---
name: "sendmail"
section: "8"
platform: "openbsd"
package: "man"
version: "8.0-current-20261101"
release: "OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "openbsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/sendmail/8"
---

# sendmail(8)

a mail enqueuer for smtpd(8)

## NAME

**sendmail** – a mail enqueuer for [smtpd(8)](/smtpd/8.md)

## SYNOPSIS

**sendmail** \[**-tv**\] \[**-F** *name*\] \[**-f** *from*\] *to* *...*

## DESCRIPTION

The **sendmail** utility is a local enqueuer for the [smtpd(8)](/smtpd/8.md) daemon, compatible with [mailwrapper(8)](/mailwrapper/8.md). The message is read on standard input (stdin) until **sendmail** encounters an end-of-file. The **sendmail** enqueuer is not intended to be used directly to send mail, but rather via a frontend known as a mail user agent.

Unless the optional **-t** flag is specified, one or more recipients must be specified on the command line.

The options are as follows:

- **-F** *name*

  Set the sender's full name.

- **-f** *from*

  Set the sender's address.

- **-t**

  Read the message's To:, Cc:, and Bcc: fields for recipients. The Bcc: field will be deleted before sending.

- **-v**

  Enable verbose output.

To maintain compatibility with Sendmail, Inc.'s implementation of **sendmail**, various other flags are accepted, but have no effect.

## EXIT STATUS

The **sendmail** utility exits 0 on success, and \>0 if an error occurs.

## SEE ALSO

[smtpctl(8)](/smtpctl/8.md), [smtpd(8)](/smtpd/8.md)

## AUTHORS

**OpenSMTPD** is primarily developed by Gilles Chehade, Eric Faurot, and Charles Longeau, with contributions from various OpenBSD hackers. It is distributed under the ISC license.

This manpage was written by Ryan Kavanagh ⟨*rak@debian.org*⟩ for the Debian project and is distributed under the ISC license.