The Mutt E-Mail Client
by Michael Elkins <me@cs.hmc.edu>
v0.92.13, 30 June 1998

``All mail clients suck. This one just sucks less.'' -me, circa 1995

Introduction

Mutt is a small but very powerful text-based MIME mail client. Mutt 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 messages.

1.1. Mutt Home Page

http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~me/mutt/index.html

1.2. Mailing Lists

To subscribe to one of the following mailing lists, send a message with the word subscribe in the subject to list-name-

request@cs.hmc.edu.

+ mutt-announce@cs.hmc.edu -- low traffic list for announcements

+ mutt-users@cs.hmc.edu -- help, bug reports and feature requests

+ mutt-dev@cs.hmc.edu -- development mailing list

Note: all messages posted to mutt-announce are automatically forwarded

to mutt-users, so you do not need to be subscribed to both lists.

1.3. Software Distribution Sites

+ ftp://ftp.cs.hmc.edu/pub/me/mutt/

1.4. IRC

Visit channel #mutt on DALnet (www.dal.net) to chat with other people

interested in Mutt.

1.5. USENET

See the newsgroup comp.mail.mutt.

1.6. Copyright

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 version.

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., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

2. Getting Started

This section is intended as a brief overview of how to use Mutt. 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 keybindings 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, simply by typing mutt at the command line. There are various command-line options, see either the mutt man page or the ``reference''.

2.1. Moving Around in Menus

Information is presented in menus, very similar to ELM. Here is a table showing the common keys used to navigate menus in Mutt.

       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 keybindings for the current menu

2.2. Editing Input Fields

Mutt 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 <Home> bol move to the start of the line ^B or <Left> backward-char move back one char

  ^D or <Delete>  delete-char     delete the char under the cursor
  ^E or <End>     eol             move to the end of the line
  ^F or <Right>   forward-char    move forward one char
  ^K              kill-eol        delete to the end of the line
  ^U              kill-line       delete entire line
  ^W              kill-word       kill the word in front of the cursor
  <Up>            history-up      recall previous string from history
  <Down>          history-down    recall next string from history
  <BackSpace>     backspace       kill the char in front of the cursor
  ^G              n/a             abort
  <Tab>           n/a             complete filename (only when prompting for a file)
  <Return>        n/a             finish editing

You can remap the editor functions using the ``bind'' command. For

example, to make the Delete key delete the character in front of the

cursor rather than under, you could use

bind editor delete backspace

2.3. Reading Mail - The Index and Pager

Similar to many other mail clients, there are two modes in which mail is read in Mutt. The first is the index of messages in the mailbox, which is called the ``index'' in Mutt. The second mode is the display of the message contents. This is called the ``pager.''

The next few sections describe the functions provided in each of these modes.

2.3.1. The Message Index

  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               toggle the tag on a message
  ESC t           toggle tag on entire message thread
  u               undelete-message
  v               view-attachments
  x               abort changes and exit
  <Return>        display-message
  <Tab>           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              tag messages matching a pattern
  ^U              undelete messages matching a pattern

2.3.1.1. Status Flags

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
       K       contains a PGP public key
       M       requires mailcap to view
       N       message is new
       O       message is old
       P       message is PGP encrypted
       r       message has been replied to
       S       message is PGP signed
       !       message is flagged
       *       message is tagged

Some of the status flags can be turned on or off using

+ set-flag (default: w)

+ clear-flag (default: W)

Furthermore, the following flags reflect who the message is addressed to. They can be customized with the ``$to chars'' 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

2.3.2. The Pager

By default, Mutt uses its builtin pager to display the body of messages. The pager is very similar to the Unix program less though

not nearly as featureful.

       <Return>        go down one line
       <Space>         display the next page (or next message if at the end of a message)
       -               go back to the previous page
       n               display the next message
       ?               show keybindings
       /               search for a regular expression (pattern)
       \              toggle search pattern coloring

In addition, many of the functions from the index are available in the

pager, such as delete-message or copy-message (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 underline. These sequences are a series of either the letter, backspace (^H), the letter again for bold or the letter, backspace, `` '' for denoting underline. Mutt will attempt to display

-
these in bold and underline respectively if your terminal supports them. If not, you can use the bold and underline ``color'' objects to specify a color or mono attribute for them.

Additionally, the internal pager supports the ANSI escape sequences for character attributes. Mutt translates them into the correct color and character settings. The sequences Mutt 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 uses these attributes for handling text/enriched messages, and they can also be used by an external ``autoview'' script for highlighting purposes. Note: If you change the colors for your display, for example by changing the color associated with color2 for your xterm, then that color will be used instead of green.

2.3.3. Threaded Mode

When the mailbox is ``sorted'' by threads, there are a few additional

functions available in the index and pager 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

regexp.

Examples:

       save-hook me@(turing\\.)?cs\\.hmc\\.edu$ +elkins
       save-hook aol\\.com$ +spam

Also see the ``fcc-save-hook'' command.

3.14. Specify default Fcc: mailbox when composing

Usage: fcc-hook [!]regexp mailbox

This command is used to save outgoing mail in a mailbox other than ``$record''. Mutt searches the initial list of message recipients for the first matching regexp and uses mailbox as the default Fcc:

mailbox. If no match is found the message will be saved to ``$record'' mailbox.

See ``matching messages'' for information on the exact format of

regexp.

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 ``fcc-save-hook'' command.

3.15. Specify default save filename and default Fcc: mailbox at once

Usage: fcc-save-hook [!]regexp mailbox

This command is a shortcut, equivalent to doing both a ``fcc-hook'' and a ``save-hook'' with its arguments.

3.16. Change settings based upon message recipients

Usage: send-hook [!]regexp command

This command can be used to execute arbitrary configuration commands based upon recipients of the message. regexp is a regular expression

matching the desired address. command is executed when regexp matches

recipients of the message. When multiple matches occur, commands are executed in the order they are specified in the muttrc.

See ``matching messages'' for information on the exact format of

regexp.

Example: send-hook mutt "set mime forward signature=''"

Another typical use for this command is to change the values of the ``$attribution'', ``$signature'' and ``$locale'' variables in order to change the language of the attributions and signatures based upon the recipients.

Note: 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.

3.17. Adding key sequences to the keyboard buffer

Usage: push string

This command adds the named string to the keyboard buffer. You may use it to automatically run a sequence of commands at startup, or when entering certain folders.

3.18. Message Scoring

Usage: score pattern value

Usage: unscore pattern [ pattern ... ]

The score commands adds value to a message's score if pattern matches

it. pattern is a string in the format described in the ``searching''

section. value 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 value 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 must 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.

3.19. Setting variables

Usage: set [no|inv]variable[=value] [ variable ... ]

Usage: toggle variable [variable ... ]

Usage: unset variable [variable ... ]

Usage: reset variable [variable ... ]

This command is used to set (and unset) ``configuration variables''. There are four basic types of variables: boolean, number, string and quadoption. boolean variables can be set (true) or unset (false).

number variables can be assigned a positive integer value.

string variables consist of any number of printable characters.

strings must be enclosed in quotes if they contain spaces or tabs.

You may also use the ``C'' escape sequences \n and \t for newline and tab, respectively.

quadoption variables are used to control whether or not to be prompted

for certain actions, or to specify a default action. A value of yes

--- will cause the action to be carried out automatically as if you had answered yes to the question. Similarly, a value of no will cause the

-- the action to be carried out as if you had answered ``no.'' A value of ask-yes will cause a prompt with a default answer of ``yes'' and

ask-no will provide a default answer of ``no.''

Prefixing a variable with ``no'' will unset it. Example: set noaskbcc.

For boolean 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 variables.

The unset command automatically prepends the no prefix to all specified variables.

Using the enter-command function in the index 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 variables.

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. 3.20. Reading initialization commands from another file

Usage: source filename

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 filename is

considered to be an executable program from which to read input (eg. source ~bin/myscript|/.

4. Advanced Usage

4.1. Searching and Regular Expressions

All text patterns for searching and matching in Mutt must be specified as 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: ``\\''. For more information, see the section on ``searching'' below.

4.1.1. Regular Expressions

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.

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 not in the list. For example, the regular expression [0123456789] 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 literal ``]'' 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.

     [:digit:]
        Numeric characters.

     [:graph:]
        Characters that are both printable and visible.  (A space is
        printable, 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, [[:digit:]] is equivalent to [0-9].

Two additional special sequences can appear in character lists. These apply to non-ASCII character sets, which can have single symbols (called collating elements) 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 symbols is a multi-character collating element
        enclosed in ``[.'' and ``.]''.  For example, if ``ch'' is a
        collating element, then [[.ch.]] is a regexp that matches this
        collating element, while [ch] is a regexp that matches either
        ``c'' or ``h''.

     Equivalence Classes
        An equivalence class is a locale-specific name for a list of
        characters that are equivalent. The name is enclosed in ``[=''
        and ``=]''.  For example, the name ``e'' might be used to
        represent all of ``e'' ``e'' and ``e''.  In this case, [[=e=]]
        is a regexp that matches any of ``e'', ``e'' and ``e''.

A regular expression matching a single character may be followed by one of several repetition operators:

? The preceding item is optional and matched at most once.

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 resulting 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.

Note: If you compile Mutt with the GNU rx 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
        underscore).

     \W Matches any character that is not word-constituent.

     \` 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.

