.TH MHMAIL 1mh "October 16, 2012" "nmh-1.6"
.\"
.\" THIS FILE HAS BEEN AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED.  DO NOT EDIT.
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.SH NAME
mhmail \- send or read mail
.SH SYNOPSIS
.HP 5
.na
.B mhmail
.RB [ \-to ]
.RI addrs
\&...
.RB [ \-attach
.IR file ]
.RB [ \-body
.IR text ]
.RB [ \-cc
.I addrs
\&...]
.RB [ \-from
.IR addr ]
.RB [ \-headerfield
.IR name:value ]
.RB [ \-subject
.IR subject ]
.RB [ \-resent ]
[switches\ for
.I post
\&... |
.RB \-profile
[switches\ for
.I send
\&...]]
.RB [ \-send " | " \-nosend ]
.RB [ \-version ]
.RB [ \-help ]
.PP
.HP 5
.B mhmail
with no arguments is equivalent to
.B inc
.ad
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B mhmail
is intended as a replacement for the standard Berkeley
mail program
.RB ( mail
or
.BR mailx ),
which is compatible with
.BR nmh .
This program is intended for the use of programs such as
.BR cron ,
which expect to send mail automatically to various addresses.  It is
also used by various
.B nmh
commands to mail various
error notifications.  Although
.B mhmail
can be used interactively,
it is recommended that
.B comp
and
.B send
be used instead to send messages.
.PP
When invoked without arguments, it simply invokes
.B inc
to incorporate new messages from the user's maildrop.
.PP
When one or more addresses are specified, a message is read from the
standard input and spooled to a temporary file.
.B mhmail
then invokes
.BR post ,
by default, with the name of the temporary file as its argument to
deliver the message to the specified address.
.PP
The
.B \-subject
.I subject
switch can be used to specify the
\*(lqSubject:\*(rq field of the message.
.PP
The
.B \-resent
switch indicates that the message body is a fully formed message that
will be resent, as
.B dist
would do.  For example:
.PP
.RS 5
.nf
mhmail u2@example.com -resent < `mhpath cur`
.fi
.RE
.PP
By default,
.B mhmail
will read the message to be sent from the
standard input.  You can specify the text of the message at the command
line with the
.B \-body
.I text
switch.  If the standard input has zero
length,
.B mhmail
will not send the message and return with status 1.  You can use the switch
.B \-body
\*(lq\*(rq to force an empty message.
.PP
Normally, addresses appearing as arguments are put in the \*(lqTo:\*(rq
field.  At least one such address is required when sending a message,
i.e., if any other switches are supplied. If the
.B \-cc
switch is used, all addresses following it, even if there are
intervening switches other than
.BR \-to ,
are placed in the \*(lqcc:\*(rq field.  The optional
.B \-to
switch can appear in front of any addresses to signify their placement
in the \*(lqTo:\*(rq field.  The
.B \-to
and
.B \-cc
switches may be given multiple times.
.PP
By using
.B \-from
.IR addr ,
you can specify the \*(lqFrom:\*(rq header of
the draft.  If no
.B \-from
switch is used when sending,
.B mhmail
will supply a \*(lqFrom:\*(rq header field using the sender's local mailbox,
see
.I localmbox
in
.IR mh-format (5).
Naturally,
.B post
will fill\-in the \*(lqSender:\*(rq
header correctly.
.PP
The
.B \-headerfield
.I name:value
switch adds a header field with the specified name and value to the
message.  (The
.I value
is called the
.I field body
in RFC 2822, but that's too easily confused with the message body.)
There need not be a space after the colon that separates the
name and value in the argument to this switch.  It is usually best to
enclose the argument in quotes to protect it from the shell.  The
.B \-headerfield
switch may be given multiple times to add multiple header fields,
for example,
.PP
.RS 5
.nf
mhmail -from sender@example.com \\
-headerfield 'MIME-Version:1.0' \\
-headerfield 'Content-Type:text/plain; charset=utf-8' \\
-headerfield 'Content-Transfer-Encoding:8bit' \\
recipient@example.com
.fi
.RE
.PP
Note about this example:  the
.B \-attach
switch causes
.I MIME-Version
and
.I Content-Type
headers to be added to the message.
.PP
The
.B \-profile
switch instructs
.B mhmail
to use
.B send
instead of
.B post
to send the message.  This allows use of the user's context and aliases.
.PP
The
.B \-attach
.I file
switch attaches the specified file to the message.  Use of
.B \-attach
enables
.B \-profile
because
.B mhmail
uses
.B send
to handle the attachment.  It is usually best to enclose the argument
in quotes to protect it from the shell.  The
.B \-attach
switch may be given multiple times to add multiple attachments.
.PP
The
.B \-nosend
option shows the draft file that would be posted/sent on the command's
standard output but does not post or send it.
.B \-send
provides the default behavior of posting or sending the message.  It
can be used to disable
.BR \-nosend ,
for example, when using a shell alias.
.PP
All other switches are passed on to
.B post
if
.B \-profile
is not used, or
.B send
if
.B \-profile
is used.
.SH FILES
.fc ^ ~
.nf
.ta \w'/etc/nmh/ExtraBigFileName  'u
^/usr/bin/mh/inc~^Program to incorporate maildrop into folder
^/usr/lib/mh/post~^Program to deliver a message
^/tmp/mhmail*~^Temporary copy of message
.fi
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.IR dist (1),
.IR inc (1),
.IR send (1),
.IR mh-format (5),
.IR post (8)
.SH DEFAULTS
.nf
.RB ` "\-from localmbox" '
.RB ` \-profile "' is enabled by default only with " \-attach
.RB ` \-send '
.fi
.SH CONTEXT
If
.B inc
is invoked, then
.BR inc 's
context changes occur.  With the
.B \-profile
switch, the context of
.B send
is used.
.B mhmail
does not read the context file itself, so an entry for it will be
ignored.