#### 3.5.2.14 Replying ¶

Mail command: mail [address...] ¶
Mail command: m [address...] ¶

  Switches to compose mode. After composing the message, sends it to the specified addresses.

  If the `record` variable is set, the composed message will be saved in the folder named by it.

Mail command: Mail [address...] ¶
Mail command: M [address...] ¶

  Same as `mail`, but the name of the file to save the composed message is derived from its first recipient as outlined below.

  If the `outfolder` variable is set, and has a string value s, the filename is `s/recipient`. If it is a boolean, then the `folder` variable is consulted. If it is set, then the filename is `folder/recipient`. Otherwise, the message will not be saved.

  The value recipient is derived from the email of the first recipient of the message. By default it is a local part of that email. If the `outfilename` variable has the value ‘`domain`’, the domain part of the email is used. If this variable is set to ‘`email`’, then entire email address is used.

  See saving mail by name, for a detailed discussion.

Mail command: reply [message] ¶
Mail command: respond [message] ¶
Mail command: r [message] ¶

  Mail a reply message to all recipients included in the header of the message. The subject header is formed by concatenating the value of the `replyprefix` variable and the subject from the message. If `record` is set to a filename, the response is saved at the end of that file.

Mail command: Reply [msglist] ¶
Mail command: Respond [msglist] ¶
Mail command: R [msglist] ¶

  Mail a reply message to the sender of each message in the msglist. The subject header is formed by concatenating the value of the `replyprefix` variable and the subject header of from the first message in msglist. If `record` is set to a filename, the response is saved at the end of that file.

  Notice, that setting mail variable `flipr` (see How to Alter the Behavior of `mail`) swaps the meanings of the two above commands

Mail command: followup [message] ¶
Mail command: fo [message] ¶

  Respond to message, recording the response in a file whose name is derived from the author of the message. See saving mail by name, for a discussion of how the file name is selected.

Mail command: Followup [msglist] ¶
Mail command: F [msglist] ¶

  Same as `Reply`, but the response is saved in a file whose name is derived from the author of the first message. See saving mail by name, for a detailed discussion of how the file name is selected.

By default, `mail` will preserve personal email parts when forming lists of recipient addresses. If this is not desired, unset the `fullnames` variable (see fullnames).

To determine the sender of the message `mail` uses the list of sender fields (see Controlling Sender Fields). The first field from this list is looked up in message headers. If it is found and contains a valid email address, this address is used as the sender address. If not, the second field is searched and so on. This process continues until a field is found in the headers, or the sender field list is exhausted, whichever happens first.

If the previous step did not determine the sender address, the address from SMTP envelope is used.

Let’s illustrate this. Suppose your mailbox contains the following:

     U  1 block@helsingor.org  Fri Jun 30 18:30  8/245    Re: The Sa
    ? Print 1
    From: Antonius Block <block@helsingor.org>
    To: Smeden Plog <plog@helsingor.org>
    Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2004 13:23:41 +0300
    Reply-To: <root@helsingor.org>
    Subject: News

    Hi

Now, you issue the following commands:

    ? sender mail-followup-to reply-to from
    ? reply
    To: <root@helsingor.org>
    Subject: Re: News

As you see, the value of `Reply-To` field was taken as the sender address.

Now, let’s try the following command sequence:

    # Clear the sender list
    ? nosender
    # Set new sender list
    ? sender From

Now, the `From` address will be taken:

    ? reply
    To: Antonius Block <block@helsingor.org>
    Subject: Re: News