Muttrc

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 for which should be evaluated. For example, backtics are evaluated inside of double quotes, but not for 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 meanings 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 backquotes (`command`).

UNIX environments can be accessed like the way it is done in shells like sh and bash: Prepend the name of the environment by a dollar ("$") sign.

Commands
alias key address [, address [ ... ]]
unalias key
alias defines an alias key for the given addresses. unalias removes the alias corresponding to the given key.

alternative_order type[/subtype] [ ... ]
This 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.

auto_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.

bind map key function
This command binds the given key for the given map to the given function.

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.

charset-hook alias charset
This command defines an alias for a character set. This is useful to properly display messages which are tagged with a character set name not known to
mutt.

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 exe­
cuted.

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. For valid maps,see bind.

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 foreground/backgound 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 address [ address ... ]
unlists address [ address ... ]
subscribe address [ address ... ]
unsubscribe address [ address ... ]

Mutt maintains two lists of mailing list addresses, a list of subscribed mailing lists, and a list of known mailing lists. All subscribed mailing lists are known. A mail address matches a mailing list if it begins with the given address. For example, the lists pattern "mutt-" will match mutt dev@mutt.org and mutt-users@mutt.org.

The lists command adds a mailing list address to the list of known mailing lists. The unlists com­ mand removes a mailig list from the lists of known and subscribed mailing lists. The subscribe com­ mand adds a mailing list to the lists of known and subscribed mailing lists. The unsubscribe command removes it from the list of subscribed mailing lists.

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 matchig mbox-hook applies.

mailboxes filename [ filename ... ]
This command 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.

my_hdr string
unmy_hdr field

Using my_hdr, you can define headers which will be added to the messages you compose. 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 configuration file.

pgp-hook pattern key-id
The pgp-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.

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 varibles.

Mutt knows four basic types of variables: boolean, number, string and quadoption. Boolean variables can be set (true), unset (false), or toggled. Num­ ber 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 spec­ ify 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. Similarly, 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 variabe all, all variables will reset to their sys­ tem defaults.

source filename
The given file will be evaluated as a configuration
file.

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 docu­ mented 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 obeject specified by this operator. (For a list of operators, see 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 insert­ ing 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:

In the above, EXPR is a regular expression.

With the ~m, ~n, and ~z operators, you can also specify
ranges in the forms MIN, MIN-, and -MAX.

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 behaviour 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 precise 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 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, specifying a unit of years, months, weeks, or days. An offset which begins with the character > 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