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 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 or all aliases when “*” is used as an argument.

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.

account-hook [!]regexp command
    This hook is executed whenever you access a remote mailbox. Useful to adjust configuration 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 display 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. 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 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 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.

open-hook regexp "command"
close-hook regexp "command"
append-hook regexp "command"

    These commands provide a way to handle compressed folders. The given regexp specifies 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 varibles.

    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. 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 system 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 documented above.

PATTERNS

In various places with mutt, including some of the abovementioned 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 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 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 EXPR | messages which contain EXPR in the whole message
~c EXPR | messages carbon-copied to EXPR
~C EXPR | message is either to: or cc: EXPR
~D | deleted messages
~d MIN-MAX | messages with “date-sent” in a Date range
~E | expired messages
~e EXPR | message which contains EXPR in the “Sender” field
~F | flagged messages
~f EXPR | messages originating from EXPR
~g | PGP signed messages
~G | PGP encrypted messages
~h EXPR | messages which contain EXPR in the message header
~k | message contains PGP key material
~i EXPR | message which match EXPR in the “Message-ID” field
~L EXPR | message is either originated or received by EXPR
~l | message is addressed to a known mailing list
~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 | message is addressed to you (consults $alternates)
~P | message is from you (consults $alternates)
~Q | messages which have been replied to
~R | read messages
~r MIN-MAX | messages with “date-received” in a Date range
~S | superseded messages
~s EXPR | messages having EXPR in the “Subject” field.
~T | tagged messages
~t EXPR | messages addressed to EXPR
~U | unread messages
~v | message is part of a collapsed thread.
~x EXPR | messages which contain EXPR in the “References” field
~z MIN-MAX | messages with a size in the range MIN to MAX
~= | duplicated messages (see $duplicate_threads)

In the above, EXPR is a regular expression.

With the ~m, ~n, and ~z operators, you can also specify ranges in the forms <MAX, >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 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 subject 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.

    Note: Mutt will not automatically source this file; you must explicitly use the “source” command for it to be executed.

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 messages) 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.

alternates
    Type: regular expression
    Default: “”

    A regexp that allows you to specify alternate addresses where you receive mail. This affects Mutt's idea about messages from you and addressed to you.

arrow_cursor
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    When set, an arrow (“->”) will be used to indicate the current entry in menus instead of hiliting 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.

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-style sequences are understood:

    %D  deleted flag

    %d  description

    %e  MIME content-transfer-encoding

    %f  filename

    %I  disposition (I=inline, A=attachment)

    %m  major MIME type

    %M  MIME subtype

    %n  attachment number

    %s  size

    %t  tagged flag

    %u  unlink (=to delete) flag

    %>X right justify the rest of the string and pad with character ”X”

    %|X pad to the end of the line with character ”X”

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 attachment. 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()-like sequences see the section on “$index_format”.

autoedit
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    When set along with “$edit_headers”, Mutt will skip the initial send-menu 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.

    Also see “$fast_reply”.

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-prefix function (default: ”;”) to make the next function apply to all tagged messages.

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_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.

charset
    Type: string
    Default: “”

    Character set your terminal uses to display and enter textual data.

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. Especially 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 check_new is unset, no check for new mail is performed while the mailbox is open.

collapse_unread
    Type: boolean
    Default: yes

    When unset, Mutt will not collapse a thread if it contains any unread messages.

uncollapse_jump
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    When set, Mutt will jump to the next unread message, if any, when the current thread is uncollapsed.

compose_format
    Type: string
    Default: “-- Mutt: Compose  [Approx. msg size: %l   Atts: %a]%>-”

    Controls the format of the status line displayed in the \fCompose menu. This string is similar to “$status_format”, but has its own set of printf()-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”.

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 or POP) after this many seconds if the connection is not able to be established. A negative value causes Mutt to wait indefinitely for the connection to succeed.

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”.

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 call to process the date. See the man page for strftime(3) 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 send-hooks, message-hooks, save-hooks, and fcc-hooks 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 revattach menu will not show the subparts of individual messages in a 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.

dsn_notify
    Type: string
    Default: “”

    Note: you should not enable this unless you are using Sendmail 8.8.x or greater.

    This variable sets the request for when notification is returned. The string consists of a comma separated list (no spaces!) of one or more of the following: never, to never request notification, failure, to request notification on transmission failure, delay, to be notified of message delays, success, to be notified of successful transmission.

    Example: set dsn_notify=”failure,delay”

dsn_return
    Type: string
    Default: “”

    Note: you should not enable this unless you are using Sendmail 8.8.x or greater.

