The Mutt E-Mail Client

Michael Elkins

<me@cs.hmc.edu>

version 1.5.21 (2010-09-15)

Abstract

?All mail clients suck. This one just sucks less.? ? me, circa 1995

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

    1. Mutt Home Page
    2. Mailing Lists
    3. Getting Mutt
    4. Mutt Online Resources
    5. Contributing to Mutt
    6. Typographical Conventions
    7. Copyright

2. Getting Started

    1. Core Concepts
    2. Screens and Menus

        2.1. Index
        2.2. Pager
        2.3. File Browser
        2.4. Help
        2.5. Compose Menu
        2.6. Alias Menu
        2.7. Attachment Menu

    3. Moving Around in Menus
    4. Editing Input Fields

        4.1. Introduction
        4.2. History

    5. Reading Mail

        5.1. The Message Index
        5.2. The Pager
        5.3. Threaded Mode
        5.4. Miscellaneous Functions

    6. Sending Mail

        6.1. Introduction
        6.2. Editing the Message Header
        6.3. Sending Cryptographically Signed/Encrypted Messages
        6.4. Sending Format=Flowed Messages

    7. Forwarding and Bouncing Mail
    8. Postponing Mail

3. Configuration

    1. Location of Initialization Files
    2. Syntax of Initialization Files
    3. Address Groups
    4. Defining/Using Aliases
    5. Changing the Default Key Bindings
    6. Defining Aliases for Character Sets
    7. Setting Variables Based Upon Mailbox
    8. Keyboard Macros
    9. Using Color and Mono Video Attributes
    10. Message Header Display

        10.1. Header Display
        10.2. Selecting Headers
        10.3. Ordering Displayed Headers

    11. Alternative Addresses
    12. Mailing Lists
    13. Using Multiple Spool Mailboxes
    14. Monitoring Incoming Mail
    15. User-Defined Headers
    16. Specify Default Save Mailbox
    17. Specify Default Fcc: Mailbox When Composing
    18. Specify Default Save Filename and Default Fcc: Mailbox at Once
    19. Change Settings Based Upon Message Recipients
    20. Change Settings Before Formatting a Message
    21. Choosing the Cryptographic Key of the Recipient
    22. Adding Key Sequences to the Keyboard Buffer
    23. Executing Functions
    24. Message Scoring
    25. Spam Detection
    26. Setting and Querying Variables

        26.1. Variable Types
        26.2. Commands
        26.3. User-Defined Variables
        26.4. Type Conversions

    27. Reading Initialization Commands From Another File
    28. Removing Hooks
    29. Format Strings

        29.1. Basic usage
        29.2. Conditionals
        29.3. Filters
        29.4. Padding

4. Advanced Usage

    1. Character Set Handling
    2. Regular Expressions
    3. Patterns: Searching, Limiting and Tagging

        3.1. Pattern Modifier
        3.2. Simple Searches
        3.3. Nesting and Boolean Operators
        3.4. Searching by Date

    4. Using Tags
    5. Using Hooks

        5.1. Message Matching in Hooks

    6. External Address Queries
    7. Mailbox Formats
    8. Mailbox Shortcuts
    9. Handling Mailing Lists
    10. New Mail Detection

        10.1. How New Mail Detection Works
        10.2. Polling For New Mail

    11. Editing Threads

        11.1. Linking Threads
        11.2. Breaking Threads

    12. Delivery Status Notification (DSN) Support
    13. Start a WWW Browser on URLs
    14. Miscellany

5. Mutt's MIME Support

    1. Using MIME in Mutt

        1.1. MIME Overview
        1.2. Viewing MIME Messages in the Pager
        1.3. The Attachment Menu
        1.4. The Compose Menu

    2. MIME Type Configuration with mime.types
    3. MIME Viewer Configuration with Mailcap

        3.1. The Basics of the Mailcap File
        3.2. Secure Use of Mailcap
        3.3. Advanced Mailcap Usage
        3.4. Example Mailcap Files

    4. MIME Autoview
    5. MIME Multipart/Alternative
    6. Attachment Searching and Counting
    7. MIME Lookup

6. Optional Features

    1. General Notes

        1.1. Enabling/Disabling Features
        1.2. URL Syntax

    2. SSL/TLS Support
    3. POP3 Support
    4. IMAP Support

        4.1. The IMAP Folder Browser
        4.2. Authentication

    5. SMTP Support
    6. Managing Multiple Accounts
    7. Local Caching

        7.1. Header Caching
        7.2. Body Caching
        7.3. Cache Directories
        7.4. Maintenance

    8. Exact Address Generation
    9. Sending Anonymous Messages via Mixmaster

7. Security Considerations

    1. Passwords
    2. Temporary Files
    3. Information Leaks

        3.1. Message-Id: headers
        3.2. mailto:-style Links

    4. External Applications

8. Performance Tuning

    1. Reading and Writing Mailboxes
    2. Reading Messages from Remote Folders
    3. Searching and Limiting

9. Reference

    1. Command-Line Options
    2. Configuration Commands
    3. Configuration Variables

        3.1. abort_nosubject
        3.2. abort_unmodified
        3.3. alias_file
        3.4. alias_format
        3.5. allow_8bit
        3.6. allow_ansi
        3.7. arrow_cursor
        3.8. ascii_chars
        3.9. askbcc
        3.10. askcc
        3.11. assumed_charset
        3.12. attach_charset
        3.13. attach_format
        3.14. attach_sep
        3.15. attach_split
        3.16. attribution
        3.17. auto_tag
        3.18. autoedit
        3.19. beep
        3.20. beep_new
        3.21. bounce
        3.22. bounce_delivered
        3.23. braille_friendly
        3.24. certificate_file
        3.25. charset
        3.26. check_mbox_size
        3.27. check_new
        3.28. collapse_unread
        3.29. compose_format
        3.30. config_charset
        3.31. confirmappend
        3.32. confirmcreate
        3.33. connect_timeout
        3.34. content_type
        3.35. copy
        3.36. crypt_autoencrypt
        3.37. crypt_autopgp
        3.38. crypt_autosign
        3.39. crypt_autosmime
        3.40. crypt_replyencrypt
        3.41. crypt_replysign
        3.42. crypt_replysignencrypted
        3.43. crypt_timestamp
        3.44. crypt_use_gpgme
        3.45. crypt_use_pka
        3.46. crypt_verify_sig
        3.47. date_format
        3.48. default_hook
        3.49. delete
        3.50. delete_untag
        3.51. digest_collapse
        3.52. display_filter
        3.53. dotlock_program
        3.54. dsn_notify
        3.55. dsn_return
        3.56. duplicate_threads
        3.57. edit_headers
        3.58. editor
        3.59. encode_from
        3.60. entropy_file
        3.61. envelope_from_address
        3.62. escape
        3.63. fast_reply
        3.64. fcc_attach
        3.65. fcc_clear
        3.66. folder
        3.67. folder_format
        3.68. followup_to
        3.69. force_name
        3.70. forward_decode
        3.71. forward_decrypt
        3.72. forward_edit
        3.73. forward_format
        3.74. forward_quote
        3.75. from
        3.76. gecos_mask
        3.77. hdrs
        3.78. header
        3.79. header_cache
        3.80. header_cache_compress
        3.81. header_cache_pagesize
        3.82. help
        3.83. hidden_host
        3.84. hide_limited
        3.85. hide_missing
        3.86. hide_thread_subject
        3.87. hide_top_limited
        3.88. hide_top_missing
        3.89. history
        3.90. history_file
        3.91. honor_disposition
        3.92. honor_followup_to
        3.93. hostname
        3.94. ignore_linear_white_space
        3.95. ignore_list_reply_to
        3.96. imap_authenticators
        3.97. imap_check_subscribed
        3.98. imap_delim_chars
        3.99. imap_headers
        3.100. imap_idle
        3.101. imap_keepalive
        3.102. imap_list_subscribed
        3.103. imap_login
        3.104. imap_pass
        3.105. imap_passive
        3.106. imap_peek
        3.107. imap_pipeline_depth
        3.108. imap_servernoise
        3.109. imap_user
        3.110. implicit_autoview
        3.111. include
        3.112. include_onlyfirst
        3.113. indent_string
        3.114. index_format
        3.115. ispell
        3.116. keep_flagged
        3.117. locale
        3.118. mail_check
        3.119. mail_check_recent
        3.120. mailcap_path
        3.121. mailcap_sanitize
        3.122. maildir_header_cache_verify
        3.123. maildir_trash
        3.124. mark_old
        3.125. markers
        3.126. mask
        3.127. mbox
        3.128. mbox_type
        3.129. menu_context
        3.130. menu_move_off
        3.131. menu_scroll
        3.132. message_cache_clean
        3.133. message_cachedir
        3.134. message_format
        3.135. meta_key
        3.136. metoo
        3.137. mh_purge
        3.138. mh_seq_flagged
        3.139. mh_seq_replied
        3.140. mh_seq_unseen
        3.141. mime_forward
        3.142. mime_forward_decode
        3.143. mime_forward_rest
        3.144. mix_entry_format
        3.145. mixmaster
        3.146. move
        3.147. narrow_tree
        3.148. net_inc
        3.149. pager
        3.150. pager_context
        3.151. pager_format
        3.152. pager_index_lines
        3.153. pager_stop
        3.154. pgp_auto_decode
        3.155. pgp_autoinline
        3.156. pgp_check_exit
        3.157. pgp_clearsign_command
        3.158. pgp_decode_command
        3.159. pgp_decrypt_command
        3.160. pgp_encrypt_only_command
        3.161. pgp_encrypt_sign_command
        3.162. pgp_entry_format
        3.163. pgp_export_command
        3.164. pgp_getkeys_command
        3.165. pgp_good_sign
        3.166. pgp_ignore_subkeys
        3.167. pgp_import_command
        3.168. pgp_list_pubring_command
        3.169. pgp_list_secring_command
        3.170. pgp_long_ids
        3.171. pgp_mime_auto
        3.172. pgp_replyinline
        3.173. pgp_retainable_sigs
        3.174. pgp_show_unusable
        3.175. pgp_sign_as
        3.176. pgp_sign_command
        3.177. pgp_sort_keys
        3.178. pgp_strict_enc
        3.179. pgp_timeout
        3.180. pgp_use_gpg_agent
        3.181. pgp_verify_command
        3.182. pgp_verify_key_command
        3.183. pipe_decode
        3.184. pipe_sep
        3.185. pipe_split
        3.186. pop_auth_try_all
        3.187. pop_authenticators
        3.188. pop_checkinterval
        3.189. pop_delete
        3.190. pop_host
        3.191. pop_last
        3.192. pop_pass
        3.193. pop_reconnect
        3.194. pop_user
        3.195. post_indent_string
        3.196. postpone
        3.197. postponed
        3.198. preconnect
        3.199. print
        3.200. print_command
        3.201. print_decode
        3.202. print_split
        3.203. prompt_after
        3.204. query_command
        3.205. query_format
        3.206. quit
        3.207. quote_regexp
        3.208. read_inc
        3.209. read_only
        3.210. realname
        3.211. recall
        3.212. record
        3.213. reply_regexp
        3.214. reply_self
        3.215. reply_to
        3.216. resolve
        3.217. reverse_alias
        3.218. reverse_name
        3.219. reverse_realname
        3.220. rfc2047_parameters
        3.221. save_address
        3.222. save_empty
        3.223. save_history
        3.224. save_name
        3.225. score
        3.226. score_threshold_delete
        3.227. score_threshold_flag
        3.228. score_threshold_read
        3.229. search_context
        3.230. send_charset
        3.231. sendmail
        3.232. sendmail_wait
        3.233. shell
        3.234. sig_dashes
        3.235. sig_on_top
        3.236. signature
        3.237. simple_search
        3.238. sleep_time
        3.239. smart_wrap
        3.240. smileys
        3.241. smime_ask_cert_label
        3.242. smime_ca_location
        3.243. smime_certificates
        3.244. smime_decrypt_command
        3.245. smime_decrypt_use_default_key
        3.246. smime_default_key
        3.247. smime_encrypt_command
        3.248. smime_encrypt_with
        3.249. smime_get_cert_command
        3.250. smime_get_cert_email_command
        3.251. smime_get_signer_cert_command
        3.252. smime_import_cert_command
        3.253. smime_is_default
        3.254. smime_keys
        3.255. smime_pk7out_command
        3.256. smime_sign_command
        3.257. smime_sign_opaque_command
        3.258. smime_timeout
        3.259. smime_verify_command
        3.260. smime_verify_opaque_command
        3.261. smtp_authenticators
        3.262. smtp_pass
        3.263. smtp_url
        3.264. sort
        3.265. sort_alias
        3.266. sort_aux
        3.267. sort_browser
        3.268. sort_re
        3.269. spam_separator
        3.270. spoolfile
        3.271. ssl_ca_certificates_file
        3.272. ssl_client_cert
        3.273. ssl_force_tls
        3.274. ssl_min_dh_prime_bits
        3.275. ssl_starttls
        3.276. ssl_use_sslv2
        3.277. ssl_use_sslv3
        3.278. ssl_use_tlsv1
        3.279. ssl_usesystemcerts
        3.280. ssl_verify_dates
        3.281. ssl_verify_host
        3.282. status_chars
        3.283. status_format
        3.284. status_on_top
        3.285. strict_threads
        3.286. suspend
        3.287. text_flowed
        3.288. thorough_search
        3.289. thread_received
        3.290. tilde
        3.291. time_inc
        3.292. timeout
        3.293. tmpdir
        3.294. to_chars
        3.295. tunnel
        3.296. uncollapse_jump
        3.297. use_8bitmime
        3.298. use_domain
        3.299. use_envelope_from
        3.300. use_from
        3.301. use_idn
        3.302. use_ipv6
        3.303. user_agent
        3.304. visual
        3.305. wait_key
        3.306. weed
        3.307. wrap
        3.308. wrap_headers
        3.309. wrap_search
        3.310. wrapmargin
        3.311. write_bcc
        3.312. write_inc

    4. Functions

        4.1. Generic Menu
        4.2. Index Menu
        4.3. Pager Menu
        4.4. Alias Menu
        4.5. Query Menu
        4.6. Attachment Menu
        4.7. Compose Menu
        4.8. Postpone Menu
        4.9. Browser Menu
        4.10. Pgp Menu
        4.11. Smime Menu
        4.12. Mixmaster Menu
        4.13. Editor Menu

10. Miscellany

    1. Acknowledgements
    2. About This Document

List of Tables

1.1. Typographical conventions for special terms
2.1. Most common navigation keys in entry-based menus
2.2. Most common navigation keys in page-based menus
2.3. Most common line editor keys
2.4. Most common message index keys
2.5. Message status flags
2.6. Message recipient flags
2.7. Most common pager keys
2.8. ANSI escape sequences
2.9. Color sequences
2.10. Most common thread mode keys
2.11. Most common mail sending keys
2.12. Most common compose menu keys
2.13. PGP key menu flags
3.1. Symbolic key names
4.1. POSIX regular expression character classes
4.2. Regular expression repetition operators
4.3. GNU regular expression extensions
4.4. Pattern modifiers
4.5. Simple search keywords
4.6. Date units
4.7. Mailbox shortcuts
5.1. Supported MIME types
9.1. Command line options
9.2. Default Generic Menu Bindings
9.3. Default Index Menu Bindings
9.4. Default Pager Menu Bindings
9.5. Default Alias Menu Bindings
9.6. Default Query Menu Bindings
9.7. Default Attachment Menu Bindings
9.8. Default Compose Menu Bindings
9.9. Default Postpone Menu Bindings
9.10. Default Browser Menu Bindings
9.11. Default Pgp Menu Bindings
9.12. Default Smime Menu Bindings
9.13. Default Mixmaster Menu Bindings
9.14. Default Editor Menu Bindings

List of Examples

3.1. Multiple configuration commands per line
3.2. Commenting configuration files
3.3. Escaping quotes in configuration files
3.4. Splitting long configuration commands over several lines
3.5. Using external command's output in configuration files
3.6. Using environment variables in configuration files
3.7. Configuring external alias files
3.8. Setting sort method based on mailbox name
3.9. Header weeding
3.10. Configuring header display order
3.11. Defining custom headers
3.12. Using %-expandos in save-hook
3.13. Embedding push in folder-hook
3.14. Configuring spam detection
3.15. Using user-defined variables for config file readability
3.16. Using user-defined variables for backing up other config option values
3.17. Deferring user-defined variable expansion to runtime
3.18. Type conversions using variables
3.19. Using external filters in format strings
4.1. Matching all addresses in address lists
4.2. Using boolean operators in patterns
4.3. Specifying a ?default? hook
5.1. mime.types
5.2. Attachment counting
6.1. URLs
6.2. Managing multiple accounts

Chapter 1. Introduction

Table of Contents

1. Mutt Home Page
2. Mailing Lists
3. Getting Mutt
4. Mutt Online Resources
5. Contributing to Mutt
6. Typographical Conventions
7. Copyright

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. Mutt Home Page

The official homepage can be found at http://www.mutt.org/.

2. Mailing Lists

To subscribe to one of the following mailing lists, send a message with the
word subscribe in the body to list-name-request@mutt.org.

  * <mutt-announce-request@mutt.org> ? low traffic list for announcements

  * <mutt-users-request@mutt.org> ? help, bug reports and feature requests

  * <mutt-dev-request@mutt.org> ? development mailing list

All messages posted to mutt-announce are automatically forwarded to mutt-users,
so you do not need to be subscribed to both lists.

3. Getting Mutt

Mutt releases can be downloaded from ftp://ftp.mutt.org/mutt/. For a list of
mirror sites, please refer to http://www.mutt.org/download.html.

For nightly tarballs and version control access, please refer to the Mutt
development site.

4. Mutt Online Resources

Bug Tracking System

    The official Mutt bug tracking system can be found at http://bugs.mutt.org/

Wiki

    An (unofficial) wiki can be found at http://wiki.mutt.org/.

IRC

    For the IRC user community, visit channel #mutt on irc.freenode.net.

USENET

    For USENET, see the newsgroup comp.mail.mutt.

5. Contributing to Mutt

There are various ways to contribute to the Mutt project.

Especially for new users it may be helpful to meet other new and experienced
users to chat about Mutt, talk about problems and share tricks.

Since translations of Mutt into other languages are highly appreciated, the
Mutt developers always look for skilled translators that help improve and
continue to maintain stale translations.

For contributing code patches for new features and bug fixes, please refer to
the developer pages at http://dev.mutt.org/ for more details.

6. Typographical Conventions

This section lists typographical conventions followed throughout this manual.
See table Table 1.1, ?Typographical conventions for special terms? for
typographical conventions for special terms.

Table 1.1. Typographical conventions for special terms

+------------------------------------------------------+
|     Item     |             Refers to...              |
|--------------+---------------------------------------|
|printf(3)     |UNIX manual pages, execute man 3 printf|
|--------------+---------------------------------------|
|<PageUp>      |named keys                             |
|--------------+---------------------------------------|
|<create-alias>|named Mutt function                    |
|--------------+---------------------------------------|
|^G            |Control+G key combination              |
|--------------+---------------------------------------|
|$mail_check   |Mutt configuration option              |
|--------------+---------------------------------------|
|$HOME         |environment variable                   |
+------------------------------------------------------+


Examples are presented as:

mutt -v

Within command synopsis, curly brackets (?{}?) denote a set of options of which
one is mandatory, square brackets (?[]?) denote optional arguments, three dots
denote that the argument may be repeated arbitrary times.

7. Copyright

Mutt is Copyright ? 1996-2009 Michael R. Elkins <me@mutt.org> and others.

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., 51 Franklin
Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.

Chapter 2. Getting Started

Table of Contents

1. Core Concepts
2. Screens and Menus

    2.1. Index
    2.2. Pager
    2.3. File Browser
    2.4. Help
    2.5. Compose Menu
    2.6. Alias Menu
    2.7. Attachment Menu

3. Moving Around in Menus
4. Editing Input Fields

    4.1. Introduction
    4.2. History

5. Reading Mail

    5.1. The Message Index
    5.2. The Pager
    5.3. Threaded Mode
    5.4. Miscellaneous Functions

6. Sending Mail

    6.1. Introduction
    6.2. Editing the Message Header
    6.3. Sending Cryptographically Signed/Encrypted Messages
    6.4. Sending Format=Flowed Messages

7. Forwarding and Bouncing Mail
8. Postponing Mail

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
homepage 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.

1. Core Concepts

Mutt is a text-based application which interacts with users through different
menus which are mostly line-/entry-based or page-based. A line-based menu is
the so-called ?index? menu (listing all messages of the currently opened
folder) or the ?alias? menu (allowing you to select recipients from a list).
Examples for page-based menus are the ?pager? (showing one message at a time)
or the ?help? menu listing all available key bindings.

The user interface consists of a context sensitive help line at the top, the
menu's contents followed by a context sensitive status line and finally the
command line. The command line is used to display informational and error
messages as well as for prompts and for entering interactive commands.

Mutt is configured through variables which, if the user wants to permanently
use a non-default value, are written to configuration files. Mutt supports a
rich config file syntax to make even complex configuration files readable and
commentable.

Because Mutt allows for customizing almost all key bindings, there are
so-called ?functions? which can be executed manually (using the command line)
or in macros. Macros allow the user to bind a sequence of commands to a single
key or a short key sequence instead of repeating a sequence of actions over and
over.

Many commands (such as saving or copying a message to another folder) can be
applied to a single message or a set of messages (so-called ?tagged? messages).
To help selecting messages, Mutt provides a rich set of message patterns (such
as recipients, sender, body contents, date sent/received, etc.) which can be
combined into complex expressions using the boolean and and or operations as
well as negating. These patterns can also be used to (for example) search for
messages or to limit the index to show only matching messages.

Mutt supports a ?hook? concept which allows the user to execute arbitrary
configuration commands and functions in certain situations such as entering a
folder, starting a new message or replying to an existing one. These hooks can
be used to highly customize Mutt's behavior including managing multiple
identities, customizing the display for a folder or even implementing
auto-archiving based on a per-folder basis and much more.

Besides an interactive mode, Mutt can also be used as a command-line tool only
send messages. It also supports a mailx(1)-compatible interface, see Table 9.1,
?Command line options? for a complete list of command-line options.

2. Screens and Menus

2.1. Index

The index is the screen that you usually see first when you start Mutt. It
gives an overview over your emails in the currently opened mailbox. By default,
this is your system mailbox. The information you see in the index is a list of
emails, each with its number on the left, its flags (new email, important
email, email that has been forwarded or replied to, tagged email, ...), the
date when email was sent, its sender, the email size, and the subject.
Additionally, the index also shows thread hierarchies: when you reply to an
email, and the other person replies back, you can see the other person's email
in a "sub-tree" below. This is especially useful for personal email between a
group of people or when you've subscribed to mailing lists.

2.2. Pager

The pager is responsible for showing the email content. On the top of the pager
you have an overview over the most important email headers like the sender, the
recipient, the subject, and much more information. How much information you
actually see depends on your configuration, which we'll describe below.

Below the headers, you see the email body which usually contains the message.
If the email contains any attachments, you will see more information about them
below the email body, or, if the attachments are text files, you can view them
directly in the pager.

To give the user a good overview, it is possible to configure Mutt to show
different things in the pager with different colors. Virtually everything that
can be described with a regular expression can be colored, e.g. URLs, email
addresses or smileys.

2.3. File Browser

The file browser is the interface to the local or remote file system. When
selecting a mailbox to open, the browser allows custom sorting of items,
limiting the items shown by a regular expression and a freely adjustable format
of what to display in which way. It also allows for easy navigation through the
file system when selecting file(s) to attach to a message, select multiple
files to attach and many more.

2.4. Help

The help screen is meant to offer a quick help to the user. It lists the
current configuration of key bindings and their associated commands including a
short description, and currently unbound functions that still need to be
associated with a key binding (or alternatively, they can be called via the
Mutt command prompt).

2.5. Compose Menu

The compose menu features a split screen containing the information which
really matter before actually sending a message by mail: who gets the message
as what (recipients and who gets what kind of copy). Additionally, users may
set security options like deciding whether to sign, encrypt or sign and encrypt
a message with/for what keys. Also, it's used to attach messages, to re-edit
any attachment including the message itself.

2.6. Alias Menu

The alias menu is used to help users finding the recipients of messages. For
users who need to contact many people, there's no need to remember addresses or
names completely because it allows for searching, too. The alias mechanism and
thus the alias menu also features grouping several addresses by a shorter
nickname, the actual alias, so that users don't have to select each single
recipient manually.

2.7. Attachment Menu

As will be later discussed in detail, Mutt features a good and stable MIME
implementation, that is, it supports sending and receiving messages of
arbitrary MIME types. The attachment menu displays a message's structure in
detail: what content parts are attached to which parent part (which gives a
true tree structure), which type is of what type and what size. Single parts
may saved, deleted or modified to offer great and easy access to message's
internals.

3. Moving Around in Menus

The most important navigation keys common to line- or entry-based menus are
shown in Table 2.1, ?Most common navigation keys in entry-based menus? and in
Table 2.2, ?Most common navigation keys in page-based menus? for page-based
menus.

Table 2.1. Most common navigation keys in entry-based menus

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|     Key     |    Function    |               Description               |
|-------------+----------------+-----------------------------------------|
|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|
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+


Table 2.2. Most common navigation keys in page-based menus

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
|         Key          |   Function    |     Description      |
|----------------------+---------------+----------------------|
|J or <Return>         |<next-line>    |scroll down one line  |
|----------------------+---------------+----------------------|
|<Backspace>           |<previous-line>|scroll up one line    |
|----------------------+---------------+----------------------|
|K, <Space> or <PageDn>|<next-page>    |move to the next page |
|----------------------+---------------+----------------------|
|- or <PageUp>         |<previous-page>|move the previous page|
|----------------------+---------------+----------------------|
|<Home>                |<top>          |move to the top       |
|----------------------+---------------+----------------------|
|<End>                 |<bottom>       |move to the bottom    |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+


4. Editing Input Fields

4.1. Introduction

Mutt has a built-in line editor for inputting text, e.g. email addresses or
filenames. The keys used to manipulate text input are very similar to those of
Emacs. See Table 2.3, ?Most common line editor keys? for a full reference of
available functions, their default key bindings, and short descriptions.

Table 2.3. Most common line editor keys

+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
|     Key      |    Function     |            Description             |
|--------------+-----------------+------------------------------------|
|^A or <Home>  |<bol>            |move to the start of the line       |
|--------------+-----------------+------------------------------------|
|^B or <Left>  |<backward-char>  |move back one char                  |
|--------------+-----------------+------------------------------------|
|Esc B         |<backward-word>  |move back one word                  |
|--------------+-----------------+------------------------------------|
|^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               |
|--------------+-----------------+------------------------------------|
|Esc F         |<forward-word>   |move forward one word               |
|--------------+-----------------+------------------------------------|
|<Tab>         |<complete>       |complete filename or alias          |
|--------------+-----------------+------------------------------------|
|^T            |<complete-query> |complete address with query         |
|--------------+-----------------+------------------------------------|
|^K            |<kill-eol>       |delete to the end of the line       |
|--------------+-----------------+------------------------------------|
|Esc d         |<kill-eow>       |delete to the end of the word       |
|--------------+-----------------+------------------------------------|
|^W            |<kill-word>      |kill the word in front of the cursor|
|--------------+-----------------+------------------------------------|
|^U            |<kill-line>      |delete entire line                  |
|--------------+-----------------+------------------------------------|
|^V            |<quote-char>     |quote the next typed key            |
|--------------+-----------------+------------------------------------|
|<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|
|--------------+-----------------+------------------------------------|
|Esc u         |<upcase-word>    |convert word to upper case          |
|--------------+-----------------+------------------------------------|
|Esc l         |<downcase-word>  |convert word to lower case          |
|--------------+-----------------+------------------------------------|
|Esc c         |<capitalize-word>|capitalize the word                 |
|--------------+-----------------+------------------------------------|
|^G            |n/a              |abort                               |
|--------------+-----------------+------------------------------------|
|<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

4.2. History

Mutt maintains a history for the built-in editor. The number of items is
controlled by the $history variable and can be made persistent using an
external file specified using $history_file. You may cycle through them at an
editor prompt by using the <history-up> and/or <history-down> commands. But
notice that Mutt does not remember the currently entered text, it only cycles
through history and wraps around at the end or beginning.

Mutt maintains several distinct history lists, one for each of the following
categories:

  * .muttrc commands

  * addresses and aliases

  * shell commands

  * filenames

  * patterns

  * everything else

Mutt automatically filters out consecutively repeated items from the history.
It also mimics the behavior of some shells by ignoring items starting with a
space. The latter feature can be useful in macros to not clobber the history's
valuable entries with unwanted entries.

5. Reading Mail

Similar to many other mail clients, there are two modes in which mail is read
in Mutt. The first is a list of messages in the mailbox, which is called the
?index? menu 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.

5.1. The Message Index

Common keys used to navigate through and manage messages in the index are shown
in Table 2.4, ?Most common message index keys?. How messages are presented in
the index menu can be customized using the $index_format variable.

Table 2.4. Most common message index keys

+----------------------------------------------------+
|  Key   |                Description                |
|--------+-------------------------------------------|
|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       |tag messages matching a pattern            |
|--------+-------------------------------------------|
|t       |toggle the tag on a message                |
|--------+-------------------------------------------|
|Esc t   |toggle tag on entire message thread        |
|--------+-------------------------------------------|
|U       |undelete messages matching a pattern       |
|--------+-------------------------------------------|
|u       |undelete-message                           |
|--------+-------------------------------------------|
|v       |view-attachments                           |
|--------+-------------------------------------------|
|x       |abort changes and exit                     |
|--------+-------------------------------------------|
|<Return>|display-message                            |
|--------+-------------------------------------------|
|<Tab>   |jump to the next new or unread message     |
|--------+-------------------------------------------|
|@       |show the author's full e-mail address      |
|--------+-------------------------------------------|
|$       |save changes to mailbox                    |
|--------+-------------------------------------------|
|/       |search                                     |
|--------+-------------------------------------------|
|Esc /   |search-reverse                             |
|--------+-------------------------------------------|
|^L      |clear and redraw the screen                |
|--------+-------------------------------------------|
|^T      |untag messages matching a pattern          |
+----------------------------------------------------+


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 ?flags? in Table 2.5, ?Message status flags? may appear, some of which
can be turned on or off using these functions: <set-flag> and <clear-flag>
bound by default to ?w? and ?W? respectively.

Furthermore, the flags in Table 2.6, ?Message recipient flags? reflect who the
message is addressed to. They can be customized with the $to_chars variable.

Table 2.5. Message status flags

+------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Flag|                         Description                         |
|----+-------------------------------------------------------------|
|D   |message is deleted (is marked for deletion)                  |
|----+-------------------------------------------------------------|
|d   |message has attachments marked for deletion                  |
|----+-------------------------------------------------------------|
|K   |contains a PGP public key                                    |
|----+-------------------------------------------------------------|
|N   |message is new                                               |
|----+-------------------------------------------------------------|
|O   |message is old                                               |
|----+-------------------------------------------------------------|
|P   |message is PGP encrypted                                     |
|----+-------------------------------------------------------------|
|r   |message has been replied to                                  |
|----+-------------------------------------------------------------|
|S   |message is signed, and the signature is successfully verified|
|----+-------------------------------------------------------------|
|s   |message is signed                                            |
|----+-------------------------------------------------------------|
|!   |message is flagged                                           |
|----+-------------------------------------------------------------|
|*   |message is tagged                                            |
|----+-------------------------------------------------------------|
|n   |thread contains new messages (only if collapsed)             |
|----+-------------------------------------------------------------|
|o   |thread contains old messages (only if collapsed)             |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+


Table 2.6. Message recipient flags

+------------------------------------------------------+
|Flag|                   Description                   |
|----+-------------------------------------------------|
|+   |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                              |
|----+-------------------------------------------------|
|L   |message is sent to a subscribed mailing list     |
+------------------------------------------------------+


5.2. The Pager

By default, Mutt uses its built-in pager to display the contents of messages
(an external pager such as less(1) can be configured, see $pager variable). The
pager is very similar to the Unix program less(1) though not nearly as
featureful.

Table 2.7. Most common pager keys

+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Key   |                           Description                            |
|--------+------------------------------------------------------------------|
|<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       |search for next match                                             |
|--------+------------------------------------------------------------------|
|S       |skip beyond quoted text                                           |
|--------+------------------------------------------------------------------|
|T       |toggle display of quoted text                                     |
|--------+------------------------------------------------------------------|
|?       |show keybindings                                                  |
|--------+------------------------------------------------------------------|
|/       |regular expression search                                         |
|--------+------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Esc /   |backward regular expression search                                |
|--------+------------------------------------------------------------------|
|\       |toggle highlighting of search matches                             |
|--------+------------------------------------------------------------------|
|^       |jump to the top of the message                                    |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+


In addition to key bindings in Table 2.7, ?Most common pager keys?, many of the
functions from the index menu are also 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:

\e[Ps;Ps;..Ps;m

where Ps can be one of the codes shown in Table 2.8, ?ANSI escape sequences?.

