Running mutt with no arguments will make Mutt attempt to read your spool
mailbox. However, it is possible to read other mailboxes and
to send messages from the command line as well.
-a attach a file to a message
-c specify a carbon-copy (Cc) address
-e specify a config command to be run after initilization files are read
-F specify an alternate file to read initialization commands
-f specify a mailbox to load
-h print help on command line options
-H specify a draft file from which to read a header and body
-i specify a file to include in a message composition
-n do not read the system Muttrc
-m specify a default mailbox type
-p recall a postponed message
-R open mailbox in read-only mode
-s specify a subject (enclose in quotes if it contains spaces)
-v show version number and compile-time definitions
-x simulate the mailx(1) compose mode
-y show a menu containing the files specified by the mailboxes command
-z exit immediately if there are no messages in the mailbox
-Z open the first folder with new message,exit immediately if none
To read messages in a mailbox
mutt [ -nz ] [ -F muttrc ] [ -m type ] [ -f mailbox ]
To compose a new message
mutt [ -n ] [ -F muttrc ] [ -a file ] [ -c address ] [ -i filename ] [ -s subject ] address [ address ... ]
Mutt also supports a ``batch'' mode to send prepared messages. Simply redirect input from the file you wish to send. For example,
mutt -s "data set for run #2" professor@bigschool.edu
< ~/run2.dat
This command will send a message to ``professor@bigschool.edu'' with a subject of ``data set for run #2''. In the body of the message will be the contents of the file ``~/run2.dat''.
The following are the commands understood by mutt.
alias key address [ , address, ... ]
unalias key address [ , address, ... ]
alternative_order mimetype [ mimetype ... ]
auto_view mimetype [ mimetype ... ]
bind map key function
color object foreground background [ regexp ]
folder-hook pattern command
ignore pattern [ pattern ... ]
unignore pattern [ pattern ... ]
hdr_order header [ header ... ]
unhdr_order header [ header ... ]
lists address [ address ... ]
unlists address [ address ... ]
macro menu key sequence
mailboxes filename [ filename ... ]
mono object attribute [ regexp ]
mbox-hook pattern mailbox
my_hdr string
unmy_hdr field [ field ... ]
push string
save-hook regexp filename
send-hook regexp command
set [no|inv]variable[=value] [ variable ... ]
toggle variable [variable ... ]
unset variable [variable ... ]
source filename
subscribe address [ address ... ]
unsubscribe address [ address ... ]
unhook hook-type
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes
If set to yes, when composing messages and no subject is given at the subject prompt, composition will be aborted. If set to no, composing messages with no subject given at the subject prompt will never be aborted.
Type: quadoption
Default: yes
If set to yes, composition will automatically abort after editing the message body if no changes are made to the file (this check only happens after the first edit of the file). When set to no, composition will never be aborted.
Type: path
Default: "~/.muttrc"
The default file in which to save aliases created by the ``create-alias'' function.
Note: Mutt will not automatically source this file; you must explicitly use the ``source'' command for it to be executed.
Type: string
Default: "%4n %t %-10a %r"
Specifies the format of the data displayed for the `alias' menu. The following printf(3)-style sequences are available:
%a alias name
%n index number
%r address which alias expands to
%t character which indicates if the alias is
tagged for inclusion
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls whether 8-bit data is converted to 7-bit using either Quoted- Printable or Base64 encoding when sending mail.
Type: regular expression
Default: ""
A regexp that allows you to specify alternate addresses where you receive mail. This affects Mutt's idea about messages from you and addressed to you.
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, an arrow (``->'') will be used to indicate the current entry in menus instead of hiliting the whole line. On slow network or modem links this will make response faster because there is less that has to be redrawn on the screen when moving to the next or previous entries in the menu.
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, Mutt will use plain ASCII characters when displaying thread and attachment trees, instead of the default ACS characters.
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, Mutt will prompt you for blind-carbon-copy (Bcc) recipients before editing an outgoing message.
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, Mutt will prompt you for carbon-copy (Cc) recipients before editing the body of an outgoing message.
Type: string
Default: "%u%D%I %t%4n %T%.40d%> [%.7m/%.10M, %.6e%?C?, %C?, %s] "
This variable describes the format of the `attachment' menu. The following printf-style sequences are understood:
%D deleted flag
%d description
%e MIME content-transfer-encoding
%f filename
%I disposition (I=inline, A=attachment)
%m major MIME type
%M MIME subtype
%n attachment number
%s size
%t tagged flag
%u unlink (=to delete) flag
%>X right justify the rest of the
string and pad with character "X"
%|X pad to the end of the line with
character "X"
Type: string
Default: "\n"
The separator to add between attachments when operating (saving, printing, piping, etc) on a list of tagged attachments.
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If this variable is unset, when operating (saving, printing, piping, etc) on a list of tagged attachments, Mutt will concatenate the attachments and will operate on them as a single attachment. The ``attach_sep'' separator is added after each attachment. When set, Mutt will operate on the attachments one by one.
Type: string
Default: "On %d, %n wrote:"
This is the string that will precede a message which has been included in a reply. For a full listing of defined escape sequences see the section on ``index_format''.
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, Mutt will skip the initial send-menu and allow you to immediately begin editing the body of your message when replying to another message. The send-menu may still be accessed once you have finished editing the body of your message.
If the ``edit_headers'' variable is also set, the initial prompts in the send-menu are always skipped, even when composing a new message.
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, functions in the index menu which affect a message will be applied to all tagged messages (if there are any). When unset, you must first use the tag-prefix function (default: ";") to make the next function apply to all tagged messages.
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When this variable is set, mutt will beep when an error occurs.
Type: boolean
Default: no
When this variable is set, mutt will beep whenever it prints a message notifying you of new mail. This is independent of the setting of the ``beep'' variable.
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When this variable is set, mutt will include Delivered-To headers when bouncing messages. Postfix users may wish to unset this variable.
Type: string
Default: "iso-8859-1"
Character set your terminal uses to display and enter textual data.
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Note: this option only affects maildir and MH style mailboxes.
When set, Mutt will check for new mail delivered while the mailbox is open. Especially with MH mailboxes, this operation can take quite some time since it involves scanning the directory and checking each file to see if it has already been looked at. If check_new is unset, no check for new mail is performed while the mailbox is open.
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When unset, Mutt will not collapse a thread if it contains any unread messages.
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, Mutt will jump to the next unread message, if any, when the current thread is uncollapsed.
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when appending messages to an existing mailbox.
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when saving messages to a mailbox which does not yet exist before creating it.
Type: quadoption
Default: yes
This variable controls whether or not copies of your outgoing messages will be saved for later references. Also see ``record'', ``save_name'', ``force_name'' and ``fcc-hook''.
Type: string
Default: "!%a, %b %d, %Y at %I:%M:%S%p %Z"
This variable controls the format of the date printed by the ``%d'' sequence in ``index_format''. This is passed to the strftime call to process the date. See the man page for strftime(3) for the proper syntax.
Unless the first character in the string is a bang (``!''), the month and week day names are expanded according to the locale specified in the variable ``locale''. If the first character in the string is a bang, the bang is discarded, and the month and week day names in the rest of the string are expanded in the C locale (that is in US English).
Type: string
Default: "~f %s !~P | (~P ~C %s)"
This variable controls how send-hooks, save-hooks, and fcc-hooks will be interpreted if they are specified with only a simple regexp, instead of a matching pattern. The hooks are expanded when they are declared, so a hook will be interpreted according to the value of this variable at the time the hook is declared. The default value matches if the message is either from a user matching the regular expression given, or if it is from you (if the from address matches ``alternates'') and is to or cc'ed to a user matching the given regular expression.
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes
Controls whether or not messages are really deleted when closing or synchronizing a mailbox. If set to yes, messages marked for deleting will automatically be purged without prompting. If set to no, messages marked for deletion will be kept in the mailbox.
