muttrc manpage

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NAME

       muttrc - Configuration file for the Mutt Mail User Agent

DESCRIPTION

       A  mutt  configuration  file  consists of a series of "commands".  Each
       line of the file may contain one or more commands.  When multiple  com-
       mands are used, they must be separated by a semicolon (";").

       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.

       Single  quotes  ("'")  and  double  quotes  (""")  can be used to quote
       strings which contain spaces or other special characters.  The  differ-
       ence 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, backtics are evalu-
       ated 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  inter-
       preted character.

       "\\"  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,  provided  that  the  split points don't appear in the middle of
       command names.

       It is also possible to substitute the output of a Unix  command  in  an
       initialization  file.  This is accomplished by enclosing the command in
       backquotes (`command`).

       UNIX environments can be accessed like the way it  is  done  in  shells
       like sh and bash: Prepend the name of the environment by a dollar ("$")
       sign.

COMMANDS

       alias key address [, address [ ... ]]
       unalias [ *  | key ]

              alias defines an alias key for  the  given  addresses.   unalias
              removes  the alias corresponding to the given key or all aliases
              when "*" is used as an argument.

       alternates regexp [ , regexp [ ... ]]
       unalternates [ *  | regexp [ , regexp [ ... ]] ]

              alternates is used to  inform  mutt  about  alternate  addresses
              where you receive mail; you can use regular expressions to spec-
              ify alternate addresses.  This affects mutt's  idea  about  mes-
              sages  from  you,  and  messages addressed to you.  unalternates
              removes a regular expression from the list of known  alternates.

       alternative_order type[/subtype] [ ... ]
       unalternative_order [ *  | type/subtype] [...]

              alternative_order  command  permits  you  to  define an order of
              preference which is used by mutt to determine which  part  of  a
              multipart/alternative body to display.  A subtype of "*" matches
              any subtype, as does  an  empty  subtype.    unalternative_order
              removes entries from the ordered list or deletes the entire list
              when "*" is used as an argument.

       auto_view type[/subtype] [ ... ]
       unauto_view type[/subtype] [ ... ]

              This commands permits you to specify that mutt should  automati-
              cally convert the given MIME types to text/plain when displaying
              messages.  For this to work, there must be  a  mailcap(5)  entry
              for the given MIME type with the copiousoutput flag set.  A sub-
              type of "*" matches any subtype, as does an empty subtype.

       mime_lookup type[/subtype] [ ... ]
       unmime_lookup type[/subtype] [ ... ]

              This command permits you to define a list of "data" MIME content
              types  for which mutt will try to determine the actual file type
              from the file name, and not use a mailcap(5) entry given for the
              original  MIME  type.   For  instance,  you may add the applica-
              tion/octet-stream MIME type to this list.

       bind map1,map2,... key function
              This command binds the given key for the given map  or  maps  to
              the given function. Multiple maps may be specified by separating
              them with commas (no whitespace is allowed).

              Valid maps are: generic, alias, attach, browser, editor,  index,
              compose, pager, pgp, postpone, mix.

              For  more  information on keys and functions, please consult the
              Mutt Manual.

       account-hook [!]regexp command
              This hook is executed whenever you access a remote mailbox. Use-
              ful  to  adjust  configuration settings to different IMAP or POP
              servers.

       charset-hook alias charset
              This command defines an alias for a character set.  This is use-
              ful to properly display messages which are tagged with a charac-
              ter set name not known to mutt.

       iconv-hook charset local-charset
              This command defines a system-specific name for a character set.
              This  is  useful when your system's iconv(3) implementation does
              not understand MIME character set names  (such  as  iso-8859-1),
              but  instead  insists  on being fed with implementation-specific
              character set names (such as 8859-1).  In  this  specific  case,
              you'd put this into your configuration file:

              iconv-hook iso-8859-1 8859-1

       message-hook [!]pattern command
              Before  mutt  displays (or formats for replying or forwarding) a
              message which matches the given pattern (or, when it is preceded
              by  an  exclamation mark, does not match the pattern), the given
              command is executed.  When multiple  message-hooks  match,  they
              are  executed  in  the order in which they occur in the configu-
              ration file.

       folder-hook [!]regexp command
              When mutt enters a folder which matches regexp (or, when  regexp
              is  preceded by an exclamation mark, does not match regexp), the
              given command is executed.

              When several folder-hooks match a given mail  folder,  they  are
              executed in the order given in the configuration file.

       macro map key sequence [ description ]
              This  command  binds the given sequence of keys to the given key
              in the given map or maps.  For valid maps, see bind. To  specify
              multipe maps, put only a comma between the maps.

       color object foreground background [  regexp ]
       color index foreground background [  pattern ]
       uncolor index pattern [ pattern ... ]

              If  your  terminal supports color, these commands can be used to
              assign foreground/backgound  combinations  to  certain  objects.
              Valid  objects  are: attachment, body, bold, header, hdrdefault,
              index, indicator, markers,  message,  normal,  quoted,  quotedN,
              search, signature, status, tilde, tree, underline.  The body and
              header objects allow you to restrict the colorization to a regu-
              lar  expression.  The index object permits you to select colored
              messages by pattern.

              Valid colors include: white, black, green, magenta, blue,  cyan,
              yellow, red, default, colorN.

       mono object attribute [ regexp ]
       mono index attribute [ pattern ]

              For  terminals  which  don't support color, you can still assign
              attributes to objects.  Valid attributes  include:  none,  bold,
              underline, reverse, and standout.