Table 2.8. ANSI escape sequences

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Escape code|                         Description                          |
|-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------|
|0          |All attributes off                                            |
|-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------|
|1          |Bold on                                                       |
|-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------|
|4          |Underline on                                                  |
|-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------|
|5          |Blink on                                                      |
|-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------|
|7          |Reverse video on                                              |
|-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------|
|3<color>   |Foreground color is <color> (see Table 2.9, ?Color sequences?)|
|-----------+--------------------------------------------------------------|
|4<color>   |Background color is <color> (see Table 2.9, ?Color sequences?)|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+


Table 2.9. Color sequences

+-------------------+
|Color code | Color |
|-----------+-------|
|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.

Note

Note that the search commands in the pager take regular expressions, which are
not quite the same as the more complex patterns used by the search command in
the index. This is because patterns are used to select messages by criteria
whereas the pager already displays a selected message.

5.3. Threaded Mode

So-called ?threads? provide a hierarchy of messages where replies are linked to
their parent message(s). This organizational form is extremely useful in
mailing lists where different parts of the discussion diverge. Mutt displays
threads as a tree structure.

In Mutt, when a mailbox is sorted by threads, there are a few additional
functions available in the index and pager modes as shown in Table 2.10, ?Most
common thread mode keys?.

Table 2.10. Most common thread mode keys

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Key |      Function      |                 Description                  |
|-----+--------------------+----------------------------------------------|
|^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          |
|-----+--------------------+----------------------------------------------|
|Esc v|<collapse-thread>   |toggle collapse for the current thread        |
|-----+--------------------+----------------------------------------------|
|Esc V|<collapse-all>      |toggle collapse for all threads               |
|-----+--------------------+----------------------------------------------|
|P    |<parent-message>    |jump to parent message in thread              |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+


Collapsing a thread displays only the first message in the thread and hides the
others. This is useful when threads contain so many messages that you can only
see a handful of threads on the screen. See %M in $index_format. For example,
you could use ?%?M?(#%03M)&(%4l)?? in $index_format to optionally display the
number of hidden messages if the thread is collapsed. The %?<char>?<if-part>&
<else-part>? syntax is explained in detail in format string conditionals.

Technically, every reply should contain a list of its parent messages in the
thread tree, but not all do. In these cases, Mutt groups them by subject which
can be controlled using the $strict_threads variable.

5.4. Miscellaneous Functions

In addition, the index and pager menus have these interesting functions:

<create-alias> (default: a)

    Creates a new alias based upon the current message (or prompts for a new
    one). Once editing is complete, an alias command is added to the file
    specified by the $alias_file variable for future use

    Note

    Mutt does not read the $alias_file upon startup so you must explicitly
    source the file.

<check-traditional-pgp> (default: Esc P)

    This function will search the current message for content signed or
    encrypted with PGP the ?traditional? way, that is, without proper MIME
    tagging. Technically, this function will temporarily change the MIME
    content types of the body parts containing PGP data; this is similar to the
    <edit-type> function's effect.

<edit> (default: e)

    This command (available in the index and pager) allows you to edit the raw
    current message as it's present in the mail folder. After you have finished
    editing, the changed message will be appended to the current folder, and
    the original message will be marked for deletion; if the message is
    unchanged it won't be replaced.

<edit-type> (default: ^E on the attachment menu, and in the pager and index
    menus; ^T on the compose menu)

    This command is used to temporarily edit an attachment's content type to
    fix, for instance, bogus character set parameters. When invoked from the
    index or from the pager, you'll have the opportunity to edit the top-level
    attachment's content type. On the attachment menu, you can change any
    attachment's content type. These changes are not persistent, and get lost
    upon changing folders.

    Note that this command is also available on the compose menu. There, it's
    used to fine-tune the properties of attachments you are going to send.

<enter-command> (default: ?:?)

    This command is used to execute any command you would normally put in a
    configuration file. A common use is to check the settings of variables, or
    in conjunction with macros to change settings on the fly.

<extract-keys> (default: ^K)

    This command extracts PGP public keys from the current or tagged message(s)
    and adds them to your PGP public key ring.

<forget-passphrase> (default: ^F)

    This command wipes the passphrase(s) from memory. It is useful, if you
    misspelled the passphrase.

<list-reply> (default: L)

    Reply to the current or tagged message(s) by extracting any addresses which
    match the regular expressions given by the lists or subscribe commands, but
    also honor any Mail-Followup-To header(s) if the $honor_followup_to
    configuration variable is set. Using this when replying to messages posted
    to mailing lists helps avoid duplicate copies being sent to the author of
    the message you are replying to.

<pipe-message> (default: |)

    Asks for an external Unix command and pipes the current or tagged message
    (s) to it. The variables $pipe_decode, $pipe_split, $pipe_sep and $wait_key
    control the exact behavior of this function.

<resend-message> (default: Esc e)

    Mutt takes the current message as a template for a new message. This
    function is best described as "recall from arbitrary folders". It can
    conveniently be used to forward MIME messages while preserving the original
    mail structure. Note that the amount of headers included here depends on
    the value of the $weed variable.

    This function is also available from the attachment menu. You can use this
    to easily resend a message which was included with a bounce message as a
    message/rfc822 body part.

<shell-escape> (default: !)

    Asks for an external Unix command and executes it. The $wait_key can be
    used to control whether Mutt will wait for a key to be pressed when the
    command returns (presumably to let the user read the output of the
    command), based on the return status of the named command. If no command is
    given, an interactive shell is executed.

<toggle-quoted> (default: T)

    The pager uses the $quote_regexp variable to detect quoted text when
    displaying the body of the message. This function toggles the display of
    the quoted material in the message. It is particularly useful when being
    interested in just the response and there is a large amount of quoted text
    in the way.

<skip-quoted> (default: S)

    This function will go to the next line of non-quoted text which comes after
    a line of quoted text in the internal pager.

6. Sending Mail

6.1. Introduction

The bindings shown in Table 2.11, ?Most common mail sending keys? are available
in the index and pager to start a new message.

Table 2.11. Most common mail sending keys

+----------------------------------------------------+
| Key |  Function   |          Description           |
|-----+-------------+--------------------------------|
|m    |<compose>    |compose a new message           |
|-----+-------------+--------------------------------|
|r    |<reply>      |reply to sender                 |
|-----+-------------+--------------------------------|
|g    |<group-reply>|reply to all recipients         |
|-----+-------------+--------------------------------|
|L    |<list-reply> |reply to mailing list address   |
|-----+-------------+--------------------------------|
|f    |<forward>    |forward message                 |
|-----+-------------+--------------------------------|
|b    |<bounce>     |bounce (remail) message         |
|-----+-------------+--------------------------------|
|Esc k|<mail-key>   |mail a PGP public key to someone|
+----------------------------------------------------+


Bouncing a message sends the message as-is to the recipient you specify.
Forwarding a message allows you to add comments or modify the message you are
forwarding. These items are discussed in greater detail in the next section ?
Forwarding and Bouncing Mail.?

Mutt will then enter the compose menu and prompt you for the recipients to
place on the ?To:? header field when you hit m to start a new message. Next, it
will ask you for the ?Subject:? field for the message, providing a default if
you are replying to or forwarding a message. You again have the chance to
adjust recipients, subject, and security settings right before actually sending
the message. See also $askcc, $askbcc, $autoedit, $bounce, $fast_reply, and
$include for changing how and if Mutt asks these questions.

When replying, Mutt fills these fields with proper values depending on the
reply type. The types of replying supported are:

Simple reply

    Reply to the author directly.

Group reply

    Reply to the author as well to all recipients except you; this consults
    alternates.

List reply

    Reply to all mailing list addresses found, either specified via
    configuration or auto-detected. See Section 12, ?Mailing Lists? for
    details.

After getting recipients for new messages, forwards or replies, Mutt will then
automatically start your $editor on the message body. If the $edit_headers
variable is set, the headers will be at the top of the message in your editor.
Any messages you are replying to will be added in sort order to the message,
with appropriate $attribution, $indent_string and $post_indent_string. When
forwarding a message, if the $mime_forward variable is unset, a copy of the
forwarded message will be included. If you have specified a $signature, it will
be appended to the message.

Once you have finished editing the body of your mail message, you are returned
to the compose menu providing the functions shown in Table 2.12, ?Most common
compose menu keys? to modify, send or postpone the message.

Table 2.12. Most common compose menu keys

+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Key |     Function      |                Description                 |
|-----+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
|a    |<attach-file>      |attach a file                               |
|-----+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
|A    |<attach-message>   |attach message(s) to the message            |
|-----+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
|Esc k|<attach-key>       |attach a PGP public key                     |
|-----+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
|d    |<edit-description> |edit description on attachment              |
|-----+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
|D    |<detach-file>      |detach a file                               |
|-----+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
|t    |<edit-to>          |edit the To field                           |
|-----+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
|Esc f|<edit-from>        |edit the From field                         |
|-----+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
|r    |<edit-reply-to>    |edit the Reply-To field                     |
|-----+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
|c    |<edit-cc>          |edit the Cc field                           |
|-----+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
|b    |<edit-bcc>         |edit the Bcc field                          |
|-----+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
|y    |<send-message>     |send the message                            |
|-----+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
|s    |<edit-subject>     |edit the Subject                            |
|-----+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
|S    |<smime-menu>       |select S/MIME options                       |
|-----+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
|f    |<edit-fcc>         |specify an ?Fcc? mailbox                    |
|-----+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
|p    |<pgp-menu>         |select PGP options                          |
|-----+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
|P    |<postpone-message> |postpone this message until later           |
|-----+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
|q    |<quit>             |quit (abort) sending the message            |
|-----+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
|w    |<write-fcc>        |write the message to a folder               |
|-----+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
|i    |<ispell>           |check spelling (if available on your system)|
|-----+-------------------+--------------------------------------------|
|^F   |<forget-passphrase>|wipe passphrase(s) from memory              |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+


The compose menu is also used to edit the attachments for a message which can
be either files or other messages. The <attach-message> function to will prompt
you for a folder to attach messages from. You can now tag messages in that
folder and they will be attached to the message you are sending.

Note

Note that certain operations like composing a new mail, replying, forwarding,
etc. are not permitted when you are in that folder. The %r in $status_format
will change to a ?A? to indicate that you are in attach-message mode.

6.2. Editing the Message Header

When editing the header because of $edit_headers being set, there are a several
pseudo headers available which will not be included in sent messages but
trigger special Mutt behavior.

6.2.1. Fcc: Pseudo Header

If you specify

Fcc: filename

as a header, Mutt will pick up filename just as if you had used the <edit-fcc>
function in the compose menu. It can later be changed from the compose menu.

6.2.2. Attach: Pseudo Header

You can also attach files to your message by specifying

Attach: filename [ description ]

where filename is the file to attach and description is an optional string to
use as the description of the attached file. Spaces in filenames have to be
escaped using backslash (?\?). The file can be removed as well as more added
from the compose menu.

6.2.3. Pgp: Pseudo Header

If you want to use PGP, you can specify

Pgp: [ E | S | S<id> ]

?E? selects encryption, ?S? selects signing and ?S<id>? selects signing with
the given key, setting $pgp_sign_as permanently. The selection can later be
changed in the compose menu.

6.2.4. In-Reply-To: Header

When replying to messages, the In-Reply-To: header contains the Message-Id of
the message(s) you reply to. If you remove or modify its value, Mutt will not
generate a References: field, which allows you to create a new message thread,
for example to create a new message to a mailing list without having to enter
the mailing list's address.

If you intend to start a new thread by replying, please make really sure you
remove the In-Reply-To: header in your editor. Otherwise, though you'll produce
a technically valid reply, some netiquette guardians will be annoyed by this
so-called ?thread hijacking?.

6.3. Sending Cryptographically Signed/Encrypted Messages

If you have told Mutt to PGP or S/MIME encrypt a message, it will guide you
through a key selection process when you try to send the message. Mutt will not
ask you any questions about keys which have a certified user ID matching one of
the message recipients' mail addresses. However, there may be situations in
which there are several keys, weakly certified user ID fields, or where no
matching keys can be found.

In these cases, you are dropped into a menu with a list of keys from which you
can select one. When you quit this menu, or Mutt can't find any matching keys,
you are prompted for a user ID. You can, as usually, abort this prompt using ^
G. When you do so, Mutt will return to the compose screen.

Once you have successfully finished the key selection, the message will be
encrypted using the selected public keys when sent out.

Most fields of the entries in the key selection menu (see also
$pgp_entry_format) have obvious meanings. But some explanations on the
capabilities, flags, and validity fields are in order.

The flags sequence (?%f?) will expand to one of the flags in Table 2.13, ?PGP
key menu flags?.

Table 2.13. PGP key menu flags

+-------------------------------------------------------+
|Flag|                   Description                    |
|----+--------------------------------------------------|
|R   |The key has been revoked and can't be used.       |
|----+--------------------------------------------------|
|X   |The key is expired and can't be used.             |
|----+--------------------------------------------------|
|d   |You have marked the key as disabled.              |
|----+--------------------------------------------------|
|c   |There are unknown critical self-signature packets.|
+-------------------------------------------------------+


The capabilities field (?%c?) expands to a two-character sequence representing
a key's capabilities. The first character gives the key's encryption
capabilities: A minus sign (?-?) means that the key cannot be used for
encryption. A dot (?.?) means that it's marked as a signature key in one of the
user IDs, but may also be used for encryption. The letter ?e? indicates that
this key can be used for encryption.

The second character indicates the key's signing capabilities. Once again, a
?-? implies ?not for signing?, ?.? implies that the key is marked as an
encryption key in one of the user-ids, and ?s? denotes a key which can be used
for signing.

Finally, the validity field (?%t?) indicates how well-certified a user-id is. A
question mark (???) indicates undefined validity, a minus character (?-?) marks
an untrusted association, a space character means a partially trusted
association, and a plus character (?+?) indicates complete validity.

6.4. Sending Format=Flowed Messages

6.4.1. Concept

format=flowed-style messages (or f=f for short) are text/plain messages that
consist of paragraphs which a receiver's mail client may reformat to its own
needs which mostly means to customize line lengths regardless of what the
sender sent. Technically this is achieved by letting lines of a ?flowable?
paragraph end in spaces except for the last line.

While for text-mode clients like Mutt it's the best way to assume only a
standard 80x25 character cell terminal, it may be desired to let the receiver
decide completely how to view a message.

6.4.2. Mutt Support

Mutt only supports setting the required format=flowed MIME parameter on
outgoing messages if the $text_flowed variable is set, specifically it does not
add the trailing spaces.

After editing the initial message text and before entering the compose menu,
Mutt properly space-stuffs the message. Space-stuffing is required by RfC3676
defining format=flowed and means to prepend a space to:

  * all lines starting with a space

  * lines starting with the word ?From? followed by space

  * all lines starting with ?>? which is not intended to be a quote character

Note

Mutt only supports space-stuffing for the first two types of lines but not for
the third: It is impossible to safely detect whether a leading > character
starts a quote or not. Furthermore, Mutt only applies space-stuffing once after
the initial edit is finished.

All leading spaces are to be removed by receiving clients to restore the
original message prior to further processing.

6.4.3. Editor Considerations

As Mutt provides no additional features to compose f=f messages, it's
completely up to the user and his editor to produce proper messages. Please
consider your editor's documentation if you intend to send f=f messages.

Please note that when editing messages from the compose menu several times
before really sending a mail, it's up to the user to ensure that the message is
properly space-stuffed.

For example, vim provides the w flag for its formatoptions setting to assist in
creating f=f messages, see :help fo-table for details.

7. Forwarding and Bouncing Mail

Bouncing and forwarding let you send an existing message to recipients that you
specify. Bouncing a message sends a verbatim copy of a message to alternative
addresses as if they were the message's original recipients specified in the
Bcc header. Forwarding a message, on the other hand, allows you to modify the
message before it is resent (for example, by adding your own comments).
Bouncing is done using the <bounce> function and forwarding using the <forward>
function bound to ?b? and ?f? respectively.

Forwarding can be done by including the original message in the new message's
body (surrounded by indicating lines) or including it as a MIME attachment,
depending on the value of the $mime_forward variable. Decoding of attachments,
like in the pager, can be controlled by the $forward_decode and
$mime_forward_decode variables, respectively. The desired forwarding format may
depend on the content, therefore $mime_forward is a quadoption which, for
example, can be set to ?ask-no?.

The inclusion of headers is controlled by the current setting of the $weed
variable, unless $mime_forward is set.

Editing the message to forward follows the same procedure as sending or
replying to a message does.

8. Postponing Mail

At times it is desirable to delay sending a message that you have already begun
to compose. When the <postpone-message> function is used in the compose menu,
the body of your message and attachments are stored in the mailbox specified by
the $postponed variable. This means that you can recall the message even if you
exit Mutt and then restart it at a later time.

Once a message is postponed, there are several ways to resume it. From the
command line you can use the ?-p? option, or if you compose a new message from
the index or pager you will be prompted if postponed messages exist. If
multiple messages are currently postponed, the postponed menu will pop up and
you can select which message you would like to resume.

Note

If you postpone a reply to a message, the reply setting of the message is only
updated when you actually finish the message and send it. Also, you must be in
the same folder with the message you replied to for the status of the message
to be updated.

See also the $postpone quad-option.

Chapter 3. Configuration

Table of Contents

1. Location of Initialization Files
2. Syntax of Initialization Files
3. Address Groups
4. Defining/Using Aliases
5. Changing the Default Key Bindings
6. Defining Aliases for Character Sets
7. Setting Variables Based Upon Mailbox
8. Keyboard Macros
9. Using Color and Mono Video Attributes
10. Message Header Display

    10.1. Header Display
    10.2. Selecting Headers
    10.3. Ordering Displayed Headers

11. Alternative Addresses
12. Mailing Lists
13. Using Multiple Spool Mailboxes
14. Monitoring Incoming Mail
15. User-Defined Headers
16. Specify Default Save Mailbox
17. Specify Default Fcc: Mailbox When Composing
18. Specify Default Save Filename and Default Fcc: Mailbox at Once
19. Change Settings Based Upon Message Recipients
20. Change Settings Before Formatting a Message
21. Choosing the Cryptographic Key of the Recipient
22. Adding Key Sequences to the Keyboard Buffer
23. Executing Functions
24. Message Scoring
25. Spam Detection
26. Setting and Querying Variables

    26.1. Variable Types
    26.2. Commands
    26.3. User-Defined Variables
    26.4. Type Conversions

27. Reading Initialization Commands From Another File
28. Removing Hooks
29. Format Strings

    29.1. Basic usage
    29.2. Conditionals
    29.3. Filters
    29.4. Padding

1. Location of Initialization Files

While the default configuration (or ?preferences?) make Mutt usable right out
of the box, it is often desirable to tailor Mutt to suit your own tastes. When
Mutt is first invoked, it will attempt to read the ?system? configuration file
(defaults set by your local system administrator), unless the ?-n? command line
option is specified. This file is typically /usr/local/share/mutt/Muttrc or /
etc/Muttrc. Mutt will next look for a file named .muttrc in your home
directory. If this file does not exist and your home directory has a
subdirectory named .mutt, Mutt tries to load a file named .mutt/muttrc.

.muttrc is the file where you will usually place your commands to configure
Mutt.

In addition, Mutt supports version specific configuration files that are parsed
instead of the default files as explained above. For instance, if your system
has a Muttrc-0.88 file in the system configuration directory, and you are
running version 0.88 of Mutt, this file will be sourced instead of the Muttrc
file. The same is true of the user configuration file, if you have a file
.muttrc-0.88.6 in your home directory, when you run Mutt version 0.88.6, it
will source this file instead of the default .muttrc file. The version number
is the same which is visible using the ?-v? command line switch or using the
show-version key (default: V) from the index menu.

2. Syntax of Initialization Files

An initialization file consists of a series of commands. Each line of the file
may contain one or more commands. When multiple commands are used, they must be
separated by a semicolon (?;?).

Example 3.1. Multiple configuration commands per line

set realname='Mutt user' ; ignore x-


The hash mark, or pound sign (?#?), is used as a ?comment? character. You can
use it to annotate your initialization file. All text after the comment
character to the end of the line is ignored.

Example 3.2. Commenting configuration files

my_hdr X-Disclaimer: Why are you listening to me? # This is a comment


Single quotes (?'?) and double quotes (?"?) can be used to quote strings which
contain spaces or other special characters. The difference between the two
types of quotes is similar to that of many popular shell programs, namely that
a single quote is used to specify a literal string (one that is not interpreted
for shell variables or quoting with a backslash [see next paragraph]), while
double quotes indicate a string for which should be evaluated. For example,
backticks are evaluated inside of double quotes, but not for single quotes.

?\? quotes the next character, just as in shells such as bash and zsh. For
example, if want to put quotes ?"? inside of a string, you can use ?\? to force
the next character to be a literal instead of interpreted character.

Example 3.3. Escaping quotes in configuration files

set realname="Michael \"MuttDude\" Elkins"


?\\? means to insert a literal ?\? into the line. ?\n? and ?\r? have their
usual C meanings of linefeed and carriage-return, respectively.

A ?\? at the end of a line can be used to split commands over multiple lines as
it ?escapes? the line end, provided that the split points don't appear in the
middle of command names. Lines are first concatenated before interpretation so
that a multi-line can be commented by commenting out the first line only.

Example 3.4. Splitting long configuration commands over several lines

set status_format="some very \
long value split \
over several lines"


It is also possible to substitute the output of a Unix command in an
initialization file. This is accomplished by enclosing the command in backticks
(``). In Example 3.5, ?Using external command's output in configuration files?,
the output of the Unix command ?uname -a? will be substituted before the line
is parsed. Since initialization files are line oriented, only the first line of
output from the Unix command will be substituted.

Example 3.5. Using external command's output in configuration files

my_hdr X-Operating-System: `uname -a`


Both environment variables and Mutt variables can be accessed by prepending ?$?
to the name of the variable. For example,

Example 3.6. Using environment variables in configuration files

set record=+sent_on_$HOSTNAME


will cause Mutt to save outgoing messages to a folder named ?sent_on_kremvax?
if the environment variable $HOSTNAME is set to ?kremvax.? (See $record for
details.)

Mutt expands the variable when it is assigned, not when it is used. If the
value of a variable on the right-hand side of an assignment changes after the
assignment, the variable on the left-hand side will not be affected.

The commands understood by Mutt are explained in the next paragraphs. For a
complete list, see the command reference.

All configuration files are expected to be in the current locale as specified
by the $charset variable which doesn't have a default value since it's
determined by Mutt at startup. If a configuration file is not encoded in the
same character set the $config_charset variable should be used: all lines
starting with the next are recoded from $config_charset to $charset.

This mechanism should be avoided if possible as it has the following
implications:

  * These variables should be set early in a configuration file with $charset
    preceding $config_charset so Mutt knows what character set to convert to.

  * If $config_charset is set, it should be set in each configuration file
    because the value is global and not per configuration file.

  * Because Mutt first recodes a line before it attempts to parse it, a
    conversion introducing question marks or other characters as part of errors
    (unconvertable characters, transliteration) may introduce syntax errors or
    silently change the meaning of certain tokens (e.g. inserting question
    marks into regular expressions).

3. Address Groups

Usage:

group [ -group name ...] { -rx expr ... | -addr expr ... }
ungroup [ -group name ...] { * | -rx expr ... | -addr expr ... }

Mutt supports grouping addresses logically into named groups. An address or
address pattern can appear in several groups at the same time. These groups can
be used in patterns (for searching, limiting and tagging) and in hooks by using
group patterns. This can be useful to classify mail and take certain actions
depending on in what groups the message is. For example, the mutt user's
mailing list would fit into the categories ?mailing list? and ?mutt-related?.
Using send-hook, the sender can be set to a dedicated one for writing mailing
list messages, and the signature could be set to a mutt-related one for writing
to a mutt list ? for other lists, the list sender setting still applies but a
different signature can be selected. Or, given a group only containing
recipients known to accept encrypted mail, ?auto-encryption? can be achieved
easily.

The group command is used to directly add either addresses or regular
expressions to the specified group or groups. The different categories of
arguments to the group command can be in any order. The flags -rx and -addr
specify what the following strings (that cannot begin with a hyphen) should be
interpreted as: either a regular expression or an email address, respectively.

These address groups can also be created implicitly by the alias, lists,
subscribe and alternates commands by specifying the optional -group option. For
example,

alternates -group me address1 address2
alternates -group me -group work address3

would create a group named ?me? which contains all your addresses and a group
named ?work? which contains only your work address address3. Besides many other
possibilities, this could be used to automatically mark your own messages in a
mailing list folder as read or use a special signature for work-related
messages.

The ungroup command is used to remove addresses or regular expressions from the
specified group or groups. The syntax is similar to the group command, however
the special character * can be used to empty a group of all of its contents. As
soon as a group gets empty because all addresses and regular expressions have
been removed, it'll internally be removed, too (i.e. there cannot be an empty
group). When removing regular expressions from a group, the pattern must be
specified exactly as given to the group command or -group argument.

4. Defining/Using Aliases

Usage:

alias [ -group name ...] key address [ address ...]
unalias [ -group name ...] { * | key ... }

It's usually very cumbersome to remember or type out the address of someone you
are communicating with. Mutt allows you to create ?aliases? which map a short
string to a full address.

Note

If you want to create an alias for more than one address, you must separate the
addresses with a comma (?,?).

The optional -group argument to alias causes the aliased address(es) to be
added to the named group.

To remove an alias or aliases (?*? means all aliases):

alias muttdude me@cs.hmc.edu (Michael Elkins)
alias theguys manny, moe, jack

Unlike other mailers, Mutt doesn't require aliases to be defined in a special
file. The alias command can appear anywhere in a configuration file, as long as
this file is sourced. Consequently, you can have multiple alias files, or you
can have all aliases defined in your .muttrc.

On the other hand, the <create-alias> function can use only one file, the one
pointed to by the $alias_file variable (which is ~/.muttrc by default). This
file is not special either, in the sense that Mutt will happily append aliases
to any file, but in order for the new aliases to take effect you need to
explicitly source this file too.

Example 3.7. Configuring external alias files

source /usr/local/share/Mutt.aliases
source ~/.mail_aliases
set alias_file=~/.mail_aliases


To use aliases, you merely use the alias at any place in Mutt where Mutt
prompts for addresses, such as the To: or Cc: prompt. You can also enter
aliases in your editor at the appropriate headers if you have the $edit_headers
variable set.

In addition, at the various address prompts, you can use the tab character to
expand a partial alias to the full alias. If there are multiple matches, Mutt
will bring up a menu with the matching aliases. In order to be presented with
the full list of aliases, you must hit tab without a partial alias, such as at
the beginning of the prompt or after a comma denoting multiple addresses.

In the alias menu, you can select as many aliases as you want with the
select-entry key (default: <Return>), and use the exit key (default: q) to
return to the address prompt.

5. Changing the Default Key Bindings

Usage:

bind map key function

This command allows you to change the default key bindings (operation invoked
when pressing a key).

map specifies in which menu the binding belongs. Multiple maps may be specified
by separating them with commas (no additional whitespace is allowed). The
currently defined maps are:

generic

    This is not a real menu, but is used as a fallback for all of the other
    menus except for the pager and editor modes. If a key is not defined in
    another menu, Mutt will look for a binding to use in this menu. This allows
    you to bind a key to a certain function in multiple menus instead of having
    multiple bind statements to accomplish the same task.

alias

    The alias menu is the list of your personal aliases as defined in your
    .muttrc. It is the mapping from a short alias name to the full email
    address(es) of the recipient(s).

attach

    The attachment menu is used to access the attachments on received messages.

browser

    The browser is used for both browsing the local directory structure, and
    for listing all of your incoming mailboxes.

editor

    The editor is used to allow the user to enter a single line of text, such
    as the To or Subject prompts in the compose menu.

index

    The index is the list of messages contained in a mailbox.

compose

    The compose menu is the screen used when sending a new message.

pager

    The pager is the mode used to display message/attachment data, and help
    listings.

pgp

    The pgp menu is used to select the OpenPGP keys used to encrypt outgoing
    messages.

smime

    The smime menu is used to select the OpenSSL certificates used to encrypt
    outgoing messages.

postpone

    The postpone menu is similar to the index menu, except is used when
    recalling a message the user was composing, but saved until later.

query

    The query menu is the browser for results returned by $query_command.

mix

    The mixmaster screen is used to select remailer options for outgoing
    messages (if Mutt is compiled with Mixmaster support).

key is the key (or key sequence) you wish to bind. To specify a control
character, use the sequence \Cx, where x is the letter of the control character
(for example, to specify control-A use ?\Ca?). Note that the case of x as well
as \C is ignored, so that \CA, \Ca, \cA and \ca are all equivalent. An
alternative form is to specify the key as a three digit octal number prefixed
with a ?\? (for example \177 is equivalent to \c?). In addition, key may be a
symbolic name as shown in Table 3.1, ?Symbolic key names?.

Table 3.1. Symbolic key names

+---------------------------------+
|Symbolic name|      Meaning      |
|-------------+-------------------|
|\t           |tab                |
|-------------+-------------------|
|<tab>        |tab                |
|-------------+-------------------|
|<backtab>    |backtab / shift-tab|
|-------------+-------------------|
|\r           |carriage return    |
|-------------+-------------------|
|\n           |newline            |
|-------------+-------------------|
|\e           |escape             |
|-------------+-------------------|
|<esc>        |escape             |
|-------------+-------------------|
|<up>         |up arrow           |
|-------------+-------------------|
|<down>       |down arrow         |
|-------------+-------------------|
|<left>       |left arrow         |
|-------------+-------------------|
|<right>      |right arrow        |
|-------------+-------------------|
|<pageup>     |Page Up            |
|-------------+-------------------|
|<pagedown>   |Page Down          |
|-------------+-------------------|
|<backspace>  |Backspace          |
|-------------+-------------------|
|<delete>     |Delete             |
|-------------+-------------------|
|<insert>     |Insert             |
|-------------+-------------------|
|<enter>      |Enter              |
|-------------+-------------------|
|<return>     |Return             |
|-------------+-------------------|
|<home>       |Home               |
|-------------+-------------------|
|<end>        |End                |
|-------------+-------------------|
|<space>      |Space bar          |
|-------------+-------------------|
|<f1>         |function key 1     |
|-------------+-------------------|
|<f10>        |function key 10    |
+---------------------------------+


key does not need to be enclosed in quotes unless it contains a space (? ?) or
semi-colon (?;?).

function specifies which action to take when key is pressed. For a complete
list of functions, see the reference. Note that the bind expects function to be
specified without angle brackets.

The special function <noop> unbinds the specified key sequence.

6. Defining Aliases for Character Sets

Usage:

charset-hook alias charset
iconv-hook charset local-charset

The charset-hook command defines an alias for a character set. This is useful
to properly display messages which are tagged with a character set name not
known to Mutt.

The iconv-hook command defines a system-specific name for a character set. This
is helpful when your systems character conversion library insists on using
strange, system-specific names for character sets.

7. Setting Variables Based Upon Mailbox

Usage:

folder-hook [!]regexp command

It is often desirable to change settings based on which mailbox you are
reading. The folder-hook command provides a method by which you can execute any
configuration command. regexp is a regular expression specifying in which
mailboxes to execute command before loading. If a mailbox matches multiple
folder-hooks, they are executed in the order given in the .muttrc.

Note

If you use the ?!? shortcut for $spoolfile at the beginning of the pattern, you
must place it inside of double or single quotes in order to distinguish it from
the logical not operator for the expression.

Note

Settings are not restored when you leave the mailbox. For example, a command
action to perform is to change the sorting method based upon the mailbox being
read:

folder-hook mutt "set sort=threads"

However, the sorting method is not restored to its previous value when reading
a different mailbox. To specify a default command, use the pattern ?.? before
other folder-hooks adjusting a value on a per-folder basis because folder-hooks
are evaluated in the order given in the configuration file.

The following example will set the sort variable to date-sent for all folders
but to threads for all folders containing ?mutt? in their name.

Example 3.8. Setting sort method based on mailbox name

folder-hook . "set sort=date-sent"
folder-hook mutt "set sort=threads"


8. Keyboard Macros

Usage:

macro menu key sequence [ description ]

Macros are useful when you would like a single key to perform a series of
actions. When you press key in menu menu, Mutt will behave as if you had typed
sequence. So if you have a common sequence of commands you type, you can create
a macro to execute those commands with a single key or fewer keys.

menu is the map which the macro will be bound in. Multiple maps may be
specified by separating multiple menu arguments by commas. Whitespace may not
be used in between the menu arguments and the commas separating them.

key and sequence are expanded by the same rules as the key bindings with some
additions. The first is that control characters in sequence can also be
specified as ^x. In order to get a caret (?^?) you need to use ^^. Secondly, to
specify a certain key such as up or to invoke a function directly, you can use
the format <key name> and <function name>. For a listing of key names see the
section on key bindings. Functions are listed in the reference.

