Using /bin/mail command with a string for message, not a filename?

SirTristan · 03-26-2008, 02:27 AM

I know you can send an email with the contents from a file, e.g.:

Code:

mail -s "The subject" "to@email.com" < /home/message.txt

But how can one specify a message directly, without having to store the message in a file name?

Nathanael · 03-26-2008, 04:16 AM

i am assuming something linke

Code:

mail -s "subject" "recipient@example.org" <<zzzMAILzzz
hello
this is my message text
with line breaks and everything :-)

enjoy
~me
zzzMAILzzz

SirTristan · 03-26-2008, 02:52 PM

So start with double less than instead of single, specify a delimiter, enter the message line by line, and then specify the same delimiter again on a line by itself to end the message? That worked, thanks.

Is there any way to do this on one line?

gilead · 03-26-2008, 05:53 PM

Yes, this will send the echoed message via mail:

Code:

echo "A test message" | mail -s "Test subject" someone@somewhere.com

tsg · 03-26-2008, 08:22 PM

You can also do

Code:

 mail -s "Test Subject" someone@somewhere.com <<<"This is the message."

Check the bash man pages for "here documents" and "here strings".