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If this option is set, mutt will untag messages when marking them for deletion. This applies when you either explicitly delete a message, or when you save it to another folder.
Type: path
Default: "/usr/bin/mutt_dotlock"
Contains the path of the mutt_dotlock (8) binary to be used by mutt.
Type: string
Default: ""
Note: you should not enable this unless you are using Sendmail 8.8.x or greater.
This variable sets the request for when notification is returned. The string consists of a comma separated list (no spaces!) of one or more of the following: never, to never request notification, failure, to request notification on transmission failure, delay, to be notified of message delays, success, to be notified of successful transmission.
Example: set dsn_notify="failure,delay"
Type: string
Default: ""
Note: you should not enable this unless you are using Sendmail 8.8.x or greater.
This variable controls how much of your message is returned in DSN messages. It may be set to either hdrs to return just the message header, or full to return the full message.
Example: set dsn_return=hdrs
Type: boolean
Default: no
This option allows you to edit the header of your outgoing messages along with the body of your message.
Type: path
Default: ""
This variable specifies which editor is used by mutt. It defaults to the value of the EDITOR or VISUAL environment variable, or to "/usr/bin/editor".
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will quoted-printable encode messages when they contain the string "From " in the beginning of a line. Useful to avoid the tampering certain mail delivery and transport agents tend to do with messages.
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will try to derive the message's envelope sender from the "From:" header. Note that this information is passed to sendmail command using the "-f" command line switch, so don't set this option if you are using that switch in sendmail yourself, or if the sendmail on your machine doesn't support that command line switch.
Type: string
Default: "~"
Escape character to use for functions in the builtin editor.
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, the initial prompt for recipients and subject are skipped when replying to messages, and the initial prompt for subject is skipped when forwarding messages.
Note: this variable has no effect when the ``autoedit'' variable is set.
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variable controls whether or not attachments on outgoing messages are saved along with the main body of your message.
Type: boolean
Default: no
When this variable is set, FCCs will be stored unencrypted and unsigned, even when the actual message is encrypted and/or signed.
Type: path
Default: "~/Mail"
Specifies the default location of your mailboxes. A `+' or `=' at the beginning of a pathname will be expanded to the value of this variable. Note that if you change this variable from the default value you need to make sure that the assignment occurs before you use `+' or `=' for any other variables since expansion takes place during the `set' command.
Type: string
Default: "%2C %t %N %F %2l %-8.8u %-8.8g %8s %d %f"
This variable allows you to customize the file browser display to your personal taste. This string is similar to ``index_format'', but has its own set of printf()-like sequences:
%C current file number
%d date/time folder was last modified
%f filename
%F file permissions
%g group name (or numeric gid, if missing)
%l number of hard links
%N N if folder has new mail, blank otherwise
%s size in bytes
%t * if the file is tagged, blank otherwise
%u owner name (or numeric uid, if missing)
%>X right justify the rest of the string and pad
with character "X"
%|X pad to the end of the line with character "X"
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls whether or not the Mail-Followup-To header field is generated when sending mail. When set, Mutt will generate this field when you are replying to a known mailing list, specified with the ``subscribe'' or ``lists'' commands.
This field has two purposes. First, preventing you from receiving duplicate copies of replies to messages which you send to mailing lists. Second, ensuring that you do get a reply separately for any messages sent to known lists to which you are not subscribed. The header will contain only the list's address for subscribed lists, and both the list address and your own email address for unsubscribed lists. Without this header, a group reply to your message sent to a subscribed list will be sent to both the list and your address, resulting in two copies of the same email for you.
Type: boolean
Default: no
This variable is similar to ``save_name'', except that Mutt will store a copy of your outgoing message by the username of the address you are sending to even if that mailbox does not exist.
Also see the ``record'' variable.
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain when forwarding a message. The message header is also RFC2047 decoded. This variable is only used, if ``mime_forward'' is unset, otherwise ``mime_forward_decode'' is used instead.
Type: string
Default: "[%a: %s]"
This variable controls the default subject when forwarding a message. It uses the same format sequences as the ``index_format'' variable.
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set forwarded messages included in the main body of the message (when ``mime_forward'' is unset) will be quoted using ``indent_string''.
Type: e-mail address
Default: ""
When set, this variable contains a default from address. It can be overridden using my_hdr (including from send-hooks) and ``reverse_name''.
Type: regular expression
Default: "^[^,]*"
A regular expression used by mutt to parse the GECOS field of a password entry when expanding the alias. By default the regular expression is set to "^[^,]*" which will return the string up to the first "," encountered. If the GECOS field contains a string like "lastname, firstname" then you should set the gecos_mask=".*".
This can be useful if you see the following behavior: you address a e-mail to user ID stevef whose full name is Steve Franklin. If mutt expands stevef to "Franklin" stevef@foo.bar then you should set the gecos_mask to a regular expression that will match the whole name so mutt will expand "Franklin" to "Franklin, Steve".
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When unset, the header fields normally added by the ``my_hdr'' command are not created. This variable must be unset before composing a new message or replying in order to take effect. If set, the user defined header fields are added to every new message.
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, this variable causes Mutt to include the header of the message you are replying to into the edit buffer. The ``weed'' setting applies.
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, help lines describing the bindings for the major functions provided by each menu are displayed on the first line of the screen.
Note: The binding will not be displayed correctly if the function is bound to a sequence rather than a single keystroke. Also, the help line may not be updated if a binding is changed while Mutt is running. Since this variable is primarily aimed at new users, neither of these should present a major problem.
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will skip the host name part of ``hostname'' variable when adding the domain part to addresses. This variable does not affect the generation of Message-IDs, and it will not lead to the cut-off of first-level domains.
Type: number
Default: 10
This variable controls the size (in number of strings remembered) of the string history buffer. The buffer is cleared each time the variable is set.
Type: quadoption
Default: yes
This variable controls whether or not a Mail-Followup-To header is honored when group-replying to a message.
Type: string
Default: ""
Specifies the hostname to use after the ``@'' in local e-mail addresses. This overrides the compile time definition obtained from /etc/resolv.conf.
Type: boolean
Default: no
Affects the behaviour of the reply function when replying to messages from mailing lists. When set, if the ``Reply-To:'' field is set to the same value as the ``To:'' field, Mutt assumes that the ``Reply-To:'' field was set by the mailing list to automate responses to the list, and will ignore this field. To direct a response to the mailing list when this option is set, use the list-reply function; group-reply will reply to both the sender and the list.
Type: number
Default: 60
This variable configures how often (in seconds) IMAP should look for new mail.
Type: boolean
Default: no
If this variable is set, Mutt will always use SSL when connecting to IMAP servers.
Type: boolean
Default: no
This variable configures whether IMAP folder browsing will look for only subscribed folders or all folders. This can be toggled in the IMAP browser with the toggle-subscribed command.
Type: string
Default: ""
Your login name on the IMAP server.
This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
Type: string
Default: ""
Sets your CRAM secret, for use with the CRAM-MD5 IMAP authentication method (this is the IMAP equivelent of APOP). This method will be attempted automatically if the server supports it, in preference to the less secure login technique. If you use CRAM-MD5, you do not need to set imap_pass.
Type: string
Default: ""
Specifies the password for your IMAP account. If unset, Mutt will prompt you for your password when you invoke the fetch-mail function. Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your muttrc even if you are the only one who can read the file.
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, mutt will not open new IMAP connections to check for new mail. Mutt will only check for new mail over existing IMAP connections. This is useful if you don't want to be prompted to user/password pairs on mutt invocation, or if opening the connection is slow.
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, mutt will display warning messages from the IMAP server as error messages. Since these messages are often harmless, or generated due to configuration problems on the server which are out of the users' hands, you may wish to suppress them at some point.