       [un]ignore pattern [ pattern ... ]
              The  ignore  command  permits you to specify header fields which
              you usually don't wish to  see.   Any  header  field  whose  tag
              begins with an "ignored" pattern will be ignored.

              The  unignore  command permits you to define exceptions from the
              above mentioned list of ignored headers.

       lists regexp [ regexp ... ]
       unlists regexp [ regexp ... ]
       subscribe regexp [ regexp ... ]
       unsubscribe regexp [ regexp ... ]

              Mutt maintains two lists of mailing  list  address  patterns,  a
              list  of  subscribed  mailing lists, and a list of known mailing
              lists.  All subscribed mailing lists are  known.   Patterns  use
              regular expressions.

              The  lists  command  adds  a mailing list address to the list of
              known mailing lists.  The unlists command removes a mailing list
              from  the lists of known and subscribed mailing lists.  The sub-
              scribe command adds a mailing list to the  lists  of  known  and
              subscribed  mailing  lists.   The unsubscribe command removes it
              from the list of subscribed mailing lists.

       mbox-hook [!]pattern mailbox
              When mutt changes to a mail folder which matches pattern,  mail-
              box  will be used as the "mbox" folder, i.e., read messages will
              be moved to that folder when the mail folder is left.

              The first matching mbox-hook applies.

       mailboxes filename [ filename ... ]
       unmailboxes [ * | filename ... ]

              The mailboxes specifies folders which can receive mail and which
              will be checked for new messages.  When changing folders, press-
              ing space will cycle through folders with new mail.  The unmail-
              boxes  command  is  used  to remove a file name from the list of
              folders which can receive mail.  If "*" is specified as the file
              name, the list is emptied.

       my_hdr string
       unmy_hdr field

              Using  my_hdr, you can define headers which will be added to the
              messages you compose.  unmy_hdr  will  remove  the  given  user-
              defined headers.

       hdr_order header1 header2 [ ... ]
              With  this  command, you can specify an order in which mutt will
              attempt to present headers to you when viewing messages.

       save-hook [!]pattern filename
              When a message matches pattern, the default file name when  sav-
              ing it will be the given filename.

       fcc-hook [!]pattern filename
              When  an outgoing message matches pattern, the default file name
              for storing a copy (fcc) will be the given filename.

       fcc-save-hook [!]pattern filename
              This command is an abbreviation for identical fcc-hook and save-
              hook commands.

       send-hook [!]pattern command
              When  composing a message matching pattern, command is executed.
              When multiple send-hooks match, they are executed in  the  order
              in which they occur in the configuration file.

       send2-hook [!]pattern command
              Whenever  a message matching pattern is changed (either by edit-
              ing it or by using the compose menu), command is executed.  When
              multiple  send2-hooks  match,  they are executed in the order in
              which they occur in the configuration file.   Possible  applica-
              tions  include  setting  the $sendmail variable when a message's
              from header is changed.

              send2-hook execution is not triggered by  use  of  enter-command
              from the compose menu.

       reply-hook [!]pattern command
              When  replying  to  a  message matching pattern, command is exe-
              cuted.  When multiple reply-hooks match, they  are  executed  in
              the order in which they occur in the configuration file, but all
              reply-hooks are matched and executed before send-hooks,  regard-
              less of their order in the configuration file.

       crypt-hook pattern key-id
              The  crypt-hook command provides a method by which you can spec-
              ify the ID of the public key to be used when encrypting messages
              to  a certain recipient.  The meaning of "key ID" is to be taken
              broadly: This can be a different e-mail address, a numerical key
              ID, or even just an arbitrary search string.

       open-hook regexp "command"
       close-hook regexp "command"
       append-hook regexp "command"

              These  commands  provide a way to handle compressed folders. The
              given regexp specifies which folders  are  taken  as  compressed
              (e.g.   "\\.gz$").  The  commands  tell Mutt how to uncompress a
              folder (open-hook), compress a folder (close-hook) or  append  a
              compressed  mail  to a compressed folder (append-hook). The com-
              mand string is the printf(3) like format string, and  it  should
              accept  two  parameters:  %f,  which  is replaced with the (com-
              pressed) folder name, and %t which is replaced with the name  of
              the temporary folder to which to write.

       push string
              This command adds the named string to the keyboard buffer.

       set [no|inv|&|?]variable[=value] [ ... ]
       toggle variable [ ... ]
       unset variable [ ... ]
       reset variable [ ... ]

              These  commands  are  used  to  set and manipulate configuration
              varibles.

              Mutt knows four  basic  types  of  variables:  boolean,  number,
              string  and  quadoption.   Boolean  variables can be set (true),
              unset (false), or toggled. Number variables can  be  assigned  a
              positive integer value.

              String  variables consist of any number of printable characters.
              Strings must be enclosed in quotes if  they  contain  spaces  or
              tabs.   You  may also use the "C" 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  automati-
              cally  as if you had answered yes to the question.  Similarly, a
              value of no will cause the 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."

              The reset command resets all given variables to the compile time
              defaults.  If you reset the special variable all, all  variables
              will reset to their compile time defaults.

       source filename
              The given file will be evaluated as a configuration file.

       spam pattern format
              nospam pattern
              These commands define spam-detection patterns from external spam
              filters, so that mutt can sort,  limit,  and  search  on  ``spam
              tags'' or ``spam attributes'', or display them in the index. See
              the Mutt manual for details.

       unhook [ *  | hook-type ]
              This command will remove all hooks of a given type, or all hooks
              when  "*"  is  used as an argument.  hook-type can be any of the
              -hook commands documented above.

