4 .\" Copyright (C) 1996-2000 Michael R. Elkins <me@cs.hmc.edu>
5 .\" Copyright (C) 1999-2000 Thomas Roessler <roessler@guug.de>
7 .\" This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
8 .\" it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
9 .\" the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
10 .\" (at your option) any later version.
12 .\" This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
13 .\" but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
14 .\" MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
15 .\" GNU General Public License for more details.
17 .\" You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
18 .\" along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
19 .\" Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA.
21 .TH muttrc 5 "September 2002" Unix "User Manuals"
23 muttrc \- Configuration file for the Mutt Mail User Agent
26 A mutt configuration file consists of a series of \(lqcommands\(rq.
27 Each line of the file may contain one or more commands. When
28 multiple commands are used, they must be separated by a semicolon
31 The hash mark, or pound sign (\(lq\fB#\fP\(rq), is used as a
32 \(lqcomment\(rq character. You can use it to annotate your
33 initialization file. All text after the comment character to the end
34 of the line is ignored.
36 Single quotes (\(lq\fB'\fP\(rq) and double quotes (\(lq\fB"\fP\(rq)
37 can be used to quote strings which contain spaces or other special
38 characters. The difference between the two types of quotes is
39 similar to that of many popular shell programs, namely that a single
40 quote is used to specify a literal string (one that is not
41 interpreted for shell variables or quoting with a backslash [see
42 next paragraph]), while double quotes indicate a string for which
43 should be evaluated. For example, backtics are evaluated inside of
44 double quotes, but not for single quotes.
46 \fB\(rs\fP quotes the next character, just as in shells such as bash and zsh.
47 For example, if want to put quotes (\(lq\fB"\fP\(rq) inside of a
48 string, you can use \(lq\fB\(rs\fP\(rq to force the next character
49 to be a literal instead of interpreted character.
51 \(lq\fB\(rs\(rs\fP\(rq means to insert a literal \(lq\fB\(rs\fP\(rq into the
52 line. \(lq\fB\(rsn\fP\(rq and \(lq\fB\(rsr\fP\(rq have their usual
53 C meanings of linefeed and carriage-return, respectively.
55 A \(lq\fB\(rs\fP\(rq at the end of a line can be used to split commands over
56 multiple lines, provided that the split points don't appear in the
57 middle of command names.
59 It is also possible to substitute the output of a Unix command in an
60 initialization file. This is accomplished by enclosing the command
61 in backquotes (\fB`\fP\fIcommand\fP\fB`\fP).
63 UNIX environments can be accessed like the way it is done in shells
64 like sh and bash: Prepend the name of the environment by a dollar
65 (\(lq\fB\(Do\fP\(rq) sign.
70 \fBalias\fP \fIkey\fP \fIaddress\fP [\fB,\fP \fIaddress\fP [ ... ]]
71 \fBunalias\fP [\fB * \fP | \fIkey\fP ]
74 \fBalias\fP defines an alias \fIkey\fP for the given addresses.
75 \fBunalias\fP removes the alias corresponding to the given \fIkey\fP or
76 all aliases when \(lq\fB*\fP\(rq is used as an argument.
79 \fBalternates\fP \fIregexp\fP [ \fB,\fP \fIregexp\fP [ ... ]]
80 \fBunalternates\fP [\fB * \fP | \fIregexp\fP [ \fB,\fP \fIregexp\fP [ ... ]] ]
83 \fBalternates\fP is used to inform mutt about alternate addresses
84 where you receive mail; you can use regular expressions to specify
85 alternate addresses. This affects mutt's idea about messages
86 from you, and messages addressed to you. \fBunalternates\fP removes
87 a regular expression from the list of known alternates.
90 \fBalternative_order\fP \fItype\fP[\fB/\fP\fIsubtype\fP] [ ... ]
91 \fBunalternative_order\fP [\fB * \fP | \fItype\fP/\fIsubtype\fP] [...]
94 \fBalternative_order\fP command permits you to define an order of preference which is
95 used by mutt to determine which part of a
96 \fBmultipart/alternative\fP body to display.
97 A subtype of \(lq\fB*\fP\(rq matches any subtype, as does an empty
98 subtype. \fBunalternative_order\fP removes entries from the
99 ordered list or deletes the entire list when \(lq\fB*\fP\(rq is used
103 \fBauto_view\fP \fItype\fP[\fB/\fP\fIsubtype\fP] [ ... ]
104 \fBunauto_view\fP \fItype\fP[fB/\fP\fIsubtype\fP] [ ... ]
107 This commands permits you to specify that mutt should automatically
108 convert the given MIME types to text/plain when displaying messages.
109 For this to work, there must be a
111 entry for the given MIME type with the
113 flag set. A subtype of \(lq\fB*\fP\(rq
114 matches any subtype, as does an empty subtype.
117 \fBmime_lookup\fP \fItype\fP[\fB/\fP\fIsubtype\fP] [ ... ]
118 \fBunmime_lookup\fP \fItype\fP[\fB/\fP\fIsubtype\fP] [ ... ]
121 This command permits you to define a list of "data" MIME content
122 types for which mutt will try to determine the actual file type from
123 the file name, and not use a
125 entry given for the original MIME type. For instance, you may add
126 the \fBapplication/octet-stream\fP MIME type to this list.
128 \fBbind\fP \fImap\fP \fIkey\fP \fIfunction\fP
129 This command binds the given \fIkey\fP for the given \fImap\fP to
130 the given \fIfunction\fP.
133 .BR generic ", " alias ", " attach ", "
134 .BR browser ", " editor ", "
135 .BR index ", " compose ", "
136 .BR pager ", " pgp ", " postpone ", "
139 For more information on keys and functions, please consult the Mutt
142 \fBaccount-hook\fP [\fB!\fP]\fIregexp\fP \fIcommand\fP
143 This hook is executed whenever you access a remote mailbox. Useful
144 to adjust configuration settings to different IMAP or POP servers.
146 \fBcharset-hook\fP \fIalias\fP \fIcharset\fP
147 This command defines an alias for a character set. This is useful
148 to properly display messages which are tagged with a character set
149 name not known to mutt.
151 \fBiconv-hook\fP \fIcharset\fP \fIlocal-charset\fP
152 This command defines a system-specific name for a character set.
153 This is useful when your system's
155 implementation does not understand MIME character set names (such as
157 but instead insists on being fed with implementation-specific
158 character set names (such as
160 In this specific case, you'd put this into your configuration file:
162 .B "iconv-hook iso-8859-1 8859-1"
164 \fBmessage-hook\fP [\fB!\fP]\fIpattern\fP \fIcommand\fP
165 Before mutt displays (or formats for replying or forwarding) a
166 message which matches the given \fIpattern\fP (or, when it is
167 preceded by an exclamation mark, does not match the \fIpattern\fP),
168 the given \fIcommand\fP is executed. When multiple
169 \fBmessage-hook\fPs match, they are executed in the order in
170 which they occur in the configuration file.
172 \fBfolder-hook\fP [\fB!\fP]\fIregexp\fP \fIcommand\fP
173 When mutt enters a folder which matches \fIregexp\fP (or, when
174 \fIregexp\fP is preceded by an exclamation mark, does not match
175 \fIregexp\fP), the given \fIcommand\fP is executed.
177 When several \fBfolder-hook\fPs match a given mail folder, they are
178 executed in the order given in the configuration file.
180 \fBmacro\fP \fImap\fP \fIkey\fP \fIsequence\fP [ \fIdescription\fP ]
181 This command binds the given \fIsequence\fP of keys to the given
182 \fIkey\fP in the given \fImap\fP. For valid maps, see \fBbind\fP.
185 \fBcolor\fP \fIobject\fP \fIforeground\fP \fIbackground\fP [ \fI regexp\fP ]
186 \fBcolor\fP index \fIforeground\fP \fIbackground\fP [ \fI pattern\fP ]
187 \fBuncolor\fP index \fIpattern\fP [ \fIpattern\fP ... ]
190 If your terminal supports color, these commands can be used to
191 assign \fIforeground\fP/\fIbackgound\fP combinations to certain
192 objects. Valid objects are:
193 .BR attachment ", " body ", " bold ", " header ", "
194 .BR hdrdefault ", " index ", " indicator ", " markers ", "
195 .BR message ", " normal ", " quoted ", " quoted\fIN\fP ", "
196 .BR search ", " signature ", " status ", " tilde ", " tree ", "
199 .BR body " and " header
200 objects allow you to restrict the colorization to a regular
201 expression. The \fBindex\fP object permits you to select colored
204 Valid colors include:
205 .BR white ", " black ", " green ", " magenta ", " blue ", "
206 .BR cyan ", " yellow ", " red ", " default ", " color\fIN\fP .
209 \fBmono\fP \fIobject\fP \fIattribute\fP [ \fIregexp\fP ]
210 \fBmono\fP index \fIattribute\fP [ \fIpattern\fP ]
213 For terminals which don't support color, you can still assign
214 attributes to objects. Valid attributes include:
215 .BR none ", " bold ", " underline ", "
216 .BR reverse ", and " standout .
218 [\fBun\fP]\fBignore\fP \fIpattern\fP [ \fIpattern\fP ... ]
219 The \fBignore\fP command permits you to specify header fields which
220 you usually don't wish to see. Any header field whose tag
221 \fIbegins\fP with an \(lqignored\(rq pattern will be ignored.
223 The \fBunignore\fP command permits you to define exceptions from
224 the above mentioned list of ignored headers.
227 \fBlists\fP \fIregexp\fP [ \fIregexp\fP ... ]
228 \fBunlists\fP \fIregexp\fP [ \fIregexp\fP ... ]
229 \fBsubscribe\fP \fIregexp\fP [ \fIregexp\fP ... ]
230 \fBunsubscribe\fP \fIregexp\fP [ \fIregexp\fP ... ]
233 Mutt maintains two lists of mailing list address patterns, a list of
234 subscribed mailing lists, and a list of known mailing lists. All
235 subscribed mailing lists are known. Patterns use regular expressions.
237 The \fBlists\fP command adds a mailing list address to the list of
238 known mailing lists. The \fBunlists\fP command removes a mailing
239 list from the lists of known and subscribed mailing lists. The
240 \fBsubscribe\fP command adds a mailing list to the lists of known
241 and subscribed mailing lists. The \fBunsubscribe\fP command removes
242 it from the list of subscribed mailing lists.
244 \fBmbox-hook\fP [\fB!\fP]\fIpattern\fP \fImailbox\fP
245 When mutt changes to a mail folder which matches \fIpattern\fP,
246 \fImailbox\fP will be used as the \(lqmbox\(rq folder, i.e., read
247 messages will be moved to that folder when the mail folder is left.
249 The first matching \fBmbox-hook\fP applies.
252 \fBmailboxes\fP \fIfilename\fP [ \fIfilename\fP ... ]
253 \fBunmailboxes\fP [ \fB*\fP | \fIfilename\fP ... ]
256 The \fBmailboxes\fP specifies folders which can receive mail and which will
257 be checked for new messages. When changing folders, pressing space
258 will cycle through folders with new mail. The \fBunmailboxes\fP
259 command is used to remove a file name from the list of folders which
260 can receive mail. If "\fB*\fP" is specified as the file name, the
264 \fBmy_hdr\fP \fIstring\fP
265 \fBunmy_hdr\fP \fIfield\fP
268 Using \fBmy_hdr\fP, you can define headers which will be added to
269 the messages you compose. \fBunmy_hdr\fP will remove the given
270 user-defined headers.
272 \fBhdr_order\fP \fIheader1\fP \fIheader2\fP [ ... ]
273 With this command, you can specify an order in which mutt will
274 attempt to present headers to you when viewing messages.
276 \fBsave-hook\fP [\fB!\fP]\fIpattern\fP \fIfilename\fP
277 When a message matches \fIpattern\fP, the default file name when
278 saving it will be the given \fIfilename\fP.
280 \fBfcc-hook\fP [\fB!\fP]\fIpattern\fP \fIfilename\fP
281 When an outgoing message matches \fIpattern\fP, the default file
282 name for storing a copy (fcc) will be the given \fIfilename\fP.
