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muttrc-org(5) - phpMan
muttrc(5) User Manuals muttrc(5)
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 commands 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 difference 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 which should be
evaluated. For example, backticks are evaluated inside of double quotes, but not 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 interpreted character.
“\\” means to insert a literal “\” into the line. “\n” and “\r” have their usual C mean‐
ings 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 backticks (`command`).
UNIX environment variables can be accessed like the way it is done in shells like sh and
bash: Prepend the name of the variable by a dollar (“$”) sign.
COMMANDS
alias [-group name [...]] key address [, address [ ... ]]
unalias [ * | key ]
alias defines an alias key for the given addresses. Each address will be resolved
into either an email address (user AT example.com) or a named email address (User Name
<user AT example.com>). The address may be specified in either format, or in the for‐
mat “user AT example.com (User Name)”. unalias removes the alias corresponding to the
given key or all aliases when “*” is used as an argument. The optional -group argu‐
ment to alias causes the aliased address(es) to be added to the named group.
group [-group name] [-rx EXPR [ ... ]] [-addr address [ ... ]]
ungroup [-group name ] [ * | [[-rx EXPR [ ... ]] [-addr address [ ... ]]]
group is used to directly add either addresses or regular expressions to the speci‐
fied group or groups. The different categories of arguments to the group command
can be in any order. The flags -rx and -addr specify what the following strings
(that cannot begin with a hyphen) should be interpreted as: either a regular
expression or an email address, respectively. ungroup is used to remove addresses
or regular expressions from the specified group or groups. The syntax is similar to
the group command, however the special character * can be used to empty a group of
all of its contents.
These address groups can also be created implicitly by the alias, lists, subscribe
and alternates commands by specifying the optional -group option.
Once defined, these address groups can be used in patterns to search for and limit
the display to messages matching a group.
alternates [-group name] regexp [ regexp [ ... ]]
unalternates [ * | regexp [ regexp [ ... ]] ]
alternates is used to inform mutt about alternate addresses where you receive mail;
you can use regular expressions to specify alternate addresses. This affects
mutt's idea about messages from you, and messages addressed to you. unalternates
removes a regular expression from the list of known alternates. The -group flag
causes all of the subsequent regular expressions to be added to the named group.
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 automatically 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 subtype 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
application/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. Note
that the function name is to be specified without angle brackets.
account-hook [!]regexp command
This hook is executed whenever you access a remote mailbox. Useful to adjust con‐
figuration settings to different IMAP or POP servers.
charset-hook alias charset
This command defines an alias for a character set. This is useful to properly dis‐
play messages which are tagged with a character 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 configuration
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 multiple 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 fore‐
ground/background 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 regular 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 [-group name] regexp [ regexp ... ]
unlists regexp [ regexp ... ]
subscribe [-group name] 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 subscribe command adds a mailing list to the lists of known and
subscribed mailing lists. The unsubscribe command removes it from the list of sub‐
scribed mailing lists. The -group flag adds all of the subsequent regular expres‐
sions to the named group.
mbox-hook [!]pattern mailbox
When mutt changes to a mail folder which matches pattern, mailbox 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, pressing space will cycle through folders
with new mail. The unmailboxes 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 com‐
pose. 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 saving 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 config‐
uration file.
send2-hook [!]pattern command
Whenever a message matching pattern is changed (either by editing 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
applications include setting the $sendmail variable when a message's from header is
changed.
send2-hook execution is not triggered by use of enter-command from the compose
menu.
reply-hook [!]pattern command
When replying to a message matching pattern, command is executed. When multiple
reply-hooks match, they are executed in the order in which they occur in the con‐
figuration file, but all reply-hooks are matched and executed before send-hooks,
regardless of their order in the configuration file.
crypt-hook pattern key-id
The crypt-hook command provides a method by which you can specify the ID of the
public key to be used when encrypting messages to a certain recipient. The meaning
of "key ID" is to be taken broadly: This can be a different e-mail address, a
numerical key ID, or even just an arbitrary search string.
open-hook regexp "command"
close-hook regexp "command"
append-hook regexp "command"
These commands provide a way to handle compressed folders. The given regexp speci‐
fies which folders are taken as compressed (e.g. "\\.gz$"). 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 command string is the
printf(3) like format string, and it should accept two parameters: %f, which is
replaced with the (compressed) 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 variables.
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 automatically as if you had answered yes to the question. Simi‐
larly, 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 dis‐
play 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 above mentioned hook commands, you can
specify patterns to match messages.
Constructing Patterns
A simple pattern consists of an operator of the form “~character”, possibly followed by a
parameter against which mutt is supposed to match the object specified by this operator.
For some characters, the ~ may be replaced by another character to alter the behavior of
the match. These are described in the list of operators, below.
With some of these operators, the object to be matched consists of several 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 pattern 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 STRING messages which contain STRING in the message body. If IMAP is enabled,
searches for STRING on the server, rather than downloading each message and
searching it locally.
~B EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the whole message.
~c EXPR messages carbon-copied to EXPR
%c GROUP messages carbon-copied to any member of GROUP
~C EXPR messages either to: or cc: EXPR
%C GROUP messages either to: or cc: to any member of GROUP
~d MIN-MAX messages with “date-sent” in a Date range
~D deleted messages
~e EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the “Sender” field
%e GROUP messages which contain a member of GROUP in the “Sender” field
~E expired messages
~f EXPR messages originating from EXPR
%f GROUP messages originating from any member of GROUP
~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 messages which match EXPR in the “Message-ID” field
~k messages containing PGP key material
~l messages addressed to a known mailing list (defined by either subscribe or
list)
~L EXPR messages either originated or received by EXPR
%L GROUP messages either originated or received by any member of GROUP
~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 messages addressed to you (as defined by alternates)
~P messages from you (as defined by 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 messages addressed to a subscribed mailing list (defined by subscribe com‐
mands)
~U unread messages
~v message is part of a collapsed thread.
~V cryptographically verified messages
~x EXPR messages which contain EXPR in the “References” or “In-Reply-To” 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 (requires threaded view)
~(PATTERN) messages in threads containing messages matching a certain pattern, e.g. all
threads containing messages from you: ~(~P)
In the above, EXPR is a regular expression.
With the ~d, ~m, ~n, ~r, ~X, and ~z operators, you can also specify ranges in the forms
<MAX, >MIN, MIN-, and -MAX.
