Solaris Advanced User's Guide

Tilde Commands

In the course of composing a message, you can use tilde commands to perform a variety of functions. Tilde commands usually consist of the tilde character (~) followed by a single character. The following table describes some of the more useful tilde characters. Some of these characters have already been introduced in this chapter.

Note –

If you want to include a literal tilde character in a message, type two tildes in succession. Only one tilde is displayed.

Table 7–2 Tilde Commands (mailx)


Command	Description
`~!command`	Escapes to a shell command.
`~.`	Simulates pressing Ctrl-D to mark end of file.
`~?`	Lists a summary of tilde commands.
`~b` `username`	Adds user name(s) to the blind carbon copies (Bcc:) list.
`~c` `username`	Adds user name(s) to the carbon copies (Cc:) list.
`~d`	Reads the contents of the `dead.letter` file into current message.
`~f` number	Forwards the specified message. Valid only when you send a message while you read mail.
`~h`	Prompts for header lines: Subject, To, Cc, and Bcc.
`~m` `number`	Inserts text from the specified message into the current message. Valid only when you send a message while you read mail.
`~p`	Prints to the screen the message that you are typing.
`~q`	Simulates pressing Ctrl-C twice. If the body of the current message is not empty, the contents are saved to `dead.letter`.
`~r` filename	Reads in the text from the specified file.
`~s` string	Changes the subject line to string.
`~t` name	Adds the specified name(s) to the To list.
`~w` filename	Writes the current message without the header into the specified file.
`~x`	Exits `mailx`. Similar to ~q except message is not saved in the `dead.letter` file.