---
name: "rcvtty"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "nmh"
version: "1.5-release-0.2"
release: "Debian 7 (Wheezy)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/rcvtty"
---

# rcvtty(1)

report new mail

## NAME

rcvtty  - report new mail

## SYNOPSIS

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

## DESCRIPTION

The **rcvtty** can be used to report new mail.  It is used primarily in conjunction with mail filtering agents such as **slocal** or **procmail**.

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

Alternately, if no command is specified (or is bogus), then **rcvtty** will instead write a one-line scan listing.  The default output format of this scan listing may be overridden by using either the **-form** *formatfile* or **-format** *string* option, similar to the equivalent options for **scan** and **inc**. See [**mh-format**(5)](/mh-format/5.md) for details.

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.

The switch **-width** *columns* may be given to specify the width of the scan line.  The default is to use the width of the terminal.

In addition to the standard format escapes described in [**mh-format**(5)](/mh-format/5.md), **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
```

By default, **rcvtty** will send its output to every terminal on the local machine that is owned by current user, and that has given write permission as granted by the command [**mesg**(1)](/mesg/1.md). If the option **-biff** is given, then **rcvtty** will obey the notification status set by the command [**biff**(1)](/biff/1.md) instead.

## FILES

```
^/etc/nmh/mts.conf~^nmh mts configuration file
^$HOME/.maildelivery~^The file controlling local delivery
^/etc/nmh/maildelivery~^Rather than the standard file
```

## CONTEXT

None

## DEFAULTS

```
`-width' defaults to the width of the terminal
`-newline'
`-bell'
```

## SEE ALSO

[rcvdist(1)](/rcvdist/1.md), [rcvpack(1)](/rcvpack/1.md), [rcvstore(1)](/rcvstore/1.md), [mh-format(5)](/mh-format/5.md), [slocal(1)](/slocal/1.md)

## BUGS

Only two return codes are meaningful, others should be.