284 \fBfcc-save-hook\fP [\fB!\fP]\fIpattern\fP \fIfilename\fP
285 This command is an abbreviation for identical \fBfcc-hook\fP and
286 \fBsave-hook\fP commands.
288 \fBsend-hook\fP [\fB!\fP]\fIpattern\fP \fIcommand\fP
289 When composing a message matching \fIpattern\fP, \fIcommand\fP is
290 executed. When multiple \fBsend-hook\fPs match, they are executed
291 in the order in which they occur in the configuration file.
293 \fBcrypt-hook\fP \fIpattern\fP \fIkey-id\fP
294 The crypt-hook command provides a method by which you can
295 specify the ID of the public key to be used when encrypting messages
296 to a certain recipient. The meaning of "key ID" is to be taken
297 broadly: This can be a different e-mail address, a numerical key ID,
298 or even just an arbitrary search string.
300 \fBpush\fP \fIstring\fP
301 This command adds the named \fIstring\fP to the keyboard buffer.
304 \fBset\fP [\fBno\fP|\fBinv\fP]\fIvariable\fP[=\fIvalue\fP] [ ... ]
305 \fBtoggle\fP \fIvariable\fP [ ... ]
306 \fBunset\fP \fIvariable\fP [ ... ]
307 \fBreset\fP \fIvariable\fP [ ... ]
310 These commands are used to set and manipulate configuration
313 Mutt knows four basic types of variables: boolean, number, string
314 and quadoption. Boolean variables can be \fBset\fP (true),
315 \fBunset\fP (false), or \fBtoggle\fPd. Number variables can be assigned
316 a positive integer value.
318 String variables consist of any number of printable characters.
319 Strings must be enclosed in quotes if they contain spaces or tabs.
320 You may also use the \(lqC\(rq escape sequences \fB\\n\fP and
321 \fB\\t\fP for newline and tab, respectively.
323 Quadoption variables are used to control whether or not to be
324 prompted for certain actions, or to specify a default action. A
325 value of \fByes\fP will cause the action to be carried out automatically
326 as if you had answered yes to the question. Similarly, a value of
327 \fBno\fP will cause the the action to be carried out as if you had
328 answered \(lqno.\(rq A value of \fBask-yes\fP will cause a prompt
329 with a default answer of \(lqyes\(rq and \fBask-no\fP will provide a
330 default answer of \(lqno.\(rq
332 The \fBreset\fP command resets all given variables to the compile
333 time defaults. If you reset the special variabe \fBall\fP, all
334 variables will reset to their system defaults.
336 \fBsource\fP \fIfilename\fP
337 The given file will be evaluated as a configuration file.
339 \fBunhook\fP [\fB * \fP | \fIhook-type\fP ]
340 This command will remove all hooks of a given type, or all hooks
341 when \(lq\fB*\fP\(rq is used as an argument. \fIhook-type\fP
342 can be any of the \fB-hook\fP commands documented above.
345 In various places with mutt, including some of the abovementioned
346 \fBhook\fP commands, you can specify patterns to match messages.
347 .SS Constructing Patterns
349 A simple pattern consists of an operator of the form
350 \(lq\fB~\fP\fIcharacter\fP\(rq, possibly followed by a parameter
351 against which mutt is supposed to match the object specified by
352 this operator. (For a list of operators, see below.)
354 With some of these operators, the object to be matched consists of
355 several e-mail addresses. In these cases, the object is matched if
356 at least one of these e-mail addresses matches. You can prepend a
357 hat (\(lq\fB^\fP\(rq) character to such a pattern to indicate that
358 \fIall\fP addresses must match in order to match the object.
360 You can construct complex patterns by combining simple patterns with
361 logical operators. Logical AND is specified by simply concatenating
362 two simple patterns, for instance \(lq~C mutt-dev ~s bug\(rq.
363 Logical OR is specified by inserting a vertical bar (\(lq\fB|\fP\(rq)
364 between two patterns, for instance \(lq~C mutt-dev | ~s bug\(rq.
365 Additionally, you can negate a pattern by prepending a bang
366 (\(lq\fB!\fP\(rq) character. For logical grouping, use braces
367 (\(lq()\(rq). Example: \(lq!(~t mutt|~c mutt) ~f elkins\(rq.
370 Mutt understands the following simple patterns:
375 ~b \fIEXPR\fP messages which contain \fIEXPR\fP in the message body
376 ~B \fIEXPR\fP messages which contain \fIEXPR\fP in the whole message
377 ~c \fIEXPR\fP messages carbon-copied to \fIEXPR\fP
378 ~C \fIEXPR\fP message is either to: or cc: \fIEXPR\fP
380 ~d \fIMIN\fP-\fIMAX\fP messages with \(lqdate-sent\(rq in a Date range
382 ~e \fIEXPR\fP message which contains \fIEXPR\fP in the \(lqSender\(rq field
384 ~f \fIEXPR\fP messages originating from \fIEXPR\fP
385 ~g PGP signed messages
386 ~G PGP encrypted messages
387 ~h \fIEXPR\fP messages which contain \fIEXPR\fP in the message header
388 ~k message contains PGP key material
389 ~i \fIEXPR\fP message which match \fIEXPR\fP in the \(lqMessage-ID\(rq field
390 ~L \fIEXPR\fP message is either originated or received by \fIEXPR\fP
391 ~l message is addressed to a known mailing list
392 ~m \fIMIN\fP-\fIMAX\fP message in the range \fIMIN\fP to \fIMAX\fP
393 ~n \fIMIN\fP-\fIMAX\fP messages with a score in the range \fIMIN\fP to \fIMAX\fP
396 ~p message is addressed to you (consults $alternates)
397 ~P message is from you (consults $alternates)
398 ~Q messages which have been replied to
400 ~r \fIMIN\fP-\fIMAX\fP messages with \(lqdate-received\(rq in a Date range
401 ~S superseded messages
402 ~s \fIEXPR\fP messages having \fIEXPR\fP in the \(lqSubject\(rq field.
404 ~t \fIEXPR\fP messages addressed to \fIEXPR\fP
406 ~v message is part of a collapsed thread.
407 ~x \fIEXPR\fP messages which contain \fIEXPR\fP in the \(lqReferences\(rq field
408 ~z \fIMIN\fP-\fIMAX\fP messages with a size in the range \fIMIN\fP to \fIMAX\fP
409 ~= duplicated messages (see $duplicate_threads)
412 In the above, \fIEXPR\fP is a regular expression.
414 With the \fB~m\fP, \fB~n\fP, and \fB~z\fP operators, you can also
415 specify ranges in the forms \fB<\fP\fIMAX\fP, \fB>\fP\fIMIN\fP,
416 \fIMIN\fP\fB-\fP, and \fB-\fP\fIMAX\fP.
419 The \fB~d\fP and \fB~r\fP operators are used to match date ranges,
420 which are interpreted to be given in your local time zone.
422 A date is of the form
423 \fIDD\fP[\fB/\fP\fIMM\fP[\fB/\fP[\fIcc\fP]\fIYY\fP]], that is, a
424 two-digit date, optionally followed by a two-digit month, optionally
425 followed by a year specifications. Omitted fields default to the
426 current month and year.
428 Mutt understands either two or four digit year specifications. When
429 given a two-digit year, mutt will interpret values less than 70 as
430 lying in the 21st century (i.e., \(lq38\(rq means 2038 and not 1938,
431 and \(lq00\(rq is interpreted as 2000), and values
432 greater than or equal to 70 as lying in the 20th century.
434 Note that this behaviour \fIis\fP Y2K compliant, but that mutt
435 \fIdoes\fP have a Y2.07K problem.
437 If a date range consists of a single date, the operator in question
438 will match that precise date. If the date range consists of a dash
439 (\(lq\fB-\fP\(rq), followed by a date, this range will match any
440 date before and up to the date given. Similarly, a date followed by
441 a dash matches the date given and any later point of time. Two
442 dates, separated by a dash, match any date which lies in the given
445 You can also modify any absolute date by giving an error range. An
446 error range consists of one of the characters
450 followed by a positive number, followed by one of the unit
456 specifying a unit of years, months, weeks, or days.
458 increases the maximum date matched by the given interval of time,
460 decreases the minimum date matched by the given interval of time, and
462 increases the maximum date and decreases the minimum date matched by
463 the given interval of time. It is possible to give multiple error
464 margins, which cumulate. Example:
465 .B "1/1/2001-1w+2w*3d"
467 You can also specify offsets relative to the current date. An
468 offset is specified as one of the characters
472 followed by a positive number, followed by one of the unit
479 matches dates which are older than the specified amount of time, an
480 offset which begins with the character
482 matches dates which are more recent than the specified amount of time,
483 and an offset which begins with the character
485 matches points of time which are precisely the given amount of time
487 .SH CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
496 If set to \fIyes\fP, when composing messages and no subject is given
497 at the subject prompt, composition will be aborted. If set to
498 \fIno\fP, composing messages with no subject given at the subject
499 prompt will never be aborted.
509 If set to \fIyes\fP, composition will automatically abort after
510 editing the message body if no changes are made to the file (this
511 check only happens after the \fIfirst\fP edit of the file). When set
512 to \fIno\fP, composition will never be aborted.
519 Default: \(lq~/.muttrc\(rq
522 The default file in which to save aliases created by the
523 \(lqcreate-alias\(rq function.
525 \fBNote:\fP Mutt will not automatically source this file; you must
526 explicitly use the \(lqsource\(rq command for it to be executed.
533 Default: \(lq%4n %2f %t %-10a %r\(rq
536 Specifies the format of the data displayed for the `alias' menu. The
537 following printf(3)-style sequences are available:
545 flags - currently, a \(rqd\(rq for an alias marked for deletion
551 address which alias expands to
554 character which indicates if the alias is tagged for inclusion
565 Controls whether 8-bit data is converted to 7-bit using either Quoted-
566 Printable or Base64 encoding when sending mail.
576 Controls whether ANSI color codes in messages (and color tags in
577 rich text messages) are to be interpreted.
578 Messages containing these codes are rare, but if this option is set,
579 their text will be colored accordingly. Note that this may override
580 your color choices, and even present a security problem, since a
581 message could include a line like \(rq[-- PGP output follows ...\(rq and
582 give it the same color as your attachment color.
592 When set, an arrow (\(lq->\(rq) will be used to indicate the current entry
593 in menus instead of highlighting the whole line. On slow network or modem
594 links this will make response faster because there is less that has to
595 be redrawn on the screen when moving to the next or previous entries
606 If set, Mutt will use plain ASCII characters when displaying thread
607 and attachment trees, instead of the default \fIACS\fP characters.
617 If set, Mutt will prompt you for blind-carbon-copy (Bcc) recipients
618 before editing an outgoing message.
628 If set, Mutt will prompt you for carbon-copy (Cc) recipients before
629 editing the body of an outgoing message.
639 If set, Mutt will prompt you for follow-up groups before editing
640 the body of an outgoing message.
650 If set, Mutt will prompt you for x-comment-to field before editing
651 the body of an outgoing message.
658 Default: \(lq%u%D%I %t%4n %T%.40d%> [%.7m/%.10M, %.6e%?C?, %C?, %s] \(rq
661 This variable describes the format of the `attachment' menu. The
662 following printf-style sequences are understood:
670 reqiures charset conversion (n or c)
679 MIME content-transfer-encoding
685 disposition (I=inline, A=attachment)
703 graphic tree characters
706 unlink (=to delete) flag
709 right justify the rest of the string and pad with character \(rqX\(rq
712 pad to the end of the line with character \(rqX\(rq
723 The separator to add between attachments when operating (saving,
724 printing, piping, etc) on a list of tagged attachments.
734 If this variable is unset, when operating (saving, printing, piping,
735 etc) on a list of tagged attachments, Mutt will concatenate the
736 attachments and will operate on them as a single attachment. The
737 \(lq$attach_sep\(rq separator is added after each attachment. When set,
738 Mutt will operate on the attachments one by one.
745 Default: \(lqOn %d, %n wrote:\(rq
748 This is the string that will precede a message which has been included
749 in a reply. For a full listing of defined printf()-like sequences see
750 the section on \(lq$index_format\(rq.
