This section describes the traditional terminal-based interface to OpenVMS MAIL. This is not usually used in conjunction with the TCP/IP mail clients described above, but it is possible to do so.
Using the terminal interface (or the GUI interface described later) allows you to send messages to and receive messages from other OpenVMS users on the DECnet network. You may also send to and receive from Internet e-mail addresses, assuming your OpenVMS system is running TCP/IP.
If you have any new messages waiting, OpenVMS will notify you during login. If a message arrives while you are logged in, a broadcast message will notify you of it unless your terminal is set to /NOBROADCAST.
Notifications follow the format shown below with only minor variations, depending on whether the message was received from the Internet or from a local user (in this case, user RON on node BAXTER):
$ New mail on node ABBY from BAXTER::RON $
The DCL command MAIL starts the OpenVMS mail utility. When you start MAIL, a count will be displayed if you have any messages waiting.
The MAIL prompt will appear, at which you may enter MAIL commands:
$ MAIL MAIL>
The mail commands are named in an intuitive way, and some of them have synonyms, as shown below. Only certain MAIL commands are discussed in this book. They are the following:
SEND Send a message READ Read a message REPLY or ANSWER Reply to the current message FORWARD Forward a message to another recipient DELETE or ERASE Move a message to WASTEBASKET FILE or MOVE Move a message to another folder COPY Copy the current message to another folder EXTRACT Write a message to an external file PURGE Empty the WASTEBASKET folder DIRECTORY List messages in a folder SELECT Select a mail folder BACK Read previous message or previous directory display NEXT Skip to the next message SET Change various MAIL settings SHOW Examine various MAIL settings EXIT Exit MAIL QUIT Exit without a PURGE
To exit mail, use the EXIT command at the MAIL prompt.
Mail messages are stored in an indexed file called MAIL.MAI (and additional files, which are created and deleted as needed.) Within your mail file, you may create folders to group messages according to your preferences.
Three folders are maintained automatically: MAIL, which is the default folder for all messages you have read; NEWMAIL, which holds messages you have not yet read; and WASTEBASKET, which contains messages that have been selected for deletion, but have not yet been permanently deleted. These folders, as with all folders, are automatically deleted when they become empty. However, these three will be automatically created when needed again.
You may create any additional folders you wish. Working with folders is described later.
When you start MAIL, your initial folder will be determined by whether or not you have new messages waiting. If so, you will be in the NEWMAIL folder. If not, you will be in the MAIL folder.
You may read the first message in the current folder by issuing the READ command or by pressing ENTER. The message will be displayed one screen at a time. Each time you press enter, you will advance by one screen. If you have reached the end of the message, pressing ENTER advances to the next message.
The first few lines of the display contain information about the mail message:
#1 24-DEC-2002 16:00:41.73 NEWMAIL From: ABBY::SCOTT To: MIKE CC: Subj: Meeting at 11:30 There will be a meeting today in the main conference room. -Scott
The first line contains the message number, the message timestamp, and the current folder name. Below those items are fields identifying the sender, recipients, and message subject. Lastly, the message itself is shown.
If the message is more than one screen in size, and you would like to start again from the beginning, use the CURRENT command. Use BACK or NEXT to move to the previous or next message. You may also display a specific message in the current folder by entering its number at the MAIL prompt (remember—the current message number is in the upper left of the screen.) If you enter a number greater than the number of messages in the folder, the last message will be selected.
When you have read all messages in the folder you will see a message to that effect. To start over from the first message, enter "1" at the prompt.
While you are reading new mail, messages in other folders are not visible. Use SELECT folder to switch to another mail folder. Conversely, if you receive a new message while in another folder, use SELECT NEWMAIL before trying to read your new message.
Use the SEND command to begin a new mail message. You will be prompted for recipients and a subject for your message. After you have answered those prompts, you may begin entering your message. After you enter each line, you cannot go back to correct earlier lines. (This form of input is fine for brief messages, but not for longer ones; for those, use SEND/EDIT, discussed next.) When you have finished your message, press CTRL/Z to send the message or CTRL/C to quit without sending it.
