This directory of Linux commands is from Linux in a Nutshell, 5th Edition.
Click on any of the 687 commands below to get a description and list of available options. All links in the command summaries point to the online version of the book on Safari Bookshelf.
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mailto
mailto [options] [recipients]
Send mail with MIME types and text formatting. If no recipients are specified, mailto prompts for the names. This program has a very similar interface to that of the mail command, with two differences: it only sends mail, and it adds a number of text-formatting and MIME-handling features, described here. For features not covered here, see the mail command. mailto uses the metamail backend and relies on the mailcap configuration files.
Options
Specify an alternate character set.
Specify a name for the CC: field. Specify multiple names with a comma-separated list inside double quotes.
Specify the Subject: field. Use double quotes if there are any spaces.
Text formatting
Mail formatting is handled with escape sequences that begin with the tilde (~) character. Those for text formatting are:
Turn bold text on or off.
Turn italic text on or off.
Set justification to center, left, or right, respectively.
Toggle whether to send a blind copy to yourself.
Hard line break (newline).
Increase or decrease left margin.
Increase or decrease right margin.
Quotation mode (indent and mark selection as excerpt).
Append ~/.signature as the signature for this message.
Including objects in mail
You can include a variety of objects in your messages, again using tilde escape sequences. To do so, enter ~*, and the program will prompt you for the type of data you wish to add. The available content types will vary from installation to installation.