With the ~z operator, the suffixes “K” and “M” are allowed to specify kilobyte and
megabyte respectively.
Matching dates
The ~d and ~r operators are used to match date ranges, which are interpreted 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 behavior 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 pre‐
cise 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 interval 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 sub‐
ject given at the subject prompt will never be aborted.
abort_unmodified
Type: quadoption
Default: yes
If set to yes, composition will automatically abort after editing 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 <create-alias> function.
Entries added to this file are encoded in the character set specified by $con‐
fig_charset if it is set or the current character set otherwise.
Note: Mutt will not automatically source this file; you must explicitly use the
“source” command for it to be executed in case this option points to a dedicated
alias file.
The default for this option is the currently used muttrc file, or “~/.muttrc” if no
user muttrc was found.
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 mes‐
sages) 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 (see also $crypt_timestamp).
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 characters.
askbcc
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, Mutt will prompt you for blind-carbon-copy (Bcc) recipients 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: “”
This variable is a colon-separated list of character encoding schemes for messages
without character encoding indication. Header field values and message body con‐
tent 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.
attach_charset
Type: string
Default: “”
This variable is a colon-separated list of character encoding schemes for text file
attachments. Mutt uses this setting to guess which encoding files being attached
are encoded in to convert them to a proper character set given in $send_charset.
If unset, the value of $charset will be used instead. For example, the following
configuration would work for Japanese text handling:
set attach_charset=”iso-2022-jp:euc-jp:shift_jis:utf-8”
Note: for Japanese users, “iso-2022-*” must be put at the head of the value as
shown above if included.
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(3)-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” for inline, “A” for 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 possible speed effects)
%>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with character “X”
%|X pad to the end of the line with character “X”
%*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the $index_format documentation.
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 concatenate the attachments and will operate on
them as a single attachment. The $attach_sep separator is added after each attach‐
ment. 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(3)-like sequences see the section on
$index_format.
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-pre‐
fix> function (bound to “;” by default) to make the next function apply to all
tagged messages.
autoedit
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set along with $edit_headers, Mutt will skip the initial send-menu (prompting
for subject and recipients) 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.
Note: when this option is set, you cannot use send-hooks that depend on the recipi‐
ents when composing a new (non-reply) message, as the initial list of recipients is
empty.
Also see $fast_reply.
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 message. Setting this variable to no is not
generally useful, and thus not recommended, because you are unable to bounce mes‐
sages.
bounce_delivered
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When this variable is set, mutt will include Delivered-To headers when bouncing
messages. Postfix users may wish to unset this variable.
Note: On Debian systems, this option is unset by default in /etc/Muttrc.
braille_friendly
Type: boolean
Default: no
When this variable is set, mutt will place the cursor at the beginning of the cur‐
rent line in menus, even when the $arrow_cursor variable is unset, making it easier
for blind persons using Braille displays to follow these menus. The option is
unset by default because many visual terminals don't permit making the cursor
invisible.
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 certificate can also be saved in this file and further connec‐
tions are automatically accepted.
You can also manually add CA certificates in this file. Any server certificate that
is signed with one of these CA certificates is also automatically accepted.
Example:
set certificate_file=~/.mutt/certificates
charset
Type: string
Default: “”
Character set your terminal uses to display and enter textual data. It is also the
fallback for $send_charset.
Upon startup Mutt tries to derive this value from environment variables such as
$LC_CTYPE or $LANG.
Note: It should only be set in case Mutt isn't able to determine the character set
used correctly.
check_mbox_size
Type: boolean
Default: no
When this variable is set, mutt will use file size attribute instead of access time
when checking for new mail in mbox and mmdf folders.
This variable is unset by default and should only be enabled when new mail detec‐
tion for these folder types is unreliable or doesn't work.
Note that enabling this variable should happen before any “mailboxes” directives
occur in configuration files regarding mbox or mmdf folders because mutt needs to
determine the initial new mail status of such a mailbox by performing a fast mail‐
box scan when it is defined. Afterwards the new mail status is tracked by file
size changes.
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 mailbox is open. Espe‐
cially 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 this variable is unset, no check for new mail is performed while the mail‐
box is open.
collapse_unread
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When unset, Mutt will not collapse a thread if it contains any unread messages.
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(3)-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 to the cur‐
rent character set as specified by $charset and aliases written to $alias_file from
the current character set.
Please note that if setting $charset it must be done before setting $con‐
fig_charset.
Recoding should be avoided as it may render unconvertable characters as question
marks which can lead to undesired side effects (for example in regular expres‐
sions).
confirmappend
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, Mutt will prompt for confirmation when appending messages 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, POP or SMTP) after this many
seconds if the connection is not able to be established. A negative value causes
Mutt to wait indefinitely for the connection attempt 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_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 connection 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 instead. (Crypto only)
crypt_autopgp
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variable controls whether or not mutt may automatically enable PGP encryp‐
tion/signing for messages. See also $crypt_autoencrypt, $crypt_replyencrypt,
$crypt_autosign, $crypt_replysign and $smime_is_default.
crypt_autosign
Type: boolean
Default: no
Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to cryptographically 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 instead of the pgp menu. (Crypto only)
crypt_autosmime
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variable controls whether or not mutt may automatically enable S/MIME encryp‐
tion/signing for messages. See also $crypt_autoencrypt, $crypt_replyencrypt,
$crypt_autosign, $crypt_replysign and $smime_is_default.
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 messages 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 out‐
put, 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)
crypt_use_gpgme
Type: boolean
Default: no
This variable controls the use of the GPGME-enabled crypto backends. If it is set
and Mutt was built with gpgme support, the gpgme code for S/MIME and PGP will be
used instead of the classic code. Note that you need to set this option in .mut‐
trc; it won't have any effect when used interactively.
crypt_use_pka
Type: boolean
Default: no
Controls whether mutt uses PKA (see http://www.g10code.de/docs/pka-intro.de.pdf)
during signature verification (only supported by the GPGME backend).
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 crypto‐
graphic signatures. (Crypto only)
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 strftime(3) function to process the date, see
the man page 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 “message-hook”, “reply-hook”, “send-hook”, “send2-hook”,
“save-hook”, and “fcc-hook” 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 $display_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: “”
This variable sets the request for when notification is returned. The string con‐
sists of a comma separated list (no spaces!) of one or more of the following:
never, to never request notification, failure, to request notification on transmis‐
sion failure, delay, to be notified of message delays, success, to be notified of
successful transmission.