    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

duplicate_threads
    Type: boolean
    Default: yes

    This variable controls whether mutt, when sorting by 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 diagram.

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.

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 ”vi” if neither of those are set.

encode_from
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    When set, mutt will quoted-printable encode messages when they contain the string ”From ” in the beginning of a line. Useful to avoid the tampering certain mail delivery and transport agents tend to do with messages.

envelope_from
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    When set, mutt will try to derive the message's envelope sender from the ”From:” header. Note that this information is passed to sendmail command using the ”-f” command line switch, so don't set this option if you are using that switch in $sendmail yourself, or if the sendmail on your machine doesn't support that command line switch.

escape
    Type: string
    Default: “~”

    Escape character to use for functions in the builtin 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 messages.

    Note: this variable has no effect when the “$autoedit” variable is set.

fcc_attach
    Type: boolean
    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.

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 during the `set' 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()-like sequences:

    %C  current file number

    %d  date/time folder was last modified

    %f  filename

    %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”

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. 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_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 send-hooks) and “$reverse_name”.

    Defaults to the EMAIL environment variable's content.

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. By default the regular expression is set to ”^[^,]*” which will return the string up to the first ”,” encountered. If the GECOS field contains a string like ”lastname, firstname” then you should set the gecos_mask=”.*”.

    This can be useful if you see the following behavior: you address a e-mail to user ID stevef whose full name is Steve Franklin. If mutt expands stevef to ”Franklin” stevef@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 created. 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.

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 Message-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 missing messages in the thread tree.

hide_missing
    Type: boolean
    Default: yes

    When set, mutt will not show the presence of messages that are hidden by limiting, in the thread tree.

hide_top_limited
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    When set, mutt will not show the presence of missing messages 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 messages that are hidden by limiting, 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. The buffer is cleared each time the variable is set.

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 hostname to use after the “@” in local e-mail addresses. This overrides the compile time definition obtained from /etc/resolv.conf.

ignore_list_reply_to
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    Affects the behaviour of the reply function when replying to messages from mailing lists. 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 methods are either 'login' or the right side of an IMAP 'AUTH=xxx' capability string, eg 'digest-md5', parameter is 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_delim_chars
    Type: string
    Default: “/.”

    This contains the list of characters which you would like to treat as folder separators for displaying IMAP paths. In particular it helps in using the '=' shortcut for your folder variable.

imap_force_ssl
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    If this variable is set, Mutt will always use SSL when connecting to IMAP servers.

imap_home_namespace
    Type: string
    Default: “”

    You normally want to see your personal folders alongside your INBOX in the IMAP browser. If you see something else, you may set this variable to the IMAP path to your folders.

imap_keepalive
    Type: number
    Default: 900

    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 toggle-subscribed function.

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 fetch-mail function. 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

    If 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_servernoise
    Type: boolean
    Default: yes

    When set, mutt will display warning messages from the IMAP server as error messages. 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: “”

    Your login name 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.

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.

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.

index_format
    Type: string
    Default: “%4C %Z %{%b %d} %-15.15L (%4l) %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 to format output (see the man page for more detail). The following sequences are defined in Mutt:

    %a  address of the 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” converted to sender's time zone

    %D  date and time of the message in the format specified by “date_format” converted to the local time zone

    %e  current message number in thread

    %E  number of messages in current thread

    %f  entire From: line (address + real name)

    %F  author name, or recipient name if the message is from you

    %i  message-id of the current message

    %l  number of lines in the message

    %L  If an address in the To or CC header field matches an address defined by the users “lists” 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  (_O_riginal save folder) Where mutt would formerly have stashed the message: list name or recipient name if no list

    %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

    %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”; a leading bang disables 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”; a leading bang disables locales

    %(fmt)
        the local date and time when the message was received. “fmt” is expanded by the library function “strftime”; a leading bang disables locales

    %<fmt>
        the current local time. “fmt” is expanded by the library function “strftime”; 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”

    See also: “$to_chars”.

ispell
    Type: path
    Default: “/usr/local/bin/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 variable LC_TIME.

mail_check
    Type: number
    Default: 5

    This variable configures how often (in seconds) mutt should look for new mail.

mailcap_path
    Type: string
    Default: “”

    This variable specifies which files to consult when attempting to display MIME bodies 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_trash
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    If set, messages marked as deleted will be saved with the maildir (T)rashed 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 makes the distinction between new messages and old unread messages. By default, Mutt will mark new messages as old if you exit a mailbox without reading them. The next time you start Mutt, the messages will show up with an ”O” next to them in the index menu, indicating that they are old. In order to make Mutt treat all unread messages as new only, you can unset this variable.