PATTERNS

       In various places with mutt, including some of the abovementioned  hook
       commands, you can specify patterns to match messages.

   Constructing Patterns
       A simple pattern consists of an operator of the form "~character", pos-
       sibly followed by a parameter against which mutt is supposed  to  match
       the  object  specified by this operator.  (For a list of operators, see
       below.)

       With some of these operators, the object to be matched consists of sev-
       eral  e-mail  addresses.   In  these cases, the object is matched if at
       least one of these e-mail addresses matches.  You  can  prepend  a  hat
       ("^")  character  to such a pattern to indicate that all addresses must
       match in order to match the object.

       You can construct complex patterns by combining  simple  patterns  with
       logical  operators.   Logical  AND is specified by simply concatenating
       two simple patterns, for instance "~C mutt-dev ~s bug".  Logical OR  is
       specified  by  inserting a vertical bar ("|") between two patterns, for
       instance "~C mutt-dev | ~s bug".  Additionally, you can negate  a  pat-
       tern  by  prepending a bang ("!") character.  For logical grouping, use
       braces ("()"). Example: "!(~t mutt|~c mutt) ~f elkins".

   Simple Patterns
       Mutt understands the following simple patterns:


       ~A           all messages
       ~b EXPR      messages which contain EXPR in the message body
       ~B EXPR      messages which contain EXPR in the whole message
       ~c EXPR      messages carbon-copied to EXPR
       ~C EXPR      message is either to: or cc: EXPR
       ~d MIN-MAX   messages with "date-sent" in a Date range
       ~D           deleted messages
       ~e EXPR      message which contains EXPR in the "Sender" field
       ~E           expired messages
       ~f EXPR      messages originating from EXPR
       ~F           flagged messages
       ~g           PGP signed messages
       ~G           PGP encrypted messages
       ~h EXPR      messages which contain EXPR in the message header
       ~H EXPR      messages with spam tags matching EXPR
       ~i EXPR      message which match EXPR in the "Message-ID" field
       ~k           message contains PGP key material
       ~l           message is addressed to a known mailing list
       ~L EXPR      message is either originated or received by EXPR
       ~m MIN-MAX   message in the range MIN to MAX
       ~n MIN-MAX   messages with a score in the range MIN to MAX
       ~N           new messages
       ~O           old messages
       ~p           message is addressed to you (consults $alternates)
       ~P           message is from you (consults $alternates)
       ~Q           messages which have been replied to
       ~r MIN-MAX   messages with "date-received" in a Date range
       ~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           message is addressed to a subscribed mailing list
       ~U           unread messages
       ~v           message is part of a collapsed thread.
       ~V           cryptographically verified messages
       ~x EXPR      messages which contain EXPR in the "References" field
       ~X MIN-MAX   messages with MIN - MAX attachments
       ~y EXPR      messages which contain EXPR in the "X-Label" field
       ~z MIN-MAX   messages with a size in the range MIN to MAX
       ~=           duplicated messages (see $duplicate_threads)
       ~$           unreferenced message (requries threaded view)

       In the above, EXPR is a regular expression.

       With the ~m, ~n, ~X, and ~z operators, you can also specify  ranges  in
       the forms <MAX, >MIN, MIN-, and -MAX.

   Matching dates
       The ~d and ~r operators are used to match date ranges, which are inter-
       preted to be given in your local time zone.

       A date is of the form DD[/MM[/[cc]YY]],  that  is,  a  two-digit  date,
       optionally followed by a two-digit month, optionally followed by a year
       specifications.  Omitted fields default to the current month and  year.

       Mutt  understands  either  two or four digit year specifications.  When
       given a two-digit year, mutt will interpret  values  less  than  70  as
       lying in the 21st century (i.e., "38" means 2038 and not 1938, and "00"
       is interpreted as 2000), and values greater than  or  equal  to  70  as
       lying in the 20th century.

       Note  that  this  behaviour is Y2K compliant, but that mutt does have a
       Y2.07K problem.

       If a date range consists of a single date,  the  operator  in  question
       will  match  that  precise  date.  If the date range consists of a dash
       ("-"), followed by a date, this range will match any date before and up
       to  the  date  given.  Similarly, a date followed by a dash matches the
       date given and any later point of time.   Two  dates,  separated  by  a
       dash, match any date which lies in the given range of time.

       You  can  also  modify  any absolute date by giving an error range.  An
       error range consists of one of the characters +, -, *,  followed  by  a
       positive  number, followed by one of the unit characters y, m, w, or d,
       specifying a unit of years, months, weeks, or days.   +  increases  the
       maximum  date  matched  by  the given interval of time, - decreases the
       minimum date matched by the given interval of time, and * increases the
       maximum date and decreases the minimum date matched by the given inter-
       val of time.  It is possible to  give  multiple  error  margins,  which
       cumulate.  Example: 1/1/2001-1w+2w*3d

       You  can  also specify offsets relative to the current date.  An offset
       is specified as one of the characters <, >, =, followed by  a  positive
       number,  followed  by  one  of  the  unit  characters y, m, w, or d.  >
       matches dates which are older than the specified  amount  of  time,  an
       offset  which  begins with the character < matches dates which are more
       recent than the specified amount of time, and an  offset  which  begins
       with  the  character  =  matches points of time which are precisely the
       given amount of time ago.

CONFIGURATION VARIABLES

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.

abort_unmodified
Type: quadoption
Default: yes

If set to yes, composition will automatically abort after edit-
ing 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.

alias_file
Type: path
Default: "~/.muttrc"

The default file in which to save aliases created by the "cre-
ate-alias" function.