The advantage with using function names directly is that the macros will work
regardless of the current key bindings, so they are not dependent on the user
having particular key definitions. This makes them more robust and portable,
and also facilitates defining of macros in files used by more than one user
(e.g., the system Muttrc).

Optionally you can specify a descriptive text after sequence, which is shown in
the help screens if they contain a description.

Note

Macro definitions (if any) listed in the help screen(s), are silently truncated
at the screen width, and are not wrapped.

9. Using Color and Mono Video Attributes

Usage:

color object foreground background
color { header | body } foreground background regexp
color index foreground background pattern
uncolor { index | header | body } { * | pattern ... }

If your terminal supports color, you can spice up Mutt by creating your own
color scheme. To define the color of an object (type of information), you must
specify both a foreground color and a background color (it is not possible to
only specify one or the other).

header and body match regexp in the header/body of a message, index matches
pattern (see Section 3, ?Patterns: Searching, Limiting and Tagging?) in the
message index.

object can be one of:

  * attachment

  * bold (highlighting bold patterns in the body of messages)

  * error (error messages printed by Mutt)

  * hdrdefault (default color of the message header in the pager)

  * indicator (arrow or bar used to indicate the current item in a menu)

  * markers (the ?+? markers at the beginning of wrapped lines in the pager)

  * message (informational messages)

  * normal

  * quoted (text matching $quote_regexp in the body of a message)

  * quoted1, quoted2, ..., quotedN (higher levels of quoting)

  * search (highlighting of words in the pager)

  * signature

  * status (mode lines used to display info about the mailbox or message)

  * tilde (the ?~? used to pad blank lines in the pager)

  * tree (thread tree drawn in the message index and attachment menu)

  * underline (highlighting underlined patterns in the body of messages)

foreground and background can be one of the following:

  * white

  * black

  * green

  * magenta

  * blue

  * cyan

  * yellow

  * red

  * default

  * colorx

foreground can optionally be prefixed with the keyword bright to make the
foreground color boldfaced (e.g., brightred).

If your terminal supports it, the special keyword default can be used as a
transparent color. The value brightdefault is also valid. If Mutt is linked
against the S-Lang library, you also need to set the $COLORFGBG environment
variable to the default colors of your terminal for this to work; for example
(for Bourne-like shells):

set COLORFGBG="green;black"
export COLORFGBG

Note

The S-Lang library requires you to use the lightgray and brown keywords instead
of white and yellow when setting this variable.

Note

The uncolor command can be applied to the index, header and body objects only.
It removes entries from the list. You must specify the same pattern specified
in the color command for it to be removed. The pattern ?*? is a special token
which means to clear the color list of all entries.

Mutt also recognizes the keywords color0, color1, ..., colorN-1 (N being the
number of colors supported by your terminal). This is useful when you remap the
colors for your display (for example by changing the color associated with
color2 for your xterm), since color names may then lose their normal meaning.

If your terminal does not support color, it is still possible change the video
attributes through the use of the ?mono? command. Usage:

mono object attribute
mono { header | body } attribute regexp
mono index attribute pattern
unmono { index | header | body } { * | pattern ... }

For object, see the color command. attribute can be one of the following:

  * none

  * bold

  * underline

  * reverse

  * standout

10. Message Header Display

10.1. Header Display

When displaying a message in the pager, Mutt folds long header lines at $wrap
columns. Though there're precise rules about where to break and how, Mutt
always folds headers using a tab for readability. (Note that the sending side
is not affected by this, Mutt tries to implement standards compliant folding.)

10.2. Selecting Headers

Usage:

ignore pattern [ pattern ...]
unignore { * | pattern ... }

Messages often have many header fields added by automatic processing systems,
or which may not seem useful to display on the screen. This command allows you
to specify header fields which you don't normally want to see in the pager.

You do not need to specify the full header field name. For example, ?ignore
content-? will ignore all header fields that begin with the pattern ?content-?.
?ignore *? will ignore all headers.

To remove a previously added token from the list, use the ?unignore? command.
The ?unignore? command will make Mutt display headers with the given pattern.
For example, if you do ?ignore x-? it is possible to ?unignore x-mailer?.

?unignore *? will remove all tokens from the ignore list.

Example 3.9. Header weeding

# Sven's draconian header weeding
ignore *
unignore from date subject to cc
unignore organization organisation x-mailer: x-newsreader: x-mailing-list:
unignore posted-to:


10.3. Ordering Displayed Headers

Usage:

hdr_order header [ header ...]
unhdr_order { * | header ... }

With the hdr_order command you can specify an order in which Mutt will attempt
to present these headers to you when viewing messages.

?unhdr_order *? will clear all previous headers from the order list, thus
removing the header order effects set by the system-wide startup file.

Example 3.10. Configuring header display order

hdr_order From Date: From: To: Cc: Subject:


11. Alternative Addresses

Usage:

alternates [ -group name ...] regexp [ regexp ...]
unalternates [ -group name ...] { * | regexp ... }

With various functions, Mutt will treat messages differently, depending on
whether you sent them or whether you received them from someone else. For
instance, when replying to a message that you sent to a different party, Mutt
will automatically suggest to send the response to the original message's
recipients ? responding to yourself won't make much sense in many cases. (See
$reply_to.)

Many users receive e-mail under a number of different addresses. To fully use
Mutt's features here, the program must be able to recognize what e-mail
addresses you receive mail under. That's the purpose of the alternates command:
It takes a list of regular expressions, each of which can identify an address
under which you receive e-mail.

As addresses are matched using regular expressions and not exact strict
comparisons, you should make sure you specify your addresses as precise as
possible to avoid mismatches. For example, if you specify:

alternates user@example

Mutt will consider ?some-user@example? as being your address, too which may not
be desired. As a solution, in such cases addresses should be specified as:

alternates '^user@example$'

The -group flag causes all of the subsequent regular expressions to be added to
the named group.

The unalternates command can be used to write exceptions to alternates
patterns. If an address matches something in an alternates command, but you
nonetheless do not think it is from you, you can list a more precise pattern
under an unalternates command.

To remove a regular expression from the alternates list, use the unalternates
command with exactly the same regexp. Likewise, if the regexp for an alternates
command matches an entry on the unalternates list, that unalternates entry will
be removed. If the regexp for unalternates is ?*?, all entries on alternates
will be removed.

12. Mailing Lists

Usage:

lists [ -group name ...] regexp [ regexp ...]
unlists { * | regexp ... }
subscribe [ -group name ...] regexp [ regexp ...]
unsubscribe { * | regexp ... }

Mutt has a few nice features for handling mailing lists. In order to take
advantage of them, you must specify which addresses belong to mailing lists,
and which mailing lists you are subscribed to. Mutt also has limited support
for auto-detecting mailing lists: it supports parsing mailto: links in the
common List-Post: header which has the same effect as specifying the list
address via the lists command (except the group feature). Once you have done
this, the <list-reply> function will work for all known lists. Additionally,
when you send a message to a subscribed list, Mutt will add a Mail-Followup-To
header to tell other users' mail user agents not to send copies of replies to
your personal address.

Note

The Mail-Followup-To header is a non-standard extension which is not supported
by all mail user agents. Adding it is not bullet-proof against receiving
personal CCs of list messages. Also note that the generation of the
Mail-Followup-To header is controlled by the $followup_to configuration
variable since it's common practice on some mailing lists to send Cc upon
replies (which is more a group- than a list-reply).

More precisely, Mutt maintains lists of patterns for the addresses of known and
subscribed mailing lists. Every subscribed mailing list is known. To mark a
mailing list as known, use the list command. To mark it as subscribed, use
subscribe.

You can use regular expressions with both commands. To mark all messages sent
to a specific bug report's address on Debian's bug tracking system as list
mail, for instance, you could say

subscribe [0-9]*.*@bugs.debian.org

as it's often sufficient to just give a portion of the list's e-mail address.

Specify as much of the address as you need to to remove ambiguity. For example,
if you've subscribed to the Mutt mailing list, you will receive mail addressed
to mutt-users@mutt.org. So, to tell Mutt that this is a mailing list, you could
add lists mutt-users@ to your initialization file. To tell Mutt that you are
subscribed to it, add subscribe mutt-users to your initialization file instead.
If you also happen to get mail from someone whose address is
mutt-users@example.com, you could use lists ^mutt-users@mutt\\.org$ or
subscribe ^mutt-users@mutt\\.org$ to match only mail from the actual list.

The -group flag adds all of the subsequent regular expressions to the named
address group in addition to adding to the specified address list.

The ?unlists? command is used to remove a token from the list of known and
subscribed mailing-lists. Use ?unlists *? to remove all tokens.

To remove a mailing list from the list of subscribed mailing lists, but keep it
on the list of known mailing lists, use unsubscribe.

13. Using Multiple Spool Mailboxes

Usage:

mbox-hook [!]pattern mailbox

This command is used to move read messages from a specified mailbox to a
different mailbox automatically when you quit or change folders. pattern is a
regular expression specifying the mailbox to treat as a ?spool? mailbox and
mailbox specifies where mail should be saved when read.

Unlike some of the other hook commands, only the first matching pattern is used
(it is not possible to save read mail in more than a single mailbox).

14. Monitoring Incoming Mail

Usage:

mailboxes mailbox [ mailbox ...]
unmailboxes { * | mailbox ... }

This command specifies folders which can receive mail and which will be checked
for new messages periodically.

folder can either be a local file or directory (Mbox/Mmdf or Maildir/Mh). If
Mutt was built with POP and/or IMAP support, folder can also be a POP/IMAP
folder URL. The URL syntax is described in Section 1.2, ?URL Syntax?, POP and
IMAP are described in Section 3, ?POP3 Support? and Section 4, ?IMAP Support?
respectively.

Mutt provides a number of advanced features for handling (possibly many)
folders and new mail within them, please refer to Section 10, ?New Mail
Detection? for details (including in what situations and how often Mutt checks
for new mail).

The ?unmailboxes? command is used to remove a token from the list of folders
which receive mail. Use ?unmailboxes *? to remove all tokens.

Note

The folders in the mailboxes command are resolved when the command is executed,
so if these names contain shortcut characters (such as ?=? and ?!?), any
variable definition that affects these characters (like $folder and $spoolfile)
should be set before the mailboxes command. If none of these shortcuts are
used, a local path should be absolute as otherwise Mutt tries to find it
relative to the directory from where Mutt was started which may not always be
desired.

15. User-Defined Headers

Usage:

my_hdr string
unmy_hdr { * | field ... }

The my_hdr command allows you to create your own header fields which will be
added to every message you send and appear in the editor if $edit_headers is
set.

For example, if you would like to add an ?Organization:? header field to all of
your outgoing messages, you can put the command something like shown in
Example 3.11, ?Defining custom headers? in your .muttrc.

Example 3.11. Defining custom headers

my_hdr Organization: A Really Big Company, Anytown, USA


Note

Space characters are not allowed between the keyword and the colon (?:?). The
standard for electronic mail (RFC2822) says that space is illegal there, so
Mutt enforces the rule.

If you would like to add a header field to a single message, you should either
set the $edit_headers variable, or use the <edit-headers> function (default:
?E?) in the compose menu so that you can edit the header of your message along
with the body.

To remove user defined header fields, use the unmy_hdr command. You may specify
an asterisk (?*?) to remove all header fields, or the fields to remove. For
example, to remove all ?To? and ?Cc? header fields, you could use:

unmy_hdr to cc

16. Specify Default Save Mailbox

Usage:

save-hook [!]pattern mailbox

This command is used to override the default mailbox used when saving messages.
mailbox will be used as the default if the message matches pattern, see Message
Matching in Hooks for information on the exact format.

To provide more flexibility and good defaults, Mutt applies the expandos of
$index_format to mailbox after it was expanded.

Example 3.12. Using %-expandos in save-hook

# default: save all to ~/Mail/<author name>
save-hook . ~/Mail/%F

# save from me@turing.cs.hmc.edu and me@cs.hmc.edu to $folder/elkins
save-hook me@(turing\\.)?cs\\.hmc\\.edu$ +elkins

# save from aol.com to $folder/spam
save-hook aol\\.com$ +spam


Also see the fcc-save-hook command.

17. Specify Default Fcc: Mailbox When Composing

Usage:

fcc-hook [!]pattern 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.

To provide more flexibility and good defaults, Mutt applies the expandos of
$index_format to mailbox after it was expanded.

See Message Matching in Hooks for information on the exact format of pattern.

fcc-hook [@.]aol\\.com$ +spammers

...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.

18. Specify Default Save Filename and Default Fcc: Mailbox at Once

Usage:

fcc-save-hook [!]pattern mailbox

This command is a shortcut, equivalent to doing both a fcc-hook and a save-hook
with its arguments, including %-expansion on mailbox according to $index_format
.

19. Change Settings Based Upon Message Recipients

Usage:

reply-hook [!]pattern command
send-hook [!]pattern command
send2-hook [!]pattern command

These commands can be used to execute arbitrary configuration commands based
upon recipients of the message. pattern is used to match the message, see
Message Matching in Hooks for details. command is executed when pattern
matches.

reply-hook is matched against the message you are replying to, instead of the
message you are sending. send-hook is matched against all messages, both new
and replies.

Note

reply-hooks are matched before the send-hook, regardless of the order specified
in the user's configuration file.

send2-hook is matched every time a message is changed, either by editing it, or
by using the compose menu to change its recipients or subject. send2-hook is
executed after send-hook, and can, e.g., be used to set parameters such as the
$sendmail variable depending on the message's sender address.

For each type of send-hook or reply-hook, when multiple matches occur, commands
are executed in the order they are specified in the .muttrc (for that type of
hook).

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

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, similarly if $autoedit is set (as then the
initial list of recipients is empty). Also note that my_hdr commands which
modify recipient headers, or the message's subject, don't have any effect on
the current message when executed from a send-hook.

20. Change Settings Before Formatting a Message

Usage:

message-hook [!]pattern command

This command can be used to execute arbitrary configuration commands before
viewing or formatting a message based upon information about the message.
command is executed if the pattern matches the message to be displayed. When
multiple matches occur, commands are executed in the order they are specified
in the .muttrc.

See Message Matching in Hooks for information on the exact format of pattern.

Example:

message-hook ~A 'set pager=builtin'
message-hook '~f freshmeat-news' 'set pager="less \"+/^  subject: .*\""'

21. Choosing the Cryptographic Key of the Recipient

Usage:

crypt-hook pattern keyid

When encrypting messages with PGP/GnuPG or OpenSSL, you may want to associate a
certain key with a given e-mail address automatically, either because the
recipient's public key can't be deduced from the destination address, or
because, for some reasons, you need to override the key Mutt would normally
use. The crypt-hook command provides a method by which you can specify the ID
of the public key to be used when encrypting messages to a certain recipient.

The meaning of keyid is to be taken broadly in this context: You can either put
a numerical key ID here, an e-mail address, or even just a real name.

22. Adding Key Sequences to the Keyboard Buffer

Usage:

push string

This command adds the named string to the keyboard buffer. The string may
contain control characters, key names and function names like the sequence
string in the macro command. You may use it to automatically run a sequence of
commands at startup, or when entering certain folders. For example,
Example 3.13, ?Embedding push in folder-hook? shows how to automatically
collapse all threads when entering a folder.

Example 3.13. Embedding push in folder-hook

folder-hook . 'push <collapse-all>'


For using functions like shown in the example, it's important to use angle
brackets (?<? and ?>?) to make Mutt recognize the input as a function name.
Otherwise it will simulate individual just keystrokes, i.e. ?push collapse-all?
would be interpreted as if you had typed ?c?, followed by ?o?, followed by ?l?,
..., which is not desired and may lead to very unexpected behavior.

Keystrokes can be used, too, but are less portable because of potentially
changed key bindings. With default bindings, this is equivalent to the above
example:

folder-hook . 'push \eV'

because it simulates that Esc+V was pressed (which is the default binding of
<collapse-all>).

23. Executing Functions

Usage:

exec function [ function ...]

This command can be used to execute any function. Functions are listed in the
function reference. ?exec function? is equivalent to ?push <function>?.

24. Message Scoring

Usage:

score pattern value
unscore { * | 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 patterns section (note: For
efficiency reasons, patterns which scan information not available in the index,
such as ~b, ~B or ~h, may not be used). 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.

25. Spam Detection

Usage:

spam pattern format
nospam { * | pattern }

Mutt has generalized support for external spam-scoring filters. By defining
your spam patterns with the spam and nospam commands, you can limit, search,
and sort your mail based on its spam attributes, as determined by the external
filter. You also can display the spam attributes in your index display using
the %H selector in the $index_format variable. (Tip: try %?H?[%H] ? to display
spam tags only when they are defined for a given message.)

Your first step is to define your external filter's spam patterns using the
spam command. pattern should be a regular expression that matches a header in a
mail message. If any message in the mailbox matches this regular expression, it
will receive a ?spam tag? or ?spam attribute? (unless it also matches a nospam
pattern ? see below.) The appearance of this attribute is entirely up to you,
and is governed by the format parameter. format can be any static text, but it
also can include back-references from the pattern expression. (A regular
expression ?back-reference? refers to a sub-expression contained within
parentheses.) %1 is replaced with the first back-reference in the regex, %2
with the second, etc.

To match spam tags, mutt needs the corresponding header information which is
always the case for local and POP folders but not for IMAP in the default
configuration. Depending on the spam header to be analyzed, $imap_headers may
need to be adjusted.

If you're using multiple spam filters, a message can have more than one
spam-related header. You can define spam patterns for each filter you use. If a
message matches two or more of these patterns, and the $spam_separator variable
is set to a string, then the message's spam tag will consist of all the format
strings joined together, with the value of $spam_separator separating them.

For example, suppose one uses DCC, SpamAssassin, and PureMessage, then the
configuration might look like in Example 3.14, ?Configuring spam detection?.

Example 3.14. Configuring spam detection

spam "X-DCC-.*-Metrics:.*(....)=many"         "90+/DCC-%1"
spam "X-Spam-Status: Yes"                     "90+/SA"
spam "X-PerlMX-Spam: .*Probability=([0-9]+)%" "%1/PM"
set spam_separator=", "


If then a message is received that DCC registered with ?many? hits under the
?Fuz2? checksum, and that PureMessage registered with a 97% probability of
being spam, that message's spam tag would read 90+/DCC-Fuz2, 97/PM. (The four
characters before ?=many? in a DCC report indicate the checksum used ? in this
case, ?Fuz2?.)

If the $spam_separator variable is unset, then each spam pattern match
supersedes the previous one. Instead of getting joined format strings, you'll
get only the last one to match.

The spam tag is what will be displayed in the index when you use %H in the
$index_format variable. It's also the string that the ~H pattern-matching
expression matches against for <search> and <limit> functions. And it's what
sorting by spam attribute will use as a sort key.

That's a pretty complicated example, and most people's actual environments will
have only one spam filter. The simpler your configuration, the more effective
Mutt can be, especially when it comes to sorting.

Generally, when you sort by spam tag, Mutt will sort lexically ? that is, by
ordering strings alphanumerically. However, if a spam tag begins with a number,
Mutt will sort numerically first, and lexically only when two numbers are equal
in value. (This is like UNIX's sort -n.) A message with no spam attributes at
all ? that is, one that didn't match any of your spam patterns ? is sorted at
lowest priority. Numbers are sorted next, beginning with 0 and ranging upward.
Finally, non-numeric strings are sorted, with ?a? taking lower priority than
?z?. Clearly, in general, sorting by spam tags is most effective when you can
coerce your filter to give you a raw number. But in case you can't, Mutt can
still do something useful.

The nospam command can be used to write exceptions to spam patterns. If a
header pattern matches something in a spam command, but you nonetheless do not
want it to receive a spam tag, you can list a more precise pattern under a
nospam command.

If the pattern given to nospam is exactly the same as the pattern on an
existing spam list entry, the effect will be to remove the entry from the spam
list, instead of adding an exception. Likewise, if the pattern for a spam
command matches an entry on the nospam list, that nospam entry will be removed.
If the pattern for nospam is ?*?, all entries on both lists will be removed.
This might be the default action if you use spam and nospam in conjunction with
a folder-hook.

You can have as many spam or nospam commands as you like. You can even do your
own primitive spam detection within Mutt ? for example, if you consider all
mail from MAILER-DAEMON to be spam, you can use a spam command like this:

spam "^From: .*MAILER-DAEMON"       "999"

26. Setting and Querying Variables

26.1. Variable Types

Mutt supports these types of configuration variables:

boolean

    A boolean expression, either ?yes? or ?no?.

number

    A signed integer number in the range -32768 to 32767.

string

    Arbitrary text.

path

    A specialized string for representing paths including support for mailbox
    shortcuts (see Section 8, ?Mailbox Shortcuts?) as well as tilde (?~?) for a
    user's home directory and more.

quadoption

    Like a boolean but triggers a prompt when set to ?ask-yes? or ?ask-no? with
    ?yes? and ?no? preselected respectively.

sort order

    A specialized string allowing only particular words as values depending on
    the variable.

regular expression

    A regular expression, see Section 2, ?Regular Expressions? for an
    introduction.

folder magic

    Specifies the type of folder to use: mbox, mmdf, mh or maildir. Currently
    only used to determine the type for newly created folders.

e-mail address

    An e-mail address either with or without realname. The older
    ?user@example.org (Joe User)? form is supported but strongly deprecated.

user-defined

    Arbitrary text, see Section 26.3, ?User-Defined Variables? for details.

26.2. Commands

The following commands are available to manipulate and query variables:

Usage:

set { [ no | inv ] variable | variable=value } [...]
toggle variable [ variable ...]
unset variable [ variable ...]
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 and must be enclosed in quotes if they contain spaces or tabs. You
may also use the 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 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 and quadoption
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.

26.3. User-Defined Variables

26.3.1. Introduction

Along with the variables listed in the Configuration variables section, Mutt
supports user-defined variables with names starting with my_ as in, for
example, my_cfgdir.

The set command either creates a custom my_ variable or changes its value if it
does exist already. The unset and reset commands remove the variable entirely.

Since user-defined variables are expanded in the same way that environment
variables are (except for the shell-escape command and backtick expansion),
this feature can be used to make configuration files more readable.

26.3.2. Examples

The following example defines and uses the variable my_cfgdir to abbreviate the
calls of the source command:

Example 3.15. Using user-defined variables for config file readability

set my_cfgdir = $HOME/mutt/config

source $my_cfgdir/hooks
source $my_cfgdir/macros
# more source commands...


A custom variable can also be used in macros to backup the current value of
another variable. In the following example, the value of the $delete is changed
temporarily while its original value is saved as my_delete. After the macro has
executed all commands, the original value of $delete is restored.

Example 3.16. Using user-defined variables for backing up other config option
values

macro pager ,x '\
<enter-command>set my_delete=$delete<enter>\
<enter-command>set delete=yes<enter>\
...\
<enter-command>set delete=$my_delete<enter>'


Since Mutt expands such values already when parsing the configuration file(s),
the value of $my_delete in the last example would be the value of $delete
exactly as it was at that point during parsing the configuration file. If
another statement would change the value for $delete later in the same or
another file, it would have no effect on $my_delete. However, the expansion can
be deferred to runtime, as shown in the next example, when escaping the dollar
sign.

Example 3.17. Deferring user-defined variable expansion to runtime

macro pager <PageDown> "\
<enter-command> set my_old_pager_stop=\$pager_stop pager_stop<Enter>\
<next-page>\
<enter-command> set pager_stop=\$my_old_pager_stop<Enter>\
<enter-command> unset my_old_pager_stop<Enter>"


Note that there is a space between <enter-command> and the set configuration
command, preventing Mutt from recording the macro's commands into its history.

26.4. Type Conversions

Variables are always assigned string values which Mutt parses into its internal
representation according to the type of the variable, for example an integer
number for numeric types. For all queries (including $-expansion) the value is
converted from its internal type back into string. As a result, any variable
can be assigned any value given that its content is valid for the target. This
also counts for custom variables which are of type string. In case of parsing
errors, Mutt will print error messages. Example 3.18, ?Type conversions using
variables? demonstrates type conversions.

Example 3.18. Type conversions using variables

set my_lines = "5"                # value is string "5"
set pager_index_lines = $my_lines # value is integer 5

set my_sort = "date-received"     # value is string "date-received"
set sort = "last-$my_sort"        # value is sort last-date-received

set my_inc = $read_inc            # value is string "10" (default of $read_inc)
set my_foo = $my_inc              # value is string "10"


These assignments are all valid. If, however, the value of $my_lines would have
been ?five? (or something else that cannot be parsed into a number), the
assignment to $pager_index_lines would have produced an error message.

Type conversion applies to all configuration commands which take arguments. But
please note that every expanded value of a variable is considered just a single
token. A working example is:

set my_pattern = "~A"
set my_number = "10"

# same as: score ~A +10
score $my_pattern +$my_number

What does not work is:

set my_mx = "+mailbox1 +mailbox2"
mailboxes $my_mx +mailbox3

because the value of $my_mx is interpreted as a single mailbox named ?+mailbox1
+mailbox2? and not two distinct mailboxes.

27. 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 (e.g. source ~/bin/myscript
|).

28. Removing Hooks

Usage:

unhook { * | hook-type }

This command permits you to flush hooks you have previously defined. You can
either remove all hooks by giving the ?*? character as an argument, or you can
remove all hooks of a specific type by saying something like unhook send-hook.

29. Format Strings

29.1. Basic usage

Format strings are a general concept you'll find in several locations through
the Mutt configuration, especially in the $index_format, $pager_format,
$status_format, and other related variables. These can be very straightforward,
and it's quite possible you already know how to use them.

The most basic format string element is a percent symbol followed by another
character. For example, %s represents a message's Subject: header in the
$index_format variable. The ?expandos? available are documented with each
format variable, but there are general modifiers available with all formatting
expandos, too. Those are our concern here.

Some of the modifiers are borrowed right out of C (though you might know them
from Perl, Python, shell, or another language). These are the [-]m.n modifiers,
as in %-12.12s. As with such programming languages, these modifiers allow you
to specify the minimum and maximum size of the resulting string, as well as its
justification. If the ?-? sign follows the percent, the string will be
left-justified instead of right-justified. If there's a number immediately
following that, it's the minimum amount of space the formatted string will
occupy ? if it's naturally smaller than that, it will be padded out with
spaces. If a decimal point and another number follow, that's the maximum space
allowable ? the string will not be permitted to exceed that width, no matter
its natural size. Each of these three elements is optional, so that all these
are legal format strings: %-12s, %4c, %.15F and %-12.15L.

Mutt adds some other modifiers to format strings. If you use an equals symbol
(=) as a numeric prefix (like the minus above), it will force the string to be
centered within its minimum space range. For example, %=14y will reserve 14
characters for the %y expansion ? that's the X-Label: header, in $index_format.
If the expansion results in a string less than 14 characters, it will be
centered in a 14-character space. If the X-Label for a message were ?test?,
that expansion would look like ?     test     ?.

There are two very little-known modifiers that affect the way that an expando
is replaced. If there is an underline (?_?) character between any format
modifiers (as above) and the expando letter, it will expands in all lower case.
And if you use a colon (?:?), it will replace all decimal points with
underlines.

29.2. Conditionals

Depending on the format string variable, some of its 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 an expando, and optional_string is the string you would
like printed if sequence_char is nonzero. optional_string may contain other
sequences 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 in $status_format:

%?n?%n new messages.?

You can also switch between two strings using the following construct:

%?<sequence_char>?<if_string>&<else_string>?

If the value of sequence_char is non-zero, if_string will be expanded,
otherwise else_string will be expanded.

29.3. Filters

Any format string ending in a vertical bar (?|?) will be expanded and piped
through the first word in the string, using spaces as separator. The string
returned will be used for display. If the returned string ends in %, it will be
passed through the formatter a second time. This allows the filter to generate
a replacement format string including % expandos.

All % expandos in a format string are expanded before the script is called so
that:

Example 3.19. Using external filters in format strings

set status_format="script.sh '%r %f (%L)'|"


will make Mutt expand %r, %f and %L before calling the script. The example also
shows that arguments can be quoted: the script will receive the expanded string
between the single quotes as the only argument.

A practical example is the mutt_xtitle script installed in the samples
subdirectory of the Mutt documentation: it can be used as filter for
$status_format to set the current terminal's title, if supported.

29.4. Padding

In most format strings, Mutt supports different types of padding using special
%-expandos:

%|X

    When this occurs, Mutt will fill the rest of the line with the character X.
    For example, filling the rest of the line with dashes is done by setting:

    set status_format = "%v on %h: %B: %?n?%n&no? new messages %|-"

%>X

    Since the previous expando stops at the end of line, there must be a way to
    fill the gap between two items via the %>X expando: it puts as many
    characters X in between two items so that the rest of the line will be
    right-justified. For example, to not put the version string and hostname
    the above example on the left but on the right and fill the gap with
    spaces, one might use (note the space after %>):

    set status_format = "%B: %?n?%n&no? new messages %> (%v on %h)"

%*X

    Normal right-justification will print everything to the left of the %>,
    displaying padding and whatever lies to the right only if there's room. By
    contrast, ?soft-fill? gives priority to the right-hand side, guaranteeing
    space to display it and showing padding only if there's still room. If
    necessary, soft-fill will eat text leftwards to make room for rightward
    text. For example, to right-justify the subject making sure as much as
    possible of it fits on screen, one might use (note two spaces after %* :
    the second ensures there's a space between the truncated right-hand side
    and the subject):

    set index_format="%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%?l?%4l&%4c?)%*  %s"

Chapter 4. Advanced Usage

Table of Contents

1. Character Set Handling
2. Regular Expressions
3. Patterns: Searching, Limiting and Tagging

    3.1. Pattern Modifier
    3.2. Simple Searches
    3.3. Nesting and Boolean Operators
    3.4. Searching by Date

4. Using Tags
5. Using Hooks

    5.1. Message Matching in Hooks

6. External Address Queries
7. Mailbox Formats
8. Mailbox Shortcuts
9. Handling Mailing Lists
10. New Mail Detection

    10.1. How New Mail Detection Works
    10.2. Polling For New Mail

11. Editing Threads

    11.1. Linking Threads
    11.2. Breaking Threads

12. Delivery Status Notification (DSN) Support
13. Start a WWW Browser on URLs
14. Miscellany

1. Character Set Handling

A ?character set? is basically a mapping between bytes and glyphs and implies a
certain character encoding scheme. For example, for the ISO 8859 family of
character sets, an encoding of 8bit per character is used. For the Unicode
character set, different character encodings may be used, UTF-8 being the most
popular. In UTF-8, a character is represented using a variable number of bytes
ranging from 1 to 4.

Since Mutt is a command-line tool run from a shell, and delegates certain tasks
to external tools (such as an editor for composing/editing messages), all of
these tools need to agree on a character set and encoding. There exists no way
to reliably deduce the character set a plain text file has. Interoperability is
gained by the use of well-defined environment variables. The full set can be
printed by issuing locale on the command line.

Upon startup, Mutt determines the character set on its own using routines that
inspect locale-specific environment variables. Therefore, it is generally not
necessary to set the $charset variable in Mutt. It may even be
counter-productive as Mutt uses system and library functions that derive the
character set themselves and on which Mutt has no influence. It's safest to let
Mutt work out the locale setup itself.

If you happen to work with several character sets on a regular basis, it's
highly advisable to use Unicode and an UTF-8 locale. Unicode can represent
nearly all characters in a message at the same time. When not using a Unicode
locale, it may happen that you receive messages with characters not
representable in your locale. When displaying such a message, or replying to or
forwarding it, information may get lost possibly rendering the message unusable
(not only for you but also for the recipient, this breakage is not reversible
as lost information cannot be guessed).

A Unicode locale makes all conversions superfluous which eliminates the risk of
conversion errors. It also eliminates potentially wrong expectations about the
character set between Mutt and external programs.

The terminal emulator used also must be properly configured for the current
locale. Terminal emulators usually do not derive the locale from environment
variables, they need to be configured separately. If the terminal is
incorrectly configured, Mutt may display random and unexpected characters
(question marks, octal codes, or just random glyphs), format strings may not
work as expected, you may not be abled to enter non-ascii characters, and
possible more. Data is always represented using bytes and so a correct setup is
very important as to the machine, all character sets ?look? the same.

Warning: A mismatch between what system and library functions think the locale
is and what Mutt was told what the locale is may make it behave badly with
non-ascii input: it will fail at seemingly random places. This warning is to be
taken seriously since not only local mail handling may suffer: sent messages
may carry wrong character set information the receiver has too deal with. The
need to set $charset directly in most cases points at terminal and environment
variable setup problems, not Mutt problems.