Type: string
Default: ""
You normally want to see your personal folders alongside your INBOX in the IMAP browser. If you see something else, you may set this variable to the IMAP path to your folders.
Type: string
Default: ""
If set, a shell command to be executed if mutt fails to establish a connection to the server. This is useful for setting up secure connections, e.g. with ssh(1). If the command returns a nonzero status, mutt gives up opening the server. Example:
imap_preconnect="ssh -f -q -L 1234:mailhost.net:143 mailhost.net sleep 20 < /dev/null > /dev/null"
Mailbox 'foo' on mailhost.net can now be reached as '{localhost:1234}foo'.
NOTE: For this example to work, you must be able to log in to the remote machine without having to enter a password.
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set to ``yes'', mutt will look for a a mailcap entry with the copiousoutput flag set for every MIME attachment it doesn't have an internal viewer defined for. If such an entry is found, mutt will use the viewer defined in that entry to convert the body part to text form.
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes
Controls whether or not a copy of the message(s) you are replying to is included in your reply.
Type: string
Default: "> "
Specifies the string to prepend to each line of text quoted in a message to which you are replying. You are strongly encouraged not to change this value, as it tends to agitate the more fanatical netizens.
Type: string
Default: "%i; from %a on %{!%a, %b %d, %Y at %I:%M:%S%p %Z}"
This specifies the format of the In-Reply-To header field added when replying to a message. For a ful llisting of defined escape sequences, see the section on index_format.
Note: Don't use any sequences in this format string which may include 8-bit characters. Using such escape sequences may lead to bad headers.
Type: string
Default: "%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%4l) %s"
This variable allows you to customize the message index display to your personal taste.
``Format strings'' are similar to the strings used in the ``C'' function printf to format output (see the man page for more detail). The following sequences are defined in Mutt:
%a address of the author
%b filename of the original message
folder (think mailBox)
%B the list to which the letter was sent,
or else the folder name (%b).
%c number of characters (bytes) in the message
%C current message number
%d date and time of the message in the format
specified by ``date_format'' converted to
sender's time zone
%D date and time of the message in the format
specified by ``date_format'' converted to
the local time zone
%f entire From: line (address + real name)
%F author name, or recipient name if the
message is from you
%i message-id of the current message
%l number of lines in the message
%L list-from function
%m total number of message in the mailbox
%M number of hidden messages if the thread
is collapsed.
%N message score
%n author's real name (or address if missing)
%O (_O_riginal save folder) Where
mutt would formerly have stashed the
message: list name or recipient name
if no list
%s subject of the message
%S status of the message (N/D/d/!/r/*)
%t `to:' field (recipients)
%T the appropriate character from the
to_chars string
%u user (login) name of the author
%v first name of the author, or the
recipient if the message is from you
%Z message status flags
%{fmt} the date and time of the message is
converted to sender's time zone, and
``fmt'' is expanded by the library
function ``strftime''; a leading b_healean
Default: no
This option allows you to edit the header of your outgoing messages
along with the body of your message.
editor
Type: path
Default: ""
This variable specifies which editor is used by mutt.
It defaults to the value of the EDITOR or VISUAL environment
variable, or to "/usr/bin/editor".
encode_from
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will quoted-printable encode messages when
they contain the string "From " in the beginning of a line.
Useful to avoid the tampering certain mail delivery and transport
agents tend to do with messages.
envelope_from
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will try to derive the message's envelope
sender from the "From:" header. Note that this information is passed
to sendmail command using the "-f" command line switch, so don't set this
option if you are using that switch in sendmail yourself,
or if the sendmail on your machine doesn't support that command
line switch.
escape
Type: string
Default: "~"
Escape character to use for functions in the builtin editor.
fast_reply
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, the initial prompt for recipients and subject are skipped
when replying to messages, and the initial prompt for subject is
skipped when forwarding messages.
Note: this variable has no effect when the ``autoedit''
variable is set.
fcc_attach
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variable controls whether or not attachments on outgoing messages
are saved along with the main body of your message.
fcc_clear
Type: boolean
Default: no
When this variable is set, FCCs will be stored unencrypted and
unsigned, even when the actual message is encrypted and/or signed.
folder
Type: path
Default: "~/Mail"
Specifies the default location of your mailboxes. A `+' or `=' at the
beginning of a pathname will be expanded to the value of this
variable. Note that if you change this variable from the default
value you need to make sure that the assignment occurs before
you use `+' or `=' for any other variables since expansion takes place
during the `set' command.
folder_format
Type: string
Default: "%2C %t %N %F %2l %-8.8u %-8.8g %8s %d %f"
This variable allows you to customize the file browser display to your
personal taste. This string is similar to ``index_format'', but has
its own set of printf()-like sequences:
%C current file number
%d date/time folder was last modified
%f filename
%F file permissions
%g group name (or numeric gid, if missing)
%l number of hard links
%N N if folder has new mail, blank otherwise
%s size in bytes
%t * if the file is tagged, blank otherwise
%u owner name (or numeric uid, if missing)
%>X right justify the rest of the string and pad
with character "X"
%|X pad to the end of the line with character "X"
followup_to
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls whether or not the Mail-Followup-To header field is
generated when sending mail. When set, Mutt will generate this
field when you are replying to a known mailing list, specified with
the ``subscribe'' or ``lists'' commands.
This field has two purposes. First, preventing you from receiving
duplicate copies of replies to messages which you send to mailing
lists. Second, ensuring that you do get a reply separately for any
messages sent to known lists to which you are not subscribed. The
header will contain only the list's address for subscribed lists,
and both the list address and your own email address for unsubscribed
lists. Without this header, a group reply to your message sent to a
subscribed list will be sent to both the list and your address,
resulting in two copies of the same email for you.
force_name
Type: boolean
Default: no
This variable is similar to ``save_name'', except that Mutt will
store a copy of your outgoing message by the username of the address
you are sending to even if that mailbox does not exist.
Also see the ``record'' variable.
forward_decode
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain when
forwarding a message. The message header is also RFC2047 decoded.
This variable is only used, if ``mime_forward'' is unset,
otherwise ``mime_forward_decode'' is used instead.
forward_format
Type: string
Default: "[%a: %s]"
This variable controls the default subject when forwarding a message.
It uses the same format sequences as the ``index_format'' variable.
forward_quote
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set forwarded messages included in the main body of the
message (when ``mime_forward'' is unset) will be quoted using
``indent_string''.
from
Type: e-mail address
Default: ""
When set, this variable contains a default from address. It
can be overridden using my_hdr (including from send-hooks) and
``reverse_name''.
gecos_mask
Type: regular expression
Default: "^[^,]*"
A regular expression used by mutt to parse the GECOS field of a password
entry when expanding the alias. By default the regular expression is set
to "^[^,]*" which will return the string up to the first "," encountered.
If the GECOS field contains a string like "lastname, firstname" then you
should set the gecos_mask=".*".
This can be useful if you see the following behavior: you address a e-mail
to user ID stevef whose full name is Steve Franklin. If mutt expands
stevef to "Franklin" stevef@foo.bar then you should set the gecos_mask to
a regular expression that will match the whole name so mutt will expand
"Franklin" to "Franklin, Steve".
hdrs
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When unset, the header fields normally added by the ``my_hdr''
command are not created. This variable must be unset before
composing a new message or replying in order to take effect. If set,
the user defined header fields are added to every new message.
header
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, this variable causes Mutt to include the header
of the message you are replying to into the edit buffer.
The ``weed'' setting applies.
help
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, help lines describing the bindings for the major functions
provided by each menu are displayed on the first line of the screen.