760 When set along with \(lq$edit_headers\(rq, Mutt will skip the initial
761 send-menu and allow you to immediately begin editing the body of your
762 message. The send-menu may still be accessed once you have finished
763 editing the body of your message.
765 Also see \(lq$fast_reply\(rq.
775 When set, functions in the \fIindex\fP menu which affect a message
776 will be applied to all tagged messages (if there are any). When
777 unset, you must first use the tag-prefix function (default: \(rq;\(rq) to
778 make the next function apply to all tagged messages.
788 When this variable is set, mutt will beep when an error occurs.
798 When this variable is set, mutt will beep whenever it prints a message
799 notifying you of new mail. This is independent of the setting of the
800 \(lq$beep\(rq variable.
810 Controls whether you will be asked to confirm bouncing messages.
811 If set to \fIyes\fP you don't get asked if you want to bounce a
812 message. Setting this variable to \fIno\fP is not generally useful,
813 and thus not recommended, because you are unable to bounce messages.
823 When this variable is set, mutt will include Delivered-To headers when
824 bouncing messages. Postfix users may wish to unset this variable.
834 If this variable is \fIset\fP, Mutt will mark all articles in newsgroup
835 as read when you quit the newsgroup (catchup newsgroup).
845 Character set your terminal uses to display and enter textual data.
855 \fBNote:\fP this option only affects \fImaildir\fP and \fIMH\fP style
858 When \fIset\fP, Mutt will check for new mail delivered while the
859 mailbox is open. Especially with MH mailboxes, this operation can
860 take quite some time since it involves scanning the directory and
861 checking each file to see if it has already been looked at. If
862 \fIcheck_new\fP is \fIunset\fP, no check for new mail is performed
863 while the mailbox is open.
873 When \fIunset\fP, Mutt will not collapse a thread if it contains any
884 When \fIset\fP, Mutt will jump to the next unread message, if any,
885 when the current thread is \fIun\fPcollapsed.
892 Default: \(lq-- Mutt: Compose [Approx. msg size: %l Atts: %a]%>-\(rq
895 Controls the format of the status line displayed in the \\fCompose\fP
896 menu. This string is similar to \(lq$status_format\(rq, but has its own
897 set of printf()-like sequences:
902 total number of attachments
908 approximate size (in bytes) of the current message
915 See the text describing the \(lq$status_format\(rq option for more
916 information on how to set \(lq$compose_format\(rq.
926 When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when appending messages to
937 When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when saving messages to a
938 mailbox which does not yet exist before creating it.
948 Causes Mutt to timeout a network connection (for IMAP or POP) after this
949 many seconds if the connection is not able to be established. A negative
950 value causes Mutt to wait indefinitely for the connection to succeed.
957 Default: \(lqtext/plain\(rq
960 Sets the default Content-Type for the body of newly composed messages.
970 This variable controls whether or not copies of your outgoing messages
971 will be saved for later references. Also see \(lq$record\(rq,
972 \(lq$save_name\(rq, \(lq$force_name\(rq and \(lqfcc-hook\(rq.
982 This variable controls whether or not mutt may automatically enable
983 PGP encryption/signing for messages. See also \(lq$crypt_autoencrypt\(rq,
984 \(lq$crypt_replyencrypt\(rq,
985 \(lq$crypt_autosign\(rq, \(lq$crypt_replysign\(rq and \(lq$smime_is_default\(rq.
995 This variable controls whether or not mutt may automatically enable
996 S/MIME encryption/signing for messages. See also \(lq$crypt_autoencrypt\(rq,
997 \(lq$crypt_replyencrypt\(rq,
998 \(lq$crypt_autosign\(rq, \(lq$crypt_replysign\(rq and \(lq$smime_is_default\(rq.
1005 Default: \(lq!%a, %b %d, %Y at %I:%M:%S%p %Z\(rq
1008 This variable controls the format of the date printed by the \(lq%d\(rq
1009 sequence in \(lq$index_format\(rq. This is passed to the \fIstrftime\fP
1010 call to process the date. See the man page for \fIstrftime(3)\fP for
1013 Unless the first character in the string is a bang (\(lq!\(rq), the month
1014 and week day names are expanded according to the locale specified in
1015 the variable \(lq$locale\(rq. If the first character in the string is a
1016 bang, the bang is discarded, and the month and week day names in the
1017 rest of the string are expanded in the \fIC\fP locale (that is in US
1025 Default: \(lq~f %s !~P | (~P ~C %s)\(rq
1028 This variable controls how send-hooks, message-hooks, save-hooks,
1030 be interpreted if they are specified with only a simple regexp,
1031 instead of a matching pattern. The hooks are expanded when they are
1032 declared, so a hook will be interpreted according to the value of this
1033 variable at the time the hook is declared. The default value matches
1034 if the message is either from a user matching the regular expression
1035 given, or if it is from you (if the from address matches
1036 \(lqalternates\(rq) and is to or cc'ed to a user matching the given
1047 Controls whether or not messages are really deleted when closing or
1048 synchronizing a mailbox. If set to \fIyes\fP, messages marked for
1049 deleting will automatically be purged without prompting. If set to
1050 \fIno\fP, messages marked for deletion will be kept in the mailbox.
1060 If this option is \fIset\fP, mutt will untag messages when marking them
1061 for deletion. This applies when you either explicitly delete a message,
1062 or when you save it to another folder.
1072 If this option is \fIset\fP, mutt's revattach menu will not show the subparts of
1073 individual messages in a digest. To see these subparts, press 'v' on that menu.
1083 When set, specifies a command used to filter messages. When a message
1084 is viewed it is passed as standard input to $display_filter, and the
1085 filtered message is read from the standard output.
1092 Default: \(lq/usr/local/bin/mutt_dotlock\(rq
1095 Contains the path of the mutt_dotlock (8) binary to be used by
1106 \fBNote:\fP you should not enable this unless you are using Sendmail
1109 This variable sets the request for when notification is returned. The
1110 string consists of a comma separated list (no spaces!) of one or more
1111 of the following: \fInever\fP, to never request notification,
1112 \fIfailure\fP, to request notification on transmission failure,
1113 \fIdelay\fP, to be notified of message delays, \fIsuccess\fP, to be
1114 notified of successful transmission.
1116 Example: set dsn_notify=\(rqfailure,delay\(rq
1126 \fBNote:\fP you should not enable this unless you are using Sendmail
1129 This variable controls how much of your message is returned in DSN
1130 messages. It may be set to either \fIhdrs\fP to return just the
1131 message header, or \fIfull\fP to return the full message.
1133 Example: set dsn_return=hdrs
1137 .B duplicate_threads
1143 This variable controls whether mutt, when sorting by threads, threads
1144 messages with the same message-id together. If it is set, it will indicate
1145 that it thinks they are duplicates of each other with an equals sign
1146 in the thread diagram.
1156 This option allows you to edit the header of your outgoing messages
1157 along with the body of your message.
1167 This variable specifies which editor is used by mutt.
1168 It defaults to the value of the VISUAL, or EDITOR, environment
1169 variable, or to the string \(rqvi\(rq if neither of those are set.
1179 When \fIset\fP, mutt will quoted-printable encode messages when
1180 they contain the string \(rqFrom \(rq in the beginning of a line.
1181 Useful to avoid the tampering certain mail delivery and transport
1182 agents tend to do with messages.
1192 When \fIset\fP, mutt will try to derive the message's \fIenvelope\fP
1193 sender from the \(rqFrom:\(rq header. Note that this information is passed
1194 to sendmail command using the \(rq-f\(rq command line switch, so don't set this
1195 option if you are using that switch in $sendmail yourself,
1196 or if the sendmail on your machine doesn't support that command
1207 Escape character to use for functions in the builtin editor.
1217 When set, the initial prompt for recipients and subject are skipped
1218 when replying to messages, and the initial prompt for subject is
1219 skipped when forwarding messages.
1221 \fBNote:\fP this variable has no effect when the \(lq$autoedit\(rq
1232 This variable controls whether or not attachments on outgoing messages
1233 are saved along with the main body of your message.
1243 When this variable is set, FCCs will be stored unencrypted and
1244 unsigned, even when the actual message is encrypted and/or
1253 Default: \(lq~/Mail\(rq
1256 Specifies the default location of your mailboxes. A `+' or `=' at the
1257 beginning of a pathname will be expanded to the value of this
1258 variable. Note that if you change this variable from the default
1259 value you need to make sure that the assignment occurs \fIbefore\fP
1260 you use `+' or `=' for any other variables since expansion takes place
1261 during the `set' command.
1268 Default: \(lq%2C %t %N %F %2l %-8.8u %-8.8g %8s %d %f\(rq
1271 This variable allows you to customize the file browser display to your
1272 personal taste. This string is similar to \(lq$index_format\(rq, but has
1273 its own set of printf()-like sequences:
1281 date/time folder was last modified
1290 group name (or numeric gid, if missing)
1293 number of hard links
1296 N if folder has new mail, blank otherwise
1302 * if the file is tagged, blank otherwise
1305 owner name (or numeric uid, if missing)
1308 right justify the rest of the string and pad with character \(rqX\(rq
1311 pad to the end of the line with character \(rqX\(rq
1322 Controls whether or not the \fIMail-Followup-To\fP header field is
1323 generated when sending mail. When \fIset\fP, Mutt will generate this
1324 field when you are replying to a known mailing list, specified with
1325 the \(lqsubscribe\(rq or \(lqlists\(rq commands.
1327 This field has two purposes. First, preventing you from
1328 receiving duplicate copies of replies to messages which you send
1329 to mailing lists, and second, ensuring that you do get a reply
1330 separately for any messages sent to known lists to which you are
1331 not subscribed. The header will contain only the list's address
1332 for subscribed lists, and both the list address and your own
1333 email address for unsubscribed lists. Without this header, a
1334 group reply to your message sent to a subscribed list will be
1335 sent to both the list and your address, resulting in two copies
1336 of the same email for you.
1340 .B followup_to_poster
1346 If this variable is \fIset\fP and the keyword \(rqposter\(rq is present in
1347 \fIFollowup-To\fP header, follow-up to newsgroup function is not
1348 permitted. The message will be mailed to the submitter of the
1359 This variable is similar to \(lq$save_name\(rq, except that Mutt will
1360 store a copy of your outgoing message by the username of the address
1361 you are sending to even if that mailbox does not exist.
1363 Also see the \(lq$record\(rq variable.
1373 Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain when
1374 forwarding a message. The message header is also RFC2047 decoded.
1375 This variable is only used, if \(lq$mime_forward\(rq is \fIunset\fP,
1376 otherwise \(lq$mime_forward_decode\(rq is used instead.
1386 This quadoption controls whether or not the user is automatically
1387 placed in the editor when forwarding messages. For those who always want
1388 to forward with no modification, use a setting of \(lqno\(rq.
1395 Default: \(lq[%a: %s]\(rq
1398 This variable controls the default subject when forwarding a message.
1399 It uses the same format sequences as the \(lq$index_format\(rq variable.
1409 When \fIset\fP forwarded messages included in the main body of the
1410 message (when \(lq$mime_forward\(rq is \fIunset\fP) will be quoted using
1411 \(lq$indent_string\(rq.
1417 Type: e-mail address
1421 When set, this variable contains a default from address. It
1422 can be overridden using my_hdr (including from send-hooks) and
1423 \(lq$reverse_name\(rq. This variable is ignored if \(lq$use_from\(rq
1426 Defaults to the contents of the environment variable EMAIL.
1432 Type: regular expression
1433 Default: \(lq^[^,]*\(rq
1436 A regular expression used by mutt to parse the GECOS field of a password
1437 entry when expanding the alias. By default the regular expression is set
1438 to \(rq^[^,]*\(rq which will return the string up to the first \(rq,\(rq encountered.
1439 If the GECOS field contains a string like \(rqlastname, firstname\(rq then you
1440 should set the gecos_mask=\(rq.*\(rq.
