MUTT(1) Unix MUTT(1)
User Manuals User Manuals
July 24, 2020
NAME
mutt - The Mutt Mail User Agent
SYNOPSIS
mutt [-nRyzZ] [-e command] [-F rcfile] [-m type] [-f mailbox]
mutt [-Enx] [-e command] [-F rcfile] [-H draft] [-i include]
[-b bcc-addr] [-c cc-addr] [-s subject]
[-a file ... --] to-addr ...
mutt [-nx] [-e command] [-F rcfile] [-b bcc-addr] [-c cc-addr]
[-s subject] [-a file ... --] to-addr ... < message
mutt [-n] [-e command] [-F rcfile] -p
mutt [-n] [-e command] [-F rcfile] -A alias
mutt [-n] [-e command] [-F rcfile] -Q variable
mutt -v[v]
mutt -D
DESCRIPTION
Mutt is a small but very powerful text based program for reading and
sending electronic mail under unix operating systems, including
support for color terminals, MIME, OpenPGP, and a threaded sorting
mode.
Note: This manual page gives a brief overview of the mutt executable
command line options. A copy of the full manual is located in
@docdir@, in text, HTML, and/or PDF format. Please refer to the
manual to learn how to use and configure Mutt.
OPTIONS
-A alias
Print an expanded version of the given alias and exit.
-a file ...
Attach a file using MIME. Separating file and to-addr arguments
with -- is mandatory. For example:
mutt -a image.jpg -- to-addr
mutt -a img.jpg *.png -- to-addr-1 to-addr-2
The -a option must be placed at the end of command line options.
-b bcc-addr
Specify a blind carbon copy (BCC) address.
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-c cc-addr
Specify a carbon copy (CC) address.
-d level
If Mutt was compiled with +DEBUG log debugging output to
~/.muttdebug0. Level can range from -5 to 5 and affects
verbosity. A value of zero disables debugging. A value less than
zero disables automatic log file rotation; the log level is then
its absolute value. A value of 2 (-2) is recommended for most
diagnosis.
-D Print the value of all configuration options to stdout.
-E Edit the draft file specified by -H or include file specified by
-i during message composition.
-e command
Specify a configuration command to be run after processing of
initialization files.
-f mailbox
Specify a mailbox to load.
-F rcfile
Use rcfile instead of the user configuration file.
-h Display a short option summary and exit.
-H draft
Specify a draft file which contains header and body to use to
send a message. If draft is -, then data is read from stdin.
The draft file is expected to contain just an RFC822 email -
headers and a body. Although it is not an mbox file, if an mbox
"From~" line is present, it will be silently discarded. Draft
files are processed the same in interactive and batch mode; they
are not passed through untouched. For example, encrypted draft
files will be decrypted.
-i include
Specify an include file to be inserted into the body of a
message. Ignored if -H is set. If include is -, then data is
read from stdin.
-m type
Specify a default mailbox type for newly created folders. Can be
one of the following: mbox, MMDF, MH or Maildir. See also
$mbox_type in the manual.
-n Do not read the system-wide Muttrc configuration file.
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-p Resume a postponed message. Exit immediately if there are no
postponed messages.
-Q variable
Query a configuration variable. The query is performed after all
configuration files have been parsed, and any commands given on
the command line have been executed.
-R Open a mailbox in read-only mode.
-s subject
Specify the subject of the message. Must be enclosed in quotes
if it contains spaces.
-v Display the Mutt version number and compile-time definitions.
-vv Display license and copyright information.
-x Emulate the mailx(1) compose mode.
-y Start Mutt with a listing of all mailboxes specified by the
mailboxes configuration command.
-z Exit immediately with code 1 if mailbox specified by -f does not
contain any messages.
-Z Open the first mailbox specified by the mailboxes configuration
command which contains new mail. Exit immediately with code 1 if
there is no new mail in any of them.
-- Treat remaining arguments as to-addr even if they start with a
dash. See also -a above. To-addr can be a local or network mail
address as well as mailto: URL.
ENVIRONMENT
EDITOR, VISUAL
Specifies the editor to use when composing messages. If both
EDITOR and VISUAL are set, VISUAL takes precedence. If neither
EDITOR nor VISUAL are set, the default is vi(1).
EGDSOCKET, RANDFILE
Paths used to initialize the random engine for SSL library.
EMAIL
The user's e-mail address.
HOME Full path of the user's home directory.
MAIL Full path of the user's spool mailbox.
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MAILDIR
Full path of the user's spool mailbox if MAIL is unset. Commonly
used when the spool mailbox is a maildir(5) folder.
MAILCAPS
Path to search for mailcap files.
MM_NOASK
If this variable is set, mailcap are always used without
prompting first.
PGPPATH
Directory in which the user's PGP public keyring can be found.
When used with the original PGP program, mutt and mutt_pgpring(1)
rely on this being set.
REPLYTO
Default Reply-To address.
TMPDIR
Directory in which temporary files are created. If unset, /tmp
is used. See also $tmpdir configuration variable.
LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, LANG
Used to determine charset and locale to use.
TEXTDOMAINDIR
Directory containing translation files. If set, this path
overwrite the Mutt installation directory. Used for testing
translation changes.
FILES
~/.muttrc
~/.mutt/muttrc $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/mutt/muttrc User configuration
files.
@sysconfdir@/Muttrc or @pkgdatadir@/Muttrc
System-wide configuration file.
/tmp/muttXXXXXX
Temporary files created by Mutt.
~/.muttdebug0
File containing debugging output. Log files are automatically
rotated by mutt changing the number at the end. See -d option
above.
~/.mailcap
User definition for handling non-text MIME types.
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@sysconfdir@/mailcap
System definition for handling non-text MIME types.
~/.mime.types
User's personal mapping between MIME types and file extensions.
@sysconfdir@/mime.types
System mapping between MIME types and file extensions.
@bindir@/mutt_dotlock
The privileged dotlocking program.
@docdir@/manual.txt
The Mutt manual.
BUGS
None. Mutts have fleas, not bugs.
FLEAS
Suspend/resume while editing a file with an external editor does not
work under SunOS 4.x if you use the curses lib in /usr/5lib. It does
work with the S-Lang library, however.
Resizing the screen while using an external pager causes Mutt to go
haywire on some systems.
Suspend/resume does not work under Ultrix.
The help line for the index menu is not updated if you change the
bindings for one of the functions listed while Mutt is running.
For a more up-to-date list of bugs, errm, fleas, please visit the mutt
project's bug tracking system under
https://gitlab.com/muttmua/mutt/issues.
NO WARRANTIES
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.
SEE ALSO
mutt_dotlock(1), mutt_pgpring(1), pgpewrap(1), sendmail(1), smail(1),
smime_keys(1), curses(3), ncurses(3), mailcap(5), maildir(5), mbox(5),
mmdf(5), muttrc(5)
Mutt Home Page: http://www.mutt.org/
The Mutt manual
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July 24, 2020
RFC5322 - Internet Message Format:
https://tools.ietf.org/rfcmarkup/5322 (obsoletes RFC2822 and RFC822)
AUTHOR
Michael Elkins, and others. Use <mutt-dev@mutt.org> to contact the
developers.
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