A list of officially assigned and known character sets can be found at IANA, a
list of locally supported locales can be obtained by running locale -a.

2. Regular Expressions

All string patterns in Mutt including those in more complex patterns must be
specified using 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

?\? must be quoted if used for a regular expression in an initialization
command: ?\\?.

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.

Note

The regular expression can be enclosed/delimited by either " or ' which is
useful if the regular expression includes a white-space character. See Syntax
of Initialization Files for more information on " and ' delimiter processing.
To match a literal " or ' you must preface it with \ (backslash).

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 in Table 4.1, ?POSIX regular expression character
classes?

Table 4.1. POSIX regular expression character classes

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Character |                           Description                            |
|  class   |                                                                  |
|----------+------------------------------------------------------------------|
|[: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

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 symbol 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? with grave (???), ?e?
    with acute (???) and ?e?. In this case, [[=e=]] is a regexp that matches
    any of: ?e? with grave (???), ?e? with acute (???) and ?e?.

A regular expression matching a single character may be followed by one of
several repetition operators described in Table 4.2, ?Regular expression
repetition operators?.

Table 4.2. Regular expression repetition operators

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Operator|                            Description                             |
|--------+--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|?       |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 included regular expression engine, the following
operators may also be used in regular expressions as described in Table 4.3,
?GNU regular expression extensions?.

Table 4.3. GNU regular expression extensions

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Expression|                           Description                            |
|----------+------------------------------------------------------------------|
|\\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.

3. Patterns: Searching, Limiting and Tagging

3.1. Pattern Modifier

Many of Mutt's commands allow you to specify a pattern to match (limit,
tag-pattern, delete-pattern, etc.). Table 4.4, ?Pattern modifiers? shows
several ways to select messages.

Table 4.4. Pattern modifiers

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pattern |                            Description                            |
|modifier |                                                                   |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~A       |all messages                                                       |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~b EXPR  |messages which contain EXPR in the message body                    |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|         |messages which contain STRING in the message body. If IMAP is      |
|=b STRING|enabled, searches for STRING on the server, rather than downloading|
|         |each message and searching it locally.                             |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~B EXPR  |messages which contain EXPR in the whole message                   |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~c EXPR  |messages carbon-copied to EXPR                                     |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%c GROUP |messages carbon-copied to any member of GROUP                      |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~C EXPR  |messages either to: or cc: EXPR                                    |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%C GROUP |messages either to: or cc: to any member of GROUP                  |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~d [MIN]-|messages with ?date-sent? in a Date range                          |
|[MAX]    |                                                                   |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~D       |deleted messages                                                   |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~e EXPR  |messages which contains EXPR in the ?Sender? field                 |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%e GROUP |messages which contain a member of GROUP in the ?Sender? field     |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~E       |expired messages                                                   |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~F       |flagged messages                                                   |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~f EXPR  |messages originating from EXPR                                     |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%f GROUP |messages originating from any member of GROUP                      |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~g       |cryptographically signed messages                                  |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~G       |cryptographically encrypted messages                               |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~h EXPR  |messages which contain EXPR in the message header                  |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~H EXPR  |messages with a spam attribute matching EXPR                       |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~i EXPR  |messages which match EXPR in the ?Message-ID? field                |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~k       |messages which contain PGP key material                            |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~L EXPR  |messages either originated or received by EXPR                     |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%L GROUP |message either originated or received by any member of GROUP       |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~l       |messages addressed to a known mailing list                         |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~m [MIN]-|messages in the range MIN to MAX *)                                |
|[MAX]    |                                                                   |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~n [MIN]-|messages with a score in the range MIN to MAX *)                   |
|[MAX]    |                                                                   |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~N       |new messages                                                       |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~O       |old messages                                                       |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~p       |messages addressed to you (consults alternates)                    |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~P       |messages from you (consults alternates)                            |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~Q       |messages which have been replied to                                |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~r [MIN]-|messages with ?date-received? in a Date range                      |
|[MAX]    |                                                                   |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~R       |read messages                                                      |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~s EXPR  |messages having EXPR in the ?Subject? field.                       |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~S       |superseded messages                                                |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~t EXPR  |messages addressed to EXPR                                         |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~T       |tagged messages                                                    |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~u       |messages addressed to a subscribed mailing list                    |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~U       |unread messages                                                    |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~v       |messages part of a collapsed thread.                               |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~V       |cryptographically verified messages                                |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~x EXPR  |messages which contain EXPR in the ?References? or ?In-Reply-To?   |
|         |field                                                              |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~X [MIN]-|messages with MIN to MAX attachments *)                            |
|[MAX]    |                                                                   |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~y EXPR  |messages which contain EXPR in the ?X-Label? field                 |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~z [MIN]-|messages with a size in the range MIN to MAX *) **)                |
|[MAX]    |                                                                   |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~=       |duplicated messages (see $duplicate_threads)                       |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~$       |unreferenced messages (requires threaded view)                     |
|---------+-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~(PATTERN|messages in threads containing messages matching PATTERN, e.g. all |
|)        |threads containing messages from you: ~(~P)                        |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


Where EXPR is a regular expression, and GROUP is an address group.

*) The forms ?<[MAX]?, ?>[MIN]?, ?[MIN]-? and ?-[MAX]? are allowed, too.

**) The suffixes ?K? and ?M? are allowed to specify kilobyte and megabyte
respectively.

Special attention has to be payed when using regular expressions inside of
patterns. Specifically, Mutt's parser for these patterns will strip one level
of backslash (?\?), which is normally used for quoting. If it is your intention
to use a backslash in the regular expression, you will need to use two
backslashes instead (?\\?). You can force Mutt to treat EXPR as a simple string
instead of a regular expression by using = instead of ~ in the pattern name.
For example, =b *.* will find all messages that contain the literal string
?*.*?. Simple string matches are less powerful than regular expressions but can
be considerably faster. This is especially true for IMAP folders, because
string matches can be performed on the server instead of by fetching every
message. IMAP treats =h specially: it must be of the form ?header: substring?
and will not partially match header names. The substring part may be omitted if
you simply wish to find messages containing a particular header without regard
to its value.

Patterns matching lists of addresses (notably c, C, p, P and t) match if there
is at least one match in the whole list. If you want to make sure that all
elements of that list match, you need to prefix your pattern with ?^?. This
example matches all mails which only has recipients from Germany.

Example 4.1. Matching all addresses in address lists

^~C \.de$


3.2. Simple Searches

Mutt supports two versions of so called ?simple searches?. These are issued if
the query entered for searching, limiting and similar operations does not seem
to contain a valid pattern modifier (i.e. it does not contain one of these
characters: ?~?, ?=? or ?%?). If the query is supposed to contain one of these
special characters, they must be escaped by prepending a backslash (?\?).

The first type is by checking whether the query string equals a keyword
case-insensitively from Table 4.5, ?Simple search keywords?: If that is the
case, Mutt will use the shown pattern modifier instead. If a keyword would
conflict with your search keyword, you need to turn it into a regular
expression to avoid matching the keyword table. For example, if you want to
find all messages matching ?flag? (using $simple_search) but don't want to
match flagged messages, simply search for ?[f]lag?.

Table 4.5. Simple search keywords

+-------------------------+
|Keyword|Pattern modifier |
|-------+-----------------|
|all    |~A               |
|-------+-----------------|
|.      |~A               |
|-------+-----------------|
|^      |~A               |
|-------+-----------------|
|del    |~D               |
|-------+-----------------|
|flag   |~F               |
|-------+-----------------|
|new    |~N               |
|-------+-----------------|
|old    |~O               |
|-------+-----------------|
|repl   |~Q               |
|-------+-----------------|
|read   |~R               |
|-------+-----------------|
|tag    |~T               |
|-------+-----------------|
|unread |~U               |
+-------------------------+


The second type of simple search is to build a complex search pattern using
$simple_search as a template. Mutt will insert your query properly quoted and
search for the composed complex query.

3.3. Nesting and Boolean Operators

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?.

Example 4.2. Using boolean operators in patterns

!(~t mutt|~c mutt) ~f elkins


Here is an example using white space in the regular expression (note the ?'?
and ?"? delimiters). For this to match, the mail's subject must match the ?^
Junk +From +Me$? and it must be from either ?Jim +Somebody? or ?Ed
+SomeoneElse?:

'~s "^Junk +From +Me$" ~f ("Jim +Somebody"|"Ed +SomeoneElse")'

Note

If a regular expression contains parenthesis, or a vertical bar ("|"), you must
enclose the expression in double or single quotes since those characters are
also used to separate different parts of Mutt's pattern language. For example:
~f "me@(mutt\.org|cs\.hmc\.edu)" Without the quotes, the parenthesis wouldn't
end. This would be separated to two OR'd patterns: ~f me@(mutt\.org and cs\.hmc
\.edu). They are never what you want.

3.4. Searching by Date

Mutt supports two types of dates, absolute and relative.

3.4.1. Absolute Dates

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.

You can add error margins to absolute dates. An error margin is a sign (+ or
-), followed by a digit, followed by one of the units in Table 4.6, ?Date
units?. As a special case, you can replace the sign by a ?*? character, which
is equivalent to giving identical plus and minus error margins.

Table 4.6. Date units

+-----------------+
|Unit|Description |
|----+------------|
|y   |Years       |
|----+------------|
|m   |Months      |
|----+------------|
|w   |Weeks       |
|----+------------|
|d   |Days        |
+-----------------+


Example: To select any messages two weeks around January 15, 2001, you'd use
the following pattern:

Limit to messages matching: ~d 15/1/2001*2w

3.4.2. Relative Dates

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

  * >offset for messages older than offset units

  * <offset for messages newer than offset units

  * =offset for messages exactly offset units old

offset is specified as a positive number with one of the units from Table 4.6,
?Date units?.

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. 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 ?shift-T? by default. Or you can select individual
messages by hand using the <tag-message> function, which is bound to ?t? by
default. See patterns for Mutt's pattern matching syntax.

Once you have tagged the desired messages, you can use the ?tag-prefix?
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?.

In macros or push commands, you can use the <tag-prefix-cond> operator. If
there are no tagged messages, Mutt will ?eat? the rest of the macro to abort
it's execution. Mutt will stop ?eating? the macro when it encounters the
<end-cond> operator; after this operator the rest of the macro will be executed
as normal.

5. Using Hooks

A hook is a concept found in many other programs 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 or pattern along with a configuration option/command. See:

  * account-hook

  * charset-hook

  * crypt-hook

  * fcc-hook

  * fcc-save-hook

  * folder-hook

  * iconv-hook

  * mbox-hook

  * message-hook

  * reply-hook

  * save-hook

  * send-hook

  * send2-hook

for specific details on each type of hook available.

Note

If a hook changes configuration settings, these changes remain effective until
the end of the current Mutt session. As this is generally not desired, a
?default? hook needs to be added before all other hooks of that type to restore
configuration defaults.

Example 4.3. Specifying a ?default? hook

send-hook . 'unmy_hdr From:'
send-hook ~C'^b@b\.b$' my_hdr from: c@c.c


In Example 4.3, ?Specifying a ?default? hook?, by default the value of $from
and $realname is not overridden. When sending messages either To: or Cc: to
<b@b.b>, the From: header is changed to <c@c.c>.

5.1. Message Matching in Hooks

Hooks that act upon messages (message-hook, reply-hook, send-hook, send2-hook,
save-hook, fcc-hook) are evaluated in a slightly different manner. For the
other types of hooks, a regular expression is sufficient. 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 Mutt extracts from the header 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 $default_hook variable. The
pattern is translated at the time the hook is declared, so the value of
$default_hook that is in effect at that time will be used.

6. 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, then 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@does-not-exist.org        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 addresses 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.

7. Mailbox Formats

Mutt supports reading and writing of four different local mailbox formats:
mbox, MMDF, MH and Maildir. The mailbox type is auto detected, 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. A short
description of the formats follows.

mbox. This is a 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). The mbox format requires mailbox locking, is prone to mailbox corruption
with concurrently writing clients or misinterpreted From_ lines. Depending on
the environment, new mail detection can be unreliable. Mbox folders are fast to
open and easy to archive.

MMDF. This is a variant of the mbox format. Each message is surrounded by lines
containing ?^A^A^A^A? (four times control-A's). The same problems as for mbox
apply (also with finding the right message separator as four control-A's may
appear in message bodies).

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. Mutt detects this type of mailbox by looking for either .mh_sequences
or .xmhcache files (needed to distinguish normal directories from MH
mailboxes). MH is more robust with concurrent clients writing the mailbox, but
still may suffer from lost flags; message corruption is less likely to occur
than with mbox/mmdf. It's usually slower to open compared to mbox/mmdf since
many small files have to be read (Mutt provides Section 7.1, ?Header Caching?
to greatly speed this process up). Depending on the environment, MH is not very
disk-space efficient.

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 and corruption is
very unlikely. Maildir maybe slower to open without caching in Mutt, it too is
not very disk-space efficient depending on the environment. Since no additional
files are used for metadata (which is embedded in the message filenames) and
Maildir is locking-free, it's easy to sync across different machines using
file-level synchronization tools.

8. 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 or in path-related configuration variables. Note that these only work at
the beginning of a string.

Table 4.7. Mailbox shortcuts

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Shortcut|                            Refers to...                            |
|--------+--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|!       |your $spoolfile (incoming) mailbox                                  |
|--------+--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|>       |your $mbox file                                                     |
|--------+--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|<       |your $record file                                                   |
|--------+--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|^       |the current mailbox                                                 |
|--------+--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|- or !! |the file you've last visited                                        |
|--------+--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|~       |your home directory                                                 |
|--------+--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|= or +  |your $folder directory                                              |
|--------+--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|@alias  |to the default save folder as determined by the address of the alias|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


For example, to store a copy of outgoing messages in the folder they were
composed in, a folder-hook can be used to set $record:

folder-hook . 'set record=^'

9. 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), and what lists you are
subscribed to. This is accomplished through the use of the lists and subscribe
commands 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 name of a list through which you
received a message (i.e., of a subscribed list) 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 expando ?%L? will print the string ?To <list>?
when ?list? appears in the ?To? field, and ?Cc <list>? when it appears in the
?Cc? field (otherwise it prints 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 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 known mailing list
addresses instead of all recipients (except as specified by Mail-Followup-To,
see below).

Mutt also supports the Mail-Followup-To header. When you send a message to a
list of recipients which includes one or several subscribed mailing lists, and
if the $followup_to option is set, Mutt will generate a Mail-Followup-To header
which contains all the recipients to whom you send this message, but not your
address. This indicates that group-replies or list-replies (also known as
?followups?) to this message should only be sent to the original recipients of
the message, and not separately to you - you'll receive your copy through one
of the mailing lists you are subscribed to.

Conversely, when group-replying or list-replying to a message which has a
Mail-Followup-To header, Mutt will respect this header if the
$honor_followup_to configuration variable is set. Using list-reply will in this
case also make sure that the reply goes to the mailing list, even if it's not
specified in the list of recipients in the Mail-Followup-To.

Note

When header editing is enabled, you can create a Mail-Followup-To header
manually. Mutt will only auto-generate this header if it doesn't exist when you
send the message.

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 ?Reply-To? field. Mutt uses the $reply_to variable to help decide
which address to use. If set to ask-yes or ask-no, 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 set to yes,
the ?Reply-To? field will be used when present.

The ?X-Label:? header field can be used to further identify mailing lists or
list subject matter (or just to annotate messages individually). The
$index_format variable's ?%y? and ?%Y? expandos can be used to expand
?X-Label:? fields in the index, and Mutt's pattern-matcher can match regular
expressions to ?X-Label:? fields with the ?~y? selector. ?X-Label:? is not a
standard message header field, but it can easily be inserted by procmail and
other mail filtering agents.

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.

10. New Mail Detection

Mutt supports setups with multiple folders, allowing all of them to be
monitored for new mail (see Section 14, ?Monitoring Incoming Mail? for
details).

10.1. How New Mail Detection Works

For Mbox and Mmdf folders, new mail is detected by comparing access and/or
modification times of files: Mutt assumes a folder has new mail if it wasn't
accessed after it was last modified. Utilities like biff or frm or any other
program which accesses the mailbox might cause Mutt to never detect new mail
for that mailbox if they do not properly reset the access time. Other possible
causes of Mutt not detecting new mail in these folders are backup tools
(updating access times) or filesystems mounted without access time update
support (for Linux systems, see the relatime option).

Note

Contrary to older Mutt releases, it now maintains the new mail status of a
folder by properly resetting the access time if the folder contains at least
one message which is neither read, nor deleted, nor marked as old.

In cases where new mail detection for Mbox or Mmdf folders appears to be
unreliable, the $check_mbox_size option can be used to make Mutt track and
consult file sizes for new mail detection instead which won't work for
size-neutral changes.

New mail for Maildir is assumed if there is one message in the new/
subdirectory which is not marked deleted (see $maildir_trash). For MH folders,
a mailbox is considered having new mail if there's at least one message in the
?unseen? sequence as specified by $mh_seq_unseen.

Mutt does not poll POP3 folders for new mail, it only periodically checks the
currently opened folder (if it's a POP3 folder).

For IMAP, by default Mutt uses recent message counts provided by the server to
detect new mail. If the $imap_idle option is set, it'll use the IMAP IDLE
extension if advertised by the server.

10.2. Polling For New Mail

When in the index menu and being idle (also see $timeout), Mutt periodically
checks for new mail in all folders which have been configured via the mailboxes
command. The interval depends on the folder type: for local/IMAP folders it
consults $mail_check and $pop_checkinterval for POP folders.

Outside the index menu the directory browser supports checking for new mail
using the <check-new> function which is unbound by default. Pressing TAB will
bring up a menu showing the files specified by the mailboxes command, and
indicate which contain new messages. Mutt will automatically enter this mode
when invoked from the command line with the -y option.

For the pager, index and directory browser menus, Mutt contains the
<buffy-list> function (bound to ?.? by default) which will print a list of
folders with new mail in the command line at the bottom of the screen.

For the index, by default Mutt displays the number of mailboxes with new mail
in the status bar, please refer to the $status_format variable for details.

When changing folders, Mutt fills the prompt with the first folder from the
mailboxes list containing new mail (if any), pressing <Space> will cycle
through folders with new mail. The (by default unbound) function
<next-unread-mailbox> in the index can be used to immediately open the next
folder with unread mail (if any).

11. Editing Threads

Mutt has the ability to dynamically restructure threads that are broken either
by misconfigured software or bad behavior from some correspondents. This allows
to clean your mailboxes from these annoyances which make it hard to follow a
discussion.

11.1. Linking Threads

Some mailers tend to ?forget? to correctly set the ?In-Reply-To:? and
?References:? headers when replying to a message. This results in broken
discussions because Mutt has not enough information to guess the correct
threading. You can fix this by tagging the reply, then moving to the parent
message and using the <link-threads> function (bound to & by default). The
reply will then be connected to this parent message.

You can also connect multiple children at once, tagging them and using the
<tag-prefix> command (?;?) or the $auto_tag option.

11.2. Breaking Threads

On mailing lists, some people are in the bad habit of starting a new discussion
by hitting ?reply? to any message from the list and changing the subject to a
totally unrelated one. You can fix such threads by using the <break-thread>
function (bound by default to #), which will turn the subthread starting from
the current message into a whole different thread.

12. 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.?

To support DSN, 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).

When using $sendmail for mail delivery, you need to use either Berkeley
sendmail 8.8.x (or greater) a MTA supporting DSN command line options
compatible to Sendmail: The -N and -R options can be used by the mail client to
make requests as to what type of status messages should be returned. Please
consider your MTA documentation whether DSN is supported.

For SMTP delivery using $smtp_url, it depends on the capabilities announced by
the server whether Mutt will attempt to request DSN or not.

13. Start a WWW Browser on URLs

If a message contains URLs, it is efficient to get a menu with all the URLs and
start a WWW browser on one of them. This functionality is provided by the
external urlview program which can be retrieved at ftp://ftp.mutt.org/mutt/
contrib/ and the configuration commands:

macro index \cb |urlview\n
macro pager \cb |urlview\n

14. Miscellany

This section documents various features that fit nowhere else.

Address normalization

    Mutt normalizes all e-mail addresses to the simplest form possible. If an
    address contains a realname, the form Joe User <joe@example.com> is used
    and the pure e-mail address without angle brackets otherwise, i.e. just
    joe@example.com.

    This normalization affects all headers Mutt generates including aliases.

Initial folder selection

    The folder Mutt opens at startup is determined as follows: the folder
    specified in the $MAIL environment variable if present. Otherwise, the
    value of $MAILDIR is taken into account. If that isn't present either, Mutt
    takes the user's mailbox in the mailspool as determined at compile-time
    (which may also reside in the home directory). The $spoolfile setting
    overrides this selection. Highest priority has the mailbox given with the
    -f command line option.

Chapter 5. Mutt's MIME Support

Table of Contents

1. Using MIME in Mutt

    1.1. MIME Overview
    1.2. Viewing MIME Messages in the Pager
    1.3. The Attachment Menu
    1.4. The Compose Menu

2. MIME Type Configuration with mime.types
3. MIME Viewer Configuration with Mailcap

    3.1. The Basics of the Mailcap File
    3.2. Secure Use of Mailcap
    3.3. Advanced Mailcap Usage
    3.4. Example Mailcap Files

4. MIME Autoview
5. MIME Multipart/Alternative
6. Attachment Searching and Counting
7. MIME Lookup

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.

1. Using MIME in Mutt

1.1. MIME Overview

MIME is short for ?Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension? and describes
mechanisms to internationalize and structure mail messages. Before the
introduction of MIME, messages had a single text part and were limited to
us-ascii header and content. With MIME, messages can have attachments (and even
attachments which itself have attachments and thus form a tree structure),
nearly arbitrary characters can be used for sender names, recipients and
subjects.

Besides the handling of non-ascii characters in message headers, to Mutt the
most important aspect of MIME are so-called MIME types. These are constructed
using a major and minor type separated by a forward slash. These specify
details about the content that follows. Based upon these, Mutt decides how to
handle this part. The most popular major type is ?text? with minor types for
plain text, HTML and various other formats. Major types also exist for images,
audio, video and of course general application data (e.g. to separate
cryptographically signed data with a signature, send office documents, and in
general arbitrary binary data). There's also the multipart major type which
represents the root of a subtree of MIME parts. A list of supported MIME types
can be found in Table 5.1, ?Supported MIME types?.

MIME also defines a set of encoding schemes for transporting MIME content over
the network: 7bit, 8bit, quoted-printable, base64 and binary. There're some
rules when to choose what for encoding headers and/or body (if needed), and
Mutt will in general make a good choice.

Mutt does most of MIME encoding/decoding behind the scenes to form messages
conforming to MIME on the sending side. On reception, it can be flexibly
configured as to how what MIME structure is displayed (and if it's displayed):
these decisions are based on the content's MIME type. There are three areas/
menus in dealing with MIME: the pager (while viewing a message), the attachment
menu and the compose menu.

1.2. Viewing MIME Messages in the Pager

When you select a message from the index and view it in the pager, Mutt decodes
as much of a message as possible to a text representation. Mutt internally
supports a number of MIME types, including the text major type (with all minor
types), the message/rfc822 (mail messages) type and some multipart types. In
addition, it 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 the already mentioned content encodings.

If Mutt cannot deal with a MIME type, it will display a message like:

[-- image/gif is unsupported (use 'v' to view this part) --]

1.3. 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 (the mailcap mechanism is explained later in detail).

Finally, you can apply the usual message-related functions (like
<resend-message>, and the <reply> and <forward> functions) to attachments of
type message/rfc822.

See table Table 9.7, ?Default Attachment Menu Bindings? for all available
functions.

1.4. 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 by default:

- 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 (or postponing, or
canceling) 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). See $attach_format for a full list of available expandos to format this
display to your needs.

2. MIME Type Configuration with mime.types

To get most out of MIME, it's important that a MIME part's content type matches
the content as closely as possible so that the recipient's client can
automatically select the right viewer for the content. However, there's no
reliable for Mutt to know how to detect every possible file type. Instead, it
uses a simple plain text mapping file that specifies what file extension
corresponds to what MIME type. This file is called 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 /
usr/local/share/mutt/mime.types or /etc/mime.types

Each line starts with the full MIME type, followed by a space and
space-separated list of file extensions. For example you could use:

Example 5.1. mime.types

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/
octet-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), see
Table 5.1, ?Supported MIME types? for supported major types. Mutt recognizes
all of these if the appropriate entry is found in the mime.types file.
Non-recognized mime types should only be used if the recipient of the message
is likely to be expecting such attachments.

Table 5.1. Supported MIME types

+------------------------------------------------------------------+
|MIME major type|Standard|               Description               |
|---------------+--------+-----------------------------------------|
|application    |yes     |General application data                 |
|---------------+--------+-----------------------------------------|
|audio          |yes     |Audio data                               |
|---------------+--------+-----------------------------------------|
|image          |yes     |Image data                               |
|---------------+--------+-----------------------------------------|
|message        |yes     |Mail messages, message status information|
|---------------+--------+-----------------------------------------|
|model          |yes     |VRML and other modeling data             |
|---------------+--------+-----------------------------------------|
|multipart      |yes     |Container for other MIME parts           |
|---------------+--------+-----------------------------------------|
|text           |yes     |Text data                                |
|---------------+--------+-----------------------------------------|
|video          |yes     |Video data                               |
|---------------+--------+-----------------------------------------|
|chemical       |no      |Mostly molecular data                    |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+


MIME types are not arbitrary, they need to be assigned by IANA.

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 Firefox, lynx
and metamail.

In order to handle various MIME types that Mutt doesn't have built-in support
for, it parses a series of external configuration files to find an external
handler. The default search string for these files is a colon delimited list
containing the following files:

 1. $HOME/.mailcap

 2. $PKGDATADIR/mailcap

 3. $SYSCONFDIR/mailcap

 4. /etc/mailcap

 5. /usr/etc/mailcap

 6. /usr/local/etc/mailcap

where $HOME is your home directory. The $PKGDATADIR and the $SYSCONFDIR
directories depend on where Mutt is installed: the former is the default for
shared data, the latter for system configuration files.

The default search path can be obtained by running the following command:

mutt -nF /dev/null -Q mailcap_path

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

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? notation. 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 behavior 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. This means that mailcap
does not work out of the box with programs which detach themselves from the
terminal right after starting, like open on Mac OS X. In order to nevertheless
use these programs with mailcap, you probably need custom shell scripts.

So, in the simplest form, you can send a text/plain message to the external
pager more on standard input:

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 standard input, 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

3.2. Secure Use of Mailcap

The interpretation of shell meta-characters embedded in MIME parameters can
lead to security problems in general. Mutt tries to quote parameters in
expansion of %s syntaxes properly, and avoids risky characters by substituting
them, see the $mailcap_sanitize variable.

Although Mutt's procedures to invoke programs with mailcap seem to be safe,
there are other applications parsing mailcap, maybe taking less care of it.
Therefore you should pay attention to the following rules:

Keep the %-expandos away from shell quoting. Don't quote them with single or
double quotes. Mutt does this for you, the right way, as should any other
program which interprets mailcap. Don't put them into backtick expansions. Be
highly careful with evil statements, and avoid them if possible at all. Trying
to fix broken behavior with quotes introduces new leaks ? there is no
alternative to correct quoting in the first place.

If you have to use the %-expandos' values in context where you need quoting or
backtick expansions, put that value into a shell variable and reference the
shell variable where necessary, as in the following example (using $charset
inside the backtick expansion is safe, since it is not itself subject to any
further expansion):

text/test-mailcap-bug; cat %s; copiousoutput; test=charset=%{charset} \
        && test "`echo $charset | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]'`" != iso-8859-1

3.3. Advanced Mailcap Usage

3.3.1. 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 standard output. 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.

    Note that when using the built-in pager, only entries with this flag will
    be considered a handler for a MIME type ? all other entries will be
    ignored.

needsterminal

    Mutt uses this flag when viewing attachments with auto_view, 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 that
    the content-type must match before Mutt performs the test. For example:

    text/html; firefox -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 run firefox to display 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.

3.3.2. 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 auto_view to denote two commands for viewing
an attachment, one to be viewed automatically, the other to be viewed
interactively from the attachment menu using the <view-mailcap> function (bound
to ?m? by default). In addition, you can then use the test feature to determine
which viewer to use interactively depending on your environment.

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

For auto_view, 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. The last entry is for inline
display in the pager and the <view-attach> function in the attachment menu.

Entries with the copiousoutput tag should always be specified as the last one
per type. For non-interactive use, the last entry will then actually be the
first matching one with the tag set. For non-interactive use, only
copiousoutput-tagged entries are considered. For interactive use, Mutt ignores
this tag and treats all entries equally. Therefore, if not specified last, all
following entries without this tag would never be considered for <view-attach>
because the copiousoutput before them matched already.

3.3.3. Command Expansion

The various commands defined in the mailcap files are passed to the /bin/sh
shell using the system(3) 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, i.e. 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 metamail
    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 literal %.

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.

3.4. 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 firefox (if my computer had more memory, maybe)
text/html;      firefox -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 firefox by remote
text/html;      firefox -remote 'openURL(%s)'; test=RunningFirefox

# If I'm not running firefox but I am running X, start firefox on the
# object
text/html;      firefox %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

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

# Firefox 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

4. MIME Autoview

Usage:

auto_view mimetype [ mimetype ...]
unauto_view { * | mimetype ... }

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

For this 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 configuration command to list the content-types that
you wish to view automatically. For instance, if you set it to:

auto_view text/html application/x-gunzip \
  application/postscript image/gif application/x-tar-gz

...Mutt would try to find corresponding entries for rendering attachments of
these types as text. A corresponding mailcap could look like:

text/html;      lynx -dump %s; copiousoutput; nametemplate=%s.html
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

unauto_view can be used to remove previous entries from the auto_view list.
This can be used with message-hook to autoview messages based on size, etc. ?
unauto_view *? will remove all previous entries.

5. MIME Multipart/Alternative

The multipart/alternative container type only has child MIME parts which
represent the same content in an alternative way. This is often used to send
HTML messages which contain an alternative plain text representation.

Mutt has some heuristics for determining which attachment of a multipart/
alternative type to display:

 1. First, Mutt will check the alternative_order list to determine if one of
    the available types is preferred. It consists of a number of MIME types in
    order, including support for implicit and explicit wildcards. For example:

    alternative_order text/enriched text/plain text \
      application/postscript image/*

 2. Next, Mutt will check if any of the types have a defined auto_view, and use
    that.

 3. Failing that, Mutt will look for any text type.

 4. As a last attempt, Mutt will look for any type it knows how to handle.

To remove a MIME type from the alternative_order list, use the
unalternative_order command.

6. Attachment Searching and Counting

If you ever lose track of attachments in your mailboxes, Mutt's
attachment-counting and -searching support might be for you. You can make your
message index display the number of qualifying attachments in each message, or
search for messages by attachment count. You also can configure what kinds of
attachments qualify for this feature with the attachments and unattachments
commands.

In order to provide this information, Mutt needs to fully MIME-parse all
messages affected first. This can slow down operation especially for remote
mail folders such as IMAP because all messages have to be downloaded first
regardless whether the user really wants to view them or not though using
Section 7.2, ?Body Caching? usually means to download the message just once.

The syntax is:

attachments { + | - }disposition mime-type
unattachments { + | - }disposition mime-type
attachments ?

disposition is the attachment's Content-Disposition type ? either inline or
attachment. You can abbreviate this to I or A.

Disposition is prefixed by either a ?+? symbol or a ?-? symbol. If it's a ?+?,
you're saying that you want to allow this disposition and MIME type to qualify.
If it's a ?-?, you're saying that this disposition and MIME type is an
exception to previous ?+? rules. There are examples below of how this is
useful.

mime-type is the MIME type of the attachment you want the command to affect. A
MIME type is always of the format major/minor, where major describes the broad
category of document you're looking at, and minor describes the specific type
within that category. The major part of mime-type must be literal text (or the
special token ?*?), but the minor part may be a regular expression. (Therefore,
?*/.*? matches any MIME type.)

The MIME types you give to the attachments directive are a kind of pattern.
When you use the attachments directive, the patterns you specify are added to a
list. When you use unattachments, the pattern is removed from the list. The
patterns are not expanded and matched to specific MIME types at this time ?
they're just text in a list. They're only matched when actually evaluating a
message.

Some examples might help to illustrate. The examples that are not commented out
define the default configuration of the lists.

Example 5.2. Attachment counting


# Removing a pattern from a list removes that pattern literally. It
# does not remove any type matching the pattern.
#
#  attachments   +A */.*
#  attachments   +A image/jpeg
#  unattachments +A */.*
#
# This leaves "attached" image/jpeg files on the allowed attachments
# list. It does not remove all items, as you might expect, because the
# second */.* is not a matching expression at this time.
#
# Remember: "unattachments" only undoes what "attachments" has done!
# It does not trigger any matching on actual messages.

