, when replying to a message that you sent to a different party,
2423 mutt will automatically suggest to send the response to the original
2424 message's recipients -- responding to yourself won't make much sense in
2425 many cases. (See reply-to .)
2427 Many users receive e-mail under a number of different addresses. To fully
2428 use mutt's features here, the program must be able to recognize what
2429 e-mail addresses you receive mail under. That's the purpose of the
2430 alternates command: It takes a list of regular expressions, each of which
2431 can identify an address under which you receive e-mail.
2433 The unalternates command can be used to write exceptions to alternates
2434 patterns. If an address matches something in an alternates command, but
2435 you nonetheless do not think it is from you, you can list a more precise
2436 pattern under an unalternates command.
2438 To remove a regular expression from the alternates list, use the
2439 unalternates command with exactly the same regexp . Likewise, if the
2440 regexp for a alternates command matches an entry on the unalternates list,
2441 that unalternates entry will be removed. If the regexp for unalternates is
2442 ``*'', all entries on alternates will be removed.
2448 Mutt-ng contains support for so-called format=flowed messages. In the
2449 beginning of email, each message had a fixed line width, and it was enough
2450 for displaying them on fixed-size terminals. But times changed, and
2451 nowadays hardly anybody still uses fixed-size terminals: more people
2452 nowaydays use graphical user interfaces, with dynamically resizable
2453 windows. This led to the demand of a new email format that makes it
2454 possible for the email client to make the email look nice in a resizable
2455 window without breaking quoting levels and creating an incompatible email
2456 format that can also be displayed nicely on old fixed-size terminals.
2458 For introductory information on format=flowed messages, see
2459 <http://www.joeclark.org/ffaq.html> .
2461 12.2. Receiving: Display Setup
2463 When you receive emails that are marked as format=flowed messages, and is
2464 formatted correctly, mutt-ng will try to reformat the message to optimally
2465 fit on your terminal. If you want a fixed margin on the right side of your
2466 terminal, you can set the following:
2471 The code above makes the line break 10 columns before the right side of
2474 If your terminal is so wide that the lines are embarrassingly long, you
2475 can also set a maximum line length:
2477 set max_line_length = 120
2480 The example above will give you lines not longer than 120 characters.
2482 When you view at format=flowed messages, you will often see the quoting
2483 hierarchy like in the following example:
2485 >Bill, can you please send last month's progress report to Mr.
2486 >Morgan? We also urgently need the cost estimation for the new
2487 >production server that we want to set up before our customer's
2488 >project will go live.
2491 This obviously doesn't look very nice, and it makes it very hard to
2492 differentiate between text and quoting character. The solution is to
2493 configure mutt-ng to "stuff" the quoting:
2498 This will lead to a nicer result that is easier to read:
2500 > Bill, can you please send last month's progress report to Mr.
2501 > Morgan? We also urgently need the cost estimation for the new
2502 > production server that we want to set up before our customer's
2503 > project will go live.
2508 If you want mutt-ng to send emails with format=flowed set, you need to
2514 Additionally, you have to use an editor which supports writing
2515 format=flowed-conforming emails. For vim, this is done by adding w to the
2516 formatoptions (see :h formatoptions and :h fo-table) when writing emails.
2518 Also note that format=flowed knows about ``space-stuffing'', that is, when
2519 sending messages, some kinds of lines have to be indented with a single
2520 space on the sending side. On the receiving side, the first space (if any)
2521 is removed. As a consequence and in addition to the above simple setting,
2522 please keep this in mind when making manual formattings within the editor.
2523 Also note that mutt-ng currently violates the standard (RfC 3676) as it
2524 does not space-stuff lines starting with:
2526 o > This is not the quote character but a right angle used for other
2529 o From with a trailing space.
2531 o just a space for formatting reasons
2533 Please make sure that you manually prepend a space to each of them.
2535 12.4. Additional Notes
2537 For completeness, the delete-space variable provides the mechanism to
2538 generate a DelSp=yes parameter on outgoing messages. According to the
2539 standard, clients receiving a format=flowed messages should delete the
2540 last space of a flowed line but still interpret the line as flowed.
2541 Because flowed lines usually contain only one space at the end, this
2542 parameter would make the receiving client concatenate the last word of the
2543 previous with the first of the current line without a space. This makes
2544 ordinary text unreadable and is intended for languages rarely using
2545 spaces. So please use this setting only if you're sure what you're doing.
2549 Usage: [un]lists regexp [ regexp ... ] Usage: [un]subscribe regexp [
2552 Mutt-ng has a few nice features for using-lists .In order to take
2553 advantage of them, you must specify which addresses belong to mailing
2554 lists, and which mailing lists you are subscribed to. Once you have done
2555 this, the list-reply function will work for all known lists. Additionally,
2556 when you send a message to a subscribed list, mutt will add a
2557 Mail-Followup-To header to tell other users' mail user agents not to send
2558 copies of replies to your personal address. Note that the Mail-Followup-To
2559 header is a non-standard extension which is not supported by all mail user
2560 agents. Adding it is not bullet-proof against receiving personal CCs of
2561 list messages. Also note that the generation of the Mail-Followup-To
2562 header is controlled by the followup-to configuration variable.
2564 More precisely, Mutt-ng maintains lists of patterns for the addresses of
2565 known and subscribed mailing lists. Every subscribed mailing list is
2566 known. To mark a mailing list as known, use the ``lists'' command. To mark
2567 it as subscribed, use ``subscribe''.
2569 You can use regular expressions with both commands. To mark all messages
2570 sent to a specific bug report's address on mutt's bug tracking system as
2571 list mail, for instance, you could say ``subscribe [0-9]*@bugs.guug.de''.
2572 Often, it's sufficient to just give a portion of the list's e-mail
2575 Specify as much of the address as you need to to remove ambiguity. For
2576 example, if you've subscribed to the Mutt-ng mailing list, you will
2577 receive mail addressed to mutt-users@mutt.org. So, to tell Mutt-ng that
2578 this is a mailing list, you could add ``lists mutt-users'' to your
2579 initialization file. To tell mutt that you are subscribed to it, add
2580 ``subscribe mutt-users'' to your initialization file instead. If you also
2581 happen to get mail from someone whose address is mutt-users@example.com,
2582 you could use ``lists mutt-users@mutt\\.org'' or ``subscribe
2583 mutt-users@mutt\\.org'' to match only mail from the actual list.
2585 The ``unlists'' command is used to remove a token from the list of known
2586 and subscribed mailing-lists. Use ``unlists *'' to remove all tokens.
2588 To remove a mailing list from the list of subscribed mailing lists, but
2589 keep it on the list of known mailing lists, use ``unsubscribe''.
2591 14. Using Multiple spool mailboxes
2593 Usage: mbox-hook [!]pattern mailbox
2595 This command is used to move read messages from a specified mailbox to
2596 adifferent mailbox automatically when you quit or change folders. pattern
2597 is a regular expression specifying the mailbox to treat as a ``spool''
2598 mailbox and mailbox specifies where mail should be saved when read.
2600 Unlike some of the other hook commands, only the first matching pattern is
2601 used (it is not possible to save read mail in more than a single mailbox).
2603 15. Defining mailboxes which receive mail
2605 Usage: [un]mailboxes [!]filename [ filename ... ]
2607 This command specifies folders which can receive mail and which will be
2608 checked for new messages. By default, the main menu status bar displays
2609 how many of these folders have new messages.
2611 When changing folders, pressing space will cycle through folders with new
2614 Pressing TAB in the directory browser will bring up a menu showing the
2615 files specified by the mailboxes command, and indicate which contain new
2616 messages. Mutt-ng will automatically enter this mode when invoked from the
2617 command line with the -y option.
2619 The ``unmailboxes'' command is used to remove a token from the list of
2620 folders which receive mail. Use ``unmailboxes *'' to remove all tokens.
2622 Note: new mail is detected by comparing the last modification time to the
2623 last access time. Utilities like biff or frm or any other program which
2624 accesses the mailbox might cause Mutt-ng to never detect new mail for that
2625 mailbox if they do not properly reset the access time. Backup tools are
2626 another common reason for updated access times.
2628 Note: the filenames in the mailboxes command are resolved when the command
2629 is executed, so if these names contain shortcuts (such as ``='' and
2630 ``!''), any variable definition that affect these characters (like folder
2631 and spoolfile) should be executed before the mailboxes command.
2633 16. User defined headers
2635 Usage: my_hdr string unmy_hdr field [ field ... ]
2637 The ``my_hdr'' command allows you to create your own header fields which
2638 will be added to every message you send.
2640 For example, if you would like to add an ``Organization:'' header field to
2641 all of your outgoing messages, you can put the command
2643 my_hdr Organization: A Really Big Company, Anytown, USA
2648 Note: space characters are not allowed between the keyword and the colon
2649 (``:''). The standard for electronic mail (RFC822) says that space is
2650 illegal there, so Mutt-ng enforces the rule.
2652 If you would like to add a header field to a single message, you should
2653 either set the edit-headers variable, or use the edit-headers function
2654 (default: ``E'') in the send-menu so that you can edit the header of your
2655 message along with the body.
2657 To remove user defined header fields, use the ``unmy_hdr'' command. You
2658 may specify an asterisk (``*'') to remove all header fields, or the fields
2659 to remove. For example, to remove all ``To'' and ``Cc'' header fields, you
2665 17. Defining the order of headers when viewing messages
2667 Usage: hdr_order header1 header2 header3
2669 With this command, you can specify an order in which mutt will attempt to
2670 present headers to you when viewing messages.
2672 ``unhdr_order *'' will clear all previous headers from the order list,
2673 thus removing the header order effects set by the system-wide startup
2676 hdr_order From Date: From: To: Cc: Subject:
2679 18. Specify default save filename
2681 Usage: save-hook [!]pattern filename
2683 This command is used to override the default filename used when saving
2684 messages. filename will be used as the default filename if the message is
2685 From: an address matching regexp or if you are the author and the message
2686 is addressed to: something matching regexp .
2688 See pattern-hook for information on the exact format of pattern.
2692 save-hook me@(turing\\.)?cs\\.hmc\\.edu$ +elkins
2693 save-hook aol\\.com$ +spam
2696 Also see the fcc-save-hook command.
2698 19. Specify default Fcc: mailbox when composing
2700 Usage: fcc-hook [!]pattern mailbox
2702 This command is used to save outgoing mail in a mailbox other than record.
2703 Mutt-ng searches the initial list of message recipients for the first
2704 matching regexp and uses mailbox as the default Fcc: mailbox. If no match
2705 is found the message will be saved to record mailbox.
2707 See pattern-hook for information on the exact format of pattern.
2709 Example: fcc-hook [@.]aol\\.com$ +spammers
2711 The above will save a copy of all messages going to the aol.com domain to
2712 the `+spammers' mailbox by default. Also see the fcc-save-hook command.
2714 20. Specify default save filename and default Fcc: mailbox at once
2716 Usage: fcc-save-hook [!]pattern mailbox
2718 This command is a shortcut, equivalent to doing both a fcc-hook and a
2719 save-hook with its arguments.
2721 21. Change settings based upon message recipients
2723 Usage: reply-hook [!]pattern command Usage: send-hook [!]pattern command
2724 Usage: send2-hook [!]pattern command
2726 These commands can be used to execute arbitrary configuration commands
2727 based upon recipients of the message. pattern is a regular expression
2728 matching the desired address. command is executed when regexp matches
2729 recipients of the message.
2731 reply-hook is matched against the message you are replying to, instead of
2732 the message you are sending .send-hook is matched against all messages,
2733 both new and replies .Note: reply-hooks are matched before the send-hook
2734 ,regardless of the order specified in the users's configuration file.
2736 send2-hook is matched every time a message is changed, either by editing
2737 it, or by using the compose menu to change its recipients or subject.
2738 send2-hook is executed after send-hook ,and can, e.g., be used to set
2739 parameters such as the sendmail variable depending on the message's sender
2742 For each type of send-hook or reply-hook, when multiple matches occur,
2743 commands are executed in the order they are specified in the muttrc (for
2746 See pattern-hook for information on the exact format of pattern.
2748 Example: send-hook mutt "set mime_forward signature=''"
2750 Another typical use for this command is to change the values of the
2751 attribution, signature and locale variables in order to change the
2752 language of the attributions and signatures based upon the recipients.
2754 Note: the send-hook's are only executed ONCE after getting the initial
2755 list of recipients. Adding a recipient after replying or editing the
2756 message will NOT cause any send-hook to be executed. Also note that my_hdr
2757 commands which modify recipient headers, or the message's subject, don't
2758 have any effect on the current message when executed from a send-hook.
2760 22. Change settings before formatting a message
2762 Usage: message-hook [!]pattern command
2764 This command can be used to execute arbitrary configuration commands
2765 before viewing or formatting a message based upon information about the
2766 message. command is executed if the pattern matches the message to be
2767 displayed. When multiple matches occur, commands are executed in the order
2768 they are specified in the muttrc.
2770 See pattern-hook for information on the exact format of pattern.
2774 message-hook ~A 'set pager=builtin'
2775 message-hook '~f freshmeat-news' 'set pager="less \"+/^ subject:.*\""'
2778 23. Choosing the cryptographic key of the recipient
2780 Usage: crypt-hook pattern keyid
2782 When encrypting messages with PGP or OpenSSL, you may want to associate a
2783 certain key with a given e-mail address automatically, either because the
2784 recipient's public key can't be deduced from the destination address, or
2785 because, for some reasons, you need to override the key Mutt-ng
2786 wouldnormally use. The crypt-hook command provides a method by which you
2787 can specify the ID of the public key to be used when encrypting messages
2788 to a certain recipient.
2790 The meaning of "key id" is to be taken broadly in this context: You can
2791 either put a numerical key ID here, an e-mail address, or even just a real
2794 24. Adding key sequences to the keyboard buffer
2798 This command adds the named string to the keyboard buffer. The string may
2799 contain control characters, key names and function names like the sequence
2800 string in the macro command. You may use it to automatically run a
2801 sequence of commands at startup, or when entering certain folders.
2803 25. Executing functions
2805 Usage: exec function [ function ... ]
2807 This command can be used to execute any function. Functions are listed in
2808 the functions. ``exec function'' is equivalent to ``push <function>''.
2812 Usage: score pattern value Usage: unscore pattern [ pattern ... ]
2814 In situations where you have to cope with a lot of emails, e.g. when you
2815 read many different mailing lists, and take part in discussions, it is
2816 always useful to have the important messages marked and the annoying
2817 messages or the ones that you aren't interested in deleted. For this
2818 purpose, mutt-ng features a mechanism called ``scoring''.
2820 When you use scoring, every message has a base score of 0. You can then
2821 use the score command to define patterns and a positive or negative value
2822 associated with it. When a pattern matches a message, the message's score
2823 will be raised or lowered by the amount of the value associated with the
2826 score "~f nion@muttng\.org" 50
2827 score "~f @sco\.com" -100
2830 If the pattern matches, it is also possible to set the score value of the
2831 current message to a certain value and then stop evaluation:
2833 score "~f santaclaus@northpole\.int" =666
2836 What is important to note is that negative score values will be rounded up
2839 To make scoring actually useful, the score must be applied in some way.
2840 That's what the score thresholds are for. Currently, there are three score
2843 o flag threshold: when a message has a score value equal or higher than
2844 the flag threshold, it will be flagged.
2846 o read threshold: when a message has a score value equal or lower than
2847 the read threshold, it will be marked as read.
2849 o delete threshold: when a message has a score value equal or lower than
2850 the delete threshold, it will be marked as deleted.
2852 These three thresholds can be set via the variables score-threshold-flag
2853 ,score-threshold-read, score-threshold-delete and. By default,
2854 score-threshold-read and score-threshold-delete are set to -1, which means
2855 that in the default threshold configuration no message will ever get
2856 marked as read or deleted.
2858 Scoring gets especially interesting when combined with the color command
2861 color index black yellow "~n 10-"
2862 color index red yellow "~n 100-"
2865 The rules above mark all messages with a score between 10 and 99 with
2866 black and yellow, and messages with a score greater or equal 100 with red
2867 and yellow. This might be unusual to you if you're used to e.g. slrn's
2868 scoring mechanism, but it is more flexible, as it visually marks different
2873 Usage: spam pattern format Usage: nospam pattern
2875 Mutt-ng has generalized support for external spam-scoring filters. By
2876 defining your spam patterns with the spam and nospam commands, you can
2877 limit, search, and sort your mail based on its spam attributes, as
2878 determined by the external filter. You also can display the spam
2879 attributes in your index display using the %H selector in the index-format
2880 variable. (Tip: try %?H?[%H] ? to display spam tags only when they are
2881 defined for a given message.)
2883 Your first step is to define your external filter's spam patterns using
2884 the spam command. pattern should be a regular expression that matches a
2885 header in a mail message. If any message in the mailbox matches this
2886 regular expression, it will receive a ``spam tag'' or ``spam attribute''
2887 (unless it also matches a nospam pattern -- see below.) The appearance of
2888 this attribute is entirely up to you, and is governed by the format
2889 parameter. format can be any static text, but it also can include
2890 back-references from the pattern expression. (A regular expression
2891 ``back-reference'' refers to a sub-expression contained within
2892 parentheses.) %1 is replaced with the first back-reference in the regex,
2893 %2 with the second, etc.
2895 If you're using multiple spam filters, a message can have more than one
2896 spam-related header. You can define spam patterns for each filter you use.
2897 If a message matches two or more of these patterns, and the
2898 $spam_separator variable is set to a string, then the message's spam tag
2899 will consist of all the format strings joined together, with the value of
2900 $spam_separator separating them.
2902 For example, suppose I use DCC, SpamAssassin, and PureMessage. I might
2903 define these spam settings:
2905 spam "X-DCC-.*-Metrics:.*(....)=many" "90+/DCC-%1"
2906 spam "X-Spam-Status: Yes" "90+/SA"
2907 spam "X-PerlMX-Spam: .*Probability=([0-9]+)%" "%1/PM"
2908 set spam_separator=", "
2911 If I then received a message that DCC registered with ``many'' hits under
2912 the ``Fuz2'' checksum, and that PureMessage registered with a 97%
2913 probability of being spam, that message's spam tag would read90+/DCC-Fuz2,
2914 97/PM. (The four characters before ``=many'' in a DCC report indicate the
2915 checksum used -- in this case, ``Fuz2''.)
2917 If the $spam_separator variable is unset, then each spam pattern match
2918 supersedes the previous one. Instead of getting joined format strings,
2919 you'll get only the last one to match.
2921 The spam tag is what will be displayed in the index when you use %H in the
2922 $index_format variable. It's also the string that the ˜H pattern-matching
2923 expression matches against for search and limit functions. And it's what
2924 sorting by spam attribute will use as a sort key.
2926 That's a pretty complicated example, and most people's actual environments
2927 will have only one spam filter. The simpler your configuration, the more
2928 effective mutt can be, especially when it comes to sorting.
2930 Generally, when you sort by spam tag, mutt will sort lexically -- that is,
2931 by ordering strings alphnumerically. However, if a spam tag begins with a
2932 number, mutt will sort numerically first, and lexically only when two
2933 numbers are equal in value. (This is like UNIX's sort -n.) A message with
2934 no spam attributes at all -- that is, one that didn't match any of your
2935 spam patterns -- is sorted at lowest priority. Numbers are sorted next,
2936 beginning with 0 and ranging upward. Finally, non-numeric strings are
2937 sorted, with ``a'' taking lowerpriority than ``z''. Clearly, in general,
2938 sorting by spam tags is most effective when you can coerce your filter to
2939 give you a raw number. But in case you can't, mutt can still do something
2942 The nospam command can be used to write exceptions to spam patterns. If a
2943 header pattern matches something in a spam command, but you nonetheless do
2944 not want it to receive a spam tag, you can list amore precise pattern
2945 under a nospam command.
2947 If the pattern given to nospam is exactly the same as the pattern on an
2948 existing spam list entry, the effect will be to remove the entry from the
2949 spam list, instead of adding an exception. Likewise, if the pattern for a
2950 spam command matches an entry on the nospam list, that nospam entry will
2951 be removed. If the pattern for nospam is ``*'', all entries on both lists
2952 will be removed. This might be the default action if you use spam and
2953 nospam in conjunction with a folder-hook .
2955 You can have as many spam or nospam commands as you like. You can even do
2956 your own primitive spam detection within mutt -- for example, if you
2957 consider all mail from MAILER-DAEMON to be spam, you can use a spam
2960 spam "^From: .*MAILER-DAEMON" "999"
2963 28. Setting variables
2965 Usage: set [no|inv]variable [=value] [ variable ... ] Usage: toggle
2966 variable [variable ... ] Usage: unset variable [variable ... ] Usage:
2967 reset variable [variable ... ]
2969 This command is used to set (and unset) variables .There are four basic
2970 types of variables: boolean, number, string and quadoption. boolean
2971 variables can be set (true) or unset (false). number variables can be
2972 assigned a positive integer value.
2974 string variables consist of any number of printable characters. strings
2975 must be enclosed in quotes if they contain spaces or tabs. You may also
2976 use the ``C'' escape sequences \n and \t for newline and tab,
2979 quadoption variables are used to control whether or not to be prompted for
2980 certain actions, or to specify a default action. A value of yes will cause
2981 the action to be carried out automatically as if you had answered yes to
2982 the question. Similarly, a value of no will cause the the action to be
2983 carried out as if you had answered ``no.'' A value of ask-yes will cause a
2984 prompt with a default answer of ``yes'' and ask-no will provide a default
2987 Prefixing a variable with ``no'' will unset it. Example: set noaskbcc .
2989 For boolean variables, you may optionally prefix the variable name with
2990 inv to toggle the value (on or off). This is useful when writing macros.
2991 Example: set invsmart_wrap.
2993 The toggle command automatically prepends the inv prefix to all specified
2996 The unset command automatically prepends the no prefix to all specified
2999 Using the enter-command function in the index menu, you can query the
3000 value of a variable by prefixing the name of the variable with a question
3006 The question mark is actually only required for boolean and quadoption
3009 The reset command resets all given variables to the compile time defaults
3010 (hopefully mentioned in this manual). If you use the command set and
3011 prefix the variable with ``&'' this has the same behavior as the reset
3014 With the reset command there exists the special variable ``all'', which
3015 allows you to reset all variables to their system defaults.
3017 29. Reading initialization commands from another file
3019 Usage: source filename [ filename ... ]
3021 This command allows the inclusion of initialization commands from other
3022 files. For example, I place all of my aliases in ˜/.mail_aliases so that
3023 I can make my ˜/.muttrc readable and keep my aliases private.
3025 If the filename begins with a tilde (``˜''), it will be expanded to the
3026 path of your home directory.
3028 If the filename ends with a vertical bar (|), then filename is considered
3029 to be an executable program from which to read input (eg. source
3034 Usage: unhook [ * | hook-type ]
3036 This command permits you to flush hooks you have previously defined. You
3037 can either remove all hooks by giving the ``*'' character as an argument,
3038 or you can remove all hooks of a specific type by saying something like
3043 31.1. Character Sets
3045 As users may run mutt-ng on different systems, the configuration must be
3046 maintained because it's likely that people want to use the setup
3047 everywhere they use mutt-ng. And mutt-ng tries to help where it can.
3049 To not produce conflicts with different character sets, mutt-ng allows
3050 users to specify in which character set their configuration files are
3051 encoded. Please note that while reading the configuration files, this is
3052 only respected after the corresponding declaration appears. It's advised
3053 to put the following at the very beginning of a users muttngrc:
3055 set config_charset = "..."
3058 and replacing the dots with the actual character set. To avoid problems
3059 while maintaining the setup, vim user's may want to use modelines as show
3062 # vim:fileencoding=...:
3065 while, again, replacing the dots with the appropriate name. This tells vim
3066 as which character set to read and save the file.
3068 31.2. Modularization
3070 ``Modularization'' means to divide the setup into several files while
3071 sorting the options or commands by topic. Especially for longer setups
3072 (e.g. with many hooks), this helps maintaining it and solving trouble.
3074 When using separation, setups may be, as a whole or in fractions, shared
3075 over different systems.
3077 31.3. Conditional parts
3079 When using a configuration on different systems, the user may not always
3080 have influence on how mutt-ng is installed and which features it includes.
3082 To solve this, mutt-ng contain a feature based on the ``ifdef'' patch
3083 written for mutt. Its basic syntax is:
3085 ifdef <item> <command>
3086 ifndef <item> <command>
3089 ...whereby <item> can be one of:
3099 All available functions, variables and menus are documented elsewhere in
3100 this manual but ``features'' is specific to these two commands. To test
3101 for one, prefix one of the following keywords with feature_: ncurses,
3102 slang, iconv, idn, dotlock, standalone, pop, nntp, imap, ssl, gnutls,
3103 sasl, sasl2, libesmtp, compressed, color, classic_pgp, classic_smime,
3106 As an example, one can use the following in ˜/.muttngrc:
3108 ifdef feature_imap 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-imap'
3109 ifdef feature_pop 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-pop'
3110 ifdef feature_nntp 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-nntp'
3113 ...to only source ˜/.mutt-ng/setup-imap if IMAP support is built in, only
3114 source ˜/.mutt-ng/setup-pop if POP support is built in and only source
3115 ˜/.mutt-ng/setup-nntp if NNTP support is built in.
3117 An example for testing for variable names can be used if users use
3118 different revisions of mutt-ng whereby the older one may not have a
3119 certain variable. To test for the availability of imap-mail-check , use:
3121 ifdef imap_mail_check 'set imap_mail_check = 300'
3124 Provided for completeness is the test for menu names. To set
3125 pager-index-lines only if the pager menu is available, use:
3127 ifdef pager 'set pager_index_lines = 10'
3130 For completeness, too, the opposite of ifdef is provided: ifndef which
3131 only executes the command if the test fails. For example, the following
3132 two examples are equivalent:
3134 ifdef feature_ncurses 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-ncurses'
3135 ifndef feature_ncurses 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-slang'
3140 ifdef feature_slang 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-slang'
3141 ifndef feature_slang 'source ~/.mutt-ng/setup-ncurses'
3144 32. Obsolete Variables
3146 In the process of ensuring and creating more consistency, many variables
3147 have been renamed and some of the old names were already removed. Please
3148 see sect-obsolete for a complete list.