Example:
set dsn_notify=”failure,delay”
Note: when using $sendmail for delivery, you should not enable this unless you are
either using Sendmail 8.8.x or greater or a MTA providing a sendmail(1)-compatible
interface supporting the -N option for DSN. For SMTP delivery, DSN support is
auto-detected so that it depends on the server whether DSN will be used or not.
dsn_return
Type: string
Default: “”
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
Note: when using $sendmail for delivery, you should not enable this unless you are
either using Sendmail 8.8.x or greater or a MTA providing a sendmail(1)-compatible
interface supporting the -R option for DSN. For SMTP delivery, DSN support is
auto-detected so that it depends on the server whether DSN will be used or not.
duplicate_threads
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variable controls whether mutt, when $sort is set to 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 tree.
edit_headers
Type: boolean
Default: no
This option allows you to edit the header of your outgoing messages along with the
body of your message.
Note that changes made to the References: and Date: headers are ignored for inter‐
operability reasons.
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.
The $editor string may contain a %s escape, which will be replaced by the name of
the file to be edited. If the %s escape does not appear in $editor, a space and
the name to be edited are appended.
The resulting string is then executed by running
sh -c 'string'
where string is the expansion of $editor described above.
encode_from
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt will quoted-printable encode messages when they contain the string
“From ” (note the trailing space) in the beginning of a line. This is useful to
avoid the tampering certain mail delivery and transport agents tend to do with mes‐
sages (in order to prevent tools from misinterpreting the line as a mbox message
separator).
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 built-in 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 mes‐
sages.
Note: this variable has no effect when the $autoedit variable is set.
fcc_attach
Type: quadoption
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)
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 expansion takes
place when handling the “mailboxes” 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_format, but has its own set of
printf(3)-like sequences:
%C current file number
%d date/time folder was last modified
%D date/time folder was last modified using $date_format.
%f filename (“/” is appended to directory names, “@” to symbolic links and “*”
to executable files)
%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 character “X”
%|X pad to the end of the line with character “X”
%*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the $index_format documentation.
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 receiving duplicate copies
of replies to messages which you send to mailing lists, and second, ensuring that
you do get a reply separately 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_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)
forward_edit
Type: quadoption
Default: yes
This quadoption controls whether or not the user is automatically placed in the
editor when forwarding messages. For those who always want to forward with no mod‐
ification, 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_format 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 a “send-hook”) and $reverse_name. This variable is
ignored if $use_from is unset.
This setting 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. The default value will return the string up to the first “,”
encountered. If the GECOS field contains a string like “lastname, firstname” then
you should set it to “.*”.
This can be useful if you see the following behavior: you address an 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 cre‐
ated. 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 message.
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.
header_cache
Type: path
Default: “”
This variable points to the header cache database. If pointing to a directory Mutt
will contain a header cache database file per folder, if pointing to a file that
file will be a single global header cache. By default it is unset so no header
caching will be used.
Header caching can greatly improve speed when opening POP, IMAP MH or Maildir fold‐
ers, see “caching” for details.
header_cache_compress
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When mutt is compiled with qdbm or tokyocabinet as header cache backend, this
option determines whether the database will be compressed. Compression results in
database files roughly being one fifth of the usual diskspace, but the decompres‐
sion can result in a slower opening of cached folder(s) which in general is still
much faster than opening non header cached folders.
help
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, help lines describing the bindings for the major functions provided by
each menu are displayed on the first line of the screen.
Note: The binding will not be displayed correctly if the function 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 variable when adding the
domain part to addresses. This variable does not affect the generation of Mes‐
sage-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 closest 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 remembered) of the string
history buffer per category. The buffer is cleared each time the variable is set.
history_file
Type: path
Default: “~/.mutthistory”
The file in which Mutt will save its history.
honor_disposition
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, Mutt will not display attachments with a disposition of “attachment”
inline even if it could render the part to plain text. These MIME parts can only be
viewed from the attachment menu.
If unset, Mutt will render all MIME parts it can properly transform to plain text.
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 fully-qualified hostname of the system mutt is running on containing
the host's name and the DNS domain it belongs to. It is used as the domain part
(after “@”) for local email addresses as well as Message-Id headers.
Its value is determined at startup as follows: If the node's name as returned by
the uname(3) function contains the hostname and the domain, these are used to con‐
struct $hostname. If there is no domain part returned, Mutt will look for a
“domain” or “search” line in /etc/resolv.conf to determine the domain. Optionally,
Mutt can be compiled with a fixed domain name in which case a detected one is not
used.
Also see $use_domain and $hidden_host.
Note: On Debian systems, the default for this variable is obtained from /etc/mail‐
name when Mutt starts.
ignore_linear_white_space
Type: boolean
Default: no
This option replaces linear-white-space between encoded-word and text to a single
space to prevent the display of MIME-encoded “Subject:” field from being divided
into multiple lines.
ignore_list_reply_to
Type: boolean
Default: no
Affects the behavior of the <reply> function when replying to messages from mailing
lists (as defined by the “subscribe” or “lists” commands). 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 meth‐
ods are either “login” or the right side of an IMAP “AUTH=xxx” capability string,
e.g. “digest-md5”, “gssapi” or “cram-md5”. This option is case-insensitive. If it's
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 available 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 connec‐
tion, and add them to the set of mailboxes it polls for new mail just as if you had
issued individual “mailboxes” commands.
imap_delim_chars
Type: string
Default: “/.”
This contains the list of characters which you would like to treat as folder sepa‐
rators for displaying IMAP paths. In particular it helps in using the “=” shortcut
for your folder variable.
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:”, “List-Post:”,
“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, items should be uppercase and not contain the
colon, e.g. “X-BOGOSITY X-SPAM-STATUS” for the “X-Bogosity:” and “X-Spam-Status:”
header fields.
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 period‐
ically, try unsetting this.
imap_keepalive
Type: number
Default: 300
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 disconnected 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 <tog‐
gle-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 <imap-fetch-mail> function or try to open an IMAP
folder.
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 connection 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_pipeline_depth
Type: number
Default: 15
Controls the number of IMAP commands that may be queued up before they are sent to
the server. A deeper pipeline reduces the amount of time mutt must wait for the
server, and can make IMAP servers feel much more responsive. But not all servers
correctly handle pipelined commands, so if you have problems you might want to try
setting this variable to 0.