4.1.2. Searching

Many of Mutt's commands allow you to specify a pattern to match (limit, tag-pattern, delete-pattern, etc.). There are several ways to select messages:

       ~A              all messages
       ~b PATTERN      messages which contain PATTERN in the message body
       ~B PATTERN      messages which contain PATTERN in the whole message
       ~c USER         messages carbon-copied to USER
       ~C PATTERN      message is either to: or cc: PATTERN
       ~D              deleted messages
       ~d [MIN]-[MAX]  messages with ``date-sent'' in a Date range
       ~E              expired messages
       ~e PATTERN      message which contains PATTERN in the ``Sender'' field
       ~F              flagged messages
       ~f USER         messages originating from USER
       ~h PATTERN      messages which contain PATTERN in the message header
       ~i ID           message which match ID in the ``Message-ID'' field
       ~L PATTERN      message is either originated or received by PATTERN
       ~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
       ~x PATTERN      messages which contain PATTERN in the `References' field
       ~z [MIN]-[MAX]  messages with a size in the range MIN to MAX

Where PATTERN, USER, ID, and SUBJECT are ``regular expressions''.

4.1.3. Complex Searches

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 and that have the word ``elkins'' in the ``From'' header field.

Mutt also recognizes the following operators to create more complex search patterns:

+ ! -- logical NOT operator

+ | -- logical OR operator

+ () -- 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

4.1.4. Searching by Date

Mutt supports two types of dates, absolute and relative.

Absolute. Dates must 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 messages before the given date will be selected. If you omit the

maximum (second) date, and specify ``DD/MM/YY-'', all messages after

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.

Relative. This type of date is relative to the current date, and may be specified as:

+ >offset (messages older than offset units)

+ <offset (messages newer than offset units)

+ =offset (messages exactly offset units old)

offset 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

Note: all dates used when searching are relative to the local time zone, so unless you change the setting of your ``$index format'' to

- include a %[...] format, these are not the dates shown in the main index.

4.2. Using Tags

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 subject. To tag all messages matching a pattern, use the tag-pattern function, which is bound to ``control-T'' by default. Or you can select individual messages by hand using the ``tag-message'' function, which is bound to ``t'' by default. See ``searching'' for Mutt's searching syntax.

Once you have tagged the desired messages, you can use the ``tagprefix'' operator, which is the ``;'' (semicolon) key by default. When the ``tag-prefix'' operator is used, the next operation will be applied to all tagged messages if that operation can be used in that manner. If the ``$auto tag'' variable is set, the next operation

-
applies to the tagged messages automatically, without requiring the ``tag-prefix''.

4.3. Using Hooks

A hook 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 world, a hook consists of a ``regular expression'' along with a

configuration option/command. See

+ ``folder-hook''

+ ``send-hook''

+ ``save-hook''

+ ``mbox-hook''

+ ``fcc-hook''

+ ``fcc-save-hook''

     for specific details on each type of hook available.
                                          ----

4.3.1. Message Matching in Hooks

Hooks that act upon messages (send-hook, save-hook, fcc-hook) are evaluated in a slightly different manner. For the other types of hooks, a ``regular expression''. 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 allows the use of the ``search pattern'' language for matching messages in hook commands. This works in exactly the same way as it would when limiting or searching the mailbox, except that you are

restricted to those operators which match information from the envelope 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 User <user@host>'

which would execute the given command when sending mail to

me@cs.hmc.edu.

However, it is not required that you write the pattern to match using the full searching language. You can still specify a simple regular

expression like the other hooks, in which case Mutt will translate

your pattern into the full language, using the translation specified by the ``$dfault hook'' variable. The pattern is translated at the

-
time the hook is declared, so the value of ``$dfault hook'' that is in

- effect at that time will be used.

4.4. External Address Queries

Mutt 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 ``$query command'' variable, 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, than 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 messages 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. 4.5. Mailbox Formats

Mutt 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 uses the default specified with the ``$mbox type'' variable.

mbox. 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

to denote the start of a new message (this is often referred to as the ``From '' line).

MMDF. This is a variant of the mbox format. Each message is

surrounded by lines containing ``^A^A^A^A'' (four control-A's).

MH. A radical departure from mbox and MMDF, a mailbox consists of a

directory and each message is stored in a separate file. The filename indicates the message number (however, this is may not correspond to the message number Mutt displays). Deleted messages are renamed with a comma (,) prepended to the filename. Note: Mutt detects this type of mailbox by looking for either .mh sequences or .xmhcache (needed to

-
distinguish normal directories from MH mailboxes). Mutt does not update these files, yet.

Maildir. The newest of the mailbox formats, used by the Qmail MTA (a replacement for sendmail). Similar to MH, except that it adds three

-- subdirectories of the mailbox: tmp, new and cur. 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.

4.6. Mailbox Shortcuts

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.

+ ! -- refers to your ``$spool'' (incoming) mailbox

+ > -- refers to your ``$mbox'' file

+ < -- refers to your ``$record'' file

+ - -- refers to the file you've last visited

+ ~ -- refers to your home directory

+ = or + -- refers to your ``$folder'' directory

+ @alias -- refers to the ``default save folder'' as determined by

the address of the alias

4.7. Handling Mailing Lists

Mutt 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 mailing list, but that is what it is most often used for). This is accomplished through the use of the ``lists'' command in your muttrc.

Now that Mutt knows what your mailing lists are, it can do several things, the first of which is the ability to show the list name in the index menu display. This is useful to distinguish between personal

and list mail in the same mailbox. In the ``$index format'' variable,

- the escape ``%L'' will return the string ``To <list>'' when ``list'' appears in the ``To'' field, and ``Cc <list>'' 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 index menu and pager, helps reduce

the clutter by only replying to the mailing list addresses instead of all recipients.

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 ``ReplyTo'' field. Mutt uses the ``$reply to'' variable to help decide which

-
address to use. If set, 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 unset, the ``Reply-To'' field will be used when present.

Lastly, Mutt has the ability to ``sort'' the mailbox into ``threads''. 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 graphically. 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.

4.8. Delivery Status Notification (DSN) Support

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. ``$dsn notify'' is used to

- request receipts for different results (such as failed message, message delivered, etc.). ``$dsn return'' requests how much of your

-
message should be returned with the receipt (headers or full message). Refer to the man page on sendmail for more details on DSN.

4.9. POP3 Support (OPTIONAL)

If Mutt was compiled with POP3 support (by running the configure

script with the --enable-pop flag), it has the ability to fetch your

mail from a remote server for local browsing. When you invoke the fetch-mail function (default: G), Mutt attempts to connect to

``pop host'' and authenticate by logging in as ``pop user''. After

- the connection is established, you will be prompted for your password on the remote system.

Once you have been authenticated, Mutt will fetch all your new mail and place it in the local ``spoolfile''. After this point, Mutt runs exactly as if the mail had always been local.

Note: The POP3 support is there only for convenience, and it's rather limited. If you need more functionality you should consider using a specialized program, such as fetchmail

4.10. IMAP Support (OPTIONAL)

If Mutt was compiled with IMAP support (by running the configure

script with the --enable-imap 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 {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 {imapserver}path/to/folder where path/to/folder is the path of the folder you want to access relative to your home directory.

Note: The IMAP support is in a very early state and quite unstable at the moment. If you need a more stable way to access your IMAP folder, consider using a specialized program, such as fetchmail.

5. Mutt's MIME Support

Quite a bit of effort has been made to make Mutt the premier text-mode MIME MUA. Every effort has been made to provide the functionality that the discerning MIME user requires, and the conformance to the standards wherever possible. When configuring Mutt for MIME, there are two extra types of configuration files which Mutt uses. One is the mime.types file, which contains the mapping 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. Using MIME in Mutt

There are three areas/menus in Mutt which deal with MIME, they are the pager (while viewing a message), the attachment menu and the compose menu.

5.1.1. Viewing MIME messages in the pager

When you select a message from the index and view it in the pager, Mutt decodes the message to a text representation. Mutt internally supports a number of MIME types, including text/plain, text/enriched, message/rfc822, and message/news. In addition, the export controlled version of Mutt recognizes a variety of PGP MIME types, including PGP/MIME and application/pgp.

Mutt will denote attachments with a couple lines describing them. These lines are of the form:

[-- 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 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. The Attachment Menu

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. See the help on the attachment menu for more information.

5.1.3. The Compose Menu

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 description.

Attachments appear as follows:

1 [text/plain, 7bit, 1K] /tmp/mutt-euler-8082-0 <no description> 2 [applica/x-gunzip, base64, 422K] ~/src/mutt-0.85.tar.gz <no description>

The '-' denotes that Mutt will delete the file after sending 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 attachment, and can be changed with the edit-description command (default: d).

5.2. MIME Type configuration with mime.types

When you add an attachment to your mail message, Mutt searches your personal mime.types file at ${HOME}/.mime.types, and then the system mime.types file at SHAREDIR/mime.types. SHAREDIR is defined at compilation time, and can be determined by typing mutt -v from the command line.

The mime.types file consist of lines containing a MIME type and a space separated 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 distribution, and should contain most of the MIME types you are likely to use.

If Mutt 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 will assume that the file is plain text, and mark it as text/plain. If the file contains binary information, then Mutt will mark it as application/octect-stream. You can change the MIME type that Mutt assigns to an attachment by using the edit-type command from the compose menu (default: ^T). When typing in the MIME type, Mutt requires that major type be one of the 5 types: application, text, image, video, or audio. If you attempt to use a different major type, Mutt will abort the change.