Note: Mutt will not automatically source this file; you must
explicitly use the "source" command for it to be executed.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 charac-
ters.

askbcc
Type: boolean
Default: no

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

askcc
Type: boolean
Default: no

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

assumed_charset
Type: string
Default: "us-ascii"

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.
This variable is valid only if $strict_mime is unset.

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-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=inline, A=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 possi-
ble speed effects)

%>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with charac-
ter "X"

%|X pad to the end of the line with character "X"

attach_sep
Type: string
Default: "\n"

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

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 concate-
nate 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.

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()-like sequences see the section on "$index_format".

autoedit
Type: boolean
Default: no

When set along with "$edit_headers", Mutt will skip the initial
send-menu 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.

Also see "$fast_reply".

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 (default: ";")
to make the next function apply to all tagged messages.

beep
Type: boolean
Default: yes

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

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.

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 mes-
sage. Setting this variable to no is not generally useful, and
thus not recommended, because you are unable to bounce messages.

bounce_delivered
Type: boolean
Default: yes

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

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_cur-
sor variable is unset, making it easier for blind persons using
Braille displays to follow these menus. The option is disabled
by default because many visual terminals don't permit making the
cursor invisible.

charset
Type: string
Default: ""

Character set your terminal uses to display and enter textual
data.

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 mail-
box 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 check_new is unset, no check for new mail is performed while
the mailbox is open.

collapse_unread
Type: boolean
Default: yes

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

uncollapse_jump
Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, Mutt will jump to the next unread message, if any,
when the current thread is uncollapsed.

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()-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".

config_charset
Type: string
Default: ""

When defined, Mutt will recode commands in rc files from this
encoding.

confirmappend
Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when appending mes-
sages to an existing mailbox.

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.

connect_timeout
Type: number
Default: 30

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

content_type
Type: string
Default: "text/plain"

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

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".

crypt_use_gpgme
Type: boolean
Default: no

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

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".

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".

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 strf-
time call to process the date. See the man page for strftime(3)
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).

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

This variable controls how send-hooks, message-hooks, save-
hooks, and fcc-hooks 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.

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.

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.

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.

display_filter
Type: path
Default: ""

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

dotlock_program
Type: path
Default: "/usr/bin/mutt_dotlock"

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

dsn_notify
Type: string
Default: ""

Note: you should not enable this unless you are using Sendmail
8.8.x or greater.

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 trans-
mission failure, delay, to be notified of message delays, suc-
cess, to be notified of successful transmission.

Example: set dsn_notify="failure,delay"

dsn_return
Type: string
Default: ""

Note: you should not enable this unless you are using Sendmail
8.8.x or greater.

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

duplicate_threads
Type: boolean
Default: yes

This variable controls whether mutt, when sorting by 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 diagram.

edit_headers
Type: boolean
Default: no

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

editor
Type: path
Default: ""

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 "/usr/bin/editor" if neither of those
are set.

encode_from
Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, mutt will quoted-printable encode messages when they
contain the string "From " in the beginning of a line. Useful
to avoid the tampering certain mail delivery and transport
agents tend to do with messages.

envelope_from_address
Type: e-mail address
Default: ""

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

escape
Type: string
Default: "~"

Escape character to use for functions in the builtin editor.

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.

fcc_attach
Type: boolean
Default: yes

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

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)

file_charset
Type: string
Default: ""

This variable is a colon-separated list of character encoding
schemes for text file attatchments. If unset, $charset value
will be used instead. For example, the following configuration
would work for Japanese text handling:

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

Note: "iso-2022-*" must be put at the head of the value as shown
above if included.

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 expan-
sion takes place during the `set' command.

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_for-
mat", but has its own set of printf()-like sequences:

%C current file number

%d date/time folder was last modified

%f filename

%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 charac-
ter "X"

%|X pad to the end of the line with character "X"

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 receiv-
ing duplicate copies of replies to messages which you send to
mailing lists, and second, ensuring that you do get a reply sep-
arately 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.

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.

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.

forward_edit
Type: quadoption
Default: yes

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

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_for-
mat" variable.

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".

from
Type: e-mail address
Default: ""

When set, this variable contains a default from address. It can
be overridden using my_hdr (including from send-hooks) and
"$reverse_name". This variable is ignored if "$use_from" is
unset.

Defaults to the contents of the environment variable EMAIL.

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. By default the regular
expression is set to "^[^,]*" which will return the string up to
the first "," encountered. If the GECOS field contains a string
like "lastname, firstname" then you should set the
gecos_mask=".*".

This can be useful if you see the following behavior: you
address a e-mail to user ID stevef whose full name is Steve
Franklin. If mutt expands stevef to "Franklin" stevef [AT] 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".

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 mes-
sage.

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.

help
Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, help lines describing the bindings for the major func-
tions provided by each menu are displayed on the first line of
the screen.

Note: The binding will not be displayed correctly if the func-
tion 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.

hidden_host
Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, mutt will skip the host name part of "$hostname" vari-
able 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.

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.

hide_missing
Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, mutt will not show the presence of missing messages in
the thread tree.

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 clos-
est previously displayed sibling.

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.

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.

history
Type: number
Default: 10

This variable controls the size (in number of strings remem-
bered) of the string history buffer. The buffer is cleared each
time the variable is set.

