Shell Programming and Scripting

My unix server is somehow configured to send mail to any id in my network. However, how do I read the mails in my inbox.

I can send mails using

Code:

mailx -s

However, when I try to check whether there is mail using

Code:

mailx -e

it shows invalid option.

You can try just mail, which is usually a link to a mail client. When I check on a Red Hat Linux box, I get this:

Code:

$ mail
No mail for myuser
$ which mail
/bin/mail
$ ls -la /bin/mail
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 22 Mar  5 10:20 /bin/mail -> /etc/alternatives/mail
$ file /etc/alternatives/mail
/etc/alternatives/mail: symbolic link to `/bin/mailx'

Also you can check what your mailx offers as command switches when checking the man page.
Just calling it without any switch should work too.

The thing you use to send mail in UNIX is not generally also a mail client. In a UNIX server you see things from the perspective of the mail transport agent, whose job is to keep mail moving in and out and deliver it to you as application-independent files. In other words the email is already there, somewhere, and just need a program which knows where to look and how to read it.

You have your choice of mail clients, it depends on what your system has installed.