Commands directed to a mail server take the form of a mail
message addressed to
mailserv@mail-server-host
where MAIL-SERVER-HOST is the host name of the machine running
the mail server. You need to obtain this name from your system
manager. The text of the message contains mail server commands,
one command per line.
For example, suppose the address of a mail server is
mailserv@example.com. To obtain a help message from the server
as well as a list of the available files and mailing lists, you
would send a message much like the one shown below.
Example 1 Sending Commands to a Mail Server
$ MAIL
MAIL> SEND
To: in%"mailserv@example.com"
Subj:
Enter your message below. Press CTRL/Z when complete, CTRL/C to quit:
HELP
INDEX
LISTS
<CTRL/Z>
MAIL> EXIT
$
After a short while, you will receive back three messages from
the mail server: the first message in response to the HELP
command, the second in response to the INDEX command, and
the third in response to the LISTS command. If your command
specifications are in error, then the mail server will send you
an error notification.
Typically, mail from the mail server will have a reply address
which differs from the address you use to send commands to
it. This is intentional and is done to prevent potential mail
loops. One consequence of this is that you cannot direct further
commands to the server by replying to messages from it. You must
always initiate a new message with the send command; you cannot
use the reply command.
A brief description of the available commands is given in the
table below; complete descriptions are described under the
"Commands" subtopic. Lines beginning with an exclamation point,
!, are interpreted as comment lines.
Table 2 Summary of Mail and List Server Commands
Command Description
CONFIRM Confirm a command from a previous message
DIRECTORY Obtain directory listing of available files
DIRECTORY/LIST Obtain directory listing of available mailing
lists
ENCODING Set default file transmission encoding
END Terminate processing, accept no additional
commands
EXIT (see END) Same as END
FINISH (see Same as END
END)
HELP Retrieve the server-specific help information
INDEX Retrieve the index of available files
LISTS Retrieve the index of available mailing lists
MAXIMUM Set maximum message size; large messages will be
divided into several messages, each smaller than
this size
MODE Set the default file reading mode
PURGE/LIST Purge comment lines (such as unsubscribed
addresses) from the membership list
QUIT (see END) Same as END
SEND Retrieve the specified files
SEND/LIST Retrieve the membership list for a given mailing
list
SEND/LIST/COMMENTRetrieve the membership list for a given mailing
(see SEND/LIST) list, including members' RFC 822 comment fields
SEND/LIST/NOCOMMERetrieve the membership list for a given mailing
(see SEND/LIST) list, stripping members' RFC 822 comment fields
STOP (see END) Same as END
SUBSCRIBE Subscribe to a mailing list
UNSUBSCRIBE Unsubscribe from a mailing list