If you wish to send the message to more than one recipient, separate them by commas:
MAIL> send To: mike,henry Subj: Too many meetings
For longer messages, the default method for entering a message one line at a time may not be sufficient. You may elect to use a text editor for entering your messages by using SEND/EDIT (or REPLY/EDIT for answering messages).
The default editor for OpenVMS MAIL is the TPU (EVE) editor. This book contains a crash course for the EDT text editor, but not for TPU. To make EDT your editor of choice, enter the command SET EDITOR EDT at the MAIL prompt.
After you have entered the message recipients and subject, EDT will start, allowing you to use all its functionality to compose your message.
When you exit EDT with the EXIT command, your message will be sent. If you change your mind and choose not to send the message, exit EDT with the QUIT command.
When sending mail, you may need to use one of several address formats to identify its recipient. Users of the local OpenVMS machine may be specified simply by username, such as RON. For users on other DECnet network machines, specify the machine name (node name) and username, such as ABBY::RON.
Internet e-mail addresses may take one of several forms, depending on which version of OpenVMS your machine is running and what e-mail programs are installed. Your system manager will inform you of the proper format, which is likely to be among the following:
user@domain.topdomain
SMTP%"user@domain.topdomain"
MX%"user@domain.topdomain"
IN%"user@domain.topdomain"
WINS%"user@domain.topdomain"
You may reply to the current message by using the commands REPLY or ANSWER. The TO, FROM, and SUBJECT lines will be filled automatically. To reply to all recipients of the original message, use REPLY/ALL. Just as you may elect to use an editor with the SEND command, you may use REPLY/EDIT to use an editor to compose your reply.
If you have a preexisting text file that you'd like to send as a mail message, use SEND filespec, where filespec is the name of the file you wish to send. You will be prompted for recipients and a message subject.
Note | To send files other than text files, please refer to The MIME Utility, discussed later. |
You may forward the message you are currently reading by using the FORWARD command. You will be prompted for recipients.
The SEND, REPLY, and FORWARD commands accept the /SELF qualifier, which causes a copy of the outgoing message to be sent to you. For example, to reply to a message and receive a copy of your reply, use REPLY/SELF.
If you would like to receive copies of your outgoing messages by default, use the SET COPY_SELF item command, where item is SEND, REPLY, or FORWARD to enable a copy to yourself, or NOSEND, NOREPLY, or NOFORWARD to disable it. You may specify more than one item by separating the items by commas, as in SET COPY_SELF SEND,REPLY,NOFORWARD. Use SHOW COPY_SELF to examine your current settings.
To save the current message to an external file, use the command EXTRACT filespec, where filespec is the name you would like to assign to the file. The contents of the current message will be saved under the specified name. The original message will be retained in MAIL.
Afterward, you may use the MIME command to extract portions of extracted MIME-format messages. The MIME command is introduced later.
You may delete the current message by issuing the DELETE command.
You may also delete a range of messages by number. For example, to delete the first four messages in the current folder, use this command:
MAIL> DELETE 1-4
You may also specify nonsequential ranges by using commas to separate them—for example:
MAIL> DELETE 1-4,6,12-15
Deleted messaged are not destroyed immediately; they are instead moved to the WASTEBASKET folder. The messages are actually deleted only when you exit MAIL or issue the PURGE command.
To retrieve messages from the WASTEBASKET folder, first use SELECT WASTEBASKET to switch to that folder. Then move through the messages until reaching the desired message and use FILE folderwhere folder is the desired destination folder.
To prevent the automatic emptying of the WASTEBASKET folder when you exit MAIL, use the SET NOAUTO_PURGE command. To enable automatic purging, use SET AUTO_PURGE. Use SHOW AUTO_PURGE to see your current setting.
You can also exit mail without emptying the WASTEBASKET, even if AUTO_PURGE is enabled, by using QUIT instead of EXIT.
