This is filter.info, produced by makeinfo version 7.2 from
filter.texinfo.

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* Exim's interfaces to mail filtering: (exim_filtering).
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File: filter.info,  Node: Top,  Next: Forwarding and filtering in Exim,  Up: (dir)

Exim's interfaces to mail filtering
***********************************

* Menu:

* Forwarding and filtering in Exim::
* Sieve filter files::
* Exim filter files::

— The Detailed Node Listing —

Forwarding and filtering in Exim

* Introduction::
* Filter operation::
* Testing a new filter file::
* Installing a filter file::
* Testing an installed filter file::
* Details of filtering commands::

Sieve filter files

* Recognition of Sieve filters::
* Saving to specified folders::
* Strings containing header names::
* Exists test with empty list of headers::
* Header test with invalid MIME encoding in header::
* Address test for multiple addresses per header::
* Semantics of keep::
* Semantics of fileinto::
* Semantics of redirect::
* String arguments::
* Number units::
* RFC compliance::

Exim filter files

* Format of Exim filter files::
* Data values in filter commands::
* String expansion::
* Some useful general variables::
* Header variables::
* User variables::
* Current directory::
* Significant deliveries::
* Filter commands::
* The add command::
* The deliver command::
* The save command::
* The pipe command::
* Mail commands::
* Logging commands::
* The finish command::
* The testprint command::
* The fail command::
* The freeze command::
* The headers command::
* Obeying commands conditionally::
* String testing conditions::
* Numeric testing conditions::
* Testing for significant deliveries::
* Testing for error messages::
* Testing a list of addresses::
* Testing for personal mail::
* Alias addresses for the personal condition::
* Details of the personal condition::
* Testing delivery status::
* Multiple personal mailboxes: SEC31.
* Ignoring delivery errors::
* Examples of Exim filter commands::


File: filter.info,  Node: Forwarding and filtering in Exim,  Next: Sieve filter files,  Prev: Top,  Up: Top

1 Forwarding and filtering in Exim
**********************************

This document describes the user interfaces to Exim's in-built mail
filtering facilities, and is copyright (c) The Exim Maintainers 2026.
It corresponds to Exim version 4.100-RC3.

* Menu:

* Introduction::
* Filter operation::
* Testing a new filter file::
* Installing a filter file::
* Testing an installed filter file::
* Details of filtering commands::


File: filter.info,  Node: Introduction,  Next: Filter operation,  Up: Forwarding and filtering in Exim

1.1 Introduction
================

Most Unix mail transfer agents (programs that deliver mail) permit
individual users to specify automatic forwarding of their mail, usually
by placing a list of forwarding addresses in a file called ‘.forward’ in
their home directories.  Exim extends this facility by allowing the
forwarding instructions to be a set of rules rather than just a list of
addresses, in effect providing "‘.forward’ with conditions".  Operating
the set of rules is called _filtering_, and the file that contains them
is called a _filter file_.

   Exim supports two different kinds of filter file.  An _Exim filter_
contains instructions in a format that is unique to Exim.  A _Sieve
filter_ contains instructions in the Sieve format that is defined by
*RFC 3028 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3028)*.  As this is
a standard format, Sieve filter files may already be familiar to some
users.  Sieve files should also be portable between different
environments.  However, the Exim filtering facility contains more
features (such as variable expansion), and better integration with the
host environment (such as the use of external processes and pipes).

   The choice of which kind of filter to use can be left to the
end-user, provided that the system administrator has configured Exim
appropriately for both kinds of filter.  However, if interoperability is
important, Sieve is the only choice.

   The ability to use filtering or traditional forwarding has to be
enabled by the system administrator, and some of the individual
facilities can be separately enabled or disabled.  A local document
should be provided to describe exactly what has been enabled.  In the
absence of this, consult your system administrator.

   This document describes how to use a filter file and the format of
its contents.  It is intended for use by end-users.  Both Sieve filters
and Exim filters are covered.  However, for Sieve filters, only issues
that relate to the Exim implementation are discussed, since Sieve itself
is described elsewhere.

   The contents of traditional ‘.forward’ files are not described here.
They normally contain just a list of addresses, file names, or pipe
commands, separated by commas or newlines, but other types of item are
also available.  The full details can be found in the chapter on the
‘redirect’ router in the Exim specification, which also describes how
the system administrator can set up and control the use of filtering.


File: filter.info,  Node: Filter operation,  Next: Testing a new filter file,  Prev: Introduction,  Up: Forwarding and filtering in Exim

1.2 Filter operation
====================

It is important to realize that, in Exim, no deliveries are actually
made while a filter or traditional ‘.forward’ file is being processed.
Running a filter or processing a traditional ‘.forward’ file sets up
future delivery operations, but does not carry them out.

   The result of filter or ‘.forward’ file processing is a list of
destinations to which a message should be delivered.  The deliveries
themselves take place later, along with all other deliveries for the
message.  This means that it is not possible to test for successful
deliveries while filtering.  It also means that any duplicate addresses
that are generated are dropped, because Exim never delivers the same
message to the same address more than once.


File: filter.info,  Node: Testing a new filter file,  Next: Installing a filter file,  Prev: Filter operation,  Up: Forwarding and filtering in Exim

1.3 Testing a new filter file
=============================

Filter files, especially the more complicated ones, should always be
tested, as it is easy to make mistakes.  Exim provides a facility for
preliminary testing of a filter file before installing it.  This tests
the syntax of the file and its basic operation, and can also be used
with traditional ‘.forward’ files.

   Because a filter can do tests on the content of messages, a test
message is required.  Suppose you have a new filter file called
‘myfilter’ and a test message in a file called ‘test-message’.  Assuming
that Exim is installed with the conventional path name
‘/usr/sbin/sendmail’ (some operating systems use ‘/usr/lib/sendmail’),
the following command can be used:

     /usr/sbin/sendmail -bf myfilter <test-message

   The ‘-bf’ option tells Exim that the following item on the command
line is the name of a filter file that is to be tested.  There is also a
‘-bF’ option, which is similar, but which is used for testing system
filter files, as opposed to user filter files, and which is therefore of
use only to the system administrator.

   The test message is supplied on the standard input.  If there are no
message-dependent tests in the filter, an empty file (‘/dev/null’) can
be used.  A supplied message must start with header lines or the "From "
message separator line that is found in many multi-message folder files.
Note that blank lines at the start terminate the header lines.  A
warning is given if no header lines are read.

   The result of running this command, provided no errors are detected
in the filter file, is a list of the actions that Exim would try to take
if presented with the message for real.  For example, for an Exim
filter, the output

     Deliver message to: gulliver@lilliput.fict.example
     Save message to: /home/lemuel/mail/archive

   means that one copy of the message would be sent to
_gulliver@lilliput.fict.example_, and another would be added to the file
‘/home/lemuel/mail/archive’, if all went well.

   The actions themselves are not attempted while testing a filter file
in this way; there is no check, for example, that any forwarding
addresses are valid.  For an Exim filter, if you want to know why a
particular action is being taken, add the ‘-v’ option to the command.
This causes Exim to output the results of any conditional tests and to
indent its output according to the depth of nesting of ‘if’ commands.
Further additional output from a filter test can be generated by the
‘testprint’ command, which is described below.

   When Exim is outputting a list of the actions it would take, if any
text strings are included in the output, non-printing characters therein
are converted to escape sequences.  In particular, if any text string
contains a newline character, this is shown as "\n" in the testing
output.

   When testing a filter in this way, Exim makes up an "envelope" for
the message.  The recipient is by default the user running the command,
and so is the sender, but the command can be run with the ‘-f’ option to
supply a different sender.  For example,

     /usr/sbin/sendmail -bf myfilter \
        -f islington@never.where <test-message

   Alternatively, if the ‘-f’ option is not used, but the first line of
the supplied message is a "From " separator from a message folder file
(not the same thing as a _From:_ header line), the sender is taken from
there.  If ‘-f’ is present, the contents of any "From " line are
ignored.

   The "return path" is the same as the envelope sender, unless the
message contains a _Return-path:_ header, in which case it is taken from
there.  You need not worry about any of this unless you want to test out
features of a filter file that rely on the sender address or the return
path.

   It is possible to change the envelope recipient by specifying further
options.  The ‘-bfd’ option changes the domain of the recipient address,
while the ‘-bfl’ option changes the "local part", that is, the part
before the @ sign.  An adviser could make use of these to test someone
else's filter file.

   The ‘-bfp’ and ‘-bfs’ options specify the prefix or suffix for the
local part.  These are relevant only when support for multiple personal
mailboxes is implemented; see the description in section *note Multiple
personal mailboxes: SEC31. below.


File: filter.info,  Node: Installing a filter file,  Next: Testing an installed filter file,  Prev: Testing a new filter file,  Up: Forwarding and filtering in Exim

1.4 Installing a filter file
============================

A filter file is normally installed under the name ‘.forward’ in your
home directory - it is distinguished from a conventional ‘.forward’ file
by its first line (described below).  However, the file name is
configurable, and some system administrators may choose to use some
different name or location for filter files.