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 operator “!”. 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.

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.

metoo
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    If unset, Mutt will remove your address (see the “$alternates” variable) from the list of recipients when replying to a message.

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).

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 0xf4, then this is treated as if the user had pressed ESC then “x”. This is because the result of removing the high bit from “0xf4” is “0x74”, which is the ASCII character “x”.

mh_purge
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    When unset, mutt will mimic mh's behaviour and rename deleted messages to ,<old file name> in mh folders instead of really deleting them. If the variable is set, the message files will simply be deleted.

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 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 recvattach 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 selection screen. The following printf-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.

move
    Type: quadoption
    Default: ask-no

    Controls whether you will be asked to confirm moving read messages from your spool mailbox to your “$mbox” mailbox, or as a result of a “mbox-hook” command.

message_format
    Type: string
    Default: “%s”

    This is the string displayed in the “attachment” menu for attachments of type message/rfc822. For a full listing of defined printf()-like sequences see the section on “$index_format”.

pager
    Type: path
    Default: “builtin”

    This variable specifies which pager you would like to use to view messages. builtin means to use the builtin 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 necessary 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 displaying 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).

pager_format
    Type: string
    Default: “-%Z- %C/%m: %-20.20n   %s”

    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 pager_index_lines 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_autosign
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to PGP/MIME sign outgoing messages. This can be overridden by use of the pgp- menu, when signing is not required or encryption is requested as well.

pgp_autoencrypt
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    Setting this variable will cause Mutt to always attempt to PGP/MIME 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.

pgp_ignore_subkeys
    Type: boolean
    Default: yes

    Setting this variable will cause Mutt to ignore OpenPGP subkeys. Instead, the principal key will inherit the subkeys' capabilities. Unset this if you want to play interesting key selection games.

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()-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_good_sign
    Type: regular expression
    Default: “”

    If you assign a text to this variable, then a PGP signature is only considered verified 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_long_ids
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    If set, use 64 bit PGP key IDs. Unset uses the normal 32 bit Key IDs.

pgp_replyencrypt
    Type: boolean
    Default: yes

    If set, automatically PGP encrypt replies to messages which are encrypted.

pgp_replysign
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    If set, automatically PGP sign replies to messages which are signed.

    Note: this does not work on messages that are encrypted and signed!

pgp_replysignencrypted
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    If set, automatically PGP sign replies to messages which are encrypted. This makes sense in combination with “$pgp_replyencrypt”, because it allows you to sign all messages which are automatically encrypted. This works around the problem noted in “$pgp_replysign”, that mutt is not able to find out whether an encrypted message is also signed.

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 multipart/signed part is retained.

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 “disabled” by the user.

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_strict_enc
    Type: boolean
    Default: yes

    If set, Mutt will automatically encode PGP/MIME signed messages as quoted-printable. Please note that unsetting this variable may lead to problems with non-verifyable PGP signatures, so only change this if you know what you are doing.

pgp_timeout
    Type: number
    Default: 300

    The number of seconds after which a cached passphrase will expire if not used.

pgp_verify_sig
    Type: quadoption
    Default: yes

    If “yes”, always attempt to verify PGP/MIME signatures. If “ask-yes” or “ask-no”, ask whether or not to verify the signature. If “no”, never attempt to verify PGP/MIME signatures.

pgp_sort_keys
    Type: sort order
    Default: address

    Specifies how the entries in the `pgp keys' menu are sorted. The following are legal values:

    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_create_traditional
    Type: quadoption
    Default: no

    This option controls whether Mutt generates old-style PGP encrypted or signed messages under certain circumstances.

    Note that PGP/MIME will be used automatically for messages which have a character set different from us-ascii, or which consist of more than a single MIME part.

    Also note that using the old-style PGP message format is strongly deprecated.

