SYNOPSIS

In alphabetical order:

mu [options] general mu command

mu add add specific messages to the database

mu cfind [options] [<regexp>] find contacts

mu extract [options] <file> [<parts>] [<regexp>] extract attachments and other MIME-parts

mu find [options] <search expression> find messages

mu index [options] (re)index the messages in a Maildir

mu mkdir [options] <dir> [<dirs>] create a new Maildir

mu remove [options] remove specific messages from the database

mu script [options] run a mu (Guile) script

mu server [options] start a server process (for mu4e-internal use)

mu view <file> [<files>] view a specific message

DESCRIPTION

mu is a set of tools for dealing with Maildirs and the e-mail messages in them.

mu's main function is to enable searching of e-mail messages. It does so by periodically scanning a Maildir directory tree and analyzing the e-mail messages found ('indexing'). The results of this analysis are stored in a database, which can then be queried.

In addition to indexing and searching, mu also offers functionality for viewing messages, extracting attachments and creating maildirs, and searching and exporting contact information.

mu can be used from the command line or can be integrated with various e-mail clients.

This manpage gives a general overview of the available commands (index, find, etc.); each mu command has its own man-page as well.

COMMANDS

mu offers the following commands:

index

for indexing (analyzing) the contents of your Maildirs, and storing the information in a database. See mu-index(1) .

find

for finding messages in your database, using certain search parameters. See mu-find(1) .

cfind

for finding contacts (names + e-mail addresses) matching a certain expression, and exporting the results in various formats for use in other programs. mu-cfind(1) .

view

for displaying e-mail messages. See mu-view(1) .

mkdir

for creating Maildirs. See mu-mkdir(1) .

extract

for extract MIME-parts (such as attachments) from messages. See mu-extract(1) .

COLORS

Some mu sub-commands support colorized output, and do so by default. If you don't want colors, you can use --nocolor.

Currently, mu find, mu view, mu cfind and mu extract support colors.

ENCODING

mu's output is in the current locale, with the exceptions of the output specifically meant for output to UTF8-encoded files. In practice, this means that the output of commands index, view, extract is always encoded according to the current locale.

The same is true for find and cfind, with some exceptions, where the output is always UTF-8, regardless of the locale.

For cfind the exception is --format=bbdb. This is hard-coded to UTF-8, and as such specified in the output-file, so emacs/bbdb can handle it correctly without guessing.

For find the output is encoded according the locale for --format=plain (the default), and UTF-8 for all other formats (json, sexp, xml).

DATABASE AND FILE

Commands mu index and find and cfind work with the database, while the other ones work on invidual mail files. Hence, running view, mkdir and extract does not require the mu database.

The various commands are discussed in more detail in their own separate man-pages; here the general options are discussed.

OPTIONS

mu offers several general options that apply to all commands, including mu without any command.

--muhome

causes mu to use an alternative directory to store and read its database and logs. By default, ~/.mu is used.

-d, --debug

makes mu generate extra debug information, useful for debugging the program itself. By default, debug information goes to the log file, ~/.mu/log/mu.log. It can safely be deleted when mu is not running. When running with --debug option, the log file can grow rather quickly. See the note on logging below.

-q, --quiet

causes mu not to output informational messages and progress information to standard output, but only to the log file. Error messages will still be sent to standard error. Note that mu index is much faster with --quiet, so it is recommended you use this option when using mu from scripts etc.

--log-stderr

causes mu to not output log messages to standard error, in addition to sending them to the log file.

-v, --version

prints mu version and copyright information.

-h, --help

lists the various command line options, while --help-index, --help-find and --help-all list only the options for respectively the specified command or for all commands.

AUTHOR

Dirk-Jan C. Binnema <[email protected]>