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