Note: The binding will not be displayed correctly if the
function is bound to a sequence rather than a single keystroke. Also,
the help line may not be updated if a binding is changed while Mutt is
running. Since this variable is primarily aimed at new users, neither
of these should present a major problem.
hidden_host
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will skip the host name part of ``hostname'' variable
when adding the domain part to addresses. This variable does not
affect the generation of Message-IDs, and it will not lead to the
cut-off of first-level domains.
history
Type: number
Default: 10
This variable controls the size (in number of strings remembered) of
the string history buffer. The buffer is cleared each time the
variable is set.
honor_followup_to
Type: quadoption
Default: yes
This variable controls whether or not a Mail-Followup-To header is
honored when group-replying to a message.
hostname
Type: string
Default: ""
Specifies the hostname to use after the ``@'' in local e-mail
addresses. This overrides the compile time definition obtained from
/etc/resolv.conf.
ignore_list_reply_to
Type: boolean
Default: no
Affects the behaviour of the reply function when replying to
messages from mailing lists. When set, if the ``Reply-To:'' field is
set to the same value as the ``To:'' field, Mutt assumes that the
``Reply-To:'' field was set by the mailing list to automate responses
to the list, and will ignore this field. To direct a response to the
mailing list when this option is set, use the list-reply
function; group-reply will reply to both the sender and the
list.
imap_checkinterval
Type: number
Default: 60
This variable configures how often (in seconds) IMAP should look for
new mail.
imap_force_ssl
Type: boolean
Default: no
If this variable is set, Mutt will always use SSL when
connecting to IMAP servers.
imap_list_subscribed
Type: boolean
Default: no
This variable configures whether IMAP folder browsing will look for
only subscribed folders or all folders. This can be toggled in the
IMAP browser with the toggle-subscribed command.
imap_user
Type: string
Default: ""
Your login name on the IMAP server.
This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
imap_cramkey
Type: string
Default: ""
Sets your CRAM secret, for use with the CRAM-MD5 IMAP authentication
method (this is the IMAP equivelent of APOP). This method will be
attempted automatically if the server supports it, in preference to the
less secure login technique. If you use CRAM-MD5, you do not need to set
imap_pass.
imap_pass
Type: string
Default: ""
Specifies the password for your IMAP account. If unset, Mutt will
prompt you for your password when you invoke the fetch-mail function.
Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a
fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your muttrc even
if you are the only one who can read the file.
imap_passive
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, mutt will not open new IMAP connections to check for new
mail. Mutt will only check for new mail over existing IMAP
connections. This is useful if you don't want to be prompted to
user/password pairs on mutt invocation, or if opening the connection
is slow.
imap_servernoise
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, mutt will display warning messages from the IMAP
server as error messages. Since these messages are often
harmless, or generated due to configuration problems on the
server which are out of the users' hands, you may wish to suppress
them at some point.
imap_home_namespace
Type: string
Default: ""
You normally want to see your personal folders alongside
your INBOX in the IMAP browser. If you see something else, you may set
this variable to the IMAP path to your folders.
imap_preconnect
Type: string
Default: ""
If set, a shell command to be executed if mutt fails to establish
a connection to the server. This is useful for setting up secure
connections, e.g. with ssh(1). If the command returns a nonzero
status, mutt gives up opening the server. Example:
imap_preconnect="ssh -f -q -L 1234:mailhost.net:143 mailhost.net
sleep 20 < /dev/null > /dev/null"
Mailbox 'foo' on mailhost.net can now be reached
as '{localhost:1234}foo'.
NOTE: For this example to work, you must be able to log in to the
remote machine without having to enter a password.
implicit_autoview
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set to ``yes'', mutt will look for a a mailcap entry with the
copiousoutput flag set for every MIME attachment it doesn't have
an internal viewer defined for. If such an entry is found, mutt will
use the viewer defined in that entry to convert the body part to text
form.
include
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes
Controls whether or not a copy of the message(s) you are replying to
is included in your reply.
indent_string
Type: string
Default: "> "
Specifies the string to prepend to each line of text quoted in a
message to which you are replying. You are strongly encouraged not to
change this value, as it tends to agitate the more fanatical netizens.
in_reply_to
Type: string
Default: "%i; from %a on %{!%a, %b %d, %Y at %I:%M:%S%p %Z}"
This specifies the format of the In-Reply-To header field
added when replying to a message. For a ful llisting of
defined escape sequences, see the section on index_format.
Note: Don't use any sequences in this format string which
may include 8-bit characters. Using such escape sequences may
lead to bad headers.
index_format
Type: string
Default: "%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%4l) %s"
This variable allows you to customize the message index display to
your personal taste.
``Format strings'' are similar to the strings used in the ``C''
function printf to format output (see the man page for more detail).
The following sequences are defined in Mutt:
%a address of the author
%b filename of the original message
folder (think mailBox)
%B the list to which the letter was sent,
or else the folder name (%b).
%c number of characters (bytes) in the message
%C current message number
%d date and time of the message in the format
specified by ``date_format'' converted to
sender's time zone
%D date and time of the message in the format
specified by ``date_format'' converted to
the local time zone
%f entire From: line (address + real name)
%F author name, or recipient name if the
message is from you
%i message-id of the current message
%l number of lines in the message
%L list-from function
%m total number of message in the mailbox
%M number of hidden messages if the thread
is collapsed.
%N message score
%n author's real name (or address if missing)
%O (_O_riginal save folder) Where
mutt would formerly have stashed the
message: list name or recipient name
if no list
%s subject of the message
%S status of the message (N/D/d/!/r/*)
%t `to:' field (recipients)
%T the appropriate character from the
to_chars string
%u user (login) name of the author
%v first name of the author, or the
recipient if the message is from you
%Z message status flags
%{fmt} the date and time of the message is
converted to sender's time zone, and
``fmt'' is expanded by the library
function ``strftime''; a leading b_healean
Default: no
This option allows you to edit the header of your outgoing messages
along with the body of your message.
editor
Type: path
Default: ""
This variable specifies which editor is used by mutt.
It defaults to the value of the EDITOR or VISUAL environment
variable, or to "/usr/bin/editor".
encode_from
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will quoted-printable encode messages when
they contain the string "From " in the beginning of a line.
Useful to avoid the tampering certain mail delivery and transport
agents tend to do with messages.
envelope_from
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will try to derive the message's envelope
sender from the "From:" header. Note that this information is passed
to sendmail command using the "-f" command line switch, so don't set this
option if you are using that switch in sendmail yourself,
or if the sendmail on your machine doesn't support that command
line switch.
escape
Type: string
Default: "~"
Escape character to use for functions in the builtin editor.
fast_reply
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, the initial prompt for recipients and subject are skipped
when replying to messages, and the initial prompt for subject is
skipped when forwarding messages.
Note: this variable has no effect when the ``autoedit''
variable is set.
fcc_attach
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variable controls whether or not attachments on outgoing messages
are saved along with the main body of your message.
fcc_clear
Type: boolean
Default: no
When this variable is set, FCCs will be stored unencrypted and
unsigned, even when the actual message is encrypted and/or signed.
folder
Type: path
Default: "~/Mail"
Specifies the default location of your mailboxes. A `+' or `=' at the
beginning of a pathname will be expanded to the value of this
variable. Note that if you change this variable from the default
value you need to make sure that the assignment occurs before
you use `+' or `=' for any other variables since expansion takes place
during the `set' command.
folder_format
Type: string
Default: "%2C %t %N %F %2l %-8.8u %-8.8g %8s %d %f"
This variable allows you to customize the file browser display to your
personal taste. This string is similar to ``index_format'', but has
its own set of printf()-like sequences:
%C current file number
%d date/time folder was last modified
%f filename
%F file permissions
%g group name (or numeric gid, if missing)
%l number of hard links
%N N if folder has new mail, blank otherwise
%s size in bytes
%t * if the file is tagged, blank otherwise
%u owner name (or numeric uid, if missing)
%>X right justify the rest of the string and pad
with character "X"
%|X pad to the end of the line with character "X"
followup_to
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls whether or not the Mail-Followup-To header field is
generated when sending mail. When set, Mutt will generate this
field when you are replying to a known mailing list, specified with
the ``subscribe'' or ``lists'' commands.
