AIX

Don't try to manage the mail directly.

Instead use "inc" to pull the mail into your home directory, then "scan" to list it, "show" to show specifc emails, and "rmm" to remove specific emails.

Don't try to manage the mail directly.

Instead use "inc" to pull the mail into your home directory, then "scan" to list it, "show" to show specifc emails, and "rmm" to remove specific emails.

Part of the bos.mh lpp (MH == mail handler).  They are more functional than using the mail command to manage email.

You can do inc:

Incorporating new mail into inbox...

7+ 05/25 To:mksysb-alarm@p MKSYSB ERRORS - 2 <<Got some mksysb errors today.
8  06/05 To:mksysb-alarm@p MKSYSB ERRORS - 1 <<Got some mksysb errors today.
9  06/12 To:mksysb-alarm@p MKSYSB ERRORS - 1 <<Got some mksysb errors today.

The email will be moved from /var/spool/mail/USER into ~USER/Mail/inbox, one file per e-mail.  The '+' sign marks the current email.

Scan the emails in inbox (scan  or scan 6-8 to scan emails 1 through 8) 

6  05/05 To:mksysb-alarm@p MKSYSB ERRORS - 1 <<Got some mksysb errors today.

7+ 05/25 To:mksysb-alarm@p MKSYSB ERRORS - 2 <<Got some mksysb errors today.
8  06/05 To:mksysb-alarm@p MKSYSB ERRORS - 1 <<Got some mksysb errors today.

Show an email (show to show current email  or  show 8 to show email 8  or  show 6-8 to show emails 6-8)

This will also  change the current mark (+) to the latest shown email.

Delete an email (rmm to delete the current email or rmm 8 to delete email 8 or rmm 6-8 to delete emails 6-8)

Show the next email (next - move current to the next email and show it) or previous (prev)

Move mails to another folder: refile 1-12 +backup

Use the pick command to list the email numbers for the refile command: refile $(pick -search "run-backup") +backup

Or to delete garbage: rmm $(pick -search "MakeMoneyFast")

This allows you to keep mails related to auditing and to drop operational fluff into the bitbucket.

sortm to sort messages (useful if you moved files with multiple iterations of the pick command), it also packs the numbering of the messages. 

Ref: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/aix/7.2?topic=programs-message-handler-mh 

Don't try to manage the mail directly.

Instead use "inc" to pull the mail into your home directory, then "scan" to list it, "show" to show specifc emails, and "rmm" to remove specific emails.