TThhee MMuutttt--nngg EE--MMaaiill CClliieenntt by Michael Elkins and others. version devel AAbbssttrraacctt ``All mail clients suck. This one just sucks less.'' -me, circa 1995 _1_. _I_n_t_r_o_d_u_c_t_i_o_n MMuutttt--nngg is a small but very powerful text-based MIME mail client. Mutt-ng is highly configurable, and is well suited to the mail power user with advanced features like key bindings, keyboard macros, mail threading, regular expression searches and a powerful pattern matching language for selecting groups of mes- sages. This documentation additionally contains documentation to MMuutttt--NNGG, a fork from Mutt with the goal to fix all the little annoyances of Mutt, to integrate all the Mutt patches that are floating around in the web, and to add other new fea- tures. Features specific to Mutt-ng will be discussed in an extra section. Don't be confused when most of the documentation talk about Mutt and not Mutt- ng, Mutt-ng contains all Mutt features, plus many more. _1_._1 _M_u_t_t_-_n_g _H_o_m_e _P_a_g_e http://www.muttng.org _1_._2 _M_a_i_l_i_n_g _L_i_s_t_s +o mutt-ng-users@lists.berlios.de -- This is where the mutt-ng user support happens. +o mutt-ng-devel@lists.berlios.de -- The development mailing list for mutt-ng _1_._3 _S_o_f_t_w_a_r_e _D_i_s_t_r_i_b_u_t_i_o_n _S_i_t_e_s So far, there are no official releases of Mutt-ng, but you can download daily snapshots from http://mutt-ng.berlios.de/snapshots/ The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 1 The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 2 _1_._4 _I_R_C Visit channel _#_m_u_t_t_n_g on irc.freenode.net (www.freenode.net) to chat with other people interested in Mutt-ng. _1_._5 _W_e_b_l_o_g If you want to read fresh news about the latest development in Mutt-ng, and get informed about stuff like interesting, Mutt-ng-related articles and packages for your favorite distribution, you can read and/or subscribe to our Mutt-ng development weblog. _1_._6 _C_o_p_y_r_i_g_h_t Mutt is Copyright (C) 1996-2000 Michael R. Elkins and others This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later ver- sion. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA. _2_. _G_e_t_t_i_n_g _S_t_a_r_t_e_d This section is intended as a brief overview of how to use Mutt-ng. There are many other features which are described elsewhere in the manual. <-- There is even more information available in the Mutt FAQ and various web pages. See the Mutt Page for more details. --> The key bindings described in this section are the defaults as distributed. Your local system administrator may have altered the defaults for your site. You can always type ``?'' in any menu to display the current bindings. The first thing you need to do is invoke mutt-ng simply by typing muttng at the command line. There are various command-line options, see either the muttng man page or the _r_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e (section 6.1 , page 62). If you have used mutt in the past the easiest thing to have a proper configura- tion file is to source /.muttrc in /.muttngrc. _2_._1 _M_o_v_i_n_g _A_r_o_u_n_d _i_n _M_e_n_u_s Information is presented in menus, very similar to ELM. Here is a table show- ing the common keys used to navigate menus in Mutt-ng. The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 3 j or Down next-entry move to the next entry k or Up previous-entry move to the previous entry z or PageDn page-down go to the next page Z or PageUp page-up go to the previous page = or Home first-entry jump to the first entry * or End last-entry jump to the last entry q quit exit the current menu ? help list all key bindings for the current menu _2_._2 _E_d_i_t_i_n_g _I_n_p_u_t _F_i_e_l_d_s Mutt-ng has a builtin line editor which is used as the primary way to input textual data such as email addresses or filenames. The keys used to move around while editing are very similar to those of Emacs. ^A or bol move to the start of the line ^B or backward-char move back one char Esc B backward-word move back one word ^D or delete-char delete the char under the cursor ^E or eol move to the end of the line ^F or forward-char move forward one char Esc F forward-word move forward one word complete complete filename or alias ^T complete-query complete address with query ^K kill-eol delete to the end of the line ESC d kill-eow delete to the end ot the word ^W kill-word kill the word in front of the cursor ^U kill-line delete entire line ^V quote-char quote the next typed key history-up recall previous string from history history-down recall next string from history backspace kill the char in front of the cursor Esc u upcase-word convert word to upper case Esc l downcase-word convert word to lower case Esc c capitalize-word capitalize the word ^G n/a abort n/a finish editing You can remap the _e_d_i_t_o_r functions using the _b_i_n_d (section 3.3 , page 17) com- mand. For example, to make the _D_e_l_e_t_e key delete the character in front of the cursor rather than under, you could use bind editor backspace _2_._3 _R_e_a_d_i_n_g _M_a_i_l _- _T_h_e _I_n_d_e_x _a_n_d _P_a_g_e_r Similar to many other mail clients, there are two modes in which mail is read in Mutt-ng. The first is the index of messages in the mailbox, which is called the ``index'' in Mutt-ng. The second mode is the display of the message con- tents. This is called the ``pager.'' The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 4 The next few sections describe the functions provided in each of these modes. _2_._3_._1 _T_h_e _M_e_s_s_a_g_e _I_n_d_e_x c change to a different mailbox ESC c change to a folder in read-only mode C copy the current message to another mailbox ESC C decode a message and copy it to a folder ESC s decode a message and save it to a folder D delete messages matching a pattern d delete the current message F mark as important l show messages matching a pattern N mark message as new o change the current sort method O reverse sort the mailbox q save changes and exit s save-message T tag messages matching a pattern t toggle the tag on a message ESC t toggle tag on entire message thread U undelete messages matching a pattern u undelete-message v view-attachments x abort changes and exit display-message jump to the next new message @ show the author's full e-mail address $ save changes to mailbox / search ESC / search-reverse ^L clear and redraw the screen ^T untag messages matching a pattern _2_._3_._1_._1 _S_t_a_t_u_s _F_l_a_g_s In addition to who sent the message and the subject, a short summary of the disposition of each message is printed beside the message number. Zero or more of the following ``flags'' may appear, which mean: D message is deleted (is marked for deletion) d message have attachments marked for deletion K contains a PGP public key N message is new The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 5 O message is old P message is PGP encrypted r message has been replied to S message is signed, and the signature is succesfully verified s message is signed ! message is flagged * message is tagged Some of the status flags can be turned on or off using +o sseett--ffllaagg (default: w) +o cclleeaarr--ffllaagg (default: W) Furthermore, the following flags reflect who the message is addressed to. They can be customized with the _$_t_o___c_h_a_r_s (section 6.3.317 , page 142) variable. + message is to you and you only T message is to you, but also to or cc'ed to others C message is cc'ed to you F message is from you L message is sent to a subscribed mailing list _2_._3_._2 _T_h_e _P_a_g_e_r By default, Mutt-ng uses its builtin pager to display the body of messages. The pager is very similar to the Unix program _l_e_s_s though not nearly as fea- tureful. The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 6 go down one line display the next page (or next message if at the end of a message) - go back to the previous page n search for next match S skip beyond quoted text T toggle display of quoted text ? show key bindings / search for a regular expression (pattern) ESC / search backwards for a regular expression \ toggle search pattern coloring ^ jump to the top of the message In addition, many of the functions from the _i_n_d_e_x are available in the pager, such as _d_e_l_e_t_e_-_m_e_s_s_a_g_e or _c_o_p_y_-_m_e_s_s_a_g_e (this is one advantage over using an external pager to view messages). Also, the internal pager supports a couple other advanced features. For one, it will accept and translate the ``standard'' nroff sequences for bold and under- line. These sequences are a series of either the letter, backspace (^H), the letter again for bold or the letter, backspace, ``_'' for denoting underline. Mutt-ng will attempt to display these in bold and underline respectively if your terminal supports them. If not, you can use the bold and underline _c_o_l_o_r (section 3.7 , page 21) objects to specify a color or mono attribute for them. Additionally, the internal pager supports the ANSI escape sequences for charac- ter attributes. Mutt-ng translates them into the correct color and character settings. The sequences Mutt-ng supports are: ESC [ Ps;Ps;Ps;...;Ps m where Ps = 0 All Attributes Off 1 Bold on 4 Underline on 5 Blink on 7 Reverse video on 3x Foreground color is x 4x Background color is x Colors are 0 black 1 red 2 green 3 yellow 4 blue 5 magenta 6 cyan 7 white Mutt-ng uses these attributes for handling text/enriched messages, and they can also be used by an external _a_u_t_o_v_i_e_w (section 5.4 , page 60) script for high- lighting purposes. NNoottee:: If you change the colors for your display, for The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 7 example by changing the color associated with color2 for your xterm, then that color will be used instead of green. _2_._3_._3 _T_h_r_e_a_d_e_d _M_o_d_e When the mailbox is _s_o_r_t_e_d (section 6.3.288 , page 133) by _t_h_r_e_a_d_s, there are a few additional functions available in the _i_n_d_e_x and _p_a_g_e_r modes. ^D delete-thread delete all messages in the current thread ^U undelete-thread undelete all messages in the current thread ^N next-thread jump to the start of the next thread ^P previous-thread jump to the start of the previous thread ^R read-thread mark the current thread as read ESC d delete-subthread delete all messages in the current subthread ESC u undelete-subthread undelete all messages in the current subthread ESC n next-subthread jump to the start of the next subthread ESC p previous-subthread jump to the start of the previous subthread ESC r read-subthread mark the current subthread as read ESC t tag-thread toggle the tag on the current thread ESC v collapse-thread toggle collapse for the current thread ESC V collapse-all toggle collapse for all threads P parent-message jump to parent message in thread NNoottee:: Collapsing a thread displays only the first message in the thread and hides the others. This is useful when threads contain so many messages that you can only see a handful of threads on the screen. See %M in _$_i_n_d_e_x___f_o_r_m_a_t (sec- tion 6.3.109 , page 90). For example, you could use "%?M?(#%03M)&(%4l)?" in _$_i_n_d_e_x___f_o_r_m_a_t (section 6.3.109 , page 90) to optionally display the number of hidden messages if the thread is collapsed. See also: _$_s_t_r_i_c_t___t_h_r_e_a_d_s (section 6.3.306 , page 140). _2_._3_._4 _M_i_s_c_e_l_l_a_n_e_o_u_s _F_u_n_c_t_i_o_n_s ccrreeaattee--aalliiaass (default: a) Creates a new alias based upon the current message (or prompts for a new one). Once editing is complete, an _a_l_i_a_s (section 3.2 , page 16) command is added to the file specified by the _$_a_l_i_a_s___f_i_l_e (section 6.3.3 , page 65) variable for future use. NNoottee:: Specifying an _$_a_l_i_a_s___f_i_l_e (section 6.3.3 , page 65) does not add the aliases specified there-in, you must also _s_o_u_r_c_e (section 3.26 , page 32) the file. cchheecckk--ttrraaddiittiioonnaall--ppggpp (default: ESC P) This function will search the current message for content signed or encrypted with PGP the "traditional" way, that is, without proper MIME tagging. Techni- cally, this function will temporarily change the MIME content types of the body parts containing PGP data; this is similar to the _e_d_i_t_-_t_y_p_e (section 2.3.4 , page 8) function's effect. The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 8 ddiissppllaayy--ttooggggllee--wweeeedd (default: h) Toggles the weeding of message header fields specified by _i_g_n_o_r_e (section 3.8 , page 23) commands. eeddiitt (default: e) This command (available in the ``index'' and ``pager'') allows you to edit the raw current message as it's present in the mail folder. After you have fin- ished editing, the changed message will be appended to the current folder, and the original message will be marked for deletion. eeddiitt--ttyyppee (default: ^E on the attachment menu, and in the pager and index menus; ^T on the compose menu) This command is used to temporarily edit an attachment's content type to fix, for instance, bogus character set parameters. When invoked from the index or from the pager, you'll have the opportunity to edit the top-level attachment's content type. On the _a_t_t_a_c_h_m_e_n_t _m_e_n_u (section 5.1.2 , page 53), you can change any attachment's content type. These changes are not persistent, and get lost upon changing folders. Note that this command is also available on the _c_o_m_p_o_s_e _m_e_n_u (section 5.1.3 , page 53). There, it's used to fine-tune the properties of attachments you are going to send. eenntteerr--ccoommmmaanndd (default: ``:'') This command is used to execute any command you would normally put in a config- uration file. A common use is to check the settings of variables, or in con- junction with _m_a_c_r_o_s (section 3.6 , page 20) to change settings on the fly. eexxttrraacctt--kkeeyyss (default: ^K) This command extracts PGP public keys from the current or tagged message(s) and adds them to your PGP public key ring. ffoorrggeett--ppaasssspphhrraassee (default: ^F) This command wipes the passphrase(s) from memory. It is useful, if you mis- spelled the passphrase. lliisstt--rreeppllyy (default: L) Reply to the current or tagged message(s) by extracting any addresses which The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 9 match the regular expressions given by the _l_i_s_t_s _o_r _s_u_b_s_c_r_i_b_e (section 3.10 , page 24) commands, but also honor any Mail-Followup-To header(s) if the _$_h_o_n_o_r___f_o_l_l_o_w_u_p___t_o (section 6.3.87 , page 84) configuration variable is set. Using this when replying to messages posted to mailing lists helps avoid dupli- cate copies being sent to the author of the message you are replying to. ppiippee--mmeessssaaggee (default: |) Asks for an external Unix command and pipes the current or tagged message(s) to it. The variables _$_p_i_p_e___d_e_c_o_d_e (section 6.3.199 , page 113), _$_p_i_p_e___s_p_l_i_t (section 6.3.201 , page 114), _$_p_i_p_e___s_e_p (section 6.3.200 , page 113) and _$_w_a_i_t___k_e_y (section 6.3.329 , page 145) control the exact behavior of this function. rreesseenndd--mmeessssaaggee (default: ESC e) With resend-message, mutt takes the current message as a template for a new message. This function is best described as "recall from arbitrary folders". It can conveniently be used to forward MIME messages while preserving the orig- inal mail structure. Note that the amount of headers included here depends on the value of the _$_w_e_e_d (section 6.3.330 , page 145) variable. This function is also available from the attachment menu. You can use this to easily resend a message which was included with a bounce message as a mes- sage/rfc822 body part. sshheellll--eessccaappee (default: !) Asks for an external Unix command and executes it. The _$_w_a_i_t___k_e_y (section 6.3.329 , page 145) can be used to control whether Mutt-ng will wait for a key to be pressed when the command returns (presumably to let the user read the output of the command), based on the return status of the named command. ttooggggllee--qquuootteedd (default: T) The _p_a_g_e_r uses the _$_q_u_o_t_e___r_e_g_e_x_p (section 6.3.224 , page 119) variable to detect quoted text when displaying the body of the message. This function tog- gles the display of the quoted material in the message. It is particularly useful when are interested in just the response and there is a large amount of quoted text in the way. sskkiipp--qquuootteedd (default: S) This function will go to the next line of non-quoted text which come after a line of quoted text in the internal pager. _2_._4 _S_e_n_d_i_n_g _M_a_i_l The following bindings are available in the _i_n_d_e_x for sending messages. The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 