File: filter.info,  Node: Testing an installed filter file,  Next: Details of filtering commands,  Prev: Installing a filter file,  Up: Forwarding and filtering in Exim

1.5 Testing an installed filter file
====================================

Testing a filter file before installation cannot find every potential
problem; for example, it does not actually run commands to which
messages are piped.  Some "live" tests should therefore also be done
once a filter is installed.

   If at all possible, test your filter file by sending messages from
some other account.  If you send a message to yourself from the filtered
account, and delivery fails, the error message will be sent back to the
same account, which may cause another delivery failure.  It won't cause
an infinite sequence of such messages, because delivery failure messages
do not themselves generate further messages.  However, it does mean that
the failure won't be returned to you, and also that the postmaster will
have to investigate the stuck message.

   If you have to test an Exim filter from the same account, a sensible
precaution is to include the line

     if error_message then finish endif

   as the first filter command, at least while testing.  This causes
filtering to be abandoned for a delivery failure message, and since no
destinations are generated, the message goes on to be delivered to the
original address.  Unless there is a good reason for not doing so, it is
recommended that the above test be left in all Exim filter files.  (This
does not apply to Sieve files.)


File: filter.info,  Node: Details of filtering commands,  Prev: Testing an installed filter file,  Up: Forwarding and filtering in Exim

1.6 Details of filtering commands
=================================

The filtering commands for Sieve and Exim filters are completely
different in syntax and semantics.  The Sieve mechanism is defined in
*RFC 3028 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3028)*; in the next
chapter we describe how it is integrated into Exim.  The subsequent
chapter covers Exim filtering commands in detail.


File: filter.info,  Node: Sieve filter files,  Next: Exim filter files,  Prev: Forwarding and filtering in Exim,  Up: Top

2 Sieve filter files
********************

The code for Sieve filtering in Exim was contributed by Michael Haardt,
and most of the content of this chapter is taken from the notes he
provided.  Since Sieve is an extensible language, it is important to
understand "Sieve" in this context as "the specific implementation of
Sieve for Exim".

   This chapter does not contain a description of Sieve, since that can
be found in *RFC 3028 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3028)*,
which should be read in conjunction with these notes.

   The Exim Sieve implementation offers the core as defined by the RFC,
comparison tests, the subaddress parameter, the *copy*, *envelope*,
*fileinto*, *notify*, and *vacation* extensions, but not the *reject*
extension.  Exim did not support message delivery notifications (MDNs)
when Sieve handling was introduced, so *reject* (which needs them) could
not be supported.

   Additionally, if Exim is built with iconv() supoprt and
WITH_CONTENT_SCAN defined, the implementation supports the *body*
extension defined by *RFC 5173
(https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc5173)*.

   In order for Sieve to work properly in Exim, the system administrator
needs to make some adjustments to the Exim configuration.  These are
described in the chapter on the ‘redirect’ router in the full Exim
specification.

* Menu:

* Recognition of Sieve filters::
* Saving to specified folders::
* Strings containing header names::
* Exists test with empty list of headers::
* Header test with invalid MIME encoding in header::
* Address test for multiple addresses per header::
* Semantics of keep::
* Semantics of fileinto::
* Semantics of redirect::
* String arguments::
* Number units::
* RFC compliance::


File: filter.info,  Node: Recognition of Sieve filters,  Next: Saving to specified folders,  Up: Sieve filter files

2.1 Recognition of Sieve filters
================================

A filter file is interpreted as a Sieve filter if its first line is

     # Sieve filter

   This is what distinguishes it from a conventional ‘.forward’ file or
an Exim filter file.


File: filter.info,  Node: Saving to specified folders,  Next: Strings containing header names,  Prev: Recognition of Sieve filters,  Up: Sieve filter files

2.2 Saving to specified folders
===============================

If the system administrator has set things up as suggested in the Exim
specification, and you use ‘keep’ or ‘fileinto’ to save a mail into a
folder, absolute files are stored where specified, relative files are
stored relative to ‘$home’, and ‘inbox’ goes to the standard mailbox
location.


File: filter.info,  Node: Strings containing header names,  Next: Exists test with empty list of headers,  Prev: Saving to specified folders,  Up: Sieve filter files

2.3 Strings containing header names
===================================

*RFC 3028 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3028)* does not
specify what happens if a string denoting a header field does not
contain a valid header name, for example, it contains a colon.  This
implementation generates an error instead of ignoring the header field
in order to ease script debugging, which fits in with the common picture
of Sieve.


File: filter.info,  Node: Exists test with empty list of headers,  Next: Header test with invalid MIME encoding in header,  Prev: Strings containing header names,  Up: Sieve filter files

2.4 Exists test with empty list of headers
==========================================

The *exists* test succeeds only if all the specified headers exist.
*RFC 3028 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3028)* does not
explicitly specify what happens on an empty list of headers.  This
implementation evaluates that condition as true, interpreting the RFC in
a strict sense.


File: filter.info,  Node: Header test with invalid MIME encoding in header,  Next: Address test for multiple addresses per header,  Prev: Exists test with empty list of headers,  Up: Sieve filter files

2.5 Header test with invalid MIME encoding in header
====================================================

Some MUAs process invalid base64 encoded data, generating junk.  Others
ignore junk after seeing an equal sign in base64 encoded data.  *RFC
2047 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2047)* does not specify
how to react in this case, other than stating that a client must not
forbid to process a message for that reason.  *RFC 2045
(https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2045)* specifies that invalid
data should be ignored (apparently looking at end of line characters).
It also specifies that invalid data may lead to rejecting messages
containing them (and there it appears to talk about true encoding
violations), which is a clear contradiction to ignoring them.

   *RFC 3028 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3028)* does not
specify how to process incorrect MIME words.  This implementation treats
them literally, as it does if the word is correct but its character set
cannot be converted to UTF-8.


File: filter.info,  Node: Address test for multiple addresses per header,  Next: Semantics of keep,  Prev: Header test with invalid MIME encoding in header,  Up: Sieve filter files

2.6 Address test for multiple addresses per header
==================================================

A header may contain multiple addresses.  *RFC 3028
(https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3028)* does not explicitly
specify how to deal with them, but since the address test checks if
anything matches anything else, matching one address suffices to satisfy
the condition.  That makes it impossible to test if a header contains a
certain set of addresses and no more, but it is more logical than
letting the test fail if the header contains an additional address
besides the one the test checks for.


File: filter.info,  Node: Semantics of keep,  Next: Semantics of fileinto,  Prev: Address test for multiple addresses per header,  Up: Sieve filter files

2.7 Semantics of keep
=====================

The ‘keep’ command is by default equivalent to

     fileinto "inbox";

   but, when called from a redirect router, the destination can be set
by using the ‘sieve_inbox’ option on the router.  It saves the message
and resets the implicit keep flag.  It does not set the implicit keep
flag; there is no command to set it once it has been reset.


File: filter.info,  Node: Semantics of fileinto,  Next: Semantics of redirect,  Prev: Semantics of keep,  Up: Sieve filter files

2.8 Semantics of fileinto
=========================

*RFC 3028 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3028)* does not
specify whether ‘fileinto’ should try to create a mail folder if it does
not exist.  This implementation allows the sysadmin to configure that
aspect using the ‘appendfile’ transport options ‘create_directory’,
‘create_file’, and ‘file_must_exist’.  See the ‘appendfile’ transport in
the Exim specification for details.


File: filter.info,  Node: Semantics of redirect,  Next: String arguments,  Prev: Semantics of fileinto,  Up: Sieve filter files

2.9 Semantics of redirect
=========================

Sieve scripts are supposed to be interoperable between servers, so this
implementation does not allow mail to be redirected to unqualified
addresses, because the domain would depend on the system being used.  On
systems with virtual mail domains, the default domain is probably not
what the user expects it to be.


File: filter.info,  Node: String arguments,  Next: Number units,  Prev: Semantics of redirect,  Up: Sieve filter files

2.10 String arguments
=====================

There has been confusion if the string arguments to ‘require’ are to be
matched case-sensitively or not.  This implementation matches them with
the match type ‘:is’ (default, see section 2.7.1 of *RFC 3028
(https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3028)*) and the comparator
‘i;ascii-casemap’ (default, see section 2.7.3 of the RFC). The RFC
defines the command defaults clearly, so any different implementations
are in violation.  The same is valid for comparator names, also
specified as strings.


File: filter.info,  Node: Number units,  Next: RFC compliance,  Prev: String arguments,  Up: Sieve filter files

2.11 Number units
=================

There is a mistake in *RFC 3028
(https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3028)*: the suffix G denotes
gibi-, not tebibyte.  The mistake is obvious, because the RFC specifies
G to denote 2^30 (which is gibi, not tebi), and that is what this
implementation uses as the scaling factor for the suffix G.


File: filter.info,  Node: RFC compliance,  Prev: Number units,  Up: Sieve filter files

2.12 RFC compliance
===================

Exim requires the first line of a Sieve filter to be

     # Sieve filter

   Of course the RFC does not specify that line.  Do not expect examples
to work without adding it, though.

   *RFC 3028 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3028)* requires
the use of CRLF to terminate a line.  The rationale was that CRLF is
universally used in network protocols to mark the end of the line.  This
implementation does not embed Sieve in a network protocol, but uses
Sieve scripts as part of the Exim MTA. Since all parts of Exim use LF as
the newline character, this implementation does, too, by default, though
the system administrator may choose (at Exim compile time) to use CRLF
instead.