# Qualify any MIME part with an "attachment" disposition, EXCEPT for
# text/x-vcard and application/pgp parts. (PGP parts are already known
# to mutt, and can be searched for with ~g, ~G, and ~k.)
#
# I've added x-pkcs7 to this, since it functions (for S/MIME)
# analogously to PGP signature attachments. S/MIME isn't supported
# in a stock mutt build, but we can still treat it specially here.
#

attachments   +A */.*
attachments   -A text/x-vcard application/pgp.*
attachments   -A application/x-pkcs7-.*


# Discount all MIME parts with an "inline" disposition, unless they're
# text/plain. (Why inline a text/plain part unless it's external to the
# message flow?)

attachments   +I text/plain


# These two lines make Mutt qualify MIME containers.  (So, for example,
# a message/rfc822 forward will count as an attachment.)  The first
# line is unnecessary if you already have "attach-allow */.*", of
# course.  These are off by default!  The MIME elements contained
# within a message/* or multipart/* are still examined, even if the
# containers themselves don't qualify.

#attachments  +A message/.* multipart/.*
#attachments  +I message/.* multipart/.*


## You probably don't really care to know about deleted attachments.
attachments   -A message/external-body
attachments   -I message/external-body


Entering the command ?attachments ?? as a command will list your current
settings in Muttrc format, so that it can be pasted elsewhere.

7. MIME Lookup

Usage:

mime-lookup mimetype [ mimetype ...]
unmime-lookup { * | mimetype ... }

Mutt's mime_lookup list specifies a list of MIME types that should not be
treated according to their mailcap entry. This option is designed to deal with
binary types such as application/octet-stream. When an attachment's MIME type
is listed in mime_lookup, then the extension of the filename will be compared
to the list of extensions in the mime.types file. The MIME type associated with
this extension will then be used to process the attachment according to the
rules in the mailcap file and according to any other configuration options
(such as auto_view) specified. Common usage would be:

mime_lookup application/octet-stream application/X-Lotus-Manuscript

In addition, the unmime_lookup command may be used to disable this feature for
any particular MIME type if it had been set, for example, in a global .muttrc.

Chapter 6. Optional Features

Table of Contents

1. General Notes

    1.1. Enabling/Disabling Features
    1.2. URL Syntax

2. SSL/TLS Support
3. POP3 Support
4. IMAP Support

    4.1. The IMAP Folder Browser
    4.2. Authentication

5. SMTP Support
6. Managing Multiple Accounts
7. Local Caching

    7.1. Header Caching
    7.2. Body Caching
    7.3. Cache Directories
    7.4. Maintenance

8. Exact Address Generation
9. Sending Anonymous Messages via Mixmaster

1. General Notes

1.1. Enabling/Disabling Features

Mutt supports several of optional features which can be enabled or disabled at
compile-time by giving the configure script certain arguments. These are listed
in the ?Optional features? section of the configure --help output.

Which features are enabled or disabled can later be determined from the output
of mutt -v. If a compile option starts with ?+? it is enabled and disabled if
prefixed with ?-?. For example, if Mutt was compiled using GnuTLS for encrypted
communication instead of OpenSSL, mutt -v would contain:

-USE_SSL_OPENSSL +USE_SSL_GNUTLS

1.2. URL Syntax

Mutt optionally supports the IMAP, POP3 and SMTP protocols which require to
access servers using URLs. The canonical syntax for specifying URLs in Mutt is
(an item enclosed in [] means it is optional and may be omitted):

proto[s]://[username[:password]@]server[:port][/path]

proto is the communication protocol: imap for IMAP, pop for POP3 and smtp for
SMTP. If ?s? for ?secure communication? is appended, Mutt will attempt to
establish an encrypted communication using SSL or TLS.

Since all protocols supported by Mutt support/require authentication, login
credentials may be specified in the URL. This has the advantage that multiple
IMAP, POP3 or SMTP servers may be specified (which isn't possible using, for
example, $imap_user). The username may contain the ?@? symbol being used by
many mail systems as part of the login name. The special characters ?/? (%2F),
?:? (%3A) and ?%? (%25) have to be URL-encoded in usernames using the
%-notation.

A password can be given, too but is not recommended if the URL is specified in
a configuration file on disk.

If no port number is given, Mutt will use the system's default for the given
protocol (usually consulting /etc/services).

The optional path is only relevant for IMAP and ignored elsewhere.

Example 6.1. URLs

pops://host/
imaps://user@host/INBOX/Sent
smtp://user@host:587/


2. SSL/TLS Support

If Mutt is compiled with IMAP, POP3 and/or SMTP support, it can also be
compiled with support for SSL or TLS using either OpenSSL or GnuTLS ( by
running the configure script with the --enable-ssl=... option for OpenSSL or
--enable-gnutls=... for GnuTLS). Mutt can then attempt to encrypt communication
with remote servers if these protocols are suffixed with ?s? for ?secure
communication?.

3. POP3 Support

If Mutt is compiled with POP3 support (by running the configure script with the
--enable-pop flag), it has the ability to work with mailboxes located on a
remote POP3 server and fetch mail for local browsing.

Remote POP3 servers can be accessed using URLs with the pop protocol for
unencrypted and pops for encrypted communication, see Section 1.2, ?URL Syntax?
for details.

Polling for new mail is more expensive over POP3 than locally. For this reason
the frequency at which Mutt will check for mail remotely can be controlled by
the $pop_checkinterval variable, which defaults to every 60 seconds.

POP is read-only which doesn't allow for some features like editing messages or
changing flags. However, using Section 7.1, ?Header Caching? and Section 7.2,
?Body Caching? Mutt simulates the new/old/read flags as well as flagged and
replied. Mutt applies some logic on top of remote messages but cannot change
them so that modifications of flags are lost when messages are downloaded from
the POP server (either by Mutt or other tools).

Another way to access your POP3 mail is the <fetch-mail> function (default: G).
It allows to connect to $pop_host, 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

If you only need to fetch all messages to a local mailbox you should consider
using a specialized program, such as fetchmail(1), getmail(1) or similar.

4. IMAP Support

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 by its URL (see
Section 1.2, ?URL Syntax? for details) using the imap or imaps protocol.
Alternatively, a pine-compatible notation is also supported, i.e. {[username@]
imapserver[:port][/ssl]}path/to/folder

Note that not all servers use ?/? as the hierarchy separator. Mutt should
correctly notice which separator is being used by the server and convert paths
accordingly.

When browsing folders on an IMAP server, you can toggle whether to look at only
the folders you are subscribed to, or all folders with the toggle-subscribed
command. See also the $imap_list_subscribed variable.

Polling for new mail on an IMAP server can cause noticeable delays. So, you'll
want to carefully tune the $mail_check and $timeout variables. Reasonable
values are:

set mail_check=90
set timeout=15

with relatively good results even over slow modem lines.

Note

Note that if you are using mbox as the mail store on UW servers prior to
v12.250, the server has been reported to disconnect a client if another client
selects the same folder.

4.1. The IMAP Folder Browser

As of version 1.2, Mutt supports browsing mailboxes on an IMAP server. This is
mostly the same as the local file browser, with the following differences:

  * In lieu of file permissions, Mutt displays the string ?IMAP?, possibly
    followed by the symbol ?+?, indicating that the entry contains both
    messages and subfolders. On Cyrus-like servers folders will often contain
    both messages and subfolders.

  * For the case where an entry can contain both messages and subfolders, the
    selection key (bound to enter by default) will choose to descend into the
    subfolder view. If you wish to view the messages in that folder, you must
    use view-file instead (bound to space by default).

  * You can create, delete and rename mailboxes with the <create-mailbox>,
    <delete-mailbox>, and <rename-mailbox> commands (default bindings: C, d and
    r, respectively). You may also <subscribe> and <unsubscribe> to mailboxes
    (normally these are bound to s and u, respectively).

4.2. Authentication

Mutt supports four authentication methods with IMAP servers: SASL, GSSAPI,
CRAM-MD5, and LOGIN (there is a patch by Grant Edwards to add NTLM
authentication for you poor exchange users out there, but it has yet to be
integrated into the main tree). There is also support for the pseudo-protocol
ANONYMOUS, which allows you to log in to a public IMAP server without having an
account. To use ANONYMOUS, simply make your username blank or ?anonymous?.

SASL is a special super-authenticator, which selects among several protocols
(including GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, ANONYMOUS, and DIGEST-MD5) the most secure method
available on your host and the server. Using some of these methods (including
DIGEST-MD5 and possibly GSSAPI), your entire session will be encrypted and
invisible to those teeming network snoops. It is the best option if you have
it. To use it, you must have the Cyrus SASL library installed on your system
and compile Mutt with the --with-sasl flag.

Mutt will try whichever methods are compiled in and available on the server, in
the following order: SASL, ANONYMOUS, GSSAPI, CRAM-MD5, LOGIN.

There are a few variables which control authentication:

  * $imap_user - controls the username under which you request authentication
    on the IMAP server, for all authenticators. This is overridden by an
    explicit username in the mailbox path (i.e. by using a mailbox name of the
    form {user@host}).

  * $imap_pass - a password which you may preset, used by all authentication
    methods where a password is needed.

  * $imap_authenticators - a colon-delimited list of IMAP authentication
    methods to try, in the order you wish to try them. If specified, this
    overrides Mutt's default (attempt everything, in the order listed above).

5. SMTP Support

Besides supporting traditional mail delivery through a sendmail-compatible
program, Mutt supports delivery through SMTP if it was configured and built
with --enable-smtp.

If the configuration variable $smtp_url is set, Mutt will contact the given
SMTP server to deliver messages; if it is unset, Mutt will use the program
specified by $sendmail.

For details on the URL syntax, please see Section 1.2, ?URL Syntax?.

The built-in SMTP support supports encryption (the smtps protocol using SSL or
TLS) as well as SMTP authentication using SASL. The authentication mechanisms
for SASL are specified in $smtp_authenticators defaulting to an empty list
which makes Mutt try all available methods from most-secure to least-secure.

6. Managing Multiple Accounts

Usage:

account-hook pattern command

If you happen to have accounts on multiple IMAP, POP and/or SMTP servers, you
may find managing all the authentication settings inconvenient and error-prone.
The account-hook command may help. This hook works like folder-hook but is
invoked whenever Mutt needs to access a remote mailbox (including inside the
folder browser), not just when you open the mailbox. This includes (for
example) polling for new mail, storing Fcc messages and saving messages to a
folder. As a consequence, account-hook should only be used to set
connection-related settings such as passwords or tunnel commands but not
settings such as sender address or name (because in general it should be
considered unpredictable which account-hook was last used).

Some examples:

account-hook . 'unset imap_user; unset imap_pass; unset tunnel'
account-hook imap://host1/ 'set imap_user=me1 imap_pass=foo'
account-hook imap://host2/ 'set tunnel="ssh host2 /usr/libexec/imapd"'
account-hook smtp://user@host3/ 'set tunnel="ssh host3 /usr/libexec/smtpd"'

To manage multiple accounts with, for example, different values of $record or
sender addresses, folder-hook has to be be used together with the mailboxes
command.

Example 6.2. Managing multiple accounts

mailboxes imap://user@host1/INBOX
folder-hook imap://user@host1/ 'set folder=imap://host1/ ; set record=+INBOX/Sent'

mailboxes imap://user@host2/INBOX
folder-hook imap://user@host2/ 'set folder=imap://host2/ ; set record=+INBOX/Sent'


In example Example 6.2, ?Managing multiple accounts? the folders are defined
using mailboxes so Mutt polls them for new mail. Each folder-hook triggers when
one mailbox below each IMAP account is opened and sets $folder to the account's
root folder. Next, it sets $record to the INBOX/Sent folder below the newly set
$folder. Please notice that the value the ?+? mailbox shortcut refers to
depends on the current value of $folder and therefore has to be set separately
per account. Setting other values like $from or $signature is analogous to
setting $record.

7. Local Caching

Mutt contains two types of local caching: (1) the so-called ?header caching?
and (2) the so-called ?body caching? which are both described in this section.

Header caching is optional as it depends on external libraries, body caching is
always enabled if Mutt is compiled with POP and/or IMAP support as these use it
(body caching requires no external library).

7.1. Header Caching

Mutt provides optional support for caching message headers for the following
types of folders: IMAP, POP, Maildir and MH. Header caching greatly speeds up
opening large folders because for remote folders, headers usually only need to
be downloaded once. For Maildir and MH, reading the headers from a single file
is much faster than looking at possibly thousands of single files (since
Maildir and MH use one file per message.)

Header caching can be enabled via the configure script and the --enable-hcache
option. It's not turned on by default because external database libraries are
required: one of tokyocabinet, qdbm, gdbm or bdb must be present.

If enabled, $header_cache can be used to either point to a file or a directory.
If set to point to a file, one database file for all folders will be used
(which may result in lower performance), but one file per folder if it points
to a directory.

7.2. Body Caching

Both cache methods can be combined using the same directory for storage (and
for IMAP/POP even provide meaningful file names) which simplifies manual
maintenance tasks.

In addition to caching message headers only, Mutt can also cache whole message
bodies. This results in faster display of messages for POP and IMAP folders
because messages usually have to be downloaded only once.

For configuration, the variable $message_cachedir must point to a directory.
There, Mutt will create a hierarchy of subdirectories named like the account
and mailbox path the cache is for.

7.3. Cache Directories

For using both, header and body caching, $header_cache and $message_cachedir
can be safely set to the same value.

In a header or body cache directory, Mutt creates a directory hierarchy named
like: proto:user@hostname where proto is either ?pop? or ?imap.? Within there,
for each folder, Mutt stores messages in single files and header caches in
files with the ?.hcache? extension. All files can be removed as needed if the
consumed disk space becomes an issue as Mutt will silently fetch missing items
again. Pathnames are always stored in UTF-8 encoding.

For Maildir and MH, the header cache files are named after the MD5 checksum of
the path.

7.4. Maintenance

Mutt does not (yet) support maintenance features for header cache database
files so that files have to be removed in case they grow too big. It depends on
the database library used for header caching whether disk space freed by
removing messages is re-used.

For body caches, Mutt can keep the local cache in sync with the remote mailbox
if the $message_cache_clean variable is set. Cleaning means to remove messages
from the cache which are no longer present in the mailbox which only happens
when other mail clients or instances of Mutt using a different body cache
location delete messages (Mutt itself removes deleted messages from the cache
when syncing a mailbox). As cleaning can take a noticeable amount of time, it
should not be set in general but only occasionally.

8. Exact Address Generation

Mutt supports the ?Name <user@host>? address syntax for reading and writing
messages, the older ?user@host (Name)? syntax is only supported when reading
messages. The --enable-exact-address switch can be given to configure to build
it with write-support for the latter syntax. EXACT_ADDRESS in the output of
mutt -v indicates whether it's supported.

9. Sending Anonymous Messages via Mixmaster

You may also have compiled Mutt to co-operate with Mixmaster, an anonymous
remailer. Mixmaster permits you to send your messages anonymously using a chain
of remailers. Mixmaster support in Mutt is for mixmaster version 2.04 or later.

To use it, you'll have to obey certain restrictions. Most important, you cannot
use the Cc and Bcc headers. To tell Mutt to use mixmaster, you have to select a
remailer chain, using the mix function on the compose menu.

The chain selection screen is divided into two parts. In the (larger) upper
part, you get a list of remailers you may use. In the lower part, you see the
currently selected chain of remailers.

You can navigate in the chain using the <chain-prev> and <chain-next>
functions, which are by default bound to the left and right arrows and to the h
and l keys (think vi keyboard bindings). To insert a remailer at the current
chain position, use the <insert> function. To append a remailer behind the
current chain position, use <select-entry> or <append>. You can also delete
entries from the chain, using the corresponding function. Finally, to abandon
your changes, leave the menu, or <accept> them pressing (by default) the Return
key.

Note that different remailers do have different capabilities, indicated in the
%c entry of the remailer menu lines (see $mix_entry_format). Most important is
the ?middleman? capability, indicated by a capital ?M?: This means that the
remailer in question cannot be used as the final element of a chain, but will
only forward messages to other mixmaster remailers. For details on the other
capabilities, please have a look at the mixmaster documentation.

Chapter 7. Security Considerations

Table of Contents

1. Passwords
2. Temporary Files
3. Information Leaks

    3.1. Message-Id: headers
    3.2. mailto:-style Links

4. External Applications

First of all, Mutt contains no security holes included by intention but may
contain unknown security holes. As a consequence, please run Mutt only with as
few permissions as possible. Especially, do not run Mutt as the super user.

When configuring Mutt, there're some points to note about secure setups so
please read this chapter carefully.

1. Passwords

Although Mutt can be told the various passwords for accounts, please never
store passwords in configuration files. Besides the fact that the system's
operator can always read them, you could forget to mask it out when reporting a
bug or asking for help via a mailing list. Even worse, your mail including your
password could be archived by internet search engines, mail-to-news gateways
etc. It may already be too late before you notice your mistake.

2. Temporary Files

Mutt uses many temporary files for viewing messages, verifying digital
signatures, etc. As long as being used, these files are visible by other users
and maybe even readable in case of misconfiguration. Also, a different location
for these files may be desired which can be changed via the $tmpdir variable.

3. Information Leaks

3.1. Message-Id: headers

Message-Id: headers contain a local part that is to be created in a unique
fashion. In order to do so, Mutt will ?leak? some information to the outside
world when sending messages: the generation of this header includes a step
counter which is increased (and rotated) with every message sent. In a longer
running mutt session, others can make assumptions about your mailing habits
depending on the number of messages sent. If this is not desired, the header
can be manually provided using $edit_headers (though not recommended).

3.2. mailto:-style Links

As Mutt be can be set up to be the mail client to handle mailto: style links in
websites, there're security considerations, too. Arbitrary header fields can be
embedded in these links which could override existing header fields or attach
arbitrary files using the Attach: pseudoheader. This may be problematic if the
$edit-headers variable is unset, i.e. the user doesn't want to see header
fields while editing the message and doesn't pay enough attention to the
compose menu's listing of attachments.

For example, following a link like

mailto:joe@host?Attach=~/.gnupg/secring.gpg

will send out the user's private gnupg keyring to joe@host if the user doesn't
follow the information on screen carefully enough.

4. External Applications

Mutt in many places has to rely on external applications or for convenience
supports mechanisms involving external applications.

One of these is the mailcap mechanism as defined by RfC1524. Details about a
secure use of the mailcap mechanisms is given in Section 3.2, ?Secure Use of
Mailcap?.

Besides the mailcap mechanism, Mutt uses a number of other external utilities
for operation, for example to provide crypto support, in backtick expansion in
configuration files or format string filters. The same security considerations
apply for these as for tools involved via mailcap.

Chapter 8. Performance Tuning

Table of Contents

1. Reading and Writing Mailboxes
2. Reading Messages from Remote Folders
3. Searching and Limiting

1. Reading and Writing Mailboxes

Mutt's performance when reading mailboxes can be improved in two ways:

 1. For remote folders (IMAP and POP) as well as folders using one-file-per
    message storage (Maildir and MH), Mutt's performance can be greatly
    improved using header caching. using a single database per folder.

 2. Mutt provides the $read_inc and $write_inc variables to specify at which
    rate to update progress counters. If these values are too low, Mutt may
    spend more time on updating the progress counter than it spends on actually
    reading/writing folders.

    For example, when opening a maildir folder with a few thousand messages,
    the default value for $read_inc may be too low. It can be tuned on on a
    folder-basis using folder-hooks:

    # use very high $read_inc to speed up reading hcache'd maildirs
    folder-hook . 'set read_inc=1000'
    # use lower value for reading slower remote IMAP folders
    folder-hook ^imap 'set read_inc=100'
    # use even lower value for reading even slower remote POP folders
    folder-hook ^pop 'set read_inc=1'

These settings work on a per-message basis. However, as messages may greatly
differ in size and certain operations are much faster than others, even
per-folder settings of the increment variables may not be desirable as they
produce either too few or too much progress updates. Thus, Mutt allows to limit
the number of progress updates per second it'll actually send to the terminal
using the $time_inc variable.

2. Reading Messages from Remote Folders

Reading messages from remote folders such as IMAP an POP can be slow especially
for large mailboxes since Mutt only caches a very limited number of recently
viewed messages (usually 10) per session (so that it will be gone for the next
session.)

To improve performance and permanently cache whole messages, please refer to
Mutt's so-called body caching for details.

3. Searching and Limiting

When searching mailboxes either via a search or a limit action, for some
patterns Mutt distinguishes between regular expression and string searches. For
regular expressions, patterns are prefixed with ?~? and with ?=? for string
searches.

Even though a regular expression search is fast, it's several times slower than
a pure string search which is noticeable especially on large folders. As a
consequence, a string search should be used instead of a regular expression
search if the user already knows enough about the search pattern.

For example, when limiting a large folder to all messages sent to or by an
author, it's much faster to search for the initial part of an e-mail address
via =Luser@ instead of ~Luser@. This is especially true for searching message
bodies since a larger amount of input has to be searched.

As for regular expressions, a lower case string search pattern makes Mutt
perform a case-insensitive search except for IMAP (because for IMAP Mutt
performs server-side searches which don't support case-insensitivity).

Chapter 9. Reference

Table of Contents

1. Command-Line Options
2. Configuration Commands
3. Configuration Variables

    3.1. abort_nosubject
    3.2. abort_unmodified
    3.3. alias_file
    3.4. alias_format
    3.5. allow_8bit
    3.6. allow_ansi
    3.7. arrow_cursor
    3.8. ascii_chars
    3.9. askbcc
    3.10. askcc
    3.11. assumed_charset
    3.12. attach_charset
    3.13. attach_format
    3.14. attach_sep
    3.15. attach_split
    3.16. attribution
    3.17. auto_tag
    3.18. autoedit
    3.19. beep
    3.20. beep_new
    3.21. bounce
    3.22. bounce_delivered
    3.23. braille_friendly
    3.24. certificate_file
    3.25. charset
    3.26. check_mbox_size
    3.27. check_new
    3.28. collapse_unread
    3.29. compose_format
    3.30. config_charset
    3.31. confirmappend
    3.32. confirmcreate
    3.33. connect_timeout
    3.34. content_type
    3.35. copy
    3.36. crypt_autoencrypt
    3.37. crypt_autopgp
    3.38. crypt_autosign
    3.39. crypt_autosmime
    3.40. crypt_replyencrypt
    3.41. crypt_replysign
    3.42. crypt_replysignencrypted
    3.43. crypt_timestamp
    3.44. crypt_use_gpgme
    3.45. crypt_use_pka
    3.46. crypt_verify_sig
    3.47. date_format
    3.48. default_hook
    3.49. delete
    3.50. delete_untag
    3.51. digest_collapse
    3.52. display_filter
    3.53. dotlock_program
    3.54. dsn_notify
    3.55. dsn_return
    3.56. duplicate_threads
    3.57. edit_headers
    3.58. editor
    3.59. encode_from
    3.60. entropy_file
    3.61. envelope_from_address
    3.62. escape
    3.63. fast_reply
    3.64. fcc_attach
    3.65. fcc_clear
    3.66. folder
    3.67. folder_format
    3.68. followup_to
    3.69. force_name
    3.70. forward_decode
    3.71. forward_decrypt
    3.72. forward_edit
    3.73. forward_format
    3.74. forward_quote
    3.75. from
    3.76. gecos_mask
    3.77. hdrs
    3.78. header
    3.79. header_cache
    3.80. header_cache_compress
    3.81. header_cache_pagesize
    3.82. help
    3.83. hidden_host
    3.84. hide_limited
    3.85. hide_missing
    3.86. hide_thread_subject
    3.87. hide_top_limited
    3.88. hide_top_missing
    3.89. history
    3.90. history_file
    3.91. honor_disposition
    3.92. honor_followup_to
    3.93. hostname
    3.94. ignore_linear_white_space
    3.95. ignore_list_reply_to
    3.96. imap_authenticators
    3.97. imap_check_subscribed
    3.98. imap_delim_chars
    3.99. imap_headers
    3.100. imap_idle
    3.101. imap_keepalive
    3.102. imap_list_subscribed
    3.103. imap_login
    3.104. imap_pass
    3.105. imap_passive
    3.106. imap_peek
    3.107. imap_pipeline_depth
    3.108. imap_servernoise
    3.109. imap_user
    3.110. implicit_autoview
    3.111. include
    3.112. include_onlyfirst
    3.113. indent_string
    3.114. index_format
    3.115. ispell
    3.116. keep_flagged
    3.117. locale
    3.118. mail_check
    3.119. mail_check_recent
    3.120. mailcap_path
    3.121. mailcap_sanitize
    3.122. maildir_header_cache_verify
    3.123. maildir_trash
    3.124. mark_old
    3.125. markers
    3.126. mask
    3.127. mbox
    3.128. mbox_type
    3.129. menu_context
    3.130. menu_move_off
    3.131. menu_scroll
    3.132. message_cache_clean
    3.133. message_cachedir
    3.134. message_format
    3.135. meta_key
    3.136. metoo
    3.137. mh_purge
    3.138. mh_seq_flagged
    3.139. mh_seq_replied
    3.140. mh_seq_unseen
    3.141. mime_forward
    3.142. mime_forward_decode
    3.143. mime_forward_rest
    3.144. mix_entry_format
    3.145. mixmaster
    3.146. move
    3.147. narrow_tree
    3.148. net_inc
    3.149. pager
    3.150. pager_context
    3.151. pager_format
    3.152. pager_index_lines
    3.153. pager_stop
    3.154. pgp_auto_decode
    3.155. pgp_autoinline
    3.156. pgp_check_exit
    3.157. pgp_clearsign_command
    3.158. pgp_decode_command
    3.159. pgp_decrypt_command
    3.160. pgp_encrypt_only_command
    3.161. pgp_encrypt_sign_command
    3.162. pgp_entry_format
    3.163. pgp_export_command
    3.164. pgp_getkeys_command
    3.165. pgp_good_sign
    3.166. pgp_ignore_subkeys
    3.167. pgp_import_command
    3.168. pgp_list_pubring_command
    3.169. pgp_list_secring_command
    3.170. pgp_long_ids
    3.171. pgp_mime_auto
    3.172. pgp_replyinline
    3.173. pgp_retainable_sigs
    3.174. pgp_show_unusable
    3.175. pgp_sign_as
    3.176. pgp_sign_command
    3.177. pgp_sort_keys
    3.178. pgp_strict_enc
    3.179. pgp_timeout
    3.180. pgp_use_gpg_agent
    3.181. pgp_verify_command
    3.182. pgp_verify_key_command
    3.183. pipe_decode
    3.184. pipe_sep
    3.185. pipe_split
    3.186. pop_auth_try_all
    3.187. pop_authenticators
    3.188. pop_checkinterval
    3.189. pop_delete
    3.190. pop_host
    3.191. pop_last
    3.192. pop_pass
    3.193. pop_reconnect
    3.194. pop_user
    3.195. post_indent_string
    3.196. postpone
    3.197. postponed
    3.198. preconnect
    3.199. print
    3.200. print_command
    3.201. print_decode
    3.202. print_split
    3.203. prompt_after
    3.204. query_command
    3.205. query_format
    3.206. quit
    3.207. quote_regexp
    3.208. read_inc
    3.209. read_only
    3.210. realname
    3.211. recall
    3.212. record
    3.213. reply_regexp
    3.214. reply_self
    3.215. reply_to
    3.216. resolve
    3.217. reverse_alias
    3.218. reverse_name
    3.219. reverse_realname
    3.220. rfc2047_parameters
    3.221. save_address
    3.222. save_empty
    3.223. save_history
    3.224. save_name
    3.225. score
    3.226. score_threshold_delete
    3.227. score_threshold_flag
    3.228. score_threshold_read
    3.229. search_context
    3.230. send_charset
    3.231. sendmail
    3.232. sendmail_wait
    3.233. shell
    3.234. sig_dashes
    3.235. sig_on_top
    3.236. signature
    3.237. simple_search
    3.238. sleep_time
    3.239. smart_wrap
    3.240. smileys
    3.241. smime_ask_cert_label
    3.242. smime_ca_location
    3.243. smime_certificates
    3.244. smime_decrypt_command
    3.245. smime_decrypt_use_default_key
    3.246. smime_default_key
    3.247. smime_encrypt_command
    3.248. smime_encrypt_with
    3.249. smime_get_cert_command
    3.250. smime_get_cert_email_command
    3.251. smime_get_signer_cert_command
    3.252. smime_import_cert_command
    3.253. smime_is_default
    3.254. smime_keys
    3.255. smime_pk7out_command
    3.256. smime_sign_command
    3.257. smime_sign_opaque_command
    3.258. smime_timeout
    3.259. smime_verify_command
    3.260. smime_verify_opaque_command
    3.261. smtp_authenticators
    3.262. smtp_pass
    3.263. smtp_url
    3.264. sort
    3.265. sort_alias
    3.266. sort_aux
    3.267. sort_browser
    3.268. sort_re
    3.269. spam_separator
    3.270. spoolfile
    3.271. ssl_ca_certificates_file
    3.272. ssl_client_cert
    3.273. ssl_force_tls
    3.274. ssl_min_dh_prime_bits
    3.275. ssl_starttls
    3.276. ssl_use_sslv2
    3.277. ssl_use_sslv3
    3.278. ssl_use_tlsv1
    3.279. ssl_usesystemcerts
    3.280. ssl_verify_dates
    3.281. ssl_verify_host
    3.282. status_chars
    3.283. status_format
    3.284. status_on_top
    3.285. strict_threads
    3.286. suspend
    3.287. text_flowed
    3.288. thorough_search
    3.289. thread_received
    3.290. tilde
    3.291. time_inc
    3.292. timeout
    3.293. tmpdir
    3.294. to_chars
    3.295. tunnel
    3.296. uncollapse_jump
    3.297. use_8bitmime
    3.298. use_domain
    3.299. use_envelope_from
    3.300. use_from
    3.301. use_idn
    3.302. use_ipv6
    3.303. user_agent
    3.304. visual
    3.305. wait_key
    3.306. weed
    3.307. wrap
    3.308. wrap_headers
    3.309. wrap_search
    3.310. wrapmargin
    3.311. write_bcc
    3.312. write_inc

4. Functions

    4.1. Generic Menu
    4.2. Index Menu
    4.3. Pager Menu
    4.4. Alias Menu
    4.5. Query Menu
    4.6. Attachment Menu
    4.7. Compose Menu
    4.8. Postpone Menu
    4.9. Browser Menu
    4.10. Pgp Menu
    4.11. Smime Menu
    4.12. Mixmaster Menu
    4.13. Editor Menu

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.

Table 9.1. Command line options

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Option|                             Description                              |
|------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-A    |expand an alias                                                       |
|------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-a    |attach a file to a message                                            |
|------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-b    |specify a blind carbon-copy (BCC) address                             |
|------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-c    |specify a carbon-copy (Cc) address                                    |
|------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-D    |print the value of all Mutt variables to stdout                       |
|------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-e    |specify a config command to be run after initialization files are read|
|------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-f    |specify a mailbox to load                                             |
|------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-F    |specify an alternate file to read initialization commands             |
|------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-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                    |
|------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-m    |specify a default mailbox type                                        |
|------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-n    |do not read the system Muttrc                                         |
|------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-p    |recall a postponed message                                            |
|------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-Q    |query a configuration variable                                        |
|------+----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-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 ] [-c address ] [-i filename ] [-s subject ] [ -a file
[...] -- ] address | mailto_url ...

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

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?.

All files passed with -a file will be attached as a MIME part to the message.
To attach a single or several files, use ?--? to separate files and recipient
addresses:

mutt -a image.png -- some@one.org

or

mutt -a *.png -- some@one.org

Note

The -a option must be last in the option list.

In addition to accepting a list of email addresses, Mutt also accepts a URL
with the mailto: schema as specified in RFC2368. This is useful when
configuring a web browser to launch Mutt when clicking on mailto links.

mutt mailto:some@one.org?subject=test&cc=other@one.org

2. Configuration Commands

The following are the commands understood by Mutt:

  * account-hook pattern command

  * alias [ -group name ...] key address [ address ...]
    unalias [ -group name ...] { * | key ... }

  * alternates [ -group name ...] regexp [ regexp ...]
    unalternates [ -group name ...] { * | regexp ... }

  * alternative-order mimetype [ mimetype ...]
    unalternative-order { * | mimetype ... }

  * attachments { + | - }disposition mime-type
    unattachments { + | - }disposition mime-type

  * auto_view mimetype [ mimetype ...]
    unauto_view { * | mimetype ... }

  * bind map key function

  * charset-hook alias charset

  * iconv-hook charset local-charset

  * color object foreground background
    color { header | body } foreground background regexp
    color index foreground background pattern
    uncolor { index | header | body } { * | pattern ... }

  * crypt-hook pattern keyid

  * exec function [ function ...]