10 m compose compose a new message r reply reply to sender g group-reply reply to all recipients L list-reply reply to mailing list address f forward forward message b bounce bounce (remail) message ESC k mail-key mail a PGP public key to someone Bouncing a message sends the message as is to the recipient you specify. For- warding a message allows you to add comments or modify the message you are for- warding. These items are discussed in greater detail in the next chapter _`_`_F_o_r_w_a_r_d_i_n_g _a_n_d _B_o_u_n_c_i_n_g _M_a_i_l_'_' (section 2.5 , page 13). Mutt-ng will then enter the _c_o_m_p_o_s_e menu and prompt you for the recipients to place on the ``To:'' header field. Next, it will ask you for the ``Subject:'' field for the message, providing a default if you are replying to or forwarding a message. See also _$_a_s_k_c_c (section 6.3.10 , page 66), _$_a_s_k_b_c_c (section 6.3.9 , page 66), _$_a_u_t_o_e_d_i_t (section 6.3.17 , page 69), _$_b_o_u_n_c_e (section 6.3.20 , page 69), and _$_f_a_s_t___r_e_p_l_y (section 6.3.59 , page 78) for changing how Mutt-ng asks these questions. Mutt-ng will then automatically start your _$_e_d_i_t_o_r (section 6.3.55 , page 77) on the message body. If the _$_e_d_i_t___h_e_a_d_e_r_s (section 6.3.54 , page 77) variable is set, the headers will be at the top of the message in your editor. Any mes- sages you are replying to will be added in sort order to the message, with appropriate _$_a_t_t_r_i_b_u_t_i_o_n (section 6.3.15 , page 68), _$_i_n_d_e_n_t___s_t_r_i_n_g (section 6.3.108 , page 89) and _$_p_o_s_t___i_n_d_e_n_t___s_t_r_i_n_g (section 6.3.211 , page 116). When forwarding a message, if the _$_m_i_m_e___f_o_r_w_a_r_d (section 6.3.135 , page 97) variable is unset, a copy of the forwarded message will be included. If you have specified a _$_s_i_g_n_a_t_u_r_e (section 6.3.258 , page 127), it will be appended to the message. Once you have finished editing the body of your mail message, you are returned to the _c_o_m_p_o_s_e menu. The following options are available: The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 11 a attach-file attach a file A attach-message attach message(s) to the message ESC k attach-key attach a PGP public key d edit-description edit description on attachment D detach-file detach a file t edit-to edit the To field ESC f edit-from edit the From field r edit-reply-to edit the Reply-To field c edit-cc edit the Cc field b edit-bcc edit the Bcc field y send-message send the message s edit-subject edit the Subject S smime-menu select S/MIME options f edit-fcc specify an ``Fcc'' mailbox p pgp-menu select PGP options P postpone-message postpone this message until later q quit quit (abort) sending the message w write-fcc write the message to a folder i ispell check spelling (if available on your system) ^F forget-passphrase wipe passphrase(s) from memory NNoottee:: The attach-message function will prompt you for a folder to attach mes- sages from. You can now tag messages in that folder and they will be attached to the message you are sending. Note that certain operations like composing a new mail, replying, forwarding, etc. are not permitted when you are in that folder. The %r in _$_s_t_a_t_u_s___f_o_r_m_a_t (section 6.3.302 , page 137) will change to a 'A' to indicate that you are in attach-message mode. _2_._4_._1 _E_d_i_t_i_n_g _t_h_e _m_e_s_s_a_g_e _h_e_a_d_e_r When editing the header of your outgoing message, there are a couple of special features available. If you specify Fcc: _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e Mutt-ng will pick up _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e just as if you had used the _e_d_i_t_-_f_c_c function in the _c_o_m_p_o_s_e menu. You can also attach files to your message by specifying Attach: _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e [ _d_e_s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n ] where _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e is the file to attach and _d_e_s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n is an optional string to use as the description of the attached file. When replying to messages, if you remove the _I_n_-_R_e_p_l_y_-_T_o_: field from the header field, Mutt-ng will not generate a _R_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e_s_: field, which allows you to cre- ate a new message thread. Also see _e_d_i_t___h_e_a_d_e_r_s (section 6.3.54 , page 77). The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 12 _2_._4_._2 _U_s_i_n_g _M_u_t_t_-_n_g _w_i_t_h _P_G_P If you want to use PGP, you can specify Pgp: [ E | S | S_<_i_d_> ] ``E'' encrypts, ``S'' signs and ``S'' signs with the given key, setting _$_p_g_p___s_i_g_n___a_s (section 6.3.191 , page 112) permanently. If you have told mutt to PGP encrypt a message, it will guide you through a key selection process when you try to send the message. Mutt-ng will not ask you any questions about keys which have a certified user ID matching one of the message recipients' mail addresses. However, there may be situations in which there are several keys, weakly certified user ID fields, or where no matching keys can be found. In these cases, you are dropped into a menu with a list of keys from which you can select one. When you quit this menu, or mutt can't find any matching keys, you are prompted for a user ID. You can, as usually, abort this prompt using ^G. When you do so, mutt will return to the compose screen. Once you have successfully finished the key selection, the message will be encrypted using the selected public keys, and sent out. Most fields of the entries in the key selection menu (see also _$_p_g_p___e_n_t_r_y___f_o_r_- _m_a_t (section 6.3.178 , page 108)) have obvious meanings. But some explana- tions on the capabilities, flags, and validity fields are in order. The flags sequence (%f) will expand to one of the following flags: R The key has been revoked and can't be used. X The key is expired and can't be used. d You have marked the key as disabled. c There are unknown critical self-signature packets. The capabilities field (%c) expands to a two-character sequence representing a key's capabilities. The first character gives the key's encryption capabili- ties: A minus sign (--) means that the key cannot be used for encryption. A dot (..) means that it's marked as a signature key in one of the user IDs, but may also be used for encryption. The letter ee indicates that this key can be used for encryption. The second character indicates the key's signing capabilities. Once again, a ``--'' implies ``not for signing'', ``..'' implies that the key is marked as an encryption key in one of the user-ids, and ``ss'' denotes a key which can be used for signing. Finally, the validity field (%t) indicates how well-certified a user-id is. A question mark (??) indicates undefined validity, a minus character (--) marks an untrusted association, a space character means a partially trusted association, and a plus character (++) indicates complete validity. The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 13 _2_._4_._3 _S_e_n_d_i_n_g _a_n_o_n_y_m_o_u_s _m_e_s_s_a_g_e_s _v_i_a _m_i_x_m_a_s_t_e_r_. You may also have configured mutt to co-operate with Mixmaster, an anonymous remailer. Mixmaster permits you to send your messages anonymously using a chain of remailers. Mixmaster support in mutt is for mixmaster version 2.04 (beta 45 appears to be the latest) and 2.03. It does not support earlier ver- sions or the later so-called version 3 betas, of which the latest appears to be called 2.9b23. To use it, you'll have to obey certain restrictions. Most important, you can- not use the Cc and Bcc headers. To tell Mutt-ng to use mixmaster, you have to select a remailer chain, using the mix function on the compose menu. The chain selection screen is divided into two parts. In the (larger) upper part, you get a list of remailers you may use. In the lower part, you see the currently selected chain of remailers. You can navigate in the chain using the chain-prev and chain-next functions, which are by default bound to the left and right arrows and to the h and l keys (think vi keyboard bindings). To insert a remailer at the current chain posi- tion, use the insert function. To append a remailer behind the current chain position, use select-entry or append. You can also delete entries from the chain, using the corresponding function. Finally, to abandon your changes, leave the menu, or accept them pressing (by default) the Return key. Note that different remailers do have different capabilities, indicated in the %c entry of the remailer menu lines (see _$_m_i_x___e_n_t_r_y___f_o_r_m_a_t (section 6.3.138 , page 98)). Most important is the ``middleman'' capability, indicated by a cap- ital ``M'': This means that the remailer in question cannot be used as the final element of a chain, but will only forward messages to other mixmaster remailers. For details on the other capabilities, please have a look at the mixmaster documentation. _2_._5 _F_o_r_w_a_r_d_i_n_g _a_n_d _B_o_u_n_c_i_n_g _M_a_i_l Bouncing and forwarding let you send an existing message to recipients that you specify. Bouncing a message uses the _s_e_n_d_m_a_i_l (section 6.3.246 , page 124) command to send a copy to alternative addresses as if they were the message's original recipients. Forwarding a message, on the other hand, allows you to modify the message before it is resent (for example, by adding your own com- ments). The following keys are bound by default: f forward forward message b bounce bounce (remail) message Forwarding can be done by including the original message in the new message's body (surrounded by indicating lines) or including it as a MIME attachment, depending on the value of the _$_m_i_m_e___f_o_r_w_a_r_d (section 6.3.135 , page 97) vari- able. Decoding of attachments, like in the pager, can be controlled by the _$_f_o_r_w_a_r_d___d_e_c_o_d_e (section 6.3.68 , page 81) and _$_m_i_m_e___f_o_r_w_a_r_d___d_e_c_o_d_e (section The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 14 6.3.136 , page 97) variables, respectively. The desired forwarding format may depend on the content, therefore _$_m_i_m_e___f_o_r_w_a_r_d is a quadoption which, for exam- ple, can be set to ``ask-no''. The inclusion of headers is controlled by the current setting of the _$_w_e_e_d (section 6.3.330 , page 145) variable, unless _m_i_m_e___f_o_r_w_a_r_d (section 6.3.135 , page 97) is set. Editing the message to forward follows the same procedure as sending or reply- ing to a message does. _2_._6 _P_o_s_t_p_o_n_i_n_g _M_a_i_l At times it is desirable to delay sending a message that you have already begun to compose. When the _p_o_s_t_p_o_n_e_-_m_e_s_s_a_g_e function is used in the _c_o_m_p_o_s_e menu, the body of your message and attachments are stored in the mailbox specified by the _$_p_o_s_t_p_o_n_e_d (section 6.3.213 , page 116) variable. This means that you can recall the message even if you exit Mutt-ng and then restart it at a later time. Once a message is postponed, there are several ways to resume it. From the command line you can use the ``-p'' option, or if you _c_o_m_p_o_s_e a new message from the _i_n_d_e_x or _p_a_g_e_r you will be prompted if postponed messages exist. If multiple messages are currently postponed, the _p_o_s_t_p_o_n_e_d menu will pop up and you can select which message you would like to resume. NNoottee:: If you postpone a reply to a message, the reply setting of the message is only updated when you actually finish the message and send it. Also, you must be in the same folder with the message you replied to for the status of the message to be updated. See also the _$_p_o_s_t_p_o_n_e (section 6.3.212 , page 116) quad-option. _2_._7 _R_e_a_d_i_n_g _n_e_w_s _v_i_a _N_N_T_P If compiled with ``--enable-nntp'' option, Mutt-ng can read news from newsserver via NNTP. You can open a newsgroup with function ``change-news- group'' (default: i). Default newsserver can be obtained from _N_N_T_P_S_E_R_V_E_R envi- ronment variable. Like other news readers, info about subscribed newsgroups is saved in file by _$_n_n_t_p___n_e_w_s_r_c (section 6.3.155 , page 103) variable. Article headers are cached and can be loaded from file when newsgroup entered instead loading from newsserver. _3_. _C_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_a_t_i_o_n While the default configuration (or ``preferences'') make Mutt-ng usable right out of the box, it is often desirable to tailor Mutt-ng to suit your own tastes. When Mutt-ng is first invoked, it will attempt to read the ``system'' configuration file (defaults set by your local system administrator), unless the ``-n'' _c_o_m_m_a_n_d _l_i_n_e (section 6.1 , page 62) option is specified. This file is typically /usr/local/share/muttng/Muttngrc or /etc/Muttngrc, Mutt-ng users will find this file in /usr/local/share/muttng/Muttrc or /etc/Muttngrc. Mutt will next look for a file named .muttrc in your home directory, Mutt-ng The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 15 will look for .muttngrc. If this file does not exist and your home directory has a subdirectory named .mutt, mutt try to load a file named .muttng/muttngrc. .muttrc (or .muttngrc for Mutt-ng) is the file where you will usually place your _c_o_m_m_a_n_d_s (section 6.2 , page 62) to configure Mutt-ng. In addition, mutt supports version specific configuration files that are parsed instead of the default files as explained above. For instance, if your system has a Muttrc-0.88 file in the system configuration directory, and you are run- ning version 0.88 of mutt, this file will be sourced instead of the Muttngrc file. The same is true of the user configuration file, if you have a file .muttrc-0.88.6 in your home directory, when you run mutt version 0.88.6, it will source this file instead of the default .muttrc file. The version number is the same which is visible using the ``-v'' _c_o_m_m_a_n_d _l_i_n_e (section 6.1 , page 62) switch or using the show-version key (default: V) from the index menu. _3_._1 _S_y_n_t_a_x _o_f _I_n_i_t_i_a_l_i_z_a_t_i_o_n _F_i_l_e_s An initialization file consists of a series of _c_o_m_m_a_n_d_s (section 6.2 , page 62). Each line of the file may contain one or more commands. When multiple commands are used, they must be separated by a semicolon (;). set realname='Mutt-ng user' ; ignore x- The hash mark, or pound sign (``#''), is used as a ``comment'' character. You can use it to annotate your initialization file. All text after the comment character to the end of the line is ignored. For example, my_hdr X-Disclaimer: Why are you listening to me? # This is a comment Single quotes (') and double quotes (') can be used to quote strings which con- tain spaces or other special characters. The difference between the two types of quotes is similar to that of many popular shell programs, namely that a sin- gle quote is used to specify a literal string (one that is not interpreted for shell variables or quoting with a backslash [see next paragraph]), while double quotes indicate a string for which should be evaluated. For example, backtics are evaluated inside of double quotes, but nnoott for single quotes. \ quotes the next character, just as in shells such as bash and zsh. For exam- ple, if want to put quotes ``''' inside of a string, you can use ``\'' to force the next character to be a literal instead of interpreted character. set realname="Michael \"MuttDude\" Elkins" ``\\'' means to insert a literal ``\'' into the line. ``\n'' and ``\r'' have their usual C meanings of linefeed and carriage-return, respectively. A \ at the end of a line can be used to split commands over multiple lines, provided that the split points don't appear in the middle of command names. The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 16 Please note that, unlike the various shells, mutt-ng interprets a ``\'' at the end of a line also in comments. This allows you to disable a command split over multiple lines with only one ``#''. # folder-hook . \ set realname="Michael \"MuttDude\" Elkins" When testing your config files, beware the following caveat. The backslash at the end of the commented line extends the current line with the next line - then referred to as a ``continuation line''. As the first line is commented with a hash (#) all following continuation lines are also part of a comment and therefore are ignored, too. So take care of comments when continuation lines are involved within your setup files! Abstract example: line1\ line2a # line2b\ line3\ line4 line5 line1 ``continues'' until line4. however, the part after the # is a comment which includes line3 and line4. line5 