NAME

       mu  -  a  set  of tools to deal with Maildirs and message files, in particular to index and search e-mail
       messages.

SYNOPSIS

       In alphabetical order:

       mu [options] general mu command.

       mu add add specific messages to the database. See mu-add(1)

       mu cfind [options] [<regexp>] find contacts. See mu-cfind(1)

       mu extract [options] <file> [<parts>] [<regexp>]  extract  attachments  and  other  MIME-parts.  See  mu-
       extract(1)

       mu find [options] <search expression> find messages. See mu-find(1)

       mu help [command] get help for some command. See mu-help(1)

       mu index [options] (re)index the messages in a Maildir. See mu-index(1)

       mu info [options] show information about the mu database mu-info(1)

       mu init [options] initialize the mu database mu-init(1)

       mu mkdir [options] <dir> [<dirs>] create a new Maildir. See mu-mkdir(1)

       mu remove [options] remove specific messages from the database. See mu-remove(1)

       mu script [options] run a mu (Guile) script. See mu-script(1)

       mu server [options] start a server process (for mu4e-internal use). See mu-server(1)

       mu view <file> [<files>] view a specific message. See mu-view(1)

DESCRIPTION

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

       mu's  main  purpose  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 (this is called '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.

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 individual 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
              use an alternative directory to store and read the database, write the logs, etc. By  default,  mu
              uses  XDG  Base  Directory  Specification  (e.g.  on  Linux by default ~/.cache/mu, ~/.config/mu).
              Earlier versions of mu defaulted to ~/.mu, which now requires --muhome=~/.mu.

       -d, --debug
              makes mu generate extra debug information, useful for debugging the program  itself.  By  default,
              debug  information  goes  to the log file, ~/.cache/mu/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.

ERROR CODES

       The various mu subcommands typically exit with 0 (zero)  upon  success,  and  non-zero  when  some  error
       occurred.

BUGS

       Please report bugs if you find them: https://github.com/djcb/mu/issues

AUTHOR

       Dirk-Jan C. Binnema <djcb@djcbsoftware.nl>

SEE ALSO

       mu-index(1),mu-find(1),mu-cfind(1),mu-mkdir(1),mu-view(1),   mu-extract(1),mu-easy(1),mu-bookmarks(5),mu-
       query(7) https://standards.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html

User Manuals                                      February 2021                                            MU(1)