  * fcc-hook [!]pattern mailbox

  * fcc-save-hook [!]pattern mailbox

  * folder-hook [!]regexp command

  * group [ -group name ...] { -rx expr ... | -addr expr ... }
    ungroup [ -group name ...] { * | -rx expr ... | -addr expr ... }

  * hdr_order header [ header ...]
    unhdr_order { * | header ... }

  * ignore pattern [ pattern ...]
    unignore { * | pattern ... }

  * lists [ -group name ] regexp [ regexp ...]
    unlists [ -group name ...] { * | regexp ... }

  * macro menu key sequence [ description ]

  * mailboxes mailbox [ mailbox ...]
    unmailboxes { * | mailbox ... }

  * mbox-hook [!]pattern mailbox

  * message-hook [!]pattern command

  * mime-lookup mimetype [ mimetype ...]
    unmime-lookup { * | mimetype ... }

  * mono object attribute
    mono { header | body } attribute regexp
    mono index attribute pattern
    unmono { index | header | body } { * | pattern ... }

  * my_hdr string
    unmy_hdr { * | field ... }

  * push string

  * save-hook [!]pattern mailbox

  * score pattern value
    unscore { * | pattern ... }

  * reply-hook [!]pattern command

  * send-hook [!]pattern command

  * send2-hook [!]pattern command

  * set { [ no | inv ] variable | variable=value } [...]
    toggle variable [ variable ...]
    unset variable [ variable ...]
    reset variable [ variable ...]

  * source filename

  * spam pattern format
    nospam { * | pattern }

  * subscribe [ -group name ...] regexp [ regexp ...]
    unsubscribe [ -group name ...] { * | regexp ... }

  * unhook { * | hook-type }

3. Configuration Variables

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.

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.

3.3. alias_file

Type: path
Default: ?~/.muttrc?

The default file in which to save aliases created by the <create-alias>
function. Entries added to this file are encoded in the character set specified
by $config_charset if it is set or the current character set otherwise.

Note: Mutt will not automatically source this file; you must explicitly use the
?source? command for it to be executed in case this option points to a
dedicated alias file.

The default for this option is the currently used muttrc file, or ?~/.muttrc?
if no user muttrc was found.

3.4. alias_format

Type: string
Default: ?%4n %2f %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                                                    |
|--+--------------------------------------------------------------|
|%f|flags - currently, a ?d? for an alias marked for deletion     |
|--+--------------------------------------------------------------|
|%n|index number                                                  |
|--+--------------------------------------------------------------|
|%r|address which alias expands to                                |
|--+--------------------------------------------------------------|
|%t|character which indicates if the alias is tagged for inclusion|
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+

3.5. allow_8bit

Type: boolean
Default: yes

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

3.6. allow_ansi

Type: boolean
Default: no

Controls whether ANSI color codes in messages (and color tags in rich text
messages) are to be interpreted. Messages containing these codes are rare, but
if this option is set, their text will be colored accordingly. Note that this
may override your color choices, and even present a security problem, since a
message could include a line like

[-- PGP output follows ...

and give it the same color as your attachment color (see also $crypt_timestamp
).

3.7. arrow_cursor

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, an arrow (?->?) will be used to indicate the current entry in menus
instead of highlighting 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.

3.8. ascii_chars

Type: boolean
Default: no

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

3.9. askbcc

Type: boolean
Default: no

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

3.10. askcc

Type: boolean
Default: no

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

3.11. assumed_charset

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This variable is a colon-separated list of character encoding schemes for
messages without character encoding indication. Header field values and message
body content without character encoding indication would be assumed that they
are written in one of this list. By default, all the header fields and message
body without any charset indication are assumed to be in ?us-ascii?.

For example, Japanese users might prefer this:

set assumed_charset="iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8"

However, only the first content is valid for the message body.

3.12. attach_charset

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This variable is a colon-separated list of character encoding schemes for text
file attachments. Mutt uses this setting to guess which encoding files being
attached are encoded in to convert them to a proper character set given in
$send_charset.

If unset, the value of $charset will be used instead. For example, the
following configuration would work for Japanese text handling:

set attach_charset="iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8"

Note: for Japanese users, ?iso-2022-*? must be put at the head of the value as
shown above if included.

3.13. attach_format

Type: string
Default: ?%u%D%I %t%4n %T%.40d%> [%.7m/%.10M, %.6e%?C?, %C?, %s] ?

This variable describes the format of the ?attachment? menu. The following
printf(3)-style sequences are understood:

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|%C |charset                                                                  |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%c |requires charset conversion (?n? or ?c?)                                 |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%D |deleted flag                                                             |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%d |description                                                              |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%e |MIME content-transfer-encoding                                           |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%f |filename                                                                 |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%I |disposition (?I? for inline, ?A? for attachment)                         |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%m |major MIME type                                                          |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%M |MIME subtype                                                             |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%n |attachment number                                                        |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%Q |?Q?, if MIME part qualifies for attachment counting                      |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%s |size                                                                     |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%t |tagged flag                                                              |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%T |graphic tree characters                                                  |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%u |unlink (=to delete) flag                                                 |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%X |number of qualifying MIME parts in this part and its children (please see|
|   |the ?attachments? section for possible speed effects)                    |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%>X|right justify the rest of the string and pad with character ?X?          |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%|X|pad to the end of the line with character ?X?                            |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%*X|soft-fill with character ?X? as pad                                      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

For an explanation of ?soft-fill?, see the $index_format documentation.

3.14. attach_sep

Type: string
Default: ?\n?

The separator to add between attachments when operating (saving, printing,
piping, etc) on a list of tagged attachments.

3.15. attach_split

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If this variable is unset, when operating (saving, printing, piping, etc) on a
list of tagged attachments, Mutt will concatenate the attachments and will
operate on them as a single attachment. The $attach_sep separator is added
after each attachment. When set, Mutt will operate on the attachments one by
one.

3.16. attribution

Type: string
Default: ?On %d, %n wrote:?

This is the string that will precede a message which has been included in a
reply. For a full listing of defined printf(3)-like sequences see the section
on $index_format.

3.17. auto_tag

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, functions in the index menu which affect a message will be applied to
all tagged messages (if there are any). When unset, you must first use the
<tag-prefix> function (bound to ?;? by default) to make the next function apply
to all tagged messages.

3.18. autoedit

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set along with $edit_headers, Mutt will skip the initial send-menu
(prompting for subject and recipients) and allow you to immediately begin
editing the body of your message. The send-menu may still be accessed once you
have finished editing the body of your message.

Note: when this option is set, you cannot use send-hooks that depend on the
recipients when composing a new (non-reply) message, as the initial list of
recipients is empty.

Also see $fast_reply.

3.19. beep

Type: boolean
Default: yes

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

3.20. beep_new

Type: boolean
Default: no

When this variable is set, mutt will beep whenever it prints a message
notifying you of new mail. This is independent of the setting of the $beep
variable.

3.21. bounce

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

Controls whether you will be asked to confirm bouncing messages. If set to yes
you don't get asked if you want to bounce a message. Setting this variable to
no is not generally useful, and thus not recommended, because you are unable to
bounce messages.

3.22. bounce_delivered

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When this variable is set, mutt will include Delivered-To headers when bouncing
messages. Postfix users may wish to unset this variable.

3.23. braille_friendly

Type: boolean
Default: no

When this variable is set, mutt will place the cursor at the beginning of the
current line in menus, even when the $arrow_cursor variable is unset, making it
easier for blind persons using Braille displays to follow these menus. The
option is unset by default because many visual terminals don't permit making
the cursor invisible.

3.24. certificate_file

Type: path
Default: ?~/.mutt_certificates?

This variable specifies the file where the certificates you trust are saved.
When an unknown certificate is encountered, you are asked if you accept it or
not. If you accept it, the certificate can also be saved in this file and
further connections are automatically accepted.

You can also manually add CA certificates in this file. Any server certificate
that is signed with one of these CA certificates is also automatically
accepted.

Example:

set certificate_file=~/.mutt/certificates

3.25. charset

Type: string
Default: (empty)

Character set your terminal uses to display and enter textual data. It is also
the fallback for $send_charset.

Upon startup Mutt tries to derive this value from environment variables such as
$LC_CTYPE or $LANG.

Note: It should only be set in case Mutt isn't able to determine the character
set used correctly.

3.26. check_mbox_size

Type: boolean
Default: no

When this variable is set, mutt will use file size attribute instead of access
time when checking for new mail in mbox and mmdf folders.

This variable is unset by default and should only be enabled when new mail
detection for these folder types is unreliable or doesn't work.

Note that enabling this variable should happen before any ?mailboxes?
directives occur in configuration files regarding mbox or mmdf folders because
mutt needs to determine the initial new mail status of such a mailbox by
performing a fast mailbox scan when it is defined. Afterwards the new mail
status is tracked by file size changes.

3.27. check_new

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Note: this option only affects maildir and MH style mailboxes.

When set, Mutt will check for new mail delivered while the mailbox is open.
Especially with MH mailboxes, this operation can take quite some time since it
involves scanning the directory and checking each file to see if it has already
been looked at. If this variable is unset, no check for new mail is performed
while the mailbox is open.

3.28. collapse_unread

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When unset, Mutt will not collapse a thread if it contains any unread messages.

3.29. compose_format

Type: string
Default: ?-- Mutt: Compose  [Approx. msg size: %l   Atts: %a]%>-?

Controls the format of the status line displayed in the ?compose? menu. This
string is similar to $status_format, but has its own set of printf(3)-like
sequences:

+-----------------------------------------------------+
|%a|total number of attachments                       |
|--+--------------------------------------------------|
|%h|local hostname                                    |
|--+--------------------------------------------------|
|%l|approximate size (in bytes) of the current message|
|--+--------------------------------------------------|
|%v|Mutt version string                               |
+-----------------------------------------------------+

See the text describing the $status_format option for more information on how
to set $compose_format.

3.30. config_charset

Type: string
Default: (empty)

When defined, Mutt will recode commands in rc files from this encoding to the
current character set as specified by $charset and aliases written to
$alias_file from the current character set.

Please note that if setting $charset it must be done before setting
$config_charset.

Recoding should be avoided as it may render unconvertable characters as
question marks which can lead to undesired side effects (for example in regular
expressions).

3.31. confirmappend

Type: boolean
Default: yes

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

3.32. confirmcreate

Type: boolean
Default: yes

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

3.33. connect_timeout

Type: number
Default: 30

Causes Mutt to timeout a network connection (for IMAP, POP or SMTP) after this
many seconds if the connection is not able to be established. A negative value
causes Mutt to wait indefinitely for the connection attempt to succeed.

3.34. content_type

Type: string
Default: ?text/plain?

Sets the default Content-Type for the body of newly composed messages.

3.35. 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?.

3.36. crypt_autoencrypt

Type: boolean
Default: no

Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to PGP 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. If $smime_is_default is set, then
OpenSSL is used instead to create S/MIME messages and settings can be
overridden by use of the smime menu instead. (Crypto only)

3.37. crypt_autopgp

Type: boolean
Default: yes

This variable controls whether or not mutt may automatically enable PGP
encryption/signing for messages. See also $crypt_autoencrypt,
$crypt_replyencrypt, $crypt_autosign, $crypt_replysign and $smime_is_default.

3.38. crypt_autosign

Type: boolean
Default: no

Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to cryptographically
sign outgoing messages. This can be overridden by use of the pgp menu, when
signing is not required or encryption is requested as well. If
$smime_is_default is set, then OpenSSL is used instead to create S/MIME
messages and settings can be overridden by use of the smime menu instead of the
pgp menu. (Crypto only)

3.39. crypt_autosmime

Type: boolean
Default: yes

This variable controls whether or not mutt may automatically enable S/MIME
encryption/signing for messages. See also $crypt_autoencrypt,
$crypt_replyencrypt, $crypt_autosign, $crypt_replysign and $smime_is_default.

3.40. crypt_replyencrypt

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL encrypt replies to messages which are
encrypted. (Crypto only)

3.41. crypt_replysign

Type: boolean
Default: no

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

Note: this does not work on messages that are encrypted and signed! (Crypto
only)

3.42. crypt_replysignencrypted

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, automatically PGP or OpenSSL sign replies to messages which are
encrypted. This makes sense in combination with $crypt_replyencrypt, because it
allows you to sign all messages which are automatically encrypted. This works
around the problem noted in $crypt_replysign, that mutt is not able to find out
whether an encrypted message is also signed. (Crypto only)

3.43. crypt_timestamp

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, mutt will include a time stamp in the lines surrounding PGP or S/MIME
output, so spoofing such lines is more difficult. If you are using colors to
mark these lines, and rely on these, you may unset this setting. (Crypto only)

3.44. crypt_use_gpgme

Type: boolean
Default: no

This variable controls the use of the GPGME-enabled crypto backends. If it is
set and Mutt was built with gpgme support, the gpgme code for S/MIME and PGP
will be used instead of the classic code. Note that you need to set this option
in .muttrc; it won't have any effect when used interactively.

3.45. crypt_use_pka

Type: boolean
Default: no

Controls whether mutt uses PKA (see http://www.g10code.de/docs/
pka-intro.de.pdf) during signature verification (only supported by the GPGME
backend).

3.46. crypt_verify_sig

Type: quadoption
Default: yes

If ?yes?, always attempt to verify PGP or S/MIME signatures. If ?ask-*?, ask
whether or not to verify the signature. If ?no?, never attempt to verify
cryptographic signatures. (Crypto only)

3.47. 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(3) function to process the date,
see the man page 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).

3.48. default_hook

Type: string
Default: ?~f %s !~P | (~P ~C %s)?

This variable controls how ?message-hook?, ?reply-hook?, ?send-hook?, ?
send2-hook?, ?save-hook?, and ?fcc-hook? 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.

3.49. 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.

3.50. delete_untag

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If this option is set, mutt will untag messages when marking them for deletion.
This applies when you either explicitly delete a message, or when you save it
to another folder.

3.51. digest_collapse

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If this option is set, mutt's received-attachments menu will not show the
subparts of individual messages in a multipart/digest. To see these subparts,
press ?v? on that menu.

3.52. display_filter

Type: path
Default: (empty)

When set, specifies a command used to filter messages. When a message is viewed
it is passed as standard input to $display_filter, and the filtered message is
read from the standard output.

3.53. dotlock_program

Type: path
Default: ?/usr/local/bin/mutt_dotlock?

Contains the path of the mutt_dotlock(8) binary to be used by mutt.

3.54. dsn_notify

Type: string
Default: (empty)

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"

Note: when using $sendmail for delivery, you should not enable this unless you
are either using Sendmail 8.8.x or greater or a MTA providing a sendmail(1)
-compatible interface supporting the -N option for DSN. For SMTP delivery, DSN
support is auto-detected so that it depends on the server whether DSN will be
used or not.

3.55. dsn_return

Type: string
Default: (empty)

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

Note: when using $sendmail for delivery, you should not enable this unless you
are either using Sendmail 8.8.x or greater or a MTA providing a sendmail(1)
-compatible interface supporting the -R option for DSN. For SMTP delivery, DSN
support is auto-detected so that it depends on the server whether DSN will be
used or not.

3.56. duplicate_threads

Type: boolean
Default: yes

This variable controls whether mutt, when $sort is set to threads, threads
messages with the same Message-Id together. If it is set, it will indicate that
it thinks they are duplicates of each other with an equals sign in the thread
tree.

3.57. edit_headers

Type: boolean
Default: no

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

Note that changes made to the References: and Date: headers are ignored for
interoperability reasons.

3.58. editor

Type: path
Default: (empty)

This variable specifies which editor is used by mutt. It defaults to the value
of the $VISUAL, or $EDITOR, environment variable, or to the string ?vi? if
neither of those are set.

3.59. encode_from

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, mutt will quoted-printable encode messages when they contain the
string ?From ? (note the trailing space) in the beginning of a line. This is
useful to avoid the tampering certain mail delivery and transport agents tend
to do with messages (in order to prevent tools from misinterpreting the line as
a mbox message separator).

3.60. entropy_file

Type: path
Default: (empty)

The file which includes random data that is used to initialize SSL library
functions.

3.61. envelope_from_address

Type: e-mail address
Default: (empty)

Manually sets the envelope sender for outgoing messages. This value is ignored
if $use_envelope_from is unset.

3.62. escape

Type: string
Default: ?~?

Escape character to use for functions in the built-in editor.

3.63. fast_reply

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, the initial prompt for recipients and subject are skipped when
replying to messages, and the initial prompt for subject is skipped when
forwarding messages.

Note: this variable has no effect when the $autoedit variable is set.

3.64. fcc_attach

Type: quadoption
Default: yes

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

3.65. fcc_clear

Type: boolean
Default: no

When this variable is set, FCCs will be stored unencrypted and unsigned, even
when the actual message is encrypted and/or signed. (PGP only)

3.66. folder

Type: path
Default: ?~/Mail?

Specifies the default location of your mailboxes. A ?+? or ?=? at the beginning
of a pathname will be expanded to the value of this variable. Note that if you
change this variable (from the default) value you need to make sure that the
assignment occurs before you use ?+? or ?=? for any other variables since
expansion takes place when handling the ?mailboxes? command.

3.67. folder_format

Type: string
Default: ?%2C %t %N %F %2l %-8.8u %-8.8g %8s %d %f?

This variable allows you to customize the file browser display to your personal
taste. This string is similar to $index_format, but has its own set of printf
(3)-like sequences:

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|%C |current file number                                                      |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%d |date/time folder was last modified                                       |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%D |date/time folder was last modified using $date_format.                   |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%f |filename (?/? is appended to directory names, ?@? to symbolic links and  |
|   |?*? to executable files)                                                 |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%F |file permissions                                                         |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%g |group name (or numeric gid, if missing)                                  |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%l |number of hard links                                                     |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%N |N if folder has new mail, blank otherwise                                |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%s |size in bytes                                                            |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%t |?*? if the file is tagged, blank otherwise                               |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%u |owner name (or numeric uid, if missing)                                  |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%>X|right justify the rest of the string and pad with character ?X?          |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%|X|pad to the end of the line with character ?X?                            |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%*X|soft-fill with character ?X? as pad                                      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

For an explanation of ?soft-fill?, see the $index_format documentation.

3.68. followup_to

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Controls whether or not the ?Mail-Followup-To:? header field is generated when
sending mail. When set, Mutt will generate this field when you are replying to
a known mailing list, specified with the ?subscribe? or ?lists? commands.

This field has two purposes. First, preventing you from receiving duplicate
copies of replies to messages which you send to mailing lists, and second,
ensuring that you do get a reply separately for any messages sent to known
lists to which you are not subscribed.

The header will contain only the list's address for subscribed lists, and both
the list address and your own email address for unsubscribed lists. Without
this header, a group reply to your message sent to a subscribed list will be
sent to both the list and your address, resulting in two copies of the same
email for you.

3.69. force_name

Type: boolean
Default: no

This variable is similar to $save_name, except that Mutt will store a copy of
your outgoing message by the username of the address you are sending to even if
that mailbox does not exist.

Also see the $record variable.

3.70. forward_decode

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain when forwarding
a message. The message header is also RFC2047 decoded. This variable is only
used, if $mime_forward is unset, otherwise $mime_forward_decode is used
instead.

3.71. forward_decrypt

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Controls the handling of encrypted messages when forwarding a message. When set
, the outer layer of encryption is stripped off. This variable is only used if
$mime_forward is set and $mime_forward_decode is unset. (PGP only)

3.72. forward_edit

Type: quadoption
Default: yes

This quadoption controls whether or not the user is automatically placed in the
editor when forwarding messages. For those who always want to forward with no
modification, use a setting of ?no?.

3.73. forward_format

Type: string
Default: ?[%a: %s]?

This variable controls the default subject when forwarding a message. It uses
the same format sequences as the $index_format variable.

3.74. forward_quote

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, forwarded messages included in the main body of the message (when
$mime_forward is unset) will be quoted using $indent_string.

3.75. from

Type: e-mail address
Default: (empty)

When set, this variable contains a default from address. It can be overridden
using ?my_hdr? (including from a ?send-hook?) and $reverse_name. This variable
is ignored if $use_from is unset.

This setting defaults to the contents of the environment variable $EMAIL.

3.76. gecos_mask

Type: regular expression
Default: ?^[^,]*?

A regular expression used by mutt to parse the GECOS field of a password entry
when expanding the alias. The default value will return the string up to the
first ?,? encountered. If the GECOS field contains a string like ?lastname,
firstname? then you should set it to ?.*?.

This can be useful if you see the following behavior: you address an e-mail to
user ID ?stevef? whose full name is ?Steve Franklin?. If mutt expands ?stevef?
to ?"Franklin" stevef@foo.bar? then you should set the $gecos_mask to a regular
expression that will match the whole name so mutt will expand ?Franklin? to
?Franklin, Steve?.

3.77. hdrs

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When unset, the header fields normally added by the ?my_hdr? command are not
created. This variable must be unset before composing a new message or replying
in order to take effect. If set, the user defined header fields are added to
every new message.

3.78. header

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, this variable causes Mutt to include the header of the message you
are replying to into the edit buffer. The $weed setting applies.

3.79. header_cache

Type: path
Default: (empty)

This variable points to the header cache database. If pointing to a directory
Mutt will contain a header cache database file per folder, if pointing to a
file that file will be a single global header cache. By default it is unset so
no header caching will be used.

Header caching can greatly improve speed when opening POP, IMAP MH or Maildir
folders, see ?caching? for details.

3.80. header_cache_compress

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When mutt is compiled with qdbm or tokyocabinet as header cache backend, this
option determines whether the database will be compressed. Compression results
in database files roughly being one fifth of the usual diskspace, but the
decompression can result in a slower opening of cached folder(s) which in
general is still much faster than opening non header cached folders.

3.81. header_cache_pagesize

Type: string
Default: ?16384?

When mutt is compiled with either gdbm or bdb4 as the header cache backend,
this option changes the database page size. Too large or too small values can
waste space, memory, or CPU time. The default should be more or less optimal
for most use cases.

3.82. help

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, help lines describing the bindings for the major functions provided
by each menu are displayed on the first line of the screen.

Note: The binding will not be displayed correctly if the function is bound to a
sequence rather than a single keystroke. Also, the help line may not be updated
if a binding is changed while Mutt is running. Since this variable is primarily
aimed at new users, neither of these should present a major problem.

3.83. hidden_host

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, mutt will skip the host name part of $hostname variable when adding
the domain part to addresses. This variable does not affect the generation of
Message-IDs, and it will not lead to the cut-off of first-level domains.

3.84. hide_limited

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, mutt will not show the presence of messages that are hidden by
limiting, in the thread tree.

3.85. hide_missing

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, mutt will not show the presence of missing messages in the thread
tree.

3.86. hide_thread_subject

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, mutt will not show the subject of messages in the thread tree that
have the same subject as their parent or closest previously displayed sibling.

3.87. hide_top_limited

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, mutt will not show the presence of messages that are hidden by
limiting, at the top of threads in the thread tree. Note that when
$hide_limited is set, this option will have no effect.

3.88. hide_top_missing

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, mutt will not show the presence of missing messages at the top of
threads in the thread tree. Note that when $hide_missing is set, this option
will have no effect.

3.89. history

Type: number
Default: 10

This variable controls the size (in number of strings remembered) of the string
history buffer per category. The buffer is cleared each time the variable is
set.

3.90. history_file

Type: path
Default: ?~/.mutthistory?

The file in which Mutt will save its history.

3.91. honor_disposition

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, Mutt will not display attachments with a disposition of ?attachment?
inline even if it could render the part to plain text. These MIME parts can
only be viewed from the attachment menu.

If unset, Mutt will render all MIME parts it can properly transform to plain
text.

3.92. honor_followup_to

Type: quadoption
Default: yes

This variable controls whether or not a Mail-Followup-To header is honored when
group-replying to a message.

3.93. hostname

Type: string
Default: (empty)

Specifies the fully-qualified hostname of the system mutt is running on
containing the host's name and the DNS domain it belongs to. It is used as the
domain part (after ?@?) for local email addresses as well as Message-Id
headers.

Its value is determined at startup as follows: If the node's name as returned
by the uname(3) function contains the hostname and the domain, these are used
to construct $hostname. If there is no domain part returned, Mutt will look for
a ?domain? or ?search? line in /etc/resolv.conf to determine the domain.
Optionally, Mutt can be compiled with a fixed domain name in which case a
detected one is not used.

Also see $use_domain and $hidden_host.

3.94. ignore_linear_white_space

Type: boolean
Default: no

This option replaces linear-white-space between encoded-word and text to a
single space to prevent the display of MIME-encoded ?Subject:? field from being
divided into multiple lines.

3.95. ignore_list_reply_to

Type: boolean
Default: no

Affects the behavior of the <reply> function when replying to messages from
mailing lists (as defined by the ?subscribe? or ?lists? commands). When set, if
the ?Reply-To:? field is set to the same value as the ?To:? field, Mutt assumes
that the ?Reply-To:? field was set by the mailing list to automate responses to
the list, and will ignore this field. To direct a response to the mailing list
when this option is set, use the <list-reply> function; <group-reply> will
reply to both the sender and the list.

3.96. imap_authenticators

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt may attempt to
use to log in to an IMAP server, in the order mutt should try them.
Authentication methods are either ?login? or the right side of an IMAP ?AUTH=
xxx? capability string, e.g. ?digest-md5?, ?gssapi? or ?cram-md5?. This option
is case-insensitive. If it's unset (the default) mutt will try all available
methods, in order from most-secure to least-secure.

Example:

set imap_authenticators="gssapi:cram-md5:login"

Note: Mutt will only fall back to other authentication methods if the previous
methods are unavailable. If a method is available but authentication fails,
mutt will not connect to the IMAP server.

3.97. imap_check_subscribed

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, mutt will fetch the set of subscribed folders from your server on
connection, and add them to the set of mailboxes it polls for new mail just as
if you had issued individual ?mailboxes? commands.

3.98. imap_delim_chars

Type: string
Default: ?/.?

This contains the list of characters which you would like to treat as folder
separators for displaying IMAP paths. In particular it helps in using the ?=?
shortcut for your folder variable.

3.99. imap_headers

Type: string
Default: (empty)

Mutt requests these header fields in addition to the default headers (?Date:?,
?From:?, ?Subject:?, ?To:?, ?Cc:?, ?Message-Id:?, ?References:?,
?Content-Type:?, ?Content-Description:?, ?In-Reply-To:?, ?Reply-To:?, ?Lines:?,
?List-Post:?, ?X-Label:?) from IMAP servers before displaying the index menu.
You may want to add more headers for spam detection.

Note: This is a space separated list, items should be uppercase and not contain
the colon, e.g. ?X-BOGOSITY X-SPAM-STATUS? for the ?X-Bogosity:? and
?X-Spam-Status:? header fields.

3.100. imap_idle

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, mutt will attempt to use the IMAP IDLE extension to check for new
mail in the current mailbox. Some servers (dovecot was the inspiration for this
option) react badly to mutt's implementation. If your connection seems to
freeze up periodically, try unsetting this.

3.101. imap_keepalive

Type: number
Default: 900

This variable specifies the maximum amount of time in seconds that mutt will
wait before polling open IMAP connections, to prevent the server from closing
them before mutt has finished with them. The default is well within the
RFC-specified minimum amount of time (30 minutes) before a server is allowed to
do this, but in practice the RFC does get violated every now and then. Reduce
this number if you find yourself getting disconnected from your IMAP server due
to inactivity.

3.102. imap_list_subscribed

Type: boolean
Default: no

This variable configures whether IMAP folder browsing will look for only
subscribed folders or all folders. This can be toggled in the IMAP browser with
the <toggle-subscribed> function.

3.103. imap_login

Type: string
Default: (empty)

Your login name on the IMAP server.

This variable defaults to the value of $imap_user.

3.104. imap_pass

Type: string
Default: (empty)

Specifies the password for your IMAP account. If unset, Mutt will prompt you
for your password when you invoke the <imap-fetch-mail> function or try to open
an IMAP folder.

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.

3.105. imap_passive

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, mutt will not open new IMAP connections to check for new mail. Mutt
will only check for new mail over existing IMAP connections. This is useful if
you don't want to be prompted to user/password pairs on mutt invocation, or if
opening the connection is slow.

3.106. imap_peek

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, mutt will avoid implicitly marking your mail as read whenever you
fetch a message from the server. This is generally a good thing, but can make
closing an IMAP folder somewhat slower. This option exists to appease speed
freaks.

3.107. imap_pipeline_depth

Type: number
Default: 15

Controls the number of IMAP commands that may be queued up before they are sent
to the server. A deeper pipeline reduces the amount of time mutt must wait for
the server, and can make IMAP servers feel much more responsive. But not all
servers correctly handle pipelined commands, so if you have problems you might
want to try setting this variable to 0.

Note: Changes to this variable have no effect on open connections.

3.108. imap_servernoise

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, mutt will display warning messages from the IMAP server as error
messages. Since these messages are often harmless, or generated due to
configuration problems on the server which are out of the users' hands, you may
wish to suppress them at some point.

3.109. imap_user

Type: string
Default: (empty)

The name of the user whose mail you intend to access on the IMAP server.

This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.

3.110. implicit_autoview

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set to ?yes?, mutt will look for a mailcap entry with the ?copiousoutput?
flag set for every MIME attachment it doesn't have an internal viewer defined
for. If such an entry is found, mutt will use the viewer defined in that entry
to convert the body part to text form.

3.111. 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.

3.112. include_onlyfirst

Type: boolean
Default: no

Controls whether or not Mutt includes only the first attachment of the message
you are replying.

3.113. indent_string

Type: string
Default: ?> ?

Specifies the string to prepend to each line of text quoted in a message to
which you are replying. You are strongly encouraged not to change this value,
as it tends to agitate the more fanatical netizens.

The value of this option is ignored if $text_flowed is set, too because the
quoting mechanism is strictly defined for format=flowed.

This option is a format string, please see the description of $index_format for
supported printf(3)-style sequences.

3.114. index_format

Type: string
Default: ?%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%?l?%4l&%4c?) %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(3) to
format output (see the man page for more details). The following sequences are
defined in Mutt:

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|%a   |address of the author                                                  |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%A   |reply-to address (if present; otherwise: address of author)            |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%b   |filename of the original message folder (think mailbox)                |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%B   |the list to which the letter was sent, or else the folder name (%b).   |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%c   |number of characters (bytes) in the message                            |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%C   |current message number                                                 |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%d   |date and time of the message in the format specified by $date_format   |
|     |converted to sender's time zone                                        |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%D   |date and time of the message in the format specified by $date_format   |
|     |converted to the local time zone                                       |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%e   |current message number in thread                                       |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%E   |number of messages in current thread                                   |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%f   |sender (address + real name), either From: or Return-Path:             |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%F   |author name, or recipient name if the message is from you              |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%H   |spam attribute(s) of this message                                      |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%i   |message-id of the current message                                      |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%l   |number of lines in the message (does not work with maildir, mh, and    |
|     |possibly IMAP folders)                                                 |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|     |If an address in the ?To:? or ?Cc:? header field matches an address    |
|%L   |defined by the users ?subscribe? command, this displays "To <list-name>|
|     |", otherwise the same as %F.                                           |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%m   |total number of message in the mailbox                                 |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%M   |number of hidden messages if the thread is collapsed.                  |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%N   |message score                                                          |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%n   |author's real name (or address if missing)                             |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%O   |original save folder where mutt would formerly have stashed the        |
|     |message: list name or recipient name if not sent to a list             |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%P   |progress indicator for the built-in pager (how much of the file has    |
|     |been displayed)                                                        |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%s   |subject of the message                                                 |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%S   |status of the message (?N?/?D?/?d?/?!?/?r?/*)                          |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%t   |?To:? field (recipients)                                               |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%T   |the appropriate character from the $to_chars string                    |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%u   |user (login) name of the author                                        |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%v   |first name of the author, or the recipient if the message is from you  |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%X   |number of attachments (please see the ?attachments? section for        |
|     |possible speed effects)                                                |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%y   |?X-Label:? field, if present                                           |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|     |?X-Label:? field, if present, and (1) not at part of a thread tree, (2)|
|%Y   |at the top of a thread, or (3) ?X-Label:? is different from preceding  |
|     |message's ?X-Label:?.                                                  |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%Z   |message status flags                                                   |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%    |the date and time of the message is converted to sender's time zone,   |
|{fmt}|and ?fmt? is expanded by the library function strftime(3); a leading   |
|     |bang disables locales                                                  |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%    |the date and time of the message is converted to the local time zone,  |
|[fmt]|and ?fmt? is expanded by the library function strftime(3); a leading   |
|     |bang disables locales                                                  |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%    |the local date and time when the message was received. ?fmt? is        |
|(fmt)|expanded by the library function strftime(3); a leading bang disables  |
|     |locales                                                                |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%    |the current local time. ?fmt? is expanded by the library function      |
|<fmt>|strftime(3); 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?                          |
|-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%*X  |soft-fill with character ?X? as pad                                    |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

?Soft-fill? deserves some explanation: Normal right-justification will print
everything to the left of the ?%>?, displaying padding and whatever lies to the
right only if there's room. By contrast, soft-fill gives priority to the
right-hand side, guaranteeing space to display it and showing padding only if
there's still room. If necessary, soft-fill will eat text leftwards to make
room for rightward text.

