How to Read mail in a UNIX server?

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

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

I can send mails using

mailx -s

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

mailx -e

it shows invalid option.

2

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

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

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

3

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

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