Note: Changes to this variable have no effect on open connections.
imap_servernoise
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, mutt will display warning messages from the IMAP server as error mes‐
sages. Since these messages are often harmless, 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. MIME attachments with 'text' types, with the only
exception of text/html, are excluded: they will be shown as they are unless
auto_view is specified.
include
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes
Controls whether or not a copy of the message(s) you are replying 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 fanatical netizens.
The value of this option is ignored if $text_flowed is set, too because the quoting
mechanism is strictly defined for format=flowed.
This option is a format string, please see the description of $index_format for
supported printf(3)-style sequences.
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(3) to
format output (see the man page for more details). 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 con‐
verted to sender's time zone
%D date and time of the message in the format specified by $date_format con‐
verted to the local time zone
%e current message number in thread
%E number of messages in current thread
%f sender (address + real name), either From: or Return-Path:
%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 original save folder where mutt would formerly have stashed the message:
list name or recipient name if not sent to a list
%P progress indicator for the built-in pager (how much of the file has been
displayed)
%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” section 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(3); a leading bang dis‐
ables 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(3); a leading bang dis‐
ables locales
%(fmt) the local date and time when the message was received. “fmt” is expanded by
the library function strftime(3); a leading bang disables locales
%<fmt> the current local time. “fmt” is expanded by the library function strf‐
time(3); a leading bang disables locales.
%>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with character “X”
%|X pad to the end of the line with character “X”
%*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
“Soft-fill” deserves some explanation: Normal right-justification will print every‐
thing to the left of the “%>”, displaying padding and whatever lies to the right
only if there's room. By contrast, soft-fill gives priority to the right-hand side,
guaranteeing space to display it and showing padding only if there's still room. If
necessary, soft-fill will eat text leftwards to make room for rightward text.
Note that these expandos are supported in “save-hook”, “fcc-hook” and “fcc-save-
hook”, too.
ispell
Type: path
Default: “ispell”
How to invoke ispell (GNU's spell-checking software).
keep_flagged
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, read messages marked as flagged will not be moved from your spool mailbox
to your $mbox mailbox, or as a result of a “mbox-hook” command.
locale
Type: string
Default: “C”
The locale used by strftime(3) to format dates. Legal values are the strings your
system accepts for the locale environment variable $LC_TIME.
mail_check
Type: number
Default: 5
This variable configures how often (in seconds) mutt should look for new mail. Also
see the $timeout variable.
mail_check_recent
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, Mutt will only notify you about new mail that has been received since the
last time you opened the mailbox. When unset, Mutt will notify you if any new mail
exists in the mailbox, regardless of whether you have visited it recently.
When $mark_old is set, Mutt does not consider the mailbox to contain new mail if
only old messages exist.
mailcap_path
Type: string
Default: “”
This variable specifies which files to consult when attempting to display MIME bod‐
ies not directly supported by Mutt.
mailcap_sanitize
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If set, mutt will restrict possible characters in mailcap % expandos to a
well-defined set of safe characters. This is the safe setting, but we are not sure
it doesn't break some more advanced MIME stuff.
DON'T CHANGE THIS SETTING UNLESS YOU ARE REALLY SURE WHAT YOU ARE DOING!
maildir_header_cache_verify
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Check for Maildir unaware programs other than mutt having modified maildir files
when the header cache is in use. This incurs one stat(2) per message every time
the folder is opened (which can be very slow for NFS folders).
maildir_trash
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, messages marked as deleted will be saved with the maildir trashed flag
instead of unlinked. Note: this only applies to maildir-style mailboxes. Setting
it will have no effect on other mailbox types.
mark_old
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls whether or not mutt marks new unread messages as old if you exit a mailbox
without reading them. With this option set, the next time you start mutt, the mes‐
sages will show up with an “O” next to them in the index menu, indicating that they
are old.
markers
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls the display of wrapped lines in the internal pager. If set, a “+” marker
is displayed at the beginning of wrapped lines.
Also see the $smart_wrap variable.
mask
Type: regular expression
Default: “!^\.[^.]”
A regular expression used in the file browser, optionally preceded by the not oper‐
ator “!”. Only files whose names match this mask will be shown. The match is
always case-sensitive.
mbox
Type: path
Default: “~/mbox”
This specifies the folder into which read mail in your $spoolfile folder will be
appended.
Also see the $move variable.
mbox_type
Type: folder magic
Default: mbox
The default mailbox type used when creating new folders. May be any of “mbox”,
“MMDF”, “MH” and “Maildir”. This is overridden by the -m command-line option.
menu_context
Type: number
Default: 0
This variable controls the number of lines of context that are given when scrolling
through menus. (Similar to $pager_context.)
menu_move_off
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When unset, the bottom entry of menus will never scroll up past the bottom of the
screen, unless there are less entries than lines. When set, the bottom entry may
move off the bottom.
menu_scroll
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, menus will be scrolled up or down one line when you attempt to move
across a screen boundary. If unset, the screen is cleared and the next or previous
page of the menu is displayed (useful for slow links to avoid many redraws).
message_cache_clean
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, mutt will clean out obsolete entries from the message cache when the mail‐
box is synchronized. You probably only want to set it every once in a while, since
it can be a little slow (especially for large folders).
message_cachedir
Type: path
Default: “”
Set this to a directory and mutt will cache copies of messages from your IMAP and
POP servers here. You are free to remove entries at any time.
When setting this variable to a directory, mutt needs to fetch every remote message
only once and can perform regular expression searches as fast as for local folders.
Also see the $message_cache_clean variable.
message_format
Type: string
Default: “%s”
This is the string displayed in the “attachment” menu for attachments of type mes‐
sage/rfc822. For a full listing of defined printf(3)-like sequences see the sec‐
tion on $index_format.
meta_key
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, forces Mutt to interpret keystrokes with the high bit (bit 8) set as if the
user had pressed the Esc key and whatever key remains after having the high bit
removed. For example, if the key pressed has an ASCII value of 0xf8, then this is
treated as if the user had pressed Esc then “x”. This is because the result of
removing the high bit from 0xf8 is 0x78, which is the ASCII character “x”.
metoo
Type: boolean
Default: no
If unset, Mutt will remove your address (see the “alternates” command) from the
list of recipients when replying to a message.
mh_purge
Type: boolean
Default: no
When unset, mutt will mimic mh's behavior and rename deleted messages to ,<old file
name> in mh folders instead of really deleting them. This leaves the message on
disk but makes programs reading the folder ignore it. If the variable is set, the
message files will simply be deleted.
