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mailutil(1)




mailutil(1)              USER COMMANDS                mailutil(1)


NAME

     mailutil - mail utility program


SYNTAX

     mailutil command [switches] [arguments]

     All commands accept the -d, -v, and -u switches in  addition
     to any command-specific switches.

     mailutil check [MAILBOX]

     mailutil create MAILBOX

     mailutil delete MAILBOX

     mailutil rename SOURCE DESTINATION

     mailutil copy [-rw] [-kw] [-ig] SOURCE

     mailutil move [-rw] [-kw] [-ig] SOURCE

     mailutil append [-rw] [-kw] [-ig] SOURCE

     mailutil appenddelete [-rw] [-kw] [-ig] SOURCE

     mailutil prune MAILBOX CRITERIA

     mailutil transfer [-m mode] [-rw] [-kw]


DESCRIPTION

     mailutil  replaces  the  old  chkmail,  imapcopy,  imapmove,
     imapxfer, mbxcopy, mbxcreat, and mbxcvt programs.

     mailutil check determines whether new  mail  exists  in  the
     given  mailbox  (the  default  is INBOX).  The number of new
     messages is defined as the  number  of  messages  that  have
     "Recent"  status  set.   If  the  mailbox  contains  no  new
     messages, mailutil check will indicate that no new  mail  is
     present;  otherwise,  it  will  report  the  number  of  new
     messages.   In  either  case,  it  will  also  indicate  the
     canonical form of the name of the mailbox.

     mailutil create creates a new mailbox with the  given  name.
     The  mailbox  name must not already exist.  A mailbox can be
     created in a particular format by prefixing  the  name  with
     #driver. followed by the format name and a / character.  For
     example, the command
        mailutil create #driver.mbx/junkmail
     will create a new mailbox named "junkmail" in mbx format.

     mailutil delete deletes an existing mailbox with  the  given
     name.

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mailutil(1)              USER COMMANDS                mailutil(1)

     mailutil rename renames an existing mailbox to  a  new  name
     (which  must not already exist).  This only works if the old
     and new names are in the same mail store.   A  more  general
     means  to  rename  a mailbox is to do a mailutil copy of the
     old name to the new name, followed by a mailutil  delete  of
     the old name.

     mailutil copy creates a new mailbox and copies messages from
     the old mailbox to the new mailbox.  As in mailutil create a
     mailbox format can be specified with the new  mailbox.   For
     example, the command
        mailutil copy INBOX #driver.mbx/INBOX
     will copy messages from your existing INBOX to an mbx-format
     INBOX.

     mailutil move is similar to mailutil copy  but  in  addition
     will  also remove (delete and expunge) the messages from the
     old mailbox after copying them to the new mailbox.

     mailutil append and mailutil  appenddelete  are  similar  to
     mailutil  copy  and  mailutil  move respectively except that
     they do not create the destination mailbox.

     mailutil prune prunes the mailbox of  messages  which  match
     certain  criteria, which are in the form of IMAP2 (RFC 1176)
     SEARCH arguments.  For example, the command.
       mailutil prune INBOX "before 1-jan-2004"
     will delete and expunge all messages written before  January
     1, 2004.

     Note  that  mailutil  implements  pruning  by  deleting  the
     matching   messages,   and   then   expunging  the  mailbox.
     Consequently, mailutil will also expunge any messages  which
     were deleted at the time of the pruning.

     mailutil transfer copies an entire  hierarchy  of  mailboxes
     from  the  named source to the named destination.  Mailboxes
     are created on the destination  as  needed.   Any  error  in
     copying messages will cause the transfer to stop.

     Normally, any error in creation will cause the  transfer  to
     stop.   However,  if  -m MODE or -merge MODE is specified, a
     merging transfer is performed.  The MODE  argument  indicats
     the type of merge:

     -m[erge] prompt indicates that the user should be asked  for
     an  alternative  name  to  create.  If creating the new name
     fails, the user will be asked again.

     -m[erge] append indicates that  it's  alright  to  copy  the
     messages  into  an  existing mailbox with that name.  If the
     mailbox does not exist, the user will  be  prompted  for  an

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mailutil(1)              USER COMMANDS                mailutil(1)

     alternative name.

