Special Edition Using Linux, Fourth Edition:Using Electronic Mail

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Forwarding Messages

To forward a message (actually, you’re including the message with a message you compose), you must first start mail in the same way that you start it to read your messages. Then you use the m, r, or R command to send a message. As you compose your message, you use a tilde command, ~f, to forward one or several messages. The general form of the ~f command is ~f msglist. Here is a step-by-step example of how to forward a message:

1. Start mail (type mail and press <Return>). The system responds with something similar to the following:


mail     Type ? for help.

“/var/spool/mail/bkorn”: 5 messages 2 new 1 unread

     1 sarah Wed Jan  8 09:17  15/363

     2 [email protected] Thu Jan  9 10:18 26/657   Meeting on

       Friday

U    3 fred Fri Jan  10 08:09  32/900   New Orders

> N  4 jones Fri Jan  10 13:22  35/1347   Draft Report

N    5 [email protected] Sat Jan  11 13:21  76/3103  Excerpt from

       book

?

2. Read message 5 by typing 5 and pressing <Return>. (The text of that message isn’t shown here.) Suppose that you want to forward it to your friends whose addresses are sarah, [email protected], and [email protected].

3. Use the m command to send mail to the addresses listed in step 2, type a subject, and type a beginning for your message, as shown here:


? m sarah [email protected] [email protected]

Subject: Forwarding an excerpt from new Que Linux book

Hi!

I’m forwarding an excerpt I came across from a new book by Que.

It’s Special Edition Using Linux, Fourth Edition. I’ll be

getting my own copy tomorrow.

Do you want me to pick up a copy for you, too?

4. Use the ~f command to forward message number 5 (type ~f 5 and press <Return>). mail responds with the following message:


Interpolating: 5

(continue)

5. The cursor is now under the word “continue.” You can continue adding text to your mail message, or you can end it by typing ~. and pressing <Return>. If you end it, the ? prompt appears.

Sending a Copy with mail

You can send a copy of an e-mail message to one or more addresses by putting those addresses on what’s known as the cc: list. The cc: list works as you expect it to: The mail is sent to the primary address or addresses (those in the To header) and also to the address or addresses in the Cc header. To include addresses in the cc: list, use the tilde command ~c address while you’re sending the message.

The following example shows how to send a brief memo to a primary address (wjones) and a copy of it to yourself and another address (your address is bkorn, and the other user’s address is ecarlst). You send one to yourself so that you have a copy of the memo. Follow these steps to add a cc: list to the list of recipients:

1. Start mail to send e-mail to the primary address, wjones, and give a subject header. Enter the following commands to achieve this:


$ mail fred

Subject: Memo - Sales Agreement with Framistan

2. Enter the text of the memo you want to send. For example, type the following:


TO:          Fred Jones

Date:     Oct 31, 1996

From:     Henry Charleston

RE:          Sales Agreement With Framistan Motors

On October 27, 1996, I held a meeting with the CEO of Framistan Motors.

We concluded and initialed a sales agreement by which Framistan would

purchase 10,000 units of our thermo-embryonic carthurators. The

agreement has been forwarded to the appropriate parties in our

organization and we intend to formally complete the agreement within

two weeks.

3. Give the ~c address command to add addresses to the cc: list. For example, type the following to send copies to yourself (bkorn) and to ecarlst:


~c ecarlst bkorn

4. To send the message, enter a tilde and period (~.) and press <Return>. The EOT message appears, followed by the shell prompt.

TIP: To review and possibly modify the headers on an outgoing message, enter ~h while you’re composing the message. You’re shown the headers one at a time, and you can modify them.

When a message is sent this way, all the recipients can see the headers To and Cc. Anyone who replies to the message with the r command will send the reply to every address in the To and Cc lists, as well as to the author.

You can customize mail so that it always prompts you for a Cc header in the same way that it prompts you for the Subject header (this is discussed later in the section “Customizing Your mail Environment”). Of course, you can keep from entering anything in the Cc list by pressing <Return>.

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