3150 Chapter 4. Advanced Usage
3154 1. Regular Expressions
3158 2.1. Complex Patterns
3160 2.2. Patterns and Dates
3166 3.2. Conditional Expansion
3168 3.3. Modifications and Padding
3174 5.1. Message Matching in Hooks
3176 6. Using the sidebar
3178 7. External Address Queries
3182 9. Mailbox Shortcuts
3184 10. Handling Mailing Lists
3188 11.1. Linking threads
3190 11.2. Breaking threads
3192 12. Delivery Status Notification (DSN) Support
3194 13. POP3 Support (OPTIONAL)
3196 14. IMAP Support (OPTIONAL)
3198 14.1. The Folder Browser
3200 14.2. Authentication
3202 15. NNTP Support (OPTIONAL)
3204 15.1. Again: Scoring
3206 16. SMTP Support (OPTIONAL)
3208 17. Managing multiple IMAP/POP/NNTP accounts (OPTIONAL)
3210 18. Start a WWW Browser on URLs (EXTERNAL)
3212 19. Compressed folders Support (OPTIONAL)
3214 19.1. Open a compressed mailbox for reading
3216 19.2. Write a compressed mailbox
3218 19.3. Append a message to a compressed mailbox
3220 19.4. Encrypted folders
3222 1. Regular Expressions
3224 All string patterns in Mutt-ng including those in more complex patterns
3225 must be specified using regular expressions (regexp) in the ``POSIX
3226 extended'' syntax (which is more or less the syntax used by egrep and GNU
3227 awk). For your convenience, we have included below a brief description of
3230 The search is case sensitive if the pattern contains at least one upper
3231 case letter, and case insensitive otherwise. Note that ``\'' must be
3232 quoted if used for a regular expression in an initialization command:
3235 A regular expression is a pattern that describes a set of strings. Regular
3236 expressions are constructed analogously to arithmetic expressions, by
3237 using various operators to combine smaller expressions.
3239 Note that the regular expression can be enclosed/delimited by either " or
3240 ' which is useful if the regular expression includes a white-space
3241 character. See muttrc-syntax for more information on " and ' delimiter
3242 processing. To match a literal " or ' you must preface it with \
3245 The fundamental building blocks are the regular expressions that match a
3246 single character. Most characters, including all letters and digits, are
3247 regular expressions that match themselves. Any metacharacter with special
3248 meaning may be quoted by preceding it with a backslash.
3250 The period ``.'' matches any single character. The caret ``^'' andthe
3251 dollar sign ``$'' are metacharacters that respectively match the empty
3252 string at the beginning and end of a line.
3254 A list of characters enclosed by ``['' and ``]'' matches any single
3255 character in that list; if the first character of the list is a caret
3256 ``^'' then it matches any character not in the list. For example, the
3257 regular expression [0123456789] matches any single digit. A range of ASCII
3258 characters may be specified by giving the first and last characters,
3259 separated by a hyphen ``-''. Most metacharacters lose their special
3260 meaning inside lists. To include a literal ``]'' place it first in the
3261 list. Similarly, to include a literal ``^'' place it anywhere but first.
3262 Finally, to include a literal hyphen ``-'' place it last.
3264 Certain named classes of characters are predefined. Character classes
3265 consist of ``[:'', a keyword denoting the class, and ``:]''. The following
3266 classes are defined by the POSIX standard:
3270 Alphanumeric characters.
3274 Alphabetic characters.
3278 Space or tab characters.
3290 Characters that are both printable and visible. (A space is
3291 printable, but not visible, while an ``a'' is both.)
3295 Lower-case alphabetic characters.
3299 Printable characters (characters that are not control characters.)
3303 Punctuation characters (characters that are not letter, digits,
3304 control characters, or space characters).
3308 Space characters (such as space, tab and formfeed, to name a few).
3312 Upper-case alphabetic characters.
3316 Characters that are hexadecimal digits.
3318 A character class is only valid in a regular expression inside the
3319 brackets of a character list. Note that the brackets in these class names
3320 are part of the symbolic names, and must be included in addition to the
3321 brackets delimiting the bracket list. For example, [[:digit:]] is
3322 equivalent to [0-9].
3324 Two additional special sequences can appear in character lists. These
3325 apply to non-ASCII character sets, which can have single symbols
3326 (calledcollating elements) that are represented with more than one
3327 character, as well as several characters that are equivalent for collating
3328 or sorting purposes:
3332 A collating symbol is a multi-character collating element enclosed
3333 in ``[.'' and ``.]''. For example, if ``ch'' is a collating
3334 element, then [[.ch.]] is a regexp that matches this collating
3335 element, while [ch] is a regexp that matches either ``c'' or
3340 An equivalence class is a locale-specific name for a list of
3341 characters that are equivalent. The name is enclosed in ``[='' and
3342 ``=]''. For example, the name ``e'' might be used to represent all
3343 of ``è'' ``é'' and ``e''. In this case, [[=e=]] is a regexp that
3344 matches any of ``è'', ``é'' and ``e''.
3346 A regular expression matching a single character may be followed by one of
3347 several repetition operators:
3351 The preceding item is optional and matched at most once.
3355 The preceding item will be matched zero or more times.
3359 The preceding item will be matched one or more times.
3363 The preceding item is matched exactly n times.
3367 The preceding item is matched n or more times.
3371 The preceding item is matched at most m times.
3375 The preceding item is matched at least n times, but no more than m
3378 Two regular expressions may be concatenated; the resulting regular
3379 expression matches any string formed by concatenating two substrings that
3380 respectively match the concatenated subexpressions.
3382 Two regular expressions may be joined by the infix operator ``|''; the
3383 resulting regular expression matches any string matching either
3386 Repetition takes precedence over concatenation, which in turn takes
3387 precedence over alternation. A whole subexpression may be enclosed in
3388 parentheses to override these precedence rules.
3390 Note: If you compile Mutt-ng with the GNU rx package, the following
3391 operators may also be used in regular expressions:
3395 Matches the empty string at either the beginning or the end of a
3400 Matches the empty string within a word.
3404 Matches the empty string at the beginning of a word.
3408 Matches the empty string at the end of a word.
3412 Matches any word-constituent character (letter, digit, or
3417 Matches any character that is not word-constituent.
3421 Matches the empty string at the beginning of a buffer (string).
3425 Matches the empty string at the end of a buffer.
3427 Please note however that these operators are not defined by POSIX, so they
3428 may or may not be available in stock libraries on various systems.
3432 Mutt-ng's pattern language provides a simple yet effective way to set up
3433 rules to match messages, e.g. for operations like tagging and scoring. A
3434 pattern consists of one or more sub-pattern, which can be logically
3435 grouped, ORed, and negated. For a complete listing of these patterns,
3436 please refer to table patterns in the Reference chapter.
3438 It must be noted that in this table, EXPR, USER , ID and SUBJECT are
3439 regular expressions. For ranges, the forms <[MAX], >>[MIN], [MIN]- and
3440 -[MAX] are also possible.
3442 2.1. Complex Patterns
3444 It is possible to combine several sub-patterns to a more complex pattern.
3445 The most simple possibility is to logically AND several patterns by
3446 stringing them together:
3451 The pattern above matches all messages that contain ``SPAM'' in the
3452 subject and are unread.
3454 To logical OR patterns, simply use the | operator. This one especially
3455 useful when using local groups:
3457 ~f ("nion@muttng\.org"|"ak@muttng\.org"|"pdmef@muttng\.org")
3458 (~b mutt-ng|~s Mutt-ng)
3462 The first pattern matches all messages that were sent by one of the
3463 mutt-ng maintainers, while the seconds pattern matches all messages that
3464 contain ``mutt-ng'' in the message body or ``Mutt-ng'' in the subject. The
3465 third pattern matches all messages that do not contain ``@synflood\.at''
3466 in the References: header, i.e. messages that are not an (indirect) reply
3467 to one of my messages. A pattern can be logicall negated using the !
3470 2.2. Patterns and Dates
3472 When using dates in patterns, the dates must be specified in a special
3473 format, i.e. DD/MM/YYYY. If you don't specify month or year, they default
3474 to the current month or year. When using date ranges, and you specify only
3475 the minimum or the maximum, the specified date will be excluded, e.g.
3476 01/06/2005- matches against all messages after Juni 1st, 2005.
3478 It is also possible to use so-called ``error margins'' when specifying
3479 date ranges. You simply specify a date, and then the error margin. This
3480 margin needs to contain the information whether it goes ``forth'' or
3481 ``back'' in time, by using + and -. Then follows a number and a unit, i.e.
3482 y for years, m for months, w for weeks and d for days. If you use the
3483 special * sign, it means that the error margin goes to both``directions''
3491 The first pattern matches all dates between January 1st, 2005 and January
3492 1st 2006. The second pattern matches all dates between October 18th, 2004
3493 and October 4th 2004 (2 weeks before 18/10/2004), while the third pattern
3494 matches all dates 1 day around December 28th, 2004 (i.e. Dec 27th, 28th
3497 Relative dates are also very important, as they make it possible to
3498 specify date ranges between a fixed number of units and the current date.
3499 How this works can be seen in the following example:
3501 ~d >2w # messages older than two weeks
3502 ~d <3d # messages newer than 3 days
3503 ~d =1m # messages that are exactly one month old
3510 The so called Format Strings offer great flexibility when configuring
3511 mutt-ng. In short, they describe what items to print out how in menus and
3514 Basically, they work as this: for different menus and bars, there's a
3515 variable specifying the layout. For every item available, there is a so
3518 For example, when running mutt-ng on different machines or different
3519 versions for testing purposes, it may be interesting to have the following
3520 information always printed on screen when one is in the index:
3522 o the current hostname
3524 o the current mutt-ng version number
3526 The setting for the status bar of the index is controlled via the
3527 status-format variable. For the hostname and version string, there's an
3528 expando for $status_format: %h expands to the hostname and %v to the
3529 version string. When just configuring:
3531 set status_format = "%v on %h: ..."
3534 mutt-ng will replace the sequence %v with the version string and %h with
3535 the host's name. When you are, for example, running mutt-ng version 1.5.9i
3536 on host mailhost, you'll see the following when you're in the index:
3538 Mutt-ng 1.5.9i on mailhost: ...
3541 In the index, there're more useful information one could want to see:
3543 o which mailbox is open
3545 o how man new, flagged or postponed messages
3549 To include the mailbox' name is as easy as:
3551 set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: ...
3554 When the currently opened mailbox is Inbox, this will be expanded to:
3556 Mutt-ng 1.5.9i on mailhost: Inbox: ...
3559 For the number of certain types of messages, one more feature of the
3560 format strings is extremely useful. If there aren't messages of a certain
3561 type, it may not be desired to print just that there aren't any but
3562 instead only print something if there are any.
3564 3.2. Conditional Expansion
3566 To only print the number of messages if there are new messages in the
3567 current mailbox, further extend $status_format to:
3569 set status_format = "%v on %h: %B %?n?%n new? ...
3572 This feature is called nonzero-printing and works as this: some expandos
3573 may be optionally printed nonzero, i.e. a portion of the format string is
3574 only evaluated if the value of the expando is different from zero. The
3577 %?<item>?<string if nonzero>?
3580 which tells mutt-ng to only look at <string if nonzero> if the value of
3581 the %<item%gt; expando is different from zero. In our example, we used n
3582 as the expando to check for and %n new as the optional nonzero string.
3584 But this is not all: this feature only offers one alternative: ``print
3585 something if not zero.'' Mutt-ng does, as you might guess, also provide a
3586 logically complete version: ``if zero, print something and else print
3587 something else.'' This is achieved by the following syntax for those
3588 expandos which may be printed nonzero:
3590 %?<item>?<string if nonzero>&<string if zero>?
3593 Using this we can make mutt-ng to do the following:
3595 o make it print ``n new messages'' whereby n is the count but only if
3598 o and make it print ``no new messages'' if there aren't any
3600 The corresponding configuration is:
3602 set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: %?n?%n new messages&no new messages? ...
3605 This doubles the use of the ``new messages'' string because it'll get
3606 always printed. Thus, it can be shortened to:
3608 set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: %?n?%n&no? new messages ...
3611 As you might see from this rather simple example, one can create very
3612 complex but fancy status messages. Please see the reference chapter for
3613 expandos and those which may be printed nonzero.
3615 3.3. Modifications and Padding
3617 Besides the information given so far, there're even more features of
3620 o When specifying %_<item> instead of just %<item>, mutt-ng will convert
3621 all characters in the expansion of <item> to lowercase.
3623 o When specifying %:<item> instead of just %<item>, mutt-ng will convert
3624 all dots in the expansion of <item> to underscores (_).
3626 Also, there's a feature called Padding supplied by the following two
3627 expandos: %|X and %>X .
3631 When this occurs, mutt-ng will fill the rest of the line with the
3632 character X. In our example, filling the rest of the line with
3633 dashes is done by setting:
3635 set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: %?n?%n&no? new messages %|-"
3640 Since the previous expando stops at the end of line, there must be
3641 a way to fill the gap between two items via the %>X expando: it
3642 puts as many characters X in between two items so that the rest of
3643 the line will be right-justified. For example, to not put the
3644 version string and hostname of our example on the left but on the
3645 right and fill the gap with spaces, one might use (note the space
3648 set status_format = "%B: %?n?%n&no? new messages %> (%v on %h)"
3653 Sometimes it is desirable to perform an operation on a group of messages
3654 all at once rather than one at a time. An example might be to save
3655 messages to a mailing list to a separate folder, or to delete all messages
3656 with a given subject. To tag all messages matching a pattern, use the
3657 tag-pattern function, which is bound to ``shift-T'' by default. Or you can
3658 select individual messages by hand using the ``tag-message'' function,
3659 which is bound to ``t'' by default. See patterns for Mutt-ng's pattern
3662 Once you have tagged the desired messages, you can use the ``tag-prefix''
3663 operator, which is the ``;'' (semicolon) key by default. When the
3664 ``tag-prefix'' operator is used, the next operation will be applied to all
3665 tagged messages if that operation can be used in that manner. If the
3666 auto-tag variable is set, the next operation applies to the tagged
3667 messages automatically, without requiring the ``tag-prefix''.
3669 In macro or push commands, you can use the ``tag-prefix-cond'' operator.
3670 If there are no tagged messages, mutt will "eat" the rest of the macro to
3671 abort it's execution.Mutt-ng will stop "eating" the macro when it
3672 encounters the ``end-cond'' operator; after this operator the rest of the
3673 macro will be executed asnormal.
3677 A hook is a concept borrowed from the EMACS editor which allows you to
3678 execute arbitrary commands before performing some operation. For example,
3679 you may wish to tailor your configuration based upon which mailbox you are
3680 reading, or to whom you are sending mail. In the Mutt-ng world, a hook
3681 consists of a regexp or patterns along with a configuration
3698 for specific details on each type of hook available.
3700 Note: if a hook changes configuration settings, these changes remain
3701 effective until the end of the current mutt session. As this is generally
3702 not desired, a default hook needs to be added before all other hooks to
3703 restore configuration defaults. Here is an example with send-hook and the
3706 send-hook . 'unmy_hdr From:'
3707 send-hook ~C'^b@b\.b$' my_hdr from: c@c.c
3710 5.1. Message Matching in Hooks
3712 Hooks that act upon messages (send-hook, save-hook, fcc-hook,message-hook
3713 )are evaluated in a slightly different manner. For the other types of
3714 hooks, a regexp is sufficient. But in dealing with messages a finer grain
3715 of control is needed for matching since for different purposes you want to
3716 match different criteria.
3718 Mutt-ng allows the use of the patterns language for matching messages in
3719 hook commands. This works in exactly the same way as it would when
3720 limiting orsearching the mailbox, except that you are restricted to those
3721 operators which match information mutt extracts from the header of the
3722 message (i.e. from, to, cc, date, subject, etc.).
3724 For example, if you wanted to set your return address based upon sending
3725 mail to a specific address, you could do something like:
3727 send-hook '~t ^me@cs\.hmc\.edu$' 'my_hdr From: Mutt-ng User <user@host>'
3730 which would execute the given command when sending mail to me@cs.hmc.edu.
3732 However, it is not required that you write the pattern to match using the
3733 full searching language. You can still specify a simple regular expression
3734 like the other hooks, in which case Mutt-ng will translate your pattern
3735 into the full language, using the translation specified by the
3736 default-hook variable. The pattern is translated at the time the hook is
3737 declared, so the value of default-hook that is in effect at that time will
3740 6. Using the sidebar
3742 The sidebar, a feature specific to Mutt-ng, allows you to use a mailbox
3743 listing which looks very similar to the ones you probably know from GUI
3744 mail clients. The sidebar lists all specified mailboxes, shows the number
3745 in each and highlights the ones with new email Use the following
3746 configuration commands:
3748 set sidebar_visible="yes"
3749 set sidebar_width=25
3752 If you want to specify the mailboxes you can do so with:
3761 You can also specify the colors for mailboxes with new mails by using:
3763 color sidebar_new red black
3764 color sidebar white black
3767 The available functions are:
3769 Table 4.1. Default Sidebar Function Bindings
3771 +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
3772 | Key | Function | Description |
3773 |------+---------------------+-------------------------------------------|
3774 | none | sidebar-scroll-up | Scrolls the mailbox list up 1 page |
3775 |------+---------------------+-------------------------------------------|
3776 | none | sidebar-scroll-down | Scrolls the mailbox list down 1 page |
3777 |------+---------------------+-------------------------------------------|
3778 | none | sidebar-next | Highlights the next mailbox |
3779 |------+---------------------+-------------------------------------------|
3780 | none | sidebar-next-new | Highlights the next mailbox with new mail |
3781 |------+---------------------+-------------------------------------------|
3782 | none | sidebar-previous | Highlights the previous mailbox |
3783 |------+---------------------+-------------------------------------------|
3784 | none | sidebar-open | Opens the currently highlighted mailbox |
3785 +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
3787 Reasonable key bindings look e.g. like this:
3789 bind index \Cp sidebar-prev
3790 bind index \Cn sidebar-next
3791 bind index \Cb sidebar-open
3792 bind pager \Cp sidebar-prev
3793 bind pager \Cn sidebar-next
3794 bind pager \Cb sidebar-open
3796 macro index B ':toggle sidebar_visible^M'
3797 macro pager B ':toggle sidebar_visible^M'
3800 You can then go up and down by pressing Ctrl-P and Ctrl-N, and switch on
3801 and off the sidebar simply by pressing 'B'.
3803 7. External Address Queries
3805 Mutt-ng supports connecting to external directory databases such as LDAP,
3806 ph/qi, bbdb, or NIS through a wrapper script which connects to mutt using
3807 a simple interface. Using the query-command variable, you specify the
3808 wrapper command to use. For example:
3810 set query_command = "mutt_ldap_query.pl '%s'"
3813 The wrapper script should accept the query on the command-line. It should
3814 return a one line message, then each matching response on a single line,
3815 each line containing a tab separated address then name thensome other
3816 optional information. On error, or if there are no matching addresses,
3817 return a non-zero exit code and a one line error message.
3819 An example multiple response output:
3821 Searching database ... 20 entries ... 3 matching:
3822 me@cs.hmc.edu Michael Elkins mutt dude
3823 blong@fiction.net Brandon Long mutt and more
3824 roessler@guug.de Thomas Roessler mutt pgp
3827 There are two mechanisms for accessing the query function of mutt. One is
3828 to do a query from the index menu using the query function (default: Q).
3829 This will prompt for a query, then bring up the query menu which will list
3830 the matching responses. From the query menu, you can select addresses to
3831 create aliases, or to mail. You can tag multiple addressesto mail, start a
3832 new query, or have a new query appended to the current responses.
3834 The other mechanism for accessing the query function is for address
3835 completion, similar to the alias completion. In any prompt for address
3836 entry, you can use the complete-query function (default: ^T) to run a
3837 query based on the current address you have typed. Like aliases, mutt will
3838 look for what you have typed back to the last space or comma. If there is
3839 a single response for that query, mutt will expand the address in place.
3840 If there are multiple responses, mutt will activate the querymenu. At the
3841 query menu, you can select one or more addresses to be added to the
3846 Mutt-ng supports reading and writing of four different mailbox formats:
3847 mbox, MMDF, MH and Maildir. The mailbox type is autodetected, so there is
3848 no need to use a flag for different mailbox types. When creating
3849 newmailboxes, Mutt-ng uses the default specified with the mbox-type
3852 mbox. This is the most widely used mailbox format for UNIX. All messages
3853 are stored in a single file. Each message has a line of the form:
3855 From me@cs.hmc.edu Fri, 11 Apr 1997 11:44:56 PST
3858 to denote the start of a new message (this is often referred to as the
3861 MMDF. This is a variant of the mbox format. Each message is surrounded by
3862 lines containing ``^A^A^A^A'' (four control-A's).
3864 MH. A radical departure from mbox and MMDF, a mailbox consists of a
3865 directory and each message is stored in a separate file. The filename
3866 indicates the message number (however, this is may not correspond to the
3867 message number Mutt-ng displays). Deleted messages arerenamed with a comma
3868 (,) prepended to the filename. Note: Mutt detects this type of mailbox by
3869 looking for either .mh_sequences or .xmhcache (needed to distinguish
3870 normal directories from MH mailboxes).
3872 Maildir. The newest of the mailbox formats, used by the Qmail MTA (a
3873 replacement for sendmail). Similar to MH, except that it adds three
3874 subdirectories of the mailbox: tmp, new and cur .Filenames for the
3875 messages are chosen in such a way they are unique, even when twoprograms
3876 are writing the mailbox over NFS, which means that no file locking is
3879 9. Mailbox Shortcuts
3881 There are a number of built in shortcuts which refer to specific
3882 mailboxes. These shortcuts can be used anywhere you are prompted for a
3883 file or mailbox path.
3885 o ! -- refers to your spoolfile (incoming) mailbox
3887 o > -- refers to your mbox file
3889 o < -- refers to your record file
3891 o ^ -- refers to the current mailbox
3893 o - or !! -- refers to the file you've last visited
3895 o ˜ -- refers to your home directory
3897 o = or + -- refers to your folder directory
3899 o @alias -- refers to the save-hook as determined by the address of the
3902 10. Handling Mailing Lists
3904 Mutt-ng has a few configuration options that make dealing with large
3905 amounts of mail easier. The first thing you must do is to let Mutt know
3906 what addresses you consider to be mailing lists (technically this does not
3907 have to be a mailing list, but that is what it is most often used for),
3908 and what lists you are subscribed to. This is accomplished through the use
3909 of the lists commands in your muttrc.
3911 Now that Mutt-ng knows what your mailing lists are, it can do several
3912 things, the first of which is the ability to show the name of a list
3913 through which you received a message (i.e., of a subscribed list) in the
3914 index menu display. This is useful to distinguish between personal and
3915 list mail in the same mailbox. In the index-format variable, the escape
3916 ``%L'' will return the string ``To <list>'' when ``list'' appears in the
3917 ``To'' field, and ``Cc <list>'' when it appears in the ``Cc'' field
3918 (otherwise it returns the name of the author).
3920 Often times the ``To'' and ``Cc'' fields in mailing list messages tend to
3921 get quite large. Most people do not bother to remove the author of the
3922 message they are reply to from the list, resulting in two or more copies
3923 being sent to that person. The ``list-reply'' function, which by default
3924 is bound to ``L'' in the index menu and pager, helps reduce the clutter by
3925 only replying to the known mailing list addresses instead of all
3926 recipients (except as specified by Mail-Followup-To, see below).
3928 Mutt-ng also supports the Mail-Followup-To header. When you send a message
3929 to a list of recipients which includes one or several subscribed mailing
3930 lists, and if the followup-to option is set, mutt will generate a
3931 Mail-Followup-To header which contains all the recipients to whom you send
3932 this message, but not your address. This indicates that group-replies or
3933 list-replies (also known as ``followups'') to this message should only be
3934 sent to the original recipients of the message, and not separately to you
3935 - you'll receive your copy through one of the mailing lists you are
3938 Conversely, when group-replying or list-replying to a message which has a
3939 Mail-Followup-To header, mutt will respect this header if the
3940 honor-followup-to configuration variable is set. Using list-reply will in
3941 this case also make sure that the reply goes to the mailing list, even if
3942 it's not specified in the list of recipients in the Mail-Followup-To.
3944 Note that, when header editing is enabled, you can create a
3945 Mail-Followup-To header manually. Mutt-ng will only auto-generate this
3946 header if it doesn't exist when you send the message.
3948 The other method some mailing list admins use is to generate a
3949 ``Reply-To'' field which points back to the mailing list address rather
3950 than the author of the message. This can create problems when trying to
3951 reply directly to the author in private, since most mail clients will
3952 automatically reply to the address given in the ``Reply-To'' field.
3953 Mutt-ng uses the reply-to variable to help decide which address to use. If
3954 set to ask-yes or ask-no, you will be prompted as to whether or not you
3955 would like to use the address given inthe ``Reply-To'' field, or reply
3956 directly to the address given in the ``From'' field. When set to yes, the
3957 ``Reply-To'' field will be used when present.
3959 The ``X-Label:'' header field can be used to further identify mailing
3960 lists or list subject matter (or just to annotate messages individually).
3961 The index-format variable's ``%y'' and ``%Y'' escapes can be used to
3962 expand ``X-Label:'' fields in the index, and Mutt-ng's pattern-matcher can
3963 match regular expressions to ``X-Label:'' fields with the ``˜y''
3964 selector. ``X-Label:'' is not a standard message header field, but it can
3965 easily be inserted by procmailand other mail filtering agents.
3967 Lastly, Mutt-ng has the ability to sort the mailbox into threads. A thread
3968 is a group of messages which all relate to the same subject. This is
3969 usually organized into a tree-like structure where a message and all of
3970 its replies are represented graphically. If you've ever used a threaded
3971 news client, this is the same concept. It makes dealingwith large volume
3972 mailing lists easier because you can easily delete uninteresting threads
3973 and quickly find topics of value.
3977 Mutt-ng has the ability to dynamically restructure threads that are broken
3978 either by misconfigured software or bad behavior from some correspondents.
3979 This allows to clean your mailboxes formats) from these annoyances which
3980 make it hard to follow a discussion.
3982 11.1. Linking threads
3984 Some mailers tend to "forget" to correctly set the "In-Reply-To:" and
3985 "References:" headers when replying to a message. This results in broken
3986 discussions because Mutt-ng has not enough information to guess the
3987 correct threading. You can fix this by tagging the reply, then moving to
3988 the parent message and using the ``link-threads'' function (bound to & by
3989 default). The reply will then be connected to this "parent" message.