5.3. MIME Viewer configuration with mailcap

Mutt 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 can not handle internally, Mutt 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:SHAREDIR/mailcap:/etc/mailcap:/usr/etc/mailcap:/usr/local/etc/mailcap

where $HOME is your home directory and SHAREDIR is the shared directory defined at compile time (visible from mutt -v).

In particular, the metamail distribution will install a mailcap file, usually as /usr/local/etc/mailcap, which contains some baseline entries.

5.3.1. The Basics of the mailcap file

A mailcap file consists of a series of lines which are comments, blank, or definitions.
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 format includes two formats for wildcards, one using the special '*' subtype, the other is the implicit wild, where you only include the major type. For example, image/*, or video, will match all image types and video types, respectively.

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 behaviour by using %s as a parameter to your view command. This will cause Mutt 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 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. Note: Some older versions of lynx contain a

bug where they will check the mailcap file for a viewer for text/html.

They will find the line which calls lynx, and run it. This causes

lynx to continuously spawn itself to view the object.

On the other hand, maybe you don't want to use lynx interactively, you just 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. Advanced mailcap Usage

5.3.2.1. Optional Fields

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 recognizes the following optional fields:

     copiousoutput
        This flag tells Mutt that the command passes possibly large
        amounts of text on stdout.  This causes Mutt to invoke a pager
        (either the internal pager or the external pager defined by the
        pager variable) on the output of the view command.  Without this
        flag, Mutt 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 will use your standard pager to display the results.

     needsterminal
        Mutt uses this flag when viewing attachments with ``autoview'',
        in order to decide whether it should honor the setting of the
        ``$wait key'' variable or not.  When an attachment is viewed
               -
        using an interactive program, and the corresponding mailcap
        entry has a needsterminal flag, Mutt will use ``$wait key'' 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=<command>
        This flag specifies the command to use to create a new
        attachment of a specific MIME type.  Mutt supports this from the
        compose menu.

     composetyped=<command>
        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
        supports this from the compose menu.

     print=<command>
        This flag specifies the command to use to print a specific MIME
        type.  Mutt supports this from the attachment and compose menus.

     edit=<command>
        This flag specifies the command to use to edit a specific MIME
        type.  Mutt supports this from the compose menu, and also uses
        it to compose new attachments.  Mutt will default to the defined
        editor for text attachments.

     nametemplate=<template>
        This field specifies the format for the file denoted by %s in
        the command fields.  Certain programs will require a certain
        file extension, for instance, to correctly view a file.  For
        instance, lynx will only interpret a file as text/html if the
        file ends in .html.  So, you would specify lynx as a text/html
        viewer with a line in the mailcap file like:

text/html; lynx %s; nametemplate=%s.html

     test=<command>
        This field specifies a command to run to test whether this
        mailcap entry should be used.  The command is defined with the
        command expansion rules defined in the next section.  If the
        command returns 0, then the test passed, and Mutt uses this
        entry.  If the command returns non-zero, then the test failed,
        and Mutt continues searching for the right entry.  Note: the
                                                                 ---
        content-type must match before Mutt performs the test.  For
        ------------ ---- ----- ------ ---- -------- --- -----
        example:

          text/html; netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)' ; test=RunningX
          text/html; lynx %s

     In this example, Mutt will run the program RunningX which will
     return 0 if the X Window manager is running, and non-zero if it
     isn't.  If RunningX returns 0, then Mutt will call netscape to dis-
     play the text/html object.  If RunningX doesn't return 0, then Mutt
     will go on to the next entry and use lynx to display the text/html
     object.

5.3.2.2. Search Order

When searching for an entry in the mailcap file, Mutt will search for the most useful entry for its purpose. For instance, if you are attempting to print an image/gif, and you have the following entries in your mailcap file, Mutt will search for an entry with the print command:

       image/*;        xv %s
       image/gif;      ; print= anytopnm %s | pnmtops | lpr; \
                       nametemplate=%s.gif

Mutt will skip the image/* entry and use the image/gif entry with the print command.

In addition, you can use this with ``Autoview'' to denote two commands for viewing an attachment, one to be viewed automatically, the other to be viewed interactively from the attachment menu. In addition, you can then use the test feature to determine which viewer to use interactively depending on your environment.

       text/html;      netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)' ; test=RunningX
       text/html;      lynx %s; nametemplate=%s.html
       text/html;      lynx -dump %s; nametemplate=%s.html; copiousoutput

For ``Autoview'', Mutt will choose the third entry because of the copiousoutput tag. For interactive viewing, Mutt will run the program RunningX to determine if it should use the first entry. If the program returns non-zero, Mutt will use the second entry for interactive viewing.

5.3.2.3. Command Expansion

The various commands defined in the mailcap files are passed to the /bin/sh shell using the system() function. Before the command is passed to /bin/sh -c, it is parsed to expand various special parameters with information from Mutt. The keywords Mutt expands are:

     %s As seen in the basic mailcap section, this variable is expanded
        to a filename specified by the calling program.  This file
        contains the body of the message to view/print/edit or where the
        composing program should place the results of composition.  In
        addition, the use of this keyword causes Mutt to not pass the
        body of the message to the view/print/edit program on stdin.

     %t Mutt will expand %t to the text representation of the content
        type of the message in the same form as the first parameter of
        the mailcap definition line, ie text/html or image/gif.

     %{<parameter>}
        Mutt will expand this to the value of the specified parameter
        from the Content-Type: line of the mail message.  For instance,
        if Your mail message contains:

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

     then Mutt will expand %{charset} to iso-8859-1.  The default meta-
     mail mailcap file uses this feature to test the charset to spawn an
     xterm using the right charset to view the message.

        This will be replaced by a %

Mutt does not currently support the %F and %n keywords specified in RFC 1524. The main purpose of these parameters is for multipart messages, which is handled internally by Mutt.

5.3.3. Example mailcap files

This mailcap file is fairly simple and standard:

# I'm always running X :)

  video/*;        xanim %s > /dev/null
  image/*;        xv %s > /dev/null

# I'm always running netscape (if my computer had more memory, maybe) text/html; netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)'

This mailcap file shows quite a number of examples:

# Use xanim to view all videos Xanim produces a header on startup, # send that to /dev/null so I don't see it video/*; xanim %s > /dev/null

# Send html to a running netscape by remote text/html; netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)'; test=RunningNetscape

# If I'm not running netscape but I am running X, start netscape on the # object
text/html; netscape %s; test=RunningX

# Else use lynx to view it as text
text/html; lynx %s

# This version would convert the text/html to text/plain text/html; lynx -dump %s; copiousoutput

# enriched.sh converts text/enriched to text/html and then uses # lynx -dump to convert it to text/plain text/enriched; enriched.sh ; copiousoutput

# I use enscript to print text in two columns to a page text/*; more %s; print=enscript -2Gr %s

# Netscape adds a flag to tell itself to view jpegs internally image/jpeg;xv %s; x-mozilla-flags=internal

# Use xv to view images if I'm running X # In addition, this uses the \ to extend the line and set my editor # for images
image/*;xv %s; test=RunningX; \

edit=xpaint %s

# Convert images to text using the netpbm tools image/*; (anytopnm %s | pnmscale -xysize 80 46 | ppmtopgm | pgmtopbm | pbmtoascii -1x2 ) 2>&1 ; copiousoutput

# Send excel spreadsheets to my NT box application/ms-excel; open.pl %s

5.4. MIME Autoview

In addition to explicitly telling Mutt to view an attachment with the MIME viewer defined in the mailcap file, Mutt has support for automatically viewing MIME attachments while in the pager.

To work, you must define a viewer in the mailcap file which uses the copiousoutput option to denote that it is non-interactive. Usually, you also use the entry to convert the attachment to a text representation which you can view in the pager.

You then use the auto view muttrc command to list the content-types

-
that you wish to view automatically.

For instance, if you set auto view to:

       auto view text/html text/enriched application/x-gunzip application/postscript image/gif application/x-tar-gz
           -

Mutt could use the following mailcap entries to automatically view attachments of these types.

       text/html;      lynx -dump %s; copiousoutput; nametemplate=%s.html
       text/enriched;  enriched.sh  ; copiousoutput
       image/*;        anytopnm %s | pnmscale -xsize 80 -ysize 50 | ppmtopgm | pgmtopbm | pbmtoascii ; copiousoutput
       application/x-gunzip;   gzcat; copiousoutput
       application/x-tar-gz; gunzip -c %s | tar -tf - ; copiousoutput
       application/postscript; ps2ascii %s; copiousoutput

5.5. MIME Multipart/Alternative

Mutt has some heuristics for determining which attachment of a multipart/alternative type to display. First, mutt will check the alternative order list to determine if one of the available types is

-
preferred. The alternative order list consists of a number of

-
mimetypes in order, including support for implicit and explicit wildcards, for example:

       alternative order text/enriched text/plain text application/postscript image/*
                  -

Next, mutt will check if any of the types have a defined ``auto view'', and use that. Failing that, Mutt will look for any

-
text type. As a last attempt, mutt will look for any type it knows how to handle.

6. Reference

6.1. Command line options

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''.

6.2. Configuration Commands

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 ... ]

+ ``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

6.3. Configuration variables

6.3.1. abort nosubject

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.

6.3.2. abort unmodified

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.

6.3.3. alias file

Type: string
Default: ~/.muttrc

The default file in which to save aliases created by the ``createalias'' function.

Note: Mutt will not automatically source this file; you must explicitly use the ``source'' command for it to be executed.

