# Mutt Hangs While Loading External Editor



## purgatori (Jun 3, 2010)

I really don't have much to add to the title of the thread; mutt used to work fine, but now, when it attempts to load an external editor (vim) to compose an email message, mutt disappears and I'm left back at the shell without a prompt. In the above, ctrl-c produces the '0' output, and carriage return = '?', the only way to exit this state is to close the terminal. I have searched Google for this error, and I have seen it reported by one or two other folks, and it seems that adding:


```
set signature=""
```

... in their .muttrc resolved the problem. Such was not my experience though, unfortunately. 

Any suggestions?

EDIT: I just tried to reproduce this error in konsole, and could not do so. It would seem that my troubles are once again related to something screwy with my rxvt-unicode setup; see: http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=13950


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## Carpetsmoker (Jun 3, 2010)

Please put the output in text instead of a large unreadable dark image.

You also forgot to mention which external editor you're using and post your mutt configuration.


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## purgatori (Jun 3, 2010)

Carpetsmoker said:
			
		

> Please put the output in text instead of a large unreadable dark image.
> 
> You also forgot to mention which external editor you're using and post your mutt configuration.



1. I included both. 

2. No, I didn't. 

3. Here:


```
set header_cache=~/.mutt/cache/headers
set message_cachedir=~/.mutt/cache/bodies
set certificate_file=~/.mutt/certificates

set move = no
set signature =""

#Different colors for different levels of quoting.
### Syntax
## color WHERE FOREGROUND BACKGROUND REGEXP
color hdrdefault white black # headers white on black
color header brightgreen black ^From: # senderâ€™s name in green
color header brightgreen black ^To:
color quoted magenta black
color quoted1 blue black
color quoted2 red black
color quoted3 yellow black
color quoted4 cyan black
color quoted5 blue black
color quoted6 magenta black
color quoted7 red black
color quoted8 yellow black
color quoted9 cyan black
color signature red black  #signature in red


## Command bind :
### Syntax unto version 0.60: bind <key> <function-name> <menu-name>
### Syntax From version 0.61: bind <menu-name> <key> <function-name>
### Values for <menu-name>:
### attach, folder-menu, alias-menu; index; pager.
### Special values for <key>:  pageup, pagedown, up, down, left, right
### Description: MUTT allows you to bind a command to keys.
### For more info see page
### http://www.math.fu-berlin.de/~guckes/mutt/mutt.manual.html#bind or
### http://www.cs.hmc.edu/~me/mutt/bind.html .
### There are some keystrokes that I am used with other programs:

### ========================
### Bindings for attach menu
### ========================
#
bind attach ' ' select-entry
bind attach \Cg exit
#
bind index  P    recall-message # 'R'ecall-message move to 'P' [0.46]
## bind index  L    bottom-of-page # overrides 'L'ist-reply
bind index  R    list-reply     # 'L'ist-reply moved to 'R'
#
### ========================
### Bindings for editor
### ========================
#
## bind editor \C? backspace
#
### ==============================
### Bindings for index *and* pager
### ==============================
#
### Jumping to the next mail that is still unread.
### Even though I use both New and Old mails
### I usually prefer "jump-unread" to "jump-new".
### The TAB key (\t) is convenient for this.
### To allow jumping to the previous unread mail
### I use the comma as a prefix to this command:
bind index   \t          next-unread
bind pager   \t          next-unread
bind index  ,\t      previous-unread
bind pager  ,\t      previous-unread
#
### ======================
### Bindings for index
### ======================
#
## index bindings - obvious stuff
#
bind index pagedown     next-page
bind index pageup   previous-page
## bind index home     first-message	# error with mutt-0.89.1
## bind index end       last-message	# error with mutt-0.89.1
#
## index bindings - vi (editor) style
#
## bind index \Cg        group-reply # \Cg --> "group-reply"
## bind index g        first-message #  g  was "group-reply"
## bind index G         last-message	# error with mutt-0.89.1
#
bind index \Cb previous-page
bind index \Cf next-page           # \Cf was 'f'orget-passphrase
## bind index \Cv forget-passphrase # \Cv --> 'f'orget-passphrase
#
## index bindings - nn (newsreader) style
#
bind index < previous-page
bind index > next-page
## bind index ^ first-message       # error with mutt-0.89.1
## bind index $ last-message        # error with mutt-0.89.1
bind index \Cx sync-mailbox        # \Cx ->"sync-mailbox"
#
## index bindings - elm (mailer) style
#
bind index + next-page
bind index - previous-page
#
macro index V "!mutt -v | less"
macro index "+so" ":source "
#
### ===========================
### Bindings for pager
### ===========================
#
## pager bindings - vi style bindings
#
bind pager \Cu half-up
bind pager \Cd half-down
#
bind pager \Cm next-line
bind pager \Ce next-line
bind pager \Cy previous-line
bind pager +   next-line
bind pager -   previous-line
#
bind pager ' ' next-page
bind pager \Cf next-page
bind pager \Cn next-page
#
bind pager -   previous-page
bind pager \Cb previous-page       # was "browse-url"
## bind pager ,B  browse-url        # compensate for \Cb
bind pager \Cn half-down
bind pager \Cp half-up
#
bind pager t   top
bind pager ^   top
bind pager G   bottom
bind pager $   bottom
#
bind pager /   search
#
bind pager n   next-undeleted
## bind pager N
#
bind pager p   previous-undeleted
bind pager P   print-message
#
bind pager R   list-reply
bind pager L   list-reply
#
### Adding a prefix to index mail commands
### NOTE: Using ESC as prefix requires a small pause
### between ESC and the following key - therefore
### I use the comma as the prefix key  :-)
### I once used the backslash key - but \n, \r, and \t
### are used for newline, return, and tab.  *sigh*
#
bind pager ,b   bounce-message    
bind pager ,f   forward-message   
bind pager ,g   group-reply       
bind pager ,m   mail              
bind pager ,L   list-reply        
bind pager ,n   reply             
bind pager ,r   reply             
bind pager ,a   reply               # 'a' is for "answer"
#
### jump                commands
#
bind pager ,j   next-undeleted    
bind pager ,k   previous-undeleted
#
### Bind default mail commands to jump commands
bind pager backspace   previous-line     
## bind pager delete      previous-line       # yields error!
bind pager b   previous-page     
bind pager f   next-page         
bind pager g   top               
bind pager j   next-line         
bind pager k   previous-line     
bind pager m   noop              
bind pager L   noop              
bind pager r   noop              
#                      
bind pager :  enter-command      
#
```


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