3991 You can also connect multiple children at once, tagging them and using the
3992 tag-prefix command (';') or the auto_tag option.
3994 11.2. Breaking threads
3996 On mailing lists, some people are in the bad habit of starting a new
3997 discussion by hitting "reply" to any message from the list and changing
3998 the subject to a totally unrelated one. You can fix such threads by using
3999 the ``break-thread'' function (boundby default to #), which will turn the
4000 subthread starting from the current message into a whole different thread.
4002 12. Delivery Status Notification (DSN) Support
4004 RFC1894 defines a set of MIME content types for relaying information about
4005 the status of electronic mail messages. These can be thought of as
4006 ``return receipts.''
4008 Users can make use of it in one of the following two ways:
4010 o Berkeley sendmail 8.8.x currently has some command line options in
4011 which the mail client can make requests as to what type of status
4012 messages should be returned.
4014 o The SMTP support via libESMTP supports it, too.
4016 To support this, there are two variables:
4018 o dsn-notify is used to request receipts for different results (such as
4019 failed message,message delivered, etc.).
4021 o dsn-return requests how much of your message should be returned with
4022 the receipt (headers or full message).
4024 Please see the reference chapter for possible values.
4026 13. POP3 Support (OPTIONAL)
4028 If Mutt-ng was compiled with POP3 support (by running the configure script
4029 with the --enable-pop flag), it has the ability to work with mailboxes
4030 located on a remote POP3 server and fetch mail for local browsing.
4032 You can access the remote POP3 mailbox by selecting the folder
4035 You can select an alternative port by specifying it with the server, i.e.:
4036 pop://popserver:port/.
4038 You can also specify different username for each folder, i.e.:
4039 pop://username@popserver[:port]/.
4041 Polling for new mail is more expensive over POP3 than locally. For this
4042 reason the frequency at which Mutt-ng will check for mail remotely can be
4043 controlled by the pop-mail-check variable, which defaults to every 60
4046 If Mutt-ng was compiled with SSL support (by running the configure script
4047 with the --with-ssl flag), connections to POP3 servers can be encrypted.
4048 This naturally requires that the server supports SSL encrypted
4049 connections. To access a folder with POP3/SSL, you should use pops:
4050 prefix, ie: pops://[username@]popserver[:port]/.
4052 Another way to access your POP3 mail is the fetch-mail function (default:
4053 G). It allows to connect to pop-host ,fetch all your new mail and place it
4054 in the local spoolfile. After this point, Mutt-ng runs exactly as if the
4055 mail had always been local.
4057 Note: If you only need to fetch all messages to local mailbox you should
4058 consider using a specialized program, such as fetchmail
4060 14. IMAP Support (OPTIONAL)
4062 If Mutt-ng was compiled with IMAP support (by running the configure script
4063 with the --enable-imap flag), it has the ability to work with folders
4064 located on a remote IMAP server.
4066 You can access the remote inbox by selecting the folder
4067 imap://imapserver/INBOX, where imapserver is the name of the IMAP server
4068 and INBOX is the special name for your spool mailbox on the IMAP server.
4069 If you want to access another mail folder at the IMAP server, you should
4070 use imap://imapserver/path/to/folder where path/to/folder is the path of
4071 the folder you want to access.
4073 You can select an alternative port by specifying it with the server, i.e.:
4074 imap://imapserver:port/INBOX.
4076 You can also specify different username for each folder, i.e.:
4077 imap://username@imapserver[:port]/INBOX.
4079 If Mutt-ng was compiled with SSL support (by running the configure script
4080 with the --with-ssl flag), connections to IMAP servers can be encrypted.
4081 This naturally requires that the server supports SSL encrypted
4082 connections. To access a folder with IMAP/SSL, you should use
4083 imaps://[username@]imapserver[:port]/path/to/folder as your folder path.
4085 Pine-compatible notation is also supported, i.e.
4086 {[username@]imapserver[:port][/ssl]}path/to/folder
4088 Note that not all servers use / as the hierarchy separator. Mutt-ng should
4089 correctly notice which separator is being used by the server and
4090 convertpaths accordingly.
4092 When browsing folders on an IMAP server, you can toggle whether to look at
4093 only the folders you are subscribed to, or all folders with the
4094 toggle-subscribed command. See also the imap-list-subscribed variable.
4096 Polling for new mail on an IMAP server can cause noticeable delays. So,
4097 you'll want to carefully tune the imap-mail-check and timeout variables.
4099 Note that if you are using mbox as the mail store on UW servers prior
4100 tov12.250, the server has been reported to disconnect a client if another
4101 client selects the same folder.
4103 14.1. The Folder Browser
4105 As of version 1.2, mutt supports browsing mailboxes on an IMAP server.
4106 This is mostly the same as the local file browser, with the following
4109 o Instead of file permissions, mutt displays the string "IMAP", possibly
4110 followed by the symbol "+", indicating that the entry contains both
4111 messages and subfolders. On Cyrus-like servers folders will often
4112 contain both messages and subfolders.
4114 o For the case where an entry can contain both messages and subfolders,
4115 the selection key (bound to enter by default) will choose to descend
4116 into the subfolder view. If you wish to view the messages in that
4117 folder, you must use view-file instead (bound to space by default).
4119 o You can create, delete and rename mailboxes with the create-mailbox,
4120 delete-mailbox, and rename-mailbox commands (default bindings: C , d
4121 and r, respectively). You may also subscribe and unsubscribe to
4122 mailboxes (normally these are bound to s and u, respectively).
4124 14.2. Authentication
4126 Mutt-ng supports four authentication methods with IMAP servers: SASL,
4127 GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, and LOGIN (there is a patch by Grant Edwards to add NTLM
4128 authentication for you poor exchange users out there, but it has yet to be
4129 integrated into the main tree). There is also support for the
4130 pseudo-protocol ANONYMOUS, which allows you to log in to a public IMAP
4131 server without having an account. To use ANONYMOUS, simply make your
4132 username blank or "anonymous".
4134 SASL is a special super-authenticator, which selects among several
4135 protocols (including GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, ANONYMOUS, and DIGEST-MD5) the most
4136 secure method available on your host and the server. Using some of these
4137 methods (including DIGEST-MD5 and possibly GSSAPI), your entire session
4138 will be encrypted and invisible to those teeming network snoops. It is the
4139 best option if you have it. To use it, you must have the Cyrus SASL
4140 libraryinstalled on your system and compile mutt with the --with-sasl
4143 Mutt-ng will try whichever methods are compiled in and available on the
4144 server, in the following order: SASL, ANONYMOUS, GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, LOGIN.
4146 There are a few variables which control authentication:
4148 o imap-user - controls the username under which you request
4149 authentication on the IMAP server, for all authenticators. This is
4150 overridden by an explicit username in the mailbox path (i.e. by using
4151 a mailbox name of the form {user@host}).
4153 o imap-pass - a password which you may preset, used by all
4154 authentication methods where a password is needed.
4156 o imap-authenticators - a colon-delimited list of IMAP authentication
4157 methods to try, in the order you wish to try them. If specified, this
4158 overrides mutt's default (attempt everything, in the order listed
4161 15. NNTP Support (OPTIONAL)
4163 If compiled with ``--enable-nntp'' option, Mutt-ng can read news from a
4164 newsserver via NNTP. You can open a newsgroup with the
4165 ``change-newsgroup'' function from the index/pager which is by default
4168 The Default newsserver can be obtained from the $NNTPSERVER environment
4169 variable. Like other news readers, info about subscribed newsgroups is
4170 saved in a file as specified by the nntp-newsrc variable. Article headers
4171 are cached and can be loaded from a file when a newsgroup is entered
4172 instead loading from newsserver; currently, this caching mechanism still
4173 is different from the header caching for maildir/IMAP.
4175 15.1. Again: Scoring
4177 Especially for Usenet, people often ask for advanced filtering and scoring
4178 functionality. Of course, mutt-ng has scoring and allows a killfile, too.
4179 How to use a killfile has been discussed in score-command.
4181 What has not been discusses in detail is mutt-ng's built-in realname
4182 filter. For may newsreaders including those for ``advanced users'' like
4183 slrn or tin, there are frequent request for such functionality. The
4184 solutions offered often are complicated regular expressions.
4186 In mutt-ng this is as easy as
4191 This tells mutt-ng to apply a score of 42 to all messages whose sender
4192 specified a valid realname and a valid email address. Using
4197 on the contrary applies a score of 42 to all messages not matching those
4198 criteria which are very strict:
4200 o Email addresses must be valid according to RFC 2822, see
4201 <ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc2822.txt>
4203 o the name must consist of at least 2 fields whereby a field must not
4204 end in a dot. This means that ``Joe User'' and ``Joe A.User'' are
4205 valid while ``J. User'' and ``J. A. User'' aren't.
4207 o it's assumed that users are interested in reading their own mail and
4208 mail from people who they have defined an alias forso that those 2
4209 groups of messages are excluded from the strict rules.
4211 16. SMTP Support (OPTIONAL)
4213 Mutt-ng can be built using a library called ``libESMTP'' which provides
4214 SMTP functionality. When configure was called with --with-libesmtp or the
4215 output muttng -v contains +USE_LIBESMTP, this will be or is the case
4216 already. The SMTP support includes support for Delivery Status
4217 Notification (see dsn section) as well as handling the 8BITMIME flag
4218 controlled via use-8bitmime .
4220 To enable sending mail directly via SMTP without an MTA such as Postfix or
4221 SSMTP and the like, simply set the smtp-host variable pointing to your
4224 Authentication mechanisms are available via the smtp-user and smtp-pass
4227 Transport Encryption via the StartTLS command is also available. For this
4228 to work, first of all Mutt-ng must be built with SSL or GNUTLS. Secondly,
4229 the smtp-use-tls variable must be either set to ``enabled'' or
4230 ``required.'' In both cases, StartTLS will be used if the server supports
4231 it: for the second case, the connection will fail ifit doesn't while
4232 switching back to unencrypted communication for the first one.
4234 Some mail providers require user's to set a particular envelope sender,
4235 i.e. they allow for only one value which may not be what the user wants to
4236 send as the From: header. In this case, the variable smtp-envelope may be
4237 used to set the envelope different from the From: header.
4239 17. Managing multiple IMAP/POP/NNTP accounts (OPTIONAL)
4241 If you happen to have accounts on multiple IMAP and/or POP servers, you
4242 may find managing all the authentication settings inconvenient and
4243 error-prone. The account-hook command may help. This hook works like
4244 folder-hook but is invoked whenever you access a remote mailbox (including
4245 inside the folder browser), not just when you open the mailbox.
4249 account-hook . 'unset imap_user; unset imap_pass; unset tunnel'
4250 account-hook imap://host1/ 'set imap_user=me1 imap_pass=foo'
4251 account-hook imap://host2/ 'set tunnel="ssh host2 /usr/libexec/imapd"'
4254 18. Start a WWW Browser on URLs (EXTERNAL)
4256 If a message contains URLs (unified resource locator = address in the WWW
4257 space like http://www.mutt.org/), it is efficient to get a menu with all
4258 the URLs and start a WWW browser on one of them. This functionality is
4259 provided by the external urlview program which can be retrieved at
4260 ftp://ftp.mutt.org/mutt/contrib/ > and the configuration commands:
4262 macro index \cb |urlview\n
4263 macro pager \cb |urlview\n
4266 19. Compressed folders Support (OPTIONAL)
4268 If Mutt-ng was compiled with compressed folders support (by running the
4269 configure script with the --enable-compressed flag), Mutt can open folders
4270 stored in an arbitrary format, provided that the user has a script to
4271 convert from/to this format to one of the accepted.
4273 The most common use is to open compressed archived folders e.g. with gzip.
4275 In addition, the user can provide a script that gets a folder in an
4276 accepted format and appends its context to the folder in the user-defined
4277 format, which may be faster than converting the entire folder to the
4278 accepted format, appending to it and converting back to the user-defined
4281 There are three hooks defined (open-hook, close-hook and append-hook
4282 )which define commands to uncompress and compress a folder and to append
4283 messages to an existing compressed folder respectively.
4287 open-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -cd %f > %t"
4288 close-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -c %t > %f"
4289 append-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -c %t >> %f"
4292 You do not have to specify all of the commands. If you omit append-hook
4293 ,the folder will be open and closed again each time you will add to it. If
4294 you omit close-hook (or give empty command) , the folder will be open in
4295 the mode. If you specify append-hook though you'll be able to append to
4298 Note that Mutt-ng will only try to use hooks if the file is not in one of
4299 the accepted formats. In particular, if the file is empty, mutt supposes
4300 it is not compressed. This is important because it allows the use of
4301 programs that do not have well defined extensions. Just use "." as a
4302 regexp. But this may be surprising if your compressing script produces
4303 empty files. In this situation, unset save-empty ,so that the compressed
4304 file will be removed if you delete all of the messages.
4306 19.1. Open a compressed mailbox for reading
4308 Usage: open-hook regexp "command"
4310 The command is the command that can be used for opening the folders whose
4313 The command string is the printf-like format string, and it should accept
4314 two parameters: %f, which is replaced with the (compressed) folder name,
4315 and %t which is replaced with the name of the temporary folder to which to
4318 %f and %t can be repeated any number of times in the command string, and
4319 all of the entries are replaced with the appropriate folder name. In
4320 addition, %% is replaced by %, as in printf, and any other %anything is
4323 The command should not remove the original compressed file. The command
4324 should return non-zero exit status if it fails, so mutt knows something's
4329 open-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -cd %f > %t"
4332 If the command is empty, this operation is disabled for this file type.
4334 19.2. Write a compressed mailbox
4336 Usage: close-hook regexp "command"
4338 This is used to close the folder that was open with the open-hook command
4339 after some changes were made to it.
4341 The command string is the command that can be used for closing the folders
4342 whose names match regexp. It has the same format as in the open-hook
4343 command. Temporary folder in this case is the folder previously produced
4344 by the < open-hook command.
4346 The command should not remove the decompressed file. The command should
4347 return non-zero exit status if it fails, so mutt knows something's wrong.
4351 close-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -c %t > %f"
4354 If the command is empty, this operation is disabled for this file type,
4355 and the file can only be open in the readonly mode.
4357 close-hook is not called when you exit from the folder if the folder was
4360 19.3. Append a message to a compressed mailbox
4362 Usage: append-hook regexp "command"
4364 This command is used for saving to an existing compressed folder. The
4365 command is the command that can be used for appending to the folders whose
4366 names match regexp. It has the same format as in the open-hook command.
4367 The temporary folder in this case contains the messages that are
4370 The command should not remove the decompressed file. The command should
4371 return non-zero exit status if it fails, so mutt knows something's wrong.
4375 append-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -c %t >> %f"
4378 When append-hook is used, the folder is not opened, which saves time, but
4379 this means that we can not find out what the folder type is. Thus the
4380 default ( mbox-type )type is always supposed (i.e. this is the format used
4381 for the temporary folder).
4383 If the file does not exist when you save to it, close-hook is called, and
4384 not append-hook. append-hook is only for appending to existing folders.
4386 If the command is empty, this operation is disabled for this file type. In
4387 this case, the folder will be open and closed again (using open-hook and
4388 close-hook respectively) each time you will add to it.
4390 19.4. Encrypted folders
4392 The compressed folders support can also be used to handle encrypted
4393 folders. If you want to encrypt a folder with PGP, you may want to usethe
4396 open-hook \\.pgp$ "pgp -f < %f > %t"
4397 close-hook \\.pgp$ "pgp -fe YourPgpUserIdOrKeyId < %t > %f"
4400 Please note, that PGP does not support appending to an encrypted folder,
4401 so there is no append-hook defined.
4403 Note: the folder is temporary stored decrypted in the /tmp directory,
4404 where it can be read by your system administrator. So thinkabout the
4405 security aspects of this.
4407 Chapter 5. Mutt-ng's MIME Support
4411 1. Using MIME in Mutt
4413 1.1. Viewing MIME messages in the pager
4415 1.2. The Attachment Menu
4417 1.3. The Compose Menu
4419 2. MIME Type configuration with mime.types
4421 3. MIME Viewer configuration with mailcap
4423 3.1. The Basics of the mailcap file
4425 3.2. Secure use of mailcap
4427 3.3. Advanced mailcap Usage
4429 3.4. Example mailcap files
4433 5. MIME Multipart/Alternative
4437 Quite a bit of effort has been made to make Mutt-ng the premier text-mode
4438 MIME MUA. Every effort has been made to provide the functionality that the
4439 discerning MIME user requires, and the conformance to the standards
4440 wherever possible. When configuring Mutt-ng for MIME, there are two
4441 extratypes of configuration files which Mutt-ng uses. One is the
4442 mime.types file, which contains the mapping of file extensions to IANA
4443 MIME types. The other is the mailcap file, which specifies the external
4444 commands to use for handling specific MIME types.
4446 1. Using MIME in Mutt
4448 There are three areas/menus in Mutt-ng which deal with MIME, they are the
4449 pager (while viewing a message), the attachment menu and the compose menu.
4451 1.1. Viewing MIME messages in the pager
4453 When you select a message from the index and view it in the pager, Mutt
4454 decodes the message to a text representation. Mutt-ng internally supports
4455 a number of MIME types, including text/plain, text/enriched,
4456 message/rfc822, and message/news .In addition, the export controlled
4457 version of Mutt-ng recognizes a variety of PGP MIME types, including
4458 PGP/MIME and application/pgp.
4460 Mutt-ng will denote attachments with a couple lines describing them. These
4461 lines are of the form:
4463 [-- Attachment #1: Description --]
4464 [-- Type: text/plain, Encoding: 7bit, Size: 10000 --]
4467 Where the Description is the description or filename given for the
4468 attachment, and the Encoding is one of
4469 7bit/8bit/quoted-printable/base64/binary.
4471 If Mutt-ng cannot deal with a MIME type, it will display a message like:
4473 [-- image/gif is unsupported (use 'v' to view this part) --]
4476 1.2. The Attachment Menu
4478 The default binding for view-attachments is `v', which displays the
4479 attachment menu for a message. The attachment menu displays a list ofthe
4480 attachments in a message. From the attachment menu, you can save, print,
4481 pipe, delete, and view attachments. You can apply these operations to a
4482 group of attachments at once, by tagging the attachments and by using the
4483 ``tag-prefix'' operator. You can also reply to the current message from
4484 this menu, and only the current attachment (or the attachments tagged)
4485 will be quoted in your reply. You can view attachments as text, or view
4486 them using the mailcap viewer definition.
4488 Finally, you can apply the usual message-related functions (like
4489 resend-message, and the reply and forward functions) to attachments of
4490 type message/rfc822.
4492 See the help on the attachment menu for more information.
4494 1.3. The Compose Menu
4496 The compose menu is the menu you see before you send a message. It allows
4497 you to edit the recipient list, the subject, and other aspects of your
4498 message. It also contains a list of the attachments of your message,
4499 including the main body. From this menu, you can print, copy, filter,
4500 pipe, edit, compose, review, and rename an attachment or a list of tagged
4501 attachments. You can also modifying the attachment information, notably
4502 the type, encoding and description.
4504 Attachments appear as follows:
4506 1 [text/plain, 7bit, 1K] /tmp/mutt-euler-8082-0 <no description>
4507 2 [applica/x-gunzip, base64, 422K] ~/src/mutt-0.85.tar.gz <no description>
4510 The '-' denotes that Mutt-ng will delete the file after sending (or
4511 postponing, or canceling) the message. It can be toggled with the
4512 toggle-unlink command (default: u). The next field is the MIME
4513 content-type, and can be changed with the edit-type command (default: ^T).
4514 The next field is the encoding for the attachment, which allows a binary
4515 message to be encoded for transmission on 7bit links. It can be changed
4516 with the edit-encoding command (default: ^E). The next field is the size
4517 of the attachment, rounded to kilobytes or megabytes. The next field is
4518 the filename, which can be changed with the rename-file command (default:
4519 R). The final field is the description of the attachment, and can be
4520 changed with the edit-description command (default: d).
4522 2. MIME Type configuration with mime.types
4524 When you add an attachment to your mail message, Mutt-ng searches your
4525 personal mime.types file at ${HOME}/.mime.types ,and then the system
4526 mime.types file at /usr/local/share/mutt/mime.types or /etc/mime.types
4528 The mime.types file consist of lines containing a MIME type and a space
4529 separated list of extensions. For example:
4531 application/postscript ps eps
4533 audio/x-aiff aif aifc aiff
4536 A sample mime.types file comes with the Mutt-ng distribution, and should
4537 contain most of the MIME types you are likely to use.
4539 If Mutt-ng can not determine the mime type by the extension of the file
4540 you attach, it will look at the file. If the file is free of binary
4541 information, Mutt-ng will assume that the file is plain text, and mark it
4542 as text/plain. If the file contains binary information, then Mutt-ng will
4543 mark it as application/octet-stream. You can change the MIME type that
4544 Mutt-ng assigns to an attachment by using the edit-type command from the
4545 compose menu (default: ^T). The MIME type is actually a major mime type
4546 followed by the sub-type, separated by a '/'. 6 major types: application,
4547 text, image, video, audio, and model have been approved after various
4548 internet discussions. Mutt-ng recognises all of these if the appropriate
4549 entry is found in the mime.types file. It also recognises other major mime
4550 types, such as the chemical type that is widely used in the molecular
4551 modelling community to pass molecular data in various forms to various
4552 molecular viewers. Non-recognised mime types should only be used if the
4553 recipient of the message is likely to be expecting such attachments.
4555 3. MIME Viewer configuration with mailcap
4557 Mutt-ng supports RFC 1524 MIME Configuration, in particular the Unix
4558 specific format specified in Appendix A of RFC 1524. This file format is
4559 commonly referred to as the mailcap format. Many MIME compliant programs
4560 utilize the mailcap format, allowing you to specify handling for all MIME
4561 types in one place for all programs. Programs known to use this format
4562 include Netscape, XMosaic, lynx and metamail.
4564 In order to handle various MIME types that Mutt-ng can not handle
4565 internally, Mutt-ng parses a series of external configuration files to
4566 find an external handler. The default search string for these files is a
4567 colon delimited list set to
4569 ${HOME}/.mailcap:/usr/local/share/mutt/mailcap:/etc/mailcap:/etc/mailcap:/usr/etc/mailcap:/usr/local/etc/mailcap
4572 where $HOME is your home directory.
4574 In particular, the metamail distribution will install a mailcap file,
4575 usually as /usr/local/etc/mailcap, which contains some baseline entries.
4577 3.1. The Basics of the mailcap file
4579 A mailcap file consists of a series of lines which are comments, blank, or
4582 A comment line consists of a # character followed by anything you want.
4584 A blank line is blank.
4586 A definition line consists of a content type, a view command, and any
4587 number of optional fields. Each field of a definition line is dividedby a
4588 semicolon ';' character.
4590 The content type is specified in the MIME standard type/subtype method.
4591 For example, text/plain, text/html, image/gif, etc. In addition, the
4592 mailcap format includes two formats for wildcards, one using the special
4593 '*' subtype, the other is the implicit wild, where you only include the
4594 major type. For example, image/* ,or video, will match all image types and
4595 video types, respectively.
4597 The view command is a Unix command for viewing the type specified. There
4598 are two different types of commands supported. The default is to send the
4599 body of the MIME message to the command on stdin. You can change this
4600 behavior by using %s as a parameter to your view command. This will cause
4601 Mutt-ng to save the body of the MIME message to a temporary file, and then
4602 call the view command with the %s replaced by the name of the temporary
4603 file. In both cases, Mutt-ng will turn over the terminal to the view
4604 program until the program quits, at which time Mutt will remove the
4605 temporary file if it exists.
4607 So, in the simplest form, you can send a text/plain message to the
4608 external pager more on stdin:
4613 Or, you could send the message as a file:
4618 Perhaps you would like to use lynx to interactively view a text/html
4624 In this case, lynx does not support viewing a file from stdin, so you must
4625 use the %s syntax. Note: Some older versions of lynx contain a bug where
4626 they will check the mailcap file for a viewer for text/html. They will
4627 find the line which calls lynx, and run it. This causes lynx to
4628 continuously spawn itself to view the object.
4630 On the other hand, maybe you don't want to use lynx interactively, youjust
4631 want to have it convert the text/html to text/plain, then you can use:
4633 text/html; lynx -dump %s | more
4636 Perhaps you wish to use lynx to view text/html files, and a pager on all
4637 other text formats, then you would use the following:
4643 This is the simplest form of a mailcap file.
4645 3.2. Secure use of mailcap
4647 The interpretation of shell meta-characters embedded in MIME parameters
4648 can lead to security problems in general. Mutt-ng tries to quote
4649 parameters in expansion of %s syntaxes properly, and avoids risky
4650 characters by substituting them, see the mailcap-sanitize variable.
4652 Although mutt's procedures to invoke programs with mailcap seem to be
4653 safe, there are other applications parsing mailcap, maybe taking less care
4654 of it. Therefore you should pay attention to the following rules:
4656 Keep the %-expandos away from shell quoting. Don't quote them with single
4657 or double quotes. Mutt-ng does this for you, the right way, as should any
4658 other program which interprets mailcap. Don't put them into backtick
4659 expansions. Be highly careful with eval statements, and avoid them if
4660 possible at all. Trying to fix broken behaviour with quotes introduces new
4661 leaks - there is no alternative to correct quoting in the first place.
4663 If you have to use the %-expandos' values in context where you need
4664 quoting or backtick expansions, put that value into a shell variable and
4665 reference the shell variable where necessary, as in the following example
4666 (using $charset inside the backtick expansion is safe, since it is not
4667 itself subject to any further expansion):
4669 text/test-mailcap-bug; cat %s; copiousoutput; test=charset=%{charset} \
4670 && test "`echo $charset | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]'`" != iso-8859-1
4673 3.3. Advanced mailcap Usage
4675 3.3.1. Optional Fields
4677 In addition to the required content-type and view command fields, you can
4678 add semi-colon ';' separated fields to set flags and other options.
4679 Mutt-ng recognizes the following optional fields:
4683 This flag tells Mutt-ng that the command passes possibly large
4684 amounts of text on stdout. This causes Mutt-ng to invoke a pager
4685 (either the internal pager or the external pager defined by the
4686 pager variable) on the output of the view command. Without this
4687 flag, Mutt-ng assumes that the command is interactive. One could
4688 use this to replace the pipe to more in the lynx -dump example in
4691 text/html; lynx -dump %s ; copiousoutput
4694 This will cause lynx to format the text/html output as text/plain
4695 and Mutt-ng will use your standard pager to display the results.
