# using the mail utility



## c00kie (May 13, 2012)

I'm using sendmail locally, and I'm trying to delete messages at the terminal with mail(1). From the manual:



> ```
> delete  (d) Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as
> deleted.  Deleted messages will not be saved in mbox, nor will
> they be available for most other commands.
> ```



Could someone give me an example?

I've tried

[CMD="&"]delete 4[/CMD]
[CMD="&"]d 4[/CMD]

But this doesn't remove message number four?


help


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## DutchDaemon (May 14, 2012)

It depends on whether you quit with '*q*' or '*x*' ..


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## c00kie (May 14, 2012)

DutchDaemon said:
			
		

> It depends on whether you quit with '*q*' or '*x*' ..



Hi and thankyou.

If I quit with '*q*' the shell prints:


```
& q
Held 18 messages in /var/mail/user
```

but


```
$ cd user
cd: user no such file or directory
```

I guess that's since:


```
-rw-------  1 user   wheel   48837 May 14 07:51 user
-rw-------  1 mysql  mysql       0 May  9 09:55 mysql
-rw-------  1 root   wheel  247549 May 10 13:16 root
-rw-------  1 user   1001        0 Jan 30 14:27 tqadmin
```

If I quit with '*x*', then I'm returned to the shell OK. I still can't delete messages though?


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## DutchDaemon (May 14, 2012)

mail(1) should tell you all you need, I guess.


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## Kiiski (May 14, 2012)

Quick tutorial to get you started:
If you want to look messages saved in "user" mailbox:
`$ mail -f /var/mail/user`
And if you want to delete message number 4 of those:
[CMD="&"]d 4[/CMD]
To see all messages in mailbox:
[CMD="&"]h[/CMD]
To quit mail session
[CMD="&"]q[/CMD]
And more information google and
`$ man mail`

Happy mailing


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## c00kie (May 14, 2012)

Kiiski said:
			
		

> Quick tutorial to get you started:



Thanks, but it's as clear as mud. Now, upon:


```
$ q
mail: /home/user/mbox: Permission denied
```

And still can't delete messages?

I'm not finding mail(1) helpful at all.


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## c00kie (May 14, 2012)

Kiiski said:
			
		

> Quick tutorial to get you started:
> If you want to look messages saved in "user" mailbox:
> `$ mail -f /var/mail/user`
> And if you want to delete message number 4 of those:
> [CMD="&"]d 4[/CMD]



OK. If I `$ mail -f /var/mail/user` I'm taken through to my mailbox. If I then [CMD="&"]d 4[/CMD]

Message number 4 looks like:

```
U  2 root@my.domain.or  Thu May 10 11:09  89/3248  "my.domain.com dail"
 U  3 spam@domain.  Thu May 10 13:18  44/1955  "test mail"
    4 test@somedomain.com  Thu May 10 13:25  47/2917  "test"
```

What's the definition of a deleted message? I thought it would be removed from the list...


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## c00kie (May 15, 2012)

I needed to *su* to root to delete messages. My mailbox is an alias of the root account, red-faced.

Thanks again for all your help.


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