   Exim violates *RFC 2822
(https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2822)*, section 3.6.8, by
accepting 8-bit header names, so this implementation repeats this
violation to stay consistent with Exim.  This is in preparation for
UTF-8 data.

   Sieve scripts cannot contain NUL characters in strings, but mail
headers could contain MIME encoded NUL characters, which could never be
matched by Sieve scripts using exact comparisons.  For that reason, this
implementation extends the Sieve quoted string syntax with \0 to
describe a NUL character, violating \0 being the same as 0 in *RFC 3028
(https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3028)*.  Even without using
\0, the following tests are all true in this implementation.
Implementations that use C-style strings will only evaluate the first
test as true.

     Subject: =?iso-8859-1?q?abc=00def

     header :contains "Subject" ["abc"]
     header :contains "Subject" ["def"]
     header :matches "Subject" ["abc?def"]

   Note that by considering Sieve to be an MUA, *RFC 2047
(https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2047)* can be interpreted in a
way that NUL characters truncating strings is allowed for Sieve
implementations, although not recommended.  It is further allowed to use
encoded NUL characters in headers, but that's not recommended either.
The above example shows why.

   *RFC 3028 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3028)* states
that if an implementation fails to convert a character set to UTF-8, two
strings cannot be equal if one contains octets greater than 127.
Assuming that all unknown character sets are one-byte character sets
with the lower 128 octets being US-ASCII is not sound, so this
implementation violates *RFC 3028
(https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3028)* and treats such MIME
words literally.  That way at least something could be matched.

   The folder specified by ‘fileinto’ must not contain the character
sequence ".."  to avoid security problems.  *RFC 3028
(https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3028)* does not specify the
syntax of folders apart from ‘keep’ being equivalent to

     fileinto "INBOX";

   This implementation uses ‘inbox’ instead.

   Sieve script errors currently cause messages to be silently filed
into ‘inbox’.  *RFC 3028
(https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc3028)* requires that the user
is notified of that condition.  This may be implemented in the future by
adding a header line to mails that are filed into ‘inbox’ due to an
error in the filter.


File: filter.info,  Node: Exim filter files,  Prev: Sieve filter files,  Up: Top

3 Exim filter files
*******************

This chapter contains a full description of the contents of Exim filter
files.

* Menu:

* Format of Exim filter files::
* Data values in filter commands::
* String expansion::
* Some useful general variables::
* Header variables::
* User variables::
* Current directory::
* Significant deliveries::
* Filter commands::
* The add command::
* The deliver command::
* The save command::
* The pipe command::
* Mail commands::
* Logging commands::
* The finish command::
* The testprint command::
* The fail command::
* The freeze command::
* The headers command::
* Obeying commands conditionally::
* String testing conditions::
* Numeric testing conditions::
* Testing for significant deliveries::
* Testing for error messages::
* Testing a list of addresses::
* Testing for personal mail::
* Alias addresses for the personal condition::
* Details of the personal condition::
* Testing delivery status::
* Multiple personal mailboxes: SEC31.
* Ignoring delivery errors::
* Examples of Exim filter commands::


File: filter.info,  Node: Format of Exim filter files,  Next: Data values in filter commands,  Up: Exim filter files

3.1 Format of Exim filter files
===============================

Apart from leading white space, the first text in an Exim filter file
must be

     # Exim filter

   This is what distinguishes it from a conventional ‘.forward’ file or
a Sieve filter file.  If the file does not have this initial line (or
the equivalent for a Sieve filter), it is treated as a conventional
‘.forward’ file, both when delivering mail and when using the ‘-bf’
testing mechanism.  The white space in the line is optional, and any
capitalization may be used.  Further text on the same line is treated as
a comment.  For example, you could have

     #   Exim filter   <<== do not edit or remove this line!

   The remainder of the file is a sequence of filtering commands, which
consist of keywords and data values.  For example, in the command

     deliver gulliver@lilliput.fict.example

   the keyword is ‘deliver’ and the data value is
‘gulliver@lilliput.fict.example’.  White space or line breaks separate
the components of a command, except in the case of conditions for the
‘if’ command, where round brackets (parentheses) also act as separators.
Complete commands are separated from each other by white space or line
breaks; there are no special terminators.  Thus, several commands may
appear on one line, or one command may be spread over a number of lines.

   If the character # follows a separator anywhere in a command,
everything from # up to the next newline is ignored.  This provides a
way of including comments in a filter file.


File: filter.info,  Node: Data values in filter commands,  Next: String expansion,  Prev: Format of Exim filter files,  Up: Exim filter files

3.2 Data values in filter commands
==================================

There are two ways in which a data value can be input:

   • If the text contains no white space, it can be typed verbatim.
     However, if it is part of a condition, it must also be free of
     round brackets (parentheses), as these are used for grouping in
     conditions.

   • Otherwise, text must be enclosed in double quotation marks.  In
     this case, the character \ (backslash) is treated as an "escape
     character" within the string, causing the following character or
     characters to be treated specially:

          \n   is replaced by a newline
          \r   is replaced by a carriage return
          \t   is replaced by a tab

   Backslash followed by up to three octal digits is replaced by the
character specified by those digits, and ‘\x’ followed by up to two
hexadecimal digits is treated similarly.  Backslash followed by any
other character is replaced by the second character, so that in
particular, ‘\"’ becomes ‘"’ and ‘\\’ becomes ‘\’.  A data item enclosed
in double quotes can be continued onto the next line by ending the first
line with a backslash.  Any leading white space at the start of the
continuation line is ignored.

   In addition to the escape character processing that occurs when
strings are enclosed in quotes, most data values are also subject to
_string expansion_ (as described in the next section), in which case the
characters ‘$’ and ‘\’ are also significant.  This means that if a
single backslash is actually required in such a string, and the string
is also quoted, ‘\\\\’ has to be entered.

   The maximum permitted length of a data string, before expansion, is
1024 characters.


File: filter.info,  Node: String expansion,  Next: Some useful general variables,  Prev: Data values in filter commands,  Up: Exim filter files

3.3 String expansion
====================

Most data values are expanded before use.  Expansion consists of
replacing substrings beginning with ‘$’ with other text.  The full
expansion facilities available in Exim are extensive.  If you want to
know everything that Exim can do with strings, you should consult the
chapter on string expansion in the Exim documentation.

   In filter files, by far the most common use of string expansion is
the substitution of the contents of a variable.  For example, the
substring

     $reply_address

   is replaced by the address to which replies to the message should be
sent.  If such a variable name is followed by a letter or digit or
underscore, it must be enclosed in curly brackets (braces), for example,

     ${reply_address}

   If a ‘$’ character is actually required in an expanded string, it
must be escaped with a backslash, and because backslash is also an
escape character in quoted input strings, it must be doubled in that
case.  The following two examples illustrate two different ways of
testing for a ‘$’ character in a message:

     if $message_body contains \$ then ...
     if $message_body contains "\\$" then ...

   You can prevent part of a string from being expanded by enclosing it
between two occurrences of ‘\N’.  For example,

     if $message_body contains \N$$$$\N then ...

   tests for a run of four dollar characters.


File: filter.info,  Node: Some useful general variables,  Next: Header variables,  Prev: String expansion,  Up: Exim filter files

3.4 Some useful general variables
=================================

A complete list of the available variables is given in the Exim
documentation.  This shortened list contains the ones that are most
likely to be useful in personal filter files:

   ‘$body_linecount’: The number of lines in the body of the message.

   ‘$body_zerocount’: The number of binary zero characters in the body
of the message.

   ‘$home’: In conventional configurations, this variable normally
contains the user's home directory.  The system administrator can,
however, change this.

   ‘$local_part’: The part of the email address that precedes the @ sign
- normally the user's login name.  If support for multiple personal
mailboxes is enabled (see section *note Multiple personal mailboxes:
SEC31. below) and a prefix or suffix for the local part was recognized,
it is removed from the string in this variable.

   ‘$local_part_prefix’: If support for multiple personal mailboxes is
enabled (see section *note Multiple personal mailboxes: SEC31. below),
and a local part prefix was recognized, this variable contains the
prefix.  Otherwise it contains an empty string.

   ‘$local_part_suffix’: If support for multiple personal mailboxes is
enabled (see section *note Multiple personal mailboxes: SEC31. below),
and a local part suffix was recognized, this variable contains the
suffix.  Otherwise it contains an empty string.

   ‘$message_body’: The initial portion of the body of the message.  By
default, up to 500 characters are read into this variable, but the
system administrator can configure this to some other value.  Newlines
in the body are converted into single spaces.

   ‘$message_body_end’: The final portion of the body of the message,
formatted and limited in the same way as ‘$message_body’.

   ‘$message_body_size’: The size of the body of the message, in bytes.

   ‘$message_exim_id’: The message's local identification string, which
is unique for each message handled by a single host.

   ‘$message_headers’: The header lines of the message, concatenated
into a single string, with newline characters between them.

   ‘$message_size’: The size of the entire message, in bytes.