4699 Mutt-ng uses this flag when viewing attachments with auto-view ,in
4700 order to decide whether it should honor the setting of the
4701 wait-key variable or not. When an attachment is viewed using an
4702 interactive program, and the corresponding mailcap entry has a
4703 needsterminal flag, Mutt-ng will use wait-key and the exit
4704 statusof the program to decide if it will ask you to press a key
4705 after the external program has exited. In all other situations it
4706 will not prompt you for a key.
4710 This flag specifies the command to use to create a new attachment
4711 of a specific MIME type. Mutt-ng supports this from the compose
4714 composetyped=<command>
4716 This flag specifies the command to use to create a new attachment
4717 of a specific MIME type. This command differs from the compose
4718 command in that mutt will expect standard MIME headers on the
4719 data. This can be used to specify parameters, filename,
4720 description, etc. for a new attachment. Mutt-ng supports this from
4725 This flag specifies the command to use to print a specific MIME
4726 type. Mutt-ng supports this from the attachment and compose menus.
4730 This flag specifies the command to use to edit a specific MIME
4731 type. Mutt-ng supports this from the compose menu, and also uses
4732 it to compose new attachments. Mutt-ng will default to the defined
4733 editor for text attachments.
4735 nametemplate=<template>
4737 This field specifies the format for the file denoted by %s in the
4738 command fields. Certain programs will require a certain file
4739 extension, for instance, to correctly view a file. For instance,
4740 lynx will only interpret a file as text/html if the file ends in
4741 .html. So, you would specify lynx as a text/html viewer with a
4742 line in the mailcap file like:
4744 text/html; lynx %s; nametemplate=%s.html
4749 This field specifies a command to run to test whether this mailcap
4750 entry should be used. The command is defined with the command
4751 expansion rules defined in the next section. If the command
4752 returns 0, then the test passed, and Mutt-ng uses this entry. If
4753 the command returns non-zero, then the test failed, and Mutt-ng
4754 continues searching for the right entry. Note: the content-type
4755 must match before Mutt-ng performs the test. For example:
4757 text/html; netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)' ; test=RunningX
4761 In this example, Mutt-ng will run the program RunningX which will
4762 return 0 if the X Window manager is running, and non-zero if it
4763 isn't. If RunningX returns 0, then Mutt-ng will call netscape to
4764 display the text/html object. If RunningX doesn't return 0, then
4765 Mutt-ng will go on to the next entry and use lynx to display the
4770 When searching for an entry in the mailcap file, Mutt-ng will search for
4771 the most useful entry for its purpose. For instance, if you are attempting
4772 to print an image/gif, and you have the following entries in your mailcap
4773 file, Mutt-ng will search for an entry with the print command:
4776 image/gif; ; print= anytopnm %s | pnmtops | lpr; \
4780 Mutt-ng will skip the image/* entry and use the image/gif entry with the
4783 In addition, you can use this with auto-view to denote two commands for
4784 viewing an attachment, one to be viewed automatically, the other to be
4785 viewed interactively from the attachment menu. In addition, you can then
4786 use the test feature to determine which viewer to use interactively
4787 depending on your environment.
4789 text/html; netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)' ; test=RunningX
4790 text/html; lynx %s; nametemplate=%s.html
4791 text/html; lynx -dump %s; nametemplate=%s.html; copiousoutput
4794 For auto-view, Mutt-ng will choose the third entry because of the
4795 copiousoutput tag. For interactive viewing, Mutt will run the program
4796 RunningX to determine if it should use the first entry. If the program
4797 returns non-zero, Mutt-ng will use the second entry for interactive
4800 3.3.3. Command Expansion
4802 The various commands defined in the mailcap files are passed to the
4803 /bin/sh shell using the system() function. Before the command is passed to
4804 /bin/sh -c, it is parsed to expand various special parameters with
4805 information from Mutt-ng. The keywords Mutt-ng expands are:
4809 As seen in the basic mailcap section, this variable is expanded to
4810 a filename specified by the calling program. This file contains
4811 the body of the message to view/print/edit or where the composing
4812 program should place the results of composition. In addition, the
4813 use of this keyword causes Mutt-ng to not pass the body of the
4814 message to the view/print/edit program on stdin.
4818 Mutt-ng will expand %t to the text representation of the content
4819 type of the message in the same form as the first parameter of the
4820 mailcap definition line, ie text/html or image/gif.
4824 Mutt-ng will expand this to the value of the specified parameter
4825 from the Content-Type: line of the mail message. For instance, if
4826 Your mail message contains:
4828 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
4831 then Mutt-ng will expand %{charset} to iso-8859-1. The default
4832 metamail mailcap file uses this feature to test the charset to
4833 spawn an xterm using the right charset to view the message.
4837 This will be replaced by a %
4839 Mutt-ng does not currently support the %F and %n keywords specified in RFC
4840 1524. The main purpose of these parameters is for multipart messages,
4841 which is handled internally by Mutt-ng.
4843 3.4. Example mailcap files
4845 This mailcap file is fairly simple and standard:
4848 # I'm always running X :)
4849 video/*; xanim %s > /dev/null
4850 image/*; xv %s > /dev/null
4852 # I'm always running netscape (if my computer had more memory, maybe)
4853 text/html; netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)'
4856 This mailcap file shows quite a number of examples:
4858 # Use xanim to view all videos Xanim produces a header on startup,
4859 # send that to /dev/null so I don't see it
4860 video/*; xanim %s > /dev/null
4862 # Send html to a running netscape by remote
4863 text/html; netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)'; test=RunningNetscape
4864 # If I'm not running netscape but I am running X, start netscape on the
4866 text/html; netscape %s; test=RunningX
4868 # Else use lynx to view it as text
4871 # This version would convert the text/html to text/plain
4872 text/html; lynx -dump %s; copiousoutput
4874 # I use enscript to print text in two columns to a page
4875 text/*; more %s; print=enscript -2Gr %s
4877 # Netscape adds a flag to tell itself to view jpegs internally
4878 image/jpeg;xv %s; x-mozilla-flags=internal
4880 # Use xv to view images if I'm running X
4881 # In addition, this uses the \ to extend the line and set my editor
4883 image/*;xv %s; test=RunningX; edit=xpaint %s
4885 # Convert images to text using the netpbm tools
4886 image/*; (anytopnm %s | pnmscale -xysize 80 46 | ppmtopgm | pgmtopbm |
4887 pbmtoascii -1x2 ) 2>&1 ; copiousoutput
4889 # Send excel spreadsheets to my NT box
4890 application/ms-excel; open.pl %s
4895 In addition to explicitly telling Mutt-ng to view an attachment with
4896 theMIME viewer defined in the mailcap file, Mutt-ng has support for
4897 automatically viewing MIME attachments while in the pager.
4899 To work, you must define a viewer in the mailcap file which uses the
4900 copiousoutput option to denote that it is non-interactive. Usually, you
4901 also use the entry to convert the attachment to a text representation
4902 which you can view in the pager.
4904 You then use the auto_view muttrc command to list the content-types that
4905 you wish to view automatically.
4907 For instance, if you set auto_view to:
4909 auto_view text/html application/x-gunzip application/postscript
4910 image/gif application/x-tar-gz
4913 Mutt-ng could use the following mailcap entries to automatically view
4914 attachments of these types.
4916 text/html; lynx -dump %s; copiousoutput; nametemplate=%s.html
4917 image/*; anytopnm %s | pnmscale -xsize 80 -ysize 50 | ppmtopgm | pgmtopbm | pbmtoascii ; copiousoutput
4918 application/x-gunzip; gzcat; copiousoutput
4919 application/x-tar-gz; gunzip -c %s | tar -tf - ; copiousoutput
4920 application/postscript; ps2ascii %s; copiousoutput
4923 ``unauto_view'' can be used to remove previous entries from the autoview
4924 list. This can be used with message-hook to autoview messages based on
4925 size, etc. ``unauto_view *'' will remove all previous entries.
4927 5. MIME Multipart/Alternative
4929 Mutt-ng has some heuristics for determining which attachment of a
4930 multipart/alternative type to display. First, mutt will check the
4931 alternative_order list to determine if one of the available typesis
4932 preferred. The alternative_order list consists of a number of MIME types
4933 in order, including support for implicit and explicit wildcards, for
4936 alternative_order text/enriched text/plain text
4937 application/postscript image/*
4940 Next, mutt will check if any of the types have a defined auto-view, and
4941 use that. Failing that, Mutt-ng will look for any text type. As a last
4942 attempt, mutt willlook for any type it knows how to handle.
4944 To remove a MIME type from the alternative_order list, use the
4945 unalternative_order command.
4949 Mutt-ng's mime_lookup list specifies a list of mime-types that should not
4950 be treated according to their mailcap entry. This option is designed
4951 todeal with binary types such as application/octet-stream. When an
4952 attachment's mime-type is listed in mime_lookup, then the extension of the
4953 filename will be compared to the list of extensions in the mime.types
4954 file. The mime-type associated with this extension will then be used to
4955 process the attachment according to the rules in the mailcap file and
4956 according to any other configuration options (such as auto_view)
4957 specified. Common usage would be:
4959 mime_lookup application/octet-stream application/X-Lotus-Manuscript
4962 In addition, the unmime_lookup command may be used to disable this feature
4963 for any particular mime-type if it had been set, for example, in a global
4966 Chapter 6. Security Considerations
4974 3. Information Leaks
4976 3.1. Message-ID: headers
4978 3.2. mailto:-style links
4980 4. External applications
4986 First of all, mutt-ng contains no security holes included by intention but
4987 may contain unknown security holes. As a consequence, please run mutt-ng
4988 only with as few permissions as possible.
4990 Please do not run mutt-ng as the super user.
4992 When configuring mutt-ng, there're some points to note about secure
4995 In practice, mutt-ng can be easily made as vulnerable as even the most
4996 insecure mail user agents (in their default configuration) just by
4997 changing mutt-ng's configuration files: it then can execute arbitrary
4998 programs and scripts attached to messages, send out private data on its
4999 own, etc. Although this is not believed to the common type of setup,
5000 please read this chapter carefully.
5004 Although mutt-ng can be told the various passwords for accounts, please
5005 never store passwords in configuration files. Besides the fact that the
5006 system's operator can always read them, you could forget to replace the
5007 actual password with asterisks when reporting a bug or asking for help
5008 via, for example, a mailing list so that your mail including your password
5009 could be archived by internet search engines, etc. Please never store
5014 Mutt-ng uses many temporary files for viewing messages, verifying digital
5015 signatures, etc. The umask variable can be used to change the default
5016 permissions of these files. Please only change it if you really know what
5017 you are doing. Also, a different location for these files may be desired
5018 which can be changed via the tmpdir variable.
5020 3. Information Leaks
5022 3.1. Message-ID: headers
5024 In the default configuration, mutt-ng will leak some information to the
5025 outside world when sending messages: the generation of Message-ID: headers
5026 includes a step counter which is increased (and rotated) with every
5027 message sent. If you'd like to hide this information probably telling
5028 others how many mail you sent in which time, you at least need to remove
5029 the %P expando from the default setting of the msgid-format variable.
5030 Please make sure that you really know how local parts of these Message-ID:
5031 headers are composed.
5033 3.2. mailto:-style links
5035 As mutt-ng be can be set up to be the mail client to handle mailto: style
5036 links in websites, there're security considerations, too. To keep the old
5037 behavior by default, mutt-ng will be strict in interpreting them which
5038 means that arbitrary header fields can be embedded in these links which
5039 could override existing header fields or attach arbitrary files. This may
5040 be problematic if the edit-headers variable is unset, i.e. the user
5041 doesn't want to see header fields while editing the message.
5043 For example, following a link like
5045 mailto:joe@host?Attach=~/.gnupg/secring.gpg
5048 will send out the user's private gnupg keyring to joe@host if the user
5049 doesn't follow the information on screen carefully enough.
5051 When unsetting the strict-mailto variable, mutt-ng will
5053 o be less strict when interpreting these links by prepending a X-Mailto-
5054 string to all header fields embedded in such a link and
5056 o turn on the edit-headers variable by force to let the user see all the
5057 headers (because they still may leak information.)
5059 4. External applications
5061 Mutt-ng in many places has to rely on external applications or for
5062 convenience supports mechanisms involving external applications.
5066 One of these is the mailcap mechanism as defined by RfC 1524. Mutt-ng can
5067 be set up to automatically execute any given utility as listed in one of
5068 the mailcap files (see the mailcap-path variable for details.)
5070 These utilities may have a variety of security vulnerabilities, including
5071 overwriting of arbitrary files, information leaks or other exploitable
5072 bugs. These vulnerabilities may go unnoticed by the user, especially when
5073 they are called automatically (and without interactive prompting) from the
5074 mailcap file(s). When using mutt-ng's autoview mechanism in combination
5075 with mailcap files, please be sure to...
5077 o manually select trustworth applications with a reasonable calling
5080 o periodically check the contents of mailcap files, especially after
5081 software installations or upgrades
5083 o keep the software packages referenced in the mailcap file up to date
5085 o leave the mailcap-sanitize variable in its default state to restrict
5086 mailcap expandos to a safe set of characters
5090 Besides the mailcap mechanism, mutt-ng uses a number of other external
5091 utilities for operation.
5093 The same security considerations apply for these as for tools involved via
5094 mailcap (for example, mutt-ng is vulnerable to Denial of Service Attacks
5095 with compressed folders support if the uncompressed mailbox is too large
5096 for the disk it is saved to.)
5098 As already noted, most of these problems are not built in but caused by
5099 wrong configuration, so please check your configuration.
5101 Chapter 7. Reference
5105 1. Command line options
5109 3. Configuration Commands
5111 4. Configuration variables
5137 1. Command line options
5139 Running mutt with no arguments will make Mutt-ng attempt to read your
5140 spool mailbox. However, it is possible to read other mailboxes and to send
5141 messages from the command line as well.
5143 Table 7.1. Mutt-NG Command Line Options
5145 +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
5146 | Option | Description |
5147 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5148 | -A | expand an alias |
5149 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5150 | -a | attach a file to a message |
5151 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5152 | -b | specify a blind carbon-copy (BCC) address |
5153 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5154 | -c | specify a carbon-copy (Cc) address |
5155 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5156 | -e | specify a config command to be run after initialization files |
5158 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5159 | -f | specify a mailbox to load |
5160 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5161 | -F | specify an alternate file to read initialization commands |
5162 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5163 | -h | print help on command line options |
5164 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5165 | -H | specify a draft file from which to read a header and body |
5166 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5167 | -i | specify a file to include in a message composition |
5168 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5169 | -m | specify a default mailbox type |
5170 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5171 | -n | do not read the system Muttngrc |
5172 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5173 | -p | recall a postponed message |
5174 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5175 | -Q | query a configuration variable |
5176 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5177 | -R | open mailbox in read-only mode |
5178 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5179 | -s | specify a subject (enclose in quotes if it contains spaces) |
5180 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5181 | -t | dump the value of all variables to stdout |
5182 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5183 | -T | dump the value of all changed variables to stdout |
5184 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5185 | -v | show version number and compile-time definitions |
5186 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5187 | -x | simulate the mailx(1) compose mode |
5188 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5189 | -y | show a menu containing the files specified by the mailboxes |
5191 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5192 | -z | exit immediately if there are no messages in the mailbox |
5193 |--------+---------------------------------------------------------------|
5194 | -Z | open the first folder with new message,exit immediately if |
5196 +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
5198 To read messages in a mailbox
5200 mutt [ -nz ] [ -F muttrc ] [ -m type ] [ -f mailbox ]
5202 To compose a new message
5204 mutt [ -n ] [ -F muttrc ] [ -a file ] [ -c address ] [ -i filename ] [ -s
5205 subject ] address [ address ... ]
5207 Mutt-ng also supports a ``batch'' mode to send prepared messages. Simply
5208 redirect input from the file you wish to send. For example,
5210 mutt -s "data set for run #2" professor@bigschool.edu < ˜/run2.dat
5212 This command will send a message to ``professor@bigschool.edu'' with a
5213 subject of ``data set for run #2''. In the body of the message will be the
5214 contents of the file ``˜/run2.dat''.
5220 +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
5221 | Pattern Modifier | Argument | Description |
5222 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5223 | ~A | | all messages |
5224 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5225 | ~b | EXPR | messages which contain EXPR in the |
5226 | | | message body |
5227 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5228 | ~B | EXPR | messages which contain EXPR in the |
5229 | | | whole message |
5230 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5231 | ~c | USER | messages carbon-copied to USER |
5232 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5233 | ~C | EXPR | message is either to: or cc: EXPR |
5234 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5235 | ~D | | deleted messages |
5236 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5237 | ~d | [MIN]-[MAX] | messages with ``date-sent'' in a Date |
5239 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5240 | ~E | | expired messages |
5241 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5242 | ~e | EXPR | message which contains EXPR in the |
5243 | | | ``Sender'' field |
5244 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5245 | ~F | | flagged messages |
5246 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5247 | ~f | USER | messages originating from USER |
5248 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5249 | ~g | | cryptographically signed messages |
5250 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5251 | ~G | | cryptographically encrypted messages |
5252 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5253 | ~H | EXPR | messages with a spam attribute |
5254 | | | matching EXPR |
5255 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5256 | ~h | EXPR | messages which contain EXPR in the |
5257 | | | message header |
5258 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5259 | ~k | | message contains PGP key material |
5260 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5261 | ~i | ID | message which match ID in the |
5262 | | | ``Message-ID'' field |
5263 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5264 | ~L | EXPR | message is either originated or |
5265 | | | received by EXPR |
5266 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5267 | ~l | | message is addressed to a known |
5268 | | | mailing list |
5269 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5270 | ~m | [MIN]-[MAX] | message in the range MIN to MAX *) |
5271 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5272 | ~M | | multipart messages |
5273 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5274 | ~n | [MIN]-[MAX] | messages with a score in the range |
5275 | | | MIN to MAX *) |
5276 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5277 | ~N | | new messages |
5278 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5279 | ~O | | old messages |
5280 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5281 | ~p | | message is addressed to you (consults |
5283 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5284 | ~P | | message is from you (consults |
5286 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5287 | ~Q | | messages which have been replied to |
5288 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5289 | ~R | | read messages |
5290 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5291 | ~r | [MIN]-[MAX] | messages with ``date-received'' in a |
5293 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5294 | ~S | | superseded messages |
5295 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5296 | ~s | SUBJECT | messages having SUBJECT in the |
5297 | | | ``Subject'' field. |
5298 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5299 | ~T | | tagged messages |
5300 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5301 | ~t | USER | messages addressed to USER |
5302 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5303 | ~U | | unread messages |
5304 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5305 | ~v | | message is part of a collapsed |
5307 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5308 | ~V | | cryptographically verified messages |
5309 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5310 | | | messages which contain EXPR in the |
5311 | ~w | EXPR | `Newsgroups' field (if compiled with |
5312 | | | NNTP support) |
5313 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5314 | ~x | EXPR | messages which contain EXPR in the |
5315 | | | `References' field |
5316 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5317 | ~y | EXPR | messages which contain EXPR in the |
5318 | | | `X-Label' field |
5319 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5320 | ~z | [MIN]-[MAX] | messages with a size in the range MIN |
5322 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5323 | ~= | | duplicated messages (see |
5324 | | | $duplicate_threads) |
5325 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5326 | ~$ | | unreferenced messages (requires |
5327 | | | threaded view) |
5328 |------------------+-------------+---------------------------------------|
5329 | | | ``From'' contains realname and |
5330 | ~* | | (syntactically) valid address |
5331 | | | (excluded are addresses matching |
5332 | | | against alternates or any alias) |
5333 +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
5335 Where EXPR, USER, ID, and SUBJECT are regexp. Special attention has to be
5336 made when using regular expressions inside of patterns. Specifically,
5337 Mutt-ng's parser for these patterns will strip one level of backslash (\),
5338 which is normally used for quoting. If it is your intention to use a
5339 backslash in the regular expression, you will need to use two backslashes
5342 *) The forms <[MAX], >[MIN] , [MIN]- and -[MAX] are allowed, too.
5344 3. Configuration Commands
5346 The following are the commands understood by mutt.
5348 o account-hook pattern command
5350 o alias key address [ , address ,... ]
5352 o alias [ * | key ... ]
5354 o alternates regexp [ regexp ... ]
5356 o alternates [ * | regexp ... ]
5358 o alternative-order mimetype [ mimetype ... ]
5360 o alternative-order mimetype [ mimetype ... ]
5362 o append-hook regexp command
5364 o auto-view mimetype [ mimetype ... ]
5366 o auto-view mimetype [ mimetype ... ]
5368 o bind map key function
5370 o charset-hook alias charset
5372 o close-hook regexp command
5374 o color object foreground background [ regexp ]
5376 o color index pattern [ pattern ... ]
5378 o exec function [ function ... ]
5380 o fcc-hook pattern mailbox
5382 o fcc-save-hook pattern mailbox
5384 o folder-hook pattern command
5386 o hdr-order header [ header ... ]
5388 o hdr-order header [ header ... ]
5390 o charset-hook charset local-charset
5392 o ignore pattern [ pattern ... ]
5394 o ignore pattern [ pattern ... ]
5396 o lists regexp [ regexp ... ]
5398 o lists regexp [ regexp ... ]
5400 o macro menu key sequence [ description ]
5402 o mailboxes filename [ filename ... ]
5404 o mbox-hook pattern mailbox
5406 o message-hook pattern command
5408 o mime-lookup mimetype [ mimetype ... ]
5410 o mime-lookup mimetype [ mimetype ... ]
5412 o color object attribute [ regexp ]
5414 o color index pattern [ pattern ... ]
5418 o my-hdr field [ field ... ]
5420 o open-hook regexp command
5422 o crypt-hook pattern key-id
5426 o set variable [variable ... ]
5428 o save-hook regexp filename
5430 o score-command pattern value
5432 o score-command pattern [ pattern ... ]
5434 o send-hook regexp command
5436 o reply-hook regexp command
5438 o set [no|inv]variable[=value ] [ variable ... ]
5440 o set variable [variable ... ]
5444 o spam pattern format
5448 o lists regexp [ regexp ... ]
5450 o lists regexp [ regexp ... ]
5452 o set variable [variable ... ]
5456 4. Configuration variables
5458 The following list contains all variables which, in the process of
5459 providing more consistency, have been renamed and are partially even
5460 removed already. The left column contains the old synonym variables, the
5461 right column the full/new name:
5463 Table 7.3. Obsolete Variables
5465 +----------------------------------------------------+
5466 | Old Name | New Name |
5467 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5468 | edit_hdrs | edit_headers |
5469 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5470 | forw_decode | forward_decode |
5471 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5472 | forw_format | forward_format |
5473 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5474 | forw_quote | forward_quote |
5475 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5476 | hdr_format | index_format |
5477 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5478 | indent_str | indent_string |
5479 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5480 | mime_fwd | mime_forward |
5481 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5482 | msg_format | message_format |
5483 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5484 | pgp_autosign | crypt_autosign |
5485 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5486 | pgp_autoencrypt | crypt_autoencrypt |
5487 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5488 | pgp_replyencrypt | crypt_replyencrypt |
5489 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5490 | pgp_replysign | crypt_replysign |
5491 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5492 | pgp_replysignencrypted | crypt_replysignencrypted |
5493 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5494 | pgp_verify_sig | crypt_verify_sig |
5495 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5496 | pgp_create_traditional | pgp_autoinline |
5497 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5498 | pgp_auto_traditional | pgp_replyinline |
5499 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5500 | forw_decrypt | forward_decrypt |
5501 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5502 | smime_sign_as | smime_default_key |
5503 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5504 | post_indent_str | post_indent_string |
5505 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5506 | print_cmd | print_command |
5507 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5508 | shorten_hierarchy | sidebar_shorten_hierarchy |
5509 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5510 | ask_followup_to | nntp_ask_followup_to |
5511 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5512 | ask_x_comment_to | nntp_ask_x_comment_to |
5513 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5514 | catchup_newsgroup | nntp_catchup |
5515 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5516 | followup_to_poster | nntp_followup_to_poster |
5517 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5518 | group_index_format | nntp_group_index_format |
5519 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5520 | inews | nntp_inews |
5521 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5522 | mime_subject | nntp_mime_subject |
5523 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5524 | news_cache_dir | nntp_cache_dir |
5525 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5526 | news_server | nntp_host |
5527 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5528 | newsrc | nntp_newsrc |
5529 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5530 | nntp_poll | nntp_mail_check |
5531 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5532 | pop_checkinterval | pop_mail_check |
5533 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5534 | post_moderated | nntp_post_moderated |
5535 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5536 | save_unsubscribed | nntp_save_unsubscribed |
5537 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5538 | show_new_news | nntp_show_new_news |
5539 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5540 | show_only_unread | nntp_show_only_unread |
5541 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5542 | x_comment_to | nntp_x_comment_to |
5543 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5544 | smtp_auth_username | smtp_user |
5545 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5546 | smtp_auth_password | smtp_pass |
5547 |------------------------+---------------------------|
5548 | user_agent | agent_string |
5549 +----------------------------------------------------+
5551 The contrib subdirectory contains a script named update-config.pl which
5554 A complete list of current variables follows.
5562 This variable specifies whether to abort sending if no attachment was made
5563 but the content references them, i.e. the content matches the regular
5564 expression given in $attach_remind_regexp. If a match was found and this
5565 variable is set to yes, message sending will be aborted but the mail will
5566 be send nevertheless if set to no.
5568 This variable and $attach_remind_regexp are intended to remind the user to
5569 attach files if the message's text references them.
5571 See also the $attach_remind_regexp variable.
5579 If set to yes, when composing messages and no subject is given at the
5580 subject prompt, composition will be aborted. If set to no, composing
5581 messages with no subject given at the subject prompt will never be
5590 If set to yes, composition will automatically abort after editing the
5591 message body if no changes are made to the file (this check only happens
5592 after the first edit of the file). When set to no, composition will never
5601 When set, Mutt-ng will add a ``User-Agent:'' header to outgoing messages,
5602 indicating which version of Mutt-ng was used for composing them.
5608 Default: "˜/.muttngrc"
5610 The default file in which to save aliases created by the ``create-alias''
5613 Note: Mutt-ng will not automatically source this file; you must explicitly
5614 use the `` source'' command for it to be executed.