1442 This can be useful if you see the following behavior: you address a e-mail
1443 to user ID stevef whose full name is Steve Franklin. If mutt expands
1444 stevef to \(rqFranklin\(rq stevef@foo.bar then you should set the gecos_mask to
1445 a regular expression that will match the whole name so mutt will expand
1446 \(rqFranklin\(rq to \(rqFranklin, Steve\(rq.
1450 .B group_index_format
1453 Default: \(lq%4C %M%N %5s %-45.45f %d\(rq
1456 This variable allows you to customize the newsgroup browser display to
1457 your personal taste. This string is similar to \(lqindex_format\(rq, but
1458 has its own set of printf()-like sequences:
1466 %C current newsgroup number
1467 %d description of newsgroup (becomes from server)
1469 %M - if newsgroup not allowed for direct post (moderated for example)
1470 %N N if newsgroup is new, u if unsubscribed, blank otherwise
1471 %n number of new articles in newsgroup
1472 %s number of unread articles in newsgroup
1473 %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with character \(rqX\(rq
1474 %|X pad to the end of the line with character \(rqX\(rq
1489 When unset, the header fields normally added by the \(lqmy_hdr\(rq
1490 command are not created. This variable \fImust\fP be unset before
1491 composing a new message or replying in order to take effect. If set,
1492 the user defined header fields are added to every new message.
1502 When set, this variable causes Mutt to include the header
1503 of the message you are replying to into the edit buffer.
1504 The \(lq$weed\(rq setting applies.
1514 When set, help lines describing the bindings for the major functions
1515 provided by each menu are displayed on the first line of the screen.
1517 \fBNote:\fP The binding will not be displayed correctly if the
1518 function is bound to a sequence rather than a single keystroke. Also,
1519 the help line may not be updated if a binding is changed while Mutt is
1520 running. Since this variable is primarily aimed at new users, neither
1521 of these should present a major problem.
1531 When set, mutt will skip the host name part of \(lq$hostname\(rq variable
1532 when adding the domain part to addresses. This variable does not
1533 affect the generation of Message-IDs, and it will not lead to the
1534 cut-off of first-level domains.
1544 When set, mutt will not show the presence of messages that are hidden
1545 by limiting, in the thread tree.
1555 When set, mutt will not show the presence of missing messages in the
1566 When set, mutt will not show the presence of messages that are hidden
1567 by limiting, at the top of threads in the thread tree. Note that when
1568 $hide_missing is set, this option will have no effect.
1578 When set, mutt will not show the presence of missing messages at the
1579 top of threads in the thread tree. Note that when $hide_limited is
1580 set, this option will have no effect.
1590 This variable controls the size (in number of strings remembered) of
1591 the string history buffer. The buffer is cleared each time the
1596 .B honor_followup_to
1602 This variable controls whether or not a Mail-Followup-To header is
1603 honored when group-replying to a message.
1613 Specifies the hostname to use after the \(lq@\(rq in local e-mail
1614 addresses. This overrides the compile time definition obtained from
1619 .B ignore_list_reply_to
1625 Affects the behaviour of the \fIreply\fP function when replying to
1626 messages from mailing lists. When set, if the \(lqReply-To:\(rq field is
1627 set to the same value as the \(lqTo:\(rq field, Mutt assumes that the
1628 \(lqReply-To:\(rq field was set by the mailing list to automate responses
1629 to the list, and will ignore this field. To direct a response to the
1630 mailing list when this option is set, use the \fIlist-reply\fP
1631 function; \fIgroup-reply\fP will reply to both the sender and the
1636 .B imap_authenticators
1642 This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt may
1643 attempt to use to log in to an IMAP server, in the order mutt should
1644 try them. Authentication methods are either 'login' or the right
1645 side of an IMAP 'AUTH=xxx' capability string, eg 'digest-md5',
1646 'gssapi' or 'cram-md5'. This parameter is case-insensitive. If this
1647 parameter is unset (the default) mutt will try all available methods,
1648 in order from most-secure to least-secure.
1650 Example: set imap_authenticators=\(rqgssapi:cram-md5:login\(rq
1652 \fBNote:\fP Mutt will only fall back to other authentication methods if
1653 the previous methods are unavailable. If a method is available but
1654 authentication fails, mutt will not connect to the IMAP server.
1664 This contains the list of characters which you would like to treat
1665 as folder separators for displaying IMAP paths. In particular it
1666 helps in using the '=' shortcut for your \fIfolder\fP variable.
1676 If this variable is set, Mutt will always use SSL when
1677 connecting to IMAP servers.
1681 .B imap_home_namespace
1687 You normally want to see your personal folders alongside
1688 your INBOX in the IMAP browser. If you see something else, you may set
1689 this variable to the IMAP path to your folders.
1699 This variable specifies the maximum amount of time in seconds that mutt
1700 will wait before polling open IMAP connections, to prevent the server
1701 from closing them before mutt has finished with them. The default is
1702 well within the RFC-specified minimum amount of time (30 minutes) before
1703 a server is allowed to do this, but in practice the RFC does get
1704 violated every now and then. Reduce this number if you find yourself
1705 getting disconnected from your IMAP server due to inactivity.
1709 .B imap_list_subscribed
1715 This variable configures whether IMAP folder browsing will look for
1716 only subscribed folders or all folders. This can be toggled in the
1717 IMAP browser with the \fItoggle-subscribed\fP function.
1727 Specifies the password for your IMAP account. If unset, Mutt will
1728 prompt you for your password when you invoke the fetch-mail function.
1729 \fBWarning\fP: you should only use this option when you are on a
1730 fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your muttrc even
1731 if you are the only one who can read the file.
1741 When set, mutt will not open new IMAP connections to check for new
1742 mail. Mutt will only check for new mail over existing IMAP
1743 connections. This is useful if you don't want to be prompted to
1744 user/password pairs on mutt invocation, or if opening the connection
1755 If set, mutt will avoid implicitly marking your mail as read whenever
1756 you fetch a message from the server. This is generally a good thing,
1757 but can make closing an IMAP folder somewhat slower. This option
1758 exists to appease speed freaks.
1768 When set, mutt will display warning messages from the IMAP
1769 server as error messages. Since these messages are often
1770 harmless, or generated due to configuration problems on the
1771 server which are out of the users' hands, you may wish to suppress
1782 Your login name on the IMAP server.
1784 This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
1788 .B implicit_autoview
1794 If set to \(lqyes\(rq, mutt will look for a mailcap entry with the
1795 copiousoutput flag set for \fIevery\fP MIME attachment it doesn't have
1796 an internal viewer defined for. If such an entry is found, mutt will
1797 use the viewer defined in that entry to convert the body part to text
1808 Controls whether or not a copy of the message(s) you are replying to
1809 is included in your reply.
1819 Specifies the string to prepend to each line of text quoted in a
1820 message to which you are replying. You are strongly encouraged not to
1821 change this value, as it tends to agitate the more fanatical netizens.
1828 Default: \(lq%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%?l?%4l&%4c?) %s\(rq
1831 This variable allows you to customize the message index display to
1832 your personal taste.
1834 \(lqFormat strings\(rq are similar to the strings used in the \(lqC\(rq
1835 function printf to format output (see the man page for more detail).
1836 The following sequences are defined in Mutt:
1841 address of the author
1844 reply-to address (if present; otherwise: address of author)
1847 filename of the original message folder (think mailBox)
1850 the list to which the letter was sent, or else the folder name (%b).
1853 number of characters (bytes) in the message
1856 current message number
1859 date and time of the message in the format specified by
1860 \(lqdate_format\(rq converted to sender's time zone
1863 date and time of the message in the format specified by
1864 \(lqdate_format\(rq converted to the local time zone
1867 current message number in thread
1870 number of messages in current thread
1873 entire From: line (address + real name)
1876 author name, or recipient name if the message is from you
1879 newsgroup name (if compiled with nntp support)
1882 message-id of the current message
1885 number of lines in the message (does not work with maildir,
1886 mh, and possibly IMAP folders)
1889 If an address in the To or CC header field matches an address
1890 defined by the users \(lqsubscribe\(rq command, this displays
1891 \(rqTo <list-name>\(rq, otherwise the same as %F.
1894 total number of message in the mailbox
1897 number of hidden messages if the thread is collapsed.
1903 author's real name (or address if missing)
1906 (_O_riginal save folder) Where mutt would formerly have
1907 stashed the message: list name or recipient name if no list
1910 subject of the message
1913 status of the message (N/D/d/!/r/*)
1916 `to:' field (recipients)
1919 the appropriate character from the $to_chars string
1922 user (login) name of the author
1925 first name of the author, or the recipient if the message is from you
1928 name of organization of author (`organization:' field)
1931 `x-label:' field, if present
1934 `x-label' field, if present, and (1) not at part of a thread tree,
1935 (2) at the top of a thread, or (3) `x-label' is different from
1936 preceding message's `x-label'.
1939 message status flags
1942 the date and time of the message is converted to sender's
1943 time zone, and \(lqfmt\(rq is expanded by the library function
1944 \(lqstrftime\(rq; a leading bang disables locales
1947 the date and time of the message is converted to the local
1948 time zone, and \(lqfmt\(rq is expanded by the library function
1949 \(lqstrftime\(rq; a leading bang disables locales
1952 the local date and time when the message was received.
1953 \(lqfmt\(rq is expanded by the library function \(lqstrftime\(rq;
1954 a leading bang disables locales
1957 the current local time. \(lqfmt\(rq is expanded by the library
1958 function \(lqstrftime\(rq; a leading bang disables locales.
1961 right justify the rest of the string and pad with character \(rqX\(rq
1964 pad to the end of the line with character \(rqX\(rq
1968 See also: \(lq$to_chars\(rq.
1978 If set, specifies the program and arguments used to deliver news posted
1979 by Mutt. Otherwise, mutt posts article using current connection to
1980 news server. The following printf-style sequence is understood:
1995 Example: set inews=\(rq/usr/local/bin/inews -hS\(rq
2002 Default: \(lq/usr/bin/ispell\(rq
2005 How to invoke ispell (GNU's spell-checking software).
2015 If set, read messages marked as flagged will not be moved
2016 from your spool mailbox to your \(lq$mbox\(rq mailbox, or as a result of
2017 a \(lqmbox-hook\(rq command.
2027 The locale used by \fIstrftime(3)\fP to format dates. Legal values are
2028 the strings your system accepts for the locale variable \fILC_TIME\fP.
2038 When set, address replies to the mailing list the original message came
2039 from (instead to the author only). Setting this option to \(lqask-yes\(rq or
2040 \(lqask-no\(rq will ask if you really intended to reply to the author only.
2050 This variable configures how often (in seconds) mutt should look for
2061 This variable specifies which files to consult when attempting to
2062 display MIME bodies not directly supported by Mutt.
2072 If set, mutt will restrict possible characters in mailcap % expandos
2073 to a well-defined set of safe characters. This is the safe setting,
2074 but we are not sure it doesn't break some more advanced MIME stuff.
2076 \fBDON'T CHANGE THIS SETTING UNLESS YOU ARE REALLY SURE WHAT YOU ARE
2087 If set, messages marked as deleted will be saved with the maildir
2088 (T)rashed flag instead of unlinked. \fBNOTE:\fP this only applies
2089 to maildir-style mailboxes. Setting it will have no effect on other
2100 Controls whether or not mutt marks \fInew\fP \fBunread\fP
2101 messages as \fIold\fP if you exit a mailbox without reading them.
2102 With this option set, the next time you start mutt, the messages
2103 will show up with an \(rqO\(rq next to them in the index menu,
2104 indicating that they are old.
2114 Controls the display of wrapped lines in the internal pager. If set, a
2115 \(lq+\(rq marker is displayed at the beginning of wrapped lines. Also see
2116 the \(lq$smart_wrap\(rq variable.
2122 Type: regular expression
2123 Default: \(lq!^\\.[^.]\(rq
2126 A regular expression used in the file browser, optionally preceded by
2127 the \fInot\fP operator \(lq!\(rq. Only files whose names match this mask
2128 will be shown. The match is always case-sensitive.
