MAILADDR(7)							Linux User's Manual						       MAILADDR(7)

NAME

       mailaddr - mail addressing description

DESCRIPTION

       This manual page gives a brief introduction to SMTP mail addresses, as used on the Internet.  These addresses are in the general format

	    user@domain

       where a domain is a hierarchical dot-separated list of subdomains.  These examples are valid forms of the same address:

	    eric@monet.berkeley.edu
	    Eric Allman <eric@monet.berkeley.edu>
	    eric@monet.berkeley.edu (Eric Allman)

       The domain part ("monet.berkeley.edu") is a mail-accepting domain.  It can be a host and in the past it usually was, but it doesn't have to
       be.  The domain part is not case sensitive.

       The local part ("eric") is often a username, but its meaning is defined by the local software.  Sometimes it is	case  sensitive,  although
       that is unusual.  If you see a local-part that looks like garbage, it is usually because of a gateway between an internal e-mail system and
       the net, here are some examples:

	    "surname/admd=telemail/c=us/o=hp/prmd=hp"@some.where
	    USER%SOMETHING@some.where
	    machine!machine!name@some.where
	    I2461572@some.where

       (These are, respectively, an X.400 gateway, a gateway to an arbitrary internal mail system that lacks  proper  internet	support,  an  UUCP
       gateway, and the last one is just boring username policy.)

       The  real-name  part  ("Eric Allman") can either be placed before <>, or in () at the end.  (Strictly speaking the two aren't the same, but
       the difference is beyond the scope of this page.)  The name may have to be quoted using "", for example, if it contains ".":

	    "Eric P. Allman" <eric@monet.berkeley.edu>

   Abbreviation.
       Many mail systems let users abbreviate the domain name.	For instance, users at berkeley.edu may get away with "eric@monet" to send mail to
       Eric Allman.  This behavior is deprecated.  Sometimes it works, but you should not depend on it.

   Route-addrs.
       In  the	past,  sometimes  one had to route a message through several hosts to get it to its final destination.	Addresses which show these
       relays are termed "route-addrs".  These use the syntax:

	    <@hosta,@hostb:user@hostc>

       This specifies that the message should be sent to hosta, from there to hostb, and finally to hostc.  Many hosts disregard  route-addrs  and
       send directly to hostc.

       Route-addrs  are very unusual now.  They occur sometimes in old mail archives.  It is generally possible to ignore all but the "user@hostc"
       part of the address to determine the actual address.

   Postmaster.
       Every site is required to have a user or user alias designated "postmaster" to which problems with the mail system may be  addressed.   The
       "postmaster" address is not case sensitive.

FILES

       /etc/aliases
       ~/.forward

SEE ALSO

       binmail(1), mail(1), mconnect(1), aliases(5), forward(5), sendmail(8), vrfy(8)

       RFC 2822 (Internet Message Format)

COLOPHON

       This  page is part of release 3.55 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can
       be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.

4.2 Berkeley Distribution					    2004-09-15							       MAILADDR(7)