is a new line of its own and thus is interpreted again. It is also possible to substitute the output of a Unix command in an initial- ization file. This is accomplished by enclosing the command in backquotes (``). For example, my_hdr X-Operating-System: `uname -a` The output of the Unix command ``uname -a'' will be substituted before the line is parsed. Note that since initialization files are line oriented, only the first line of output from the Unix command will be substituted. UNIX environments can be accessed like the way it is done in shells like sh and bash: Prepend the name of the environment by a ``$''. For example, set record=+sent_on_$HOSTNAME The commands understood by mutt are explained in the next paragraphs. For a complete list, see the _c_o_m_m_a_n_d _r_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e (section 6.2 , page 62). _3_._2 _D_e_f_i_n_i_n_g_/_U_s_i_n_g _a_l_i_a_s_e_s Usage: alias _k_e_y _a_d_d_r_e_s_s [ , _a_d_d_r_e_s_s, ... ] The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 17 It's usually very cumbersome to remember or type out the address of someone you are communicating with. Mutt-ng allows you to create ``aliases'' which map a short string to a full address. NNoottee:: if you want to create an alias for a group (by specifying more than one address), you mmuusstt separate the addresses with a comma (``,''). To remove an alias or aliases (``*'' means all aliases): unalias [ * | _k_e_y _._._. ] alias muttdude me@cs.hmc.edu (Michael Elkins) alias theguys manny, moe, jack Unlike other mailers, Mutt-ng doesn't require aliases to be defined in a spe- cial file. The alias command can appear anywhere in a configuration file, as long as this file is _s_o_u_r_c_e_d (section 3.26 , page 32). Consequently, you can have multiple alias files, or you can have all aliases defined in your muttrc. On the other hand, the _c_r_e_a_t_e_-_a_l_i_a_s (section 2.3.4 , page 7) function can use only one file, the one pointed to by the _$_a_l_i_a_s___f_i_l_e (section 6.3.3 , page 65) variable (which is ~/.muttrc by default). This file is not special either, in the sense that Mutt-ng will happily append aliases to any file, but in order for the new aliases to take effect you need to explicitly _s_o_u_r_c_e (section 3.26 , page 32) this file too. For example: source /usr/local/share/Mutt-ng.aliases source ~/.mail_aliases set alias_file=~/.mail_aliases To use aliases, you merely use the alias at any place in mutt where mutt prompts for addresses, such as the _T_o_: or _C_c_: prompt. You can also enter aliases in your editor at the appropriate headers if you have the _$_e_d_i_t___h_e_a_d_e_r_s (section 6.3.54 , page 77) variable set. In addition, at the various address prompts, you can use the tab character to expand a partial alias to the full alias. If there are multiple matches, mutt will bring up a menu with the matching aliases. In order to be presented with the full list of aliases, you must hit tab with out a partial alias, such as at the beginning of the prompt or after a comma denoting multiple addresses. In the alias menu, you can select as many aliases as you want with the _s_e_l_e_c_t_- _e_n_t_r_y key (default: RET), and use the _e_x_i_t key (default: q) to return to the address prompt. _3_._3 _C_h_a_n_g_i_n_g _t_h_e _d_e_f_a_u_l_t _k_e_y _b_i_n_d_i_n_g_s Usage: bind _m_a_p _k_e_y _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 18 This command allows you to change the default key bindings (operation invoked when pressing a key). _m_a_p specifies in which menu the binding belongs. Multiple maps may be speci- fied by separating them with commas (no additional whitespace is allowed). The currently defined maps are: generic This is not a real menu, but is used as a fallback for all of the other menus except for the pager and editor modes. If a key is not defined in another menu, Mutt-ng will look for a binding to use in this menu. This allows you to bind a key to a certain function in multiple menus instead of having multiple bind statements to accom- plish the same task. alias The alias menu is the list of your personal aliases as defined in your muttrc. It is the mapping from a short alias name to the full email address(es) of the recipient(s). attach The attachment menu is used to access the attachments on received messages. browser The browser is used for both browsing the local directory struc- ture, and for listing all of your incoming mailboxes. editor The editor is the line-based editor the user enters text data. index The index is the list of messages contained in a mailbox. compose The compose menu is the screen used when sending a new message. pager The pager is the mode used to display message/attachment data, and help listings. pgp The pgp menu is used to select the OpenPGP keys used for encrypting outgoing messages. postpone The postpone menu is similar to the index menu, except is used when recalling a message the user was composing, but saved until later. _k_e_y is the key (or key sequence) you wish to bind. To specify a control char- acter, use the sequence _\_C_x, where _x is the letter of the control character (for example, to specify control-A use ``\Ca''). Note that the case of _x as The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 19 well as _\_C is ignored, so that _\_C_A, _\_C_a, _\_c_A and _\_c_a are all equivalent. An alternative form is to specify the key as a three digit octal number prefixed with a ``\'' (for example _\_1_7_7 is equivalent to _\_c_?). In addition, _k_e_y may consist of: \t tab tab \r carriage return \n newline \e escape escape up arrow down arrow left arrow right arrow Page Up Page Down Backspace Delete Insert Enter Return Home End Space bar function key 1 function key 10 _k_e_y does not need to be enclosed in quotes unless it contains a space (`` ''). _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n specifies which action to take when _k_e_y is pressed. For a complete list of functions, see the _r_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e (section 6.4 , page 147). The special function noop unbinds the specified key sequence. _3_._4 _D_e_f_i_n_i_n_g _a_l_i_a_s_e_s _f_o_r _c_h_a_r_a_c_t_e_r _s_e_t_s Usage: charset-hook _a_l_i_a_s _c_h_a_r_s_e_t Usage: iconv-hook _c_h_a_r_s_e_t _l_o_c_a_l_-_c_h_a_r_s_e_t The charset-hook command defines an alias for a character set. This is useful to properly display messages which are tagged with a character set name not known to mutt. The iconv-hook command defines a system-specific name for a character set. This is helpful when your systems character conversion library insists on using strange, system-specific names for character sets. _3_._5 _S_e_t_t_i_n_g _v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e_s _b_a_s_e_d _u_p_o_n _m_a_i_l_b_o_x Usage: folder-hook [!]_r_e_g_e_x_p _c_o_m_m_a_n_d The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 20 It is often desirable to change settings based on which mailbox you are read- ing. The folder-hook command provides a method by which you can execute any configuration command. _r_e_g_e_x_p is a regular expression specifying in which mailboxes to execute _c_o_m_m_a_n_d before loading. If a mailbox matches multiple folder-hook's, they are executed in the order given in the muttrc. NNoottee:: if you use the ``!'' shortcut for _$_s_p_o_o_l_f_i_l_e (section 6.3.294 , page 135) at the beginning of the pattern, you must place it inside of double or single quotes in order to distinguish it from the logical _n_o_t operator for the expression. Note that the settings are _n_o_t restored when you leave the mailbox. For exam- ple, a command action to perform is to change the sorting method based upon the mailbox being read: folder-hook mutt set sort=threads However, the sorting method is not restored to its previous value when reading a different mailbox. To specify a _d_e_f_a_u_l_t command, use the pattern ``.'': folder-hook . set sort=date-sent _3_._6 _K_e_y_b_o_a_r_d _m_a_c_r_o_s Usage: macro _m_e_n_u _k_e_y _s_e_q_u_e_n_c_e [ _d_e_s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n ] Macros are useful when you would like a single key to perform a series of actions. When you press _k_e_y in menu _m_e_n_u, Mutt-ng will behave as if you had typed _s_e_q_u_e_n_c_e. So if you have a common sequence of commands you type, you can create a macro to execute those commands with a single key. _m_e_n_u is the _m_a_p (section 3.3 , page 17) which the macro will be bound. Multi- ple maps may be specified by separating multiple menu arguments by commas. Whitespace may not be used in between the menu arguments and the commas sepa- rating them. _k_e_y and _s_e_q_u_e_n_c_e are expanded by the same rules as the _k_e_y _b_i_n_d_i_n_g_s (section 3.3 , page 17). There are some additions however. The first is that control characters in _s_e_q_u_e_n_c_e can also be specified as _^_x. In order to get a caret (`^'') you need to use _^_^. Secondly, to specify a certain key such as _u_p or to invoke a function directly, you can use the format _<_k_e_y _n_a_m_e_> and _<_f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n _n_a_m_e_>. For a listing of key names see the section on _k_e_y _b_i_n_d_i_n_g_s (section 3.3 , page 17). Functions are listed in the _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n _r_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e (section 6.4 , page 147). The advantage with using function names directly is that the macros will work regardless of the current key bindings, so they are not dependent on the user having particular key definitions. This makes them more robust and portable, and also facilitates defining of macros in files used by more than one user (eg. the system Muttngrc). The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 21 Optionally you can specify a descriptive text after _s_e_q_u_e_n_c_e, which is shown in the help screens. NNoottee:: Macro definitions (if any) listed in the help screen(s), are silently truncated at the screen width, and are not wrapped. _3_._7 _U_s_i_n_g _c_o_l_o_r _a_n_d _m_o_n_o _v_i_d_e_o _a_t_t_r_i_b_u_t_e_s Usage: color _o_b_j_e_c_t _f_o_r_e_g_r_o_u_n_d _b_a_c_k_g_r_o_u_n_d [ _r_e_g_e_x_p ] Usage: color index _f_o_r_e_g_r_o_u_n_d _b_a_c_k_g_r_o_u_n_d _p_a_t_t_e_r_n Usage: uncolor index _p_a_t_t_e_r_n [ _p_a_t_t_e_r_n ... ] If your terminal supports color, you can spice up Mutt-ng by creating your own color scheme. To define the color of an object (type of information), you must specify both a foreground color aanndd a background color (it is not possible to only specify one or the other). _o_b_j_e_c_t can be one of: +o attachment +o body (match _r_e_g_e_x_p in the body of messages) +o bold (highlighting bold patterns in the body of messages) +o error (error messages printed by Mutt-ng) +o header (match _r_e_g_e_x_p in the message header) +o hdrdefault (default color of the message header in the pager) +o index (match _p_a_t_t_e_r_n in the message index) +o indicator (arrow or bar used to indicate the current item in a menu) +o markers (the ``+'' markers at the beginning of wrapped lines in the pager) +o message (informational messages) +o normal +o quoted (text matching _$_q_u_o_t_e___r_e_g_e_x_p (section 6.3.224 , page 119) in the body of a message) +o quoted1, quoted2, ..., quotedNN (higher levels of quoting) +o search (highlighting of words in the pager) +o signature +o status (mode lines used to display info about the mailbox or message) The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 22 +o tilde (the ``~'' used to pad blank lines in the pager) +o tree (thread tree drawn in the message index and attachment menu) +o underline (highlighting underlined patterns in the body of messages) _f_o_r_e_g_r_o_u_n_d and _b_a_c_k_g_r_o_u_n_d can be one of the following: +o white +o black +o green +o magenta +o blue +o cyan +o yellow +o red +o default +o color_x _f_o_r_e_g_r_o_u_n_d can optionally be prefixed with the keyword bright to make the fore- ground color boldfaced (e.g., brightred). If your terminal supports it, the special keyword _d_e_f_a_u_l_t can be used as a transparent color. The value _b_r_i_g_h_t_d_e_f_a_u_l_t is also valid. If Mutt-ng is linked against the _S_-_L_a_n_g library, you also need to set the _C_O_L_O_R_F_G_B_G environ- ment variable to the default colors of your terminal for this to work; for example (for Bourne-like shells): set COLORFGBG="green;black" export COLORFGBG NNoottee:: The _S_-_L_a_n_g library requires you to use the _l_i_g_h_t_g_r_a_y and _b_r_o_w_n keywords instead of _w_h_i_t_e and _y_e_l_l_o_w when setting this variable. NNoottee:: The uncolor command can be applied to the index object only. It removes entries from the list. You mmuusstt specify the same pattern specified in the color command for it to be removed. The pattern ``*'' is a special token which means to clear the color index list of all entries. Mutt-ng also recognizes the keywords _c_o_l_o_r_0, _c_o_l_o_r_1, ..., _c_o_l_o_rNN--11 (NN being the number of colors supported by your terminal). This is useful when you remap the colors for your display (for example by changing the color associated with _c_o_l_o_r_2 for your xterm), since color names may then lose their normal meaning. The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 23 If your terminal does not support color, it is still possible change the video attributes through the use of the ``mono'' command: Usage: mono _<_o_b_j_e_c_t_> _<_a_t_t_r_i_b_u_t_e_> [ _r_e_g_e_x_p ] Usage: mono index _a_t_t_r_i_b_u_t_e _p_a_t_t_e_r_n Usage: unmono index _p_a_t_t_e_r_n [ _p_a_t_t_e_r_n ... ] where _a_t_t_r_i_b_u_t_e is one of the following: +o none +o bold +o underline +o reverse +o standout _3_._8 _I_g_n_o_r_i_n_g _(_w_e_e_d_i_n_g_) _u_n_w_a_n_t_e_d _m_e_s_s_a_g_e _h_e_a_d_e_r_s Usage: [un]ignore _p_a_t_t_e_r_n [ _p_a_t_t_e_r_n ... ] Messages often have many header fields added by automatic processing systems, or which may not seem useful to display on the screen. This command allows you to specify header fields which you don't normally want to see. You do not need to specify the full header field name. For example, ``ignore content-'' will ignore all header fields that begin with the pattern ``con- tent-''. ``ignore *'' will ignore all headers. To remove a previously added token from the list, use the ``unignore'' command. The ``unignore'' command will make Mutt-ng display headers with the given pat- tern. For example, if you do ``ignore x-'' it is possible to ``unignore x- mailer''. ``unignore *'' will remove all tokens from the ignore list. For example: # Sven's draconian header weeding ignore * unignore from date subject to cc unignore organization organisation x-mailer: x-newsreader: x-mailing-list: unignore posted-to: _3_._9 _A_l_t_e_r_n_a_t_i_v_e _a_d_d_r_e_s_s_e_s Usage: [un]alternates _r_e_g_e_x_p [ _r_e_g_e_x_p ... ] With various functions, mutt will treat messages differently, depending on The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 24 whether you sent them or whether you received them from someone else. For instance, when replying to a message that you sent to a different party, mutt will automatically suggest to send the response to the original message's recipients -- responding to yourself won't make much sense in many cases. (See _$_r_e_p_l_y___t_o (section 6.3.232 , page 121).) Many users receive e-mail under a number of different addresses. To fully use mutt's features here, the program must be able to recognize what e-mail addresses you receive mail under. That's the purpose of the alternates command: It takes a list of regular expressions, each of which can identify an address under which you receive e-mail. The unalternates command can be used to write exceptions to alternates pat- terns. If an address matches something in an alternates command, but you none- theless do not think it is from you, you can list a more precise pattern under an unalternates command. To remove a regular expression from the alternates list, use the unalternates command with exactly the same _r_e_g_e_x_p. Likewise, if the _r_e_g_e_x_p for a alternates command matches an entry on the unalternates list, that unalternates entry will be removed. If the _r_e_g_e_x_p for unalternates is ``*'', _a_l_l _e_n_t_r_i_e_s on alternates will be removed. _3_._1_0 _M_a_i_l_i_n_g _l_i_s_t_s Usage: [un]lists _r_e_g_e_x_p [ _r_e_g_e_x_p ... ] Usage: [un]subscribe _r_e_g_e_x_p [ _r_e_g_e_x_p ... ] Mutt-ng has a few nice features for _h_a_n_d_l_i_n_g _m_a_i_l_i_n_g _l_i_s_t_s (section 4.9 , page 44). In order to take advantage of them, you must specify which addresses belong to mailing lists, and which mailing lists you are subscribed to. Once you have done this, the _l_i_s_t_-_r_e_p_l_y (section 2.3.4 , page 8) function will work for all known lists. Additionally, when you send a message to a subscribed list, mutt will add a Mail-Followup-To header to tell other users' mail user agents not to send copies of replies to your personal address. Note that the Mail-Followup-To header is a non-standard extension which is not supported by all mail user agents. Adding it is not bullet-proof against receiving personal CCs of list messages. Also note that the generation of the Mail-Followup-To header is controlled by the _$_f_o_l_l_o_w_u_p___t_o (section 6.3.65 , page 80) configura- tion variable. More precisely, Mutt-ng maintains lists of patterns for the addresses of known and subscribed mailing lists. Every subscribed mailing list is known. To mark a mailing list as known, use the ``lists'' command. To mark it as subscribed, use ``subscribe''. You can use regular expressions with both commands. To mark all messages sent to a specific bug report's address on mutt's bug tracking system as list mail, for instance, you could say ``subscribe [0-9]*@bugs.guug.de''. Often, it's sufficient to just give a portion of the list's e-mail address. Specify as much of the address as you need to to remove ambiguity. For exam- ple, if you've subscribed to the Mutt-ng mailing list, you will receive mail The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 25 addressed to _m_u_t_t_-_u_s_e_r_s_@_m_u_t_t_._o_r_g. So, to tell Mutt-ng that this is a mailing list, you could add ``lists mutt-users'' to your initialization file. To tell mutt that you are subscribed to it, add ``subscribe mutt-users'' to your ini- tialization file instead. If you also happen to get mail from someone whose address is _m_u_t_t_-_u_s_e_r_s_@_e_x_a_m_p_l_e_._c_o_m, you could use ``lists mutt- users@mutt\\.org'' or ``subscribe mutt-users@mutt\\.org'' to match only mail from the actual list. The ``unlists'' command is used to remove a token from the list of known and subscribed mailing-lists. Use ``unlists *'' to remove all tokens. To remove a mailing list from the list of subscribed mailing lists, but keep it on the list of known mailing lists, use ``unsubscribe''. _3_._1_1 _U_s_i_n_g _M_u_l_t_i_p_l_e _s_p_o_o_l _m_a_i_l_b_o_x_e_s Usage: mbox-hook [!]