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.

hostname
Type: string
Default: ""

Specifies the hostname to use after the "@" in local e-mail
addresses. This overrides the compile time definition obtained
from /etc/resolv.conf.

ignore_list_reply_to
Type: boolean
Default: no

Affects the behaviour of the reply function when replying to
messages from mailing lists. 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.

imap_authenticators
Type: string
Default: ""

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, eg
'digest-md5', 'gssapi' or 'cram-md5'. This parameter is case-
insensitive. If this parameter is 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 avail-
able but authentication fails, mutt will not connect to the IMAP
server.

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. See also the "mailboxes" command.

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 partic-
ular it helps in using the '=' shortcut for your folder vari-
able.

imap_headers
Type: string
Default: ""

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 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.

imap_home_namespace
Type: string
Default: ""

You normally want to see your personal folders alongside your
INBOX in the IMAP browser. If you see something else, you may
set this variable to the IMAP path to your folders.

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 periodi-
cally, try unsetting this.

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 discon-
nected from your IMAP server due to inactivity.

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.

imap_login
Type: string
Default: ""

Your login name on the IMAP server.

This variable defaults to the value of imap_user.

imap_pass
Type: string
Default: ""

Specifies the password for your IMAP account. If unset, Mutt
will prompt you for your password when you invoke the fetch-mail
function. 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.

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 con-
nection is slow.

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.

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 harm-
less, 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.

imap_user
Type: string
Default: ""

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.

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.

include
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

Controls whether or not a copy of the message(s) you are reply-
ing to is included in your reply.

include_onlyfirst
Type: boolean
Default: no

Controls whether or not Mutt includes only the first attachment
of the message you are replying.

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 fanat-
ical netizens.

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 to format output (see the man page for more
detail). 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 entire From: line (address + real name)

%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)

%L If an address in the To or CC header field matches an
address 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 (_O_riginal save folder) Where mutt would formerly have
stashed the message: list name or recipient name if no
list

%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" sec-
tion for possible speed effects)

%y `x-label:' field, if present

%Y `x-label' field, if present, and (1) not at part of a
thread tree, (2) at the top of a thread, or (3) `x-label'
is different from preceding message's `x-label'.

%Z message status flags

%{fmt} the date and time of the message is converted to sender's
time zone, and "fmt" is expanded by the library function
"strftime"; a leading bang disables locales

%[fmt] the date and time of the message is converted to the
local time zone, and "fmt" is expanded by the library
function "strftime"; a leading bang disables locales

%(fmt) the local date and time when the message was received.
"fmt" is expanded by the library function "strftime"; a
leading bang disables locales

%<fmt> the current local time. "fmt" is expanded by the library
function "strftime"; a leading bang disables locales.

%>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with charac-
ter "X"

%|X pad to the end of the line with character "X"

See also "$read_inc" and "$write_inc".

pager
Type: path
Default: "builtin"

This variable specifies which pager you would like to use to
view messages. builtin means to use the builtin pager, other-
wise 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.

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 con-
text).

pager_format
Type: string
Default: "-%Z- %C/%m: %-20.20n %s"

This variable controls the format of the one-line message "sta-
tus" displayed before each message in either the internal or an
external pager. The valid sequences are listed in the
"$index_format" section.

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 pager_index_lines 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.

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.

crypt_autosign
Type: boolean
Default: no

Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to cryp-
tographically 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. (Crypto only)

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 con-
nection 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. (Crypto only)

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' capabili-
ties. Unset this if you want to play interesting key selection
games. (PGP only)

crypt_replyencrypt
Type: boolean
Default: yes

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

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)

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
"$crypt_replyencrypt", because it allows you to sign all mes-
sages which are automatically encrypted. This works around the
problem noted in "$crypt_replysign", that mutt is not able to
find out whether an encrypted message is also signed. (Crypto
only)

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)

pgp_use_gpg_agent
Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, mutt will use a possibly-running gpg-agent process.
(PGP only)

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)

smime_is_default
Type: boolean
Default: no

The default behaviour 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 applica-
tion that was used to sign/encrypt the original message. (Note
that this variable can be overridden by unsetting
$crypt_autosmime.) (S/MIME only)

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)

smime_decrypt_use_default_key
Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set (default) this tells mutt to use the default key for
decryption. Otherwise, if manage 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)

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_for-
mat", but has its own set of printf()-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)

pgp_good_sign
Type: regular expression
Default: ""

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)

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 sub-
process failed. (PGP only)

pgp_long_ids
Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, use 64 bit PGP key IDs. Unset uses the normal 32 bit Key
IDs. (PGP only)

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 mail-
ing lists, where the outer layer (multipart/encrypted) can be
easily removed, while the inner multipart/signed part is
retained. (PGP only)

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 con-
figured to ask before sending PGP/MIME messages when inline
(traditional) would not work. See also: "$pgp_mime_auto".

Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is
strongly deprecated. (PGP only)

pgp_replyinline
Type: boolean
Default: no

Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to cre-
ate 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.

Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is
strongly deprecated. (PGP only)

pgp_show_unusable
Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, mutt will display non-usable keys on the PGP key selec-
tion menu. This includes keys which have been revoked, have
expired, or have been marked as "disabled" by the user. (PGP
only)

pgp_sign_as
Type: string
Default: ""

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)

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)

pgp_timeout
Type: number
Default: 300

The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will
expire if not used. (PGP only)

pgp_sort_keys
Type: sort order
Default: address

Specifies how the entries in the `pgp keys' 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)

pgp_mime_auto
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

This option controls whether Mutt will prompt you for automati-
cally 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)

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 ordi-
narily would result in the contents of the message being oper-
ated on. For example, if the user displays a pgp-traditional
message which has not been manually checked with the check-tra-
ditional-pgp function, mutt will automatically check the message
for traditional pgp.

pgp_decode_command
Type: string
Default: ""

This format strings specifies a command which is used to decode
application/pgp attachments.