6.3.4. alias format

Type: string
Default: "%2n %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 (*/ )

6.3.5. allow 8bit

Type: boolean
Default: set

Controls whether 8-bit data is converted to 7-bit using either QuotedPrintable or Base64 encoding when sending mail.

6.3.6. alternates

Type: string
Default: none

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.

6.3.7. arrow cursor

Type: boolean
Default: unset

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.

6.3.8. ascii chars

Type: boolean
Default: unset

If set, Mutt will use plain ASCII characters when displaying thread and attachment trees, instead of the default ACS characters.

---

6.3.9. askbcc

Type: boolean
Default: unset

If set, Mutt will prompt you for blind-carbon-copy (Bcc) recipients before editing an outgoing message.

6.3.10. askcc

Type: boolean
Default: unset

If set, Mutt will prompt you for carbon-copy (Cc) recipients before editing the body of an outgoing message.

6.3.11. attribution

Type: format 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''.

6.3.12. autoedit

Type: boolean
Default: unset

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.

6.3.13. auto tag

Type: boolean
Default: unset

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.

6.3.14. beep

Type: boolean
Default: set

When this variable is set, mutt will beep when an error occurs.

6.3.15. beep new

Type boolean
Default: unset

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.

6.3.16. charset

Type: string
Default: iso-8859-1

Character set your terminal uses to display and enter textual data. This information is required to properly label outgoing messages which contain 8-bit characters so that receiving parties can display your messages in the correct character set.

6.3.17. check new

Type: boolean
Default: set

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.

6.3.18. confirmappend

Type: boolean
Default: set

When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when appending messages to an existing mailbox.

6.3.19. confirmcreate

Type: boolean
Default: set

When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when saving messages to a mailbox which does not yet exist before creating it.

6.3.20. copy

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''.

6.3.21. date format

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).

6.3.22. default hook

Type: string
Default: "~f %s | (~P (~c %s | ~t %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.

6.3.23. delete

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.

6.3.24. delete format

Type: string
Default: "[-- Attachment from %u deleted on %<%D> --]"

This variable controls the format of the message used to replace an attachment when the attachment is deleted. It uses the same format sequences as the ``$index format'' variable.

6.3.25. dsn notify

Type: string
Default: none

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"

6.3.26. dsn return

Type: string Default: none

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

6.3.27. edit headers

Type: boolean
Default: unset

This option allows you to edit the header of your outgoing messages along with the body of your message.

6.3.28. editor

Type: String
Default: value of environment variable $VISUAL, $EDITOR, or "vi"

This variable specifies which editor to use when composing messages.

6.3.29. escape

Type: string
Default: ~

Escape character to use for functions in the builtin editor.

6.3.30. fast reply

Type: boolean
Default: unset

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.

6.3.31. fcc attach

Type: boolean
Default: set

This variable controls whether or not attachments on outgoing messages are saved along with the main body of your message.

6.3.32. folder

Type: String
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.

6.3.33. folder format

Type: format string
Default: "%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:

       %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
       %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"

6.3.34. followup to

Type: boolean
Default: set

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 ``lists''.

The purpose of this field is to prevent you from receiving duplicate copies of replies to messages which you send by specifying that you will receive a copy of the message if it is addressed to the mailing list (and thus there is no need to also include your address in a group reply).

6.3.35. force name

Type: boolean
Default: unset

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.

6.3.36. forward decode

Type: boolean
Default: set

Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain when forwarding a message and the message header is also RFC2047 decoded. This variable is only used, if ``mime forward'' is unset, otherwise

``mime forward decode'' is used instead.

6.3.37. forward format

Type: format 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.

6.3.38. forward quote

Type: boolean
Default: unset

When set forwarded messages included in the main body of the message

---
(when ``mime forward'' is unset) will be quoted using

``indent string''.

6.3.39. hdrs

Type: boolean
Default: set

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.

6.3.40. header

Type: boolean
Default: unset

When set, this variable causes Mutt to include the full header of the

message you are replying to into the edit buffer.

6.3.41. help

Type: boolean
Default: set

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.

6.3.42. 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.

6.3.43. hostname

Type: string
Default: varies

Specifies the hostname to use after the ``@'' in local e-mail addresses. This overrides the compile time definition obtained from /etc/resolv.conf.

6.3.44. ignore list reply to

Type: boolean
Default: unset

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 ``ReplyTo:'' 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.

6.3.45. imap checkinterval

Type: number
Default: 0

This variable configures how often (in seconds) IMAP should look for new mail.

6.3.46. imap pass

Type: string
Default: unset

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.

6.3.47. imap user

Type: string
Default: login name on local system

Your login name on the IMAP server.

6.3.48. in reply to

Type: format string
Default: "%i; from \"%n\" on %{!%a, %b %d, %Y at %I:%M:%S%p}"

This specifies the format of the In-Reply-To: header field added when replying to a message. For a full listing of defined escape sequences see the section on ``$index format''.

6.3.49. 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.

6.3.50. indent string

Type: format 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.

6.3.51. index format

Type: format 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''
                -
  %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
  %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
  %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 system call
          ``strftime''; a leading bang disables locales
  %[fmt]  the date and time of the message is converted to the local
          time zone, and ``fmt'' is expanded by the system call
          ``strftime''; a leading bang disables locales
  %(fmt)  the local date and time when the message was received.
          ``fmt'' is expanded by the system call ``strftime'';
          a leading bang disables locales
  %<fmt>  the current local time. ``fmt'' is expanded by the system
          call ``strftime''; a leading bang disables locales.

  %>X     right justify the rest of the string and pad with character "X"
  %|X     pad to the end of the line with character "X"

See also: ``$to chars''.

6.3.52. ispell

Type: string
Default: "ispell"

How to invoke ispell (GNU's spell-checking software).

6.3.53. locale

Type: string
Default: "C"

The locale used by strftime(3) to format dates. Legal values are the

strings your system accepts for the locale variable LC TIME.

6.3.54. mailcap path

Type: string
Default: $MAILCAPS or
~/.mailcap:/usr/local/share/mailcap:/etc/mailcap:/usr/etc/mailcap:/usr/local/etc/mailcap

This variable specifies which files to consult when attempting to display MIME bodies not directly supported by Mutt.

6.3.55. mail check

Type: number
Default: 5

This variable configures how often (in seconds) mutt should look for new mail.

6.3.56. mark old

Type: boolean
Default: set

Controls whether or not Mutt makes the distinction between new

--- messages and old unread messages. By default, Mutt will mark new

---
messages as old if you exit a mailbox without reading them. The next time you start Mutt, the messages will show up with an "O" next to them in the index menu, indicating that they are old. In order to make Mutt treat all unread messages as new only, you can unset this variable.

6.3.57. markers

Type: boolean
Default: set

Controls the display of wrapped lines in the internal pager. If set, a ``+'' marker is displayed at the beginning of wrapped lines. Also see the ``$smart wrap'' variable.

6.3.58. mask

Type: string
Default: "^(\.\.$|[^.])"

A regular expression used in the file browser. Files whose names don't match this mask will not be shown.

6.3.59. mbox

Type: String
Default: +inbox

This specifies the folder into which read mail in your ``spoolfile'' folder will be appended.

6.3.60. mbox type

Type: String
Default: mbox

The default mailbox type used when creating new folders. May be any of mbox, MMDF, MH and Maildir.

6.3.61. metoo

Type: boolean
Default: unset

If unset, Mutt will remove your address from the list of recipients when replying to a message. If you are replying to a message sent by you, Mutt will also assume that you want to reply to the recipients of that message rather than to yourself.

6.3.62. menu scroll

Type: boolean
Default: unset

When set, menus will be scrolled up or down one line when you attempt

---
to move across a screen boundary. If unset, the screen is cleared and

the next or previous page of the menu is displayed (useful for slow links to avoid many redraws).

6.3.63. meta key

Type: boolean
Default: unset

If set, forces Mutt to interpret keystrokes with the high bit (bit 8) set as if the user had pressed the ESC key and whatever key remains after having the high bit removed. For example, if the key pressed has an ASCII value of 0xf4, then this is treated as if the user had pressed ESC then ``x''. This is because the result of removing the high bit from ``0xf4'' is ``0x74'', which is the ASCII character ``x''.

6.3.64. mime forward

Type: quadoption
Default: unset

When set, the message you are forwarding will be attached as a separate MIME part instead of included in the main body of the message. This is useful for forwarding MIME messages so the receiver can properly view the message as it was delivered to you. If you like to switch between MIME and not MIME from mail to mail, set this variable to ask-no or ask-yes.

Also see ``forward decode'' and ``mime forward decode''.

6.3.65. mime forward decode

Type: boolean
Default: unset

Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain when forwarding a message while ``mime forward'' is set. Otherwise

``forward decode'' is used instead.

6.3.66. move

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-no

Controls whether you will be asked to confirm moving read messages from your spool mailbox to your ``$mbox'' mailbox, or as a result of a ``mbox-hook'' command.

6.3.67. message format

Type: format string
Default: "%s"

This is the string displayed in the ``attachment'' menu for attachments of type message/rfc822. For a full listing of defined

escape sequences see the section on ``index format''.

6.3.68. pager

Type: string
Default: builtin

This variable specifies which pager you would like to use to view messages. builtin means to use the builtin pager, otherwise this variable should specify the pathname of the external pager you would like to use.

6.3.69. pager context

Type: number
Default: 0

This variable controls the number of lines of context that are given when displaying the next or previous page in the internal pager. By default, Mutt will display the line after the last one on the screen at the top of the next page (0 lines of context).