_p_a_t_t_e_r_n _m_a_i_l_b_o_x This command is used to move read messages from a specified mailbox to a dif- ferent mailbox automatically when you quit or change folders. _p_a_t_t_e_r_n is a regular expression specifying the mailbox to treat as a ``spool'' mailbox and _m_a_i_l_b_o_x specifies where mail should be saved when read. Unlike some of the other _h_o_o_k commands, only the _f_i_r_s_t matching pattern is used (it is not possible to save read mail in more than a single mailbox). _3_._1_2 _D_e_f_i_n_i_n_g _m_a_i_l_b_o_x_e_s _w_h_i_c_h _r_e_c_e_i_v_e _m_a_i_l Usage: [un]mailboxes [!]_f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e [ _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e ... ] This command specifies folders which can receive mail and which will be checked for new messages. By default, the main menu status bar displays how many of these folders have new messages. When changing folders, pressing _s_p_a_c_e will cycle through folders with new mail. Pressing TAB in the directory browser will bring up a menu showing the files specified by the mailboxes command, and indicate which contain new messages. Mutt-ng will automatically enter this mode when invoked from the command line with the -y option. The ``unmailboxes'' command is used to remove a token from the list of folders which receive mail. Use ``unmailboxes *'' to remove all tokens. NNoottee:: new mail is detected by comparing the last modification time to the last access time. Utilities like biff or frm or any other program which accesses the mailbox might cause Mutt-ng to never detect new mail for that mailbox if they do not properly reset the access time. Backup tools are another common reason for updated access times. NNoottee:: the filenames in the mailboxes command are resolved when the command is executed, so if these names contain _s_h_o_r_t_c_u_t _c_h_a_r_a_c_t_e_r_s (section 4.8 , page 44) (such as ``='' and ``!''), any variable definition that affect these char- acters (like _$_f_o_l_d_e_r (section 6.3.63 , page 79) and _$_s_p_o_o_l_f_i_l_e (section The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 26 6.3.294 , page 135)) should be executed before the mailboxes command. _3_._1_3 _U_s_e_r _d_e_f_i_n_e_d _h_e_a_d_e_r_s Usage: my_hdr _s_t_r_i_n_g unmy_hdr _f_i_e_l_d [ _f_i_e_l_d ... ] The ``my_hdr'' command allows you to create your own header fields which will be added to every message you send. For example, if you would like to add an ``Organization:'' header field to all of your outgoing messages, you can put the command my_hdr Organization: A Really Big Company, Anytown, USA in your .muttrc. NNoottee:: space characters are _n_o_t allowed between the keyword and the colon (``:''). The standard for electronic mail (RFC822) says that space is illegal there, so Mutt-ng enforces the rule. If you would like to add a header field to a single message, you should either set the _e_d_i_t___h_e_a_d_e_r_s (section 6.3.54 , page 77) variable, or use the _e_d_i_t_- _h_e_a_d_e_r_s function (default: ``E'') in the send-menu so that you can edit the header of your message along with the body. To remove user defined header fields, use the ``unmy_hdr'' command. You may specify an asterisk (``*'') to remove all header fields, or the fields to remove. For example, to remove all ``To'' and ``Cc'' header fields, you could use: unmy_hdr to cc _3_._1_4 _D_e_f_i_n_i_n_g _t_h_e _o_r_d_e_r _o_f _h_e_a_d_e_r_s _w_h_e_n _v_i_e_w_i_n_g _m_e_s_s_a_g_e_s Usage: hdr_order _h_e_a_d_e_r_1 _h_e_a_d_e_r_2 _h_e_a_d_e_r_3 With this command, you can specify an order in which mutt will attempt to present headers to you when viewing messages. ``unhdr_order *'' will clear all previous headers from the order list, thus removing the header order effects set by the system-wide startup file. hdr_order From Date: From: To: Cc: Subject: The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 27 _3_._1_5 _S_p_e_c_i_f_y _d_e_f_a_u_l_t _s_a_v_e _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e Usage: save-hook [!]_p_a_t_t_e_r_n _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e This command is used to override the default filename used when saving mes- sages. _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e will be used as the default filename if the message is _F_r_o_m_: an address matching _r_e_g_e_x_p or if you are the author and the message is addressed _t_o_: something matching _r_e_g_e_x_p. See _M_e_s_s_a_g_e _M_a_t_c_h_i_n_g _i_n _H_o_o_k_s (section 4.4.1 , page 41) for information on the exact format of _p_a_t_t_e_r_n. Examples: save-hook me@(turing\\.)?cs\\.hmc\\.edu$ +elkins save-hook aol\\.com$ +spam Also see the _f_c_c_-_s_a_v_e_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.17 , page 27) command. _3_._1_6 _S_p_e_c_i_f_y _d_e_f_a_u_l_t _F_c_c_: _m_a_i_l_b_o_x _w_h_e_n _c_o_m_p_o_s_i_n_g Usage: fcc-hook [!]_p_a_t_t_e_r_n _m_a_i_l_b_o_x This command is used to save outgoing mail in a mailbox other than _$_r_e_c_o_r_d (section 6.3.229 , page 120). Mutt-ng searches the initial list of message recipients for the first matching _r_e_g_e_x_p and uses _m_a_i_l_b_o_x as the default Fcc: mailbox. If no match is found the message will be saved to _$_r_e_c_o_r_d (section 6.3.229 , page 120) mailbox. See _M_e_s_s_a_g_e _M_a_t_c_h_i_n_g _i_n _H_o_o_k_s (section 4.4.1 , page 41) for information on the exact format of _p_a_t_t_e_r_n. Example: fcc-hook [@.]aol\\.com$ +spammers The above will save a copy of all messages going to the aol.com domain to the `+spammers' mailbox by default. Also see the _f_c_c_-_s_a_v_e_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.17 , page 27) command. _3_._1_7 _S_p_e_c_i_f_y _d_e_f_a_u_l_t _s_a_v_e _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e _a_n_d _d_e_f_a_u_l_t _F_c_c_: _m_a_i_l_b_o_x _a_t _o_n_c_e Usage: fcc-save-hook [!]_p_a_t_t_e_r_n _m_a_i_l_b_o_x This command is a shortcut, equivalent to doing both a _f_c_c_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.16 , page 27) and a _s_a_v_e_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.15 , page 26) with its arguments. _3_._1_8 _C_h_a_n_g_e _s_e_t_t_i_n_g_s _b_a_s_e_d _u_p_o_n _m_e_s_s_a_g_e _r_e_c_i_p_i_e_n_t_s Usage: reply-hook [!]_p_a_t_t_e_r_n _c_o_m_m_a_n_d Usage: send-hook [!]_p_a_t_t_e_r_n _c_o_m_m_a_n_d Usage: send2-hook [!]_p_a_t_t_e_r_n _c_o_m_m_a_n_d The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 28 These commands can be used to execute arbitrary configuration commands based upon recipients of the message. _p_a_t_t_e_r_n is a regular expression matching the desired address. _c_o_m_m_a_n_d is executed when _r_e_g_e_x_p matches recipients of the message. reply-hook is matched against the message you are _r_e_p_l_y_i_n_g ttoo, instead of the message you are _s_e_n_d_i_n_g. send-hook is matched against all messages, both _n_e_w and _r_e_p_l_i_e_s. NNoottee:: reply-hooks are matched bbeeffoorree the send-hook, rreeggaarrddlleessss of the order specified in the users's configuration file. send2-hook is matched every time a message is changed, either by editing it, or by using the compose menu to change its recipients or subject. send2-hook is executed after send-hook, and can, e.g., be used to set parameters such as the _$_s_e_n_d_m_a_i_l (section 6.3.246 , page 124) variable depending on the message's sender address. For each type of send-hook or reply-hook, when multiple matches occur, commands are executed in the order they are specified in the muttrc (for that type of hook). See _M_e_s_s_a_g_e _M_a_t_c_h_i_n_g _i_n _H_o_o_k_s (section 4.4.1 , page 41) for information on the exact format of _p_a_t_t_e_r_n. Example: send-hook mutt 'set mime_forward signature=''' Another typical use for this command is to change the values of the _$_a_t_t_r_i_b_u_- _t_i_o_n (section 6.3.15 , page 68), _$_s_i_g_n_a_t_u_r_e (section 6.3.258 , page 127) and _$_l_o_c_a_l_e (section 6.3.113 , page 93) variables in order to change the language of the attributions and signatures based upon the recipients. NNoottee:: the send-hook's are only executed ONCE after getting the initial list of recipients. Adding a recipient after replying or editing the message will NOT cause any send-hook to be executed. Also note that my_hdr commands which mod- ify recipient headers, or the message's subject, don't have any effect on the current message when executed from a send-hook. _3_._1_9 _C_h_a_n_g_e _s_e_t_t_i_n_g_s _b_e_f_o_r_e _f_o_r_m_a_t_t_i_n_g _a _m_e_s_s_a_g_e Usage: message-hook [!]_p_a_t_t_e_r_n _c_o_m_m_a_n_d This command can be used to execute arbitrary configuration commands before viewing or formatting a message based upon information about the message. _c_o_m_- _m_a_n_d is executed if the _p_a_t_t_e_r_n matches the message to be displayed. When mul- tiple matches occur, commands are executed in the order they are specified in the muttrc. See _M_e_s_s_a_g_e _M_a_t_c_h_i_n_g _i_n _H_o_o_k_s (section 4.4.1 , page 41) for information on the exact format of _p_a_t_t_e_r_n. Example: message-hook ~A 'set pager=builtin' message-hook '~f freshmeat-news' 'set pager="less \"+/^ subject: .*\""' The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 29 _3_._2_0 _C_h_o_o_s_i_n_g _t_h_e _c_r_y_p_t_o_g_r_a_p_h_i_c _k_e_y _o_f _t_h_e _r_e_c_i_p_i_e_n_t Usage: crypt-hook _p_a_t_t_e_r_n _k_e_y_i_d When encrypting messages with PGP or OpenSSL, you may want to associate a cer- tain key with a given e-mail address automatically, either because the recipi- ent's public key can't be deduced from the destination address, or because, for some reasons, you need to override the key Mutt-ng would normally use. The crypt-hook command provides a method by which you can specify the ID of the public key to be used when encrypting messages to a certain recipient. The meaning of "key id" is to be taken broadly in this context: You can either put a numerical key ID here, an e-mail address, or even just a real name. _3_._2_1 _A_d_d_i_n_g _k_e_y _s_e_q_u_e_n_c_e_s _t_o _t_h_e _k_e_y_b_o_a_r_d _b_u_f_f_e_r Usage: push _s_t_r_i_n_g This command adds the named string to the keyboard buffer. The string may con- tain control characters, key names and function names like the sequence string in the _m_a_c_r_o (section 3.6 , page 20) command. You may use it to automatically run a sequence of commands at startup, or when entering certain folders. _3_._2_2 _E_x_e_c_u_t_i_n_g _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n_s Usage: exec _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n [ _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n ... ] This command can be used to execute any function. Functions are listed in the _f_u_n_c_t_i_o_n _r_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e (section 6.4 , page 147). ``exec function'' is equivalent to ``push ''. _3_._2_3 _M_e_s_s_a_g_e _S_c_o_r_i_n_g Usage: score _p_a_t_t_e_r_n _v_a_l_u_e Usage: unscore _p_a_t_t_e_r_n [ _p_a_t_t_e_r_n ... ] The score commands adds _v_a_l_u_e to a message's score if _p_a_t_t_e_r_n matches it. _p_a_t_- _t_e_r_n is a string in the format described in the _p_a_t_t_e_r_n_s (section 4.2 , page 36) section (note: For efficiency reasons, patterns which scan information not available in the index, such as ~b, ~B or ~h, may not be used). _v_a_l_u_e is a positive or negative integer. A message's final score is the sum total of all matching score entries. However, you may optionally prefix _v_a_l_u_e with an equal sign (=) to cause evaluation to stop at a particular entry if there is a match. Negative final scores are rounded up to 0. The unscore command removes score entries from the list. You mmuusstt specify the same pattern specified in the score command for it to be removed. The pattern ``*'' is a special token which means to clear the list of all score entries. _3_._2_4 _S_p_a_m _d_e_t_e_c_t_i_o_n Usage: spam _p_a_t_t_e_r_n _f_o_r_m_a_t The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 30 Usage: nospam _p_a_t_t_e_r_n Mutt-ng has generalized support for external spam-scoring filters. By defining your spam patterns with the spam and nospam commands, you can _l_i_m_i_t, _s_e_a_r_c_h, and _s_o_r_t your mail based on its spam attributes, as determined by the external filter. You also can display the spam attributes in your index display using the %H selector in the _$_i_n_d_e_x___f_o_r_m_a_t (section 6.3.109 , page 90) variable. (Tip: try %?H?[%H] ? to display spam tags only when they are defined for a given message.) Your first step is to define your external filter's spam patterns using the spam command. _p_a_t_t_e_r_n should be a regular expression that matches a header in a mail message. If any message in the mailbox matches this regular expression, it will receive a ``spam tag'' or ``spam attribute'' (unless it also matches a nospam pattern -- see below.) The appearance of this attribute is entirely up to you, and is governed by the _f_o_r_m_a_t parameter. _f_o_r_m_a_t can be any static text, but it also can include back-references from the _p_a_t_t_e_r_n expression. (A regular expression ``back-reference'' refers to a sub-expression contained within parentheses.) %1 is replaced with the first back-reference in the regex, %2 with the second, etc. If you're using multiple spam filters, a message can have more than one spam- related header. You can define spam patterns for each filter you use. If a mes- sage matches two or more of these patterns, and the $spam_separator variable is set to a string, then the message's spam tag will consist of all the _f_o_r_m_a_t strings joined together, with the value of $spam_separator separating them. For example, suppose I use DCC, SpamAssassin, and PureMessage. I might define these spam settings: spam "X-DCC-.*-Metrics:.*(....)=many" "90+/DCC-%1" spam "X-Spam-Status: Yes" "90+/SA" spam "X-PerlMX-Spam: .