   ‘$original_local_part’: When an address that arrived with the message
is being processed, this contains the same value as the variable
‘$local_part’.  However, if an address generated by an alias, forward,
or filter file is being processed, this variable contains the local part
of the original address.

   ‘$reply_address’: The contents of the _Reply-to:_ header, if the
message has one; otherwise the contents of the _From:_ header.  It is
the address to which normal replies to the message should be sent.

   ‘$return_path’: The return path - that is, the sender field that will
be transmitted as part of the message's envelope if the message is sent
to another host.  This is the address to which delivery errors are sent.
In many cases, this variable has the same value as ‘$sender_address’,
but if, for example, an incoming message to a mailing list has been
expanded, ‘$return_path’ may have been changed to contain the address of
the list maintainer.

   ‘$sender_address’: The sender address that was received in the
envelope of the message.  This is not necessarily the same as the
contents of the _From:_ or _Sender:_ header lines.  For delivery error
messages ("bounce messages") there is no sender address, and this
variable is empty.

   ‘$tod_full’: A full version of the time and date, for example: Wed,
18 Oct 1995 09:51:40 +0100.  The timezone is always given as a numerical
offset from GMT.

   ‘$tod_log’: The time and date in the format used for writing Exim's
log files, without the timezone, for example: 1995-10-12 15:32:29.

   ‘$tod_zone’: The local timezone offset, for example: +0100.


File: filter.info,  Node: Header variables,  Next: User variables,  Prev: Some useful general variables,  Up: Exim filter files

3.5 Header variables
====================

There is a special set of expansion variables containing the header
lines of the message being processed.  These variables have names
beginning with ‘$header_’ followed by the name of the header line,
terminated by a colon.  For example,

     $header_from:
     $header_subject:

   The whole item, including the terminating colon, is replaced by the
contents of the message header line.  If there is more than one header
line with the same name, their contents are concatenated.  For header
lines whose data consists of a list of addresses (for example, _From:_
and _To:_), a comma and newline is inserted between each set of data.
For all other header lines, just a newline is used.

   Leading and trailing white space is removed from header line data,
and if there are any MIME "words" that are encoded as defined by *RFC
2047 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2047)* (because they
contain non-ASCII characters), they are decoded and translated, if
possible, to a local character set.  Translation is attempted only on
operating systems that have the ‘iconv()’ function.  This makes the
header line look the same as it would when displayed by an MUA. The
default character set is ISO-8859-1, but this can be changed by means of
the ‘headers’ command (see below).

   If you want to see the actual characters that make up a header line,
you can specify ‘$rheader_’ instead of ‘$header_’.  This inserts the
"raw" header line, unmodified.

   There is also an intermediate form, requested by ‘$bheader_’, which
removes leading and trailing space and decodes MIME "words", but does
not do any character translation.  If an attempt to decode what looks
superficially like a MIME "word" fails, the raw string is returned.  If
decoding produces a binary zero character, it is replaced by a question
mark.

   The capitalization of the name following ‘$header_’ is not
significant.  Because any printing character except colon may appear in
the name of a message's header (this is a requirement of *RFC 2822
(https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2822)*, the document that
describes the format of a mail message) curly brackets must _not_ be
used in this case, as they will be taken as part of the header name.
Two shortcuts are allowed in naming header variables:

   • The initiating ‘$header_’, ‘$rheader_’, or ‘$bheader_’ can be
     abbreviated to ‘$h_’, ‘$rh_’, or ‘$bh_’, respectively.

   • The terminating colon can be omitted if the next character is white
     space.  The white space character is retained in the expanded
     string.  However, this is not recommended, because it makes it easy
     to forget the colon when it really is needed.

   If the message does not contain a header of the given name, an empty
string is substituted.  Thus it is important to spell the names of
headers correctly.  Do not use ‘$header_Reply_to’ when you really mean
‘$header_Reply-to’.


File: filter.info,  Node: User variables,  Next: Current directory,  Prev: Header variables,  Up: Exim filter files

3.6 User variables
==================

There are ten user variables with names ‘$n0’ - ‘$n9’ that can be
incremented by the ‘add’ command (see section *note The add command::).
These can be used for "scoring" messages in various ways.  If Exim is
configured to run a "system filter" on every message, the values left in
these variables are copied into the variables ‘$sn0’ - ‘$sn9’ at the end
of the system filter, thus making them available to users' filter files.
How these values are used is entirely up to the individual installation.


File: filter.info,  Node: Current directory,  Next: Significant deliveries,  Prev: User variables,  Up: Exim filter files

3.7 Current directory
=====================

The contents of your filter file should not make any assumptions about
the current directory.  It is best to use absolute paths for file names;
you can normally make use of the ‘$home’ variable to refer to your home
directory.  The ‘save’ command automatically inserts ‘$home’ at the
start of non-absolute paths.


File: filter.info,  Node: Significant deliveries,  Next: Filter commands,  Prev: Current directory,  Up: Exim filter files

3.8 Significant deliveries
==========================

When in the course of delivery a message is processed by a filter file,
what happens next, that is, after the filter file has been processed,
depends on whether or not the filter sets up any _significant
deliveries_.  If at least one significant delivery is set up, the filter
is considered to have handled the entire delivery arrangements for the
current address, and no further processing of the address takes place.
If, however, no significant deliveries are set up, Exim continues
processing the current address as if there were no filter file, and
typically sets up a delivery of a copy of the message into a local
mailbox.  In particular, this happens in the special case of a filter
file containing only comments.

   The delivery commands ‘deliver’, ‘save’, and ‘pipe’ are by default
significant.  However, if such a command is preceded by the word
"unseen", its delivery is not considered to be significant.  In
contrast, other commands such as ‘mail’ and ‘vacation’ do not set up
significant deliveries unless preceded by the word "seen".  The
following example commands set up significant deliveries:

     deliver jack@beanstalk.example
     pipe $home/bin/mymailscript
     seen mail subject "message discarded"
     seen finish

   The following example commands do not set up significant deliveries:

     unseen deliver jack@beanstalk.example
     unseen pipe $home/bin/mymailscript
     mail subject "message discarded"
     finish


File: filter.info,  Node: Filter commands,  Next: The add command,  Prev: Significant deliveries,  Up: Exim filter files

3.9 Filter commands
===================

The filter commands that are described in subsequent sections are listed
below, with the section in which they are described in brackets:

‘add’                                increment a user variable (section
                                     *note The add command::)
‘deliver’                            deliver to an email address
                                     (section
                                     *note The deliver command::)
‘fail’                               force delivery failure (sysadmin
                                     use) (section
                                     *note The fail command::)
‘finish’                             end processing (section
                                     *note The finish command::)
‘freeze’                             freeze message (sysadmin use)
                                     (section
                                     *note The freeze command::)
‘headers’                            set the header character set
                                     (section
                                     *note The headers command::)
‘if’                                 test condition(s) (section
                                     *note Obeying commands conditionally::)
‘logfile’                            define log file (section
                                     *note Logging commands::)
‘logwrite’                           write to log file (section
                                     *note Logging commands::)
‘mail’                               send a reply message (section
                                     *note Mail commands::)
‘pipe’                               pipe to a command (section
                                     *note The pipe command::)
‘save’                               save to a file (section
                                     *note The save command::)
‘testprint’                          print while testing (section
                                     *note The testprint command::)
‘vacation’                           tailored form of ‘mail’ (section
                                     *note Mail commands::)

   The ‘headers’ command has additional parameters that can be used only
in a system filter.  The ‘fail’ and ‘freeze’ commands are available only
when Exim's filtering facilities are being used as a system filter, and
are therefore usable only by the system administrator and not by
ordinary users.  They are mentioned only briefly in this document; for
more information, see the main Exim specification.


File: filter.info,  Node: The add command,  Next: The deliver command,  Prev: Filter commands,  Up: Exim filter files

3.10 The add command
====================

          add <number> to <user variable>
     e.g. add 2 to n3

   There are 10 user variables of this type, with names ‘$n0’ - ‘$n9’.
Their values can be obtained by the normal expansion syntax (for example
‘$n3’) in other commands.  At the start of filtering, these variables
all contain zero.  Both arguments of the ‘add’ command are expanded
before use, making it possible to add variables to each other.
Subtraction can be obtained by adding negative numbers.


File: filter.info,  Node: The deliver command,  Next: The save command,  Prev: The add command,  Up: Exim filter files

3.11 The deliver command
========================

          deliver <mail address>
     e.g. deliver "Dr Livingstone <David@somewhere.africa.example>"

   This command provides a forwarding operation.  The delivery that it
sets up is significant unless the command is preceded by "unseen" (see
section *note Significant deliveries::).  The message is sent on to the
given address, exactly as happens if the address had appeared in a
traditional ‘.forward’ file.  If you want to deliver the message to a
number of different addresses, you can use more than one ‘deliver’
command (each one may have only one address).  However, duplicate
addresses are discarded.

   To deliver a copy of the message to your normal mailbox, your login
name can be given as the address.  Once an address has been processed by
the filtering mechanism, an identical generated address will not be so
processed again, so doing this does not cause a loop.

