What are some equivalent commands in the electronic mail programs Berkeley mail, Pine, and Elm?

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Note: Elm is not available on any UITS systems.

Below is a list of some roughly equivalent commands in three commonly used Unix email programs. It is intended as an aid for someone who knows one of the mail programs and wishes to learn another.

Please use this list with discretion; it is not a replacement for other mail documentation, such as the online help. This list does not explain exactly what each command does, and it assumes knowledge of many aspects of Unix. Many features of each mail program have been omitted because they do not have equivalents in the others.

Notes on the non-standard notation used:

A semicolon ( ; ) separates commands and represents the Enter key.
Items enclosed in curly brackets ( {} ) are not meant to be typed literally. Replace the generic term in the brackets with a specific name.
For items preceded by the percent sign ( % ), enter the command at the command line prompt of your account. (The % represents the Unix prompt. The prompt on your account may look different if you have made changes to your account.) Type all other commands within the mail program at the mail prompt.

"Berkeley Mail" refers to the mailer usually invoked on most Unix systems by entering mailx or Mail . On BSD systems, you may also invoke it with the mail command.

General commands

Task	Berkeley	Pine	Elm
Starting an interactive mail session	% `mailx` or `Mail`	% `pine`	% `elm`
Getting help at the command prompt	% `man mailx` or `man Mail`	% `man pine`	% `man elm`
Getting help from within the mail program	`?` or `help` or `~?`	`?`	`? ?`
Leaving mail	`quit`	`q`	`q`
Redrawing the screen when it gets garbled	`Ctrl-l` (lowercase L)	`Ctrl-l` (lowercase L)	`Ctrl-l` (lowercase L)
Performing an operating system command from the mail prompt	`!` (exclamation point)	`\|` (pipe key)	`!` (exclamation point)

Navigating folders

Berkeley Pine Elm ------------------------ --------------------- ------------------- folders l (for folder list, c =* or ! ls ~/Mail folder {folder}; header then use arrows to c ={folder} mail -f {folder}; header choose and Enter c > headers to select) c ! c <; *

Selecting a subset of messages in a folder

Berkeley Pine Elm ----------------------- ----------------------- ------------------- ; (then T for text, l from {string} or N for number, l to {string} or A for all, etc.) l subject {string}

Selecting and reading a single message

Berkeley Pine Elm ----------------------- ----------------------- ------------------- {number} {number} {return} {number} {return} + or next n {down arrow key} or J - p {up arrow key} or K w Ctrl-y = w Ctrl-v * w {string} / {string} or // {string}

Sending mail

Berkeley Pine Elm ----------------------- ----------------------- ------------------- mail {user}; ~e; Ctrl-D c m {user} reply or Reply r r or g f f y {user} f n {user}

Creating and using aliases and distribution lists

Berkeley Pine Elm ----------------------- ----------------------- ------------------- alias {name} {addr} m a a {name} {addr} a n {name} {addr} mail {alias-name} c {alias-name} m {alias-name}

Filing messages

Berkeley Pine Elm ----------------------- ----------------------- ------------------- touch * t or Ctrl-t copy +{folder} C ={folder} save +{folder} s {foldername} s ={folder} or > ={folder} s {msg-list} {filename} e s {filename} delete {message-list} d d or Ctrl-d undelete {message-list} u u or Ctrl-u

Viewing and setting some miscellaneous preferences

Berkeley Pine Elm ----------------------- ----------------------- ------------------- % emacs ~/.mailrc m s c % emacs ~/.elm/elmrc m s c o set EDITOR (and VISUAL) m s c (then change o e (and o v) /usr/local/bin/emacs editor value to emacs) /usr/local/bin/emacs alternates m s c (then change o y value for personal-name) (automatic in Pine) o o =sent set askcc (automatic in Pine) askcc = ON (in elmrc) set folder m s c o f % echo {addr} > ~/.forward % echo {addr} > ~/.forward % echo {addr} > ~/.forward % rm ~/.forward % rm ~/.forward % rm ~/.forward % cat ~/.forward % cat ~/.forward % cat ~/.forward

Sending mail from the command prompt

Berkeley: mailx -s {subject} {user} < {file} Elm: % elm -s {subject} {user} < {file}

At Indiana University, for personal or departmental Linux or Unix systems support, see At IU, how do I get support for Linux or Unix?

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Last modified on August 22, 2008.