Unix mail command: Sort by newest first

Question

When I use the "mail" command, it prints a list of messages in my inbox in a format like this: 1 Super User Mon Jun 9 17:13 86/4716 Complete Registration With Stack Exchange However I've noticed that it does this with the oldest messages first. Is there a way to change this behaviour?

score 30 · Answer 1 · edited May 29 '17 at 14:16

30

For people still looking for an answer in the base mail application, the best solution I could find is running the h$ command inside mail to jump to the bottom of the list.

(Source)

edited May 29 '17 at 14:16

Stephen Rauch

3,296

answered May 29 '17 at 10:18

bhygate

401

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 09 '14 at 17:15

To make this as an answer, I'd suggest to use pine.

The mail command really isn't made for interactive use. It's for bare bones, your system is completely hosed, and you're searching for some email from cron. For anything else, use something newer and designed for day to day use, such as pine or mutt.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 04 '22 at 09:31

0

There is a program here which accomplishes the in-place sorting of a mbox format file by the "Date" header.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/368003/how-can-i-reorder-an-mbox-file-chronologically/368067#368067

answered Jun 04 '22 at 09:31

Dave Ankin

101
4

Unix mail command: Sort by newest first

3 Answers3