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Commands directed to a mail server take the form of a mail message addressed to
mailserv@mail-server-host |
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.
Mail server command names are not case sensitive themselves. MAILSERV commands preserve the case of specified file names.
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 in Example 4-1.1
Example 4-1 Sending Commands to a Mail Server |
---|
% mail mailserv@example.com HELP INDEX LISTS [CTRL/D] % |
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 Table 4-1; complete descriptions begin in Section 4.2.
Command | Description |
---|---|
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 | Same as END |
FINISH | Same as 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 1 | Purge comment lines (such as unsubscribed addresses) from the membership list |
QUIT | Same as END |
SEND | Retrieve the specified files |
SEND/LIST 1 | Retrieve the membership list for a given mailing list |
SEND/LIST/COMMENTS 1 | Retrieve the membership list for a given mailing list, including members' RFC 822 comment fields |
SEND/LIST/NOCOMMENTS 1 | Retrieve the membership list for a given mailing list, stripping members' RFC 822 comment fields |
STOP | Same as END |
SUBSCRIBE | Subscribe to a mailing list |
UNSUBSCRIBE | Unsubscribe from a mailing list |
1 Note that PMDF mail servers, and
many others too, ignore the
|
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