2135 Default: \(lq~/mbox\(rq
2138 This specifies the folder into which read mail in your \(lq$spoolfile\(rq
2139 folder will be appended.
2149 This specifies whether or not to show the mailbox list pane.
2159 The width of the mailbox list pane (left sidebar like in GUIs).
2169 The default mailbox type used when creating new folders. May be any of
2170 mbox, MMDF, MH and Maildir.
2180 If unset, Mutt will remove your address (see the \(lqalternates\(rq
2181 command) from the list of recipients when replying to a message.
2191 When \fIset\fP, menus will be scrolled up or down one line when you
2192 attempt to move across a screen boundary. If \fIunset\fP, the screen
2193 is cleared and the next or previous page of the menu is displayed
2194 (useful for slow links to avoid many redraws).
2204 If set, forces Mutt to interpret keystrokes with the high bit (bit 8)
2205 set as if the user had pressed the ESC key and whatever key remains
2206 after having the high bit removed. For example, if the key pressed
2207 has an ASCII value of 0xf4, then this is treated as if the user had
2208 pressed ESC then \(lqx\(rq. This is because the result of removing the
2209 high bit from \(lq0xf4\(rq is \(lq0x74\(rq, which is the ASCII character
2220 When unset, mutt will mimic mh's behaviour and rename deleted messages
2221 to \fI,<old file name>\fP in mh folders instead of really deleting
2222 them. If the variable is set, the message files will simply be
2230 Default: \(lqflagged\(rq
2233 The name of the MH sequence used for flagged messages.
2240 Default: \(lqreplied\(rq
2243 The name of the MH sequence used to tag replied messages.
2250 Default: \(lqunseen\(rq
2253 The name of the MH sequence used for unseen messages.
2263 When set, the message you are forwarding will be attached as a
2264 separate MIME part instead of included in the main body of the
2265 message. This is useful for forwarding MIME messages so the receiver
2266 can properly view the message as it was delivered to you. If you like
2267 to switch between MIME and not MIME from mail to mail, set this
2268 variable to ask-no or ask-yes.
2270 Also see \(lq$forward_decode\(rq and \(lq$mime_forward_decode\(rq.
2274 .B mime_forward_decode
2280 Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain when
2281 forwarding a message while \(lq$mime_forward\(rq is \fIset\fP. Otherwise
2282 \(lq$forward_decode\(rq is used instead.
2286 .B mime_forward_rest
2292 When forwarding multiple attachments of a MIME message from the recvattach
2293 menu, attachments which cannot be decoded in a reasonable manner will
2294 be attached to the newly composed message if this option is set.
2304 If \fIunset\fP, 8-bit \(lqsubject:\(rq line in article header will not be
2305 encoded according to RFC2047 to base64. This is useful when message
2306 is Usenet article, because MIME for news is nonstandard feature.
2313 Default: \(lq%4n %c %-16s %a\(rq
2316 This variable describes the format of a remailer line on the mixmaster
2317 chain selection screen. The following printf-like sequences are
2323 The running number on the menu.
2326 Remailer capabilities.
2329 The remailer's short name.
2332 The remailer's e-mail address.
2340 Default: \(lqmixmaster\(rq
2343 This variable contains the path to the Mixmaster binary on your
2344 system. It is used with various sets of parameters to gather the
2345 list of known remailers, and to finally send a message through the
2356 Controls whether you will be asked to confirm moving read messages
2357 from your spool mailbox to your \(lq$mbox\(rq mailbox, or as a result of
2358 a \(lqmbox-hook\(rq command.
2368 This is the string displayed in the \(lqattachment\(rq menu for
2369 attachments of type message/rfc822. For a full listing of defined
2370 printf()-like sequences see the section on \(lq$index_format\(rq.
2380 This variable, when set, makes the thread tree narrower, allowing
2381 deeper threads to fit on the screen.
2388 Default: \(lq~/.mutt\(rq
2391 This variable pointing to directory where Mutt will save cached news
2392 articles headers in. If \fIunset\fP, headers will not be saved at all
2393 and will be reloaded each time when you enter to newsgroup.
2403 This variable specifies domain name or address of NNTP server. It
2404 defaults to the newsserver specified in the environment variable
2405 $NNTPSERVER or contained in the file /etc/nntpserver. You can also
2406 specify username and an alternative port for each newsserver, ie:
2408 [nntp[s]://][username[:password]@]newsserver[:port]
2415 Default: \(lq~/.newsrc\(rq
2418 The file, containing info about subscribed newsgroups - names and
2419 indexes of read articles. The following printf-style sequence
2443 This variable defines number of articles which will be in index when
2444 newsgroup entered. If active newsgroup have more articles than this
2445 number, oldest articles will be ignored. Also controls how many
2446 articles headers will be saved in cache when you quit newsgroup.
2450 .B nntp_load_description
2456 This variable controls whether or not descriptions for each newsgroup
2457 must be loaded when newsgroup is added to list (first time list
2458 loading or new newsgroup adding).
2468 Your login name on the NNTP server. If \fIunset\fP and NNTP server requires
2469 authentification, Mutt will prompt you for your account name when you
2470 connect to newsserver.
2480 Your password for NNTP account.
2490 The time in seconds until any operations on newsgroup except post new
2491 article will cause recheck for new news. If set to 0, Mutt will
2492 recheck newsgroup on each operation in index (stepping, read article,
2503 Controls whether or not Mutt will try to reconnect to newsserver when
2511 Default: \(lqbuiltin\(rq
2514 This variable specifies which pager you would like to use to view
2515 messages. builtin means to use the builtin pager, otherwise this
2516 variable should specify the pathname of the external pager you would
2519 Using an external pager may have some disadvantages: Additional
2520 keystrokes are necessary because you can't call mutt functions
2521 directly from the pager, and screen resizes cause lines longer than
2522 the screen width to be badly formatted in the help menu.
2532 This variable controls the number of lines of context that are given
2533 when displaying the next or previous page in the internal pager. By
2534 default, Mutt will display the line after the last one on the screen
2535 at the top of the next page (0 lines of context).
2542 Default: \(lq-%Z- %C/%m: %-20.20n %s\(rq
2545 This variable controls the format of the one-line message \(lqstatus\(rq
2546 displayed before each message in either the internal or an external
2547 pager. The valid sequences are listed in the \(lq$index_format\(rq
2552 .B pager_index_lines
2558 Determines the number of lines of a mini-index which is shown when in
2559 the pager. The current message, unless near the top or bottom of the
2560 folder, will be roughly one third of the way down this mini-index,
2561 giving the reader the context of a few messages before and after the
2562 message. This is useful, for example, to determine how many messages
2563 remain to be read in the current thread. One of the lines is reserved
2564 for the status bar from the index, so a \fIpager_index_lines\fP of 6
2565 will only show 5 lines of the actual index. A value of 0 results in
2566 no index being shown. If the number of messages in the current folder
2567 is less than \fIpager_index_lines\fP, then the index will only use as
2568 many lines as it needs.
2578 When set, the internal-pager will \fBnot\fP move to the next message
2579 when you are at the end of a message and invoke the \fInext-page\fP
2590 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to
2591 cryptographically sign outgoing messages. This can be overridden
2592 by use of the \fIpgp-menu\fP, when signing is not required or
2593 encryption is requested as well. If \(lq$smime_is_default\(rq is set,
2594 then OpenSSL is used instead to create S/MIME messages and settings can
2595 be overridden by use of the \fIsmime-menu\fP.
2600 .B crypt_autoencrypt
2606 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to PGP
2607 encrypt outgoing messages. This is probably only useful in
2608 connection to the \fIsend-hook\fP command. It can be overridden
2609 by use of the \fIpgp-menu\fP, when encryption is not required or
2610 signing is requested as well. IF \(lq$smime_is_default\(rq is set,
2611 then OpenSSL is used instead to create S/MIME messages and
2612 settings can be overridden by use of the \fIsmime-menu\fP.
2617 .B pgp_ignore_subkeys
2623 Setting this variable will cause Mutt to ignore OpenPGP subkeys. Instead,
2624 the principal key will inherit the subkeys' capabilities. Unset this
2625 if you want to play interesting key selection games.
2630 .B crypt_replyencrypt
2636 If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL encrypt replies to messages which are
2648 If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL sign replies to messages which are
2651 \fBNote:\fP this does not work on messages that are encrypted
2657 .B crypt_replysignencrypted
2663 If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL sign replies to messages
2664 which are encrypted. This makes sense in combination with
2665 \(lq$crypt_replyencrypt\(rq, because it allows you to sign all
2666 messages which are automatically encrypted. This works around
2667 the problem noted in \(lq$crypt_replysign\(rq, that mutt is not able
2668 to find out whether an encrypted message is also signed.
2679 If set, mutt will include a time stamp in the lines surrounding
2680 PGP or S/MIME output, so spoofing such lines is more difficult.
2681 If you are using colors to mark these lines, and rely on these,
2682 you may unset this setting.
2687 .B pgp_use_gpg_agent
2693 If set, mutt will use a possibly-running gpg-agent process.
2704 If \(lqyes\(rq, always attempt to verify PGP or S/MIME signatures.
2705 If \(lqask\(rq, ask whether or not to verify the signature.
2706 If \(lqno\(rq, never attempt to verify cryptographic signatures.
2717 The default behaviour of mutt is to use PGP on all auto-sign/encryption
2718 operations. To override and to use OpenSSL instead this must be set.
2719 However, this has no effect while replying, since mutt will automatically
2720 select the same application that was used to sign/encrypt the original
2721 message. (Note that this variable can be overridden by unsetting $crypt_autosmime.)
2726 .B smime_ask_cert_label
2732 This flag controls whether you want to be asked to enter a label
2733 for a certificate about to be added to the database or not. It is
2739 .B smime_decrypt_use_default_key
2745 If set (default) this tells mutt to use the default key for decryption. Otherwise,
2746 if manage multiple certificate-key-pairs, mutt will try to use the mailbox-address
2747 to determine the key to use. It will ask you to supply a key, if it can't find one.
2755 Default: \(lq%4n %t%f %4l/0x%k %-4a %2c %u\(rq
2758 This variable allows you to customize the PGP key selection menu to
2759 your personal taste. This string is similar to \(lq$index_format\(rq, but
2760 has its own set of printf()-like sequences:
2786 trust/validity of the key-uid association
2789 date of the key where <s> is an strftime(3) expression
2799 Type: regular expression
2803 If you assign a text to this variable, then a PGP signature is only
2804 considered verified if the output from $pgp_verify_command contains
2805 the text. Use this variable if the exit code from the command is 0
2806 even for bad signatures.
2817 If set, mutt will check the exit code of the PGP subprocess when
2818 signing or encrypting. A non-zero exit code means that the
2830 If set, use 64 bit PGP key IDs. Unset uses the normal 32 bit Key IDs.
2835 .B pgp_retainable_sigs
2841 If set, signed and encrypted messages will consist of nested
2842 multipart/signed and multipart/encrypted body parts.
2844 This is useful for applications like encrypted and signed mailing
2845 lists, where the outer layer (multipart/encrypted) can be easily
2846 removed, while the inner multipart/signed part is retained.
2851 .B pgp_show_unusable
2857 If set, mutt will display non-usable keys on the PGP key selection
2858 menu. This includes keys which have been revoked, have expired, or
2859 have been marked as \(lqdisabled\(rq by the user.
2870 If you have more than one key pair, this option allows you to specify
2871 which of your private keys to use. It is recommended that you use the
2872 keyid form to specify your key (e.g., \(lq0x00112233\(rq).
2883 If set, Mutt will automatically encode PGP/MIME signed messages as
2884 \fIquoted-printable\fP. Please note that unsetting this variable may
2885 lead to problems with non-verifyable PGP signatures, so only change
2886 this if you know what you are doing.
2897 The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will expire if
2909 Specifies how the entries in the `pgp keys' menu are sorted. The
2910 following are legal values:
2915 sort alphabetically by user id
2918 sort alphabetically by key id
2921 sort by key creation date
2924 sort by the trust of the key
2928 If you prefer reverse order of the above values, prefix it with
2934 .B pgp_create_traditional
2940 This option controls whether Mutt generates old-style inline PGP
2941 encrypted or signed messages.