Note that these expandos are supported in ?save-hook?, ?fcc-hook? and ?
fcc-save-hook?, too.

3.115. ispell

Type: path
Default: ?ispell?

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

3.116. keep_flagged

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, read messages marked as flagged will not be moved from your spool
mailbox to your $mbox mailbox, or as a result of a ?mbox-hook? command.

3.117. 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 environment variable $LC_TIME.

3.118. mail_check

Type: number
Default: 5

This variable configures how often (in seconds) mutt should look for new mail.
Also see the $timeout variable.

3.119. mail_check_recent

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, Mutt will only notify you about new mail that has been received since
the last time you opened the mailbox. When unset, Mutt will notify you if any
new mail exists in the mailbox, regardless of whether you have visited it
recently.

When $mark_old is set, Mutt does not consider the mailbox to contain new mail
if only old messages exist.

3.120. mailcap_path

Type: string
Default: (empty)

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

3.121. mailcap_sanitize

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, mutt will restrict possible characters in mailcap % expandos to a
well-defined set of safe characters. This is the safe setting, but we are not
sure it doesn't break some more advanced MIME stuff.

DON'T CHANGE THIS SETTING UNLESS YOU ARE REALLY SURE WHAT YOU ARE DOING!

3.122. maildir_header_cache_verify

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Check for Maildir unaware programs other than mutt having modified maildir
files when the header cache is in use. This incurs one stat(2) per message
every time the folder is opened (which can be very slow for NFS folders).

3.123. maildir_trash

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, messages marked as deleted will be saved with the maildir trashed flag
instead of unlinked. Note: this only applies to maildir-style mailboxes.
Setting it will have no effect on other mailbox types.

3.124. mark_old

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Controls whether or not mutt marks new unread messages as old if you exit a
mailbox without reading them. With this option set, 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.

3.125. markers

Type: boolean
Default: yes

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.

3.126. mask

Type: regular expression
Default: ?!^\.[^.]?

A regular expression used in the file browser, optionally preceded by the not
operator ?!?. Only files whose names match this mask will be shown. The match
is always case-sensitive.

3.127. mbox

Type: path
Default: ?~/mbox?

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

Also see the $move variable.

3.128. mbox_type

Type: folder magic
Default: mbox

The default mailbox type used when creating new folders. May be any of ?mbox?,
?MMDF?, ?MH? and ?Maildir?. This is overridden by the -m command-line option.

3.129. menu_context

Type: number
Default: 0

This variable controls the number of lines of context that are given when
scrolling through menus. (Similar to $pager_context.)

3.130. menu_move_off

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When unset, the bottom entry of menus will never scroll up past the bottom of
the screen, unless there are less entries than lines. When set, the bottom
entry may move off the bottom.

3.131. menu_scroll

Type: boolean
Default: no

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).

3.132. message_cache_clean

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, mutt will clean out obsolete entries from the message cache when the
mailbox is synchronized. You probably only want to set it every once in a
while, since it can be a little slow (especially for large folders).

3.133. message_cachedir

Type: path
Default: (empty)

Set this to a directory and mutt will cache copies of messages from your IMAP
and POP servers here. You are free to remove entries at any time.

When setting this variable to a directory, mutt needs to fetch every remote
message only once and can perform regular expression searches as fast as for
local folders.

Also see the $message_cache_clean variable.

3.134. message_format

Type: string
Default: ?%s?

This is the string displayed in the ?attachment? menu for attachments of type
message/rfc822. For a full listing of defined printf(3)-like sequences see the
section on $index_format.

3.135. meta_key

Type: boolean
Default: no

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 0xf8, then
this is treated as if the user had pressed Esc then ?x?. This is because the
result of removing the high bit from 0xf8 is 0x78, which is the ASCII character
?x?.

3.136. metoo

Type: boolean
Default: no

If unset, Mutt will remove your address (see the ?alternates? command) from the
list of recipients when replying to a message.

3.137. mh_purge

Type: boolean
Default: no

When unset, mutt will mimic mh's behavior and rename deleted messages to ,<old
file name> in mh folders instead of really deleting them. This leaves the
message on disk but makes programs reading the folder ignore it. If the
variable is set, the message files will simply be deleted.

This option is similar to $maildir_trash for Maildir folders.

3.138. mh_seq_flagged

Type: string
Default: ?flagged?

The name of the MH sequence used for flagged messages.

3.139. mh_seq_replied

Type: string
Default: ?replied?

The name of the MH sequence used to tag replied messages.

3.140. mh_seq_unseen

Type: string
Default: ?unseen?

The name of the MH sequence used for unseen messages.

3.141. mime_forward

Type: quadoption
Default: no

When set, the message you are forwarding will be attached as a separate message
/rfc822 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.

3.142. mime_forward_decode

Type: boolean
Default: no

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.

3.143. mime_forward_rest

Type: quadoption
Default: yes

When forwarding multiple attachments of a MIME message from the attachment
menu, attachments which cannot be decoded in a reasonable manner will be
attached to the newly composed message if this option is set.

3.144. mix_entry_format

Type: string
Default: ?%4n %c %-16s %a?

This variable describes the format of a remailer line on the mixmaster chain
selection screen. The following printf(3)-like sequences are supported:

+----------------------------------+
|%n|The running number on the menu.|
|--+-------------------------------|
|%c|Remailer capabilities.         |
|--+-------------------------------|
|%s|The remailer's short name.     |
|--+-------------------------------|
|%a|The remailer's e-mail address. |
+----------------------------------+

3.145. mixmaster

Type: path
Default: ?mixmaster?

This variable contains the path to the Mixmaster binary on your system. It is
used with various sets of parameters to gather the list of known remailers, and
to finally send a message through the mixmaster chain.

3.146. move

Type: quadoption
Default: no

Controls whether or not Mutt will move read messages from your spool mailbox to
your $mbox mailbox, or as a result of a ?mbox-hook? command.

3.147. narrow_tree

Type: boolean
Default: no

This variable, when set, makes the thread tree narrower, allowing deeper
threads to fit on the screen.

3.148. net_inc

Type: number
Default: 10

Operations that expect to transfer a large amount of data over the network will
update their progress every $net_inc kilobytes. If set to 0, no progress
messages will be displayed.

See also $read_inc, $write_inc and $net_inc.

3.149. pager

Type: path
Default: ?builtin?

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

Using an external pager may have some disadvantages: Additional keystrokes are
necessary because you can't call mutt functions directly from the pager, and
screen resizes cause lines longer than the screen width to be badly formatted
in the help menu.

3.150. 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).

This variable also specifies the amount of context given for search results. If
positive, this many lines will be given before a match, if 0, the match will be
top-aligned.

3.151. pager_format

Type: string
Default: ?-%Z- %C/%m: %-20.20n   %s%*  -- (%P)?

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.

3.152. 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
setting 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.

3.153. pager_stop

Type: boolean
Default: no

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.

3.154. pgp_auto_decode

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, mutt will automatically attempt to decrypt traditional PGP messages
whenever the user performs an operation which ordinarily would result in the
contents of the message being operated on. For example, if the user displays a
pgp-traditional message which has not been manually checked with the
<check-traditional-pgp> function, mutt will automatically check the message for
traditional pgp.

3.155. pgp_autoinline

Type: boolean
Default: no

This option controls whether Mutt generates old-style inline (traditional) PGP
encrypted or signed messages under certain circumstances. This can be
overridden by use of the pgp menu, when inline is not required.

Note that Mutt might automatically use PGP/MIME for messages which consist of
more than a single MIME part. Mutt can be configured to ask before sending PGP/
MIME messages when inline (traditional) would not work.

Also see the $pgp_mime_auto variable.

Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is strongly deprecated.
(PGP only)

3.156. pgp_check_exit

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, mutt will check the exit code of the PGP subprocess when signing or
encrypting. A non-zero exit code means that the subprocess failed. (PGP only)

3.157. pgp_clearsign_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This format is used to create an old-style ?clearsigned? PGP message. Note that
the use of this format is strongly deprecated.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)

3.158. pgp_decode_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This format strings specifies a command which is used to decode application/pgp
attachments.

The PGP command formats have their own set of printf(3)-like sequences:

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|%p|Expands to PGPPASSFD=0 when a pass phrase is needed, to an empty string   |
|  |otherwise. Note: This may be used with a %? construct.                    |
|--+--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%f|Expands to the name of a file containing a message.                       |
|--+--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%s|Expands to the name of a file containing the signature part of a multipart|
|  |/signed attachment when verifying it.                                     |
|--+--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%a|The value of $pgp_sign_as.                                                |
|--+--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%r|One or more key IDs.                                                      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

For examples on how to configure these formats for the various versions of PGP
which are floating around, see the pgp and gpg sample configuration files in
the samples/ subdirectory which has been installed on your system alongside the
documentation. (PGP only)

3.159. pgp_decrypt_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is used to decrypt a PGP encrypted message.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)

3.160. pgp_encrypt_only_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is used to encrypt a body part without signing it.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)

3.161. pgp_encrypt_sign_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is used to both sign and encrypt a body part.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)

3.162. pgp_entry_format

Type: string
Default: ?%4n %t%f %4l/0x%k %-4a %2c %u?

This variable allows you to customize the PGP key selection menu to your
personal taste. This string is similar to $index_format, but has its own set of
printf(3)-like sequences:

+-------------------------------------------------------------+
|%n    |number                                                |
|------+------------------------------------------------------|
|%k    |key id                                                |
|------+------------------------------------------------------|
|%u    |user id                                               |
|------+------------------------------------------------------|
|%a    |algorithm                                             |
|------+------------------------------------------------------|
|%l    |key length                                            |
|------+------------------------------------------------------|
|%f    |flags                                                 |
|------+------------------------------------------------------|
|%c    |capabilities                                          |
|------+------------------------------------------------------|
|%t    |trust/validity of the key-uid association             |
|------+------------------------------------------------------|
|%[<s>]|date of the key where <s> is an strftime(3) expression|
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

(PGP only)

3.163. pgp_export_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is used to export a public key from the user's key ring.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)

3.164. pgp_getkeys_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is invoked whenever mutt will need public key information. Of the
sequences supported by $pgp_decode_command, %r is the only printf(3)-like
sequence used with this format. (PGP only)

3.165. pgp_good_sign

Type: regular expression
Default: (empty)

If you assign a text to this variable, then a PGP signature is only considered
verified if the output from $pgp_verify_command contains the text. Use this
variable if the exit code from the command is 0 even for bad signatures. (PGP
only)

3.166. pgp_ignore_subkeys

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Setting this variable will cause Mutt to ignore OpenPGP subkeys. Instead, the
principal key will inherit the subkeys' capabilities. Unset this if you want to
play interesting key selection games. (PGP only)

3.167. pgp_import_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is used to import a key from a message into the user's public key
ring.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)

3.168. pgp_list_pubring_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is used to list the public key ring's contents. The output format
must be analogous to the one used by

gpg --list-keys --with-colons.

This format is also generated by the pgpring utility which comes with mutt.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)

3.169. pgp_list_secring_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is used to list the secret key ring's contents. The output format
must be analogous to the one used by:

gpg --list-keys --with-colons.

This format is also generated by the pgpring utility which comes with mutt.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)

3.170. pgp_long_ids

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, use 64 bit PGP key IDs, if unset use the normal 32 bit key IDs. (PGP
only)

3.171. pgp_mime_auto

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

This option controls whether Mutt will prompt you for automatically sending a
(signed/encrypted) message using PGP/MIME when inline (traditional) fails (for
any reason).

Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is strongly deprecated.
(PGP only)

3.172. pgp_replyinline

Type: boolean
Default: no

Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to create an inline
(traditional) message when replying to a message which is PGP encrypted/signed
inline. This can be overridden by use of the pgp menu, when inline is not
required. This option does not automatically detect if the (replied-to) message
is inline; instead it relies on Mutt internals for previously checked/flagged
messages.

Note that Mutt might automatically use PGP/MIME for messages which consist of
more than a single MIME part. Mutt can be configured to ask before sending PGP/
MIME messages when inline (traditional) would not work.

Also see the $pgp_mime_auto variable.

Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is strongly deprecated.
(PGP only)

3.173. pgp_retainable_sigs

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, signed and encrypted messages will consist of nested multipart/signed
and multipart/encrypted body parts.

This is useful for applications like encrypted and signed mailing lists, where
the outer layer (multipart/encrypted) can be easily removed, while the inner
multipart/signed part is retained. (PGP only)

3.174. pgp_show_unusable

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, mutt will display non-usable keys on the PGP key selection menu. This
includes keys which have been revoked, have expired, or have been marked as
?disabled? by the user. (PGP only)

3.175. pgp_sign_as

Type: string
Default: (empty)

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. 0x00112233). (PGP only)

3.176. pgp_sign_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is used to create the detached PGP signature for a multipart/
signed PGP/MIME body part.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)

3.177. pgp_sort_keys

Type: sort order
Default: address

Specifies how the entries in the pgp menu are sorted. The following are legal
values:

+--------------------------------------+
|address|sort alphabetically by user id|
|-------+------------------------------|
|keyid  |sort alphabetically by key id |
|-------+------------------------------|
|date   |sort by key creation date     |
|-------+------------------------------|
|trust  |sort by the trust of the key  |
+--------------------------------------+

If you prefer reverse order of the above values, prefix it with ?reverse-?.
(PGP only)

3.178. pgp_strict_enc

Type: boolean
Default: yes

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. (PGP only)

3.179. pgp_timeout

Type: number
Default: 300

The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will expire if not used.
(PGP only)

3.180. pgp_use_gpg_agent

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, mutt will use a possibly-running gpg-agent(1) process. (PGP only)

3.181. pgp_verify_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is used to verify PGP signatures.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)

3.182. pgp_verify_key_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is used to verify key information from the key selection menu.

This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)

3.183. pipe_decode

Type: boolean
Default: no

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 decode the messages first.

3.184. pipe_sep

Type: string
Default: ?\n?

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

3.185. pipe_split

Type: boolean
Default: no

Used in connection with the <pipe-message> function following <tag-prefix>. If
this variable is unset, when piping a list of tagged messages Mutt will
concatenate the messages and will pipe them all concatenated. When set, Mutt
will pipe the messages one by one. In both cases the messages are piped in the
current sorted order, and the $pipe_sep separator is added after each message.

3.186. pop_auth_try_all

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, Mutt will try all available authentication methods. When unset, Mutt
will only fall back to other authentication methods if the previous methods are
unavailable. If a method is available but authentication fails, Mutt will not
connect to the POP server.

3.187. pop_authenticators

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt may attempt to
use to log in to an POP server, in the order mutt should try them.
Authentication methods are either ?user?, ?apop? or any SASL mechanism, e.g.
?digest-md5?, ?gssapi? or ?cram-md5?. This option is case-insensitive. If this
option is unset (the default) mutt will try all available methods, in order
from most-secure to least-secure.

Example:

set pop_authenticators="digest-md5:apop:user"

3.188. pop_checkinterval

Type: number
Default: 60

This variable configures how often (in seconds) mutt should look for new mail
in the currently selected mailbox if it is a POP mailbox.

3.189. pop_delete

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-no

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.

3.190. pop_host

Type: string
Default: (empty)

The name of your POP server for the <fetch-mail> function. You can also specify
an alternative port, username and password, i.e.:

[pop[s]://][username[:password]@]popserver[:port]

where ?[...]? denotes an optional part.

3.191. pop_last

Type: boolean
Default: no

If this variable is set, mutt will try to use the ?LAST? POP command for
retrieving only unread messages from the POP server when using the <fetch-mail>
function.

3.192. pop_pass

Type: string
Default: (empty)

Specifies the password for your POP account. If unset, Mutt will prompt you for
your password when you open a POP mailbox.

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.

3.193. pop_reconnect

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

Controls whether or not Mutt will try to reconnect to the POP server if the
connection is lost.

3.194. pop_user

Type: string
Default: (empty)

Your login name on the POP server.

This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.

3.195. post_indent_string

Type: string
Default: (empty)

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

3.196. postpone

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

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

Also see the $recall variable.

3.197. postponed

Type: path
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 mailbox
specified by this variable.

Also see the $postpone variable.

3.198. preconnect

Type: string
Default: (empty)

If set, a shell command to be executed if mutt fails to establish a connection
to the server. This is useful for setting up secure connections, e.g. with ssh
(1). If the command returns a nonzero status, mutt gives up opening the server.
Example:

set preconnect="ssh -f -q -L 1234:mailhost.net:143 mailhost.net \
sleep 20 < /dev/null > /dev/null"

Mailbox ?foo? on ?mailhost.net? can now be reached as ?{localhost:1234}foo?.

Note: For this example to work, you must be able to log in to the remote
machine without having to enter a password.

3.199. print

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-no

Controls whether or not Mutt really prints messages. This is set to ?ask-no? by
default, because some people accidentally hit ?p? often.

3.200. print_command

Type: path
Default: ?lpr?

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

3.201. print_decode

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Used in connection with the <print-message> command. If this option is set, the
message is decoded before it is passed to the external command specified by
$print_command. If this option is unset, no processing will be applied to the
message when printing it. The latter setting may be useful if you are using
some advanced printer filter which is able to properly format e-mail messages
for printing.

3.202. print_split

Type: boolean
Default: no

Used in connection with the <print-message> command. If this option is set, the
command specified by $print_command is executed once for each message which is
to be printed. If this option is unset, the command specified by $print_command
is executed only once, and all the messages are concatenated, with a form feed
as the message separator.

Those who use the enscript(1) program's mail-printing mode will most likely
want to set this option.

3.203. prompt_after

Type: boolean
Default: yes

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.

3.204. query_command

Type: path
Default: (empty)

This specifies the command Mutt will use to make external address queries. The
string may contain a ?%s?, which will be substituted with the query string the
user types. Mutt will add quotes around the string substituted for ?%s?
automatically according to shell quoting rules, so you should avoid adding your
own. If no ?%s? is found in the string, Mutt will append the user's query to
the end of the string. See ?query? for more information.

3.205. query_format

Type: string
Default: ?%4c %t %-25.25a %-25.25n %?e?(%e)??

This variable describes the format of the ?query? menu. The following printf(3)
-style sequences are understood:

+---------------------------------------------------------+
|%a |destination address                                  |
|---+-----------------------------------------------------|
|%c |current entry number                                 |
|---+-----------------------------------------------------|
|%e |extra information *                                  |
|---+-----------------------------------------------------|
|%n |destination name                                     |
|---+-----------------------------------------------------|
|%t |?*? if current entry is tagged, a space otherwise    |
|---+-----------------------------------------------------|
|%>X|right justify the rest of the string and pad with ?X?|
|---+-----------------------------------------------------|
|%|X|pad to the end of the line with ?X?                  |
|---+-----------------------------------------------------|
|%*X|soft-fill with character ?X? as pad                  |
+---------------------------------------------------------+

For an explanation of ?soft-fill?, see the $index_format documentation.

* = can be optionally printed if nonzero, see the $status_format documentation.

3.206. quit

Type: quadoption
Default: yes

This variable controls whether ?quit? and ?exit? actually quit from mutt. If
this option is set, they do quit, if it is unset, 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.

3.207. quote_regexp

Type: regular expression
Default: ?^([ \t]*[|>:}#])+?

A regular expression used in the internal pager to determine quoted sections of
text in the body of a message. Quoted text may be filtered out using the
<toggle-quoted> command, or colored according to the ?color quoted? family of
directives.

Higher levels of quoting may be colored differently (?color quoted1?, ?color
quoted2?, etc.). The quoting level is determined by removing the last character
from the matched text and recursively reapplying the regular expression until
it fails to produce a match.

Match detection may be overridden by the $smileys regular expression.

3.208. 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 or when performing search actions such as
search and limit. The message is printed after this many messages have been
read or searched (e.g., if set to 25, Mutt will print a message when it is at
message 25, and then again when it gets to message 50). This variable is meant
to indicate progress when reading or searching 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, $net_inc and $time_inc variables and the ?tuning?
section of the manual for performance considerations.

3.209. read_only

Type: boolean
Default: no

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

3.210. realname

Type: string
Default: (empty)

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

By default, this is the GECOS field from /etc/passwd. Note that this variable
will not be used when the user has set a real name in the $from variable.

3.211. recall

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

Controls whether or not Mutt recalls postponed messages when composing a new
message.

Setting this variable to is not generally useful, and thus not recommended.

Also see $postponed variable.

3.212. record

Type: path
Default: ?~/sent?

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.

3.213. reply_regexp

Type: regular expression
Default: ?^(re([\[0-9\]+])*|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:".

3.214. reply_self

Type: boolean
Default: no

If unset and you are replying to a message sent by you, Mutt will assume that
you want to reply to the recipients of that message rather than to yourself.

Also see the ?alternates? command.

3.215. reply_to

Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

If set, when replying to a message, Mutt will use the address listed in the
Reply-to: header as the recipient of the reply. If unset, 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.

3.216. resolve

Type: boolean
Default: yes

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

3.217. reverse_alias

Type: boolean
Default: no

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.

3.218. reverse_name

Type: boolean
Default: no

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 that address
matches your ?alternates?. If the variable is unset, or the address that would
be used doesn't match your ?alternates?, the From: line will use your address
on the current machine.

Also see the ?alternates? command.

3.219. reverse_realname

Type: boolean
Default: yes

This variable fine-tunes the behavior of the $reverse_name feature. When it is
set, mutt will use the address from incoming messages as-is, possibly including
eventual real names. When it is unset, mutt will override any such real names
with the setting of the $realname variable.

3.220. rfc2047_parameters

Type: boolean
Default: no

When this variable is set, Mutt will decode RFC2047-encoded MIME parameters.
You want to set this variable when mutt suggests you to save attachments to
files named like:

=?iso-8859-1?Q?file=5F=E4=5F991116=2Ezip?=

When this variable is set interactively, the change won't be active until you
change folders.

Note that this use of RFC2047's encoding is explicitly prohibited by the
standard, but nevertheless encountered in the wild.

Also note that setting this parameter will not have the effect that mutt
generates this kind of encoding. Instead, mutt will unconditionally use the
encoding specified in RFC2231.

3.221. save_address

Type: boolean
Default: no

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.

3.222. save_empty

Type: boolean
Default: yes

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.

3.223. save_history

Type: number
Default: 0

This variable controls the size of the history (per category) saved in the
$history_file file.

3.224. save_name

Type: boolean
Default: no

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.

3.225. score

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When this variable is unset, scoring is turned off. This can be useful to
selectively disable scoring for certain folders when the
$score_threshold_delete variable and related are used.

3.226. score_threshold_delete

Type: number
Default: -1

Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than the value of
this variable are automatically marked for deletion by mutt. Since mutt scores
are always greater than or equal to zero, the default setting of this variable
will never mark a message for deletion.

3.227. score_threshold_flag

Type: number
Default: 9999

Messages which have been assigned a score greater than or equal to this
variable's value are automatically marked "flagged".

3.228. score_threshold_read

Type: number
Default: -1

Messages which have been assigned a score equal to or lower than the value of
this variable are automatically marked as read by mutt. Since mutt scores are
always greater than or equal to zero, the default setting of this variable will
never mark a message read.

3.229. search_context

Type: number
Default: 0

For the pager, this variable specifies the number of lines shown before search
results. By default, search results will be top-aligned.

3.230. send_charset

Type: string
Default: ?us-ascii:iso-8859-1:utf-8?

A colon-delimited list of character sets for outgoing messages. Mutt will use
the first character set into which the text can be converted exactly. If your
$charset is not ?iso-8859-1? and recipients may not understand ?UTF-8?, it is
advisable to include in the list an appropriate widely used standard character
set (such as ?iso-8859-2?, ?koi8-r? or ?iso-2022-jp?) either instead of or
after ?iso-8859-1?.

In case the text cannot be converted into one of these exactly, mutt uses
$charset as a fallback.

3.231. sendmail

Type: path
Default: ?/usr/sbin/sendmail -oem -oi?

Specifies the program and arguments used to deliver mail sent by Mutt. Mutt
expects that the specified program interprets additional arguments as recipient
addresses.

3.232. 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.

3.233. shell

Type: path
Default: (empty)

Command to use when spawning a subshell. By default, the user's login shell
from /etc/passwd is used.

3.234. sig_dashes

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, a line containing ?-- ? (note the trailing space) 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 built-in pager.

3.235. sig_on_top

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, the signature will be included before any quoted or forwarded text. It
is strongly recommended that you do not set this variable unless you really
know what you are doing, and are prepared to take some heat from netiquette
guardians.

3.236. signature

Type: path
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 standard output.

3.237. 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 ?~? pattern operators.
See ?patterns? 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 by replacing
?%s? with the supplied string. For the default value, ?joe? would be expanded
to: ?~f joe | ~s joe?.

3.238. sleep_time

Type: number
Default: 1

Specifies time, in seconds, to pause while displaying certain informational
messages, while moving from folder to folder and after expunging messages from
the current folder. The default is to pause one second, so a value of zero for
this option suppresses the pause.

3.239. smart_wrap

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Controls the display of lines longer than 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.

3.240. smileys

Type: regular expression
Default: ?(>From )|(:[-^]?[][)(><}{|/DP])?

The pager uses this variable to catch some common false positives of
$quote_regexp, most notably smileys and not consider a line quoted text if it
also matches $smileys. This mostly happens at the beginning of a line.

3.241. smime_ask_cert_label

Type: boolean
Default: yes

This flag controls whether you want to be asked to enter a label for a
certificate about to be added to the database or not. It is set by default. (S/
MIME only)

3.242. smime_ca_location

Type: path
Default: (empty)

This variable contains the name of either a directory, or a file which contains
trusted certificates for use with OpenSSL. (S/MIME only)

3.243. smime_certificates

Type: path
Default: (empty)

Since for S/MIME there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, mutt has to handle
storage and retrieval of keys by itself. This is very basic right now, and keys
and certificates are stored in two different directories, both named as the
hash-value retrieved from OpenSSL. There is an index file which contains
mailbox-address keyid pairs, and which can be manually edited. This option
points to the location of the certificates. (S/MIME only)

3.244. smime_decrypt_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This format string specifies a command which is used to decrypt application/
x-pkcs7-mime attachments.

The OpenSSL command formats have their own set of printf(3)-like sequences
similar to PGP's:

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|%f|Expands to the name of a file containing a message.                       |
|--+--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%s|Expands to the name of a file containing the signature part of a multipart|
|  |/signed attachment when verifying it.                                     |
|--+--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%k|The key-pair specified with $smime_default_key                            |
|--+--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%c|One or more certificate IDs.                                              |
|--+--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%a|The algorithm used for encryption.                                        |
|--+--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|  |CA location: Depending on whether $smime_ca_location points to a directory|
|%C|or file, this expands to ?-CApath $smime_ca_location? or ?-CAfile         |
|  |$smime_ca_location?.                                                      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

For examples on how to configure these formats, see the smime.rc in the samples
/ subdirectory which has been installed on your system alongside the
documentation. (S/MIME only)

3.245. smime_decrypt_use_default_key

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set (default) this tells mutt to use the default key for decryption.
Otherwise, if managing multiple certificate-key-pairs, mutt will try to use the
mailbox-address to determine the key to use. It will ask you to supply a key,
if it can't find one. (S/MIME only)

3.246. smime_default_key

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This is the default key-pair to use for signing. This must be set to the keyid
(the hash-value that OpenSSL generates) to work properly (S/MIME only)

3.247. smime_encrypt_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is used to create encrypted S/MIME messages.

This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)

3.248. smime_encrypt_with

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This sets the algorithm that should be used for encryption. Valid choices are
?des?, ?des3?, ?rc2-40?, ?rc2-64?, ?rc2-128?. If unset, ?3des? (TripleDES) is
used. (S/MIME only)

3.249. smime_get_cert_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is used to extract X509 certificates from a PKCS7 structure.

This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)

3.250. smime_get_cert_email_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is used to extract the mail address(es) used for storing X509
certificates, and for verification purposes (to check whether the certificate
was issued for the sender's mailbox).

This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)

3.251. smime_get_signer_cert_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is used to extract only the signers X509 certificate from a S/MIME
signature, so that the certificate's owner may get compared to the email's
?From:? field.

This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)

3.252. smime_import_cert_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is used to import a certificate via smime_keys.

This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)

3.253. smime_is_default

Type: boolean
Default: no

The default behavior of mutt is to use PGP on all auto-sign/encryption
operations. To override and to use OpenSSL instead this must be set. However,
this has no effect while replying, since mutt will automatically select the
same application that was used to sign/encrypt the original message. (Note that
this variable can be overridden by unsetting $crypt_autosmime.) (S/MIME only)

3.254. smime_keys

Type: path
Default: (empty)

Since for S/MIME there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, mutt has to handle
storage and retrieval of keys/certs by itself. This is very basic right now,
and stores keys and certificates in two different directories, both named as
the hash-value retrieved from OpenSSL. There is an index file which contains
mailbox-address keyid pair, and which can be manually edited. This option
points to the location of the private keys. (S/MIME only)

3.255. smime_pk7out_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is used to extract PKCS7 structures of S/MIME signatures, in order
to extract the public X509 certificate(s).

This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)

3.256. smime_sign_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type multipart/signed,
which can be read by all mail clients.

This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)

3.257. smime_sign_opaque_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type application/
x-pkcs7-signature, which can only be handled by mail clients supporting the S/
MIME extension.

This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)

3.258. smime_timeout

Type: number
Default: 300

The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will expire if not used.
(S/MIME only)

3.259. smime_verify_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type multipart/signed.

This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)

3.260. smime_verify_opaque_command

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type application/
x-pkcs7-mime.

This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)

3.261. smtp_authenticators

Type: string
Default: (empty)

This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt may attempt to
use to log in to an SMTP server, in the order mutt should try them.
Authentication methods are any SASL mechanism, e.g. ?digest-md5?, ?gssapi? or
?cram-md5?. This option is case-insensitive. If it is ?unset? (the default)
mutt will try all available methods, in order from most-secure to least-secure.

Example:

set smtp_authenticators="digest-md5:cram-md5"

3.262. smtp_pass

Type: string
Default: (empty)

Specifies the password for your SMTP account. If unset, Mutt will prompt you
for your password when you first send mail via SMTP. See $smtp_url to configure
mutt to send mail via SMTP.

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.

3.263. smtp_url

Type: string
Default: (empty)

Defines the SMTP smarthost where sent messages should relayed for delivery.
This should take the form of an SMTP URL, e.g.:

smtp[s]://[user[:pass]@]host[:port]

where ?[...]? denotes an optional part. Setting this variable overrides the
value of the $sendmail variable.

3.264. sort

Type: sort order
Default: date

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

  * date or date-sent

  * date-received

  * from

  * mailbox-order (unsorted)

  * score

  * size

  * spam

  * subject

  * threads

  * to

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

3.265. sort_alias

Type: sort order
Default: alias

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

  * address (sort alphabetically by email address)

  * alias (sort alphabetically by alias name)

  * unsorted (leave in order specified in .muttrc)

3.266. sort_aux

Type: sort order
Default: date

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 ?last-? must 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?.)

Note: For reversed $sort order $sort_aux is reversed again (which is not the
right thing to do, but kept to not break any existing configuration setting).

3.267. sort_browser

Type: sort order
Default: alpha

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

  * alpha (alphabetically)

  * date

  * size

  * unsorted

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

3.268. sort_re

Type: boolean
Default: yes

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.

3.269. spam_separator

Type: string
Default: ?,?

This variable controls what happens when multiple spam headers are matched: if
unset, each successive header will overwrite any previous matches value for the
spam label. If set, each successive match will append to the previous, using
this variable's value as a separator.

3.270. spoolfile

Type: path
Default: (empty)

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 initially set this
variable to the value of the environment variable $MAIL or $MAILDIR if either
is defined.

3.271. ssl_ca_certificates_file

Type: path
Default: (empty)

This variable specifies a file containing trusted CA certificates. Any server
certificate that is signed with one of these CA certificates is also
automatically accepted.

Example:

set ssl_ca_certificates_file=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt

3.272. ssl_client_cert

Type: path
Default: (empty)

The file containing a client certificate and its associated private key.

3.273. ssl_force_tls

Type: boolean
Default: no

If this variable is set, Mutt will require that all connections to remote
servers be encrypted. Furthermore it will attempt to negotiate TLS even if the
server does not advertise the capability, since it would otherwise have to
abort the connection anyway. This option supersedes $ssl_starttls.

3.274. ssl_min_dh_prime_bits

Type: number
Default: 0

This variable specifies the minimum acceptable prime size (in bits) for use in
any Diffie-Hellman key exchange. A value of 0 will use the default from the
GNUTLS library.