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-like sequences:

    %p  Expands to PGPPASSFD=0 when a pass phrase is needed, to an empty string otherwise. 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*.rc and gpg.rc files in the samples/ subdirectory which has been installed on your system alongside the documentation.

pgp_getkeys_command
    Type: string
    Default: “”

    This command is invoked whenever mutt will need public key information. %r is the only printf-like sequence used with this format.

pgp_verify_command
    Type: string
    Default: “”

    This command is used to verify PGP/MIME signatures.

pgp_decrypt_command
    Type: string
    Default: “”

    This command is used to decrypt a PGP/MIME encrypted message.

pgp_clearsign_command
    Type: string
    Default: “”

    This format is used to create a ”clearsigned” old-style PGP attachment. Note that the use of this format is strongly deprecated.

pgp_sign_command
    Type: string
    Default: “”

    This command is used to create the detached PGP signature for a multipart/signed PGP/MIME body part.

pgp_encrypt_sign_command
    Type: string
    Default: “”

    This command is used to combinedly sign/encrypt a body part.

pgp_encrypt_only_command
    Type: string
    Default: “”

    This command is used to encrypt a body part without signing it.

pgp_import_command
    Type: string
    Default: “”

    This command is used to import a key from a message into the user's public key ring.

pgp_export_command
    Type: string
    Default: “”

    This command is used to export a public key from the user's key ring.

pgp_verify_key_command
    Type: string
    Default: “”

    This command is used to verify key information from the key selection menu.

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.

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.

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.

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.

certificate_file
    Type: path
    Default: “”

    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 connections 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 are also automatically accepted.

    Example: set certificate_file=~/.mutt/certificates

ssl_usesystemcerts
    Type: boolean
    Default: yes

    If set to yes, mutt will use CA certificates in the system-wide certificate store when checking if server certificate is signed by a trusted CA.

entropy_file
    Type: path
    Default: “”

    The file which includes random data that is used to initalize SSL library functions.

ssl_use_sslv2
    Type: boolean
    Default: yes

    This variables specifies whether to attempt to use SSLv2 in the SSL authentication process.

ssl_use_sslv3
    Type: boolean
    Default: yes

    This variables specifies whether to attempt to use SSLv3 in the SSL authentication process.

ssl_use_tlsv1
    Type: boolean
    Default: yes

    This variables specifies whether to attempt to use TLSv1 in the SSL authentication process.

pipe_split
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    Used in connection with the pipe-message command and the “tag- prefix” operator. If this variable is unset, when piping a list of tagged messages Mutt will concatenate the messages and will pipe them as a single folder. 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.

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 PGP/MIME 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.

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, eg 'digest-md5', 'gssapi' or 'cram-md5'. This parameter is case-insensitive. If this parameter 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_auth_try_all
    Type: boolean
    Default: yes

    If set, Mutt will try all available methods. When unset, 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 POP server.

pop_checkinterval
    Type: number
    Default: 60

    This variable configures how often (in seconds) POP should look for new mail.

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, ie:

    [pop[s]://][username[:password]@]popserver[:port]

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_reconnect
    Type: quadoption
    Default: ask-yes

    Controls whether or not Mutt will try to reconnect to POP server when connection lost.

pop_user
    Type: string
    Default: “”

    Your login name on the POP server.

    This variable defaults to your user name on the local machine.

pop_pass
    Type: string
    Default: “”

    Specifies the password for your POP account. If unset, Mutt will prompt you for your password when you open 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.

post_indent_string
    Type: string
    Default: “”

    Similar to the “$attribution” variable, Mutt will append this string after the inclusion 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.

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:

    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 asks for confirmation before printing. This is useful for people (like me) who 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 message 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 printing.

print_split
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    Used in connection with the print-message command. If this option is set, the command sepcified 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 that mutt will use to make external address queries. The string should contain a %s, which will be substituted with the query string the user types. See “query” for more information.

quit
    Type: quadoption
    Default: yes

    This variable controls whether “quit” and “exit” actually quit from mutt. If it set to yes, they do quit, if it is set to no, 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.

    Note: In order to use the quotedx patterns in the internal pager, you need to set this to a regular expression that matches exactly the quote characters at the beginning of quoted lines.

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. The message is printed after read_inc messages have been read (e.g., if set to 25, Mutt will print a message when it reads message 25, and then again when it gets to message 50). This variable is meant to indicate progress when reading 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” variable.

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 GCOS 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 you are prompted to recall postponed messages when composing a new message. Also see “$postponed”.

    Setting this variable to “yes” is not generally useful, and thus not recommended.

record
    Type: path
    Default: “”

    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.

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.

reply_to
    Type: quadoption
    Default: ask-yes

    If set, Mutt will ask you if you want to use the address listed in the Reply-To: header field when replying to a message. If you answer no, 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 executed.