*Probability=([0-9]+)%" "%1/PM" set spam_separator=", " If I then received a message that DCC registered with ``many'' hits under the ``Fuz2'' checksum, and that PureMessage registered with a 97% probability of being spam, that message's spam tag would read 90+/DCC-Fuz2, 97/PM. (The four characters before ``=many'' in a DCC report indicate the checksum used -- in this case, ``Fuz2''.) If the $spam_separator variable is unset, then each spam pattern match super- sedes the previous one. Instead of getting joined _f_o_r_m_a_t strings, you'll get only the last one to match. The spam tag is what will be displayed in the index when you use %H in the $index_format variable. It's also the string that the ~H pattern-matching expression matches against for _s_e_a_r_c_h and _l_i_m_i_t functions. And it's what sort- ing by spam attribute will use as a sort key. That's a pretty complicated example, and most people's actual environments will have only one spam filter. The simpler your configuration, the more effective mutt can be, especially when it comes to sorting. The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 31 Generally, when you sort by spam tag, mutt will sort _l_e_x_i_c_a_l_l_y -- that is, by ordering strings alphnumerically. However, if a spam tag begins with a number, mutt will sort numerically first, and lexically only when two numbers are equal in value. (This is like UNIX's sort -n.) A message with no spam attributes at all -- that is, one that didn't match _a_n_y of your spam patterns -- is sorted at lowest priority. Numbers are sorted next, beginning with 0 and ranging upward. Finally, non-numeric strings are sorted, with ``a'' taking lower priority than ``z''. Clearly, in general, sorting by spam tags is most effective when you can coerce your filter to give you a raw number. But in case you can't, mutt can still do something useful. The nospam command can be used to write exceptions to spam patterns. If a header pattern matches something in a spam command, but you nonetheless do not want it to receive a spam tag, you can list a more precise pattern under a nospam command. If the _p_a_t_t_e_r_n given to nospam is exactly the same as the _p_a_t_t_e_r_n on an exist- ing spam list entry, the effect will be to remove the entry from the spam list, instead of adding an exception. Likewise, if the _p_a_t_t_e_r_n for a spam command matches an entry on the nospam list, that nospam entry will be removed. If the _p_a_t_t_e_r_n for nospam is ``*'', _a_l_l _e_n_t_r_i_e_s _o_n _b_o_t_h _l_i_s_t_s will be removed. This might be the default action if you use spam and nospam in conjunction with a folder-hook. You can have as many spam or nospam commands as you like. You can even do your own primitive spam detection within mutt -- for example, if you consider all mail from MAILER-DAEMON to be spam, you can use a spam command like this: spam "^From: .*MAILER-DAEMON" "999" _3_._2_5 _S_e_t_t_i_n_g _v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e_s Usage: set [no|inv]_v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e[=_v_a_l_u_e] [ _v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e ... ] Usage: toggle _v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e [_v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e ... ] Usage: unset _v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e [_v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e ... ] Usage: reset _v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e [_v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e ... ] This command is used to set (and unset) _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_a_t_i_o_n _v_a_r_i_a_b_l_e_s (section 6.3 , page 64). There are four basic types of variables: boolean, number, string and quadoption. _b_o_o_l_e_a_n variables can be _s_e_t (true) or _u_n_s_e_t (false). _n_u_m_b_e_r variables can be assigned a positive integer value. _s_t_r_i_n_g variables consist of any number of printable characters. _s_t_r_i_n_g_s must be enclosed in quotes if they contain spaces or tabs. You may also use the ``C'' escape sequences \\nn and \\tt for newline and tab, respectively. _q_u_a_d_o_p_t_i_o_n variables are used to control whether or not to be prompted for cer- tain actions, or to specify a default action. A value of _y_e_s will cause the action to be carried out automatically as if you had answered yes to the The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 32 question. Similarly, a value of _n_o will cause the the action to be carried out as if you had answered ``no.'' A value of _a_s_k_-_y_e_s will cause a prompt with a default answer of ``yes'' and _a_s_k_-_n_o will provide a default answer of ``no.'' Prefixing a variable with ``no'' will unset it. Example: set noaskbcc. For _b_o_o_l_e_a_n variables, you may optionally prefix the variable name with inv to toggle the value (on or off). This is useful when writing macros. Example: set invsmart_wrap. The toggle command automatically prepends the inv prefix to all specified vari- ables. The unset command automatically prepends the no prefix to all specified vari- ables. Using the enter-command function in the _i_n_d_e_x menu, you can query the value of a variable by prefixing the name of the variable with a question mark: set ?allow_8bit The question mark is actually only required for boolean and quadoption vari- ables. The reset command resets all given variables to the compile time defaults (hopefully mentioned in this manual). If you use the command set and prefix the variable with ``&'' this has the same behavior as the reset command. With the reset command there exists the special variable ``all'', which allows you to reset all variables to their system defaults. _3_._2_6 _R_e_a_d_i_n_g _i_n_i_t_i_a_l_i_z_a_t_i_o_n _c_o_m_m_a_n_d_s _f_r_o_m _a_n_o_t_h_e_r _f_i_l_e Usage: source _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e [ _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e ... ] This command allows the inclusion of initialization commands from other files. For example, I place all of my aliases in ~/.mail_aliases so that I can make my ~/.muttrc readable and keep my aliases private. If the filename begins with a tilde (``~''), it will be expanded to the path of your home directory. If the filename ends with a vertical bar (|), then _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e is considered to be an executable program from which to read input (eg. source ~/bin/myscript|). _3_._2_7 _C_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_i_n_g _f_e_a_t_u_r_e_s _c_o_n_d_i_t_i_o_n_a_l_l_y Usage: ifdef _i_t_e_m _c_o_m_m_a_n_d Usage: ifndef _i_t_e_m _c_o_m_m_a_n_d These commands allow testing for a variable, function or certain feature being The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 33 available or not respectively, before actually executing the command given. ifdef (short for ``if defined'') only executes the command upon availability while ifndef (short for ``if not defined'') does if not. The _c_o_m_m_a_n_d may be any valid fraction of a configuration file. All names of variables, functions and menus may be tested. Additionally, the following compile-features may be tested when prefixed with 'feature_': ncurses, slang, iconv, idn, dotlock, standalone, pop, nntp, imap, ssl, gnutls, sasl, sasl2, libesmtp, compressed, color, classic_pgp, classic_smime, gpgme, header_cache, gdbm, qdbm and db4. Examples follow. To only source a file with IMAP related settings if IMAP support is compiled in, use: ifdef feature_imap 'source ~/.mutt-ng/imap_setup' # or # ifdef imap_user 'source ~/.mutt-ng/imap_setup' # or # ... To exit mutt-ng directly if no NNTP support is compiled in: ifndef feature_nntp 'push q' # or # ifndef newsrc 'push q' # or # ... To only set the _$_i_m_a_p___m_a_i_l___c_h_e_c_k (section 6.3.98 , page 87) variable if the system's mutt-ng is aware of it, use: ifdef imap_mail_check 'set imap_mail_check=500' _3_._2_8 _R_e_m_o_v_i_n_g _h_o_o_k_s Usage: unhook [ * | _h_o_o_k_-_t_y_p_e ] This command permits you to flush hooks you have previously defined. You can either remove all hooks by giving the ``*'' character as an argument, or you can remove all hooks of a specific type by saying something like unhook send- hook. _4_. _A_d_v_a_n_c_e_d _U_s_a_g_e _4_._1 _R_e_g_u_l_a_r _E_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n_s All string patterns in Mutt-ng including those in more complex _p_a_t_t_e_r_n_s The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 34 (section 4.2 , page 36) must be specified using regular expressions (regexp) in the ``POSIX extended'' syntax (which is more or less the syntax used by egrep and GNU awk). For your convenience, we have included below a brief description of this syntax. The search is case sensitive if the pattern contains at least one upper case letter, and case insensitive otherwise. Note that ``\'' must be quoted if used for a regular expression in an initialization command: ``\\''. A regular expression is a pattern that describes a set of strings. Regular expressions are constructed analogously to arithmetic expressions, by using various operators to combine smaller expressions. Note that the regular expression can be enclosed/delimited by either ' or ' which is useful if the regular expression includes a white-space character. See _S_y_n_t_a_x _o_f _I_n_i_t_i_a_l_i_z_a_t_i_o_n _F_i_l_e_s (section 3.1 , page 14) for more informa- tion on ' and ' delimiter processing. To match a literal ' or ' you must pref- ace it with \ (backslash). The fundamental building blocks are the regular expressions that match a single character. Most characters, including all letters and digits, are regular expressions that match themselves. Any metacharacter with special meaning may be quoted by preceding it with a backslash. The period ``.'' matches any single character. The caret ``^'' and the dollar sign ``$'' are metacharacters that respectively match the empty string at the beginning and end of a line. A list of characters enclosed by ``['' and ``]'' matches any single character in that list; if the first character of the list is a caret ``^'' then it matches any character nnoott in the list. For example, the regular expression [[00112233445566778899]] matches any single digit. A range of ASCII characters may be specified by giving the first and last characters, separated by a hyphen ``-''. Most metacharacters lose their special meaning inside lists. To include a lit- eral ``]'' place it first in the list. Similarly, to include a literal ``^'' place it anywhere but first. Finally, to include a literal hyphen ``-'' place it last. Certain named classes of characters are predefined. Character classes consist of ``[:'', a keyword denoting the class, and ``:]''. The following classes are defined by the POSIX standard: [:alnum:] Alphanumeric characters. [:alpha:] Alphabetic characters. [:blank:] Space or tab characters. [:cntrl:] Control characters. The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 35 [:digit:] Numeric characters. [:graph:] Characters that are both printable and visible. (A space is print- able, but not visible, while an ``a'' is both.) [:lower:] Lower-case alphabetic characters. [:print:] Printable characters (characters that are not control characters.) [:punct:] Punctuation characters (characters that are not letter, digits, control characters, or space characters). [:space:] Space characters (such as space, tab and formfeed, to name a few). [:upper:] Upper-case alphabetic characters. [:xdigit:] Characters that are hexadecimal digits. A character class is only valid in a regular expression inside the brackets of a character list. Note that the brackets in these class names are part of the symbolic names, and must be included in addition to the brackets delimiting the bracket list. For example, [[[[::ddiiggiitt::]]]] is equivalent to [[00--99]]. Two additional special sequences can appear in character lists. These apply to non-ASCII character sets, which can have single symbols (called collating ele- ments) that are represented with more than one character, as well as several characters that are equivalent for collating or sorting purposes: Collating Symbols A collating symbol is a multi-character collating element enclosed in ``[.'' and ``.]''. For example, if ``ch'' is a collating ele- ment, then [[[[..cchh..]]]] is a regexp that matches this collating ele- ment, while [[cchh]] is a regexp that matches either ``c'' or ``h''. Equivalence Classes An equivalence class is a locale-specific name for a list of char- acters that are equivalent. The name is enclosed in ``[='' and ``=]''. For example, the name ``e'' might be used to represent all of ``'' ``'' and ``e''. In this case, [[[[==ee==]]]] is a regexp that matches any of ``'', ``'' and ``e''. A regular expression matching a single character may be followed by one of sev- eral repetition operators: ? The preceding item is optional and matched at most once. The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 36 * The preceding item will be matched zero or more times. + The preceding item will be matched one or more times. {n} The preceding item is matched exactly _n times. {n,} The preceding item is matched _n or more times. {,m} The preceding item is matched at most _m times. {n,m} The preceding item is matched at least _n times, but no more than _m times. Two regular expressions may be concatenated; the resulting regular expression matches any string formed by concatenating two substrings that respectively match the concatenated subexpressions. Two regular expressions may be joined by the infix operator ``|''; the result- ing regular expression matches any string matching either subexpression. Repetition takes precedence over concatenation, which in turn takes precedence over alternation. A whole subexpression may be enclosed in parentheses to override these precedence rules. NNoottee:: If you compile Mutt-ng with the GNU _r_x package, the following operators may also be used in regular expressions: \\y Matches the empty string at either the beginning or the end of a word. \\B Matches the empty string within a word. \\< Matches the empty string at the beginning of a word. \\> Matches the empty string at the end of a word. \\w Matches any word-constituent character (letter, digit, or under- score). \\W Matches any character that is not word-constituent. The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 37 \\` Matches the empty string at the beginning of a buffer (string). \\' Matches the empty string at the end of a buffer. Please note however that these operators are not defined by POSIX, so they may or may not be available in stock libraries on various systems. _4_._2 _P_a_t_t_e_r_n_s Many of Mutt-ng's commands allow you to specify a pattern to match (limit, tag- pattern, delete-pattern, etc.). There are several ways to select messages: The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 38 ~A all messages ~b EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the message body ~B EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the whole message ~c USER messages carbon-copied to USER ~C EXPR message is either to: or cc: EXPR ~D deleted messages ~d [MIN]-[MAX] messages with ``date-sent'' in a Date range ~E expired messages ~e EXPR message which contains EXPR in the ``Sender'' field ~F flagged messages ~f USER messages originating from USER ~g cryptographically signed messages ~G cryptographically encrypted messages ~H EXPR messages with a spam attribute matching EXPR ~h EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the message header ~k message contains PGP key material ~i ID message which match ID in the ``Message-ID'' field ~L EXPR message is either originated or received by EXPR ~l message is addressed to a known mailing list ~m [MIN]-[MAX] message in the range MIN to MAX *) ~n [MIN]-[MAX] messages with a score in the range MIN to MAX *) ~N new messages ~O old messages ~p message is addressed to you (consults alternates) ~P message is from you (consults alternates) ~Q messages which have been replied to ~R read messages ~r [MIN]-[MAX] messages with ``date-received'' in a Date range ~S superseded messages ~s SUBJECT messages having SUBJECT in the ``Subject'' field. ~T tagged messages ~t USER messages addressed to USER ~U unread messages ~v message is part of a collapsed thread. ~V cryptographically verified messages ~w EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the `Newsgroups' field (if compiled with NNTP support) ~x EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the `References' field ~y EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the `X-Label' field ~z [MIN]-[MAX] messages with a size in the range MIN to MAX *) ~= duplicated messages (see $duplicate_threads) ~$ unreferenced messages (requires threaded view) ~* ``From'' contains realname and (syntactically) valid address (excluded are addresses matching against alternates or any alias) Where EXPR, USER, ID, and SUBJECT are _r_e_g_u_l_a_r _e_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n_s (section 4.1 , page 33). Special attention has to be made when using regular expressions inside of patterns. Specifically, Mutt-ng's parser for these patterns will strip one level of backslash (\), which is normally used for quoting. If it is your intention to use a backslash in the regular expression, you will need to use two backslashes instead (\\). The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 39 *) The forms <[MAX], >[MIN], [MIN]- and -[MAX] are allowed, too. _4_._2_._1 _P_a_t_t_e_r_n _M_o_d_i_f_i_e_r Note that patterns matching 'lists' of addresses (notably c,C,p,P and t) match if there is at least one match in the whole list. If you want to make sure that all elements of that list match, you need to prefix your pattern with ^. This example matches all mails which only has recipients from Germany. ^~C \.de$ _4_._2_._2 _C_o_m_p_l_e_x _P_a_t_t_e_r_n_s Logical AND is performed by specifying more than one criterion. For example: ~t mutt ~f elkins would select messages which contain the word ``mutt'' in the list of recipients aanndd that have the word ``elkins'' in the ``From'' header field. Mutt-ng also recognizes the following operators to create more complex search patterns: +o ! -- logical NOT operator +o | -- logical OR operator +o () -- logical grouping operator Here is an example illustrating a complex search pattern. This pattern will select all messages which do not contain ``mutt'' in the ``To'' or ``Cc'' field and which are from ``elkins''. !