   However, if you have a mail alias, you should _not_ refer to it here.
For example, if the mail address _L.Gulliver_ is aliased to _lg303_ then
all references in Gulliver's ‘.forward’ file should be to _lg303_.  A
reference to the alias will not work for messages that are addressed to
that alias, since, like ‘.forward’ file processing, aliasing is
performed only once on an address, in order to avoid looping.

   Following the new address, an optional second address, preceded by
"errors_to" may appear.  This changes the address to which delivery
errors on the forwarded message will be sent.  Instead of going to the
message's original sender, they go to this new address.  For ordinary
users, the only value that is permitted for this address is the user
whose filter file is being processed.  For example, the user _lg303_
whose mailbox is in the domain _lilliput.example_ could have a filter
file that contains

     deliver jon@elsewhere.example errors_to lg303@lilliput.example

   Clearly, using this feature makes sense only in situations where not
all messages are being forwarded.  In particular, bounce messages must
not be forwarded in this way, as this is likely to create a mail loop if
something goes wrong.


File: filter.info,  Node: The save command,  Next: The pipe command,  Prev: The deliver command,  Up: Exim filter files

3.12 The save command
=====================

          save <file name>
     e.g. save $home/mail/bookfolder

   This command specifies that a copy of the message is to be appended
to the given file (that is, the file is to be used as a mail folder).
The delivery that ‘save’ sets up is significant unless the command is
preceded by "unseen" (see section *note Significant deliveries::).

   More than one ‘save’ command may be obeyed; each one causes a copy of
the message to be written to its argument file, provided they are
different (duplicate ‘save’ commands are ignored).

   If the file name does not start with a / character, the contents of
the ‘$home’ variable are prepended, unless it is empty, or the system
administrator has disabled this feature.  In conventional
configurations, this variable is normally set in a user filter to the
user's home directory, but the system administrator may set it to some
other path.  In some configurations, ‘$home’ may be unset, or prepending
may be disabled, in which case a non-absolute path name may be
generated.  Such configurations convert this to an absolute path when
the delivery takes place.  In a system filter, ‘$home’ is never set.

   The user must of course have permission to write to the file, and the
writing of the file takes place in a process that is running as the
user, under the user's primary group.  Any secondary groups to which the
user may belong are not normally taken into account, though the system
administrator can configure Exim to set them up.  In addition, the
ability to use this command at all is controlled by the system
administrator - it may be forbidden on some systems.

   An optional mode value may be given after the file name.  The value
for the mode is interpreted as an octal number, even if it does not
begin with a zero.  For example:

     save /some/folder 640

   This makes it possible for users to override the system-wide mode
setting for file deliveries, which is normally 600.  If an existing file
does not have the correct mode, it is changed.

   An alternative form of delivery may be enabled on your system, in
which each message is delivered into a new file in a given directory.
If this is the case, this functionality can be requested by giving the
directory name terminated by a slash after the ‘save’ command, for
example

     save separated/messages/

   There are several different formats for such deliveries; check with
your system administrator or local documentation to find out which (if
any) are available on your system.  If this functionality is not
enabled, the use of a path name ending in a slash causes an error.


File: filter.info,  Node: The pipe command,  Next: Mail commands,  Prev: The save command,  Up: Exim filter files

3.13 The pipe command
=====================

          pipe <command>
     e.g. pipe "$home/bin/countmail $sender_address"

   This command specifies that the message is to be delivered to the
specified command using a pipe.  The delivery that it sets up is
significant unless the command is preceded by "unseen" (see section
*note Significant deliveries::).  Remember, however, that no deliveries
are done while the filter is being processed.  All deliveries happen
later on.  Therefore, the result of running the pipe is not available to
the filter.

   When the deliveries are done, a separate process is run, and a copy
of the message is passed on its standard input.  The process runs as the
user, under the user's primary group.  Any secondary groups to which the
user may belong are not normally taken into account, though the system
administrator can configure Exim to set them up.  More than one ‘pipe’
command may appear; each one causes a copy of the message to be written
to its argument pipe, provided they are different (duplicate ‘pipe’
commands are ignored).

   When the time comes to transport the message, the command supplied to
‘pipe’ is split up by Exim into a command name and a number of
arguments.  These are delimited by white space except for arguments
enclosed in double quotes, in which case backslash is interpreted as an
escape, or in single quotes, in which case no escaping is recognized.
Note that as the whole command is normally supplied in double quotes, a
second level of quoting is required for internal double quotes.  For
example:

     pipe "$home/myscript \"size is $message_size\""

   String expansion is performed on the separate components after the
line has been split up, and the command is then run directly by Exim; it
is not run under a shell.  Therefore, substitution cannot change the
number of arguments, nor can quotes, backslashes or other shell
metacharacters in variables cause confusion.

   Documentation for some programs that are normally run via this kind
of pipe often suggest that the command should start with

     IFS=" "

   This is a shell command, and should _not_ be present in Exim filter
files, since it does not normally run the command under a shell.

   However, there is an option that the administrator can set to cause a
shell to be used.  In this case, the entire command is expanded as a
single string and passed to the shell for interpretation.  It is
recommended that this be avoided if at all possible, since it can lead
to problems when inserted variables contain shell metacharacters.

   The default PATH set up for the command is determined by the system
administrator, usually containing at least ‘/bin’ and ‘/usr/bin’ so that
common commands are available without having to specify an absolute file
name.  However, it is possible for the system administrator to restrict
the pipe facility so that the command name must not contain any /
characters, and must be found in one of the directories in the
configured PATH. It is also possible for the system administrator to
lock out the use of the ‘pipe’ command altogether.

   When the command is run, a number of environment variables are set
up.  The complete list for pipe deliveries may be found in the Exim
reference manual.  Those that may be useful for pipe deliveries from
user filter files are:

     DOMAIN               the domain of the address
     HOME                 your home directory
     LOCAL_PART           see below
     LOCAL_PART_PREFIX    see below
     LOCAL_PART_SUFFIX    see below
     LOGNAME              your login name
     MESSAGE_ID           the unique id of the message
     PATH                 the command search path
     RECIPIENT            the complete recipient address
     SENDER               the sender of the message
     SHELL                /bin/sh
     USER                 see below

   LOCAL_PART, LOGNAME, and USER are all set to the same value, namely,
your login id.  LOCAL_PART_PREFIX and LOCAL_PART_SUFFIX may be set if
Exim is configured to recognize prefixes or suffixes in the local parts
of addresses.  For example, a message addressed to
_pat-suf2@domain.example_ may cause the filter for user _pat_ to be run.
If this sets up a pipe delivery, LOCAL_PART_SUFFIX is ‘-suf2’ when the
pipe command runs.  The system administrator has to configure Exim
specially for this feature to be available.

   If you run a command that is a shell script, be very careful in your
use of data from the incoming message in the commands in your script.
*RFC 2822 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2822)* is very
generous in the characters that are permitted to appear in mail
addresses, and in particular, an address may begin with a vertical bar
or a slash.  For this reason you should always use quotes round any
arguments that involve data from the message, like this:

     /some/command '$SENDER'

   so that inserted shell meta-characters do not cause unwanted effects.

   Remember that, as was explained earlier, the pipe command is not run
at the time the filter file is interpreted.  The filter just defines
what deliveries are required for one particular addressee of a message.
The deliveries themselves happen later, once Exim has decided everything
that needs to be done for the message.

   A consequence of this is that you cannot inspect the return code from
the pipe command from within the filter.  Nevertheless, the code
returned by the command is important, because Exim uses it to decide
whether the delivery has succeeded or failed.

   The command should return a zero completion code if all has gone
well.  Most non-zero codes are treated by Exim as indicating a failure
of the pipe.  This is treated as a delivery failure, causing the message
to be returned to its sender.  However, there are some completion codes
that are treated as temporary errors.  The message remains on Exim's
spool disk, and the delivery is tried again later, though it will
ultimately time out if the delivery failures go on too long.  The
completion codes to which this applies can be specified by the system
administrator; the default values are 73 and 75.

   The pipe command should not normally write anything to its standard
output or standard error file descriptors.  If it does, whatever is
written is normally returned to the sender of the message as a delivery
error, though this action can be varied by the system administrator.


File: filter.info,  Node: Mail commands,  Next: Logging commands,  Prev: The pipe command,  Up: Exim filter files

3.14 Mail commands
==================

There are two commands that cause the creation of a new mail message,
neither of which count as a significant delivery unless the command is
preceded by the word "seen" (see section *note Significant
deliveries::).  This is a powerful facility, but it should be used with
care, because of the danger of creating infinite sequences of messages.
The system administrator can forbid the use of these commands
altogether.

   To help prevent runaway message sequences, these commands have no
effect when the incoming message is a bounce (delivery error) message,
and messages sent by this means are treated as if they were reporting
delivery errors.  Thus, they should never themselves cause a bounce
message to be returned.  The basic mail-sending command is

     mail [to <address-list>]
          [cc <address-list>]
          [bcc <address-list>]
          [from <address>]
          [reply_to <address>]
          [subject <text>]
          [extra_headers <text>]
          [text <text>]
          [[expand] file <filename>]
          [return message]
          [log <log file name>]
          [once <note file name>]
          [once_repeat <time interval>]
     e.g. mail text "Your message about $h_subject: has been received"

   Each <_address-list_> can contain a number of addresses, separated by
commas, in the format of a _To:_ or _Cc:_ header line.  In fact, the
text you supply here is copied exactly into the appropriate header line.
It may contain additional information as well as email addresses.  For
example:

     mail to "Julius Caesar <jc@rome.example>, \
              <ma@rome.example> (Mark A.)"