You may send messages to multiple users by using distribution lists. Distribution lists are text files containing lists of recipients. First, use a text editor to create a distribution list with one e-mail address per line, as in the following file called FRIENDS.DIS:
JAKE ABBY::SCOTT JOE@SOMEDOMAIN.TOPDOMAIN
Then, when sending your message, specify the name of the distribution list in the recipient field:
MAIL> send To: @friends
Your message will be sent to each address in the distribution list.
You can see a list of folders using the DIRECTORY/FOLDER command:
MAIL> DIRECTRY/FOLDER Listing of folders in DKA100:[MIKE]MAIL.MAI Press CTRL/C to cancel listing MAIL MEETINGS WASTEBASKET
To move to another folder, use "SELECT folder," which is synonymous with "SET FOLDER folder."
Note | The SELECT command can also be used to select a group of messages within the current folder— for example, by date or recipient. These messages can then be acted on as a group. Within mail, use HELP SELECT for more information. |
To list the message in the current folder, use DIRECTORY:
MAIL> DIRECTORY MAIL # From Date Subject 1 PHOEBE::MIKE 24-NOV-2002 You missed the meeting again 2 ABBY::RON 24-NOV-2002 Let's reschedule 3 PHOEBE::MIKE 25-NOV-2002 RE: Let's reschedule 4 ABBY::RON 26-NOV-2002 Tomorrow at 10:30 5 SMTP%"Gail@somedoma 18-DEC-2002 Bring home some milk
To place the current message in another folder, use FILE folder, where folder is the name of the desired folder. If the folder specified does not exist, you will be asked if you would like to create it.
You may also copy the current message to another folder, leaving a copy in the original folder. Use COPY folder.
Folders are automatically deleted when they become empty.
Folders are created when you attempt to move a message to a folder that does not exist. You will be prompted as to whether the new folder should be created.
Folders are automatically deleted when they become empty.
The SET and SHOW commands are closely related; SET changes an option, and SHOW examines its current value. For example, use SET AUTO_PURGE or SET NOAUTO_PURGE to control this setting and SHOW AUTO_PURGE to display its current setting.
The following is a summary of most options and their purposes:
SET AUTO_PURGE, SET NOAUTO_PURGE—This controls whether the WASTEBASKET folder is emptied when you exit mail with the EXIT command.
SET CC_PROMPT, SET NOCC_PROMPT—This controls whether you will be prompted for CC ("carbon copy" or "courtesy copy") recipients when sending mail. Use the SEND/CC or SEND/NOCC (or REPLY/[NO]CC or FORWARD/[NO]CC) command to override this setting on a case-by-case basis.
SET COPY_SELF item—This controls whether a copy of your outgoing message is sent back to you. "Item" may be SEND, FORWARD, REPLY, NOSEND, NOFORWARD, or NOREPLY.
SET EDITOR item—This selects your default text editor. Item may be any callable text editor on your system, typically EDT or TPU (EVE).
SET FORWARD address, SET NOFORWARD—This allows you to automatically forward all mail to another address. This may be another OpenVMS account or an Internet e-mail address.
SET PERSONAL_NAME name, SET NOPERSONAL_NAME—This establishes a personal name to be shown in the FROM field in outgoing mail, along with your e-mail address. It is customary to provide a personal name field for outgoing Internet mail:
MAIL> SET PERSONAL_NAME "Mike Duffy"
Other OpenVMS users receiving this message will see the personal name on the FROM line:
#1 25-DEC-2002 17:23:46.30 NEWMAIL From: PHOEBE::MIKE "Mike Duffy" To: MIKE CC: Subj: personal name demo. This message demonstrates the PERSONAL_NAME mail setting. MAIL>
SET SIGNATURE_FILE file, SET NOSIGNATURE_FILE—This allows you to specify a file to be appended onto outgoing messages. An example is a text file simulating a business card, including your name, company name, and telephone number.