6.3.70. pager format

Type: format string
Default: "-%S- %C/%m: %-20.20n %s"

This variable controls the format of the one-line message ``status'' displayed before each message in either the internal or an external pager. The valid sequences are listed in the ``index format''

- section.

6.3.71. pager index lines

Type: number
Default: 0

Determines the number of lines of a mini-index which is shown when in the pager. The current message, unless near the top or bottom of the folder, will be roughly one third of the way down this mini-index, giving the reader the context of a few messages before and after the message. This is useful, for example, to determine how many messages remain to be read in the current thread. One of the lines is reserved for the status bar from the index, so a pager index lines of 6 will

only show 5 lines of the actual index. A value of 0 results in no index being shown. If the number of messages in the current folder is less than pager index lines, then the index will only use as many

lines as it needs.

6.3.72. pager stop

Type: boolean
Default: unset

When set, the internal-pager will not move to the next message when you are at the end of a message and invoke the next-page function.

6.3.73. pgp autoencrypt

Type: boolean
Default: unset

Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to PGP/MIME encrypt outgoing messages. This is probably only useful in connection to the send-hook command. It can be overridden by use of the pgp-

menu, when encryption is not required or signing is requested as well.

6.3.74. pgp autosign

Type: boolean
Default: unset

Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to PGP/MIME sign outgoing messages. This can be overridden by use of the pgp-

menu, when signing is not required or encryption is requested as well.

6.3.75. pgp default version

Type: string
Default: pgp2 (or pgp5, if PGP 2.* is not installed, or gpg, if none of them is installed)

Set this to pgp2 (PGP 2.*), pgp5 (PGP 5.*), or gpg (GNU privacy guard), depending on the version that you primarily use. This variable is not directly used, but it is the default for the variables ``$pgp receive version'', ``$pgp send version'', and

``$pgp key version''.

6.3.76. pgp encryptself

Type: boolean
Default: set

If set, the PGP +encrypttoself flag is used when encrypting messages.

6.3.77. pgp gpg

Type: string
Default: system dependent

This variable allows you to override the compile time definition of where the gpg (GNU Privacy Guard) binary resides on your system.

6.3.78. pgp key version

Type: string
Default: ``default''

This variable determines which PGP version is used for key ring operations like extracting keys from messages and extracting keys from your keyring. If you set this to default, the default defined in ``$pgp default version'' is used. Set this to pgp2 (PGP 2.*), pgp5

- (PGP 5.*), or gpg (GNU privacy guard) if you want to use a different PGP version for key operations.

6.3.79. pgp long ids

Type: boolean
Default: unset

If set, use 64 bit PGP key IDs. Unset uses the normal 32 bit Key IDs.

6.3.80. pgp receive version

Type: string
Default: ``default''

This variable determines which PGP version is used for decrypting messages and verifying signatures. If you set this to default, the default defined in ``$pgp default version'' will be used. Set this to

- pgp2 (PGP 2.*), pgp5 (PGP 5.*), or gpg (GNU privacy guard) if you want to use a different PGP version for receiving operations.

6.3.81. pgp replyencrypt

Type: boolean
Default: unset

If set, automatically PGP encrypt replies to messages which are encrypted.

6.3.82. pgp replysign

Type: boolean
Default: unset

If set, automatically PGP sign replies to messages which are signed.

Note: this does not work on messages, that are encrypted and signed!

6.3.83. pgp send version

Type: string
Default: ``default''

This variable determines which PGP version is used for composing new messages like encrypting and signing. If you set this to default, the default defined in ``$pgp default version'' will be used. Set this to

- pgp2 (PGP 2.*), pgp5 (PGP 5.*), or gpg (GNU privacy guard) if you want to use a different PGP version for sending operations.

6.3.84. pgp sign as

Type: string
Default: unset

If you have more than one key pair, this option allows you to specify which of your private keys to use. It is recommended that you use the keyid form to specify your key (e.g., ``0xABCDEFGH'').

6.3.85. pgp sign micalg

Type: string
Default: pgp-md5

This variable contains the default message integrity check algorithm. Valid values are ``pgp-md5'', ``pgp-sha1'', and ``pgp-rmd160''. If you select a signing key using the sign as option on the compose menu, mutt will automagically figure out the correct value to insert here, but it does not know about the user's default key.

So if you are using an RSA key for signing, set this variable to ``pgp-md5'', if you use a PGP 5 DSS key for signing, say ``pgp-sha1'' here. The value of this variable will show up in the micalg parameter of MIME headers when creating RFC 2015 signatures.

6.3.86. pgp strict enc

Type: boolean
Default: set

If set, Mutt will automatically encode PGP/MIME signed messages as quoted-printable. Please note that unsetting this variable may lead

to problems with non-verifyable PGP signatures, so only change this if you know what you are doing.

6.3.87. pgp timeout

Type: number
Default: 300

The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will expire if not used.

6.3.88. pgp v2

Type: string
Default: system dependent

This variable allows you to override the compile time definition of where the PGP 2.* binary resides on your system.

6.3.89. pgp v2 language

Type: string
Default: en

Sets the language, which PGP 2.* should use. If you use language.txt from the mutt doc directory, you can try the languages "mutt" (English) or "muttde" (German) to reduce the noise produced by pgp.

6.3.90. pgp v2 pubring

Type: string
Default: $PGPPATH/pubring.pgp or ~/.pgp/pubring.pgp if $PGPPATH isn't set.

Points to the PGP 2.* public keyring.

6.3.91. pgp v2 secring

Type: string
Default: $PGPPATH/secring.pgp or ~/.pgp/secring.pgp if $PGPPATH isn't set.

Points to the PGP 2.* secret keyring.

6.3.92. pgp v5

Type: string
Default: system dependent

This variable allows you to override the compile time definition of where the PGP 5.* binary resides on your system.

6.3.93. pgp v5 language

Type: string
Default: en

Sets the language, which PGP 5.* should use. If you use language50.txt from the mutt doc directory, you can try the languages "mutt" (English) to reduce the noise produced by pgp.

6.3.94. pgp v5 pubring

Type: string
Default: $PGPPATH/pubring.pkr or ~/.pgp/pubring.pkr if $PGPPATH isn't set.

Points to the PGP 5.* public keyring.

6.3.95. pgp v5 secring

Type: string
Default: $PGPPATH/secring.skr or ~/.pgp/secring.skr if $PGPPATH isn't set.

Points to the PGP 5.* secret keyring.

6.3.96. pipe decode

Type: boolean
Default: unset

Used in connection with the pipe-message command. When unset, Mutt

will pipe the messages without any preprocessing. When set, Mutt will weed headers and will attempt to PGP/MIME decode the messages first.

6.3.97. pipe sep

Type: string
Default: newline

The separator to add between messages when piping a list of tagged messages to an external Unix command. 6.3.98. pipe split

Type: boolean
Default: unset

Used in connection with the pipe-message command and the ``tag-

prefix'' operator. If this variable is unset, when piping a list of tagged messages Mutt will concatenate the messages and will pipe them as a single folder. When set, Mutt will pipe the messages one by one. In both cases the the messages are piped in the current sorted order, and the ``$pipe sep'' separator is added after each message.

6.3.99. pop delete

Type: boolean
Default: unset

If set, Mutt will delete successfully downloaded messages from the POP server when using the fetch-mail function. When unset, Mutt will download messages but also leave them on the POP server.

6.3.100. pop host

Type: string
Default: none

The name or address of your POP3 server.

6.3.101. pop pass

Type: string
Default: unset

Specifies the password for your POP 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.

6.3.102. pop port

Type: number
Default: 110

This variable specifies which port your POP server is listening on.

6.3.103. pop user

Type: string
Default: login name on local system

Your login name on the POP3 server.

6.3.104. post indent string

Type: format string
Default: none

Similar to the ``$attribution'' variable, Mutt will append this string after the inclusion of a message which is being replied to. 6.3.105. postpone

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

Controls whether or not messages are saved in the ``$postponed'' mailbox when you elect not to send immediately.

6.3.106. postponed

Type: string
Default: ~/postponed

Mutt allows you to indefinitely ``postpone sending a message'' which you are editing. When you choose to postpone a message, Mutt saves it in the folder specified by this variable. Also see the ``$postpone'' variable.

6.3.107. print

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-no

Controls whether or not Mutt asks for confirmation before printing. This is useful for people (like me) who accidentally hit ``p'' often.

6.3.108. print command

Type: string
Default: lpr

This specifies the command pipe that should be used to print messages.

6.3.109. prompt after

Type: boolean
Default: set

If you use an external ``pager'', setting this variable will cause

Mutt to prompt you for a command when the pager exits rather than returning to the index menu. If unset, Mutt will return to the index menu when the external pager exits.

6.3.110. query command

Type: string
Default: null

This specifies the command that mutt will use to make external address queries. The string should contain a %s, which will be substituted with the query string the user types. See ``query'' for more information.

6.3.111. quit

Type: quadoption
Default: yes

This variable controls whether ``quit'' and ``exit'' actually quit from mutt. If it set to yes, they do quit, if it is set to no, they have no effect, and if it is set to ask-yes or ask-no, you are prompted for confirmation when you try to quit.

6.3.112. quote regexp

Type: string
Default: "^([ \t]*[>|#:}])+"

A regular expression used in the internal-pager to determine quoted sections of text in the body of a message.

Note: In order to use the quotedx patterns in the internal pager, you

need to set this to a regular expression that matches exactly the

quote characters at the beginning of quoted lines.

