mail: leading white space in subject

aikempshall · 12-04-2022, 04:33 AM

I would like to introduce leading white space into the mail subject so it stands out in the mail list

Code:

 echo "Body text" | mail -s "                 subject text" -- alex

results in

Quote:

N 58 alex@mylaptop.vict 2022-12-04 10:16 15/522 subject text

where the leading spaces have been dropped

I could use a dot instead of space

Code:

 echo "Body text" | mail -s "..................subject text" -- alex

which results in

Quote:

U 59 alex@mylaptop.vict 2022-12-04 10:20 16/532 .................subject text

The leading dots have the desired effect to right justify the subject, I'd prefer to have spaces.

Any thoughts?

Alex

mrmazda · 12-04-2022, 07:30 PM

If you're stuck using HTML email, whitespace is normally collapsed by default. If you replace each space with   then you might achieve the desired effect. Plain text email normally won't collapse whitespace. FMI.

MadeInGermany · 12-05-2022, 03:27 PM

Hmm, Subject is never HTML.
I think the leading whitespace is dropped by the mailer (sendmail, postfix, exim...).
Ask its FAQ.
A reason might be anti-spam.

mrmazda · 12-05-2022, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadeInGermany

Subject is never HTML.

It shouldn't be, but that wouldn't stop yet another inept mail client, such as webmail. Might it not be because a proportional font was used instead of monospace?

rclark · 12-05-2022, 06:17 PM

Or you could just use one '.' or '_' at beginning and add your spaces. Just a thought.

dugan · 12-05-2022, 06:41 PM

Non-breaking space character? You can copy and paste one from here:

https://www.compart.com/en/unicode/U+00A0

scasey · 12-05-2022, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmazda

If you're stuck using HTML email, whitespace is normally collapsed by default. If you replace each space with   then you might achieve the desired effect. Plain text email normally won't collapse whitespace. FMI.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadeInGermany

Hmm, Subject is never HTML.
I think the leading whitespace is dropped by the mailer (sendmail, postfix, exim...).
Ask its FAQ.
A reason might be anti-spam.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmazda

It shouldn't be, but that wouldn't stop yet another inept mail client, such as webmail. Might it not be because a proportional font was used instead of monospace?

IMO the whitespace is probably being collapsed by the email client/reader.
OP, where is the listing you show quoted coming from? A web page? If not, which email client are you using?

Michael Uplawski · 12-06-2022, 12:14 AM

Different thing (me agin).

Does “mail list” mean list of mails or “mailing list”. As you are in Britain, I want to believe it is the first case and that I do not have to explode. Pardon my intervention in this case.

aikempshall · 12-06-2022, 06:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scasey

IMO the whitespace is probably being collapsed by the email client/reader.
OP, where is the listing you show quoted coming from? A web page? If not, which email client are you using?

I'm using client/reader mailx version v14.9.23

After some testing the following pattern has emerged

If the subject text starts with multiple spaces they get stripped out
If the subject text starts with a non-whitespace character and the subject text doesn't exceed length of 60 characters whitespace is preserved
if the subject text starts with a non-whitespace character and the subject text exceeds length of 60 characters one block of whitespace is collapsed even though the length of the subject text exceeds 60 characters - see example below

Code:

 echo "Message here" | mail -s "1234567890          1234567890         1234567890         1234567890        1234567890          abcdefghij          klmnopqrst" -- alex

Code:

 U 36 alex@mylaptop.vict 2022-12-06 12:17   17/633   1234567890          1234567890         1234567890 1234567890        1234567890          abcdefghij          klmnopqrst

how message is stored in filesystem. The block of subject whitespace is as sent not collapsed.

Code:

Return-Path: <alex@mylaptop.victoria.org>
X-Original-To: alex
Delivered-To: alex@mylaptop.victoria.org
Received: by mylaptop.victoria.org (Postfix, from userid 1001)
        id D6ACB224032; Tue,  6 Dec 2022 14:39:54 +0000 (GMT)
Date: Tue, 06 Dec 2022 14:39:54 +0000
To: alex@mylaptop.victoria.org
Subject: 1234567890          1234567890         1234567890        
 1234567890        1234567890          abcdefghij          klmnopqrst
User-Agent: mailx v14.9.23