---
name: "mhook"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "mh"
version: "6.8.4-2"
release: "Debian 1.1 (Buzz)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/mhook"
---

# mhook(1)

MH receive-mail hooks

## NAME

mhook, rcvdist, rcvpack, rcvtty  - MH receive-mail hooks

## SYNOPSIS

/usr/lib/mh/rcvdist \[-form formfile\] \[switches for *postproc*\] address ... \[-help\]

/usr/lib/mh/rcvpack file \[-help\]

/usr/lib/mh/rcvtty \[command\] \[-form formatfile\] \[-format string\] \[-bell\] \[-nobell\] \[-newline\] \[-nonewline\] \[-biff\] \[-help\]

## DESCRIPTION

A receive-mail hook is a program that is run whenever you receive a mail message. You do **NOT** invoke the hook yourself, rather the hook is invoked on your behalf by your system's Message Transport Agent.  See *slocal* (1) for details on how to activate receive-mail hooks on your system.

Four programs are currently available as part of *MH*, *rcvdist* (redistribute incoming messages to additional recipients), *rcvpack* (save incoming messages in a *packf*'d file), and *rcvtty* (notify user of incoming messages). The fourth program, *rcvstore* (1) is described separately. They all reside in the */usr/lib/mh/* directory.

The *rcvdist* program will resend a copy of the message to all of the addresses listed on its command line. It uses the format string facility described in *mh-format* (5). In addition, *rcvdist* also recognizes the following additional *component* escape:

```
Escape	Returns	Description
addresses	string	the addresses to distribute to
```

The *rcvpack* program will append a copy of the message to the file listed on its command line. Its use is obsoleted by the “file” action of *slocal*.

The *rcvtty* program executes the named file with the message as its standard input, and writes the resulting output  on your terminal.

If no file is specified, or is bogus, etc., then *rcvtty* will instead write a one-line scan listing. Either the \`-form formatfile' or \`-format string' option may be used  to override the default output format (see *mh-format* (5)). A newline is output before the  message output, and the terminal bell is rung after the output.  The \`-nonewline' and \`-nobell' options will inhibit these functions.

In addition to the standard *mh-format* (5) escapes, *rcvtty* also recognizes the following additional *component* escapes:

```
Escape	Returns	Description
body	string	the (compressed) first part of the body
dtimenow	date	the current date
folder	string	the name of the current folder
```

Normally, *rcvtty* obeys write permission as granted by *mesg* (1). With the \`-biff' option, *rcvtty* will obey the notification status set by *biff* (1) instead. If the terminal access daemon (TTYD) is available on your system, then *rcvtty* will give its output to the daemon for output instead of writing on the user's terminal. ^/usr/lib/mh/mtstailor~^tailor file ^$HOME/.maildelivery~^The file controlling local delivery ^/usr/lib/mh/maildelivery~^Rather than the standard file rcvstore (1), [mh-format(5)](/mh-format/5.md), [slocal(1)](/slocal/1.md) Only two return codes are meaningful, others should be.