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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 AT monet.edu
            Eric Allman <eric AT monet.edu>
            eric AT monet.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 AT some.where
            machine!machine!name AT some.where
            I2461572 AT 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 AT monet.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 3.53 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)