The PGP command formats have their own set of printf-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 verify-
ing 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*.rc and
gpg.rc files in the samples/ subdirectory which has been
installed on your system alongside the documentation. (PGP
only)

pgp_getkeys_command
Type: string
Default: ""

This command is invoked whenever mutt will need public key
information. %r is the only printf-like sequence used with this
format. (PGP only)

pgp_verify_command
Type: string
Default: ""

This command is used to verify PGP signatures. (PGP only)

pgp_decrypt_command
Type: string
Default: ""

This command is used to decrypt a PGP encrypted message. (PGP
only)

pgp_clearsign_command
Type: string
Default: ""

This format is used to create a old-style "clearsigned" PGP mes-
sage. Note that the use of this format is strongly deprecated.
(PGP only)

pgp_sign_command
Type: string
Default: ""

This command is used to create the detached PGP signature for a
multipart/signed PGP/MIME body part. (PGP only)

pgp_encrypt_sign_command
Type: string
Default: ""

This command is used to both sign and encrypt a body part. (PGP
only)

pgp_encrypt_only_command
Type: string
Default: ""

This command is used to encrypt a body part without signing it.
(PGP only)

pgp_import_command
Type: string
Default: ""

This command is used to import a key from a message into the
user's public key ring. (PGP only)

pgp_export_command
Type: string
Default: ""

This command is used to export a public key from the user's key
ring. (PGP only)

pgp_verify_key_command
Type: string
Default: ""

This command is used to verify key information from the key
selection menu. (PGP only)

pgp_list_secring_command
Type: string
Default: ""

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. (PGP only)

pgp_list_pubring_command
Type: string
Default: ""

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. (PGP only)

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)

smime_timeout
Type: number
Default: 300

The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will
expire if not used. (S/MIME only)

smime_encrypt_with
Type: string
Default: ""

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)

smime_keys
Type: path
Default: ""

Since there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, mutt has to han-
dle storage ad retrieval of keys/certs by itself. This is very
basic right now, and stores keys and certificates in two differ-
ent 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 one points to
the location of the private keys. (S/MIME only)

smime_ca_location
Type: path
Default: ""

This variable contains the name of either a directory, or a file
which contains trusted certificates for use with OpenSSL.
(S/MIME only)

smime_certificates
Type: path
Default: ""

Since there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, mutt has to han-
dle 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 one points
to the location of the certificates. (S/MIME only)

smime_decrypt_command
Type: string
Default: ""

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-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.

%C CA location: Depending on whether $smime_ca_location
points to a directory 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)

smime_verify_command
Type: string
Default: ""

This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type multi-
part/signed. (S/MIME only)

smime_verify_opaque_command
Type: string
Default: ""

This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type appli-
cation/x-pkcs7-mime. (S/MIME only)

smime_sign_command
Type: string
Default: ""

This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type multi-
part/signed, which can be read by all mail clients. (S/MIME
only)

smime_sign_opaque_command
Type: string
Default: ""

This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type appli-
cation/x-pkcs7-signature, which can only be handled by mail
clients supporting the S/MIME extension. (S/MIME only)

smime_encrypt_command
Type: string
Default: ""

This command is used to create encrypted S/MIME messages.
(S/MIME only)

smime_pk7out_command
Type: string
Default: ""

This command is used to extract PKCS7 structures of S/MIME sig-
natures, in order to extract the public X509 certificate(s).
(S/MIME only)

smime_get_cert_command
Type: string
Default: ""

This command is used to extract X509 certificates from a PKCS7
structure. (S/MIME only)

smime_get_signer_cert_command
Type: string
Default: ""

This command is used to extract only the signers X509 certifi-
cate from a S/MIME signature, so that the certificate's owner
may get compared to the email's 'From'-field. (S/MIME only)

smime_import_cert_command
Type: string
Default: ""

This command is used to import a certificate via smime_keys.
(S/MIME only)

smime_get_cert_email_command
Type: string
Default: ""

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 mail-
box). (S/MIME only)

smime_default_key
Type: string
Default: ""

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)

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 capabil-
ity, since it would otherwise have to abort the connection any-
way. This option supersedes "$ssl_starttls".

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.

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 cer-
tificate 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 certifi-
cates are also automatically accepted.

Example: set certificate_file=~/.mutt/certificates

ssl_use_sslv3
Type: boolean
Default: yes

This variables specifies whether to attempt to use SSLv3 in the
SSL authentication process.

ssl_use_tlsv1
Type: boolean
Default: yes

This variables specifies whether to attempt to use TLSv1 in the
SSL authentication process.

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.

ssl_ca_certificates_file
Type: path
Default: ""

This variable specifies a file containing trusted CA certifi-
cates. Any server certificate that is signed with one of these
CA certificates are also automatically accepted.

Example: set ssl_ca_certificates_file=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certifi-
cates.crt

pipe_split
Type: boolean
Default: no

Used in connection with the pipe-message command and the "tag-
prefix" operator. If this variable is unset, when piping a list
of tagged messages Mutt will concatenate the messages and will
pipe them as a single folder. When set, Mutt will pipe the mes-
sages 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.