5620 Default: "%4n %2f %t %-10a %r"
5622 Specifies the format of the data displayed for the ``alias'' menu. The
5623 following printf(3)-style sequences are available:
5631 flags - currently, a "d" for an alias marked for deletion
5639 address which alias expands to
5643 character which indicates if the alias is tagged for inclusion
5651 Controls whether 8-bit data is converted to 7-bit using either
5652 quoted-printable or base64 encoding when sending mail.
5660 Controls whether ANSI color codes in messages (and color tags in rich text
5661 messages) are to be interpreted. Messages containing these codes are rare,
5662 but if this option is set, their text will be colored accordingly. Note
5663 that this may override your color choices, and even present a security
5664 problem, since a message could include a line like ``[-- PGP output
5665 follows ..." and give it the same color as your attachment color.
5673 When set, an arrow (``->'') will be used to indicate the current entry in
5674 menus instead of highlighting the whole line. On slow network or modem
5675 links this will make response faster because there is less that has to be
5676 redrawn on the screen when moving to the next or previous entries in the
5685 If set, Mutt-ng will use plain ASCII characters when displaying thread and
5686 attachment trees, instead of the default ACS characters.
5694 If set, Mutt-ng will prompt you for blind-carbon-copy (Bcc) recipients
5695 before editing an outgoing message.
5703 If set, Mutt-ng will prompt you for carbon-copy (Cc) recipients before
5704 editing the body of an outgoing message.
5712 This variable is a colon-separated list of character encoding schemes for
5713 messages without character encoding indication. Header field values and
5714 message body content without character encoding indication would be
5715 assumed that they are written in one of this list. By default, all the
5716 header fields and message body without any charset indication are assumed
5719 For example, Japanese users might prefer this:
5721 set assumed_charset="iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8"
5723 However, only the first content is valid for the message body. This
5724 variable is valid only if $strict_mime is unset.
5730 Default: "%u%D%I %t%4n %T%.40d%> [%.7m/%.10M, %.6e%?C?, %C?, %s] "
5732 This variable describes the format of the ``attachment'' menu. The
5733 following printf(3)-style sequences are understood:
5741 requires charset conversion (n or c)
5753 MIME Content-Transfer-Encoding: header field
5761 MIME Content-Disposition: header field (I=inline, A=attachment)
5785 graphic tree characters
5789 unlink (=to delete) flag
5793 right justify the rest of the string and pad with character "X"
5797 pad to the end of the line with character "X"
5799 15. attach_remind_regexp
5801 Type: regular expression
5805 If this variable is non-empty, muttng will scan a message's contents
5806 before sending for this regular expression. If it is found, it will ask
5807 for what to do depending on the setting of $abort_noattach.
5809 This variable and $abort_noattach are intended to remind the user to
5810 attach files if the message's text references them.
5818 The separator to add between attachments when operating (saving, printing,
5819 piping, etc) on a list of tagged attachments.
5827 If this variable is unset, when operating (saving, printing, piping, etc)
5828 on a list of tagged attachments, Mutt-ng will concatenate the attachments
5829 and will operate on them as a single attachment. The ``$attach_sep''
5830 separator is added after each attachment. When set, Mutt-ng will operate
5831 on the attachments one by one.
5837 Default: "On %d, %n wrote:"
5839 This is the string that will precede a message which has been included in
5840 a reply. For a full listing of defined printf(3)-like sequences see the
5841 section on ``$index_format''.
5849 When set, functions in the index menu which affect a message will be
5850 applied to all tagged messages (if there are any). When unset, you must
5851 first use the ``tag-prefix'' function (default: ";") to make the next
5852 function apply to all tagged messages.
5860 When set along with ``$edit_headers'', Mutt-ng will skip the initial
5861 send-menu and allow you to immediately begin editing the body of your
5862 message. The send-menu may still be accessed once you have finished
5863 editing the body of your message.
5865 Also see ``$fast_reply''.
5873 When this variable is set, Mutt-ng will beep when an error occurs.
5881 When this variable is set, Mutt-ng will beep whenever it prints a message
5882 notifying you of new mail. This is independent of the setting of the
5891 Controls whether you will be asked to confirm bouncing messages. If set to
5892 yes you don't get asked if you want to bounce a message. Setting this
5893 variable to no is not generally useful, and thus not recommended, because
5894 you are unable to bounce messages.
5896 24. bounce_delivered
5902 When this variable is set, Mutt-ng will include Delivered-To: header
5903 fields when bouncing messages. Postfix users may wish to unset this
5906 25. braille_friendly
5912 When this variable is set, mutt will place the cursor at the beginning of
5913 the current line in menus, even when the arrow_cursor variable is unset,
5914 making it easier for blind persons using Braille displays to follow these
5915 menus. The option is disabled by default because many visual terminals
5916 don't permit making the cursor invisible.
5918 26. certificate_file
5922 Default: "˜/.mutt_certificates"
5924 Availability: SSL or GNUTLS
5926 This variable specifies the file where the certificates you trust are
5927 saved. When an unknown certificate is encountered, you are asked if you
5928 accept it or not. If you accept it, the certificate can also be saved in
5929 this file and further connections are automatically accepted.
5931 You can also manually add CA certificates in this file. Any server
5932 certificate that is signed with one of these CA certificates are also
5933 automatically accepted.
5935 Example: set certificate_file=˜/.muttng/certificates
5943 Character set your terminal uses to display and enter textual data.
5951 Note: this option only affects maildir and MH style mailboxes.
5953 When set, Mutt-ng will check for new mail delivered while the mailbox is
5954 open. Especially with MH mailboxes, this operation can take quite some
5955 time since it involves scanning the directory and checking each file to
5956 see if it has already been looked at. If it's unset, no check for new mail
5957 is performed while the mailbox is open.
5965 When unset, Mutt-ng will not collapse a thread if it contains any unread
5972 Default: "-- Mutt-ng: Compose [Approx. msg size: %l Atts: %a]%>-"
5974 Controls the format of the status line displayed in the ``compose'' menu.
5975 This string is similar to ``$status_format'', but has its own set of
5976 printf(3)-like sequences:
5980 total number of attachments
5988 approximate size (in bytes) of the current message
5992 Mutt-ng version string
5994 See the text describing the ``$status_format'' option for more information
5995 on how to set ``$compose_format''.
6003 When defined, Mutt-ng will recode commands in rc files from this encoding.
6011 When set, Mutt-ng will prompt for confirmation when appending messages to
6012 an existing mailbox.
6020 When set, Mutt-ng will prompt for confirmation when saving messages to a
6021 mailbox which does not yet exist before creating it.
6029 Causes Mutt-ng to timeout a network connection (for IMAP or POP) after
6030 this many seconds if the connection is not able to be established. A
6031 negative value causes Mutt-ng to wait indefinitely for the connection to
6038 Default: "text/plain"
6040 Sets the default Content-Type: header field for the body of newly composed
6049 This variable controls whether or not copies of your outgoing messages
6050 will be saved for later references. Also see ``$record'', ``$save_name'',
6051 ``$force_name'' and ``fcc-hook''.
6053 37. crypt_autoencrypt
6059 Setting this variable will cause Mutt-ng to always attempt to PGP encrypt
6060 outgoing messages. This is probably only useful in connection to the
6061 send-hook command. It can be overridden by use of the pgp-menu, when
6062 encryption is not required or signing is requested as well. If
6063 ``$smime_is_default'' is set, then OpenSSL is used instead to create
6064 S/MIME messages and settings can be overridden by use of the smime-menu.
6073 This variable controls whether or not Mutt-ng may automatically enable PGP
6074 encryption/signing for messages. See also ``$crypt_autoencrypt'',
6075 ``$crypt_replyencrypt'', ``$crypt_autosign'', ``$crypt_replysign'' and
6076 ``$smime_is_default''.
6084 Setting this variable will cause Mutt-ng to always attempt to
6085 cryptographically sign outgoing messages. This can be overridden by use of
6086 the pgp-menu, when signing is not required or encryption is requested as
6087 well. If ``$smime_is_default'' is set, then OpenSSL is used instead to
6088 create S/MIME messages and settings can be overridden by use of the
6089 smime-menu. (Crypto only)
6097 This variable controls whether or not Mutt-ng may automatically enable
6098 S/MIME encryption/signing for messages. See also ``$crypt_autoencrypt'',
6099 ``$crypt_replyencrypt'', ``$crypt_autosign'', ``$crypt_replysign'' and
6100 ``$smime_is_default''.
6102 41. crypt_replyencrypt
6108 If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL encrypt replies to messages which are
6109 encrypted. (Crypto only)
6117 If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL sign replies to messages which are
6120 Note: this does not work on messages that are encrypted and signed!
6123 43. crypt_replysignencrypted
6129 If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL sign replies to messages which are
6130 encrypted. This makes sense in combination with ``$crypt_replyencrypt'',
6131 because it allows you to sign all messages which are automatically
6132 encrypted. This works around the problem noted in ``$crypt_replysign'',
6133 that Mutt-ng is not able to find out whether an encrypted message is also
6134 signed. (Crypto only)
6142 If set, Mutt-ng will include a time stamp in the lines surrounding PGP or
6143 S/MIME output, so spoofing such lines is more difficult. If you are using
6144 colors to mark these lines, and rely on these, you may unset this setting.
6153 This variable controls the use the GPGME enabled crypto backends. If it is
6154 set and Mutt-ng was build with gpgme support, the gpgme code for S/MIME
6155 and PGP will be used instead of the classic code.
6157 Note: You need to use this option in your .muttngrc configuration file as
6158 it won't have any effect when used interactively.
6160 46. crypt_verify_sig
6166 If ``yes'', always attempt to verify PGP or S/MIME signatures. If ``ask'',
6167 ask whether or not to verify the signature. If ``no'', never attempt to
6168 verify cryptographic signatures. (Crypto only)
6174 Default: "!%a, %b %d, %Y at %I:%M:%S%p %Z"
6176 This variable controls the format of the date printed by the ``%d''
6177 sequence in ``$index_format''. This is passed to strftime(3) to process
6180 Unless the first character in the string is a bang (``!''), the month and
6181 week day names are expanded according to the locale specified in the
6182 variable ``$locale''. If the first character in the string is a bang, the
6183 bang is discarded, and the month and week day names in the rest of the
6184 string are expanded in the C locale (that is in US English).
6194 This variable specifies the current debug level and may be used to
6195 increase or decrease the verbosity level during runtime. It overrides the
6196 level given with the -d command line option.
6198 Currently, this number must be >= 0 and <= 5 and muttng must be started
6199 with -d to enable debugging at all; enabling at runtime is not possible.
6205 Default: "˜f %s !˜P | (˜P ˜C %s)"
6207 This variable controls how send-hooks, message-hooks, save-hooks, and
6208 fcc-hooks will be interpreted if they are specified with only a simple
6209 regexp, instead of a matching pattern. The hooks are expanded when they
6210 are declared, so a hook will be interpreted according to the value of this
6211 variable at the time the hook is declared. The default value matches if
6212 the message is either from a user matching the regular expression given,
6213 or if it is from you (if the from address matches ``alternates'') and is
6214 to or cc'ed to a user matching the given regular expression.
6222 Controls whether or not messages are really deleted when closing or
6223 synchronizing a mailbox. If set to yes, messages marked for deleting will
6224 automatically be purged without prompting. If set to no, messages marked
6225 for deletion will be kept in the mailbox.
6233 When sending messages with format=flowed by setting the $text_flowed
6234 variable, this variable specifies whether to also set the DelSp parameter
6235 to yes. If this is unset, no additional parameter will be send as a value
6236 of no already is the default behavior.
6238 Note: this variable only has an effect on outgoing messages (if
6239 $text_flowed is set) but not on incomming.
6247 If this option is set, Mutt-ng will untag messages when marking them for
6248 deletion. This applies when you either explicitly delete a message, or
6249 when you save it to another folder.
6257 If this option is set, Mutt-ng's received-attachments menu will not show
6258 the subparts of individual messages in a multipart/digest. To see these
6259 subparts, press 'v' on that menu.
6267 When set, specifies a command used to filter messages. When a message is
6268 viewed it is passed as standard input to $display_filter, and the filtered
6269 message is read from the standard output.
6275 Default: "$muttng_bindir/muttng_dotlock"
6277 Availability: Standalone and Dotlock
6279 Contains the path of the muttng_dotlock(1) binary to be used by Mutt-ng.
6287 Note: you should not enable this unless you are using Sendmail 8.8.x or
6288 greater or in connection with the SMTP support via libESMTP.
6290 This variable sets the request for when notification is returned. The
6291 string consists of a comma separated list (no spaces!) of one or more of
6292 the following: never, to never request notification, failure, to request
6293 notification on transmission failure, delay, to be notified of message
6294 delays, success, to be notified of successful transmission.
6296 Example: set dsn_notify="failure,delay"
6304 Note: you should not enable this unless you are using Sendmail 8.8.x or
6305 greater or in connection with the SMTP support via libESMTP.
6307 This variable controls how much of your message is returned in DSN
6308 messages. It may be set to either hdrs to return just the message header,
6309 or full to return the full message.
6311 Example: set dsn_return=hdrs
6313 58. duplicate_threads
6319 This variable controls whether Mutt-ng, when sorting by threads, threads
6320 messages with the same Message-Id: header field together. If it is set, it
6321 will indicate that it thinks they are duplicates of each other with an
6322 equals sign in the thread diagram.
6330 This option allows you to edit the header of your outgoing messages along
6331 with the body of your message.
6333 Which empty header fields to show is controlled by the $editor_headers
6342 This variable specifies which editor is used by Mutt-ng. It defaults to
6343 the value of the $VISUAL, or $EDITOR, environment variable, or to the
6344 string "vi" if neither of those are set.
6350 Default: "From: To: Cc: Bcc: Subject: Reply-To: Newsgroups: Followup-To:
6353 If $edit_headers is set, this space-separated list specifies which
6354 non-empty header fields to edit in addition to user-defined headers.
6356 Note: if $edit_headers had to be turned on by force because $strict_mailto
6357 is unset, this option has no effect.
6365 When set, Mutt-ng will quoted-printable encode messages when they contain
6366 the string ``From '' (note the trailing space) in the beginning of a line.
6367 Useful to avoid the tampering certain mail delivery and transport agents
6368 tend to do with messages.
6370 Note: as mutt-ng currently violates RfC3676 defining format=flowed, it's
6371 <em/strongly/ advised to set this option although discouraged by the
6372 standard. Alternatively, you must take care of space-stuffing <tt/From /
6373 lines (with a trailing space) yourself.
6383 The file which includes random data that is used to initialize SSL library
6392 When set, Mutt-ng will try to derive the message's envelope sender from
6393 the ``From:'' header field. Note that this information is passed to the
6394 sendmail command using the ``-f" command line switch, so don't set this
6395 option if you are using that switch in $sendmail yourself, or if the
6396 sendmail on your machine doesn't support that command line switch.
6404 Escape character to use for functions in the builtin editor.
6412 When set, the initial prompt for recipients and subject are skipped when
6413 replying to messages, and the initial prompt for subject is skipped when
6414 forwarding messages.
6416 Note: this variable has no effect when the ``$autoedit'' variable is set.
6424 This variable controls whether or not attachments on outgoing messages are
6425 saved along with the main body of your message.
6433 When this variable is set, FCCs will be stored unencrypted and unsigned,
6434 even when the actual message is encrypted and/or signed. (PGP only)
6442 This variable is a colon-separated list of character encoding schemes for
6443 text file attatchments. If unset, $charset value will be used instead. For
6444 example, the following configuration would work for Japanese text
6447 set file_charset="iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8"
6449 Note: ``iso-2022-*'' must be put at the head of the value as shown above
6458 Specifies the default location of your mailboxes. A ``+'' or ``='' at the
6459 beginning of a pathname will be expanded to the value of this variable.
6460 Note that if you change this variable from the default value you need to
6461 make sure that the assignment occurs before you use ``+'' or ``='' for any
6462 other variables since expansion takes place during the ``set'' command.
6468 Default: "%2C %t %N %F %2l %-8.8u %-8.8g %8s %d %f"
6470 This variable allows you to customize the file browser display to your
6471 personal taste. This string is similar to ``$index_format'', but has its
6472 own set of printf(3)-like sequences:
6480 date/time folder was last modified
6492 group name (or numeric gid, if missing)
6496 number of hard links
6500 N if folder has new mail, blank otherwise
6508 * if the file is tagged, blank otherwise
6512 owner name (or numeric uid, if missing)
6516 right justify the rest of the string and pad with character "X"
6520 pad to the end of the line with character "X"
6528 Controls whether or not the Mail-Followup-To: header field is generated
6529 when sending mail. When set, Mutt-ng will generate this field when you are
6530 replying to a known mailing list, specified with the ``subscribe'' or
6531 ``lists'' commands or detected by common mailing list headers.
6533 This field has two purposes. First, preventing you from receiving
6534 duplicate copies of replies to messages which you send to mailing lists.
6535 Second, ensuring that you do get a reply separately for any messages sent
6536 to known lists to which you are not subscribed. The header will contain
6537 only the list's address for subscribed lists, and both the list address
6538 and your own email address for unsubscribed lists. Without this header, a
6539 group reply to your message sent to a subscribed list will be sent to both
6540 the list and your address, resulting in two copies of the same email for
6543 73. force_buffy_check
6549 When set, it causes Mutt-ng to check for new mail when the buffy-list
6550 command is invoked. When unset, buffy_list will just list all mailboxes
6551 which are already known to have new mail.
6553 Also see the following variables: ``$timeout'', ``$mail_check'' and
6554 ``$imap_mail_check''.
6562 This variable is similar to ``$save_name'', except that Mutt-ng will store
6563 a copy of your outgoing message by the username of the address you are
6564 sending to even if that mailbox does not exist.
6566 Also see the ``$record'' variable.
6574 Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain when
6575 forwarding a message. The message header is also RFC2047 decoded. This
6576 variable is only used, if ``$mime_forward'' is unset, otherwise
6577 ``$mime_forward_decode'' is used instead.
6585 Controls the handling of encrypted messages when forwarding a message.
6586 When set, the outer layer of encryption is stripped off. This variable is
6587 only used if ``$mime_forward'' is set and ``$mime_forward_decode'' is
6596 This quadoption controls whether or not the user is automatically placed
6597 in the editor when forwarding messages. For those who always want to
6598 forward with no modification, use a setting of no.
6606 This variable controls the default subject when forwarding a message. It
6607 uses the same format sequences as the ``$index_format'' variable.
6615 When set forwarded messages included in the main body of the message (when
6616 ``$mime_forward'' is unset) will be quoted using ``$indent_string''.
6620 Type: e-mail address
6624 This variable contains a default from address. It can be overridden using
6625 my_hdr (including from send-hooks) and ``$reverse_name''. This variable is
6626 ignored if ``$use_from'' is unset.
6628 E.g. you can use send-hook Mutt-ng-devel@lists.berlios.de 'my_hdr From:
6629 Foo Bar <foo@bar.fb>' when replying to the mutt-ng developer's mailing
6630 list and Mutt-ng takes this email address.
6632 Defaults to the contents of the environment variable $EMAIL.
6636 Type: regular expression
6640 A regular expression used by Mutt-ng to parse the GECOS field of a
6641 password entry when expanding the alias. By default the regular expression
6642 is set to ``^[^,]*'' which will return the string up to the first ``,''
6643 encountered. If the GECOS field contains a string like "lastname,
6644 firstname" then you should do: set gecos_mask=".*".
6646 This can be useful if you see the following behavior: you address a e-mail
6647 to user ID stevef whose full name is Steve Franklin. If Mutt-ng expands
6648 stevef to ``Franklin'' stevef@foo.bar then you should set the gecos_mask
6649 to a regular expression that will match the whole name so Mutt-ng will
6650 expand ``Franklin'' to ``Franklin, Steve''.
6658 When unset, the header fields normally added by the ``my_hdr'' command are
6659 not created. This variable must be unset before composing a new message or
6660 replying in order to take effect. If set, the user defined header fields
6661 are added to every new message.
6669 When set, this variable causes Mutt-ng to include the header of the
6670 message you are replying to into the edit buffer. The ``$weed'' setting
6679 Availability: Header Cache
6681 The $header_cache variable points to the header cache database.
6683 If $header_cache points to a directory it will contain a header cache
6684 database per folder. If $header_cache points to a file that file will be a
6685 single global header cache. By default it is unset so no header caching
6688 85. header_cache_compress
6694 If enabled the header cache will be compressed. So only one fifth of the
6695 usual diskspace is used, but the uncompression can result in a slower open
6696 of the cached folder.
6704 When set, help lines describing the bindings for the major functions
6705 provided by each menu are displayed on the first line of the screen.
6707 Note: The binding will not be displayed correctly if the function is bound
6708 to a sequence rather than a single keystroke. Also, the help line may not
6709 be updated if a binding is changed while Mutt-ng is running. Since this
6710 variable is primarily aimed at new users, neither of these should present
6719 When set, Mutt-ng will skip the host name part of ``$hostname'' variable
6720 when adding the domain part to addresses. This variable does not affect
6721 the generation of Message-ID: header fields, and it will not lead to the
6722 cut-off of first-level domains.
6730 When set, Mutt-ng will not show the presence of messages that are hidden
6731 by limiting, in the thread tree.
6739 When set, Mutt-ng will not show the presence of missing messages in the
6742 90. hide_thread_subject
6748 When set, Mutt-ng will not show the subject of messages in the thread tree
6749 that have the same subject as their parent or closest previously displayed
6752 91. hide_top_limited
6758 When set, Mutt-ng will not show the presence of messages that are hidden
6759 by limiting, at the top of threads in the thread tree. Note that when
6760 $hide_missing is set, this option will have no effect.
6762 92. hide_top_missing
6768 When set, Mutt-ng will not show the presence of missing messages at the
6769 top of threads in the thread tree. Note that when $hide_limited is set,
6770 this option will have no effect.
6778 This variable controls the size (in number of strings remembered) of the
6779 string history buffer. The buffer is cleared each time the variable is
6782 94. honor_followup_to
6788 This variable controls whether or not a Mail-Followup-To: header field is
6789 honored when group-replying to a message.
6797 Specifies the hostname to use after the ``@'' in local e-mail addresses
6798 and during generation of Message-Id: headers.
6800 Please be sure to really know what you are doing when changing this
6801 variable to configure a custom domain part of Message-IDs.
6803 96. ignore_list_reply_to
6809 Affects the behaviour of the reply function when replying to messages from
6810 mailing lists. When set, if the ``Reply-To:'' header field is set to the
6811 same value as the ``To:'' header field, Mutt-ng assumes that the
6812 ``Reply-To:'' header field was set by the mailing list to automate
6813 responses to the list, and will ignore this field. To direct a response to
6814 the mailing list when this option is set, use the list-reply function;
6815 group-reply will reply to both the sender and the list.
6817 97. imap_authenticators
6825 This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods Mutt-ng may
6826 attempt to use to log in to an IMAP server, in the order Mutt-ng should
6827 try them. Authentication methods are either ``login'' or the right side of
6828 an IMAP ``AUTH='' capability string, e.g. ``digest-md5'', ``gssapi'' or
6829 ``cram-md5''. This parameter is case-insensitive.
6831 If this parameter is unset (the default) Mutt-ng will try all available
6832 methods, in order from most-secure to least-secure.
6834 Example: set imap_authenticators="gssapi:cram-md5:login"
6836 Note: Mutt-ng will only fall back to other authentication methods if the
6837 previous methods are unavailable. If a method is available but
6838 authentication fails, Mutt-ng will not connect to the IMAP server.
6840 98. imap_check_subscribed
6846 When set, mutt will fetch the set of subscribed folders from your server
6847 on connection, and add them to the set of mailboxes it polls for new mail.
6848 See also the ``mailboxes'' command.
6850 99. imap_delim_chars
6858 This contains the list of characters which you would like to treat as
6859 folder separators for displaying IMAP paths. In particular it helps in
6860 using the '=' shortcut for your $folder variable.
6870 Mutt-ng requests these header fields in addition to the default headers
6871 (``DATE FROM SUBJECT TO CC MESSAGE-ID REFERENCES CONTENT-TYPE
6872 CONTENT-DESCRIPTION IN-REPLY-TO REPLY-TO LINES X-LABEL'') from IMAP
6873 servers before displaying the ``index'' menu. You may want to add more
6874 headers for spam detection.
6876 Note: This is a space separated list.
6878 101. imap_home_namespace
6886 You normally want to see your personal folders alongside your INBOX in the
6887 IMAP browser. If you see something else, you may set this variable to the
6888 IMAP path to your folders.
6898 This variable specifies the maximum amount of time in seconds that Mutt-ng
6899 will wait before polling open IMAP connections, to prevent the server from
6900 closing them before Mutt-ng has finished with them.
6902 The default is well within the RFC-specified minimum amount of time (30
6903 minutes) before a server is allowed to do this, but in practice the RFC
6904 does get violated every now and then.
6906 Reduce this number if you find yourself getting disconnected from your
6907 IMAP server due to inactivity.
6909 103. imap_list_subscribed
6917 This variable configures whether IMAP folder browsing will look for only
6918 subscribed folders or all folders. This can be toggled in the IMAP browser
6919 with the toggle-subscribed function.
6929 Your login name on the IMAP server.
6931 This variable defaults to the value of ``$imap_user.''
6933 105. imap_mail_check
6939 This variable configures how often (in seconds) Mutt-ng should look for
6940 new mail in IMAP folders. This is split from the ``mail_check'' variable
6941 to generate less traffic and get more accurate information for local
6952 Specifies the password for your IMAP account. If unset, Mutt-ng will
6953 prompt you for your password when you invoke the fetch-mail function.
6955 Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a fairly secure
6956 machine, because the superuser can read your configuration even if you are
6957 the only one who can read the file.
6967 When set, Mutt-ng will not open new IMAP connections to check for new
6968 mail. Mutt-ng will only check for new mail over existing IMAP connections.
6969 This is useful if you don't want to be prompted to user/password pairs on
6970 Mutt-ng invocation, or if opening the connection is slow.
6980 If set, Mutt-ng will avoid implicitly marking your mail as read whenever
6981 you fetch a message from the server. This is generally a good thing, but
6982 can make closing an IMAP folder somewhat slower. This option exists to
6983 appease speed freaks.
6993 Controls whether or not Mutt-ng will try to reconnect to IMAP server when
6994 the connection is lost.
6996 110. imap_servernoise
7004 When set, Mutt-ng will display warning messages from the IMAP server as
7005 error messages. Since these messages are often harmless, or generated due
7006 to configuration problems on the server which are out of the users' hands,
7007 you may wish to suppress them at some point.
