#### 3.5.4.12 Executing Other Mail Commands: ~: and ~- ¶

You can execute a mail command from within compose mode using ‘`~:`’ or ‘`~-`’ escapes. For example, typing

    ~: from :t

will display the from lines of all tagged messages. Note, that executing mail-sending commands from within the compose mode is not allowed. An attempt to execute such a command will result in diagnostic message “Command not allowed in an escape sequence” being displayed. Also, when starting compose mode immediately from the shell (e.g. running ‘`mail address@domain`’), most mail commands are meaningless, since there is no mailbox to operate upon. In this case, the only commands that can reasonably be used are: `alias`, `unalias`, `alternate`, `set`, and `unset`.