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@somewhere.net (Joe User)

    and then you receive mail which contains the following header:

    From: abd30425@somewhere.net

    It would be displayed in the index menu as “Joe User” instead of “abd30425@somewhere.net.” This is useful when the person's e-mail address is not human friendly (like CompuServe addresses).

reverse_name
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    It may sometimes arrive that you receive mail to a certain machine, move the messages to another machine, and reply to some the messages from there. If this variable 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 the variable is unset, the From: line will use your address on the current machine.

reverse_realname
    Type: boolean
    Default: yes

    This variable fine-tunes the behaviour 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 realnames with the setting of the realname variable.

rfc2047_parameters
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    When this variable is set, Mutt will decode RFC-2047-encoded MIME parameters. You want to set this variable when mutt suggests you to save attachments to files named like this: =?iso-8859-1?Q?file=5F=E4=5F991116=2Ezip?=

    When this variable is set interactively, the change doesn't have the desired effect before you have changed folders.

    Note that this use of RFC 2047'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 specified in RFC 2231.

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_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 selectively disable scoring for certain folders when the “$score_threshold_delete” variable and friends 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 wich 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.

send_charset
    Type: string
    Default: “us-ascii:iso-8859-1:utf-8”

    A 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”.

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 “-- ” 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 builtin 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 messages. If the filename ends with a pipe (“|”), it is assumed that filename is a shell command and input should be read from its stdout.

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 ~ operators. See “patterns” for more information on search patterns.

    For example, if you simply type joe at a search or limit prompt, Mutt will automatically expand it to the value specified by this variable. For the default value it would be:

    ~f joe | ~s joe

smart_wrap
    Type: boolean
    Default: yes

    Controls the display of lines longer then 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 in the beginning of a line

sleep_time
    Type: number
    Default: 1

    Specifies time, in seconds, to pause while displaying certain informational messages, 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.

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
       subject
       threads
       to

    You may optionally use the reverse- prefix to specify reverse sorting order (example: set sort=reverse-date-sent).

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: subject

    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.

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 automatically set this variable to the value of the environment variable $MAIL if it is not set.

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 mailbox 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 toggle-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()-like sequences:

    %b  number of mailboxes with new mail *

    %d  number of deleted messages *

    %h  local hostname

    %f  the full pathname of the current mailbox

    %F  number of flagged messages *

    %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 $status_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”

    * = 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 status_char is nonzero. optional_string may contain other sequence 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.?

    Additionally you can switch between two strings, the first one, if a value is zero, the second one, if the value is nonzero, by using the following construct: %?<sequence_char>?<if_string>&<else_string>?

    You can additionally force the result of any printf-like sequence to be lowercase by prefixing the sequence character with an underscore (_) sign. For example, if you want to display the local hostname in lowercase, you would use: %_h

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.

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 subject “hi” which will get grouped together.

suspend
    Type: boolean
    Default: yes

    When unset, mutt won't stop when the user presses the terminal's susp key, usually “control-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 text/plain; format=flowed attachments. 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.

thread_received
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    When set, mutt uses the date received rather than the date sent to thread messages by subject.

thorough_search
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    Affects the ~b and ~h search operations described in section “patterns” above. If set, the headers and attachments of messages to be searched are decoded before searching. If unset, messages are searched as they appear in the folder.

tilde
    Type: boolean
    Default: no

    When set, the internal-pager will pad blank lines to the bottom of the screen with a tilde (~).

timeout
    Type: number
    Default: 600

    This variable controls the number of seconds Mutt will wait for a key to be pressed in the main menu before timing out and checking for new mail. A value of zero or less will cause Mutt not to ever 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.

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 (default: space). The second is used when you are the only recipient of the message (default: +). The third is when your address appears in the TO header field, but you are not the only recipient of the message (default: T). 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 (default: L).

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 server. Example:

    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.

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_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_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 builtin editor.

wait_key
    Type: boolean
    Default: yes

    Controls whether Mutt will ask you to press a key after 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 corresponding mailcap entry has a needsterminal flag, and the external program is interactive.

    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 when displaying, forwarding, printing, or replying to messages.

wrap_search
    Type: boolean
    Default: yes

    Controls whether searches wrap around the end of the mailbox.

    When set, searches will wrap around the first (or last) message. When unset, searches will not wrap.

wrapmargin
    Type: number
    Default: 0

    Controls the margin left at the right side of the terminal when mutt's pager does smart wrapping.

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” variable.

write_bcc
    Type: boolean
    Default: yes

    Controls whether mutt writes out the Bcc header when preparing messages to be sent. Exim users may wish to use this.

SEE ALSO

iconv(1), iconv(3), mailcap(5), maildir(5), mbox(5), mutt(1), printf(3), regex(7), strftime(3)

The Mutt Manual

The Mutt home page: http://www.mutt.org/

AUTHOR

Michael Elkins, and others. Use <mutt-dev@mutt.org> to contact the developers.