7017 The name of the user whose mail you intend to access on the IMAP server.
7019 This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
7021 112. implicit_autoview
7027 If set, Mutt-ng will look for a mailcap entry with the ``copiousoutput''
7028 flag set for every MIME attachment it doesn't have an internal viewer
7029 defined for. If such an entry is found, Mutt-ng will use the viewer
7030 defined in that entry to convert the body part to text form.
7038 Controls whether or not a copy of the message(s) you are replying to is
7039 included in your reply.
7041 114. include_onlyfirst
7047 Controls whether or not Mutt-ng includes only the first attachment of the
7048 message you are replying.
7056 Specifies the string to prepend to each line of text quoted in a message
7057 to which you are replying. You are strongly encouraged not to change this
7058 value, as it tends to agitate the more fanatical netizens.
7064 Default: "%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%?l?%4l&%4c?) %s"
7066 This variable allows you to customize the message index display to your
7069 ``Format strings'' are similar to the strings used in the ``C'' function
7070 printf(3) to format output (see the man page for more detail). The
7071 following sequences are defined in Mutt-ng:
7075 address of the author
7079 reply-to address (if present; otherwise: address of author)
7083 filename of the original message folder (think mailBox)
7087 the list to which the letter was sent, or else the folder name
7092 number of characters (bytes) in the message
7096 current message number
7100 date and time of the message in the format specified by
7101 ``date_format'' converted to sender's time zone
7105 date and time of the message in the format specified by
7106 ``date_format'' converted to the local time zone
7110 current message number in thread
7114 number of messages in current thread
7118 entire From: line (address + real name)
7122 author name, or recipient name if the message is from you
7126 spam attribute(s) of this message
7130 newsgroup name (if compiled with nntp support)
7134 message-id of the current message
7138 number of lines in the message (does not work with maildir, mh,
7139 and possibly IMAP folders)
7143 If an address in the To or CC header field matches an address
7144 defined by the users ``subscribe'' command, this displays "To
7145 <list-name>", otherwise the same as %F.
7149 total number of message in the mailbox
7153 number of hidden messages if the thread is collapsed.
7161 author's real name (or address if missing)
7165 (_O_riginal save folder) Where Mutt-ng would formerly have stashed
7166 the message: list name or recipient name if no list
7170 subject of the message
7174 status of the message (N/D/d/!/r/*)
7178 `to:' field (recipients)
7182 the appropriate character from the $to_chars string
7186 user (login) name of the author
7190 first name of the author, or the recipient if the message is from
7195 name of organization of author (`organization:' field)
7199 `x-label:' field, if present
7203 `x-label' field, if present, and (1) not at part of a thread tree,
7204 (2) at the top of a thread, or (3) `x-label' is different from
7205 preceding message's `x-label'.
7209 message status flags
7213 the date and time of the message is converted to sender's time
7214 zone, and ``fmt'' is expanded by the library function
7215 ``strftime''; a leading bang disables locales
7219 the date and time of the message is converted to the local time
7220 zone, and ``fmt'' is expanded by the library function
7221 ``strftime''; a leading bang disables locales
7225 the local date and time when the message was received. ``fmt'' is
7226 expanded by the library function ``strftime''; a leading bang
7231 the current local time. ``fmt'' is expanded by the library
7232 function ``strftime''; a leading bang disables locales.
7236 right justify the rest of the string and pad with character "X"
7240 pad to the end of the line with character "X"
7242 See also: ``$to_chars''.
7250 How to invoke ispell (GNU's spell-checking software).
7258 If set, read messages marked as flagged will not be moved from your spool
7259 mailbox to your ``$mbox'' mailbox, or as a result of a ``mbox-hook''
7268 When set, address replies to the mailing list the original message came
7269 from (instead to the author only). Setting this option to ``ask-yes'' or
7270 ``ask-no'' will ask if you really intended to reply to the author only.
7278 The locale used by strftime(3) to format dates. Legal values are the
7279 strings your system accepts for the locale variable LC_TIME.
7287 This variable configures how often (in seconds) Mutt-ng should look for
7290 Note: This does not apply to IMAP mailboxes, see $imap_mail_check.
7298 This variable specifies which files to consult when attempting to display
7299 MIME bodies not directly supported by Mutt-ng.
7301 123. mailcap_sanitize
7307 If set, Mutt-ng will restrict possible characters in mailcap % expandos to
7308 a well-defined set of safe characters. This is the safe setting, but we
7309 are not sure it doesn't break some more advanced MIME stuff.
7311 DON'T CHANGE THIS SETTING UNLESS YOU ARE REALLY SURE WHAT YOU ARE DOING!
7313 124. maildir_header_cache_verify
7319 Availability: Header Cache
7321 Check for Maildir unaware programs other than Mutt-ng having modified
7322 maildir files when the header cache is in use. This incurs one stat(2) per
7323 message every time the folder is opened.
7331 If set, messages marked as deleted will be saved with the maildir
7332 (T)rashed flag instead of physically deleted.
7334 NOTE: this only applies to maildir-style mailboxes. Setting it will have
7335 no effect on other mailbox types.
7337 It is similiar to the trash option.
7345 Controls whether or not Mutt-ng marks new unread messages as old if you
7346 exit a mailbox without reading them.
7348 With this option set, the next time you start Mutt-ng, the messages will
7349 show up with an "O" next to them in the ``index'' menu, indicating that
7358 Controls the display of wrapped lines in the internal pager. If set, a
7359 ``+'' marker is displayed at the beginning of wrapped lines. Also see the
7360 ``$smart_wrap'' variable.
7364 Type: regular expression
7368 A regular expression used in the file browser, optionally preceded by the
7369 not operator ``!''. Only files whose names match this mask will be shown.
7370 The match is always case-sensitive.
7372 129. max_display_recips
7378 When set non-zero, this specifies the maximum number of recipient header
7379 lines (To:, Cc: and Bcc:) to display in the pager if header weeding is
7380 turned on. In case the number of lines exeeds its value, the last line
7381 will have 3 dots appended.
7383 130. max_line_length
7389 When set, the maximum line length for displaying ``format = flowed''
7390 messages is limited to this length. A value of 0 (which is also the
7391 default) means that the maximum line length is determined by the terminal
7392 width and $wrapmargin.
7400 This specifies the folder into which read mail in your ``$spoolfile''
7401 folder will be appended.
7409 The default mailbox type used when creating new folders. May be any of
7410 mbox, MMDF, MH and Maildir.
7418 This variable controls the number of lines of context that are given when
7419 scrolling through menus. (Similar to ``$pager_context''.)
7427 When unset, the bottom entry of menus will never scroll up past the bottom
7428 of the screen, unless there are less entries than lines. When set, the
7429 bottom entry may move off the bottom.
7437 When set, menus will be scrolled up or down one line when you attempt to
7438 move across a screen boundary. If unset, the screen is cleared and the
7439 next or previous page of the menu is displayed (useful for slow links to
7440 avoid many redraws).
7448 This is the string displayed in the ``attachment'' menu for attachments of
7449 type message/rfc822. For a full listing of defined printf(3)-like
7450 sequences see the section on ``$index_format''.
7458 If set, forces Mutt-ng to interpret keystrokes with the high bit (bit 8)
7459 set as if the user had pressed the ESC key and whatever key remains after
7460 having the high bit removed. For example, if the key pressed has an ASCII
7461 value of 0xf4, then this is treated as if the user had pressed ESC then
7462 ``x''. This is because the result of removing the high bit from ``0xf4''
7463 is ``0x74'', which is the ASCII character ``x''.
7471 If unset, Mutt-ng will remove your address (see the ``alternates''
7472 command) from the list of recipients when replying to a message.
7480 When unset, Mutt-ng will mimic mh's behaviour and rename deleted messages
7481 to ,<old file name> in mh folders instead of really deleting them. If the
7482 variable is set, the message files will simply be deleted.
7490 The name of the MH sequence used for flagged messages.
7498 The name of the MH sequence used to tag replied messages.
7506 The name of the MH sequence used for unseen messages.
7514 When set, the message you are forwarding will be attached as a separate
7515 MIME part instead of included in the main body of the message.
7517 This is useful for forwarding MIME messages so the receiver can properly
7518 view the message as it was delivered to you. If you like to switch between
7519 MIME and not MIME from mail to mail, set this variable to ask-no or
7522 Also see ``$forward_decode'' and ``$mime_forward_decode''.
7524 144. mime_forward_decode
7530 Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain when
7531 forwarding a message while ``$mime_forward'' is set. Otherwise
7532 ``$forward_decode'' is used instead.
7534 145. mime_forward_rest
7540 When forwarding multiple attachments of a MIME message from the recvattach
7541 menu, attachments which cannot be decoded in a reasonable manner will be
7542 attached to the newly composed message if this option is set.
7544 146. mix_entry_format
7548 Default: "%4n %c %-16s %a"
7550 Availability: Mixmaster
7552 This variable describes the format of a remailer line on the mixmaster
7553 chain selection screen. The following printf(3)-like sequences are
7558 The running number on the menu.
7562 Remailer capabilities.
7566 The remailer's short name.
7570 The remailer's e-mail address.
7576 Default: "mixmaster"
7578 Availability: Mixmaster
7580 This variable contains the path to the Mixmaster binary on your system. It
7581 is used with various sets of parameters to gather the list of known
7582 remailers, and to finally send a message through the mixmaster chain.
7590 Controls whether or not Mutt-ng will move read messages from your spool
7591 mailbox to your ``$mbox'' mailbox, or as a result of a ``mbox-hook''
7598 Default: "%Y%m%d%h%M%s.G%P%p"
7600 This is the format for the ``local part'' of the Message-Id: header field
7601 generated by Mutt-ng. If this variable is empty, no Message-Id: headers
7602 will be generated. The '%' character marks that certain data will be added
7603 to the string, similar to printf(3). The following characters are allowed:
7607 the current day of month
7623 the current UNIX timestamp (octal)
7631 the current Message-ID prefix (a character rotating with every
7632 Message-ID being generated)
7636 a random integer value (decimal)
7640 a random integer value (hexadecimal)
7648 the current UNIX timestamp (decimal)
7652 the current UNIX timestamp (hexadecimal)
7656 the current year (Y2K compliant)
7662 Note: Please only change this setting if you know what you are doing. Also
7663 make sure to consult RFC2822 to produce technically valid strings.
7667 Type: system property
7669 Value: /opt/freebsd4/mutt-ng/bin
7671 This is a read-only system property and specifies the directory containing
7676 Type: system property
7678 Value: /opt/freebsd4/mutt-ng/doc/muttng
7680 This is a read-only system property and specifies the directory containing
7681 the muttng documentation.
7683 152. muttng_folder_name
7685 Type: system property
7689 This is a read-only system property and, at runtime, specifies the last
7690 part of the full path or URI of the folder currently open (if any), i.e.
7691 everything after the last ``/''.
7693 153. muttng_folder_path
7695 Type: system property
7699 This is a read-only system property and, at runtime, specifies the full
7700 path or URI of the folder currently open (if any).
7702 154. muttng_hcache_backend
7704 Type: system property
7708 This is a read-only system property and specifies the header chaching's
7713 Type: system property
7717 This is a read-only system property and, at runtime, specifies the current
7718 working directory of the muttng binary.
7720 156. muttng_revision
7722 Type: system property
7726 This is a read-only system property and specifies muttng's subversion
7729 157. muttng_sysconfdir
7731 Type: system property
7733 Value: /opt/freebsd4/mutt-ng/etc
7735 This is a read-only system property and specifies the directory containing
7736 the muttng system-wide configuration.
7740 Type: system property
7744 This is a read-only system property and specifies muttng's version string.
7752 This variable, when set, makes the thread tree narrower, allowing deeper
7753 threads to fit on the screen.
7755 160. nntp_ask_followup_to
7763 If set, Mutt-ng will prompt you for the Followup-To: header field before
7764 editing the body of an outgoing news article.
7766 161. nntp_ask_x_comment_to
7774 If set, Mutt-ng will prompt you for the X-Comment-To: header field before
7775 editing the body of an outgoing news article.
7781 Default: "˜/.muttng"
7785 This variable points to directory where Mutt-ng will cache news article
7786 headers. If unset, headers will not be saved at all and will be reloaded
7787 each time when you enter a newsgroup.
7789 As for the header caching in connection with IMAP and/or Maildir, this
7790 drastically increases speed and lowers traffic.
7800 If this variable is set, Mutt-ng will mark all articles in a newsgroup as
7801 read when you leaving it.
7811 This variable controls how many news articles to cache per newsgroup (if
7812 caching is enabled, see $nntp_cache_dir) and how many news articles to
7813 show in the ``index'' menu.
7815 If there're more articles than defined with $nntp_context, all older ones
7816 will be removed/not shown in the index.
7818 165. nntp_followup_to_poster
7826 If this variable is set and the keyword "poster" is present in the
7827 Followup-To: header field, a follow-up to the newsgroup is not permitted.
7828 The message will be mailed to the submitter of the message via mail.
7830 166. nntp_group_index_format
7834 Default: "%4C %M%N %5s %-45.45f %d"
7838 This variable allows you to customize the newsgroup browser display to
7839 your personal taste. This string is similar to ``index_format'', but has
7840 its own set of printf(3)-like sequences:
7842 %C current newsgroup number
7843 %d description of newsgroup (retrieved from server)
7845 %M ``-'' if newsgroup not allowed for direct post (moderated for example)
7846 %N ``N'' if newsgroup is new, ``u'' if unsubscribed, blank otherwise
7847 %n number of new articles in newsgroup
7848 %s number of unread articles in newsgroup
7849 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with character "X"
7850 %|X pad to the end of the line with character "X"
7861 This variable specifies the name (or address) of the NNTP server to be
7864 It defaults to the value specified via the environment variable
7865 $NNTPSERVER or contained in the file /etc/nntpserver.
7867 You can also specify a username and an alternative port for each
7870 [nntp[s]://][username[:password]@]newsserver[:port]
7872 Note: Using a password as shown and stored in a configuration file
7873 presents a security risk since the superuser of your machine may read it
7874 regardless of the file's permissions.
7884 If set, specifies the program and arguments used to deliver news posted by
7885 Mutt-ng. Otherwise, Mutt-ng posts article using current connection. The
7886 following printf(3)-style sequence is understood:
7891 Example: set inews="/usr/local/bin/inews -hS"
7893 169. nntp_load_description
7901 This variable controls whether or not descriptions for newsgroups are to
7902 be loaded when subscribing to a newsgroup.
7904 170. nntp_mail_check
7912 The time in seconds until any operations on a newsgroup except posting a
7913 new article will cause a recheck for new news. If set to 0, Mutt-ng will
7914 recheck on each operation in index (stepping, read article, etc.).
7916 171. nntp_mime_subject
7924 If unset, an 8-bit ``Subject:'' header field in a news article will not be
7925 encoded according to RFC2047.
7927 Note: Only change this setting if you know what you are doing.
7933 Default: "˜/.newsrc"
7937 This file contains information about subscribed newsgroup and articles
7940 To ease the use of multiple news servers, the following printf(3)-style
7941 sequence is understood:
7954 Your password for NNTP account.
7956 Note: Storing passwords in a configuration file presents a security risk
7957 since the superuser of your machine may read it regardless of the file's
7960 174. nntp_post_moderated
7968 If set to yes, Mutt-ng will post articles to newsgroup that have not
7969 permissions to post (e.g. moderated).
7971 Note: if the newsserver does not support posting to that newsgroup or a
7972 group is totally read-only, that posting will not have any effect.
7982 Controls whether or not Mutt-ng will try to reconnect to a newsserver when
7983 the was connection lost.
7985 176. nntp_save_unsubscribed
7993 When set, info about unsubscribed newsgroups will be saved into the
7994 ``newsrc'' file and into the news cache.
7996 177. nntp_show_new_news
8004 If set, the newsserver will be asked for new newsgroups on entering the
8005 browser. Otherwise, it will be done only once for a newsserver. Also
8006 controls whether or not the number of new articles of subscribed
8007 newsgroups will be checked.
8009 178. nntp_show_only_unread
8017 If set, only subscribed newsgroups that contain unread articles will be
8018 displayed in the newsgroup browser.
8028 Your login name on the NNTP server. If unset and the server requires
8029 authentification, Mutt-ng will prompt you for your account name.
8031 180. nntp_x_comment_to
8039 If set, Mutt-ng will add a ``X-Comment-To:'' header field (that contains
8040 full name of the original article author) to articles that you followup
8043 181. operating_system
8049 This specifies the operating system name for the User-Agent: header field.
8050 If this is unset, it will be set to the operating system name that
8051 uname(2) returns. If uname(2) fails, ``UNIX'' will be used.
8053 It may, for example, look as: ``mutt-ng 1.5.9i (Linux)''.
8061 This variable specifies which pager you would like to use to view
8062 messages. ``builtin'' means to use the builtin pager, otherwise this
8063 variable should specify the pathname of the external pager you would like
8066 Using an external pager may have some disadvantages: Additional keystrokes
8067 are necessary because you can't call Mutt-ng functions directly from the
8068 pager, and screen resizes cause lines longer than the screen width to be
8069 badly formatted in the help menu.
8077 This variable controls the number of lines of context that are given when
8078 displaying the next or previous page in the internal pager. By default,
8079 Mutt-ng will display the line after the last one on the screen at the top
8080 of the next page (0 lines of context).
8086 Default: "-%Z- %C/%m: %-20.20n %s"
8088 This variable controls the format of the one-line message ``status''
8089 displayed before each message in either the internal or an external pager.
8090 The valid sequences are listed in the ``$index_format'' section.
8092 185. pager_index_lines
8098 Determines the number of lines of a mini-index which is shown when in the
8099 pager. The current message, unless near the top or bottom of the folder,
8100 will be roughly one third of the way down this mini-index, giving the
8101 reader the context of a few messages before and after the message. This is
8102 useful, for example, to determine how many messages remain to be read in
8103 the current thread. One of the lines is reserved for the status bar from
8104 the index, so a pager_index_lines of 6 will only show 5 lines of the
8105 actual index. A value of 0 results in no index being shown. If the number
8106 of messages in the current folder is less than pager_index_lines, then the
8107 index will only use as many lines as it needs.
8115 When set, the internal-pager will not move to the next message when you
8116 are at the end of a message and invoke the next-page function.
8118 187. pgp_auto_decode
8124 If set, Mutt-ng will automatically attempt to decrypt traditional PGP
8125 messages whenever the user performs an operation which ordinarily would
8126 result in the contents of the message being operated on. For example, if
8127 the user displays a pgp-traditional message which has not been manually
8128 checked with the check-traditional-pgp function, Mutt-ng will
8129 automatically check the message for traditional pgp.
8137 This option controls whether Mutt-ng generates old-style inline
8138 (traditional) PGP encrypted or signed messages under certain
8139 circumstances. This can be overridden by use of the pgp-menu, when inline
8142 Note that Mutt-ng might automatically use PGP/MIME for messages which
8143 consist of more than a single MIME part. Mutt-ng can be configured to ask
8144 before sending PGP/MIME messages when inline (traditional) would not work.
8145 See also: ``$pgp_mime_auto''.
8147 Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is strongly
8148 deprecated. (PGP only)
8156 If set, Mutt-ng will check the exit code of the PGP subprocess when
8157 signing or encrypting. A non-zero exit code means that the subprocess
8160 190. pgp_clearsign_command
8166 This format is used to create a old-style ``clearsigned'' PGP message.
8168 Note that the use of this format is strongly deprecated. (PGP only)
8170 191. pgp_decode_command
8176 This format strings specifies a command which is used to decode
8177 application/pgp attachments.
8179 The PGP command formats have their own set of printf(3)-like sequences:
8183 Expands to PGPPASSFD=0 when a pass phrase is needed, to an empty
8184 string otherwise. Note: This may be used with a %? construct.
8188 Expands to the name of a file containing a message.
8192 Expands to the name of a file containing the signature part of a
8193 multipart/signed attachment when verifying it.
8197 The value of $pgp_sign_as.
8201 One or more key IDs.
8203 For examples on how to configure these formats for the various versions of
8204 PGP which are floating around, see the pgp*.rc and gpg.rc files in the
8205 samples/ subdirectory which has been installed on your system alongside
8206 the documentation. (PGP only)
8208 192. pgp_decrypt_command
8214 This command is used to decrypt a PGP encrypted message. (PGP only)
8216 193. pgp_encrypt_only_command
8222 This command is used to encrypt a body part without signing it. (PGP only)
8224 194. pgp_encrypt_sign_command
8230 This command is used to both sign and encrypt a body part. (PGP only)
8232 195. pgp_entry_format
8236 Default: "%4n %t%f %4l/0x%k %-4a %2c %u"
8238 This variable allows you to customize the PGP key selection menu to your
8239 personal taste. This string is similar to ``$index_format'', but has its
8240 own set of printf(3)-like sequences:
8272 trust/validity of the key-uid association
8276 date of the key where <s> is an strftime(3) expression
8280 196. pgp_export_command
8286 This command is used to export a public key from the user's key ring. (PGP
8289 197. pgp_getkeys_command
8295 This command is invoked whenever Mutt-ng will need public key information.
8296 %r is the only printf(3)-like sequence used with this format. (PGP only)
8300 Type: regular expression
8304 If you assign a text to this variable, then a PGP signature is only
8305 considered verified if the output from $pgp_verify_command contains the
8306 text. Use this variable if the exit code from the command is 0 even for
8307 bad signatures. (PGP only)
8309 199. pgp_ignore_subkeys
8315 Setting this variable will cause Mutt-ng to ignore OpenPGP subkeys.
8316 Instead, the principal key will inherit the subkeys' capabilities. Unset
8317 this if you want to play interesting key selection games. (PGP only)
8319 200. pgp_import_command
8325 This command is used to import a key from a message into the user's public
8326 key ring. (PGP only)
8328 201. pgp_list_pubring_command
8334 This command is used to list the public key ring's contents. The output
8335 format must be analogous to the one used by gpg --list-keys --with-colons.
8337 This format is also generated by the pgpring utility which comes with
8340 202. pgp_list_secring_command
8346 This command is used to list the secret key ring's contents. The output
8347 format must be analogous to the one used by gpg --list-keys --with-colons.
8349 This format is also generated by the pgpring utility which comes with
8358 If set, use 64 bit PGP key IDs. Unset uses the normal 32 bit Key IDs. (PGP
8367 This option controls whether Mutt-ng will prompt you for automatically
8368 sending a (signed/encrypted) message using PGP/MIME when inline
8369 (traditional) fails (for any reason).
8371 Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is strongly
8372 deprecated. (PGP only)
8374 205. pgp_replyinline
8380 Setting this variable will cause Mutt-ng to always attempt to create an
8381 inline (traditional) message when replying to a message which is PGP
8382 encrypted/signed inline. This can be overridden by use of the pgp-menu,
8383 when inline is not required. This option does not automatically detect if
8384 the (replied-to) message is inline; instead it relies on Mutt-ng internals
8385 for previously checked/flagged messages.
8387 Note that Mutt-ng might automatically use PGP/MIME for messages which
8388 consist of more than a single MIME part. Mutt-ng can be configured to ask
8389 before sending PGP/MIME messages when inline (traditional) would not work.
8390 See also: ``$pgp_mime_auto''.
8392 Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is strongly
8393 deprecated. (PGP only)
8395 206. pgp_retainable_sigs
8401 If set, signed and encrypted messages will consist of nested
8402 multipart/signed and multipart/encrypted body parts.
8404 This is useful for applications like encrypted and signed mailing lists,
8405 where the outer layer (multipart/encrypted) can be easily removed, while
8406 the inner multipart/signed part is retained. (PGP only)
8408 207. pgp_show_unusable
8414 If set, Mutt-ng will display non-usable keys on the PGP key selection
8415 menu. This includes keys which have been revoked, have expired, or have
8416 been marked as ``disabled'' by the user. (PGP only)
8424 If you have more than one key pair, this option allows you to specify
8425 which of your private keys to use. It is recommended that you use the
8426 keyid form to specify your key (e.g., ``0x00112233''). (PGP only)
8428 209. pgp_sign_command
8434 This command is used to create the detached PGP signature for a
8435 multipart/signed PGP/MIME body part. (PGP only)
8443 Specifies how the entries in the ``pgp keys'' menu are sorted. The
8444 following are legal values:
8448 sort alphabetically by user id
8452 sort alphabetically by key id
8456 sort by key creation date
8460 sort by the trust of the key
8462 If you prefer reverse order of the above values, prefix it with
8463 ``reverse-''. (PGP only)
8471 If set, Mutt-ng will automatically encode PGP/MIME signed messages as
8472 quoted-printable. Please note that unsetting this variable may lead to
8473 problems with non-verifyable PGP signatures, so only change this if you
8474 know what you are doing. (PGP only)
8482 The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will expire if not
8483 used. Default: 300. (PGP only)
8485 213. pgp_use_gpg_agent
8491 If set, Mutt-ng will use a possibly-running gpg-agent process. (PGP only)
8493 214. pgp_verify_command
8499 This command is used to verify PGP signatures. (PGP only)
8501 215. pgp_verify_key_command
8507 This command is used to verify key information from the key selection
8516 Used in connection with the pipe-message command. When unset, Mutt-ng will
8517 pipe the messages without any preprocessing. When set, Mutt-ng will weed
8518 headers and will attempt to PGP/MIME decode the messages first.
8526 The separator to add between messages when piping a list of tagged
8527 messages to an external Unix command.
8535 Used in connection with the pipe-message command and the ``tag- prefix''
8536 or ``tag-prefix-cond'' operators. If this variable is unset, when piping a
8537 list of tagged messages Mutt-ng will concatenate the messages and will
8538 pipe them as a single folder. When set, Mutt-ng will pipe the messages one
8539 by one. In both cases the messages are piped in the current sorted order,
8540 and the ``$pipe_sep'' separator is added after each message.
8542 219. pop_auth_try_all
8550 If set, Mutt-ng will try all available methods. When unset, Mutt-ng will
8551 only fall back to other authentication methods if the previous methods are
8552 unavailable. If a method is available but authentication fails, Mutt-ng
8553 will not connect to the POP server.
8555 220. pop_authenticators
8563 This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods Mutt-ng may
8564 attempt to use to log in to an POP server, in the order Mutt-ng should try
8565 them. Authentication methods are either ``user'', ``apop'' or any SASL
8566 mechanism, eg ``digest-md5'', ``gssapi'' or ``cram-md5''.