2943 Note that PGP/MIME will be used automatically for messages which have
2944 a character set different from us-ascii, or which consist of more than
2947 Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is \fBstrongly\fP
2953 .B pgp_auto_traditional
2959 This option causes Mutt to generate an old-style inline PGP
2960 encrypted or signed message when replying to an old-style
2961 message, and a PGP/MIME message when replying to a PGP/MIME
2962 message. Note that this option is only meaningful when using
2963 \(lq$crypt_replyencrypt\(rq, \(lq$crypt_replysign\(rq, or
2964 \(lq$crypt_replysignencrypted\(rq.
2966 Also note that PGP/MIME will be used automatically for messages
2967 which have a character set different from us-ascii, or which
2968 consist of more than a single MIME part.
2970 This option overrides \(lq$pgp_create_traditional\(rq
2975 .B pgp_decode_command
2981 This format strings specifies a command which is used to decode
2982 application/pgp attachments.
2984 The PGP command formats have their own set of printf-like sequences:
2989 Expands to PGPPASSFD=0 when a pass phrase is needed, to an empty
2990 string otherwise. Note: This may be used with a %? construct.
2993 Expands to the name of a file containing a message.
2996 Expands to the name of a file containing the signature part
2997 of a multipart/signed attachment when verifying it.
3000 The value of $pgp_sign_as.
3003 One or more key IDs.
3007 For examples on how to configure these formats for the various versions
3008 of PGP which are floating around, see the pgp*.rc and gpg.rc files in
3009 the samples/ subdirectory which has been installed on your system
3010 alongside the documentation.
3015 .B pgp_getkeys_command
3021 This command is invoked whenever mutt will need public key information.
3022 %r is the only printf-like sequence used with this format.
3027 .B pgp_verify_command
3033 This command is used to verify PGP signatures.
3038 .B pgp_decrypt_command
3044 This command is used to decrypt a PGP encrypted message.
3049 .B pgp_clearsign_command
3055 This format is used to create a old-style \(rqclearsigned\(rq PGP
3056 message. Note that the use of this format is \fBstrongly\fP
3068 This command is used to create the detached PGP signature for a
3069 multipart/signed PGP/MIME body part.
3074 .B pgp_encrypt_sign_command
3080 This command is used to both sign and encrypt a body part.
3085 .B pgp_encrypt_only_command
3091 This command is used to encrypt a body part without signing it.
3096 .B pgp_import_command
3102 This command is used to import a key from a message into
3103 the user's public key ring.
3108 .B pgp_export_command
3114 This command is used to export a public key from the user's
3120 .B pgp_verify_key_command
3126 This command is used to verify key information from the key selection
3132 .B pgp_list_secring_command
3138 This command is used to list the secret key ring's contents. The
3139 output format must be analogous to the one used by
3140 gpg --list-keys --with-colons.
3142 This format is also generated by the pgpring utility which comes
3148 .B pgp_list_pubring_command
3154 This command is used to list the public key ring's contents. The
3155 output format must be analogous to the one used by
3156 gpg --list-keys --with-colons.
3158 This format is also generated by the pgpring utility which comes
3170 Controls the handling of encrypted messages when forwarding a message.
3171 When set, the outer layer of encryption is stripped off. This
3172 variable is only used if \(lq$mime_forward\(rq is \fIset\fP and
3173 \(lq$mime_forward_decode\(rq is \fIunset\fP.
3184 The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will expire if
3190 .B smime_encrypt_with
3196 This sets the algorithm that should be used for encryption.
3197 Valid choices are \(rqdes\(rq, \(rqdes3\(rq, \(rqrc2-40\(rq, \(rqrc2-64\(rq, \(rqrc2-128\(rq.
3198 If unset \(rq3des\(rq (TripleDES) is used.
3209 Since there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, mutt has to handle
3210 storage ad retrieval of keys/certs by itself. This is very basic right now,
3211 and stores keys and certificates in two different directories, both
3212 named as the hash-value retrieved from OpenSSL. There is an index file
3213 which contains mailbox-address keyid pair, and which can be manually
3214 edited. This one points to the location of the private keys.
3219 .B smime_ca_location
3225 This variable contains the name of either a directory, or a file which
3226 contains trusted certificates for use with OpenSSL.
3231 .B smime_certificates
3237 Since there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, mutt has to handle
3238 storage and retrieval of keys by itself. This is very basic right
3239 now, and keys and certificates are stored in two different
3240 directories, both named as the hash-value retrieved from
3241 OpenSSL. There is an index file which contains mailbox-address
3242 keyid pairs, and which can be manually edited. This one points to
3243 the location of the certificates.
3248 .B smime_decrypt_command
3254 This format string specifies a command which is used to decrypt
3255 application/x-pkcs7-mime attachments.
3257 The OpenSSL command formats have their own set of printf-like sequences
3263 Expands to the name of a file containing a message.
3266 Expands to the name of a file containing the signature part
3267 of a multipart/signed attachment when verifying it.
3270 The key-pair specified with $smime_default_key
3273 One or more certificate IDs.
3276 The algorithm used for encryption.
3279 CA location: Depending on whether $smime_ca_location
3280 points to a directory or file, this expands to
3281 \(rq-CApath $smime_ca_location\(rq or \(rq-CAfile $smime_ca_location\(rq.
3285 For examples on how to configure these formats, see the smime.rc in
3286 the samples/ subdirectory which has been installed on your system
3287 alongside the documentation.
3292 .B smime_verify_command
3298 This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type multipart/signed.
3303 .B smime_verify_opaque_command
3309 This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type
3310 application/x-pkcs7-mime.
3315 .B smime_sign_command
3321 This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type
3322 multipart/signed, which can be read by all mail clients.
3327 .B smime_sign_opaque_command
3333 This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type
3334 application/x-pkcs7-signature, which can only be handled by mail
3335 clients supporting the S/MIME extension.
3340 .B smime_encrypt_command
3346 This command is used to create encrypted S/MIME messages.
3351 .B smime_pk7out_command
3357 This command is used to extract PKCS7 structures of S/MIME signatures,
3358 in order to extract the public X509 certificate(s).
3363 .B smime_get_cert_command
3369 This command is used to extract X509 certificates from a PKCS7 structure.
3374 .B smime_get_signer_cert_command
3380 This command is used to extract only the signers X509 certificate from a S/MIME
3381 signature, so that the certificate's owner may get compared to the email's
3387 .B smime_import_cert_command
3393 This command is used to import a certificate via smime_keys.
3398 .B smime_get_cert_email_command
3404 This command is used to extract the mail address(es) used for storing
3405 X509 certificates, and for verification purposes (to check whether the
3406 certificate was issued for the sender's mailbox).
3411 .B smime_default_key
3417 This is the default key-pair to use for signing. This must be set to the
3418 keyid (the hash-value that OpenSSL generates) to work properly
3423 .B smtp_auth_username
3429 Defines the username to use with SMTP AUTH. Setting this variable will
3430 cause mutt to attempt to use SMTP AUTH when sending.
3434 .B smtp_auth_password
3440 Defines the password to use with SMTP AUTH. If \(lq$smtp_auth_username\(rq
3441 is set, but this variable is not, you will be prompted for a password
3452 Defines the SMTP host which will be used to deliver mail, as opposed
3453 to invoking the sendmail binary. Setting this variable overrides the
3454 value of \(lq$sendmail\(rq, and any associated variables.
3464 Defines the port that the SMTP host is listening on for mail delivery.
3465 Must be specified as a number.
3467 Defaults to 25, the standard SMTP port, but RFC 2476-compliant SMTP
3468 servers will probably desire 587, the mail submission port.
3478 If set (the default), mutt will attempt to use STARTTLS on servers
3479 advertising the capability. When unset, mutt will not attempt to
3480 use STARTTLS regardless of the server's capabilities.
3490 This variable specifies the file where the certificates you trust
3491 are saved. When an unknown certificate is encountered, you are asked
3492 if you accept it or not. If you accept it, the certificate can also
3493 be saved in this file and further connections are automatically
3496 You can also manually add CA certificates in this file. Any server
3497 certificate that is signed with one of these CA certificates are
3498 also automatically accepted.
3500 Example: set certificate_file=~/.mutt/certificates
3504 .B ssl_usesystemcerts
3510 If set to \fIyes\fP, mutt will use CA certificates in the
3511 system-wide certificate store when checking if server certificate
3512 is signed by a trusted CA.
3522 The file which includes random data that is used to initialize SSL
3533 This variables specifies whether to attempt to use SSLv2 in the
3534 SSL authentication process.
3544 This variables specifies whether to attempt to use SSLv3 in the
3545 SSL authentication process.
3555 This variables specifies whether to attempt to use TLSv1 in the
3556 SSL authentication process.
3566 Used in connection with the \fIpipe-message\fP command and the \(lqtag-
3567 prefix\(rq operator. If this variable is unset, when piping a list of
3568 tagged messages Mutt will concatenate the messages and will pipe them
3569 as a single folder. When set, Mutt will pipe the messages one by one.
3570 In both cases the messages are piped in the current sorted order,
3571 and the \(lq$pipe_sep\(rq separator is added after each message.
3581 Used in connection with the \fIpipe-message\fP command. When unset,
3582 Mutt will pipe the messages without any preprocessing. When set, Mutt
3583 will weed headers and will attempt to PGP/MIME decode the messages
3591 Default: \(lq\\n\(rq
3594 The separator to add between messages when piping a list of tagged
3595 messages to an external Unix command.
3599 .B pop_authenticators
3605 This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt may
3606 attempt to use to log in to an POP server, in the order mutt should
3607 try them. Authentication methods are either 'user', 'apop' or any
3608 SASL mechanism, eg 'digest-md5', 'gssapi' or 'cram-md5'.
3609 This parameter is case-insensitive. If this parameter is unset
3610 (the default) mutt will try all available methods, in order from
3611 most-secure to least-secure.
3613 Example: set pop_authenticators=\(rqdigest-md5:apop:user\(rq
3623 If set, Mutt will try all available methods. When unset, Mutt will
3624 only fall back to other authentication methods if the previous
3625 methods are unavailable. If a method is available but authentication
3626 fails, Mutt will not connect to the POP server.
3630 .B pop_checkinterval
3636 This variable configures how often (in seconds) POP should look for
3647 If set, Mutt will delete successfully downloaded messages from the POP
3648 server when using the fetch-mail function. When unset, Mutt will
3649 download messages but also leave them on the POP server.
3659 The name of your POP server for the fetch-mail function. You
3660 can also specify an alternative port, username and password, ie:
3662 [pop[s]://][username[:password]@]popserver[:port]
3672 If this variable is set, mutt will try to use the \(rqLAST\(rq POP command
3673 for retrieving only unread messages from the POP server when using
3674 the fetch-mail function.
3684 Controls whether or not Mutt will try to reconnect to POP server when
3695 Your login name on the POP server.
3697 This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
3707 Specifies the password for your POP account. If unset, Mutt will
3708 prompt you for your password when you open POP mailbox.
3709 \fBWarning\fP: you should only use this option when you are on a
3710 fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your muttrc
3711 even if you are the only one who can read the file.
3715 .B post_indent_string
3721 Similar to the \(lq$attribution\(rq variable, Mutt will append this
3722 string after the inclusion of a message which is being replied to.
3732 If set to \fIyes\fP, Mutt will post article to newsgroup that have
3733 not permissions to posting (e.g. moderated). \fBNote:\fP if newsserver
3734 does not support posting to that newsgroup or totally read-only, that
3735 posting will not have an effect.
3745 Controls whether or not messages are saved in the \(lq$postponed\(rq
3746 mailbox when you elect not to send immediately.