(~t mutt|~c mutt) ~f elkins Here is an example using white space in the regular expression (note the ' and ' delimiters). For this to match, the mail's subject must match the ``^Junk +From +Me$'' and it must be from either ``Jim +Somebody'' or ``Ed +Some- oneElse'': '~s "^Junk +From +Me$" ~f ("Jim +Somebody"|"Ed +SomeoneElse")' Note that if a regular expression contains parenthesis, or a veritical bar ("|"), you mmuusstt enclose the expression in double or single quotes since those characters are also used to separate different parts of Mutt-ng's pattern lan- guage. For example, The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 40 ~f "me@(mutt\.org|cs\.hmc\.edu)" Without the quotes, the parenthesis wouldn't end. This would be separated to two OR'd patterns: _~_f _m_e_@_(_m_u_t_t_\_._o_r_g and _c_s_\_._h_m_c_\_._e_d_u_). They are never what you want. _4_._2_._3 _S_e_a_r_c_h_i_n_g _b_y _D_a_t_e Mutt-ng supports two types of dates, _a_b_s_o_l_u_t_e and _r_e_l_a_t_i_v_e. AAbbssoolluuttee. Dates mmuusstt be in DD/MM/YY format (month and year are optional, defaulting to the current month and year). An example of a valid range of dates is: Limit to messages matching: ~d 20/1/95-31/10 If you omit the minimum (first) date, and just specify ``-DD/MM/YY'', all mes- sages _b_e_f_o_r_e the given date will be selected. If you omit the maximum (second) date, and specify ``DD/MM/YY-'', all messages _a_f_t_e_r the given date will be selected. If you specify a single date with no dash (``-''), only messages sent on the given date will be selected. EErrrroorr MMaarrggiinnss. You can add error margins to absolute dates. An error margin is a sign (+ or -), followed by a digit, followed by one of the following units: y years m months w weeks d days As a special case, you can replace the sign by a ``*'' character, which is equivalent to giving identical plus and minus error margins. Example: To select any messages two weeks around January 15, 2001, you'd use the following pattern: Limit to messages matching: ~d 15/1/2001*2w RReellaattiivvee. This type of date is relative to the current date, and may be speci- fied as: +o >_o_f_f_s_e_t (messages older than _o_f_f_s_e_t units) +o <_o_f_f_s_e_t (messages newer than _o_f_f_s_e_t units) +o =_o_f_f_s_e_t (messages exactly _o_f_f_s_e_t units old) The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 41 _o_f_f_s_e_t is specified as a positive number with one of the following units: y years m months w weeks d days Example: to select messages less than 1 month old, you would use Limit to messages matching: ~d <1m NNoottee:: all dates used when searching are relative to the llooccaall time zone, so unless you change the setting of your _$_i_n_d_e_x___f_o_r_m_a_t (section 6.3.109 , page 90) to include a %[...] format, these are nnoott the dates shown in the main index. _4_._3 _U_s_i_n_g _T_a_g_s Sometimes it is desirable to perform an operation on a group of messages all at once rather than one at a time. An example might be to save messages to a mailing list to a separate folder, or to delete all messages with a given sub- ject. To tag all messages matching a pattern, use the tag-pattern function, which is bound to ``shift-T'' by default. Or you can select individual mes- sages by hand using the ``tag-message'' function, which is bound to ``t'' by default. See _p_a_t_t_e_r_n_s (section 4.2 , page 36) for Mutt-ng's pattern matching syntax. Once you have tagged the desired messages, you can use the ``tag-prefix'' oper- ator, which is the ``;'' (semicolon) key by default. When the ``tag-prefix'' operator is used, the nneexxtt operation will be applied to all tagged messages if that operation can be used in that manner. If the _$_a_u_t_o___t_a_g (section 6.3.16 , page 69) variable is set, the next operation applies to the tagged messages automatically, without requiring the ``tag-prefix''. In _m_a_c_r_o_s (section 3.6 , page 20) or _p_u_s_h (section 3.21 , page 29) commands, you can use the ``tag-prefix-cond'' operator. If there are no tagged messages, mutt will "eat" the rest of the macro to abort it's execution. Mutt-ng will stop "eating" the macro when it encounters the ``end-cond'' operator; after this operator the rest of the macro will be executed as normal. _4_._4 _U_s_i_n_g _H_o_o_k_s A _h_o_o_k is a concept borrowed from the EMACS editor which allows you to execute arbitrary commands before performing some operation. For example, you may wish to tailor your configuration based upon which mailbox you are reading, or to whom you are sending mail. In the Mutt-ng world, a _h_o_o_k consists of a _r_e_g_u_l_a_r _e_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n (section 4.1 , page 33) or _p_a_t_t_e_r_n (section 4.2 , page 36) along with a configuration option/command. See +o _f_o_l_d_e_r_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.5 , page 19) The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 42 +o _s_e_n_d_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.18 , page 27) +o _m_e_s_s_a_g_e_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.19 , page 28) +o _s_a_v_e_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.15 , page 26) +o _m_b_o_x_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.11 , page 25) +o _f_c_c_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.16 , page 27) +o _f_c_c_-_s_a_v_e_-_h_o_o_k (section 3.17 , page 27) for specific details on each type of _h_o_o_k available. NNoottee:: if a hook changes configuration settings, these changes remain effective until the end of the current mutt session. As this is generally not desired, a default hook needs to be added before all other hooks to restore configuration defaults. Here is an example with send-hook and the my_hdr directive: send-hook . 'unmy_hdr From:' send-hook ~C'^b@b\.b$' my_hdr from: c@c.c _4_._4_._1 _M_e_s_s_a_g_e _M_a_t_c_h_i_n_g _i_n _H_o_o_k_s Hooks that act upon messages (send-hook, save-hook, fcc-hook, message-hook) are evaluated in a slightly different manner. For the other types of hooks, a _r_e_g_- _u_l_a_r _e_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n (section 4.1 , page 33) is sufficient. But in dealing with messages a finer grain of control is needed for matching since for different purposes you want to match different criteria. Mutt-ng allows the use of the _s_e_a_r_c_h _p_a_t_t_e_r_n (section 4.2 , page 36) language for matching messages in hook commands. This works in exactly the same way as it would when _l_i_m_i_t_i_n_g or _s_e_a_r_c_h_i_n_g the mailbox, except that you are restricted to those operators which match information mutt extracts from the header of the message (i.e. from, to, cc, date, subject, etc.). For example, if you wanted to set your return address based upon sending mail to a specific address, you could do something like: send-hook '~t ^me@cs\.hmc\.edu$' 'my_hdr From: Mutt-ng User ' which would execute the given command when sending mail to _m_e_@_c_s_._h_m_c_._e_d_u. However, it is not required that you write the pattern to match using the full searching language. You can still specify a simple _r_e_g_u_l_a_r _e_x_p_r_e_s_s_i_o_n like the other hooks, in which case Mutt-ng will translate your pattern into the full language, using the translation specified by the _$_d_e_f_a_u_l_t___h_o_o_k (section 6.3.45 , page 75) variable. The pattern is translated at the time the hook is declared, so the value of _$_d_e_f_a_u_l_t___h_o_o_k (section 6.3.45 , page 75) that is in effect at that time will be used. The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 43 _4_._5 _U_s_i_n_g _t_h_e _s_i_d_e_b_a_r The sidebar, a feature specific to Mutt-ng, allows you to use a mailbox listing which looks very similar to the ones you probably know from GUI mail clients. The sidebar lists all specified mailboxes, shows the number in each and high- lights the ones with new email Use the following configuration commands: set sidebar_visible="yes" set sidebar_width=25 If you want to specify the mailboxes you can do so with: set mbox='=INBOX' mailboxes INBOX \ MBOX1 \ MBOX2 \ ... You can also specify the colors for mailboxes with new mails by using: color sidebar_new red black color sidebar white black The available functions are: sidebar-scroll-up Scrolls the mailbox list up 1 page sidebar-scroll-down Scrolls the mailbox list down 1 page sidebar-next Highlights the next mailbox sidebar-next-new Highlights the next mailbox with new mail sidebar-previous Highlights the previous mailbox sidebar-open Opens the currently highlighted mailbox Reasonable key bindings look e.g. like this: bind index \Cp sidebar-prev bind index \Cn sidebar-next bind index \Cb sidebar-open bind pager \Cp sidebar-prev bind pager \Cn sidebar-next bind pager \Cb sidebar-open macro index B ':toggle sidebar_visible^M' macro pager B ':toggle sidebar_visible^M' You can then go up and down by pressing Ctrl-P and Ctrl-N, and switch on and off the sidebar simply by pressing 'B'. _4_._6 _E_x_t_e_r_n_a_l _A_d_d_r_e_s_s _Q_u_e_r_i_e_s The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 44 Mutt-ng supports connecting to external directory databases such as LDAP, ph/qi, bbdb, or NIS through a wrapper script which connects to mutt using a simple interface. Using the _$_q_u_e_r_y___c_o_m_m_a_n_d (section 6.3.220 , page 118) vari- able, you specify the wrapper command to use. For example: set query_command = "mutt_ldap_query.pl '%s'" The wrapper script should accept the query on the command-line. It should return a one line message, then each matching response on a single line, each line containing a tab separated address then name then some other optional information. On error, or if there are no matching addresses, return a non- zero exit code and a one line error message. An example multiple response output: Searching database ... 20 entries ... 3 matching: me@cs.hmc.edu Michael Elkins mutt dude blong@fiction.net Brandon Long mutt and more roessler@guug.de Thomas Roessler mutt pgp There are two mechanisms for accessing the query function of mutt. One is to do a query from the index menu using the query function (default: Q). This will prompt for a query, then bring up the query menu which will list the matching responses. From the query menu, you can select addresses to create aliases, or to mail. You can tag multiple addresses to mail, start a new query, or have a new query appended to the current responses. The other mechanism for accessing the query function is for address completion, similar to the alias completion. In any prompt for address entry, you can use the complete-query function (default: ^T) to run a query based on the current address you have typed. Like aliases, mutt will look for what you have typed back to the last space or comma. If there is a single response for that query, mutt will expand the address in place. If there are multiple responses, mutt will activate the query menu. At the query menu, you can select one or more addresses to be added to the prompt. _4_._7 _M_a_i_l_b_o_x _F_o_r_m_a_t_s Mutt-ng supports reading and writing of four different mailbox formats: mbox, MMDF, MH and Maildir. The mailbox type is autodetected, so there is no need to use a flag for different mailbox types. When creating new mailboxes, Mutt-ng uses the default specified with the _$_m_b_o_x___t_y_p_e (section 6.3.124 , page 95) variable. mmbbooxx. This is the most widely used mailbox format for UNIX. All messages are stored in a single file. Each message has a line of the form: From me@cs.hmc.edu Fri, 11 Apr 1997 11:44:56 PST The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 45 to denote the start of a new message (this is often referred to as the ``From_'' line). MMMMDDFF. This is a variant of the _m_b_o_x format. Each message is surrounded by lines containing ``^A^A^A^A'' (four control-A's). MMHH. A radical departure from _m_b_o_x and _M_M_D_F, a mailbox consists of a directory and each message is stored in a separate file. The filename indicates the mes- sage number (however, this is may not correspond to the message number Mutt-ng displays). Deleted messages are renamed with a comma (,) prepended to the file- name. NNoottee:: Mutt detects this type of mailbox by looking for either .mh_sequences or .xmhcache (needed to distinguish normal directories from MH mailboxes). MMaaiillddiirr. The newest of the mailbox formats, used by the Qmail MTA (a replace- ment for sendmail). Similar to _M_H, except that it adds three subdirectories of the mailbox: _t_m_p, _n_e_w and _c_u_r. Filenames for the messages are chosen in such a way they are unique, even when two programs are writing the mailbox over NFS, which means that no file locking is needed. _4_._8 _M_a_i_l_b_o_x _S_h_o_r_t_c_u_t_s There are a number of built in shortcuts which refer to specific mailboxes. These shortcuts can be used anywhere you are prompted for a file or mailbox path. +o ! -- refers to your _$_s_p_o_o_l_f_i_l_e (section 6.3.294 , page 135) (incoming) mailbox +o > -- refers to your _$_m_b_o_x (section 6.3.123 , page 95) file +o < -- refers to your _$_r_e_c_o_r_d (section 6.3.229 , page 120) file +o ^ -- refers to the current mailbox +o - or !! -- refers to the file you've last visited +o ~ -- refers to your home directory +o = or + -- refers to your _$_f_o_l_d_e_r (section 6.3.63 , page 79) directory +o @_a_l_i_a_s -- refers to the _d_e_f_a_u_l_t _s_a_v_e _f_o_l_d_e_r (section 3.15 , page 26) as determined by the address of the alias _4_._9 _H_a_n_d_l_i_n_g _M_a_i_l_i_n_g _L_i_s_t_s Mutt-ng has a few configuration options that make dealing with large amounts of mail easier. The first thing you must do is to let Mutt know what addresses you consider to be mailing lists (technically this does not have to be a mail- ing list, but that is what it is most often used for), and what lists you are subscribed to. This is accomplished through the use of the _l_i_s_t_s _a_n_d _s_u_b_s_c_r_i_b_e (section 3.10 , page 24) commands in your muttrc. Now that Mutt-ng knows what your mailing lists are, it can do several things, The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 46 the first of which is the ability to show the name of a list through which you received a message (i.e., of a subscribed list) in the _i_n_d_e_x menu display. This is useful to distinguish between personal and list mail in the same mail- box. In the _$_i_n_d_e_x___f_o_r_m_a_t (section 6.3.109 , page 90) variable, the escape ``%L'' will return the string ``To '' when ``list'' appears in the ``To'' field, and ``Cc '' when it appears in the ``Cc'' field (otherwise it returns the name of the author). Often times the ``To'' and ``Cc'' fields in mailing list messages tend to get quite large. Most people do not bother to remove the author of the message they are reply to from the list, resulting in two or more copies being sent to that person. The ``list-reply'' function, which by default is bound to ``L'' in the _i_n_d_e_x menu and _p_a_g_e_r, helps reduce the clutter by only replying to the known mailing list addresses instead of all recipients (except as specified by Mail- Followup-To, see below). Mutt-ng also supports the Mail-Followup-To header. When you send a message to a list of recipients which includes one or several subscribed mailing lists, and if the _$_f_o_l_l_o_w_u_p___t_o (section 6.3.65 , page 80) option is set, mutt will generate a Mail-Followup-To header which contains all the recipients to whom you send this message, but