8568 This parameter is case-insensitive. If this parameter is unset (the
8569 default) Mutt-ng will try all available methods, in order from most-secure
8572 Example: set pop_authenticators="digest-md5:apop:user"
8582 If set, Mutt-ng will delete successfully downloaded messages from the POP
8583 server when using the ``fetch-mail'' function. When unset, Mutt-ng will
8584 download messages but also leave them on the POP server.
8594 The name of your POP server for the ``fetch-mail'' function. You can also
8595 specify an alternative port, username and password, i.e.:
8597 [pop[s]://][username[:password]@]popserver[:port]
8599 Note: Storing passwords in a configuration file presents a security risk
8600 since the superuser of your machine may read it regardless of the file's
8611 If this variable is set, Mutt-ng will try to use the ``LAST'' POP command
8612 for retrieving only unread messages from the POP server when using the
8613 ``fetch-mail'' function.
8623 This variable configures how often (in seconds) POP should look for new
8634 Specifies the password for your POP account. If unset, Mutt-ng will prompt
8635 you for your password when you open POP mailbox.
8637 Note: Storing passwords in a configuration file presents a security risk
8638 since the superuser of your machine may read it regardless of the file's
8649 Controls whether or not Mutt-ng will try to reconnect to a POP server when
8650 the connection is lost.
8660 Your login name on the POP server.
8662 This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
8664 228. post_indent_string
8670 Similar to the ``$attribution'' variable, Mutt-ng will append this string
8671 after the inclusion of a message which is being replied to.
8679 Controls whether or not messages are saved in the ``$postponed'' mailbox
8680 when you elect not to send immediately.
8686 Default: "˜/postponed"
8688 Mutt-ng allows you to indefinitely ``postpone sending a message'' which
8689 you are editing. When you choose to postpone a message, Mutt-ng saves it
8690 in the mailbox specified by this variable. Also see the ``$postpone''
8699 If set, a shell command to be executed if Mutt-ng fails to establish a
8700 connection to the server. This is useful for setting up secure
8701 connections, e.g. with ssh(1). If the command returns a nonzero status,
8702 Mutt-ng gives up opening the server. Example:
8704 preconnect="ssh -f -q -L 1234:mailhost.net:143 mailhost.net sleep 20 <
8705 /dev/null > /dev/null"
8707 Mailbox ``foo'' on mailhost.net can now be reached as
8708 ``{localhost:1234}foo''.
8710 Note: For this example to work, you must be able to log in to the remote
8711 machine without having to enter a password.
8719 Controls whether or not Mutt-ng really prints messages. This is set to
8720 ask-no by default, because some people accidentally hit ``p'' often.
8728 This specifies the command pipe that should be used to print messages.
8736 Used in connection with the print-message command. If this option is set,
8737 the message is decoded before it is passed to the external command
8738 specified by $print_command. If this option is unset, no processing will
8739 be applied to the message when printing it. The latter setting may be
8740 useful if you are using some advanced printer filter which is able to
8741 properly format e-mail messages for printing.
8749 Used in connection with the print-message command. If this option is set,
8750 the command specified by $print_command is executed once for each message
8751 which is to be printed. If this option is unset, the command specified by
8752 $print_command is executed only once, and all the messages are
8753 concatenated, with a form feed as the message separator.
8755 Those who use the enscript(1) program's mail-printing mode will most
8756 likely want to set this option.
8764 If you use an external ``$pager'', setting this variable will cause
8765 Mutt-ng to prompt you for a command when the pager exits rather than
8766 returning to the index menu. If unset, Mutt-ng will return to the index
8767 menu when the external pager exits.
8775 This specifies the command that Mutt-ng will use to make external address
8776 queries. The string should contain a %s, which will be substituted with
8777 the query string the user types. See ``query'' for more information.
8785 This variable controls whether ``quit'' and ``exit'' actually quit from
8786 Mutt-ng. If it set to yes, they do quit, if it is set to no, they have no
8787 effect, and if it is set to ask-yes or ask-no, you are prompted for
8788 confirmation when you try to quit.
8796 Controls whether or not empty lines will be quoted using
8805 Controls how quoted lines will be quoted. If set, one quote character will
8806 be added to the end of existing prefix. Otherwise, quoted lines will be
8807 prepended by ``indent_string''.
8811 Type: regular expression
8813 Default: "^([ \t]*[|>:}#])+"
8815 A regular expression used in the internal-pager to determine quoted
8816 sections of text in the body of a message.
8818 Note: In order to use the quotedx patterns in the internal pager, you need
8819 to set this to a regular expression that matches exactly the quote
8820 characters at the beginning of quoted lines.
8828 If set to a value greater than 0, Mutt-ng will display which message it is
8829 currently on when reading a mailbox. The message is printed after read_inc
8830 messages have been read (e.g., if set to 25, Mutt-ng will print a message
8831 when it reads message 25, and then again when it gets to message 50). This
8832 variable is meant to indicate progress when reading large mailboxes which
8833 may take some time. When set to 0, only a single message will appear
8834 before the reading the mailbox.
8836 Also see the ``$write_inc'' variable.
8844 If set, all folders are opened in read-only mode.
8852 This variable specifies what ``real'' or ``personal'' name should be used
8853 when sending messages.
8855 By default, this is the GECOS field from /etc/passwd.
8857 Note: This variable will not be used when the user has set a real name in
8866 Controls whether or not Mutt-ng recalls postponed messages when composing
8867 a new message. Also see ``$postponed''.
8869 Setting this variable to yes is not generally useful, and thus not
8878 This specifies the file into which your outgoing messages should be
8879 appended. (This is meant as the primary method for saving a copy of your
8880 messages, but another way to do this is using the ``my_hdr'' command to
8881 create a Bcc: header field with your email address in it.)
8883 The value of $record is overridden by the ``$force_name'' and
8884 ``$save_name'' variables, and the ``fcc-hook'' command.
8888 Type: regular expression
8890 Default: "^(re([\[0-9\]+])*|aw):[ \t]*"
8892 A regular expression used to recognize reply messages when threading and
8893 replying. The default value corresponds to the English ``Re:'' and the
8902 If unset and you are replying to a message sent by you, Mutt-ng will
8903 assume that you want to reply to the recipients of that message rather
8912 If set, when replying to a message, Mutt-ng will use the address listed in
8913 the ``Reply-To:'' header field as the recipient of the reply. If unset, it
8914 will use the address in the ``From:'' header field instead.
8916 This option is useful for reading a mailing list that sets the
8917 ``Reply-To:'' header field to the list address and you want to send a
8918 private message to the author of a message.
8926 When set, the cursor will be automatically advanced to the next (possibly
8927 undeleted) message whenever a command that modifies the current message is
8936 This variable controls whether or not Mutt-ng will display the
8937 ``personal'' name from your aliases in the index menu if it finds an alias
8938 that matches the message's sender. For example, if you have the following
8941 alias juser abd30425@somewhere.net (Joe User)
8943 and then you receive mail which contains the following header:
8945 From: abd30425@somewhere.net
8947 It would be displayed in the index menu as ``Joe User'' instead of
8948 ``abd30425@somewhere.net.'' This is useful when the person's e-mail
8949 address is not human friendly (like CompuServe addresses).
8957 It may sometimes arrive that you receive mail to a certain machine, move
8958 the messages to another machine, and reply to some the messages from
8959 there. If this variable is set, the default From: line of the reply
8960 messages is built using the address where you received the messages you
8961 are replying to if that address matches your alternates. If the variable
8962 is unset, or the address that would be used doesn't match your alternates,
8963 the From: line will use your address on the current machine.
8965 253. reverse_realname
8971 This variable fine-tunes the behaviour of the reverse_name feature. When
8972 it is set, Mutt-ng will use the address from incoming messages as-is,
8973 possibly including eventual real names. When it is unset, Mutt-ng will
8974 override any such real names with the setting of the realname variable.
8976 254. rfc2047_parameters
8982 When this variable is set, Mutt-ng will decode RFC-2047-encoded MIME
8983 parameters. You want to set this variable when Mutt-ng suggests you to
8984 save attachments to files named like this:
8986 =?iso-8859-1?Q?file=5F=E4=5F991116=2Ezip?=
8988 When this variable is set interactively, the change doesn't have the
8989 desired effect before you have changed folders.
8991 Note that this use of RFC 2047's encoding is explicitly, prohibited by the
8992 standard, but nevertheless encountered in the wild.
8994 Also note that setting this parameter will not have the effect that
8995 Mutt-ng generates this kind of encoding. Instead, Mutt-ng will
8996 unconditionally use the encoding specified in RFC 2231.
9004 If set, Mutt-ng will take the sender's full address when choosing a
9005 default folder for saving a mail. If ``$save_name'' or ``$force_name'' is
9006 set too, the selection of the fcc folder will be changed as well.
9014 When unset, mailboxes which contain no saved messages will be removed when
9015 closed (the exception is ``$spoolfile'' which is never removed). If set,
9016 mailboxes are never removed.
9018 Note: This only applies to mbox and MMDF folders, Mutt-ng does not delete
9019 MH and Maildir directories.
9027 This variable controls how copies of outgoing messages are saved. When
9028 set, a check is made to see if a mailbox specified by the recipient
9029 address exists (this is done by searching for a mailbox in the ``$folder''
9030 directory with the username part of the recipient address). If the mailbox
9031 exists, the outgoing message will be saved to that mailbox, otherwise the
9032 message is saved to the ``$record'' mailbox.
9034 Also see the ``$force_name'' variable.
9042 When this variable is unset, scoring is turned off. This can be useful to
9043 selectively disable scoring for certain folders when the
9044 ``$score_threshold_delete'' variable and friends are used.
9046 259. score_threshold_delete
9052 Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than the value
9053 of this variable are automatically marked for deletion by Mutt-ng. Since
9054 Mutt-ng scores are always greater than or equal to zero, the default
9055 setting of this variable will never mark a message for deletion.
9057 260. score_threshold_flag
9063 Messages which have been assigned a score greater than or equal to this
9064 variable's value are automatically marked ``flagged''.
9066 261. score_threshold_read
9072 Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than the value
9073 of this variable are automatically marked as read by Mutt-ng. Since
9074 Mutt-ng scores are always greater than or equal to zero, the default
9075 setting of this variable will never mark a message read.
9081 Default: "us-ascii:iso-8859-1:utf-8"
9083 A list of character sets for outgoing messages. Mutt-ng will use the first
9084 character set into which the text can be converted exactly. If your
9085 ``$charset'' is not iso-8859-1 and recipients may not understand UTF-8, it
9086 is advisable to include in the list an appropriate widely used standard
9087 character set (such as iso-8859-2, koi8-r or iso-2022-jp) either instead
9088 of or after iso-8859-1.
9094 Default: "/usr/sbin/sendmail -oem -oi"
9096 Specifies the program and arguments used to deliver mail sent by Mutt-ng.
9097 Mutt-ng expects that the specified program interprets additional arguments
9098 as recipient addresses.
9106 Specifies the number of seconds to wait for the ``$sendmail'' process to
9107 finish before giving up and putting delivery in the background.
9109 Mutt-ng interprets the value of this variable as follows:
9113 number of seconds to wait for sendmail to finish before continuing
9117 wait forever for sendmail to finish
9121 always put sendmail in the background without waiting
9123 Note that if you specify a value other than 0, the output of the child
9124 process will be put in a temporary file. If there is some error, you will
9125 be informed as to where to find the output.
9133 Command to use when spawning a subshell. By default, the user's login
9134 shell from /etc/passwd is used.
9136 266. sidebar_boundary
9142 When the sidebar is displayed and $sidebar_shorten_hierarchy is set, this
9143 variable specifies the characters at which to split a folder name into
9144 ``hierarchy items.''
9152 This specifies the delimiter between the sidebar (if visible) and other
9155 268. sidebar_newmail_only
9161 If set, only folders with new mail will be shown in the sidebar.
9163 269. sidebar_number_format
9167 Default: "%m%?n?(%n)?%?f?[%f]?"
9169 This variable controls how message counts are printed when the sidebar is
9170 enabled. If this variable is empty (and only if), no numbers will be
9171 printed and mutt-ng won't frequently count mail (which may be a great
9172 speedup esp. with mbox-style mailboxes.)
9174 The following printf(3)-like sequences are supported all of which may be
9179 Number of deleted messages. 1)
9183 Number of flagged messages.
9187 Total number of messages.
9191 Total number of messages shown, i.e. not hidden by a limit. 1)
9195 Number of new messages.
9199 Number of tagged messages. 1)
9201 1) These expandos only have a non-zero value for the current mailbox and
9202 will always be zero otherwise.
9204 270. sidebar_shorten_hierarchy
9210 When set, the ``hierarchy'' of the sidebar entries will be shortened only
9211 if they cannot be printed in full length (because ``$sidebar_width'' is
9212 set to a too low value). For example, if the newsgroup name
9213 ``de.alt.sysadmin.recovery'' doesn't fit on the screen, it'll get
9214 shortened ``d.a.s.recovery'' while ``de.alt.d0'' still would and thus will
9217 At which characters this compression is done is controled via the
9218 $sidebar_boundary variable.
9220 271. sidebar_visible
9226 This specifies whether or not to show the sidebar (a list of folders
9227 specified with the ``mailboxes'' command).
9235 The width of the sidebar.
9243 If set, a line containing ``-- '' (dash, dash, space) will be inserted
9244 before your ``$signature''. It is strongly recommended that you not unset
9245 this variable unless your ``signature'' contains just your name. The
9246 reason for this is because many software packages use ``-- \n'' to detect
9249 For example, Mutt-ng has the ability to highlight the signature in a
9250 different color in the builtin pager.
9258 If set, the signature will be included before any quoted or forwarded
9259 text. It is strongly recommended that you do not set this variable unless
9260 you really know what you are doing, and are prepared to take some heat
9261 from netiquette guardians.
9267 Default: "˜/.signature"
9269 Specifies the filename of your signature, which is appended to all
9270 outgoing messages. If the filename ends with a pipe (``|''), it is assumed
9271 that filename is a shell command and input should be read from its stdout.
9279 If set, this string will be inserted before the signature. This is useful
9280 for people that want to sign off every message they send with their name.
9282 If you want to insert your website's URL, additional contact information
9283 or witty quotes into your mails, better use a signature file instead of
9290 Default: "˜f %s | ˜s %s"
9292 Specifies how Mutt-ng should expand a simple search into a real search
9293 pattern. A simple search is one that does not contain any of the ˜
9294 operators. See ``patterns'' for more information on search patterns.
9296 For example, if you simply type ``joe'' at a search or limit prompt,
9297 Mutt-ng will automatically expand it to the value specified by this
9298 variable. For the default value it would be:
9308 Specifies time, in seconds, to pause while displaying certain
9309 informational messages, while moving from folder to folder and after
9310 expunging messages from the current folder. The default is to pause one
9311 second, so a value of zero for this option suppresses the pause.
9319 Controls the display of lines longer than the screen width in the internal
9320 pager. If set, long lines are wrapped at a word boundary. If unset, lines
9321 are simply wrapped at the screen edge. Also see the ``$markers'' variable.
9325 Type: regular expression
9327 Default: "(>From )|(:[-^]?[][)(><}{|/DP])"
9329 The pager uses this variable to catch some common false positives of
9330 ``$quote_regexp'', most notably smileys in the beginning of a line
9332 281. smime_ask_cert_label
9338 This flag controls whether you want to be asked to enter a label for a
9339 certificate about to be added to the database or not. It is set by
9340 default. (S/MIME only)
9342 282. smime_ca_location
9348 This variable contains the name of either a directory, or a file which
9349 contains trusted certificates for use with OpenSSL. (S/MIME only)
9351 283. smime_certificates
9357 Since there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, Mutt-ng has to handle
9358 storage and retrieval of keys by itself. This is very basic right now, and
9359 keys and certificates are stored in two different directories, both named
9360 as the hash-value retrieved from OpenSSL. There is an index file which
9361 contains mailbox-address keyid pairs, and which can be manually edited.
9362 This one points to the location of the certificates. (S/MIME only)
9364 284. smime_decrypt_command
9370 This format string specifies a command which is used to decrypt
9371 application/x-pkcs7-mime attachments.
9373 The OpenSSL command formats have their own set of printf(3)-like sequences
9378 Expands to the name of a file containing a message.
9382 Expands to the name of a file containing the signature part of a
9383 multipart/signed attachment when verifying it.
9387 The key-pair specified with $smime_default_key
9391 One or more certificate IDs.
9395 The algorithm used for encryption.
9399 CA location: Depending on whether $smime_ca_location points to a
9400 directory or file, this expands to "-CApath $smime_ca_location" or
9401 "-CAfile $smime_ca_location".
9403 For examples on how to configure these formats, see the smime.rc in the
9404 samples/ subdirectory which has been installed on your system alongside
9405 the documentation. (S/MIME only)
9407 285. smime_decrypt_use_default_key
9413 If set (default) this tells Mutt-ng to use the default key for decryption.
9414 Otherwise, if manage multiple certificate-key-pairs, Mutt-ng will try to
9415 use the mailbox-address to determine the key to use. It will ask you to
9416 supply a key, if it can't find one. (S/MIME only)
9418 286. smime_default_key
9424 This is the default key-pair to use for signing. This must be set to the
9425 keyid (the hash-value that OpenSSL generates) to work properly (S/MIME
9428 287. smime_encrypt_command
9434 This command is used to create encrypted S/MIME messages. (S/MIME only)
9436 288. smime_encrypt_with
9442 This sets the algorithm that should be used for encryption. Valid choices
9443 are ``des'', ``des3'', ``rc2-40'', ``rc2-64'', ``\frc2-128''.
9445 If unset ``3des'' (TripleDES) is used. (S/MIME only)
9447 289. smime_get_cert_command
9453 This command is used to extract X509 certificates from a PKCS7 structure.
9456 290. smime_get_cert_email_command
9462 This command is used to extract the mail address(es) used for storing X509
9463 certificates, and for verification purposes (to check whether the
9464 certificate was issued for the sender's mailbox). (S/MIME only)
9466 291. smime_get_signer_cert_command
9472 This command is used to extract only the signers X509 certificate from a
9473 S/MIME signature, so that the certificate's owner may get compared to the
9474 email's ``From:'' header field. (S/MIME only)
9476 292. smime_import_cert_command
9482 This command is used to import a certificate via smime_keysng. (S/MIME
9485 293. smime_is_default
9491 The default behaviour of Mutt-ng is to use PGP on all auto-sign/encryption
9492 operations. To override and to use OpenSSL instead this must be set.
9494 However, this has no effect while replying, since Mutt-ng will
9495 automatically select the same application that was used to sign/encrypt
9496 the original message.
9498 (Note that this variable can be overridden by unsetting $crypt_autosmime.)
9507 Since there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, Mutt-ng has to handle
9508 storage ad retrieval of keys/certs by itself. This is very basic right
9509 now, and stores keys and certificates in two different directories, both
9510 named as the hash-value retrieved from OpenSSL. There is an index file
9511 which contains mailbox-address keyid pair, and which can be manually
9512 edited. This one points to the location of the private keys. (S/MIME only)
9514 295. smime_pk7out_command
9520 This command is used to extract PKCS7 structures of S/MIME signatures, in
9521 order to extract the public X509 certificate(s). (S/MIME only)
9523 296. smime_sign_command
9529 This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type
9530 multipart/signed, which can be read by all mail clients. (S/MIME only)
9532 297. smime_sign_opaque_command
9538 This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type
9539 application/x-pkcs7-signature, which can only be handled by mail clients
9540 supporting the S/MIME extension. (S/MIME only)
9548 The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will expire if not
9551 299. smime_verify_command
9557 This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type multipart/signed.
9560 300. smime_verify_opaque_command
9566 This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type
9567 application/x-pkcs7-mime. (S/MIME only)
9577 If this variable is non-empty, it'll be used as the envelope sender. If
9578 it's empty (the default), the value of the regular From: header will be
9581 This may be necessary as some providers don't allow for arbitrary values
9582 as the envelope sender but only a particular one which may not be the same
9583 as the user's desired From: header.
9593 Defines the SMTP host which will be used to deliver mail, as opposed to
9594 invoking the sendmail binary. Setting this variable overrides the value of
9595 ``$sendmail'', and any associated variables.
9605 Defines the password to use with SMTP AUTH. If ``$smtp_user'' is set, but
9606 this variable is not, you will be prompted for a password when sending.
9608 Note: Storing passwords in a configuration file presents a security risk
9609 since the superuser of your machine may read it regardless of the file's
9620 Defines the port that the SMTP host is listening on for mail delivery.
9621 Must be specified as a number.
9623 Defaults to 25, the standard SMTP port, but RFC 2476-compliant SMTP
9624 servers will probably desire 587, the mail submission port.
9632 Availability: SMTP (and SSL)
9634 Defines wether to use STARTTLS. If this option is set to ``required'' and
9635 the server does not support STARTTLS or there is an error in the TLS
9636 Handshake, the connection will fail. Setting this to ``enabled'' will try
9637 to start TLS and continue without TLS in case of an error. Muttng still
9638 needs to have SSL support enabled in order to use it.
9648 Defines the username to use with SMTP AUTH. Setting this variable will
9649 cause Mutt-ng to attempt to use SMTP AUTH when sending.
9657 Specifies how to sort messages in the index menu. Valid values are:
9662 mailbox-order (unsorted)
9671 You may optionally use the ``reverse-'' prefix to specify reverse sorting
9672 order (example: set sort=reverse-date-sent).
9680 Specifies how the entries in the ``alias'' menu are sorted. The following
9683 address (sort alphabetically by email address)
9684 alias (sort alphabetically by alias name)
9685 unsorted (leave in order specified in .muttrc)
9694 When sorting by threads, this variable controls how threads are sorted in
9695 relation to other threads, and how the branches of the thread trees are
9696 sorted. This can be set to any value that ``$sort'' can, except threads
9697 (in that case, Mutt-ng will just use date-sent). You can also specify the
9698 ``last-'' prefix in addition to ``reverse-'' prefix, but last- must come
9699 after reverse-. The last- prefix causes messages to be sorted against its
9700 siblings by which has the last descendant, using the rest of sort_aux as
9703 For instance, set sort_aux=last-date-received would mean that if a new
9704 message is received in a thread, that thread becomes the last one
9705 displayed (or the first, if you have set sort=reverse-threads.)
9707 Note: For reversed ``$sort'' order $sort_aux is reversed again (which is
9708 not the right thing to do, but kept to not break any existing
9709 configuration setting).
9717 Specifies how to sort entries in the file browser. By default, the entries
9718 are sorted alphabetically. Valid values:
9720 alpha (alphabetically)
9726 You may optionally use the ``reverse-'' prefix to specify reverse sorting
9727 order (example: set sort_browser=reverse-date).
9735 This variable is only useful when sorting by threads with
9736 ``$strict_threads'' unset. In that case, it changes the heuristic Mutt-ng
9737 uses to thread messages by subject. With $sort_re set, Mutt-ng will only
9738 attach a message as the child of another message by subject if the subject
9739 of the child message starts with a substring matching the setting of
9740 ``$reply_regexp''. With $sort_re unset, Mutt-ng will attach the message
9741 whether or not this is the case, as long as the non-``$reply_regexp''
9742 parts of both messages are identical.
9750 ``spam_separator'' controls what happens when multiple spam headers are
9751 matched: if unset, each successive header will overwrite any previous
9752 matches value for the spam label. If set, each successive match will
9753 append to the previous, using ``spam_separator'' as a separator.
9761 If your spool mailbox is in a non-default place where Mutt-ng cannot find
9762 it, you can specify its location with this variable. Mutt-ng will
9763 automatically set this variable to the value of the environment variable
9764 $MAIL if it is not set.
9766 314. ssl_ca_certificates_file
9772 This variable specifies a file containing trusted CA certificates. Any
9773 server certificate that is signed with one of these CA certificates are
9774 also automatically accepted.
9776 Example: set ssl_ca_certificates_file=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
9778 315. ssl_client_cert
9786 The file containing a client certificate and its associated private key.
9794 If this variable is set, mutt-ng will require that all connections to
9795 remote servers be encrypted. Furthermore it will attempt to negotiate TLS
9796 even if the server does not advertise the capability, since it would
9797 otherwise have to abort the connection anyway. This option supersedes
9800 317. ssl_min_dh_prime_bits
9806 Availability: GNUTLS
9808 This variable specifies the minimum acceptable prime size (in bits) for
9809 use in any Diffie-Hellman key exchange. A value of 0 will use the default
9810 from the GNUTLS library.
9818 Availability: SSL or GNUTLS
9820 If set (the default), Mutt-ng will attempt to use STARTTLS on servers
9821 advertising the capability. When unset, Mutt-ng will not attempt to use
9822 STARTTLS regardless of the server's capabilities.
9832 This variables specifies whether to attempt to use SSLv2 in the SSL
9833 authentication process.
9841 Availability: SSL or GNUTLS
9843 This variables specifies whether to attempt to use SSLv3 in the SSL
9844 authentication process.
9852 Availability: SSL or GNUTLS
9854 This variables specifies whether to attempt to use TLSv1 in the SSL
9855 authentication process.
9857 322. ssl_usesystemcerts
9865 If set to yes, Mutt-ng will use CA certificates in the system-wide
9866 certificate store when checking if server certificate is signed by a
9875 Controls the characters used by the ``%r'' indicator in
9876 ``$status_format''. The first character is used when the mailbox is
9877 unchanged. The second is used when the mailbox has been changed, and it
9878 needs to be resynchronized. The third is used if the mailbox is in
9879 read-only mode, or if the mailbox will not be written when exiting that
9880 mailbox (You can toggle whether to write changes to a mailbox with the
9881 toggle-write operation, bound by default to ``%''). The fourth is used to
9882 indicate that the current folder has been opened in attach-message mode
9883 (Certain operations like composing a new mail, replying, forwarding, etc.
9884 are not permitted in this mode).