3753 Default: \(lq~/postponed\(rq
3756 Mutt allows you to indefinitely \(lqpostpone sending a message\(rq which
3757 you are editing. When you choose to postpone a message, Mutt saves it
3758 in the mailbox specified by this variable. Also see the \(lq$postpone\(rq
3769 If set, a shell command to be executed if mutt fails to establish
3770 a connection to the server. This is useful for setting up secure
3771 connections, e.g. with ssh(1). If the command returns a nonzero
3772 status, mutt gives up opening the server. Example:
3774 preconnect=\(rqssh -f -q -L 1234:mailhost.net:143 mailhost.net
3775 sleep 20 < /dev/null > /dev/null\(rq
3777 Mailbox 'foo' on mailhost.net can now be reached
3778 as '{localhost:1234}foo'.
3780 NOTE: For this example to work, you must be able to log in to the
3781 remote machine without having to enter a password.
3791 Controls whether or not Mutt asks for confirmation before printing.
3792 This is useful for people (like me) who accidentally hit \(lqp\(rq often.
3799 Default: \(lqlpr\(rq
3802 This specifies the command pipe that should be used to print messages.
3812 Used in connection with the print-message command. If this
3813 option is set, the message is decoded before it is passed to the
3814 external command specified by $print_command. If this option
3815 is unset, no processing will be applied to the message when
3816 printing it. The latter setting may be useful if you are using
3817 some advanced printer filter which is able to properly format
3818 e-mail messages for printing.
3828 Used in connection with the print-message command. If this option
3829 is set, the command specified by $print_command is executed once for
3830 each message which is to be printed. If this option is unset,
3831 the command specified by $print_command is executed only once, and
3832 all the messages are concatenated, with a form feed as the message
3835 Those who use the \fBenscript\fP(1) program's mail-printing mode will
3836 most likely want to set this option.
3846 If you use an \fIexternal\fP \(lq$pager\(rq, setting this variable will
3847 cause Mutt to prompt you for a command when the pager exits rather
3848 than returning to the index menu. If unset, Mutt will return to the
3849 index menu when the external pager exits.
3859 This specifies the command that mutt will use to make external address
3860 queries. The string should contain a %s, which will be substituted
3861 with the query string the user types. See \(lqquery\(rq for more
3872 This variable controls whether \(lqquit\(rq and \(lqexit\(rq actually quit
3873 from mutt. If it set to yes, they do quit, if it is set to no, they
3874 have no effect, and if it is set to ask-yes or ask-no, you are
3875 prompted for confirmation when you try to quit.
3885 Controls whether or not empty lines will be quoted using
3886 \(lqindent_string\(rq.
3896 Controls how quoted lines will be quoted. If set, one quote
3897 character will be added to the end of existing prefix. Otherwise,
3898 quoted lines will be prepended by \(lqindent_string\(rq.
3904 Type: regular expression
3905 Default: \(lq^([ \\t]*[|>:}#])+\(rq
3908 A regular expression used in the internal-pager to determine quoted
3909 sections of text in the body of a message.
3911 \fBNote:\fP In order to use the \fIquoted\fP\fBx\fP patterns in the
3912 internal pager, you need to set this to a regular expression that
3913 matches \fIexactly\fP the quote characters at the beginning of quoted
3924 If set to a value greater than 0, Mutt will display which message it
3925 is currently on when reading a mailbox. The message is printed after
3926 \fIread_inc\fP messages have been read (e.g., if set to 25, Mutt will
3927 print a message when it reads message 25, and then again when it gets
3928 to message 50). This variable is meant to indicate progress when
3929 reading large mailboxes which may take some time.
3930 When set to 0, only a single message will appear before the reading
3933 Also see the \(lq$write_inc\(rq variable.
3943 If set, all folders are opened in read-only mode.
3953 This variable specifies what \(rqreal\(rq or \(rqpersonal\(rq name should be used
3954 when sending messages.
3956 By default, this is the GECOS field from /etc/passwd. Note that this
3957 variable will \fInot\fP be used when the user has set a real name
3958 in the $from variable.
3968 Controls whether or not you are prompted to recall postponed messages
3969 when composing a new message. Also see \(lq$postponed\(rq.
3971 Setting this variable to \(lqyes\(rq is not generally useful, and thus not
3982 This specifies the file into which your outgoing messages should be
3983 appended. (This is meant as the primary method for saving a copy of
3984 your messages, but another way to do this is using the \(lqmy_hdr\(rq
3985 command to create a \fIBcc:\fP field with your email address in it.)
3987 The value of \fI$record\fP is overridden by the \(lq$force_name\(rq and
3988 \(lq$save_name\(rq variables, and the \(lqfcc-hook\(rq command.
3994 Type: regular expression
3995 Default: \(lq^(re([\\[0-9\\]+])*|aw):[ \\t]*\(rq
3998 A regular expression used to recognize reply messages when threading
3999 and replying. The default value corresponds to the English \(rqRe:\(rq and
4000 the German \(rqAw:\(rq.
4010 If unset and you are replying to a message sent by you, Mutt will
4011 assume that you want to reply to the recipients of that message rather
4022 If set, Mutt will ask you if you want to use the address listed in the
4023 Reply-To: header field when replying to a message. If you answer no,
4024 it will use the address in the From: header field instead. This
4025 option is useful for reading a mailing list that sets the Reply-To:
4026 header field to the list address and you want to send a private
4027 message to the author of a message.
4037 When set, the cursor will be automatically advanced to the next
4038 (possibly undeleted) message whenever a command that modifies the
4039 current message is executed.
4049 This variable controls whether or not Mutt will display the \(rqpersonal\(rq
4050 name from your aliases in the index menu if it finds an alias that
4051 matches the message's sender. For example, if you have the following
4060 alias juser abd30425@somewhere.net (Joe User)
4067 and then you receive mail which contains the following header:
4075 From: abd30425@somewhere.net
4082 It would be displayed in the index menu as \(lqJoe User\(rq instead of
4083 \(lqabd30425@somewhere.net.\(rq This is useful when the person's e-mail
4084 address is not human friendly (like CompuServe addresses).
4094 It may sometimes arrive that you receive mail to a certain machine,
4095 move the messages to another machine, and reply to some the messages
4096 from there. If this variable is set, the default \fIFrom:\fP line of
4097 the reply messages is built using the address where you received the
4098 messages you are replying to. If the variable is unset, the
4099 \fIFrom:\fP line will use your address on the current machine.
4109 This variable fine-tunes the behaviour of the reverse_name feature.
4110 When it is set, mutt will use the address from incoming messages as-is,
4111 possibly including eventual real names. When it is unset, mutt will
4112 override any such real names with the setting of the realname variable.
4116 .B rfc2047_parameters
4122 When this variable is set, Mutt will decode RFC-2047-encoded MIME
4123 parameters. You want to set this variable when mutt suggests you
4124 to save attachments to files named like this:
4125 =?iso-8859-1?Q?file=5F=E4=5F991116=2Ezip?=
4127 When this variable is set interactively, the change doesn't have
4128 the desired effect before you have changed folders.
4130 Note that this use of RFC 2047's encoding is explicitly,
4131 prohibited by the standard, but nevertheless encountered in the
4133 Also note that setting this parameter will \fInot\fP have the effect
4134 that mutt \fIgenerates\fP this kind of encoding. Instead, mutt will
4135 unconditionally use the encoding specified in RFC 2231.
4145 If set, mutt will take the sender's full address when choosing a
4146 default folder for saving a mail. If \(lq$save_name\(rq or \(lq$force_name\(rq
4147 is set too, the selection of the fcc folder will be changed as well.
4157 When unset, mailboxes which contain no saved messages will be removed
4158 when closed (the exception is \(lq$spoolfile\(rq which is never removed).
4159 If set, mailboxes are never removed.
4161 \fBNote:\fP This only applies to mbox and MMDF folders, Mutt does not
4162 delete MH and Maildir directories.
4172 This variable controls how copies of outgoing messages are saved.
4173 When set, a check is made to see if a mailbox specified by the
4174 recipient address exists (this is done by searching for a mailbox in
4175 the \(lq$folder\(rq directory with the \fIusername\fP part of the
4176 recipient address). If the mailbox exists, the outgoing message will
4177 be saved to that mailbox, otherwise the message is saved to the
4178 \(lq$record\(rq mailbox.
4180 Also see the \(lq$force_name\(rq variable.
4190 When this variable is \fIunset\fP, scoring is turned off. This can
4191 be useful to selectively disable scoring for certain folders when the
4192 \(lq$score_threshold_delete\(rq variable and friends are used.
4196 .B score_threshold_delete
4202 Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than the value
4203 of this variable are automatically marked for deletion by mutt. Since
4204 mutt scores are always greater than or equal to zero, the default setting
4205 of this variable will never mark a message for deletion.
4209 .B score_threshold_flag
4215 Messages which have been assigned a score greater than or equal to this
4216 variable's value are automatically marked \(rqflagged\(rq.
4220 .B score_threshold_read
4226 Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than the value
4227 of this variable are automatically marked as read by mutt. Since
4228 mutt scores are always greater than or equal to zero, the default setting
4229 of this variable will never mark a message read.
4236 Default: \(lqus-ascii:iso-8859-1:utf-8\(rq
4239 A list of character sets for outgoing messages. Mutt will use the
4240 first character set into which the text can be converted exactly.
4241 If your \(lq$charset\(rq is not iso-8859-1 and recipients may not
4242 understand UTF-8, it is advisable to include in the list an
4243 appropriate widely used standard character set (such as
4244 iso-8859-2, koi8-r or iso-2022-jp) either instead of or after
4252 Default: \(lq/usr/sbin/sendmail -oem -oi\(rq
4255 Specifies the program and arguments used to deliver mail sent by Mutt.
4256 Mutt expects that the specified program interprets additional
4257 arguments as recipient addresses.
4267 Specifies the number of seconds to wait for the \(lq$sendmail\(rq process
4268 to finish before giving up and putting delivery in the background.
4270 Mutt interprets the value of this variable as follows:
4274 number of seconds to wait for sendmail to finish before continuing
4277 wait forever for sendmail to finish
4280 always put sendmail in the background without waiting
4284 Note that if you specify a value other than 0, the output of the child
4285 process will be put in a temporary file. If there is some error, you
4286 will be informed as to where to find the output.
4296 Command to use when spawning a subshell. By default, the user's login
4297 shell from /etc/passwd is used.
4301 .B save_unsubscribed
4307 When \fIset\fP, info about unsubscribed newsgroups will be saved into
4308 \(lqnewsrc\(rq file and into cache.
4318 If \fIset\fP, newsserver will be asked for new newsgroups on entering
4319 the browser. Otherwise, it will be done only once for a newsserver.
4320 Also controls whether or not number of new articles of subscribed
4321 newsgroups will be then checked.
4331 If \fIset\fP, only subscribed newsgroups that contain unread articles
4332 will be displayed in browser.
4342 If set, a line containing \(lq-- \(rq will be inserted before your
4343 \(lq$signature\(rq. It is \fBstrongly\fP recommended that you not unset
4344 this variable unless your \(lqsignature\(rq contains just your name. The
4345 reason for this is because many software packages use \(lq-- \\n\(rq to
4346 detect your signature. For example, Mutt has the ability to highlight
4347 the signature in a different color in the builtin pager.
4357 If set, the signature will be included before any quoted or forwarded
4358 text. It is \fBstrongly\fP recommended that you do not set this variable
4359 unless you really know what you are doing, and are prepared to take
4360 some heat from netiquette guardians.
4367 Default: \(lq~/.signature\(rq
4370 Specifies the filename of your signature, which is appended to all
4371 outgoing messages. If the filename ends with a pipe (\(lq|\(rq), it is
4372 assumed that filename is a shell command and input should be read from
4380 Default: \(lq~f %s | ~s %s\(rq
4383 Specifies how Mutt should expand a simple search into a real search
4384 pattern. A simple search is one that does not contain any of the ~
4385 operators. See \(lqpatterns\(rq for more information on search patterns.
4387 For example, if you simply type joe at a search or limit prompt, Mutt
4388 will automatically expand it to the value specified by this variable.
4389 For the default value it would be:
4401 Controls the display of lines longer than the screen width in the
4402 internal pager. If set, long lines are wrapped at a word boundary. If
4403 unset, lines are simply wrapped at the screen edge. Also see the
4404 \(lq$markers\(rq variable.