This option is similar to $maildir_trash for Maildir folders.
mh_seq_flagged
Type: string
Default: “flagged”
The name of the MH sequence used for flagged messages.
mh_seq_replied
Type: string
Default: “replied”
The name of the MH sequence used to tag replied messages.
mh_seq_unseen
Type: string
Default: “unseen”
The name of the MH sequence used for unseen messages.
mime_forward
Type: quadoption
Default: no
When set, the message you are forwarding will be attached as a separate mes‐
sage/rfc822 MIME part instead of included in the main body of the message. This is
useful for forwarding MIME messages so the receiver can properly view the message
as it was delivered to you. If you like to switch between MIME and not MIME from
mail to mail, set this variable to “ask-no” or “ask-yes”.
Also see $forward_decode and $mime_forward_decode.
mime_forward_decode
Type: boolean
Default: no
Controls the decoding of complex MIME messages into text/plain when forwarding a
message while $mime_forward is set. Otherwise $forward_decode is used instead.
mime_forward_rest
Type: quadoption
Default: yes
When forwarding multiple attachments of a MIME message from the attachment menu,
attachments which cannot be decoded in a reasonable manner will be attached to the
newly composed message if this option is set.
mix_entry_format
Type: string
Default: “%4n %c %-16s %a”
This variable describes the format of a remailer line on the mixmaster chain selec‐
tion screen. The following printf(3)-like sequences are supported:
%n The running number on the menu.
%c Remailer capabilities.
%s The remailer's short name.
%a The remailer's e-mail address.
mixmaster
Type: path
Default: “mixmaster”
This variable contains the path to the Mixmaster binary on your system. It is used
with various sets of parameters to gather the list of known remailers, and to
finally send a message through the mixmaster chain.
Note: On Debian systems, this option is set by default to “mixmaster-filter” in
/etc/Muttrc.
move
Type: quadoption
Default: no
Controls whether or not Mutt will move read messages from your spool mailbox to
your $mbox mailbox, or as a result of a “mbox-hook” command.
narrow_tree
Type: boolean
Default: no
This variable, when set, makes the thread tree narrower, allowing deeper threads to
fit on the screen.
net_inc
Type: number
Default: 10
Operations that expect to transfer a large amount of data over the network will
update their progress every $net_inc kilobytes. If set to 0, no progress messages
will be displayed.
See also $read_inc, $write_inc and $net_inc.
pager
Type: path
Default: “builtin”
This variable specifies which pager you would like to use to view messages. The
value “builtin” means to use the built-in pager, otherwise 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 nec‐
essary 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 display‐
ing 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
context).
This variable also specifies the amount of context given for search results. If
positive, this many lines will be given before a match, if 0, the match will be
top-aligned.
pager_format
Type: string
Default: “-%Z- %C/%m: %-20.20n %s%* -- (%P)”
This variable controls the format of the one-line message “status” 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 setting 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.
pgp_auto_decode
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, mutt will automatically attempt to decrypt traditional PGP messages when‐
ever the user performs an operation which ordinarily would result in the contents
of the message being operated on. For example, if the user displays a pgp-tradi‐
tional message which has not been manually checked with the <check-traditional-pgp>
function, mutt will automatically check the message for traditional pgp.
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 configured to ask before sending PGP/MIME
messages when inline (traditional) would not work.
Also see the $pgp_mime_auto variable.
Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is strongly deprecated. (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 subprocess failed. (PGP only)
pgp_clearsign_command
Type: string
Default: “”
This format is used to create an old-style “clearsigned” PGP message. Note that
the use of this format is strongly deprecated.
This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
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(3)-like sequences:
%p Expands to PGPPASSFD=0 when a pass phrase is needed, to an empty string oth‐
erwise. 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 verifying 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 and gpg sample configuration files in the
samples/ subdirectory which has been installed on your system alongside the docu‐
mentation. (PGP only)
pgp_decrypt_command
Type: string
Default: “”
This command is used to decrypt a PGP encrypted message.
This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
pgp_encrypt_only_command
Type: string
Default: “”
This command is used to encrypt a body part without signing it.
This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
pgp_encrypt_sign_command
Type: string
Default: “”
This command is used to both sign and encrypt a body part.
This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP 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_format, but has its own set of
printf(3)-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_export_command
Type: string
Default: “”
This command is used to export a public key from the user's key ring.
This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
pgp_getkeys_command
Type: string
Default: “”
This command is invoked whenever Mutt needs to fetch the public key associated with
an email address. Of the sequences supported by $pgp_decode_command, %r is the
only printf(3)-like sequence used with this format. Note that in this case, %r
expands to the email address, not the public key ID (the key ID is unknown, which
is why Mutt is invoking this command). (PGP only)
pgp_good_sign
Type: regular expression
Default: “”
If you assign a text to this variable, then a PGP signature is only considered ver‐
ified 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_ignore_subkeys
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Setting this variable will cause Mutt to ignore OpenPGP subkeys. Instead, the prin‐
cipal key will inherit the subkeys' capabilities. Unset this if you want to play
interesting key selection games. (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.
This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (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.
This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (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.
This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
pgp_long_ids
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, use 64 bit PGP key IDs, if unset use the normal 32 bit key IDs. (PGP only)
pgp_mime_auto
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes
This option controls whether Mutt will prompt you for automatically 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_replyinline
Type: boolean
Default: no
Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to create an inline (tradi‐
tional) 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.
Note that Mutt might automatically use PGP/MIME for messages which consist of more
than a single MIME part. Mutt can be configured to ask before sending PGP/MIME
messages when inline (traditional) would not work.
Also see the $pgp_mime_auto variable.
Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is strongly deprecated. (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 mailing lists, where the
outer layer (multipart/encrypted) can be easily removed, while the inner multi‐
part/signed part is retained. (PGP only)
pgp_show_unusable
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If set, mutt will display non-usable keys on the PGP key selection menu. This
includes keys which have been revoked, have expired, or have been marked as “dis‐
abled” 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_sign_command
Type: string
Default: “”
This command is used to create the detached PGP signature for a multipart/signed
PGP/MIME body part.
This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
pgp_sort_keys
Type: sort order
Default: address
Specifies how the entries in the pgp menu are sorted. The following are legal val‐
ues:
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_strict_enc
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If set, Mutt will automatically encode PGP/MIME signed messages as quoted-print‐
able. Please note that unsetting this variable may lead to problems with non-veri‐
fyable 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_use_gpg_agent
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, mutt will use a possibly-running gpg-agent(1) process. (PGP only)
pgp_verify_command
Type: string
Default: “”
This command is used to verify PGP signatures.