3.275. ssl_starttls

Type: quadoption
Default: yes

If set (the default), mutt will attempt to use STARTTLS on servers advertising
the capability. When unset, mutt will not attempt to use STARTTLS regardless of
the server's capabilities.

3.276. ssl_use_sslv2

Type: boolean
Default: no

This variable specifies whether to attempt to use SSLv2 in the SSL
authentication process.

3.277. ssl_use_sslv3

Type: boolean
Default: yes

This variable specifies whether to attempt to use SSLv3 in the SSL
authentication process.

3.278. ssl_use_tlsv1

Type: boolean
Default: yes

This variable specifies whether to attempt to use TLSv1 in the SSL
authentication process.

3.279. ssl_usesystemcerts

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set to yes, mutt will use CA certificates in the system-wide certificate
store when checking if a server certificate is signed by a trusted CA.

3.280. ssl_verify_dates

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set (the default), mutt will not automatically accept a server certificate
that is either not yet valid or already expired. You should only unset this for
particular known hosts, using the <account-hook> function.

3.281. ssl_verify_host

Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set (the default), mutt will not automatically accept a server certificate
whose host name does not match the host used in your folder URL. You should
only unset this for particular known hosts, using the <account-hook> function.

3.282. status_chars

Type: string
Default: ?-*%A?

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 ?%?). The fourth is used to
indicate that the current folder has been opened in attach- message mode
(Certain operations like composing a new mail, replying, forwarding, etc. are
not permitted in this mode).

3.283. 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(3)-like
sequences:

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|%b |number of mailboxes with new mail *                                      |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%d |number of deleted messages *                                             |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%f |the full pathname of the current mailbox                                 |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%F |number of flagged messages *                                             |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%h |local hostname                                                           |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%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/attach-message 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?                                      |
|---+-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|%*X|soft-fill with character ?X? as pad                                      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

For an explanation of ?soft-fill?, see the $index_format documentation.

* = 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 sequence_char is nonzero. optional_string
may contain other sequences 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.?

You can also switch between two strings using the following construct:

%?<sequence_char>?<if_string>&<else_string>?

If the value of sequence_char is non-zero, if_string will be expanded,
otherwise else_string will be expanded.

You can force the result of any printf(3)-like sequence to be lowercase by
prefixing the sequence character with an underscore (?_?) sign. For example, if
you want to display the local hostname in lowercase, you would use: ?%_h?.

If you prefix the sequence character with a colon (?:?) character, mutt will
replace any dots in the expansion by underscores. This might be helpful with
IMAP folders that don't like dots in folder names.

3.284. status_on_top

Type: boolean
Default: no

Setting this variable causes the ?status bar? to be displayed on the first line
of the screen rather than near the bottom. If $help is set, too it'll be placed
at the bottom.

3.285. strict_threads

Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, threading will only make use of the ?In-Reply-To? and ?References:?
fields when you $sort 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 subjects like ?hi? which will get grouped together. See also
$sort_re for a less drastic way of controlling this behavior.

3.286. suspend

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When unset, mutt won't stop when the user presses the terminal's susp key,
usually ?^Z?. This is useful if you run mutt inside an xterm using a command
like ?xterm -e mutt?.

3.287. text_flowed

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, mutt will generate ?format=flowed? bodies with a content type of
?text/plain; format=flowed?. This format is easier to handle for some mailing
software, and generally just looks like ordinary text. To actually make use of
this format's features, you'll need support in your editor.

Note that $indent_string is ignored when this option is set.

3.288. thorough_search

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Affects the ~b and ~h search operations described in section ?patterns?. If set
, the headers and body/attachments of messages to be searched are decoded
before searching. If unset, messages are searched as they appear in the folder.

Users searching attachments or for non-ASCII characters should set this value
because decoding also includes MIME parsing/decoding and possible character set
conversions. Otherwise mutt will attempt to match against the raw message
received (for example quoted-printable encoded or with encoded headers) which
may lead to incorrect search results.

3.289. thread_received

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, mutt uses the date received rather than the date sent to thread
messages by subject.

3.290. tilde

Type: boolean
Default: no

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

3.291. time_inc

Type: number
Default: 0

Along with $read_inc, $write_inc, and $net_inc, this variable controls the
frequency with which progress updates are displayed. It suppresses updates less
than $time_inc milliseconds apart. This can improve throughput on systems with
slow terminals, or when running mutt on a remote system.

Also see the ?tuning? section of the manual for performance considerations.

3.292. timeout

Type: number
Default: 600

When Mutt is waiting for user input either idling in menus or in an interactive
prompt, Mutt would block until input is present. Depending on the context, this
would prevent certain operations from working, like checking for new mail or
keeping an IMAP connection alive.

This variable controls how many seconds Mutt will at most wait until it aborts
waiting for input, performs these operations and continues to wait for input.

A value of zero or less will cause Mutt to never time out.

3.293. tmpdir

Type: path
Default: (empty)

This variable allows you to specify where Mutt will place its temporary files
needed for displaying and composing messages. If this variable is not set, the
environment variable $TMPDIR is used. If $TMPDIR is not set then ?/tmp? is
used.

3.294. to_chars

Type: string
Default: ? +TCFL?

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. The
second is used when you are the only recipient of the message. The third is
when your address appears in the ?To:? header field, but you are not the only
recipient of the message. 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. The sixth
character is used to indicate when a mail was sent to a mailing-list you
subscribe to.

3.295. tunnel

Type: string
Default: (empty)

Setting this variable will cause mutt to open a pipe to a command instead of a
raw socket. You may be able to use this to set up preauthenticated connections
to your IMAP/POP3/SMTP server. Example:

set tunnel="ssh -q mailhost.net /usr/local/libexec/imapd"

Note: For this example to work you must be able to log in to the remote machine
without having to enter a password.

When set, Mutt uses the tunnel for all remote connections. Please see ?
account-hook? in the manual for how to use different tunnel commands per
connection.

3.296. uncollapse_jump

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, Mutt will jump to the next unread message, if any, when the current
thread is uncollapsed.

3.297. use_8bitmime

Type: boolean
Default: no

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.

3.298. use_domain

Type: boolean
Default: yes

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.

3.299. use_envelope_from

Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, mutt will set the envelope sender of the message. If
$envelope_from_address is set, it will be used as the sender address. If unset,
mutt will attempt to derive the sender from the ?From:? header.

Note that this information is passed to sendmail command using the -f command
line switch. Therefore setting this option is not useful if the $sendmail
variable already contains -f or if the executable pointed to by $sendmail
doesn't support the -f switch.

3.300. use_from

Type: boolean
Default: yes

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.

3.301. use_idn

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, Mutt will show you international domain names decoded. Note: You can
use IDNs for addresses even if this is unset. This variable only affects
decoding.

3.302. use_ipv6

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, Mutt will look for IPv6 addresses of hosts it tries to contact. If
this option is unset, Mutt will restrict itself to IPv4 addresses. Normally,
the default should work.

3.303. user_agent

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, mutt will add a ?User-Agent:? header to outgoing messages, indicating
which version of mutt was used for composing them.

3.304. visual

Type: path
Default: (empty)

Specifies the visual editor to invoke when the ?~v? command is given in the
built-in editor.

3.305. wait_key

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Controls whether Mutt will ask you to press a key after an external command has
been invoked by these functions: <shell-escape>, <pipe-message>, <pipe-entry>,
<print-message>, and <print-entry> commands.

It is also used when viewing attachments with ?auto_view?, 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.

3.306. weed

Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, mutt will weed headers when displaying, forwarding, printing, or
replying to messages.

3.307. wrap

Type: number
Default: 0

When set to a positive value, mutt will wrap text at $wrap characters. When set
to a negative value, mutt will wrap text so that there are $wrap characters of
empty space on the right side of the terminal. Setting it to zero makes mutt
wrap at the terminal width.

3.308. wrap_headers

Type: number
Default: 78

This option specifies the number of characters to use for wrapping an outgoing
message's headers. Allowed values are between 78 and 998 inclusive.

Note: This option usually shouldn't be changed. RFC5233 recommends a line
length of 78 (the default), so please only change this setting when you know
what you're doing.

3.309. wrap_search

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Controls whether searches wrap around the end.

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

3.310. wrapmargin

Type: number
Default: 0

(DEPRECATED) Equivalent to setting $wrap with a negative value.

3.311. write_bcc

Type: boolean
Default: yes

Controls whether mutt writes out the ?Bcc:? header when preparing messages to
be sent. Exim users may wish to unset this. If mutt is set to deliver directly
via SMTP (see $smtp_url), this option does nothing: mutt will never write out
the ?Bcc:? header in this case.

3.312. 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, $net_inc and $time_inc variables and the ?tuning?
section of the manual for performance considerations.

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.

4.1. Generic Menu

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).

Table 9.2. Default Generic Menu Bindings

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|    Function     |Default key|                Description                |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<top-page>       |H          |move to the top of the page                |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<next-entry>     |j          |move to the next entry                     |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<previous-entry> |k          |move to the previous entry                 |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<bottom-page>    |L          |move to the bottom of the page             |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<refresh>        |^L         |clear and redraw the screen                |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<middle-page>    |M          |move to the middle of the page             |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<search-next>    |n          |search for next match                      |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<exit>           |q          |exit this menu                             |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<tag-entry>      |t          |tag the current entry                      |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<next-page>      |z          |move to the next page                      |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<previous-page>  |Z          |move to the previous page                  |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<last-entry>     |*          |move to the last entry                     |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<first-entry>    |=          |move to the first entry                    |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<enter-command>  |:          |enter a muttrc command                     |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<next-line>      |>          |scroll down one line                       |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<previous-line>  |<          |scroll up one line                         |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<half-up>        |[          |scroll up 1/2 page                         |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<half-down>      |]          |scroll down 1/2 page                       |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<help>           |?          |this screen                                |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<tag-prefix>     |;          |apply next function to tagged messages     |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<tag-prefix-cond>|           |apply next function ONLY to tagged messages|
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<end-cond>       |           |end of conditional execution (noop)        |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<shell-escape>   |!          |invoke a command in a subshell             |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<select-entry>   |<Return>   |select the current entry                   |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<search>         |/          |search for a regular expression            |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<search-reverse> |Esc /      |search backwards for a regular expression  |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<search-opposite>|           |search for next match in opposite direction|
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<jump>           |           |jump to an index number                    |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<current-top>    |           |move entry to top of screen                |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<current-middle> |           |move entry to middle of screen             |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<current-bottom> |           |move entry to bottom of screen             |
|-----------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<what-key>       |           |display the keycode for a key press        |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+


4.2. Index Menu

Table 9.3. Default Index Menu Bindings

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|         Function         | Default |              Description               |
|                          |   key   |                                        |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<create-alias>            |a        |create an alias from a message sender   |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<bounce-message>          |b        |remail a message to another user        |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<break-thread>            |#        |break the thread in two                 |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<change-folder>           |c        |open a different folder                 |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<change-folder-readonly>  |Esc c    |open a different folder in read only    |
|                          |         |mode                                    |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<next-unread-mailbox>     |         |open next mailbox with new mail         |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<collapse-thread>         |Esc v    |collapse/uncollapse current thread      |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<collapse-all>            |Esc V    |collapse/uncollapse all threads         |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<copy-message>            |C        |copy a message to a file/mailbox        |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<decode-copy>             |Esc C    |make decoded (text/plain) copy          |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<decode-save>             |Esc s    |make decoded copy (text/plain) and      |
|                          |         |delete                                  |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<delete-message>          |d        |delete the current entry                |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<delete-pattern>          |D        |delete messages matching a pattern      |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<delete-thread>           |^D       |delete all messages in thread           |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<delete-subthread>        |Esc d    |delete all messages in subthread        |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<edit>                    |e        |edit the raw message                    |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<edit-type>               |^E       |edit attachment content type            |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<forward-message>         |f        |forward a message with comments         |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<flag-message>            |F        |toggle a message's 'important' flag     |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<group-reply>             |g        |reply to all recipients                 |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<fetch-mail>              |G        |retrieve mail from POP server           |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<imap-fetch-mail>         |         |force retrieval of mail from IMAP server|
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<imap-logout-all>         |         |logout from all IMAP servers            |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<display-toggle-weed>     |h        |display message and toggle header       |
|                          |         |weeding                                 |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<next-undeleted>          |j        |move to the next undeleted message      |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<previous-undeleted>      |k        |move to the previous undeleted message  |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<limit>                   |l        |show only messages matching a pattern   |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<link-threads>            |&        |link tagged message to the current one  |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<list-reply>              |L        |reply to specified mailing list         |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<mail>                    |m        |compose a new mail message              |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<toggle-new>              |N        |toggle a message's 'new' flag           |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<toggle-write>            |%        |toggle whether the mailbox will be      |
|                          |         |rewritten                               |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<next-thread>             |^N       |jump to the next thread                 |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<next-subthread>          |Esc n    |jump to the next subthread              |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<query>                   |Q        |query external program for addresses    |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<quit>                    |q        |save changes to mailbox and quit        |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<reply>                   |r        |reply to a message                      |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<show-limit>              |Esc l    |show currently active limit pattern     |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<sort-mailbox>            |o        |sort messages                           |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<sort-reverse>            |O        |sort messages in reverse order          |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<print-message>           |p        |print the current entry                 |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<previous-thread>         |^P       |jump to previous thread                 |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<previous-subthread>      |Esc p    |jump to previous subthread              |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<recall-message>          |R        |recall a postponed message              |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<read-thread>             |^R       |mark the current thread as read         |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<read-subthread>          |Esc r    |mark the current subthread as read      |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<resend-message>          |Esc e    |use the current message as a template   |
|                          |         |for a new one                           |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<save-message>            |s        |save message/attachment to a mailbox/   |
|                          |         |file                                    |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<tag-pattern>             |T        |tag messages matching a pattern         |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<tag-subthread>           |         |tag the current subthread               |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<tag-thread>              |Esc t    |tag the current thread                  |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<untag-pattern>           |^T       |untag messages matching a pattern       |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<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         |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<view-attachments>        |v        |show MIME attachments                   |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<show-version>            |V        |show the Mutt version number and date   |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<set-flag>                |w        |set a status flag on a message          |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<clear-flag>              |W        |clear a status flag from a message      |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<display-message>         |<Return> |display a message                       |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<buffy-list>              |.        |list mailboxes with new mail            |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<sync-mailbox>            |$        |save changes to mailbox                 |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<display-address>         |@        |display full address of sender          |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<pipe-message>            ||        |pipe message/attachment to a shell      |
|                          |         |command                                 |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<next-new>                |         |jump to the next new message            |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<next-new-then-unread>    |<Tab>    |jump to the next new or unread message  |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<previous-new>            |         |jump to the previous new message        |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<previous-new-then-unread>|Esc <Tab>|jump to the previous new or unread      |
|                          |         |message                                 |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<next-unread>             |         |jump to the next unread message         |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<previous-unread>         |         |jump to the previous unread message     |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<parent-message>          |P        |jump to parent message in thread        |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<extract-keys>            |^K       |extract supported public keys           |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<forget-passphrase>       |^F       |wipe passphrase(s) from memory          |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<check-traditional-pgp>   |Esc P    |check for classic PGP                   |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<mail-key>                |Esc k    |mail a PGP public key                   |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<decrypt-copy>            |         |make decrypted copy                     |
|--------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------|
|<decrypt-save>            |         |make decrypted copy and delete          |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


4.3. Pager Menu

Table 9.4. Default Pager Menu Bindings

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|        Function        | Default |               Description                |
|                        |   key   |                                          |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<break-thread>          |#        |break the thread in two                   |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<create-alias>          |a        |create an alias from a message sender     |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<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 |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<next-unread-mailbox>   |         |open next mailbox with new mail           |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<copy-message>          |C        |copy a message to a file/mailbox          |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<decode-copy>           |Esc C    |make decoded (text/plain) copy            |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<delete-message>        |d        |delete the current entry                  |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<delete-thread>         |^D       |delete all messages in thread             |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<delete-subthread>      |Esc d    |delete all messages in subthread          |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<set-flag>              |w        |set a status flag on a message            |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<clear-flag>            |W        |clear a status flag from a message        |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<edit>                  |e        |edit the raw message                      |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<edit-type>             |^E       |edit attachment content type              |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<forward-message>       |f        |forward a message with comments           |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<flag-message>          |F        |toggle a message's 'important' flag       |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<group-reply>           |g        |reply to all recipients                   |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<imap-fetch-mail>       |         |force retrieval of mail from IMAP server  |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<imap-logout-all>       |         |logout from all IMAP servers              |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<display-toggle-weed>   |h        |display message and toggle header weeding |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<next-undeleted>        |j        |move to the next undeleted message        |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<next-entry>            |J        |move to the next entry                    |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<previous-undeleted>    |k        |move to the previous undeleted message    |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<previous-entry>        |K        |move to the previous entry                |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<link-threads>          |&        |link tagged message to the current one    |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<list-reply>            |L        |reply to specified mailing list           |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<redraw-screen>         |^L       |clear and redraw the screen               |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<mail>                  |m        |compose a new mail message                |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<mark-as-new>           |N        |toggle a message's 'new' flag             |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<search-next>           |n        |search for next match                     |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<next-thread>           |^N       |jump to the next thread                   |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<next-subthread>        |Esc n    |jump to the next subthread                |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<sort-mailbox>          |o        |sort messages                             |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<sort-reverse>          |O        |sort messages in reverse order            |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<print-message>         |p        |print the current entry                   |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<previous-thread>       |^P       |jump to previous thread                   |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<previous-subthread>    |Esc p    |jump to previous subthread                |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<quit>                  |Q        |save changes to mailbox and quit          |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<exit>                  |q        |exit this menu                            |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<reply>                 |r        |reply to a message                        |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<recall-message>        |R        |recall a postponed message                |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<read-thread>           |^R       |mark the current thread as read           |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<read-subthread>        |Esc r    |mark the current subthread as read        |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<resend-message>        |Esc e    |use the current message as a template for |
|                        |         |a new one                                 |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<save-message>          |s        |save message/attachment to a mailbox/file |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<skip-quoted>           |S        |skip beyond quoted text                   |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<decode-save>           |Esc s    |make decoded copy (text/plain) and delete |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<tag-message>           |t        |tag the current entry                     |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<toggle-quoted>         |T        |toggle display of quoted text             |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<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                     |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<show-version>          |V        |show the Mutt version number and date     |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<search-toggle>         |\\       |toggle search pattern coloring            |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<display-address>       |@        |display full address of sender            |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<next-new>              |         |jump to the next new message              |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<pipe-message>          ||        |pipe message/attachment to a shell command|
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<help>                  |?        |this screen                               |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<next-page>             |<Space>  |move to the next page                     |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<previous-page>         |-        |move to the previous page                 |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<top>                   |^        |jump to the top of the message            |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<sync-mailbox>          |$        |save changes to mailbox                   |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<shell-escape>          |!        |invoke a command in a subshell            |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<enter-command>         |:        |enter a muttrc command                    |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<buffy-list>            |.        |list mailboxes with new mail              |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<search>                |/        |search for a regular expression           |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<search-reverse>        |Esc /    |search backwards for a regular expression |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<search-opposite>       |         |search for next match in opposite         |
|                        |         |direction                                 |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<next-line>             |<Return> |scroll down one line                      |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<jump>                  |         |jump to an index number                   |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<next-unread>           |         |jump to the next unread message           |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<previous-new>          |         |jump to the previous new message          |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<previous-unread>       |         |jump to the previous unread message       |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<half-up>               |         |scroll up 1/2 page                        |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<half-down>             |         |scroll down 1/2 page                      |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<previous-line>         |         |scroll up one line                        |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<bottom>                |         |jump to the bottom of the message         |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<parent-message>        |P        |jump to parent message in thread          |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<check-traditional-pgp> |Esc P    |check for classic PGP                     |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<mail-key>              |Esc k    |mail a PGP public key                     |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<extract-keys>          |^K       |extract supported public keys             |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<forget-passphrase>     |^F       |wipe passphrase(s) from memory            |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<decrypt-copy>          |         |make decrypted copy                       |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<decrypt-save>          |         |make decrypted copy and delete            |
|------------------------+---------+------------------------------------------|
|<what-key>              |         |display the keycode for a key press       |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


4.4. Alias Menu

Table 9.5. Default Alias Menu Bindings

+-------------------------------------------------------+
|    Function    |Default key|       Description        |
|----------------+-----------+--------------------------|
|<delete-entry>  |d          |delete the current entry  |
|----------------+-----------+--------------------------|
|<undelete-entry>|u          |undelete the current entry|
+-------------------------------------------------------+


4.5. Query Menu

Table 9.6. Default Query Menu Bindings

+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   Function   |Default key|                Description                |
|--------------+-----------+-------------------------------------------|
|<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|
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+


4.6. Attachment Menu

Table 9.7. Default Attachment Menu Bindings

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|       Function        | Default |                Description                |
|                       |   key   |                                           |
|-----------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------|
|<bounce-message>       |b        |remail a message to another user           |
|-----------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------|
|<display-toggle-weed>  |h        |display message and toggle header weeding  |
|-----------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------|
|<edit-type>            |^E       |edit attachment content type               |
|-----------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------|
|<print-entry>          |p        |print the current entry                    |
|-----------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------|
|<save-entry>           |s        |save message/attachment to a mailbox/file  |
|-----------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------|
|<pipe-entry>           ||        |pipe message/attachment to a shell command |
|-----------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------|
|<view-mailcap>         |m        |force viewing of attachment using mailcap  |
|-----------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------|
|<reply>                |r        |reply to a message                         |
|-----------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------|
|<resend-message>       |Esc e    |use the current message as a template for a|
|                       |         |new one                                    |
|-----------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------|
|<group-reply>          |g        |reply to all recipients                    |
|-----------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------|
|<list-reply>           |L        |reply to specified mailing list            |
|-----------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------|
|<forward-message>      |f        |forward a message with comments            |
|-----------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------|
|<view-text>            |T        |view attachment as text                    |
|-----------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------|
|<view-attach>          |<Return> |view attachment using mailcap entry if     |
|                       |         |necessary                                  |
|-----------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------|
|<delete-entry>         |d        |delete the current entry                   |
|-----------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------|
|<undelete-entry>       |u        |undelete the current entry                 |
|-----------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------|
|<collapse-parts>       |v        |Toggle display of subparts                 |
|-----------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------|
|<check-traditional-pgp>|Esc P    |check for classic PGP                      |
|-----------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------|
|<extract-keys>         |^K       |extract supported public keys              |
|-----------------------+---------+-------------------------------------------|
|<forget-passphrase>    |^F       |wipe passphrase(s) from memory             |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


4.7. Compose Menu

Table 9.8. Default Compose Menu Bindings

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|      Function       | Default  |                Description                 |
|                     |   key    |                                            |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<attach-file>        |a         |attach file(s) to this message              |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<attach-message>     |A         |attach message(s) to this message           |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<edit-bcc>           |b         |edit the BCC list                           |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<edit-cc>            |c         |edit the CC list                            |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<copy-file>          |C         |save message/attachment to a mailbox/file   |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<detach-file>        |D         |delete the current entry                    |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<toggle-disposition> |^D        |toggle disposition between inline/attachment|
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<edit-description>   |d         |edit attachment description                 |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<edit-message>       |e         |edit the message                            |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<edit-headers>       |E         |edit the message with headers               |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<edit-file>          |^X e      |edit the file to be attached                |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<edit-encoding>      |^E        |edit attachment transfer-encoding           |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<edit-from>          |Esc f     |edit the from field                         |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<edit-fcc>           |f         |enter a file to save a copy of this message |
|                     |          |in                                          |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<filter-entry>       |F         |filter attachment through a shell command   |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<get-attachment>     |G         |get a temporary copy of an attachment       |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<display-toggle-weed>|h         |display message and toggle header weeding   |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<ispell>             |i         |run ispell on the message                   |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<print-entry>        |l         |print the current entry                     |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<edit-mime>          |m         |edit attachment using mailcap entry         |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<new-mime>           |n         |compose new attachment using mailcap entry  |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<postpone-message>   |P         |save this message to send later             |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<edit-reply-to>      |r         |edit the Reply-To field                     |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<rename-file>        |R         |rename/move an attached file                |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<edit-subject>       |s         |edit the subject of this message            |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<edit-to>            |t         |edit the TO list                            |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<edit-type>          |^T        |edit attachment content type                |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<write-fcc>          |w         |write the message to a folder               |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<toggle-unlink>      |u         |toggle whether to delete file after sending |
|                     |          |it                                          |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<toggle-recode>      |          |toggle recoding of this attachment          |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<update-encoding>    |U         |update an attachment's encoding info        |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<view-attach>        |<Return>  |view attachment using mailcap entry if      |
|                     |          |necessary                                   |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<send-message>       |y         |send the message                            |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<pipe-entry>         ||         |pipe message/attachment to a shell command  |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<attach-key>         |Esc k     |attach a PGP public key                     |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<pgp-menu>           |p         |show PGP options                            |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<forget-passphrase>  |^F        |wipe passphrase(s) from memory              |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<smime-menu>         |S         |show S/MIME options                         |
|---------------------+----------+--------------------------------------------|
|<mix>                |M         |send the message through a mixmaster        |
|                     |          |remailer chain                              |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


4.8. Postpone Menu

Table 9.9. Default Postpone Menu Bindings

+-------------------------------------------------------+
|    Function    |Default key|       Description        |
|----------------+-----------+--------------------------|
|<delete-entry>  |d          |delete the current entry  |
|----------------+-----------+--------------------------|
|<undelete-entry>|u          |undelete the current entry|
+-------------------------------------------------------+


4.9. Browser Menu

Table 9.10. Default Browser Menu Bindings

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|     Function      | Default  |                 Description                  |
|                   |   key    |                                              |
|-------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------|
|<change-dir>       |c         |change directories                            |
|-------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------|
|<display-filename> |@         |display the currently selected file's name    |
|-------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------|
|<enter-mask>       |m         |enter a file mask                             |
|-------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------|
|<sort>             |o         |sort messages                                 |
|-------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------|
|<sort-reverse>     |O         |sort messages in reverse order                |
|-------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------|
|<select-new>       |N         |select a new file in this directory           |
|-------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------|
|<check-new>        |          |check mailboxes for new mail                  |
|-------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------|
|<toggle-mailboxes> |<Tab>     |toggle whether to browse mailboxes or all     |
|                   |          |files                                         |
|-------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------|
|<view-file>        |<Space>   |view file                                     |
|-------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------|
|<buffy-list>       |.         |list mailboxes with new mail                  |
|-------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------|
|<create-mailbox>   |C         |create a new mailbox (IMAP only)              |
|-------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------|
|<delete-mailbox>   |d         |delete the current mailbox (IMAP only)        |
|-------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------|
|<rename-mailbox>   |r         |rename the current mailbox (IMAP only)        |
|-------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------|
|<subscribe>        |s         |subscribe to current mailbox (IMAP only)      |
|-------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------|
|<unsubscribe>      |u         |unsubscribe from current mailbox (IMAP only)  |
|-------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------|
|<toggle-subscribed>|T         |toggle view all/subscribed mailboxes (IMAP    |
|                   |          |only)                                         |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


4.10. Pgp Menu

Table 9.11. Default Pgp Menu Bindings

+------------------------------------------------+
|  Function  |Default key|      Description      |
|------------+-----------+-----------------------|
|<verify-key>|c          |verify a PGP public key|
|------------+-----------+-----------------------|
|<view-name> |%          |view the key's user id |
+------------------------------------------------+


4.11. Smime Menu

Table 9.12. Default Smime Menu Bindings

+------------------------------------------------+
|  Function  |Default key|      Description      |
|------------+-----------+-----------------------|
|<verify-key>|c          |verify a PGP public key|
|------------+-----------+-----------------------|
|<view-name> |%          |view the key's user id |
+------------------------------------------------+


4.12. Mixmaster Menu

Table 9.13. Default Mixmaster Menu Bindings

+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Function  |Default key|              Description               |
|------------+-----------+----------------------------------------|
|<accept>    |<Return>   |Accept the chain constructed            |
|------------+-----------+----------------------------------------|
|<append>    |a          |Append a remailer to the chain          |
|------------+-----------+----------------------------------------|
|<insert>    |i          |Insert a remailer into the chain        |
|------------+-----------+----------------------------------------|
|<delete>    |d          |Delete a remailer from the chain        |
|------------+-----------+----------------------------------------|
|<chain-prev>|<Left>     |Select the previous element of the chain|
|------------+-----------+----------------------------------------|
|<chain-next>|<Right>    |Select the next element of the chain    |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+


4.13. Editor Menu

Table 9.14. Default Editor Menu Bindings

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|    Function     |Default key|                  Description                  |
|-----------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------|
|<bol>            |^A         |jump to the beginning of the line              |
|-----------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------|
|<backward-char>  |^B         |move the cursor one character to the left      |
|-----------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------|
|<backward-word>  |Esc b      |move the cursor to the beginning of the word   |
|-----------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------|
|<capitalize-word>|Esc c      |capitalize the word                            |
|-----------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------|
|<downcase-word>  |Esc l      |convert the word to lower case                 |
|-----------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------|
|<upcase-word>    |Esc u      |convert the word to upper case                 |
|-----------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------|
|<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     |
|-----------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------|
|<forward-word>   |Esc f      |move the cursor to the end of the word         |
|-----------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------|
|<backspace>      |<Backspace>|delete the char in front of the cursor         |
|-----------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------|
|<kill-eol>       |^K         |delete chars from cursor to end of line        |
|-----------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------|
|<kill-eow>       |Esc d      |delete chars from the cursor to the end of the |
|                 |           |word                                           |
|-----------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------|
|<kill-line>      |^U         |delete all chars on the line                   |
|-----------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------|
|<quote-char>     |^V         |quote the next typed key                       |
|-----------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------|
|<kill-word>      |^W         |delete the word in front of the cursor         |
|-----------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------|
|<complete>       |<Tab>      |complete filename or alias                     |
|-----------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------|
|<complete-query> |^T         |complete address with query                    |
|-----------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------|
|<buffy-cycle>    |<Space>    |cycle among incoming mailboxes                 |
|-----------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------|
|<history-up>     |           |scroll up through the history list             |
|-----------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------|
|<history-down>   |           |scroll down through the history list           |
|-----------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------------|
|<transpose-chars>|           |transpose character under cursor with previous |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


Chapter 10. Miscellany

Table of Contents

1. Acknowledgements
2. About This Document

1. Acknowledgements

Kari Hurtta <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:

  * Vikas Agnihotri <vikasa@writeme.com>

  * Francois Berjon <Francois.Berjon@aar.alcatel-alsthom.fr>

  * Aric Blumer <aric@fore.com>

  * John Capo <jc@irbs.com>

  * David Champion <dgc@uchicago.edu>

  * Brendan Cully <brendan@kublai.com>

  * Liviu Daia <daia@stoilow.imar.ro>

  * Thomas E. Dickey <dickey@herndon4.his.com>

  * David DeSimone <fox@convex.hp.com>

  * Nickolay N. Dudorov <nnd@wint.itfs.nsk.su>

  * Ruslan Ermilov <ru@freebsd.org>

  * Edmund Grimley Evans <edmundo@rano.org>

  * Michael Finken <finken@conware.de>

  * Sven Guckes <guckes@math.fu-berlin.de>

  * Lars Hecking <lhecking@nmrc.ie>

  * Mark Holloman <holloman@nando.net>

  * Andreas Holzmann <holzmann@fmi.uni-passau.de>

  * Marco d'Itri <md@linux.it>

  * Bj?rn Jacke <bjacke@suse.com>

  * Byrial Jensen <byrial@image.dk>

  * David Jeske <jeske@igcom.net>

  * Christophe Kalt <kalt@hugo.int-evry.fr>

  * Tommi Komulainen <Tommi.Komulainen@iki.fi>

  * Felix von Leitner (a.k.a ?Fefe?) <leitner@math.fu-berlin.de>

  * Brandon Long <blong@fiction.net>

  * Jimmy M?kel? <jmy@flashback.net>

  * Lars Marowsky-Bree <lmb@pointer.in-minden.de>

  * Thomas ?Mike? Michlmayr <mike@cosy.sbg.ac.at>

  * Andrew W. Nosenko <awn@bcs.zp.ua>

  * 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@does-not-exist.org>

  * Roland Rosenfeld <roland@spinnaker.de>

  * Rocco Rutte <pdmef@gmx.net>

  * TAKIZAWA Takashi <taki@luna.email.ne.jp>

  * Allain Thivillon <Allain.Thivillon@alma.fr>

  * Gero Treuner <gero@70t.de>

  * Vsevolod Volkov <vvv@lucky.net>

  * Ken Weinert <kenw@ihs.com>

2. About This Document

This document was written in DocBook, and then rendered using the Gnome XSLT
toolkit.