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 PGP/MIME decode the
messages first.

pipe_sep
Type: string
Default: "\n"

The separator to add between messages when piping a list of
tagged messages to an external Unix command.

pop_authenticators
Type: string
Default: ""

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, eg 'digest-md5', 'gssapi' or
'cram-md5'. This parameter is case-insensitive. If this parame-
ter 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"

pop_auth_try_all
Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, Mutt will try all available methods. When unset, Mutt
will only fall back to other authentication methods if the pre-
vious methods are unavailable. If a method is available but
authentication fails, Mutt will not connect to the POP server.

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.

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.

pop_host
Type: string
Default: ""

The name of your POP server for the fetch-mail function. You
can also specify an alternative port, username and password, ie:

[pop[s]://][username[:password]@]popserver[:port]

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.

pop_reconnect
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

Controls whether or not Mutt will try to reconnect to POP server
if the connection is lost.

pop_user
Type: string
Default: ""

Your login name on the POP server.

This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.

pop_pass
Type: string
Default: ""

Specifies the password for your POP account. If unset, Mutt
will prompt you for your password when you open POP mailbox.
Warning: you should only use this option when you are on a
fairly secure machine, because the superuser can read your mut-
trc even if you are the only one who can read the file.

post_indent_string
Type: string
Default: ""

Similar to the "$attribution" variable, Mutt will append this
string after the inclusion of a message which is being replied
to.

postpone
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

Controls whether or not messages are saved in the "$postponed"
mailbox when you elect not to send immediately.

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.

preconnect
Type: string
Default: ""

If set, a shell command to be executed if mutt fails to estab-
lish 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:

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 '{local-
host: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.

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 (like me).

print_command
Type: path
Default: "lpr"

This specifies the command pipe that should be used to print
messages.

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 print-
ing 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.

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 exe-
cuted once for each message which is to be printed. If this
option is unset, the command specified by $print_command is exe-
cuted 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.

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.

query_command
Type: path
Default: ""

This specifies the command that mutt will use to make external
address queries. The string should contain a %s, which will be
substituted with the query string the user types. See "query"
for more information.

quit
Type: quadoption
Default: yes

This variable controls whether "quit" and "exit" actually quit
from mutt. If it set to yes, they do quit, if it is set to no,
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.

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.

Note: In order to use the quotedx patterns in the internal
pager, you need to set this to a regular expression that matches
exactly the quote characters at the beginning of quoted lines.

read_inc
Type: number
Default: 10

If set to a value greater than 0, Mutt will display which mes-
sage it is currently on when reading a mailbox. The message is
printed after read_inc messages have been read (e.g., if set to
25, Mutt will print a message when it reads message 25, and then
again when it gets to message 50). This variable is meant to
indicate progress when reading 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" variable.

read_only
Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, all folders are opened in read-only mode.

realname
Type: string
Default: ""

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.

recall
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes

Controls whether or not Mutt recalls postponed messages when
composing a new message. Also see "$postponed".

Setting this variable to "yes" is not generally useful, and thus
not recommended.

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.

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:".

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.

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.

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.

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 [AT] somewhere.net (Joe User)

and then you receive mail which contains the following header:

From: abd30425 [AT] somewhere.net

It would be displayed in the index menu as "Joe User" instead of
"abd30425 [AT] somewhere.net." This is useful when the person's e-
mail address is not human friendly (like CompuServe addresses).

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.

reverse_realname
Type: boolean
Default: yes

This variable fine-tunes the behaviour of the reverse_name fea-
ture. 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 set-
ting of the realname variable.

rfc2047_parameters
Type: boolean
Default: no

When this variable is set, Mutt will decode RFC-2047-encoded
MIME parameters. You want to set this variable when mutt sug-
gests you to save attachments to files named like this:
=?iso-8859-1?Q?file=5F=E4=5F991116=2Ezip?=

When this variable is set interactively, the change doesn't have
the desired effect before you have changed folders.

Note that this use of RFC 2047's encoding is explicitly, prohib-
ited 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 RFC 2231.

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.

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.

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.

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 friends are used.

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.

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".

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.

send_charset
Type: string
Default: "us-ascii:iso-8859-1:utf-8"

A 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".

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 addi-
tional arguments as recipient addresses.

sendmail_wait
Type: number
Default: 0

Specifies the number of seconds to wait for the "$sendmail" pro-
cess 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.

shell
Type: path
Default: ""

Command to use when spawning a subshell. By default, the user's
login shell from /etc/passwd is used.

sig_dashes
Type: boolean
Default: yes

If set, a line containing "-- " 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 builtin
pager.

sig_on_top
Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, the signature will be included before any quoted or for-
warded 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.

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 stdout.

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 ~ 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. For the default value it would be:

~f joe | ~s joe

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.

smileys
Type: regular expression
Default: "(>From )|(:[-^]?[][)(><}{|/DP])"

The pager uses this variable to catch some common false posi-
tives of "$quote_regexp", most notably smileys in the beginning
of a line

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 sup-
presses the pause.

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).

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)

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).

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).

sort_re
Type: boolean
Default: yes

This variable is only useful when sorting by threads with
"$strict_threads" unset. In that case, it changes the heuristic
mutt uses to thread messages by subject. With sort_re set, mutt
will only attach a message as the child of another message by
subject if the subject of the child message starts with a sub-
string matching the setting of "$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.

spam_separator
Type: string
Default: ","

"spam_separator" controls what happens when multiple spam head-
ers are matched: if unset, each successive header will overwrite
any previous matches value for the spam label. If set, each suc-
cessive match will append to the previous, using "spam_separa-
tor" as a separator.

spoolfile
Type: path
Default: ""

If your spool mailbox is in a non-default place where Mutt can-
not find it, you can specify its location with this variable.
Mutt will automatically set this variable to the value of the
environment variable $MAIL if it is not set.

status_chars
Type: string
Default: "-*%A"

Controls the characters used by the "%r" indicator in "$sta-
tus_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 (Cer-
tain operations like composing a new mail, replying, forwarding,
etc. are not permitted in this mode).