6.3.113. read inc

Type: number
Default: 10

If set to a value greater than 0, Mutt will display which message it is currently on when reading a mailbox. The message is printed after read inc messages have been read (e.g., if set to 25, Mutt will print

a message when it reads message 25, and then again when it gets to message 50). This variable is meant to indicate progress when reading large mailboxes which may take some time.

When set to 0, only a single message will appear before the reading the mailbox.

Also see the ``$write inc'' variable.

6.3.114. read only

Type: boolean
Default: unset

If set, all folders are opened in read-only mode.

6.3.115. realname

Type: string
Default: GCOS field from /etc/passwd

This variable specifies what "real" or "personal" name should be used when sending messages.

6.3.116. recall

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

Controls whether or not you are prompted to recall postponed messages when composing a new message. Also see ``postponed''

6.3.117. record

Type: string
Default: none

This specifies the file into which your outgoing messages should be appended. (This is meant as the primary method for saving a copy of your messages, but another way to do this is using the ``my hdr''

- command to create a Bcc: field with your email address in it.)

The value of $record is overridden by the ``$force name'' and

``$save name'' variables, and the ``fcc-hook'' command.

6.3.118. reply regexp

Type: string
Default: "^(re|aw):[ \t]*"

A regular expression used to recognize reply messages when threading and replying. The default value corresponds to the English "Re:" and the German "Aw:".

6.3.119. reply to

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

If set, Mutt will ask you if you want to use the address listed in the Reply-To: header field when replying to a message. If you answer no, it will use the address in the From: header field instead. This option is useful for reading a mailing list that sets the Reply-To: header field to the list address and you want to send a private message to the author of a message.

6.3.120. resolve

Type: boolean
Default: set

When set, the cursor will be automatically advanced to the next (possibly undeleted) message whenever a command that modifies the current message is executed.

6.3.121. reverse alias

Type: boolean
Default: unset

This variable controls whether or not Mutt will display the "personal" name from your aliases in the index menu if it finds an alias that matches the message's sender. For example, if you have the following alias:

alias juser abd30425@somewhere.net (Joe User)

and then you receive mail which contains the following header:

From: abd30425@somewhere.net

It would be displayed in the index menu as ``Joe User'' instead of ``abd30425@somewhere.net.'' This is useful when the person's e-mail address is not human friendly (like Compu$erve addresses).

6.3.122. reverse name

Type: boolean
Default: unset

It may sometimes arrive that you receive mail to a certain machine, move the messages to another machine, and reply to some the messages from there. If this variable is set, the default From: line of the

reply messages is built using the address where you received the messages you are replying to. If the variable is unset, the From:

line will use your address on the current machine.

6.3.123. save address

Type: boolean
Default: unset

If set, mutt will take the sender's full address when choosing a default folder for saving a mail. If ``save name'' or ``force name''

- is set too, the selection of the fcc folder will be changed as well.

6.3.124. save empty

Type: boolean
Default: set

When unset, mailboxes which contain no saved messages will be removed when closed (the exception is ``spoolfile'' which is never removed). If set, mailboxes are never removed.

Note: This only applies to mbox and MMDF folders, Mutt does not delete MH and Maildir directories.

6.3.125. save name

Type: boolean
Default: unset

This variable controls how copies of outgoing messages are saved. When set, a check is made to see if a mailbox specified by the recipient address exists (this is done by searching for a mailbox in the ``folder'' directory with the username part of the recipient

address). If the mailbox exists, the outgoing message will be saved to that mailbox, otherwise the message is saved to the ``record'' mailbox.

Also see the ``$force name'' variable.

6.3.126. sendmail

Type: string
Default: /usr/lib/sendmail -oi -oem

Specifies the program and arguments used to deliver mail sent by Mutt. Mutt expects that the specified program will read the message header for recipients.

6.3.127. sendmail wait

Type: number
Default: 0

Specifies the number of seconds to wait for the ``sendmail'' process to finish before giving up and putting delivery in the background.

Mutt interprets the value of this variable as follows:

  >0      number of seconds to wait for sendmail to finish before continuing
  0       wait forever for sendmail to finish
  <0      always put sendmail in the background without waiting

Note that if you specify a value other than 0, the output of the child process will be put in a temporary file. If there is some error, you will be informed as to where to find the output.

6.3.128. shell

Type: string
Default: retrieved from passwd file

Command to use when spawning a subshell.

6.3.129. sig dashes

Type: boolean
Default: set

If set, a line containing ``-- '' will be inserted before your ``signature''. It is strongly recommended that you not unset this variable unless your ``signature'' contains just your name. The reason for this is because many software packages use ``-- \n'' to detect your signature. For example, Mutt has the ability to highlight the signature in a different color in the builtin pager.

6.3.130. signature

Type: string
Default: ~/.signature

Specifies the filename of your signature, which is appended to all outgoing messages. If the filename ends with a pipe (``|''), it is assumed that filename is a shell command and input should be read from its stdout.

6.3.131. simple search

Type: string
Default: "~f %s | ~s %s"

Specifies how Mutt should expand a simple search into a real search pattern. A simple search is one that does not contain any of the ~ operators. See ``searching'' for more information on search patterns.

For example, if you simply type joe at a search or limit prompt, Mutt will automatically expand it to the value specified by this variable. For the default value it would be:

~f joe | ~s joe

6.3.132. smart wrap

Type: boolean
Default: set

Controls the display of lines longer then the screen width in the internal pager. If set, long lines are wrapped at a word boundary. If unset, lines are simply wrapped at the screen edge. Also see the ``$markers'' variable.

6.3.133. sort

Type: string
Default: date-sent

Specifies how to sort messages in the index menu. Valid values are

+ date-sent

+ date-received

+ from

+ mailbox-order (unsorted)

+ score

+ subject

+ threads

+ to

You may optionally use the reverse- prefix to specify reverse sorting order (example: set sort=reverse-date-sent).

6.3.134. sort alias

Type: string
Default: alias

Specifies how the entries in the `alias' menu are sorted. The following are legal values:

  alias           sort alphabetically by alias name
  address         sort alphabetically by email address
  unsorted        leave in order specified in .muttrc

6.3.135. sort aux

Type: string
Default: date-sent

When sorting by threads, this variable controls how threads are sorted in relation to other threads, and how the branches of the thread trees are sorted. This can be set to any value that ``sort'' can, except threads (in that case, mutt will just use date-sent). You can also specify the last- prefix in addition to the reverse- prefix, but lastmust come after reverse-. The last- prefix causes messages to be sorted against its siblings by which has the last descendant, using the rest of sort aux as an ordering. For instance, set sort aux=last-

- date-received would mean that if a new message is received in a thread, that thread becomes the last one displayed (or the first, if you have set sort=reverse-threads.)

6.3.136. sort browser

Type: string

Specifies how to sort entries in the file browser. By default, the entries are sorted alphabetically. Valid values:

+ date

+ alpha (alphabetically)

You may optionally use the reverse- prefix to specify reverse sorting order (example: set sort browser=reverse-date).

6.3.137. spoolfile

Type: string
Default: most likely /var/mail/$USER or /usr/spool/mail/$USER

If your spool mailbox is in a non-default place where Mutt cannot find it, you can specify its location with this variable. Mutt will automatically set this variable to the value of the environment variable $MAIL if it is not set.

6.3.138. sort re

Type: boolean Default: set

This variable is only useful when sorting by threads with ``strict threads'' unset. In that case, it changes the heuristic mutt

-
uses to thread messages by subject. With sort re set, mutt will only

- attach a message as the child of another message by subject if the subject of the child message starts with a substring matching the setting of ``reply regexp''. With sort re unset, mutt will attach the

- message whether or not this is the case, as long as the non-``reply regexp'' parts of both messages are identical.
-

6.3.139. status chars

Type: string
Default: "-*%"

Controls the characters used by the "%r" indicator in ``status format''. The first character is used when the mailbox is

-
unchanged. The second is used when the mailbox has been changed, and it needs to be resynchronized. The third is used if the mailbox is in read-only mode, or if the mailbox will not be written when exiting that mailbox (You can toggle whether to write changes to a mailbox with the toggle-write operation, bound by default to "%").

6.3.140. status format

Type: string
Default: "-%r-Mutt: %f [Msgs:%?M?%M/?%m%?n? New:%n?%?o? Old:%o?%?d? Del:%d?%?F? Flag:%F?%?t? Tag:%t?%?p? Post:%p?%?b? Inc:%b? %?l? %l?]---(%s/%S)-%>-(%P)---"

Controls the format of the status line displayed in the index menu.

This string is similar to ``$index format'', but has its own set of

-
printf()-like sequences:

       %b      number of mailboxes with new mail *
       %d      number of deleted messages *
       %h      local hostname
       %f      the full pathname of the current mailbox
       %F      number of flagged messages *
       %l      size (in bytes) of the current mailbox *
       %L      size (in bytes) of the messages shown (i.e., which match the current limit) *
       %m      the number of messages in the mailbox *
       %M      the number of messages shown (i.e., which match the current limit) *
       %n      number of new messages in the mailbox *
       %o      number of old unread messages
       %p      number of postponed messages *
       %P      percentage of the way through the index
       %r      modified/read-only/won't-write indicator, according to $status chars
                                                                             -
       %s      current sorting mode ($sort)
       %S      current aux sorting method ($sort aux)
                                                -
       %t      number of tagged messages *
       %u      number of unread messages *
       %v      Mutt version string
       %V      currently active limit pattern, if any *

       %>X     right justify the rest of the string and pad with "X"
       %|X     pad to the end of the line with "X"

       * = can be optionally printed if nonzero

Some of the above sequences can be used to optionally print a string if their value is nonzero. For example, you may only want to see the number of flagged messages if such messages exist, since zero is not particularly meaningful. To optionally print a string based upon one of the above sequences, the following construct is used

               %?<sequence char>?<optional string>?
                          -               -

where sequence char is a character from the table above, and

optional string is the string you would like printed if status char is

nonzero. optional string may contain other sequence as well as normal

text, but you may not nest optional strings.