     -m[erge] suffix=XXXX where XXXX  is  any  string,  indicates
     that  an  alternative  name should be built by appending the
     given suffix to the name.  It that alternative name can't be
     created,  then  the user will be prompted for an alternative
     name.

     The source hierarchy consists of all mailboxes  which  start
     with  the given source name.  With the exception of a remote
     system specification (within "{}" braces), the  source  name
     is  used  as  the  name of the destination.  The destination
     hierarchy is  a  prefix  applied  to  any  new  names  being
     created.  For example,
        mailutil transfer foo bar
     will copy all mailboxes with names beginning with  "foo"  to
     names beginning with "bar" (hence "foobar" will be copied to
     "barfoobar").  Similarly,
        mailutil transfer "{imap.foo.com}" "{imap.bar.com}old/"
     will copy all mailboxes from the imap.foo.com IMAP server to
     equivalent  names  starting  with "old/" on the imap.bar.com
     IMAP server.


FLAGS

     The -d  or  -debug  flag  prints  full  debugging  telemetry
     including protocol operations.

     The  -v  or  -verbose  flag   prints   verbose   (non-error)
     telemetry.

     The -u USERID or -user USERID switch attempts to become  the
     indicated   user.    This  is  for  the  benefit  of  system
     administrators who want  to  do  mailutil  operations  on  a
     userid that does not normally have shell access.

     The -rw or -rwcopy flag causes the source mailbox to be open
     in  readwrite  mode  rather  than  readonly mode.  Normally,
     mailutil tries to use readonly mode to  avoid  altering  any
     flags  in  the  source mailbox, but some mailbox types, e.g.
     POP3, can't be open in readonly mode.

     The -kw or -kwcopy flag causes the keywords  of  the  source
     mailbox to be created in the destination mailbox.  Normally,
     mailutil does not create keywords in the destination mailbox
     so  only  those  keywords  that  are  already defined in the
     destination mailbox will be preserved.  Note that some  IMAP
     servers  may automatically create keywords, so this flag may
     not be necessary.

     The -ig or -ignore flag causes the keywords  of  the  source
     mailbox  to  be ignored completely and no attempt is made to
     copy them to the destination mailbox.

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mailutil(1)              USER COMMANDS                mailutil(1)

     The -ig[nore] and -kw[copy] flags are mutually exclusive.


ARGUMENTS

     The  arguments  are  standard  c-client  mailbox  names.   A
     variety  of  mailbox name formats and types of mailboxes are
     supported by c-client; examples of the most common forms  of
     names are:

     Name           Meaning

     INBOX          primary incoming mail  folder  on  the  local
                    system

     archive/tx-project
                    mail folder named "tx-project"  in  "archive"
                    subdirectory   of   local   filesystem   home
                    directory

     {imapserver.foo.com}INBOX
                    primary incoming mail folder on  IMAP  server
                    system "imapserver.foo.com"

     {imapserver.foo.com}archive/tx-project
                    mail folder named "tx-project"  in  "archive"
                    subdirectory    on    IMAP    server   system
                    "imapserver.foo.com"

     #news.comp.mail.misc
                    newsgroup    "comp.mail.misc"    on     local
                    filesystem

     {newserver.foo.com/nntp}comp.mail.misc
                    newsgroup  "comp.mail.misc"  on  NNTP  server
                    system "newserver.foo.com"

     {popserver.foo.com/pop3}
                    mail   folder   on   POP3    server    system
                    "popserver.foo.com"

     See your system manager for more information about the types
     of mailboxes which are available on your system.


RESTRICTIONS

     You must surround a {host}mailbox  argument  with  quotation
     marks  if  you run mailutil from csh(1) or another shell for
     which braces have special meaning.

     You must surround  a  #driver.format/mailbox  argument  with
     quotation  marks  if  you run mailutil from a shell in which
     "#" is the comment character.

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mailutil(1)              USER COMMANDS                mailutil(1)


AUTHOR

     Mark Crispin, MRC@Washington.EDU

                   Last change: March 3, 2008                   5


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