BINMAIL(1)                           BSD                            BINMAIL(1)



NAME
     binmail - send or receive mail among users

SYNOPSIS
     /bin/mail [ + ] [ -i ] [ person ... ]
     /bin/mail [ + ] [ -i ] -f file

DESCRIPTION
     Note: This is the old version 7 UNIX system mail program.  The default
     mail command is described in mail(1), and its binary is in the directory
     /usr/ucb.

     With no argument, mail prints a user's mail, message-by-message, in
     last-in, first-out order; the optional argument + displays the mail
     messages in first-in, first-out order.  For each message, mail reads a
     line from the standard input to direct disposition of the message.  When
     you log in, mail informs you if you have mail.

COMMANDS
     newline        Go on to the next message.

     d              Delete the message and go on to the next.

     p              Print the message again.

     -              Go back to the previous message.

     s [ file ] ... Save the message in the named files (mbox is the default).

     w [ file ] ... Save the message, without a header, in the named files
                    (mbox is the default).

     m [ person ] ...
                    Mail the message to the named persons (yourself is the
                    default).

     EOT (CTRL/D)   Put unexamined mail back in the mailbox and stop.

     q              Same as EOT.

     !command       Escape to the shell to do command.

     *              Print a command summary.

     An interrupt normally terminates the mail command; the mail file is
     unchanged.

OPTIONS
     +         Display the mail messages in a first-in, first-out order.

     -i        Tells mail to continue after interrupts.

     persons   When persons are named, mail takes the standard input up to an
               end-of-file (or a line with just `.')  and adds it to each
               person's "mail" file.  The message is preceded by the sender's
               name and a postmark.  Lines that look like postmarks have a `>'
               prefix.  A person is usually a username recognized by login(1).
               Prefix the system name and exclamation mark to person to denote
               a recipient on a remote system (see uucp(1C)).

     -f file   The -f option causes the named file, for example, mbox, to be

               printed as if it were the mail file.

BUGS
     Race conditions sometimes result in a failure to remove a lock file.

     Normally anybody can read your mail. An installation can overcome this by
     making mail a set-user-id command that owns the mail directory.

FILES
     /etc/passwd              To identify sender and locate persons
     /usr/spool/mail/*        Incoming mail for user
     ~/mbox                   Saved mail
     /tmp/ma*                 Temp file
     /usr/spool/mail/*.lock   Lock for mail directory
     ~/dead.letter            Unmailable text

SEE ALSO
     mail(1), write(1), uucp(1C), uux(1C), sendmail(8)