Here is an example illustrating how to optionally print the number of new messages in a mailbox:

%?n?%n new messages.?

Additionally you can switch between two strings, the first one, if a value is zero, the second one, if the value is nonzero, by using the following construct:

               %?<sequence char>?<if string>&<else string>?
                          -         -             -

6.3.141. status on top

Type: boolean
Default: unset

Setting this variable causes the ``status bar'' to be displayed on the first line of the screen rather than near the bottom.

6.3.142. strict threads

Type: boolean
Default: unset

If set, threading will only make use of the ``In-Reply-To'' and ``References'' fields when ``sorting'' by message threads. By default, messages with the same subject are grouped together in ``pseudo threads.'' This may not always be desirable, such as in a personal mailbox where you might have several unrelated messages with the subject ``hi'' which will get grouped together.

6.3.143. suspend

Type: boolean
Default: set

When unset, mutt won't stop when the user presses the terminal's susp

key, usually ``control-Z''. This is useful if you run mutt inside an xterm using a command like xterm -e mutt.

6.3.144. thorough search

Type: boolean
Default: unset

Affects the ~b and ~h search operations described in section

``Searching'' above. If set, the headers and attachments of messages to be searched are decoded before searching. If unset, messages are searched as they appear in the folder.

6.3.145. tilde

Type: boolean
Default: unset

When set, the internal-pager will pad blank lines to the bottom of the screen with a tilde (~).

6.3.146. timeout

Type: number
Default: 600

This variable controls the number of seconds Mutt will wait for a key

to be pressed in the main menu before timing out and checking for new mail. A value of zero or less will cause Mutt not to ever time out.

6.3.147. tmpdir

Type: string
Default: /tmp

This variable allows you to specify where Mutt will place its temporary files needed for displaying and composing messages.

6.3.148. to chars

Type: string
Default: " +TCF"

Controls the character used to indicate mail addressed to you. The first character is the one used when the mail is NOT addressed to your address (default: space). The second is used when you are the only recipient of the message (default: +). The third is when your address appears in the TO header field, but you are not the only recipient of the message (default: T). The fourth character is used when your address is specified in the CC header field, but you are not the only recipient. The fifth character is used to indicate mail that was sent by you.

---

6.3.149. use 8bitmime

Type: boolean
Default: unset

Warning: do not set this variable unless you are using a version of sendmail which supports the -B8BITMIME flag (such as sendmail 8.8.x) or you may not be able to send mail.

When set, Mutt will invoke ``$sendmail'' with the -B8BITMIME flag when

---
sending 8-bit messages to enable ESMTP negotiation.

6.3.150. use domain

Type: boolean
Default: set

When set, Mutt will qualify all local addresses (ones without the @host portion) with the value of ``$hostname''. If unset, no

addresses will be qualified.

6.3.151. use from

Type: boolean
Default: set
When set, Mutt will generate the `From:' header field when sending

---
messages. If unset, no `From:' header field will be generated unless

the user explicitly sets one using the ``my hdr'' command.

6.3.152. use mailcap

Type: quad-option
Default: ask

If set to ``yes'', always try to use a mailcap entry to display a MIME part that Mutt can't understand what to do with. If ``ask'', prompt as to whether to display as text or to use a mailcap entry. If ``no'', always view unsupported MIME types as text.

Note: For compatibility with metamail, Mutt will also look at the environment variable MM NOASK. Setting this to 1 is equivalent to

setting use mailcap to ``yes''. Otherwise, the value of MM NOASK is

interpreted as a comma-separated list of type names (without white space) for which the corresponding mailcap entries will be used to display MIME parts without prompting the user for confirmation.

6.3.153. pgp verify sig

Type: quad-option
Default: yes

If ``yes'', always attempt to verify PGP/MIME signatures. If ``ask'', ask whether or not to verify the signature. If ``no'', never attempt to verify PGP/MIME signatures.

6.3.154. visual

Type: string
Default: $VISUAL

Specifies the visual editor to invoke when the ~v command is given in

-- the builtin editor.

6.3.155. wait key

Type: boolean
Default: set

Controls whether Mutt will ask you to press a key after shell-escape,

pipe-message, pipe-entry, print-message, and print-entry commands.

It is also used when viewing attachments with ``autoview'', provided that the corresponding mailcap entry has a needsterminal flag, and the

external program is interactive.

When set, Mutt will always ask for a key. When unset, Mutt will wait for a key only if the external command returned a non-zero status.

6.3.156. wrap search

Type: boolean
Default: set

Controls whether searches wrap around the end of the mailbox.

When set, searches will wrap around the first (or last) message. When unset, searches will not wrap.

6.3.157. write inc

Type: number
Default: 10

When writing a mailbox, a message will be printed every write inc

messages to indicate progress. If set to 0, only a single message will be displayed before writing a mailbox.

Also see the ``$read inc'' variable.

6.4. Functions

The following is the list of available functions listed by the mapping in which they are available. The default key setting is given, and an explanation of what the function does. The key bindings of these functions can be changed with the ``bind'' command.

6.4.1. generic

The generic menu is not a real menu, but specifies common functions

(such as movement) available in all menus except for pager and editor.

Changing settings for this menu will affect the default bindings for all menus (except as noted).

  bottom-page                L   move to the bottom of the page
  current-bottom     not bound   move current entry to bottom of page
  current-middle     not bound   move current entry to middle of page
  current-top        not bound   move current entry to top of page
  enter-command              :   enter a muttrc command
  exit                       q   exit this menu
  first-entry                =   move to the first entry
  half-down                  ]   scroll down 1/2 page
  half-up                    [   scroll up 1/2 page
  help                       ?   this screen
  jump                  number   jump to an index number
  last-entry                 *   move to the last entry
  middle-page                M   move to the middle of the page
  next-entry                 j   move to the next entry
  next-line                  >   scroll down one line
  next-page                  z   move to the next page
  previous-entry             k   move to the previous entry
  previous-line              <   scroll up one line
  previous-page              Z   move to the previous page
  refresh                   ^L   clear and redraw the screen
  search                     /   search for a regular expression
  search-next                n   search for next match
  search-opposite    not bound   search for next match in opposite direction
  search-reverse         ESC /   search backwards for a regular expression
  select-entry             RET   select the current entry
  shell-escape               !   run a program in a subshell
  tag-entry                  t   toggle the tag on the current entry
  tag-prefix                 ;   apply next command to tagged entries
  top-page                   H   move to the top of the page

6.4.2. index

  bounce-message             b   remail a message to another user
  change-folder              c   open a different folder
  change-folder-readonly ESC c   open a different folder in read only mode
  clear-flag                 W   clear a status flag from a message
  copy-message               C   copy a message to a file/mailbox
  create-alias               a   create an alias from a message sender
  decode-copy            ESC C   decode a message and copy it to a file/mailbox
  decode-save            ESC s   decode a message and save it to a file/mailbox
  delete-message             d   delete the current entry
  delete-pattern             D   delete messages matching a pattern
  delete-subthread       ESC d   delete all messages in subthread
  delete-thread             ^D   delete all messages in thread
  display-address            @   display full address of sender
  display-headers            h   display message with full headers
  display-message          RET   display a message
  exit                       x   exit without saving changes
  extract-keys              ^K   extract PGP public keys
  fetch-mail                 G   retrieve mail from POP server
  flag-message               F   toggle a message's 'important' flag
  forget-passphrase         ^F   wipe PGP passphrase from memory
  forward-message            f   forward a message with comments
  group-reply                g   reply to all recipients
  limit                      l   show only messages matching a pattern
  list-reply                 L   reply to specified mailing list
  mail                       m   compose a new mail message
  mail-key               ESC k   mail a PGP public key
  next-new                 TAB   jump to the next new message
  next-subthread         ESC n   jump to the next subthread
  next-thread               ^N   jump to the next thread
  next-undeleted             j   move to the next undeleted message
  next-unread        not bound   jump to the next unread message
  pipe-message               |   pipe message/attachment to a shell command
  previous-new         ESC TAB   jump to the previous new message
  previous-page              Z   move to the previous page
  previous-subthread     ESC p   jump to previous subthread
  previous-thread           ^P   jump to previous thread
  previous-undeleted         k   move to the last undelete message
  previous-unread    not bound   jump to the previous unread message
  print-message              p   print the current entry
  query                      Q   query external program for addresses
  quit                       q   save changes to mailbox and quit
  read-subthread         ESC r   mark the current subthread as read
  read-thread               ^R   mark the current thread as read
  recall-message             R   recall a postponed message
  reply                      r   reply to a message
  save-message               s   save message/attachment to a file
  set-flag                   w   set a status flag on a message
  show-version               V   show the Mutt version number and date
  show-limit             ESC l   show currently active limit pattern, if any
  sort-mailbox               o   sort messages
  sort-reverse               O   sort messages in reverse order
  sync-mailbox               $   save changes to mailbox
  tag-pattern                T   tag messages matching a pattern
  tag-thread             ESC t   tag/untag all messages in the current thread
  toggle-new                 N   toggle a message's 'new' flag
  toggle-write               %   toggle whether the mailbox will be rewritten
  undelete-message           u   undelete the current entry
  undelete-pattern           U   undelete messages matching a pattern
  undelete-subthread     ESC u   undelete all messages in subthread
  undelete-thread           ^U   undelete all messages in thread
  untag-pattern             ^T   untag messages matching a pattern
  view-attachments           v   show MIME attachments