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()-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 cur-
rent 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"

* = 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 fol-
lowing 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 num-
ber of new messages in a mailbox: %?n?%n new messages.?

Additionally you can switch between two strings, the first one,
if a value is zero, the second one, if the value is nonzero, by
using the following construct:
%?<sequence_char>?<if_string>&<else_string>?

You can additionally force the result of any printf-like
sequence to be lowercase by prefixing the sequence character
with an underscore (_) sign. For example, if you want to dis-
play 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.

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.

strict_mime
Type: boolean
Default: yes

When unset, non MIME-compliant messages that doesn't have any
charset indication in "Content-Type" field can be displayed (non
MIME-compliant messages are often generated by old mailers or
buggy mailers like MS Outlook Express). See also
$assumed_charset.

This option also replaces linear-white-space between encoded-
word and *text to a single space to prevent the display of MIME-
encoded "Subject" field from being devided into multiple lines.

strict_threads
Type: boolean
Default: no

If set, threading will only make use of the "In-Reply-To" and
"References" fields when you "$sort" by message threads. By
default, messages with the same subject are grouped together in
"pseudo threads.". This may not always be desirable, such as in
a personal mailbox where you might have several unrelated mes-
sages with the subject "hi" which will get grouped together. See
also "$sort_re" for a less drastic way of controlling this
behaviour.

suspend
Type: boolean
Default: yes

When unset, mutt won't stop when the user presses the terminal's
susp key, usually "control-Z". This is useful if you run mutt
inside an xterm using a command like xterm -e mutt.

text_flowed
Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, mutt will generate text/plain; format=flowed attach-
ments. This format is easier to handle for some mailing soft-
ware, 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.

thread_received
Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, mutt uses the date received rather than the date sent
to thread messages by subject.

thorough_search
Type: boolean
Default: no

Affects the ~b and ~h search operations described in section
"patterns" above. If set, the headers and attachments of mes-
sages to be searched are decoded before searching. If unset,
messages are searched as they appear in the folder.

tilde
Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, the internal-pager will pad blank lines to the bottom
of the screen with a tilde (~).

timeout
Type: number
Default: 600

This variable controls the number of seconds Mutt will wait for
a key to be pressed in the main menu before timing out and
checking for new mail. A value of zero or less will cause Mutt
to never time out.

tmpdir
Type: path
Default: ""

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.

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 (default: space). The second is used
when you are the only recipient of the message (default: +).
The third is when your address appears in the TO header field,
but you are not the only recipient of the message (default: T).
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 (default: L).

tunnel
Type: string
Default: ""

Setting this variable will cause mutt to open a pipe to a com-
mand instead of a raw socket. You may be able to use this to set
up preauthenticated connections to your IMAP/POP3 server. Exam-
ple:

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.

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.

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.

use_envelope_from
Type: boolean
Default: no

When set, mutt will use "$envelope_from_address" as the envelope
sender if that is set, otherwise it will attempt to derive it
from the "From:" header. Note that this information is passed
to sendmail command using the "-f" command line switch, so don't
set this option if you are using that switch in $sendmail your-
self, or if the sendmail on your machine doesn't support that
command line switch.

use_from
Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, Mutt will generate the `From:' header field when send-
ing messages. If unset, no `From:' header field will be gener-
ated unless the user explicitly sets one using the "my_hdr" com-
mand.

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.

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.

user_agent
Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, mutt will add a "User-Agent" header to outgoing mes-
sages, indicating which version of mutt was used for composing
them.

visual
Type: path
Default: ""

Specifies the visual editor to invoke when the ~v command is
given in the builtin editor.

wait_key
Type: boolean
Default: yes

Controls whether Mutt will ask you to press a key after shell-
escape, pipe-message, pipe-entry, print-message, and print-entry
commands.

It is also used when viewing attachments with "auto_view", pro-
vided 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.

weed
Type: boolean
Default: yes

When set, mutt will weed headers when displaying, forwarding,
printing, or replying to messages.

wrap_search
Type: boolean
Default: yes

Controls whether searches wrap around the end of the mailbox.

When set, searches will wrap around the first (or last) message.
When unset, searches will not wrap.

wrapmargin
Type: number
Default: 0

Controls the size of the margin remaining at the right side of
the terminal when mutt's pager does smart wrapping.

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" variable.

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.

xterm_icon
Type: string
Default: "M%?n?AIL&ail?"

Controls the format of the icon title, as long as
xterm_set_titles is enabled. This string is identical in format-
ting to the one used by "$status_format".

xterm_set_titles
Type: boolean
Default: no

Controls whether mutt sets the xterm title bar and icon name (as
long as you're in an appropriate terminal). The default must be
off to force in the validity checking.

xterm_title
Type: string
Default: "Mutt with %?m?%m messages&no messages?%?n? [%n NEW]?"

Controls the format of the title bar of the xterm provided that
xterm_set_titles has been set. This string is identical in
formatting to the one used by "$status_format".

AUTHOR

       Michael  Elkins,  and  others.   Use <mutt-dev [AT] mutt.org> to contact the
       developers.



Unix                            September 2002                       muttrc(5)

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TOC

NAME

DESCRIPTION

COMMANDS

PATTERNS

CONFIGURATION VARIABLES

SEE ALSO

AUTHOR

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