4410 Type: regular expression
4411 Default: \(lq(>From )|(:[-^]?[][)(><}{|/DP])\(rq
4414 The \fIpager\fP uses this variable to catch some common false
4415 positives of \(lq$quote_regexp\(rq, most notably smileys in the beginning
4426 Specifies time, in seconds, to pause while displaying certain informational
4427 messages, while moving from folder to folder and after expunging
4428 messages from the current folder. The default is to pause one second, so
4429 a value of zero for this option suppresses the pause.
4439 Specifies how to sort messages in the \fIindex\fP menu. Valid values
4451 mailbox-order (unsorted)
4463 You may optionally use the reverse- prefix to specify reverse sorting
4464 order (example: set sort=reverse-date-sent).
4474 Specifies how the entries in the `alias' menu are sorted. The
4475 following are legal values:
4483 address (sort alphabetically by email address)
4484 alias (sort alphabetically by alias name)
4485 unsorted (leave in order specified in .muttrc)
4500 When sorting by threads, this variable controls how threads are sorted
4501 in relation to other threads, and how the branches of the thread trees
4502 are sorted. This can be set to any value that \(lq$sort\(rq can, except
4503 threads (in that case, mutt will just use date-sent). You can also
4504 specify the last- prefix in addition to the reverse- prefix, but last-
4505 must come after reverse-. The last- prefix causes messages to be
4506 sorted against its siblings by which has the last descendant, using
4507 the rest of sort_aux as an ordering. For instance, set sort_aux=last-
4508 date-received would mean that if a new message is received in a
4509 thread, that thread becomes the last one displayed (or the first, if
4510 you have set sort=reverse-threads.) Note: For reversed \(lq$sort\(rq
4511 order $sort_aux is reversed again (which is not the right thing to do,
4512 but kept to not break any existing configuration setting).
4522 Specifies how to sort entries in the file browser. By default, the
4523 entries are sorted alphabetically. Valid values:
4531 alpha (alphabetically)
4541 You may optionally use the reverse- prefix to specify reverse sorting
4542 order (example: set sort_browser=reverse-date).
4552 This variable is only useful when sorting by threads with
4553 \(lq$strict_threads\(rq unset. In that case, it changes the heuristic
4554 mutt uses to thread messages by subject. With sort_re set, mutt will
4555 only attach a message as the child of another message by subject if
4556 the subject of the child message starts with a substring matching the
4557 setting of \(lq$reply_regexp\(rq. With sort_re unset, mutt will attach
4558 the message whether or not this is the case, as long as the
4559 non-\(lq$reply_regexp\(rq parts of both messages are identical.
4569 If your spool mailbox is in a non-default place where Mutt cannot find
4570 it, you can specify its location with this variable. Mutt will
4571 automatically set this variable to the value of the environment
4572 variable $MAIL if it is not set.
4579 Default: \(lq-*%A\(rq
4582 Controls the characters used by the \(rq%r\(rq indicator in
4583 \(lq$status_format\(rq. The first character is used when the mailbox is
4584 unchanged. The second is used when the mailbox has been changed, and
4585 it needs to be resynchronized. The third is used if the mailbox is in
4586 read-only mode, or if the mailbox will not be written when exiting
4587 that mailbox (You can toggle whether to write changes to a mailbox
4588 with the toggle-write operation, bound by default to \(rq%\(rq). The fourth
4589 is used to indicate that the current folder has been opened in attach-
4590 message mode (Certain operations like composing a new mail, replying,
4591 forwarding, etc. are not permitted in this mode).
4598 Default: \(lq-%r-Mutt: %f [Msgs:%?M?%M/?%m%?n? New:%n?%?o? Old:%o?%?d? Del:%d?%?F? Flag:%F?%?t? Tag:%t?%?p? Post:%p?%?b? Inc:%b?%?l? %l?]---(%s/%S)-%>-(%P)---\(rq
4601 Controls the format of the status line displayed in the \fIindex\fP
4602 menu. This string is similar to \(lq$index_format\(rq, but has its own
4603 set of printf()-like sequences:
4608 number of mailboxes with new mail *
4611 number of deleted messages *
4614 the full pathname of the current mailbox
4617 number of flagged messages *
4623 size (in bytes) of the current mailbox *
4626 size (in bytes) of the messages shown
4627 (i.e., which match the current limit) *
4630 the number of messages in the mailbox *
4633 the number of messages shown (i.e., which match the current limit) *
4636 number of new messages in the mailbox *
4639 number of old unread messages
4642 number of postponed messages *
4645 percentage of the way through the index
4648 modified/read-only/won't-write/attach-message indicator,
4649 according to $status_chars
4652 current sorting mode ($sort)
4655 current aux sorting method ($sort_aux)
4658 number of tagged messages *
4661 number of unread messages *
4667 currently active limit pattern, if any *
4670 right justify the rest of the string and pad with \(rqX\(rq
4673 pad to the end of the line with \(rqX\(rq
4677 * = can be optionally printed if nonzero
4679 Some of the above sequences can be used to optionally print a string
4680 if their value is nonzero. For example, you may only want to see the
4681 number of flagged messages if such messages exist, since zero is not
4682 particularly meaningful. To optionally print a string based upon one
4683 of the above sequences, the following construct is used
4685 %?<sequence_char>?<optional_string>?
4687 where \fIsequence_char\fP is a character from the table above, and
4688 \fIoptional_string\fP is the string you would like printed if
4689 \fIstatus_char\fP is nonzero. \fIoptional_string\fP \fBmay\fP contain
4690 other sequence as well as normal text, but you may \fBnot\fP nest
4693 Here is an example illustrating how to optionally print the number of
4694 new messages in a mailbox:
4695 %?n?%n new messages.?
4697 Additionally you can switch between two strings, the first one, if a
4698 value is zero, the second one, if the value is nonzero, by using the
4699 following construct:
4700 %?<sequence_char>?<if_string>&<else_string>?
4702 You can additionally force the result of any printf-like sequence to
4703 be lowercase by prefixing the sequence character with an underscore
4704 (_) sign. For example, if you want to display the local hostname in
4705 lowercase, you would use:
4708 If you prefix the sequence character with a colon (:) character, mutt
4709 will replace any dots in the expansion by underscores. This might be helpful
4710 with IMAP folders that don't like dots in folder names.
4720 Setting this variable causes the \(lqstatus bar\(rq to be displayed on
4721 the first line of the screen rather than near the bottom.
4731 If set, threading will only make use of the \(lqIn-Reply-To\(rq and
4732 \(lqReferences\(rq fields when you \(lq$sort\(rq by message threads. By
4733 default, messages with the same subject are grouped together in
4734 \(lqpseudo threads.\(rq This may not always be desirable, such as in a
4735 personal mailbox where you might have several unrelated messages with
4736 the subject \(lqhi\(rq which will get grouped together.
4746 When \fIunset\fP, mutt won't stop when the user presses the terminal's
4747 \fIsusp\fP key, usually \(lqcontrol-Z\(rq. This is useful if you run mutt
4748 inside an xterm using a command like xterm -e mutt.
4758 When set, mutt will generate text/plain; format=flowed attachments.
4759 This format is easier to handle for some mailing software, and generally
4760 just looks like ordinary text. To actually make use of this format's
4761 features, you'll need support in your editor.
4763 Note that $indent_string is ignored when this option is set.
4773 When set, mutt uses the date received rather than the date sent
4774 to thread messages by subject.
4784 Affects the \fI~b\fP and \fI~h\fP search operations described in
4785 section \(lqpatterns\(rq above. If set, the headers and attachments of
4786 messages to be searched are decoded before searching. If unset,
4787 messages are searched as they appear in the folder.
4797 When set, the internal-pager will pad blank lines to the bottom of the
4798 screen with a tilde (~).
4808 This variable controls the \fInumber of seconds\fP Mutt will wait
4809 for a key to be pressed in the main menu before timing out and
4810 checking for new mail. A value of zero or less will cause Mutt
4821 This variable allows you to specify where Mutt will place its
4822 temporary files needed for displaying and composing messages. If
4823 this variable is not set, the environment variable TMPDIR is
4824 used. If TMPDIR is not set then \(rq/tmp\(rq is used.
4831 Default: \(lq +TCFL\(rq
4834 Controls the character used to indicate mail addressed to you. The
4835 first character is the one used when the mail is NOT addressed to your
4836 address (default: space). The second is used when you are the only
4837 recipient of the message (default: +). The third is when your address
4838 appears in the TO header field, but you are not the only recipient of
4839 the message (default: T). The fourth character is used when your
4840 address is specified in the CC header field, but you are not the only
4841 recipient. The fifth character is used to indicate mail that was sent
4842 by \fIyou\fP. The sixth character is used to indicate when a mail
4843 was sent to a mailing-list you subscribe to (default: L).
4853 If set, this variable specifies the path of the trash folder where the
4854 mails marked for deletion will be moved, instead of being irremediably
4857 NOTE: When you delete a message in the trash folder, it is really
4858 deleted, so that you have a way to clean the trash.
4868 Setting this variable will cause mutt to open a pipe to a command
4869 instead of a raw socket. You may be able to use this to set up
4870 preauthenticated connections to your IMAP/POP3 server. Example:
4872 tunnel=\(rqssh -q mailhost.net /usr/local/libexec/imapd\(rq
4874 NOTE: For this example to work you must be able to log in to the remote
4875 machine without having to enter a password.
4885 \fBWarning:\fP do not set this variable unless you are using a version
4886 of sendmail which supports the -B8BITMIME flag (such as sendmail
4887 8.8.x) or you may not be able to send mail.
4889 When \fIset\fP, Mutt will invoke \(lq$sendmail\(rq with the -B8BITMIME
4890 flag when sending 8-bit messages to enable ESMTP negotiation.
4900 When set, Mutt will qualify all local addresses (ones without the
4901 @host portion) with the value of \(lq$hostname\(rq. If \fIunset\fP, no
4902 addresses will be qualified.
4912 When \fIset\fP, Mutt will generate the `From:' header field when
4913 sending messages. If \fIunset\fP, no `From:' header field will be
4914 generated unless the user explicitly sets one using the \(lqmy_hdr\(rq
4925 When \fIset\fP, Mutt will look for IPv6 addresses of hosts it tries to
4926 contact. If this option is unset, Mutt will restrict itself to IPv4 addresses.
4927 Normally, the default should work.
4937 When \fIset\fP, mutt will add a \(rqUser-Agent\(rq header to outgoing
4938 messages, indicating which version of mutt was used for composing
4949 Specifies the visual editor to invoke when the \fI~v\fP command is
4950 given in the builtin editor.
4960 Controls whether Mutt will ask you to press a key after \fIshell-
4961 escape\fP, \fIpipe-message\fP, \fIpipe-entry\fP, \fIprint-message\fP,
4962 and \fIprint-entry\fP commands.
4964 It is also used when viewing attachments with \(lqauto_view\(rq, provided
4965 that the corresponding mailcap entry has a \fIneedsterminal\fP flag,
4966 and the external program is interactive.
4968 When set, Mutt will always ask for a key. When unset, Mutt will wait
4969 for a key only if the external command returned a non-zero status.
4979 When set, mutt will weed headers when when displaying, forwarding,
4980 printing, or replying to messages.
4990 Controls whether searches wrap around the end of the mailbox.
4992 When set, searches will wrap around the first (or last) message. When
4993 unset, searches will not wrap.
5003 Controls the size of the margin remaining at the right side of
5004 the terminal when mutt's pager does smart wrapping.
5014 When writing a mailbox, a message will be printed every
5015 \fIwrite_inc\fP messages to indicate progress. If set to 0, only a
5016 single message will be displayed before writing a mailbox.
5018 Also see the \(lq$read_inc\(rq variable.
5028 Controls whether mutt writes out the Bcc header when preparing
5029 messages to be sent. Exim users may wish to use this.
5039 If \fIset\fP, Mutt will add \(lqX-Comment-To:\(rq field (that contains full
5040 name of original article author) to article that followuped to newsgroup.
5058 The Mutt home page: http://www.mutt.org/
5061 Michael Elkins, and others. Use <mutt-dev@mutt.org> to contact