This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
pgp_verify_key_command
Type: string
Default: “”
This command is used to verify key information from the key selection menu.
This is a format string, see the $pgp_decode_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (PGP only)
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 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.
pipe_split
Type: boolean
Default: no
Used in connection with the <pipe-message> function following <tag-prefix>. If
this variable is unset, when piping a list of tagged messages Mutt will concatenate
the messages and will pipe them all concatenated. When set, Mutt will pipe the
messages 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.
pop_auth_try_all
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If set, Mutt will try all available authentication methods. When unset, Mutt will
only fall back to other authentication methods if the previous methods are unavail‐
able. If a method is available but authentication fails, Mutt will not connect to
the POP server.
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, e.g. “digest-md5”, “gssapi” or
“cram-md5”. This option is case-insensitive. If this option 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_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, i.e.:
[pop[s]://][username[:password]@]popserver[:port]
where “[...]” denotes an optional part.
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_pass
Type: string
Default: “”
Specifies the password for your POP account. If unset, Mutt will prompt you for
your password when you open a POP mailbox.
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.
pop_reconnect
Type: quadoption
Default: ask-yes
Controls whether or not Mutt will try to reconnect to the POP server if the connec‐
tion 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.
post_indent_string
Type: string
Default: “”
Similar to the $attribution variable, Mutt will append this string after the inclu‐
sion 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.
Also see the $recall variable.
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 establish 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:
set 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 “{localhost: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.
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 mes‐
sage when printing 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 print‐
ing.
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 executed once for each message which is to
be printed. If this option is unset, the command specified by $print_command is
executed 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 Mutt will use to make external address queries. The
string may contain a “%s”, which will be substituted with the query string the user
types. Mutt will add quotes around the string substituted for “%s” automatically
according to shell quoting rules, so you should avoid adding your own. If no “%s”
is found in the string, Mutt will append the user's query to the end of the string.
See “query” for more information.
query_format
Type: string
Default: “%4c %t %-25.25a %-25.25n %?e?(%e)?”
This variable describes the format of the “query” menu. The following
printf(3)-style sequences are understood:
%a destination address
%c current entry number
%e extra information *
%n destination name
%t “*” if current entry is tagged, a space otherwise
%>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with “X”
%|X pad to the end of the line with “X”
%*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the $index_format documentation.
* = can be optionally printed if nonzero, see the $status_format documentation.
quit
Type: quadoption
Default: yes
This variable controls whether “quit” and “exit” actually quit from mutt. If this
option is set, they do quit, if it is unset, 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. Quoted text may be filtered out using the <tog‐
gle-quoted> command, or colored according to the “color quoted” family of direc‐
tives.
Higher levels of quoting may be colored differently (“color quoted1”, “color
quoted2”, etc.). The quoting level is determined by removing the last character
from the matched text and recursively reapplying the regular expression until it
fails to produce a match.
Match detection may be overridden by the $smileys regular expression.
read_inc
Type: number
Default: 10
If set to a value greater than 0, Mutt will display which message it is currently
on when reading a mailbox or when performing search actions such as search and
limit. The message is printed after this many messages have been read or searched
(e.g., if set to 25, Mutt will print a message when it is at message 25, and then
again when it gets to message 50). This variable is meant to indicate progress
when reading or searching 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, $net_inc and $time_inc variables and the “tuning” section
of the manual for performance considerations.
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 mes‐
sage.
Setting this variable to is not generally useful, and thus not recommended.
Also see $postponed variable.
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.
reflow_text
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, Mutt will reformat paragraphs in text/plain parts marked format=flowed.
If unset, Mutt will display paragraphs unaltered from how they appear in the mes‐
sage body. See RFC3676 for details on the format=flowed format.
Also see $reflow_wrap, and $wrap.
reflow_wrap
Type: number
Default: 78
This variable controls the maximum paragraph width when reformatting text/plain
parts when $reflow_text is set. When the value is 0, paragraphs will be wrapped at
the terminal's right margin. A positive value sets the paragraph width relative to
the left margin. A negative value set the paragraph width relative to the right
margin.
Also see $wrap.
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.
Also see the “alternates” command.
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 exe‐
cuted.
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@some‐
where.net.” This is useful when the person's e-mail address is not human friendly.
reverse_name
Type: boolean
Default: no
It may sometimes arrive that you receive mail to a certain machine, move the mes‐
sages to another machine, and reply to some the messages from there. If this vari‐
able 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 cur‐
rent machine.
Also see the “alternates” command.
reverse_realname
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variable fine-tunes the behavior of the $reverse_name feature. 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 setting of the $realname variable.
rfc2047_parameters
Type: boolean
Default: no
When this variable is set, Mutt will decode RFC2047-encoded MIME parameters. You
want to set this variable when mutt suggests you to save attachments to files named
like:
=?iso-8859-1?Q?file=5F=E4=5F991116=2Ezip?=
When this variable is set interactively, the change won't be active until you
change folders.
Note that this use of RFC2047's encoding is explicitly prohibited 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 speci‐
fied in RFC2231.
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_history
Type: number
Default: 0
This variable controls the size of the history (per category) saved in the $his‐
tory_file file.
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 selec‐
tively disable scoring for certain folders when the $score_threshold_delete vari‐
able and related 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.
search_context
Type: number
Default: 0
For the pager, this variable specifies the number of lines shown before search
results. By default, search results will be top-aligned.
send_charset
Type: string
Default: “us-ascii:iso-8859-1:utf-8”
A colon-delimited 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”.
In case the text cannot be converted into one of these exactly, mutt uses $charset
as a fallback.
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 additional arguments as recipient
addresses.
sendmail_wait
Type: number
Default: 0
Specifies the number of seconds to wait for the $sendmail process 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 “-- ” (note the trailing space) 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 built-in pager.
sig_on_top
Type: boolean
Default: no
If set, the signature will be included before any quoted or forwarded 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 mes‐
sages. If the filename ends with a pipe (“|”), it is assumed that filename is a
shell command and input should be read from its standard output.
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 “~” pattern operators. See
“patterns” for more information on search patterns.
