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.
If you want to include a literal tilde character in a message, type two tildes in succession. Only one tilde is displayed.
Command |
Description |
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Escapes to a shell command. |
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Simulates pressing Ctrl-D to mark end of file. |
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Lists a summary of tilde commands. |
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Adds user name(s) to the blind carbon copies (Bcc:) list. |
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Adds user name(s) to the carbon copies (Cc:) list. |
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Reads the contents of the dead.letter file into current message. |
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Forwards the specified message. Valid only when you send a message while you read mail. |
Prompts for header lines: Subject, To, Cc, and Bcc. |
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Inserts text from the specified message into the current message. Valid only when you send a message while you read mail. |
Prints to the screen the message that you are typing. |
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Simulates pressing Ctrl-C twice. If the body of the current message is not empty, the contents are saved to dead.letter. |
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Reads in the text from the specified file. |
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Changes the subject line to string. |
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Adds the specified name(s) to the To list. |
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Writes the current message without the header into the specified file. |
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Exits mailx. Similar to ~q except message is not saved in the dead.letter file. |