not your address. This indicates that group-replies or list-replies (also known as ``followups'') to this message should only be sent to the original recipients of the message, and not separately to you - you'll receive your copy through one of the mailing lists you are subscribed to. Conversely, when group-replying or list-replying to a message which has a Mail- Followup-To header, mutt will respect this header if the _$_h_o_n_o_r___f_o_l_l_o_w_u_p___t_o (section 6.3.87 , page 84) configuration variable is set. Using list-reply will in this case also make sure that the reply goes to the mailing list, even if it's not specified in the list of recipients in the Mail-Followup-To. Note that, when header editing is enabled, you can create a Mail-Followup-To header manually. Mutt-ng will only auto-generate this header if it doesn't exist when you send the message. The other method some mailing list admins use is to generate a ``Reply-To'' field which points back to the mailing list address rather than the author of the message. This can create problems when trying to reply directly to the author in private, since most mail clients will automatically reply to the address given in the ``Reply-To'' field. Mutt-ng uses the _$_r_e_p_l_y___t_o (section 6.3.232 , page 121) variable to help decide which address to use. If set to _a_s_k_-_y_e_s or _a_s_k_-_n_o, you will be prompted as to whether or not you would like to use the address given in the ``Reply-To'' field, or reply directly to the address given in the ``From'' field. When set to _y_e_s, the ``Reply-To'' field will be used when present. The ``X-Label:'' header field can be used to further identify mailing lists or list subject matter (or just to annotate messages individually). The _$_i_n_d_e_x___f_o_r_m_a_t (section 6.3.109 , page 90) variable's ``%y'' and ``%Y'' escapes can be used to expand ``X-Label:'' fields in the index, and Mutt-ng's pattern- matcher can match regular expressions to ``X-Label:'' fields with the `` y'' selector. ``X-Label:'' is not a standard message header field, but it can eas- ily be inserted by procmail and other mail filtering agents. The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 47 Lastly, Mutt-ng has the ability to _s_o_r_t (section 6.3.288 , page 133) the mail- box into _t_h_r_e_a_d_s (section 2.3.3 , page 7). A thread is a group of messages which all relate to the same subject. This is usually organized into a tree- like structure where a message and all of its replies are represented graphi- cally. If you've ever used a threaded news client, this is the same concept. It makes dealing with large volume mailing lists easier because you can easily delete uninteresting threads and quickly find topics of value. _4_._1_0 _E_d_i_t_i_n_g _t_h_r_e_a_d_s Mutt-ng has the ability to dynamically restructure threads that are broken either by misconfigured software or bad behavior from some correspondents. This allows to clean your mailboxes formats) from these annoyances which make it hard to follow a discussion. _4_._1_0_._1 _L_i_n_k_i_n_g _t_h_r_e_a_d_s Some mailers tend to "forget" to correctly set the "In-Reply-To:" and "Refer- ences:" headers when replying to a message. This results in broken discussions because Mutt-ng has not enough information to guess the correct threading. You can fix this by tagging the reply, then moving to the parent message and using the ``link-threads'' function (bound to & by default). The reply will then be connected to this "parent" message. You can also connect multiple children at once, tagging them and using the tag- prefix command (';') or the auto_tag option. _4_._1_0_._2 _B_r_e_a_k_i_n_g _t_h_r_e_a_d_s On mailing lists, some people are in the bad habit of starting a new discussion by hitting "reply" to any message from the list and changing the subject to a totally unrelated one. You can fix such threads by using the ``break-thread'' function (bound by default to #), which will turn the subthread starting from the current message into a whole different thread. _4_._1_1 _D_e_l_i_v_e_r_y _S_t_a_t_u_s _N_o_t_i_f_i_c_a_t_i_o_n _(_D_S_N_) _S_u_p_p_o_r_t RFC1894 defines a set of MIME content types for relaying information about the status of electronic mail messages. These can be thought of as ``return receipts.'' Berkeley sendmail 8.8.x currently has some command line options in which the mail client can make requests as to what type of status messages should be returned. To support this, there are two variables. _$_d_s_n___n_o_t_i_f_y (section 6.3.51 , page 76) is used to request receipts for different results (such as failed message, message delivered, etc.). _$_d_s_n___r_e_t_u_r_n (section 6.3.52 , page 76) requests how much of your message should be returned with the receipt (headers or full mes- sage). Refer to the man page on sendmail for more details on DSN. _4_._1_2 _P_O_P_3 _S_u_p_p_o_r_t _(_O_P_T_I_O_N_A_L_) If Mutt-ng was compiled with POP3 support (by running the _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e script with the _-_-_e_n_a_b_l_e_-_p_o_p flag), it has the ability to work with mailboxes located on a remote POP3 server and fetch mail for local browsing. The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 48 You can access the remote POP3 mailbox by selecting the folder pop://popserver/. You can select an alternative port by specifying it with the server, i.e.: pop://popserver:port/. You can also specify different username for each folder, i.e.: pop://user- name@popserver[:port]/. Polling for new mail is more expensive over POP3 than locally. For this reason the frequency at which Mutt-ng will check for mail remotely can be controlled by the _$_p_o_p___m_a_i_l___c_h_e_c_k (section 6.3.207 , page 115) variable, which defaults to every 60 seconds. If Mutt-ng was compiled with SSL support (by running the _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e script with the _-_-_w_i_t_h_-_s_s_l flag), connections to POP3 servers can be encrypted. This natu- rally requires that the server supports SSL encrypted connections. To access a folder with POP3/SSL, you should use pops: prefix, ie: pops://[user- name@]popserver[:port]/. Another way to access your POP3 mail is the _f_e_t_c_h_-_m_a_i_l function (default: G). It allows to connect to _p_o_p___h_o_s_t (section 6.3.205 , page 115), fetch all your new mail and place it in the local _s_p_o_o_l_f_i_l_e (section 6.3.294 , page 135). After this point, Mutt-ng runs exactly as if the mail had always been local. NNoottee:: If you only need to fetch all messages to local mailbox you should con- sider using a specialized program, such as fetchmail _4_._1_3 _I_M_A_P _S_u_p_p_o_r_t _(_O_P_T_I_O_N_A_L_) If Mutt-ng was compiled with IMAP support (by running the _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e script with the _-_-_e_n_a_b_l_e_-_i_m_a_p flag), it has the ability to work with folders located on a remote IMAP server. You can access the remote inbox by selecting the folder imap://imapserver/INBOX, where imapserver is the name of the IMAP server and INBOX is the special name for your spool mailbox on the IMAP server. If you want to access another mail folder at the IMAP server, you should use imap://imapserver/path/to/folder where path/to/folder is the path of the folder you want to access. You can select an alternative port by specifying it with the server, i.e.: imap://imapserver:port/INBOX. You can also specify different username for each folder, i.e.: imap://user- name@imapserver[:port]/INBOX. If Mutt-ng was compiled with SSL support (by running the _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e script with the _-_-_w_i_t_h_-_s_s_l flag), connections to IMAP servers can be encrypted. This natu- rally requires that the server supports SSL encrypted connections. To access a folder with IMAP/SSL, you should use imaps://[user- name@]imapserver[:port]/path/to/folder as your folder path. Pine-compatible notation is also supported, i.e. The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 49 {[username@]imapserver[:port][/ssl]}path/to/folder Note that not all servers use / as the hierarchy separator. Mutt-ng should correctly notice which separator is being used by the server and convert paths accordingly. When browsing folders on an IMAP server, you can toggle whether to look at only the folders you are subscribed to, or all folders with the _t_o_g_g_l_e_-_s_u_b_s_c_r_i_b_e_d command. See also the _$_i_m_a_p___l_i_s_t___s_u_b_s_c_r_i_b_e_d (section 6.3.96 , page 87) vari- able. Polling for new mail on an IMAP server can cause noticeable delays. So, you'll want to carefully tune the _$_i_m_a_p___m_a_i_l___c_h_e_c_k (section 6.3.98 , page 87) and _$_t_i_m_e_o_u_t (section 6.3.315 , page 142) variables. Note that if you are using mbox as the mail store on UW servers prior to v12.250, the server has been reported to disconnect a client if another client selects the same folder. _4_._1_3_._1 _T_h_e _F_o_l_d_e_r _B_r_o_w_s_e_r As of version 1.2, mutt supports browsing mailboxes on an IMAP server. This is mostly the same as the local file browser, with the following differences: +o Instead of file permissions, mutt displays the string "IMAP", possibly followed by the symbol "+", indicating that the entry contains both mes- sages and subfolders. On Cyrus-like servers folders will often contain both messages and subfolders. +o For the case where an entry can contain both messages and subfolders, the selection key (bound to enter by default) will choose to descend into the subfolder view. If you wish to view the messages in that folder, you must use view-file instead (bound to space by default). +o You can create, delete and rename mailboxes with the create-mailbox, delete-mailbox, and rename-mailbox commands (default bindings: C, d and r, respectively). You may also subscribe and unsubscribe to mailboxes (nor- mally these are bound to s and u, respectively). _4_._1_3_._2 _A_u_t_h_e_n_t_i_c_a_t_i_o_n Mutt-ng supports four authentication methods with IMAP servers: SASL, GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, and LOGIN (there is a patch by Grant Edwards to add NTLM authentica- tion for you poor exchange users out there, but it has yet to be integrated into the main tree). There is also support for the pseudo-protocol ANONYMOUS, which allows you to log in to a public IMAP server without having an account. To use ANONYMOUS, simply make your username blank or "anonymous". SASL is a special super-authenticator, which selects among several protocols (including GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, ANONYMOUS, and DIGEST-MD5) the most secure method available on your host and the server. Using some of these methods (including DIGEST-MD5 and possibly GSSAPI), your entire session will be encrypted and invisible to those teeming network snoops. It is the best option if you have it. To use it, you must have the Cyrus SASL library installed on your system The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 50 and compile mutt with the _-_-_w_i_t_h_-_s_a_s_l flag. Mutt-ng will try whichever methods are compiled in and available on the server, in the following order: SASL, ANONYMOUS, GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, LOGIN. There are a few variables which control authentication: +o _$_i_m_a_p___u_s_e_r (section 6.3.104 , page 89) - controls the username under which you request authentication on the IMAP server, for all authentica- tors. This is overridden by an explicit username in the mailbox path (i.e. by using a mailbox name of the form {user@host}). +o _$_i_m_a_p___p_a_s_s (section 6.3.99 , page 87) - a password which you may preset, used by all authentication methods where a password is needed. +o _$_i_m_a_p___a_u_t_h_e_n_t_i_c_a_t_o_r_s (section 6.3.90 , page 85) - a colon-delimited list of IMAP authentication methods to try, in the order you wish to try them. If specified, this overrides mutt's default (attempt everything, in the order listed above). _4_._1_4 _M_a_n_a_g_i_n_g _m_u_l_t_i_p_l_e _I_M_A_P_/_P_O_P _a_c_c_o_u_n_t_s _(_O_P_T_I_O_N_A_L_) If you happen to have accounts on multiple IMAP and/or POP servers, you may find managing all the authentication settings inconvenient and error-prone. The account-hook command may help. This hook works like folder-hook but is invoked whenever you access a remote mailbox (including inside the folder browser), not just when you open the mailbox. Some examples: account-hook . 'unset imap_user; unset imap_pass; unset tunnel' account-hook imap://host1/ 'set imap_user=me1 imap_pass=foo' account-hook imap://host2/ 'set tunnel="ssh host2 /usr/libexec/imapd"' _4_._1_5 _S_t_a_r_t _a _W_W_W _B_r_o_w_s_e_r _o_n _U_R_L_s _(_E_X_T_E_R_N_A_L_) If a message contains URLs (_u_n_i_f_i_e_d _r_e_s_o_u_r_c_e _l_o_c_a_t_o_r = address in the WWW space like _h_t_t_p_:_/_/_w_w_w_._m_u_t_t_._o_r_g_/), it is efficient to get a menu with all the URLs and start a WWW browser on one of them. This functionality is provided by the external urlview program which can be retrieved at ftp://ftp.mutt.org/mutt/con- trib/ and the configuration commands: macro index \cb |urlview\n macro pager \cb |urlview\n _4_._1_6 _C_o_m_p_r_e_s_s_e_d _f_o_l_d_e_r_s _S_u_p_p_o_r_t _(_O_P_T_I_O_N_A_L_) If Mutt-ng was compiled with compressed folders support (by running the _c_o_n_f_i_g_- _u_r_e script with the _-_-_e_n_a_b_l_e_-_c_o_m_p_r_e_s_s_e_d flag), Mutt can open folders stored in an arbitrary format, provided that the user has a script to convert from/to this format to one of the accepted. The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 51 The most common use is to open compressed archived folders e.g. with gzip. In addition, the user can provide a script that gets a folder in an accepted format and appends its context to the folder in the user-defined format, which may be faster than converting the entire folder to the accepted format, append- ing to it and converting back to the user-defined format. There are three hooks defined (_o_p_e_n_-_h_o_o_k (section 4.16.1 , page 50), _c_l_o_s_e_- _h_o_o_k (section 4.16.2 , page 51) and _a_p_p_e_n_d_-_h_o_o_k (section 4.16.3 , page 51)) which define commands to uncompress and compress a folder and to append mes- sages to an existing compressed folder respectively. For example: open-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -cd %f > %t" close-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -c %t > %f" append-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -c %t >> %f" You do not have to specify all of the commands. If you omit _a_p_p_e_n_d_-_h_o_o_k (sec- tion 4.16.3 , page 51), the folder will be open and closed again each time you will add to it. If you omit _c_l_o_s_e_-_h_o_o_k (section 4.16.2 , page 51) (or give empty command) , the folder will be open in the mode. If you specify _a_p_p_e_n_d_- _h_o_o_k (section 4.16.3 , page 51) though you'll be able to append to the folder. Note that Mutt-ng will only try to use hooks if the file is not in one of the accepted formats. In particular, if the file is empty, mutt supposes it is not compressed. This is important because it allows the use of programs that do not have well defined extensions. Just use '.' as a regexp. But this may be sur- prising if your compressing script produces empty files. In this situation, unset _$_s_a_v_e___e_m_p_t_y (section 6.3.239 , page 122), so that the compressed file will be removed if you delete all of the messages. _4_._1_6_._1 _O_p_e_n _a _c_o_m_p_r_e_s_s_e_d _m_a_i_l_b_o_x _f_o_r _r_e_a_d_i_n_g Usage: open-hook _r_e_g_e_x_p '_c_o_m_m_a_n_d' The _c_o_m_m_a_n_d is the command that can be used for opening the folders whose names match _r_e_g_e_x_p. The _c_o_m_m_a_n_d string is the printf-like format string, and it should accept two parameters: %f, which is replaced with the (compressed) folder name, and %t which is replaced with the name of the temporary folder to which to write. %f and %t can be repeated any number of times in the command string, and all of the entries are replaced with the appropriate folder name. In addition, %% is replaced by %, as in printf, and any other %anything is left as is. The _c_o_m_m_a_n_d should nnoott remove the original compressed file. The _c_o_m_m_a_n_d should return non-zero exit status if it fails, so mutt knows something's wrong. Example: The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 52 open-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -cd %f > %t" If the _c_o_m_m_a_n_d is empty, this operation is disabled for this file type. _4_._1_6_._2 _W_r_i_t_e _a _c_o_m_p_r_e_s_s_e_d _m_a_i_l_b_o_x Usage: close-hook _r_e_g_e_x_p '_c_o_m_m_a_n_d' This is used to close the folder