aliases(5)							File Formats Manual							aliases(5)

NAME

       aliases - aliases file for sendmail

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

       The  command  (which  is the same as see sendmail(1M)) builds the sendmail alias database from a text file.  The default text file is Local
       addresses (local user names) are looked up in the alias database and expanded as necessary, unless the user name is preceded by a backslash
       When  the  aliases  file  contains multiple entries for a given alias, only the last entry is used.  Except when the processing option (the
       send to me option) is set in the command or in the configuration file, the sender is not included in any alias expansions.  For example, if
       sends a message to and the expansion of includes the message is not delivered to

       Each line of the alias text file must be of the form:

       Mailing	lists  can be continued onto multiple lines.  Each continuation line must begin with white space.  Lines beginning with # are com-
       ments.

       A mailing-list is a comma-separated list of one or more of the following:

	      user-name 	       Local user names occurring in alias expansions will themselves be looked up in the  alias  database  unless
				       they are preceded by backslash

	      remote-address	       The remote address syntax understood by is configured in the configuration file, and typically includes the
				       RFC-822-style and the UUCP-style

	      filename		       This must be an absolute path name.  appends a message to the file  only  if  the  directory  in  which	it
				       resides	is  readable and searchable by all, and only if the file already exists, is not executable, and is
				       writable by all.

	      pipes the message as standard input to the specified command.
				       If command-line contains blanks, it must be enclosed in quotation marks ().  For example,

	      reads		       filename for a list of recipient addresses and forwards the message to each.  For example,  an  alias  such
				       as:

				       would read for the list of addresses making up the group.

       If  a  file  named exists in a user's home directory and is owned by the user, redirects mail for that user to the list of addresses in the
       file.

       An address in a or file can be anything that can appear as a mailing-list in the alias text file.

       can run programs or write to files using file.  This is controlled by the file.	If the owner of the file lacks a valid shell as listed	in
       file,  the  execution  of  such programs will be disallowed.  The user can still execute such programs by placing the special string in the
       file.

       The alias database is examined before a recipient's file is examined.  After aliasing has been done, local and valid recipients who have  a
       file in their home directory will have messages forwarded to the list of users defined in that file.

       Aliasing occurs only on local names.  Loops can not occur, since no message will be sent to any person more than once.

       Aliases	defined  in  will  NOT	be  expanded  in  headers  from (see mailx(1)), but WILL be visible over networks and in headers from (see
       mail(1)).

       is only the raw data file. The actual aliasing information is placed into a binary format in the file using (see newaliases(1M)).

       A command should be executed each time the file is changed in order for the change to take effect.  Note that the NIS alias maps are gener-
       ated by using which leaves and in the directory.

AUTHOR

       was developed by the University of California, Berkeley, and originally appeared in 4.0BSD.

FILES

       User's mail forwarding file

       raw data file for alias names

       database of alias names

SEE ALSO

       mail(1), mailx(1), makemap(1M), newaliases(1M), sendmail(1M).

																	aliases(5)