This field has two purposes. First, preventing you from receiving
duplicate copies of replies to messages which you send to mailing
lists. Second, ensuring that you do get a reply separately for any
messages sent to known lists to which you are not subscribed. The
header will contain only the list's address for subscribed lists,
and both the list address and your own email address for unsubscribed
lists. Without this header, a group reply to your message sent to a
subscribed list will be sent to both the list and your address,
resulting in two copies of the same email for you.
force_name
Type: boolean
Default: no
This variable is similar to ``save_name'', except that Mutt will
store a copy of your outgoing message by the username of the address
you are sending to even if that mailbox does not exist.
Also see the ``record'' variable.
forward_decode
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain when
forwarding a message. The message header is also RFC2047 decoded.
This variable is only used, if ``mime_forward'' is unset,
otherwise ``mime_forward_decode'' is used instead.
forward_format
Type: string
Default: "[%a: %s]"
This variable controls the default subject when forwarding a message.
It uses the same format sequences as the ``index_format'' variable.
forward_quote
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set forwarded messages included in the main body of the
message (when ``mime_forward'' is unset) will be quoted using
``indent_string''.
from
Type: e-mail address
Default: ""
When set, this variable contains a default from address. It
can be overridden using my_hdr (including from send-hooks) and
``reverse_name''.
gecos_mask
Type: regular expression
Default: "^[^,]*"
A regular expression used by mutt to parse the GECOS field of a password
entry when expanding the alias. By default the regular expression is set
to "^[^,]*" which will return the string up to the first "," encountered.
If the GECOS field contains a string like "lastname, firstname" then you
should set the gecos_mask=".*".
This can be useful if you see the following behavior: you address a e-mail
to user ID stevef whose full name is Steve Franklin. If mutt expands
stevef to "Franklin" stevef@foo.bar then you should set the gecos_mask to
a regular expression that will match the whole name so mutt will expand
"Franklin" to "Franklin, Steve".
hdrs
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When unset, the header fields normally added by the ``my_hdr''
command are not created. This variable must be unset before
composing a new message or replying in order to take effect. If set,
the user defined header fields are added to every new message.
header
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, this variable causes Mutt to include the header
of the message you are replying to into the edit buffer.
The ``weed'' setting applies.
help
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, help lines describing the bindings for the major functions
provided by each menu are displayed on the first line of the screen.
Note: The binding will not be displayed correctly if the
function is bound to a sequence rather than a single keystroke. Also,
the help line may not be updated if a binding is changed while Mutt is
running. Since this variable is primarily aimed at new users, neither
of these should present a major problem.
hidden_host
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will skip the host name part of ``hostname'' variable
when adding the domain part to addresses. This variable does not
affect the generation of Message-IDs, and it will not lead to the
cut-off of first-level domains.
history
Type: number
Default: 10
This variable controls the size (in number of strings remembered) of
the string history buffer. The buffer is cleared each time the
variable is set.
honor_followup_to
Type: quadoption
Default: yes
This variable controls whether or not a Mail-Followup-To header is
honored when group-replying to a message.
hostname
Type: string
Default: ""
Specifies the hostname to use after the ``@'' in local e-mail
addresses. This overrides the compile time definition obtained from
/etc/resolv.conf.
ignore_list_reply_to
Type: boolean
Default: no
Affects the behaviour of the reply function when replying to
messages from mailing lists. When set, if the ``Reply-To:'' field is
set to the same value as the ``To:'' field, Mutt assumes that the
``Reply-To:'' field was set by the mailing list to automate responses
to the list, and will ignore this field. To direct a response to the
mailing list when this option is set, use the list-reply
function; group-reply will reply to both the sender and the
list.
imap_checkinterval
Type: number
Default: 60
This variable configures how often (in seconds) IMAP should look for
new mail.
imap_force_ssl
Type: boolean
Default: no
If this variable is set, Mutt will always use SSL when
connecting to IMAP servers.
imap_list_subscribed
Type: boolean
Default: no
This variable configures whether IMAP folder browsing will look for
only subscribed folders or all folders. This can be toggled in the
IMAP browser with the toggle-subscribed command.
imap_user
Type: string
Default: ""
Your login name on the IMAP server.
This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
imap_cramkey
Type: string
Default: ""
Sets your CRAM secret, for use with the CRAM-MD5 IMAP authentication
method (this is the IMAP equivelent of APOP). This method will be
attempted automatically if the server supports it, in preference to the
less secure login technique. If you use CRAM-MD5, you do not need to set
imap_pass.
imap_pass
Type: string
Default: ""
Specifies the password for your IMAP account. If unset, Mutt will
prompt you for your password when you invoke the fetch-mail function.
Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a
fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your muttrc even
if you are the only one who can read the file.
imap_passive
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, mutt will not open new IMAP connections to check for new
mail. Mutt will only check for new mail over existing IMAP
connections. This is useful if you don't want to be prompted to
user/password pairs on mutt invocation, or if opening the connection
is slow.
imap_servernoise
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, mutt will display warning messages from the IMAP
server as error messages. Since these messages are often
harmless, or generated due to configuration problems on the
server which are out of the users' hands, you may wish to suppress
them at some point.
imap_home_namespace
Type: string
Default: ""
You normally want to see your personal folders alongside
your INBOX in the IMAP browser. If you see something else, you may set
this variable to the IMAP path to your folders.
imap_preconnect
Type: string
Default: ""
If set, a shell command to be executed if mutt fails to establish
a connection to the server. This is useful for setting up secure
connections, e.g. with ssh(1). If the command returns a nonzero
status, mutt gives up opening the server. Example:
imap_preconnect="ssh -f -q -L 1234:mailhost.net:143 mailhost.net
sleep 20 < /dev/null > /dev/null"
Mailbox 'foo' on mailhost.net can now be reached
as '{localhost:1234}foo'.
NOTE: For this example to work, you must be able to log in to the
remote machine without having to enter a password.
implicit_autoview
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set to ``yes'', mutt will look for a a mailcap entry with the
copiousoutput flag set for every MIME attachment it doesn't have
an internal viewer defined for. If such an entry is found, mutt will
use the viewer defined in that entry to convert the body part to text
form.
include
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes
Controls whether or not a copy of the message(s) you are replying to
is included in your reply.
indent_string
Type: string
Default: "> "
Specifies the string to prepend to each line of text quoted in a
message to which you are replying. You are strongly encouraged not to
change this value, as it tends to agitate the more fanatical netizens.
in_reply_to
Type: string
Default: "%i; from %a on %{!%a, %b %d, %Y at %I:%M:%S%p %Z}"
This specifies the format of the In-Reply-To header field
added when replying to a message. For a ful llisting of
defined escape sequences, see the section on index_format.
Note: Don't use any sequences in this format string which
may include 8-bit characters. Using such escape sequences may
lead to bad headers.
index_format
Type: string
Default: "%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%4l) %s"
This variable allows you to customize the message index display to
your personal taste.
``Format strings'' are similar to the strings used in the ``C''
function printf to format output (see the man page for more detail).
The following sequences are defined in Mutt:
%a address of the author
%b filename of the original message
folder (think mailBox)
%B the list to which the letter was sent,
or else the folder name (%b).
%c number of characters (bytes) in the message
%C current message number
%d date and time of the message in the format
specified by ``date_format'' converted to
sender's time zone
%D date and time of the message in the format
specified by ``date_format'' converted to
the local time zone
%f entire From: line (address + real name)
%F author name, or recipient name if the
message is from you
%i message-id of the current message
%l number of lines in the message
%L list-from function
%m total number of message in the mailbox
%M number of hidden messages if the thread
is collapsed.
