Message Format

A mail message has three parts: the header, the information lines, and the text.

A message header contains the following information.

the reference number
the drawer that contains the message
the name of the sender
the size of the message
when the message was sent

The header is always present. The size of the message is given in terms of lines and characters: for example, you might see

          (10/281)

in a header, indicating the message consists of 10 lines, containing 281 characters. The time that the message was sent is given in terms of a 24-hour clock in the sender's time zone. For example, you might see

          Wed, 11 Dec 93, 21:34:56 PST

in the header.

The information lines follow the message header. The lines appear in the following order:

To: name, name, name, ...: lists the userids of one or more people to whom the message was sent. This line is always present.
Cc: name, name, name, ...: stands for "carbon copies". The people listed in this line also receive a copy of the message. This line may be omitted.
Bcc: name, name, name, ...: stands for "blind carbon copies". The users who are listed also receive a copy of the message. However, this information line is never transmitted to recipients, nor does it appear in the sender's Outbound message. When a message is printed by the sender or the recipient, only the To: and Cc: lines are displayed.
Subject: short summary: is written by the sender to describe what the message contains. This line may be omitted.

Other information may be included in certain types of messages.

The text of a message follows the information lines. The text can be as long as desired--there is no maximum length. Items in the Unread drawer do not have any associated text, since they are just notifications that a real message is waiting elsewhere.