9890 Default: "-%r-Mutt-ng: %f [Msgs:%?M?%M/?%m%?n? New:%n?%?o? Old:%o?%?d?
9891 Del:%d?%?F? Flag:%F?%?t? Tag:%t?%?p? Post:%p?%?b? Inc:%b?%?l?
9892 %l?]---(%s/%S)-%>-(%P)---"
9894 Controls the format of the status line displayed in the index menu. This
9895 string is similar to ``$index_format'', but has its own set of
9896 printf(3)-like sequences:
9900 number of mailboxes with new mail *
9904 the short pathname of the current mailbox
9908 number of deleted messages *
9912 the full pathname of the current mailbox
9916 number of flagged messages *
9924 size (in bytes) of the current mailbox *
9928 size (in bytes) of the messages shown (i.e., which match the
9933 the number of messages in the mailbox *
9937 the number of messages shown (i.e., which match the current limit)
9942 number of new messages in the mailbox *
9946 number of old unread messages *
9950 number of postponed messages *
9954 percentage of the way through the index
9958 modified/read-only/won't-write/attach-message indicator, according
9963 current sorting mode ($sort)
9967 current aux sorting method ($sort_aux)
9971 number of tagged messages *
9975 number of unread messages *
9979 Mutt-ng version string
9983 currently active limit pattern, if any *
9987 right justify the rest of the string and pad with "X"
9991 pad to the end of the line with "X"
9993 * = can be optionally printed if nonzero
9995 Some of the above sequences can be used to optionally print a string if
9996 their value is nonzero. For example, you may only want to see the number
9997 of flagged messages if such messages exist, since zero is not particularly
9998 meaningful. To optionally print a string based upon one of the above
9999 sequences, the following construct is used
10001 %?<sequence_char>?<optional_string>?
10003 where sequence_char is a character from the table above, and
10004 optional_string is the string you would like printed if sequence_char is
10005 nonzero. optional_string may contain other sequences as well as normal
10006 text, but you may not nest optional strings.
10008 Here is an example illustrating how to optionally print the number of new
10009 messages in a mailbox:
10011 %?n?%n new messages.?
10013 Additionally you can switch between two strings, the first one, if a value
10014 is zero, the second one, if the value is nonzero, by using the following
10017 %?<sequence_char>?<if_string>&<else_string>?
10019 You can additionally force the result of any printf(3)-like sequence to be
10020 lowercase by prefixing the sequence character with an underscore (_) sign.
10021 For example, if you want to display the local hostname in lowercase, you
10026 If you prefix the sequence character with a colon (:) character, Mutt-ng
10027 will replace any dots in the expansion by underscores. This might be
10028 helpful with IMAP folders that don't like dots in folder names.
10036 Setting this variable causes the ``status bar'' to be displayed on the
10037 first line of the screen rather than near the bottom.
10045 With mailto: style links, a body as well as arbitrary header information
10046 may be embedded. This may lead to (user) headers being overwriten without
10047 note if ``$edit_headers'' is unset.
10049 If this variable is set, mutt-ng is strict and allows anything to be
10050 changed. If it's unset, all headers given will be prefixed with
10051 ``X-Mailto-'' and the message including headers will be shown in the
10052 editor regardless of what ``$edit_headers'' is set to.
10060 When unset, non MIME-compliant messages that doesn't have any charset
10061 indication in the ``Content-Type:'' header field can be displayed (non
10062 MIME-compliant messages are often generated by old mailers or buggy
10063 mailers like MS Outlook Express). See also $assumed_charset.
10065 This option also replaces linear-white-space between encoded-word and
10066 *text to a single space to prevent the display of MIME-encoded
10067 ``Subject:'' header field from being devided into multiple lines.
10069 328. strict_threads
10075 If set, threading will only make use of the ``In-Reply-To:'' and
10076 ``References:'' header fields when you ``$sort'' by message threads. By
10077 default, messages with the same subject are grouped together in ``pseudo
10078 threads.'' This may not always be desirable, such as in a personal mailbox
10079 where you might have several unrelated messages with the subject ``hi''
10080 which will get grouped together.
10088 When set, mutt-ng will remove the trailing part of the ``Subject:'' line
10089 which matches $strip_was_regex when replying. This is useful to properly
10090 react on subject changes and reduce ``subject noise.'' (esp. in Usenet)
10092 330. strip_was_regex
10094 Type: regular expression
10096 Default: "\([Ww][Aa][RrSs]: .*\)[ ]*$"
10098 When non-empty and $strip_was is set, mutt-ng will remove this trailing
10099 part of the ``Subject'' line when replying if it won't be empty
10108 If set, attachments with flowed format will have their quoting
10109 ``stuffed'', i.e. a space will be inserted between the quote characters
10110 and the actual text.
10118 When unset, Mutt-ng won't stop when the user presses the terminal's susp
10119 key, usually CTRL+Z. This is useful if you run Mutt-ng inside an xterm
10120 using a command like ``xterm -e muttng.''
10128 When set, Mutt-ng will generate text/plain; format=flowed attachments.
10129 This format is easier to handle for some mailing software, and generally
10130 just looks like ordinary text. To actually make use of this format's
10131 features, you'll need support in your editor.
10133 Note that $indent_string is ignored when this option is set.
10135 334. thorough_search
10141 Affects the ˜b and ˜h search operations described in section
10142 ``patterns'' above. If set, the headers and attachments of messages to be
10143 searched are decoded before searching. If unset, messages are searched as
10144 they appear in the folder.
10146 335. thread_received
10152 When set, Mutt-ng uses the date received rather than the date sent to
10153 thread messages by subject.
10161 When set, the internal-pager will pad blank lines to the bottom of the
10162 screen with a tilde (˜).
10170 This variable controls the number of seconds Mutt-ng will wait for a key
10171 to be pressed in the main menu before timing out and checking for new
10172 mail. A value of zero or less will cause Mutt-ng to never time out.
10180 This variable allows you to specify where Mutt-ng will place its temporary
10181 files needed for displaying and composing messages. If this variable is
10182 not set, the environment variable $TMPDIR is used. If $TMPDIR is not set
10183 then "/tmp" is used.
10191 Controls the character used to indicate mail addressed to you. The first
10192 character is the one used when the mail is NOT addressed to your address
10193 (default: space). The second is used when you are the only recipient of
10194 the message (default: +). The third is when your address appears in the
10195 ``To:'' header field, but you are not the only recipient of the message
10196 (default: T). The fourth character is used when your address is specified
10197 in the ``Cc:'' header field, but you are not the only recipient. The fifth
10198 character is used to indicate mail that was sent by you. The sixth
10199 character is used to indicate when a mail was sent to a mailing-list
10200 you're subscribe to (default: L).
10208 If set, this variable specifies the path of the trash folder where the
10209 mails marked for deletion will be moved, instead of being irremediably
10212 Note: When you delete a message in the trash folder, it is really deleted,
10213 so that there is no way to recover mail.
10221 Setting this variable will cause Mutt-ng to open a pipe to a command
10222 instead of a raw socket. You may be able to use this to set up
10223 preauthenticated connections to your IMAP/POP3 server. Example:
10225 tunnel="ssh -q mailhost.net /usr/local/libexec/imapd"
10227 Note: For this example to work you must be able to log in to the remote
10228 machine without having to enter a password.
10236 This sets the umask that will be used by Mutt-ng when creating all kinds
10237 of files. If unset, the default value is 077.
10239 343. uncollapse_jump
10245 When set, Mutt-ng will jump to the next unread message, if any, when the
10246 current thread is uncollapsed.
10254 Warning: do not set this variable unless you are using a version of
10255 sendmail which supports the -B8BITMIME flag (such as sendmail 8.8.x) or in
10256 connection with the SMTP support via libESMTP. Otherwise you may not be
10259 When set, Mutt-ng will either invoke ``$sendmail'' with the -B8BITMIME
10260 flag when sending 8-bit messages to enable ESMTP negotiation or tell
10269 When set, Mutt-ng will qualify all local addresses (ones without the @host
10270 portion) with the value of ``$hostname''. If unset, no addresses will be
10279 When set, Mutt-ng will generate the ``From:'' header field when sending
10280 messages. If unset, no ``From:'' header field will be generated unless the
10281 user explicitly sets one using the ``my_hdr'' command.
10291 When set, Mutt-ng will show you international domain names decoded.
10293 Note: You can use IDNs for addresses even if this is unset. This variable
10294 only affects decoding.
10302 When set, Mutt-ng will look for IPv6 addresses of hosts it tries to
10303 contact. If this option is unset, Mutt-ng will restrict itself to IPv4
10304 addresses. Normally, the default should work.
10312 Specifies the visual editor to invoke when the ˜v command is given in the
10321 Controls whether Mutt-ng will ask you to press a key after shell- escape,
10322 pipe-message, pipe-entry, print-message, and print-entry commands.
10324 It is also used when viewing attachments with ``auto_view'', provided that
10325 the corresponding mailcap entry has a needsterminal flag, and the external
10326 program is interactive.
10328 When set, Mutt-ng will always ask for a key. When unset, Mutt-ng will wait
10329 for a key only if the external command returned a non-zero status.
10337 When set, Mutt-ng will weed headers when displaying, forwarding, printing,
10338 or replying to messages.
10346 Controls whether searches wrap around the end of the mailbox.
10348 When set, searches will wrap around the first (or last) message. When
10349 unset, searches will not wrap.
10357 Controls the size of the margin remaining at the right side of the
10358 terminal when Mutt-ng's pager does smart wrapping.
10366 Controls whether Mutt-ng writes out the Bcc header when preparing messages
10367 to be sent. Exim users may wish to unset this.
10375 When writing a mailbox, a message will be printed every write_inc messages
10376 to indicate progress. If set to 0, only a single message will be displayed
10377 before writing a mailbox.
10379 Also see the ``$read_inc'' variable.
10385 Default: "M%?n?AIL&ail?"
10387 Controls the format of the X11 icon title, as long as $xterm_set_titles is
10388 set. This string is identical in formatting to the one used by
10389 ``$status_format''.
10397 If $xterm_set_titles is set, this string will be used to set the title
10398 when leaving mutt-ng. For terminal-based programs, there's no easy and
10399 portable way to read the current title so mutt-ng cannot read it upon
10400 startup and restore it when exiting.
10402 Based on the xterm FAQ, the following might work:
10404 set xterm_leave = "`test x$DISPLAY != x && xprop -id $WINDOWID | grep
10405 WM_NAME | cut -d '"' -f 2`"
10407 358. xterm_set_titles
10413 Controls whether Mutt-ng sets the xterm title bar and icon name (as long
10414 as you're in an appropriate terminal). The default must be unset to force
10415 in the validity checking.
10421 Default: "Mutt-ng with %?m?%m messages&no messages?%?n? [%n New]?"
10423 Controls the format of the title bar of the xterm provided that
10424 $xterm_set_titles has been set. This string is identical in formatting to
10425 the one used by ``$status_format''.
10429 The following is the list of available functions listed by the mapping in
10430 which they are available. The default key setting is given, and an
10431 explanation of what the function does. The key bindings of these functions
10432 can be changed with the bind command.
10436 The generic menu is not a real menu, but specifies common functions (such
10437 as movement) available in all menus except for pager and editor. Changing
10438 settings for this menu will affect the default bindings for all menus
10441 bottom-page L move to the bottom of the page
10442 current-bottom not bound move current entry to bottom of page
10443 current-middle not bound move current entry to middle of page
10444 current-top not bound move current entry to top of page
10445 enter-command : enter a muttngrc command
10446 exit q exit this menu
10447 first-entry = move to the first entry
10448 half-down ] scroll down 1/2 page
10449 half-up [ scroll up 1/2 page
10451 jump number jump to an index number
10452 last-entry * move to the last entry
10453 middle-page M move to the middle of the page
10454 next-entry j move to the next entry
10455 next-line > scroll down one line
10456 next-page z move to the next page
10457 previous-entry k move to the previous entry
10458 previous-line < scroll up one line
10459 previous-page Z move to the previous page
10460 refresh ^L clear and redraw the screen
10461 search / search for a regular expression
10462 search-next n search for next match
10463 search-opposite not bound search for next match in opposite
10465 search-reverse ESC / search backwards for a regular
10467 select-entry RET select the current entry
10468 shell-escape ! run a program in a subshell
10469 tag-entry t toggle the tag on the current entry
10470 tag-prefix ; apply next command to tagged entries
10471 tag-prefix-cond not bound apply next function ONLY to tagged
10473 top-page H move to the top of the page
10474 what-key not bound display the keycode for a key press
10479 bounce-message b remail a message to another user
10480 change-folder c open a different folder
10481 change-folder-readonly ESC c open a different folder in read only
10483 check-traditional-pgp ESC P check for classic pgp
10484 clear-flag W clear a status flag from a message
10485 copy-message C copy a message to a file/mailbox
10486 create-alias a create an alias from a message
10487 senderdecode-copy ESC C decode a message and copy it
10489 decode-save ESC s decode a message and save it to a
10491 delete-message d delete the current entry
10492 delete-pattern D delete messages matching a pattern
10493 delete-subthread ESC d delete all messages in subthread
10494 delete-thread ^D delete all messages in thread
10495 display-address @ display full address of sender
10496 display-toggle-weed h display message and toggle header
10498 display-message RET display a message
10499 edit e edit the current message
10500 edit-type ^E edit the current message's
10502 exit x exit without saving changes
10503 extract-keys ^K extract PGP public keys
10504 fetch-mail G retrieve mail from POP server
10505 flag-message F toggle a message's 'important' flag
10506 forget-passphrase ^F wipe PGP passphrase from memory
10507 forward-message f forward a message with comments
10508 group-reply g reply to all recipients
10509 limit l show only messages matching a
10510 patternlist-reply L reply to specified mailing
10512 mail m compose a new mail message
10513 mail-key ESC k mail a PGP public key
10514 next-new TAB jump to the next new message
10515 next-subthread ESC n jump to the next subthread
10516 next-thread ^N jump to the next thread
10517 next-undeleted j move to the next undeleted message
10518 next-unread not bound jump to the next unread message
10519 parent-message P jump to parent message in thread
10520 pipe-message | pipe message/attachment to a shell
10522 previous-new ESC TAB jump to the previous new message
10523 previous-page Z move to the previous page
10524 previous-subthread ESC p jump to previous subthread
10525 previous-thread ^P jump to previous thread
10526 previous-undeleted k move to the last undelete message
10527 previous-unread not bound jump to the previous unread message
10528 print-message p print the current entry
10529 query Q query external program for addresses
10530 quit q save changes to mailbox and quit
10531 read-subthread ESC r mark the current subthread as read
10532 read-thread ^R mark the current thread as read
10533 recall-message R recall a postponed message
10534 reply r reply to a message
10535 resend-message ESC e resend message and preserve MIME
10537 save-message s save message/attachment to a file
10538 set-flag w set a status flag on a message
10539 show-version V show the Mutt-ng version number and
10541 show-limit ESC l show currently active limit pattern,
10543 sort-mailbox o sort messages
10544 sort-reverse O sort messages in reverse order
10545 sync-mailbox $ save changes to mailbox
10546 tag-pattern T tag messages matching a pattern
10547 tag-thread ESC t tag/untag all messages in the
10549 toggle-new N toggle a message's 'new' flag
10550 toggle-write % toggle whether the mailbox will be
10552 undelete-message u undelete the current entry
10553 undelete-pattern U undelete messages matching a pattern
10554 undelete-subthread ESC u undelete all messages in subthread
10555 undelete-thread ^U undelete all messages in thread
10556 untag-pattern ^T untag messages matching a pattern
10557 view-attachments v show MIME attachments
10562 bottom not bound jump to the bottom of the message
10563 bounce-message b remail a message to another user
10564 change-folder c open a different folder
10565 change-folder-readonly ESC c open a different folder in read only
10567 check-traditional-pgp ESC P check for classic pgp
10568 copy-message C copy a message to a file/mailbox
10569 create-alias a create an alias from a message
10570 senderdecode-copy ESC C decode a message and copy it
10572 decode-save ESC s decode a message and save it to a
10574 delete-message d delete the current entry
10575 delete-subthread ESC d delete all messages in subthread
10576 delete-thread ^D delete all messages in thread
10577 display-address @ display full address of sender
10578 display-toggle-weed h display message and toggle header
10580 edit e edit the current message
10581 edit-type ^E edit the current message's
10583 enter-command : enter a muttngrc command
10584 exit i return to the main-menu
10585 extract-keys ^K extract PGP public keys
10586 flag-message F toggle a message's 'important' flag
10587 forget-passphrase ^F wipe PGP passphrase from memory
10588 forward-message f forward a message with comments
10589 group-reply g reply to all recipients
10590 half-up not bound move up one-half page
10591 half-down not bound move down one-half page
10593 list-reply L reply to specified mailing list
10594 mail m compose a new mail message
10595 mail-key ESC k mail a PGP public key
10596 mark-as-new N toggle a message's 'new' flag
10597 next-line RET scroll down one line
10598 next-entry J move to the next entry
10599 next-new TAB jump to the next new message
10600 next-page move to the next page
10601 next-subthread ESC n jump to the next subthread
10602 next-thread ^N jump to the next thread
10603 next-undeleted j move to the next undeleted message
10604 next-unread not bound jump to the next unread message
10605 parent-message P jump to parent message in thread
10606 pipe-message | pipe message/attachment to a shell
10608 previous-line BackSpace scroll up one line
10609 previous-entry K move to the previous entry
10610 previous-new not bound jump to the previous new message
10611 previous-page - move to the previous page
10612 previous-subthread ESC p jump to previous subthread
10613 previous-thread ^P jump to previous thread
10614 previous-undeleted k move to the last undelete message
10615 previous-unread not bound jump to the previous unread message
10616 print-message p print the current entry
10617 quit Q save changes to mailbox and quit
10618 read-subthread ESC r mark the current subthread as read
10619 read-thread ^R mark the current thread as read
10620 recall-message R recall a postponed message
10621 redraw-screen ^L clear and redraw the screen
10622 reply r reply to a message
10623 save-message s save message/attachment to a file
10624 search / search for a regular expression
10625 search-next n search for next match
10626 search-opposite not bound search for next match in opposite
10628 search-reverse ESC / search backwards for a regular
10630 search-toggle \ toggle search pattern coloring
10631 shell-escape ! invoke a command in a subshell
10632 show-version V show the Mutt-ng version number and
10634 skip-quoted S skip beyond quoted text
10635 sync-mailbox $ save changes to mailbox
10636 tag-message t tag a message
10637 toggle-quoted T toggle display of quoted text
10638 top ^ jump to the top of the message
10639 undelete-message u undelete the current entry
10640 undelete-subthread ESC u undelete all messages in subthread
10641 undelete-thread ^U undelete all messages in thread
10642 view-attachments v show MIME attachments
10647 search / search for a regular expression
10648 search-next n search for next match
10649 search-reverse ESC / search backwards for a regular
10655 create-alias a create an alias from a message
10656 sendermail m compose a new mail message
10657 query Q query external program for addresses
10658 query-append A append new query results to current
10660 search / search for a regular expression
10661 search-next n search for next match
10662 search-opposite not bound search for next match in opposite
10664 search-reverse ESC / search backwards for a regular
10670 bounce-message b remail a message to another user
10671 collapse-parts v toggle display of subparts
10672 delete-entry d delete the current entry
10673 display-toggle-weed h display message and toggle header
10675 edit-type ^E edit the current entry's
10676 Content-Typeextract-keys ^K extract PGP public keys
10677 forward-message f forward a message with comments
10678 group-reply g reply to all recipients
10679 list-reply L reply to specified mailing list
10680 pipe-entry | pipe message/attachment to a shell
10682 print-entry p print the current entry
10683 reply r reply to a message
10684 resend-message ESC e resend message and preserve MIME
10686 save-entry s save message/attachment to a file
10687 undelete-entry u undelete the current entry
10688 view-attach RET view attachment using mailcap entry
10690 view-mailcap m force viewing of attachment using
10692 view-text T view attachment as text
10697 attach-file a attach a file(s) to this message
10698 attach-message A attach message(s) to this message
10699 attach-key ESC k attach a PGP public key
10700 copy-file C save message/attachment to a file
10701 detach-file D delete the current entry
10702 display-toggle-weed h display message and toggle header
10704 edit-bcc b edit the BCC list
10705 edit-cc c edit the CC list
10706 edit-description d edit attachment description
10707 edit-encoding ^E edit attachment transfer-encoding
10708 edit-fcc f enter a file to save a copy of this
10710 edit-from ESC f edit the from: field
10711 edit-file ^X e edit the file to be attached
10712 edit-headers E edit the message with headers
10713 edit e edit the message
10714 edit-mime m edit attachment using mailcap entry
10715 edit-reply-to r edit the Reply-To field
10716 edit-subject s edit the subject of this message
10717 edit-to t edit the TO list
10718 edit-type ^T edit attachment type
10719 filter-entry F filter attachment through a shell
10721 forget-passphrase ^F wipe PGP passphrase from memory
10722 ispell i run ispell on the message
10723 new-mime n compose new attachment using mailcap
10725 pgp-menu p show PGP options
10726 pipe-entry | pipe message/attachment to a shell
10728 postpone-message P save this message to send later
10729 print-entry l print the current entry
10730 rename-file R rename/move an attached file
10731 send-message y send the message
10732 toggle-unlink u toggle whether to delete file after
10734 view-attach RET view attachment using mailcap entry
10736 write-fcc w write the message to a folder
10741 delete-entry d delete the current entry
10742 undelete-entry u undelete the current entry
10747 change-dir c change directories
10748 check-new TAB check mailboxes for new mail
10749 enter-mask m enter a file mask
10750 search / search for a regular expression
10751 search-next n search for next match
10752 search-reverse ESC / search backwards for a regular
10754 select-new N select a new file in this directory
10755 sort o sort messages
10756 sort-reverse O sort messages in reverse order
10757 toggle-mailboxes TAB toggle whether to browse mailboxes
10759 view-file SPACE view file
10760 subscribe s subscribe to current mailbox (IMAP
10762 unsubscribe u unsubscribe to current mailbox (IMAP
10764 toggle-subscribed T toggle view all/subscribed mailboxes
10770 view-name % view the key's user id
10771 verify-key c verify a PGP public key
10776 backspace BackSpace delete the char in front of the
10778 backward-char ^B move the cursor one character to the
10780 backward-word ESC b move the cursor to the previous word
10781 bol ^A jump to the beginning of the line
10782 buffy-cycle Space cycle among incoming mailboxes
10783 capitalize-word ESC c uppercase the first character in the
10785 complete TAB complete filename or alias
10786 complete-query ^T complete address with query
10787 delete-char ^D delete the char under the cursor
10788 downcase-word ESC l lowercase all characters in current
10790 eol ^E jump to the end of the line
10791 forward-char ^F move the cursor one character to the
10793 forward-word ESC f move the cursor to the next word
10794 history-down not bound scroll down through the history list
10795 history-up not bound scroll up through the history list
10796 kill-eol ^K delete chars from cursor to end of
10798 kill-eow ESC d delete chars from cursor to end of
10800 kill-line ^U delete all chars on the line
10801 kill-word ^W delete the word in front of the
10803 quote-char ^V quote the next typed key
10804 transpose-chars not bound transpose character under cursor
10806 upcase-word ESC u uppercase all characters in current
10810 Chapter 8. Miscellany
10818 Kari Hurtta <kari.hurtta@fmi.fi> co-developed the original MIME >parsing
10819 code back in the ELM-ME days.
10821 The following people have been very helpful to the development of Mutt
10822 (sorted by surnames):
10824 o Vikas Agnihotri <vikasa@writeme.com>
10825 o Francois Berjon < Francois.Berjon@aar.alcatel-alsthom.fr>
10826 o Aric Blumer <aric@fore.com>, John Capo < jc@irbs.com >
10827 o David Champion <dgc@uchicago.edu>
10828 o Brendan Cully <brendan@kublai.com>
10829 o Liviu Daia <daia@stoilow.imar.ro>
10830 o Thomas E. Dickey <dickey@herndon4.his.com>
10831 o David DeSimone <fox@convex.hp.com>
10832 o Nickolay N. Dudorov <nnd@wint.itfs.nsk.su>
10833 o Ruslan Ermilov <ru@freebsd.org>
10834 o Edmund Grimley Evans <edmundo@rano.org>
10835 o Michael Finken <finken@conware.de>
10836 o Sven Guckes <guckes@math.fu-berlin.de>
10837 o Lars Hecking <lhecking@nmrc.ie>
10838 o Mark Holloman <holloman@nando.net>
10839 o Andreas Holzmann <holzmann@fmi.uni-passau.de>
10840 o Marco d'Itri <md@linux.it>
10841 o Björn Jacke <bjacke@suse.com>
10842 o Byrial Jensen <byrial@image.dk>
10843 o David Jeske <jeske@igcom.net>
10844 o Christophe Kalt <kalt@hugo.int-evry.fr>
10845 o Tommi Komulainen <Tommi.Komulainen@iki.fi>
10846 o Felix von Leitner (a.k.a ``Fefe'') < leitner@math.fu-berlin.de >
10847 o Brandon Long <blong@fiction.net>
10848 o Jimmy Mäkeä <jmy@flashback.net>
10849 o Lars Marowsky-Bree <lmb@pointer.in-minden.de>
10850 o Thomas ``Mike'' Michlmayr <mike@cosy.sbg.ac.at>
10851 o Andrew W. Nosenko <awn@bcs.zp.ua>
10852 o David O'Brien <obrien@Nuxi.cs.ucdavis.edu>
10853 o Clint Olsen <olsenc@ichips.intel.com>
10854 o Park Myeong Seok <pms@romance.kaist.ac.kr>
10855 o Thomas Parmelan <tom@ankh.fr.eu.org>
10856 o Ollivier Robert <roberto@keltia.freenix.fr>
10857 o Thomas Roessler <roessler@does-not-exist.org>
10858 o Roland Rosenfeld <roland@spinnaker.de>
10859 o TAKIZAWA Takashi <taki@luna.email.ne.jp>
10860 o Allain Thivillon <Allain.Thivillon@alma.fr>
10861 o Gero Treuner <gero@faveve.uni-stuttgart.de>
10862 o Vsevolod Volkov <vvv@lucky.net>
10863 o Ken Weinert <kenw@ihs.com>
10865 Mutt-ng is developed by the following people:
10867 o Andreas Krennmair <ak@synflood.at>
10868 o Nico Golde <nico@ngolde.de>
10869 o Rocco Rutte <pdmef@cs.tu-berlin.de>
10871 The following people have been very helpful to the development of Mutt-ng
10872 (sorted by surnames):
10874 o Christian Gall <cg@cgall.de>
10875 o Iain Lea <iain@bricbrac.de>
10876 o Andreas Kneib <akneib@gmx.net>
10877 o Carsten Schoelzki <cjs@weisshuhn.de>
10878 o Elimar Riesebieter <riesebie@lxtec.de>
projects / apps / madmutt.git / blob