%N message score
%n author's real name (or address if missing)
%O (_O_riginal save folder) Where
mutt would formerly have stashed the
message: list name or recipient name
if no list
%s subject of the message
%S status of the message (N/D/d/!/r/*)
%t `to:' field (recipients)
%T the appropriate character from the
to_chars string
%u user (login) name of the author
%v first name of the author, or the
recipient if the message is from you
%Z message status flags
%{fmt} the date and time of the message is
converted to sender's time zone, and
``fmt'' is expanded by the library
function ``strftime''; a leading b_healean
Default: no
This option allows you to edit the header of your outgoing messages
along with the body of your message.
editor
Type: path
Default: ""
This variable specifies which editor is used by mutt.
It defaults to the value of the EDITOR or VISUAL environment
variable, or to "/usr/bin/editor".
encode_from
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will quoted-printable encode messages when
they contain the string "From " in the beginning of a line.
Useful to avoid the tampering certain mail delivery and transport
agents tend to do with messages.
envelope_from
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will try to derive the message's envelope
sender from the "From:" header. Note that this information is passed
to sendmail command using the "-f" command line switch, so don't set this
option if you are using that switch in sendmail yourself,
or if the sendmail on your machine doesn't support that command
line switch.
escape
Type: string
Default: "~"
Escape character to use for functions in the builtin editor.
fast_reply
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, the initial prompt for recipients and subject are skipped
when replying to messages, and the initial prompt for subject is
skipped when forwarding messages.
Note: this variable has no effect when the ``autoedit''
variable is set.
fcc_attach
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variable controls whether or not attachments on outgoing messages
are saved along with the main body of your message.
fcc_clear
Type: boolean
Default: no
When this variable is set, FCCs will be stored unencrypted and
unsigned, even when the actual message is encrypted and/or signed.
folder
Type: path
Default: "~/Mail"
Specifies the default location of your mailboxes. A `+' or `=' at the
beginning of a pathname will be expanded to the value of this
variable. Note that if you change this variable from the default
value you need to make sure that the assignment occurs before
you use `+' or `=' for any other variables since expansion takes place
during the `set' command.
folder_format
Type: string
Default: "%2C %t %N %F %2l %-8.8u %-8.8g %8s %d %f"
This variable allows you to customize the file browser display to your
personal taste. This string is similar to ``index_format'', but has
its own set of printf()-like sequences:
%C current file number
%d date/time folder was last modified
%f filename
%F file permissions
%g group name (or numeric gid, if missing)
%l number of hard links
%N N if folder has new mail, blank otherwise
%s size in bytes
%t * if the file is tagged, blank otherwise
%u owner name (or numeric uid, if missing)
%>X right justify the rest of the string and pad
with character "X"
%|X pad to the end of the line with character "X"
followup_to
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls whether or not the Mail-Followup-To header field is
generated when sending mail. When set, Mutt will generate this
field when you are replying to a known mailing list, specified with
the ``subscribe'' or ``lists'' commands.
This field has two purposes. First, preventing you from receiving
duplicate copies of replies to messages which you send to mailing
lists. Second, ensuring that you do get a reply separately for any
messages sent to known lists to which you are not subscribed. The
header will contain only the list's address for subscribed lists,
and both the list address and your own email address for unsubscribed
lists. Without this header, a group reply to your message sent to a
subscribed list will be sent to both the list and your address,
resulting in two copies of the same email for you.
force_name
Type: boolean
Default: no
This variable is similar to ``save_name'', except that Mutt will
store a copy of your outgoing message by the username of the address
you are sending to even if that mailbox does not exist.
Also see the ``record'' variable.
forward_decode
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain when
forwarding a message. The message header is also RFC2047 decoded.
This variable is only used, if ``mime_forward'' is unset,
otherwise ``mime_forward_decode'' is used instead.
forward_format
Type: string
Default: "[%a: %s]"
This variable controls the default subject when forwarding a message.
It uses the same format sequences as the ``index_format'' variable.
forward_quote
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set forwarded messages included in the main body of the
message (when ``mime_forward'' is unset) will be quoted using
``indent_string''.
from
Type: e-mail address
Default: ""
When set, this variable contains a default from address. It
can be overridden using my_hdr (including from send-hooks) and
``reverse_name''.
gecos_mask
Type: regular expression
Default: "^[^,]*"
A regular expression used by mutt to parse the GECOS field of a password
entry when expanding the alias. By default the regular expression is set
to "^[^,]*" which will return the string up to the first "," encountered.
If the GECOS field contains a string like "lastname, firstname" then you
should set the gecos_mask=".*".
This can be useful if you see the following behavior: you address a e-mail
to user ID stevef whose full name is Steve Franklin. If mutt expands
stevef to "Franklin" stevef@foo.bar then you should set the gecos_mask to
a regular expression that will match the whole name so mutt will expand
"Franklin" to "Franklin, Steve".
hdrs
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When unset, the header fields normally added by the ``my_hdr''
command are not created. This variable must be unset before
composing a new message or replying in order to take effect. If set,
the user defined header fields are added to every new message.
header
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, this variable causes Mutt to include the header
of the message you are replying to into the edit buffer.
The ``weed'' setting applies.
help
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, help lines describing the bindings for the major functions
provided by each menu are displayed on the first line of the screen.
Note: The binding will not be displayed correctly if the
function is bound to a sequence rather than a single keystroke. Also,
the help line may not be updated if a binding is changed while Mutt is
running. Since this variable is primarily aimed at new users, neither
of these should present a major problem.
hidden_host
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will skip the host name part of ``hostname'' variable
when adding the domain part to addresses. This variable does not
affect the generation of Message-IDs, and it will not lead to the
cut-off of first-level domains.
history
Type: number
Default: 10
This variable controls the size (in number of strings remembered) of
the string history buffer. The buffer is cleared each time the
variable is set.
honor_followup_to
Type: quadoption
Default: yes
This variable controls whether or not a Mail-Followup-To header is
honored when group-replying to a message.
hostname
Type: string
Default: ""
Specifies the hostname to use after the ``@'' in local e-mail
addresses. This overrides the compile time definition obtained from
/etc/resolv.conf.
ignore_list_reply_to
Type: boolean
Default: no
Affects the behaviour of the reply function when replying to
messages from mailing lists. When set, if the ``Reply-To:'' field is
set to the same value as the ``To:'' field, Mutt assumes that the
``Reply-To:'' field was set by the mailing list to automate responses
to the list, and will ignore this field. To direct a response to the
mailing list when this option is set, use the list-reply
function; group-reply will reply to both the sender and the
list.
imap_checkinterval
Type: number
Default: 60
This variable configures how often (in seconds) IMAP should look for
new mail.
imap_force_ssl
Type: boolean
Default: no
If this variable is set, Mutt will always use SSL when
connecting to IMAP servers.
imap_list_subscribed
Type: boolean
Default: no
This variable configures whether IMAP folder browsing will look for
only subscribed folders or all folders. This can be toggled in the
IMAP browser with the toggle-subscribed command.
imap_user
Type: string
Default: ""
Your login name on the IMAP server.
This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
imap_cramkey
Type: string
Default: ""
Sets your CRAM secret, for use with the CRAM-MD5 IMAP authentication
method (this is the IMAP equivelent of APOP). This method will be
attempted automatically if the server supports it, in preference to the
less secure login technique. If you use CRAM-MD5, you do not need to set
imap_pass.
imap_pass
Type: string
Default: ""
Specifies the password for your IMAP account. If unset, Mutt will
prompt you for your password when you invoke the fetch-mail function.
Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a
fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your muttrc even
if you are the only one who can read the file.
imap_passive
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, mutt will not open new IMAP connections to check for new
mail. Mutt will only check for new mail over existing IMAP
connections. This is useful if you don't want to be prompted to
user/password pairs on mutt invocation, or if opening the connection
is slow.
imap_servernoise
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, mutt will display warning messages from the IMAP
server as error messages. Since these messages are often
harmless, or generated due to configuration problems on the
server which are out of the users' hands, you may wish to suppress
them at some point.
imap_home_namespace
Type: string
Default: ""
You normally want to see your personal folders alongside
your INBOX in the IMAP browser. If you see something else, you may set
this variable to the IMAP path to your folders.
imap_preconnect
Type: string
Default: ""
If set, a shell command to be executed if mutt fails to establish
a connection to the server. This is useful for setting up secure
connections, e.g. with ssh(1). If the command returns a nonzero
status, mutt gives up opening the server. Example:
imap_preconnect="ssh -f -q -L 1234:mailhost.net:143 mailhost.net
sleep 20 < /dev/null > /dev/null"
Mailbox 'foo' on mailhost.net can now be reached
as '{localhost:1234}foo'.
NOTE: For this example to work, you must be able to log in to the
remote machine without having to enter a password.
implicit_autoview
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set to ``yes'', mutt will look for a a mailcap entry with the
copiousoutput flag set for every MIME attachment it doesn't have
an internal viewer defined for. If such an entry is found, mutt will
use the viewer defined in that entry to convert the body part to text
form.
include
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes
Controls whether or not a copy of the message(s) you are replying to
is included in your reply.
indent_string
Type: string
Default: "> "
Specifies the string to prepend to each line of text quoted in a
message to which you are replying. You are strongly encouraged not to
change this value, as it tends to agitate the more fanatical netizens.
in_reply_to
Type: string
Default: "%i; from %a on %{!%a, %b %d, %Y at %I:%M:%S%p %Z}"
This specifies the format of the In-Reply-To header field
added when replying to a message. For a ful llisting of
defined escape sequences, see the section on index_format.
Note: Don't use any sequences in this format string which
may include 8-bit characters. Using such escape sequences may
lead to bad headers.
index_format
Type: string
Default: "%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%4l) %s"
This variable allows you to customize the message index display to
your personal taste.
``Format strings'' are similar to the strings used in the ``C''
function printf to format output (see the man page for more detail).
The following sequences are defined in Mutt:
%a address of the author
%b filename of the original message
folder (think mailBox)
%B the list to which the letter was sent,
or else the folder name (%b).
%c number of characters (bytes) in the message
%C current message number
%d date and time of the message in the format
specified by ``date_format'' converted to
sender's time zone
%D date and time of the message in the format
specified by ``date_format'' converted to
the local time zone
%f entire From: line (address + real name)
%F author name, or recipient name if the
message is from you
%i message-id of the current message
%l number of lines in the message
%L list-from function
%m total number of message in the mailbox
%M number of hidden messages if the thread
is collapsed.
%N message score
%n author's real name (or address if missing)
%O (_O_riginal save folder) Where
mutt would formerly have stashed the
message: list name or recipient name
if no list
%s subject of the message
%S status of the message (N/D/d/!/r/*)
%t `to:' field (recipients)
%T the appropriate character from the
to_chars string
%u user (login) name of the author
%v first name of the author, or the
recipient if the message is from you
%Z message status flags
%{fmt} the date and time of the message is
converted to sender's time zone, and
``fmt'' is expanded by the library
function ``strftime''; a leading b_healean
Default: no
This option allows you to edit the header of your outgoing messages
along with the body of your message.
editor
Type: path
Default: ""
This variable specifies which editor is used by mutt.
It defaults to the value of the EDITOR or VISUAL environment
variable, or to "/usr/bin/editor".
encode_from
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will quoted-printable encode messages when
they contain the string "From " in the beginning of a line.
Useful to avoid the tampering certain mail delivery and transport
agents tend to do with messages.
envelope_from
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will try to derive the message's envelope
sender from the "From:" header. Note that this information is passed
to sendmail command using the "-f" command line switch, so don't set this
option if you are using that switch in sendmail yourself,
or if the sendmail on your machine doesn't support that command
line switch.
escape
Type: string
Default: "~"
Escape character to use for functions in the builtin editor.
fast_reply
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, the initial prompt for recipients and subject are skipped
when replying to messages, and the initial prompt for subject is
skipped when forwarding messages.
Note: this variable has no effect when the ``autoedit''
variable is set.
fcc_attach
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variable controls whether or not attachments on outgoing messages
are saved along with the main body of your message.
fcc_clear
Type: boolean
Default: no
When this variable is set, FCCs will be stored unencrypted and
unsigned, even when the actual message is encrypted and/or signed.
folder
Type: path
Default: "~/Mail"
Specifies the default location of your mailboxes. A `+' or `=' at the
beginning of a pathname will be expanded to the value of this
variable. Note that if you change this variable from the default
value you need to make sure that the assignment occurs before
you use `+' or `=' for any other variables since expansion takes place
during the `set' command.
folder_format
Type: string
Default: "%2C %t %N %F %2l %-8.8u %-8.8g %8s %d %f"
This variable allows you to customize the file browser display to your
personal taste. This string is similar to ``index_format'', but has
its own set of printf()-like sequences:
%C current file number
%d date/time folder was last modified
%f filename
%F file permissions
%g group name (or numeric gid, if missing)
%l number of hard links
%N N if folder has new mail, blank otherwise
%s size in bytes
%t * if the file is tagged, blank otherwise
%u owner name (or numeric uid, if missing)
%>X right justify the rest of the string and pad
with character "X"
%|X pad to the end of the line with character "X"
followup_to
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls whether or not the Mail-Followup-To header field is
generated when sending mail. When set, Mutt will generate this
field when you are replying to a known mailing list, specified with
the ``subscribe'' or ``lists'' commands.
This field has two purposes. First, preventing you from receiving
duplicate copies of replies to messages which you send to mailing
lists. Second, ensuring that you do get a reply separately for any
messages sent to known lists to which you are not subscribed. The
header will contain only the list's address for subscribed lists,
and both the list address and your own email address for unsubscribed
lists. Without this header, a group reply to your message sent to a
subscribed list will be sent to both the list and your address,
resulting in two copies of the same email for you.
force_name
Type: boolean
Default: no
This variable is similar to ``save_name'', except that Mutt will
store a copy of your outgoing message by the username of the address
you are sending to even if that mailbox does not exist.
Also see the ``record'' variable.
forward_decode
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain when
forwarding a message. The message header is also RFC2047 decoded.
This variable is only used, if ``mime_forward'' is unset,
otherwise ``mime_forward_decode'' is used instead.
forward_format
Type: string
Default: "[%a: %s]"
This variable controls the default subject when forwarding a message.
It uses the same format sequences as the ``index_format'' variable.
forward_quote
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set forwarded messages included in the main body of the
message (when ``mime_forward'' is unset) will be quoted using
``indent_string''.
from
Type: e-mail address
Default: ""
When set, this variable contains a default from address. It
can be overridden using my_hdr (including from send-hooks) and
``reverse_name''.
gecos_mask
Type: regular expression
Default: "^[^,]*"
A regular expression used by mutt to parse the GECOS field of a password
entry when expanding the alias. By default the regular expression is set
to "^[^,]*" which will return the string up to the first "," encountered.
If the GECOS field contains a string like "lastname, firstname" then you
should set the gecos_mask=".*".
