Using mailx

[dbbyleo]

I'm new to using mailx. I'd like to know the basics in using it to read, delete, etc my mail.

I have the man pages printed out, but things aren't working the way I think it is suppose to work.

When I do:
mailx

I see a list of messages in my mailbox.
1st question: The list show columns. I understand most of them except for the first column. It has values of "U" or "N" (so far that I've seen). What does this column mean? and what does the values mean?

2nd question: how do you delete mail? I've tried using:
delete 1-20
and all 20 messages still appear when I enter mailx.

 

[harris79]

N means New
U means Unread

To delete messages 1-20
? d 1-20
? q

To delete all
? d *
? q

You must run the q (quit) command as it is this that saves the changes, in this case the deletes.

There is a lot of information in the man pages. But for most people (me included) too much.

Steve