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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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