Suppress the deletion of the login name of the user from the recipient list when replying to a message or sending to a group.

Suppress the deletion of the user's login name and any alternative addresses from the recipient list when replying to a message or sending to a group.

(See also the metoo variable.) Declare a list of alternative names for the user's login. When responding to a message, these names shall be removed from the list of recipients for the response. The comparison of names shall be in a case-insensitive manner. With no arguments, alternates shall write the current list of alternative names.

Declare a list of alternative addresses for the address consisting of the user's login name. When responding to a message or sending to a group, if the metoo variable is unset these alternative addresses shall be removed from the list of recipients. The comparison of addresses shall be performed in a case-insensitive manner. With no arguments, alternates shall write the current list of alternative addresses.

In the lowercase form, respond to a message, recording the response in a file whose name is derived from the author of the message. See also the save and copy commands and outfolder.

In the capitalized form, respond to the first message in the msglist, sending the message to the author of each message in the msglist. The Subject header field shall be taken from the first message and the response shall be recorded in a file whose name is derived from the author of the first message. See also the Save and Copy commands and outfolder.

Both forms shall override the record variable, if set.

The followup and Followup commands shall be equivalent to reply and Reply, respectively, except that:

• They shall ignore the record variable.


• The followup command shall record the response in a file whose name is derived from the author of the message.


• The Followup command shall record the response in a file whose name is derived from the author of the first message in the msglist.

See also the save and copy commands and outfolder.

Reply to a Message List

Synopsis:

R[eply] [msglist]
R[espond] [msglist]

Mail a reply message to the sender of each message in the msglist. The value for the Subject header field shall be formed by concatenating Re:<space> (unless it already begins with that string) and the value of the Subject header field from the first message. If record is set to a filename, the response shall be saved at the end of that file.

See also the flipr variable.

Reply to a Message

Synopsis:

r[eply] [message]
r[espond] [message]

Mail a reply message to all recipients included in the header of the message. The value for the Subject header field shall be formed by concatenating Re:<space> (unless it already begins with that string) and the value of the Subject header field from the message. If record is set to a filename, the response shall be saved at the end of that file.

See also the flipr variable.

Reply to a Message or a Message List

Synopsis:

r[eply] [message]
r[espond] [message]
R[eply] [msglist]
R[espond] [msglist]

Mail a reply message to one or more addresses taken from certain header fields in the specified message or message list. If the flipr variable is unset, these commands shall behave as described below. If the flipr variable is set, commands in the lowercase form shall behave as described below for commands in the capitalized form, and vice versa; the synopsis forms shown above shall also be swapped accordingly.

The recipients of the reply message shall be determined by first constructing an initial list of recipients and then modifying it to form the list that is in effect when mailx enters input mode.

In the capitalized form, the initial list of recipients shall be taken from the header of each message in the msglist as follows:

• If the header contains a Reply-To field, the address or addresses in that field shall be added to the list.


• Otherwise, the address or addresses in the From field of the header shall be added to the list.

In the lowercase form, the initial list of recipients shall be taken from the header of the message as follows:

• If the header does not contain a Reply-To field, all of the addresses in the From, To, and Cc fields shall be included in the list.


• Otherwise, it is implementation-defined whether all of the addresses in the Reply-To, To, and Cc fields are included in the list or only the address or addresses in the Reply-To field.

The initial list of recipients shall be marked for placement in the header fields of the reply message as follows. Recipient addresses taken from a From or Reply-To header field shall be marked for placement in the To field of the reply message. Recipient addresses taken from a Cc header field shall be marked for placement in the Cc field of the reply message. Recipient addresses taken from a To header field shall be marked for placement in either the To or the Cc field of the reply message. Implementations shall provide a way to place them in the To field. Implementations may, but need not, provide an implementation-defined way to place them in the Cc field.

The modifications applied to the initial list of recipients shall be as follows:

• If the metoo variable is unset, addresses consisting of the login name of the user and any alternative addresses declared using the alternates command shall be removed from the list.


• The set of recipients marked for placement in the To header field of the reply message shall have duplicates within that set removed.


• The set of recipients marked for placement in the Cc header field of the reply message shall have duplicates within that set removed and may have recipients that are also marked for placement in the To field removed.

The values for the To and Cc header fields of the reply message shall be constructed from the addresses in the modified list of recipients that are marked for placement in each of those fields.

The value for the Subject header field of the reply message shall be formed from the value of the Subject header field of the message or the first message in msglist by prefixing it with Re:<space>, unless it already begins with that string.

The values of the To, Cc, and Subject header fields set as described above can be modified by the user after mailx enters input mode through the use of the ~t, ~c, ~s, and ~h command escapes.

If record is set to a pathname, the response shall be saved at the end of that file.

Note: Some mail applications have automatic reply commands that include the destination addresses of the original message in the destination addresses of the reply. How those reply commands behave is implementation dependent and is beyond the scope of this document. In particular, whether or not to include the original destination addresses when the original message had a "Reply-To:" field is not addressed here.