   Similarly, the texts supplied for ‘from’ and ‘reply_to’ are copied
into their respective header lines.

   If no recipient is specified (by a to, cc or bcc) then the mail is
sent to the sender of the message being filtered.

   As a convenience for use in one common case, there is also a command
called ‘vacation’.  It behaves in the same way as ‘mail’, except that
the defaults for the ‘subject’, ‘file’, ‘log’, ‘once’, and ‘once_repeat’
options are

     subject "On vacation"
     expand file .vacation.msg
     log  .vacation.log
     once .vacation
     once_repeat 7d

   respectively.  These are the same file names and repeat period used
by the traditional Unix ‘vacation’ command.  The defaults can be
overridden by explicit settings, but if a file name is given its
contents are expanded only if explicitly requested.

   *Warning*: The ‘vacation’ command should always be used
conditionally, subject to at least the ‘personal’ condition (see section
*note Testing for personal mail:: below) so as not to send automatic
replies to non-personal messages from mailing lists or elsewhere.
Sending an automatic response to a mailing list or a mailing list
manager is an Internet Sin.

   For both commands, the key/value argument pairs can appear in any
order.  At least one of ‘text’ or ‘file’ must appear (except with
‘vacation’, where there is a default for ‘file’); if both are present,
the text string appears first in the message.  If ‘expand’ precedes
‘file’, each line of the file is subject to string expansion before it
is included in the message.

   Several lines of text can be supplied to ‘text’ by including the
escape sequence "\n" in the string wherever a newline is required.  If
the command is output during filter file testing, newlines in the text
are shown as "\n".

   Note that the keyword for creating a _Reply-To:_ header is
‘reply_to’, because Exim keywords may contain underscores, but not
hyphens.  If the ‘from’ keyword is present and the given address does
not match the user who owns the forward file, Exim normally adds a
_Sender:_ header to the message, though it can be configured not to do
this.

   The ‘extra_headers’ keyword allows you to add custom header lines to
the message.  The text supplied must be one or more syntactically valid
*RFC 2822 (https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2822)* header lines.
You can use "\n" within quoted text to specify newlines between headers,
and also to define continued header lines.  For example:

     extra_headers "h1: first\nh2: second\n continued\nh3: third"

   No newline should appear at the end of the final header line.

   If no ‘to’ argument appears, the message is sent to the address in
the ‘$reply_address’ variable (see section *note String expansion::
above).  An _In-Reply-To:_ header is automatically included in the
created message, giving a reference to the message identification of the
incoming message.

   If ‘return message’ is specified, the incoming message that caused
the filter file to be run is added to the end of the message, subject to
a maximum size limitation.

   If a log file is specified, a line is added to it for each message
sent.

   If a ‘once’ file is specified, it is used to hold a database for
remembering who has received a message, and no more than one message is
ever sent to any particular address, unless ‘once_repeat’ is set.  This
specifies a time interval after which another copy of the message is
sent.  The interval is specified as a sequence of numbers, each followed
by the initial letter of one of "seconds", "minutes", "hours", "days",
or "weeks".  For example,

     once_repeat 5d4h

   causes a new message to be sent if at least 5 days and 4 hours have
elapsed since the last one was sent.  There must be no white space in a
time interval.

   Commonly, the file name specified for ‘once’ is used as the base name
for direct-access (DBM) file operations.  There are a number of
different DBM libraries in existence.  Some operating systems provide
one as a default, but even in this case a different one may have been
used when building Exim.  With some DBM libraries, specifying ‘once’
results in two files being created, with the suffixes ‘.dir’ and ‘.pag’
being added to the given name.  With some others a single file with the
suffix ‘.db’ is used, or the name is used unchanged.

   Using a DBM file for implementing the ‘once’ feature means that the
file grows as large as necessary.  This is not usually a problem, but
some system administrators want to put a limit on it.  The facility can
be configured not to use a DBM file, but instead, to use a regular file
with a maximum size.  The data in such a file is searched sequentially,
and if the file fills up, the oldest entry is deleted to make way for a
new one.  This means that some correspondents may receive a second copy
of the message after an unpredictable interval.  Consult your local
information to see if your system is configured this way.

   More than one ‘mail’ or ‘vacation’ command may be obeyed in a single
filter run; they are all honoured, even when they are to the same
recipient.


File: filter.info,  Node: Logging commands,  Next: The finish command,  Prev: Mail commands,  Up: Exim filter files

3.15 Logging commands
=====================

A log can be kept of actions taken by a filter file.  This facility is
normally available in conventional configurations, but there are some
situations where it might not be.  Also, the system administrator may
choose to disable it.  Check your local information if in doubt.

   Logging takes place while the filter file is being interpreted.  It
does not queue up for later like the delivery commands.  The reason for
this is so that a log file need be opened only once for several write
operations.  There are two commands, neither of which constitutes a
significant delivery.  The first defines a file to which logging output
is subsequently written:

          logfile <file name>
     e.g. logfile $home/filter.log

   The file name must be fully qualified.  You can use ‘$home’, as in
this example, to refer to your home directory.  The file name may
optionally be followed by a mode for the file, which is used if the file
has to be created.  For example,

     logfile $home/filter.log 0644

   The number is interpreted as octal, even if it does not begin with a
zero.  The default for the mode is 600.  It is suggested that the
‘logfile’ command normally appear as the first command in a filter file.
Once a log file has been obeyed, the ‘logwrite’ command can be used to
write to it:

          logwrite "<some text string>"
     e.g. logwrite "$tod_log $message_id processed"

   It is possible to have more than one ‘logfile’ command, to specify
writing to different log files in different circumstances.  A previously
opened log is closed on a subsequent ‘logfile’ command.  Writing takes
place at the end of the file, and a newline character is added to the
end of each string if there isn't one already there.  Newlines can be
put in the middle of the string by using the "\n" escape sequence.
Lines from simultaneous deliveries may get interleaved in the file, as
there is no interlocking, so you should plan your logging with this in
mind.  However, data should not get lost.


File: filter.info,  Node: The finish command,  Next: The testprint command,  Prev: Logging commands,  Up: Exim filter files

3.16 The finish command
=======================

The command ‘finish’, which has no arguments, causes Exim to stop
interpreting the filter file.  This is not a significant action unless
preceded by "seen".  A filter file containing only "seen finish" is a
black hole.


File: filter.info,  Node: The testprint command,  Next: The fail command,  Prev: The finish command,  Up: Exim filter files

3.17 The testprint command
==========================

It is sometimes helpful to be able to print out the values of variables
when testing filter files.  The command

          testprint <text>
     e.g. testprint "home=$home reply_address=$reply_address"

   does nothing when mail is being delivered.  However, when the
filtering code is being tested by means of the ‘-bf’ option (see section
*note Testing a new filter file:: above), the value of the string is
written to the standard output.

   Alternatively, if the "filter" debug channel is enabled (using the
‘-v’ option) standard error is used.


File: filter.info,  Node: The fail command,  Next: The freeze command,  Prev: The testprint command,  Up: Exim filter files

3.18 The fail command
=====================

When Exim's filtering facilities are being used as a system filter, the
‘fail’ command is available, to force delivery failure.  Because this
command is normally usable only by the system administrator, and not
enabled for use by ordinary users, it is described in more detail in the
main Exim specification rather than in this document.


File: filter.info,  Node: The freeze command,  Next: The headers command,  Prev: The fail command,  Up: Exim filter files

3.19 The freeze command
=======================

When Exim's filtering facilities are being used as a system filter, the
‘freeze’ command is available, to freeze a message on the queue.
Because this command is normally usable only by the system
administrator, and not enabled for use by ordinary users, it is
described in more detail in the main Exim specification rather than in
this document.


File: filter.info,  Node: The headers command,  Next: Obeying commands conditionally,  Prev: The freeze command,  Up: Exim filter files

3.20 The headers command
========================

The ‘headers’ command can be used to change the target character set
that is used when translating the contents of encoded header lines for
insertion by the ‘$header_’ mechanism (see section *note Header
variables:: above).  The default can be set in the Exim configuration;
if not specified, ISO-8859-1 is used.  The only currently supported
format for the ‘headers’ command in user filters is as in this example:

     headers charset "UTF-8"

   That is, ‘headers’ is followed by the word "charset" and then the
name of a character set.  This particular example would be useful if you
wanted to compare the contents of a header to a UTF-8 string.

   In system filter files, the ‘headers’ command can be used to add or
remove header lines from the message.  These features are described in
the main Exim specification.


File: filter.info,  Node: Obeying commands conditionally,  Next: String testing conditions,  Prev: The headers command,  Up: Exim filter files

3.21 Obeying commands conditionally
===================================

Most of the power of filtering comes from the ability to test conditions
and obey different commands depending on the outcome.  The ‘if’ command
is used to specify conditional execution, and its general form is

     if    <condition>
     then  <commands>
     elif  <condition>
     then  <commands>
     else  <commands>
     endif

   There may be any number of ‘elif’ and ‘then’ sections (including
none) and the ‘else’ section is also optional.  Any number of commands,
including nested ‘if’ commands, may appear in any of the <_commands_>
sections.

