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