This can be useful if you see the following behavior: you address a e-mail
to user ID stevef whose full name is Steve Franklin. If mutt expands
stevef to "Franklin" stevef@foo.bar then you should set the gecos_mask to
a regular expression that will match the whole name so mutt will expand
"Franklin" to "Franklin, Steve".
hdrs
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When unset, the header fields normally added by the ``my_hdr''
command are not created. This variable must be unset before
composing a new message or replying in order to take effect. If set,
the user defined header fields are added to every new message.
header
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, this variable causes Mutt to include the header
of the message you are replying to into the edit buffer.
The ``weed'' setting applies.
help
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, help lines describing the bindings for the major functions
provided by each menu are displayed on the first line of the screen.
Note: The binding will not be displayed correctly if the
function is bound to a sequence rather than a single keystroke. Also,
the help line may not be updated if a binding is changed while Mutt is
running. Since this variable is primarily aimed at new users, neither
of these should present a major problem.
hidden_host
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will skip the host name part of ``hostname'' variable
when adding the domain part to addresses. This variable does not
affect the generation of Message-IDs, and it will not lead to the
cut-off of first-level domains.
history
Type: number
Default: 10
This variable controls the size (in number of strings remembered) of
the string history buffer. The buffer is cleared each time the
variable is set.
honor_followup_to
Type: quadoption
Default: yes
This variable controls whether or not a Mail-Followup-To header is
honored when group-replying to a message.
hostname
Type: string
Default: ""
Specifies the hostname to use after the ``@'' in local e-mail
addresses. This overrides the compile time definition obtained from
/etc/resolv.conf.
ignore_list_reply_to
Type: boolean
Default: no
Affects the behaviour of the reply function when replying to
messages from mailing lists. When set, if the ``Reply-To:'' field is
set to the same value as the ``To:'' field, Mutt assumes that the
``Reply-To:'' field was set by the mailing list to automate responses
to the list, and will ignore this field. To direct a response to the
mailing list when this option is set, use the list-reply
function; group-reply will reply to both the sender and the
list.
imap_checkinterval
Type: number
Default: 60
This variable configures how often (in seconds) IMAP should look for
new mail.
imap_force_ssl
Type: boolean
Default: no
If this variable is set, Mutt will always use SSL when
connecting to IMAP servers.
imap_list_subscribed
Type: boolean
Default: no
This variable configures whether IMAP folder browsing will look for
only subscribed folders or all folders. This can be toggled in the
IMAP browser with the toggle-subscribed command.
imap_user
Type: string
Default: ""
Your login name on the IMAP server.
This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.
imap_cramkey
Type: string
Default: ""
Sets your CRAM secret, for use with the CRAM-MD5 IMAP authentication
method (this is the IMAP equivelent of APOP). This method will be
attempted automatically if the server supports it, in preference to the
less secure login technique. If you use CRAM-MD5, you do not need to set
imap_pass.
imap_pass
Type: string
Default: ""
Specifies the password for your IMAP account. If unset, Mutt will
prompt you for your password when you invoke the fetch-mail function.
Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a
fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your muttrc even
if you are the only one who can read the file.
imap_passive
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, mutt will not open new IMAP connections to check for new
mail. Mutt will only check for new mail over existing IMAP
connections. This is useful if you don't want to be prompted to
user/password pairs on mutt invocation, or if opening the connection
is slow.
imap_servernoise
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, mutt will display warning messages from the IMAP
server as error messages. Since these messages are often
harmless, or generated due to configuration problems on the
server which are out of the users' hands, you may wish to suppress
them at some point.
imap_home_namespace
Type: string
Default: ""
You normally want to see your personal folders alongside
your INBOX in the IMAP browser. If you see something else, you may set
this variable to the IMAP path to your folders.
imap_preconnect
Type: string
Default: ""
If set, a shell command to be executed if mutt fails to establish
a connection to the server. This is useful for setting up secure
connections, e.g. with ssh(1). If the command returns a nonzero
status, mutt gives up opening the server. Example:
imap_preconnect="ssh -f -q -L 1234:mailhost.net:143 mailhost.net
sleep 20 < /dev/null > /dev/null"
Mailbox 'foo' on mailhost.net can now be reached
as '{localhost:1234}foo'.
NOTE: For this example to work, you must be able to log in to the
remote machine without having to enter a password.
implicit_autoview
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set to ``yes'', mutt will look for a a mailcap entry with the
copiousoutput flag set for every MIME attachment it doesn't have
an internal viewer defined for. If such an entry is found, mutt will
use the viewer defined in that entry to convert the body part to text
form.
include
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes
Controls whether or not a copy of the message(s) you are replying to
is included in your reply.
indent_string
Type: string
Default: "> "
Specifies the string to prepend to each line of text quoted in a
message to which you are replying. You are strongly encouraged not to
change this value, as it tends to agitate the more fanatical netizens.
in_reply_to
Type: string
Default: "%i; from %a on %{!%a, %b %d, %Y at %I:%M:%S%p %Z}"
This specifies the format of the In-Reply-To header field
added when replying to a message. For a ful llisting of
defined escape sequences, see the section on index_format.
Note: Don't use any sequences in this format string which
may include 8-bit characters. Using such escape sequences may
lead to bad headers.
index_format
Type: string
Default: "%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%4l) %s"
This variable allows you to customize the message index display to
your personal taste.
``Format strings'' are similar to the strings used in the ``C''
function printf to format output (see the man page for more detail).
The following sequences are defined in Mutt:
%a address of the author
%b filename of the original message
folder (think mailBox)
%B the list to which the letter was sent,
or else the folder name (%b).
%c number of characters (bytes) in the message
%C current message number
%d date and time of the message in the format
specified by ``date_format'' converted to
sender's time zone
%D date and time of the message in the format
specified by ``date_format'' converted to
the local time zone
%f entire From: line (address + real name)
%F author name, or recipient name if the
message is from you
%i message-id of the current message
%l number of lines in the message
%L list-from function
%m total number of message in the mailbox
%M number of hidden messages if the thread
is collapsed.
%N message score
%n author's real name (or address if missing)
%O (_O_riginal save folder) Where
mutt would formerly have stashed the
message: list name or recipient name
if no list
%s subject of the message
%S status of the message (N/D/d/!/r/*)
%t `to:' field (recipients)
%T the appropriate character from the
to_chars string
%u user (login) name of the author
%v first name of the author, or the
recipient if the message is from you
%Z message status flags
%{fmt} the date and time of the message is
converted to sender's time zone, and
``fmt'' is expanded by the library
function ``strftime''; a leading b_healean
Default: no
This option allows you to edit the header of your outgoing messages
along with the body of your message.
editor
Type: path
Default: ""
This variable specifies which editor is used by mutt.
It defaults to the value of the EDITOR or VISUAL environment
variable, or to "/usr/bin/editor".
encode_from
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will quoted-printable encode messages when
they contain the string "From " in the beginning of a line.
Useful to avoid the tampering certain mail delivery and transport
agents tend to do with messages.
envelope_from
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will try to derive the message's envelope
sender from the "From:" header. Note that this information is passed
to sendmail command using the "-f" command line switch, so don't set this
option if you are using that switch in sendmail yourself,
or if the sendmail on your machine doesn't support that command
line switch.
escape
Type: string
Default: "~"
Escape character to use for functions in the builtin editor.
fast_reply
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, the initial prompt for recipients and subject are skipped
when replying to messages, and the initial prompt for subject is
skipped when forwarding messages.
Note: this variable has no effect when the ``autoedit''
variable is set.
fcc_attach
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variable controls whether or not attachments on outgoing messages
are saved along with the main body of your message.
fcc_clear
Type: boolean
Default: no
When this variable is set, FCCs will be stored unencrypted and
unsigned, even when the actual message is encrypted and/or signed.
folder
Type: path
Default: "~/Mail"
Specifies the default location of your mailboxes. A `+' or `=' at the
beginning of a pathname will be expanded to the value of this
variable. Note that if you change this variable from the default
value you need to make sure that the assignment occurs