   Conditions can be combined by using the words ‘and’ and ‘or’, and
round brackets (parentheses) can be used to specify how several
conditions are to combine.  Without brackets, ‘and’ is more binding than
‘or’.  For example:

     if
     $h_subject: contains "Make money" or
     $h_precedence: is "junk" or
     ($h_sender: matches ^\\d{8}@ and not personal) or
     $message_body contains "this is not spam"
     then
     seen finish
     endif

   A condition can be preceded by ‘not’ to negate it, and there are also
some negative forms of condition that are more English-like.


File: filter.info,  Node: String testing conditions,  Next: Numeric testing conditions,  Prev: Obeying commands conditionally,  Up: Exim filter files

3.22 String testing conditions
==============================

There are a number of conditions that operate on text strings, using the
words "begins", "ends", "is", "contains" and "matches".  If you want to
apply the same test to more than one header line, you can easily
concatenate them into a single string for testing, as in this example:

     if "$h_to:, $h_cc:" contains me@domain.example then ...

   If a string-testing condition name is written in lower case, the
testing of letters is done without regard to case; if it is written in
upper case (for example, "CONTAINS"), the case of letters is taken into
account.

          <text1> begins <text2>
          <text1> does not begin <text2>
     e.g. $header_from: begins "Friend@"

   A "begins" test checks for the presence of the second string at the
start of the first, both strings having been expanded.

          <text1> ends <text2>
          <text1> does not end <text2>
     e.g. $header_from: ends "public.com.example"

   An "ends" test checks for the presence of the second string at the
end of the first, both strings having been expanded.

          <text1> is <text2>
          <text1> is not <text2>
     e.g. $local_part_suffix is "-foo"

   An "is" test does an exact match between the strings, having first
expanded both strings.

          <text1> contains <text2>
          <text1> does not contain <text2>
     e.g. $header_subject: contains "evolution"

   A "contains" test does a partial string match, having expanded both
strings.

          <text1> matches <text2>
          <text1> does not match <text2>
     e.g. $sender_address matches "(bill|john)@"

   For a "matches" test, after expansion of both strings, the second one
is interpreted as a regular expression.  Exim uses the PCRE2 regular
expression library, which provides regular expressions that are
compatible with Perl.

   The match succeeds if the regular expression matches any part of the
first string.  If you want a regular expression to match only at the
start or end of the subject string, you must encode that requirement
explicitly, using the ‘^’ or ‘$’ metacharacters.  The above example,
which is not so constrained, matches all these addresses:

     bill@test.example
     john@some.example
     spoonbill@example.com
     littlejohn@example.com

   To match only the first two, you could use this:

     if $sender_address matches "^(bill|john)@" then ...

   Care must be taken if you need a backslash in a regular expression,
because backslashes are interpreted as escape characters both by the
string expansion code and by Exim's normal processing of strings in
quotes.  For example, if you want to test the sender address for a
domain ending in _.com_ the regular expression is

     \.com$

   The backslash and dollar sign in that expression have to be escaped
when used in a filter command, as otherwise they would be interpreted by
the expansion code.  Thus, what you actually write is

     if $sender_address matches \\.com\$

   An alternative way of handling this is to make use of the ‘\N’
expansion flag for suppressing expansion:

     if $sender_address matches \N\.com$\N

   Everything between the two occurrences of ‘\N’ is copied without
change by the string expander (and in fact you do not need the final
one, because it is at the end of the string).  If the regular expression
is given in quotes (mandatory only if it contains white space) you have
to write either

     if $sender_address matches "\\\\.com\\$"

   or

     if $sender_address matches "\\N\\.com$\\N"

   If the regular expression contains bracketed sub-expressions, numeric
variable substitutions such as ‘$1’ can be used in the subsequent
actions after a successful match.  If the match fails, the values of the
numeric variables remain unchanged.  Previous values are not restored
after ‘endif’.  In other words, only one set of values is ever
available.  If the condition contains several sub-conditions connected
by ‘and’ or ‘or’, it is the strings extracted from the last successful
match that are available in subsequent actions.  Numeric variables from
any one sub-condition are also available for use in subsequent
sub-conditions, because string expansion of a condition occurs just
before it is tested.


File: filter.info,  Node: Numeric testing conditions,  Next: Testing for significant deliveries,  Prev: String testing conditions,  Up: Exim filter files

3.23 Numeric testing conditions
===============================

The following conditions are available for performing numerical tests:

          <number1> is above <number2>
          <number1> is not above <number2>
          <number1> is below <number2>
          <number1> is not below <number2>
     e.g. $message_size is not above 10k

   The <_number_> arguments must expand to strings of digits, optionally
followed by one of the letters K or M (upper case or lower case) which
cause multiplication by 1024 and 1024x1024 respectively.


File: filter.info,  Node: Testing for significant deliveries,  Next: Testing for error messages,  Prev: Numeric testing conditions,  Up: Exim filter files

3.24 Testing for significant deliveries
=======================================

You can use the ‘delivered’ condition to test whether or not any
previously obeyed filter commands have set up a significant delivery.
For example:

     if not delivered then save mail/anomalous endif

   "Delivered" is perhaps a poor choice of name for this condition,
because the message has not actually been delivered; rather, a delivery
has been set up for later processing.


File: filter.info,  Node: Testing for error messages,  Next: Testing a list of addresses,  Prev: Testing for significant deliveries,  Up: Exim filter files

3.25 Testing for error messages
===============================

The condition ‘error_message’ is true if the incoming message is a
bounce (mail delivery error) message.  Putting the command

     if error_message then finish endif

   at the head of your filter file is a useful insurance against things
going wrong in such a way that you cannot receive delivery error
reports.  *Note*: ‘error_message’ is a condition, not an expansion
variable, and therefore is not preceded by ‘$’.


File: filter.info,  Node: Testing a list of addresses,  Next: Testing for personal mail,  Prev: Testing for error messages,  Up: Exim filter files

3.26 Testing a list of addresses
================================

There is a facility for looping through a list of addresses and applying
a condition to each of them.  It takes the form

     foranyaddress <string> (<condition>)

   where <_string_> is interpreted as a list of *RFC 2822
(https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2822)* addresses, as in a
typical header line, and <_condition_> is any valid filter condition or
combination of conditions.  The "group" syntax that is defined for
certain header lines that contain addresses is supported.

   The parentheses surrounding the condition are mandatory, to delimit
it from possible further sub-conditions of the enclosing ‘if’ command.
Within the condition, the expansion variable ‘$thisaddress’ is set to
the non-comment portion of each of the addresses in the string in turn.
For example, if the string is

     B.Simpson <bart@sfld.example>, lisa@sfld.example (his sister)

   then ‘$thisaddress’ would take on the values ‘bart@sfld.example’ and
‘lisa@sfld.example’ in turn.

   If there are no valid addresses in the list, the whole condition is
false.  If the internal condition is true for any one address, the
overall condition is true and the loop ends.  If the internal condition
is false for all addresses in the list, the overall condition is false.
This example tests for the presence of an eight-digit local part in any
address in a _To:_ header:

     if foranyaddress $h_to: ( $thisaddress matches ^\\d{8}@ ) then ...

   When the overall condition is true, the value of ‘$thisaddress’ in
the commands that follow ‘then’ is the last value it took on inside the
loop.  At the end of the ‘if’ command, the value of ‘$thisaddress’ is
reset to what it was before.  It is best to avoid the use of multiple
occurrences of ‘foranyaddress’, nested or otherwise, in a single ‘if’
command, if the value of ‘$thisaddress’ is to be used afterwards,
because it isn't always clear what the value will be.  Nested ‘if’
commands should be used instead.

   Header lines can be joined together if a check is to be applied to
more than one of them.  For example:

     if foranyaddress $h_to:,$h_cc: ....

   This scans through the addresses in both the _To:_ and the _Cc:_
headers.


File: filter.info,  Node: Testing for personal mail,  Next: Alias addresses for the personal condition,  Prev: Testing a list of addresses,  Up: Exim filter files

3.27 Testing for personal mail
==============================

A common requirement is to distinguish between incoming personal mail
and mail from a mailing list, or from a robot or other automatic process
(for example, a bounce message).  In particular, this test is normally
required for "vacation messages".

   The ‘personal’ condition checks that the message is not a bounce
message and that the current user's email address appears in the _To:_
header.  It also checks that the sender is not the current user or one
of a number of common daemons, and that there are no header lines
starting _List-_ in the message.  Finally, it checks the content of the
_Precedence:_ header line, if there is one.

   You should always use the ‘personal’ condition when generating
automatic responses.  This example shows the use of ‘personal’ in a
filter file that is sending out vacation messages:

     if personal then
     mail to $reply_address
     subject "I am on holiday"
     file $home/vacation/message
     once $home/vacation/once
     once_repeat 10d
     endif

   It is tempting, when writing commands like the above, to quote the
original subject in the reply.  For example:

     subject "Re: $h_subject:"

   There is a danger in doing this, however.  It may allow a third party
to subscribe you to an opt-in mailing list, provided that the list
accepts bounce messages as subscription confirmations.  (Messages sent
from filters are always sent as bounce messages.)  Well-managed lists
require a non-bounce message to confirm a subscription, so the danger is
relatively small.