For example, if you simply type “joe” at a search or limit prompt, Mutt will auto‐
matically expand it to the value specified by this variable by replacing “%s” with
the supplied string. For the default value, “joe” would be expanded to: “~f joe |
~s joe”.
sleep_time
Type: number
Default: 1
Specifies time, in seconds, to pause while displaying certain informational mes‐
sages, 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 suppresses the pause.
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 positives of $quote_regexp,
most notably smileys and not consider a line quoted text if it also matches $smi‐
leys. This mostly happens at the beginning of a line.
pgp_mime_signature_filename
Type: string
Default: “signature.asc”
This option sets the filename used for signature parts in PGP/MIME signed messages.
pgp_mime_signature_description
Type: string
Default: “Digital signature”
This option sets the Content-Description used for signature parts in PGP/MIME
signed messages.
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_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)
Note: On Debian systems, this defaults to the first existing file in the following
list: ~/.smime/ca-certificates.crt ~/.smime/ca-bundle.crt /etc/ssl/certs/ca-cer‐
tificates.crt.
smime_certificates
Type: path
Default: “”
Since for S/MIME there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, mutt has to handle stor‐
age 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 option 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 applica‐
tion/x-pkcs7-mime attachments.
The OpenSSL command formats have their own set of printf(3)-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_decrypt_use_default_key
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If set (default) this tells mutt to use the default key for decryption. Otherwise,
if managing multiple certificate-key-pairs, mutt will try to use the mail‐
box-address to determine the key to use. It will ask you to supply a key, if it
can't find one. (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)
smime_encrypt_command
Type: string
Default: “”
This command is used to create encrypted S/MIME messages.
This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (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_get_cert_command
Type: string
Default: “”
This command is used to extract X509 certificates from a PKCS7 structure.
This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (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 certifi‐
cates, and for verification purposes (to check whether the certificate was issued
for the sender's mailbox).
This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
smime_get_signer_cert_command
Type: string
Default: “”
This command is used to extract only the signers X509 certificate from a S/MIME
signature, so that the certificate's owner may get compared to the email's “From:”
field.
This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
smime_import_cert_command
Type: string
Default: “”
This command is used to import a certificate via smime_keys.
This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
smime_is_default
Type: boolean
Default: no
The default behavior 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 application
that was used to sign/encrypt the original message. (Note that this variable can
be overridden by unsetting $crypt_autosmime.) (S/MIME only)
smime_keys
Type: path
Default: “”
Since for S/MIME there is no pubring/secring as with PGP, mutt has to handle stor‐
age and retrieval of keys/certs by itself. This is very basic right now, and stores
keys and certificates in two different 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 option points to the location of the
private keys. (S/MIME only)
smime_pk7out_command
Type: string
Default: “”
This command is used to extract PKCS7 structures of S/MIME signatures, in order to
extract the public X509 certificate(s).
This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
smime_sign_command
Type: string
Default: “”
This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type multipart/signed, which
can be read by all mail clients.
This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
smime_sign_opaque_command
Type: string
Default: “”
This command is used to created S/MIME signatures of type application/x-pkcs7-sig‐
nature, which can only be handled by mail clients supporting the S/MIME extension.
This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME 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_verify_command
Type: string
Default: “”
This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type multipart/signed.
This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
smime_verify_opaque_command
Type: string
Default: “”
This command is used to verify S/MIME signatures of type application/x-pkcs7-mime.
This is a format string, see the $smime_decrypt_command command for possible
printf(3)-like sequences. (S/MIME only)
smtp_authenticators
Type: string
Default: “”
This is a colon-delimited list of authentication methods mutt may attempt to use to
log in to an SMTP server, in the order mutt should try them. Authentication meth‐
ods are any SASL mechanism, e.g. “digest-md5”, “gssapi” or “cram-md5”. This
option is case-insensitive. If it is “unset” (the default) mutt will try all avail‐
able methods, in order from most-secure to least-secure.
Example:
set smtp_authenticators=”digest-md5:cram-md5”
Note: On Debian systems, this variable defaults to the example mentioned. This file
is managed by the “ca-certificates” package.
smtp_pass
Type: string
Default: “”
Specifies the password for your SMTP account. If unset, Mutt will prompt you for
your password when you first send mail via SMTP. See $smtp_url to configure mutt
to send mail via SMTP.
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.
smtp_url
Type: string
Default: “”
Defines the SMTP smarthost where sent messages should relayed for delivery. This
should take the form of an SMTP URL, e.g.:
smtp[s]://[user[:pass]@]host[:port]
where “[...]” denotes an optional part. Setting this variable overrides the value
of the $sendmail variable.
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”).
Note: On Debian systems, this option is set by default to “threads” in /etc/Muttrc.
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 substring 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: “,”
This variable controls what happens when multiple spam headers are matched: if
unset, each successive header will overwrite any previous matches value for the
spam label. If set, each successive match will append to the previous, using this
variable's value as a separator.
spoolfile
Type: path
Default: “”
If your spool mailbox is in a non-default place where Mutt cannot find it, you can
specify its location with this variable. Mutt will initially set this variable to
the value of the environment variable $MAIL or $MAILDIR if either is defined.
ssl_ca_certificates_file
Type: path
Default: “”
This variable specifies a file containing trusted CA certificates. Any server cer‐
tificate that is signed with one of these CA certificates is also automatically
accepted.
Example:
set ssl_ca_certificates_file=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
ssl_client_cert
Type: path
Default: “”
The file containing a client certificate and its associated private key.
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 capability, since it would otherwise have to abort the connection
anyway. This option supersedes $ssl_starttls.
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_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.
ssl_use_sslv3
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variable specifies whether to attempt to use SSLv3 in the SSL authentication
process.
ssl_use_tlsv1
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variable specifies whether to attempt to use TLSv1.0 in the SSL authentication
process.
ssl_use_tlsv1_1
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variable specifies whether to attempt to use TLSv1.1 in the SSL authentication
process.
ssl_use_tlsv1_2
Type: boolean
Default: yes
This variable specifies whether to attempt to use TLSv1.2 in the SSL authentication
process.
ssl_verify_dates
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If set (the default), mutt will not automatically accept a server certificate that
is either not yet valid or already expired. You should only unset this for particu‐
lar known hosts, using the <account-hook> function.
ssl_verify_host
Type: boolean
Default: yes
If set (the default), mutt will not automatically accept a server certificate whose
host name does not match the host used in your folder URL. You should only unset
this for particular known hosts, using the <account-hook> function.
status_chars
Type: string
Default: “-*%A”
Controls the characters used by the “%r” indicator in $status_format. The first
character is used when the mailbox is unchanged. The second is used when the mail‐
box 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 <tog‐
gle-write> operation, bound by default to “%”). The fourth is used to indicate that
the current folder has been opened in attach- message mode (Certain 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(3)-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 current 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 $sta‐
tus_chars
%s current sorting mode ($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”
%*X soft-fill with character “X” as pad
For an explanation of “soft-fill”, see the $index_format documentation.