6.4.3. pager

  bottom                     $   jump to the bottom of the message
  bounce-message             b   remail a message to another user
  change-folder              c   open a different folder
  change-folder-readonly ESC c   open a different folder in read only mode
  copy-message               C   copy a message to a file/mailbox
  create-alias               a   create an alias from a message sender
  decode-copy            ESC C   decode a message and copy it to a file/mailbox
  decode-save            ESC s   decode a message and save it to a file/mailbox
  delete-message             d   delete the current entry
  delete-subthread       ESC d   delete all messages in subthread
  delete-thread             ^D   delete all messages in thread
  display-address            @   display full address of sender
  display-headers            h   display message with full headers
  enter-command              :   enter a muttrc command
  exit                       i   return to the main-menu
  extract-keys              ^K   extract PGP public keys
  flag-message               F   toggle a message's 'important' flag
  forget-passphrase         ^F   wipe PGP passphrase from memory
  forward-message            f   forward a message with comments
  group-reply                g   reply to all recipients
  half-up            not bound   move up one-half page
  half-down          not bound   move down one-half page
  help                       ?   this screen
  list-reply                 L   reply to specified mailing list
  mail                       m   compose a new mail message
  mail-key               ESC k   mail a PGP public key
  mark-as-new                N   toggle a message's 'new' flag
  next-line                RET   scroll down one line
  next-message               J   move to the next entry
  next-new                 TAB   jump to the next new message
  next-page                      move to the next page
  next-subthread         ESC n   jump to the next subthread
  next-thread               ^N   jump to the next thread
  next-undeleted             j   move to the next undeleted message
  next-unread        not bound   jump to the next unread message
  pipe-message               |   pipe message/attachment to a shell command
  previous-line      BackSpace   scroll up one line
  previous-message           K   move to the previous entry
  previous-new       not bound   jump to the previous new message
  previous-page              -   move to the previous page
  previous-subthread     ESC p   jump to previous subthread
  previous-thread           ^P   jump to previous thread
  previous-undeleted         k   move to the last undelete message
  previous-unread    not bound   jump to the previous unread message
  print-message              p   print the current entry
  quit                       Q   save changes to mailbox and quit
  read-subthread         ESC r   mark the current subthread as read
  read-thread               ^R   mark the current thread as read
  recall-message             R   recall a postponed message
  redraw-screen             ^L   clear and redraw the screen
  reply                      r   reply to a message
  save-message               s   save message/attachment to a file
  search                     /   search for a regular expression
  search-next                n   search for next match
  search-opposite    not bound   search for next match in opposite direction
  search-reverse         ESC /   search backwards for a regular expression
  search-toggle              \   toggle search pattern coloring
  shell-escape               !   invoke a command in a subshell
  show-version               V   show the Mutt version number and date
  skip-quoted                S   skip beyond quoted text
  tag-message                t   tag a message
  toggle-quoted              T   toggle display of quoted text
  top                        ^   jump to the top of the message
  undelete-message           u   undelete the current entry
  undelete-subthread     ESC u   undelete all messages in subthread
  undelete-thread           ^U   undelete all messages in thread
  view-attachments           v   show MIME attachments

6.4.4. alias

  search                     /   search for a regular expression
  search-next                n   search for next match
  search-reverse         ESC /   search backwards for a regular expression

6.4.5. query

  create-alias               a   create an alias from a message sender
  mail                       m   compose a new mail message
  query                      Q   query external program for addresses
  query-append               A   append new query results to current results
  search                     /   search for a regular expression
  search-next                n   search for next match
  search-opposite    not bound   search for next match in opposite direction
  search-reverse         ESC /   search backwards for a regular expression

6.4.6. attach

  bounce-message             b   remail a message to another user
  decode-copy            ESC C   decode a message and copy it to a file/mailbox
  decode-save            ESC s   decode a message and save it to a file/mailbox
  delete-entry               d   delete the current entry
  display-headers            h   display message with full headers
  extract-keys              ^K   extract PGP public keys
  forward-message            f   forward a message with comments
  group-reply                g   reply to all recipients
  list-reply                 L   reply to specified mailing list
  pipe-entry                 |   pipe message/attachment to a shell command
  print-entry                p   print the current entry
  reply                      r   reply to a message
  save-entry                 s   save message/attachment to a file
  undelete-entry             u   undelete the current entry
  view-attach              RET   view attachment using mailcap entry if necessary
  view-mailcap               m   force viewing of attachment using mailcap
  view-text                  T   view attachment as text

6.4.7. compose

  attach-file                a   attach a file(s) to this message
  attach-key             ESC k   attach a PGP public key
  copy-file                  C   save message/attachment to a file
  detach-file                D   delete the current entry
  display-headers            h   display message with full headers
  edit-bcc                   b   edit the BCC list
  edit-cc                    c   edit the CC list
  edit-description           d   edit attachment description
  edit-encoding             ^E   edit attachment trasfer-encoding
  edit-fcc                   f   enter a file to save a copy of this message in
  edit-from              ESC f   edit the from: field
  edit-file               ^X e   edit the file to be attached
  edit-headers               E   edit the message with headers
  edit-message               e   edit the message
  edit-mime                  m   edit attachment using mailcap entry
  edit-reply-to              r   edit the Reply-To field
  edit-subject               s   edit the subject of this message
  edit-to                    t   edit the TO list
  edit-type                 ^T   edit attachment type
  filter-entry               F   filter attachment through a shell command
  forget-passphrase         ^F   wipe PGP passphrase from memory
  ispell                     i   run ispell on the message
  new-mime                   n   compose new attachment using mailcap entry
  pgp-menu                   p   show PGP options
  pipe-entry                 |   pipe message/attachment to a shell command
  postpone-message           P   save this message to send later
  print-entry                l   print the current entry
  rename-file                R   rename/move an attached file
  send-message               y   send the message
  toggle-unlink              u   toggle whether to delete file after sending it
  view-attach              RET   view attachment using mailcap entry if necessary

6.4.8. postponed

  delete-entry               d   delete the current entry
  undelete-entry             u   undelete the current entry

6.4.9. browser

  change-dir                 c   change directories
  check-new                TAB   check mailboxes for new mail
  enter-mask                 m   enter a file mask
  search                     /   search for a regular expression
  search-next                n   search for next match
  search-reverse         ESC /   search backwards for a regular expression
  select-new                 N   select a new file in this directory
  sort                       o   sort messages
  sort-reverse               O   sort messages in reverse order

6.4.10. pgp

  view-name                  %   view the key's user id
  verify-key                 c   verify a PGP public key

6.4.11. editor

  backspace          BackSpace   delete the char in front of the cursor
  backward-char             ^B   move the cursor one character to the left
  bol                       ^A   jump to the beginning of the line
  buffy-cycle            Space   cycle among incoming mailboxes
  complete                 TAB   complete filename or alias
  complete-query            ^T   complete address with query
  delete-char               ^D   delete the char under the cursor
  eol                       ^E   jump to the end of the line
  forward-char              ^F   move the cursor one character to the right
  history-down       not bound   scroll up through the history list
  history-up         not bound   scroll up through the history list
  kill-eol                  ^K   delete chars from cursor to end of line
  kill-line                 ^U   delete all chars on the line
  kill-word                 ^W   delete the word in front of the cursor
  quote-char                ^V   quote the next typed key

7. Miscellany

7.1. Acknowledgements

Kari Hurrta <kari.hurtta@fmi.fi> co-developed the original MIME parsing code back in the ELM-ME days.

The following people have been very helpful to the development of Mutt:

Francois Berjon <Francois.Berjon@aar.alcatel-alsthom.fr>, Aric Blumer <aric@fore.com>,
John Capo <jc@irbs.com>,
Liviu Daia <daia@stoilow.imar.ro>,
David DeSimone <fox@convex.hp.com>,
Nickolay N. Dudorov <nnd@wint.itfs.nsk.su>, Michael Finken <finken@conware.de>,
Sven Guckes <guckes@math.fu-berlin.de>, Mark Holloman <holloman@nando.net>,
Andreas Holzmann <holzmann@fmi.uni-passau.de>, David Jeske <jeske@igcom.net>,
Christophe Kalt <kalt@hugo.int-evry.fr>, Felix von Leitner (a.k.a ``Fefe'') <leitner@math.fu-berlin.de>, Brandon Long <blong@fiction.net>,
Lars Marowsky-Bree <lmb@pointer.in-minden.de>, Thomas ``Mike'' Michlmayr <mike@cosy.sbg.ac.at>, David O'Brien <obrien@Nuxi.cs.ucdavis.edu>, Clint Olsen <olsenc@ichips.intel.com>, Park Myeong Seok <pms@romance.kaist.ac.kr>, Thomas Parmelan <tom@ankh.fr.eu.org>, Ollivier Robert <roberto@keltia.freenix.fr>, Thomas Roessler <roessler@guug.de>,
Allain Thivillon <Allain.Thivillon@alma.fr>, Ken Weinert <kenw@ihs.com>

7.2. About this document

This document was written in SGML, and then rendered using the sgmltools package.