   If prefixes or suffixes are in use for local parts - something which
depends on the configuration of Exim (see section *note Multiple
personal mailboxes: SEC31. below) - the tests for the current user are
done with the full address (including the prefix and suffix, if any) as
well as with the prefix and suffix removed.  If the system is configured
to rewrite local parts of mail addresses, for example, to rewrite
‘dag46’ as ‘Dirk.Gently’, the rewritten form of the address is also used
in the tests.


File: filter.info,  Node: Alias addresses for the personal condition,  Next: Details of the personal condition,  Prev: Testing for personal mail,  Up: Exim filter files

3.28 Alias addresses for the personal condition
===============================================

It is quite common for people who have mail accounts on a number of
different systems to forward all their mail to one system, and in this
case a check for personal mail should test all their various mail
addresses.  To allow for this, the ‘personal’ condition keyword can be
followed by

     alias <address>

   any number of times, for example:

     if personal alias smith@else.where.example
                 alias jones@other.place.example
     then ...

   The alias addresses are treated as alternatives to the current user's
email address when testing the contents of header lines.


File: filter.info,  Node: Details of the personal condition,  Next: Testing delivery status,  Prev: Alias addresses for the personal condition,  Up: Exim filter files

3.29 Details of the personal condition
======================================

The basic ‘personal’ test is roughly equivalent to the following:

     not error_message and
     $message_headers does not contain "\nList-Id:" and
     $message_headers does not contain "\nList-Help:" and
     $message_headers does not contain "\nList-Subscribe:" and
     $message_headers does not contain "\nList-Unsubscribe:" and
     $message_headers does not contain "\nList-Post:" and
     $message_headers does not contain "\nList-Owner:" and
     $message_headers does not contain "\nList-Archive:" and
     (
     "${if def:h_auto-submitted:{present}{absent}}" is "absent" or
     $header_auto-submitted: is "no"
     ) and
     $header_precedence: does not contain "bulk" and
     $header_precedence: does not contain "list" and
     $header_precedence: does not contain "junk" and
     foranyaddress $header_to:
     ( $thisaddress contains "$local_part$domain" ) and
     not foranyaddress $header_from:
     (
     $thisaddress contains "$local_part@$domain" or
     $thisaddress contains "server@" or
     $thisaddress contains "daemon@" or
     $thisaddress contains "root@" or
     $thisaddress contains "listserv@" or
     $thisaddress contains "majordomo@" or
     $thisaddress contains "-request@" or
     $thisaddress matches  "^owner-[^@]+@"
     )

   The variable ‘$local_part’ contains the local part of the mail
address of the user whose filter file is being run - it is normally your
login id.  The ‘$domain’ variable contains the mail domain.  As
explained above, if aliases or rewriting are defined, or if prefixes or
suffixes are in use, the tests for the current user are also done with
alternative addresses.


File: filter.info,  Node: Testing delivery status,  Next: SEC31,  Prev: Details of the personal condition,  Up: Exim filter files

3.30 Testing delivery status
============================

There are two conditions that are intended mainly for use in system
filter files, but which are available in users' filter files as well.
The condition ‘first_delivery’ is true if this is the first process that
is attempting to deliver the message, and false otherwise.  This
indicator is not reset until the first delivery process successfully
terminates; if there is a crash or a power failure (for example), the
next delivery attempt is also a "first delivery".

   In a user filter file ‘first_delivery’ will be false if there was
previously an error in the filter, or if a delivery for the user failed
owing to, for example, a quota error, or if forwarding to a remote
address was deferred for some reason.

   The condition ‘manually_thawed’ is true if the message was "frozen"
for some reason, and was subsequently released by the system
administrator.  It is unlikely to be of use in users' filter files.


File: filter.info,  Node: SEC31,  Next: Ignoring delivery errors,  Prev: Testing delivery status,  Up: Exim filter files

3.31 Multiple personal mailboxes
================================

The system administrator can configure Exim so that users can set up
variants on their email addresses and handle them separately.  Consult
your system administrator or local documentation to see if this facility
is enabled on your system, and if so, what the details are.

   The facility involves the use of a prefix or a suffix on an email
address.  For example, all mail addressed to _lg303-_<_something_> would
be the property of user _lg303_, who could determine how it was to be
handled, depending on the value of <_something_>.

   There are two possible ways in which this can be set up.  The first
possibility is the use of multiple ‘.forward’ files.  In this case, mail
to _lg303-foo_, for example, is handled by looking for a file called
‘.forward-foo’ in _lg303_'s home directory.  If such a file does not
exist, delivery fails and the message is returned to its sender.

   The alternative approach is to pass all messages through a single
‘.forward’ file, which must be a filter file so that it can distinguish
between the different cases by referencing the variables
‘$local_part_prefix’ or ‘$local_part_suffix’, as in the final example in
section *note Examples of Exim filter commands:: below.

   It is possible to configure Exim to support both schemes at once.  In
this case, a specific ‘.forward-foo’ file is first sought; if it is not
found, the basic ‘.forward’ file is used.

   The ‘personal’ test (see section *note Testing for personal mail::)
includes prefixes and suffixes in its checking.


File: filter.info,  Node: Ignoring delivery errors,  Next: Examples of Exim filter commands,  Prev: SEC31,  Up: Exim filter files

3.32 Ignoring delivery errors
=============================

As was explained above, filtering just sets up addresses for delivery -
no deliveries are actually done while a filter file is active.  If any
of the generated addresses subsequently suffers a delivery failure, an
error message is generated in the normal way.  However, if a filter
command that sets up a delivery is preceded by the word "noerror",
errors for that delivery, and any deliveries consequent on it (that is,
from alias, forwarding, or filter files it invokes) are ignored.


File: filter.info,  Node: Examples of Exim filter commands,  Prev: Ignoring delivery errors,  Up: Exim filter files

3.33 Examples of Exim filter commands
=====================================

Simple forwarding:

     # Exim filter
     deliver baggins@rivendell.middle-earth.example

   Vacation handling using traditional means, assuming that the
‘.vacation.msg’ and other files have been set up in your home directory:

     # Exim filter
     unseen pipe "/usr/ucb/vacation \"$local_part\""

   Vacation handling inside Exim, having first created a file called
‘.vacation.msg’ in your home directory:

     # Exim filter
     if personal then vacation endif

   File some messages by subject:

     # Exim filter
     if $header_subject: contains "empire" or
     $header_subject: contains "foundation"
     then
     save $home/mail/f+e
     endif

   Save all non-urgent messages by weekday:

     # Exim filter
     if $header_subject: does not contain "urgent" and
     $tod_full matches "^(...),"
     then
     save $home/mail/$1
     endif

   Throw away all mail from one site, except from postmaster:

     # Exim filter
     if $reply_address contains "@spam.site.example" and
     $reply_address does not contain "postmaster@"
     then
     seen finish
     endif

   Handle multiple personal mailboxes:

     # Exim filter
     if $local_part_suffix is "-foo"
     then
     save $home/mail/foo
     elif $local_part_suffix is "-bar"
     then
     save $home/mail/bar
     endif


Tag Table:
Node: Top239
Node: Forwarding and filtering in Exim2066
Node: Introduction2607
Node: Filter operation5205
Node: Testing a new filter file6126
Node: Installing a filter file10691
Node: Testing an installed filter file11247
Node: Details of filtering commands12810
Node: Sieve filter files13344
Node: Recognition of Sieve filters15205
Node: Saving to specified folders15579
Node: Strings containing header names16110
Node: Exists test with empty list of headers16710
Node: Header test with invalid MIME encoding in header17280
Node: Address test for multiple addresses per header18515
Node: Semantics of keep19307
Node: Semantics of fileinto19862
Node: Semantics of redirect20460
Node: String arguments20959
Node: Number units21638
Node: RFC compliance22092
Node: Exim filter files25432
Node: Format of Exim filter files26565
Node: Data values in filter commands28239
Node: String expansion30138
Node: Some useful general variables31698
Node: Header variables35731
Node: User variables38867
Node: Current directory39546
Node: Significant deliveries40042
Node: Filter commands41693
Node: The add command44488
Node: The deliver command45135
Node: The save command47436
Node: The pipe command50235
Node: Mail commands56818
Node: Logging commands63860
Node: The finish command66040
Node: The testprint command66440
Node: The fail command67181
Node: The freeze command67696
Node: The headers command68221
Node: Obeying commands conditionally69254
Node: String testing conditions70656
Node: Numeric testing conditions75113
Node: Testing for significant deliveries75815
Node: Testing for error messages76440
Node: Testing a list of addresses77097
Node: Testing for personal mail79542
Node: Alias addresses for the personal condition81824
Node: Details of the personal condition82689
Node: Testing delivery status84594
Node: SEC3185712
Node: Ignoring delivery errors87456
Node: Examples of Exim filter commands88137

End Tag Table


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