that was open with the _o_p_e_n_-_h_o_o_k (section 4.16.1 , page 50) command after some changes were made to it. The _c_o_m_m_a_n_d string is the command that can be used for closing the folders whose names match _r_e_g_e_x_p. It has the same format as in the _o_p_e_n_-_h_o_o_k (section 4.16.1 , page 50) command. Temporary folder in this case is the folder previ- ously produced by the <_o_p_e_n_-_h_o_o_k (section 4.16.1 , page 50) command. The _c_o_m_m_a_n_d should nnoott remove the decompressed file. The _c_o_m_m_a_n_d should return non-zero exit status if it fails, so mutt knows something's wrong. Example: close-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -c %t > %f" If the _c_o_m_m_a_n_d is empty, this operation is disabled for this file type, and the file can only be open in the readonly mode. _c_l_o_s_e_-_h_o_o_k (section 4.16.2 , page 51) is not called when you exit from the folder if the folder was not changed. _4_._1_6_._3 _A_p_p_e_n_d _a _m_e_s_s_a_g_e _t_o _a _c_o_m_p_r_e_s_s_e_d _m_a_i_l_b_o_x Usage: append-hook _r_e_g_e_x_p '_c_o_m_m_a_n_d' This command is used for saving to an existing compressed folder. The _c_o_m_m_a_n_d is the command that can be used for appending to the folders whose names match _r_e_g_e_x_p. It has the same format as in the _o_p_e_n_-_h_o_o_k (section 4.16.1 , page 50) command. The temporary folder in this case contains the messages that are being appended. The _c_o_m_m_a_n_d should nnoott remove the decompressed file. The _c_o_m_m_a_n_d should return non-zero exit status if it fails, so mutt knows something's wrong. Example: append-hook \\.gz$ "gzip -c %t >> %f" When _a_p_p_e_n_d_-_h_o_o_k (section 4.16.3 , page 51) is used, the folder is not opened, which saves time, but this means that we can not find out what the folder type is. Thus the default (_$_m_b_o_x___t_y_p_e (section 6.3.124 , page 95)) type is always The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 53 supposed (i.e. this is the format used for the temporary folder). If the file does not exist when you save to it, _c_l_o_s_e_-_h_o_o_k (section 4.16.2 , page 51) is called, and not _a_p_p_e_n_d_-_h_o_o_k (section 4.16.3 , page 51). _a_p_p_e_n_d_- _h_o_o_k (section 4.16.3 , page 51) is only for appending to existing folders. If the _c_o_m_m_a_n_d is empty, this operation is disabled for this file type. In this case, the folder will be open and closed again (using _o_p_e_n_-_h_o_o_k (section 4.16.1 , page 50) and _c_l_o_s_e_-_h_o_o_k (section 4.16.2 , page 51)respectively) each time you will add to it. _4_._1_6_._4 _E_n_c_r_y_p_t_e_d _f_o_l_d_e_r_s The compressed folders support can also be used to handle encrypted folders. If you want to encrypt a folder with PGP, you may want to use the following hooks: open-hook \\.pgp$ "pgp -f < %f > %t" close-hook \\.pgp$ "pgp -fe YourPgpUserIdOrKeyId < %t > %f" Please note, that PGP does not support appending to an encrypted folder, so there is no append-hook defined. NNoottee:: the folder is temporary stored decrypted in the /tmp directory, where it can be read by your system administrator. So think about the security aspects of this. _5_. _M_u_t_t_-_n_g_'_s _M_I_M_E _S_u_p_p_o_r_t Quite a bit of effort has been made to make Mutt-ng the premier text-mode MIME MUA. Every effort has been made to provide the functionality that the discern- ing MIME user requires, and the conformance to the standards wherever possible. When configuring Mutt-ng for MIME, there are two extra types of configuration files which Mutt-ng uses. One is the mime.types file, which contains the map- ping of file extensions to IANA MIME types. The other is the mailcap file, which specifies the external commands to use for handling specific MIME types. _5_._1 _U_s_i_n_g _M_I_M_E _i_n _M_u_t_t There are three areas/menus in Mutt-ng which deal with MIME, they are the pager (while viewing a message), the attachment menu and the compose menu. _5_._1_._1 _V_i_e_w_i_n_g _M_I_M_E _m_e_s_s_a_g_e_s _i_n _t_h_e _p_a_g_e_r When you select a message from the index and view it in the pager, Mutt decodes the message to a text representation. Mutt-ng internally supports a number of MIME types, including text/plain, text/enriched, message/rfc822, and mes- sage/news. In addition, the export controlled version of Mutt-ng recognizes a variety of PGP MIME types, including PGP/MIME and application/pgp. Mutt-ng will denote attachments with a couple lines describing them. These lines are of the form: The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 54 [-- Attachment #1: Description --] [-- Type: text/plain, Encoding: 7bit, Size: 10000 --] Where the Description is the description or filename given for the attachment, and the Encoding is one of 7bit/8bit/quoted-printable/base64/binary. If Mutt-ng cannot deal with a MIME type, it will display a message like: [-- image/gif is unsupported (use 'v' to view this part) --] _5_._1_._2 _T_h_e _A_t_t_a_c_h_m_e_n_t _M_e_n_u The default binding for view-attachments is `v', which displays the attachment menu for a message. The attachment menu displays a list of the attachments in a message. From the attachment menu, you can save, print, pipe, delete, and view attachments. You can apply these operations to a group of attachments at once, by tagging the attachments and by using the ``tag-prefix'' operator. You can also reply to the current message from this menu, and only the current attachment (or the attachments tagged) will be quoted in your reply. You can view attachments as text, or view them using the mailcap viewer definition. Finally, you can apply the usual message-related functions (like _r_e_s_e_n_d_-_m_e_s_s_a_g_e (section 2.3.4 , page 9), and the reply and forward functions) to attachments of type message/rfc822. See the help on the attachment menu for more information. _5_._1_._3 _T_h_e _C_o_m_p_o_s_e _M_e_n_u The compose menu is the menu you see before you send a message. It allows you to edit the recipient list, the subject, and other aspects of your message. It also contains a list of the attachments of your message, including the main body. From this menu, you can print, copy, filter, pipe, edit, compose, review, and rename an attachment or a list of tagged attachments. You can also modifying the attachment information, notably the type, encoding and descrip- tion. Attachments appear as follows: - 1 [text/plain, 7bit, 1K] /tmp/mutt-euler-8082-0 2 [applica/x-gunzip, base64, 422K] ~/src/mutt-0.85.tar.gz The '-' denotes that Mutt-ng will delete the file after sending (or postponing, or canceling) the message. It can be toggled with the toggle-unlink command (default: u). The next field is the MIME content-type, and can be changed with the edit-type command (default: ^T). The next field is the encoding for the attachment, which allows a binary message to be encoded for transmission on 7bit links. It can be changed with the edit-encoding command (default: ^E). The next field is the size of the attachment, rounded to kilobytes or megabytes. The next field is the filename, which can be changed with the rename-file command (default: R). The final field is the description of the The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 55 attachment, and can be changed with the edit-description command (default: d). _5_._2 _M_I_M_E _T_y_p_e _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_a_t_i_o_n _w_i_t_h _m_i_m_e_._t_y_p_e_s When you add an attachment to your mail message, Mutt-ng searches your personal mime.types file at ${HOME}/.mime.types, and then the system mime.types file at /usr/local/share/mutt/mime.types or /etc/mime.types The mime.types file consist of lines containing a MIME type and a space sepa- rated list of extensions. For example: application/postscript ps eps application/pgp pgp audio/x-aiff aif aifc aiff A sample mime.types file comes with the Mutt-ng distribution, and should con- tain most of the MIME types you are likely to use. If Mutt-ng can not determine the mime type by the extension of the file you attach, it will look at the file. If the file is free of binary information, Mutt-ng will assume that the file is plain text, and mark it as text/plain. If the file contains binary information, then Mutt-ng will mark it as applica- tion/octet-stream. You can change the MIME type that Mutt-ng assigns to an attachment by using the edit-type command from the compose menu (default: ^T). The MIME type is actually a major mime type followed by the sub-type, separated by a '/'. 6 major types: application, text, image, video, audio, and model have been approved after various internet discussions. Mutt-ng recognises all of these if the appropriate entry is found in the mime.types file. It also recog- nises other major mime types, such as the chemical type that is widely used in the molecular modelling community to pass molecular data in various forms to various molecular viewers. Non-recognised mime types should only be used if the recipient of the message is likely to be expecting such attachments. _5_._3 _M_I_M_E _V_i_e_w_e_r _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_a_t_i_o_n _w_i_t_h _m_a_i_l_c_a_p Mutt-ng supports RFC 1524 MIME Configuration, in particular the Unix specific format specified in Appendix A of RFC 1524. This file format is commonly referred to as the mailcap format. Many MIME compliant programs utilize the mailcap format, allowing you to specify handling for all MIME types in one place for all programs. Programs known to use this format include Netscape, XMosaic, lynx and metamail. In order to handle various MIME types that Mutt-ng can not handle internally, Mutt-ng parses a series of external configuration files to find an external handler. The default search string for these files is a colon delimited list set to ${HOME}/.mailcap:/usr/local/share/mutt/mailcap:/etc/mailcap:/etc/mailcap:/usr/etc/mailcap:/usr/local/etc/mailcap where $HOME is your home directory. In particular, the metamail distribution will install a mailcap file, usually The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 56 as /usr/local/etc/mailcap, which contains some baseline entries. _5_._3_._1 _T_h_e _B_a_s_i_c_s _o_f _t_h_e _m_a_i_l_c_a_p _f_i_l_e A mailcap file consists of a series of lines which are comments, blank, or def- initions. A comment line consists of a # character followed by anything you want. A blank line is blank. A definition line consists of a content type, a view command, and any number of optional fields. Each field of a definition line is divided by a semicolon ';' character. The content type is specified in the MIME standard type/subtype method. For example, text/plain, text/html, image/gif, etc. In addition, the mailcap for- mat includes two formats for wildcards, one using the special '*' subtype, the other is the implicit wild, where you only include the major type. For exam- ple, image/*, or video, will match all image types and video types, respec- tively. The view command is a Unix command for viewing the type specified. There are two different types of commands supported. The default is to send the body of the MIME message to the command on stdin. You can change this behavior by using %s as a parameter to your view command. This will cause Mutt-ng to save the body of the MIME message to a temporary file, and then call the view command with the %s replaced by the name of the temporary file. In both cases, Mutt-ng will turn over the terminal to the view program until the program quits, at which time Mutt will remove the temporary file if it exists. So, in the simplest form, you can send a text/plain message to the external pager more on stdin: text/plain; more Or, you could send the message as a file: text/plain; more %s Perhaps you would like to use lynx to interactively view a text/html message: text/html; lynx %s In this case, lynx does not support viewing a file from stdin, so you must use the %s syntax. NNoottee:: _S_o_m_e _o_l_d_e_r _v_e_r_s_i_o_n_s _o_f _l_y_n_x _c_o_n_t_a_i_n _a _b_u_g _w_h_e_r_e _t_h_e_y _w_i_l_l _c_h_e_c_k _t_h_e _m_a_i_l_c_a_p _f_i_l_e _f_o_r _a _v_i_e_w_e_r _f_o_r _t_e_x_t_/_h_t_m_l_. _T_h_e_y _w_i_l_l _f_i_n_d _t_h_e _l_i_n_e _w_h_i_c_h _c_a_l_l_s _l_y_n_x_, _a_n_d _r_u_n _i_t_. _T_h_i_s _c_a_u_s_e_s _l_y_n_x _t_o _c_o_n_t_i_n_u_o_u_s_l_y _s_p_a_w_n _i_t_s_e_l_f _t_o _v_i_e_w _t_h_e _o_b_j_e_c_t_. On the other hand, maybe you don't want to use lynx interactively, you just The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 57 want to have it convert the text/html to text/plain, then you can use: text/html; lynx -dump %s | more Perhaps you wish to use lynx to view text/html files, and a pager on all other text formats, then you would use the following: text/html; lynx %s text/*; more This is the simplest form of a mailcap file. _5_._3_._2 _S_e_c_u_r_e _u_s_e _o_f _m_a_i_l_c_a_p The interpretation of shell meta-characters embedded in MIME parameters can lead to security problems in general. Mutt-ng tries to quote parameters in expansion of %s syntaxes properly, and avoids risky characters by substituting them, see the _m_a_i_l_c_a_p___s_a_n_i_t_i_z_e (section 6.3.116 , page 93) variable. Although mutt's procedures to invoke programs with mailcap seem to be safe, there are other applications parsing mailcap, maybe taking less care of it. Therefore you should pay attention to the following rules: _K_e_e_p _t_h_e _%_-_e_x_p_a_n_d_o_s _a_w_a_y _f_r_o_m _s_h_e_l_l _q_u_o_t_i_n_g_. Don't quote them with single or double quotes. Mutt-ng does this for you, the right way, as should any other program which interprets mailcap. Don't put them into backtick expansions. Be highly careful with eval statements, and avoid them if possible at all. Trying to fix broken behaviour with quotes introduces new leaks - there is no alterna- tive to correct quoting in the first place. If you have to use the %-expandos' values in context where you need quoting or backtick expansions, put that value into a shell variable and reference the shell variable where necessary, as in the following example (using $charset inside the backtick expansion is safe, since it is not itself subject to any further expansion): text/test-mailcap-bug; cat %s; copiousoutput; test=charset=%{charset} \ && test "`echo $charset | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]'`" != iso-8859-1 _5_._3_._3 _A_d_v_a_n_c_e_d _m_a_i_l_c_a_p _U_s_a_g_e _5_._3_._3_._1 _O_p_t_i_o_n_a_l _F_i_e_l_d_s In addition to the required content-type and view command fields, you can add semi-colon ';' separated fields to set flags and other options. Mutt-ng recog- nizes the following optional fields: copiousoutput This flag tells Mutt-ng that the command passes possibly large amounts of text on stdout. This causes Mutt-ng to invoke a pager The Mutt-ng E-Mail Client 58 (either the internal pager or the external pager defined by the pager variable) on the output of the view command. Without this flag, Mutt-ng assumes that the command is interactive. One could use this to replace the pipe to more in the lynx -dump example in the Basic section: text/html; lynx -dump %s ; copiousoutput This will cause lynx to format the text/html output as text/plain and Mutt-ng will use your standard pager to display the results. needsterminal Mutt-ng uses this flag when viewing attachments with _a_u_t_o_v_i_e_w (sec- tion 5.4 , page 60), in order to decide whether it should honor the setting of the _$_w_a_i_t___k_e_y (section 6.3.329 , page 145) variable or not. When an attachment is viewed using an interactive program, and the corresponding mailcap entry has a _n_e_e_d_s_t_e_r_m_i_n_a_l flag, Mutt- ng will use _$_w_a_i_t___k_e_y (section 6.3.329 , page 145) and the exit status of the program to decide if it will ask you to press a key after the external program has exited. In all other situations it will not prompt you for a key. compose= This flag specifies the command to use to create a new attachment of a specific MIME type. Mutt-ng supports this from the compose menu. composetyped= This flag specifies the command to use to create a new attachment of a specific MIME type. This command differs from the compose command in that mutt will expect standard MIME headers on the data. This can be used to specify parameters, filename, description, etc. for a new attachment. Mutt-ng supports this from the compose menu. print= This flag specifies the command to use to print a specific MIME type. Mutt-ng supports this from the attachment and compose menus. edit= This flag specifies the command to use to edit a specific MIME type. Mutt-ng supports this from the compose menu, and also uses it to compose new attachments. Mutt-ng will default to the defined editor for text attachments. nametemplate=