OpenWindows Advanced User's Guide

7.9 Tilde Commands

In the course of composing a letter, 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 have already been introduced in this chapter.

Note -

If you want to include a literal tilde character in a letter, type two tildes in succession. Only one tilde will be displayed.

Table 7-2 Tilde Commands (mailx)


Command	Function
`~!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 letter.
`~f` number	Forwards the specified letter. Valid only when sending a message while reading mail.
`~h`	Prompts for header lines: Subject, To, Cc, and Bcc.
`~m` number	Inserts text from the specified letter into the current letter. Valid only when sending a message while reading mail.
`~p`	Prints the message being entered to the screen.
`~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 letter without the header into the specified file.
`~x`	Exits `mailx`. Similar to ~q except message is not saved in the `dead.letter` file.