* = 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 following 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 number of new messages
in a mailbox:
%?n?%n new messages.?
You can also switch between two strings using the following construct:
%?<sequence_char>?<if_string>&<else_string>?
If the value of sequence_char is non-zero, if_string will be expanded, otherwise
else_string will be expanded.
You can force the result of any printf(3)-like sequence to be lowercase by prefix‐
ing the sequence character with an underscore (“_”) sign. For example, if you want
to display 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. If $help is set, too it'll be placed at the
bottom.
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 messages with the sub‐
jects like “hi” which will get grouped together. See also $sort_re for a less dras‐
tic way of controlling this behavior.
suspend
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When unset, mutt won't stop when the user presses the terminal's susp key, usually
“^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 “format=flowed” bodies with a content type of
“text/plain; format=flowed”. This format is easier to handle for some mailing
software, 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.
thorough_search
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Affects the ~b and ~h search operations described in section “patterns”. If set,
the headers and body/attachments of messages to be searched are decoded before
searching. If unset, messages are searched as they appear in the folder.
Users searching attachments or for non-ASCII characters should set this value
because decoding also includes MIME parsing/decoding and possible character set
conversions. Otherwise mutt will attempt to match against the raw message received
(for example quoted-printable encoded or with encoded headers) which may lead to
incorrect search results.
thread_received
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, mutt uses the date received rather than the date sent to thread messages
by subject.
tilde
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, the internal-pager will pad blank lines to the bottom of the screen with
a tilde (“~”).
time_inc
Type: number
Default: 0
Along with $read_inc, $write_inc, and $net_inc, this variable controls the fre‐
quency with which progress updates are displayed. It suppresses updates less than
$time_inc milliseconds apart. This can improve throughput on systems with slow ter‐
minals, or when running mutt on a remote system.
Also see the “tuning” section of the manual for performance considerations.
timeout
Type: number
Default: 600
When Mutt is waiting for user input either idling in menus or in an interactive
prompt, Mutt would block until input is present. Depending on the context, this
would prevent certain operations from working, like checking for new mail or keep‐
ing an IMAP connection alive.
This variable controls how many seconds Mutt will at most wait until it aborts
waiting for input, performs these operations and continues to wait for input.
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. The second is used
when you are the only recipient of the message. The third is when your address
appears in the “To:” header field, but you are not the only recipient of the mes‐
sage. 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.
trash
Type: path
Default: “”
If set, this variable specifies the path of the trash folder where the mails marked
for deletion will be moved, instead of being irremediably purged.
NOTE: When you delete a message in the trash folder, it is really deleted, so that
you have a way to clean the trash.
tunnel
Type: string
Default: “”
Setting this variable will cause mutt to open a pipe to a command instead of a raw
socket. You may be able to use this to set up preauthenticated connections to your
IMAP/POP3/SMTP server. Example:
set 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.
When set, Mutt uses the tunnel for all remote connections. Please see “account-
hook” in the manual for how to use different tunnel commands per connection.
uncollapse_jump
Type: boolean
Default: no
When set, Mutt will jump to the next unread message, if any, when the current
thread is uncollapsed.
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 set the envelope sender of the message. If $enve‐
lope_from_address is set, it will be used as the sender address. If unset, mutt
will attempt to derive the sender from the “From:” header.
Note that this information is passed to sendmail command using the -f command line
switch. Therefore setting this option is not useful if the $sendmail variable
already contains -f or if the executable pointed to by $sendmail doesn't support
the -f switch.
use_from
Type: boolean
Default: yes
When set, Mutt will generate the “From:” header field when sending messages. If
unset, no “From:” header field will be generated unless the user explicitly sets
one using the “my_hdr” command.
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 messages, 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
built-in editor.
wait_key
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls whether Mutt will ask you to press a key after an external command has
been invoked by these functions: <shell-escape>, <pipe-message>, <pipe-entry>,
<print-message>, and <print-entry> commands.
It is also used when viewing attachments with “auto_view”, provided that the corre‐
sponding mailcap entry has a needsterminal flag, and the external program is inter‐
active.
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
Type: number
Default: 0
When set to a positive value, mutt will wrap text at $wrap characters. When set to
a negative value, mutt will wrap text so that there are $wrap characters of empty
space on the right side of the terminal. Setting it to zero makes mutt wrap at the
terminal width.
Also see $reflow_wrap.
wrap_headers
Type: number
Default: 78
This option specifies the number of characters to use for wrapping an outgoing mes‐
sage's headers. Allowed values are between 78 and 998 inclusive.
Note: This option usually shouldn't be changed. RFC5233 recommends a line length of
78 (the default), so please only change this setting when you know what you're
doing.
wrap_search
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls whether searches wrap around the end.
When set, searches will wrap around the first (or last) item. When unset, incremen‐
tal searches will not wrap.
wrapmargin
Type: number
Default: 0
(DEPRECATED) Equivalent to setting $wrap with a negative value.
write_bcc
Type: boolean
Default: yes
Controls whether mutt writes out the Bcc header when saving messages to FCC. Bcc
headers will never be written to a message when sending it. Note: this behavior is
Debian specific.
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, $net_inc and $time_inc variables and the “tuning” section
of the manual for performance considerations.
xterm_icon
Type: string
Default: “M%?n?AIL&ail?”
Controls the format of the icon title, as long as xterm_set_titles is enabled. This
string is identical in formatting to the one used by “$status_format”.
xterm_set_titles
Type: boolean
Default: no
Controls whether mutt sets the xterm title bar and icon name (as long as you are in
an appropriate terminal).
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 “$sta‐
tus_format”.
SEE ALSO
iconv(1), iconv(3), mailcap(5), maildir(5), mbox(5), mutt(1), printf(3), regex(7), strf‐
time(3)
The Mutt Manual
The Mutt home page: http://www.mutt.org/
AUTHOR
Michael Elkins, and others. Use <mutt-dev AT mutt.org> to contact the developers.
Unix September 2002 muttrc(5)
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