.\" Copyright (c) 1996
.\"	Mike Pritchard <mpp@FreeBSD.org>.  All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
.\"	This product includes software developed by Mike Pritchard and
.\"	contributors.
.\" 4. Neither the name of the author nor the names of its contributors
.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
.\"    without specific prior written permission.
.\"
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
.\" $FreeBSD$
.\"
.Dd July 2, 1996
.Dt FORWARD 5
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm forward
.Nd mail forwarding instructions
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm .forward
file contains a list of mail addresses or programs
that the user's mail should be redirected to.
If the
file is not present, then no mail forwarding will be done.
Mail may also be forwarded as the standard input to a program
by prefixing the line
with the normal shell pipe symbol (|).
If arguments
are to be passed to the command, then the entire line
should be enclosed in quotes.
For security reasons, the
.Nm .forward
file must be owned by the user the mail is being sent to,
or by root, and the user's shell must be listed in
.Pa /etc/shells .
.Pp
For example, if a
.Nm .forward
file contained the following lines:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
nobody@FreeBSD.org
"|/usr/bin/vacation nobody"
.Ed
.Pp
Mail would be forwarded to
.Aq nobody@FreeBSD.org
and to the program
.Pa /usr/bin/vacation
with the single argument
.Ar nobody .
.Pp
If a local user address is prefixed with a backslash
character, mail is delivered directly to the user's
mail spool file, bypassing further redirection.
.Pp
For example, if user chris had a
.Nm .forward
file containing the following lines:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
chris@otherhost
\echris
.Ed
.Pp
One copy of mail would be forwarded to
.Ar chris@otherhost
and another copy would be retained as mail for local user chris.
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width $HOME/.forward -compact
.It Pa $HOME/.forward
The user's forwarding instructions.
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr aliases 5 ,
.Xr sendmail 8